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Supplement  t0  A'a/«n-,~| 
Dfctmber  ^,  1S95      J 


Nature 


A     WEEKLY 


ILLUSTRATED    JOURNAL    OF    SCIENCE 


VOLUME    LII  ^ 

MAY     1895     to     OCTOBER     1895  "^ 


"  T(>  the  solid  ;^roHnd 
Of  Nature  /rusts  the  mind  li'liich  Iniilds  for  aye." — Wordsworth 


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December  5,  iSq^ 


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KiCHARI)  Cl-AY   AM)   SO.NS,    LlMIlEO, 
LONDON    AND   BUNGAY. 


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INDEX 


AnBK  (Prof.  Clcvclaml),  Melcoroloijical  Proljlenis  for  I'livsical 
I,al)()ratories,  208  ;  Dust-  and  Snow-storm  in  Western  United 
States,  419 

Aljljcitt  (W.  J.  Lewis),  on  the  Hastings  Kitchen  Midden,  5S0 

Almormal  Atlantic  Waves,  James  Vate  Johnson,  569 

Aljiirif;inal  Indian  Remains  in  Jamaica,  Discover^'  of,  J.  K. 
Diierdcn,  173  :  on  Recently  Discovered  Aboriginal  Inhabitants 
of  Jamaica,  Sir  W.  II.  Flower,  K.R..S.,  K.  Cundall,  J.  E. 
Duertlen,  607 

Abraham  (M.),  Measurement  of  very  High  Potentials  by  means 
of  a  Modified  .Attracted  Disc-electnmieter,  628 

Acadle,  Nature  in,  H.  K.  Swann,  220 

Acetylene  for  Illuminating  Purposes,  Combustion  of,  Prof.  \'.  B. 
Lewis,  39 

.'\ch  (Lorenz),  Synthesis  of  Caffeine,  86 

Aiokanllura  Schiiiipcri^  Prof.  T.  R.  I'raser,  1-'. R. S.,  and  Dr. 
Joseph  Tillie,  237 

Acoustics :  Photographic  Records  of  Motion  of  I'iano-wire 
when  struck,  W.  Ivaufmann,  84  :  the  Projection  of  Ripples, 
Prof.  C.  V.  Boys,  iSo  ;  the  Audibility  of  Kog-horn  Signals  at 
Sea,  347  ;  Transverse  Vibrations  of  Cords,  .\.  Cornu,  382 

Actor  and  Dramatist,  Evolution  of  Orator  and  Poet,  Herbert 
Spencer,  356 

Adams'  Masses  of  Jupiter's  Satellites,  399 

Adams  (Frank  D. ),  Hutton's  Theory  of  the  Earth,  569 

Adams  (Prof.  J.  C. ),  Unveiling  of  Memorial  Tablet  to,  59 

Adulteration,  Simple  Methods  for  Detecting  Food,  J.  .\. 
Bower,  642 

Aeroiraulics  :  Projected  Balloon  Expedition  to  .-Vrctic  Regions, 
S.  .\.  -Vndree.  47  ;  the  Maxim  Flying  Machine,  Prof.  A.  G. 
(Irecnhill,  F'.R.S.,  321 

.I'.sthetic  Principles,  Henry  Rutgers  .Marshall,  292 

Africa  :  the  Best  Routes  to  Uganda,  G.  F.  Scott-Elliot,  257  ; 
Expedition  across  Masai-land  to  Uganda,  Oscar  Neumann, 
373  ;  .Sir  Samuel  Baker ;  a  Memoir,  .\.  Silva  White,  409  : 
North  .-Vfrica,  Stanford's  Compemlium  of  Geography  and 
Travel.  \.  \\.  Kcane,  409  :  Death  of  Jo.seph  Thomson,  346  ; 
Obituary  Notice  of  Joseph  Thomson,  Dr.  J.  W.  Gregor)-,  440 

After-image,  a  Curious  Optical  Phencmienon,  R.  .\.  F.,  508 

.\gricuUure  :  Vitality  of  Seeds,  W.  Hotting  Hemsley,  F.R.S., 
5  ;  Irrigation  in  the  United  States,  W.  K.  Smythe,  44 ; 
Potatoes  as  Cattle  Food,  A.  Girard,  71  ;  .\gricultural  Educa- 
tion in  United  States,  P.  G.  Craigie,  84  ;  Experimental 
•  .Small  Fruit,  iVc,  Culture  in  Indiana,  112  :  Continuous  Treat- 
ment with  Cojiper  Compounds  I  larmless  to  \'ine  or  Potato 
Crops.  .\.  Girard,  144;  Sale  of  Mr.  R.  E.  Lofft's  Herd  of 
White-Polled  Cattle,  153;  Dairy  B.acteriology,  Dr.  lul.  von 
Freudenreich,  220;  Statue  to  Houssing.ault,  275;  Michigan 
Treatment  of  Tomato  Rot  and  .\pple-Scab,  276;  Agriculture, 
Practical  and  Scientific,  Prof.  James  Muir,  338  ;  .Agriculture, 
R.  11  edger  Wallace,  338  ;  I'Vuit  best  Cirown  under  Clear  (ilass. 
Prof.  Zacharewiez,  486  ;  the  Woburn  Experimental  Fruit 
Farm,  508  ;  Prune  ami  Groundsel  Rusts,  D.  Mc.Mpine,  540  ; 
Calcium  Cyanate,  a  New  Nitrogenous  Manure,  Camille  F.aure, 
588 :  Chemical  .Study  of  Flight  Lower  Congo  Earths,  E. 
Stuyvaert,  611  ;  Death  of  Prof.  H.  Hellriegel,  651 

Air,  on  the  l^lectrification  of,  and  Thermal  Conductivity  of  Rock 
at  Different  Temperatures,  Lord   Kelvin,  P.  R..S.,  67 

.\ir  and  other  Ga.ses,  Electrification   and   Diselectrification  of. 
Lord  Kelvin,  P.R.S.,  Magnus  Maclean,  and  Alexander  ^jalt, 
60S 
\kinfieft"(M.),  tlie  F'lora  of  the  Cauca.sus,  304 

-l.'.voniiiin  digitalnm,  Cherrical  Constitution  of  Mesogkea  of, 
W.  L.  Brown,  285 

Algebra,  M.  II.  Senior,  127 


Algebra,  Longmans'  School,  W.  S.  Beard  and  A.  Teller,  220 

Algiers,  Earthquake  Shock  at,  301 

Algol,  6l 

.\lkali,   a  Theoretical  and  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture 

of  Sulphuric  Acid  and,  (leorge  Lunge,  J.  T.  Dunn,  290 
.\llen  ((Irant),  the  Story  of  the  Plants,  364 
.Allovs,  the  Rarer  .Metals  and  their.  Prof.  W.  C.  Roberts-Austen, 

F.R..S.,  14,39 
Alloys  Research  Committee,  Third  Report  to,  Messrs    RoberLs- 

Austen,  Allan  Gibb,  and  Alfred  .Stansfield,  iS 
Alps  and  Caucasus,  My  Climljs  in  the,  A.    F.   Mummery,    Prof. 

T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.,  219 
.\ltitude  and  -Azimuth  of  Polaris,  A.  Tanakadate,  305 
-Aluminium  Utensils,  M.  Balland,  456 
-\luminium  for  Chemical  Instruments,  Prof.  Norton,  607 
-Ameghin  (Seiior  F. ),  Late  Cretaceous  Ungulates  from  Patagonia. 

303. 

America  :  Scientific  liducation  in  America,  357  ;  on  the  Origin 
of  European  and  North  American  Ants,  C.  Emery,  399  ; 
-American  -Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Dr. 
Wm.  H.  Hale,  506;  the  -Affiliated  Societies  of  the  -American 
-Association,  600 :  -American  Forestry  .Association,  606 ; 
Botanical  Work  of  the  .American  Government,  T.  M.  Coulter, 
251;  .American  Journal  of  Mathematics,  70,  237,  610; 
American  Journal  of  .Science,  118,  212,  285,  431,  539; 
American  Mathematical  Society,  335,  587  ;  -American  Meteoro- 
logical Journal,  45,  1 18,  308,  335,  455,  587  ;  the  .American 
Metrological  Society,  in 

-Ames  (J.  .S. ),  the  Relation  of  S]5cctra  to  Molecular  Structure, 

27s 
-Amsterdam  Royal  -Academy  of  Sciences,  168,  240,  360 
.Ana;sthesia  with  Chloroform,  Utility  of  Oxysparteine  Injections 

before,  P.  Langlois  and  G.  Maurange,  359 
-Analysis,    Micrographic,   Prof.  W.   C.  Roberts- Austen,  F.R.S., 

367 
-Analytical  Key  to  the  Natural  Orders  of  Flowering  Plants,  Franz. 

Thonner,  543 
-Anatomy  :  the  Relation  between  the   Movements  of  the  F'yes 

and    the    Movements  of  the  Head,   Prof.  -A.   Cnnn   Brown, 

F.R.S.,    184;   Textbook  of   -Anatomy   and    Physiologj'   for 

Nurses,  D.  C.  Kimber,  77 
Ancodus,  Prof.  W.  B.  Scott,  524 
-Anderson  (-A.  P.),  (Jrand  Periodof  Growth  in  Fruit  of  CH.7/r/<//ii 

pcpo,  10 
Andrce  (S.  -A.),  Projected  Balloon  Expedition  to  Arctic  Regions, 

47 
-Andrews  (C.  W. ),  on  the  Stercornithes,  561 
-Andrews  (E.    R. ),   .Action  of  Nitrous  .Acid  on  Dibromaniline. 

166 
.Andrews  (Thos.,  F.R.S.),  Micro-Metallography  of  Iron,  213 
.Ani,    the    Papyrus   of,    in    the   British   Museum,   E.   A.  Wallis 

Budge,  I 
.\nimal  Life,  the  -Action  of  Light  on,  Mrs.  Percy  Krankland.  86 
-Animals,  Studies  in  the  Involution  of,  G.  Bonavia.  R.  Lvdckker. 

F".R.S.,4il 
Animals,  True  Instincts  of,  C.  W.  Purnell,  3S3 
-Animals,  Popular  1 1  islory  of,  for  Young  People,  Henry  Scherren, 

642 
Anlantit,  the  A'oyage  of  the,  to  A'ictoria  Land,  C.   E.    Borch- 

grevink,  375 
-Anthony  (Dr.  John),  Death  of,  133 
Anthropology :    the    Cook    Collections   of    South   Sea    Island 

Weajmns,  &c.,  Dr.  V.  Ball,  ii  ;  the  Pygmies,  .-V.  de  Quatre- 

fages.   Sir  W.  II.  Flower,  F'.R.S.,  25  ;  the  Stone  -Age  in  the 

Ukraine     Baron    de    Baye,    45 ;    the    Potters'   Art    in    New 


IV 


Index 


VSuppUment  to  Xature 
L      Decembir  5,  1895 


Caledonia,  M.  Glaumont,  45 ;  L'Anthropolc^e,  45,  455 ; 
Reputed  Traces  of  Negrito  Pygmies  in  India,  Dr.  V.  Ball, 
F.R.S..  So:  the  Story  of  Primitive  Man,  Edward  Clodd, 
173;  Discovery  of  Aboriginal  Indian  Remains  in  Jamaica, 
I.  E.  Duerden,  173  ;  Terms  of  Imprisonment,  Dr.  Francis 
Galton,  F. R.S.,  174;  Sacred  Thibetan  Bone-Trumpet,  Drum 
and  Flute,  Dr.  Geo.  Harley,  1S2  ;  Death  of  Dr.  A.  Eliseief, 
200 ;  Fallacies  of  Race  Theories  as  Applied  to  National 
Characteristics,  W.  D.  Babington,  220  :  Romano-British  Land 
Surface,  Worthington  G.  Smith,  222  ;  Bulletins  de  la  Society 
d'Anthropologie  de  Paris,  455  (See  also  Section  H  of  the 
British  Association). 

Antinonnin,  C.  O.  Harz  and  W.  von  Miller,  627  ;  Prof.  Aubry, 
62S 

Antiquities,  Classical,  .\tlas  of,  Th.  Schreiber,  100 

Antiquity  of  the  Medical  Profession,  the,  Suigeon-Major  W.  C. 
Black,  174:  Herbert  Spencer,  197 

Antiseptic  Properties  of  Different  Disinfectant  Ointments,  Dr. 
Breslauer,  524 

Antiseptics  :  .\ntinnonin,  C.  O.  Harz  and  W.  von  Miller,  627  : 
Prof.  Aubry,  62S 

Antitoxin,  Dr.  Klein,  355 

Antlers,  Abnormal  Deer,  H.  Pohlig,  398 

Ants :  on  the  Origin  of  European  and  North  American  Ants, 
C.  Emer>-,  399  ;  Tertiary  Fossil  Ants  in  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
P.  B.  Brodie,  570 

Ants  and  Orchids,  J.  H.  Hart,  627 

Apple-Scab.  Michigan  Treatment  of,  276 

April  Meteors,  W.  F.  Denning,  33 

Aquatic  Hymenopterous  Insect,  an,  Fred  Enock,  105 

Aquatic  Insects,  the  Natural  History  of.  Prof.  L.  C.  Miall, 
F.R.S.,  242 

Arachnid.x' :  Stridulating  Organ  in  a  Spider,  .S.  E.  Peal,  148 

Archa;ology  :  Death  of  Prof.  Gustav  Hirschfeld,  9  ;  the 
Silchester  Excavations,  9  ;  Roman  Mithneum  at  Wouklliam, 
181  ;  the  British  School  at  .-Vthens,  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  249  ;  a  Primer  of  Mayan  Hieroglypliics,  Daniel  G. 
Brinton,  387;  the  Excavations  at  Eleusis,  511  ;  Death  of 
Prof.  V.  Rydberg,  626  ;  Death  of  Father  Hirst,  626 

Archbutt  (L.),  Chemical  An.^lysis  of  Oils,  Fats,  and  Waxes, 
and  of  the  Commercial  Products  derived  therefrom,  Prof. 
Dr.  R.  Benedikt,  265 

Archdeacon  (W.  H.),  Method  of  Preparing  Cyanuric  Acid,  312 

Architects,  the  Institution  of  Naval,  207 

Architecture  for  General  Readers,  i:c.,  II.  Heathcote  Statham, 

363 
Architecture,  the  Elements  of,  H.  Heathcote  Statham,  546 
Arctic    Exploration :    Projected     Balloon    Expedition,    S.     A. 
Andrie,   47;    Remarkable    Lake   on    Kildine    Island,    MM. 
Faussek    and    Knipowitsch,    303 ;     Two    Books    on    Arctic 
Travel,  Henry  Secliohm,  385  ;  Dr.  Nansen's  Expedition,  511  ; 
the   Jackson- llarmsworth    Expedition,   511,  626;  Return  of 
Peary    Ilxpedition,    523  ;  Scientific    Work   by  Lieut.   Peary, 
Prof.  Dychc,  and  Prof.  Salisbury  in  North  Greenland,  652 
Arctowski    (M.),    Determinations   of    Solubility   at    very    Low- 
Temperatures  of  Organic  Compounds  In  Carbon  Disulphide, 
288  ;  New  Method  of  Prejmring  Crystallised  Bromine,  552 
Argentine   Earthquake,  Octol>er  27,  1894,  Prof.  Milne's  Obser- 
vation of  the.  Dr.  E.  von  Rebeur  Paschwiu,  55 
Argentina,  the  Lower  (londwana  Beds  of,  Dr.  F.  Kurtz,  523 
Argon:  Lord  Rayleigh,  F. R.S.,  159;  Barnard   Medal  awarded 
to  Lord  Rayleigh  lor  Discovery  of,  83  ;  Argon  and  Dissocia- 
tion, Prof.  Pcnry  \'aughan  Bevan,l27  ;  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.  R.S., 
127  ;  the  Physical  Properties  of  Argon,  Lord  Rayleigh, F.R.S., 
293;  Prout's  Hypothesis  and  the  Periodic  Law,  E.   \.  Hill, 
tl8;     a   New    Combination     of,    M.     Berthelot,    202;    the 
Fluorescence  of,  M.  A.   Berthelot,  239  ;  the  Fluorescence  of, 
and  its  Combinations  with   the  Elements  of  Benzene,  255  ; 
Argon   and  the   Kinetic  Theory,  Col.  C.    E.  Basevi,  221  ; 
Argon    and    Helium   in    Meteoric    Iron,    Prof.    W.   Ramsay, 
F. R.S. ,  224  ;  the  Place  of  Argon  among  the  Elements,  C.  J. 
Reed,  278  ;  the  Estimation  of  Argon,  Th.  Schlasing,  636 
Argyll  (Duke  of),  Gl.ici.itiun  of  Glenaray  and  (ilenshira,  70 
Arloing  (Prof.),  Persistence  of  Electric  Irritability  in  Peripheral 

Ends  of  Divided  Nerves,  603 
Arnold  (J.  O.),  Steel  Works  Analysis,  26 
Arrow.  Poison    of  Akotantlura  Sdiiniperi,  Prof.  T.  R.    Eraser, 

F.R.S.,  and  Dr.  Joseph  Tillie,  237 
Arsonville  (M.  d'),  the  Discharge  of  the  Torpedo,  312 
Arthu-s   (Dr.),   Calcium  Salts  necessary  to  Blood  Coagulation, 
603 


Artificial  Human  Milk,  Dr.  E.  Frankland,  F.R.S.,  546 

Arts  and  Manufactures,  Chemical  Technology  or  Chemistry  in 
its  Applications  to,  45 

Asbestos,  Magnetism  of,  L.  Bleekrode.  309 

Aschkinass  (E.),  Invisibility  of  Infra-Red  Kays,  373;  Absorp- 
tion Spectrum  of  Water  for  Red  and  Infra- Red  Rays,  382 

Asia,  Eastern  Siberia,  P.  P.  Semenoff,  I.  D.  Cherskiy,  and  G. 
G.  von  Petz,  541 

Astrapia  spUndidissima,  New  Bird  of  Paradise,  512 

Astre  (Ch.),  Potassium  DeriN-ations  of  (Juinone  and  Hydro- 
quinone,  408  ;  Peroxidised  Potassium  Deri\-atives  of  Benzo- 
quinone,  660 

-Vstronomy:  Our  .Astronomical  Column,  11,  37,  61,  86,  113, 135, 
155,  180,  203,  231,  252,  277,  305,  327,  34S.  374,  399,  421, 
445,  487,  514,  425,  553,  579,  602,  629.  655  :  the  Hamburgh 
Observatory,  1 1  ;  the  late  M.  Trouvelot,  1 1  ;  Ephemeris  for 
Barnard's  Comet,  18S4II.,  Dr.  Berberich,  II,  327  ;  Saturn's 
Rings,  Prof.  Barnard,  11:  Spectroscopic  Researches  on 
Saturn's  Rings.  H.  Deslandres,  144;  the  Rotation  of  Saturn, 
Mr.  Stanley  Williams,  231  :  Radical  \elocities  of  Saturn, 
655  :  the  Sun's  Place  in  Nature,  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S., 
12,  156,  204,  253,327,  422,  446;  the  Sun's  Stellar  Magnitude, 
Mr.  Gore,  135  ;  Granulation  of  the  Sun's  Surface,  Dr. 
Scheiner,  203;  Temperature  of  the  Sun,  H.  Ebert,  231; 
the  Proper  Motion  of  the  Sun,  M.  Tisserand,  487  ;  Sun-spot 
Observations  in  1S94,  Dr.  A.  Wolfer,  629  :  Solar  Obser\-a- 
tions  during  First  Quarter  of  1S95,  P.  Tacchini,  516:  April 
Meteors,  W.  F.  Denning,  33  ;  a  Brilliant  Meteor,  Charles  B. 
Butler,  269 :  the  .\ugust  Meteors,  327,  507  ;  Heights  of 
-August  -Meteors,  Prof.  A.  S.  Herschel,  F.R.S.,437;  Rela- 
tive Densities  of  Terrestrial  Planets,  S.  S.  Wheeler,  37  ;  the 
Orbit  of  Comet  1S93  IV.  (Brooks),  Signor  Peyra,  37  ;  the 
Spectrum  of  Mars,  Mr.  Jewell,  37  ;  Dr.  Janssen,  514;  the 
Rotation  of  Mars,  Percival  Lowell,  135  :  Long  Period 
Inequality  in  Longitude  of  Mars,  G.  Leveau,  660  :  Fvidence 
of  a  Twilight  Arc  upon  the  Planet  Mars,  Percival  Lowell, 
401  ;  -Astronomical  Society  of  France,  37  ;  Distribution  of 
Nebulce  and  Star-clusters,  Sidney  Waters,  38  ;  Unveiling  of 
Memorial  Tablet  to  Prof  J.  C.  Adams,  59;  -Algol,  61; 
Parallax  and  Orbit  of  ij  Cassiopei;e,  61  ;  a  Belgian  Astro- 
nomical Society,  62:  Orbit  of  1771  Comet,  M.  Bigourdan, 
71  ;  Stars  with  Remarkable  Spectra,  86  :  the  Paris  Obseriatory, 
86;  the  Coeloslat,G.  Lippmann,96,  399;  Mercury  and  \enus, 
113;  the  Total  Solar  Eclipse  of  189S  (January  21-22),  113  ;  the 
Total  Solar  Eclipse  of  August  8,  1S96,  Col.  .A.  Burton-Brown, 
633  :  the -Astro- Photographic  Chart,  113  ;  Award  of  the  Watson 
Medal  to  Dr.  S.  C.  Chandler,  113;  Relation  of  Plane  of 
Jupiter's  Orbit  to  Mean  Plane  of  401  Minor  Planet  Orbits,  H. 
-A.  Newton,  iiS  ;  the  Satellites  of  Jupiter,  Prof.  Barnard, 
203  ;  -Adams'  Masses  of  Jupiter's  Satellites,  399  ;  the  Forms 
of  Jupiter's  Satellites,  S.  I.  Bailey,  445  :  Red  Spot  on  Jupiter 
W.  F.  Denning,  507  ;  the  Moon,  T.  Gwyn  Elger,  127  ; 
Craters  of  the  Moon,  579  ;  on  Photographs  of  the  Moon 
taken  at  the  Paris  Observatory,  439 ;  the  Motion  of  the 
Solar  System,  135;  Comet  1892  V.  (Barnard),  J.  C'l. 
Porter,  J.  Coniel,  155;  Me.TSurement  of  Radial  Velocities, 
155;  "Two  Remarkable  Binar)-  Stars,  155:  t)ccultation  of 
Regulus,  iSo  ;  the  Recurrence  of  Eclipses,  Prof.  J.  M.  Stock- 
well,  iSo;  \'ariability  of  Nebuke,  180  ;  the  Zi-ka-wei  Ob- 
servatory, 180 ;  the  \'erkes  Observatory,  203  ;  Variable 
Stars,  Dr.  Chandler,  231  ;  New  X'ariable  Stars,  Rev.  T.  E. 
Espin,  306  ;  Short-Period  \'ariable  Stars,  252  ;  the  Relative 
Powers  of  Large  and  Small  Telescopes  in  showing  Planetary 
Detail,  W.  F.  Denning,  232  :  the  I^ws  of  .Stellar  Velocities 
and  Distributions,  Prof.  \.  C.  Kapteyn,  240;  the  Nice  Ob- 
servatory, 252  ;  Foucault's  Pendulum  Experiment,  252  ;  the 
Perseids  observed  in  Russia  in  1894,  Tli.  Biedikhine,  261  ; 
the  Perseids  of  1895,  ^^'-  ''•  Denning,  395  ;  Newton  and 
Huygens,  A.  Huet,  269;  Death  of  Prof.  F.  Tietjen,  275; 
Death  of  Prof.  G.  F.  W.  Spiirer,  275  ;  the  New  Madras  Ol- 
serv.itory,  277  ;  Star  Cat.alogues,  Mdlle.  Khmipke,  277  ;  an 
Analysis  of  .Astronomical  .Motion,  Henry  Pratt,  292;  Death 
of  G.  A.  L.  Pihl,  301  ;  Terrestrial  Helium,  327;  Helium 
and  the  Spectrum  of  Nova  .Aurigie,  Profs.  C.  Runge  and 
F.  Paschen,  544 :  the  Rotation  of  Venus,  348,  Signor 
(;.  Schiaparelli,  374;  Geodetical  Observations,  Dr.  Geeld- 
muyden,  348  ;  Death  of  Dr.  W.  Fabritius,  372  ;  Altitude 
and  Azimuth  of  Polaris,  A.  Tanakadate,  305 ;  Observa- 
tions of  Double  Stars,  M.  Bigourdan,  305  ;  a  Great 
Nebula  in  Scorpio,  Prol.  Barnard,  305  ;  the  Observatory  of 
^■ale  University,  Dr.  W.  L.  Elkin,  375;  the  Nebula  N.G.C. 


Supploncnt  to  AVz/»rc,T 
December  5,  1895       J 


Index 


2438,  375  ;  Atmospheric  Refraction,  Prof.  E.  C.  Comstock, 
399  ;  some  I'hotographic  Star-Charts,  F.  Renz,  407  ;  Riither- 
furd's  Stellar  I'hutographs,  655  :  Photographs  of  Star-Spectra, 
T.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  660;  Reappearance  of  Swift's 
Comet,  421  ;  Swift's  Comet  (August  20,  1895),  G.  Le  Cadet, 
456  ;  Ephemeris  of  Swift's  Comet,  446  ;  Elements  and 
Ephemeris  of  Comet  a,  1895  (Swift),  Dr.  Berberich,  553  ; 
•y  Virginis,  Dr.  See,  553;  the  Latitude  Variation  Tide.  421  ; 
the  Solar  Parallax  from  Mars"  Observations,  421  ;  Comets 
and  the  .Sun-spot  Period,  Herr  J.  Unterweger,  446 ;  the 
Rotation  of  Venus,  487  ;  \'isibility  of  the  Dark  Side  of  \'en\is, 
M.  Camille  Flammarion,  603  ;  the  Surface  of  Venus,  M. 
Perrotin,  660 ;  .Apparatus  to  Illustrate  Doppler's  Principle, 
515  :  the  Pnesepe  Cluster,  Dr.  Wilhelm  Schur,  515  :  .Satellite 
Evolution,  James  Nolan,  Prof.  (1.  H.  Darwin,  F.R.S.,518; 
the  Orbit  of  m'-  Bootis  (2  1938),  Dr.  T.  J.  J.  See,  525  :  Return 
of  Faye's  Comet,  553  ;  Ephemeris  for  B^aye's  Comet,  603  ; 
Suggestions  for  .Astronomical  Research,  Dr.  Isaac  Roberts, 
579  ;  Measurement  of  Planetary  Diameters,  Prof.  Campbell, 
579  ;  the  Observatory  on  Mont  Blanc,  Dr.  Janssen,  602,  611  : 
the  Melbourne  Observatory,  R.  L.  J.  Ellery,  603  ;  a  New 
Observatory,  603  ;  Planetary  Perturbations,  Prof.  A.  Weiler, 
629  ;  the  System  of  a  Centauri,  A.  W.  Roberts,  629  ;  Holmes' 
Comet,  Dr.  II.  J.  /.weirs,  629  ;  the  Cape  Observatory,  655 

Atavism  and  Evolution,  Prof.  Lombroso,  257 

Athens,  the  British  School  at,  H.R.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
249 

Atkinson  (R.  W. ),  Transformation  of  .Moulds  into  Yeasts,  438 

Atlantic,  North,  Fog  during  1894  on,  302 

Atlantic  Ocean,  North,  .Atmospheric  Pressure  of  the,  Cajit.  C. 
Rung,  76 

Atlantic  Waves,  Abnormal,  James  Vate  Johnson,  569 

Atlas  of  Classical  Antiquities,  Th.  Schreiber,  100 

Atmospheric  Pressure  of  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean,  Capt.  ('>. 
Rung,  76 

Atmospheric  Refractions,  Prof.  E.  C.  Comstock,  399 

Atomic  Theory  and  its  Author,  the,  Sir  Henry  E.  Roscoe, 
F.R.S.,  169 

Aubel  (Prof.  \'an).  Hall's  Phenomenon  as  investigated  on  Thin 
Layers  of  Bisnnith  deposited  electrolytically,  71 

Aubry  ( Prof. ),  .Antinonnin,  62S 

-Auden  (H.  .A.),  on  the  .\ction  of  Nitric  O.xide  on  certain  Salts, 

536 

August  Meteors,  the,  327:  W.  \ .  Denning,  507;  Heights  of 
August  Meteors,  Prof.  -\.  S.   Herschel,  F.  R.S.,  437 

August,  Rain  in,  519 

Aurelia  atirila.  Variation  of  Tentaculocysts  of,  Y..  T.  Browne, 
284 

Australasia,  Royal  Geographical  Society  of,  540 

Australasian  Association,  the,  65 

Australia,  the  Geological  Development  of,  20;  Mr.  W. 
Saville- Kent's  Collection  of  Australian  Madreporaria,  pre- 
sented to  Natural  Hi.story  Museum,  301  ;  Systematic  Arrange- 
ment of  .Australian  Fungi,  Dr.  Mc.Alpine,  435 

Austria,  Storms  and  Earthquakes  during  June  in,  C.  V.  Zenger, 

432         .  . 

Auto-Mobile  Carriages   in  France,  the   Recent   Race  of,  300  ; 

Display  of,  600 
Avalanche  in  L'pperGemmi  Pass,  511 
Ayrton  (Prof.),  Students' Apparatus  for  Determining  Mechanical 

Equivalent  of  lleat,  39  ;  .Argument  against  the  existence  of  a 

Back  Eleclro-moiive  Force  in  the  Electric  .Arc,  536 
Ayrton  (.Mrs.),  on  the  Connection  between  Potential  Difference, 

Current,  and  Length  of  Arc,  in  the  Electric  .Arc,  535 
Azimuth  of  Polaris,  .Altitude  and,  .A.  Tanakadate,  305 


Babington   (Prof.   C.   C,   F'.R.S.),    Death    of,    300:    Obituary 

Notice  of,  371 
Babington  (\V.  D. ),   Fallacies  of  Race  Theories  as  applied  to 

National  Characteristics,  220 
Bache  (R.  M.),  Reaction  Time  according  to  Race,  627 
Backhaus  (Dr.),  .Artificial  Human  Milk  prepared  by,  512 
Bacteriology  :   Infection  by  Flies.  W.  T.  Burgess,  38  :  a  Course 
of  Elementary   Practical   Bacteriology,    .A.   .A.    Kanthack  and 
J.   H.   Drysdale,  53  ;  the  .Action  of  Light   on  -Animal   Life, 
Mrs.  Percy  Frankl.ind,    86:  Death  of  Dr.  John  Byron,    133; 
the  Extra-cellular  Destruction  of  Bacteria  in  the  Organism, 
Prof.    Metchnikoff,    134:    Dairy  Bacteriology,   Dr.    Ed.   von 
Freudenreich,    220 ;    Effects    of   Water-weeds    on    Anthrax 
Bacilli,   Dr.    Iloeber,    153;    the   B.acterial   Contents  of   Mar- 


garine, Messrs.  Jolles  and  Winkler,  230;  Distribution  of 
Thermophilic  Bacteria,  Dr.  L.  Rabinowitsch,  276  ;  Three 
New  Vibrios  from  Polluted  Well-water,  A.  Zawadzki  and  (•. 
Brunner,  305  ;  the  Sand  Filtration  of  Water,  Dr.  Kurth, 
346  ;  the  Part  of  Sedimentation  in  Water-purification,  Dr. 
H.  J.  van  'I  Hoff,  578  ;  the  Bacillus  of  Influenza  Cold,  Dr. 
Cautley,  355  ;  Recent  Studies  in  Diphtheria,  393  ;  the  Pas- 
teurisation of  Milk,  Dr.  II.  L.  Russell,  419;  Effect  of 
P'ever  Temperature  on  Typhoid  Bacillus,  Dr.  .Max  MiiUer, 
444  ;  Bactericidal  Properties  of  Disinfectant  Ointment,  Dr. 
Breslauer,  524  ;  .Antinonnin,  Prof.  Aubry,  628  ;  the  Fonna- 
tion  of  Bacterial  Colonies,  Prof.  H.  Marshall  Ward,  F.R.S., 
658 
Baden-Powell  (Lieut.  B. ),  on  Navigating  the  Air  by  Means  of 

Kites,  584 
Bagdad  Date- Mark,  the.  Colonel  -A.  T.  Fraser,  31 
Baginski  (Prof.),  Experiments  on  Children's  Bile,  336 
Baginsky  (Prof.),  the  .Antitoxin  Treatment  of  Diphtheria,  354 
Bailey  (J.  B. ),  Rules  of  Reference,  601 

Bailey  (Prof.  L.  H.),  the  Plant-Individual  in  the  Light  of  Evo- 
lution, 59;  the  Horticulturist's  Rule-Book,  33S 
Bailey  (S.  I.),  the  Forms  of  Jupiter's  Satellites,  445 
Bailey  (Vernon),  Pocket  Gophers  of  the  United  States,  275 
Baillon  (Prof.),  Death  of,  301  ;  Obituary  Notice  of,  371 
Baily  (F.  G.),  on  Hysteresis  of  Iron  in  an  Alternating  Magnetic 

Field,  536 
Baker  (H.  F.),  Albrege  de  la  Theorie  des  Fonctions  Elliptiques, 

Charles  Henry,  567 
Baker  (R.  T. ),  New  Elctocarpus,  540 
Baker  (Sir  Samuel),  a  Memoir,  T.  Douglas  Murray  and  A.  Silva 

White,  409 
Balanus,  Mouth  Parts  of  Cypris  Stage  of,  T.  T.  Groom,  2S4 
Baldwin  (Prof.  Mark),  Consciousness  and  Evolution,  627 
Ball  (Sir  Robert)  and  "The  Cause  of  an  Ice  Age,"  Sir  Henry 

H.  Howorth,  F.R.S.,  594 
Ball  (Dr.  V.,  F.R.S.),  the  Cook  Collections  of  South  Sea  Island 
Weapons,   i.\;c.,    II  ;    Reputed  Traces  of  Negrito  Pygmies  in 
India,  80 
Ball  (Dr.  Valentine,    F. R.S.),  Death  and   Obituary  Notice  of, 

■77 
Balland  (M.),  .Aluminium   Utensils,  456 

Ballooning  :    Proposed   Balloon  \"oyage  to  the  North  Pole,  226 
Ballore  (F.  de  M.  de),  a  Superior  Limit  to  Mean  .Area  afTecled 

by  an  Earthquake,  516 
Baralta  (M.),  the  X'iggianello  (Basilicata)   Earthquake  of  May 

28,  1894,  335 
Barber  (C.  .A.),  the  Tick  Pest  in  the  Tropics,  197 
Barbier  (P. ),  Condensation  of  .Aldehydes  and  Saturated  Ketones, 

192  ;  the  Essence  of  Linaloc,  312 
Bardeleben  (Prof.),  Death  of,  522,  577 
Baris.al  Guns  and   Mist  Pouffers,  Prof.  G.  II.  Darwin,  F.  R.S., 

650 
Barnard  (Prof.),  Saturn's  Rings,  11;    Barnard  Medal  awarded 
to   Lord    Rayleigh   for   Discovery  of  Argon,   S3  ;    (Barnard) 
Comet  1892  v.,  J.  G.  Porter,  J.  Coniel,  155;  Ephemeris  for 
Barnard's   Comet,  1S84  II.,    Dr.  Berberich,  327  ;  the  Satel- 
lites of  Jupiter,  203  ;  a  Great  Nebula  in  Scorpio,  305 
Barnett  (K.  F..),  \'ellow^  Phosphate  of  Platinum,  95 
Barrett  (Charles  G.),  the  Lepidoptera  of  the  Briti.sh  Islands,  27 
Basevi  (Colonel  C.    E.),  .Argon  and  the  Kinetic  Theor)',  221  ; 

Clausius'  Virial  Theorem,  413 
Basset  (.A.    B.,   F.R.S.),  MacCullagh's  Theory  of  Double  Re- 
fraction, 595  :  the  Theory  of  Magnetic  Action  on  Light,  618 
Ba.stin  (Paul  Edson),  Laboratory  Exercises  in  Botany,  316 
Bateson  (W.),  Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Cineraria,  29,  103 
Bauer  (Dr.  L.  .A.),  .some  Bibliographical  Discoveries  in  Terres- 
trial  Magnetism,  79  :  Halley's   Equal   V.ariation  Chart,  197  ; 
the  Earliest   Magnetic   Meridians,  267  ;  the  Distribution  and 
Secular  Variations   of  Terrestrial   Magnetism,  431  :  Distribu- 
tion and  Secular  Variation  of  Terrestrial  Magnetism,  539 
Baur  (Dr.  G.),  the  Flora  of  the  Galap.igos  Islands,  W.   Botting 

Hemsley,  F.R.S.,  623 
Baye  (Baron  de),  the  Stone  Age  in  the  Ukraine,  45 
Baylee  (J.  Tyrrell),  Incubation  among  the  Egyptians,  414 
Baynes(R.  E. ),  Clausius'  Virial  Theorem,  569  ;  Oxford  Endow- 
ments, 644 
Beard   (W.    S.)  and    .A.   Telfer,   Longmans'    School   Algebra, 

220 
Bebber(Prof.   Dr.  W.  J.   van),   Ilygienische  Meteorologie,  49 ; 

the  Inqirovement  of  Storm-warning  Signals,  653 
Beck  (Dr.  .A.),  Velocity  of  Blood  in  Portal  Vein,  556 


VI 


Index 


VSiififiifment  to  Nature, 
L      Vetittaber  s,  1895 


a  Textbook  of   Zoogeography,    k. 
346 


Beddard  (K  E.,  F.R.S.), 

Lydekker,  F.R.S.,  2S9 
Bedford  College  for  Women,  Instructions  in  Hygiene  at 
Beilion  (P.  r. ),  Argon  in  Rock-salt  t'lases,  312 
Bee-keeping  Exhibition  in  Russia,  Travelling,  F.  Motschalkin, 

523 
Beehler  (Lieut.),  Origin  and  Work  of  Marine  Meteorolc^-  in 

fniled  States,  587 
Beer  (Rudolf),  the   Penetration  of  Roots  into  Linng  Tissues, 

630 
Bchal  (A.),   Canipholenic   Acids  and  Amides,  48;  Acids  pro- 
duced in  Oxidation  of  Inactive  Canipholenic  Acids,  588 
Bchrens  (I'rof.  H.),  .\rtificial  Dichroism,  240 
Belcher  (Dr.  H.),  the  Use  and  .Abuse  of  Examinations,  66 
Belgique,  Bulletin  de  IWcademie  Royale  de,  94,  309,  611 
Belgium,  a  Belgian  Astronomical  Society,  62 
Belinfante  (L. ),  Experimental  Mountain-building,  459 
Bell  (I)ugald),  the  Shelly  CLiys  and  Gravels  of  Aberdeenshire, 

« ith  regard  to  Submergence  Question,  95 
Bell  (I'rof.  Jeffrey),  Variations  in  Large  Masses  of  Turbinaria, 

II 
Belbirs  (N.  E.),  some  Reactions  of  .\mnionium  Salts,  166 
Ben  Nevis  Obsenator)',  Effects  of  a  Lightning  Flash  in,  William 

S.  Bruce,  244 
Bcnda(Dr.),  Longitudinal  Bands  in  Mucous  Membrane  of  True 

\'ocal  Cords,  336 
Bcnedikt  (I'rof  Dr.   R.),  Chemical  Analysis  of  Oils,  Fats,  and 

Waxes,  265 
Benham  (C.  E.),  Colours  of  Mother-o"-Pearl,  619 
Bennett  (\.   R  ),  the  Telephone  Systems  of  the  Continent  of 

Europe,  147 
liennett  (.Mfred  W.),  the  Teaching  University  for  London,  294 
Benzene,  the  Fluorescence  of  -Vrgon  and  its  Combination  with 

the  Elements  of,  255 
Berberich  (Dr.).  Ephemerisfor  Barnard's  Comet    1884  II,  327  ; 

Elements  and  Ephemeris  of  Comet  a,  1895  (Swift),  553 
Berdoe  (Dr.),  Microbes  and  Disease  Demons,  340 
Berlin  Meteorological  Society,  71,  216 
Berlin  Physical  Society,  71,  167,  359 
Berlin  Physiological  Society,  71,  167,  336,  432 
Bern,  the  International  Congress  of  Physiologists  at,  Dr.  F.  W. 

Tunnicliffe,  555,  603 
Berridge  (Dr.  J.  P.),  on   the  .\ction  of  Light  upon  the  Soluble 

Metallic  Iodides  in  presence  of  Cellulose,  537 
Berthelot  (.M.),   Thermochemical    Relations   between   Isomeric 

.Salts  of  Glucose,  96;  a  New  Combination  of  Argon,  202  ;  the 

Fluorescence  of  Argon,  239 
Bertin   (Emile),  Amplitude  of  Rolling  on  a   Non-Synchronous 

Wave,  207 
Bcrtrand  (G.),  Lacca.sc  in  Plants,  312 
Besscl   Functions  and  their  .Applications  to  Physics,  a  Treatise 

on,  .-Vndrew  tlrayandCI.  B.  Mathews,  Prof.  A.  G.  Greenhill, 

F.k.S..  542 
Bessemer  Prixress,  Thermo.Chcmistr)-  of.  Prof  W.  N.  I  lartley, 

F.R.S.,  426 
Betts's  Chromosco]>e,  178 

Bevan  (I'mf  I'cnry  \aughan),  .\rgon  and  Dissociation,  127 
Beyerinck  ^I'rof ),  Cyiiips  calyiis,  360 

Bezold  (W.  von),  the  Double  Refraction  of  Electric  Rays,  94 
Bczold  (Prof,  von),  a  Thenry  of  Terrestrial  .Magnetism,  167 
Bibliographical  Discoveries  in  Terrestrial  .M.Tgnetism,  some.  Dr. 

L.  .A.  Bauer,  79  ;  Captain  Ettrick  W.  Creak,  F.  R.S.,  129 
Bibliographical  Reform,  the  Question  of,  59 
Bibliography  of  Spectroscopy,  Prof.  Herbert   Mcleod,  F.  R.S., 

.'°5 
Bidwell  (Shelford),  Electrical  Properties  of  .Selenium,  263 
Biernacki  (V.),  Simple  Objective  Presentation  of  Hertzian  Rc- 

Hettion    Ex|>eriments,    539 :     New     Method    of    Measuring 

Di'.lance  of  Air-Gap  during  S|>ark-I'a.ss.ige,  653 
Bil'.'        '  'iim  at  the   Royal   Obscrvator)',   Edinburgh,  the, 

I  ih,  223 

Bi|;t :!.),  Earth  a  Magnetic  Shell,  431 

Biggart  (A.  .s.  1,  ( i.xs-Works  Machinery,  349 

Biggs  (Dr.  Hermann),  the   .\ntiinxin  Treatment  of  Diphtheria, 

354 
Bigourilan  fM.V  Orbit  of  1771   Comet,   71  ;    Obser\-ations    of 

Bi:  '.'markablc,  155 

Hi  '    Wells,  410 

Bi'  1,  anil  Man  of  Lvllcn,  the  Evolution  of  the, 

I! 


Biolog)-  :  Death  of  Dr.  Karl  \"ogt,  34  ;  the  Plant-Individual  in 
the  Light  of  Evolution,  Prof  L.  H.  Bailey,  59  :  tlrowth  of 
Diatoms  in  Surface  Waters,  112  ;  the  Relation  of  Biology  to 
theological  Investigation,  Chas.  .A.  White,  258,  279  ;  Micro- 
-scopic  Foam  and  Protoplasm,  Otto  Biitschli,  291  :  Remarkable 
Lake  on  Kildine  Island,  M.M.  Faussekand  Kinjiowitsch,  303  ; 
Evolution  or  Epigcnesis,  H.  Croft  Ililler,  317  :  How  was 
Wallace  led  to  the  Discover)^  of  Natural  Selection  ?  Dr.  .A.  B. 
Meyer  and  Dr.  A.  R.  Wallace,  F.R.S.,  415  ;  Protoplasme  et 
Noyau,  J.  Perez,  543  ;  Biology  Notes,  593  ;  the  Penetration 
of  Roots  into  Living  Tissues,  Rudolf  Beer,  630  ;  Marine 
Biologj-,  Piaster  \'acalion  Work  at  Port  Erin  Station,  35  ;  the 
Voyage  of  IL.M.S.  Challenger,  a  Sumniarj-  of  the  Scientific 
Results,  Dr.  .Anton  Dohrn,  121  ;  the  Whitsuntide  Work  at 
Port  Erin  Station,  152  ;  Pelagic  Dcep-Sea  Fishing,  L. 
Boutan  and  E.  P.  Racovitza,  312;  Oceanic  Islands,  F.  W. 
Headley.  366  (See  also  Section  D  of  the  British  .Association  > 

Birds :  Birds,  Beasts,  and  Fishes  of  the  Norfolk  Broadland,  P. 
H.  Emerson  and  R.  Lydekker,  F.  R.S.,  195  ;  the  Bird  of 
Paradise,  Margatetta  L.  Lemon,  197  ;  a  Chapter  on  Birds, 
R.  Bowdler  Sharpe,  220 ;  the  International  Bird  Protection 
Conference,  325  :  a  Remarkable  Flight  of  Birds,  R.  A.  Br>iy, 
415  ;  J.  Evershed,  50S  ;  Late  Nestlings,  Jas.  Shaw,  459  ;  the 
Land  Birds  in  and  around  St.  Andrews,  George  Bruce,  589  ; 
the  Migration  of  British  Birds,  including  their  Post-Glacial 
Emigration  as  traced  by  the  application  of  a  New  Law  of 
Dispersal,  Charles  Dixon,  5S9  ;  Heligoland  .as  an  Ornitho- 
logical Observatory,  the  Result  of  Fifty  \' ears'  Experience, 
Heinrich  Gritke,  5S9  :  a  Hand-hook  to  the  Game-birds,  W. 
R.  Ogilvie-Grant,  5S9  ;  the  Land-birds  and  Came-birds  of 
New  England,  with  de.scriptions  of  the  Birds,  their  Nests,  and 
Eggs,  their  Habits,  and  Notes,  H.  D.  Minot,  5S9  ;  Wild 
England  of  To-day  and  the  Wild  Life  in  il,  C.  J.  Cornish, 
589  :  the  Phe.isant  :  Natural  History,  Rev.  I[.  A.  Macpher- 
son.  Shooting,  A.  J.  Stuart-Wortley,  Cooking,  .Alexander 
Innes  Shand,  589  ;  Note  on  the  Dendrocolapline  .Species 
Dendrexelasles  capilouies  of  Eyton,  Dr.  Henry  O.  Forl>es,  619 

Bjerknes  (V.),  Electric  Resonance,  1S9 

Black   (Surgeon. Major  W.    G.),  the   .Antiquity  of  the   Medical 
Profession,  174 

Blaikie  (W.  B. ),  on  the  .-Vstronomical  Relations  of  Geograjihy, 

563 
Blake  (Dr.  E.  W.),  Death  of,  626 
Blanford   (Dr.    W.    T.,    F. R.S. ),  the  Southern  Carboniferous 

Flora,  595 
Blass  (E.),  a  Problem  in  Thermodynamics,  415 
Bleekrode  (L. ),  Miignetism  of  Asbestos,  309 
Bodmer  (G.    K.),    Ilydraulic  Motors,   Turbines,   and  Pressure 

Engines,  170 
Boisbaudran  (Lecoqde),  Crystals  forming  at  Bottom  of  Solution 

of  Greater  SiKcific  Gravity,  24  ;  \'olunies  of  Salts  in  .-Vtiueous 

Solutions,  287 
Bollcttino  delta  Societa  Botanica  Italiana,  45 
Bollcttino  della  Societa  Seismologica  Italiana,  309,  335,  455, 

611 
Bolton  (Reginald),  Motive  Powers  and  their  Pr.actical  Selection, 

170 
Boltzmann  (Prof  Ludwig),  on   the   Minimum  Theorem  in  the 

Theory  of  ti.ases,  221 
Boltjmann's  Minimum  Function,  S.  H.  Burbury,  F.R.S.,  104 
Boltzmann's  Minimum  Theorem,  Edwaid  P.  Culverwell,  149 
Boltzmann's    Minimum  Theorem,  the   .Assumptions  in,  G.  H. 

Br)an,  29 
Bonavia  (E.),  Studies  in  the  Evolution  of  Animals,  411 
Bonchill  (E.),  Direct  Puddling  of  Iron,  425 
Bonhote  (J.  L.),  Harrow  BuHerHies  and  .Moths,  388 
Bonney  (Prof.  T.  tl.,  F.R..S.),  Le  Lenian,  Monographic   I.ini- 

mologique,   F.    A.    Forel,   52  ;  My  Climbs  in  the  Alps  and 

Caucasus,  A.  F.  Mummery,  F.  R.S.,  219 
Book  of  the  Dead,  the,  V..  A.  Wallis  Budge,  I 
Book-keeping,  a  Manual  of,  J.  Thornton,  388 
Books  of  Science,  Forthcoming,  556 
Boole  (L.  E. ),  Nature  of  Vesicating  Constituent  of  Croton  Oil, 

•5'° 
Borchgrevink  (C.  E. ),  the  \'oyage  of  the  AnlantK  to  Victoria 

Land,  375 
Botany:  Over  de  Bevruchling  der  Bloemen  in  het  Ivempisch 
Ge<leelle  van  Vhuanderen,  J.  .MacLeod,  2  ;  F.niile  l.evier,  a 
Travers  le  CaHca.se,  3  ;  \ilality  of  Seeds,  W.  Hotting  Hems- 
ley,  F.R.S.,  5  :  Latent  N'ilalily  in  Seeds,  Prof  Italo  (iiglioli, 
544 ;    Latent   Life  of  Seeds,  C.   de   Candolle,   347  ;    Grand 


Sufffilement  to  Nature 
December  s,  1895 


J 


Index 


Vll 


I  riod  of  Growth  in  Fruit  of  CucurUta  pefio,  A.  P.'  Ahder- 
I.  10;  Wayside  and  Woodland  Blossoms,  Kdward  Step,  ! 
;  Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Cineraria,  W.  T.  Thiselton- 
Uyer,  F.R.S.,  3,  78,  128;  W.  Bateson,  29,  103;  Prof. 
W.  V.  R.  Weldon,  F.R.S.,  54,  103,  129  ;  W.  Botting  Ilenis- 
ley,  54  ;  Projiagation  of  l-'ungi  by  Snails  and  Toads,  I'.  \'og- 
lino,  45  ;  Bolletlino  della  Societa  Botanica  Italiana,  45  ; 
the  Loranthace.-e  of  Ceylon,  F.  W.  Keeble,  46  ;  the  Plant 
Individual  in  the  Light  of  F.volution,  Prof.  L.  H.  Bailey, 
59  ;  Nuovo  Giurnale  Botanico  Italiano,  94  ;  the  Brunissure 
Vine  Disease,  Dr.  U.  Brizi,  94;  a  Handbook  of  Systematic 
Botany,  Dr.  E.  Warming,  loi  :  Linnean  Society's  Gold 
Medal  awarded  to  Prof  Ferd.  Cohn,  IIO;  Object-Lessons 
in  Botany,  Edward  Snelgrove,  196 ;  Death  of  Dr.  W. 
C.  Williamson,  200 ;  Chorisis  in  Flowers,  Dr.  Calavosky, 
231  ;  an  Al^normal  Rose,  Newnham  Browne,  244;  W. 
Botting  Helmsley,  F.R.S.,  244:  Death  of  Prof  Daniel  C. 
Eaton,  249  :  Obituary  Notice  of,  371  ;  Death  of  J.  Deby, 
249 ;  Botanical  Work  of  American  Government,  J.  M. 
Coulter,  251  ;  Journal  of  Botany,  261,  611  ;  the  Proposed 
New  V'ork  Botanic  Garden,  Prof  G  L.  Goodall,  274; 
Starch  in   Embryonic  Sac  of  Cacti  and  Mesembrjanthema, 

E.  d'Hubert,  2S8 ;  Acairia  bakeri,  J.  \\.  Maiden,  288  ; 
Variegation  in  Flowers  and  Fruits,  J.  D.  La  Touche,  295  ; 
Death  of  Prof.  C.  C.  Babington,  F".  R.S.,  300;  Obituary 
Notice  of,  371  ;  Death  of  Prof.  Baillon,  301  ;  Obituary  Notice  | 
of,  371  ;  the  Flora  of  the  Caucasus,  JL  Akinfieff,  304; 
Laccase  in  Plants,  G.  Bertrand,  312;  Laboratory  E.\ercises  in 
Botany,  Paul  Edson,  S.  Bastin,  316  ;  Brasilische  Pilzblumen, 
Alfred  MoUer,  365 ;  .Ecidium  nymplnroidiis.  Dr.  C.  B. 
I'lowright,  382  ;  Hand-list  of  Herbaceous  Plants  cultivated  in 
the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  38S  ;  the  Morphology  of  Moulds 
and  \'easts.  Dr.  Jiirgensen,  397  ;  Part  played  by  Hydrocar- 
bons in  Inter-Molecular  Respiration  of  Higher  Plants,  W. 
Palladin,  40S  ;  Joseph  Thomson  as  a  Botanist,  W.  Botting 
Hcmsley,  F.R.S.,  459  ;  Death  of  F.  H.  Smiles,  485  ;  Altera- 
tion in  the  Colours  of  Flowers  by  Cyanide  Fumes,  Prof. 
T.  D.  A.  Cockerell,  520  ;  the  Insect  Enemies  of  the  Tea- 
plant,  524;  Prune  Rust,  Dr.  McAlpine,  540;  Groundsel 
Rust,  Dr.  McAlpine,  540 ;  New  Elaeocarpus,  J.  H.  Maiden 
and  R.  T.  Baker,  540 ;  Analytical  Key  to  the  Natural  Orders 
of  Flowering  Plants,  Franz  Thonner,  543  ;  Death  of  Moritz 
Wilkomm,  577  :  the  Elements  of  Botany,  Francis  Darwin, 
F.R.S.,  593  :  the  Organisms  responsible  for  the  Production  of 
Sake,  601  ;  Handbook  of  t;ra.sse5,  William  Hutchinson,  617  ; 
the   Flora  of  the  Galapagos  Islands,  W.    Botting  Hemsley, 

F.  R.S.,  623;  Ants  and  Orchids,  J.  H.  Hart,  627;  Late 
Leaves  and  Fruit,  J.  Lloyd  Bozward,  644  ;  Memorial  to  Dr. 
Robert  Brown,  625 ;  Death  and  Obituary  Notice  of  Dr. 
Robert  Brown,  651  {Sec  also  Section  K  of  the  British 
.Vssociation). 

Bothamley  (C.    H.),   on   the  Sensitising  Action  of   Dyes  on 

Gelatino-bromide  Plates,  538 
Bouchard    (Ch. ).    Argon   and   Helium   found    in    Nitrogen    of 

I'yrcnean  Sulphurous  Waters,  487 
Boule  (M.),  on  the  Finding  of  Remains  of  Elephas  ineridioiiahs 

and  E.  aii/ii/iiiis  in  association  with  Worked  Flints,  560 
Boulger   (G.     S. ),    Geology   of    Norway   Coast   and   Northern 

Russia,  166 
Bousey,  France,  Dam  burst  at,  9 
Boussinesq  (J. ),  Laws  of  Extinction  of  Simple  Waves  on  High 

■^cas,  264 
1.   Li^singauit,  Statue  to,  275 
Ijuutan  (L.),  Pelagic  Deep-Sea  Fishing,  312 
Boutrovix  (Leon),  Causes  of  Colour  of  Brown  Bread,  48 
Bouveault    (L. ),    Condensation    of    Aldehydes    and    Saturated 

Ketones,  192  ;  the  P'ssence  of  Linaloe,  312 
Bowden  (Mr.),  an  Electro-magnetic  Effect,  263 
Bower(Prof  F.  A.,  F.R.S.),  Remarks  on  the  Archesporium,  584 
Bower  (J.  A.),  Simple  Methods  for  Detecting  Food  Adultera- 
tion, 642 
Boyce  (Prof.  R. ),  on  Oysters  and  Typhoid.  562 
Boys  (Prof   C.   V.,   F.R.S.),  the   Projection  of  Ripples,   180; 

Scale  Lines  on  the  Logarithmic  Chart,  272 
Boys  (H.  \.),  the  Great  Gale  of  March  24  in  the  .Midlands,  45 
Bozward  (J.  Lloyd),  Late  Leaves  and  Fruit,  644 
Brain  of  the  Microcephalic  Idiot,  the.  Prof.  D.  J.  Cunningham, 

F.  R.S  ,  and  Dr.  Telford-.Smith,  11 1 
Hranly  (M.),  Rate  of  Loss  of  Electric  Charge  due  to  Effect  of 

Light  in  Badly-Conducting  Bodies,  10 ;  Electrical  Resistance 

at  Contact  of  Two  Metals,  24 


Brasilische  Pilzblumen,  Alfred  Moller,  365 

Bray  (R.  A.),  a  Remarkable  Flight  of  Birds,  415 

Brazil,  Black  Diamond  from,  H.  Moissan,  564 

Bread,  Brown,  Causes  of  Colour  of,  Leon  Boutroux,  48 

Brebner  (G.),  on  the  Prothallus  and  Embryo  of  Dannei,  584 

Bredikhine  (Th. ),  the   Perseids  ob.served  in  Russia  in  1894,  261 

Breslauer  (Dr.),  Antiseptic  Properties  of  different  Disinfectant 

Ointments,  524 
Brinton  (Daniel  G. ),  a  Primer  of  .Mayan  Hieroglyphics,  387 
Brisbane  :  Royal  Geographical  Society  of  Australasia,  540 
Bristowe  (Dr.  J.  S.,  F.R.S.),  Death  of,  41S 
Britain's  Naval  Power,  Hamilton  Williams,  173 
British  Associ.ation  :  Meeting  at  Ipswich,  370,  415,  461,. 
489  ;  Inaugural  Address  by  Sir  Douglas  Gallon,  F.R.S.^ 
President,  461 
Section  A  (Mathematics  and  Physics). — Opening  Address  by 
Prof.  W.  M.  Hicks,  F.R.S.  (President  of  the  Section), 
472  ;  Prof.  Henrici  on  the  Teaching  of  Geometrical  Draw- 
ing in  Schools,  532  ;  Dr.  J.  Murray  on  Cosmic  Dust,  533  ; 
Prof.  RUcker  and  W.  Watson  on  the  Results  of  a  Com- 
parison of  Magnetic  Standard  Instruments,  533  ;  Lord  Ray- 
leigh  on  the  Refractivity  and  Viscosity  of  Argon  and 
Helium,  533  ;  Prof  Schiisteron  the  Evidence  to  be  gathered 
as  to  the  Simple  or  Compound  Character  of  a  Gas  from  the 
Constitution  of  its  Spectrum,  533 ;  Lord  Keh-in  on  the 
Translational  and  Vibrational  Energies  of  Vibrators  after 
Impacts  on  Fixed  Walls,  in  which  he  sought  to  find  an 
exception  to  the  Maxwell-Boltzmann  Theorem  relating  to 
the  Average  Translational  Energy  of  the  Molecules  of  a 
Gas,  533  :  Prof.  Hicks  on  a  Spherical  \'ortex,  533  ;  Colonel 
Cunningham  on  Mersenne's  Numbers,  534 ;  Eric  S.  Bruce 
on  a  New  Theory  of  Lightning  Flashes,  534 :  Earth 
Tremors,  534  ;  Prof.  John  .Milne  on  Seismological  Pheno- 
mena in  Japan,  534 ;  Prof.  Michie  Smith  on  Indian 
Thunderstorms,  534  :  Prof  Schuster,  Observations  on  the 
Atmospheric  Electricity  near  the  Ground  at  different  Heights 
above  Sea-level,  534 ;  Prof.  Riicker  on  the  Nature  ot 
Combination  Tones,  535  ;  E.  II.  Griffiths  on  the  Desir- 
ability of  a  New  Practical  Heat  Standard,  535  ;  Dr.  C.  H. 
Lees  on  the  Method  and  Results  of  Experiments  on  the 
Thermal  Conductivity  of  Mixtures  of  Liquids,  535  ;  Prof. 
Ramsay  and  Miss  Dorothy  Marshall  on  a  Method  of  Com- 
paring Heats  of  Evaporations  of  Liquids  at  their  Boiling- 
points,  535  ;  Lord  Kelvin  on  the  Results  of  Experiments 
for  the  Electrification  and  Diselectrification  of  Air  and 
other  Gases,  535  ;  Prof.  Rucker  on  Vertical  (Earth-air) 
Electric  Currents,  535  ;  Mrs.  Ayrton  on  the  Connection 
between  Potential  Difference,  Current,  and  Length  of  .-Vrc, 
in  the  Electric  Arc,  535  ;  Prof  Ayrton  and  Mr.  Mather» 
Arguments  against  the  Existence  of  a  Back  Electromotive 
Force  in  the  Electric  Arc,  536  :  Messrs.  Edser  and  Starling 
on  the  Velocity  of  Light  in  \'acuum  Tubes  conveying  an 
Electric  Discharge,  536  ;  F.  G.  Baily  on  Hysteresis  of  Iron 
in  an  Alternating  .Magnetic  Field,  536  ;  Dr.  Gladstone  and 
W.  Hibbert  on  the  Change  of  Molecular  Refraction  in 
Salts  or  Acids  Dissolved  in  Water,  536  ;  Report  of  the 
Electrical  Standards  Committee.  536;  E.  H.  Griffiths  on 
the  Apparatus  Designed  for  the  Calibration  of  High- 
temperature  Thermometer  at  Kew  Observator)-,  536  ;  Lord 
Kelvin,  Magnus  Maclean,  and  Alexander  Gait  on  Electri- 
fication and  Diselectrification  of  Air  and  other  Gases,  60S 
Section  B  (C/(t^/HM/ry).— Opening  Address  by  Prof  Raphael 
Meldola,  F.R.S.  (President  of  the  Section),  the  State  of 
Chemical  Science  in  1851,  477  ;  Sir  Henry  Roscoe  and  Dr. 
A.  Haden  on   Dalton's  Discovery  of  the  Atomic   Theor)-, 

536  ;  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Teaching  of  Science 
in  Elementary  Schools,  536 ;  II.  .■\.  Auden  and  G.  J. 
Fowler  on  the  .Action  of  Nitric  Oxide  on  certain  Salts,  536 : 
Prof.  Clowes  on  Further  Experiments  on  the  Respirability 
of  Air,  in  which  a  Candle  Flame  has  burnt  till  it  is  extin- 
guished, 537  ;  D.  J.  P.  Berridge  on  the  Action  of  Light 
upon  the  Soluble  Metallic  Iodides  in  presence  of  Cellulose, 

537  ;  How  shall  Agriculture  best  obtain  the  Help  of 
Science?  Prof  R.  Warington,  537;  C.  H.  Bothamley  on 
the  Sensitising  Action  of  Dyes  on  Gelatino-bromide  Plates, 
53S  ;  Dr.  J.  J.  Sudborough  on  Organic  Chemistry-,  538 ; 
H.  J.  H.  Fenton  on  a  New  Organic  Acid  obtained  by 
Oxidising  Tartaric  Acid  under  certain  Conditions  in  presence 
of  a  Ferrous  Salt,  53S  ;  Dr.  M.  Wildermann  on  Physical 
Chemistr)-,  53S  ;  C.  F.  Cross  and  C.  Smith  on  the  Chemical 
1  listory  of  the  Barley  Plant,  538 


vm 


Index 


VSiippUmeHt  to  Xatttrc, 
I.       Decemter  5^  1895 


Section  C  {Geology). — Opening  Address  by  W.  Whitaker, 
F.R.S.,  Underground  in  Suffolk  and  its  Borders.  490  ;  Mr. 
Harmer  on  the  Coralline  and  Red  Crags,  55S  :  -Mr.  Bur- 
rows on  the  Distribution  of  Foraminifera  in  the  Crags,  559  : 
H.  B.  Woodward  on  a  Section  recently  e.\|X>sed  by  denu- 
dation at  the  North  Cliff,  Southwold,  and  Mr.  Spiller  on 
recent  Coast  Erosion  there,  559 ;  Messrs.  Reid  and  Ridley 
on  recent  Researches  by  Boring,  and  an  Examination  of 
the  Deposits  alxive  the  Water-level  at  Hoxne,  559 ;  Prof 
.Sollas  on  Artificial  Glaciers  or  "  I'oissiers  "  made  of  Pitch, 
^^9 :  Prof  W.  B.  Scott  on  the  "  Bad  Lands."  559  :  R.  B. 
White  on  Various  Deposits  in  Colombia  (New  Granada). 
559  ;  B.  Thompson  on  Pre-Glacial  \"alleys  in  Northampton- 
shire, 559 ;  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Coast  Erosion, 
^^9 :  Prof.  Marsh  on  some  European  Dinosaurs,  559  :  G. 
E.  Dollfus  on  the  Geological  Conditions  in  Upper  Tertiarj- 
Times,  560 :  Van  den  Brocck  on  the  present  State  of 
Knowledge  of  the  Upper  Tertiary  Strata  of  Belgium,  560  ; 
M.  Boule  on  the  Finding  of  Remains  of  Ekphas  meridion- 
alis  and  E.  Aiitiijuus  in  association  with  Worked  Flints, 
^6o :  Dr.  Hatch  on  the  Auriferous  Conglomerates  of  the 
Witwatersrand,  560;  E.  A.  Walford  on  the  Succession  of 
Limestones,  Clays,  and  Sandstones  in  Oxfordshire,  560  ; 
W.  Whitaker  on  the  Succession  of  Rocks  revealed  by  the 
Experimental  Boring  at  Stulton,  560 :  J.  Francis  on  the 
Methods  and  Results  of  the  Attempt  to  determine  the  Dip 
of  Strata  met  with  in  Deep  Wells  at  Ware  and  Turnford, 
S6o ;  Prof.  Claypole  on  some  Whole  Specimens  of  Clado- 
donts  from  the'  Devonian  Rocks  of  Ohio,  560 ;  Prot. 
Nicholson  and  Mr.  Marr  on  the  Phylogcny  of  the  Grapto- 
lites,  560:  Messrs.  Garwood  and  Nluir  on  the  Zonal 
Divisions  of  the  Carlx>niferous  System,  561 

Section  D  {Zoology).— 0\v:mn^  .\ddress  by  Prof  William  A. 
Herdman,  F.  R.S.,  494;  C.  W.  Andrews  on  the  Stere- 
omithes,  561  ;  Prof.  W.  E.  Ritter  (California),  on  Budding 
in  Compound  .\scidians,  561  ;  W.  Garslang  on  a  New  Clas- 
sification of  iheTunicata,  561  :  Marine  Fisheries,  561  ;  Dr. 
Bashford  Dean  on  Oyster-Cultural  Methods,  562  ;  Prof.  W. 
A.  Herdman  and  Prof  R.  Boyce  on  Oysters  and  Typhoid, 

562  ;  J.  T.  Cunningham  on  Fish  and  Fishing  Grounds  in 
the  North  Sea,  562  ;  Prof.  L.  C.  Miall  on  our  Present 
Knowledge  of  the  Causes  and  Conditions  of  Insect  Trans- 
formation, 562  :  Dr.  E.  Frankland  on  Conditions  affecting 
Bacterial  Life  in  River  Water,  562:  Dr.  II.  <).  Forbes' 
Criticisms  on  some  Points  in  the  Summary  of  the  Results 
of  the  Challenger  ExiJcdition,  562  ;  Prof  Lloyd  Morgan, 
Experiments  on  Instinct  in  Voung  Birds,  562  ;  Dr.  Otto 
Maas    on   the    Morphology  and    Distribution  of    Medusa;, 

563  ;  I-  E.  Moore  on  .Sjjermatogenesis  in  Birds,  562 
Seilion  k {Geography).— Vi .  B.    Blaikle  on  the  .Vstronomical 

Relations  of  Geography,  563  ;  II.  N.  Dick.son,  the  Result 
of  the  Recent  International  Observations  on  the  North 
Atlantic,  563  :  Rev.  W.  Weston  on  his  Explorations  in  the 
Jai>anese  Alps,  563 

Section  G  (Mechanical  Sdcnee). — Oi>ening  .-Vldrcss  by  L.  F. 
Vernon-Harcourt,  the  Relation  of  Engineering  to  Science, 
501  :  Major-Gcncral  Weblx'r  on  Light  Railways  as  an 
A.s.sistancc  to  Agriculture,  582  :  .M.  .\.  Got)ert  on  a 
Free/inp  Process  for  Shaft-sinking,  5S2  :  W.  H.  Wheeler 
on  the  Effect  of  Wind  and  .\tmospheric  Pressure  on  the 
Tides,  582;  G.  J.  .Symons  on  the  .Autumn  Floods  of  1894, 
582  ;  Messrs.  Rapier  and  Stoney  on  Weirs  in  Rivers,  582  ; 
I.  Napier  on  the  llermite  PrcKrcss  of  Purifying  Sew.ige,  583; 
Philip  Dawson  on  the  Modem  .\pplication  of  ElcclricKy  to 
Traction  Purposes,  583  ;  Messrs.  Preece  and  Trotter  on  an 
Improved  Portable  Photometer,  583:  II.  A.  Earle  on 
Storage  Batteries,  583  ;  Lieut.  B.  Baden-Powcll  on  Navi- 
gating the  Air  by  means  of  Kites,  584 

Section  H  (Anthropology).— Vtoi.  W.  M.  Flinders  Pctrie  on 
the  "New  Race''  lately  discovered  in  Egypt,  and  on 
Flint  and  Metal  Working  in  Ancient  Egypt,  580 :  H. 
Swainson  Cowper  on  the  Scnams,  or  Megalithic  Monu- 
ment* of  TI^  '  '  ■■  W.  J.  Lewis  Ablmtt  on  the 
Ha.<itings  Kii'  .  580;  Captain  S.    L.    IIin<le  on 

lh<- I   .1.1.1I..I  e  Congo,  580 ;  Mr.  Elworthy  on 

II  .ur,  and  Safety,  581  ;  Mrs.  Grove 

«.ri  r  Dances,  as   Forms  of  Magic  or 

Wuinliip,  5Sl  ;  l't"f-  W.  M.  Flinders  Pctrie  on  the  Results 
of  Interference  with  the  Civilisation  of  Native  Races,  581  : 
Dr.  Monro  on  the  Newly  Discovered  Neolithic  .Settlement 
at    Butmir   in   Bosnia,    581  ;    A.    \.   Evans  on   Primitive 


European  Idols,  58 1  ;  Dr.  Munro  on  the  Lake  Village  of 
fdastonbury,  5S1  :  Sir  William  H.  Flower,  F.R.S.,  F. 
Cundall,  and  J.  E.  Duerden  on  Recently  Discovered  Remains 
of  the  .Vlxiriginal  Inhabitants  of  Jamaica,  607 
Section  K (Botany). — Opening  .Address  by  W.  T.  Thiselton- 
Dyer,  F.  R.S.,  526:  Experimental  .Studies  in  the 
\ariation  of  \'east  Cells,  Dr.  Emil  Chr.  Hansen,  5S4  ; 
Harold  Wager  on  the  Slructure  of  Bacterial  Cells, 
584 ;  A.  X'aughan  Jennings  on  the  Occurrence  in 
New  Zealand  of  two  Forms  of  Peltoid  Trente- 
pohliaccce  and  their  relation  to  the  Lichen  Stri^ula,  584 ; 
Prof.  F.  E.  Weiss  on  a  Supposed  Case  of  Symbiosis  in 
Tctraplodon,  5S4  :  Prof.  F.  O.  Bower,  F.  R.S. ,  Remarks  on 
the  .\rchesporiuni.  5S4  :  (1.  Brebner  on  the  Prothallus  and 
Embryo  of  Dan^a,  5S4  :  Dr.  M.  Trcub  on  the  Localisation, 
the  Transport,  and  rile  of  Hydrocyanic  .Acid  in  Pangium 
ciiiile,  Reinw.,  5S4  :  Prof.  Reynolds  Clreen,  F.R.S.,  on  the 
Diurnal  \'ariation  in  the  Amoimt  of  Diastase  in  Foliage 
Leaves,  585  ;  J.  C.  Willis  on  Cross  and  Self- Fertilisation,  with 
special  reference  to  Pollen  Prepotency,  5S5  :  Dr.  D.  1 1.  Scott, 
F.R.S.,  on  the  Chief  Results  of  Williamsons  Work  on  the 
Carboniferous  Plants,  5S5  ;  Graf  Solms-I^ubach  oa  a  New 
Form  of  Fructification  in  Sphenophyllnm,  5S5  ;  Dr.  Con- 
wentz  on  English  Amber,  585  ;  .V.  C.  Seward  on  the 
Wealden  Flora  of  England,  586  ;  Prof  H.  Marshall  Ward 
on  the  Formation  of  Bacterial  Colonies,  65S ;  British 
.Association  Committee  on  Coast  Erosion,  Charles  E.  De 
I^ance,  597  ;  British  .Association,  Corresponding  Societies 
of  the,  605  ;  British  -Association,  the  Toronto  Meeting  of 
the.  Dr.  William  H.  Hale,  6iS 
British  Earthquakes,  a  History  of,  Charles  Davison,  174 
British  Fungus- Flora,  tleorge  .Massee,  435 
British  In,slitute  of  Public  ilesilth,  372 

British  Islands,  the  Lepidoptera  of  the,  Charles  G.  Barrett,  27 
British  Isles,  Climbing  in  the,  W.   P.  Ilaskett  Smith  and  -A.  C. 

Hart,  617 
British   Medical   .Association,  306,  352  ;  Annua!    Meeting.  325  ; 

Scientific  Results  of,  369 
British    Museum,    the    Papyrus   of  .An!    in    the,   E.    .A.    Wallis 

Budge,  I 
British  Pharmacoixvia,  the  Revision  of  the,  510 
Brizi  (Dr.  U.),  the  Brunissure  Vine- Disease,  94 
Broadbent  (.Sir  William),  Growth  of  the  .Art  of  Medicine,  353 
Brocken,  Meteorological  Observatory  on  the,  551 
Brodie  (F.  J.),  Barometrical  Changes  preceding  and  accomjxany- 

ing  Rainfall  of  November  1894,  143 
Brodie  (P.  B. ),  Tertiary  Fossil  .Ants  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  570 
Brodrick  (Hon.  G.  C),  Personal  Remini.scences  of  Huxley,  355 
Broeck  (M.  Van  den),  on  the  Present  State  of  Knowledge  of  the 

Upper  Tertiary  .Strata  of  Belgium,  560 
Brooks,  the  Orbit  of  Comet.  1893  I^--  Signor  I'eyra,  37 
Broom  (Robert),  iiarraiiiys parvus :  a  New  Fossil  .Mammal,  384 
Brough  (Bennett  H.),  the  Gold  Mines  of  the  Rand,  F.  H.  Hatch 

.and  J.  A.  Chalmers,  638 
Brown   (Prof.   .A.    Crum,    F.R.S.),   the  Relations  between  the 
Movements  of  the   Eyes  and   the   Movements  of  the  Head, 
184 
Brown  (F.  E.),  Death  of,  419 
Brown  (H.  T. ),  Lindner's  Isomaltose,  311 
Brown  (Dr.    Robert),    Memorial  (0,625;   I'eath   and  Obituary 

Notice  of,  651 
Brown  (W.   L. ),  Chemical  Constitution  of  Mesoglrea  of  Alcy- 

onium  digitaliim,  285 
Browne  (E.  T. ),   \ariation  of  TentaculocysLs  of  Anrelia  aurila, 

284 
Browne  (G.  F.),  Bishop  of  Stepney,  Off  the  Mill :  some  Occa- 
sional Papers,  243 
Browne  (Newnham),  an  .Abnormal  Rose,  244 
Bruce  (Eric  S.),  on  a  New  Theory  of  Lightning  Flashes,  534 
Bruce  (George),  the    Land    Birds  in  and  around   St.  .\ndrews, 

589 
Bruce  (William  S.),  Effects  of  a  Lightning  Flash  in    Ikn  Nevis 

Observatory,  244 
Bnmer  (Ixiuis),  Specific  Heat  of  Supcrfused  Liquids.  47  ;  .Solu- 
bility of  Superfused  Liquids,  264  ;  Specific  Heat  of  Sujierfused 
Salts,  264 
Brunhes   (M.   B.),    Cours    El£m^-ntaire    d'lileclricite,     M.    B. 

Brunhes,  243 
Brunner  (G.),  Three  New  Vibrios  from   I'olkiiod  Well-water, 

305 
Bruyn  (Dr.  I-obry  de),  the  Preparation  of  I'ree  Hydrazine,  360 


Supplement  to  Nature ^\ 
December  5,  1895      J 


Index 


IX 


lUyan   (G.   H.,  F.R.S.),   the  Size  of  the  Pages  of  Scientific 
I'ublications,  Prof.  Sylvanus  P.  Thompson,  F.R.S.,  221  ;  the 
Kinetic  Theory  of  Gases,  244 
l;ryan  (Mr.),  Simple  Graphical  Interpretation  of  Determinantal 

Relation  cif  Dynamics,  46 
Knchanan  (Sir  George),  Death  of,  34  ;  Obituary  Notice  of,  58 
I  iHJden  (Edwin),  to  find  the  Focal  Length  of  a  Convex  Mirror, 

;66 
I'.iiilge   (K.    .\.    Wallis),    the   Papyrus    of    Ani   in    the    British 

Museum.  I 
I'.iiUer  (Sir  W.  L.,  F.R.S.),  Illustrations  of  Darwinism,  60 
bulletin  of  .-Vmerican  .Mathematical  Society,  94,  189,  335,  587 
l;iil!etin  de  IWcademie  Roy.ale  de  Belgique,  94,  309,  6ti 
llidletin  de  IWcademie  des  Sciences  de  St.  Petersbourg,  261 
i'.villetins  de  la  Societe  d' Anthropologic  de  Paris,  455 
lUmge  (Prof),  Therapeutic  \'alue  of  Iron,  326 
lUioys,  Electric  Lights  on,  230 

l;urbury  (S.  H.,  F.R.S.),  Boltzmann's  Minimum  Function,  104  ; 
the  Kinetic  Theory  of  Gases,  316  :  Clausius'  Virial  Theorem, 
568 
luirgess  (W.  T.),  Infection  by  Flies,  38 

liurinsky   (E. ),   the  Restoration  of  Old  Documents  by   Photo- 
graphy. 407 
r>!trraniys  pan'iis^  a  New  Fossil  Mammal,  Robert  Broom,  384 
Burrows  (Mr.),  on  the  Distribution  of  Foraminifera  in  the  Crags, 

538 
I'.urstall  (II.  J.),  the  Electric  Lightmg  of  Edinburgh,  655 
liirstall  (Mr.),  Measurement  of  Cyclically  \'arying  Temperature, 

143,  1S9 
I'-iirton-Brown  (Colonel  A.),  the  Total  Solar  Eclipse  of  August 

8,  1896,  633 
Butler  (Charles  B.),  a  Brilliant  Meteor,  269 
Biitschli  (Otto),  Microscopic  Foam  and  Protoplasm,  291 
Butlerfiekl  (W.  C.  J.),  the  Cuckoo  and  its  Eggs,  177 
Bulterflies  and  Moths,  Harrow,  J.  L.  Bonhote  and  Hon.  N.  C. 

Rothschild,  38S 
Butterflies,  the  Migration  of,  J.  E.  Harting,  191 
Byron  (Dr.  John),  Death  of,  133 


Calcareous  Cements,  their  Nature  and   Uses,  G.  R.  Redgrave, 

77 
Calcium  Cyanate,  a  New  Nitrogenous  Manure,  Camille  F'aure, 

588 
Cambriilge  Natural  Hi.story,  the,  149 
Cambridge  Philosophical  Society,  47,  143 
Cambridge,  Post-Graduate  Study  and  Research  at,  296 
Cambridge,  .Science  Scholarships  at,  271  ;  W.  A.  Shenstone,  D. 

Rinloul,  295 
Campbell  (Prof. ),  Measurement  of  Planetary  Diameters,  579 
Canal,  .Ship,  the  Seattle,  48G 
("andolle  (C.  de).  Latent  Life  of  Seeds,  347 
Cantrill  (T.  C. ),  .S/>zV«vi?V- Limestone   and  Thin  Coals   in  Wyre 

P'lirest  Permians,  239 
Cape  Oljservatory,  the,  655 
Capper  (Prof   D.    S.),   the    Lille   E.>iperiments  on   Pjfticiency  of 

Ropes  and  Belts  for  Transmission  of  Pcnver,  657 
Carazzi  (Dr.  1).),  tireen  (Jysters,  643 
Carboniferous    Flora,    the    Southern,    Dr.     \V.    T.     Blanford, 

F.R.S..59S 
Cardew  (Major),  Deposit  on  St.    Pancras   Electric   Light  Main 

Insulators,  38 
Carnob  (Ad.),  the  Estimation  of  Minute   (Quantities  of  Arsenic, 

264 
Carpathians  not   extending  into   European    Russia,  tSeneral  .\. 

Tillo,  408 
Carriages,  .Auto-Mobile  in  France,  the  recent  Race  of,  300 
Carriages,  Horseless,  Display  of,  600 
Carrier  Pigeon  Competition,  French,  250 
Carter  (E.  \V.),  .Sophie  Kovalevsky,  43 
Carter  (lames).  Death  of,  485 
Carter  (.Surgeon-Major),  Death  of,  ^^ 
Cassiopei.e,  Parallax  and  Orbit  of,  61 
Catalogue  of  the   Books  and    Pamphlets   in   the    Library  of  the 

Manchester  Museum,  .A    \V.  E,  lloylc,  53 
Cats,  the  Alleged  New  (Cold-Storage)  Breed  of,  178 
Cats,  Manx,  Gradual  Elimination  of  Taillessness  in,  626 
Cattell  (Prof  J.   McKeen),   Do  the  Components  of  Compound 

Colours   in  "Nature  follow  a  Law  of  Multiple   Proportions  ? 

547 
Cattle,  White  Polled,  Sale  of  Mr.  LofiVs  Herd  of,  153 


Caucasus,  My  Climbs  in  the  Alps  and,  A.  F.   Mummer>',  Prof. 

T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.,  219 
Caucasus,  the  Flora  of  the,  M.  Akinfieff,  304 
Cautley  (Dr.),  the  Bacillus  of  Influenza-cold,  355 
Cazcneuve  (P).  Causes  of  Colouration  and  Coagulation  of  Milk 

by  Heat,  192 
Celavosky  (l-)r. ),  Chorisis  in  Flow'ers,  231 
Celts,  Curious  Dynamical  Property  of,  G.  H.  Walker,  143 
Cements,  Calcareous,  their  Nature  and  Uses,  Ci.  R.  Redgrave, 

Centauri,  the  System  of  a,  A.  W.  Roberts,  629 

Centenary   of  the    Institute  of  France,    the,    637  ;    Centenary 

Fetes:  Dr.   Henri  de  \arigny,  644;   -M.  Jules  Simon's  Dis- 
course on  the  Institute  of  P' ranee,  645 
Century  Magazine,  Science  in  the,  44 
Chagas  (Prof  M.  P.),  Death  of,  33 
Challenger,  the  Voyage  of  H. M.S.,  a  Summary  of  the  Scientific 

Results,  Dr.  Anton  Dohrn,  121 
Challenger  Expedition,  a  Souvenir  of  Challenger  Work,  417 
Chalmers  (J.    .\.),   Y.    II.   Hatch,  and   the   Gold  Mines  of  the 

Rand,  Bennett  H.  Brough,  638 
Chamberlin  (J.  C  ),  Recent  Glacial  Studies  in  Greenland,  139 
Chandler  (Dr.   S.   C. ),  Award  of  the  Watson   Medal  to,  113; 

Variable  Stars,  231 
Chapman    (Frederick),   Rhcetic    Foraminifera   from    Wedmore, 

166 
Charpy  (George),  Mechanical  Properties  of  Copper-Zinc  Alloys, 

612 
Chart,  Halley's,  Thos.  Ward,  106 
Chart,  Halley's  Equal  Variation,  Dr.  L.  \.  Bauer,  197 
Chart,  Halley's,   of  Magnetic   Declinations,  Charles   L.  Clarke, 

343 

Charts ;    the   Earliest   .Magnetic   Meridians,   Dr.   L.   A.    Bauer, 
269 

Chart,  the  Astro-Photographic,  113 

Chart,  Logarithmic,  Scale  Lines  on  the,  C.  \.   Boys,  F.R.S., 
272 

Charts,  Low's  Chemical  Lecture,  365 

Chatin  (.\.),  Phosphorus  in  Oysters,  120 

Chattaway  (F.  D.j,  3/3-Dinaphthyl  and  its  Quinones,  215 

Chatterton   (G.),  the   November   Floods   of   1894    in    Thames 
\'alley,  143 

Chauveau  (.\.),  Comparative   Heating  of  Muscles  by  Positive 
and  Negative  Work,  264 

Chebyshev  ( Prof  P.  L. )  (Tchebicheflf),  Obituary  Notice  of,  345 

Cheeses,  Soft,  the  Microbiological  Processes  in  Ripening  of,  E. 
Marchal,  178 

Chemistry  :  a  Lecture  Experiment,  C.  J.  Woodward,  5  ;  Terres- 
trial Helium  (?),  327;  Prof  W.  Ramsay,  F. U.S.,  7;  J. 
Njrman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  7:  Prof  W.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  J. 
Norman  Lockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S.,  55:  Prof  C.  Kunge,  12S: 
Density  of  Helium,  M.  Langlet,  155  :  Helium,  a  Constituent 
of  certain  Minerals,  Prof  William  Ramsay,  F.  R.S.,  Dr.  J. 
Norman  Collie,  and  Mr.  Morris  Travers,  306,  311,  331  ;  the 
Spectrum  of  Helium,  W.  Crookes,  F.R.S.,  428  :  on  the  Con- 
stituents of  the  (las  in  Cleveite,  Prof  C.  Runge  and  Prof.  F. 
Paschen,  520;  the  New  Mineral  (iases,  J.  Norman  L<x:kyer. 
F'.R.S.,  547  ;  --Attempt  to  Liquefy  Helium,  Prof  William 
Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  544;  Helium  and  the  Spectrum  of  Nova 
Aurig;e,  Profs.  C.  Runge  and  F.  Paschen,  544  ;  New  Urani- 
ferous  ^Iineral  discovered  by  M.  Nordenskiold,  8  ;  Death  of 
Dr.  Gordon  E.  Moore,  9  ;  Third  Report  to  the  Alloys  Re- 
search Committee,  Messrs.  Roberts-Austen,  Allan  Gibb,  and 
.\lfred  Stansfield,  18  ;  Crystals  Forming  at  Bottom  of  Solution 
of  Greater  Specific  Gravity,  Lecoq  de  Boisbaudran,  24  ;  Steel 
Works  .Analysis,  J.  <^.  .-Vrnold,  John  Parry,  26  ;  Re-determina 
tion  of  Atomic  Weight  of  Strontium,  T.  W.  Richards,  36  : 
Combustion  of  Acetylene  for  Illuminating  Purposes,  Prof.  \'. 
B.  Lewes,  39  ;  Acetylene  and  .\cetylene  ilydrate,  P.  X'illard, 
192;  Action  of  Halogen  Compounds  of  Phosphorus  on 
Metallic  Copper,  .-V.  tiranger,  47  ;  Campholenic  Acids  and 
Amides,  A.  Behal,  48  ;  Double  Combinations  of  .\nhydrous 
.\luminium  Chloride  with  Nitro-Compounds  of -Aromatic  Series, 
G.  Perrier,  48;  Causes  of  Colour  of  Brown  Bre.ad,  Leon 
Boulroux,48;  Gu.aninein  Fishes' Skins,  Chas.  A.  .Macnninn,55: 
Abortive  .\ttempts  to  produce  Argon  Compounds,  H, 
Moissan,  61  ;  Argon  and  Helium  in  Meteoric  Iron,  Prof 
Ramsay,  96  ;  Argon  and  I  lelium  in  Meteoric  Iron,  Prof  W. 
Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  224;  .\rgon,  Prout's  Hypothesis  and  the 
Periodic  Law,  E.  A.  Hill,  n8 ;  Argon  and  Dissociation, 
Prof    Penry   Vaughan    Bevan,    127;    Lord    Rayleigh,  127; 


Index 


CSHl>pU»t£Ht   to    Xtltl/r, 
December  5,  1695 


-Vrgon,  Lord  Kayleigh,  1.  K.S.,  159  ;  a  New  Combination  of 
.\rgon,  M.  Berthelot,  202  ;  Argon  and  the  Kinetic  Theory-, 
Colonel  C.  K.  Basevi,  221  ;  the  Fluorescence  of  Argon  and  its 
Combination  with  the  Elements  of  Benzene,  255  ;  the  Place 
of  Ai{;on  among  the  Elements,  C.  J.  Reed,  27S :  the  I'hysical 
Properties  of  Argon,  Lor<l  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,  293  ;  Argon  in 
Rock  Salt  Gases,  P.  P.  Bedson  and  S.  Shaw,  312  ;  Argon 
and  Helium  found  in  Nitrogen  of  Pyrenean  Sulphurous 
Waters,  Ch.  Bouchard,  4S7  :  the  Eflects  of  the  Use  of  Mag- 
nesium Wire  and  the  Silent  Discharge  ui>on  Xitrogtn,  Argon, 
and  Helium,  L.  Troost  and  L.  Ouvrard,  487  :  the  Estimation 
of  Argon,  Th.  Schltssing,  636;  Crystals  of  FeCl.Jv02njO 
obtained  by  \".  Thomas,  61  ;  New  Series  of  Iron  Xitroso 
Compounds,  K.  A.  Hofmann  and  O.  Y.  Wiede,  61  ;  the 
Schorlemmer  Memorial  Laboratory,  63 ;  the  Cerite  Firths, 
P.  Schiitzenbcrger,  71  ;  Mercurous  Sidphate,  Nitrate  and 
Acetate,  R.  X'aret,  71  :  Chitin  in  Mushrooms,  E.  Gilson,  71  ; 
.Synthesis  of  Caffeine.  Emil  Fischer  and  Lorcnz  Ach,  86;  The- 
bame  a  derivative  of  I'henanthrene,  Martin  Freund  and  Ernst 
Gobel,  86;  Chemical  Society,  94.  166,  214,  311  ;  Research 
Fund  Grants,  301  ;  Hydrogen  Peroxide,  W.  Spring,  94  ; 
Specific  Heat  of  Peroxide  of  Hydrogen,  W'.  Spring,  309  ; 
Conditions  of  Decomposition  of  Hydrogen  Peroxide,  W. 
Spring,  611  ;  .\ction  of  Hot  Gases  on  Red  Phosphorus,  \. 
J.  L  \'andevelde,  94  ;  Action  of  Nitroxyl  on  -Vmides,  W.  A. 
Tildcn  and  >L  O.  Forster,  94  ;  Formation  of  Lctvo-chloro- 
succinic  Acid,  W.  A.  Tiklen  and  B.  ^L  C.  Marshall,  94  ; 
Action  of  Sodium  Ethylate  on  Deoxybenzoin,  J.  J.  .Sud- 
Iwrough,  94  ;  Rhamnazin.  .A.  G.  l^erkin  and  J.  Geldard,  94  ; 
Solubilities  of  Gases  in  Water,  E.  P.  Perman,  94  ;  Existence 
of  Hydrates  and  Double  Compounds  in  .Solution,  L,  E.  P. 
I'erman,  94  ;  \'ellow  Phosphate  of  Platinum,  R.  E.  Barnett, 
95  ;  Thermochemical  Relations  between  Isomeric  Salts  of 
Glucose,  M.  Berthelot,  96  ;  Molecular  Origin  of  Absorption 
Bands  of  Cobalt  and  Chromium  Salts,  A.  E'ard,  96  ;  Reduc- 
ing Properties  of  Sodium  Alcoholate  at  a  High  Temperature, 
.\.  Haller  and  J.  Minguin,  120;  the  Isomeric  Transform- 
ations of  Mercury  .Salts,  Raoul  Varet,  120;  He.ils  of  Form- 
ation of  Benzoyl  Chloride  and  Toluyl  Chloride,  P.  Rivals, 
120;  .Senccionine  and  Senecine, -A.  Grandvaland  II.  Lajoux, 
120  ;  a  Leucomaine  from  Urine  in  Ca.ses  of  .Angina  Pectoris, 
-A.  B.  <;rifiliths  and  C.  Massey,  120;  the  Laws  of  Connection 
between  Conditions  and  Amount  of  Chemical  Change,  III., 
the  Reaction  of  Hydrogen  and  Dioxide  and  Hydrogen  Iodide, 
\.  \.  Harcourt,  F.R.S. ,  and  Wm.  Esson,  F.  R.S.,  141  ; 
Reduction  of  Nitric  Oxide  by  Iron  or  Zinc  in  presence  of 
Water,  P.  Sabatier  and  J.  B.  .Senderens,  144  ;  some  Reactions 
of  Lead  .Sulphide,  .A.  Lodin,  144  ;  .Aniline  Salt  transformed 
into  .Anilido-acid,  144;  Ozobenzene,  .Adolphe  Renard,  144; 
Sle'cochimie,  Expo.se  dcs  Theories  de  Le  Bel  et  \'an  "t  lloff,  \'.. 
<i.  Monod,  146  ;  the  Production  of  .Silver  Bismuth  .Sulphide, 
F.  Roe-ssler,  154  ;  Optical  .Activity  of  Metallic  Lactates  in 
Solution,  T.  Purdie  and  J.  W.  Walker,  166  ;  Derivatives  of 
Succinyl  and  Phlhalyl  Dilhiocarbimides,  .A.  E.  Dixon  and  R. 
E.  Doran,  166:  .Action  of  Nitrous  .Acid  on  Dibronianiline,  R. 
Meldola  and  E.  R.  Andrews,  r66;  New  Modification  of 
Benzilosazone,  11.  Ingle  and  H.  H.  Mann,  166;  .some  Re- 
actions of  Ammonium  Salts,  W.  R.  E.  Hodgkinson  and  N. 
E.  Bellairs,  166;  Reduction  of  Nitrous  Oxide  by  .Metals  in 
Presence  of  Water,  R.  .Salxilier  and  J.  B.  .Senderens,  167  ; 
Conductibility  of  i8-Ketonic  Esters,  J.  GuirchanI,  167  ;  John 
Dalton  and  the  Rise  of  .Modern  Chemistry,  Sir  Henry  V.. 
Roscoc,  F.R.S.,  169  ;  a  Series  of  .Active  Halogen  .Suhstitirtion 
Prixlucls,  P.  Walden,  179;  Condensation  of  .Aldehydes 
and  .Saturated  Ketones,  P.  Barbier  and  L.  Bouveault, 
192 ;  Causes  of  Coloration  and  Coagulation  of  Milk 
liy  Heat,  P.  Cazeneuvc  and  Haddon,  192;  Organic 
'"  'if-al     and        Pr.actical,       Prof.     J.      S. 

■n  of  Perchloric  .Acid,   I).  .A.  Kreider, 
.;.».    jj.ji.ii.i  '    its   (,)uinones,   F.    D.   Chaltaway, 

215:    .Action   •1  \di-  on    Phcnylsemicarbazide,  G. 

Adung,  215;  A.  ,      ml  of  Natural   A'ellow  Colouring 

Mailers  (i.),  .A.  1 1.  I'erkin  and  L.  Pate,  21$;  Action  of 
Sidpliur  on  a-Nilr'.na|ihtlialcnc,  A.  llerzfclder,  215  ;  Pure 
'  '  ill  Moissan,  216:   Product  of  Heat- 

Nitrite,  A.  Joly  and   E.  I.eidic, 
'';'•■  1   Lyinph,  .A.  Da.stre,  216;  Soliil 

farl  ,.|    U.  Jarry,  240;  the  Estimation 

•f  ^'  '.nic,  .All.  Carnol,  264;  Solubility 

I'luids,  Loui.s  Unmer.  264;  Specific   Heat  of 
.  I-oui»  Bruner,  264  ;  Esl  matton  of  Alumina 


in  Phosjihates,  Henri  I^sne,  264:  Chemical -Analyses  of  Oils. 
Fats,  and  Waxes,  Prof.  Dr.  R.  Bcnedikt  and  L.  .Archbutl, 
265 :  Chemical  Constitution  of  MesogUva  of  Aliyoiiiuiu 
liigitatiim.  W.  L.  Brown,  285  :  Occlusion  of  Oxygen  anil 
Hydrogen  by  Platinum  Black (i.).  Dr.  Ludwig  .Mond,  F.R.S. . 
Prof.  W.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  and  Dr.  John  Shields,  287  : 
\"olumes  of  Salts  in  -Aqueous  .Solutions,  Lecoq  de  Boisbaudran. 
2S7  ;  Diphenylanthione,  .A.  Haller  and  .-X.  Guyot,  28S : 
Determinations  of  Solubility  at  very  Low  Temperatures  of 
Organic  Compounds  in  Carbon  Disulphide,  M.  -Arctowski. 
28S ;  -Action  of  Nitric  Oxide  on  Ferrous,  Bi.snnuh  .and 
-Aluminium  Chlorides,  V.  Thomas,  2S8  :  a  Theoretical  and 
Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of  Sulphuric  .Acid  and 
-Alkali,  George  Lunge,  J.  T.  Dunn,  290 ;  Chloro-Bromomatic 
-•Vnhydride,  Dr.  -A.  j.  J.  A'andevelde,  309 :  Nature  of 
\'esicating  Constituent  of  Croton  Oil,  W.  R.  Dunstan. 
F.R.S.,  and  L.  E.  Boole,  310;  Lindner's  Isomaltose,  H.  T. 
Brown  and  (!.  H.  Morris,  311  ;  Thio. derivatives  from 
•Sulphanilic  .Acid.  L.  E.  Walter,  311  ;  New  Formation  of 
Glycollic  .Aldehyde.  11.  J.  H.  Fenton,  312;  Method  of  pre- 
IKiring  Formyl  Derivatives  of  .Aromatic  -Amines,  H.  R.  Hirst 
and  J.  B.  Cohen,  312  ;  a  Modification  of  Zincke"s  Reaction. 
H.  R.  Hirst  and  J.  B.  Cohen,  312  ;  Method  of  preparing 
Cyanuric  Acid,  W.  II.  -Archdeacon  and  J.  B.  Cohen,  312  ; 
Thermal  Researches  on  Cyanuric  .Acid,  P.  Lcmoult,  432  : 
-Action  of  Carbonic  -Acid,  Water,  and  .Alkalis  on  Cyanuric 
.Acid  and  its  .Dissolved  Sodium  and  Potassium  Salts,  P. 
Lemoult,  488  ;  the  Essence  of  Linaloe,  P.  Karbier  and  L. 
Bouveault,  312  ;  an  Introduction  to  Chemical  Crystallography. 
.Andreas  Fock,  315  :  (Jsmotic  Phenomena  produced  between 
Ether  and  .Methyl  .Alcohol  across  difi'erent  Diaphragms,  F.  M. 
Raoult,335  ;  .\nhydrous  Crystallised  and  Manganese  .Sulphide. 
.A.  Mourlul,  336  ;  Dry-prepared  Combinations  of  Ferrous 
Chloride  and  Nitric  Oxide,  V.  Thomas,  336;  Specific  Heats 
of  Superfused  Formic  and  .Acetic  .Acids,  .MM.  .Massol  and 
Guillot,  336  ;  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  346  ;  the  Society 
of  Chemical  Industry  and  -Abstracts,  Prof  James  Hendrick, 
618 ;  Action  of  -Aniline  on  Mercurous  Iodide,  .Maurice 
F"ran<;ois,  359;  Estimation  of  Boric  -Acid,  H.  Jay  and  M. 
Duposquier,  359;  the  Preparation  of  Free  Hydr.azine,  Dr. 
Lobry  de  Bruyn,  360 ;  the  Capillarity  ot  Liquid  G.ises,  Dr. 
Aerschaffelt,  360 ;  Low's  Chemical  Lecture  Charts,  365  ; 
Potassium  Derivatives  of  Quinone  and  Hydroquinone,  Ch. 
Astre,  408;  Death  of  Dr.  F.  Iloppc-Seyler,  41S;  Obitu.iry 
Notice  of  Prof.  Ernest  Felix  Immanuel  Hoppe-.Seylcr,  Dr.  A. 
Gamgee,  F'.R.S.,  575,  623:  the  <^)uestion  of  Non-poi,sonous 
Tipping  for  .Matches,  Th.  .Schln:sing,  432  ;  Combinations  of 
Mercury  Cyanide  with  Chloride,  Raoul  Varet,  432  :  Combina- 
tions of  Mercuric  Cyanide  with  Bromides,  Raoul  \'aret,  488  ; 
Combinations  of  Slercury  Cyanide  with  Iodides,  Raoul 
A'arel,  612  ;  ApictiUc  Fermentation,  M.  Rietsch  and 
M.  Herselin,  456 ;  Chemical  Technology,  or  Chemistry 
in  its  -Applic.ttions  to  -Arts  and  .Manufactures,  457  : 
the  Formation  of  Hydrogen  Selenide,  11.  Pclabon.  488; 
De.ath  of  Dr.  1".  Miescher,  512;  Nilro. substitutions,  C 
Matignon  and  M.  Deligny,  516;  .New  .Methods  of  Preparing 
Crystallised  Bromine,  11.  .Arctowski,  552;  Determination  of 
Boiling-point  and  Critical  Teinperature  of  Hydrogen,  Prof. 
Olszewski,  552  ;  Pclagcinc,  the  X'iolcl  Pigment  of  the  Medusa, 
A.  B.  Gritiiths  and  C.  Platl,  564;  Justus  von  Liebig  :  his  Life 
and  Work  (1809-73),  W.  .A.  Shen.stone,  565:  Calcium 
Cyanate,  a  New  Nitrogenous  Manure,  Camille  Faure,  58S  : 
.\cids  produced  in  Oxidation  of  Inactive  Camiiholine  .Acids, 
.A.  Behal,  588;  the  Freezing-point  of  Silver,  C.  T.  lleycock, 
F.R.S.,  and  F.  II.  Neville,  596  ;  a  Substitute  for  Sulphuretted 
Hydrogen,  Rusticus,  597  ;  the  Organi.sms  responsible  for  Pro- 
duction of  Sake,  ^lessrs.  Ko.sai  and  A'abe,  601  ;  Chemical 
Study  of  Eight  Lower  Congo  Earths,  E.  Stuyvaert,  611  ; 
Applications  to  General  Analysis  of  Critical  Solution-Tem- 
peratures, L.  Crismcr,  611  ;  Mechanical  Properties  of  Copper- 
Zinc  .Alloys,  Georges  Charpy,  612;  a  Carbide  of  (ilucinum, 
P.  Lebeau,  61 2;  .Aluminium  for  Condensers,  &c..  Prof. 
Norton,  607;  Death  of  Dr.  E.  1'".  Rogers,  626:  Chemical 
Theory  of  Frceilom  of  Will,  Dr.  W.  0.stwald,  627  ;  .Anti- 
nonnin,  C.  O.  Harz  and  W.  von  Miller,  627  ;  Prof  .Aubry, 
628;  Action  of  Hydrochloric  .Acid  on  Copper,  R.  Engel, 
636  ;  Combinations  of  .\nlipyrine  with  Diphenols,  G.  Palein 
and  E.  Dufau,  636;  Idonic  Acid  and  its  Derivatives,  Emil 
Fischer  and  J.  W.  Fay,  654  ;  Latent  Heals  of  X'aporisation  of 
Fatly  Ketones,  Octane  and  Decanc,  Diethyl  and  Dimethyl 
Carbonates,    W.     Longuinine,    660 ;    Pcroxidised    Potassium 


SjippUtiicHt  to  Xatnre^'\ 
Dcceti:ber  5,  1895       J 


Index 


xi 


iJerivatives  of  Benzoquinone,    Ch.   Astre,   660 ;    Toxicity  of 

Acetylene,  N.  CIrchant,  660 
Cheron    (Jules),    Instantaneous    Hyperglobulia    by    Peripheric 

Stimulation,  383 
Cherskiy  (I.  D. )  and   G.  G.  von   Petz,  P.  P.  Semenoff,  Eastern 

Siberia,  541 
Chicago  University,  the  New,  Mr.  Herrick,  586 
Chimpanzee,  a  Brown,  Dr.  A.  P.  Meyer,  653 
Cliina  :  the  Zi-ka-\Vei   Observatory,  180  ;  Scientific  Knowledge 

(if  the  Ancient  Chinese,  622 
Cholera,    Dr.    Haflliine's    Indian     Kxpericnces    in    Inoculation 

against,  1 1 1 
Chorisis  in  I'lowers,  Dr.  Celavosky,  231 
Christy  (Miller),  the  "  Deneholes  "  of  Essex  and  Kent,  44 
Chromo.scopc,  Betts's,  178 
Cinelli  (Dr.    M.),    Records   of  Vicentini   (.Siena)    Micioseismo- 

graph,  July-October  1894,  152 
Cineraria.   Origin   of  the   Cultivated,    W.    T.   Thiselton-Dyer, 

F.R.S.,   3,  78,   188;  W.   Bateson,  29,  103;  Prof.   W.  K.  R. 


.R.S. 


54,     It 
llalley': 


'j> 


Weldon,    1- 
ER.S.,  54 
Clarke  (Charles  L, 

343 
Classical  Antiquities,  Atlas  of,  Th.  Schreiber,  100 
Clausius'   \'irial  Theorem,   Col.    C.    V,.   Basevi,  413;  Prof.    A. 

A.   Gray,   568;    S.    H.    Burhury,    E.  U.S.,    568;    Robert    E. 

Hayncs,  569 
Claypole  (Prof.)  on  some  Whole  Specimens  of  Cladodonts  from 

the   Devonian   Rocks  of  Ohio,   560  ;  the   Oldest   Vertebrate 

l'os.sil,  55 
Clayton   (II.    Helm),   a  Cyclonic   Indraught   at  the  Top   of  an 

.\nticyclone,  243  ;   Relation  of  Clouds  to  Rainfall,  455 
Clcghoni  (Dr.),  Death  of,  82 
Cleveite,  on  the  Constituents  of  the  Gas  in.  Prof.  C.  Runge  and 

Prof  Paschen,  520 
Climates  and  Baths  of  Great  Britain,  566 
Climates    of   the    Geological   Past,    and    their    Relation    to  the 

Evolution  of  the  Sun,  Th.  Eug.  Dubois,  436 
Climbing   in  the  British  Isles,  \V.  P.  Ilaskelt  Smhh  and  II.  C. 

Hart,  617 
Clodd   (Edward),    a    Primer   of   I" volution,    26;    the   Story   of 

Primitive  Man,  173 
CIoud-Bursls  of  1872,  Effects  of  Coo.sa  (Alabama),  A.  M.  Gibson. 

552'  . 

Cloud  formation.  Phenomena  of,  \\ .  N.  Shaw,  39 

Clowes  (Prof.),  on   Further  Experiments  on  the  Respirability  of 

-Vir,  in  which  a  Candle  Flame  has  Burnt  till  it  is  extinguished, 

537 
Cluster,  the  Pnvsepe,  Dr.  Wilhelm  Schur,  515 
Coal-Shipping  System,  Lewis  and  Hunter,  180 
Coast   Erosion,  the  British  Association   Committee  on,  Charles 

E.  de  Ranee,  597 
Cockerell    (Prof.    T.    D.    A.),    Alterations    in    the   Colours   of 

Flowers  liy  Cyanide  Ftmies,  520 
Cod  and  Temperature,  the,  Lieut.  C.  Gade,  231 
Crelostat,  the,   399  ;  E.  Lippmann,  9O 

Cohen  (J.  B. ),  Slethod  of  Preparing  Formyl  Derivatives  of  Aro- 
matic .Vmines,  312  :  a  Modification  of  Zincke's  Reaction,  312  ; 
Method  of  Preparing  Cyanuric  .\cid,  312 
Culm   (Prof.   Fred.),  the  {iold   -Medal  of  the   Linnean   Society 

awarded  to,  1 10 
Cohnsteiu  (Dr.),   Experiments  in   Sugar- Inject  ion   into   Blood- 
Vessels,  336 
Collet  (Prof.  R  ),  the  Migrations  of  th 
Collie    (Dr.    J.    Norman),    Helium,    ; 

Minerals,  306,  311,  33 1 
Colliery  Explosions:    Report   upon  the  Timsbury  Colliery  Ex- 
jilosion   of    February    1895,  J.    Roskill    and   J.    S.    Martin, 
302 
Collins  (F.  Howard),  the  Examination  Curve,  30;  Do  the  Coni- 
jionents  of  Compound   Colours  in    Nature  follow  a   Law   of 
Multiple  Proportion  ?  438 
Colour   Photography,  Dr.  J.  Joly,  1S2  :  Otto  W'einer,  279 
Colour  Relations  of.Vtoms,  Ions,  and  .Molecules,  I.,  M.  C.  Lea, 

118 
Colour    Standards,  a  .Scheme  of,  J.    H.    Pillsbury,  390 ;    Mr. 

Pillsbury  and  J.  W.  Lovibond,  577 
Colours,  the  Nomenclature  of,  Herbert  Spencer,  413 
Colours  :  Do  the  Components  of  Compound  Colours  in  Nature 
follow  a  Law  of  Multiple    Proportion  ?    F.    Howard   Collins, 
438:  Joseph  \V.  Lovibond,  I'lof.  J.  McKeen  Cattell,  547 


Lemming,  64 
Constituent   of 


29 ;    W.     Botting    Hemsley, 
Chart  of  .Magnetic   Declinations, 


Colours  of  Flowers  by  Cyanide  Fumes,  Alterations  in  the,  Prof. 

T.  D.  A.  Cockerell,  520 
Colours  of  .Mother-o'-Pearl,  C.  E.  Benhani,  619 
Columbian  Museum,  the  Field,  137 

Comets  :  the  Orbit  of  Comet  1893  IV.  (Brooks').  Signor  Peyra, 
37  ;  Comet  1S92  \'.  (Barnard),  J.  G.  Porter,  J.  Coniel,  155  ; 
Ephemeris  for  Barnard's  Comet  1884  II.,  Dr.  Berberich,  327  ; 
Reappearance  of  Swift's  Comet,  421  ;  Ephemeris  of  Swift'.s 
Comet,  446  ;  Comet,  Swift's  (August  20,  1895),  ^-  Le  Cadet, 
456  ;  Elements  and  Ephemeris  of  Comet  a,  1895  (Swift),  Dr. 
Berberich,  553:  Comets  and  the  Sun-siX)t  Period,  Herr  J. 
Unterweger,  446  :  Return  of  Faye's  Comet,  553  ;  Ephemeris 
for  Faye's  Comet,  603;  Holmes'  Comet,  Dr.  II.  J.  Zwiers, 
629 
Comstock  (Prof.  E.  C. ),  Atmospheric  Refractions,  399 
Comstock  (Prof.   John   Henry)  and   Anna  Botsford  Comstock, 

a  Manual  for  the  Study  of  Insects,  337 
Congress,  International  Geographical,  329,  350 
Coniel  (J.)  Comet  1892  V.  (Barnard),  155 
Conroy  (Sir  John,   Bart,   F.R.S.),   Refractive  Index  of  Water 

between  0°  and  10',  455 
Consciousness  and  Evolution,  Prof.  Mark  Baldwin,  627 
Contemporary  Review,  -Science  in,  257,  356,  450,  586 
Coavex  Mirror,  to  Find  the  Focal  Length  of  a,  Edwin  Budden,. 

366 
Conwentz  (Dr.)  on  Engli.sh  Amber,  585 
Cook  Collections  of  South  Sea  Island  Weapons,  &c..    Dr.  A'. 

Ball,  II 
Cookery,   the   Spirit  of,  a   Popular   Treatise   on   the    History, 
Science,  Practice,  and  Ethical  and  Medical  Import  of  Culinary 
Art,  Dr.  J.  L.  W.  'I'hudichum,  97 
Cooper  (Arthur),  Metal  .Mixer,  62 
Cope  (Prof.  E.  D. ),  Cyphornis,  524 
Corals  :  Variations  in  Large  Masses  of  Turbinaria,  Prof.  JeftVey 

Bell,  II 
Cornish  (C.  L),  Wild  England  of  To-day,  and  the  Wild  Life  in 
.  it,  589 

Cornu  (A.),  Transverse  Vibrations  of  Cords,  382 
Cotton    (A.),     Unequal    Ab.sorption    of    Dextro-    and    Lpevo- 
Rotatory    Circularly     Polarised     Light    in     certain     Active 
Substances,  71 
Coulter  (J.  .M.),  Botanical  Work  of.Vinerican  Government,  251 
Counter-Irritation,   the  Theory  and   Practice  of,    H.   Cameron 

(Jillies,  615 
Cowper  (H.    Swainson)  on  the  Senanis,  or  Megalithic  Monu- 
ments of  Tripoli,  580 
Craigie  (P.  t;.),  .Agricultural  Education  in  the  United  Slates,  84 
Craters  of  the  .Moon,  the,  579 

Creak   (Captain   Ettrick  W.,  F.R.S.),  some   Bibliological  Dis- 
coveries in  Terrestrial  Magnetism,  129  ;  the  Earliest  Magnetic 
Meridians,  295 
Crismer    (L. ),    .Application    lo    General    -Vnaly.sis   of   Critical 

Solution-Temperature,  611 
Crcniptons  (R.  E. ),  Electrical  Heating  Apparatus,  37 
Crookes  (W. ,  F.  U.S.),  the  .Spectrum  of  Helium,  42S 
Cross  (C.  F. ),  on  the  Chemical  History  of  the  Barley  Plant,  53S 
Crustacea,  the   Life-History  of  the,  in   Early  Pahvozoic  Times, 

Dr.  Henry  Woodward,  114 
Crystal-Cutting,  &c. ,  .Vpparatus,  \.  E.  Tutton,  iSi 
Crystalline  Rocks.  Boring  for  Water  in,  486 
Crystallography  :   Crystallography,  a  Treatise  on  the   Morpho- 
logy of  Crystals,  N.  Story-Maskelyne,  F. R.S.,  11.  A.  Miers, 
145  ;  Number  of  Forms  of  Regular  System  in  Ciiven  Space, 
Prof.   Schoute,  168;  an  Introduction  to  Chemical  Cry.slallo- 
graphy,  -Andreas  Fock,  315 
Cuckoo  and  its  Eggs,  the,  W.  C.  J.  Butterfield,  177 
Culvcrwcll  (Edward  P.),  Boltzmann's  Minimum  "Theorem,  149 
Cundall  ( 1'. ),  on  Recently  Discovered  Aboriginal  Inhabitants  of 

Jamaica,  607 
Cunningham  (Colonel),  on  Mer.senne's  Numbers,  534 
Cunningham  (Prof.    D.  J.,    F.R.S.),   the  Brain  ol    the   Micro- 
cephalic Idiot,  III 
Cunningham  (I.  T. ),  on  Fi.sh  and  Fishing  Grounds  in  the  North. 

Sea,  562 
Cure,  a  Rational,  for  -Snake-bite,  620 

Curie  (P. ),  .M.ignetic  Properties  of  Bodies  at  Different  Tempera- 
tures, 134.  251 
Curry  (\V.  T. )  and  -Allen  Greenwell,  Rural  Water  Supply.  617 
Curtis  (R.    H.),    Hourly  A'arialion  of  Sunshine   in  the   British 

Isles,  215 
Curve,  the  Examination,  F.  Howard  Collins,  30 


Xll 


Index 


LSiif'fUment  to  Nature, 
December  5,  iSps 


Curved  Lines,  about  a  Certain  Class  of,  in  Space  of  «  Mani- 

foldness,  Emanuel  Lasker,  596 
Curves,  on  Skew  I'robability,  I'rof.  Karl  Pearson,  317 
Cvanide  Fumes.  Alterations  in  the  Colours  of  Flowers  by,  Prof. 

'T.  D.  A.  Cockerell,  520 
Cyclones,  the  Theory  of,  Prof.  L.  de  Marchi,  153 
Cyclonic  Indraught  at  the  Top  of  an  Anti-Cyclone,  H.  Helm 

Clayton,  243 
Cynips  calyas,  F'rof.  Beyerinck,  360 
Cyphomis,  Prof.  F.  D.  Cope,  524 


Dahshur,  Recent  Fxcavations  at  the  Pyramids  of,  131 

Dairy  Bacteriology,  Dr.  Ed.  von  Kreudenreich,  220 

Dalton  (John)  and  the  Rise  of  Modern  Chemistry,  Sir  II.  E. 

Rosco'e,  F.R.S.,  169 
Dam-burst  at  Bousey  (France),  9 
Dancer  and  Musician,  the,  Herbert  Spencer,  257 
Darwin,  from  the   Greeks  to  :  an  Outline  of  the  Development 

of  the  Evolution  Idea,  Henry  Fairfield  Osborn,  361 
Darwinian  Theory,  Lectures  on  the,  Arthur  Milnes  Marshall, 

F.R.S.,  219 
Darwinism,  Illustrations  of.  Sir  W.  L.  BuUer,  F. R.S.,  60 
Darwin  (Francis,  F. R.S. ),  the  Elements  of  Botany,  593 
Darwin  (Prof  Ci.  II.,  F. R.S.),  Satellite  Evolution,  JamesNolam, 

518;  Bari-sal  Guns  and  Mist  Poufiers,  650 
Dastre  (.A.),  Sugar  and  Glycogen  in  Lymph,  216;  Production 

of  Two  Globulins  by  Fresh  Fibrin  in  Saline  Solutions,  556 
Date- Mark,  the  Bagdad,  Colonel  A.  T.  Frazer,  31 
Davis  (E.  F.  C),  Death  of,  485 
Davison  (Charles),  the  Study  of  Earthquakes  in  the  South-East 

of  Europe,  4  ;  a  History  of  British  Earthquakes,  174  ;  Obituary 

Notice    of    Dr.    E.    von    Rebeur-Paschwitz,    599 ;    Dr.    A. 

Schmidt's  Theory  of  Earthquake  Motion,  631 
Dawson  (Dr.   Gi.  M.),  Post-Cretaceous  Elevation  along  British 

.\merican  Rocky  Mountain  Range,  212 
Dawson  (I'hilip),  on  the  Modern   Application  of  Electricity  to 

Traction  Purposes,  583 
I^wson  (Sir  William),  Eozoon  Canadense,  83 
De   Ranee  (Charles  E. ),  the  British  Association  Committee  on 

Coast  Erosion,  597 
Dean  (Dr.  Bashford),  on  Oyster-Cultural  Methods,  562 
Deas  (James),  Clyde  Navigation  Improvements,  349 
Death,  the  Feigning  of,  Oswald  H.  Latter,  343 
Deby  (J. ),  Death  of,  249 

Declination,  (Jbservations  on  Magnetic,  Ch.  Lagrange,  276 
Deep  Sounding  in   the  Pacific,   .\dmiral   W.   J.    L.   Wharton, 

F.R.S.,  550 
Deerr  (N. ),  Thermal  Constants  of  Elements,  190 
Degrully  (M.),  the  Sulphuric  Acid  Treatment  of  .Vmcrican  Vine 

Chlorosis,  167 
Dcligny  (M.),  Nitro-Substitutions,  516 
Delprat  (Th.),  Effects  of  Earthquake  in  Sumatra,  129 
Deluge,  Traces  of  a,  266 
Demon  (Dr.),  Aspect  of  Brain  Cell  Processes  of  .\nimals  dosed 

with  .Morphine  and  Chloral  Hydrate,  555 
Dcnayrouze  (M.),  a   Means  of  greatly  increasing   illuminating 

Power  of  G.as,  513 
fJiiidrexelas/es  (apiloidcs  of  Eylon  :    Note  on  the    Dendroco- 

laptine  species.  Dr.  Henry  O.  Forties,  619 
'■  Deneholes"  of  Essex  and  Kent,  the,  .Miller  Christy,  44 
Denning  (W.  K. ),   .'\pril  Meteors,  }iT,\  the  Relative  Powers  of 

Large  and  Small  Telescopes  in    showing    Planetary  Detail, 

232  ;  the   Perseids  of  1895,  395;  August  .Meteors  :  the   Red 

Spot  on  lupiter,  507 

1> '  *■  'nibaUl)'  the  M.G.  Metre,  207 

I'  111  Science,  Dr.  .Si.  G.  Mivarl,  450 

I'  ■  lative,  of  Terrestrial  Planets,  E.  S.  Wheeler,  37 

Den.sity  i.i   .Molten   Rock,  the.   Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.R.S., 

269 
Dental  Micr'p-ro|iy,  A.  Hopewell  Smith,  197 
Dentistry:  Oliituary  Notice  of  Sir  John  Tomes,  F.R.S.,  393 
Deslandres    (II.),   Cleveite    Gases,    Spectra,   and    Solar   .Atmo- 
spheric  Stiectrum  compared,  120:  .Spectroscopic    Researches 

on  Saturn  s  Rings,  144  ;  Spectroscopic  Study  of  Carlwin  from 

Electric  Furnace,  192  ;  Discovery  of  a  Third  Permanent 
Radiation  of  .Solar  .\tmosphere  in  Cleveite  (ias,  216  ;  Forces 
Developed  by   Diflcrenccs   of  Temperature    tietween   Upper 

and  lyiwer  Plates  of  Continuous  Girder,  516 
Dewar  (T.  I.),  Results  Relating  to  Spherical  Catenary,  95 
Dcwar  (Prof.),  the  AI«orption  Spectrum  of  Liquiil  .\ir,  312 


Diamond,  Black,  from  Brazil,  H.  Moissan,  564 

Diatoms  in  Surface  Waters,  Growth  of,  C.  Whipple,  112 

Diatoms,  Mineralised,  W.  H.  Shrubsole,  245 

Dichroism,  .\rtificial.  Prof.  H.  Behrens.  240 

Dickson  (II.  N.),  the  Result  of  the  Recent  International  Obser- 
vations on  the  North  -Atlantic,  563 

Dickson  (W.  K.  L. )  and  .Antonia  Dickson,  the  Life  and  Inven- 
tions of  Thomas  .Alva  Edison,  193 

Dictionary  of  the  English  Language,  a  New  Standard,  457 

Differential  Equations,  Linear,  Dr.  Ludwig  Schlesiiiger,  313 

Diphtheria,  Recent  Studies  on,  393 

Dise.ise  Demons.  Microbes  and,  Dr.  Berdoe,  340 

Disease,  We.ither  and,  -Alex.  B.  MacDowall,  641 

Disinfectant  Ointments,  Antiseptic  Properties  of  Ditt'erent,  Dr. 
Breslauer,  524 

Dissociation,  Argon  and,  I'rof  Penry  A'aughan  Bevan,  127  : 
Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.,  127 

Dixon  (.A.  E,),  Derivatives  of  Succinyl  and  Phthalyl  Dithio- 
Carbimi<les,  166 

Dixon  (Charles),  the  Migration  of  British  Birds,  including  their 
Post-Glacial  Emigration  as  traced  by  the  .-Xpplication  of  a 
New  Law  of  Dispersal,  589 

Dixon  (Edward  T.),  the  Philosophy  of  .Mind,  G.  T.  Ladd,  172  : 
a  Problem  in  Therniuclj-namics,  547 

Doberck  (Dr.),  Rainfall  in  China,  213 

Dohrn  (Dr.  Anton),  the  Aoy.-ige  of  H.M.S.  Challenger,  a  Sum- 
mary of  the  Scientific  Results,  121 

Dollfiis  (G.  F. ),  on  the  Geological  Conditions  in  Upper  Tertiary 
Times,  560 

Dolomite,  the  Formation  of,  C.  Klement,  134 

Donnan  (F.  G.),  the  Pressure  of  a  Saturated  N'apour  as  an 
Explicit  Function  of  the  Temperature,  619 

Doppler's  Principle,  .\pparatus  to  illustrate,  515 

Doran  (R.  E.),  Derivatives  of  Succinyl  and  I'hthalyl  Dithio- 
Carbimitles,  166 

Double  Refraction,  MacCullagh's  Theory  of,  .\.  H.  Basset, 
F.R.S.,595 

Double  .Stars,  Observations  of,  M.  Bigourilan,  305 

Dramatist,  the  Orator  and  I'oet,  .Actor  and,  llerlieit  Spencer, 
356 

Drude  (P.),  Convenient  Method  for  showing  Electric  Refractive 
Powers  of  Liquids,  539 

Dry  Weather,  the  Recent,  Prof  J.  P.  O'Reilly,  597 

Drysdalc  (J.  11.).  .^.  .A.  Kanthack  and,  a  Course  of  Elenicniary 
Pr;iclicai  Bacteriology,  53 

Duane  (William),  \elocity  of  Electric  Waves,  431 

Dublin  Royal  Society,  359 

Dubois'  PitliciaiitltropHS  ircitiis.  Prof  Rosenberg,  554 

Dubois  (Eug.),  the  Climates  of  the  Geological  Past,  anil  their 
Relation  to  the  Evolution  of  the  Sun,  436 

Duerden  (J.  E.),  on  Recently  Discovered  .Aboriginal  InhabilaiUs 
of  Jamaica,  173,  607 

Dufau(E.),  Combinations  of  .Antipyrine  with  Diphenol,  636 

Dufour  (Ch. ),  .Abnormal  Refractions  at  Surface  of  Water,  336 

Dunn  (J.  T.),  a  Theoretical  and  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manu- 
facture of  .Sulphuric  .Acid  and  .Alkali,  George  Lunge,  290 

Dunstan  (W.  R.,  F.R.S.),  Nature  of  Vesicating  Constituent  of 
Croton  Oil,  310 

Dupasipiier  (M.),  Estimation  of  Boric  Acid,  359 

Duppa-Crotch  (VV. ),  the  Migrations  of  the  Lemmings,  149 

Durham  (A.  E.),  Death  of,  },}, 

Dust-  and  Snow-.Storm  in  Western  United  .States,  Prof  Cleve- 
land .Abhe,  419 

Dyche  (I'rof),  Scientific  Work  in  North  Greenland  liy,  652 

Dyer  (I  lenrv),  the  Evolution  of  Industry,  Dr.  .Alfred  R.  Wal 
lace,  F.R!s.,  3S6 

Dyer  (W.  T.  Thiselton,  l'.K..S.),  the  Teaching  University  for 
London,  293 

Dynamics,  Simple  Graphical  Interpretation  of  Deterniinamal 
Relation  of,  Mr.  Bryan,  46 

Dynamics:  MacCull.agh's  Theory  of  Double  Refraclioii,  \.  \\. 
Basset,  F.R.S.,  595 

I'.arl  (.Alfred),  Tonbridge  School  Laboratories,  88 

i:arle  (II.  .A.),  on  Storage   Batteries,  583 

Earth,  Ilulton's  Theory  of  the,  Frank  I).  .Adams,  569 

ICarth,  Lines  of  Equal  Di.slurhance  of  .Magnetic  I'otcnlial  of,  Dr. 

von  Be/old,  112 
Earth  a  Magnetic  Shell,  the,  E.  II.  Bigelow,  431 
Earthquakes :  the  Study  of  Earthquakes  in   thi-  .Soulli-East  of 

I'Airope,   Charles    Davison,   4;  a   History  of   British    Earth- 


Supplement  to  Nature,'}. 
Decetitdcr  s,  iBgs      J 


Index 


Xlll 


quakes,  Charles  Davison,  174 ;  Prof.  Milne's  Observations  of 

the  Argentine  Earthquake,  October  27,  1894,  Dr.  K.  von 
Rebeur-I'aschwitz,  55  ;  Earthquake  in  Italy,  83  ;  Effects  of 
Earthquake  in  Sumatra,  Th.  Delprat,  129;  P^arthquake  at 
Elorence,  152:  Kccent  Earthquakes  in  Leeward  Islands,  Y. 
Walls,  230  ;  Earthquake  Shock  at  Algiers,  301  ;  the  Earth- 
quake of  Januarj-  17,  1895,  in  I'ersia,  302;  Earthquake  in 
New  Zealand,  396  ;  in  Peru,  396  ;  at  Zerniatt,  418  ;  Earth- 
quakes and  Storms  in  Austria  during  June,  C.  P.  Zenger,  432  ; 
Earthquake  near  Southamplon,  September  13,  1895,  552  ; 
Dr.  A.  Schmidt's  Theory  of  Earthquake  Motion,  C.  Davison, 

631 
Eaton  (Prof.   Daniel  C),  Death  of,  249;    Obituary  Notice  of, 

Eberhard  (Dr.  \.),  Die  Grundgebilde  der  Ebenen  Geometrie, 
616 

Ebert  (II.).  Temperature  of  the  Sun,  232 

Eclipse,  the  Total  Solar,  of  August  8,  1896,  Col.  A.  Burton- 
Brown,  633 

Eclipse,  Total  Solar,  of  1898,  January  21-22,  113 

Eclipses  :  the  Recurrence  of  Eclipses,  Prof.  J.  M.  Stockwell, 
180 

Edinburgh,  the  Bifilar  Pendulum  at  the  Royal  Observatorj', 
Thomas  Heath,  223 

Edinburgh,  the  Electric  Lighting  of,  H.  J.  Burslall,  655 

Edison  (Thomas  Alva),  the  Life  and  Inventions  of,  vV.  K.  L. 
Dickson  and  Antonia  Dickson,  193 

Edser  (Mr.),  on  the  \'elocityof  Light  in  \acuuni  Tubes  convey- 
ing an  Electric  Discharge,  536 

Education  :  Research  in.  Dr.  S.  T.  tlrant,  4  :  Miss  L.  Edna 
Walter,  105  ;  the  Use  and  Abuse  of  Examinations,  Dr.  H. 
Belcher,  66  ;  Scientific  Education  in  .\merica,  357  ;  the  New 
Natural  Science  Schools  at  Rugby,  401  ;  the  Foundations  of 
Engineering  Education,  Prof  G.  Lanza,  405  ;  Report  of  the  I 
Committee  on  the  Teaching  of  .Science  in  Elementary  Schools, 
536  ;  the  Normal  School  at  Paris,  R.  .\.  Gregory,  570 ;  the 
New  Chicago  University,  Mr.  Herrick.  5S6 

Egyptologj- :  the  Papyrus  of  Ani  in  the  British  Museum,  E.  A. 
Wallis  Budge,  i  ;  Recent  Excavations  at  the  Pyramids  of 
Dahshur,  131  ;  the  Climate  of  Cairo  and  Alexandria,  133: 
Unscientific  Excavations  in  ICgypt,  439  ;  Incubation  among 
the  Egyptians,  J.  Tyrrell  Baylee,  414  ;  Death  of  H.  W.  \'. 
Stuart,  626 

Eteocarpus,  New ,  J.  H.  Maiden  and  K.  T.   Baker,  540 

Election,  University  of  London,  Right  Hon.  Sir  John  Lubbock, 
Bart..  F. R.S.,  340 

Electricity  :  Effects  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism  on  Develop- 
ment, Dr.  Bertram  Windlc,  10 ;  Rate  of  Loss  of  Electric 
Charge  due  to  Effects  of  Light  in  Badly-conducting  Bodies, 
M.  Branly,  10;  Third  Report  to  the  .\lloys  Research 
Committee,  Messrs.  Roberts-.Vusten,  .\llan  Gibb,  and  .Mfrcd 
Stansfield,  18  ;  Resistance  and  Contact  of  two  .Metals, 
Edward  Branly,  24  ;  Optical  Method  of  observing  Alter- 
nating Current,  J.  Pionchon,  35  ;  Prof.  Roberts-.Vusten's 
Magnesia  Furnace,  37  ;  Effects  of  Internal  Currents  on  Mag- 
netisation of  Iron,  Dr.  Hopkinson,  37  ;  Crompton's  Electrical 
Healing  .\pparatus,  37  :  New  Instrument  for  Testing  Hys- 
teresis in  Iron,  Prof.  Ewing,  38  :  Deposit  on  .St.  Pancras 
Light-main  Insulators,  Major  Cardew,  38  :  Electricity  and 
Optics,  Prof  Righi,  42  :  the  (Srowth  of  Electric  Railways  in 
the  United  States,  Joseph  Wetzler,  43  :  Electric  Locomotion 
in  United  States,  303  :  Electric  Locomotion,  the  Nantasket 
Beach  Trials,  513  ;  a  Neglected  Experiment  of  .Ampere,  Prof. 
S.  P.  Thompson,  45  ;  a  Theory  of  the  .Synchronous  Motor, 
W.  <;.  Rhodes,  46  ;  Electric  Resistance  of  Saccharine  Liquids, 
MM.  (;in  and  Leleux,  47  ;  on  the  Electrification  of  .\ir  and 
Thermal  Conductivity  of  Rock  at  DiffereiU  Temperatures, 
Lord  Kelvin,  P.R.S.,  67  ;  the  Conductivity  of  Healed  <.;a.ses, 
Dr.  Pringshcim,  71  ;  Hall's  Phenomenon  as  investigated  on 
Thin  Layers  of  Bismuth  deposited  Electrolytically,  Prof,  van 
Aubel,  71  ;  the  Scientific  and  Technical  Papers  of  Werner 
von  Siemens.  W.  Watson,  73  ;  the  Influence  of  Magnetic 
Fields  upon  Electrical  Resistance,  J.  Sadovsky,  87  ;  Normal 
and  .Vnomalous  I)is|iersion  of  Electric  Waves,  L.  Graetz  and 
L.  Fomm,  94  ;  the  Doulile  Refraction  of  Electric  Rays,  W. 
von  Bezold,  94  ;  Applications  of  the  Niagara  Falls  Power, 
no;  Herroun's  Iodine  \'oltameter,  119;  Alternate  Current 
Dynamo  Electric  -Machines,  J.  Hopkinson,  F.R.S.,  and  E. 
Wilson,  141  ;  Goldstein's  Experiments  on  Kathode  Rays,  143  ; 
Electric  Resonance,  \'.  Bjerknes,  189  ;  Electric  Lights  on 
Buoys,  230  ;  Effect  of  Surrounding  Gas  Pressure  on  Temi>era- 


ture  of  Arc-Light  Crater,  W.  E.  Wilson,  238  ;  Cours  Ele- 
mentaire  d'Electricite,  M.  B.  Brunhes,  243  ;  the  Electrical 
Mea.surement  of  Starlight,  Prof  Geo.  M.  Minchin,  F.R.S., 
246  ;  an  Electro-.Magnetic  Effect,  Mr.  Bowden,  263  ;  Arma- 
ture Reaction  in  Single  Phase  Alternating  Current  Machine, 
Mr.  Rhodes,  263  ;  Electrical  Properties  of  Selenium.  Shel- 
ford  Bidwell,  263  ;  Apparent  Attractions  and  Repulsions  of 
Electrified  Conductors  in  Dielectric  Fluid,  M.  Gouy,  264  ; 
Influence  of  Gases  Di.ssolvecl  in  Electrolyte  of  Silver  Volta- 
meter on  Weight  of  Deposited  Silver,  J.  E.  Myers,  276  ; 
Velocities  of  Ions,  W.  C.  D.  Whetham,  286  ;  the  Earliest 
Magnetic  Meridians,  Cajitain  Eltrick  W.  Creak,  F.R.S.,  295  ; 
Aureole  and  Stratification  in  Electric  Arc,  P.  Lehmann,  309  : 
DjTiamical  Theory  of  Electrons,  Joseph  Larmor,  F.  R.S.,  310  ; 
the  Discharge  of  the  Torpedo,  -M.  d'Arsonville,  312  ;  Inven- 
tions, Researches,  and  Writings  of  Nikola  Tesla,  T.  C. 
Martin,  Prof.  A.  tiray,  314  ;  Phosphorescence  Phenomenon 
in  Tubes  of  Rarefied  Nitrogen  after  Passage  of  Electric  Dis- 
charge, Gaston  Seguy,  336  ;  Electromotive  Force  of  Latimer 
Clark,  Gouy,  and  Daniel  Standards,  C.  Limb,  336  ;  Electrical 
Laboratory  Notes  and  Forms,  Dr.  J.  -A.  Fleming,  F".  R.S., 
339;  a  New  \oltaic  Cell,  .M.  Mori'sol,  359;  Lighting  by 
Luminescene,  A.  Witz,  383 ;  Velocity  of  Electric  Waves, 
John  Trowbridge  and  William  Duane,  431  ;  Die  Lehre  von 
der  Elektrizitiit  und  deren  Praklische  \'erwendung,  Th. 
Schwartze,  519  ;  on  the  ^Electrolysis  of  Gases,  Prof.  f.  J. 
Thomson,  F.R.S.,  451;  Electrical  Forge  at  Niagara,  525  ; 
Electrical  Corn-thresher.  525  ;  New  Arc  Lamp  for  Projection, 
C.  M.  Hepworth,  525  ;  Report  of  the  Electrical  Standards 
Committee,  536  ;  Simple  Objective  Presentation  of  Hertzian 
Reflection  Experiments,  \'.  Biernacki,  539 ;  Convenient 
Method  for  show  ing  Electric  Refractive  Powers  of  Liquids,  P. 
Drude,  539  ;  Inconstancy  of  Spark  Potential,  G.  Jaumann, 
540  ;  Discharge  of  Malapteriirus  ehctricus.  Prof.  F.  Gotch, 
556  ;  Persistence  of  Electric  Irritability  in  Peripheral  Ends  of 
Divided  Nerve.s,  Prof.  .-Vrloing,  603  ;  Two  Kinds  of  Electrical 
Response  to  Muscle-excitation  by  Nerve,  Prof.  Burdon 
Sanderson,  604  ;  Influence  i>f  Chemical  Reagents  on  Electrical 
Excitability  of  Isolated  Nerve,  Dr.  Waller,  604 ;  Action  of  Elec- 
tric Tetanisation  on  Nerve-Muscle  Apparatus,  Prof  Wedensky, 
604  ;  Electrification  and  Diselectrification  of  Air  and  other 
Gases,  Lord  Kelvin,  Magnus  Maclean,  and  A.  Gait,  608  ; 
Double  Refraction  of  Electromagnetic  Rays,  i'eter  Lebeden, 
611  ;  Luminescence  of  Organic  Substances  in  ttie  Three 
States,  E.  Wiedemann  and  G.  C.  Schmidt,  611  ;  a  Vibration 
Galvanometer,  H.  Rubens,  611  ;  the  Theory  of  Magnetic 
Action  on  Light,  A.  B.  Basset,  F.R.S.,  618  ;  Measurement  ot 
very  High  Potentials  by  means  of  a  Modified  .\ttracted  Disc- 
Electrometer,  MM.  .Vbraham  and  Lemoine,  628;  New- 
Method  of  Mea.suring  Resistance  of  .Vir-gap  during  Spark- 
passage,  X'ictor  Biernacki,  653  :  Electric  Lighting  of  Edin- 
burgh, H.  J.  Burslall,  655  ;  Electrograph  for  .Marking  Linen, 
Nalder's,  1 80 

Elements,  on  the  Line-Spectra  of  the,  Prof.  C.  Runge,  106 

Eleusis,  the  Excavations  at,  511 

Eleusinian  Mysteries  of  Egyptian  Origin,  511 

Elger  (T.  Gwyn),  the  Moon,  127 

Eliot  (|.,  F.R.S.),  .Meteorolog)'  in  India,  654 

EliseieY(Dr.  \.),  Death  of,  200 

Elkin  (Dr.  W.  L.),  the  Observatory  of  Vale  University,  375 

Ellery  (R.   L.  J.),  the  Melbourne  Observatory,  603 

Ellington  (E.  B.),  Hydraulic  Power  Supply  in  Towns,  350 

Elliot  (G.  F.  Scott),  the  Fauna  of  .Mount  Ruwenzori,  95 ; 
Geology  of  Mount  Ruwenzori,  191  ;  the  Best  Route  to  Uganda, 
257  .  ,   . 

Elliptic  Functions  :  Albrege  de  la  Theorie  des  Fonclions  EUip- 
tiques,  Charles  Henry  H.  F.  Baker,  567 

F:i.ster  ([.),  .Vtmospheric  Electricity  on  the  Sonnblick,  59 

Elworlliy  (Mr.)  on  Horns  of  Honour,  Dishonour,  and  Safely, 
581 

Embryology  :  Effects  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism  on  Develop- 
ment, Dr.  Bertram  Windle,  10 

Emerson  (P.  II.),  Birds,  Beasts,  and  Fishes  of  the  Norfolk 
Broadlands,   195 

Emery  (C.)  on  the  Origin  of  European  and  North  American 
Ants,  399 

Endowments,  Oxford,  R.  E.  Baynes,  Prof.  Sydney  J.  Hickson, 
F.R.S.,  644 

ICnergelics,  the  Present  Position  of,  Georg  Helm,  308 

Energ)-,  the  Source  and  Mode  of  Solar,  Dr.  I.  W.  Heysinger. 
316 


XIV 


Index 


V Supplement  to  Xattire, 
L      Dece$Hber  5,  1895 


'■•'■■■ 

. ;.   .  I,- 

r     ran  Mols,  581 

nil,    II.   (1.    Wells,   410 

'  of  liirds,  508 

.t    rnmcr 

Clndd.   26  ;    the   rianl-Indi- 

•h"   Liph' 

II.  Hailey,  59;    lA;cturc.s  on 

thv 

;,    Alll 

•  ui  .Milncs  Ma'r.shnll,  K.  R.S.,  219  ; 

Sil- 

. 22!; 

;    Aiavisni    and    ICvrjliuion.    Prof. 

ly 

1 .. .  . 

.11,    Crofi    Miller, 

y- 

iiiild  <).slK>rn,  361  ; 

Sll! 

■  i  i    K.  Lydckkcr, 

Engel  (R.),  Action  of  Hydrochloric  Acid  on  Cop|>er,  656 
Engineering  :  Messrs.  Koberts- Austen,  Allan  (.".ibb,  and  Alfred 
Stansfield's  Third  Report  to  the  Alloys  Research  Committee, 
18 ;  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers.  18,  34S,  655  ;  a 
Text-book  of  Mechanical  Engineering,  Wilfrid  J.  Lineham, 
51  ;  the  Education  of  an  Engineer,  Prof  G.  Lanza,  60 :  the 
Foundations  of  Engineering  Education,  Prof  CI.  I.anza,  405  ; 
the  Development  of  the  Experimental  Study  of  Heat 
Engines,  Prof  W.  C.  L'nwin,  F.  R.S.,  89:  Hydraulic 
Motors,  Turbines,  and  Pressure  Engines,  (■.  K.  Bodmer, 
170;  Motive  Powers  and  their  Practical  Selection,  Reginald 
liolton.  170 :  Steam  Power  and  Mill  Work,  tieorge  William 
Sutcliffe,  218:  Freezing  (Quicksand  Bed,  230:  the  Recent 
Race  of  Auto-Mobile  Carriages  in  France,  300 :  Display  of 
Horseless  Carriages,  600  ;  Gas  Works  .Machinery,  A.  .S.  Big- 
gart,  349  ;  Modern  Steel-Work  Machinerj-,  James  Riley,  349  ; 
Clyde  Navigation  Improvement,  James  Deas,  359  ;  1  lydraulic 
Power  Supply  in  Towns,  E.  B.  Ellington,  350  ;  the  Iron  and 
Steel  Institute.  425  ;  the  Seattle  Ship  Canal,  4S6  :  Death  of 
R.  H.  Tweddell.  485  :  Death  of  K.  F.  C.  Davis.  485  :  Death 
of  H.  C.  Hart,  485  :  the  Relation  of  Engineering  to  Science, 
L.  F.  V'emon-iiarcourt,  501  :  the  Lille  Ex|5eriments  on  F'ffi- 
ciency  of  Ro()es  and  Belts  for  Transmission  of  Power,  I'rof  D. 
F.  Capper,  657 
English  Language,  a  New  Standard  Dictionary  of  the,  457 
Enock  (Fred),  an  .Aquatic  Hymenopterous  Insect,  105 
Entomology:  Variation  in  .Size  of  Beetles,  D.  Sharp,  F.R.S., 
38;  Entomological  Society,  46,  190,  611  ;  the  Noxious  and 
Beneficial  In.sects  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  102  ;  an  Aquatic 
Hymenopterous  Insect,  Fred  Fnock,  105;  the  Forest  Fly,  E. 
A.  Ormerod,  179;  Calolcnms,  Dr.  (i.  D.  Haviland,  190; 
"Honey"  .\nts,  Roland  Trimen,  F. R..S.,  191  ;  the  Migration 
of  Butterflies,  J.  E.  Hartwig,  191  ;  the  Tick  Pest  in  the  Tropics, 
C.  A.  Barber,  197  :  the  Senses  of  Insects,  Prof  C.  \'.  Riley, 
209;  theNatural  History  of  .\quatic  Insects,  Prof.  L.  C.  Miall, 
F.R.S.,  242:  a  Sound  producing  Insect,  J.  R.  Holt,  318;  a 
.Manual  for  the  Study  of  Insects,  Prof  John  Henr)'  Comstock 
and  .Anna  Botslord  Comstock,  337  ;  Bird-Catching  .Spiders, 
W.  G.  Rainlww,  384;  Harrow  Butterflies  and  Moths,  J.  L. 
Bonhote  and  Hon.  N.  C.  Rothschild,  3S8  ;  on  the  Origin  of 
P^uropean  and  North  American  .\nts,  C.  Emery,  399  ;  the 
Insect  Enemies  of  the  Tea-Plant,  524  ;  Death  and  (Jbituary 
Notice  of  Prof  C.  V.  Riley,  552 
Epigenesi.s,  Evolution  or,  H.  Croft  Hiller,  317 
Epping  Forest :   an    Explanation,   Prof.    R.  Meldola,    F.  R.  S. 

K|ijiing  Forest,  Meeting  of  the  Essex  Field  Club  in,  83 

'  l'l''"S  Eorest,  the  Management  of  158 

Epping  Forest  Committee,  Report  of,  302 

E|)stein  (Dr.),  the  Increa.se  in  Acuteness  of  Vision  under  In- 
fluence of  .Auditory  Impressions,  604 

Eruption  of  Vesuvius,  July  3,  1895,  the.  Dr.  H.  J.  Johnston- 
Lavis,  343 

Es|>in  (Rev.  T.  F.),  New  X'ariable  Stars,  306 

Essex  Field  Club  .Meeting  in  Epping  Forest,  83 

Esson  (Wm.,  F.R..S.).  the  Laws  of  Connection  between  Con- 
ditions and  Amount  of  Chemical  Change,  III.  :  the  Reaction 
of  Hydrogen  and  Dioxide  and  Hydrogen  Iodide,  141 

Etard  (.A.),  Molecular  Origin  of  .Absorption  Bands  of  Coljalt  on 
Chromium  Salt.s,  96 

!        r.  the  Motion  of  the,  L.  Zehnder,  153 

I  I'raphie,  Internationales  Archiv  filr,  141 

'.v  of  .Matty  Island,  Dr.  F.  von  Luschan,  141 
.  ;   Kubary  on    House  and  Canoe  Construction    in 
■    ..  .1  i  -..mils,  654 

Europe,  the  Study  of  Earthquakes  in  the  South-east  of,  Charles 
DavLvjn,  4 

Europe,  the  Telephone  Systems  of  the  Continent  of,  .A.  R. 
B.-nnrn.  tii7 

I  '  irigin  of  European  and  North  American  Ants, 


F.R.S.,    411;    Consciousness    and     Evolution,    Prof.     Mark 

Baldwin,  627 
Evolution  of  Industrj',  the,  Henry  Dyer,  Dr.  Alfred  R,  Wallace, 

F.R.S.,  386 
Ewald  (i'rof),  Effect  on  Dog  of  Removal  of  Spinal  Cord,  555 
Ewing    (Prof    J.    .A.,    F.R.S.),   New    Instrument    for   Testint; 

Hysteresis  in  Iron,  38  :  on  Measurements  of  Small  Strains  in 

Testing  of  Materials  and  Structures,  285  . 
Examination  Curve,  the,  F.  Howard  Collins,  30 
Examinations,  the  I'se  and  Abuse  of.  Dr.  H.  Belcher,  66 
Excavations  at  the  Pyramids  of  D.ihshur,  Recent,  131 
Excavations  in  Egypt,  Unscientific,  439 
Experimental  Mountain-building,  L.  Helinfantc,  459 
Extensometer,  a  New,  Prof  J.  A.  Kwing,  F. U.S. ,  2S5 
Eyes,  and  the  Movements  of  the  He.id,  the  Relations  between 

the  Movements  of  the.  Prof  A.  Crum  Brown,  F.  R.S.,  184 


Fabritius  (Dr.  W.),  Death  of,  372 

Fallacies,  Weather,  Richard  Inward's,  377 

Fano  (Prof.),  Apparatus  for  .Measuring  Motor  Reacli.m   Tinu-. 

555 
faunas.  Subterranean,  225 
Faure  (Camille),  Calcium  Cyanate,  a  New  Nitrogenous  Manure, 

58S 
Faussek  (Mr.),  Remarkable  Lake  on  Kildine  Island,  303 
Fay  (I.  W.),  Idonic  Acid  and  its  Derivatives,  654 
Faye's  Comet,  Return  of,  553  :  E)ihemeris  for,  603 
Feeding  Ground  of  the  Herring,  the,  .Alexander  Turbyne,  617 
Feigning  of  Death,  the,  tJswald  H.  Latter,  343 
Fenton  (H.  J.  H.),  New  Formation  of  Glycollic  Aldehyde,  312  : 

on  a  New  Organic  Acid  obtained  by  Oxidising  Tartaric  Acid 

under  certain   conditions    in    presence  of    a    Ferrous    .Sail, 

538 

1-erguson  (S.  P.),  Harvard  Observatory,  Meteorograph  on  l-.l 
Misti,  Peru,  455 

Field  Columbian  Museum,  the,  137 

Film  Holder,  a  New,  400 

Finger-Print  Directories.  Francis  Gallon,  F.R.S.,  194 

Fischer  (Emil),  Synthesis  of  Caffeine,  86  ;  Idonic  Acid  and  its 
Derivatives,  654 

Fish  :  Guanine  in  Fishes'  Skins,  Chas.  A.  MacMunn,  55  ;  the 
Cod  and  Temperature,  Lieut.  C.  Gade,  231  ;  Marine  Fisheries. 
561  ;  the  Destruction  of  Immature  Fish,  Mr.  Hoet,  657  : 
Fisheries  :  the  Sea-Fishing  Industry  in  Scotland,  657  ;  Rcceni 
Fishery  Literature,  657 

Fisher  (Rev.  O. ),  the  Farth's  Age,  152  :  Results  of  a  Trans- 
continental Series  of  (Jravity  Measurements,  George  Rockwell 
Putnam:  Notes  on  the  Gravity  Determinalions  re\iorted  liy 
Mr.  G.  U.  Putnam,  Grove  Karl  Gilbert,  433 

Flagg  (.A.  T. ),  Primer  of  Navigation,  53 

Flammarion  (M.  Camille),  \'isibility  of  the  Dark  Side  of  \'enus. 
603 

Fleming  (Dr.  J.  .\.,  F. R..S. ),  Electric.1l  Laboratory  Notes  and 
l-orms,  339 

Fletcher  (J.  f.).  Classification  of  .Australian  IVripatus,  168 

Flies,  Infcct'ion  by,  W.  T.  Burgess,  38 

Flood,  on  certain  Phenomena  belonging  to  the  Close  of  the 
last  Geological  Period,  and  on  their  bearing  upon  the  Tradi- 
tion of  the,  Dr.  Joseph  I'reslwich,  I'.  R..S.,  266 

t'lora,  the  Southern  Carboniferous,  Dr.  W.  T.  Blanford,  1'.  R.S., 

595 
Florence,  Earth<]uake  al,  152 
Flower  (Sir  W.  II.,  F.  U.S. ),  the    Pygmies,  .A.  de  <1uatrefages. 

25  ;     on    Recently    Discovered    Aboriginal     Inhabitants     ol 

Jamaica,  607 
Flowers,  the  Pollination  of,  J.  MacLeod,  2 
Flowers  and  Fruits,  X'ariegation  in,  J.  1).  La  Touche,  295 
Flycatcher,   Curious  Habit  of  the  Signed,    Rev.   W.   Clement 

Ley,  269 
Flying   .Machine,   the   Ma\im,    I'rof    .A.  G.   Greenhill,  F.  R.S. . 

32  ■ 
Fluorescence  of  .Argim  and   its  Combination  with  the  |•.k•nlcnl^ 

of  Benzene,  the,  255 
Focal  I-englhofa  Convex  Mirror,  lo  find  the,  Edwin  liudden. 

366 
Fock  (.Andreas),  an  Introdiictiim   10  Chemical  Cry.slallography. 

3>5 
Fog-horn  Signals  .at  Sea,  the  .Audibility  of,  347 
Fomm  (1..),   Normal  and   Anomalous    Dispersions  of  Elcclrii 

Waves,  94 


Sup/tlciiunt  to  Naturc,~\ 
December  5,  1895       J 


Index 


XV 


Forbes  (Dr.  H.  O.),  Criticisms  on  some  Points  in  the  Summary 
of  the  Results  of  the  Ckalknger  Expedition,  562  ;  Note  on 
the  Dendrocolaptine  Sjiecies  DeiidrexelasUscapitoides  of  Eyton, 
619 

Korel  (F.  A.),  Le  Leman,  MonoRraphie  Limmologiquc,  52; 
the  International  Committee  on  (Haciers,  383 

Forestry  :  Kpping  Forest :  an  Exi)hination,  Prof.  K.  .Meldola, 
F.R.S.,  81  ;  the  Management  of  Epping Forest,  158  ;  Report 
of  Ep]iing  Forest  Committee,  302  ;  Death  of  Dr.  Cleghorn, 
82  :  -\nierican  Forestry  Association,  606  ;  Forestry  in  Ger- 
many, Haron  Herman,  606 

Forrest  (James),  Lecture  delivered  at  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers,  89 

Forster  (M.  O. ),  Action  of  Nilroxyl  on  Amides,  94 

Fortnightly  Review,  .Science  in  the,  43,  159,  257,  355,  450,  586 

Fossils  :  the  Oldest  Vertebrate  Fossil,  Prof.  E.  W.  Claypole, 
55  ;  Fo.ssil  Plants  of  Coal  Mca.surcs,  IJI.,  W.  C.  Williamson, 
F.R..S.,  and  D.  H.  .Scott,  F.R.S.,  238;  Fossils  of  Java,  Prof. 
Martin,  360  ;  Tertiary  Fossil  Ants  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  P.  B. 
Brodie,  570 

Foster  (Prof.  Michael),  a  few  more  Wortls  on  Thomas  Henry 
Huxley,  318 

Foucault's  Pendulum  Experiment,  252 

I'"owler  ((;.  J.),  on  the  Action  of  Nitric  Oxide  on  certain  Salts, 
,536 

I'ox  (Howard),  Radiolarian  Rocks  of  Lower  Culm  Measures  of 
West  of  England,  191 

France  :  Dam-burst  at  Bousey,  g  ;  the  Astronomical  Society  of 
France,  37  ;  Prize  Subjects  of  the  French  Socicled'Encour.age- 
ment,  138  ;  French  Carrier  Pigeon  Competition,  250;  the 
Recent  Race  of  Auto-Mobile  Carriages  in  France,  300 ;  the 
Institute  of  France,  Dr.  Henri  de  Varigny,  459  ;  the  Cen- 
tenary of  the,  637  ;  the  Centenary  Fetes  at  Paris,  Dr.  Henri 
<le  Varigny,  644  ;  M.  Jules  Simon's  Discourse  on  the  Institute 
of  France,  645 

Francis  (J.),  on  the  Methods  and  Results  of  the  Attempt  to 
determine  the  Dip  of  Strata  met  with  in  Deep  Wells  at  Ware 
and  Turnford,  560 

Francois  (Maurice),  Action  of  Aniline  on  Mercurous  Iodide, 
359 

Frankland  (Dr.  E.,  F.R.S.).  -Vrliticial  Human  Milk,  546 ;  on 
Conditions  afi'ecting  Bacterial  Life  in  River  Water,  562 

Frankland  (.Mrs.  Percy),  the  .Vction  of  Light  on  Animal  Life, 
86 

I'raser  (Prof.  T.  R. ,  F. R.S.),  Akocanlhera  sthimpei-i,  237 

Frazer  (Col.  .\.  T.),  the  Bagdad  Date-Mark,  31 

Freezing  Point  of  Silver,  the,  C.  T.  Ileycock,  F.R.S.,  and 
F.  H.  Neville,  596 

Fremont  (Ch.),  Amount  ol  Play  necessary  between  Punch  and 
Bed,  240 

Freudenreich  (Dr.  Ed.  von).  Dairy  Bacteriology,  220 

I''reiuul  (.Martin),  Thebaine  a  Derivative  of  Phrenanlhene,  862 

Fredel  (Charles),  -Vbsorption  of  Radiant  Heat  by  Liquids,  38 

Friedlander's  Zoologisches  Adressbuch,  578 

Frog  into  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  Introduction  of  a  West 
Indian,  Dr.  Albert  (liinther,  F.R.S.,  643 

I'Vozen  Land,  iho  Great,  Frederick  Cleorge  Jackson,  Henry 
.Seebohm,  385 

P'ruit  bust  grown  under  Clear  Glass,  Prof.  Zacharewicz,  486 

l''ruit  Farm,  the  Woburn  Experimental,  508 

I''ruits,  Variegation  in  Flowers  and,  J.  D.  La  Touche,  295 

Fungi  :  British  Fungus  Hora,  George  Ma.ssee,  435  ;  Systematic 
Arrangement  of  .\iislralian  Fungi,  Dr.  McAlpine,  435 


Cade  (Lieut.  C),  the  Cod  and  Temperature,  231 

Galapagos    Islands,    the    Flora   of  the,  W.    Hotting   llemsley, 

'■     F.R.S.,623 

(lalassi  (Dr.  L.),  Death  of,  512 

Galitzin  (B.),  Theory  of  Broadening  of  Spectrum  Lines,  61 1 

Gait  (Alexander),  Electrification  and  Diselectritication  of  Air 
and  other  (Jases,  608 

<;allon(Sir  Douglas,  l'. R..S. ),  Inaugural  .Vddress  at  the  Meeting 
of  the  Briti.sh  .Association  at  Ipswich,  461 

Gallon  (Dr.  Francis,  F.R.S.),  Terms  of  Imprisonment,  174; 
P'inger-print  Directories,  194;  the  Diseases  of  Personality, 
Til.  Ribot,  517 

Ijamgee  (Dr.  A.,  F. R.S.),  Obituary  Notice  of  Prof.  Ernest 
Felix  Immanuel  Hoppe-.Seyler,  575,  623 

(jamgee  (Prof.),  Violet  and  Ultra-violet  .Spectrum  of  Hemo- 
globin and  Turacine,  603 


Garden  Flowers  and  Plants,  J.  Wright,  268 

Garden  of  Pleasure,  a,  458 

tJarstang  (W.),  on  a  New  Classification  of  the  Tunicata,  56t  ; 
on  the  Habits  of  the  Kea,  the  Sheep-eating  Parrot  of  New 
Zealand,  629 

Garwood  (.Mr.),  on  the  Zonal  Divisions  of  the  Carboniferous 
System,  561 

Gases :  on  the  Minimum  Theorem  in  the  Theory'  of  Gases, 
Prof.  Ludwig  BoUzmann,  221;  Argon  and  the  Kinetic  Theory, 
Col.  C.  E.  Bascvi,  221  ;  Kinetic  Theory  of  CJases,  G.  H. 
Bryan,  F.R.S.,  244;  S.  H.  Burbuiy,  F.R.S.,  316;  on  the 
IHectrolysis  of  Gases,  Prof.  J.  J.  Thomson,  F.R.S.,  451  ;  a 
Means  of  greatly  increasing  Illuminating  Power  of  Clas,  M. 
Denayrouze,  513  ;  on  the  Constituents  of  the  Gas  in  Cleveite, 
Prof.  C.  Runge  and  Prof  F.  Paschen,  520;  the  New  .Mineral 
Gases,  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  547  ;  Electrification  and 
Diselectrificationof  Air  and  other  (Sases,  Lord  Kelvin,  F.R.S., 
.Magnus  .Maclean,  and  Alexander  Gait,  60S 

(lasline  (M.),  the  Sulphuric  Acid  Treatment  of  American  Vine 
Chlorosis,  167 

Galke  (Heinrich),  Heligoland  as  an  Ornithological  Observatory, 
the  Result  of  Fifty  Vears'  Experience,  589 

Gaule  (Prof.),  the  Growth  of  Muscle,  555 

Geelmuyden  (Dr.),  Geodetical  Observations,  348 

Geitel  (H.),  Atmospherical  Electricity  on  the  Sonnblick,  59 

(jeldard  (J.),  Rhamnazin,  94 

(iemmi  Pass,  Upper,  Avalanche  in,  511 

{.Jemmi  Disaster,  the,  Maria  .M.  Ogilvie,  573 

(ieneva,  the  Lake  of,  F.  A.  Forel,  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney,  F. R..S., 

52 

(leodetical  Observations,  Dr.  M.  Geelnuiydcn,  348 

( ieognetische  Beitr.ige,  Dr.  O.  Kuntze,  373 

(icography:  Projected  Balloon  ICxpedition  to  .Vrctic  Regions, 
S.  .\.  -Vndree,  47  ;  Proposed  Balloon  Voyage  to  the  North 
Pole,  226 ;  Le  Leman  Monographic  Limmologique,  F.  \. 
Forel,  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney,  E.R.S.,  52;  Royal  (ieographical 
.Society's  Medal  .Awards,  1 10  ;  Diary  of  a  Journey  through 
Mongolia  and  Thibet  in  1891  and  1892,  William  VVoodville 
Rockhill,  Dr.  Hugh  Robert  .Mill,  171  ;  the  Laccadive 
Islands,  Commander  C.  F.  Oldham,  203 ;  Reisen  in  den 
-Molukken  in  .Vmbun,  den  Uliassern,  .Seran  (Ceram)  und 
Buru,  K.  Martin,  Dr.  Hugh  Robert  .Mill,  217  ;  Death  of 
Joseph  Thomson,  346 ;  the  Best  Route  to  Uganda,  Ci.  F. 
Scott  Elliot,  257;  Geography  of  the  World  in  Cretaceous 
Times,  Dr.  F.  Kossmat,  276  :  Remarkable  Lake  (m  Kildine 
Island,  .MM.  Faussek  and  Knipowitsch,  303  ;  the  Inter- 
national Geogra])hical  Congress,  329,  350  ;  Expedition  across 
Masai-land  to  Uganda,  Baer  Neumann,  373  ;  the  Voyage  <if 
the  Antarilii  to  \'ictoria  Land,  C.  V..  Borchgrevink,  375  : 
t.'arixithians  not  extending  into  European  Russia.  General  A. 
Tillo,  40S  :  .Sir  .Samuel  Baker  :  a  .Alemoir,  .\.  .'^ilva  White, 
409;  North  .\frica,  .Stanford's  Compendium  of  Geography 
and  Travel,  .\.  H.  Keane,  409;  the  New  \'istula  -Mouth, 
445;  the  First  .Meridian,  511  ;  Royal  tieographical  Society 
of  Australasia,  540 ;  I'^astern  Siberia,  P.  P.  .Semanoff,  J.  D. 
Cherskiy  and  G.  G.  von  I'etz,  541  ;  the  Interior  of  Labrador, 
.Mr.  Low,  552  ;  Death  of  .Moritz  Wilkomm.  577  ;  Major 
James  Rennell  and  the  Rise  of  Modern  English  (_ieograpliy, 
Clements  R.  Markham,  F.R.S.,  Dr.  Hugh  Robert  .Mill,  615 

Geology  :  Uniformilarianism  in  Cieology,  Dr.  Alfred  R.  Wal- 
lace, F.R.S.,4;  Prof.  Joseph  Prestwich,  F.R.S.,  28;  the 
Geological  Development  of  Australia,  20 ;  New  Type  of 
Wells  in  Granite  Rocks  of  Sweden,  24  ;  Geological  Society, 
.55>  47'  95>  t66,  191,  23S  ;  the  "  Deneholes"  of  Es.sex  and 
Kent.  .Nliller  Christy,  44  :  ihe  Oldest  \ertebrate  l-"os.sil.  Prof. 
v..  W.  Claypole,  55  ;  the  .Measurement  of  Geological  Time, 
Dr.  (i.  K.  Gilbert,  60;  Glaciation  of  Glenaray  and  (_;ien- 
shira,  Duke  of  ,\rgyll,  70 ;  Eozoon  Canadiiisc,  Sir  William 
Dawson,  83;  the  Colorado  "Teepee"  Bultes,  CI.  K.  Gil- 
bert and  F.  P.  tiulliver,  84  ;  the  Sterling  Dolcrite,  H.  W. 
Monkton,  95  ;  some  Railway  Cuttings  near  Keswick,  J. 
Postlelhwaite,  95  ;  Shelly  Clays  and  Gravels  of  .Vberdeenshire 
with  regard  to  Submergence  (Juestion,  Dugald  Bell,  95  ;  the 
Life-History  of  the  Crustacea  in  Early  Paleozoic  Times,  Dr. 
Henry  Woodward,  F.  R.S. ,  114;  the  Formation  of  Dolomite, 
C.  Klemenl,  134  ;  Recent  Glacial  Studies  in  tlreenland,  T.  C. 
Chamberlin,  139  ;  the  Earth's  -Vge,  Rev.  O.  Fisher,  152  ; 
Human  Remains  in  Cialley  Hill  Pahvolithic  Terrace  Gravels, 
Iv.  T.  Newton,  F.R.S.,  166;  Geology  of  Norway  Coast  and 
Northern  Russia,  G.  L.  Boulger,  166  ;  Rhatic  Foraminifera 
from   Wedmore,    Frederick    Chapman,     166 ;    the  Story  of 


XVI 


Index 


V Supplement  to  Xattiye, 
L      December  %^  1895 


" Primitive "'  Man,  Kdw ard  Clodd,  1 73  :  Deathof  Dr.  Valentine 
Ball,  F.R.S.,  177  ;  Radiolariaii  Kocks  of  Lower  Culm 
Measures  of  West  of  England,  Dr.  U.  J.  Hindeand  Howard 
Fox,  191  :  Cieolog)'  of  .Mt.  Ruwenzori,  G.  S.  Scott  Elliot 
and  Dr.  J.  W.  Gregor)-,  191  ;  Overthrusts  of  Terliar)- 
Date  in  Dorset,  .\.  Strahan,  191  :  Tertiar)-  Radiolarian 
Earth  in  Cuba,  K.  T.  Hill,  202 ;  Post-Cretaceous  Ele- 
vation along  British  American  Rocky  Mountain  Range, 
Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson,  212;  a  Tertiar)-  Basaltic  Hill  in 
Galway,  A.  MacHenr)-,  Prof.  \V.  J.  Sollas,  F  R.S., 
215  ;  Fossil  Plants  of  Ci>al-.Measures,  HI.,  W.  C.  William- 
son, F.R.S..  and  D.  H.  Scott,  F.K.S.,  23S :  Radiolaria 
in  Chalk.  W.  Hill  and  A.  J.  Jukes-Hrowne,  238:  Crush- 
Conglomerates  of  Isle  of  Man.  G.  W.  Lamplugh  and  W.  W.  | 
Watts.  239  :  Chalky  Clay  of  tenland.  Sir  H.  H.  Howorth, 
F.R.S.,  239;  Spirorhii-\Jaass\onii  and  their  Coals  in  Wyre 
Forest  Permians,  T.  C.  Cantrill,  239  ;  Mineralised  Diatoms, 
W.  H.  Shrubsole,  245  :  Age  of  Anirim  Trachyte,  M.  | 
McHenry,  251  ;  the  Relation  of  Biolog)-  to  Geological  In- 
vestigation, Chas.  \.  White,  258,  279  :  on  certain  Phenomena 
belonging  to  the  Close  of  the  Last  Geological  Period,  and  on 
their  bearing  u|xin  the  Tradition  of  the  Flood,  Dr.  Joseph 
Prestwich.  F. R.S.,  266:  the  Density  of  Molten  Rock,  Prof. 
Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.  R.S.,  269;  the  Geography  of  the  World 
in  Cretaceous  Times,  D.  F.  Kossmat,  276  ;  Late  Cretaceous 
Ungulates  from  Patagonia,  Seiior  F.  Ameghin,  303  ;  Eocene 
Fauna  from  Unita  Basin,  Prof.  H.  F.  Osborn,  303  :  Death  of 
Prof.  H.  Witmeur,  325:  Geology  of  Iowa,  347;  Geogenet 
ischc  Beitrage,  Dr.  ().  Kuntzc,  373;  Le  Cause  Dell"  Kra 
Glaciale,  Luigi  de  Marchi,  412  ;  Death  of  F.  E.  Brown,  419  ; 
Complementar)'  Rocks,  L.  \".  Pirsson,  431  ;  the  Pendulum 
and  Geolc^',  Rev.  O.  Fi.sher,  433 ;  the  Climates  of 
the  Geolf^cal  Past,  and  their  Relation  to  the  Evolu- 
tion of  the  Sun,  Eug.  Dubois,  436 ;  Obituary  Notice 
of  William  Crawford  Williani.wn,  Count  Solms-I.aubach, 
441  ;  Experimental  Mountain-ljuilding,  L.  Belinfante,  459  ; 
Critical  Periods  in  Earth's  Histor)-,  Prof.  Le  Conle,  513  ;  the 
Lower  Gondwana  Beds  of  Argentina,  Dr.  F.  Kurtz,  523  : 
Hutton's  Theor)-  of  the  Earth,  Frank  D.  Adams,  569  :  the 
"(iemmi"  Di-saster,  511:  .Maria  M.  Ogilvie,  573;  Sir  Robert  Ball 
and  the  Cause  of  an  Ice  .'Vge,  Sir  Henry  H.  Iloworth,  F.R.S., 
594  :  Dr.  E.  W.  Holxson,  F.R.S.,643  '■  the  Southern  Carboni- 
ferous Flora,  Dr.  \V.  T.  Blanford,  F.R.S.,  595  ;  Deathof  Dr. 
F.  .M.  Stapff,  626  ;  the  Lnited  Stales  Survey,  628  :  the  Gold 
Minesof  the  Rand,  F.  H.  Hatch  and  J.  \.  Chalmers- Hennett, 
H.  Brough,  638;  Barisal  Guns  and  .Mist  Pouffers,  Prof.  ti.  H. 
Darwin,  F.  R.S.,  650 

Geometry  :  Die  Grundgebilde  der  ebenen  Geometric,  Dr.  \'. 
Eberhard,  616 

German  Experiments  in  Marching,  513 

Germany,  Forestr)'  in,  Ba.ron  Herman,  606 

Germinal  Selection,  Prof    Weismann,  555 

(lerstaecker  (Dr.  .Adolf),  Death  of,  372 

(testation  and  Incubation,  the  Period  of,  A.  Sutherland,  204 

Gibb  (.Mian),  the  Elimination  of  Impurities  during  making  of 
•'  Best  Selected  "  Copper,  18 

Gibson  (.\.  .M.).  Effects  of  Coosa  (Alabama)  Cloud-bur.st  of 
1872,  552 

Giglioli  (Prof.  Italo),  Latent  Vitality  in  Seeds,  544 

(lilbcrt  (Dr.  (J.  K.),  the  .Measurements  of  Geological  Time, 
60  ;  the  Colorado  Teepee  Buttcs,  84  ;  Notes  on  the  Gravity 
Determinations  reported  by  Mr.  (i.  R.  Putnam,  433 

Gillies  (II.  Cameron),  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Counter- 
Irritation,  615 

Gilson  (E.J,  Chilin  in  Mushrooms,  71 

Gin  (.M.),  Electric  Resistance  of  .Saccharine  Liquids,  47 

Girard  (.A.),  Potatoes  as  Cattle  Food,  71  ;  Continuous  Treat- 
ment with  Copper  Compounds  harmless  to  Vine  or  Potato 
Crops,  144 

(ilacicrs  :  Expcrimcnis  with  Cobbler's-Wax  in  Illu.stration  of 
Glacier  Movement,  Prof.  Sollas,  F.K..S.,  47;  Progress  in 
Glacier-Siu.ly,  Marvl);dl  Hall,  iii  ;  Recent  Gljicial  Studies 
in  Greenland,  T.  ( '.  (:ii:inil)erlln,  139 ;  the  International 
Committee  on  (il.iciers,  K.  A.  Forel,  383  ;  Le  Cau.se  Dell" 
Era  (ilacialc,  Luigi  rie  Marchi,  412;  the  "Gemmi"  Dis- 
a.«lfr,  511  ;  Maria  .M.  Ogilvie,  573 

(;iad.itonc  (Dr.),  on  the  Change  of  Molecular-Refraction  in  .Salts 
or  Acid.s  diss<j|vcd  in  Water,  536 

Glaumont  (M.).  the  Poller's  .Art  In  New  Caledonia,  45 

('•Icnaray  and  (ilcnshira,  (.lacialion  of,  Duke  of  Arg)ll,  70 

(Jlay(E.).  //...I    I  ii.-r   ."    \nlicoagulant  Action   of   Peptone, 


456  ;  -Action  of  Intra-X'ascular  Infection  of  Peptone  Solutions 
on  Blood,  604 
Globular  Lightning,  G.  M.  Ryan,  392 
Glyptodont  Origin  of  Mammals,  the,  E.  Bonavia,   R.  Lydekker, 

F.R.S.,411 
Clobel  (Ernest),  Thebaine  a  Derivative  of  Phrenanthene,  86 
ISobert  (.A.),  on  a  Freezing  Process  for  Shaft-sinking,  582 
Goetz  (Prof),  Effect  on  Dog  of  removal  of  Spinal  Cord,  555 
Gold,  Crystalline  Structure  of.  Prof.  Liversidge,  39 
Gold,  the  Melting  Point  of,  H.  La  Chatelier,  408 
CSold    .Mines    of    the    Kand.    the,    F.    H.    Hatch   and  T.     .A. 

Chalmers  Bennett,  H.  Brough,  63S 
Goldstein's  Experiments  on  Kathode  Kays,  143 
Gompho^iiathtis,  Dentary  Bone  Structure  of.  Prof.  Seeley,  1S2 
Goodall  (Prof.  G.  L. ),  the  Proposed  New  York  Botanic  Garden, 

274 
Gophers,  Pocket,  of  the  United  .States,  A'ernon  Bailey,  27S 
Gotch  (Prof.  F. ),  Discharge  ol  Malaptertirtis eUclrictis,  556 
Giittingen  Royal  Society,  3S4,  456 
(!ouy(M.),  -Apparent  .Attractions  and  Repulsions  of  Electrified 

Conductors  in  Dielectric  Fluid,  264 
Gowcrs  (Dr.  W.  R..  F. U.S.).  Subjective  Visual  Sensations,  234 
Gowland  (W.),   Old  Jaiunese   Pigments,  i8t  ;  the    Metallurgy 

of  Iron  and  Steel,  Thomas  Turner.  613 
Graetz    (L.),    Normal   and  .Anomalous    Dispersion    of  Electric 

Waves,  94 
Grandval  (.A.),  Senecionine  and  Senecine,  120 
Granger    (.A.),    Action   of    Halogen   Com]X)unds    on    Metallic 

Copiier,  47 
Grant  (Dr.  S.  T.),  Research  in  Education,  4 
Granul.tlion  of  the  Sun's  Surface,  the.  Dr.  Scheiner,  203 
Graphics  of  Piano  Touch,  the,  597 
Graphite  Studies,  Henri  Moissan,  660 
Gra,sses,  Handbook  of,  William  Hutchinson,  617 
Gravity :     Results    of    a    Transcontinental     Series    of    Gravity 
Measurements,   George    Rockwell   Putnam,    Rev.    O.    Fisher, 
433  :  Notes  on    the  tlravily  Delerminatiuns  reported  by  Mr. 
G.  R.  Putn.ini,  Grove  Karl  tiilbert.  Rev.  ().  Fisher,  433 
Gray    (Prof.     -A.),    Inventions,    Researches,    and    Writings     of 
Nikola  Tesla,  T.  C.  Martin,  314  ;  Clausius'  \  irial  Theorem. 
568 
Gray  (.Andrew),  a  Treatise  on  Hessel  Functions  and  their  .Appli- 
cation to  Physics,  Prof.  .A.  G.  Greenhill,  F.  R.S.,  542 
(ireal  Hritain,  Climates  and  Paths  of,  566 
Greeks,  from  the,  to   Darwin,  an   Outline  of  the    Development 

of  the  Eiolution  Idea,  Henry  lairfield  Osborn,  361 
Green  (Prof.  Reynolds,  F.  R.S.),  on  the  Diurnal  Variation  in  the 

Amount  of  Diastase  in  Foliage  Leaves,  585 
Green  Oysters,  Prof.  E.    Ray  Lankester,    F. R.S.,   28;  Dr.    I). 

Carazzi,  643 
Greenhill  (Prof.,  F.  R.S.),  Results  relating  to  Spherical  Catenary, 
95  ;  the  Maxim  Flying    Machine,  321  :  a  'I'realise   on  Bessel 
Functions  and  their  .Application  to  Physics,  .Andrew  Gray  and 
G.  B.  .Mathews,  542 
Greenland,  Recent  Glacial  Studies  in,  T.  C   Chamberlin,  139 
Greenland,    North,    Scientific    Work    by    Lieut.    Peary,   Prof. 

Dyche,  and  Prof.  .Salisbury  in,  652 
Greenwell  (.Allen)  and  W.  T.  Curry,  Rural  Water  Supply,  617 
Greenwich  Observatory,  136 
Gregory    (Dr.     I.   W.),  (ieology  of     Mount  Ruwenzori,    191  ; 

Obituary  Notice  of  Josepli  Thomson,  440 
(Gregory  (K.  .A.),  the  Normal  School  at  I'aris,  570 
Grehant  (N.),  Injection  of  Elhyl   .Alcohol   into  X'enous  Blood, 

144  ;  "Toxicity  of  .Acetylene,  660 
Grifiith  (George),  Mounlain  Sickness,  414 

GrilViths  (.A.  B. ),  a  Leuconiame  from  Urine  in  Angina  Pectoris 

Cases,  120;   Pelageine,  the  \iolet    Pigments  of  the   Medusa, 

564 

(jrifliths  (E.    H.),    the    Unit    of  Heat,    30;    Volume    He.-it    of 

.Aniline,  143:  on   the  Desirability  of  a  New   Practical    Heat 

Standard,  535  ;  on  ihe  -Apparatus  designed  for  the  Calibration 

of  High-temperature  Thermometers  al  Kew  Observatory,  536 

Groom  (T.  T. ),  Mouth  Parts  of  Cypris  .Siage  of  Ualanus,  284 

Grove  (Mrs. ),  on  the    Religious  Origin  of  Dances  as  Forms  of 

Magic  or  Worship,  5S1 
(iuaninein  Fishes'  .Skins,  Chas.  .A.  MacMunn,  55 
(luatemala,  Ihe  Less-known  X'olcanoes  of.  Dr.  K.  Sapper,  420 
Guillot  (M.),  Specific  Heats  of  .SuiK-rfuscd    Formic  and  -Acetic 

Acids,  336 
Guinchanl  (J),  Conduclibility  of  S-Kclonic  Eslcrs,  167 
Gulliver  (F.'  I'.),  the  Color-ido  "Teepee"  Hutlcs,  84' 


SuppUtiunt  to  Naturer\ 
December  5,  1895       J 


Index 


xvu 


Gunther  (Dr.  Albert,  F.R.S.),  Introduction  of  a  West  Indian 

Frog  into  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  643 
Guyot  (A.),  Diphonylanthrone,  28S 


Haas  (Hyppolyt  J.),  Quellcnkunde.    Lehre  von  der  Bildung  und 

vom  Vorkommen  der  Quellen  und  des  Gnindwassers,  28 
lladon  (Dr.  A.),  on  Dalton's  Discovery  of  the  Atomic  Theory, 

536 
Haddon  (M.),  Causes  of  Colouration  and  Coagulation  of  .Milk  liy 

Heat,  192 
Hadfiekl  (R.  .\.),  Production  of  Iron  by  New  Process,  427 
llaffkine  (Dr.  W.   M,),  Indian  Experiences  in  .\nti-ChoIeraic 

Inoculations,  in 
Hale  (Dr.  Wni.   H.),  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  506  ;    the  Toronto  Meeting  of  the  British 
Association,  618 
Hall  (Marshall),  Progress  in  Glacier  Study,  III 

Haller  (.\. ),  Reducing  Properties  of  Sodium  Alcoholate  at  a 
High  Temperature,  120  ;  Diphenylanthrone,  2S8 

Ilalley's  Chart:  Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer,  79,  197;  Thomas  Ward, 
106  ;  Halley's  Chart  of  Magnetic  Declinations,  Charles  L. 
Clarke,  343 

Hamburg  Observator)',  the,  1 1 

Hamilton's  Differential  Equation,  Integration  of,  P.  .Staeckel, 
612 

Hanitsch  (Dr.  R.),  Freshwater  Sponges  of  Ireland,  85 

Hann  (Dr.  J.),  Daily  Range  of  Barometer  on  Clear  and  Cloudy 
Days  on  Mountain  Summits,  250  ;  Conditions  of  Atmospheric 
Humidity  on  Summit  of  .Sonnblick,  277 

Hansen  (Dr.  F.mil  Chr.),  Experimental  Studies  in  the  Variation 
of  Veast  Cells,  5S4 

Harcourt  (\.  V.,  F.R.S.),  the  Laws  of  Connection  between 
Conditions  and  .•\mount  of  Chemical  Change,  HI.  :  the 
Reaction  of  Hydrogen  and  Dioxide  and  Hydrogen  Iodide, 
141 

Harker  (A.),  Petrologj*  for  Students,  267 

Harley  (Dr.  Geo.),  Sacred  Thibetan  Bone-Trumpet,  Drum,  and 
Flute,  182 

Harmer  (Mr.),  on  the  Coralline  and  Red  Crags,  558 

Harmonic  Analysis,  a  New  Method  in,  .\.  Sharp,  II9 

Harries  (H.),  Hail  at  Sea,  215 

Harrow  Butterflies  and  Moths,  J.  L.  Bonhote  and  Hon.  N.  C. 
Rothschild,  388 

Hart  (H.  C),  Death  of,  485 

Hart  (H.  C. ),  Climbing  in  the  British  Isles,  617 

Hart  (J.  H.),  Ants  and  Orchids,  627 

Harting  (J.  E.),  the  Migration  of  Butterflies,  191 

Hartley  (Prof  W.  N.,  F.R.S.),  Thermochemistry  of  Bes.semer 
Process,  426 

Harz  (C.  O. ),  .\ntinonnin,  627 

Hatch  (Dr.),  on  the  .\uriferous  Conglomerates  ol  the  Witwaters- 
rand,  560 

Hatch  (F.  H.),  the  Gold  Mines  of  the  Rand,  Bennett  H. 
Brough,  638 

Haviland  (Dr.),  Cc^/oleniies,  190 

Hawk-Moths,  the  Book  of  British,  W.  J.  Lucas,  593 

Haycraft  (Prof.  B.),  Change  of  Heart's  Shape  during  Contrac- 
tion, 556 

Head,  the  Relations  between  the  Movements  of  the  Eyes  and 
the  Movements  of  the.  Prof.  A.  Crum  Brown,  F.R.S.,  184 

Headley  (F.  W. ),  Oceanic  Islands,  366 

Health,  the  Elements  of.  Dr.  Louis  C.  Parkes,  147 

Health  of  London,  the,  298 

Health  Resorts,  the  Selection  of,  566 

Hearson  (Prof  T.  \.),  Kinematics  of  Machines,  262 

Heat  :  the  Unit  of,  Dr.  ].  Joly,  F.R.S.,  480  :  Spencer  Picker- 
ing, F.R.S.,  80;  E."  H.  Griffiths.  Prof  Oliver  J.  Lodge, 
F.  RS.,  30;  Student's  .\pparatus  for  Determining  the 
Mechanical  Equivalents  of  Heat,  Prof  .\yrton,  39  :  Electrifi- 
cation of  .\ir  and  Thermal  Conductivity  of  Rock  at  Different 
Temperatures,  Lord  Kelvin,  P.R.S.,  67,  182;  the  Develop- 
ment of  the  Experimental  Study  of  Heat  Engines,  Prof.  W. 
C.  Unwin,  F.R.S.,  89 

Heath  (Thomas),  the  Bifilar  Pendulum  at  the  Royal  (Jbserva- 
tor)-,  Edinburgh,  223 

Hedges  (Killingworlh),  Gyroscopic  Properties  of  Wheel,  iSl 

Heights  of  August  Meteors,  Prof  A.  S.  Herschel,  F.  R.S.,  437 

Heligoland  as  an  Ornithological  Obser\atory,  the  Result  of  Fifty 
Years'  Experience,  Heinrich  Gatkc,  589 

Helium  :  Terrestrial,  327  ;  ].  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  7,  55  ; 


Prof.  W.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  7,  55;  Prof.  C.  Runge,  128; 
Argon  and  Helium  in  Meteoric  Iron,  Prof.  W.  Ramsay, 
F.R.S. ,  224;  the  4026'5  and  D3,  C.  A.  Young,  458;  a 
Constituent  of  certain  Minerals,  Prof.  William  Ramsay, 
F.R.S.,  Dr.  J.  Norman  Collie  and  Mr.  Morris  Travers,  306, 
31 1,  331;  the  .Spectrum  of  Helium,  W.  Crookes,  F.R.S. , 
428 ;  Attempt  to  Liquefy  Helium,  Prof.  William  Ramsay, 
F.R.S.,  544;  Helium  and  the  Spectrum  of  Nova  Aurig*, 
Profs.  C.  Runge  and  F.  Paschen,  544 

Hellriegel  (Prof.  H.),  Death  of,  651 

Helm  (Georg),  the  Present  Position  of  Energetics,  308 

Hemsley  (W.  Botting,  F.R.S.),  VitaUty  of  Seeds,  5;  the 
Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Cineraria,  54  ;  an  Abnormal  Rose, 
244  ;  Joseph  Thomson,  459  ;  Leaf-absorption,  569  ;  the  Flora 
of  the  (}alapagos  Islands,  623 

Hendrick  (Prof.  James),  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry  and 
Abstracts,  619 

Henrici  (Prof),  on  the  Teaching  of  Geometrical  Drawing  in 
Schools,  532. 

Henr}'  (Charles),  Abrege  de  la  Theorie  des  Fonctions 
EUiptiques,  H.  F.  Baker,  567 

Hepworth  (C.  M.),  New  Arc  Lamp  for  Projection,  525 

Herbaceous  Plants  |^cultivated  in  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew, 
Hand-list  of,  388 

Herdman  (Prof  William  A.,  F.R.S.),  Opening  Address  in 
Section  D  of  the  British  Association,  494  ;  on  Oysters  and 
Typhoid,  562 

Herman  (Baron),  Forestry  in  Germany,  606 

Herrick  (Mr.),  the  New  Chicago  University,  586 

Herring,  the  Feeding  Ground  of  the,  Alexander  Turbyne,  617 

Herrouns  Iodine  Voltameter,  1 19 

Herschel   (Prof   A.  S.,   F.R.S.),   Heights   (;f  August  Meteors, 

Herselm  (M.),  Apiculee  Fermentation,  456 
Herzen  (Prof),  Gastric  Juice  from  Isolated  Dog-Stomach,  555 
Herzfelder  (.\.),  .Action  of  Sulphur  on  a  Nitronaphthalene,  215 
Heycock  (C.  T.,  F.R.S.),  the  Freezing  Point  of  Silver,  596 
Heysinger  (Dr.  J.  W.),  the  Source  and  Mode  of  Solar  Energ)-, 

316 
Hibbert  (W.),  on  the  Change  of  Molecular  Refraction  in  Salts 

or  Acids  dissolved  in  Water,  536 
Hicks  ( Prof  W.   M. ),    Opening  Address  in   Section  A  of  the 

British  Association,  472  ;  on  a  Spherical  Vortex,  533 
Hickson   (Prof.   Sydney  J.,  F.R.S.),   Research   in  Zoology  at 

Oxford,  549  ;  Oxford  Endowments,  644 
Hieroglyphics,  a  Primer  of  Mayan,  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  387 
High-Level  Meteorological  Stations,  236 
Hill  (E.  A.),  Argon,  Prout's  Hypothesis  and  the  Periodic  Law, 

118 
Hill  (T.  P.),  Fiddler  Ray  with  .\bnormal  Pectoral  Fins,  168 
Hill  (R.  T.),  Tertiary  Radiolarian  Earth  in  Cuba,  202 
Hill  (W.),  Radiolaria  in  Chalk,  238 
Hiller  (H.  Croft),  Evolution  or  Epigenesis,  317 
Hinde  (Dr.  G.  J.),  Radiolarian  Rocks  of  Lower  Culm  Measures 

of  West  of  England,  191 
Hinde  (Capt.  S.  L. ),  on  the  Cannibal  Tribes  of  the  Congo,  580 
Hirschfeld  (Prof),  Death  of,  9 
Hirst  (Father),  Death  of,  626 
Hirst   (H.   R.),   Method  of  preparing   Formyl    Derivatives   of 

Aromatic  Amines,  312  ;  a  Modification  of  Zincke's  Reaction, 

His(Dr.,  jun.).  Propagation  of  Rhythmic  Cardiac  Wave  from 

Fibre  to  Fibre,  555 
Histology,  the  Elements  of  Patholc^cal,  Dr.  A.  V\  eichselbauni. 

Dr.  A.  \.  Kanthack,  241  ;  Leitfaden  fiir  llistologische  Unter- 

suchungen,  Bern.ird  Rawitz,  412 
Historian     and     Man     of      Letters,    the     Evolution    of    the 

Biographer,  Herbert  Siiencer,  450 
Hobson  (Dr.  E.  W.,  F.R.S.),  the  Cause  of  an  Ice  Age,  643 
Hodgkins  Fund  Prizes  :  Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  by 

the  Smithsonian  Institution  to  award  the.  Dr.  S.  1'.  Langley, 

394 
Hodgkinson  (W.  R.  E.),  some  Reactions  of  Ammonium  Salts, 

166 

Hoeber  (Dr.),  Effect  of  Water-Weeds  on  Anthrax    Bacilli.  153 

Hoff  (Dr.  H.  J.  van  't),  the  Part  of  Sedimentation  in  Water- 
Purification,  578 

Hoffmann  (G.  C),  Metallic  Iron  Spherules  in  Kaolmized 
Perlhite,  552 

Hofmann  (K.  .\.),  New  Series  of  Iron  Nitroso  Compounds,  61 

11. limes'  Comet,  Dr.  H.  J.  Zwiers,  629 


XVIII 


Index 


TSiippUment  to  Natitr 
\_       Pecfinber  5,  180- 


Holt  I  J.  K.  I.  ;i  .--  HimipuKlucing  Insect,  318 

Molt  (Mr.),  the  Destruction  of  Immature  Kish.  657 

Holzmuller(Dr.  Ciustav),  Methodisches  Lehrbuch  der  Elementar- 

Malhematik,  437 
Hooker  (Sir  Joseph  D.,  F  R.S.),  the  Huxley  Memorial,  316 
Hopkinson  (Dr.)>  Effects  of  Internal  Current  on  Magnetisation 

of  Iron,  37 
Hopkinson   (I.,  F.R.S.),  Alternate   Current   D)-namo   Electric 

Machines,  141 
Hoppe-Seyler  (Prof.   Ernest   Feli.\  Immanuel),  Death   of,  41S, 

Obituar)-  Notice  of.  Dr.  A.  Gamgee,  F.K.S.,  575,  623 
Horse,  the  Evolution  of  the,  to 
I  lorses.    Asses,    Zebras,    Mules    and    Mule-breeding,    W.    B. 

Tegetmeier  and  C.  L.  Sutherland,  126 
Horseless  Carriages,  Dis|)lay  of,  600 
Horticulture:    The   Horticuhurist's   Rule-book,   L.    II.    liailey, 

338,  Roval  Horticultural  ScKietv,  3S2 
Howorth  (Sir   H     H..  l-.K.S.),  Chalky  Clay  of  Fenland,  239; 

Sir  Robert  Ball  and  "  The  Cause  of  an  Ice  -Age,"  594 
Hoyle  (\V.  E.),  a  Catalogue  of  the  Books  and  Pamphlets  in  the 

Manchester  Museum,  53 
Hubert    (E.    d').    Starch    in    Embryonic    Sac    of   Cacti    and 

.Mesembryanthema,  2SS 
Huet  (.\. ),  Newion  and  Huygens,  269 
Human  Milk,  .Artificial,  Dr.  E    Krankland,  F.R  S  ,  546 
Hunt  (H.  1'.).  Development  of  Arbitrary  Functions,  659 
Hurthic  (Dr.),   New    Method  of   Registering   Arterial    lilood- 

prcssure  in  Man,  556 
Hussak  (Dr.  E.),  Lewisile  and  Zirkelite,  Two  New   Brazilian 

Minerals,  2S7 
Hutchinson  (William),  Handbook  of  Grasses,  617 
Huttons  Theory  of  the  Earth,  Frank  I).  .Vlams,  569 
Huxley  (Right  Hon.  Thomas  Henry,  F.R  S.),  Obituary  Notice 

of,  226  ;  Funeral  of,  248  ;  the  Huxley  Memorial,  .Sir  Joseph 

D.  Hooker,   F.R.S.,316;    a  Few  more  Words  on  Huxley, 

Prof.    Michael  Foster,    F.K.S.,  31S;    Huxley.    Hon.    G.  C. 

Brodrick,   355;  Prof    A.    Kovalewsky,  651  ;  Huxley  as  Bio- 

legist,    356 ;    Personal    Reminiscences    of    Huxley,    G.    W. 

Smalley,  3S6 
Huygens,  Newton  and,  A.  Huet,  269 
Hydraulic   Motors,  Turbines,   and    Pressure   Engines,    G.    R. 

Bodm.an,   170 
Hydrr^en,  a  Substitute  for  .Sulphuretted,  Rusticus,  597 
Hydrography:  Investigations  of  Ocean  Currents  by  Means  of 

Bottles,  C.  L.  Wragge,  66 
Hygiene:     Hygieni.sche    Meteorologie,     Prof.    Dr.    \V.  J.    van 

Bebber,  49  :    Obituary  Notice  of  Sir  George  Buchanan,  58  ; 

the   Elements  of  Health,    Dr.    I-ouis   C.    Parkes,    147;    the 

Health  of    London.   298;    Hygiene    Instruction  at   Bedford 

College  for  Women,  346 :  British  Institute  of  Public  Hcilth, 

372  ;  Climates  and  Baths  of  (ireat  Britain,  566 
Hymenopterous  Insect,  an  .'\(|uatic,  Fred.  Enock,  105 
Hypnotised  Lizards,  Dr.  W.  T.  \  an  Dyck,  148 


Ice  .\ge,  the  Cau.se  of  an,  .Sir  RolxTt  Ball  and,  .'^ir   Henry  H. 

Howorth,  F.R.S.,  594;  Dr.  E.  W.  Hobson,  F. U.S.,  643 
Icc-liound  on  Kolguev,  Aubyn  Trevor- Battye,  Henry  Scebohm, 

38s 

Icthyology  :  Action  of  Light  on  Under  Sides  of  F'lat  Fish,  38  ; 
(iuanine  in  Fishes'  .Skin.s,  Chas.  A.  .\lacMunn,  55;  Fiddler 
Kay  with  .\bnormal  Pectoral  Fins,  J.  P.  Hill,  168  :  the  Dis- 
charge of  the  Tor|>edo,  .M.  d'Arsonvillc,  3t2  ;  Di.scharge  of 
MalapUrtirui  iliulriius.  Prof.  F.  Gotch,  556 

Identification,  Finger-Print  Directories,  Francis  Gallon,  F.R.S., 

•94 
Idiot,  the  Brain  uf  the  Microcephalic,  Prof.  D.  I.  Cunningham, 

F.K..S.,  and  Dr.  Telford-Smith,  III 
Illinoii,    the   Noxious  and     Beneficial    Insects  of  the  Stale  of, 

102 
Immunity  from  Scorpion-  and  .Snake-Venom,  652 
Imprisonment,  Terms  of.  Dr.  Francis  Gallon,  F.  U.S.,  174 
Impulse,  In.Minct-,  Henry  Rutgers  Marshall,    130;   the   Writer 

of  ih<-  Note.  1^0 
Inr   '  r.riiid  of.  A.  .Sutherland,  201 

Ini  ,  J.  Tyrrell  Baylee,  414 

Iiiii...  .    i-.  I .    1 vf;rilo    Pygmies  in   India,  Dr.   V. 

Ball,   F.K.S.,  Ho;  Meleorologv  in  India,  J.   Eliot,  F.K.S., 

654 
Indian  Ex|x:ricnces  in  Anti-Cholcraic  Inoculations,  Dr.  Haflkinc, 

III 


Indian  Remains  in  Jamaica,  Discovery  of  Aboriginal,  I.  1  . 
Duerden,  173 

Indiana,  Experimental  Small  Fruit,  &c.,  Culture  in,  H2 

Industry,  the  Evolution  of,  Henry  Dyer,  Dr.  .\lfred  R.  Wallace, 
F.R.S.,  386 

Infection,  the  Question  of.  370 

Ingle  (H.),  New  Modification  of  Benzilosazone,  166 

Inoculation,  Anti-Choleraic,  Dr.  Haffkine's  Indian  Experiences 
in,  III 

Inoculation  ;  a  Rational  Cure  for  .Snake-bite,  620 

Inoculation  against  Scorpion-  and  Sixike-X'enom,  652 

Insects  :  an  .-\quatic  Hymenopterous  Insect,  Fred  Enock.  105  ; 
a  Sound-producing  Insect,  J.  B.  Holt,  318;  the  Natural 
History  of  .\quatic  Insects,  Prof.  L.  C.  Miall,  K.R.S.,  242; 
a  Manual  for  the  Study  of  Insects,  Prof.  John  Henry  Com- 
stock  and  .\nna  Botsford  Conistock.  337  ;  the  Noxious  and 
Beneficial  Insects  of  the  Stale  of  Illinois,  102  ;  the  Senses  of 
Insects,  Prof.  C.  \".  Riley,  209 

Instinct,  Definitions  of.  Prof.  C.  Lloyd  Morgan,  389 

Instinct-Impulse,  Henry  Rutgers  Marshall,  130;  the  Writer  of 
the  Note,  130 

Instincts,  True,  of  .Vnimals,  C.  W.  Purnell,  3S3 

Institute  of  France,  the.  Dr.  Henri  de  Varigny.  459:  the  Cen- 
tenary of  the,  637  ;  the  Centenary  Fetes  at  Paris,  Dr.  Henri 
de  \'arigny,  644  ;  M.  Jules  Simon's  Discourse  on  the  Insti- 
tute of  I'lance,  646 

Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  the,  18,  348,  655 

Institution  of  Naval  -Vrchitects,  the,  207 

Institutions,  Professional,  Herbert  Spencer,  159,  257,  356,  450. 
580 

International  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Papers,  the,  270 

International  tieogrmiliical  Congress,  the,  329,  350 

Internationales  .\rchi\  fur  Elhnographie.  141 

Ins'cntion  of  the  Net.  the,  Kumagusu  Minakala,  107 

Inwarils  (Richard),  Weather  Fallacies,  377 

Iowa,  Geolog)'  of,  347 

Ipswich,  Meeting  of  the  British  .Association  at,  370,  415,  461  ; 
Inaugural  .Address  by  Sir  Douglas  Gallon,  1'.  K.S.,  President, 
461 

Ireland,  Freshwater  Sponges  of.  Dr.  R.  Hanilsch,  85 

Irish  Academy,  Royal,  215 

Irish  Zoological  Society.  36 

Iron  :  Miignelisation  in  very  Weak  Fields  of,  W.  Schmidt,  85, 
94:  Micro- Metallography  of,  I.,  Thos.  .Andrews,  F. R.S.. 
213:  Therapeutic  \'aUie  of  Iron,  Prof  Bunge,  326:  Iron  and 
Steel  Institute,  62,  425  ;  Metal  Mixers,  .Arthur  Coo])er,  62: 
on  the  Efl'ecl  of  .Arsenic  upon  Steel,  J.  V..  Stead,  62  ;  Direct 
Puddling  of  Iron,  E.  Bonehill,  425  ;  Iron  Industries  of  South 
Russia,  G.  Kamensky,  426  :  Thermo-Chemistry  of  Be.ssemer 
Process,  Prof.  W'.  N.  Hartley,  F. R.S.,426;  Production  of 
Iron  by  New  Process,  R.  A  H.adfield,  427  ;  the  Metallurgy  of 
Iron  and  Steel,  Thomas  Turner,  W.  Gowland,  613;  Steel 
and  the  New  Iron  .Alloys,  J.  O.  .Arnold,  John  Parry.  20 

Islands,  Oceanic,  F.  W.  Ileadley,  366 

Isle    of    Wight,  Tertiary   Fossil    Anis    in   Uu-.    I'.    li.    Hroilie, 

Italian  Seismological  Society  founded,  35 
Italy,  Earthquake  in,  83 


Jackson  (Frederick  George),  the  (ire-it  Frozen  Land,  385 
Jacksonllarmsworih  Polar  Fxpedition,  the,  511,  626 
Jacquet  (Dr  ),  the  Blood  in  Fever,  604 
Jamaica,    Discovery  of  Aboriginal    Indian   Remains  in,   J.    V.. 

Duerden,  173 
Jamaica,  on   Recently   Discovered    Remains  of  the  .Aboriginal 

Inhabitants  of,  F.  Cundall,  J.  E.  Duerden,  607 
Janssen  (.M.),  the   .Absorption    Ban<ls  (supposed  due  to   .\tmo- 

S|)heric  Oxygen)  near   D  Line  ol   Solar  Spectrum,    303:    ll.e 

Spectrum  of  Mars,   514;    the   Obscrv.itory  on    Mont    Blanc, 

602,  611 
Japanese  Pigments,  Rd.  W.  (iowland,  181 
jarry  (R.),  Solid  Carbonic  Acid,  240 
laumann  (G.),  Inconstancy  of  Spark  Potential,  540 
Java,  the   Fossils  of.  Prof.  Martin,  360 
Jay  (H  ),  Eslimatiim  of  Boiic  .\rid,  359 
Jennings  (A.  \aughan),  on  llie  Occurrence  in  New  Zealand  of 

Two  Forms  of  I'eltoid  Ticnitpohliaccic  and  Ihcir  Relation  to 

the  Lichen  Slri,t;ii/n,  584 
Jewell  (Mr.),  the  .Spectrum  of  Mars,  37 
Johnson  (James  \'ale).  Abnormal  Atlantic  Waves,  569 


Su/'/iUincnt  to  Xatnre^'\ 
l^cicmb^r  5,  1895       J 


Index 


XIX 


jiilinston-Lavis  (Dr.  H.  J.),  the  Eruption  of  Vesuvius,  July  3, 

1S95.  343 

Jiilles  (Mr. ),  the  Bacterial  Contents  of  .Margarine,  230 

foly  (A.),  Product  of  Heat-Aclion  on  Potassium  Iridium  Nitrite, 
216 

July  (Dr.  J.,  K.R.S.),  the  Unit  of  Heat,  4,  80;  Colour  Photo- 
graphy, 182 

Jones  (Dr.  li.  T.),  Experiments  on  Magnetic  Lighting  Power, 
360 

Jorgensen  (Dr.),  the  Morphology  of  Moulds  and  Yeasts,  397 

Journal  of  Botany,  261,  6u 

Jukes-Browne  (A.  J.),  Radiolaria  in  Chalk,  23S 

Julius  (W.  H.),  a  Vibration  Free  Suspension  for  Physical  Instru- 
ments, 57S 

Jupiter,  the  Satellites  of.  Prof.  Barnard,  203  ;  Adams'  Masses 
of  Jupiter's  Satellites,  399;  the  Eornis  of  Jupiter's  Satellites, 
S.  I.  Bailey,  445  ;  the  Red  Spots  on  Jupiter,  \V.  !•'.  Denning, 
507 


Kaiser  (Dr.),  E.vperiments  on  Frog's  Ventricle,  556 

Kamensky  ((i.).  Iron  Industries  of  South  Russia,  426 

Kaiithack  (Dr.  A.  A.),  a  Course  of  Elementar)'  Practical 
Bacteriology,  53  ;  the  Elements  of  Pathological  Histology, 
Dr.  \.  Weichselhauni,  241 

Kaufmann  (W.),  Photographic  Recortls  of  Motion  of  Piano- 
wire  when  struck,  84 

Kea,  on  the  Habits  of  the,  the  Sheep-eating  Parrot  of  New 
Zealand,  W.  Garstang,  629 

Keane  (A.  H.),  North  .Vfrica,  Stanford's  Compendium  of  (Seo- 
graphy  and  Travel,  409 

Keeble  (F.  W. ),  the  Loranthacea  of  Ceylon,  46 

Kceler  (Prof.  James  E.),  a  Spectroscopic  Proof  of  the  Meteoric 
Constitutions  of  Saturn's  Rings,  164 

Kelvin  (I^ird,  P.  R.S. ),  im  the  Electrification  of  Air,  and  Thermal 
Conductivity  of  Rock  at  Different  Temperatures,  67,  182  ;  on 
the  Translational  and  \'il)rational  lOnergies  of  \'ilirators  after 
Imjiacts  on  Fi.xetl  Walls,  in  which  he  sought  to  find  an 
exception  to  the  Maxwell-Boltzmann  Theorem  relating  to  the 
Average  Translational  P^nergy  of  the  .Molecules  of  a  Gas,  533 
Electrification  and  Diselectrification  of  .Vir  and  other  Ciases, 
535,  60S 

Kcrnot  (Prof  \V.  C. ),  Wind-pressure,  66 

Kerr  (Dr.  James),  the  \'ision  of  School  Board  ChiMren,  445 

Kerr  (J.  Ci.),  Naiililiis  pompilius,  215 

Kew,  1  land-list  of  Herbaceous  Plants  Cultivated  in  the  Royal 
(hardens,  388 

Kew,  introduction  of  a  West  Indian  Frog  into  the  Royal 
Gardens,  Kew,  Dr.  Albert  Giinther,  F.  R..S.,  643 

Kharkoff  Society  of  Naturali.sts,  Memoirs  of,  408 

Kildine  Islaml,  Remarkable  Lake  on,  .MM.  I'aussek  and 
Knipowitsch,  303 

Kiniber  (D.  C),  Text-book  of  .\naiomy  and  Physiology  for 
Nurses,  77 

Kinuira  (Shunkichi),  Note  on  Qviaternions,  366  ;  Dr.  P. 
Molenljroek  and,  to  Friends  and  P'ellow. workers  in  Quater- 
nions, 545 

Kinematics  of  Machines,  Prof.  T.  A.  Hearson,  262 

Kinematograph,  the,  A.  and  L.  Lumiere,  419 

Kinetic  Theory,  Argon  and  the.  Col.  C.  E.  Basevi,  221 

Kinetic  Theorj-  of  Gases,  G.  H.  Bryan,  P'.R.S.,244;  S.  H. 
Burbury,  F.  R.S.,  316 

Kirk  wood  (Prof  D. ),  Death  of,  229 

Klein  (Dr.),  .\ntitoxin,  355 

Klement  (C.),  the  Formation  of  Dolomite,  134 

Klengel  (Dr.  1'.),  Non-periodical  Temperature  Variations  in 
Pic  tlu  .Midi,  I'uy  de  Dome  and  St.  Bernard  Districts  com- 
pared, 202 

Khniipke  (.Mdlle),  Star  Catalogue,  278 

Knipowitsch  (.M.),  Remarkable  Lake  on  Kildine  Island,  303. 

Knoblauch  (Dr.  Hermann),  Death  of,  275 

Knott  (S.  C. ),  a  Luminous  Cloud,  652 

Kolguev,  Ice-bound  on,  .-Vubyn  Trevor-Battye,  Henry  Seeliohm, 

Konig    (Prof.),    Distrilnition    of    Energy    in    Tri|>lex    Burner 

.Spectrum,  1 67 
Kosai  (Mr.),  the  Organisms  respon.sible  for  production  of  Sake', 

601 
Kossmal   (Dr.  F.),  Geography  of  World   in  Cretaceous  Times, 

276 
Kovalevsky  (Sophie),  E.  W.  Carter,  43 


Kovalewsky  (Prof.  A.),  Hoxley,  651 
Kreider  (D.  .\.),  Prepars-lion  of  Perchloric  Acid,  212 
Kronecker  (Prof),  Result  of  Injection  of  Paraffin  into  Descend- 
ing Coronary  Artery,  556 
Kubary  on  House  and  Canoe  Construction  in  Pelan  Islands,  654 
Kuenen  (Dr.),  Conden.sation  and  Critical  Phenomena  of  Mi.\tures 

of  Ethane  and  Nitrous  Oxide,  142 
Kuntze  (Dr.  O.),  Geogenelische  Beitrage,  373 
Kurlbaum  (Dr.  F.),  Determination  of  Unit  of  Light,  359 
Kurth    (Dr.),    the  Sand   Filtration   of  Water   bactcriologically 

considered,  346 
Kurtz  (Dr.  F.),  the  Lower  Gondwana  Beds  of  Argentina,  523 

La  Touche  (J.    D.),  \ariegation  in  Flowers  and  Fruits,  295 

Laboratorj-  Exercises  in  Botany,  Paul  P^dson  S.  Bastin,  316 
j  Laboratory,  the  Schorlemmer  Memorial,  63 

Laboratories  at  Lille,  New  Science,  250 

Laboratories,  .Meteorological  Problems  for  Physical,  Prof.  Cleve- 
land .\bbe,  208 

Laboratories,  Tonbridge  School,  Alfred  Earl,  88 

Labrador,  the  Interior  of,  Mr.  Low,  552 

Laccadive  Islands,  the.  Commander  C.  F.   Oldham,   203 

Ladd  (G.   T.),  the   Philosophy  of   Mind,   Edward    T.   Dixon, 
172 

L^range  (Ch.),  the  Equations  of  the  Physical   Field,  94;  Ob- 
.servations  on  Magnetic  Declination,  276 

Lajoux  (H.),  Senecioninc  and  Senecinc,  120 

Lake  of  Geneva,  the,  Le   Leman,  .Monographic  Limmologique. 
F.  A.  Forel,  Prof  T.  {;.  Bonney,  F.R.S.,  52 

Lake    on    Kildine    Island,    Remarkable,    MM.    Faussek    and 
Knipowitsch,  303 

Lake,Titch,  of  Trinidad,  the,  S.  F.  Peckham,  285 

Lamplugh  (G.  W. ),  Crush-Conglomerates  of  Isle  of  Man,  239 

Lancaster  (.A.),  the  January  27-February  17,  1895,  Frost  Period, 

309 
Lanche-ster  (F.  W. ),  the  Radial  Cursor,  659 
Land  Surface,  Romano-British,  W'orthington  G.  Smith,  222 
Landi  (Dr.  Pasquale),  Death  of,  443 
I.anglet  (M.),  Density  of  Helium,  155 
LangIey(Dr.   .S.    P.),   Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  by 

the    Smithsonian    Institution   to  award  the   Hodgkins  Fund 

Prizes,  394 
Langlois  ( P. ),  Utility  of  Oxysparteine   Injections  before  .\na;s- 

thesia  with  Chloroform,  359 
Lankester,   (Prof    E.    Ray,   F.R.S.),   tlreen   Oysters,  28;  the 

Teaching  University  for  London,  294 
Lannoy  (Stephane  de),  the  Dilatation  of  Water,  24 
Lanz  (Dr.),  Effect  of  Thyroid- Removal   and  Thyroid-Feeding, 

605 
Lanza   (Prof    G.),    the   Education   of   an    Engineer,   60;    the 

Foundations  of  Engineering  Education,  405 
Larmor  (Joseph,  F.R.S.),  Dynamical  Theory  of  Electrons,  310 
Larrey  (Baron  Felix),  Death  of,  597 
Lasker   (Emanuel)    Metrical   Relati<ms  of   Plane  .Spaces   of  it 

Manifoldne.ss,  340  :  about  a  certain  Class  of  Curved  Lines  in 

Space  of  It  Manifoldness,  596 
Lasne  (Henri),  Estimation  of  .Vlumina  in  Phosphates,  264 
Late  Nestlings,  J;is.  Shaw,  459 
I^atent  Vitality  in  Seeds,  Prof.  Italo  Giglioli,  544 
Latitude  Variation  Tide,  the,  421 
Latter  (Oswald)  the  Feigning  of  Death,  343 
Law  of  Multiple  Proportions,  Do  the  Components  of  Compound 

Colours  in   Nature  follow  a,  Joseph   W.    Lovibond,   Prof  J. 

McKeen  Cattell,  547 
Lawrence  (P.  II.),  Death  of,  626 
Lazarus-Barlow   (Dr. ),    Modified   Method   of    finding    Specific 

Gravity  of  Tissues,  47 
Le  Cadet  (G.),  Swift's  Comet  (.\ugusl  20,  1895),  45^^ 
Le  Chatelier  (H.),  the  Melting  Point  of  Gold,  408 
Le  Conte(Prof ),  Critical  Periods  in  Earth's  Historj',  513 
I^a  (M.  C. ),  Colour  Relations  of  Atoms,  Ions  and  Molecules, 

118 
Leaf- Absorption,  G.   Paul,  569;  W.  Bolting  Hemsley,  F.  R.S., 

569 
Leathes  (Dr.),  Osmotic   Changes  between  Blood  and  Tissues, 

604 
Leaves  and  Fruit,  Late,  J.  Lloyd  Bozward,  644 
Lebeau  (P.),  a  Girbide  of  Glucinum,  612 
Lebedew  (Peter),  Double  Refraction  of  Electromagnetic  Rays, 

6X1 


XX 


Index 


\  Supplement  to  Nature, 
L     Decetuber  5, 1895 


Lecture   txperinient,  a.   Prof.  \V.   C.   Roberts- Austen,  F.R.S., 

114:  C.  J.  Woodward,  5 
Lectures  on  the   Darwinian  Theorj-,  Arthur  Milnes  Marshall, 

F.R.S.,  219 
Lees  (Dr.  C.  H.),  on  the  Method  and  Results  of  Experiments 
on  the  Thermal  Conductivity  of  Mixtures  of  Liquids.  535 

Leeward  Islands,  Recent  Earthquakes  in,  F.  Watts,  230 

Lehmann  {O. ).  Aureole  and  Stratification  of  Electric  Arc,  309 

Leidic  (E.),  Product  of  Heat-Action  on  Potassium  Iridium 
Nitrite,  2i6 

Leleux  (M.),  Electric  Resistance  of  Saccharine  Liquids,  47 

Leman,  Monographic  Limmologique,  Le,  F.  A.  Forel,  Prof. 
T.  G.  Bonney.  F.  R.S.,  52 

Lemming,  the  Migrations  of  the,  Prof.  R.  Collett,  64  ;  W. 
Duppa-Crotch,  149 

Lemoine  (M.),  Measurement  of  very  High  Potentials  by  Means 
of  a  Modified-Attracted  Disc-Electrometer,  628 

Lemon  (Margaretta  L. ),  the  Bird  of  Paradise,  197 

Lemoult  (P.),  Thermal  Researches  on  Cyanuric  Acid,  432  ; 
Action  of  Carbonic  Acid,  Water  and  Alkalis  on  Cyanuric  Acid 
and  its  Dissolved  Sodium  and  Potassium  Salts.  4SS 

Lepidoptera  :  the  Lcpidoptera  of  the  British  Islands,  Charles  G. 
Barrett,  27  ;  Harrow  Butterflies  and  Moths,  J.  L.  Bonhote 
and  Hon.  X.  C.  Rothschild,  3SS ;  the  Book  of  British  Hawk- 
Moths.  W.  J.  Lucas,  593 

Lcpine  (R. ),  Phlorizk  glycosuria  in  Dogs  after  Section  of  Spinal 
Cord,  564  ;  Glycosuria  following  Ablation  of  Pancreas,  588 

Leveau  (G.),  Long-Period  Inequality  in  Longitude  of  Mars,  660 

Leiier  (£mile),  a  travers  le  Caucase.  Notes  et  Impressions 
d'un  Botaniste,  3 

Lewes  (Prof.  \'.  B.),  Combustion  of  Acetylene  for  Illuminating 
I'urposes,  39 

Lewis  and  Hunter's  Coal  Shipping  System,  iSo 

Lewisite  :  a  New  Brazilian  Mineral,  Dr.  E.  Hussak  and  G.  T. 
I'rior,  2S7 

Ley  (Rev.  W.  Clement),  Curious  Habit  of  the  Spotted  Fly- 
catcher, 269 

I-ey<len,  the  Third  International  Zoological  Congress  at,  554 

Liebig  (Justus  von),  his  Life  and  Work  (1809-73),  ^-  ^■ 
Shenstone,  565 

Light  :  Action  on  Undersides  of  Flat-fish  of,  38  ;  the  Action  of 
Light  on  Animal  Life,  Mrs.  Percy  Frankland,  86 ;  Photo- 
metric .Standards,  356  ;  Determinatiun  of  Unit  of  Light,  Dr. 
F.  Kurlbaum  and  Prof.  Lummer,  359  ;  Lighting  by  Lumines- 
cence, A.  Witz,  383  ;  the  Chemistry  of  Lighting,  457  ;  a 
Means  of  greatly  increasing  Illuminating  Power  of  Gas,  .\I. 
Dcnarouze,  513;  the  Theory  of  .Magnetic  Action  on  Light, 
A.  B.  B.asset,  F.K.S.,  618 

Lights,  the  N'isibilily  of  Ship's,  232 

Lightning,  Curious  Eftcct  of,  D.  Pidgeon,  626 

Lightning  Flash,  Effects  of  a,  in  Ben  Nevis  Observatory, 
William  S.  liruce,  244 

Lightning  Flashes,  Photographs  of,  N.  Piltschikoff,  359 

Lightning,  Globular,  tl.  .M.  Ryan,  392 

Lille,  New  Science  Laboratories  at,  250 

Lille  Experiments  on  F^lficicncy  of  Ropes  and  Bells  for  Trans- 
mission of  Power,  Prof.  D.  S.  Capper,  657 

Limb  (C. ),  Electromotive  Force  of  Latimer  Clark,  Gouy,  and 
DanicU  .Standards,  336 

Limner's  Isrjmaltose,  H.  G.  Brown  and  G.  H.  Morris,  311 

Line  Spectra  ol  the  Elements,  on  the.  Prof.  C.  Runge,  106 

Linear  Differenlial  Equations,  Dr.  Ludwig  .Schlesinger,  313 

Lineham  (Wilfrid  J.),  a  Text-Book  of  Mechanical  Engineering, 

5> 

Linncan  Society,  46,  95,  143,  191,  239 

Linncan  Society's  Gold  Medal  awarded  to,  Prof.  Fcrd.  Cohn, 
no 

New  South  Wales,  48,  168,  288,  384,  540,  612 
he  C'l.lostat,  96 
li'l  '     ■    f  .Sii[XTfused,  Louis  Bruner,  47 

Liq«  n  iif.  and  the  Great  Capillary  Theories, 

<-  ^ghc,  588 

Liquefy  llcimm.  Attempt  to,  Prof.  William   Ramsay,  F.R.S., 

Liveing  (Prof.),  ion  Spectrum  of  Liquid  .Mr,  312 

Livcrpfxil  (Port  i  -Hiological  Station,  E.ister  Vacation 

Wfirk  at,  35  ;  irj'    \\  luiMinlidc  Work  at,  152 
LivcrMdgc  (Prof.),  Crystalline  Structure  of  Gold,  39 
Living  TisHic^,  the  Penetration  of  Roots  into,  Rudolf  Beer,  630 
Liur<U,  Hypnoiizcil,  Dr.  W.  T.  Van  Dyck,  148 
I-ockycr  (J.   Norman,  F.R.S.),  Terrestrial    Helium  (?),  7,  55; 


the  Sun's  Pl.ice  in  Nature,  12,  156,  204,  253,  327,  422,  446  : 
Apparatus  for  Collecting  Gases  distilled  from  Minerals,  iSi  ; 
Photographs  of  Spectra  of  Bellatrix,  of  Solav  Chromosphere 
and  of  the  New  Gases,  t8l  ;  the  New  Gas  obtained  from 
Uraninite,  214  ;  the  New  Mineral  Gases,  547  ;  Photographs  of 
Star  Sjiectra,  660 

Lodge  (Prof.  Oliver  J.,  F.R.S.),  the  Unit  of  Heat,  30;  the 
Density  of  Molten  Rock,  269 

Lodin  (A.),  some  Reactions  of  Lead  Sulphide,  144 

Loewy  (M.)  on  Photographs  of  the  Moon  taken  at  the  Paris 
Oliservatory,  439 

Lofft's  (.Mr.)  Herd  of  WTiite  Polled  Cattle,  Sale  of,  153 

Logarithmic  Chart,  Scale  Lines  on  the,  C.  V.  Boys,  F.  R.S. ,  272 

Lombroso  (Prof.),  Atavism  and  Evolution,  257 

London,  the  Health  of,  298 

London,  the  Teaching  University  for,  .Sir  John  Lubbock,  245, 
268,  295,  340,  3S9,  594;  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S., 
294  :  Alfred  W.  Bennett,  294  ;  W.  T.  Thisellon-Dyer,  F.R.S., 
293,  366,  413 

Longmans'  School  Algebra,  W.  S.  Beard  and  .\.  Telfer,  220 

Longuinine  (W. ),  Latent  Heats  of  Vaporisation  of  Fatty 
Ketones,  Octane  and  Decane,  Diethyl  and  Dimethyl  Car- 
bonates, 660 

Loschmidt  (Prof.  JoseO,  Death  of,  325 

Loven  (Dr.  Sven),  Death  of,  4S5 

Lovibond  (Joseph  W. ),  Do  the  Coitiponents  of  Compound 
Colours  in  Nature  follow  a  Law  of  Multiple  Proportions  ? 
547  ;  Mr.  Pillsbury  and  Colour  Standards,  577 

Lowe  (Mr.),  the  Interior  of  Labrador,  552 

Low's  Chemical  Lecture  Charts,  365 

Lowell  (Percival).  the  Rotation  of  Mars,  135  ;  Evidence  of  a 
Twilight  Arc  ujwn  the  Planet  Mars,  401 

Lubbock  (Sir  John,  Bart,  F.R.S.),  the  Teaching  University  for 
London,  245,  268,  295,  340,  389,  594 

Luc.is  (W.  J.),  the  Book  of  British  Hawk-Moths,  a  Popular 
and  Practical  Handbook  for  Le])idopterists,  593 

Ludwig  (Prof.  K.),  Death  of,  33 

Lumicre(.\.  and  L. ),  the  Kineinatograph,  419 

Luminescence,  E.  Wiedemann  and  (l.  C.  Schmidt,  94 

Luminescence,  Lighting  by,  A.  Witz,  383 

Lummer  (Prof.),  Determination  of  Unit  of  Light,  359 

Lunge  (George),  a  Theoretical  and  Practical  Treati.se  on  the 
.Manufacture  of  Sulphuric  Acid  and  Alkali,  J.  T.  Dunn,  290 

Luschan  (Dr.  F.  von).  Ethnography  of  M.itty  Island,  141 

Lvischer  (Dr.),  Nervous  Mechanism  of  Swallowing,  604 

Lydekker  (R.,  F. R.S. ),  Birds.  Beasts,  and  Fishes  of  the  Nor- 
folk Broadland,  P.  IL  Emerson,  195  :  Royal  Natural  History, 
242;  a  Text-book  of  Zoogeography,  F.  E.  Heddard,  F.  R.S., 
289  ;  Studies  in  the  Evolution  of  Animals,  E.  Bonavia,  411 


Maas   (Dr.    Otto),    on    the    Morphology   and    Distribution    of 

Medus;v,  563 
Mc/Mpine  (Dr.),  Systematic  Arrangement  of  .\ustralian  Fungi, 

435  ;  Onion  Dise.ase,  435  :  Prune  and  Groundsel  Rusts,  570 
M.tcCormac  (Sir  William),  War  .Surgery  of  the  Future,  354 
McCrae    (John),    .Measurement    of    High    Temperatures    with 

Thermo-Element  and  .Melting  Points  of  some  Inorg.anic  Salts, 

189 
MacCullagh's  Theory  of    Double   Refraction,    .\.    B.    Basset, 

F.R.S..595 
MacDuwall  (.Mex.  B. ),  Weather  .and  Disease,  641 
MacGillivray  (Dr.  P.  H.),  Death  of,  522 
MacHenry  (.\.),  a  Tertiary  Basjiltic  Hill  in  (lalway,  215  ;  .\gf 

of  .\ntrim  Trachyte,  251 
Machines,  Kinematics  of.  Prof.  T.  A.   Hear.son,  262 
McKendrick  (Dr.  John),  Tone  and  Curves  of  Phonograph,  326 
Maclean  (Magnus),  Electrification  and  Diselcctrification  of  Air 

and  other  Gases,  608 
McLeod  (Prof.  H.,  F.R.S.),  the  Bibliography  of  Spectroscopy. 

105 
MacLeod  (J. ),  Over  de  Bevruchting  der  Bloemen  in  het  Kempisc'i 

Gedeelle  Van  Vlaanderen,  2 
M.acMunn  (Chas.  A.),  Guanine  in  Fishes'  Skins,  55 
Macpherson  (Rev.  H.  A.),  the  Pheasant,  589 
Madr.is  (Observatory,  the  New,  277 
Madreporaria,  .Australian,  Mr.  W.  Saville-Kent's  Collection  of. 

presented  to  Natural  History  Museum,  301 
Magazines,  Science  in  the,  43,  159,  257,  355,  45°.  5^6 
Magnetism  :    lOffects  of   Magnetism  and   Electricity  on  Develop- 
ment, Dr.  Bertram  Windle,  10;  Influence  of  Internal  Currents 


SnppUnunt  to  NaUtre,'\ 
December  5,  1895      J 


Index 


XXI 


on  Magnetisation  of  Iron,  Dr.  Hopkinson,  38  ;  Magnetisation 
of  Iron  in  very  Weak  Fields,  W.  Schmidt,  85  ;  Magnetisation 
of  Iron  by  very  Small  Forces,  Werner  Schmidt,  94  ;  New 
Instrument  for  testing  Hysteresis  in  Iron,  Prof.  Ewing,  38  ; 
some  Bibliographical  Discoveries  in  Terrestrial  Magnetism, 
Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer,  79  ;  Captain  Ettrick  W.  Creak,  F.K.S., 
129  ;  Lines  of  Equal  Disturbance  of  Magnetic  Potential  of  the 
Earth,  W.  von  Bezold,  112  ;  a  Theor)-  of  Terrestrial  .Magne- 
tism, Prof.  von.  Bezold,  167  ;  Halley's  Equal  \'ariation 
Chart,  Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer,  197  ;  Ilalley's  Chart  of  Magnetic 
Declinations,  C.  L.  Clarke,  343  :  Distribution  and  Secular 
Variation  of  Terrestrial  Magnetism,  L.  A.  Bauer,  431,  539; 
.Study  of  Lines  of  Secular  \'ariation  of  Terrestrial  Magnetism, 
.\1.  de  Tillo,  660  ;  Earth  a  Magnetic  Shell,  F.  H.  Bigelow, 
431  ;  the  Influence  of  Magnetic  Fields  upon  Electrical 
Resistance,  I.  Sadovsky,  87  ;  Magnetic  properties  of  Bodies 
at  Dift'erent  Temperatures,  P.  Curie,  134,  25  ;  the  Earliest 
.Magnetic  .Meridians,  Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer,  269  ;  Captain  Ettrick 
W.  Creak,  F.R.S.,  295  ;  Magnetic  Declination,  Ch.  Lagrange, 
276  ;  .Elotropic  Magnetic  Properties  of  Cr)stallised  Mag- 
netite, I".  Weiss,  303  ;  Magnetism  of  Asbestos,  L.  Bleekrode, 
309  ;  Magnetic  Lifting  Power,  Dr.  E.  T.  Jones,  360 ;  the 
Theory  of  .Magnetic  Action  on  Light,  A.  B.  Basset,  F.  R.S. , 
618 

Magnetite,  .lilotropic  Magnetic   Properties  of  Crystadised,  P. 
Weiss,  303 

Maiden  (J.  H.),  Acacia  Bakeri,  288  ;  New  EU^ocarpus,  540 

Malacological  Society,  47,  119 

Malbot  (H.  and  .A.),  -Algerian  Phosphates,  540 

Man,  the  Story  of  "  Primitive,"  Edward  Clodd,  173 

Man  of  Letters,  the  Evolution  of  the  Biographer,  Historian, 
and,  Herbert  Spencer,  450 

Man  cf  Science  and  Philosopher,  Evolution  of,  Herbert  Spencer, 
586 

.Manchester  Museum,  a  Catalogue  of  the  Books  and  Pamphlets 
in  the,  W.  E.  Hoyle,  53 

Manchester  (Owens  College)  Museum,  the,  36 

Manchester  Sanitary  Progress  Conference,  9 

Maneuvrier  (G. ),  Determination  of  Ratio  of  the  Two  Specific 
Heats  of  .\ir,  239 

Manifoldness,  .Metrical  Relations  of  Plane  Spaces  of ;;,  Emanuel 
Lasker,  340 

Manifoldness,  «,  about  a  certain  cla.ss  of  Curved  Lines  in  Space 
of,  Emanuel  Lasker,  596 

Mann  (H.  IL),  New  Modification  of  Benzilosazone,  l66 

Mann  (Dr.),  Psycho-Motor  .Area  in  Rabbit,  Hedgehog,  Dog, 
and  Cat,  555 

Manure,  a  New  Nitrogenous  Calcium  Cyanate,  Camille  Faure. 
588 

Manx  Cats,  Gradual  Elimination  of  Taille.ssne.ss  in,  626 

Marchal  (E.),  the  Microbiological  Processes  in  Ripening  of  Soft 
Cheeses,  178 

Marchi  (Prof.  L.  de),  the  Theory  of  Cyclones,  153  ;  le  Cause 
deir  Era  Glaciale,  412 

Marching,  German  Experiments  in,  513 

Margarine,  the  Bacterial  Contents  of,  Messrs.  Jolles  and 
Winkler,  230 

Marine  Biology  :  Easter  ^'acation  Work  at  Port  Erin  Station, 
35;  the- Whitsuntide  Work  at  Port  Erin  Station,  152; 
Pelagic  Deep-Sea  Fishing,   L.   Boutan  and  E.   P.   Racovitza, 

312 
Markham  (Clements  R.,  F.R.S.),  Major  James  Rennell  and  the 
Rise  of  .Modern  English  (Jeography,  Dr.   Hugh  Robert  Mill, 
614 
Marmery  (J.  Villin),  Progress  of  Science,  267 
Marr  (.^ir.),  on  the  I'hylogeny  of  the  tlraptolites,  560 
.Mars  :  the  .Spectrum  of.  Sir.  Jewell,  37  ;  Dr.  Janssen,  514  ;  the 
Rotation  of  Mars,  I'ercival  Lowell,   135  ;  Evidence  of  a  Twi- 
light .Arc  upon  the  Planet   Mars,   Percival   Lowell,  401  ;  the 
Solar  Parallax  from   Mars'   Observations,  42 1  ;  Long   Period 
Inerpiality  in  Longitu<lc  of  Mars,  Cr.  Leveau,  660 
Marsh  (Prof.),  on  scmie  European  Dinosaurs,  559 
Marshall  (.\rihur  Milnes,  F.R.S.),  Lectures  on  the   Darwinian 

Theory.  219 
Marshall  (B.  M.  C),  Formation  of  Lxvo-chlorosuccinic  Acid,  94 
Marshall  (Miss  D.),  on  a  Method  of  comparing  Heats  of  Eva- 
poration of  Liquids  at  their  Boiling  Points,  535 
Marshall  (Henry    Rutgers),    Instinct-Impulse,    130;    /Esthecti 

Principles,  292 
Martin  (J.    S.),    Report    on    Timsbury   Colliery    Explosion  of 
February  1895,  302 


Martin  (K.),  Reisen  in  den  Molukken,  in  Ambon,  den  Uliassern, 

Seran  (Ceram)  und  Buru,  Dr.  Hugh  Rotjcrt  Mill,  217 
Martin  (Prof.),  the  Fossils  of  Java,  360 
Martin  (Dr.  -Sidney),  the  Antitoxin   Treatment  of  Diphtheria, 

354 
Martin   (Thomas   Commerford),    Inventions,    Researches,    and 

Writings  of  Nikola  Tesla,  314 
Matches,    the  Question   of  Non-Poisonous  Tipping  for,   T.    H . 

Schloesing,  432 
Ma-ssee  (George),  British  Fungus  Flora,  435 
Massey   (C. ),  a    Leucomame   from    Urine   in   -Angina   Pectoris 

Cases,  120 
Massol  (M.),  Specific  Heats  of  Sui^erfused  Formic  and  Acetic 

-Acids,  336 
Mathematics :  the  .Assumptions  in  Boltzmann's  Minimum 
Theorem,  G.  H.  Bryan,  29  ;  Boltzmann's  -Minimum  Function, 
S.  H.  Burbur)',  F.R.S.,  104;  Boltzmann's  Minimum 
Theorem,  Edward  P.  Culverwell,  149  ;  on  the  Minimum 
Theorem  in  the  Theor)-  of  Gases,  Prof.  Ludwig  Boltzmann, 
221;  the  Examination  Curve,  F.  Howard  Collins,  30 ; 
-American  Journal,  70,  237,  610 ;  Bulletin  of  -American  Society, 
94,  189,  335,  587  :  the  Equations  of  the  Physical  Field,  Ch. 
Lagrange,  94;  Mathematical  Society,  95,  215;  Results 
relating  to  Spherical  Catenary,  Prof.  Greenhill,  F.R.S.,  and 
T.  I.  Dewar,  95  ;  a  New  Method  in  Harmonic  -Analysis,  A- 
Sharp,  119;  Death  of  Prof.  F.  E.  Neumann,  133  ;  Death  of 
Prof.  A.  M.  Nash,  215  ;  Longmans'  School  Algebra,  W.  S. 
Beard  and  -A.  Telfer,  220 ;  Death  of  I'rof.  D.  Kirkwood, 
229  :  Mathematical  Gazette,  237  ;  Linear  Differential  Equa- 
tions, Dr.  Ludwig  Schlesinger,  313;  on  Skew  Probability 
Curves,  Prof.  Karl  Pearson,  317  ;  Metrical  Relations  of  Plane 
Spaces  of  «  Manifoldness,  Emanuel  Lasker,  340 ;  about  a 
certain  Class  of  Curved  Lines  in  Space  of  «  Slanifoldness, 
Emanuel  Lasker,  596 ;  Note  on  Quaternions,  Shunkichi 
Kimura,  366  ;  Clausius'  \'irial  Thorem,  Col.  C.  E.  Base\i, 
413;  Prof.  A.  Gray,  568;  S.  H.  Burbury,  F.R.S.,  568; 
Robert  E.  Baynes,  569 ;  Methodisches  Lehrbuch  der 
Elementar-Mathematik,  Dr.  Gustav  Holzmuller,  437 ;  an 
Arithmetical  Puzzle,  W.  Radclifie,  525  ;  a  Treatise  on  Bessel 
Functions  and  their  -Applications  to  Physics,  .Andrew  Gray 
and  G.  B.  Mathews,  Prof.  A.  G.  Greenhill,  F.R.S.,  542;  to 
Friends  and  Fellow -workers  in  <,)uaternions.  Dr.  P.  Molenbroek 
and  Shunkichi  Kimura,  545 ;  -Abrege  de  la  Theorie  des 
Fonctions  Elliptiques,  Charles  Henr)-,  H.  F.  Baker,  567  ; 
Death  and  Obituary-  Notice  of  Prof.  Ernst  Ritter,  600 ; 
Integration  of  Hamilton's  DifTerenlial  Equation,  P.  Staeckel, 
612 ;  Die  Grundgebilde  der  ebenen  Geometric,  Dr.V.  Eberhard, 
616;  Development  of  .Arbitrary  Functions,  Prof.  J.  Perry  and 
H.  F.  Hunt,  659  ;  the  Radial  Cursor,  F.  W.  I-anchester,  659 
Mather  (Mr.),   -Arguments    against    the   Existence  of   a    Back 

Electromotive  Force  in  the  Electric  Arc,  536 
Mathews   (G.    B. ),    Andrew   Gray   and,   a   Treatise  on  Bessel 
Functions  and   their   .Application    to    Physics,    Prof.    A.  G. 
Greenhill,  F.R.S.,  542 
Matignon  (C.),  Nitro-substitutions,  516 
Maurange    (G.),    Utility    of    Oxysparteine    Injections     before 

-Anjesthesia  with  Chloroform,  359 
Maxim  Flying  Machine,  the.  Prof.  -A.  G.  Greenhill,  F.R.S.,321 
Mayan  Hieroglyphics,  a  Primer  of,  Daniel  G.  Brinton,  387 
Mea-surcment  of   Starlight,    the    Electrical,    Prof.    George   M. 

Minchin,  F.R.S.,  246 
Measures,  the  Reform  of  our  Weights  and,  256 
Mechanics:  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers.  iS,  34S,  655; 
a  Text-book  of  Mechanical  Engineering,  Wilfrid  J.  Lineham, 
51  ;  -Amount  of  Play  necessary  between  Punch  and  Bed,  Ch. 
Fremont,  240  ;  Kinematics  of  .Machines,  Prof.  T.  A.  Hearson, 
262  ;  on  Measurements  of  Small  Strains  in  Testirtg  of 
-Materials  and  Structures,  Prof.  J.  A.  Ewing,  F.R.S.,  285; 
Forces  developed  by  Differences  of  Temperature  between 
Upper  and  Lower  Plates  of  Continuous  Girder,  H.  Des- 
landres,  516:  Mechanical  Properties  of  Copper-zinc  -Alloys, 
Georges  Charpy,  612  ;  the  Mechanical  Theory  of  the  Universe, 
Dr.  W.  (Jstwald,  627  ;  the  Lille  Experiments  on  Ethciency 
of  Ropes  and  Belts  for  Transmission  of  Power,  Prof.  D.  S- 
Capper,  657 
Medicine :  Death  of  Sir  Geo.  Buchanan,  34  :  the  Antiquity 
of  the  Medical  Profession,  Surg.-Major  Black,  174;  Her- 
bert Spencer,  197 ;  the  British  Medical  -Association, 
306,  352  :  .Annual  Nleeting  of,  325  ;  the  Scientific  Results 
of  the  .Annual  Meeting  of  the,  369  ;  Society  of  Medical 
Phonographers,  346  ;  the   Power  of  Living  Things  in   Con- 


XXIJ 


Index 


CSufiflemeni  to  Xatttn, 
December  5,  1895 


servaiion  of  Health  and  Prevention  or  Cure  of  Disease, 
Sir  T.  K.  Re>Tiolds,  352  ;  Growth  of  the  Art  of  Medicine, 
Sir  \V.  Broadbent,  353  ;  the  Antitoxin  Treatment  of 
Diphtheria,  Dr.  Sidney  Martin,  I'rof.  von  Kanke,  Prof. 
Baginsky,  and  Dr.  Hermann  Biggs,  354 ;  Antitoxin,  Dr. 
Klein,  355  :  Anarnotine,  Sir  William  Roberts,  355  ;  War 
Surger)'  of  the  Future,  Sir  William  .MacCormac,  354  :  the 
Bacillus  of  Influenza  Cold,  Dr.  Cautley,  355  ;  Death  of  Dr. 
J.  S.  Bristowe,  K.R.S.,  41 S  ;  the  Revision  of  the  British  \ 
PharmacofKeia,  510;  Deaths  of  Drs.  L.  Galassi  and  von 
Sury,  512  ;  Death  of  Dr.  P.  H.  MacGillivray,  522 
Metlusa  {Pelagia),  I'elag^ine,  the  Violet   Pigment  of  the,  A.  B. 

Griffiths  and  C.  I'latt,  564 
Melbourne  Observatorj-,  the,  R.  L.  J.  Ellery,  603 
Meldola  ( Prof.  R.,    K.R.S.),   Epping    P'orest,   an   Explanation, 
Si  :  -Action  of  Nitrous  Acid  on  Dibronianiline,  166;  Open- 
ing Address  in  Section  B  of  the  British  Association,  the  State 
of  Chemical  Science,  477 
Melius  (Dr.  E.  L. ),  Experimental  Lesions  of  Cortex  cerebri  m 

Bonnet  .Monkey,  431 
Memoirs  of  KharkofT  Society  of  Naturalists,  408 
Men-gu-)-u-mu-tsi,    or  Memoirs  of  the  Mongol  Encampments, 

340 
Menlo  Park,  the  Wizard  of,  193 
Mensbrugghc  (G.  van  der),  the  Evaporation  of  Liquids  and  the 

Great  Capillar)'  Theories,  588 
Mercury  and  Venus,  113 
Meridian,  the  Kirsl,  51 1 
Meridians,    the    Earliest    Magnetic,    Dr.    L.    A.    Bauer,    269; 

Captain  Ettrick  W.  Creak,  F.R.S.,  295 
Meriiinethshire,  the  Slate  Mines  of,  279 

Merritt  (Ernest),  Dichroism  of  Calcspar,  Quartz,  and  Tourma- 
line for  Infra-red  Rays,  189 
Metal  Mixers,  .\rthur  Cooper,  62 

Metallurgy  :  the  Rarer  Metals  and  their  Alloys,  Prof.  W'.  C. 
Roberts- Austen ,  F.R.S.,  14,  39;  Steel  Works  Analysis,  J. 
O.  Arnold  and  John  Parr)-,  26  ;  Metal  Mixers,  Arthur  Cooper, 
62  ;  Effect  of  .\rsenic  on  Steel,  62  ;  the  Iron  and  Steel  Insti- 
tute, 62,  425  ;  Pure  Fused  Molybdenum,  Henri  Moissan,  216; 
.Micrographic  Analysis,  Prof.  W.  C.  Roberls-.\usten,  F.R.S., 
367  ;  Direct  Puddling  of  Iron,  E.  Bonehill,  425  :  Iron  Indus- 
tries of  South  Russia,  (i.Kamensky,  426  ;  Thermo-chemistr)'  of 
Bessemer  Process,  Prof.  W.  X.  Hartley,  F.  R.S.,  426  ;  Pro- 
duction of  Iron  by  New  Process,  R.  A.  Hadfield,  427 ; 
Nickel  .Steel,  11.  .\.  Wiggin,  428  ;  Mechanical  Properties  of 
Cop|)cr-Zinc  .Alloys,  Georges  Charpy,  612;  the  Metallurgy 
of  Iron  and  Steel,  Thomas  Turner  and  W.  Gowland,  613 
Metamerism,  T,  H.  Morgan,  2S5 
Metchniko(T(Priif. ),  the  ExtraCellular  Destruction  of  Bacteria 

in  the  Organism,  134 
Meteoric  Constitution  of  Saturn's   Kings,  a  Spectroscopic  Proof 

of  the.  Prof.  James  E.  Keeler,  164 
Meteoric    Iron,    Argon    and    Helium    in.    Prof.    W.   Ramsay, 

F.R.S.,224 
Meteorites,  Study  of  some,  Henri  Moissan.  611 
.Meteorology  :  the  Weather  Week  by  Week,  9,  83,  152,  302, 
372,  419,  485,  652  ;  Effects  of  Air  carried  below,  without 
(iyration.  in  Interior  of  Tempests,  Watersi)outs,  and  Torna- 
does, II.  Faye,  24  ;  Phenomena  of  Cloud  Formation,  W.  N. 
.Shaw,  39;  Cloud  Formation  in  .Absence  of  Dust,  C.  T.  R. 
Wilson,  144  :  .Synvms's  Monthly  Meteorological  Magazine, 
45,  213;  Earth  Temperatures  and  Water-Pipes,  Mr.  Symons, 
45  ;  the  Great  (iaie  of  March  24  in  the  Midlands,  H.  A. 
Boys  and  A.  W.  Preston,  45  ;  .Snow  from  Cloudless  Sky, 
C.  L.  Prince,  45  ;  American  .Meteorological  Journal,  45,  118, 
3°8>  335'  455.  S**?  ;  Hygienische  Mcteorologie,  Prof.  Dr. 
W.  J.  van  Beblier,  49;  Atmosjihcrical  Kleclricity  on  Ihe 
Sonnblick,  J.  Elster  and  H.  Geilel,  59;  ("ondilions  of  .At- 
mospheric Ilumidilyon  .Sonnblick  Summit,  Dr.  V.  llann,  277  ; 
Early  Rainfall   .Me.isurcmcnt  in  Palestine,  Dr.  11.  \cigelstein, 

f9;  the  Fcbruaij'  Cold  Spell  in  .Mexico,  59  :  Wind  Pressure, 
'rof.  VV.  C.  Kernol,  66;  Berlin  MeleorolDgical  Siwiety, 
71,  216;  Weather,  and  Methods  of  Foreca-sting,  Descrip- 
tion of  Meteorological  Instruments,  and  River  Flood  Pre- 
^lictions  in  Ihe  United  States,  Th.imas  Russell,  9S  :  Results 
of  Rain,  River,  .nnd  EvajKiration  Oljservations  made  in  New- 
South  W:.l,,  ,l„r ,v,,,,   Ji.   c.   Russell,  F.K.S,,98;  the 

New  M<  •  ,11  on  Mount  Wellington,  no,  302, 

599;  a   ^'  nc  Observations,  J.    Schukewitch, 

III  ;  Meteor.il.^gic.d  Charts  of  the  Red  Sea,  112:  the  Giusc 
■of  Cyclones,  Prof.  A.  Wwikof,  118;  the  Theory  of  Cyclones, 


Prof.  L.  de  Marchi,  1 53  ;  a  Cyclonic  Indraught  at  the  Top 
of  an  Anticyclone,  H.  Helm  Clayton,  243  :  1894  Otiservations 
at  Bremen,  133  :  the  Climate  of  Cairo  and  Alexandria,  133  ; 
Royal  Meteorological  Society,  143,  215;  the  November 
Floods  of  1894  in  Thames  \alley,  G.  J.  Symons,  F.R.S., 
and  Ci.  Chatterton,  143  ;  the  Barometrical  Changes  preceding 
and  .accompanying  R.ainfal!  of  November  1894.  F.J.  Brodie, 
143  ;  Distribution  of  Daily  Wind  Velocities  in  United  Slates, 
Dr.  F.  Waldo,  177;  Geographical  Distribution  of  Maximum 
and  Minimum  Wind  Velocities  in  United  States,  Dr.  F. 
Waldo,  335  ;  Relations  of  Diurnal  Rise  and  Fall  of  Wind  in 
the  United  States,  Dr.  F.  Waldo,  539  ;  Xon- Periodical  Tem- 
jDerature  Variations  in  Pic  du  Midi,  Puy  de  Dome,  and  St. 
Bernard  Districts  compared,  Dr.  F.  Klengel,  202  ;  Meteoro- 
logical Problems  for  I'hysical  Laboratories,  Prof.  Cleveland 
Abbe,  20S  :  Rainfall  in  China,  Dr.  Doberck,  213  ;  Hourly 
Variations  of  Sunshine  in  British  Isles,  R.  H.  Curtis,  215  ; 
Hail  at  Sea,  H.  Harries,  215  ;  Applicability  of  Lambert's 
F^ormula  to  Calculation  of  Average  Wind  Direction,  Dr.  H. 
Meyer,  216;  F-nglish  Rainfall  of  First  Half  of  1895,  229; 
Temperature  Observations  round  the  Lofoden  Island;-,  Lieut. 
C.  t;<ade,  231:  Iligh-Level  Meteorological  Stations.  236: 
Daily  Ranges  of  Barometer  on  Clear  and  Cloiuly  Da\s  on 
Mountain  Summits,  Dr.  T.  Hann,250;  some  High  Mountain 
Observatories,  E.  Whyniper,  513  ;  Fog  on  North  Atlantic 
during  1894,  302;  the  "Thermophone,  H.  E.  Warren  and 
G.  C.  Whipple,  308 ;  California  Electrical  Storms,  J.  D. 
Parker,  308;  the  January  27-Febru,aiy  17,  1895,  I>ost  Period, 
A.  Lancaster,  309 ;  Meteorological  Observations  at  (])iia  Station 
(Spain),  347;  Photographs  of  Lightning  Fl.ishes,  N.  PiltschikotV, 
359  :  Curious  Effect  ot  Lightning,  I).  Pidgeon,  626  ;  Weather 
Fall.icies,  Richard  Inwards,  377  ;  Le  Cause  Dell'  Era 
(Jlaciale,  Luigi  de  Marchi,  412;  Dust-  and  Snow-Slorm  in 
Western  United  States,  Prof.  Clevel.and  Abbe,  419;  Storms 
and  Earthquakes  in  Austria  during  June,  C.  V.  Zenger,  432  ; 
Relations  of  Clouds  to  Rainfall,  II.  H,  Clayton,  455: 
Harvard  Observatory,  Meteorograph  on  El  Misti,  Peru,  S.  P. 
Ferguson,  455  ;  Storm-Warning  Telegrams  to  be  supplied 
to  Lighthouses  for  the  Hencfil  of  Passing  \'essels,  512  ;  the  Im- 
provement of  Storm-Warning  Signals,  Dr.  W.  J.  van  Beblxr, 
653;  Rain  in  August,  519;  Meteorological  Observatory  on 
the  lirocken,  551  ;  Eff'ects  of  Coosa  (Alabama)  Cloud  Bursts 
of  1872,  .A.  M.  Gibson,  552  ;  Climates  and  Baths  of  Great 
Britain,  566 ;  Origin  and  Work  of  .Marine  Meteorology  in 
the  United  St.ites,  Lieul.  Beehler,  5S7  ;  the  Recent  Dry 
Weather,  Prof.  J.  P.  O'Reilly,  597  ;  Weather  and  Disease, 
Alex.  IS.  MacDowall,  641  :  a  Luminous  Cloud,  S.  C.  Knott, 
652  ;    Meteorolog)'  in  India,  J.  Eliot,  F.R.S.,  654 

Meteors  :  April  .Meteors,  W.  F.  Denning,  33 ;  the  Perseid 
Meteors  observed  in  Russia  in  1894,  Th.  Bredikhine,  261: 
the  Perseids  of  1895,  W.  F.  Denning,  395  ;  a  Brilliant 
Meteor,  Charles  B.  Butler,  269  ;  the  August  .Meteors,  327  ; 
Heights  of  August  Meteors,  Prof  A.  .S.  Herschel,  F.R..S., 
437  ;  .August  Meteors,  W.  F.  Denning,  507 

Metric  .System  in  Mexico,  523 

Metrical  Kel.aticms  of  Plane  Spaces  of  h  Manifoldness,  Emanuel 
Lasker,  340 

Mctrological  Society,  the  American,  1 1 1 

Metrology:  Modified  Centesimal  System  of  Time  .and  Measure- 
ment, II.  de  .Sarranlim,  445 

Mexico,    the  February  Cold  Spell  in,  59  ;    Metric   System    in, 

523 
Meyer  (Dr.  A.),   Unlersuchungen  liber  die  Stiirkekorncr,  I'rof. 

II.  Marshall  Ward,  F.K.S.,  640 
Meyer(Dr.    A.  B.),  liow  w;us  Wallace  led  to  the   Discovery  of 

Natural  Selection  ?  Dr.  .A.  R.  Wallace,  F.  R.S.,  415  ;  a  lirown 

Chim[xinzee,  653 
Meyer  (Dr.  H.),  .Applicability of  I^iHibert's  I'ormuhe  to  Calcula- 
tion of  .Average  \\  inil-Direclion,  216 
.Meyer  (Prof,  Lothair),  (Jbitiiary  Notice  of,  .M,  M,  Pattison  Muir, 

81 
Miall  (Prof.  L.  C,   F.R.S.),   the  Natural   History  of   Acpiatic- 

Insects,  242  ;  on  our  Present   Knowledge  of  the  Causes  and 

Conditions  of  Insect  Transformation,  526 
Michigan  Treatment  of  Tomato- Rot  and  Apple-Scab,  276 
Micro- Metallography  of  Iron,  I.,  Thos.  Andrews,  F.R.S.,  213 
Micriibesand  Disease  Demons,  Dr.  Berdoe,  340 
.Micrographic  Analysis,    Prof.  W,  C,    Roberts- Austen,   F.R.S.. 

367 
Microscopy;    Royal   Micro.scopical  Society,   47,   120,   287;  an 
Aquatic  I  lymenoptcrous  Insect,  Fred   Enock,    105;  Growth 


SitJ>/iUtii€nt  to  NaiHr€,'\ 
December  5,  1895      J 


Index 


XXUI 


of  Uiatoms  in  Surface  Waters,  E.  C.  Whipple,  112  ;  Death  of 
Dr.  John  Anthony,  133  ;  Dental  Microscopy,  A.  Hopewell 
Smith,  197;  I'etrology  for  Students  :  an  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  Rocks  under  the  Microscope,  A.  Marker,  267  ; 
(Quarterly  Journal  of  Microscopical  Science,  284  ;  \'ariation 
of  Tentaculocysts  of  Atirctia  aurila^  E.  T.  Browne,  284; 
Mouth  Parts  of  Cypris  Stage  of  Balanus,  T.  T.  Groom,  284  ; 
Chemical  Constitution  of  Mesogkca  of  Alcyoiiiitm  digitatiiiii, 
W.  L.  Brown,  2S5  ;  Metamerism,  T.  H.  Morgan,  285  ; 
Microscopic  Foam  and  Protoplasm.  Otlo  Bi'itschli,  291  ; 
Microscopes  for  Special  (Observation  of  Opaque  Bodies,  Ch. 
Fremont,  408 
Middendorft's    Credibility,     Mr.     Seebohm     on,     Prof.     Alfred 

Newton,  F.  K..S.,  438 
Miers  (H.  A.),  Crystallography,  a  Treatise  on  the  Morphology 

of  Crystals,  N.  Story- Maskelync,  F.Fi.S.,  145 
Miescher  (Dr.  F.),  Death  of,  512 
-Migration   of  the    Lemming,   the.    Prof     K.    Collell,    64  ;    W. 

Duppa-Crotch,  149 
Migration  of  a  Water-Beetle,  Rose  Haig  Thomas,  223 
Milk,  the  Pasteurisation  of.  Dr.  H.  L.  Russell,  419 
Milk,  Artificial  Human,  prepared  by  Dr.  Backhaus,  512 
Milk,  Artificial  Human,  Dr.  E.  P'rankland,  F.  R.S.,  546 
.Mill  (Dr.  Hugh  Robert),  Diary  of  a  Journey  through  Mongolia 
and  Thibet  in    1891    and    1892,  William  Woodvil'.e   Rockhill, 
171  :    Reisen   in  den    Molukken.   in   .\nibon,    den    Uliassern, 
-Seraii  (Ceram)   und    Buru,    K.    Martin,    217  :    Major  James 
Kennel]  and  the  Rise  of  Modern  English  (jeogiaphy,  Clements 
K.  Markham,  F.R.S..  614 
^lill  Work,  .Steam  Power  and,  (Jeorge  William  .Sulclilil'e,  21S 
Miller  (W.  von),  Antinonnin,  627 
Millikan  (R.    A.),  the    Polarisation  of  Light  by   Licandescent 

Bodies,  652 
-Milne    (Prof    John,    F'.R.S.),    Observation    of  the   Argentine 
Earthquake,  October  27,  1894,  Dr.  Y..  von  Rebeur-Pa,schwitz, 
55  ;  on  .Seismological   Phenomena  in  Japan,   534  :   the  Dis- 
tribution of  Earthquakes  in  Japan,  304 
Minakata  (Knmagu.su),  the  Invention  of  the  Net,  197 
Minchin  (Prof   (leorge   M.,  F.R.S.),   the   Electrical    Measure- 
ment of  .Starlight,  246 
Mind,  the  Philo.sophy  of,  C  T.  Ladd,  Edward  T.  Dixon,  172 
Mineral  (iases,  the  Sew  Mineral,  J.   Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S., 

-Mineralogy  :  Crystalline  Structure  of  (jold.  Prof  Liversidge, 
39  ;  Internal  Structure  of  Australian  (iold-Nuggets,  Prof.  .\. 
Liversidge,  F.  R. S.,  65;  Crystallography,  a  Treatise  on  the 
Morphology  of  Crystals.  N.  Story- .Maskelyne,  F.R..S.,  IL  A. 
Miers,  145;  Mineralised  Diatoms,  W.  11.  Shrubiole,  245  : 
Mineralogical  .Society,  287  ;  Lewisite  and  Zirkelite.  two  New 
Brazilian  .Minerals,  Dr.  E.  Hussak  and  (J.  T.  Prior,  287  ; 
Death  of  Prof  II.  Witmeur,  325:  Death  of  Dr.  Pellegrino 
Strobel,  372;  Native -Sulphur  in  .Michigan,  W.  11.  Sherzer, 
539 ;  Algerian  Phosphates,  H.  and  A.  ^Ialbot,  540 :  Metallic 
Iron  .Spherules  in  Kaolinised  Perthite,  (I.  C.  Hoffmann,  552  ; 
a  Black  Diamond  from  Brazil,  M.  .Moissan,  564;  Study  of 
some  -Meteorites,  Henri  Moissan,  611  :  Death  of  P.  11. 
Laurence,  626;  Graphite  .Studies,  Henri  .Moissan,  660 

Minguin  (J.),  Reducing  Properties  of  Sodium  .Mcoholate  at  a 
I  ligh  Temperature,  120 

Mining:  the  Slate  Mines  of  Merionethshire,  279;  the  (iold 
-Mines  of  the  Rand,  F.  H.  Hatch  and  1.  .\.  Chambers, 
Bennett  H.  Brough,  638 

Miniuuim  Function,  Boltzniann's,  S.    H.   Burbury,   F.R..S.,  105 

.Mininuuii  Theorem,  Boltzmann's,  Edward  P.  Culverwell,  149; 
tlie  -\ssumptions  in,  G.  H.  Bryan,  29 

Minimum  Theorem  in  the  Theory  of  Gases,  on  the.  Prof 
Lu<lwig  Boltzmann,  221 

Minot  (II.  D. ),  the  Land-birds  and  Game-birds  of  New  England, 
with  Descriptions  of  the  Birds,  their  Nests  and  Eggs,  their 
Habits  and  Notes,  5^9 

Mirror,  to  find  the  Focal  Length  of  a  Convex,  Edwin  Budden, 
366 

Mist  Pouffers,  Barisal  Guns,  and.  Prof  ('..  II.  Darwin,  F.R.S., 
650 

Mitchell  (Charles),  Death  of,  443 

Mithra'um,  Roman,  at  Woiddliam,  181 

Mivart  (Dr.  St.  G.),  Denominational  Science,  450 

Modern  F.nglish  (ieography,  Major  James  Rennell  and  the  Rise 
of  Clements  R.  Markham,  P'.R.S.,  Dr.  Hugh  Robert  Mill, 
6!4 

Moissan  (II.),  .Vbortive  Attempt  to  produce  Argon  Compounds, 


61  ;  Pure   I  useil   Molybdenum,    216;   Reduction  of  Silica  by 

Carbon,   239;  Black   Diamond   from   Brazil,   564;   Study  ot 

.some  Meteorites,  611  ;  Graphite  Studies,  660 
Molecular  Phy.sics  ;  Motions  and  within  Molecules  and  Signifi- 
cance of  Ratio  of  Two  Specific   Heats  in  Ga.ses,  Dr.  G.  I. 

Stoney,  F.R.S.,  286 
Molenbroek     (Dr.     P.),    and    Shunkichi    Kimura,    to    Friends 

and  Fellow  Workers  in  Quaternions,  545 
Miiller  (Alfred),  Brasilische  Pilzblumen,  365 
Mollusca,  Green  Oysters,  Prof.  E.  Ray  l^nkester,  F.R.S.,  28  ; 

Dr.   D.   Carazzi,   643  ;   the  Genus  Testacella,   Wilfred   Mark 

Webb,  597 
Molten  Rock,  the  Density  of.   Prof   Oliver  f.  Lodge,  F".R.S., 

269 
Moluccas,    the,     Reisen    in    den    Molukken,    in   Ambon,    den 

Uhassern,  Seran  (Ceram)  und   Buru,   K.    .Martin,   Dr.    Hugh 

Robert  Mill,  217 
Monckton  (H.  W.),  the  Stirling  Dolerite,  95 
Mond     (Dr.     Ludwig,     F.R.S.),    Occlusion    of    O.xygen    and 

Hydrogen  by  Platinum  Black,  287 
Mongol  Encanqiments,  Men-gu-yu-mu-tsi ;  or  Memoirs  of  the, 

340 
Mongolia:   Diary  of  a  Journey  through  .Mongolia  and  Tibet  in 

1S91    and    1S92,    W'illiam    Woodville    Rockhill,    Dr.    Hugh 

Robert  Mill,  171 
Monkev,  Bonnet,  Experimental  Lesions   of  Cortex  Cerebri  in. 

Dr.  E.  L.  Melius,  431 
Monkey's  Brain,  Neo-formation  of  Nerve  Cells  in,  after  Ablation 

of  Occipital  Lobes,  A.  N.  Vilzou,  340 
Monkey,    Blindness  produced  in,  by  removal  of  Occipital  Brain 

Region,  Prof  Vitzou,  555 
Monod  (E.  G. ),  .Stereochiniie,  Expose  des  theories  de  I^  Bel  et 

X'an't  Ilotf,  146 
Mont  Blanc,  the  Observatory  on.  Dr.  Janssen,  602 
Mont  Blanc,  Astronomical  Observatory,  J.  Jan.ssen,  611 
Montessus  (M.   de).    Relation  between  Seismic  Frequency  and 

Ground-Relief,  201 
Moon,  the,  T.  Gwyn  Elger,  127 
Moon,  on  Photographs  of  the,  taken  at   the  Paris  Observatory, 

M-M.  Loewy  and  P.  Puiseux,  439 
Moon,  the  Craters  of  the,  579 
.Moon  and  Stammering,  the,  .Mata  Prasad,  601 
Moore  (Dr.  Gordon  E. ),  Death  of,  9 
Moore  {].  E. ),  on  Spermatogenesis  in  Birds,  562 
-Moos  (Dr.  S.),  Death  of,  418 
Morbology  :  Effect  of  Fever  Temperature  on  Typhoid  Bacillus, 

Dr.  Max  Midler,  444 
Morgan  (Prof  C.  Lloyd),  Definitions  of  Instinct,  3S9  ;  Experi- 
ments on  Instinct  in  \'oung  Birds,  562 
.Morgan  (T.  H.),  Metameri.sm,  285 
.Mori.sot  (.M.),  a  New  \'oltaic  Cell,  359 

Morphology  :  Crystallography,  a  Treati.se  on  the  Morphology  of 
Crystals,  N.   Story-Maskelyne,   F.R.S.,   H.   A.    Miers,    145  ; 
the  .Morphology  of  .Mouhls  and  .\'easts.  Dr.  Jcirgensen,  397  ; 
Transformation  of  Moulds  into  \'easts,  R.  W.  .\tkinson,  43S 
Morris  (i'l.  IL),  Lindner's  Isomaltose,  311 
-Mosso  (Prof),  Effect  of  Rarified  .\ir  on  .Man  and  .\pe.s,  605 
.Mother-o'- Pearl,  Colours  of,  C.  E.  Benham,  619 
.Moths  :  the  Feigning  of  Death,  (Xswald  Latter,  343 
.Moths,    Harrow  Butterflies  and,  J.  L.  Bonhote  and  Hon.  N.  C. 

Rothscliild,  388 
Motion  of  the  Sun,  the  Proper,  M.  Ti,sserand,  487 
Motive  Powers  and  their  Practical  Selection,   Reginald  Bolton, 

170 
Mot.schalkin,  (F. ),  Travelling  Beekeeping  E.xhibition  in  Russia, 

523 
Moulds  and  ^  easts,  the  Morphology  of.  Dr.  J'orgensen,  397 
Moulds,  Transformation  of,  into  Veasts,  K.  W.  Atkinson,  43S  ; 

the  Writer  of  the  Note,  438 
.Mount  Wellington,   the   New  .Meteorological  Station  on,   no, 

302,  599 
.Mountain  Sickness,  George  Griftiths,  414 
.Mountain-Building,  Experimental,  L.  Belinfante,  459 
Mountaineering,  my  Climbs  in   the   .Mps  and  Caucasus,  .V.  F. 

Mummery,  Prof  T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R..S.,  219 
Mourlot  (.-\. ),  .Vnhydrous  Crystallised  .Manganese  Sulphide,  336 
Movements  of  the  Eyes  and  the   .Movements  of  the  Head,  the  . 

Relation  between  the.  Prof  X.  Crum  Brown.  F.R.S.,  184 
Muir  (Prof  James),  .\griculture.  Practical  and  Scientific,  338 
Muir    (.M.    .M.    Pattison),    Obituary    Notice  of,    Prof.    Lothair 

Meyer,  Si 


XXIV 


Index 


tSlif/iUmcnt  to  Nature, 
December^,  1895 


Mules    and    MuIe-Brecding,    Horses,    Asses,    Zebras,    \V.    B 

Tegelmeier  and  C.  L.  Sutherland,  126 
Mtiller  (Dr.  F.),  Death  of,  133 
Miiller  (Dr.  Max),  Effect  of  Fever  Temperature  on  Typhoid 

Bacillus,  444 
Multiple  Proportion  ?  Do  the   Components  of   the   Compound 

Colours   in   Nature   follow  a  Law   of,    F.   Howard   Collins, 

43S 
Mummer%'  (\.  F. ),  my  Climbs  in  the  Alps  and  Caucasus,  Prof. 

T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S..  219 
Munk  (I'rof.  T-).  the  Secretion  of  Mineral  Waste,  "i 
Munro  (Dr.),  on  the  Lake  \'illage  of  Cllastonbur)',  5S1  ;  on  the 

Newly-Discovered  Neolithic  Settlement  at  Butmir  in  Bosnia, 

5S1 
Muntz  (.\.),  Phosphorus  in  Oysters,  120 
-Murche  (Vincent  T. ),  Science  Readers,  3,  458 
Murray  (Dr.  J.),  on  Cosmic  Dust.  533 
Murray   (J.    R.    Erskine).   Electrification  of  Air   and  Thermal 

Conductivity  of  Rocks,  Lord  Kelvin,  P.R.S.,  67,  1S2 
-Murray  (T.  Douglas),  Sir  Samuel  Baker,  a  Memoir,  409 
Museum,  the  Field  Columbian,  137 
Museum,  the  Manchester  (Owens  College),  36 
Mushrooms,  Chitin  in,  E.  Gilson,  71 
Musician,  the  Dancer  and,  Herbert  Spencer,  257 
Mycolog)',  British  Fungus-Flora,  George  .Massee,  435  ;  System- 
atic .Arrangement  of  Australian  Fungi,  Dr.  McVlpine,  435 
Myers  (I.  E.),  Influence  ol  Gases  Dissolved  in   Electrolyte  of 

.Silver  \oltameler  on  Weight  of  Deposited  .Silver,  276 


Nansen"s  (Dr.).\rctic  Espedilion,  511 

Xantaskel  Beach,  Electric  Locomotion  Trials,  the,  513 

Napier  (J.),  on  the  Hermite  I'rocess  of  Purifying  Sewage,  5S3 

Na.sh(Prof.  A.  M.),  Death  of,  215 

National  Characteristics,  Fallacies  of  Race  Theories  as  applied 
to,  W.  D.  Babington,  220 

National  Review,  .Science  in  the,  44 

Natural  Historj- :  the  Vorkshire  Naturalists'  Union,  60 ;  the  Migra- 
tion of  the  Lemming,  Prof.  R.  CoUett,  64  ;  W.  Duppa-Crotch, 
149 ;  the  Cambridge  Natural  Historj-,  149  ;  Nature  in  .\c.idie, 
H.  K.  Swann,  220  ;  a  Chapter  on  Birds,  R.  Howdler  Sharpe, 
220  ;  .Migration  of  a  Water- Beetle,  Rose  Ilaig  Thom.is,  223  ; 
.Subterranean  Faunas,  225;  the  Natural  Uislor)-  of  Aquatic 
Insects,  Prof.  L.  C.  .Miall,  F.R.S.,  242:  the  Royal  N.itural 
Histor)',  242  ;  a  Te,\t-ljook  of  Zoogeography,  F.  E.  Beddard, 
F.R..S.,and  R.  Lydekker,  F.R.S.,  289;  Mr.  W.  Saville- 
Kent's  Collection  of  .Vustralian  Madreporaria  presented  to  the 
Natural  History  .Museum,  301  :  Proceedings  of  St.  Peters- 
burg Society  of  Naturalists,  309  ;  .Memoirs  of  KharkofT 
.Society  of  Naturalists,  408  :  a  Remarkable  Flight  of  Birds, 
R.  A.  Bray,  415;  J.  Evershed,  50S  ;  Late  Nestlings,  Jas. 
Shaw,  459  ;  Death  of  Dr.  Sven  Loven,  485  ;  on  the  Habits 
of  the  Kea,  the  .Sheep-eatin(»  Parrot  of  New  Zealand,  W. 
(larstang,  629 ;  Popular  History  of  .Animals  for  Wiung 
People,  Henr>-  .Scherren,  642  ;  Introduction  of  a  West  Indian 
Frog  into  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  Dr.  Albert  Giinther, 
F.R.S.,643 

Natural  Science :  the  New  Natural  Science  Schools  at  Rugby, 
401 

Natural  Selection,  New  Zealand  Birds  as  illustrating  the 
Theory  of.  Sir  W.  L.  Bullcr,  F.R.S.,  60 

Natural  .Selection?  How  svas  Wallace  led  to  the  Discover)-  of. 
Dr.  A.  B.  Meyer,  Dr.  A.  R.  Wallace,  F.R.S.,  415 

Nature  in  Acadie,  II.  K.  Swann,  220 

Nature,  the  Sun's  Place  in,  I.  Norman  Ixickyer,  F. K.S.,  12, 
156,  204,  253,  327,  422,  446 

Nautilus  pompiliui,  J.  G.  Kerr,  215 

Naval  Architecture :  Institution  of  Naval  Architects,  ,207  ; 
Amplitude  of  Rolling  on  a  Non-.Synchronous  Wave,  Emile 
Bcrtin,  207  ;  Wood  and  Copper  Sheathing  for  Steel  Ships,  Sir 
William  While,  207;  the  ,M.G.  Metre,  Archibald  Denny, 
207  ;  on  ('..ui.hi  .  n.ilcrs  of  Different  Sy.stcms,  P.  Sigaudy, 
208:  Ihi    '  ikr,  Mark   Robinson,  208 

Naval  Powci  .  Hamilton  Dixon,  173 

Navigation  :  i'riiiiei  of,  A.  T.  Flagg,  53 ;  the  Visibility  of 
Shim'  Lit;hl.s.  232:  Storm-warning  Telegrams  to  be  supplied 
lo  I         '  fir  Benefit  of  Passing  Vessels,  512;  the   Pre- 

sefi'  if  Sail  Navig.ition,  Dr.  Gcrhar<l  Schott,  513 

Ncbul.i .  .;.,j8,  the,  37S 

Nebul.x,  \  anabjiity  of,  180 

Nebukf,  a  Great  Nebula  in  Scorpio,  Prof.  Barnard,  305 


Negrito   Pygmies   in   India,  Reputed  Traces  of.  Dr.   V.   Ball, 

F.R.S.,  So 
Nehring  (Prof.),  Congener  of  Irish  Elk  unearthed  in  Germany. 

523 
Nestlings,  Late,  Jas.  Shaw,  459 
Net,  the  Invention  of  the,  Kumagusu  Minakata,  197 
Neumann  (Prof.  F.  E.),  Death  of,  133  ;  Obituary  Notice  of,  176 
Neumann  (Oscar),  Expedition  across  Masai-land  to  Uganda,  373 
Neville  (F.  H.).  the  Freezing  Point  of  Silver,  596 
New  Caledonia,  the  Potters  Art  in,  M.  tdaumont,  45 
New   South   Wales:    Linnean  Society,  48,  168,  28S,  3S4,  540, 

612;  Results  of  Rain,  River,  and  Evaporation  Observations 

made  in    New  South  Wales   during    1893,   H.    C.    Russell, 

F.R.S.,9S 
New  Vork  Botanic  Garden,  the  Proposed,  Prof.  G.  L.  lioodall, 

274 
New  \  ork  Pasteur  Institute,  600 
New   Zealand    Birds    as    illustrating   the    Theory  of    Natural 

Selection,  Sir  W.  L.  Buller,  F.R.S.,  60 
New  Zealand  :  Canterbury  Philosophical  Institute,  383  ;  Earth- 
quake in,  396  ;  on  the  Habits  of  the  Kea,  the  Sheep-eating 

Parrot  of,  W.  Garstang,  629 
Newton  (Prof.  .Alfred,  F.R.S.),  Mr.  Seebohm  on  MiddendorfTs 

Credibility,  438 
Newton    (E.    T.,    F.R.S.).    Human    Remains   in    Galley   Hill 

Pal.volithic  Terrace-gravels,  166 
Newton  (11.  .\.),  Relation  of  Plane  of  Jupiter's  Orbit  to  Mean 

Plane  of  401  Minor  Planet  Orbits,  118 
Newton  (.Sir  Isaac),  Parisian  Statue  to,  650 
Newton  and  Huygens,  A.  Huet,  269 
Niagara,  Electrical  I'oige  at,  525 
Nice  Observatory,  the,  252 

Nicholson  (Prof.),  on  the  Phylogeny  of  the  Graptolites,  560 
Nickel  Steel,  H.  A.  Wiggin,  42S 
Niclausse  Boiler,  the,  .Mark  Robinson,  208 
Nolan    (fames).    Satellite    Evolution,    Prof.    G.     11.     Darwin, 

F.R.S.,  518 
Nomenclature  of  Colours,  the,  Herbert  .Spencer,  413 
Nordenskiold  (M.),  New  Uranifcrous  Mineral  discovered  by,  S; 

New  Type  of  Wells  in  Granite  Rocks  of  .Sweden,  24 
Norfolk   Broaclland,    Birds,    Beasts,   and    Fishes  of  tlie,    P.    II. 

Emerson,  R.  Lydekker,  F.  R.S.,  195 
Normal  School  at  Paris,  the,  R.  A.  Gregorj-,  570 
North  Pole,  Proposed   Balloon  \'oyage  to  the,  226 
Norton  (Prof.),  .Aluminium  for  Chemical  Instruments,  607 
Notes  on  the  Ciravity   Determinations  reported  by  Mr.   G.   R. 

Putnam,  tirove,  Karl  Gilbert,  Rev.  ( ).  Fisher,  433 
Nova    -Aurig.v  :  Helium   and    the    Spectrum   of  Nova   Aurigce, 

Profs.  C.  Runge  and  F.  P;vschen,  544 
Nuovo  Giornale  Botanico  Italiano,  94 


Observatories  :  the  Hamburg  Observatory,  11  :  the  Paris  Obser- 
vatory, 86  :  on  Photographs  of  the  .Moon  taken  at  the  Paris 
Observatory,  439  :  Greenwich  Observatory,  136:  the  Zi-ka- 
wei  OI)servatory,  180;  the  Nerkes  (Observatory,  203;  the 
liifilar  Pendulum  at  the  Royal  Observ.atory,  Edinliurgh, 
Thomas  Heath,  223;  the  Nice  Obscrv.alory,  252  ;  the  New 
Madras  Observatory,  277  ;  the  Observatory  of  \:iic  Univer- 
sity, Dr.  W.  L.  Elkin,  375  ;  the  (Jbservatory  on  Mont  Blanc, 
Dr.  Janssen,  602  ;  the  .Melbourne  Observatory,  R.  L.  J. 
Ellery,  603  ;  a  New  Observatory  at  the  U.iiversity  of  Penn- 
sylvania, 603;  the  Capo  Observatory,  655;  F.tTecls  of  a 
Lightning  I'la.sh  in  Hen  Nevis  Observatory,  William  S.  Bruce, 
244  :  Ihe  New  .Meteorological  Station  on  Mount  Wellington, 
no.  302,  599 

Occultalion  of  Regulus,  1 80 

Ocean,  .Atmospheric  Pres.sure  of  the  North  Atlantic,  Captain  G. 
Rung,  76 

Ocean  Currents,  Investigations  by  means  of  Bottles  of,  C.  L. 
Wragge,  65 

Oceanic  Islands,  F.  W.  Hetidley,  366 

Oceanography  :  the  ChalUngin-  Expedition  and  the  Future  of. 
Dr.  .Anton  Dohrn,  121 

Oddone  (Dr.  E.),  the  Duration  of  Earthquake  Pulsations,  177 

Otf  the  .Mill  :  .some  Occa.sional  Papers,  Dr.  (1.  F.  Browne, 
Bishop  of  Stepney,  243 

Ogilvie  (Maria  M.),  the  "Gemini"  I)is.aster,  573 

Ogilvic-Grant  (W.  R.),  a  Handbook  to  the  Game  Birds,  589 

Oils,  hats,  and  Waxes,  Chemical  Analysis  of,  Prof.  Dr.  R. 
Benedikt  L.  Archbutt,  265 


SitppUmcni  to  Nature^ 
December  5,  1895      J 


Inde^ 


XXV 


<3intinei\ts,  DisinfectantSj   Antiseptic  Properties  of  different,  Dr. 

Breslauer,  524 
Oldham  (Commander  C.  F. ),  the  Laccadive  Islands,  203 

<  llszcwski  (Prof. ),  Determination   of  Boiling  Point  and  Critical 

Temperature  of  Hydrogen,  552 

<  >inori  (Prof.  K. ),  the  Velocity  of  P^arthquake-Waves,  275 

<  Ina  Station  (Spain),  Meteorological  Observations  at,  347 
I  mion  Disease,  D.  McAlpinc,  435 

*  'osling  (Dr.  II,  J.),  I^xperiments  on  Oscillations,  35 

<)l>tical  Method  of  Observing  Alternating  Current,  J.  Pionchon, 

35 

•Optics :  Electricity  and  Optics,  Prof  Righi,  42 ;  Unequal 
Absorption  of  Dextro-Kotatory  and  Litvo- Rotatory  Circu- 
larly Polarised  Light  in  certain  Active  Substances,  A.  Cotton, 
71  ;  the  Relation  between  the  Movements  of  the  Eyes  and 
the  Movements  of  the  Head,  Prof  .\.  Crum  lirown,  F.  K.S., 
184;  the  Relative  Powers  of  Large  and  Small  Telescopes  in 
showing  Planetary  Detail,  W.  F.  Denning,  232  ;  the  Visi- 
bility of  Ships'  Lights,  232  ;  Subjective  Visual  Sensations, 
Dr.  W.  R.  Gowers,  F. R.S..  234;  Artificial  Dichroism,  Prof 
H.  Behrens,  240  ;  Abnormal  Refractions  at  Surface  of  Water, 
Ch.  Dufour,  336  ;  Phosphoresence  Phenomenon  in  Tubes  of 
Rarified  Nitrogen  after  Passage  of  Electric  Discharge,  Gaston 
Scguy,  336  ;  Photometric  Standards,  356  ;  Determination  of 
Unit  of  Light,  Dr.  F.  Kurlbaum  and  Prof  Lummer,  359  ; 
the  Kinematograph,  A.  and  L.  Lumiere,  419 ;  the  \'ision  of 
School  Board  Children,  Dr.  James  Kerr,  445  ;  Refractive 
Index  of  Water  at  Temperatures  between  0°  and  10°,  Sir  John 
Conroy,  Bart.,  F.R.S.,  455;  Curious  Optical  Phenomenon, 
R.  A.  F. .  50S  ;  Lowest  Temperature  at  which  Hot  Body 
becomes  \isible,  P.  Pettinelli,  523  ;  Simple  Objective  Pre- 
sentation of  Hertzian  Reflection  I-^xperimenls,  \'.  Biernacki, 
539  *  Increase  in  Acutness  of  Vision  under  Influence  of 
Auditory  Impression,  Dr.  Epstein,  604  ;  Innervation  of  Iris, 
Dr.  Schenk,  604  ;  Double  Refraction  of  Electro-magnetic 
Rays,  Peter  Lebedew,  611;  Luminescence  of  Organic  Sub- 
stances in  the  Three  States,  E.  Wiedemann  and  G.  C.  .Schmidt, 
611  ;  the  Theory  of  Magnetic  Action  on  Light,  A.  B.  Basset, 
F.  R.S. ,  618;  the  Polarisation  of  Light  by  Incandescent 
Bodies,  R.  A.  Millikan,  652 

Orator  and  Poet,  Actor  and  Dramatist,  Evolution  of,  Herbert 
Spencer,  356 

Orbit  of  rj  Cassiopei*,  Parallax  and,  61 

Orbit  of  Comet  1893  IV.  (Brooks),  the.  Signer  Peyra,  37 

Orchids,   Ants,  and,  J.  H.  Hart,  627 

O'Reilly  (Prof  J.  P.),  the  Recent  Dry  Weather,  597 

Organic  Chemistry,  Theoretical  and  Practical,  Prof  J.  S.  Scarf, 

Origin  of  European  and  North  American  .\nts,  on  the,  C. 
Emery,  399 

<Jrmerod  (E.  A.),  the  Forest  Fly,  179 

Ornithology  :  New  Zealand  Bird,  as  illu.strating  the  Theory  of 
Natural  Selection,  .Sir  W.  L.  Buller,  F. R.S. ,  60:  the  Cuckoo 
and  its  Eggs,  W.  C.  J.  Butterfield,  177  ;  Curious  Habit  of 
the  Spotted  Fly-catcher,  Rev.  W.  Clement  Ley,  269 ;  Mr. 
Seebohm  on  ^Iiddendorft's  Credibility,  Prof.  ,\lfred  Newton, 
F. R.S. ,  438  ;i  New  Bird  of  Paradise,  Astrapia  spkndidissiina, 
512;  the  Land  Birds  in  and  around  St.  Andrews,  tleorge 
Bruce,  589  :  the  Migration  of  British  Birds,  including  their 
Post-Glacial  l-^migration  as  traced  by  the  application  of  a 
New  Law  of  Dispersal,  Charles  Dixon,  589  ;  Heligoland  as 
an  Orinthological  Observatory,  the  Result  of  Fifty  S' ears'  Ex- 
perience, Heinrich  Giitke,  589  ;  a  Hand-book  to  the  Game 
Birds,  W.  R.  Ogilvie  Grant,  589  ;  the  Land  Birds  and  Game 
Birds  of  New  England,  \^•ith  Descriptions  of  the  Birds,  their 
Nests  and  Eggs,  their  Habits  and  Notes,  II.  D.  .Minot,  589  ; 
Wild  England  of  To-day,  and  the  Wild  Life  in  it,  C.  J. 
Cornish,  589  ;  the  Pheasant  :  Natural  History,  Rev.  11.  A. 
Macpherson  ;  Shooting,  A.  J.  Stuart-Wortley ;  Cooking, 
Alexander  Innes  Shand,  589  ;  Note  on  the  Dendrocolaptine 
.Species  Dcndrexttastes  capitoides  of  Eyton,  Dr.  Henry  (J. 
Forbes,  619 

■Osborn  (Prof  H.  F.),  Eocene  Fauna  from  Uinta  Basin,  303  ; 
From  the  Greeks  to  Darwin  ;  an  Outline  of  the  Development 
of  the  Evolution  Idea,  361 

Oscill.ations,  Experiments  on,  Dr.  H.  J.  Oosting,  35 

Ostwald  (Dr.  \V.),  the  Chemical  Theory  of  Freedom  of  Will, 
627 

c  itology  :   Death  of  Dr.  S.  Moos,  41S 

Ouvrard  (L. ),  P^fiecls  of  use  of  Magnesium  Wire  and  .Silent  Dis- 
charge upon  Nitrogen,  .\rgon,  and  Helium,  487 


Oxford,    Research  in    Zoology   at.   Prof.   Sydney  J.    Hickson, 

F.R.S.,  549 
O.xford  Endowments,  R.   E.  Baynes,   J'rof.  Sydney  J.    Hickson, 

F.R.S.,  644 
Oysters,  Green,  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  28;  Dr.   D. 

Carazzi,  643 
Oysters,  Phosphorus  in,  A.  Chatin  and  A.  Muntz,  120 


Pachon  (V. ),  Kolc  of  Liver  in  Anlicoagidant  Action  of  Peptone, 
456 

Pacific,  Deep  Sounding  in  the,  Admiral  W.  J.  L.  WTiarton, 
F.  R.S.,  550 

Painleve  (P.),  Laws  of  Friction  in  Sliding,  288 

I'alaiobotany :  Obituary  Notice  of  the  Marquis  of  Sajxjrta,  A. 
C.  Seward,  57 

Palaeontology  :  the  Evolution  of  the  Horse,  10  ;  Irish  Elk 
Skeletons  in  Chara-marl  Deposits,  Clement  Reid,  85  ;  Con- 
gener of  Irish  Elk  unearthed  in  Germany,  Prof  Nehring,  523  ; 
Human  Remains  in  Galley  Hill  Paleolithic  Terrace-gravels, 
E.  T.  Newton,  F.  R  S. ,  166;  Rhsetic  Foraminifera  from 
Wedmore,  Frederick  Chapman,  166  ;  Dentary  Bone  Structure 
of  Gomphopnathus,  Prof  Seeley,  182  ;  Diplograptus,  R. 
Ruedemann,  212 ;  Human  Lower  Jaw-bone  found  in 
Pyrenean  Grotto,  L.  Roale  and  F.  Regnault,  2S8 ;  Late 
Cretaceous  Ungulates  from  Patagonia, Senor  F.  .\mgehin,  303  ; 
Eocene  Fauna  from  Uinta  Basin,  Prof  H.  F.  Osborn,  303  ;the 
Fossils  of  Java,  Prof  Martin,  360  ;  Biirramys  parvus,  Robert 
Broom,  384  ;  Death  of  James  Carter,  485  ;  Cj^phornis,  Prof 
E.  D.  Cope,  524  :  .\ncodus.  Prof  W.  B.  Scott,  524  ;  Dr. 
Dubois  on  the  finding  of  the  Remnants  of  his  Pithecanthropus 
ercctiis,  554 

PaljEOzoic  Times,  the  Life-History  of  the  Crustacea  in  Early, 
Dr.  Henry  Woodward,  114 

Palestine,  Early  Rainfall  Measurements  in,  59 

Palladin  (W. ),  Part  played  by  Hydrocarbons  in  Inter-Molecular 
Respiration  of  Higher  Plants,  408 

Papyrus  of  .\ni  in  the  British  Museum,  the,  E.  .\.  Wallis 
ISudge,   I 

Paradise,  the  Bird  of,  Margaretta  L.  Lemon,  197 

Parallax  from  Mars  Observations,  the  Solar,  421 

Parallax  and  Orbit  of  tj  Cassiojieii-e,  61 

Paris:  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences,  24,  47,  71,  96,  120,  144, 
167,  192,  215,  239,  264,  287,  312,  335,  359,  3S2,  40S,  432- 
456,  488,  516,  540,  564,  588,  611,  636,  660  ;  the  Paris  Obser, 
vatory,  86  ;  on  Photographs  of  the  Moon  taken  at  the  Paris 
Observatory,  M.M.  Ltewy  and  P.  Puiseux,  439;  Paris  Societe 
d'Encouragement,  Prize  .\ wards,  275  ;  the  Normal  .School  at, 
R.  A.  Gregory,  570 ;  Paris  Streets  named  after  Men  ot 
.Science,  626  ;  the  Centenary  Fetes  at  Paris,  Dr.  Henri  de 
\'arigny,  644  ;  Statue  to  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  650 

Parker  (J.  D. ),  California  Electrical  Storms,  308 

I'arkes  (Dr.  Louis  C. ),  the  Elements  of  Health,  147 

Parrot  of  New  Zealand,  on  the  Habits  of  the  Kea,  the  Sheep- 
eating,  W.  Garstang,  629 

Parry  (John),  .Steel  Works  Analysis,  J.  O.  Arnold,  26 

"  Parturiunt  Montcs,"  364 

I'aschcn  (Prof  F. ),  on  the  Constituents  of  the  Gas  in  Cleveite, 
520  ;   Helium  and  the  Si)eclr«m  of  Nova  Auriga;,  544 

Pasteur  (Louis),  Obituary  Notice  of,  550  ;  the  Funeral  of, 
576 

Pasteur  Institute,  Anterabic  InocuLations  for  1894,  275 

I'asteur  Institute,  the  New  York,  600 

Pasteurisation  of  Milk,  the.  Dr.  H.  L.  Russell,  419 

Pate  (L. ),  .\cid  Compound  of  Natural  Yellow  Colouring 
Matters,  1,215 

Paten  ((!.),  Combinations  of  .\ntipyrine  with  Diphenols,  636 

Pathology  :  the  Elements  of  Pathological  Histology,  Dr.  A. 
Weichselbaum,  Dr.  S.  .\.  Kanthack,  241  ;  the  Question  of 
Infection,  370  ;  Death  of  Dr.  Texier,  443 

Paul  (G.),  Leaf-.\bsorplion,  569 

Peal  (S.  E.),  Teaching  Young  Pheasants  to  Peck,  30;  Stridu- 
lating  Organ  in  a  Spider,  14S 

Pearson  (Prof  Karl)  on  Skew  Proliability  Curves,  317 

Peary  Ex])edilion,  Return  of,  522 

Peary  (Lieut.),  Scientific  Work  in  North  Greenland  by,  652 

Peck'ham  (S.  F.),  the  Pitch  Lake  of  Trinida<l,  285 

Pekelharing  (Prof),  the  Nature  of  the  Fibrine  Ferment,  168 

Pel.abon  (IL),  the  Formation  of  Hydrogen  Selenide,  48S 

I'elan  Islands,  Kubary  on  House-  ami  Canoe-Construction  in, 
654 


XXVl 


Index 


VSitt'fiUmfnt  io  NatiirCr 


December  •■ 


i8q5 


Pendulum  at  the  Ro)-al  Observatorj-,  Edinburgh,  the  Bifilar, 
Thomas  Heath,  223 

Pendulum  Experiment,  Foucault's,  252 

Pendulum  and  Geolog)',  the,  Kev.  O.  Fisher,  433 

Perez  (J.),  I'rotoplasmc  et  No)-au,  543 

Peripatus,  Classification  of  Australian.  J.  J.  Fletcher,  i6J> 

Perkin  (A.  G. ).  Khamnazin,  94;  Acid  Compounds  of  Natural 
Yellow  Colouring  Matters,  i,  215 

Perman  (E.  P.).  Solubilities  of  liases  in  Waier,  94  :  Existence 
of  Hydrates  and  Double  Compounds  in  Solution,  I.,  94 

I'errier  [G.],  Double  Combinations  of  Anhydrous  Aluminium 
Chloride  with  Nilro-compounds  of  .Vromatic  Series,  48 

I'errolin  (M.).  the  Surface  of  Venus,  660 

Perr)-  (Prof.  I.),  Development  of  Arbitrar)'  Functions,  659 

Perseids  ob£er\ed  in  Russia  in  1S94,  Th.  Br<r<likhine,  261 

Perscids  of  1S95,  the,  W.  F.  Denning,  395 

Persia,  the  Earthquake  of  Januarj-  17,  1895,  302 

Personality,  the  Diseases  of,  Th.  Ribot,  Fnncis  Gallon,  F.R.S., 
5>7 

Peru,  Earthquake  in.  396 

Petrie  (Prof.  \V.  .M.  Flinders),  on  the  "  New  Race"  lately  dis- 
covered in  Egypt,  and  on  Flint  and  Metal  Working  in  .\ncient 
lijOpt.  580  ;  on  the  Results  of  Interference  with  the  Civilisa- 
lion  of  Native  R.iccs,  581 

Petroleum  Supply,  the  Exhaustibility  of,  9 

Petrology  for  Students,  A.  Ilarker,  267 

I'ettinelli  (P.),  Lowest  Temix:rature  at  which  Hot  Bo<ly 
becomes  visible,  523 

I'etz  (G.  G.  von),  P.  P.  Semenolf,  I.  D.  Cherskiy  and,  Eastern 
Sil>eria,  541 

I'eyra  (Signor),  the  Orbit  of  Comet  1893,  I\'.,  (Brooks),  37 

Pharm.-icopreia,  the  Revision  of  the  British,  510 

1'hea.sants,  Teaching  Vounc;,  (o  Peck,  S.  E.  Peal,  30 

Philosopher,  Evolution  of  Man  of  Science  and,  Herbert  Spencer, 
586 

Philosophical  Institute,  Canterbury,  383 

Philow.phy  of  Mind,  the,  11.  T.  I.add,  Edward  T.  Dixon,  172 

i'hisalix  (Dr.),  Inoculation  with  Salamander  Blood  against 
Curare-Poison,  605 

Phonograph,  Tone  and  Curves  of.  Dr.  John  McKendrick,  326 

Phonographers,  Society  of  Medical,  346 

Phosphorus  in  Oysters,  A.  Chalin  and  A.  Miintz,  120 

Photography  :  Phol(jgraphic  Records  of  Motion  of  Piano-Wire 
when  struck,  W.  Kaufmann,  84 :  the  .\stro- Photographic 
Chart.  11;;  i'hotographs  of  Sjiectra  of  Bellatrix,  of  Solar 
Chromosphere,  and  of  the  New  Gases,  J-  Norman  Lockyer. 
F.R.S.,  181  :  Colour  Photography,  Dr.  J.  loly,  1S2:  Otto 
Weiner,  279 ;  I'hotographs  of  Lightning  Flashes,  N.  Pilts- 
chikoff,  359;  the  Nebula  N.G.C.  243S,  375;  a  New  Film 
I  lolder,  400  :  the  Restoration  of  Old  Documents,  E.  Burinsky, 
407  :  .some  Star-CharLs,  F.  Renz,  407  ;  on  I'hotographs  of  the 
M(Kin  taken  at  the  Paris  Observatory,  .MM.  Ixjewy  and  P. 
Puiseux,  439  :   Ruthcrfur<rs  Stellar  Photographs,  655 

I'hotometric  .Standards,  356 

I'hysics:  the  Unit  of  Heat,  Dr.  J.  (oly,  F.R.S.,  480 :  E.  H. 
(mflftths,  Prof.  Oliver  J.  I»dge,  F.R.S.,  30;  Spencer  Pick- 
ering. F.R.S..  80;  the  Dilatation  (if  Water,  Stephane  de 
Ijiiiioy.  24:  S|)ecific  Ileal  and  Boiling  Point  of  Graphite,  I. 
Violle.  24:  S|x.-cific  Heat  of  Su|)erfused  Liquid,  Louis  Bruner, 
47:  Solubility  of  Superfu.sed  Liquids.  Louis  Bnuier,  264; 
SiKcific  Heat  of  Su|)erfu,sed  Salts,  Ixiuis  Bruner,  264  ;  Specific 
Heats  i>f  Supcrfuscd  Formic  and  .Acetic  Acids,  M.  M,-issot 
and  Guillot,  336;  Motions  of  and  within  Molecules  and  Sig- 
nificance of  Ratio  of  Two  .Sijccific  Heats  in  Gases,  Dr.  G.  J. 
St-ney.  F.R.S.',  286  :  S|)ccific  Heat  of  l'ero.xide  of  Hydrogen, 
I  •  riments  on  Oscillations,  Dr.  H.  ]. 
•lis'  .\p|)aratus  for  determining 
...lit  of  Heat.  Prof.  Ayrton,  39; 
45.  ng,  142,  189,  263,  659,  Simple 
■i"i  n  of  Detemiinanlal  Relation  of  Dy- 
:  E.<|)criment  to  illustrate  Mode  of 
I'rof  .Sollas.  F.R..S.,  47;  Modified 
'  ravily  of  Ti.vsues,  Dr.  I-izarus- 
in.  Prof.  W.  Rams;iy,  K.R.S., 
'.C.B.,  F.R..S.,7,55;  Prof.  C. 
iUlium,  W.  Cr(Kikes,  F.R.S., 
iiipt  to  Liquefy  Helium,  Prof. 
»i),  I  .  R..S.,  544  ;  Helium  and  the  .S|>cctrum  of 
,  I'rof.  C.  Run^e  and  Prof.  F.  P.-uschcn,  544  ; 
■MMiiucnls  of  the  Gimn  Cleveite,  Prof.  C.  Runge  and 
I'aschcn,  520;  Electrification   uf  Air  and  Thermal 


\\ 

( > 

M 
1- 

(  .; 

naii:i'    ,   .\Ii 
Flow  of  \  1. 
.\lelh<«l  of  i 
liarlou,  47  ; 

7.  55.  327  :  i 

Kiingc.  I2S  ; 

42S:  (-     \    ■, 

\\ 

N 

on  i[i< 

J'rof. 


Conductivity    of    Rock    at    Different    Temiieratures,    Lord 
Kelvin.  P.R.S.,  67,  182;  on  the  Temperature  Variation   of 
the  Thermal  Conductivity  of  Rocks,    Prof.    Robert    Weber, 
458;  Berlin  Physical  Society,  71,  167,  359;  Colour  Relations 
of  Atoms,    Ions  and  Molecules,  I.,  M.  C.  Lea,  118:  Argon, 
Prout's  Hypothesis  and   the  Periodic  Law,  E.  .\.  Hill,  iiS; 
Argon  and  the   Kinetic  Theory,  Colonel  C.  E.  B;\sevi,  221  ; 
the   Physical   Properties  of  .\rgon.    Lord   Rayleigh,   F.R.S. , 
293  ;  the  Fluorescence  of  Argon,  M.  Berthelot,  239  :  Death 
of    Prof.    F.   E.    Neumann,   133  ;  Condensation  and    Critical 
Phenoincna  of  Mixtures  of  Ethane  and   Nitrous  Oxide,  Dr. 
Kuenen,  142  ;  Measurement  of  Cyclically  Varjing  Tempem- 
ture,  Mr.  Burstall,  143,  1S9  :  Volume  Heat  of  Aniline,  E.  H. 
Griffiths,  143;  Curious  Dynamical   Property  of  Celts,  G.  T. 
Walker,    143;  the   Motiim  of  the  Ether,   L.    Zehnder,    153; 
Conductibility  of  i8-Ketonic  Stars,  J.  Guinchant,  167  ;  Mea- 
surement of  High   Temi^>eratures    with   Thermoelement  and 
Melting-jMints  of  some  Inorganic  Siilts,  John  McCrae,  1S9; 
Thermal   Constants   of  Elements,   N.    Deerr,    190;    Ph)-sical 
Properties   of    Acetylene,    P.    \illard,    192  ;     ^Ieteorological 
Problems  for   Physical  Laboratories,    Prof.   Cleveland  Abbe, 
208  :  on   the   Minimum  Theorem    in  the    Theory  of  Gases, 
G.    11.    Bryan,   29;    S.    H.    Burlniry,    F.R.S.,   '104:   E.    P. 
Culverwell,  149  ;   I'rof.  Ludwig  Boltzniann,  221  ;  the  Kinetic 
Theory  of  Gases,  G.  H.  Bryan,  F.R.S.,  244;  S.  H.  Burbury^ 
F.R.S. ,    316;  Determination  of  Ratio   of  the  Two  Specific 
Heats  of  -Vir,  G.    Maneuvricr,   239  ;  Reduction  of  Silica  by 
Carbon,  Henri    Moissan.  239;  Laws  of  Extinction  of  Simple 
Wave  on  High  Seas,  J.  Boussinesq,  264  ;  Volumes  of  .Salts  in 
Aqueous  Solutions,  l.ecoq  tic  Boislxiudran,  287  :   Delenuina- 
tions    of  Solubility   at    \ery   Low  Temperatures   of  Organic 
Comix)unds  in  Carbon  Bisulphide,  M.  Arclowski,  2S8  ;  Laws 
of  Friction  in  Sliding,  P.  Painleve,  288  ;  the  Present  Position 
of  Energetics,  Georg   Helm,  308  ;  the  Capillarity  of  Liquid 
Gases,  Dr.  Vorschaffelt,  360;  Transverse  \ibrations  of  Cords, 
A.    Cornu,   382  ;    .\bsorption  of   Radiant    Heat  by  Liquids, 
Charles   Friedel,  382;  the   Penduhiiu  and  Geology,  Rev.  O. 
Fi.sher,  433  ;  Results  of  a  Transcontinental  Series  of  Gravity 
Me;isurements,   George  Rockwell   Putnam,   Rev.    O.   Fisher, 
433  :  Notes  on  the  Gravity  Determinations  reported  by  Mr. 
G.    R.    Putnam,  Grove  Karl  liilbert.   Rev.   O.   Fisher,  433  ; 
Refractive  Index  of  Water  between   o^   and    10°,    Sir   John 
Conroy,  Bart.,  F.R.S.,  455;  Forces  Developed  by  Difl'erences 
of  Temperature  between   Upix-r  and  Lower  Plates  of  Con- 
tinuous Girder,  II.  Deslandres,  516;  Lowest  Temper.iture  at 
which    Hot    Body   becomes    X'isible,    P.    I'ettinelli.    523  :    a 
Treatise    on     Bessel    Functions    and    their    .Applications    to 
Physics,   -Andrew    I'lr.ay   and  G.    B.    Mathews,    Prof.    A.   G. 
Greenhill,  F.  R..S. ,  542;  Determination  of  Boiling-point  ami 
Critical  Temperature  of  Hydrogen.    I'rof.  Olszewski.   552:  a 
\'ibration-free  .Susjiension  for  Instruments,  W.  1 1.  Julius,  57S  ; 
the  Evaporation  of  Liquids  and  the  Great  Capillary  The<»ries, 
G.  van  der  Mensbrugghe,  5S8  :  the  Freezing-point   of  .Silver, 
C.    T.    Heycock  and   F.    II.    Neville,    596:    -Application    to 
General     Analysis   of    Critical    Solution    Temjieratures,     L. 
Crisiner,    611;    the    Pressure  of  a   Saturated  X'apour  as   an. 
Explicit   Function  of  the  Temperature,  F.  G.  Donnan,  619; 
Death  of   Prof  E.  W.  Blake,  626 :  the  Chemical  Theory  of 
Freedom    of    Will,   Dr.   W.    Oswald,  627:    I„atenl    Heats  of 
\'apori.s;ilion  of  lally   Ketones,  Octane  and   Decane,  Diethyl 
and  Dimethyl  Carbonates,  W.  Longuinine,  660 
Physiology:  Absorbent  Power  of  Human  Bladder,   .A.  I'ousson 
and  C.  .Sigalas,  24  ;  Death  of  Prof.  K.  Ludwig,  i;i  ;  .Modified 
Method  of  finding  .Specific  Gravity  of  Tissues,   Dr.  Lazarus- 
Barlow,  47  ;   Berlin  Physiological  Society,  71,  167,  336.  432  : 
the   Excretion  of    Mineral   Waste,   Prof  I.  Munk,  71  ;  Text- 
book of  .An.atomy  and  Physiology  for  Nurses,  Dr.  C.  Kimber, 
77;    the    Brain    of    the    .Microcephalic     Idiot,    I'rof    I).    J. 
Cunningham,  F.R.S.,  and  Dr.  Telford-Smith,  III  ;  Injection 
of  Ethyl  -Alcohol   into  Venous  Blood,    N.    Grehant,  144  ;  the 
Nature   of    the    Fibrine    Ferment,    Prof    Pekelliaring,    168; 
.Synthcsised  Colloids  and  Coagulation,  J.  W.  rioUeriiig,  216; 
Sugar  and   Glycogen  in  Lymph,  .A.  D.istre,  216;   Physiology 
of  Recreation,  Charles   Roberts,  257  ;   Influence  of  Cerebral 
Cortex   on   Larynx,    Dr.  J.   S.  R.  Russell,  263  ;  Comparative 
Healing  of   Muscles    by    Po.sitive   and    Negative    Work,    -A. 
Chauveau,     264;    Experiments    on    Children's    Bile,     Prof. 
Baginski  and  Dr.  tionnnerfeld,   336  ;   Longitudinal   Hands  in 
Mucous  Membrane  of  True  Vocal  Cords,  Dr.    Henda,  336  ; 
Anatomy  of  Unstriated  Muscles  in  Vertebrates,  Dr.  .Schulz, 
336  ;  Exiieriments  on  .Sugar  Injection  into  Blood-vessels,  Dr. 


SHpJ>li:iitcnt  to  Nature^ 
December  s,  1895      J 


Index 


XXVIl 


Cohnstcin,  336 ;  Internal  Secretion,  Prof.  IC.  A.  Schafer, 
K.  R.S.,  369;  Instantaneous  Hyperglobulia  by  Peripheric 
Stimulation,  Jules  Chiron.  383 ;  Experimental  Lesions  of 
Cortex  Cerebri  in  Bonnet-monkey,  Dr.  K.  I..  Melius,  431  ; 
Contraction  of  Unstriated  Muscle  Fibres  of  Slom.ich  of 
.Salaniandv'r,  Dr.  Schulz,  432  ;  Role  of  Liver  in  .\nticoagulanl 
-Action  of  Pe])tone,  E.  Gley  and  V.  Pachon.  456  ;  German 
Experiments  in  Marching,  513;  Neo-formation  of  Nerve  Cells 
in  .Monkey's  Brain  after  .\blation  ol  Occipital  Lobes,  A.  N. 
\'itzou,  540;  Effect  on  Dog  of  Removal  of  Spinal  Cord,  Prof. 
Tvwald  and  Goltze,  555  ;  jVpparatus  for  >Ieasuring  Motor 
Reaction  Time,  I'rof.  Fano,  555  ;  Psycho-motor  Areas  in 
Rabbit,  Hedgehog,  Dog,  and  Cal,  Dr.  .Mann,  555  ;  the  Growth 
of  Muscle,  Prof,  (iaule,  555  ;  Blindness  produced  in  Monkey 
by  removal  of  Occipital  Brain  Region,  Prof.  Vitzou,  555  ; 
Aspect  of  Brain  Cell  Processes  of  .Animals  dosed  with 
Morphine  or  Chloral  Hydrate,  Dr.  Demoor,  555 ;  Gastric 
Juice  from  Isolated  Dog  .Stomach,  Prof.  Herzen,  555  ;  Pro- 
|).igalion  of  Rhythmic  Cardiac  Wave  from  Fibre  to  Fibre,  Dr. 
His,  jun.,  555  :  Experiments  on  Frog's  Ventricle,  Dr.  Kaiser, 
556  ;  Effect  of  Injection  of  Paraffin  into  Descending  Coronary 
.Vrtery,  Prof.  Kronecker,  556  ;  New  Method  of  Registering 
.Arterial  Blood-pressure  in  .Man,  Dr.  Hurthle,  556  ;  Production 
of  Two  Globulins  by  Fresh  Fibrin  in  Saline  Solutions.  Dr.  -A. 
Dastre,  556  ;  New  Method  for  determining  Velocity  of  Blood, 
Dr.  Zuntz,  556  :  Velocity  of  Blood  in  Portal  Vein,  Dr.  A.  Beck, 
556  ;  Changeof  Heart'sShape  duringContraction,  Prof.  B.  Hay- 
craft,  556  :  Discliarge  of  Malapleriinis electriius,  Prof.  F.  (lotch, 
556  :  PhlorizicGlycosoria  in  Dogs  after  section  of  Spinal  Cord, 
K.  Lcpine,  564  ;  Glycosuria  following  .Ablation  of  Pancreas,  R. 
Lepine,  5S8  ;  the  International  Congre.ss  of  Physiologists  at 
Bern,  Dr.  F.  W.  Tunnicliffe,  555,  603  ;  Persistence  of 
Electric  Irritability  in  Peripheral  Ends  of  Divided  Nerves, 
Prof.  Arloing,  603  ;  Calcium  .Salts  necessary  to  Blood-coagula- 
tion, Dr.  .Arthus,  603  ;  Spectrum  of  H;emoglobin  and  Tura- 
cine.  Prof.  Gamgee,  603  ;  Two  Kinds  of  Electrical  Response 
to  .Muscle-Excitation  by  Nerve,  Prof.  Burdon  Sanderson,  604  ; 
the  Strychnine  Spasm,  Prof.  Burdon  Sanderson,  604  ; 
Influence  of  Chemical  Reagents  on  Electrical  Excitability  of 
Isolated  Nerve,  Dr.  Waller,  604  ;  Increase  in  .Acutene.ss  of 
\'i.sion  under  Influence  of  .Auditory  Impression,  Dr.  Epstein, 
604  :  Researches  on  Striped  Muscular  Fibre,  Prof.  Ruther- 
ford", 604  :  the  Blood  in  I'ever,  Dr.  Jacquet,  604  ;  .Action  of 
Intro-vascular  Injection  of  Peptone  Solutions  on  Blood,  Dr. 
Gley,  604;  Innervation  of  Iris,  Dr.  Schenk,  604;  Osmotic 
Changes  between  Blood  and  Tissues,  Dr.  Leathes,  604 ; 
Action  of  Electric  Tetanisation  on  Nerve-.MuscIe  .Apparatus, 
I'rof.  Wedensky,  604;  Nervous  Mechanism  of  .Swallowing, 
I )r.  Liischer,  604  ;  Effect  of  Thyroid-Removal  and  Thjroid- 
Feeding,  Dr.  Lanz,  605  ;  Inoculation  with  Salamander  Blood 
against  Curare-Poison,  Dr.  Phisalix,  605  ;  Effect  of  Rarefied 
.\\x  on  Man  and  Apes,  Prof.  Mosse,  605  ;  the  Theory  and 
Practice  of  Counter- Irritation,  H.  Cameron  Gillies,  614 

Piano  Touch,  the  Graphics  of,  597 

Pickering  (J.  W. ),  Synthesised  Colloids  and  Coagulation,  216 

Pickering   Spencer,  F  R  S.),  the  Unit  of  Heat,  80 

Pidgeon  (D. ),  Curious  Effect  of  Lightning.  626 

Pigeon  Competition,  French  Carrier,  250 

Pigments,  Old  Japanese,  W.  Gowland,  l8l 

I'ihl  (O.  .A.  L.),  Death  of,  301 

Pillsbury  (J.  H.),  a  Scheme  of  Colour  Standards,  390 

Pillsl}ury  on  Colour  .Standards,  J.  W.  Lovibond,  577 

Piltschikoff  (N.),  Photographs  of  Lightning- Flashes,  359 

Pionchon  (J.|,  Optical  Method  of  observing  Alternating 
Current,  35 

Pirsson  (L.  V.),  Complementary  Rocks,  431 

Pisciculture  :  the  F'eeding-Ground  of  the  Herring,  .Alexander 
Turbyne,  61 7 

Pitch  Lake  of  Trinidad,  the,  S.  I-'.  Peckham,  285 

Pilluhaiithropiis  cratiis.  Dr.  Dubois  on  the  finding  of  the 
Remnants  of  his,  554 

Plane  Spaces  of  ;;  Manifoldness,  Metrical  Relations  of, 
Emanuel  Lasker,  340 

Planetary  Diameters,  Measurement  of.  Prof.  Campbell,  579 

Planetary  Perturbations.  Prof.  .A.  Weiler,  629 

Planets,  Relative  Densities  of  Terrestrial,  1",.  S.  Wheeler,  37  ; 
the  Rotation  of  .Saturn,  Mr.  Stanley  Williams,  232 ;  the 
Relative  Powers  of  Large  and  Small  Telescopes  in  showing 
Planetary  Detail,  W.  F.  Denning,  232  ;  the  Rotation  of  Venus, 
348,  4S7  :  the  Red  .Spot  on  Jupiter,  W.  !•'.  Denning,  507; 
Evidence  of  a  Twilight  Arc  upon  the  Planet  .Mars,  Percival 


Lowell,  401  ;    the  .Solar  Parallax  from  -Mars'  Observations, 

421  ;  the  .Spectrum  of  Mars,  Dr.  Jans-sen,  514 
Plant-.Animal    Symbiosis,    Ernest    II.    L.    Schwarz,    389 ;    S. 

Schiinland,  597 
Plants,  the  Story  of  the,  Grant  .Allen,  364 
Piatt  (C. ),  Pfclageine,  the  Violet  Pigment  of  the  Medusa,  564 
Pleasure,  a  Garden  of,  458 

Plowright  (Dr.  C.  B.),  Ecidiiim  uyiiiphaoidis,  382 
Pocket  Gophers  of  the  United  States,  Vernon  Bailey,  27S 
Poet,  .Actor  and  Dramatist,  Orator  and   Evolution  of,  Herliert 

Spencer,  356 
Pohlig  (H.),  -Abnormal  Deer  Antlers,  398 
Polaris,  -Altitude  and  -Azimuth  of,  -A.  Tanakadate,  305 
Polarisation   of    Light   by    Incandescent    Bodies,    the,    R.    .\. 

Millikan,  652 
Pollination  of  Flowers,  the,  J.  MacLeod,  2 
Porter  (J.  G.),  Comet  1892  V.  (Barnard),  155 
Portraits  beriihmter  Naturforscher,  1 73 
Post-Graduate  Study  and  Research  at  Cambridge,  296 
Postlethwaite  (J.),  some  Railway  Cuttings  near  Keswick,  95 
Potatoes  as  Cattle  Food,  .A.  (lirard,  71 
Pousson  (.A.),  Absorbent  Power  of  Human  Bladder,  24 
PrvEsepe  Cluster,  the.  Dr.  Wilhelm  Schur,  515 
Prasad  (Mata),  the  Moon  and  Stammering,  601 
Pratt  (Henry),  an  -Analysis  of  -Astronomical  Motion,  292 
Preece  (Mr.),  on  an  Improved  Portable  Photometer,  5S3 
Preston  (-A.  W. ),  the  Great  Gale  of  .March  24  in  the  .Midlands, 

45 
Prestwich  (Prof.  Joseph,  F.R..S.),  Uniformitarianism  in  Geology, 

28  ;  on  certain  Phenomena  belonging  to  the  Close  of  the  Last 

Geological  Period,  and  on  their  bearing  upon  the  Traditions 

of  the  Flood,  266 
"  Primitive  "  Man,  the  Story  of,  Edward  Clodd,  173 
Prince  (C.  L. ),  Snow  from  Cloudless  Sky,  45 
Pringsheim  (Dr.),  the  Conductivity  of  Heated  Gases,  71 
Prior   (G.    T. ),    Lewisite   and   Zirkelite,    Two   New    Brazilian 

Minerals,  287 
Prize  Subjects  of  the  French  .Societe  d'Encouragement,  138 
Proceedings  of  St.  Petersburg  Society  of  Naturalists,  309 
Professional   Institutions,  Herbert  Spencer,  159,  257,  356,  450, 

586 
Professors,  Report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Retirement  of,  53S 
Protoplasm,  .Microscopic  Foam  and,  Otto  Biitschli,  291 
Protoplasme  et  Noyau,  J.  Perez,  543 
Psychology  :  the  Philoso])hy  of  Alind,  CJ.  T.  Ladd,  Edward  T. 

Dixon.  172  ;  Reaction  Time  according  to  Race,  R.  M.  Bache, 

627 
Puiseux  (M.    P.),  on  Photographs  of  the   Moon  taken  .-it   the 

Pans  Ol)servatory,  439 
Punch  and   Bed,  -Amount  of    Play  necessary  between,  C.    H. 

Fremont,  240 
Purdie  (T. ),  Optical  Activity  of  Metallic   Lactates  in  Solution, 

166 
Purnell  (C.  W.),  True  In.stincts  of  -Animals,  383 
Putnam    (George    Rockwell),    Results    of    a    Transcontinental 

Series  of  Gravity   Mea.suremenls,  433  ;  Notes  on  the  Gravity 

Determinations  reported  by  .Mr.  G.   R.  Putnam,  Grove  Karl 

Gilbert,  433 
Pygmies,   the,  .A.  de  Quatrefages,  Sir  W.    li.  Mower,  I-.R.S., 

25 
Pygmies  in   India,  reputed  Traces  of  Negrito,  Dr.   \ .     Ball, 

F.R.S.,80 
Pyramids  of  Dahshur,  Recent  E.xcavations  at  the,  131 


Quarterly  Journal  of  Microscopical  Science,  284 

Quaternions,  Note  on,  Shunkichi  Kimura,  366 

Quaternions,  to  Friends  and  I'ellow-Workcrs  in.  Dr.  P.  Molen- 

broek  and  Shunkichi  Kimura,  545 
Quatrefages  (.A.  de),  the  I'ygmies,  Sir  W.  M.  F'lower,  I-'.R.S., 

25 
Quellenkunde,   Lehrc  von  der  Bildung  und  vom   A'orkommen 
der  Quellen  und  des  Grundwassers,  Hyppolyt  J.  Haas,  28 


Rabies,  Pasteur  Institute  Inoculations  for  1894,  275 
Rabinowitsch  (Dr.  L. ),  Distributions  of  Thermophilic  Bacteria, 

276 
Race  Theories  as  applied  to  National  Characteristics,  F.^llniis 

of,  W.  D.  Babington,  220 
Racovitza  (E.  P.),  Pelagic  Deep  Sea  Fishing,  312 


XXVlll 


Index 


C Supplement  tc  Xattire, 
Vecetnbet  5,  1895 


Radcliffe  (W.),  an  Arithmetical  Puzzle,  525 

Radial  X'elocities,  Measurement  of,  155 

Radial  \'elocities  of  Saturn,  655 

Railways,  Electric,  in  United  States,   Growth  of,  Joseph  A. 

Wetzler,  43 
Railways,  Electric,  the  Xantasket  Beach  Trials,  513 
Rain  in  August,  519 

Rainbow  (\V.  J.),  Bird-catching  Spiders,  3S4 
Ramsay  (Prof.  W.,  F.R.S. ).  Terrestrial  Helium  (?),  ",  55  ;  Argon 
and  Helium  in  Meteoric  Iron,  96,  224  :  Helium,  a  Constituent 
of  certain  Minerals,  306,  331  ;  I  lelium,  a  Constituent  of  various 
Minerals,  311  ;  Attemjit  to  Liquefy  Helium,  544  :  Occlusion 
of  Oxygen  and  Hydrogen  by  Platinum  Black,  287  ;  on  a 
Method  of  com|xiring  Heats  of  Evaporation  of  Liquids  at 
their  Boiling-jioints,  535 
Rand,  the  (.lold  Mines  of  the,  F.  H.  Hatch  and  J-  A.  Chalmers, 

Bennett  H.  Brough,  63S 
Rankc  (I'rof.  von),  the  Antitoxin  Treatment  of  Diphtheria,  354 
Kaoult  (K.  M.),  Osmotic   Phenomena  produced  between  Ether 

and  Methyl  Alcohol  across  Different  Diaphragms,  335 
Rapier  (Mr.),  on  Weirs  in  Rivers,  582 
Rarer  Metals  and  their  Alloys,  the.  Prof  W.  C.  Roberts-.Austen, 

E.K.S.,  14,  39 
Rational  Cure  for  Snake-Bite,  a,  620 
Rawitz  (Bernhard),  Leitfaden  fiir  histologische  Untersuchungen, 

412 
Rayleigh   (Lord,   F.R.S. ),   Barnard    Medal   awarded    for    Dis- 
coverj'  of  .\rgon  to,  83  ;  Argon,  159  :  Argon  and  Dissociation, 
127;  the  Physical    Pro|)erlies  of  .\rgon,  293:  on  the  Refrac- 
tivity  and  Viscosity  of  Argon  and  Helium,  533 
Reaction  Time  according  to  Race,  M.  Bache,  627 
Rebeur-Paschwitz  (Dr.    E.   von).  Prof.    Milne's  Observation  of 

the  Argentine  Earthquake,  October  27,  1894,  55 
Relx:ur-Pa.schwitz  (Dr.    E.   von),   Obituary  Notice  of,  Charles 

Dan.son,  599 
Recreation,  Physiolog)'  of,  Charles  Roberts,  257 
Recurrence  of  Eclipses,  the.  Prof.  J.  M.  Slockwell,  180 
Red  Sea,  .Meteoroli^ical  Charts  of  the,  1 12 
Red  Spot  on  Jupiter,  the,  W.  !•".  Denning,  507 
Redgrave  (G.  R.),  Calcareous  Cements,  their  Nature  and  Uses, 

77 

Reed  (C.  J.),  the  Place  of  Argon  among  the  Elements,  278 

Reference,  Rules  of,  J.  B.  Bailey,  601 

Reform  of  our  Weights  and  Mea.sures,  the,  256 

Refraction,  .\tniospheric.  Prof.  E.  C.  Conistock,  399 

Refraction,  Double,  .MacCullagh's  Theory  of,  A.  B.  Basset, 
K.K.S.,59S 

Regnault  (t.),  Human  Lower  Jawbone  found  in  Pyrencan 
(Jrfiito,  288 

Regulus,  Occullation  of,  180 

Reich  (Dr.  O.),  Death  of,  133 

Reid  (Clement),  Irish  Elk  Skeletons  in  Chara-marl  Deposits,  85 

Keid  (Mr.),  on  Recent  Researches  by  Boring,  and  an  Examin- 
ation of  the  Deposits  above  the  Water-level  at  Hoxne,  559 

Relative  Powers  of  Large  and  Small  Telescopes  in  .showing 
Planetary  Detail,  W.  F.   Denning,  232 

Reliquary,  .Science  in  the,  44 

Kenard  (Adolphe),  Ozolienzene,  144 

Kennell  (Major  J.ames),  and  the  Rise  of  Modern  English  Geo- 
graphy, Clements  K.  .\Iarkham,  F.R.S.,  Dr.  Hugh  Robert 
Mill,  614 

Renz  (F.),  some  Photographic  Star-charts,  407 

Ke|xirt  of  the  Committee  on  the  Retirement  of  Professors,  538 

Research    in    Education,    D.    S.  T.  Grant,   4  ;    Miss  L.   Edna 

W.,ll.   r       10;; 

I  Pranscontinenlal  Scries  of  Gravity  Measurements, 

■  kwell  I'ulman,  Rev.  O.  Fisher,  433 
Kctiiciiiyiii  of  Professors,  Reixjrt  of  the  Committee  on  the,  538 

Reviews  and  Our  Bookshelf  :— 

The    Papyrus  of  Ani  in  the  Briti.sh  Museum,  E.  A.  Wallis 

Budge,  I 
Over  (Ic  Bevnichting  der  Bloemen  in  hcl  Kempisch  Gcdcelte 

van  Vlaandercn,  J.  MacLeod,  2 
Kmilc  I^vier,  a  travcrs  le  Cauca.sc,  Notes  ct  Impressions  d'un 

Scii.M  Vincent  T.  Murchf,  3 

The  I  ,„        .  .\.  de  Quatrcfages,  Sir  W.  H.  Flower,  F.R.S., 

A  Primer  of  Evolution,  Edward  Clodd,  26 


Steel  Works  Analysis,  J.  O.  Arnold,  John  Parry,  26 
Wayside  and  Woodland  Blossoms,  Edward  Step,  27 
The  Lepido|)tera  of  the  British  Islands,  a  Descripti\  e  -Vccount 
of  the   Families,  Genera,  and   Species  indigenous  to  Great 
Britain  and   Ireland,  their   Prejuratory  Stall's,  Habits  and 
Localities,  Charles  G.  B.^rrett,  27 
Quellenkunde,  Ilyppolyt  J.  Haas,  28 

Hygienische  Meteorologie,  Prof.  Dr.  W.  J.  van  Bebber,  49 
A  Text-book  of  Mechanical  Engineering,  Wilfrid  I.  Linehani, 

5>  , 
Le  Leman  Monographic  Limmologique,  F.  .\.  Forel,  Prof.  T. 

G.  Bonney,  F.R.S. ,  52 
A  Catalogue  of  the  Books  and   Pamjihlets   in  the   Librar)-  tif 

the  Manchester  .Museum,  W.  E.  Hoyle,  53 
A   Course   of   Elementary   Practical  Bacteriology,    including 

Bacteriological   -Vnalysis  and   Chemistry,   A.   .4.   Kanthack 

and  J.    H.  Drysdale,  53 
Primer  of  Navigation,  .V.  T.  I'lagg,  53 
The  Scientific  and  Technical  Papers  ot  Werner  von  Siemens, 

W.  Watson,  73 
Repartition     de     la    Pression    Atmospherique    sur    I'Ocfen 

-Vtlantique  .Septentrional  d'apres  les  Observations  de  1870  a 

1S89  avec  la  Direction  Moyenne  du  Vent  .sur  les  Littoraux, 

C?pt.  G.  Rung,  76 
Text-book  of  .\nat<miy  and  Physiology  for  Nurses,  77 
Calcareous  Cements,  their  Nature  and  Uses,  G.  R.  Redgrave, 

77 
The  Spirit  of  Cookery,  J.  L.  W .  Thudichum,  97 
Meteorology,  Weather,  and  Method  of  Forecasting,  Thomas 

Russell,  98 
Results  of  Rain,  River,  and  Evaporation  Observations  made  in 

New  South  Wales  during  1S93,  H.  C.  Russell,  F.R.S.,  98 
Atlas  of  Cla.ssical  .Vntiquities.  Th.  Schreiber,  100 
A  Handbook  of  Systematic  Botany,  Dr.  E.  Warming,  lot 
The  Noxious  and  Beneficial  Insects  of  the  State  of  Illinois, 

102 
The   Voyage   of   H.M.S.     Challeiigtr,   a    Summary   of    the 

Scientific  Results,  Dr.  ."Vnton  Dohrn,  121 
Horses,   Asses,   Zebras,    Mules,  and   .Mule   Breeding,  W.    H. 

Tegctmeier  .and  C.  \..  Sutherland,  126 
The  .Moon,  T.  Gwyn  Elger,  127 
Algebra,  -M.  H.  Senior,  127 
Crystallogra])hy,  a  Treatise  on  the  Morphology  of  Crj-stals,  N. 

Slory-Maskelync,  F.R.S.,  il.  \  Miers,  145 
Stereochimie,  F^xpose  dcs  theories  de  Le  Bel  et  \'an  "t  Hoff,  E. 

G.  Monod,  146 
The  Telephone  Systems  of  the  Continent   of  Europe,  .\.    K. 

Hennell,  147 
The  Elements  of  Health,  Louis  C.  Parkes,  147 
John  Dallon  and  the  Rise  of  Modern  Chemistry,  Sir   Henry 

E.  Roscoe,  F.R.S.,  169 
Hydraulic  Motors,  Turbines,  and  Pressure   Engines,   G.   R. 

Bodmcr,  170 
Motive    Powers    and    their    Practical    Selection,     Reginald 

Bolton,  170 
Diary  of  a  journey  through  Mongolia  and  Tibet  in    1891  and 

1892,  William  Woodville  Rockhill,  Dr.  Hugh  Robert  Mill, 

171 
The    Philosophy  of   Mind,  an   Essay  in   the   Metaphysics  of 

Psychology,  (;.  T.  Ladd,  Edward  T.  Dixon,  172 
The  Story  of  "  Primitive''  Man,  Edward  Clodd,  173 
Britain's  Naval  Power,  Hamilton  Williams,  173 
Portraits  berllhmter  Naturforscher,  173 
The  Life  and  Inventions  of- Thomas  .Alva  Edison,  W.    K.    L. 

Dickson  ami  Antonia  Dickson,  193 
Finger-print  Directories,  F'rancis  Galton,  F.R.S.,  194 
Birds,  Beasts,  and  Fishes  of  the  Norfolk    Broadland,  P.    II. 

Emerson,  R.  Lydekker,  F.R.S.,  195 
Object  Lessons  in  Botany,  Edward  Snelgrove,  196 
Dental  .Microscopy,  A.  Hopewell  Smith,  197 
Organic   Chemistry,    Theoretical   and    Practical,    I'rof.  J.    .S. 

Scarf,  197 
Reisen   in  den    Molukken,  in   Ambon,  den    I'li.assern,  .Seran 

(Ceram)  und  Buru,  ICine  .Schilderung  von  Land  und  Leuten, 

K.  Martin,  Dr.  Hugh  Robert  Mill,  217 
Steam  Power  and  .Mill  Work,  George  William  SutcIilTe,  2lS 
Lectures    on    the    I)arv\inian    Theory,    delivered   by  the  late 

Arthur  Milius  Marshall,  F.R.S.,  219 
My  Climbs  in  the  .Alps  and  Caucasus,  .\.  F.  Mummery,  219 
Dairy  Bacteriology,  i)r.  Ed.  von  Freudenreicli,  220 
Ix)ngmans'  School  Algebra,  W.  .S.  Beard  and  .A.  Telfer,  220 


SttppUincnt  to  }iaiitrc^~\ 
December  5,  1895      J 


Index 


XXIX 


Fallacies  of  Race  Theories  as  applied  to  National  Charac- 
teristics, \V.  D.  Babington,  220 
A  Chapter  on  Birds,  K.  Bowdlcr  Sharpe,  220 
Nature  in  Acadic,  H.  K.  Swann.  220 
The  Elements  of  Pathological    Histolog)',   Dr.  A.    Weichsel- 

baum.  Dr.  A.  A.  Kanthack,  241 
The  Natural  Historj'  of  Aquatic  Insects,  Prof.    L.  C.  Miall, 

F.R.S.,  242 
The  Royal  Natural  History,  Richard  Lydekker,  F.  R..S.,  242 
Cours  Elementaire  d'lilectricite,  M.  B.  Brunhes,  243 
f>ff  the  Mill,  some  Occasional  Papers,  G.  F.  Browne,  243 
Chemical    Analysis   of  Oils,    Fats,  and  Waxes,  and    of   the 

Commercial    Products    derived    therefrom.   Prof.    Dr.     R. 

Benedikl,  Dr.  J.  Lewkowitsch,  L.  Archbutt,  265 
On  Certain  Phenomena  belonging  to  the  Close  of  the  Last 

Geological  Period,  and  on  their  bearing  upon  the  Tradition 

of  the  Flood,  Joseph  Prestwich,  F.R.S.,  266 
Progress  of  Science,  J.  Villin  Marmery,  267 
Petrology  for  Students,  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Rocks 

under  the  Microscope,  .\.  Harker,  267 
Garden  Flowers  and  Plants,  a  Primer.'or  .\mateurs,  J.  Wright, 

268 
The  Time  Machine,  H.  G.  Wells,  268 
A  Text-book  of  Zoogeography,  F.  E.  Beddard,  F.  R.S.,  R. 

Lydekker,  F.R.S.,  289 
A  Theoretical  and  Practical  Treatise  on  the   Manuiacture  of 

.Sulphuric  Acid  and  Alkali,  with  the  Collateral  Branches, 

George  Lunge,  J.  T.  Dunn,  290 
Microscopic  Foam  and  Protaplasm,  Otto  Biitschli,  291 
^•Esthetic  Principles,  Henry  Rutgers  Marshall,  292 
An  Analysis  of  Astronomical  Motion,  Henry  Pratt,  292 
Handbuch  der  Theorie  der  Linearen  Ditferentialgleichungen, 

Prof.  Dr.  Ludwig  Schlesinger,  313 
Inventions,  Researches,  and  Writings  of  Nikola  Tesla,  Thomas 

Commerford  Martin,  Prof  .■\.  Gray,  314 
An  Introduction  to  Chemical  Crystallography,  Andreas  Fock, 

315 
Laboratory  E.xercises  in  Botany,  Prof.  Edson  S.  Bastm,  316 
The   Source  and  Mode   of  Solar  Energy,  I.    W.    Heysinger, 

316 

A    Manual    for   the   Study   of    Insects,    Prof.    John     Henry 

Comstock  and  Anna  Botsford  Comstock,  337 
Agriculture,  Practical  and  Scientific,  James  Muir,  338 
-Agriculture,  R.  Hedger  Wallace,  338 
The  Horticulturists'  Rule-book,  L.  H.  Bailey,  338 
Electrical  Laboratory  Notes  and  Forms,  Dr.    J.  A.  Fleming, 

F.R.S.,339 
Microbes  and  Disease  Demons,  Dr.  Berdoe,  340 
Men-gu-yu-mu-tsi,  or  Memoirs  of  the  Mongol  Encampments, 

340 
From  the  Greeks  to  Darwin  :  an  Outline  of  the  Development 

of  the  Evolution  Idea,  Henry  Fairfield  Osborn,  361 
Architecture  for   General    Readers,   H.    Heathcote  Statham, 

363 
The  Stor)^  (rf  the  Plants,  Grant  .Vllen,  364 
Low's  Chemical  Lecture  Charts,  365 
Brasilische  Pilzblumen,  .\lfred  Moller,  365 
The  Great   Frozen   Land,  Frederick  George   Jackson,  Henry 

Seebohm,  385 
Icebound  on  Kolguev,  Aubyn  Trevor- Battye,  Henry  Seebohm, 

385 
The    Evolutiim    of   Industr)',    Henry    Dyer,    Dr.    Alfred    R. 

Wallace,  F.R.S.,  386 
A  Primer  of  Mayan  Hieroglyphics,  Daniel  tl.  Brinton,  3S7 
Harrow  Butterflies  and  Moths,  J.  L.  Bohote  and  Hon.  N.  C. 

Rothschil.l,  388 
Hand-List   of   Herbaceous  Plants   Cultivated    in    the    Royal 

Gardens,  Kew,  388 
A  .Manual  of  Book-Keeping,  J.  Thornton,  388 
Sir  Samuel   Baker  :    a   Memoir,  T.  Douglas  Murray  and  A. 

Silva  White,  409 
North   Africa,    Stanford's    Compendium    of    Geography  and 

Travel,  .\.  H.  Keane,  409 
The  Evergreen,  a  Northern  Seasonal,  H.  G.  Wells,  410 
Studies  in  the  l'',volution  of  Animals,  E.  Bonavia,  R.  Lydekker, 

F.R.S.,  411 
Le  Cause  Dell'  Era  Glaciale,  Luigi  de  Marchi,  412 
Leitfaden     ftir     Histologische      Untersuchungen,    Bemhard 

Ravvitz,  412 
Results  of  a  Trans-Continental  Series  of   Gravity  Measure- 
ments, George  Rockwell  Putnam,  Rev.  O.  Fisher,  433 


Notes  on  the  Gravity  Determinations  Reported  by  Mr.  G.  R. 

Putnam,  Grove  Karl  Gilbert,  Rev.  O.  Fisher,  433 
British  Fungus  Flora,  George  -Massee,  435 
Systematic  Arrangement  of  Australian  Fungi,  Dr.  McAlpine, 

435 
Guides  to  Growers,  Onion  Disease,  Dr.  McAlpine,  435 
The  Climates  of  the  Geological   Past,  and  their   Relation   to 

the  Evolution  of  the  Sun,  Eug.  Dubois,  436 
Methodisches    Lehrbuch     der     Elementar-Mathematik,    Dr. 

(iustav  Holzmiiller,  437 
A  Standard  Dictionary  of  the  F^nglish  Language,  457 
Chemical   Technology,   or   Chemistry  in  its  Applications  to 

Arts  and  .Manufactures,  Vol.  ii. ,  Lighting,  457 
Science  Readers,  Vincent  T.  Murche,  458 
-V  Garden  of  Pleasure,  458 
The    Diseases   of    Personality,   Th.    Ribot,   Francis   Galton, 

F.R.S.,  517 
Satellite    Evolution,   James    Nolan,    Prof.    G.    H.    Darwin, 

F.R.S.,  518 
Die    Lehre    von    der     Elektrizitat     und     deren    Praktische 

X'erwendung,  Th.  Schwartze,  519 
Eastern  .Siberia,  Vol.  ii.,  P.  P.  Semenoff,  I.  D.  Cherskiy  and 

G.  G.  von  Petz,  541 
.\   Treatise   on    Bessel    Functions   and   their  Application  to 

Physics,  Andrew  Gray  and  CJ.  B.   Mathews,  Prof.   A.    G. 

(ireenhill,  F.R.S.,  542 
Protoplasme  et  Noyau,  J.  Perez,  543 
Analytical  Key  to  the  Natural  Orders  of   Flowering  Plants, 

Franz  Thonner,  543 
Justus  von  Liebig  :  His  Life  and  Work ,  W.   \.  Shenstone, 

Climates  and  Baths  of  Great  Britain,  566 

Albrege   de   la   Theorie   des    Fonctions    Elliptique,    Charles 

Henry,  H.  F.  Baker,  567 
The  Land  Birds  in  and  around  St.  .\ndrews,  George  Bruce, 

589 
The  .Migration  of  British  Birds,  including  their  Post-Glacial 

Emigration,  as  Traced  by  the  Application  of  a  New  Law  of 

Dispersal,  Charles  Dixon,  589 
Heligoland  as  an  Ornithological  Observatory,  Heinrich  Gatke, 

589 
-\  Handbook  to  the  Game  Birds,  W.  R.  Ogilvie-Grant,  589 
The  Land  Birds  and  Game  Birds  of  New  England,  H.  D. 

Minot,  589 
Wild  England  of  To-day,  and  the  Wild  Life  in  it,  C.  J. 

Cornish,  589 
The   Pheasant  :  Natural  History,  Rev.    H.   A.  Macpherson  ; 

Shooting,    A.    J.    Stuart-Wortley ;    Cooking,    Alexander 

Innes  Shand,  589 
The  Elements  of  Botany,  Francis  Darwin,  F.R.S.,  591 
The  Book  of  British  Hawk  Moths,  W.  J.  Lucas,  591 
Biology  Notes,  591 
The    .Metallurgy   of    Iron   and   Steel,    Thomas   Turner,    W. 

Gowland,  613 
Major  James  Rennell  and  the  Rise  of  Modern   English  Geo- 
graphy, Clements  R.  Markham,  F.R.S.,  Dr.  Hugh  Robert 

Mill,  614 
The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Counter-Irritation,  H.  Cameron 

Gillies,  615 
Die   Clrundgebilde  der  Ebenen  Geometric,  Dr.  V.  Eberhard, 

616 
Handbook  of  Grasses,  William  Hutchinson,  617 
Rural  Water  Supply,  .\llen  t>reenwell  and  W.  T.  Currie,  617 
Climbing  in  the  British  Isles.    II.  Wales  and  Ireland.   Wales, 

W.  P.  Haskett  Smith  ;   Ireland,  H.  C.  Hart,  617 
The   Gold    Mines   of  the    Rand,    F.    H.    Hatch  and  J.   A. 

Chalmers,  Bennett  H.  Brough,  638 
Untersuchungen   iiber  die  Starkekorner,  Dr.  A.  Meyer,  Prof. 

H.  Marshall  Ward,  F.R.S.,  640 
Weather  and  Disease,  Alex.  B.  MacDowall,  641 
Popular     History    of    Animals    for    Young    People,    Henry 

Scherren,  642 
Simple   Methods  for    Detecting   Food  Adulteration,  J.    A. 

Bower,  642 
Revision  of  the  British  Pharmacopoeia,  the,  510 
Reynolds  (Sir  T.  R.),  the  Power  of  Living  Things  in   Health- 
Conservation  and  Disease- Prevention  and  Cure,  352 
Rhinoceros,  White,  from  Zululand,  524 

Rhodes  (W.  G.),  a  Theory  of  the  Synchronous  Meter,  46  : 
Armature  Reaction  in  Single  Phase  Alternating  Current 
Machine,  26? 


XXX 


Index 


VSuppUment  to 
L      December  5, 


\acnre, 
189s 


RJbot(Th.),  the  Diseases  of  Personality,  Francis  Gallon,  F.R.S., 

.S'7 
Ridley  (Mr.),  on  Recent  Researches    by  Boring,  and    an  Ex- 
amination of  the  Dejwsits  above  the  Water- Level  at   lloxne, 

.559 
Rietsch  (M.),  AptiiiUe  Fermentation,  456 
Righi  ( Prof. ),  Electricity  and  Optics,  42 
RigoUot  (H.),  Action  of  Infra-Red  Rays  on   Silver  Sulphide, 

312 
Riley  (Prof.  C.  \ .),  the  Senses  of  Insects,  209  ;  Death  of,  552  ; 

Obituar)-  Notice  of,  600 
Riley  (James),  Modern  .Steel-Work  Machinery,  349 
Rinloul  (D. ),   W.   A.    Shenstone  and.   Science  Scholarships  at 

Cambridge,  295 
Ritter(Prof.  Ernst),  Death  and  Obituarj-  Notice  of,  600 
Ritter  (Prof.  W.  E.),  on  Budding  in  Comjwund  Ascidians,  561 
Ritter's    Asia,     Russian    .-Addenda ;    Eastern    Siberia,     P.     P. 

SemenoflT,  I.  I).  Cherskiy,  and  G.  G.  von  I'etz,  541 
Ri\-als  (P.),  Heats  of  Foniiation  of  Benzoyl  Chloride  and  Toluyl 

Chloride,  120 
Roberts  (A.  W.),  the  System  of  o  Centauri,  629 
Roberts  (Charles),  Physiolc^y  of  Recreation.  257 
Roljerts  (Dr.    Isaac),  Suggestions  for  Astronomical    Research, 

579 
Roberts  (Sir  William),  .\narcatine,  355 
Roberts  Austen  ( Prof.  W.  C,  F.k.S.);  the  Rarer  Metals  and 

their  Alloys,  14,  39  :  Third    Report  to  the  Alloys   Research 

Committee,    iS;  Magnesia   Electric  Furnace,  37  ;  a   Lecture 

Ex|>eriment.  114:  Micrographic  .Analysis,  367 
Robinson  (.Mark),  the  Niclausse  Boiler,  208 
Rock    at    Different  Temperatures,   Electrification    of    Air    and 

Thermal  Conductivity  of.  Lord  Kelvin,  P.  R.S.,  67,  182 
Rock,  the  Density  of  Molten,  Prof.   Oliver  J.   Lodge,  F.R.S., 

269 
Rocks,    on    the  Tcm|H.-ralure  Wiriation  of  the   Thermal    Con- 
ductivity (if.  Prof  Robert  Weber,  45S 
Rockhill    (William    Woodville),    Diar)-   of  a   Journey  through 

Mongolia  and  Tibet   in   1891   and   1892,    Dr.    Hugh  Robert 

Mill,  171 
Roessler  (F. ),  the  Pro<luction  of  Silver  Bismuth  Sulphide,  154 
Rogers  (Dr.  E.  F.),  Death  of,  626 

komano-British  Land  Surface,  Worthington  G.  Smith,  222 
Rome,  Earthquake  Shocks  in  Japan   and   Russia   registered  by 

Scismometrograph  at  (Jbservatory,  1 1 1 
Roots,  the   Penetration  of,   into  Living  Tissues,   Rudolf  Beer, 

630 
koscoc  (.Sir  Uenr)-  E.,  F.R.S.),  John    Dalton   and  the   Rise  of 

M«lern  Chemistry,  169  ;  on  Dalton's  Discovery  of  the  Atomic 

Theor)-,  536 
Rose,   an    Abnormal,    Newnham    Browne,     244  :    W.    Bolting 

Ilcmsley,  F.R.S.,  244 
kf>scnt)erg  (  Prof. ),  Dubfiis'  Pitluiaiilhropiis  erci/its,  554 
Koskill  (|. ),  kepijrt  on  Timsbur)'  Colliery  Explosion  of  l'"ebruarv. 

1895,  '302 
Rotation  of  Mars,  the,  Percival  Lowell,  135 
Rotation  of  .Saturn,  the,  Mr.  Stanley  Williams,  232 
Rotaliim  of  \enus,  the,  34S,  487  ;  Signor  G.  Schiaparelli,  374 
Rothschild  (Hon.  N.  C),  Harrow  Hulterflies  and  Moths,  388 
koule  (L.),  Human  Lower  Jaw-bone  found  in  Pyrenean  Grotto, 

2SS 
Royal  Commission  on  Tuberculosis,  the,  19 
kciynl  ';c'if;rnphical  Society  of  Australa.sia,  540 
K'  I'hical  Society,  Medal  Awards,  llo 

K  Iiural  .Sixricly,  382 

k.  •    ,iy.  215 

k'  ,1  Society,   143,  215 

k. .;.,..  1  .Society,  47,  I20,  287 

kr.yal   S  -,7,    70,    I41,  213,   237,  262,  285,  310,  431, 

455 '•  '  '   '' indidates,  31  ;  Royal  .Society  Conversa- 

/i"iK'.  .57  ;  'V  (l-adies'l  Conversazione,  180 

kiiai.ilDr.  <  Hvidiial  Duties  of  .Sanitation,  84 

kutjens  (II.).  a  \  1'  '   .uiomelcr,  61I 

kiickcr  (Pfofl,  (III  ■,  (if  a  Comparison  of  Magnetic 

Standard    Innirvu,  ,,n  the  Nature  of  Combination 

Tones,  535  ;  en  ih-.\ir)  Electric  CurrenU,  535 

kui-'i'  iii.u.fi  ( k.),  I '      .         .  212 

k"  w  Naluril  .science  School  at,  401 

k^  '    '..),  ktiKirlilion  de  la  Pression  Atmosph^rique 

■■iir  I  '  I iquc  Septentrional  d'apres  Ics  Observations 

dc  iS;  cc  la   Dirccli(jn  Moycnnc  du  Vent  sur  les 

Litloi.,,. ..  ,  , 


Runge  (Prof  C),  on  the  Line  Spectra  of  the  Elements,  106  r 
Wave- Lengths  of  Ultra-\"iolet    Aluminium  Kays,  189;  on  the 
Constituents  of  the  Gas  in   Cleveite,  520;   Helium  and  the 
Siiectrum  of  Nova  Auriga;,  544 
Rural  Water  Supply,  .\llen  Greenwell  and  W.  T.  Curry,  617 
Russell  (H.  C. ,  F.  K..S.),    Results  of  Rain,  River,  and    Evapor- 
ation Observations  made  in  New  South  Wales  during  1893, 
98 
Russell  (Dr.  H.  L.),  the  Pasteurisation  of  Milk,  419 
Russell  (Dr.  J.  S.  R.),  Influence  of  Cerebral  Cortex  on   Uirynx, 

263 
Russell    (Thomas),   Meteorolog)-,    Weather,    and    Methods  of 
Forecasting,  Description  of  .Meteorological   Instruments  an(i 
River-Flood  Predictions  in  the  United  Stales,  98 
Russia,  the  Perseids  observed  in  1894  in,  Th.  Bredikhine,  261 
Russia,  Travelling  Bee-Keeping  Exhibition  in,  F.  Motschalkin, 

523 
Rutherford  (Prof.),  Structureand  Contraction  of  Striped  Muscular 

Fibre,  604 
Rutherfurds  Stellar  Photographs,  655 
Ryan  (C!.  M. ),  Globular  Lightning,  392 
Rydl>erg(Prof.  \".),  Death  of,  626 


Sabalier  (P.),  Reduction  of  Nitric  Oxide  by  Iron  or  Zinc  in 
Presence  of  Water,  144 ;  Reduction  of  Nitrous  Oxide  by 
Metals  in  Presence  of  Water,  167 

Sadovsky  (I  ),  the  Influence  of  Magnetic  Fields  upon  Electrical 
Resistance,  87 

Sail  Navigation,  the  Present  Condition  of.  Dr.  Gerhard  .Schott, 

S«3 
St.  Petersbourg,  Bulletin  de  1' Academic  des  Sciences  de,  261 
St.  Petersburg  Society  of  Naturalists,  Proceedings  of,  309 
Sak^,    the    Organisms   responsible    for    Production    of,  Messrs. 

Kosai  and  Vabe,  601 
Salisbury  (Prof),  Scientific  Work  in  North  Greenland  by,  652 
Sanderson  (Prof  Burdon),  Two  Kinds  of  Electrical  Response  to 

Excitation  of  Muscle  by  Nerve,  604  ;  the  Strj'chnine  SiXTsni, 

604 
Sandy  Hook,  Electric  Lights  on  Buoys  off,  230 
Sanitation,  Conference  at  .Manchester,  9 
Sanitation,  the  Individual  Duties  of.  Dr.  Carlo  Kuata,  84 
Saporta  (Manpiis  of).  Obituary  Notice  of  the,  .V.  C.  Seward,  57 
.Sapper  (Dr.  K.),  the  Less-known  Volcanoes  of  Guatemala,  420 
Sarranton   (H.  de).  Modified  Centesimal  System  of  Time  and 

Measurement,  445 
Satellite  Evolution  :  James  Nolan,  Prof  G.  II.  Darwin,  I'.K'.S., 

518 
S.atellites  of  Jupiter,  the.  Prof  Barnard,  203 
Saturated  \'apour,  the  Pressure  of  a,  .as  an  Explicit   Function  of 

the  Temperature,  F.  G.  Donnan,  619 
Saturn  :  Saturn's  Rings,    Prof.    Barnard,    11;    a  .Spectroscopic 

Proof  of  the  Meteoric  Constitution  of  Saturn's  Rings,   Prof. 

James  E.  Keeler,  164  ;  the  Rotation   of  Saturn,   Mr.   Stanley 

Williams,  232  :  Radial  X'elocities  of.  655 
Saville-Kent's  (Mr.  W.)  Colleclion  of  .'Vustralian  Madreporana 

presented  to  Natural  History  Mnseum,  301 
Scale   Lines  on   the  Logarithmic  Chart,   C.  V.    Boys,   F. R..S. , 

272 
Scarf  (Prof  J.  S. ),  Organic  Chemistry,  Theorcticiil  and  Practiced. 

■97 
.Schiifer  ( Prof  E.  A.,  F. R.S.),  Internal  Secretion,  369 
.Scheiner  (Dr.),  the  Granulation  of  the  .Sun's  Surface,  203 
.Schenck  (Dr.),  the  Innervatiim  of  the  Iris,  604 
Scherren  (Henr)'),  Popular  Histor)-of  Animals  for  Voung  People, 

642 
Scheurer-Keslner,     Correction    to    be    applied    to    Metastatic 

Thermometers,  660 
Schlesinger  (Prof    Dr.    Ludwig),    llandbuch   der  Theorie    der 

linearen    Diffcrenlialgleichungen,    313 ;     Linear    Differential 

Equations,  313 
Schlresing  (Th.),  the  (lueslion  of  Nim-Poisonuus  Tipping   for 

Matches,  432  ;  the  Eslimalidn  of  .Vrgon,  636 
Schmidt's  (Dr.  A.)  Theory  of  Earthquake  .Motion,  C.  Davi.son, 

631 
Schmidt  (G.  C),  Luminescence,  94  ;  Luminescence  of  Organic 

Substances  in  the  Three  Stales,  61 1 
Schmidt  (W. ),  Magnelis;ition  of  Iron   in  very  Weak  Fields,  85  ; 

Magnet isaliiin  of  Iron  by  very  Small  Forces,  94 
Schiinland  (S. ),  I'lant-.Vnim.al  Symbiosis,  597 
School  Board  Children,  the  N'ision  of.  Dr.  James  Kerr,  445 


S u^/Ument  to  Natuif^'\ 
Jt^antber  ^,  1895      J 


Judex 


XXXI 


Schorlcinmcr  Memorial  Labnratory,  the,  6j 

i>chott  (Dr.  Cerhard),  the  Pfesent  Conditions  of  Sail  Navigation, 

513 

Schoule  (I'rof.),  Number  of  Crystallographic  1-ornis  of  Regular 
System  in  Given  S]>)ace,  168 

Schreiher  (Th. ),  Atlas  of  Classical  Antiquities,  100 

Schulz(Dr. ),  Anatomy  of  Unstriated  Muscles  in  \'ertebrates, 
336  ;  Contraction  of  Unstriated  Muscle  P'ibres  of  Stomach 
of  Salamander,  452 

Schur  (Dr.  WilhelmU  the  Pra;sepe  Cluster,  515 

Schuster  (Prof  .\. ),  Fluted  Spectra,  71  ;  on  the  Evidence  to  be 
gathered  as  to  the  Simple  or  Compound  Character  of  a  Gas 
from  the  Constitution  of  its  Spectrum,  533  ;  Observations  on 
the  .Atmospheric  Electricity  near  the  Ground  at  Different 
1  feights  above  .Sea-level,  534 

^rliutzenberger  (P.),  the  Cerite  Earths,  71 

.Schwartze  (Th.),  Die  Lehre  von  der  Elecktrizitat  und  deren 
Praktische  \'erwendung,  519  • 

Schwarz  (Ernest  U.  L. ),  Plant-Animal  Symbio.sis,  389 

Science  :  .Science  Readers,  Vincent  T.  Murche,  3,  458  ;  Science 
in  the  Magazines,  43,  159,257,355,  450,  586;  American 
Journal  of  Science,  118,  212,  2S5,  431,  539  ;  Scientific  Educa- 
tion in  .America,  357  ;  .American  .Association  for  the  .Advance- 
ment of  Science,  Dr.  Wm.  II.  Hale,  506;  the  Size  of  the 
I'.ages  of  Scientific  Publications,  G.  H.  Bryan,  Prof  Sylvanus 
P.  Thompson,  E.  R..S.,  221  ;  Progress  of  .Science,  [.  Villin 
Marmery,  267  ;  the  International  Catalogue  of  .Scientific 
Papers,  270;  Science  Scholarships  at  Cambridge,  271  ;  W.  .A. 
Shenstone,  D.  Rintoul,  295  ;  Denominational  Science,  Dr. 
St.  G.  Mivart,  450  ;  the  Institute  of  F"rance,  Dr.  Henri  de 
Varigny,  459  ;  the  Relation  of  Engineering  to  Science,  L.  F. 
\'ernon  Harcourt,  501  ;  Scientific  Knowledge  of  the  Ancient 
Chinese,  622  ;  .Scientific  Results  of  the  Annual  Meeting  of  the 
British  -Medical  .Association,  369 

Scorpio,  a  Great  Nebula  in.  Prof.  Barnard,  305 

Scorpion- Venom,  Immunity  from,  652 

Scotland,  the  Sea  Fishing  Industry  in,  657 

Scott  (Dr.  D.  H.,  F.R.S.),  Fossil  Plants  of  Coal  Measures, 
23S  ;  on  the  Chief  Results  of  Williamson's  work  on  the  Car- 
boniferous Plants,  5S5 

.Scott  (Prof.  \V.  B.),  on  the  "Bad  Lands,"  559;  .Ancodus,  524 

Scribner's  Magazine,  Science  in,  43,  586 

Seattle  Ship  Canal,  the,  486 

Secretion,  Internal,  Prof  E.  A.  Schiifer,  E.R.S.,  369 

See  (Dr.  T.  J.  (.),  the  Orbit  of  ;u- Bootis  (2  1938),  525;  7 
\'irginis,  553 

Seebohm  tllenry),  the  Great  !■  rozen  Land,  Frederick  George 
Jackson,  385  ;  Ice-bound  on  Kolguev,  .Aubyn  Trevor-Baltye, 
385  ;  on  ^Iiddendorft"s  Credibility,  Prof.  .\Ifred  Newton, 
E.R.S.,  43S 

Seeds,  \"itality  of,  \V.  Hotting  Hemsley,  F.R.S.,  5 

Seeds,  Latent  Life  of,  C.  de  Candolle,  347 

Seeds,  Latent  \'itality  in.  Prof  Italo  Giglioli,  544 

Seeley  (Prof.),  Dentary  Bone  Structure  of  Gomphognathus, 
182 

Seguy  ((jaston).  Phosphorescence  Phenomenon  in  Tubes  of 
Rarified  Nitrogen  after  Pa.ssage  of  Electric  Discharge,  336 

Schukewitch  (J.),  a  Year's  .Actinometric  Observations,  iii 

Seismology  :  the  Study  of  Earthtjuakes  in  the  South-East  of 
Europe,  Charles  Davison,  4  ;  Italian  Society  founded,  35  ; 
Prof.  Milne's  Observations  of  the  -Argentine  Earthquake, 
October  27,  1S94,  Dr.  E.  von  Rebeur-Paschwitz,  55  ;  Earlh- 
(|uakc  Shocks  in  Japan  and  Russia  registered  by  Seismome- 
trograph  at  Roman  Observatory,  III  ;  Efifects  of  Earthquake 
in  .Svunatra,  Th.  Delprat,  129  ;  Records  of  \'icentini  (Siena) 
Microseismogra])h,  July- October  1894,  Dr.  M.  Cinelli,  152; 
a  History  of  British.  I'^rthquakes,  Charles  Davison,  174  ;  the 
Duration  of  Earthquake-Pulsations,  Dr.  E.  Oildone,  177; 
Relation  between  Seismic  Fretjuency  and  Ground-Relief,  M. 
de  Montessus,  201  ;  the  Bifilar  Pendulum  at  the  Royal 
Observatory,  Edinburgh,  Thomas  Heath,  223;  the  Velocity 
of  Earthquake-Waves,  Prof.  F.  Omori,  275;  the  Distribution 
of  Earthquakes  in  Japan,  Prof.  Milne,  304  ;  the  \"iggianello 
(Basilicata)  Earthciuake  of  May  28,  1894,  M.  Baratta,  335  ; 
liollelino  della  Societa  Italiana,  309,  335,  455,  611  ;  a 
Superior  Limit  to  .Mean  .-Area  alTected  by  an  Earthquake,  F. 
de  .M.  de  Ballore,  516  ;  Dr.  .A.  Schmidt's  Theory  of  Earth- 
quake-Motion, C.  Davison,  631 

Selborne  (Lord),  Death  of,  34 

Semenoff  (P.  P.),  I.  D.  Cherskiy  and  (J.  G.  von  Petz,  Eastern 
Siberia,  541 


Senderens  (I.   B.),    Reduction  of  Nitrous  0.\ide  by  Metals  in 

presence  of  Water,  144,  167 
Senior  (.M.  H.),  Algebra,  127 
Senses  of  Insects,  the.  Prof.  C.  V.  Riley,  209 
Seward  (.A.  C. ),  Obituary  Notice  of  the  Marquis  of  Saporla,  57  ; 

on  the  Wealden  Flora  of  England,  586 
Sharp  (.A.),  a  New  Method  of  Ilarmonic  .-Vnalysis,  119 
Sharp  (D.,  F.R.S.),  Variation  in  Size  of  Beetles,  38 
Sharpe  (R.  Bowdler),  a  Chapter  on  Birds,  220 
Shaw  (las.).  Late  Nestlings,  459 
.Shaw  (S.),  .Argon  in  Rock-Salt  Ga.ses,  312 
Shaw-  (W.  N.),  Phenomena  of  Cloud  Formation,  39 
Sheep-eating  Parrot  of  New  Zealand  :  on  the  Habits  of  the  Ke.i, 

the,  W.  Garstang,  629 
.Shenstone  (W.  .A.),   .Science  Scholarships  at  Cambridge,     95; 

Justus  von  Liebig  :  his  Life  and  Work  (1809-73),  565 
Sherzer  (W.  II.),  Native  Sulphur  in  Michigan,  539 
Shields  (Dr.    John),   Occlusion  of  O.sygen  and    Hydrogen  by 

Platinum  Black,  287 
Ship  Canal,  the  Seattle,  486 
Shipbuilding  :  Death  of  Charles  Mitchell,  443 
Ships'  Lights,  the  Visibility  of,  232 
.Short- Period  X'ariable  Stars,  252 
Short  hand  and  Science,  Dr.  Gowers,  F.R..S.,  346 
Shrubsole  (W.  IL),  Mlner.alised  Diatoms,  245 
Siberia  :  Eastern  .Siberia,  P.  P.  Semenoff,   I.  D.  Cherskiy   and 

G.  G.  von  Petz,  541 
Sickness,  Mountain,  George  Griffith,  414 
Siemens  (Werner  von),  the  Scientific  and  Technical  Papers  of, 

W.  Watson,  73 
.Sigalas  (C. ),  Absorbent  Power  of  Human  Bladder,  24 
Sigaudy  (P.),  on  Coupling  Boilers  of  Different  Systems,  208 
Silchester  E.xcavations,  the,  9 
Silver,    the    Freezing- Point  of,    C.    ].    Heycock,    F.R.S.,   and 

F.  H.  Neville,  596 
.Simon's  (.M.  Jules)  Discourse  on  the  Institute  of  France,  645 
Skew  Probability  Curves,  on.  Prof.  Karl  Pearson,  317 
Slate  Mines  of  Merioneth.shire,  279 
Sliding,  Laws  of  Friction  in,  P.  Painleve,  288 
Smalley  (G.  W.),  Personal  Reminiscences  of  Huxley,  586 
Smiles  (F.  II.),  Death  of,  4S5 
Smith  (.\.  Hopewell),  Dental  .Microscopy,  197 
Smith  (C. ),  on  the  Chemical  History  of  the  Barley  Plant,  53S 
Smith  (Prof  -Michie),  on  Indian  Thunderstorms,  534 
.Smith  (VVorthington  G.),  Romano- British  Land  Surface,  222 
Smith  (W.  P.  IIa.skett)  and  H.  C.  Hart,  Climbing  in  the  British 

Isles,  617 
Smithsonian  Institution,  Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  by 

the,  to  award  the  Ilodgkins  Fund  Prizes,  Dr.  S.  I'.  Langley, 

394 

Smythe  (W.  E. ),  Irrigation  in  the  United  States,  44 

.Snake-Bite,  a  Rational  Cure  for,  620 

Snake-\'enom,  Immunity  from,  652 

Snelgrove  (Edward),  Object-Lessons  in  Botany,  196 

Social  Evolution,  another  Book  on,  386 

Societe  des  .Amis  des  Sciences,  131 

Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  346 

Society  of  Medical  Phonograjihers,  346 

Solar  Eclipse  of  .August  8,  1896,  the  "Total,  Colonel  .\.  Burton- 
Brown,  633 

.Solar  Eclipse,  Total,  of  January  21-22,  1898,  113 

Solar  Energy,  the  Source  and   Mode  of,  Dr.  J.  W.  Heysinger,. 

Solar  Observations  during  I'irst  Quarter  of  1895,  P.  Tacchini, 
516 

Solar  Parallax  from  Mars  Observations,  421 

Solar  Radiation  at  Different  Seasons,  J.  Schukewitch,  in 

.Solar  System,  the  Motion  of  the,  135 

SoUas  (Prof.,  F. R.S. ),  Experiment  to  illustrate  Mode  of  Flow 
of  Viscous  Fluids,  47  ;  a  Tertiary  Basaltic  Hill  in  'Galvs'ay, 
215;  on  Artificial  Glaciers  or  "  Poissiers "  made  of  Pitch, 

559 
Solms-Laubach  (Count),  Obituary  Notice  of  William  Crawford 

Williamson,    441  ;    on   a    New    Form   of    Fructification 

Sphcnophylhiiii,  585 
Sommerfeld  (Dr.),  Experiments  on  Children's  Bile,  336 
Sound  Producing  Insect,  a  J.  R.  Holt,  318 
South  .\frica  :  the  Gold  .Mines  of  the   Rand,   F.  II.  Hatch  and 

J.  A.  Chalmers,  Bennett  H.  Brongh,  638 
South  Sea  Island  Weapons,  &c. ,  the  Cook  Collections  of.  Dr. 

V.  Ball,  1 1 


XXX 11 


Index 


VSuppUntcHt  id  Nature^ 
L      December  %,  1895 


Southampton,  Earthquake  near,  September  13,  1895,  552 
Southern  Carboniferous  Flora,  the.  Dr.  W.  J.  Blanford,  F.K.S., 

595 
Spam,  MeteoroU>gical  Obser\ations  at  Ona  Station,  347 
Spectrum  Analysis :  the  Spectrum  of  Mars,  Mr.  Jewell,  37  ; 
Dr.  Janssen.  514;  Fluted  Spectra,  Prof.  A.  Schuster,  71  : 
Stars  with  Remarkable  Spectra.  86  :  .Argon  and  Helium  in 
Meteoric  Iron,  Prof.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  96,  224;  the  Fluores- 
cence of  Argon,  M.  Berthelot.  239  :  the  Si>ectrum  of  Helium, 
W.  Crookes,  F.R.S..  42S  :  the  40265  Line  and  Dj,  C.  A. 
Young,  458 :  1-lelium  and  the  Spectrum  of  Nova  Auriga;, 
Profs.  C.  Runge  and  Paschen,  544  :  Effect  of  Use  of  Magne- 
sium Wire  and  Silent  Discharge  uix)n  Nitrogen,  .\rgon,  and 
Helium,  L.  Troost  and  L.  Ouvrard,  4S7  :  Molecular  Origin 
•  ;f  .\bsorption  Bands  of  Cobalt  and  Chromium  Salts,  A. 
Etard,  96  :  the  Bibliography  of  Spectroscopy,  Prof  Herbert 
McLeod,  F.R.S.,  105  ;  on  the  Line  Spectra  of  the  Elements, 
I'rof  C.  Runge,  106 ;  Cleveite  Gases  Sjiectra  and  Solar 
Atmospheric  Spectrum  com|iared,  H.  Deslandres,  120  ;  Dis- 
covery of  a  Third  Permanent  Radiation  of  Solar  Atmosphere 
in  Cleveite  Gas,  H.  Deslandres,  216  ;  Spectroscopic  Researches 
on  Saturn's  Rings,  H.  Deslandres,  144  ;  a  Spectroscopic 
Proof  of  the  Meteoric  Constitution  of  Saturn's  Rings,  Prof, 
lames  E.  Keeler,  164  :  the  Distribution  of  Energy  in  Triplex 
Burner  Spectrum,  Prof  Konig,  167  ;  .Apjiaratus  for  Collect- 
ing Gases  Distilled  from  Metals,  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S., 
181  ;  Photographs  of  Spectra  of  Bellatrix,  of  Solar  Chromo- 
sphere, and  of  the  New  Gases,  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.  R..S. , 
181  ;  the  New  Gas  obtained  from  Uraninite,  J.  Norman 
Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  214:  the  Now  Mineral  Gases,  J.  Norman 
Lockyer,  F.R.S..  547  ;  Wave-lengths  of  Ultra-\iolet  Alu- 
minium Rays,  C.  Runge,  i8g  :  Dichroism  of  Calcspar, 
<>uartz,  and  Tourmaline  for  Infra-red  Rays,  Ernest  Merrill, 
189 ;  Spectroscopic  Study  of  Carbons  from  Electric  Furnace, 
H.  Deslandres.  192  ;  the  Relation  of  Spectra  to  Molecular 
Structure,  J.  S.  Ames,  275  ;  the  Absorption  Bands  { sup- 
posed due  to  .Vtmospheric  Oxygen)  near  D  Line  of  Solar 
Spectrum,  M.  Janssen,  303  ;  the  Absorption  Spectrum  of 
Liquid  Air,  Profs.  Liveing  and  Dewar,  312  ;  Action  of  Infra- 
red Rays  on  Silver  Sulphide,  11.  Rigollot,  312;  Invisibility  of 
Infra-red  Rays,  E.  Aschkinass,  373  ;  Absorption  Spectrum 
of  Water  for  Red  and  Infra-red  Rays,  E.  Aschkinass,  382  ; 
the  Bessemer  Flame,  Prof  W.  N.  Hartley,  F.  R.S. ,  426;  on 
the  Elcctroly.sis  of  tiases.  Prof  J.  J.  Thomson,  F.R..S.,  451  ; 
Spectrum  of  Hamoglobin  and  Turacine,  Prof.  Gamgee,  603  ; 
Theory  of  Broadening  of  Spectrum  Lines,  B.  Galitzin,  611  ; 
Photographs  of  Star-Spectra,  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.  R. S., 
660 

Speech,  the  Expressiveness  of,  Dr.  A.  R.  Wallace,  587 

S|)encer  (Herbert),  Professional  Institutions  :  the  Priest  and  the 
Medicine  Man,  159:  the  Dancer  and  Musician,  257:  the 
(Jrator  and  Poet,  Actor  and  Dramatist,  356  ;  the  Biogra])her, 
Historian  and  Man  of  Letters,  450  ;  the  Man  of  Science  ami 
the  Philosophers,  586 ;  the  Antiquity  of  the  Medical  Pro- 
fession, 197  ;  the  Nomenclature  of  Colours,  413 

Spider,  Stridulating  Organ  in  a,  S.  E.  Peal,  148 

Spiders,  Bird-catching,  \V.  J.  Rainbow,  384 

Spiller  (Mr.),  on  Recent  Coast  Erosion  at  the  North  Cliff,  South- 
wold,  559 

."^(xinRes  of  Ireland,  the  Freshwater,  Dr.  R.  HanitHch,  85 

Sp<jrer  (Dr.  Fricdrich  W.  G.).  Death  of,  275  ;  Obituary  Notice 
of,  417 

Spotted  Fly-catcher,  Curious  Habit  of  the.  Rev.  W.  Clement 
lA-y,  269 

."Spring  (W. ),  Hydrogen  Peroxide,  94;  Specific  Heat  of 
I'eioxide  of  Hydrogen,  309  ;  Conditions  of  Decom|xisition  of 
Hydrogen  Peroxide,  611 

.Staeckel  (P.),  Integration  of  Hamilton's  Differential  Equation, 
612 

Stammcrinft,  the  Moon  and.  Mala  Prasad,  601 
rs,  the  Construction  of,  87 
f  Colour,  J.  11.  Pillsbury,  390 

ll"I  "111'  IDC,   356 

Alfred),  Pyrometric  Examination  of  Alloys  of  Copper 
—  .    .  ...,  lo 

.SUprf  (Dr.  F,  .M.),  Death  of.  626 

Starch:  Dr.  A.  Meyer,  Prof.  H.  Marshall  Ward,  F.K.S., 
640 

Starling  (Mr.),  on  the  Velocity  of  Light  in  Vacuum  Tubes  con- 
veying an  Electric  Di<ichargc,  536 


Stars:  Parallax  and  Orbit  of  i) Cassiopeiit,  61  ;  Algol.  61  :  Stars 
with  Remarkable  Spectra,  86  :  the  Sun's  Stellar  Magnitude, 
Mr.  Gore,  135  :  two  Remarkable  Binary  Stars,  155  ;  Occulta- 
lion  of  Regular,  180  ;  Vari.ible  Stars,  Dr.  Chandler,  251  ;  ihe 
Laws  of  Stellar  Velocities  and  Distributiim,  J.  C.  Kapleyn, 
240  :  the  Electrical  Measurement  of  Starlight.  I'rof  Gicorge 
M.  Minchin,  F.R.S.,  246:  Shorl-Perind  \'ariable  Stars,  252: 
New  \'ariable  Stars,  Rev.  T.  E.  Espin,  306  :  Star  Catalogues, 
Mdlle.  Klumpke,  278;  Altitude  and  .Vrimuth  of  Polaris; 
A.  Tanakadate,  305 :  Observations  of  Dotible  Stars,  M. 
Bigourdan,  305  :  the  Pr.vsepe  Cluster,  Dr.  Wilhelm  Schur, 
515  :  the  Orbit  of  y?  Bootis  (2  1938).  Dr.  T.  J.  J.  See,  525  ; 
Helium  and  the  .Spectrum  of  Nova  Aurig.v,  Profs.  C.  Runge 
and    F.    Paschen,    544 ;    Rutherfurd's   Stellar   Photographs, 

655 
Statham  (H.    Heathcote),   .Vrchilecture   for   lieneral    Readers, 

363  :  the  Elements  of  Architecture,  546 
Stead  (J.  E.),  on  the  Effect  of  Arsenic  upon  Steel,  62 
Steam  Power  and  Mill  Work,  George  William  Sutclifle,  21S 
Steel,  Effect  of  .-\rsenic  on,  J.  E.  Stead,  62 
Steel,  the  Metallurg)'  of  Iron  and,  Thomas  Turner,  W.  liowland 

613 

Steel,  Nickel,  H.  A.  Wiggin,  42S 

Steel  Works  Analysis,  J.  O.  Arnold,  John  Parry,  26 

Step  (Edward),  Wayside  and  Woodland  Blossoms,  27 

Steri^ochimie,  Expose  des  theories  de  Le  Bel  el  Van 't  Hoft",  E.  G. 
Monod,  146 

Stethoscope,  the  Ellipsoidal,  C.  \'.  Zenger,  456 

.Stockwell  (Prof  J.  M.),  the  Recurrence  of  Eclipses,  180 

Stone  .\ge  in  the  Ukraine,  the,  Karon  de  Baye,  45 

.Stoney  (Mr.),  on  Weirs  in  Rivers,  582 

Sloney  (Dr.  G.  J.),  Motions  of  and  within  Molecules  and  Signifi- 
cance of  Ratio  of  Two  Specific  Heals  in  (Sases,  286 

Storm-Warning  Signals,  ihe  Improvement  of.  Dr.  W.  J.  van 
Bebher,  653 

Storm-Warning  Telegrams  to  be  supplied  to  Lighthouses  for  the 
Benefit  of  P.assing  Vessels,  512 

.Story-Maskelyne  (N.,  F.R.S.),  Cryst;dlography,  a  Treatise  on 
the  Morphology  of  Crystals,  145 

Slrah.m  (A.),  Overlhrusis  of  Tertiary  Date  in  Dorset,  191 
1  Streets,  Paris,  named  after  Men  of  Science,  626 
'  .Stridulating  Organ  in  a  Spider,  S.  E.  Peal,  14S 
'  Strobel  (Dr.  Pellegrino),  Death  of,  372 

Stuart  (H.  W.  \'.).  Death  of,  626 

.Subjective  Visual  Sensations,  Dr.  W.  R.  Gowers,  F. R.S.,  234 
j  Subterranean  Faunas,  225 

Sudborough  (J.  J.),  Action  of  Sodiinn  Ethylate  on  Deoxy- 
benzom,  94  ;  on  Organic  Chemistry,  538 

Suffolk  and  its  Borders,  Underground  in,  W.  Whitaker,  F.R.S., 
490 

Sulphuric  Acid  and  Alkali,  a  Theoretical  and  Practical  Treatise 
on  the  Manufacture  of,  (leorge  Lunge,  J.  T.  Dunn,  290 

Sumatra,  Effects  of  Earthcpiake  in,  Th.  Delprat,  129 

Sulphuretted  Hydrogen,  a  Substitute  for,  Rusticus,  597 

Sun  :  the  Proper  Motion  of  the,  M.  Tisserand,  487  ;  Tempera- 
ture of  the.  H.  Ebert,  232  ;  the  Climates  of  the  Geological 
Pa.st,  and  their  Relation  to  the  Evolution  of  the  .Sun,  Eug. 
Dubois,  436  :  on  the  Sun's  Place  in  Nature,  J.  Norman 
Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  12,  156,  204,  253,  327,  422!  446;  the 
Granulation  of  the  Sun's  Surface,  Dr.  Scheiner,  203;  the 
Sun's  Stellar  .Magnitude,  Mr.  Gore,  135 

Sun-spots  :  Connection  of  Sun-sjiots  with  KainfiU  in  August, 
519;  Sun-six)t  Observations  in  1894,  Dr.  A.  Wolfer,  629; 
Comets  and  the  Sun-spot  Period,  Herr  J.  Unterweger,  446 

Surgery:  Death  of  Prof.  K.  Thiersch,  g;  Death  of  Surgeon- 
Major  Carter.  ■>,},■,  Death  of  A.  E.  Durham,  },l;  Death  of 
Brig.-General  Charles  Sutherland,  133  :  Death  of  Prof  Ver- 
neuil,  200:  Obituary  Notice  of  Prof  \'eriKuil,  250  :  Death  of 
Sir  John  Tomes,  F.R.S.,  325;  War  .Surgery  of  the  Future, 
Sir  William  MacCormac,  355  ;  Death  of  Dr.  Pasiniale  Landi, 
443  ;  Deal!)  of  Dr.  von  Sury,  512  :  Death  of  Prof  Bardeleben, 
522  ;  Death  of  I'rof  A.  von  Bardeleben,  577  ;  Death  of 
Baron  Felix  L;irrey,  577 

Suspension  for  Physical  Instruments,  a  Vibration -free,  W.  II. 
Julius,  578 

Sutcliffe  (George  William),  Steam  Power  and  Mill  Work, 
218 

Sutherland  (.'\.),  the  Period  of  Incubation  and  Gestation, 
201 

Sutherland  (Brig.-General  Charles),  Deatli  of,  133 


Supplement  to  Nature,'^ 
December  5,  1895      J 


Index 


xxxui 


Sutherland  (C.   L.),  Horses,  Asses,  Zebras,  Mules,  and  Mule 

Breeding,  126 
Swann  (H.  K. ),  Nature  in  Acadie,  220 
Sweden  :  Boring  for  Water  in  Crystalline  Rocks,  486 
Swift's   Comet:    Reappearance   of,   421;    Ephemeris  of,  446; 

Swift"s  Comet  (Aug.  20,  1895),  G.  Le  Cadet,  456  ;   Elements 

and  Ephemeris  of  Swift's  Comet  a  1895,  Ur.  Berberich,  553 
Switzerland  ;  Avalanche  in  Upper  Gemmi  Pass,  511 
SjTnbiosis,    Plant-Animal,    Ernest    H.    L.    Schwarz,    389  ;    S. 

Schonland,  597 
Symonds  (Mr.),  Earth  Tremors,  534 
Symons  (G.  J.,  F.R..S.),   Earth-Temperatures  and   Waterpipes, 

45  ;  the  November  Floods  of  1S94  in  Thames  ^'alley,  143  ; 

on   the   Autumn   Floods   of  1894,  582  ;    Symons's    Monthly 

Meteorological  Magazine,  45,  213 
Systematic  Arrangement  of  Australian  Fungi,  Dr.  McAlpine,  435 


Tacchini  (P.),  Solar  Observations  during  first  Quarter  of  1895, 
516 

Tanakadate  (A.),  Altitude  and  Azimuth  of  Polaris,  305 

Tasmania,  Meteorological  Observatory  on  Mt.  Wellington,  no, 
302,  599 

Tea-plant,  the  Insect  Enemies  of  the,  524 

Teaching  University  for  London,  Sir  John  Lubbock,  F.R.S., 
245,  26S,  295,  340,  389,594;  W.  T.Thiselton-Dyer,  F.R.S., 
293,  366,  413  ;  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.,  294  ;  Alfred 
W.  Bennett,  294 

Tegetmeier  (W.  B. ),  Horses,  As.ses,  Zebras,  Mules  and  Mule- 
Breeding,  126 

Telephone  Systems  of  the  Continent  of  Europe,  the,  A.  R. 
Bennett,   147 

Telephony,  Cheap,  in  United  States.  34 

Telfer  (A.),  W.  S.  Beard  and  Longmans'  School  Algebra, 
220 

Telford-Smith  (Dr.),  the  Brain  of  the  Microcephalic  Idiot, 
III 

Telescopes  :  the  Relative  Powers  of  Large  and  Small  Telescopes 
.showing  Planetary  Detail,  W.  F.  Denning,  232 

Temperature  :  on  the  Tem|)eralure  \'ariation  of  the  Thermal 
Conductivity  of  Rocks,  Lord  Kelvin,  P.R.S.,  J.  R.  Erskine 
Murray,  182;  Prof.  Robert  Weber,  458  ;  Temperature  of  the 
Sun,  II.  Ebert,  232  ;  the  Pressure  of  a  Saturated  Vapour  as 
an  Explicit  Function  of  the  Temperature,  F.  G.  Donnan, 
619:  -Measurement  of  High  Temperatures  with  Thermo- 
Element  and  Melting-Points  of  some  Inorganic  Salts,  John 
McCrae,  189 

Terrestrial  Helium,  327  ;  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S.,  7  ;  Prof. 
W.  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  7,  55;  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  F.R.S., 
55  ;  Prof.  C.  Runge,  1 28 

Terrestrial  .Magnetism :  some  Bibliogra|3hical  Discoveries  in. 
Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer,  79  ;  Captain  Ettrick  W.  Creak,  F.R.S., 
129;  Halley's  Equal  Variation  Chart,  Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer,  197  ; 
Terrestrial  Slagnetism,  its  Distribution  and  Secular  Variation, 
L.  A.  Bauer,  431 

Terrestrial  Planets,  Relative  Densities  of,  E.  S.  Wheeler,  37 

Tertiary  Fossil  .\nts  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  P.  B.  Brodie,  570 

Tesla  (Nikola),  Inventions,  Researches,  and  Writings  of  Thomas 
Commerford  Martin,  Prof.  A.  Gray,  314 

Testacella,  the  Genus,  Wilfred  Mark  Webb,  597 

Tetanus,  Enijiloyment  of  Serum  from  Animals  Immunised 
against,  L.  Vaillard,  144 

Texier  (Dr.),  Death  of,  443 

Therapeutics  :  Employment  of  .Serum  from  Animals  Immunised 
i:;.unst  Tetanus,  L.  Vaillard,  144  ;  .Vntirabic  Inoculations  .at 
i'.isteur  Institute  for  1894,275;  Therapeutic  N'alue  of  Iron, 
I'lof.  Bunge,  326;  the  Power  of  Living  Things  in  Health- 
I  ipiiservation  and  Disease,  Prevention  and  Cure,  Sir  T.  R. 
Reynolds,  352  ;  Growth  of  the  Art  of  Medicine,  Sir  William 
Broadbent,  353  ;  the  .\ntitoxin  Treatment  of  Diphtheria,  Dr. 
Sidney  .\Iarlin,  Prot'  vim  Ranke,  Prof.  Baginsky,  Dr.  Her- 
mann Biggs,  354  ;  .\ntitoxin,  Dr.  Klein,  355  ;  Anarcotine, 
Sir  William  Roberts,  355  ;  Utility  of  Oxysparteine  Injections 
lifiire  Anesthesia  with  Chloroform,  P.  Langlois  and  G. 
Maur.ange,  359 

Thermal  Conductivity  of  Rock  at  Different  Temperatures,  Elec- 
trification of  Air  and,  Lord  Kelvin,  P.  R.S. ,  67,  182  ; 
J.  1\.  Er,skine  Murray,  182 

Thermal  Conductivity  of  Rocks,  on  the  Temperature  X'ariation 
of  the.  Prof.  Robert  Weber,  458 


Themio-Chemistry  of  Bessemer  Process,  Prof.  W.  N.  Hartley, 
F.R.S.,426 

Thermodynamics,  a  Problem  in,  E.  Blass,  415  ;  Edward  T. 
Dixon,  547 

Thermometers,  the  Construction  of  Standard,  87 

Thermometers,  Metastatic,  Corrections  to  be  applied  to, 
.Scheurer-Kestner,  660 

Thermophone,  the,  H.  E.  Warren  and  G.  C.  Whipple,  308 

Thibetan  Sacred  Bone-Trumpet,  Dnmi,  and  Flute,  Dr.  Geo. 
Harley,  182 

Thiersch  (Prof.  K. ),  Death  of,  9 

Thiselton-Dyer  (W.  T.,  F.R.S.),  Origin  of  the  Cultivated 
Cineraria,  3,  78,  128  ;  the  University  of  London,  293,  366, 
413;  Opening  Address  in  Section  K  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion, 526 

Thomas  (Rose  Haig),  Migration  of  a  Water-Beetle,  223 

Thomas  (V.),  Crystals  of  FeClo.NO.2H2O  obtained,  61  ;  Action 
of  Nitric  .\cid  on  Ferrous,  Bismuth  and  Aluminium  Chlorides, 
288  :  Drj'-prepared  Combinations  of  Ferrous  Chloride  and 
Nitric  Oxide,  336 

Thompson   (B.),   on   Pre-Glacial  \'alleys  in  Northamptonshire, 

559 
Thompson   (Prcf.  S.   P.,   F. R.S.),  a  Neglected  Experiment  of 

Ampere,  45  ;  the  Size  of  the  Pages  of  Scientific  Publications, 

G.  H.  Bryan,  221 
Thomson  (Joseph),    Death  of,   346 ;    Obituary   Notice   of.  Dr. 

J.    W.    Gregory,   440 ;   Joseph  Thomson  as  a  Botanist,   W. 

Botting  Hemsley,  F.R.S.,  459 
Thomson  (Prof.   J.    T-,   F.R.S.),   on  the  Electrolysis  of  Gases, 

45' 
Thonner   (Franz),    Analytical    Key   to   the   Natural    Orders   of 

Flowering  Plants,  543 
Thornton  (J. ),  a  Manual  of  Book-keeping,  388 
Thudichum  (Dr.  J.  L.  W. ),  the  Spirit  of  Cookery,  97 
Tibet :  Diary  of  a  Journey  through  .Mongolia  and  Tibet  in  1S91 

and    1892,   William    WoodviUe   Rockhill,   Dr.    Hugh   Robert 

Mill,  171 
Tick  Pest  in  the  Tropics,  the,  C.  A.  Barber,  197 
Tietjen  (Prof.  F. ),  Death  of,  275  ;  Obituary  Notice  of,  320 
Tilden  (W.  .\. ),  .Action  of  Nitroxyl  on  Amides,  94  ;  Formation 

of  La'vo-chlorosuccinic  Acid,  94 
Tillie  (Dr.  Joseph),  Akoianlhc'ia  sihimperi,  237 
Tillo   (Gen.    A.),    Carpathians   not   extending     into    European 

Russia,  408 
Tillo  (Al.  de).  Study  of  Lines  of  Secular  \'ariation  of  Terrestrial 

Magnetism,  660 
Time  Machine,  the,  H.  G.  Wells,  268 
Time  and   Measurement,   Modified   Centesimal  System  of,  H. 

de  Sarranton,  445 
Timsbury  Colliery   Explosion  of  Februar)'  1895,   Report   upon 

the,  J.  Koskell  and  J.  S.  Martin,  302 
Tisserand  (M.),  the  Proper  .Motion  of  the  Sun,  487 
Tomato-Rot,  Michigan  Treatment  of,  276 
Tomes  (.Sir  John,  F.R.S.),  Death  of,  325  ;  Obituary  Notice  of, 

396 
Tonbridge  School  Laboratories,  Alfred  Earl,  88 
Toronto,  Meeting  of  the   British  Association,  the,  Dr.  Wm.  H. 

Hale,  618 
Torpedo,  the  Discharge  of  the,  M.  d'Arsonville,  312 
Total  .Solar  Eclipse  of  1S98,  January  21-22,  113 
Total  Solar  Eclipse  of  August  8,    1S96,  Col.  .\.  Burton- Brown, 

Toxicology,  Akocanlhera  schiniperi.  Prof.  T.  R.  Eraser,  F.R.S., 
and  Dr.  Joseph  Tillie,  237 

Travers  (^iorris),  Helium  a  Constituent  of  certain  Minerals, 
306,  331  ;   Helium  a  Constituent  of  various  Minerals,  311 

Treub  (Dr.  M. ),  on  the  Localisation,  the  Transport,  and  Rile  of 
Hydrocyanic  Acid  in  Pangiiim  edule,  Reinw. ,  584 

Trevor-Battye  (.\ubyn),  Ice-bound  on  Kolguev,  385 

Trimen  (Roland,  F.R..S.),  Honey  .\nts,  191 

Trinidad,  the  Pitch  Lake  of,  S.  F.  Peckham,  2S5 

Troost  (L. ),  Efi'cct  of  Use  of  Magnesium  Wire  and  Silent  Dis- 
charge upon  Nitrogen,  .Argon,  and  Helium,  487 

Tropics,  the  Tick  Pest  in  the,  C.  A.  Barber,  197 

Trotter  (Mr.),  on  an  Improved  Portable  Photometer,  583 

Trouvelot  (JI.).  Obituar)-  Notice  of,  11 

Trowbridge  (John),  Velocity  of  Electric  Wave,  431 

Tuberculosis,  the.   Royal  Commission  on,  19 

Tunnicliffe  (Dr.  F.  W. ),  the  International  Congress  of 
Physiologists  at  Bern,  555,  603 


XXXIV 


Inaex 


T StiffpUmmt  to  .Vittun- 
L      DiCiiiihcr  5,  i3g5 


Turbyne  (Alexander^,   the   Feeding  Ground  of  the  Herring, 

617 
Turner  (Thomas),  the  MctalUii^-  of  Iron  and  Steel,  \V.  Govv- 

land.  613 
Tutton  (A.  E.),  Cr>-stal-Cutling,  &c.,  Apixiralus,  iSl 
Twceddell  (R.  H.),  Death  of,  485 
Twilight   Arc  U]xm   the    Planet    Mars,    Evidence  of,    Percival 

Lowell,  401 
Typhoid   ISacillus,    Effect  of  Fever   Temperature  on   Typhoid 

Bacillus,  Dr.  Max  Miiller,  444 

Uganda,  the  Best  Route  to,  G.  F.  Scott-Elliot,  257 

Ukraine,  the  Stone  .\ge  in  the,  Baron  de  Baye,  45 

Uniformitarianism  in  Geolog)-,  Dr.  .\lfrcd  R.  Wallace,  F.R.S., 
4  ;  Prof.  Joseph  Prestwich,  I". R. S.,  28 

Unit  of  Heat,  the,  E.  H.  Griffiths.  Prof.  Oliver  J.  Lodge,  F.R.S., 
30  ;  Dr.  J.  Joly,  F.  R.S. ,  4,  80  ;  Spencer  Pickering,  F.  R.S.,  80 

United  States  :  Cheap  Telephoning  in,  34  :  National  .\cadcmy 
of  Sciences,  34 ;  Growth  of  Electric  Railways  in,  Joseph 
Wetzler,  43 :  the  Nant.xsket  Beach  Electric  Locomotive 
Trials,  513  ;  Agricultural  Education  in  the  United  .States;, 
P.  G.  Craigie,  84  ;  Experimental  Small  Fruit,  &c..  Cultures 
in  Indiana,  112:  Meteorologj-,  Weather  and  .Methods  of 
Forecasting,  Description  of  Meteorological  Instruments  and 
River  Flo<j(l  Predictions  in  the  United  States, Thomas  Russell, 
98  ;  Dust-  and  Snow-Storm  in  Western  Stales,  Prol.  Cleveland 
Abbe,  419  ;  Origin  of  Work  of  Marine  Meteorology  in  the 
United  States,  Lieut.  Beehler,  507  ;  Pocket  Gophers  of  the 
United  States,  Vernon  Bailey,  278  ;  the  Seattle  Ship  Canal, 
486  ;    United  .States  Cieological  Survey.  628 

Universe,  the  Mechanical  Theory  of  the,  Dr.  W.  Ostwald, 
627 

University  Intelligence,  24,  44,  70,  93,  140  165,  188,  212,  237, 
284,  308,  334,  359,  381,  407,  430,  455,  487,  516,  539,  564, 
587,  610,  635,  658 

University  for  London,  the  Teaching,  Sir  John  Lubbock, 
Bart..  F.R.S.,  245.  268,  295,  389,  594.  W.  T.  Thiselton 
Dyer,  F. R.S.,  293,  366,  413  ;  Prof.  E.  Ray  I«ankester, 
F.R.S.,  294  :  .\lfred  W.  Bennett,  294 

University  of  London  Election,  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  John  Lubbock, 
Bart..  F.R.S  ,  340 

University,  the  New  Chicago,  Mr.  Herrick,  586 

University,  Science  Scholarships  at  Cambridge,  W.  .\.  Shen- 
stone,  D.  Rintoul,  295 

University,  Post-Graduate  Study  and  Research  at  Cambridge, 
296 

Unterweger  (Herr  J,),  Comets  and  the  Sun-spot  Period,  446 

Unwin  (Prof.  W.  C.,  F.R.S  ),  the  Development  of  the  Experi- 
mental .Study  of  Heat  Engines,  89 

Vaillard(L. ),  Employment  of  Serum  from  .\nimals  Imnnuiised 
against  Tetanus,  144 

Van  Dyck  (Dr.  W.  T. ),  Hypnotised  Lizards,  148 

\'andevelde  (.\.  J.  J),  .\ction  of  Hot  Gases  on  Red  Phosphorus, 
94  ;   Chloro-Bromomatic  ."Anhydride,  309 

Varet  (R. ),  .Mercurous  .Sulphate,  Nitrate  and  .\celate,  71; 
the  Isomeric  Transformations  of  Mercury  Salts,  I20  :  Com- 
ljination.s  of  Mercur)-  Cyanide  with  Chlorides.  432  ;  Combina- 
tions of  Mercury  Cyanide  with  Bromides,  488  ;  Combinations 
of  Mercury  Cyanide  with  Iodides,  612 

\ariability  of  Nebula;,  180 

\'ariable  Stars  :  Dr.  Chandler,  231  ;  Algol,  61  ;  Short-Period 
\'ariablc  SUirs,  252  ;  New  Variable  .Stars,  Rev.  T.  1".  Espin, 
.306 

\  .,,  1,,  r,  Tide,  the  latitude,  421 

in  Flowers  and  Fruits.  J.  D.  \j\  Touche,  295 
I.    Henri  de),   the   Institute    of    France,    450;   the 
*-■  ■'  >  at  Paris,  644 

Veil.  r<  menl  of  R.'idial,  155 

Vcl  ^;ilurn.  655 

^cn  I  N'lniis,  348, 487  ;  SIgnorG.  Schiaparclli, 

37;  ■    ■■■    il"'    Dark  Side   of  Venus,    .M.    Camillc 

H  '03:  Ihc  Surface  of,   M.    Perrotin,  660;  Met- 

C\ir;  ;,,  I  13 

Vcrncuil  (I'lol.^  Death  of,  jcjo;  Obituary  Notice  of,  250 

Vernon- llarcourt  (L.  F  ),  Ojicning  Address  in  Section  G  of  the 
Brili.sh  A.vvjciation  ;  the  Relation  of  Engineering  to  Science, 
501 

Ver>ichaflcll  (Dr.),  the  Capillarity  of  ^Liquid  Ga.scs,  360 


\'esuvius,  the  Eruption  of,  July  3,  1895,  Dr.  H.  J.  Johnston- 
Lans.  343 

Victoria  Institute,  119 

Victoria  Land,  the  Voyage  of  the  Aiitantic  to,  C.  E.  Borch- 
grevink,  375 

Villard  (P.),  Physical  Properties  of  .-\cetylene,  192;  Solid 
Carbonic  -\ci(l,  240 

Vine  Disease,  the  "  Brunissure,"  Dr.  U.  Brizi,  94 

Violle  (J. ),  Specific  Heat  and  Boiling-point  of  Ciraphile,  24 

Virginis,  7,  Dr.  See,  553 

Virial  Theorem,  Clausius',  Colonel  C.  E.  Basevi,  413  ;  Prof.  .\., 
tiray,  568;  S.  II.  Burbury,  F.R.S.,  568;  Robert  E.  Baynes 
569 

Visibility  of  the  Dark  Side  of  Venus,  M.  Camille  H.immarion, 
603 

Visibility  of  Ships'  Lights,  the,  232 

Vision  of  School  Board  Children,  the,  Dr.  James  Kerr,  445 

\'istula  .Mouth,  the  New,  445 

Visual  Sens<itions,  .Subjective,  Dr.  W.  R.  Gowers,  F'.K.S. ,  234 

Vitality  of  Seeds.  W.  Butting  llemsley,  F.R.S.,  5 

\'itality  in  Seeds,  I_itent,  I'rcif.  Ilalo  Giglioli,  544 

Viticulture  :  the  Sulphuric  .\cid  Treatment  of  .\nierican  \'ine 
Chlorosis,  MM.  C-a-stine  and  Degrully,  167 

\itzou  (.\.  N.),  Neo-formation  of  Nerve  Cells  in  Monkey's 
Brain  after  .\blation  of  Occipital  Lobes,  540  ;  Blindness  Pro- 
duced by  Removal  of  Occipital  Brain  Region  of  Monkey,  555 

\'ivisection  :  Licensed  Experiments  on  Living  .\nimals  during 
1S94,  250;  Experimental  Lesions  of  Cortex  Cerebri  in  Bonnet 
Monkey,  Dr.  E.  L.  Melius,  431  :  Neo-formation  of  Nerve  Cells 
in  Monkey's  Brain  after  Ablation  of  Occipital  Lobes,  A.  N. 
Vitzou.  540  ;  Blindness  produced  in  Monkey  by  Removal  of 
Occipital  Brain  Region,  Prof.  \'itzou,  555  ;  Effect  on  Dog  of 
Removal  of  Spinal  Cord,  Profs.  Ewald  and  Cloltz,  555  ; 
Apparatus  for  .Measuring  Motor  Reaction  Time,  Prof.  I'ano, 
555;  Psycho-motor  .\reas  in  Rabbit,  Hedgehog.  Dog,  .^nd 
Cat,  Dr.  Mann,  555;  the  Growth  of  .Muscle,  Prof.  Gaule, 
555  •  -Vspect  of  Br,ain  Cell  Processes  of  .-Vnimals  Dosed  willi 
Morphine  or  Chloral  Hydrate,  Dr.  Demoor,  555:  Gastric 
Juice  from  Isolated  Stomach  of  Dog,  Prof.  Herzen,  555  : 
Projiagation  of  Rhythmic  Cardiac  Wave  from  Fibre  lo  I'ihre, 
Dr.  His,  jun.,  555  ;  Experiments  on  Frog's  Ventricle,  Dr. 
Kaiser,  556;  Result  of  Injection  of  Paraffin  into  Descending 
Coronary  Artery,  Prof  Kronecker,  556  ;  New  Method  for 
Determining  \elocity  of  Blood,  Dr.  Zuntz,  556:  Change  of 
Heart's  Shape  during  Contraction,  Prof.  B.  Haycraft,  556  : 
the  Discharge  of  Malapteniriis  ekctricus.  Prof.  F.  llotch. 
556 ;  Phlorizii  glycosuria  in  Dogs  after  Section  of 
.Spinal  Cord,  R.  Lepine,  564 ;  Glycosuria  following 
.\blalion  of  Pancreas,  R.  Lepine,  58S ;  Persistence 
of  Electric  Irritability  in  Peripheral  Ends  of  Divided 
Nerves,  Prof.  .Vrloing,  603 :  Two  Kinds  of  Electric  Re- 
sponse to  Muscle-Excitation  by  Nerve,  Prof.  Bunion 
Sanderson,  604  ;  Influence  of  Chemical  Reagents  on  Electric 
Excitability  of  Isolated  Nerve,  Dr.  Waller,  604  :  Researrhes 
on  .Striped  Muscular  Fibre,  Prof  Rutherford,  604  ;  ihe  Blood 
in  Fever,  Dr.  Jacquet,  604  ;  -Action  of  Intra-vascular  Injec- 
tion of  Peptone  Solutions  on  Blood,  Dr.  Gley,  604,  Innerva- 
tion of  Iris,  Dr.  .Schenk,  604:  Osmotic  Changes  between 
Blood  and  Tissues,  Dr.  Leatlies,  604  :  .\ction  of  Electric 
Tetanisation  on  Nerve-Muscle  Apparatus,  I'rof.  Wedersky, 
604;  Nervous  Mechanism  of  Swallowing,  Dr.  Liischer,  604  : 
Effect  of  Thyroid-Removal  and  Thyroid- Feeding,  Dr.  Lan/, 
605;  Inoculation  with  .Salamander  Blood  against  Curare- 
Poison,  Dr.  Phisalix,  605  ;  Effect  of  Rarefied  .-\ir  on  Men  and 
-Apes,  Prof.  Mosso,  605 

Vogclstein  (Dr.  H.),  Early  Rainfall   Measurement  in  Palestine, 

59 
Voglino  (P.),  Propagation  of  Fungi  by  Snails  and  Toads,  45 
Vogl  (Dr.  Karl),  Death  of,  34,  Obituary  Notice  of,   108 
Volcanoes:   the  Eruption  of  \'esuvius,  July  3,  1895,  Dr.  II.  J. 

Johnston- Lavis,  343 
Volcanoes  of  Guatemala,  the   Less-known,  Dr.  K.  Sapper,  420 
Vollameler,  llerroun's  Iodine,  1 19 


Wager  (Harold),  on  the  Structure  of  Bacterial  Cells,  584 
Walden  (P.),  a  Scries  of  Active  Halogen  Subslilution  Products, 

'79 
Waldo  (F.),   Distribution  of  Daily  Wind  Velocities  m   United 
Slates,    177;    Geographical    Distribution   of    M.axinunn   and 


Supplement  to  Nature^ 
Deceuiber  5,  1895      J 


Index 


XXXV 


Minimum  \Vind  Velocities  in  United  States,  335  ;  Relations  of 

Decimal  Rise  and  Kail  of  Wind  in  United  States,  539 
Wales  (H-K-H.  the  I'rince  of),  the  British  School  at  Athens,  349 
Walford  (E.  A.),  on  the  Succession  of  Limestones,  Clays,  and 

Sandstones  in  Oxfordshire,  560 
Walker  (G.  H.),  Curious  Dynamical  Property  of  Celts,  143 
Walker  (J.  W.),  Optical  Activity  of  Metallic  Lactates  m  Solu- 
tion, 166 
Wallace  (Dr.  Alfred  K.,  I'.R.S.),  Uniformitarianism  in  Geology. 

4  :  the   Evolution  of  Industrj-,   Henry   Dyer,  386  ;  How  was 

Wallace  Led  to  the  Discovery  of  Natural  .Selection  ?  Dr.  A.  B. 

Meyer,  F.R  S.,  415  ;   Expressiveness  of  Speech,  587 
Wallace  (R.  Hedger),  Agriculture,  33S 
Waller    (Dr.),    Influence   of    Chemical    Reagents    on    Electric 

Excitability  of  Isolated  Xerve,  604 
Walter  (MissL.  Edna),  Research  in  Education,  105 
Walter  (L.  E.),  Thio-derivatives  from  Sulphanilic  Acid,  311 
Ward   (Prof.    H.    Marshall,   F.R.S.),  Untersuchungen  liber  die 

Starkekorner,  Dr.  A.  Meyer,  640;  the  Formation  of  Bacterial 

Colonies,  658 
Ward  (Thos. ),  Halley's  Chart,  106 
Warington  (Prof.  R.),  How  shall  Agriculture  best   obtain   the 

Help  of  Science  ?  537 
Warming  (D.  E. ),  a  Hand-book  of  Systematic  Botany,  loi 
Warren  (H.  \'..).  the  Thermophone,  308 
Washington  National  .-Vcademy,  48 
Water  in  Crystalline  Rocks,  Boring  for.  486 
Water  -Supply,  Rural,  .Allen  CJreenwell  and  W.  T.  Curry,  617 
Water- Beetle,  Migration  of  a.  Rose  Haig  Thomas,  223 
Water- Pipes,  Earth  Temperatures  and,  Mr.  Symons,  45 
Water- Purification,  the   Part  of  Sedimentation   in.   Dr.    H.    |. 

van  't  Hoff,  578 
Waterspouts.  Tempests  and  Tornadoes,  Effects  of  Air  carried 

below,  without  Gyration,  in  Interior  of,  H.  Faye,  24 
Waters    (Sidney),  | Distribution   of    Nebula;   and    Star-clusters, 

38 
Watson  Medal,  Award  of  the,  to  Dr.  S.  C.  Chandler,  113 
Watson  (W. ),  the  Scientific  and  Technical  Papers  of  Werner  von 

.Siemens,    73  ;    the    Results   of    a   Comparison   of  Magnetic 

Standard  Instruments,  533 
Watts  (F. ),  Recent  Earthquakes  in  Leeward  Islands,  230 
Watts  (W.  W. ),  Crush-conglomerates  of  Isle  of  Man,  239 
Wave  on    High    .Seas,     Laws    of    Extinction    of    Simple,    I. 

Boussinesq,  264 
Waves,  .Abnormal  Atlantic,  James  \'ate  Johnson,  569 
Wayside  and  Woodland  Blossoms,  F>!ward  Step,  27 
Weather  and  Disease,  .Alex.  B.  Macdowall,  641 
W'eather  Fallacies,  Richard  Inwards,  377 
W'eather  Observations  and  Predictions,  Thomas  Russell,  98  ;  H. 

C.  Russell,  F.R.S.,  98 
Weather,  the  Recent  Dry,  Prof.  J.  P.  O'Reilly,  597 
Webb  (Wilfred  Mark),  the  Cienus  Tcstaulla,  597 
Webber  (Major-tleneral),  on  Light  Railways  as  an  Assistance  to 

Agriculture,  582 
Weber   (Prof.    Robert),  on  the  Temperature  Variation  n{  the 

Thermal  Conductivity  of  Rocks,  458 
Wedensky  (Prof),  .Action  of  Electric  Tetanisation    im   Nerve- 
Muscle  .Apparatus,  604 
Weich,selbaum  (Dr.  .A.),  the  Elements  of  Pathological  Histology, 

241 
Weights  and  Measures,  the  Reform  of  our,  256 
Weiler(Prof  .A.),  Planetary  Perturbations,  629 
Weiner  (Otto),  Colour  Photography,  279 
Weismann  (Prof),  Germinal  Selection,  555 
Weiss  (Prof  F.  E. ),  on  a  Supposed  Case  of  .Symbiosis  in  Tctra- 

plodoit,  584 
Weiss    (P.),  .Elotropic    Magnetic     Properties    of  Cry.stallised 

Magnetite,  303 
Weldon  (Prof  W.  F.  R.,  F.R.S.),  the  Origin  of  the  Cultivated 

Cineraria,  54,  103 
Wells,   (H.   t;.),   the  Time  Machine,   268:    the    Evergreen,  a 

Northern  Seasonal,  410 
Weston  ( Rev.  W. ),  on  his  Explorations  in  the  Japanese  Alps, 

563 
Wetzler  (Jo.seph),  the    Growth   of    Electric    Railways   in    the 

United  .States,  43 
Wharton  (Admiral   W.J.  L.,  F.R.S.),   Deep  Sounding  in  the 

Pacific,   550 
Wheel,  Gyroscopic  Properties  of,   Killingworth  Hedges,  181 
Wheeler  (E.  S.),  Relative  Densities  of  Terrestrial  Planets,  37 


Wheeler  (W.  H.),  on  the  Effect  of  Wind  and  Atmospheric 
Pressure  on  the  Tides,  582 

Whetham  (W.  C.   D.),  Velocities  of  Ions,  286 

Whipple  (G.  C. ),  Growth  of  Diatoms  in  Surface  Waters,  H2  ; 
the  Thermophone,  308 

Wliitaker  (W.,  F.R.S.),  Opening  Address  in  Section  C  of  the 
British  Association  ;  Underground  in  Suffolk  and  its  Borders, 
490  ;  on  the  .Succession  of  Rocks  Revealed  by  the  Experi- 
mental Boring  at  Stutton,  560 

White  (A.  Silva),  Sir  Samuel  Baker,  a  Memoir,  409 

White  (Chas.  A.),  the  Relation  of  Biology  to  Geological  Investi- 
gation, 258,  279 

White  ( R.  B. ),  on  Various  Deposits  in  Colombia,  New  Gr.inada, 

559 
White  (Sir  William),  Wood  and   Copper  Sheathing  for  Steel 

Ships,  207 
Whymper  (E. ),  some  High  Mountain  Observatories,  513 
Wiede  (O.  F. ),  New  Series  of  Iron  Nitroso-ComiX)unds,  61 
Wiedemann  (E. ),  Luminescence,  94  ;  Luminescence  of  Organic 

Substances  in  the  Three  States,  611 
Wiedemann's  Annalen.  94,  189,  308,  382,  539,  611 
Wiggin  (H.  A.),  Nickel  Steel,  428 
Wilderniann  (Dr.  M.),  on  Physical  Chemistry,  53S 
W'ilkomm  (Moritz),  Death  of,  577 
Williams  (Hamilton),  Britain's  Naval  Power,  173 
Williams  (Stanley),  the  Rotation  of  .Saturn,  232 
Williamson  (W.  C,  F. R.S.),  Fossil   Plants  of  Coal   Measures, 

238 

Williamson  (Dr.  W.  C),  Death  of,  200;  Obituary  Notice  of. 
Count  Solms-Laubach,  441 

Willis  (J.  C. ),  on  Cross-  and  Self- Fertilisation,  with  SjTecial 
Reference  to  Pollen  Prepotency,  585 

Wilson  (C.  T.  R. ),  Cloud-Formation  in  Absence  of  Dust,  144 

Wilson  (E.),  Alternate  Current  Dynamo-Electric  Machines, 
141 

Wilson  (Sir  Samuel),  Death  of,  152 

Wilson  (W'.  E. ),  Effect  of  Surrounding  Gas  Pressure  on  Tem- 
peratures of  Arc-Light  Crater,  238 

Wind-pressure,  Prof.  W.  C.  Kernot,  66 

Windle  (Dr.  Bertram),  Effects  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism  on 
Development,  10 

Winkler  (Mr. ),  the  Bacterial  Contents  of  Margarine,  230 

Witmeur  (Prof^,  H.),  Death  of,  325 

Witz  (.A.),  Lightning  by  Luminescence,  383 

Woburn  Experimental  Fruit  Farm,  the,  50S 

Wolfer  (Dr.  -A.),  .Sun-spot  Observations  in  1894,  629 

Woodward  (C.  J.),  a  Lecture  Experiment,  5 

W'oodward  (Dr.  Henry,  F.R..S.),  the  Life-History  of  the 
Cnistacea  in  Early  Palaeozoic  Times,  114 

Wooflward  (H.  B. ),  on  a  Section  Recently  Exposed  by  Denuda- 
tion at  the  North  Cliff,  .Southwold,  559 

Wouldham,  Roman  Mithraeum  at,  181 

Wragge  (C.  L.),  Investigations  of  Ocean  Currents  by  means  of 
Bottles,  66 

Wright  (J.),  (larden  Flowers  and  Plants,  26S 


Vabe  (Mr.),  the   Organisms  responsible  for  pro<luction  of  Sake, 

601 
Vale  University,  the  Observatory  of.  Dr.  W.  L.  Klkin,  375 
Yeast,  Sake,  Messrs.  Kosai  and  Vabe,  601 
Yeasts,  Moulds  and,  the  Morphology  of,  Dr.  Jfirgensen,  397 
Yeasts,  Transformation  of  Moulds  into,  R.  W.  Atkinson,  438  ; 

the  Writer  of  the  Note,  438 
Verkes  (Jbservator)-,  the,  203 
Yorkshire  Naturalists'  Union,  the,  60 
Young  (C.  A.),  the  40265  Line  and  Dj,  45S 
Young  (C;.),  .Action  of  Benzaldchyde  on   Phenylsemicarbazide, 

215 


(Prof.),    Fruit    best   grown    under    Clear    Cilass, 
),   Three   New  Vibrios  from  Polluted  Well-water, 


Zacharewiez 

486 
Zawadski  (.A. 

305 
Zehnder  (L.),  the  Motion  of  the  Ether,  153 
Zeitschrift  fiir  Wissenschaftliche  Zoologie,  70 
Zenger  (C.  \'. ),  Storms  and  Earthquakes  in  Austria  during  June, 

432  ;  the  Ellipsoidal  Stethoscope,  456 
Zermatt,  Earthquake  .it,  418 


XXXVI 


Index 


CSufpUmtnt  lo  Ifatuif, 
December  St  1895 


/i-ka-Hci  Observatory,  the,  iSo 

Zirkelite,  a  New  Urazilian  Mineral,  Dr.  K.  llussak  and  (1.  T. 
Prior,  2S7 

Zof^eography,  a  Text-book  of,  F.  E.  lietUlard,  K.R.S.,  R. 
Lydekker,  F.R.S.,  289 

Zoolog>- :  Zoological  Society,  9,  95,  166,  215,  34S  ;  Zoological 
Ciardens,  Additions  lo,  11,  36,  61,  86,  113,  135.  155.  179, 
203,  231.  252,  277,  305,  327.  374,  398,  421,  445.  487,  514, 
525.  553,  579,  602,  62S,  654  ;  Irish  Zoological  Society.  36  ; 
Zeiischrifl  fur  Wissenschaftliche  Zix>logie,  70 ;  Enilir)onic 
Development  of  Salpa  Deniocratica,  Prol.  von  Heidcr.  70  ; 
the  Fauna  of  Mt.  Ruwenzori,  t"i.  F.  Scott  Klliot,  95 : 
Horses,  Asses,  Zebras,  Mules,  and  Mule  Breeding,  W.  B. 
Tegetmeier  and  C.  L.  Sutherland.  126 ;  Death  of  Dr. 
v.     Miiller,     133  ;    Classification    of    Australian    Peri]iatus, 


|.  I..  Fletcher,  168  ;  Birds,  Beasts,  and  Fishes  ol  the 
Norfolk  Broadland,  P.  H.  Emerson,  R.  Ly<lekker. 
F.K.S.,  195;  Nautilius  Pompilius,  J.  G.  Kerr,  215  ;  Death 
of  Dr.  Adolf  (lerslacker,  372  ;  Abnormal  Doer  Antlers,  A. 
Pohlig,  39S  ;  Studies  in  the  Evolution  of  Animals,  E.  Konavia, 
R.  Lydekker,  F.R.S..  411;  White  Rhinoceros  from  Zulu- 
land,  524  ;  Research  in  Zoology  at  Oxford,  Prof.  Sydney  I. 
Hicksiin,  F.R.S.,  549;  the  Third  International  Zoological 
Congress  at  Leyden,  554  :  DuViois'  Pitlucaiithropiis  crectiis. 
Prof.  Rosenberg,  554;  Friedlanders Zoologisches  .\ilressbuch. 
578  ;  a  Brown  Chimpanzee,  Dr.  A.  B.  Meyer,  653 

Zululand,  While  Rhinoceros  from,  524 

Zuntz(Dr.),  New  Method  for  determining  Velocity  of  Bloody 

556 

Zwiers  (Dr.  H.  J.),  Holmes'  Comet,  629 


A  WEEKLY   ILLUSTRATED  JOURNAL  OF  SCIKNCK. 

■  •  To  the  solid  ground 
Of  Nature  trusts  the  mind  which  builds  for  ayr." — WORDSWORI II. 


THURSDAY.   MAY    :;.   1895. 


THE  BOOK    OF  THE  DEAD. 

'/Vic  Papyrus    of  Ani   in    the  British  Mitseuni.      The 
Egyptian  text  with  interlinear  transliteration  and  trans- 
lation,  a   running   translation,    introduction,    &c.      By 
E.  A.  Wallis  Budge,  Litt.  D.,  Keeper  of  Egj'ptian  and 
.Assyrian  .Antiquities.     Printed  by  order  of  the  Trustee.s, 
1895.     (London  :   Longmans,  Kegan  Paul,  &c.) 
T~)ERH.\P.S    one   of  the  most  attractive  and   popular 
^         departments  of  science  is  that  which  treats  of  the 
early  customs   and    beliefs    of  primitive   man.      Within 
recent  years  considerable  attention   has  been  directed  to 
this  subject.     Not  only  have  speciahsts,  such  as  Mann- 
liardt,  Waitz,  Bastian,  and  Tylor,  to  mention  a  few  pro- 
minent names,  devoted  themselves  to  the  collection  and 
classification  of  material,  but  a  great  body  of  the  reading 
public  have  followed  their  labours   with   intense  interest, 
.md   have  embarked  on  a  course  of  original  inquiry  on 
their  own  account.     The  chief  reason  for  this  widespread 
>tudy  of  comparative  religion  is  to  be  sought  in  the  fact 
I  hat  no  demands  are  made  on  the  student  for  any  special 
M.iining  in  order  that  he  inay  appreciate  its  methods  and 
I  rsults.     Let  him  but  have  the  passion  of  the  collector 
.iiid  a  love  for  his  subject,  and  he  is  fully  equipped  for  his 
work  ;  all  he   requires  beside  are  books  that  will  yield 
reliable   information    concerning   the  folk-lore  or  super- 
stition of  any  early  or  primitive  race.     Readers  of  N.ATURIi, 
therefore,  will  be  interested  in  hearing  some  account  of 
I    n  markable  work,  recently  published  by  the  Trustees 
il   the    British  Museum,  which  deals  with  the  religion  of 
the    oldest    nation    in    the    world    whose   records    have 
survived  to  the  present  day. 

The  nation  to  which  we  refer,  it  is  needless  to  say,  are 
the  Egyptians,  whose  civilisation  on  the  banks  of  the 
Nile  stretches  back  into  a  remote  antiquity.  Both  the 
Ax\  and  literature  of  this  people  were  in  the  main  the 
product  of  their  religious  belief  in  a  future  existence  : 
\i  luit  we  possess  of  the  former  we  owe  to  its  preservation 
m  the  tomb,  while  a  great  part  of  the  latter  has  come 
ilown  to  us  in  a  body  of  religious  compositions  to  which 
NO.    M  ^  I  ,    \<)I..    S2  1 


Egyptologists  have  given  the  comprehensive  title  of  "The* 
Book  of  the  Dead."  It  is  with  "  The  Book  of  the  Dead  " 
that  the  work  in  question  deals.  In  the  year  1888  the 
Trustees  of  the  British  Museum  acquired  the  largest  and 
most  perfect  specimen  of  this  composition  as  preserved 
b\-  that  class  of  papyri  which  date  from  the  second  half 
of  the  eighteenth  dynasty  (about  B.C.  1 500-1400).  About 
four  months  age  the  Trustees  published  a  second  edition^ 
of  the  facsimile  of  the  papyrus,  and  now  Dr.  Wallis 
Budge,  the  Keeper  of  Eg)  ptian  and  Assyrian  Antiquities, 
has  produced  a  volume  dealing  exhaustively  with  the 
contents  of  this  unique  document. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  treat  at  any  length  in  a  short 
re\iew  the  many  problems  discussed  in  the  work  before 
us.  We  can,  however,  briefly  indicate  its  general  scope 
and  contents.  Dr.  Budge  has  given  a  transliteration 
and  literal  translation  of  the  hieroglyphic  text,  arranged 
interlinearly,  which  will  be  of  great  value  to  the  student. 
This  is  followed  by  a  running  translation,  together  with 
a  description  and  explanation  of  the  various  vignettes 
with  which  the  papyrus  is  profusely  illustrated — a  por- 
tion of  the  work  which  will  be  welcomed  by  the  general 
reader.  Perhaps  of  even  greater  importance,  however, 
is  the  Introduction.  Here  the  author  has  traced  in 
detail  the  history  and  growth  of  "  The  Book  of  the  Dead," 
from  its  first  appearance  on  the  Pyramids  of  the  fifth 
dynasty  to  its  latest  hieratic  recension  in  the  early 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era.  From  the  hands  of  the 
priests  of  Hicrapolis  we  follow  the  work  to  Thebes,  where 
we  first  find  it  di\  ided  into  definite  sections  or  chapters, 
each  with  its  distinctive  title.  Thence,  through  the 
closely  allied  version  of  the  twentieth  dynasty  to  SaYs, 
where  each  chapter  received  its  definite  place  in  the 
series,  and  the  order  there  introduced  continued  in  use 
down  to  the  Greek  occupation  of  the  countr)-.  Having 
laid  before  the  reader  a  critical  digest  of  the  external 
history  of  the  work.  Dr.  Budge  then  turns  to  internal 
questions,  and  proceeds  to  summarise  the  chief  aspects 
of  Eg)-ptian  belief,  sui)porting  each  of  his  theses  with 
citations  from  the  native  liter.ature.  He  treats  at  length 
of  the  legend  of  Osiris,  so  closely  connected  with  the 
doctrine  of  eternal  life,  and  thence  passes  to  the  Egyptian 
idea   of  God.     This   section    is   followed,  by   a   detailed 

B 


X.ITCRH 


[May   2,  iSq5 


■description  of  the  gods  of  "The  Book  of  the  Dead,"  and  | 
of  the   pnncipal   geographical  and    mythological    places 
mentioned    therein.     The    practical    side   of    Egyptian 
worship   then    engages    our    attention,    and    we    see    the  I 
priest  performing  the  complicated   system  of  ritual  and 
ceremony  that  accompanied  (he  burial  of  the  dead  :  and, 
the  ground  having  thus  been  cleared,  one  passes  on  to  a  i 
consideration  of  the  Papyrus  of  Ani  itself.    -Ani,  in  whose  . 
honour   the    work   was   written,   was   chancellor   of   the 
ecclesiastical  revenues  and  endowments  of  .Abydos  and  i 
Thebes.     From  the  fact  of  his  exalted  official  position, 
therefore,  we  may,  with   Dr.  Budge,  regard   liis   Papyrus  ' 
as   ■■  typical   of    the   funeral   book   in   vogue    among   the 
Theban  nobles  of   his  tmie." 

In  the  course  of  the  Introduction  Dr.  Budge  has 
.admirably  distinguished  the  uses  of  the  Egyptian  word 
m-ter,  which  correspond  to  a  transition  from  anthropo- 
morphic and  pol>'theistic  ideas  to  a  lofty  monotheism.  ; 
The  derivation  of  the  word  is  a  moot  point  among  ^ 
Egyptologists,  though  all  agree  in  rendering  the  word 
by   "'god.''     Its   original   signification,    however,  may  be 

•  disregarded,  for  it  does  not  affect  the  later  history  of  the 
word,  with  which  we  are  at  present  concerned.     What- 

•  ever  its  origin,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  singular  iicUr 
is  often  used  to  express  an  entirely  different  conception 
to'] that  conveyed  by  iicteru,  its  plural,  the  former  being 
employed   to   designate   a    supreme   god,   the    latter    a  j 
number  of  powers  and  beings,  which  were  held  to  be  ; 
supernatural,  but   were   finite  and  endowed  with  human  ' 
qualities   and    limitations.      The    truth    of  this     will    be 

■  evident   to  any  one  who  will  read  through  the  passages 
■collected    by    Dr.   Budge   in   support  of   his   contention. 

Dr.  Budge-  cites  the  similar  difficulty  that  attaches  to 
the  interpretation  of  the  Hebrew  word  Hloltiin,  a  com-  , 
parison  that  might  be  dwelt  on  with  advantage.  One 
point  of  difference,  however,  may  here  be  noted.  In 
the  history  -of  the  Hebrews  we  can  point  to  the  exact 
period  when  the  radical  change  from  polytheism  to  the 
belief  in  one  god  took  place.  With  the  rise  of  the 
prophets  in  the  ninth  century  l!.c.  the  nation  im- 
bibed thij  loftier  conception,  and  they  assimilated  the 
prophetic  teaching  with  such  effect,  that,  durinj;  the  posl- 

■  exilic  collection  of  the  national  literature,  all  traces  of 
their  former  polytheism  were  as  far  as  possible  obliter- 
ated. In  their  literature,  therefore,  as  it  has  reached 
us,  the  earlier  national  beliefs  have  survived  only  in 
mdirect  allusions  and  in  the  form  of  single  words.  With 
the  Egyptians,  on  the  other  hand,  this  change  in  con- 
i:eption  can  be  ascribed  to  no  particular  epoch.  We 
find  the  idea  of  a  supreme  god  in  existence  as  early  as 
the  fifth  dynasty  ;  yet  throughout  the  whole  period  of 
Egyptian  history  there  existed  side  by  side  with  it  the 
lower  conception  of  half-human  deities,  and  the  belief 
in  an  eternal  and  infinite  god  was  not  considered  incon- 
sistent with  legends  concerning  lesser  deities,  who  could 
eat  and  drink,  and,  like  men,  grew  old  and  died. 

To  this  tolerance,  or  rather  attachment,  <lisplaye(l  l)y 
the  Egyptians  for  their  legends  and  traditional  beliefs, 
students  of  roniparalivc  religion  at  the  present  day  owe 
a  lasting  debt  of  gratitude.  For  many  of  the  legends 
preserved  in  late  papyri  have  been  handed  down  un- 
changed from  earlier  times,  while  the  earlier  monuments 
themselves  have  escaped  the  fury  of  the  iconoclast.  We 
NO.    1331,  VOL.    52] 


will  refer  to  one  such  legend  cited  by  Dr.  Budge.  In  .i 
text  of  the  fifth  dynasty,  the  deceased  king  Unas  is  de- 
scribed in  the  form  of  a  god  as  feeding  upon  men  and 
gods.  He  hunts  the  gods  in  the  fields,  and,  having; 
snared  them,  roasts  and  eats  the  best  of  them,  using  thi- 
old  gods  and  goddesses  for  fuel  ;  and,  by  thus  eating; 
their  bodies  and  drinking  the  blood,  he  absorbs  their 
divine  nature  and  life  into  his  own.  Many  parallels  to 
this  quaint  legend  might  be  cited  from  the  primitive 
beliefs  of  other  races. 

We  cannot  conclude  without  a  reference  to  the  un- 
poleniical  spirit  in  which  the  book  is  written,  which  is 
perhaps  the  result  of  a  scientific  training  in  Semitic 
languages  and  literature  ha\  ing  been  brought  to  bear  on 
the  difficult  problems  of  Egyptian  religion.  Througliout 
the  work  it  is  evident  that  one  of  the  chief  aims  of  Dr. 
Budge  has  been  to  assist  the  reader  to  understand  tlu- 
e\idence  which  documents  nearly  7000  >ears  old  are  here 
made  to  produce,  and  to  judge  of  its  value  for  himself. 
To  the  anthropologist  and  the  student  of  comparative 
religion  we,  theiefore,  believe  the  work  will  be  equally 
valuable. 

THE  POLLINATION  OF  FLOIVERS. 
0''i'?-  (ic  Bciirttcliting  licr    liloeiiitii    in    lut    Kciiipisch 
Gcdielte   van    Vlaandercn.      By   J.    .Mac  Leod.     With 
125  Figures.     (Gent:  X'uylsteke,  1894.) 

THIS  book  is  prefaced  with  a  historical  introduction 
which  traces  the  study  of  the  biology  of  flowers 
from  the  appearance  of  the  work  of  Camerarius  in  1691 
to  the  present  day.  Not  only  does  the  author  give  an 
account  of  the  work  of  the  \arious  writers,  but  he  also 
devotes  a  gooc^  deal  of  space  to  criticising  their  con- 
clusions, and  comparing  them  with  one  another.  Of 
these  criticisms,  it  may  be  noticed,  that  he  considers  that 
too  much  importance  has  been  ascribed  to  the  colours  of 
flowers  in  attracting  insect-visitors,  and  he  adduces 
several  facts  in  support  of  his  view.  From  these 
examples  it  appears  that  there  are  certainly  some  cases 
in  which  the  bright  colours  of  flowers  have  not  got  the 
object  of  attracting  insects  :  yet  surely  in  the  vast  majority 
of  cases,  whether  the  development  of  bright  colours  was 
primarily  for  this  object  or  not,  the  showj  floral  lca\es 
act  as  advertisements  to  catch  the  eye  of  wandering 
insects.  .\s  the  author  substitutes  no  definite  theory  10 
account  for  the  colouration  of  flowers,  it  seems  prol)able 
that  the  old  view  will  hold  its  ground. 

The  greater  part  of  the  book  labout  430  pp.l  is 
taken  up  with  an  account  of  the  floral  nu'chanisnis  of 
the  plants  found  in  East  and  West  Flanders.  The 
mechanisms  of  a  large  number  of  species  are  carefully 
described,  and  the  descriptions  are  illustrated  by  many 
good  woodcuts,  in  great  part  original,  in  a  few  cases  I 
borrowed  from  other  authors.  .\t  the  conclusion  of  the 
description  of  each  species  a  list  of  their  insect-visitors 
is  given  ;  these  lists  appear  to  be  very  complete,  and  will 
doubtless  be  useful  for  reference. 

The  latter  part  of  the  work  is  largely  taken  up  with  an 
endeavour  to  find  a  |)arallelism  between  the  annual 
evolution  of  the  various  classes  of  plants  and  insect•^. 
classified  according  to  their  mutual  biolot^ical  relations. 
But  the  author  admits  thai  this  attempt  has  not  bei.n 
successfid. 


MA^    2    189- 


X.lTi'RJi 


The  last  section  to  which  \vc  would  call  attention  is 
that  which  contains  a  description  of  a  theory  to  explain 
nhy  sonic  plants  arc  adapted  for  direct  fertilisation,  and 
others  for  crossed  fertilisation,  .-\ccordinj;  to  this  theory, 
intomophilous  plants  ha\e  to  make  certain  sacrifices  in 
order  to  attract  visitors  in  the  shape  of  the  substances 
needed  in  the  formation  of  nectar  and  \arious  perfumes, 
which  are,  to  a  large  extent,  drawn  from  the  reser\e- 
inaterials  contained  in  the  ])lant  at  the  time  of  flowering, 
if  these  reserve-materials  are  present  in  considerable 
quantities,  the  plant  w  ill  be  able  to  produce  much  nectar, 
^c.  and  will  attract  many  insects,  and  become  adapted 
10  crossed  fertilisation.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  it  has 
Imt  little  of  these  stores,  it  will  be  able  to  expend  \ery 
little  in  attracting  insects,  but  will  have  to  keep  the 
great  part  of  its  scanty  stores  for  the  maturation  of  its 
fniits  and  seeds.  The  consequence  will  be  that  the 
tlowers  of  these  latter  plants  will  be  but  little  visited  by 
insects,  and  will  become  adapted  to  self-fertilisation. 
The  author,  while  he  admits  that  this  theory  is  insuffi- 
cient to  explain  certain  observations,  \et  maintains  that 
it  is  more  general  in  its  application  than  Warming's 
ulea  expressed  with  regard  to  the  flora  of  Greenland. 
.\ccording  to  this  latter  author,  crossed  fertilisation  may 
be  considered  the  rule  in  the  case  of  those  plants  which 
multiply  rapidh'  by  vegetative  reproduction,  while  plants 
without  this  second  method  of  reproducing  their  kind, 
•md  which  must  necessarily  bring  their  seeds  to  maturity, 
are  most  usually  adapted  to  self-fertilisation.  It  is.  how- 
ever, most  probable  that  neither  of  these  theories  should 
be  regarded  as  in  itself  giving  all  the  determining  causes 
for  a  plant  becoming  adapted  to  crossed  or  self-fertili- 
sation, but  as  only  expressing  two  of,  it  may  be,  many 
factors  which  are  at  work  in  moulding  any  given  plant 
for  one  form  of  fertilisation  or  another.  H.  H.  I). 


firessions    iViiti    Bolanistc. 
Libraire  Fischbacher."; 


OUR  HOOK  SHEI.F. 

A    travcrs   Ic    Caucasc. 
8vo.     pp. 


.\titLS  et    Im- 
348.      (Paris  : 


l)lv.  Ll'.viKK  accompanied  his  botaniial  friend,  .Signor 
.Stephen  Sonmiicr,  on  a  tour  through  the  Central  Caucasus 
in  1890,  the  object  being  mainly  to  collect  and  study  the 
ilora  of  the  mountains.  The  letters  which  he  sent  to  his 
friends  recording  his  impressions  were  published  in  a 
n\agazine  without  his  knowledge,  although  not  written  for 
the  public,  and  the  present  volume  is  practically  a  re- 
publication of  the  letters,  edited  by  the  author,  and 
illustrated  by  numerous  sketches  and  re|)roductions  of 
photographs.  Amongst  the  latter  are  several  of  .Signor 
\'ittorio  .Sella's  tine  pictures  of  Caucasian  scenery,  which, 
lunvever,  arc  not  done  justice  to  in  the  process  blocks. 
The  botanical  results  of  the  journey  have  been  ])ublished 
for  the  most  |)art  in  the  lUiUctin  of  the  Italian  Botanical 
Society,  and  only  a  list  of  the  sixty-nine  new  species  found 
is  given  in  the  book,  such  references  to  botany  as  occur  in 
the  text,  though  full  of  interest  and  presenting  some  acute 
:.;eneralisations,  by  no  means  preponderating  over  the 
miscellaneous  observations  of  an  intelligent  tourist,  and 
the  pleasantly  narrated  incidents  of  travel.  A  list  of 
thirty-seven  species  of  lepidoptera  collected  by  Dr.  I.evier 
is  also  given. 

The  two  botanists  were  accompanied  by  an  Italian 
[leasant  as  hunter,  cook  and  general  assistant  ;  and 
together  they  experienced  few  difficulties  and  no  danger 
"11  their  journeys  through   unfrequented  regions  for  four 

NO.    I  33  I,   VOL.    52  I 


months,  .'\ftcr  some  excursions  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Batuni  and  of  Tiflis.  they  started  from  Kutais  for  the 
journe\-  across  the  range,  going  up  the  valley  of  the 
Rion  and  across  the  Latpari  Pass  into  Swanetia.  After 
traversing  the  valleys  of  .Swanetia  and  Abkhasia,  and 
making  an  excursion  up  the  valley  of  the  Kukurtli  cm  the 
western  slope  of  Elburz.  they  reached  the  northern  plain 
by  the  valley  of  the  Kuban.  They  returned  to  Tiflis  by  the 
coach  road  from  \'ladika\kas  through  the  Dariel  Pass 
hea\ily  laden  with  more  than  ten  thousand  botanical 
specimens,  the  drying  of  which  was  a  never-failing  source 
of  surprise  and  amusement  to  natives  and  Russian 
officials  alike. 

The  spirit  of  holiday  and  nature-worship  brejithes 
through  the  whole  book.  Rarely,  we  belie\e,  is  a  traveller 
in  untrodden  ways  so  able  to  appreciate  to  the  full  the  de- 
lights of  his  surroundings  as  this  light-hearted  Swiss 
physician,  whose  high  spirits  and  good-humour  retain 
contagious  qualities  even  through  the  pages  of  his  book. 

H.  R.  M. 

Science  Readers.     By  \incent     T.   .\lurche.     Books  i,  to 
iii.     (London  :   Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 

Ix  elementary  schools  where  the  rudiments  of  knowledge 
about  properties  and  things  are  taught,  these  books  may 
be  introduced  with  advantage  as  reading  books.  The 
style  is  conversational,  and  every  effort  appears  to 
have  been  made  to  con\e)'  the  information  in  simple 
language,  as  well  as  to  make  it  interesting. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[  The  Edito}-  docs  not  fio/d  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  NATtTRE. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  comviunications.'\ 

Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Cineraria. 

Ix  the  recent  discussion  at  the  Royal  Society,  I  used  as  an 
illustration  of  the  amount  of  variation  which  could  he  brought 
about  under  artificial  conditions  in  a  limited  time,  the  case  of 
Cineraria  eruenta.  which  I  regarded  as  having  given  rise  to 
the  cultiv,ate(l  Cineraria. 

This  Mr.  Hateson  describes  as  *'  misleading." 
I  havf  read  all  he  has  to  say,  and.  with  the  assistance  of  com- 
petent members  of  my  staff,  have  carefully  examined  authentic 
specimens  of  all  the  species  he  names  as  having  had  a  share  in 
the  parentage  of  the  Cineraria. 

Those  species,  if  I  understaml  him  rightly,  are  four  in  num- 
ber :  eruenta,  aurita,  popttlifolia  and  lanata.  They  were  all 
introduced  into  English  horticulture,  through  Kew,  lietween 
1777  and  17S0,  and  were  figured  and  described  by  L'Heritier  in 
his  "  Sertum  .^nglicunl." 

A  technical  discussion  of  the  subject  would  necessarily  take 

up  a  good  deal  of  space,  and   would  not   be  very  interesting  to 

readers   of    Natiirk.     Mr.    B.ateson    refers    to    Ue   Gmdolle's 

•'  Prodromus."     It  will  Iil-  sufficient,  perhaps,   to  say  that  had 

he    studied    that    authority   with   care,  he  would    have    found 

that   while  crucnia  is,    like  the  modern    Cineraria,  herbaceous, 

aurita,  populifolia  and  lanata  are   shrubby   species.       Further, 

while  the  modern  Cineniria  retains  the  exact  foliage  of  cruen  a, 

tliat  of  aurita  and  populifolia  resembles  the  foliage  of  the  white 

poplar  ;    "  folia    populi    allxv."       Apart    from    the    additional 

fact    that    populijolia    has    yellow    flowers,     I     think     I    may 

confidently  ap|ieal  to  even  the  non-botanical  eye  as  to  whether 

the  modern  Cineraria  exhibits   anything   of   the   white    [xiplar 

i  character   about    it.      As  to  lanata,  its  general  .asiKCt  is    sufli- 

j  ciently     indicated    by   its   specific    name.       It     is    represented 

by   numerous   specimens   in   No.  4   House  at  Kew,  where  Mr. 

I   B.ateson   may  inspect   il.      He  will  probably  then  regret,  for  the 

i  sake  of  his  reputation  as  a  naturalist,  that   he  committed  himself 

to    print    on    a    subject    on    which   he    evidently  posses-ses  little 

objective  knowledge. 

I  may  add  that  in  the  discussion  at  the  Royal  Society,  Mr. 
Baleson  as.serted  to  my  surprise  that  the  cultivated  varieties  ol 
the  Camellia  could  he  distinguished   by  their  leaves  alone.     1 


A'^  TURK 


lMav 


2,    189: 


interjected  a  doubt,  Imt  next  day  1  carefully  examined  a  large 
number  of  specimens  here  with  a  member  of  my  staff,  and  we 
totally  faile<l  to  confirm  Mr.  Bateson"s  statement.' 

\V.  T.  Thisei.ton-Dver. 
Royal  Cardens.  Ke»,  April  29. 

The  Unit  of   Heat. 

Mr.  CiRiFKlTHS.  in  a  recent  communication  lo  the  Royal 
Society,  has  called  attention  to  the  indefiniteness  attending  our 
present  knowledge  of  the  heat  unit.  In  this  connection  I  would 
wish  to  suggest — what  indeed  has  long  been  present  in  my  mind 
— that  a  unit  of  heat  oiher  than  the  present  calorie  is  desirable. 
The  present  thermal  unit  is  highly  arbitrary,  as  well  as  most 
difficult  of  verification.  This  is  true,  whether  we  take  the 
temperature  at  which  the  calorie  is  to  be  measured  as  4"  C.  or 
15°  C.  or  as  the  tem|H;rature  of  minimum  specific  heat  of  water. 
The  caloric  owes  its  |ierpetuation  to  the  method  of  mixtures — a 
Jaborious  and  inaccurate  method  of  calorimetry — and  dates  from 
j»  period  when  the  variations  in  the  specific  heat  of  water  were 
not  held  of  account. 

If  we  do  .adhere  lo  a  s(H;cific  heat  of  water  calorie,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  proceed  as  in  the  determination  of  the  standard 
metre  ;  obtain  the  more  or  less  inaccurate  mea.sureof  the  primary 
unit  in  terms  of  some  more  accessible  quantity. 

My  suggestion  is  that  we  start  with  an  accessible  unit.  I  think 
the  latent  heat  of  steam  at  the  standard  pressure  has  first  claim. 
One  gramme  of  saturated  steam  at  760  m.m.  might  be  assumed 
to  give  up  the  unit  quantity  of  heat  in  becoming  water,  without 
change  of  tem|KTature.  This  unit  might  be  called  a  ihenii,  in 
order  to  avoid  confusion  with  the  existijig  unit.  The  specific  heat 
of  water  would  then  stand  as  about  I '8  milli-therms.  The  larger 
value  of  the  new  unit  commends  itself  as  being  more  applicable 
lo  the  problems  of  applied  science  ;  which,  indeed,  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that  engineers  often  understand  by  the  term 
calorie  the  kilogramme-ilegree. 

I  am  aware  that  the  change  proposed  is  a  radical  one  ;  but  an 
appreciable  change  is  letter  than  a  vexatious  correction,  and  we 
know  now  that  revision  and  change  are  inevitable. 

In  the  definition  of  the  proposed  unit  we  repla  e  the  unreliable 
thermometer  by  one  of  the  most  trustworthy  of  instruments — the 
barometer :  and  our  quantities  of  heat  may  be  determined  by  the 
chemical  balance,  and,  at  760  m.m.,  read  directly  upon  the 
weights.     \Vc  are  sure  of  the  purity  of  the  material. 

Trinity  College,  Dublin.  J.  Jni  v. 

The  Study  of  Earthquakes  in  the  South-East  of 
Europe. 

In  two  recent  notes  in  Natl'RK  (vol.  li.  pp.  180,  468)  atten- 
tion has  l)een  ilrawn  to  the  foundation  by  the  Ottoman  govern- 
ment of  a  geixlynamic  section  of  the  Imperial  Meteorological 
Olservatory  at  Constantinople.  The  new  department  has  been 
placcfl  under  the  direction  of  l>r.  ("■.  .\gamennone,  who  for 
several  years  held  a  similar  office  at  Rome,  and  who  is  well 
known  lo  seismologists  for  the  valuable  work  performed  by  him 
in  Italy. 

Not  content  with  the  foundation  of  a  seismological  observa- 
tory, Dr.  Agamennone  has  also  undertaken  the  organisation  of 
earthquake  studies  Ihroughoiil  the  Ottoman  Kmpire,  and  he  is 
anxious  lo  extend  this  very  important  branch  of  his  work  so  as 
to  include  the  entire  district  within  and  Ixirdering  the  eastern 
end  of  the  Mediterranean.  .\s  there  must  be  many  readers  of 
Nature  who  are  able,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  lo  aid  him 
in  this  atlempt,  I  should  Im;  grateful  if  you  would  allow  me 
lo  recommend  it  to  their  attention  ami  support.  Dr.  Agamen- 
nonc's  address  Ls  "  Obscrvaloirc  Im|KTiale  Meteorologique, 
Constantinople  (Pera)." 

That  OIK-  •  f '!■■  ',..•••  seismic  regions  of  the  glolM."  should  at 
last  iiltr.icl  r  I  sludy  it  deserves,  and  that  the  initia- 

tion of  the  I    ^  '  rvations  should  have  fallen  into  hands 

so  experienced  and  capible,  will  Ije  mailers  of  gratification  to 
lho<e  who  arc  inlcresled  in  the  progress  of  seismology.  No 
1  '  !■     would   it    be  thai  all  the  results  of  such  observa- 

'  >>c  contained  in  the  pages  of  a  single  journal,  and 

!<..     1  ' '■     'iMi  of  a  monthly  seismic   bulletin, 

of  whi  :  >  h.ive  alreafly  been  issued,  is  an 

ad'liti.:  ■nccnlralion   of  records    from    the 

'liffercnl  countries  concerned  in  the  Turkish  Office. 

Birmin'^h^m.  April  19.  ClIAKLES  DavisoN. 


I  Tl, 

Ihrriih 
"  Aniiiui^- 


NO.    1331.  VOL.   52] 


n  the  frrnl  form  in  the  foliage  of 
principles  laid  down  hy  D.irwin  in 

"  vol.  ii,  pp.   3I7'»3D. 


Uniformitarianism  in  Geolog;y. 

In  reference  to  I'rof.  Judd"s  excellent  statement  of  the  posirioa 
of  the  uniformitarian,  allow  me  to  call  attention  to  an  arg<nnen« 
which  tends  to  show  that,  so  far  as  earthquakes  and  volcanic 
eruptions  are  concerned,  catastrophes  may  be  of  greater  magni- 
tude now  than  in  earlier  geologic  times. 

The  \nolence  of  an  explosion  will  depend  largely  on  thi 
amount  of  confinement  and  pressure  to  which  the  exploding 
compounds  are  .subject,  as  well  shown  in  the  case  of  Kilauea 
where  there  is  a  constantly  open  vent  and  no  violent  eruptions 
as  contrasted  with  the  numerous  catastrophic  explosions  of  loni; 
dormant  volcanoes  whose  vents  hati  become  sealed  up  with  eort-- 
of  solid  lava.  Kut  it  is  admitted  that  the  crust  <^f  tlie  earth  h.i^ 
been  growing  thicker  during  all  geological  time.  It  is  thcrefort 
almost  certain  that,  in  the  remoter  epochs  volcanic  phenomena 
were  more  frequent  but  less  violent  than  they  have  become  no" 
that  the  crust  is  thicker,  .ind,  in  its  lower  ])ortions,  at  all  event>. 
denser  and  more  consolidated.  The  usual  argument,  that,  l>ecausi 
the  interic^r  of  the  earth  was  somewhat  hotter  in  early  tinit.-- 
therefore  volcanic  phenomena  were  more  violent,  appears  to  mc 
to  be  entirely  fallacious.  The  liquid  matter  immediately  belo\s 
the  crust  would  have  been  at  the  .same  temperature  then  as  it  i> 
now  :  and  if  there  were  a  more  abuntlant  sup]>ly  of  aqueous  va|K)Ui 
and  other  gases,  the  thinner  and  more  permeable  crust  wouM 
have  allowed  of  their  constant  and  comparatively  easy  esca|)e. 

I  tlo  not  remember  to  have  seen  this  consideration  referred  I" 
in  any  discussion  of  the  question,  and  I  thereft>re  submit  tlu 
argument  to  the  judgment  of  physical  geologists. 

.\i.KRKn  K.  Wai.ijwk. 


Research  in  Education. 

I'KOK.  .Vrms'I  RON(/s  trenchant  indictment  ol  the  |>riseiu 
methods  of  leaching  science,  is  a  little  too  much  akin  lo  Carlyle^ 
fulminations  against  things  in  general — destructive  but  not  con- 
structive. Probably  all  good  teachers  are  agreed  upon  the  [ler- 
nicious  futility  of  the  text-book  and  lecture-room  cram  system, 
and  are  in  thorough  accord  as  to  the  educational  value  of 
practical  w-ork  ;  and  are  waiting  only  to  learn  or  discover  the 
best  system  of  em|ik>\'ing  it.  To  this  end  destructive  criticism  Itelps 
but  little.  What  is  wanletl  is  some  definite  scheme  of  work  cim- 
strucledby  mastersof  practical  instruction.  I'rof.  .\rnislrong  iIck  > 
certainly  advocate  what  may  be  termed  the  "  research  method  ""  : 
but  it  does  not  elucidate  the  question  much,  for  it  is  difficult  in 
understand  how  far  he  would  extend  this  method.  Would  he. 
for  instance,  never  mention  Dalttm's  laws  to  students  until,  by  \\ 
series  of  analyses,  they  were  in  a  position  lo  discover  them  fiM 
themselves?  Or  in  the  case  <jf  specific  heat,  how  much  inforitia 
tion  should  be  given  before  the  beginners  are  set  to  investigate 
the  phenomena  alone  ?  There  are  two  ways  of  learning  practi- 
cally physical  and  chemical  truths,  either  by  repealing  methoils 
which  have  been  explained  and  demonstrated,  and  then  verifying 
e.ach  step  by  .actual  contact  with  real  objects,  and  so  acquiring 
real  knowledge  of  fact  and  the  apjilication  of  theory,  or  by 
struggling  lo  the  truth  by  a  process  of  trial  and  error.  That  the 
latter  process,  when  successful,  is  the  more  stimulating  to  the  in 
lellect  may  be  admitted,  but  that  it  is  practically  |>(>ssilile  must  Ik 
iloubted.  In  introducing  any  new  subject  to  the  mind,  ^urely 
broad  outlines  should  be  giveti  first,  antl  details  filled  in  .after- 
wards ;  observation  re<|uires  teaching  as  much  as  any  other  facidl  v. 
Tyndall  tells  this  story  of  Karaday.  .\s  Tyndall  k;ls  about  lu 
show  the  l.itler  an  experiment,  Karaday  laid  his  hand  on  lii> 
shoulder  and  said,  "  Walt  a  minute  ;  what  am  I  lo  look  for  ?  "  Tlu 
application  is  plain  even  Karaday  fell  the  advantage  of  having 
ihe  observer  fore-armed. 

Heginners  know  nr)l  what  loobserve,  and  cannot  fashion  experi- 
ments for  themselves,  and  therefore  it  seems  more  rational,  that 
students  should  have  Ihe  recogniseil  methods  of  science  explained 
and  demonstrated  lo  them,  and  then  be  caused  lo  repeal  the 
nccessar)'  operations  practically,  numerical  rletails  being  varied 
as  in  mathematical  exercises.  \\"la'ii  tiius  equi]i|>ecl  with  sound 
Iheorelical  knowledge  and  fair  manipulative  cleMerity.  they  wiU 
Ix;  in  a  position  to  embark  upon  "research''  ;  for  Ihey  will  Ihei 
have  nc(|uired  some  power  of  observation,  .accuracy,  and  the 
faculty  of  making  inferences.  The  "research  method"  ah 
initio  ap|>ears  like  an  attempt  to  teach  a  child  to  read 
before  he  knows  his  leltcr.s.  I  am  fully  conscious  of  niT 
aud.icity  in  venturing  into  the  lists,  and  am  not  ignorant 
of  ihr    sort    of    full,    \ili..    ■■  iiiadlv    rush    wlicrt-     .ingi-ls    fc-.ir     \u 


Mav 


I'^^QS] 


NATURE 


Iread  "  ;  but  if  I  can  elicit  some  definite  scheme  from  Prof. 
Armstrong;,  I  .shall  regard  my  own  dialectic  annihilation  as  a 
-mall  price  to  pay  for  the  ultimate  yain.  I).  S.  T.  ('.RANT. 

Chemical  I.alioralory.  Lahore,  I'nnjali. 


A  Lecture   Experiment. 

To  show  that  chlorine  will  attack  mercury,  some  mercury  was 
shaken  up  in  a  covered  gas  jar  filled  with  chlorine.  On  shaking, 
ihe  sides  of  (he  jar  and  also  the  cover-glass  became  coated  with 
a  continuous  film  of  mercury,  as  though  the  inside  were  silvered. 
.After  a  short  time,  the  film  was  eaten  through,  and  patches  of  the 
white  chloride  produced.  I  have  not  seen  this  efltct  noticed 
ill  Ixioks,  .so  il  may  be  worth  while  to  call  attention  to  it. 

C.  J.  Woodward. 

Municipal  Technical  .School,  Hirmingham,  .\pril  25. 


viTAi.rry  of  seeds. 

'"PHE  duiatinn  of  the  \  itality  (if  seeds  is  perhaps  the 
^  most  important  of  the  various  phenomena  of  plant- 
life,  especially  when  considered  in  connection  with  the 
introduction  into  a  countiy  of  the  economi'-  plants  of 
other  countries.  It  is  a  subject  that  has  eng^aged  at- 
tention from  very  early  times,  and  the  literature  relating 
thereto  is  considerable.  Much  of  this,  however,  is  of  a 
traditional  and  unpractical  character  ;  but  even  if  we 
confine  ourselves  to  the  demonstrable,  or  demonstrated, 
the  subject  is  almost  inexhaustible.  There  is  such  an 
infinity  of  variety  in  the  behaviour  of  seeds  under 
different  conditions,  that  it  is  impossible  in  a  short 
account,  such  as  this  must  be,  to  do  more  than  convey  a 
general  idea  of  the  subject.  Perhaps  the  best  way  to  treat 
the  question,  apart  from  technicalities,  is  to  consider 
the  vitality  of  seeds  under  ordinary,  and  under  extra- 
ordinary, conditions.  In  the  development  and  germinatfftn 
of  seeds,  there  is,  in  a  sense,  usually  a  period  of  gestation 
and  a  period  of  incubation,  as  in  oviparous  organisms  of 
the  animal  kingdom;  and  the  duration  of  these  pciods 
is  within  definable  limits,  under  ordinary  conditions, 
though  seeds  do  not  exhibit  the  same  fixity  of  time  in 
regard  to  development  and  vitality  as  eggs.  The  embryo 
of  a  seed  is  the  result  of  the  impregnation  of  the  female 
ovum  in  the  ovary  or  young  seed-\essel,  by  the  male 
element,  generated  in  the  anthers  ;  and  in  the  mature 
state  this  embryo  may  fill  the  whole  space  within  the 
skin,  or  testa,  of  the  seed,  as  in  the  bean  and  acorn;  or 
it  may  be  a  comparatively  minute  body,  as  in  wheat, 
maize,  and  other  cereals;  the  rest  of  the  seed  being  filled 
with  matter  not  incorporated  in  the  embryo.  The 
difference  is  one  of  degree  in  development.  In  the  one 
case,  the  growing  embryo  h;is  absorbed  into  its  own 
system,  as  it  were,  before  germination  or  the  beginning 
of  the  growth  of  the  embryo  into  a  new  plant,  the  whole 
of  the  nutrient  materi;il  provided  in  the  seed  for  repro- 
duction ;  whereas,  in  the  latter  case,  the  |)rocess  of 
.disorption  and  utilisation  of  the  "albumen,"  or  nutrient 
matter,  takes  |)lace  after  the  seed  is  detached  from 
the  parent  plant,  and  during  the  earliest  stage  of 
growth  of  the  new  plant  ;  so  tli;it  the  plant  is  nourished 
until  it  has  formed  organs  capable  of  assimilating 
the  food  obtainable  from  the  atmosjihere  and  earth. 
Between  these  two  extremes  of  development  of  the 
embryo,  or  future  plant,  before  organic  connecti<m  with 
the  parent  ceases,  there  is  every  conceivable  degree  and 
variety  ;  and,  as  will  presently  be  explained  with 
examples,  some  |)lants  are  viviparous,  in  the  sense  that 
the  embryo  commences  active  life  before  being  severed 
from  the  parent,  so  that  when  this  occurs  the  plant  is  in 
a  ])osition  to  draw  its  sustenance  from  unassimilated  or 
inorganic  materials.  Now  it  is  a  curious  and  unexplain- 
able  fact  that  certain  seeds  exhibiting  the  extremes 
of  embrvoiial  development,  instanced  in  the  bean  and 
\vheat,  are  equally  retentive  of  their  genninative  power. 
The   longevity,   if  it  may  be  so  called,   of  seeds   is  ex- 

NO.    13.^1.   VOL.   52] 


emplified  in  "  exalbuminous "  seeds  as  well  as  in 
"albuminous"  seeds  of  every  degree.  It  should  be 
mentioned,  however,  that  the  difference  is  not  so  mu(  h 
one  of  assimilation  or  development  as  of  the  earlier  01 
later  transfer  of  the  nutrient  matter  of  the  seed  to  the 
embryo  or  planllet.  .Assuming  the  perfect  maturation  of 
a  seed,  certain  conditions  are  necessary  to  quicken  its 
dormant  vitality  ;  and  the  two  principal  factors  are  heal 
and  moisture,  var)ing  enormously  in  amount  for  different 
plants,  and  acting  much  more  rapidly  on  soine  seeds  than 
on  others,  even  when  the  amount  required  is  much  the 
same.  Neither  under  natural  nor  under  artificial  con- 
ditions will  some  seeds  retain  their  vitality  more  than  om- 
season  ;  and  all  the  resources  of  the  accumulated  exper: 
ence  of  seed-importers  from  distant  countries  are  insuffi 
cient  in  some  cases  to  maintain  their  vitality.  It  is  not 
altogether  because  the  interval  between  the  dispersal  and 
the  germination  of  the  seed,  under  ordinary  conditions,  is 
necessarily  longer  ;  but  rather  because  in  the  one  case  the 
conditions  under  which  a  seed  will  germinate  are  much 
more  restricted  than  in  the  other.  Let  us  now  examine 
the  natural  conditions  under  which  seeds  are  commonly 
produced  and  dispersed,  in  relation  to  the  retention  of 
their  vitality  ;  and  we  shall  learn  how  much  more  it 
depends  on  their  nature,  or  natural  means  of  protection, 
than  on  the  seasons.  .An  oak  tree  sheds  its  acorns  in 
autumn,  and  the  leaves  which  fall  afterwards  afford  them 
some  protection  from  frost  and  excessive  dryness.  But 
the  leaves  might  be  blown  away  from  one  spot,  and  the 
acorns  exposed  to  intense  frost  or  drought,  either  of  which 
will  speedily  kill  them.  In  another  spot  the  leaves  may 
drift  into  thick  layers,  with  an  excessive  accumulation  of 
moisture,  causing  decay  of  the  underlying  acorns  ;  and 
there  are  many  other  unfavourable  conditions  which  may 
destro)'  the  vitalit\-  of  the  acorn.  It  is  apparently  ini 
possible,  however,  to  preserve  an  acorn's  vitality  by  any 
artificial  means  for  more  than  one  season. 

The  scarlet-runner  bean  loses  its  germinative  power 
on  exposure  to  coni|xiiatively  slight  frost,  the  degree 
depending  upon  the  amount  of  moisture  in  it  ;  yet  it  v\'ill 
retain  its  vitality  for  an  almost  indefinite  period  under 
favourable  artificial  conditions.  In  both  of  the  examples 
given,  germination  would  naturally  follow  as  soon  after 
maturation  as  the  conditions  allowed.  The  seeds  of  the 
hawthorn  behave  differently.  Each  haw  contains  nor- 
mally three  to  five  seeds,  every  one  of  which  is  encased 
in  a  hard,  bony  envelope,  in  addition  to  its  proper  coat 
or  testa.  Committed  to  the  earth,  and  under  the  most 
favourable  conditions,  these  seeds  do  not  germinate  till 
the  second  year,  and  often  not  so  soon.  In  this  instance 
prolongation  of  vitality  is  probably  due  in  some  measure 
to  the  protective  nature  of  the  shell  enclosing  the  seed. 

Returning  to  seeds  in  which  the  enibr)i)  or  plantlet 
forms  only  a  very  small  part  of  the  whole  body,  wheat 
may  be  taken  as  a  familiar  and  easily  observed  illustra- 
tion of  a  seed,  the  vital  energy  of  which  requires  vcr) 
little  to  stimulate  it  into  active  growth  ;  and  yet  this 
same  seed,  having  no  special  protection  in  the  way  of 
coating,  will  retain  its  vitality  as  long,  perhaps,  as  any 
kind  of  seed,  if  not  under  the  influence  of  moisture. 
The  primary  condition  to  the  preservation  of  vitality 
in  a  seed  is  perfect  ripeness.  Unripe  seeds  of  many 
kinds  will  germinate  :ind  grow  into  independent  ])lants  if 
sown  immediately  after  removal  from  the  parent.  The 
facility  with  which  immature  wheat  will  germinate  is 
most  disastrously  exemplified  in  a  wet  harvest,  when  the 
seeds  will  sprout  while  the  corn  is  standing  or  in  sheaf ; 
thus  destroying  more  or  less  completely  the  value  of  the 
grain  for  flour,  as  the  starch  or  flour  is  consumed  in  the 
(levelopment  of  the  embryo,  or  what  is  left  is  so  deterio- 
rated by  chemical  change  that  it  is  not  good  for  food. 
There  is  perhaps  no  other  seed  more  susceptible  to- 
moisture,  and  none  less  affected  by  dryness,  or  by  heat 
or  cold  in  the  absence  of  moisture. 


NA  TURE 


[May  2,  189: 


The  kind  of  vivipan-  exhibited  by  the  wheat  is  occasion- 
ally obsencd  in  various  other  plants  :  and  sometimes 
the  seeds  of  pulpy  fruits  germinate  in  the  fruit.  There 
is  also  a  class  of  plants  in  which  \ivipar>'  is  normal. 
Prominent  in  this  class  are  the  manjjrovcs  \Rliizopliort-(r, 
&c.)  of  muddy  sea-shores  in  the  tropics.  In  these  plants 
there  is  a  remarkable  adaptation  to  conditions,  which 
ensures  their  reproduction.  From  the  ver\  inception  of 
the  embryo  there  is  no  apparent  interruption  of  active 
vitality  in  its  development  and  germination.  In  the 
earliest  stage  the  cotyledons  or  seed-leaves  arc  formed, 
and  the  radicle  or  future  primary  root  is  represented  by 
a  very  small  point.  When  the  former  have  attained  their 
full  development,  which  is  not  great,  the  latter  begins  to 
^ow  and  rapidly  increases  in  size.  Each  fniit  or  seed- 
vessel,  it  should  be  mentioned,  contains  only  one  seed, 
the  rootlet  of  which  points  to  the  apex  of  the  fruit. 
Soon  this  rootlet  pushes  its  way  through  the  apex  of  the 
fruit,  and  grows  into  a  spindle-shaped  body  of  great 
density  and  length  ;  the  cotyledons  or  seed-leaves  re- 
maining partly  inside  the  fniit,  and  acting  as  an  organ  of 
absorption  from  the  parent  plant  to  nourish  the  seedling. 
In  Rhi-iyphora  muironnla  this  radicle  attains  a  length  of 
two  to  three  feet,  and  the  seedling  eventually  falls,  and  by 
its  own  weight  penetrates  and  sticks  in  the  mud,  leaving 
the  fruit,  containing  the  exhausted  cotyledons,  attached 
to  the  tree,  where  it  dries  up.  .Another  .singular  adap- 
tation to  conditions  is  the  vital  development  of  the 
seeds  of  aquatic  plants  which  ripen  their  seeds  on  or 
under  water.  Vallisncrin  is  a  remarkable  instance  of 
this.  The  unisexual  flowers  are  formed  under  water  : 
the  female  on  long  coiled  stalks,  which  at  the  right  period 
uncoil,  and  the  flower  rises  just  above  the  surface  of  the 
water.  .Simultaneously  the  short-stalked  male  flowers 
are  detached  from  the  base  of  the  leaf-stalks,  and  also 
rise  to  the  surface.  .After  impregnation  has  taken  place, 
the  st.alk  of  the  female  flower  coils  up  again,  and  draws 
the  seed-vessel  down  under  water,  where  the  seeds  ripen. 

It  has  been  explained  that  heat,  moisture,  and  air  are 
necessary  to  the  germination  of  seeds,  varying  immensely 
for  different  seeds.  We  come  now  to  the  behaviour  of 
certain  seeds  under  the  influence  of  an  unusual  or  unnatural 
amount  of  moisture,  heat  or  cold,  especially  in  relation 
to  the  length  of  the  duration  of  the  exposure  to  any  one 
of  these  factors.  It  has  been  proved  beyond  dispute,  by 
actual  experiment,  that  the  \itality  of  certain  seeds, 
notably  various  kinds  of  bean  and  convolvulus,  is  not 
impaired  by  immersion  in  sea-water  or  rather  floating 
and  partially  submerged  for  a  period  of  at  least  one  year  ; 
and  that  after  having  been  kept  quite  dry  for  two  or  three 
years.  Plants  arc  actually  growing  at  Kew  from  seeds 
treated  as  described  ;  and  some  years  ago  several  seeds 
of  Jiiitadii,  cast  ashore  in  the  .Azores,  whither  they  had 
been  transported  by  the  (julf  .Stream,  were  raised  at 
Kew.  .So  far  as  at  present  known,  all  the  seeds  that  will 
bear  very  long  immersion  without  injur)-  have  an  in- 
tensely hard,  bony,  or  cruslaceous  coat,  that  would 
withstand  boiling  for  a  minute  or  two  without  killing 
the  embryo.  Yet  it  is  diflicult  to  understand  this  power 
of  resistance,  especially  after  being  kept  dry  for  a  long 
time.  This  imperviousness  to  water  explains  the  wide 
distribution  of  many  sea-side  plants,  the  seeds  of  which 
are  conveyed  by  oceanic  currents.  Mow  long  such  seeds 
would  retain  their  vitality  in  water  is  uncertain,  because 
experiments  have  not  reached  the  limit.  Many  readers 
will  rrmember  iJarwin's  experiments  in  this  connection  ; 
but  it  shoul<I  lie  borne  in  mind  that  they  were  chiefly  with 
Mreds  of  plants  not  at  all  likely  to  be  dispersed  by  the  sea. 

It  has  already  been  slated  that  some  seeds  will 
bear  immersion  in  boiling  water  for  a  short  lime, 
and  gardeners  occasionally  practise  this  treatment 
to  accelerate  the  germination  of  hard-coated  seeds. 
But  Heeds  of  all  kinds  will  bear  for  a  lonsiderably  longer 
pcrio«l   a    much    higher    dry  temperature    than    snaking 

Ntt.    13.^1,   \nr..    52I 


in  water  of  the  same  temperature.  It  is  recorded, 
by  trustworthy  authorities,  that  the  seeds  of  many 
plants — poppy,  parsley,  sunflower,  and  various  kinds  of 
grain,  for  instance-  if  perfectly  dry,  do  not  lose  their 
vitality  when  subjected  to  a  temperature  of  212^  K. 
for  forty-eight  hours  ;  and  for  shorter  periods  to  a  much 
greater  heat.  The  result  in  most  cases,  though  not  all,  is 
a  considerable  retardation  of  germination.  Dry  grain  is 
equally  inipcr\ious  to  cold.  In  1877,  seedling  wheat  was 
exhibited  at  the  Linnean  Society  that  had  been  raised  at 
Kew  from  grain  that  had  been  exposed  to  the  intense 
cold  of  the  .Arctic  expedition  of  1S74  to  1870.  The  next 
question  th.it  arises  is  :  how  long  do  seeds  retain  their 
vitality  when  stored  in  the  ordinary  ways  adopted  by 
dealers  ?  .As  a  rule,  seedsmen  and  gardeners  prefer  new 
seed,  because  a  larger  percentage  genninates  ;  and 
mixing  old  seeds  with  new,  tells  its  own  talc  in  irregular 
gemiination.  Nevertheless,  there  are  many  seeds  that 
retain  their  \  itality  from  five  to  ten  years  sufficiently  well 
to  be  depended  ujjon  to  yield  a  good  cro|3.  Old  balsam 
seed,  other  things  being  equal,  has  the  reputation  ot' 
yielding  a  larger  iiroportion  of  double  flowers  than  new  : 
and  some  gardeners  <:onsider  that  cucumber  seed  of  four 
or  five  \ears  of  age  gi\ es  better  results  than  the  seed 
of  the  previous  year.  .As  alread>-  mentioned,  perfecth- 
ripened  seed  will  retain  its  vitality  longer  than  imperfectly 
ripened  seed.  In  illustration  of  this,  we  note  that  carnu 
seed  grown  in  France  retains  its  germinati\e  power,  on 
the  average,  longer  than  Knglish-grown  seed,  owing  to 
climatal  diflVrences. 

There  is  one  other  natural  condition  in  relation  to  the 
\  itality  of  seeds  that  should  be  mentioned  :  that  is,  the 
duration  of  the  vitality  of  seeds  on  the  mother  plant. 
Sonie  of  the  .Australian  Protcaccir,  and  some  of  the  fir 
trees,  especially  North  .American,  bear  the  seed-vessels 
containing  quick  seeds  of  many  successive  .seasons  ;  and 
only  under  the  influence  of  excessive  drought  or  forest 
fires  do  they  open  and  release  the  seed.  Rapid  forest 
fires  are  often  not  sufficient  to  consume  the  cones,  but 
sufficient  to  cause  them  to  open  and  free  the  seed  for  a 
succession  of  trees.  The  unopened  cones  of  thirty  years 
have  been  counted  on  some  fir  trees  ;  and  it  is  avcrri'd 
that  the  first  seed-vessels  of  some  proteaceous  trees  do 
not  open  to  shed  their  seed,  under  ordinary  conditions, 
until  the  death  of  the  parent  plant,  so  that  a  tree  may 
bear  the  accumulated  seed  of  half  a  century  or  more. 

Finally,  a  ii^s'i  words  respecting  the  txtreine  longevilx 
attributed  to  certain  seeds.     The  reputed  germination  of 
"mummy  wheat,"  from  two  to  three  thousand  years  old. 
has  been  the  theme  of  much  writing  ;    but  the  results  of 
careful  subsequent   experiments    with   grain    taken   from 
various  tombs   do    not    support    the    doubtless    ei|ually 
conscientious,   though   less    skilfully   conducted,    expert- 
!  ments,  supposed  by  some  i)crsons  to  have  established  the 
!  fact  of  wheat  of  so  great    an   age    having    germinated. 
:  Indeed  it   is  now  known    that    the  expeiitiients  mainh 
;  relied  upon  to  prove  this  long  retention  of  vitality  were 
falsified    by    the   gardener   who    had    charge    of    them. 
.Nevertheless,  there  is  no  doubt  that  some  seeds  do  retain 
their    vitality    for  a   very   long    period,  as    is    proved  b\ 
numerous    well-aulhentii.ited    instances,      .\lmost   everv 
i  writer   on    physiological    botany    lites  a    number  of  in- 
stances.     Kidney  beans    taken    from    the    herbarium  of 
Tournefort  .ue  said  to  have-  germinated  after  having  bieii 
thus   preserved   for   at   least    100  yeais.      Wheat  and   r\e 
are  also  credited   with  having  retained  their  vitality  for 
as  long  a  period.     .Seeds  of  the  sensitive  plant  {AfiiriDtii 
I  piiditii)  kept  in  an  ordinary  bag  at  the  Jardin  des  I'lantes. 
I  Paris,  germinated   freely  when  sixty  years  old.     .A   long 
I  list  might  be   made  of  seeds  that  have  germinated  after 
being  stored    for    twenty-five    to  thirty  years.     If   seeds 
retain   their   vitality   for   so  long  a  period  as  this  under 
such  ( onditions.  it  is  t|uite  conceivable  that   seeds  buried 
deep  in   the  earth,   beyond    atmospheric     influences,  ami 


May  2.  1895] 


XATURE 


uhcre  there  uas  not  excesaivu  moisture,  might  retain 
their  germinati\c  power  for  an  almost  indefinite  period  ; 
and  the  fatt  that  plants  previously  unknown  in  a  locality 
often  spring  up  where  excavations  have  been  made,  bear 
out  this  assumption.  The  same  thing  happens  in  arable 
land,  should  the  farmer  plough  deeper  than  usual  ;  and 
deeper  tillage,  which  would  otherwise  be  beneficial,  is 
often  avoided  on  this  account.  A  careful  writer  like 
Lindlcy  states,  though  without  qualification,  that  he  had 
raspberry  plants  raised  from  seed  taken  from  the  stomach 
of  a  man,  whose  skeleton  was  fountl  thirty  feet  below  the 
surface  of  the  groimd.  Judging  from  coins  found  at  the 
same  place,  the  seeds  were  probabh  1600  or  1700  years 
old.  One  more  example  of  seeds  germinating  that  are 
supposed  to  have  been  buried  some  1 500  to  2000  \ears. 
About  twenty  years  ago,  on  the  remo\al  of  a  quantit\'  of 
slack  of  the  ancient  silver  mines  of  Greece,  several  plants 
sprang  up  in  abundance  previously  unknown  in  the 
locality.  Among  these  was  a  species  of  Glauciuiii.  which 
was  even  described  as  new  ;  and  it  is  suggested  that  the 
seed  may  have  lain  dormant  for  the  long  period  indicated. 
Ijiit  there  is  not  the  amount  of  certainty  about  any  of 
these  assumed  very  old  seeds  to  convince  the  sceptical  or 
to  establish  a  fact.  It  remains  yet  for  somebody  to 
institute  and  carry  out  careful  investigations  where 
excavations  are  being  made. 

W.   ISoTTixr,  Hemsi.kv. 


TERRESTRIAI.  HKLIi 'M{.'). 

\  r  the  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  on  Thursday  last 
-^'*-  (April  25),  two  papers  dealing  with  the  nature  of 
the  gas  from  uraninite  were  presented.  We  print  both 
papers  in  full. 

On    a   Gas   showi.nc    the    Si'KCTRr.v    of    Hei.U'm.    the 

RErOTED    CAUSE    OF    D3,    ONE    OF    THE    LiXES     IN    THE 
SVECTRUM   OF  THE  Sin's  CHROMOSPHERE.' 

In  the  course  of  investigations  on  argon,  some  clue  was  sought 
for,  which  would  lead  to  the  selection  of  one  out  of  the  almost 
innumerable  compounds  with  which  chemists  are  acquainted. 
« illi  which  to  attempt  to  induce  argon  to  combine.  .\  pa)K.T  In 
W.  \- .  Uillebrand,  "On  the  Occurrence  of  Nitrogen  in  Uraninite. 
iVc."  (ButUtin  of  t/u  U.S.  Giolo^i,al  Simvy,  No.  78,  p.  43). 
to  which  Mr.  Miers  kindly  directed  my  attention,  gave  the  desired 
clue.  In  spite  of  Hillehranirs  |xisitive  proof  that  the  gas  he 
obtained  by  boiling  various  samples  of  uraninite  «ith  weak 
sulphuric  acid  was  nitrogen  (p.  55) — such  as  formation  of  anunonin 
on  sparking  with  hydrogen,  analysis  of  the  platinichloride. 
vacuum-tube  S])ectrum,  cVc.  —  I  was  sceptical  enough  to  doubt  that 
any  conqxiund  of  nitrogen,  when  boiled  with  acid,  would  yield 
tree  nitnigcn.      The  result  has  justified  the  sceptici:?m. 

Tlie  mineral  employed  was  cleveite,  essentially  a  uranate  I'f 
lead,  containing  rare  earths.  On  lioiling  with  weak  .sulphuric 
acid,  a  considerable  quantity  of  gas  was  evolved.  It  was  sparked 
with  oxygen  over  .soda,  so  as  to  free  it  from  nitrogen  and  all 
known  gaseous  bodies  except  argon  :  there  was  but  liitle  con- 
traction ;  the  nitrogen  removed  may  well  have   been    introduced 

'in  air  iluring  this  preliminary  experiment.      The  gas  was  trans- 

ired  over  mercur}",  and  the  oxygen  absorbed  by  potia.ssiuni 
I  yrogallate  ;  the  gas  was  removed,  washed  with  a  trace  of  lK)ile<l 
water,  and  dried  by  admitting  a  little  sulphuric  acid  into  the 
lulie  containing  it,  which  stood  over  mercurj-.  The  total  amount 
was  some  20  c.c. 

Several  vacuum-tulies  were  filled  with  this  gas,  anil  the 
sjH-ctrum  was  examined,  the  sixctrum  of  argon  lieing  thrown 
simultaneously  into  the  spectro.scojie.  It  was  at  once  evident 
I  bat  a  new  gas  was  present  along  with  argon. 

fortunately,  the  argon-tuln.-  was  one  which  hail  been  maile  to 
Uy  whether  magnesium-poles  would  free  the  argon  from  all 
traces  of  nitrogen.  This  it  did  ;  but  liyilrogen  w,is  evolved  froui 
the  magnesium,  so  that  its  >jiectrinn  was  distinctly  visible. 
^^lreover,  magnesium  usually  contains  sodium,  and  the  I)  line 
was   also   visible,    thovigh  faintly,   in  the  argon-tube.      The  gas 

1   PreliniiiKiry  Xole.  h\   I'r.jf.  William  R.-ims.-iv .  I-   R..^. 
NO.    I  33  I,    VOL.    52"] 


from  cleveite  al.so  showed  hydrogen  lines  dinil)-,  probably 
through  not  haWng  \>een  filled  with  completely  dried  gas. 

On  conqwring  the  two  sjx-ctra,  I  noticed  at  once  that  while 
the  hydrogen  an<l  argon  lines  in  both  tubes  accurately  coincided, 
a  brilliant  line  in  the  yellow,  in  the  cleveite  gas,  was  nearly 
iut  not  i/uife  coincident  with  the  sodium  line  D  of  the  argon- 
tube. 

Mr.  Crookes  was  .so  kind  as  to  measure  the  wave-length  of 
this  remarkably  brilliant  yellow  line.  It  is  587 -49  millionths  of 
a  millimetre,  and  is  exactly  coincident  with  the  line  D3  in  the 
solar  chromosphere,  attributed  to  the  .solar  element  which  has 
been  named  helium. 

Mr.  Crookes  has  kindly  consented  to  make  accurate  measure- 
ments of  the  position  of  the  lines  in  this  spectrum,  which  he  will 
publish,  and  I  have  placed  at  his  disposal  tubes  containing  the 
gas.  I  shall  therefore  here  give  only  a  general  account  of  the 
appearance  of  the  spectrum. 

\\Tiile  the  light  emitted  from  a  Pliickers  tube  charged  with 
argon  is  bright  crimson,  when  a  strong  current  is  passed  through 
it,  the  light  from  the  helium-tube  is  brilliant  golden  yellow. 
With  a  feeble  current  the  argon-tube  .shows  a  blue-violet  light, 
the  helium-tube  a  steely  blue,  and  the  yellow  line  is  barely  visible 
in  the  spectroscope.  It  appears  to  require  a  high  temperature 
therefore  to  cause  it  to  appear  with  full  brilliancy,  and  it  may  be 
supposed  to  be  part  of  the  high-temperature  spectrum  of 
helium. 

The  following  table  gives  a  qualitative  comparison  of  the 
spectra  in  the  argon '  and  in  the  helium-tubes. 


Red..,',  ^., 


irgoii-tiibc. 

I.St  triplet. 
2nd  pair. 
Faint  line. 
Stronger  line. 
Brilliant  line. 
Strong  line. 
Moderate  Line.  | 


Red-  J 
orange  I 


, ,  I  Faint  line. 

Orange|.j.^ij^,^j 

'^^^"g'^-.fPair. 
yellow  ( 

\'ellow      Absent. 


dreen 


1st  triplet. 
2nd  pair. 
Faint  line. 
Stronger  line, 
null  line. 
\'ery  dim  line. 
Moderate  line 


Heh'iim-tiibe. 

Equal  in  intensity^ 


Weak  in  helium. 
Equal  in  intensity. 


I  Faint  line. 
(Iriplcl. 

Pair, 

Brilliant. 


7  lines. 

, .  1  5  lines, 

(■reen-    -ii       . 
-I  Absent. 

(^Absent. 
.\bsent. 
1 3  lines,  strong. 

"°'^'  I2,  fairly  strong. 
Absent, 
Absent, 
I  Violet  pair. 
Single  line. 
Triplet. 
Triplet. 
Pair.- 


blue 
Blue 
Blue 


Violet  i 


7  lines. 
5  lines. 
Faint. 
Brilliant. 

8  lines. 

Barely  visible,  if  in 
deed  present  at  all 
2,  fairly  .strong. 
Bright  line. 
4  bright  lines, 
Violet  [xiir. 
Single  line. 
Triplet. 
Triplet. 
Pair. 


^=587-49 
(the  helium  line,  D3I- 
Equal  in  intensity- 


In  helium  only. 


Equal  in  intensity.^ 
\ln  helium  only 
Equal  in  intensity. 


It  is  tol)e  noticed  that  argon  is  present  in  the  helium-tube,  and 
by  the  use  of  two  coils  the  spectra  could  Iw  made  of  equal 
intensity.  But  there  are  sixteen  easily  visible  lines  present  in  the 
helium-tube  only,  of  which  one  is  the  magnificent  yellow,  aiid 
there  are  two  red  lines  strong  in  argon  and  three  violet  lines  strong 
in  argon,  but  barely  visible  and  doubtful  in  the  helium-tube.  This 
would  imply  that  atmospheric  argon  contains  a  gas  absent  from 
the  argon  in  the  helium-tube.  It  may  be  that  this  gas  is  the 
cause  of  the  high  density  of  argon,  which  would  place  its  atomic 
weight  higher  than  that  of  |X5ta.ssium. 

It  is  idle  to  speculate  on  the  iiro|x;rties  of  helium  at  such  an 
early  stage  in  the  investigation  ;  but  I  am  now  prejiaring  fairly 
large  i|uantities  of  the  mixture,  and  hope  to  be  able  before  long  to 
give  data  respecting  the  density  of  the  mixture,  and  to  attempt 
the  separation  of  argon  from  helium. 

'  The  tube  ihcn  usttl  was  the  one  with  ■which  Mr.  Crookes'  measurements 
of  the  argon -spectrum  were  made.  It  contains  absolutely  pure  atmospheric 
argon. 


XATURE 


[May  2,  1895 


On  thk  N'kw  tiAs  obtaixkd  from  Ura.nimte.' 

On  March  2S,  Prof.  Ramsay  was  so  good  as  to  send  nic  a 
nibe  containing  a  new  gas  obtainc<l  by  him  from  uraninitc 
(devcitc)  showing  a  line  in  the  yellow  which  was  statetl  to  be  of 
the  same  wave-length  as  D,  which  I  had  iliscovcred  in  1868. 
This  line  Dr.  Frankland  and  myself  shortly  afterwards  su^ested 
might  be  a  line  of  hydrogen  not  visible  under  latwratory  con- 
ditions, but  solar  work  subsequently  showed  that  this  view 
was  untenable,  although  the  gas  which  produced  it  w.as  certainly 
associated  with  hy<lrogen. 

Sut>sequenlly  other  chromospheric  lines  were  found  to  vary 
with  the  yellow  line,  and  the  hypothetical  gas  which  gave  rise  to 
them  was  pro\isionally  named  helium,  to  differentiate  it  from 
hydrogen. 

It  was  therefore  of  great  interest  to  me  to  leam  whether  the 
new  gas  was  veritably  that  which  was  responsible  for  the  solar 
phenomena  in  question  :  and  I  am  anxious  to  tender  my  best 
thanks  to  I'rof  Ramsay  for  sending  the  tube  to  enable  me  to 
form  an  opinion  on  this  matter.  Unfortunately  it  had  lx;en  used 
before  I  received  it,  and  the  glass  was  so  blackened  that  the 
light  was  invisible  in  a  spectroscope  of  sufficient  dispersion  to 
decide  the  question. 

On  March  29,  therefore,  as  Prof.  Ramsay  was  absent  from 
England,  in  order  not  to  lose  time,  I  determined  to  see  whether 
the  gas  which  had  lieen  obtained  by  chemical  processes  would 
come  over  by  heating  in  vacuo,  after  the  manner  described 
by  me  to  the  Society  in  1879,  and  Mr.  L.  Fletcher  was  kind 
enough  to  give  me  some  particles  of  uraninite  (Broggerite)  to 
enable  me  to  make  the  experiment. 

This  I  did  on  March  30,  and  it  succeeded  ;  the  gas  giving  the 
yellow  line  came  over  associated  \\  ith  hydrogen  in  goo<l  quantity. 

I  have  since  obtained  photographs  of  the  gas,  both  in  vacuum 
tubes  while  the  Sprengel  pump  has  l>een  going ;  and  at  atmo- 
spheric pressure  over  mercurj".  To-day  I  limit  myself  10 
exhibiting  two  of  these  photographs. 

One  of  the  photographs  exhibits  a  series  of  spectra  taken 
'(luring  the  action  of  the  pump.  The  two  lower  spectra  inilicate 
the  introduction  of  air  by  a  leak,  after  the  capillar)-  had  cracked 
near  one  of  the  platinums,  giving  us  on  the  <a\w.  jilate  the 
handed  and  line  s|x;c(nim  of  air.  These  prove  that  there  was 
no  air  present  in  the  lul>e  when  the  fourth  spectrum  wiis  taken. 
This  photograph  has  not  yet  l>een  finally  reduced,  but  a 
prelimmary  examination  has  indicated  that  most  of  the  lints  are 
due  to  the  structure  spectrum  of  hydrogen,  but  not  all  of  them. 

Among  the  lines  which  cannot  lie  referred  to  this  origin  are 
two  respectively  near  X  447 1,  and  K  4302,  which  have  been 
observed  in  the  chromosphere,  4471  Ijeing  as  ini|x>rl.inl  .as  D, 
itself  from  ihe  theoretical  |Kiint  of  view  to  students  of  solar 
phy.sics. 

Whilst  s|x'ctrum  No.  4  was  tieing  photographe<l  with  the 
capillary  lulie  cnd-on-»i.se,  eye  ol>scnations  were  made  in 
another  s|x.-ctrosco|)e  <lirecled  si<leways  at  it.  I  give  from  the 
Laboratory  Note  Hook  the  oliservations  I  made  while  photo- 
graph No.  4  was  lieing  l.aken,  to  show  that  the  yellow  line  was 
visible  during  the  whole  e.\|K)sure. 

Thurstlay,  April  4,  1895.     Plali  F.    Exposure  ^. 

(  4.42  Exposure  started. 

4.43  Yellow  line  brightening  uj)  consiilcrably. 

4.44  Suddenly  .xs  bright  as  hydrogen. 

4.45  Yellow  line  double. 
4.4b  rompari.vm  with  I)  gives  yellow  line  111  iKisiiii.n 

of  1),. 
4.47       Pump    much    less    full,    7    c.c.  of  gas   collected. 

Yellfiw  line  nnich  brighter. 
4.4>>       .\ir  break  inlr'nluced.      Line  .still  visible,  but  very 

faint.      Hydrogen    lines   getting    brighter,   and 

some  double  lines  ap|K-aring  in  green. 
4-48.5   Air  break  and  jar  rcmoveil.      Yellow  line  the  only 

one  sf<n,  lieing  .as  bright  as  C.      Line  in  green 

the  only  other  line  visdile. 
4.50        keplared  jar.      Yellow  brightening  anil  the  other 

lines  more  refrangible,  brightening  with  it. 
\ery  bright.     Steeple  nearly  full  of  gas. 


chromosphere  by  Young  or  myself,  or  photographed  during  the 
eclipse  of  1893  : — 


1 


-Micrometer 
reading. 

32495 
•2917 
•2981 
•3234 

•33»6 
•4146 

•5740 
•5884 

■5933 
■6130 
•6176 
•6262 
•6290 


Wave-length 

(Rowland). 

4581* 

4523* 

45  >  3* 

4479 

4469'5* 

436S 

4196* 

4181 

4177* 

4156' 

41525* 

4144* 
4141 


I    4-5' 

4.52 

The  lines  . 
tube  and  of  t 
lines  indioii' 

I    I'r. 

NO. 


I  iKith  in  the  photngraiihs  of  the  capillary 

■led  over  mercury  are  as  follows.      The 

^terisV  arc  near  lines  recorded    in    the 


(•V  J.  Nrrrmiin  I  . 

1 33 1,  \.)L.  52] 


With  regard  to  the  observations  in  the  visual  spectrum,  1  havt 
not  found  the  uraninite  gas  to  contain  the  argon  lines  as  given 
by  .Mr.  Crookes,  nor,  with  the  exception  of  the  yellow  line,  do 
I  get  the  special  lines  noted  by  him  in  the  gas.  (Kour  of  these, 
out  of  six,  seem  ]iossibly  to  be  due  to  nitrogen.) 

But  I  do  get  lines  nearly  coinciding  with  chromospheric  lines 
discovered  by  me  in  1868. 

On  November  6  of  that  year  I  suspected  a  line  less  refrangible 
than  C,  and  so  near  it  that  when  Uiih  were  showing  brilliantly 
the  pair  appeared  double,  like  I)  in  a  sjiectroscope  of  moderate 
dispersive  power. 

Later  I  discovered  another  line  at  6678 '3  (R),  which  was 
observed  to  vary  with  Dj.  There  is  a  line  in  this  position,  with 
the  dispersion  employed,  in  the  s|X'ctruni  of  the  new  gas.  This 
line  has  also  been  seen  by  Thalen,  ;us  staled  by  Prof  Cleve  in 
a  communication  to  the  Paris  .\cademy  (Comptcs  reiidus. 
.\pril  16,  p.  835) ;  but  the  other  lines  given  by  him  (with  the 
|x)ssible  exception  of  the  one  at  5016),  have  not  lieen  recordeil 
liy  me. 

.\llhough  I  have  at  present  been  unable  to  make  final  etini- 
parisons  with  the  chromospheric  lines,  the  evidence  so  far  cib- 
taiiied  certainly  lends  great  weight  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
new  gas  is  one  effective  in  producing  some  of  tlicm,  and  it  is 
suggested  by  the  phologra]ihs  that  the  stnicture  lines  of  hydrogen 
may  lie  responsilile  for  oilicrs. 

1  may  state,  uniler  resene,  ihal  I  have  already  obtained  evidence 
that  the  method  I  have  indicaletl  may  ultimately  provide  us 
with  other  new  gases  the  lines  of  which  are  also  associated  with 
those  of  the  chromosphere. 

-Messrs.  Fowler,  Baxandall,  Shackleton  and  Butler  assisted 
at  various  times  in  the  investigation. 


NOTES. 
Wk  regret  to  report  that  Prof.  Huxley  is  still  in  a  critical  state 
of  health.  The  slight  imprtivement  noticed  in  his  condition  last 
week  appears  not  to  have  Ijeen  maintained.  It  is  more  than 
eight  weeks  since  his  illness  began  with  an  attack  of  intlucn/a, 
from  the  effects  of  which  he  is  now  suffering. 

M.  NoRDENSKIOl.Ii  has  recently  tliscovereil  a  uranium  con- 
taining mineral  which  may  prove  of  great  interest  at  the  present 
time.  It  forms  carlxmaceous  beds  of  which  Ihe  ashes  contain 
two  to  three  |X'r  cent,  of  uranium,  and,  in  addition,  traces  of 
nickel  and  rare  earths.  This  uraniferous  material  is  said  lo 
yield  a  considerable  i|uantily  ni iiitrogiii. 

Dr.  Rkiiakii  llAMisni  has  been  a|ipointed  Curator  of  the 
Raffles  Mu.seum  at  Singa|iore.  Dr.  Ilanitsch  has  occupied  for 
.some  years  the  post  of  Demonstrator  of  Zoology  in  University 
College,  Liver|>Kil,  and  is  the  milicir  .if  a  number  of  useful 
papers  on  the  British  Sponge- 

TlIK  third  ceiUenary  of  (.'luisliait  lluygens  will  shortly  be 
reached;  for  lhal  celebrated  Dulch  physicist,  astronomer,  and 
mathematician  died  at  Ihe  I  I.ague  011  June  8,  1695.  I  lis  investiga- 
tions have  been  reviewed  nl  length  in  these  columns  during 
recent  years,  and  /'/<  Xii/iir  for  .\prll  21  contains  a  notice 
concerning  I  hem. 


Mav 


■<^95] 


A'A  TURJi 


The  specimen  of  the  Great  Auk,  to  which  we  referred  in  these 
columns  last  week,  has  been  sold  to  the  Edinburgh  Museum  for 

Dr.  (Iokijon  E.  Moore,  well-known  as  a  chemist,  died  al 
New  York  on  April  l6.  Prof.  Gustav  Hirschfeld,  a  distinguished 
archaeologist,  has  just  died  at  Wiesbaden.  We  also  notice  the 
death  of  Prof.  K.  Thiersch,  Professor  of  .Surgery  in  Lei]W,ig 
University. 

Prof.  Li.oyh  Morcan  will  lecture  on  "  Habits  of  Birds,''  at 
the  Royal  Victoria  Hall,  Waterloo  Bridge  Road,  on  May  7. 
Other  science  lectures  to  be  given  during  this  month  are : 
"  Electric  Tram  Cars,"  by  Dr.  J.  \.  Fleming,  K.R.S.  ;  "  The 
History  of  a  Myth,"  by  Prof  Sollas.  K.R.S.  ;  and  "The  Life 
of  a  Star,"  by  Dr.  .\.  Fison. 

Gilbert  WHiTE'soriginal  manuscript  of  the  "  Natural  History 
of  Selborne,"  in  the  form  of  letters  to  Thomas  Pennant  and  Daines 
Harrington,  first  printed  in  1789,  was  soldby  auction  last  week  by 
Messrs.  Sotheby,  Wilkinson,  and  Hodge.  The  manuscript  con- 
tains many  passiiges  not  printed  in  the  several  editic.is  of  the 
book,  and  ha.s  never  been  out  of  the  possession  of  the  lineal 
descendanis  of  the  author.      It  was  bought  by  Mr.  Pearson  for 

The  Weekly  Weather  Report  of  .\pril  27  shows  that  some 
Yery  heavy  falls  of  rain  occurred  during  the  week  ;  in  nearly  all 
districts  amounts  of  an  inch  or  upwards  were  measured,  while 
over  the  greater  part  of  England  the  fall  was  more  than  double 
the  mean.  But  the  amount  of  rainfall  since  the  beginning  of  the 
year  is  still  below  the  average,  except  in  the  north-east  of 
England.  The  greatest  deficiency  is  in  the  west  of  Scotland, 
where  it  amounts  to  about  seven  and  a  half  inches. 

The  startling  advance  in  market  price  of  petroleum  gives 
interest  to  the  (jucstion  of  exhaustihility  of  the  supply,  follow- 
ing close  upon  the  great  decrease  in  supply  of  natural  gas.  In 
the  height  of  the  natural  gas  excitement,  the  warning  of  science 
was  too  little  heeded,  and  lavish  Wiiste  h.astened  the  collapse. 
In  1887  the  atmosphere  of  Pittsburgh  was  wonderhilly  clear, 
owing  lo  ihe  use  of  this  new  fuel  :  but  Pittsburgh  is  again  be- 
grimed and  sooty. 

-At  the  annual  meeling  of  ihe  National  .\cademy  of  Sciences, 
recently  held  at  Washington,  Prof.  Marsh,  who  has  been  pre- 
sident for  several  terms,  was  succeeded  by  Prof  Wolcott  Gihbs, 
of  Cambridge,  who  was  elected  for  the  ensuing  term  of  six  years, 
while  Prof,  .'\saph  Hall  was  re-elected  home  secretary.  Prof 
Alexander  Agassiz  is  foreign  secretary,  and  the  members  of  the 
Council  elected  are  Profs.  George  J.  Brush,  Othniel  C.  Marsh, 
Benjamin  A.  Gould,  George  H.  Goodale,  .Simon  Newcomb.  and 
Ira  Remsen. 

.\  THREE  ilays'  conference  on  .sanitary  progress  and  reforni 
was  held  at  Manchester  last  week.  .\  meeting  introductory  to 
:he  conference  was  held  in  the  uuiseum  of  Owens  College,  al 
which  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins  delivered  an  address  on  prehistoric 
ir.ices  of  sanitation.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Manchester 
and  .Salford  .Sanitary  Association,  in  connection  with  which  the 
.  onfercnce  was  held,  it  was  resolveil  that  a  Smoke  Abatement 
l.e.igue  should  be  formed.  Sir  H.  Roscoe,  who  afterwards  took 
ihe  chair  al  the  conference  session,  pointed  out  that  though 
titention  was  paid  to  the  smoke  from  factory  chimneys  ami  from 
manufacturing  o|ierations,  the  larger  ipiestion  of  the  smoke  from 
•  Tclinary  household  fires  was  often  neglected. 

.\  VERY  serious  disaster  is  reported  from  France.  .\  dam 
holding  in  check  an  innnense  reservoir  of  the  Eastern  Canal  at 
Kousey,  near   E])inal,  broke  down  on  .Saturday  morning  for  a 

NO.  i3_^i ,  \()i,.  52] 


disUince  of  some  300  feet.  The  torrent  of  water  thus  set  free 
swept  through  Bousey,  Aviere,  Uxegney,  and  Sanchey,  carrying 
all  before  it,  and  washed  away  portions  of  the  railway  lines  of 
Jussey  and  Nancy.  Many  bridges  were  carried  away,  and  a 
great  number  of  people  were  drowned.  The  Bousey  reservoir 
(says  the  Paris  correspondent  of  the  Times)  contained  seven 
million  cubic  metres  of  water.  The  dam,  which  was  constructed 
between  1S79  and  1884,  and  was  strengthened  in  1888-89,  '"^ 
60  feet  thick  at  the  base,  and  the  foundation  is  laid  in  sandstone. 
.\ccording  to  a  report  sent  out  by  the  Minister  of  Public  Works, 
there  have  never  been  any  signs  of  weakness  in  the  structure. 
Attempts  are  being  made  to  throw  the  responsibility  for  the 
accident  upon  the  engineers  who  superintended  the  strengthening 
of  the  dam  .six  years  ago. 

A  .NUMBER  of  interesting  objects  obtained  during  the  excava- 
tions of  the  Roman  city  at  Silchester  are  on  view  at  the  Society 
of  Antiquaries.  During  the  past  five  years,  the  excavations  have 
been  carried  on  by  Messrs.  St.  John  Hope,  Fox,  Jones,  and 
Stephenson,  and  some  very  valuable  results  were  obtained  last 
year.  Twelve  rectangular  enclosures  or  buildings  were  found,  all 
of  the  same  type,  and  containing  fiirnaces  obviously  of  an  in- 
dustrial character  and  of  various  sizes,  some  of  them  being  circular 
and  others  oblong.  It  is  believed  that  these  buildings  and  their 
adjuncts  were  devoted  to  the  dyeing  industry,  and  this  conjecture 
is  made  probable  by  the  large  number  of  wells  discovered,  one 
of  which  was  of  peculiar  and  unusual  construction.  The  circular 
furnaces  correspond  exactly  with  a  dyeing  fiirnace  at  Pompeii. 
They  were,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe,  used  for  dyeing. 
But  there  are  a  number  of  other  furnaces  with  a  straight  flue, 
which  are  supposed  to  have  been  intended  for  drying.  There  are 
also  traceable  several  rooms  which,  it  is  presumed,  were  intended 
for  the  storage  of  goods  and  materials,  and  open  S|>aces  with  no 
remains  of  flues  which  may  have  been  used  for  bleaching 
grounds.  A  number  of  querns  for  hand-grinding  the  madiler- 
roots  used  for  dyeing  purposes  haxe  also  been  discovered. 

The  sixty-sixth  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Zoological  Society 
was  held  on  Tuesday,  with  the  President,  Sir  William  H. 
Flower,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S.,  in  the  chair.  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater. 
F.R..S.,  read  the  report  of  the  Council,  in  which  it  was  announced 
that  the  silver  medal  of  the  Society  had  been  awarded  to  Mr. 
Henry  H.  Johnston,  C.B.,  H.M.  Commissioner  for  British  Central 
.'\frica,  for  his  distinguished  services  to  all  branches  of  natural 
history  by  his  collections  made  in  Nyasaland,  which  had  been 
described  in  the  Society's  Proceedings.  The  total  receipts  of  the 
Society  for  1S94  amounted  10^25,107  ox.  ^d.  The  number 
of  visitors  to  the  Gardens  during  the  year  was  625,538,  the  corre- 
.sponding  number  in  1893  having  been  662,649;  the  decrease  in 
the  number  of  entrances  (37,111)  being  due  to  the  unfavourable 
weather  of  1S94.  The  number  of  animals  in  the  -Society's  col- 
lection on  December  31  last  was  2563,  of  which  669  were  mam- 
mals, 1427  birds,  and  467  reptiles,  .\mongst  the  additions  nia<le 
during  the  past  year,  eleven  were  specially  commented  upon  as 
of  remarkable  interest,  and  in  most  cases  rei)resenting  species  new 
to  the  .Society's  collection.  Among  the.se  were  two  remarkably 
fine  specimens  of  the  Hamadrjad  snake,  a  young  white-tailed 
gnu  (born  in  the  Ganlens),  an  eland  of  the  striped  form  from 
the  Transvaal  (obtained  by  jjurchase),  two  giant  tortoises,  a 
young  male  Pleasant  antelojie,  2  .Somali  ostriches  of  the  blue- 
skiimed  variety,  10  Surinam  water-toads,  a  Pel's  owl,  and  2  tree 
kangaroos.  .About  30  species  of  mammals,  12  of  birds,  and  I  of 
reptiles  had  bred  in  the  Society's  (gardens  during  the  .sum- 
mer of  1894.  The  Right  Hon.  (jeorge  Denman,  F.  I)u 
Cano  Godman,  F.K.S.,  Sir  Hugh  Low,  G.C.M.G.-,  Dr. 
St.  George  .Mivart,  F.R.S.,  and  tJsbert  Salvin,  F.R.S.. 
were  elected  into  the  Council  in  the  place  of  the  retiring  mem- 
bers,   and    .Sir   William   H.     Flower  was  re-elected    President, 


lO 


NATURE 


May 


1895 


Charles  Urummoiul.  Trnisurer.  anil   Dr.  Sclatcr.  Secrclar)-.  to 
the  Society  for  the  ensuing  year. 

The  first  of  the  two  conversaziones  held  at  the  Royal  Society 
every  year,  takes  pU-ice  as  we  go  to  press.  Annual  receptions  and 
exhibits,  conducted  ujwn  much  the  same  lines,  are  gradually  lx;ing 
instituted  by  learned  societies  in  various  ]>arls  of  the  world.  The 
Xew  York  Academy  of  Sciences  recently  held  a  similar  exiiibition. 
at  which  five  hundred  diflercnt  objects  of  scientific  interest  wen 
shown.  From  a  report  in  the  Sticulific  AiturUaii,  it  api>ear> 
that  many  of  the  exhibits  were  of  a  very  striking  character.  .\ 
numl)er  of  photi^a])hs  of  comets,  of  the  Milky  Way,  and  of 
star  s])eclra.  were  shown  by  Profs.  Barnard  and  Keeler,  of 
the  Lick  and  .\llegheny  Obscr\alf)ries.  (Jne  of  the  most  novel 
exhibits  in  physics,  was  a  series  of  Chlaclni  figures,  shown  by 
Vxni.  Alfreil  M.  Mayer.  The  figures  were  formed  in  while 
.*and  upon  vibrating  metallic  plates.  I'rof.  Mayer's  process 
consisted  in  fixing  the  sand  upon  a  black  background  after  the 
figures  ha<l  been  formed,  by  means  of  a  fixative  spray.  Thesi- 
plates  demonstratcil  the  truth  of  Lord  Rayleigh's  theoretical 
deductions,  and  tliffered  radically  from  all  figures  which  are 
shown  in  text-bo<iks  in  the  fact  that  none  of  the  lines  intersect. 
The  physical  exhibit  Wiis  an  extensive  one,  including  a  large 
number  of  instruments  for  .-iiwctroscopic.  as  well  as  for  sound  and 
light,  measurements.  The  mineralogical  exhibit  included  alxmi 
one  hundred  objects.  Biolog)-  was  represented  by  preparations 
i>f  nerve  cells  from  the  brain  and  spinal  coril,  by  Prof.  (lolgi's 
methfid  ;  and  there  were  also  shown  several  series  of  similar 
pictures  iK-aring  upon  problems  of  inheritance,  both  in  animals 
and  plants.  Bacteriologj'.  mechanics,  physioU^-,  experimental 
psycholog)-,  anatomy,  gcolog)-.  and  jjaheontology  all  look  |iarl 
in  the  exhibition.  In  vertebrate  |>ala.ontolog)-,  the  main  exhibit 
was  that  showing  the  evolution  of  the  horse.  The  series 
connecting  the  oldest  known  horse  of  the  LoweK  ■■".oiene  period 
with  the  mixlern  horse  was  prr)bably  the  most  complete  which 
has  e»er  tieen  brought  logelher.  The  little  four-toed  horse, 
recently  acquired  by  the  .\merican  Museum  of  Natural  History 
from  the  collection  of  I'rof.  Cope,  of  Philadelphia,  was  exhil>ile<l. 
.\Uhough  fully  matured,  it  is  only  3 J  hands  high.  The  skull  and 
limlis,  nevertheless,  display  the  char.acteristics  of  the  horse.  The 
teeth  are  shtirt  and  simple  :  the  limbs  are  scarcely  larger  in 
diameter  than  a  good-sized  pencil,  ami  there  are  four  toes,  all 
resting  upon  the  ground,  in  the  fore-foot.  .\  remarkable  series 
of  feel  was  also  exhibited,  giving  all  the  stages  Ijetwecn  this 
four-toci  horse  and  the  mmlem  one-toed  animal.  The  reception 
at  which  the  exhibits  were  shown  w.xs  s<i  successful  that  it  has 
lieen  decided  to  hold  a  sintilnr  one  every  year. 

IJK.  Bkktram  Wixiii.k  contributes  a  |M|)er  to  the  /oiinial of 
.Anatomy  and  Physiology,  "  On  the  efl'ccts  of  ICIectricity  and 
Magnetism  on  development."  The  ol>ser\ations  recorded  were 
made  on  developing  silkworms,  trout,  anil  chick  embr)os.  In 
ihc  case  of  the  chick,  the  numlicr  of  abnormally  ilevelo|x.-d 
embryos  was  much  greater  in  eggs  inculmted  aroun<l  the  jmles 
of  a  strong  nuignet  than  usual.  With  one  exception  all  the  mal- 
tormations  were  associate<l  with  tleficienl  development  of  the 
v,i.scidar  area.  Dr.  Windle  has  not  conclusively  shown  that  this 
large  projxjrtion  of  abnormal  enibry-fw  was  .iclually  due  to  the 
"  '  f"  '  ^  '  niMgnel.  yel  his  resiills  on  the  whole  agree  with 
■  •    ' '  r.ini.  ^ilthough  certain  |>riints  of  difference  were 

i-':'\  in  ih..-  clufeiiiii-  embryos.  The  eggs  of  the  silkworm 
were  found  li.  dcM-lnp  ipiite  normally  in  a  strong  magnetic 
IilM.  An  electric  current  |nssing  through  a  lank  in  which  trout 
ova  had  Ijeen  placed,  seemeil  to  produce  an  arrest  of  develop- 
ment. Dr.  Windle  concludes  from  bis  <iwn  observations  and 
those  of  other  authors,  "that  elcclricily  proiluces  an  arresting 
effect  upon  devclofmieni,"  while  it  is  "  very  doublful  whether  a 
iii.i^jiielic  field  ha«  an)  'lefinile  effeii  ii|kim  development  or  not.'' 
NO.    1331,    VOL.    52  I 


;  -A  RECENT  number  of  Comptes  tendiis  contains  an  interestini; 
i  pa]>er  by  M.  Branly.  on  the  rate  of  loss  of  an  electric  chariji- 
I  due  to  the  effect  of  light  in  the  case  of  Ixidly-conducting  Ixidics. 
When  the  source  of  illumination  is  a  body  heated  to  a  dull  red, 
it  is  the  condition  of  the  illuminating  surface  which  plays  the 
chief  part  in  the  phenomenon.  The  nature  of  the  charged  bod\ 
seems  to  have  no  effect.  In  the  cise  where  the  illumination  i^ 
rich  in  highly  refrangible  rays,  however,  the  cise  is  quite 
different,  and  the  chief  results  obtained  are  as  follows: — A 
disc  of  wood  or  marble,  polished  ttr  unpolished,  shows  a  marked 
loss  of  electricity  when  illuminated.  If  the  disc  is  negativel) 
electrified,  the  loss  is  more  rapid  than  if  it  is  [xisitively  electrifieil  : 
but  the  difference  is  verj-  nnich  less  marke<l  than  is  the  case  w  ith 
metal  discs,  jxtrticularly  if  they  are  i^)Iished.  Similar  results 
are  obtained  with  cardlxiard,  terra-cotta,  and  glass  heated  to  100°. 
The  loss  of  a  positive  charge  is  rapid,  while  that  of  a  negative 
one  is  slow  in  the  case  of  varnished  wood,  or  woo<l  coaled  with  ;i 
thin  Layer  of  oil,  jiaraftin  or  tallow.  With  a  metal  disc  coated 
with  tallow,  the  loss  when  negatively  ele-ctrified  is  slow,  while 
the  loss  when  positively  electrified  is  very  rapid.  If  a  disc  of 
[wlished  wood,  in  which  the  loss  of  a  neg-ative  chaise  is  more 
rapid  than  that  of  a  positive  one,  though  the  diflerence  is  not 
very  marked,  has  the  surface  covered  with  a  thin  ccxiting  i>f 
phimliago,  the  loss  with  a  negative  charge  becomes  nuich  more 
rapid  than  with  a  jmsitive  one.  A  metal  plate  covered  with 
grease  only  loses  a  negative  charge  verj-  slowl)',  the  rate  of  loss 
of  a  positive  charge  being  rapid.  If,  however,  a  thin  coating  of 
copiKT  filings  is  spread  over  the  tallow  by  means  of  a  sieve,  the 
loss  with  a  |X)sitive  charge  liecomes  much  more  rapid  than  with 
a  negative  one.  If  powdered  aluminium  is  used  in  tlie  jilace  of 
cop|x-r,  the  rates  of  loss  in  the  case  f)f  ixisitive  .and  negative 
charges  iK'come  nc-arly  etjual. 

The  Unite<l  States  Deiiartment  of  .\gricullure  publishes,  in 
I  Hiiltctiii  No.  6  of  the  Dei>artment  of  X'egetable  Pathology,  a 
tietailed  |iaper,  by  Mr.  D.  CI.  I'airchild,  on  the  use  of  "  Bordeaux 
I  Mixture,"  a  pre|)aration  of  copix.'r  -sulphate .and  lime,  as  a  fungi- 
I  cide ;  and  the  motle  of  treatment  of  a  number  of  diseases  of 
I  fruit-trees,  corn-crops,  and  garden  plants  caused  by  fungi. 

The  ninth  e<lltioii  has  just  been  Issued  of  ]jart  I  of  the  London 
I   Cala/ogw  of  Brilifli    Plants,   comjirising    the     Phanerogami;i, 

Kilices,  li(|uisetace-.v,  Selaginellace;e,  Marsileace;e,  and  Characea. 
I  The  changes  introduced  in  this  edition  represent  the  results  of 

the  field-work,  the  critical  stuily  of  Hritish  plants,  and  the 
!  researches  on  nomenclature,  made  during  the  last  nine  years.      Ii 

is  now  edited  by  Mr.  V.  J.  llanbury. 

Tlitc  ])art  of  the  Agricnllnral  Gazette  of  New  South  Wales  for 
Januar)'  i895ischlefly  occupied  by  papers  on  prailical  .agriculture 
ami  breeding.  I'Vmr  s|H.'cies  of  so-called  ntahi>ganies  of  New 
South  Wales  are  descrilieil  by  Mr.  J.  II.  Maiden,  all  species  of 
Enialyptns.  The  life-history  of  ihe  I'liyllo.xera  ;astatn.\,  an<l 
Ihe  injuries  inflicted  liy  it  on  the  vine,  are  descril>ed  at  length  ]<\ 
Mr.  J.  A.  l)es|Kissis.  anil  are  illustrated  by  a  coloure<l  plate  and 
numer«)us  wotMlcuts. 

With  the  title  .lllgiimine  liotanisihc  iicitsihrift  fiir  System- 
atik,  Florhtik,  iind  Pflanungeografhic,  a  new  monthly  botanical 
journal  has  been  starteil  at  Carlsruhe,  under  the  eilitorship  of 
Ilerr  \.  Kneucker.  Its  aim  is  especially  to  deal  with  the  study 
of  difficult  groups  of  plants,  diagnoses  of  species,  critical  form-, 
anil  hybrids,  geographical  bnlany,  and  the  results  of  the  travels 
of  botanists. 

In  the  llnlUtin  No.  y  of  \.\\\: Minnesota  Holaniia/ SIndieshan 
Interesting  article  by  Mr.  .\.  P.  .\nderson,  on  the  (irand  Period 
of  CiroHlh  in  the  I'ruit  of  Cnaiyhita  frpo.  Krom  the  time  of 
fertilisation  to  thai  of  ripening,  the  devch)puient  may  be  divided 
into  three  |»erlrnls   -a  i)eriiKl  of  active  and  condnuous  increase 


Mav 


1895J 


NATURE 


I  1 


fnmi  the  time-  of  pollination  to  the  grand  maximum  ;  one  of 
.lecline  in  the  daily  increase  and  rise  in  the  daily  decrease  from 
ihe  grand  maximum  to  the  beginning  of  ripening;  and  the 
ripening  period.  During  this  latter  period  an  extended  decrease, 
due  to  transpiration,   lasting  throughout  the   daily  hours,   was 

■  |uickly  followed  by  the  maximum  increase.  At  the  time  of  the 
^rand  maximum  the  fruit  gained  782  grammes  in  weight  during 
I  wenty-fi)ur  hours.     The  variations  in  length  of  the  intcrnodes 

■  "c-urred  simultaneously  with  corresponding  increase  and  decrease 
ill  the  weight  of  the  fruit. 

The  Natural  History  .Museum  acquired   last   )-ear  some  very 

lemarkalilc   corals,  the    largest    weighing    as   much   as    fifteen 

hundred  pounds.      Two  of  these  specimens  have  furnished  Prof. 

Icffrey  Hell  with  subject  for  a  note  "  On  the  variations  observed 

111  large  .Masses  of  Turhiiiaria,'"  in  the  April  fouriialol  the  Royal 

Microscopical  .Society.     The  note  is  accompanied  by  two  plates 

leproduced  from  photographs,  and  the  jioint  to  which  it  directs 

attention  is  the  considerable  fliffercnce  in  size  and  form  of  the 

<alicles  in  different   portions  of  the  same   mass  of  coral.      The 

plates    show    totally  distinct  forms  compar.atively  close  to  one 

another,  though  the   large  mass,  of  which    they  represent  parts, 

ii.iy  be   taken   to   Ije   formed   by  a  single  species — Tiirbiiiaria 

',ieutt-ri}ia.     The  variability  may,  I'rof.  Hell  points  out,  partly 

■  count   for   the  difficulty  which   all   students  of  corals  have   in 

riermining  specimens  of  the  genus  Turhitiarui. 

.\  YEAR  ago  the  Hoard  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  deposited 
in  the  Dublin  .Science  and  Art  Museum  the  collection  of 
weajHins,  ivc,  chiefly  from  the  South  Sea  Islands,  in  their 
l)<)sscssion.  .\  catalogue  of  the  collection  has  now  been  pre- 
jmred  and  published,  with  an  introduction  by  Dr.  V.  Ball, 
the  Director  of  the  .Museum.  The  collection  has  been  known  by 
common  tradition  as  the  "  Cook  Collection  "  ;  but  a  careful  search 
has  failed  to  bring  to  light  direct  evidence  that  the  oljjects  were 
really  sent  home  by  Captain  Cook,  though  some  of  them  are 
identica.l  with  objects  figured  in  "  Cook's  \"oyages."  There  is 
little  doubt,  however,  about  the  reality  of  the  association  of  the 
objects  with  the  voyage,  for  the  .Minutes  of  the  Board  of  Trinity 
College  record  that  they  were  presented  to  the  College  in  1777 
by  Dr.  I'atlen,  who  has  been  identified  as  the  surgeon  of  the 
A'.soiiitioii  during  Cook's  secoild  voyage.  I'art  of  the  collection 
appears  to  have  reached  the  College  through  the  relatives  of 
(.  .iptain  King,  who  brought  home  the  Risoliilioii  and  Discovery 
after  Captain  Cook  had  been  murdered.  ;V  brief  statement  as  to 
other  nuiseums  where  collections  of  Cook's  weapons  are  preserved, 
is  given  by  Dr.  Ball  in  the  introduction  to  the  catalogue.  It  is 
.stated  that  in  Creat  Britain  the  British  Museum  collection  is  the 
best  in  the  world.  Next  to  it  in  importance,  in  ICngland,  comes 
Jhe  collection  in  the  Pitt-Rivers  .Mu.seum.  The  llunterian 
iVluseum  in  lilasgow  University  also  contains  .some  specimens, 
but  how  many  is  uncertain.  So  far  as  Dr.  Ball  has  been  able  to 
ascertain,  the  museums  on  the  continent  which  po.sse.ss  Cook 
collections  are,  arranged  alphabetically,  at  Berne,  Florence,  Giit- 
tingen,  Laus;inne,  Munich,  Stockholm,  and  Vienna. 

Messrs.  Wii.i.i,\m  Wesi.ev  .\Nn  So\  have  issued  a  very  fiill 
•catalogue  of  works  on  geology,  offered  for  .sale  by  them.  The 
catalogue  contains  classified  titles  of  more  than  two  thousand 
■liffereiit  volumes,  memoirs,  and  separate  papers  of  interest  to 
^'(•ologist.s.  R.  Kriedlander  and  Sohn,  Berlin,  have  sent  us  Nos. 
I  5  of  this  year's  Natii>\c  Nmmatcs.  Bibliographers  well  know 
that  the  ILsts  form  a  good  index  to  current  .scientific  literature. 
We  have  al.so  received  a  catalogue,  from  I'elix  I,.  Dames,  Berlin, 
•  nntaining  titles  of  works  on  Ihe  invertebrates. 

I'HE  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Cardens  during  the 

1^1  week  include  a  Rhesus  .Monkey  (.l/at(ri«.r  j-/;o-//.i',   9  )  from 

India,  presented  by  .Mr.  Julius  .Scovell  ;  a   Pig-tailed  Monkey 

iMacaais  lunustriiiiis,   9  )  from  Sumatra,  presented   by  Mr.   D. 

xo.  1331,  voi,.  52] 


r)rville  B.  Dawson  ;  three  .Maholi  Galagos  (Galago  ma/ioli)  from 
South  .\frica,  prc.^-nted  by  Miss  \an  Bcren  ;  a  Crowned  Hawk 
Eagle  (Spnaetits  coronattis)  from  South  Africa,  i>resentcd 
by  Dr.  Schinland  ;  an  .Antipodes  Island  Parrakeel  (Cyanorhani- 
phus  iinuolor)  from  Antipodes  Island,  New  Zealand,  jjresented 
by  Sir  Walter  L.  Buller  ;  a  Leopard  Tortoise  ( Tcsludo  pardalis). 
a  Cape  Wytec  [Caiisiis  r/ioiiibealus)  from  South  Africa,  presented 
by  Mr.  J.  K.  Matcham  ;  three  Green  Lizards  (Laccrla  viridis) 
from  Jersey,  presented  by  Masters  J.  S.  and  .\.  H.  Hills;  a 
Common  Viper  ( Vipera  berits)  from  Hampshire,  presented  bv 
Mrs.  P.  C.  Mitchell;  two  iVngora  Goats  (C«/ra  //jm«,  var.  1, 
born  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

.S.\turn's  Kings. — In  a  recent  communication  to  the  I'toyal 
Astronomical  Society,  Prof.  Barnard  states  that  his  measurements 
of  the  rings  of  .Saturn  show  that  no  changes  have  taken  place 
since  the  first  systematic  measures  were  made,  and  that  there  is 
no  ground  for  the  .supposition  that  the  rings  are  closing  in  upon 
the  planet. 

SE.VRcii  Ei'HKMKRis  lOK  Co.Min  I S84  11.  -Dr.  Berberich 
gives  the  following  search  ephemeris  for  Barnard's  periodic  comet 
of  1884  (Ast.  N,i,-/i.  3260): 

R.  A.  Decl. 

li.       m.       s. 


-Mav     2 


June 


iS 
26 

3 
II 

19 

27 


.s 

36 

35 

16 

3 

54 

31 

20 

57 

26 

22 

7 

45 

20 

6 

59 

-  18    24 


i 

3* 

2 

40 

9 

35 

6 

27 

J 

22 

0 

24 

2 

25 

The  positions  are  for  Berlin  midnight,  and  the  probable  error 
amounts  to  20m.  in  R..\.  and3'in  decl.  The  comet  [Xisses 
from  .Aquarius  to  Cetus  early  in  June,  and  remains  in  that  con- 
stellation throughout  the  month.  It  must  be  looked  for  before 
sunrise. 

The  II.VMBURi;  Oeserv.xioky. — From  the  report  of  the 
Hamburg  Municipal  Observatory  we  learn  that  the  chief  astro- 
nomical researches  during  1894  h.ad  to  do  with  the  movements  of 
comets  and  minor  planets,  and  with  tlie  changes  in  variable  st.ars 
of  long  period.  Two  memoirs  of  some  importance  have  also 
been  published  {Mill,  dcr  Hamburger  Stcrnwartc,  Nos.  i  and  2, 
1895).  The  first  of  these  is  a  catalogue  of  the  po.silions  of  105 
nebuKv  and  star-clusters,  reduced  from  observations  made  in  the 
period  1871-1880,  liy  Dr.  I'echiileand  the  present  director.  Prof. 
G.  Kiimker.  The  positions  have  been  deduced  from  miciometric 
measures  in  relation  to  known  comparison  stars,  and  arc 
tabulated  for  the  epoch  1875.  Comparisons  are  made  with  the 
results  of  other  observers,  and,  considering  the  difficulties  attend- 
ing the  observations,  there  is  a  gooil  all-round  accord.ince  of 
results  ;  but  it  seems  yet  too  early  to  expect  much  information 
with  regard  to  proper  motions.  The  second  memoir  is  an 
investigation  by  Dr.  Carl  .Stechert  of  the  orbit  of  the  minor  planet 
Tycho  (25S)  and  of  the  ]ierturbations  produced  by  Jupiter  and 
.Saturn.  It  is  shown  that  the  probable  app.irent  semi-diameter 
of  the  i)lanet  at  opposition  is  about  o"'05,  the  true  semi-diameter 
being  something  between  50  and  So  kilometres.  An  ephemeris 
is  given  for  observations  during  the  opposition  of  June  20,  1895. 

The  L.vfE  M.  Trouvei.ot. — ^By  the  death  of  M.  L. 
Trouvelot,  on  April  22,  observational  a.stronomy  has  lost 
one  of  its  foremost  workers.  M.  Trouvelot  was  born  at 
Cruyencourl,  in  1S27,  and  after  the  <oup  d\'lAt,  he  went  to 
Cambridge,  U.S.A.,  where  he  lived  until  18S2.  His  first 
published  works,  which  a]>])eared  in  1866,  were  on  natural 
history  .subjects  :  later  he  became  an  .a.stronomer  at  the  Harvard 
College  Observatory,  and  commenced  the  ob.serv.ations  of  the  .sun 
and  planets  which  have  made  his  name  known  to  all  students  of 
celestial  science.  .Shortly  after  the  Meudon  Observatory  was 
founded,  he  returned  to  I'rance,  and  has  since  then  carried  on  his 
work  in  it.  Trouvelot's  important  observalicms  of  the  planet  Venus, 
jniblished  in  1892.  are  still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  astronomers. 
He  also  paid  attention  to  the  planets  Juiiiter  and  S.aturn. 
His  beautiful  drawings  of  celestial  objects  and  phenomena 
observed  by  him  are  to  be  found  in  many  works  on  astronomy. 


A\  I  TL  RH 


[May  2,  1895 


A^ 


THE  SUN'S  PLACE  /.V  XATLKE} 
V. 
T  the  end  of  the  last  lecture  »e  arriveti  at  that  point  of  our 
inquiry  which  is  connected  with  the  possible  first  stage  of 
all  ciisniicil  bodies,  and  we  saw  thai  there  was  a  considerable 
amount  of  evidence  in  favour  of  the  idea  that  in  this  first  stajje 
all  cosmical  bodies  are  not  masses  of  hot  gas,  but  that  their 
temperature  is  low. 

Continuing  this  inquiry  in  (he  light  of  the  suggestion  that 
the  first  stage  might  Iw  connected  with  swarms  of  meteorites, 
we  found  the  great  proliability  that,  in  swamis  or  streams  of 
meteorites,  or  m'eteoritic  dust,  we  had  to  deal  with  the  rea  basis 
of  all  cosmical  Ixxlies. 

Now,  if  we  take  the  he-avens  as  we  find  them,  whether  we 
deal  with  stars,  seeondar)'  bodies,  or  satellites,  we  find  that  they 
are   all    in    movement,    and    it    therefore  follows   that  in  these 


t  t.  .  2;,  -  T  he  <'.ri.;il  Nclml.-i  in  Andr.tnit-tla,  from  ;i  ['liuioKr.-ipU  1»> 
I>r.  Roberts. 

tariie^i  ^i.igcv  Hiih  which  we  have  now  to  ileal,  whelher  ihey 
were  meli  iiritir  swarms  or  streams,  ihey  were  also  in  movement. 
I  have  already  laken  an  opjiortunily  of  [HMnling  out  l<i  you  how 
very  im|Xirtant  these  ronsideraliims  are  when  we  come  to  inquire 
into  the  constiliiti'm  of  each  nebula.  I  showed  you  in  the  last 
lecture  a  licauliful  photograph  (Kig.  7,  vol.  li.  p.  397),  laken  by  Dr. 
Roberts,  of  the  spiral  nelnila  in  one  of  our  northern  constellalicms, 
and  I  now  pro|».s<  |.i  shnw  you  another  very  similar  toil,  in  or<ler, 
if  I  can,  to  brin;;  up. re  r  Ic^ily  before  you  rerlain  of  the  facls  which 
were  then  indii.iieil.  In  this  wonderful  photograph  of  the  nebula 
in  Androme<la  we  are  umloubledly  dealing  with  streams,  and  the 
movements  towards  the  centre  are  all  along  spirals.     In  the  case 

>  Reviaed  from  nhorlli.ind  notes  of  .t  toiirsv  of  (ycctures  to  Working  Men 
.-u  tbc  Mu«cuin  of  Hracticiil  (reoloKy  (luriiiu  XovemlHrT  ;intl  Ileeunilicr, 
1^.94.    iConlinuc<)  from  vol,  li.   paK^   S'^-'-) 

NO.   1331,  VOL.   52] 


of  the  other  nebula  we  were  in  a  better  ct>ndition  for  itbserving 
the  actual  direction  of  motion  because  we  were  locking  down  on 
the  system,  we  got  a  section  in  llie  plane  c»f  movement  ;  but  wc 
are  looking  at  this  nebula  in  an  inclined  direction,  though  I  think 
you  will  still  h.ave  no  difficulty  in  seeing  that  the  various  streams 
round  the  centre  of  coiulens;ilion  are  all  of  theni  of  a  spiral 
form,  with  certain  condens;itions  intcrs|iersed  here  and  there 
along  them. 

We  have  a  condensation  in  the  prolongation  of  one  of  the 
spirals,  antl  there  is  consitlemble  clustering  of  apjxirenl  stars 
along  those  lines,  which  I  ventured  in  my  last  lecture  to  call 
stream  lines,  f^>r  the  reason  that  I  was  anxious  to  indicate  that 
we  had  in  these  appearances,  not  signs  which  toKl  us  of  the 
existence  of  matter — so  that  wheit  you  have  not  the  appearances 
you  would  be  justified  in  supposing  that  there  was  no  matter- 
but  an  indication  of  movement  in  matter,  so  that  we  ma) 
imagine  that  this  nebula  and  others  like  it  do  probably  consist 
of  a  swarm  of  meteorites,  extending  enormously  in  |)ace 
beyond  the  iiKlicalions  which  y»-iu  see.  fv)r  the  reason  that 
towards  the  centre  the  movements  will  be  more  violent  than 
they  are  towards  the  outside.  We  are  tliere  face  to  face  with 
the  idea  that  we  have  to  deal  with  orderly  movements  of 
meteoritic  masses.  Now,  let  me  call  your  attention  to  this 
fact.  If  the  movements  are  orderly,  it  means  that  the  move- 
ments of  the  constituent  particles  of  the  swarm,  all  of  them, 
or  most  of  them,  will  be  in  the  same  tlirection  ;  that  in  that 
case  you  have  the  condition  of  minimum  disturbance,  and 
therefore  the  condition  of  minimum  tem]ierature. 

We  can  pass  from  such  a  nebula  as  this  to  tl>e  well-known  ■ 
planetary  tiebuUe.  .Mmosl  all  the  knowledge  which  we  have 
of  these  nebuUv  we  owe  to  the  labours  of  .Sir  William  and 
Sir  John  Herschel.  You  will  ;see  that  so  far  as  appearance 
goes,  we  have  in  these  'jTlanetary  nebuUe  alnu)sl  to  deal 
with. a  planet  like  Jupiter,  except  tli.at  we  do  not  see  the 
l)ells.  That  is  why  these  lM«|ies  are  called  planetary  nebula; ; 
they  give  us  the  idea  that  we  are  dealing  with  discs.  If 
we  jwss  for  a  moment  from  a  nebula  whch  is  simply  discoidal 
to  one  such  as  is  represented  in  another  (xirt  of  the  diagram, 
you  find  there  that  we  get  a  very  faint  disc,  including  much 
brighter  condensation  at  the  centre.  If  you  look  at  the 
others,  you  will  find  that  we  get  a  very  obvious  condens;ttion 
towards  the  centre  ;  there  is  a  very  considerable  difierence 
in  the  intensity  of  the  light  given  out  as  the  centre  is 
ajjproached. 

Of  course  we  understand  that  if  in  these,  also,  the  move- 
ments are  tjuite  orderly,  we  must  not  expect  to  get  any  very 
great  disturlKince,  and  therefore — if  these  disturlwnces  pro- 
(luce  high  temperatures  -we  shall  not  exiiect  to  get  indica- 
tions of  any  |iarticularly  high  temperatures  from  their  external 
portions. 

Dealing  with  nebula-,  then,  as  a  whole,  it  does  not  seem 
too  much  to  say  that  we  are  justified  in  supposini;  that  they 
may  advance  towards  condensation  along  two  perfectly  dis- 
tinct roads.  If  we  consider  a  regular  spiral  nebula,  like  the 
otie  in  -Andromeda,  or  a  planetary  nebula,  we  may  imagine 
them  living  their  life  as  nebuhv  without  very  nuich  disturb- 
ance ;  there  is  not  much  lighting  to  be  dime,  ihey  progress  in 
orilerly  fashion  towards  the  conililion  c.f  complete  coiulensi- 
linn  at  tile  centre. 

Hul  there  is  another  way. 

In  the  nebula  of  Orion  we  gel  absolute  absence  of  any  • 
thing  like  regularity.  In  any  part  where  the  structure  can 
be  studied,  we  finti  il  consists  of  whirls  .and  streams  cros.s 
ing  each  other,  some  of  them  straight,  s(mie  of  them 
curved,  the  whole  thing  an  irregular  complicated  mixtun 
of  ilivergeiil  movements,  so  far  as  the  pliulographs,  which 
are  absolutely  untouched,  can  give  us  any  idea  of  what  is 
going  on.  i'ake.  for  instance,  the  magnificent  slreamci 
trending  upwards.  It  gradually  becomes  brighter  until  il 
reaches  one  of  the  brightest  parts  of  the  nebula  ;  and  obsc'r\e. 
also,  the  stars  which  seem  dotted  over  it  as  on  a  shielil. 
Il  is  cpiite  obvious  that  we  caimol,  in  such  a  structure  as  thai, 
exi>ecl  to  gel  the  s;inie  conditions  that  we  met  with  in  tlic 
nebula  of  .\ndronieda,  anil  in  the  planetary  nebula-.  And,  jii 
fact,  we  do  not.  In  this  nebula,  which  speaks  of  disturbance 
in  every  inch  of  il,  we  have  spectroscopic  indications  of  verj 
high  temperature  indeed.  Carlxm  is  replaced  by  hyilrogen.  In 
such  a  nebula  as  this,  il  is  impossible  for  us  to  pick  out  the 
place  of  condensiition  :  the  condensation  may  be  held  to  bi 
anywhere,  for  ilislurbances  are  obviously  everywhere.  And  yoii 
'  remember,  I    hope,  that    I  pointed   out  to  you    llial    Ihe   pari   .it 


May  2,  1895 J 


XATURE 


tlii:  nchula  ordinarily  seen  is  hul  the  brightest  part  of  a  nebula 
.  sterling  over  a  space  in  the  surrounding;  neij;hl>ourho<id,  which 
lecem  research  shows  is  scarcely  limited  to  the  whole  con- 
^ellatlon. 

Now,  it  so  happens  that  the  spectrum  o  the  nebula  of  Urion 
has  recently  been  very  carefully  studied  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  cheiaical  substances  which  may  be  buildiii};  up  this  special 
s]K-clroscopic  tyjie.  Here  is  a  photograph  of  a  pait  of  the 
spectrum  of  the  nebula  of  Orion  ;  and  I  may  tell  you  ;hat  it  is  a 
very  ilifiicilt  thing  to  obtain  a  photograph  of  such  a  very  feeble 
light  sourc".  It  is  a  copy  of  a  photogra])h  which  was  exposed 
for  sonicthjig  like  three  hours  at  the  focus  of  a  30-inch  mirror 
of  short  fuels  ;  and  in  copying  it  we  lose  a  great  deal  of  the 
detail,  a  grtat  many  of  the  lines  which  are  recorded  by  Dame 
;.ature  hersdf    in    what    we  call    the  negative.     The  negative 


Fig,  23, — The  Great  Nebuln  in  Orion,  from  a  long  exposure  photograph 
by  Dr.  Kot)erl>. 


contains  something  like  fifty  lines,  which  have  already  been 
measured  ;  but  in  the  attempt  to  enlarge,  a  gieat  many  of  these 
have  been  left  behind. 

Vou  will  see,  however,  without  any  difficulty,  that  the  spec- 
irum  shows  many  bright  lines;  that  being  so.  an  attimpl 
lias  been  made  to  deteimine  the  positions  of  all  ol  thini.  The 
result  is  really  extremely  interesting.  \Vc  find,  in  fact,  that 
there  may  in  all  probability  be  three  perfectly  different  i-ources 
of  the  btij;ht  lines  which,  taken  together,  build  up  the  so-called 
spectrum  of  the  nebula.  In  the  first  place,  I  showed  50U  that 
when  we  experiment  with  meteoritic  dust  in  our  laboratories, 
it  has  not  been  subjected  to  a  low  presiuie  very  U.ng  before  it 
begins  to  give  out  certain  compounds  of  carbon,  mingled 
"i'h  hydrogen  gas,    \\\A  we  find    that  in  the  nebula  of  Orion 

NO.    1331,   VOL.    52] 


we  really  do  get  indications  of  gaseous  comixiunds  of  carbon, 
and  also  of  the  gas  hydrogen.      In  order  to  make  the  distinction 
perfectly    clear    between    the    two    other    possible    sources    of 
nebula   lines,    let    me    ask    you    for    one    moment    to  conceive 
yourselves  in  the  middle  of  the  gigantic  battle  which  is  going  on 
between  meteoritic  particles  in  such  a  nebula  as  that  of  Orion. 
You  have  particles  rushing  together  in  all  possible  directions, 
particles,  no  doubt,  difterent  in  origin.     You  will  expect,  among 
those  millions  and   billions  and  trillions  of  collisions,  to  get  a 
very  considerable  number    of   grazes;    and  the  whole  point  of 
collisions  among  physical   particles    is  that,    if    two    things    go 
straight   at  each  other,  you  get  what  you  may  call  an  end-on 
collision,  which  may  be  bad  for  one  or  both  of  the  Ixidies  con- 
cerned :     physically     we     may     say    the     teinpcraturc    under 
these   circumstances   is   at   a    ma.xinnnn.     Kut  you  will  under- 
stand  that    the   number   of   grazes,   or   near   misses,   must   be 
\er\-   much   greater  than   the  mmiber  of   end-on   collisions  ;  in 
such   a   case  as   we  are   imagining,    there  will   be  an   immense 
number    of  grazes.      What  will    a    graze    do?     It    is    simply  a 
slight    collision  :     the    amount    of  temperature    developed    b> 
it    will    be     small:     we    .shall     therefore    get    the    production 
of  vapours  at  a  low    temperature,  and   if  we  get  any  luminous 
effect  at  all,  it  will  be  (me  proper  to  the  vapours  at  low  tempera- 
ture.    So  that  on  first  principles  we  should  expect   in  such  a 
nebula  as  the  one  we  are  discussing  to  get  a  very  large  number 
of  grazes,  giving  us  low    temperature  eflects,  and  a  very  much 
smaller    luimber  of  end-on  collisions,  giving  us  very  high  tem- 
persiture  effects.      Now,  what  are  the  facts  ?     We  .say  the  inosl 
numerous  collisions  are  partial  ones,  grazes.     Well,  there  is  the 
fluting,  most  probably  due  to  magnesium  atA5oo,  and  that  fluting. 
of  magnesium  is  the  lowest  temperature   indication  of  the  exist- 
rnce  of  magnesium  ;  if  magnebium  becomes  luminous  at  all  by 
virtue  of  its  temperature,  one  of  the  first   things  revealed  to  us 
spectroscopically    is    the    particular    fiuting    in    question.      We 
may  also  note  the  longest  lines  seen  in  the  oxy-hydrogen  flame 
of  iron,  calcium  and  magnesium  as  well.      Those  lines  we  are 
justified  in  considering  as  indications  of  an  enormous  number  of 
grazes  among    these    meteoritic  particles.      liut  that  is  not  all. 
Going  further,  we  find  that  there  will  be  a  small  number  of  end- 
on  collisions  giving  us  the  highest  possible  temperature..    Being 
students  of  science,  we  are  of  course  anxious  to  know  what  con- 
<litioiisare  present  in  a   case  of  that    kind  ;  that  is,  we  want  to 
know  what  the  possible  results  of  the  highest  temperature  will 
be.      The  natural  thing,  I  think,  is  to  go  to  the  sun,  which   Ls 
pretty  hot.  and  then   find   out    the   very  hottest  place,  which  we 
can  do  by  means  of  our  spectroscojjes,  and  then  study  very  care- 
killv.  for  vears  even,  the  s]iectroscopic  indications  in  that  parti- 
i  ularly  hiittcst  place  of  the  nearest   star  which  we  can  get  at.      I 
hope  you    will  acknowledge  that  that  is  a  ])hilosophic  way  of 
going  to  work.     Thus  we  are   landed    in    what   is  called    the 
chromosphere  of    the  sun.      The  upper  atmosphere  of  the  sun 
must  be  rapidly  cooling,  but  the  chromosphere  is  a  thin  envelope 
some   5000  or    icooo  -miles  thick,  just  outside  the  photosphere, 
agreed  to  be  the  hottest  part  of  the  sun  w  ithin  our  ken,  and  there- 
fore anv  lines   which   we  see    special   to  that   region  are  called 
chromo'spheric  bnes,  and  they  sh<iuld  be  proper  lo  high  temix-ra. 
u.\s 

■  The  chromospheric  line  Dj  represents  a  line  near  the  sodium 
line  I)  in  the  solar  s|)ectrum,  which  with  a  few  others  has  the 
proud  pre-eminence  of  nearly  always  being  bright  ;  hence  we 
supp.ise  that  we  have  something  hotter  than  .anything  else 
which  exists  at  the  exterior  level  of  the  solar  photosphere. 
Running  in  couples  with  this  line  \\  there  is  another  in  the  blue 
part  or  the  spectrum,  represented  by  a  certain  wave-length  (447 1) 
which  behaves  alwavs  in  the  same  way,  /.(•.  it  is  almost  always 
seen  very  bright,  and  it  is  never  seen  dark  among  the  Fraunhofer 
lines  in  the  solar  spectrum.  Krom  the  solar  point  of  view  then, 
as  the  sun  is  a  thing  that  we  can  get  at  better  than  any  of  the 
other  stars,  because  it  is  so  near  to  us,  a  mere  trifle  of  90  millions 
of  miles  or  so,  we  are  justified  in  saying  that  these  two  lines 
repre.sent.  in  fact,  the  spectrum  of  the  hottest  part  of  space 
about  which  we  can  be  alxsolutely  certain.  Hence  it  is  very 
interesting  to  inquire  whether  or  not  these  two  lines  exist  in  the 
nebuhv  as  representing  the  high  temjierature  results  of  end-on 
collisions. 

They  do  exist  in  nebula:,  and  in  some  of  them  thev  are  among 
the  most  striking  indications  in  the  spectrum. 

So  that  we  find  in  the  spectrum  of  the  nebula  of  OriiW,  when 
it  is  carefully  .studied,  indications  of  the  gases  which  are  known 
to  be  occluded  in  meteorites,  and  which  are  perfectly  prepared 
to    come  out  of    them   the   moment    you   give    them    the    least 


14 


.\'.  /  77  RE 


[M 


\\ 


1N9: 


chance.  Then,  also,  there  is  the  indicilion  of  the  results 
of  an  infinitely  great  number  of  grazes  in  the  shape  of 
lines  of  metals  which  we  see  at  the  temperature  of  the 
oxy-hydrogen  flame,  but  which  we  do  not  see  so  well 
at  the  temperature  of  the  arc  and  the  spark  ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  there  are  indications  of  the  results  of  high 
temperature  which  we  can  study  in  the  sun,  and  such  obvious 
indications  of  high  temperature  that  we  get  the  two  lines 
which  I  have  referred  to,  neither  of  which  has  ever  been  seen 
so  far  in  any  terrestrial  laboratory,  although  they  are  very- 
familiar  indeed  to  students  of  solar  physics. 

The  total  result  of  all  this  inquiry  has  been  that  the  mean 
temperature  of  the  meteoritic  jihenomena  brought  before  us 
by  the  nebula  of  Orion  is  distinctly  low.  That  is  a  result  of  ex- 
treme interest  and  importance,  l>ecause,  remembering  what  was 
said  almut  the  objection  to  I^place"s  view  of  high  temperature 
gas  Ixrcause  it  Wolated  the  laws  of  thermodynamics,  we  have 
now,  after  minute  study,  come  to  a  conclusion  regarding  the 
stniclure  of  these  nebul.c,  which  is  quite  in  harmony  with  the 
laws  of  thermodynamics. 

When  the  series  of  lines  associated  with  high  temperatures 
was  first  recorded  in  the  spectrum  of  the  nebula;,  I  stated  that 
possibly  this  might  be  due  to  the  fact  that  in  regions  of  space 
where  the  pressure  always  operative  is  extremely  low,  we  might 
l)e  in  ihe  presence  of  chemical  forms  which  are  unfamiliar  to  us 
here,  because  all  that  we  know  of  here  chemically  is  the  result 
probably  of  considerable  temperature,  and  not  very  low  pressure. 
It  was  therefore  supjwsed  that  these  lines  might  represent  to  us 
the  action  of  unfamiliar  conditions  in  space.  Thus,  if  we  have 
a  compound  chemical  substance,  and  increase  its  temperature 
.sufficiently,  the  thing  goes  lo  pieces — is  dissociated  ;  but 
imagine  a  condition  of  things  in  which  we  have  that  same 
chemical  substance  for  a  long  time  exposed  to  the  lowest  pos- 
.siblc  pres.sure.  Is  it  possible  that  that  substance  will  ever  gel 
|)ulle<l  to  bits?  If  so,  we  may  imagine  [larts  of  sjace  which 
will  contain  these  substances  jiulled  to  bits  which  really  con- 
ilitute  finer  forms  of  matter  than  our  chemical  substances.  .So 
that  we  may  logically  cx|x.'Ct  to  get  the  finest  |»ssible  molecules 
a.s  distinct  entities  in  Ihe  regions  where  the  pressure  is  the  lowest 
possible.  These  forms  are.  of  course,  those  we  should  expect 
to  be  produced  by  a  very  high  temperature  brought  on  by  end- 
on  collisions;  hence  the  line  of  thought  is  not  greatly  changed 
in  both  these  explanations,  and  1  think  that  ))rotmbly  future  re- 
■*arch  niiiy  show  thai  we  are  justifie<l  in  looking  to  both  of 
these  |x)ssible  causes  as  those  which  produce  for  us  those  so- 
called  "  chromospheric  lines"  which  we  find  in  Ihe  spectrum 
of  the  nebul.x. 

However  thai  may  l)e,  we  have  arrived  finally  at  the  con- 
clu.sir)n  that  the  tem|x;raliire  of  these  nebul.-c  is  low  on  the 
meteoritic  hyjKjthesis. 

I  have  already  referred  in  my  jirevious  lectures  lo  Dr. 
Muggins's  \iews  connected  with  the  nebuke  and  stars,  and  you 
will  Iherefore  quite  understand  th.at  I  am  rielighted  to  find  lliat 
L)r.  Muggins  has  now  come  to  the  conclusicm  that  in  nebulx  we 
have  distinctly  a  relatively  low  teinper.iture.  In  1889  .Mr. 
Muggins  wrote  :  '  "  They  (the  nebulx]  consist  probably  of  gas 
.it  a  high  lemperature,"  but  in  Ihe  aildress  of  1891,  to  which  I 
have  alreaily  had  occasion  to  refer,  he  gives  this  view  up,  and 
refers  to  "  the  much  lower  mean  ten)|>erature  of  Ihe  ga.seous 
ina.vs  u'hiili  we  should  t.\pe>t  at  so  early  a  stage  of  eondensa- 
tion"  !!- 

1  am  als<j  glad  to  .say  that  Dr.  Keeler  is  also  iierfcctly  i>rc- 
|jarcd  to  accept  the  \new'  I  have  l)ecn  insisting  on.  .So  that,  if  Ihe 
opinion  of  .astronomers  i)f  rej^ute  is  worth  anything,  we  do  seem 
to  have  arrived  al  very  solid  ground  indeed  on  this  point,  so  far 
as  a  conscn.sus  of  opinion  can  make  any  ground  solid. 

J.  NOKMAN    LOCKVER. 
'  7o  he  iotitiiiiicd. ) 

run  HAKliK  METALS  AND  THEIK  ALLOYS? 

'PIIK  study  of  metals  |>ossesscs  an  irresistible  charm  for  us, 
quite  a|iart  from  ils  v:iM  national  imporlance.  Mow  many 
of  us  made  our  first  rcieiilific  ex|>erinienl  by  watching  the 
melting  of  lead,  little  thinking  thai  we  .should  hardly  have 
done  a  Ijod    life's  work    if  Ihe   ex|>erinient   h.ad  been  our  la.sl, 

'  P.K.S.  \.A.  »lvi.  p.  V). 

3  In  thU  printinK  nl  the  |Kt<iugc,  the  itjiltc^  and  notes  of  cxclanmtion  arc 
...:,.       I    V    I 

rw,  ficltvcred  at  the  Roynl  Inuilnlion  on  March 
r.li.,  VMS. 


provided  we  had  only  understood  its  full  significance.  Hov  lew 
of  us  forget  that  we  wistfully  observed  at  an  early  age  the  nvlting 
in  an  ordinary  fire  of  son>e  metallic  toy  of  our  childhood  ;  a.td  the 
experiment  has,  like  the  "'  Flat  iron  for  a  fitrthing,"  ii  Mrs. 
Ewing's  charming  story,  taken  a  prominent  place  in  li.erature 
which  claims  to  be  written  for  children.  Hans  Anderstn's  fairy 
talc,  for  inst.ance,  the  "History  of  a  Tin  .Soldier,"  has  been 
read  by  children  of  all  ages  and  of  most  nations.  Theroniantio 
incidents  of  the  .soldier's  eventful  career  need  not  be  dvelt  \i|X)n  ; 
but  I  may  remind  you  that  at  its  end  he  perished  in  th-  flames  <A 
an  ordinary  fire,  and  all  that  could  subsequently  be  fiund  of  him 
was  a  small  heart-sha]>ed  mass.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  the 
perfect  accuracy  of  the  story  recorded  by  Andersen,  who  at  leasi 
knew  the  facts,  though  his  statement  is  made  in  popuiar  language. 
No  analysis  is  given  of  the  tin  soldier  ;  in  a  fairy  lale  it  wouKl 
have  been  out  of  jilace,  but  the  latest  stage  of  h's  evolution  is 
described,  and  Ihe  record  is  sufficient  to  enable  us  to  form  the 
opinion  that  he  was  eomjiosed  of  both  tin  and  lerd,  certain  alloy> 
of  which  melals  will  burn  to  ashes  like  tindir.  His  uniform 
was  tknibtless  richly  ornamentetl  with  gold  l;;ce.  Some  small 
amount  of  one  of  the  rarer  metals  had  proliably — for  on  I  his 
point  the  history  is  silent — found  ilsw.ayinto  lis  constitution,  and 
by  imiting  with  the  gold,  formed  the  hearl-sha])ed  mass  which 
the  fire  would  not  melt,  as  its  temperaUre  could  not  have 
exceeded  1000" :  for  we  are  told  that  the  golden  rose,  worn  by  the 
artiste  whi.>  shared  the  soldier's  fate,  was  .ilso  found  unmelled. 
The  main  point  is.  however,  that  the  presence  ot  one  of  the 
rarer  metals  must  have  endued  the  .soldier  wilh  his  singuku 
endurance,  and  in  the  enil  left  an  incorrupLible  record  of  him. 

This  has  been  taken  as  the  starting-poin:  of  Ihe  lecture,  because 
we  .shall  .see  that  Ihe  ordinary  metals  so  often  owe  remarkable 
qualities  to  the  presence  of  a  rarer  metal  which  fits  thent  lor 
special  work. 

This  early  love  of  metals  is  implanted  in  us  as  part  of  oui 
"  uns(|uandered  heritage  of  sentiments  and  ideals  which  has  come 
down  to  us  from  other  ages,"  and  future  generations  of  chililren 
will  know  far  more  than  we  iliil  ;  for  the  attempl  will  be  made  1.. 
te.ach  them  that  even  psychology  is  a  branch  of  molecular  physics, 
and  they  will  therefore  see  far  more  in  the  melted  toy  than  a 
shapeless  mass  of  tin  and  lead.  It  is  really  not  an  inert  thing  : 
for  some  time  after  it  was  newly  cast,  it  was  the  scene  of  intensi 
molecular  activity.  Il  probably  is  never  molecularly  quiescenl. 
and  a  .slighl  elevation. )flemi>erature  will  excite  in  it  nqiid  atomic 
movement  anew.  The  nature  of  such  movement  I  have 
indicated  on  previous  occasions  when,  as  now,  I  have  tried  in 
interest  you  in  certain  properties  of  metals  and  alloys. 

This  evening  I  appeal  incidentally  lo  higher  feelings  llian 
interest,  by  bringing  before  you  certain  phases  in  the  life-history 
of  metals  which  may  lead  you  lo  a  generous  appreciation  ol  the 
many  excellent  qualities  they  possess. 

Metals  have  been  s;iilly  misunderstood.  In  the  belief  thai 
animate  beings  are  more  interesting,  experimenters  have  neglecteil 
melals,  while  no  form  of  mailer  in  which  life  can  be  recognised 
is  too  humble  to  receive  encouragemenl.  Thus  it  happens  ihal 
bacteria,  with  repulsive  allribulesand  criminal  inslincls,  arepetleil 
and  watcheil  with  solicilude.  and  comprehensive  schemes  are 
submitted  lo  ihe  Uoyal  Socielv  lor  their  dcvelnpnieiil,  culture, 
and  even  fi>r  Iheir  "  educalion,"" '  which  may,  it  is  true,  ullimalelv 
make  Ihem  useful  metallurgical  agents,  as  certain  micro-organisms 
have  already  proved  iheiraliilily  to  produce  arseniurelled  hydrogen 
from  oxide  of  arsenic. - 

Il  will  nol  be  diflicull  lo  show  ihal  methods  which  have  proved 
so'fruitfiil  ill  results  when  applied  lo  ihe  slucly  of  living  things, 
are  singularly  applicable  lo  melals  and  alloys,  which  really  preseiii 
close  analogies  lo  living  organisms.  This  must  be  a  new  view  1" 
many,  and  it  may  be  saiil,  "  il  is  well-known  that  uneducated 
races  leml  to  personify  or  animate  external  nature,"  and  you  may 
think  it  strange  that  the  atlempl  should  be  made  lo  trace  analogies 
which  must  appear  lo  be  remote,  between  moving  organisms  and 
inert  alloys,  but  "  ihe  greater  ihe  number  of  allribiiles  lh;il  allach 
I  to  anything,  Ihe  more  real  ihal  thing  is."''  .Many  of  the  less 
'  known  melals  are  very  real  lo  me,  and  1  wani  Ihem  to  be  so  In 
you  ;  listen  to  me,  llieii,  as  speaking  for  my  silenl  metallic  friends, 
while  1  try  to  secure  for  ihem  your  sympathy  and  esteem. 

hirst,    as   regarils   their   origin    and    early   history.      I    fully 


Ur.  Percy  I'ranklaml    specially  refers  lu  the  "educiilion  "  of  Imcilli  fm 
:in  to   .-Altered    conditions.      Koy.  Soc,  I* roc,  vol. 


adaplinj^    thci 

;       2  Jji-.  Hranner.     Cliein,  Mcti's,  Feb.  15,  1895.    P.  7g. 

1       '  IjMk,  "  .Mcl.iphy»ic, "  i  40,  ijuoled  by  Illingworlli.  "  Personality,  H 

I  and  Pivine."     M.imploti  I.eciures,  1804,  p.  43. 


Ivi.,    1894, 


,N«>.     I.>31,    \<>I..    52] 


Il\ 


Mav 


1895] 


lYA  TURE 


-  KUe  Mr.  Lockyor's  Ixrlicf  as  to  their  origin,  .ind  think  that  a 
I iiirt  generation  will  speak  of  the  evolution  of  metals  as  we 
■  «  (ki  of  that  of  animals,  and  that  olx-serNers  will  naturally  turn 
•  the  sun  as  the  field  in  which  this  evolution  can  liest  he  stu(lie<l. 
To  the  alchemists  metals  were  very  living  indeed  ;  they  treated 
them  as  if  they  were,  and  had  an  elal>orate  pharinaco]xvia  of 
'■  medicines"  which  they  freely  administered  to  metals  in  the 
hope  of  perfecting  their  constitution.  If  the  alchemists 
constantly  draw  i>arallels  between  living  things  anrl  metals,  it 
is  not  because  they  were  ignonint,  but  because  they  recognised 
in'  metals  the  ]X).sscssion  of  attributes  which  closely  resemble 
lho.se  of  organisms.  "  The  first  alchemists  were  gnostics,  and 
the  old  beliefs  of  Kgvpt  blended  with  those  of  Chaldea  in  the 
second  and  third  centviries.  The  old  metals  of  the  Egyptians 
represented  men.  and  this  is  probably  the  origin  of  the  komitn- 
cuius  of  the  middle  ages,  the  notion  of  the  creative  (xjwer  of 
metals  and  that  of  life  being  confounde<l  in  the  same  symtxjl."^ 
Thus  Alberlus  Magnus  traces  the  infl.-.ence  of  congenital 
defects  in  the  generati*jn  of  metals  and  of  animals,  and  Basil 
Valentine  symbolises  the  loss  of  metalline  character,  which  we 
nitw  know  is  due  to  <<xidation,  to  the  escape  from  the  metal  of 
an  indestructible  spirit  which  flies  away  and  Incomes  a  soul. 
I  )n  llie  other  hand,  the  "  reduction  "  of  metals  from  their  oxides 
was  supf>osed  to  give  the  metals  a  new  existence.  A  poem- of 
ihe  thirteenth  century  well  emlKidies  this  Ijelief  in  the  analogies 
Itetween  men  and  metals,  in  the  quaint  lines  : — 

"  Horns  onl  Testre  comme  metaulx. 
Vie  et  augment  des  vegetaulx, 
Instinct  et  sens  comme  les  l>ruts. 
Ksprit  comme  ange  en  .'Utril)utes." 

"Men  have  being" — constitution — like  metals;  you  see  how 
closely  metals  and  life  were  connected  in  the  minds  of  the 
alchemists. 

■'  Who  said  these  old  renowns,  dead  long  ago,  could  make  me 
forget  the  living  world?'  are  words  which  Browning  places  in 
the  lips  of  Paracelsus,  and  we  metallurgists  are  not  likely  to 
forget  the  living  world  ;  we  borrow  its  definitions,  and  apply 
them  to  our  metals.  Thus  nobility  in  metals  .is  in  men,  means 
freetlom  from  liability  to  tarnish,  and  we  know  that  the  rarer 
metals,  like  the  rarer  virtues,  have  singular  power  in  enduing 
their  more  ordinary  associates  with  firmness,  elasticity,  strength, 
and  endurance.  On  the  other  hand,  .some  of  the  less  known 
metals  appear  to  be  mere  "  things"  which  do  not  exist  for 
themselves,  but  only  for  the  sake  of  other  metals  to  which  they 
can  Ix'  united.  This  may,  however,  only  seem  to  be  the  case 
iKcause  we  a-S  yet  know  so  little  about  them.  The  question 
natin-ally  arises,  how  can  the  analogies  between  organic  and 
inorganic  bodies  be  traced ?  I  agree  with  my  colleague  at  the 
Ecole  des  Mines  of  Paris,  Prof.  L'rbain  le  ^'errier,  in  thinking 
that  it  is  possible^  to  study  the  biology,  the  anatomy,  and  even 
the  |>athology  of  metals. 

The  anatomy  of  metals — that  is,  their.structureand  framework — 

■>  best  examined  by  the  aid  of  the  microscope,  but  the  method  of 

utographic  pyrometry,  which  I    brought  before  you  in  a  Friday 

uning  lecture  delivered  in  1S91,  is  rendering  admirable  service 

n    enabling  both   the  biologj'  and    pathology  of  metals  to    be 

uidied,  for,  just  as  in  biological  and  ]iathological  phenomena 

\\\ja\    functions    and    changes   of   tissue    are    accompanied    by 

rise  or  fall  in  temperature,  so  molecular  changes  in  metals  are 

iilended  with  an  evolution  or  .absorption  of  heat.     With  the  aid 

i<t  the  recording  pyrometer  we  now  "take  the  tem|K*rature  "  of  a 

mass  of  metal   or  alloy  in   which  molecular  disturbance  is  sus- 

KCted  to  lurk,  as  surely  as  a  doctor  does  that  of  a  jxitient  in 

>  bom  febrile  symptoms  are  manifest. 

It  has,  moreover,  long  been  know  11  thai  we  can  submit  a  metal 
'  T  an  alloy  in  its  normal  state  to  severe  stress,  record  its  pow  er 
I  endurance,  and  then,  by  allowing  it  to  recover  from  fatigue, 
liable  it  to  regain  some,  at  le;ist.  of  its  original  strength.  The  human 
iialogies  of  metals  are  really  very  close  indeed,  for,  as  is  the  case 
A  ith  our  own  mental  efl'orts,  the  internal  molecular  work  which  is 
iiine  in  tnetiils  often  strengthens  and  invigor.ates  them.  Certain 
iietals  h.ave  a  double  existence,  and,  according  to  circumstances, 
heir  liehaviour  may  be  absolutely  harmful  or  entirely  beneficial. 

'   Iterthelot,  Les  origines  ties  aUhiinie,  1885,  p.  60. 

-  Les  Hemonslrances  oit  la  lOtfifllaint  tie  nature  a  raic/tiiiiist  eryaitt. 
.\ttributed  to  Jehan  de  Meung,  who  willi  Guillaume  de  Lorris  wrote  the 
Rflittan  tic  la  Rnse.  M.  M^on,  the  editor  of  the  edition  of  1814  of  this 
celel»r;ited  wortt,  doubts,  however,  whether  the  attribution  of  the  cvinfiiainl 
•  fc  »zturc  to  Meuog  is  correct. 

•  •'  I.a  Metallurgie  in  France,"  1894,  p.  2. 


The  dualism  we  so  often  recognise  in  human  life  becomes  allotro- 
pism  in  metals,  and  they,  strangely  enough,  seem  to  be  restricterl 
to  a  single  form  of  existence  if  they  are  absolutely  free  from  con- 
tamination, for  probiibly  an  absolutely  pure  metal  cannot  pass 
from  a  normal  to  an  allotropic  state.  Last,  it  may  be  claimed  that 
some  metals  possess  attributes  which  are  closely  allied  to  moral 
qualities,  for,  in  their  relations  with  other  elements,  they  often 
tlisplay  an  amount  of  discrimination  and  restraint  that  would  do 
credit  to  sentient  beings. 

Close  as  this  resemblance  Ls,  I  am  far  from  attributing  conscious- 
ness to  metals,  as  their  atomic  changes  result  from  the  action  of 
external  agents,  w  hile  the  conduct  of  conscious  l>eings  is  not  deter- 
mined from  without,  but  from  within.  I  have,  however,  venturetl 
to  offer  the  introduction  of  this  lecture  in  its  present  form,  because 
any  facts  which  lead  us  to  reflect  on  the  unity  of  plan  in  nature, 
will  aid  the  recognition  of  the  complexity  of  atomic  motion  in 
metals  upon  which  it  is  needful  to  insist. 

The  foregoing  remarks  have  s|X'cial  significance  in  relatinn 
to  the  influence  exerted  by  the  rarer  metals  on  the  ordinary 
ones.  With  exception  of  the  action  of  carbon  upon  iron, 
probably  nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  the  action  of  the  rare 
metals  on  those  which  are  more  common ;  but  their  peculiar 
influence  often  involves,  as  we  shall  see,  the  pre.sence  of  carbon 
in  the  alloy. 

Which,  then,  are  the  rarer  metals,  and  how  may  they  l>e 
isolated  ?  The  chemist  differs  somewhat  from  the  metallurgist 
as  to  the  application  of  the  word  "  rare."  The  chemist  thinks  of 
the  "  rarity  "  of  a  comixiund  of  a  metal ;  the  metallurgist,  rather 
of  the  difiiculty  of  isolating  the  metal  from  the  state  of  com- 
bination in  which  it  occurs  in  nature. 

The  chemist  in  speaking  of  the  reactions  of  salts  of  the  rarer 
metals,  in  view  of  the  wide  distribution  of  limestone  and 
pyrolusite,  would  hardly  think  of  either  calcium  or  manganese  as 
being  among  the  rarer  metals.  The  metallurgist  would  consider 
,  pure  calcium  or  pure  manganese  to  be  very  rare,  I  have  only 
recently  seen  comparatively  pure  specimens  of  the  latter. 

The  metals  which,  for  the  purposes  of  this  lecture,  may  be 
included  among  the  rarer  metals  are:  (i)  those  of  the 
platinum  group,  which  occur  in  nature  in  the  metallic  state  ; 
and  (2I  certain  metals  which  in  nature  are  usually  found  as 
oxides  or  in  an  oxidised  form  of  some  kind,  and  these  are 
chromium,  manganese,  vanadium,  tungsten,  titanium,  zirconium, 
uranium,  molybdenum  (which  occurs,  however,  as  sulphide). 
Incidental  reference  will  be  made  to  nickel  and  cobalt. 

Of  the  rare  metals  of  the  platinum  group  I  propose  to  say  but 
little  :  we  are  indebted  for  a  magnificent  display  of  them  in  the 
librar;-  to  my  friends  Messrs.  George  and  Edward  Matthey 
and  tJ  Mr.  Sellon,  all  memljers  of  a  great  firm  of  metallurgists. 
Vou  should  specially  look  at  the  splendid  mass  of  palladium, 
extracted  from  native  gold  of  the  value  of  ;^2, 500,000,  at  the 
melted  and  rolled  iridium,  and  at  the  masses  of  osmiurn  and 
rhodium.  No  other  nation  in  the  world  could  show  such  specimens 
as  these,  and  we  are  justly  proud  of  them. 

These  metals  are  so  interesting  anil  precious  in  themselves, 
that  I  hope  you  will  not  think  I  am  taking  a  sordid  view  of  them 
by  saying  that  the  contents  of  the  case  exhibited  in  the  librar\- 
arc  ci-rtainly  not  worth  less  than  ten  thousand  [^xiunds. 

.\s  regards  the  rarer  metals  w  hich  are  a.s.sociated  w  ith  oxygen, 
the  problem  is  to  remove  the  oxygen,  and  this  is  usually  effected 
either  by  aflbrding  the  tixygen  an  opportunity  for  uniting  wnth 
another'  metal,  or  by  reducing  the  oxide  of  the  rare  metal  by 
carbon,  aided  by  the  tearing  effect  of  an  electric  current.  In 
this  crucible  there  is  an  intimate  mixture,  in  atomic  proportions. 
of  oxide  of  chromium  anil  finely  divided  metallic  aluminium. 
The  thermo-junction  (a.  Fig.  i)  of  the  pyrometer  which  formed 
the  subject  of  my  Last  Friday  evening  lecture  here,  is  placed 
within  thecnicible,  B,and  the  s|)ot  of  light,  c,  from  the  galvano- 
meter, D,  with  which  it  is  connected,  indicates  on  the  screen  that 
the  temperature  is  gradually  rising.  \  ou  will  observe  that  as 
soon  as  the  point  marked  ioio°  is  reached,  energetic  action  takes 
place :  the  temjKrature  suddenly  rising  above  the  melting-point 
of  platinum,  melts  the  thermo-junction,  and  the  sjxit  of  light 
swings  violently  ;  but  if  the  crucible  be  brokeii  open,  you  will 
.see  that  a  m.a.ss  of  metallic  chromium  has  been  liberated. 

The  use  of  alkaline  metals  in  separating  oxygen  froni  other 
metals  is  well  known.  I  cannot  enter  into  its  history  here, 
beyond  saying  that   if  I  were  to  do  so.    frequent   references   to 


NO.    133 1,   VOL.    52] 


i6 


.\'.  /  Ti  Rli 


[MaV    2.    1S95 


the  honoured  names  of  Berzelius,  Wohler,  and  Winkler  would 
be  demande<l.' 

Mr.  \autin  has  recently  shown  that  granulated  aluminium 
may  readily  be  prepared,  and  that  it  renders  great  ser\ice 
when  employed  as  a  reducing  agent.  He  has  lent  me  many 
specimens  of  rarer  metals  which  have  been  reduced  to  the  metallic 
state  by  the  aid  of  this  finely-granulated  aluminium  ;  and  I  am 
indebtetl  to  his  assistant,  .Mr.  I'icard,  who  was  lately  one  of  my 
own  students  at  the  Royal  School  of  Mines,  for  aid  in  the  pre- 
paration of  certain  other  specimens  which  have  been  isolated  in 
my  laboratory  at  the  .Mint. 

The  experiment  you  have  just  seen  enables  me  to  justify-  a 
statement  I  made  respecting  the  discriminating  action  which 
certain  metals  appear  to  e.\ert.  The  relation  of  aluminium  to 
other  metals  is  very  singuLir.  When,  for  instance,  a  small 
quantity  of  aluminium  Is  present  in  cast-iron,  it  protects  the 
alicon,  manganese,  and  carlxin  from  oxidation."  The  presence 
of  silicon  in  aluminium  greatly  adds  to  the  brilliancy  with  which 
aluminium  itself  oxidises  and  bums.'  It  is  also  asserted  that 
aluminium,  even  in  small  quantity,  exerts  a  powerful  protective 
action  against  the  oxidation  of  the  silver-zinc  alloy  which  is  the 
result  of  the  desilverisation  of  lead  by  zinc. 

Moreover,  heat  aluminium  in  mass  to  redness  in  air,  where 
oxygen  may  lie  had  freely,  and  a  film  of  oxide  which  is  formed 
will  protect  the  mass  from  further  oxidation.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  finely  divided  aluminium  finds  itself  in  the  presence  of 
an  oxide  of  a  rare  metal,  at  an  elevated  temi>erature,  it  at  once 
acts  with  energy  and  promptitude,  and  releases  the  rare  metal 
from  the  bondage  of  oxidation.  I  trust,  therefore,  you  will  con- 
sider my  claim  that  a  metal  may  possess  moral  attributes  has 


Kio.  1 

been  justified.  .Aluminium,  moreover,  retains  the  oxygen  it  has 
acquired  with  great  fidelity,  and  will  only  part  with  it  again  at 
very  high  icni|x-ratures,  under  the  influence  of  the  electric  arc  in 
ihe  presence  of  carlKm. 

[A  suitable  mixture  of  red-lead  and  aluminium  was  placed  in  a 
small  crucible  heated  in  a  wind  furnace,  and  in  two  minutes  an 
explosion  announce<l  the  termination  of  the  experiment.  The 
"rucible  was  shaltere<l  to  fragments.] 

The  aluminium  loudly  protests,  as  it  were,  against  being 
entrustctl  with  such  an  easy  task,  as  the  heat  engendered  by  its 
oxidation  liad  not  to  Ix:  used  in  melting  a  dilficultly  fusible  metal 
like  chromium,  Ihe  melting  |inint  of  which  is  higher  than  IhnI 
•if  platinum. 

It  is  admitted  that  a  metal  will  al>slract  oxygen  from  another  metal 
if  Ihe  ria'  lion  is  more  exothermic  than  that  by  which  the  oxide 
l'»  Ix-  ''  '1.  was  originally  formed.     The  heal  of  formation 

*tf  alit  1  ralorie-.,  that  of  oxide  r>f  leaii  is  51  calories  ;  so 

that  II  ....^ •.\|K;cted  that  metallic  aluminium,  at  an  elevated 

temperature,  would  readily  re<lucc  oxide  of  lead  In  (he  metallic 
stale. 

The  last  ex|ierimcnt,  however,  proveil  that  the  reduction  of 
oxide  of  lead  by  aluminum  is  effected  with  explosive  violence, 
Ihc  temperature  engendered  by  the  rc<luction  being  sufliciently 
high  to  volatilise   the   lead.      Kx|)eriments  of  my  own  show  that 

K,  Keller,  on  ihc  reduction  of  oxides  of 
fniind  in  Ihc  JoMmai  iif  ihc  Amcricnn 
..p.  833. 


I  A., 
incl.-.l- 
Chcnj" 

I  HmU.  :„>..  Lk 


«i.  1B94,  p.  377. 
'  **  Dine  l^^onn  ^ur  lev  .M^lnux,"  part  ii.  1891,  p.  ao6. 


the  explosion  takes  place  with  much  ihsruiHive  |x)wer  when 
aluminium  reacts  on  oxide  of  lead  111  T'tic/w,  and  that  if  coarsely 
ground,  fused  litharge  be  substituted  for  red  lead,  the  aition  is 
only  accomianied  by  a  rushing  sound.  The  result  is,  therefore, 
much  influenced  by  the  rapidity  with  which  the  reaction  can  Ih" 
transmitted  throughout  the  mass.  It  is  this  kind  of  cx|)erinieni 
which  makes  us  turn  with  such  vivid  interest  to  the  teaching  ol 
the  school  of  St.  Claire  Devillc,  the  members  of  which  have  ren 
dered  .such  splendid  services  to  physics  and  metallurgy.  They  il< 
not  advocate  the  employment  ol  the  mechanism  ol  nulecules  ami 
atoms  in  dealing  with  chemical  problems,  but  would  simply 
accumulate  evidence  as  to  the  physical  circumstances  under 
which  chemical  comliiiiati<m  and  dissoriatiim  take  il.ace,  viewing 
these  as  belonging  tothesamecla.ss  o(  phemmiena  as  solidification, 
fusion,  contlensation,  and  eva[ioration.  They  do  not  even  insist 
upon  the  view  that  matter  is  minutely  granular,  Imt  in  all  cases 
of  change  of  stale,  make  calculations  on  the  basis  of  work  done, 
viewing  changed  "  internal  energy  "  as  a  quanlity  which  shoulil 
reapixjar  when  the  system  returns  to  the  initial  state. 

A  verse,  of  some  historical  interest,  may  appe.il  to  them.  Ii 
occurs  in  an  old  |K)eni  to  which  I  have  already  referred  as  being 
connected  with  the  Komaii  lir  At  A'tiv.  and  it  expresses  nature's 
protest  against  those  who  attempt  to  imitate  her  works  by  the  iisv 
of  mechanical  melh<xis.     The  "argument  *'  runs  thus  : — 

•'  t^onime  ii.'itiire  ^e  coinphuru. 
Kt  dit  S.-1  doulciir  ct  son  plaint, 
.\  ung  sot  sofllcur  sophistit)Uc, 
Qui  n'tisc  que  d'nri  mt^h.iniquc." 

If  the  "  use  of  mechanical  art  "  includes  the  study  of  chemistry 
on  the  basis  of  the  mechanics  of  the  atoms,  I  may  be  permitted 
to  offer  the  modern  school  the  following  rendering  ol  nature"^ 
plaint  : — 

'*  How  nature  sighs  without  restraint. 
.•\nd  KricvinK  makes  lier  s;ul  compliiint 
Against  the  nubile  sophistry 
Which  trusts  atomic  thcor>'." 

.tVn  explosion  such  as  is  produced  when  aluminium  and  osiii. 
of  lead  are  heated  in  presence  of  each  other,  which  suggested 
the  reference  to  the  old  French  verse,  does  not  often  occur,  a- 
in  most  cases  the  retluction  of  the  rarer  metals  by  aluminiuin 
is  efl'ected  quietly. 

Zirconium  is  a  metal  which  may  be  .so  reduced.  I  have  in 
this  way  pre|xired  small  ijiiantities  of  zirconium  from  its  oxide, 
and  have  formetl  a  greenish  alloy  of  extraordinary  strength  l>\ 
the  .ad  Mtion  of  'n  [ler  cent,  of  it  to  gold,  and  there  are  man> 
circumstances  which  lead  to  the  belief  that  the  future  of  zirconium 
will  be  brilliant  and  useful.  I  have  reduced  vanadium  and  uranium 
from  its  oxide  by  means  of  aluminium  its  well  .is  manganese, 
which  is  easy,  and  titanium,  which  is  more  diflicult.  Tungsten, 
in  fine  specimens,  is  al.so  before  you,  and  allusion  will  be  made 
subsetjuenlly  to  the  uses  t»f  these  metals.  At  present  I  wouhi 
draw  your  attention  to  some  properties  of  titanium  which  arc  ol 
special  interest.  It  burns  with  biilliant  sparks  in  air  ;  and  as  fe» 
of  us  have  seen  titanium  burn,  it  may  be  well  to  burn  a  little  i:i 
this  flame.  [Kxperimenl  performed. )  Titanium  ap|Kars  to  be,  from 
the  recent  experiments  of  M.  Moissan,  the  most  iliflicullly  fusiliK 
metal  known  ;  but  it  has  the  singular  propeily  of  binning  in 
nitrogen— it  presents,  in  fact,  the  only  known  instance  of  vivid 
combustion  in  nitrogen.' 

Titanium  may  be  readily  rerluceil  from  its  oxide  by  the  aid  ol 
aluminium.  Here  are  considerable  masses,  sufliciently  pure  fiir 
many  piir|x>scs,  which  I  have  recently  prepared  in  view  of  this 
lecture. 

The  other  method  by  which  the  rarer  metals  may  be  isolnteil 
is  that  which  involves  the  use  of  the  electrical  furnace.  In  thi* 
connection  the  name  of  Sir  W.  .Siemens  should  not  In 
forgotten.  He  de.scribed  the  use  of  the  electric  arc-furnaci 
in  which  the  i-arbons  were  arranged  vertically,  the 
lower  carlxjn  being  replaced  by  a  carbon  crucible,  antl 
in  1882  he  melted  in  such  a  fiirnace  no  less  than  ten  |xiunds  of 
platinum  iliiring  an  experiment  at  which  I  had  Ihe  gooil  fortune 
to  assist.  It  may  fairly  be  claimed  that  the  large  linnaces  with 
a  vertical  carbon  in  which  aluminium  antl  other  metals  are  now 
reiluced  by  the  combined  electrolytic  action  antl  tearing 
tempemlure  of  the  arc,  are  the  direct  oiitcrmie  of  the  work  of 
I  Siemens. 

In  the  development  of  the  use  of  the  electric  arc  for  the 
isolation  of  Ihe  nire,  ilifficullly  fusible,  metals  Moi.ss.ar  staniK 

I  I  l<urd  Knylcich  h.is  since  sinlc<l  thai  titanium  does  not  fu>tn1>inc  with 
arKon  ;  and  .M.  (■unl/  iKiinIs  nui  iliat  lilhintn  in  comhinitlK  with  nitrogen 
prtHlllces  inc.-initrurcnrt . 


NO.    I. VI  I,  VOL.   52] 


May  2,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


'7 


in  the  front  rank.  \\y  points  out'  that  Deprez-  used  in  1849, 
the  heat  produced  by  the  arc  of  a  ])owerfuI  i>ile ;  but  Moissan 
was  the  first  to  employ  the  arc  in  sucti  a  way  as  to  seixirate  its 
heating  effect  frcjni  the  electrolytic  action  it  exerts.  This  he  does 
by  placin;;  the  poles  in  a  horizontal  position,  and  by  reflecting; 
their  heat  into  a  receptacle  below  them.  He  has  shown,  in  a 
series  of  classical  researches,  that  employing  Soo  ani])eres  and  1 10 
volts  a  temperature  of  at  least  3500'  may  be  attained,  and  that 
many  metallic  oxides  which  until  recently  were  supposed  to  be 
irreducible  may  be  readily  made  to  yield  the  metal  they  contain.* 
.\  support  or  base  for  the  metal  to  be  reduced  is  needed,  and 
this  is  afforded  by  magnesia,  which  appears  to  be  absolutely 
stable  at  the  utmost  temperatures  of  the  arc.  .Vn  atmosphere  of 
hydrogen  may  l>e  emjiloyed  to  avoid  oxidatitm  of  the  reduced 
metal,  which,  if  it  is  not  a  vcjlatile  one,  remains  at  the  bottom  of 
the  crucible  almost  always  associated  with  carbon — forming,  in 
feet,  a  carbide  of  the  metal.  I  want  to  show  you  the  way  in 
which  the  electric  furnace  is  used,  but  unfortunately  the  re- 
ductions are  usually  very  tedious,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to 
actually  show  you  much  if  1  «ere  to  attempt  to  reduce  before 
you  any  of  the  rarer  metals  ;  iiut  as  the  main  object  is  to  show 
you  how  the  fvirnace  is  used,  it  may  be  well  to  hoil  some  silver  at 
a  temperature  of  some  2500",  and  subseijuently  to  melt  chromium 
in  the  furnace  (Fig.  2).  This  furnace  consists  of  a  clay  receptacle, 
A,  lined  with  magnesia,  B.  .\  current  of  6oamperes  and  100  volts 
is  introduced  by  the  carbon  poles,  r,  i: ;  an  electro-magnet,  M,  is 
provided  lo  defied  the  arc   on  to  the  metal  to  be  melted.      [By 


will  render  still  greater  services?  My  object  in  this  lecture  is 
mainly  to  introduce  you  to  these  metals,  which  hitherto  few  of 
us  have  ever  seen  except  as  minute  cabinet  specimens,  and  «e 
are  greatly  indebted  to  M.  Moissau  fur  sending  us  beautiful 
specimens  of  chromium,  vanadium,  uranium,  zirconium,  tungsten, 
molybdenum,  ami  lilanimn.     (These  were  exhibited.] 

The<|uestion  naturally  arises  :  Why  isthe  futureof  their  useful- 
ness so  promising  >  Why  are  lln'y  likely  lo  render  belter  service 
than  the  conmion  metals  with  which  we  have  long  been  familiar? 
It  must  be  confessed  that  :vs  yet  wo  know  but  little  what  services 
these  metals  will  render  when  they  stand  alone  ;  we  have  yet  to 
obtain  them  in  a  state  of  purity,  and  have  yet  lo  study  their  pro- 
perties, but  when  small  quantitiesof  any  of  them  are  associated  or 
alloyed  with  other  metals,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe  that 
they  will  exert  a  very  powerful  influence,  fn  orfler  to  explain 
this,  I  must  appeal  lo  the  physical  method  of  ini|uiry  to  which  I 
have  already  referred. 

It  is  ea.sy  to  test  the  strength  of  a  metal  or  of  an  alloy  ;  it  is 
also  easy  to  determine  its  electrical  resistance.  If  the  nvtss  stands 
these  tests  well,  its  suitability  for  certain  purposes  is  assured  ; 
but  a  subtle  method  of  investigation  has  been  afforded  by  the 
results   of   a    research   entrusted     to    me    bv   a    committee   of 


,iigr-iv.jj;^ 


B 


means  of  a  len>  and  mirror,  u.  K,  the  image  of  the  arc  and  of  the 
molten  metal  was  projected  on  to  a  screen.  For  this  purpose  it 
was  found  convenient  to  make  the  furnace  much  deeper  than 
would  ordinarily  be  the  case.  | 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  thai  the  use  of  the  electric  arc  between 
carbon  poles  renders  it  practically  impossible  lo  prepare  the  rare 
metals  without  associating  them  with  carbon,  often  forming  true 
carbides  ;  but  it  is  possible  in  many  c;ises  to  separate  the  carbon 
by  sul)sei|ueiit  treatment.  Moissan  has,  however,  opened  up  a 
va.sl  field  of  industrial  work  by  placing  at  our  disposal  jiractically 
all  the  rarer  infusible  metals  uliich  may  be  reduced  from  oxides, 
and  it  is  necessary  for  us  now  to  consider  how  vve  may  best  enter 
upon  our  inheritance.  Those  mendiers  of  the  group  which  we 
have  known  long  encjugh  lo  appreciate  are  chromium  and  man- 
•ganese,  and  these  we  have  only  known  free  from  carbon  for  a 
few  months.  In  their  carburised  state  they  have  done  excellent 
.service  in  connection  with  the  metallurgy  of  steel  ;  and  may  we 
■not   hope   that   vanadium,   molybdenum,  titanium,  and   uranium 

I  Ann.  de  Clihii.  el  ,1c  I'hys.  vol.  iv.  1895,  p.  05. 

;-  Canifites  reiulns,  v.il.  x.vix.  1849,  p.  48,  545,  712. 

'I  he  principal  memoirs  of  Jl.  .\Ioiss.m  will  be  fouml  in  tlic  ConiMcs 
««</<,.■,  vol.  «v.  .89-.,  p  ,03.  ;  ibid.  vol.  cxvi.  ,893,  pp.  347,  349,549,  ,k-2, 
l"5,   .429;  /W.  vol.  cxix.   189,,  pp.    ,5,   .o.  935;  /«/V>.  vol.  - 


ago.     The   more   iiiiport:int   of  the  "  metal: 
chromium. 


95.  P- 


,    935      . 

he  h.is  isolated  .ire  uranium, 
manganese,  zirconium,  molylHlenum,  tungsten,  v.-in.ldium,  anil 
«t.lniinn.  I  here  is  an  important  paper  hv  him  on  the  various  forms  of  the 
eleclri.:  fiirn.ice  ni  the  Ann.  ,/,■  Cliim.  ,1  ,/,•  /'/iy.>!.  \<-,\.  iv. 

No.   1,;;,  1,  \nr,.  ^2^ 


0.5.  1>.  365 


:*^ 


li«s7l 


w  hich     1  )r. 
now     gather 


the  Institution  of  Meclianical  Kngineers,  over 
.\nderson,  of  Woolwich,  presides.  We  can 
much  information  as  to  the  way  in  which  a  mass  of  inetal 
has  arranged  il.self  during  the  cooling  from  a  molten  condition, 
which  is  the  neces.sary  step  in  ftshioning  it  into  a  useful  form  ;  it 
is  possible  lo  gain  insight  into  the  way  in  which  a  molten  mass 
of  a  metal  or  an  alloy,  moleciilarly  settles  itself  down  to  its  work, 
so  to  S[X!ak,  and  we  can  form  <-oiiclusions  as  to  its  prolxible  sphere 
of  usefulness. 

The  method  is  a  graphic  one,  such  its  this  audience  is  familiar 
with,  for  I'rof.  Victor  Ilorsley  has  shown  in  a  masterly  way  that 
traces  on  smoked  [laper  may  form  the  leconl  of  the  heart's  action 
under  the  disturbing  influence  caused  by  the  intrusion  of  a  bullet 
into  the  human  body.  I  hope  to  show  you  by  similar  records 
the  effect,  which  though  disturbing  is  often  far  from  pre- 
judicial, of  the  introduction  of  a  small  i|uantity  of  a  foreign 
element  into  the  ".system''  of  a  metal,  and  to  justify  a 
statement  whii-h  I  m.ade  earlier,  as  to  the  applicability  of 
physiological  methods  of  investigation  to  the  study  of  metals. 
In    order    that    the    nature    .if  this    method    may    be    clear,    it 


i8 


X.4Ti'Kl^ 


[MaV     2,    1895 


musl  be  iciucmbcreii  that  il  a  thcriHoiiieter  or  a  pyrometer,  as 
the  case  may  be,  is  plunged  into  a  mass  of  water  or  of  molten 
metal,  the  teniperaUire  will  fall  continuously  until  the  water  or 
the  metal  logins  to  l>ccome  si>lid  ;  the  temperature  will  then 
remain  constant  until  the  whole  mass  is  solid,  when  the  down- 
ward course  of  the  temperature  is  resumed.  This  little  thcrmo- 
junction  is  ]>lunj;ed  into  a  mass  of  gold  ;  an  electric  current  is. 
in  popular  language,  generated,  and  the  strength  of  the  current 
is  proportitmal  to  the  temiierature  to  which  the  thermo-junction 
is  raised  ;  s^i  that  the  sikiI  of  light  from  a  galvanometer  to  which 
the  ihermo-junction  is  attached  enables  us  to  measure  the 
temperature,  or,  by  the  aid  of  photography,  to  record  any 
thermal  changes  that  may  occur  in  a  heated  mas,s  of  metal  or 
alloy. 

It  is  only  necessary  for  our  purixxse  to  use  a  |x>rlion  of  the  long 
scale,  and  to  make  that  jiortion  of  the  scale  movable.  Let  me 
tr\'  to  trace  l)efiire  yoii  the  curve  of  the  freezing  of  pure  gold.  It 
Mill  be  necessiir)'  to  mark  the  |xisition  occupied  by  the  movable 
sjxit  of  light  at  regular  intervals  of  time  during  which  the  gold  is 
ne>ar  1045',  that  is.  while  the  metal  is  Incoming  .solid.  Everj- 
time  a  metronome  Iwats  a  second,  the  white  screen  A  (Fig.  3).  a 
sheet  of  |Xi|K-r  will  be  raised  a  definite  number  of  inches  by  the 
gearing  and  handle,  B,  and  the  |Xisilion  .succes-sivcly  occupied  by 
the  spot  of  light,  t'.  will  lie  marked  by  hand. 

Vou  see  that  the  time-tenii>erature  curve,  -v,  j',  so  traced  is  not 
continuous.  The  freezing  |Miint  i>f  the  metal  is  very  clearly 
marked  by  the  horizontal  |mrtion.  If  the  gold  is  very  pure  the 
angles  are  sharp,  if  it  is  impure  they  are  rounded.  If  the 
metal  had  fallen  liclow  its  freezing  (xiint  without  actually  be- 
coming solid,  that  is.  if  su]>erfusion  or  surfiision  had  occurred, 
then  there  would  Ix-,  as  is  often  the  case,  a  dip  where  the  freezing 
lx.-gins,  and  then  the  teui|K.-ralurc  curve  rises  suddenly. 

If  the  metal  is  alloyed  with  large  quantities  of  other  metals, 
then  there  nia\  lie  several  of  these  freezing  ix)ints.  as  sHccessi\e 
groups  of  alloys  fall  out  of  solution.  The  rough  diagrammatic 
method  is  not  sufficiently  delicate  to  enable  nie  to  trace  the 
sulH>rdinate  jxiints,  bit  iheyareof  vital  importance  to  the  strength 
of  the  metal  or  alloy,  and  photography  enables  us  to  detect  them 
readily. 

Take  the  case  of  the  tin-cop|x;r  series  ;  you  will  see  that  as 
a  ma-ss  of  tin-cop|K-r  alloy  cools,  there  are  at  least  t«o  distinct 
freezing  |x)inls.  .\l  the  ujiix-r  one  the  main  ma.ss  of  the  fluid  alloy 
liecime  solid  ;  at  the  lower,  sonie  definite  group  of  tin  and  copix-r 
atoms  fall  out.  the  ]K>sition  of  the  lower  jioint  deiK-nding  upon 
I  he  com))osilion  of  the  mas.s. 

'     (  Ti>  f'l-  continued. ) 


////■:  /.xsTjri'noN  OF  mechanical 

ENGINEERS. 

""PIIK  ordinary  spring  meeting  of  the  Institulion  of  Mechanical 
•^  Kngineers  was  hehl  on  Wednesday  and  Friday  evening  of 
litst  week,  .Viiril  24  and  26.  the  I'resident,  I'rof  .\lexander  H. 
W.  Kenneily,  F.  K.S..  occupying  the  chair  Imth  evenings.  The 
following  was  down  on  the  agenda  of  the  meeting  :  .\djourned 
rli.scussion  on  Captain  II.  Kiall  .Sankey's  paper  on  "  governing 
iif  Steam  Fngines  by  Throttling  and  by  Variable  Kx|>aii.sion  "  : 
Ihe  ••  Third  l<e|Hirt  to  the  .Alloys  Research  Committee,"  by  Prof 
\V.  C.  kolxris-.Vuslen.  C.H..  F.R.S.,  "  Appendix  on  the  Klim- 
in.ttion  of  Impurities  during  the  I'rocess  of  making  '  Kest  Selected  '  I 
Copper,"  by  .Mr.  Allan  Cibb ;  "  y\p|xndix  on  the  I'yromctric  j 
Kxamination  of  the  .\lloys  of  Cop|K-r  anil  Tin."  by  Mr.  .\lfred 
.•^lansfield.  | 

In    the   discus-sion  on  Caplain  .Sankey's  |)a|x-r  a  nundxT    of  ' 
members  sinike.      A.s  a  general  result  it  may  lie  statetl  that  the 
(xisilion  taken  by  Ihe  author  in  his  |ia|x-r  was  .sup|xirled.  viz.  :  . 
that    for  certain  pur|xises.  governing   by   means  of  the   throttle  , 
valve  w-i-s  to  Ix-  preferred  ;  whilst  under  other conditionsvariable 
ex|xin.sion    guvernors    wtiuld    have    advantages    over    the    other 
method.  Giplain  Sankey  in  hisconlriliulion  nn|iartially  discussed 
Uith   systems,  and   his  ikiixt  n)ay  Ix-  taken  as  a  good  model  of 
what  a  n)emoir  of  the  knid  sliotdd  lie,  no  uruhie  bias  Ix-ing shown 
on  cither  side.  ' 

The   reiort    of   I'rof.    Kolx-rts-Atistcn    w.ts   |KTha|is  of  even 
greater  interest  than  Ihost  which   have   preceded   il':    whil.sl   the 
two    apixndiic'i    of     Mes.srs.    Ciilili    and    .Stansfield    discussed 
important  practical  details.     A  retpiest  had  iK-en  made  that  the  . 
inveitigalion*  of  Warburg  ami  Tegelmeicr  on  molecular  |xirosily,  ' 

Nf>. 


and  their  oKscrvalions  on  the  '"  IClcclroly.sisof  Cdass"'  should  be 
repeated.  It  will  lie  remembered  that  atoms  of  .sodium  were 
made  to  p:vss  through  glass  at  a  lem]xr,iture  of  200  C  under  the 
influence  of  the  electric  current.  Lithium  atoms  were  iheit  made 
to  follow  along  the  tracks  or  molecular  galleries  left  by  the- 
.sodium,  the  lithium  having  a  lower  atomic  volume  and  weight 
than  the  sodimn.  When  jxitassium,  having  a  higher  atomic 
weight  and  volume,  was  substituted,  it  was  not  foimd  (Xissible 
to  trace  out  the  sodium.  We  are  thus,  the  author  said, 
confronted  with  a  molecular  jxirosily  which  can  in  a  sense- 
lie  gauged,  and  the  meolianical  influence  of  the  volume  of 
the  atom  is  thus  made  evident.  It  will  also  be  evident 
that  there  is  a  direct  connection  between  the  properties  of  a 
nuiss  and  the  volume  of  its  atoms.  The  results  previously 
obtained  were  entirely  confirmetl  and  somewhat  extended  in  the 
ex|x;riments  the  author  had  undertaken.  The  septa,  or  dividing 
|jartitif>ns.  in  these  fresh  experiments,  were  maile  nu^stly  of 
soda  glass,  of  which  thick  bulbs  were  blown  from  barometer' 
ttdie.  In  mtist  of  the  experiments  the  glass  waselectrolysed,  using 
mercur}"  autl  an  anutlgam  of  some  metal  as  cathode  and  anode- 
respectively.  The  temperature  was  from  250  to  350"  C.  The 
electromotive  force  employed  was  lOO  volts,  and  the  current  in 
the  case  of  the  s<Klium  exjx'riments  averageil  about  one-lhfiusandth 
of  an  ampere,  and  was  sometimes  as  high  as  one-fiftieth  of  ai» 
aiupere.  AVhen  the  gla.ss  Indbs  were  employed  they  soon  iiecamt 
cracked,  and  the  free  i«.s,s,age  of  the  current  fused  the  gla.ss. 
forming  a  well-roimded  hole.  In  each  ex|ierinient  a  safet) 
fuse  was  placed  in  series,  to  stop  the  current  in  case  ot 
break.age.  In  experiments  in  which  sodium  amalgam  had 
been  placed  in  the  bulb  and  pure  mercury  outside.  sodiun\ 
passed  into  the  mercury  to  the  extent  of  0*03  gramme  of 
0'46  grain.  In  one  experiment,  which  lasted  eighteen  hours, 
the  amount  of  sodium  found  in  ihe  mercury  w.is  o'oiji  gramme, 
or  0"2022  grain.  The  ([uanlily  of  electricity  wliicli  passed 
through  the  glass  was  measured  by  the  aid  of  an  electrolytit- 
cell  jilaced  in  .series,  in  which  co|iper  was  depositeil  to  thi- 
amount  of  o'02o6  gramme,  or  o'ji/q  grain.  Calculating  thi- 
number  of  cmdombs  of  electricity  passed  by  means  of  the 
electrolysis  of  gla.ss.  the  number  55  is  found,  and  by  the  electro- 
lysis of  cojiper  .sulphate,  62  ;  thus  showing,  as  well  as  a  rouglv 
approximate  experiment  could,  that  the  |)assage  of  sodium  int<  • 
Ihe  mercury  follows  the  ordinary  law  of  electrolysis.  Il  is 
<loubtfid  whether  the  soilium  from  the  amalgam  actually  pene 
trateil  right  through  the  glass  ;  but  Ihere  can  be  no  ipieslitir. 
ihat  il  replaced  a  consiilerable  proportion  of  the  sodium  which 
the  glass  contained.  .\n  allempt  to  |)a.ss  potassinm  Ihrough 
ihe  .same  glass  faile<l.  Cold  was  then  used,  both  in  the  form  of 
amalgam  and  dissolved  in  nielallic  lead,  1  ml  in  the  latter  ca.si. 
Ihe  temperature  employeil  was,  of  course,  higher.  No  goldl 
w.as  found  to  have  been  transmitted  through  the  glass  ;  but  the 
glass  employed  became  coloured  by  gold,  and  minute  s|mngle.s 
of  the  metal  were  found  embedded  in  it.  The  .same  result  was 
obtained  when  copper  was  used  as  an  amalgam  ;  anil  in  this 
case  minute  nodules  of  copper  were  dcposiled  below  Ihe  surface 
of  Ihe  gla.ss,  an  efl'cct  which  is  highly  suggesllve  in  connection, 
with  Ihe  formation  of  mineral  veins  by  earth  currents.  .Sodium 
amalgam  placed  in  a  bulb  and  surrounded  with  mercury,  but 
with  no  current,  gave  negative  results,  showing  thai  simple 
diflusion  did  not  play  any  imporlani  pari  in  the  results  obtained. 
The  fad  ihal  a  current  passes  al  all  through  glass  is  a  proof  thai 
electrolytic  action  has  taken  place:  so  thai,  even  if  a  metal  bi 
luil  actually  Iransmitleil  ihrnngh  glass,  the  )iassagc  of  a  current 
indicates  thai  sodium,  potassium,  or  other  melallic  conslilucnl 
of  the  glass,  nuisl  be  leaving  il,  and  is  probably  replaced  by  oni 
or  more  of  the  metals  in  ihe  metallic  bath  which  conslilules  the 
anode. 

The  author  next  referred  to  an  .addition  made  In  the  recording 
jiyrometer  by  means  of  which  increased  sensilivene.vs  was  ob- 
tained. The  galvanonuur.  which  atVords  the  means  of  nuasur- 
ing  the  temperatures  of  ihe  masses  of  metal  or  alloy  undei 
examination,  may  occupy  one  of  two  positions:  il  may  eilhei 
be  nearer  to  the  slit  ihrough  which  the  ray  of  light  falls  upon, 
ihe  photographic  plate,  or  it  may  be  further  away  from  it.  Il 
will  be  evident  lhal  two  galvanometers  may  be  used  .simul- 
laneoiisly,  wilh   Ihe  light  from   their  respective   mirrors  playing 

1  K.  WnrliurH.  "  Uclur  dii;  Kkl,lrol>>i:  des  fcslcil  I ll.iscs."  WUtlemaiw  .' 
Xnnattn,  vol.  xxi.  1884.  [i.  (ni.  K.  UarlmrK  ami  V.  TiKinin-icr,  "  llelx'i 
die  clcklrolytinclii:  IaIiuiik  iks  HirKkryslalls,"  lyiriirniann's  AnnaUn,  vol. 
\li..  189a,  pailciS.  K.  \V:irliuri;.  "  VelxTiim;  Mclhodc  N.ltriuin  Mclall  in. 
((ck^lcnchc  Kfllircn  lin/ufillircii.  "  IVinlriiiaiin  s  tiiiittleii.  vol.  vl.  i3(.o. 
[i.ilif  1. 


MaV    2,    1S95] 


NATURE 


19 


thruugh  the  same  slit  u(x>n  the  photographic  plate.     The  further 

galvanometer  can   have  a  much   lower  resistance,   and   conse- 

(juently  greater  delicacy,  than  the  nearer  one,  so  that,  while  the 

line  photographed  on  the  moving  sensitised  [ilatc  front  the  ne.irer 

galvanometer  might   represent  a  range  of  temperature  of,   say, 

1500  degrees,  Ihe  line  traced  liy  the  mirror  of  the  further  gal - 

nonicler  should  represent  only  one-tenth  of  this.     The  angular 

lUclion  of  the  nearer   mirror  would   not  exceed  the  limits  of 

ir  sensitised  plate,  while  the  mirror  of  the  delicate  galvanometer 

pMght   traverse  a  for  larger  range.      Both  galvanometers  would 

.   connected  "'in  parallel"  with  the  s;ime  thermo-junction  :  .md 

\  iously  any  jwrtion  of  the  extended  range  which  it  was  <Iesir- 

Ic  to  reflect  on  ihe  sensitised  plale  could  easily  be  caught  by  a 

iiiiiable  adjustment  of  the  mirror  on   the  further  galvanometer. 

H.  therefore,  the  thermo-junction  is  plunged  into  a  ma.ss  of  metal 

;i»>ling  from  say  an  initial   temperature   of    1500  degrees,    the 

whole  of  the  cooling  curve  could  be  traced  liy  the  mirror  of  the 

li -^s  delicate  galvanometer,  while  only  the  portion  greatly  magni- 

■i    wovdd  be  recorded  by   the  mirror  of  the  more  delicate  gat- 

iHimetcr.      The  first    curve    derived     from    the    less     delicate 

ivanometer  woidd   serve   as  a  ''calibration    curve  '    for  thai 

rded  by  the  other  galvanometer. 

I'.y  means  of  diagrams  exhibited  on  the  walls  of  the  theatre. 

irge  number  of  cooling  curves   for  eleclro-iron    were  shown, 

I     being  taken  that  the  iron  w.-is  exceedingly  pure.     The  points 

recalescence  were  well  shown  on  these  curves,  which  may  be 

idled  with  interest   in   the  7>'(t«.f(n"//fl/M  of  the  Institution,  as 

I  ring  on  the  question  ni  allotro|)y  of  iron,  which  has  already 

n  fully  discussed  in  a  former  report.     The  cooling-curve  of  an 

iiuinium-cojiper  alloy   was  also  given.       This  was    the    alloy 

riuiining6  per  cent,  of  copper,   used  by   Mr.    Yarrow  in   the 

iislruction  of  torpedo  boats  for  the  French  tloveniment.     Two 

'rcc/ing  |x>ints  were  shown,  one  due  It)  the  main  ma.ss,  and  the 

iher  al   a  lower  point  due  to   ihe  copper  as.sociatcd  with  the 

iluminiinn.       The    pyrometric    examination    of    iron-aluminium 

1  Hoys  was  also  treated  al  some  length,  but   it   would  be  difficult 

.;ive  results  without  reproducing  the  curves  and   the  diagram 

'\\n. 

One  feature  that  may  be  notice<l.  however,  was  that  the  freez- 
ing |x>int  of  iron  alloyed  with,  say,  one  i)er  cent,  of  aluminium, 
is  but  little  lower  than  that  of  iron  itself;  that  is  to  say,  the 
iielling^ixiini  of  nearly  pure  iron  is  only  slightly  lowered  by  a 
-nutll  addition  of  almninium.  Osmond  had  already  shown  that 
aluminium  does  not  prf>duce  any  considerable  lowering  of  the 
freezing  ]x)int  of  cast-iron  ;  and  the  usually  accepted  idea  that 
cast-iron  or  steel  containing  aluminium  is  very  fusible,  must  l)e 
due  to  ihe  fluidity  of  the  metal  when  it  is  melted. 

Another  interesting  ]")oinl  was  that  the  samples  of  alloys  used 
in  these  experiments  were  kejit  for  some  months  I)eforc  being 
analy.sed.  and  it  was  found  that  during  this  time  those  which 
contained  from  40  lo  60  per  cent,  of  aluminium  had  spontaneously 
disintegrated,  and  hati  fallen  to  powder.  The  powder  was  not 
oxidised,  but  consislefl  of  clean  metallic  grains,  probably  result- 
ing from  chemical  changes  which  had  gradually  taken  place  in 
the  solid  alloy.  Whether  the  iron  and  aluminium  were  in  a.state 
■of  solution  or  were  cheitiicaliy  combinetl  when  molten,  there  can 
be  little  doubt  that  they  are  scj  cond>ined  in  the  metallic  powder, 
as  attem[)ts  to  re-melt  this  powder  have  proved  unsuccessful,  which 
points  to  the  formation  of  an  infusible  compound. 

Some  exjK'riments  made  by  .Mr.  Thomas  Wrightson  to  as- 
certain whetlur  the  welding  of  iron  is  attended  with  a  fall  of 
lemperalure,  as  is  the  case  in  the  regelalion  of  ice,  were  next 
tiescribed.  The  welding  was  done  by  means  of  electricity  and 
observations  were  taken  by  means  of  the  pyrometer  formerly 
described.  The  results  have  been  communicated  to  the  Royal 
Society,  and  tend  to  show  (hat  the  welding  of  iron  and  the 
regelatitjn  of  ice  are  analogous  ]>henomena,  a  point  of  no  small 
theoretical  importance. 

In  his  last  report    the   author  had  called  attention  lo  the  fact 

t  M.  .\ndre  I.e  Chatelier  had   suggested   that   the  prejudicial 

lion  of  an  element   is  due  to  its  forming  a  fusible  compound 

with  the  metallic  m.iss  in  which  it  is  hidden  ;  while,  im  the  other 

^an<l,  the  presence  of  an  elemeiu  which  forms  an  infusible  com- 

|X)und  with  the  mass,  promotes  the  formation  of  a  fine  grain  and 

imparts  stronglli.     The  author   did   iu)t  wish  it  to  be  su]>jK)sed, 

however,  thai  the  action  of  the  ailded  element  is  due  solely  to  its 

infusibility,  or  to  ils  jjower  of  firming  a  fusible  C(un|iound  with  a 

lv>rtion  of  the   mass  which  contains  it  ;  for  cases  are  numerous 

which  such  an  explanation  does  not  apply.   In  this  connection 

ggestion  made  long  ;tgo  by  Kaoult    Pictet  {Compter  rcndtts^ 

'    Ixxxviii.  1879.  pp.  S55  and   i;i5).  well  deserved  considera- 

NO.    I  33  I,  VOL.   52] 


tion.  He  itrged  that  there  must  be  a  connection  between  the 
melting-points  of  metals  and  the  periodic  law  of  Mendeleeff ;  for 
he  showed  that  for  all  metals  there  is  a  simple  relation  between 
their  atomic  weight,  the  amplitude  of  the  movement  of  their 
molecules  under  the  influence  of  heat,  and  their  melting-point. 
Pure  metals  w  ith  high  melting-points^ — such  as  platinum,  iron. 
copper,  and  gold — are  comparatively  strong  ;  and,  conversely, 
metals  w  ith  low  melting-[X)ints — zinc,  lea<i,  cadmium,  bismuth, 
and  tin  are  relatively  weak.  Metals  with  high  melting-[x>ints 
must  nece.s.sarily  be  coherent  and  tenacious,  because  much  heat  is 
rccjuired  to  drive  their  molecules  apart  in  reducing  them  lo  ihe 
li({uid  mobile  slate  in  which  the  molecules  have  very  small  ct>- 
hercnce ;  an<l  therefore  at  ordinary  temperatures  much  force 
must  be  applied  to  overcome  the  cohesion  of  the  molecules  and 
break  the  mass.  Conversely,  in  metals  with  low-  melting-points 
a  small  elevation  of  temperature  will  overcome  the  molecular 
cohesion,  and  reiuler  them  liquid — that  is.  will  melt  them.  Such 
metals  will  be  weak,  the  author  continued,  because  if  little  heat 
is  required  to  melt  the  metal,  less  force  will  be  needed  to  tear  it 
apart.  Hence  melting-point  and  tenacity  are  clearly  connected. 
The  absolute  temperature  of  the  melting-point  of  a  metal  must  be 
clo.sely  connected  with  its  atomic  volume,  because  the  former  is 
inversely  proportional  to  the  rate  at  which  the  amplitufle  of  the 
oscillations  <^f  the  molecules  increases  with  temperature;  and  the 
rate  of  increase  of  amplitude  at  any  given  lemperalure  is  obtained 
by  multiplying  the  orclinary  thermal  coeflicient  of  linear  e.\pan- 
.si<jn  by  the  cube  root  of  the  atomic  volume. ' 

Prof.  Roberts- Austen  here  pointed  out  that  the  recent  work  of 
i  Dewar  and  Fleming  (Philosophical  Magazine,  vol.  xxxiv.  1892. 
]>.  326)  bears  directly  on   this  tpiestion.     They  employed  ver\' 
low  temperatures,  and  show  that  at  the  aljsolute  zero  of  tempera- 
ture pure  metals  would  prohalily  offer  no  resistance  to  the  parage 
of  an  electric  current,  but  ihal  the  electrical  resistance  of  alloys 
does  not   diminish  so   rapidly  w  ith  the  lowering  of  temperature 
as  in  the  case  of  pure  metals.     Prof.  Dewar  (Proceedings  of  the 
Royal  Institution,  vol.  .\iv.  part  2,  1895,  P    ')  ''^^  shown,  more- 
over, that   the   tenacity  of  pure   metals   anil   alloys   is  greatly 
'  increased  by  extreme  cold — that  is',  by  the  closer  approximation 
'  of  their  molecules  ;  and   this   affords  additional  e\-idence  that 
1  metals  become  stronger  at  teniperatures  w  hich  aire  further  and 
'  further  removed  from  their  melting-poiiits. ' 

The  disciLssion  on  this  pa|H:r  was  of  a  .somewhat  brief  n.ature. 
the  reading  of  the  report  and  the  ■  appendices,  together  with  the 
carrying  out  of  certain  experiments  and  illustrations,  taking  a 
considerable  time.  Mr.  VVrightson  also  explained  at  some 
length  his  welding  experiments,  which,  as  staled,  have  been 
placed  before  the  Royal  Society. 

I'rof.  tJoodman,  of  Leeds,  gave  some  interesting  ])articulars  of 
the  work  upon  which  he  has  been  engaged  during  the  last  two 
years  in  connection  with  anti-friction  alloys.  He  had  discovered 
that  these  substances  must  always  contain  a  metal  of  high  atomic 
volume,  and  there  seemed  to  be  a  direct  connection  between  the 
efficiency  of  Ihe  anti-friction  of  alloy  and  the  atomic  volume  of 
one  of  its  constituents.  If  the  atomic  volume  of  the  alloy  were 
small,  then  the  friction  was  enormously  incre'aseil,  but  with  high 
atomic  volume  it  was  reduced.  He  had  produced  an  anti-friction 
metal  which  would  withstand  a  pressure  of  two  tons  to  the  square 
inch  when  running  at  550  revolutions  per  minute,  the  temperature 
lieing  140  :  that  was  a  very  remarkable  result  for  a  white  metal. 
The  alloy  used  had  a  higher  atomic  volume  than  bismuth,  but  he 
was  not  at  liberty  then  to  slate  the  nature  of  the  subst.ance.  He 
wished,  however,  to  impress  the  necessity  of  absolute  purity,  or 
that  if  there  were  any  impurities,  they  should  lie  of  high  atomic 
volume. 

Mr.  Blount,  in  referring  lo  the  author's  remark.s  on  the  electro- 
lysis of  gla,ss,  and  the  fact  that  ixjtassium' wiiuld  not  follow 
sodium  and  lithium,  said  he  would  be  glad  of  an  explanation 
why  gold,  which  had  a  lower  atomic  volume  than  sodium, should 
not  have  traversed  the  "  gtilleries"  left  in  the  gla-ss  by  the 
sodium. 

The  summer  meeting  of  the  Institution  will  lie  held  in 
idasgow.  commencing  Tuesday,  July  30. 


THE  RO  YAL  COMMISSION  ON 
TCHF.KCVI.OSIS. 

TN  July  1.S90,  a   Royal  Commis.sion  was  apiioinled   to   inquire 

I   ^     and  reiv>rt  "  what  is  the  eftect,  if  any,  of  fooil  derived  from 

I  tuberculous  animals  on  human  health,  and  if  jirejiulicial.  what 

arc  the  circumstances  and  conditions  with   regard   tothe  tuber- 


20 


NATURE 


[May  :;,  1895 


culosis  in  the  nninial  which  prmhiccs  that  eflcct  ii|K>n  man. 
L<)nl  Basing  was  Ihc  chairman,  and  the  other  connnissioners 
were:  IVif.  CI.  T.  Brown,  Sir  tleorge  Buchanan,  Dr.  CI.  F. 
Pa)Tic,  and  Prof.  Burxion  Sanderson.  After  the  death  of  l^rd 
Basing,  in  Oclolier  last,  the  commission  was  reorganised  with 
Sir  George  Buchanan  as  chairman.  The  report  of  this  com- 
mission, u|)on  the  evidence  and  esi>erimenlal  Inquiries  received 
since  the  appointment  of  the  original  comniissitwt  five  years  ago, 
was  presented  to  I'arliament  hisl  week.  The  general  results  of 
the  inquiries  instituted  liy  the  commissions  in  connection  with 
the  matter  referred  to  them,  will  l)e  found  in  the  .subjoined 
summar}'  api>endc-<l  tuthe  report  : — 

"  We  have  obtained  ample  evidence  that  food  derived  from 
tuberculous  animals  can  produce  tuberculosis  in  healthy  .animals. 
The  projX)rlion  of  animals  contracting  tuberculosis  after  e.\]x'ri- 
mcntal  use  of  such  f<i<p<l  is  different  in  one  and  anolhcr  class  of 
animals  ;  Uilh  carnivi>ra  and  herbivora  are  susceptible,  and  the 
pro|>ortion  is  high  in  Jiig-s.  In  the  absence  of  direct  e\iH;riments 
on  human  .subjects  we  infer  that  man  also  can  acquire  tulier- 
culosis  by  fee-ding  iqon  inaterials  derived  from  tuberculous  foml 
animals.  The  actual  amount  of  tuberculous  disease  among 
certain  clas-ses  of  fo<xI  animals  is  so  large  as  to  afford  to  man 
frequent  occasions  for  contracting  tuberculous  disease  through 
his  food.  As  to  the  proixirtion  of  luberculo.sis  acquired  by  man 
through  his  foixl  or  through  other  means  we  can  form  no 
definite  opinion,  but  we  think  it  prol«ble  that  an  a|ipreciable 
[jart  of  the  tuberculosis  that  aflecis  man  is  obtained  through  his 
food.  The  circumstances  and  conditions  with  regard  to  the 
tuberculosis  in  the  food  animal  which  le.ad  to  the  production  of 
lulicrculosis  in  man  are,  ultimately,  the  presence  of  active  tuber- 
culous matter  in  the  food  taken  from  the  animal  and  consumed 
by  the  man  in  a  raw  or  insufhcienlly  cooked  slate.  Tuberculous 
disease  is  observed  most  frequently  in  c;iltle  and  in  swine,  ll  is 
found  far  more  frequenlly  in  cattle  (full  grown)  than  in  calves, 
and  with  much  greater  frequency  in  cows  kept  in  town  cow- 
houses than  in  cattle  bred  for  the  express  purjiose  of  slaughter. 
Tulierculous  matter  is  but  seldom  fouiul  in  the  meat  substance  of 
the  carcase  ;  il  is  princi|ially  found  in  Ihe  organ.s,  membranes, 
and  gland.s.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  tuberculous  matter, 
when  present  in  meat  sold  to  Ihe  public,  is  more  commoidy  due 
to  the  contamination  of  the  surface  of  the  meat  with  material 
derived  from  other  diseased  |xirts  than  to  disease  of  the  meal 
itself.  The  .s.ame  m.atter  is  found  in  the  milk  of  cow  s  w  hen  the 
H<lder  has  Ijccome  invaded  by  tuberculous  disease,  aiul  .seldom  or 
never  when  the  udder  is  not  disca.sed.  Tuberculous  matter  in 
milk  is  exceptionally  .nctive  in  its  oi)eration  uixin  animals  fed 
either  with  the  milk  or  with  dair)'  priKluce  derived  from  it.  No 
doubt  the  largest  part  (if  the  tuberculosis  which  man  obtains 
through  his  food  is  by  means  of  milk  cemtainini;  tul>crruliius 
matter.  The  recognition  of  tuberculous  dLsc-ase  during  llie  life 
of  an  animal  is  not  wholly  unattended  with  difficulty.  Happily, 
however,  it  can  in  most  cases  lie  detected  with  certainty  in  the 
udders  of  milch  cow.s.  Provided  ever)- |>art  thai  is  the  seat  of 
lulxTCulous  matter  4>e  avoided  and  destroyed,  and  provided  care 
lie  taken  to  .save  from  ccmlamination  by  such  matter  the  actual 
meat  sulislance  <tf  a  tuberculous  animal,  a  great  cleal  of  nieal 
from  animals  affected  by  tuberculosis  may  be  eaten  without  risk 
to  the  consumer.  Ordinary  processes  of  cooking  ap|>lie<l  to 
meat  which  has  gol  contaminale<l  on  its  surface  are  jirobably 
sufficient  to  destroy  the  harmful  quality.  They  w<iuld  not  av.iil 
to  render  wholesome  any  piece  of  meal  thai  ronlained  tuber- 
culous matter  in  its  <lee|>er  |>arls.  in  regard  to  milk,  we  are 
aware  of  the  preference  by  lOnglisli  peojile  fi>r  drinking  cows" 
milk  raw  a  practice  attended  by  danger  on  account  of  possible 
contamination  by  jxitlKigenic  organisms.  The  iHiiling  of  milk, 
even  for  a  moment,  would  pr<il>al>ly  be  .sufiicienl  to  remove  the 
vcr)'  dangerous  qu.ility  of  tulierculous  milk.  We  nole  thai  your 
Majesty's  gracious  ronnnands  do  not  extend  lo  intpiiry  or  re|)ort 
on  administrative  pr(Hx-»lnres  availalile  for  reducing  the  anuumt 
of  tulx:rcul'ius  material  In  Ihe  foiKl  supplied  by  animals  to  nian. 
and  «c  !■...  ,,  .,..|,.i  ^\\r\\  i|ueslions  as  being  lieycmd  our 
province. 

run  GKoi.oofCAL  DJcyh/.oPMKNr  or 

AUSTHAI.M. 
|JY  the  kindness  of  Ihe  Secretary  of  the  Australasian   As.so- 
■*^     cintlon  for  the   Advancement   of   .Science,    we   have    been 
favoured  with  a  romplele  account  of  Ihe  proceedings  of  Ihe  late 
meeting  at   BrisUine.     'i'he    lion.  A.  ('.  (Iregory.    C.M.ti..  Ihe 

NO.    I  33 1,  VOL.   52] 


president  of  the  meeting,  tot^k  as  the  subject  of  his  address- 
"  The  Geographical  History  of  the  .\ustralian  Conlinenl  iluring 
its  successive  I'hascs  of  ( "■eiilogical  Development."  The  subject 
afforded  Mr.  tlregory  an  op|X)rtunity  for  ixitting  on  record  the 
knowle<lge  he  has  gained  from  personal  inspection  of  a  larger 
proportion  of  .Australian  territory  than  has  been  explored  by  any 
otlier  investigator.  We  are  glad  to  be  abli-  lo  give  Ihe  lext  of 
his  address. 

Primary  Condition  ani>  Form  oi'  Land. 

In  dealing  with  the  geological  hislorj-  of  .Australia,  ii  is  con- 
venient to  refer  lo  the  groups  of  formatl(»n,  as  the  scope  of  this 
address  is  insiifiicient  for  the  sepanile  consideration  of  the  com- 
ixinent  mend)ers  of  each  group  which  has  taken  prominent  part 
in  the  geographical  establishment  of  sea  and  land.  Like  all 
histories  of  remote  events,  the  evidence  of  what  was  the  primar)' 
condition  and  form  of  the  land  is  necessarily  of  very  limited 
character.  1ml  some  evidence  does  remain  for  our  guiilance. 
The  earliest  indications  of  the  existence  of  land  wltliin  llic  limils 
of  the  present  Australian  continent  consists  in  the  lad  thai  many 
of  the  more  elevated  summits  are  composed  of  *' granite,"  which 
is  certainly  the  oldest  rock  formation  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted. 

It  is  here  neces.s;iry  to  state  that  the  term  granite  is  used  to 
indicate  ancient  or  continental  granite,  and  that  the  granitoid 
rocks,  which  are  so  closely  allied  in  lithological  aspect  as  lo  pass 
under  the  s;ime  designation,  liul  are  really  Intrusive  masses  of 
more  recenl  date,  even  as  late  as  the  I'ermo-carlxinifcrous 
period  will  be  lernied  intrusive  granite.  Now  the  higher  portions 
of  the  granite  ranges  show  no  suix'rincumbent  strata,  while 
sedimentary  beds  fold  round  their  flanks  in  a  manner  which 
indicates  that  the  edges  of  these  strata  were  formed  near  the 
margin  of  an  ancient  sea,  above  which  the  more  ele\aled  ma.s.scs 
of  granite  rose  as  islands.  .As  an  instance  of  this  early  existence 
of  land,  we  find  on  the  present  east  coast  that  the  granite  tract  of 
New  I'.ngland  is  flanked  by  Devonian  slates  and  marine  beds 
of  spirifer  limestones  in  positions  which  indicate  that  their 
deposition  w:us  in  an  ocean  of  at  least  2000  feet  in  depth,  atxive 
which  the  granite  mountains  ro.sc  to  an  elevation  of  2000  feel. 
.\dopling  .similar  evidence  as  a  basis  for  llie  estimation  of  the 
area  of  land  at  this  earlier  date,  it  appears  that  there  existed  a 
chain  of  islanils  extending  from  Tasmania  northerly  along  the 
line  of  the  preseni  great  dividing  range,  Ktween  Ihe  ea.slerri 
and  western  streams  nearly  to  Cape  \'ork,  a  distance 
of  about  2000  miles,  and  with  a  breadth  seldom  ex- 
ceeding 100  miles.  In  Western  .Australia  a  much  broader 
area  of  dry  land  existed  In  the  form  of  a  granite  tableland,  the 
western  liniil  of  which,  connnencing  at  Cape  Leeuwin,  extended 
north  for  fxx)  miles,  with  a  straight  coasl-line  rising  scxj  feet  to 
1000  feet  above  the  ocean.  This  land  had  a  breadth  east  and 
west  of  about  zoo  miles,  but  Us  eastern  shores  werecom|xiralivel)r 
low  and  irregidar,  with  probably  detached  insular  jiorlions,  more 
especl.ally  on  the  norlhern  side,  as  the  stratified  rocks  in  which 
the  West  Auslrallan  gold  mines  are  worked  have  an  exceedingly 
Irregular  outline  where  they  overlay  the  granite.  Iklwecn  ihcse 
eastern  Islands  and  the  western  land,  ihere  probably  existed  some 
granite  peaks  which  rose  above  the  ocean,  bul  Ihe  eviilence  is 
that  they  were  nol  of  inipoitanl  area,  and  princliially  located  in 
Ihe  northern  parts.  The  remaiiuler  of  the  present  continent  was 
covered  by  an  ocean  gradually  increiusing  in  depth  from  the 
western  land  to  the  central  part,  anil  greal  depth  continued  lo 
Ihe  shores  of  the  eastern  Islands. 

.SKIIIMKNI  AKV    DkI'OSI  IS 

The  ncM  .step  in  our  history  is  that  the  natural  deconqiosltion 
of  the  granite,  liolh  terrestrial  and  marine,  supplied  material  for 
sedimentary  de|x>sits  :  anil  we  finil  a  series  of  nnperfeclly  .strati- 
fieil  grit  rocks,  together  with  schists  and  slates,  the  fimner  the 
results  of  Ihe  de|)oslllon  of  the  coarser  drifts,  and  the  latter  the 
more  gradual  de|)osil  of  the  finer  jiarlicles.  These  rocks,  which 
are  ckussed  as  Ijuirentlaii,  Candirian,  and  Silurian,  ilid  nol  ex- 
lend  far  from  the  easlern  Islands,  and  are  i>rinclpally  developed 
In  (^ueen.sland  to  Ihe  norlh  and  In  \icloria  lo  Ihe  south,  bul, 
Ix-ing  of  marine  formalion,  they  did  nol  then  malerially  affect 
Ihe  geographical  configuration,  though  they  are  Imporlanl  features 
(■f  Ihe  preseni  lime,  and  are  the  chief  sources  of  oiir  lin  mines  ; 
and  silver,  lead,  and  copper  also  exist  in  sulficient  quanlily  lo 
afford  pros|)ect  of  fiiUire  Induslrial  success.  There  is  al.so  a 
marked  characteristic  in  the  abundant  iH-currence  of  lluor  spar. 
which  Is  an  exceedingly   rar.-   mine  r:d    in   ihi'   later   formations. 


M 


\\ 


i«95] 


NATURE 


21 


ihilc  j;ol<l  does  not  occur  in  important  quantity  except  in  its 
upper  or  Silurian  strata  in  Victoria.  Near  Zilmantown  (lat. 
17'  20'  S.,  loni;.  144'  30'  E. )  there  are  interesting  <levelopments 
•I  these  rocks,  which  now  form  steep  ranges  with  flat-bottomed 
\.illeys,  in  which  coralline  limestone  of  the  Devonian  period  rests 
unconfonnably,  and  in  places  rises  abruptly  several  hundred  feel, 
presenting  the  form  of  ancient  coral  reefs,  such  as  now  exist  on 
the  great  Barrier  Reefs.  In  fact,  they  indicate  that  at  some  re- 
mote time  a  passage  existed  from  the  ea.st  coa-st  to  the  southern 
part  of  the  (lulf  of  Carpentaria,  under  similar  conditions  to  those 
of  the  present  Torres  Straits,  and  that  the  subsequent  elevation 
■of  the  land  has  now  placed  it  more  than  500  feet  above  sea- 
level.  This  description  of  the  present  slate  of  these  rocks  is, 
however,  a  digression  in  regard  to  geological  sequences  of  the 
«arly  [»riod. 

.More  Favoi  rable  CoNnrnoNS. 

The  Cambrian  and  Silurian  period  was  succeeded  by  the 
Devonian,  during  which  there  is  little  evidence  of  any  great 
■variation  in  the  limits  of  the  sea  and  land,  but  organic  remains 
show  that  the  conditions  were  becoming  more  favourable  for  the 
development  of  marine  life.  The  rocks  consist  principally  of 
fine-grained  slates,  which  must  have  been  deposited  in  a  deep 
sea,  and  in  some  places  the  now  visible  sections  indicate  a  thick- 
ness of  10,000  feet. 

The  upper  strata  connected  with  the  Devonian  series  have 
been  cla.s-sed  by  geologists  as  belonging  to  the  Permo-carboni- 
ferous,  on  account  of  the  marine  fo.ssils  which  have  been  found 
in  the  Gympie  series  of  rocks.  Some  difficulties,  however,  arise 
in  regard  to  the  identification  of  Australian  rocks  with  those  of 
I''nroj5e  on  the  .sole  Ijasis  of  the  occurrence  of  nearly  the  same 
•\  'Lcies  of  mollusca,  and  it  may  be  remarked  that  in  Central  North 
America  the  appearance  of  fossil  mollusca  and  plants,  which 
miuld  in  Europe  indicate  a  definite  horizon,  often  occurs  in 
r '  >cks  which  lithologically  and  stratigraphically  are  of  an  earlier 
•Lite  ;  and  the  same  conditions  of  the  earlier  appearance  of  species 
uul  genera  seem  to  obtain  in  .-Xustralia,  and  if  ultimately  estab- 
li>he<l  would  clear  away  many  of  the  existing  ilifficulties  in  the 

nqKirison  of  .-Vustralian  and  .-Vmericaii  fossils  with  tho.se  of 
I  iiro[>c.  .-Accepting  the  classification  of  the  Gympie  rocks  as 
I'rrmo-carboniferous,  there  was  no  important  alteration  in  the 
■^rographical  limits  during  the  Devonian  period,  or  in  the  earlier 
Permo-carlxmiferous  (jympie  beds,  but  shortly  after  this  there 
were  very  decided  variations  in  both  the  area  and  altitude  of  the 
Jand.  The  whole  of  the  present  continental  area  was  raised 
sufficiently  to  lift  large  portions  of  the  previous  sea-bottom  above 
its  .surface.  The  principal  elevation  was  on  the  eastern  co,ast, 
where  the  rise  must  have  been  several  thousand  feet  ;  whi'e  on 
the  west  it  was  less  pronounced,  though  the  area  added  to  the 
land  appears  to  have  included  nearly  the  whole  of  what  is  now 
Western  Australia,  .■^nd  in  regard  to  the  intervening  space  be- 
tween it  and  the  eastern  ranges  there  is  only  the  negative 
evidence,  of  no  later  marine  deposits  to  indicate  that  it  also  was 
above  the  ocean.  Although  the  general  elevation  of  the  conti- 
nent appears  to  have  been  quiescent  in  the  western  and  central 
parts,  there  were  violent  disruptions  on  the  eastern  coast,  and 
the  strata  were  apparently  crushed  by  a  force  from  the  east  which 
lifted  them  into  a  series  of  waves  showing  the  faces  of  dislocation 
to  the  east  and  strata  sloping  to  the  west,  the  most  easterly  wave 
being  near  the  present  coast-line,  and  the  succeeding  waves  more 
gradual  as  they  recede  to  the  west,  both  in  angle  and  height, 
■until  they  merge  into  the  level  of  Central  .Australia.  It  is  also 
probable  that  the  South  Australian  range  was  also  the  result  of 
this  compression,  causing  the  strata  to  rise  in  abrupt  mas.ses  on 
an  axis  nearly  north  and  south.  It  was  at  this  stiige  of  disruption 
and  elevation  of  strata  that  the  more  important  auriferous 
deposits  of  both  the  eastern  and  western  p.irts  of  the  continent 
were  formed,  and  these  may  be  divided  into  two  classes  -true 
fissure  veins,  or  lodes,  in  which  the  deposits  of  ore  are  found  filling 
fi.ssurcs  in  the  slate  strata,  and  generally  nearly  vertical  ;  and  floors 
of  ore  which  occur  in  sheets  dipping  at  a  less  angle  from  the 
horizontal  than  the  vertical,  the  including  rock  being  of  cry.slal- 
line  character,  being,  in  fiict,  intrusive  granites.  The  dip  of  these 
sheets  of  ore  is  in  the  direction  of  the  huge  dykes  of  intrusive 
rock  in  which  they  occur. 

.-\uRiKERous  Deposits  i.n  Lodes. 

There  was  not  only  great  disruption  of  the  strata,  but  igneous 
rocks  forced  themselves  into  the  fissures  in  the  sedimentary  beds, 
■  ind  the  resulting  metamorphism  of  the  adjacent  rocks  increased  the 

NO.    133  I,   \OI..    52] 


confusion,  as  beds  of  slate  may  be  traced  through  the  transforma- 
tion of  their  sedimentary  character,  by  the  recrystallisation  of 
their  component  elements  into  tiiorites  having  that  peculiar 
structure  of  radiating  crystals  which  usually  characterise  rocks  of 
volcanic  origin.  .-Xs  regards  the  auriferous  ileposits  in  these 
lodes,  it  appears  that  first  simple  fissures  were  filled  with  water 
from  the  ocean  or  deep-seated  sources ;  but  in  either  case  the 
powerful  electric  currents  which  continually  traverse  the  earth's 
surface  east  and  west  met  resistance  at  the  lines  of  disruption, 
and  electric  action  being  developeil,  the  mineral  and  metallic 
salts  in  the  water  in  the  fissure  ami  the  a<ljacent  rocks  would  be 
decomposed,  and  the  constituents  deiwsited  as  elements,  such  as 
gold  and  silver,  or  as  compounds,  such  as  quartz,  calcsp;ir,  and 
sulphide  of  iron,  all  which  were  in  course  of  deposit  at  the  same  time 
as  the  angles  of  the  crystals  cut  into  each  other.  There  have  been 
many  speculations  as  to  the  .source  from  which  the  gold  was  de- 
rived, but  that  which  best  accords  with  the  actual  conditions  is  that 
the  metal  exists  in  very  minute  quantities  in  the  m.ass  of  the  adjacen  I 
rocks,  from  which  it  h.as  been  transferred  thrcjugh  the  agency  of 
electric  currents  and  the  solvent  action  of  alkaline  chlorides, 
which  dissolve  small  quantities  of  the  precious  metals,  and  would 
be  subject  to  decomposition  at  the  places  where  fissures  caused 
greater  resistance  to  the  electric  current.  One  remarkable  cir- 
cumstance is  that  the  character  of  the  rocks  forming  the  sides  of 
the  fissures  has  an  evident  influence  on  the  richness  of  the  ores 
in  metals  where  lime,  magnesia,  or  other  alkaline  compounds,  or 
graphite,  enter  into  their  composition ;  the  gold  especially  is 
more  abundant  than  where  the  rocks  contain  silica  and  alumina 
only. 

Queensland's  Testi.monv. 

In  Queensland,  Gympie  affords  some  instructive  examples  of 
fissure  lodes.  In  some,  large  masses  t)f  rock  have  fallen  into  the 
fissure  before  the  ore  was  deposited,  and  have  formed  what 
miners  term  "  horses,'*  where  the  lode  splits  into  two  thin  sheets 
to  again  unite  below  the  fallen  mass.  The  Mount  Morgan  mine 
may  also  be  cited  as  a  case  where  several  fissure  lodes  rise  to  the 
surface  in  close  proximity.  The  ore  was.origuially  an  auriferous 
pyrites,  but  the  sulphide  of  iron  was  largely  decomjio.sed,  leaving 
the  gold  disseminated  through  the  oxide  of  iron.  In  other  cases 
the  sulphur  and  iron  have  both  been  dissolved  out,  and  left 
cellular  quartz,  with  gold  in  the  cavities  or  as  fragments  of  gold, 
mixed  with  minute  crystals  of  quartz,  presenting  the  aspect  of 
kaolin,  for  which  it  has  been  mistaken.  The  auriferous  deposits, 
which  occur  in  the  intrusive  granites,  appear  tmder  conditions 
differing  from  the  true  lodes  in  sedimentary  riKks,  as  the  intrusive 
granitoid  rock  forms  dykes  which  fill  fissures  in  the  older  true 
granites,  and  also  cut  through  the  sedimentary  slates.  It  bears 
evidence  of  intrtision  in  a  state  of  fusion,  or,  at  least,  in  pla.stic 
condition  and  subsequently  crystallised,  after  which  there  has 
been  shrinkage,  causing  cavities  as  the  sides  of  the  dyke  were 
held  in  position  by  the  enclosing  rock.  The  vertical  shrinkage 
being  greater  than  the  horizontal,  the  cavities  were  nearer  the 
horizontal  than  the  vertical,  antl  being  afterwards  filled  with  ore, 
formed  what  are  called  "  floors,"  one  characteristic  of  which  is 
the  tendency  to  lenticular  form,  or  .a  central  maximum  thickness 
with  thinner  edges.  The  Charters  Towers  goldfield  exhibits  a 
good  illustration  of  this  class  of  auriferous  intrusive  granite. 
Here  the  intrusive  granite  appears  as  a  dyke  of  great  thickness, 
exceeding  a  mile,  with  a  length  of  twenty  miles ;  the  rock  is 
well-crystallised  quartz  and  felspar,  with  very  little  mica  or 
hornblende.  <Jne  shaft  has  been  sunk  2000  feet  to  a  floor  showing 
gold,  and  similar  to  the  floors  that  outcrop  on  the  surface.  The 
clip  of  these  floors  is  north,  about  30  <legrees  from  the  horizontal, 
and  the  strike  across  the  ilirection  of  the  tlyke.  There  are, 
however,  no  good  natural  cross-sections,  as  the  watercourses  are 
small,  so  that  the  length  and  breadth  have  to  be  estimated  to 
some  extent  by  the  character  of  the  soil  derived  firom  the 
decompo.se<l  rock,  it  Iicing  more  fertile  than  that  of  the  other 
rocks  in  the  Iix:alily.  The  exploratory  shafts  which  have  been 
sunk  are  in  jxisitions  selecle<l  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  known 
sheets  of  ore  at  greater  depth,  or  under  the  impression  that  the 
ore  de|x>sits  were  true  fissure  lodes,  and  would  have  extension  in 
the  ilirection  of  the  discovered  outcrops,  and  therefore  not 
calculated  to  exteml  our  knowledge  of  the  auriferous  deposits. 
The  most  instructive  instance  of  the  occurrence  of  auriferous 
intrusive  granite  jxLsts  in  the  valley  of  the  Brisbane  River,  near 
Eskdale,  where  a  granitoid  dyke,  fifty  yards  wide,  cuts  through 
a  slate  hill  for  a  dLslance  of  three  miles,  and  in  places  shows  thiu 
:  sheets  of  (|uarl/  containing  gold  ;  the  strike  is  at  right  angles  to 
the  length  of  the  dyke,  ami  the  dip  is  30  degrees.     .Some  of  the 


NATURIi 


[May  2,  1S95 


•  ,u,iri/  Micti^  ii.ni.  i>i>.ii  traced  across  the  dyke  towithiiian  inch  of  | 
thcslatf  which  cnclnsfsil.  Iml  thcrt-  is  notraceof  any  varialion  in  1 
ihc  sciiiincntarj'  slalv  ojiixisitc  the  tnd  of  Ihi-  quart/.     A  small 
watercourse  cuts  through  the  dyke  and  ex|xises  arsenical  pyrites  j 
and  iron  oxide,  with  small  |mrlicUs  of  gold.     A  more  accessible 
instance  of  intrusive  granite  is  ex|>osc-<l  in  the  cutting  for  the 
hywash  of  the   Bri.sliane  Waterworks,  at    Enoggera,  where  the 
igneous  rock  has  intruded  l)etween  the  strata  of  the  slate. 

Per.M€>-<akhomikrois  Rocks. 
From  the  middle  to  the  close  of  the  I'ermo-carboniferous  period 
the  dry  land  teemetl  with  vegetation,  of  which  the  Lepido- 
'lendron  was  a  conspicutms  ty|H;,  along  the  eastern  division,  for 
ihough  this  plant  was  most  aliundant  in  Queensland,  it  is  also 
I'ound  in  \ictoria.  and  on  the  Philips  River,  in  West  Australia, 
where  the  later  I'enno-carlmniferous  rt>cks  are  found  on  the  south 
coast,  extending  from  .Mbany  eastward  to  Israelite  Bay,  forming 
the  .Stirling  Range.,  with  an  elevation  of  3CXX)  feet,  the  Mounts 
liarren.  and  Russell  Range.  The  age  of  these  rocks  is 
determined  by  the  occurrence  i>f  large  fragments  of  cartxjnised 
vegetation,  the  asjiect  of  which  closely  resemble  I,epidoden- 
dron  stems.  This  formation  is  limited  to  the  coast  district. 
as,  at  a  distance  of  fifty  miles  inland,  the  granitic  plateau  is 
reached  with  its  [lartial  coK)Uring  of  Devonian  slates.  On  the 
northern  coast  the  rermo-carbonifcrous  rocks  are  de\elo|>ed  in 
the  valley  of  the  \'ictoria  River  for  a  hundred  miles  from  the 
sea.  Also  im  the  Kimlierley  goldfield,  to  the  smith-wesl  of 
Victoriii. 

(;KO(.;RAflllrAI.   FKATl'Rt;S. 

The  geographical  features  of  this  jxjriod  appear.' to  ha\e  l)een 
a  continent,  somewhat  similar  in  form  to  that  of  the  present 
Australia.  There  was  an  elevated  range  along  the  Ciist  coast 
«hich  attracted  moisture,  .tnd  a  climate  favourable  to  vegetation, 
.ind  also  by  rapid  lUgradation  of  its  rixrks  supplied  suitable  soil 
:or  tropical  gci>wth.  The  central  interior  was  not  favoured  b\ 
-uch  a  climate,  and  there  are  few  traces  of  cither  ileiX)sil  or 
denudation.  Thi- western  interior  enjoyed  a  moderate  rainfall.  | 
.ind  the  detritus  was  carrie<l  down  ti>wards  the  north  and  .south 

•  ■t>asts,  where  it  was  <le|K>.sited  in  regioiis  where  thecarlioniferous 
Hi>ra  flourished,  though  not  to  the  sime  degree  as  in  East 
Australia,  where  it. laid  the  foundation  of  the  great  ctxilfields  of 
\ew  .South  Wales  and  Queensland. 

KURIIIKR  El.KVATIO.S  Ol-  CoNTINKNf. 
.Vbout  the  end  'if  the  I'aheozoic  or  the, commencement  of  the 
Mesoy-oic  ])eriiKls  there  a|>|>ears  to  have  l>een  a  further  elevation 
of  the  continent.  es|>ecially  in  the  eastern  |xirl,  for  ihough  in 
many  places  the  ilejiosits  of  the  strata  .show  little  interruption, 
in  others  there  Ilis  lieen  considerable  disturbance  and  unc<m- 
fomiity  of  succession,  with  indications  of  an  increase  in  the 
elevation  of  the  laiul.  which,  with  a  contingent  incrc-ise  of  rain- 
fall, account.^  for  the  luxuriant  growth  of  the  carlKinaceous  flora 
and  its  extension  much  further  to  the  west.  The  artesian  Itores 
which  have  lieen  m.ide  show  that  the  crel.aceous  be<ls  rest  on  the 
larbonaceous  at  a  depth  of  2000  feel  In-'low  the  present  ocean 
level,  and  the  fre.sh-water  lieds  of  the  ct>al  series  are  not  less 
than  3000  feet  in  thickness,  showing  that  the  terrestrial  lexel  of 
the  mountains  has  lieen  decreased  5000  feet,  or.  in  other  words. 
they  were  5000  feet  higher  during  the  Mesozoic  period.  On  Ihe 
western  coa.st  the  elevation  is  not  so  well  defined,  but  the  land 
was  at  a  grc-ater  height  atmve  the  ocean  than  at  present,  as 
iragments  of  coal  and  ils  acc€>m|>an)-ing  minerals  have,  been 
w.isheil  up  from  the  deep  sea.  and  may  lie  founil  endiedded  in 
the  Tertiary  liniolones  of  Ihe  roast.  Tlurc  is  thus  proof  thai 
in  the  weslcir,c>t  ihe  land  extended  further,  ami  wa- iiivere<l  with 
\u>lr.-ilian  fresh-water  flora  of  thecoal  period  :  but  this  area  is  now 
■•ulimerged,  and,  taking  into  con.sideratiim  the  great  depth  of 
the  ocean  on  this  coasf,  Ihe  height  of  the  land  nnist  have 
exceeded  ils  present  level  by  a  thousand  feel.  ICxamining  the 
■  und  the  present  .Australian  coast,  even  5000  feet 
iliderence  in  the  limits  of  the  west,  .xiuth,  and 

i.>:  but  on   the  north  and  exsl  the  land   would 

extend  to  the  <  ireil  liarrier  Keef.  I'apua  would  have  lieen 
annexed,  and  even  the  .\rufura  Sea  and  l.sland  of  Timor  might 
have  been  lirought  nilhiii  Ihe  limits  of  Terra  Amtratii. 

\  KOKlAlniN   ol-    All.><rKAI.IA. 

The  mountain  raiigcH  of  the  cost  coast  would  lie  connected 
with  ihoK  of  I'apua  and  form  a  magnificent  series  of  summits  of 
10.000  feet  elevation,  a  configuration  that   must  have  arrested 


the  moisture  from  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  resulted  in  a  moist 
tropical  climate,  well  calculated  to  supjxirt  the  luxuriant  growth 
of  the  vc-geUition  of  the  coal  jK-riod  so  far  as  East  .\ustnilia  was 
aflected,  though  it  might  also  have  had  the  effc-ct  of  rendering 
the  climate  of  Central  and  West  Australia  .so  dry  .ts  to  render 
the  land  a  de-sert  iluring  the  continuance  of  this  carlHinaceous 
jieriod.  East  Australia  has  thus,  on  its  lower  levels,  accumulated 
stores  of  fuel  for  use  in  ages  long  suliictiuent.  The  luxuriant 
vegetation  necessar)  to  the  production  of  coal  was  limited  to 
the  are-a  east  tif  the  I40lh  meridian,  except  in  a  pcirtitni  of  South 
-Vustralia,  which  seems  to  have  been  favoured  by  the  overflow  of 
some  large  rivers  draining  the  western  slopes  of  thetireat  Range, 
and  hatl  their  outlet  through  Spencer's  (iulf.  The  vegetation 
of  Au.stralia  at  this  period,  however  well  adajned  for  the  forma- 
tion of  coal  de]X)sits.  was  not  such  as  in  the  jircsent  wtiuld 
be  suitable  for  the  maintenance  of  mammalian  life,  as  it 
consisted  of  ferns,  cycadea.  palms,  and  pine-trees,  of 
which  only  the  Araiicaria  Jiid'u<iUii  has  left  a  living 
repre.sentalive.  and  ils  silicified  wood  from  the  coal  formation 
presents  exactly  the  s;\me  structure  as  the  tree  now  gr<iw  ing  on 
the  ranges.  Australian  geography  underwent  little  change 
during  the  Meso/.oic  period,  but  at  tlu-  comniencemeiil  of  the 
Cretaceous  a  general  .subsidence  of  the  whole  continent  began. 
The  ctial  deposits  ceased,  and  a  fresh-walcr  deposit  known  as 
the  Rolling  Downs  formalion  accumulated,  the  constituents 
lieing  soft  .shales,  which  in  the  earlier  period  supported  a  growth 
of  ferns  and  pine  limber.  The  land  continued  to  sub.side  until 
the  ocean  invaded  a  large  portion  of  the  lower  lands,  but  onl) 
as  a  shallow  sea.  or  jxissibly  in  the  form  of  estuaries,  as  the 
fresh-water  vegetation  apjKars  intercalatc<l  witli  marine  lime- 
stones containing  .Vmmonitesand  other  mollusca  of  the  Cretaceous 
epoch. 

Till;  Ck]-;ta(  liors  I'l-.Kiiin. 

The  depression  during  the  Cretaceous  period  nnist  liave  Ixjeiv 

gradual  and  of   long  continuance.     The  ocean  apiKirently  first 

covered  the  laiul  near  the  C>real  .\ustralian   Bight  on  the  south, 

I  and  Arnheini's  Land  on  the  north,  as  in  each  of  these  localities 

I.  there  arc  extensive  deposits  of  thick   bedded  limestones,  which 

I  may  have   continuity  .across  the  continent  under  cover  of  the 

ferruginous  s,and.stones  of  the  latter  jiart  of  ihe  eixich.     On  the 

east    coast  the  ocean  rose  from    100  feet   lo  200  feel  above  its 

present   level   in   (^Hieensland.  as  the  margin  of  the  Cretaceous 

rocks  is  visible  clo.se  to  Soulh  Brisbane,  an<l  there  is  a  bell  along 

the  coa.sl  from  Point  Danger  to  Cdadstone.      I'urther  north  there 

are    extensive    ]iatches  of   Desert    .Sandstone    belonging  lo  this 

period,  though  Ihe  designation  .seems  lo  have   been  applied  to 

two  distinct  beds  of  s;uidslone.  one  bclimging  to  the  clo.se  of  the 

Mesozoic,  and  the  other  lo  the  last  part  of  the  Cret.aceous. 

CiRKAT  Dkprkssion   anh  Erii'1  IONS. 

lltimalely  the  dry  land  was  re<luced  to  the  eastern  ranges. 
fromCa]K-  I  lowe  northerly  Ui  lal.  15°  :  the  eastern  side  nearly  the 
Siime  as  the  present  coasl-line,  and  extending  from  loo  to  300- 
miles  westerly,  while  Ihe  Mount  l.ofty  Range  in  Soulh  .Australia 
existed  as  an  island.  This  great  depicssion  was  .iccomiianied  by 
dislocations  of  .strata  and  also  ihe  eruption  of  porphyritic  in;vsses, 
the  age  of  these  eruptions  being  easily  determined  as  they  rest 
on  the  Ipswich  coal  strata.  .\l  .Mount  l-linders  the  liase  of  the 
mounlain  consists  of  coal  shales  with  abundanl  imjires-sions  of 
l\<opleris.  while  Ihere  is  a  more  inslruciive  instance  near  Tcviol 
Hrook,  where  in  a  <leep  ravine  Ihere  is  a  dyke  of  porphyry 
culling  through  a  lied  of  carlKinaceous  shale  with  Picoptcris  and 
the  silicifieil  stems  of  pine-trees  embedded.  The  dyke  itself  is 
dark-coiiiured  and  highly  crystalline,  but  where  il  spreads  out 
into  a  flat  .sheet  on  the  top  of  the  hill  il  assumes  the  same 
appearance  as  ihe  lighl-coloured  |iorphyry  of  Bri.slane.  This 
ixirphyry  forms  .the  Class-house  Mountains,  which  are  so  con- 
.spicvuius  from  the  entrance  of  Moreton  Bay,  and  also  Mounts 
Warning,  Leslie,  Mar<Kin,  and  Barney. 

The  central  and  western  parts  of  the  continent  were  almost 
entirelv  submerged  in  ihe  ocean,  but  not  to  any  great  deplh.  as 
the  higher  granite  peaks  of  the  north-west  do  not  show  traces  ol 
.submergence,  though  the  sedimentary  deposits  approach  closely 
l<i  their  liiLses.  The  Stirling  and  Mount  Barren  Ranges  on  Ihe 
soulh  coa-st  were  only  partially  covered,  as  ihere  is  an  aniienl 
sea  lieach  on  Ihe  south  side  of 'middle  .Mounl  Barren,  about  300 
feel  aUive  Ihe  present  sea-level.  The  interior  tableland,  though 
now  of  greater  altitude  than  .Mount  Harreii,  was  .subnieiged,  as 
evidenceil  by  the  extension  over  the  whole  of  ihe  rest  of  West 
Australia  of  soft  sandstones  and  clnystones  in  which  salt   and 


NO.    I  V?l.    \''"-.    .S2  I 


May  2,  1895] 


NATURE 


gypsum  are  of  common  occurrence.  On  the  northern  coast  the 
•submergence  was  greater,  as  the  sandstones  and  shales  have  a 
thickness  of  more  than  a  thousand  feet. 

The  Cretaceous  Deposits. 
One  characteristic  of  the  later  part  of  the  Cretaceous  deposits 
is  that  in  the  lower  pari  they  consist   chiefly  of  white,  blue,  anil 
pale    red    shales,    which    reailily  disintegrate,   while    the    ujiper 
portion  consists  of  variegated   sandstones   of  a  harder  character, 
with  a  comparatively  thin  covering  of  ferruginous  concretionary 
pebbles  or  nodules,  often  with  a  nucleus  of  organic  origin.      (Jn 
the  west  co;ist  (latitude  29'),  on  Moresby's    Klat-topped   Range.   | 
these  features  are  well    developed,  and    in    the    upper    part    a   ^ 
bed  of  limestone,  containing  .Vunnonites  and  other  mollusca  of 
the  Cretaceous  series.     And  it  was  from  this  locality  that  the  first 
proofs  of  the  existence  of  the  Cretaceous  formation   in   Australia  ] 
■were  furnished  to  Prof.    M'Coy.      Closely  associated   with  these 
limestones  are  ferruginous  sandstones,  containing  casts  of  large 
accumulations  of  fragments  of  wood  and  vegetable  ilebris,  such  as 
may  be  found  after  floods  on  the  margins  of  rivers,  indicating  an 
«stHarine  system,  where  fresh  and  salt  water  alternated. 

AUSTR.M.IA   A.N    ISLA.NL).  ' 

The  Mesozoic  period  closetl  with  .\ustralia  reducetl  to  the  area 
<A  a  large  island  on  the  east  coast  and  some  small  islar.Js  on  the 
south-west  and  north-west  of  the  present  continent,  and  then 
the  connection  with  I'apua  was  severed 

A  New  ELEV.vnoN. 
Karly  in  the  Tertiary  period  a  new  elevation  of  the  land 
commenced,  but  the  rise  was  not  attended  by  any  great  dis- 
turbance of  the  strata,  as  in  almost  every  instance  where  the 
Up|)er  Cretaceous  rocks  remain  they  are  remarkable  for  their 
horizontal  position.  The  elevation  of  the  continent  on  this 
<x:casion  was  nearly  equal  in  all  parts  ;  the  ultimate  altitude  was 
at  least  500  feet  greater  than  at  ]iresent,  and  the  geographical 
^fifect  was  that  .Vvistralia  assumed  nearly  its  present  limits. 

Features  ok  the  Continent. 
The  features  of  the  continent  at  this  time  appear  as  high  ranges 
on  the  east  coast  and  a  nearly  level  tableland  extending  to  the 
west  coast,  but  the  whole  of  the  interior  with  a  general  incline 
towartls  Spencer's  ( iulf.  Slu)rt  watercourses  flow  ed  direct  to 
the  sea,  but  far  the  greater  area  was  drained  by  much  longer 
streams  towards  S|iencer's  (uilf,  while  a  secondary  series 
occupied  the  basin  of  the  Murray  and  Darling  Rivers.  The 
climate  evidently  diftered  greatly  from  that  now  existent,  as  the 
denudations  of  the  tableland  removed  tracts  of  country  many 
hundreds  of  s(|uare  miles,  each  forming  immense  valleys  bounded 
by  flat-topped  hills  and  ranges  representing  the  marginal 
remnants  of  the  original  surface.  Enormous  quantities  of  the 
finer-grained  portions  of  the  degr.aded  shales  must  have  been 
sivept  into  the  ocean  by  the  rivers,  but  the  coarser  sands  have 
beeii  left  in  what  is  now  the  desert  interior,  where  the  wind 
<lrifts  it  into  long  steep  ridges  of  bright  red  sand,  having  a 
northerly  direction  near  the  south  coast,  but  spreading  out  like 
I  iAW  to  the  east  and  west  in  the  northern  interior. 

\AI.LEVS  AND  RiVKR  SYSTEMS. 
The  interior  rivers  formed  a  grand  feature  of  the  covmtry  so 
long  .as  the  rainfall  continued  sufficiently  copious  to  maintain  their 
flow,  but  in  the  arid  climate  which  now  obtains  it  does  not  even 
<ompensate  for  the  evaporation.  The  river  channels  have  been 
nearly  obliterated,  and  some  parts  of  the  wider  valleys  changed 
to  salt  marshes  or  lakes,  such  .as  Lakes  .\madeus  and  Torrens, 
while  the  entrance  to  .Spencer's  C.ulf  is  choked  with  sand.  It 
was  during  this  period  when  the  great  valleys  of  the  river 
systems  were  being  excavated  that  a  great  proportion  of  the 
outbursts  of  volcanic  rock  in  the  form  of  basalt  occurred.  The 
ige  of  these  ba.salts  is  established  by  their  superposition  on 
cretaceous  rocks.  'I'hus,  at  Roma,  the  CIrafton  Range  is  a  mass 
of  bas.dt,  resting  on  the  cretaceous  sandstones  and  shales. 
Mount  liindango  is  a  similar  instance.  On  the  Upper  Warrego 
there  is  a  deep  ravine  through  cretaceous  rocks  partly  under- 
mining a  basaltic  cone.  On  the  \ictoria  Kiver  a  large  basin 
has  l)een  eroded  in  the  cretaceous  rocks  and  then  several  hundred 
■~quare  miles  flooded  by  an  eruption  of  basalt,  through  which 
watercourses  have  cut  instructive  sections,  showing  the  subordin- 
ate sandstones  baked  and  fused  by  contact  and  the  cracks  fdled 
'V  the  covering  basalt. 
It  does  not  appear  that  the   eruption  of  basalt  has  materially 

NO.    I  33  I.  VOL.   52] 


affected  the  geographical  outline  of  the  coast,  but  there  were 
considerable  variations  (jf  level  and  important  tracts  of  fertile 
country  formeil  by  the  ba.s;iltic  detritus,  such  as  Peak  Downs  and 
Darling  Downs  in  (Queensland,  and  to  the  west  of  Melbourne  in 
the  .south. 

Larc;e  .\ni.\i,\l  Period. 
It  was  not  till  after  the  convulsions  which  attended  this  out- 
flow of  ba,salt,  and  lakes,  marshes,  and  rivers  had  been  formed, 
and  produced  a  luxuriant  growth  of  vegetation,  that  the  gigantic 
marsupials  gave  any  ilecisive  evidence  of  their  aflvcnt,  as  their 
fossil  remains  are  found  in  the  drifts  of  watercourses  mixed  with 
basaltic  pebbles  and  detritus.  The  physical  conditions  of  the 
country  (luring  the  period  of  the  Diprotodon,  Nototheriuni,  and 
associated  fauna,  diff'ered  materially  from  that  which  now  sub- 
sists, for  the  structure  of  the  larger  quadrupeds  would  render 
them  incajrable  of  obtaining  a  subsistence  from  the  short  herba^iie 
now  existing  in  the  same  localities,  and  it  is  evident  that  their 
food  was  of  a  large  succulent  growth,  such  as  is  found  only  in 
moist  climates  and  marshy  land  or  lake  margins.  This  view  is 
also  supported  by  the  fact  that  on  the  Darling  Downs  and  Peak 
Downs  the  associated  fossils  include  crocodile  and  turtle,  so  that 
what  are  now  open  grassy  plains  nuist  have  been  lakes  or 
swam])s,  into  which  the  streams  from  the  adjacent  basaltic  hills 
flowed,  and,  gradually  filling  the  hollows  with  iletrilus,  formed 
level  plains. 

Enormous  Rainiai.i.s. 
That  this  gradual  filling  up  of  lakes  .actually  occurred  is  sho\\  n 
by  the  beds  of  drift  which  are  found  in  sinking  wells  and  in 
sections  exposed  by  erosion  of  watercourses  ;  but  in  all  these 
instances  there  is  evidence  that  the  ancient  rainfall  was  excessive, 
as  even  our  present  wettest  seasons  are  in.adequate  to  the  removal 
of  the  quantities  of  drift  which  have  been  the  result  of  a  single 
flood  in  the  ancient  period.  (Jn  the  ridges  around  the  lakes 
there  existed  a  forest  growth,  as  many  species  of  opossum  have 
left  their  bones  .as  evidence  ;  but  the  timber  evidently  differed 
from  the  present  .scanty  growth  of  eucalypti.  Whether  the  same 
abundant  rainfall  extended  far  into  the  western  interior  is  uncer- 
tain, but  the  rivers  evidently  maintained  a  luxuriant  vegetation 
adapted  to  the  sustenance  of  these  gigantic  animals,  as  the  dis- 
covery of  a  nearly  complete  skeleton  of  Diprotodon  on  the  shore 
of  Lake  Mulligan,  in  South  Australia,  shows  that  these  animals 
lived  in  this  locality,  as  it  is  not  probable  that  their  bodies  could 
have  floated  down  the  Coeat  River  which  drained  the  interior  of 
the  continent  through  Lake  Eyre. 

.Vnothek  Cham.k. 
It  is  evident  that  the  climate  gradually  became  drier,  that  the 
rivers  nearly  ceased  their  flow,  and  the  lakes  and  marshes 
became  dry  land,  while  the  vegetation  was  reduced  to  short 
grasses  that  no  longer  sufficed  for  the  subsistence  of  the  huge 
Diprotodon  and  gigantic  kangaroo,  though  some  of  the  smaller 
maystill  survive  to  keep  conn>any  with  the  dingo,  who,  while  he 
left  the  inqiressions  of  his  teeth  in  the  bones  of  the  Dijirotodon, 
has  shown  a  greater  facility  for  adapting  himselt  tii  altered  con- 
ditions. Is  this  the  survival  of  the  fittest  ?  It  was  in  these  days 
that  some  of  the  rivers  flowing  direct  to  the  coast  cut  through  the 
.sandstones  into  the  softer  shales  beneath,  and  by  their  erosit)n 
formed  considerable  valleys  bounded  by  rocky  clift's,  and  when 
the  land  was  subsequently  depressed  the  sea  flowed  in  anil 
forme<l  inlets,  of  which  .Sydney  Harbour  and  the  entrance 
to  the  Hawke.sbury  River  on  the  east  coa.st.  Port  Darwin  and 
Cambridge  Gulf  on  the  north-west,  and  the  Pallinup  River  on 
the  south-west  of  the  continent  may  be  cited  as  examples. 

Conclusion. 
•  Thus  Australia,  after  its  first  appearance  in  the  form  of  a 
group  of  small  lands  on  the  east,  and  a  larger  island  on  the  west, 
was  raised  at  the  close  of  the  Pahvozoii;  period  into  a  continent 
of  at  least  double  its  present  area,  including  Papua,  antl  with  a 
mountain  range  of  gre.at  altitude.  In  the  Mesozoic  times,  after 
a  grand  growth  of  vegetation  which  formed  its  c.ial  beds,  it  was 
destined  to  be  almost  entirely  submerged  in  the  Crel.aceous  sea, 
but  was  again  resuscitated  in  the  Tertiary  period  with  the 
geographical  form  it  now  presents.  Thus  its  climate  at  the  time 
of  this  last  elevation  maintained  a  nuignificent  system  of  rivers, 
which  drained  the  interior  into  Spencer's  Culf,  but  the  gradual 
decrease  in  rainfirll  has  drieil  up  these  watercourses,  ami  their 
channels  have  been  nearly  obliterated,  and  the  country  changed 
from  one  of  great  fertility  to  a  comparatively  desert  interior 
which  can  imly  be  partially  reclaimeil  by  the  deep  boring  ol 
artesian  walls. 


X.ITUR/: 


Mav 


J  ^95 


UNIVERSITY    AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

CambrhXJE. — The  prcliminarj'  rcsiilutions  in  referciici:  to  thr 
admission  of  graduates  of  other  U  Diversities  to  courses  of  adraiiced 
study  and  research  were  |xussed  /;<•///.  con.  by  the  Senate  on  April 
25.  The  Syndicate  for  the  pur|X)se  will  now  proceed  to  frame 
the  detailed  regulations  for  carrying  the  scheme  into  effect. 

An  Kxhibition  of  fifl)  guineas  a  year  for  three  years  is  offered 
liy  the  Clothworkers"  Comixiny  for  the  encouragement  of  I'liysical 
Science.  Candidates  must  be  non-collegiate  students  of  one 
term's  standing,  or  persons  not  yet  in  residence  who  propose  to 
liecome  non-collegiate  students  next  October.  The  examination 
will  l)e  held  next  July.  Information  as  to  conditions,  iS;c.,  may 
lie  obtained  from  the  Censor,  l''itzwilliam  Hall,  Cambridge. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

I'ARIS. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  .^pril  22.  —  M.  Marey  in  the  chair. — 
On  the  effects  of  the  air  carried  below,  without  gyration,  in  the 
interior  of  teinix.-sts.  water-s|K>uts,  and  tornados,  by  M.  H.  Faye. 
The  author  show  s  that  water-s|X)uts  are  of  the  same  type  ;vs,  though 
on  a  smaller  .scale  than,  cyclones  and  typhoons.      He  illustrates 
by  an  ex|x:rinient  the  character  of  the  air-niovenients  in  the  ca.se 
of  a  water-sixmt.      A  gyratory  movement  at  the  ba.se  of  a  cloud 
causes  the  formation  of  a  descending  cone  which  has  no  effect 
liclow  until  the  apex  reaches  the  ground  or  water,  when  the  air 
from  above  airried  down  in  the  centre  of  the  cone  escapes  with 
violence  in  every  direction.     The  phenomenon  consists  then  of 
an    interior  comparatively  calm   core,  down  which   proceeds  air 
from  the  upper  regions,  and  this  is  surrounded  by  a  shell  of  cloud 
having  a  rapid  rotatory  motion.     The  analogy  of  the  air-move- 
ments in  cyclones  and   typhoons  is  brought  out  by  a  detailed  | 
consideration  of  (l)  a  storm  encountered  by  the  corvette  I' liffW.   I 
(2)  a  typhoon  which   |)a.s.sed  centrally  over   Manilla  Observ,itory 
on  Octot)er  20,  18S2.     The  calm   colunm  in  the  latter  case  was 
much  hotter  (11°)  and  drier  than  the  surrounding  shell  of  storm  ;  ' 
the  direction  and  force  <»     the  wind,  temperature,  and  humidity 
were    continuously    registered,  and    completely    bear    out    the 
explanation  advanced. — On  a  new  type  of  wells  in  the  granitic 
nicks  of  Sweden,    by    M.    Nordenskiold.     These  arc  artesian 
welLs    bored    to  a   depth   of   from    30   to   50   metres    in    solid 
crystalline    rocks   in  the  hope  of  meeting  with    water   coming  i 
through     lu>ri/.ontal    cracks    exiK-cted     to    occur     in     the    ma.ss 
owing     to    the    variations     of    temperature     suffered     by     the  , 
surface    |Xirtions.     Such    cracks   supplying    sweet    water    have 
invariably  l>een  encountered  at  a  depth  of  33  to  35  metres. — On 
a  new    de|K>.sit    containing    uranium,   by   M.   Nordenskiold.     A 
uraniferous    substance   giving  nitrogen  (sc-e     "  Notes,'"    p.    8). 
Crystals  forming  at   the  Ixittom  of  a  .s(jlution  of  greater  specific 
gravity   than   themselves,    by   M.  Lecixj   de   Boisbaudran.     The 
inverse  effect  to  that    previously  described  by  the  author,  where 
substances  were    shown  to  cr)'.stallise  under  .some  circumstances 
al   the  lop  of  solutions  of  less  specific  gravity  than  the  crystals. 
(Crystals  of  sixlinm  sulphate,  floating   on  a  solution  of  sodium 
iixlidc    saturated    with    the  sulphate,  gradually  disap|x;ared,  re- 
rry.stallising  arouml  a  sulphate  crystal    previously  fixed  at    the 
liottom  of  the  .solution.     The  same   |ihenomenon  occurs  with  ice 
in  a  flilute  aminoniacal   solution.     'J'his  action  depends  on  small 
temperature    variations,   as   previously  explained.  —  livery  alge- 
braical   surface    may    be    described    by  means  of  an   arlii:ulated 
sy.stem,  by  M.  (1.  Ko'nigs. — On   curves  of  the   fourth  cla.ss,  by 
.M.  Georges    llumlxirt.^On    the   dilatation    of   water,    by    M. 
.Slephane  de    l.«annoy.     The   author   discusses    the   dilatometer 
method  of  taking    the   ex|>ansion  of  water,   and    tabulates   l\js 
results  with  three  in.struments.     A  l.ible  is  then  given  comparing 
the  r '■  -  with  Koselti's  values,  and  with  the  correspond- 
ing   '  .dculaled    from    these  values  for  the  .same  lem- 
licr.i'                   'I'-  air-thermometer. — Sjx'cific  heat   and    boiling- 
(Xiinl  of  carbon,  by   M.  J.  Viollc.       Above    looo"  C.  the    mean 
••(iccific  heat  of  graphite   increases  linearly  with  the  lemperalurc, 
ihu* — Co  =  0'355  +  o'oooo6/.   2050  calories  arc  given  up  by  i  gram 
of  graphite  on  c«Miling  from  the  volatilisation  temperature  to  o". 
The  tem|x:ralure  of  ebullition  mu.st  therefore  be  3600' C.  —  ICIeclric 
resistance  at  the  I 'intact  of  two  iiielals,  by   M.    Kdouard    Uranly. 
It   is  shown   that   certain    pairs  of  metals,  such  as  copper  zinc. 
have  no  contact  rcistance,  wherets  other  pairs,  lead-aluniiniuni. 
lead-iron,   tin-aluminium,    tin-iron,    bismuth-iron,    bismuth-alu- 
minium for  instance,  have  an  electric  contact    resistance.    -On 
an  optical  melhiKl   nf   studying  alternating  currents,  by   M.  J. 

NO      1.^31.    Vol,.    52  1 


Pionchon. — On  photography  in  natural  colours,  by  the  indirect 
method,  by  MM.  Auguste  and  Louis  I.innicre.  Several  negatives 
are  jireparetl  with  differently  colouretl  screens,  and  each  is  used 
to  print  off  in  a  layer  of  the  approiirialely  tinted  birhromated- 
gelatine. — Molecular  rotation  and  molecular  deviation,  by  M. 
I'll.  A.  Guye. — On  some  derivatives  of  quinone-diorthoamido- 
benzoicacid,  CcHjO.lNH.CoHj.COoH);,  by  M.M.  J.  Ville  and 
Ch.  Astre. — Remarks  on  the  pars  iiilcrimdiix  of  Weisberg, 
by  M.  A.  Cannicu. — On  the  absorbent  power  of  the  bladder  in 
man,  by  MM.  A.  Pous.son  and  C.  Sigalas.  Healthy  vesical 
epithelium  is  impermeable  in  general,  but  absorption  may  take 
place  ( I)  when  the  subject  with  a  healthy  bladder  requires  tn 
void  its  contents,  tile  urine  llien  liathing  the  prostatic  jxirtion  i>t 
the  urethra  ;  (2)  when  the  vesical  epithelium  is  altered. — On  the 
.seat  of  the  colouration  of  brown  oysters,  by  M.  Joannes  Chat  in.  - 
On  the  presence  of  a  diastase  in  J'/h.c  cassis,  by  M.  (5.  Gouirand. 
Erratum. — In  the  last  report,  p.  622,  line  19  from  bottom  of 
second  column,  "left-handed'' curves  should  read  " skew "  cur\'es. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Hooks.  — .'\Ti;ilcsdi;l  Mu>eo  dc  la  PhUa.  PalcoiuoIoKia  Argentina,  ii.  and 
iii.  tConlribulions  to  a  Knowledge  of  ihf  Ft>ssil  Vertebrates  of  .\rgentina)  : 
R.  Lydckkcr  (l.a  Plaia).— A  M,-umal  of  Forcstr>  :  Prof.  W.  Schlich.  Vol.  3  : 
Forest  Management  (Hradhnr\->. — Organic  Chemistry  :  Prof.  1.  S.  Scarf 
(Collins). 

PA^M'llLK■rs.— Catalogue  of  the  Michigan  Mining  School,  1892-4  (Hough- 
ton).— City  and  Guilds  of  lAindon  Institute  Report,  March  (l.ondon).— An 
Historical  and  Descriptive  .\ccount  of  the  Vicld  Columbian  Museum 
(Chicago).— Sixty-third  .\nnnal  Report  of  the  Royal  Zoological  Society  of 
Ireland  (l)uMin).— Science  and  .\rl  Museum.  Dublin,  Art  and  Industrial 
I>e]iartment.  Collection  of  Weapons.  Jtc,  chiefly  i'rom  the  South  Sea 
Islands,  deposited  in  the  Museum  Dy  the  Hoard  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin, 
July  1894  (Ilublin).— On  the  Relation  of  Disc.-ises  of  the  Spinal  Cord  to  the 
histribiition  and  lA-sions  of  the  Spinal  Blood-Vessels  iDr.  R.  T.  Williamson 
(Ixiwis). — The  Federated  Institution  of  Mining  Kngineers.  Report  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Conference  on  Inland  Navigation,  liirmiiigham,  February 
12.  1895  (Newcastle-upon-Tyne).— Teinperaturmaalinger.  i.  Lofoten,  1891- 
189s  (Christiania,  Werner). 

Skriai-S. —  Mitlheilungen  der  Hamburger  .Siernwarte.  Nos.  1  and  a 
(Hamburg).- English  Illustrated  Magazine,  May  (Strand). -I.onEman's 
.Mag.azine,  May  (Longmans).— Good  Words.  .M.ay(Isbister).—Sund.ay  Maga- 
zine. M.-iy(I»bister).— Quarterly  Review.  April (Mlirray).--.\inerican  Journal 
of  Mathematics,  April  (Baltimore), — London  Catalogue  of  British  Plaiit>. 
l'.irt  I,  9th  edition  (Bell).— Journal  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical  Kngineers, 
April  (Spon).  —Journal  of  the  Royal  Microscopical  SiKiety,  April  (Williams),— 
Bulletin  of  the  .\merican  Museum  of  Natur.il  History,  Vol.  6,  1894  (New 
Vork).— Natural  Science.  M.ay  (R.ait).— Century  M:i);.'uiile,  May  (Unwin).— 
Contemporary  Review,  May  (Ishister). — National   Review,  May  (Arnold), 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  Book  of  the  Dead t 

The  Pollination  of  Flowers.      By  H.  H.  D.      . 
Our  Book  Shelf:-- 

limilc  Levier.      "  A  travels  le  Caucasc.      Notes  et  Im 

pressions  d'un  Hotanisle.  '     H.  R.  M 3 

Murche  :  "  .Science  Readers "' > 

Letters  to  the  Editor:  — 

Origin  oflheCullivaledt'inenina.      W.  T.  Thiselton- 

Dyer,  C.M.G.,  F.R.S 3 

The  Unil  of  Ileal.      Dr.  J.  Joly,  F.R.S 4 

The  .Study  of  l!arlh<|uakes  in  the  .South-Knst  of  Kurope. 

Charles  Davison 4 

rniforinilarianisni  in  Geology-. — Dr.  Alfred  R.  Wal- 
lace, F.R.S 4 

Research  in  ICducation.     D.  S.  T.  Grant 4 

A  Lecture  F.xperimenl.     C.J.Woodward 5 

Vitality  of  Seeds.      liy  W.  Bolting  Hemsley.  F.R.S.  .  5 
Terrestrial  Helium  (?).    liy  Prof.  W.  Rams.iy,  F.R.S. ; 

J.  Norman  Lockycr,  C.B.,  F.R.S 7 

Notes .X 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

.Saturn's  Kings '  I 

.Search  I'.pliemeris  for  Comet  1K84II.  .  11 

The  I  laiuburg  Observatory ir 

111.-   laic    M.  Troi.velol 11 

The  Suns  Place  in   Nature.     V.     (Illush-alfd.)     HyJ. 

Norman  Lockyer.  C.B.,  F.R.S 12 

The  Rarer  Metals  and  their  Alloys,     (///ii^lriilfil.)     Uy 

Prof.  W.  C.  Roberts-Austen,  C.B.,  F.R.S 14 

The  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers 18 

The  Royal  Commission  on  Tuberculosis 19 

The  Geological  Development  of  Australia 20 

University  and   Educational  Intelligence      .     •   .    .    .  24 

Societies  and  Academies 24 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 14 


NA  TURE 


25 


THURSDAY,  .MAY   9,  1895. 


THE   PYGMIES. 

The  Pygmies.  By  A.  de  Quatrefages.  Translated  by 
Frederick  Starr.  (London  and  New  Y'ork  :  Macmillan 
and  Co.,  1895.) 

SOME  surprise  was  expressed  when  Prof,  de  Quatre- 
fages was  appointed,  in  1855,  to  the  chair  of 
Anthropology  in  the  .Museum  of  Natural  History  at 
Paris.  He  was  then  forty-five  years  of  age,  and  had 
acquired  a  considerable  reputation  as  a  zoologist,  but  his 
published  original  researches  related  only  to  the  lower 
marine  forms  of  animal  life.  Thenceforward,  however,  he 
devoted  himself  with  great  energy  and  success  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  subject  under  his  special  charge,  and 
the  great  development  of  the  collections  in  the  Museum 
and  the  numerous  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the 
natural  history  of  man,  which  he  continued  to  make 
.ilniost  up  to  the  tunc  of  his  death,  three  years  ago,  at  the 
.i:.;e  of  eighty-two,  abundantly  justified  his  selection  for 
the  post.  It  is  true,  that  during  the  greater  part  of  this 
tune  he  had  the  advantage  of  the  assistance  and  har- 
monious co-operation  in  much  of  his  work  of  M.  E.  T. 
1 1  amy,  who  has  naturally  succeeded  to  the  chair. 

The  work  now  under  notice,  which   has  just  appeared 

1  .in  English  form,  was  originally  published  in  1887,  as 
one  of  the  "  Bibliotheque  scientifique  contemporaine,"  and 
is  essentially  popular  in  its  character.  It  commences  by 
giving  an  account  of  the  wide-spread  belief  among  the 
more  cultivated  nations  of  antiquity  in  the  e.\istence  of  a 
race  or  races  of  human  beings  of  e.\ceedingly  diminutive 
stature,  who  dwelt  in  some  of  the  more  remote  and  un- 
explored regions  of  the  earth.  The  scattered  notices  of 
these  people,  called  Pygmies  by  the  Greeks,  found 
in  the  writings  of  Homer,  ."Xristotle,  Herodotus,  Ctesias, 
Pliny,  Poniponius  Melo,  and  others,  are  cited  and  com- 
mented upon.  ,\ristotle  places  his  pygmies  in  .Africa, 
near  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  and  Herodotus  gives 
a  circumstantial  account  of  their  existence  near  a 
river  now  generally  identified  with  the  Niger,  while 
Ctesias  describes  a  race  of  dwarfs  in  the  interior 
of  India.  Whether  these  legends  were  merely  the 
offspring  of  a  fertile  imagination,  or  whether  they  had 
a  solid  foundation  in  fact,  may  be  still  an  open  question. 
Our  author  is  convinced  that  the  latter  view  is  correct, 
and  devotes  the  greater  part  of  the  work  to  the  task  of 
collecting  all  the  reliable  information  upon  the  existing 
races  of  people  of  diminutive  stature  who  inhabit  the 
regions  of  the  earth  in  which  the  pygmies  of  the  ancients 
were  supposed  to  dwell,  and  to  the  endeavour  to  har- 
monise the  scanty  notices  of  those  old  writers  with  the 
facts  as  now  shown  by  scientific  investigation. 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  book  is  given  to  an 
account  of  the  characteristics  and  culture  of  that  singu- 
larly interesting  race,  the  natives  of  the  Andaman  Islands, 
which  is  naturally  taken  mainly  from  the  observations  of 
Mr.  E.  H.  Man.  These  people  Quatrefages  persists  in 
calling  "Mincopies,"  although  it  has  long  been  shown 
that  the  name  is  quite  unknow  n  in  their  own  language.  .\ 
chapter  is  then  devoted  to  showing  that  people  having  the 
general  physical  characters  (small  stature,  black  colour, 
NO.    1332,  VOL.   52] 


frizzly  hair,  and  roundish  heads)  and  many  of  the  habits 
and  customs  (especially  the  dexterous  use  of  the  bow)  of 
the  .Andamanese,  form  a  groundwork  of  the  native  popu- 
lation of  many  of  the  islands  of  the  Malay  .\rchipelago, 
living  mostly  in  the  mountainous  regions  of  the  interior. 
To  this  race,  Quatrefages  has  given  the  name  of  "  Negrito." 
Hut  it  is  not  only  in  the  islands  that  the  .Negrito  race 
dwell.  Traces  of  them  are  found  also  on  the  mainland  of 
.\sia,  but  everywhere  under  the  same  conditions  ;  in 
scattered  tribes,  occupying  the  more  inaccessible  moun- 
tainous regions  of  countries  otherwise  mainly  inhabited 
by  other  races,  and  generally  in  a  condition  more  or 
less  of  degradation  and  barbarism,  resulting  from  the 
oppressive  treatment  they  have  received  from  their 
invading  conquerors  ;  often,  moreover,  so  much  mixed 
that  their  original  characters  are  scarcely  recognisable. 
The  Semangs  of  the  interior  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  the 
Sakays  from  Perak,  the  Moys  from  .Annam — all  show- 
traces  of  Negrito  blood.  In  India  proper,  especially 
among  the  lowest  and  least  civilised  tribes,  not  only  of  the 
central  and  southern  districts,  but  almost  to  the  foot  of 
the  Himalayas,  in  the  Punjab,  and  even  to  the  west  side 
of  the  Indus,  according  to  Quatrefages,  frizzly  hair,  negro 
features,  and  small  stature,  are  so  common  that  a  strong 
argument  can  be  based  on  them  for  the  belief  in  a  Negrito 
race  forming  the  foundation  of  the  whole  pre-Aryan  or 
Dravidian,  as  it  is  generally  called,  population  of  the 
peninsula.  The  crossing  which  has  taken  place  with 
other  races  has,  doubtless,  greatly  altered  the  physical 
characters  of  this  people,  and  the  evidences  of  this  alter- 
ation manifest  themselves  in  many  ways  ;  sometimes  the 
curliness  of  the  hair  is  lost  by  the  admixture  with  straight- 
haired  races,  while  the  black  complexion  and  small  stature 
remain  ;  sometimes  the  stature  is  increased,  but  the 
colour,  which  seems  to  be  one  of  the  most  persistent  of 
characteristics,  remains.  The  localities  in  which  the 
Negrito  people  are  found  in  their  greatest  purity,  either  in 
almost  inaccessible  islands,  as  were  the  Andamans  till  in 
comparatively  recent  times,  or  elsewhere  in  the  moun- 
tainous ranges  of  the  interior  only,  and  their  social  con- 
ditions and  traditions  wherever  they  exist — all  point  to  the 
fact  that  they  were  the  earliest  inhabitants  ;  and  that  the 
Mongolian  and  the  Malay  races  on  the  east,  and  the 
.'\ryans  on  the  w-est,  which  are  now  so  rapidly  extermin- 
ating and  replacing  them,  are  later  comers  into  the  land. 
VVe  now  see  what  constitutes  the  great  interest  of  the 
.Andamanese  natives  to  the  student  of  the  ethnological 
history  of  the  Eastern  world.  Their  long  isolation  has 
made  them  a  remarkably  homogeneous  race,  stamping 
them  all  with  a  common  resemblance  not  seen  in  the 
mi.xed  races  generally  met  with  in  continental  areas. 
They  are  the  least  modified  representatives  of  the  people 
who  were,  so  far  as  we  know,  the  primitive  inhabitants  of 
a  large  portion  of  the  earth's  surface,  but  who  are  now 
verging  on  extinction. 

The  next  portion  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  an  exam- 
ination of  the  so-called  "  pygmy "  races  of  the  African 
continent.  These  are  the  well-know  n  Bushmen  or  "  San' 
of  South  .Africa,  to  whose  religious  beliefs  a  whole 
chapter,  derived  mainly  from  the  observations  of  Hahn,  is 
devoted,  and  another  race  to  which  Hamy  has  given  the 
name  of  "Negrillos,"  about  which  far  less  is  known  at 
present,  who  seem  to  hold  the  same  relation  to  the  larger 

C 


26 


NA  TURE 


[May  9,  1895 


long-headed  African  negroes,  among  whom  they  dwell, 
that  the  small  round-headed  Negritos  of  the  Indian  Ocean 
do  to  their  larger  long-headed  Melancsian  neighbours. 
Scattered  communities  of  these  small  negroes,  all  much 
resembling  one  another  in  size,  appearance  and  habits, 
scarcely  over  four  feet  in  height,  and  all  great  hunters, 
expert  with  the  bow,  and  living  on  the  produce  of  the 
chase,  occur  at  various  isolated  spots  across  the  great 
African  continent,  within  a  few^  degrees  north  and  south 
of  the  equator,  extending  from  the  Atlantic  coast  almost 
to  the  Indian  Ocean.  In  many  parts,  especially  at  the 
west,  they  are  obviously  holding  their  own  with  difficulty, 
if  not  actually  disappearing,  and  there  is  much  about 
their  condition  of  civilisation  and  the  situations  in  which 
they  arc  found,  to  induce  us  to  look  upon  them,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  Bushmen  to  the  south  and  the  Negritos  in  the 
east,  as  the  remains  of  a  population  which  occupied  the 
land  before  the  incoming  of  the  main  body  of  the  present 
natives.  If  the  account  of  the  Nasamonians,  related  by 
Herodotus,  be  accepted  as  historical,  the  river  they  came 
to,  "  flowing  from  west  to  east,"  must  ha\  c  been  the 
Niger,  and  the  northward  range  of  the  dwarfish  people 
far  more  extensive  twenty-three  centuries  ago  than  it  is 
at  the  present  time. 

The  translator  has  given,  in  an  appendix,  a  list  of  the 
principal  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the  little  races 
of  man  which  have  appeared  since  the  publication  of  the 
French  edition  of  M.  dc  Quatrefages'  book.  It  would  have 
been  still  better  if  he  had  given  some  epitome  of  the 
considerable  advances  that  have  been  made  in  our  know- 
ledge of  the  subject,  especially  of  the  recent  researches 
of  R.  C  Haliburton  and  Kollmann,  which  tend  to  show 
the  former  extension  of  dwarf  races  over  a  considerably 
larger  area  of  the  earth's  surface  than  was  suspected  by 
our  author,  such  as  the  whole  of  North  .Africa,  the 
Pyrenees,  Switzerland,  and  even  Central  .America. 

\V.  H.  Flower. 


AN  ATTEMPT  TO  POPULARISE  EVOLUTION 
A  Primer  of  Evolution.  By  Edward  Clodd.  (Long- 
mans, Green,  and  Co.,  1895.) 
THE  title  of  this  little  book  is  hardly  justified  by  its 
contents,  since  it  nowhere  defines  or  explains 
evolution,  or  deals  with  it  in  a  systematic  manner.  .\s  the 
author  tells  us  in  a  prefatory  note,  the  book  is  an  abridg- 
ment of  his  former  work,  "  The  Story  of  Creation  "  ;  and 
he  docs  not  appear  to  have  made  any  attempt  to  rearrange 
his  materials,  or  to  introduce  such  new  matter  as  was 
required  to  constitute  it  a  real  introduction  to  the  theory 
of  evolution  for  those  who  know  little  or  nothing  about  it. 
Such  a  book  should  give,  at  starting,  a  full  statement  of 
what  is  meant  by  evolution  in  modern  science  and 
philosophy  ;  should  explain  how  it  differs  from  previous 
theories  of  the  universe  ;  and  should  clearly  mark  out  its 
range  of  action  and  its  limitations,  showing  in  what 
way  it  is  supposed  to  have  "  evolved "  the  material 
universe,  and  how  much  must  be  postulated  as  the 
materials  and  the  forces  with  which  it  works. 

Hut  instead  of  any  explanation  of  this  nature,  the  first 
half  of  the  lx)ok  is  devoted  to  a  general  descriptive  sketch 
of  the   unix'crse,    inorganic   and    organic,   so   brief   and 
NO.    1332,  VOL.   52] 


elementary-  as  to  be  quite  unnecessary,  since  any  one  pre- 
pared to  enter  on  the  study  of  evolution  would  be  already 
acquainted  with  so  much  of  the  facts  to  be  explained. 
In  all  this  portion,  occupying  more  than  half  the  book, 
evolution  is  not  once  referred  to.  Then,  in  the  second 
part,  which  is  headed  "  Explanatory,"  all  the  .yround 
is  gone  over  again,  with  explanations  which  assume 
evolution,  but  do  not  often  refer  to  it.  Some  of  this  is 
interesting  and  well  written,  the  chapter  on  "  Proofs  of 
Derivation  of  Species"  being  one  of  the  best  ;  and  if 
this  part  had  been  more  fully  developed,  and  had  been 
preceded  by  such  an  account  of  the  principle  of  exolution 
as  has  been  suggested,  the  work  might  ha\e  been  useful 
to  beginners. 

But,  besides  these  deficiencies  of  arrangement  and  of 
subject  matter,  there  are  more  serious  defects  in  numerous 
obscurities  and  misstatements,  and  in  the  adoption  of 
very  doubtful  theories  as  if  they  were  universally  accepted. 
As  examples  of  these  faults,  the  very  first  sentence  states 
that — "The  universe  is  made  up  of  matter  and  motion," 
as  if  they  were  things  of  the  same  nature.  .\nd  on  turn- 
ing to  the  "  explanatory  "  part,  we  arc  informed  that  the 
"  materials  which  make  up  the  universe "  are  "  matter 
and  motion."  On  page  3,  we  are  told  that  "  matter  is 
made  up  of  chemical  units  or  elements,'  about  seventy  in 
number,  and  that — "  These  elements  are  named  atoms." 
On  page  91,  we  have  force  and  energy  defined  as  being 
respectively  "  motion  which  draws  the  atoms  together,' 
and  " motion  which  drives  the  atoms  apart.'  This 
appears  to  ha\e  been  adopted  from  a  well-known  popular 
writer,  but  as  it  is  quite  different  from  what  is  to  be  found 
in  the  usual  text-books  it  should  not  have  been  adopted 
in  a  "primer."  .\t  page  95,  the  friction  of  the  etlureal 
medium  in  retarding  the  orbital  motion  of  the  planets, 
is  stated  as  if  it  were  a  demonstrated  fact.  The 
abundance  of  the  compounds  of  carbon  are  said  to  be 
partly  due  to  its  having  "an  affinity  for  itself"  (p.  102); 
and  among  the  erroneous  statements  of  fact  we  arc  told 
I  that,  among  the  lower  races  the  great  toe  survives  "as  a 
I  grasping  organ  '  (p.  127),  and  that  there  are  in  .\merica 
I  certain  wandering  tribes  who  use  gestures  as  "  the  sole 
mode  of  communication"  (p.  157).  Again,  without  a  word  of 
doubt  or  reservation,  we  have  the  statements  that — "The 
origin  of  life  is  not  a  more  stupendous  problem  to  solve 
than  the  origin  of  water  "  (p.  103);  and  that  —  "  mind  is  the 
highest  product  of  the  action  of  motion  upon  matter 
(p.  174).  These  few  samples  are  sufficient  to  show  that 
this  little  work  requires  very  careful  revision  to  render  it 
a  safe  guide  for  the  elementary  student. 


STEEL  AND    THE   NEW  IliON-Al.LOYS. 
Steel    Works  Analysis.      By  J.   O.  Arnold.     (London  : 
VVhittaker  and  Co.,  1895.) 

CHEMIST.S  engaged  in  steel  works  have  long  been 
wanting  a  trustworthy  manual  adapted  to  their 
special  requirements,  and  this  work  is  the  latest  attempt 
to  meet  the  want.  The  work  is  undoubtedly  an  advance 
on  its  predecessors,  for,  while  it  retains  the  best  of 
the  well-known  processes,  many  newer  operations  are 
now,  for  the  first  time,  published  in  a  comparatively  handy 
form.  Everything  ihal  a  steel  works  analyst  may  fairly 
be  called  upon  to  examine,  finds  a  place  in  this  volume. 


May  9,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


This  applies  more  especially,  perhaps,  to  the  sections 
treating  on  the  examination  of  chrome-iron,  silicon-iron, 
nickel  alloys,  &c. 

The  volume  is  particularly  valuable  as  embodying 
the  results  of  an  extensive  experience  in  the  ex- 
iimination  of  certain  iron  alloys  which  are  bound  to 
lu-iomc  of  special  importance  in  the  near  future  ;  most 
steel  works  analysts  will  cordialK-  appreciate  this 
portion. 

As  the  results  of  my  own  practice,  1  can  confirm  the 
accuracy  and  efficiency  of  most  of  the  selected  methods  ; 
more  especially  as  applied  to  the  assay  of  fcrro-chrome, 
ferro-aluminium,  silicon,  nickel,  &c. 

In  regard  to  the  assay  of  ferro-chrome  or  steels, 
(ialbraith  s  method  is  to  be  preferred,  if  the  precautions 
given  are  adopted.  The  original  process  did  not  always 
give  concordant  results.  The  gravimetric  methods  are, 
liowe\er,  on  the  whole  most  trustworthy.  Results  are 
apt  to  be  low  unless  great  care  is  taken  ;  no  doubt 
for  the  reasons  shown  at  page  207.  The  estimation  of 
small  quantities  of  aluminium  presents  difficulties  not 
easily  overcome  ;  indeed,  simpler  and  less  complicated 
methods  are  required  :  a  remark  which  applies  to  most 
of  the  methods  now  practised. 

The  assay  processes  for  sulphur  and  plu)s|)h()rus  are 
clearly  set  forth,  leaving  practically  nothing  to  be  desired. 
For  the  former  element,  certainly,  gravimetric  estima- 
tions are  best  ;  but  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  obtain  the 
necessary  acids  quite  free  from  sulphur  compounds  : 
this  constitutes  a  serious  drawback,  and  entails  the 
necessity  of  a  blank  experiment,  which  should  be  avoided 
when  possible.  The  evolution  methods  give  only  relative 
results,  agreeing  pretty  closely  amongst  themselves,  but 
somewhat  under  those  obtained  gravimetrically.  The 
author's  colour  test  is  a  good  one,  but  somewhat  compli- 
cated. A  more  simple  modification  of  the  colour  test 
consists  in  passing  the  evolved  H^S  through  50  c.c.  of  a 
very  dilute  lead  acetate  solution  f,'jj  grm.  in  litre  H.,0) 
contained  in  a  long  test-tube.  This  is  compared  with  a 
standard  steel,  treated  in  the  same  manner,  containing  a 
known  percentage  of  sulphur.  No  precipitate  is  formed, 
and  a  clear  brown  tint  is  obtained,  which  lasts  for  smnc 
time,  and  is  easily  compared  with  the  standard. 

The  processes  advocated  for  phosphorus  (pp.  110-115; 
are  complete,  but  the  necessary  manipulative  skill  required 
to  carry  them  out  can  only  be  acquired  b\'  constant 
practice.  1  find,  however,  that  the  addition  of  a  little 
HCl  to  the  nitric  acid  solution  assists  the  precipitation  of 
phosphorus  when  precipitating  with  ammonium  molyb- 
date.  Kurther,  I  agree  with  the  author  that  in  ordinary 
steels  the  presence  of  silicic  acid  may  be  ignored  :  « ith 
regard  to  time,  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  is  ample  ;  if 
longer,  molybdic  acid  is  precipitated.  In  addition,  even  if 
this  does  not  occur,  the  precipitate  may  rcdissolve  to  a 
notable  extent.  The  dried  phospho-moKbd.itc-  precipitate 
is  distinctly  soluble  in  dilute  nitric  acid. 

The  author's  method  of  precipitating  arsenic  with  ll.,S 
is  good,  but  no  others  are  given.  The  process  with 
modifications  gives  good  results,  but  the  ordinary  method 
is  preferable  when  it  is  desired  to  estimate  this  element. 
I  or  the  mere  elimination  of  arsenic  from  the  phosphoric 
acid,  in  order  to  determine  the  latter,  the  boiling  or 
ilistillation  process  is  useful. 

NO.    1332,   VOL.    52] 


It  is  to  be  regretted  that  no  trustworthy  process  has 
been  given  for  the  determination  of  oxygen  in  steel.  A 
thorough  examination  of  the  whole  work,  however,  reveals 
the  pains  taken  by  the  author,  not  only  as  regards  the 
portions  mentioned  in  the  foregoing,  but  also  in  the  some- 
what less  important  sections  dealing  with  fuel  and  other 
materials.  There  can  be  little  question  that  Prof  .Arnold 
has  rendered  steel-works  analysts  a  decided  senice  by 
the  publication  of  his  work.  John  P.\rrv. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Wayside  aiui  Woodland  /iiossoiiis.  A  Pocket  Guide  to 
British  Wild  Flo-wcrs  foi-  the  Country  Rambler.  By 
Edward  Step.  With  coloured  figures  of  156  species, 
black  and  white  plates  of  22  species,  and  clear  descrip- 
tions of  400  species.  (London:  Frederick  Warne  and 
Co.,  1895.) 

M.\NV  persons  who  admire  the  beautiful  flowers  that 
adorn  our  woods  and  pastures  would  fain  know  their 
names,  with  a  view  to  further  knowledg'c  of  them  ;  but  for 
various  reasons  they  are  unable  to  use  the  ordinarj- 
"Flora,"  however  simply  compiled.  Here  is  a  little  book 
that  will  meet  the  wants  of  such  persons,  and  do  more, 
we  belie\e,  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  sound  know  ledge  of 
plants  than  the  form  in  which  "  life-histories  "  are  taught  in 
ordinary  schools  and  classes  for  the  purpose  of  passing  an 
examination.  In  spite  of  all  that  is  said  to  the  contraiy,  to 
knowalargenumberof  plants, animals,  or  minerals  bysight, 
is  of  more  value,  to  begin  with,  than  a  more  detailed  know-- 
ledge  of  a  single,  or  few,  organisms  or  objects  ;  especially 
when  this  detailed  knowledge  is  gained  by  rote,  and  not 
by  observation.  We  therefore  commend  this  little  book 
to  the  notice  of  those  interested  in,  and  believing  in,  small 
beginnings,  though  the  kind  of  information  it  contains  is 
not  exactly  what  the  examiner  demands.  The  coloured 
figures  are  well  drawn,  and  the  colouring,  although  a  little 
crude,  is  good  enough  to  enable  one  to  recognise  the 
plants  the  figures  are  intended  to  represent.  The 
majority  of  the  common  and  prominent  plants  of  our 
native  flora  are  figured.  Many  of  them  are  drawn  of  the 
natural  size,  whilst  others  are  reduced  and  a  few  enlarged, 
without  indications  of  the  reduction  or  enlargement. 
These  things  should  be  explained  for  a  beginner.  The 
dcscriptiv  e  and  explanatory  letterpress  is  instructive,  and 
free  from  pedantry,  b)-  which  we  iiiean  the  display  of 
technical  terms  only  used  by  ''teachers"  of  botany  ;'not 
by  botanists.  There  are  some  inconsistencies  in  the  choice 
of  subjects  for  illustration.  For  example,  the  exceedingly 
rare  Holosleuni  iiinlicllatuni  is  represented,  whereas  the 
allied  genus  Cerastii/in.  found  in  every  county,  and  perhaps 
in  every  parish  and  field  in  the  kingdom,  is  left  out. 
There  is  also  an  uncxplainable  absence  of  characteristic 
sea-side  plants.  The  bUu  k  and  white  figures  mentioned 
in  the  title  represent  native  trees  and  some  of  the  com- 
monly-planted exotic  species.  .\n  omission  here  is  the 
common  yew,  which  might  well  have  taken  the  place  of 
the  \ery  poor  figure  of  .lilantu.t.  In  spite  of  the  short- 
comings indicated,  we  strongly  recommend  this  little 
pocket-book  to  those  in  search  of  some  practical 
knowledge  of  common  wild  [ilants.  W.   B.   H. 

Tlie  Lepidoptera  of  the  Hritish  Islands:  a  Descripti-e 
Aeeount  of  the  h'aniilies,  Geiieni,  and  .Species  indigenous 
to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland^  their  I'reparatorv  States 
Habits,  and  Localities.  By  Charles  G.  Barrett,  F.E.S. 
\'ol.  ii.  Heteroccra,  Sphinges,  Bombyces.  (London  : 
I..  Reeve  and  Co.,  1895.) 

.Mk.  li.\KKKTT's  great  work  on  British  Lepidoptera  is 
making  steady  progress,  and  we  are  glad  to  find  that  the 
second  volume   which  includes  the  Sphinges  and  the  first 


28 


-\  .  /  rURE 


[May  9,  1895 


nine  families  of  Bombyccs.  ending  with  the  Psycliida;  is 
written  in  the  same  careful  and  painstaking  manner  as  its 
predecessor.  The  first  volume  has  been  well  received 
abroad,  but  the  foreign  critics  regret  the  absence  of  refer- 
ences, a  deficiency  more  felt  by  them  than  by  British  Icpi- 
dopterists.  The  foreign  critics  speak  of  the  plates  as  a 
veritable  storehouse  of  remarkable  varieties  :  but  we  must 
again  comment  very  se\erely  on  the  action  of  the 
publishers  in  issuing  two  editions  of  the  work,  one  with, 
and  the  other  without  illustrations,  without  any  reference 
to  the  illustrated  edition  in  the  letterpress  of  the  other,  so 
far  as  we  have  noticed  ;  and  in  the  case  of  the  second 
volume,  without  even  as  much  as  an  advertisement  to 
call  attention  to  its  existence. 

There  are  several  points  of  general  scientific  interest 
suggested  by  an  examination  of  Mr.  Barrett's  book.  .A 
great  number  of  species  recorded  as  British  by  the  older 
entomologists,  but  rejected  by  Doubleday  and  .Stainton, 
have  latterly  been  rediscovered  and  reinstated.  This  has 
happened  so  often,  that  it  seems  likely  that  when  we 
eliminate  accidentally  introduced  species  (chiefly  North 
.American),  and  European  species  wrongly  determined, 
it  will  be  found  that  the  information  given  by  the  older 
writers  was  far  more  accurate  than  the  writers  of  the 
middle  of  the  century  were  at  all  disposed  to  admit.  Nor 
did  the  latter  allow  for  the  diflficulty  of  communication 
with  the  continent  at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  which 
added  much  to  the  improbability  of  specimens  asserted 
to  have  been  taken  in  England,  having  been  simply 
brought  over  from  the  continent. 

In  estimating  the  probability  of  a  reputed  species  being 
truly  British,  the  chief  factor  to  be  taken  into  account  is 
its  continental  range.  It  is  evident  that  the  British 
fauna  is  slowly  changing,  some  specimens  becoming  rarer 
or  even  disappearing,  and  others  becoming  commoner,  or 
establishing  themselves  in  England  for  the  first  time. 
There  is  also  some  tendency  in  Mediterranean  species  to 
extend  their  range  further  north  in  Western  Europe.  As 
the  late  Mr.  Stainton  once  remarked,  the  comparison  of 
our  present  lists  with  those  of  the  future,  will  be  likely 
to  yield  highly  unexpected  and  interesting  results. 

\V.  F.  K. 

Qtielknkunde.  Lchre  r'on  dcr  fiildung  und  7'o?n  Vor- 
kommcn  dcr  (lucllen  und  des  Grundwiissers.  Von 
Hyppolyt  J.  Haas.  8vo.  pp.  220.  Illustrations  in  the 
text.     (Leipzig  :  J.  J.  Weber,  1895.) 

Prof.  Haas,  of  Kiel,  when  asked  to  edit  and  bring  up  to 
date  the  "Qucllcnkunde"  of  Abbii  I'aramelle,  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  in  order  to  state  the  present  position  of 
the  science  of  springs  and  underground  water  in  a  satis- 
factory form,  an  entirely  new  work  was  necessary.  Hence 
the  book  under  notice.  In  such  small  compass,  nothing  ap- 
proaching a  complete  treatise  could  possibly  be  attempted. 
The  chief  features  of  springs,  their  classification  and  rela- 
tion to  geological  conditions,  arc  discussed  according  to  a 
clearly  arranged  plan  under  five  principal  heads.  First 
comes  a  discussion  of  springs  in  general,  including  an 
historical  introduction,  in  illustration  of  which  several  of 
Athanasius  Kirchcr's  quaint  pictures  are  reproduced. 
The  following  sections  deal  with  thermal  anel  mineral 
springs,  underground  water,  and  the  art  of  finding  springs. 
In  the  last  fli\i-,ion  we  find  some  remarks  on  the  divining- 
rod.  The  bdfik  should  prove  useful  to  students  of 
physical  geography  and  to  those  concerned  with  the 
practical  utilisation  of  a  water-supply  derived  from  wells. 

.A  number  of  diagrams  are  reproduced  from  the  works 
of  Daubrce  and  other  authorities.  Although  several 
Kn^'lish  authors  are  cited,  we  fear  that  I'rof.  Haas  has  not 
made  himself  familiar  at  first  hand  with  the  literature  of 
the  subject  in  English,  which  is  by  no  means  meagre  in 
records  -of  original  observations  on  the  movements  of 
underground  water,  and  deserves  more  recognition  than 
it  receives. 

NO.  1 332,  vor..  52] 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[TAe  Editor  dMs  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed hy  his  correspondents.  Aeither  ean  he  undertake 
to  return,  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of,  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  NATURE. 
J^o  notice  is  taken  of  anony/nous  communications.'^ 

Uniformitarianism  in  Geology. 

Dr.  -VI-FRKD  W.vi.l.ACE,  in  his  Icllcr  to  N.vri'RK  of  .May  2, 
calls  attention  to  the  significant  l;\cl  that  catastrophes  caused  hy 
volcanoes  "  may  be  of  greater  magnitiule  now  than  in  geologic 
times,"  owing  to  the  crust  of  the  earlli  being  lliickcr  now  than 
it  was  then.  He,  however,  is  mistaken  in  supposing  that  this 
consideration  has  been  overlooked  by  geologists,  if  he  will 
kindly  refer  (o  "  Geology,"  vol.  i.  p.  449,  he  will  find  it  there 
stated,  speaking  of  the  oltlcr  fissure  and  explosive  eruptions,  that 
"  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  this  [the  cx])losive]  action  was 
on  the  s;ime  scale  of  magnitude  and  permanence  as  those  o(  late 
Tertiary  and  recent  date.  With  the  greater  lliickness  of  the 
earth's  crust  and  the  greater  resistance  presented  liy  its  rigidity, 
volcanic  eruptions  must  with  time,  as  suggested  long  ago  by  Elie 
de  Beaumont,  have  altered  with  the  alterations  of  those  con- 
ditions, and  may  now  be  exhibited  under  a  ])hase  very  different 
from  those  of  the  earlier  ]>eriods." 

Or  again,  he  will  find  in  "  The  Tosiiion  of  (leology  "  ("  Col- 
lected I'apers,"  p.  i.)  it  slated  that,  though  one  form  of  volcanic 
action  (the  fissure)  was  more  active  in  the  past  than  at  present, 
that  "  explosive  eruptions  are  more  violent  now  than  in  former 
limes."  .\nd  again,  at  p.  145  of  the  same  work.  I  remark  that 
"  while  with  the  thinner  crust  of  former  times,  there  would  be  a 
more  frequent  extrusion  of  the  molten  rock,  there  are  prolKdily 
with  the  thicker  crust  now  formed  and  con.sec|uenlly  its  greater 
resistance,  greater  forces  stored  in  the  explosive  eruptions  of  the 
present  day." 

The  instance  relied  upon  by  Dr.  Wallace  is,  however,  another 
striking  example,  if  others  were  needed — though  in  this  case  it 
is  on  the  inverse  side  as  against  meteorological  agencies — o(  the 
non-uniformity  in  degree  between  the  action  of  the  forces  of  jiasi 
and  present  times.  The  increaseil  thickness  of  the  crust  i-. 
not,  however,  the  sole  cause  of  the  violence  of  recent  eruptions, 
nor  are  they,  I  imagine,  due  to  the  presence  of  occluded  water 
in  the  volcanic  foci.  The  terrific  eruptions  of  Krakata"b  and 
other  volcanoes  are,  I  conceive,  due  simply  lo  the  access  of  vast 
volumes  of  surface  waters  and  their  sudden  flashing  into  steam. 

Volcanic  action,  therefore,  does  not  seem  to  me  lo  he  in  any 
way  in  contradiction  lo  the  conception  of  uniformity  of  kind  or 
law,  and  to  non-uniformily  on  the  question  of  degree. 

Sevenoaks,  May  4.         '  JoSEl'li   I'rf.stwich. 


Green  Oysters. 

I  HAVi:  just  received  a  "  Note,"  extracted  from  the  RTonilore 
Zoologico  Italiano,  of  Florence,  by  Dr.  Caraz/.i,  in  which  a  num- 
ber of  unsupported  statements  are  made  as  to  "  phagocvtosis  in 
.Molhisca." 

.\mongst  other  statements,  I  find  "  Non  solo  sono  osscr- 
vazioni  erronee  quelle  del  Lankester,  malamente  ripeliile 
dcllo  Chatin,  ma  lo  sono  egualmenle  <|Uelle  del  I'elseneer  e  ilel 
Bniyne."  I  am  surprised  that  my  zoological  friends  in  Florence 
should  publish  a  bare  statement  <if  this  nature  «ilh<«it  a  shred  of 
evidence  lo  support  it.  I  desire  to  draw  attention  lo  the  sini|)Ie 
.assertion  made  by  Dr.  Cara/zi,  and  to  lei  those  who  are  respon- 
sible know  that  land  others  expect  him  lo  show  in  detail  what  is 
the  error  in  ihe  observations  published  by  me  on  the  green  oysters 
of  Marennes. 

It  is  certainly  not  a  usual  thing  for  a  Society  lo  allow  an  author 
lo  print  vague  .accus;ili(ms  of  inaccur.acy  in  reference  to  other 
writers,  williout  the  smallest  allempi  lo  justify  such  accustilions. 

Dr.  Carazv.i's  .tsserlion  is  all  Ihe  more  remarkable,  since  it 
appears  Ihal  he  has  no'  examined  Ihe  true  huitres  de  Marennes 
at  all,  and  is  singularly  ill-informed  as  lo  the  histology  ami 
physiology  of  MolUisca. 

I  shall  be  very  nnicli  surprised  if  Dr.  Carazzi  can  show  that 
Ihe  observations  published  by  me  on  green  oysters  in  1SS6 
Hiuart.  fourn.  Aficr.  Sci.  vol.  xxvi.)  arc  erroneous,  and  sliall  ai 
once  re-examine  Ihe  mailer  if  he  succeeds  in  throwing  doubt  on 
the  facts  as  slale<l  by  me. 

Inferences  from  observed  facts  .stan<l  in  a  different  position 
from  the  observations  themselves. 

I  W.1S  the  firsl   lo  describe  the  cells  laden  with  green  granules 


May  9.  1895] 


NA  TURE 


which  occur  in  the  epithelium  of  the  gills  and  latjial  tentacles  of 
the  Marcnnes  oyster. 

I  also  showed  that  such  cells  are  present  in  the  common 
oysters,  but  that  the  granules  they  contain  are  not  green.  I  ! 
further  showed  that  these  cells  occur  abundantly  on  the  [ 
siiffaic  of  the  gills,  crawling  about  an<l  exhibiting  amceboid 
movement.  I  also  showed  that  the  Marennes  oysters  are  specially 
fed  u\v.m  Naviciila  ostrearia  which  contains  a  highly  refractory 
blue  pigment  "  Marennin,"'and  I  ?«/fr;-(Y/ that  the  granular  cells 
of  the  gills  derive  their  colour  from  the  blue  pigment  of  the 
naricula; — since  it  was  shown  long  ago  by  Claillon  (in  1824)  that 
the  /mitres  de  Marennes  are  ijurjxisely  placed  by  the  oyster- 
culturist  into  tanks  containing  the  Navicula  ostrearia  :  that  when 
placed  there  they  have  gills  of  the  usual  yellow-brown  colour, 
but  rapidly  acquire  the  green  colour  ;  that  they  actually  feed  on 
the  A'az'iiti/a  ostrearia.  an<l  that  when  removed  from  this  article 
of  diet,  they  lose  the  green  colour  of  gills. 

The  inference  that  the  "  granular  cells"  are  to  be  regarded  as 
wandering  phagocytes,  was  not  first  published  by  me  ;  and, 
though  I  have  no  doubt  of  its  justification,  I  may  point  out  that 
it  is  an  interpretation,  and  not  an  observation  of  fact. 

Lasitly,  let  me  say  that  I  showed  by  chemical  analysis  that  the 
green  colour  of  the  oyster's  gill  is  not  due  to  any  metallic  base 
— either  copper,  iron,  or  chromium.  The  statement  made  by 
Carazzi  that  there  is  "abbondanra  di  sesqui-ossido  di  ferro  "  in 
the  mud  of  the  tanks  where  the  oysters  are  fed,  is  therefore 
iloubly  futile.  Every  one  knows  that  such  mud  contains 
abundance  of  iron  ;  but  as  there  is  no  iron  in  the  green  pigment 
of  the  i>yster,  it  is  useless  to  draw  attention  to  the  iron  in 
the  mud.  E.  Ray  L.ankkster. 

Oxford,  May  4. 


immediately  gave  up  the  illustration  as  not  coming  within  my 
own  knowledge,  and  substituted  that  of  the  Apple,  of  which  I 
myself  know  several  kinds  to  have  distinct  and  characteristic 
foliage.  Such  examples  may  be  multiplied  indefinitely.  Now 
the  passage  in  Darwin  is  as  follows: — "Verlot  mentions  a 
gardener  who  could  distinguish  1 50  kinds  of  Camellia  when  not 
in  flower"  {*'  Animals  and  Plants,"  ed.  18S5,  II.  chap.  xxii. 
p.  23S) :  but  Darwin  takes  the  case  as  an  illustration  of  the  fact 
that  structures  "  though  appearing  to  an  unpractised  eye  abso- 
lutely undistinguishable,  yet  really  dificr."  ^ly  use  of  this  case 
was  therefore  a  wrong  one,  and  as  Mr.  Dyer  has  thought  fit 
again  to  refer  to  the  matter,  I  take  the  opportunity  of  withdraw- 
ing it  once  more.  W.  B.meson. 
St.  John's  College,  Cambridge.  May  5. 


The   Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Cineraria. 

I  M.\I)Ii  two  objections  to  Mr.  Dyer's  account  of  the  history  of 
the  Cineraria  ;  the  careful  reader  w  ill  observe  that  his  letter  meets 
neither.  Mr.  Dyer  informed  us  that  the  cultivated  Cinerarias 
were  produced  ^^  dy  the  ^i^euiual  accitmulation  of  smait  -'aria- 
tions,'  i.e.  without  the  selection  of  definite  sports.  My  object 
in  adducing  historical  evidence  of  Cineraria  sports  was  to  pre- 
\ent  Mr.  Dyer's  pronouncement  from  being  repeated  without 
further  endence.  That  purpose  I  think  has  been  attained  ;  for 
I  notice  that  in  now  restating  his  account  Mr.  Dyer  does  not 
refer  to  the  |)oint,  though  it  was  the  object  of  his  original  exhi- 
bition of  the  Cineraria  to  the  Royal  Society.  That  the  Cineraria 
was  an  excellent  "  illustration  of  the  amount  of  variation  which 
could  l>e  brought  about  under  artificial  conditions  in  a  limited 
time  "  I  should  be  the  last  to  dispute.  .\s  I  showed  in  my  first 
letter,  there  is  evidence  that  the  time  was  very  short  indeetl. 

Compared  with  this  |Hiint,  the  second  question — that  of  the 
hybrid  origin  of  cultivated  Cinerarias — is  of  subordinate  interest. 
For  the  view  that  they  were  originally  hybrids,  resulting  from 
crosses  between  C.  cruenta^  C.  lanata.,  and  other  species,  I  have 
given  the  evidence,  <)Uoting  the  explicit  statement  of  contem- 
ixiraries  and  the  almost  universal  opinion  of  practical  gardeners, 
with  references  to  the  sources  of  information.  .Mr.  Dyer,  how- 
ever (with  him  Mr.  Kolfe)  declares  that  the)  arc  descended  frmn 
C.  erueiita  alone.  Is  this  statement  a  mere  inference  from  the 
want  of  likertess  between  particular  cultivated  Cinerarias  and  the 
wild  species,  or  have  -Mr.  Dyer  and  Mr.  Rolfe  evidence  of  a 
more  substantial  character  ?  Of  course  these  authorities  may  be 
right,  and  the  rest  who  have  written  on  the  matter  may  be  wrong  ; 
Imt  I  ask  for  proof  of  this,  and  the  request  can  hardly  be  thought 
mireasonable. 

Mr.  Dyer  h.is  referred  to  a  remark  I  made  at  the  meeting  re- 
specting the  Camellia.  .\t  the  risk  of  diverting  attention  from 
the  real  issues,  I  feel  bound  to  speak  of  this,  for  I  was  then  in 
the  wrong.  In  justice  the  circumstances  nnist  be  stated.  Speak- 
ing of  the  Cineraria,  Mr.  Dyer  declared  that  though  the  flowers 
have  changed  so  much,  the  foliage,  which  had  not  been  an  ob- 
ject of  Selection,  still  resembled  that  of  his  wild  plant.  I  re- 
plied that  though  this  might  be  true  of  the  Cineraria,  it  led  to 
no  universal  induction,  for  it  is  well  known  that  the  foli.ige  of 
many  plants  selected  .solely  for  their  flowers  or  for  their  fruits  had 
varied  greatly.  .\s  an  illustration  taken  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment,  I  said  that  though  the  m.atter  had  not  come  within  my 
own  olKerv.-ition.  there  was.  I  believed,  a  |)assage  in  one  of 
Darwin's  books  to  the  efi'ect  that  the  foliage  of  the  several  kinds 
"I  Camellia  difl'ered  so  ntuch  that  they  could  be  recognised  by  it 
diHie.      Upon  .Mr.    Dyer  interjecting  that   this  was  not   true,  I 

NO.    1332,   VOL.    52] 


The  Assumptions  in  Boltzmann's  Minimum  Theorem. 

.Mr.  Ci:i.VER\VELl/s  letter  in  your  issue  of  April  18  leaves 
many  important  points  in  connection  with  the  reversibility  of 
Boltzmann's  .Minimum  Theorem  untouched.  On  the  question  as 
to  what  different  people  mean  (or  think  they  mean)  when  they 
assert  that  the  theorem  is  true,  enough  has  already  been  said. 
What  we  want  to  know  is  what  assumptions  are  involved  in  the 
mathematical  prciofs  of  the  theorem,  why  they  have  to  be  made, 
and  for  what  systems  they  are  likely  to  hold.  This  question  has 
been  ably  treated  by  Mr.  Burbury,  but  in  view  of  Prof.  Boltz- 
mann's assertion  that  the  theorem  is  one  of  probability,  it  is 
desirable  to  examine  more  fully  where  probability  considerations 
enter  into  proofs  such  as  Dr.  Watson's,  w  hich  contain  no  explicit 
reference  to  them. 

Dr.  Watson  starts  by  assuming  two  sets  of  molecules  so  dis- 
tributed that  the  numbers  haWng  coordinates  and  momenta 
within  the  limits  of  the  corresponding  differentials  are 


F(Pi 


Q»,KP, 


dq„  and  /(/, 


1«)ip\ 


.    dq... 


If,  however,  the  differential  elements  arc  taken  very  small  (as 
when  we  consider  a  volume-element  comparable  with  molecular 
dimensions),  these  expressions  no  longer  represent  numbers  of 
molecules,  and  it  is  assumed  that  in  this  case  they  represent  the 
probabilities  of  a  molecule  having  coordinates  and  momenta 
within  the  given  limits. 

It  is  then  necessary  to  assume  that  the  probabilities  for  the 
two  kinds  of  molecules  are  independent  of  each  other.  This  as- 
sumption was  pointed  out  to  me  by  Mr.  Burbury,  and  is  what 
I  intended  to  imply  in  my  previous  letter  when  I  said  that  Dr. 
Watson's  assumption  was  more  natural  than  any  other.  Under 
these  circumstances  alone  can  we  assert  that  the  proliability  of  a 
given  combination  of  coordinates  and  momenta  of  two  molecules 
is  proportional  to 


K(/P, 


diiuXfdpi  .   .   .  d,j„ 


To  make  the  proof  independent  of  the  choice  of  coordinates, 
let  yy  .  .  .  Vm+ii  be  any  other  system  of  coordinates  specifying 
the  pair  of  molecules,  so  chosen  that  j'j  =  O  at  the  beginning 
of  an  encounter.  Then  if  -v,  .  .  .  .v„,^.„  denote  the  correspond- 
ing momenta,  we  may  emjiloy  the  theorem  jiroved  in  my  last 
British  .\ssociation  Report,  §  14,  to  write  the  above  expression 
in  the  form 

Vfjdy^dy.,  .  .   .  dy„d.Xi  .  .   .  <i'-i„,+«. 

and  if  we  write  (dy^jdt)dt  for  rf)-j,  the  probability  of  a  con- 
figuration in  which  an  encounter  will  take  place  in  the  time- 
element  dt  becomes 

Vfldy.,  .  .  .  d.x-Z*„(dyJdt)dt 

corresponding  to  Watson's  expression  with  (dyyjdt)  in  place  of 
(dij„',dt).  This  step  involves  the  assumjition  (made  above)  that 
dy■^  is  small  in  com|xirison  with  the  dimensions  of  a  molecule. 

From  this  jjoint  on  Dr.  Watson's  proof  is  easy.  But  it  will 
be  seen  that  the  proljabilities  for  two  molecules  are  not  indepen- 
dent of  each  other  (Z/Ztv-  a  collision  between  them.  The  method 
woukl  fail  if  the  same  pair  of  molecules  were  likely  to  collide 
repeatedly.  Thus  the  Minimum  Theorem  depends  on  the  free 
motions  of  the  molecules  quite  as  much  as  on  the  collisions 
themselves,  and  it  only  applies  to  ga.ses  whose  molecules  mix 
freely  among  each  other  between  collisions,  not  to  media  where 
they  are  densely  crowded.  In  such  cases,  however,- we  have 
.Mr.  Burbury's  investigation  (Phil.  Mag.  January  1894). 

If  we  were  to  reverse  the  nu)tion  exactly,  we  should  have 
one  in    which    the    probabilities   for    two   molecules   before   an 


30 


NATURE 


[May  q.  1S95 


encounter  were  not  independent,  and  our  assumptions  (Aon-rtwr 
imprt>babU)  would  lie  therefore  entirely  tiasol  on  our  previous 
experience  with  the  direct  inotion.  Without  such  assumptions 
we  should  have  inferred,  by  the  ordinary  laws  of  probability, 
that  H  would  be  likely  to  decrease.  This  is  what  I  intended  to 
imply  in  my  previous  letter  :  but  as  I  had  use<l  accented  and  un- 
accented letters  in  my  statement,  I  failed  to  make  my  nieaning 
clear  to  Mr.  Culverwell,  who  evidently  found  it  ditticull  to  under- 
stand a  pnxif  involving  their  use.  1;.    M.    Bryan. 


The  Unit  of  Heat. 

I  \v.\s  glad  to  read  Prof.  lolys  conmiunication  in  your  is.sue 
of  May  2.  for  I  have  made  many  efforts  to  call  attention  to  the 
unsatisfactory  nature  of  our  present  system  of  calorimetric 
measurements,  and  now  that  a  more  powerful  voice  than  mine 
has  been  raised  in  favour  of  a  change,  I  have  some  hopes  of 
progress. 

The  iniliflerencc  with  which,  as  it  appears  to  me,  our  physicists 
regard  this  matter  is  probably  due  to  several  causes.  They 
ignore  the  fact  that  the  science  of  calorimctry  has  recently  made 
great  strides,  and  that  an  ambiguity  as  to  the  unit,  which 
fonnerly  was  of  little  consequence,  has  now  become  almost  the  only 
bar  to  further  pnigress  ;  also,  as  Prof.  Joly  has  (winted  out,  our 
system  of  calorimetric  measurements  has  l>een  .so  weilded  to 
the  method  of  mixtures,  that  the  union  has  (wrongly)  come  to  be 
regarded  as  es.sential. 

.\s  to  Prof  Joly's  proposal,  there  is  much  to  be  said  in  its 
fiivour.  It  is  practical  and  definite.  -At  the  same  time  the  change 
would  be  so  radical,  that  I  should  not  feel  justifie<l  in  counting 
myself  as  his  disciple  in  this  matter  without  serious  consi<leration. 

My  own  inclination  is  rather  in  the  direction  of  a  (".d.S.,  or 
alisolute  unit,  and  the  course  adopte<l  by  Prof.  Schuster  and  .Mr. 
(iannon,  in  entitling  their  recent  important  communication  to  the 
koj-af  Society  "The  Specific  Heat  of  Water,"  rather  than  the 
■■  Mechanical  K(juiv.ilent  of  Heat,"  shows  that  a  step  has 
already  lieen  taken  in  this  direction. 

When  we  reflect  on  the  attention  and  the  labour  which  have 
lieen  devoted  to  the  establishment  of  our  present  system  of 
electrical  units,  it  is  a  cause  for  wonder  that  so  im|>ortant  a  unit 
.Ts  that  of  heat  .should  have  been  left  ill-defined  and  unregarde<l. 

I  would  propose  that  at  the  forthcoming  meeting  of  the  British 
.Association,  the  attention  of  Section  .\  should  lie  [wrticularly 
directefl  to  this  matter  ;  and  it  would  prepare  the  way  for  such 
action  if  those  who  have  definite  proposals  to  make  wouUl,  in  the 
meantime,  communicate  them  to  your  columns. 

Cambridge.  K.    H.   Ckikhiiis. 


j  reverse  it,  sujierimposing  the  two  ends  as  before,  and  sketch  it 
I  in  alongsiile  his  first  curve  (easily  done  by  n^eans  of  oil-|iaiier), 
then,  if  they  iliffered,  draw  a  fresh  curve  midway  between  the 
two  ;  subsequently  re-marking  his  examination  |)a|>ers  from  this 
smoothetl  mean  cur\'e  ?  .-\n  illustration  may  be  of  use  :  let  it  be 
founded  on  Fig.  i ,  as  it  contains  the  less  smooth  curve.  The 
dark  line  is  that  of  the  marks  first  adjudged  ;  the  light  line, 
the  same  curve  reversed  ;  and  the  dotted  line,  the  smoothed  mean 
curve  of  the  two  from  which  his  ixq^ers  are  finally  marked. 

Granting  that  the  plus  variations  and  the  minus  variations  on 

the  two  sides  of  the  mean   nearly  balance,  the  question  would 

.  appear   to   be — Would  one  lie  justified  in  smoothing  them    in 

accordance   with  the    generalisetl  results  of   many  such  series  ? 

I  It    involves  some    forcing  of  the   examiner's   marking  into   the 

j  general  mould,  but  would  this  Ix"  n>ore  than  sufficient  to  correct 


Keferri.nc.  to  Dr.  Joly's  letter  la.stweck,  would  it  not  be  well 
ilefinitely  to  adopt  the  "joule"  as  the  only  fundamental  unit  of 
heat,  an<l  to  realise  distmctly  that  researches  such  .is  those  of 
Mr.  (jriffilhs.  Prof.  Rowland,  and  Ur.  Joly  are  determinations 
of  the  specific  heat  of  water  and  of  the  latent  heat  of  steam  in 
terms  of^  it  ?  Oliver  J.   LniicK. 

The  Examination  Curve. 

The  extremely  interesting  article,  by  Prof.  I.loyd  Morgan 
(vol.  li.  pp.  617  619),  on  the  graphic  represenlatiim  of  the  marks 
given  in  an  examinalirm,  and  of  their  great  use  to  an  examiner, 
leads  me  to  a.sk  whether  even  this  methiHl  may  not  Ik;  ileveloped 
further  with  .idvantage  to  all  concerneil,  for,  as  Lloyd  Morgan 
says  — "  If,  after  an  extensive  set  of  i>a|x;rs  has  been  looked  over 
an<l  carefully  marked,  an  interval  <if  time  \k  alloweil  to  elapse, 
.inrl  then  the  papers  are  gone  over  .-igain,  the  result  of  this  re- 
examination IS  that  the  head  ami  tail  remain  practically 
unchange<l,  but  thai  there  is  not  a  little  redistribution  among  the 
moliocritics."  In  other  words,  the  jx-rsonal  eipialion  of  the 
examiner  varies,  showing  itself  mostly  in  the  miclille  of  the 
curve. 

7  h..  hr.i  ii,,,,,.  i.,stri|(t.  me  on  looking  at  Fig  2  (vol.  li.  p.  618), 
"  irity  of  the  I  wo  halves  of  the  curves,  and  on  Irac- 

II  'ling  thctracing  half  roundMi  that  theup|K-rend 

of  ilit  ir.ne-i  lurve  Ijccame  superimposed  U|xm  the  lower  end  of 
th<-  ori(Hn.il.  and  vur  jfrsii,  (he  similarity  was  so  marked  as  to 
II  '-I'l  a  larger  numlnrr  of  ]iai)crs  liccn  ex- 

marked  as  the  first  set,  the  traced  curve 
w-....-.  .  ; ...   other. 

If  -'  i-^'.  why  should  not  the  examiner,  after  plot- 

ling  III-  'hinks  licsl,  make  a  Irarini;  "f  this  ■  iirM-.  then 

NO,    1332,  VOL.   52] 


1 

I      1 

DO 

-  -i        i 

# 

-        ^i3 

^i,---' 

. 'Y 

7  , ■ 

'--— -^ 

,      U> ^1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  1  M  1 

*o      y^-J 

T_ 

*o    "fe;* 

\_ 

aoir            - 

.q: 

27       2S       23        21         19        17         IS        13         II         S  7  S 

Kxamiiut'i.  Fii..  !. 

his  |X"rsonal  equation?  On  the  other  hand,  the  twn  halves 
— say  from  paucity  of  examiners — might  be  so  dissimilar, 
that  the  mean  curve  would  iliffer  very  much  from  the  original 
form.  In  this  ca-se,  would  it  be  possible  to  give  any  general 
rule  whereby  one  coultl  be  guided  whether  to  adopt  the  mean 
curve,  or  to  remain  satisfied  with  the  original  marks  given  ? 

In  HerlxTt  S|iencer"s  "  Principles  of  Sociology,"  (vol.  i.  p.  88) 
are  many  references  to  the  fact  that  "the  children  of  .\ustra 
lians,  of  Negroes  in  the  Uniteil  .States,  of  Ni'groes  on  the  Nile, 
of  .\ndamanese,  of  New  Zealanders,  of  .Sandwich  Islanders  [anil 
others],  are  quicker  than  Kuropean  children  in  acquiring  simple 
ideas,  but  presently  slop  short  from  inability  to  grasp  the  com- 
plex ideas  rea<lily  grasped  by  K,uro|)ean  children,  when  they 
arrive  at  them."  K.  How.vRU  Coi.i.iNs. 

.•\pril  29. 

Teaching  Young  Pheasants  to  Peck. 

It  may  interest  Prof.  Lloyd  Morgan  and  others  to  know  thai 
when  .Asamese  find  newly  halcheil  chicks  in  ihe  jungles,  they 
have  a  s>  stem  of  tciching  the  little  ones  to  peck  and  pick  up  food, 
without  which,  I  am  told,  many  of  them  would  die. 

Walking  down  a  ro.id  one  morning  with  a  neighbour,  we  sud- 
denly n<iliced  a  litlle  ball  of  fluff  between  my  feet,  and  I  could 
hardly  avoid  stepping  on  il,  .is  il  stuck  close  to  me  ;  almost 
immediately  another  ap|KMred  at  my  friend's  feet,  and  we  saw 
they  were  newly-halche<l  pheasants,  the  mother  ))rol);ibly  carrieil 
off  by  some  wilil  cat. 

As  it  was  difficult  lo  walk  with*the.se  little  things  running  so 
close  and  in  the  way,  we  lifted  them  into  the  short  grass  along- 
side, and  hurried  on  s<mie  fifty  yards. 

On  returning  we  had  forgotten  them,  but  one  ran  out,  and  so 
|X'rlinaciously  stuck  to  my  boots,  that  to  save  it  I  put  il  into  my 
jiocket,  and  on  our  arrival  al  the  bungalow  tried  to  feed  it  with 
small  fragments  of  hard-lioiled  egg,  rice,  and  white  ants.  Of  all 
these  it  look  no  notice. 

Next  nmrning  ihe  olher  chick  w.is  found  al  the  fool  of  llie 
Iningalow  steps,  having  proliably  followe<l  us  unnoiiceil  the  ilay 
liefore.  I  then  called  my  "  Halm,"  as  I  could  not  gel  them  lo 
eat.  and  he  said  "they  must  be  //7//^A/." 

lie  pill  the  gau/e  wire  cover  they  were  under,  and  the  crushed 


M.w  9,   1895J 


A^A  TURE 


lice,  egg,  Ovc,  (111  a  hard  wikhI  table,  and  taking  a  pencil  from 
liis  pocket  an<i  collecting  the  eatables  together,  close  to  the 
edge  of  the  gauze  cover,  he  lifted  its  edge,  and  with  the  jiencil 
point  inserted,   began  sharply  tapping  among  the   rice  debris. 

The  two  chicks  at  once  ran  over  to  that  place  and  bent  over, 
watching  the  tapping,  and  to  our  astonishment  they  began  tap- 
ping with  their  little  beaks  the  same  way,  and  before  long  had 
Itegun  to  feed  on  their  tnvn  account,  just  as  the  "  Babu  "'  had 
predicted  ;   and  after  that  lesson  we  had  no  trouble. 

.\s  I  happen  to  be  writing,  I  may  mention  that  our  land  lizard 
(  ;  feet  6  inches  to  4  feet  6  inches  total  length,  name  unknown  to 
me)  has  begun  calling  in  the  early  tiawii  and  tlusk  at  evening. 
It  is  silent  during  the  day  and  night. 

From  the  bearings  taken,  it  can  be  heard  plainly  at  a  mile  in 
forest,  and  often  tive  or  six  calling  at  once  in  different  directions. 

The  native  .\samese  name  is  "  tlui,''  which  is  precisely  the  sound 
it  makes  ;  by  the  old  spelling  it  is  "  Ciooee."  S.  E.  I'EAI,. 

.Sibsagar,  Asam,  April  4. 


The   Bagdad  Date  mark. 

There  will  be  found  in  (Irattan  deary's  "  Through  Asiatic 
Turkey"  all  about  the  date-mark — a  mysterious  and  troublesome 
excoriation,  r<iming  ordy  once,  but  which  lasts  a  year,  leaving  an 
ugly  scar  the  size  and  <Hitline  of  the  fruit — visit(.>rs  for  any  length 
of  time  at  Hagilad  seldom,  and  residents  never,  escape.  It  is  also 
known  at  .\Iep]io  anti  other  jilaces,  but  is  worst  in  Bagdad, 
almost  every  native  being  marked,  liven  nitric  acid  has  been 
found  to  have  little  effect  upon  it.  I  lately  spent  forty-four 
days,  ofi"  and  on,  at  Bagdad,  and  imagined  I  had  escaped  ;  not 
so,  however,  as  it  proved  six  weeks  alter  my  return  to  India. 
But  the  mark  yielded  forthwith,  and  before  any  damage  was 
flone,  to  hyi)osiilj>hite  of  soda,  which  does  so  much  "fixing"  for 
every  amateur  ijhotograjjher,  and  seemed  worth  trying.  The 
fact  itiay  be  usefully  mentionetl  in  the  interest  of  Mesopotamia!! 
explorers  who  do  not  want  to  be  date-marke<l  as  a  memento  ; 
but  it  is  to  physiologists  they  must  look  for  an  explanation. 

Bombay.  .\|iril  12.  A.  T.  Fraser. 


THE    ROYAL    SOCIETY   SELECTED 
CANDIDA  TES. 

''T'^HK  following  arc  the  names  and  qualitications  of  the 
*■       fifteen  candidates  retommendcd   by  the   Council  of 
the  Royal  Society,  on  Tluirsday  last,  for  election  into  the 
Society. 

J.    Wol.ll.    li.\RK\, 

C.B. ,  Civil  lingineer.  Vice- ['resident  of  the  Institution  of 
Civil  Engineers.  Is  eminently  distinguished  in  his  pro- 
fession, and  has  designed  and  executed  many  works  of  national 
importance,  which  include  the  Tower  Bridge,  opened  by 
II.K.H.  the  Prince  of  Wales,  1894:  the  City  Terminus  exten- 
sion of  the  Charing  Cro.ss  Railway,  the  Inner  Circle  Rail- 
w-ay.  and  the  Barry  Dock.  Has  served  as  a  member  of  the 
following  Royal  and  Departmental  Commissions:  —  Royal 
Commission  on  Irish  Public  Works,  18S7  ;  Highlands  and 
Islands  of  Scotland  Commission,  1890;  Commission  on  the 
River  Kibble,  1891  ;  Thames  Navigation  Commissir>n,  1894. 
.Member  de  la  Commission  Consultative  rles  Travaux  de  la 
Campagnie  Universelle  du  Canal  Maritime  de  Suez.  Is  the 
author  of  many  papers,  mainly  in  reference  to  engineering  W'orks, 
which  have  been  publislieii  in  the  Transactions  of  tlw  Institufion  of 
Civil  En;^iii:'frsA\v\  elsew  here.  Is  the  author  of  several  professional 
treati.scs,  among  which  the  following  are  the  more  important  : 
"The  Barry  Dock"  (British  .\ssociation  Report,  1SS8)  : 
*'  Railway  .Vppliances,"  "  Railways  aiul  Locomotives,"  jiublished 
in  cfjnjunction  with  Sir  1'".  Bramwell,  Bart. 

.\l.KRKI)    C.II'.HS    Btn'RNK, 

D.Sc.  (Lonil.),  Professor  of  Biology  in  the  Presidency  College, 
Madras.  Kellow  of  University  College,  London.  l*'or  many 
years  engaged  in  teaching  and  in  researches  upon  Comparative 
Anatomy  and  iMiibryology,  especially  of  Invertebrala.  Especiall)' 
known  to  comparative  anatomists  for  his  discoveries  in  the 
structure  of  leeches,  and  as  discoverer  of  the  hydroid  phase  of 
Linmocodium,  also  of  two  remarkable  new  genera  of  Chietopod 
worms,  described  by  him  as  Haplobranchus  and  Chcetobranchus. 
.\uthor  of  the  following,  as  well  as  several  other  memoirs  : — 

NO.    1332,   VOL.    52] 


"  On  the  .Structure  of  the  Nephridia  of  the  Medicinal  Leech" 
Quart.  Joiirn.  Micros.  Sci.,  1880);  "Contributions  to  the 
Anatomy  of  the  Hirudinea"  (ibid.,  1884);  "On  the  Hydroid 
Form  of  Linmocodium "  (Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  1884);  "On  the 
Supposed  Communication  of  the  Va.scular  System  with  the 
Exterior  in  Pleurobranchus "  {Quart,  fourn.  Micros.  Set.,  1885). 
Since  he  has  been  in  India,  Prof.  Bourne  ha,s  .sent  home 
important  researches  on  Indian  Earthworms,  on  Cho-Hobranchus 
(a  new  naidiform  worm),  on  a  new  Protozoon  of  the  genus 
Pelomyxa,  with  observations  on  the  structure  of  jirotoplasm,  and 
some  \aluable  experimental  researches  on  the  suicide  of 
Scori^ions  {Proc.  Roy.  .Soc,  1889). 

George  Harti.kv  Ukvan, 

M..\.,  Fellow  of  I'eterhouse,  Cambridge.  Lecturer  (on  Thermo- 
dynamics, itc. )  on  the  University  list.  Fifth  Wrangler,  1886; 
Class  I,  Division  I,  1887  ;  bracketed  with  .Senior  Wrangler, 
Smith's  Prize,  1888,  for  the  Essay  "On  the  Curves  on  a 
Rotating  .Spheroid  of  F'inite  Ellipticity  "  (Phil.  Trans.,  1889  A). 
Author  of  the  following  papers  :  — "  On  the  .Stability  of  a 
Rotating  Spheroid  of  Perfect  F'luid  "  {Proc.  Roy.  Soc,  vol.  xlvii.)  ; 
"  On  the  .Stability  of  Elastic  Systems"  ;  "  Waves  on  a  Viscous 
Rotating  Cylinder"  {Proc.  Cam/i.  Phil.  Soc,  vol.  vi. )  ;  and 
several  others  in  Phil.  Mag.,  Proc.  Pond.  Math.  .Soc,  and  Proc. 
Camb.  Phil.  Soc,  &c.  Also  joint  author,  with  .Mr.  Larmor,  of 
the  Report  on  Thermodynamics,  published  in  the  British 
Association  Reports,  1891. 

John  Eliot, 

M..\.  (Cantab.),  Meteorological  Reporter  to  the  (Government 
of  India.  Late  Meteorological  Reporter  to  the  (lovernment  of 
Bengal.  W^as  Second  W^rangler  and  Smith's  Prizeman,  1869. 
Mr.  Fallot,  as  Meteorological  Rejrorter  to  the  Government  of 
Bengal,  and  subsequently  as  Head  of  the  .Meteorological  Depart- 
ment of  India,  has  made  many  imjjortant  additions  to  the  physical 
data  of  Indian  meteorology,  and  has  done  much  in  their  utilisation, 
and  in  the  improvement  of  the  administration  of  the  department 
of  which  he  is  now  the  head.  Under  him  have  been  carried 
out  the  publication  of  Daily  Weather  Charts  for  the  Bay  of 
Bengal  and  Calcutta,  for  Bombay  and  the  Western  Coasts  of 
India,  and  general  charts  for  the  whole  peninsula.  He  has  also 
organised  the  systematic  collection  of  marine  observations  from 
ships  arriving  at  the  chief  Indian  ports.  His  special  work,  con- 
tained in  a  long  series  of  memoirs,  published  either  in  separate 
form  by  the  Meteorological  Department,  or  in  tlie  fournal  of  the 
Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  chietly  relates  to  storms  in  India  and 
Indian  seas,  and  comprises  complete  histories  and  discussions  of 
fifteen  cyclones  and  upwards  of  one  hundretl  storms  that  have 
occurred  between  1877  and  1886.  The  .\nnual  Reports  of  the 
Meteorological  Dejjartment,  jirejiaretl  by  him.  also  contain  many 
valuable  and  original  discussions.  He  has  contributed  very 
largely  to  establish  the  Indian  Metec)rological  I)e])artment  on  a 
thoroughly  scientific  basis,  and  to  maint.aining  its  high  character 
and  recogniseil  practical  importance  to  our  great  Indian 
depen<lency. 

Joseph  Revnoi.d.s  Green, 

D..Sc.  (Cantab.),  M.A.,  B.Sc.  (Lond.),  F.L.S.  Profes.sor  of 
Botany,  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  (Great  Britain.  Di.stinguished 
for  his  acquaintance  with  botany.  Attached  to  .science,  and  has 
contributed  to  its  progress  by  discoveries  in  the  region  of  physio- 
logical chemistry,  with  reference  chiefiy  to  plants.  His  more 
important  contributions  are  contained  in  the  following  papers  : — 
"  C)n  the  Organs  of  Secretion  in  the  Ilypericaccw "  (fount. 
Linn.  .Soc.  (Hot.),  vol.  xx.,  1883)  ;  (with  Dr.  Sheridan  Lea) 
"  Some  Notes  on  the  iMbrin-fcrment  "  (fourn.  of  Physiol.,  vol. 
iv.,  1883);  "On  the  Edible  Bird's  Nest  of  the  Java  Swift  "  («(i/a'., 
vol.  vi.,  18S5);  "On  Proteids  occurring  in  Latex  "  (/Vo(-.  Roy. 
Soc,  1886):  "On  the  Action  of  Sodium  Chloride  in  dissolving 
F'ibrin  "  {Journ.  of  I'hysiol.,  vol.  viii.,  1SS7)  ;  (Jn  Certain  Points 
connected  witli  the  Ci>agulalion  of  the  Blood  "  (ibid. )  :  "  On  the 
Changes  in  the  Proteids  of  the  Seed  which  accompany  (.iermina- 
tion  ■'  (Phil.  Trans.,  1887)  :  "  On  the  Germination  of  the  Tuber 
of  the  Jerusalem  Antichoke  "  (Whwii/j-  of  Botany,  vol.  i.,  188S) : 
"  On  the  Germination  of  the  .Seed  of  the  Castor-oil  Plant  "  (Proc. 
Roy.  Soc,  1S8S) :  "  On  the  (Jccurrence  of  Diast-ase  in  Pollen," 
(Brit,  .\ssoc.  Report,  1891);  "  On  the  Occurrence  of  Vegetable 
Trypsin  in  the  Fruit  of  C«i«otm  ulilissimus^'  {.Innals of  Botanv, 
vol.  vi.,  1S92)  ;  (with  Prof.  Vines)  "On  the  Reserve  Protcid  of 
the  Asparagus   Root  "  (/Var.  Roy.  Soc,   1892):  "On  the  Gcr- 


32 


x.irrA'/-: 


[May  9.  189; 


mination  of  the  Pollen-grain  and  the  Nutrition  of  the  Pollen- 
tube"  {PAiJ.  Trans.,  1894) ;  "On  Vt.t;etable  P'erments" 
(Annals  of  Botany,  vol.  vii.,  1S93) ;  "On  the  Influence  of  Light 
on  Diastase"  (ibid.,  vol.  \iii.,  1S94). 

Ernest  Howard  Griffiths, 

M.A.  Private  Tutor.  .Vnthor  of  the  following  papers: — "On 
the  Comparison  of  Platinum  Tem|)eraturcs  with  the  Kew 
Standard  (Rept.  of  Committee  (m  Electrical  Mc-isurenients, 
Brit,  .\ssoc.,  l8qo):  "On  the  Detennination  of  certain  Boiling 
and  Freezing  Points "  (/•.*»/.  Trans.,  1891  \);  "The  Electrical 
Resistance  of  Platinum  Wire  at  .Absolute  Zero"  (/%//.  Afag., 
Dec.,  1892) ;  "  On  the  Determination  of  Low  TemiK-ratures  l)y 
Platinum  Thermometers"  (Proc.  Camb.  Phil.  Soc,  vol.  viii.. 
Part  I.);  "On  the  Increase  in  Resistance  of  a  Conductor  when 
Transmitting  a  Current"  (ibid.,  vol.  viii..  Part  1.):  "The 
Mechanical  Equivalent  of  Heat,  together  with  an  Investigation  into 
the  Changes  in  the  C^ipacity  for  Heat  of  Water"  (/'/;//.  Trans., 
1893  A);  "The  Hoiling  Point  of  Sulphur,  together  with  a 
.Metho<l  of  Standardising  Platinum  Thermometers,"  jointly  with 
Mr.  Callen.lar  (/»*//.  Trans.,  1891  A). 

StippUnutilary  Cfr/z/fra/c— .\ppendix  to  the  communication 
entitled  "The  Mechanical  Equivalent  of  Heat"  (Proc.  Koy. 
Soi.,  vol.  Iv.,  1893);  "  .\.  Method  of  Joining  Cd.ass  and  Metal 
Tul)es"  (PrOi.  PAH.  So,-.  Camb.,  1893)  ;  "  The  Measurement  of 
Temperature"  (Science  Progress,  1894);  "The  Influence  of 
Temperature  on  the  Specific  Heat  of  Aniline"  (PAH.  Mag., 
1895);  "The  Latent  Heat  of  Evaporaticm  of  Water"  (read 
Ro)'al  Society,  January  1895). 

Ch.vrles  Thom.xs  Hkvcock, 

M..\.,  Lecturer  on  Natural  Science,  King's  College,  Cambridge. 
.\uthor  of  "  Revision  of  the  .\tomic  Weight  of  Rubidium " 
(Brit.  Assoc.  Rept.,  1882);  joint  author  of :— "  S]x;ctrum  of 
Indium"  (PAH.  Afag.  [5]  I.,  1876)  ;  "On  a  Simplified  Form  of 
-Apparatus  for  Determining  the  Density  of  Ozone"  (Proc.  Camb. 
PAH.  Soc,  V.)  ;  "  Lowering  of  the  Freezing  Point  of  Tin  by  the 
.Addition  of  other  Metals"  (Proc.  Chem.  Soc,  No.  65,  1889)  : 
"  Lowering  of  the  Freezing  Point  of  .Sodium  by  the  .Addition  of 
other  Metals"  (Trans.  Chcm.  Soc,  Iv.,  1889);  "Molecular 
Weights  of  Metals  when  in  .Solution"  ibid.  (Ivii.):  "Freezing 
Point  of  Triple  .MIoys  of  Oold,  Cadmium,  and  Tin  "  (ibid.,  lix. )  ; 
"  Lowering  of  the  Freezing  Points  of  Cadmium,  Bismuth,  and 
Lead,  when  alloyed  with  other  Metals"  (ibid.,  Ixi.) ;  "  Isolation 
of  a  Compound  of  dold  and  Cadmium"  (ibid.);  "Freezing 
Point  of  Alloys  in  which  Thallium  is  the  .Solvent  "  (ibid.,  1894) ; 
"Freezing  Point  of  Triple  .Alloys"  (ibid.);  "Change  in  the 
Zero  of  Mercury  Thermometers"  (Proc.  Camb.  PAH.  Soc,  vii.). 

SVDNKV  John  Hickson, 
D..Sc.  (I-ond.),  .M.A.  (Cantab.),  Hon.  M.A.  (Oxon.),  F.Z.S. 
Fellow  of  Downing  College,  Cambridge.  .Author  of  ixipers 
published  in  the  PhilosopAical  Transactions,  "On  the  Cdiated 
GrfKjve  (.Siphonoglyphe)  in  the  .StonnMlaum  of  the  -Alcyonarians  " 
(1883)  :  "  On  the  .Sexual  Cells  and  Early  Stages  in  the  Develop- 
ment of  MilUpora plicata  "  ( 188S).  In  the  Qnart.  foiirn.  Micros. 
Sci.,  "The  Eye  of  Pectcn  "  (1880);  "The  Eye  of  Spimdylus" 
(1882);  "  The  Structure  and  Relations  of  Tubi|iora "  (1883); 
"The  Eye  and  Optic  Tract  of  Insects"  (1895).  '"  •''*^ 
TijdscAr.  van  Art  Nrdcrl.  Aarcirijkskund.  GenootscA. ,  "  Onizwer- 
vingenin  No<jrdCelcl>es  "  (1887).  In  \\k  Jourii.  .InlArop.  Inst., 
"Notes  on  the  Sengirese  "  (1886I.  Author  <if  the  work,  ".A 
Naturalist  in  North  Celelies." 

Hknkv  Capki.  Lokft  Hoiukn, 

Major,  Royal  Artillery.  In  India  from  1S77  S4,  he  carried  out 
a  numlier  nf  experiments  in  telephony  an<I  telegraphy  for  the 
Indian  Oovernment.  Since  1885  he  has  lieen  in  charge  of  Ihe 
l)e|iarlment  for  the  proofs  of  Naval  and  I-and  .Service  Ordnance, 
and  tiunpowders,  an<l  for  exjKTiinent  work  connected  therewith, 
and  has  invenlcil  and  construcle'l  ir.^ny  pieces  of  ap|>aratus  cnn- 
necte^l  with  the  science  of  artillery,  .is  well  as  with  electrical  and 
scientific  rcscjirch.  .Amfmgst  those  which  have  been  publicly 
cxhibitol  are  his  devices  in  connection  with  the  chronograph, 
for  measuring  the  velocity  of  projectiles  ;  an  extremely  accurate 
and  sensitive  hydrometer  for  me.-Lsuring  the  variations  of  Ihe 
density  of  the  .icids  in  Ihe  eliclrolyle  accumulator  cells  (exhibited 
Royal  Society,  18X7  ;  ve  :ds'i  i«|>er  before  Iron  .inil  Sleel  Insl., 
1891);  a  hifjh-specd  chrom  (graphic  [>en  for  recording  minute 
intervals  of  time  by  eleclrom.ignelic  mejins  ;  various  instruments 

NO.    (332.  VOL.   52] 


for  making  accurate  and  rapid  tests  of  the  pressure  and  current 
in  direct  current  circuits,  and  in  alternating  current  circuits  of 
both  high  and  low  fre<|uency  (some  exhibited  Royal  SiKiety, 
1892);  an  instrument  for  rapidly  ascertaining  the  E. M.F.  and 
resistance  of  a  galvanic  cell  (exhibited  Royal  Society,  1893) ;  a 
compact  moving  coil  galvanometer  adapted  to  univcrsiil  purposes, 
which  was  employed  by  Profs.  Dewar  and  I'Icming  in  their 
researches  on  the  resistance  of  metals,  and  is  used  in  the  record- 
ing pyrometer  of  Prof.  Roberts- .Austen.  He  w.is  deputed  by 
the  Commander-in-Chief  to  write  the  electrical  sections  of  the 
Paris  Exhibition  of  1SS9,  the  Frankfort  Exhiliition  of  1S91,  and 
the  Chicago  Exhibition  of  1893,  and  furnished  the  Ciovcrnment 
with  most  valuable  reports. 

Frank  McCle.an, 

M.A.,  LL.D.  (t;i.-i.sg.),  F.R..A.S.,  M.I.C.E.  Author  of  "  Photo- 
graphs of  the  Red  End  of  the  .Solar  Spectrum  from  D  to  .A  ' 
(MontA/y  jVoticcs,  vol.  xlix. ) ;  "  Parallel  Photographs  of  the  Sun, 
Iron,  and  Iridium,  from  11  to  near  n'  (ibid.) ;  "Comparative 
Photographs  of  High  and  Low  Sun  II  to  .\,  with  N(^tes  on  the 
Mcthiul  (if  Photographing  the  Red  End  of  the  .Siiectrum  "  (ibid., 
vol.  li. )  ;  "  Comjxirative  Photogra()hsof  Sun  antl  Metal  Spectra" 
(.Series  I  and  2,  ibid.,  vol.  lii.).  Inventor  of  McClcan's  Star 
Spectroscope,  an  invaluable  aid  in  the  stiuly  of  stellar  spectra. 
.Attached  to  .science,  and  anxious  to  promote  its  progress. 
Fiiunder  of  the  !s;iac  Newton  Scholarship  at  Caudiridge.  Don<^r 
of  a  large  telescope  to  the  nation,  to  be  used  in  physical 
inquiries  at  the  Royal  Observatory,  Oipe  of  (iood  Hope. 

WlI.l.IAM  MacEwEN, 
M.D.  (Clasg.),  Hon.  LL.l).  ((dasgow).  Profe.s.sor  of  Surgery, 
University  of  Clasgow.  .A  distinguished  Surgeon.  Author  of: — 
"  (Observations  concerning  Transplantations  nf  Bone,  tVc."  (Proi. 
Koy.  Soc,  May  1881,  and  Comptcs  rcndiis  .Acad.  Sci.,  Paris, 
June  1881);  "Treatise  «m  Osteotomy"  (Londim,  1S80  ;  trans- 
lated into  French,  German,  Italian,  Roumanian.  Swedish  and 
Russian) :  "  Osteogenic  Factors  in  the  Development  and  Re|)air 
of  Bone"  (.Innals  of  Surgery',  1887)  :  .Address  nn  the  .Surgery  of 
the  Brain  and  Spinal  Cord  (Lancet,  and  Pril.  Med.  /oiirn., 
1888):  ''The  Pupil  in  its  Semiological  Aspects"  (Internal, 
foutn.  of  Med.  Sciences,  1887);  "Radical  Cure  of  Hernia" 
(.Inna/s  of  Snrgery,  1886)  ;  also  numerous  articles  on  special 
points  in  .Surgery. 

.Supplementary  Certificate. — .Author  of  a  treatise  on  Pyogenic 
Infective  Diseases  of  the  Brain  and  .Spinal  Cord  (1893):  an  .Atlas 
of  Head  Secti<ms,  with  fifty-three  cojiper  ]»]ates.  fifty-three  key 
pKates  and  descriptive  text  (1893).  Especially  distinguishcil  for 
his  work  on  the  Surgery  of  the  Bones  and  in  the  DeveIo]imeni 
and  Practice  of  the  .Surgeiy  of  the  Brain  and  .Spinal  Cord. 

SiDNFv  Martin, 

M.l ).,  U.S..  B.Sc,  F.R.C.P.  .\ssistant  Physician,  University 
College  Hosjiital,  and  H()spital  for  Consumjition,  Brompton.  Dis- 
tinguished for  researches  in  chemical  physiology  and  pathology  ; 
has  carrieil  out  researches  on  chemical  bacteriology  for  the  Local 
Ciovernnient  Bnaril.and  for  Ihe  Royal  C<ininiissic)n  on  Tuberculosis. 
The  folU>wing  are  his  principal  published  pa|)crs ;  "  Pajiain 
Digestion  "  C/oiini.  of  Physiol.,  v.)  :  "  Nature  of  Papain  and  il^ 
action  on  \'egelable  I'rotuids  '  (ibid.,  vi. )  ;  "  The  I'roleids  of  the 
.Seeds  of  Alirns  frecatorius'^  (Proc.  Koy.  Soc,  xlii.);  "  Phy.sio- 
logic.al  Action  <if  the  .Active  Principle  of  .Ibrus  piecatorius" 
(«*/'(/.,  xlvi.)  ;  "The  Toxic  Actiim  of  Ihe  Albumose  from  the 
SgcA^  oi  .-ibrns precatoriiis'^  (ibid.)  ;  "  Cduten  and  the  IVoteids 
of  Flour"  (/^r/V.  J/.y/. /,.«;•/;..  1886);  "The  Influence  of  Bile  on 
Digestion "  (with  Dr.  I).  Williams  -/"/w.  Koy.  .Sm. ,  xlv.  and 
xlviii.):  "The  Chemical  Products  of  the  (Irowlh  <>(  PacHliis 
antbracis  and  iheir  Physiological  .Aclicm "  (ifiiil.,  xlviii.): 
"  Preliminary  Re|>ort  on  Ihe  Chemical  Products  of  Ihe  Life  of 
HacHlns  antAracis"  (Kept,  of  the  Med.  Officer,  Local  Covl. 
Board,  1889  90);  "Chemical  Pathology  of  Anthrax"  (ibid., 
1891):  "  Diphlheritic  Paralysis"  (Troc.  Koy.  .Soc,  1892)  : 
"(odslnnian  l.ecUires  on  Ihe  Chemical  Palholngy  of  Diphtheria 
com|Nired  with  that  of  Anlhrax,  Infective  I'-ndocarditis  and 
Tetanus."  1892 :  "Two  Classes  of  Vegetable  Chibulins" 
(/'rn.  PAvsiol.  .Soc)  ;  "  Palholi.gy  cflhe  Proteids  of  Ihe  Body" 
(Urit.  Med.  fourn..  1890). 

('•EOKOE    M.   MiNtlllN. 
M.A.  (Dubl.),    l'rofes.sor   of  Mathematics  in  the    Royal    Indian 
Engineering  College,  Cooper's  Hill.     Author  of   the   following 
treatises: — ".Statics,"  "  Uniplanar   Kinematics,"  and  "Hydro- 


May  9,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


IZ 


statics."  Also  of  the  following  papers  :— "  Astatic  Equilibrium 
of  any  System  of  P'orccs,  treated  by  (^laternions ''  (Proc. 
Loud.  Math.  Soc.)  ;  "The  Absolute  Sine  Electrometer"' 
[Nature,  Electrkal  Rcfiew,  &c.)  ;  "  Researches  in  Photo- 
electricity" (Pro(.  Phys.  Soc.  and  Phil.  Mai;.);  "Impulsion 
Cells"  (Ehclruian,  Proc.  Phys.  Soc):  "  Scleno-Aluminium 
Cells  and  the  IClectromotive  Forces  of  Starlight "  (Astronomy 
and  Astro-Physics);  "The  Magnetic  Field  of  a  Circular 
Current  "  ;  "  The  M;ignetic  Field  close  to  the  Surface  of  a  Wire 
carrying  a  Current  "  (/'/;//.  Mag. ,  Proc.  Phys.  Soc. ). 

Wii.i.iAJi  Henry  Power, 

Assistant  Medical  Officer,  H.M.  Local  Government  Board. 
Author  of  Reports  to  the  Local  Clovernment  Board  relating  to 
the  natural  history  of  epidemic  diseases  and  materially  extending 
the  knowledge  thereof,  more  especially  [a)  Demonstration  in 
1882  of  the  existence  of  Scarlatinal  Disease  in  Cows, 
explaining  the  previously  obscure  spread  of  Scarlatina  in  human 
communities  by  means  of  Cow's  Milk  ;  (h)  Record  of  Cases 
(afterwards  followed  by  Dr.  Klein)  where  Diphtheria  had  been 
spread  by  the  consumption  of  Cow's  Milk  ;  (c)  Discover)',  in 
1881,  of  the  ability  of  Smallpox  to  extend  atmospherically 
(without  other  personal  relation)  from  a  hospital  to  houses  in  its 
neighliourhnod.  The  subject  was  investigated  by  a  Royal  Com- 
mission which  recognised  the  facts  ;  they  have  been  subjected 
to  further  demonstration  by  Mr.  Power  during  subsequent 
years. 

Thomas  Purdie, 

B.Sc,  Ph.D.,  A.R.S.M.,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  St.  Andrews.  .Vuthor  of  the  following  : — "On  the 
Synthesis  of  a  Lsoheptane"  ;  and  "  On  the  Action  of  Sodium 
.-Ucoholates  (m  Fumaric  Ethers"  (Trans.  Chcm.  Soc,  1881): 
"Action  of  Sodium  .Alkyl  Oxides  on  Ethereal  Fumarates " 
(ibid.,  1885)  ;  "The  .\ction  of  Metallic  Alkylates  on  Mixtures 
of  Ethereal  Salts  with  Alcohols"  (ibid.,  1887).  Joint  author 
with  W.  Marshall,  B.Sc,  of  : — "  Action  of  Alcohols  on 
Ethereal  Salts  in  presence  of  Small  (Quantities  of  Sodic 
.Ukylates"  (Trans.  Chcm.  Soc,  1888)  ;  "The  Addition  of  the 
Elements  of  Alcohol  to  the  FZthereal  Salts  of  Unsaturated  Acids  " 
(ibid.,  1891).  Joint  author  with  J.  Wallace  Walker,  >L.\., 
of-  —  "Resolution  of  Lactic  Acid  into  its  Optically  Active 
Components  "  (j'i/rf.,  1892);  "  Optically  Active  Ethoxysuccinic 
Acid  "  (ibid.,  1893). 


APRIL   METEORS. 

COMPARATIVELY  few  meteors  of  the  April  shower 
appear  to  have  been  seen  this  year  in  eonsequence 
of  the  cloudy  weather  which  prevailed.  But  if  the 
results  are  scanty  they  are  interesting,  for  three  fine 
meteors  were  observed  at  more  than  one  station,  and 
their  real  paths  in  the  atmosphere  have  been  computed. 

On  April  14,  1  ih.  44m.,  a  bright  first  mag.  meteor  was 
seen  by  Prof.  A.  S.  Herschel  at  .Slough,  and  by  the  writer 
at  Bristol.  It  moved  rapidly  in  a  ratlicr  long  path,  and 
left  a  bright  streak.  The  radiant  point  is  indicated  at 
316°  -f-  31°  near  f  Cygni,  and  the  meteor  fell  from  87  to  71 
miles  over  the  English  Channel.  During  its  visible 
career  it  traversed  a  course  of  107  miles  with  a  velocity 
of  about  49  miles  per  second.  The  radiant  of  this 
meteor  near  f  Cygni  is  almost  identical  with  that 
(314''  +  27")  found  for  a  1-2  mag.  meteor  observed  on 
April  20,  1893,  also  by  Prof  Herschel  and  the  writer. 

On  April  19,  loh.  59m.,  a  fine  meteor,  variously  esti- 
mated as  =  1st  mag.,  2  X  V. ,  =  9,  =  ist  mag.,  was  ob- 
served by  Mr.  Corder  at  Bridgwater,  Mr.  Blakeley, 
Dcwsbury,  Mr.  Packer,  Birmingham,  and  the  writer  at 
Bristol,  respectively.  Its  motion  was  luodcrately  slow, 
and  it  left  a  stre.ik.  The  direction  of  its  flight  shows  it 
to  have  been  a  Lyrid  with  a  radiant  at  269'  -\-  30°.  The 
meteor  descended  from  91  to  43  miles  over  the  North 
Sea  and  Lincolnshire,  and  traversed  a  path  of  97  miles 
with  a  velocity  of  T^'i,  miles  per  second.  This  object 
appeared  much  brighter  to  the  observers  at  Birmingham 
and  Dcwsbury  than  to  those  at  Bridgwater  and  Bristol, 
for  the  meteor  was  far  more  distant  from  the  latter  places, 

NO.    1332,  VOL.   52] 


and  its  light  much  veiled  in  the  mist  lying  over  the  stars 
of  Cygnus  near  the  north-east  horizon. 

On  April  19,  iih.  46m.,  another  conspicuous  meteor,, 
moving  very  swiftly,  and  leaving  a  bright  streak,  was  seen 
in  Hercules  and  Bootes  by  Mr.  Corder  at  Bridg\vater, 
and  the  writer  at  Bristol.  Its  radiant  was  in  .Sagitta  at 
300'  +  20^.  The  meteor  fell  from  77  to  71  miles  over 
Wiltshire  and  Somerset,  and  travelled  along  a  path  of  40 
miles  in  less  than  one  second  of  time.  The  radiant  in 
Sagitta  furnishes  a  well-defined  meteor  shower  at  the 
April  epoch,  and  I  first  detected  it  in  1877.  My 
positions  for  the  radiant  are  as  follow  : 


D,  92  ...  1877,  April  16-19 
D,  no  .  .  .  1885,  April  18-20 
D,  121  ...    18S7,  .April  19-25 


29S  -I-  25     6  meteors 
299  -F  24     5       ,, 
302  -H  23     4       ., 

The  mean  position  is  at  300^  +  24^  Mr.  Corder  saw 
a  shower  in  April-May  1876-9  from  300'  +  id'  (7 
meteors),  which  presents  an  excellent  accordance.  The 
meteors  of  this  stream  are  very  swift,  and  commonly  ger- 
minate streaks;  but  the  shower  is  not  well  displayecl  until 
the  morning  hours,  the  radiant  being  very  low  before 
midnight.  VV.  F.  DENNING. 


NOTES. 

The  following  fifteen  candidates  were  selected  on  Thursday 
last  by  the  Council  of  the  Royal  Society,  to  be  recommended  for 
election  into  the  Society : — Mr.  J.  Wolfe  Barry,  Prof.  A.  G. 
Bourne,  Mr.  G.  H.  Bryan,  Mr.  J.  Eliot,  Prof.  J.  R.  Green, 
Mr.  E.  H.  Griffiths,  Mr.  C.  T.  Heycock,  Prof.  S.  J.  Hickson, 
Major  H.  C.  L.  Holden,  Mr.  F.  McCIean,  Prof.  W.  MacEwen, 
Dr.  S.  Martin,  Prof.  G.  M.  Minchin,  Mr.  W.  H.  Power,  Prof. 
T.  Purdie.  We  give  the  qualifications  of  the  candidates  in 
another  part  of  this  number. 

The  memorial  of  the  late  Prof.  J.  C.  .\dams,  at  Westminster 
Abbey,  will  be  unveiled  this  afternoon  by  the  Duke  of 
Devonshire. 

We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  report  that  Prof.  Huxley  has  been 
steadily  improving  in  health  during  the  past  few  days. 

Dr.  p.  DangearI)  has  been  appointed  Professor  of  Botany 
to  the  Faculty  of  .Sciences  at  Poitiers. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Court  of  the  Spectacle  Makers'  Company, 
on  Thursday  last,  Mr.  W.  H.  M.  Christie,  the  Astronomer 
Royal,  was  presented  with  the  honorary  freedom  of  the  Company, 
in  recognition  of  his  services  to  astronomical  science. 

The  De  Candolle  prizes  have  been  awarded  by  the  Physical 
and  Natural  Histor,-  Society  of  Geneva  to  Dr.  O.  Warburg  for 
his  monograph  of  the  Myristicacecc,  and  to  Dr.  R.  von  Wettstein 
for  his  monograph  of  the  genus  Euphrasia. 

During  the  past  week,  the  deaths  of  several  eminent  men  of 
science  have  occurred.  Surgeon-Major  Carter,  who  was  elected 
a  F-ellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1859,  and  obtained  the  Royal 
Medal  in  1872.  died  on  Saturday  last,  the  4th  inst.,  at  his 
residence  in  Budleigh  Salterton.  We  notice  al-so  the  death  of 
Mr.  .\.  E.  Durham,  late  Vice-President  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons  of  I';ngland,  and  the  author  of  numerous  works  on 
subjects  connected  with  medicine  and  sui^cry.  .Among  the 
announcements  of  deaths  abroad,  we  regret  to  see  the  name  of 
Prof.  K.  Ludwig,  Professor  of  Physiology  in  the  University  of 
Leipzig,  and  Director  of  the  Physiological  Institute  there.  He 
was  sevenlyeight  years  of  age.  The  death  is  alsti  announced  of 
Prof.  .Manuel  I'inheiro  Chag;is,  tieneral  Secretary  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Sciences  at  Lisbon.  Prof.  Chagas  w.as  l)om 
November  13,  1842. 


34 


NATURE 


[May  9,  1895 


Dr.  Karl  Voct,  the  eminent  biologist,  died  at  ("leneva  on 
Monday,  at  seventy-eight  years  of  age.  He  was  born  at 
Giessen,  and  studied  under  Liebig  and  Agassiz.  After  residing 
for  a  time  in  I'aris,  he  returned  to  Germany,  in  1847,  as  Pro- 
fessor of  Zoolc^-  in  the  University  of  his  native  town,  but 
soon  lost  his  chair  for  political  reasons.  In  1S52  he  became 
Professor  of  Geology  at  Geneva,  and  from  that  time  identified 
himself  with  the  civic  life  of  the  country  of  his  adoption. 

We  regret  to  notice  that  Sir  George  Buchanan,  formerly 
medical  officer  to  the  Local  Government  Board,  died  on  Sunday 
last,  at  the  age  of  sixty-four.  .\s  mentioned  in  these  columns 
last  week,  he  was  chairman  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  Tuber- 
culosis, the  report  of  which  has  just  been  published.  His 
contributions  to  the  literature  of  preventive  medicine,  hygiene, 
and  sanitation  arc  numerous  and  of  prime  importance.  He  was 
elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1882. 

(Ds  .Monday,  May  20,  a  meeting  will  be  held  at  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  to  commemorate  the  fiftieth  annivcrsar)'  of 
the  sailing  of  the  Arctic  Expedition,  under  Sir  John  Franklin. 
The  Society's  anniversary  meeting  and  the  annual  conversazione 
will  be  held  on  the  following  Monday,  May  27. 

The  Earl  of  Selbome,  whose  death  occurred  on  Saturday 
la.st,  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  i860.  He 
was  raiscil  to  the  |>eerage  as  Baron  Selbome  in  1872.  The 
little  Hami)shire  vill.Tge,  from  which  the  title  was  derived,  is 
that  which  is  immortalised  by  Gilbert  White's  "  Natural 
History." 

The  l)e|>artment  of  Science  and  .\rt  has  received,  through 
the  Foreign  Office,  a  programme  of  an  Exhibition  of  Medicinal 
and  Useful  Plants,  which  is  to  be  held  at  the  Hague  in  July  next. 
Intending  exhibitors  may  obtain  further  information  from  Dr. 
.M.  J.  Greshoff,  97  Laan  van  Meerdervoort,  at  the  Hague. 

.SiXTV-six  natives,  and  as  many  as  252  animals,  have  been 
brought  over  from  .Somaliland  by  Herr  .Menges,  for  the  East 
.Vfrican  Village  at  .Syilenham.  .\mong  the  animals  was  a 
"  Waller"  antelope,  and  numerous  lions,  cheetahs,  hyenas, 
jackals,  l>al>oons,  and  ostriches.  A  further  instalment  of  twenty 
lions,  eleven  elephants,  four  zebras,  nineteen  ostriches,  six 
leopards,  four  pythons,  and  other  animals  will  shortly  arrive. 

An  International  Health  Exhibition  is  to  be  opened  in  I'aris 
in  a  few  days,  and  is  to  remain  oj^n  until  .September  15  next. 
The  exhibits  arc  divided  into  ten  gfoups,  .is  follow  : — ( 1 )  I  lygiene 
of  the  house  :  (2)  the  health  of  towns;  (3)  treatment  of  infec- 
tious diseases:  (4)  demography  and  sanitary  statistics;  (5) 
siinitarj-  .science;  (6)  hygiene  of  infancy:  (7)  industrial  and 
professional  hygiene ;  (8)  fixnl  prmlucls :  (9)  the  hygiene  of 
clothing — launrlrv'  \\r>rk.  sanitary  clothing.  ,Vc.  ;  fio)  pliy^icil 
exercise. 

A  toiitsE  of  lectures  on  "  Our  Edible  Sea  Fish  and  the  .Sea 
Fisheries."  to  lie  delivcre<l  by  Prof.  W.  .'\.  Herdnian,  F.  R.S., 
at  University  College,  Liver|)W)l,  has  Iwen  arranged  by  the 
I.Anca.shire  .Sea  Fisheries  Joint  Committee.  The  object  of  the 
lectures  is  to  interest  and  inform  the  general  public  in  a  ni.itler 
of  national  im|Hirtance,  vi/.  the  present  |iosilion  and  future 
pros|wct.s  of  our  fisheries,  the  need  of  protection  and  regulation, 
and  the  Iwnefils  which  may  lie  expected  to  result  from  Midi 
■•pcrations,  and  from  fish. hatching  and  shell-fish  culture. 

The  librar)' of  the  Marine  Biological  Association's  laboratory 
at  Plymouth  is  in  want  of  a  number  rif  volumes  to  complete  sets 
of  th<*c  Ux.ks  which  form  an  essential  |nrt  of  the  e(|uipinenl  of 
an  institution  where  scientific  in»  estigation  is  carried  on.  Among 
the  volumes  liadly  nce<led  arc  :  I'liilosofhical  Tiaii  sat  lions  pre- 
vious to  1878,  anil  the  PrtKetdinns  of  ihe  Royal  .Society  previous 
NO.    1332,    Vf)I„    52] 


to  18S8.  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Society,  who  do  not  wish  to 
keep  their  old  Transactions  and  Proceedings,  or  the  families  of 
Fellows  who  are  dead,  could  not  bestow  those  volumes  more 
worthily  than  by  giving  them  to  the  Plymouth  Laborator)-. 
Other  volumes  which  would  be  welcomed  are  :  Proceedings  of  the 
Zoolt^cal  Society  previous  to  1891,  and  the  Zeilschri/t  /iir 
lyissensch  Zoologie  previous  to  1875.  .-\ny  s|)ecial  monographs 
on  biological  subjects,  or  separate  copies  of  |wiK:rs,  would  also 
be  gladly  received.  Ever)'  man  of  science  knows  that  the  litera- 
ture of  a  subject  should  be  easy  acce.ssible  to  an  investigator,  and 
will  therefore  recognise  the  necessity  of  making  the  library  ai 
Plymouth  less  deficient  in  works  of  reference  than  it  is  at 
present. 

We  gave  last  «eek  a  list  ol  the  new  oflicers  of  the  I'.S. 
National  Academy  of  Sciences,  elected  at  the  recent  annual 
meeting.  The  new  members  elected  at  the  same  meeting  were — 
Dr.  William  H.  Welch  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  Dr. 
William  L.  Elkiii  of  \'ale  University,  Prof.  Charles  S.  Sargent 
of  Harvard  University,  and  I'rof.  Charles  Whitman  of  Chicago 
University.  Three  foreign  associates  were  chosen — Prof. 
Rudolph  Leuckart  of  the  University  of  Leipzig,  Prof.  Julius 
von  Sachs  of  Wurzburg,  and  Prof.  Sophus  Lie,  of  Leipzig. 
The  Barnard  gold  medal  was  voted  to  Lord  Rayleigh  for 
the  discovery  of  argon.  The  Watson  medal  and  a  jiurse 
of  100  dollars  was  presented  to  Prof.  L.  C.  Chandler  for  his 
researches  on  the  variation  of  latitude  and  on  the  variable  stars. 
An  account  of  this  award  was  given  in  Naii're  a  year  .igo 
(vol.  50,  p.  157).  A  list  of  the  japers  read  at  the  meeting  will 
lie  found  among  our  Reports  of  Sixrieties.  The  .\cademy  selected 
Philadelphia  as  the  place  for  the  autumn  meeting,  and  fixed  the 
date  at  October  29.  At  that  meeting  the  new  president.  Prof. 
Wolcott  Gibbs,  will  be  inducted  into  oftice,  and  Prof.  O.  C. 
Marsh's  term  of  office  will  terminate. 

A  NEW  era  of  cheap  telephoning  seems  to  have  foUoweii  the 
expiration  of  certain  |>atentsand  the  judicial  annulment  of  others 
in  the  United  States  a  few  months  ago.  Simultaneous  announce- 
ments of  reduced  rates  in  Connecticut  and  Illinois  coincide  wiili 
the  formation  of  a  new  company — the  .Slandar<l  Telephone 
Company — with  ramifications  or  sub-companies  extending  all  over 
the  United  .States,  and  an  aggregate  capital  of  160,000,000 
dollars.  Preliminar)-  arrangements  were  very  quietly  made,  lull 
this  company  now  comes  forward  with  rates  of  3  dollars  a 
month,  instead  of  many  times  that  amount  novv  charged,  in 
some  cases  running  as  high  as  240  dollars  a  year.  Efforts  ha\e 
lK;en  made,  to  induce  the  legislature  of  the  .State  of  New 
^'ork,  to  secure  a  compulsory  reduction  of  rates  :  but  the  old 
companies  have  opposed  such  legislation  strenuously,  on  the 
ground  that  no  chea]>er  service  could  be  given.  The  Slandanl 
Company,  however,  claim  to  have  discovered  a  new  principle  or 
method  of  o|H-rating  in  electricity,  which  will  enable  them 
to  converse  over  uiiprece<lented  distances — say  from  New 
York  to  Denver,  or  even  .San  I'rancisco — at  very  moderate 
cost.  The  reticence  maintained,  however,  makes  it  im|X)S- 
sible  to  decide  whether  or  not  these  extravagant  claims  are 
well-grounded. 

At  the  .second  International  Zoological  Congress  luld  In  Mos- 
cow In  1892,  a  resolution  wiLS  |>assed  to  Ihe  effect  that  the  ihiril 
meeting  should  take  place  in  Leyden,  Ihe  olilesi  University  of 
the  NelheHands,  and  that  Dr.  F.  A.  Jentink,  Director  of  the 
Leyden  Natural  llistor)'  Museum,  should  be  its  President.  .\ 
circular  informs  us  that  the  Netherlands'  Zoological  .Society  is 
making  Ihe  necessary  arrangements  for  this  meeting,  which  is  to 
be  held  on  September  16-21,  umler  the  |)alroiiage  of  the  (^hieen- 
Regent  of  Ihe  Netherlands.  The  Ministers  of  the  Interior,  of 
Ihe  Public  Works,  and  of  Commerce  anil  Industry,  will  be 
Honorary  Presidents  of  the  Congress.     A  number  of  well-known 


May  9,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


35 


zoologists  have  promised  to  attend  the  meeting,  and  to  deliver 
addresses  or  read  papers.  The  following  scheme  for  the  sectional 
meetings  has  been  arranged  :— ( I )  Cieneral  zoology  ;  geographical 
distribution,  including  the  fossil  faunas ;  the  theory  of  evolu- 
tion. (2)  Classification  of  living  and  extinct  vertebrates ; 
bionomy  ;  geographical  distribution,  including  fossil  vertebrates. 
(j)  Comparative  anatomy  of  living  and  extinct  vertebrates; 
embryology.  (4)  Classification  of  living  and  extinct  invertebrate 
animals  ;  bionomy.  (5)  Entomology.  (6)  Comparative  anatomy 
and  embryology  of  invertebrate  animals.  Intending  members 
may  send  the  subscription  (;^l)  to  Dr.  1".  P.  C.  Hoek  (Helder), 
tiie  General  Secretary,  or  to  Dr.  R.  Horst  (Leyden),  Treasurer. 

The  summer  meetings  of  the  Institution  of  Naval  Architects 
will  be  held  in  Paris  on  Tuesday,  June  11,  and  during  the 
remainder  of  the  week.  The  Right  Hon.  Lord  Brassey,  K.C.B., 
President  of  the  Institution,  will  occupy  the  chair.  We  are 
informed  that  the  French  Government  is  taking  a  warm  interest 
in  these  meetings,  and  that,  under  the  honorary  presidency  of  the 
Minister  of  Marine,  Vice-Admiral  Besnard,  and  under  the  acting 
presidency  of  Vice-Admiral  Charles  Duperre,  a  strong  and  influen- 
tial Reception  Committee  has  been  formed,  representing  the 
Ministry  of  Marine,  the  French  Navy,  the  Municipality  of  Paris, 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Paris,  the  (Ireat  French  Industries 
and  Steamship  Owners,  the  Railroad  Companies,  the  University  of 
Paris,  the  Conservatoire  des  Arts  et  des  Metiers,  the  French  Insti- 
tution of  Civil  Engineers,  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of 
National  Industry,  the  French  Institution  of  Naval  Architects,  and 
the  Union  of  Yachts.  This  Committee  has  already  taken  active 
steps  to  draw  up  a  programme  of  exceptional  interest  for  the 
instruction  and  entertainment  of  the  Institution.  Papers  have 
already  been  promised  by  M.  Emil  Bertin,  Director  of  the  French 
Government  .School  of  Naval  Architecture,  and  M.  V.  Daymard. 
There  will  also  be  papers  by  .Sir  William  White,  Mr.  B.  Martell, 
Dr.  Francis  Elgar,  Mr.  .\rchibald  Denny,  and  Mr.  Mark 
Robinson. 

DuRi.sr.  the  Easter  vacation  the  following  naturalists  have 
been  at  work  in  the  Liverpool  Marine  Biological  -Station  at  Port 
Erin  :— Dr.  H.  O.  Forbes,  Mr.  F.  (;.  Baily,  Mr.  P.  .M.  C. 
Kermode,  Dr.  J.  D.  Gilchrist  (Edinburgh  University),  Mr.  .\.  O. 
Walker,  Prof.  Herdman,and  Mr.  J.  C.  Sumner  (curator).  Two 
steamer  dredging  expeditions  have  been  carried  out  to  the  west 
and  south  of  the  Isle  of  Man.  On  these  a  small  shank  trawl  was 
wurked.in  addition  to  the  dredge,  with  considerable  advant;igc — 
im  one  occasion,  in  fact,  coming  up  so  full  that  the  net  burst 
with  the  weight  on  leaving  the  water,  and  the  contents  were  lost- 
.\  number  of  fine  Pxhinoderms  were  obtained  with  the  trawl, 
including  I.ttidca,  Fabuipcs^  Porania^  StichasUr^  Synapta, 
and  other  Holothurians.  Amongst  the  Cnistacea  were 
Si-a/pe/liim,  Mniiitia  baiitfica,  Xatttho  ttiberctilata,  Ebalia 
luberosa  and  E.  tuiiicfaila,  Anapagurtis  hyndtiianni,  Galathca 
dispirsa  with  Plfiirocrypta  dispcrsa,  Mclphidipclla  macera.  and 
a  number  of  the  rare  shrimp  Fontopkiltis  spitwsitSy  Leach. 
Floating  fish  eggs  (plaice  and  another  species)  were  caught  in  the 
tow-nets  in  Port  Erin  Bay,  both  in  March  and  April  ;  and  Ap/ysia, 
Doris,  Sepio/a,  and  other  Invertebrates  have  spawned  in  the 
tanks  at  the  Biological  Station.  The  Liverpool  Committee  is  at 
present  considering  the  possibility  of  a  further  extension  of  the 
.Station  in  the  form  of  a  hatchery  and  a  large  tidal  pond,  such  as 
was  contemplated  in  Prof.  Herdman"s  original  scheme  of  the 
institution. 

.\n  Italian  .Seismological  Society  has  recently  been  founded  by 
Prof.  Tacchini,  the  well-known  Director  of  the  Central  Meteoro- 
logical and  Geodynamic  (Jffice  at  Rome.  Its  objectsare  to  make 
known  as  soon  as  possible  all  the  seismic  and  volcanic  phe- 
nomena occurring  either  in  Italy  or  in  other  countries,  to  publish 
short  notes  about  them,  descriptions  of  seismic  apparatus,  cV:c., 

NO.    1332,   VOL.    52] 


and  generally  to  promote  the  study  of  geodynamics.     The  sub- 
scription  being    moderate,  anti   national  and  foreign  members 
being  admitted  on  nearly  the  same  terms,  the  new  society,  it 
to  be  hoped,  may  become  practically  a  European  one. 

.\  tJSEKUl.  innovation,  that  we  hope  is  to  be  continued,  has 
been  started  by  the  Geological  Society  of  London,  in  the 
publication  of  a  catalogue  of  geological  literature  added  to  the 
.Society's  library  during  the  half-year  ended  December  1894. 
This  is  etjuivalent  to  a  list  of  all  important  books  and  jrapers  on 
geology  published  in  that  period.  Every  i>aper  is  catalogued 
separately,  under  the  author's  name,  and  there  Ls  a  subject-index. 
The  whole  is  a  distinct  improvement  on  the  list  hitherto  published 
annually  in  the  November  Quarterly  Journal :  and  in  spite  of  the 
improvements,  this  list  for  the  half-year  is  le-ss  than  half  the  bulk 
of  the  last  annual  one.  The  only  important  omission  is  that  of 
maps.  The  work  will  be  most  useful  to  all  geologists  who  wish 
to  keep  abreast  of  recently  published  works. 

The  science  of  oscillations  has  been  enriched  by  some  simple 
and  instructive  elementary  experiments,  due  to  Dr.  H.  J.  Costing, 
which  are  described  in  the  Zeitsihrift  fiir  den  Physikaiischen 
Unterruht.  That  the  velocity  of  a  pendulum  is  greatest  when 
the  bob  reaches  its  mean  position  is  shown  by  means  of  a  pen- 
dulum with  a  mirror  attached  to  it  at  its  axis  of  suspension,  the 
upper  end  of  the  pendulum-rod  being  attached  to  a  stout  wire 
bridge,  the  feet  of  which  take  the  place  of  the  knife  edge.  \Vlien 
a  beam  of  light  is  reflected  from  this  mirror,  a  line  of  light  is 
formed  upon  the  screen  if  the  pendulum  vibrates  rapidly  enough. 
The  light  from  the  lamp  is  made  intermittent  by  a  uniformly 
revolving  disc  provided  with  holes  tared  at  equal  intervals  near 
the  edge.  A  series  of  points  are  then  produced  on  the  screen, 
which  are  crowded  together  towards  the  ends,  and  further  apart 
towards  the  middle  of  the  line  of  light,  the  distance  being  pro- 
portioned to  the  velocity  of  the  bob. 

Another  neat  contrivance  designed  by  the  Dutch  physicist 
is  one  for  producing  Lissajou's  curves  resulting  from  the  com- 
bination of  two  vibrations  at  right  angles  to  each  other.  The 
simplest  form  of  vibrating  mirrors  consists  of  two  small  mirrors 
attached  to  wires  stretched  in  a  vertical  and  horizontal  position 
respectively.  The  (leriods  of  vibration  are  adjusted  by  screws 
carrjing  nuts  mounted  behind  the  mirror  at  right  angles  to  the 
wire.  The  vibration  is  made  slower  by  .screwing  the  nuts  out- 
wards ;  or,  if  a  penduluni  is  to  be  used,  it  is  attached  to  the 
bottom  of  a  U-shaped  wire  bent  out  and  down  at  the  upper 
ends,  so  as  to  oscillate  about  the  ends  of  the  wire.  -\  horizontal 
circle  is  attached  to  the  U  at  the  centre  of  suspension,  carry- 
ing a  precisely  similar  suspension  for  a  second  and  smaller  pen- 
dulum, except  that  a  horizontal  mirror  takes  the  place  of  the 
horizontal  circle.  The  periods  are  adjusted  by  weights  movable 
along  the  rods,  and  the  resulting  curves  may  be  thrown  ujmu 
the  ceiling,  or  back  upon  a  screen  just  in  front  of  the  lantern 
with  a  hole  for  letting  the  light  through.  In  this  ca.se  the  beam 
must  be  twice  reflected  from  a  mirror  at  45"  to  the  horizon. 

Within  the  last  year  or  two,  the  number  of  methods  for 
obser\-ing  the  characteristics  of  an  alternating  current  which  have 
been  described  is  considerable.  The  latest  step  in  this  direction 
is  due  to  M.  J.  Pionchon  (Comples  rcndns,  April  22,  1S95),  who 
uses  an  optical  method.  The  alternating  current  is  passed 
through  a  coil,  surrounding  a  tube  filled  with  carbon  bisulphide 
or  a  saturated  solutiim  of  mercuric  and  potassium  iodides.  This 
tube  is  jilaced  between  the  polariser  and  analyser  of  a  half- 
shadow  polarimeler.  Under  these  circumstances  the  plane  of 
polarisation  of  the  light,  after  its  passage  through  the  tube,  passes 
in  succession  through  all  the  positions  between  two  limits,  one 
of  which  corres(wmds  to  the  maximum  current  in  one  direction, 
ami  the  other  to  the  maximum  current  in   the  opposite  direction. 


NATURE 


[May  9,  1895 


If,  as  is  the  cas4.^  in  practice,  the  alternations  are  fairly  rapid,  the 
appearance  presented  is  that  during  the  |iassage  of  the  current 
the  two  halves  of  the  field  ap|>ear  equally  bright  when  the 
analyser  is  adjusted  in  the  zero  position  for  no  current  |>assing. 
By  adopting  the  stroboscopic  method  of  observation,  the  author 
has,  however,  succeeded  in  making  clear  the  different  phases  of 
illumination  through  w  hich  the  field  of  view  |iasses.  By  suitably 
adjusting  the  difference  (t)  between  the  period  (T')  of  the  strobo- 
scope and  the  |K-rio<l  (T)  of  the  current,  it  is  possible  to  see  the 
\'arious  phases  of  the  phenomenon  pass  as  slowly  as  is  desirable, 
the  period  of  the  ap|iarent  change  being  to  the  period  of  the 
current  in  the  ratio  of  T'  to  «.  Hence,  by  determining  the  time 
taken  to  go  through  a  whole  cycle  of  the  apparent  changes,  the 
|xrriod  of  the  current  can  Ix;  deduced.  The  maximun>  value  of 
the  current  can  also  be  detennined.  If  we  denote  by  fj.  the 
rotation  of  the  plane  of  |Xilarisation  of  the  light  corresiwnding 
to  the  maximum  current,  then,  when  the  principal  plane  of  the 
anal)°scr  is  rolale<l  through  a  less  angle  than  /i,  the  two 
halves  of  the  field  w  ill  ap|>ear  equally  bright  twice  during  each 
cycle  of  the  ap|>arent  changes.  If  the  angle  of  rotation  of  the 
analj'ser  is  /»,  thus  equality  will  only  occur  once  in  a  cycle,  while 
if  the  rotation  is  greater  than  ^,  at  no  time  will  the  two  halves  of 
the  field  of  view  ap|>ear  equally  bright.  Thus  it  is  quite  easy  to 
•Ictermine  the  |>osition  of  the  analyser  corresponding  to  the 
maximum  current.  The  method  also  admits  of  obtaining  the 
current  curve,  by  noting  the  times  at  which,  when  the  angle  of 
rotation  of  the  analyser  (o)  is  le.ss  than  /i,  the  two  halves  of  the 
field  are  equally  bright.  The  current  corresponding  to  the  two 
times  observed  can  Ije  calculated  from  the  \-alue  if  o,  the  known 
dimensions  of  the  coil,  and  Verdet's  constant  for  the  liquid 
employed. 

I'ROF.  Kkank  Clowes'  "  Treatise  on  Practical  Chemistry  and 
Oualitative  .\nalysis,"  adapted  for  use  in  the  laboratories  of 
colleges  and  schools,  has  reached  a  sixth  edition.  Messrs.  J. 
and  A.  Churchill  are  the  publishers  of  the  book. 

"^uv.  Quarterly  /oz/rna/ of  the  Geological  Society,  just  is.sued 
■(No.  202),  contains,  in  addition  to  jwpers  read  at  the  meetings, 
the  report  of  the  proceedings  of  the  annual  meeting  and  the 
anniversary  address  of  the  president.  Dr.  Henry  Woodward,  on 
"Some  I'oinLs  in  the  Life-history  of  the  Crustacea  in  Early 
I'alaxizoic  Times." 

TlIK  very  useful  jiamphlet  entitled  "Notes  on  I'olarised 
Light,"  by  Mr.  \.  K.  Munby,  which  we  favourably  noticed  when 
it  ap|)e.-ire<l  alHiut  a  year  ago,  has  been  translated  into  Ru.ssian 
by  I'rof.  Clinka,  of  .Si.  Petersburg  University.  Students  of 
mineralogy  lieginning  wurk  with  the  ]>olari.scope,  will  find  the 
contents  of  the  (lamphlel  of  great  assistance. 

\Vb  have  received  a  rejKirt  of  the  proceedings  of  the  con- 
ference on  inland  navigation,  held  in  Birmingham  in  Kebruary, 
by  the  Federated  Institution  of  Mining  Kngineers.  The  re|)ort 
<:ontains  .some  useful  information  on  the  im|iorlanl  subject  of  the 
inland  navigation  of  (Jreat  Britain,  and  a  numlxjr  of  valuable 
.suggestions  for  im|iroving  the  present  ineflicieni  state  of  our 
inland  waterways. 

MK.SSRS.  Diii.Af  ANii  Co.  have  pre|Kire<l  and  published  a 
useful  catalogue  of  se|«rate  |>a|>ers  from  the  Philosophi<iil  Trans- 
attiom  of  the  Koyal  Society  riffered  for  sale  by  them.  The 
|ia|x;rs  are  indexed  according  lo  the  authors'  names.  Two  other 
new  catalogues  which  scientific  bibliographers  will  find  valuable 
arc  k.  h'ricdlander  and  Son's  "  Biicher-verzeichniss  "  (No.  417). 
containing  titles  of  entomological  works,  and  a  list  of  lxx>ks 
Luucd  by  Mr.  Bernard  (Juaritch,  Piccadilly,  S.W. 

Scicnte  Gossip  for  May  contains  several  articles  oi  scientific 
interest.  Dr.  Dallinger  has  a  note  on  Meliterla  riiixciis,  illus- 
>rale<l  by  drawings  of  this  small   (hough  interesting  denizen  of 

NO.    13.^2,  VOL.   52] 


our  ]x)nds.  Messrs.  Wanklyn  and  Coo|)er  write  on  Argon.  Mr. 
Thomas  Leighton  h.is  an  article  on  "C.eology  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight":  and  Dr.  Guppy  writes  on  "Stations  of  Plants  and 
Buoyancy  of  Seeds."  Mr.  Rudolph  Beer  has  an  interesting 
illustrated  article  on  "  Leguminous  Plants." 

Thk  West  .\ustralian  \' ear-Book  for  1S93-94,  issued  by  the 
Kegistrar-t'.eneral,  contains  tables  showing  the  results  of  meteoro- 
logical observations  at  the  chief  obser\iiig  stations,  together  with 
.some  general  remarks  on  the  climate  of  the  colony.  The  climale 
varies  a  good  deal  i[i  the  different  jjarts  ;  in  the  south  and  south- 
west it  is  excelleiit,  being  temperate  and  cool,  with  regular  ami 
sufficient  rainfall.  To  the  eastward  the  climate  is'lrycr,  but  little 
accurate  information  is  available  in  that  direction. 

The  Re|X)rt  of  the  Royal  Zoological  Society  of  Ireland  for  the 
year  1894,  shows  that  the  Society  is  in  an  exceedingly  prosperous 
condition.  Nine  lion  cubs  were  born  during  the  year,  fo\'r  ol 
which  died,  but  the  five  others  (all  males)  were  disposed  of  as 
exchanges.  There  are  still  two  lions  and  five  lionesses  in  the 
gardens  of  the  Society.  The  Council  has  tlccided  to  make  a 
donation  to  the  funds  of  the  Irish  .\'aliiraiist,a.  monthly  journal 
which  frequently  contains  valuable  information  on  the  natural 
history  of  Ireland. 

Wk  have  received  No.  2  of  the  {Jfticial  Guide  lo  the  Museums 
of  Kcononiic  Botany  at  the  Royal  tiardens,  Kew,  compris- 
ing Monocotyledons  and  Cryptogams.  Among  the  speci- 
mens and  products  belonging  to  Monocotyledons,  by  far  the 
larger  number  are  naturally  derived  from  the  great  order  of 
palms ;  though  the  origin  is  also  illustrated  of  other  very  im- 
portant jiroducts,  .such  as  vanilla,  ginger,  grains  of  |->aradise, 
arrowroot,  the  pine-apple,  aloes,  bananas,  the  yam.  New  Zealand 
hemp,  dragon's-blood,  and  many  others.  The  jialms  include 
nearly  too  distinct  exhibits,  and  the  grasses  upwards  of  60. 
.Among  Cryptogams,  .several  officinal  and  other  useful  articles 
are  obtained  from  the  fibres  ;  while  the  -Mgx  and  I'ungi  also  yield 
their  quota.  .\  very  copious  index  adds  greatly  to  the  value  of 
this  publication. 

A  KEI'OKr,  lately  issued,  on  the  progress  anil  develojmient  of 
the  Manchester  .Museum,  Owens  College,  during  the  past  four 
years,  .shows  that  the  museum  is  a  great  jiower  for  good.  By 
means  of  short  courses  of  popular  lectures,  and  informal  demon- 
strations and  addres.ses,  the  collections  have  been  rendered  more 
interesting  and  intelligible  to  the  public.  Clubs,  societies,  and 
classes  have  jiaid  frequent  visits  of  inspection,  and  have  had  the 
contents  of  various  sections  of  the  museum  explained  to  them  by 
Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins,  or  by  members  of  the  museum  staff.  .\ 
number  of  additions  have  been  made  in  the  geological  depart- 
ment, one  of  the  most  interesting  accessions  being  a  model  of  a 
gl.acier,  made  to  .scale  by  I'rof.  lleim.  The  zoological  and  Ixitanical 
collections  have  also  been  l>enefited  by  ailditions,  and  the  .speci- 
mens in  most  of  the  sections  have  been  reduced  to  law  and 
order. 

A  RECENT  redetermination  of  the  atomic  weight  of  slroiilium, 
by  T.  W.  Richards,  confirms  the  value  S770  foun<l  by  Pelouze 
in  1845.  Pelouze  employed  the  methoil  founded  on  a  comparison 
of  anhydrous  .strontium  chloride  and  silver.  The  ]>resent  author 
finds  (I)  the  ratio  between  very  carefully  purified  anhydrous 
.strontium  bromiile  and  .silver  in  three  sets  of  analy.ses  carried 
out  by  different  metlxHls,  and  (2)  the  ratio  2AgBr :  SrBr.^  in 
two  other  .series  of  ex|>eriments.  Taking  oxygen  =  l6'000, 
the  values  obtained  for  the  atomic  weight  of  slriuiliuni  are 
res|)cclively  (I)  87-644;  87663;  87-668,  and  (2)  87-660; 
87-659.  The  mean  value  from  these  results  may  be  taken  as 
8766. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  tiardens  during  the 
past    week     include   a    Conmion    Stpiirrel    {S<ii4riis    vulgaris), 


May  .9.  1895] 


NATURE 


37 


British,  presented  by  Mrs.  Herbert  Morris;  four  \'ellow-bellie<i 
l.iiillirix  {Liolhrix  lii/ms)  from  China,  presented  by  Mr.  .Albert 
i\t:ttich  ;  a  Black-billed  Sheathljill  {Chiouis  iiivior),  captured  at 
sea,  a  Water  Kail  (Kalliis  ac/iia/itiis),  British,  presented  by  Mr. 
John  (iunn  ;  a  Lineolated  Parrakeet  (Bolborhyiiihus  lineolatus) 
/rom  Mexico,  presented  by  Mr.  Edward  Hawkins ;  a  Puff 
Adder  (  Vipera  arictans)  from  .South  .\frica,  ]>rcsented  by  Mr. 
J.  E.  Matcham  ;  a  Lear's  Macaw  (Ara  /tar/)  from  South 
America,  four  White-backed  Pigeons  (Coliimba  kuconota)  from 
the  Himalaya-s,  a  Rock-hopper  Penguin  (Eiidyptes  chrysocome) 
from  New  Zealand,  deposited  ;  two  .Mpine  Choughs  (Pyr- 
rhocorax  alpinus),  European,  ])urchased  ;  an  English  Wild  Cow 
{Bos  laiirtis,  var. ),  bom  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Kki,.\tive  Densities  of  Terrestrial  PIj^nets. — Atten- 
tion is  drawn  to  an  interesting  relation  between  the  diameters  and 
densities  of  the  terrestrial  planets,  by  E.  .S.  Wheeler  (Siicnce, 
April  19).  The  planets  are  plotted  with  their  diameters  in  miles 
jis  abscissa;,  and  their  densities  (the  earth  being  taken  as  unity) 
as  ordinates,  and  it  is  then  seen  that  the  points  located  in  this 
way  lie  approximately  in  a  straight  line.  Such  a  line  passes 
within  the  limits  of  the  probable  errors  of  all  except  \"enus.  If 
this  relation  should  prove  to  represent  a  natural  law,  the  mass  of 
a  planet  or  satellite  could  be  determine<l  from  its  diameter. 
Venus  is  the  only  one  of  the  five  planets  (the  moon  being  in- 
cluded) that  is  any  more  discrepant  than  might  be  expected  from 
its  probable  error  ;  to  make  it  accordant,  either  its  mass  must  be 
increased  by  one-tenth,  or  its  diameter  decreased  by  one- 
thirtieth.  .\  sufficient  increase  in  the  mass  of  Venus  is  stated  to 
be  all  that  is  necessary  to  explain  the  movement  of  the  peri- 
helion i^oint  of  the  orbit  of  Mercury  ;  but  some  of  the  irregulari- 
ties ftf  .Mercury  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  small  mass  which  it 
is  now  supposed  to  have,  namely,  one-thirtieth  that  of  the  earth. 
In  plotting  the  planetary  curve,  the  density  of  Mercury  adopted, 
is  that  derived  by  Backlund  from  a  discussion  of  the  movements 
of  Encke's  comet. 

TiiK  Oriiit  oi-  Co.met  1893  IV  (Brooks).— An  investiga- 
tion of  the  path  of  this  comet,  by  Signor  Peyra,  seems  to  suggest 
that  it  is  one  of  a  series  travelling  in  the  .same  elliptic  orbit 
(Ast.  jWii/i.  No.  3281).  This  conclusion  is  based  on  the  simi- 
larity of  the  orbit  with  those  of  comets  1864  I  and  1822  I,  the 
periods  of  the  comets  rendering  actual  identity  impossible.  The 
elements  c:)f  the  orbit  are  as  follows  : 

T  =  1893  Sept.  19-25954  Berlin  M.  T. 

_  O  I  II 

Longitude  of  perihelion  162  22   19) 

,,  ,,  node      ...  174  55   12  ,  1S93 

Inclination       ...         ...  129  50  14 ) 

Eccentricity     ...         ...  o'9964886 

Log'/    •■■  '      9-90955' 

Period 3516  years. 

The  Si'ectrum  oi-  .M,\rs. — .A  very  practical  conti;ibution  to 
the  recent  di.scussion  as  to  the  spectroscopic  indications  of 
aqueous  vapour  in  the  atmosphere  of  Mars  is  afforded  by  the  in- 
vestigations of  Mr.  Jewell  as  to  the  amount  of  vapour  necessary 
to  produce  effects  which  can  be  observed  with  instruments  of 
specified  ]M)wer.  {Astrophysical  fourital,  .\pril.)  Expressing 
the  amount  of  vapour  present  in  the  air  of  Baltimore  by  the 
•depth  in  inches  of  a  layer  of  water,  the  observed  monthly  mean 
for  January  is  073,  June  3-25.  October  1-56,  the  maximum  oc- 
curring in  June.  lie  concludes  that  "unless  the  amount  of 
water  in  the  atmosphere  of  Mars  is  greater  than  that  in  the 
earth's  atmos])here  in  October  at  Baltimore,  it  is  useless  to  look 
for  the  presence  of  water  vapour  in  the  spectrum  of  Mars,  unless 
our  instrumental  means  are  much  superior  to  any  hitherto  used 
for  that  purpo.se."  Since  instruments  of  greater  <lis|)ersion  are 
unsuitable,  because  of  the  Lack  of  suflicient  light,  there  seems  but 
little  chance  of  obtaining  any  very  deci-sive  direct  evidence  of  the 
presence  of  water  vapour  in  Mars.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
Dr.  Janssen  and  others  satisfied  themselves  as  to  the  indications 
of  water  vapour  bands  in  the  spectrum  of  Mars,  whilst  Prof. 
Campbell  has  more  recently  failed  to  detect  them. 

The  chances  of  iletecting  the  presence  of  oxygen,  however,  if 
present,  do  not  seem  so  hopeless,  as  the  B  group  is  readily  seen 
-ivith  small  dispersion. 


It  is  also  suggested  by  .Mr.  Jewell  that  attempts  should  be 
made  to  obser\-e  the  chlorophyll  bands  in  the  spectrum  of  the 
green  areas  of  the  |)Ianets,  since  one  of  the  bands  is  cjuite  strong 
in  the  vegetation  spectrum. 

The  Astronomical  Society  ok  France, — During  the 
eight  years  of  its  existence,  this  Society  has  attained  a  member- 
ship of  nearly  1000.  At  the  annual  meeting  held  recently,  Dr. 
Janssen  was  elected  president,  and  M.  Camille  Flammarion 
general  secretary  for  the  current  session.  The  progress  of 
astronomy  in  1894  formed  the  subject  of  an  address  by  M. 
Tisserand,  the  Director  of  the  Paris  Observatory.  .Among  other 
matters  he  referred  to  the  reapjjearance  of  De  Vico's  comet 
(Nature,  vol.  li.  p.  542),  which  he  regarded  as  further  e\-idence 
of  the  fact  that,  at  certain  epochs,  comets  are  subject  to  increases 
of  brightness  which  they  are  incapable  of  maintaining,  the  in- 
creased activity  being  ])robably  due  to  internal  disturbances,  the 
nature  of  which  are  not  yet  understood.  It  will  be  remembered, 
however,  that  .Mr.  Lockyer  explains  these  fluctuations  in  brilliancy 
by  collisions  with  meteor-swarms  lying  in  the  track  of  the 
comet.  Referring  to  minor  planets,  .M.  Tisserand  believed  it  not 
improbable  that  those  appearing  as  bright  as  1 2th  magnitude  stars 
have  an  average  diameter  of  about  130  kilometres  ;  that  is,  about 
one-hundredth  of  the  earth's  diameter  ;  at  that  rate,  even  a  thousand 
of  them  would  not  have  a  total  mass  equal  to  a  thousandth  part 
that  of  the  earth,  assuming  that  their  mean  density  is  not  greater 
than  that  of  the  earth.  {Bull.  Mens.  So(.  As/,  de  France, 
May. ) 


NO.    1332,  VOL.    52] 


THE  ROYAL  SOCIETY  CONVERSAZIONE. 

'X'HE  annual  Royal  Society  conversazione,  to  which  gentlemen 
only  are  invited,    was   held    in   the   Society's   rooms   on 
Wednesday  of  last  week. 

Many  branches  of  science  were  represented  in  the  exhibits, 
either  by  apparatus  or  by  results  of  research.  .An  exhibit  that 
attracted  much  attention  was  the  electrical  furnace  as  used  for 
the  melting  of  chromium,  titanium,  platinum,  and  other  metals, 
with  high  melting-points,  shown  by  Prof.  Roberts-Austen, 
C.B.  The  furnace  consisted  of  a  fire-clay  case  lined  with 
magnesia,  and  contained  a  magnesia  crucible.  The  carbon  poles 
were  horizontal,  the  arc  being  deflected  by  means  of  a  magnet 
on  to  the  material  to  be  heated.  For  purposes  of  exhibition,  an 
image  of  the  molten  contents  of  the  furnace  was  projected,  by 
means  of  a  lens  and  mirror,  on  to  a  screen  ;  the  current  em- 
ployed is  usually  about  60  or  70  amperes  at  100  volts. 

Some  very  valuable  metals  of  the  platinum  group  w'ere  ex- 
hibited by  >Iessrs.  Johnson,  Matthey,  and  Co.,  among  them 
being  a  platinum  nugget,  weighing  158  ozs.  ;  palladium  ingot, 
of  1000  ozs. ;  rhodium  ingot,  72  ozs.  ;  osmium,  melted  and 
sponge  ;  ruthenium  melted  by  the  electric  arc  ;  and  pure  iridium 
rolled  sheet. 

A  magnet,  showing  the  effects  of  currents  in  iron  on  its 
magnetisation,  was  exhibited  by  Dr.  Hopkinson.  A  large 
electromagnet  had  buried  in  its  substance  two  coils  of  compara- 
tively small  dimensions,  one  around  the  centre  of  the  magnet, 
the  other  half-way  between  the  centre  and  the  surface.  These 
coils  were  connectetl  to  two  gah'anometers.  On  reversing  the 
current  round  the  magnet  it  was  seen  that  a  ccmsiderable  time 
elapsed  before  either  galvanometer  showed  any  suljsUintial  cur- 
rent, and  that  the  current  in  the  central  coil  occurred  much  later 
than  in  that  at  a  less  depth  in  the  mass  of  iron. 

Prof.  J.  \.  Fleming  showed  a  synchronising  alternating 
current  motor  and  contact  maker,  for  the  delineation  of 
the  form  of  alternating  current  and  electromotive  force  curves, 
and  a  form  of  resistance  of  small  inductance  for  use  with  the 
apparatus. 

An  instrument  for  analysing  primary  and  secondary  volts  and 
amperes  simultaneously  was  exhibited  by  Prof.  \V.  M.  Hicks. 

.Mr.  R.  v..  Crompton  had  on  view  electrically  heated  appa- 
ratus, showing  the  methoil  of  applying  electricity  for  heatmg 
tools  and  ap]iliances  used  in  trade  ;  also  for  domestic  ]>urposes. 
Wires  of  high  resistance  comixised  of  nickel,  steel,  or  other  suit- 
able alloys,  were  embedded  in  an  insulating  enamel,  and  by  it 
attached  to  the  various  articles  to  be  heated.  By  this  means 
loss  of  heat  was  obviated.  Connection  was  made  with  the  circuit 
by  means  of  .safety  connectors,  in  which  the  contacts  were  auto- 
matically protected.  The  jierfect  flexibilit)'  of  the  system  was 
exemjiliiied  in  the  electric  oven,  which  was  heated  on  all  sides 
top,  and  bottom,  anil  the  temperature  of  which  could  be  regulated 


38 


NATURE 


[May  9,  1895 


by  turning  on  or  off  any  part,  or  the  whole  of  the  current.  Electri- 
cally heated  hot-plates,  flat-irons,  and  radiators  were  shown  con- 
^^ruclcd  on  the  same  principle.  Mr.  Crompton  also  exhibited 
ihe  latest  form  of  Crompton  potentiometer,  for  ratio  measure- 
ments (accuracy  I  in  1,000,000),  and  simple  forms  of  platinum 
thermometers  for  use  with  potentiometer. 

A  new  instrument  for  testing  the  quality  of  iron  in  regard  to 
magnetic  hysteresis  was  exhibited  by  I'rof.  Ewing  (Fig.  I).  Its 
^Iiecial  use  is  to  test  sheet-iron  for  transformers  and  dynamo 
armatures.  A  few  strips  of  the  iron  to  be  tested  are  cut  to  the 
length  of  three  inches.  These  are  clamped  in  a  carrier,  which 
is  then  caused  to  revolve  between  the  poles  of  a  magnet.  The 
magnet  is  susjiended  on  a  knife-edge,  and  becomes  deflected  in 
consequence  of  the  work  exixnded  in  overcoming  the  magnetic 
hysteresis  of  the  sample.  The  deflection  is  observed  by  means 
of  a  pointer,  and  serves  .is  a  measure  of  the  hysteresis.  The 
apparatus  is  so  designed  as  to  make  the  induction  nearly  the 
same  in  all  specimens,  notwithstanding  differences  of  perme- 
ability.    This  makes  its  indications  .strictly  a  test  of  hysteresis. 

Mr.  L.  Pyke  showed  an  arrangement  by  means  of  which  it  is 
possible  to  obtain  a  greater  efticiency  in  the  retiuction  of  the 
highly  electro- |X)sitive  metals  from  aqueous  solutions,  into  and 
forming  an  amalgam  with  a  mercury  cathode. 

.\  system  of  electric  meters,  viz.,  voltmeters,  ammeters,  and 
wattmeters,  suitable  for  either  direct  or  alternating  currents, 
formed  Major  Holden's  exhibit. 

Prof.  George  I"ort>es  exhibited  a  torsion  model  of  submarine 
cable.  A  thread  vertically  suspended  in  oil  represented  the 
cable;  the  torsion  (E.M.K.)  Iwing  applied  at  the  top  by  vanes 
and  a  p<jsitive  or  negative  air  blast  (battery).  The  whole 
was  suspended  at  the  top  by  a  spring  (sending  condenser)  :  at  1 
the  bottom  was  a  mirror  to  reflect  spot  of  light.  This  was  con- 
trolled bv  a  magnet  (receiving  condenser).  Fluid  friction  repre- 
sented resistance.  Twist  represented  charge.  The  model  gave 
signals  com|)ared  with  those  of  a  cable  2000  miles  long". 

Specimens  of  the  de|xisil  or  incrustation  on  the  insulators  of 
the  electric  light  mains  at  St.  Pancras,  in  which  metallic  sodium 


and  pola-ssium  have  lieen  found,  and  of  the  insulators  and  wood 
Ijearcrs,  which  were  in  use  on  these  mains,  were  exhibited  by 
Major  ("ardcw.  K.K.  The  deimsil  w.xs  found  to  have  ln-en 
caused  by  the  |>a.v<aj;i-  of  alkaline  salts  in  solution  to  the  negative 
main,  the  sails  U-ing  chiefly  derived  from  the  neighlKUiring  soil, 
with  which  Ihe  end  fibres  of  the  wood  bearers  were  in  contact. 


Electrolysis  of  these  salts  took  place  with  liberation  of  the 
metals  at  the  negative  main,  the  metals  being  oxidised  and 
slowly  carbonated  in  air.  During  this  process  nodules  of  the 
metal  seem  to  have  become  embedded  in  the  oxides,  and 
preserved  from  oxidation. 

Mr.  Francis  Galton  showed  enlarged  finger  prints,  with  de- 
scriptive notation,  and  a  print  of  the  hand  of  a  child  eighty- 
six  days  old. 

I'rof.  J.  B.  F'anner  had  on  view  examples  of  helerotypical 
nuclear  division  in  repro<hictive  ti.ssues  of  plants. 

Microscopic  specimens  illustrating  some  appearances  of  nerve- 
cells  were  exhibited  by  Dr.  Gustav  .Mann  ;  and  wandering  cells 
of  the  intestine  were  shown  by  Dr.  VVesbrook  and  Mr.  W.  K. 
Hardy. 

Mr.  W.  T.  Burgess  showed  the  results  of  experiments  in 
connection  with  the  transmis.sion  of  infection  by  flies.  Flies 
having  l)een  placed  in  momentary  contact  with  a  cultivation  of 
Baiilliis  prodigiosHS  (or  other  suitable  chromogenic  organism) 
were  allowed  to  escape  into  a  large  room,  .\fter  some  lime  they 
were  recaptured  and  caused  to  walk,  for  a  few  seconds,  over 
slices  of  sterile  potatoes,  which  were  then  incubated  for  a  few 
days.  The  experiments  showed  that  the  tlie>'  Iracks  on  the 
potatoes  were  marke<l  by  vigorous  growths  of  the  chromogenic 
organism,  even  when  the  flies  spent  several  hours  in  ct)nslanl 
activity  before  they  were  recaptured.  The  use  of  pathogenic 
organisms  in  these  experiments  would  be  attemled  with  obvious 
dangers,  but  the  results  obtained  with  harmless  microbes  indicated 
the  constant  risks  to  which  flies  expose  us. 

Prof,  f.otch  and  Dr.  II.  O.  Forbes  showed  a  living  speci- 
men of  the  Malafterurus cicilriiiis  from  the  River  Senegal ; 
.Mr.  Stanley  Kent,  a  new  b.icterial  species:  and  Mr.  D.  Sharp, 
K.R.S.,  examples  of  variation  in  the  size  of  beetles.  In  some 
beetles  there  is  great  difference  in  the  size  of  adult  individuals  of 
the  same  species  and  sex.  In  one  of  the  ca.ses  exhibited— 
/ireiithiis  aiuliorago — this  difference  was,  in  length  alone,  nearly 
as  five  .ind  one.  It  is  believeil  that  these  extreme  ca.ses  occur 
chiefly  in  forms  in  which  ihe  males  are  ornamented  with 
"useless"  appendages,  e.g.  the  families  Scarabaid;e,  Lucanid.X', 
Brenthidx. 

The  exhibit  of  the  Marine  Biological  .Vssociation  consisted  of 
(l)  marine  organisms  preserve<l  in  formic  aldehyde,  which,  in 
dilute  solutions,  is  specially  useful  for  the  preserv.ition  of  trans- 
parent organisms  as  nniseum  specimens  :  (2)  a  new  method  of 
fixing  methylen-blue  preparations.  The  methylenblue  |>repara- 
tions  are  fixed  wilh  amniunium  m<>lyl>date.  I'his  method,  due 
to  Dr.  Berthe,  of  Berlin,  has  the  advantage  of  retaining  the 
original  blue  colour  of  the  preparations,  and  also  of  allowing  the 
object  to  be  mounted  in  Ixilsam.  or  imbeddeil  in  paraffni  in  the 
usual  way  ;  (3)  the  action  of  light  on  the  under  siiles  of  flat 
fishes.  The  flat  fishes  exhibited  were  reareil  in  a  lank  wilh  a 
flat  slate  boUom  and  glass  from.  Those  porlions  of  the  under 
side  of  a  fish  which  were  nol  in  conlacl  wilh  the  slale.  and  to 
which  light  wasaccessilile— this  point  being  demonstrated  by  the 
expi>sure  of  a  photographic  ))lale  upon  which  ihe  fish  lay — have 
beccmie  pigmented,  whilst  the  remaining  porlions  are  wilhoul 
pigment  ;  (4)  living  repre.sentalives  of  ihe  Plymouth  fauna. 

.A  gradient  indicator  was  exhibited  by  Mr.  |.  Wim.shursl  ; 
and  Sir  Benjamin  W.  Richardson  showed  an  electrical  cabinel, 
for  use  in  the  wards  of  a  hospilal. 

There  were  only  two  astronomical  exhibits.  Mr.  J.  Norman 
Lockyer,  C.B.,  showed  an  enlargement  of  a  photograph  of  the 
.spectrum  of  a  Ononis,  taken  with  a  6-inch  telescope  and  an  objec- 
tive prism  of  45'. 

Mr.  Sidney  Waters  exhibited  charts  showing  ihe  distribution 
of  the  nebulx  and  slar-clusters,  and  their  relation  to  the  Milk) 
Way.  These  charts,  ujion  which  are  recorded  ihe  posiuoii  •■! 
the  7840  objects  of  the  New  General  Catalogue  of  iSSS,  were 
designed  to  show  the  distribution  of  the  nebuke  and  star-clusters, 
more  es|K-cially  in  relation  to  the  Milky  Way.  The  resoluble 
and  irresoluble  nebula-  are  shown  to  be  most  densely  .scattered 
in  the  poles  of  the  gakictic  circle,  ami  avoid  the  track  of  the 
Milky  Way,  while  Ihe  star-clusters  follow  its  course  willi  great 
fidrlily.  The  evidence  derived  from  this  distribution  seems  lo 
point  lo  scmie  general  cimneclion  between  Ihe  nebular  system  and 
Ihe  system  of  the  stars. 

Prof.  Rainsjiy  had  a  spectroscope  and  Pliicker  tubes  arranged 
to  give  ocular  demonstration  of  the  spectra  of  argon  exlracled 
from  air,  and  of  a  mixture  of  argon  aiul  helium  extracted  from 
clevcile.  Il  is  hardly  neces.sary  lo  say  that  Ihe  speclro.sco])e  was 
in  great  demand  all  the  evening. 


NO.    1332,  VOL.   52] 


May  9,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


39 


Studeius'  simple  apparatus  for  determining  the  mechanical 
equivalent  of  heat  was  exhibited  by  Prof.  Ayrton.  The 
apparatus  enables  the  heat  equivalent  of  a  watt-second  to  be 
exi>erimentally  ascertained  with  an  error  of  less  than  I  percent., 
without  any  alli)\\ance  having  to  !je  made  for  heat  lost  by  con- 
duction, convection,  or  radiation.  It  will  give  the  result  when 
2000  c.c.  of  water  are  warmed  for  two  minutes  with  a  current 
of  about  30  amperes,  at  a  pressure  of  about  lo  volts.  The  con- 
ductor consisted  of  to  feet  of  nianganin  rolled  into  a  thin  strip 
to  give  offbeat  rapidly,  and  formed  into  a  double  grid  so  as  to 
be  used  as  an  efficient  water  stirrer.  The  cross  section  of  the 
flexible  leads  was  such  that  practically  no  flow  of  heat  occurred 
between  them  and  the  grid  when  a  current  of  about  30  amperes 
is  used. 

Photographs  of  sections  of  gold  nuggets  etched  to  show 
cr)'stalline  structure,  were  exhibited  by  Prof.  \.  Liversidge. 
Gold  nuggets,  on  being  cut  through  or  .sliced  and  polished,  and 
elchetl  by  chlorine  water,  were  found  to  exhibit  well-marked 
crystalline  structure,  closely  resembling  the  Widmanstatt  figures 
shown  by  most  metallic  meteorites,  except  that,  in  the  nuggets, 
the  crystals  are  more  or  less  square  in  section,  and  show  faces 
which  evidently  belong  to  the  octahedron  and  cube. 

i'hcnomena  associated  with  the  formation  of  cloud  were  ex- 
IJerimeiUally  illustrated  by  .Mr.  W.  N.  Shaw.  Clouds  formed 
by  mixture  of  two  currents  of  air  of  different  temperatures  were 
shown  in  a  large  glass  globe.  The  currents  were  due  to  con- 
vection. The  motion  of  the  clouds,  gave  an  indication  of 
the  motion  of  the  air.  Under  suitable  conditions  the  motion 
a.ssumed  a  gyratory  or  **  cyclonic  "  character.  A  second  globe 
was  arranged  to  show  the  formation  of  a  cloud  by  the  dynamical 
cooling  of  air,  consequent  upon  a  sudden  expansion  equivalent 
to  an  elevation  of  about  10,000  feet.  The  water  globules  could 
be  seen  to  fall  slowly.  A  light  was  arranged  at  the  back  of  the 
globe  to  show  (under  favourable  circumstances)  coloured  coronae 
surrounding  a  central  bright  spot.  Two  other  globes  were  used 
in  conjunction  to  demonstrate  the  modification  which  cloud 
formation  intrixluces  into  the  dynamical  cooling  of  air.  In  one 
of  the  ]^air  condensation  diminished  the  fall  of  temperature  in- 
cidental lo  sudden  expansion,  and  the  difference  was  indicated 
by  the  final  pressure-difference  between  the  globes. 

There  were  two  barometric  exhibits,  one  a  mechanical  device 
for  performing  temperature  corrections  in  baronreters,  by  Dr. 
John  Shields-,  and  a  new  form  of  barometer,  exhiliited  by  Dr.  J. 
Norman  Collie. 

The  preparation  of  acetylene  from  calcic  carbide  was  shown 
by  Pri>f  \'.  H.  Lewes.  The  combustion  of  acetylene  for  illu- 
minating purposes  attracted  great  attention.  Calcic  carbide, 
formed  by  the  action  of  carbon  on  lime  al  the  temperature  of  the 
electric  furnace,  was  decomposed  by  water  with  evolution  of 
acetylene.  The  remarkable  brilliancy  of  the  flame  produced 
may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that  the  acetylene  when  consumed 
in  suitable  burners  develops  an  ilhuninating  value  of  240  candles 
per  5  cubic  feet  of  gas. 

(leneralised  frequency  curves  were  exhibited  by  the  .Applied 
Mathematics  Department  of  University  College.  London,  and 
also  compoimd  frequency  curves,  a  harmonic  analyser,  and  a  bi- 
projector. 

Mr.  T.  Clarkson  showed  his  circlographs  for  drawing  and 
nicasuring  circidar  curves  of  any  large  radius  without  requiring 
ilii-  centre,  with  examples  of  cur\'es.  The  cr)nslruction  of  these 
instruments  is  based  upon  a  recent  discovery  that  it  is  possible  to 
rut  a  flat  plate  of  steel  (of  uniform  thickness  and  temper)  into  a 
'  'ttain  form,  which  imparts  to  it  the  property  of  bending  always 
in!()  circular  cur\es. 

Mr.  R.  Inwards  had  on  view  exanqiles  of  curious  mortise  joints 
ill  carpentr}',  all  made  without  comi>ression  or  veneering,  and 
Mr.  Hermann  Kiihne  exhibited  Junkers'  patent  calorimeter. 

The  radial  cursor,  a  new  addition  to  the  slide  rvde,  was  shown 
l>\  .Mr.  K.  W.  Lanchester.  This  cursor  added  to  the  slide  ride 
'iKtkes  the  rule  applicable  at  once  to  the  calculation  of  whole  or 
liactional  jiowers,  and  renders  it  specially  useful  for  the  solution 
'it  problems  in  thermodynamics. 

The  Cambridge  Scientific  Instrument  Comjiany  showed  a  new 
Kirni  of  rocking  microtome  and  a  new  form  of  spectrometer, 
and  an  improved  form  of  Donkins  liarnionograph.  This  was  a 
modification  of  Donkin's  harmonograph,  ami  draws,  on  a  moving 
strip  of  paper,  a  curve  compounded  of  two  simple  harmonic 
motions. 

During  the  evening  demonstrations  by  means  of  the  electric 
lantern  took  place  in  the  meeting  room. 

Prof.    .\.   C.    Haddon  showed  lantern   slides   illustrating    the 


ethnography  of  British  New  Guinea.  The  slides  illustrated  the 
physical  characters  of  different  tribes  inhabiting  British  New 
Guinea,  some  of  the  occupations  of  the  people,  several  kinds  of 
dances,  and  the  distribution  of  dance-masks.  Kvidence  was  given 
in  supjjort  of  the  view  that  British  New  Guinea  is  inhabited  by  true 
dark  Papuans,  and  by  two  distinct  lighter  Melanesian  peoples, 
one  of  whom  may  have  come  from  the  New  Hebrides,  and  the 
other  from  the  Solomon  Islands. 

Lord  Armstrong  showed  some  of  the  results  of  his  recent 
experiments  on  the  electric  discharge  in  air.  The  figures 
exhibited  by  means  of  the  lantern,  showed  various  phases, 
hitherto  unobserved,  of  the  brush  discharge  accompanying  the 
electric  spark.  They  showed  also  the  remarkable  modifying 
effect  of  induction  on  the  results  obtained.  The  luminous  effects 
were  delineated  by  instantaneous  photography,  and  the  mechanical 
effects  by  the  electric  action  on  dust  plates.  The  spark  itself 
had  to  be  taken  in  a  dark  box  on  a  shunt  line,  as  its  strong  light 
and  violent  action  would  otherwise  have  been  incompatible  with 
the  photographic  and  mechanical  methods  used  in  the  experi- 
ments ;  but  nearly  the  same  tensions  were  obtained  outside  the 
box  as  within. 


THE  RARER  METALS  AND  THEIR  ALLOYS} 


w 


II. 

OW  turn  to  more  complex  curves  taken  on  one  plate  by  mak- 
ing the  sensitised  photographic  plate  seize  the  critical  part  of 
the  curve,  the  range  of  the  swing  of  the  mirror  from  hot  to  cold 
being  some  sixty  feet.  The  upper  curve  ( Fig.  4)  gives  the  freezing 
point  of  bismuth,  and  you  see  that  surfusion,  a,  is  clearly  marked, 
the  temperature  at  which  bismuth  freezes  being  268°.  The  lower 
point  represents  the  freezing  point  of  tin,  which  we  knov\  is 
231°  C.  and  in  it  surfusion,  /;,  is  also  clearly  marked.  The  lowest 
curve  of  all  contains  a  subordinate  point  in  the  cooling  curve 
of  standard  gold,  and  this  subordinate  point,  c,  which  you  will 
observe  is  lower  than  the  freezing  point  of  tin,  is  caused  by  the 
falling    out    of   solution    of  a  small    portion  of  bismuth,  which 


2.^0? 

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\         -_-— — ^H;^_^\ 

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,    Q   U- 

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alloyed  itself  with  some  gold  atoms,  and  "fell  out"  below  the 
freezing  point  not  only  of  bismuth  it.self  but  of  tin.  Now  gold 
with  a  low  freezing  point  in  it  like  this  is  fouml  to  be  very  brittle, 
and  we  are  in  a  fair  way  to  answer  the  question  why  Vj  ])er  cent 
of  zirconium  doubles  the  strength  of  gold,  while  fV  per  cent  of 
thallium,  another  rare  metal,  halves  the  strength.  In  the  case  of 
the  zirconium  the  subordinate  point  is  very  high  up,  while  in  the 
case  of  the  thallium  it  is  very  low  down.  So  far  as  my  experi- 
ments have  as  yet  been  carried,  this  seems  to  be  a  fact  which 
underlies  the  whole  question  of  the  strength  of  metals  and  alloys. 
If  the  subordinate  point  is  low,  the  metal  will  be  weak  :  if  it  is 
high  in  relation  to  the  main  setting  point,  then  the  met.al  will  be 
strong,  and  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  nmttcr  is  thi.s. — The  rarer 
metals  which  demand  for  their  isolation  from  their  oxides  either 
the  use  of  aluminium  or  the  electric  arc,  never,  so  far  .as  I  can 
ascertain,  produce  low  freezing  points  when  they  are  addeil  in  ijmall 
quantities  to  those  metals  which  are  used  for  constnictive 
purposes.     The  difficultly  fiisible  rarer  metals  are  never  the  cause 

1  A  Friday  evening  discourse,  delivered  at  the  R0y.1l  Institution  on  M.irch 
15,  by  Prof.  Rotierts-.'^uslen,  C.B..  F.R.S.    (Continued  from  p.  18.) 


NO.    1332,  VOL.   52] 


40 


NATURE 


[May  9,  189; 


of  weakness,  but  always  confer  some  property  which  is  precious  in 
industrial  use.  How  these  rarer  nictals  act,  why  the  small 
quantities  of  the  added  rare  niclals  (>eniieale  the  molecules,  or, 
it  may  be  the  atoms,  and  strengthen  the  metallic  mass,  we  do  not 
know  :  we  arc  only  gradually  accumulating  evidence  which  is 
aflbrded  by  this  very  delicate  physiolwjical  methoil  of  investiga- 
tion. 

As  regards  the  actual  temperatures  represented  by  points  on 
such  curves,  it  will  lie  rcmemberetl  that  the  indications  afforded 
by  the  recording  pyrometer  are  only  relative,  and  that  gold  is  one 
of  the  most  suitable  metals  for  enabling  a  high,  fixed  jK>int  to  be 
determined.  There  is  much  trustworthy  evidence  in  favour  of  the 
adoption  of  1045°  as  the  melting  point  hitherto  accepted  for 
gold.  The  results  of  recent  work  indicate,  however,  that  this 
is  too  low,  and  it  may  prove  to  be  as  high  as  io6i"7,  which  is 
the  melting  point  given  by  Heycixrk  and  Neville'  in  the  latest 
of  their  admirable  series  of  investigations  to  which  reference 
was  made  in  my  Friday  evening  lecture  of  1891. 

It  may  be  well  to  [xjint  to  a  few  instances  in  which  the 
industrial  use  of  such  of  the  rarer  metals,  as  have  been  available 
in  sufficient  quantity,  is  made  evident.  Modem  developments  in 
armour-plate  and  projectiles  will  occur  to  many  of  us  at  once.  This 
diagram  ( Fig  5 )  affords  a  rapid  view  of  the  progress  which  has  been 
made,  and  in  collecting  the  materials  for  it  from  sarious  sources, 
I  have  l)een  aided  by  .\Ir.  Jenkins.  The  effect  of  projectiles  of 
approximately  the  same  weight,  when  fired  with  the  s:ime  velocity 
against  six-inch  plates,  enables  comparative  results  to  be  studied, 
and  illustrates  the  fact  that  the  rivalry  l)etwcen  artillerists  who 
design  guns,  and  metallurgists  who  attempt  to  produce  lx)th 
impenetrable  armour-plates  and  irresistible  projectiles,  forms  one 


layer  of  steel  of  an  intermediate  quality  ca,st  between  the  tw- 
plates.  Armour-plates  of  this  kind  differ  in  detail,  but  the 
principle  of  their  construction  is  now  generally  accepted  as 
correct. 

•Such  plates  shown  by  plate  B,  resisted  the  attack  of  large 
Palliser  shells  admirably,  .as  when  such  shells  struck  the  jilate 
they  were  damaged  at  their  piints,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
shell  was  unable  to  perforate  the  armour  ag.unst  which  it  wa^ 
directed.  .\n  increase  in  the  size  of  the  projectiles  letl,  however, 
to  a  decrea.se  in  the  resisting  i>ower  of  the  jilates,  jHirtions  of  the 
hard  face  of  which  would  at  times  be  detached  in  flakes  from  the 
junction  of  the  steel  and  the  iron.  An  increase  in  the  toughness 
of  the  projectiles  by  a  substitution  of  forged  chrome-steel  for 
chilleil  iron  (see  lower  |«rt  of  plate  B),  secured  a  victor)-  for  the 
shot,  which  was  then  enabled  to  impart  its  energy  to  the  plate 
faster  than  the  surface  of  the  plate  itself  couUl  transmit  the 
energy  to  the  l)ack.  The  result  was  that  the  plate  was  overcome, 
as  it  were,  piecemeal  :  the  steel  surface  was  not  sufficient  to  resist 
the  blow  itself,  and  was  shattered,  leaving  the  prttjectile  an  ci-sy 
victor)'  over  the  soft  liack.  The  lower  part  of  plate,  H  (in  Fig.  5). 
represents  a  similar  ])late  to  that  used  in  the  Nettle  trials  of 
18S8.'  It  must  not  be  forgotten  in  this  connection,  that  the 
armour  of  a  ship  is  but  little  likely  to  \k  strtick  twice  by  heavy 
projectiles  in  the  same  place,  although  it  might  be  by  smaller 
ones. 

Plates  made  entirely  of  steel,  on  the  other  hand,  were  found, 
prior  to  1888,  to  have  a  considerable  tendency  to  break  up 
completely  when  .struck  by  the  .shot.  It  was  not  possible,  on  that 
.account,  to  make  their  faces  as  hard  as  those  of  compound  plates  : 
but  while  they  did  not  resist  the  I'alliser  shot  nearly  so  Hell  a'^ 


Attack  of  6-incii  Arxiour-I'Uxtfs  uv  4. 72. inch  Shei.us,  wkighing  57.2  lbs. 


'4l   aJ    ^ 
111 


*f 


Wrought  iron.                       Compound  plate.                              Siccl.                                         Steel.  Nickcl-slecl.  H.irvcycd,  iiickti-slci-l. 

■  888.                                      1888.                                          1888.                                             1894.                                           1894.  1894. 

Fic  5.— The   upper  serio  of  projectiles  are  P.illiser  chilled-iron  shells,  and  the  lower  .ire  chrome-steel.      In  e.ich  c.-im;  the  velocity  of  the  projectile  is 

.-ipproximately  1640  foot-seconds,  and  the  energy'  1070  foot-tons. 


of  the  nuist  interesting  [lagcs  in  our  national  history.  When 
metallic  armour  was  first  applietl  to  the  sides  of  war  vessels,  it 
was  of  wrought  irrin,  an<l  proved  to  l)e  of  very  great  service  by 
al>solutcly  preventing  the  pa.s.sage  of  ordinary  cast-iron  shot  into 
the  interior  of  the  ves-scl,  as  was  demon.strate<l  during  the 
.\merican  Civil  War  in  1866.  It  was  found  to  be  necessary,  in 
order  to  pierce  the  plates,  to  employ  bariler  and  larger  proj'jctiles 
than  those  then  in  ii.'te,  and  the  chilled  cast  iron  shot  with  which 
Gilonel  I'alliser's  name  is  identified  proveil  to  l>e  formidable  and 
effective.  The  pfjint  of  such  a  projectile  was  sufficiently  hard  to 
retain  its  form  under  im|«act  with  the  plate,  and  it  was  only 
necessary  to  im|>art  a  imxlerate  velocity  to  a  shot  to  enable  it  to 
|ia.ss  through  the  wr<iught-iron  armour  (A,  Fig.  5). 

It  s<H)n  l)ecame  evi<lent  that  in  order  to  resist  the  attack  of 
such  projectiles  with  a  pbte  of  any  rea.sonable  thickness,  it 
would  lie  necessary  lo  make  the  plate  harder,  so  thai  the  jMiint 
of  the  projectile  should  lie  rlamaged  al  the  moment  of  first 
contact,  and  the  reaction  to  the  blow  distributed  over  a  consider- 
able area  of  the  pl.ate.  This  object  couM  lie  attained  by  either 
luing  a  steel  pl.ate  in  a  more  or  less  hardened  condition,  or  by 
employing  a  iilate  with  a  very  hard  face  of  steel,  and  a  less  hard 
but  tougher  Inck.  The  authorities  in  this  country  during  the 
decade.  lS.So-90,  h.ad  a  very  high  opinion  of  plates  that  resisled 
attack  uilhoul  the  development  of  through-cracks,  and  this  led 
to  the  priKluction  of  the  coin(xiund  [ilale.  The  lacks  of  these 
plates  (n,  Fig.  5)  are  of  wrought  iron,  the  fronts  are  of  a  more 
or   less  hard  variety  of  steel,  either  cast  on,  or  welded  on  by  a 

'  "Trail*.  Crhem.  Soc.,"  vol,  Ixvii.,  1895,  p.  160. 

NO.    1332,    VOL.    52] 


the  rival  comixiund  plale,  they  olicrcd  more  eflective  resistance 
to  steel  shot  (see  lower  pari  of  plate  c.  Fig.  5). 

It  appears  that  Kerthier  recognised,  in  1S20,  thegre.1t  value  of 
chromium  when  alloyed  with  iron  :  but  ils  use  for  projecliles, 
although  now  general,  is  of  comparatively  recent  dale,  and  these 
projecliles  now  cominonly  coiUain  from  I  "2  to  I '5  per  cent,  of 
chromium,  and  will  hold  logelher  even  when  ihoy  strike  steel 
plates  at  a  velocity  of  2000  feet  per  second.-'  (see  lower  pari  of 
pl.ate  n)  :  and  unless  the  armour-plate  is  of  considerable  thick- 
ness, .such  projectiles  will  even  carr)'  bursting  charges  of  explo- 
sives through  it.  [The  behaviour  of  a  rhromium-.sleel  .shell,  made 
by  Mr.  Iladfield,  w.as  dwelt  upon,  and  llie  shell  was  exhibited.] 

It  now  remained  to  Ik'  seen  what  could  be  done  in  lite  way  of 
toughening  and  hanlening  ihe  plates  so  as  to  resist  the  chrome 
steel  shot,  .\boul  the  year  1S8S,  very  great  improvements  were 
made  in  ihe  production  of  steel  plales.  Devices  for  hardening 
and  lenijK'ring  plates  were  ulliinately  obtained,  so  that  the  latter 
were  hard  enough  throughout  their  substance  to  give  Ihem  the 
necessary  resisliiig  |viwer  wiihoul  such  serious  cracking  as  had 
occurred  in  previous  ones.  Hul  in  1X89,  .Mr.  Riley  exhiliiled,  at 
the  meeling  of  the  Iron  and  Sleel  Instilule,  a  ihiii  plale  that 
owed  ils  remarkable  toughness  to  the  |>resence  t»f  nickel  in  the 
sleel.  The  iininediate  result  of  this  was  that  jilales  could  lie 
niaile  lo  contain  more  carbon,  and  hence  be  harder,  without  al 
the  .s;ime  lime  having  increa.sed  briltleness  ;  such  plales,  indeed, 
could  be  water  hardened  and  yet  not  crack. 

'   I'rotetttines   Insliliition  of  Civil  KnKineers,  18B9,  vol.  xcviil,  p.  \,et  stq.. 
'-'  /i^ut-nnt  \.  .S.  .\rlillcrv.  i8oi.      Vol.      .p.  .107 


May  9,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


4i 


The  plate  E  (Fig.  5)  represents  the  behaviour  of  nickel-steel 
armour.  It  will  he  seen  that  it  is  penetrated  to  a  much  less  extent 
than  in  the  former  case  ;  at  the  same  time  there  is  entire  absence 
of  cracking. 

Now  as  to  the  hardening  processes.  Evrard  had  developed  the 
use  of  the  lead  hath  in  France,  while  Captain  Tressider '  had 
perfected  the  use  of  the  water-jet  in  England  for  the  purpose  of 
rapidly  cooling  the  heated  jjlates.  The  princi]>le  aflopted  in  the 
design  of  the  compound  plates  has  been  again  utilised  by  Harvey, 
who  places  the  soft  steel  <ir  nickel-steel  plate  in  a  furnace  of  suit- 
able construction,  and  covers  it  with  cariifjnaceous  material  such 
as  charcoal,  and  strongly  heats  it  for  a  jieriod,  which  may  be  as 
long  as  120  hours.  This  is  the  old  .Sheffield  process  of  cementa- 
tion, and  the  result  is  to  increase  the  carbon  from  0*35  P^"*  cent, 
in  the  body  of  the  plate  to  o"6  per  cent. ,  or  even  more  at  the  front 
.surface,  the  increase  in  the  amount  of  carbon  only  extending 
to  a  depth  of  two  or  three  inches  in  the  thickest  armour. 

The  carburi.sed  face  is  then  "  chill-hardened,"  the  result  being 
that  the  best  chrome-steel  shot  are  shattered  at  the  moment  of 
impact,  unless  they  are  t»f  very  large  size  as  com]iared  with  the 
thickness  of  the  plate.  The  interesting  result  was  observed 
lately-  of  shot  doing  less  harm  to  the  plate,  and  penetrating  less, 
when  its  velocity  was  increased  beyond  a  certain  value,  a  result  due 
to  a  superiority  in  the  power  of  the  face  of  the  plate  to  transmit 
energy  over  that  possessed  by  the  projectile,  which  was  itself 
damaged,  when  a  certain  rate  was  exceeded.  At  a  comparatively 
low  velocity  the  |)oint  of  the  shot  would  resist  fracture,  but  the 
energ)'  of  the  projectile  is  not  then  sufficient  to  perforate  the 
plate,  which  woukl  need  the  attack  of  a  much  larger  gun  firing  a 
projectile  at  a  lower  velocity. 


Fic.  6. — Section  of  Barbette  of  the  Majestic. 

The  tendency  to-day  is  to  dispense  with  nickel,  and  to  use 
ordinary  steel,  "Harveyed  ;"■'  this  gives  excellent  six-inch  plates, 
but  there  is  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to  whether  it  is  ad- 
vantageous to  omit  nickel  in  the  case  of  very  thick  plates. 
and  the  pr<3l)Iem  is  now  being  worked  out  liy  the  method  of 
trial.  Probably,  too,  the  Harveyed  plates  will  be  much 
improved  by  judicious  forging  after  the  prijcess,  as  is  indicated 
by  .some  recent  work  done  in  America.  The  use  of  chromium 
in  the  plates  may  lead  to  interesting  results. 

Turn  for  a  moment  to  the  '^  Majfslii- "'  class  of  ships,  the  con- 
struction of  which  we  owe  tt)  the  genius  of  Sir  William  White, 
to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  a  section  representing  the  exact 
size  of  the  protection  afliirded  to  the  barlietle  of  the  Maj,-s/ic. 
[This  sectiim  was  exhibited  and  is  shown  as  reduced  to  the 
diagram  Pig.  6.  J  Her  armour  is  of  the  Harveyed  steel,  which 
has  hitherto  proved  singidarly  resisting  to  chromium  projectiles. 

In  this  section,  A  represents  a  14-inch  Harveyed  steel  armour- 
plate  :  n,  a  4-inch  teak  backing;  c,  a  ij-inch  steel  plate;  D, 
i-inch  sieel  frames  ;  and  K,  4-inch  steel  linings. 

It  will,  I  trust,  have  been  evident  that  two  of  the  rarer  metals, 
chromium  and  nickel,  are  playing  a  very  important  part  in  otir 


'  Weaver,  "  Notes  on  .\rmour."     Journal  U.i^.  .\rtillery. 
p.  417. 
-  Hrassey"s  .Vavai  .Inniial,  1894.  p.  367. 
'*  KiigineefiHg,  vol.  Ivii.,  1894,  pp.  465,  530,  595. 


Vol.  iii.  1894, 


national  defences  ;  and  if  I  ever  lecture  to  you  again,  it  may  be 

possible    for  me  to  record  similar  triumphs    for    molybdenum, 
titanium,  vanadium,  and  others  of  these  still  rarer  metals. 

Here  is  another  alloy,  for  which  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  Had- 
field.  It  is  iron  alloyed  with  25  per  cent,  of  nickel,  and 
Hopkinson  has  shown  that  its  density  is  permanently  reduced  by 
two  per  cent,  by  an  exposure  to  a  temperature  of-  30°,  that  is  the 
metal  expands  at  this  temperature. 

Supposing,  therefore,  that  a  shi]i-of-war  was  built  in  our 
climate  of  ordinary  steel,  and  clad  with  some  three  thousand  tons 
of  such  nickel-steel  armour,  w-e  are  confronted  with  the  extra- 
ordinary fact  that  if  such  a  ship  visiteil  the  .Vrctic  regions,  it  would 
actually  become  some  two  feet  longer,  an<l  the  shearing  which 
would  result  from  the  expansion  of  the  armour  by  exposure  to 
cold  would  destroy  the  ship.  Before  I  leave  the  question  of  the 
nickel-iron  alloys,  let  me  direct  your  attention  to  this  triple  alloy 
of  iron,  nickel  and  cobalt  in  simple  atomic  proportions.  Dr. 
Oliver  Lodge  believes  that  this  alloy  will  be  found  to  possess  very 
reiuarkable  projierlies  ;  in  fact,  as  he  U*\i\  me.  if  nature  had 
properly  understood  Mendeleef,  this  alloy  would  really  have  been 
an  element.  As  regards  electrical  projierties  of  alloys,  it  is  im- 
possible to  say  what  services  the  rarer  metals  may  not  render ;  and  [ 
would  remind  you  that  "  platinoid,"  mainly  a  nickel-copper  alloy, 
owes  to  the  presence  of  a  little  tungsten  its  peculiar  property  of 
having  a  high  electrical  resistance  which  does  not  change  with 
temperature. 

One  other  instance  of  the  kind  of  influence  the  rarer  metals 
may  be  expected  to  exert  is  all  that  time  will  permit  me  to  give 
you.  It  relates  to  their  influence  on  aluminium  itself.  You 
have  heard  much  of  the  adoption  of  aluminium  in  such  branches 
of  naval  construction  as  demand  lightness  and  portability.  During 
last  autumn  Messrs.  Yarrow  completed  a  torpedo  boat  which 
was  built  of  aluminium  alloyed  with  6  per  cent,  of  copper.  Her 
hull  is  50  per  cent,  lighter,  and  she  is  34  knots  fa.ster  than  a 
similar  boat  of  steel  wi>uld  have  been,  and,  notwithstanding  her 
increased  speed,  is  singularly  free  from  vil)ration. 


Fn;.   7.  — Half-section  Mirlship  of  Aluminium  Torpedo-boat 

Her  plates  are  ^th  inch  thick,  and  Jth  inch  where 
greater  strength  is  needed.  It  reinains  to  be  seen  wdiether 
copper  is  the  best  metal  to  alloy  with  alinniniimi.  Several 
of  the  rarer  metals  have  already  been  tried,  and  among 
them  titanium.  Two  ])er  cent,  of  this  rare  metal  seems  to 
confer  remarkable  properties  on  aluminium,  and  it  should  do 
so  according  to  the  views  I  have  expre.ssed,  for  the  cooling 
curve  of  the  titanium-aluminium  alloy  woulil  certainly  show  a 
high  subordinate  freezing  point. 

Hitherto  I  have  appealed  to  industrial  work,  rather  than  to 
abstract  science,  for  illustrations  of  the  services  which  the  rarer 
metals  may  render.  One  reason  for  this  is  that  at  present  we 
have  but  little  knowledge  of  some  of  the  rarer  metals  apart  from 
their  association  with  carbon.       The  metals  viel<le<i  bv  treatment 


NO.    1332,  VOL.   52] 


NATURE 


[May  9,  1895 


of  ONides  in  the  electric  arc  are  alwa)'s  carbides.  There  are,  in 
fact,  some  of  the  rarer  metals  which  we,  as  yet.  can  hardly  be 
said  to  know  except  as  car!>ides.  .\s  the  following  ex^xrrinient  is 
the  last  of  the  series,  I  would  express  my  thanks  to  my  assistant. 
Mr.  Stansficld.  fur  the  great  care  he  has  bestowed  in  order 
to  ensure  their  success.  Here  is  the  carbide  of  calcium 
which  is  produced  by  heating  lime  and  carlxin  in  the  electric  arc. 
It  possesses  great  chemical  activity,  for  if  it  is  placed  in  water 
the  calcium  seizes  the  oxygen  of  the  water,  while  the  carbon  also 
combines  with  the  hydrogen,  and  acetylene  is  the  result,  which 
bums  brilliantly.  [Kxi>erimenl  shown.)  If  the  carbide  of  calcium 
lie  placed  in  chlorine  water,  enl  smelling  chloride  of  carbon  is 
formed. 

In  studying  the  relations  of  the  rarer  metals  to  iron,  it  is 
impossible  to  dissticiale  them  from  the  influence  exerted  by  the 
simultaneous  pre^ience  of  carUkn  :  but  carbon  is  a  protean  element 
— it  may  be  disstilved  in  iri>n,or  it  may  exist  in  iron  in  any  of  the 
varietl  forms  in  which  we  know  it  when  il  is  free.  Matthiessen, 
the  great  aulhorily  en  alloys,  actually  writes  of  the  "  carl>on-iron 
alloys."  I  do  not  hesitate  therefore,  on  the  ground  that  the 
subject  might  ap|K*;ir  to  be  without  the  limits  of  the  title  of  this 
lecture,  to  jioint  to  one  other  result  which  has  licen  achieved  by 
M.  .Moissan.  Here  i>  a  fragment  of  pig  irtm  highly  carburised  : 
melt  it  in  the  electric  arc  in  the  presence  of  carbon,  and  cool  the 
molten  metal  siuhlenly,  preferably  by  plunging  it  into  molten 
lead.  .\s  cast  iron  c\|Kinds  on  solidification,  the  liule  mass  will 
liecume  solid  at  its  surface  and  will  contract  ;  but  when,  in  turn, 
the  -till  fluid  m.xss  in  the  interior  cools,  it  expands  against  the 
solid  crust,  and  consetjuently  .solidifies  under  great  pressure. 
f)is.solve  such  a  mass  of  airburised  iron  in  nitric  acid  to  which 
chlorate  of  |K)tash  Is  added  ;  treat  the  residue  with  caustic 
pota.sh,  submit  it  to  the  prolonged  attack  of  hydrofluoric  acid, 
then  to  boiling  sidphuric  .acid,  and  finally  fuse  il  with  i>ot,ash,  to 


These  relate  to  the  siitgular  attitude  towards  metallurgical 
research  maintained  by  tho.se  who  are  in  a  jio.sition  to  iironiote 
the  advancement  of  science  in  this  coinitry.  Statements  resj^ect- 
ing  the  change  of  shining  graphite  into  brilliant  diamond  are 
receiveii  with  aiiprecialive  interest  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
vast  ini|Kirtance  of  eft'ecting  similar  molecular  changes  in  metals 
is  ignored. 

We  m.ay  .acknowledge  that  "no  n,ation  of  modern  times  h.as 
done  so  much  practical  work  in  the  world  as  ourselves,  none  has 
applied  itself  so  conspicuously  or  m  ith  such  conspicuous  success 
to  the  indefatigable  pursuit  of  all  those  branches  of  human 
knowledge  which  give  to  man  bis  mastery  over  matter."  '  But  it 
is  typical  of  our  i>ecullar  Hrllish  methotl  of  advance  to  dismiss 
all  metallurgical  questions  as  "  industrial,"  and  leave  their  con- 
sideration to  private  enterprise. 

We  are,  fortunately,  to  spend,  I  believe,  eighteen  millions  this 
year  on  our  Navy,  and  yet  the  nation  only  endows  experimental 
research  in  all  branches  <•>{  science  with  four  thousand  jxurnds. 
We  rightly  ai\d  gladly  sjumkI  a  million  on  the  Mai^iiifiirnl,  and 
then  stand  by  while  manufacturers  compete  ft)r  the  privilege  of 
]>roviding  her  with  the  armour-plate  which  is  to  .sa\e  her  from 
disaljlement  or  destruction.  We  as  a  nation  are  fully  holding 
our  own  in  metallurgical  progress,  but  we  might  be  iloing  so 
much  more.  Why  are  so  few  workers  studying  the  rarer  metals 
and  their  alloys?  Why  is  the  crucible  so  often  aliandoned  for 
the  test-tube?  Is  not  the  investigation  of  the  properties  of 
alloys  precious  for  its  own  sake,  or  is  our  faith  in  the  fruitfulness 
of  the  results  of  metallurgical  investigation  so  weak  that,  in 
its  ca.sc,  the  sub.stance  of  things  hoped  for  remains  unsought  for 
and  unseen  in  the  depths  of  obscurity  in  which  metals  are  still 
left  ? 

We  nuisl  go  back  to  the  traditions  of  l-'araday,  who  was  the 
first  to  investigate  the  Influence  of  the  rarer  metals  upon  iron. 


°  -^  Q  G  F 

Vu„  8. — Preparations  fur  ihc  microscoiM:  ufLHanionds  .ind  otlicr  forms  of  cartjon  oWlaiiicd  from  carljuriscil  iiini. 


remove  any  traces  of  carbide  of  silicon,  and  you  have  carlwn  left, 
but — in  the  form  i^i  tiiamomis. 

If  you  will  not  exjicct  to  see  too  much,  I  will  show  you  some 
diamonds  I  have  pre|>ared  by  strictly  following  the  directions  of 
M.  Mois.san.  As  he  |Kilnts  out,  lhe.se  diamonds,  being  produced 
under  stress,  .are  not  entirely  without  .action  on  polarised  light, 
.and  they  have,  s^unetimes,  the  singular  proiKrty  of  flying  to 
pieces  like  Rupert's dro[)s  when  they  are  moimted  as  pre|jarations 
for  the  microscope.  [The  Images  of  many  small  specimens  were 
projected  on  the  .screen  from  the  microscope,  and  (Kig.  S,  K) 
shows  a  .sketch  of  one  of  these.  The  largest  diamond  yet  pro- 
duced by  M.  Moissan.  Is  0'5  millimetre  in  diameter.] 

A  (Fig.  8)  represent-  the  rounded,  pitted  surface  of  a  <ll,aniond, 
and  B  a  cry.stal  of  fliamond  from  the  series  prj|)ared  by  M. 
Mojs.san,  drawings  i>f  which  Illustrate  his  [laper. '  The  re.st  of 
the  specimens,  <  to  k,  were  obtained  by  myself  by  the  alil  of  his 
methrKl  as  aUne  descrilieil.  •'  represents  a  dendritic  growth 
ap|iarently  com|Kised  of  hex.agonal  plates  of  graphite,  while  I>  is 
a  s|H.'cimen  of  much  Interest,  as  it  appears  to  be  a  hollow  sphere 
'>f  graphitic  carUin,  partially  crushed  in.  .Such  examples  are 
very  numerous,  and  their  surfaces  are  covered  with  mimile  rouml 
graphitic  pits  aiul  prominences  of  great  brilliancy.  Specimen  V. 
(which,  as  alreaily  staled,  was  one  o(  a  series  shown  to  the 
audience)  is  a  broken  crystal,  jirobibly  a  tetrahedron,  and  Is  the 
licsl  cr^'ilallised  s|KTlmen  of  diainonil  I  have  a.s  yet  .succeeded  in 
prcfKinng.  Nlinute  diamonfis,  similar  to  A,  may  be  reaillly  pro- 
<luce<l,  and  brilliant  fragments,  with  the  lamella  structure  shown 
in  V .  arc  also  often  met  with. 

The  cloAC  as.v>ciatlon  of  the  rarer  metals  and  carUtn  and  their 
intimate  rclntlim-  with  carlnm,  when  Ihey  arc  hidden  with  it  in 
inm.  enabled  me  (<>  refer  l»  the  pr<Mluclioii  of  the  diamond,  and 
afford  a  l*si»  for  the  few  observations  I  wtiuld  offer  in  conclusion. 

*  Vt^mflfi  rfHiltit,  v.>l.  civiii.,  1S94,  p.   \n, 

NO.   1.132.  VOL.   52] 


and  to  prepare  the  nickel-iron  series  of  which  so  much  has  since 
been  heard.  He  did  not  despise  research  which  might  possibly 
tend  to  useful  results,  but  joyously  records  his  satisfaction  at 
the  fact  that  a  generous  gift  from  Wollaston  of  certain  of  the 
"  .scarce  and  more  valuable  metals"  en.alik'd  him  to  transfer  his 
experiments  from  the  lalioratory  in  .-\lbcmarle  .Street  to  the  works 
of  a  manufacturer  at  Shetheltl. 

Kar.aday  not  only  began  the  research  I  am  pleading  for  to. night, 
but  he  gave  us  the  germ  of  the  dynamo,  by  the  aid  of  which,  as 
we  have  seen,  the  rarer  metals  maybe  isolated.  If  it  is  a  source 
of  national  pride  that  research  should  be  eiulowed  apart  from  the 
national  expenditure,  let  us,  while  remembering  our  res|ioiisi- 
blllties,  rest  In  the  hope  that  metallurgy  will  be  well  represented 
in  the  Laborat'iry  which  private  nnnilficence  Is  to  place  side  by 
sl<le  with  our  historic  Koyal  InslitiUion. 


I-.LECTRICITV   AND    OPTICS. 

A  MI-.MOlK  of  singular  interest,  and  one  of  which  il  would 
•'*■  be  well  if  the  contents  could  be  made  more  readily 
accessible  to  students  In  this  country,  has  lately  been  published 
by  I'nif.  Kighi.''  .\mong  the  numerous  papers  publisheil  during 
the  last  Iwenly  years  by  j'rof.  Kighl  there  are  several  (on  electric 
discharges,  on  electric  shadows  aiui  photo-electric  phenomena) 
which  inillcate  his  InieresI  In  the  relallcms  between  light  and 
eleclriclty.  Since  Hertz,  succeeded  in  obtaining  rays  of  electric 
force,  anil  deinonslraled  the  reflection,  refraction  and  interference 
of  electric  radiation,  other  experimenters  have  endeavoured  to 
exteiirl  and  complete  the  analogy  between  electromagnetic  and 
linninous  vibrations.  Thus  Lodge  aiul  Howard  showed  that 
electric  radiation  couKI  be  concentrated  by  means  of  large  lenses  ; 

'    I'hf   I'iitirt,   Kchruary  22,  1895. 

^  "  .Siille  o-,t:ill;u;oiii  cicttrichc  a  piccola  liitij;bc/7.'i  d'oiula  e  sul  lore, 
impicKo  iiclla  pr,Hlu/ioiic  di  fcnomcni  nnalofjhie  ai  principali  fcnotllciit  dctl' 
iiltlta.  *      (I1.iI..i;ti.i  :    i8d4). 


May  9,  1895] 


NATURE 


43 


Holtzmann  appears  to  have  performed  an  experiment  similar  to 
Fresnel's  with  inclined  mirrors;  Trouton  has  drawn  attention  to 
phenomena  similar  to  those  of  thin  plates  ;  and  others  have 
experimented  with  wire  gratings  like  those  by  means  of  which 
Hertz  demonstrated  the  polarisation  of  electric  radiation  :  but 
the  great  wavedength  (about  half  a  metre)  of  the  oscillations 
used  has  been  a  slumblingd)lock  in  the  way  of  more  delicate 
experiments.  Trof  Righi  has  succee<Ied  in  producing  oscilla- 
tions having  a  wave-length  as  small  as  2 '6  cm.,  and  has  devised 
a  novel  form  of  resonator  made  by  taking  a  strip  of  silvered 
glass,  dissolving  away  the  varnish  from  the  back,  and  drawing  a 
diamond-line  across.  He  has  thus  been  able  to  demonstrate  the 
analogy  with  other  phenomena  of  optics,  among  which  may  be 
mentioned  : — PVesnel's  interference-experiments  with  inclined 
mirrors  and  biprism  ;  interference  by  reflection  from  thin  plates 
and  by  transmission  through  them  ;  diffraction  by  various  means 
(slits,  edges,  Kresnel's  diaphragm)  ;  elliptic  and  circular  polari- 
sation ;  and  total  reflection.  The  description  of  the  experiments 
is  accompanied  with  full  theoretical  discussions  ;  and  if  Prof. 
Righi  does  not  aim  at  the  general  treatment  which  is  suitable  to 
a  treatise  like  I'oincare's,  he,  at  any  rate,  succeeds  admirably  in 
showing  how^  the  border-land  between  electricity  and  optics  is 
being  actually  explored. 

In  another  memoir,^  Prof.  Righi  develops  Hertz's  equations  so 
as  to  find  the  electromagnetic  disturbance  produced  by  the  com- 
bination of  two  small  rectilinear  electric  oscillations  at  right 
angles,  say  along  the  axes  of  z  and  _)',  having  equal  amplitudes 
but  differing  in  phase  by  a  quarter  wavedength.  Each  of  these 
might  be  replaced  by  the  mechanical  movement  of  equal  and 
opposite  electric  charges,  oscillating  with  pen<lular  motion  about 
the  origin  along  one  of  the  axes.  Two  such  mechanical  motions 
at  right  angles,  differing  in  phase  by  a  quarter  wave-length, 
would  compound  into  a  motion  of  uniform  rotation  in  a  circle 
about  the  origin  in  the  plane  of  zy.  The  disturbance  due  to 
such  a  circular  motion  of  equal  and  opposite  charges  would,  with 
certain  limitations,  be  the  same  as  the  disturbance  produced  by 
the  combination  of  the  two  rectilinear  oscillations  first  considered. 
Prof,  Righi  shows  that  it  takes  the  form  of  a  spherical  wave 
haxHng  its  centre  at  the  origin  of  coordinates.  The  vibrations 
are  in  general  (to use  the  language  of  optics)  elliptically  polarised; 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  axis  of  .x  they  are  circularly  polarised; 
in  the  equatorial  ]>iane  zy  they  are  plane-polarised. 

In  a  third  memoir,  by  Prof.  H.  A.  Lorentz,"  an  attempt  is 
made  to  establish  a  theory  of  electrical  and  ojitical  phenomena  in 
connection  with  moving  bodies.  This  naturally  involves  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  relation  between  the  ether  and  ponderable  Ijodies 
in  motion,  and  of  the  theories  proposed  by  Fresnel  and  Stokes 
resj^ctively.  After  weighing  the  evidence  on  both  sides,  the 
Leyden  professor  is  of  opinion  that  Fresnel's  conception  ofiers 
fewer  difficulties  than  its  rival.  The  question  is  of  importance 
in  electricity  as  well  as  in  optics  ;  it  is  necessarily  raised  by  a 
rigid  examination  of  any  electrical  phenomenon,  such  as  the 
motion  of  a  charged  body  or  of  a  conductor  carrying  a  current. 
Prof.  Lorentz  bases  his  explanation  of  electrical  phenomena  on 
the  hyiKJthesis  that  all  bodies  contain  small  electrically  charged 
particles,  and  that  all  electrical  processes  depend  upon  the  posi- 
tion and  motion  of  these  *' ions."  This  conception  of  ionic 
charges  is  universally  accepted  for  electrolytes,  and  also  forms 
the  most  probable  explanation  of  the  convective  discharge  of 
electricity  in  gases.  It  is  here  extended  to  pontlerable  dielectrics, 
the  *'  polarisation"  of  which  is  ascribed  to  the  existence  of  such 
particles  in  positions  of  equilibrium  fnmi  which  they  can  only  be 
displaced  by  external  electrical  forces.  The  periodically  chang- 
ing polarisations  which,  acconling  to  Maxwell's  theory,  consti- 
tute light-vibrations,  here  become  vibrations  of  the  ions. 

pv. 


SCIENCE   IN    THE   MAGAZINES. 

A  MOST  interesting  account  of  Madame  Kovalevsky's eventful 
•**■  life  is  contributed  to  the  Fortttightiy  by  Mr.  K.  W. 
Carter.  The  sketch  is  based  upon  that  gifted  mathematician's 
own  published  rec<)llecti()ns,  and  Madame  Edgren-I.effler's  bio- 
graphy of  her  lamented  friend.  As  there  are  some  who  are  not 
familiar  with  the  career  of  the  subject  of  Mr.  Carter's  article,  a 

1  "  Sullu  onde  electromagnetiche  generate  da  duo  piccole  oscillazJoni 
'  It-tiriehc  ortogonali  oppure  per  me/zo  di  una  rolazione  uniforme."  (Bologna  : 

-  "  Versiich  einer  Theorie  der  elektrischen  iind  optischcn  Erscheinungeti  in 
Wwegten  Kilrpern."     (I,eyden  :  1895). 


NO.    1332,  VOL.   52] 


short  summary  of  the  chief  points  may  be  of  interest.  Sophie 
Kovalevsky  was  bom  at  Moscow  about  1S50,  where  the  first  five 
years  of  her  life  were  spent.    Her  father  then  removed  to  PaHbinu, 

i  in    the  government  of  Vitebsk.      It  was  there  that  her  l>ent  for 

[  mathematics  first  showed  itself  .\  room  had  been  [)apered  with 
old  disused  ]5rinting  paper,  amongst  which  were  several  sheets 
of  Ostrogradski's  lectures  on  the  differential  and  integral 
calculus.  "This  room  possessed  a  strong  fascination  for  the  little 
seven-year-old  maiden.  Here  she  was  Co  be  found  daily,  her 
attention  riveted  on  these  walls,  striving  to  imderstand  some- 
thing of  the  strange  figures  and  stranger  formulas.  'I  re- 
member,' says  Madame  Kovalevsky,  '  that  every  day  I  used  to 
spend  hours  before  these  mysterious  walls,  struggling  to  under- 
stand some  of  the  sentences,  and  to  find  the  order  of  the  sheets. 
By  dint  of  long  contemplation,  some  of  the  formulas  became 
firmly  fixed  in  my  menior)-,  and  even  the  text,  though  I  Cf»uld 
comprehend  nothing  of  it  at  the  time,  left  its  impres.sion  on  my 

j  brain.'  When  several  years  later,  her  father  was  jjrevailed  oh 
to  let  her  have  some  instruction  in  mathematics,  the  results  were 
a  surprise  and  a  revelation  to  all  concerned  :  not  least  to  the  little 
pupil  herself  The  mysteries  of  the  walls  now  grew  clear,  and 
her  progress  was  made  '.by  leaps  and  bnunds.  The  diiferential 
calculus  presented  no  difficulties  to  her,  and  her  tutor  found  that 
she  knew  the  formulas  by  heart,  and  arrived  at  solutions  antl 
explanations  quite  independent  of  his  aid." 

In  October,  1S68,  Sophie  Kroukovsky  contracted  the  romantic 

I  marriage  with  \'ladimir  Kovalevsky,  and  the  two  went  to  Heidel- 
berg as  students  at  the  University.  .After  tW(;>  terms  spent  at 
Heidelberg,  she  moved  to  Berlin,  where  she  worked  for  four  years 
under  the  direction  of  l*rof.  \Veierstras.se.  '*  the  father  of  modern 
mathematical  analysis."  During  this  period,  she  wa.s  occupied 
in  writing  the  three  important  treatises  which  subsequently 
gained  for  her  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  Philosophy  at  Gottin- 
gen.  Passing  over  the  next  few  years  in  Madame  Kovalevsky's 
life,  during  which  her  husband  died,  we  come  to  the  winter 
of  1S83-84,  when  .she  went  to  Stockhi'lm  as  the  "  Docent "' 
of     Prof.      Mitlag-Lefller.        K     course    of     lectures    delivered 

I  during  the  winter  session  led  to  her  appointment  to  the 
chair    of   higher    mathematics    at     the     University    of    Stock- 

i  holm,  in  July,  1884,  a  post  which  she  occupied  until  her 
death.     The   crowning   scientific   labour    of    her   life   was    the 

I  treatise   which   gained    for   her   the  Bordin  prize  of   the    Paris 

'  .\cademy  in  1888.  The  .subject  proposed  was  "To  perfect  in 
one  important  point  the  theory  of  the  nitjvement  of  a  .solid  body 
round  an  immovable  point,"'  and  in  rectujnition  of  the  extra- 
ordinary merits  of  Mdme  Kovalevsky's  work,  the  judges  raised 
the  amount  of  the  prize  from  three  thousaml  to  five  thousand 
francs.  But  the  distinguished  authoress  diil  not  live  many  years 
to  enjoy  the  high  position  she  had  gaine<l.  In  February,  1S91, 
she  was  attacked  by  an  illness  which  ended  fatally  after  three  or 
four  days.  So  passed  away  a  woman  of  magnificent  gifts,  who, 
"Taking  the  direction  of  her  life  into  her  own  hands,  an<l 
choosing  for  herself  one  of  the  steepest  p,aths  to  fame,  .she 
traver.sed  it  with  swift  and  steady  steps." 

Mr.  W.  H.  Hudson  contributes  to  the  I'orlnightly  an  article 
on  "  The  Common  Crow,"  a  bird  which  he  finds  from  inquiries, 
"  is  no  longer  to  be  found  as  a  breeder,  <ir  is  exceedingly  rare, 
in  districts  where  game  is  very  strictly  preserved  ;  but  that  in  the 
wilder  counties  where  game  is  not  strictly  preserved,  in  woode<l 
hilly  places,  he  still  exists  in  diminished  numbers  as  a  breeding 
s|>ecies.'"  .\nother  article  in  the  same  magazine,  on  "  Danish 
Butter  Making,",  by  Mrs.  .\lec  Tweedle,  furnishes  instructive 
reading  for  British  agriculturists. 

The  remarkable  growth  of  electric  railroad  mileage  in  the 
United  .States,  during  the  past  five  years,  is  brought  out  in  an 
article  by  Mr.  Jo.scph  Wetzler,  in  Scrihiitr.  "  .\t  the  present 
time,"  he  says,  "  there  are  over  eight  hundred  and  fifty  electric 
railways  in  the  United  States,  operating  over  9000  miles  of 
track  and  23,000  cars,  and  representing  a  capital  investment  of 
o\et  four  hundred  million  dollars.  What  stu])endous  figures, 
when  we  consider  that  in  18S7  the  number  of  such  roads 
amounted  to  only  thirteen,  with  scarcely  one  hundred  cars!" 
,\  quotation  from  a  paper  in  the  series  on  "The  .\rl  of 
Living,'  cimtributed  by  -Mr.  Kobert  Crant  to  the  same 
magazine,  is  worth  giving  here.  '"  There  are  signs  (hat 
these  in  charge  of  our  large  educatitmal  institutions  all 
over  the  country  are  beginning  to  recognise  that  ri)>e 
scholarship  and  rare  abilities  .as  a  teacher  are  entitled  to 
be  well  recompensed  pecuniarily,  and  that  the  breed  of  such 
men  is  likely  to  increase  somewhat  in  proportion  to  the  size  and 
number    of   the    prizes    offered.     Our   college    presi<lents   and 


44 


XATURE 


[May  q,  1895 


])rufi:ssors,  ihuse  at  the  head  of  our  large  schools  and  seminaries, 
should  receive  such  salaries  as  will  enable  thcni  to  live  adetjuately. 
By  this  jiolicy  not  only  would  our  promising  young  men  be 
encouraged  to  pursue  learning,  but  those  in  the  highest  places 
would  not  be  forceil  by]xwertyto  live  in  coniiKirative  retirement, 
but  coulii  l)eci)me  active  social  figures  and  leaders." 

Involution,  and  problems  l>elonging  to  it,  crop  up  periodically 
as  subjects  of  magazine  articles.  In  the  CoiUemporary,  A. 
K<jgazzaro,  "  writer  of  verses  and  novels,"  devotes  a  number  of 
joges  to  the  ]iolemic  Ixittles  that  have  lieen  fought  over  the 
evolutiotiary  idea,  from  the  time  of  Lamarck.  "  Kor  the  Beauty 
of  an  Ideal  "  is  the  title  of  his  article,  which  mostly  aims  at 
showing  how  the  new  wine  of  evolution  may  Ix;  put  into  old 
bottles  of  Catholic  doctrine."  .\  jxiiK-r  on  "  Kvolution  and 
Heredity  "'  is  conlribute<i  by  Dr.  G.  Symes  Thompson  to  the 
Humanitarian.  .Vn  inlrcxluction  to  a  seriesof  articles  on  **  Pro- 
fessional Instilutiims,"  by  .Mr.  Herbert  Sjwncer,  appears  in  the 
Contemporary.  The  articlc-s  will,  in  their  eventual  form,  con- 
stitute part  vii.  of  the  **  Principles  of  Sociology." 

Two  i)a|Krs  in  the  Ctiitiiry  call  for  brief  notice.  In  one,  Mr. 
\V.  E.  Smylhe  shows  how  [>arts  of  the  great  arid  regit)n  to  the 
west  of  the  one-hundredth  meridian  in  the  United  States  have 
l»een  benefited  by  careful  irrigation.  "  The  work  of  reclama- 
tion has  been  going  forward  silently,  but  gradually  and  surely, 
for  the  iK-tter  (art  of  a  generation.  Between  ten  and  twenty 
millions  of  acres  are  now  under  ditch,  and  s(jme  slight  rivulets 
of  [x>pulalion  have  liegun  to  trickle  in  U|)on  the  lands.  But  the 
threshold  Ls  scarcely  |>assed.  The  arid  region  as  a  whole  com- 
prises more  than  8oo,ooo.oc»  acres.  ( )f  this  empire  more  than 
half  a  billion  acres  is  still  the  projairty  of  the  t'lovernmcnt.  ' 
The  second  japer  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  is  a  short 
•lescription  of  three  reprinluctions  from  photographs  of  the  tree 
l>eneath  which  was  burie<l  the  heart  of  IJr.  Livmgstone.  The 
tree  was  fi>und  near  the  site  of  the  deserted  village  of  Chitambo, 
on  the  south  shi»re  of  Lake  Bangweolo.  L'iH»n  it,  Jacob  Wain- 
w right,  the  Nassich  lK>y  who  reiid  the  Burial  Service,  chiselled 
the  witrds.  still  plainly  visible,  "  Or.  Livingstone,  May  4,  1873. 
J.azuza.  Mni.isere,  \'cho]KTe." 

The  Kcliijiiary  aiii  Illustrated  Anhuoh^st (\\ix\\)c(m.\Mr&  an 
account,  by   Mr.  Miller  Christy,  of  the  exploration  of  "  Dene- 
holes"  in  Essex  and  Kent,  conducted  by  the  Essex   Field   Club. 
Deneholes  are  ancient  artificial  caverns  in  the  chalk,  having  rleep,   , 
narrow,  vertical  entrances.     1"hey  are  found  in    various   ]>arts  i»f 
England,  but  es|>ecially  along  the  Iwnks  of  the  Thames,  in  Essex   i 
and  Kent.      .Mr.    Christy  has  explored   many  of   them,  and  his 
opinion  as  to  Ihcir  origin  is — "  On  the  whole,  the  only  conclusion 
which    it    seems   as   yet    .safe   to   arrive  at   is  that  the  mystery  | 
surrounding  the  origin  of  the  Deneholes  and  the  purj^ises  of  their  | 
makers  slillconstilutesone  of  the  most  interesting  and  |>erplexing 
juoblenvi  yet  remaining  unsolved  in    British  arclueology,  |)erhaps 
we  may  s;»y  in  prehistoric  British  archa.'ol<;gy." 

Mr.  .\.  .Symons  Eccles,  in  the  Xational,  writes  on  "  Head- 
aches." and,  in  the  course  of  his  |>a|x:r,  gives  the  opinion  of 
a  di.slinguished  neurologist,  that  almost  every  man  of  science  of 
distinction  in  I.,(mdrm  .suffers  from  sick-headache,  or  migraine, 
on  account  of  excessive  intellectual  activity.  Mr.  Eccles  says 
if  they  '*  will  sil  down  to  dinner  in  a  state  of  nervous 
exhaustion,  or  do  brain  work  <lirectly  after  taking  foixl,  they 
ran  hardly  ho|x*  to  escajK.*  from  an  attack  of  migraine."  In  the 
same  review.  Miss  Balfour  conchnles  the  account  of  her  journey 
through  the  British  South  .\frica  Com|i!iny's  territory,  in  1894. 
.\  brief  notice  will  suffice  for  the  other  articles  in 
the  magazines  and  reviews  receive<l  by  us.  .\  previously 
unfmblisheil  |>a|K-r  of  Kichard  leffcries'  ap|K-ars  in  Long- 
man i  Mai^-.iiir,  and  al«i  a  \*Kn\  by  the  lale  Dr.  (1.  J. 
|i,.i,,,,...  In  the  lingliili  /////r/ra/crf,  the  articles  from  which 
\ ledge  may  lie  gathered  are  ".Mountaineering  in 
V'  ii'l."   by   Mr.  J.    K.    Enxser :  "Stalking  the  Haplo. 

•  eiui  lii  ilit  .Selkirks,"  by  Mr.  W.  ,\.  Baillie-drohnian  ;  and  a 
"  Mo.irland  Myll."  by  'Mr.  (Irant  .Mien.  In  the  Quarterly 
/'  iiily   published    biographies  of   Bucklnn<l  and 

'  '  -    the  Iiasis  for  an  article  on  arlvances  in  the 

^ K>   iluriiig  this  century,     (iood  H'ordi  iimlains 

n  short  lUu-trated  |Ki|>er  on  the   Dandelion,  by   Dr.  Hugh   Mac- 

niillan,  and  one  on  "  The  Sea   Birds  of  the  La|>e,"  by  the  Kev. 

W.   fircswell.      .\nolher  readable  article  on  birds  is  .Mr.  C.  J. 

(  ..rrii.4h\    "  Birils   of   the    Cliffs."    in     the    Suiu/ay   Maf^zine. 

/iiuriial    has    the    usual    complement     >if   inslruc- 

•  ■ti    more    or    ks,    scientific   topics.       I'lnatly.    the 

,.    .,.^. ..,.,;.    (,iuarterly  A'efinr  contains  contributions  by    Dr. 

\V.  K.  CJowcrsand  .Sir  Henry  Howorth. 

NO.    1332,  VOL.   52] 


UNIVERSITY    Ayn    EDLCAJJlKXAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Oxford. — The  Term  is  now  in  full  swing,  and  the  usual 
courses  of  lectures  are  l>eing  delivered  in  the  various  departments 
of  Natural  Science.  The  changes  from  last  Term's  list  are,  that 
Sir  J.  Conroy  and  Mr.  Frederick  Smith  have  returned  to  Oxford, 
and  are  lecturing  on  Radiation  antl  Mechanics,  respectively,  at 
Balliol  antl  Trinity  Colleges.  In  the  l*hysioU)gica!  Department, 
I'rof.  (iotch  has  begun  his  duties  as  WaynHete  Professor,  and  is 
lecturing  on  .Mondays  and  Tuesdays  on  the  Physiology  of  the 
Central  Nervous  System. 

Mr.  II.  Balfour,  Curator  of  the  Pitt-Uivers  Museum,  has 
l>een  seriously  ill,  and  is  absent  from  Oxford  for  this  Term,  being 
obliged  to  go  abroad  for  the  s;ike  of  his  health. 

In  a  Congregation,  held  on  Tuesday,  May  7,  the  projwsed 
Statute  on  Research  Degrees  was  again  unilcr  discussion,  having 
reached  what  is  technically  known  ;isthe  twelve-member  amend- 
ment stage.  The  House  reaflirmed  by  the  narrow  majority  of 
39  .against  37,  the  clause  which  was  passed  by  a  large  majority 
last  Term,  which  stales  that  Science  shall  be  held  to  include 
Mathematics,  Natural  Science,  Mental  and  -Moral  Science. 
Other  clauses,  mostly  of  conse<)Uential  importance,  were  added 
or  rejected,  amongst  them  being  one  of  some  importance  to 
intending  Candidates,  which  allows  residence  in  the  V'acation  to 
count  towards  the  residence  of  eight  terms  reipiired  by  the 
Statute. 

In  (he  s;ime  Congregation,  Dr.  E.  li.  Tylor,  Reader  in 
.\nthro|xjlogy.  was  constituted  Professor  in  .\nlhrop()logy  during 
the  tenure  of  his  office  as  Reader  in  .\nthropology. 

The  .seventh  .summer  meeting  of  University  Extension 
and  other  .Students  will  l>e  helil  this  year  in  Oxford.  The 
meeting,  as  in  previous  years,  will  be  divided  into  two  |>arts : 
the  first  part  will  last  from  Thursday  evening,  .\ugusl  i, 
to  .\ugust  12,  the  second  from  .-Vvigust  12  to  August  26.  There 
will  be  lectures  during  Ixith  ])arts  of  the  meeting  on  Natural 
Science,  with  clas.ses  for  practical  work.  .Vmong  the  lecturers 
will  be  Prof,  tlreen.  Prof  Odiing,  Dr.  Kinnnins,  Dr.  i'ison, 
.Mr.  Carus-Wilson,  Mr.  J.  E.  Marsh,  Mr.  I'.  (Irooni,  Dr.  Wade, 
and  Mr.  (^i.  C.  Bourne. 

The  fourth  "Robert  Boyle"  lecture  of  the  Oxford  University 
junior  .Scientific  Club  will  be  iielivered  by  Pnif.  Cruin-Brt>wn, 
I'.R.S.,  on  Monday  next.  His  subject  will  be  "The  Relation 
between  the  Movements  of  the  Eyes  and  the  Movements  of  the 
Head." 

Cambriuhk.— Mr.  W.  G.  P.  Ellis,  of  St.  Catharine's  College, 
h.as  been  ap|>ointed  a  Demonstrator  in  Botany. 

.\pplications  for  jiermission  to  occupy  the  University's  tables 
at  the  Naples  Zoological  .Station,  and  the  Marine  Biological 
I.«iboralory  at  Plymouth,  are  to  be  sent  to  Prof.  Newton, 
.M.agdalene  College,  by  May  23. 

The  .Syndicate  for  .Advanced  Study  and  Kesearch  have  pro- 
pped new  statutes  fiir  carrying  out  the  scheme  recently  approved 
by  the  .Senate,  and  have  extended  the  scheme  so  as  to  include 
ailvanced  students  in  law  who  are  graduates  ol  other 
Universities. 

The  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Science  is  to  be  conferred 
on  .Mr.  I'rancis  Gallon,  l''.l<..S. 


Mit.  .\.  E.  Tl'I'lo.N  has  been  .appointed  Inspector  of  .Schools 
and  Cl.Lsses  under  the  .Science  and  .Xrt  Departmenl. 

TllK  Re|K)rl  of  the  Council  of  the  City  and  Guilds  of 
I^mdon  Institute,  u]K)n  the  work  of  the  Institute  iluring 
the  year  1S94,  has  just  Ixjen  issue<l.  The  Council  ex- 
pressed their  .s;\tisfaction  at  the  renewal  of  the  contri- 
[lution  of  the  Cor}Kiration  of  London  to  the  funds  of  the 
Institute.  .Special  subscriptions  have  been  received,  or  ])ro- 
mised,  from  the  .Salters'  Company,  in  addition  to  their  annual 
subscription,  for  the  encouragement  of  chemical  research  ;  from 
the  Cordwainers'  Company,  in  addition  to  their  annual  subscrip- 
iicm  to  the  Institute,  and  the  Leather  Tnules'  .School,  for  the 
inspectif)n  of  classi's  in  boot  and  shoe  manufacture  in  connection 
with  the  Trchnolugical  Examinations  Dcparlment,  aiul,  f<ir  the 
first  time,  from  the  Tylers'  and  Brickl;iyers'  and  the  ('oach- 
makers'  Com|>anies.  The  pro|H)sal  of  the  .Sailers'  Company  to 
place  at  the  disjio.sal  of  the  In.slitute  a  sum  of  £,\%0  a  year  to  be 
.'ipplie<l  to  founding  one  or  more  l''elIow.tliips,  to  be  entitle<l  the 
.Sailers' Coin]>any  Kesearch  Fellowships  for  the  eiicouragemenl  of 
higher  research  in  Chemi.slry  in  its  relation  to  manufactures,  has 
alreadv  l>een  referred  to  in  these  columns.     The  scheme  for  the 


May  9,  1895J 


NA  TURE 


45 


aflminlstratif)n  of  this  grant,  prL'[)are(I  by  a  Special  Committee  of 
the  Institute  and  adoptetl  by  the  Kxecutive  Comniillee,  has 
since  received  the  sanction  of  the  Court  of  the  Salters'  Company. 
The  first  award  was  made  in  January  of  the  present  year  to 
Dr.  Martin  f).  Forster.  A  sum  of  ;f33J  4^.  yi-  has  also  been 
received  from  the  Committee  of  the  .Siemens  .Memorial  Window 
Kund,  '*  as  an  enfiowment  to  furnish  a  small  sum  to  the  recipient 
of  Ihc  .Siemens  Memorial  Medal,  which  is  awarded  annually  to 
the  .student  of  the  greatest  merit  in  the  Department  of  Electrical 
Engineering  at  the  Central  Technical  College  of  the  City  and 
Guilds  of  London  Institute."  The  Report  deals  in  detail  with 
the  operations  of  the  several  colleges,  schools,  and  dejiartments 
of  the  Institute's  work. 

Miss  Crace  Ciiisholm  has  just  taken  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  I'hili>sophy  at  Gottingen,  this  being  the  first  degree  obtained 
!>y  a  lady  since  (jottingen  became  a  Prussian  University.  Miss 
Chisholm  was  a  scholar  of  (lirton  College,  Cambridge,  and  wa.s 
placed  between  the  22nd  and  23rd  Wranglers  in  j'art  I.  of  the 
Mathematical  Tripos  in  1892,  and  in  Cla.ss  3  of  the  Mathematical 
Tripos,  Part  II.,  in  1893.  In  1892  .she  also  took  a  first  class  in 
the  Final  Mathematical  .School  at  Oxford,  .\fter  leaving  (iirton, 
she  proceedei!  to  Gottingen,  an<l,  receiving  permission  to  attend 
the  mathematical  lectures,  was  in  residence  there  about  a  year 
and  a  half.  It  was  with  the  express  sanction  of  the  Prussian 
Minister  of  Eilucation  that  the  doctor's  degree  was  conferred 
on  her,  and  it  is  thought  that  the  precedent  thus  established  will 
probably  lead  to  a  substantial  development  in  the  opportunities 
ofTered  for  the  higher  education  of  women  in  Germany. 

Silver  Mkdals  have  been  awarded  to  Mr.  K.  H.  Turnbull, 
Mr.  {;.  F.  Mair,  and  Mr.  And.  Robertson,  of  the  Gla.sgow  and 
West  of  Scotland  Technical  College.  The  medals  were  purchased 
with  funds  placed  at  the  disposal  of  Prof.  A.  H.  .Sexton,  by  the 
West  of  .Scotland  Iron  and  Steel  Institute,  for  the  award  of  prizes 
for  kuiiwlidge  of  the  metallurgy  of  iron  and  steel. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

AmerUan  Meteorological  Journal,  .Vpril.  —  Recent  foreign 
.studies  of  thimderstorms  :  Switzerland,  by  R.  De  C.  Ward. 
The  sy.stematic  study  of  thunderstorms  has  been  regularly  carried 
on  in  Switzerland  since  1883,  and  the  results  have  been  pub- 
lished yearly  in  the  Aiinalen  of  the  Central  .Meteorological 
Office,  but  thtTe  has  been  no  general  summary  of  the  whole 
data.  The  general  conditions  of  thunderstorm  development  in 
Switzerland  are  the  presence  of  cyclonic  depressions  over 
Northern  Furope,  high  temperatures,  southerly  winds  and 
secondary  depressions  over  Switzerland.— Note  on  Croll's 
glacial  theory,  by  Prof.  W.  M.  Davis.  This  is  a  reprint  from 
the  Traiisadions  ol  \.\\e  Edinburgh  Geological  Society  (vol.  vii. ). 
The  author  thinks  that  the  recent  studies  of  Dr.  J.  Mann,  on  the 
origiii  of  cj'clones  and  anti-cyclones,  suggest  an  amendment  to 
Croll's  physical  explanation  of  the  climate  of  the  glacial  period. 

Symoiis's  Monthly  Meteorological  Magazine,  April. — Earth 
temperatures  and  water-pipes,  by  the  Editor.  .\  table  shows  the 
earth  temperatures  at  nineteen  stations  in  various  parts  of  the 
country,  from  which  it  is  seen  that  frost  penetrated  to  I  foot  al 
eleven  stations,  to  i  foot  6  inches  at  three  stations,  to  2  feet  at 
one  station,  and  nowhere  reached  2  feet  6  inches.  The  fact 
that  ice  formed  in  many  pipes  buried  2  feet  6  inches,  and 
probably  lower,  is  indisputable,  but  the  explanation  is  not  given 
of  the  a]>parent  discordance  between  the  temperature  of  the 
water  and  that  shown  by  the  earth  thermometers. — The  great 
gale  in  the  Midlands  on  .March  24,  by  li.  A.  Boys  and 
A.  W.  Preston.  This  appears  to  have  been,  locally,  one  of  the 
heaviest  gales  for  many  years.  In  a  park  near  East  Dereham,  it 
is  said  that  11 00  trees  were  uprooted.  The  worst  part  of  the 
hurricane  was  from  ih.  30m.  to  2h.  15m.  p.m.,  and  both 
observers  state  that  the  gusts  were  little  short  of  force  12  of  the 
Beaufort  scale,  which  is  equivalent  to  a  velocity  of  ninety  miles 
in  the  hour. — Snow  from  a  cloudless  sky,  by  C.  L.  Prince.  The 
author  states  that  at  Crowborough,  Sussex,  on  Febrtiary  6,  some 
snow  crystals  and  minute  spicule  of  ice  fell  at  intervals,  without 
any  visible  cloud. 

CAnthropologie,  1895,  tome  vi.  No.  i.— Note  sur  I'age  de  la 
pierre  en  Ukraine,  par  M.  le  Karon  de  Baye.  The  author 
collected  the  materials  for  this  article  while  residing  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Kiev,  during  the  years  1893  and  1894.  Little  Russia 
contains    three  kinds  of  tumuli  of  the  Stone  age:    (i)    Small 

NO.    1332,   VOL.    52] 


tumuli  each  containing  a  single  skeleton  resting  on  clay  or  white 
sand,  and  wrapped  in  birch  bark  ;  and  in  which  small  stone  arrow- 
heads are  found,  but  no  stone  implements  of  large  size.  (2) 
Cists,  cimstructedof  .stone  slabs,  containing  va.ses  filled  with  ashes 
and  burnt  bones,  with  which  are  associatetl  polished  stone 
weapons.  (3)  Tumuli  containing  skeletons,  certain  parts  of 
which,  particularly  the  bones  of  the  head,  are  coloured  red. 
Opinions  differ  as  to  whether  this  colouration  has  been  produced 
naturally  or  artificially ;  but  the  interments  may  probably  be 
referred  to  the  end  of  the  .Stone  age,  as  only  three  bronze  relics 
have  been  foimd  in  sixty  of  these  tombs  oj3ene<l  I)y  Prof.  Antono- 
witch.  —  La  scidjiture  en  Europe  avant  les  infiuences  greco- 
roniaines,  par  M.  Salomon  Keinach.  In  this  number  the  author 
describes  and  figures  relics  of  the  Bronze  age,  chiefly  swords  and 
dagger  hilts,  many  of  them  of  great  beauty. — De  Tart  du  potier 
de  terre  chez  les  Neo-Caledoniens,  par  M.  Glaumont.  The  pots 
of  the  New  Caledonians  are  made  of  clay  ;  they  are  spheroidal 
in  shape,  and  have  large  mouths,  the  lips  of  which  are  turned  over 
and  pierced  with  two,  or  sometimes  four,  holes,  through  which  a 
cord  is  passed  to  facilitate  transportati<m  from  one  place  to 
another.  They  never  have  feet,  but,  when  used  for  cooking,  are 
either  supported  on  two  or  three  stones  fixed  in  the  ground,  or 
they  are  suspended  from  a  branch  driven  obliquely  into  the  earth 
so  as  to  project  over  the  hearth.  The  ornamentation  is  usually 
very  simple,  consisting  merely  of  lines,  but  on  one  vase  from  the 
north  of  the  island,  figured  by  M.  Glaumont,  there  appears  a 
human  face  in  relief. — Les  races  de  I'Ogooue.  Notes  anthro- 
pologiques,  par  M.  Liotard.  It  is  now  fully  recognised  that  the 
population  of  the  Gaboon  consists  of  several  peoples  of  different 
types,  each  having  special  characteristics.  M.  Liotard  has  had 
exceptional  opportunities  of  studying  these  people,  and  here 
records  some  of  the  results  of  his  observations. 

Ln  Nos.  1-4  of  the  Biillettino  of  the  Societa  Botanica  Italiana 
for  1895  '^  ""  article  by  Sig.  P.  Voglino,  on  the  part  played  by 
snails  and  toads  in  the  propagation  of  certain  fungi.  In  the 
digestive  canal  of  these  aniinals  he  foimd  abundance  of  the 
spores  of  species  of  Riissula,  Tricholoma,  I.actarius,  and  other 
species  of  Agaricini.  The  facidty  of  germination  of  these  spores 
hail  not  been  destroyed  by  passing  through  the  body  of  the 
animal.  Sig.  A.  De  Bonis  contributes  a  paper  on  the  cleisto- 
gamous  flowers  of  Porttilaca  grandiflora,  Salpiglossis  sinuata,  and 
l.aminm  af/iplexicaitle.  The  production  of  these  flowers  he 
attributes  to  unfavourable  vital  conditions,  especially  sterility  of 
the  soil.  The  remaining  articles  are  chiefly  of  interest  to 
Italian  botanists. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Physical  Society,  .April  26. — Mr.  Walter  Baily,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  chair.  —  Prof.  S.  P.  Thomp.son  read  a  note  on 
a  neglected  experiment  of  .Vmpere.  .-\in])ere,  in  1S22,  ni.ade  an 
experiment  which,  if  it  had  been  properly  followecl  up,  must 
have  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  induction  of  electric  currents 
nearly  ten  years  before  the  publication  of  Faraday's  results. 
While  attempting  to  discover  the  presence  of  an  electric  current 
in  a  conductor  placed  in  the  neighbourhood  of  another  conductor, 
in  which  an  electric  current  was  flowing.  Ampere  made  the 
following  experiment.  A  coil  of  insulated  copper  strip  w.as 
fixed  with  its  plane  vertical,  and  a  copjwr  ring  was  suspended 
by  a  fine  metal  wire,  so  as  to  be  concentric  with  the  coil,  and 
to  lie  in  the  same  plane.  A  bar  magnet  was  so  placed  that  if  an 
electric  current  was  induced  in  the  .suspended  ring,  a  deflec- 
tion would  be  ])roduced.  No  such  tleflection,  however,  was 
observed.  In  1822,  in  conjunction  with  de  la  Rive,  Ampire 
repeated  this  experiment,  using  in  place  of  the  bar  magnet  a 
powerfiil  horse-shoe  magnet.  He  describes  the  result  in  the 
following  words: — "The  clo.sed  circuit  under  the  influence 
of  the  current  in  the  coil,  but  without  any  connection  with 
this  latter,  was  attracted  and  repelled  alternately  by  the 
magnet,  and  this  experiment  would,  consequently,  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  the  production  of  currents  of  electricity  by  induction 
if  one  had  not  suspected  the  presence  of  a  small  quantity  of 
iron  in  the  copper  of  which  the  ring  was  formed."  This  closing 
remark  shows  that  they  were  looking  for  a  permanent  deflection. 
When,  however,  I-araday's  results  were  published  in'  1831, 
.Atnp^re,  after  again  ilescribing  the  experiment  made  in  1S22 
by  himself  and  <le  la  Rive,  .says  : — "  As  soon  as  we  connected  a 
battery  to  the  terminals  of  the  conductor  the  ring  was  attracted 


46 


.\'.  V  TL  R1-: 


[May  9,  1895 


iir  expelled  by  the  magnet,  accunling  !•>  the  pole  that  »tis 
within  the  ring,  which  showed  the  existence  of  an  electric 
current  prodiiceil  liy  the  influence  of  the  current  in  the  conduct- 
ing wire.  Veritct,  when  dc^ribing  the  atwve  ex[ierinient,  falls 
into  a  curious  error.  He  says  the  apiwratus  consisted  of  a 
ring  of  tine  copper  « ire.  susj>cnde<l  by  a  silk  thread  in  front  of 
the  piDle  of  an  electromagnet  in  such  a  way  that  the  plane  of 
the  ring  was  parallel  to  the  plane  of  the  turns  of  wire  on  the 
electromagnet.  On  "  making  '  the  current  the  ring  is  said  to  have 
been  repelled,  but  this  deviation  did  not  jiersist,  and  on  *'  break- 
ing" the  current  the  ring  was  attracted,  also  only  momentarily. 
Mr.  Blakesley  did  not  feel  quite  confident  th.at  in  \'erdet's 
form  of  the  experiment  there  could  ever  be  attraction.  He 
also  pointed  out  that  with  an  alternating  current  the  disc  would 
tend  to  set  itself  parallel  to  the  lines  of  force  of  the  electro- 
magnet. With  reference  to  repulsion  by  alternating  currents 
in  one  of  Elihu  Thomi>s<in's  experiments  where  a  sphere  is 
supported  over  an  alternating  (xile,  a  screen  being  placed  so  as 
to  partly  shield  this  sphere,  there  is  generally  a  misstatement 
as  to  the  direction  in  which  the  sphere  rotates.  It 
rotates  in  .such  a  direction  that  the  part  of  its  surface  next  the 
magnet  moves  towards  the  edge  of  the  screen.  Dr.  Burton 
said  that  from  the  fact  that  when  the  current  in  the  electro- 
magnet in  \'erdet's  ex|)eriinent  is  broken,  the  induced  current 
in  the  ring  is  in  the  same  direction  as  the  current  in  the 
magnet,  the  ring  will  be  attracted.  Mr.  Boys  confirmed  Dr. 
Burton's  statement.  lie  recommended  setting  the  ring  at  an 
angle  of  45'  to  the  lines  of  force,  under  which  circumstances  a 
rotation  would  be  obtaineil.  .\  distinction  must,  he  pointed  out, 
be  drawn  between  .such  an  exiwriment  as  that  of  Verdet  and 
those  of  Elihu  Thompson.  The  repulsions  observed  in  these 
latter  were  only  due  to  the  "  l;ig  "  in  the  induced  currents  caused 
by  self-induction.  The  bc>t  materials  to  use  for  all  such  experi- 
ments were  magnesium  and  aluminium,  since  for  a  given  mass 
these  had  the  highest  conductivity.  —  Mr.  VV.  G.  Kho<les  read  a 
|«per  entitled  "A  theory  of  the  .Synchronous  Motor."  The 
object  of  this  paper  is  to  give  as  sim|>le  a  treatment  as  possible 
of  the  mathematical  |xirt  of  the  subject,  and  to  give  theoretical 
proofs  of  some  experimental  facts.  Starting  from  the  energy 
equation 

/  -4-  r-  R  =  r  E  cos  ■^ 

where/  is  the  output  of  the  motor,  k  the  resistance  of  the  arma- 
ture, <  the  current  through  the  armature,  E  the  E.M.K.  applied 
to  the  motor  terminals,  anil  i(  the  phase  diflference  between  i"  and 
E  the  ca.ses  of  maximum  rmtput,  zero  out[Hit,  minimum  current 
at  jero  (xiwer,  and  maximum  phase  ilifference  between  i  and  E 
are  considered.  The.se  results  are,  for  the  most  part,  obtained 
directly  from  the  energy  e<)ualion.  The  latter  part  of  the  paiK-r 
Is  devoted  to  a  discussion  of  the  pha.se  relationships  Ijetween  the 
current  and  the  E..M.E.S  in  a  plant  con.si.sting  of  a  generator  and 
motor,  and  to  the  variations  m  the  armature  reactions  in  both 
generator  and  motor.  .\  theoretical  proof  is  given  of  the  fact, 
oljscrved  by  f'rof.  .Silvanus  Thompson  and  others,  that  an  over- 
excited synchronous  motor  acLs  as  a  condenser,  and  tends  to 
make  the  current  leail  lieforc  the  generator's  E.M.K.  I'rof. 
.S,  P.  Thomi)vm  said  that  the  mathematical  |>artof  the  paper  was 
much  .simpler  than  that  in  previous  investigations  on  this  subject, 
and  the  metho<l  of  arriving  at  the  results  by  rejecting  imaginary 
r<x>ls  of  the  equatii>ns  was  particularly  neat  and  inslnictive. 
The  part  of  the  paper  relating  to  armature  reactions  and  pha.se 
rclationshi|is  was  quite  new.  Two  results  deserved  special 
attention  :  first,  that  the  maximum  current  at  zero  power  Wiis 
the  same  as  if  the  circuit  was  non-inductive  ;  second,  that  the 
iruximum  current  7.cro  (lower  Wiis double  the  current  correspond- 
ii'  inim  output.  Mr.  Blakesley  .said  that  the  iwper  did 
"  'he  stability  of  the  .system,  and  he  thought  some  of 

'  rres|>onile(l  to  regions  of  imstabilily. — .\   pa|KT  by 

^'  On  a  simple  graphical   interpretation  of  the  deter- 

iiM  ition    of  dynamics,"    was,    in    the  absence    of   the 

•lullmr,  read  by  Dr.  Burton.  The  rekation  is  worked  out  for  two 
s(»vi.i||y  Mmple  systems  |>os.sessing  erne  degree  of  freedom  :  (I)  a 
I'"  ing  in    a  straight    line  with  uniform  acceleration; 

' -'  moving  to  and  fro  ahmg  a  straight   line  with  an 

•«.■•. Li., Iirected  towards  a  fixed  point  im  the  line,  and  pro- 
portioned to  the  distance  from  that  [Kiinl  (simple  harmonic 
motion).  On  conslruriing  a  iliagram  in  which  the  ab.sci.vv-e  re- 
IwcMnt  values  of  the  single  rwirdinate  of  the  particle,  and  the 
>ir(Iinate'»  corresponding  values  of  the  momentum,  the  deter- 
tninanlal  relation  Iiecomes  equivalent  to  the  constancy  of  the 
area   ■•f    a  certain   elementary    parallelogram.      In  case   (I)  this 

NO.    1332,   VOL.   52] 


|V»rallelogram  moves  along  a  parabola,  experiencing  a  shear  as 
it  goes,  while  in  case  (2)  there  is  no  distortion,  the  (rectangular) 
parallelogram  revolving  alniul  the  origin  of  the  diagram  as  if 
rigidly  attachetl  to  an  inextensible  radius  vector. 

Linnean  Society,  April  18.  — Mr.  C.  B.  Clarke,  F.R.S., 
President,  in  the  chair. — In  view  of  the  approaching  anni- 
versary meeting,  the  election  of  auditors  was  made,  when 
Mr.  A.  1).  Michael  anil  Prof.  J.  K.  Green  were  nominated  on 
behalf  of  the  Council,  and  Messrs.  E.  M.  Holmes  and  H. 
Groves  on  behalf  of  the  Fellows. — Mr.  T.  B.  Blow  exhibited 
specimens  of  the  river-weed  Mouirra  fliivuililis,  -Aublet,  from 
the  River  Es.sequibo,  with  observations  on  its  life-history,  and 
lantern  slides  illu.strating  the  natural  haunts  of  the  plant. — Mr. 
J.  E.  Harting  exhibited  and  made  remarks  upon  a  collection  of 
West  African  Lepidoptera  which  had  been  collected  and  for- 
warded by  .Mr.  J.  T.  .Studley  from  Old  Calabar,  and  «as  to  be 
presented  to  the  British  .Museum.  —  Mr.  1  Inward  Saunders  exhi- 
bited a  si>ecimen  of  the  European  white-winged  Crossbill,  Loxia 
bi/asciata,  which  had  been  shot  in  co.  Fermanagh  in  February  last, 
and  was  lent  for  exhibition  by  Mr.  C.  Langham. — Some  photo- 
graphs of  English  Red-deer  heads,  showing  successive  g.-ov\ths 
of  antlers  in  the  same  stag  by  comparison  of  the  sheii  hortis, 
were  exhibiteil  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Lucas,  of  Warnham  Court, 
Horsham. — .V  paper  was  then  read  by  Mr.  !•".  W.  Keeble, 
entitled  "Observations  on  the  Loranlhateit  of  Ceylon,"  in 
which  country  the  author  had  made  a  short  sojourn  in  1894. 
.-Vfter  remarking  that  in  Ceylon  many  species  of  J.oniiil/.iis  have 
large  and  conspicut)iis  tlowers,  with  the  corolla-tube  brightl)' 
coloured,  more  or  le.s,s  tubular  and  lobeil,  he  pointed  out  that 
certain  deviatit>ns  from  the  typical  regularity  of  the  corolla-tube 
were  correlated  with  the  mode  of  fertilisation  of  the  Hower  b) 
Sun-birds  {AW/artm;,-),  an<l  this  wius  made  clear  by  diagrams 
and  some  excellent  coloured  drawings.  Discussing  the  mode 
of  distribution  of  the  seeds,  Mr.  Keeble  first  tjuoted  the  views 
of  Engler  and  Prantl,  and  the  remarks  in  Kerner's  "  Pflan/.en- 
leben  "  (English  edition),  on  the  tlisseminalion  <if  the  European 
.Mi.stletoe,  and  then  detailed  his  own  observations  in  the  ca,se  ol 
tropical  Lorauthait\c,  The  modes  of  germination  of  various 
species  of  /.oran/hiis  and  I'isciim  were  then  described,  as  well 
as  the  curvature  and  growth  of  the  hypocotyl,  and  the  effect  ol 
contact  on  the  Latter,  and  <m  its  suctorial  disc  ;  the  |iaper  con- 
cluding with  some  remarks  on  the  forms  of  fruit  and  seed  ol 
Cinghalese  species  of  l.oranthaicit. — .Mr.  A.  Trevor-Baltyi 
exhibited  .and  made  remarks  upon  a  collection  of  plants  obtaineil 
during  his  sojourn  on  the  Island  of  Ivolguev. 

Entomological  Society,  M.ay  l.  —  Prof.  Raphael  Meklola, 
F.  R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair.  —  Dr.  C.  G.  Thomson,  of  the 
University,  Lund,  .Sweden,  w.as  elected  an  Honorary  Fellow,  to 
fill  the  vacancy  in  the  list  of  Honorary  Fellows  cau.sed  by  the 
death  of  Pxstor  Wallengren.  —  Mr.  Waterhouse  exhibited  a  living 
larva  of  a  Longicorn  Beetle.  This  larva  was  found  in  a  boot- 
tree  which  had  been  in  constant  use  by  the  owner  for  fourteen 
years,  the  last  seven  of  which  were  s|)enl  in  India.  The 
specimen  w;vs  brought  to  the  British  Museum  on  May  6,  1890, 
and  was  put  into  a  blink  of  beech  wood  in  which  it  h.ad  lived 
ever  since  ;  it  did  not  appear  to  have  altered  in  any  way  during 
the.se  five  years.  It  had  burrowed  about  eight  inches,  and 
probably  made  its  exit  accidentally.  Mr.  Blandford  referred  to 
a  similar  ca,se  which  had  come  under  his  notice.  -Mr.  C.  G. 
Barrett  exhibited  a  long  series  of  the  dark  and  strongly-marked 
varieties  of  Ajp-olis  cunoria  and  Aip-iilis  Iritiii.  taken  on  the  sand- 
hills of  the  north-easl  coa.st  of  Scotland  by  Mr.  .\rthur  Home, 
of  .Mwrdeen. — Mr.  Dale  exhibited  a  s|K'cimen  of  a  Sesia — 
sujiposed  to  Ik.'  a  new  species — from  the  New  Eore.st. — Mr.  O.  E. 
Janson  exhibited  a  remarkable  species  of  Ciiriii/ioiiiiiir  from  the 
island  of  Gilolo,  having  exceedingly  long  and  slender  antennie 
and  legs  ;  it  w.as  apparently  an  undescribed  species  of  the  genns 
7'itlitiilliiii,  Pascoe.  Mr.  Nelson  Richardson  called  attention  to 
a  paper  by  himself,  in  the  /'ro.ei-iiiii/;s  of  the  Dorset  Natural 
History  and  Antiquarian  Field  Club,  on  the  subject  of  Dorset 
I^-pidoptera  in  1892  and  |893.--Mr.  W.  L.  Di.st.ant  com- 
municated a  [hiikt  entitled.  "  On  a  probable  explanation  of  an 
unverified  observation  rel.ative  to  the  family  Fulgoridie."  In  the 
discussion  which  ensued,  Mr.  Blandforil  S.U1I  he  thought  further 
evidence  w:ls  required  on  the  subjecl  of  the  allegecl  luniiiiosily  in 
the  Fulgoriike  before  the  statement  contained  in  .Mr.  Distanl's 
pa|>er  could  be  accepted.  — Mr.  J.  J.  Walker,  R.N.,  contributed 
a  paper  entitled,  "A  preliminary  list  of  the  Butterflies  of 
Hong-Kong,  Uised  on  observations  and  captures  made  during 
the  winter  anil  spring  months  of  1892  and  1893.''-  Prof.  Meklola 


May  9,  1895] 


NATURE 


47 


commented  on  the  interesting  character  of  the  paper  from  an 
entomological  point  of  \'iew,  and  the  value  c)f  the  observations 
therein  on  the  geology,  botany,  and  climate  of  Hong-Kong. 

Geological  Society,  April  24.  — Dr.  Henry  Woodward. 
l-'.R.S.,  rri'>i<lcnt,  in  the  chair. — (Jn  the  shingle  Ijeds  of 
Kasterti  East  .Xnglia,  l»y  Sir  Henry  H.  Howorth,  K.K.S.  The 
author  has  carefully  examined  the  country  around  Southwold, 
where  the  beds  known  .as  Westleton  beds  (which  might  well 
have  been  associated  with  the  name  of  Southwold)  are  developed. 
He  alluded  briefly  to  the  recent  shingle,  the  |)ebl)les  of  which 
are  derived  from  the  ancient  shingles  of  the  cliffs  ;  the  formation 
iif  this  shingle,  he  maintained,  may  belong  lo  a  time  not  far 
removetl  from  our  own  day.  Turning  to  the  Westleton  beds,  he 
noticed  that  they  were  essentially  "drifts,"  the  component 
pebbles  not  having  Ijeen  shaped  on  the  spot,  but  brought  as 
pebbles  from  elsewhere  ;  and  he  gave  reasons  for  sujjposing  that 
they  were  derived  from  pebbly  beds  in  the  Lower  London 
Tertiary  group  .and  in  the  Red  Crag.  He  also  maintained  that 
the  shells  of  the  Westleton  beds  and  Bure  Valley  beds  were 
derived  from  crag  fleposits.  Reasons  were  given  for  sup|xising 
that  the  pebbles  of  the  Westleton  .shingle  of  Last  .Anglia  came 
from  the  west,  and  that  this  moved  eivstward  from  the  jilateau  of 
Suffolk  towards  the  sea.  It  was  considered  that  these  beds  can 
only  be  explained  by  a  tumultuous  diluvial  .novement. 
— Supplementary  notes  on  the  systematic  position  of  the 
Trilobites,  by  H.  ^f.  Bernard.  Since  the  publication  ot 
a  paper  by  the  author  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of 
the  Geoloi>i(al  Society  for  1894,  two  im]iortant  papers  by  Dr. 
Beecher  have  appeared,  giving  details  as  to  the  structure 
and  appendages  of  Triarthrus.  The  author,  therefore,  returned 
to  the  subject,  and  discussed  in  detail  the  more  recent  discoveries 
in  the  light  of  the  affinity  between  Apus  and  the  trilobites.  He 
endeavoured  to  show  how  the  results  obtained  by  Dr.  Beecher 
bear  on  the  larger  question  ;is  to  the  suggested  origin  of  both  of 
these  animals  from  a  chsutopod  annelid  modified  in  ada]itation  to 
a  new  manner  of  feeding. — An  experiment  to  illustrate  the 
mode  of  flow  of  a  viscous  fluid,  by  I'rof.  W.  J.  SoUas, 
F.  R.S.  The  author,  recognising  that  it  is  by  a  knowledge  of 
the  laws  of  viscous  flow  that  we  must  seek  to  extend  our  in- 
formation concerning  the  movements  of  flowing  ice,  conducted 
an  experiment,  the  details  of  which  were  described,  with  a  model 
of  a  glacier  composed  of  the  modification  of  ])itch  usually 
known  as  "cobbler's  wax."  In  the  model  the  pitch  moved 
under  its  own"  weight  over  the  horizontal  floor  of  a  trough, 
which  was  crossed  by  a  barrier  to  represent  an  opposing  moun- 
tain or  the  rising  end  of  a  lake.  The  results  of  the  experimenl 
showed  that  the  movement  of  the  pitch-glacier  was  not  confined 
to  that  portion  of  it  which  rose  alxne  the  barrier,  but  extended 
throughout  its  ina.ss,  and  that  an  upward  as  well  as  forward 
movement  took  place  as  the  barrier  was  a])proached.  Thus  the 
transport  of  stones  by  glaciers  from  lower  to  higher  levels  was  by 
no  means  an  incredible  phenomenon,  but  a  necessary  con- 
comitant of  .such  simple  conditions  as  those  a.ssumed  in  the 
ex]ieriment. 

Malacological  Society,  April  19.— Dr.  II.  Woodward, 
l'.R.,S.,  \  iic-I'resiilcnt,  in  the  chair.  —  In  addition  to  specimens 
in  illustration  of  authors"  papers,  the  following  were  shown  : 
Mr.  .\.  S.  Kennard  exhibited  a  scries  of  .Mollusca  from  a  I'leisto- 
eene  deposit  at  Crayford  ;  .\Ir.  .S.  Face  exhibited  two  species 
of  Estheria  from  Persia  and  S.  .\lgeria  ;  Mr.  W.  M.  Webb  ex- 
hibited mollusca  from  a  I'leistocene  deposit  at  Chelmsford  ;  .Mr. 
E.  R.  Sykes  exhibited  a  distribution  chart  of  Claiisilia. — The 
following  coumuinicaticms  were  read  ; — On  some  new  species  of 
British  Mollusca  from  the  'J'rito)!  Expedition,  by  11.  K.  Jordan. 
— The  .\natomy  of  Nataliiia  cajfra.  Per,  liy  .M.  K.  Woodward. 
—  Descriptions  of  new  species  of  Mollusca  of  the  genera  Bullia, 
Mangelia,  Troehus,  Ike,  from  the  .Mekran  Coast,  byd.  li. 
Sowerby. — List  of  Land  and  Freshwater  .Mollusca  from  New 
Providence  Isle,  Bahamas,  by  W.  Bendall. — Notes  on  two  cases 
of  the  trans])ort  and  survival  of  Terrestrial  .Mollusca  in  the  New 
Forest,  liv  T.  Lcighton. 

Royal  Microscopical  Society,  April  17.-  Mr..\.I).  MichatI, 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  .Secretary  s,aid  they  h.ad  received  a 
valuable  donatiim  from  the  South  London  .Microscopical  and 
Natural  History  Club,  in  the  .shape  of  a  lantern  with  microsccjpe 
attachment. — Mr.  .V.  Letherby  read  a  .short  paper  upon  the 
structure  of  the  Podura  .scale.--  The  President  read  a  paper  on 
the  structure  of  the  brain  in  the  Oribatid.v  and  in  some  other 
Acarina. 


NO.    1,^32,   VOL.    52] 


Cambrii>c;f.. 
Philosophical  Society,  April  29.  — Exhibition  of  Pahphis 
tiaraliis  (a  stickinseci  from  .Mashonaland  I,  by  Dr.  D.  Sharp. — 
A  modified  metliod  of  finding  the  s]iecific  gravities  of  tis.sues,  by 
Dr.  Lazarus- Barlow.  The  author  showed  an  improved  methoil 
of  finding  the  specific  gravity  of  tissues.  In  a  research  on 
the  patholog)'  of  the  ledema  which  accompanies  passive  con- 
gestion, published  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  of  the  Royal 
.Society,  he  used  the  solutions  made  up  with  glycerine  introduced 
by  Roy  for  the  estimation  of  the  sijecific  gravity  of  blood,  but 
found  th.at  difficulty  arose  from  the  large  i|iiantity  of  muscle  used 
in  obtaining  the  correct  specific  gravity,  and  from  the  fact  that 
the  glycerine  alj.stracts  water  from  the  muscle  with  such  rapidity 
that  after  a  very  few  seconds  the  piece  of  muscle  invariably  sank. 
He  therefore  has  used  for  the  past  year  solutions  of  various 
specific  gravities  made  with  gum  arable,  which  he  arranges  in  a 
wide  test-tube  in  their  order  of  density,  .\lternate  layers  are 
coloured  blue.  Diffusion  occurs  with  extreme  slowness,  so  that 
48  hours  after  arranging  the  test-tube  the  various  layers  are  quite 
evident.  The  s|)ecial  advantages  of  the  method  are  that  one 
piece  of  muscle  is  .suflScient  for  an  estimation,  as  it  sinks  through 
the  layers  of  lower  specific  gravity  until  it  reaches  that  layer  with 
which  it  is  identical  ;  that  water  is  abstracted  from  the  muscle  by 
gum  much  more  slowly  than  by  glycerine,  and  that,  as  has  been 
shown  by  Hefi'ter,  the  vitality  of  cardiac  muscle  is  better  main- 
tained by  gum  arable  .solutions  than  by  any  other  solution. 
— Crania  of  native  trilies  of  the  I'anjab,  by  Prof.  .Macalister. 

P.\RIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  .April  29. — M.   Marey  in  the  chair. 

I  — \  projected  ballocm  ex[)edition  to  the  .'\rctic  regions,  by  M. 

I  S.  A.  .\ndree.  The  author  defines  the  conditions  necessary  to 
be  fulfilled  by  a  balloon  destined  for  Arctic  exploration,  and 
shows  that  such  conditions  can  be  fidfilled.  He  has  succeeded 
in  obtaining  a  certain  amount  of  directive  power  by  using  a  rope 
drag  to  retard  the  jirogress  of  the  balloon  relatively  to  the  wind, 

!  and  then  using  a  sail  in  the  ordinary  way.  By  this  device  a 
mean  deviation  of  27°  has  been  secured.  .Sometimes  a  deviation 
of  nearly  40°  has  been  obtained.  .M.  Emile  Blanchard  in  con- 
nection with  this  paper  calls  attention  to  the  probability  of  exi.st- 
ence  of  an  open  polar  .sea,  aiul  points  out  the  support  this  view 
receives  from  the  many  flocks  of  web-footed  birds  observed 
making  their  way  northwanis  by  explorers  when  nearest  to  the 
pole. — On  the  double  points  of  a  group  of  algebraical  surfaces, 
by  -M.  Ci.  B.  (hiccia. — On  the  types  of  groups  Ci  of  substitutions, 
of  which  the  order  equals  the  degree,  by  M.  R.  Levava,sseur. — 
On  an  application  of  M.  Darboux's  method  (mathematical 
an.alysis),  by  .M.  Beudon. — On  the  rotation  of  solids,  by  .M.  R. 
Liouville. — On  a  class  of  jieriodic  solutions  in  a  particular  case 
of  the  problem  of  three  bodies,  by  MM.  J.  Perchot  and  J.  Mas- 
cart. — Measurements  of  the  intensity  of  gravity  in  Rus.sia,  by  M. 
C.  Defforges.  Data  are  given  for  Ptdkowa,  Tiflis,  Ouzoun  .\da, 
Bokhara,  and  Ta.shkend,  from  which  it  is  shown  that  the  negative 
continental  anomaly  is  very  pronounced  .at  Ouzoun -Ada  and  Ta.sh- 
kend.  and  at  Bokhara  is  of  the  same  order  as  at  Paris  ;  the  posi- 
tive anomaly  is  greater  th.an  previously  observed  at  Pulkowa. — 
On  the  specific  heat  of  superfused  liquids,  by  M.  Louis  Hruner. 
Thymol  and  paracresol  give  specific  heats  increasing  with  the 
temperature  range  when  cooleil  without  solidification  to  approxi- 
mately the  same  extent  below  their  melting-]Kiints  for  each 
experiment.  Menthol  and  bromal  and  chloral  hydrates  cannot 
be  obtained  superfused  by  cooling.  <  >n  the  solidification  of  some 
organic  substances,  by  -M.  Louis  Bruner. — On  the  regularity  of 
luminous  movement,  by  M.  Oouy. — (Jn  the  electric  resistance  of 
saccharine  liquids,  by  M.M.  Oin  and  Leleux.  Expressions  are 
given  showing  the  relationships  between  resistance  and  the  con- 
centration and  tenqierature  of  saccharine  solutions.  The  resist- 
ance is  shown  to  be  a  function  of  the  current  density.  This 
result  is  expLained  (m  the  .Arrhenius  hypothesis  as  due  to  the 
state  of  ionisation  of  the  badly  conducting  electrolyte. — New 
researches  im  the  heats  of  combination  of  mercury  with  the 
elements,  l)y  .M.  Raoul  Varet.  — (Jn  the  .action  of  the  halogen 
compounds  of  phosphorus  cm  metallic  copper,  by  M.  \.  Granger. 
Cojiper  phosphide,  CuP._„  is  produceil  liy  jiassing  jihosphorus  tri- 
chloride vapour  in  carbon  dioxide  over  slightly  heated  copper  ; 
cuprous  chloride  is  formed  at  the  .same  time  and  deposited  at  the 
end  of  the  tube.  PBr,  and  PL  give  the  same  compound.  PFj 
needs  a  red-heat,  and  produces  Cu.,P.j,  -Researches  on  man- 
ganese,   by   M.    Charles    Lepierre.     The   manganic-ammonium 


48 


NA  TURE 


[Mav  9.  1895 


sulphate  is  ilcscrilKKl  in  addition  to  hydrated  and  anhydrous 
ammonium-manganous  sulphate. — Campholenic  acids  and  amides, 
hy  M.  A.  Hehal.  Isomeric  acids  and  amides  have  l)een  obtained. 
The  solid  acid  was  thought  to  lie  the  racemic  form  of  the  liquid 
acid,  but  all  attempts  to  sei»rate  optical  isomers  have  failed. — 
Double  combinations  of  anhydrous  aluminium  chloride  with  nitro- 
compounds of  the  aromatic  series,  by  M.  (\.  I'errier.  .\  seriesof 
iom|iounds  of  the  t\-jx;  -MXI,;  .  iQH^  .  CH, .  NO..  (1:4)  are 
described,  and  it  is  .shown  that  with  nitro-derivatives  of  the  type 
of  paranitrotoluene,  Friedel  and  Crafts'  reaction  fails. — On  a 
jiossible  error  by  the  use  of  Kehling's  solution  for  the  estimation 
of  .sugar  in  urine  from  |)ersons  submitteti  to  treatment  with 
sulphoiul,  by  M.  Ph.  I.»afon. — On  the  jianification  of  brown 
bread,  by  M.  James  Chapjiuis. — <^n  the  causes  which  produce 
the  colour  of  brown  bread,  by  M.  Leon  Boutroux.  tUutcn  may 
;^ve  the  colour  in  bread  by  desiccation,  but  not  by  fermentation. 
By  oxidation  «ith  air  in  presence  of  water,  bran  may  produce 
the  colouration  of  bread  ;  but,  again,  fermentation  has  no  such 
effect.  The  acidity  of  the  yeast  is  a  |irotection  against  browning. 
— On  the  ethology  of  the  genus  ThaumaUm  Kroycr,  by  M. 
Alfred  Giard. — Obser\ations  on  the  hornets,  by  M.  Charles 
Janet. — New  researches  on  "  la  brunissure,"  by  AI.  K.  Debray. 
— .-\ction  of  static  s|xirks  on  the  local  tenti)erature  of  regions  .sub- 
mitted to  this  method  of  franklinisation,  by  M.  II.  Bordier. — 
Trciilment  of  a  case  of  .sarcoma  by  serotherapy,  by  MM.  J. 
Hericourt  and  Ch.  Richet. — The  catastrophe  of  Laibach,  April 
14.  1895,  •>>  ^'-  Ch.  V.  Zenger. 

Washi.ngto.n. 

National  Academy  of  Sciences,  April  16  20.  —On  some 
variations  in  the  genus  i;uco|)e,  by  -A.  Agassiz  and  W.  Mc.M. 
Woodworth  ;  notes  ttn  the  Florida  reef,  by  A.  Aga-ssiz  ;  the 
progTes.s  of  the  publications  on  the  expc<iition  of  1891  of  the 
U.S.  Fish  Commi.ssion  Steamer  Albatross,  Lieut. -Commander 
Z.  L.  Tanner  commanding,  by  A.  Agassi/. ;  on  soil  bacteria,  by 
.M.  P.  Ravcnel :  a  linkage  showing  the  laws  of  the  refrac- 
tion of  light,  by  .\.  M.  .Mayer ;  on  the  colour  relations  of 
atoms,  ions  and  molecules,  by  M.  Carey  Lea  ;  mechanical 
interpretation  of  the  variations  of  latitude,  by  K,  S.  Wood- 
ward ;  on  a  new  determination  of  the  nutation-constant,  and 
vinie  allied  topics,  by  S.  C.  Ch.indlcr  ;  on  the  secular 
motion  of  a  free  magnetic  nee<lle,  by  L.  \.  Bauer  :  on  the  coni- 
(wsition  of  expired  air,  and  its  effect  upon  animal  life,  by  J.  S. 
Billings ;  .systematic  cata!i->gue  of  ICuropean  fishes,  by  Th. 
(iill  ;  the  extinct  cetacea  of  North  .\nierica,  by  F.  D.  Cope  ; 
on  the  application  of  a  |x;rcenlage  method  in  the  study  of  the 
distribution  of  oceanic  fishes — (I)  definition  of  eleven  faunas 
and  two  sub-faunas  of  deep  sea  fishes,  (2)  the  relationships  and 
origin  of  the  Carritx;o-Mexican  and  Mediterranean  sub-faun;is, 
byii.  Brown  (kkkIc  ;  on  the  two  i.someric  chlorides  of  ortho- 
sulpho-ben/oic  acid,  by  Ira  Kemsen  ;  on  .some  ci>ni|K>unds  con- 
taining twii  halogen  atoms  in  combination  with  nitrogen,  by  Ira 
Kcm.scn  ;  presentation  of  the  Watson  Medal  to  Mr.  .Seth  C 
Chandler,  Ittr  his  researches  *)n  the  variation  of  latitufies,  on 
variable  stars,  and  for  his  other  works  in  astronomy  ;  bingra)>hical 
memoir  of  Dr.  I-ewis  M.  Kutherfurd,  by  B.  A.  Ciould  :  relation 
of  Jupiter's  orbit  to  the  mean  plane  of  four  huntlred  and  one 
minor  planet  orbits,  by  H.  \.  Newton  ;  orbit  of  Miss  Mitchell's 
Comet,  1847  VI,  by  II.  A.  Newton. 

New  .South  Walks. 

Linnean  Society,    March   27.  —  Prof.  David  in  the  chair. 

Tile   I'resiiKiit  delivered   the  annual   .iddress,    in   the  course  of 

•\\\\\\   reference    was    made   to    the    recent   suit    in   the   F(|uily 

in  which    the    .Society    was   defendant,    brought   by   the 

r  ily  of  .Sydney  to  i>blain   the   declaration  of  the  Court  as 

'    Instruction  of  .so  much  of  the  will  of  the  late  Sir  William 

v  as  relates  to  his  l>e<)uesl  of  /^I2,ooo  for  the  endowment 

:\  ;  and  the  full  text  of  the  judgment  of  his  Honour 

ige  in    Fquily   w,-is  read.      After  suniniarising  the 

I ■•     -  ience   iiia<le  during   the  year  by   the   various 

i  iiulions  and  departments,  the  President  |>asse<l 

'ine  length   Ihc  subject   of  recent  research  in 

lilt  ArclK  anil  Aiilarctir   regions,  and   especially  the   im|>ortanl 

■  (Ue^llon  outlined   bv   Dr.    John    .Murray,    namely,    that    of  the 

''  '    '  '   '     ''  'US    aiirl    systematic    exploration   of  the 

vulh  all   the  appliances  of  the    modern 

" ,. 1 1.iwing    gentlemen     were    elected    olfice- 

liearcn  anil  Council  for  1 8<)^.     President:   llenr>-  Dcane.     \'ice- 
Prcjidcnl.'.:   Dr.  James  C.  Cox,  Prof.   W.  A.  Ilxswcll,  Prof.  T. 

NO.    1332.   VOL.    52] 


\V.  E.  Davitl.  Treasurer :  The  Hon.  James  Norton.  Council : 
John  Brazier,  Cecil  W.  Darley,  Thomas  Dixson,  J.  R.  Garland, 
Arnold  U.  Henn,  A.  H.  S.  Luc;is,  J.  H.  Maiden,  C.  J.  Martin, 
IVrceval  R.  Pedley,  P.  N.  Trebeck,  Thomas  Wliilulegi^c,  IVof. 
I.  T.  Wilson. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

B.x.K^.-l•:lumt;lUs  uf  Health  :  Dr.  I..   C.   rarkt:>  (Cluirdiill).     A  Treatise 

on  Practical  Chemistry :  Dr.  K.  Clowes,  6ih  edition  (Churchill). — Chemical 

Technologj-,  edited  by  droves  and  Thorp.     Vol.  2.  Lighting  (Churchill). — 

'    Fern-Growing:   E.  j.  Lowe  (Nimmo). — I.*  Centenaire  de  I'KcoIe  Normale 

(Paris,   Hachetie).— I^  Cause   del!"    Kra   (^ilaciale  :    L.   dc  Marchi   (Pavia, 

'    Fratelli  Fusi). — Die  Lehre  von  der   Elektrizitat  und  deren  Praktischc  Ver- 

\   wendung :     Th.    Schwartzc    (Leipzig,    Wel>er). — Physikalischc    Krystallo- 

graphie  :  P.  (Iroth,  Dritle  Auflage,  3  .■\hthg.  (Leipzig,  Kngelmaiin). — Ixjw's 

Chemical     I.^*cture    Charts  (LowX — I*ie    I'hotographic    ein    Handbuch    fiir 

Fach-und    Amateur-Photographen  :    A.     Hertzka    (Berlin,    Oppenheim). — 

Objcct-Lcs-sons    in    Itotany  :     E.    Snelgrovc,    Book    1    (Jarrold). — Dakota 

Grammar,  Texts  and  Ethnography:  S.    R.   Riggs  (Washington). — Eleventh 

and  Twelfth  Annual  Reports  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology:  J.   \V.   Powell 

(Washington). 

Pami'HLKTS. — Royal  G.-ifdens,  Kew  :  Official  Guide  to  the  Museums  o 
Economic  Botany,  No.  2(l>ondon). — The  Franklin  Institute:  W.  H.  Wahf 
(Philadelphia). — Ro>-aI  Gardens,  Kew:  Hand-List  of  Ferns  and  Fcrn-Allies 
cultivated  in  the  Royal  G.ardens(Eyre  and  Spottiswoodc). — Myodes  lemmus, 
it-N  Habits  and  Migrations  in  Norway  (Christiania). — List  of  the  Publications 
of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnologj',  &€.  (\V.ishington). — An  Ancient  Quarry 
Indian  Territory  :  W.  H.  Holmes  (WrLshinglon). 

Seriai_s.  — Humanitarian,  May  (Hutchinson). — Record  of  Technical  and 
Secondary  Education,  .'Vpril  (M.icmillan). — British  Moss-Flora:  Dr.  B 
Braithwaite,  Aj>ril  (the  .Author,  Claph.im  Road). — Botanische  Jahrbuchcr 
fur  Systematik,  Pflanzengeschichte  und  Pflanzcngeographie,  Zwanzigsier 
Band,  3  Heft  (Ixiipzig,  Engelmann).--Fortnightly  Review,  May  (Chapman). 
— Internationales  Ari.hiv  fur  Ethnographie,  Band  viii.  Heft  2  (Leiden,  Brill). 
^Philosophical  Society  of  Washington,  Bulletin  Vol.  xiii.  pp.  31-76  (Wash- 
ington).—Zeitschnft  fiir  Physikalische  Chcmie,  xvi.  Band,  4  Heft  (I.eipzlg, 
Engelmann).— L'Anthropologie,  tome  vi.  No.  2  (P.iris,  Ma.sson). — Scribncr's 
.Magazine,  May  (Low). — Geological  Ma)^azine,  May  (Dulau). — Quarterly 
Journal  of  the  Geological  Society,  Vol.  h.  Part  a,  No.  202  (Longmans).— 
Geographical  Journal,  May  (St.inford). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The    Pygmies.       Hv    Sir    W.     H.     Flower,     K.C.B., 

F.R.S :        25 

An  Attempt  to  Popularise  Evolution 26 

Steel  and  the  New  Iron-Alloys.     By  John  Parry     .    .  26 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Slu|) :  "  Waysiik'  and  WixxUand  Blossoms.     A  Pocket 
(hiiilc   to    liiilisli    Wild    Klowcrs    for    the    Country 

Kamlilcr."— W.  B.  H 27 

liarrcit  :    "The  Lcpidoplcra    of  the    British   Islands." 

— W.K.K 27 

Ila,as:   "  (Jucllenkunde.      Lehrc  von  der  Bildung  und 

vom  \<irkoinnien  der  Quellen  und  desGmndwassers"  28 
Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

Uniformilarianisni  in  Geology. — Prof.  Joseph  Prest- 

wich,  F.R.S.                     28 

C.rcen  Oysters.— Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.    .  28 

The  ( )rij;in  of  Ihe  Cultivated  i:incraria.     W.  Bateson,  2<) 

F.R.S 29 

Tlu-   \sMiiii|iiions  in  Boltzmann's  Minimum  Theorem. — 

G.  H.  Bryan 29 

The  Lnil  of  I  (cat.      E.   H.   Griffiths;  Prof.  Oliver 

J.  Lodge,  F.R.S jo 

The-     Kxamiiialioii     Curve.       {With      Diagram).      F. 

Howard  Collins ya 

IVai-hinj;  \oun(,'  Pheasants  lo  IVcU.  — S.  E.  Peal     .    .  30 

Tliu  Haj;dad  Dale  mark.     Colonel  A.  T.  Eraser     .    .  31 

The  Royal  Society  Selected  Candidates 31 

April  Meteors.     Hy  W.  F.  Denning 33 

Notes 33 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Kelalive  Densilics  of  Tcrrislrial  I'lanels 37 

TheOrhit  of  Omiet  1S93  IV.  (Brooks) 37 

The  .Sptilruin  of  Mars 37 

The  .\slronoinical  .Sooiety  of  I'"rance 37 

The  Royal  Society  Conversazione,     (///iistralcii.)     .    .  37 
The  Rarer  Metals  and  their  Alloys.     II.     (Illustrated.) 

Hy  Prof.  W.  C.  Roberts-Austen,  C.B.,  F.R.S.       .    .  39 

Electricity  and  Optics 42 

Science  in  the  Magazines 43 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence     .    •  ...  44 

Scientific  Serials       45 

Societies  and  Academies 45 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 48 


NA  TURE 


49 


THURSDAY,  MAY    i6,   1895. 


HYGIENE  AND  METEOROLOGY. 

Hy^icnische  Mclcorologie.  Fur  Artze  tiiid Natiirforscher 
Von  Prof.  Ur.  W.  J.  van  Bebber,  Abtheilungs  Vorstand 
derdeutschen  Seewarte  in  Hamburg.  (Stuttgart  :  Ferd. 
Enkc,  1895.) 

NO  long  preface  is  needed  to  prove  that  meteorology' 
and  hygiene  have  a  close  and  intimate  connection, 
or  that  the  study  of  both  sciences  may  be  mutually 
helpful.  The  exhibition  of  a  small  death-rate  does  not 
exhaust  the  whole  of  the  problems  with  which  hygiene 
busies  itself.  .\II  that  tends  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  the  human  race,  all  that  ministers  to  the  comfort 
or  promotes  tlie  well-being  of  the  individual,  is  cared 
for  by  the  student  of  hygiene.  That  climate  and  the 
phenomena,  which  we  recognise  under  the  comprehensive 
term  "  weather,"  have  an  intimate  connection  -with  the 
health  and  comfort  of  the  race,  will  not  be  seriously 
denied,  whatever  different  views  may  be  held  as  to  the 
precise  manner,  and  to  what  degree,  the  condition  of 
the  atmosphere  can  operate  on  individual  cases.  Some 
knowledge  of  meteorology  has  hitherto  been  demanded 
from  candidates  for  diplomas  in  sanitary  science,  public 
health,  or  .State  medicine  ;  and,  judging  from  the  rules 
adopted  by  the  Council,  December  i,  1893,  the  con- 
ditions of  the  examination  will  in  future  demand  a  still 
closer  acquaintance,  since  the  apphcant  is  required  to 
show  the  possession  of  a  "  distinctively  high  proficiency, 
scientific  and  practical,  in  all  the  branches  of  study  which 
concern  the  pul)lic  health."  To  those  who  seek  some- 
thing more  than  a  bare  superficial  knowledge  of  meteor- 
ology, this  book  will  be  very  welcome,  and  not  only  to 
those  who  desire  diplomas,  but  to  the  larger,  though  less 
specially  instructed,  class  who  desire  the  welfare  of  the 
human  family. 

Coming  from  one  the  direction  of  whose  scientific 
studies  is  distinctly  meteorological,  it  might  be  anticipated 
that  the  book  would  deal  more  with  this  subject  than 
with  hygiene  ;  and  to  some  extent  this  is  the  case,  and 
possibly  the  interest  in  the  book  will  on  this  account 
be  diminished.  We  have  a  collection  of  facts,  admirably 
arranged,  though  drawn,  of  course,  mostly  from  German 
sources  ;  and  such  a  collection  will  be  of  the  greatest 
value  to  some  student  of  sanitary  and  social  science, 
who,  trained  in  physiological  schools,  will  produce  a 
work  of  greater  interest,  more  closely  connected  with 
the  spread  and  mitigation  of  disease  as  affected  by 
climate  or  meteorological  conditions  of  a  more  or  less 
temporary  character.  In  one  important  respect,  how- 
ever, the  book  deviates  from  the  generality  of  meteoro- 
logical treatises,  and  at  the  same  time  removes  an 
objection whicli  has  frequently  been  urged  by  physicians, 
who  assert  th;it  weather  statistics  are  not  given  in  the 
form  which  is  most  convenient  or  most  instructive.  To 
take  a  mean  of  his  observations  is  too  frequently  the 
sole  aim  of  the  meteorological  ob.server,  and  consequently 
mean  results  for  temperature,  for  example,  are  given, 
where  the  range  of  variation  is  the  more  important 
tkment  from  the  medical  point  of  \ie".       This  fact  is 


fully  recognised  by  the  author,  and  he  deals  not  only 
with  the  mean  values,  but  also  with  the  amount  of 
variation  from  the  arithmetic  mean  and  the  frequency 
with  which  such  variations  occur. 

The  book  is  divided  into  eight  sections.  The  two  first 
treat  of  the  physical  properties  and  of  the  various  ingre- 
dients of  the  air.  Elementary  physics  characterises  the 
first,  chemistry  the  second.  In  this  latter  section  are 
described  somewhat  fully  the  gases  which  enter  into  the 
atmosphere,  not  excepting  those  which  are  present  in 
minute  quantities.  Accidental  ingredients,  such  as  dust 
and  micro-organisms, -are  also  considered.  One  does  not 
meet  with  anything  very  new,  but  the  facts  are  well  and 
pleasantly  arranged,  and  would  give  any  student  all  the 
information  necessar>-  for  fully  comprehending  the  suc- 
cessive chapters.  It  might  have  been  expected  that  the 
constituents  of  water  would  have  been  treated  with  the 
same  degree  of  fulness.  Free  o.xygen  in  water  may  not 
be  of  the  same  importance  as  in  the  air,  but  the  aeration 
of  water  is  not  insignificant,  whether  regarded  as  an  im- 
portant withdrawal  from  the  atmosphere  itself,  or  the  part 
it  plays  in  the  oxidation  of  organic  material,  be  it  in  the 
form  of  ozone  or  hydrogen  dioxide,  or  other  efficient 
oxidiser. 

The  chapter  on  Temperature  is  admirable.  From  a 
vast  collection  of  material  with  which  intimate  study  has 
made  the  author  closely  familiar,  he  is  able  to  systematise 
and  arrange  those  facts  which  have  the  greatest  and  most 
obvious  bearing  on  the  subject.  It  is  a  graphic  digest  of 
all  that  affects  the  temperature  of  the  world,  and  is  amply 
illustrated  by  tables  compiled  from  many  sources.  We 
wish  we  could  pay  him  a  compliment  on  his  maps.  In 
the  map  on  page  1 10  it  is  only  with  great  difficulty  that 
Europe  is  recognised,  and  the  one  on  page  174  is  very 
little  better.  The  tables  are,  however,  so  very  well 
arranged,  that  this  slight  defect  is  of  little  consequence. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  minuteness  into  which  the 
author  enters,  we  may  quote  the  measures  of  the  temper- 
ature of  different  parts  of  clothing  when  worn.  The 
figures  have  been  reduced  to  Fahrenheit  scale,  in  which 
form,  if  less  scientific,  they  may  be  of  use  to  some  of  the 
commercial  firms  who  are  interested  in  such  matters. 


Temp.  50' 

Temp.  7 

Temp 

on 

the 

coat 

71-2 

..      824 

be 

ween  coat  and  vest 

73-6 

..      838 

vest  and  linen  shirt 

759 

.-      847 

linen       shirt      and 

woollen  shirt    ... 

77-4 

..      85-3 

woollen    shirt   and 

skin       

909 

..      898 

The  loss  of  temperature  which  the  body  experiences  at 
a  temperature  of  59  is  diminished  by  clothing  in  the 
following  proportions  : — 

Radiation  from  the  hare  skin     lOO 

when  covereil  with  wool       73 

when  covered  with  wool  ami  linen  ...  60 
,,        when  covered  with  wool,  linen,  and 

vest 46 

when  fully  dressed     ...          ...          ...  },^ 

It  does  not  appear  whether  the  velocity  of  the  wind  has 
been  t.aken  into  account  in  deriving  these  figures.  The 
importance  uf  clothing  comes,  however,  again  to  the  fore 


NO. 


VOL.   52] 


50 


NATURE 


[Mav    1 6,  189: 


as  aflfectcd  by  moisture,  where  the  author  computes  and 
illustrates  the  amount  of  heat  abstracted  from  the  body 
in  order  to  con\crt  into  vapour  the  water  which  a 
saturated  suit  of  clothes  is  capable  of  containing. 

This  latter  remark  has  reference  naturally  to  the 
chapter  on  Precipitation,  which,  with  the  following  one 
on  Thunder-storms,  does  not  call  for  any  special  remark. 
Emphasis  is  laid  on  the  purifying  influences  that  rain  and 
snow  have  on  the  atmosphere  ;  but  little  is  said,  perhaps, 
because  little  is  known  with  certainty,  of  cleansing  in- 
fluences on  water.  The  question  how  far  water  once  con- 
taminated can  be  restored  to  its  ori^'inal  organic  impurity, 
without  the  processes  of  evaporation  and  reprecipitation, 
has  exercised  the  minds  of  chemists  and  sanitarians  in 
this  countr)' with  some  severity.  Information  is  still  neces- 
sary- both  as  to  the  processes  at  work  and  the  agents  by 
which  impurities  are  removed,  as  they  admittedly  are,  by 
some  self-cleansing  method.  The  author  is  understood 
to  recommend  filtration  as  especially  necessaiy  to  elim- 
inate (iius:usc/ifidc-n)  bacteria,  presumably  bacteria  of  a 
pathogenic  character.  He  does  not  seem  to  recognise 
the  fact,  if  it  be  a  fact,  that  a  filter-bed  covered  with  bac- 
teria has  still  the  power  of  arresting  in  a  ver)-  consider- 
able degree  the  bacteria  in  the  water  that  fillers  through 
it.  How  this  is  accomplished  is  another  matter,  which 
may  not  concern  meteorology,  but  the  large  questions  of 
sedimentation  and  percolation  of  water  in  its  passage 
through  the  ground  comes  naturally  into  the  treatment  by 
Dr.  Bebber,  more  especially  as  he  enters  with  some 
degree  of  detail  into  ground  water,  and  the  conditions 
which  make  it  potable  or  otherwise. 

Wind  and  the  motion  of  cyclones  are  subjects  that  the 
author  has  made  peculiarly  his  own,  and  are  dealt  with 
here  at  considerable  length.  Considering  the  important 
results  that  follow  the  transport  of  masses  of  air  from 
place  to  place,  and  the  mingling  and  purification  of  the 
atmosphere  that  is  thus  effected,  it  is  not  suggested  that 
the  subject  receives  an  undue  amount  of  .attention.  The 
connection  between  cyclonic  paths  {Ziigstrassc)  and 
hygiene,  however,  is  not  so  immediately  evident;  but  the 
subject  is  one  that  has  long  interested  Dr.  Bebber,  and 
he  naturally  has  much  to  say.  It  is  meteorology-  pure 
and  simple,  and  has  this  defect,  that  it  is  scarcely  full 
enough  for  the  student  of  that  science,  and  in  too  great 
detail  for  the  sanitarian. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  chapter  in  the  book  is  the 
last,  on  Climate,  and  in  which  is  treated  diseases  under 
various  climatic  conditions.  On  page  275  is  given  a  table 
showing  the  annual  mortality  per  thousand  in  various 
parts  of  the  world.  This  table  is  apparently  thrown 
together  haphazard,  and  does  not  exhibit  that  careful 
arrangement  by  which  Dr.  Bebber  in  other  parts  of  his 
book  has  illuminated  his  work  and  instructed  ihc  student. 
But  the  bald  facts,  as  written  down,  gain  by  that  veiy 
absence  of  symmetry,  and  are  both  interesting  and 
gratifying.  It  is  true,  as  the  author  is  careful  to  point 
out,  that  the  facts  have  been  gathered  under  very  various 
circumstances,  under  various  authorities  and  systems, 
and  arc  not  strictly  comparable  ;  but  making  every  allow- 
ance for  inexact  compilation,  they  do  exhibit  a  manifest 
improvement  in  the  health  of  nations,  and  bear  a  gratify- 
ing testimony  to  the  successful  study  and  practical 
enforcement  of  sanitary  laws.  The  few  samples  we  can 
NO.    1333.  vol.    ;:.l 


I  extract  illustrate  best  the  increased  adaptibility  of 
individuals  to  meet  those  conditions  that  are  generally 
regarded  as  adverse  to  health  and  longevity.  Take  the 
case  of  British  troops  in  India  : 

From  1800-1830.  .\nnual  de.-ith  r.ite  per  thousand  ...  84  6 

„     1S30-1856.                  „  577 

„     1869-187S.                  ,,  19-3 

,.      1S79-1SS7.                  ..  16-3 

From  the  West  Indies  the  evidence  is  of  the  same 
character  : 

From  1820-1836.  EuropeanjTroops,  Jamaica,  Moilaliiv  121 
„     1817-1846.         ,,  ,,         West  Indies     ,.  75 

,,     1879- 18S7.         ,,  ,,         Jamaica  .,         ii'o 

,,     1820-1S36.     Negro  Troops,     Jamaica  .,        30-0 

„     1879-18S7.         „  „  „  „        11-6 

On  the  Gold  Coast,  the  figures  are  so  remarkable  that 
that  they  can  only  be  explained  by  supposing  some 
different  method  of  computation  to  have  been  employed 
in  the  two  circumstances : 

From  1829-1836.     European  Troops,  Gold  Coiist     ...    4S3  !  ! 
,,     1S79-1885.  ,,  ,.  ..  ...      68 

Possibly  a  similar  source  of  error  will  explain  the  only 
retrograde  case  to  be  met  with,  for  which  the  insalubrious 
climate  of  Cayenne  is  responsible  : 


From  1819- 
In  1855 


849.     Troops,  Mortality 


27-2 
90-8 


Of  course  some  of  these  beiieticent  results  may  be 
attributed  to  greater  care  in  the  selection  of  men  to  be 
sent  to  these  regions  ;  but  it  would  be  distinctly  wrong  to 
deny  also  that  much  is  due  to  insistence  on  improved 
conditions  of  residence,  of  clothing,  of  food  and  drink, 
especially  in  the  maintenance  of  uncontaminated  sources 
of  drinking  water,  in  fact  an  insistence  on  those  conditions 
which  sanitary  science  has  shown  to  be  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  individuals  and  nations. 

Possibly,  enough  has  been  said  here  to  show  that  we 
have  to  do  with  a  veiy  interesting  book,  and  one  far  reach- 
ing in  its  aims.  If  we  have  to  inakc  any  complaint,  it  is 
only  to  express  the  regret  that  it  is  not  more  so.  It  is  the 
omissions  that  are  sometimes  disappointing,  the  contents 
never  arc.  We  give,  in  conclusion,  one  last  illustration. 
Remembering  that  the  book  is  issued  from  Hamburg,  and 
that  this  town  suffered  severely  from  the  scourge  of 
cholera  in  1892,  one  cannot  but  feel  that  the  Observ- 
atory is  in  possession  of  facts  which  could  not  but  be  of 
interest  in  discussing  the  vexed  question  of  the  spread  of 
this  disease.  Beyond  the  slightest  possible  mention  on 
p.  287,  the  author  does  not  refer  to  it.  Yet  it  is  suggested 
that  he  could  have  told  us  authoritatively  what  meteor- 
ological conditions  coincided  with  the  greatest  spread  of 
the  disease,  that  he  could  have  given  us  details  of  the 
temperature  of  the  ground  and  of  the  Elbe  water  (see 
p.  147)  that  presumably  favoured  the  increase  of  the 
bacillus,  if  it  did  not  come  within  his  province  to  discuss 
any  differences  of  morphology,  of  virulence,  or  repro- 
ductive faculty  in  the  vibrio. 


May   1 6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


51 


MECHANICAL  ENGINEERING. 

A  Text-book  of  Mechanical  Engineering.  By  Wilfrid  J. 
Lineham,  Head  of  the  Engineering  Department  at  the 
(ioldsmiths'  Company's  Institute,  New  Cross.  (London  : 
Chapman  and  Hall,  Limited,  1894.) 

MR.  LINEHAM  says  that  the  desirability  of  writing 
his  book  was  suggested  to  him  by  the  initiative  of 
the  City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute  in  providing  an 
examination  in  mechanical  engineering.  In  preparing 
students  for  this  examination  he  was  led,  he  says,  "  to 
consider  seriously  (i)  whether  the  whole  theory  and  prac- 
tice of  mechanical  engineering,  or  even  a  precis  of  it, 
could  be  compressed  into  one  volume  ;  and  (2)  whether 
it  was  desirable  so  to  compress  it."  After  examining  Mr. 
Lineham's  book,  we  must  confess  to  feeling  grave  doubt 
whether  the  second  question,  at  least,  should  not  have 
been  answered  in  the  negative  before  he  set  about  the 
execution  of  so  very  large  a  task.  The  ambition  of  the 
attempt  is,  perhaps,  more  conspicuous  than  its  success; 
at  the  same  time  the  book  has  good  features,  and 
students  of  engineering  may  leam  from  it  much  that  will 
be  valuable  to  them.  It  is  a  novel  contribution  to  engineer- 
ing literature  :  by  no  means  wholly  satisfactory,  but  still 
one  that  should  take  a  useful  place. 

Mr.  Lineham  deprecates  in  advance  the  criticism  which 
he  expects  will  be  made  on  the  compression  of  a  vast 
subject  into  a  single  volume,  by  citing  ''the  examples  of 
great  and  successful  writers—  to  wit,  Rankine,  Ganot, 
Deschanel,  and  others."  We  do  not  know  whether  both 
adjectives  are  intended  to  apply  to  Ganot  and  Deschanel, 
who,  in  any  case,  did  not  write  on  a  subject  which  has  a 
practice  as  well  as  a  theory.  As  to  Rankine,  who  cer- 
tainly did  write  great  and  successful  treatises  on  engineer- 
ing, the  citation  seems  particularly  unfortunate.  To  com- 
press everything  into  one  volume  was  exactly  what  Ran- 
kine did  not  do.  He  wrote  four  or  five  large  books  deal- 
ng  with  various  branches  of  the  subject,  and  did  not 
hesitate  to  repeat  certain  portions  in  more  than  one  book 
whenever  that  was  necessary  to  make  each  intelligible 
apart  from  the  rest.  Rankine's  method  and  the  author's 
are  as  wide  apart  as  the  poles  ;  and  of  the  two  we  prefer 
Rankine's.  Moreover,  Rankine,  in  his  great  series  of 
text-books,  dealt  almost  wholly  with  the  rationale  of 
engineering;  but  here,  in  a  single  volume,  more  than  half 
the  space  is  occupied  by  a  description  of  the  processes  of 
the  workshop. 

It  is  in  the  descriptive  portions  that  Mr.  Lineham  is  at 
his  best.  Probably  no  better  general  account  of  hand 
and  machine  tools,  and  of  the  way  to  use  them,  has  been 
published.  The  pattern  shop  and  foundry,  the  smithy, 
the  machine  shop,  fitting  and  erecting  shops,  all  come  in 
for  their  due  share  of  attention.  The  construction  of  a 
horizontal  engine  is  selected  as  a  typical  case,  and  is 
described  from  start  to  finish  with  minuteness  of  detail 
and  with  the  aid  of  many  admirable  drawings.  The 
illustrations  of  the  book  are  indeed  excellent  throughout, 
both  in  style  and  matter.  They  are  illustrations  that 
really  illustrate.  There  are  732  of  them,  and  all  are 
engineers'  drawings.  They  have  been  prepared  with 
obvious  care,  and  it  would  seem  with  unsparing  labour 
on  the  author's  own  part.  They  are  treated  in  a  way 
which  allows  of  their  liberal  introduction  without  much 
NO.   1333,  VOL.    52] 


expenditure  of  space.  In  a  word,  they  are  everything 
that  the  illustrations  in  such  a  text-book  ought  to  be. 
The  descriptive  section  of  the  book  concludes  with  a 
useful  chapter  on  boiler-making  and  plate  work,  with  a 
somewhat  extended  account  of  hydraulic  rivetting  pro- 
cesses, and  with  a  short  notice  of  electric  welding.  In 
setting  forth  so  much  descriptive  matter  as  this  first  part 
includes,  it  is  of  course  difficult  to  preserve  in  all  parts  a 
proportion  to  which  e.xception  may  not  be  taken.  We 
could  wish  to  have  seen  more  space  given  to  the  milling 
processes,  which  take  so  prominent  a  place  in  modern 
workshops.  Nine  or  ten  pages  for  hydraulic  rivetting,  and 
a  mere  page  and  a  half  for  the  universal  milling  machine, 
seems  less  happy  a  proportion  than  the  author  has 
generally  maintained.  This,  however,  is  a  small  matter  ; 
and  it  may  safely  be  said  that  any  engineering  pupil  or 
apprentice  will  have  his  outlook  widened,  and  his  know- 
ledge considerably  increased,  by  reading  the  first  part  of 
Mr.  Lineham's  book. 

To  the  study  of  the  second  part,  however,  he  will  do 
well  to  bring  some  independent  criticism.  The  first 
chapter  is  on  the  strength  of  materials,  and  we  had  not 
penetrated  far  without  finding  the  ground  shaky.  Deal- 
ing with  the  nature  of  shear  stress,  the  author  uses  the 
symbols /[,  fc.  andy"^  to  indicate  intensities  of  tensile,  com- 
pressive, and  shearing  stress  respectively,  and  resolves 
shearing  stress  into  normal  stresses  inclined  at  45°  to  it  by 
the  equation 

fr  ^  fr  =    fr 

.  ■ .     fc  or   f,  =  — -_    =    . 

n'i>  '■•*'•+ 

This  is  a  bad  start  in  a  chapter  which  is  to  include  refer- 
ences to  such  subjects  as  the  strength  of  thick  cylinders, 
the  torsion  of  square  shafts,  and  the  effects  of  combined 
bending  and  twisting  in  crank-shafts. 

Immediately  after  this  error  is  the  following  paragraph  : 

"  On  account  of  the  cup  or  wedge  fracture  exhibited  when 
a  specimen  is  broken  by  tearing  or  crushing,  and  for  other 
reasons.  Prof  Carus-Wilson  argues  that  rupture  takes 
place  by  shear  stresses  at  45",  either  wholly  or  partially. 
Certain  it  is  that  the  three  stresses  are  intimately  con- 
nected, and  assist  each  other  in  destroying  the  cohesion 
of  the  particles." 

We  have  not  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  con- 
tributions which  Prof.  Carus-Wilson  has  made  to  this 
subject  ;  but  there  is  no  evident  reason  why  his  authority 
should  be  invoked  in  support  of  an  idea  which  is 
surely  as  old  as  the  testing  of  materials. 

Turning  to  the  paragraph  headed  "  -Strength  of  square 
shaft,"  we  find  a  geometrical  construction  described  at 
some  length,  which  is  apparently  based  on  Coulomb's 
erroneous  theory.  The  student  who  has  taken  the  trouble 
to  follow  this  will  feel  excusably  confused  or  irritated  when 
he  goes  on  to  read  the  subsequent  lines  : 

"  St.  Venant  showed,  however,  in  1856  that  Coulomb's 
ring  theory  was  not  strictly  applicable  to  any  but  circular 
sections,  and  gave  the  following  : 

Moment  of  square  section  =  f,  ('2085^)   • 

because  the  greatest  stress  does  not  occur  at  the  corners. 
To    illustrate     St.    Venant,    Thomson    and    Tait    have 


52 


NATURE 


[May  1 6,  1895 


manned  the  shaft  to  be  a  box  full  of  liquid,  which,  if 
rotated,  would  leave  the  latter  behind  somewhat,  and  the 
apices  would  cause  two  stresses — tanjjcntial  and  centri- 
petal— to  act  on  the  particles,  the  former  only  being  of 
momenta!  value." 

Now  what  is  the  student,  whether  at  the  Xew  Cross 
Institute  or  elsewhere,  to  make  of  this  without  further 
explanation  r  To  introduce  St.  V'enant  and  say  no  more 
than  this,  is  surely  giving  either  too  much  or  not  enough. 
The  same  criticism  might  be  repeated  at  many  other  | 
places.  Under  the  heading  of  "  Pillars  and  Struts,"  we 
are  told  that  Euler  is  pronounced  Oiler  (this,  at  least,  is 
nothing  if  not  practical),  and  his  formula  for  the  stability  of 
long  columns  is  quoted  without  explanation.  Gordon's 
formula  and  constants  are  also  quoted,  and  the  subject  is 
dismissed  with  the  dictum  : 

"  Claxton  Fidler  says  a  pillar-strength  cannot  be  an 
absolute  quantity,  but  may  be  anywhere  between  Euler 
and  (Gordon's  results." 

The  theory  of  heat  engines  is  treated  in  an  equally 
scrappy  and  inconclusive  fashion.     The  student  will  not 
find  it  easy  to  reconcile  what  he  is  told  on  p.  609  as  to  the 
efficiency  of  the  engine  not  depending  on  the  working  i 
substance,  with  the  statement,  on  p.  613,  that  "in  prac-  | 
tice  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  sufficiently  perfect  substance" 
— which  is  given  as  a  reason   why  the  efficiency  of  a  real 
engine  is  less  than  the  efficiency  in  Camot's  cycle.     He  j 
will  find   himself  also  at  a  loss  to  understand  the  state-  j 
mcnt  that  "  in  adiabatic  expansion  external  work  is  done 
at  the  expense  of  internal  heat,  and  is  therefore  negative"; 
or  to  see  why  the  dr>'ness  fraction  of  steam  is  necessarily 
"a  whole  number"  (p.  594).     Again,  to  take  a  matter  of 
first-rate  importance  in  regard  to  the  action  of   steam  in 
the   cylinder,   initial  condensation  is    spoken  of  as  if  it 
affected  the  efficiency  merely  by   the  trifling  alteration  it 
produces  in  the  form  of  the  expansion  cur\e,  and  we  do 
not  find  a  hint  as  to  the  real  reason  for  its  highly  pre- 
judicial effect. 

It  would  be  unfair  to  conclude  that  all  the  theoretical 
portions  of  the  book  are  equally  unsatisfactory.  But 
at  the  best,  their  brevity,  and  the  narrow  limits  of  mathe- 
matical knowledge  which  the  author  assumes  on  the  part 
of  his  readers,  make  this  part  of  the  work  more  like  an  1 
engineering  pocket-book  than  a  treatise,  the  purpose  of 
which  ought  to  lie  to  educate  the  student  to  reason  about 
the  application  of  mechanical  principles  to  engineering. 
If  the  book,  in  this  aspect,  is  representative  of  the  teach- 
ing which  the  new  Polytechnics  arc  giving,  it  suggests 
the  inquiry  whether  what  Lord  Armstrong  once  called 
"  the  vague  cry  for  technical  education  "  has  met  with 
the  liest  possible  response.  We  have  no  sympathy  with 
those  who  would  exclude  either  engineer  apprentices  or 
any  other  workmen  from  the  highest  education  they  are 
capable  of.  But  the  question  may  fairly  be  asked  whether 
a  good  deal  of  what  is  apparently  taught,  and  taught 
for  the  express  purpose  of  enabling  pupils  to  pass  a 
specified  examination,  is  in  any  just  sense  education  at 
alL  TTjc  mental  discipline  which  would  be  obtained  by 
making  a  real  study  of  problems  such  as  are  touched 
on  in  this  Ixiok,  would  be  of  the  highest  value  as  an 
cduratton  to  the  engineer.  Hut  there  is  no  royal  road 
to  the  comprehension  of  elasticity  and  thermodynamics. 
NO.    1333.   VOL.   52] 


If  the  young  apprentices  and  working  lads,  who,  much 
to  their  credit,  flock  to  the  new  J'olytechnics,  will  take  the 
trouble  to  truly  master  any  of  these  things,  they  will 
gain  an  intellectual  possession  which  will  make  thcni 
better  men,  if  not  directly  better  workmen.  We  would 
be  the  last  to  set  a  bound  to  their  aspiration,  or  to  dis- 
courage the  study  of  Euler  and  St.  \'cnant.  But  as  a 
preparation  for  any  such  task,  they  must  first,  let  us  say, 
leam  what  is  the  meaning  of  a  differential  coefficient. 
To  offer  them  scraps  of  conclusions  which  have  to  be 
taken  on  trust,  and  "  reasons  "  whi,ch  can  carry  conviction 
to  no  one  except  perhaps  a  jaded  examiner,  is  giving  stones 
to  children  who  presumably  cry  for  bread.  If  this  re- 
presents the  "  theoretical  "  side  of  technical  education  as 
the  new  technical  schools  understand  it,  or  as  examiners 
accept  it,  we  are  still  some  way  from  a  satisfactory 
solution  of  the  much-\exed  problem.  For  a  great  deal 
of  this  docs  not  usefully  instruct,  and  does  not  effectually 
educate  :  it  is,  as  we  have  said,  either  too  much  or  not 
enough. 

THE   LAKE    OF  GENEVA. 
Le  IJman  Monographic  Limmologiquc.     By  K.  .V.  Korcl. 
Tome  second.     (Lausanne  :  F.  Rouge,  1895.) 

THE  first  volume  of  Prof  Forcl's  work  on  the  Lake  of 
Cleneva  appeared  in  1892,  and  was  reviewed  in  these 
pages  (vol.  xlvii.  p.  5).  It  dealt  chiefly  with  the  physical 
histor>'  of  the  lake-basin,  while  the  present  one,  con- 
taining parts  6-10  of  the  whole  work,  begins  with 
"  Hydraulics,"  or  the  currents,  waves,  si-ic/us,  and  other 
deviations  of  the  surface  from  the  normal  form  of  a  fluid 
at  rest.  It  passes  on  to  thermal  questions,  such  as 
the  temperature  at  different  depths,  freezing  of  the  surface, 
&c. ;  next  to  optical  questions,  such  as  the  colour,  oc- 
casional iridescence  and  other  peculiarities  of  the  water, 
and  the  phenomenon  of  the  /•<//<;  MorgiDia ;  then  to 
acoustics  (briefly)  ;  and  lastly,  to  the  chemistry  of  the 
water. 

As  it  is  impossible,  in  the  limits  of  a  comparatively  short 
notice,  to  deal  with  the  numerous  subjects  included  in  the 
present  volume,  we  shall  restrict  ourselves  to  those  which, 
perhaps,  may  be  more  widely  interesting  than  the  rest. 
The  first  one  concerns  those  curious  oscillations  of  the 
level  of  the  lake,  which  locally  are  called  scii/ifs.  This 
phenomenon,  as  detined  by  Prof  Forel,  consists  in  an 
alternate  rise  and  fall  of  the  surface  of  the  water  ;  the 
movement  being  roughly  comparalile  with  that  of  a 
balanced  plank,  when  set  swinging  by  a  slight  disturb- 
ance. These  oscillations  are  more  or  less  rapid  ;  their 
amplitude  varying  much.  Commonly  it  is  only  a  very  few 
inches  ;  but  it  may  amount,  though  rarely,  to  about  six 
feet— the  disturbance  sometimes  lasting  for  twenty  or 
twenty-five  minutes.  The  whole  question  is  discussed  by 
Prof  Korel  in  its  various  aspects,  and  a  history  given  of 
the  different  explanations  which  have  been  advanced.  He 
attributes  it  neither  to  the  effect  of  storms,  nor  to  that  nf 
wind,  nor  to  that  of  varying  atmospheric  pressure,  but  to 
a  disturbance  of  the  whole  mass  of  water  by  earth-tremors, 
and  compares  it  to  the  effect  which  may  1)e  produced  on 
a  fluid  contained  in  a  flat  dish  by  Lipping  the  bottom. 
In  this  hypothesis,  however,  he  fninkh-  admits  the 
existence  of  a  difficulty  ;    namely,  that  earthquakes  and 


May   1 6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


53 


seiches  are  not  always  associated,  for  in  some  cases  the 
former  have  not  been  accompanied  by  the  latter.  The 
difficulty  is  undoubtedly  a  serious  one,  and  it  is  thus  met 
by  Prof.  Forel.  In  an  earthquake  the  undulator)-  mo\e- 
ment  is  variable  in  character.  In  some  cases  it  affects  a 
pendulum  seismograph,  in  others  it  does  not  ;  much 
depending  on  the  rate  at  which  the  shock  travels.  If  this 
be  quick,  it  will  not  produce  a  perceptible  undulation  to 
a  mass  of  water  ;  if  it  be  slow,  it  will  set  up  a  very 
sensible  movement.  Thus  an  earthquake  of  the  latter 
type  will  produce  a  seiche,  but  not  one  of  the  former. 
There  is  much  to  be  said  in  favour  of  this  hypothesis  ; 
but  further  seismographic  observations  are  required  to 
show  that  there  is  a  real  coincidence  between  the  nature 
of  the  earthquakes  and  the  occurrence  of  the  seiches. 

.More  than  one  point  of  interest  is  discussed  in  the 
section  dealing  with  optical  questions.  The  .Swiss 
lakes,  as  is  well  known,  varj-  in  colour,  some  having  a 
distinctly  green  tint,  but  others,  and  especially  the  Lake 
of  Geneva,  being  noted  for  the  exquisite  blue  of  ihe  water. 
To  facilitate  comparative  observation.  Prof  Forel  has 
constructed  a  scale  of  colours,  beginning  with  sulphate 
of  copper,  as  the  pure  blue,  and  representing  the  effects 
of  chromate  of  potash  added  in  proportions  commencing 
with  2  and  ending  with  65  per  cent.  After  a  careful 
study  of  the  whole  question,  he  comes  to  the  conculsion 
that  the  colour  of  the  water  depends  not  merely  on  the 
quantity  of  minute  mineral  matter  present  in  a  state  of 
suspension,  but  also  on  the  amount  present  in  solution. 

The  third  point,  the  chemistrv'  of  the  water,  is  also  very 
interesting.  The  author  has  collected  together  a  large 
number  of  analyses  already  published,  has  added  some 
others,  and  discusses  the  whole.  These  exhibit  differences 
more  considerable  than  we  might  have  expected  ;  for 
instance,  the  residue  after  evaporation  varies  from  160 
to  218  mgs.  per  litre.  These  differences,  allowing  for 
possible  errors,  are  probably  due  primarily  to  the  affluents 
of  the  lake,  the  waters  of  which  are  long  in  becoming 
completely  mixed  with  the  main  mass.  The  principal 
•constituents  of  this  residue  are  carbonate  of  lime,  sul- 
phate of  lime,  and  carbonate  of  magnesia,  the  amounts 
being  variable.  Evidently  they  depend  partly  upon  the 
time  of  the  year,  for  in  two  samples,  drawn  from  the  same 
locality  in  Januar)-  and  in  May,  the  numbers  in  the 
one  case  were  as  3'3  :  26  :  i,  in  the  other  37  :  1-4  :  i. 

The  volume,  in  short,  is  full  of  valuable  matter,  and 
worthy  of  its  predecessor.  As  we  said  of  that,  it  is 
a  little  too  diffuse  for  a  scientific  treatise,  but  it  was 
necessar)-,  as  the  author  then  explained,  to  write  it  so 
as  to  attract  a  larger  circle  of  purchasers. 

T.   G.    BONNKV. 


OUR  BOOK-  SHELF. 
A  Catalogue  of  the  Books  and  Pamphlets  in  the  IJbrarv 
of  the  'Manchester  Museum.     Hy  W.   E.    Hoyle,  .M..>\'., 
K.R.S.E.,  Keeper  of  the  Museum.     (Manchester  :  J.  E. 
Cornish,  1895.) 

Tlll.s  catalogue,  of  292  pp.,  owes  its  appearance  in  print 
to  private  enterprise,  and  is  noteworthy  as  being  classified 
according  to  the  "  Dewey  Decimal  System,"  under  which 
each  digit  composing  the  registration  number  of  a  book 
marks  a  distinct  narrowing  in  its  significance,  and  for 
the  arrangement  under  each  class  by  Cutter's  "  Decimal 


Author  Table,"  whereby  each  book  receives  a  number 
which  is  virtually  an  abbreviation  of  its  author's  name. 
Thus,  that  "  597-o94i  ^■a  21  "  denote  the  second,  and 
"  597094 1  Va  2  "  the  original  edition  of  Yarrell's  "  Histor>- 
of  }5ritish  Fishes,"  may  appear  perplexing  ;  but  it  is 
claimed  by  the  advocates  of  the  Dcwey-Cutter  systems 
that  however  much  the  library  may  grow,  these  numerical 
combinations  will  remain,  and  that  they  allow  for  maxi- 
mum extension  with  minimum  disturbance. 

The  classified  catalogue  upon  which  we  have  commented 
covers  230  pp.,  and  is  followed  by  a  5upplementar>' 
"author  catalog^ue."  The  author  modestly  remarks  in 
his  preface,  that  the  volume  is  "  the  work  of  one  who 
is  not  a  professional  librarian."  The  labour  of  compilation 
has  been  great  :  and  this  catalogue,  like  all  else  that  its 
author  has  put  before  the  world,  bears  strongly  the  stamp 
of  thoroughness  and  accuracy.  We  cordially  recommend 
it  to  our  university  and  public  librarians,  not,  however, 
without  a  fear  that  they  may  adjudge  it  dangerous  in  its 
over-elaboration. 

An  index  of  subjects  is  appended,  and  Russian  names 
have  been  transliterated  according  to  the  system  advocated 
in  our  pages  (N.^TURE,  vol.  xli.  p.  396),  and  adopted  in 
many  of  the  principal  scientific  libraries. 

A  Course  of  Elementary  Practical  Bacteriology,  including 
Bacteriological  Analysis  and  Chemistry.  Hy  A.  .-X. 
Kanthack,  M.D.,  and  J.  H.  Drysdale,  M.B.  (London  : 
Macmillan,  1895.) 

A  LITTLE  volume  of  127  pages,  primarily  intended  to 
carry  candidates  for  diplomas  in  Public  Health  through  a 
three  months'  course  in  bacteriology,  and  not  pretend- 
ing to  be  more  than  a  laboratory  guide.  The  instruc- 
tions are  extremely  brief,  and  for  the  most  part  unaccom- 
panied by  any  theoretical  explanation.  This  entire 
divorce  of  theory  and  practice  is,  in  our  opinion,  not 
unattended  with  danger,  often  leading  the  student  to 
unintelligently  cram  the  details  of  methods  without  having 
any  proper  understanding  of  the  principles  involved.  It 
is  frequently  forgotten  that  the  chief  object  of  laboratory' 
work  should  be  to  gain  a  living  knowledge  of  a  science, 
rather  than  the  acquisition  of  mere  dexterity  in  its  prac- 
tical technique.  The  exercises  are,  as  we  should  anticipate 
from  the  experience  and  standing  of  the  authors,  well 
chcsen,  thoroughly  representative,  and  cover  a  large 
amount  of  ground.  On  the  other  hand,  some  statements 
made  without  qualification  may  easily  give  rise  to  mistakes 
if  accepted  without  reserve.  Thus  we  are  told  that  it  is 
often  possible  to  give  a  definite  opinion  in  from  eighteen 
to  forty-eight  hours,  as  to  the  jjresence  or  absence  of 
cholera  vibrios.  Recent  researches,  however,  go  more 
and  more  to  show  that  it  is  by  no  means  so  easy  as  was 
supposed  to  give  a  correct  "  definite  opinion  "  as  to  the 
identity  of  this  or  any  other  particular  micro-organism. 
We  doubt  whether  bacteriology  is  sufficiently  advanced 
to  admit  of  treatment  in  quite  such  a  final  and  hard  and 
fast  manner  as  it  receives  in  this  text-book  ;  but  we  are 
told  that  these  pages  are  not  to  supplant  the  demonstrator, 
and  we  would  add  that  they  should  be  carefully  supple- 
mented by  the  teacher.  If  thus  employed,  this  work 
should  prove  a  very  valuable  addition  to  the  bacterio- 
logical literature  of  our  country.  Especially  welcome  is 
the  inclusion  of  the  principal  methods  for  the  detection  of 
some  of  the  chemical  products  of  bacterial  life. 

Primer  of  Navigation.  \\\  .\.  T.  Flagg.  (London  : 
Macmillan,  1894.) 

Mr.  Fl.\c.i;'s  little  primer  can  be  strongly  recommended  to 
all  beginners  ;  it  is  the  .\  1!  C  of  the  art  of  navigation. 
Ever>'  step  is  explained  in  the  most  simple  and  accurate 
manner  ;  and  for  students  depending  upon  self-instniction, 
a  better  or  more  clearly  written  primer  would  be  difficult 
to  imagine. 


NO.    1333,  VOL.   52] 


54 


NA  rURE 


[May    lb,  1895 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 
[  The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  nndertaie 
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  Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Cineraria. 

.\KTER  reading  the  recent  letters  on  the  origin  of  the  culti\ated 
Cineraria,  I  have  consulted  the  principal  authorities  cited  by  Mr. 
Baleson  in  N'ati're  of  .\pril  25  :  I  now  wish  to  point  out  that 
Mr.  Bateson  has  oniittc<l  from  his  account  of  these  records  some 
pa_ssages  which  materially  weaken  his  case. 

Mr.  Bateson,  as  I  understand  him,  considers  his  letter  to 
pro\  e  ( I )  that  modern  Cinerarias  arose  as  hybrids  from  several 
distinct  species ;  and  {2)  that  the  main  features  of  existing 
varieties  were  established  between  about  1830  and  about  1S46, 
as  a  result  of  the  appearance  of  considerable  "sports"  among 
these  hybrids  or  their  offspring.  I  will  first  discuss  the  latter 
half  of  the  letter,  in  which  authorities  are  quoted  to  prove  two 
sjiecial  acts  of  hybritlisation,  i>erformed  at  known  dates  by  known 
persons,  and  to  show  that  certain  named  varieties  arose  as 
"  sports." 

Urst,  as  to  hybridism.  Drummond,  of  Cork,  writing  in  1S27, 
is  (juoted  as  recommending  the  cultiv.ation  of  C.  cnienla  for  the 
production  of  "  fine  double  and  single  varieties  of  different 
colours."  .\t  this  date,  therefore,  C.  cruenta  was  apixirently 
variable,  and  yielded  forms  worth  cultivation  without  hybrid- 
isation. 

.\n  article  by  Mrs.  Loudon,  written  in  1842.  is  next  quoted  a-s 
cvi(|ence  that  **  in  or  alx)Ut  1827  "  Drummond  obtained  "  some 
handsome  hybrids"  between  C.  cruenta  ami  C.  laiia/a.  In  this 
article  a  list  of  other  hybrids,  .said  to  have  been  produced  by 
unnamed  persons  between  1827  and  1842,  is  also  given.  It  is 
not  stated  that  these  hybrids  were  grown  by  florists  for  exhibition, 
or  that  ihcy  had  received  definite  names.  The  list  is  followed  by 
a  paragraph,  omitted  by  .Mr.  Bateson,  which  is  so im]X)rlant  that 
I  copy  it  at  length  : 

'■  Some  of  the  most  lieautiful  Cinerarias  now  in  our  green- 
houses have  Ijeen  raised  by  Messrs.  Henderson,  I'ine-Apple 
I'lace  ;  particularly  C.  Hendcrsoiiii  and  the  King,  both  raised  from 
seeds  of  C.  cruenta.  C.  waterhousiana  was  raised  by  Mr.  Tale, 
gardener  to  John  VVaterhouse,  lis<).,  of  Well  Head,  near  Halifax, 
from  seed  of  C.  Tussilaji^'nis,  fertilised  by  the  pollen  of 
C.  cnunta.  Two  new  ones  have  lately  been  raised,  of  re- 
markably clear  and  brilliant  colours,  ap[>arently  from  C  cruenta, 
named  Queen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert,  by  Mr.  Pierce, 
nurseryman,  of  N'eovil,  Somersetshire."  {Ladies'  Magazine  of 
Gardening.  1842,  p.  112.) 

This  pa-ssage  cli.'arly  shows  that  in  the  writer's  belief  the 
hybrids  pro<luced  by  Drummond  and  others  had  not  given  rise 
lo  two,  at  least,  of  the  named  varieties  of  her  lime:  certainly 
two,  and  probably  two  more,  were  descended  from  C.  cruenta 
alone. 

Mr.  Bateson  refers  to  this  account  o.  C.  waterhousiana,  and 
alwi  to  an  earlier  one.  said  to  he  communicated  by  Tate  himself,  the 
originator  of  the  plant,  lo  a  writer  in  Paxton's  Afagazine  of 
Botany,  for  1838.  In  this  accouni  the  |)arents  are  called 
C.  cruenta  and  C.  tussilagofolia  ;  and  in  this,  the  earllesl 
accouni,  there  is  no  slalcmcnt  as  to  which  species  furnished  seed 
anri  which  |xillcn.  I  do  not  know  whether  Tussilagofolia  was 
ever  recognised  as  a  synonym  of  C.  Tussitaginis  or  not  ;  since 
the  name  docs  not  occur  in  Ihe  Index  A'rwrusis,  where  I  find,  as 
the  only  entry  Ijcaring  on  I  he  subject,  "  H'ater/tousiana  =  Senecio 
lUiAlaginis  !"  .Mr.  Balevin  has  a.ssumed  thai  7'ussilagifolia  i'^ 
idenliral  «ilh  Tussilagiuis  :  frir  while  rc|naling  only  the  slale- 
inenl  gi\eti  by  .Mrs.  L<iudon,  he  cites  Ixilh  her  article  and  that  in 
J'axloii's  Magazine  a.s  aulhorilics.  Is  he  sure  that  there  did  not 
exi-l  in  1838  a  florist's  variety  named  Tussilagofolia? 

.Again,  Ihe  writer  in  Paxlon's  Magazine  goes  on  lo  express  an 
opinion,  not  referred  to  by  Mr.  Baleson.  thai  several  of  the 
■  Hori<it's  varieties  known  lo  him  are  ilescen<led  from  C.  cruenta 
alone,  lie  recommends  the  cultivation  of  various  *'  species  and 
varieties"  {'lot  hyWidsj  of  Cineraria,  and  .says  "one  species 
i-|»-.ially  merits  cultivation,  namely  C.  iruenla.  This  nmy  be 
regardetl  as  ihc  |«renl  tif  many  rif  those  Ix-auliful  varieties  which 
are  v>  sucrcwfiilly  cultivalcrl  by  Meuni.  Ilenderstin."  {Paxton's 
Mag.  Hot.  iv.  p.  2ZO,  not  p.  43. ) 

Against  Ihesc  specific  slalemenls.  the  only  cimleni|)orar)' 
a^wrtion  thai  all  named  var dies  are  hydrids,  which  is  quoted  by 

NO.    1333.  VOL.   52] 


Mr.  Bateson,  occurs  in  the  lournal d Horticulture,  &c.  (Ghent, 
1S46).  This  journal  contains  a  general  statement  that  Horists' 
Cinerarias  have  been  produced  by  crossing  ami  recro.ssing  several 
species,  which  are  named  :  but  although  a  list  of  florists'  varieties 
is  given,  the  exact  historj-  and  parentage  of  each  variety  is  not 
attempted. 

Finally  Burbidge,  who  wrote  in  1877,  is  quoted  as  believing 
that  existing  varieties  are  due  to  hybridism  between  three  species. 
It  is  not  mentioned  that  Burbidge,  before  giving  the  systematic 
list  of  hybrid  plants,  in  which  the  passage  relied  upon  occurs,  is 
careful  to  point  out  the  uncertain  nature  of  much  of  his  evidence, 
and  even  writes,  by  way  of  caution  to  his  readers,  that  "the 
parentage  of  many  of  the  hybrids  enumerated  in  this  book  is  open 
to  question  "  (p.  i  iS). 

I  have  only  examined  one  of  Mr.  Bateson's  cases  of  alleged 
"  sports,"  namely  C  webberiana.  This  jjlant,  as  Mr.  Batesoi> 
says,  is  described  and  figured  .as  having  flowers  of  a  deep  blue, 
the  rays  being  short  and  wide  as  compared  with  C.  waterhousiana, 
for  example.  I  fail  to  see  why  Mr.  Bateson  calls  this  a 
"  sport."  There  is  no  evidence  cited  by  liim  to  show  that  it  is 
descended  from  C.  waterhousiana :  and  if  it  is  not,  then  there  is 
nothing  remarkable  in  the  shortness  of  its  rays.  The  colour 
gives  no  evidence,  without  detailed  knowledge  of  its  descent  ; 
for  I  find  in  Paxton's  Magazine,  between  1838  and  1841, 
varieties  recorded  which  are  "  lilac  tippet!  with  purple,''  "  ap- 
proaching to  a  blue,"  "  bright  blue,"  "  blue  or  bluish,"  and  in 
1842  comes  this  "deep  blue"  variety  webberiana  to  complete 
the  gradual  series. 

Judging  only  from  the  documents  referred  to,  it  seems  clear 
(l)  that  C.  cruenta  was  cultivated,  in  what  was  believed  to  be  a 
pure  stale,  in  1827,  and  that  it  yielded  valuable  varieties,  single 
and  double,  at  that  date  ;  (2)  that  .according  to  contemporary 
opinion,  many  of  the  vaj'ielies  cultivated  between  1S38  and 
1842  were  directly  descendeil  from  C.  cruenta,  and  were  not 
hybrids  ;  and  (3)  that  in  1842  some  florists,  at  least,  were  be- 
lieved to  produce  new  varieties  by  the  continued  cultivation  of 
C.  cruenta  alone. 

So  far  as  Mr.  Bateson's  histor)*  goes,  therefore,  it  establishes 
the  existence  in  1842  of  sufticient  named  varieties,  believed  to  be 
pure-bred  C.  cruenta,  to  serve  as  i>arents  for  the  flowers  of 
to-day. 

As  to  the  actual  jiedigree  of  the  modern  varieties,  I  am  not 
qualified  to  express  an  opinion.  All  I  wish  to  show  is  that  the 
(locuments  relied  upon  by  Mr.  Bateson  do  not  demonstrate  the 
correctness  of  his  view  s  ;  and  that  his  emphatic  statements  arc 
simply  evidence  of  want  of  care  in  consulting  and  tjuoliiig 
the  authorities  referred  to.  \V.  I'.  K.  Wki.don. 

University  College,  London,  May  13. 


I  H.WK  read  with  some  interest  the  communications  on  this 
.subject  whicli  have  ap|ieare(l  in  Nai'I'RK,  and  I  may  ad<l  that  I 
have  examined  living  jjlanls  of  Ihe  sjjecies  in  question  with  Mr. 
Thisellon-Dyer.  My  memor)'  also  serves  me  sufliciently  far 
back  to  remember  a  great  variety  of  different  "strains"  of 
Cineraria,  in  which  they  had  nitt  got  so  far  away  from  the  parent 
C.  cruenta  as  llivy  now  are.  I  sty  llie  parent  C.  cruenta.  because 
I  believe  that  we  have  to  deal  with  races  or  strains,  obtained  by 
selection  according  to  the  taste  of  the  se\'cral  selectors,  and  not 
with  the  descendants  of  hybrids  between  <lifferent  species.  I 
think  Mr.  B.ateson  has  relied  loo  implicity  on  the  literature  of 
the  subject.  Many  of  the  records  of  hybrid  productions  in 
the  vegetable  kingdom  are  based  upon  groundless  as,suinptions  ; 
mere  seminal  variations  having  been  mistaken  for  crosses.  If 
requires  some  skill  and  care  lo  raise  hyl>rids  in  the  C'oniposiliV  ; 
and  when  you  have  raised  your  hybrid,  even  assuming  a  fertile 
one,  you  can  only  prop.agale  it  vegelatively.  .Ml  stability  is 
gone.  Bui  il  is  not  so  with  selected  seminal  variations  of  a  given 
s|K'cies.  They  will  intercro.ss  mo>^t  freely,  and  give  birth  lo  new 
varieties  without  end  :  yet  each  one  of  those  varieties  may  be 
reproducetl  friun  seed,  by  careful  isolation,  without  a  single 
"  oastard  "  appearing.  There  are  several  instances  among  our 
cultivateil  plants  of  this  great  plasticity  ronibined  w  il)i  stability, 
but  I  will  give  only  one — the  China  Aster.  I  select  Ibis  because 
there  can  be  no  question  of  hyl)rtdity  ;  and  there  is  as  great,  or 
even  a  greater,  variety  than  in  the  herbaceous  Cinerarias.  Bui 
with  regard  to  ihe  latter,  I  think  our  experience  and  Ihe  trusl- 
worlhy  literature  go  to  prove  that  il  is  an  analogous  case.  Care- 
ful .selection,  year  after  year,  has  resulted  in  Ihe  various  fixed 
races  or  strains  offered   bv  florists.     Iain  aware  that  the  letters 


May  i6,  1895] 


NATURE 


00 


■  .n  this  subject  by  no  means  exhaust  it  ;  Ijui    I   think  it  may  be 
safely  asserted  that  selection  has  yielded  much  more  than  sports. 

W.  BOTTI.NG    HeMSLEY. 


TERRESTRIAL   HEUCM. 


Prof.   Milne's  Observation  of  the  Argentine   Earth- 
quake, October  27,   1894. 

A  FEW  days  ago  I  received  from  Prof.  Milne  a  letter,  dated 
March  15,  1895,  in  which  he  sends  me  a  list  of  earthquake  dis- 
turbances, compiled  from  the  records  he  was  fortunate  enough  to 
rescue  from  the  fire  which  destroyed  his  house  on  P^ebruar}'  17. 
In  this  list  I  find  no  less  than  three  obser\'ations  of  the  great  ' 
Argentine  earthquake  of  October  27,  1894,  which  was  recorded 
by  three  different  horizontal  pendulums.  The  times  given  for 
the  beginning  of  the  earthquake — viz.  iSh.iom.,  i8h.  5m.,  I7h. 
41m.' — are  not  very  trustworthy,  because  they  were  deteniiined 
by  measuring  the  linear  distance  from  a  break  in  the  curve 
which  was  caused  regularly  every  day  about  noon  by  taking 
away  the  lamp.  The  exact  times  of  these  breaks  were  noted 
in  a  book,  which,  unfortunately,  was  destroyed  by  the  fire.  Prof. 
Milne,  however,  tells  me  that  in  the  instalment,  to  which  cor- 
responds the  first  of  the  above-mentioned  times,  the  lamp  was 
always  removed  within  half  a  minute  or  one  minute  from  noon 
(Japan  time).  Ccmsequently,  the  error  cannot  exceed  a  few  i 
minutes.  The  duration  of  the  disturbance  was  between  two 
and  three  hours  in  all  the  three  instruments. 

If  we  consider  that  the  error  of  the  first  observation  is  not 
likely  to  exceed  ten  minutes,  then  we  find,  by  comparing 
Prof.  Milne's  observations  with  those  made  in  Europe,  that 
although  the  .spherical  distance  between  the  epicentre  of  the 
earthquake  and  Tokio  is  >w  less  than  I7,4CX>  kilometres,  the 
earth-motion  reached  Japan  at  about  the  same  time,  or  perhaps 
even  a  little  earlier,  than  ft  arrived  in  Europe.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  point  out  the  interest  which  is  attached  to  systematic  obser- 
vations of  this  kind.  Prof.  Milne's  observation  is  probably  the 
first  in  which  an  earthquake  was  noticed  by  seismic  instruments 
at  a  place  so  near  the  antipodes  of  the  earthquake  centre.  .\ 
straight  line  between  the  two  points  is  only  very  little  shorter 
than  the  earth's  diameter  ;  the  time  required  for  the  motion  to 
pass  through  the  globe  was  probably  less  than  twenty  minutes. 
.VIerseburg,  .May  I.  E.   von  Rebeur-Paschvvitz. 

Guanine  in  Fishes'  Skins. 

In  a  joint  paper  by  .Mr.  J.  T.  Cunningham  and  myself  (Phil. 
Trans,  vol.  clx-xxiv.,  1893,  J^>  PP-  765-812),  we  have  ventured 
to  question  the  accuracy  of  the  statement  made  in  many  texi-books 
of  physiological  chemistry,  that  guanine  occurs  in  combination  with 
calcium  in  the  skin  of  fishes.  We  found  that  the  guanine  occurs 
in  the  free  state.  In  the  last  number  of  Hoppe-Seyler's  Zeit- 
schrift  fiir  Physiologische  Chemie  there  is  a  paper  by  Herr 
Albrecht  Berthe,  dealing  with  this  subject,  in  w-hich  he  shows 
that  the  calcium  so  frecjuently  found  with  the  guanine  is  due  to 
the  presence  of  impurities  derived  from  the  tissues  and  the  scales. 
Its  amount  depends  upon  that  of  the  impurities  present,  and 
is  very  variable.  Instead  of  finding  1 1  '76  per  cent,  required  by 
the  formula  of  "  Gtianinkalk^^  Berlhe  finds  less  than  one-third  of 
that  percentage  present,  and  even  this  also  varies  within  wide 
limits.  In  the  paper  referred  to  above,  we  found  one  source  of  the 
I  alcium  was  due  to  the  presence  of  comparatively  large  crystals  of 
talcium  phosphate,  which  are  figured  on  p.  788  ;  but  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  bulk  of  it  is  derived  from  the  scales. 

Chas.  a.  MacMunn. 

Oaklcigh,  Wolverhampton,  May  4. 

The  Oldest  'Vertebrate  Fossil. 

Noticing  in  your  issue  of  .^pril  11  a  reference  to  the  dis- 
covery of  specimens  of  Cyathaspis  in  the  Silurian  of  {lotland  in 
strata  equivalent  to  the  English  Wenlock,  and  with  it  the  state- 
ment that  these  fossils  are  "  for  the  present  the  oldest  known 
vertebrates,"  I  am  led  to  call  your  attention  to  the  species 
described  by  myself  from  Silurian  strata  in  Pennsylvania  in  1885 
(p.  48),  and  .again  in  1892  (p.  542),  in  the  Quarterly  [otiriial  oi 
the  Geological  Society.  I  forward  with  this  a  copy  of  the  paper, 
from  which  it  will  be  seen  that  the  Salina  (Ononduga)  beds  that 
yielded  PaUcaspis  are  older  than  the  Ludlow  (or  Lower  Helder- 
berg),  and  that  the  Clinton  are  older  than  the  Wenlock  (or 
Niagara).  Consequently  Onchtis  Clintoni  of  the  latter  group  is 
thus  far  the  oldest  vertebrate.  E.  W.  Clavi'OI.e. 

.\kron,  Ohio. 


CINCE  our  last  reference  to  this  subject  three  com- 
*-^  munications  have  been  laid  before  the  Royal  Society. 
They  are  as  follows  : — 


HeI-ICM, 


A  Gaseous  Consii  i  lENr  ok  Certain 
Minerals.' 


•  These  hours  .-ire  Iapr\n  time. 
from  noon. 


i.e.  qh.  easl  of  Greenwich,  and  .'jre  reckoned 


.\n  account  is  given  of  the  extraction  of  a  mixture  of  hydrogen 
and  helium  from  a  felspathic  rock  containing  the  mineral 
cleveite.  It  is  show  n  that  in  all  probability  the  gas  described 
in  the  preliniinarj'  note  of  March  26  was  contaminated  with 
atmospheric  argon.  The  gas  now  obtained  consists  of  hydrogen, 
probably  derived  from  some  free  metal  in  the  felspar,  some 
nitrogen  and  helium.  The  density  of  helium,  nearly  free  from 
nitrogen,  was  found  to  be  i'Sg.  From  the  wave-length  of 
sound  in  the  gas,  from  which  the  theoretical  ratio  of  specific 
heats  I  "66  is  approximately  obtained,  the  conclusion  may  be 
drawn  that  helium,  like  argon,  is  monatoniic.  Evidence  is  pro- 
duced that  the  gas  evolved  from  cleveite  is  not  a  hydride,  and  a 
comparison  is  made  of  the  spectra  of  argon  and  helium.  There 
are  four  specially  characteristic  lines  in  the  helium  spectrum 
which  are  absent  from  that  of  argon  :  they  are  a  brilliant  red, 
the  D3  line  of  a  very  brilliant  yellow,  a  peacock-green  line,  and 
a  brilliant  violet  line.  One  curious  fact  is  that  the  gas  from 
cleveite,  freed  fi-om  all  impurities  removable  by  sparking  with 
oxygen  in  presence  of  caustic  potash,  besides  other  fainter  lines, 
exhibits  one,  and  only  one,  of  the  characteristic  bright  red  pair 
of  argon  lines.  This,  and  other  evidence  of  the  same  kind, 
appears  to  suggest  that  atmospheric  argon  and  helium  have  some 
common  constituent. 

Attention  is  drawn  to  the  fact  that  on  subtracting  16  (the 
common  difference  between  the  atomic  weights  of  elements  of 
the  first  and  second  series)  from  20,  the  approximate  density  of 
argon,  the  remainder  is  4,  a  number  closely  approximating  to 
the  density  of  helium  ;  or,  if  32  be  subtracted  from  40,  the  atomic 
weight  of  argon  if  it  be  a  monatomic  gas,  the  remainder  is  8,  or 
twice  the  density  of  helium,  and  its  atomic  weight  if  it  too  is  a 
monatomic  gas. 

On  the  New  Gas  obtained  from  Uraninite.' 
Since  my  communication  on  the  gas  obtained  from  Uraninite 
(Broggerite)  was  sent  in  to  the  Society  on  the  25th  ult.,  I 
have  been  employing  the  method  I  there  referred  to  in  several 
directions,  among  them  to  determine  whether  the  spectrum  of 
the  gas  indicates  a  simple  or  a  complex  origin. 

I  wa-s  led  to  make  this  special  inquiry  on  account  of  the 
diflTeience  in  the  frequency  of  the  appearance  of  D3  and  the  other 
lines  to  which  I  referred  in  the  solar  chromosphere.  For 
instance,  if  we  take  the  lines  D3,  44.71,  and  4302,  the  frequencies 
are  as  follows,  according  to  Voung  ^ : — 

Dj      ...         ...         ...         ...  100     (maximum) 

4471 too  ,, 

4302 3 

Hence,  we  might  be  justified  in  supposing  that  D3  and  4471  are 
produced  by  the  same  gas,  and  that  4302  owes  its  origin  to  a 
different  one. 

But  further  experiment  has  given  me  one  case  in  which  D, 
shows  bright,  while  4471  is  entirely  absent.  I  may  now  add 
that  an  equally  important  line  to  4471,  one  at  4026-5,  appears, 
with  the  dispersion  employed,  in  the  spectrum  of  Broggerite, 
and  both  these  lines  are  w  ide  and  fluffy,  like  the  lines  of  hydrogen, 
and  are  apparently  reversed. 

The  line  4026-5  has  not  been  recorded  by  Young,  though,  .is 
I  have  staled,  the  frecjuency  of  appearances  of  4471  represents 
the  maximum  ;  still,  while  this  is  so,  the  intensity  of  both  these 
lines  in  the  s|x;ctra  of  the  hottest  stars  is  not  surpassed,  even  by 
those  of  hydrogen.  Hence,  opinion  as  to  their  representing  the 
same  gas  must  be  susi>ended.  Further,  I  have  photographed  a 
line  at  4388  apparently  coincident  with  another  important  line 
in  the  same  stars.  Whether,  coming  from  one  source  or  two,  in 
these  three  lines  seen  along  with  D,  in  the  gas  obtained  by  me 
from  Broggerite,  we  have,  it  would  seem,  run  home  the  most 
important  lines  in  the  spectra  of  stars  of  Group  III.,  in  which 
stars  alone  we  find  Dj  reversed.  Should  these  results  be  con- 
firmed, the  importance  of  the  gas  or  gases  they  represent  at  a 

1  By  Prof.  W.  R.imsay.  F.R.S.  (.ibstract). 
-  Second  note.     By  J.  Norman  l.ockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S. 
1  3  See  "  Solar  Physics, "  LocVyer,  p.  612. 


NO.     I 


:i.:>o^ 


VOL. 


=^0 


NATURE 


[May    i6,  189; 


certain  stage  of  the  evolution  of  suns  and  planets  can  be  gathered 
from  an  examination  of  a  photograph  of  the  spectrum  of  Bellatrix. 

Another  case  is  afforded  by  a  line  at  X  667.  This  is  associated 
with  Dj  in  Briiggerite  and  Clevcite,  but  the  yellow  line  has  been 
seen  in  Monazitc  without  K  667.  It  is  almost  certain,  then,  that 
these  two  lines  represent  two  gases.  Certainty  cannot  be  arrived 
at  till  a  larger  quantity  of  gas  has  Ijeen  obtained. 

.\gain.  the  red  line  at  A  6575,  close  to  C,  referred  to  in  my 
previous  communication,  is  seen  both  in  Gummite  and  Broggeritc  ; 
but  in  one  case  (llummite)  it  is  seen  without  D3,  and  in  the  other 
with  it,  in  one  case  (Briiggerite)  without  \  614,  and  in  the  other 
with  it.     The  above  conclusions  hold  here  also. 

This  line  \  614,  (xissibly  coincident  with  a  chromospheric 
line,  has  been  recorded  in  (Jummiteand  Brciggerite.  It  has  been 
seen  a'j/A  D,  (in  Bn^gerite)  and  without  it  (in  Cummite). 

I  have  said  enough  to  indicate  that  the  jireliminary  recon- 
naissance suggests  that  the  gas  obtained  from  Brii^erite  by  my 
metho<l  is  one  of  complex  origin. 

I  now  procecil  to  show  that  the  same  conclusion  holds  goo<l  for 
the  gases  obtained  by  Profs.  Ramsay  and  Cleve  from  Cleveite. 

h\n  this  pur[xise,  as  the  final  measures  of  the  lines  of  the  gas 
as  obtained  from  Cleveite  by  I'rofs.  Kam.say  and  Cleve  have  not 
yet  been  published,  I  take  those  given  by  Crookes,'  and  Cleve,- 
as  observed  by  Thalcn. 

These  are  as  follows,  omitting  the  yellow  line  : — 


On  the  New  G\s  OBTArsED  kro.m  Uraninite.' 

In  my  prcliminar)'  note  communicated  to  the  Royal  Si>ciely 
on  the  25lh  ult.  I  gave  the  wave-lengths  of  the  lines  which  had 
been  observed  both  at  reduced  and  at  atmospheric  pressure  in 
the  gas  (or  gases)  prixluced  by  the  method  to  which  1  then 
referred  of  healing  the  mineral  L'raninite  (Hroggerite)  in  vacuo. 

As  a  short  title,  in  future  I  shall  term  this  the  distillation 
method. 

Since  then  the  various  photographs  obtained  have  l)een  reduced 
and  the  wave-lengths  of  the  lines  in  the  structure  spectra  of 
hydrogen  observed  beyond  the  region  mapped  by  Hasselberg. 

I  have  further  observed  the  spectra  of  other  minerals  besides 
Uraninite  for  the  pur|X)se  of  iletermining  whether  any  of  them 
gave  lines  indicating  the  presence  of  the  gas  in  Uraninite  or  of 
other  gases. 

I  now  give  a  table  of  the  lines  so  far  measured  in  the  spectra 
of  18  minerals  between  \K  3889  and  4580  R,  the  region  in 
which,  with  the  plates  employed,  the  photographic  action  is  most 
intense. 

Lines  Photographed  in  the  Spectra  of  Gases  obtained  from 
various  Minerals  experimented  upon  up  to  May  6. 


Crookc- 


568.05 
566-41 
516-12 


500-81 
480-63 


6677 


5048 
5016 

4922 

4713-5 


The  most  definite  and  striking  result  so  far  obtained  is  that,  in 
the  spectra  of  the  minerals  giving  the  yellow  line,  I  have  so  far 
examineil,  I  have  never  once  seen  the  lines  recorded  by  Crookes 
and  Thalen  in  the  blue.  This  demonstrates  that  the  gas  obtained 
from  certain  s|x;cimens  of  Cleveite  by  chemical  methods  is  vastly 
different  from  that  obtained  by  my  method  from  certain  s])ecimens 
of  Broggerite  ;  and  since,  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  blue  lines, 
the  si)ectrum  of  the  gas  obtained  from  Cleveite  is  more  complex 
than  that  of  Broggerite,  the  gas  it.self  cannot  be  more  simple. 

Even  the  blue  lines  themselves,  instead  of  appearing  en  bloc, 
\-ary  enormously  in  the  .sun,  the  appearances  bemg — 

4922  (4921  3)  =  30  times 
47I3(47I2'5>  =  iwice. 

These  are  not  the  only  facts  which  can  t>e  adduced  to  suggest 
that  the  gas  from  Cleveite  is  as  complex  as  that  from  Broggerite. 
But  while,  on  the  one  hand,  the  simple  nature  of  the  g.ises 
obtained  by  I'rofs.  Ramsay  and  Cleve  and  l>y  myself  must  be 
given  up,  reas<ming  on  s|)ectroscopic  lines;  the  observations  I 
have  alreaily  m.ade  on  several  minerals  indicate  (hat  the  gases 
omposing  the  mixtures  are  by  no  means  the  only  ones  we  may 
hope  to  obtain. 

This  part  of  the  inquiry  will  Ix.'  more  s|)ecially  considered  in  a 
subsc(]uent  communication. 

I  m.-iy  remark  in  conclusion  that  in  this  preliminary  inquiry 
no  attempt  h.-is  lieen  made  to  se|«rate  the  |Kivsil>ly  new  gases 
from  the  known  fines  which  come  tiver  with  them  ;  hence,  the 
lines  arc  in  some  c.-uses  very  dim,  and  the  application  of  high 
dispersion  is  im|)ossible.  The  wave-lengths,  therefore,  es|K'cialiy 
in  the  visible  s|x.'clrum,  are  approximations  only  ;  but  the  view 
that  we  are  really  dealing  with  gases  ojierative  in  the  vilar 
atmosphere,  like  the  helium  which  produces  1),,  is  strengthened 
by  the  fact  that  of  the  60  lines  so  far  recorded  .as  new  in  the 
various  minerals  examineil,  alniut  half  occur  near  the  wave- 
lengths avsignefl  to  chromospheric  lines  in  ^'oung*s  table.  I  am 
aware  that  most  of  the  chromospheric  lines  have  lieen  recently 
referrc<l  to  as  due  to  iron,  but  I  tielieve  this  result  does  not 
defieml  uixm  direct  com|ariv)ns,  and  it  is  entirely  opfxiseil  to 
the  conclusions  lo  l>e  drawn  from  the  work  of  the  Italian 
observers,  as  well  as  from  my  own. 

1  Natumk,  vol,  li.  p.  5^1. 

*  Comptes  rrnJui,  April  16,  p.  835. 


Wave. 

cngth. 

Chromo- 

Eclipse 
lines 

Orion  star 

spheric  lines 

(■893). 

lines 
(Row- 

Remarks. 

Rowland.  | 

Angstrom. 

(AriKslrOm's 
scale.) 

3888-7311. 

Rowhind's 
.scale 
(-893)- 

land's 
scale). 

3889 

3888-s 

3889-1 

* 

u 

3947 

3946-5 

3945-2     11. 

3946-0 

u 

3982 

39SI-5 

3982-0 

4026-5 

4025  9 

4026-5 

4026-5 

V 

4142 

4'4i'3 

4145 

4 '44-3 

4144-0 

4144-0 

4177 

4176-3 

4178-8 

4.77-8 

4178-0 

41S2 

4181-3 

433** 

4337-3 

4338 

* 

4338-0 

4347 

43463 

4346-0 

4390 

43«9-3 

43885 

4390 

4389-0 

439S 

4397-3 

4398-5 

4398-7 

4453 

4452-3 

•"54  „ 

4471 

4470-3 

4471-2 

4471-8 

4471-8 

V 

45'5 

45'4-3 

4514-0 

4514-S 

4522 

4521-3 

4522-0 

45229 

4580 

4579-3 

NO.    1333,  VOL.  52] 


•  Bro.id  hydrogen  lines  extend  over  these  positions. 

U  =  lines  noted  frcmiently  in  the  spectra  of  BrOgRerite. 

H  =;  i»lioto};raphed)}»y  Hale. 

On  this  table  I  m.iy  remark  that,  of  the  lines  given  in  my  paper 
of  .\pril  25,  the  tinul  discussion  has  shown  lliat  the  following 
lines  are  hydrogen  structure  lines  in  the  region  lieyond  ihut 
mapped  by  llas.selberg  :  — 

\\  4479,  4196,  4156,  and  4152-5. 

The  line  4368  is  also  oniitlcil  from  this  list,  as  it  has  not  Iieen 
finally  determined  whether  it  coincides  with  a  line  of  O. 

In  the  table,  tiesides  the  \\  on  Angstrom's  and  Rowland's 
scale,  I  give  lines  which  have  been  observed  in  the  sun's  chromo- 
sphere and  chrcmicled  liy  N'oung  ;  those  photographed  iliiringtlic 
eclipse  of  1K93  with  a  6inih  prismatic  camera,  liy  Mr.  I'owler, 
anil  those  photographed  with  the  same  instrument  at  Kensington 
in  some  stars  of  Cirouii  III.  of  my  classification  in  the  constella- 
tion of  Orion. 

This  table  carries  the  matter  of  the  relation  of  the  new  ga.ses  to 

I  star  and  stellar  phenomena  much  further  than  I  ventureil  li> 
suggest  in  my  secoiul  note. 

I  We  a))]x'ar  to  be  in  presence  of  the  Tera  cau^a,  not  of  two  or 
three,  but  of  many  of  the  lines  which,  so  far,  have  been  classed 
as  "unknown  "  by  students  both  of  solar  and  stellar  chemistry  ; 
and  if  this  be  confirmed,  we  are  evidently  in  the  presence  of  a 
new  order  of  gases  of  the  highest  importance  to  celestial 
chemistry,  though  perhaps  they  may  be  of  small  pradic-tl  value 
to  chemists,  because  their  compounds  and  associ:tted  elements 
are,  for  the  most  iiarl,  hidden  deep  in  the  earth's  interior. 

'ITie  facts  that  all  the  old  terrestrial  ga.ses,  with  the  exception 
•   'Ihinl  Note.      Hy  J.  N.jnnaii  l.uckyir,  CM.,  K.R.S. 


May   i6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


5: 


i)f  hydrogen,  are spectroscopically  invisible  in  the  sun  and  stars — 
though  they  doubtless  exist  there — and  that  these  new  gases 
scarcely  yet  glim[ised,  have  already,  in  all  probability,  supplied 
us  with  many  ]5oints  of  contact  between  our  own  planet  and  the 
hottest  part  of  our  central  luminary  that  we  can  get  at,  and  stars 
like  Bellatrix,  are  full  of  hope  for  the  future,  not  only  in  relation 
to  the  possibility  of  more  closely  correlating  celestial  and  ter- 
restrial phenomena,  but  in  indicating  that  a  terrestrial  chemistry 
founded  on  low  density  surface  products  in  which  non-solar  gases 
largely  enter,  is  capable  of  almost  infinite  expansion  when  the 
actions  and  reactions  of  the  new  order  of  gases,  almost,  it  maybe 
said,  of  paramount  importance  in  certain  stages  of  stellar  evolu- 
tion, shall  have  been  completely  studied. 

With  regard  to  the  differences  indicated  between  the  results 
of  the  chromospheric  and  eclipse  observations  in  the  above 
table,  it  may  be  useful  to  remark  that  Prof.  Young's  "  fre- 
quencies," invaluable  though  they  are,  must  necessarily  be  of 
less  importance,  from  the  present  point  of  view,  than  the  eclipse 
observations  obtainerl,  il  may  almf)Sl  be  said,  at  the  same  instant 
of  lime.  There  may  be,  and  doubtless  are,  two  perfectly 
distinct  causes  for  the  appearance  of  the  so-called  chromospheric 
lines.  First,  the  tranquil  condition  of  the  lower  strata  of  the 
sun's  atmosphere  which  gives  us  the  pure  spectnmi  produced  at 
a  constant — and  the  highest  that  we  know  of  in  the  sun — tempera- 
ture. Secondly,  the  disturbed  condition  which  fills  the  spectrum 
with  lines  of  a  so-called  prominence.  Formerly  it  was  univers- 
ally imagined  that  the  prominences  were  shot  up  from  below  ; 
and  in  that  case  the  lines  added  would  indicate  a  temperature 
kighsr  than  the  normal.  But  I  have  sent  many  papers  in  to  the 
Society  indicating  the  many  arguments  against  this  view,^  and  to 
me,  at  the  present  time,  this  view  is  almost  unthinkable.  If 
these  disturbance-lines  are  produced  from  above,  they  may  repre- 
sent the  effects  of  many  stages  of  lower  temperature.  Hence  a 
list  of  chromospheric  lines  loses  most  of  its  value  unless  the 
ct»nilitions  of  each  observation  are  stated,  and  the  phenomena 
appearing  at  the  same  place  at  the  same  instant  of  time  are 
recorded. 

Now,  this  .same  place  and  same  time  condition  is  perfectly  met 
by  eclipse  photographs,  and  hence  I  attac  i  a  great  value  to 
them.  But  the  ct)m[)arison  lietween  such  eclipse  observations 
and  the  spectra  of  certain  stars  indicates  that  the  latter  in  all 
proljability  afford  the  best  criteria  of  all. 


THE  MARQUIS  OF  SAPORTA. 

T  N  the  study  of  paUvobotany  we  may  concern  ourselves 
^  with  the  various  problems  of  distribution,  the  geologic 
sequence  of  plant  types,  the  \alue  of  fossil  plants  in  com- 
parative stratigraphy,  and  as  tests  of  climatic  conditions  ; 
or  our  attention  may  be  concentrated  on  the  important 
facts  revealed  by  a  microscopic  study  of  petrified  plant 
tissues.  The  latter  field  of  research,  in  which  Prof 
Williamson  has  laboured  with  remarkable  success  during 
the  last  twenty-five  years,  is  gradually  being  recognised 
by  botanists  as  a  branch  of  their  science  which  they 
cannot  afford  to  neglect  in  dealing  with  the  wider  pro- 
blems of  plant  life.  Fascinated  by  the  almost  incredible 
perfection  in  which  I'akcozoic,  and  more  rarely  Mcsozoic, 
species  have  been  preserved,  the  student  of  vegetable 
morphology  is  apt  to  take  too  little  heed  of  the  wealth 
of  material  which  can  only  be  studied  in  the  form  of 
structureless  casts  or  impressions.  In  the  majority  of 
fossil  floras  the  geologist  or  botanist  must  perforce  confine 
himself  to  an  examination  of  the  few  isolated  and  im- 
perfect fragments  that  have  escaped  destruction  in  the 
process  of  denudation  and  rock-building,  and  have  been 
preserved  by  fossilisation  as  meagre  representatives  of 
a  past  vegetation,  .^s  a  specialist  in  this  latter  branch 
of  pakeobotany,  there  has  been  no  more  ardent  worker 
since  the  days  of  Adolphe  Brongniart,  whom  we  may 
regard  as  the  founder  of  |)aI;vobotanical  science,  than  the 
Marquis  of  Saporta.  .Saporta's  recent  death,  at  his  home 
in  .\ix-en- Provence,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two,  has  de- 
prived botanical  and  geological  science  of  anunusually 
able  and  vigorous  worker. 

*  They    .ire  set  oiil   .it  length   in   the   "Chemistry  of  the  Sun,"  which  I 
puhlished  in  1887. 


A    perusal   of    Saporta's    numerous    contributions    to- 
scientific  literature  affords  abundant  evidence  of  critical 
and  detailed  investigation  during  a  long  period  of  years  ; 
nearly  the  whole  of  his  published  work  has  been  in  the 
domain    of  fossil    botany.     The    Tertiary    vegetation    of 
France  forms  the  subject  of  several  of  his  contributions 
to  science.     From  an  early  stage  of  his  career  the  Caino- 
zoic   plant-bearing   strata  of  Provence  have  occupied  a 
prominent    position    in  his  pakeobotanical    studies  ;    the 
Eocene    flora    of    Aix,   a    valuable    monograph    on    the 
remnants  of  an   Eocene   flora   preserved  in  the  tuffs  of 
S&anne,  and   various  other  writings  on  Tertiary  plants, 
bear  eloquent  testimony  not  only  to  a  remarkable  power 
of  detailed  systematic  work,  but  to  a   striking  aptitude 
for    a    broad    and    philosophic    manner    of    treatment. 
Students   of  Mesozoic  botany    soon   learn   to  appreciate 
Saporta's  memoirs  on    Cretaceous   and  Jurassic    plants, 
and  especially  the   splendid  series  of  monographs  on  the 
Jurassic  flora  of  France,  published   as  separate  volumes 
of  the  "  Pale'ontologie  Franqaise"  from   1873-91  ;  in  this 
profusely  illustrated  work,  dealing  primarily  with  P'rench 
vegetation,  we  have  to  a  large  extent  a   g^eneral  hand- 
book of  Oolitic  botany.     One  feature  which  sets  a  high 
value    on    Saporta's   pakeobotanical    work,    is    his    wide 
and  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  facts  of  distribution 
and  taxonomy  of  living  plants.     Pateontological  records 
are  often  in  themselves  of  no  special  interest  to  zoologists 
and     botanists,    but    if  interpreted    as    indices   of  plant 
distribution    in   past    ages,     and    applied    to    the    wider 
problems  of  the  evolution   and    dissemination     of  plant 
types,   they  assume  considerable    importance.     .Saporta's 
knowledge  of  recent  floras,  and  his  keen  enthusiasm  as  an 
evolutionist,  led  him  to  regard  fossil  plants  not  simply  as 
convenient  aids  to   the  stratigfaphical  geologist,  but  as 
aflbrding    indispensable    data    to    the    student    of    plant 
phylogeny.     In  "  Le  Monde  des  plantesavant  I'apparition 
de  I'homme  "   (Paris,    1879),    we  have  a   series  of  articles 
originally  published  in  the  Rci'uc  ties  Deux  Mo>2iiis  and 
Lu  jVii/un;  in  which  .Saporta's  encyclop;edic  information 
and  finished  literary  style  combine  to  render  attractive  to 
the  layman  and  the  specialist   a   retrospect   of  plant   life 
during  the  geologic  ages.     Unfortunately  the  elaborate 
frontispiece  to  this  volume,  described  as  the  "  oldest  known 
land  plant,"  and  named  Et^pleris  Mornrei.  is  merely  a 
representation  of  an  iron  pyrites  infiltration  on  the  surface 
of  a  .Silurian  slate,   and  cannot  be    retained   as  a    plant 
impression.     In   a   more    recent     and    smaller    volume, 
"  Origine  paleontologique  des  arbres  cultives  ou  utilises  par 
I'homme"  (Paris,  1888),  we  have  an  interesting  sketch  of  the 
geological  history  of  existing  forest  trees  :  and  in  another 
and  more  ambitious  work,'  in   collaboration   with    Prof 
Marion,  an  attempt  is  made  to  follow  the  lines  of  descent 
of  the  several  subdivisions  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  The 
pala'obotanist  who  is  bold  enough  to  \enture  on  the  task 
of  tracing  out  the  ancestry  of  plant  forms,  and  of  attack- 
ing the  problems  of  development,  is  exposed  to  the  very 
serious  danger  of  allowing  unsound  links  to  form  part  of 
his    chains   of  life.      Saporta's   constant  desire  to  treat 
fossil  plants  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  sanguine  evo- 
lutionist, who  wishes  to  press  into  his  ser\  ice  all  possible 
pieces  of  evidence  towards  the  better  understanding  of 
the  process  of  plant  e\olution,  has  in  certain  instances 
been  led  beyond  the  limits  of  accurate  scientific  reasoning. 
The  majority  of  the  so-called  fossil  alg;e.  to  which  he  has 
devoted    considerable   attention,    have   been    put    out   of 
court  by  Nathorst  and  others,  as  ha\  ing  no  claim  to  con- 
sideration as  records  of  thallophytic  life  .  and  it  is  generally 
agreed    that   the   value  of  his   work   in   this  direction  is 
seriously  discounted,  by  the  more  than  doubtful  specimens 
which  arc  described  as  vestiges  of  the  lower  and   more 
primitive    foniis   of   plants.     .\    few    months   before   his 
death,  Saporta  completed  an  exhaustive  monograph  on 


NO.    1333,  VOL.   52] 


1  Saporta  and    Marion  : 
81-1885. 


.'^volution    tlti    rcgne    veg^ta!." 


-\'.  /  rURE 


[May    1 6,  1895 


the  Mesozoic  flora  of  Portugal ;  *  this  work  marks  an 
important  advance  in  our  knowledge  of  Lower  Cretaceous 
and  Upper  Jurassic  vegetation  ;  and  of  special  interest 
are  the  various  forms  of  "  archetypal  angiosperms  "  closely 
resembling  similar  fossils  from  the  Potomac  beds  of 
North  America.  This  last  monograph,  full  of  elaborate 
botanical  and  stratigraphical  work,  affords  a  striking 
proof  of  the  energy  and  youthful  enthusiasm  of  the 
veteran  student.  Saporta"s  name  will  ever  be  held  in 
r<--spect  by  succeeding  generations  as  that  of  a  pioneer 
of  palxobotanical  science  :  and  by  those  who  were 
privileged  to  know  him  personally,  or  as  a  correspondent 
ever  ready  to  render  assistance  to  younger  workers,  the 
death  of  the  Marquis  of  Saporta  must  be  fedl  not  merely 
as  the  termination  of  the  labours  of  one  of  the  foremost 
pakeobotanists,  but  as  the  removal  of  a  generous  friend 
and  colleague,  whose  wide  knowledge  and  untiring  devo- 
tion to  science  will  stimulate  younger  investigators  to 
more  vigorous  efforts  in  the  rich  field  of  pal<eobotanical 
study.  -A.  C.  Sew.ard. 

SIR  GEORGE  BUCHANAN. 

THE  death  of  Sir  George  Buchanan  removes  from  our 
midst  a  leader  in  that  branch  of  medical  science 
which  concerns  itself  with  the  prevention  of  disease.  His 
death  came  very  unexpectedly,  for  the  circumstances  of 
his  ill-health  were  known  only  to  a  circle  of  intimate  | 
friends  ;  and  his  great  desire  to  go  on  working  as  long  as 
work  was  practicable,  made  him  sufficiently  cheerful  to 
disguise  the  suffering  which  he  at  times  experienced. 
It  is  some  three  years  since  he  resigned  the  post  of 
medical  officer  to  the  Local  Government  Board,  this  step 
having  been  taken  by  him  on  account  of  failing  health. 
But  he  still  found  plenty  of  pleasurable  occupation  in 
connection  with  the  various  learned  and  scientific  bodies 
with  which  he  was  associated,  and  he  also  served  on  the 
Koyal  Commission  on  Tuberculosis,  of  which  he  became 
chairman  on  Lord  Basing's  death.  He  was  a  pupil  of 
L'niversity  College,  of  which  body  he  became  a  Fellow  ; 
he  graduated  B.A.  and  M.D.  at  the  University  of  London, 
and  at  his  second  M.B.  he  distinguished  himself  by  carry- 
ing off  several  gold  medals  and  scholarships.  Later  on 
he  became  medical  officer  of  health  to  the  district  of  .St. 
Giles,  where  he  laboured  hard  for  years  to  improve  the 
conditions  of  public  health  and  to  amend  the  then  terribly 
faulty  circumstances  under  which  the  people  lived.  It 
was  here  that  he  attracted  the  attention  of  .Sir  John 
.Simon,  then  medical  officer  of  the  Privy  Council,  and 
under  him  he  served  both  as  a  temporary  and,  later  on.  as 
a  permanent  medical  inspector.  During  this  period,  and 
subsequently  when  he  himself  directed  the  public  health 
department  of  the  State,  the  investigations  which  he 
carried  out,  .ind  the  reports  which  he  presented  to  Parlia- 
ment, embodied  the  results  of  work  of  which  England 
may  feel  proud.  \%  a  type  of  the  class  of  work  we  refer 
to,  we  may  instance  his  prolonged  investigations  into  the 
influence  on  health  of  large  public  works,  of  water-supply 
and  sewerage,  and  his  discover)'  of  the  lessening  of  mor- 
tality from  pulmonary  consumption  where\er  the  con- 
struction of  sewers  had  led  to  a  lowering  of  the  sub-soil 
water.  Some  of  his  papers  on  the  subject  of  vaccination 
in  relation  to  small-pox  are  also  of  the  greatest  value  ; 
they  were  the  result  of  most  careful  labour,  as  well  as  of 
an  earnest  desire  to  eliminate  all  possible  sources  of 
error,  and  to  arrive  at  the  truth  alone  ;  and  the 
more  he  studied  the  subject,  the  more  convinced  he 
became  of  the  value  of  vaccination  as  a  measure  of 
public  health.  He  sought  to  secure  for  all  the  work 
he  did  or  supervised  a  truly  scientific  basis  ;  and 
he  always  attached  the  greatest  importance  to  the 
auxiliary  scientific  work  for  which  a  special,  but  only  a 
small,   grant  is  annually  made  to   the   medical   depart- 

'   "  KUife   fuMJIe   du    PrTTIugnl    (Direction    <lc«    travaux   gtolofliqitc^    (lu 
I'orlulfal)."     I.i«b<jn,  i8<m. 


inent  of  the    Local    Government    Board.       He  had  a 
marked    literary    talent,    and    a     conspicuous   power   of 
setting  out  the  salient   points  of  the  work  done  by  his 
inspectorial  staff;  with  the  result  that  his  annual  reports 
have  gradually  come   into  great   demand  by  sanitarians 
and  public  health   authorities  in  almost  every  part  of  the 
world.     The  result  of  all  his  labours  is  by  no  means  accom- 
plished, in  some  places  work  on  the  lines  he  has  indicated 
has  hardly  commenced,  and  it  must  almost  necessarily  be 
that  much  that  he  has   taught,  will,  in  the  lapse  of  time, 
fail  to  be  associated  with  his  name.      But  those  who  know 
the  nature  of  his  work,  and  who  appreciate  the  thorough- 
ness which  always  characterised  it,  will  readily  understand 
how  far-reaching  and  beneficial  the  results  must  in  the  end 
be.     In  1882  he  was  elecled  to  the  Senate  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  London,  and   in  the  same  year  he  was  made  a 
Fellow  of  the  Koyal  .Society  ;  but   otherwise  distinctions 
came  to  him  mainly  at   the  close  of  his  official  career. 
This   was  doubtless  largely  due   to  all  absence  of  self- 
seeking  in  his  character.     .-\s  head  of  a  department  he 
was  always  trjing  to  promote  the  welfare  of  those  under 
him,  and  it  was  only  when  he  retired  on  a  comparatixely 
small  pension  that  he  asked  for  some   consideration  in 
view  of  the  long   ser\ices  he  had  rendered   to  the  Slate 
before  he  gave  his  whole  time  to  his  official  duties.    But  the 
Treasury  gave  their  usual  answer,  and  he  said  no  more. 
.At  this  date  he  was  made  a  Knight  Bachelor,  and  in  1893 
he  received  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.D.  of  the  Uni\er- 
sity  of   Edinljurgh.      He    was   a    past    President   of   the 
Epidemiological  .Society,  a  Censor  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians   of    London,    and  he   acted  as  adviser  in 
scientific  and  other  matters  to  several  other  bodies.      If 
such  a  characteristic  can  be  deemed  a  fault,  Sir  C.eorge 
Buchanan's  most  prominent  failing  was  an   inability  to 
conceal  his  sense  of  those  who,  as  he  thought,  sacrificed 
principles  and,  at  times,  the  truth  itself  in   matters  re- 
lating   to    the    advancement   of   public    health,  for  pur- 
poses of  notoriety  or  of  policy.     But,  on  the  other  hand, 
no  chief  of  a  public  department   ever  won   the  affection 
as  well  as  the  esteem  of  his  staff  better  than  Sir  George 
Buchanan  did  ;  and  he  made  it  no  secret  that  in  regard 
to  this  he   was  always  desirous  to  recall  the  example  of 
his  own    former  chief,   who,    happily,   still  lives,   and  to 
whom  he  was  devotedly  attached. 

NOTES. 

Our  readers  will  l>e  glad  to  know  that  Prof.  Huxley  conlinucs 

to  improve  in  hcillh.     .\  telegram  received  from  Ea-stbourno  a.s 

'  we  go  to  press  states  that  he  is  progressing  fa\ourably,  and  is 

I  able  to  get  iii>  daily,  but  is  hardly  strong  enough  yet  to  leave  his 

room. 

TilK  Hill,  which  was  introduced  into  the  House  of  Lords  on 

Thursday  last  by  Ijird  I'layfair,  on  behalf  of  the  Government, 

may  be  fairly  said  to  bring  the  reconstruction  of  the  University 

I  of    I^ndon   on    the    lines     of    the     Gresham    Commissioners' 

I   Keixjrl  within  the  sphere  of  practical  politics.     The  exact  terms  of 

I  the  Bill  have  not  yet  tran.spired,  but  it  is  understood  that  the  four 

Commissioners  appointed  to  administer  the  .-Vet  arc,  in  the  first 

place,  empowered  to  make  iiuwlifications  in  the  scheme  if  deemed 

1  expedient  after  consultation  with  the  Senate  and  Convocation  of 

I  the  University  of  London,  and  other  Utdies  affected  ;  and  in  the 

1  second,  enjoined    to   adequately  sifeguard  the  interests  of  the 

I  external  or  non-collcgiale  students.     The  Government  having  at 

last  taken  action  on  this  questitm,  it  is  the  more  satisfactory  to 

note  that  the  attempt  made  in   Convocatiim  on   Tuesday  last  to 

I  rescind  the  resolutions  passe.l  at   the  January   meeting  (vol.   li. 

I   p.  298),  has  conqiletely  failed,  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  "if 

a  local  Teaching  University  for  London  be  desirable,  it  ought  to 

be  constituted  apart  from  the  existing   University  of  London," 

iK-ing  rejected  by  238  against  117,  <«r  by  a  majoiily  of  121  votes. 


NO.    1333,  VOL.   52] 


May,  1 6,  1895J 


NA  TURE 


59 


iHK  unveiling  of  a  memorial  tablet  to  the  late  Prof.  J.  C. 
Adams  at  Westminster  Abbey,  on  Thursday  last,  was  an  event 
in  which  all  men  of  science  are  interested.  It  might  have  been 
made  a  great  occasion,  for  .\dam.s'  name  is  esteemed  throughout 
the  scientific  world,  instead  of  which  the  meeting  seems  chiefly 
to  have  reiiresented  the  University  of  Cambridge.  The  tablet 
has  been  placed  in  the  north  aisle,  close  to  the  graves  of  Newton, 
Herschel,  and  Darwin.  It  is  the  work  of  Mr.  Bruce  Joy,  and 
bears  the  following  inscription  :— "  Johannes  Couch  Adams, 
rianetam  Neptununi  Calculo  .Monstravit.     mdcccxlx'." 

A  Bill  incorporating  the  New  York  Zoological  Society,  and 
providing  for  the  establishment  of  a  zoological  garden  in  New 
York,  has  just  been  approved  by  Governor  Morton.  The  Act 
provides  that  the  corporation  shall  have  power  to  establish  and 
maintain  in  New  York  City  a  zoological  garden  for  the  purpose 
of  encouraging  and  advancing  the  study  of  zoology,  original 
researches  in  thfe  same,  and  kindred  subjects,  and  of  furnishing 
instruction  and  recreation  to  the  people. 

On  April  26,  the  Linnean  Society  of  Bordeaux  held  a  meeting 
devoted  to  the  question  of  bibliographical  refornu  The  pro- 
spectus of  the  new  Bibliogra])hical  Bureau  for  Zoology  was 
approved  by  all  the  members  present,  and  the  wish  was  ex- 
pressed that  a  similar  organisation  be  at  once  attempted  for  the 
other  branches  of  natural  science.  In  accordance  with  this  wish, 
it  was  decided  to  elaborate  a  project  for  the  establishment  of  a 
Central  Bureau  for  Botany.  This  project  will  be  presented  to  the 
A-Ssociation  Fran9aise  at  its  next  meeting,  by  the  President  of  the 
Botanical  Section.  M.  Mourlan,  the  Director  of  the  Academie 
des  Sciences  of  Belgium,  proposes  similar  action  for  geology.  It 
is  hoped  that,  by  the  establishment  of  several  federated  bureaus, 
the  plan  of  the  Royal  Society  may  be  fully  realised  and  without 
great  difficulty.  Meantime,  the  organisation  of  the  Zoological 
Bureau  has  made  considerable  progress,  the  circular  of  the  French 
Commission  has  already  appeared,  and  has  been  widely  distributed 
by  the  French  Zoological  Society  ;  the  American  Commission  has 
completed  its  preliminar)'  study,  and  will  soon  send  its  circular  to 
press.  In  other  countries,  notably  in  Russia,  similar  progress  is 
reiwrted. 

Thk  programme  of  arrangements  for  the  I]>swich  meeting  of 
the  British  Association  has  just  been  is.sued.  The  first  general 
meeting  will  be  held  on  Wednesday,  September  1 1 ,  when  the 
Marquis  of  .Sali,sburj-  will  resign  the  chair,  and  Sir  Douglas 
Clalton,  President  elect,  will  assume  the  jjresitlency.  and  deliver 
an  address  ;  on  Thursday  evening,  September  12,  a  soiree  will 
be  held  ;  on  the  following  evening  a  discourse  will  be  delivered 
by  Prof.  Silvanus  P.  Thompson  on  magnetism  in  rotation  ;  on 
Monday  evening,  .September  l6,  there  will  be  a  discourse  by 
Prof.  Percy  F.  Frankland  on  the  work  of  Pasteur  and  its  various 
developments  ;  a  second  soiree  will  take  place  on  Tuesday  even- 
ing, September  17,  and  the  concluding  general  meeting  will  be 
held  on  Wednesday,  September  18.  The  .Sections  and  their 
Presidents  are  as  follows : — (a)  Mathematical  and  Physical 
Science — President,  Prof.  W.  M.  Hicks,  F.R.S.  {h)  Chemistry — 
President,  Prof.  R.  Meldola,  F.R.S.  (<)  Geology— President,  W. 
Whitaker,  F.R.S.  (</)  Zoology  (including  Animal  Physiology) — 
President,  Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman,  F.R.S.  (e)  Geography — 
President,  H.  J.  Mackinder.  (/)  Economic  Science  and 
Statistics — President,  L.  L.  Price,  [g]  Mechanical  Science — 
President,  Prof.  L.  F.  X'ernon  Harcourt.  {h)  Anthropology — 
President,  Prof.  W.  .M.  Flinders  Petrie.  {k)  Botany — President, 
W.  T.Thiselton-Dyer,  CM. G.,  F.R.S.  Section  I  ( Phy.siology) 
will  not  meet  at  Ipswich,  but  papers  on  animal  physiology  will  be 
read  in  Section  D.  The  delegates  of  corresponding  .Societies  will 
meet  on  Thursday,  September  12,  and  Tuesday,  September  17, 
under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  G.  J.  Symons,  F.R.S.  The  accept- 
ance of  papers  is,  as  far  as  possible,  determined  by  organising 

NO.    1333-  VOL.   52] 


committees  for  the  se\eral  Sections,  before  the  beginning  of  the 
meeting.  It  has,  therefore,  become  necessary,  in  order  to  give 
an  opportunity  to  the  Committees  of  doing  justice  to  the  com- 
munications, that  each  author  should  forward  his  paper,  tc^ether 
with  an  abstract,  on  or  before  August  12,  to  the  General 
Secretaries  of  the  Association. 

Several  summer  schools  for  the  practical  study  of  botany  w  ill 
be  held  during  the  coming  season  in  the  United  States — one  in 
connection  with  Cornell  University,  and  one  in  connection  with 
the  University  of  Wisconsin,  both  from  July  8  to  August  16; 
also  one  in  connection  with  the  Cambridge  Botanical  Supply 
Co.,  Cambridge,  Mass;,  from  July  5  for  five  weeks. 

The  Sitzimgsberichle  of  the  Vienna  Academy  of  Sciences 
(vol.  civ. )  contains  a  discussion  of  the  observations  of  atmo- 
spherical electricity  and  St.  Elmo's  Fire  on  the  Sonnblick  by 
Messrs.  J.  Elster  and  H.  Geitel,  being  a  continuation  of  the 
observations  to  the  time  of  the  change  of  the  former  observer. 
The  results  confirm  those  previo\isly  obtained,  and  show  that  the 
yearly  variation  of  the  electrical  energy  at  the  summit  is  small, 
compared  to  that  at  the  base,  and  that  the  smuniit  of  the  mountain 
projects  above  those  strata  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  electrical 
processes  mostly  occur.  During  the  fall  of  fine  snow  the  St. 
Elmo's  P'ire  is  mostly  negative,  but  positive  when  large  flakes  of 
snow  and  hail  are  falling. 

From  a  paper  on  early  agriculture  in  Palestine,  by  Dr.  H. 
Vogelstein,  we  learn  the  interesting  fact  that  in  the  first 
two  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  rainfall  was  measured  by 
means  of  a  receptacle.  The  Jewish  Mishnah  refers  to  two 
seasons,  one  wet  and  the  other  dry.  In  normal  years  the  early 
rain  fell  soon  after  the  autumnal  equinox,  and  its  importance  to 
agriculture  is  frequently  referred  to  in  that  document.  The 
amount  which  fell  at  this  season  was  about  21  inches,  which 
agrees  fairly  well  w  ith  the  present  measurements  at  Jerusalem, 
but  the  total  annual  fall  is  not  stated  by  Dr.  Vogelstein, 
Further  particulars  of  this  interesting  communication  will  be 
found  in  the  Meteorologische  Zeitschrift  for  April. 

Prof.  L.  II.  Bailey,  of  Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  N.Y., 
has  recently  read  before  the  Biological  Society  of  Washington 
a  paper  entitled  the  "  Plant-individual  in  the  Light  of  Evolution." 
In  this  paper,  according  to  the  Ameriian  Naturalist,  he suggests- 
the  idea  that  both  Lamarckism  and  Darwinism  are  true,  the 
former  finding  its  expression  best  in  animals,  the  latter  in  plants. 
The  plant  is,  according  to  him,  not  a  simple  autonomy,  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  animal  is,  and  the  parts  of  the  plant  are 
independent  in  resi)ect  to  propagation,  struggle  for  existence, 
and  transmission  of  characters.  According  to  this  view  there 
can  be  no  localisation  or  continuity  of  germ-pl.asm  in  plants,  in 
the  sense  in  which  these  conceptions  are  applied  to  animals'. 

The  El  Universal  reports  th.it  the  cold  spell  in  February 
extended  right  down  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  \"era  Cruz.  On  the 
I  Sth  and  1 6th  it  was  freezing  over  a  distance  of  80  leagues  from 
Monterey  to  Ciudad  \'ictoria  and  Tula  in  Tamaulipas,  and  the 
mountains  were  covered  with  snow.  In  the  district  of  Tancan- 
huitz,  State  of  San  Luis  Potosi,  the  sugar-canes  and  coffee-trees 
were  all  killed,  the  value  of  the  coffee  crop  destroyed  being 
estimated  at  a  million  dollars.  In  the  Huasteca,  State  of  Vera 
Cruz,  sugar-canes,  coffee,  and  tobacco  were  similarly  killed — a 
loss  of  several  million  dollars — while  cattle  were  dying  by 
hmidreds  im  the  frost-bitten  pasture  lands.  Owing  to  the  frost 
having  followed  a  prolonged  drought,  prices  had  risen  to  famine 
rates,  and  there  was  much  sickness,  especially  croup  and  small-pox. 
In  the  district  round  .\ltotonga  a  very  hot  .south  wind  set  in  on 
February  13,  which  suddenly  cooled,  and  grew  in  intensity  and 
cold.  On  the  14th,  snow  began  to  fall  and  did  not  cease  till  the 
17th.     Ten  parishes  in   the  temperate  zone  were  snow-covere 


6o 


NATURE 


[May   1 6,  1895 


for  eiglity-four  hours,  resulting  in  the  destruction  of  all  fruit, 
vegetables,  cofl'ee,  and  tobacco.  The  sugar-canes  were  so  ruined 
as  to  Ik;  unfit  even  for  forage.  The  twelve  parishes  of  the 
district  situate<l  in  the  terra  fria  lost  everything  ;  the  maize  had 
not  yet  liecn  plante<i,  and  would  not  be  ripe  till  November  or 
December.  At  I'aianlla,  the  vanilla  centre,  it  was  snowing  on 
Kebruar)-  17,  and  the  tem|)erature  had  fallen  from  30°  C.  to 
freezing  |x>int.  At  Misantia  snow  fell  all  night,  and  many 
fowls,  animals,  and  cattle  died  from  the  cold. 

U.N  HER  the  title,  '•  Illustrations  of  Darwinism,  and  other 
I'apers,''  Sir  Walter  L.  Buller,  K.  R.S.,  has  sent  us  a  reprint  of 
his  presidential  address  to  the  Wellington  Philosophical  Society 
in  1894.  Its  main  subject-matter  is  a  discussion  of  the  various 
w.iys  in  which  the  jieculiarities  of  structure,  colour,  distribution 
and  habits  of  New  Zealand  birds,  serve  to  illustrate  the  theory 
of  Natural  Selection,  and  often  to  afford  ver)-  strong  arguments  in 
its  favour.  The  address  is  ver)'  clear  and  forcible,  full  of 
interesting  facts  and  .suggestive  observations,  and  will  be  read 
with  interest  by  all  naturalists.  One  or  two  points  only  call  for 
any  critical  obscnation.  Sir  W.  Buller  objects  to  the  Apter)-x 
being  cla-sscd  by  Mr.  Wallace  as  among  "the  lowest  birds," 
liecausc,  he  .says,  it  is  really  "  an  extremely  specialised  form." 
But  surely  the  Ratit;v  are  lower  than  the  Carinat*  ;  and  the 
Aptcryx  is  specialised  .so  as  to  lie  almost  the  least  bird-like  of 
the  katita-.  If  it  is  not  to  be  clas-scd  among  the  lowest  existing 
Urds,  where  are  these  to  be  found?  Again,  the  statement  that 
the  larger  forms  of  animals  have  universally  preceded  the  smaller 
in  geological  time  (p.  loi),  is  only  a  half-truth,  if  so  much,  since 
all  these  large  fonns  have  been  developed  from  smaller  ones,  as 
shown  in  the  case  of  the  horse,  as  well  as  that  of  the  early 
marsupials  of  the  Meszoic  period.  Even  more  open  to  objection 
is  the  .statement  (|).  I02),  that  the  Siberian  mammoth  "  would 
clearly  liave  required  a  growth  of  tropical  luxuriance  to  satisfy 
the  wants  of  its  ca|Kicious  stomach";  and  that  its  being  found 
by  thoiLsamls  emlK.-dded  in  ice  or  frozen  soil  implies  "a 
rcvolutionar)-  change  of  climate."  A  sufficient  answer  to  which 
theor)'  is  the  fact  that  leaves  and  cones  of  firs  have  been  found 
in  the  stomach,  showing  that  it  fed  only  a  few  degrees  south  of 
the  places  where  it  is  now  embedded. 

A  VAi.fAm.K  addition  to  the  various  suggestions  for  the 
measurement  of  geological  time  is  made  by  Dr.  G.  K.  Gilbert  in 
the  fournal  of  Geoloiy  (vol.  iii.  No.  2).  He  has  been  struck 
with  the  regular,  rhythmical  cycles  of  sedimentation  displayed 
<iver  an<l  over  .'\gain  by  the  .shaly  beds  of  the  Cretaceous  of 
Colorado  (Benton,  Niobrara, and  I'ierre  groups).  Such  regularity, 
he  .suggests,  can  only  be  due  to  causal  variations  of  a  periodic 
character,  an<l  <inly  astronomical  changes  have  the  regularity 
required.  There  seem  to  be  only  three  astronomical  cycles  that 
can  Ijc  reasonably  appealed  to  for  an  explanation  of  rhythm  in 
sedimentation  :  the  pcriwls  of  the  earth's  revolution  around  the 
sun,  of  the  preces.si<m  of  the  c<iuinoxcs,  and  of  the  variation  in 
eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit.  Dismissing  the  first  as  too  short, 
and  the  last  as  Iiki  irregular,  I'rof.  Gilliert  considers  there  are 
three  ways  in  which  the  second  cycle  might  influence  local 
sctlimcntation  :  (I)  l!y  i)cri(Klic  changes  in  winds,  .ind  there- 
fore in  marine  currents  ;  (2)  by  alternate  glaciation  of  the  two 
hcmi^pherci,  re.iulting  in  (wriiMlic  advance  and  reces.sion  of  coa-st- 
linc<,  and  hence  of  sedimenlalion-lxnmdaries  ;  (3)  alternation  in 
tcrrolrial  climates  of  moist  |>eri<Mls — when,  through  the  abunil- 
anccof  veget.-il ion,  chemical  denudation  would  \k  at  a  maximum, 
and  mechanical  at  a  minimum  and  dry  |>eriods,  when  the 
reverse  woulrl  lie  the  case.  Assuming  the  rhythm  of  seili- 
mcnlation  in  the  ca.sc  consi«lcrc<l  to  coincide  with  the  rhythm  of 
the  CTiuinoncs,  Dr.  <;ill>erl  estlmatas  the  time  represented  by  the 
Kcnlon,  Nifibrar.i,  anil  I'ierre  c|)f>chs  as  20,000,000  years,  or, 
.allowing  the  numl<cr  2  as  a  factor  of  safety,  lx:tween  lo,ooo,OCX> 
«nd  40,000,000  years. 

NO.    1333,  VOL.   52] 


We  have  received  the  Supplement  to  the  Calendar  of  the 
Royal  University  of  Ireland  for  1895,  containing  e.vaminalion 
papers  set  last  yeax. 

So  little  attention  is  generally  paid  in  public  libraries  to  the 
wants  of  students  of  science,  that  we  are  glad  to  give 
a  word  of  praise  to  -a  catalogue  of  btioks  on  mathematics, 
mathematical  physics,  engineering  and  architecture,  contained  in 
the  two  public  libraries  at  Halifax.  The  list  has  been  compiled 
by  the  librarian,  Mr.  J.  Whitcley,  and  it  should  be  found  a 
useful  guide  to  the  scientific  literature  in  the  two  libraries. 

The  Bulletin  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History 
(vol.  vi. )  has  been  received.  Among  the  articles  in  the  volume, 
we  notice  one  "  On  the  Birds  of  the  Island  of  Trinidad, "  by  K. 
M.  Chapman;  "On  the  Seasonal  Change  of  Colour  in  the 
Varjing  Hare  (Lepus  Americanus)  "  by  J.  .\.  .\llcn  ;  "  I'ossil 
Mammals  of  the  Lower  Miocene  White  River  Beds,''  by  H.  F. 
Osbom  and  J.  L.  Wortman.  There  are  also  papers  on 
North  American  Orthoptera  and  Moths,  by  W.  Beutenmiiller  ; 
on  some  North  .American  Mammals,  by  J.  \.  .Mien,  and  by  F. 
M.  Chapman  ;  and  on  new  forms  of  marine  alg;v  from  the  Trenton 
limestone ;  by  R.  P.  \\'hitfield. 

The  authorities  of  the  Royal  Clardens,  Kew,  publish  a 
"  Hand-list  of  Ferns  and  Fern-allies  cultivated  in  the  Gardens." 
This  remarkably  rich  collection  consists  of  802  species  and  varieties 
of  ferns,  and  48  of  fern-allies  and  natives  of  this  country  ; 
besides  no  less  than  5S6  varieties  of  British  ferns.  This  latter 
collection  is  due  to  the  bequest  of  Mr.  W.  C.  Carlxmell,  who 
left  it  to  the  Gardens.  It  consists  of  4261  specimens,  found  by 
him  at  Rhiew  C;vstel,  Usk,  .Monmouthshire.  The  rest  of  the 
collection  owes  its  completeness  largely  to  the  zeal  and  assiduity 
of  the  late  Mr.  John  Smith,  curator  of  the  Gardens  from  1S41 
to  1863. 

The  text  of  a  series  of  six  Lowell  lectures,  by  I'rof.  Gantano 
Lanza,  on  "Engineering  Practice  and  Education,"  which  has  been 
appearing  in  the /w/rKa/ of  the  Franklin  Institute  since  May  1894, 
is  now  concluded.  Some  interesting  examples  are  given  of  the 
engineering  works  of  the  world,  and  the  functions  of  the  engineer 
are  pa.ssed  in  review.  Prof.  I^nza  holds  sound  ideas  as  to  the 
education  of  an  engineer.  "There  are  two  things,"  he  s.iys, 
"  which  are  alisolutely  necessary  to  make  a  successful  engineer  : 
first,  a  knowledge  of  scientific  principles  and  of  the  experience 
of  the  i>a.st ;  and  .second,  his  own  exi>erience.  .  .  .  The  two 
fundamental  sciences  uixm  which  the  scientific  principles  of 
engineering  are  cs|>eeially  dependent  are  mathematics  and  physics, 
and  no  proper  course  in  engineering  can  be  arranged  without 
insisting  upon  these  as  fundamentals."  He  shares  the  general 
opinion  that  the  education  of  the  engineer  shoulil  include  some 
knowledge  of  the  differential  and  integral  calculus,  if  not  of 
higher  mathematics. 

We  have  often  found  occasion  to  express  satisl;\ctii>n  at  the 
work  carried  on  by  many  local  scientific  societies.  Labourers  in 
the  field  of  .science  are  not  w£inting,  but  their  work  frequently 
needs  <lirecli<m.  Wisely  organised,  the  multitude  of  willing 
amateur  observers  can  greatly  assist  the  growth  of  natural 
knowledge.  .\  programme  just  received  from  the  Yorkshire 
Naturalist.s"  Union,  showing  the  excursiims,  meetings,  and 
committees  of  research  for  1895,  is  a  suflicient  proof  that  the 
operations  of  the  Uni<m  are  conducted  with  definite  objects  in 
view.  There  is  a  boulder  committee,  apiKiinted  to  collect 
informali<m  .as  to  the  distribution  of  erratic  blocks  in  the  county 
of  \'ork  ;  a  committee  to  observe  the  present  changes  and  past 
condition  of  the  sea-coast,  in  order  to  determine  the  rate  of 
erosion  ;  a  fossil  flora  committee,  whic'i  aims  |)articularly  at 
determining  the  vertical  range  of  the  genera  and  species  of  the 
various    formations ;    a    geological    photographs    committee ;    a 


May  1 6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


61 


coinniittce  to  promote  the  investigation  of  the  marine  zoology 
of  the  Vorkshirc  Coast ;  a  micro-zoology  and  micro-botany 
committee  ;  a  conmiittee  to  consider  proposals  for  the  legislative 
.protection  of  wild  birds'  eggs  ;  and  a  committee  having  for  its 
object  the  investigation  of  the  mycological  flora  of  Vorkshire. 
Upon  each  of  the  committees  we  notice  the  names  of  numerous 
well-known  scientific  workers  ;  and,  as  the  committees  co-operate, 
when  possible,  with  British  Association  committees,  the  Union 
fbrms  the  connecting  link  between  the  local  societies  and  the 
Association.  This  kind  of  organisation  seems  to  be  the  one 
<alculated  to  produce  the  greatest  amount  of  useful  work. 
While  referring  to  natural  history  societies,  we  may  mention  that 
the  West  Kent  Natural  History,  Microscopical,  and  Photographic 
Society  has  sent  us  their  report  for  1894-95.  The  report 
contains  an  address  by  the  President,  Mr.  H.  J.  Adams,  on 
"Colour  Photography,"  and  a  paper  on  "The  Birds  of  Black- 
heath,"  by  Mr.  H.  F.  Witherby. 

H.  MoiSSAN  has  attempted  to  produce  argon  compounds  by 
acting  on  argon,  under  various  conditions,  with  some  of  the  rarer 
elements  which  unite  more  or  less  readily  with  nitroge".  (Cof/iptfs 
reuduSy  May  6).  100  c.c.  of  the  new  gas  were  jilacedat  his  dis- 
posal by  Prof.  Ramsay.  In  a  part  of  this,  titanium,  boron,  and 
lithium  were  strongly  heated  without  apparent  change.  Similarly, 
uranium  (containing  3^  per  cent,  of  carbon)  did  not  absorb  an 
appreciable  amount  of  the  gas  when  heated  with  it  for  twenty 
minutes.  A  quantity  of  the  gas  was  conducted  into  a  platinum 
tube  of  special  construction,  and  there  exposed  to  the  action 
of  pure  fluorine,  Ijoth  at  the  ordinary  temperature  and  in 
presence  of  induction  sparks  ;  in  neither  case  couUl  any  reaction 
be  observed  whatever  the  proportion  of  argon  present.  The 
<IiHiculty  of  manipulating  fluorine  has  not  allowed  of  the  effect 
of  long-continued  sparking  being  observed.  The  results  were 
entirely  negative  ;  under  the  conditions  of  these  experiments,  no 
com|x>unds  of  argon  have  been  produced. 

By  saturating  an  ethereal  solution  of  ferric  chloride  with  nitric 
oxide,  and  concentrating  the  product  at  the  ordinary  ten)perature 
in  the  vacutim  desiccator,  W  Thomas  has  succeeded  in  ob- 
taining crystals  of  the  composition  FeCU.NO.alljO.  (Bull. 
So{.  Chim.  [3],  xiii.-xiv.  No.  8).  The  anhydrous  com- 
pound may  be  obtained  in  smaller  yellow  crystals  by  crjs- 
talliisation  at  60'  on  a  porcelain  plate.  Peligot  found  that 
nitric  oxide  dissolved  in  ferrous  chloride  solution  in  the  proportion 
required  to  form  a  compound  2F'eCl2.NO,  and  this  solution  lost 
all  its  gas  on  healing.  It  is  interesting  and  significant  that  the 
new  crystalline  product  dissolves  completely  in  cold  water 
without  evolution  of  gas  to  form  a  pale  yellow  solution,  and  that 
the  solid  compound  is  quite  stable  in  vacuo  at  the  ordinary 
temperature.  Of  considerable  interest  also  is  the  observation  by 
the  same  author,  that  nitric  oxide  gives  abundant  crystalline 
precipitates  when  passed  through  solutions  of  antimony  tribromide 
or  antimony  trichloride. 

A  NEW  series  of  iron  nitrosocompounds  have  been  discovered, 
by  K.  A.  Hofmaim  and  O.  F.  Wiede,  w  hich  possess  interest 
both  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  gas-analyst  and  in  consequence 
of  the  example  they  afl'ord  of  the  synthetical  production  of  com- 
plex inorganic  substances.  .\  current  of  nitric  oxiile  is  jiassed 
through  a  concentrated  solution  of  200  grams  ferrous  sulphate 
and  300  grams  of  i>otassium  thiosulphate.  A  compound  is  pre- 
cipitated in  red-brown  leaflets,  which  has  the  composition 
l'"e  (NO).jS2()3K.HjO.  This  substance  may  be  dried  in  the 
vacuum  desiccator  without  change.  Il  is  difficultly  soluble  in 
water,  and  dissolves  in  concenlraled  sulphuric  acid  without  de- 
composition, giving  an  intensely  greenish  yellow  coloured 
solution.  Ammonium  and  sodium  salts  of  similar  composition 
and  |)roperties  have  also  been  prepared.  The  formation  of  the 
cw  .acid,  dinitrosoferrothiosulphuric  acid,  of  which  these  salts 
NO.    1333,  VOL.   52] 


are  derivatives,  is  facilitated  by  the  presence  of  an  excess  of  ferrous 
salt.  It  may  be  considered  that  the  essential  reaction  in  its 
formation  consists  of  a  re|>lacement  of  the  group  (KS2O3)  by  NO 
in  ferrous  potassium  thiosulphate,  viewing  the  latter  as 
KOjSj.  Fe.  S jOjK.  The  displaced  radical  probably  forms  po- 
tassium tetrathionate  which  does  not  react  further.  Cobalt 
compounds,  in  which  the  cobalt  replaces  the  iron  in  this  series, 
can  be  obtained,  though  with  much  greater  difllculty.  The 
connection  of  these  new  substances  with  the  tetra-  and  hepta- 
nitroso  compounds  of  Pawcl  and  Marchlewski  and  Sachs  is 
yet  under  investigation. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  two  Arabian  Baboons  (Cynocephalus  haina- 
dryas,  S  9  )  from  Somaliland,  presented  respectively  by  Mr. 
Francis  G.  Gunnis  and  Mrs.  E.  Lort  Phillips  ;  a  Japanese  Ape 
(Macacus  speciosus,  i )  from  Japan,  presented  by  Dr.  G.  L. 
Johnston  ;  a  Rhesus  Monkey  (Mataciis  rhesus,  {  )  from  India,  pre- 
sented by  Messrs.  A.  S.  and  K.  Boatfield  ;  a  Naked-footed  Owlet 
{Athene  iioc/iia),  European,  presented  by  Mr.  Walter  Chamber- 
lain :  a  Black  Tanager  {Tathyhonus  vtelaleucus)  from  Brazil, 
presented  by  Mr.  Edward  Hawkins  ;  a  Hawfinch  (Coccothraustes 
vulgaris),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  H.  G.  Devas ;  two 
Common  Peafowl  (Pavo  cristatus,  S  9  )  from  India,  presented  by 
Mr.  L.  G.  Whatman  ;  two  Pyrenean  Newts  [Molge  aspera) 
from  Lac  d.  Oncet,  Pyrenes,  presented  by  Dr.  Jacques  de 
Bedriaga  ;  two  Indian  Pythons  (Python  molurus)  from  India, 
presented  by  Mr.  G.  Stephen  ;  a  Koodoo  (Strepsiceros  kudu,  9  ) 
from  Somaliland,  a  Kinkajou  (Cercokptes  caudivolvulus,  9  ),  a 
Ring-tailed-Coati  (N'asua  ru/a)  from  Brazil,  a  Dusky  Bulbul 
(Pyciionotus  obscurus)  from  Morocco,  deposited  ;  two  Ruddy 
Sheldrakes  { Tadorna  casarca,  6  9),  European,  a  Red-fronted 
Amnion  (Chrysalis  znitala)  from  Porto  Rico,  a  Yellow-fronted 
Amazon  (Chrysalis  achroeephala)  from  Guiana,  purchased;  a 
Large  Red  Flying  Squirrel  (Pteramys  inoriialus)  from  India, 
received  in  exchange  ;  two  Jajianese  Deer  (Cerznis  sika,  (J  5  ),  a 
Barbary  Sheep  (Oi'is  Iragelaphus,  i  ),  born  in  the  Gardens. 

OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

.Vi.GOL. — The  periodic  variations  in  the  intervals  between  the 
minima  of  Algol  have  been  explained  by  Dr.  Chandler  by  sup- 
])osing  that  the  bright  star,  with  its  eclipsing  companion,  re- 
volves round  a  distant  centre  of  gravity  determined  by  its 
relation  to  another  dark  body.  .M.  Tisserand,  however,  con- 
siders that  the  phenomena  may  be  produced  by  the  changes  in 
the  line  of  apsides  due  to  a  polar  compression  of  .Mgol  (NATLrRE, 
vol.  li.  p.  328).  The  latter  hypothesis  requires  that  con.sidcr- 
able  variations  in  the  duration  of  the  minima  should  be  observed  ; 
while,  on  Dr.  Chandler's  hypothesis,  there  should  be  a  periodic 
inequality  of  the  proper  motion  of  Algol.  Prof.  Lewis  Boss 
has  recently  discussed  the  question  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  proper  motion  of  the  star  ;  but  since  the  coefiicient  is 
probably  less  than  o"*7,  the  investigatiim  is  a  very  delicate  one. 
Taking  the  result  of  his  computation,  aimrt  from  any  considera- 
tions of  the  behaviour  of  Algol  as  a  variable  star.  Prof.  Boss  is 
of  opinion  that  there  is  a  preixjnderance  of  prolability  in 
favour  of  the  real  existence  of  a  periotlic  element  in  the  proper 
motion,  such  as  is  required  by  Dr.  Chandler's  hyfiothesis.  Sup- 
posing them  to  be  real,  they  indicate  that  the  apixirenl  motion 
is  in  an  ellipse,  the  semi-axis  major  of  which  is  o"'522  +  o"i03 
and  the  semi-axis  minor  o""224 ;  the  position  angle  of  the 
northern  end  of  the  major  axis  is  34',  and  the  inclination  of  the 
real  orbit  to  our  line  of  sight  is  23'.  The  computation  further 
indicates  that  the  star  passed  the  major  axis  of  the  apparent 
orbit  within  three  or  four  years  of  the  most  probable  date 
derived  from  the  observaled  light-changes.  Prof.  Boss  considers 
the  evidence  in  favour  of  Dr.  Chandler's  hypothesis  to  lie  suffi- 
cient to  justify  a  very  thorough  investigation  of  the  meridian 
observations,  as  well  .is  continued  determinations  of  (xi'sition. 
(Astroiiomieal Journal,  No.  343. ) 

I'ARAi.i.AX  AND    ORBIT  OK  j)   CASsiorELi?.  - -Twenty-.seven 
photographs  of  the  region  round  this  st.ar,  taken  by  Dr.  Rutherford 


62 


NATURE 


May    1 6    1895 


more  than  iweiuy  years  ago,  have  been  utilised  by  Mr.  H.  S. 
Davis  for  the  determination  of  the  ))anillax  {.Astronomical  fournal. 
^o-  343)'  •'^i''  pairs  of  coniixirison  stars  were  employed,  and 
the  ciimbined  results  give  the  value  o"-465  +  o'a(4,  correspond- 
ing approximately  to  a  distance  of  >j  CassiopeiiV  from  the  earth  of 
43.1 13,000,000.000  miles,  or  7i  light  years.  Though  the  ne« 
value  exceeds  previous  ones,  it  is  not  considered  improbably 
large  if  the  Rutherford  plates  are  subject  to  no  systematic  error. 
Using  Griiber's  values  of  the  orbital  elements,  the  combined 
masses  of  the  components  is  two-tenths  as  great  as  thai  of  the 
sun,  and  the  distance  between  the  components  19  astronomical 
units,  the  relative  orbit  thus  being  about  the  same  size  as 
that  :of  Uranus.  These  numbers,  however,  may  require 
some  modification,  as  Dr.  .See  has  recomputed  the  elements 
of  the  orbit,  with  the  results  slightly  differing  from  those 
adopted  by  Mr.  Davis.  Dr.  See  states  that  during  the  next  ten 
years  the  position  angle  will  increase  from  204"  to  251",  while 
the  distance  will  diminish   from  4"-52  to  3''-33. 

A  Belgi.\n  -Vstronomicm.  Society. — .\  Societe  Beige 
d' Astronomy  has  been  founded  at  Brussels.  The  object  of  the 
Society  is  to  popularise  astronomy  and  the  sciences  connected 
with  it  (geodesy,  meteorology,  terrestrial  physics,  &c.),  and  to 
encourage  research  into  the  domains  of  those  branches  of 
knowledge.  The  President  of  the  Society  is  M.  F.  Jacobs,  and 
among  the  Council  are  (General  Tilly,  Prof.  Dusausoy,  Prof 
Cloemans,  .M.  Lagrange,  Prof  Pa.squier,  Prof.  Rousseau,  and  M. 
Terby.  Two  of  the  .Secretaries  are  M.  Stroobaut  and  M. 
Vincent,  both  observers  at  the  Royal  Observatory,  Brussels. 


THE  IRON  AND  STEEL   INSTITUTE. 

'T'HE  annu.il  spring  meeting  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute 
•*•  was  heUI  on  Thursday  and  Friday  of  Last  week,  in  the 
theatre  of  the  Society  of  Arts,  under  the  chairmanship  of  the  new 
President,  Mr.  David  Dale.  The  following  is  the  list  of  the 
papers  set  down  for  reading  : — 

"On  Metal  Mi.\ers,  as  used  at  the  Works  of  the  North- 
Ea.stem  .Steel  Com|)an)-,"  by  .Mr.  Arthur  Cooper. 

"On  the  Effect  of  Ar^ienic  upon  Steel,"  by  Mr.  J.  K.  Stead. 
fJn  the  Iron  Ore  .Mines  of  Elba,"  by  Mr.  H.  S'cott. 

"  On  the  Manufacture  of  Steel  Projectiles  in  Russia,"  by 
Sergius  Kern. 

"  On  Ternary  Alloys  of  Iron  with  Chromium,  Molybdenimi, 
and  Tungsten,"  by  James  S.  De  Benneville,  of  Philadelphia. 

The  last  two  pa|)crs  w  ere  taken  as  read,      .\fter  the  usual  formal 

1)ri>cee<lings,  the  President  presented  the  Bessemer  medal,  which 
lad  this  year  Ijeen  awarded  to  .Mr.  H.  M.  Howe,  of  Boston, 
U.S. .v.  iVs  Mr.  Ilowe  was  not  able  to  be  present,  Prof 
Roberts-.Auslen  accepted  the  medal  on  his  behalf 

.Mr.  Dale  next  proceeded  to  read  his  inaugural  address.  Those 
whi>kno»  the  g'Kxl  work  done  by  Mr.  Dale  in  the  conciliation 
of  lalKiur  disputes  will  not  Ik-  surpri.sed  to  learn  that  the  chiel  i 
interesi  of  the  address  was  in  the  domain  of  economics 
rather  than  metallurgy.  The  address  was  none  the  less 
welcome  on  this  iiccount,  as  no  class  are  more  .iffected  by  dis- 
lurlances  in  the  lalwrnr  market  than  the  iron  and  steel  makers. 
Mr.  Dale  showed  very  clearly  the  disastrous  effects  u|ion  British 
Inideof  strikes  and  industrial  disputes,  and  dwelt  upon  the  ever- 
enlarging  area  of  competition  in  the  manufacturing  markets  of 
the  world  ;  for  now  we  have  not  only  the  continental  nations  of 
Ehmih:  Io  contend  with,  but  have  to  meet  the  products  of  the 
.Mill  chcaixrr  lal^mr  of  the  far  East. 

Mr.  Ojopcr's  paper,  though  short,  supplied  a  valuable  con- 
tribulirm  of  knowledge  to  the  practical  steel  maker.  Uniformity 
of  pro<luct  is  at  once  one  of  the  most  desirable  and  most  difticull 
thing*  for  the  steel  maker  to  secure.     No  matter  what  care  m.iy 

I    -     .1      -  -    '     .  ,  ,f  the  l»Iast  furnace  will  vary  in   regard   to 

•  s  of  alloys  which  exercise  so  imj)<>rtant 

iracteristics  of  the  slecl  producer.      Efforts 

have  ticcn  m.-ide  to  ecjualise  the  analysis  of  the  pig  iron  by  mix- 
ing the  ore,  but  these  have  liecn  only  nariially  successful.  It  is 
desirable,  from  an  economic  iioint  of  view,  thai  molten  iron 
should  l>e  taken  direct  from  the  blast  furnace  and  used  in  the 
converter ;  t.ul,  in  the  Imsir  process,  the  neerl  of  uniformitv  has 
prevented  this  r.iurse  being  followed.  It  has  U-en  iher'efire 
necessary  Io  follow  the  origin.d  plan  of  running  the  molten  iron 
from  the  bkwt  furnace  into  pigs,  and  then  renteltingit  in  cujmlas. 
In  this  way,  liy  u.-iing  the  prixlucl  of  several  furnaces,  and  by  a 


NO.   1333.  VOL.  52] 


system  of  careful  analysing  and  selection,  uniformity  has  been 
generally  obtained.  In  spite  of  all  care  taken,  however,  there 
will  be  at  times  differences  in  the  product  of  the  cupolas,  owing 
to  irregularities  in  working  which  couUl  nvil  be  guauicd  against> 
anil  it  would  frequently  happen  that  though  a  standard  mixture 
of  pig  might  be  charged  into  the  cupola,  the  amount  of  silicoa 
or  manganese  would  vary  considerably,  owing  10  larger  quantities 
of  these  metals  being  oxidised  at  one  time  than  another.  The 
mixer  is  a  vessel  in  ap|)earance  like  a  large  Bessemer  converter. 
Into  this  the  molten  metal  from  the  blast  furnace  is  run,  together 
with  a  certain  amount  of  cupola  iron  in  the  case  of  the  North 
F'.istern  Steel  ComiKiny-  works,  with  the  plant  of  which  the 
paper  deals.  The  mixer  is  largely  used  in  .\merica,  .Mr.  Carnegie 
stating  during  the  discussion  thai  at  his  works  they  were  about 
to  erect  some  of  600  tons  capacity.  The  mixers,  of  which  there 
are  two  at  the  North  Eastern  works,  are  each  150  tons  capacity. 
For  drawing  the  metal  off  into  the  ladle  the  mixer  is  tilted, 
swinging  on  trunnions  like  a  converter,  hydraulic  machinery 
being  pro\'ided  for  the  jiurposc.  In  the  tliscussion  which  followed 
the  reading  of  the  jiaper,  many  steel  makers  corroborated  the 
account,  given  by  the  author,  of  the  excellent  results  obtained  by 
the  use  of  the  mixer. 

The  chief  feature  of  the  meeting  was  the  reading  and  discus- 
sion of  Mr.  Stead's  excellent  contribution  on  the  effect  of  arsenic 
in  steel — a  paper  we  should  have  described  as  exhaustive  had  it 
not   been   that   the  author  states  he  is  about   to  follow  up  the 
experiments  of  which  he  gives  an  account  by  further  invesliga'- 
tion   in  the   same   field.      Mr.  Stea<l   commenced  by  a  reference 
to  the  well-known  memoir  on  the  same  subject,  which  .Messrs. 
Harbord  and   Tucker  contributed  to  the  meeting  of  the  Insti- 
tute held  in   18SS.      In  that  paper  it    was  shown   that  a  large 
(juantity  of  arsenic  is  decidedly  injurious  to  steel  :  and  it  has 
generally  been   thought  that   smaller  quantities  would  be  simi- 
larly injurious  in  a  corresponding  degree.      Mr.   Stead  did  not 
consider  such  an  hypothesis  necess;trily  soimcl,  and  determined 
to  carry  out  the  elaborate  series  of  experiments,  details  of  which 
are  given   in  the  paper.     The  results,  as  we  have  said,   are  of 
the  utmost   im]>ortance  to  steel  makers,  for  arsenic  and  phos- 
phorus are  frequently  bracketed  in  analyses,   as  the  sejiaration 
of  the  two  is  a  long  and  tedious  process.     If  small  quantities 
of  arsenic  are  not  injurious,  as  woidd  aj^pear  from  Mr.  Stead's 
investigations,  phosphorus  is  undeniably  a  deleterious  ingredient. 
The  general  conclusions  the  authftr  drew   from  his  investiga- 
tions   were   that   between  O'lO  i>er  cent,  and   0'15  per  cent,  of 
arsenic  in  steel  for  structural  purposes  does  not  have  any  material 
effect   so   far  as    mechanical    properties   are   concerned.      The 
tenacity  is  but   .slightly  incre.ised,  the  elongation  is  apparently 
not  affected,  and    the   reduction   in   area  of  the  fractured  test- 
jjieces  is  i)ractically  equal  to  that  of  the  same  steel  withnul  the 
addition  of  arsenic.      With  0'20  per  cent:  arsenic  the  diHereiice, 
although  slight,   is   noticeable  in    s,imples  of  acid  o]>en-hearth 
steel   tried  ;    but    even    in  this  case   the   only  serious  ditVerence 
evidently  caused  by  the  arsenic  is  the  inferiority  of  the  bending 
l)roperlies  of  the  pieces  cut  from  the  pl.ates  iicro.ss  the  direction 
of  rolling  after  they  had  been  tempered.     With  larger  amounts 
of  arsenic  the   effect   is  decisive.      When    I    per  cent,  is  juesent 
the   ten.acity  is  increased,  and   the  elongation  slightly  reduieil. 
The  heniling  properties  v)f  the  steel  are,  however,  fairly  good. 
When  the  arsenic  amounts  to  about  I J  per  cent,  the  tenacity  is 
still   further  increa.se<l,  and  the  elong.alion  and   conlr.action    of 
area  still  further  reduced,  whilst  the  bending  projierties are  poor. 
With   4  per  cent,  of  arsenic   the  tenacity  is   increased,  and  the 
contraction  becomes/;//.     The  author  points  out,  however,  that 
the  trials  with  .steel  containing  the  higher  wrcentages  of  arsenic 
could  not  be  considered  quite  satisfactory,  iiecause  the  ingots  on 
which  the  experiments  were  made   were  of  very  .small  si/e,  and 
cimsequently    a    .small    amount    of   work    only    could    be    put 
u|)on  them  before  testing.      Mr.  .Ste.td  considered  it  would  have 
been  highly  probable  that  h.id  larger  miusses  been  dealt  with  ihe 
results  would  have  been  more  satisliictory.     The  effect  of  queiu  h 
ing  the  steel,  after  h>'ating  Io  a   red   heat,  in  every  ca.se  where 
arsenic    w.ts    in    large   (piantity,    was  to    improve    its    bending 
pro|)erty. 

Hot  working  is  not  affected  by  even  4  per  cent,  of  arsenic, 
such  an  alloy  appearing  to  .stand  about  as  much  heat  without 
burning  as  a  steel  containing  i  \vix  cent,  of  carbon.  Wlun 
healed  below  the  burning  point  such  material  can  readily  be 
hammered  and  rolled,  and  appears  to  be  as  .soft  in  that  stale  as  | 
steel  containing  aboul  '05  per  cent,  carbon.  From  this  the 
author  considers  it  safe  to  conclude  that  arsenic  has  iiol  ihe 
slightest   tendency   to   prttduce   red-shortness.      Mr.    .Stead    liatl 


I     I 


Mav    1 6,  1895J 


NA  TURE 


made  exiicriments  lo  ascertain  the  rate  of  corrosion  of  arsenical 
steel.      He  had  suljmerged  wires  in  a  2  per  cent,  solution  of  sal- 

tiiinoniac,  had   placed   others  in  fresh  water,  and  still  another 

iiiiple  to  a  pile  of  the  wharf  at  the  Middlesbrough  Ironworks 
in  such  a  position  as  to  be  alternately  covered  and  exposed  as 
the  tide  ebbed  and  flowed.  The  conclusions  arrived  at  were  that 
arsenical  steel  is  not  more  liable  to  corrosion  than  the  same 
material  without  arsenical  addition  ;  in  fact,  o.Kidation  is 
retarded  by  the  presence  of  small  (juantities  of  arsenic. 

It  is  in  steel  that  is  to  be  used  in  positions  where  it  will  require 
to  be  welded  that  arsenic  appears  most  injurious,  for  that  process 
is  rendered  more  <lifticult  by  even  very  small  quantities  of  arsenic  ; 
so  that,  as  Mr.  Stead  says,  when  welding  material  is  required, 
arsenic  should  be  most  carefully  avoided.  In  regard  to  electrical 
conductivity, «too,  arsenic  is  injurious,  for  the  value  of  the  material 
in  this  respect  is  materially  reduced  by  even  small  quantities  of 
arsenic.  .\  quantity  equal  to  o'25  per  cent,  diminishes  the  con- 
ductivity by  about  15  per  cent. 

The  paper  concludes  with  an  appendix  in  which  the  author 
gives  a  method  he  has  worked  out  in  detail  for  deterinining  the 
arsenic  in  iron  ores,  in  steel,  and  in  pig  iron.  It  has  been  the 
general  practice  to  preciiiitatc  the  arsenic  as  sulphide  or  hydric 
sulphide  from  the  distillate,  and  either  weigh  the  pure  sulphide 
after  drying  at  212^  K.  or  to  oxidise  it  in  bromine  and  hydro- 
chloric acid,  and  then  precipitate  the  arsenic  acid  with  ammonia 
and  magnesia  solution,  and  weigh  the  precipitate  |iroduced. 
This  process,  although  accurate,  is  tedious  and  takes  at  least 
twenty-four  hours  to  complete.  .Mr.  Stead  has  found  that  if  the 
distillation  is  conductefl  in  a  special  manner  the  whole  of  the 
arsenic  may  be  obtained  in  the  distillate,  unaccompanied  with 
any  traces  of  chloride  of  iron,  and  that  if  the  hydrochloric  acid 
is  nearly  neutralised  with  ammonia  and  finally  completely  neu- 
tralised with  aciil  carbonate  of  soda,  the  arsenic  can  be  deter- 
mined volumetrically  with  a  standard  solution  of  iodine,  using 
starch  solution  as  an  indicator. 

Emil  Fischer  proposed  the  process  of  distillation  with  ferrous 
chloride  and  titration  of  the  distillate  with  iodine  solution  ;  but, 
as  the  details  are  not  given  in  "  Crookes'  .Select  Methods,"  Mr. 
Stead  had  to  work  them  out  for  himself.  These  he  gives  in  full 
in  his  |>aper,  to  which  we  must  refer  our  readers,  as  it  would 
take  too  much  space  to  describe  the  process  in  full.  Mr.  Stead 
says  that  a  more  simple  and  accurate  device  for  the  determina- 
tion of  small  quantities  of  arsenic  it  would,  he  thinks,  be  im- 
possible to  conceive. 

The  discussion  of  this  paper,  although  of  an  interesting  nature, 
did  not  produce  any  new  facts  of  importance.  The  majority  of 
those  who  spoke  were  either  steel  makers  or  those  interested  in 
the  production  of  steel,  and  they  naturally  congratulated  them- 
selves on  the  conversion  of  a  long-supposed  enemy  into  a  neutral, 
if  not  into  an  ally.  It  should  be  remembered,  however,  th.at  the 
meeting  consisted  chiefly  of  persons  only  too  anxious  to  reduce 
the  difficulty  and  cost  of  steel  making  ;  and  not  likely  to  accept 
any  explanations  tending  to  that  end  in  a  captious  spirit.  Xo  one 
is  likely  to  question  the  scientific  accuracy  or  bona  fides  of  so 
eminent  and  conscientious  an  observer  and  experimentalist  as 
Mr.  .Stead,  yet  there  may  be  something  to  say  on  the  other  side. 
This  appears  more  likely  from  the  remarks  of  the  one  user  of 
steel  who  spoke  -Mr.  Wighani,  the  manager  of  a  wire-drawing 
firm  who  had  made  a  report  lo  .Mr.  Stead,  which  was  quoted  in 
the  paper.  It  should  lie  reinembered,  also,  that  Mr  Stead  himself 
says  that  further  exjieriments  are  necessary. 

The  only  remaining  paper  that  was  read  was  Mr.  Scott's  con- 
tribution on  the  Iron  .Mines  of  Elba.     This.was  not  discussed. 

The  autumn  meeting  of  the  Institute  will  take  place  in 
Birmingham,  commencing  Tuesday,  August  12. 


THE    SCHORLEMMER    MEMORIAL 
LABORATORY. 

P^  interesting  ceremony  took  place  at  the  Owens  College, 
Manchester,  a  few  days  ago,  when  Dr.  Ludwig  Mond 
formally  opened  the  Schorlemmcr  Laboratory  for  Organic 
Chemi.stry,  together  with  a  large  laboratory  for  medical  .students 
and  a  room  for  the  [ireparation  and  storage  of  reagents.  It 
may  be  remembered  that,  after  the  death  of  Prof.  Schor- 
lemmcr, his  friends  and  pupils,  under  the  lead  of  Sir 
II.  K.  Koscoe,  late  professor  of  chemi.stry  at  the  College, 
took  steps  with  a  view  to  fittingly  commemorate  his  services 
to  the  College  and    to    the  .advancement  of  organic  chemi.stry. 

NO.    1333,   VOL.    52] 


It  was  generally  felt  that  the  best  memorial  would  be  the 
erection  of  a  laboratory  for  organic  chemistry,  to  be  called 
after  his  name,  and  a  subscription  list  was  accordingly  opened. 
The  appeal,  which  was  generously  headed  by  Ur.  .Mond,  was 
so  well  responded  to,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Germany,  that 
in  a  short  time  a  sum  of  £2-fio  was  subscribed.  Meantime  the 
Council  of  the  College  had  to  take  into  serious  consideration  the 
rapid  growth  of  the  chemical  department.  Originally  designed 
for  100  stiulents,  the  laboratories  had  for  several  years  been 
overcrowded,  and  the  private  rooms  built  for  research  work  had 
to  be  given  up  for  the  general  instniction  of  the  students.  The 
number  of  the  students  in  the  chemical  laboratories  has  steadily  in- 
creased during  the  past  five  years,  and,  in  view  of  this  increase,  the 
Council  became  convinced  of  the  necessity  of  extending  the  chem- 
ical department.  They  accordingly  accepted  the  fund  raised  by  the 
Schorlemmer  Memorial  Committee,  and  instructed  Mr.  Alfred 
Waterhouse  to  prepare  plans  for  a  "Schorlemmer"  Organic 
Laboratory,  and  ibr  a  new  laboratory  for  elementary  students,  on 
a  plot  of  land  adjoining  the  present  laboratories  acquired  by  the 
College  for  the  purpose  of  their  extension.  The  Schorlemmer 
Laboratory,  designed  by  Mr.  Waterhouse,  is  at  the  end  of  the 
main  corridor  in  the  old  chemical  building.  It  measures  sixty 
feet  by  thirty  feet,  and  has  an  arched  roof  thirty  feet  high.  The 
laboratory  is  designed  to  accommodate  a  professor,  two  dem-jii- 
strators,  and  thirty-six  students.  It  is  fitted  in  the  most  compLte 
manner  with  every  requisite  for  the  important  work  which  is  to 
be  carried  on  within  it,  and  in  some  particulars  is  arranged  after 
the  plan  of  the  Munich  organic  laboratories.  The  lower 
laboratory  is  designed  for  forty-five  students.  The  fittings  are 
similar  to  those  in  the  old  laboratories  designed  by  Sir  Henry 
Roscoe.     The  total  cost  of  the  new  building  was  ^4800. 

A  full  report  of  the  opening  ceremony  is  given  in  the  Manchester 
Guardian,  to  which  source  we  are  indebted  for  the  following 
condensed  account : — 

In  connection  with  the  inaugural  proceedings,  a  large  and  re- 
presentative company  gathered  in  the  Chemical  Theatre  of  the 
College.  -Messages  regretting  inability  to  attend,  and  wishing 
prosperity  to  the  laboratory,  were  received  from  a  number  of 
eminent  chemists.  Prof.  H.  B.  Dixon  referred  to  the  esteem  in 
which  Schorlemmer's  name  was  held,  and  expressed,  on  behalf  of 
his  colleagues  and  himself,  their  admiration  of  the  life  and 
character  of  the  man  to  whose  memory  the  laboratory  had  been 
erected. 

Sir  H.  E.  Roscoe  sketched  Schorlemmer's  life,  and,  in  the 
course  of  his  addre-ss,  said  : — Schorlemmer  added  another  name  to 
the  list  of  distinguished  foreigners  who  had  found  a  home  in 
these  islands.  Never  again  could  it  be  said  that  England  failed 
to  recognise  and  appreciate  the  value  of  the  services  of  those  who 
sough;  her  shores.  The  names  of  Herschel,  of  Hofraann,  of  Max 
.Miiller.  and,  lastly,  of  Schorlemmer  indicated  that  we  are  not 
slow  to  give  honour  to  those  who  were  once  strangers  in  the 
land,  but  who  had  made  themselves  members  of  our  national 
family.  They  might  have  good  hopes  that  the  time  would 
soon  come  when  the  leaders  in  chemical  industry  would  appre- 
ciate the  necessity  of  a  thorough  scientific  training,  as  had  long 
been  the  case  in  Germany  ;  and  that  as  Giessen  was,  under 
Liebig,  the  means  of  raising  the  standard  of  chemical  education 
throughout  the  Fatherland,  so  the  chemical  department  of  Owens 
College  might,  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  Dixon  and  Prof. 
Perkin,  the  director  of  the  new  laboratory,  be  pointed  out  as  the 
institution  in  England  which  had  done  the  same  for  this  great 
empire. 

Dr.  Ludwig  Mond  next  addressed  the  meeting.  He  remarked 
that  the  opening  of  the  first  laboratory  solely  devoted  to  the 
study  of  organic  chemistry,  at  the  only  University  in  England 
which  could  boast  of  a  professor  of  that  science,  was  a  dis- 
tinct step  forward  in  the  development  of  science  in  this  country. 
He  considered  it  a  great  step  in  advance  to  have  a  special  labora- 
tory and  special  professors  appointed  for  the  study  of  the  chem- 
istry of  carbon,  because  the  subject-matter  of  chemistry  now 
covered  so  va.st  a  domain,  and  was  increasing  at  such  an  immense 
rate,  that  for  any  one  desiring  to  further  contribute  to  it,  it  had 
become  a  necessity,  after  mastering  the  main  facts  of  the  science, 
to  give  his  attention  specially  to  the  details  of  one  or  other  part 
of  it.  While  it  was  true  that  carbon  was  only  one  out  of  many 
elements,  it  possessed  such  very  special  properties  that  the  nud- 
titude  of  its  compounds  probably  outnumbered  those  of  all  the 
rest  of  the  elements  together,  and  it  h.ad  the  unique  interest  that 
all  the  innumerable  .substances  that  were  found  in  plants  and 
animals,  which  built  up  their  tissues,  and  by  their  constant 
changes  jiroduccd   the    phenomenon    we   called    life,    were    all 


64 


NATURE 


[May   1 6,  1895 


compounds    of   carbon.      It    was    for  this    reason    that    they 
called  the  chemistrj-    of  these  compounds  organic  chemistr)', 
and      it     was     ver)-      natural      that      that     branch     of    their 
science    should    be    nearer    to    their    hearts    than    any    other 
branch.      But    there    was    another    .ind    stronger    reason    for 
haWng  special  laboratories  of  organic  chemistr)-.     The  methods 
of    investigation    and     the    way    of    analysing    organic    com- 
pounds differed  considerably  from  those   applied    to   inorganic 
chemistry.     In  the  latter,  if  we  had  ascertained  by  an  accurate 
analysis  of  a  pure  substance  its  |x;rcentage  composition,  that, 
together  with  the  determination  of  a  few  simple  physical   pro- 
perties, was  usually  sufficient  to  give  us  a  perfect  insight   into  its 
chemical  composition  ami  lK*haviour.     The  laboratory  methods 
required  for  that  study  were  simple  and  most  of  them  well  known, 
so  that  they  could   be   acquired    by   sufficient  ex|xfrience.     In 
organic  compounds  the  matter  was  very  different.     The   per- 
centage composition  and  the  physical  properties  told  them  very 
little   of  their   chemical    individuality   and   behaviour.      Many 
substances  of   exactly  the   same   percentage   composition    pos- 
sessed widely  different  qualities,    which    were  not   explained   by 
their  physical  properties.     They  must  find   out  how  these  com- 
pounds,  many  of   which   were   very  complex,    were   built   up. 
They  had  to  unravel  the  structure  of  those  substances  to  attain 
their  end,  which  in  chemical  investigation  always  meant  to  give 
an  explanation  of  all  the  various  properties  of  a  substance  through 
its  chemical  constitution.     To  ascertain  its  structure  they  had  to 
break  the  organic  substance  down  by  degrees,  to  take  it  gradually 
to   pieces  ;  and  even  that  was  not  enough,  but  to  make  sure  of 
the  actual  arrangement  of  those  pieces  in  the  substance  they  had 
to  put   them  together  again,   to  rebuild  the  substance  from   its 
proximate  constituents,  and  only  after  having  accomplished  that 
could    they    consider    that    they  knew  its   constitution.      The 
methods    employed    in     that    work     were     entirely    different 
from     those    of    ordinary   analysis.       They   were    very   mani- 
fold.       The     investigator     had     to     make     his     own     choice 
which   of  them  to  apply  in  any  individual  case,  and   wherever 
he   broke  new  ground  and    undertook  the  study  of  a  new  series 
of  compounds,  he  had    to  discover  and  work  out  new  methods 
Ijefore  he  could  achieve  success.     It  w.is  evident  that  a  student 
who  aimed  at  qu.alifying  himself  for  such  high-class  work  should 
enjoy  special  facilities,  and  should,  after  having  gone  through  a 
regular  course  of  analytical  chemistry,  have  a  chance  of  prosecut- 
ing special  organic  work  in  a  IalM)ralory  fitted  si>ecially  f<jr  it,  and 
where    he   was    undisturl>ed    by    the    army    of   lx.'ginners    who 
thronged  an  analytical  laUiratory.     -Vnd   there  he  might  point 
out    that    in  his  opinion  the  reason   why  this  country  had   not 
advanced  in  organic  chemistry  .xs  fast  as  other   countries,  the 
reason  why  llofmann's  prediction  in  his  report  on  the  Kxhibi- 
tion  of  1862  that  "  England  will  l>e  unquestionably  at  no  distant 
<late   the  greatest   colour-producing  countr}'  in   the  world,"  had 
not  iK-en   rulfille<l,  and   that    (iermany  had  almost    entirely  taken 
this  iniluslry  out  of  her  hands,  although   it   was  inaugurated  by 
an  Knglishnian  (Dr.  VV.  II.  I'erkin),  had  been  that  so  few  English 
students  of  chemistry  had  devoted  sufficient  lime  to  the  prosecu- 
tion  of   their  studies.       It  wils  evident,  therefore,  in  order    to 
attain  the  necessary  experience  and  certainty   in   carr)ing  out 
original  inveslig.-ilion  in  organic  chemistry,  that  four  to  five  years 
of  close  study  and  attention,  under  the  leadership  of  a  competent 
profesvir,  were  a  necessity  :  and  for  carrying  on  successfully  the 
manufacture  of  artificial  <'oIours  it    was  indispen.salfle   that    the 
chemist  should  l>e  aljle  to  carry  out  independent  original  research 
l)ecause  new  colours  had  year   after  year  to  be  discovered  and 
manufactured,  and  the  jinKesses  for  their  production  had  to  be 
constantly  improved   in  order  to  compete  successfully  with  rival 
manufacturers.      The  .success  of  an  industrial  enterprise  depended 
n'jt,  infleed,   up<^m   the   workman,   not    the  ff)reman,  as  so  many 
|>eople  in  this  coimtry  still  lielieve,   but    upon   the  leading  mind 
whoilirected  the  manufactory,  who  h.id  a  thorough  grasp  of  scien- 
tific principles  and  had  been  trained  to  haliilsof  scientific  thought. 
Me  agreeil  that   it   was   desirable  to  cultivate  i)hysical  rheniislry 
and  inorganic  chemistry  much  more  than  had  lieen  done,  and  he 
was  very  glad  that  the  great  supremacy  which  organic  chemistry 
had    enjoyetl  —  more    |Kirticularly    in     (iermany,    the    home    of 
chemistry     was    now    being    c<mlested    by    other    and     equally 
iriiixjrtant  branches  (\\   the  science.      liut  great,  and  very  great, 
as  ha<l  Ijeen   the    progress  of  organic  chemistry,  it    ha<l  greater 
and  mfire  im[x>rtant  problems  still  to  solve  ;  and  in  this  country, 
which  had  given  birth  to  mi  many  of  the  most  important  steps  m 
advance   of   that    science,    it    hail    not   received   that   amount   of 
general   attention   which  it  had  deserved  in  the  |>ast,  and  which 
It    still    ilcscrvetl   in   the   future.      Me    therefore   .specially   and 

NO.    1333,   vol.,    52] 


heartily  welcomed  the  opening  of  the  first  laboratory  exclusively 
devoted  to  it  in  England.  Prof.  .Schorlemmer,  in  his  excellent 
and  most  suggestive  little  work  "On  the  Rise  and  Development 
of  Organic  Chemistry,"  after  giving  a  lucid  review  of  the  steps 
by  which  the  great  edifice  of  that  science  had  been  built  u]), 
gave  in  his  concluding  remarks  a  persix;ctive  of  the  iiroblenis 
still  to  be  solved  wide  enough  for  the  most  expansive  imagina- 
tion of  any  searcher  after  truth.  If  to-day  we  still  could  not 
make  morphine,  quinine,  and  similar  bodies  artifically,  the  time 
was  near  at  hand.  If  we  could  not  make  quinine,  we  ha<l 
already  found  a  |)artial  substitute  in  antipyrine,  and  its  intro- 
duction into  therapeutics  had  lowered  the  price  of  quinine  con- 
siderably. Another  imjxirtant  problem  was  the  synthesis  of  the 
ingredients  of  our  daily  food,  such  as  .sugar,  gum,  and  starch. 
Those  bodies  were  nearly  related  to  each  other,  for  we  coul<l 
convert  the  two  latter  into  different  kinds  of  sugar,  and  sugars 
again  into  gums.  That  the  synthesis  of  sugar  was  imminent  had 
already  been  stated.  Kut  it  was  quite  different  with  those 
imjxjrtant  parts  of  our  food  which  had  been  called  the  album- 
inous bodies.  Kekiilc,  in  discussing  the  .scientific  aims 
and  achievements  of  chemistry,  brought  forward  the  itlca  that  if 
ever  chemists  should  succeed  in  obtaining  albuminoid  bodies 
artificially  it  would  be  in  the  state  of  living  protopl.asm,  |X?rhaps 
in  the  form  of  those  structureless  beings  which  I  laeckel  called 
the  "  Monera."  .Ml  attempts  hitherto  made  for  the  pur]xise  of 
producing  living  matter  artificially  had  failed.  The  enigma  of 
life  could  only  be  solved  by  the  synthesis  of  an  allmminous  com- 
pound. Prof.  Fischer,  in  a  lecture  delivered  not  long  ago  in 
Berlin,  also  cxpre.sse<l  himself  full  of  confidence  that  the  time 
would  arrive  when  we  might  attack  successfully  even  the  pro- 
blem of  the  constitution  aiui  synthesis  of  the  albuminoids,  anil 
might  thus  approach  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  life.  Surely 
with  such  a  prospect  before  them  as  the  ultimate  result  of  the 
pursuit  of  organic  chemistry,  no  amount  of  work,  no  amount  of 
thought,  no  amount  of  time  and  trouble  devoted  to  that  study 
would  be  too  much  if  it  was  well  employed  in  leading  success- 
fully to  the  great  end  in  view,  although  the  goal  might  not  be 
reached  for  generations  to  come. 

The  company  afterwar<ls  adjourned  to  the   new  laboratory, 
which  was  declared  open  by  Dr.  Mond. 


THE  MIGKA  TIONS  OF  THE   LEMMING. 

T  TNDEK  the  title  "  .Myodes  Lemmus,  its  Habits  and  Migra- 
*-^  tions  in  Norway,"  Prof.  R.  Collett,  of  Christiania,  gives  a 
valuable  account  of  his  researches  into  the  h.abils  and  migrations 
of  that  interesting  little  rodent,  the  lennning,  which  has  t)ecome 
so  notorious  on  account  of  its  jieriodic  wanderings  in  v.ist  hordes 
down  the  Scandinavian  valleys.  Prof.  Collett  finds  the  earliest 
notice  of  the  kniniing  in  an  old  Norse  manuscri|il  ilating  from 
the  latter  end  of  the  Ihirleenlh  century,  and  reproduces  a  curiou> 
and  striking  woodcut  from  the  great  history  of  Olaus  Magnus 
(1 5551,  in  which  is  grai>hically  figured  the  descent  of  the 
lemmings  from  the  clouds  according  to  the  prevalent  belief. 
But  the  most  valuable  )>arts  of  the  memoir  are  those  which 
depend  u])on  the  author's  personal  knowledge  of  the  lemming. 
Tin-  nature  ami  haliits  of  the  lemming  are  clearly  described,  and 
much  light  is  thrown  upon  the  causes  which  from  time  to  linu- 
lead  such  vast  rnmdiers  of  these  animals  to  leave  their  native 
uplands  and  to  begin  their  suicidal  wanderings.  The  migrations 
seem  to  be  directly  due  to  overpopulation.  In  certain  year.-,, 
termed  by  the  writer  "  prolific  years,"  an  abnormal  fecundity  is 
exhibited  by  the  lemming  ;  this  phenon\enon  is  not,  however, 
confined  to  this  species,  but  is  shown  also  in  numerous  families 
of  manimals,  liirds,  and  insects.  The  consequences  of  this 
great  multiplication  in  the  case  of  the  lennning  are  thus 
described  liy  Prof,  Collett.  "  The  enormous  nndtiludes  require 
increasetl  s|)ace,  and  the  indiviiluals,  which,  under  normal  con- 
ditions, have  each  an  excessively  large  tract  at  their  disposal, 
cannot,  on  account  of  their  disposiliim,  bear  the  unaccustomed 
proximity  of  the  numerous  neighlxmrs.  Involuntarily  the 
mdividuals  are  pressed  out  lo  the  siilcs  until  the  edge  of  the 
moiMilaiii  is  reached.  In  :i  short  lime  tiny  enjoy  themselves 
there,  and  the  old  individuals  willingly  lireed  in  the  upper 
regicms  of  the  forests,  where,  at  other  times,  they  are  entirely 
wanting.  New  swarms,  however,  follow  on  ;  they  could  not 
return,  but  the  journey  proceeds  cmwards  down  the  sides  of  the 
mountains,  and  when  they  once  reach  the  valleys,  they  meet 
with  localities  which  are  cpiite  foreign  to  them.  They  then  con- 
tinue blindly  on,  endeavcmring  to  find  a  home  corresponding  trt 


May  i6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


ihat  they  have  left,  but  which  they  never  regain.  The  niijjratory 
individuals  proceed  hopelessly  on  to  a  certain  death."  Sooner 
or  later  all  the  wanderers  meet  their  death — thousands  are 
drownecl  in  rivers  or  fjords,  thousan<ls  are  attacked  by  HeasLs  and 
birds  of  prey,  and  thousands  perish  from  the  effects  of  cold  and 
dam]! ;  but  the  greater  number  die  from  the  ctTects  of  a  peculiar 
epidemic  which  attacks  them  in  the  lowlands.  It  is  pointed  out 
by  the  writer  that  the  wandering  instinct  developed  during 
migratory  years  is  probably  of  distinct  service  to  the  species  in 
reducing  the  surplus  population. 


THE  AUSTRALASIAN  ASSOCIATION. 

Y'yKgave.afortnight  ago,  the  presidential  address  delivered  by 
'  '  the  Hon.  \.  C.  Gregory  to  the  Australasian  Association  for 
the  .Advancement  of  Science  at  this  year's  meeting  in  Brisbane. 
Full  reports  of  the  proceedings  in  the  different  Sections  have 
reached  us,  from  the  General  Secretary,  .Mr.  J.  Shirley,  but  limits 
of  space  prevents  us  from  printing  more  than  a  brief  summary  of 
them. 

The  public  proceedings  of  the  meeting  were  opened  by  a 
popular  lecture  on  "Star  Depths,"  by  Mr.  II.  C.  Russell.  Mr. 
Russell  traced  the  growth  of  knowledge  concerning  tne  distance 
of  the  stars,  and  the  .structure  of  the  stell.ir  universe,  and  illus- 
trated his  description  by  a  selection  from  the  excellent  photo- 
graphs of  celestial  scenery  taken  at  .Sydney  (Observatory. 

We  give  a  synopsis  of  the  work  of  the  various  sections. 

AsTRO.NOMY,  Mathematics,  and  I'hysics. 

Mr.  Alexander  M'Aulay,  as  President  of  Section  A,  delivered 
an  address  "  On  Some  Popular  Misconceptions  on  the  Nature  of 
Mathematical  Thought." 

Mr.  P.  Baracchi,  contributed  a  paper  on  "  the  most  probable 
value  and  error  of  .\ustralian  longitudes,  including  that  of  the 
boundary  lines  of  South  Australia  with  Victoria  and  New  South 
Wales."  Dr.  Ralph  Copeland  sent  "  Some  Notes  on  the  New 
Royal  Observatory,  Edinburgh,"  and  Mr.  H.  C.  Russell  read  a 
paper  "On  a  Photographic  Transit  Instrument." 

Chemistry. 

.Mr.  [.  It.  Maiden  delivered  the  presidential  address  in  this 
Section,  entitled,  "The  Chemistry  of  the  .Australian  Indigenous 
Vegetation."  Mr.  E.  A.  Weinberg  contributed  a  paper  on  the 
refractory  gold  ores  of  (Queensland  :  their  sources  and  treatment. 
Prof.  .A.  I.iversidge,  F.  K..S.,  read  a  paper  on  "  N'anations  in 
amount  <jf  .Ammonia  in  Waaler  on  keeping."  He  also  descriljed 
the  internal  structure  of  some  Austr.alian  nuggets,  of  different 
sizes,  which  had  been  closely  examined  and  photographed.  The 
etching  was  conducted  according  to  the  following  plan  : — A 
clean  section  was  made  and  highly  polished,  and  acted  upon  by 
chlorine  water  or  bromine  water,  tincture  of  iodine  or  ]30tassiuni 
cyanide,  or  sodium  chloride  mixed  with  nitric  acid.  The  cry.stals 
less  readily  soluble  stand  up  in  relief  and  resemble  the  well- 
known  figures  seen  in  metallic  meteorites  when  etched.  One 
curious  fact  observed  was  that  when  the  nuggets  were  subjected 
to  heat,  bubbles  or  blebs  were  formed  on  the  surface,  which 
burst  with  a  sharp  report,  probably  due  to  water  included  in  the 
nugget  being  converted  into  high-pressure  steam.  Several 
beautiful  |)holographs  showing  the  crystalline  nature  of  the 
nuggets  were  exhibited.  Other  papers  read  were:  "On  the 
Corrosion  of  .Aluminium,"  .and  "Contributions  to  the  Biblio- 
graphy of  Gold,"  by  Prof.  Liversidge  ;  "  Pharmacy  as  a  .Science 
and  its  Future,"  by  Dr.  W.  Finselbach  :  "  Notes  and  .Analyses 
of  some  of  the  .-Vrtesian  Waters  of  New  .South  Wales,"  by  John 
C.  II.  Mingaye  ;  "  On  the  F>onomic  Treatment  of  Gold  Ores," 
bylJeo.  II.  Irvine:  "  l,)ueensl,and  Native  Astringent  Medicines," 
by  Dr.  Joseph  l.auterer  :  "  Portland  Cement  after  Fifty  Vears," 
by  W.  M.  Doherty  :  "Some  Remarks  on  the  Teaching  of 
Elementary  Chemistry,"  by  A.  J.  Sach  :  ".Analysis  of 
ICucalyptus  Gums,"  by  Dr.  Wilton  I.ove  ;  "The  Ointments  of 
the  British  Pharmacopceia,"  by  F".  W.  Simmonds  ;  "  Notes  on 
the  Poisonous  Constituents  of  Stephania  I  lernandiiafolia," 
by  Prof.  Edward  H.  Rennie  ;  "Preliminary  Notes  on  the 
Bark  of  Caris.sa  Ovata,  A'.  Hr.  v.  Stolonifera,  Bail,"  by  H.  (i. 
Smith;  "On  ;i  Method  of  Shortening  certain  Chemical 
Calculations,"  by  W.  A.  Ilargreaves. 


Geology  and  .Mi.neralogy. 
Prof.  T.  W.  Edgeworth  David,  in  his  addre.ss  to  this  Section, 
reviewed  briefly  some  recent  geological  discoveries  of  special 
interest.  A  paper  by  Mr.  E.  F.  Pittman,  Assoc.  R..S.M., 
"entitled  "  Notes  on  the  Cretaceous  Rocks  in  the  North-western 
Portion  of  New  South  Wales,"  gave  the  results  of  a  recent 
geological  journey  by  him  over  1 150  miles  of  country.  The 
geological  examination  was  made  chiefly  with  the  object  of 
determining  approximately  the  area  and  boundaries  of  the  artesian 
water  formation. 

Among  other  papers  read  before  this  Section  were  : — ".Anti- 
clines and  Synclines  and  their  Relation  to  .Mining,"  by  Ernest 
Lidgey  ;  "On  the  Nomenclature  of  Cry.stals,"  by  Prof.  .A. 
Liversidge,  F. R..S.  ;  "The  Development  and  Progress  of 
Mining  and  Cieology  in  t^^'^t^nsland,"  by  William  FVyar  ;  "  On 
the  Present  State  of  our  Knowledge  of  the  Older  Tertiaries  of 
.Southern  Australia,"  by  G.  B.  Pritchard  ;  "The  Antiquity  of 
Man  in  Victoria,"  by  W.  H.  Ferguson  ;  "  The  Glacial  Deposits 
of  Victoria,"  by  G.  Ofiicer,  L.  Balfour,  and  E.  G.  Hogg  ; 
"  Notes  on  Tin  Mining  at  Herberton,"  by  John  Munday. 

BlOLOI-.Y. 

Prof  A.  Dendy  took  for  the  subject  of  his  presidential  address, 
"The  Cryptozoic  Fauna  of  Australa.sia."  Mr.  F.  M.  Bailey 
read  a  paper  on  peculiarities  of  the  Phanerogamic  Flora  of 
Queensland.  The  paper  chiefly  contained  descriptions  of  in- 
digenous fruits  recommended  for  cultivation.  Mr.  D.  Le  Souef 
furnished  a  paper  on  the  Tree  Kangaroo  ( Datdrolagtis  Bennet- 
tiauiis),  describing  its  mode  of  climbing,  its  food,  and  the  way 
it  is  captured  bv  the  natives.  In  a  pa])er  on  the  eating  of  earth 
by  the  larger  Macropodidiv,  by  J.  Douglas  Ogilby,  evidence  was 
given  of  the  eating  of  earth  by  kangaroos  in  the  Bourke  district. 
New  .South  Wales.  This  habit  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
previously  recorded,  though  in  the  district  under  notice  it  plays 
no  unimportant  part  in  the  econiJmy  of  the  larger  marsupials. 

Dr.  M.  C.  Cook  sent  a  j^aper  entitled  "Pestiferous  Fungi  and 
their  Modes  of  Attack."  Dr.  Charles  Chilton  gave  a  general 
account  of  history,  occurrence,  distribution  and  habit.s  of  the 
blind  .\mphi])oda  and  Isopoda  found  in  the  underground  waters 
of  the  Canterbury  Plains  in  New  Zealand.  Miss  Lodder  fur- 
nished a  revised  list  of  the  Marine  Mollusca  of  Tasmania.  Some 
plants  peculiarto  the  Burnett  Basin  were  described  by  James  Keys. 
In  a  paper  entitled  "  Notes  and  Observations  on  the  Genus 
Nephila,"  W.J.  Rainbow  dealt  with — (I)  the  localities  in  which 
spiders  of  the  genus  Nephila  abound:  (2)  the  .strength  and  ela.sticity 
of  their  webs,  in  the  sticky  meshes  of  which  certain  birds  of  weak 
wing-power  are  caught :  (3)  the  question  as  to  whether  the  Nephiht 
eat  birds  thus  captured  ;  (4)  the  mo<le  by  which  silk  may  be  ob- 
tained from  these  spiders  by  artifical  means,  and  the  experiments 
made  by  certain  naturalists  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  the 
amount  that  could  be  obtained  from  individuals  of  this  genus  in 
a  season,  the  object  of  which  was  to  endeavour  to  ])rove  that  the 
product  might  be  used  f  )r  economic  purposes. 

Dr.  J.  Muller.of  Geneva,  .Switzerland,  contributed  a  jiaper  on 
the  Pyrenocarpeoe  of  the  Lichen  family.  Mr.  A.  J.  Campbell 
described  the  nests  and  eggs  of  Au.stralian  Hawks.  Mr.  .A.  G. 
Hamilton,  in  a  paper  entitled  "The  Fertilisation  of  some 
Australian  Plants,"  gave  many  of  his  own  observations  as  to 
the  mode  by  which  fertilisation  is  effected.  Mr.  W.  M.  .Maskell 
gave  a  synoptical  list  <.if  the  C'occida-  reported  from  .Vustralasia 
and  the  Pacific  Islands  up  to  Decendier  1894. 

Mrs.  W.  Martin  gave  the  life-history  of  the  vegelalile  growth 
known  as  Native  Bread  (Mylitta  Auslralis).  .Australian  mosses 
were  enumerated  by  Richard  .A.  Bitstow,  and  some  notes  on 
the  poisonous  constituents  of  Stephania  hcniandiufolia  were 
read  by  E.  il.  Rennie  and  \'..  V.  Turner.  Picrotoxine  anil 
an  alkaloid  possessing  strongly  poisonous  properties  and  marked 
chemical  characteristics  have  Ijeen  i.solated  from  an  extract  from 
the  plant. 

"  I'xonomic  Fmlomology  "  w.as  the  title  of  a  paper  by  the 
Rev.  F;.  H.  Thonq)Son,  who  poiiiti;d  out  the  great  benefit  re- 
.sulting  to  a  country  from  a  properly  conducted  Government 
Entomological  Department,  and  urged,  in  order  to  increase  its 
usefulness:  (i)  the  formation  of  a  federal  entomological  de- 
partment with  a  head  staff  and  field  observers  in  each  of  the 
colonies  ;  (2)  a  federal  ;igricuUural  ami  scientific  journal  for  all 
the  colonies,  subsidised  by  all  :  (3)  elementary  entomology  to 
be  taught  in  the  .State  schools,  special  reference  being  given  l<i 
the  insect  pests  peculiar  lo  each  district  or  colony  :  and  (4)  the 


NO.    1333,  VOL.   52] 


65 


NATURE 


[May    i6,  1895 


formation  of  school  museums  and  prizes  given  for  the  best 
collections. 

Mr.  G.  B.  Barton  gave  a  concise  historical  account  of  the 
first  discover)-  of  the  Eucalj-ptus,  including  the  names  and 
nationalities  (if  those  to  whom  the  honour  has  been  ascribed  by 
various  writers. 

.■\  paper  by  Dr.  J.  Lauterer  contained  physiological  and 
microchemical  researches  on  the  Eucalyptus,  and  contributed 
some  new  items  with  regard  lo  the  life-history  of  those  trees  con- 
nected with  the  origin  of  the  gum  exuded  by  their  bark. 

Geography. 

The  I'resident  of  the  Section,  Baron  von  Mueller,  was  absent, 
•but  his  address,  on  "  The  Commerce  of  Australia  with  Neigh- 
bouring Countries  in  Relation  to  Geography,"  was  read. 

Mr.  C.  L.  Wragge  gave  an  account  of  his  investigations  of 
ocean  currents  by  means  of  bottles  thrown  into  the  sea.  He  was 
of  opinion  from  the  results  obtained  that  many  of  the  bottles  had 
been  influenced  more  by  winds  than  by  ocean  currents  ;  but  if 
this  were  not  the  case,  the  bottles  cast  adrift  in  the  .Vustralian 
Bight  distinctly  indicated  that  a  strong  current  sets  from  the 
neighb<5urh(x)d  of  Kangaroo  Island  towards  the  head  of  the 
Bight  and  Israelite  Bay.  The  most  interesting  of  the  bottle 
papers  is  one  that  was  cast  adrift  near  the  Cocos  Islands,  in  the 
north-eastern  portion  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  w  hich  was  found 
a  few  months  afterwards  on  the  shores  of  German  East  .\frica. 
Papers  cast  adrift  by  Mr.  Wragge  during  a  voyage  to  England,  in 
the  neighliourhood  of  the  Sargasso  Sea,  were  picked  up  at  ilayti, 
on  the  .Vlatania  coast,  and  on  the  Louisiana  coast.  Others  thrown 
overboard  with  a  view  to  testing  Kennel's  current,  which  sets 
towards  the  coast  of  Ireland,  from  the  neighlxjurhood  of  Cape 
Einisterre,  were  certainly  influenced  by  the  strong  wcsl-south- 
west  winds  which  were  experienced  on  that  occasion  between  the 
Western  Islands  and  the  English  Channel.  None  of  these  appear 
to  have  followed  the  current,  but  went  straight  across  it,  some 
Ijeing  found  on  the  west  coast  of  Erance,  and  near  the  islands 
of  Sein,  while  one  was  picked  up  at  Brighton.  It  ai>|Kars  to 
be  highly  desirable,  judging  from  the  results  obtained,  that  the 
Iwttles  should  be  weighted  with  sand  or  other  material,  with  a 
view  to  more  completely  sinking  them  in  the  water,  and  thus 
minimising  the  influence  of  the  winds. 

.•\mong  other  ])apers  contributed  to  this  Section  were — "The 
Southern  .Alps  of  New  Ze.-iland,"  by  Mr.  A.  P.  Harper  ;  "  The 
Hiss.Tgos  Islands,"  by  M.  Max  Astrie  ;  and  "  Physiography  of  the 
Victorian  (iold  Eields,"  by  James  Stirling. 

Ethnology  and  Anthropology. 

Mr.  Thomas  Worsnop,  President  of  the  Section  of  Ethnology 
and  .•\nthro|Kj|ogy,  delivered  an  address  u|X)n  the  prehistoric  arts 
of  the  .Australian  Alxirigines.  Messrs.  W.  ).  Enright  and  R.  H. 
Matthews  descrilxid  the  almriginal  drawings  in  theWollombi  Caves, 
New  South  Wales.  A  pa|)er  was  contributed  by  .Mr.  Thomas 
I'etrie,  on  the  habits  and  customs  of  the  wild  tribes  as  he  saw  them 
in  1837,  from  UrisU-ine  lo  Maroochy.  "  EckhIs  of  North-west 
Alxiriginals"  w.is  the  title  of  a  |apcr  by  J.  Coghlan.  Mr.  John 
E.  .Small  contributed  a  |iaper  on  customs  and  traditions  of  the 
Clarence  Kiver  alKiriginals.  The  |)apcr  dealt  with  the  traditions, 
funeral  ceremonies,  marriage  laws,  and  the  Bora  ceremony.  .Mr. 
E.  Thonie  read  a  [aper  entitled  "Curious  Ab<iriginal  .Marriiige 
Custom."  The  i)a|ier  was  the  result  of  investig.ttions  made  by 
the  author  in  the  I.aguna  Bay. 

The  other  pa|)ers  communicated  to  this  Section  included  : 
*•  •  BfKjmerang  '  an<l  '  Woomera,'  P'volution,  Varieties,  and  Dis- 
tribution," by  Mr.  A.  Weston:  "The  Ancient  Government  of 
.Samoa,"  by  Rev.  S.  Ella  ;  "  Notes  on  Tokelau,  Gillbert,  and 
Ellicc  Islands,"  by  Rev.  J.  E.  Newell  ;  "  A  Com|>arative  View 
of  some  .Samfan  Customs,"  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Stairs  ;  ' '  Eariy  Samoan 
Voyages  and  .Settlements,"  by  Rev.  J.  B.  Stairs;  and  "Gaelic 
Contributions  to  Folk  Ixjre,"  by  Rev.  A.  C.  Sutherland. 

Agriculture. 

in  .1  |rii|«t  'ai  iiic  leaching  of  agricultural  botany,  .Mr.  C.  T. 
.Mu.wjn  said  that  the  object  to  l>e  aimed  at  by  instructors  in  agri- 
cultural liotany  should  be  lo  im|>art  such  information  lo  the  pro- 
»pcctivc  cultivator  as  would  make  him  acquainted  with  plant 
structure  and  the  more  im|iortant  useful  plants.  Practice  alone 
would  not  make  a  go<«l  farnicr,  but  ])ractice,  when  based  upon 
a  knowledge  of  the  animate  and  inanimate  objects  he  was  dealing 
with,  and  their  surroundings,  wouhl  make  ihe  man  of  resources 


best  fitted  for  his  work.  .Mr.  T.  B.  Guthrie  contributed  a  paper 
on  examinations  of  difl'erent  varieties  of  wheat  grown  in  New 
South  Wales.  He  also  read  a  paper  on  "  soil  analysis,"  in  which 
the  value  of  soil  analysis  to  the  f;\rmer  was  discussed,  and  dif- 
ferent methods  for  the  deterininalion  of  the  available  plant  food 
in  soils  were  reviewed.  The  paper  embodied  a  suggestion  for  a 
scheme  of  soil  analysis,  the  results  of  which  should  be  of  practical 
use  to  the  farmer,  based  upon  the  determination  of  those  conditions 
which  conduce  to  fertility  rather  than  to  the  chemical  constitution 
of  the  soil.  Of  the  remaining  [lapers  read  before  this  section, 
the  following  were  of  more  than  technical  interest  :  — 

"  Climatic  Influences  on  Contagious  Diseases  of  Live  Slock," 
by  P.  R.  Gordon  :  "  How  to  Grow  Fruit,"  by  .Albert  H.  Benson  ; 
"Floods  and  F'orests,"  by  Philip  MacMahon  ;  "  Semi-Tropic.al 
Horticulture,"  by  Leslie  (!.  Corrie  ;  "  Forage  Plants  and  Grasses 
of  Australia,"  by  Fred.  Turner ;  "The  Agricultural  Chemistry 
of  the  Sugar  Cane,"  by  Joseph  Fletcher. 

Enginklring  and  -Architecture. 

Mr.  James  Finchani,  President  of  this  Section,  delivered  bis 
presidential  address  on  "  .Architecture  and  Engineering." 

Prof.  W.  C.  Kernot  contributed  a  paper  on  wind  jiressure. 
The  |)aper  was  a  continuation  of  one  read  at  the  .Adelaide 
meeting.  It  dealt  with  the  relation  between  velocity  and 
pressure,  and  detailed  series  of  experiments  leading  to  the  formula 
P='0033\"-',  which  approximates  very  closely  to  the  rule  given 
by  Dines,  and  disagrees  with  the  rules  given  by  Smeaton  and 
Crosby.  The  pressure  of  wind  upon  roofs  was  also  dealt 
with,  and  experiments  were  quoted  to  show  that  the  ordinary 
method  of  com|nUiiig  the  pressure  is  fairly  accurate  when  the 
roof  is  supported  on  thin  columns,  so  that  the  wind  can  pa.ss 
freely  below,  but  is  altogether  wrong  when  the  roof  is  supported 
on  walls.  In  this  latter  case  the  pressure  is  greatly  reduced, 
and  when  the  walls  terminate  in  parapets  is  often  rendered 
negative,  the  roof  having  a  distinct  tendency  to  lift. 

Other  pa]K-rs  communicated  to  this  section  were  :  — "  Experi- 
ments on  the  Waterproofing  of  Bricks  and  .Sandstones  with  Oils," 
and  "  Experiments  on  the  Porosity  of  Plasters  and  Cements,"  by 
Prof  .A.  Liversidge,  M..A.,  F.R.S.;  "  On  Teredo- Resisting  River 
Stnictures,"  by  Thomas  Parker  ;  "  Earthquakes  in  Relation  to 
Building  Construction,"  by  Thos.  Turnbull. 

Sanitary  Science  and  Hygiene. 

The  President  of  the  Section  of  Sanitary  Science  and  Hygiene, 
Dr.  J.  W.  Springthorpe,  read  an  address  on  "  The  Teaching  of 
.Science  in  Matters  of  Health." 

.Among  the  papers  read  were  : — "  The  Promise  of  '  Serum 
Therapeutics'  in  regard  lo  Tuberculosis,"  by  Dr.  J.  Sidney  Hunt  ; 
"Contagiousness  of  Tuberculosis,"  by  F.  H.  X'ivian  Voss ; 
"The  Prevalence  and  Intercommunicability  of  Human  .and 
.Animal  Tuberculosis,"  by  S.  S.  Cameron  ;  "  Le])rosy,''  by  Dr. 
C.  E.  Dunibleton,  and  also  by  .A.  Francis;  .and  "  l^tiological 
Views  of  the  Maintenance  of  Leprosy,''  by  Dr.  J.  -A.  Thompson. 

Menial  Science  and  Education. 

Prof  F.  .Anderson,  the  I'resident  of  this  Section,  delivered 
his  a<ldress  on  "  Education  in  Politics." 

Dr.  Henry  Belcher  contributed  a  paper  on  the  use  and  abuse 
of  examinations.  The  advantages  of  the  examination  system 
were  shortly  .stated  .as  follows  : — It  enables  the  teacher  lo  .stimu- 
late the  intelligence  and  test  the  progress  of  the  pupil,  ami  to 
fill  up  flaws  and  gaps  due  to  im|x'rfecl  ajiprehension,  careless- 
ness, or  defective  memory  :  it  is  a  power  almost  indis- 
|x;n»able  to  the  teacher's  efticiency,  and  is  thus  a  poUnl  factor 
in  general  education  ;  it  had  an  alterative  and  prcjphylactic 
e fleet  upon  private  .adventure  schools,  raising  their  lone  both 
inlelleclually  and  morally.  The  author  doubted  whether  it  was 
wise  lo  entrust  the  examination  of  pupils  to  persons  other  l1  an 
their  teachers.  The  disjidvanlages  of  the  exiiminalion  syslem 
were  that  Ihe  liest  part  of  a  teacher's  work  escajies  analysis  ; 
methods  of  higher  leaching  rise  in  quality  and  character,  while 
methods  of  examination  lie  behind  :  liy  Ihe  seleclion  of  set 
IxM.ks,  and  the  publication  of  manuals  tliereon,  an  intolerable 
yoke  and  shackle  is  placed  u])on  elementary  scholarship  ;  ex- 
amin.ations  appeal  to  the  lower  side  of  human  nature — wli.at 
will  |)ay  Iwcomes  the  pupil's  ruling  thought.  Certain  .subjecU 
of  great  ini|)<)rtance  are  neglected  because  they  do  not  largely 
count  for  prizes  and  honours ;  and  research  is  altogether 
neglected. 


NO.    1.^33,  VOL.   52] 


May   1 6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


67 


Among  the  remaining  papers  read  were: — "Science  as  a 
Subject  in  Girls"  Schools,"  by  Miss  F.  E.  Hunt;  "The 
Curriculum  of  Secondary  Education,"  by  D.  H.  HoUidge  ; 
'  The  Technical  Element  in  a  State  System  of  Education,"  by 
Antony  St.  Ledger ;  "  A  Contribution  towards  the  Study  of  the 
Relation  of  I';thics  and  Science,"  by  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Pollock  ; 
"The  Importance  of  Mental  Science  as  a  Guide  in  Primary 
Education,"  by  James  Rule. 

The  business  of  the  .Association  concluded  with  a  meeting 
of  the  General  Council,  at  which  the  following  recommendations, 
among  others,  were  adopted  : — 

( 1 )  That  the  committee  for  the  investigation  of  the  thermo- 
dynamics of  the  voltaic  cell  be  reappointed  without  grant. 

(2)  That  the  report  of  the  Seismological  Committee  be  printed, 
and  that  the  committee  be  reappointed  and  allowed  a  grant  of 
£,\o  towards  the  cost  of  the  erection  of  the  instruments  presented 
by  Dr.  \o\\  Rebeur-l'aschwitz  at  Tiniaru. 

(3)  That  the  following  be  a  committee — namely,  Messrs.  F.  M. 
Bailey,  R.  L.  Jack,  A.  Gibb  Maitland,  \.  Meston,  C.  W.  De 
\'is,  and  H.  Tryon — to  investigate  the  geology,  land  flora,  and 
natural  resources  generally  of  the  islands  and  islets  of  the  Great 
Barrier  Reef. 

(4)  That  the  New  Zealand  Government  be  asked  to  set  apart 
-Stephen's  Island,  Cook  Strait,  as  a  reserve  for  the  Tuatara 
Lizard. 

(5)  That  the  committee  for  the  investigation  of  glacial  deposits 
in  -Australasia  be  Messrs.  Hutton,  R.  L.  Jack,  R.  Tate,  R.  M. 
John.ston,  F.  W.  E.  David  (secretary),  G.  Sweet,  J.  Shirley, 
W.  Houchins,  El.  G.  Hogg,  E.  J.  Dunn,  A.  Montgomery,  and 
E.  F.  Pittman. 

(6)  That  a  committee — consisting  of  Messrs.  H.  C.  Stanley, 
A.  li.  Brady,  Thomas  Parker,  Prof.  Warren,  Prof.  Kernot, 
Henry  Moncriefi',  and  James  Fincham — be  appointed  to  inquire 
into  the  habits  of  the  teredo,  and  the  best  means  of  preserving 
timber  or  structures  subject  to  the  action  of  tidal  waters. 

(7)  That  the  connnittee  on  psycho-physical  research  be  ap- 
pointed without  a  grant. 

The  next  meeting  of  the  .Association  will  be  held  at  Sydney 
in  1S97,  underlhe  presidency  of  Prof.  Liversidge,  and  the  follow- 
ing meeting  will  take  place  at  Melbtjurne. 


ELECTRIFICATION  OF  AIRLAND  THERMAL 
CONDUCTIVITY  OF  ROCK  AT  DIFFERENT 
TEMPERATURES.^ 

(I.)  "OX   THE    ELECTRIFICATION  OF  AIR.  ' 

§  I.  /CONTINUOUS  observation  of  natural  atmospheric 
^-^  electricity  has  given  ample  proof  that  cloudless  air 
at  moderate  heights  above  the  earth's  surface,  in  all  weathers,  is 
electrified  with  very  far  from  homogeneous  distribution  of  electric 
density.  Observing,  at  many  times  from  May  till  -September, 
1859,  with  my  portable  electrometer  on  a  flat  open  .sea-beach  of 
Brodick  Bay  in  the  Island  of  -Vrran,  in  ordinary  fair  weather  at 
all  hours  of  the  day,  I  found  the  difference  of  potentials, 
between  the  earth  and  an  insulated  burning  match  at  a  height  of 
9  feet  above  it  (2  feet  from  the  miinsulated  metal  case  of  the 
instrument,  held  over  the  head  of  the  observer),  to  vary 
from  200  to  400  Daniell's  elements,  or  as  we  may  now 
say  volts,  and  often  during  light  breezes  from  the  east  and 
north-east,  it  went  up  to  3cxx)  or  4000  volts.  In  that  place, 
and  in  fair  weather,  I  never  founil  the  potential  other  than 
positive  (never  negative,  never  even  down  to  zero),  if  for  brevity 
we  call  the  earth's  potential  at  the  place  zero.  In  perfectly  clear 
weather  under  a  sky  sometimes  cloudless,  more  generally  some- 
what clouded,  I  often  observed  the  potential  at  the  9  feet  height 
to  vary  from  about  300  volts  gradually  to  three  or  four  times 
that  amount,  and  gradually  back  again  to  nearly  the  same  lower 
value  in  the  course  of  about  two  niinules.t  I  inferred  that  these 
gradual  variations  must  have  been  produced  by  electrified  masses 
of  air  moving  past  the  place  of  observation.  I  did  not  remark 
then,  but  I  now  see,  that  the  electricity  in  these  moving  masses 
of  air  must,  in  all  probability  have  been  chiefly  ]X)sitive  to  cause 
the  variations  which  I  observed,  as  I  shall  explain  to  you  a  little 
later. 

*  Two  communic.itioiis  to  the:  IMiiloj-uphicil  Society  of  Glxsgow  meeting, 
in  the  N.-itur.tl  Philosophy  I.ecrure-ruoni  of  the  University  of  Glasgow, 
March  27,  "  On  the  Elcctritic-ition  of  Air"  :  "On  the  Thermal  Conductivity 
0  IRock  at  different  temper.itures." 

t  "  Klectrost.itics  arul  Magnetism  "VS  i  iWilllani  Thomson),  xvl.  §§  aSi. 
J82. 


NO.    1333,   VOL     52] 


§  2.  .Soon  after  that  time  a  recording  atmospheric  electrometer  * 
which  I  devised,  to  show  by  a  ])holographic  curve  the  continuous 
variation  of  electric  potential  at  a  fixed  point,  wa.s  established  at 
the  Kew  Meteorological  Observatory,  and  has  been  kept  in 
regular  action  from  the  commencement  of  the  year  1861  till  the 
present  time.  It  showed  inces.sant  variations  quite  of  the  same 
character,  though  not  often  as  large,  as  those  which  I  had 
observed  on  the  sea-beach  of  -Arran. 

Through  the  kindness  of  the  -Astronomer  Royal,  I  am  able  to 
place  before  you  this  evening  the  photographic  curves  for  the 
year  1893,  produced  by  a  similar  recording  electrometer  which 
has  been  in  action  for  many  years  at  the  Royal  Observatory, 
Greenwich.  They  show,  as  you  see,  not  infrequently,  during 
several  hours  of  the  day  or  night,  negative  potential  and  rajiid 
transitions  from  large  positive  to  large  negative.  Those  were 
certainly  times  of  broken  weather,  with  at  least  showers  of  rain, 
or  snow ,  or  hail.  But  throughout  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
whole  time  the  curve  quite  answers  to  the  description  of  what  I 
observed  on  the  -Arran  sea-beach  thirty-six  years  ago,  except  that 
the  variations  which  it  shows  are  not  often  of  so  large  amount 
in  proportion  to  the  mean  or  to  the  minimums. 

§  3.  Thinking  over  the  subject  now,  we  see  that  the  gradual 
variations,  minute  after  minute  through  so  wide  a  range  as  the  3 
or  4  to  I,  which  I  frequently  obser\'ed,  and  not  infrequently 
rising  to  twenty  times  the  ordinary  minimum,  must  have  been  due  to 
positively  electrified  masses  of  air,  within  a  few  hundred  feet  ot 
the  place  of  observation,  wafted  along  with  the  gentle  winds  of 
5  or  10  or  15  feet  per  second  which  were  blowing  at  the  time. 
If  any  comparably  large  quantities  of  negatively  electrified  air 
had  been  similarly  carried  past,  it  i.s  quite  certain  that  the 
minimum  observed  potential,  instead  ot  being  in  every  case 
jiositive,  would  have  been  frequently  large  negative. 

§  4.  Tw  o  fundamental  questions  in  respect  to  the  atmospheric 
electricity  of  fair  weather  force  themselves  on  our  attention  : — 
(i)  What  is  the  cause  of  the  prevalent  po.sitive  potential  in  the 
air  near  the  earth,  the  earth's  potential  being  called  zero }  (2) 
How  comes  the  lower  air  to  be  electrified  to  different  electric 
densities  whether  po.sitive  ornegative  in  difl'erent  parts?  Observa- 
tions and  laborator}'  experiments  made  within  the  last  six  c^r 
eight  )ears,  and  particularly  two  remarkable  discoveries  made  by 
Lenard,  which  I  am  going  to  describe  to  you,  have  contributed 
largely  to  answering  the  second  of  these  questions. 

§  5.   In  an  article  "  On  the  Electrification  of  -Air  by  a  Water- 
jet,"  by  Magnus  Maclean  and  Makita  Goto,t  e.xperiments  were 
described    showing   air    to  be  negatively  electrified  by  a  jet  of 
water  shot  vertically  down  through  it  from  a  fine  nozzle  into  a 
basin  of  water  about  60  centimetres  below  it.     It  seemed  natural 
to  suppose  that  the  observed  electrification  was  produced   by  the 
rush  of  the  fine  drops  through  the  air ;   but  Lenard   conclusively 
proved,  by  elaborate  and  searching  experiments,  that  il   was  in 
reality  due  chiefly,  if  not  wholly,  to  the  violent  commotions  of 
the  drops  impinging  on  the  water  surfiice  of  the  receiving  basin, 
and   he  found  that  the  negative  electrification   of   the   air   wa.s 
greater  when  thev  were  allowed  to  fall  on  a  hard  slab  of  any 
material  thoroughly  wetted  by  water,  than  when  they  fell  on  a 
yielding  surface  of  water  several  centimetres  deep.     He  had  been 
engaged  in  studying  the  great  negative  potential  which  had  been 
found  in  air  in  the  neighbourhood  of  waterfalls,  and    which  had 
generally  been  attributed  to  the  inductive  action  of  the  ordinary 
fine  weather  electric  force,   giving   negative  electricity  to    each 
dro]^  of  water-spray  before  it  breaks  away  from  conducting  com- 
munication with  the  earth.     Before  he  knew  Maclean  and  (loto's 
jjaper,  he  had  ftmnd  strong  reason  for  believing  that  that  theory 
wa.s  not  correct,  and  that  the  true  explanation  of  the  electrifica- 
tion of  the  air  must  be  found  in  .some  physical  action  not  hitherto 
discovered.     A  less  thorough  inquirer  might  have  been  satisfied 
with    the    simple    explanation    of    the    electricity    of    waterfalls 
naturally  suggested   by  -Maclean   and   Goto's  result,  and  might 
have  rested  in  the  lielief  that  it  was  due  to  an  electrifying  effect 
produced  by  the  rush  of  the  broken  water  through  the  air  ;  but 
Lenard  made  an  indejiendent  ex|>erimental  investigation   in  the 
Physical    Laboratories  of   Heidelberg  and   Bonn,   by   which   he 
learned  that  the  seat  of  the   negative  electrification  of  the  air 
electrified  is  the  lacerated  water  at  the  foot  of  the  fall,  or  at  any 
rocks  against  which  the  water  impinges,  and  not  the  multitudinous 
interfaces     between    air     and    water    falling    freely    in     drops 
through  it. 

§  6.   It    still    seems    worthy    of    searching    inquiry    to    find 

•  "  Electrostatics  and   Magnetism '"  xvi.  §§  271,292. 
t  l^hilosofthical  Magazine,  iSoo.  second  half.year. 


68 


A'A  TURE 


[May   i6,  1895 


vlectrification  of  air  by  water  falling  in  drops  through  it,  even 
though  we  now  know  that,  if  there  is  any  such  electrification,  it 
is  not  the  main  cause  of  the  great  negative  electrification  of  air 
which  has  Ijeen  found  in  the  ncighlx)urhix>d  of  waterfalls.  For 
this  purjiosc  an  ex[>eriment  has  l)een  very  recently  made  by  Mr. 
-Maclean,  Mr.  (ialt,  and  myself,  in  the  course  of  an  investigation 
regarding  electrification  and  diselectrification  of  air  with  which 
we  have  Ijeen  occupieil  for  more  than  a  year.  The  api>aratus 
«  hich  we  used  is  before  you.  It  consists  of  a  quadrant  electro- 
meter connected  with  an  insulate<l  electric  filter  *  applie<l  to  test 
the  electrification  of  air  drawn  from  different  |xirts  of  a  tinned 
iron  funnel,  187  centimetres  long  and  15  centimetres  diameter, 
fixed  in  a  vertical  jiosition  with  its  lower  end  open  and  its  upper 
end  closed,  except  a  gl.ass  nozzle,  of  f6  mm.  aperture,  admitting 
a  jet  of  Glasgow  supply  water  (from  Loch  Katrine)  shot  vertically 
down  along  its  axis.  The  electric  filter  (R  in  the  drawing),  a 
simplified  and  improved  form  of  that  described  in  the  Proieedings 
of  the  Royal  Society  for  March  21,  consists  of  twelve  circles  of 
fine  wire  gauze  rammed  as  close  as  po-ssible  together  in  the  middle 
of  a  piece  of  block  tin  pipe  of    l  cm.  bore  and   2  cm.   length. 


One  end  of  it  is  stuck  into  one  end  of  a  |x:rforalion  through  a  block 
of  paraffin,  K,  which  supiwrts  it.  The  other  end  ((;')  of  this  |)er- 
foration  is  oinnected  by  block  tin  pii>e  (which  in  the  ap|>aratus 
.ictually  employed  was  4  metres  long,  but  might  have  licen 
shftrtcr),  an'i  india-rulilK.T  tubing  through  Ijellow.-,  to  one  or  otlier 
of  two  short  tiutlel  pi|Ks  (m  and  I')  projecting  from  the  large 
funnel. 

§  7.  \Vc  first  applied  the  india-rublicr  pi|)e  to  <lraw  air  from 
the  funnel  .at  the  upper  outlet,  r,  and  m.ade  many  exiK'riments 
to  test  the  electricity  given  by  it  to  the  receiving  filter,  R,  under 
various  cunrlilinns  as  to  the  water-jet  :  the  liellows  being  worked 
as  unif'triidy  as  the  rMK-'rator  could.  When  the  water  fell  fairly 
ihrimgh  the  funnel  with  no  droj>s  striking  it,  and  through  90  cm. 
'<{  free  air  l)eiow  its  mouth,  a  small  negative  electrification  of  K 
wai  in  every  case  otwervcd  (which  we  th<«ight  might  pissibly  Ik- 
attributable  lo  electrification  of  the  air  where  the  water  was 
caught  in  a  liasin  aUiut  90  cm.  l>elow  the  mouth  of  the  funnel). 

•  Kelvin,  M.iclean,  Gall,  "  On  the  Illselcctrification  of  Air."  I'rpc.  Roy. 
.Soc,  MArch  tf,  189s. 


But  when  the  funnel  was  slanted  so  that  the  whole  shower  of 
drops  from  the  jet,  or  even  a  small  part  of  it,  struck  the  inside  of 
the  funnel,  the  negative  electrification  of  R  «as  largely  increasctl. 
-So  it  w.as  also  when  the  shower,  after  falling  freely  down  the 
middle  of  the  funnel,  impinged  on  a  metal  jilate  in  metallic  com- 
munication with  the  funnel,  held  close  under  its  mouth,  or  10  or 
20  cm.  below  it.  For  example,  in  a  scries  of  experiments  made 
last  .Monday  (March  25),  we  found  "28  of  a  volt  in  15  minutes 
with  no  obstruction  to  the  shower  :  and  4"i8  volts  in  five  minutes, 
with  a  metal  plate  held  three  or  four  centimetres  below  the 
mouth  of  the  funnel  ;  the  air  being  dra«  n  from  the  upper  tmtlet 
(!').  Immediately  after,  with  r  closed,  ami  air  drawn  from 
the  lower  outlet  (M),  but  all  other  circumstances  the  same,  we 
found  '20  of  a  volt  in  five  minutes  with  no  obstruction  ;  ,^nd 
67S  volts  in  five  minutes  with  the  metal  plate  held  below  the 
mouth  as  before. 

§  8.  These  results,  and  others  which  we  have  found,  with 
many  variations  of  detail,  confirm,  by  direct  test  of  air  drawn 
away  from  the  neighbourhooti  of  the  waterfall  through  a  narrow 
pipe  to  a  distant  electrometer,  Lenard's  conclusion  that  a  pre- 
ponderatingly  strong  negative  electrification  is  given  to  the  air 
at  every  place  of  violent  imixict  of  a  drop  against  a  water-surface, 
or  .against  a  wet  st)lid.  But  they  do  not  prove  that  there  is 
no  electrification  of  air  by  drops  of  water  falling  through  it.  We 
alw,ays  found,  in  every  trial,  decisive  proof  of  negative  electrifica- 
tion :  though  of  ct)miMratively  small  amount  when  there  was  no 
obstruction  to  the  shower  between  the  moulh  of  the  funnel  and 
the  catching  basin  90  cm.  belt>w  it.  We  iiilenil  to  continue  the 
investigation,  with  the  shower  falling  freely  far  enough  down 
from  the  mouth  of  the  funnel  to  make  quite  sure  that  the  air 
which  we  draw  off  from  any  |Mrt  of  the  fimncl  is  not  sensibly 
affected  by  im^vact  of  the  drops  on  anything  below. 

§9.  The  other  discovery  *  of  Lenard,  of  which  I  told  you,  is 
that  the  negative  electrification  of  air,  in  his  experiments  with 
pure  water,  is  <liminishecl  greatly  by  very  small  quantities  ot 
conunon  .s;ilt  dissolved  in  it,  that  it  is  brought  to  nothing  by  "OI I 
per  cent.  ;  that  |X)sitive  electrification  is  produced  in  the  air 
when  there  is  more  than  "Olt  per  cent,  of  salt  in  the  water, 
reaching  a  maximinn  with  about  5  per  cent,  of  salt,  when  the 
l>ositive  electrical  effect  is  about  equal  to  the  negative  effect 
observed  with  pure  water,  and  falling   to   14  per  cent,   of  this 

amoimt  when  there  is  25  per 
cent,   of  salt    in  the  solution. 
Hence    sea-water,    containing 
as   it  does  about  3  per   cent, 
of  common    salt,  may    be    ex- 
pected to  give  almost  as  strong 
positive    electrificatiim   lo    air 
as   ]>ure   water    would  give  ot 
negative     in    .similar     circum- 
stances     as      to      comntt>tion, 
l.enard    infers    that    breaking 
wa\es  of   the    sea    must  give 
positive  electricity  to    the   air 
over  them  ;  he  finds,  in  fact,  a 
recorded  observation  by  F.xner, 
on  the  coast  of  Ceylon,  slew- 
ing the  normal  jiosilive  electric 
potential  of  the  air  to  be  not- 
ably increased   by  a   storm   at 
sea.      I    believe  I,enard's   dis- 
covery   fully    expliiins    also   some  very    interesting  observ,ations 
of    atmospheric     electricity    of   my     own.     which     I     described 
in    a     letter     lo     Dr.     Joule,     which     he    published      in    the 
I'roiffdin,!^    of    the     Literary    and     Philosophical     .Society    ot 
Manchester    for  October  iK,    1859.  +     "  The  atmospheric   effect 
ranged    from   30"  to  about  420"  (of  a  heleroslalic  torsion  electro- 
meter of  '  the  divided-ring  '  species]  during  the  four  days  which 
I  h.td  lo  test  it  ;  that  is  to  s;»y,   the  elect rometric   fi)rce   |x;r  foot 
of  air,  measured  horizontally  from  the  side  1  if  the  house,  wnsfrom 
9  to  alMive  126  zinc-copper  water  cells.    The  weather  was  almost 
|)erfectly  settled,  either  calm,  or   with    slight    east    wind,  an<l  in 
general    an    ea.sterly    liaze   in   the   air.      The    eleclronieler  twice 
within  half  an  hour  went  above  420',  there  being  al    the   lime  a 
fresh   lemi)orary   breeze   from  the  ea.st.      What    I  h.td  previously 
observed  regarding  the  effect  of  east  wind  was  amply  confirmed. 

•  "  Uelicr  die  Kleclricit.'il  <lcr  W.-Livjffiillc."     Tabic  xvii.  p.  618.     AnnaltH 
lier  Phytik  uitd  Chemie^  1893,  vol.  xlvi. 

♦  Kcpuhllshed  in  "  Eicclrmlalio  and  Magnetism."     "  Almosphcric   Elec- 
Iricily,"  xvi.  \  ifyi. 


NO-    ^lll'  VOL.  52] 


May   i6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


69 


Invariably  the  elect r<jn«;ler  showed  very  high  positive  in  fine 
weather,  before  and  during  east  wind.  It  generally  rose  very 
much  shortly  before  a  slight  puff  of  wind  from  that  quarter,  and 
continued  high  till  the  breeze  would  begin  to  abate.  I  never 
once  observeil  the  electrometer  going  up  unusually  high  during 
fair  weather  without  east  wind  follt^wing  immediately.  One 
evening  in  August  I  did  not  perceive  the  east  wind  at  all,  when 
warned  by  the  electrometer  to  expect  it  ;  but  I  took  the  j^re- 
caution  of  bringing  my  boat  up  to  a  safe  part  of  the  beach,  and 
immediately  found  liy  waves  coming  in  that  the  wind  must  be 
blowing  a  short  distance  out  at  sea,  although  it  did  not  get  so  far 
I  as  the  shore.  .  .  .  On  two  different  mornings  the  ratio  of  the 
I  house  to  a  station  about  sixty  yards  distant  on  the  road  beside 
I  the  sea  was  '97  and  '96  respectively.  On  the  afternoon  of  the 
Ilth  instant,  during  a  fresh  temporary  breeze  of  east  wind, 
blowing  up  a  little  s[iray  as  far  as  the  road  station,  most  of 
which  would  fall  short  of  the  house,  the  ratio  was  I  'oS  in  favour 
of  the  house  electrometer — both  standing  at  the  time  very  high — 
the  house  about  350'.  I  have  little  doubt  but  that  this  was  owing 
to  the  negative  electricity  carried  by  the  spray  from  the  sea,  which 
would  diminish  relatively  the  indications  of  the  road  electro- 
meter." 

§  10.  The  negative  electricity  spoken  of  in  this  last  sentence, 
"as  carried  by  the  spray  from  the  sea,"  was  certainly  due  to  the 
inductive  effect  of  the  ordinary  electrostatic  force  in  the  air  close 
above  the  water,  by  which  every  drop  or  splash  breaking  away 
from  the  surface  must  become  negatively  electrified  ;  but  this 
only  partially  exjilains  the  difference  which  I  observed  between 
the  road  station  and  the  house  station.  We  now-  know,  by  the 
second  of  l.enard's  twti  discoveries,  to  which  I  have  alluded, 
that  every  drop  of  the  salt  water  spray,  falling  on  the  ground  or 
rocks  wetted  by  it,  must  have  given  positive  electricity  to  the 
adjoining  air.  The  air,  thus  positively  electrified,  was  carried 
towards  and  over  the  house  by  the  on-shore  east  wind  which 
was  blowing.  Thus,  while  the  road  electrometer  under  the 
spray  showed  less  electrostatic  force  than  would  have  been  found 
in  the  air  over  it  and  above  the  spray,  the  house  electrometer 
showed  greater  electrostatic  force  because  of  the  positively  elec- 
trified air  blown  over  the  house  from  the  wet  ground  struck  by  the 
spray. 

§  II.  The  strong  positive  electricity,  which,  as  described  in 
my  letter  to  Joule,  I  always  found  in  Arran  with  east  wind, 
seemed  at  first  to  be  an  attribute  of  wind  from  that  (juarter. 
But  I  soon  found  that  in  other  localities  east  wind  did  not  give 
any  very  iiotalJe  augmentation,  nor  perhaps  any  augmentation 
at  all,  of  the  ordinary  fair  weather  positive  electric  force,  and 
for  a  long  time  I  have  had  the  impression  that  what  I  observed 
in  this  resjject,  on  the  sea-beach  of  Brodick  Bay  in  .\rran,  was 
really  due  to  the  twelve  nautical  miles  of  sea  between  it  and  the 
Ayrshire  coast  east-north-east  of  it ;  and  now  it  seems  to  me 
more  ])robabIe  than  ever  that  this  is  the  explanation  when  we 
know  from  Lenard  that  the  ctnmtlcss  breaking  waves,  such  as 
even  a  gentle  east  wind  produces  over  the  sea  between  Ardrossan 
and  Brodick,  must  every  one  of  them  give  some  positive  elec- 
tricity to  the  air  wherever  a  spherule  of  spray  falls  upon  unbroken 
water.  It  becomes  now  a  more  and  more  interesting  subject  for 
observation  (which  I  hope  may  be  taken  up  by  naturalists  having 
the  opportunity)  to  find  whether  or  not  the  ordinary  fine  weather 
positive  electric  fi)rce  at  the  sea  coast  in  various  localities  is  in- 
creased by  gentle  or  by  strong  winds  from  the  sea,  whether 
north,  south,  east  or  west  of  the  land. 

§  12.  From  Lenard's  investigation  we  now  know  that  every 
drop  of  rain  falling  on  the  ground  or  on  the  sea,*  and  every 
drop  of  fresh  water  spray  of  a  breaking  wave,  falling  on  a  fresh 
water  lake,  sends  negative  electricity  from  the  water  surface  t() 
the  air ;  and  we  know  that  every  drop  of  salt  water,  falling  on 
the  sea  from  breaking  waves,  sen<ls  positive  electricity  into  the 
air  from  the  water  surface.  Lenard  remarks  that  more  than 
two-thirds  of  the  earth's  surface  is  sea,  and  suggests  that  break- 
ing sea-waves  may  give  contributions  of  positive  electricity  to  the 
air  which  may  possibly  preponderate  over  the  negative  electricity 
given  to  it  from  other  sources,  and  may  thus  be  the  determining 
cause  of  (he  normal  fair  weather  positive  of  natural  atmospheric 
electricity.  It  seems  to  me  highly  probable  that  this  pre]-)onderance 
is  real  for  atmospheric  electricity  at  sea.  In  average  weather, 
all  the  year  rt)und,  sailors  in  very  small  vessels  are  more  wet  by 
sea-spray  than  tiy  rain,  and  I  think  it  is  almost  certain  that  more 
IWsitive  electricity  is  given  to  the  air  by  breaking  waves  than 

"  "  Uclicr  die  Electricilftt  dcr  W.-isserfalle."  AnnaUti  tier  Physik  unit 
Cktinie,  1892,  vol.  xlvi.  p.  631.  | 


NO.    I 


J>JO> 


VOL. 


5-^] 


negative  electricity  by  rain.  It  seems  also  probable  that  the 
ix),sitive  electricity  from  the  waves  is  much  more  carried  up  by 
strong  winds  to  considerable  heights  above  the  sea,  than  the 
negative  electricity  given  to  the  air  by  rain  falling  on  the  sea  ; 
the  greater  part  of  which  may  be  quickly  lost  into  the  sea,  and 
but  a  small  part  carried  up  to  great  heights.  But  it  seems  to 
me  almost  certain  that  the  exceedingly  rapid  recovery  of  the 
normal  fair  weather  positive,  after  the  smaller  positive  or  the 
negative  atmospheric  electricity  of  broken  weather,  which  was  first 
found  by  Beccaria  in  Italy  I20years  ago,  and  which  has  been  amply 
verified  in  Scotland  and  England,*  could  not  be  accounted  for  by 
]xisitively  electrified  air  coming  from  the  sea.  Even  at  Beccaria's 
(Jbservatory,  at  Garzegna  di  .Mcjndovi  in  Piedmont,  or  at  Kew, 
or  Greenwich,  or  (Glasgow,  we  should  often  have  to  wait  a  very 
long  time  for  reinstatement  of  the  normal  positive  after  broken 
weather,  if  it  could  only  come  in  virtue  of  ])ositively  electrified 
air  blowing  over  the  place  from  the  sea  ;  and  several  days,  at 
least,  would  have  to  pass  before  this  result  could  possibly  be 
obtained  in  the  centre  of  Europe. 

§  13.  It  has  indeed  always  seemed  to  me  probable  that  the 
rain  itself  is  the  real  restorer  of  the  normal  fair  w  eather  ]wsitive. 
Kain  or  snow,  condensing  out  of  the  air  high-up  in  the  clouds, 
must  itself,  1  believe,  become  negatively  electrified  as  it  grows, 
and  must  leave  positive  electricity  in  the  air  from  which  it  falls. 
Thus  rain  falling  from  negatively  electrified  air  would  leave  it 
less  negatively  electrified,  or  non-electrified  or  positively  electri- 
fied :  rain  falling  from  non-electrified  air  would  leave  it  positively 
electrified  ;  and  rain  falling  from  positively  electrified  air  would 
leave  it  with  more  of  positive  electricity  than  it  had  before  it 
lost  water  from  its  composition.  Several  times  within  the  la.st 
thirty  years  I  have  made  imperfect  and  unsuccessful  attempts  to 
verify  this  hypothesis  by  laboratorj-  experiments,  and  it  still 
remains  unproved.  But  I  am  much  interested  just  now  to  find 
some  degree  of  observational  confirmation  of  it  in  Elster  and 
Oitel's  large  and  careful  investigation  of  the  electricity  produced 
in  an  insulated  basin  by  rain  or  snow  falling  into  it,  which  they 
described  in  a  communication  published  in  the  Silzungsbcrichte 
of  the  \'ienna  Academy  of  Sciences,  of  .May  1890.  They 
find  generally  a  large  electrical  effect,  whether  positive  or 
negative,  by  rain  or  snow-  falling  into  the  basin  for  even  so  short 
a  time  as  a  quarter  of  a  minute,  with  however,  on  the  whole,  a 
preponderance  of  negative  electrification. 

§  14.  But  my  subject  this  evening  is  not  merely  natural 
atmospheric  electricity,  although  this  is  certainly  by  far  the  most 
interesting  to  mankind  of  all  hitherto  known  effects  of  the 
electrification  of  air.  I  shall  conclude  by  telling  you  very 
briefly,  and  without  detail,  somvlhing  of  new  experimental  results 
regarding  electrification  and  diselectrification  of  air,  found 
within  the  last  few  months  in  our  laboratory  here  by  Mr. 
Maclean,  Mr.  Gait,  and  myself.  We  hope  before  the  end  of  the 
]iresent  session  of  the  Royal  .Society  to  be  able  to  communicate 
a  sufficiently  full  account  of  our  work. 

§  15.  :\\r  blown  from  an  uninsulated  tube,  so  as  to  rise 
in  bubbles  through  pure  water  in  an  uninsulated  vessel,  and 
carried  through  an  insulated  pipe  to  the  electric  receiving 
filter,  of  which  I  have  already  told  you,  gives  negative  electricity 
to  the  filter.  With  a  small  quantity  of  salt  dissolved  in  the  water, 
or  sea  water  substituted  for  fresh  water,  it  gives  positive  electricity 
to  the  air.  There  can  be  no  iloubt  but  these  results  are  due  to 
the  same  physical  cause  as  Lenard's  negative  and  positive 
electrification  of  air  by  the  impact  of  drops  of  fresh  water  or  of 
salt  water  on  a  surface  of  water  or  wel  solid.. 

§  16.  A  small  quantity  of  fresh  water  or  salt  water  shaken 
up  vehemently  with  air  in  a  corked  bottle  electrifies  the  air,  fresh 
water  negatively,  salt  water  positively.  A  "Winchester  quart" 
bottle  (of  which  the  cubic  contents  is  about  two  litres  and  a 
half),  with  one-fourth  of  a  litre  of  fresh  or  salt  water  poured  into 
it,  and  closeil  by  an  india-rubber  cork,  serves  verj-  well  for  the 
experiment.  .After  shaking  it  vehemently  till  the  whole  water  is 
filled  with  fine  bubbles  of  air,  we  leave  it  till  all  the  bubbles 
have  risen  and  the  liijuiil  is  at  rest,  then  take  out  the  cork,  put 
in  a  metal  or  india-rubber  pipe,  and  by  double-acting  bellows, 
draw  off  the  air  and  send  it  through  the  electric  filter.  We  find 
the  electric  effect,  negative  or  positive  according  as  the  water  is 
fresh  or  salt,  shown  very  decidedly  by  the  quadrant  electrometer  : 
and  this,  even  if  we  have  kept  the  bottle  corked  for  two  or  three 
minutes  after  the  liquid  has  come  to  rest  before  we  take  ouf  the 
cork  and  draw  oft'  the  air. 

§  17.   .-\n  insulated  spirit  lamp  or  hydrogen  lamp  being  con- 
"  "  Electrostatics  and  Magnetism,"  xvi.  §  287. 


70 


NATURE 


[May  1 6,  1895 


nectecl  with  the  positive  or  «nth  the  negative  terminal  of  a  little 
Voss  electric  machine,  its  fumes  (prmUicts  of  combustion  mixed 
with  air)  sent  through  a  block-tin  pipe,  four  metres  long,  ami 
one  centimetre  Ixire,  ending  with  a  short  insulating  tunnel  of 
paraHin  and  the  electric  filter,  gives  strong  positive  or  strong 
negative  electricity  to  the  filter. 

§  iS.  Using  the  little  biscuit -canister  and  electrified  needle, 
as  described  in  "our  communication"  *  to  the  Royal  Society  "  On 
the  Diselectrificaiion  of  .-Vir,"  but  altered  to  have  two  insulated 
needles  with  varieil  <listances  of  from  half  a  centimetre  to  two  or 
three  centimetres  l>etween  them,  we  find  that  when  the  two 
needles  are  kept  at  equal  ditTerences  of  potential  positive  and 
negative,  from  the  enclosing  metal  canister,  little  or  no  electrifi- 
cation is  shown  by  the  electric  filter  :  and  when  the  differences  of 
potential  from  the  surrounding  metal  are  unequal,  electrification, 
of  the  same  sign  as  that  of  the  needle  whose  difference  of 
potential  is  the  greater,  is  found  on  the  filter. 

When  a  ball  and  needle-point  are  used,  the  effect  found  depends 
chiefly  on  the  difl'erence  of  potentials  between  the  needle-point 
and  the  surrounding  canister,  and  is  comparatively  little  afl'ected 
by  opposite  electrification  of  the  Ijall.  When  two  balls  arc  used, 
and  .sparks  in  abundance  jKiss  between  them,  but  little  electricity 
is  depfisited  by  the  sparks  in  the  air,  even  when  one  of  the  balls 
is  kept  at  the  same  jiotential  .is  the  surrounding  metal.  [The 
communication  was  illustrated  by  a  re|>etilion  of  some  of  the 
experiments  shown  on  the  ix:casion  of  a  Friday  evening  lecture  t 
on  Atmospheric  Electricity  at  the  Royal  Institution  on  .May  l8, 
i860,  in  which  one  half  of  the  air  of  the  lecture-room  was 
electrified  positively,  and  the  other  half  negatively,  by  two 
insulated  spirit  lamps  mounted  on  the  positive  and  negative 
conductors  of  an  electric  machine.] 

<2)  "OX  TIIK  THER.MAL  CONDL'CTIVITV  OK  ROCK 
AT  niKKr.RKN'r  TKMl'KR.VTURKS." 

Experiments  by  Lord  Kelvin  and  Mr.  Erskine  Murray 
were  descrilxfd,  and  the  apparatus  used  in  them  was  shown,  by 
which  it  was  found  that  the  thermal  conductivity  of  specimens  of 
slate,  sand.stone,  and  granite  is  less  at  higher  temperatures  than 
at  lower  for  each  of  these  rocks.  The  last  tested  was  .Vberdeen 
granite,  for  which  experiments  of  fairly  satisfactory  accuracy 
showed  the  mean  conductivity  for  the  range  from  I46°C.  to2i5"C. 
to  be  86  per  cent,  of  the  mean  conductivity  in  the  range  from 
81°  C.  to  146°  C.  They  hope  to  send  a  cimimunication  to 
the  Royal  Society  describing  their  work  before  the  end  of  the 
present  session.  Kf.ivi.n. 


UNIVERSITY  AND    EDUCA  TIDNAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

O.XFORI..  — Mr.  I).  R.  I'ike,  of  the  Charlerhouse.  h.is  been 
elected  to  an  open  Exhibition  in  Natural  Science  .at  lesus  College, 
and  Mr.  L.  C.  W.  IJrigstocke,  of  Haverfordwest  Clrammar 
-School,  has  lieen  elected  to  a  Welsh  Foundation  Scholarship  in 
Natural  .Science  at  the  same  College. 

Open  .Scholarships  and  Exhibitions  in  Xalural  Science  have 
been  announced  forcom|)etitional  Merlon  College,  New  College, 
Magdalen  College,  and  Corpus  Christi  College.  Particulars 
may  lie  obtained  on  application  lo  the  Dean  in  any  of  these 
Colleges. 

Cambridof..— The  Walsingham  Medal  for  an  original  mono- 
graph on  a  botanical,  geological,  zoological,  or  physiological 
subject  will  l)c  awarded  in  the  .Michaelmas  Term.  Ess.ays  are  to 
be  sent  to  I'rof.  Newton  by  Octoljcr  lo,  1895.  Candidates  must 
Vx-  B.A.'s  not  of  st.anding  lo  take  the  M..\.  degree. 

The  subicct  for  the  .Adams  Prize  of  1897  is  connected  with 
Bcssel's  Functions.  It  is  set  forth  in  the  Uiiivenity  Keporler 
for  .May  14.  The  prize  is  t)f  the  value  of  alMiul  ^^197.  It  is  o|)en 
to  all  graduates  of  the  University.  Es.s.iys  are  to  be  sent  to  the 
Vice-Chancellor  by  December  16,  1896. 

The  Associalir.n  of  Technical  Institutions  has  endeavoured  to 
induce  the  Science  and  Art  Dejnrtment  lo  discontinue  the  exam- 
inations now  held  in  pracilral  morganic  and  organic  chemistry, 
and  lo  award  allendiim  r  grants  for  instruction  in  those  subjects, 
the  amount  of  such  grants  lo  \k  de|x.-ndent  ujKin  the  report  of 
Ihe  Deijortmenl's  ins|)iriors  on  the  efficiency  of  the  c(|Uipment 
and  leaching.    TTie  ,\sMK-i.iiion  has  recei%'cd  a  reply  lo  Ihe  eflTccl 

•  PnHttitingi  of  Ihe  Koyjil  Socirly,  March  14,  1895. 
I  "  EicclrMlalicj  and  M.ii;nciiitni,    xvi,  tl  J85,  jM. 


that  it  is  not  possible  for  the  Department  to  comply  with  their 
request.  .V  new  syllabus  for  jiractical  inorganic  chemistry 
will  appear,  however,  in  the  forthconiini;  edition  of  the  Science 
and  .\rt  Director}-,  and  there  seems  little  doubt  that  the  instruc- 
tion will  be  .so  arranged  in  it  as  to  make  it  po,ssible  to  coordinate 
more  closely  the  laboratory  and  lecture  work  in  that  subject,  and 
afford  the  same  latitude  to  teachers  as  is  given  by  the  new 
Regulations  for  Organised  Science  Schools. 

SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

American  lounial  of  Mathematics,  vol.  xvii.  No.  2  (Haltimore, 
April  1895). — \  method  for  calculating  simultaneously  all  the 
roots  of  an  equation,  is  a  paper  by  Dr.  K.  McClintock,  which 
was  re.-id  before  the  American  .M.athematical  Society  on  August  14 
and  October  27,  1S94.  It  opens  with  the  application  to  an 
example  employed  by  Spitzerand  by  Jelinek.  The  calculations 
of  these  mathematicians  can  only  be  ilone  for  a  pair  of  roots  at 
a  time,  and  that  with  considerable  difficulty.  The  method  em- 
ployed by  our  author  is  fairly  facile.  \ery  little  has  hitherto 
been  done  in  the  direction  of  this  memoir,  which  is  one  of  great 
value  in  the  subject  of  algebraic  equations.  The  writer  discusses 
eleven  examples  at  length,  the  highest  degreed  equation  being 
one  of  the  sixth  degree  in  .r. — Sur  le  logarithme  de  la  fonciion 
gamma,  by  Ilermite,  is  a  note  upon  Raabe's  integral,  in  con- 
tinuation of  an  article  in  the  Math.  Annalcn  (41,  p.  5S1). — 
Sur  la  pres.sion  d.ans  les  milieux  dielectricjues  ou  m;ignetiques, 
by  Prof.  P.  Duheni,  corrects  an  error  in  his  "  Le<;i)ns  sur  TElec- 
tricile  el  le  magnetisme,"  and  is  a  valuable  working  out  of  the 
theory  of  the  pressures,  initiated  by  Clerk  .Maxwell,  and  further 
improved  by  von  llelmholtz,  Kirchhoff,  and  other  writers.  Tlie 
number  closes  with  an  article  on  ternary  substitution-groups  ot 
finite  order  which  leave  a  triangle  unchanged,  liy  II.  Maschke. 
This  paper  is  complementary  to  C.  Jord,in"s  "  Sur  les  equations, 
differcntielles  linc.aires  a  integrale  algcbrique,"  iind  "  .Sur  la 
determination  des  groupcs  d'ordre  fini  contenues  dans  le  grou]>e 
lineaire." 

Zeitschrift  fur  wissenschaftliche  Zoologie,  Hd.  lix.  I  left  l.^ 
Prof.  A.  R.  von  Ileider  gives  a  detailed  description  of  a  new 
Actinian  (Zoanthiis  chicrchice)  obtained  during  the  cruise  of  the 
Vcttor  Pisani.  Prof.  A.  Korotneff  describes  the  embry<inic 
(levelopnieiu  of  Salpa  democratica.  According  to  hint  the 
follicle-cells  do  not  play  the  inqxirtant  part  in  the  development 
of  Salpa  which  Salensky  attributed  to  them,  nor  do  they  form  a 
temporary  scaffolding  for  the  blastomeres,  .as  stated   by  lirooks. 

I  The  embryo  is  built  up  of  blastomeres  in  the  normal  manner,  and 

I  embryonic  layers  are  present  with  the  same  significance  as  in 
other  groups.  The  cloaca  is  fcirmed  by  the  union  of  entlodernial 
diverticula,  and  the  )iericardium  develops  as  an  outgrowth  of  the 
pharynx.  -I'rof.    W.    Schimkewitsch    writes   upon  the   slruoUire 

I  and  development  of  a  species  of  Dinophilus  living  in  the  White 
Sea,  ne.ar  the  Solovetzki   laboratory.     The  twofold   affinities  of 

I  this  interesting  type,  on  the  one  hand  with  the  .\nnelids,  and  on 
the  other  with  the  Rotifers,  are  .succinctly  stated.  —  Prof. 
V'ejdov.sky  writes  upon  the  sexual  apparatus  of  Lttmhrictttu< 
•,'ariei;atiis.  —  Dr.  .Montgomery  deals  fully  with  the  anatomy  of  a 
new  type  of  Nemertine  {.Stic/iostcmma  Eilhardi)  discoverecl  in 
fresh  -  water  a(|uaria  in  thePerlin  Zoological  Institute. — Dr.  McKini 
describes  the  nephridial  funnel  apixiratus  of  Hiriido. 


NO-    1333.  VOL.   52] 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

I'.lUNIltlRC.M. 

Royal  Society,  .Match  18.— The  Rev.  Prof.  Flint,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  chair.  Prof  Crutn-Hrown  communicated  a 
paper,  by  .Mr.  R.  Fairbairn  and  himself,  on  the  .action  of  so'liuin 
mercaptide  oti  dibromomalonic  ether.  —  Prof.  J.  C.  Ewarl  com- 
municated a  paper,  by  Mr.  F.  J.  Cole  and  himself  <m  the  dorsal 
branches  of  the  cranial  and  spinal  nerves  in  elasmobratichs. — 
Dr.  Traquair  read  a  |>aper  on  phosphorescenl  .sandstones. — 
Prof  Tail  read  a  note  on  ihe  electromagnetic  wave-surface. 

April  I.  —  Sir  Douglas  Maclagan,  President  in  the  chair. — A 
liaper,  by  the  Duke  of  .\rgyll,  on  Ihe  gl.iciation  of  two  glens, 
was  read.  The  glens  are  (ilenaray  and  Cilenshira.  The  usual 
explanation  of  Ihe  phenomena  of  gl.acialion  as  observed  in 
the  West  Highlands  is  that  Ihe  glacialion  was  caused  by  an 
enormr)Us  icecap  covering  Ihe  whole  country.  His  Grace  does 
not  consider  that  the  phenomena  can  t>e  so  explained.  Rocks 
are  found  which  are  si riated  and  smoothed  <m  one  side,  while  Ihe 
other  side   remains   rough.      Isolated   blocks,    wilhotit   striation, 


I 


May    1 6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


are  found  in  positions  where  they  could  not  have  been  placed 
except  by  the  agency  of  floating  ice-floes.  He  considers  that 
the  marks  of  glaciation  were  caused  by  ice-floes,  driven  by  strong 
north-east  and  south-west  currents,  in  a  sea  whose  surface 
reached  a  level  on  the  land  of  from  1500  to  2000  feet  over  the 
present  level.  The  two  glens  run  nearly  parallel  in  a  north- 
easterly direction,  and  are  separated  by  a  range  of  hills  and 
moors  not  much  more  than  two  miles  broad.  The  rocks  of 
both  belong  to  the  same  geological  formation,  and  yet  the  glens 
are  entirely  dissimilar  in  appearance.  Glenshira  has  smooth, 
regular  slopes,  with  a  smooth  level  bottom  ;  Glenarayis  atypical 
highland  glen  traversed  by  a  rapid  river  with  a  rocky  bed  and 
three  waterfalls,  and  exhibits  strong  glaciation.  His  Grace  does 
not  consider  that  an  ice-sheet,  operating  over  the  whole  countr)', 
could  account  for  these  diflerences.  Neither  does  he  consider 
that  local  glaciers  could  have  produced  the  effect,  for  such  a 
glacier  must  have  been  formed  on  the  slopes  of  Ben  Loy  and  have 
flowed  down  Glenshira.  On  the  other  hand,  Glenaray  terminates 
in  a  low  pass  480  feet  above  sea-level,  while  Glenshira  is  closed 
in  by  ridges  2000  feet  in  height.  The  former  was  therefore  open 
to  the  action  of  floes,  while  the  higher  peaks  would  shelter  the 
latter. 

.April  17. — Sir  Douglas  Maclagan,  President,  in  the  chair. — 
Prof.  Flinders  Petrie  gave  a  lecture  "  Ona  New  Race  in  Egypt," 
describing  the  result  of  his  work  in  Eg)'pt  during  the  last  season. 

"  Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  6. — M.  Marey  in  the  chair. — 
The  zoological  work  of  James  Dana,  by  M.  Blanchard.  The 
main  outlines  of  James  Dana's  work  are  sketched  from  a 
zoologist's  point  of  view.  lieference  is  particularly  made  to  his 
work  on  the  geographical  distribution  of  zoophytes,  on  coral  reefs 
and  islands,  on  animal  distribution  with  reference  to  depth  and 
temperature  in  the  sea,  and  on  Crustaceans. — The  mineralogical 
and  geological  work  of  James  Dana,  by  M.  Daubree.  A  very  full 
account  is  given  of  the  chief  points  in  Dana's  geological  work, 
special  reference  being  made  to  his  publication  of  a  "  System  of 
Mineralogy,"  and  his  "  Manual  of  Geology." — The  work  of  M. 
Carl  V'ogt,  by.M.  Emile  Blanchard. — Researches  on  the  cerite 
earths,  by  M.  P.  Schiitzenherger.  The  author  establishes  the  result 
that  in  cerite,  cerium  oxide  is  accompanied  by  small  quantities  of 
another  earth  of  a  metal  with  somewhat  lower  atomic  weight, 
which  is  capable  of  being  oxidised  like  cerium  oxide,  and  of 
which  the  sulphate  is  isomorjihous  with  that  of  cerium,  and  gives 
insoluble  double  sulphates  with  alkaline  sulphates.  The 
calcined  higher  oxide  is  of  reddish-brown  colour,  even  without 
presence  of  didymium. — Action  of  fluorine  on  argon,  by  M. 
Henri  Moissan  (see  Notes,  p.  61). — Systematic  application  of 
the  potato  to  the  feeding  of  cattle,  by  M.  Aime  Girard. 
The  results  are  reported  of  experiments  on  the  feeding  of 
cattle  and  sheep,  both  quantity  and  quality  of  meat  obtained 
being  considered.  The  best  results  were  obtained  with 
given  proportions  of  cooked  potatoes  and  hay,  a  very 
superior  article  being  obtained  yielding  high  profits. — Report  on 
the  table  of  triangular  numbers  of  M.  .\maudeau. — On  the  orbit 
of  the  1771  comet,  by  .M.  Bigourdan.  A  re-examination  of 
the  original  manuscript  of  Saint-Jacques  has  allowed  the  dis- 
covery of  an  error  made  by  Burckhardt  in  reducing  observations 
of  this  comet.  The  result  of  a  preliminary  recalculation  of  the 
observations  allows  the  definite  rejection  of  a  hyberbolic  orbit, 
and  renders  it  verj-  probable  that  the  orbit  is  an  ellipse  of 
eccentricity  0-998. — Every  algebraical  condition  imposed  on  the 
movement  of  a  body  is  realisalile  by  means  of  an  articulated 
system,  by  M.  (J.  Kcenigs. — On  the  use  of  a  fourth  dimension, 
by  M.  (le  la  Rive. — On  fluted  spectra,  by  Prof.  Arthur  Schuster. 
A  discussion  of  the  different  interpretation  of  phenomena  by  the 
author  and  .M.  Poincare.  In  conclusion,  the  author  is  unable  to 
doubt  the  justice  of  M.  Gouy's  view,  that  the  regidarity  of  the 
vibrations,  shown  by  the  observations  of  Fizeau  and  Foucault, 
does  not  exist  in  the  luminous  movement,  but  is  produced  by  the 
apparatus  used. — Unequal  absorption  of  dextrorotatory  and 
livorotatory  circularly  polarised  light  in  certain  active  substances, 
by  M.  A.  Cotton.  This  unequal  absorption  is  indicated  by  the 
conversion  of  a  plane  polarised  ray  into  an  elliptically  polarised 
ray  by  passage  through  substances  such  ;xs  the  coloureil  metallic 
tartrates.  The  method  of  measuring  the  effect  is  indicated  and 
results  promised  in  a  further  communication. — On  the  freezing 
of  solutions  at  constant  temperature,  by  M.  Sarrau.  Solidi- 
fication is  produced  under  pressure  so  that  no  lowering 
of   the   freezing    point    occurs,    the .  connection    between    the 


NO.    1333,  VOL.   52] 


compensating  pressure  and  molecular  weight  is  considered. — 
Closed  isothermal  cycles,  reversible  and  maintained  in  equilibrium 
by  gra\-ity,  by  .M.  .A.  Ponsot. — Observations  on  the  project  of  a 
balloon  expedition  to  the  Arctic  regions  put  forth  by  M.  S.  \. 
.\ndree,  by  M.  Gaston  Tissandier. — Researches  on  mercurous 
sulphate,  nitrate,  and  acetate,  by  M.  Raoul  Varet.  The  heals  of 
formation  from  their  elements  taken  in  their  actual  states  are  : 
for  HgoSOj  sol. -f- 175  Cal.;  for  Hg„  (NOjjj  2H2  O  sol. -f  69-4 
Cal.;  and  for  Hgj  (CjH^Oojo  sol.  -^ 202-1  Cal. — On  the  presence 
of  chitin  in  the  cellular  membrane  of  mushrooms,  by  M.  Eugene 
Gilson.  Chitin  has  been  found  in  all  the  fungi  examined,  taking 
the  place  and  fiilfiUing  the  functions  of  cellulose  in  phanerogams 
and  cryptogams.  The  experimental  e\-idence  concerns  -Agaricus 
campestris,  Amanita  muscaria,  Cantharellus  cebarius,  Hypholoina 
fasciculare,  Polyporus  ofticinalis,  Polypoms  fumosus,  Russula, 
Boletus,  Tricholona,  Bovista,  and  Claviceps  purpurea. — Com- 
parative study  of  the  "appareils  odorifiques"  in  the  different 
groups  of  Heteropterous  Hemiptera,  by  M.  J.  Kiinckel  d'Her- 
culais. — Overlap  of  the  furassic  beds  in  the  massif  of  the  \'endee, 
by  M.  Fred.  Wallerant. — Influence  of  de-oxygenated  blood,  and 
of  some  poisons,  on  the  contractility  of  the  h-mphatic  vessels,  by 
MM.  L.  Camus  and  E.  Gley. — On  the  scarlatinous  strepto- 
coccus, by  M.  Ad.  d'Espine. — The  manuring  of  vines  and 
quality  of  the  wines,  by  M.  A.  Mtintz.  The  supposed  deleterious 
action  of  manure  on  the  quality  of  wine  produced  from  the 
dressed  \'ineries  has  no  substantial  foundation  in  fact. 

Berlin, 

Physiological  Society,  April  5.— Prof  H.  Munk,  Presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — Prof  J.  Munk  had  investigated  the  excre- 
tion of  mineral  waste  during  Prof.  Zuntz'  experiments  on  the 
effects  of  excessive  exercise  on  metaboUsm.  (See  Nature,  vol. 
li.  p.  503.)  He  found  that  the  urinary  output  of  sulphur  was 
increased  in  correspondence  with  the  increased  proteid  meta- 
bolism, the  excess  taking  the  form  of  sulphuric  acid,  not  of 
ethereal-sulphates.  Phosphorus  and  potassium  were  also  simi- 
larly increased,  and  since  neither  of  them  are  normal  constituents 
of  proteid,  their  greater  excretion  denoted  some  destruction  of 
other  tissues.  This  view-  was  confirmed  by  the  increased  excre- 
tion of  lime,  which  further  points  to  a  possibly  greater  metabolism 
of  bone-tissue  during  the  exercise. — Dr.  Treitel  had  carried  out 
observations  on  the  perception  of  the  N-ibrations  of  tuning-forks 
by  the  skin,  and  had  found  that  the  sensibihty  varied  in  diflerent 
parts  of  its  surface,  and  did  not  correspond  with  that  for  the  per- 
ception of  mere  touch  or  localisation. — Dr.  Schultz  demonstrated 
the  contraction  of  single  bundles  of  unstriated  muscle-fibres  on  a 
preparation  made  from  the  muscular  coat  of  a  frog's  stomach. 
The  fibres  could  be  seen  to  slowly  contract  on  electric  stimula- 
tion, relaxing  equally  slowly  after  the  stimulus  had  ceased. 

Meteorological  Society,  April  2.— Prof  Hellmann,  Presi- 
dent, in  the  chair. — Dr.  Less  spoke  on  the  various  types  of 
winter  weather,  dealing  in  detail  with  the  five  types  established 
by  Teisserenc  de  Bort  as  depending  on  the  distribuuon  of  baro- 
metric maxima  and  minima  over  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and 
Europe.  He  added  to  these  a  sixth  type  of  mild  and  squally 
weather  which  most  usually  follows  after  other  types  of  warm 
winter  weather.  He  pointed  out  that  the  winter  just  past  could 
for  the  liiost  part  not  be  included  under  any  of  the  above  six 

types. 

Physical  Society,  April  26.— Prof.  Schwalbe,  President,  in 
the  chair. — Dr.  Pringslieim  gave  an  account  of  his  experiments 
on  the  electric  conductivity  of  heated  ga-ses.  In  a  Chamotte-tube 
closed  by  brass  caps  the  various  gases,  such  as  air,  hydrogen, 
and  carbon  dioxide,  were  heated  to  a  temperature  of  700"  to 
900°  C.  The  electrodes  consisted  of  circular  discs  of  platinum 
capable  of  being  placed  at  varying  distances  from  each  other. 
.\  current  of  1-6  to  10  volts  was  passed  through  the  gases,  and 
all  the  results  obtaincti  by  Becquerel  in  1S53  were  confirmed. 
As  the  electrodes  were  separated  from  each  other  the  deflection 
of  the  galvanometer  became  less,  and  with  constant  distance 
between  the  electrodes  the  current  became  less  the  longer  it 
flowed.  This  fact  led  to  the  suspicion,  verified  by  experiment,  that 
polarisation  was  here  playing  a  jxart.  On  breaking  the  primary 
current,  the  p<ilari.salion  of  the  electrodes  was  quite  perceptible 
for  a  full  half-hour. .  The  spc>aker  concluded  from  the  above 
that  conduction  in  heated  g;ises  is  an  electrolytic  phenomenon, 
and  intends  to  carry  on  his  researches,  using  more  carefully 
purified  gases  and  a  trustworthy  pyrometer.— Dr.  du  Bois  re- 
ported on  !i  paper  presented  by  Prof,  van  Aubel,  dealing  with 
Hall's  phenomenon  as  investigated  on  thin  layers  of  bismuth 


I  ■ 


NATURE 


[May   1 6,  1S95 


deposited  eleclrol)licaIly.  It  appeared  that  when'' the  de|x>sit 
was  made  from  nitrate  of  bismuth  the  ]ihenomenon  was  as 
marked  as  it  is  with  cast  plates  of  the  metal,  whereas  when 
deposited  from  the  tartrate  the  phenomenon  w;is  either  extremely 
feeble  or  non-existent.  The  asymmetr)'  of  the  phenomenon  on 
reversal  of  the  magnetic  field  was  ex^ilained  by  the  author  as 
ilue  to  the  inHuence  exerted  by  the  magnetic  fielil  on  the  electric 
conductivity  of  the  metal,  i  le  further  regarded  the  difference 
in  Ijchaviour  of  the  metallic  film  as  jirecipilated,  on  the  one 
hand,  from  the  nitrate,  and  on  the  other,  from  the  tartrate  or 
citrate,  as  due  to  the  fact  th.it  in  the  case  of  the  latter  salts  the 
bismuth  is  mixe<l  with  carlHin,  whereas  in  the  case  of  the  nitrate 
the  metal  is  deposited  in  a  pure  state. 


DIARY  OF  SOCIETIES. 

THUKSnAY,  Mav  16. 

RovAi.  SociCTV,  ai  4.30.— On  Mca>urcmcius  of  Sma]!  Strain-i  in  the  Test- 
ing of  Materials  and  S  true  lures  :  Prof.  Kwing.  F.R.S.— The  Electrical 
MeaAurenicni  of  Starlijjhi.  OUscrN-atiuns  made  at  the  ObMirvalory  of 
Daramona  House.  Co.  Wcsimeath,  in  April  1S95.  Prcliminar>*  Report  : 
Prof.  G.  M.  Minchin.— The  Complete  Sy^.tcm  of  the  Period>  of  a  Hollow 
Vortcx  Ring  :  H.  C.  Focklington. — India's  Contribution  to  licodcsy  : 
General  Walker.  F.R.S. 

Chkuical  S*k:iktv.  at  3.  — Ballot  for  the  Klectton  of  Fellows.— Kjeldahl's 
Process  for  the  I>ctcnnination  of  NiiroRcn  ;  Dr.  Bernard  Dyer. — The 
Action  of  Niiroui  Acid  on  i  :  4  :  3  Dihromanilinc  :  Prof.  Metdota,  F.R.S., 
and  K.  R.  Andrews. — l>erivativo  of  Succinyl  and  Phthalyl  Ditbiocarbi- 
raides  :  Prof.  I>ixon  and  Dr.  Doran. 

RovAL  Institution,  at  3.— The  Liquefaction  of  Gases :  Prof.  J.  Dcwar. 
F.K.S. 

SOCIKTV  OF  Antiqvari£.s,  at  8.30. 

FRIDAY,  Mav  17. 

OUEKETT    MiCROSCOI'ICAI.  Cl.UH,  at  8. 

KriUKMiOLoiCAL  SociET\".— Paper  by  Dr.  Washboum. 
SATURDAY,  Mav  18. 

I  .SI..S  <;i-  ■!  — ,ri  \i.  FiFUi  Class  (Cannon  -Street  SLition).  at  2.17.— 
K\'  ur-i  AW  ■  \  v:-*,-  Kscarpmcnt  Valleys  from  the  Weald  to  Chalk. 

4  Ik;  i[  i  .1^1  s  A--^<i\rios  (Cannon  Street  Station),  at  1.35.— Excursion  to 
Bctchworlh  and  Headley. 

Essex  Fieli*  Ci.t  it  (Chin^jford,  2  p.m.,  and  HiRh  Bc.ich,  4  p.m.).— Inspec- 
tion of  Forest,  and  Paper  by  Mr.  E.  N.  Buxton,  on  Plan  for  forming  a  Pro- 
tected Area  for  certain  Birds  in  Old  Waltham  Forest  District. 
MOXDAY,  Mav  20. 

-SociFTv  ny  Arts,  at  8.— Japanese  ^\ri  Industries  :  Dr.  Ernest  Hart. 

RnvAi,  C>e(k;kahhical  .S<x:ietv,  at  8.45.  — .Meeting  to  Commemorate  the 
Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  »he  Sailing  of  the  Arctic  Expedition  under  Sir 
Juhn  Franklin. 

Victoria  Institute,  at  4.30.— Prof.  E.  Hull,  F.R.S. 

Mkoical  Society,  at  8.30. 

Ti/ESDAV,  May  21. 

RovAi.  Institution,  at  3.— Thirty  Years'  Progress  in  Biological  Science 
(II.):  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lankt^lcr.  F.R.S. 

Sociktv  ov  Arts,  at  8.— Commercial  Education  in  Belgium  :  Prof.  William 
l.iyion. 

Zon.OGiCAt,  Sociktv,  at  8.30. — On  the  Ornithological  Collections  made  by 
Dr.  Donaldson  Smith  during  his  Recent  F,x{>cdition  in  SomaliLind  and 
Gal  la  land  :  I>r.  R.  Bowdler  Sharpr.  \  Synopsis  of  the  (Jencra  and 
-Species  of  Apodal  Bair.-u:hian%,    with    DL-Nt^riplion-.  of  a    New  Genus  .ind 


Species  (Bdc 


iitaius):  G.  A.  Boulcnger,  F.R.S.— List  .ind  Distri- 


bution of  the    l,.-ind-.Mulliisca   of   the    Aiidam.-ui    and    Nicobar    Group   of 

Islands  in  the  B.-iy  of  l^engal^  wiih    l)cscripiion>>  of  some    New  Species  : 

licut.-ColoncI  H.    H.  (Hxiwin-Aastcn.    F.R.S.— On    a  ■  New  Species  of 

Hedgehog  from  .St^imalilaixl :  Dr.  J.  Anderson,  F.R.S. 
iNsTiruTio.N  or  Civil  ENtiiNKKRS,  at  8.  — Last  Bad  lot  for  Memlx:rs  for  the 

.Se^%ion. 
RovAi.  Statistical  S(x:iktv  (Royal  United  Service  Imtitution),  at  $.— 

Municipal  Finance  :  K.  Orford  .Smith. 
RitvAL  pM«pTf»t;KAi*iiicS«iETV,  al  8.— Apparatus  for  Process  Photography  : 

Wm.  Gamble. 
RovAL  ViCTOKiA  Hall,  at   8.— The   History  of  a  Myth:    Prof.   Soll.xs. 

F.R.S. 
Pathoijocical  Society,  ai  8.30. 

l^EDSESDAY,  May  22. 
Sociktv  of  Arts,  at    8.— The   Pressing  and   Metallurgical  Treatment  of 

Nu  kel  Orei  :  A.  G.  Charleioci. 
<;i..(.irH;»r^i   ^'><  fFTv.  nt  8.— On  a  Human  Skull  and   Limb-Bones  found  in 
Gravel  at    (Ulley    Mill  (Kent):  E.    T.    Newton 


Ihr    I' 
F.  V 


of  a  Journey  round   the  Coast  of   Norw.ty  antl 
S.    Boulgcr.     On    Rhxitc    Furaminifcra  from 
rs^-i):  Frederick  Chapman. 
THURSDAY,  May  21. 
RovAL  Institution,  at  3.— The  Instruments  .and  .MeihodsofSpeciroticopic 

Astronomy:  Iir.  W.  Muggins.  F.R.S. 
.S*k:iktv  orAKiK.ai   4.10.  -The    Northern   Balochis :  their   Customs   and 
Kolk-l  .T-  :  f>  A  ,i.^  V    V;,ic,. 

AI.  Engineers  (.Society  of  Arts),  at  8.— On  the 
'ir  Single-Aciing  High-Speed  Engine,  for  Central 
'1    K'>tiinson. 

J-RfPAY,  Mav  24. 
RovAL  Institution,  at  9. -The  AU.jIuic  Me.isuremcnt  of  Elcrtrical  Rc- 

utlati' >-       I     \  inamu  Jones,  F.R.S, 
LiNM  ■  at  > — Annual  .Meeting. 

''"V  '  at  s.-On  Mixtures  nf  Ethane  and  Nitrous  Oxide  :  Dr. 

^'"^  ■!•  Asurement  of  C  >clicaUy  Var>ing  Temperature  :  H.  F. 

W.  BufiUU. 


Wc«lfT 


Insi  r 
Re 

Sla 


NO     1333,  VOL.   52] 


SATURDAY,  May  25. 
Geolocists'  Association  (Paddington  Station),  .at  10.2  a.m.— Excxu^ionio 

Goring.     Directors:   I.  H.  Blake  -ind  W.  Whitaker,  F.R.S. 
LfiNDOS  liEOLCKiiCAL  FiELt)  Class  (Waterloo  Station),  at    ;.5. — Excursion 

to  the  Bagshot  Sand  Hills  at  Frimley. 
Roy.\l  Botanic  Society,  at  3.45. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

r.i...KH.  .■l-Uthclic  Principle-. :  H,  R.  .Marsh.1l!  (.Macmillaii).  -  Cr>st.illo- 
graphy  :  Prof.  N.  Stor>--Maskelync  (Oxford.  Clarendon  Press). — .\  Primer  of 
Alayan  Hierogl>-phics :  Dr.  !>.  G.  Brinton  (Boston,  *^linn).— The  Migration 
of  British  Birds  :  C.  Dixon  (Chapman). — lilcctricily  in  our  Homes  and 
Workshops  :  S.  F.  Walker,  3rd  edition  (Whittaker).— The  Pr.ictical  Tele- 
phone Handt>ook,  I.  Poole.  2nd  edition  (Whittaker). — The  !-and  Birds  in 
and  around  St.  Andrews:  G.  Bruce  (Dundee,  Leng). — Wild  Nature  won  by 
Kindness  :  .Mrs.  Brightwen,  6th  edition  (Unwin).— The  Elements  of  Hot.any  : 
F.  Darwin  (Cambridge  University  Press). — John  Dalton  and  the  Rise  of 
Slodern  Chemistry  :  Sir  H.  E.  Roscoe  (Cassell).— Roy.il  Naiuml  Historj-, 
Vol.  ^(Wariie). — Geschichte  der  Expkisivstoffe.  I.  (ieschichte  der  Sprcng- 
stoficneniic  der  Sprengtechnik  und  des  Torpedowesens  :  S.  J,  von  Roniocki 
(Berlin.  Oppenheim). — The  Scientific  Transactions  of  the  Roval  Dublin 
Society.  Vol  5  (scries  2)  :  The  Brain  of  the  Micnxrephalic  Idiot :  Vrof.  D.  J. 
Cunningham  (Williams), — Royal  I'niversitv  of  Ireland.  Examination 
Papers,  1894  (Dublin,  Ponsonby). — A  Manu.if  for  the  Study  of  Insects:  J. 
H.  and  A.  H.  Comstock  (Ithaca.  Comstock). — Sitzungsbenchte  der  K.  B. 
(iesellschaft  der  Wisscnschaften,  .Mathematisch-Xaturwissenschnftliche 
Classc  i8Q4(Prag). 

Pami'HLETS. — Summary'  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey  l>ci»artmcnt  for 
the  Vciu-  1S94  (Ottawa.  Daw.son). — Ehisticity  a  Mode  of  Motion  :  R.  Steven- 
son (San  Francisco). — Kindergarten  Mathematics(series  .\) — .\lgcbra,  P^u'i  t  : 
M.  H.  Senior  (Oldham.  Bard  si  ey).^  Petroleum,  its  Development  and  Uses: 
R.  N.  Boyd  (Whittaker). — Notes  on  the  Geology  of  the  Island  of  Cuba:  R. 
T.  Hill  (Cambridge,  .M.iss.). — J.ihrcsbericht  der  K.  B.  Gcsellschaft  der 
Wissenschaftcn,  i894(Pr.ig). 

SEKiAt_s. — Proceedings  of  the  Physical  Society  of  London.  M.ay  (Taylor). 
— Bulletin  of  the  American  Mathematical  Society,  April  (New  V'ork,  Mac- 
mitlan). — Strand  Magazine,  May  (Ncwnes). — Picture  Magazine,  May 
(Newncs). — .American  Journal  of  Science,  May  (New  Haven).— G.a/.Ktta 
Chiniica  It.aliana,  1895.  Vol.  1,  Fasc.  4  (Roma). — Engineering  Mag.azine, 
M.ay  (Tucker). — Journal  of  the  Chen1ic.1l  .Society,  May  ((iurney).— Morpho* 
logisches  Jahrbuch,  22  Band,  3  Heft  (Ixiipzig,  Engelm.ann).  -  Himniel  und 
Erde,  May  (Berlin,  Paetcl). — Science  Progress,  May  (Scientific  Press,  Ltd.). 
— Astrophysical  Journal,  May  (Chicigo).  — Psychological  Review,  May 
(Macmillan).— The  Flowering  Plants  and  Fernsof  New  South  Wales  :  J.  H. 
Maiden,  Part  t  (Sydney). — ^Bulletin  du  Comiti  Internationale  Perm.inent 
pour  1"  Execution  PhoKSgraphique  de  la  Carte  du  Ciel.  Tome  ii.  Troisieme 
Fasc.  (Paris,  Gaulhier-Villars).  —  Reports  on  the  Victorian  Co.-»l- Fields  :  J. 
Stirling,  No.  3  (Melbourne,  Brain). 

CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Hygiene  and   Meteorology 49 

Mechanical  Engineering 51 

The  Lake  of  Geneva,   by  Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.     52 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Iliiylc  :   "  A  Catalogue  of  ihc  Hi«iks  and  I'amphlcts  in 

the  Lil)rary  of  the  Manchester  Musuuin  "     ...         -53 
Kanlhack  :    "A  Courseof   lilcmenlary   rractical  Bac- 
teriology,   including    Bacteriological    Analysi.s    and 

Chemistry"  .         . jj 

Klagg  :   "  Primer  of  Navigation 53 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The  <)rii;iii  of  I  lie  I'ullivalcil  Cineraria.      Prof.  W.  F. 
R.    Weldon.    F.R.S.  ;    W.    Botting    Hemsley. 

F.R.S 54 

Prof.  Milne's  Ohservation  of  tin-  .Vr^jciuiiu'  I'larth<|tiake, 

October  27,  1894. — Dr.  E.  von  Rebeur-Paschwitz    55 
Ciuanine  in  Fishes'  Skins. — Chas.  A.  MacMunn  55 

The  (Jklest  Vertebrate  Fossil.      Prof.    E.  W.  Clay- 

Pole 55 

Terrestrial  Helium.     Hy  Prof.  W.   Ramsay,   F.R.S.  : 

J.  Norman  Lockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S 55 

The   Marquis  of  Saporta.      Hy  A.  C.  Seward     ....     57 

Sir  George  Buchanan 58 

Notes 58 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

AIK"!      .    •        ...        . 61 

Parallax  and  Orbit  of  7)  Cassio|K'i:v 61 

.\  llfl^^ian  .\stroi)omicaI  Society 62 

The   Iron  and   Steel   Institute 62 

The   Schorlemmer   Memorial   Laboratory 63 

The   Migrations  of  the   Lemming 64 

The  Australasian  Association 65 

Electrification  of  Air,  and  Thermal  Conductivity  of 
Rock  al   Different  Temperatures,     [///ustialiul.)     Hy 

Lord   Kelvin.  P.R.S (j? 

University  and   Educational   Intelligence 70 

Scientific  Serials       70 

Societies  and  Academies 70 

Diary  of  Societies 72 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 72 


NA TURE 


/  o 


THURSDAY,  MAY    23,   1895. 


WERNER    VON  SIEMENS. 
The   Scientific   and    Technical  Papers  of   Werner  von 
Siemens.     Translated  from  the  second  (ierman  edition. 
Two    volumes.      (London  :    John     Murray,    1892    and 
1895.) 

THESE  two  large  volumes  form  a  complete  history  of 
the  work  of  Werner  Siemens,  and  give  a  \er)'  vivid 
impression  of  his  unceasing  activity.  In  addition  to  build- 
ing up  one  of  the  largest  commercial  houses  on  the  con- 
tinent, and  by  his  inventions  and  discoveries  materially 
assisting  in  almost  every  step  which,  during  the  last  fifty 
years,  has  been  made  in  the  application  of  electricity  to 
the  service  of  man,  he  has  found  time  to  conduct  long 
researches  on  subjects  unconnected  with  his  technical 
work,  and,  particular  y  in  his  later  years,  has  written 
several  important  papers  on  meteorology.  It  is  chiefly, 
however,  in  connection  with  electro-technology  that  the 
name  of  Siemens  is  famous,  for  it  is  this  subject  that 
Werner  Siemens  in  Germany,  and  Sir  William  Siemens  in 
England,  have  made  particularly  their  own. 

The  first  of  the  volumes  under  notice  contains  the 
"  scientific  "  papers,  while  the  second  contains  the  tech- 
nical ones  ;  the  papers  in  either  volume  being  arranged 
in  chronological  order.  The  distinction  drawn  between 
the  scientific  and  technical  papers  is  more  apparent  than 
real,  for  in  most  of  the  papers  included  under  the  first  of 
these  heads  it  is  very  evident  that  the  investigations  were 
suggested  by  some  difficulty  met  with  in  practice,  or  were 
undertaken  with  a  view  to  some  practical  application. 
Hence  it  is  questionable  whether  it  would  not  have  been 
better  to  keep  all  the  papers  together,  arranging  them  in 
chronological  order,  so  as  to  render  the  relation  between 
the  experimental  or  theoretical  investigation  and  its  prac- 
tical application  more  obvious. 

The  first  paper  in  chronological  order  is  a  note  on  "  an 
application  by  Second-Lieutenant  Werner  Siemens  for  a 
patent  for  a  process  of  dissolving  gold  by  means  of  the 
galvanic  current,  and  for  gilding  by  the  wet  method." 
Although  no  complete  account  is  given  of  the  method 
employed,  this  note  is  of  interest  for  two  reasons.  In  the 
first  place,  the  experiments  which  led  to  the  discovery  of 
this  method  of  electro-gilding  were  made  in  a  cell  at  the 
citadel  of  Magdeburg,  in  which  place,  on  account  of  his 
participation  in  a  duel,  young  Siemens  was  at  the  time  a 
prisoner  ;  the  chemicals  and  apparatus  employed  being 
procured  and  smuggled  into  the  fortress  by  a  friendly 
chemist  of  the  town.  In  the  second  place,  it  was  the  sale 
of  the  patent  rights  in  this  invention  in  England  which 
supplied  the  brothers  Werner  and  William  with  the 
necessar)'  funds  to  carry  on  their  experiments,  and  so 
helped  to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  important  firms  of 
Siemens  and  Halske  in  Ciermany,  and  Siemens  Bros,  in 
England. 

Although  still  in  the  army,  Werner  Siemens  continued 
his  scientific  experiments,  the  next  discovery  of  im- 
portance having  reference  to  the  insulation  of  electric 
wires  with  gutta-percha.  When  the  newly-discovered 
substance,  gutta-percha,  was  first  put  upon  the  English 
market,  William  Siemens  sent  a  specimen  to  his  brother, 
NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


who,  being  at  that  time  engaged  in  an  attempt  to  discover 
a  practicable  method  of  insulating  underground  telegraph 
wires,  immediately  proceeded  to  tr\-  if  this  substance  was 
suitable  for  the  purpose,  and  found  that  even  a  thin  layer 
when  freed  from  moisture  possessed  sufficient  insulating 
power.  In  addition,  the  property  which  gutta-percha 
possesses  of  becoming  plastic  and  sticking  together  when 
heated,  appeared  to  remove  the  difficulty  of  making  sound 
joints  between  the  separate  pieces  of  the  covering.  At 
first  a  hot  gutta-percha  strip  was  pressed  round  the  wire 
by  means  of  grooved  rollers,  and  cables  insulated  in  this 
way  were  used  on  a  short  underground  telegraph  line 
between  Berlin  and  C.ross-Heeren.  as  well  as  for  the  sub- 
marine mines,  the  first  of  their  kind,  which  Siemens  laid 
down  for  the  defence  of  Kiel  harbour.  It  was  found, 
howe\er,  that  the  method  of  covering  was  defecti\e,  since 
the  material  rolled  round  the  wire  often  did  not  stick  well 
together.  In  order  to  overcome  this  difficulty,  Siemens, 
in  conjunction  with  his  future  partner,  Halske,  invented  a 
machine  by  means  of  which  gutta-percha  could  be  con- 
tinuously pressed  round  the  wire  without  any  seam.  The 
plastic  gutta-percha  is  in  this  machine  forced  into  a 
metal  box  having  a  number  of  holes  drilled  through  two 
opposite  sides  ;  the  holes  on  the  lower  side  being  of  such 
a  size  as  to  just  allow  the  passage  of  the  uncovered  wire, 
while  the  holes  on  the  upper  side  are  the  size  of  the 
finished  insulated  wire.  The  wires  pass  through  the  lower 
narrow  holes  into  the  space  filled  with  hot  gutta-percha, 
and  come  out  through  the  upper  holes  covered  with  a 
uniform  and  seamless  coating. 

In  consequence  of  the  perfection  with  which  wires 
could  be  insulated  by  this  new  method,  Siemens  was 
employed  in  designing  and  laying  the  Prussian  State 
telegraphs,  and  in  this  connection  devised  a  method  for 
testing  the  perfection  of  the  insulation  during  the  manu- 
facture of  the  cable,  and  also  a  system  of  tests  for  localis- 
ing the  position  of  any  "  faults  "  which  might  occur  after 
the  cable  was  buried  in  the  ground.  While  superintend- 
ing the  laying  of  the  Red  Sea  cable,  these  systematic 
tests  were  further  elaborated  by  Siemens,  and  the  success 
which  attended  the  laying  of  this  cable,  as  well  as  the 
numerous  others  laid  by  his  firm,  may  be  traced  in  a 
great  measure  to  the  severe  and  continuous  testing  to 
which  the  cables  were  subjected  during  the  process  of 
manufacture  and  the  subsequent  laying. 

In  practically  all  the  earlier  telegraph  lines  of  the 
Prussian  telegraphs,  underground  conductors  w^ere  em- 
ployed, since  Siemens  considered  they  were  better  than 
overhead  cdnductors,  being  less  liable  to  malicious  or 
accidental  injury.  In  addition,  they  are  unaflfccted  by 
the  atmospheric  electricity,  which  in  a  dry  climate  often 
renders  the  overhead  lines  unworkable.  .Although  these 
underground  lines  were  in  after  years  a  source  of  con- 
stant trouble,  on  account  of  the  frequent  break-downs, 
attributed  by  Siemens  to  careless  and  defective  repairing, 
yet  their  use  led  him  to  two  ver>'  interesting  discoveries. 
in  the  first  place,  he  found  that  an  underground  cable 
acted  like  a  large  Leyden  jar,  the  copper  conductor  form- 
ing the  inside,  and  the  moist  earth  the  outside  coating. 
On  this  account,  it  was  found  necessary  to  design  special 
apparatus  to  work  satisfactorily  through  these -under- 
ground lines,  and  the  practice  obtained  in  designing  such 
instruments  must  have  stood  him  in  good  stead  when  he 


74 


NATURE 


[]\Iav 


•J>95 


came  to  deal  with  submarine  cables,  in  which  the  same 
capacity  effect  is  met  with.  The  second  point  was  the 
obsen-ation  that  ven-  strong  earth  currents — that  is, 
electric  currents  through  the  crust  of  the  earth — were 
produced  whenever  the  aurora  borealis  was  visible. 

There  is  one  paper  which,  although  it  is  included  in 
the  first  volume,  certainly  describes  a  rather  amusing 
practical  application  of  electricity.  Werner  Siemens, 
with  a  party  of  friends,  had  ascended  the  Cheops  pyramid, 
and  after  reaching  the  top  they  noticed  that  the  wind, 
which  had  been  continually  increasing  in  strength,  was 
raising  the  sand  of  the  desert  with  a  continuous  whirling 
motion.  "  When  it  had  arrived  at  the  highest  step  we 
noticed  a  whistling  noise,  which  1  ascribed  to  the  in- 
creasing violence  of  the  wind.  The  Arabs,  who  were 
squatted  around  us  on  the  nearest  steps,  sprang  up 
suddenly  with  the  cry  '  Chamsin,'  and  held  up  their  fore- 
finger in  the  air.  There  was  now  a  peculiar  whistling  I 
noise  to  be  heard,  similar  to  that  of  singing  water.  We 
thought  at  first  that  the  Arabs  were  uttering  this  sound, 
but  1  soon  satisfied  myself  that  it  also  took  place  when 
1  stood  upon  the  highest  point  of  the  pyramid  and  held 
up  my  own  forefinger  in  the  air.  There  was  also  a  slight, 
hardly  perceptible,  prickling  observable  on  the  skin  of 
the  finger  which  was  opposed  to  the  wind.  I  could  only 
explain  this  fact,  observed  by  all  of  us,  as  an  electrical 
phenomenon,  and  such  it  proved  to  be.  When  I  held 
up  a  full  bottle  of  wine,  the  top  of  which  was  covered 
with  tinfoil,  I  heard  the  same  singing  sound  as  when 
the  finger  was  held  up.  .-Vt  the  same  time  little  sparks 
sprang  continually  from  the  label  to  my  hand,  and  when 
I  touched  the  head  of  the  bottle  with  my  other  hand, 
I  received  a  strong  electric  shock.  It  is  clear  that  the 
liquid  inside  the  bottle,  brought  into  metallic  connection 
with  the  metallic  covering  of  the  head  of  the  bottle 
through  the  damp  cork,  formed  the  inner  coating  of  a 
Leyden  jar,  whilst  the  label  and  hand  formed  the  outer 
coating.  When  I  had  completed  the  outer  coating  of 
my  bottle  by  wrapping  it  in  damp  paper,  the  charge 
was  so  strong  that  I  could  make  use  of  it  as  a  \ery 
powerful  weapon  of  defence.  .After  the  Arabs  had 
watched  our  proceedings  for  a  time  with  wonder,  they 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  we  were  engaged  in  sorcer>', 
and  requested  us  to  leave  the  pyramid.  .\s  their  remarks, 
when  interpreted  to  us,  were  without  effect,  they  wanted 
to  use  the  power  of  the  strongest  to  remove  us  from  the 
top  by  violence.  I  withdrew  to  the  highest  point,  and 
fully  charged  my  strengthened  flask,  when  the  .\rab 
leader  caught  hold  of  my  hand  and  tried  to  drag  mc 
away  from  the  position  1  had  attained  ;  at  this  critical 
moment  I  approached  the  top  of  my  flask  to  within 
striking  distance  of  the  tip  of  his  nose,  which  might  Ijc 
about  lo  m.m.  The  action  of  the  discharge  exceeded 
my  utmost  expectation.  The  son  of  the  desert,  whose 
nerves  had  never  before  received  such  a  shock,  fell  on 
the  ground  as  though  struck  by  lightning,  rushed  away 
with  a  loud  howl,  and  vanished  with  a  great  spring  from 
our  vicinity,  followed  by  the  whole  of  his  comrades. 
We  had  now  a  full  opportunity  of  carrying  out  our 
experiments." 

Before  i860,  when  Siemens  published  his  paper 
on  a  reproducible  unit  of  resistance,  there  was  no 
generally   accepted     unit,     so    that    it     was    impossible 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


to  compare  the  results  obtained  by  any  one  observer 
with  those  obtained  by  any  other.  The  need  of 
such  a  unit  is  ver\-  well  illustrated  in  one  of  the  early 
papers  in  these  volumes,  where  the  unit  of  resistance  used 
in  an  investigation  is  said  to  be  the  resistance  of  an  iron 
telegraph  wire  2  m.m.  thick  and  100  Russian  versts  long  I 
At  the  present  day,  with  our  well-defined  systems  of 
electrical  units,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  imagine  the 
difficulty  and  confusion  which  must  have  existed  when  re- 
sistances, to  take  one  example,  were  stated  in  such  terms 
as  that  mentioned  above.  It  is  true  that  Jacobi  had 
previously  proposed  as  unit  the  resistance  of  a  certain 
copper  wire  in  his  possession,  and  had  issued  copies 
of  this  unit.  These  copies,  however,  \aried  so  much 
one  from  another  as  to  be  quite  useless  for  the  more 
refined  and  accurate  measurements  which  the  previously 
mentioned  tests  for  localising  the  faults  in  underground 
conductors  rendered  necessary.  Weber  also  had  pro- 
posed his  "absolute"  unit  of  resistance,  but  at  this  time 
no  trastworthy  experiments  had  been  made  so  as  to 
embody  this  "  absolute "  unit  in  a  material  resistance. 
Siemens  was  thus  led  to  the  adoption  of  another  arbitrary 
unit  of  resistance,  and  for  this  purpose  chose  the  resistance 
at  o'  C.  of  a  column  of  mercurv"  100  cm.  long  and  having 
a  cross  section  of  one  square  millimetre.  He  employed 
mercur>',  since  it  can  be  comparati\ely  easily  prepared 
in  a  practically  pure  state,  and  being  a  liquid  its  molecular 
condition,  and  hence  its  resistance,  does  not  alter  with  time, 
as  it  was  quite  possible  that  of  a  solid  metallic  wire  might 
do.  This  unit,  known  as  the  Siemens  unit,  came  into 
ver)"  general  use,  particularly  on  the  continent.  Never- 
theless, the  Paris  Congress  in  188 1  decided  to  use  as 
the  international  unit  of  resistance  the  nearest  approach 
possible  to  Weber's  "absolute"  unit,  in  order  to  bring 
the  resistance  unit  into  agreement  with  the  other  electrical 
units.     On  this  subject  Siemens  says  : — 

"  It  was  certainly  somewhat  hard  for  mc,  that  my 
resistance  unit,  arrived  at  with  so  much  trouble 
and  labour,  which  had,  speaking  generally,  made  the 
first  comparable  electrical  measurements  possible,  then 
was  employed  for  more  than  a  dcccnnium  through- 
out the  world  and  adopted  as  the  legal  inter- 
national standard  resistance  for  telegraphy  should  have 
suddenly  to  be  set  aside  with  my  own  co-operation." 
(.Siemens  was  the  German  representative  at  the  Paris 
Congress.)  "  But  the  great  advantage  of  a  theoretically 
established  system  of  standards  consistently  carried  out 
necessitated  this  sacrifice  offered  up  to  science  and  the 
public  interest." 

One  cannot  help  sympathising  with  him  in  this  matter, 
for  it  is  always  hard  to  disown  one's  own  offspring, 
particularly  after  they  have  had  a  comparative!)-  long  and 
brilliant  career. 

Most  of  the  earlier  papers  in  both  volumes  deal  either 
directly  or  indirectly  with  telegraphy.  In  the  remaining 
portions  of  either  volume,  however,  a  ver)'  prominent 
part  is  played  by  papers  and  inventions  in  connection 
with  the  conversion  of  mechanical  energy  into  elec- 
trical energy.  In  connection  with  a  form  of  magneto- 
electric  machine,  /./■.  one  in  which  the  magnetic  field  is 
produced  by  permanent  steel  magnets,  for  use  in  tele- 
graphy, Siemens  invented  a  form  of  armature,  which 
has  since  been  known  as  the  Siemens  armature.  This 
armature  is  shuttle-shaped  and  has  an  iron  core,  the  cross 


May  23,  1895] 


NATURE 


75 


section  being  something  like  an  H,  and  has  the  wire 
wound  longitudinally  in  the  two  grooves.  Wilde,  who 
may  be  said  to  have  taken  the  first  step  in  the  direction 
of  the  evolution  of  the  modern  dynamo,  combined  two 
machines  with  Siemens'  armatures,  one  a  small  magneto, 
the  other  a  large  machine  with  electro-magnets  in  place 
of  the  permanent  steel  magnets.  The  armatures  of  these 
two  machines  were  rotated,  and  the  current  from  the 
magneto  was  led  round  the  electro-magnets  of  the  other 
machine.  In  this  way,  the  magnetic  field  in  which  the 
armature  of  the  large  machine  rotated,  was  very  much 
stronger  than  it  was  possible  to  obtain  with  permanent 
magnets. 

"  The  technical  knowledge  of  the  production  of  electric 
currents  by  means  of  mechanical  power  had  e.xtended 
thus  far,''  says  Siemens,  "  when  I  succeeded,  in  the  autumn 
of  1866,  in  obviating  entirely  the  need  of  steel  magnets. 
The  well-known  fact  that  the  electric  current  driving 
an  electro-magnetic  machine  (motor)  is  considerably 
weakened  by  the  induced  currents  produced  in  the  wind- 
ings of  the  electro-magnets,  made  it  appear  probable  to 
me  that  by  dri\ing a  properly  constructed  electro-magnetic 
machine  backwards,  the  slight  magnetism  remaining  in 
the  electro-magnets  must  be  considerably  increased  since 
the  induced  currents  are  then  produced  in  the  same 
direction  as  those  due  to  the  existing  magnetism.  Ex- 
perience confirmed  my  conjecture.  I  called  this  new 
kind  of  current-producing  machine  dynamo-electric,  as 
by  it  mechanical  force  is  directly  changed  into  electric 
currents,  whilst  the  magnetism  only  appears  as  an  inter- 
mediate product,  not  as  the  real  source  of  the  current 
produced." 

Siemens  communicated  a  paper  on  this  new  dynamo- 
electric  machine  to  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences  of 
Berlin,  on  January  17,  1867.  A  few  weeks  later,  William 
Siemens,  at  his  brother's  suggestion,  communicated  a 
paper  to  the  Royal  Society  on  this  subject.  This  paper 
was  read  at  a  meetmg  at  which  Prof.  Wheatstone,  who, 
without  knowing  of  Werner  .Siemens'  discover\-,  had  been 
working  at  this  question,  read  a  paper  embodying  the 
same  idea.  Some  time  afterwards  it  became  generally 
known  that  a  provisional  patent,  which  had  been  kept 
secret,  and  which  also  covered  this  invention,  had  been 
issued  to    the    Brothers  Varley  in  December  1866. 

It  appears,  therefore,  that  several  people  hit  upon  what 
may  be  called  the  dynamo  principle  almost  simultaneously. 
From  the  fact,  however,  that  Siemens  was  the  first  to  publish 
the  discovery-,  according  to  the  usually  accepted  principle 
introduced  by  .\rago,  there  seems  no  doubt  that  his  claim 
for  priority  is  justified. 

This  claim  for  priority  with  reference  to  the  invention 
of  the  dynamo  is  made  again  and  again  in  several 
addresses,  &c.,  in  the  second  volume.  As  most  of  these 
papers  are  mere  repetitions,  one  of  another,  it  is  very 
tloubtful  whether  any  good  purpose  is  served  by  printing 
more  than  one,  since  the  reader  becomes  very  tired  of 
Ijeing  taken  over  the  same  ground  several  times. 

At  the  end  of  the  second  volume  there  are  a  number  of 
patent  claims,  &c.,  for  meters  to  measure  electrical 
energy.  The  demand  for  such  a  meter,  which  should 
combine  accuracy  with  a  moderate  cost,  arose  directly  the 
supply  of  electric  current  for  lighting  and  power  purposes 
became  at  all  general.  Such  a  demand  in  connection 
with    any    electrical    subject    was    always    for    Werner 

NO.    1334,  VOL     52] 


Siemens  almost  a  mandate,  and  he  at  once  devoted    a 
good  deal  of  time  and  attention  to  supplying  this  want. 

The  chief  interest  of  most  of  the  papers  is,  no  doubt, 
historic  ;  the  two  last  of  all,  however,  have  a  special 
interest  at  the  present  moment  in  this  country.  They 
form  an  appendix  to  the  second  volume,  and  have  refer- 
ence to  the  foundation  by  Werner  von  Siemens  of  the 
Physico-Technical  Institution  at  Charlottenburg.  The 
reasons  given  by  Siemens  for  the  foundation  of  such  an 
institution  in  Germany  apply  to  the  case  of  our  own 
country  at  the  present  day,  for  we  are  still  without  such 
an  institution,  though,  through  the  munificence  of  Dr. 
Ludwig  Mond,  the  region  of  usefulness  of  the  Royal 
Institution  is  to  be  extended  in  this  direction.  Siemens, 
during  his  long  and  successful  career,  had  noticed  that 
although  the  general  standard  of  scientific  education  was 
probably  higher  in  Germany  than  in  any  other  country, 
the  result  was  to  produce  not  so  much  scientific  workers 
and  discoverers  as  teachers. 

"  Scientific  investigation,"  he  says,  "  itself  is  nowhere  a 
life  vocation  in  the  State  organisation,  it  is  only  a  per- 
mitted private  business  of  the  learned  besides  their 
vocation,  teaching  business.  ...  It  must,  however,  be 
pointed  out  as  a  waste  of  national  strength,  that  highly 
gifted  inquirers,  talents  such  as  only  seldom  come  to 
light,  are  hea\ily  burdened  with  professional  (?  profes- 
sorial) labours,  which  others  would  perhaps  perform  even 
better,  and  are  thereby  in  great  measure  withdrawn  from 
science  itself,  to  which  they  would  bear  incalculable 
service  if  they  could  give  themselves  up  entirely  to  it. 
But  it  is  a  still  greater  pity  that  so  many  talented  and 
highly-cultured  young  students  find  no  opportunity  to 
carry-  out  scientific  work.  The  unfortunate  consequence 
in  most  cases  is  that  scientific  labours  which  would 
animate  and  fructify  whole  domains  of  life,  remain  un- 
done, and  that,  in  the  struggle  for  existence,  talents  do 
not  develop  or  fall  to  the  ground  unrecognised,  which 
under  more  favourable  circumstances  would  have  been 
able  to  perform  great  things  to  the  honour  and  to  the 
material  advantage  of  the  country.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  the  advantage  ...  of  better  scientific  instruction 
and  of  more  widely-spread  scientific  culture,  will  soon  be 
lost  ...  if  it  is  not  supported  by  State  organisations. 
These  organisations  would  have  to  fulfil  a  double  purpose, 
to  advance  scientific  inquiry  generally  and  to  aid  industry 
by  means  of  the  solution  of  scientific  technical  problems 
and  questions  which  are  essential  to  its  development. 
...  In  order  to  make  clear  the  great  importance  which 
such  an  institution,  well  supplied  and  liberally  endowed, 
would  have  on  the  development  of  industry-,  a  short 
retrospect  of  the  history  of  this  development  is  quite 
suflficient.  We  see  this  everywhere  associated  with  per- 
sons and  institutions,  where  it  was  possible  by  specially 
favourable  conditions  that  scientific  researches  went 
hand-in-hand  witli  their  technical  applications.  The 
scientific  light,  which  in  consequence  led  technical  com- 
binations and  methods,  gave  such  institutions  such  a 
preponderance  over  others  that  the  cost  of  experiments 
was  not  only  covered  by  the  higher  commercial  results, 
but  also  whole  branches  of  industry  were  radically  trans- 
formed b\-  them,  and  new  ones  of  great  importance 
created.  .  .  .  This  combination  is  most  easily  realisable 
in  chemical  manufacture.  .  .  .  More  unfavourable  is,  how- 
ever, the  position  of  the  trades  depending  on  mechanical 
bases.  Exact  physical  experiments  demand  much  more 
costly  instruments  and  specially-prei)ared  roorns.  ...  If 
the  State,  therefore,  confines  itself  as  heretofore  only 
to  looking  after  instruction,  the  mechanical  crafts 
necessarily  lag  behind  the  chemical  in  their  develop 
ment." 


76 


NATURE 


[May  23,  1895 


Thus  spoke  Wemer  Siemens,  a  man  who,  by  his  long 
and  eventful  life,  was  specially  qualified  to  speak  with 
authority  on  this  subject,  and  the  results  which  have, 
during  the  few  years  of  its  existence,  already  been 
achieved  at  Charlottenburg  are  proving  him  a  true 
prophet. 

In  conclusion,  we  may  say  that  these  volumes  will  be 
found  most  interesting,  not  only  on  account  of  the  insight 
they  give  regarding  the  development  of  the  electrical 
industry,  but  also  on  account  of  the  interesting  personality 
which  pervades  the  whole.  W.  Watson. 


ATMOSPHERIC  PRESSURE  OF  THE  NORTH 

ATLANTIC  OCEAN. 
Repartition   dc  la   Prcssion  Atmospht'riquc  stir  lOcdan 
Atlantiquf  Septentrional,  tfapres  les  Obsenuitions  de 
1870  a  1889,  avec  la  Direction  Moycnne  du  Vent  sur 
les  Littoraux.     Par  le   Capitainc  G.   Rung.     (Copen- 
hagen :  1894.) 
THIS  -Atlas,  showing  the  monthly  and  annual  atmo- 
spheric   pressure   and    prevailing   winds    over    the 
North   .-Xtlantic  and  connected  seas,  is  a  fine  example 
of  cartography  and   typography.      The  monographs  for 
this  and  the  other  oceans  have  generally  dealt  only  with 
February,  May,  August,   and  November;  but  this  work 
presents  us  with  the  results  for  each  of  the  twelve  months, 
and  for  the  year,  on  a  mean  of  the  twenty  years  from 
1870  to  1889. 

The  really  heavy  part  of  the  work  carried  out  by 
Captain  Runy  has  been  the  calculation  of  the  monthly 
means  from  the  nine  years'  daily  weather  charts  of  the 
Danish  and  (German  meteorologists  from  December  1880 
to  November  1889,  including  the  similar  charts  of  the 
Meteorological  Council  for  the  year  ending  August  1883. 
This  has  been  done  for  eighty  points  over  the  ocean 
between  lat.  10'  and  77'  30'  N.  and  between  long.  25°  E. 
and  80-  W. 

It  being  desirable  that  the  discussion  should  cover  a 
longer  period  than  nine  years,  the  twenty  years  ending 
with  1889  were  juloptcd,  these  years  being  selected  with 
the  view  of  utilising  the  fifteen  years'  means  (1870-84) 
for  this  part  of  the  globe  which  have  been  published 
in  Buchan's  "  Challenger  Report  on  Atmospheric  Circula- 
tion," thus  greatly  facilitating  the  inquiry.  The  means 
for  the  subsequent  five  years  were  independently  worked 
out,  and  thereafter  combined  with  liuchan's  to  make 
up  the  twenty  years'  means.  The  next  step  was  to 
bring,  by  the  usual  method  of  differentiation,  the  nine 
years'  means  of  the  ocean  stations  to  approximate  means 
for  the  twenty  years.  Table  iv.  gives  the  means  thus 
calculated  for  ninety-two  coast  or  land  stations  surrounding 
the  ocean,  and  Table  v.  for  the  eighty  ocean  stations. 
The  mean  directions  of  the  wind  have  been  calculated 
for  the  stations  in  Denmark  and  its  colonies  ;  but  for  all 
other  stations  the  tlat.i  have  been  taken  siinptiiiler  from 
the  ^^  Challenger  Report."  It  might  materially  have  aided 
the  inquiry  in  the  north-western  part  of  the  ocean  if 
means  for  pressure  and  wind  direction  had  been  calcu- 
lated and  given  for  the  I^ibrador  stations  at  Moffenthal, 
Zoar,  Nain,  Okak,  Hebron,  and  Rama,  the  observations 
at  which  have  been  published  from  1882  to  1889. 
NO.   1334,  VOL.   52] 


The  monthly  and  annual  means  for  the  eighty  ocean 
stations,  and  the  charting  of  the  results  on  the  thirteen 
maps,  constitute  the  novel  part  of  Captain  Rung's  work, 
and  must  be  regarded  as  a  substantial  addition  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  meteorology  of  the  North  .\tlantic. 
This  remark  holds  good  emphatically  as  regards  tlic 
northern  half  of  this  ocean,  and  for  the  five  months  from 
May  to  September.  Thus,  for  these  months,  we  have 
now  a  more  accurate  knowleilgc  of  the  distribution  of 
atmospheric  pressure  and  of  the  prevailing  winds  north 
of  latitude  60'  than  could  have  been  obtained  from  any 
work  previously  published  on  the  subject. 

But  such  well-merited  praise  cannot  be  extended  to  the 
working  out  of  the  results  for  the  five  winter  months  from 
November  to  March.  .\n  examination  of  the  Danish 
and  German  daily  weather-maps  of  the  .Atlantic  of  the 
nine  years  for  these  months  shows  that  over  the  whole 
ocean  to  the  north  of  a  line  drawn  from  St.  John's,  New- 
foundland, to  V'alentia,  observations  from  a  ship  at  sea 
is  an  event  of  extrcTnely  rare  occurrence.  The  con- 
sequence is  that  the  monthly  means  for  this  important 
region,  from  which  fresh  information  is  so  desir- 
able, ha\c  been  obtained  wholly  from  the  observations 
made  at  the  land  stations  of  this  part  of  the  ocean. 
Hence  the  results  given  in  the  .Atlas  cannot  be  regarded  as 
a  contribution  to  the  meteorology  of  the  ocean.  In  this 
.Atlas,  what  strikes  one  at  first  sight  as  new  fact  is  the 
distribution  of  atmospheric  pressure  during  the  winter 
months  from  the  south-west  of  Greenland  round  by  Ice- 
land to  north  of  Norway,  particularly  the  three  or  four 
distinct  areas  of  pressure  a  little  lower  than  prevails 
generally  over  this  region.  But  a  close  examination  of 
the  daily  weather-maps  themselves  suggests  the  idea  th,;t 
these  three  or  four  low-pressure  systems  may  be  no  more 
than  the  outcome  of  an  interpretation,  made  in  construct- 
ing these  daily  maps,  of  the  amount  of  pressure  over  the 
ocean  drawn  from  the  pressure  and  winds  observed  at 
the  land  stations,  the  interpretation  being  made  in  the 
complete  absence  of  observations  at  sea.  Thus  the 
observations  made  at  the  Greenland  stations  since  1840 
amply  show  that  the  winds  on  its  coast  are  very  greatly 
deflected  from  their  true  direction,  as  that  would  be  deter- 
mined by  the  distribution  of  pressure,  by  the  high  ground 
and  valleys  near  the  coast.  It  is  in  this  connection  tliat 
a  discussion  of  the  Labrador  obserxalions  would  have 
come  in  so  handy. 

Captain  Rung  has  raised  a  side  issue  to  his  report  in  a 
discussion  of  the  distribution  of  atmospheric  pressure  in  the 
interior  of  .Southern  .Scandinavia,  where  the  .Atlas  shows 
a  sinjjular  local  excess  of  pressure  in  the  winter  months, 
which  excess  is  also  plainly  shown  by  his  monthly  means 
of  the  Norwegian,  Swedish,  and  Danish  stations.  In 
looking  closely  at  this  matter,  it  is  necessary  to  leave  out 
of  view  the  means  for  Dovrc,  Tonset,  and  Roros,  which 
approach  to,  or  exceed,  2000  feet  above  the  sea,  their 
positions  not  being  suitable  in  discussing  small  sea-lcvcl 
differences  of  pressure  such  as  are  here  dealt  with.  We 
have  calculated  afresh  the  January  means  for  all  other 
stations  not  exceeding  620  feet  in  height,  for  the  same 
twenty  years,  and  obtain  a  set  of  figures  differing  widely 
from  those  published  in  the  Atl.as,  whii.h  give  no  coun- 
tenance to  the  idea  of  a  local  excess  of  pressure  in 
winter  over  this  region.     To  test  the  matter  in  another 


May 


1895] 


NA  TURE 


77 


way,  sc\cr;il  means  for  the  same  stations  for  ten  years 
each  from  the  observations  of  the  last  quarter  of  a  centur>' 
have  been  calculated,  with  the  result  that  none  of  these 
series  show  an  excess,  the  only  variation  being  such  as 
appears  in  the  isobars  of  this  region  for  December, 
Januar\-,  and  Februar>'  in  the  maps  of  the  "  Challenger 
Report. '  Finally,  on  comparing  the  means  for  the  twenty 
years  gi\en  in  the  Atlas  with  those  we  ha\e  newly 
calculated,  the  strange  result  comes  out  that  to  the  north 
of  a  line  drawn  from  near  Hernosand  in  Sweden,  to  a 
point  fifty  miles  to  the  north  of  the  Skaw,  the  pressure 
means  of  the  Atlas  are  all  in  excess  of  the  other  means 
from  o'03o  inch  downwards,  whereas  to  the  south  of  this 
line,  the  pressure  means  of  the  newly  calculated  stations 
are  all  in  excess  of  those  of  the  Atlas  from  0030  inch 
downwards.  For  now  many  years,  this  error  has 
appeared  in  nearly  all  maps  published  on  the  continent 
showing  the  distribution  of  atmospheric  pressure  over  its 
surface  ;  and  it  received  greater  currency  by  being 
adopted  in  1887  in  the  Meteorological  Atlas,  lorming  part 
ol  Berghati^  Physical  Atlas.  It  is  probable  that  the  error 
would  never  ha\e  appeared,  if  there  had  been  established 
in  Southern  Scandinavia  a  true  high  level  Meteoro- 
logical Observatory,  that  is,  an  observatory  situated  on  a 
peak  such  as  we  have  in  the  Ben  Nevis  Obser\atory  and 
the  other  high  level  observatories  on  the  continent. 


OUR  BOOKSHELF. 

Text-book  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology  for  Nurses.    Com- 
piled by   D.  C.  Kimber.     (London  :   Macmillan,   1895.) 

This  is  a  book  of  268  pages  on  anatomy  and  physiology, 
written  by  a  member  of  the  nursing  profession.  The 
author  states  that  the  text  is  compiled  from  many  well- 
known  books,  and  that  nearly  all  the  illustrations  are 
figures  taken  from  standard  works.  On  first  taking  up 
the  book,  we  were  surprised  at  the  amount  of  detailed 
anatomy  it  is  considered  necessary  to  impart  to  nurses  in 
the  American  training  schools,  and  we  are  told  that  the 
scheme  of  the  book  has  been  practically  worked  out  in 
class-teaching.  So  far  as  we  can  judge,  the  class-teaching 
is  conducted  in  a  radically  wrong  way.  In  the  first  place, 
there  are  no  directions  for  practical  work  anywhere  in  the 
book.  .Anatomy  and  physiology  cannot  be  taught  to  any 
one  without  observation  ;  and  with  women  entering  so 
practical  and  serious  a  profession  as  nursing,  actual 
obser\ation  and  simple  experiments  could  be  insisted 
upon  and  more  easily  carried  out  than  with  a  class  of 
school-girls.  If  the  work  is  to  be  considered  as  a  text- 
book only,  it  is  far  too  difficult  to  be  put  at  once  into  the 
hands  of  a  nurse  :  yet  the  author  makes  no  statement  about 
previous  knowledge.  The  descriptions  given  of  structure 
and  functions  must  surely  be  in  many  cases  very  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  for  beginners  to  understand,  for  such 
descriptions  often  consist  of  a  few  sentences  slightly 
modified,  apparently  taken  from  full  accounts  found  in 
well-known  books.  Such  detached  sentences  alone, 
although  correct  enough  in  themselves,  can  lead  to  no 
proper  understanding  of  the  subject.  The  book  is 
burdened  with  much  detailed  anatomy,  such  as  of  the 
bones,  muscles,  development  of  blood-vessels,  which 
although  possibly  of  use  to  nurses,  would  have  better 
given  place  to  a  simple,  clear,  and  connected  description 
of  the  general  structure  and  functions  of  the  body.  The 
arrangement  observed  in  the  book  is  not  good,  and  some 
subjects  are  treated    of  in    a    wrong    connection.       For 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


instance,  the  disposition  and  action  of  the  muscles  of  the 
eyeball  are  considered  in  the  chapter  on  muscles  in 
g:eneral,  as  is  also  the  action  of  the  muscles  of  respira- 
tion, and  these  descriptions  are  consequently  inadequate. 
There  are  instances  of  anticipation  of  topics,  strange 
sentences  thrown  in,  which  must  be  unintelligible  until 
matters  treated  of  later  have  been  grasped.  In  the 
chapter  on  the  heart,  the  author  describes  almost 
at  once  the  arrangement  of  the  muscular  fibres 
of  the  chambers,  before  even  a  general  description 
of  the  organ  is  given,  or  the  words  auricle 
and  ventricle  defined  ;  in  fact,  the  whole  description  of 
the  heart  should  be  much  clearer,  and  the  account  of  its 
action  fuller  and  more  accurate.  It  would  be  easy  enough 
to  point  out  some  loose  and  erring  statements,  and  one 
or  two  misprints  ;  we  are  told,  for  instance,  that  water  is 
produced  "  when  two  molecules  of  oxygen  unite  with  one 
of  hydrogen."  It  is  far  the  best  for  nurses  to  learn  the 
anatomy  and  physiology  they  require  from  anatomists 
and  physiologists,  and  nursing  from  nurses.  The  book, 
however,  contains  a  full  and  excellent  glossary. 

Calcareous  Cements :  their  Nature  and  Uses.     By  G.   R. 

Redgrave.      (London :    C.    Griffin   and   Co.,    Limited, 

1895.) 
Many  valuable  contributions  to    the    wide  literature   of 
cements  have  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  the  engineer- 
ing  and   chemical  journals    devoted    to   the    industries. 
Several  of  these  are  of  foreign  origin. 

The  author  of  this  work  is  to  be  congratulated  on 
having  collected,  in  a  handy  volume  of  222  pages,  all 
the  most  interesting  and  important  facts  dealing  with  the 
history,  manufacture,  testing,  &c.,of"  Calcareous  Cements." 

The  volume  is  divided  into  sixteen  chapters  and  eight 
appendices.  The  first  three  chapters  are  devoted  to  a 
historical  review  of  the  subject,  and  then  follow  in 
systematic  order  chapters  dealing  with  the  various 
stages  in  the  manufacture  of  Roman  and  Portland 
ceinents. 

Chapter  viii.  contains  a  short  but  accurate  account  of 
the  researches  of  Fremy,  Le  Chatelier,  and  Landrin  on 
the  setting  of  cement.  The  author  has  given  to  the 
subject  of  cement-testing  its  fullest  importance:  the  various 
methods  and  appliances  for  determining  the  strength  of 
cements  are  fully  described,  and  the  use  of  Unwin's 
formula  is  clearly  stated.  The  last  chapter  deals  with 
different  specifications  for  cement.  In  connection  with 
this  subject,  the  author  deplores  the  want  of  a  uniform 
and  generally  accepted  system  of  cement-testing  in  this 
country  ;  and,  in  the  hope  no  doubt  of  stimulating  con- 
sumers and  manufacturers  to  an  agreement,  he  gives,  in 
Appendix  E,  a  full  translation  of  the  German  standard 
tests. 

It  is  not  encouraging  to  find  that  an  industry  which 
originated  in  England  with  the  work  of  Aspdin  and 
Smeaton  is  slowly  but  surely  passing  over  to  the  con- 
tinent. The  annual  production  of  cement  in  Germany 
equals  that  in  England  ;  but  that  is  not  all,  starting  unth 
raw  materials  of  an  exceedingly  unfavourable  character, 
Germany  produces  a  finer  and  more  reliable  cement  than 
that  manufactured  in  England,  and  at  no  greater  cost. 
French  cement  is  also,  as  a  rule,  superior  to  the  English 
article. 

A  figure  of  Scheibler's,  or  any  other  form  of  calcimeter, 
in  the  chapter  on  chemical  analysis,  due  to  Mr.  Spack- 
man,  would  help  to  make  the  work  more  complete  in 
itself ;  and  Schumann's  convenient  apparatus  for  deter- 
mining the  specific  gravity  of  cement  is  not  mentioned  ; 
the  cumbrous  Keates'  bottle  is  alone  described  and 
figured. 

The  illustrations,  thirty  in  number,  are  good,,  and  the 
book  is  supplied  with  a  very  complete  index. 

E.  A.  \V. 


78 


NATURE 


[May 


■O' 


189  = 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[  The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  A'either  can  he  iinderlake 
to  return,  or  to  correspond  with  the  UTiters  of,  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  NATURE. 
Ko  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.'^ 

The  Origin  of   the  Cultivated  Cineraria. 

It  appears  to  me  that  Mr.  Bateson  very  ini|)erfeclly  .tppreciates 
the  nature  of  the  problem  of  which  he  has  hazarded  what  I 
venture  to  think  an  ill-considered  solution. 

In  my  last  letter  I  pointed  out  briefly  the  grave  objective 
ilifticulties  which  he  had  to  face  in  substantiating  his  case.  As 
Mr.  Bateson  is,  by  reputation,  a  serious  naturalist,  I  think  it 
was  his  duty  to  take  up  the  challenge  which  I  virtually  threw 
down  to  him,  and  deal  with  the  points  which  I  brought  under  his 
consideration.  This  he  has  not  chosen  to  do,  but  falls  back 
again  upon  his  "  historical  eWdence"'  and  his  dialectic. 

Now  I  must  confess  that  I  am  myself  as  nnich  bored  as 
I  suppose  most  people  must  be  with  the  "modern  Cineraria." 
.\nd  I  grudge  the  time  demanded  for  the  discussion  of  a  point 
which  I  brought  forward  as  a  merely  incidental  illustration. 
It  may,  however,  be  useful  in  saying  all  that  I  intend  to  say  in 
reply  to  Mr.  Bateson,  to  make  a  few  general  remarks  on  the 
whole  subject. 

It  is  ap|xirently  the  fashion  nowadays  for  the  younger  biologists 
to  undertake  the  reconstruction  of  the  Darwinian  theor)'.  The 
field  is  undoubtedly  open,  and  posterity  may  safely  be  trusted  to 
appreciate  the  value  of  their  labours.  But  I  cannot  but  observe 
that  as  .between  them  and  the  author  of  the  theory,  there  is  this 
difference.  Mr.  Darwin,  as  he  has  told  us,  spent  the  best  part 
of  his  life  in  studying  patiently  and  sifting  critically  a  vast  nia.ss 
of  observation  and  fact.  Ultimately  he  permitted  himself 
to  draw  certain  conclusions.  The  result  is  thai  if  you  take 
any  statement  which  Mr.  Darwin  has  |)ut  forward,  you 
may  feel  assured  that  behind  it  is  a  formidable  botly  of 
carefully  considered  evidence  not  likely  to  be  uiwet. 
With  the  mo<lem  writers  on  evolution,  the  ]X)sition  is 
exactly  the  opposite.  They  laimch  their  theories  gaily  on  the 
world,  and  on  demanding  their  substratum  of  facts,  one  is  lold 
that  that  is  a  matter  fi>r  future  collection.  I  myself  am  old- 
fashioned  enough  to  think  that,  of  the  two  methods,  that  of  Mr. 
Darwin  is  the  sounder,  the  more  .scientific,  and  in  the  long  run 
the  ni<ire  convincing. 

I  have  pointed  out  again  and  again  the  vast  wealth  of  material 
for  lhc..Mientific  study  of  variation  which  is  presented  every  day 
to  the  eyes  of  any  one  engaged  in  horlicullural  practice.  The 
difficulty  is  that  few  |iersons  jxissess  either  the  scientific  ca|iacity, 
the  fKilience,  or  the  leisure  for  its  profitable  utilis;ition.  We 
want,  in  fact,  for  the  pur|x)se  a  .second  Darwin,  or  at  least  a 
Herbert. 

In  his  "Variation  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestica- 
tion," .Mr.  Darwin  made  a  use  which  was  remarkably  cfTeclive 
of  the  ol»ervations  made  by  "  pr.ictical  men"  in  horticultural 
lileralure.  They  served  his  |)ur)iose  in  establishing,  as  had  never 
liccn  done  Ijcfijre,  the  amount  and  character  of  the  variation 
which  was  pos,sible  under  artificial  conditions,  and  therefore,  by 
analogy,  under  natur.il.  But  this  class  of  evidence  ap|)ears  to 
me  un.sati.sfactory  for  the  investigation  of  the  further  jiroblem 
which  is  at  the  mf)ment  of  supreme  interest,  the  nature  and  laws 
of  variation  itself.  I  think  that  Mr.  Darwin  s<|ueezed  out  of  it  all 
that  it  would  profitably  yield.  And  for  this  reason  :  the  evidence 
is  not  scientific — that  is  to  say,  it  w.is  never  drawn  up  by  persons 
having  in  view  the  re<)iiirenienls  of  scientific  ex.nctilude.  Tlmse 
whf»  gave  it  have  lieen  prevsed  into  court  in  a  cause  in  «hich 
they  never  contemplated  eng.aging.  This  has  the  merit  iif  en- 
suring that  their  evidence  is  unbi.-i.vsed,  but  it  does  not  allow 
of  it.s  tx-ing  pu.shed  further  ihiui  what  it  is  ca|»ble  of  jiroving. 

The  defects  of  horticultural  evidence  may  Ik:  illustrated  in  a 
variety  of  ways.  One  or  I  wo  will  suffice.  In  the  first  place,  is 
the  wc^akness  of  its  nomencLature.  llr>rticullurists  are  mil,  for 
the  mrwl  |)art,  skilled  liolanists.  When  they  give  a  plant 
name,  it  is  im|M)ssilile  to  lie  .sure  that  it  is  what  a  technical 
botanist  would  accept.  It  is  as  if  one  were  reailing  the  writings 
of  a  chcniLsl,  and  when  he  mentioned  |)ota.ssium,  the  doubt 
occurred  .-u  lo  whether  it  w.ts  not  lithium  which  w.is  intended. 
I  do  not  mean  to  imply  any  censure  on  the  horticulturists  ; 
they  use  names  current  at  the  m.iment  which  are  giH.d  enough 
for  practical  imrposcs,  though  they  will  not  stand  a  critical   lest. 


NO     1334,  VOL.   52] 


But  in  after  years  no  technical  botanist  would  dream  of  accepting 
them  as  unimpeachable. 

.■Vgain,  it  has  often  been  found  that  where  remarkable  hybrids 
have  been  recorded,  it  has  been  ascertained  later  that  no  cross 
has  in  point  of  fact  been  effected  at  all.  Vet  the  original 
announcement  will  be  quoted,  and  often  has  been  as  an  undoubted 
evidence  of  the  fact. 

I  arrive,  then,  at  the  conviction  that  if  any  profitable  use  is  to 
be  made  of  horticultural  experience  in  the  study  of  variation,  the 
.so-called  historical  evidence  will  have  lo  be  discarded.  Kvery 
step  of  the  investigation  must  be  made  under  the  actual  eye  of 
a  competent  observer,  and  nothing  taken  at  second-hand. 

I  will  now  return  to  the  Cineraria.  The  feral  form  had  been 
long  lost  to  cultivation,  but  some  years  ago  it  wets  reintroduced  to 
Kew  from  the  Canaries.  Mr.  Kolfe,  a  member  of  my  .scientific 
staff,  illustrated  it  in  the  Gardeners'  Chronicle  in  iSSS,  and 
])ointed  out  the  striking  changes  which  it  had  exhibited  under 
cultivation.  These  have  subsequently  interested  me  because  I 
have  been  endeavouring  to  collect  facts  as  to  the  rate  of 
variation. 

Now  Mr.  Bateson,  solely  on  what  he  calls  historical  evidence, 
still  a.sserls,  and  in  the  face  of  the  difficulties  which  I  have  pointed 
out  that  such  a  theory  jirescnls,  that  the  modern  Cineraria  is  of 
hybrid  origin.  \'ery  \\  ell  :  let  us  assume  that  as  a  (novisional 
hypothesis.  How  is  it  to  be  tested  ?  It  is  e.i.sy  to  see  from  an 
analogous  case.  The  horse  and  the  zebra  have  been  crossed ;  are  we 
justified  in  asserting  that  the  last  w  inner  of  the  Derby  is  of  zebra 
<lescent  ?  The  criteria  are  two,  and  I  think  two  only:  (l)  an 
uncontested  pedigree  ;  (2)  palpable  marks  of  ]>aienlal  characters. 

Now,  with  regard  to(l).  jiraclically  in  ]>lanls  it  cannot  be 
obtained.  We  can  only  fall  back  upon  "  historical  evidence." 
I  have  attempted  to  show  alxne,  in  a  general  way,  how  little 
scientific  value  can  ordinarily  be  attributed  to  this.  One  cannot 
be  sure  that  the  asserted  ]x\renls  were  what  they  are  staled  to 
be.  But  my  object  was  not  to  un<lermine  the  weight  of  what 
Mr.  Bateson  has  brought  forward.  I  accept  it  and  reject  it  as 
wholly  irrelevant.  .\s  my  friend  I'rof.  Kolleslon  was  fond  ot 
saying,  it  would  be  valueless  evidence  even  lo  com  id  a  i>o.acher. 

The  fad  that  certain  shrubby  Cinerarias  with  hoary  leaves  and 
one  with  yellow  Ikiwers  were  crossed  (if  they  really  were)  early 
in  the  century,  proves  nothing  as  to  the  existing  Cineraria,  any 
more  than  the  cross  between  the  zebra  and  the  horse  does  as  to 
the  parentage  of  any  existing  hor.se. 

These  shrubl)y  Cinerarias  were,  as  .Mr.  Bateson  states,  pro- 
jiagated  by  cuttings  (they  are  not  loo  easy  to  strike)  ;  and  like 
many  other  inleresling  ]ilants,  they  disappeared  from  all  but 
botanic  gardens  towards  ihe  middle  of  the  present  cciUuiy. 

.•\s  I  am  quite  unable,  then,  lo  attach  any  weight  to  the  so- 
called  historical  evidence,  because  I  fail  to  see  that  it  establishes 
any  filiation  between  the  ]ibnts  with  which  it  deals,  strikingly 
ilifrerenl  as  they  are,  and  the  plant  with  which  I  am  dealing, 
there  is  nothing  left  but  lo  try  (2),  .and  see  what  evidence  of  ils 
|)arentage  the  |ilant  itself  alVords. 

Now,  it  is  well  known  that  organisms  of  hybrid  origin  pre- 
serve, in  some  degree,  their  parental  characters,  aiui  this  has 
even  been  shown  lo  be  true  of  their  histological  elemenls. 
Modern  taxonomic  botany  has  met  with  considerable  success  in 
the  analysis  of  plants  of  hybrid  origin  into  their  conslituents. 
The  Kloras  have  in  consetjuence  been  cleared  of  a  multitude  ttf 
dubious  plants,  the  real  nature  of  which  can  now  he  accounted 
for.  Anil  the  validity  of  the  melhoil  has  been  establislied  by  the 
results  of  a  corresponding  synthesis.  We  had,  then,  no  hesitation 
at  Kew  in  applying  the  lest  lo  the  Cineraria.  .Although  it  had  often 
been  examined  before,  with  the  .-ussistance  of  some  members  of 
my  slafl'  I  made  a  fresh  examination.  I  took  copious  specimens, 
of  Cineraria  crueiita,  and  of  an  average  cultivateil  form,  and 
carefully  compared  them  point  by  ]>oinI.  Mxce]>t  in  the  imilli- 
plicitiijn  of  ihe  llorets  in  the  heads,  especially  of  the  ray-florets, 
we  could  distinguish  no  tangible  morphological  ililVeience.  In 
fad,  having  accidentally  mixed  up  leaves  belonging  to  the  two 
imrcels,  I  found  myself  unable  with  any  certainly  to  refer  them 
i«ick  again.  This  is  jirelly  conclusive  evidence  of  the  actual 
morphological  iilenlily  of  the  vegetative  organs  of  the  two  plants. 

The  next  ihing  was  to  c<impare  the  cultivated  Cineraria  with 
its  reputed  shrubby  "historical"  ]»arents.  These  present 
well  inarke<l  ami  somewhat  peculiar  characteristics  not  re.adily 
described  in  nontechnical  language.  But  Ihe  cull  ivated  Cine- 
raria does  not  present  the  smallest  trace  iif  any  one  of  them.  .\s 
far,  then,  as  the  matter  admits  of  investigation  at  all  by  any 
known  methods,  I  reganl  Ihe  cmclusiim  which  is  generally 
.iccepled  here  as  a  sound  one.     At  .any  rale,  it  rests  on  a  careful! 


Mav 


1895] 


NATURE 


79 


consideration  of  the  objective  facts   which  Mr.  Bateson  wholly 
shirks. 

I  now  come  to  the  other  point.  I  put  colour  change  entirely 
aside  for  reasons  which  seem  valid  to  me,  and  which  I  may  take 
another  opportunity  of  explaining.  Apart  from  these  the 
cultivated  Cineraria  exhibits  no  variation  from  the  feral  form 
which  may  not  be  described  as  dimensional.  While  the  foliage 
has  remained  approximately  constant,  the  loose  cor}"mbose  habit 
has  been  contracted  into  a  tight  corymb,  and  the  heads  of  florets 
have  been  enormously  enlarged.  While  the  feral  form  stands 
about  five  feet  high,  the  cultivated  one  is  about  eighteen  inches. 
I  am  disposed  to  restrict  the  term  "sporting"  to  a  definite 
morphological  change  such  as  is  exhibited  in  the  flowers  of  the 
garden  Chrysanthemum,  and  recently  in  the  occurrence  of  an 
"  i\'y-leaved  form  of  the  Chinese  Primrose.  Hut  except  a  race 
of  so-called  double  Cinerarias,  which  did  not  take  the  public 
fancy,  the  history  of  the  garden  Cineraria  does  not  present,  as  far 
as  I  know,  any  trace  of  a  real  morphological  change.  If  I  might 
venture  to  use  a  mathematical  analogy,  I  should  say  that  the 
form  of  the  Cineraria-function  has  remained  unaltered. 

Now  the  object  of  these  dimensional  changes  has  been  to 
make  the  plant  worked  upon  handy  and  convenient  for  decorative 
purposes.  Those  points  which  were  unessential  for  this  pur- 
po.^e  have  been  unconsciously  neglected,  and  their  stability  has 
not  been  aftected.  But  I  do  not  doubt  that  if  it  had  been  other- 
wise the  Cineraria  might  have  been  brought  by  this  time  to  any 
configuration  which  the  cultivators  fancied. 

As  far  as  I  can  make  out,  the  transformation  of  the  Cineraria 
has  taken  about  sixty  years  to  effect.  Mr.  Bateson  will  not 
complain  if  I  quote  a  few  words  from  one  of  his  own  authorities 
of  aliout  that  date  : — "  One  species  especially  merits  cultivation, 
viz.  C.  cnienta.  This  may  be  regarded  as  the  parent  of  many  of 
those  beautiful  varieties  which  are  so  successfully  cultivated  by 
Messrs.  Henderson."  Now^  mymemory  of  the  cultivated  Cineraria 
goes  back  some  thirty  years.  I  can  remember  when  it  was  a  rather 
lanky  plant,  about  half  the  height  of  the  feral  form,  with  a 
.somewhat  lax  inflorescence  and  far  smaller  flower-heads  than  are 
now  to  be  seen.  The  present  fashionable  Cinerarias,  with  a  very 
■  condensed  inflorescence  and  very  large  flower-heads,  only  date 
Irack  some  ten  or  twelve  years. 

I  see,  therefore,  no  reason  for  abandoning  my  assertion  that  the 
evolution  of  the  modern  Cineraria  has  been  slow  and  gradual, 
and  not  per  salliim,  and  this  is  in  accord  w  ith  general  horticid- 
tural  exjierience.  .\s  soon  as  a  new  plant  is  introduced,  ever)- 
one  warns  to  get  a  form  with  bigger  flowers  or  floral  structures 
than  anybixly  else.  There  is  only  one  secure  path  to  this 
result,  and  that  is  by  taking  aihantage  of  seminal  variation 
and  selecting  the  minutest  trace  of  change  in  the  desired  direc- 
tion. By  patiently  and  continuously  repeating  the  operation, 
almost  any  desired  result  can  be  obtained.  The  horticultural 
gambler  may  ho|>e  to  reach  it  by  a  "sport."  but  he  will  not. 
Anlhiiriiiiii  sihtrzerianuni  is  a  good  illustration.  Introduced  in 
1862,  it  was  little  more  than  a  curiosity  ;  now  its  enormous  and 
brilliant  s|jathes  are  a  conspicuous  object  at  every  flower-show. 
This  has  simply  been  accomplished  by  progressive  selection 
working  on  seminal  variation. 

Mr.  Bateson  has  now  the  coolne.ss  to  say  that  "  the  hybrid 
origin  of  cultivated  Cinerarias  is  of  subordinate  interest."  .Ml  I 
can  say  is  that  in  that  case  it  is  a  pity  that  he  wasted  three 
columns  of  XAitRE  with  a  discussion  of  the  subject.  I  should 
have  thought  myself  that  it  w;is  a  matter  of  very  considerable 
imiKirtancc  indeed  to  be  able  to  form  an  appnjximate  iilea  of  the 
amount  of  change  in  a  given  time  in  an  unmixed  species,  and 
so  obtain  si  )me  measure  of  the  possible  rale  of  evolution,  at  le.-i.st 
in  regard  lo  dimensional  characters. 

For  my  |)art.  I  think  that  in  the  study  of  evolution  we  have 

had    enough   and    to   spare   of  facile   theorising.      I    infinitely 

prefer  the  solier  method  of  Prof.  Wcldon,  even  if  it  should  run 

•counter  to  my  ow  n  prepossessions,  to  the  barren  dialectic  of  .Mr. 

-  Bateson.  W.  T.  Thiseltox-Dyer. 

Koyal  (hardens,  Kew,  May  13. 


Some    Bibliographical    Discoveries    in    Terrestrial 
Magnetism. 

I  HAVE  recently  made  some  interesting  discoveries  pertaining 
lo  the  history  of  Halley's  famous  chart  of  the  Lines  of  l';<iual  Mag- 
netic N'ariation  (Declination),  to  which  renewed  attention  is  just 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


now  being  called  by  Prof.  Hellmann's  admirable  facsimile  repro- 
duction of  the  earliest  geomagnetic  charts.' 

The  first  reproduction  in  facsimile  of  Halley's  chart  was  under- 
taken by  G.  B.  Airy,  and  published  in  "  Greenwich  Observations" 
for  1869.  Airj-  was  led  to  do  this  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
he  could  find  no  geomagnetician  of  his  time  who  had  ever  seen 
Halley's  chart.  After  diligent  incjuiry  among  academies  and 
libraries  at  home  and  abroad,  it  was  found  that  the  British 
Museum  possessed  a  copy,  and,  it  was  believed,  the  <mly  copy 
extant.  Since  then.  Prof.  Hellmann  has  succeeded  in  tracing  two 
other  copies,  one  at  Hamburg  (.Stadt  Bibliothek)  and  one  at 
Paris  (Bibliotheque  Nationale),  and  has  also,  since  the  publication 
of  his  book  (as  he  has  just  infonned  me),  come  into  possession  of 
a  copy  himself. 

I  have  personally  examined  the  Hamburg  and  Paris  copies, 
and,  during  a  brief  stay  in  London  in  March,  also  the  copy  in 
the  British  Museum  used  by  .Virj-.  I  have  found,  moreover,  in 
the  British  Museum,  three  other  Halley  charts  and  two  Dutch 
reprints.  By  a  careful  and  critical  study  of  these  various  copies, 
some  new  light  is  thrown  upon  the  publication  of  Halle/s  chart. 
To  make  this  apparent,  some  wearisome  details  with  regard  to 
the  various  copies  will  be  necessary.  I  w  ill  begin  with  the  British 
Museum  copies. 

Catalogue  No.  974  (5). — "  A  new  and  correct  Sea-chart  of  the 
^^^lole  World,  show  ing  the  Variations  of  the  Compass  as  they  were 
found  in  the  Year  1700,  by  Edmund  Halley."  Date  (according 
to  the  Catalogue),  1701. 

The  above  is  the  English  title  of  the  chart  referred  to  at 
times  by  the  Latin  title,  "Tabula  Nautica,"  &c.  This  copy 
appears  to  be  the  one  used  by  .-Viry  in  his  facsimile  reproduction 
of  the  Halley  chart  published  in  "  Greenwich  Observations  "  for 
1869,  which  in  turn  has  been  used  for  Prof.  Hellmann's  repro- 
duction. There  is  no  date  on  the  chart,  nor  the  name  of  the 
publishing  firm.  The  date  1 701,  assigned  hitherto,  is  probably 
due  to  Halley's  defence  of  his  chart,  contained  in  Phil.  Trans. 
vol.  xxix.  (Unabridged),  1714.  Halleysays,  p.  165,  "toexamine 
the  chart  I  published  in  the  year  1701,  for  shewing  at  one  \'iew 
the  Variations  of  the  Magnetical  Compass,  in  all  those  Seas  with 
which  the  English  Navigators  are  acquainted."  But  we  find 
that  the  above  number  is  dedicated  "To  his  Royal  Highness, 
Prince  George  of  Denmark,  Lord  High  .Admiral  of  England, 
Generalissimo  of  all  Her  Majestie's  Forces."  As  Prince  George, 
consort  of  Queen  Anne,  did  not  bear  this  title  until  April  17, 
1702,-  it  is  evident  that  the  above  number  is  either  not  the 
original  Halley  chart  ]>ublished  in  1701,  or  it  is  a  reprint  with  a 
later  dedication.  If  it  is  to  be  regarded  as  an  original  Halley 
chart  (not  a  reprint),  then  a  date  between  1702  and  1708  must  be 
given  it,  as  Prince  (Jeorge  died  October  28,  170S.  It  was  pub- 
lished probably  not  far  from  1702,  and  is  in  excellent  condition. 

^o-  973  ('5)-  Same  title  as  previous  number.  Date  given  in 
the  Catalogue,  I720(?)  I  found  upon  examination  that  this  is 
identical  with  No.  974  (5).  The  Catalogue  date  is  doubtless 
erroneous.     This  copy  is  cut  into  sections  and  remounted. 

No.  S.  112  (6).  This  is  a  large  folio  atlas  containing  a  reprint 
of  No.  974  (5),  bearing  now  the  name  of  the  publishing  firm,  R. 
Mount  and  T.  Page,  and  having  in  addition  an  extra  strip,  from 
90°  to  xdd"  E.  of  London,  pasted  on  the  left-hand  .side,  so  that 
the  chart  now  embraces  430°  of  longitude  instead  of  360^  as  before. 
The  Hamburg  and  Paris  copies  are  exact  duplicates  of  this,  the 
only  difference  being  that  they  have  pasted  below  a  strip  bearing  the 
explanation  of  the  chart  by  Halley.  Prof.  Hellmann,  in  the  work 
cited,  has  given  us  the  I  laniburg  text.  The  Paris  text  differs  in  the 
orthography  of  a  few  words,  and  in  the  Sjacing  of  some  of  the 
lines.  It  appears  to  be  the  older  text,  as  below  it  we  find  the 
name  of  the  firm  as  R.  and  W.  Mount  and  T.  F^age,  while  the 
name  of  the  firm  on  the  Hamburg  text  is  Thomas  Page  and 
William  Mount,  anil  the  former  I  have  ascertained  to  have  been 
the  earlier  firm.  This  English  text  I  have  failed  to  find 
attached  to  the  British  .Museum  copies.^ 

»  Neudrucke  von  Schriftcn  und  Karten  Ubcr  Meteorologic  und  Erdmag- 
netismus.  Herausgygebcn  von  Prof.  Dr.  G.  Hetlmann,  No.  4.  .  .  .  K. 
Halley,  \V.  Whiston,  J.  C.  Wilcke.  k.  von  Humboldl,  C.  Hansleen  :  Die 
.iltesten  Karlcn  dt-r  Isogoilcn,  Isoklirien.  Isodynamen  ;  1701,  1721,  1768, 
1804,  1825,  1826.     410.  26  pp.  7  plates.     (Berlin  ;  A.  Ascher  and  Co.,  1895.) 

-  RapindeThoyr.i.s"s  Hislorj- of  England,  I.ondon,  1751,  vol.  iii.  1689-1707, 

P-  544- 

^  The  atlas  contains,  besides  '  .\n  .-Vccount  of  the  ^fethods  used  (o  de- 
scribe Lines  on  Dr.  Halley's  Chart  of  the  Terr.atiueous  (jlobe,"  &c.,  by  W. 
.Moiintaine  and  J.  Dodson,  London,  1758,  and  copies  of  the  Halley  chart 
revised  for  ep<>chs  1744  and  1756.  It  liears  the  title  on  the  back  ;  "  Tabula: 
Xauticul  V'arialione-S  ftlagnetica.s  Denotentcs.  E.  Halley."  It  appears  lo 
be  a  compilation  of  charts,  probably  by  the  authors  (Mountaine  and  Dodson) 
of  the  revision. 


8o 


NATURE 


[May  23.  1895 


Nos.  974  (6)  and  974  (l)  are  Dutch  editions  by  R.  and  I. 
Ottens,  of  Amsterdam,  of  the  Halley  chart  as  modified  and 
found  under  Xo.  S.  112(6).  The  base  of  the  chart  has  been 
changed,  but  not  the  lines  of  equal  \-ariation.  The  dedication  to 
Prince  George  has  been  omitted.  The  dates  a.ssigned  by  the 
Catalogue  are  res|x;ctively  I73S(?)  and  1740.  The  chief  interest 
in  these  Dutch  reprints  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  have  a  French 
text  pasted  on  the  left-hand  side,  and  a  Dutch  text  on  the  right- 
hand  side,  over  Halley's  name. 

No.  974  (4).  "  A  new  and  correct  Chart  showing  the  Varia- 
tions of  the  Compass  in  the  Western  and  Southern  Oceans,  as 
observed  in  y*  Year  1700  I)y  his  M.i'''*  Command  liy  Edm. 
Halley."  Date  given  by  the  Catalogue,  1720,  marked  doubtful. 
This  chart  extends  from  59°  X.  to  59°  S.,  and  from  2iA°  E.  to 
100°  W.  of  London.  It  is  enclosed  by  a  border  ;  the  base  of 
the  chart  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  974  (5) ;  yet  the  equal 
variation  lines,  as  far  as  given,  are  identical  w  ith  those  for  the  same 
region  on  974  (5).  In  but  one  respect  is  there  a  diflference  in 
the  lines,  viz.  in  no  case  are  they  drawn  over  the  land,  and  in  a 
few  cases,  also,  they  are  slightly  extended.  It  contains  in  addi- 
tion the  course  of  the  Paramour  Pink,  the  ship  in  which  Halley 
made  his  obsenations,  1697-1700,  with  the  chief  aid  of  which 
he  drew  the  equal  variation  lines  for  the  .Atlantic  Ocean.  But 
the  matter  of  chief  importance  is  that  this  chart  is  dedicated  to 
King  William  JII.  This  fixes  its  date.  William  III.  died 
March  8,  1702.  It  is  highly  probable,  then,  that  this  is  the 
chart  published  in  1 701,  referred  to  by  Halley  in  the  above  quo- 
tation, and.  in  consequence,  the  original  HalUy  chart.  It  is, 
moreover,  rc-asonable  to  suppose  that  Halley  would  dedicate 
his  first  chart  to  King  William  HI.,  who  had  furnished  the 
means  for  the  making  of  the  observations,  to  which  the  chart 
was  due.  This  chart  has  escaped  the  attention  of  all  geomag- 
neticians  and  biblic^raphers,  and  the  British  Museum  copy  may 
be  the  only  one  in  existence.' 

.\nother  matter  of  historical  interest,  ap|arently  unknown  to 
all  modem  authors  in  terrestrial  magnetism,  wa-s  ascertained. 
I  find  it  as.serted  that  the  Krenchman,  I,.  I.  Duperrey,  was  the 
first  (1836)  to  construct  the  "  .Magnetic  Meridians"  for  the  whole 
earth,  i.e.  those  lines  on  the  earth's  surface  marking  out  the  path 
(lescrilxrd  by  following  the  direction  jwinled  out  by  a  compass 
needle.  It  seems,  however,  that  this  honour  should  be  accorded 
to  an  Englishman,  Thomas  Yeates,  who,  in  1817,  published 
a  chart  of  the  Lines  of  Equal  Magnetic  Variation,  accompanied  by 
a  "  New  and  .Accurate  Delineation  of  the  Magnetic  Meridians."' 
\  second  edition  of  this  chart  was  published  in  1 824.  Copies  of 
both  editions  were  found  in  the  British  Museum. 

Washington,  April  20.  L.  .\.  Baiter. 

The  Unit  of  Heat. 

Dr.  Joly's  strictures  on  the  units  of  heat  at  present  in  use 
will  meet  with  a  ready  endorsement  from  those  who  have  worked 
on  calorimelry.  The  large  calorie  is  too  large  for  convenience 
in  most  cases,  and  the  small  calorie  is  too  small,  while  the  con- 
fusion created  by  different  writers  using  different  units  with  the 
same  name  is  scarcely  reduced  by  their  writing  one  with  a  capital 
and  the  other  with  a  small  <•.  A  unit  of  convenient  m.Tgnitude 
would  be  one  equivalent  to  about  100  small  calories,  and  100 
calories  has,  indeed,  been  adopte<l  as  a  unit  by  more  than  one 
writer  on  thermochemistry.  There  is,  however,  what  may  be 
termed  a  natural  quantity  which  is  nearly  equivalent  10  such  a 
unit,  namely,  the  heat  of  fusion  on  r)ne  ^ram  i)f  water  at  0°  C. , 
which  is  nearly  eighty  calories.  This  apixrars  to  Ix;  just  as  suitable 
from  other  |x>inls  of  view  as  the  heat  of  va|X)risation  of  one  gram  of 
water  at  constant  temiieralurc  and  760  m.m.  pressure  ;  and  if  this 
latter  can  \k  rccommeniled  on  the  ground  that  in  defining  it  we 
replace  the  thermometer  by  the  larometer,  the  former  will  |x>ssess  I 
the  su[)erior  claim  of  (for  all  practical  purposes)  not  depending  1 
even  on  the  liarometer.  t 

If  I  rememl)er  rightly,  this  unit  has  already  been  adopted  in  one  , 
work  on  ihermochemisirj'.  1 

No  doubi  the  heat  of  liision  of  water  requires  redetermination;  i 
but  it  should  lie  determinable  with  quite  as  much  accuracy  as  the 
heat  of  va|K>risa(ion, 

Neither  of  these  prM|Mised  units,  however,  jxissess  what  should 
lie  the  chief  chararleristic  of  a  physical  unit,  namely,  a  simple 
relation  to  other  units;  and  before  adopting  either  of  Ihcm,  it 

*  Upon  furnUhinK  Prof.  Hrllmann  with  .it>ricr  rlcvrription  of  lhi«  chart,  he 

h;»v  f  .iKi'I  tli.ii  I.    Mnriiif    in   l,i,  "  lx)ix  du  Magn^li^me,"    Piiri«,  1776  and 

*'  '('•llmiirm'"  copy  of  the  H.-iIlcy  ch.trt  i»  n 

-.vith  ihc  exception  thai  it  cmhriicc*  Init 


would  be  well  to  consider  whether  some  convenient  unit  related 
to,  say,  the  electrical  units,  could  not  be  adopted.  A  Committee 
of  the  British  .Association  would  be  a  body  most  suited  to  in- 
vestigate this  matter. 

Yax  practical  purposes,  a  quantity  which  is  even  of  greater 
importance  than  the  ni.ignitude  of  the  unit  adopted,  is  the  relative 
value  of  the  heal  capacity  of  water  at  different  temperatures. 
In  spite  of  the  large  amount  of  wurk  which  li.is  been  expended 
on  this  subject,  great  uncertainty  still  prevails  respecting  it.  The 
heat  ca]>acity  of  water,  and  the  heat  of  fusion  of  ice,  are  subjects 
which  I  have  been  for  some  years  intending  to  turn  my  attention 
to,  and  the  work  is  now  practically  in  hand. 

Harpenden,  May  4.  SrENCER   I'lrKERiNr,. 


NO.   1334,  VOL.  52] 


Mv  objection  to  the  latent  heat  of  water  unit  is  that  this  is  .an 
inaccessible  unit  on  account  of  the  difiicullies  attending  measure- 
ments with  the  Bunsen  calorimeter. 

.Some  years  ago  I  began  experiments  on  a  gravimetric  ice 
cilorimeter.  I  have  not  had  leisure  to  go  on  with  them,  but  the 
results  obtained  were  verj'  encouraging.  The  substance  wa.s 
cooled  below  0°  while  hanging  sus|>ended  from  one  arm  of  a 
chemical  lalance.  This  was  effected  in  a  double-walled  chamber 
of  copper.  .\  tube,  stopped  by  a  plug,  connected  this  chamber 
with  a  reservoir  of  water  and  clear  broken  ice.  The  water  w,i.s 
previously  boiled  to  expel  air.  On  raising  the  plug  the  water  at 
o'  flows  r.apidly  into  the  calorimeter,  and  a  shell  of  clear  ice  forms 
u|ion  the  substance.  The  effect  on  the  Ijalance  is  noted,  and  by 
observing  the  change  of  buoyancy  iiiHin  the  melting  of  the  ice, 
and  knowing  the  density  of  ice  at  o\  the  mass  of  the  latter  can 
be  estimated.  The  weight  measurement  will  extend  to  about 
0'5  of  a  calorie.  In  the  steam  calorimeter  the  weight  measure- 
ment extends  to  01  calorie,  or  even  less. 

There  is,  of  course,  much  to  be  s;iid  for  a  thermo-dynamic 
unit.  The  question  is  certainly  deserving  of  having  the  opinions 
ami  views  of  scientific  men  fully  expressed  ujxut  it — as  Mr. 
Pickering  suggests.  A  glance  at  any  of  the  recent  accurate 
thermal  work  done  in  England  will  show  what  confusion  there 
exists  as  to  what  is  the  calorie,  and  as  to  how  all  the  pet  calories 
of  various  physicists  arc  related.  To  render  many  old  measure- 
ments of  value,  this  last  question  should  be  decided.  It  reminds 
one  of  the  state  of  therm<mietry  in  De  Saussure's  time. 

Trinity  College,  Dublin.  J.  J'll.V. 

Reputed  Traces  of  Negrito  Pygmies  in  India. 

May  I  be  permilled  to  suggest  to  readers  of  M.  i,)uatrefages' 
work  on  the  Pygmies,  the  l'".nglish  edition  of  which  has  recently 
been  reviewed  in  Natirk,  to  pause  before  accepting  his  cim- 
clusions  as  to  traces  of  Negritos  being  found  in  peninsular 
India. 

The  evidence  he  relies  on  ]xirtly  consists  of  a  description  by 
M.  KoHs,selet  of  a  half.starved  wanderer  from  .Sirjuga,  whom 
he  assigns  to  the  race  Bander  Lokn  (or,  as  it  is  printed  in  the 
English  edition,  Bandra  Lokh)  ami  the  tribe  Djangal.  -Any 
.Anglo-Indian  with  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the  language,  not 
to  s;iy  of  ethnology,  would  be  amused  at  such  nicknames  being 
applied  .as  definite  racial  terms.  The  first  simply  means 
monkey-people  (equivalent  to  sitvage),  as  apjilied  by  dwellers 
in  the  plains  to  the  wilder  inhaliitants  generally ;  and  the 
second,  if  it  can  be  said  to  mean  anything  in  the  form  i)resented, 
is  sim])ly  *' jangli,''  or  a  dweller  in  jungle. 

The  |>ortrait  of  this  "  Djangal,"  from  a  r.apid  pen  and  ink 
sketch,  is  a  caricature  of  a  somewhat  exceptional  and  by  ni> 
means  lypiial  individual,  and  .affords  no  tnistworthy  material 
for  an  ethnological  iliscussion. 

The  "fever-stricken  inaccessible"  region  .Sirjuga,'  from 
whence  this  S|x;ciinen  was  a  fugitive,  according  to  M.  Rousselel, 
is  well  known  to  me,  and  when  I  ravelling  there  I  spent  s<ime  d.iys 
in  the  com|)any  of  the  late  (ieneral  Dalton  :  and  not  only  then, 
but  in  connection  with  the  production  of  his  great  work  on 
the  Ethnology  of  Bengal,  to  which  I  had  the  privilege  of  con- 
tributing, I  had  many  conversiitionswilh  him  regarding  the  tribes 
of  that  region.  I  was,  imireover,  well  acquainted  with  the  true 
Negritos  of  the  Andainans,  of  whom  I  had  then  already  seen  many  ; 
and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  I  never  met  with  ihe  slighlesl 
trace  of  a  Negrito  element  among  the  numerous  tribes  I  became 
acquainted  with  during  many  years  travelling  in  llie  hilly  Iracis 
of  Western  Bengal,  the  Central  Provinces  anrl  ihe  Northern 
Provinces  of  Madras.      Inilividuals  lielonging  loilifferent  tribes 

1  The  (lintricl  of  Sirjiig.-i  in  Cholo  Nngpur  \%  nol  nc.ir  .\incrk.inlak,  nor  is 
it  included  in  ihe  Vindhyan  Kangc  a*  is  stated  hy  M.  QualrcfaBcs. 


May  23,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


81 


with  curly,  not  really  woolly,  hair  are  occasionally  to  be  seen  ; 
but  I  venture  to  think  that  such  occasional  freaks  are  casual,  anci 
wholly  without  significance  ;  although  they  were  regarded  as 
evidence  of  a  Negroid  element  in  the  population  by  the  late  Sir 
George  Campbell. 

As,  in  consequence  of  the  statements  and  theories  of  M. 
Quatrefages,  the  idea  is  already  spreading  that  traces  of  pygmy 
Negrito  races  are  Ko  be  found  in  these  parts  of  India,  I  contem- 
jilate  on  a  suitable  occasion,  ere  long,  publishing  some  notes,  made 
at  the  time,  on  the  tribes  I  met  with  in  my  travels  in  the  wild  regions 
referred  to.  I  shall  therefore  say  no  more  at  jiresent,  save  that 
the  evidence  culled  by  M.  (Quatrefages  out  of  General  Dalton's 
lithographed  groups — one  of  a  girl  with  her  hair  trapped  ^oxi, 
and  another  of  two  somewhat  curly-headed  Sonthals — in  support 
■'f  his  theory,  is  not  merely  feeble,  lait  is  liable  to  mislead. 

Sir  Wni.  Flower  has  referred  to  the  use  by  M.  Quatrefages  of 
the  term  Mincopie  for  the  Andamanese.  As  he  points  out,  there 
is  in  reality  no  such  term.  How  it  originated,  though  long 
imknown,  has  been  suggested  by  Mr.  Man.  Its  derivation 
foiled  even  the  acute  research  of  Sir  Henry  Yule.  Its  first  use 
was  by  Lieut.  Colebrooke  in  the  year  1 795,  but  it  has  not  been 
recognised  in  any  Indian  dialect,  and  does  not  seem  to  have 
ever  been  in  vise  among  Anglo-Indians,  any  more  than  is  the 
name  Zebu,  which  is  used  in  some  European  languages  for  the 
humped  cattle  of  India.  Such  names,  and  there  are  a  few- 
others,  not  being  current  in  the  country  itself,  have  to  be  for- 
gotten by  those  who  visit  India.  I  well  remember  being  not 
understood  when  I  used  the  term  Zebu  on  my  first  arrival  in 
Calcutta  some  thirty  years  ago.  V,  Ball. 

Dublin,  May  13. 


Epping  Forest:  an  Explanation. 
Some  years  ago  you  were  good  enough  to  publish  a  paper  of 
mine  on  the  conservation  of  the  Forest  from  the  naturalists' 
point  of  view  (vol.  xxvii.  p.  447).  That  paper  was  written 
soon  after  the  Forest  was  taken  over  by  the  Corporation 
of  Londitn,  when  some  unpleasant  signs  of  artificial  treat- 
ment had  become  manifest,  and  more  especially  with 
reference  to  certain  railway  schemes  which,  in  the  in- 
terest of  naturalists,  we  of  the  Esse.x  Field  Club  felt  it  our 
duty  to  oppose.  It  is  a  matter  of  ancient  history  that  our 
opposition  was  successful.  My  object  in  entering  the  lists  again 
is  to  assure  your  readers,  as  representing  the  scientific  public, 
that  the  controversy  which  is  now  going  on  concerning  the 
management  of  the  Forest  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the 
agitation  about  the  railway  scheme  of  1SS3.  This  statement  may 
appear  sujierfluous,  but  I  am  compelled  to  trespass  upon  your 
space  because  certain  unscrupulous  critics  are  in  the  habit  of 
misleading  the  public  by  quoting  from  that  paper  published 
twelve  years  ago,  without  giving  date  or  context,  and  without  a 
single  word  of  explanation  as  to  its  object.  Moreo\-cr,  the 
critics  in  <juestion  have  endeavoured,  by  a  metho<l  which  in  other 
controversial  spheres  would  be  called  by  a  ver)'  strong  name,  to 
make  it  appear  that  some  of  the  views  put  forward  in  1883  are 
opposed  to  the  attitude  which,  it  is  well  known,  I  now  hold  in 
the  present  controversies.  So  far  as  naturalists  are  concerned, 
they  may  rest  assured  that  nothing  that  is  now  being  done 
is  in  the  way  of  injury'  to  the  I'orcst  ;  far  from  this,  there  are 
signs  of  marked  improvement  The  ]iolicy  of  the  Conservators  is 
to  restore  the  Forest  to  a  natural  condition  by  thinning  out  over- 
crowded pollards  which  are  now  beginning  to  injure  one  another, 
and  to  kill  off  the  varied  undergrowth  which  is  such  a  relief  to 
the  gloomy  liarrenness  of  an  unnaturally  dense  growth  of  trees.  I 
may  jxiint  out  that  the  overcrowding  is  due  to  two  opposite 
causes,  viz.  to  entire  neglect  in  some  parts,  and  to  too  much 
attention  in  others.  The  latter  cases  refer  to  those  parts  in  which 
in  i>ast  times  the  rights  of  loijjiing  were  severely  exercised. 
Here  of  course,  now  that  the  (Conservators  have  extinguished 
these  rights,  the  jiollards  are  throwing  up  straight  and  lanky 
branches  of  a  most  unsightly  character.  In  those  very  limited 
parts  which  were  not  formerly  pollarded,  and  which  consist  of 
groves  of  spear  trees,  no  attempt  at  sjTitematic  thinning  had  been 
made  before  the  present  Conservancy,  and  here  also  there  is  an 
overcrowding  necessitating  woodcraft.  Within  the  last  few  years 
all  that  h.as  been  done  has  been  dime  with  care,  skill,  and  fore- 
thought. I  rejoice  to  !)e  able  to  bear  testimony  on  this  point, 
and  to  reassure  those  who  may  have  been  misled  from  a  want  of 
personal  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  history  of  the  district,  into 
giving  credence  to  the  intemjierate  correspondence  in  the  news- 
papers. R.  Meldola. 
M.ay  21. 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


PROFESSOR  LOTHAR   MEYER. 

Gestern  Abend  1 1  Uhr  entschlief  plotzlich  sanft  und  schmerzlos 
im  65.  Lebensjahre  mein  lieber  Mann 

Dr.  Lothar  Meyer 
ord.  Professor  der  Chemie  an  der  Universitat  Tubingen. 

Johanna  Meyer  geb.  Volkmann 
mit  ihren  Kindem. 
Tiibingen,  den  12.  April  iS95t 

WE  were  thankful  his  "falling  on  sleep"  was  "sudden, 
gentle,  and  without  pain";    but  we  grieved   he 
should  have  left  us  so  soon. 

Julius  Lothar  Meyer  was  born  at  Varel  in  Oldenburg, 
on  August  19,  1830.  After  completing  his  school  course 
in  the  Gymnasium,  he  studied  in  the  University  of  Zurich 
from  1851  to  1853,  then  at  Wiirzburg  from  1853  to  1854  ; 
from  Wurzburg  he  went  to  Heidelberg,  where  he  remained 
till  the  autumn  of  1856,  and  from  thence  he  migrated 
to  Konigsberg,  where  he  remained  until  Easter  1858. 
Meyers  original  intention  was  to  devote  himself  to 
medicine,  and  he  graduated  as  Doctor  in  Medicine  at 
Wurzburg  on  Februaiy  24,  1854.  At  Heidelberg  he 
came  under  the  influence  of  Bunsen,  and  his  work  became 
more  and  more  chemical.  .-Xt  Konigsberg  his  studies 
were  devoted  mainly  to  mathematical  physics,  under  the 
guidance  of  F.  Neumann.  In  1858  he  took  the  degree  of 
Ph.D.  at  Breslau  ;  and  on  F'ebruary  21,  1859,  he  re- 
ceived leave  to  teach  chemistry  and  physics.  From  1859 
to  1866  Meyer  was  in  charge  of  the  chemical  laboratory 
of  the  Physiological  Institute  at  Breslau.  In  1866  he  was 
called  to  the  Royal  Prussian  Forstakademic  at  Eberswalde, 
where  he  remained  until  1868,  when  he  went  to  the 
Polytccknikuin  at  Carlsruhe.  In  1876  Prof  Fittig  was 
called  from  Tiibingen  to  the  University  of  Strassburg, 
and  Lothar  Meyer  was  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy  at 
Tiibingen. 

He  had  nearly  completed  twenty  years'  work  at 
Tiibingen  when  the  summons  came.  Cerebral  apoplexy 
stopped  his  labours,  on  April  \  i  of  this  year  ;  and, 
pidtzlicli,  sanft,  und  schmerzlos,  he  passed. 

It  was  while  teaching  chemistry  and  physics  at  Breslau 
that  Meyer  published  the  first  edition  of  the  work  on 
which  his  reputation  as  a  philosophical  chemist  chiefly 
rests.  "Die  Modernen  Theorien  der  Chemie"  appeared 
in  1864.  \  second  edition  was  published  in  1872  ;  and 
since  that  time  have  appeared  a  third,  fourth,  and  fifth 
edition.  At  the  time  of  his  death  Meyer  was  engaged  in 
the  preparation  of  a  sixth  edition,  which  he  intended  to 
publish  in  three,  more  or  less  independent,  parts.  .\n 
F^nglish  translation  of  the  fifth  edition,  by  Messrs.  Bedson 
and  Williams,  appeared  in  1888.  In  1883  Profs.  Meyer 
and  Seubcrt  recalculated  the  atomic  weights  of  the 
elements  from  the  original  data,  and  laid  all  chemists 
under  a  debt  of  gratitude  by  publishing  their  results,  under 
the  title  "  Die  Atomgewichtc  der  Elemente  aus  den 
Originalzahlcn  neu  bcrcchnet." 

Lothar  Meyer  was  one  of  the  earliest  investigators  of 
the  relations  between  the  properties  and  the  atomic 
weights  of  the  elements.  In  the  first  edition  of  his 
"  Modernen  Theorien "  (published  in  1864)  he  traced 
relations  between  the  atomic  weights  and  the  chemical 
values  of  the  elements  :  and  in  December  1869  appeared 
a  memoir  by  him  entitled  "Die  Natur  der  chemischen 
Elemente  als  Funktion  ihrer  .•\tomgewichte,''  wherein  he 
arranged  the  elements  in  order  of  atomic  weights,  in  a 
single  table,  and  indicated  the  periodic  character  of  the 
dependence  of  properties  on  atomic  weights. 

The  clear  enunciation,  and  the  application  in'  detail, 
of  the  most  far-reaching  generalisation  that  has  been 
made  in  chemistry  since  the  work  of  Dalton,  must,  un- 
doubtedly, be  credited  to  that  great  chemist  Mendeleeff 


NATURE 


[May  23.  1895 


but,  nevertheless,  a  perusal  of  the  controversy  between 
Mendcleeff  and  Meyer  shows,  I  think,  that  Meyer  arrived 
at  the  fundamental  conception  of  the  periodic  law  in- 
dependently of  Mendeleeff.  Those  who  arc  interested 
in  such  controversies  will  find  papers  by  Mendeleeff  and 
Meyer  in  Berichti  xiii.  pp.  259,  1796,  2043  [iSSo]. 

In  his  discourse  to  the  German  Chemical  Society  on 
May  29,  1S93,  "  L'eber  den  \'ortrag  der  unorganischen 
Chemie  nach  dem  natiirlichen  Systeme  der  Elemcnte," 
Meyer  quotes  the  words  which  Laurent  had  used  fifty 
years  before  concerning  o;-ganic  chemistry,  and  applies 
them  to  the  teaching  of  inorganic  chemistrj-  at  the  presen 
time  ; — que  rarhilrairc  y  rc}^ne  sans  partiit^c.  If  these 
words  can  be  applied  to  the  teaching  of  inorganic  and 
general  chemistry  to-day,  how  much  more  fully  and 
literally  were  they  applicable  at  the  time  when  the  first 
edition  of  Meyer^s  "  Die  Modernen  Theorien"  appeared 
thirty  years  ago  !  That  book  has  probably  done  more 
than  any  other  publication  within  the  twenty  years  after 
1864  to  advance  the  study  of  comparative  chemistry  ;  its 
influence  on  the  conception  of  chemistry  as  an  accurate 
and  orderly  body  of  facts  and  principles  has  been  ver>' 
great,  and  has  been  wholly  good.  The  labour  bestowed 
on  the  preparation  of  the  first  edition  of  the  "  .Modern 
Theories  "  must  have  been  immense.  The  author  speaks 
in  his  preface  of  rewriting  the  MS.  three  times.  It  is 
true  that  thirty  years  ago  physical  chemistrj-  was  practi- 
cally non-existent,  that  the  facts  of  organic  chemisti7 
could  be  mastered  and  held  by  a  man  with  an  ordinary 
memory,  and  that  one  might  be  a  chemist  without  first 
being  a  mathematical  physicist.  But  it  is  also  true  that 
the  facts  of  inorganic  chemistry  had  not  been  coordinated 
by  the  luminous  conception  of  the  periodic  law,  that 
there  was  a  lack  of  clearness  in  the  notions  of  most 
chemists  about  the  structure  of  organic  compounds — for 
Kekule  had  not  yet  made  his  famous  ride  on  the  top  of 
the  Clapham  omnibus — and  that  the  many  isolated  facts 
regarding  the  influence  of  temperature,  time,  and  the 
masses  of  the  reacting  bodies,  on  chemical  changes  had 
not  been  gathered  together  and  illuminated  by  the  law  of 
mass  action  and  the  conceptions  arising  from  the  appli- 
cations of  this  law.  It  was  then  that  "  Die  Modernen 
Theorien "  appeared  ;  and  at  once  a  flood  of  light  was 
thrown  on  the  whole  domain  of  chemical  science.  Old 
problems  were  made  clear,  and  new  problems  were 
suggested.     Chemistry  entered  on  its  modem  phase. 

As  the  study  of  comparative  chemistry  progressed 
— a  study  which  was  introduced  by  the  enunciation  of 
the  periodic  law — it  became  ncccssan'  to  know  with 
accuracy  the  analytical  bases  whereon  rested  the  values 
accepted  for  the  atomic  weights  of  the  elements.  Hence 
Lothar  Meyer  was  induced  to  devote  a  large  amount  of 
labour  to  the  somewhat  thankless  task  of  recalculating 
these  values  ;  the  result  of  this  work,  carried  out  with 
the  help  of  his  colleague  Prof  Seubcrt,  appeared  in  1883. 
This  work  received  additional  v.ilue  from  the  fact  that 
it  appeared  almost  at  the  same  time  as  Clarke's  "  Re- 
calculation of  the  .Atomic  Weights."  Every  worker  in 
this  fitpartment  has  the  datJi  of  all  previous  workers 
brought  to  his  hand,  and  presented  in  the  most  manage- 
able form. 

IJcsidcs  these  two  treatises  bearing  on  general 
chemistry,  Lothar  Meyer  was  an  investigator  in  the 
sphere  of  experimental  chemistry.  He  has  published 
memoirs  on  subjects  in  almost  every  branch  of  the 
science  ;  on  the  atomic  weight  of  beryllium,  on  determi- 
nations of  vapour  densities,  on  the  combustion  of  carbon 
monoxide,  on  the  preparation  of  hydriodic  acid,  on  the 
transpir.iiion  of  gases,  on  \arious  organic  compounds, 
and  on  niher  matters. 

A  gre.it  chemist  has  passed  away  from  us  ;  his  work 
r»-tii .  r  -    .rwl  that  work  will  ever  be  held  in  remembrance. 


M.  M.  I'ATTISON  MUIR. 


NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


NOTES. 
The  Institutt  of  France  has  decided  to  solicit  subscriptio 
for  the  erection  of  a  statue  to  L,ivoisier  at  Paris.     It  is  intenik- 
to  make  the  ap|K-al  an  international  one,  so  that  all  admirers  of 
Lavoisier  may  do  honour  to  the  memory  of  one  of  the  crcaloi-s 
of  modern  science.     Subscriptions  may  be  sent  to  the  Treasurer 
of  the  Committee  for  the  Lavoisier  Memorial,  55  quai  des  Grands- 
Augustins,  Paris. 

The  centenarj-  of  the  Institute  of  France  is  to  be  celebrated 
next  October.  The  Times  states  that  on  the  24th  of  that  month 
(he  foreign  representatives  invited  to  the  celebration  will  be 
received,  and  the  Minister  of  Education  will  hold  a  reception. 
On  the  following  day  M.  Faure  will  attend  a  ceremony  at  the 
Sorbonne,  and  a  banquet  will  be  held.  There  will  also  Ix:  a 
dramatic  entertainment  and  a  reception  at  the  Elysce.  Chantilly, 
the  future  proi>erty  of  the  Institute,  will  be  visited  on  the  27th, 
by  permission  of  the  Due  d'Aumale. 

Liverpool,  determined  that  the  visit  of  the  British  .Vssociation 
in  1896  shall  be  a  success,  has  taken  time  by  the  forelock,  .-\t 
an  influential  meeting  held  in  the  Town  ILall  last  week,  it  was 
announced  that  an  execuli\e  working  committee  had  been  ap- 
pointed thoroughly  representative  of  the  inhabit.-ints  of  Liverpo<il 
and  the  neighbonrhootl.  The  Chairman  is  the  Right  Hon.  the 
Lord  Mayor  of  Liverpool,  the  Vice-Chairmen  are  Sir  W.  B. 
Forwood  and  Mr.  E.  K.  Muspratl  ;  the  Hon.  Treasurer, 
Reginald  Bushell,  and  the  Hon.  Secretaries,  Prof  \V.  h. 
llcrdman,  F.R.S.,  .Mr.  J.  C.  Thompson,  and  .Mr.  W.  F. 
Willink.  The  meeting  was  very  enthusiastic,  and  the  ke)- 
note  running  through  the  various  speeches  was  to  the  effect  that 
the  welcome  extended  to  the  members  of  the  British  .\ssix:iation 
should  not  in  any  direction  be  allowed  to  compare  unfavourably 
with  that  at  the  meeting  at  Manchester  in  1887,  which  in  the 
matter  of  subscriptions  at  present  holds  the  record.  From  the 
short  statement  made  by  the  Hon.  Treasurer,  this  hope  .seeni^ 
likely  to  be  realised.  Without  making  any  public  appeal  for 
funds,  but  simply  imlllng  the  matter  before  a  few  of  his  more 
induential  friends,  the  Hon.  Tre.isurer  was  able  to  make  the 
gratifying  statement  that  no  less  than  ^£^1350  had  been  suli- 
scribed.  The  Committee  preferred  a  subscription  list  to  a 
guarantee  fimd,  and  in  this  they  are  no  doubt  well  advised. 
.\  donor,  however,  is  not  entitled  to  any  privileges  as  a  member 
of  the  British  Association,  by  reason  of  his  subscription,  but  i" 
every  subscriber  of  ^10  a  member's  ticket  or  two  associate 
tickets  will  be  given,  and  one  associate  ticket  to  subscribers  of 
C^.  With  this  early  start.  Liverpool  ought  to  have  no  ditViculty 
in  raising  the  ;^50oo  which  Sir  VV.  l-'orwood  regards  as  the 
minimum  sum  re<)uired  for  a  successful  and  record  meeting. 

This  year's  conversazione  of  the  Society  of  .\rls  will  be  held 
in  the  South  Kensington  Museum  on  Wednesday  evening, 
June  19. 

Dk.  Tmorne  Thorne,  C.H.,  F.R.S.,  has  been  ap|X)inted  a 
mcmlier  of  ihe  General  Medical  Council  for  five  years,  in  place 
of  Sir  John  Simon,  resigned. 

Mr.  Gkorce  MfRRAV  has  been  appointed  Keeper  of  Botany 
in  Ihe  British  Museum,  in  succession  to  .Mr.  Carruthers,  who 
retires  on  su|>erannuation. 

I  The  death  is  announced  of  Dr.  II.  F.  C.  Cleghorn,  well 
known   for  his  work   in   connection   with   the  organisation  and 

I  ilcvelopmcnt  of  the  Forest  De|)artinent  of  India.  He  w.as  for 
.some  years  president  of  Ihe  Royal  Scottish  Arboricullural 
Society,  and  examiner  in  forestry  lo  the  Highland  Society.  He 
also  look  a  leading  part  in  the  foun<ling  of  the  forestry  lecUire* 
.ship  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh. 


May 


1895] 


NATURE 


83 


The  munificent  gift  made  by  Mr.  Seth  Low,  ex-Mayor  of 
Brooklyn,  and  now  President  of  Columbia  College,  to  that 
college,  at  a  meeting  of  the  trustees  a  few  days  ago,  places  him 
in  the  front  rank  of  the  world's  benefactors.  One  million  dollars 
for  a  library  building,  twelve  scholarships  for  Columbia  College 
for  Brooklyn  boys,  and  twelve  to  Barnard  College  for  Brooklyn 
girls,  eight  university  scholarships  and  a  university  fellowship, 
make  a  list  of  gifts  rarely  equalled.  At  the  same  meeting,  Mr. 
C.  Schermerhorn  presented  300,000  dollars  for  a  new  build- 
ing. Then  the  Townsend  library,  a  complete  compilation 
of  all  the  printed  matter  relating  to  the  American  Civil  War,  in 
eighty-nine  volumes  of  600  pages  each,  larger  than  an  ordinary 
ledger,  which  was  begun  six  months  before  the  war,  and  is  the 
result  of  thirty-three  years  of  unceasing  labour  liy  Thomas  S. 
Townsend,  was  formally  presented  to  the  college,  together  with 
an  encyclopaedia  of  reference  to  it,  and  4000  dollars  to  complete 
the  encyclopedia. 

The  trustees  at  the  same  meeting,  following  the  recommenda- 
tion made  by  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences  at  their  recent 
meeting,  awarded  the  Barnard  medal  to  Lord  Rayleigh  for  the 
discovery  of  argon.  This  gold  medal,  which  has  a  val'ie  of  200 
dollars,  is  awarded  every  five  years  to  the  investigator  who 
makes  within  the  jjreceding  five  years  the  most  valuable  dis- 
covery in  ])hysics  or  astronomy,  in  accordance  with  the  will  of 
President  Y.  A.  P.  Barnard,  who  died  in  1889,  and  was  the 
immediate  predecessor  of  Mr.  Seth  Low. 

The  Brooklyn  Institute  has  just  sustained  a  great  loss  in  the 
retirement  of  C.eneral  John  B.  Woodward,  who  has  l)een  presi- 
dent for  eighteen  years,  covering  the  entire  epoch  of  the  great 
development  and  expansion  of  the  Institute.  He  will  be  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr.  A.  Augustus  Healy. 

Sir  William  Dawson  has  sent  us  a  printed  statement,  in 
which  he  traverses  the  arguments  against  the  organic  nature  of 
Eozoon  Canadensc,  brought  forward  by  Dr.  J.  W.  Gregory  and 
Prof.  Johnston-Lavis,  in  a  recent  paper  entitled  "  Eozoona! 
Structure  of  the  Ejected  Blocks  of  Monte  Somma,"  noted  in 
our  issue  of  January  10  (p.  251).  He  states  a  number  of  facts 
which  indicate  "  that  the  specimens  of  Eozoon  found  in  the 
Laurentian  limestone  of  Canada  in  no  respect  resemble  in  their 
associations  and  mode  of  occurrence  the  banded  forms  from 
Mount  Somma  described  in  tlie  |)aper  in  question." 

A  STRO.Nc;  earthquake  disturbance  of  about  five  seconds' 
duration  occurred  at  Florence  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  evening  of 
Saturday  last,  and  was  felt  at  Bologna  four  minutes  earlier. 
Two  hours  later  another  shock  was  felt.  Many  of  the  houses  in 
Florence  were  injured  by  the  movements,  but  the  damage  ap- 
pears to  have  been  greater  in  the  surrounding  villages — Gr.issina, 
Lapaggi,  and  .San  Martino,  where  the  church  was  destroyed. 
At  Orezzo  the  earthquake  is  said  to  have  lasted  ten  seconds,  and 
there  were  two  distinct  shocks  at  Siena.  The  movement  was 
strongly  marked  at  Parma,  and  to  a  less  degree  at  Pisa  and 
Placentia.  Keuter's  correspondent  at  Spoleto  reports  that  severe 
shocks  were  also  felt  there  on  Monday  evening. 

A  GENERAL  meeting  of  the  Federated  Institution  of  Mining 
Engineers  will  lie  held  in  London  on  Thursday,  May  30,  and  on 
Friday,  May  31.  The  presidential  address  will  be  given  by  Mr. 
W.  N.  Atkinson  on  the  Thursday.  The  papers  to  be  read  on 
the  same  day  are  : — Notes  on  bauxite  in  County  Antrim,  &c., 
and  its  uses,  by  .Mr.  George G.  Blackwell ;  sampling,  l)y  Mr.  T. 
Clarkson  ;  blasting  explosives,  by  Prof.  N'ivian  B.  Lewes  ;  and  llie 
gold-milling  process  at  Pestarena,  by  Mr.  A.  G.  Charleton.  At 
the  meeting  on  May  31  the  following  pajxjrs  will  be  read,  or  taken 
as  read  :— Remarks  on  the  Ijanket  formatitm  of  Johannesburg, 
Transvaal,  by  Mr.  A.  R.  Sawyer;  the  composition  of  the  extinctive 
atmospheres  produced  by  various  flames  and  by  respiration,  liy 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


Prof.  Frank  Clowes  ;  the  composition  of  the  limiting  explosive 
mixtures  of  various  gases  with  air,  by  Prof.  Frank  Clowes  ;  the 
mineral  oils  of  Lower  Elsass,  by  Dr.  L.  van  Werveke  ;  copper- 
mining  in  India,  by  Mr.  Robert  Oates ;  the  recent  magnetic 
survey  of  the  United  Kingdom,  by  Prof.  A.  W.  RUcker  ;  the 
MacArthur-Forrest  process,  by  Mr.  John  McConnell. 

Ix  consequence  of  the  renewed  attacks  upon  the  Con.>crvators 
of  Epping  Forest,  another  large  and  influential  meeting  of  the 
Essex  Field  Club  was  held  on  Saturday  last,  under  the  conductor- 
ship  of  Mr.  Edward  North  Buxton,  Prof.  Boulgcr,  Prof. 
Meldola,  and  the  hon.  secretaries.  More  than  100  members 
and  visitors  were  present,  among  them  being  many  residents  ia 
the  district  and  lovers  of  the  Forest,  as  well  as  such  well-known 
experts  as  Prof.  W.  R.  p'isher,  of  Cooper's  Hill,  and  Mr.  Angus 
D.  Webster.  The  districts  visited  were  those  about  which 
complaints  had  been  made  by  a  certain  class  of  newspaper 
correspondents,  viz.  Bury  Wood,  the  so-called  Clay  Ride,  and 
Monk  Wood.  Beyond  a  few  personal  discussions  between  the 
conductors  and  experts  and  one  or  two  of  those  who  had  been 
criticising  the  action  of  the  Conservators,  no  public  ventilation  of 
views  was  permitted,  as  the  conductors  were  of  opinion  that  a 
mere  inspection  of  the  places  named  would  enable  the  members 
and  their  friends  to  form  their  own  conclusions.  The  party 
assembled  at  the  King's  Oak  at  High  Beach  for  tea,  after  which 
an  ordinary  meeting  of  the  Club  was  held,  the  President,  Mr. 
David  Howard,  taking  the  chair.  Mr.  E.  N.  Buxton  explained 
a  scheme  which  he  had  been  carrying  out  for  the  purpose  of 
affording  protection  to  the  birds  of  the  Forest  district.  By  en- 
listing the  sympathies  and  securing  the  co-operation  of  the 
surrounding  landowners,  he  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  pro- 
mise that  a  total  area  of  some  20,000  acres,  including  the  6000 
acres  of  Forest,  should  constitute  a  sanctuary  within  which  no 
rare  or  interesting  birds  should  be  destroyed.  The  President 
indicated  that  such  an  organisation  as  the  Essex  Field  Club  was 
well  calculated  to  enforce  l)y  examj^le  and  precept  the  desirability 
of  protecting  both  animals  and  ])lants.  Mr.  F.  C.  Gould,  in 
reply  to  those  correspondents  who  had  stated  that  the  birds  were 
becoming  rarer  in  Epping  Forest,  said  that  this  was  quite  con- 
trary to  the  facts.  Birds  were  never  so  plentiful  in  the  Forest 
as  they  had  been  during  the  past  few  years,  and  Mr.  Gould  gave 
a  list  of  species  which  had  been  observed  by  his  son  in  the  course 
of  one  day.  After  tea  the  party  proceeded  to  the  more  northern 
part  of  the  Forest,  and  inspected  Epping  Thicks.  Although  no 
formal  division  on  the  question  of  the  management  of  the  Forest 
was  taken,  the  majority  could  not  help  expressing  their  admira- 
tion at  the  skill  and  judgment  with  which  this  year"s  thinnings 
had  been  effected.  Many  of  those  present  also  expressed  some 
anxiety  that  the  Conservators  might  be  influenced  by  the  news- 
paper correspondence,  and  allow  the  Forest  to  degenerate  by 
acceding  to  the  request  recently  made  by  a  deputation  to  the 
Committee  that  no  further  thinning  should  be  allowed:  for  a 
period  of  five  years. 

.\  SPELT,  of  very  cold  weal  her  for  the  time  of  year  «as  ex- 
])erienced  last  week  over  the  entire  area  of  the  British  Isles, 
owing  to  a  depression  which,  at  the  time  of  our  last  issue,  lay 
over  Denmark,  and  caused  strong  gales  from  north  and  north- 
west over  the  North  Sea.  The  temperature  fell  about  30"  over 
the  inland  parts  of  England,  while  snow  and  hail  were  reported 
from  many  places.  On  several  nights  the  sheltered  thermometer 
fell  to  within  a  few  degrees  of  the  freezing-]X)int,  and  actually 
reached  it  in  the  east  and  west  of  Scotland,  on  the  morning  of 
the  17th  instant  ;  while  the  highest  day  readings  have  in  many 
parts  failed  to  reach  50',  a  temjierature  which  is  fully  10^  below 
the  average.  During  the  first  part  of  the  present  week  a 
depression  which  had  spread  westwards  from  Germany,  caused 
a  continuation  of  cold,  gloomy  weather  over  our  islands. 


84 


NATURE 


[May  23,  189; 


Some  years  ago  the  desirability  of  publishing  the  obserrations 
made  by  the  late  J.  Allan  Broun  at  Tre%-andrum,  in  Southern 
India,  for  over  twelve  years,  was  brought  before  the  Royal 
Society  of  London  by  the  Ro)-al  Society  of  Edinburgh,  and  the 
records  were  deposited  at  the  Meteorological  Office  for  safe 
keeping.  The  Meteorolc^cal  Council  subsequently  drew  the 
attention  of  the  Royal  Society  to  the  subject,  and  that  body  in- 
duced the  Indian  authorities  to  render  this  valuable  material 
accessible  to  scientific  men,  the  result  lieing  that  the  Meteoro- 
logical Department  of  India  has  just  published  the  barometrical 
and  thermometrical  observations  in  vol.  \\\.  of  their  Memoirs. 
The  publication  contains  the  hourly  obser%-ations  and  means 
from  Januar)-  1S53  to  December  1S64,  with  the  exception  of 
Sundays,  on  which  no  observations  were  taken.  The  whole  of 
the  original  entries  have  been  carefully  examined  for  clerical 
errors,  under  the  superintendence  of  Mr.  J.  Eliot,  the  Govern- 
ment -Meteorological  Reporter,  and  we  gather  from  the  preface 
that  a  discussion  of  the  results  w  ill  eventually  be  carried  out. 

A  MOST  eloquent  appeal  for  the  wider  diffusion  of  a  know- 
ledge of  sanitar)-  matters  has  been  recently  made  by  Dr.  Carlo 
Ruata,  Professor  at  the  University  of  Perugia,  in  his  introductor)' 
address  to  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  duties  of  sanitation. 
Efficient  sanitation,  urges  Dr.  Ruata,  may  justly  be  demanded 
as  a  right  by  the  individual  from  the  State  ;  but,  at  the  same  time, 
each  individual  must  be  adequately  impressed  with  his  duties 
and  responsibilities  to  other  members  of  society  in  the  proper 
conduct  of  sanitary  matters.  It  is  painted  out  how  much  may 
be,  and  has  been,  done  by  judicious  legislation  and  enlightened 
public  opinion  in  recent  years  ;  but  Dr.  Ruata  would  insist  upon 
more  vigorous  measures,  and  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  principles 
of  hygiene  bsing  rendered  compulsory  in  systems  of  education. 
Ignurance  and  lack  of  all  sense  of  responsibility  is  only  too 
frequently  to  blame  for  the  generation  and  spread  of  disea-se,  and 
Dr.  Ruata's  appeal,  that  proper  hygienic  conduct  .should  be  in- 
sisted upon  as  the  serious  duty  which  one  member  of  society  owes 
to  another  is  fully  justified.  Dr.  Ruata  is  confident  that  with 
improved  hygienic  conditions  sf)ciety  will  benefit  not  only 
physically  but  morally  ;  but  whether  it  will  bring  about  the 
Utopian  stale  sketched  by  the  lecturer  in  his  sanguine  peroration, 
remains  yet  to  be  seen. 

\  REPORT,  by  .Mr.  P.  G.  Craigie,  on  the  agricultural  experiment 
stations  and  agricultural  colleges  in  the  United  States,  just  pub- 
lished as  a  Parliamentary  Paper,  should  be  seen  by  every  one 
interested  in  agricultural  education  and  -research.  It  appears 
that,  at  the  present  day,  upwards  of  three-score  collegiate  institu- 
tions arc  engaged  in  the  United  States  wholly  or  partly  in 
agricultural  teaching,  and,  according  to  the  statistics  collected 
and  published  for  1892,  they  enjoy  an  aggregate  revenue  of 
.^689,000,  practically  one  half  of  which  was  granted  by  the 
Federal  Government,  while  ^^223, 000  is  added  by  the  several 
-States,  minor  aid  being  rendered  by  ^^40,000  which  came  from 
fees,  and  by  the  benevolence  of  local  committees  or  private 
individuals,  while  the  remainder  was  raised  by  the  sale  of  farm 
pro<luce  or  miscellaneous  receipts.  The  number  of  separate 
cxpirriment  stations  is  fifty-four,  of  which  forty-eight  receive 
subventions  from  the  Federal  Government  out  of  national  funds, 
the  uniform  grant  being  roughly  ;f  3033  to  each  station.  Accord- 
ing to  the  returns  published  of  the  revenue  of  these  stations  in 
1892,  upwaril-  of  a  million  dollars,  or  roughly  ^'200,000,  is 
available  as  annual  revenue,  the  Federal  Government  finding 
;f  140,030,  and  the  grants  of  the  .Slates  reaching  rather  more 
than  /'30,ooo. 

Mr.  Ckmoie's  repart  b;ars  out  his  conclusion  that  "great 
and  practir.il  energy  is  bjini;  directed  to  the  discovery  of  the 
licst  meant  of  extending  the  field  of  agricultural  and  horticultural 
knowledge.     It  should  not  be  overlooked  that  side  by  side  with 

NO.    1334.  VOL.    52] 


the  growth  of  local  stations  a  very  extensive  development  of  the 
scientific  staff  engaged  on  the  special  inquiries  of  the  Federal 
Department  at  Washington  has  taken  place  in  the  last  ten 
years.  The  .-Vmerican  Government  seems  willing  to  face  any 
cost  to  the  community  that  promises  the  better  to  equip  the 
farmer  with  a  knowledge  of  his  business.  The  authorities  seem 
assured  that  in  indicating  methods  of  profitable  production,  and 
still  more  by  the  aireful  perfecting  of  the  )>roduce  of  the  vast 
lands  of  tHe  Republic,  in  whatever  directions  of  extensive  or 
of  intensive  culture  the  economic  circumstances  of  the  moment 
may  prescribe,  they  are  providing  a  solid  means  of  advancing 
the  well-being  of  the  nation  as  a  whole." 

A  FRESH  addition  to  periodical  literature  is  the  [ournal  of  the 
Soiith-Eastcrn  Agricultural  College,  Wye,  Kent,  which  is  to 
be  published  three  times  a  year,  and  is  intended  to  be  a  brief 
record  of  the  history  of  the  college  from  term  to  term,  and  to 
announce  the  results  of  investigations  and  experiments  conducted 
by  the  college  or  members  of  its  staff,  together  with  other  observa- 
tions that  may  seem  of  interest  to  the  agriculture  of  the  counties  of 
Kent  and  Surrey.  The  first  nuniber  contains  a  description,  with  a 
plan,  of  the  farm  attached  to  the  college,  together  with  an 
account  of  the  dairj-  school,  of  the  water  supply  of  the  college, 
and  of  the  field  experiments  which  are  being  instituted.  Mr. 
F.  V.  Theobald's  notes  on  poultry  parasites  would  appear  to 
open  out  an  instructive  field  of  inquir)'.  Mr.  J.  I'ercival  gives 
an  abstract  of  a  paper,  already  published,  relating  to  eelworms  in 
hop  plants,  their  rav.iges  resulting  in  the  condition  of  the  plants 
known  as  "  nettle-headed."'  The  nematode  lictcrodera  Sihachlii 
attacks  so  many  kinds  of  plants,  that  its  presence  in  hops  was 
quite  to  be  looked  for.  No  reference  seems  to  be  made  to  the 
value  which  hop-growers  set  upon  rape  as  a  "trap-plant"  for 
enticing  the  eelworms  away  from  the  infested  crop.  If  future 
numbers  are  as  attractive  as  this  one,  the  publication  is  likely 
to  prove  acceptable  to  those  in  whose  interest  it  is  issued. 

I.N  a  recent  number  of  the  Hullcliii  Gcol.  So(.  America,  Messrs. 
(i.  K.  Gilbert  and  F.  P.  Gulliver  give  an  interesting  account  of 
the  remarkable  "tepee  butles  "  that  Occur  abundantly  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Pueblo,  Colorado.  Using  the  term  "  butte  " 
to  denote  sleep-sided  hills  with  narrow  summits,  which  may  be 
of  very  various  origin,  ihe  authors  mention  the  various  tyj>es  of 
butles  (volcanic  necks,  geyser  deposits,  i:c.),  and  discuss  this 
particular  form.  They  are  low  hills,  less  than  twenly  feet  in 
height,  that  owe  their  origin  to  the  resistance  to  denudation  of 
peculiar  vertical  masses  of  limestone  occurring  in  the  shales  of  the 
Pierre  series  (Upper  Cretaceous).  The  limestone  is  composed  of 
shells,  chiefly  of  Lucina  and  Inoceraiiius,  united  by  a  matrix  of 
shell-fragments,  foraminifera  and  clay.  This  structure  of  the 
limestone,  in  comparison  with  that  of  the  calcareous  concretions 
that  occur  nonnally  throughout  the  shale,  negatives  its  con- 
cretionary origin,  nor  does  it  resemble  the  spring-deposited 
masses  of  limestone  known  elsewhere.  It  is  concluded  that 
particular  local  conditions  determined  the  establishment  of 
colonies  of  Molluscalhal  continued  for  generations  at  these  spots, 
though  what  these  conditions  may  have  been  it  is  not  easy  to 
explain.  Attention  is  called  to  the  description,  by  Dr.  Bell,  of 
similiar  limestone  ma.sses  in  Devonian  shales  in  Canada. 

TitE  motion  of  a  pianoforte  wire  when  struck  has  been  investi- 
gated by  llerr  W.  Kaufmann,  whose  paper  on  the  subject  in 
iVicdcmaiiu^s  Anna/en  is  accom|>anied  by  a  set  of  very  interesting 
photographic  records,  obtained  by  a  modification  of  the  method 
invented  by  Raps  and  Krigar-Menzel.  By  vibrating  the  wire  in 
front  of  a  luminous  slit,  and  throwing  the  image  of  it  upon  sensitive 
paper  rotating  upon  a  cylinder,  a  white  line  is  traced  upon  a  black 
ground.  This  line,  which  is  due  to  the  inlerruplion  of  the 
luminous  slit  by  the  opaque  wire,  exhibits  all  the  motions  of  the 
particular   point   in  the   wire  which  is   crossed  liy  ihi-   sill.      In 


May  23,  1895J 


NA  TURE 


S5 


order  to  bring  the  plane  of  the  slit  into  exact  coincidence  with  the 
wire,  an  image  of  the  slit,  produced  by  a  lens  with  the  aid  of  the 
electric  arc,  was  thrown  upon  the  wire  itself.  Since  the  hammer 
struck  the  wire  at  the  point  photographed,  the  motion  of  the  wire 
was  traced  from  the  very  first,  the  commencement  of  the  vibration 
lieing  the  most  interesting  stage.  Hard  and  soft  hammers  were 
tried,  the  latter  corresponding  to  those  actually  used  in  the  piano. 
It  was  found  that  the  duration  of  contact  is  longer  with  feeble 
than  with  hard  striking.  As  the  force  increases,  the  duration  of 
contact  rapidly  approaches  a  limiting  value  equal  to  that  of  a 
hard  hammer  of  equal  weight.  But  the  practically  most  im- 
portant resultant  was  the  proof  that  when  a  wire  is  struck  at  a 
point  between  one-seventh  and  one-ninth  of  its  length,  the  funda- 
niental  tone  has  a  maximum,  and  the  harmonics — especially  the 
third — are  very  feeble.  Hence  a  wire  thus  struck  gives  its 
strongest  and  richest  tone.  This  fact  is  acted  upon  by  piano- 
Iniilders,  but  is  not  explained  liy  supposing  that  the  nodes  of  the 
higher  harmonics  are  struck,  thus  preventing  their  being  heard. 
They  are  heard,  liut  are  outweighed  by  the  more  harmonious 
ones. 

An  interesting  paper  on  the  magnetisation  of  >on  in  very 
weak  fields,  by  W.  Schmidt,  appears  in  the  current  number  of 
IVit'dem anil's  Annalen.  The  author  uses  the  magnetometer 
method  slightly  modified,  a  compensating  coil  being  placed  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  magnetometer  to  the  magnetising  coil.  The 
■effect  of  the  iron  under  investigation  on  the  magnetometer 
needle  is  compensated  by  passing  a  known  current  through  an 
independent  coil  of  large  radius,  so  that  the  method  is  a 
"zero"  one.  A  Duprez-d'Arsonval  galvanometer  was  used  to 
measure  the  current,  its  constant  being  determined  by  means 
of  standard  Clark  cells.  The  samples  of  iron  and  steel  under 
investigation  had  the  form  of  ellipsoids,  the  semi-minor  axis 
being  3  m.m.  and  the  semi-major  axis  200  m.m.  for  one  set  of 
experiments,  and  150  m.m.  for  the  other.  The  curves  obtained 
for  iron  and  steel  show  that  for  fields  up  to  o'o6  C.G.S.  units 
the  susceptibility  is  constant,  thus  confirming  Lord  Rayleigh's 
results.  As  the  magnetising  field  increases  between  0'o6  and 
0"4  units,  the  curve  giving  the  relation  between  the  magnetising 
force  and  the  susceptibility  is  a  straight  line.  The  author 
sums  up  the  results  of  his  experiments  as  follows : — Stee] 
follows  weak  magnetising  forces  more  quickly  than  iron.  The 
susceptibility  of  soft  steel  is  for  small  magnetising  forces 
greater  than  that  of  iron.  Thus  for  fields  less  than  0'o6  C.G.S. 
unit  the  susceptibility  of  soft  steel  is  to  that  of  iron  in  the  ratio 
of  4  to  3.  For  magnetising  fields  of  about  I  unit  the  sus- 
ceptibility of  the  two  is  about  the  same,  while  for  greater 
field  strengths  the  susceptibility  of  iron  is  greater  than  that  of 
steel.  The  limits  within  which  the  susceptibility  remains  constant 
vary  considerably  for  different  samples,  but  the  author  considers 
that  O'06  C.G.S.  unit  may  be  taken  as  the  upper  limit  with 
sufficient  accuracy  for  most  purposes. 

TllF.  May  number  of  the  Irish  A'(j/;«a//'.f/' well  sustains  the 
reputation  for  utility  and  general  interest  which  has  been  ob- 
tained by  this  periodical.  Mr.  R.  M.  Harrington  gives  an 
interesting  sketch  of  the  career  and  writings  of  the  late  Mr.  A.  G. 
More,  a  naturalist  of  unusual  versatility,  who  has  contributed 
greatly  to  our  knowledge  of  Irish  Natural  History.  Mr.  Robert 
Warren  writes  on  the  Breeding  Birds  of  Loughs  Conn,  Carra, 
and  Mask.  Dr.  K.  Hanitsch  gives  a  brief  but  valuable  account 
of  the  Fresh-water  .Sponges  of  Ireland.  The  distribution  of 
these  forms  presents  certain  features  of  peculiar  interest.  The 
eastern  part  of  the  island  possesses  only  common  European 
forms,  whereas  three  out  of  the  four  species  found  along  the  west 
coast  prove  to  be  American.  It  is  pointed  out  that  the  forma- 
tion of  gemmulcs  gives  to  the  Spongillidce  more  favourable 
chances  of  dispersal  than  are  enjoyed  by  most  other   animals. 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


Mr.  Clement  Reid  has  examined  a  sample  of  marl  from  which 
skeletons  of  the  Irish  elk  had  been  obtained,  and  finds  that  it 
consists  largely  of  Chara  and  Potamogeton.  He  offers  an  in- 
genious suggestion  to  explain  the  occurrence  of  skeletons  of  Cervus 
megoceros  in  deposits  of  CAara-marl.  Those  familiar  with  pools 
containing  Chara  will  be  well  aware  of  the  appearance  of 
shallowness,  and  of  a  solid  floor,  which  is  so  deceptive.  The 
plants  grow  to  a  depth  of  several  feet,  but  appear  to  form  a  carpet 
of  turf  just  below  the  surface  of  the  pools;  any  animal  treading 
on  this  turf  would  immediately  plunge  head-foremost  into  the 
water,  and  in  the  case  of  the  elk  the  antlers  would  almost  in- 
evitably become  entangled  among  the  stems  of  Chara  and  other 
still  tougher  pondweeds.  This  entanglement  theory  accounts 
very  well  for  the  fact  that  the  remains  of  stags  are  far  more 
abundant  than  those  of  hinds. 

A  PHOTOGRAPH  of  the  late  Prof.  J-  D.  Dana,  taken  about  six 
weeks  before  his  death,  is  reproduced  in  the  current  number  of 
the  American  [ournal  of  Scir-nce,  together  with  a  full  bio- 
graphical notice,  and  a  list  of  his  works. 

The  "Year-Book  of  Scientific  and  Learned  Societies"  in 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  the  twelfth  annual  issue  of  which  has 
just  been  published  by  Messrs.  C.  Griffin  and  Co.,  is  undoubtedly 
a  very  useful  handbook  of  reference.  A  general  idea  of  the 
progress  of  science  during  the  past  year  can  be  obtained  from 
the  lists  of  papers  subjoined  to  the  designations  of  the  various 
societies. 

In  the  Michigan  Mining  School  theoretical  knowledge  seems 
to  be  well  combined  with  practical  training.  We  notice  in  the 
Calendar,  just  received,  that  the  elements  of  astronomy  is  one  of 
the  subjects  in  which  all  students  are  examined  for  entrance  into 
the  School.  The  course  of  instruction  is  arranged  so  that  a  good 
foundation  is  given  in  the  principles  of  science,  and  experience 
and  practice  are  obtained  in  every  subject  taught. 

The  new  editions  received  during  the  past  week  in- 
clude the  first  volume  of  the  British  Museum  "  Catalogue 
of  Fishes,"  containing  the  Centrarchid.t,  Percidje,  and  Ser- 
ranida;  (part),  by  Mr.  G.  A.  Boulenger,  F.R.S.  When  the 
first  edition  of  the  work  was  published,  in  1859,  the  Museum 
collection  of  fishes  comprised  29,275  specimens.  The  additions 
since  that  date  have  brought  the  collection  up  to  twice  its 
dimensions  at  the  time  when  the  original  catalogue  was  compiled. 
The  need  for  revision  will,  therefore,  be  fully  understood.  In  the 
volume  which  Iiegins  the  publication  of  the  new  edition  of  the 
catalogue,  Mr.  Boulenger  confers  a  benefit  upon  ichthyologists  by 
omitting  seventy-six  imperfectly  or  incorrectly  characterised 
species.  The  result  of  this  is  that,  though  many  new  species 
are  included,  the  present  volume  contains  only  fifty-eight  more 
recognised  species  than  the  original  one.  Mr.  Boulenger's  list 
gives  375  species,  of  which  261  are  now  represented  in  the  British 
Museum  collection,  by  2353  specimens. 

New  editions  of  two  technical  manuals  have  reached  us 
from  Messrs.  Whitt.aker  and  Co.  One  of  these  is  "  Electricity 
in  our  Houses  and  Workshops,"  an  admirable  handbook  by  .Mr. 
S.  F.  Walker,  in  which  the  every-day  working  of  common  forms 
of  electrical  apparatus  is  simply  described.  "  The  Practical 
Telephone  Ilandliook,"  by  Mr.  Josejih  I'oole,  which  is  now 
issued  in  an  enlarged  form,  should  prove  of  increased  value  to  all 
interested  in  the  methods  of  telephone  working.  A  new  and 
enlarged  edition  (the  fourth)  of  Balfour  Stewart's  "  Lessons  in 
Elementary  Physics  "  has  been  published  by  .Messrs.  Macmillan 
and  Co.  In  this  volume  we  have  a  treatise  in  wliich  the  whole 
domain  of  physics  is  covered,  and  which  is  so  arranged  that  the 
connections  between  the  various  branches  of  the  subject  are  clearly 
lirought  before  the  student.     Though  a  quarter  of  a  century  old, 


86 


NATURE 


[May  23,  1S95 


if  the  book  is  brought  into  line  with  modern  physics  from  lime 
to  time,  it  will  command  success  for  many  years  to  come. 
"  Wild  Nature  won  by  Kindness"  (Fisher  Unwin),  has  attained 
the  eminence  of  a  sixth  edition.  Mrs.  Brightwen's  pleasantly 
written  papers  on  natural  history  subjects  are  ev-idently  appreci- 
ated by  a  large  public.  Three  tHX>ks  by  Prof.  S.  Cooke,  of  the 
College  of  Science,  Poona,  published  by  Messrs.  George  Bell  and 
Sons,  have  also  been  received.  They  are  "  First  Principles  of 
Astronomy"  (fifth  edition),  "First  Principles  of  Chemistry" 
(sixth  edition),  and  "Test  Tables  for  Qualitative  Analysis" 
(third  edition.) 

The  synthesis  of  cafi'eine  is  the  subject  of  a  short  communica- 
tion to  the  Berlin  Academy  by  Emil  Fischer  and  Lorenz  Ach 
(Silzb.  Kcnig.  Prciiss.  Akad.  Wiss.  Berlin,  xiv.  p.  261).  By 
the  condensation  of  dimethyl  urea  and  malonic  acid  the  sub- 
stance CO  :  (NMe.CO)j  :  CHj,  is  obtained.  The  nitroso-deriva- 
tive,  CO:(XMe.CO)5:CH.NO,  is  reduced  to  dimethyluramil, 
CO  :  (NMe.CO),  :  CH.NHj,  whence  dimethylpseudouric  acid, 
CO  :  (X.Me.CO)j :  CH.NH.CO.NH,,  is  produced.  By  abstrac- 
tion of  the  elements  of  water  with  oxalic  acid,  dimethyluric  acid 
is  farmed.  This  substance  is  converted  into  theophylline,  an 
isomeride  of  theobromine,  of  the  formula 


,NMe.CH:C.NH. 
CO<  /         \ 

^NMe   .   C:N 


CO. 


Thence  caffeine. 


^NMc.Cll  :C.X.Me. 

cor  /         V;o. 

NMe   .   Z-.-a^-"^ 

is  obtained  by  the  ordinary  methyl  iodide  reaction.  .\s  this  is 
the  first  synthesis  of  caffeine,  details  of  the  methods  used  will  be 
looked  forward  to  with  considerable  interest. 

The  observation  by  Martin  Frcund  and  Krnst  (jiibel,  that 
Ihelxtine  is  a  derivative  of  phenanlhrene  (Rcr.  28,  7,  941)  brings 
this  alkaloid  into  line  with  morphine  and  codeine  as  instances  of 
the  few  natural  ]>henanthrene  derivatives  yet  known.  Thelwine 
is  related  to  dihydrophenanthrene  in  the  same  manner  as 
morphine  and  codeme  are  connected  with  telrahydrophenan- 
Ihrcne. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  V'ervet  Monkey  (Cenopithems  lalandii,  9  ) 
from  Natal,  presented  by  Mr.  .Mfred  James ;  a  Common 
Jackal  (Cam's  aureus),  two  Bengal  Foxes  (Cants  hengalensis),  a 
Jungle  Cat  (Felts  e/iaus)  from  India,  presented  by  Dr.  John 
.•\ndcrsfin,  F. U.S.  ;  two  Short-tailed  Capromys  (Caproinys 
hraihytirus)  from  Tamaica,  ])resentcd  by  Mr.  Frank  Cunilall  ;  a 
Dorsal  Sr|uirrel  (Sniirus  hypopyrrhiis)  from  Central  America, 
presented  by  Mrs.  Brtti  ;  five  S€|uirrellikc  Phalangers  (Jielideus 
sfiiiireus)  from  Australia,  presented  by  the  Kighl  Hon.  Earl 
Caili>gan,  K.G.,  a  Camliayan  Turtle  Dove  (Tur/ur  seiifgaleitsis) 
from  West  Africa,  presented  by  .Mr.  C.  L.  Sutherland  ;  a  Salle's 
Amazon  (Chry soils  sallir)  from  St.  Domingr>,  presented  by 
Mr.  W.  Windsor  .Spriggs  ;  a  S|X)tted  Salamander  (Sala/iiandra 
iiuuiilo jii),  European,  presented  liy  .Mr.  E.  I^ylon  Bennett  ; 
iwo  fireat  Wallarrxis  (Mairopus  robuslus,  <5  ? ),  two  Agile 
Wallabies  (Halmaluriis  agilis)  from  Australia,  a  Blue  an<l 
Yellow  Macaw  (/Ira  ararauna)  from  .South  America,  de[X)sited  ; 
Iwo  Canada  Geese  (lierni<la  canadensis)  (mm  North  America, 
two  Yellowish  \\'e:i\cr  Birds  (Sitagra  luteola)  from  Tropical 
Kegions,  thirteen  (irtcn  I.i/ards  (Laeeria  viridis)  from  Jersey, 
]nirchasc'l  ;  a  Malaccan  I'arrakeet  (Palitornis  inalaicensis)  from 
M.ilacca,  a  Nicolar  Pigeon  (Cal,rnas  nieoiariea) hnm  the  Indian 
,\rrhipelago,  received  in  exchange ;  a  Bennett's  Wallaby 
(/fatmalurus  heiiiielli,  i  ),  Ixirn  in  the  Gardens. 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Stars  with  Remakk.\hi.k  Si'ECTRa. — \\.  those  stages  of 
celestial  evolution  in  which  the  temperature  is  low,  it  is  probable 
that  the  average  condensing  body  will  not  be  very  bright,  so 
that  the  study  of  their  spectra  at  these  phases  of  their  develop- 
ment presents  some  difficulties.  Thus,  the  great  majority  of  the 
stars  with  bright-line  spectra,  and  stars  showing  intense  carbon 
alisorption,  are  of  low  magnitudes,  and  because  comparatively 
few  were  identified  in  the  earlier  surveys  of  stellar  spectra,  they 
were  looked  upon  as  "  peculiar."  Nevertheless,  a  study  of  these 
spectra  in  relation  to  those  of  the  brighter  stars  indicated  that 
they  probably  represented  stages  in  the  history  of  all  condensing 
bodies,  so  that  their  discovery  in  greater  numbers  was  only  to  be 
exix;cted.  At  Harvard  College  especially  has  the  photographic 
investigation  of  these  faint  spectra  been  carried  on,  and  the  dis- 
cover)' of  eleven  more  objects  with  peculiar  spectra  has  been  re- 
cently announced  by  Mrs.  Fleming  ;  two  of  these  are  simply 
stated  to  be  "  peculiar,"  three  are  nebul.e  with  bright  lines,  two 
have  the  F  line  of  hydrogen  bright,  two  appear  to  be  bright-line 
stars  of  the  Wolf-Rayet  type,  and  two  show  carbon  absorption. 
In  addition,  the  sjxjctra  of  eleven  stars  of  the  a  Herculis  type 
were  found  to  show  the  F  line  of  hydrogen  bright,  and  this  un- 
failing sign  of  variability  in  this  group  of  stars  is  fidly  substan- 
tiated by  an  examination  of  chart  jilales  of  the  same  regions. 
(Astrophysical  Journal,  May.)  In  his  observations  of  the  visual 
spectra  of  faint  stars.  Rev.  T.  E.  Espin  has  discovered  numerous 
objects  which  he  describes  as  "  remarkable.  '  (Ast.  Naih.  3286.) 
Most  of  these,  however,  appear  to  1k'  of  the  a  Herculis  type  :  but 
some  are  spectra  in  which  carbon  absorption  is  j^redominant 
(Group  YI.).  The  most  interesting  observations  by  Mr.  Espin 
are  those  of  variable  stars,  and  they  lend  to  show  that. 'in  the  stars 
of  Group  \"I.,  the  variability  is  acwanpanied  by  spectroscopic 
variations  which  render  it  ditticult  to  distinguish  them  from  stars 
of  Group  II.,  in  which  the  carbon  flutings  are  bright. 

The  Paris  Obsekvaiokv. — The  annual  report  for  1894 
indicates  a  high  state  of  activity  in  this  institution,  in  many 
directions  l>esides  those  with  which  occasional  jiublished  papers 
have  made  us  familiar.  Great  jirogress  has  been  made  with  the 
star  catalogue  initialed  by  .Vdniiral  Mimohez  in  18S2,  comprising 
350,000  ohscrvations  made  l>etwcen  1837  and  l8St  ;  two  ad- 
ditional volumes  will  be  published  during  the  jiresent  year,  and 
the  last  two  in  1899  ;  a  supplementary  couple  of  volumes,  dealing 
with  oljservations  made  since  1881 ,  will  also  be  issued  very  shortly. 
The  number  of  meridian  observations  during  last  year  amounted 
to  over  18,000,  while  observations  of  sun,  moon,  and  ]ilanets 
total  455.  Comets,  minor  planets,  antl  (Uiul>le  stars  have  also 
received  a  vast  amount  of  attention.  For  the  great  photographic 
chart,  278  negatives  were  taken  (hiring  the  year,  and  the  positions 
of  nearly  33,000  stars  on  various  plates  have  been  mea-sured 
under  the  direction  of  Mdlle.  Khnnpek. 

The  reduction  of  these  measures  was  seriou,sly  conimenceil  ia 
November,  and  up  to  the  eml  of  the  year  the  measures  of  1 1 
plates,  showing  1760  stars,  were  completely  rctluced.  Meteoro- 
logical observations  on  the  usual  plan  were  continued  regularly. 

The  magnificent  work  on  lunar  pholiigraphy  with  the  equatorial 
coude,  as  well  as  the  spectroscopic  researches  of  M.  Dcslandres, 
have  already  been  referred  to  in  our  columns. 


THE  ACTION  OF  LIGHT  ON  ANIMAL  LIFE. 

ALTHOUGH  a  numlier  of  investigations  have  been  made  on 
the  action  of  light  on  liacteria,  very  few  experiments  have 
been  carried  out  to  ascertain  luiw  direct  insolation  adecls  animals 
inoculated  with  ])articular  disease  microl>es.  Does  exposure  to 
.sunshine  increxse  or  diminish  an  animal's  susceptibility  to  disease  ? 
De  Kenzi  was,  we  believe,  the  first  to  study  this  cjuestion  ex- 
iicriinenlally,  and  he  entleavoured  to  answer  it  as  regards  tuber- 
culosis by  inoculating  giiiiiea-i)igs  with  tuberculous  material. 
Some  of  the  animals  he  kept  in  glass  boxes  exposed  to  the  direct 
rays  of  the  sun  for  five  or  six  hours  daily,  whilst  others  were 
placeil  in  the  sunshine,  hut  instead  of  glass,  wooden  boxes  were 
used.  De  Kenzi  found  that,  whilst  the  guinea-pigs  in  glass  boxes 
— to  which,  tlierefore,  the  maximum  amount  of  sunshine  liail 
access — died  after  24,  39,  52,  and  89  days,  lliose  in  the  opacjue 
wcioden  boxes  <lied  after  20,  25,  26,  and  41  days.  Thus  it  would 
appear  that  sunshine  materially  assisted  these  animals  in  com- 
liating  with  tuberculous  disease,  for  those  individuals  deprived  of 
.sunshine  succumlied  far  more  rapidly. 

.More  recently,  Dr.  .Masella  h.is  carried  out  a  series  cf  similar 
experiments  with  guinea-pigs  inoculated,  however,  with  chulera 


Mav 


1895] 


NA  TURE 


8? 


and  typhoid  bacilli  respectively.  \'arious  imints  were  investigated 
as  tn  whether  insolation  previous  to  inoculation  increased  the 
animal's  susceptibility  to  these  diseases,  also  what  was  the  efifect 
of  insolation  on  the  animal  after  infection,  and  whether  the  same 
results  were  obtained  when  the  temperature  of  the  surrounding  air 
during  insi>lation  was  not  permitted  to  rise.  The  toxic  properties 
of  the  cholera  and  typhoid  broth  cultures  employed  w'ere  care- 
fully tested,  and  it  was  ascertained  that  the  lethal  dose  in  the 
case  of  cholera,  procuring  death  in  twenty-four  hours,  was  secured 
by  employing  cultures  in  the  jirfjportion  of  0'20  per  cent  of  the 
weight  of  the  animal  operated  upon,  whilst  to  obtain  similar 
results  with  typhoid  cultures,  0"40  per  cent,  of  the  weight  of  the 
animal  was  the  proiiorlion  in  which  they  had  to  be  used. 

In  the  case  of  Ijoth  cholera  and  typhoid  it  was  found  that 
previous  exposure  to  sunshine  increasetl  the  animals'  susceptibility 
to  these  diseases,  for  not  only  did  they  die  more  rapidly  when 
subsequently  inoculated  with  these  cultures  than  the  guinea-pigs 
similarly  treated,  exposed,  however,  only  to  diffused  light,  but  they 
succimibed  t^i  smaller  doses,  and  doses  which  did  not  prove  fatal 
to  the  guinea-pigs  which  had  been  previously  protected  from 
simshine.  When  the  exposure  to  sunshine  took  place  after 
infection  fatal  results  were  greatly  accelerated,  for  instead  of 
dying  in  from  15  to  24  hours  they  succumbed  in  from  3  to  5 
hours.  These  experiments  were,  however,  open  to  the  objection 
that  the  accelerated  lethal  action  through  subsequent  insolation 
might  be  due  to  the  higher  temperature  which  necessarily 
prevailed  in  boxes  exposed  to  sunshine  over  those  to  w'hich 
diffused  light  only  was  admitted.  To  dispose  of  this  difficulty, 
boxes  were  constructed  with  double  cases  through  which  a 
current  of  water  was  kept  circulating  ;  in  the  "  sunshine  "  boxes,  as 
before,  only  glass  was  used,  whilst  in  the  "diffused  light"  boxes 
the  outer  case  was  made  of  zinc.  In  spite,  however,  of  these 
precautions  as  regards  temperature  the  results  confirmed  those 
previously  oljtained,  the  insolated  animals  still  exhibiting  the 
.same  increased  susceptibility  to  infection  from  these  diseases  over 
the  non-isolated  animals. 

Dr.  Masella  does  not  attempt  to  give  any  explanation  of  the  re- 
markable results  he  has  obtained,  but  we  would  suggest  that  the 
action  of  simshine  should  be  tried  on  anti-toxines.  It  would  be 
of  great  interest  to  ascertain  how  the  jjotency  of  these  protective 
fluids  outside  the  body  was  affected  by  exposure  to  sunshine,  and 
also  what  residt,  if  any,  isolation  had  on  their  generation  within 
the  animal  .system. 

VVc  know  that  the  toxic  jiroperties  of,  for  example,  tetanus 
•cultures  may  be  entirely  destroyed  in  from  15  to  18  hours  in 
direct  sunshine  at  a  temperature  of  from  35°  to  43°  C,  and  Koux 
an<l  Versin  state  that  five  hours'  direct  insolation  greatly  modifies 
the  toxic  properties  of  diphtheria  cultures  ;  again,  Calmette  has 
foimd  that  afler  two  weeks'  insolation  the  poison  of  the  N^aya 
tripiuiiaiis  is  completely  destroyed,  whilst  a  similar  exposure  has 
a  damaging  effect  on  the  poison  of  the  rattlesnake.  .So  far  as 
we  are  aware,  the  action  of  sunshine  on  the  immunising  properties 
of  serum  has  not  been  investigated,  and  its  study  should  prove  of 
immense  interest  and  importance. 

The  results  obtained  by  De  Renzi  with  tuberculous  infection 
have  a  [iraciical  confirmation  in  the  acknowledged  benefit  which 
patients  .suffering  from  tuberculosis  derive  from  residence  in  ])laces 
such  as  Davos,  where  the  niaxinumi  amount  of  sunshine  may  be 
secured.  On  the  other  hand.  Dr.  .Ma.sella's  experiments  leave 
us  with  an  uucomforlable  uncertainty  as  to  the  wisdom  of  basking 
in  the  sunshine.  He  would  have  us  believe  that  his  investigations 
explain  the  greater  prevalence  and  virulence  of  typhoid  and  cholera 
(which  he  si.-iies  as  an  accepted  fact)  in  hot  countries  where  the 
sun  .shines  with  greater  power  and  more  continuously,  .\fterall, 
our  smoke  laden  atmosphere  and  dreary  yellow  fogs  may  be 
turned  to  account  seemingly,  and  the  London  water  companies 
may  congratulate  themselves  that  the.se  two  water-borne  dise.i.ses, 
par  i\\celkiic,\  may  be  made  to  yield  not  only  to  efficient  ]nirifying 
processes  at  their  hands,  but  that  such  an  unexpected  ally, 
according  to  Dr.  Masella,  is  to  be  found  in  the  limited  amount 
of  sunshine  which  Londoners  can  enjoy  ! 

G.  C.  Frankland. 


THE   CONSTRUCrrON  OF  STAND  I /H> 

THERMi  )ME  TERS. 
SLRIK.S  of  important  articles  on  the  preparation  and  testiAg 
of  standard  thermometers  have  been  communicated  to  the 
Zetlsihrift  pir  Jnstrunuiitcikiimie  by  Drs.  Pernet,    Jaeger,  and 
Oiimhch,   of  the   I'hysikalisch-Technische  Reichsanstalt.      The 


A^ 


selection  of  the  best  glass,  the  calibration  ol   the  thennometers, 
the  determination  of   the  coefficients  of  external  and  internal 
pressure,  and  the  verification  of  the  principal   points  are  fully 
dealt  with.     One  source  of  error  in  thermometers  as  usually  con- 
structed, lies  in  the  fact  of  the  bulbs  being  blown  from  the  tubes. 
The  vaporisation  of  certain  constituents  of  the  glass  during  this 
operation  leads  to  a  difference  of  chemical  constitution  between 
the  stem  and  the  bidb.      This  may   be   obviated  by  making  the 
bulbs  out  of  thin  walled  tubes  of  the  .same  kind   of  glass,  ami 
welding  them  on  to  the  stems.     As  regards  the  depression  of  the 
freezing  point,  it  was  found  by  Wiebe  and  Schott,  of  Jena,  that 
glasses  containing   either    sodium  or  pota:    ium,  but  not  both, 
showed  this  after-effect  to  the  least  extent.       ii  order  to  render 
the  reading  of  temperatures  accurate  to  within  o'-oo2,  the  length 
of  a  degree  should  not  be  less  than  6  mm.,  and  since  the  length 
of  the  stem  cannot  conveniently  exceed  60  cm.,  the  range  of 
measurable   temperature  is  practically  limited   to    100°.     Stem 
thermometers  without  enamel  backs  or  enclosing  tubes  were  the 
only  ones  found  suitable  for  first-class  standards.     When  certain 
fixed  ]X)ints  outside  the  scale  were  to   be  brought   in,  this  wa-s 
accomplished  by  widening  out  the  tube  above  them.     An  equal 
linear    division   of    the   scale   was   adopted,  this  having   great 
advantages  over  the  more  or  less  untrustworthy  division  by  equal 
volumes.     For  calibration,  threads  of  mercury  of  different  leng+hs 
were  cut  off  from  the  main  portion  and  measured  with  micrometer 
microscopes,  viewing  them  both  through  the  face  and  the  back  of 
the  stem.     But  the  threads  were  not  cut  off   by  local  heating, 
since  that  is  apt  to  produce  a  permanent  change  of  capacity.  The 
small    and  almost   microscopic  bubble  which  remains  in   every 
thermometer  was  made  use  of.     It  was  brought  to  the  entrance 
of  the  bulb   when  the  desired  portion  of  the  thread   had  been 
driven  into  the  stem,  and  then  a  slight   jerk   sufficed  to  cut  off 
the  required  length.     To  facilitate  this  operation,  the  bulb  was 
narrowed  to  a  neck  at  the  entrance  to  the  stem.     As  regard.s 
pressure,    two    factors    had   to   be   considered.      The   external 
atmospheric  pressure,  and  the  pressure  of  the  liquid  in   which  it 
is  immersed,  tend  to  compress  the  glass  vessel  and  to  produce  an 
apparent  elevation  of  temperature.     The  capillary  pressure  of  the 
mercury,  and  its  hydnistatic  pressure,  on  the  other  hand,  tend  to 
widen  the  bulb  and  produce  an  apparent  cooling.     The  first  of 
these  elements  was  investigated  by  exposing  the  thermometer  to 
various    high    and    low  pressures  in  a  glycerine  bath,  and  the 
second  by  observing  the  readings  when  the  thermometer  stood 
horizontally  and  vertically  respectively,  at  its  highest  measurable 
temperature.   The  ca|iillary  jiressure  was  found  to  be   too  capri- 
cious to  be  accurately  measured,  but  it   is  a  negligible  quantity. 
The  coefficient  of  apparent  expansion  of  mercury  in  the  new- 
Jena    glass    thermometer    16'"     was   found    to    be   o-oooi57i 
between  0°  and  100°. 


NO. 


1334,  VOL.   52] 


THE   INFLUENCE    OF  MAGNETIC  FIELDS 
UPON  ELECTRICAL  RESISTANCE. 

TT  is  well  known  that  the  resistance  (R)  of  a  wire  of  bismuth,  as 
measured  with  a  constant  current,  increa-ses  under  the  influence 
of  a  magnetic  field,  and  that  this  increase  depends  on  the  strength 
of  the  field  and  its  direction  with  reference  to  the  current  in  the 
wire.     If  the  current  traversing  the  ijismuth  is  oscillatory,  the  re- 
si.slance  has  a  value  O  outside  the  magnetic  field,  or  in  a  field  in 
which  the  lines  of  force  are  parallel  to  the  wire  which  is  less  than 
R.      If,  however,  the  wire  is  perpendicular  to  the  lines  of  force 
of  a  field  greater  than  6000  C.C'...S.  units,  the  resistance  O  is 
greater   than   R  ;  the  difference  O  -  R  increases  from  this  point 
pretty    rapidly  as  the  strength  of  the  field    increa.ses.     "Thesie 
changes  are  not  due  to  alterations  in  the  self-inductor,  since  they 
are  independent  of  the  form  of  the  bismuth  spiral.     This  curious 
phenomenon   has   lately   been    examined    by    M.    I.    Sadovsky 
(  Totinial  dc  la  Socii'ti' PhysiiO-Chemii/in-  di  Ru$se.  xxvi.  1894,  and 
fournal  dc  Pltysitjiic,  April  1895),  who  sums  up  the  results  of  his 
experiments  as   follows:  (i)   The  difference  in  the  resistance  of 
bismuth  observed  with  constant  or  alternating  currents  is  measm-- 
able  outside  a  magnetic  field  with  300  alternations  per  second, 
and  can   be   detected   in   nuignetic  fielils  with  only  three  or  four 
alternations    per    second  ;    (2)  this  difference    depends    on    the 
number  of  o.scillations  per  second,   and  without   the  magnetic 
field  increases  with  the  increase  in  the  frequency  of  the  alterna- 
tions ;  (3)  the   resi.slance  which  bismuth,  in  a  strong -magnetic 
field,  offers  to  an  increasing  current  is  greater,  and  that  to  a  de- 
creasing current  less  than  the  resistance  fin-  steady  currents.    The 
difference  between  the  resistances  loan  increasing  and  decreasimj 


88 


NATURE 


[May  23,  1895 


current  increases  with  the  rate  of  change  in  the  strength  of  the 
current  { -  r  )■  a"''  'his  difference  is  more  marked  with  strong  cur- 
rents than  w  ith  weak.  Thus  M.  Sadovsky  has  discovered  the  re- 
markable fact  that  for  variable  electric  currents  the  resistance  of 

bismuth  changes  with  any  change  in  -'    or  —  where  C  is  the 

C  dt 
current.  The  author  mentions  that  the  effects  observed  cannot 
be  due  to  self-induction,  or  they  would  occur  when  the  bismuth 
is  not  in  a  magnetic  field.  In  a  note  on  the  above  jxiper  in  the 
fmmalde  Physi<fiu\  M.  Sagnac  considers  what  would  happen 
if  the  same  series  of  experiments  wore  repeated  with  an  iron 
wire.  A  straight  cylinclrical  iron  wire  becomes,  when  traversed 
by  a  current  C,  circularly  magnetised  ;  the  energy-  due  to  this 
magnetisation  l)eing,  according  to  Kirchhoff,  itk/C-,  where  k  is 
the  susceptibility  and  /  the  length  of  the  wire.  This  energ\-  may 
possibly  increase  the  coefficient  of  self-induclion  by  iitKl.  From 
Klementic's  data  the  order  of  the  change  in  the  ap|xirent  resist- 
ance can  lie  calculated.  For  weak  magnetic  fields  in  which  k 
has  a  large  value,  the  difference  between  the  value  of  the 
apparent  resistance  for  steady  currents  and  for  increasing  cur- 
rents may  amount  to  several  hundredths  of  the  value  of  the 
resistance  for  steady  currents. 


I 


TONBRIDGE  SCHOOL  LABORATORIES. 
WWY.  often  been  asked  to  give  some  account  of  the  labora- 
tories at  Tonbridge  School  ;  and  as  they  represent  some  ten 
years  of  pleasant  lalx>ur  on  my  own  part,  and  a  considerable 
expenditure,  joined  with  much  sympathy  and  help  from  the 
Governors  of  the  School  (the  Company  of  Skinners),  I  feel  it  a 
privilege  to  do  so. 

It  is  difficult  to  render  the  subject  interesting  to  those  who  are 
not  concerned  in  teaching,  although  as  an  instance  of  an  ancient 
foundation  lending  itself  to  the  most  modern  of  claims,  it  may 
appeal  to  a  wider  circle.  I  must  ask  to  be  excused  from  enter- 
ing upon  any  treatment  of  the  well-worn  subject,  scientific 
education.  I  am  not  quite  sure  that  it  is  any  business  of  mine. 
In  course  of  time,  no  doubt,  a  condition  of  stable  balance  will 
lie  reached,  as  regards  the  relative  weight  and  value  of  the  various 
school  subjects.  Those  who  are  in  the  thick  of  the  fight  cannot 
always  tell  which  side  is  winning. 

So  far  we  have  little  at  Tonbridge  l)cyond  the  training-ground 
itself,  consisting  of  lalmratories  and  workshops,  which  may  be 
mentioned  in  sequence  as  follows: — 

Wood  Workshops. 

Metal  Workshops. 

Mechanical  Laljoratory. 

Physical  Laljoratories. 

Chemical  I^lxiratories. 

Engine-rooms  with  electric  light  plant. 

Biological  l,-ilK)rator)'  and  Museum. 
A  dc-scription  of  these  in  detail  is  given  herewith. 
Wood  lVorkshops.—'V\\ii'M  shojjs  are  well  lighted  and  airy, 
occupying  a  ground  s|nce  of  48  feet  by  30  feet.  Wfirk-licnches 
to  the  numl«r  of  sixteen,  with  a|)propriate  fittings,  allow  about 
sixty  lx)ys  to  work  at  the  same  time.  A  .skilled  carpenter  is 
always  in  attendance  for  teaching  his  craft,  and  a  course  of 
graduated  tasks  are  exacted  twfore  a  pupil  is  allowed  to  con- 
struct the  .shelves,  l)oxes,  coal-l)oxes,  tables,  and  other  articles 
which  form  the  staple  prrKluce  of  school  shops. 

Metal  IVoris/io/is.  ~  Th>:  wood  workshops  lead  on  to  the  metal 
sho|)s,  in  use  as  well  as  in  fact.  They  arc  under  the  care  of  a 
practical  instniment-maker,  and  the  physical  lalwratory  owes  much 
to  his  skill.  It  may  Ik;  mentiimed  here  that  no  physical  labor.ttory 
can  Ik.-  considered  complete  unless  it  is  in  connection  with  .suit- 
able wrirk.sho|)s  wherem  instruments  may  Ix;  ronslnicled  and 
reinired.  TTiese  shogis  aredevised  to  accoinmiKlateaUiut  twenty 
lx)ys  working  together.  They  are  filled  with  all  the  necessary 
apoliances,  including  planing  and  drilling  machines  and  six 
lathes  (from  4  in.  centre  up  to  7  in.).  The  ground  s|xice devoted 
to  metal  work  is  40  feet  by  20  feet.  After  a  course  of  wood- 
work, lifiys  are  taught  to  make  their  own  tools,  forging  and 
Ic-mpcring  them  themselves,  to  use  the  file  properly,  to  turn,  and 
afterwanls  to  conslruri  such  instruments  as  they  may  fancy,  it 
U-ing  alw.iys  rcrjuiri-)!  that  a  working  drawing  should  be  made 
licforchantl.  The  favourite  (KCU|iation  is  the  construction  of 
electric  liclls.  •.mall  dynamos,  microsco|x;s,  and  levels. 

Mrfhaniial  I nhoralo>y.~~'\\\\^  rixjm,  which  mejusures  40  feet 
by  21  feet,  is  fitted  for  thfwe  important  lessons  in  accuracy  of 
olTscrvation  to   which   I  give  the  name  of  Elementary  Physical 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


Measurements,  i.e.  the  measurements  of  length,  mass,  and  time, 
and  for  Practical  Mechanics,  i.e.  the  sim]iler  measurements  of 
forces  and  the  conditions  of  equilibrium,  the  measurement  ot' 
gravitation,  and  observations  of  the  general  properties  of  matter 
and  the  behaviour  of  matter  under  stress.  All  the  work-tables 
are  movable,  and  the  walls  are  fitted  with  brackets  and  boards 
for  the  support  of  models  and  apparatus. 

Physieal  Laboratory. — This  laboratory  opens  out  from  the 
Mechanical  Laboratory,  and  like  it  is  well-lit  .ind  lofty.  It  is 
42  feet  long  and  30  feet  broad.  The  centre  of  the  room  is  fitted 
with  five  siilid  benches  attached  to  the  tloor  and  provided  with 
gas.  These  benches  are  arranged  to  enable  elementary  classes 
to  work  together  at  the  same  experiment.  With  this  object, 
drawers  in  the  benches  are  stocked  with  a  large  cjuantity  of  ap- 
]>aratus  which  enables  a  class  of  twenty-four  boys  to  work 
together  through  a  long  series  of  exjieriments  in  practical 
physics.  Each  ex]ieriment  has  to  be  represented  by  at  le.isl 
twelve  sets  of  apparatus  for  this  purpose,  and  some  years  have 
been  occupied  in  organising  this  branch  of  work.  The  work- 
benches along  the  walls  of  the  room  lend  themselves  to  the  more 
advanced  work  in  practical  jihysics.  It  is  needless  to  say  that 
here  the  apparatus  is  not  twelve-fold.  Beyond  the  jihysical 
laboratory  is  the  science  master's  private  room,  which  has  a 
tendency  to  shape  itself  as  an  advanced  physical  lalioralory. 

Chemical  Laboratory. — This  is  a  fine  room,  with  both  sky- 
light and  side  windows.  It  is  45  feet  long.  30  feet  broad,  and 
30  feet  high.  Eight  benches  are  fixed,  two  abreast,  across  the 
room,  all(.)wing  the  greatest  possible  freedom  of  movement.  The 
benches  are  arranged  to  admit  forty-eight  students  working  to- 
gether. They  are  fitted  with  shelves  for  reagents,  fixed  across 
the  iK'nch,  and  not  lengthways,  whereby  reaching  over  one's 
work  is  avoided,  and  also  a  more  complete  view  and  ctmtrol  of 
the  whole  room  is  jiossible  for  the  master,  l-^ach  student  is  iiro- 
vided  with  a  most  efficient  draught-box.  serving  also  as  a  siip|K)rt 
for  the  vessels  he  is  using.  This  arrangement  kee])s  the  labora- 
tory thoroughly  free  from  fumes,  in  spite  of  all  well-meant  efforts 
to  the  contrary  on  the  ]iart  of  ]Hipils.  The  shelves  and  dr.aught- 
boxes  are  removable  from  the  iienches,  so  that  a  clear  space  can 
be  obtained  when  required  for  setting  tip  apparatus  on  an  exten- 
sive scale.  The  wall  space  is  occupied  by  shelves  for  reagents, 
and  by  lead  troughs  for  washing-up  jnirposes.  By  tliis  arrange- 
ment of  confining  the  water-sujiply  to  ihe  walls  of  the  room, 
mo.st  of  the  ordinary  spl.rshing  and  untidiness  of  laboratories  is 
avoided.  The  transverse  arrangement  of  the  benches  reduces  to 
a  minimum  the  walking  about  occasioried  liy  this  plan.  The 
cu])boards  and  drawers  of  these  benches  recede,  so  that  it  is 
possible  to  sit  close  U|>  to  ones  work.  .\  balance-room,  30  by 
15  feet,  leads  out  from  the  lalioralory,  and  liej'ond  this  is  a  large 
theatre  or  lecture-room  capable  of  seating  about  150  boys.  The 
balance-room  is  provided  with  chemical  balances  and  books  of 
reference.  The  lecture-room  has  a  suitably  fiirnishetl  lecture- 
table,  blackboards,  screen  for  lantern,  and  cases  of  minerals  .and 
chemical  specimens. 

Liixiiie  and  Elei/n\  Light  A'ooiiis. — The  electric  light,  being 
used  for  the  main  portion  of  the  school,  puts  the  .Science  Deiiart- 
ment  in  |M)ssession  of  valuable  plant.  A  gas-engine  of  12  indi- 
cated horse-power,  and  a  reserve  steam-engine  of  6  indicated 
horse-power,  fitted  with  a  Crosby  indicator,  together  with 
dynamos  and  accumulators,  give  plenty  of  opportunity  for  gain- 
ing a  practical  knowledge  of  electric  engineering.  In  addition 
to  this,  the  current  obtained  is  most  tiseful  in  jiroviding  means 
for  practical  work  and  testing  in  the  physical  laboratory.  The 
electric  light  is  also  used  with  the  mirror  galvanometer,  to  the 
great  advantage  of  cleanliness  and  convenience. 

Jiiologiial  Laboratory  and  Miiseiiiii. — It  is  ajipropriate  that 
the  description  of  this  laboratory  should  come  la.st.  It  is  one  of 
the  most  recent  additions  to  the  school,  and  it  shoulil  un- 
doubtedly be  the  last  laboratory  for  the  schoolboy  to  enter. 
Biology,  unless  it  is  approached  through  a  training  in  physics  and 
chemistry,  is  not   to   be  considered  as  a  .suitable  subject  for  pre- 

Itaratory  education.  Th<  roots  of  biological  sciences  must  always 
le  in  physical  and  chemical  ground. 

The  room  devoted  to  this  work  is  carefully  planned  to  ensure 
the  most  perfect  light.  The  work-benches  face  windows  wliicli 
come  down  to  the  level  of  the  benches,  and  in  the  roof  is  fixeil 
a  goiKl  skylight.  The  workbenches  are  formed  of  plate  gla,ss, 
gently  sloping  at  the  back  into  a  while  glazed  guller  nmiiing  inti> 
large  while-ware  troughs  or  sinks.  Walersupply  is  al  Ihe  hand 
of  each  worker,  and  the  benches  can  be  kept  continually  (lushed 
and  clean.  .Standing  aw.ay  from  the  workbench  is  tlie  small 
writing-table  and  cupboard,  &c.,  of  each  .student.     The  arrange- 


May  23,  1895] 


NATURE 


89 


ments  are  peculiar,  but — I  may  be  allowed  to  say — most  success- 
ful. The  greater  part  of  the  room,  which  is  40  feet  long  by  21 
feet  wide,  is  occupied  by  cases  which  contain  preparations  and 
specimens  under  the  headings  of  («)  Form  and  Locomotion,  (A) 
Alimentation,  (c)  Circulation  and  Respiration,  (</)  Nervous  Sys- 
iini  and  Sense  Organs,  and  lastly,  objects  displaying  the  main 
lines  fjf  classification.  In  fact,  a  collection  modelled,  both  as  to 
cases  and  modes  of  display,  on  the  same  lines  as  the  admirable 
Introductory  Collection  of  Sir  William  Flower  at  the  Natural 
History  Museum.  It  is,  of  course,  on  a  miniature  scale,  and  it 
i^,  not  yet  complete.  Beyond  the  main  laboratory  is  a  smaller 
room  temporarily  occupied  for  another  purpose. 

It  now  remains  for  me  to  add  some  attempt  at  a  description  of 
the  general  appearance  of  these  laboratories.  In  the  main,  one 
may  say,  tliere  is  an  air  of  dignity  about  the  lofty  and  well-pro- 
portioned rooms,  with  their  substantial  and  cosily  fittings.  The 
woodwork  is  jiitch-pine  topped  everywhere  by  thick  teak.  In 
the  biological  museums  the  cases  are  of  mahogany,  and  perfectly 
constructed.  Most  of  the  teak  tops  of  benches  and  tables  are 
thinly  coated  with  paraffin  as  a  preservative.  It  is  still  important 
that  r(-)oms  devoted  to  scientific  work  in  schools  should  be  excep- 
tionally neat  and  bright  in  appearance.     Indeed,  it  may  even  be 


some  branch  of  engineering  with  special  reference  to  the  scientific 
principles  which  have  been  factors  in  its  advancement. 

Twenty  years  ago,  Lord  Armstrong  stated  that  of  all  the  coal 
raised  in  this  country  about  one-third  wa.s  used  for  household 
purposes,  one-third  for  generating  steam,  and  one-third  for  iron- 
making  and  manufacturing  processes.  He  remarked  that  in  the 
two  first  divisions  the  waste  of  fuel  was  shameful,  and  that  with- 
out carrying  economy  to  extreme  limits,  all  the  effects  now 
realised  from  the  use  of  coal  could  be  obtained  by  an  expenditure 
of  half  the  quantity.  The  improvement  of  the  steam  engine  is 
mainly  due  to  an  incessant  attempt  to  diminish  the  waste  of  fiiel. 

Tests  of  Steam  Engines  in  Cornwall. 
Steam  engineers  have  been  face  to  face  with  the  problem  ot 
economy  for  more  than  a  centurj-.  ("oal  was  excessively  dear  in 
Cornwall,  and  as  the  mines  were  deepened  and  more  power  was 
required,  the  cost  of  working  increased  ruinously.  By  reducing 
fuel  cost.  Watt  saved  the  mining  industry  from  extinction,  and 
he  adopted  the  plan  of  taking  in  payment  for  his  engines  a  sum 
reckoned  equivalent  to  one-third  of  the  fuel  saved.  By  agree- 
ment with  the  miners,  tests  were  made,  and  the  standard  duty  of 
a  Newcomen  engine  was  fixed  at  7,037,00x3  foot  lbs.  per  bushel. 


A  Case  of  Specimens  in  Biological  Laboratory,  illustrating  Form  and  Locomotion. 


said  that  appearances  are  at  present  more  important  than  any- 
thing else  as  regards  the  value  attachefl  to  the  subject.  Manners 
must  grow  to  match  the  clothes.  We  have  to  bear  in  minil  that  we 
labtjur  in  the  cause  not  of  science  alone,  Iiut  of  science  as  an  in- 
^irument  of  school  training.  The  laboratories  are  all  en  siiitf, 
whereby  control  is  more  easy,  and  a  feeling  of  organic  unity 
gained.  Moreover,  the  workshops  are  within  touch  of  the  labora- 
tories, as  is  also  the  large  drawing-school. 

Finally,  I  may  mention  that  all  the  water  and  waste  system 
has  been  laid  down  in  direct  contravention  of  all  the  best  tra- 
ditions of  plumbing,  with  the  happy  result  that  we  never  need  the 
services  of  a  plumber  for  repairing.  Alfred  Earl. 


THE   DEVELOPMENT  OF    THE  EXPERI- 
MENTAL STUD  V  OFHEA  T  ENGINES)- 
TT  was  Mr.  Forrest's  intention  that  the  annual  lecture  bearing 
his  name  should  illustrate  the  dependence  of  the  engineer  in 
his  practical  professional  work  on  the  mathematical  and  physical 
sciences.      It    therefore  naturally  takes  the  form  of  a  review  of 

^  -Abstract  of  the  "  James  Forrest  "  Lecture,  delivered  at  the  Instiliitiiin 
of  Civil  KnKineers,  May  g,  by  Prof.  \V.  C.  Unwin,  F.R.S. 


NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


Regular  duty  determinations  were  made  for  all  Watt's  engines. 
(ienerally  (hey  gave  a  duty  of  20,000,000.  When  Watt's  con- 
nection ^vith  Cornwall  ceased  in  1800  ;  the  duty  determinations 
were  neglected,  and  the  engines  deteriorated. 

Then  Captain  Joel  Lean,  who  had  reorganised  the  machinery 
at  one  of  the  mines,  and  eflecled  great  economies,  started  again 
the  system  of  duty  trials,  lie  anil  his  sons  carried  on  the  work 
for  many  years,  and  iiublished  reports  of  the  results  of  the  trials. 
(Jf  these  reports  Dr.  I'ole  says  :  "  The  publication  produced  an 
extraordinary  effect  in  improving  the  duty  of  the  engines. 
Engineers  were  slimulateil  lo  emulation  amongst  themselves. 
The  practice  of  re])orting  is  thought  to  have  been  attended  with 
more  benefit  to  the  county  than  any  other  single  event  excepting 
only  the  invention  of  the  steam  engine  itself." 

I  shall  show  later  that  the  creation  of  a  new  and  more  scien- 
tific system  of  testing  l)y  Him  and  his  coUetigues  in  Alsace,  in 
1855,  w.as  the  starting-point  of  a  similar  process  of  improvement, 
t^uite  lately  there  has  been  a  revival  of  careful  and  independent 
engine  testing  aiul  of  the  |)ublicalion  of  the  results,  and  records 
have  been  established  which  would  have  been  thought  impossible 
ten  years  ago. 

The  ])eculiar  character  of  the  load  against  which   the  Cornish 


90 


XATCRE 


[May  23,  189; 


engine  worked,  the  lifting  of  a  hea\y  mass  of  pump-rods,  contri- 
buteil  to  force  the  use  of  expansive  working.  To  work  without 
shock,  a  lai^e  initial  and  gradually  diminishing  effort  was  neces- 
sary". The  extraordinar)'  economy  obtained  was  due  proKibly  in 
(art  to  the  special  action  of  the  steam,  the  Cornish  engine  being 
\irtually  a  comjiound  engine,  and  the  admission  surface  being 
protected  from  oxiling  to  the  condenser  ;  partly  to  the  great 
effectiveness  of  a  steam-jacket  in  an  engine  which  worked  slowly 
and  with  |«uses  at  the  end  of  the  stroke,  partly  to  the  small 
clearance  and  separate  admission  and  exhaust  valves.  The  les-son 
engineers  should  have  learned  from  Cornish  experience  w  as  that 
in  restricted  conditions  high  ratios  of  expansion  were  economical. 
In  this  case,  as  in  others,  later  engineers  generalised  too  crudely, 
and  concluded  that  ex|Mnsive  working  was  always  economical. 
A  new  scientific  investigation  was  required  to  correct  the  error. 

Expfrimiiils  on  Boilers. 

To  generate  steam  power  economically  the  boiler  must  be 
efficient,  and  the  engine  must  be  efficient,  and  the  conditions 
of  efficiency  of  toiler  and  engine  are  completely  indejiendent. 
Hence  the  early  method  of  Watt,  in  which  attention  w<as  (mid 
■only  to  fuel  usetl  and  water  pumped  has  been  replaced  by  a 
meth'^d  of  independent  boiler  and  engine  testing.  The  boiler 
uses  cixil  and  generates  steam  :  the  engine  uses  .steam  and 
generates  power.  The  economy  of  the  boiler  is  reckoned  on  the 
fuel  :  that  of  the  engine  on  the  steam. 

Different  coals,  at  any  rate  the  better  kinds  of  coal,  do  not 
differ  much  in  absi^ilute  calorific  value.  Used  in  boiler  furnaces, 
they  differ  more,  (Xirtly  from  differences  of  mechanical  .iggrega- 
tion,  but  chiefly  Ijecause  the  more  bituminous  coals  require  a 
larger  air  supply  for  tolerably  smokeless  combustion  than  those 
which  consist  chiefly  of  fixed  carbon.  The  greater  excess  of  air 
involves  greater  chimney  waste.  It  is  to  test  the  commercial 
calorific  value  that  I'rof.  Schroter  has  established  in  Munich  a 
heat  L-iborator)-  where  fuels  can  l>e  tested  on  a  lai^e  scale  and 
under  ordinary  practic-al  conditions  of  combustion.  The  arrange- 
ments [K-rmit  the  determination  of  the  exact  conditions  most 
suitable  for  each  fuel. 

An  enormous  number  of  lioiler  trials  have  been  carried  out, 
but  most  of  them  are  mere  individual  tests  of  very  little  scien- 
tific value.  Engineers  have  been  too  much  under  the  impression 
that  the  evaiwration  deiwnded  chiefly  on  the  ty|w  or  pro]>ortions 
of  the  lioiler,  or  the  arrangement  of  the  heating  surface.  Bui 
there  are  no  obscure  or  complicated  actions  concerned  in  generat- 
ing steam.  Boilers  of  all  ly|X'S  give  nearly  the  .'«iiic  results, 
provided  only  projier  conditions  of  combustion  are  secured. 
They  may  differ  in  cost,  in  durability,  in  convenience,  but  in 
efficiency  they  differ  less  than  I  think  is  commonly  a.ssume<l. 
The  following  table  shows  that  Irailers  of  extremely  different 
types,  with  very  different  pro]iortions  of  heating  .surface  and  ver)' 
different  rates  f  if  combustion,  and  even  with  diffeient  coals,  have 
all  reached  eva|iorations    of  from  II  to  13  lbs.  of  w,iter  from  .and 


K.,li....| 
Xrali:  l.> 
hcalinK 
wirfacc. 


HoiUr   Trials. 


Coal  per  <iq, 
ft.  of  gr.ilc 
per  hour. 


Lanca.<>hlrc  ... 
Calloway 
I'ortable       ...' 
Tubular 

M, 

Th'Tneyrroft 


I  =36 
I  :  24 
I  :  69 
I  :  46 
I  :3« 
1  =34 
I  :SO 
I  :  70 
I  •  (-.1 


7  ^ 
22  9 

8-5 

12-8 

IO-8 

8-9 

22 '4 

255 
77 
1X0 


Evaporation 

from  and  at 

Cc.ll. 

2i3"pcr!b.  of 

to:il. 

ir-9 

\\tl>li 

11-2 

I.ancashire 

1 1 -6 

.Anthracite 

ll-S 

Welsh 

1 1  9 

.\nlhracilc 

11-8 

,, 

12-9 

Welsh 

12-5 

Uincashirc 

'34 

Welsh 

I2-; 

.Miiliioiisc   J'rials  of  1S59. 

The  earliest  Imilcr  trials  carried  out  in  a  completely  satis- 
farinry  «ay  were  those  made  by  the  Snciele  Induslriclle  of 
MulhMU«e  in  1859.  The  Society  offered  a  prize  to  the  maker  of 
any  lioiler  which  wnuM  evajxiratc  1800  llis.  |ier  hniir,  at  75  lbs. 
per  vjuare  inch  pressure,  and  which  would  eva|>orate  9' I  llis.  of 


water,  from  and  at  212',  i>er  jxiund  of  .Msatian  coal  of  not  veiy 
good  quality.  With  the  coal  used  in  these  trials,  130  cubic 
feet  of  air  jwr  |x>und  of  coal  are  chemically  necessiiry  lor  com- 
plete comliustion.  It  w.as  found  that  the  reduction  of  the  air 
supply  almost  to  this  limit,  and  to  a  |X)int  at  which  there  w.is 
definitely  incomplete  combustion,  reduced  the  chimney  waste 
and  increased  the  efiiciency  of  the  boiler.  In  two  si^iecial  trials, 
each  of  a  week's  duration,  the  evajxiration  was  9  lbs.  with  331 
cubic  feet  of  air,  per  [xiund,  and  9'53  or  6  per  cent,  more  with 
247  cubic  feet. 

The  determination  of  the  air  supply  to  a  boiler  is  not 
altogether  an  easy  operation.  .\x\  anemometer  was  used  in 
.Vlsace,  and  in  suitable  conditions  it  will  give  approximately 
accurate  results.  In  recent  trials  chemical  analy.ses  of  s;impks 
of  the  furnace  gases  have  been  made,  and  the  amount  of  air 
supplied  calculated  from  the  percentage  of  CO5.  This  method 
is  accurate  in  principle,  but  the  samples  analysed  are  a  very 
minute  fraction  of  the  total  chinmey  discharge,  and  the  sjimjiles 
may  not  lie  average  samples.  In  some  trials  in  which  thi^ 
meth'xl  has  been  used,  there  are  discreixmcies  in  the  ratio  of  tlu- 
chimney  lo.ss  and  the  undetermined  lo.ss,  chiefly  due  to  radiation, 
difficult  to  understand.  Neither  anemometer  nor  chemical 
analysis  is  suited  to  serve  as  a  means  of  regulating  the  air 
supply  in  the  ordinary  working  of  a  Ixiiler.  What  is  wanted  is 
an  instrument  as  easily  reati  as  a  pressure  gauge,  and  giving 
continuous  indications. 

The  Dasymeler, 

The  d.isymeter,  invented  by  Messrs.  Siegert  and  Durr,  of 
Munich,  is  a  tine  balance  in  an  enclosed  case  through  which  a 
current  of  the  furnace  gases  is  drawn.  .\t  one  end  of  the 
balance  is  a  glass  glolie  of  large  displacement,  at  the  other  a 
brass  weight.  .\ny  change  of  density  of  the  medium  in  the 
chamber  disturbs  the  balance.  .A  finger  on  the  balance  utoving 
over  a  graduated  .scale  gives  the  amount  of  the  alteration  of 
density.  .\n  air  injector  draws  the  furnace  gas  from  the  flues. 
and  it  is  filtered  before  entering  the  balance  case.  .\n  ingenious 
mercurial  com|K'nsator  coimterUilances  any  elVect  tlue  to  change 
of  temperature  or  barometric  pressure. 

The  dasymeter  is  usually  combined  with  a  draught  gauge,  and 
an  air  thermometer  or  pyrometer  in  the  flue  is  required  if  the 
amount  of  w.aste  heat  is  to  be  calculated.  The  dasymeter  I 
requires,  initially,  exceedingly  delicate  adjustment,  and  its  indica- 
tions must  be  checked  fr<im  time  to  time  by  a  liunte's  burette. 
It  is  set  to  read  zero  with  pure  air,  and  then  any  increase  "f 
ilensity  due  to  C(Jj  is  read  a-s  a  percentage  on  the  sen. 
When  in  adjustment,  it  is  as  easy  to  read  the  percentage  "i 
COo  in  the  furnace  gases  as  to  read  the  pressure  on  a 
pres-sure  gauge.  When  the  das)nneter  is  fitted  to  a  boiler, 
the  stoker  has  directions  to  adjust  the  supply  of  air  so  that  the 
furnaces  gases  have  almut  12  percent,  of  CfX.  With  practice 
he  learns  what  alterations  of  the  dam|ier  or  fire-door,  or  thick- 
ness of  fuel  on  the  grate,  are  necessary,  or  whether  an  alteration 
of  grate  area  is  desirable,  .\fter  a  little  time  the  percentage  of 
CO.j   can  lie  kept  very  constant. 

Isliii-nvoifs  E.xfcriiiiciils  on  Marine  linginii. 

.Alxiut  the  year  i860,  Mr.  Isherwood,  Chief  ICngineer  of  the 
United  States  Navy,  began  a  series  of  systematic  tests  of  engines 
and  lioilers  on  a  very  large  scale,  and  with  resources  only  avail- 
able in  a  (lovernnient  establishment.  The  trials  were  made 
with  skill  and  determination,  and  the  substantial  accuracy  of  the 
results,  startling  as  they  were,  h.as  never  been  iiuestioned. 

.All  Isherwood's  trials  of  large  marine  engmes  showed  that 
when  expansion  was  extended  beyond  exceedingly  small  limit.s, 
it  caused  not  an  economy,  but  a  waste.  In  his  second  volume 
he  sums  up  his  results  as  proving  that  when  cutoff  is  earlier 
than  o'6,  or  |x'rhaps  even  07  of  the  stroke,  the  c<insuniption  of' 
steam  reckoned  o[i  the  work  done  is  increii.sed.  Curiously 
enough,  this  leil  him  to  attack  the  compound  engine.  Krom  the' 
quantities  in  the  table  of  exix-rimenls,  he  says,  "  it  will  be  seen 
how  useless  in  piint  of  economic  gain  is  the  prejxislerous  ar- 
rangement of  steam  engine  known  as  the  doublecylmder,  Woolf, 
or  llornlilower  engine.  .  .  .  ()p|K)sed  to  these  facts,  the  declara- 
tions of  inleresleil  patentees  and  engine  builders  must  be  classed 
in  value  with  those  sel  forth  by  (juacks  in  advertiscnnents  of  their 
nostrums."  This  is  frcmi  a  paper  dated  1865,  and  it  is  curious, 
liecau.se  Isherwixxl  generally  saw  clearly  enough  the  danger 
of  drawing  sweeping  conclusions  from  narrow  experimental 
premises. 

The  pro|)er  lesson  from   Ishcrwootl's  results  was  merely  that 


NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


May  23,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


91 


certain  conditions  must  be  obsen'ed  to  secure  economy  in  ex- 
pansive working.  Unfortunately,  more  generally  the  conclusion 
was  drawn  that  the  Cornish  results  were  not  to  he  trusted,  and 
that  expansion  was  not  economical,  and  Isherwood's  own  lan- 
guage lent  authority  to  the  least  accurate  view  of  his  results.  To 
obtain  greater  insight  into  the  true  action  in  the  cylinder,  and  to 
find  a  reconciliation  of  the  Cornish  and  American  tests,  experi- 
ments of  a  much  more  refined  character  were  wanted  and  insight 
due  to  wider  scientific  knowledge. 

The  Physkal  Properlies  of  Steam. — Rcgiiault. 

No  useful  progress  could  be  made  with  a  theory  of  the  steam 
engine,  no  accurate  reduction  even  could  be  made  of  the  results 
of  engine  tests  without  exact  determinations  of  the  relations  of 
pressure,  temperature,  volume,  latent  heat  and  liquid  heat  of 
steam.  It  was  fortunate,  therefore,  that  about  1840  M.  Kegnault 
obtaine<l  the  means  from  the  French  (iovi;rnnient  to  make  a 
series  of  researches  on  the  physical  properties  of  steam  with 
splendid  instrumental  appliances.  He  wisely  carried  out  his 
determinations  over  a  very  wide  range  of  conditions,  and  spared 
no  labour  or  trouble  in  attaining  accuracy.  Kegnault's  results 
were  of  the  greatest  importance  as  a  foundation  for  accurate  study 
of  the  steam  engine. 

The  Foitiidation  of  Thcniiodyiiaiiiits. — Carnot  and  fotile. 

The  next  important  step  was  the  discovery  of  the  equivalence 
of  heat  and  work.  Joule's  investigations  began  with  an  attempt 
to  improve  Sturgeon's  magnetic  engine.  He  was  so  led  to 
consider  motive  power  problems  from  the  engineer's  standpoint, 
as  a  question  of  duty,  or  of  something  obtained  for  something 
expended.  He  ascertained  the  amount  of  electric  current  pro- 
duced by  the  chemical  combustion  of  a  given  amount  of  zinc, 
and  comjiaring  his  results  with  those  obtained  in  good  steam 
engines,  he  concluded  that,  making  the  largest  allowance  for 
possible  imperfections  of  his  magneto  engine,  it  was  never  likely 
to  be  a  rival  in  economy  to  the  steam  engine.  That  was  a  negative 
but  a  useful  result.  It  closed  one  direction  of  useless  endeavour 
only  too  likely  to  attract  the  inventor. 

(jnc  of  the  effects  of  electric  action  which  Joule  noticed  was 
the  heating  of  his  conductors,  and  it  was  to  the  measurement  of 
this  heating  eflect  he  next  addressed  himself.  The  heat  developed 
in  the  conductor  by  the  electric  action  due  to  elements  com- 
bining in  the  galvanic  cell  was  found  to  be  identical  with  that 
which  would  be  generated  by  the  direct  combustion  of  the  same 
elements.  Finally,  he  came  to  consider  the  relation  between 
the  mechanical  work  expended  in  driving  a  magneto  electric 
machine,  and  the  heat  developed  in  the  external  circuit  ol  the 
machine.  He  concluded  that  for  838  foot  lbs.  expended  a  pound 
degree  of  heat  was  generated.  Later  experiments  corrected 
this  value,  but  the  discovery  of  the  equivalence  of  heat  and  work 
was  made. 

.\s  early  as  1824,  twenty  years  before  Joule's  discovery,  .Sadi 
Carnot,  in  a  remarkalile  pamphlet  on  the  "  Motive  Power  of 
Heat,"  demonstrated  the  fundamental  princijile  that  the  amount 
of  work  obtainable  from  any  given  quantity  of  heal  cannot  exceed 
a  quantity  jiroportional  to  the  fall  of  temperature.  Unfortunately 
adopting,  though  with  hesitation,  the  view  held  in  his  time  that 
heat  is  material  and  iTidestructible  as  heat,  he  coupled  with  his 
true  jirinciple  the  false  corollary  that  all  the  heat  entering  an 
engine  is  discharged  in  the  condenser.  Joule,  in  1845,  found 
this  principle  of  Carnot,  and  looking  to  the  corollary  as  es- 
sential, supposed  the  principle  itself  to  he  false.  He  failed  to 
perceive  that  Carnot's  principle  was  the  essential  sui^jilement 
to  his  own  di.scovery,  and  that  it  showed  why  the  ajiparenl 
efficiency  of  the  steam  engine  is  so  low.  It  took  six  years 
before  Joule's  and  Carnot's  principles  w'ere  reconciled,  and  for 
three  of  them  even  Lord  Kelvin  refused  to  accejit  Joule's 
discover}',  because  it  apparently  conflicted  \\ith  the  principle  of 
Carnot. 

J'hc  Founders  of  I  he  Rational  Theory, — Kan/cine,  C/aiisins, 
Zeuner. 

The  impetus  given  to  the  study  of  thermodynamics  by  the 
discovery  of  Jovde,  and  the  perception  of  the  fundamental  im- 
portance of  Carnot's  theorem,  was  enormous.  Heat  problems  could 
now  be  brought  out  of  the  region  of  mere  empirical  solutions,  and 
treated  from  the  rational  standpoint  of  an  exact  science,  and  the 
steam  engine,  as  the  mo.st  important  examiile  of  heat  transforma- 
tion, attracted  at  once  the  attention  of  scientific  men  of  command- 
ing   intellectual    ability.       In    a    very    few    years    Kankine    and 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


Clausius  had  built  up  a  strictly  rational  mathematical  theory  of  the, 
steam  engine,  and,  a  little  later,  Zeuner  carried  further  the  analysis 
of  some  of  the  more  subordinate  details.  The  iheor)*  with  one 
exception,  to  Ije  referred  to  presently,  took  account  of  all  the  actual 
conditions  under  which  steam  is  used,  and  furnished  exact  rules 
for  the  relation  of  steam  expen<led  and  work  done  for  all  arrange- 
ments of  the  actual  steam  engine  practically  adopted. 

It  was  just  at  this  lime  that  the  exjierimenls  of  Isherwood 
were  published,  and  a  comparison  of  experimental  results  and 
theoretical  calculations  showed  directly  a  very  large  discrepancy. 
The  steam  consumption  in  some  trials  was  30,  40  or  50  per  cent* 
more  than  it  should  have  been  in  the  assigned  conditions  of  work- 
ing according  to  the  rational  theory.  Some  action  of  quite 
governing  importance  had  obviously  been  neglected  in  the 
theoretical  analysis. 

The  Experimental  Theory. — Him  and  the  .-ibatian  .School. 

.\  year  or  two  before  Isherwood  began  his  experiments,  an 
Alsatian  engineer,  M.  Him,  had  discovered  and  measured 
cylinder  condensation. 

Joule's  discovery  attracted  Hirn's  allontion,  and  he  set  to 
work  in  1854  to  verify,  by  an  exact  engine  lest,  whether  the 
difference  between  the  heat  received  by  an  engine  and  discarded 
in  the  condenser  was  the  equivalent  of  ihe  work  done.  His  two 
most  important  memoirs  relating  to  the  steam  engine,  are  a 
memoir  on  the  utility  of  steam-jackets  in  1855-6,  and  another 
on  the  use  of  super-heated  steam  in  1S57.  In  these  researches, 
he  devised  a  method  of  accurate  engine  tests,  involving  the 
measurement  of  all  the  quantities  of  heat  received  by  or  rejected, 
from  the  engine,  which,  with  hartUy  any  change  at  all,  is  the 
method  of  accurate  engine  testing  adopted  ever  since.  Under,, 
his  influence  and  direction,  engine  tests  were  carried  out  in, 
Alsace  for  many  years,  and  the  results  exactly  analysed.  It  may. 
be  recalled  that  the  admirable  series  of  engine  tests,  the  first; 
tests  in  which  the  heat  quantities  were  accurately  measured  in. 
this  country,  which  were  made  by  Mr.  Mair  Kumley,  and 
described  in  three  papers  on  "  Inde])endent  Engine  Tests"  in  the 
Proceedings  oi  this  Society  in  1882,  1885,  and  1886.  were  trials 
carried  out  strictly  in  accordance  with  Hirn's  methods. 

.\s  with  Lord  Kelvin,  so  with  Him.  It  was  the  recognitioa 
of  an  apparent  conflict  of  Joule's  di.scovery  with  Carnot's  law 
which  first  attracted  his  attention.  It  was  the  attempt  toi 
determine  whether  part  of  the  heat  svqiplied  to  an  engine  dis- 
appeared as  work  which  determined  the  form  of  his  trials.  His 
experiments  of  1S54  showed  that  "  heat  in  a  steam  motor  is  not 
only  dispersed,  but  actually  disaiipears,  and  the  power  obtained  is 
exactly  proportional  to  the  heat  which  ilisappears  as  heat  to  re- 
appear as  motive  power."  Some  rather  later  and  more  careful 
experiments  enabled  him  to  verify  Joule's  equivalent  by  the 
actual  results  of  a  large  engine  test  to  an  accuracy  of  about  one 
jier  cent. 

The  discovery  of  initial  condensation,  and  the  proof  of  the 
powerful  action  of  a  small  amount  of  heal  Iransniilled  from  the 
jacket,  both  pointed  to  the  conduclivily  .)f  the  cylinder  wall  as 
the  cause  of  the  large  waste  of  sleam  which  the  constructors  of 
ihe  rational  theory  had  neglected.  The  cylinder  is  cooled 
during  expansion,  and  still  more  during  exhaust  by  an  action 
analogous  to  internal  radiation  to  the  condenser.  Before  any 
work  can  be  done  in  the  next  stroke,  the  wall  has  to  be  reheated 
by  condensing  fresh  sleam.  The  extreme  f^icility  with  which 
steam  yields  or  al.islracls  steam  by  condensing  and  evajiorating, 
accounted  for  the  rapidity  of  ihe  action.  The  m.agnitude  of  the 
condensation  increases  with  the  range  of  temperature  to  which 
the  cylinder  wall  is  subjected.  It  is  larger  in  condensing  than 
in  non-condensing  engines,  anil  larger  with  high  ratios  of 
expansion. 

Some  lime  ago  I  ventured  to  say  thai  there  was  no  trust- 
wiirthy  engine  test  which  showed  that  the  consumption  of  steam 
with  a  jacket  is  greater  than  without  the  jacket.  I  believe  that 
is  .still  true,  but  undoubledly  the  economy  due  to  the  jacket 
varies  in  ditTerent  cases  from  30  per  cent,  to  very  nearly  zero. 
Roughly,  the  jacket  is  more  useful  with  small  engines  than  with 
large  ;  with  slow  engines  than  with  f;\sl  engines  ;  but  all  this" 
amounts  to  little  more  than  saying  that  Ihe  jacket  is  most 
useful  in  ihose  cases  where  the  initial  condcn.salion  is  largest. 
Just  in  proportion  as  the  engine,  whatever  its  type,  is  of 
the  highest  class  and  most  scientific  design,  the  jacket  is  less 
useful. 

The  jacket  reduces,  but  it  does  not  prevent  initial  conden^ition. 
Ilirn    looked    for     some    more    powerful   way    of     healing     Ihc 


92 


NA  TURE 


[May  23,  189  = 


cylinder  wall  without  causing  condensation  ;  he  found  it  in  super- 
heating. He  constructed,  in  1855,  a  super-heating  apparatus  in 
the  flues  of  the  boiler  at  Logelbach,  which  still  exists.  The 
experiments  with  super-heated  steam  were  carried  out  between 
1855  and  1856,  and  showed  clearly  the  eft'ecliveness  of  the  method 
in  reducing  comlcnsation.  Superheating  came  largely  into  use 
in  the  years  1S60-70  in  this  country  in  marine  engineering,  the 
practice  having  been  introduced  here  by  John  Penn.  In  every 
case  in  which  it  was  used  an  economy  of  coal  was  realised. 
Generally  the  economy  amounted  to  from  15  per  cent,  to  20 
per  cent.  It  was  ascertained  that  this  was  due  strictly  to 
economy  of  steam,  and  not  to  the  utilisation  in  the  boiler  of  heat 
previously  wasted.  But  the  use  of  super-heated  steam  in  this 
country  was  gradually  abandoned,  partly  no  doubt  from  some 
practical  dilhcullies,  but  chiefly,  I  believe,  because  practical 
engineers  had  no  clear  idea  w  hy  super-heating  should  produce  so 
large  an  economy,  and  they  were  not  indisposed  to  abandon  a 
complication,  the  action  of  which  they  could  not  satisfactorily 
explain  to  themselves. 

No  possil)le  improvenient  of  the  steam  engine,  of  which  we 
have  any  knowledge  at  this  moment,  offers  anything  like  so  great 
a  chance  of  important  economy  as  the  reintroduction  of  super- 
heating, anil  especially  of  super-heating  to  at  least  100°  or  more 
above  the  saturation  temperature  of  the  steam.  I  obtained  in 
Alsace  on  a  very  good  500  H.l'.  compound  mill  engine  with 
jackets,  and  ever)'  appliance  for  economical  w  orking,  an  economy 
of  15  per  cent.  .Mr.  Mair  Rumley  has  fitted  a  super-heater  to  a 
Bahcock  boiler  supplying  a  triple  engine,  and  has  obtained  an 
economy  of  10  per  cent.  In  both  cases  the  economy  is  economy 
of  steam,  and  therefore  is  not  due  to  any  increase  of  Ijniler  surface 
or  increase  of  efticiency  in  generating  the  steam.  Lately  I'rof 
Schriiter,  of  Munich,  has  been  experimenting  with  a  small  special 
comiHiund  condensing  engine  of  only  60  I.  H.!'.,  running  at  the 
moderate  piston  speed  of  380  feet  per  minute,  and  with  the  not 
excessive  boiler  ]iressure  of  165  pounds  per  square  inch.  The 
H.  I',  cylinder  is  not  jacketed.  The  L.  I',  is  jacketed  with  receiver 
.steam.  In  this  case  in  a  lube  super-heater  of  a  rather  special 
construction  in  the  uptake  of  the  boiler,  the  steam  is  superheated 
to  670°  I'.,  or  nearly  300'  above  the  .saturation  temperature  corre- 
sponding to  the  pressure.  In  two  trials  of  .six  and  eight  hours' 
duration,  perimls  quite  long  enough  for  accurate  determination  of 
results  with  so  accomplished  an  observer  as  Prof  Schroler,  the 
consumption  of  steam  was  only  io'2  pounds  per  I.  H.l'.  hour,  and 
the  consumptirm  of  (ierman  coal  of  moderate  quality  only  \\ 
|>ounds  per  I.H.P.  hour.  The  steam  consumption  is  the  lowest 
on  record  for  any  engine  of  any  type  or  size,  and  is  very  remark- 
able for  .so  smallan  engine. 

Conflict  of  the  Katioiial  and  Experimental  Theories.  — Zeiiner, 
Hirny  and  Hallaner. 

On  the  'ap|)earance  of  Isherwood's  researches  in  1863,  the 
discrepancy  between  the  rational  theory  and  the  results  of 
experiments  was  recognised  by  Kankine  and  others.  But  the 
conditions  of  cylinder  condensjitiun  are  so  complex,  that  for  a  long 
time  the  more  the<jretical  writers  i>raclically  ignored  Imth  Ilirn's 
and  Isherwood's  results.  Zeuner,  perhaps,  had  pushed  the  rational 
theory  to  the  furthest  limit  of  detail,  and  with  the  greatest  insight 
into  practical  conditions.  But  it  wa-s  not  till  18S1  that  he  began 
to  cxplicity  admit  the  largeness  and  im|)ortance  of  the  condensing 
action  in  the  cylinder.  Zeuner  then  was  disposed  to  attribute 
initial  condensation  to  the  presence  of  a  permanent  antl  not 
inconsiderable  mass  <»f  water  in  the  clearance  space  of  the  engine. 
No  doubt  it  is  simpler  analytically  to  deal  with  the  thernml 
changes  of  the  .sleam  plus  a  given  mass  of  water  than  with  the 
thermal  changes  of  steam,  water,  and  a  varying  area  of  solid 
cylinder  wall.  In  opening  a  discussion  with  I  lirn  in  1881 ,  Zeuner 
wrote  that  if  the  presence  of  water  in  the  clearance  space  was 
conceded,  the  .Alsatian  calculations  would  be  greatly  shaken,  and 
"the  enormous  influence  which  they  attributed  to  the  cylinder 
wall  would  in  future  be  attributed  in  part,  perhaps  chiefly,  to  the 
water  in  the  clearance  space.  "  He  thought  it  conceivable  thai  in 
certain  cases  the  whole  of  the  initial  condensation  was  due  to 
water  in  the  clearance  smce.  There  thus  arose  a  rather  angry 
controversy,  which  has  been  summed  up  in  the  (pieslion,  "  Is  it 
water  or  iron  ?  "  I  «lo  not  know  that  this  controversy  has  been 
as  yet  completely  ilecided,  or  that  perhaps  an  absolute  decision 
is  |)ossil>le.  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  Hirn,  with  the  clearness 
of  view  due  to  his  experimental  work,  had  on  the  whole  the  best 
of  the  controversy,  and  I  do  not  know  that  anything  better  or 
more  instructive  can  lie  said  than  the  words  in  which  he   finally 


NO.    1334,  VOL.  52] 


summed  up  his  position.  "  We  recognise,"  he  said,  "  that  the 
interpretation  of  the  Alsatians  differs  from  that  of  M.  Zeuner, 
not  at  all  in  that  it  denies  the  possible  presence  of  water  in  the 
cylinder  (we  are  not  so  hydrophobic),  but  in  that  it  admits  that 
the  water,  varying  in  quantity,  is  jiresenteil  only  temjK>rarily,  is 
carried  away  and  reneweil  stroke  by  stroke,  and  acts  chiefly  as 
the  medium  between  the  sleam  and  the  cylinder  wall.  In  the 
Als;ilian  explanation  the  action  of  the  water  raises  the  thermal 
action  of  the  sides.  In  Prof  Zcuner's  view,  the  water  is  per- 
manently present  and  acts  indejKndently  of  the  cylinder  sides." 

Recent  Systematic  Experiments.  —  Willans. 

It  has  been  quite  impossible  in  this  lecture  to  do  more  than 
select  one  or  two  of  the  most  important  of  the  experimental  in- 
vestigations during  the  last  fifty  years.  But  I  .should  not  like  to 
omit  all  reference  to  the  two  series  of  experiments  ol  the  late  Mr. 
P.  \V.  Willans.  Mr.  Willans'  work  is  no  doubt  well  known  to 
all  sleam  engineers,  and  needs  no  delailed  description.  How- 
ever purely  pr.iclical  the  object  Mr.  Willans  h.ad  in  view,  his  ex- 
periments were  made  in  the  true  spirit  of  scientific  research.  Nt> 
trouble  was  loo  much  to  secure  accuracy  to  the  last  decimal, 
no  possible  cause  of  error  was  .so  trivial  that  its  investigation 
was  reckoned  unnecessary.  .\  few  ex|)erimeiUers,  Isherwood, 
(lately  and  Kletseh  and  others  had  m.ide  experiments  on  a 
methodical  system,  varying  a  single  factor  at  a  time.  Willans 
carried  out  the  method  of  experiments  in  series  on  a  scale  which, 
till  he  proved  that  it  could  be  done,  no  one  would  have  supposed 
])ossible.  There  is  a  series  of  non-conilensing  and  a  series  of 
condensing  trials  ;  in  each  there  are  trials  of  simple,  compound, 
and  triple  engines:  and  for  each  of  these,  again,  trials  with 
initial  ])re.ssure  varied,  with  expansion  varied,  and  with  s|ieed 
varied.  The  results,  tabidated  in  the  clearest  way,  form  a  quarry 
of  scientific  data,  but  at  ])resent,  in  the  main,  an  unworkeil 
quarry.  Perhaps  that  statement  will  .seem  surprising,  and  of 
course  I  am  expressing  only  my  own  view,  for  which  I  claim  no 
infallibility.  What  .Mr.  Willans  might  have  done  had  he  lieen 
.spared,  it  is  impos.sible  to  s,ay.  He  hail  the  most  active  mind 
and  the  wi<lesl  experience  devoted,  perhaps,  at  any  time  to  the 
study  of  steam  problems. 

Let  me  ])rolest  as  strongly  as  possible,  .again  willi  the  reserva- 
tion that  I  am  stating  my  personal  view ,  .against  the  tendency  to 
suppose  that  the  great  work  of  Willans  can  be  summed  up  in  a 
so-called  Willans'  law,  or  that  that  law,  handy  as  it  may  be  for 
l)ractical  steam  engineers,  is  more  than  a  quite  suborilinate  part 
of  Willans"  work.  The  Willai\s"  law  is  nothing  more  than  the 
empirical  descriptive  statement  that  the  relation  of  total  steam 
[  consumption  and  indicated  or  effective  horse-power  can  be  very 
approximately  expressed  by  a  linear  equation,  for  the  case  of  .an 
unjacketed  engine  working  with  a  fixed  cut-oflT.  I'urlher, 
nothing  is  done  in  Willans  papers  to  fix  what  is  the  linear 
equation  for  any  given  engine.  So  far  as  those  papers  go,  and 
until  some  kind  of  theory  taking  account  of  initial  condensation 
is  discovered,  we  can  only  finil  the  relation  t>f  steam  consumption 
and  horse-power  for  any  given  engine  by  making  two  accurate 
trials  of  the  engine  itself  Willans"  law  leaves  us  in  regard  to 
any  given  engine  in  the  same  position  as  an  astronomer  with  a 
new  comet.  When  the  comet  has  been  observed  for  a  sullicient 
period,  and  some  of  its  positions  fixed,  a  probable  orbit  can  be 
calculale<l.  The  straight-line  law  leaves  the  steam  consumption 
of  a  new  engine  as  unknown  as  the  elli|)tic  law  the  orbit  of  a  new 
comet. 

Willans  himself  says  nothing  whatever  as  to  any  po.ssible 
rational  basis  for  the  Willans'  law.  He  put  it  forward  purely  as 
the  result  of  plotting  his  experiments.  Later,  Captain  .Sankey 
showed  that  the  total  steam  ctmsumiHion  of  an  engine  working 
adiabatically  with  fixed  ratio  of  expansion  would  also  follow 
nearly  but  not  exactly  a  straight-line  law  if  all  clearance  los.ses, 
radiation,  and  exhaust  waste  and  back  ))ressure  loss  were 
neglected. 

If  we  a.ssume  isothermal  expansion  (and  really  so  far  as  the 
area  of  the  diiigram  is  concerned,  it  matters  little  what  law  of  ex- 
pansion is  assumed),  it  is  easy  to  find  a  formula  for  the  total 
steam  consumption  of  an  engine  working  without  clearance  loss 
or  exhaust  waste.  I  have  found  such  a  f^ormula,  and  plotted  the 
results  both  for  a  condensing  and  a  nonrondensing  engine  in  the 
di.agram.  It  is  found  that  the  liiu-s  plotted  are  not  exactly, 
but  very  nearly,  straight  lines.  Thai  carries  us  a  certain  way, 
but  it  is  an  enormous  jump  to  a.ssume  wilhoiU  examination  that 
the  steam  wastes  in  the  engine,  anuninting  to  from  20  to  50  per 
i  cent,  of  the  steam  used,  and  arising  fri'iu  causes  of  the  most  com- 


May  23,  1895] 


NATURE 


I  plex  kind,  (Icpendiiig  on  the  volume  of  the  clearance,  the  action 

'  of  the  cylinder  wall,  the  loss  of  the  toe  of  the  diagram,  the  waste 

'■\|)ansion  between  the  cylinders,  and  other  causes  of  loss,  that 

: li.se  also  can  he  expressed  as  a  simple  linear  function  of  the 

horse-power. 

Now,  in  the  first  edition  of  his  treatise  on  the  steam  engine, 
which  ajipeared  in  1878,  Prof.  Cotterill  had  seriously  attacked 
the  prolileni  of  cj'linder  condensation  from  the  theoretical  side. 
I'rof.  Cotterill  found  it  possible  to  give  a  partly  rational,  partly 
(.riipirical,  formula  for  cylinder  condensation. 

IJut,  according  to   his  formula  for  unjacketed  simple  engines, 

.  the  initial  coiulensation  has  a  fixed  ratio  to  the  steam  present  at 

I  cut-off.      In  the  diagram,  lines  for  steam    present  at  cut-off  are 

j  given,  calculated  in  the  manner  already  described.      Above  these 

has    oeen   set   up  the  condensation   by  Cotterill's  law,  and  the 

total  steam  consumption  at  various  loatls  is  then  given  by  a  line 

ver)'  nearly  straight  and  closely  agreeing  with  a  Willans'  line. 

The  curves  on  the  two  diagrams  agree  well  with  Willans'  re- 
sults, and  they  differ  from  Willans'  lines  in  being  obtained 
entirely  by  calculation  without  experimenting  on  the  engine.  It 
would  not  be  right  to  make  too  nuu'h  of  the  coincidence,  but  I 
thought  it  woultl  be  interesting  to  sh<JW  that  theory  and  experi- 
ment converge.  .\  good  deal  has  yet  to  be  explained,  but  the  dis- 
cussion in  Prof.  Cotterill's  treatise  has  done  more  than  anything 
else  to  throw  light  on  the  conditions  which  promote  or  hinder 
cylinder  condensation,  and  on  the  means  useful  in  securing 
economy  of  working. 

Since  1S45,  purely  scientific  men,  scientific  experimenters,  and 
practical  engineers  have  all  been  engaged  in  the  study  of  the 
steam  engine.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  one  of  the  three  can 
claim  all  the  credit  for  the  improvement  of  the  steam  engine  to 
the  exclusion  of  either  of  the  others. 


UNIVERSITY  AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

0.\FORD. — At  a  Congregation  of  the  University  held  on  Tues- 
day, 2lst  Inst.,  the  proposed  Statute  on  Degrees  for  Research 
W.1S  |)assed  in  its  final  form,  ncininc  coittradiante.  It  only  re- 
mains for  the  .Statute  to  be  passed  by  Convocation,  and  it  will 
come  into  force. 

.\t  the  same  meeting,  the  addition  to  Statute  conferring  the 
title  of  Professor  of  .\nthropology  on  Dr.  E.  B.  Tylor,  so  long  as 
he  shall  hold  the  office  of  Reailer  in  Anthropology,  received  the 
final  sanction  of  Congregation.  .-\  proposal  recognising  Anthro- 
pology as  a  subject  for  the  Final-Honour  School  of  Natural 
Science  was  then  brought  forward.  .\fter  some  debate  the 
preamble  was  passed.     Placets  24,  non-placets  16. 

Cambridge. — The  following  is  the  Speech  delivered  by  the 
I'lililic   Orator,    Dr.    .Sandys,    in    presenting    for    the   honorary 

I'  L;rec  of  Doctor  in  Science,  .Mr.  Francis  (lalton,  F.R.S. 

"scdes  olim  sibi  notas  hodie  revisit  alumnus  noster,  qui  flumine 
^il'iquondam  explorato,  et  Africa  .Vuslrali  postea  perlustrata, 
\'--Uit  alter  Mercurius  omnium  qui  inter  loca  dcserta  et  inhospita 
peregrinanlur  adiutor  et  palronus  cgregius  exstitit.  Idem,  velut 
nlliT  .Veolus,  etiam  ipsos  ventos  caelique  tempestates  suae  pro- 
Mrnae  audacter  .adiunxit.  Hodie  vero  .Vcademiae  nemora  nuper 
I'picellis  nimium  vexata  non  sine  misericordia  contemplatus,  e 
li'iidlbus  nostris  caducis  capili  tani  venerabili  coronam  diu  de- 
I'li.un  imponi  patitur.  Tcmpeslatum  certe  in  scientia  iamdudum 
vcisalus,  ventorum  cursus  talmlis  fidelibus  olim  mandavit,  gen- 
i<'s.|iie  varium  caeli  morem  praediscere  docuit,  laudem  philosopho 
I  in.fim  anti<)uo  a  Nubium  choro  .\ristophanico  quontlam  Iribu- 

nii  uno  saltern  verbo  mutato  meritus :  -ou  7ap  tiv  6.\Kai  y 
I'-rraKoiKTat^eu  roiv  vvv  p.iTiu>po\oyovvTuv.  Longinn  est  avorum 
'I  ]iroavorum  ingenia  magna  inipsorum  ])rogenie  continuata  ab 
li'«- viro,  Caroli  Darwinii  cognato,  virorum  insignium  exemplis 
illiistrata  percensere.  Longinn  est  tot  honores  tituloscpie  ab  ipso 
(jer  tot  annos  cumulatos  connnemorare.  Hoc  autem  in  loco, 
eloquentiae  eius  undecim  alihinc  annos  conscio,  instituti  anthro- 
IJologici  praesidem  non  corporis  tantmn  sed  etiiim  menfis 
humanac  mensorem  appellaverini.  Inter  antiquos  quidem  cele- 
bratinn  erat  illud  Protagorac,  omnium  rerum  mcnsuram  esse 
honiinem.  Inter  recentiores  autem  notum  est  hunc  praesertim 
virum  hominum  omnium,  imprimis  |iessiniorum,  mensuram  ad 
ainussim  velle  exigere.  Ceterum  plura  hodie  dicere  supervaca- 
neum  est  ;  constat  enim  ne  opt imorum  quidem  virorum  a  laudi- 
bus  abesse  debere  mensuram. 


NO.    1334,   VOL.   52] 


Duco  ad  vos  virum  de  scientia  anthropologica  et  meteorologica 
praeclare  meritum,  caeli  et  terrae  indagatoreni  indefessum, 
studionmi  denique  geographicorum  etiam  inter  nosmet  ipsos 
fautorem  insignem,  P'ka.nciscum  Gai.ton. 

Lord  -Vcton  will  deliver  his  inaugural  lecture  as  Regius  Professor 
of  Modern  History  on  June  II,  at  noon. 

Prof.  I^'wis  amiounces  courses  of  lectures  and  demonstratioas 
in  Crystallography  during  the  Long  Vacation,  beginning  on 
July  9. 

Prof.  Roy  announces  a  practical  course  in  Bacteriology,  to  be 
given  by  Dr.  Wesbrook  and  Dr.  Lazarus- Barlow,  in  the  Long 
\'acation,  beginning  on  July  8.  There  will  also  be  a  course  of 
lectures  with  practical  work  in  Elementary'  Pathology,  beginning 
on  July  9. 

-Mr.  H.  F.  Baker,  Fellow  and  Lecturer  of  .St.  John's  College, 
has  been  appointed  University  Lecturer  in  Pure  Alathematics,  in 
the  place  of  Dr.  Forsyth,  now  .Sadlerian  Professor. 


A  YEAR  ago  a  committee,  representing  various  educational 
bodies,  was  formed,  at  the  instance  of  the  Association  of  Head- 
masters, to  formulate  an  examination  syllabus  on  which  to 
award  major  scholarships,  offered  by  County  Councils  and 
similar  bodies,  and  tenable  at  places  of  higher  education.  All 
who  know  how  very  different  are  the  scholarship  schemes  of  the 
County  Councils,  agree  that  a  larger  degree  of  uniformity  should 
prevail  in  the  examinations  held  for  the  purpose  of  selecting 
candidates  for  the  scholarships.  The  -Association's  scheme  for 
major  scholarships  has  been  so  drawn  up  that  only  candidates 
showing  ability  and  intelligence  distinctly  above  the  average 
can  be  elected.  Candidates  must  not  be  more  than  eighteen 
years  of  age  in  case  of  boys,  and  nineteen  years  in  case  of  girls, 
and  must  have  passed  a  preliminary  examination  to  test  their 
general  education  before  they  can  compete  for  the  scholarships. 
The  scheme  provides  that  the  final  scholarship  examination 
shall  consist  of  three  groups — science,  connnercial,  and  literary- 
each  containing  obligatory  and  optional  subjects.  The  subjects 
of  examination  for  science  scholarships  have  been  carefully 
selected,  and  with  due  consideration  to  the  claims  of  practical 
work. 

The  second  annual  report  of  the  Technical  Education  Board 
of  the  London  County  Council  appears  in  the  Technical  Educa- 
tion Gazc-lle.  A  sum  of  nearly  ^15,000  was  granted,  during  the 
year  covered  by  the  report,  to  intermediateand  secondary  schools. 
The  fact  that  the  Board  has  now  over  six  hundred  scholars  at- 
tending these  schools  indicates  how-  .seriously  it  is  concerned  with 
technical  education.  While  the  question  of  the  Teaching 
University  for  London  has  been  in  abeyance,  the  Board  has  not 
been  able  to  act  upon  the  proposal  in  Mr.  Llewellyn  Smith's 
report  to  contribute  ;{,"io,ooo  a  year  towards  the  technical 
departments  of  the  University.  It  was  thought  undesirable, 
however,  to  wholly  abstain  from  helping  institutions  of  univer.sity 
rank  until  the  establishment  of  the  C.resham  University,  so  a 
grant  of  ^1000  was  made  to'  University  College,  and  £'^00  to 
Bedford  College.  The  polytechnic  institutes  are  rapidly  increas- 
ing in  extent  and  .advancing  in  efficiency.  The  total  annual  ex- 
penditure of  the  eight  institutions  open  last  year  amounted  to 
about  ;^90,000,  their  total  number  of  students  to  over  27,000, 
and  their  aggregate  numlier  of  separate  classes  or  courses  of 
lectures  to  over  1250.  It  is  believed  that  the  polytechnics  now 
give  probably  nine-tenths  of  all  the  evening  instruction  in  techno- 
logical subjects  in  Limdon,  and  three-fourths  of  the  evening 
science  instruction.  All  this  represents  an  immense  advance  on 
the  state  of  things  five  years  ago,  and  indicates  that  the  Board 
has  remarkably  extended  the  facilities  for  technical  education 
during  the  two  years  it  has  been  at  work. 

Thk  fourth  annual  report  (2  vols.)  of  the  U.S.  Commissioner 
of  lulucation  has  been  received.  The  volumes  provide  a  mine 
of  information  on  educational  methods  in  France,  Austria, 
Oermany,  .Sweden,  .Switzerland,  Alaska,  (he  United  .States,  and 
our  own  country.  A  fidl  account  is  given  of  the  character  and 
develo]iment  of  tJerman  Universities,  by  Prof.  Paulsen,  of 
Berlin,  sui)plemenled  by  a  statistical  review  of  the  subject  by 
Prof.  Conrad,  of  Halle.  School  museums  in  various  ]3arts  of  .the 
world  form  the  subject  of  a  separate  chapter.  There  is  also  an 
elaborate  paper  in  which  methods  of  physical  training  are  very 
fully  treated. 


94 


NATURE 


[May  23,  1895 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

Buttitiii  of  llu  American  Matheiiialual  Society,  vol.  i.  No.  7, 
(April  1S95I. — '■  Kiemannand  his  .significance  for  the  development 
of  modern  mathematics,"  is  the  translation,  by  A.  Ziwet,  of  an 
address  delivered  by  Prof.  K.  Klein  at  the  general  session  of  the 
Versammlung  Deutscher  Naturforschcr  und  .-Verzle  in  X'ienna, 
September  27,  1894.  In  it  the  author  attempts  to  give  an  idea 
of  the  life-work  of  Bernhard  Kiemann,  "a  man  who  more  than 
any  other  has  exerted  a  determining  influence  on  the  development 
of  modern  mathematics." — I'rof  Cajori  contributes  a  note  on 
the  multiplication  of  semi-convergent  series,  in  which,  following 
up  his  work  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Jhillctiii,  he  further 
extends  results  arrived  at  by  I'ringsheim  [.Mat/i.  Afni.  \oi.  xxi. 
pp.  327-378)  and  by  .\.  Voss  (Math.  .inn.  vol.  xxiv.  pp.  42-47). — 
Mr.  L.  E.  Dickson  discusses  Gergonne's  Pile  Problem  \cf.  Ball's 
"Recreations,"  pp.  101-6),  and  jwints  out  one  or  two  slight 
inaccuracies  in  a  proof  given  by  Dr.  C.  T.  Hudson  in 
Educational  Times  Reprints,  vol.  ix.  pp.  S9-91. — Prof.  Ziwet 
gives  an  account  of  the  Ke[x^rloire  bibliographique  des  .Sciences 
Mathcmatiques,  i.e.  a  card  catalogue  of  mathematical  literature 
which  has  been  widely  circulated  amongst  mathematicians. 
Notes,  and  new  publications,  as  usual,  close  the  number. 

Biilhlin  de  t Acctdi'mie  Royale  de  Belgiquc,  No.  3. — On 
Chandler's  formula;,  by  F.  Folie.  The  author  criticises  the  latest 
formula  enunciated  by  Chandler  for  the  variation  of  latitude.  Even 
when  compared  with  the  Stra.ssburg  obser\ations,  which  most 
closely  accord  with  the  formula, it  is  evident  that  the  periods  are  not 
correctly  renderctl.  The  constants  in  the  formula  require  further 
empirical  research. — On  the  equations  of  the  physical  field,  by 
Ch.  Lagrange.  The  form,  i.e.  the  law  of  distriljution  of  a 
quantity  of  matter  round  its  centre  of  inertia,  constitutes  in 
physics  a  principle  as  imix>rtant  as  the  quantity  of  matter  it.self, 
or  its  mass.  Besides  the  ))rinciple  of  concentration,  there  is  a 
principle  of  direction,  and  the  latter  is  as  important  as  the  former. 
The  author  investigates  the  ecjuations  of  motion  in  a  medium 
consisting  of  rigid  |xiints,  and  introduce^  the  conception  of  axial 
matter  (matiire  a.xie),  in  which  account  is  taken  not  only  of  the 
mass  of  a  point,  but  also  of  all  the  tpialities  depending  upon  the 
.shape  of  the  mass.  The  density  of  a  point  is  simply  the  intensity 
of  one  of  the  parameters  determining  its  action,  but  a  large 
numl)er  of  other  parameters  of  known  form  remain  to  be  con- 
sidered. The  consideration  of  axial  matter  leads  in  a  manner 
analogous  to  that  which  obtains  in  Kelvin's  theory  of  the  intensity 
of  magnetisation,  to  theorems  ujjon  wires,  plates,  and  leaves  of 
simil.ar  substance,  and  then  U|H)n  bodies  made  up  of  these 
structures. — On  the  colour,  density,  and  surface  tension  of 
hydrogen  peroxide,  by  W.  Spring.  This  substance,  which  is 
highly  explosive  in  the  anhydrous  state,  has  a  blue  colour  when 
seen  in  a  thickness  of  100  cm.  The  colour  resembles  that  of 
water,  but  is  I  '83  times  as  intense.  The  density  of  the  anhydrous 
substance  is  I  '4996.  When  6o'0445  gr.  of  it  are  contained  in 
100  cc.  of  an  aqueous  solution,  the  density  is  12540.  The  surface 
tension  is  o"456,  that  of  water  being  i.  The  addition  of  6'4  per 
cent,  water  raises  the  surface  tension  by  102-5  1'*-'^  cent. — .\ction 
of  certain  hot  gxscs  U|X)n  red  phr>sphorus,  by  .•V.  J.  J.  V'ande- 
vcldc.  kctger's  sup|if)silion  that  phf)sphamine  is  produced  by 
passing  hot  hydrogen  over  red  jihosphorus  is  not  correct.  \'apour 
of  phosphorus  is  formed  ami  carried  ofl'  by  the  hot  gas,  exhibiting 
the  phenomenon  of  sjiontaneous  combustif>n  on  emerging  into 
the  air.  Other  hot  gases,  such  as  nitrogen,  COj,  CO,  .SHj  and 
dry  MCI  gave  rise  to  the  same  phenomenon. 

M'icdcmann  s  Anna/en  der  Physik  und  Cheiiiie,  No.  4. — On 
luminescence,  by  Eilhard  Wiedemann  and  G.  C.  Schmidt.  An 
important  distinctii>n  must  be  drawn  between  luminescence  due  to 
physical  and  that  due  to  chemical  causes.  A  prolonged  after- 
glow makes  the  presence  of  chemical  luminescence  very  ])robable. 
Thermohiminescence  occurs  after  the  iKidy  h.is  been  ex|)osed  to 
a  tc»m|rt.*rature  far  l)elow  incandescence.  A  phenomenon  now 
callcl  "  lyoluminescence  "  occurs  with  s*>nie  substances  during 
M>lution,  v\hcn  they  have  l>een  previously  exjMtsed  to  strong 
light.  The  authors  show  that  luminescence  under  cathode 
rays  is  always  arcom|vinicd  by  chemical  acticm.  Mixtures  of  cal- 
cium and  manganese  salts  show  luminescence  phenomena  of  great 
hrillianre  under  cathode  rays,  and  when  subsequently  heate<l. 
^)n  normal  and  anomalous  dispersion  of  electric  waves,  l»y  L. 
(irartz  and  L.  Komni.  The  dielectric  constant  anil  the  conduc- 
tivity of  a  IkkIv  are  not  |>erfect!y  independent  ({uanlities.  but  are 
ronncclcfl  by  the  cfmslilulion  «>f  the  body  in  a  manner  similar  to 
that  in  which  refraction  and  absorption  arc  connected  in  oleics. 


NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


— Magnetisation  of  iron  by  ver)-  small  forces,  by  Werner  Schniidl. 
Steel  obeys  very  small  magnetising  forces  more  rapidly  than  iron. 
The  limit  of  proportionality  between  m.ignetising  forces  and  mag- 
netic moment  may  with  practically  sufficient  accuracy  be  placed 
at  a  field  intensity  of  0'o6. — Otto  von  Guericke's  original  air 
pump,  by  (.;.  Berthold.  The  pump  in  the  Royal  Library  at 
Berlin  cannot  be  considered  as  Guericke's  original  air  ]«imp, 
since  the  latter  w.ts  bought  by  the  .Vrcbduke  of  Saxony,  and 
taken  to  Sweden  by  Dr.  lleraeus,  where  it  was  used  as  late  as 
1726  as  a  lecture  instrument.  When  last  heard  of,  in  1734,11 
was  in  charge  of  the  Professor  of  .Mathematics  at  Lund. — 
Remarks  upon  Mack's  paper  on  the  double  refraction  of  electric 
rays,  by  Wilhelm  von  Bezold.  The  dift'erent  behaviour  of  wood 
towards  electric  radiation  along  and  across  the  fibre  may  be 
shown  in  a  variety  of  ways.  Lichtenlterg's  figures  on  wooden 
plates  cut  along  the  fibre  show  an  elliptical  shape,  like  doubly 
refracting  crystals.  .\  similar  phenomenon  isexhiliited  by  a  plate 
of  ebonite  rendered  anisotropic  by  sticking  strips  of  tinfoil 
parallel  to  e.ich  other  on  the  other  side.  The  ]iroduction  of  a 
doubly  refracting  or  even  a  circularly  polarising  body  for  electric 
rays  by  embedding  conilucting  rods  in  a  suitable  dielectric  does 
not  appear  to  be  ho|x;less. 

The  only  article  of  general  interest  in  the  A'uoro  Giornak 
Botanico  Italiano  for  .Vpril  is  one  by  Dr.  L'.  Brizi,  on  the  disease 
of  the  vine  known  as  fininissure  or  blackening.  The  ]ilasuiode 
founil  in  the  diseased  cells  of  the  leaves  cannot,  he  considers,  be 
projierly  referred  to  Plaifnodiophora,  as  has  been  done  by  most 
authorities  hitherto.  It  belongs  to  an  organism  which  aiipears 
rather  to  present  characters  intermediate  between  the  Myxoniy- 
cetes  and  the  Amoelxe. 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 

Chemical  Society,  April  25. — Mr.  .\.  G.  Vernon  Ilarcourt, 
PresidcEit,  in  the  chair. — The  following  papers  were  read  :  — 
-Action  of  nitroxyl  on  amides,  by  W.  A.  Tilden  and  Ivl.  (J. 
For.ster.  The  interaction  of  nitroxyl  chloride  and  amides  usually 
results  in  the  exchange  of  the  amidogen  group  for  an  atom  of 
chlorine,  -.\clion  of  nitrosyl  chloriile  on  asparagine  and  aspartic 
acid  ;  formation  of  kevorotatory  chlorosuccinic  acid,  by  W.  .\. 
Tilden  and  B.  M.  C.  Marshall.  .Vsparagine  and  nitroxyl  chloride 
interact  with  formation  of  la-vo-chlorosuccinicacid. — Apro|KTtyof 
the  non-luminous  atmospheric  coal-gas  flame,  by  L.  T.  Wright.— 
Diortho-sulistituted  benzoic  .acids.  (l)  Substituted  benzoyl 
chlorides,  by  J.  \.  Sudbor<iugh.  —  Diortho-sulistitutcil  benzoic 
acids.  (2)  Hydrolysis  of  aromatic  nitriles  and  acid  amides,  by 
I.  T-  Sudborough.  In  these  two  papers  the  author  describes  a 
number  of  new  nitro-  and  l)romo-iienzoyl  chlori^s  and  benzoic 
acids. — Note  on  the  action  of  soilium  ethylale  on  deoxybenzom, 
by  T.  J-  Sudborough.  When  deoxybenzom  .and  sodium  ethoxide 
are  heated  togetlier,  stilbene  and  hydroxydi-benz.yl  are  pro- 
duced.— \  constituent  of  Persian  berries,  by  .\.  ("..  I'crkin  anil 
J.  Geldard.  In  addition  to  the  substances  previously  isolated 
from  Persian  berries,  the  authors  have  obtained  aquercitin  liiim-lhyl 
ether  which  they  term  rhanmiizin.  — Potas.sium  nitro.sosulpliale, 
by  L.  Divers  and  T.  Haga.  The  potassium  nitrososulphales, 
by  described  Hantzsch,  and  by  Raschig,  seem  to  be  identical  with 
that  first  prepared  by  Pelouze. -— The  milk  of  the  gamoose,  \\., 
by  H.  I).  Richmond. 

May  2.— Studies  on  the  constitutions  of  the  tri-derivalives  of 
naphthalene.  No.  10,  the  dichloro-o-naphthols  and  trichloro 
naphthalenes  from  3  ;  4-ilichloroplu-Tiyll-isocrotonic  acid.  No.  II, 
the  trirhloronaphthalene  derivable  from  Cleve's  I  :  2  :  2 
o-nitrochloronaphthalenesulphonic  chloride.  No.  12,  the  tri 
chloronaphlhalene,  deriv.able  from  .Men's  a-nitronaphlhalene- 
2  :  2'-disulphonic  chloride.  No.  13,  the  a-naphthylamine-2  :  2'- 
disulphonic  acid  of  I'reuml's  German  Patent,  27346.  No.  14, 
the  fourteen  isomeric  Irichloronaphlhalenes.  The  nonexistence 
of  a  triihloronapbl'ialene  uielliiig  at  75'5':  the  fornialioii  ol 
chloro-derivatives  from  .sulphimic  chlorides,  by  H.  K.  .\rnistrong 
and  W.  P.  Wynne.  In  these  six  papers  the  authors  describe 
thirteen  out  of  the  fourteen  |X)Ssiblc  isomeric  trichloronaph- 
thalenes,  together  with  a  large  number  of  compounds  obtained 
daring  the  preparation  of  these  halogen  derivatives.— The 
solubilities  of  gases  in  water  under  varying  pressure,  by  K.  P. 
I'erman.  Henry's  law  holds  for  ( hlotine,  l)roniine,  carbon 
dioxide,  und  hydrogen  sulphide,  but  large  deviations  are  observed 
with  ammimia,  hydrogen  chloride,  and  sulphur  dioxide. — 'The 
existence  of  hydrates  and    of  double   compounds  -in    solution 

I 


May 


1895] 


NATURE 


95 


l':irt  I,  by  E.  P.  Perman.     From  experiments  on  the  pressure  of 
i-es   dissolved  in  various  solutions  the  author  concludes  that  I 
rlium    sulphate    exists    in    aqueous    solution   as   the   hydrate  | 
N.i,,SOj, lOlijO,   and  that  silver   chloride  exists  in  amnioniacal 
.■|ueous  solutions  as  the  compound  Af;CI.3NIl3. — Derivatives  of 
T  liromocamphoric  acid,  by  F.  S.  Kipping. — Paraheplyltoluene 
id  its  derivatives,  by  F.  S.  Kipping  and  O.   F.  Russell. — Note 
1  the  fdrmation  of  a  phosphate  of  platinum,  by  R.  E.  Barnelt. 
'11  passing  phosphorus  pentoxide  vapour  and  oxygen  over  red- 
1    ]ilatinum.  a    yellow  phosphate    PtP.,07,  insoluble   in  aqua 
n  -la,  is  obtained. 

Linnean  Society,  May  2. — Mr.  C.  B.  Clarke,  President,  in 

ic  chair. — Dr.  O.  Nordstedt  of  Lund,  Dr.  Rudolph  Philipppi  of 

•Santiago,  and  Dr.  M.  Woronin  of  St.  Petersburg,  were  elected 

i'lreign  members. — Mr.  H.  M.  Bernard  showed  under  the  micro- 

M'lipe  the  circumscribed   patches  of  setie  above  and  below  the 

■igmatx-on  the  pupa  of  the  vapourer  moth  (Oryi;ia  aiitii/iia). 

The  arrangement  suggested  a  vanished  notopodium  just  where,  in 

■iL-  Mexapods,  a  dorsal  branch  of  a  parapodium  ought  to  have 

.mished,  according  to  the  exhibitor's  method  of  deducing  the 

lifterent  groups  of  the  Arthropoda  from  their  Annelidan  ances- 

■is,  as  sketched   in  his  recent  paper  on  the  Galcodidic. — Mr. 

I  .  .M.  Holmes  exhibited  some  new  British  Alga;  from  Dorset- 

lire  and  Surrey;  amongst  others,  Uluella  ionfliieiis  3X\A  Ecto- 

rpiis  Kciitholdi,  both  discovered  last  month  at  Weymouth,  and 

\'-  latter  previously  known   only  from   the   Baltic.  —  \lr.  J.  E. 

I  larting  exhibited  and  made  remarks  on  a  specimen  of  Ciiciiliis 

uiionis  in  the  rare  hepatic  ^Xumz^^  {Citcitius  hepaticus,  Sparr- 

inan),  recently    obtained    at    Bishop's  Waltham,   Essex. — Mr. 

\V.   T.    Thiselton-Dyer,   C.M.G.,   then   gave  an  abstract   of  a 

[Mperby  the  late  Mr.  John  Ball,  F.R.S.,  on  the  distribution  of 

jilanls  on  the  southern  side  of  the  Alps,  prefaced  by  some  account 

'if  ihf  author's  life,  and  special  work  in  relation  to    the  Alpine 

Mathematical  Society,  Thursday,    May  9. — Major   P.  A. 

Macmahon,  K..\.,  F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — Dr.  Hobson, 

I  .  R.S.,  made  a  communication  on   the  most  general  solution  of 

\en   degree   of   Laplace's   equation. — Prof.     ^L   J.    ^L    Hill, 

U.S.,  read  two  short  notes  :  (i)  a  property  of  a  skew  deter- 

iiianl  ;  (2)  on  the  geometrical  meaning  of  a  form  of  the  ortho- 

ii.al  transformation. — Prof    (ireenhill,    F.R.S.,   and  Mr.  T.  L 

'1  war  gave   an   account    of    results   relating   to   the   spheincal 

iienary.       The     investigations    given    in     Nature,    p.    262, 

iiiuar)'  10,  1895,  when  the  parameter  of  the  associated  elliptic 

I'l-gral  of  the  third  kind  is  of  the  form  4013//!,  where  u^  is  the 

iiaginary  |x;riod  and  ^  is  an  integer,   worked  out  in  detail  for 

a  =  3,  4,  5,   and  8,   have  been  extended  by  Mr.  Dewar  to  the 

ji-es  of /^  =  6,  7,  9,  10,  and  12. 

In  ])articular,    when   m  =  10,    the    catenary    is   given  by    an 
'  ijuation  of  the  same  form  as  for  ;i  =  5, 

1  -  i'ie    =  H='  +  IIij'  +  H,s3  +  Has'  +  HjO  +  H5 

+  2(Ls'  +  Li~  +  Lj:  +  L3)  v'Z, 


u  here 

and 


Z  =  (I  -  2=)  (=  -  hf  -  X-, 


lid  it  was  found  that/ could  be  made  to  vanish,  so  that  the 
Iienary  becomes  a  closed  algebraical   curve  on  the  sphere,  by 

I  Ling 

/,  =  i  ^  /L7,  A  =  -  -'-     /5,  L  =  -  5     /S, 
2  V   3  10  V  3  6  V  3' 

L,  =  -   5      /ss,  L.  =  35     /S,  I    =11     /s5  ; 

36  \/    '      -     72  \^  3  144  V 


6\- 


/■ 


Ilj  =  o, 


5       />7 
12  V   3' 


108 


t 


H   -  65       A?   11  _  25 
"^-288Vl'"=-iS- 


A  model  was  exhibited  of  this  spherical  catenar)-,  formed  by  a 
chain  wrajiped  on  a  terrestrial  globe  ;  and  so  far  this  appears  to 
be  the  only  real  algebraical  case,  for  which  it  is  jrossible  for/  to 
vanish. — Mr.  G.  Heppel  exhibited  a  set  of  Napier's  Bones,  of 
date  1746,  and  explained  how  they  were  used  in  calculations, 
referring   for   a    further    description    of    them    to    the    English 

NO.  1334,  VOL.   52] 


Cyclopicdia. — The  following  papers,  in  the  absence  of  their 
authors,  were  taken  as  read  : — On  those  orthogonal  substitutions 
that  can  be  generated  by  the  repetition  of  an  infinitesimal  ortho- 
gonal substitution,  by  Dr.  H.  Taber. — Notes  on  the  theory  of 
groups  of  finite  order  (contiiuiation),  by  Prof.  W.  Bumside, 
F.R..S. — .\pplications  of  trigraphy,  by  .Mr.  J.  W.  Rus.sell  ;  and 
the  reciprocators  of  two  conies,  by  Messrs.  J.  W.  Russell  and 
A.  E.  lolliffe. 

Zoological  Society,  May  7.— Sir  W.  H.  Flower,  K.C.B., 
F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — .^  letter  was  read  from  Dr.  F. 
A.  lentink,  concerning  a  monkey  lately  described  as  Cct-iocebus 
aterriiiius,  of  which  tJie  type  had  lately  been  acquired  by  the 
Leyden  Museum.  Dr.  Jentink  considered  this  monkey  to  be 
the  same  as  Cercocebiis  albigena.  Gray. — Mr.  J.  H.  Gumey 
exhibited  and  made  remarks  on  a  rare  kingfisher  (Alcedo 
heava)ti)  obtained  in  Ceylon  by  Mr.  A.  L.  Butler. — Mr.  G.  F. 
.Scott  Elliot  made  some  remarks  on  the  fauna  of  Mount 
Ruwenzori,  in  British  Central  -\frica.  Mr.  Scott  Elliot  stated 
that  elephants  occur  in  great  numbers  on  the  east  side  of 
Ruwenzori.  There  w  ere  also  many  still  living  and  vast  stores  of 
ivory  in  the  Congo  Free-State,  just  beyond  the  south-west 
comer  of  the  English  sphere  of  influence.  He  pointed  out  the 
presence  of  the  hippopotamus  in  the  Albert-Edward  Nyanza, 
and  its  extraordinary  abundance  in  the  Kagera  River.  The 
rhinoceros  was  found  frequently  in  the  country  of  Karagwe, 
usually  near  the  marshy  lakes  leading  to  the  Kagera. — On  the 
allu\ial  plains  about  the  east  of  Ruwenzori,  Jackson's  hartebeest 
(Btibalis  jacksoni),  the  kob  {Coins  tab),  and  another  waterbuck 
(perhaps  of  a  new  species)  were  common.  No  buffaloes  were 
seen.  A  bushbuck  also  occurred  on  Ruwenzori  from  7000  to 
8000  feet.  Of  monkeys,  Mr.  Scott  Elliot  had  noticed  the 
presence  of  a  black  and  white  Colohus,  which  he  could  not 
identify',  and  of  at  least  two  other  species,  probably  a  Ctiropithe- 
iits  and  a  baboon.  Some  small  mice  brought  home  had  not  yet 
been  identified.  Leopards  were  numerous,  and  lions  were  also 
common  on  the  lower  grounds.  Two  species  of  sunbird  were 
brought  back,  one  of  which  ascends  to  1 1,000  feet  on  Ruwenzori. 
Mr.  Scott  Elliot  concluded  by  remarking  that  the  general  idea 
of  distribution  gathered  from  the  flora  seemed  to  confirm  such 
data  as  he  could  gather  from  the  fauna  of  the  country  which  he 
traversed  during  his  journey. — Mr.  F.  E.  Beddard,  F.R.S.,  and 
Mr.  P.  Chalmers  ilitchell  made  a  communication  on  the 
structure  of  the  heart  in  the  alligator,  as  obser\ed  in  specimens 
that  had  died  in  the  Society's  menagerie. — Mr.  Chalmers 
Mitchell  described  the  anatomy  of  the  crested  screamer  ( C^a(/«a 
t/iaz'ar/a),  pointing  out  some  resemblances  between  the  ali- 
mentary canal  of  that  bird  and  the  ostrich,  and  giving  a  detailed 
comparison  of  the  stnictures  of  C/iauita  clia-'aria  and  Palatiiedea 
(oriutta. — A  communication  was  read  from  Dr.  Percy  Rendall, 
containing  field-notes  on  the  antelopes  of  the  Transvaal. — Dr. 
Mivart,  F.R.S.,  read  a  paper  on  the  .skeleton  of  Lorius  flavo- 
palliatiis  as  compared  with  that  of  Psillacus  crithaciis, 

"Geological  Society,  May  8.  —  Dr.  Henr)-  Woodward, 
F.  R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — The  .Stirling  dolerite,  by 
Horace  W.  Monckton.  The  rock  described  in  the  paper  forms 
a  mass  of  about  eight  miles  in  length,  with  an  average  width  of 
about  a  mile  ;  it  is  intruded  into  the  lower  part  of  the  carbon- 
iferous limestone  series.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  Abbey  Craig 
rock,  north  of  the  Forth,  is  connected  with  the  Stirling  rock ; 
and  there  is  reason  to  think  that  the  igneous  rocks  of  Cowden 
Hill  and  of  the  hills  around  Kilsyth  are  outlying  portions  of  the 
Stirling  rock,  being  connected  with  it  underground.  All  these 
patches,  as  well  as  the  main  mass,  are  for  the  most  part  composed 
of  a  more  or  less  coarse-grained  dolerite,  the  marginal  part 
always  becoming  finer-graine<l,  whilst  the  actual  edge  has 
apparently  been  a  t.achylyte  now  devitrified.  The  author  gave 
the  results  of  his  macroscopic  and  microscopic  examination  of 
the  rocks  from  various  parts  of  the  mass. — Notes  on  some  rail- 
way cuttings  near  Keswick,  Ity  J.  Postlethwaite.  Several  cuttings 
have  recently  been  made  on  the  Cockermouth,  Keswick,  and 
Penrith  Railway,  chiefly  through  drift,  though  some  occur  in  the 
Skiddaw  slates,  and  in  one  case  a  diabase  dyke  (much  decom- 
]X)sed)  was  met  with.  The  author  described  the  drifts  as  blue 
clay  beneath,  and  brown  clay  above,  and  considered  that  these 
two  clays  were  produced  during  two  separate  periods  of  glacia- 
tion,  with  no  long  interval  between.  In  some  places  near 
Keswick  water-borne  gravel  may  be  seen  surmounted  by  blue 
clay  ;  this  gravel  was  considered  by  the  author  to  be  of  fluviatile 
origin. — The  shelly  clays  and  gravels  of  Aberdeenshire  considered 


96 


NA  TURE 


[May  23,  1S95 


in  relation  to  ihc  liiioti.'n  of  siibmergLiice,  by  Diigald  Bell.  The 
drifts  of  this  region  have  been  describe<i  by   Sir.    lamieson,  and 
also  in  the  publications  of  the  Geological    .Survey.      The  two 
authorities  agree  that  the  lower  (grey)  boulder  clay  of  the  district 
was  produced  by  a  local  glaciation.     The  geological  surveyors, 
however,  maintain  that  the  intervening  sands  and  gravels  with 
marine  shells  were  produced  during  a  submergence  of  500  feet  or 
upwards,  whilst  the  up|)er  (red)  Iwulder  clay  was  formed  by  an 
ice-sheet  from  the  south.      Mr.   Jamieson,  on  the  other  hand, 
assigns  a  purely  glacial  origin  to  the   middle  sands  and   gravels, 
and  considers  that  the  red  clay  (which  contains  a  few  fragments 
of  marine  shells)  indicates  a  submergence.     The  author  discussed 
these  views,  and  maintained  that  submergence  is  not  proved  in  the 
case  of  either  middle  gravels  or  red  clay,  but  that-the  former  are, 
as  Mr.  Jamieson  maintained,  truly  glacial,  whilst   he  advocated 
the  existence  of  extra-morainic  lakes  to  explain  the  latter. 
I'.ARIS. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  May  13.— M.  .Marey  in  the  chair.— 
On  the  Cftlosiat,  a  mirror  apparatus  giving  an  image  of  the  sky 
which  remains  fixed  with  regard  to  the  earth,  by  M.  Ci.  Lipp- 
mann.     A  plane  mirror  is  mounted  on  an  axis  resting  on  fixed 
bearings.     The  mirror  and  its  axis  are  ])arallel  to  the  polar  axis. 
A  motor  turns  the  system  at  a  uniform  speed  once  round  in  forty- 
eight  sidereal  hours,  in  the  same  direction  as  that  of  the  celestial 
sphere.     The  author   gives  a  proof  that    this   mirror  fulfils  the 
necessary  conditions,  and  points  out  wherein  it  differs  from  the 
ordinary  siderostat.      He  shows  how  the  siderostat  can  Ije  used 
to  demonstrate  the  principle  of  the  ctvlostat,  and  how  the  latter 
instrument  can  be  employed  in  pKice  of  an  equ,atorial. — Thermo- 
chemical    relations    between    the    isomeric    forms    of    ordinary 
gluccKe,    by    M.    Berthelot.     Three  forms    of  gluco.se  are  dis- 
tinguished :  o,  the  ordinar)'  form,  for  which  ap  =  -I-  106° ;  Q, 
produced  by  transformation  of  a  at  100',  giving  od  =  -f  52'S° ; 
and  -jr,  formed   from  a  at    I  to",  having  ou  =  -F  22°-5.     These 
rotations  are  oljserved  immediately  on  solution  ;  left  for  some  time 
all  are  converted  into  the  18  form  in  solution.     The  change  of 
a   into  /3  glucose  absorbs  1-55  Cal.,  the  corresponding  change 
of  7  into  )3  glucose  absorbs  0-67  Cal.,  in  the  anhydrous  state. — 
On  an  automatic  registering  measuring  machine  for  the  comjiari- 
son  of  end  measures,  by  XI.  L.  Hartmann.— Researches  on  the 
hatching  of   "  I'ceuf  dcs   sexues'"    of  the  vine    Phylloxera,  by 
M.    L.   J.    Leroux. — The  works  printed  in  the  corresjiondence 
arc :     A    nccrological    notice   on    Krnesl    Mallard,    by    .M.    A. 
de  Lapparent.       I'elroleum,    asphalt,    and    bitumen,    from    the 
geological     point    of    view,     by     M.     A.    Jaccard.      Invasions 
of    locusts    in    Algeria,     by     M.    J.     KUnckcl    d'llerculais.— 
Demonstration  of  Tchebychef  s  theorem,  by  M.  Andre  Markoff. 
— On  the  equivalence  of  six  different  forms  of  expression  of  the 
tjuadratures    of   algebraical    tliffercntials    reducible    to    elliptic 
Integrals,  by  .M.  K.  de  .Salverl.— On  the  integration  of  the  .sysitcm 
of  differential  equations,  by  M.  .\.  J.  Stodolkievitz.— On  a  new 
mctho<l  for  the  production  of  fringes  with  great   differences  of 
|)hase,    by    M.    tlouy.     A    theoretical    paper. — On    the  electro- 
magnetic theory  of  the  alworption   of  light   in  crystals,  by  M. 
Bernard  Brunhes. — Anomalous  rotatory  dispersion  of  absorbent 
iMxIics,    by    M.    A.     Cotton. — General    solution    of    MaxwelKs 
equations  for  a  homogeneous  and  isotropic  absorbent  medium, 
by  M.  Hirkeland. — On  argon  and   helium.     .An  extract  from  a 
letter  by  I'rof.  Ramsay  to  M.  Berthelot.     \n  account  is  given  of 
a  sample  of  gas  obtained  from   a  meteoric  iron  from   Augusta  , 
County,  Virginia,  U.S.A.     After  sparking  with  oxygen  and  over 
caustic  .soda,  the  residual  gas  gave  spectroscopic  evidence  of  the 
presence  of  argon  and  helium.      Only  the  lines  of  argon  and 
helium   were  oljscrved.     This  evidence  is  taken  as   proof  that 
argon  exists  in  extra-terrestrial  Ixxlies,  though  it  has  not  been 
noticed  in  the  sun.      Helium  is  found  in  most  of  the  rare  earth 
minerals  e.\amined  by  I'rof.  Ramsay. — On  the  definite  combina- 
tion in  copper-aluminium  alloys,  by  M.  H.  I,e  Chatelier.     The 
author  ci)rrect»  his  previous  announcement  of  the  alloy   AlCu. 
The  substance  had  Iwcn  more  profoundly  altered  by  the  reagents 
used  than  was  at  the  time  suspected.  —  Kstimation  of  sulphur  in 
cast-iron,,     steels,    and    irons,     by     M.     Louis    Cani])redon.    - 
Researches  on  mercurous  chloride,  bromide,  iiKlide,  and  oxide, 
by     M.     Raoul      \arel.       A     thermochemical     paper     giving 
delaiJ!!    concerning    the   heals   of    formation    of    these    .salts.     - 
On    the   molecular   r.rigin    of  the    absorption    Imnds    of  cobalt 
and    chromium    salts,    by     M.     A.     fCtard.       The    conclusions 
arc  drawn  :— (I)    That  chromium  salts  and  the  red   colralt  salts 
have  fine  s|>ectro!icopic  l>ands,  just  as  is  the  CTse  with  the  rare 
earths  and  uranium  salts.     (2)  That  these  arc  spectra  of  mole- 

NO.    1334,  VOL.   52] 


cules  like  the  spectra  given  by  oiganic  sul«tances  of  the  chloro- 
phyll type.  (3)  The  h)-]iothesis  that  each  band  of  the  spectrum 
of  a  rare  earth  corresponds  to  an  element  is  not  necessarily  true, 
according  to  the  evidence  of  cobalt.  (4)  The  hands  may  be  dis- 
placed or  tlisappear  for  one  and  the  s;ime  element  according  to 
the  nature  of  the  molecules  in  solution  or  of  the  compound  ob- 
served.— On  the  molecular  modifications  of  glucose,  by  M.  C. 
Tanret. — On  the  use  of  carbon  tetrachloriilc  as  a  means  of 
separating  methylene  from  ethyl  alcohol,  by  M.  Maxime  Cari- 
Mantrand. — On  a  brown  pigment  in  the  elytra  of  CtiriUlio 
(Upreiis^  by  M.  A.  B.  Griffiths.  —On  the  aeration  of  the  soil  in 
the  Paris  promenailes  and  plantations,  by  .M.  Louis  Mangin. — 
On  the  existence  of  numerous  cry.stals  of  ortlioclase  felspar  in  the 
chalk  of  the  Paris  basin  ;  proofs  of  their  genesis  in  situ,  by  .M.  L. 
Cayeux. — On  gyp.sum  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Serres  (Ilautes- 
Alpes)  and  Nyons  (Drome),  by  M.  Victor  Paquier.  —On  the 
miocene  near  Bourgoin  and  Tour-du-Pin,  by  M.  Henri 
Douxami. — On  the  presence  of  Ostr,a  ( Exogj'ra )  virgii/a  in 
the  u])per  Jurassic  of  the  Alpes  .Maritimes,  by  M.  Adrien 
Guebhard. 


I 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

HiiuKS.— Thi:  Study  of  ■•  Primitive  .M.ui  ;  K.  Clodd  (Xcwnes).— Oua- 
logue  of  the  Fishes  in  the  British  Museum,  2nd  edition,  \o\.  i  (lAindon). — 
Year-Book  of  the  Scientific  and  I,«arned  Societies  of  llreat  Britain  and  Ire- 
land, 12th  annua!  issue  ((iriffin).— L'Industric  Chimique  :  A.  Haller  (Paris, 
Baitliire).— My  Climbs  in  the  Alps  and  Caucasus  :  A.  K.  Mummery  (Unwin). 
—Transmissions  par  Cables  M^talllques:  H.  LeauK  and  A.  B^rard  (Paris, 
Gauthier-Villars). — Lessons  in  Klementary  Physics  :  Prof.  J.  B.  Stewart, 
new  edition  (Macmillan). — Agriculture,  Practical  and  Scientific:  Prof.  J. 
Muir  (Macmillan).— A  Monogr.tph  of  the  Order  of  Oligochata  :  F.  E. 
Beddard  (Oxford,  Clarendon  Press). — Fingerprint  Directories :  Dr.  F. 
Galton  (Macmillan). — First  Principles  of  Astronomy  :  Prof.  S.  Cooke,  sth 
edition  (Bell).— First  Principles  of  Chemistry  :  Prof.  S.  Cooke,  6th  edition 
(Bell). 

Pa Mi'H LETS.— Rapport  Annuel  sur  I'Etat  de  I'Dbservatoirc  de  Paris,  1894 
(Paris). — Jamaica  in  1895  (Kingston,  Jam.iica). — The  Rise  and  Development 
of  the  Bicameral  System  in  America  :  T.  A.  Moran  (Baltimore). — The  Pocket 
Gophers  of  the  United  States:  V.  Bailey  (Washington)-— The  Student's 
Practical  Chemistry  :  Test  Tables  for  Qualitative  .Analysis:  Prof.  S.  Cooke, 
3rd  edition  (Bell).—  Report  of  the  Departmental  Committee  upon  Merioneth- 
shire State  Mines  (Eyre  and  Spottiswoode). 

Skkiai.s.— Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  M.iy  (Philadelphia).— Royal 
Natural  Historj*,   Part   19  (Warne).— .\us  deni  Archiv  dcr  Deutschen  See-     |j 
warte,  xvii.  Jahrg.  1894  (Hamburg). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Werner  von  Siemens.      lU  W,  Watson 73 

Atmospheric  Pressure  of  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean  .     76 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

lximl)LT  :   *' Text-book  of  Analoui)'   and    Physiology  for 

Nurses" 77 

Kedgrave  :    "  Calcareous  Cements  :    their  Nature  and 

L'ses."— E.  A.  W 77 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The     Origin  of    tlie     Cultivated     Cineraria.— W.      T. 

Thiselton-Dyer,  C.M.G.,  F.R.S 78 

Some    Hililiogra|ihical    !)i«-iiveries  in   Terrestrial  Mag- 
netism.     Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer 79 

The  Unit  of  I  hat.  -  Spencer  Pickering,  F.R.S. ;  Dr. 

J.  Joly.  F.R.S 80 

Kipiiiiil   Traces  of  Negrito  Pygmies  in  India.      Dr.  V, 

Ball,  F.R.S 80 

lipjiing  I'orest  :  .\n  Kxplanation.      Prof.  R.  Meldola, 

F.R.S.  81 

Professor  Lothar  Meyer.     Hy  M.  M.  Pattison  Muir  .    81 

Notes 82 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

.Stars  with  Kfmarkal)Ie  Spectra      86 

Till-  I'nris  Observatory      . 86 

The    Action   of    Light    on    Animal  Life.      |{y    Mrs. 

Percy  Frankland 86 

The  Construction  of  Standard  Thermometers   ...    87 
The   Influence  of    Magnetic   Fields  upon  Electrical 

Resistance 87 

Tonbridge    School    Laboratories.      (Ilhislralcd.)      l!y 

Alfred   Earl 88 

The    Development    of   the    Experimental    Study    of 
Heat   Engines.      Ily  Prof.  W.  C.  Unwin,  F.R.S.      .    89 

University  and   Educational  Intelligence 93 

Scientific  Serials 94 

Societies  and  Academies 94 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 96 


I 


NA TURE 


97 


THURSDAY,  MAY   30,   1895. 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  COOKERY. 
The  Spirit  of  Cookery,  a  Popular  Treatise  on  the  History, 
Science,  Practice,  and  Ethical  and  Medical  Import  of 
Culinary  Art.  By  J.  L.  W.  Thudichum,  M.D., 
F.R.C.P.Lond.  (London :  Bailliere,  Tindall,  and 
Cox  ;    Frederick  Warne  and  Co.,  189;.) 

THE  scientific  branch  of  culinary  literature  has  just 
received  in  Dr.  Thudichum's  book  an  addition 
which  cannot  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of  those  who 
give  to  the  selection  and  preparation  of  food  the  con- 
sideration that  the  subject  undoubtedly  deserves.  Of 
works  w'hich  come  under  the  denomination  of  kitchen 
text-books  we  have  had  of  late  years  more  than  enough 
perhaps,  but  treatises  on  the  culinary  art  from  an 
academical  and  philosophical  point  of  view  have  been 
few.  "  I  could  write,''  said  Dr.  Johnson,  "a  better  book 
about  cookerv'  than  has  ever  yet  been  written  :  it  should  be 
a  book  upon  philosophical  principles.  Pharmacy  is  now 
made  much  more  simple.  Cookery  may  be  so  too.  A 
prescription  which  is  now  compounded  of  five  ingredients 
had  formerly  fifty  in  it.  So  in  cooker^-.  If  the  nature 
of  the  ingredients  is  well  known,  much  fewer  will  do. 
Then,  as  you  cannot  make  bad  meat  good,  I  would  tell 
what  is  the  best  butcher's  meat,  the  best  beef,  the 
best  pieces ;  how  to  choose  young  fowls ;  the  proper 
reasons  of  different  vegetables  ;  and  then  how  to  roast, 
and  boil,  and  compound."  The  author  of  "  The  Spirit  of 
Cookery"  has  evidently  been  guided  by  a  similar  recog- 
nition of  the  requirements  of  the  case  ;  and  seeing  that  he 
is  a  member  of  a  scientific  profession  which  may  be  said  to 
endow  with  special  advantages  those  of  the  cloth  who  turn 
their  attention  to  the  study  of  food-stuffs  and  their  treat- 
ment, it  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  he  has  executed 
his  task  with  competence  and  ability.  His  objeci  has 
been  "  to  produce  such  a  system  of  general  rules  as  will 
enable  those  who  thoroughly  master  them  to  perform  the 
principal  culinar>'  operations  without  reference  to  the 
frequently  unintelligible  records  of  the  details  of  mere 
empiricism.  These  rules,"  continues  he,  "are  based  in 
the  first  place  upon  unimpeachable  scientific  data  or 
fundamental  truths  which  admit  of  no  circumvention  or 
compromise,  and  have  to  be  obeyed  under  pain  of  certain 
failure.  This  obedience  has  at  once  its  ample  reward  in 
clearing  the  subject  of  a  mass  of  errors  and  delusions 
which  disfigure  it  as  a  science,  and  impair  its  utility,  and 
in  placing  into  the  hands  of  operators  the  means  of 
attaining  their  object  with  certainty  and  elegance." 

Strictly  speaking,  "  The  Spirit  of  Cookery  "  is  a  compen- 
dium of  very  useful  information  gathered,  for  the  most  part, 
from  trustworthy  sources  ;  its  theories  are,  generally 
speaking,  sound,  its  principles  excellent,  and  its  rules 
good  :  but  it  can  scarcely  be  called  a  practical  work  from 
an  executive  point  of  view,  for  the  author  rarely  allows  his 
descriptions  of  a  process  or  a  dish  to  go  further  than  a 
mere  sketch.  Each  branch  of  the  art  is  nevertheless  dealt 
with,  and  the  principal  methods  of  cooking,  if  not  abso- 
lutely worked  out  in  detail,  are  at  all  events  carefully 
analysed. 

After  a  glance  at  the  objects  of  cookery,  its  literature  in 
NO.    1335,  VOL.   52] 


the  past  and  present,  the  requirements  of  the  kitchen,  and 
the  processes  which  appertain  thereto.  Dr.  Thudichum 
comes  to  the  subject  of  soup-making.  That  this  is 
haustively  treated,  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  ha 
more  than  one  hundred  pages  are  devoted  to  it.  The 
salient  feature  of  this  discussion  is  an  exposition  of  wha 
the  author  calls  "  the  complete  fallacy  of  the  proposition 
that  bones  can  either  make,  or  help  to  make,  any  liquid 
that  can  have  any  value  in  cooker)-."  This  argument 
new,  or  rather  let  us  call  it  a  revival  of  an  old  controversy 
which  has  been  forgotten.  That  a  scientific  writer  as 
earnest  and  experienced  as  Sir  Henrj'  Thompson  should 
have  acknowledged,  comparatively  recently,  the  value  of 
bones  in  cookery,  in  his  work  "  Food  and  Feeding,"  would 
in  itself  justify  our  questioning  Dr.  Thudichum's  rather 
peremptory  dictum  on  this  point.  Speaking,  however 
from  absolutely  practical  experience  to  the  contrary,  we  are 
forced  to  deny  the  accuracy  of  the  contention.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  we  have  been  in  the  constant  habit  of  pro- 
ducing fragrant  and  savoury  broths  from  the  bones 
poultrv'  and  game,  both  cooked  and  uncooked,  which  we 
have  found  very  valuable  in  sauces  ;  while  in  soup-making 
our  working  has  proved  that  after  six  hours  cooking  on  the 
lines  of  xh& pot-aufeu,  a  very  perceptible  gelatinous  ele 
ment  is  produced  from  the  bones,  which  contributes  to  the 
quality  of  the  stock.  In  all  circumstances  it  is  of  course 
essential  that  the  bones  be  broken  as  small  as  possible 
and  in  the  case  cf  those  of  poultry  and  game  that  they  be 
pounded  roughly  in  the  mortar.  The  latest  method,  viz. 
that  of  setting  the  bones  of  meat  and  carcases  of  poultry 
intended  for  the  stock-pot  to  be  browned  in  the  oven  be- 
fore addition,  is  an  undoubted  improvement,  to  which  the 
author  of  "The  Spirit  of  Cooker)-"  w-ould  not  object  per- 
haps, the  addition  being  made  after  the  first  stage  of  the 
broth-making,  i.e.  after  the  liquid  (containing  the  meat 
alone)  has  been  permitted  to  come  to  boiling  point  for  the 
first  time,  simmering  being  conducted  afterwards  for  the 
allotted  period. 

Touching  the  alleged  costliness  of  extracting  gelatine 
from  bones,  we  think  that  Dr.  Thudichum  has  lost  sight 
of  the  fact  that,  inasmuch  as  kitchen  fires  are  always  burn 
ing,  space  can  generally  be  found  on  the  hot-plate  for  a 
vessel  containing  bones  where  it  can  simmer  without  any 
additional  expense  in  the  matter  of  fuel.  We  have  found 
that  in  this  way,  with  the  aid  of  a  few  vegetables  and 
herbs,  very  useful  broths  can  be  made  for  the  moistening 
of  slews,  purees,  i&c,  while  it  is  well  known  that  at  .■\lder- 
shot  good  wholesome  pea  and  lentil  soups  are  made  on  a 
bone-stock  basis,  which  form  an  addition  to  the  soldiers 
dietary-  that  is  much  appreciated,  and  for  which  no  better 
medium,  considering  the  limited  resources  of  the  military 
kitchen,  could  be  concocted. 

We  confess  that  we  are  surprised  at  Dr.  Thudichum's 
apparent  indifference  to  vegetables  as  a  factor  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  good  bouillon,  for  constant  practice  has  satis- 
fied us  that  all  its  fragrance  and  a  large  share  of  its 
pleasant  flavour  come  to  the  pot-au-feu  or  soup  from  a 
very  careful  proportioning  of  the  vegetables  to  the  meat 
by  weight.  In  a  case  of  this  kind  it  is  idle  to  speak  of 
"  an  onion  "  or  "  a  carrot."  We  also  wonder  that  he  should 
mention  the  now  obsolete  method  of  clarifying  broths  with 
whites  of  ^^■i  and  lemon-juice.  The  object  is  now-  attained 
by  raw  beef  reduced  to  a  pulp,  mixed  with  both  the  yolk 

F 


98 


.\'.^  TURE 


[May  lo,  1 89; 


and  white  of  egg,  by  which  the  loss  of  flavour  by  the  old 
process  has  been  overcome. 

In  regard  to  the  author's  condemnation  of  the  state- 
ment that  "  the  French  cook  makes  excellent  and  nutri- 
t  ous  soup  out  of  materials  which  the  English  housewife 
throws  away  as  useless,  while  her  pot-au-fcu  is  composed 
of  stray  scraps  carefully  husbanded,  which  cost  her 
nothing,  but  which  when  skilfully  combined  constitute 
a  useful  and  inexpensive  food."  we  would  obserxe  that 
the  use  of  the  word  pot-au-feii  is  obviously  a  mistake, 
but  that  had  mirmite  been  substituted  there  would  have 
been  no  cause  for  objection.  What  says  Sir  Henry 
Thompson  .'  "  This  (the  pot-au-feii)  is  a  different  thing 
from  the  common  'stock-pot'  of  the  French  peasant, 
so  frequently  termed  a  potau-feu  and  confounded  with 
it.  The  primar)'  object  of  the  'stock-pot'  is  to  make 
a  decoction  for  soup— of  animal  food  if  possible — and 
every  morsel  of  flesh,  poultry',  trimmings  from  joints, 
bones  well  bruised,  &c.,  which  are  available  for  the 
purpose  are  reser\'ed  for  it."  This  turning  to  account 
of  scraps  is,  to  our  thinking,  by  no  means  a  "delusion," 
but  a  thing  that  should  be  encouraged  in  every 
economically  conducted  kitchen.  In  nearly  ever)-  other 
respect  we  are  able  to  concur  with  Dr.  Thudichum.  He  is 
undoubtedly  right  in  pronouncing  against  the  so-called 
clear  soups  of  restaurants  and  hotels,  in  denouncing  the 
free  use  of  wine  to  smother  defects,  and  the  heedless 
use  of  cream  and  butter  in  potages  lUs,  bisques,  and 
puries. 

Turning  to  his  precepts  concerning  processes,  we 
also  find  much  that  we  can  accept  as  excellent.  Here 
and  there  are  points,  of  course,  in  regard  to  which 
the  best  authorities  differ.  We  would  never  put  fresh 
meat  or  poultr)-,  when  either  has  to  be  cooked  for  the 
table  by  boiling,  into  cold  broth  or  water,  having  found 
the  method  advocated  by  Sir  Hcnr)-  Thompson  better 
than  any  other,  viz.  to  immerse  the  joint  or  bird  in  a 
lx>iling  medium  to  solidify  or  coagulate  the  albumen 
which  pervades  the  outer  layer  of  meat,  and  after  five 
or  six  minutes  at  that  temperature  to  reduce  the  heat 
beneath  the  vessel  to  simmering  point,  never  exceeding 
180'  F.  We  apply  the  same  principle  to  the  pre- 
paration of  fish  with  equally  satisfactor>-  results,  having 
proved  the  accuracy  of  Sir  Henry's  axiom  that  boiling 
fish  in  the  ordinary  manner  is  of  all  systems  the  most 
wasteful  and  unsalisfactor)-.  There  can  be  no  doubt, 
though  it  is  contrar)'  to  Dr.  Thudichuni's  theor)',  that 
the  greatest  benefit  is  to  be  derived  from  broth  made 
from  fish-bones  and  "cuttings"  of  white  fish,  assisted 
by  herbs  and  vegetables.  This  we  cmplr)y  as  a  moisten- 
ing in  our  method  of  fish-poaching,  and  consider  it 
superior  to  court  bouillnn  with  its  excessive  amount  of 
wine,  which  Dr.  Thudichum  very  properly  condemns. 

There  is  another  point  on  which  the  doctor's  advice 
is  open  to  question.  We  refer  to  his  definition  of  braising 
as  a  species  of  "roasting."  Surely  this  is  contrar>'  to 
the  teaching  of  the  best  authors.  "  Braiser  la  viande," 
says  Dubois,  "c'est  la  cuire  \  I'dtuv^c  dans  un  bon 
fonds  de  fa<;on  i  I'attcindre  complitement,  en  lui  con- 
scr\'ant  ses  sues  nutritifs."  How  can  a  piece  of  meat 
be  said  to  be  "  roasted "  when  it  is  moistened  in  the 
braisiire  vt'wh  bouillon  "  1) /taiileiir  "  f  The  fact  is  there  1 
arc  varieties  of  braising.     The   French  cook  adopts  one  | 

NO.  I33.r  VOL.  52] 


method,  for  instance,  for  white,  and  another  for  brown 
meats,  and,  as  we  read  in  "  Food  and  Feeding,"  these 
var)'  in  treatment.  In  all  the  predominating  feature  is 
stewing,  though  the  part  of  the  meat  exposed  by  the 
gradual  reduction  of  the  moistening  broth  may  be 
browned  by  heat  transmitted  downwards  from  hot  cinders 
on  the  lid  of  the  vessel.  The  meat  is  really  part  stewed, 
part  steamed,  and  superficially  toasted.  Dr.  Thudichum 
says  nothing  of  the  amount  of  moistening  mircpoix 
necessary  for  braising,  the  preliminary  browning  of  the 
meat,  the  couche  de  racines  et  oignons  eminces  on  which 
it  should  be  placed,  the  reduction  of  the  first  partial 
moistening,  and  then  the  final  filling  up  level  with  the 
top  of  the  meat.  Without  these  instructions,  how  is  the 
student  to  have  placed  in  his  hands  "  the  means  of 
attaining  his  object   with  certainty  and  elegance?" 

But  the  few  points  to  which  we  have  taken  exception 
are  of  no  great  consequence  in  a  work  which  covers  as 
much  ground  as  "  The  Spirit  of  Cookery."  Some  of 
them  might  perhaps  have  been  passed  over  as  apper- 
taining to  practical  work,  which  Dr.  Thudichum  may  not 
have  intended  to  explain  minutely.  There  is,  as  we  have 
said,  a  great  quantity  of  information  which  is  beyond 
criticism,  plenty  of  advice  which  is  full  of  common  sense, 
and  a  painstaking  classification  of  the  principal  sections 
of  the  art  which  cannot  but  be  useful  to  students  of 
cookery.  The  scientific  principles,  by  which  all  intelligent 
work  should  be  guided,  are  ver)'  clearly  laid  down.  The 
notes  on  the  preparation  of  food  for  the  sick-room  and 
the  camp  are  excellent,  and  all  who  recognise  the  necessity 
of  encouraging  cookery  for  the  palate  rather  than  for  the 
eye  will  concur  in  Dr.  Thudichum's  observations  regarding 
the  vulgar  folly  of  over-ornamentation. 

WEATHER  OBSERVATTON  AND 

PREDICTIONS. 

Meteorology,    Weather,    and   Afet/iods     of    Forecasting, 

Description  of  Meteorological  Instruments,  and  River 

Flood  Predictions  in  the  United  States.     By  Thom.is 

Russell,  U.S.  .\ssistant-Engineer.     (New    N'ork  :  M.u  - 

millan  and  Co.,  1895.) 
Results  of  Rain,  River,  and  Evaporation  L'bscrvafion-.. 

made  in  Nnv  South    Wales  during  1893.     By   H.  C. 

Russell,    B.A.,  C.M.G.,    F.R.S.     (Sydney  :   C.    Pottci, 

1894.) 

THE  first  of  these  two  books  has  for  its  aim  the  in 
struction  of  those  who  are  interested  in  the  weather, 
and  wish  to  make  forecasts  on  scientific  lines,  or  to  under- 
stand the  principles  which  underlie  the  predictions  issued 
by  responsible  authorities.  The  expression  "  scientific 
lines  "  is,  perhaps,  not  justified.  Experience  plays,  prn 
bably,  as  large  a  part  as  science.  The  knowledge  of  tin- 
character  of  the  weather  that  has  followed  certain 
definite  atmospheric  conditions  in  former  cases,  is  to 
some  extent  a  guide  as  to  what  will  happen  when  thox 
conditions  again  present  themselves,  and  possibh 
as  true  a  guide  as  any  result  based  on  the  wider 
knowledge  of  the  general  circulation  of  the  atmosphere. 
Especially  has  the  particular  study  of  the  direction  and 
rate  of  motion  of  cyclonic  areas,  with  their  attend.mt 
phenomena  of  rain,  and  change  of  temperature  permitted 
a  greater  amount  of  security  in  weather  prediction',  for 


May  30,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


99 


short  intervals  of  time.  But  this  great  certainty  is  based 
upon  experience  and  observation,  rather  than  upon  purely 
thermo-dynamic  principles. 

The  evidence  of  decisive  progress  in  forecasting  is 
wanting.  Nor  does  the  author  hold  out  a  very  sanguine 
hope  of  the  possibility  of  issuing  in  the  immediate  future 
successful  weather  forecasts  over  large  districts  from  a 
central  bureau.  There  are  not  more  than  six  to 
twelve  occasions,  in  the  course  of  a  year,  for  any  part  of  the 
countr)-,  he  tells  us  in  the  preface,  "where  successful  pre- 
dictions can  be  made,  and  for  some  places  successful 
predictions  are  never  possible."  "  Successful  continuous 
predictions  for  every  day  are  not  possible."  This  is 
the  opinion  of  one  who  apparently  has  ample  means  of 
forming  an  adequate  judgment.  It  is  the  outcome  in  a 
country  where  the  opportunities  of  framing  forecasts  are 
many  and  favourable.  The  service  is  well  supplied  both 
with  funds  and  officers,  the  vast  telegraphic  system  of 
the  country  is  at  the  disposal  of  the  Weather  Bureau, 
the  area  over  which  the  data  are  collected  is  extensive 
enough  to  enable  the  whole  development  of  a  storm  to 
be  watched  and  reported,  while  the  favourable  situation  of 
Washington,  in  the  extreme  east  of  the  continent,  is  a 
point  not  to  be  omitted.  Yet  after  years  of  trial,  the 
opinion  of  one  who  apparently  has  official  connection  with 
the  system,  or  is  at  least  well  supplied  with  information 
from  the  Bureau,  is,  that  the  complete  solution  of  the 
problem  is  not  only  impossible,  but  is  only  practically 
effective  on  the  average  less  than  once  a  month.  If  this 
be  the  result  under  favourable  conditions,  what,  it  may 
be  asked,  is  the  system  worth  in  England,  where  our 
insular  position  cuts  off  the  supply  of  any  information 
from  the  West,  the  direction  in  which  our  principal  storms 
approach,  and  the  intelligence  from  the  East  has  to  be 
supplied  by  the  courtesy  of  many  nationalities,  and  more 
or  less  hampered  by  different  telegraphic  systems. 

To  return  to  the  book,  howe\  er,  which  in  some  respects 
is  a  little  disappointing.  There  is  an  occasional  appear- 
ance of  hurry  in  the  compilation  of  the  work,  which  has 
sometimes  prevented  the  author  expressing  himself  with 
sufficient  clearness,  and  with  the  reservations  which  are 
sometimes  necessary.  For  instance,  we  are  told,  on  p.  3, 
that  there  is  less  oxygen  in  the  air  when  the  wind  is  from 
the  south,  than  when  the  direction  is  north.  This 
may  be  true  for  the  district  in  which  the  author  lives,  but 
as  there  is  no  indication  where  this  particular  locality  is 
situated,  and  the  preface  is  not  even  dated,  we  are  left 
to  infer  that  the  remark  applies  to  the  earth  generally, 
which  can  scarcely  be  correct.  Again,  on  p.  184,  in  the 
description  of  secondary  low  pressures,  occurs  this 
sentence.  "  In  Fig.  29,  thunderstorms  are  very  apt  to 
occur  with  secondary  low  pressures.''  This  statement  is 
certainly  a  puzzle.  On  p.  190  we  are  referred  to  a  map 
on  the  adjoining  page.  There  is  no  map  there,  although 
this  map  is  referred  to  in  the  list  of  illustraticms. 
Headers  w  ill,  however,  find  it  at  the  end  of  the  book. 
Sometimes,  too,  facts  which  are  easily  verified  are  not 
quoted  with  accuracy.  On  p.  5,  the  dates  of  the  earth's 
perihelion  and  aphelion  passage  are  given  as  December 
23  and  June  21  respectively.  The  area  of  the  Caspian 
Sea  is  given  on  p.  loi  as  over  200,000  square  miles,  and 
on  p.  201  as  180,000  square  miles.  But  these  and 
KO-    1335.  VOL.   52] 


many  other  small  blemishes  can  be  removed  in  a  future 
edition. 

We  are  more  concerned  to  look  at  the  work  as  a  whole, 
and  to  consider  what  special  service  is  it  likely  to  render 
among  the  host  of  meteorological  treatises  that  are  con- 
tinually appearing  on  one  or  other  side  of  the  Atlantic 
We  have,  of  course,  the  ordinary  chapter  on  meteorological 
instruments  ;  we  have  the  cloud  classification  ;  we  have 
the  description  of  the  rain  and  hail  and  snow,  that  too 
frequently  make  life  unpleasant  ;  together  with  all  the 
winds  that  blow,  or  are  likely  to  blow.  And  the  oft-told  talc, 
it  must  be  confessed,  is  repeated  in  rather  a  jerky  manner, 
partaking  of  something  of  the  manner  of  a  dictionar), 
wherein  one  is  treated  to  a  collection  of  definitions. 
The  last  chapters  of  the  book  are  undoubtedly  the 
best.  There  the  author  has  something  to  tell  us  of 
processes  not  generally  described  in  books  like  the 
present.  To  the  charm  of  novelty  is  added  the  ad- 
vantage that  we  feel  we  are  listening  to  a  practical 
expert,  who  can  tell  us  all  that  is  worth  knowing  about 
river-floods  and  overflows. 

We  come  now  to  the  second  volume  under  notice. 
Fortunately  in  this  country  we  are  not  frequently 
troubled  by  the  overflow  of  rivers  and  the  consequent  de- 
struction of  property  on  the  banks,  and  therefore  the 
subject  with  us  receives  scant  attention.  Probably  for 
this  reason  the  report  of  the  Meteorological  Council  is 
silent  on  such  matters,  though  at  times  like  last  autumn, 
the  inhabitants  of  Eton,  Oxford,  and  the  Thames  Valley 
would  have  been  gratified  by  a  timely  warning.  It  may 
have  been  that  warnings  were  given,  but  from  the  absence 
from  the  Report  of  any  mention  of  machinery  adapted  to 
this  end,  one  would  infer  that  this  is  an  inquiry  the 
Council  do  not  consider  worthy  of  their  attention.  Far 
different  is  it  with  the  Astronomer  at  Sydney,  whose  latest 
report  is  mentioned  at  the  head  of  this  notice.  There  the 
subject  is  forced  on  the  attention  of  scientific  men  :  and 
on  the  unscientific,  too,  if  he  happen  to  live  in  a  district 
where,  as  Mr.  Russell  reports,  the  rise  of  a  river  was  so 
rapid  that  in  less  than  two  hours  a  part  of  a  town  was 
covered  to  a  depth  of  three  or  four  feet,  and  the  people 
were  glad  to  escape  with  their  lives  at  the  sacrifice  of  their 
property.  Mr.  Russell  has  great  difficulties  to  contend 
with.  He  has  not  only  the  small  equipment  peculiar  to  a 
comparatively  new  colony,  imperfect  data,  and  the  slow 
accumulation  of  facts,  but  the  first  warning  of  the  rise  of  a 
flood  may  occur  in  uninhabited  or  thinly  populated  dis- 
tricts, with  which  communication  is  slow  and  uncertain. 
The  American  Bureau  has  not  to  struggle  against  these 
disadvantages,  but  the  problem  depends  upon  so  many 
variable  quantities  that  the  complete  solution  is  practically 
impossible. 

The  author  of  the  treatise  on  meteorology  lays 
it  down  that  very  little  connection  can  be  traced  between 
meteorological  laws  and  river  floods,  except  perhaps  in 
cases  where  the  quantity  of  water  is  dependent  upon  the 
melting  of  the  snow.  In  temperate  zones,  floods  occur 
without  any  very  noticeable  great  rainfalls.  Intermittent 
rain  may  cause  a  river  to  rise  very  slowly,  and  almost  im- 
perceptibly, till  it  be  bank-full,  when  a  moderate  rain 
makes  the  river  overflow.  Neither  is  there  any  decided 
connection  between  the  river  slopes  and  velocity,  so  that 


lOO 


NA  TURE 


[May  30,  189; 


the  velocity  of  the  flow  cannot  be  computed  from  a  know- 
ledge of  the  slope.     The  character  of  the  ground  over 
which  the  rain  falls — that  is,  the  dejrree  of  permeability — 
is    a    fruitful    source   of   uncertainty   in   predicting   the 
probable  rise.     There  are  many  other  obvious  sources  of 
error,  so  that  no  one  can  be  surprised  to  learn  that  the 
theoretical  determination  of  a  river  rise  cannot  be  treated 
as  a  problem  in  hydraulics.     Without  a  system  of  gauges 
along  the  river,  predictions  are  scarcely  possible.     With 
their  employment,  the  problem  becomes  more  or  less  one 
of  practice  and  experience.     This   remark  may  be  illus- 
trated by  shoiving  how  the  rise  of  the  river  may  be  pre- 
dicted for  Pittsburg,  a  place  where  the  observations  of 
rainfall  simply,  are  of  little  use  in  foretelling  with  accuracy 
th2  height  to  which  the  river  will  rise.     The  rise  is  pre- 
dicted from  observations  of  the  rise  at  stations  above  the 
town,  or  on  tributaries.     Gauges  are  maintained  at  Oil 
City,  Brookville,  Confluence,   Rowlesburg,   Weston,   and 
Johnstown.     These  towns  lie   both   north   and  south   of 
I'ittsburg,  and  the  greatest  separation  may  amount  to  two 
hundred  miles.     The  height  of  the  river  and  its  tributaries 
at  each  of  these  places  not  only  exercises  a  difterent  effect 
at  Pittsburg,  presumed  to  be  proportional  to  the  square 
root  of  the  areis  drained  by  the  rivers  at  each  station,  but 
the  height  of  the  river  at  Pittsburg  itself  has  also  to  be 
taken  into  the  account.     The  higher  the  stage  at  Pitts- 
burg, the  less  will  the  river  be  affected  by  the  same  rise  at 
the  upper  stations.     "  It  is  assumed  that  the  rise  multiplied 
by  the  mean  stage  during  the  rise  is  comparable  through- 
out different  stages  for  Pittsburg."     The  factors  deduced 
from  the  area  drained  vary  from  2"i   for  Oil  City  to  o"i  at 
Weston,  and  the  observed  rise  between  two  consecutive 
days  multiplied  by  these  factors  can  be  easily  tabulated  to 
exhibit  the  expected  rise  at   Pittsburg.     Mr.  Russell  has 
worked  out  some  examples  to  show  the  successful  appli- 
cation of  this  method.     On  February  16,  1891,  the  calcu- 
lated height  of  the  stage  was  31 '3  feet  ;  the  observed,  32 
feet.     On  February  6,  1893,  the  calculated  height  was  23 
feet  ;  the  observed,  23'i.     It   does   not   appear   how  far 
these  examples  are  illustrative  of  the  success  attending 
the  general  application,  but   the  system   seems  to  leave 
nothing  to   be  desired.     The  author  takes  us  regularly 
down  the  Ohio  River  to  Cincinnati,  Louisville,  and  Cairo, 
the  junction  with  the  Mississippi,  illustrating  the  moditica- 
cations  which  var>-ing   conditions  may  render  nccessar>'. 
The  Missouri  and  the  .Mississippi  also  receive  their  share 
of  attention,  and  the  book  forms  a  very  practical  guide  for 
those  interested  in  such  matters.     The  value  of  the  whole 
process  rests  on  the  provision  of  a  sufficient  number  of 
well-placed  gauges,  and   a   long   series  of  observations, 
from  which  may  be  learnt  the  probable  behaviour  of  llie 
river  under  all  circumstances.     It  is  in  this  direction,  ap- 
parently, that   Mr.   Russell,  of  Sydney,  finds  his  oppor- 
tunity, and   the  great  mass  of  facts  that  he  is  collecting 
will  be  of  the  greatest  use  as  the  colony  becomes  more 
thickly  peopled.     We  do  not  understand  that  he  has  yet 
arrived  at  the  stage  of  predicting  with  accuracy  and  con- 
fidence the  vertical  rise  .ind  fall  of  the  rivers  over  which 
he  watches.     His  pan,  if  apparently  less  interesting,  is  not 
less  useful  ;  and  he  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the  spread 
of  his  system  of  observations  and  his  successful  overthrow 
of  many  difficulties. 

NO.   13.35.  VOL.  52] 


AN  ALBUM  OF  CLASSICAL   AXTIQUITIES. 
Atlas  pf  Classical  AntiqiiHit-s.   By  Th.  Schreibcr.  Edited 
for  English  use,  by   I'rof   W.  C.  .Anderson,  of  Kirth 
College,  Sheffield.     (London:  Macmillan,  1S95.) 

THIS  work  should  hardly  be  called  an  Atlas,  since, 
though  it  contains  a  vast  amount  of  matter,  the 
disjointed  arrangement  is  by  no  means  that  of  an  .Atlas. 
The  abundance  of  illustrations,  however,  makes  the  book 
exceedingly  valuable  to  the  student. 

But  although  there  may  be,  and  is  the  faciiiuliit.  the 
hicidiis  ordo  is  frequently  wanting.  Still,  by  the  help  of 
the  excellent  trilinqual  index,  supplied  by  the  English 
editor,  this  defect  is  much  remedied. 

The  book  should  also  be  judged  by  reference  to  wli:it 
it  aims  to  be.  If  considered  as  a  work  addressed  to 
artists  or  specialists,  great  deficiencies  in  the  technical 
execution  of  the  plates  would  have  to  be  complained  of ; 
but  it  should  be  looked  at  mainly  as  a  series  of  rough 
sketches  of  ancient  life  as  revealed  to  us  through  art,  for 
the  instruction  of  students  in  literature  and  commencing 
arclueologists,  or  as  a  general  book  of  reference.  The 
above  remarks  refer  entirely  to  Herr  Schreiber's  plates  ; 
nothing  but  praise  should  be  accorded  to  Prof  Anderson 
as  translator  and  expositor.  The  aim  of  the  work  is 
sufficiently  stated  in  the  preface. 

''There  springs  up  a  desire  for  facts — facts  as  to  the  life 
of  the  ancients,  their  laws  and  their  customs,  their  beliefs 
and  their  cults.  Because  no  fact  is  despicable  from  the 
point  of  view  of  science,  we  further  look  into  their  daily  life 
— the  fashion  of  their  dress  and  their  houses,  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  theatre  and  the  market-place.  .And  since  no 
source  of  facts  can  be  so  perfectly  trustworthy  as  the  works 
of  contemporary  art,  those  works  gain  an  interest,  arising 
not  merely  from  their  own  beauty,  but  as  tlic  crystallisation 
of  the  visible  life  of  the  people,  a  mirror  of  their  thought 
preserved  to  us  like  many  actual  (ireek  mirrors  in  the 
g^raves  of  the  dead." 

The  series  of  plates  begins  with  theatres  and  acting  ; 
and  with  respect,  at  least,  to  Roman  or  Romanised 
Greek  theatres,  they  are  very  fully  illustrated,  both 
.as  regards  the  fabric  and  the  actor,  but  there  is  a 
remarkable  absence  of  the  characteristics  of  the  Greek 
theatre  as  distinguished  from  the  Roman,  which  have 
been  much  under  discussion  of  late  years.  Plate  iii.. 
Fig.  3,  howe\er,  introduces  a  representation  of  the  raised 
stage  or  Aoy«oi',  which,  if  the  dale  ascribed  to  it  in  the 
text  be  accurate,  bears  strongly  .against  the  theory  that 
all  the  action  took  place  on  the  level  of  the  orchestra 
until  the  raised////////////  was  introduced  by  the  Romans. 
In  Plate  ix.  we  see  that  some  of  our  modern  building 
appliances  have  been  in  continuous  use  since  classical 
times.  In  Plate  x..  Fig.  3,  after  Uurm,  the  contrivance 
of  the  wooden  blocks  and  pin  in  the  joints  of  the  columns 
of  the  Parthenon  is  not  .accurately  shown,  and  it  is  there- 
fore not  surprising  that  in  the  text  a  difficulty  is  hinted  at. 
The  smaller  shallow  circle  was  not  provided  for  the  pur- 
pose of  receiving  a  wooden  cylinder  to  turn  in.  This  was 
the  function  of  the  smaller  pin  or  cylinder  of  hard  wood, 
which  was  centred  in  the  square  wooden  blocks  which 
were  fixed  in  each  bed  of  the  joint.  The  sh.illow  circle 
in  the  stone  was  provided  to  receive  the  detritus  caused 
by  rubbing  the  stones  together.  In  the  same  plate 
ornament  is  shown  on  the  echinus  of  ihe   Doric  capital. 


May  30,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


lOI 


Decoration  of  this  member  is,  to  say  the  least,  extremely 
doubtful.  Two  valuable  plates  follow  of  Olympia,  in 
plan  and  perspective.  The  restored  view  of  the  .Acropolis 
of  .Athens,  however,  is  hardly  so  successful.  The  draw- 
ing is  coarse,  and  it  gives  a  verj'  inadequate  idea  of  the 
way  in  which  the  .\cropolis  dominates  the  valley  to  the 
south  of  it.  In  Plate  xiv.,  Figs.  I  and  2  /'the  latter  from 
a  vase)  are  interesting  from  their  connection  with  the 
Elcusinian  mysteries.  As  many  of  the  illustrations  are 
necessarily  taken  from  vases,  it  would  have  been  servic- 
able  for  beginners  if  some  representation  with  a  short 
description  of  different  kinds  of  vases,  such  as  the  cylix, 
the  lecythus,  &c.,  had  been  given.  Plate  .\v.  shows  that 
votive  offerings  of  models  of  diseased  limbs  and  other 
bodily  members,  suspended  at  the  altars  of  favourite 
saints,  had  their  origin  in  classical  times.  In  its  reference 
to  Fig.  2,  of  Plate  xviii,,  the  text  gives  a  valuable  reference 
to  the  recent  discoveries  at  the  Pantheon,  which  were 
lately  made  under  the  direction  of  the  French  architect, 
M.  Chedanne. 

Plate  xi.x.,  Fig.  15,  is  interesting  as  showing  that  the 
division  of  the  heavens  into  different  houses  of  the 
mediaeval  astrologers  had  its  origin  in  classical  augury. 
Plates  XX.  to  xxiv.  are  devoted  to  athletics.  In  Plate  xxii. 
are  illustrations  of  the  method  of  throwing  javelins  by 
means  of  the  aincii/iiin,  a  kind  of  sling  attached  to  the 
shaft.  Some  arc  shown  as  being  thrown  overhand,  and 
others  underhand,  and  a  curious  method  by  which  aid 
was  given  to  jumping  by  means  of  weights  held  in  the 
hands.  Plates  xxvii.  to  x.xxiii.  are  devoted  to  games  and 
arena  combats.  Fig.  4  in  the  first  of  these  plates,  from 
a  wall-painting  from  Pompeii,  is  an  interesting  illustration, 
described  thus  in  the  text:  "This  painting  is  unique  as 
a  contemporary'  picture  of  an  historical  event.  Tacitus 
("Annals,'  xiv.  17)  mentions  a  riot  between  the  people 
of  Nuceria  and  Pompeii  which  arose  out  of  a  gladiatorial 
show  given  by  Livineius  Kegulus.  It  began  with  mutual 
taunts,  and  then  stones  were  thrown  and  weapons  used. 
The  Pompeians  were  naturally  the  stronger  party,  so 
that  many  of  the  Nucerians  were  badly  wounded,  and 
several  slain.  .As  a  consequence,  Nero  stopped  the 
games  for  ten  years.  The  painting  shows  the  fighting 
going  on  in  and  about  the  amphitheatre."  Fig.  i  in 
Plate  xxxiii.,  from  Brescia,  shows  that  combats  with  wild 
beasts  were  still  practised  in  530  .\.n.  in  Italy.  In 
Plate  xxxiv.  we  have  representations  of  early  Greek 
warriors  and  weapons,  and  also,  but  of  later  date,  a 
besieged  city  from  the  Nereid  tomb  in  the  British  .Museum, 
and  in  Plate  xli.  a  useful  diagram  showing  the  arrange- 
ment of  a  Roman  camp.  In  the  same  and  following 
plates  Roman  soldiers  and  their  armour  arc  well  given, 
and  C.rcek  and  other  helmets.  Young  students  of  Casar 
"tic  Bcllo  (".allico"  will  be  thankful  for  the  illustrations 
of  the  Rhine  Bridge  in  Plate  xliv.  In  Plate  xhi.  is  the 
difficult  subject  of  the  trireme  and  its  oars.  It  contains 
only  one  original  document  (Fig.  8),  namely,  the  sculp- 
tured relief  found  near  the  Ercchtheum  ;  the  other  figures 
arc  reconstructions  in  which  the  difficulty  does  not  appear 
to  have  been  grasped.  The  ancient  relief  certainly  im- 
plies oars  of  different  lengths  ;  thus  much  cannot  be 
controverted,  but  the  only  possible  means  by  which  the 
rowers  on  the  different  banks  could  have  kept  time  would 
have  been  by  an  inversely  corresponding  difference  given 

NO.    1335,  VOL.   52] 


to  the  surface  of  the  blades  of  the  oars,  which  the  re- 
constructions do  not  show. 

Plates  xlviiii.  to  li.  are  occupied  by  town  gateways  and 
fortifications.  Then  follow  private  houses,  aqueducts, 
bridges,  baths,  and  calculating  boards.  In  Plate  Ixii. 
ancient  sundials,  which  divided  the  day  from  rising  to 
setting  sun  into  twelve  hours,  irrespective  of  the  difference 
of  their  lengths  in  summer  or  winter.  Then  follow  various 
agricultural  operations,  and  in  Plate  Ixvi.  a  warehouse 
scene,  the  weighing  silphium,  a  plant  used  in  medicine, 
grown  in  Cyrene  ;  a  group  of  decidedly  Egyptian  type. 
Then  ovens,  Plate  Ixvii.,  for  baking  bread  ;  Plate  Ixviii., 
for  pottery.  From  Plates  Ixi.x.  to  Ixxvi.,  various  arts  and 
crafts.  The  triclinium  is  shown  and  explained  in  Plate 
Ixxvii.  Then  follows  jugglery  and  games.  Plate  l.xxxi. 
shows  bridal  scenes,  followed  by  female  dresses  and 
costumes.  In  Plate  Ixxxvii.  is  a  relief  from  the  arch  of 
Constantine,  introducing  several  details  of  the  Roman 
forum.  Plate  Ixxxviii.  follows  with  a  graphic  scene  of 
civic  life  from  a  wall-painting  of  Pompeii.  Then  school 
scenes  are  illustrated  with  wax  tablets  and  writing 
materials  ;  there  is  also  a  pair  of  proportional  compasses, 
having  much  analogy  to  the  instrument  in  modern  use. 
Plates  xcii.  \  and  xciii.  tell  the  "  tale  of  Troy  divine," 
from  a  relief  of  the  .Augustan  age,  representing  the  Iliu- 
persis,  found  near  Bovillae  ;  and  the  work  concludes 
with  a  very  complete  series  of  burial  scenes — that  is,  of 
interment — for  there  are  no  representations  of  cremation. 
But  notwithstanding  this  and  some  other  omissions,  the 
hundred  crowded  plates  of  this  volume,  from  which  we 
have  made  only  a  few  extracts,  contain  a  vast  store  of 
objects  for  reference,  and  they  are  all  very  much  enhanced 
in  value  by  the  descriptions  and  notes  with  which  Mr. 
Anderson  has  enriched  the  book. 


A  DES/DERATCM  /X  .\fODERX  BOTANICAL 
LITER  A  TURE. 

A  Hand-book  of  Systematic  Botany.  By  Dr.  E.  Wanning, 
Professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Copenhagen. 
With  a  Revision  of  the  Fungi,  by  Dr.  G.  Knoblauch, 
Karlsruhe.  Translated  and  edited  by  M.  C.  Potter, 
M..A.,  F.L.S.,  Professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of 
Durham  College  of  Science,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
(London  :  Swan  .Sonncnschein  and  Co.,  1895.) 

IT  is  a  curious,  and  not  altogether  a  pleasant  reflection, 
considering  the  activity  which  has  been  displayed  by 
the  botanists  of  this  country  within  recent  years,  that  we 
should  still  be  largely  dependent  on  foreign  sources  for 
our  text-books  in  more  than  one  main  division  of  this 
particular  science.  It  is  doubtless  true  that  the  books  arc 
sometimes  more  or  less  edited,  before  they  are  presented 
to  the  English  student,  but  still  one  can  hardly  help  feel- 
ing that  an  entirely  home-grown  article,  if  issuing  froni 
first-rate  hands,  would  pro\c  a  most  welcome  change. 

It  is  with  somewhat  mixed  feelings,  then,  that  we  greet 
the  appearance  of  Prof  Warming's  "  Hand-book  of 
Systematic  Botany  "in  its  English  form.  Moreover,  we 
feel  a  little  inclined  at  the  very  outset  to  quarrel  with  the 
title  of  the  book  before  us  ;  a  hand-book  of  systematic 
botany  embodying  critical  morphological  discussion,  is 
exactly  what  is  now  wanted — something  which  may  be  to 
us  what  Eichler's  celebrated  Bliithendiai^ramme  was,  and 


I02 


NATURE 


[May  30,  1895 


indeed  still  is,  to  our  German  neighbours.  But  one  can 
liardly  allow  that  the  present  volume  rises  above  the  rank 
of  a  text-book,  and  of  these  we  have  plenty  with  us.  Not 
that  it  is  intended  to  depreciate  the  value  of  Prof.  Warm- 
ing's book  ;  it  is  chietly  the  question  whether  an  increase 
of  this  particular  kind  of  book  is  just  now  wanted  at  all, 
whilst  there  is  no  question  whatever  but  that  a  genuine 
'  hand-book  "  is  verj-  much  needed  indeed.  As  far  as  the 
work  goes  it  is  very  good,  .at  least  in  its  manner  of  deal- 
ing with  the  Angiospemis,  but  it  does  not  go  far  enough. 
Thus  the  order  Cucurbitacea;,  as  an  example  taken  at 
random,  is  dismissed  with  something  less  than  four  pages, 
and  yet  the  plants  included  in  this  order  abound  in  interest- 
ing characters.  To  treat  these  and  others  of  a  similar 
nature  in  a  brief  dogmatic  fashion  is  to  abandon  the  most 
interesting  side  of  the  subject,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
educational  opportunities  which  have  been  missed.  But 
notwithstanding  these  features  of  the  work,  which,  pro- 
fessing as -it  does  to  be  a  hand-book,  appear  to  us  to  be 
serious  defects,  we  readily  admit  that,  taken  as  a  whole, 
the  account  given  of  the  flowering  plants  is  one  of  the  best 
existing  in  the  English  language.  The  lower  groups  of 
plants  are  less  satisfactorily  dealt  with.  In  the  Fungi, 
the  general  method  of  arrangement  followed  is  that 
based  on  Brefcld's  researches,  but  the  difficulties  con- 
nected with  Erenuiscus  are  not  touched  upon.  It  may  be 
doubted  whether  the  student  will  gain  a  ver)'  clear  idea 
of  Oidia,  which,  he  is  told,  must  be  distinguished  from 
"  true  chlamydospores."  The  definition  runs  thus  :  "  The 
former  < Oidia}^  are  more  simple,  the  latter  are  somewhat 
more  differentiated  form  of  carpophore  fundaments, 
which  serve  for  propagation  in  the  same  manner  as 
spores."  But  exactly  wherein  the  difference  really  consists 
we  seek  in  vain  to  find.  A  purist  might  object  to  the  ex- 
pression "  brand  "-fungi,  which  is  used  instead  of  the 
more  familiar  one  of  smut-fungi  ;  a  practical  farmer,  in 
this  countr)'  at  least,  would  also  probably  smile  at  the 
description  given  of  the  method  of  application  of  blue 
vitriol  as  a  preventative  of  the  disease  caused  by  these 
organisms  in  cereal  crops. 

The  treatment  of  the  Muscina;  strikes  us  as  far  too 
cursor)',  especially  in  regard  to  the  considerable  amount 
of  work  recently  done  in  connection  with  these  plants. 
The  brief  statement  of  Celakovsk/s  view  as  to  the  homo- 
logy of  the  moss  sporogonium  is  only  calculated  to  con- 
fuse the  mind  of  a  student  by  introducing  purely  idealistic 
notions,  and  its  value  without  a  full  explanation  is 
absolutely  inappreciable.  The  catalogue  of  "orders" 
of  mosses,  given  on  pp.  196-197,  is  also  particularly 
depressing. 

The  treatment  of  the  vascular  crj'ptogams  is  decidedly 
weak,  and  this  is  the  more  surprising,  considering  the 
activity  which  has  long  been  displayed  in  the  investigation 
of  this  division  of  plants.  The  general  description  of  the 
embryo,  given  on  p.  201,  only  applies  to  a  (c\\  families, 
and  is  not  by  any  nieans  true  for  most  of  the  groups. 
Again  the  usual  mistake  is  made  as  regards  the  sporan- 
gium of  Isoetes,  which  is  stated  to  be  divided  into  "com- 
partments one  above  another "  ;  the  fact,  of  course,  being 
that  it  is  not  divided  into  "compartments"  at  all,  as  an 
inspection  of  a  tangential  section  will  suffice  to  show. 

It  is  surprising,  in  a  work  issued  in  1895,  to  find  the 
old  erroneous  description  of  the  germination  of  the 
NO.    1335,  VOL.   52] 


gymnosperm  pollen-grain  still  maintained.  We  note, 
however,  with  satisfaction  that  a  popular  mistake  (which 
appears  also  in  the  text)  is  corrected  in  an  editorial  note, 
in  which  it  is  rightly  stated  that  Cycads  commonly  tio 
branch  in  a  state  of  nature. 

From  what  has  been  said,  it  will  be  clear  that  the  treat- 
ment of  the  lower  plants  is  inadequate,  and  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  Prof  Potter  did  not  see  his  way  to  using 
his  editorial  discretion  more  freely.  It  is,  however,  easy 
I  to  find  fault  with  most  books  ;  but  we  have  already  said 
'  that,  as  regards  the  latter  half  of  the  volume,  it  is  deserv- 
ing of  commendation,  and  we  may  .idd  that  it  is  well 
illustrated,  and  that,  further,  it  contains,  in  the  form  of 
an  appendix  by  Prof  Potter,  a  brief  account  of  the  chief 
methods  of  classification  which  have  been  used  in  arrang- 
ing the  members  of  the  \  cgctablc  kint;(ioiii. 


OCR  BOOK  SHELF. 

The  Noxious  and  Beneficial  Insects  of  the  State  0/ Illinois. 
Eighteenth  Report  of  the  State  Entomologist. 
-Seventh  Report  of  S.  A.  Forbes.  For  the  years 
1891  .ind  1892.     (Springfield,  III.,  U.S.A.,  1894.) 

This  report  is  mainly  devoted  to  insect  attacks  affecting 
"  Indian  corn  "  (sometimes  known  with  us  as  "  maize," 
in  the  U.S.A.  shortly  as  "  corn  "),  and  coming  from  the 
trustworthy  and  wcll-qualificd  pen  of  Prof  Forbes,  will  be 
of  much  service  in  the  country  of  the  crop  dealt  with,  and, 
in  points  noticed  regarding  such  of  these  "  pests  "  as  are 
of  ven'  similar  habits  with  our  own,  may  be  studied  here 
with  much  advantage. 

The  "  Mimograph  of  Insect  Injuries  to  Indian  Corn 
extends  to  165  pages,  dealing  with  insects  of  very  various 
kinds,  including  amongst  them  what,  without  entering 
here  on  their  scientific  appellations,  may  be  generally 
described  as  ants  of  various  kinds  ;  beetles,  including 
allies  of  our  turnip  flea  beetle,  wireworms,  with  click 
beetle  parents,  and  chafers,  with  their  grubs  (truly  noted 
as  "  the  imniemorial  enemies  of  agriculture  on  both  sides 
of  the  .Atlantic  ")  ;  aphides,  or  plant  lice  of  \  arious  kinds, 
and  some  other  insects. 

The  information  is  the  result  often  years'  investigation 
of  the  economic  entomology  of  the  Indian  corn  plant  by 
the  official  entomologist  of  Illinois,  joined  to  such  ad- 
ditions from  published  matter  as  it  appeared  desirable  to 
embody  with  his  original  oljscrvations  ;  and  in  the  word?, 
of  the  writer,  whilst  a  portion  of  the  information  is  such  .is 
he  hopes  will  be  "  intelligible  and  practically  useful  to  the 
actual  tiller  of  the  soil,"  he  has  also  incorporated  with  this, 
for  "the  speci.il  Ijeneritof  the  entomologist,  more  detailed 
and  thorough-going  discussions  of  the  insects  themselves, 
and  of  their  life-histories,  habits,  and  injuries,  together 
with  descriptions  of  the  species  in  all  stages  as  yet 
recognised." 

These  minute  descriptions,  especially  of  the  early  stages 
(so  import.int  to  the  economic  entomologist,  and  so 
difficult,  too  often,  to  obtain)  in  themselves  give  the  work 
a  high  value,  and  in  the  practical  part  there  is  much  to 
be  studied  with  great  benefit.  To  give  a  single  instance  — 
the  indifference  of  wireworms  to  various  kinds  of  poisons 
prepared  for  their  consumption  on  seed  pliueil  fur  their 
use  ''p.  49). 

The  rei)ort  is  greatly  to  be  recommended  to  the  study 
of  economic  entomologists,  and  its  value  is  added  to  In 
fifteen  well-executed  full-page  plates  of  many  of  (he  inserts 
referred  to,  also  by  ;in  exhaustive  index  of  thirteen  pages, 
so  complete  and  well  arranged  as  in  some  instances  almost 
to  give  headings  for  a  life-history  of  the  insect  referred  to. 

E.  A.  f) 


May  30,  1895] 


NATURE 


103 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[  The  Editor  docs  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 
manusiripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  NATURE. 
JVo  noliiC  is  taken  of  anonymous  lonnuitnications.'] 

The  Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Cineraria. 

Rri'EKKing  to  records  of  the  history  of  cultivated  Cineraria,  I 
fmind  (i)  that  considerable  sports,  or  seedlings  presenting 
notable  and  striking  variations,  arose  in  the  early  days  of  the 
"improvement"  of  the  Cineraria;  (2)  that  there  is  evidence 
Ihatthe  improved  varieties  were  of  hybrid  origin.  I  concluded, 
therefore,  that  Mr.  Dyer's  statement  that  our  Cinerarias  have 
been  derived  from  C.  crncnta  *'  by  the  gradual  accumulation  of 
small  variations"  was  misleading  in  two  respects.  As  we  have 
now  had  the  benefit  of  a  fuller  statement  of  .Mr.  Dyer's  case,  I 
£sk  leave  to  explain  why  it  is  that  I  still  hold  to  my  original 
conclusion. 

Meanwhile,  however.  Prof.  Weldon,  intervening,  has  offered 
an  apparently  .sustained  criticism  of  my  evidence,  which  to  those 
no  better  prejiared  may  have  a  formidable  look. 

We  will  fir.st  examine  .some  of  Prof.  Weldon's  minor  points. 
In  preface  let  me  say  that  I  do  not  contend  that  no  sports  or 
named  varieties  have  ever  been  believed  to  have  arisen  directly 
from  iriunla,  or  from  plants  so-called  (for,  as  Willdenow  hinted,' 
the  name  may  have  been  misapplied  to  hybrids  in  the  past  as 
now) ;  and,  indeed,  I  gave  Drummond's  words  that  his  cruenta 
*'  sported  freely  from  seed." 

.Something  was  made  also  of  the  wise  caution  which  Burbidge 
gives  in  his  general  "  Introduction  "  (p.  118),  putting  the  reader 
on  his  guard  against  .specific  assertions  as  to  the  origin  of  hybrids. 
I  mention,  therefore,  that  I  have  received  from  Mr.  Burbidge  a 
letter  warmly  supporting  the  opinion  given  in  the  body  of  his 
book  (p.  240)  that  the  Cinerarias  are  of  hybrid  origin. 

Hut  now  for  what  Pri)f.  Weldon  takes  to  be  the  real  strength 
of  his  attack.  He  s,ays  that  I  omitted  passages  proving  that 
according  to  contemporary  opinion  many  of  the  named  varieties 
cultivated  between  1838  and  1842  "were  not  hybrids,"  but 
were  "believed  to  be  pure-bred  crnenfa."  Upon  what  grounds 
this  statement  has  been  made,  the  reader  .shall  now  learn,  not 
perhaps  without  astonishment. 

The  passage  on  which  he  chiefly  relies  is  taken  from  Mrs. 
Loudon  s  article  (Zaa'/«' jl/i7f.  of  Gard.,  1842,  p.  iii),towhich 
I  referred  for  the  statement  that  in  the  writer's  opinion  the  first 
important  departure  in  the  improvement  of  the  Cineraria  was 
made  when  Drummond  hybridised  cruenta  with  lanala.  She 
goes  on  to  s.iy  that,  "since  that  time,  numerous  experiments 
have  been  made  and  hyl)rids  raised  "  from  several  species.  Next, 
that  "some  of  the  most  be.tutiful  Cinerarias  now  in  our  green- 
houses, have  been  raised  by  Messrs.  Henderson,  Pineapple 
I'lace,  particularly  C.  Hcndcrsoni  and  the  King,  both  raised 
from  seeds  of  C.  cruenta.'"  This  is  the  passage  I  omitted.  Prof. 
Weldon  says  that  this  "  passage  clearly  shows  that  in  the  writer's 
[Mrs.  Loudon's]  belief,  the  hybrids  ])roduced  by  Drummond  and 
others,  had  nm  given  rise  to  two  at  least  of  the  named  varieties 
of  her  time,"  and  that  she  believed  the  King  and  Hendersonii  to 
be  descended  from  cruenta  alone.  This  Prof.  Weldon  tells  us 
is  certain 

Now,  were  we  even  boimded  by  the  limit  Prof.  Weldon  has 
set  to  his  own  researches  on  this  question,  we  might  hesitate  to 
a-s-sume  that  whenever  it  is  not  expressly  declared  that  a  plant  is 
a  hybrid,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  author  thought  it  was  pure- 
bred. As  it  happens,  however,  I  can  meet  the  charge  with  a 
weapon  sturdier  than  the  fine  point  of  "  dialectic."  The  answer 
is  (juite  simple  and  curiously  complete. 

I  shall  now  prove  that  both  the  King  and  Hendersonii  were 
well  known  as  hybrids  both  to  Mrs.  Loudon  and  to  others. 
Let  me  point  out  : 

( 1 )  That  the  words  say  that  the  King  and  C.  Hendersonii  were 
raised  from  seeds  of  cruenta:  as  to  the  male  parent,  nothing  is 
there  .said. 

(2)  That  even  if  the  evidence  ended  here,  a  discriminating 
reader  might_  have  suspected  (what  I  shall  presently  |irove)  that 
Mrs.  Loudon's /(z;-/;i«/ar  statement  about  the  King,  Hendersonii, 

I  He  s.-iy*  (••  Enum.  PI.  Berol.,"  1809,  p.  803)  ih.-it  Cinerari.is  .ire  grown  in 
K;trtlcns  under  the  name  cruenta,  though  re.lfly  very  different  from  il,  h.-\ving 
flowers  almost  like  those  a(  lailata.  To  these  he  gave  the  name  C.  Ilybrida. 
Moreover,  from  Itouche's  experiment,  we  know  that  the  seedlings  of  this 
t'.  hybticta  were  very  variable. 


NO.   1335,  VOL.   52] 


&c.,  is  merely  meant  as  an  exjiansion  of  her  jirevious  i;eneral 
statement  that  since  Drummond  made  his  beginning  numerous 
hybrids  had  been  raised. 

(3)  That,  were  the  matter  doubtful,  other  passages  in'Mrs. 
Loudon's  works  prove  this  to  be  her  meaning.  For  in  Ladies' 
Comp.  to  Flower-Gard.,  1849  (s.  v.  Cineraria),  she  states,  "the 
finest  hybrids  are  C.  ll'aterhousiana,  C.  Hendersonii,  and  the 
kind  called  the  King."  -Again,  in  Ladies'  /-/cwer-Card., 
Greenho.  Pits.,  1848,  p.  1 78,  speaking  of  the  woolly  leaves,  &c., 
of  lanata,  she  says,  "  these  peculiarities  are  found  in  all  the 
numerous  hybrids  that  have  been  raised  from  it.  Perhaps  the 
most  ornamental  of  these  is  the  hybrid  called  the  King."'  Of 
this,  therefore,  I  presiMiie  .Mrs.  Loudon  believed  lanata  to  be 
the  father,  cruenta  the  mother. 

(4)  Lastly,  that  in  order  to  have  learnt  that  the  King  and 
Hendersonii  were  "  between  1838  and  1842  "  considered  to  te 
hybrids.  Prof.  Weldon  need  not  have  gone  far.  He  tells  us  he 
has  read  the  articles  on  C.  Webberiana  (Pa.xt.  Mag.,  1842,  p 
125)  and  on  C.  IVatcrhousiana  (ibid.,  1838,  p.  2:9),  to  which  I 
gave  references.  Will  it  then  be  believed  that  in  the  first  of 
these  very  articles  the  L'ing  is  referred  to  by  name  as  a  notable 
hybrid;  and  that  in  the  second  article,  "C  cruenta,  var. 
Hcndcrsonia  "  is  with  others  named  as  one  of"  the  hybrids  raised 
and  grown  by  Messrs.  Henderson,  Pine-apple  Place.'"'    ■ 

I  do  not  know  if  it  is  wished  that  I  should  further  refute  Prof. 
Weldon's  charge  of  "  want  of  care  in  consulting  and  quoting  the 
authorities."  I  am  not  unprepared  to  do  so.  I  shall  be  glad  to 
explain  why  Mrs.  Loudon  was  probably  right  in  substituting  the 
name  tiissilaginis  for  tussilagofolia  ;  to  show  why  Webberiana, 
price  IDS.  6d.  (Gard.  Chron.,  1842,  p.  665),.  may  be  called  a 
striking  advance  on  its  contemporaries,  price  2s.  6d.  (Gard.. 
Chron.,  1842,  p.  633),  together  with  many  other  matters  not  yet 
treated  of  in  this  discussion. 

My  first  objection  to  .Mr.  Dyer's  statement  was  taken  on  the 
ground  that  there  is  historical  evidence  that  sports,  or  seedlings 
presenting  notable  variations,  occurred  in  the  early  days  of  the 
improvement  of  the  Cineraria.  To  this,  after  reading  his  letters 
with  great  care,  I  do  not  find  any  specific  answer.  He  tells  us 
that  the  history  as  he  gave  it  would  be  "  in  accord  with  general 
horticultural  experience."  It  obeyed  then  a  rule  to  the  proof  of 
which  exceptions  are  indeed  not  lacking.  He  says,  further,  that 
to  improve  a  pl.ant  the  only  safe  way  is  Vjy  "selecting  the 
minutest  trace  of  change  in  the  required  direction,"  and  "  by 
jiatiently  and  continuously  repeating  the  operation."  Now 
this  would  be  all  very  well  if  we  knew  nothing  about  the  origin 
of  the  Cineraria  ;  but  against  the  evidence  that  seedlings  pre- 
senting striking  variations  did  as  a  fact  arise,  and  against  the 
historical  evidence  that  Cinerarias,  much  as  we  know  them,  did  £S 
a  fact  come  into  existence  within  some  twelve  years,  such  ap>  iori 
expectation  is  worth  nothing  at  all. 

To  my  second  objection,  that  there  is  evidence  that  the  chief 
start  in  the  improvement  of  Cinerarias  came  as  the  result  of 
hybridisation,  Mr.  Dyer  has  given  more  attention.  He  proposes 
to  meet  it  by  rejecting  the  whole  of  the  historical  evidence  as 
unsound,  and  preferring  the  conjecture  to  which  he  .says  an  in- 
spection of  the  modern  plants  has  led  him.  The  historical 
evidence  is  to  go  liecause  we  are  told  certain  horticulturists  are 
ignorant  men.  I  premise  that  this  is  not  a  principle  which 
Darwin,  whom  Mr.  Dyer  would  claim  as  his  master,  would  have 
endorsed. 

But  before  judging,  let  us  try  to  consider  what  was  the  objective 
evidence  on  which  the  gardeners  made  up  their  minds  that 
the  new  Cinerarias  were  hybrids.  I  m.ay  illustrate  this  by 
reference  to  a  seedling  now  growing  in  the  Cambridge  Botanic 
Oarden,  to  which  -Mr.  Lynch,  the  curator,  kindly  called  my 
attention.  The  case  is  of  special  interest  in  view  of  Mr ; 
Hemsley's  objection  that  it  requires  skill  and  care  to  raise  a 
hybrid  in  the  Composita;.  It  was  with  regret  I  learnt  that  this 
careful  writer  was  not  with  me  in  this  matter. 

This  seedling  was  raised  from  a  seed  of  our  jjlant  of  lanata, 
which  was  received  from  and  is  exactly  similar  to  those  at  Kew." 

t  So  famous  a  hybrid  was  the  King,  that  I  regret  that  I  did  not  mention  it 
in  my  first  letter.  1  did  not  do  so,  as  1  found  no  coloured  pl.ate  of  it.  Mr. 
John  Fr.aser,  of  South  Woodford,  kindly  informs  me  that  he  remembers  it 
as  the  best  of  the  woody  sorts  formerly  grown.  Its  flowers  were  about  the 
size  of  a  penny,  rays  white  tipped  with  purple,  leaves  downy  and  of  a  silvery 
hue  on  the  underside.     Its  secdlinijs  were  unreliable. 

2  There  laljelled ///r/r/fr/(of  DC— /(i«(j/«.  L'Hir.).  I  note  that  though 
otherwise  agreeing  exactly  with  the  lanata  described  by  L.'Her.,  deCandolle 
and  Webb,  the  inflorescence  of  these  plants  differs,  being  a  loose  corymb  of 
some  twenty  he.ads,  instead  of  the  single  flowered  peduncle  {rami  scwficr 
monpccfltali.  Webb)  of  the  old  authors.  Whether  this  variation  is  known  in 
wild  plants,  1  cannot  tell. 


104 


NA  TURE 


[May  30,  1S95 


In  habit  and  si/t  .ui  >^v.dling  is  not  at  all  like  latiata,  but 
might  be  taUen  lor  a  poor  specimen  of  the  common  Cinerarias. 
In  several  characters  it  is  intermediate  l>etween  latiata  and  the 
latter.  The  stem  is  rather  woody,  less  so  than  in  latiata,  but  it 
is  thick  like  those  of  garden  kinds  :  |)etioles  like  latiata  in 
having  no  auricles :  leaves,  nevertheless,  large  like  those  of 
garden  kinds,  the  backs  vcr)'  woolly,  but  largely  purplish,  as  in 
many  cultivated  sorts.  Now  this  plant  must  be  either  (i )  a 
si).jrt  from  latiata  in  the  direction  of  the  garden  forms,  or  (2)  an 
accidental  hybrid  between  latiaia  and  one  of  the  cultivated  kinds 
growing  in  the  same  house  with  it  (we  have  no  otners).  The 
latter  seems  more  likely— an  opinion  in  which  Mr.  Lynch  fully 
concurs. 

Similarly  Bouch^  ( Wiltin.  Motiatss.  xxii.  p.  298,  orig.  not 
seen,  quoted  from  Focke,  I'fl.  Mischlitige,  1881,  p.  201)  says 
that  a  hybrid  between  C.  U'ehhii  (Schlz.  Bipont.)and  iiiienta 
arose  in  the  Berlin  Botanic  Garden  as  the  spontaneous  product 
of  these  S|)ecies  grow  ing  side  bv  side. 

It  was,  I  think,  on  evidence  like  this  that  the  parentage  of  the 
older  hybrids  was  conjectured  ;  but  that  Drummond  and  Men- 
ders m  certainly— and  possibly  others — did  make  definite  efforts 
to  hybridise,  cannot  on  the  evidence  be  doubted.  That  these 
efforts  went  no  further  than  the  brushing  of  |x>llen  of  some 
species  upon  the  flowers  of  others,  I  fully  believe,  and  that  on 
such  endence  xhe precise  parentage  cannot  be  assigned  is  obvious. 
Nevertheless  distinct  seedlings  resulted.  In  a  few  years,  as 
the  writer  in  Pa.xt.  Mag.,  1842,  p.  125,  says  (in  an  article  urging 
t3  fresh  efforts  in  crossing),  this  hybridisation  "  was  the  means  of 
creating  quite  a  novel  and  su|)erior  race."  There  were  the  new 
jilants :  how  had  they  arisen  ?  Those  who  doubt  that  these 
new  kinds  were  hybrids  must  choose  the  other  horn  of  the 
dilemma,  anJ  accept  them  as  sports  pure  and  simple. 

That  the  historical  records  may  contain  errors,  I  am  fully 
aware  ;  but  if  they  cannot  be  accepted  in  detail,  should  they  be 
altogether  rejected  ?  We  might  perhaps  reserve  a  doubt  whether 
the  King  came  precisely  from  pure  iiiieiila  fertilised  by  latiata  : 
whether  ctiieina  var.  laitea  was  a  hybrid  between  (riienta  and 
fopiilifolia  (as  ile  Candolle  surmises) ;  whether  ll'aterlimisiaiia 
was  the  offspring  of  true  criieiila  and  true  tiissilagiiiis  :  whether 
Mrs.  I^udon's  s:atcment  that  the  species  used  were  ct-uenta, 
Janata,  aurila,  liissilagitiis,  antl  popiilifolia,  or  Moore's  belief 
that  cnieiita  and  tiissilasitiis,  w ith  jwrhaps  Hhitieri  (  =  lanata), 
moiier'Tiisis  {  =  aiirita),  and  popiilijolia  ( "  Cross  and  Self-Fert.,"' 
V-  335'  >">!')>  Of  Otto's  similar  declaration  ( Kegel's  Garten/iota, 
1857,  p.  66),  or  that  of  the  /our.  d'hort.  Gaud,  1S46,  already 
given,  should  each  be  taken  without  hesitation  :ls  full  and  com- 
j)lete  statements  of  the  whole  truth,  but  that  they  contain  a 
substance  of  truth  is  hardly  in  (juestion. 

Against  this  Mr.  Dyer  offers  nothing  but  an  opinion  derived 
from  an  inspection  of  certain  modern  plants.  He  who  has  con. 
fidence  in  the  results  of  this  methoil  must  suppose  our  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  inheritance  to  be  nmch  more  complete  than  I 
lielieve  it  to  be.  It  is  not  the  method  Darwin  used.  Take  a 
well-ascertainc<l  case.  Who  would  know  from  ins|)ection  of  the 
Himalaya  rabliit  that  it  came  directly  from  the  Silver-greys  or 
Chinchilla.s  ?  (See  Animals  and  Pits.,  i.  p.  113.)  It  is  unlike 
(hem,  is  of  .sudden  origin,  and  yet  breeds  true.'  To  sup|x>se 
that  in  cross-bred  offspring  given  characteristics  of  the  parents 
must  be  found,  is  to  a.ssume  the  precise  question  which  in  a  dis- 
cusMon  of  organic  stability  is  at  issue.  Lei  it  be  remembered 
that  on  the  hy|»thei>is  of  hybrid  origin  for  our  Cinerarias  it  is 
sup[K)sed  that  they  result  from  several  species  and  varieties, 
crossed  not  once  only,  but  many  times,  in  wholly  irregular  ways. 
Can  it  be  seriously  expected  that  any  s|>ecial  resemblance  to  a 
given  ancestor  should  Ix'  still  traceable.'- 

My  |x.»ilion  then  is  this.  We  heard  Mr.  Dyer's  statement  ; 
turning  to  the  literature  I  fouml  an  entirely  different  account, 
l«irne  out  by  cipious  and  on  the  whole  fairl)  attested  evidence, 
|><>inling  irnsisiiMy  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Cinerarias  are 
.s|)ecies  which  liybridi-e  freely,  and  that  our  modern  forms  have 
arisen  through  such  hybrid  unions. 

'  T.Mr    r.in...,    rr.,r. ,),,.:„  K, A. ,!..,..;.••  r.i-!  i;r.iv.r.  and  to  hi.  fore^ 

■■'jictially  for  (Ik 
'  -  in  hU  Hlr.iiii 
t  un.      Afl-r  this 


Mr.  Djer  has  well  s.iiJ  that  "if  you  take  any  statement  that 
Mr.  Darwin  has  put  forward,  you  may  feel  assured  that  behind 
it  is  a  formidable  body  of  carefully  considered  evidence  not 
likely  to  be  upset."  By  the  courtesy  of  an  opponent  I  have  been 
directed  to  a  ])ass.ige  in  "Cross  and  Self-Fertilization,"  1876, 
p.  335'  "here  (before  describing  experiments  .showing  consider- 
able self-sterility  in  the  garden  Cineraria)  Darwin  gives  this 
definition  of  his  material,  '"  Senecio  (riientiis  (greenliouse 
varieties,  coiiinionly  called  Cinerarias,  probably  derived  from 
sei'eral  fruticose  or  herbaceous  species  much  intercrossed").  It 
seems,  therefore,  that  in  this  matter  also  Mr.  Darwin  has,  to  use 
Mr.  Dyers  words,  "squeezed  out''  of  the  evidence  "all  that  it 
would  profitably  yield." 

Here  I  would  fain  leave  the  subject.  But  perhaps  it  may  be 
suggested  that  though  Darwin's  Cinerarias  were  proliably  hybrids, 
our  Cinerarias  may  not  be  their  descendants.  Such  a  suggestion 
involves  the  supposition  that  in  some  hidden  pl.ace  there  was  a 
thin  red  line  of  pure  crucnta  waiting  for  the  moment  wheii  it 
should  oust  the  hybrids.  If  this  be  seriously  suggested,  I  shall 
ask  where  such  a  strain  was  kept,  an<l  what  steps  were  taken  lt» 
]>reservc  its  purity.  In  view  of  the  evidence  that  chance  bleml- 
ings  occur  freely,  to  keep  a  pure  strain  w<tuld  require  some  care. 
Until  this  has  been  proved,  we  shall  not,  I  think,  be  wrong  in 
sup|3osing  that  each  grower  worked  on  the  material  his 
preileces.sors  had  created,  and  that  our  Cinerarias  are  the  lineal 
descendants  of  the  hybrids  raised  in  the  first  half  of  this 
century. 

In  the  course  of  this  discussion,  Mr.  Dyer  has  treated  me 
to  some  hard  words,  which  I  do  not  particularly  resent. 
Whether  I  have  deserved  them  is  not,  perhaps,  for  me  to  judge. 
But  I  will  ask  Mr.  Dyer  to  point  out  when,  on  being  asked  for 
the  facts  upon  which  I  ha\'e  basetl  a  view,  I  have  replied  thai 
that  was  a  "  matter  for  future  collection."  The  facts  1  have 
been  able  to  collect  may  be  few,  but  by  a  study  of  the  w  ritings 
of  my  antagonists,  I  have  not  been  able  to  add  materially  to 
their  number.'  W.  Baieson. 

St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  May  26. 


It  has  been  pointed  out  to  me  that  my  remarks  on  Mr. 
Bateson's  account  of  the  Cineraria  have  been  interpreted  in  a 
sense  of  which  I  did  not  dream  when  I  wrote  them. 

I  wish,  therefore,  to  say  that,  although  I  do  not  believe  Mr. 
Bateson's  reading  of  the  jiassages  I  quoted  to  be  the  true  one, 
yet  I  have  never  questioned  his  sincerity  in  suggesting  it,  and 
1  am  pained  to  find  that  I  have  seemed  lo  do  so. 

.M.ay  24.  W.    1'.   K.   Wki.don. 


:ir    !.luirai.ui  .-.liuultj  .i.*»l;rl  iU'jil'  lu  tin 


CAutUiun 


of 


I  'tMr.  Dyer  on  hu  own  ground,  I  have  a»umed,  what  1 

'_.^rr._!  .iJmii,  ili.it  in  none  of  llic  varliju*  niodern   strain*  traces  of  the 
dtfTcrent  parcnt-^pecic*  appear. 


NO.    1335.  VOL.  52] 


Boltzmann's  Minimum  Function. 

I  (;.\tllKK  from  Mr.  Culverwell's  last  letter  (Naiikk,  ;\|)ril 
18),  and  Mr.  Bryan's  (.May  9),  that  we  may  regard  the  follow- 
ing conclusion  as  establisheil,  namely,  the  proof  of  the  H  theorem, 
for  any  system  depends  on  a  certain  condition  (.V)  being  fulfiUeil 
among  the  coordinates  and  innmenta  of  the  molecules  forming 
the  system.  Consiilering  these  as  clastic  spheres,  and  using  Dr. 
Watstm's  notation,///,  .  .  .  dii^  is  the  chance  that  a  sphen- 
shall  have  for  cmmlinates  and  momenta  /,  .  .  .  Pi+ap^,  &c., 
and  Fi/F|  .  .  .  i/Qj  the  chance  that  another  sphere  shall  have 
I'l  .  .  .  I'l  +  rfPi,  kVc.  The  condition  required  is  that /' ami  K 
are  independent,  even  for  two  spheres  on  the  point  of  collision. 

Otherwise  we  may  express  it.  Let  there  be  /;  spheres  in 
sp.ace  .S.  Let  us  suppose  .Mr.  Culverwell  lo  .i.ssign  to  each  its 
position  at  time /  =  o,  and  Mr.  Br)an  to  assign  independently 
to  each  its  coHi|v)nent  velocities.  Then  the  comlilion  A  is 
fulfilled  when  /  =  o. 

,/H   . 

We  can  then   prove  that   when  /  =  o  is  negative,  or,  as 

Herr  Boltzmann  would  have  us  say,  is  more  likely  lo  beneg.itive 
than  positive. 

Now   arises  a  question  which  .seems  to  me  to  deserve  con 
siileration.     A.ssuming  our  system  lo  be  finite,  and  to  be  left  to 
itself  unaffected  by  external   disturbances,   does   il   necessarily 

1  It  has  l>ecn  inip«>ssil)lc  f.ir  nic  to  incorporate  in  this  letter  all  the  nULss  of 
informalitni  whi«:h  has  Ireen  nimt  Kencrously  sent  nie  liy  correspoiidents 
since  this  controversy  Iwtjan.  It  is  sugKesled  that  I  should  point  out  that 
Mr.  I)yer"s  use  of  the  word  "feral"  t.»  mean  "wild"  is  iu»t  usual.  A  cor- 
respondent  tells  nie  that  it  w:ls  proliahly  first  used  in  the  special  sense  of 
"  run  wild  "  by  ll.unillon  Smith,  ^'a^.  Lihr.,  Mammalia,  iSjg,  ix.  p.  9». 
Il  has  since  been  soused  hy  nuiny  authors,  especially  D.irwin,  ./<i.  ami 
I'llt.,  i.  p.  117.  &c. 


May  30,  1895] 


NATURE 


105 


follow  tliat  condition  A,  bein;;  now  satisfied,  will  continue  to  be 
satisfied  for  all  time  ? 

If  the  answer  be  Yes,  then  of  course      ,     will  continue  to  be 

negative,  until  at  length  H  reaches  its  niinimuni,  and  the  system 
attains  to  perfection  in  the  form  of  the  Maxwell-Boltzmann  law. 
If  that  is  necessarily  the  future  of  our  system,  then,  as  Dr. 
Watson  says,  the  Maxwell-Boltzmann  law  is  not  only  a  sufficient, 
but  a  necessary  condition  for  permanence. 

I  am  not  aware,  however,  that  this  doctrine  of  (so  to  speak) 
final  ])erseverance  has  ever  been  proved  to  be  true.  I  do  not 
think  it  can  be  regarded  as  axiomatic. 

It  seems  to  me  that  if  we  are  to  make  our  finite  system  reach 
perfection  with  any  certainty,  we  must  resort  to  the  principle  to 
which  I  apjiealed  in  my  first  letter  on  this  subject — that  every 
material  system  is  constantly  receiving  disturbances  from 
without,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  keep  condition  A  in  working 

order,  and  so  to  make  generally  negative.     Otherwise  we 

must  regard  our  system  as  only  part  of  an  infinitely  extended 
system,  the  parts  of  which,  when  not  too  distant,  mutually 
influence  each  other.  S.  H.  Bt;RBfRY. 


Research   in   Education. 

Ir  is  quite  unnecessary  tor  -Nlr.  U.  S.  T.  Grant  to  suffer 
"  dialectic  aiuiihilation  "  (see  p.  5)  in  order  to  discover  Prof. 
.\rmstrong's  definite  scheme  of  scientific  education,  inasmuch 
as  in  1889-90  such  a  scheme  was  published  by  a  Committee  of 
Ihe  British  Association,  of  which  Dr.  Armstrong  was  an  active 
member. 

As  I  believe  many  schools  are  still  waiting  for  evidence  as  to  the 
practicaljilily  of  the  scheme  before  adopting  it,  I  venture  to  quote 
my  own  experience.  I  have  been  engaged  for  some  time  in  prac- 
tically a|)plying  this  method  to  the  teaching  of  girls  of  various 
ages,  and  am  in  a  position  to  state  that  the  scheme  is  perfectly 
workable. 

It  is  not,  of  course,  suggested  that  students  should  find  out 
every  known  fact  in  chemistry  or  physics  by  a  process  of  personal 
research — life  is  not  long  enough  ;  but,  if  their  early  training  be 
on  the-e  lines,  they  are  in  a  much  better  position  later  on  to 
accept,  or  if  necessary  reject,  the  work  of  others.  A  scientific 
method  of  thinking  is  of  far  more  value  than  an  accumulation  of 
facts,  and  so  it  is  extremely  important  that  children  should  begin 
Ihis  kind  of  work  before  their  logical  perceptions  have  become 
obliterated  by  a  continued  application  to  irregular  verbs.  The 
problems  set  to  young  children  are  naturally  of  a  very  simple 
nature,  ami  I  do  not  leave  the  girls  to  themselves  to  "  struggle 
to  the  truth  by  a  process  of  trial  and  error."  I  state  the  problem 
to  the  class,  and  I  usually  find  the  girls  have  plenty  ot  suggestions 
to  ofl'er  as  to  its  solution  ;  these  suggestions  I  criticise,  .and  as  soon 
as  a  practicable  method  has  been  found,  the  girls  work  it  out  for 
themselves.  The  early  problems  involve  measurements  of  length, 
area,  volume,  and  weight,  an<l  naturally  the  use  of  each  new  in- 
strument is  explained  and  illustrated.  Simple  physical  problems 
follow  these,  such  as  experiments  on  relative  density,  and  thus 
children  are  led  to  realise  anil  appreciate  the  common  properties 
of  matter,  .\fter  this  training  they  are  nuijh  more  ready  to  solve 
elementary  chemical  problems.  Certainly  they  could  never  work 
long  enough  to  discover  Dalton's  laws  for  themselves,  but  they 
can  quite  appreciate  classical  experiments,  and  see  how  theory 
su[)plies  an  explanation  of  the  facts.  I  am  quite  aware  that  if 
children  are  to  work  in  this  way  they  cannot  be  expected  to  sit 
.still  in  their  places  with  the  loi)k  of  passive  receptivity  on  their 
faces,  which  is  conventionally  regarded  as  the  proper  appearance 
of  well-disciplined  scholars.  They  must  move  about,  and  should 
l)e  encour.aged  to  talk  to  each  other  about  their  work.  I  am 
convinced  that  a  class  of  about  eighteen  is  quite  large  enough  if 
sound  work  is  to  he  done  ;  and  if  at  any  time  their  excitement 
becomes  noisy,  I  find  that  a  threat  of  numerical  problems  is 
<iuite  sufficient  to  make  them  continue  their  ])ractical  work  more 
peacefully. 

It  seems  to  me  that  physiology  and  hygiene,  as  usually  taught 
ill  girls'  schools,  are  absolutely  pernicious  and  unscientific. 
Cirls  learn  a  list  of  the  circulatory  organs  as  they  do  the  kings 
of  Knglaixl,  and  with  less  advantage.  It  would  he  considered 
criminal  in  them  to  d.)ubt  any  of  the  facts  in  their  books, 
although  many  are  wrong,  and  yet,  I  take  it,  scientific  training 
misses  a  great  point  if  it  does  not  engender  a  wholesome  spirit  of 
<loubt.     But  the  worst  feature  of  all  is  the  way  in  which  girls  are 

NO.    1335,  VOL.   52] 


taught  certain  things  in  iheory  of  the  meaning  of  which  they  have 
not  the  faintest  notion.  They  can  tell  one  that  water  is  H.  0,but  the 
real  significance  of  the  symbol  is  perfectly  unknown  to  them,  and 
of  course  they  are  not  able  to  understand  it  without  some  chemical 
training,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  some  schools  consider  themselves 
very  advanced  and  practical  if  the  lessons  are  emphasised  by  the 
burning  of  hydrogen  and  the  manufacture  of  oxygen.  Numberless 
examjiles  kA  similarly  useless  facts  could  be  <juoted,  which  are 
Icamt  under  the  name  of  hygiene — teachers,  parents,  and  girls 
vainly  believing  that  this  is  science.  But  all  these  facts  are  for- 
gotten as  soon  as  some  examination  is  ])assed,  and  nothing  is 
left  behind  ;  whereas  a  logical  system  of  scientific  training  pro- 
duces an  effect  on  the  mind  which  it  is  imjiossible  to  overrate. 
Surely  the  aim  of  education  should  be  to  produce  not  people  who 
are  full  of  facts,  but  those  who  can  nu\ke  the  best  use  of  the  brains 
they  possess,  who  are  clear-headeil,  and  able  both  to  perceive 
and  take  advantage  of  opportunities  that  may  be  afforded  them. 
Central  Foundation  School  for  L.  Edna  Walter. 

Girls,  London. 


The  Bibliography  of  Spectroscopy. 

It  will  be  within  the  recollection  of  many  of  your  readers  that, 
in  the  year  1879,  a  committee  was  appointed  by  the  British 
Association  to  report  on  the  state  of  our  knowledge  of  spectrum 
analysis,  and  I  was  asked  to  undertake  the  preparation  of  a 
bibliography  of  spectroscopy  from  the  year  1870.  It  was  not 
thought  necessary  to  begin  at  an  earlier  date,  for  a  bibliography 
of  the  subject  is  to  be  found  in  Roscoe's  "  Spectrum  Analysis." 
With  the  help  of  several  members  of  the  committee,  lists  of 
spectroscopic  papers  were  prepared,  and  appeared  in  the  British 
.Association  Reports  for  1881,  1884,  and  1889.  In  that  year  Mr. 
H.  J.  Madan  kindly  consented  to  join  the  committee,  and  as  he 
was  then  resident  in  Oxford  he  was  able  to  afford  valuable 
assistance  in  checking  the  references,  and  the  section  of  the  list 
that  was  published  last  year  is  almost  entirely  his  work,  as  I  had 
found  it  impossible  to  spare  the  time  to  go  to  London  to  look  up 
the  references  in  the  libraries.  Mr.  Madan  is  now  living  in 
Gloucester,  and  therefore  out  of  reach  of  scientific  libraries;  he 
has,  notwithstanding,  shown  his  interest  in  the  subject  by  making 
frequent  visits  to  Oxford  and  London  to  continue  the  work.  He 
finds,  however,  that  the  work  is  hardly  practicable  for  one  so  far 
removed  from  the  great  centres  ;  and  my  object  in  writing  this 
letter  is  to  ask  if  any  one  will  volunteer  to  relieve  him  from  this 
duty — that  is,  on  the  supposition  that  the  list  is  of  real  use  to 
workers  on  spectroscopic  subjects.  Many  of  the  readers  of 
NatI're  will  be  able  to  give  valuable  opinions  on  this  matter, 
and  probably  to  suggest  improvements  in  the  manner  in  which 
the  list  is  drawn  up. 

It  has  lieen  suggested  that  the  four  sections  of  the  list  should 
be  rearranged  and  published  as  one  continuous  catalogue.  The 
advantages  of  this  for  the  purpose  of  reference  are  obvious ;  but 
from  an  estimate  obtained  last  year,  the  cost  of  printing  would 
not  be  less  than  ^100.  Dr.  Tuckermann  also  very  kindly  pro- 
posed that  the  "Bibliography  of  Spectroscopy "  drawn  up  by 
him  and  published  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution  in  1888.  should 
be  incorporated  with  the  British  Association  lists  ;  this  would 
very  materially  increase  the  expenditure. 

Mr.  .Madan  is  quite  willing  to  undertake  gratuitously  the 
literary  work  involved  in  the  collection  and  rearrangement  of  the 
various  sections.  But  the  expense  of  publication  is  so  great  that 
the  British  Association  can  hardly  be  expected  to  bear  the  whole 
of  it,  although  it  is  quite  likely  that  a  liberal  grant  might  be 
made.  I'robably  also  grants  might  be  obtained  from  other 
societies  interested  in  the  work,  if  it  appears  that  the  catalogue 
would  be  of  special  utility  to  those  engaged  in  research.  The 
balance  might  be  met  by  a  moderate  charge  for  each  copy  sold. 

Cooper's  Hill,  May  15.  Hekhkri    McI.kod. 


An  Aquatic  Hymenopterous  Insect. 

No  doubt  many  of  your  readers  are  aware  that,  in  1863,  Sir 
John  Lubbock  gave  an  account  of  an  extraordinary  hymenop- 
terous insect  which  he  had  observed  swimming  in  a  basin  of 
water  taken  from  a  pond  at  Chislehurst.  Another  observer  (.Mr. 
Duchess,  of  Stepney)  had  also  found  a  single  specimen  about 
the  same  time;  then,  in  l88i,  Mr.  Bostock  found  one  in  some 
pond  water  at  Stone,  Staffordshire,  since  which  time  it  .does  not 
a|ipear  to  have  been  recorded  by  any  one.  I  have  searched 
many  ponds  for  it  year  after  year,  but  without  success. 

On  Saturday,  May  4,  the  Queketl  MicroscoiijcalClub  held  one 


io6 


NATURE 


[May  30,  1S95 


of  its  excursions  in  starch  <if  pond  life,  the  neighbourhood  visited 

\k\x\s,  Tolteridge  and   Mill   Hill.       Mr.    \V.   Burton    obtained 

-   "'!   phials  of  the  water  for  examination,  and  the   first 

«ater  turned  out  into  the  trough  contained  a  minute 

Mr.  Burton  kindly  brought  tome,  when  I  immediately 

i(ientiried  it  as  the  Polyiicma  iiataiis  (Lubbock,  Trans.  Linn. 
So,:,  vol.  xxiv.  1864,  p.  135,  plate  23). 

.\s  this  capture  was,  for  the  fourth  time,  the  result  of  chance, 

Mr.  Burton  and  I  set  out  (May  6)  to  search  for  more  s|)ecimens. 

'  .       r  nets  in  and  carefully  examining  the  contents 

r<,  my  patience  was  at  last  rewarded  by  seeing  a 

.,  stniggling  to  free  its  wings  from  the  mass  of 

minute  vegetation  gathere<l  in  the  dipping  net.  Aher  a  few  hours 
more  search,  I  found  four  males,  which,  together  with  the  female, 
I  transferred  to  an  observation  tank,  where  all  soon  disportetl 
themselves  in  the  liveliest  manner,  swimming,  or  rather  flying, 
under  water  for  over  four  days,  during  which  period  they  did 
no.,  to  my  knowledge,  once  leave  the  water.  I  have  since  obtained 
others,  which  are  under  close  observation,  and  in  course  of  time 
I  hope  to  trace  out  their  life-history. 

I'erhaf  s,  owing  to  the  microscopic  dimensions  of  many  of  the 
MymariJu  (Haliday),  very  few  entomologists  have  paid  any 
attention  to  this  most  interesting  and  fascinating  family  of 
beautiiiil  "  Fairy  Flies,"'  to  whose  industry  we  are  no  doubt 
largely  indebted  for  our  freedom  from  "  blights"  of  many  kinds. 
They  ar.-,  indeed,  mere  specks,  scarcely  visible  to  the  eyes  of 
ordinary  folk,  and  yet  they  have  their  place  in  nature. 

I  am  incline<l  to  think  that  when  the  ty|X-  collection  of  the 
MymariJu,  made  by  the  late  Mr.  Haliday,  has  hieen  thoroughly 
cxatniced,  this  name  Polynetna  natans  will  have  to  give  [ilace,  so 
far  as  the  genus  is  concerned.  I  ho|>e  that  before  very  long  we 
shall  have  figures  of  all  the  genera  in  this  most  interesting  group. 

Fred.  Knock. 


Halley's  Chart. 

1  HAVE  been  much  interested  with  the  letter  of  Dr.  L.  .\.  Bauer 
in  your  la-st  numlwr,  as  I  happen  to  possess  a  map,  or  chart, 
iKiund  up  with  a  number  of  Dutch,  German,  and  French  maps 
of  the  end  of  the  sevtnieenth  and  the  first  years  of  the  eighteenth 
centuries.  The  latest  map  with  a  date  is  1704.  This  English 
map  is  evidently  the  sime  as  974  (4)  mentioned  by  Dr.  Bauer. 
It  is  entitled  "  A  new  ami  correct  chart  showing  the  Variations 
of  the  Compass  in  the  Western  and  Southern  Oceans,  as  ob- 
seivcil  in  y«  year  1 700,  by  his  Ma"'=^  command  by  Edm.  Halley." 
The  dedication  reads  .is  follows,  in  Latin  :  "  .Majestati  semjier 
August.c  Clulielmi  HI.  D.G.  Magn.e  Britannia.-  P'ra.  iV  Hib. 
Kegis  Invictissimi.  Tabula  \vxc  Hydrographica  \"arialionum 
Magncticarum  Index.  Devotissime  Consecratur  a  Subdilo 
Humillimo  Edm.  Halley.''  At  one  side  of  the  map  is  the  fol- 
lowing :  "  The  curve  lines  which  are  drawn  over  the  seas  in 
this  chart  do  show  at  one  view  all  the  places  where  the  variation 
of  the  compo-ss  is  the  same  :  The  numtjers  to  them  show  how- 
many  degrees  the  needle  declines  either  E.Tstwards  or  Westwards 
from  the  true  North  :  and  the  double  line  passing  near  Bermudas 
and  the  Caf)c  de  Virde  isles,  is  that  where  the  needle  stands  true 
without  variation." 

The  chart  is  in  excellent  condition,  but  has  no  name  or 
printer  on  it.  The  only  indication  is  "  \.  Harris,  Sculp."  The 
course  of  a  vessel  going  from  and  reluming  to  England  is  clearly 
niarke<l.  Tnos.  Ward. 

Northwich,  May  27. 


".\     ////•.    I.I.M:    .N/V:(  /A'.-;    nh     I//E 
ELE.MEMT.S. 

I  THINK  Lccoq  de  Boisbauclran  was  the  first  who 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  line  spectra  of 
the  elements  are  by  no  means  so  irregular  as  they  seem 
10  be  at  first  sight.  He  discovered  the  similarity  in  the 
spectra  of  the  alkalies  and  alkaline  earths,  and  pointed 
out  how  the  lines  in  the  spectra  of  these  two  families  seem 
10  be  shifted  towards  the  less  refrangible  side  with  in- 
creasing atomic  weight.  .Mascart,  in  1869,  found  two 
strong  triplets  of  lines  in  the  ultra-violet  spectrum  of 
magnesium,  similar  to  the  strong  green  triplet  so  pro- 
minent in  the  solar  spectrum.  He  says:  "II  semble 
difficile  que  la  rcproduclion  d'un  parcil  ph<!nominc  soil 

NO.    1335,  VOL.  52] 


un  cfTet  du  hasard  ;  n'est-il  pas  plus  naturcl  d'admcttrc 
que  CCS  groupcs  des  raies  seiiiblables  sent  des  hamioniqucs 
qui  ticnnent  i  la  constitution  moleculaire  du  gaz  luini- 
neux  ?  II  faudra  sans  doute  un  grand  noinbrc  d'obscrva- 
tions  analogues  pour  dccouvrir  la  loi  qui  regit  ces 
hannoniques."  But  the  wave-lengths  corresponding  to 
these  rays  were  then  not  accurately  known,  and  so  the 
I  most  interesting  feature  concerning  the  oscillation  fre- 
I  quencics,  or  the  number  of  waves  which  pass  any  fixed 
point  in  unit  of  time,  remained  unnoticed.  It  was  later 
on  shown  by  Hartley,  that  the  differences  between  the- 
wave-numbers  of  the  three  lines  seem  to  be  the  same  for 
all  the  triplets.  This  constant  difference  of  wave-numbers 
repeated  in  a  number  of  doublets,  of  triplets,  and  of  more 
complicated  groups  of  lines,  has  now  been  observed  in  the 
spectra  of  many  elements.  There  are  repetitions  of 
doublets  in  the  spectra  of  sodium,  potassium,  rubidium, 
caesium,  copper,  silver,  aluminium,  iridium,  thallium  ;  of 
triplets  in  the  spectra  of  magnesium,  calcium,  strontium, 
zinc,  cadmium,  mercury,  manganese,  and  of  more  compli- 
cated groups  of  lines  in  the  spectra  of  tin,  lead,  arsenic, 
antimony,  bismuth.  In  all  these  cases  the  differences 
seem  to  be  absolutely  constant.  For,  notwithstanding  the 
great  accuracy  with  which  Rowland  has  taught  us  to 
determine  the  wave-lengths,  the  law  holds  good.  As  an 
example,  1  give  the  list  of  doublets  in  the  spectrum  of 
thallium,  according  to  Prof  Kayscr's  and  my  determin- 
ations. The  number  of  waves  passing  a  fixed  point  in 
unit  of  time,  is  ec|ual  to  the  distance  the  light  travels  in 
unit  of  time  divided  by  the  wave-length.  If  we  measure 
the  wave-lengths  in  vacuo,  the  distance  the  light  travels 
is  the  same  for  all  rays.  We  may  then  choose  as  unit  of 
time,  the  time  that  light  requires  to  travel  one  centimetre, 
so  that  the  wave-number  is  simply  equal  to  i  X,  X  being 
the  wave-length  in  vacuo,  measured  m  centimetres.  In 
this  manner,  we  get  rid  of  the  necessity  of  settling  the 
velocity  of  light,  which  as  yet  has  not  been  measured  with 
anything  like  the  accuracy  with  which  the  wave-lengths 
are  known. 

I  'x 
iS6S4-2"l 
26476-6/ 
28324-1  \ 
36117-1  ( 
30952-1  1 
38744-8! 
335694  \ 
41365'^ 
3421771 
42010-2  ( 
34526-2  ( 
42321-4  ( 
353721  I 
43164-71 
36879-2  I 
4467 1  -0  ( 

375030  > 
45293-8  I 
38305-01 
46096  -8  ( 

46452-4  ( 

39'57o( 
469473J 

The  mean  of  the  twelve  differences,  assuming  their 
weights  to  be  inversely  proportional  to  the  fquare  of  the 
cstim.'iled  limit  of  error,  is  7792'5.  When  the  wave- 
lengths are  not  reduced  to  vacuo,  the  differences  are  also 
very  nearly  constant,  because  the  reduction  alters  them 
all  nearly  by  the  same  amount.  Hut  it  was  a  source  of 
satisfaction  to  me,  that  the  reduction  brought  all  the  devi- 
ations from  the  mean  value  well  within  the  limits  of  error, 
where.is  without  the  reduction  the  second  diffeieni  e  had 
bccTi  just  beyond  the  limit.  These  tweb  e  doublets  do  not 
comprise  half  the  number  of  wave-lengths  that  have  been 


Eslimatetl 

iffcrcnce. 

liniil  of  t-rror. 

77924      - 

...      0-32 

7793'o     ■■• 

...      0-63 

77927     -  - 

...      0-74 

77957       - 

...      490 

7792-5       - 

...      0-90 

7795'2     •  • 

...      4-50 

7792-6    ... 

...       I-20 

7791-8     ... 

...      2-40 

7790-8      .. 

...       270 

7791-8 

...      680 

77891     ... 

-      7-30 

7790-3     ... 

...      8-20 

May  30,  1895] 


NATURE 


10; 


observed  in  the  spectrum  of  thallium.  But,  nevertheless, 
I  think  any  one  will  agree  that  their  numerical  relation 
is  no  chance  coincidence.  Let  us  now  make  a  drawing  of 
these  doublets  to  the  scale  of  l/X.  Evidently  the  twelve  first 
lines  will  gi\e  the  same  picture  as  the  twelve  second  lines. 
Let  us  therefore,  to  simplify  matters,  only  plot  down  the 
twelve  first  lines.  At  first  glance  this  docs  not  show  any 
remarkable  regularity  ;  but  if  we  drop  the  fourth  and 
sixth  line,  we  can  arrange  the  rest  in  two  series,  as  is 
shown  in  Fig.  i,  both  rows  resembling  the  series  of  lines 
in  the  spectrum  of  hydrogen,  which  are  so  accurately 
represented  by  Balmer's  formula.  Recurring  now  to  the 
general  list  of  lines  observed  in  the  spectrum  of  thallium, 
we  find  that  all  five  lines  of  the  first  series  are  accom- 
panied on  their  more  refrangible  side  by  strong  and  easily 
reversed  lines,  while  the  lines  of  the  second  series  are 
single.  Thus  not  only  does  the  symmetry  of  the  drawing 
justify  the  separation  of  the  lines  into  two  series,  but  their 


that  only  four  liries  out  of  sixty  do  not  show  any  signs  of 
a  system  according  to  which  they  are  grouped. 

I  have  given  this  detailed  account  of  the  arc  spectrum 
of  thallium  only  as  an  e.xample  ;  for  I  might  describe 
many  more  spectra  that  show  a  similar  regularity  in  the 
distribution  of  many  of  their  lines.  Hut  there  is  another 
interesting  point.  The  distribution  of  lines  in  the  spectra 
of  chemically  related  elements  shows  evident  signs  of  a 
common  plan.  I  will,  for  instance,  describe  the  series  of 
triplets  in  the  spectra  of  magnesium,  calcium,  and 
strontium.  > 

The  most  prominent  lines  in  the  visible  spectrum  of 
magnesium  are  the  thi-ee  green  lines  5184,  5173,  5168 
10-"  cm.  forming  the  group  6  in  the  solar  spectrum.  In 
the  ultra-violet,  at  least  ten  repetitions  of  this  group  have 
been  observed,  two  more  being  doubtful  on  account  of 
their  weakness  and  nebulosity.  The  differences  of  wave- 
numbers  have  been  found  to  be  the  same  in  all  the  groups, 


V.X  I8| 

3l 

20 

2,1 

22j 

23| 

2d.| 

25| 

26t 

27| 

2S| 

=9| 

30| 

31 

32] 

33| 

34.|       3S{ 

36| 

3^ 

38|       39| 

«| 

appearance  teaches  us  the  same.  We  may  e.xpect  to  find 
that  a  formula  similar  to  that  of  Balmer  connects  the  lines 
of  each  of  these  two  series.  Indeed,  for  suitable  values 
of  A,  B,  C  the  wave-numbers  may  be  calculated  from  the 
formula, 

A-B«-  =  -C«-> 

A  and  B  having  nearly  the  same  values  for  both  series, 
and  n  assuming  the  values  4,  5,  6,  7,  8  for  the  first,  and 
3,  4,  5,  6,  7  for  the  second  series.  One  may  state  the 
formula  thus  :  if  the  wave-numbers  be  plotted  as  ordinates 
to  the  abscissie  i  3-,  I  4-',  i  5-',  &c.,  the  points  form  a 
parabola.  If  we  now  go  on  substituting  for  n  the  subse- 
quent whole  numbers,  we  find  that  all  these  calrulated 
wave-lengths  really  exist  in  the  spectrum.  But  they  are 
weaker  and  weaker  for  higher  values  of  n.  Prof  Kayser 
and  I  have  been  able  to  observe  the  wave-lengths  calculated 
by  the  formula  of  the  first  series  for  n  =  9,  10,  11,  12,  13, 
14,  15,  16,  and  by  the  formula  of  the  second  for  «  =  8,  9, 
10,  1 1,  12,  13,  14,  15.  We  searched  for  the  second  members 
corresponding  to  these  lines,  but  could  not  detect  them, 
owing  to  our  plates  not  being  sensitive  enough  for  wave- 
lengths as  small  as  2100.  However,  they  have  nearly  all 
been  observed  by  Cornu.  If  we  accept  Cornu's  wave- 
lengths, we  now  have  two  seriesof  doublets  of  equal  width 
in  the  scale  of  wave-numljers,  and  a  drawing  of  them  shows 
a  remarkable  symmetry  (Fig.  2).  The  drawing  comprises 
47  out  of  60  lines  that  constitute  the  arc  spectrum  of 
thallium,  including  Cornu's  observations.  Of  the  thirteen 
Imes  left,  five  are  the  strong  lines,  mentioned  abo\e,  that 
accompany  the  fi\e  first  lines  of  the  first  series  on  their 
more  refrangiljle  side.  The  distance  between  each  line 
and  Its  companion  grows  smaller  as  we  advance  to  smaller 
wave-lengths,  the  last  distance  being  not  more  than  0-45 
10-8  cm.  It  seems  probable  that  the  next  lines  also  have 
their  companions,  which,  however,  so  closely  coincide  with 
them  that  it  has  not  been  possible  to  separate  them.  So 
there  are  only  eight  lines  left,  the  positions  of  which  do  not 
enter  into  the  general  plan  of  the  spectrum.  Among  these 
eight  lines  there  are  two  douljlets  of  the  same  difference 
of  wave-numbers  as  all  the  other  doublets.  Both  widen 
asymmetrically--one  towards  the  more  refrangible  side, 
the  other  to  the  less  refrangible  side.     Thus  we  may  say 


as  may  be  seen  from  the  following  list.  The  wave-lengths 
have  not  been  reduced  to  vacuo,  because  all  three  lines  of 
one  group  are  so  near  one  another  that  they  would  all  be 
changed  by  nearly  the  same  amount,  so  that  the  differences 
of  wave-numbers  would  practically  remain  the  same. 


5183-84 
5172-87 
5't>7-55 

3838-44 
3832 '46 
3829-51 

333683 
3332 '28 
33300S 

3097-06 

3093 '14 
3091-1S 

2942-21 
2938-67 
2936-99 

2848-53 
2S46-91 

2781-53 
2778-36 
2776-80 

2736-84 
2733'8o 
273235 
2698-44 

2695  "53 
2693-97 

2672-90 
2669-84 
2668-26 

2649-30 
2646-6! 
2645-22 


I, 'A 
19290-7 

'933' '6 
i935i'5 
26052-2 
26092-9 
261 13-0 

29968-6 
30009-5 
30029-3 

32288-7 
32329-6 
32350'i 

33988-1 
34029  o 
34048-5 

35105-8 
35 '25 -8 

3595" '4 
359925 
36012-7 

365385 
36579' I 
365985 

37058-4 
37098-5 
37"9-9 
37412-6 
37455'4 
37477 -6 

37745'8 
37784-2 
37804-0 


40-9 
19-9 

407 

20-1 

409 
19-8 

40-9 
205 

409 
19-5 

4I-I 

20-2 

40-6 
19-4 

40-1 

21-4 

42-8 

22-2 
38-4 

19-8 


In  the  sixth  triplet,  the  first  line  has  not  been  observed. 
There  is  a  very  strong  line  2852-22  not  far  from  where  the 


NO.    1335,  VOL.   52] 


io8 


NA TURE 


[May  30,  1895 


first  line  of  the  triplet  should  be.     But  this  one  is  out  of 
the  question  on  account  of  its  enormous  cncrj;y,  which   | 
would  be  quite  out  of  comparison  with  the  other  lines.   | 
So  we  must  suppose  that  the  first  line  of  the  triplet  is  con-   ; 
cealed  by  the  strong  line.      Indeed,  on  the  plates  Prof.   ] 
Kayser  and   1  have  examined,  it  would  be  impossible  to   , 
detect  a  line  close  to  2S52.     .Ati-tin'  as  in   the  spectrum 
of  thallium,  these  triplets  form  two  series  i.scc    Fig.  s"), 
and  again   we  find  that  the .  wave-numbers  of  the  first, 
second,  and -third  lines  in  each  series  are  vcr\-  accurately 
represented  by'a  fomiula. 


.A  -  15/7 


C« -', 


n  standing  for  the  row  of  entire  numbers.     For  each  series 
there  are  three  values  of  .A,  but  only  one  vahie  of  B,  and 


sponding  rays  have  not  been  identified  with  certainty. 
There  are  many  lines: beside  those  forming  the  triplets. 
For  magnesium,  the  triplets  contain  33  out  of  56  lines, 
for  calcium  33  out  of  106,  for  strontium  29  out  of  97.  We 
have  found  that,  as  a  rule,  the  higher  the  melting  point  of 
an  element,  the  greater  is  the  percentage  of  lines  in  the 
arc  spectrum  that  do  not  belong  to  the  series.  From 
magnesium, to  calcium,  and  from  calcium  to  strontium, 
the  triplets  widen  and  shift  to  the  less  refrangible  side  of 
the  spectrum.  The  same  thing  happens  in  the  spectra  of 
other  groups. of  chemically-related  elements,  the  difference 
of  wave-numbers  of  the  doublets  or  triplets  being  some- 
what proportional  to  the  square  of  the  atomic  weight. 

There  is  one  more  feature  which  seems  interesting  in 
regard    to    the   connection    of  the    spectra   of    different 


W      IBI      201       gal      g*l       261       281       301       3g|       Ml       36| 


481       50|  ' 


one  value  of  C.  The  three  values  of  .A  are  very  nearly 
the  same  in  both  series,  indicating  that  the  ends  of  both 
series  coincide.  The  lowest  number  for  which  the  formula 
gives  a  positive  value  is  /;  =  3.  To  this  value  corresponds 
the  strong  green  triplet.  But  in  the  other  series  the 
corresponding  triplet  ought  to  be  found  near  13000  10-* 
cm.  where  photographic  methods  fail.  It  may  be  that  it 
is  identical  with  the  lines  that  Bccquerel  has  found  near 
iiooo  and  12120,  the  first  of  which,  he  says,  is  possibly 
double.  The  deviation  between  these  and  the  calculated 
values  is  not  so  very  great,  considering  the  wide  extra- 
polation of  the  fonnula.  .\  small  change  in  the  value  of 
C  would  alter  the  formula  much  more  for  //  =  3  than  for 
the  higher  values  of  //.  Besides,  we  believe  the  formula 
only  to  be  an  approximation  to  the  true  function  which 
may  be  developed  into  a  series  of  descending  powers  of 


elements.  In  all  the  formuho  of  scries  that  have  liccn 
observed,  the  coefficient  of  «"-'  does  not  varj'  more  than 
about  10  per  cent,  from  its  mean  v.alue,  if  we  except  one 
of  the  two  series  of  doublets  in  the  spectrum  of  aluminium 
where  the  variation  is  somewhat  larger.  1  think,  when 
in  some  time  a  satisfactory  theoretical  explanation  of  the 
symmetry  in  the  spectra  of  the  elements  will  be  given, 
this  co-efficient  will  pro\e  to  be  an  important  physical 
constant.  C.   RuNc.K. 


KARL    VOOT. 

THE  life  of  Prof  Karl  V'ogt,  who  died  on  May  6,  was 
no  tranquil  scientific  career,  for  he  was  a  fight- 
ing philosopher.  He  first  comes  into  notice  in  1839, 
working  with  Agassiz,  then   Professor  at   Neuchatel,  on 


■  A         l«l        151        If!         171        rel        I9|       iOl        2l|       22l       231       g4|       2Si       281       27!       28|       gpj       30l        3l|       321       331       34!       351       36l       37|       3b] 


Mg. 


Ca. 


Sr. 


I 


I 


/;-.  Il  iliis  IS  Ml.  the  neglected  terms  would  affect  the 
values  of  the  formula  much  more  for  the  low  values  of  ;/, 
than  for  the  higher  ones.  The  separation  of  the  triplets 
into  two  scries  is  not  only  suggested  by  the  .symmetry  of 
the  distribution,  but  also  by  the  aspect  of  the  lines. 

In  the  spectra  of  calcium  and  strontium,  we  also  find 
triplets  with  the  same  differences  of  wave-numbers,  and 
their  appearance  teaches  us  in  each  spectrum  to  separate 
them  into  two  scries.  We  then  sec  that  the  distribution 
of  triplets  shows  a  remarkable  similarity  to  that  in  the 
spectrum  of  magnesium. 

The  dotted  Imcs  in  the  figure   mean   that  the  corrc- 


the  "Freshwater  FishesofCcnlr.il  Europe."  This  great 
work,  never  completed,  determined  the  direction  of  Vogt's 
best  research  during  the  rest  of  his  long  life.  It  was  only 
in  1888-94  that  t'lc  "  Traite  dWnatoniie  Compar('e,"  by 
\'ogt  and  Jung,  was  published  in  Paris,  taking  high  rank 
as  a  standard  authority,  and  likely  to  retain  it.  He 
returned  from  Paris  to  his  native  town  of  ("licssen,  where 
hehad  been  a))poinled  Professor.  But  the  revolution  of 
184S  soon  burst  forth,  and  we  hear  of  him  as  an  advanced 
Democratic  Deputy  contending  for  liberty  and  progress 
with  the  trenchant  orator)'  he  could  use  alike  in  politics  and 
science     Political  forces  were  too  strong  against  liini.  ;ind 


May  30, 


1895] 


NATURE 


109 


he  had  to  depart  from  his  university  and  countr)',  finding 
a  home  again  in  Switzerland,  where  he  took  up  the 
double  life  of  biologist  and  politician  as  a  Professor 
at  Geneva,  and  a  prominent  member  of  the  National  and 
Federal  Council.  His  all-round  knowledge  is  testified  to 
by  papers  on  Alpine  geology,  petrology,  and  prehistoric 
archaeology.  Those  who  were  present  at  the  Norwich 
meeting  of  the  Congress  of  Prehistoric  .\rch;tology  in 
1868,  remember  his  robiist  presence  and  slashing  speech. 
To  this  subject,  at  the  time  rising  into  notice,  belong 
Vogt's  discourses,  well  known  in  the  English  translation, 
edited  by  Dr.  James  Hunt,  and  published  by  the  .Anthro- 
pological Society  in  1S64  under  the  title  "Lectures  on 
Man  :  his  Place  in  Creation,  and  in  the  History  of  the 
Earth.'  There  is  so  much  forcible  reasoning  m  this  book, 
that  it  may  still  be  read  with  profit  thirty  years  after  date. 
It  is  true  that  the  thesis  of  the  book  which  gained  it 
favour  with  the  polygenist  school,  whose  desire  was  to 
trace  the  races  of  mankind  to  several  locally  and  speci- 
fically distinct  origins,  is  one  which  would  nowadays 
hardly  find  supporters  among  anthropologists.  Vogt 
held  that  the  various  branches  of  the  human  race  trace 
their  pedigrees  to  corresponding  branches  of  the  anthro- 
pomorpha.  He  cannot  see  "  why  .American  races  of  man 
may  not  be  derived  from  .American  apes,  Negroes  from 
African  apes,  and  Negritos,  perhaps,  from  .Asiatic  apes." 
In  these  lectures  Vogt  shows  a  by  no  means  admirable 
mode  of  controversy  by  unpleasant  epithets,  more  or  less 
like  those  which,  in  Germany  as  elsewhere,  the  orthodox 
world  had  poured  on  "  infidels  "'  and  "  materialists.''  But 
his  sense  of  humour  was  blunt,  and  he  evidently  did  not 
see  that  religion,  which  has  swayed  the  universal 
human  mind  from  untold  ages,  is  a  cosmic  force  which, 
by  its  very  immensity,  should  be  out  of  the  reach  of 
jokes  like  calling  a  low -type  cranium  an  "apostle-skull.' 
Even  more  remarkable  in  this  respect  is  Vogt's  "  Kohler- 
glaube  und  Wissenschaft,"  an  invective  in  the  name  of 
science  on  the  credulous  piety  which,  in  countries  where 
the  trade  of  the  charcoal-burner  is  plied,  finds  its  best 
example  among  these  isolated  ignorant  forest-folk.  To 
the  newer  school  of  anthropologists,  the  term  "charcoal- 
burner's  belief"  suggests  quite  a  different  sense.  One 
would  sit  down  by  them  and  question  them  in  order  to 
find  sur\iving  in  their  minds  ideas  which  are  fossils  from 
the  most  ancient  times. 

As    a     zoologist    Vogt's    reputation    rests    upon    less 
equivocal  grounds.     The  subject  supplied  him  with  fewer  | 
opportunities  of  displaying  his  anti-theological  bias,  and  ' 
he  brought   his  great  powers  to  bear  upon  a  number  of 
problems,  with   the   result  that   he  added   largely  to  the 
progress  of  zoology.     His    writings   are    numerous,  and  [ 
range  over  a  wide  variety  of  subjects;  and  he  by  no  means  I 
confined  himself    to   comparative    anatomy,    but    made  [ 
observations   which    entitled    him    to    honourable    rank 
among  physiologists.     In  his  "  Traite  d'.Anatomie  Com- 
paree  '  he  telfs  us,  in  the  preface  to  the  second  volume,  j 
that  he  has  studied  and   dealt   monogra[)hically  with  no  j 
less  than     twenty-two    types  of    animals,   belonging    to 
nearly  every  class  of  the    animal    kingdom.     Much  of 
this  work  was  begun  in  the  earlier  part   of  his   career, 
when  he  published  many  papers  and  several  monographs 
upon  the  forms  which  he  has  afterwards  chosen  as  types  ■ 
m  his  text-book.     He   was    an   active    embryologist    in 
earlier   days,  and  wrote  on  the  development  of  Kilaria 
(l842\  Hatrachia  (1844),  Ccphalophora  ( 1856,  and  Crus- 
tacea (1873).     In   1853  he  published  observations  on  the 
fertilisation  of  the  ovum.     He  made  a  special  study  of  the 
Siphonophora  in  1852-54,  and  produced  in  186S  an'admir- 
ably  illustrated  monograph,  entitled  "  Kechcrches  sur  les  1 
Animaux   infc'rieurs  de    la    Medilcrrande,"   which    deals  , 
with  Siphonophora  and  pelagic  Tunicata.     His  work  on  ! 
Branchipus    and    Artcmia,    published    in     1872,  is  well  I 
known.     Vogt's  activity  did  not  decrease  with  advancing 
years,  as  is  testified  by  his  contributions  to  current  scien- 


tific literature  and  the  publication  of  his  text-book.  His 
abilities  were  great,  and  he  had  a  keen  appreciation  of 
the  importance  of  the  special  problems  of  zoology  to 
which  he  directed  his  attention.  But  his  interests  were 
too  various,  and  his  work  ranged  over  too  great  a  number 
of  subjects,  to  admit  of  his  rising  to  the  position  of  a 
first-rate  authority  in  any  one  of  them.  Had  he  applied 
himself  solely  to  one  course  of  study  he  would,  by  his 
powers  of  investigation  and  his  vigorous  method  of  ex- 
position, have  found  a  place  among  the  foremost  biologists 
of  the  centur)'.  As  it  was,  he  dissipated  too  much 
energy  and  thought  in  attempting  to  grasp  too  wide  a 
range  of  knowledge.  E.  B.  T. 

G.  C.  B. 

.At  the  meeting  of  the  Paris  .Academy  on  May  6,  M. 
Blanchard  referred  in  the  following  terms  to  the  part 
X'ogt  took  in  the  study  of  the  formation  and  movement 
of  glaciers,  under  the  direction  of  Louis  .Agassiz. 

"At  the  beginning  of  August  1845,  .Agassiz  arrived  at 
the  hospital  of  Grimsel,  accompanied  by  Carl  Vogt, 
Desor,  Nicolet,  and  two  students  from  Neuchatel.  They 
brought  their  instruments  with  them,  for  they  had  come 
with  the  idea  of  determining  the  temperature  of  the 
glaciers,  of  studying  the  form  of  the  snow,  and  of  ascer- 
taining in  w-hat  manner  the  nevt'  forms  itself  into  ice. 

"  They  had  with  them  two  very  experienced  men  as 
guides  ;  they  resolved  to  take  up  their  position  on  the 
smaller  glacier  of  the  Aar,  which  is  of  special  interest  ; 
the  surface  is  strewn  with  masses  of  rock,  which  produces 
an  effect  of  a  heap  of  ruins.  On  approaching  the 
moraine,  the  investigators  perceived  that  the  glacier 
had  advanced  considerably  since  the  previous  year. 
.A  hut,  left  by  Hiigi,  one  of  the  first  explorers,  ha  J 
disappeared. 

"  After  a  brief  survey,  they  fixed  the  place  of  installation 
near  a  large  block,  and  the  guides  set  to  w-ork  to  build 
a  small  house  large  enough  to  hold  six  people.  The 
walls  were  built  of  dry  stones  ;  large  flagstones  ser\ed 
as  boards  ;  beds  were  made  of  layers  of  grass,  covered 
with  oilcloth  and  other  coverings,  and  were  thought 
perfect. 

".As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  opening  which  gave  access 
to  the  house  was  verj'  small,  but  still  Carl  Vogt  could 
enter,  and  where  Carl  Vogt  could  pass  evei-y  one  could- 
Instead  of  a  door,  a  curtain  was  put  up.  In  the  night, 
before  going  to  bed,  it  was  decided  that  the  dwelling 
should  be  called  the  "Hotel  des  Neufchatelois "  ;  thisr 
name  was,  therefore,  cut  on  the  rock  in  big  letters,  and 
time  has  consecrated  it. 

"  Does  not  this  reunion  of  young  savants  in  the  solitude,^ 
in  the  middle  of  a  nature  both  grand  and  sad,  offer 
a  curious  spectacle  to  the  imagination .'  The  noises  of 
the  pleasures  of  this  world  and  of  public  affairs  does  not 
ascend  as  far  as  the  hut  on  the  glacier  of  the  Aar  r 
aspirations  and  joys,  unknown  to  most  mortals,  agitate 
the  hearts  there.  These  men,  who  without  effort,  with- 
out regret,  renounce  comfort  for  many  a  long  day,  dream 
of  penetrating  into  the  deepest  secrets  of  nature  ;  they 
discuss  gravely  most  formidable  questions,  and  laugh  over 
many  incidents.  .Agassiz  never  loses  his  good  humour, 
and  Uesorabandons  himself  to  joking.  Carl  Vogt,  always 
sparkling  with  fun,  and  himself  capable  of  enlivening  an 
assembly  of  monks,  effectually  prevents  the  possibility  of 
ennui. 

"  .Ainongst  the  investigators,  who  are  stirred  by  the 
same  thought,  peace  is  never  broken  ;  on  the  sea  of 
ice,  with  no  other  witnesses  than  the  blocks  of  granite, 
and  the  peaks  covered  with  eternal  ice,  there  are.  no, 
rivals.  In  proportion  to  the  extent  of  his  aptness  ever)' 
one  sets  himselfwith  energy  to  the  common  work.  Agassiz 
is  the  undisputed  chief,  the  recognised  master.  To  bring 
a  stone  to  the  monument  he  was  building,  was  the  only- 
thing  the  zealous  workers  cared  about. 


NO.   1335,  VOL.  52] 


I  lO 


NA  TURE 


[May  30.  1 89 5 


"  They  rose  early  at  the  '  Hotel  des  Neufchatelois ' ;  on 
the  stroke  of  four  they  had  to  be  up.  The  time  of 
dressing  was  rather  trying,  as  the  water  was  so  cold 
and  made  them  shiver  ;  but  that  over,  nothing  more 
was  thought  of  than  continuing  their  research.  Agassiz 
volunteers  to  bore  holes  ;  the  ice  can  only  be  cut  with 
great  difficulty,  (or  it  resists  the  instruments.  While 
this  operation  is  being  done,  Carl  X'ogt  examines  the 
red  snow,  the  strange  hue  of  which  is  due  to  the  presence 
of  myri-ids  of  microscopic  beings  ;  he  discovers  many 
kinds  of  infusoria,  and  a  pretty  rotifer  sowing  the  snow 
with  its  purple-coloured  eggs. 

"  Carl  \'ogt  was  never  inactive  ;  in  the  last  years  he 
published,  together  with  M.  Jung,  a  treatise  on  zoology'. 
E\erA-  one  will  acknowledge  that  a  life  so  well  spent  is 
an  honour  to  humanitv."  W. 


NOTES. 
Science  is  but  poorly  represented  in  the  list  of  the  Queen's 
birthday  honours.  Lord  Playfair,  previously  a  K.C.B.,  has 
accepted  the  honour  of  G.C.B.  Kear-Admiral  W.  J.  L.  Wharton, 
Hydrographer  to  the  Nav)-,  has  been  made  a  Companion  of  the 
Order  of  the  Bath.  Mr.  \V.  M.  Conway,  whose  climbs  in  the 
Himalayas  led  to  the  publication  of  some  interesting  scientific 
results,  has  been  knighted. 

Dr.  E.  Franklam>,  F.R.S.,  Correspondent  of  the  Paris 
Academy  of  Sciences,  has  been  elected  Foreign  Associate,  in  the 
place  of  the  late  Prof,  van  Beneden. 

Dr.  Esmarch,  of  Kiel,  has  Iwcn  elected  a  Correspondent  of 
the  Paris  Academy  of  Medicine. 

PROK.  Thommsf.N,  who  has  been  a  Corresponding  .Member  of 
the  French  Acidemy  of  Inscriptions  since  i860,  has  l>een  elected 
a  F'oreign  Associate,  in  the  place  of  the  late  -Sir  H.  Kawlinson. 

The  Times  correspondent  at  Melbourne  .says  that  a  meteoro- 
Ingical  oliservator)-  has  been  established  on  the  summit  of  Mount 
Wellington,  Tasmania. 

.\  MILLION  acres  of  forest  land  has  been  reserved  by  the 
Province  of  Ontario  as  a  great  natural  park  for  the  preservation 
of  native  animals  and  plants. 

The  di.scourse  at  the  Royal  Institution  to-morrow  evening 
will  be  delivered  by  the  Earl  of  Rosse,  the  subject  being,  "  The 
Radiant  Heal  from  the  Moon  during  the  progress  of  an;Eclipse." 
That  on  June  7  will  Iw  by  Prof.  A.  Cornu,  F.R.S.  This  lecture 
will  he  delivered  in  F'rench,and  the  title  will  Ix;,  "  Phenomenes 
Physiques  des  Hautes  Regions  de  I'Atmosphere." 

THROt'c-.H  a  gift  of  Mr.  W.  C.  McDonald  [■^y& Science),  McCiill 
Unlvcrsityhas  secured  thirty-five  acres  of  land  for  botanical  gardens 
and  an  oliservator)'.  From  the  same  source  we  learn  that  the 
ri-i'1'ie  of  the  estate  of  Mary  D.  Pcabody  has  been  left  to  the 
•  '.itlii.lic  University  of  Washington,  for  the  foundation  of  scholar- 
shi|)s  (probably  three  or  four  of  the  value  of  5000  dollars  each)  in 
the  chemical  and  |)hysical  sciences. 

AMDSfi  the  appointments  abroad,  we  notice  that  Or.  N.  V. 

I      irr;  ha.<t  accepted  the    Profevsorship  of    Minenilngy  in    the 

I        rr.ity  of  Co|H;nhagen,   Dr.   F.   Karsch  has  become   Extra- 

r  of  ZfKjjogy  in   ISjrIin   University,  Prof.  Emil 

I  lie  Ordinary  Profe.->wr  of  Hygiene  at  .Marburg, 

1  (privat-docent  in  mathematics  at  Krakau)  has 

■  an  Exlra(jrclinary  Profciwrship. 

The  electrical   |»wer  develo|>ed  at  the   NLigara  Falls  will 
soon  take  the  place  of  steam  for  several  hundred   miles  distance 
from  the  Falls,  including  New  York  City.     An  important  pro- 
posed application  i-i  to  the  Erie  Canal,  which  has  just  o|>ened  for 
NO.    1335.  YOL.   52] 


the  season.  Experiments  will  be  made  for  applying  the  power 
by  a  trolley  system,  and  the  reduction  of  expense  will  probably 
drive  out  all  other  means  of  transportation  for  grain,  &c.,  from 
Buffalo  to  tide  water,  during  the  season  of  navigation. 

At  the  International  Horticultural  Congress,  opened  at  Paris 
on  Saturday,  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted  to  the  eftect : 
"(I)  That  the  French  Government  should  associate  itself  with 
the  request  adilressed  by  the  Italian  Ciovernment  to  the  Swiss 
Confederation,  with  a  view  of  obtaining  llie  revision  of  the  Berne 
International  Convention,  and  the  free  circulation  between  all 
countries  signatory  to  the  convention,  of  all  vegetables  and  vines, 
accompanied  by  a  certificate  of  origin  ;  and  (2)  thai  the  postal 
administration  should  return  to  the  old  reduced  tariff,  of  which 
periodical  publications  on  horticulture  have  hitherto  had  the 
advantage." 

Efforts  arc  being  made  (says  the  AnifiiiMi  XaliiralisI)  to 
raise  a  fund  of  12,000  dollars  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  Mr.  Peary 
and  his  two  assistants  home  from  North-west  Cireenland  early 
next  autumn,  and,  in  connection  with  this,  to  prosecute  scientific 
investigations  during  the  available  sunnner  season.  It  is  hoped, 
by  this  means,  to  charter  and  fit  out  a  staunch  steamer,  built  for 
Arctic  service  and  commanded  by  experienced  Arctic  navigators, 
which  shall  start  from  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  on  or  about 
July  5,  1895,  fof  Inglefield  Gulf,  North-west  Greenland,  lat. 
78^  N.,  Mr.  Pear)'"s  headquarters. 

We  have  received  a  notice  concerning  three  "Priestley" 
Scholarships  in  Chcmistr)-,  two  "  Bowen "  Scholarships  in 
Engineering,  and  one  in  Metallurg)',  which  have  been  foHnded 
by  the  late  Mr.  T.  .\ubrey  Bowen,  of  Melbourne.  They  are 
intended  to  encourage  and  afford  facilities  for  the  higher  study 
of  these  subjects  in  Mason  College,  where  they  are  tenable  for 
one  year,  with  the  possibility  of  renewal  at  the  discretion  of  the 
Council  of  the  College.  The  annual  value  of  each  is  j^^ioo. 
Although,  naturally,  good  work  done  at  Mason  College  will  be 
regarded  as  a  specially  favourable  qualification,  the  Coimcil  have 
generously  thrown  all  the  Scholarships  open  to  general  competi- 
tion. The  first  award  will  be  m.ade  in  September  next,  and  all 
particulars  may  be  learned  on  application  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
College. 

The  gold  medal  of  the  Linnean  Society  has  this  year  been 
awarded  to  Prof.  Ferdinand  Cohn,  of  Breslau,  whose  name  is 
well  known  in  connection  with  the  Botanic  /oiinial,  which  he 
has  conducted,  largely  adorned  with  his  own  contributions,  from 
1870  to  the  present  time.  The  work  of  Dr.  Cohn  extends  over 
half  a  century.  He  w,-is  one  of  the  earliest  to  investigate  the 
life-history  of  the  lower  Algx',  and  to  demonstrate  that  they  are 
not  asexual.  His  important  |xxper  on  Protococetis  plui-ialis, 
published  so  long  ago  as  1850,  was  translated  by  Busk  for  the 
Ray  Society.  Subsequent  papers  by  him,  <m  the  mode  of  re- 
prwluction  of  SphiCtoplea  aiinii/iiia,  and  on  the  development  of 
I'oh'ox,  mark  a  distinct  advancement  in  botanical  science.  The 
medal  referred  to  was  awarded  to  him  at  the  anniversary 
meeting  of  the  24th  inst.,  and  has  been  forwarded  to  Breslau, 
for  his  acceptance,  through  the  German  Embassy. 

At  the  anniversary  meeting  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  held  on  Monday,  the  Founder's  Med.al  was  presented  to 
Dr.  John  Murray  for  his  services  to  physical  geography,  and 
especially  to  oceanography  during  the  last  twenty-three  years, 
als<j  for  his  mips  of  the  floor  of  the  ocean,  his  calculations  re- 
garding the  volume  of  continents  and  oceans,  his  study  of  tlu- 
origin  and  form.ation  of  coral  deposits,  ami  for  the  stimulus  he 
has  given  to  researches  in  physical  geography.  The  other 
awards  were  the  Patrons'  Medal,  to  the  Hon.  George  N. 
Curzon,  M.P.,  (l)  for  his  work  on  the  history,  geography, 
archxology,    and    politics   of   Persia  ;    (2)  for    his  journeys   in 


May  30,  1895] 


NATURE 


1 1 1 


hri-nch  Imlo-China,  which  have  resulted  in  further  publications 
I  ,f  geographical  as  well  as  political  and  general  value  ;  and  (3) 
'lis  journey  to  the  Hindu  Kush,  the  Pamirs,  and  the  Oxus, 
lier  with  a  visit  to  the  Amir  of  Afghanistan,  in  his  capital 
,f  Kabul.  The  Murchison  Grant,  to  Mr.  Eivind  Astrup,  for 
lis  remarkable  journey,  with  Lieut.  Peary,  across  the  interior 
glacier  to  the  northern  shores  of  Greenland  ;  and  for  his  inde- 
pendent journey  along  the  shores  of  Melville  Bay  ;  the  Back 
;rant.  to  Captain  C.  A.  Larsen,  for  the  geographical  and 
Meteorological  observations  made  by  him  during  his  Antarctic 
.oyage  in  1894,  and  for  his  discovery  of  an  active  volcano  on 
Christensen  Island,  of  several  other  islands,  and  of  part  of  the 
j.ist  coast  of  Graham  Land  ;  the  Gill  Memorial  for  1895,  to 
Captain  J.  W.  Pringle,  R.E.  ;  and  the  Cuthbert  Peek  (Jrant  for 
1895,  'o  -^I''-  '-'•  ^-  Scott-Elliot,  for  his  explorations  of  Mount 
Ruwenzori,  and  of  the  region  to  the  west  of  the  Victoria  Xyanza. 
We  wish  the  American  ^^etrological  Society  success  in  its 
-fforts  to  extend  the  use  of  the  metric  system  in  the  United 
States,  and  to  procure  general  agreement  with  regard  to  the 
•onstants  of  science.  Its  objects  are  ambitious,  as  the  foUow- 
ng  statement  of  them,  from  Science,  will  show:  (i)  To  im- 
•irove  existing  systems  of  weights,  measures  and  moneys,  and  to 
/ring  them  into  relations  of  simple  commensurability  with  each 
ither.  (2)  To  secure  universal  adoption  of  common  units  of 
iieasure  for  quantities  in  physical  observation  or  investigation, 
"or  which  ordinary  systems  of  metrolog)'  do  not  provide,  such  as 
livisions  of  barometer,  thermometer,  and  densimeter  ;  amount 
)f  work  done  by  machines ;  amount  of  mechanical  energy, 
ictive  or  potential,  of  bodies,  as  dependent  on  their  motion  or 
position  :  quantities  of  heat  present  in  bodies  of  given  tem- 
leratures,  or  generated  by  combustion  or  otherwise;  quantity 
ind  intensity  of  electro-dynamic  currents  ;  aggregate  and  efficient 
>ower  of  prime  movers  ;  accclerative  force  of  gravity  ;  pressure 
if  steam  and  atmosphere  ;  and  other  matters  analogous  to  these. 
3)  To  secure  uniform  usage  as  to  standard /:)/«/.?  of  reference,  or 
ihysical  conditions  to  which  obserrations  must  be  reduced  for 
lurposes  of  comparison,  especially  temperature  and  pressure,  to 
A'hich  are  referred  specific  gravities  of  bodies,  and  the  zero  of 
ongitude  on  the  earth.  (4)  To  secure  the  use  of  the  decimal 
■ystem  for  denominations  of  weight,  measure,  and  money  derived 
^rom  unit-bases,  not  necessarily  excluding  for  practical  purposes 
binary  or  other  convenient  divisions,  but  maintained  along  with 
uch  other  methods,  on  account  of  facilities  for  calculation, 
reductions,  and  comparison  of  values,  afforded  by  a  system 
conforming  to  our  numerical  notation. 

On  January  18,  the  great  seismometrograph  at  the  Osservatorio 
lei  CoUegio  Romano  al  Rome  registered  five  complete  pulsations 
if  slow  period  characteristic  of  earthquakes  originating  at  a 
great  distance.  They  commenced  at  4h.  37ni.  30s.  p.m.  (Green- 
wich mean  time),  and  lasted  im.  22s.,  giving  an  average  dura- 
lion  of  i6'4  seconds  for  each  pulsation.  On  the  same  day  a 
severe  earthquake  was  felt  along  the  east  coast  of  Japan,  and 
was  recorded  at  Tokio  at  3h.  48m.  24s.  The  distance  between 
this  place  and  Rome  being  about  9500  km.,  the  pulsations  must 
have  travelled  with  an  average  velocity  of  3-2  km.  per  second  (see 
XatI'RE,  vol.  I.  pp.  450-51  ;  vol.  li.  p.  462).  At  Nicolaiew  and 
Charkow,  in  the  south  of  Russia,  the  horizontal  pendulums  were 
iisturbed  for  nearly  an  hour,  the  epoch  of  maximum  amplitude 
occurring  a  few  minutes  earlier  than  at  Rome. 

Mr.  Marshall  Hall  publishes  in  the  Alpine  foiirna!  (\o\. 
xvii.  p.  438)  a  note  on  the  progress  made  in  the  study  of 
glaciers,  for  which  purpose  a  Committee  was  appointed  at  the 
meeting  of  the  International  Congress  of  Geologists  at  Zurich. 
(Jood  work  appears  to  have  been  done,  in  exploring  and  map- 
liing,  among  the  glaciers  of  New  Zealand,  in  the  course  of  which 
Krani-Joseph  Glacier,  on  the  west  coast,  was  found  to  end  at  a 
NO.    1335,  VOL.   52] 


height  of  692  feet  above  the  sea,  arid  a  distance  of  four  miles 
from  it.  The  rate  of  movement  is,  of  course,  variable  ;  an 
average  of  the  observations  (with  certain  omissions)  gives  I54"2 
inches  per  diem.  Valleys  containing  large  glaciers  give  in- 
dications that  the  ice  has  been  higher  than  it  is  at  the  present 
day,  and  has  paused  at  four  different  levels.  Work  also  has  been 
done  among  the  glaciers  of  the  eastern  side  cf  New  Zealand, 
and  a  few  facts  are  recorded;  among  them,  that  in  advancing  the 
ice  appears  not  to  plough  up  the  earth.  In  conclusion,  Mr. 
Marshall  Hall  calls  upon  mountain  climbers  to  help  in  the  work 
of  the  Committee. 

A  PAPER  on  "  The  Brain  of  the  Microcephalic  Idiot,"  by 
Prof.  D.  J.  Cunningham,  F.R.S.,  and  Dr.  Telford-Smith,  read 
before  the  Royal  Dublin  Society  nearly  a  year  ago,  and  noticed 
at  the  time  in  these  columns  (N.ature,  vol.  1.  p.  287),  has  just 
been  published  in  the  Society's  Transactions.  The  authors  give 
the  results  of  a  thorough  examination  of  the  brains  and  skulls  of 
two  typical  microeephales.  Their  study  leads  them  to  accept  the 
view  arrived  at  by  Sir  George  Humphry,  from  an  examination  of 
microcephalic  and  macrocephalic  skulls,  viz.  :  "  There  is  nothing 
in  the  specimens  to  suggest  that  the  deficiency  in  the  development 
of  the  skull  was  the  leading  feature  in  the  deformity,  and  that  the 
smallness  of  the  bony  cerebral  envelope  exerted  a  compressing  or 
dwarfing  influence  on  the  brain,  or  anything  to  give  encourage- 
ment to  the  practice  lately  adopted  in  some  instances  of  removal 
of  a  part  of  the  bony  case,  with  the  idea  of  affording  more  space 
and  freedom  for  the  growth  of  the  brain.  In  these,  as  in  other 
instances  of  man  and  the  lower  animals,  the  brain-growth  is  the 
determining  factor,  and  the  skull  grows  upon  and  accommodates 
itself  to  the  brain,  wheiher  the  latter  be  large  or  small." 

Dr.  W.  M.  Haffkine  has  brought  together  his  Indian  ex- 
periences in  anti-choleraic  inoculations,  and  has  published  them 
in  the  Indian  Medical  Gazette.  In  spite  of  the  very  numerous 
difficulties  which  he  had  to  encounter  in  carrying  out  his  investi- 
gations, Dr.  Haffkine  has  succeeded,  with  the  assistance  of 
others,  in  inoculating  no  less  than  32,166  individuals  with  his 
cholera  vaccine.  Every  pains  was  taken  to  obtain  trustworthy 
records  of  the  results  derived  firom  these  inoculations,  and,  as  far 
as  can  be  judged  from  the  data  to  hand,  the  balance  appears  to 
be  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  process.  This  is  perhaps  especially 
brought  out  by  Dr.  Haffkine's  work  in  Calcutta,  where  the  per- 
centage of  attacks  and  deaths  amongst  the  inoculated  was  l'l8 
per  cent.,  whilst  amongst  the  non-inoculated  the  percentage  of 
cases  amounted  to  15 '63  per  cent.,  and  of  deaths  11 '63  per  cent. 
One  fact  has  indisputably  been  established  by  these  investiga- 
tions, and  that  is  the  harmlessness  of  the  operation  ;  in  view  of 
this  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  inoculations  may  be  more  widely 
spread,  and  further  facilities  thus  offered  for  the  collection  of 
observations  on  this  very  important  subject. 

-A.  year's  actinometric  observations,  made  at  the  Konstan- 
tinow  Observator)-,  Pawlowsk,  are  recorded  by  J.  Schukewitch 
in  the  Repertoriiim  fiir  Meteorologie.  They  have  led  to  some 
unexpected  results  regarding  the  intensity  of  the  sun's  radiation 
at  different  seasons  of  the  year.  This  intensity,  as  measured  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  depends  upon  the  altitude  of  the  sun 
and  upon  the  transmitting  power  or  opacity  of  the  atmosphere. 
The  intensities  were  measured  by  a  thermometer  with  blackened 
bulb,  which  was  exposed  to  the  sun  side  by  side  with  a  precisely 
similar  one  which  was  kejn  in  the  shade.  To  test  whether  the 
two  thermometers  were  identical  in  their  behaviour,  two  succes- 
sive readings  were  taken,  in  which  first  the  one  and  then  the 
other  was  sh.aded.  It  was  found  necessary  to  take  the  mean 
of  these  two  readings  in  each  case.  The  tables  embodying  the 
results  contain,  besides  the  intensity,  the  state  of  the  sky,  the 
altitude  of  the  sun,  and  other  meteorological  data.  From  these 
tables  the  yearly  course  of  intensity  of  the  unclouded  sun  at  noon 


I  12 


NATURE 


[May  30,  1S95 


b  worked  out.  It  shows  a  principal  maximum  in  April,  a 
secondar}'  maximum  in  September,  and  chief  minimum  in 
November.  The  intensity  of  solar  radiation  for  equal  altitudes 
is  greatest  in  winter  and  least  in  sunmier,  a  circumstance  which 
tends  to  equalise  the  winter  and  summer  temperature.  A  great 
diminution  of  tr.\nsmissibility  is  brought  about  by  that  pheno- 
menon so  characteristic  of  the  middle- European  continent,  called 
in  Germany  Hoheiiramh,  an  elevated  stratum  of  peat-smoke 
which  gives  a  faint  and  rather  pleasant  odour,  usually  taken  to 
indicate  the  continuance  of  fine  weather.  The  author  finds 
greater  opacity  in  front  of  an  atmospheric  depression,  and 
greater  transmissibilily  after  it.  The  clearest  air  is  preceded  by 
a  hea\-y  summer  rain. 

The  Meteorological  Council  have  published  a  valuable  set  of 
monthly  meteorological  charts  of  the  Red  Sea,  showing  the 
prevalent  winds  and  currents,  with  other  information  of  use  to 
seamen  i>assing  through  the  Suez  Canal  to  India.  The  wind 
observations  alone  number  nearly  75,000,  and  have  been  supplied 
from  logs  s|)ecially  kept  for  the  Meteorological  Office,  from  ships 
belonging  to  the  Koyal  Navy,  and  various  other  sources.  Each 
chart,  of  which  (here  are  Iwenty-four,  contains  useful  remarks 
referring  to  the  leading  features,  which  are  shown  graphically,  and 
the  introduction  to  the  Atlas  contains  an  interesting  general 
summary  by  Lieutenant  C.  W.  Baillie,  R.N.,  Marine  Super- 
intendent. The  wind  charts  show  that  from  October  to 
January  northerly  winds  are  prevalent  over  the  northern  half 
of  the  sea,  and  southerly  over  the  southern  portion.  From 
February  to  May  the  northerly  winds  extend  further  south,  while 
southerly  winds  prevail  from  near  Perim  to  about  the  l6th 
parallel.  From  June  to  September,  northerly  winds  blow  over 
nearly  the  whole  sea.  Gales  are  most  frequent  between 
November  and  March  ;  they  generally  VjIow  from  the  southward, 
and  are  mostly  met  with  in  the  southern  part  of  the  sea.  The 
currents  are  .somewhat  erratic,  and  while  occasional  strong 
streams  are  experienced  locally,  their  velocity  is  not  usually 
great  over  large  areas.  The  Gulf  of  Aden  may  be  taken  as  an 
exception,  as  the  currents  often  set  there  with  considerable 
velocity.  An  interesting  feature  has  been  noticed  in  the  range 
of  sea-temiwralurc  in  the  Strait  of  Bab-el-Mandeb,  near  the 
Island  of  I'erim,  where  it  amounts  to  26°  at  the  [leriod  of  the 
S.W.  monsoon.  The  whole  work  shows  evjrlencc  of  the  great 
care  and  labour  bestowed  uiwn  it. 

The  extent  to  which  many  of  the  AmeriL.in  ngricultural 
experiment  stations  are  devoting  attention  to  the  culture  of 
small  fruits  and  other  minor  crop:,  is  |)erhaps  significant  of  an 
impending  change  in  the  C"Conomic  bearings  of  the  management 
of  the  soil,  and  of  the  |artial  displacement  of  \\vi  gt-andc  ciilliire 
which  has  hitherto  almost  monopolised  the  field  of  exiierimental 
inquiry.  liullctin  No.  55  of  the  Purdue  University  Station, 
Lafayette,  Indiana,  o)>ens  with  a  description  of  experiments  with 
small  fruits,  carried  out  in  response  tn  the  numerous  inquiries 
received  from  farmers  and  others  concerning  the  different 
varieties  of  such  fruit.s.  Strawlierrics,  raspberries,  lilacklwrries, 
currants,  gooseberries,  and  grapes,  form  the  subject  of  this 
section  of  the  rc|)ort.  Field  ex|>crinients  with  nuiize  and  oats 
are  next  dealt  with,  and  amnngst  the  results  noted,  it  is  stated 
that  Ijcttcr  yields  have  followe<l  the  sowing  of  two  bushels  or 
more  of  oats  |>er  acre  than  that  of  any  smaller  quantity.  The 
bulletin  concludes  with  a  notice  of  e\i>erimcnts  with  sugar  beet  ; 
but  in  view  of  the  des|x;rate  condition  to  which  the  licet -growers 
of  France  are  at  present  reduced— <lespilc  the  artificial  supjwrt 
which  the  sugar  industry  there  receives  under  the  bounty 
system— wc  cannot  .see  any  immediate  hope  for  the  American 
l«et-»ugaf  indu.4lry.  This,  indeed,  is  practically  admitted  in  the 
tnillctin,  for  it  is  said  ;  "The  condition  of  the  sugar  business 
throughout  all  »ugar-pro<lucing  countries  is  such  thai  there  seems 

NO.   1335,  VOL.  52] 


to  be  little  probability  of  capital  being  invested  in  beet-sugar 
plants  in  this  country  at  present."  The  [xiints  which  are  reiwrted 
upon  include  comparison  of  varieties,  time  of  harvest,  the  re- 
s])ective  eftects  of  bacterial  disease  and  l)eet  scab  on  the  sugar 
content  of  beets,  the  efiect  of  loosening  beets  some  time  before 
lifting  them  from  the  ground,  special  thinning,  tests  of  foreign  and 
.■\nierican  seed,  and  yiekl  and  cost  of  crop  per  acre.  It  is  con- 
cluded that,  under  more  f.ivourable  economic  conditions,  beet 
factories  might  advantageously  be  established  in  the  Slate  of 
Indiana. 

A  PAPER  by  Wilhclm  von  Hezold,  on  the  lines  of  equal 
disturbance  of  the  magnetic  potential  of  the  earth,  appears 
in  a  recent  number  of  the  Silz.  der  Akad.  der  Whs.  zii  Berlin. 
The  deviation  of  the  jiotential  at  any  place  from  the  mean 
value  of  the  potential  corresiKinding  to  the  |)arallel  of  latitude 
ixissing  through  this  place  being  called  the  disturbance, 
the  author  gives  the  theory  of  the  lines  of  equal  disturb- 
ance. He  shows  that  the  westerly  (or  easterly)  comixment 
of  the  earth's  magnetism  is  given  by  the  rate  of  change  of  the 
disturbance   of    the    poleiuial    along    the    parallel    of    latitude 

or  VV  = 


where  \a  is  the  disturbance    for  the    potential, 

and  by  is  an  element  of  a   latitude  circle.      Hence  it   foll.u^^ 
that   a  knowledge  of  a   westerly  com|)onent  of  the  earth's  fall  I 
for  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth  suffices  to  everywhere  deiii 
mine  the  disturbance  in  the  magnetic  potential,  and  draw,lhe  lino 
of  equal  disturbance.       Wherever  the  lines  of  equal  disturbann- 

are  tangential  to  a  circle  of  latitude-  -"  =  o,  and  hence  \V=o, 

dy 

or  all  such  points  will  lie  on  the  agonic  lines,  i.e.  the  lines  along 
which  the  declination  is  zero.  M  all  places  where  the  lines 
of  equal  disturbance  are  t.angential  to  the  terrestrial  meridian 
the  northerly  component  of  the  earth's  field  has  its  normal 
value.  The  author  has  constructed  a  chart  of  these  lines  for 
the  epoch  18S0,  using  the  data  given  in  the  magnetic  charts 
published  by  G.  von  Quintus  Icilius.  The  mean  value  of  the 
magnetic  potential  for  the  latitude  \  is  found  to  be  given  with 
a  high  degree  of  accuracy  by  the  expression  V„  =  K  sin  A, 
and  the  author  considers  that  this  simple  expression  must  have 
some  s|>ecial  significance,  anil  not  be  merely  an  empirical 
formula. 

A  PAI'KK,  by  Mr.  G.  C.  Whipple,  eiililled  "Some  Observa- 
tions on  the  Growth  of  Diatoms  in  Surface  Waters"  (Teclino- 
logieal  Quarterly,  vol.  vii.),  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the 
study  of  the  periodic  frequency  of  microscopic  organisms  in 
freshw.ater  areas.  The  work  is  noteworthy  as  having  been  carried 
on  in  a  biological  laboratory  attached  to  the  Hoston  WaUr  Works. 
The  author's  general  results  are  here  given  :  (1)  That  the  growth 
of  diatoms  in  ponds  is  directly  connected  with  the  phenomena  of 
stagnation  ;  that  their  development  does  not  occur  when  the 
lower  strata  of  w.ater  are  quiescent,  on  account  of  greater  density, 
but  rather  during  those  periods  of  the  year  «lien  the  water  is  in 
circu'ation  from  lop  lo  bottom.  (2)  That  diatoms  flourish  best  in 
ixjnds  having  muddy  liolloms.  { j)  That  in  deep  ponds  there  are 
two  well-detined  |H."ri(Hls  of  growth  -one  in  the  spring  and  one 
in  the  auUnnn  ;  thai  in  shallow  ponds  there  is  usually  a  spring 
growth  but  no  regular  autumn  growth,  and  thai  other  growths 
may  occur  at  irregular  intervals  as  the  wind  happens  to  stir  up 
the  water.  {4)  That  the  two  most  important  conditions  for  the 
growth  of  diatoms  are  a  sufficient  .supply  of  nilrales  and  a  free 
circulalion  of  air,  and  that  both  these  omdilions  are  found  at 
those  |)erif>ds  of  the  year  when  the  water  is  in  circulation.  (5) 
That  while  lemi>eralure  has  po.ssil)ly  a  slight  influence  on  the 
growth  of  diatoms,  it  is  of  so  little  importance  that  it  does  not 
affect  their  .seasonal  distribution.  (6)  That  the  increiise  of  diatoms 
takes  place  .subslanlially  in  accordance    willi    the    law  of  geo- 


May  30,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


1 1 


melrical  progression,  and  that  the  cessation  of  their  growth  is 
causetl  by  the  diminution  of  their  food  supply. 

Mr.  H.  (;.  Wklls's  scientific  fantasy,  the  "  Time  Machine," 
M-hicti  lias  l)cen  appearing  as  a  serial  in  the  New  Rcfieiu,  will  be 
Hublished  in  volume  form,  by  Messrs.  Heinemanii,  in  the  course 
of  a  few  days. 

Mr.  GlsBERT  KAl-J-has  arrangcil  with  Messrs.  Whittaker  and 
Co.  for  a  translation  from  the  tierman  of  his  new  work  on  the 
"  Alternate  Current  Transformer."  The  volume  will  be  published 
in  the  "  Specialists' Series  "  in  the  autumn. 

TiiK  papers  on  the  relation  of  diseases  of  the  spinal  cord  to 
the  clistriliution  and  lesions  of  the  spinal  blood-vessels,  recently 
contributed  by  Dr.  R.  T.  Williamson  to  the  Medical  Chronicle, 
have  been  reprinted  and  puljlished  in  book  form  by  Mr. 
H.  K.  Lewis. 

This  week's  new  editions  include  Prof.  T.  E'reston's  philo- 
sophical "  Theory  of  Light,'"  published  by  Messrs.  Macmillan. 
More  than  one  hundred  pages  of  new  matter  have  bev.n  added,  a 
v,aluablc  addition  being  an  account  of  Prof.  Newcomb's  experi- 
ments to  determine  the  velocity  of  light.  The  second  edition 
has  apiwared  of  the  late  Prof  Cayley's  "  Elementary  Treatise 
on  Elliptic  Functions"  (Macmillan),  the  first  edition  of  which 
was  published  in  1876.  Another  second  edition,  received  during 
the  pa.st  week,  is  "A  First  Book  of  Electricity  and  Magnetism," 
by  Mr.  W.  Perren  Maycock.  This  book,  now  greatly  enlarged, 
is  published  by  Messrs.  Whittaker  and  Co. 

The  Deutsche  Seewarte,  which,  with  the  year  1894,  has  com- 
pleted its  twentieth  year  of  useful  activity,  has  just  issued  the 
seventeenth  volume  o(  .-Iits  dent  Archill  This  work,  which  has 
contained  many  elaborate  and  valuable  discussions  in  nieteoro- 

(*gy,  navigation,  and  nautical  astronomy,  is  now  devoted  more 
especially  to  discussions  of  practical  utility  to  seamen.  Among 
•he  articles  of  more  general  scientific  interest  may  be  mentioned 
one  by  Dr.  Grosimann,  on  the   application  of  Bessel's  formula 

n  meteorology,  and  one  by  Dr.  Maurer,  on  the  application  of 
graphical  methods  in  meteorology  and  physics  generally  ;  the 
latter  investigation  may  possibly  le.ad  to  the  substitution  of  this 
method  for  the  use  of  tables  in  some  of  the  problems  of  nautical 
astronomy. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  si.\  Hairy-footed  Jerboas  {Dipiis  kirtipes), 
two  Lesser  Egyptian  Gerbilles  (GerbillHS  •e^yptiiis),  two  Lybian 
Zorillas  (hlonyx  lyhica),  two  Grey  Monitors  ( I'aranus griseiis), 
two  Egyptian  Mastigures  (Uromaslix  spinipes),  three  Egyptian 
Geckos  (Tareiilola  aitnii/aiis),  a  Common  Chameleon 
(Chaimeleon  vulgaris),  seven  Common  Skinks  (Sciitciis 
officinalis),  two  Cerastes  Vipers  (I'ipera  cerastes),  two 
Diademed  .Snakes  [Zamenis  diadema),  from  Egypt,  presented 
l)y  Dr.  John  Anderson,  F.R.S.  ;  a  Grysbok  (Neolragiis 
melanotis,  9 ),  from  South  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  E. 
Matcham  ;  a  Wapiti  Deer  {Cerriis  caiiaJensis,  9  ),  a  Japanese 
Deer  (Cenms  siia,  9  ),  a  Burchell's  Zebra  {Ei/uiis  biirchelli,  i  ), 
two  Polar  Hares  (Lepus  glacialis),  born  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 
Mkrcukv  and  VENti.s.-The  planet  Mercury  is  now  an 
evening  stiu,  and  will  be  favourably  placed  for  observation  until 
towards  the  end  of  June.  The  greatest  elongation  will  occur  on 
June  4  at  i  jli.,  when  the  planet  will  transit  about  ih.  42m.  after 
the  >un  ;  the  declination  will  then  be  nearly  25'  north,  and  the 
apixirent  diameter  a  little  over  8".  Jupiter  will  lie  in  close 
proximity  to  Mercury  during  the  present  period  of  its  visibility, 
•"o  that  observers  not  employing  telescopes  must  be  careful  to 
di.scriminale  between  the  two  ;  at  the  elongation.  Mercury  will 
precede  Jupiter  by  about   8m.    in   R..\.,  and  will   be  about  I.J 

NO.    1335,  VOL.  52] 


degrees  farther  north.     The  two  planets  will  be  in  actual  con- 
junction on  June  8  at  4h.,  Mercury  being  0°  47'  N.  of  Jupiter. 

\'enus,  also,  is  most  fax'ourably  situated  for  observation  at 
the  present  time,  and  the  great  brilliance  of  the  planet  in  the 
western  sky  after  sunset  cannot  fail  to  attract  the  attention  of 
the  most  indifterent.  It  will  not,  however,  reach  maximum 
brightness  until  .\ugust  13.  The  greatest  eastern  elongation 
will  occur  on  Jul)'  II,  and  the  apparent  diameter  will  increase 
from  16'  on  June  i  to  59'  at  the  inferior  conjunction  on  Sep- 
tember 18. 

The  Total  Solar  Eclipse  of  1S98  January  21-22. — In 
addition  to  the  eclipse  of  the  sun"  which  will  take  place  on 
August  8,  1S96,  and  for  which  we  understand  preparations  are 
already  well  in  hand,  there  will  be  another  important  solar 
eclipse  before  the  end  of  the  present  century.  This  will  occur 
on  January  21-22,  1898,  and  the  Nautical  Almanac  Circular, 
No.  16,  gives  local  particulars  of  the  same  for  that  portion  of 
the  path  of  the  shadow  which  lies  across  India.  At  Rajapurthe 
duration  will  be  2m.  I  '93.  and  the  altitude  of  the  sun  53° ;  at 
Xagpur,  im.  177s.  with  an  altitude  of  46°;  and  at  a  position 
south  of  Benares,  im.  43'6s.  with  an  altitude  of  40'.  Informa- 
tion as  to  the  meteorological  conditions  prevailing  at  various 
points  along  the  track  of  the  eclipse  during  the  latter  part  of 
January  is  being  collected  through  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Eliot, 
.Meteorological  Reporter  to  the  Government  of  India.  It  is 
proposed  to  publish  this  information  early  in  1897. 

As  the  next  sun-spot  minimum  is  not  due  until  the  year  1900, 
observations  of  the  phenomena  of  this  eclipse  will  furnish  in- 
formation as  to  the  solar  conditions  during  the  transition  from 
maximum  to  minimvmi. 

The  AsTRO-i'HOTOGRArHic  Chart. — The  third  part  of  the 
second  volume  of  the  Bulletin  of  the  International  Permanent 
Committee,  gives  an  account  of  the  present  state  of  the  great  ■' 
undertaking  to  prejiare  a  photographic  catalogue  and  chart  of  th^ 
heavens.  The  reports  from  the  various  participating  observatories 
indicate  in  general  a  rapid  advance  towards  the  completion  of  the 
photographs  which  are  intended  to  form  the  basis  of  the  cata- 
logue ;  four  of  the  eighteen  observatories  have  already  completed 
the  zones  allotted  to  them,  and  it  is  expected  that  at  least  eight 
more  will  reach  this  stage  by  next  spring.  Systematic  work  at 
the  South  American  observatories  has  been  seriously  interfered 
with  by  [political  events  ;  but  it  is  satisfactory  to  learn  that  the 
Australian  and  Cape  of  Good  Hope  astronomers  are  pre])ared  to 
come  to  their  assistance.  .An  immense  number  of  catalogue 
plates  with  short  exposures  has  been  taken  with  the  various 
instruments,  no  less  than  753  having  been  taken  at  Paris,  and 
1562  at  the  Cape.  The  measurement  of  the  catalogue  plates  is 
also  in  a  forward  state  at  several  of  the  observatories,  but  the 
reductions  have  scarcely  been  commenced. 

For  the  chart  itself,  not  one-third  of  the  requisite  photographs 
have  yet  been  obtained,  but  the  progress  of  this  part  of  the  work 
is  necessarily  slow,  in  consequence  of  the  long  exposures 
required. 

l)r.  Gill  |)roposes  that  the  Committee  should  meet  in  1896,  to 
reconsider  the.  various  questions  left  oi>en  at  the  former  con- 
ference, among  which  one  of  the  most  important  relates  to  the 
scale  of  magnitudes  to  be  atlopted. 

Four  iniiiortant  memoirs  also  form  part  of  the  present  report. 
Prof.  Turner  and  M.  Prosper  Henry  discuss  iiifl'erent  methods 
of  reducing  the  plates,  M.  Trepied  gives  his  experience  and 
views  as  to  the  determination  of  m.agnitudes.  and  M.  Donner 
discusses  the  various  corrections  for  instrumental  errors. 

Award  or  the  Watson  Medal. — On  the  recommendation 
of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Watson  Fund,  the  U.S. 
National  Academy  of  Sciences  last  year  unanimously  awarded 
the  Watson  medal  to  Dr.  S.  C.  Chandler,  for  his  investigations 
relative  to  variable  stars,  his  work  in  connection  with  the 
variation  of  terrestrial  latitudes,  and  his  researches  on  the  laws 
of  that  variation.  The  recommendation  was  noted  in  these 
colunms  a  year  ago,  and  a  description  of  the  founding  of  the 
award  was  given  (Nature,  vol.  1.  p.  157).  The  medal  was 
presented  to  Dr.  Chandler  at  the  recent  meeting  of  the  National 
.\cademy,  and  Science  for  May  3  contains  the  report  of  the 
Trustees,  setting  forth  the  grounds  upon  which  the  awai.d  was 
made,  and  briefly  stating  the  history  of  the  investigation  ol 
changes  of  latitude.  Dr.  Chandler's  work  upon  the  subject 
began  with  observations  made  by  him  in  1884-85.  His  observ- 
ations, continued  uninterruptedly  for  thirteen  months,  revealed 
a  progressive  change  of  a  pronounced  periodical  character  in  the 


114 


NATURE 


[May  30,  189! 


instrumental  values  of  the  latitude.  Circumstances  prevented 
him  from  carrying  on  the  work  until  six  years  later,  when  he  took 
up  the  problem  again.  The  results  then  obtained  are  published 
in  a  series  of  eighteen  papers  in  the  .■tslroiwiiiita/ Journal  {l$<)\- 
94),  exclusive  of  a  series  of  five  papers  upon  a  topic  clo.sely 
related  thereto,  namely,  the  aberration-constant.  These  papers 
have  been  noted  from  time  to  time  in  this  column,  so  it  is 
unnecessary  to  do  more  than  refer  to  them  now. 

In  connection  with  variable  stars,  liesides  the  incidental  work 
of  observation  and  discovery  which  Dr.  Chandler  has  contribute<l 
to  it,  his  work  has  involved  the  collection  of  all  the  data  in 
astronomical  history,  their  discussion,  and  the  formulation  of 
the  elements  of  their  light-variations  into  numerical  laws.  Hi^ 
important  researches  upon  cometary  orbits  are  also  well  known 
to  astronomers. 


A  LECTL'RE  EXPERIMENT. 
A  hL'KTHER  description  of  the  use  of  the  electric  furnace 
■^^  recently  exhibited  at  the  Royal  Society,  for  the  purpose  of 
lecture  demonstrations,  may  be  useful,  as  pictures,  some  six  feet 
across,  of  the  interior  of  the  furnace  may  readily  be  projected  on 
the  screen.  This  is  effected  by  the  aid  of  the  device  which 
has  already  been  given  in  Nature  (p.  17,  Fig.  2).  The  result 
is  really  very  l«autiful,  though  it  can  only  l>e  rendered  in  dull 
tones  by  the  accompanying  illustration  (Figs.  .\,  B).  It  may  be 
well,  therefore,  to  state  briefly  what  is  seen  when  the  furnaci- 
is  arranged  for  the  melting  of  metallic  chromium.  Directly 
the  current  is  passed,  the  picture  reflected  by  the  mirror,  F. 
(Fig.  2,  loc.  <//.),  shows  the  interior  of  the  furnace  (fig.  A)like  a 
dark  crater,  the  dull  red  poles  revealing  the  metallic  lustre 
and  grey  shadows  of  the  metal  beneath  them.  .-^  little 
later  these  poles  Viccome  tipped  with  dazzling  white,  and, 
in  the  course  of  a  few  minutes,  the  temperature  rises  to 
about  2500'  C.  Such  a  temperature  will  keep  chromium  well 
melted,  though  a  thousand  degrees  more  may  readily  he  attained 
in  a  furnace  of  this  kind.      V.:\ch  i»'le  is  >-"-n  =urrniinfkrl  wilh  a 


the  little  crater  ;  while  if  the  current  is  broken,  and  the  light  dies 
out,  you  wish  that  Turner  h.i<l  paintedthe  limpid  tints,  and  that 
Kuskin  might  describe  their  loveliness. 

The  effect  when  either  tungsten  or  silver  replaces  chromiimi  is 
much  the  same,  but,  in  the  latter  case,  the  glowing  lake  is  more 
brilliant  in  its  turbulent  lx)iling,  and  blue  vapours  rise  10  he 
condensed  in  iridescent  beads  of  distilled  silver  which  stud  the 
crater  walls. 


Fic.  A.— Thi*  rrpr«cnt«  Ihc  interior  of  the  furnace  conlainine  mollen 
chrGiniufn  a\  i%  seen  cither  by  reflection  on  .1  screen  or  by  lookine  into 
ihc  furn.icc  from  above,  the  eye^  being  suitably  protected  by  deeply 
limed  ^la^M^«. 

lamlicnt  halo  of  the  green-blue  hue  of  the  sunset,  the  central 
Ijciml  »>f  the  arc  changing  rapidly  from  peach-blossom  to 
Livendcr  and  purple.  The  arc  can  then  l<c  lcnglhene<l,  and  as 
'*  •        '  1   further  and   further  .asunder,   the  irregular 

"  ■  '  fuse  in  silver  droplets,  below  an  intense  blue 

fi'  '   "''"  green  of  lustrous  emerald  ;  then  the 

'■1  m  melt  into  a  .shining  lake,  which  re- 

""  11  a  glory  of  green  and  gold  shot   with 

orange  )„n.-.  .Mill  a  lew  minutes  later,  as  the  chromium  bums, 
a  shower  irf  brilliant  sparks  of  metal  arc  projected  from  the 
furnace,  amid  the  clouds  of  russet  or  brown  vapours  which  wreath 


NO.    1335,  VOL.  52] 


Fig.  b. — In  this  case  ihcarc  was  broken  the  instant  before  the  phologr.iph  \va 
taken.     The  furnace  contained  a  bath  of  silver  just  al  its  boilint;  point. 
The  reflection  of  the  poles  in  the  bath,  the  globules  of  distilled  silvci , 
and  t.ie  drifting  cloud  of  silver  vapour,  are  well  shown. 

Such  experiments  will  probably  lend  a  new  interest  to  the  us    ■ 
of  the  arc  in  connection   with  astronomical   metallurgy,  for,  a,* 
George  Herbert  said  long  ago — 

"  Stars  have  their  stormit  even  in  a  high  degree, . 
.\s  well  as  we  "  ; 

and  Lockyer  has  shown  how  important  it  is,  in  relation  to  such 
storms,  to  be  able  to  study  the  disturbances  in  the  various  strata 
t)f  the  stellar  or  solar  atmosphere.  Layers  of  metallic  va|xiur 
which  differ  widely  in  temperature  can  be  more  readily  obtaineil 
by  the  use  of  the  electrical  furnace  than  when  a, fragment  of 
metal  is  melted  and  volatilised  by  placing  it  in  the  arc,  in  a 
cavity  of  the  lower  carbon.  W.  C.  Roberts-Austen. 

THE    LIFE-HISTORV    OF    THE    CRUSTACEA 

LV  EARLY  PAL.EOZOIC  TIMES. 
T  X  his  recent  anniversary  address  to  the  CJeological  Society, 
'■  the  I'resident,  Dr.  Henry  Woodward,  K.K.S.,  after 
the  usual  distribution  of  medals  and  awards,  the  reading 
of  oliituaries  of  deceased  Fellows,  and  some  preliminary 
matters  relating  to  the  affairs  of  the  Society,  incluiling  the  moot 
<|uestion  of  the  introduciiim  of  ladies  as  visitors  Iti  the  evening 
meetings,  devoted  the  remainder  of  his  address  to  a  brief  dis- 
cussion of  "  Some  I'oints  in  the  Life-hislory  of  the  Crustacea 
in  Early  Paleozoic  Times."  Dr.  Woodward  continued  as 
follows: — "Of  the  various  groups  of  the  Invertebrata  whose 
ancestry  extends  into  I'al.xozoic  limes,  none  possess  a  greiiter 
interest  for  the  geologist  than  the  Crustacea,  whose  existence  is 
proved  as  far  back  as  the  Lower  Cambrian  rocks  ;  while  their 
near  allies,  the  Arachnida,  have  been  met  with  in  str.-ila  as  old 
as  the  Silurian. 

"  My  earliest  papers  on  the  Eurypterida appeared  in  1863  and 
1864,  and  an  account  of  .S/)'/(JH//r/M  and  //<•«; /«.i/>(j  was  com- 
municated to  this  .Society  in  1865,  just  thirty  years  ago.  In  that 
year  ( 1865)  I  h.id  the  pleasure,  with  my  friend  and  fellow-worker, 
the  late  J.  W.  Salter,  K.ti.S.,  of  publishing  a  •  Chart  of  Fossii 
Crustacea,'  in  which  an  attempt  was  made  to  show  the  evolution 
in  time  of  the  various  forms  belonging  to  this  class,  graphically 
depicted  on  an  engraved  folding-sheet,  with  explaivilory  text. 
In  it  we  ]K)inted  out  that  the  main  development  of  the  Crustacea 
in  I'aheozoic  times  consisted  of  the  gre.it  groups  of  the  Trilobita, 
the    Kur)pteiida,    the    Ni|ihosura,    the     l'hyllo|Mida,    and    the 


May  30,  1895] 


NATURE 


IIS 


Ostracoda.  TKe  faint  beginnings  of  other  great  groups  were 
also  indicated,  sucli  as  the  Macniiiran-deca|xjds  represented  by 
Anthrapalinuon  ami  other  forms  in  the  Coal  Measures;  the 
Stomatopods  by  Pygoceplialus  Cooperi,  the  Ainphipods  by 
Gampsoiiyx ,  both  in  the  Coal  Measures ;  and  by  Prosoponiscus 
in  the  Permian.  Lastly,  the  Cirripedia,  by  the  anomalous  form 
Tiirrilepas,  from  the  Wenlock  Limestone. 

"  In  November  1S66,  I  laid  before  this  Society  the  evidence 
upon  which  I  based  my  arrangement  of  the /'/tvj^w/^and  Limii/i 
in  one  order,  for  which  I  adopted  Dana's  very  a[)propriate  name 
of  Merostoniata  (or  'thigh-mouthed'  animals) — e.vpanded  to 
include  all  those  ancient  crustaceans  comprehended  in  the  two 
sub-orders  of  Eurypterida  and  .\i|)hosura,  and  forming  two  groups 
of  long-bot.lied  and  short-bodied  forms,  (^uite  parallel  to  the 
Brachyoura  and  Macroura  in  the  Decapoda  ;  even  the  inter- 
mediate forms  —corresponding  to  the  Anomoura — being  paral- 
leled by  the  Hemiaspida;  (Neniiaspis,  Pseiidoiiisciis,  i^c).  This 
group  formed  the  subject  of  a  monograph  published  by  the 
PaUvontographical  Society  ( 1865-1878)  comprising  17  genera  and 
84  species — 69  of  w  hich  are  Pala.'ozoic  in  age.  The  integrity  of 
this  group,  founded  on  the  researches  of  Huxley,  Salter,  Dana, 
Hall,  and  many  others  besides  myself,  has  been  firmly  main- 
tained, although  many  attempts  have  since  been  made  tcj  detach 
it  from  the  Crustacea  and  place  it  with  the  Arachnida.  For 
instance,  it  was  proposed  by  Dr.  Dohrn,  in  1871,  to  include  the 
Merostoniata  in  a  still  larger  division,  under  Haeckel's  term 
Oigantostraca,  which  was  made  by  expansion  to  embrace  the 
Merostoniata  and  the  Trilobita,  and  to  be  placed  between  the 
Crustacea  antl  the  Arachnida. 


T»«c-;»r»  y^o«ev 


Pm-MMB^I 


"  In  arguing  for  their  retention  before  this  Society  in  1871  I 
wrote: — 'Take  aw.ay  the  trilobita  from  the  pedigree  of  the 
Crustacea,  an<l  I  submit  that  one  of  the  main  arguments  in  favour 
of  evolution  to  i)e  ilerived  frnni  the  class,  so  far  from  being 
strengthened,  is  destroyed.  Krom  what  are  the  Crustacea  of  to- 
<lay  derived  ?  Are  we  to  assume  that  they  all  descended  from 
the  phyllopods  and  ostracods — the  only  two  remaining  orders 
whose  life-history  is  conterminous  with  that  of  the  trilobita  ? 
Or  are  we  to  assume  that  the  arachnida  are  the  older  class?' 
'  If,'  says  I'rit/.  Muller,  '  the  rrustacea,  insecta,  myriapoda,  and 
iirachnida  are  indeed  all  branches  of  a  commcin  stock,  it  is  evident 
that  the  water-inhabiting  and  water-breathing  Crustacea  must  be 
regarded  as  the  original  stem  from  which  the  other  terrestrial 
clas.ses,  with  their  tracheal  respiration,  have  branched  off.' 

"  In  the  above-quoted  paper  I  pointed  out  that  the  young 
I.iniiihn,  when  it  quits  the  egg,  has  the  hinder  body  as  large  as 
the  head-shielil,  and  the  nine  segments  composing  it  are  most 
clearly  marked  out,  the  abdiiminal  spine  being  quite  rudimentary 
and  forming  in  fact  the  gth  .segment.  This  is  the  so-called 
'  Triloiiten-sladiiim'  of  Dohrn. 

"  '  At  this  stage,'  says  I'.ickard,  '  the  young  swim  briskly  up 
and  down,  skimming  about  on  their  hacks  by  flapping  their  gills, 
not  bending  their  bodies.'  This  locomotion  of  the  young 
l.imuhis,  by  swimming  upon  its  back,  near  the  surface  of  the 
water  (by  means  of  its  gill  feet),  agrees  very  closely  with  the 
habit  of  .4/>«f,  of  Chirorep/ia/iis.rmi  Artemia,  and  is  extremely 
suggestive  of  its  affinity  to  the  phyllopoda,  with  which,  at  this 
stage  of  its  exi.stence,  it  has  many  points  in  common,  as  well  as 
with  the  trilobita. 


NO.    1 


jj:): 


VOL. 


52] 


"  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the  Xiphosura  (king-crabs) — 
which  furm  the  surviving  representatives  of  this  ancient  order  of 
the  .Merostoniata,  and  are  so  widely  distributed  in  the  Coal 
Measures  of  North  America,  Britain,  &c. — have  likewise  been 
discovered  as  far  back  in  time  as  the  Upper  Silurian  of  Lanark- 
shire, being  represented  by  a  small  form  which  I  named  and 
described,  in  1868,  NeoUntiilits  fakaltts^  having  eight  thoracic 
segments  ap])arently  free  and  movable,  but  wanting  the  tail-spine, 
which  probably  was  developed  later  in  life,  or  may  have  been 
represented  b)"  an  extremely  short  terminal  ]ilate,  as  we  see  is 
the  case  in  the  young  larval  I.tmn/tis.  Thus  the  earliest  fossil 
king-crab  known  probably  resembled  closely  the  free-swimming 
larva  of  the  li\  ing  king-crab  as  it  leaves  the  egg. 

"As  to  whether  the  Eurypterida — with  their  evidently  aquatic 
branchiated  respiration,  their  jaw-feet  provided  with  swimming- 
(not  walking-)  extremities — are  in  the  direct  line  of  ancestral 
relationship  to  the  recent  scorpions,  I  may  refer  again  to  my 
paper  '  On  some  Points  in  the  Structure  of  the  Xipho.sura,'  iSic.  : 
— '  This  is  one  very  strong  argument,  to  my  mind,  in  favour  of 
the  higher  zoological  position  o{ Pterygotus — that,  beingextremely 
larval  in  its  anatomy,  it  consequently  possessed  the  capacity  for 
further  development,  and  so  has  been  modified  and  disappeared* 
— its  latest  representatives  being  met  with  in  the  Coal  Measures, 
where  the  then  earliest  known  exani])les  of  fossil  scorpions  had 
also  been  found.  But  the  discovery,  almost  simultaneously,  by 
Thorell  and  Lindstnim  in  Gotland  ;  by  B.  N.  Peach  in  .Scotland  ; 
and  by  Whitfield  in  North  America  (in  1885)  of  actual  pul- 
monated  land  scorpions  in  rocks  of  Upper  Silurian  age  (as  far 
back,  in  fact,  in  geological  time  as  the  earliest  known  occurrences 
of  Plevygottis,  Slimonia,  and  Eniyptenis)  indi- 
cates that  the  air-breathing  scorpions  were 
I     I  derived   from  a  sti/t  earlier  and    as  yet  undis- 

-     '  covered  aquatic  progenitor  po.ssibly  in  Cambrian 

or  pre-Cambrian  times. 

"  Simultaneously  with  the  commencement  of 
my  own  work  on  the  Merostoniata,  J.  W.  Salter 
undertook  a  monograph  on  the  British  Trilobites 
for  the  Pala;ontographical  Society  in  1864. 
No  one  who  takes  up  this  fine  work  of  our  old 
friend  can  avoid  a  feeling  of  regret  that  Salter's 
valuable  life  and  splendid  palxontological  kni^w- 
ledge  should  not  have  been  longer  spared  to  us 
to  carry  on  to  its  completion  this  most  important 
service. 

'■  P'ollowing  up  the  progress  of  our  knowledge 
"f  the  trilobites,  I  may  note  that  Dr.  Henry 
Hicks  made  his  first  communication  to  this 
Society  in  1865  on  the  genus  Aitopoleniis,  and 
between  1871  (when  he  came  to  London  from 
the  happy  hunting-grounds  of  St.  David's  and 
joined  the  Geological  .Society)  and  1876,  he 
communicated  to  this  Society  a  series  of  papers  on  the  faunas 
of  the  '  Menevian,'  the  Lingula  Flags,  Tremadoc  Slates,  and 
Arenig  series,  giving  descriptions  of  no  fewer  than  thirty-four 
species  of  trilobites,  belonging  to  eighteen  genera,  from  those 
ancient  rocks. 

"  But  numerous  as  are  these  additions  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
trilobites  of  Wales,  they  only  represent  a  part  of  Dr.  Hicks's 
discoveries,  many  of  which  were  announced  by  Salter  ;  the  most 
important  being  that  of  the  finding  of  a  large  Paradoxides  at  St. 
David's,  jiroving  the  existence  of  a  Middle  Cambrian  or  '  Para- 
dox ides -7.01^,'  coextensive  with  the  vast  area  over  which  these 
early  rocks  have  been  observed,  and  occupying  a  [wrsistent 
horizon  throughout  Eurojie  anil  America. 

"  A  brief  reference  must  here  be  made  to  the  papers  published 
by  that  excellent  geologist  and  naturalist,  the  late  Thom.as  Belt, 
K.G.S.,  in  1S67  and  1868,  on  new  trilobites  from  the  Upi>er 
Cambrian  rocks  of  North  Wales,  anil  on  the  Lingula  Flags  or 
Ffestiniog  group  of  the  Dolgelly  District,  with  figures  and  de- 
scriptions of  four  species  of  Oleniis  {non-CoiiOiOryphe)  OiWd  four 
species  of  Jgiiostiis  from  Dolgelly.  In  1888  I  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  be  able  to  record  the  first  discovery  of  trilobites  ( Coiioeorypke 
viola)  in  the  Longmynd  Group,  Penrhyn  quarries,  Bethesda,  near 
Bangor,  in  North  Wales. 

"The  remarkable  fauna  of  the  Olenelliis  or  Low'est  Cambrian 
zone,  originally  discovereii  in  .Vmerica  by  Dr.  Emmons  in  1844, 
was  first  recognised  in  Europe  by  the  late  Dr.  Linnarsson  in 
1S71,  in  the  basal  zones  of  the  Cambrian  near  Lake  Mi'isen  in 
Norway,  but  its  typical  genus  Olenelliis  vim  then  referred  by  him 
to  the  allied  but  more  recent  genus  Paradoxides.    This  referenc 


ii6 


NATURE 


[May  30,  1895 


was  corrected  by  Prof.  Briber  in  1875  =  """  "i'-'  various  brilliant 
[lapers  on  the  I'rimoniial  formations  by  this  author  have  given 
the  (:V<-«<r///«-fauna  a  marked  and  peculiar  interest.  In  "1882 
Linnarsson  next  made  known  the  existence  of  the  OUnciliis- 
fauna  in -Scania,  at  the  base  of  the  Swedish  Cambrian.  In  18S6 
the  same  fauna  was  detected  by  Mickwitz  in  the  Lower  Cambrian 
of  Russia  (Ksthonial,  and  this  Rus.'^i.an  fauna  was  figured  and  de- 
scribed in  detail  by  Dr.  K.  Schmidt,  of  St.  Petersburg.  In  iSS? 
Dr.  Holm  reported  the  existence  of  the  C'/<H<//Hj-fauna  in  the 
Cambrian  of  Lapland,  where  it  w.-is  tirsi  detected  by  -Miirstell  in 
1885.  Thus  the  existence  of  this  remarkable  fossil  group,  the 
ohlest  well-marked  fauna  recognised  by  geologists  in  the  Lower 
Cambrian,  had  already  been  demonstrateil.  in  1 888,  in  three  main 
regions,  namely  :  (i)  in  the  region  of  the  Kocky  Mountains  :  (2) 
in  the  region  of  Xorth-easlcrn  -Xmtrica  ;  (3  (  in  the  region  drained 
by  the  Baltic  Sea.  L'p  to  1SS8  no  recorded  account  of  the  dis- 
covery of  Olciiellus  from  the  British  Isles  had  been  published,  the 
oldest  fauna  descritied  being  the  overlying  raradoxides-zone.%  or 
.Middle  Cambrian  formation. 

"The  first  recognisable  traces  of  OUnellus\x\  Britain  were  dis- 
covered by  Prof.  I^pworth  in  1885.  Further  collections  were 
made  in  1887  and  1888,  on  the  flanks  of  Caer  Caradoc,  Shrop- 
shire, and  the  s|)ecies  was  named,  in  honour  of  Dr.  Charles 
Callaway,  OUncllus  Callavci.  I^ter  on  it  was  figtired  and 
described  in  the  Gfologiial  Magazine  for  1 891. 

"In  -\ugust  1S91,  Sir  .■\.  lieikie  announced,  at  the  British 
A«ociation  meeting  in  Carditf,  the  discovery  of  Okiicl/iis  by 
Messrs.  Teach  and  Home,  in  blue-black  shales,  a  few  feet  below 
the  "  Serpulile  Crit "  of  the  Cambrian  rtKks  of  North-west  Scot- 
land, in  the  Dundonnell  Korest  of  Ross-shire.  The  description 
of  "  the  0/ciiet/iis-zone  of  the  North-west  Highlands ""  formed  the 
subject  of  a  most  valuable  pajx-r  by  Messrs.  I'each  and  Home, 
read  before  the  lieological  Society  on  February  10,  1S92,  and  a 
new  species  of  OUiiclliis  is  descrilwd  ami  named  ('.  I^ifMorthihy 
these  authors.  Mr.  B.  N.  I'each,  F. U.S.,  communicated  a 
.second  pa[K'r,  "  -\dditions  to  the  Fauna  of  the  Oleiiel/iis-Tone  of 
the  North-west  Highlands,"'  on  June  20,  1894  ;  in  which,  in  ad- 
<lition  to  O.  /.afr,vorlhi,  he  describes  and  figures  O.  I.af^orthi 
var.  ehngaltis,  O.  rclicu/atiis,  O.  gigas,  O.  intermedins,  and 
OUneiioidrs  arntatus. 

"  '  The  Fatma  of  the  I^iwer  Cambrian  or  Olenellus-i.ona '  forms 
the  subject  and  title  of  an  admirable  monograph  by  .Mr.  C.  D. 
VValcott,  F'.G.S.,  which,  with  the  exception  of  the  subsequent 
discovery  of  an  Olencllns-ixunn.  in  the  Lower  Cambrian  of  the 
.Scotch  Highlands  (already  referred  to),  gives  us  a  very  complete 
and  up-to-date  account  of  this  interesting  and  oklest  fauna. 
-About  eighteen  widely  distributed  localities  are  shown  on  the  map 
of  North  .\merica  from  British  Columbia  to  I^-ibrador,  and  .as  far 
s*">uth  as  Texas;  whilst  in  F-urojxf  we  have  Spain,  North  and 
.South  Wales,  the  .Scottish  Highlands,  Norw.iy, -Sweden,  Finland, 
Bohemia,  Bavaria,  I'odolia,  -Sardinia,  I'ctchoraland,and  the  Ural 
Mountains.  (Jmiiting  trails,  burrows,  and  tracks,  the  Olenclliis- 
fauna  ha>  yielded  fifty-five  genera  of  iirganisms,  fifteen  of  which 
arc  Triloliitcs. 

"  \Vc  may  now  add  yet  another  locality  in  which  this  remark- 
able fauna  occurs,  .as  proved  by  the  presence  of  the  remains  of 
OUnellus  and  the  pteropKl  Saltcrella :  namely,  in  Western 
Australia,  where  it  w,as  discovered  by  .Mr.  Hardman  in  1 886. 

"  I  must  here  refer  to  the  iliscoveries  of  the  limbs  of  trilo- 
Irites.  In  1870  the  late  F.  Billings,  the  I'al.eontologist  of  the 
'icologica!  .Survey  of  Can.-iila,  brought  iKrdire  the  Geological 
Society  and  descrilK.-d  a  siiecimen  of  .Isap/iiis  flaly^ef'hahis, 
from  the  Trenton  Limestone  of  Ottawa,  Canada,  exhibiting 
remains  of  eight  pairs  of  limbs,  corres|Kinding  with  the  eight 
free  an«l  m'>vable  segments  of  the  Uxly,  and  showing  the  hy|Ki- 
s^ime  still  attached  to  the  doublure  of  the  anterior  Imrder  of  ihc 
cephalic  shield  ;  traces  of  two  appcniLagcs  under  the  caudal 
shield  were  also  visible.  <*n  that  i>cc.ision  I  exhibited  a  speci- 
men of  Asaphui  from  the  same  l<tc;diiy  an<I  horizon,  showing 
evidence  of  a  small  7-8-j'iinte(l  jialpus  lying  at  the  side  of  the 
hyj»»iomc  apparently  in  its  original  jHisition.  After  some  re- 
marks on  the  su|>erficial  character  of  trilobites,  I  adiled  : — 
'  The  prominence  of  the  hypostome  in  the  trilobiia  reminds  one 
even  more  strongly  of  the  genus  Apia  than  of  the  iso|KKls,  and 
"ible  toexpect  in  thetrilobita  a  moregeneraliseil 
ihan  that  which  m.irks  the  moilern  reprcscnta- 

"  In  iW»i,  after  many  years  of  untiring  labour,  Charles 
D.  Walcott  furnished  most  conclusive  proofs  of  the  exist- 
ence of  appendage!)  t-)  the  cephalic,   thoracic,   and   alxlominal 

NO.    1335.  VOL.  52] 


divisions  of  Caiynune.  iSeraunis,  and  .tcidaspis.  His  researches 
have  twen  carrie<l  on  by  the  method  of  making  thin  transverse 
and  longitudinal  sections  of  rolled-up. specimens.  He  has  shown 
that  the  ventral  body-wall  of  the  trilobites  was  bounded  inftriorly 
by  a  thin  chitinous  membrane,  which  was  attached  to  the  lower 
maiijin  of  the  dorsal  exoskeleton  all  round.  This  ventral  mem- 
brane was  supixirted  by  calcified  arches,  which  gave  attachment 
to  the  ap)Tendages  lieneath.  He  further est.iblishcd  theexistence 
of  a  row  of  articulated  cylindrical  limbs,  on  each  side  of  the 
middle  line.  Walcott  descrilied  the  thoracic  api)endagcs  in 
Ca/ymene  as  slender  six-jointed  walking-legs  (endo|H)ditesl  with 
a  single  pointed  termination,  the  ba.sal  segment  giving  rise  to  a 
branch  apjx-ndage  (exopodile).  t)n  e.ich  side  of  the  throracic 
j  cavity  he  also  described  a  row  of  bifid  spiral  appendages,  of  the 
nature  of  gills,  and  he  suggested  that  branchia  were  attached  to 
the  Iwses  of  the  thoracic  limbs  as  well.  The  abdominal  or 
pygidial  rings  carried  appendages,  a  [xtir  to  each  segment,  bat 
they  do  not  appear  to  have  diflered  from  the  thoracic  limbs,  save 
in  size.  The  mouth  is  situ.ated  behind  the  hypostome,  and  has 
four  ]iairs  of  jointed  manducatory  organs,  the  bases  of  which 
are  modified  to  serve  as  jaws ;  the  hindmost  pair  being  the 
largest,  and  exjianded  at  the  distal  extremity  into  a  swimming- 
oi^an. 

"  The  correctness  of  Billings's  views,  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
thoracic  limljs  of  Asap/iiis  platyeephahis,  was  further  confirniBil 
by  the  finding  of  a  s]x"cinien  of  Asaphns  i>iegis/os,  in  the  Ordo- 
vician  rocks  of  Ohio,  which  shows  the  under  surface  with  its 
apix'ndages,  described  by  Llr.  I.  Mickletmrough.  Thisspecimer* 
shows  two  (lairs  of  maxillipeds  or  jaw-feel,  eight  |)airs  of  walk- 
ing-ap|iendages,  corresponding  to  the  eight  (lairs  of  free  thoracic 
segments,  each  limb  having  about  six  joints.  The  under  side 
of  the  coalesced  segments  of  the  abdomen  (pygidiuni)  reveals  a 
series  of  from  twelve  to  sixteen  similar  paired  appendages, 
diminishing  rapidly  in  size  from  before  lackwanls  to  tlu 
extremity.  .'\  bro,id  median  groove  extends  along  the  undtr 
side  of  the  thorax  and  abdomen,  and  probably  represents  the 
.space  once  occupied  by  the  stemites  or,  possibly,  the  straight 
intestinal  canal,  observed  l)y  Barrande  in  some  trilobites  from 
Bohemia.  Traces  of  su]iposed  branchial  filaments  have  also 
been  observed  in  this  specimen,  apixirently  att.ached  to  the 
thoracic  legs. 

"  No  further  addition  had  been  made  to  our  knowledge  of  the 
appendages  of  triobites  until  July  1893,  when  Mr.  \V.  D. 
Miitthew,  a  student  of  Columbia  College  (N.V.),  comnninicated 
the  result  of  his  examination  of  several  specimens  of  Triiirfhnta 
fiitiii,  obtaine<l  by  Mr.  W.  .S.  \'aliant  from  the  '  Hudson  River 
Shales' (Ordovician),  near  Rome,  New  York.  After  recording 
the  extent  of  our  previous  knowledge  derived  from  the  im- 
portant researches  of  C.  D.  Walcott,  he  proceeds  to  descrilie  the 
additions  which  the  sjiecimens  from  Rome  have  supplied.  These 
trilobites  are  found  in  a  soft,  fine,  black  shale,  and  are  perfectly 
well  preserveil.  The  most  noticeable  character  is  the  presence 
of  long,  sleniler,  many-jointed  whip-like  appendages  attached  to 
the  front  of  the  hea(l,  closely  reseml)ling  the  flagellate  antenna- 
of  other  crustaceans.  These  originate  beneath  the  antcrioi 
border  of  the  head-shield,  and  are  .as  long  .tgain  nearly  as  the 
glabella  itself.  .Mr.  Matthew  also  w.ts  atile  to  detect  a  series 
of  walking  or  swimming-legs,  one  a  narrow,  jointe<l,  cylindrical 
leg,  the  other  thin,  broad,  fringed  with  a  comb-like  structure 
similar  to  the  gills  of  many  Crustacea. 

"  The  next  communicatiim  is  from  Mr.  C.  K.  Beccher,  of  New 
Haven,  Conn.,  '  On  the  .Mode  of  Occurrence  ami  Ihe  Structure 
and  Development  of  rriarlhrus  Keekii."  The  material  gathered 
fi)r  the  Yale  University  (by  the  aid  of  I'rof.  -Marsh),  near  Koine, 
New  York,  is  probably  some  of  the  best  which  has  been  ob- 
tained, and  has  been  carefully  examined  and  described  by  .Mr. 
Bccchcr. 

"  In  their  present  condition  the  specimens  from  Rome  contain 
very  little  calcite,  nearly  the  entire  calcareous  and  chilinous 
|K)rtions  of  Ihe  trilobites  being  replaced  by  a  thin  film  of  iron 
pyrile.  To  this  cause  is  doubtless  due  Ihe  preservali(m  of  deli- 
cate f)rgans  and  structures  which  wimld  otherwise  have  been 
destroyed. 

"  The  siiccimcnslhus  preserved  occupy  an  extremely  reslriclcil 
vertical  distribution,  but  within  this  range  they  are  nearly  all 
complete,  and  ]»reserve  their  ap])endages.  They  are  of  allagcN, 
from  larval  forms  u]i  to  full-grown  individuals,  whilst  the  ail- 
jacent  strata  cimtain  a  rather  sparse  fauna  in  which  the  trilobites 
are  generally  Iragmentary  and  without  appendages.  The  author 
believes  that,   in  Ihe  majority  of  beds  in   which   Irilobiles  are 


M 


May  30,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


117 


fjund,  the  remains  met  with  represent  the  exuvi*  of  living 
animals  that  have  cast  their  shell,  rather  than  the  tests  of  dead 
individuals.  In  this  particular  deposit  the  appendages  are 
apparently  in  the  position  which  they  occupied  during  life,  and 
not  such  as  would  be  assumed  in  the  castoft'  shells  of  recent 
Crustacea. 

"  Mr.  Beecher  mentions  another  interesting  point,  namely, 
(hat  nearly  all  the  specimens  are  found  with  the  back  down, 
■which  is  explained  by  suggesting  that,  although  they  lived  with 
the  ventral  side  downwards,  the  gases  in  the  viscera  produced 
during  decomposition  were  sufficient  to  overturn  the  animal  and 
allow  it  to  be  buried  by  the  accumulation  of  the  tine  sediments 
in  the  position  in  which  it  is  now  found. 

"  The  appendaijes  of  Triarlkiis  appear  now  to  be  very  well 
made  out.  The  antenns;,  as  seen  in  a  number  of  specimens,  were 
simple  multiarticulate  flagella,  which  Walcott  has  shown  extend 
backwards  to  the  lateral  margin  of  the  hypostome,  so  that  they 
occupy  exactly  the  same  position  as  do  the  tirst  antenn-.t  in  recent 

'  "  Two  small  appendages,  like  simple  palpi,  with  broad  basal 
joints,  which  may  represent  the  maxilla,  are  seen  in  one  of 
Walcott's  specimens,  and  there  were  probably  four  pairs  of 
similar  cephalic  appendages,  besides  the  simple  flagellate 
antennae,  more  or  less  modified  to  serve  as  mouth-organs. 

"  Each  segment  bears  a  pair  of  biramous  appendages  originating 
at  the  sides  of  the  axis,  as  in  other  trilobites.  The  anterior  legs 
are  the  longest,  and  the  others  gradually  become  shorter  towards 
ihepygidium.  Each  limb  consists  of  two  nearly  equal  branches, 
the  'endopodite'  and  '  exojxjdite,'  which  may  be  correlated 
with  the  typical  crustacean  primitive  limb,  and  are  well  displayed 
in  the  adult  Afysis  :  in  the  biramose  natatory-feet  of  the  zoea  of 
the  common  shore-crab  (Caniiiiis) ;  and  retained  in  the  appen- 
dages of  the  abdomen  of  the  adult  lobster  [Hoiiiarin).  Practi- 
cally, these  biramose  limbs  are  reproduced  along  the  entire  series 
of  free  segments.  The  appendages  belonging  to  the  pygidium 
closely  resemble  the  branchigerous  feet  of  Apus,  and  may 
evidently  be  correlated  with  typical  phyllopod  limbs. 

*'  The  first  point  insisted  upon  by  all  systematic  zoologists — long 
Ijefore  the  finding  of  appendages  had  thrown  so  much  new  light 
upon  our  investigations — was  that  the  great  variability  in  the 
number  of  the  segments  in  trilobites  was  a  feature  which  dis- 
tinctly connected  them  with  the  phyllopoda.  Bernard  considers 
of  greater  importance  still  the  gradual  diminution  of  the  size  of 
the  segments  posteriorly,  which  remarkable  feature  the  trilobites 
share  with  Apus.  I  would  also  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
those  earlier  trilobites  which  best  exhibit  this  large  number  of 
segments,  such  as  Okiielhis,  ParaJoxides,  ike,  are  likewise  re- 
markalile  for  the  simplicity  and  exact  similarity  of  their  segments, 
being  a  serial  repetition  of  one  another,  and  even  the  coalesced 
segments  forming  the  head-shield  share  the  same  resemblance 
with  the  free  posterior  thoracic  and  abdominal  ones.  Bernard 
has  given  expression  to  the  idea  most  aptly  when  he  writes  (op. 
cil.  p.  412) : — "'The  adult  is  but  the  grown,  not  metamorphosed, 
Jarva — grown  by  the  continual  development  of  segments  from 
before  backwards,  until  at  a  certain  stage  this  process  becomes 
fixed,  and  we  have  the  adult  Apits  with  a  number  of  fixed  rudi- 
mentary segments.  This  fixation  of  a  number  of  undeveloped 
segments  is  visible  also  in  many  trilobites. 

"  In  the  earlier  forms  (as  OUnclliis)  these  rudimentar)-  posterior 
segments  still  remain  free  ;  but,  as  a  rule,  they  are  coalesced  to 
form  the  plate-like  pygidium  so  characteristic  of  the  trilobites. 

'•  Turning  to  the  apjiendages,  the  simple  multisegmented  flagel- 
late antenmi;  are  extremely  characteristic  of  the  Crustacea,  being 
met  with  in  lowly  copejxjds  and  highly-developeil  decapods. 

"  The  biramose  paired  limbs  are  quite  a  primitive  type,  like  the  | 
segments  to  which  they  are  attached,  exceedingly  simple,  yet  1 
characteristic,  and  with  the  exception  of  the  antennx-  and  the  ! 
four  succeeding  pairs  of  appendages,  which  are  modified  to  serve 
as  mouth-organs  (maxilla;  and  niaxillipeds),  the  whole  series  are 
simple  biramose  natatory  or  walking-feet,  such  as  persist  still  in 
adult  .\lysii  and  many  other  recent  Crustacea.  ' 

"  The  eyes  in  trilobites  closely  resemble  those  of  other  anthro- 
pods,  but  vary  somewhat  in  position,  and  also  in  development,  j 
in  some  genera  the  eyes  being  altogether  absent,  as  in  Ainpy.x,  I 
Ctratirui.  &c. ,  whilst   in   others,  like  Aiglina,  they  are  enor-  ' 
mously  exaggerated  in  size.     In  some  genera  the  eyes  are  hyaline, 
the  faceted  surface  being  covered  with  a  fine  trans|>arent  layer, 
whilst  in  others  the  facets  appear  prominently  on  the  surface.     It 
'■^  suggested   by  Bernard  that  the  minute  iiore  observed  in  the 
■ad,  near  the  compound  eye  in  several  genera   (Tniiiic/eus,  I 

NO.   1335,  VOL.   52] 


.■l,!Uasp!s,  Calymeiti,  Ampy.x,  Grijffil/iiJci,  P/iiliipsia,ik.c.),  may 
be  analogous  to  the  pore  in  the  head-shield  of  Apus,  and  be  the 
opening  into  the  water-sac  covering  the  eyes  :  and  whilst  in  some 
genera  of  trilobites  this  water-sac  may  have  existed,  it  may  have 
degenerated  in  others,  leaving  the  eye  in  contact  with  the  outer 
cuticle,  which  covered  it  like  a  thin  transijarent  membrane.  In 
none  of  the  trilobites  have  larval  eye-spots  been  observed. 

"  Dr.  Lang  held  the  view  (in  1S91 )  that  if  a  fifth  pair  of  cephalic 
limbs  were  found  comparable  with  the  anterior  antenna.-,  tri- 
lobites might  then  be  regarded  as  primitive  entomostraca,  to  be 
derived  from  the  same  racial  form  as  the  ])hyllfipoda. 

"  Walcott  is  of  opinion  that  the  trilobiia  formed  a  distinct 
branch,  which  diverged  at  a  very  early  date  from  the  phyllopoda, 
and  having  expended  its  vital  energy  in  Palaeozoic  times  it  dis- 
appeared. He  adds  :  '  Probably  two  thousand  species  and  one 
hundred  or  more  genera  are  known  from  Palceozoic  strata.  With 
this  great  diflerentation  the  initial  vital  energy  of  the  group 
became  impaired,  and  the  trilobita  died  out  at  the  close  of 
Palaeozoic  time. 

"  I  willingly  adopt  the  view  that  the  trilobita  are  ancestrally 
connected  with  Liniuliis  ;  that  Limiibis  may  be  related  through 
Hemiaspis  with  Etirypterus  :  but  all  the  intermediate  forms  have 
not  yet  been  met  with.  That  some  ancestral  Eurypterid  must 
have  given  rise  to  Scorpio  cannot,  I  think,  be  doubted  ;  but  it 
must  have  been  in  pre-Silurian  times,  for  Peach  and  Lindstriim's 
Paheophoiius  had  already  appeared  in  the  Upper  Silurian  of 
Lanarkshire  and  Gotland  as  a  terrestrial  pulmonated  form, 
while  a  similar  land-scorpion  had  been  discovered  by  Whitfield 
in  the  Silurian  of  America. 

"  The  Phyllopoda  deserve  consideration  from  a  geological 
standpoint,  a  representative  of  .^/hj-  (Ptotocayis  Marshii)\ia\m<i^ 
been  met  with  in  the  Lower  Cambrian  of  Vermont,  U.S. 
Some  of  the  living  genera  are  naked  { Branchipus  and  Arteiiiia), 
but  in  most  the  front  portion  of  the  body  is  protected  by  a  shield- 
like carapace  (Apus),  or  it  may  be  enclosed,  as  in  Esthoia,  in  a 
bivalve  shell.  The  fossil  remains  of  bivalved  phyllopods, 
Estheria  and  Leaia  were  described  by  Prof.  T.  Rupert  Jones  as 
far  back  as  1862  in  the  Pala;ontographical  Society,  where  he 
defines  nineteen  species  ranging  from  the  Old  Red  and 
Carboniferous  upwards. 

'■The  most  ancient  of  these  shield-bearing  crustaceans, 
originally  placed  with  the  phyllopoda  and  having  a  single 
modern  analogue  (Xebalia),  have  now,  by  general  consent,  l)een 
removed  and  placed  under  the  order  Phyllocarida,  a  name 
suggested  by  Dr.  A.  S.  Packard  in  1S79.  The  fossil  forms 
referred  to  this  order  were  originally  studied  and  noticed  In- 
M'Coy,  Salter,  Barrande,  Clar*e,  and  have  subsequently  been 
fully  described  by  Prof.  T.  Rupert  Jones  and  myself. 

"  Metschnikoff,  who  studied  the  embryology  of  Kehalia,  con- 
sidered it  to  be  a  '  phylloix>diform  decapod.'  Besides  the 
resemblance  to  the  decapods,  there  is  also  a  combination  of 
copepod  and  phyllopod  characteristics.  The  type  is  an  instance 
of  a  generalised  form,  and  is  of  high  antiquity,  having  made  its 
appearance  in  Cambrian  times,  when  there  lived  (if  we  regard 
the  relative  size  of  most  Crustacea,  and  especially  that  of  the 
living  Nibalia)  gigantic  fonns.  Such  was  the  Silurian  dra- 
tiocaris  ludiiisis,  which  was  probably  more  than  two  feet 
in  length. 

"  The  modern  Nehalia  is  extremely  small,  about  I  inch  in 
length,  but  a  newly-descrilwd  s|iecies,  Nehaliopsis  lypica,  Sars, 
measures  as  much  as  if  inch,  w  ith  the  body  compressed,  and  the 
carapace  bivalved,  as  in  Lininadia,  one  of  the  genuine  phyllopxls. 
There  is  a  large  movable  rostrum  overhanging  the  head  ;  stalked 
eyes;  the  cephalic  portion  carries  two  pairs  of  antennx  and 
three  pairs  of  special  mouth-organs  (mamlibles  and  maxilla)  ; 
the  thoracic  segments  bear  eight  pairs  of  short,  leaf-like  re- 
spiratory-feet, which  are  followed  by  six  pairs  of  (aMominal) 
simple  swimming-feet,  four  being  large  and  two  rudimentar)-, 
while  the  last  two  segments  (seventh  and  eighth)  are  destitute  of 
appendages,  the  body  terminating  in  an  elongated  phyllo|K'Hl- 
like  caudal  fork.  Comjjared  with  Kehalia,  the  fossil  forms  give 
evidence  of  an  articulated  rostrum  ;  traces  of  antennx  :  the 
presence  of  a  pair  of  strong  mandibles  ;  of  a  large  exjxtnded 
shield  in  some,  and  of  a  folded  or  bivalved  cara|xace  in  others  ; 
of  the  presence  of  seven  or  eight  body-segments,  sometime- 
carrying  branchigerous  appendages,  the  terminal  segment  carr)- 
ing  a  central  caudal  spine  and  two  lateral  shorter  ones.  It  seems 
highly  probable  that  the  old  giant  pod-shrimps  (Ceralioiaris. 
/'/Mj'rft'ar/y,  &c.),  whose  remains  occur  in  the  Palceozoic  rocks 
from  the  Cambrian  to  the  Carboniferous,  are  represented  by  the 


iiS 


NA  2-URh 


[iMay  30,  1895 


minute  living  Aibalia,  and  that  these  early  forms  may  have 
Ijiven  rise  to,  and  have  been  the  forenmners  of,  the  modern 
Nlalacostraca.  '  In  A'lbalia,'  says  Claus,  '  we  probably  have 
to  do  with  an  offshoot  of  the  phyllopod-like  ancestors  of  the 
iMalacii>traca,  which  has  |>ersiste<l  on  to  the  present  time.' 

"  The  genus  Esthtria  existed  in  the  fresh  and  brackish  waters 
of  the  Devonian  Perio<l,  in  Livonia,  Caithness,  and  Orkney,  and 
also  in  No\'a  Scotia  and  Scotland.  It  flourished  in  the 
European  area  at  several  of  the  Upper  Carboniferous  stages,  and 
was  well  represented  in  the  Secondar)-  and  Tertiary  rocks  ;  it  is 
also  living,  and  has  a  world-wide  distribution. 

"  The  I'hyllocarida  seem  in  some  cases  to  afford  examples  of 
|>ersistency  of  tyjie,  and  in  others  of  local  or  temporary  S[>eciali- 
saiion.  fine  of  the  oldest  known  is  the  Cambrian  Hymcuoiaris, 
a  prototype  of  the  recent  Nebalia.  Caryoiaris  of  the  Arenig 
series  possibly  belongs  to  the  same  group ;  and  the  Upper 
Silurian  Ceratician's  carries  the  form  to  a  high  degree  of  \ 
perfection  ;  but  until  we  meet  with  the  Nehaiia  of  to-day  w  e 
have  no  tangible  links  in  this  series  in  intermediate  geological 
limes.  Walcott's  Cambrian  Protocaris  is  quite  susceptible  of 
being  regarded  as  a  predecessor  of  the  living  Aptis.  The 
Carlxmifcrous  Dithyrocaris  and  its  allies  stan<l  probably  in  the 
relation  of  genealogical  links.  But  much  more  research  among 
these  interesting  lower  crustacean  fossils  is  required  before  their 
phylogenetic  relationship  can  lie  fully  elucidated. 

"The  Ostracoda,  which  have  the  entire  body  enclosed  in  a 
shell  or  carapace  composed  of  two  valves  united  along  the  back 
by  a  membrane  (represented  by  such  forms  as  Cyfris,  Cypridiim, 
Caitdona,  Beyruhia,  Primitia,  &c. ),  are  chiefly  dwellers  in 
shallows,  and  occur  both  in  fresh  and  salt  water ;  they  are 
usually  of  minute  size ;  but  there  are  deep-sea  ty]ies  which 
attain  comparatively  large  dimensions  (an  inch  long).  They  are 
met  with  in  rocks  of  almost  all  ages  from  the  Cambrian  up- 
wards. To  speak  of  them  here  is  to  recall  the  nearly  life-long 
labjurs  (from  almut  1840)  devoted  to  their  elucidation  by  I'rof. 
T.  Ru|XTt  Jones,  who  has  described  many  hundreils  of  these 
primitive  Crustacea  from  rocks  of  every  British  formation  as 
well  as  from  very  many  foreign  countries. 

"  Cireat  as  are  the  transformations  which  these  organisms  have 
witnessetl  in  the  long  cycles  of  geological  change  from  Lower 
Cambrian  to  modern  time,  they  present,  nevertheless,  a  general 
iacies,  and  (like  the  genus  Uiii;ii!a  amongst  the  brachiopoda) 
must  lie  looked  upon  as  one  of  those  persistent  types  which 
lK»s.sess  enormous  power  of  multiplication,  so  that  entire  beds  of 
rock  may  !«  .said  to  \te  com[)osed  of  their  microscopic  tests. 
The  linng  species  also  |X)sscss»;xceptional  powers  of  endurance 
and  provision  for  the  preservation  of  their  lives  in  periods  of 
drought,  often  retaining  their  vitality  in  a  dormant  stale  perhaps 
for  years  :  thus  they  have  persi.stcd  through  all  the  vicissitudes 
of  geological  time,  representeil  by  the  entire  succession  of  the 
Mratitied  nxks ;  '  all  things  changing,  but  themselves  un- 
changed.' 

"  None  of  the  older  Ostracoil  genera  exist  now  ;  but  .some  of 
the  existing  forms  of  the  Cypridi<l;e,  Cytherid.T;,  and  CytherellidiC 
are  fully  represented  by  predecessors  in  the  I'alxo/oic  rocks. 
The  wonderfully  well-preserved  Pa/,eo,ypris  Edu'ardsii,  dis- 
covered by  Dr.  C.  Hrongniarl,  enclosed  in  transparent  silica, 
•lisplaying  the  soft  parts  of  the  .inimal  as  perfect  as  in  life,  from 
the  Coal  Measures  of  Si.  Elienne,  is  evidence  of  the  existence 
of  Cyprids  in  that  far-off  time. 

"  I  have  endeavoured  to  depict  in  a  diagram  (p.  115)  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  Arthroptjda  in  geological  lime. 

"  In  conclmling  this  brief  excursion  over  the  abysses  of 
I'ak-ezoic  lime,  I  have  only  Iwen  able  to  bring  under  your 
notice  a  few  isolated  points  of  interest  in  the  crust.icean  fauna 
which  lie  in  the  depths  of  these  ancient  (lc|Kisils.  They  may, 
however,  serve  to  show  that  this  group  of  lowly  existences  is 
not  destitute  of  interest  for  the  biologist.  There  may  also  be  a 
(Hissibility  of  connecting  these  isolated  observations  .so  a.s  to 
»how  their  hearing  upon  the  greater  question  of  the  development 
of  life. 

"  In  order,  however,  to  do  this  effectively  I  must  ask  you  to 
accomjKiny  me  next  year  in  a  sec^ind  excursi^pn  over  the  newer 
I'al.-eotrjic  and  Kaino/oic  seas,  where,  nearer  land  and  in  shallower 
waters,  wc  shall  find  a  still  greater  variety  of  life-forms  to  study. 

"Two  conclusions  may  lie  drawn  from  our  fibservations,  namely, 
(I)  that  the  ancient  faunas  of  the  earth  were  far  more  wide- 
»prcad,  more  simple  and  more  uniform  than  are  our  recent  faunas  ; 
and  (2)  if,  a.t  (he  researches  of  geologists  seem  to  indicate,  other 
Mdimcntary  rocks  exist,  nldrr  than    the    Lower  Cambrian,  then 


NO.    1335,  VOL    52] 


we  may  hope  to  gather  evidence  of  still  earlier  and  more  simple 
forms  of  life  than  are  met  with  in  the  '  O/ou/.'m-zonc'  We  are 
fully  justified  in  concluding  that  such  must  actually  have 
existed,  because  we  find  in  the  Lower  Cambrian  evidence  of  a 
quite  considerable  fauna  belonging  to  several  divisions  which, 
although  lowly  in  themselves,  are  nevertheless  already  so  clearly 
(lifferentiate<l  one  from  the  other  as  to  prove  to  us  that  we  are 
still,  lx)th  biologically  and  chronologically,  very  far  removed 
from  the  commencement  of  life  on  the  earth." 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

American  fouriia!  of  Siience,  May. — On  the  colour  relations 
of  atoms,  ions,  and  molecules,  by  M .  Carey  Lea.  Part  i .  The 
colour  or  absence  of  colour  of  an  element  is  a  fimction  of  its 
atomic  weight.  No  element  having  ions  coloured  at  all  valencies 
can  belong  to  the  same  natural  group  with  elements  having 
colourless  ions  only.  The  entire  class  of  elements  with  colour- 
less ions  is  divi<led  into  nine  great  natural  groups,  as  follows  : — 
II,  K,  CI.  Br,  I  :  Li,  Na.  K,  Kb,  Cs  :  Ca,  Sr,  Ba  :  Sc,  Y,  La  ; 
Be,  .Mg,  Zn,  Cd,  Hg ;  B,  .U,  Ga,  In;  C,  Si,  Ge,  Sn,  Pb, 
Th  ;  N,  P,  As,  Sb  ;  O,  S,  Se,  Te.  This  first  great  division  of 
the  elements  includes  all  those  whose  ions  function  .is  anions, 
anil  also  part  of  the  cathion.s.  Intermediate  between  the  two 
chief  divisions  are  eleven  transitional  elements,  viz.  Ti,  V,  Cu, 
Nb,  Mo,  Ag,  Ce,  Ta,  \V,  Th,  Bi.  These  have  ions  which  at 
some  valencies  are  coloured  and  at  others  colourless.  These  are 
cathions  only.  With  atomic  weights  ranging  from  I  to  47  the 
atoms  are  colourless  ;  52  to  59  coloured  ;  65  to  90  colourless  ; 
103  to  106  coloured  :  112  to  ijgcohmrless  ;  145  to  169 coloured  ; 
192  to  196  coloured.  Elements  whose  place  in  the  numerical 
series  falls  between  these  periods  have  both  coloured  and  colour- 
less atoms.  The  six  heaviest  metals  .at  the  end  of  the  series  are 
allern.-itely  coloured  and  colourless. — .4rgon,  l'rout"s  hypothesis, 
and  the  periodic  law,  by  Edwin  A.  Hill.  \  very  interesting 
question  connected  with  the  discovery  of  argon  is  what  will  be 
the  effect  of  these  researches  upon  Prout's  hypothesis?  It  is 
possible  that  argon  has  lieen  an  unsusiiected  cause  of  error, 
which,  when  properly  allowed  for,  will  show  the  ratio  of  H  to 
O  to  be  almost  exactly  I  to  16.  This  would  make  so  many 
atomic  weights  even  or  half  multiples  of  11  as  to  render  probable 
the  generation  of  the  elements  from  a  common  form  of  matter 
by  the  continued  addition  of  some  one  or  more  constant  in- 
crements of  mass.  —  Relation  of  the  plane  of  Jupiter's  orbit  to 
the  mean  pl.ine  of  401  minor  planet  orbits,  by  H.  .\.  Newlon. 
The  secular  perturbation  of  the  orbit  of  a  minor  planet  by  Ju]iiter 
is  such  that  the  inclination  of  the  orbit  plane  is  not  greatly 
changed,  but  the  node  has  a  constant  motion.  Whatever  may 
be  the  distribution  of  the  poles  of  these  orbits  at  one  epoch,  ihe 
tendency  of  the  secular  perturbation  by  Jupiter  is  to  finally  dis- 
tribute them  symmetrically  around  the  pole  of  Jupiter's  plane. 
The  present  inclin.ition  of  the  mean  plane  to  Jujiiter's  ]ilane 
iiO°-43. 

American  Mclcorohsical  Journal,  May.— The  cause  of  cy- 
clones, by  Prof.  .\.  Woeikof  The  article  deals  chiefly  with  two 
points  mentioned  in  a  former  paper  on  this  subject  by  Mr. 
Dines.  Dr.  Woeikof  considers  that  the  balloon  ascent  from 
Munich  on  December  II,  1890,  showed  that,  while  there  is  no 
cooling  of  the  free  air  in  calm  anticyclonic  weather,  the  radia- 
tion of  the  surface  of  the  snow  cihiIs  the  surrounding  air,  even 
on  an  isolateil  mountain.  With  regard  to  the  suggestion  that 
the  latent  heat  set  free  by  condensation  is  sufficient  to  cause  a 
storm,  he  points  <mt  that  the  heat  set  free  by  copious  condensa- 
tion in  India  does  not  produce  storms.  —  Meteorological  problems 
for  physical  laboratories,  by  Prof.  C.  Abbe.  Kew  physical 
laboratories  have  conveniences  for  studying  .lero-dynamics,  but 
Ihe  author,  with  the  assistance  of  Prof  C.  K.  Marvin,  gives  a 
list  of  Ihirty-seven  sulijecis  for  experimental  investig;ilion  which 
demand  allention  from  meteorological  stuilents.  -  Long  range 
weather  forecasts,  by  Prof  H.  A.  Hazen.  The  author  jivils  for- 
ward a  scries  of  crucial  tests  of  we.ather  forecasts,  more  particu- 
larly with  Ihe  view  of  showing  Ihe  fallacy  of  the  precbrlions 
based  on  the  positions  tif  the  mmm,  planets,  \c.  — There  is  also 
an  article  by  !•'.  B.  While  on  to|iographic  influence  on  the  winds 
of  the  weather  maps,  which  frequently  show  erratic  winds, 
having  no  dependence  on  the  l.io.nM-rir  gr.ulienls  cliar'.ed  with 
them. 


May  30,  1895] 


NATURE 


1(9 


SOCIETIES  AND'  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Physical    Society,    May   10. — Captain  \V.  de   W.   Abney, 
President,     in     the     chair.  —  Mr.     Herroun    read    a     paper    on 
the   iodine   voltameter.      After  referring  to  the  usual    methods 
of  determining  the  value  of   the  small  currents   used  in  cali- 
brating   galvanometers    and    other    apparatus    for    measuring 
small  currents,  and  discussing  the  errors  to  which  they  are  subject. 
the  author  gave  his  reasons  for  selecting  iodine.     He  did  this 
since,  with  the   exception  of  mercur)'  in  the  mercurous  state, 
iodine    has    the    largest    electro-chemical    equivalent,    and    in 
addition,  by  titration  with  sodium  thiosulphate,  it  is  possible  to 
determine  the  quantity  of  iodine  liberated  with  a  greater  accuracy 
than  can  be  obtained  by  weighing  a  deposit  of  copper  or  silver 
with  the   balance.     The  solution   employed  in  the   voltameter 
contains  10  to  15  |)er  cent,  of  zinc  iodide.     If  care  is  taken  to 
leave  a  small  piece  ol  metallic  zinc  in  this  solution,  no  free  iodine 
is  liberated  on  keeping,  unless  the  solution  is  exposed  to  a  strong 
light  for  sonie  time.     The  anode  consists  of  a  plate  of  platinum 
at  the  bottom  of  a  tall  and  fairly  narrow  baaker.     The  wire 
Ifeading  the  current  to  the  anode  is  encased  in  a  glass  tube,  so 
that  the  iodine  is  only  liberated  at  the  bottom  of  the  beaker, 
where,  on  account  of  its  great  density,  it  tends  to  collect.     The 
kathode    consists    of   an    amalgamated    zinc     rod,    which,    to 
prevent  loose  |)articles  of  zinc  falling  down  into  the  iodine,  is 
surrounded  by  a  piece  of  filter-paper  or  vegetable  parchment. 
In  an  electrolysis  lasting  for  as  long  as  two  hours,  none  of  the 
iotline  is  found  to  diffuse  up  to  the  part  of  the  solution  near 
the  zinc  kathode.     Where,  on  account  of  the  extreme  feebleness 
of  the  current  employed,  it  is  necessary  to  allow  the  electrolysis 
to  continue  for  longer  than  two  hours,  a  U-tube  is  used  with 
two  small  plugs  of  asbestos  at  the  bend,  the  anode  being  in  one 
limb  and  the  kathode  in  the  other.     With  this  form  of  voltameter, 
even  after  the  current  has  flciwed   for  several  days,  no  signs  of 
iodine  have  been  found  in  the  limb  containing  the  kathode.     On 
account  of  the  production  of  electric  convection  currents,   the 
iodine  voltameter  does  not  seem  to  be  quite  so  suitable  for  the 
accurate  measurements  of  strong  currents.     After  the  current  is 
stopped  the  zinc  electrode  is  immediately  removed,  the  solution 
stirred,  and  the  amount  of  iodine  liberated  determined  by  titra- 
tion   with  sodium  thiosulphate.     The  author  finds  that  a  con- 
venieni  strength  of  the  thiosulphate  solution  is  one   in  which 
one  c.c.  corresponds  to  the  amount  of  iodine  liberated  by  five 
coulombs  of  electricity.     This  solution  contains  12-8375  grnis. 
of  pure  recrystallised  sodium  thiosulphate  per  litre.     It  is  pos- 
sible to  perform  the  titration  to  within  0"i  c.c,  which  corresponds 
to  0'5  coulomb,  or,  if  the  electrolysis  lasts  one  hour,  to  1/7200 
ampere.     In  a  comparison  made  with  a  sil\er  voltameter,  the 
current  as  deduceil  from  the  silver   was   0'0264  ampere,   and 
that   deduced    from   the   iodine  0'0266.     The  author  considers 
that    part    of  the    difference    may   be    due    to    the    effect   of 
oxygen  dissolved  in  the  solution  of  silver  nitrate.      Prof.  Carey 
Foster  consideceil  this  process  for  mea.suring  currents  a  most 
valuable   one.     The   idea   of    using   a   volumetric   method   for 
measuring  currents  was  to  him  new.     He  did  not,  however,  see 
the  advantage  of  using  a  substance  with  a  high  electro-chemical 
equivalent  if  a  volumetric  method  was  going  to  l>e  employed  to 
estimate,  the  quantity  of  the  substance  liberated.     It  would  be 
possible  to  use  a  chloride,  though  in  this  case  the  titration  would 
])rol)ably  be  less  accurate.     Prof.  Silvanus  Thompson  said   he 
thought  the  methotl  would  be  lery  valuable,  but  he  would  like 
to  know  if  any  error  was  likely  to  arise  if  too  great  a  current 
dcn-sity  was  employed.     The  numlier  the  author  had  assumed 
for  the  atomic  weight  of  silver  (loS)  was  only  approximate  ;  if 
the  nuire  accurate  value  (1077)  were  used,  the  agreement  be- 
tween the  results  obtained  with  the  silver  and  iodine  voltameters 
would   be  improved.  .  Mr.  Trotter  asked  what  was  the  largest 
current   that  could  be  accurately  measured.     Mr.  Enright  said 
he  had  iLsed  porous  diaphragms  in  iodine  voltameters,  and  foimd 
that  the  iodine  collected  in  the  positive  compartment,  while  the 
water  was  driven. over  into  the  negative  compartment.     With 
strong,  currents  it  Wiis  possible   to  get  almost  pure  iodine  left  in 
one  compartment.    Mr.  Watson  thought  that,  since  the  value  for 
the  electro-chemical  equivalent  of  iodine  used  by  the  author  was 
deduced  from  Rayleigh's  value  of  the  electro-chemical  equivalent 
of  silver,  and  that  Rayleigh's  experiments  were  performed  in  air, 
the  difference  obtained  with  the  .silver  and  iixline  voltameters 
could  hardly  be  due  to  the  cause  suggested.     Mr.   Elder  warned 
the  menxbers  that  volumetric  measurements  were  not  so  accurate 
or  easy  as  they  seemed.     He  particularly  mistrusted  a  solution 

NO.    1335,  VOL.   52] 


of  sodium  thiosulphate,  since  he  had  found  a  solution  of  this 
substance  to  change  even  in  twenty-four  hours.  The  difficulty 
of  accurately  reading  the  burette  might  be  overcome  by  weighing 
the  burette  and  its  contents  before  and  after  the  titration.  The 
author  in  his  reply  said  that  with  the  size  of  electrodes  he  used 
(about  9  sq.  cm.  surface)  O'l  ampere  was  the  maximum  cjrrent 
it  was  safe  to  us;.  The  only  subiiance  likely  to  bs  produred  by 
too  great  a  current  density  was  periodate,  which,  since  it  was 
insoluble,  would  immediately  be  noticed.  The  influence  of  the 
dissolved  oxygen  was  only  appreciable  with  small  currents  where 
the  electrolysis  lasts  some  time,  while  in  Rayleigh's  experiments 
large  currents  were  employed.  The  chairman,  while  returning 
thanks  to  the  author  for  his  paper,  mentioned  that  in  his  experi- 
ence he  had  found  zinc  salts  to  be  ver)'  untrustworthy. — Mr.  A. 
Sharp  read  a  paper  entitled  a  new  method  in  harmonic  analysis. 
The  author,  in  this  paper,  applies  the  principle  of  the  form  of 
harmonic  analysis  for  giving  direct  readings  of  the  amplitude  and 
epoch  of  the  various  constituent  harmonic  terms,  previously  de- 
scribed by  him,  to  the  performance  of  harmonic  analysis  without 
the  itse  of  an  instrument.  The  kinematic  principle  is  as 
follows :  Let  the  cur\e  to  be  analysed  be  drawn  with  a  scale  of 
abscissa  such  that  the  period  is  2ir.  Let  a  wheel  w  roll  on 
the  paper  and  be  connected  with  a  tracing-point  P  in  such  a 
manner  that  as  P  moves  uniformly  in  the  -v  direction  the  axis  of 
the  wheel  -jj  turns  uniformly  counter  clockwise  in  a  horizontal 
plane,  and  the  distance  rolled  through  during  any  short  interval 
is  equal  to  the  corresponding  displacement  of  the  tracer  P  in  the 
y  direction.  The  curve  traced  out  by  w  the  author  calls  the 
roller  curve,  and  from  the  vector  joining  the  initial  and  final 
points  of  this  curve  the  amplitude  and  epoch  can  be  determined. 
Suppose  the  periodic  curve  consists  of  a  portion  of  the  cur\'e 
^  =  a„  +  (Zj-v  -7- a»»- -*•  -f  amx'"  repeated  over  and  over  again.  Then, 
if  the  tracer  is  taken  round  this  periodic  curve  you  get  a  rolled 
curve  which  may  be  called  the  first   rolled  curve.     If  now  the 

curve   whose  ordinates   are     -?'  is  traced  out,   the  roller   curve 
dx 

obtained  is  the  evolute  of  the  first,  and  so  on  for— ;-!!, &c.  The 

dx' 
author  gives  two  worked  examples,  and  compares  the  values  of 
the  coefficient  obtained  with  those  given  by  the  harmonic 
analyses  of  the  Guilds  Central  Technical  College.  Prof. 
Henrici  said  he  had  not  received  the  paper  in  time  to  thoroughly 
master  it,  but  he  thought  that,  at  any  rate  for  curves  where  no 
discontinuity  occurred,  the  relation  found  by  the  author  between 
the  roller  curves  was  always  true,  the  last  evolute  being  a 
point,  and  the  one  before  that  a  circle.  The  interesting  point 
was  whether  the  method  was  capable  of  being  used  for  practical 

I  purposes,  for  it  occupied  a  ])lace  with  respect  to  harmonic 
analysis  similar  to  that  occupied  by  .Simpson's  rule  in  planimetry. 

I  Prof.  Silvanus  Thompson  asked  if  the  author  had  devised  a 
form  of  mechanism  capable  of  fulfilling  the  kinematical  conditions 
given  at  the  commencement  of  the  paper.  The  author  in  his 
reply  said  he  had  devised  such  a  mechanism,  and  that  it  was 
described  in  his  previous  paper.  In  addition  he  had  since 
invented  a  more  practicable  form  which  he  had  patented.  The 
chairman  said  the  Society  ought  to  congratulate  itself  on  the 
large  number  of  important  papers  dealing  with  harmonic 
analysis  and  planimetrj-  that  had  lately  been  communicated. 

Malacological  Society,  May  10. — Prof.  G.  B.  Howes,  Pre- 
sident, in  the  chair. — On  behalf  of  Miss  de  Buigh  specimens 
were  shown  illustrating  the  variation  of  Columbdla  menatoria, 
Linn. — Mr.  Da  Costa  exhibited  a  collection  of  univalve  mollusca 
from  Lakes  Tangan)-ika  and  X'ictoria  N)-an7.a,  and  pointed  out 
the  entirely  different  characters  of  the  molluscan  fauna  of  these 
two  lakes. — On  behalf  of  Mr.  C.  S.  Cox  were  exhibited  living 
specimens  of  Glaitdina  fnim  Italy. — Mr.  E.  .\.  Smith  ex- 
hibited an  almost  complete  collection  of  the  land  and  fresh- 
water molluscaof  St.  Vincent,  W.I.  —  Mr.  E.  R.  Sykes exhibited 
specimens  of  AchatineUa  variabilis,  Newc,  and  allied  forms, 
from  the  Island  of  Lanai.  The  following  communications  were 
read  : — Notes  on  Trochonaiiina  and  other  genera  of  the  land 
mollusca,  with  reference  to  the  animals  of  Martensia  Mozani- 
iiiensti,  Pfr. ,  .and  other  species,  by  Lieut. -Colonel  H.  H. 
Godwin-.\usten. — Report  on  the  land  and  freshwater  shells 
collected  by  Mr.  H.  H.  Smith  at  St.  Vincent,  W.L,  by  E.  A. 
Smith. — Note  on  the  larval  oyster,  by  M.  F.  Woodward. 

Victoria  Institute,  May  6. — Dr.  Chaplin  in  the  chair. — A 
|)aper  on  the  so-called  Pitlutatilhropiis  of  Dr.  E.  Dubois  was 
read  by  Prof.  E.  Hull,  LL.D.,  K.R.S.,  after  which  a  paper  by 


120 


NA  TURE 


[May  ^o,  189: 


Sir  J.  W.  Dawson,  C.M.G.,  F.R.S.,  on  the  physical  character 
and  affinities  of  the  Gaunches,  or  extinct  people  of  the  Canary 
Islands,  illustrate<l  by  photographs,  was  read.  In  it  the  author 
reviewed  the  historical  facts  as  to  the  Canar)-  Islands  and  these 
inhabitants,  the  characters  of  the  crania  found,  and  the  wea)ions, 
ornaments,  A;c. ,  and  described  the  conclusions  he  had  arrived  at 
with  reference  to  the  relationship  of  the  Gaunches  to  ancient 
fieoples  of  Western  Eurojie  and  Africa,  and  their  possible 
connection  with  the  colonisation  of  Eastern  America. 

Royal  Microscopical  Society,  May  15. — Mr.  A.  D. 
Michael,  President,  in  the  chair.  —  Mr.  J.  Swift  exhibited  an 
improved  form  of  the  Nelson  microscope-lamp,  fitted  with 
mechanical  movements ;  an<l  also  a  Wales  microscope  which  had 
Ijeen  fitted  with  the  new  mechanical  stage. — Mr.  T.  Comber 
read  a  paper  on  the  development  of  the  young  valve  of 
Troihyiuis  aspcra.  The  subject  was  illustrated  with  lantern 
photographs  exhibited  upon  the  screen. — .Miss  Ethel  Sargant's 
paper,  "  On  the  first  nuclear  division  in  the  pollen  mother  cells 
of  Liliuin  martagoii,  &c.,"  was  communicated  by  Dr.  D.  H. 
Scott. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  20. — M.  Marey  in  the  chair. — 
The  decease  of  M.  C.  Ludwig,  correspondent  of  the  Medicine 
and  Surgery  .Section,  was  .-innounced  by  the  President.  M. 
Ludwig  will  be  chiefly  remembered  for  his  work  on  blood 
pressures  and  circulation,  on  artificial  circulation,  and  on  the 
physiology  of  the  nervous  system. — Reduction  to  sea-level  of 
the  values  observed  for  gravity  at  the  surface  of  the  earth  (Coast 
and  Geodetical  Survey),  by  M.  G.  K.  Putnam.  .\  translation  of 
some  passages  of  this  work  is  given  by  .M.  H.  Faye,  in  which  it 
is  shown  that  Faye's  correction  causes  anomalies  to  more  nearly 
ilisappear  than  Bouguer's  correction.  M.  Faye  then  discusses 
the  probable  form  of  the  earth's  crust,  and  shows  the  bearing  of 
his  discussion  on  the  theories  of  geologists. — New  rssearches  on 
the  thermochemical  relations  lietween  aldehydes,  alcohols,  and 
acids,  by  M.M.  Hcrthelot  and  Rivals.  .\  rdsunu'  is  given  of  the 
known  ihermixrhemical  data  connecting  aldehydes  with  corre- 
sponding alcohols  and  acids.  —  Existence  of  phosphorus  in  notable 
proportion  in  oysters,  by  M.M.  .K.  Chatin  and  .K.  Miintz.  Not  ' 
only  has  phosphorus  l)ccn  found  in  the  shells  of  different  kinds 
of  oysters  in  (he  form  of  tricalcic  phosphate,  l)Ut  organic  ■ 
phosphorus  has  been  found  in  oyster  flesh  in  quantity,  more  in 
Portuguese  oysters  (Gryfhca  aiigiilata)  than  in  French  natives 
{Oslrea  edulis). — Classification  of  the  chemical  elements,  by  M. 
Lecoq  dc  Boisbaudran.  .V  theoretical  paper  discussing  the 
author's  system  of  classification  and  the  genesis  of  elements  from 
a  primordial  matter. — On  the  spectroscopic  analysis  of  ga.ses 
'>biained  from  various  minerals,  by  Mr.  Norman  Lockycr. — On 
thereducing  pro[x:rtiesof  sfKliumalcoholatesat  a  high  temperature, 
by  .MM.  \.  Ilallcr  and  J.  .Minguin.  The  results  of  heating 
together  in  sealed  tubes  al  about  200"  C.  are  given  for  :  desoxy- 
f>cnzom  and  sodium  eihylate  in  absolute  alcohol ;  benzophenone 
and  .STKlium  cthylate ;  anihraquinone  and  sodium  ethylate, 
amylate,  and  bulylatc  resixrctivcly. — On  stereoscopic  projections 
and  the  "  stereojumelle,  by  M.  .Mocssard. — Studies  on  the 
activity  of  the  diastole  of  the  ventricles,  on  its  mechanism, 
and  its  physiological  and  irathological  applications.  An  abstract 
of  a  memoir  by  the  author,  M.  Leon  Germe. — A  comparison 
Ijctween  the  spectra  of  the  g.ises  from  cleveite  and  the  spectrum 
'if  the  solar  atmosphere,  by  .M.  H.  Dcslandres.  A  list  of  wave- 
lengths of  lines  observed  in  the  s]iectra  of  gases  from  cleveite  is 
compared  with  a  similar  list  of  lines  observed  in  the  solar  chromo- 
sphere spectrum  (see  p.  56).  Twenty  lines  in  the  former  list  are 
recorded  and  thirteen  lines  in  the  latter  list  arc  shown  to  have 
ihe  same  wave-length,  extending  through  the  luminous  and 
ultra-violet  jKirtions  of  the  spectra.  Two /crwaHo// chromo- 
sphere lines,  587'6oand  447'l8,  ctirrespfjnd  to  two  of  the  prin- 
cijal  gas  lines,  587'6o(D,)  and  447'I75.  There  now  remain  but 
two  stich  chromf)sphere  lines  always  obtainable,  which  do  not 
corrcspmd  to  lines  obtained  in  terrestrial  s|iectra. — On  the 
isomeric  transformations  of  mercury  sails,  by  M.  Raoul  Varet. 
It  is  shown  Ihal  black  amorphfius  IlgS  disengages  +0^24  Gil. 
in  changing  to  the  red  amorphous  variety,  and  yields  a  further 
-♦■0'o6  Cal.  in  tiecoming  red  crystalline  Hg.S.  —  Action  of 
nitrogen  tieroxlde  on  the  halogen  salts  of  antinumy,  by 
M.  V.  Thomas.  —  Meats  of  formation  of  lienzoyi  chloride 
and  loliiyl  chloride,  by  M.  Paul  Rivals.  The  substitution 
of  the  group  (COCI)  for  a  hydrogen  in  benzene  or  toluene 
results  in  an  incrca.ic  in  the  heat  of  formation  of  -f  58  Cal.  and 
+  55'3  Ca'-   rcsficctivcly. — Study  of  scnccionine  and   scnecinc, 


by  MM.  .A.  Grandval  and  H.  Lajoux.  Two  alkaloids  have 
been  prepared  from  Scndio  vulgaris.  Senecionine  appears  to 
have  the  composition  C^gll-jfiNOj,  and  does  not  possess  very 
marked  reactions.  Senecine  appears  to  possess  much  more 
definite  reactions  with  the  usual  alkaloi<l  reagents.  — On  phcnyl- 
sulpho-orthotoluidine  and  some  of  its  derivatives,  by  M.  Ch. 
Rabaut.  In  conclusion,  attention  is  drawn  to  the  resistance  of 
this  substance  to  oxidation  and  to  its  great  stability  in  ]iresence 
of  dilute  acids  and  heat,  notwithstanding  its  amide  character. — 
.\nalysis  of  a  mummy  l)one,  by  M.  Thezard. — t)n  a  leucomaine 
extracted  from  urine  in  cases  of  .-Vngina  pectoris,  by  M.  A.  B. 
Griffiths  anil  C.  Massey.  .\  new  poisonous  base,  causing  death 
in  two  hours,  of  which  the  composition  is  given  .ts  C10H9NO4. — 
On  .some  improvements  in  the  preparation  and  study  of  thin 
plates  of  .sedimentary  calcareous  rocks,  by  M.  Blcicher. — (^n 
the  anomalous  divisions  of  ferns,  by  M.  Adrien  Gucbhard. — 
The  catastrophes  of  Titel  in  the  Banal  and  of  Mendoza  (Argen- 
tine Republic),  by  M.  Ch.  V.  Zenger.  .\rgunients  are  .adduced 
to  .show  a  connection  between  these  seismic  pheni>mena  and 
sun-spot  appearances  on  the  sun. — The  use  of  crude  petroleum 
for  prevention  of  incrustations  in  boilers  is  advocated  by  M.  G. 
Lievin. 


NO.    1335,  VOL.   52] 


BOOKS  AND  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Books.-    The  Teltphonc  Sy^tcmv  of  the   Continent  of  Kurope  :    A.    R 
Bennett  (Longmans).— The  Theory  of  LJehi :  Prof.  T.  Preston,  and  edition 
(Macmillan).— Dental   Microscopy  :    A.   M.   Smith  (Dental  Manufacturing 
Company). — A  Renders  Guide  to  Contemporary  Literature  :  W.  S.  Sonnen- 
schcin  (Sonncnschein).— A    First   Book  of  Klectricity  and  Magnetism  :  \V. 
P.  Maycock,  2nd  edition  (Whitiaker). — The  Way  about  .Middlesex  (IlifTe).- 
The  Way  about  Hertfordshire  (IIiffe).~An  F^lcmentar>-  Treatise  on  Elliptic 
Functions  :  Prof.  A.  Cayley.  and  edition  (Bell). — La  Pluie  en  Bel^ique  :  A. 
I^ncaster,   Premier   Fa.sc.  (Bruxelles,   Hayez). — Nature  in  Acadie  :  H.  K. 
Swann  (Bale).— The  Linacre  Reports,  Vol.  ?  :  edited  by  Prof.  E.  Ray  Lan 
kesicr  (Adlard). 

Serials.— Boianischejahrbucher  fur  Sysiematik,  Pflanzenccschichte  und 
Pflanzcngeocraphie,  Zwanzigster  Band,  ^  Heft  (I-cipzig,  Engelmann). — 
Zeitschrift  fur  Wissenschaftliche  Zoologic.  Ii.\.  Band,  2  Heft  (l^iprig, 
Engelmann). — The  Evergreen,  Spring  (Unwin). — American  Naturalist, 
May  (Philadelphia).  — Papers  read  before  the  Engineering  Society  of  the 
School  of  Practical  Science,  Toronto,  No.  8,  1894-5  (Toronto).— Good 
Words,  June  (Isbistcr).— Sunday  Magazine,  June  (Isbister).— lx)ngman's 
Magazine,  June  (Longmans).— Chaml>ers"s  Journal,  June  (Chambers).— 
Century  Magazine,  June  (Unwin).— Journal  of  the  College  of  Science, 
Imperial  University,  Japan,  Vol.  vii.  Part  4  (TCkyO).— Journal  of  the  Insti- 
tution of  Electrical  Engineers,  No.  ii7(Spon). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The   Spirit  of  Cookery 97 

Weather  Observation  and   Predictions 9& 

An  Album  of  Classical  Antiquities 100 

A  Desideratum   in   Modern  Botanical  Literature     .  loi 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

"Tile  Noxi'iusand  Iknelirial  Insects  of  the  i^Iale  of 

Illinois."     E.  A.  0 102 

Letters  to  the  Editor  :— 

The  Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Cineraria.-  W.  Bate- 
son,  F.R.S.  ;  Prof.  W.  F.  R.  Weldon,  F.R.S.  loj 
Biilt7mann's   Minimum   Function. — S.   H.  Burbury, 

F.R.S 104 

Kesearch  in  Education.— Miss  L.  Edna  Walter      .  105. 
The    Hiljliograph)'  of  Spectroscopy.  — Prof.  Herbert 

McLeod,  F.R.S 105 

.\n   .\nuatic   IIymeno]iierous  Insect. — Fred.  Enock  105 

Ilalleys  Chart.- Thos.  Ward 106 

On  the  Line  Spectra  of  the  Elements.     (H'ilh  Dia- 

nana.)     I'.v  Prof.  C.  Runge 106 

Karl  Vogt.      I'.v  E.  B.  T. ;  G.  C.  B.  ;  W 108 

Notes no 

Our  Astronomical  Column: — 

Mercury  .ind  Venus 'IJ 

The  Total  Solar  Kclipse  of  1898  January  21-22    ...  113 

The -Vstrophotographic  Chart 113 

.Award  of  the  Walson  .Medal II3 

A     Lecture     Experiment.       [Iltmlralal.)      Hy     Prof. 

W.  C.  Roberts-Austen,  C.B.,  F.R.S 114 

The  Life-History  of  the  Crustacea  in  Early  Palico- 
zoic      Times.      (//VM    Diagram.)     Hy     Dr.     Henry 

Woodward,  F.R.S n* 

Scientific  Serials        "S^ 

Societies  and  Academies "9 

Books  and  Serials  Received 120 


NA  TURK 


121 


THE  "CHALLENGER"  EXPEDITION  AND 
THE  FUTURE  OF  OCEANOGRAPHY. 

\  The  Voyage  of  H. M.S.  "Challenger."  A  Summary  of  the 
Scientific  Rctiiltt.  (With  Appendices).  Two  Parts. 
(London  :  Eyre  and  Spottiswoodc,  1895.^ 

THE  two  new  \olunies  of  the  Challenger  Expedition 
ha\e  appeared,  and  with  them  this  momentous 
enterprise  has  arrived  at  its  final  close.  It  is  well  worth 
our  while  to  seize  this  occasion  for  a  few  words  of  reflection 
on  a  scientific  drama,  which  is  equally  great  in  all  its 
parts  and  dimensions,  as  in  the  effects  it  has  produced 
and  will  yo  on  to  produce,  on  tlie  progress  of  a  group  of 
sciences  which  every  day  grow  more  important  in  their 
influence  on  human  intellect  and  thought. 

It  is  nowadays  a  \er\-  common  complaint,  that  > 
specialisation  in  scientific  pursuits  threatens  to  do  away 
with  that  character  of  universalit)'  that  was  attributed 
in  former  times  to  all  those  who  busied  their  brains  with 
the  phenomena  of  nature.  I  can  fully  rcmemlier  how,  in 
my  own  childhood,  the  naturalist  KaTf^oxi]v  found  his  ex- 
ample in  .\lcxandcr  von  Humboldt.  He  was  credited  with 
"  know  ing  c\enthing,"  and  whoever  followed  some  small 
pursuit  as  a  naturalist,  partook,  in  a  certain  degree,  of  the 
prestige  the  great  "  Xaturforscher"  enjoyed  in  all  circles 
of  the  reading  public.  When  I  was  studying  zoology  at 
Jena,  a  fellow-student  of  divinity  asked  me  once,  "  Please 
tell  me  what  is  the  name  of  those  stars.'"  "  1  don't  know, 
my  dear  friend,  I  am  studying  biolog)."     "  Oh,  I  thought 

I  you  '  Xaturforscher  '  stud\'  all  the  natural  sciences." 
I  am  afraid  we  arc  at  present  drifting  far  awa)-  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and  the  general  public  is  rather  in- 
clined to  believe  that  each  naturalist  or  natural  philosopher 
lives  on  an  island,  of  which  he  investigates  only  a  small 
corner,  without  caring  a  bit  for  the  rest  of  the  island,  and 
still  less  for  other  islands  and  whole  continents.  Whether 
we  arc  quite  as  bad,  I  will  not  try  to  decide  ;  certainly  those 
happy  times  are  far  behind  us  when  a  professor  of  mathe- 
matics and  astronomy  taught  also  physics  and  medicine, 
or  when  botany,  zoolog\-,  and  chemistrx'  were  rejircscnted 
by  the  only  professor  of  medicine,  and  all  these  things 
were  taught  merely  by  books  and  traditions.  But  e\en 
those  modest  cases  of  personal  union  between  zoology  and 
bolaiu',  or  between  geolog\-  and  zoology,  which  not  un- 
frequcntly  occurred  in  the  first  half  of  our  century,  have 
passed  away  now  at  its  close.  Instead  of  such  personal 
unions,  we  meet  with,  in  a  well-equipped  university,  distinct 
chairs  for  zoology,  comparative  anatomy,  embryology, 
pahtontology,  geology,  mineralogy  ;  round  each  of  these 
chairs  we  see  gathering  numbers  of  privatdocents  and 
other  teachers,  who  deliver  lectures  on  distinct  specialities 
of  these  sciences,  which  threaten  to  grow  themselves  again 
to  independent  divisions  craving  a  chair  for  themselves. 
"  Division  of  labour  "  is  all  \ery  well  ;  but  if  we  do  not  in 
time  prepare  for  better  mental  .digestion  and  assimilation, 
the  next  century  will  li\e  to  see  a  new  lialjylonian  turret  ; 
dispersion  of  languages  will  grow  to  such  a  degree,  that 
even  the  inhabitants  of  the  same  scientific  island  will  find 
it  hard  to  talk  to  each  other. 

It   is  a  consolation,  under  these  circumstances,  to  see, 
NO.   1336,  VOL.   52] 


that,  along  with  division  of  labour,  combination  of  labour 
takes  its  firm  hold  in  the  organisation  of  modern  scientific 
life,  and  Moltke's  maxim,  "  march  separately,  attack 
jointly,"  pro\es  also  useful  in  the  peaceful  battles  of 
thought  and  science. 

A  splendid  proof  of  this  combination  of  labour  lies 
before  me  in  the  numerous  volumes  of  the  Challenger 
Expedition.  Physics,  chemistry,  geology,  zoology,  and 
botany,  and  all  those  nautical  and  hydrographical  attain- 
ments of  modern  date,  have  combined  to  produce  results 
which  close  a  past  of  unwarranted  belief,  and  open  a 
future  of  new  research,  boundless  in  fertility  of  problems 
and  of  unknown  possible  effect  on  the  human  intellect 
and  understanding. 

The  imagination  of  human  kind  from  the  beginning  of 
historical  ages,  and  along  all  its  phases  of  development 
and  evolution,  took  hold  of  those  unknown  regions  of  the 
heights  of  mountains  as  well  as  of  the  depths  of  the 
ocean.  Covered  by  ice  and  snow,  hidden  in  thick  masses 
of  clouds,  out  of  which  thunder  and  lightning  and  endless 
floods  of  rain  and  hail  came  forth,  the  ranges  of  moun- 
tains gave  birth  to  the  grandest  and  most  appalling 
visions  of  powers,  upon  which  the  poor  human  individual 
looked  aghast,  against  whose  mighty  influences  he  felt 
helpless,  and  whom  he  dreaded  and  revered.  E\ery 
human  being  becomes  a  poet  under  the  influence  of  fear 
and  reverence.  Both  magnif)-  and  intensify  impressions, 
even  of  the  most  common  kind,  and  create  combinations 
where  the  acutest  obser\er  could  not  disco\er  any  con- 
nection. Thus  the  oldest  forms  of  religious  beUef,  as 
well  as  the  numerous  forms  of  still  existing  superstitions, 
have  peopled  the  tops  of  mountains  and  the  depths  of  the 
seas  with  images  of  sui)ernatural  powers  ;  the  Olymp  of 
Hellas,  and  the  old  Cerman  myths,  the  Hebrew  Jehovah, 
and  the  rudest  Paganism,  found  their  abodes  beyond  the 
clouds,  and  below  the  waters.  And  who  can  resist  the 
temptation  of  such  dreams,  grand  and  awful  at  once, 
when  standing  on  those  solitary  heights  of  the  .A.Ips,  with 
ice  and  snow,  and  rock  and  cloud  around  him  and  below 
him,  and  looking  over  endless  ranges  of  peaks  and 
valleys  ?  Who  is  not  struck  by  the  image  of  death  and 
destruction,  when  he  wanders  on  the  volcanic  deserts  of 
Etna,  where  there  is  not  one  leaf  of  grass,  not  one 
smallest  insect  to  keep  him  company  ?  And  in  the  midst 
of  the  raging  ocean,  with  waves  dashing  against  the  poor 
ship,  and  clouds  spreading  darkness  around,  who  will 
refrain  from  images  of  terror  created  by  the  imagination 
of  the  boundless  depths  to  which  he  has  trusted  his  fife  ? 
Will  there  ever  come  a  time  when  the  human  mind 
replaces  such  emotions  by  the  cool  reflection  that  the 
minimum  or  the  maximum  of  atmospheric  currents  and 
pressure  causes  the  disturbance  of  equilibrium  on  the 
floods  of  the  ocean  to  such  a  degree  as  to  shake  the 
balance  of  the  floating  mass  of  wood  or  iron,  on  which 
he  happens  to  find  himself,  and  bring  its  meta- 
centre  to  a  position  which  enables  the  water  to 
supplant  the  air-filled  spaces  until  the  greater  specific 
gravity-  of  iron  carries  all  away,  through  the  lamina  of 
the  hydrosphere,  down  to  the  lithosphcre,  which  resists 
further  gravitational  concurrence  ?  .And  will  ever  baro- 
meter and  thermometer,  or  the  observing  eye  of  the 
geologist,  caught  by  phenomena  of  denudation  or  glacial 
erosion    on    Mont    Blanc,    diminish    the    trembling    of 


1  22 


NATURE 


[J  cm:  6,  1895 


.emotion  when  the  eye  measures  the  enormous  distances  1 
it  commands  from  such  a  heij;ht  ?     Whoever  has  cxperi-   [ 
cnced  the  thrilliny  delijjht  of  that  other  emotion  caused 
by  insight  and  discovery  ;  whoever  knows  that  intellec-  j 
tual  powers  can  produce  as  much  enthusiasm  as  artistic  . 
and  iesthetical  emotion,  will  not  be  haunted  by  the  sicken- 
ing dread  that  human  imagination  could  become  stripped 
naked  by  the  impious  hand  of  science.     Whoever  cares 
more  for  the  Why,  than  for  the  How,  will  gather  around 
the  temple  of  science  ;  but  those  gifted  natures,  who  are 
impressed  by  colours,  shapes,  and   situations,  why  shall 
they  not  go  on  to  shake  their  kaleidoscope  of  beauty  and 
appearance,  just  as  much  as  these  goon  drawing  invisible 
threads  of  cause  and  effect  between  old  and  new  facts  r 

Let  us  therefore  not  quarrel  with  the  natural  growth 
.of  the  human  mind,  but  rather  accept  in  delight  all  such 
actions  as  include  a  great  increase  of  knowledge  in 
regions  where  ignorance  lent  the  hand  to  superstition  ; 
and  so  let  us  hail  the  work  of  those  who  lifted  a  piece  of 
the  thick  veil  that  covered  the  abyssal  depths  of  the 
•  ocean. 

It  will  always  be  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  many 
merits  of  the  late  I'rof.  W.  B.  Carpenter  to  have  given 
the  first  suggestion  to  the  Challciigir  Expedition.  Not 
.content  with  asking  the  Council  of  the  Royal  Society  to 
throw  in  its  authority  with  the  British  Government  to 
undertake  a  new  and  complete  course  of  research  for  the 
.  exploration  of  the  deep  sea,  he  entered  into  direct  corre- 
spondence with  the  First  Lord  of  the  .\dniiralty,  and 
carried  his  point  so  far  as  to  rccci\e  the  answer  that  the 
•Coxemment  would  be  prepared  to  give  the  requisite  aid 
in  furtherance  of  such  an  expedition  on  receipt  of  a  formal 
application  from  the  Koyal  .Society — in  consequence  of 
which  answer  the  Koyal  Society  at  once  proceeded  to  take 
these  necessary  steps  ;  and  after  exchanging  some  corre- 
spondence with  the  Secrctar>'  of  the  Admiralty,  the  pro- 
posal to  defray  the  expense  of  such  an  expedition  out  of 
the  public  funds  was  brought  before  Parliament  and 
"received  the  cordial  assent  of  the  House  of  Commons  ' 
in  .April  1873. 

It  is  to  be  lamented  that  in  the  "  .Narrative  of  the 
■Cruise,"  neither  the  proposition  of  the  British  dovern- 
mcnt  nor  the  debate  of  the  House  of  Commons  are 
reproduced  literally.  It  would  have  been  of  high  historical 
interest  to  the  general,  as  well  as  to  the  special,  reader  to 
know  exactly  the  wording  in  which  the  proposition  was 
formed,  and  the  views  and  opinions  witli  which  it  was 
received.  It  is.  perhaps,  not  possible  to  the  editor  of 
N.XTl'KK  to  supply  even  now  this  omission,  but  yet  many 
in  the  outer  world  would  greatly  desire  a  reprint  of 
the  day's  discussion  which  produced  results  so 
momentous  as  that  great  and  memorable  expedition 
of  the  Chilli (iij^er.  In  uttering  this  regret,  I  can  assure 
the  British  reader  that,  though  a  foreigner,  I  feel  deeply 
my  share  of  gratitude  to  both  C.overnmcnt  and  Parlia- 
ment of  (Ireat  Britain.  I  cannot  omit  this  occasion  to 
(•mgratulate  science  for  having  her  wants  so  well  inter- 
preted, un<lerst<HHl,  and  satisfied  by  all  those  who  have 
a  share  in  the  ty/<j//<'«^v;- Expedition,  be  it  the  (loveni- 
ment  or  Parliament,  be  it  the  officers  and  crew  of  the 
fhip,  or  the  scientific  staff  and  the  authors  of  the 
•voluminous  reports  lying  before  me. 

.■\nd  I  may  be  permitted  to  claim  some  personal  license 
NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


to  proffer  my  thanks  in  the  name  of  science,  and  especi-  |  ' 
ally  of  biological  science  :  for  at  the  time  when  Dr.  i 
Carpenter  and  the  Royal  Society  asked  the  British 
Government  to  undertake  the  expedition,  I  was  myself 
engaged  in  a  collateral  enterprise  of  similar  tendency,  aiiil 
felt  the  same  necessity  to  ask  for  help  and  assistance  of 
the  authorities  of  the  ( lerman  Govemmcnt,  and,  in  smalU  r 
degree,  of  the  (iovernnients  of  almost  all  civilised  Stati  -. 
and  nations.  A  few  years  after  the  British  House 
of  Commons  had  "cordially  assented''  to  the  proposi 
tion  of  the  Royal  .Society,  and  voted  the  funds  <le 
manded  by  the  .Admiralty,  the  GeVnian  Reichstag  passed 
a  resolution,  based  on  a  petition  of  Helmholtz,  Dubois- 
Reymond  and  \'irchow,  by  which  the  Go\ernnient  of  the 
empire  was  asked  to  grant  an  annual  sub\ention  of 
^1500  to  the  Zoological  Station  of  Naples,  a  subvention 
not  only  continued  up  to  this  date,  but  four  years  since 
increased  to  ^2000.  These  votes  of  the  two  great 
parliamentary  bodies  go  far  to  disprove  the  old  doctrine, 
that  science  and  .the  promotion  of  research  arc  to  he 
abandoned  to  prixate  enterprise,  and  to  the  favours  they 
may  meet  with  accidentally  in  raising  money  by  public 
subscription,  or  falling  in  with  wealthy  private  persons 
whose  interest  ;nnl  generosity  can  be  won  over.  1  I 
am  afraid,  if  the  House  of  Commons  had  not  granted  the 
necessary  funds,  the  Cliallcngcr  Expedition  would  never     j 

!  have  taken  place,  and  our  ignorance  about  the  many  , 
great  and  innumerable  smaller  questions  connected  with 
the  deep-sea  problems  would  be  still  the  saine  as  in  1872. 
Had  not  the  German  Reichstag  \oted  in  favour  of  the 
Zoological  .Station,  all  my  personal  efforts  would  have 
failed,  and  neither  the   Naples  .Station  nor  the   Plymouth 

]  Laboratory,  nor,  perhaps,  the  many  other  imitations  of 
"the  big  brother  at  Naples,"  would  have  had  the  chances 
with  which  they  have  met  now.  No  ;  let  science  not  be 
immodest  and  ask  for  all  and  everything  from  the  State  ; 
but  let  it  still  less  linger  on  and  wait  for  the  chances, 
growing  always  scarcer  and  scarcer,  of  being  endowed  by 
private  source,  be  it  public  subscription  or  donation  from 
wealthy  men  and  amateurs.  The  number  of  persons 
combining  great  wealth  with  sufficient  culture  is  unfortun- 
ately not  on  the  increase  ;  inherited  wcahh,  which  offers 
more  chance  for  the  act|uirenicnt  of  higher  intellectual 
pursuits,  is  decidedly  diminishing.  The  demand  for  funds 
for  the  endowment  of  research  is  doubtlessly  augmenting, 
and  the  competition  in  the  advancement  of  science  is 
such,  that  the  nation  which  is  not  ready  to  pay  its  share, 
will  either  be  thrown  in  the  background,  or  live  like 
a  parasite  on  the  intelle<tual  blood  of  its  neighbours. 
How  long  such  a  parasitic  existence  could  l)e  protracted, 
remains  to  be  seen  ;  but  certainly  no  great  nation  will 
deliberately  accept  such  a  disgraceful  situation,  the  more 
since  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  each  nation  has  its 
peculiar  gifts  and  talents,  which  make  its  co-operation 
indispensable  in  (he  chorus  of  other  nations  and  in  the 
interest  of  humanity.  It  must  be  granted,  that  the  weight 
of  a  nation  in  the  scale  of  culture  depends  on  the  power 
and  number  of  men  of  genius  it  has  pnxluced  and  goes 
on  to  produce  ;  it  may  also  be  granted,  that  a  genius  has 
been  known  to  open  up  his  own  ways  and  make  his 
career  through  all  the  adversities  of  fate.  Yet  a  genius 
needs  to  feed  quite  as  much,  or  perhaps  more  than  an 
ordinarj'  mortal,  and  some  think  it  would  be  economical 


June  6,  1895] 


NATURE 


12- 


to  give  him  at  least  average  chance.  Would  any  genius 
have  been  capable  of  diving,  on  his  own  account, 
to  the  great  depths  of  the  Pacific  ?  or  would  a  genius  find 
it  possible  to  replace,  by  his  own  work,  the  ant-like 
activity  of  the  Naples  Station?  Hardly.  But  let  him 
come  now  and  handle  the  innumerable  data  of  the 
Cliiillcng''rs  investigations,  or  use  the  op])ortunities  offered 
by  a  modern  laborator)'  to  give  us  a  solution  of  the 
problem  of  heredity,  or  decide  whether  natural  selection 
suffices  to  account  for  the  evolution  of  the  organic  world, 
or  whether  other  principles  must  be  sought.  The  genius 
of  Pasteur  and  Lister  and  Koch  have  opened  the  enor- 
mous field  of  research  regarding  the  nature  and  effect  of 
bacteria,  and  I  think  the  world  has  not  been  the  worse 
for  France  and  (Germany  spending  public  money  for  the 
equipment  of  large  laboratories  to  enable  those  geniuses 
to  continue,  in  the  most  effective  way,  their  labours. 

Certainly  not  every  whim  or  fancy  of  a  learned  individual 
ran  be  accepted  as  a  sufficient  reason  for  spending  public 
funds  ;  some  sort  of  a  controlling  apparatus  will  alwa\s 
be  necessar>-.  But  in  the  Royal  Societies,  National 
Academies,  and  other  learned  bodies  of  high  standard,  each 
nation  has  already  what  is  wanted,  and  it  is  understood 
well  enough  that  such  bodies  are  often  even  more  difficult 
to  be  won  over  by  some  new  rising  genius  than  a  Minister 
of  Public  Instruction  or  the  outside  public.  It  is,  there- 
fore, not  to  be  anticipated  that  from  the  Scylla  of  nihilism 
in  officially  supporting  research,  one  must  necessarily  glide 
down  into  the  Chaiybdis  of  supporting  whatever  scheme 
comes  out  of  the  fervid  brain  of  a  young  discoverer.  But 
this  much  can  be  said,  or  repeated  o\er  and  o\er  again 
-for  it  is  certainly  no  new  truth-  that  the  mental  and 
intellectual  productions  of  a  nation  ought  not  to  be  the  last, 
nor  the  least,  in  their  claims  on  the  public  money  ;  and  it 
may  be  maintained  with  all  confidence,  that  hardly  any 
other  expense  will  so  amply  repay  the  budget  of  a  nation, 
both  niatcrialh'  and  ideally,  as  the  funds  handed  over  for 
the  promotion  of  research,  or,  in  the  truer  expression,  for 
the  organisaliou  of  research. 

For  it  is  in  this,  that  the  real  future  lies  :  in  organisation. 
Being  organised,  the  small  Japanese  empire  was  more 
than  a  match  to  the  tenfold  bigger  Chinese  mass  :  being 
organised,  a  few  British  regiments  can  keep  |)opulations  in 
abeyance,  which,  if  the)-  were  equalh  well  organised,  might 
crush  them  in  a  moment.  And  to  be  organised,  even  in 
the  intellectual  sphere,  means  to  economise  natural  powers 
and  not  throw  away  chances,  which  if  they  cannot  perhaps 
be  brought  about  deliberateh',  ne\  ertheless  can  be  profited 
by  when  they  occur — and  they  occur  always  and  every- 
where. 

Organisation  of  research,  will,  1  do  not  doubt,  become 
the  special  feature  of  the  coming  centur\.  It  would  be 
well  worth  to  provoke  discussion  about  schemes,  ways  and 
channels,  into  which  organised  research  ought  to  grow. 
Karh  nation  may  adopt  its  own,  according  to  its  character, 
habits,  and  prejudices.  But  one  feature  ought  to  be 
obser\ed  with  them  all,  for  it  will  soon  become  upper- 
most ;  that  is,  intcrnatiomil  organisutioii  of  those  interests 
and  productions  by  which  all  the  nations  may  be  benefited 
together,  witl^out  being  forced  to  arrange  separately,  each 
for  itself,  what  more  effectually  and  with  less  material  and 
intellectual  effort  can  be  provided  for  all  of  them  at  once. 
.\nd  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  foremost,  in  this  regard, 
NO.    1336,  VOL.  52] 


stands  the  question  :  Hmv  to  reorganise,  or  organise  at  all,. 
scientific  publication .' 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  way  in  which  we  deliver 
over  to  publicity  at  present  the  results  of  the  work  of 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  investigators,  is  all  but 
destitute  of  any  regulating  principle.  Publishing  in  the 
nineteenth  centur)'  resembles  very  much  the  kind  of 
warfare  practised  in  bygone  times,  when  regiments  were 
the  property  of  single  individuals,  who  were  responsible 
for  their  equipments,  nourishment,  efficiency,  and  who 
entered  into  contracts  with  their  men  and  soldiers  and 
with  states  and  princes.  Defection  on  the  one  side, 
plundering  on  the  other,  were  concomitant  features  of 
such  arrangements,  which  one  only  need  compare  with 
the  present  constitution  of  the  Prussian  army  to  feel  at 
once  what  powerful  element  organisation  has  proved  to 
be.  Why  shall  the  most  subtle  of  human  activities,  the 
mental  and  intellectual  functions,  not  be  liable  to  profit 
in  the  same  degree  by  organisation  ?  Why  shall  preju- 
dice and  egoism  be  permitted  to  govern  with  almost 
absolute  sovereignty  in  the  lofty  regions  of  thought  and 
speculation,  of  experiment  and  observation — in  one  word, 
of  research  ?  Organisation  is  not  pedantry,  discipline 
not  slavery,  genius  no  direct  contradiction  to  order  and 
measure.  Originality  and  individualism  will  neither  be 
sacrificed  nor.  diminished,  if  certain  rules  are  observed  in 
bringing  the  results  of  investigation  to  public  knowledge, 
and  a  better,  more  economical,  and  more  effective  system 
of  reporting  and  recording  is  adopted,  with  the  intention  to 
facilitate  the  communication  of  valuable  scientific  results 
over  the  greatest  possible  circles  of  competent  readers. 
It  is  true  that  the  all-powerful  vis  inertice  will  go  far  in 
opposing  any  serious  attempt  of  reorganisation  in  this 
department  ;  but,  as  I  remarked  at  the  commencement  of 
this  article,  unless  we  put  hands  and  shoulders  to  the 
work,  we  shall  unavoidably  arrive  soon  at  a  state  of  chaotic 
confusion,  where  the  worse  elements  may  be  conspicuous, 
and  valuable  productions  at  times  be  choked  among 
mediocrity. 

It  would  lead  me  too  far  away  from  the  direct  subject 
of  this  article  to  develop  here  any  scheme  of  better 
arrangement  for  scientific  publication  ;  and  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  the  feeling  that  such  arrangements  ought  to  be 
found  and  to  be  universally  introduced,  is  spreading 
rapidly  among  competent  and  conscientious  men  of  science. 
Let  these  soon  unite  and  form  national  and  international 
centres  for  the  organisation  of  scientific  publication— a 
more  wholesome  influence  on  the  progress  of  science  and 
research  can  hardly  be  imagined  nowadays. 

The  tw  o  new  and  last  volumes  of  the  "  Challenger 
Report  "  are  the  work  of  Mr.  Murray,  the  true  soul  of  the 
expedition,  to  whom  science  owes  a  great  debt  of  grati- 
tude for  his  never-ceasing  care  and  toil,  and  for  his  talent 
.md  amiability,  with  which  he  undertook  the  great  burden 
of  superintending  the  publications  of  the  expedition, 
besides  himself  adding  most  remarkably  to  the  vast 
amount  of  new  knowledge  regarding  the  deep  sea. 

In  the  "Editorial  Notes"  to  these  two  volumes,  Mr. 
Murra\-  has  some  paragrajihs  on  the  whole  expedition  so 
characteristic  that  I  think  it  right  to  repeat  them  here  to 
ever\-  reader  w  ho  does  not  happen  to  lay  his  hands  on 
the  volumes  themselves.    Mr.  Murray,  after  having  given 


1^4 


NATURE 


[JlNE    6,    1895 


an    account   ot    how  m   general  the  collections  and   the 
reports  on  them  were  disposed,  adds  the  following  : — 

■■  From  beginning  to  end  the  histon-  of  the  Challenger 
Expedition  is  simply  a  record  of  continuous  and  diligent 
work.  There  were  few  opportunities  for  brilliant  exploits 
during  the  voyage.  The  daily  and  hourly  magnetic  and 
meteorologic  observations,  the  handling  of  the  ship  during 
the  tedious  deep-sea  investigations,  the  work  connected 
with  the  boat  excursions  and  expeditions  on  land,  in 
addition  to  the  usual  operations  of  the  marine  surveyor 
and  navigator,  all  demanded  from  the  naval  officers  and 
seamen  an  amount  of  care  and  attention  far  surpassing 
what  is  required  during  an  ordinary  commission  of  one 
of  Her  Majesty's  ships.  The  labour  connected  with 
preserving,  cataloguing,  and  packing  the  biological  and 
other  collections  on  board  ship  was  enormous,  so  also 
was  that  involved  in  their  subsequent  examination  on 
the  return  of  the  expedition  and  their  distribution  to 
specialists  in  many  parts  of  the  world.  .AH  this  was, 
however,  accomplished  with  success,  and  the  typical 
•collections  have  now  been  deposited  without  any  mis- 
hap in  the  British  Museum.  The  m.ijority  of  the  authors 
•of  the  special  memoirs  ha\e  spent  years  in  the  examina- 
tion of  the  collections  and  in  the  preparation  of  their 
manuscript  and  illustrations  for  the  press,  without  other 
remuneration  than  either  a  copy  of  the  Cludlcngcr  publi- 
cations or  a  small  honorarium  to  cover  the  outlay  necessi- 
tated by  their  researches.  The  payments  of  the  civilian 
staff  have  been  \er\-  moderate,  and  in  my  own  case,  at 
least,  have  not  covered  actual  expenditure  in  connection 
with  the  work  of  the  expedition. 

"The  great  difficulty  in  carrying  through  an  under- 
taking of  this  nature  arises  from  considerations  of  time. 
The  researches  of  the  specialist  tend  ever  to  become  | 
more  elaborate  :  in  no  case  were  the  authors  of  the  larger 
special  reports  able  to  terminate  their  work  within  the 
•  original  estimates  as  to  time  and  bulk.  The  limitations 
in  reference  to  expenditure  imposed  on  me  by  the  (".overn- 
ment  often  rendered  it  imperative  to  curtail  the  investi- 
gations, and  to  cut  out  matter  from  the  memoirs  when,  in 
other  circumstances,  I  would  gladly  have  fallen  in  with 
the  views  of  contributors  and  collaborators.  The  re- 
searches and  publications  connected  with  the  expedition 
might  have  been  extended  in  several  directions  with 
advantage  to  science  had  the  allotted  time  and  funds 
permitted  ;  as  it  is,  a  few  collections  have  not  been 
thoroughly  examined,  and  some  observations  have  not 
been  fully  discussed. 

"  In  June,  1872,  I  was  appointed  one  of  the  naturalists 
of  the  Challenger  when  the  expedition  was  being  fitted 
out.  During  the  past  twenty-three  years  my  time  has 
been  wholly  taken  up  with  the  work  of  the  expedition 
and  in  the  study  of  those  subjects  which  the  expedition 
was  organised  to  investigate.  The  direction  of  the  whole 
of  the  work  connected  with  the  publication  of  the 
scientific  results  passed  unexpectedly  into  my  hands, 
and  I  have  done  my  best  in  the  circumstances  to  place 
on  permanent  record  a  trustworthy  account  of  the  labours 
of  this  famous  expedition.  It  has  been  my  earnest 
■endeavour  to  complete  the  publications  in  a  manner 
worthy  of  the  naval  position  and  scientific  reputation  of 
this  great  empire.  Notwithstanding  the  troubles,  per- 
sonal sacrifices  and  regrets  necessarily  connected  with 
the  work,  it  has  been  a  pleasure  and  an  honour  to  have 
taken  part  in  explorations  and  researches  which  mark 
the  greatest  advance  in  the  knowledge  of  our  planet 
since  the  celebrated  geographical  discoveries  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries." 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  speak  in  a  more  truthful,  simple, 

and  dignified  manner  of  one's  life's  work  than  here  Mr. 

Murray  speaks  of  the  work  and  the  difficulties  that  beset 

the    Challenger   Expedition,  "  cujus    pars    magna   fuit." 

NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


He  might  have  used  quite  other  language,  and  have  felt 
sure  to  meet  the  full  acknowledgment  of  his  contem- 
poraries, and  nobody  will  certainly  dispute  him  the 
proud  sentence  with  which  he  finishes  the  above 
account.  There  can  hardly  be  any  doubt  about 
the  epoch-making  importance  of  the  Cluillenger  ex- 
pedition, and  if  in  the  first  letter  of  Dr.  Carpenter  to 
the  Royal  Society  attention  is  drawn  to  an  article  in  this 
journal '(N.^TirKE,  vol.  iv.  p.  107,  1S71),  in  which  it  was 
stated  that  the  Governments  of  Germany,  Sweden,  and 
the  United  -States  were  preparing  to  dispatch  ships  to 
various  parts  of  the  ocean,  expressly  fitted  for  deep-sea 
exploration,  and  the  question  put  forward,  whether  Great 
Britain  should  not  step  in  to  do  her  share  in  such 
work,  I  think  it  might  well  be  urged  now,  after  (ireat 
Britain  having  done  her  work  in  the  most  unparalleled 
way,  that  other  nations  might  continue  and  profit  by  the 
experience  of  the  Challenger.  Such  expeditions  may  be 
undertaken  by  deliberately  dividing  the  task  of  filling  the 
gaps  and  lacunes  left  by  the  Challenger,  one  nation  taking 
the  .Atlantic,  the  other  the  Indian,  a  third  the  Pacific,  and 
a  fourth  especially  the  .Antarctic  .Sea  for  its  investigation 
and  exploration.  .A  large  basis  has  been  laid  by  the 
Challenger,  capable  of  bearing  any  superstructure  to  be 
erected  on  it.  Let  France  and  Germany,  the  I'nited 
States  and  Russia  take  up  this  work  after  a  mutual  under- 
standing, let  Sweden  or  Norway  explore  once  more  the 
North  Polar  .Sea,  Italy  the  Red  .Sea,  and  let  international 
organisation  add  a  second  chapter  to  oceanography, 
after  the  first  has  been  so  well  worked  out  by  Great 
Britain. 

Nevertheless,  whatever  important  results  may  be 
arrived  at  by  such  repeated  expeditions,  embodying  both 
principles — division  of  labour  and  combination  of  results — 
the  future  of  oceanography  requires  still  other  means  of 
research.  Whenever  a  new  domain  of  science  is  opened 
up,  either  by  the  isolated  work  of  a  discovering  genius, 
such  as  Pasteur  and  Koch,  or  by  combination  of  rarely 
found  chances,  such  as  the  Challenger  Expedition  oficred, 
the  immediate  consequence  is  that  specialisation  sets  in 
to  work  out  all  the  different  chapters  of  the  new  doctrine, 
enlarging  the  basis,  multiplying  the  parts,  drawing  new 
conclusions,  correcting  old  ones — in  short,  bringing 
about  a  detailed  colonisation  of  the  newly-discovered 
intellectual  areas.  But  no  oceanic  or  .African  colony  can 
live  and  prosper  nowadays  without  well-established 
communication  with  its  motherland  ;  no  haphazard  visits 
of  travellers  can  supplant  the  permanent  and  systematic 
exploitation  that  alone  provides  those  conditions  of  life 
which  make  a  colony  prosper.  .And  the  same  holds  good 
for  intellectual  colonising,  and  especially  for  problems  of 
oceanography. 

If  we  look  over  the  fifty  volumes  of  the  "  Challenger 
Reports,"  we  see,  at  once,  that  the  lion's  share  belongs  to 
biology.  .More  than  nine-tenths  of  them  arc  purely  biolog- 
ical, and  almost  all  the  others  include  some  im|)oilanl 
biological  elements.  It  is  therefore  hardly  wrong  to 
suppose  that  the  future  of  oceanography  will  lie  with 
biology,  and  with  its  ways  and  means  for  increasing  our 
knowledge.  The  problems  of  biology,  of  course,  .ire 
extremely  varied,  and  many  of  them  may  be  studied  in 
ever)'  inland  university.  Not  so  the  problems  of  marine 
biology,  for  which   the  last  twenty  years  have  establishetl 


June  6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


125 


the  utter  necessity  of  laboratories  near  the  sea-shore. 
Here  we  are  only  in  the  beginning  of  a  movement,  which 
will  go  far  to  increase  our  knowledge  of  the  conditions  of 
marine  life. 

If  the  establishment  of  marine  laboratories  on  diflerent 
parts  of  the  Mediterranean  and  on  both  sides  of  the 
Atlantic — not  to  speak  of  the  North  Sea  and  the  Baltic — 
have  proved  a  necessity  :  if  already,  both  in  Japan  and 
in  California,  the  coasts  of  the  Pacific  ha\  e  been  pro- 
\ided  with  such  scientific  outposts,  it  cannot  fail  that, 
by-and-by,  Africa,  Australia,  and  the  Polynesian  Archi- 
pelago will  also  have  their  biological  stations.  It  is  a 
great  pleasure  to  me  to  be  able  to  state  here,  that  a 
small  beginning  is  being  made  at  Raluni  in  Neu 
I'omniern  alias  New  Britain),  the  neighbour  island 
of  .New  Guinea,  from  whence  numerous  specimens  of 
Naiiti/iis ppiiipUi!is\\a.\e\a.t.e\yhee\\  procured,  ."^n  intelli- 
gent and  enthusiastic  German  planter,  Mr.  Parkinson, 
living  since  many  years  on  that  island,  visited  me  a  year 
ago  in  Naples,  and  offered  spontaneously  his  help  and 
services  to  establish  a  small  station  on  his  own  land. 
According  to  his  views,  locality  and  climate  will  favour 
such  a  plan,  and  as  there  is  every  si.\  weeks  a  steamer  of 
the  North  (lerman  Lloyd  from  Raluni  to  .Singapore,  and 
soon  perhaps  another  one  to  Sydney,  the  possibilities  of  a 
tropical  archipelago  station  are  given.  The  Naples  .Station 
has  undertaken  to  provide  the  scientific  equipment  of  its 
infant  brother  at  the  Antipodes,  and  my  friend  Major  [ 
Alex.  Henry  Davis,  from  .Syracuse  (New  York),  who, 
already  helped  so  much  to  establish  lasting  and  fruitful  I 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  Naples 
Station,  has  again  stepped  forward  to  provide  for  the 
first  pecuniary  wants  of  the  Papua  .Station.  Let  us  hope 
that  this  small  beginning  will  reap  some  fruits,  and 
the  more  so,  as  Mr.  Arthur  \Ville\,  well  known  by  his 
work  on  the  development  and  morphology  of  the  Tuni- 
cates  and  .Amphio.xus,  has  gone  there  as  first  pioneer  of 
biology  to  study  the  de\elopment  of  Nautilus  poiiipi/iiis. 
His  impressions  have  been  as  yet  very  favourable,  and  he 
thinks  that  the  fauna  of  New  Britain  will  amply  repay 
every  sacrifice  of  Mr.  Parkinson  and  Major  IJavis.  If  the 
local  authorities  of  New  .South  \\'ales,  or  Victoria,  or  New 
Zealand,  would  find  it  worth  their  while  to  help  to  a 
laboratory  in  Port  Jackson,  or  somewhere  else  in  Australia  : 
if  in  the  Cape  Colony  somebody  would  do  as  Mr 
Parkinson  has  done — numerous  problems  thrown  open  by 
the  work  of  the  Challoigcr  \\o\.\\A  make  progress,  and  the 
threads  of  biological  study  would  draw  nearer  and  nearer 
to  encircle  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  oceans. 

But  the  greatest  stroke  w  ould  come,  if  one  nation  or  an 
international  combination  would  present  biology  and 
oceanography  with  a  steamer,  expressly  built  for  purposes 
of  such  research  as  the  Chnllengcr  performed.  In  the 
year  1884,  I  attempted  something  of  the  kind  b\  forminga 
committee  of  influential  men  in  Ciermany  for  the  purpose 
of  collecting  ;^  15,000  to  £20,000,  with  which  to  build 
a  yacht  large  enougli  to  go  round  the  globe,  and  serxing  as 
a  floating  biological  laljorator)-.  Of  course  it  was  not  the 
sum  of  money  wanted  for  the  construction  of  such  a  ship 
which  constituted  the  main  difficulty  of  the  scheme, 
though  I  failed  even  in  that  from  reasons  which  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  scheme  itself.  The  true  difficulties 
lie  in  the  extraordinary  ijreat  regular  expenses  iit  commis- 
NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


sioning  such  a  ship,  as  every  owner  of  an  ocean  yacht 
understands.  Of  course  I  was  also  prepared  for  that,  and 
ha\e  no  doubt  that  my  plans  would  have  answered, 
at  least  to  some  extent,  but  I  was  compelled  to  recognise 
the  truth  of  the  old  proverb,  "qui  trop  embrasse  mal 
etreint.'"  I  do  not  know  whether  I  shall  yet  be  able  to 
return  to  the  attack  ;  it  seems  rather  unlikely,  but  it  is  my 
firm  conviction  that  this  scheme  is,  if  not  the  only  one 
which  will  permit  us  to  conquer  the  battlefield,  at  any  rate 
the  chief  means  to  enlarge  our  knowledge  in  oceano- 
graphy, and  will  and  must  therefore  be  executed  in  no 
distant  future. 

Such  a  ship  ought  not  to  be  continuously  crossing  the 
oceans  ;  on  the  contrary,  its  best  services  would  be 
rendered  by  giving  it  the  chance  to  thoroughly  investi- 
gate distant  areas  for  distinct  problems.  Give  such  a 
ship  the  commission  to  study  in  the  greatest  possible 
detail,  and  in  a  comparative  way,  life  and  formation  of  the 
coral  reefs  in  the  Indian  Ocean  ;  let  it  be  stationary  for 
months  together  on  the  most  favourable  spots  for  such  a 
study  ;  prepare  a  scientific^stafF  of  specialists  for  the  work, 
land  them  where  the  best  opportunities  for  a  transient 
establishment  of  a  small  laboratory  is  to  be  got,  assist 
them  b\"  as  man\'  hands  of  the  crew  as  can  be  spared, 
help  them  by  the  steam-pinnace  on  board,  use  the  diving 
dress  as  well  as  native  divers,  and  study  for  hours  under 
water  the  construction  and  the  destruction  of  the  reef, 
apply  all  kinds  of  dredging  and  surface-fishing  at  day 
and  night,  have  well-trained  laboratorj-  servants  for  the 
preservation  alive  and  in  alcohol  of  such  organisms  as 
are  required  for  further  study, — in  short,  do  as  if  a  well- 
appointed  laboratory  were  transported  to  Polynesia  ; 
and  be  sure  that  results  will  ensue  which  by  no  other 
contri\ances  can  possibly  be  obtained,  especially  if  the  ship 
be  under  no  restrictions,  and  can  stay  in  any  one  spot  as 
long  as  may  be  requisite. 

For  it  is  the  great  drawback  of  the  usual  men-of-war 
expeditions,  that  they  are  only  allowed  a  few  days  or 
weeks  to  remain  at  the  same  localitv'.  There  are  so 
many  other  objects,  to  which  it  is  necessary  to  give  full 
attention,  that  they  are  always  driven  away  from  the 
work  when  the  preliminary  difficulties  arc  just  overcome. 
Science  must  be  sovereign  on  board,  the  scientific  leader 
must  be  absolute  for  determining  the  course  to  take  and 
the  time  to  remain.  Discipline  on  board  the  ship  must, 
of  course,  be  handled  by  the  captain  or  his  officers,  but 
the  general  dispositions  of  the  work  must  remain  with  the 
scientific  leader.  That  alone  already  w  ould  make  a  great 
difference  in  such  an  expedition  from  all  those  antecedent, 
and  though  very  often  the  naval  captains  of  expeditions 
for  scientific  purposes  might  well  enough  be  transformed 
also  into  scientific  leaders,  nevertheless  they  are  depen- 
dent on  orders  from  home,  and  cannot  always  understand 
the  importance  of  cmbryological,  physiological,  or  other 
specialist  work,  for  which  they  have  to  sta\'  a  month  or 
two  longer  in  the  same  harbour. 

Again,  the  scientific  staff  must  be  selected  with  greatest 
care  in  regard  to  technical  and  personal  accomplishments. 
If  the  staff  is  not  \  aried  enough,  and  does  not  include  men 
of  different  attainments,  many  opportunities  for  investi- 
gation must  be  lost  for  want  of  pre\  ious  knowledge  on 
the  side  of  the  naturalists  on  board.  On  the  other  hand, 
nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  live  together  for  months. 


126 


NATURE 


[Junk  6,  1895 


-or  even  years,  on  board  a  ship,  for  men  not  well  trained 
10  such  existence,  except  where  the  composition  of  the 
staff  is  made  with  a  sharp  eye  for  compatibility  and  in- 
compatibility of  character.  Especially  the  scientific  leader 
must  be  a  man  of  imposing  personality  rather  than  of 
special  scientific  competence,  for  it  will  fall  to  his  share 
to  dictate  in  e\er)'  case  where  conflicting  tendencies 
threaten  to  do  away  with  social  harmony. 

But  though  all  this  may  be  considered  to  offer  con- 
siderable difficulties  in  the  way  of  execution,  nevertheless 
the  future  for  oceanography  will  belong  to  such  floating 
biological  stations,  and  the  time  is  perhaps  not  so  far 
distant,  when  more  than  one  of  them  will  cross  the 
■oceans,  and  supersede  completely  the  now  adopted  sys- 
tem of  single-handed  expeditions  of  young  naturalists. 
The  necessity  for  such  expeditions  is  doubtless  existing, 
in  so  far  as  it  is  better  to  vcy  the  solution  of  problems 
regarding  the  tropics  by  travelling  alone  than  by  stay- 
ing at  home.  And  no  doubt  verj-  many  geographical, 
ethnographical,  geological  problems  have  been  greatly 
advanced  by  competent  travellers,  and  will  furthermore 
be  advanced  in  the  same  way.  Collections  of  animals 
and  plants  have  been  made,  mostly  terrestrial,  and  the 
systematic  part  of  biology  has  had  its  due  share.  But 
all  more  complicated  studies,  such  as  require  more 
technical  appliances  and  preparations,  remain  in  the 
background,  for  the  same  reason  which  has  forced  us 
already  in  Europe  to  establish  well-organised  morpho- 
logical, physiological  and  chemical  laboratories,  both 
inland  and  on  the  sea-shore.  And  if  we  cannot  go  on 
without  them  in  Europe,  where  the  general  conditions 
for  biological  research  are  so  much  more  ad\antageous, 
we  must  certainly  have  them,  if  we  wish  to  advance  our 
knowledge  of  tropical,  terrestrial  and  marine  organisms. 

Botany  enjoys  already  some  advantages  through  the 
lx)tanical  gardens  in  Ceylon  and  Java,  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  British  and  the  Dutch  authorities  will 
use  their  exceptional  opportunities  in  both  places  to 
establish  some  sort  of  regulations  for  their  use  by  the 
botanists  of  all  nations.  May  it  not  be  possible  to 
enlarge  these  botanical  gardens  by  adding  also  some 
facilities  for  research  of  animal  morphology  ?  The 
/Zoological  .Station  at  Naples  has  a  special  part  prepared 
and  equipped  for  morphological  and  physiological  botany; 
in  the  first  place,  of  course,  for  marine  alg;v,  but  any 
other  sort  of  botanical  study,  for  which  Naples  offers 
opportunities,  might  be  undertaken  there,  and  already 
a  valuable  work  on  the  cultivation  of  figs  has  been 
greatly  assisted  by  the  Zoological  .Station.  No  doubt 
e\er)-  naturalist  who  travels  in  Ceylon  or  the  Sunda 
.Archipelago  receives  the  most  valuable  advice  and 
assistance  by  Messrs.  Trimen  and  Treub,  and  perhaps 
these  most  competent  gentlemen  would  be  the  first  to 
advocate  a  larger  endowment  of  their  establishments  in 
the  sense  just  now  indicated  ;  science  and  research  would 
be  certainly  greatly  benefited  by  it. 

All  these  dreams  and  perspectives  are  opened  up 
Ijcforc  us  when  we  are  looking  over  the  enormous  mass 
of  new  facts  and  new  material  for  study  brought  together 
by  the  Cliallcnacr.  .\nd  to  think  that  there  were  only 
four  naturalists  and  one  chemist  on  board  all  the  years 
long,  and  one  of  the  naturalists  died  during  the  expcdi- 
xion  I  It  is,  I  think,  only  right  to  remember  here  that 
NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


two  others  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  civilian  staff  so 
heavily  overta.\ed  their  strength  with  the  often  surely 
\ery  monotonous,  and  alwavs  very  hard  work,  that  their 
health  broke  down  soon  after  their  return,  and  they  fell 
victims  to  their  enthusiasm.  If  it  is  only  right  to  pay 
the  highest  possible  respect  to  Mr.  Murray  for  his  extra- 
ordinary power  of  work,  talent  for  administration  and 
competence  in  dealing  with  the  special  problems  of  deep- 
sea  deposits,  and  if  we  gladly  recognise  the  excellent 
work  done  by  Mr.  Buchanan,  I  think  nobody  will  be  so 
ready  as  these  two  gentlemen  to  join  here  in  thankful 
remembrance  of  the  share  of  work  that  fell  to  their  late 
companions.  Sir  Wyville  Thomson,  Prof.  Moselcy,  and 
Dr.  von  Willemoes-.Suhm.  .And  may  it  be  once  more 
permitted  to  the  writer  of  these  lines,  who  by  right  or 
wrong  claims  some  special  title  for  it  as  a  sort  of  inter- 
national official  of  biological  science,  to  utter  the  thanks 
of  science  to  the  officers  and  men  of  the  Clialtengcr,  and 
to  the  .Admiralty,  and  to  the  British  (Government  and 
Parliament,  and  to  the  whole  British  nation  for  having 
set  the  example  to  the  world  of  one  of  the  grandest  and 
most  successful  scientific  expeditions  that  ever  has  been, 
and  most  likely  for  considerable  time  to  come  will  be, 
started.  .Anton  Dohrn. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Horses,  Asses,  Zebras,  Mii/es.  ami  Mule  }ireeding.     By 
\V.  B.  Tegetmeier,  K.Z.S.,  and  C.  L.  Sutherland,  F.Z.S. 
London  :  Horace  Cox,  1895.) 

Thk  first  portion  of  the  title  of  this  interesting  work  is 
somewhat  misleading,  for  with  the  exception  of  some  half- 
dozen  pages  which  deal  mainly  with  the  distinctions 
between  the  horse  and  the  other  species  of  the  genus,  and 
a  description  of  the  supposed  new  species  known  as 
Prejevalsky's  Horse,  the  book  entirely  relates  to  asses, 
zebras,  and  mules.  None  of  the  varieties  of  the  horse 
which  ha\  e  been  produced  during  the  period  of  its  long 
domestication  are  referred  to.  \Vc  mention  this  fact  in 
case  the  general  reader  should  infer  from  the  title  of  the 
work  that  it  was  a  treatise  on  the  multitudinous  domestic 
\  arieties  of  the  horse  which  exist  in  nearly  every  quarter 
of  the  globe. 

The  volume  is  conveniently  divided  into  two  parts.  Part 
i.  is  chiefly  of  zoological  interest,  and  contains  VC17  com- 
plete and  accurate  descriptions  of  the  existing  species  of 
the  genus  known  to  modern  zoologists  under  the  name  of 
Equus,  including,  in  addition  to  Prejevalsky's  Horse,  an 
account  of  the  still  more  recently  discoxered  Grevy's 
Zebra.  The  engra\ings  which  illustrate  the  letterpress 
are  particularly  good,  and  will  greatly  assist  the  student 
in  his  endeavour  to  master  the  peculiarities  of  each 
species.  It  concludes  with  a  chapter  on  the  hybrids 
which  may  be  produced  by  crossing  the  horse  with  the 
other  species  of  the  genus  Equus. 

.Attention  should  be  directed  to  an  assertion  on  the  part 
of  the  authors  thai  a  remarkable  and  noticeable  difference 
exists  in  the  period  of  gestation  of  the  marc  and  ass.  The 
duration  of  gestation  in  the  mare  is  well  known  to  be 
eleven  months,  and  it  has  generally  been  .issumed  thai  it 
was  similar  in  the  ass  and  zebra.  The  authors,  howe\ev, 
emphatically  assert  that  in  asses  and  zebras  it  usually 
exceeds  twelve  months  ;  one  of  them,  Mr.  .Svitherland,  who 
is  well  known  as  an  extensive  breeder  of  mules,  quotes 
from  his  stutl-book  eight  instances  of  the  period  of  gesta- 
tion in  the  ,iss,  the  result  in  six  cases  of  a  single  service, 
the  period  varying  from  358  to  385  days.  It  seems 
strange  that  such  a  marked  difference  should  have 
hitherto  escaped  mention  in  all  pre\iously  published 
works. 


June  6,  1895] 


NATURE 


12: 


Part  ii.  is  de\  oted  cxclusi\  cly  to  mules  and  mule  breed- 
ing, and  is  replete  with  valuable  and  exhaustive  informa- 
tion on  these  subjects.  The  authors  strenuously  deny  the 
existence  of  fertility  in  either  the  male  or  female  mule, 
affirming  that  abnormal  lactation  not  unfrequently  occurs 
in  female  mules,  when  milk  is  secreted  in  great  abund- 
ance, and  that  the  foals  which  they  arc  observed  to  be 
suckling  are  in  reality  the  foals  of  other  animals  which 
the  mules  have  adopted.  With  regard  to  the  oft-quoted 
instance  of  a  mule  in  the  Acclimitisation  dardcns  in  Paris, 
which  has  produced  foals  when  mated  both  with  the 
horse  and  ass,  the  writers  doubt  whether  the  animal  is  a 
mule,  and  assume  that  she  is  an  ordinarv'  mare,  whose 
female  parent  was  influenced  by  a  first  alliance,  as  is  so 
often  the  case  in  dogs  and  other  animals.  If  their  con- 
tention is  correct,  the  mule  may  still  aptly  be  described  as 
"an  animal  of  no  ancestry  and  with  no  hope  of  posterity." 

The  writers  are  enthusiastic,  nay  e\en  fulsome  in  their 
praise  of  this  hybrid,  and  bitterly  lament  the  lack  of 
appreciation  in  which  it  is  held  in  (Jreat  Britain  as  com- 
pared with  America  and  some  European  .States.  "  In 
endurance,'  say  the  authors,  '"capability  of  hard  labour, 
economy  in  keep,  longevity,  and  freedom  from  disease, 
mules  far  surpass  horses."  Into  so  controversial  a  matter 
this  is  not  the  place  to  enter,  and  we  must  content  our- 
selves with  the  belief  that  so  plain  and  oftentimes  so  ugly 
an  animal  as  the  mule  will  never  supplant  to  any  great 
extent,  in  this  country  at  least,  the  beautiful  and  graceful 
varieties  of  the  horse  of  which  Englishmen  are  naturally 
so  proud. 

To  any  of  our  readers  who  are  interested  in  the  subject 
of  mule  breeding,  this  work  may  be  heartily  recommended  : 
and,  in  conclusion,  we  feel  bound  to  compliment  in  the 
highest  terms  all  who  have  been  instrumental  in  its 
production.  W.  F.  ( 1. 

The   Moon.       By    T.    (iuyn    Elger,   F.K..-\.,S.       Pp.   174. 

(London  :  (icorge  Philip  and  Son,  1895. 
I.\  this  latest  work  on  the  moon,  from  the  pen  of  one 
of  the  foremost  of  British  selenographers,  the  most  note- 
worthy feature  is  the  excellent  chart,  eighteen  inches  in 
diameter  ;  this  is  given  in  four  quadrants,  but  it  can  also 
be  obtained  complete  and  separately.  .^11  the  named 
formations  are  distinctly  shown,  and  the  names  of  the 
more  important  are  very  clearly  printed  on  the  map  itself 
The  greater  |)art  of  the  text  resohes  itself  into  a  descrip- 
tixe  index  to  the  map ;  but  though  this  appears  in  rather 
stereotyped  fashion,  it  embodies  a  good  deal  of  inform- 
ation which  has  been  gleaned  by  the  author  during  many 
years  of  observation.  An  introduction  of  forty  pages 
deals  with  lunar  phenomena  generally,  and  includes 
numerous  hints  which  will  be  of  use  to  the  observer.  Mr. 
KIger  objects  most  emphaticalh  to  our  satellite  being 
spoken  of  as  a  changeless  world,  and  justifies  his  jjosition 
b\  stating  that  volcanic  outbursts,  producing  mountains 
as  large  as  the  .Monte  Nuovo,  might  occur  in  many  parts 
of  the  rnoon  without  the  world  being  any  the  wiser.  Though 
possessing  little  of  novelty,  and  not  appealing  to  the 
general  reader,  the  book  and  map  together  constitute  a 
handy  work  of  reference  which  obseners  of  experience, 
as  well  as  beginners,  will  be  glad  to  have  by  them.  A  ' 
few  details  as  to  the  phenomena  to  be  observed  during 
eclipses  of  the  moon,  might  have  been  included  with 
advantage. 

Algebra.     Parti.     By  .M.  H.  .Senior,     i  (  Hdham  :   I).  \V. 

Hardsley.) 
KlNi)F,K(;.\KTi;x  methods  of  teaching  are  now  applied  to 
most  subjects.  In  this  small  book  of  fifty  pages,  the 
author  endeavours  to  make  algebra  interesting  to  young 
students  by  associating  the  abstract  symbols  with  con-  ' 
Crete  objects.  The  no\el  features  of  the  book  are  the 
explanation  of  brackets,  the  exercises  on  factors,  short 
methods  of  multiplication  and  di\ision,  the  elucidation  of 
signs,  and  the  numerous  practical  examples.  I 

NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


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.'\ 

Argon  and  Dissociation. 

Thk  discovery  of  the  new  substance  argon,  by  Lord  Rayleigh,' 
has  given  rise  to  a  difficulty  which,  it  is  thought  by  some,  shows 
that  the  periodic  law  of  Mendelejelf  has  not  that  generality 
which  has  been  attached  to  it  by  chemists  during  the  last  few 
years. 

According  to  Lord  Kayleigh"s  determination,  the  density  of 
argon  is  ig'g  (H  =  l),  making  the  atomic  weight  39-8,  as  the 
molecules  are  shown  to  have  no  internal  energy  of  the  same 
order  as  their  energy  of  tran.slation,  and  hence  to  bemonatomic. 
Argon  with  this  atomic  weight  cannot  possibly  find  a  place  in 
the  natural  classification.  If  its  atomic  weight  were  less  than 
39'i  (the  atomic  weight  of  pota.ssium),  argon  would  fall  in  the 
Vlllth  or  interperiodic  group  in  Lothar  Meyer's  table  ;  and  its 
properties,  so  far  as  they  have  been  investigated,  would  harmonist 
with  this  position. 

The  determination  of  the  vapour,  density  of  iodine  by  A'. 
Meyer,  Crafts  and  Meier,  and  others,  has  showTi  that  at  tem- 
peratures below  1000  C.  the  gas  consists  of  diatomic  molecules, 
while  above  this  dissociation  takes  place,  and  above  1500°  C.  we 
have  the  dissociation  complete,  and  the  molecules  are  mon- 
atoniic. 

Why,  then,  cannot  we  have  a  similar  behaviour  in  the  case  of 
argon  ? 

If  argon  at  low  temperatures  (somewhere  near  its  critical 
point)  consisted  of  diatomic  molecules,  which  dissociate  as  the 
temperature  rises,  the  difficulty  of  the  position  of  argon  would  be 
removed.  Thus,  suppose  at  the  temperature  at  which  I9'9  was 
determined  as  the  density  of  argon,  the  dissociation  has  pro- 
ceeded so  far  that  5  per  cent,  of  the  molecules  remain  diatomic  ; 
the  average  molecular  weight  w  ould  be  39'8,  but  we  should  have 
two  kinds  of  molecules,  monatomic  and  diatomic,  and  the  atomic 
weight  under  these  supposed  conditions  would  be 

39-8  X   100  _   „ 

The  ratio  of  the  specific  heats,  at  constant  pressure  and  con- 
stant volume,  taking  i  -4  for  this  ratio  for  a  gas  w  ith  diatomic 
molecules,  and  j  for  a  gas  with  monatomic  molecules,  would  be 
fiir  argon,  on  the  above  supposition, 


9S_xJ_  +  _5xi "4   _ 


I  -6?. 


This  value  agrees  very  well  with  the  values  (1-16 — 1-65) 
determined  for  argon. 

This  explanation  reconciles  argon  with  the  natural  classifi- 
cation ;  and  as  yet  no  facts  have  been  published  in  opposition 
to  it. 

If  this  hypothesis  be  true  it  could  be  easily  verified,  for  at 
temperatures,  not  much  higher  than  that  at  which  the  vapour 
density  determinations  were  made,  the  dissociation  would  be 
complete  :  and  hence  the  vapour  density  in  agreement  with  a 
molecular  weight  about  38:  and  also  at  lower  temperatures 
than  that  at  which  the  vapour  den.sity  has  been  determined  the 
gas  wnuld  not  obey  Charles'  law  ;  for  the  recombination  of  the 
single  atoms  to  form  diatomic  molecules,  and  possibly  molecules 
containing  a  greater  number  of  atoms,  would  cause  a  contraction 
greater  than  that  due  merely  to  the  cooling  of  the  gxs  according 
to  the  ordinary  law.  Phnrv  \'.\ii;han   Bevan. 

.Melbourne  University,  .\pril  iS. 


Prof.  Be\an  ascribes  to  me  work  done  conjointly  with  Prof. 
Kamsay.  .An  addendum  to  our  jrapcr  (see  Proc.  Koy.  Soc.)  con- 
tains our  account  of  ex|K.Timents  by  Prof,  kamsay,  especially 
directed  to  examine  the  question  raised. 

It  has  turned  out   that  the  gas   possesses  the  .same  value  of 

-^  as  hydrogen,  and  that  the  value  of  this  expression  .is  not 

altered  between  -  90"  and  -f-  250°.  The  most  trustworthy  deter- 
mination of  the  ratio  of  specific  heats  gives  the  number  i  '65  ;• 
but   u\uch  dependence  is  not  to  he  placed  on  the  accurate  value 


128 


.VA  TURE 


[Jink  6,  1895 


of  the   second    decimal.     Ver)'  concordant   determinations   of 
density  gave  as  a  mean  number  1 9 '90. 

Argon,  therefore,  shows  no  sign  of  association  on  cooling,  nor 
'if  dissociation  on  heating,  as  Prof.  Bevan  thinks  it  might. 

Kayi.eigh. 


Terrestrial   Helium  (.'i. 

Prof.  Paschex  and  I  have  lately  made  a  careful  determina- 
tion of  the  wave-length  of  the  strong  yellow  line  emitted  by 
clevcite  when  heated  in  a  Pliicker  tube.  \Vc  owe  the  mineral  to 
the  kindness  of  Prof.  Rinnc.  My  large  R^iwland  concave  grating 
of  6'5  metre  radius,  clearly  shows  the  yellow  line  to  be  double. 
Its  less  refrangible  component  is  much  weaker,  but  comes  out 
quite  bright,  when  the  stronger  one  is  brilliant.  We  photo- 
graphetl  the  two  lines  together  with  the  second  order  of  the 
spark  spectrum  of  iron.  There  are  a  number  of  iron  lines  on  each 
side  that  are  included  in  Rowland's  list  of  standard  wave-lengths 
(Phil.  .I/af. .  July  1S931.  From  these  we  interpolated  the  wave- 
lengths of  the  yellow  lines  by  micrometric  measurement.  Three 
<lifferent  plates  taken  on  different  days  gave  us  : 

.Strong  component.  Weak  component. 

5875-894  5876-216 

5875-874 5876-206 

5875-880  ...  5876-196 

Mean   5875-883  Mean  5876-206 

We  think  an  error  of  more  than  0-025  ^'^'V  improbable. 
Now  Rowland's  determination  of  D,  (Phil.  Mag.,  July  1893) 
is  : — 

5875-982 

the  result  of  three  series  of  measurements  which  he  believes  to  be 
accurate  to  o-02. 

The  difference  between  this  value  and  the  wave-length  of  the 
strong  component  is  much  too  large  to  be  accounted  for  by  an 
error  of  oliscrvation. 

We  do  not  therefore  agree  with  the  conclusion,  drawn  by  Mr. 
Croukes,  that  the  unknown  element  helium  causing  the  line  Dj 
to  ap|)ear  in  the  solar  spectrum  is  identical  with  the  gas  in  cleveite, 
tiiilisi  /)j  /'.;  shman  to  he  douhU.  Perhaps  Prof.  Rowland  will 
tell  us  if  this  might  have  escaped  his  notice,  l-'rom  his  note  on 
Dj  in  Phil.  Mag. ,  July  1 893,  it  appears  that  Dj  cannot  have  been 
so  wide  as  to  include  both  lines,  because  he  would  then  not  have 
considered  his  determination  accurate  to  0-02.  As  for  dispersion, 
'ine  may  see  in  his  table  of  solar  spectrum  wave-lengths  that  he 
has  frequently  measured  three  and  even  four  lines  in  an  interval 
as  large  as  the  one  beUsecn  the  components. 

Ilinnover  Techn.  Hochschule,  May  16.  C.  RnNr.r.. 


The  Origin  of  the  Cultivated  Cineraria. 

I  HAD  hojied  that  it  would  not  be  necessary  for  me  to  say 
anything  more  upon  this  subject.  But  Mr.  Bateson's  last  letter 
seems  to  require  a  few  remarks  on  my  part. 

I  confess  that  I  find  it  very  difficult  to  follow  his  train  of 
arguments.  .\ll  I  can  do  is  to  restate  once  more  my 
ipriginil  position,  and  endeavour  to  see  how  far  Mr.  Bateson  has 
b'cn  successful  in  impugning  it.  I  am  sorry  that  Mr.  Bateson 
thinks  I  have  "  treated  "  him  "  to  some  hard  words,"  though  I 
confess  he  seems  to  me,  in  that  matter,  quite  able  to  take  care  of 
himself. 

I  asserted  then  (a)  that  the  cultivated  Cineraria  only  differs 
from  the  wild  form,  pulling  colour  changes  asirle,  in  dimensional 
.liflVrtii, ..,.  I  Ijthcve  that  in  saying  this  I  am  expressing 
rate  opinion  of  the  Kew  staff,  the  mcmocrs  of 
\\  is  human  nature,  would  have  no  hesitation  in  dis- 
.i4t.-vin;{  with  their  chief,  if  they  thought  otherwise.  To  this 
)i  ■in;  I  <lo  not  understand  that  .Mr.  Bateson  advances  any  serious 

■  (b)  I  asterted  that  these  dimensional  differences  had 

,iii  .,-,,,„. ,i,i..,|      T„  (his  I  understand  Mr.  Bales<m 

-ee   that   he  has  brought  forward  n 

■  the  contrary. 

N.ja  (.,f  Mt.  liiii-i'iii  s  own  p.isilion.     He.asserls,  in  common 

with  other   auth  .riiii-«,  ihii  ih<-  modern  Cineraria  is  of  hybriil 

origin.     I  '  :      conclusion.     And  here  I 

m»y  qu'ji'  .  K.  R.S.,  the  well-known 

editor   of   ,,.      i,.,  .  „  ,  .,,,,.    who   in    that    paper   for 

Januiry  24,  1891,  p.  loS,   states  ;—"  Carnations  and   Picolces, 

NO.    1336,  vol..   52] 


again,  which  originate  from  ones(X'cies,  vary  from  seed  but  not 
from  buds;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Cineraria,  the 
offspring  of  one  species." 

.Mr.  Bateson  complains  that  I  do  not  give  "any  specific 
answer"  to  the  historical  evidence.  I  thought  I  had  made  it 
sufficiently  clear  in  my  last  letter  that:  (iill  doubted  its  value  for 
scientific  purposes  :  (h)  I  set  it  aside  as  irrelevant  on  account  of 
the  impossibility  of  proving  the  descent  of  the  moilern  Cineiaria 
from  its  supposed  ancestors.  Both  Prof.  Weldoii  and  I  have 
shown  that  the  historical  evidence  can  be  handled  both  ways. 
But  I  prefer  to  set  it  aside  altogether  in  the  Atce  of  objective 
facts. 

Mr.  Bateson's  next  step  is  one  to  which  I  most  seriously 
demur.  He  transforms  a  proposition  of  mine  into  terms  to 
which  I  could  not  assent,  and  then  proceetls  to  attack  it.  He 
makes  me  say  that  '-  to  improve  a  plant  the  only  safe  way  is  by 
selecting,"  &c.  1  absolutely  never  said  anything  of  the  kind. 
"Iinprove"  in  horticulture  is  a  word  of  large  connotation.  I 
confined  myself  to  the  production  of  dimensional  changes,  and 
I  believe  that  what  I  said  was  in  accordance  with  horticultural 
experience. 

To  demolish  my  position,  Mr.  Bateson  has  to  get  over  the 
fact,  which  seems  to  me  incontestable,  that  there  is  no  essential 
morphological  difference  between  the  cultivated  Cineraria  and 
the  wild  C.  iiiitiila.  To  do  this  he  trots  out  the  Himalayan 
rabbit.  I  cannot  but  admire  his  courage.  What  possible  analogy 
can  there  be  in  the  two  cases?  Two  "breeds'  of  rabbits  are 
crossed  and  produce  a  third  different  from  cithi-r.  If  the  modern 
Cineraria  is  of  hybrid  origin,  then  it  has  eliminated  traces  of  all 
but  one  of  its  parents.  The  principle  of  economy  of  hypothesis 
makes  me  slow  to  believe  this,  .\nyhow  the  Cineraria  has 
clearly  not  produced  anything  analogous  to  a  Himalayan  rabbit 
which  differs  from  both  its  iiarenls. 

.\s  to  Mr.  Darwin's  account  of  the  origin  of  the  Cineraria,  I 
must  frankly  take  the  responsibility.  I  have  no  doubt  he  worked 
with  ordinary  garden  kinds.  He  wrote  to  me  for  information  as 
to  their  origin.  .\t  the  time  I  was  entirely  ignorant  of  the  sub- 
ject. I  wrote  to  Mr.  Thomas  Moore,  who  was  considered  the 
I  best  authority  on  such  matters,  and  he  sent  me  the  traditional 
\  account.  I  p.issed  it  on  to  Mr.  Darwin,  with  the  opinion,  no 
doubt,  that  I  thought  the  information  trustworthy.  So  I  am 
afraid  Mr.  Bateson  is  only  appealing  in  this  ca.se  from  Philip 
sober  to  Philip  ilrunk  ;  i.e.  from  my  own  considered  opinion 
to  my  unconsidere<l  one. 

I  will  now  wind  up  all  I  have  to  say  on  the  subject  with  a  few 
I  miscellaneous  remarks. 

There  can  be  no  two  opinions  as  to  the  importance  of  the 
study,  from  the  point  of  view  of  organic  evolutii  n,  of  the  changes 
which  can  be  brought  about  in  plants  under  cullivation.  But  it 
must  be  conducted  with  scientific  precision.  Thisdiscu.ssion  will 
not  have  been  fruitless  if  it  directs  attention  lo  the  subject.  .\ 
beginning  h.as  already  been  made.  M.  Bornel  has  worked  on 
the  genus  Cisliis  at  .^ntibes,  and  has  reconslrucled  some  of  the 
forms,  as  to  the  origin  of  which  there  was  only  "historical  evi- 
dence," described  ami  figured  by  Sweet.  My  friend  Count 
Solms-Laubach  is  eng.iged  on  the  cultivated  forms  of  Fmhsia, 
and  1  am  quite  siire  that  any  results  he  arrives  at  n>ay  be 
.acceiiled  with  implicit  confidence.  .\s  he  has  asked  me  for 
species  of  Cineraria,  I  hope  he  may  look  into  this  matter  also. 

1  must  repeat  my  caution  as  to  theilanger  of  .accepting  horti- 
cultural evidence  as  to  hybridity.  I  will  give  a  few  recent 
instances.  I  could  easily  give  a  long  list  with  chapter  and  verse 
for  each. 

((»)  Thuya  fitiformis  was  long  considered  lo  be  a  hybriil 
hnWiUKnJtini/ennTirgiiiiaiiaanA  a  Thuya.  Il  is  now  known 
to  lie  a  "  growth-sl.age"  of  Thuya  orieiitalis.  The  history  i^ 
discusiicd  by  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  in  the  Ganlentrs'  Clirouiile  for 
June  22,  1861,  pp.  575,  576.  It  affords  a  ilelightful  commentary 
on  the  hybridisitioii  fall.acy  and  the  value  of  "historical 
evidence. " 

(h)  Some  years  ago  we  received  at  Kew  bulbs  of  what  professed 
tr)  be  a  hybrirl  between  .Amaryllis  Helladoinia  and  lirunr.'igia 
foH(['hiu,e.  When  it  flowered,  it  was  evident  that  il  was  no 
hybrid  at  all,  but  imly  a  very  fine  form  of  the  former  specie-. 
This  is  rarely  propag.aled  from  seed.  In  this  particular  case 
seminal  variation  had  come  into  play  with  correspomling  iliinen- 
sional  change.  The  hybrid  origin  is  recorded  in  the  Gardeners^ 
CA;-OH/,/<' for  September  4,  1875,  p.  302.  It  will,  no  doubt,  be 
dug  out  hereafter  as  "historical  eviilcnce.  " 

(<•)  The  la.st  number  rjfthe  Gardeners'  Chroiiitle(]\m^  1.  iSOj, 


June  6,  1895] 


NA  rURE 


129 


p.  692)  affords  a  striking  instance,  llybrici  Cypripediums  are  of 
consideraljle  pecuniary  value.  One  recently  exhibited  at  the 
Royal  Horticultural  Society  was  at  once  denounced  as  no  hybrid 
at  all,  but  a  merely  seminal  variation.  The  iiossessor  has  fears 
that  it  will  "  aikl  one  more  to  the  long  list  of  doubtful  crosses 
by  which  auctioneer  and  purchaser  are  alike  misled." 

Notwithstanding  the  Himalayan  rabbit,  I  am  afraid  botanists 
H  illcontinue  to  refuse  to  accept  hybrid  origin  on  historical  evidence 
unless  there  is  palpable  objective  proof  of  the  fact. 

There  are  two  additional  bits  of  evidence,  to  which,  however, 
I  do  not  attach  greiU  weight,  l>ut  which  may  be  recorded  to 
complete  the  story.  It  is,  at  any  rate,  agreed  that  the  Cineraria 
originated  from  the  Canaries.  I  have  already  pointed  out  th  >t 
De  Candolle  divided  the  wild  Canarian  species  into  shrubby  and 
herbaceous.  I  do  not  believe  that  they  are  mixed  in  the  modern 
Cineraria,  which  remains  entirely  herbaceous.  Now,  Schultz- 
Bipontinus,  who  described  the  Canarian  species  for  \Vel)t)  and 
Berthelot,  relegates  the  shrubby  species  to  Scneiio,  and  the  her- 
baceous to  Doroiiiciim.  Though  this  is  not  now  sustained,  it 
shows  that  the  two  groups  are  not  very  closely  related,  and 
diminishes  the  probability  of  their  freely  intercrossing. 

On  the  other  hand.  Cineraria  iriieiila  and  the  modern 
Cineraria  cross  with  the  greatest  facility.  In  fact,  if  you  grow 
the  two  together  it  is  almost  impossible  to  keep  the  wild  s]?ecies 
true.  I  have  no  doubt  that  in  a  short  time  we  shall  be  able  to 
combine  the  pleasing  habit  of  the  wild  plant  with  the  fine  colour 
of  the  modern  strains.  .Vll  this  does  not  surprise  one,  as  to  me 
they  are  all  essentially  the  same  thing. 

I  must  add  one  word  more.  I  cannot  but  think  that  there  is 
a  growing  danger  nowadays  of  a  pseudo-biology  growing  up 
for  the  especial  use  of  evolutionists.  This  is  not  the  first  time 
by  many  that  I  ha\e  been  so  unlucky  as  to  come  into  collision 
with  it.  Long  ago  I  pointed  out  in  these  pages  that  Viiology  is 
not  a  tleductive  science,  and  for  the  ]>resent,  at  any  rate,  theory 
must  be  adjusted  to  facts,  not  facts  to  theorv. 

W.  T.  Thiskiton-Dyer. 

Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  June  i. 


Mr.  Bateson  now  admits  that  some  named  varieties  of 
Cineraria  may  have  arisen  from  pure-bred  C.  enienia,  or  from 
plants  believe<l  to  be  pure-bred.  He  holds  that  these  have 
Ix'Come  extinct,  while  Mr.  Uyer  believes  the  hybrids  to  have  dis- 
appeared. I  have  never  attempteil  to  discuss  this  question,  and 
shall  not  do  so  now.  I  wish  only  to  justify  my  interpretation  of 
the  passages  I  (pioted  against  Mr.  Bateson  : — 

(I)  Mr.s.  Loudon  begins  the  article  quoted  by  both  of  us  with 
these  »<ir<ls  :  "  .Most  of  the  purple  Cinerarias  are  va/ieties,  or 
hybrids,  of  C.  iriienta."'  She  then  goes  on  to  say  that  in  or 
about  1827  (the  year  in  which  he  recommended  the  growth  of 
pure-bred  C.  eriunta  "for  the  production  of  fine  double  and 
single  varieties"),  Drumniond,  of  Cork,  produced  certain 
hybrids  ;  while  since  his  time  other  hybrids  had  been  made. 
She  then,  in  a  new  paragra|)h,  says  :  "  Some  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful Cinerarias  now  in  <jur  greenhouses  have  been  raised  by 
Messrs.  Henderson  .  .  .  particularly  C.  Heneiersonii  and  the 
King,  iMJth  raised  from  seeds  of  C.  enienla"  :  and  a  line  or  two 
further:  "Two  new  ones  have  lately  been  raised,  of  remarkably 
clear  an<l  brilliant  colours,  apparently  from  C.  ernenta,  named 
K^hicen  Victoria  and  Prince  Albert,"  i!i:c. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  general  statement,  with  which  the 
article  begins,  declares  "  most  purple  Cinerarias  "  to  be  "  either 
■■iirielies  or  /lyhritis"  of  C.  enienta.  Of  others,  and  of  those 
Cinerari.as  (suchas  "the  King")  which  are  not  purple,  nothing  is 
said.  This  general  statement  is  illustrated  by  examples,  first  of 
hybrids,  next  of  pure-lired  varieties. 

In  discussing  the  examples  of  pure-bred  forms,  Mr.  Bateson 
omits  to  notice  "Queen  Victoria"  and  "  Prince  Albert,"  and 
discusses  only  Hendersonii  m\A  "  the  King."  He  believes  Mrs. 
Loudon,  in  saying  that  these  were  "  raised  from  seeds  of  C. 
truenta."  to  mean  simply  that  C.  enienta  was  the  female  parent, 
the  male  being  unknown,  or  unnained.  I  do  not  know  what 
degree  of  inaccuracy  Mr.  Bateson  is  willing  to  attribute  to  Mrs. 
Loudon:  but  in  the  writings  of  serious  botanists  a  "seed" 
means  the  fertilised  jjroduct  of  two  elements,  the  ovule  and  the 
jvillen  grain  :  and  therefore  the  "seed"  of  C.  enienta  means  the 
product  of  two  parents,  both  of  which  belonged  to  this  species. 

Mr.  Bateson  says  that  six  or  seven  years  after  writing  the 
Jiassage  in  question,  Mrs.  Loudon  speaks  of  C.  Hendcrsonii 
and   the    King    as    "hybrids."     This    simply    shows    that    she 

NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


changed  her  mind  ;  and  although  it  may  affect  the  value  of  her 
opinion  as  evidence,  it  does  not  alter  the  plain  meaning  of  her 
words  in  1S42. 

(2)  The  only  author  whom  I  quoted  as  asserting  the  pure-bred 
origin  of  C.  Hendcrsonii  and  the  King  was  Mrs.  Loudon.  It  is 
true  that  in  two  other  articles  quoted  by  Mr.  Bateson  these 
plants  are  called  hybrids.  I  did  not  allude  to  this  matter  in  my 
first  letter,  because  I  hoped  Mr.  Bateson  would  himself  see  the 
folly  of  attributing  to  these  articles  any  definite  meaning  what- 
ever.    It  will  suffice  to  consider  one  of  them. 

In  the  earlier  article,  describing  C.  H'aterhousiana  (Paxlon's 
Mag.  Hot.  iv.  p.  219),  that  plant  itself  is  called  a  "  variety," 
although  it  is  said  to  be  the  offspring  of  specifically  distinct 
parents.  On  p.  221,  C.  Hendersonii  vs  alluded  to  in  these  words: 
"  The  following  are  the  names  of  some  of  the  hybrids  raised  and 
cultivated  by  .Messrs.  Henderson . . .  C.  enienta  var.  Hendersonii, 
formosa,  &c.'"  Both  these  passages  are  meaningless,  if  the 
words  "  hybrid"  and  "  variety"  are  construed  strictly.  If  they 
are  not  to  be  so  construed,  and  they  evidently  cannot  be,  then  I 
was  justified  in  ignoring  the  passages,  for  they  prove  nothing  but 
the  incompetence  of  their  author. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  passage  which  I  did  quote  from  this 
article  is  at  least  intelligible  :  and  it  asserts  that  C.  enienta 
"may  be  xegaxAeA  3.^  the  parent" — which  means,  if  it  means 
anything,  the  o«/)' parent — "of  many  of  those  beautiful  varieties 
so  successfuly  cultivated  by  Messrs.  Henderson,"  &c.  This 
passage  Mr.  Bateson  does  not  consider  in  his  reply"  to  me. 

The  second  article  (Paxton's  Mag:,  1842,  p.  125)  in  which  the 
King  is  called  a  hybrid,  uses  the  word  in  the  same  loose  fashion, 
and  it  would  be  as  easy  as  unprofitable  to  quote  other  passages  in 
which  the  same  plants  are  called  now  "  varieties "  and  now 
"  hybrids." 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  Mr.  Bateson's  original 
evidence  does  in  fact  bear  the  interpretation  I  put  upon  it  :  and 
further,  that  the  words  "  variety"  and  "  hybrid"  are  so  loosely 
employed  by  early  w  riters  that  their  records  are  often  of  little 
value.  Stories  of  hybridism  and  sporting  are  frequently"  brought 
forward  on  such  evidence  :  so  that  I  have  thought  it  worth  while 
to  examine  the  case  for  one  such  story",  as  stated  by  its  advocate. 
Having  done  this,  my  interest  in  the  matter  ends,  and  I  do  not 
propose  to  speak  further  upon  it. 

\V.  Y.  R.  Weldon. 

University  College,  London,  May  31. 


Some    Bibliological    Discoveries    in    Terrestrial 
Magnetism. 

In  a  letter  on  the  above  subject,  by  IJr.  L.  G.  Bauer,  pub- 
lished in  Naturk  of  May  23  last,  I  read  as  follows  :  "  I  find  it 
asserted  that  the  Frenchman,  L.J.  Duperrey,  was  the  first  (1836) 
I  to  construct  *  magnetic  meri<iians  '  for  the  whole  eirth,  iu\  those 
lines  on  the  earth's  surface  marking  out  the  ]iath  described  by 
following  the  direction  pointed  out  by  a  compass  needle."  The 
writer  then  remarks  that  the  honour  of  first  introducing  this 
method  is  due  to  Thomas  Veates,  an  Englishman,  in  181 7. 

This  is  hardly  correct,  as  I  |)ossess  a  coloured  map  of  the 
Northern  Hemisphere  with  the  "magnetic  meridians"  .as 
<lescribed  shown  ujion  it  of  an  earlier  date.  The  title  of  the 
map  is : 

"To  George  Washington. 
"  President  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
"  This  .Magnetic  .\tlas'  or  Variation  Chart  is  humbly  inscribed 
by  John  Churchman." 

As  Washington  died  in  December  1799,  it  is  evident  that  John 
Churchman  has  a  prior  claim  to  being  the  first  to  construct 
"  magnetic  meridians."  Ettrk  1;  W.  Creak. 

London,  May  31. 


Effects  of    Earthquake  in   Sumatra. 

On  May  17,  1S92,  an  unusually  severe  earthquake  was  felt 
through  nearly  the  whole  of  North  Sumatra  ;  most  severely  shaken 
was  the  district  between  the  Dolok  Lubuk  Raja  andtheGunung 
Talamau  (Ophir).  Serious  landslips  occurred  in  many  parts  of 
the  mountains,  especially  near  the  summit  and  along  the  slopes  of 
the  (lunung  Merapi,  a  volcano  2145  metres  high  in  the  residency 
Tapanuli.  On  inspection  it  was  found  thai  the  safety  of  a  brick 
pillar,  erected  on  its  most  elevated  jioint  l>y  the  triangulation 
service,    was   endangered    by   jiart    of    the    crater  haWng  been 


I30 


NATURh 


[June  6,  1895 


destroyed.  At  three  metres  distant  from  the  original  pillar,  as 
much  as  the  narrow  ridge  would  allow,  a  new  pillar  was  built, 
the  top  of  which  was  made  level  with  that  of  the  original  one. 
The  measurements  made  in  order  to  fix  the  position  of  this  new 
pillar  showed  such  differences  with  the  original  measurements, 
that  these  could  only  lie  explained  liy  a  displacement  of  the 
original  pillar.  .\s,  however,  neither  fissures  nor  local  disturb- 
ances of  the  ground  could  be  observwl.  new  measurements  were 

PosUwn    of  PiUoj-s 
Satlt    I.  SOOOOO 


G.MaUeja. 


G.   Ujttfim 


G.  nif/riz 


Ci.MaXi.ni<xjia 


nuide  from  all  the  surrounding  positions,  and  it  was  proved  that 
a  displacement  of  several  more  pillars  had  taken  place. 

Kig.  I  shows  the  position  of  the  pillars  before  the  earthquake  : 
Kig.  2,  their  displacement  by  the  earthquake.  -A  detaile<l 
ilcscription  of  these  measurements  was  published  in  the 
Xaliiuikmtdig  Tijdsilirifl,  vol.  iv.  part  3,  by  Captain  Muller, 
the  chief  of  the  triangidati.m  |x>rty.      The  longest  distance  over 


2)La[llcLctJnjeiri  of  /\LLcLrs    hy  e^xriAfu-a^ 


k  G  St  ManafiJ^xn0 


I  G  Si  SaJuarJ)^ft>af 


aSiXiU 


G  M*rajti. 


e  G.  Unhurt 


m  G  Tu^v- 


& 


Kig.  a. 

which  a  flisplaremcnt  was  proved  to  have  lakt-n  place  was 
iK-'twccn  the  (filming  Mahnlang  and  the  l)«»li»k  Halanicja.  or  53 
kilometres.  Captain  Midler,  however,  has  nr>  doul»l  that  if  a  new 
survey  were  carried  on  more  wjiithward,  a  displacement  of  more 
pillars^  -thai  is,  a  contortion  of  the  surface  over  a  larj^er  area^ 
uf'idd  lie  found  to  have  taken  place. 

Malany,  April  I4.  Til.  DelI'RAT. 

NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


Instinct-Impulse. 

TlIK  note  published  in  N.v  tl'KH  umUr  date  of  .Vpril  iS.  in 
reference  to  my  article  in  the  .April  number  of  Miitd,  leads  me 
to  think  that  it  may  be  well  to  explain  my  reasons  for  adopting 
the  terminology  there  and  el.sewhere  u.sed  by  me.  and  which  the 
writer  of  the  note  calls  in  question.  I  do  s<^  with  the  ho^w  that 
this  explanation  may  lead  towards  that  "consensus  of  opinion  on 
psychological  nomenclature"  that  the  writer  of  the  note  thinks  is 
at  present  impossible. 

The  word  "  instinct,"  as  my  critic  states,  is  generally  applied 
"  to  the  manifestation  of  |wrticular  activities."  In  other  words, 
it  is  used  by  the  biologist  in  an  objective  study  of  activities  in 
animals,  w  hen  he  is  not  dealing  w  ith  the  nature  of  the  conscious 
states  coincident  with  these  activities.  It  is  thus,  too,  that  I  em- 
ploy the  word  ;  but  I  have  extended  its  use  to  cover  certain  mani- 
fe.stations  of  activities  that  do  not  take  a  large  pl.ice  in  the  con- 
siderations of  the  biologist,  but  that,  nevertheless,  api^ear  to  me 
to  be  of  the  same  genend  nature  as  those  "  manifestations  of 
l)arlicular  activities"  to  which  the  word  "  instinct"  is  by  current 
agreement  applied. 

What  I  claim  is  that  the  actions  of  one  who  is  carried  away 
by  imitation,  and  the  work  of  the  philanthropist  and  of  the 
artist,  when  objectively  viewed,  appear  as  '•  m-anife-stationsof  par- 
ticular activities,"  just  as  much  as  di>  the  actions  that  go  with 
self-defence  and  tribal  jirotection,  with  care  of  the  young,  with 
nest -building,  with  migration,  &c.,  and  that  therefore  the  tenn. 
instinct,  if  applied  to  one  set  of  such  activities,  may  be  applied 
to  all. 

If  it  be  held  that  the  objection  to  the  extension  of  the  use  of  the 
term  lies  in  the  fact  that  the  activities  that  I  sjx^ak  of  as  due  to 
the  "imitation  instinct."  the  "benevolent  instincts"  and  the 
"art  instincts"  are  not  sulficiently  parluiiUir,  then  I  must 
answ  er  that  the  fixedness  of  the  actions  involved  is  in  all  cases  ot 
in<>tinct  only  relative  :  that  this  relative  fixedness  varies  with  the 
different  in.stincts.  In  the  self-preservative  reactions,  for  example,. 
we  are  able  to  predict  the  blow  at  the  enemy,  whilst  the  ver)- 
varied  actions  by  the  animal  mother  in  securing  the  safety  of  her 
young  are  unpredictable  :  but  who  hesitates  to  speak  of  the 
maternal  "  instincts  "  ? 

The  word  "  instinct  "  then,  in  my  view,  should  be  used  to 
indicate  the  manifestationsofthoseanimal  activities  which,  when 
we  consider  them  objectively,  we  see  to  have  become  emphasised 
l)ecause  of  racial  values  :  of  these  values  the  acting  animal  (even, 
if  he  be  a  man)  may  have  no  cognisance  whatever.  Thi.s^ 
is  the  usual  use  of  the  word,  and  there  seems  to  me  to  be  no 
scientific  demami  for  any  change  in  this  us.age. 

f)n  the  other  hand,  I  have  suggested  that  we  use  the  term 
"  instinct  ieelings"  to  indicate  the'  con.scious  coincidents  of  the 
animal  .tctivities  that  we  call  instinctive  ;  and  I  have  endeavoured 
to  show  that  where  these  instinct  actions  are  relatively  fixed  ami 
forceful,  then  their  coincident  "instinct  feelings"  gain  names, 
and  form  the  class  of  psychic  slates  known  as  the  "emotion.s." 

Furthermore.  I  object  to  the  use  of  the  word  "  impulse  "  in 
the  description  of  these  activities,  as  my  critic  .suggests  its  em- 
ployment, especially  when  they  are  objectively  considered  ;  for 
the  word  "  impulse"  is  in  general  use<l  to  indicate  those  phases 
of  consciousness  which  are  produced  by  the  iiihihitioii  of  instinc- 
tive activities  that  have  been  stimulated  by  the  presence  of  the 
objective  condition  thitt  usually  calls  them  out,  but  which  fur 
one  rc-Lson  or  another  are  not  at  once  realised.  This,  indeed,  is 
the  way  in  which  the  word  is  usually  employed,  not  only  by  the 
psychologist,  but  in  common  speech  as  well.  We  speak  of  having 
an  impulse  to  strike  an  enemy,  not  when  we  do  strike  him,  but 
when  the  instinct  to  strike  is  held  in  check.  What  is  more,  I 
think  this  word  "  inipidse  "  should  be  employed  in  this  .sense 
only  :  for  the  requirements  of  science  do  not  demand  its  use  with 
any  other  signification.  I  have  discussed  this  matter  of  the  nature 
of  impulse  rather  fully  at  pp.  272.  \c..  in  my  Iniok,  "  Tain, 
rieavure,  ami  .l-.sthetics."  10  which  the  writer  of  the  al)ove- 
mentioned  note  refers.  IIknrV   RlTCERS  MARSHALL. 

New  \drk.  May  2. 


TlIK  term  "instinctive"  should,  in  my  ju<lgment,  be  applied 
to  lhi>se  .activities  which  are  congenital  and  which  are  also 
relatively  definite  :  the  term  "  instinct "  being  reserved  for 
the  subjective  and  affective  condition  of  the  performance  of  in- 
.stinctive  activities.  Where  the  definilencss  is  the  result  of  indi- 
vidual .icquisiliim  the  term  "  instinctive"  should  not  be  applied, 
though  it  is  so  used  by  I'rof.  Wundt   and  others.       The  modern, 


June  6,  1895] 


NATURE 


iM 


controversy  as  to  the  inheritance  of  acquired  characters  seems  to 
lender  insistence  on  the  congenital  element  advisable.  Un- 
doubtedly there  is  an  inherited  tendency  to  imitation  ;  but  from 
the  nature  of  the  case,  the  activity  performed  through  imitation 
is  not  congenilally  definite. 

With  ^Ir.  Marshall's  statements  concerning  impulse  I  cannot 
agree.  If  we  say  in  connnon  speech  that  "  the  instinct  to  strike 
is  held  in  check,"  we  also  say  that  the  impulse  lo  strike  is  held  in 
check.  The  control  of  our  lower  impulses  is  an  important  part 
of  our  moral  life  :  but  the  contention  that  the  impulses  are  "pro- 
duced by  the  inhibition,"  is  open  to  serious  criticism. 

Thk  Writer  ok  the  Note. 


RECENT  EXCA  VA  TIONS  A  T  THE  PYRAMIDS 
OF  DAHSHCR. 

FEW  sources  have  supplied  more  facts  for  the  study 
of  anthropology  than  the  Egyptian  tombs,  and  the 
most  important  necropolis  of  Egypt  is  situated  south- 
cast  of  Cairo,  close  to   tlic   remains  of  ani  icnt  Memiihis. 


¥mf^-- 


Fig.  1.— Pectoral  belonging  lo  Uscrlsen  11.     (found  M.irch  7,  1894.) 

This  Stretches  from  the  village  of 
Abou-Koash  on  the  north  to 
that  of  .Mediim  on  the  south, 
about  a  distance  of  twenty-five 
miles. 

To  the  south,  and  at  the  end 
of  the  great  chain  of  pyramids, 
are  those  of  Dahslun-,  of  whicli 
four  are  of  stone  and  two  of 
brick.  I'p  till  1892  the  history 
of  two  of  these  still  remained  to 
be  unravelled,  but  in  that  year 
a  large  party  of  excavators, 
headed  by  M.  de  Morgan,  set 
out,  and  succeeded  in  opening 
up  both  these  pyramids.  It  is 
to  this  interesting  work  wc  wish 
to  draw  attention,  for  it  marks 
an  important  step  in  Egyptology, 
indicating  some  of  the  earliest 
applications  of  science  in  one 
<lirection  known  to  us,  while 
jmcient  art  is  at  the  same  time 
jllustrated.  .\I.  de  .Morgan  has 
recently  given  an  account  of 
his  explorations  in  Lc  Moiulc 
Modcrnc,  and  we  arc  indebted 
to  the  courtesy  of  the  Editor  of 
that  magazine  for  the  illustra- 
tions of  tlie  hnds. 

The  two  pyramids  are  of 
l)rick,     and     covered     with     a 

NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


layer  of  limestone  ;  each  one  was  surrounded  by  a  brick 
wall,  which  showed  the  limits  of  land  reserved  for  the  use 
of  the  royal  family.  Round  this  was  an  avenue,  left  out 
of  respect  to  the  descendants  of  the  gods  ;  then  came  the 
tombs  of  the  great  people  connected  with  the  court. 
From  inscriptions  found,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  these  two  pyramids  belonged  to  Usertscn  III.  and 
.•\men-em-hat  111.,  both  of  the  Twelfth  Dynasty.  On  the 
north  side  of  the  more  northerly  one  are  the  tombs  of 
some  princesses,  four  among  them  more  important  than 
the  rest. 

These  tombshave  been  plundered,  for,  owing  to  the  Egyp- 
tian custom  of  burying  jewels  with  their  dead,  the  pyramids 
have  ever  been  a  favourite  resort  of  robbers  ;  and  thus  it 
is  that  some  of  the  tombs  are  in  great  disorder,  which 
causes  much  hindrance  to  the  scientific  research  now  being 
carried  on,  more  especially  as  many  documents  have  been 
carried  away.  Still,  the  plunderers  have  not  stripped  them 
entirely,  and  the  remaining  documents  and  treasures  have 
been  a  most  important  clue  to  findings  out  the  dates  of  the 
pyramids  and  the  history  of  the  people  they  entomb. 

This  spoliation  of  the  tombs,  continued  by  each  succes- 
sive generation,  was  nor  stopped  till  the  celebrated 
Mariette  founded  the  '"  Serv-ce  for  the  Conservation  of 
Monuments  in  Egypt." 

-Amongst  the  most  interesting  and  perfect  pieces  of 
jewellery  found  are  three  pectorals.  They  were  found  in 
the  princesses' tomb,  and  had  been  hidden  in  the  soil  in 
order,  no  doubt,  to  deceive  the  plunderers. 

Fig.  I,  the  first  one  unearthed,  has  in  the  centre  the 
cartouch  of  Usertsen  II.,  held  by  two  hawks,  which  bear 
the  crown  of  Lower  and  Upper  Egypt.  The  signs  of  the 
cartouch  are  made  of  cornelian,  lapis-lazuli.  and  turquoise, 
set  in  gold  ;  the  other  figures  are  likewise  set  with 
precious  stones.  The  other  two  pectorals  are  similarly 
executed.  The  first  (Fig.  21  represents  two  men,  each 
in  the  act  of  striking  with  a  club  an  .Asiatic  captive  who 
they  are  holding  by  the  hair.  In  the  centre  is  the 
double  cartouch  of  the  king,  and  on  each  side  the 
emblem  of  life,  out  of  wliich  protrude  two  arms  holding 
a  flabellum.     .Abo\e  them  all  is  an  eagle  with  outspread 


'.'B  /#^ -aim '->^_-'^^vrr-:«ii4.     ' .-rr^JSm^^SBi 


r'^i 


flW^*%   x^^ 


J'^  ^ 


^^*^ 


'^•■^^'-  y~"";:.  m' — \ — ii^ 

I  I'i.  2.— Pectoral  belonging  to  .Vnien.ein-hitt  III.    (Found  March  3,  1894.) 


NA  TURE 


[June  6,  1895 


wings,  having  in  its  claws  the  symbols  of  eternal  life  and 
stability.  The  second  one  (Fig:.  3  has  similarly  an 
eagle  with  outspread  wings,  and  beneath  it  is  the 
cartouch  of  L'sertsen  III.  To  the  right  and  left  is  a 
sphin.xwith  the  head  of  a  hawk,  on  which  are  the  feathers 
of  .\inmon  ;  each  is  standing  on  a  captive,  whilst  in  front 
of  each  kneels  an  interceding  Asiatic  prisoner. 

The  workmanship  of  these  jewels  is  wonderful.  The 
perfection  with  which  the  precious  stones  arc  set,  and, 
moreover,  the  delicacy  and  freshness  of  the  whole,  makes 
it  hard  to  believe  them  five  thousand  years  old.  The 
work  shows  how  far  science  dates  back,  and  is  evidence 
that  in  the  case  of  the  Egyptians,  the  further  we  look 
back,  the  higher  we  find  their  culture. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  when  we  compare  these  jewels 
with  those  of  a  later  period,  we  should  tind  them  far 
superior  in  workmanship  ;  but  so  it  is,  for  those  of  the 
time  of  the  Kamessids  are  but  an  imperfect  edition  of  the 
more  ancient  ones,  not  nearly  so  artistic,  nor  yet  so  well 
finished  ot^". 

When  the  excavations  were  continued,  Aac  large  barges 
were  brought  to  light  ;  it  was  not  till  the  work  had 
continued  some  time  that  the  royal  apartments  were  found, 
so  cleverly  were  they  hidden. 

The  pyramid  of  the  south  is  the  most  southerly  royal 
monument  of  the  Memphitc  necropolis.  Traces  are  still 
to  be  found  of  a   wall  round   it.  and  similarlv  situated  as 


pertaining  to  the  toilet.  \o  inscriptions  were  found  until 
the  flagstone  was  rcmo\ed,  and  a  coffin  brought  to  light 
on  which  were  many  texts  relating  to  the  name  and  title  of 
the  princess,  .-^s  this  tomb  is  so  similar  to  that  of  King 
Ra-Fou-.-\b,  and  is  so  closely  situated,  it  is  supposed  that 
the  princess  was  his  wife  :  but  nothing  has  been  found  to 
confirm  her  marriage  with  him. 


\  I'..  J.  — Pectoral  belonging  lo  l'>«r*cii  III. 

the  princesses'  tombs  at  the  pyramid  of  the  north  ;  here, 
too.  wc  find  a  gallery  of  twehc  \ aults  or  tombs,  of  which 
only  two  contain  mummies,  one  being  King  Ka-Kou-.\l). 
and  the  other  a  princess,  yueen  Noub-llotep. 

Near  the  king's  sarcophagus  is  a  small  chamber,  in 
which  were  a  uuantity  of  broken  vases  and  chests,  and 
in  .1  great  wootfen  tabernacle  was  a  statue  of  the  doiiblr 
of  the  deceased  '^Fig.  4;,  painted  grey,  representing 
a  young  man  of  fifteen  or  sixteen.  It  is  made  of  hartl 
wood,  almost  black,  and  is  admirably  done;  every  muscle 
and  vein  are  perfectly  plated,  and  specialists  have  certi- 
fied its  veracity.  It  is  a  fine  piece  of  Kgyptian  sculpture, 
of  which  only  four  good  specimens  have  descended  to 
us.  .Some  savants  have  endeavoured  to  classify  what 
has  been  found  into  certain  schools,  but  this  is  scarcely 
advantageous  till  more  has  been  collected. 

The  well  leading  lo  the  princesses'  tomb  is  about  13  ft. 
deep.  At  the  bottom  is  a  vaulted  brick  passage,  which 
formerly  en.Ic.l  In  a  wall.  As  was  suspected,  the 
w.ill  being  r  caled  a  vault  containing  a  (lagslnne, 

on  which  vn  i.irs,  pieces  of  embalmed   meat,  and 

other  offerings,  also   two  cases,  containing  many  things 

NO.   1336,  VOL    52] 


.  4.— Smiuc  of  double  of  the  King  Ra-fou-.\b.    (Found  April  16,  1894.) 


.Mlliougli  a  gie;it  dial  has  been  done,  it  will  iet(uirc 
many  years  of  hard  work  to  open  up  all  tin-  l()nil)s  in  the 
Dahshiir  necropolis;  but  general  interest  has  now  l)een 
awakened,  thanks  lo  those  who  ha\e  been  the  means  of 
making  us  acquainted  with  the  preceding  f;i(  Is  :  tin-  icsiilts 
of  future  action  will  be  followed  by  many. 


I 


June  6,  1895] 


NATURE 


"^io 


NOTES. 
Prof.  Cornu,  the  \'ice-Presi(lem  of  the  I'aris  Academy  of 
Sciences,  is  now  in  England,  and  will  deliver  (he  discourse  at 
the  Royal  Institution  to-morrow  evening.  On  Tuesday  evening 
he  was  entertained  by  the  members  of  the  Athena-um  Club  « ho 
are  members  of  the  Institut  de  France,  either  as  Associates  or 
Correspondants.  There  were  present,  representing  the 
Academic  des  Sciences,  Lord  Kelvin  (.\ssociate),  Sir  II. 
Gilbert,  Mr.  Huggins,  Mr.  Lockyer,  .\dmiral  Sir  CI.  H. 
Richards,  and  Mr.  Sylvester  (Correspondants)  ;  representing  the 
Academic  des  Inscriptions,  Sir  J.  Evans  and  Sir  E.  Maunde 
Thompson  ;  representing  the  Academic  des  Beaux  Arts,  Mr. 
Herkomer.  Letters  of  regret  for  unavoidable  absence  were  read 
from  Mr.  Frankland  and  Sir  Joseph  Lister,  .\ssociates  of  the 
Acadcniie  des  .Sciences  :  and  Sir  J.  Hooker,  Lord  Rayleigh,  Sir 
A.  Geikie,  Dr.  Williamson,  and  SirIL  Roscoe,  Correspondants  ; 
Academic  des  Beau-x  Arts,  Sir  J.  Millais,  Mr.  Ahna-Tadema, 
Sir  E.  Burne-Jones ;  Academic  des  Sciences  Morales  et  Poli- 
tiques,  Mr.  Goschen,  Mr.  Bryce,  Mr.  Lecky,  and  Sir  F. 
Pollock. 

.Mk.  Herbert  SrENCER  has  been  created  by  the  German 
Emperor  a  foreign  Knight  of  the  Order  Pour  le  Merite.  -Another 
mark  of  the  esteem  in  which  he  is  held  is  his  election  as  an 
Honorary  Member  of  the  \"ienna  Academy  of  Sciences. 

SiK  .\rchibald  Geikie  has  just  been  elected  a  Correspond- 
ing Member  of  the  same  Academy. 

IJk.  Backlund  has  been  appointed  Director  of  the  Pul- 
kcua  Observatory,  and  Dr.  Hermann  Struve  will  succeed  the 
late  Dr.  C.  F.  W.  Peters  as  Director  of  the  Kdnigsberg 
Ol'servatory. 

1 1  is  noted  in  Science  that  Deputy  Surgeon-CIeneral  J.  S. 
Killings  will  shortly  leave  the  Army  Medical  Museiun,  of  which  he 
is  curator,  and  the  Library  of  the  Surgeon-General's  OlVire,  of 
which  he  is  librarian,  having  accepted  the  chair  of  Hygiene 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  Dr.  Billings  hopes  to  com- 
plete his  work  on  the  final  volume  of  the  great  Index  Catalogue 
before  his  retirement. 

Dr.  John  Anthony,  whose  name  is  familiar  to  many 
worker.-  in  microscopy,  died  at  Birmingham  on  .Monday,  at 
eighty-one  years  of  age. 

TiiK  death  is  announced  of  Prof.  I'lanz  Ernst  Neumann, 
Honorary  President  of  the  Phy.sikalisch-Okonomische  Gesell- 
schaft  at  Kiinigsberg.  Prof.  Neumann  died  on  May  23  at  the 
advanced  age  of  ninety-seven,  having  lieen  born  September  1 1 , 
179S.  He  was  eminent  in  the  department  of  mathematical 
physics,  and  was  elected  a  foreign  member  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
Louiliin  in  1862. | 

.\\ioNc.other  deaths  of  scientific  menabroad,  we  notice  that  of 
Di.  John  Byron,  well-known  for  his  bacteriological  researches. 
Hewasliacteriologistin  the  Loomis  Laboratory,  and  lecturer  on 
bacteriology  in  the  University  Medical  School  of  New  York. 
Dr.  I{>ron  is  believed  to  have  contracted  the  disease  of  which 
he  died,  by  inhaling  tubercle  bacilli  while  carrying  out  some 
experiments.  The  deaths  are  also  announced  of  Dr.  O. 
Keich.  at  Berlin  :  Dr.  F.  Miiller,  the  zoologist,  at  Basel  :  and 
Brigailier-(;eneral  Charles  Sutherland,  formerly  Surgeoh- 
Geiieral  of  the  United  States  Army,  at  Washington. 

The  Ilarveian  Oration  will  be  delivered  at  Edinburgh  on 
June  2S,  by  Dr.  Vellowlees. 

The    Secretary   of    State    for   the    Home    Department    has 

reiiucsied  the  following  gentlemen  to  inquire  into  and  report  on 

the  manufacture,  filling,  and  use  of  gas  cylinders  :— Prof  C.  \'. 

Boys,  ['rof.  H.  B.  Dixon,  Dr.  .\.  Dupre,  the  Rev.  F.  J.  Smith, 

NO.    1336,   VOL.    52] 


and  Prof  W.  C.  Unwin.      Mr.  Robert  F.  Rejuard,  of  the  Home 
Office,  will  act  as  secretar)'. 

.\cTlNi;  under  the  Wild  Birds  Protection  Act,  1894,  notice  has 
been  gi\  en  by  the  Home  Secretar)-,  that  the  taking  or  destroying  of 
the  eggs  of  the  "  barn  owl,  brown  or  wood  owl,  long-eared  owl, 
.short-eared  owl,  common  buzzard,  merlin,  kestrel,  goldfinch, 
black-headed  gull,  peregrine  falcon,  kingfisher,  dotterel,  raven, 
heron,  bittern,  woodcock,  dijipcr  or  water  ouzel,  and  golden 
plover,"  is  prohibited  in  an)-  part  of  the  county  of  Westmor- 
land. 

The  [ireliminary  programme  for  the  sixty-third  annual 
meeting  of  the  British  Medical  .\ssociation,  to  be  held  in  Lon<lon 
from  July  30  to  .\ugust  2,  is  given  in  the  British  Medical 
foiiynal.  The  President,  Sir  J.  Russell  Reynolds,  hiII  deliver 
his  address  on  July  30.  The  .\ddress  in  Medicine  will  be  de- 
livered by  .Sir  William  Broadbent  on  the  following  day.  Mr. 
Jonathan  Hutchinson,  F. R.S. ,  will  gi\e  the  Address  in  Surgery 
on  Thursda)',  .\ugust  i,  and  the  .\ddress  in  Physiology  will  be 
given  by  Prof.  E.  .\.  .Schafer  at  the  concluding  meeting  on 
August  2. 

At  the  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers,  held  last  week,  .Sir  B.  Baker  was  elected  President, 
and  Mr.  J.  Wolfe  Barry,  C.B.,  Mr.  W.  H.  Preece,  C.B.,  Sir 
Douglas  Fox,  and  Mr.  James  Mansergh  \'ice-Presidents.  The 
members  of  the  Council  are  Dr.  W.  Anderson,  Mr.  Alex.  R. 
Binnie,  Mr.  W.  R.  Galbrailh,  .Mr.  J.  H.  Greathead,  .Mr.  \.  C. 
Ilawkshaw,  Mr.  C.  Hawksley,  Dr.  John  Hopkinson,  Dr.  .\lcx. 
B.  W.  Kennedy,  Sir  G.  L.  Molesworth,  .Sir  .Andrew  Noble,  Sir 
E.  J.  Reed,  Mr.  W.  Shelford,  Mr.  F.  W.  Webb,  Sir  W.  H. 
White,  and  Sir  E.  Leader  Williams. 

We  have  received  from  Dr.  P.  Bergholz,  Director  of  the 
Meteorological  Observatory  at  Bremen,  the  results  of  the  hourly 
observations  made  during  the  year  1894,  with  rainfall  values 
obtained  from  four  stations  in  the  .suburbs.  This  obser\atory 
I  forms  part  of  the  regular  German  meteorological  service,  and 
j  the  results  are  therefore  given  in  the  form  recommended  by  re- 
cent congresses  :  but  in  addition  to  the  prescribed  observation.s 
the  «ork  c<mtains  other  valuable  information,  e.g.  phenological 
observations,  and  the  dates  of  freezing  and  clearing  of  the  Weser 
since  iSiS.  This  table  shows  that  the  most  prolonged  frosts 
j  during  that  period  were  in  1S44-5,  1846-7,  1857-S,  and  1870-1. 
In  each  case  the  Weser  was  frozen  over  for  two  months  or  up- 
wards. We  observe,  however,  that  the  publication  of  the  data 
is  to  be  discontinued,  as  that  river  is  now  kept  free  for  navigation 
by  artificial  means.  .V  graphical  representation  of  the  principal 
meteorological  results  gives  a  ready  means  of  comparing  the 
characteristics  of  the  difterent  months. 

The  Egyptian  Government  have  published  an  important 
paper  on  the  climate  of  Cairo  and  .Alexandria,  based  on  observa- 
tions taken  between  1886  and  1890,  and  discussed  by  Dr.  Engel, 
chief  of  the  Statistical  Service.  The  work  contains  a  number  of 
tables  and  diagrams,  together  with  introductory  text,  from  which 
we  extract  a  few  of  the  results  obtained.  At  Cairo,  the  mean 
annual  temperature  for  the  five  years  was  70  '3,  the  absolute 
maximum  being  Il8°'2  on  June  13,  1886,  and  the  lowest  33°'S 
on  January  I,  1890.  The  average  yearly  number  of  rainy  days 
was  twenty-four,  and  the  amount  I  '2  inch  only.  At  Alexandria 
the  ntean  temperature  was  68' '5,  the  absolule  maximum  being 
I00°'6,  on  May  10,  1889,  and  the  minimum  43°'9,  on  January  22, 
1S89.  The  average  number  of  rainy  days  was  forty,  and  the 
amomit  8'2  inches.  The  princiiial  difference  in  the  climate  of 
lite  two  places  consists  in  the  diurnal  and  seasonal  variations  of 
temperature.  Cairo  is  much  the  hotter  of  the  two  places  in 
summer,  but  cooler  than  Alexandria  in  the  winter ;  and  the 
tlifferences  in   the  extreme   tem]>eratures   are   much   greater  at 


134 


NATURE 


[June  6,  1895 


Cairo,  both  as  regards  days  and  seasons.  Relative  humidity 
\-aries  much  more  at  Cairo  than  at  Alexandria,  but  it  is  much 
lower  at  Cairo  in  summer,  and  a  little  higher  in  winter  than  at 
.Uexandria;  while,  on  the  contrar)',  the  absolute  humidity  varies 
much  more  at  Alexandria,  being  verj'  high  in  summer  and  con- 
siderably greater  than  at  Cairo.  Both  places  enjoy  a  lan;e 
amount  of  sunshine,  but  fog  occurs  occasionally,  more  particu- 
larly at  Cairo  in  the  early  morning. 

\  MOST  important  contribution  to  the  study  of  the  formation 
of  dolomite  is  made  by  M.  C.  Klement,  in  the  Bull.  Soc.  Bclgc 
CM.  Paliontol.  el  Hydrol.  .\fter  describing  the  history  of 
theories  of  dolomite,  the  author  calls  attention  to  the  frequent 
occurrence  of  dolomite  in  the  form  of  coral-reefs,  as  obser\ed  by 
Dupont  in  the  Devonian,  by  Richthofen  and  Mojsisovics  in  the 
Trias,  antl  by  Dana  in  the  recent  raised  reefs  of  Metia  in  the 
I'acific.  He  |K>ints  out  that  while  in  the  chemical  experiments 
that  have  Iwen  made  with  a  view  of  dolomitising  carbonate  of 
lime,  laltile  has  always  been  operated  on,  the  substance  of  coral 
has  been  show  n  by  Sorby  to  he  probably  aragoiiite.  The  author 
has  therefore  carried  out  a  large  series  of  experiments  on  the 
action  of  the  constituents  of  sea-water  (particularly  magnesium 
sulphate)  on  aragonite,  the  results  of  which  are  given  at  full 
length.  From  these  he  finds  ( I )  that  a  solution  of  magnesium 
sulphate,  in  the  presence  of  sodium  chloride,  and  at  a  tempera- 
ture of  60'  C.  or  more,  decomposes  aragonite  with  formation  of 
a  magnesium  carbonate  the  exact  composition  of  which  is  difficult 
to  determine,  owing  to  the  impossibility  of  isolating  it  from  the 
rcsirlual  aragonite  :  (2)  that  this  action  increases  with  the  rise 
of  temperature.,  and  with  i\\e  louceutratioii  of  the  solution,  and  is 
greatly  diminished  by  the  absence  of  sodium  chloride  :  (3)  that 
recent  coral  is  attacked  by  magnesium  sulphate  just  as  mineral 
aragonite  is  ;  and  (4)  that  the  lagoons  of  mmlern  coral-reefs  aflord 
all  the  conditions  of  lemj>erature,  saturation,  Cv;c.,  necessary  for 
the  prixluction  of  magnesium  carbonate  in  the  manner  of  his 
exjxrriments.  While  recognising,  therefore,  that  dolomites  may 
have  l)cen  formed  in  more  ways  than  one,  M.  Klement  concludes 
that  one  of  the  most  usual  ways  of  formation  of  dolomite  in 
nature  has  Ijecn  the  action  of  heated  and  concentrated  sea-water 
in  coral-lagoons  on  the  aragonite  of  coral  and  other  skeletons, 
with  formation  of  carbonate  of  magnesium,  which  is  subsequently, 
l)erha|)s  after  solidification  of  the  rock,  with  the  remaining  car- 
Imnate  of  calcium,  converted  into  massive  dolomite. 

The  last  numljer  of  Modern  Mediiiue  and  Baeteriohgieat 
A'ei'iew  is  of  exceptional  interest,  inasmuch  as  it  contains  an 
original  article  by  I'rof.  Melchnikoff,  of  the  Pasteur  Institute,  on 
"the  extra-cellular  destruction  of  bacteria  in  the  organism." 
This  article  is  really  a  critical  comment  u|5on  some  of  the 
conclusions  deduced  by  Dr.  I'feiffer  from  his  cxperimenLs  on  the 
destruction  of  cholera  vibrios  in  the  peritoneal  cavity  of  guinea- 
pigs.  Dr.  I'feiffer  obscr\cd  this  ficstruction  of  cholera  vibrios 
when  the  latter  were  introduced  into  animals  previously 
vaccinated  against  this  germ,  and  also  in  the  case  of  unprotected 
animals  when  the  vibrios  were  injected  together  with  a  small 
<|uantity  of  scnmi  from  vaccinatc<l  animals.  In  both  cases  Dr. 
I'feiffer  found  that  they  were  destroyed  outside  the  cells  in  the 
jicritoneal  fluid,  and  he  tjelieves  that  this  bacteria-killing  fluid  is 
secreted  by  the  cellular  elements  in  consequence  of  a  special 
excitation  prmluccd  by  the  injection  of  cholera  vibrios,  and 
that  the  immunity  acquired  by  guinea-pigs  is  independent  of 
phagocytosis.  I'rof.  Metchnikoff,  however,  regards  this  as  an 
epivxic  in  the  liatlle  between  liacteria  and  phagocytes,  and 
maintains,  on  evidence  sup|x)rted  by  experiments,  that  the 
leucr)cytcs  secrete  this  Inctcria-killing  fluid  whilst  imdergoing 
a  process  of  degeneration  due  to  the  injection  of  I'feiffer's 
mixture  of  vibrios,  serum,  and  broth.  That  although  unable 
10  engulf  the  vibrios,  they  are  able  still  to  destroy  them  by  their 

NO.   1336,  VOL.  52] 


secretions.  .  Metchnikoff  |x>ints  out  that  if  before  introducing 
the  vibrio-mixture,  a  few  cubic  centimetres  of  broth  be  injected 
into  the  peritoneal  cavity,  the  leucocytes  will  gather  together  in 
great  force  after  a  few  hours,  and  if  the  vibrio-mixture  lie  then 
introduced,  phagocytosis  does  take  place,  and  the  cholera 
bacteria  are  more  rapidly  destroyed  by  this  process  of  intra- 
phagocytosis  than  by  the  extra-cellular  destruction  produced  by 
the  conditions  of  I'feiffer's  experiments.  The  mechanism  of 
immunity  is  surrounded  with  so  many  complicated  i>roblems 
that  the  search  for  its  solution,  whilst  one  of  the  most  interesting 
tasks  afforded  by  the  developments  of  bacteriology,  must  still 
remain  one  of  the  most  puzzling  and  ditiicvilt. 

Thk  current  number  of  \\\e  Journal  de  Physique  contains  an 
important  (mper  by  M.  P.  Curie  on  the  magnetic  properties  of 
bodies  at  different  temperatures.  The  author  has  examined  the 
magnetic  properties  of  a  number  of  substances  in  fields  of  from 
25  to  1350  C.G.S.  units,  and  in  simie  cases  for  temperatures 
from  1 5°  to  1 370°  C.  The  body  un<ler  observation  was  generally 
in  the  form  of  a  coarse  powder,  and  was  enclosed  in  a  glass  bulb, 
which  was  |)laced  in  a  non-uniform  magnetic  field  produced  by 
two  electro-magnets.  The  force  acting  on  the  body  was 
measured  by  means  of  the  torsion  of  a  wire.  For  the  purposes 
of  heating  the  glass  bulb  was  surrounded  by  a  fine  clay  jacket, 
and  this  latter  was  heated  by  a  wire  in  which  an  electric  current 
was  passe<l,  the  temperature  being  measured  by  means  of  a 
thermo-electric  junction.  In  the  case  of  diamagnetic  bodies,  w  ith 
the  exception  of  bismuth  and  antimony,  the  author  finds  that 
temperature  has  practically  no  effect  on  their  magnetic  pro- 
perties. Fusion  and  allolropic  modification  also  seem  to  pro- 
duce no  effect,  so  that  the  magnetic  properties  of  a  body  seem 
'  to  dei>end  not  on  the  arrangement,  but  rather  on  the 
nature  of  the  molecules  of  the  body.  Selenium,  however,  is 
an  exception,  for  in  this  case  the  susceptibility  is  about  3  or  4 
]ier  cent,  smaller  in  absolute  value  in  the  liquid  than  in  the  solid 
state.  Phosphorus  is  another  exception,  for  the  susceptibility 
of  the  different  allotropic  modifications  are  slightly  different. 
The  susceptibility  of  bismuth  increases  with  rise  of  temperature, 
according  to  a  straight  line  law,  uji  to  the  melting-point,  where 
there  is  a  sudden  rise.  The  susceptibility  of  melted  bismuth  is 
independent  of  temperature,  and  is  very  nearly  o.  Observations 
made  on  oxygen  show  that  the  cocfticient  (K),  which,  when 
multiplied  into  the  strength  of  the  magnetic  field,  gives  the 
magnetic  moment  of  the  body  per  unit  mass  (the  author  calls 
this  the  coefficient  of  specific  magnetisation),  is  imle|)endent  nf 
the  pressure,  .and  is  between  20'  and  450°  inversely  proportional 
to  the  absolute  temperature.  In  the  cise  of  solutions  of  para- 
magnetic salts,  K  is  also  found  to  vary  inversely  as  the  absolute 
temi>erature  ;  thus  supporting  the  observations  of  Wiedemann  and 
PIcssner  im  this  subject,  (ilass  when  cold  is  generally  feebly  dia- 
magnetic ;  when  heated,  however,  it  becomes  nuich  more  strongly 
diamagnetic.  The  rate  of  incre.aseof  the  dianiagnetism  decreases 
as  the  lemiK-rature  rises  ;  above  300°  C.  no  further  change  takes 
place.  The  author  considers  these  changes  to  be  tlue  to  the 
fact  that  glass  consists  chiefly  of  a  diamagnetic  substance,  the 
pro|K'rties  of  which  remain  ima1lere<l  when  the  temperature 
rises,  and  of  a  small  quantity  of  a  relatively  strimgly  para- 
magnetic substance,  the  para-magnelism  of  wiiich  liecreases  as 
the  temperature  rises. 

.\Ikssrs.  GEORtiK  I'liil  II'  wii  Son  will  shortly  publish  "The 
Kxploralion  of  Australia,"  by  Mr.  -Mberl  F.  Calvert.  This 
book  is  designed  to  form  a  companion  volume  to  Mr,  Calvert's 
work,  "The  Discovery  of  .\ustralia,"  and  will  trace  the 
progress  of  maritime  and  land  exploratitm  frem  the  period  of 
Captain  Cook,  up  to  recent  times. 

.\  IRANSIAIION,  by  Mr.  W.  K.  Haxter,  i ,  anniiunce<l  of  \au 
Hcurck's  im|>ortant  treatise  on  the  Diatomacea-.      Il  will  1  .miaiu 


June  6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


135 


al)out  2000  figures,  illustrating  ever)'  known  genus  of  diatoms, 
anil  every  species  found  in  the  North  Sea  and  countries  txirdering 
it,  including  Great  Britain. 

The  second  edition  of  "  Elements  of  Marine  Surveying,"  by 
lite  Rev.  J.  L.  Robinson,  lately  published  by  Messrs.  Macniillan 
and  Co.,  contains  several  very  useful  additions  and  improve- 
ments. Young  marine  surveyors  will  find  the  volume  an 
excellent  aid  to  the  study  of  the  theoretical  side  of  their  pro- 
fession, and  would  do  well  to  inchide  it  in  their  outfit. 

Particulars  of  editions  of  Gilbert  WHiite's  "  Natural 
History  and  Antiquities  of  Selborne  ''  have  been  compiled  by  Mr. 
Edward  A.  Martin,  for  the  Selborne  Society.  Since  the  original 
edition  was  published  in  1789,  twenty-three  other  editions  have 
appeared.  The  list  compiled  by  Mr.  Martin,  gives  the  dates  of 
the  various  editions,  publishers,  printers,  editors,  numlier  of 
pages,  and  general  descri]5tii>n. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Royal  Botanic  (hardens,  Trinidad, 
for  the  year  1894,  compiled  by  the  Superintendent,  Mr.  J.  H. 
Hart,  furnishes  evidence  of  the  practical  value  of  these  colonial 
Ixitanic  gardens,  and  of  their  relation  with  the  central  institution 
at  Kew.  Under  the  Economic  Section,  information  is  given  of 
the  growth  in  the  island  of  the  sugar-cane,  cacao,  coffee,  yam, 
gambler,  vanilla,  the  Brazil  nut,  and  cola,  and  of  the  principal 
enemies  of  these  crops,  and  the  best  mode  of  combating  them. 

We  have  received  Part  i.  of  "The  P^lowering  Plants  and 
Ferns  of  New  South  Wales,"  with  especial  reference  to  their 
economic  value,  by  Mr.  J-  H.  Maiden,  assisted  by  Mr.  W.  S. 
Campbell,  and  issued  under  the  authority  of  the  Department  of 
Mines  and  -Vgriculture  for  New  South  Wales.  The  present 
part  contains  descriptions  and  coloured  drawings  of  four  species — 
Tihpea  speciosissima.  Eucalyptus (orymbosa,  Actiiiatus heliaiithi^ 
M\'i  Ai'acia  glaucescens.  It  is  intended  in  this  way  to  illustrate 
the  principal  flowering  plants  and  ferns  of  the  colony. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Panolia  Deer  (Cervus eldi,  i  )  from  Hainan, 
presented  by  Mr.  Julius  Neumann  ;  a  Ruddy  Ichneumon  ; 
{JIt'rpt'stes  smithii)  from  India,  presented  by  the  Earl  of 
Hojietoun  ;  a  Spotted  Ichneumon  (Herpisles  tu'palnisis)  from 
India,  ]>resented  by  Mrs.  Thompson  ;  a  Rosy-faced  Love-Bird 
(Agapomis  pullaria  from  West  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  Cecil 
M.  Bevan  ;  a  Rufescent  Snake  (Leptodira  rufisicns)  from  South 
Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Matcham  ;  a  Spiny  Tree 
I'lircupine  (Sphingurus  spiiiosus)  from  Peru,  a  Blossom-headed 
I'arrakeet  (Faltconiis  cyaiiocephala]  from  India,  two  Tuberculated 
Iguanas  (Iguana  tuherculata)  from  South  America,  deposited  ; 
two  Guira  Cuckoos  (C«j>a/zV7'ro-«a)  from  Para,  purchased  :a 
Ia|\inese  Deer  (Cen'us  sika,  9  ),  born  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Motion  ok  the  Solar  System. — The  methods 
elaliorated  by  .Argelander  and  .\iry  for  the  numerical  solution  of 
this  jiroblem  have  been  followed  with  more  or  less  variation  by 
a  host  of  investigators.  -Vsa  rule  the  deviations  in  method  have 
involved  matters  of  detail  rather  than  any  fresh  departure. 
\  arious  suppositions  have  been  made  as  to  the  motions  of  the 
stars  themselves  (iitotus  peculiarcs) :  that  the  magnitude  and 
direction  of  these  motions  have  no  connection  with  position,  or 
that,  in  general,  all  these  motions  takeplacewith  the  same  angular 
velocity  parallel  to  the  galactic  circle.  Stars  may  be  grouped 
according  to  their  brilliancy,  or  the  amount  of  their  ]iroper 
motion,  or  they  may  be  arranged  with  more  or  less  ingemiity 
according  to  their  apjiarcnt  position  ;  but  when  the  linal  equa- 
tions are  .solved,  the  results  are  found  to  be  fairly  accordant. 
This  fact  has  been  recently  demonstrated  liy  M.  Pannekoek, 
who,  to  vary  the  problem  as  much  as  possible,  has  based  his 
investigations  on  the  type  of  spectnnn   presented  by  the  star. 

NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


The  zone  from  which  the  stars  are  selected  is  somewhat  limited, 
being  restricted  to  0° — 20°  of  declination,  the  spectra  of  which 
have  been  observed  at  Potsdam.  The  stars  have  been  divided 
into  four  groups,  according  to  the  amount  of  the  proper  motion, 
with  the  following  results  :  — 

Stars  of  the  First  Type. 


No.  of 

star>. 

Centennial 
proper  motion. 

Position  of  apex. 
R.A.  (a).                   Declination  («). 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV 

.        203 

:    li 
.    48 

211 

.       S-58      . 
.       9-84     . 
.      34-36     . 

322'S+  19-2 
304-7±   4-6 
275-8±  6-1 

25I-6+12-I 

.      +i4-7±7-o 
.       ■fi2-i±3-4 
•       ^iS-3±3-6 
.      +330±7-3 

Stars  of  the  Secmtd  Type. 

I. 

II. 

III. 

.    77 
.    65 

2-07      . 

5-93      • 
2085 

274"6±  9-6 
280-1 -t-  9-9 
268-6±  7-1 

.       -   2-6-t-6-3 
.      -35-8±6-5 
.      -f3i-4±4-6 

The  result  derived  from  stars  of  small  proper  motion 
of  either  the  first  or  second  type  of  spectra  is  scarcely 
accordant  with  previous  investigations.  The  Right  Ascension 
of  the  one  and  the  Declination  of  the  other  are  sensibly 
different  from  results  involving  larger  numbers  of  stars.  The 
author  remarks,  however,  that  all  the  values  in  R.A.  can 
be  rendered  less  discordant  by  an  increase  in  the  constant  of 
precession  of  -l-o"-oi,  and  in  Declination  by  assuming  a  constant 
negative  error  in  the  proper  motions'  themselves.  Here  we  have 
again  evidence  that  no  rearrangement  of  groups  materially  alters 
the  position  assigned  for  the  apex  of  the  sun's  way  ;  but  when 
processes  sensibly  difterent  in  their  conception  are  employed, 
the  accordance  in  the  results  is  not  so  gratifying.  For  instance, 
the  attempt  to  determine  the  position  of  the  apex  from  ^'oge^s 
measurements  of  the  motion  of  stars  in  the  line  of  sight  led  to 
either  of  the  two  results,  according  to  the  method  of  "  weighting" 
employed. 

I.  II. 

a  .  2"o6i  +  l°2-o  .  159-7  +  20-2 

8  •  +   45-9±   9-2  •  +    50-0+ 14-3 

Here,  if  the  Declination  be  fairly  satisfactor)-,  the  Right 
Ascension  is  hopelessly  discordant.  On  the  other  hand.  Dr. 
Kobold's  treatment  of  the  problem  according  to  the  graphical 
method  suggested  by  Bessel,  a  method  which  does  not  easily 
lend  itself  to  numerical  treatment,  gives  a  fairly  satisfactory- 
result  in  R.A.,  but  the  Declination  will  scarcely  be  accepted. 
The  position  assigned  to  the  apex  by  this  method  is  a  =  266^-5  r 
5  —  3°-I.  This  result  is  based  on  1425  stars,  and  ought  to  be 
entitled  to  considerable  weight  if  it  could  be  .satisfactorily 
demonstrated  that  all  ambiguity,  which  arises  from  the  definition 
of  the  poles  of  the  great  circles  in  which  the  proper  motions  take 
place,  had  been  satisfactorily  removed.  This  question  is  still 
suh  judiee,  and  while  distinct  methods  give  conflicting  results,  it 
is  not  wise  to  insist  too  strictly  on  the  direction  of  the  motion  of 
the  solar  system. 

The  Rotation  of  M.vrs. — Among  numerous  obser\ations  ot 
the  planet  Mars  during  the  last  opposition,  Mr.  Percival  Lowell 
gave  his  attention  to  the  measurement  of  the  longitudes  of  some 
of  the  more  conspicuous  markings.  The  observations  covered 
36  points  in  all,  and  were  made  with  a  power  of  440  on  the 
l8-inch  refractor  of  the  Lowell  Observator)'.  The  fir.st  fact  that 
emerged  from  the  observations  was  that  all  the  longitudes  as 
given  in  Marth's  ephemeris  were  affected  by  a  systematic  error 
of  about  5  :  or,  in  other  words,  the  Martian  features  were 
retarded  by  abi>ut  twenty  minutes  as  compared  with  the  com- 
puted times.  The  cause  suggested  for  the  discrepancy  between 
the  calculated  and  observed  positions  is  that  the  received  time  of 
rotation  of  the  planet  is  a  trifle  too  small,  and  that  the  longitudes 
are  consequently  falling  slowly  behind  their  predicted  times  of 
meridian  passage. 

.A  soinewhat  similar  discrepancy  appears  to  have  been  noted 
by  Prof  Keeler  in  1892,  who  ascribed  it  partially  to  the  constant 
error  in  estimating  the  position  of  the  diameter  of  a  large  disc 
(Astrophysical  fouriial.  May). 

The  Sun's  Stellar  .Mac.niti  de. — .\  new  method  of  com- 
puting this  important  constant,  being  the  number  representing  the 
sun's  brightness  on  the  scale  in  w  hich  the  magnitudes  of  stars  are 
represented,  has  been  employed  by  Mr.  Gore  (Knowledge,  Jtine). 
Taking  one  of  the  outer  planets,  the   known  size  and  distance 


i:i6 


XATURE 


[June  6,  189  = 


enable  us  to  determine  the  fraction  of  the  sun's  light  which  it  ] 
receives,  and  correctinj;  fur  theallwilo,  it  is  easy  to  calculate  the 
brightness  of  the  sun  in  terms  of  ihal  of  the  planet,  the  exact 
stellar  magnitude  of  which  can  be  found  by  direct  measurement. 
Thus.  Mr.  C'lore  finds  that  the  apparent  diameter  of  Mars  in 
opposition,  as  seen  from  the  sun,  is  6""  17,  so  that  the  area  of  the 
disc  is  29-9  square  seconds.  Divitling  the  number  of  square 
seconds  in  a  hemisphere  by  the  latter,  it  is  found  that  il  the 
surface  of  Mars  were  a  perfect  reflector,  the  sun  as  seen  from 
Mars  would  be  8.940,450,000  times  brighter  than  Mars  apjwars 
to  us  when  in  opjwsition. 

According  to  Zijllner.  the  reflecting  ixjwer  of  Mars  is  only 
0'2672,  so  that  the  pre\ious  number  must  be  raised  to 
33,459,768,000.  This,  however,  is  for  mean  distance  i  -5237.  so 
that  when  reduced  to  the  earth's  distance  (by  multiplying  l)y  the 
square  of  0-5237 ).  we  gel  the  light  of  the  sun  .is  seen  fnmi  the 
earth  to  be  9.174,668,385  times  the  light  of  Mars  when  in 
opposition  ;  this  numlnrr.  on  the  Irasis  of  a  light  ratio  of  2512 
corresponding  to  a  difference  of  I  m.agnitude,  represents  24-9 
magnitudes.  l'r<if.  Pickering's  photometric  measurements  show 
that  the  stellar  magnitude  of  Mars  a^  mean  opposition  is  2-25, 
so  that  the  deduced  stellar  magnitude  of  the  sun  is  -27 '1 5. 
Similar  calculations  from  the  data  relating  to  Jupiter  give  .a  value 
of  -27-17,  and  from  Saturn  -27-11.  Though  .ngreeing  so 
remarkably  among  themselves,  these  new  values  differ  very  con- 
sidenibly  from  the  value  hitherto  adopted,  namely  -  25-5.  The 
new  value,  however,  receives  confirmation  in  the  fact  that  il  is 
very  nearly  equal  to  ihe  magnitude  which  o  Centauri  would 
assume  if  it  were  brought  to  the  sun's  distance  from  the  earth, 
.assuming  the  jiarallax  to  be  o"-76,  the  specinmi  of  this  star 
resembling  the  spectrum  of  the  sun. 


THE  GREENWICH  OBSERVATORY. 

TlIK  Report  of  the  .Vstronomer  Koy.al  to  the  Hoard  of 
Visitors  of  the  Royal  Observatory,  (ireenwich,  was  read  at 
the  annual  visitation  on  Saturday.  .\  few  of  the  developments 
made  during  the  year  covered  by  ihe  report,  and  some  observa- 
tions of  interest,  are  referred  to  in  the  subjoined  extracts. 

Provision  has  l)een  made  in  the  Navy  Kstimates  for  the  erec- 
tion in  ("ireenwich  Park  of  a  magnetic  [Mvilion  for  absolute 
ileterminations  of  the  magnetic  elements,  and  the  i)lans  are  now 
lieing  preiared  in  the  Director  of  Works'  Department.  It  is 
projiosed  to  establish  this  station  in  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hcMxl  of  the  Observatory,  ani.l  at  such  a  distance  that  there 
would  lie  no  suspicion  of  di-slurlance  from  On-  ir.in  in  the 
buildings. 

Work  with  Eiju.vroRiAi-. 

The  flint  and  crown  discs  for  the  new  photographic  telescope 
of  26  inches  a|ierture,  the  gilt  of  Sir  Menry 'Thompson,  have 
l)cen  received  at  the  Obscnatory.  The  details  of  llie  design  for 
the  mounting  have  been  carefully  worked  out,  and  good  progress 
has  iK-cn  made  with  the  mechanical  work. 

The  28-inch  refractor  has  Ijeen  in  use  throughout  the  year,  and 
is  i|uitesatisfacloty.  1 1  moves  easily  in  R..\.  and  Declination, 
the  new  slow  motion  screws  work  successfully,  the  water  clock 
in  general  drives  it  with  great  precision,  and  the  performance  of 
ihe  object  glass  under  good  atmospheric  comlitions  is  admirable. 
Various  improvements  in  the  accessories  of  the  inslrumeni  have 
lieen  carried  out  in  the  ])ast  year.  \  sj)eclro.scoiic  si>ecially 
arlapted  to  photography,  for  use  with  this  refraclur,  is  lieing 
lua^le. 

Micrometer  measures  r>f  sixlylhree  double  stars  have  been 
in.idi- ;  in  27  of  these  the  distance  of  the  com|xments  w.as  under 
I  .  Old  in  13  il  was  o"-5  or  under.  The  most  remarkable  of 
lir..-  inexsures  are  those  of  x  Pegasi  (18989).  The  components 
..f  ihissiar,  ihough  only  o"-l4  aixirl,  were  distinctly  separated 
with  a  |Kiwer  '»f  1030. 

■:  ..f  Ihejiositions  of  salelliles  nf  Mars  near  elongation 

ri  tw.  nights.      Several   attempis  were  also  made  In 

,1.  ,   ,    iilil)   satellite,  bul   the   results  obtained   were 

■f  measures  of  ihe  )K)lar  and  equatorial 

•  A   his  satellites  wius  ma<le.     .Measures  of 

.ii.'.ol  .s,iiurn  and   his  rings  and  ihe  ))osititms  of  the 

vc  alwi  Itcen  made,  and  are  being  continued. 

W  li.d    595  plates,  with  a  total  of 

1450  Of  these.  162   have  been  re- 

jectol '.   .is:     partially  foggeil  pl.ates ; 

because  (he  reticules  were  not  clearly  printed  ;  Iwcnuselhc  images 

NO     1336,  VOL.  52] 


were  too  faint  to  show  gth  magnitude  stars  with  a  twenty-seconds- 
exposure  :  for  faidts  in  tlevelopmeiU  ;  for  mistakes  of  setting  :  and 
for  miscellaneous  defects.  It  is  hoped  that  a  much  smaller 
number  of  pl.ites  will  need  to  be  rejected  in  future  for  these  causes. 
The  total  number  of  celestial  fields  photographed  since  the 
commencement  of  work  for  the  chart  is  422,  and  the  total 
number  of  fields  photographed  for  the  catalogue  is  617.  Only 
half  as  many  fields  for  the  chart  and  catalogue  have  been 
photographed  this  year  as  during  last  year.  This  is  due  parllyto 
the  unfavourable  weather,  and  [jartly  to  the  telesco]>c  being  out 
of  use  for  two  months  while  the  shutter  of  the  dome  was  being 
repaired. 

SpECTROSCOI'K     AM)    1  lliLIOCKAl'llK:    OUSERVA  tlONS. 

Since  1S94  December  19,  when  the  spectroscope  was  brought 
into  adjustment,  98  measures  have  been  made  of  the  displace- 
ment of  the  I-"  line  in  the  spectra  of  13  stars,  and  16  of  the  >'  line 
in  the  spectra  of  four  stars.  Some  exix^riments  have  also  been 
made  in  photograi^hing  stellar  sjK'ctra.  ttt  give  data  as  to  the 
work  to  be  done  with  ihe  new  photographic  s|iecttoscope. 

Photographs  of  the  sun  were  taken  with  the  Dallmeyer  photo- 
heliograph  on  199  days,  and  of  these  375  have  been  selecteil  for 
preservation,  liesides  iS  photographs  with  double  images  of  the 
sun  for  determination  of  zero  of  position-angle. 

The  9-inch  photographic  telescope  i)resented  by  Sir  Henry 
Thompson,  which  has  been  mounted  on  the  I.assell  equatorial, 
was  also  in  regular  use  as  a  phoioheliograpli  up  lo  Ocl>)bcr  15, 
when  the  progress  of  the  building  operations  jirevented  its 
further  use.  Photographs  of  the  sun  had  been  obtained  with  it 
by  that  time  on  80  days,  of  which  121  have  been  selected  for 
preservation.  In  all,  with  one  pholoheliograph  or  the  other,  a 
record  of  the  state  of  the  solar  surface  h.as  been  secured  on  213 
days  during  the  year. 

The  mean  daily  spotted  area  of  the  sun  was  only  sligluly 
smaller  in  1894  ihan  in  1893,  the  marked  falling  off  in  the  spring 
of  1894  noted  in  the  hist  rejiorl  being  followed  by  an  increase 
during  the  summer  months.  Ihe  number  of  sun-spots  was 
greater  than  in  1893.  rii<^  spring  of  this  year  has  shown  a 
decline  both  in  the  number  and  area  of  spots. 

Macnetic  Observations. 

The  variations  of  magnetic  declination,  horizontal  force 
and  vertical  force,  and  of  earth  currenls  liave  been  registered 
lihotograiihically,  and  accompanying  eye  observations  of 
absolute  declination,  horizontal  force,  ami  dip,  have  been 
made  as  in  former  years.  Increased  magnetic  acliviiy  was 
shown  in  the  year  1894,  and  great  disturbances  occurreil  on 
July  20  and  .\ugusl  20:  the  spot  of  light  of  the  vertical  force 
magnet,  on  the  former  dale,  and  the  spots  of  light  of  the  hori- 
zontal force  and  vertical  force  magnets,  on  the  latter,  having 
passed  beyond  the  range  of  the  registering  shecls  for  some  hours. 
In  luly  and  August  ihe  dislurbances  in  the  earlh-current 
registers  caused  by  the  South  London  Kleclric  Railway  showed 
a  gre.al  increase,  which  is  presumably  due  to  the  experiments 
then  being  maile  in  Ihe  use  of  motors  <m  the  carriages  of  the 
railway  instead  of  sejiarale  locomotives. 

The  following  are  Ihe  principal  results  for  the  niagneiic 
elements  for  1S94  : — 

Mean  declination  .    . 

Mean  horizontal  force 


....  i7''4'-6  Wesl. 
f  3-9661  (ill   lirilish  units). 
1^  1-8287  (ill   iiielric  unils). 
1  67°  16'  5"  (by  9-incli  neeillesl. 

Mean  ilip 67°  17'  8'  (by  6-inch  needlesl. 

/  67°  18'  43'  (iiy  3-inch  neeillesl. 

In  the  year  1S94  there  were  ten  days  of  great  magnetic  dis- 
turbance and  thirteen  other  days  of  lesser  disturbance.  Tracings 
of  Ihe  photographic  curves  for  all  of  these  days  are  being  made, 
and  will  be  publisheil  in  the  annual  volume  according  lo  the 
arrangements  made  with  M.  Mascarl.  The  calculation  of  diurnal 
inecpialities  from  five  typical  quiet  days  in  each  month  has  lieen 
continued. 

M 1; ii;nRoi.«>r.u-Ai.  Observations. 

The  regislralion  of  almospheric  pressure,  temper.aUire  of  ihe 
air  and  of  evaporati<in,  pressure  and  velocity  of  ihe  wind, 
rainfall,  sunshine,  and  atmospheric  eleclricily  has  been  con- 
tinuously luainlaincd,  excepi  lhal  during  ihe  winter  ihe  register 
of  almospheric  eleclricily  was  inlerriipleil  during  the  greater 
pan  of  Kcbruary  by  freezing  of  the  water  in  the  exit  piiie. 


June  6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


'0/ 


The  mean  temperature  of  the  year  1894  was  49°'9,  being  o°-5 
above  the  average  for  the  fifty  years  1841-1890.  The  severe  frost 
which  set  in  on  December  30,  and  continued  with  slight  inter- 
mission until  March  9,  was  the  most  remarkable  meteorological 
feature  of  the  year.  The  cold  wave,  defined  as  the  period  during 
which  the  mean  daily  temperature  was  below  the  average,  ex- 
tended from  1894  December  30  to  1895  March  9,  with  a  break 
from  January  1410  20.  and  on  March  i,  a  period  extending  over 
seventy  days  in  all.  The  total  defect  of  mean  daily  temjierature 
below  the  fifty  years'  average  during  this  period  was  489°,  or 
7''0  per  day. 

.\  comparison  with  some  of  the  coldest  winters  since  1841  is 
given  in  the  follcjwing  table  : — 


Period  of  cold  w.-ivc. 

1S45  Jan.  27 — March  2i 


1855  lan. 
1S70  Dec. 
I 886  Jan. 
1890  Nov. 
1894  Dec. 


10 — Feb.  24 
21  — 1871   feb.   3    . 
5— March    18 
25—1891  Jan.   22  . 
30 — 1895  March  9  . 


Total  defect 

Number 

of  mean  dailj 

of  d.-iys. 

tcmper-Mure. 

54 

443° 

46 

467° 

45 

320' 

73 

408° 

59 

560° 

7D 

489° 

,  8  and  9  was  par- 
18° '6  or  20° '5  below 


The  cold  on  the  four  days  February  6,  7 
licularly  severe,  the  mean  temperature  being 
(he  average  of  the  50  years  from   1S41-1890,  and  there -is   no 
other  instance  of  four  consecutive  days  since  1841  with  so  low  a 
lemperature. 

The  lowest  temperature  recordeil 
during[the  ■  winter  was  6'* '9  on  February 
8,  the  lowest  temperature  in  February 
since  1S41.  the  next  lowest  being  7'7  on 
1845  February  12.  Lower  temperatures 
have  lieen  registered  twice  since  1S41. 
viz.  4°  on  1 84 1  January  9  and  6° '6  on 
1867  January  5.  The  mean  temperature 
throughout  the  whole  of  February  was 
28'''9,  or  io°'5  lielow  the  50  years" 
average.  The  mean  in  February  1855 
was  29°  "2. 

The  mean  daily  horizontal  movement 
of  the  air  in  the  twelve  months  ending 
1895  .\pril  30  was  283  miles,  which  is 
slightly  above  the  average.  The  greatest 
movement  was  867  miles  on  December 
22,  and  the  least  50  miles  on  August  30. 
The  greatest  pressure  of  the  w  ind  was  36 
lbs.  on  the  square  foot  on  .March  24, 
with  a  velocity  of  56  miles  in  the  hour. 
During  the  gale  of  December  22.  the 
greatest  pressure  recorded  was  30  lbs., 
witli  a  velocity  of  50  miles  in  each  of  two 
hours. 

The  number  ofhours  of  bright  sunshine 
recorded  during  the  twelve  months  ending 
1895  .\pril  30    by    the    Canipbell-Stokc's 

instrument  was  928  out  of  the  4454  hours  during  which  the  sun 
was  above  the  horizon,  so  that  the  mean  projiortion  of  sunshine 
for  the  year  was  o'2o8.  constant  sunshine  being  represented  by 
I.  In  the  corresponding  period  for  1893-4.  the  number  of 
hours  of  sunshine  was  1364,  and  the  mean  proportion  of  sun  hine 
was  o'3o6. 

The  rainfall  in  the  year  ending  1895  .\pril  30  was  24-56 
inches,  w  hich  is  very  nearly  the  same  as  the  average  amount  for 
the  50  years  i84i-i89a  The  nimiber  of  days  on  which  rain  fell 
was  1S7. 


THE  FIELD   COLUMBIAN  MiSELM. 

""VWV.  museum  founded  to  commemorate  the  Worlds  Columbian 
Exposition  at  Chicago  has  reached  a  stage  which  enables 
it  1. 1  commence  a  series  of  publications  designed  to  (iresent  to 
the  world  the  results  of  research  conducted  under  its  auspices. 
The  first  of  this  scries  is  before  us,  and  is  devoted  to  an  historical 
account  of  the  movement  that  resulted  in  the  establishment  of 
the  museum.  From  this  description  we  extract  the  following 
sketch  of  the  early  history  of  the  museum,  and  of  the  general 
character  of  the  contents. 

The   formation  of  a  museum  at  Chicago,  after  the  CoUnnliian 
Exposuion,     was   suggested    by    Prof.    I'utnain    in    1890,    and 

NO.    1336,   VOL.    52] 


received  the  support  of  I'rof.  Goode,  Director  of  the  U.S. 
National  Museum,  Prof  Wilson,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution, 
and  other  representative  men.  In  the  summer  of  1893,  a  nun)tx!r 
of  the  prominent  citizens  of  Chicago  resolved  ' '  to  establish  in 
Chicago  a  great  museum  that  shall  be  a  fitting  memorial  of  the 
World's  Columbian  Ex|x>sition,  and  a  permanent  advantage  and 
honour  to  the  city."  The  delicate  and  important  task  of  securing 
the  funds  necessary  to  carry  the  resolution  into  eliect  was  at  once 
begun,  but  the  appeal  at  first  met  with  little  response.  A 
munificent  gift  from  Mr.  Field  gave  confidence  in  the  assured 
prominence  and  success  of  the  nuiseum.  Mr.  G.  M.  Pullman 
followed  with  a  subscription  of  100,000  dollars,  and  a  like  .sum 
was  contributed  by  .NIr.  H.  N.  Higinbotham.  Mrs.  M.  D. 
Sturgis  gave  50,000  dollars,  and  a  number  of  other  donations 
for  various  amounts  w-ere  made,  as  well  as  Exposition  .stock 
having  the  approximate  par  value  of  1,500,000  dollars.  With 
these  funds  in  hand,  the  museum  committee  felt  justified  in 
making  extensive  purchases,  including  the  exhibits  from  Paraguay, 
Peru,  Java,  .Samoa,  the  Ilagenbeck  collection,  and  the  Ward 
collection  of  natural  history,  tor  which  a  .sum  of  95,000  dollars 
was  paid.  The  new  President  of  the  museum,  Mr.  E.  E.  Ayer. 
presented  the  Ayer  anthropological  collection,  valued  at  100,000 
dollars,  to  the  museum,  and  other  donations  of  material  followed. 
Many  exhiljits  were  purchased  at  the  close  of  the  Exposition, 
and  these  furnished  the  broad  foundation  upon  w  hich  the  present 
collections  have  been  built.  Great  gaps  in  the  continuity  of 
separate  subjects  have  thus  been,  to  a  large  degree,  obviated,  until 


The   Ki^Id  Columbian   .Museum. 


to-day,  from  one  end  of  the  nmseum  to  the  other,  can  be  traced 
the  story  of  nature  and  of  man  and  his  works. 

The  collections  illustrating  geology  in  the  museum  are  grouped 
into  Systematic  Geology  and  Economic  (ieologv".  In  the  former 
division  there  are  about  five  thousand  pakeontological  specimens, 
many  of  them  especially  instructive  and  valuable,  and  as  many 
specimens  of  minerals,  classified  according  to  the  chemical  con- 
stitution of  e.ach  species.  The  collection  of  meteorites  in  the 
same  division  includes  several  very  large  specintens.  notably  the 

'  meteoric  stone  from  Phillips  County,  Kansas,  weighing  1 184  lbs. ; 
two  masses  weighing  respectively  465  and  344  lbs.,  with  several 
smaller  ones  from  the  meteorite  of  the  Kiowa  County.  Kans.as  ; 
two  masses  weighing  IOI3and  265  lbs.  res|jectively.  and  several 
smaller  ones  of  the  Cai-ion  Diablo,  .\rizona,  meteorite  :  about 
650  iiidividvial  .aerolites  of  the  Winneb,ago  County,   Iowa,  fall. 

j  and  many  other  specimens.  Physical  geography,  structural  and 
dynamical  geology,  and  lithology  are  also  well  represented  in 
the  division  of  systematic  geology. 

!  I'he  collections  of  the  division  of  Economic  tieology  were 
obtained  through  the  Chief  of  the  Department  of  Mines,  Slining 
and  Metallurgy  of  the  World's  Columbian  Fxpnsiiii^n.  from  ex- 
hibits made  in  that  expo.sition.  Heing  desigjied  to  illustrate  the 
practical  bearings  of  the  science  of  geology,  they  consist  chiefly 
of  specimens  which  show  modes  of  occurrence  in  nature  of 
minerals  having  economic  imi)ortance,  and  the  localities  where 
they   may    be   obtained.      In   addition   to   these,    however,   are 


lo'*^ 


NATURE 


[J  INK    6,    1895 


many  illustrations  of  the  processes  employed  in  the  extraction 
ami  treatment  of  mineraLs  or  ores,  and  of  the  appHcation  of 
resulting  jiroducis  to  human  arts  and  industries. 

.\n  immense  amount  of  material,  illustrative  of  the  botany  and 
forestry  of  all  parts  of  the  world,  came  into  the  possession  of  the 
museum  at  the  close  of  the  Exix>sition.  These  exhibits  are 
gradually  Iwing  arranged  in  get^raphical  sequence,  but  some 
time  must  elai^se  Iiefore  all  the  sjwcimens  can  be  fully  identified 
and  lal  veiled. 

The  Ilejxirtment  of  Zoolog)'  includes  all  the  classes  of 
animals  except  birds,  and  six  large  halls  of  the  museum  building 
are  set  ajart  for  the  specimens  belonging  to  it.  The  movmted 
collection  of  birds  in  the  Department  of  Ornithology  is  essen- 
tially one  of  comparative  ornithology,  in  which  the  bird  fauna  of 
the  world  is  represented  by  some  650  species.  North  American 
bird-life  is  at  present  only  represented  by  some  150  species  out 
of  s  jKissible  S25.  -Vmong  the  treasures  of  which  the  museum 
can  Uiast.  however,  is  a  pair  of  the  now  (probably)  extinct 
Labrador  Duck  ^Catitptotainius  Lahi\uiorius), 

The  extensive  exhibits  illustrating  the  archieology  and  eth- 
nology of  Amerii-a.  brought  ti>gether  by  Prof  F.W.  Putnam,  were 
transferred  10  the  museum  at  the  close  of  the  Ex|x)sition.  -A 
number  of  other  very  important  collections,  representing  primi- 
tive culture  in  many  widely  separated  regions  of  the  world,  were 
also  f)blained.  Belonging  to  the  Dcixirtment  of  .Anthroixilogy 
are  psycholc^ical  and  physical  lalioratories.  and  collections  of 
craniccaits,  iVc. .  illu.strating  the  physical  characteristics  of  man. 

During  the  Kxixvsition  a  great  group  f>f  exhibits  had  been 
brought  together  within  the  i)e|iartmenl  of  Transportation,  to 
illustrate  the  evolution  of  the  carrying  industry,  beginning  with  its 
inception  in  remote  times,  and  extending  down  to  the  present 
day.  These  exhibits  were  transferred  !•>  the  museum  building, 
and  l.irgely  augmented  by  collections  from  other  departments. 
All  of  this  material,  together  with  a  number  of  exhil»its  illus- 
trating other  industries  of  especial  imixirtance  to  civilised  man, 
including  ceramics,  the  textile  art,  the  leather  indu.stry,  jewel- 
lery, A:c..  have  been  brought  together  in  a  Department  of  Indus- 
tries. The  collections  in  this  de|jartmenl  have  been  arranged 
to  show ,  as  far  as  possible,  the  more  imiJortant  steps  which  have  i 
led  to  improvement  in  handiwork,  or  pr<5gress  in  the  invention 
of  those  implements,  machines,  and  processes  which  have  proved 
to  \x  imiMirtant  factors  in  the  world's  material  development.  , 

Although  bul  a  few  months  have  elapsed  since  the  doors  of  [ 
the  museum  were  publicly  thrown  o|ieii,  a  course  of  popular 
lectures  have  been  inaugurated,  a  publication  series  established, 
and  several  scientific  exix^ditions  .sent  into  the  field  for  auginent- 
ing  its  coUcclions.  In  these  and  other  directions,  the  I-'ield 
Colundiiaii  .Museum  apjwars  to  Ix-  advancing  along  the  jiath 
marked  out  for  it,  and  performing  its  part  in  adding  to  the 
wealth  of  Western  civilisation  and  culture. 

PRIZE  SL/iJECTS  OF  THE  FRENCH  SOCI^T^ 
lyENCO  I  RA  CEMENT. 

'T'HE  prices  and  prize  subjects  of  the  French  .Societe  d'Kn- 
■*■  couragemcnl  pour  I'indu.strie  natinnale.  for  1S96  ami  1897, 
are  descrilted  in  the  Hulit-tin  of  the  .Srx'iety.  The  S<iciety"s 
I'lrami  Prize  of  12,000  francs  will  be  given  this  year  to  the  author 
of  the  rlisc^ivery  most  useful  tr)  French  industry.  The  following 
list  shows  the  arr.tngenienls  with  reganl  \\<  the  prizes  of  ihe  two 
succcc<ling  years  :^ 

1896. 

Grand  medal  to  the  author,  of  any  nnlionality.  of  works  that 
have  exercised  ihe  greatest  influence  on  Ihe  progress  of  French 
mechanical  arts  during  the  preceding  six  years. 

The  Henri  (liffard  prize  of  6000  frnncs  for  signal  services  to 
French  industry*.  The  I'armentier  prize  of  1000  fnincs  fi»r 
researches  tendmg  to  improve  the  material  fir  processes  of  agri- 
culture and  alimentary  mdustries.  The  Meslens  prize  of  500 
francs  for  ihe  .lulhor  of  .an  applicttion  of  physics  or  chemistry 
to  clenri<  ii).  Imllislics.  or  hygiene. 

In  the  -ertiiin  of  Mechanical  .\rts,  a  prize  of  3000  francs  is 
offered  li.r  ihe  luM  motor  fed  with  S'lmc  conmiercial  oil.  Other 
prizes  ,\%K  :  3000  francs  for  an  engine  'if  from  25  to  loo  horse- 
power, using  a«n  maximum,  when  working,  7J  kilogrammes  of 
Mean)  per  hour  nml  |>cr  indicated  horse-|Kiwer :  2000  francs  lo 
the  manufariurer  who  fir^l  pr<xluccs,  mechanically,  linen  threads 
(if  whir  h  .11  least  100,000  metres  go  lo  one  kilognimme,  or,  in 
Ihc  ctiie  of  henij),  15,000  metres  per  kilogramme:  2000  francs 
for  an  inve«ligntion,  or  n  melho<l  lending  to  prevent,  or  at  least 

NO.    1336.  VOL.  52] 


re<luce  in  amount,  the  leakages,  known  as  "fuiles  aux  tubes,"  in 
marine   Ixiilers  :   looo   francs   for  the  best    memoir  on  the  cost 
price  of  the  motive  power  of  steam  :    2000  francs  for  a  small 
motor  suitable  for   a    home  workshop,   and   which    will    work 
by  the  use  of  some  simple  jxiwer  available  in  the  house,  or  by 
energy  transmitted  from  a  central  station  ;  3000  francs  forimprove- 
ments  in  the  pr<x:esses  of  retting  linen  and  hemp  in  industrial  use. 
The  prizes  offered  in  Ihe  section  of  Chemical  .\rts  are  :     1000 
francs  for  the   utilisation  of  waste   products  :  2000  francs  for  a 
work  or  memoir  of  use  to  chemical  or  melallurgical   industry  ; 
2000    francs    for    an    experimental    stutly    of    the    (physical    or 
mechanical  jiroperties  of  one  or  more  metals  or  alloys,   selected 
from  those  which  are  in  current  use  :    2000  francs  for  a  new 
prtx;ess  for  ihe  production  of  fuming  sulphuric  acid,  or  sulphuric 
anhydride  ;  2000  francs  for  an  improvement  in  the  manufacture 
of  chlorine:     1000  francs  for  the  discovery  of  a  new  alloy  useful 
to  the  arts  :  2000  francs  for  a  scientific  study    of  combustion  in 
the    furnaces    used    for    the    production     of    gas  :     2000    fntnc* 
for      an     investigation     of     the      expansion,      elasticity,      and 
tenacity   of   ceramic    clays   and     coverings :     1000    francs    for 
the  substitution  of  sulphuric  acid  in  dyeing,  and  especially  in 
silk  dyeing,  by    another  com|xnind    which    will    give    to    the 
fibres    the    desired  stiffness,    without  exercising  any  destructive 
action  :     2000  francs  for  an   investigation    of  the  physical  and 
mechanical   properties    of  glass  ;  2000  francs  for  the   discover)' 
of  pr(»cesses  capalile  of  yieUling.    by  certain  chemical  changes, 
usefvd  t>rganic  protiucts.  such  as  ipiinine,  cane-sugar,  \c.  :  2000 
francs  for  an  invesligalion  on  an  iiulustrial  process  of  which  Ihe 
theory  is  but  imperfectly  known  :  2000  francs  for  the  productioa 
of  cast  steel  or  iron  having  useful  properties,   by  Ihe  incorpora- 
tion of  a  ftireign  substance. 

In  Economic  .\rts  the  follow  ing  are  the  prizes  and  subjects.  A 
prize  of  2000  francs  for  the  invention  of  a  new  process  in  which  at 
least  0'8oo  kilogrammes  of  petroleum  can  be  u.sed  without  ilanger,. 
as  a  source  of  light  or  heat,  either  in  industry  or  in  domestic 
economy  :  2000  francs  for  the  discovery  of  methods  to  diminish 
the  number  of  chimney  fires,  and  reduce  the  danutge  which 
results  from  them  :  2000  francs  for  an  incandescent  electric 
lamp  of  one-tenth  canille  power  when  a  current  of  0"05  annx're 
is  ]>;i.ssing  through  it  at  a  potential  of  too  volts. 

In  .Vgriculture  the  prizes  and  subjects  are  as  follows: — 20CX> 
,  francs  for  the  lies!  investigation  of  the  comparative  physical  and 
chemical  constitution  of  the  soils  of  one  of  the  natural  or  agri- 
cultural regions  of  France  :  1500  francs  for  the  best  varieties  of 
barley  for  brewing  :  3000  francs  for  Ihe  re-establishment  of 
vineyards  on  chalk  soils  :  1500  francs  for  the  inlroduclion  andi 
culture,  on  a  large  scale,  of  a  new  forage  plant  :  2000  francs  for 
the  best  stuily  of  the  culture  of  the  vine  in  various  regions  c> 
France,  and  of  the  inllvience  of  various  processes  of  vinificatiom 
on  the  (jualily  of  wine. 

.\  ])rize  of  1000  francs  is  offered  for  the  discovery  of  a  plastic 
material,  similar  in  appearance  to  some  stone,  marble,  or  brick, 
anil  hanl  enough  to  be  used  either  for  the  insides  or  the  oulsides. 
of  houses  :  1000  francs  for  the  discovery  of  a  process  to  prevent 
woods  used  by  carpenters  and  cabinet-makers  ironi  dtfornialions 
by  atmospheric  influences  :  1000  francs  for  the  author  of  the 
best  memoir  cm  some  practical  process  other  than  a  chemictl 
process,  and  ca|)able  of  lieing  applied  in  the  workshop,  for  the 
detection  of  itdulteraled  Portland  cement. 

1897. 

.V   prize  of  2000  francs  is   offereil  for  improvements  in   the 

methods  of  grinding  grain:    anil   a    prize  of  2000  francs  for  a 

motor  weighing  less  than    fifty    kilogrammes  per   horse-|»wer. 

This  prize  IS  offered  with  the  idea  of  furthering  the   problem  of 

aerial    navigation.      .\    second    prize,    having    the    same  object,. 

'  is  for  a  study  of  the  coetficients  necesstiry  lo  the  mechanical  cal- 

,  culalion  of  an  aerial    machine.       There   is  also  a   prize  of  3000 

,  francs  for  improvements  in  the  manufacture  of  permanent    mag- 

I  nets;    and  prizes  of  3000  francs  for  an  investigation  of  alcoholic 

ferments,  and  2000  francs  for  the  best  investigation  of  the  deteriora- 

I  lion  of  cider,  and  the  means   lo   prevent   the   changes   to  which 

'  the  loss  of  vivacity  is  due. 

The  prizes  are  open  tn  in\estigators  of  any  nationality,  but 
,  the  memoirs,  and  descriplionsof  inventions,  should  be  written  ini 
French.  .Mixlelb.  memoirs,  descriptions,  and  specimens  intendedl 
to  coiniK'le  for  prizes  must  be  sent  to  the  Secretarial  dc  la 
Sociijte  d'Encourtigemenl  pour  rinduslrie  nntionale,  44  rue  dc 
Kennes,  Paris.  Competilors  for  the  prizes  of  1896  must  send  in 
liefore  the  end  of  Ihe  preseiil  year  :  the  latest  time  for  entering, 
memoirs,  S:c.,  for  the  1897  competition  is  the  end  of  1896. 


June  6,  1895] 


NATURE 


'39 


RECENT    GLACIAL    STUDIES 
GREE.XLANOy 


IN 


T~\L'KIX(;  the  summer  of  1894.  Mr.  Chambcrlin  was  cnahlcil  ^ 
^^^  to  devote  some  time  to  a  ]>ersonal  study  of  the  glaciation  of  I 
(Ireenlaml,  and  the  results  of  his  observations  arc  so  interesting, 
that  all  j^eologists  who  seek  to  interpret  the  records  of  the  "'  (Ireat 
Ice  Age,'  will  gladly  make  acquaintance  with  them.  SeUlom 
has  a  geologist  so  experienced  in  the  study  of  glacial  clriftsand  of 
the  problems  connected  with  ihem,  had  the  advantage  of  exam- 
ining the  behaviour  of  ice  in  the  .Vrctic  regions. 

His  observations  were  specially  directed  to  the  way  in  which  a 
glacier  gathers  up  detritus  ahmg  its  course,  to  the  way  in  which 
it  carries  it  forward  and  finally  puts  it  down.  The  main  jjroblem 
he  sought  to  solve,  was  connected  with  the  basal  material  of 
glaciers,  deljris  which,  of  course,  is  largely  concealed. 

In  comparing  the  glaciation  of  (Ircenland  with  that  of  the 
mainland  of  North  .\merica,  he  had  to  bear  in  mind,  that  for 
ihe  most  |Mrt  the  continental  drift  is  spread  over  a  vast  pKiin. 
In  Greenland  the  ice-fields  rest  mainly  on  plateaus  fringed  by 
rugged  mountains,  and  he  sought  for  a  tract  free  from  such  bor- 
dering elevations.  This  was  found  at  Inglefiekl  Gulf,  where  the 
Iwrderland  is  a  plateau  about  2000  feet  above  sea-level,  and  w  here 
the  margin  of  thegreat  ice-sheet  may  be  studied  on  relatively  smooth 
ground,  on  un<lulating  ground,  and  in  lobes  or  tongues  that  descend 
the  valleys.  Of  thethirtyorforty  glacial  tongues  which  descend  to- 
wards Inglefiekl  Ciulf,  less  than  one-third  reach  the  shore,  and 
■scarcely  one-half  of  these  discharge  notable  icebergs.  The 
majority  terminate  in  valleys  whose  bottoms  are  formed  of  glacial 
•debris,  and  whose  lower  gradients  are  moderate. 

The  fact  that  great  part  of  Greenland  a])pears  to  consist  of 
■ancient  gneissic  rocks,  renders  the  debris  more  or  less  stt^ny  and 
.arenaceous ;  clayey  material  is  rare.  About  Inglefiekl  ( iulf, 
however,  the  older  rocks  are  covered  by  thick  layers  of  sand- 
•stone  and  shale,  traversed  by  basic  igneous  dykes.  Hence  it  is 
p<jssible  there  to  tell  how  late  the  erratics  from  this  sedimentary 
series  were  introducetl  into  the  ice,  to  ascertain  what  courses 
they  pursued,  and  the  actions  they  suffered. 

The  margins  of  the  Inglefield  glaciers  rise  abruptly  like 
•escarpments  of  rock,  100  or  1 50  feet  or  more.  The  layers  of  ice 
are  cut  sharply  across,  exposing  their  edges  :  and  the  formation 
of  these  scarps  is  attributed  to  the  lower  inclination  of  the  sun's 
rays,  which  strike  vertically  and  effectively  against  the  edges  of 
the  glacier,  whereas  its  back  is  affected  only  by  rays  of  low 
slant. 

The  stratification  of  the  glaciers  attracted  particular  attention. 
The  ice  was  found  to  he  almost  as  distinctly  bedded  and 
laminated  as  a  sedimentary  rock.  The  vertical  face  was  .seen 
visually  to  present  two  great  divisions — an  upper  tract  of  thick, 
obscurely  laminated  layers  (if  nearly  white  ice,  and  a  lower 
laminated  tract  discoloured  by  debris.  At  the  iKise  there  is 
usually  a  talus-slope,  and  sometimes  there  is  a  moraine.  In  the 
lower  portion  of  the  ice  there  are.  here  and  there,  interstratified 
layers  of  sand  and  silt,  rubble  and  boulders.  These  vary  from  a 
mere  film  of  silt  to  a  heterogeneous  mixture  of  debris  and  ice 
several  feet  thick.  The  detritus  is  usually  arranged  in  definite 
and  limited  horizons,  the  ice  above  and  below  being  firm, 
•clean,  and  pure.  Often  a  fragment  of  rock,  or  a  boulder  of  con- 
siderable dimensions,  will  be  several  times  thicker  than  the  silt 
layer,  and  it  projects  above  and  below  into  the  clean  ice.  The 
■debris-layers,  though  often  regular  and  persistent,  frequently  thin 
■out  anil  disappear.  Lenses  of  debris  also  appear,  and  the  layers 
are  sontetimes  doubled  back  upon  themselves. 

The  laminie  of  the  ice  are  sometimes  very  symmetric,  straight, 
and  |>arallel,  but  often  wavy  and  undulating.  In  many  instances 
ihey  are  greatly  curved  or  contorted.  Thus,  as  I3r.  E.  von 
Drygalski  has  remarked,  they  closely  simulate  the  foliation  and 
cimlortion  of  gneiss. 

The  ilebris-belts,  which  are  essentially  parallel  to  the  base  i>f 
the  glacier,  are  confined  chiefly  to  the  lower  50  or  75  feet,  but 
they  occur  u])  to  100  feet  and,  |)erhaps,  to  150  feet.  They  are 
more  abun<lant  at  the  sides  of  the  lobes  than  in  the  centre  :  a 
notable  iiortion  of  the  debris  having  evidently  been  introduced 
after  the  lobes  were  formed.  Thus  the  detritus  ajipears  mi>st 
abundant  in  gl.icier-lobes  which  descend  as  catar.icts,  or  crowd 
between  closely  hugging  cliffs. 

In  meeting  obstacles  the  bas;tl  beds  of  the  glacier  sometimes 
simply  curve  U|iwards,  carrying  their  ilebris  with  them  over  the 
obstacle  ;  at  other  times,  the  laminie  of  ice  are  much  crumpled. 

1  .\bridgc'd  from  .1  paper  by  T.  C.  Chamberlin,  in  the  Bulletin  uf  tlic 
CcoIogical  Sticiety  of  .\merica,  February  1 895, 


NO. 


1336,  VOL.  52] 


Not  only  are  the  foliations  of  the  ice  twisted,  but  they  are  at 
times  fractured  ami  faidted,  and  along  the  fault-plane  the  laminie 
are  affected  by  '•  ilrag,''  as  in  faulted  rocks. 

The  general  stratification  of  the  ice  had  its  initial  stages  in  the 
original  snow-falls  :  and  the  sea.sons  <loubtless  developed  annual 
subdivisions.  The  more  definite  partings  and  the  introduction  of 
the  layers  of  debris,  arose  through  a  shearing  movement  between 
the  layers  of  ice. 

The  actual  jirtKess  of  intrusion  of  detritus  was  observed  in 
proximity  to  a  large  boss  of  rock  which,  protruding  through  the 
margin  of  the  ice,  had  been  partially  cut  away.  Trains  of 
debris,  apparently  rubbed  from  the  surface  of  the  rocky  dome, 
were  carried  out  almost  horizontally  into  the  ice  in  its  lee.  Some 
of  these  were  short,  while  others  extemled  several  ro<ls  into  the 
ice,  passing  into  the  body  of  it  instead  of  following  its  Ijase.  .\t 
one  jjoint  the  overthrust  of  the  ice  reached  such  a  degree  as  to 
carry  the  earthy  layers  obliquely  across  the  thickness  of  the 
glacier,  producing  a  marked  unconformity. 

In  another  insiance  similar  features  were  observed  Ijelow  an 
ice-cataract.  Tongues  of  <icbris,  having  their  origin  in  the 
boulder-clay  below  the  glacier,  were  seen  to  reach  out  into  the 
ba.sal  ])ortion  of  the  ice  as  though  they  were  being  introduced 
into  it  by  the  differential  movement  of  the  layers  U]>on  each 
other.  Thus  w  hen  the  ice  is  forced  over  a  prominence  it  settles 
down  a  little  in  its  lee,  and  is  then  protected  somewhat  from  the 
thrust  of  the  ice  behind.  The  next  ice  that  jasses  over,  being 
prevented  by  the  former  portion  from  settling  down  at  ijnce,  is 
thrust  forward  over  it.  This  is  accomplished  by  the  bending  and 
<loubling  of  the  layers,  and  also  by  distinct  shearing.  At  length, 
however,  the  first  layer  is  compelled  by  the  general  friction  to 
move  somewhat  forward,  and  in  time  to  join  the  common  mo\"ing 
mass,  carrying  the  overthnist  layer  of  debris  between  it  and  the 
ice-layer  above. 

It  appears  obvious  that  the  ice  in  the  lee  of  a  rocky  prominence 
moves  more  slow  ly  than  that  above  ;  hence  the  doubling  of  the 
lamin;e  upon  themselves.  Moreover,  there  is  a  gradation  from 
laminar  that  simply  suffered  doubling  up,  to  layers  that  obviously 
sheared  ujx>n  each  other  anfl  produced  manifest  unconformity  by 
overthrust. 

Evidence  showed  that  the  more  solid  (blue)  bands  in  the  ice 
are  pri;iduced  by  exceptional  pressure  in  moving  over  rugosities, 
and  that  their  ]>osition  in  the  ice  is  jmrallel  to  the  ice-movement ; 
while  at  the  same  lime  blue  bands  may  be  develo]x;d  nearly  at 
right-angles,  after  the  manner  of  slaty  cleavage. 

Summarising  the  above  conclusions,  it  appears  that  stratifica- 
tion originated  in  the  inetjualities  of  deposition,  emphasised  by 
intercurrent  winds,  rains,  and  surface  meltings  :  that  the  incipient 
stratification  may  have  been  intensified  by  the  ordinary  processes 
of  c.insolidation  :  that  the  shearing  iif  the  strata  upon  e.ich  other 
still  further  emphasised  the  stratification,  ami  developed  new- 
horizons  under  favourable  conditions;  that  basal  inequalities 
introduced  new  jilanes  of  stratification,  accompanied  by  earthy 
debris,  and  that  this  process  extendetl  itself  so  far  as  even  to  form 
very  minute  lamin;v. 

There  is  involved  in  the  foregoing  conceptions  the  idea  of  an 
ice-layer  acting  as  a  unit  of  movement  ;  at  any  rate,  there  is 
recognised  individuality  of  niovemenl  in  the  layer.  This  view 
involves  the  idea  of  rigidity  rathei  than  viscosity.  The  intro- 
duction of  earthy  material  into  the  ice-layers  involves  the  idea 
of  thrust  rather  than  pull.  The  picture  is  not  that  of  gravita- 
tion pidling  a  thick,  stiff  liquid  down  the  lee  side  of  a  rocky 
prominence,  but  of  a  rigid  body  thrusting  itself  over  the  crest 
by  means  of  a  force  in  the  rear. 

The  extreme  fragility  of  the  ice  is  difficult  to  harmonise  with 
the  idea  of  viscosity.  Wherever  the  ice  i».ssed  over  an  undula- 
tion of  even  moderate  dimensions,  it  was  abundantly  crevassed. 
There  was  no  indication  that  boulders  descend  through  the  ice 
as  heavy  substances  descend  through  viscous  bo<lies.  The 
rigidity  did  not  prevent  contortions  and  foldings  of  the  lamina- 
tions, such  as  lake  place  in  crystalline  rocks,  but  faidting  and 
vein-structures  also  occur :  and  there  seems  no  more  occasion  to 
assume  viscosity  in  the  one  ca.se  than  in  the  other.  Even  if  a 
certain  measure  of  viscosity  be  admitted,  it  does  not  follow  that 
viscosity  was  an  essential  agency  of  motion.  The  crystalline 
body  may  readily  Ije  made  to  change  its  form  by  the  removal  or 
particles  from  one  ixjrtion  by  melting,  and  their  attachment  at 
other  points  by  congelation  ;  but  not,  apparently,  by  the  flowing 
of  crystallised  jxirticles  over  each  other  in  their  crystalline 
condition^ 

It  has  been  already  |)oinletl   out  that  much  basal  material  is 


140 


NATURE 


[June  6,  1895 


carritxl  in  the  Icmcr  layers  of  ice.  Il  was  also  a  matter  of 
fre<juenl  obser\'ation  that  debris  lies  under  the  ice.  Apparently 
the  ice  sometimes  jiushes  this  along,  and  sometimes  slides  over 
il.  At  the  end  of  the  glacier  the  debris  within  the  ice  is  freed 
by  melting,  and  accumulates  as  a  talus-slope.  This  sometimes 
protects  the  basal  layers  from  melting,  and  they  l>ecome  at 
length  incor|X)rated  in  the  growing  accumulation. 

It  apiK-arc<l,  from  the  st.igcs  presented  by  the  several  glaciers, 
that  where  the  ice  is  slowly  advancing,  the  talus-.slope  gradually 
grows  forward  and  constitutes  an  cmliankment,  u|xin  which  the 
glacier  advances.  It  thereby  grades  up  its  own  pathway  in 
advance.  On  seeing  this  process,  one  is  at  no  loss  to  understand 
how  ice  can  advance  over  fields  of  .sand  or  soil  w  ithout  in  any 
way  disrupting  them.  It  buries  them  before  it  advances  upon 
iheni. 

Where  the  frontal  material  accumulates  in  a  large  mass,  it 
opposes  such  a  degree  of  resistance  to  the  ice  that  its  layers  are 
curvetl  upward  <in  the  inner  slo|ie:  and  if  the  glacier  subsequently 
advances,  the  ice  rides  up  over  the  moraine.  Several  such  in- 
stances were  observed,  but  none  was  seen  where  the  ice  showed 
any  competency  to  push  even  its  own  debris,  in  notable  quantity, 
in  front  of  it.      The  ice  is  weaker  than  the  moraine  as  a  whole. 

tireiit  quantities  of  snow  are  carried  by  winds  from  the  region 
of  the  great  ice-cap,  and  this  snow  may  lie  lodged  in  immense 
heaps  in  the  lee  of  the  terminal  moraines.  Such  a  border-drift 
may  have  a  breadth  of  from  looo  to  3000  feet.  It  becomes 
.s<ilidified  after  the  fashion  of  a  glacier,  and  may  serve  to  arrest 
or  deflect  the  main  ice  ;  for  it  was  observed  that  the  Uvsal  layers 
of  the  ice  in  places  curved  upwards  on  encountering  the  resistance 
of  this  wind-drifted  accumulation. 

The  rate  of  movement  of  the  majority  of  the  glaciers  was  found 
to  \k  exceedingly  slow ,  though  a  few  which  produce  large  icebergs 
are  notable  exceptions. 

The  anuHmt  of  drift  on  the  territor)'  once  occupied,  but  now- 
free  from  ice,  was  .scanty.  At  .some  |Mints  there  are  considerable 
accumulations  of  drift  w  ithin  a  mile  or  tw  o  of  the  present  ice- 
front,  but  over  nuich  of  the  area  no  great  moraines,  nor  any 
thick  mantles  of  drift,  were  l'->  be  seen.  There  was  but  moderate 
evidence  of  glacial  action  ;  the  land  was  gently  rounded,  but  not 
greatly  moulded.  In  this  area  of  Southern  (ireenland  tracts  of 
angular,  unsuUlued  to|)ography  alternate  with  rounded,  flowing 
contours.  The  inference  was  drawn  that  the  ice  formerly  so 
extended  it.self  as  to  reach  the  present  coast  for  alwut  half  its 
extent,  while  in  the  remaining  |xjrtion  the  ice  fell  short.  Thus 
the  conclusion  .seems  imavoidable  that  the  ice  of  tireenland,  on 
it^  western  side,  at  least,  has  never  advanced  vcr)-  greatly  beyond 
its  present  Inirdcr  in  recent  geologic  times.  This  carries  with  it 
the  dismis.s.il  of  the  hy|xithesis  that  the  glaciation  of  the  mainland 
of  North  America  hail  its  source  in  Greenland. 

There  is  no  ground  to  question  the  former  elevation  of  Green- 
land, but  it  would  a|)iK-ar  that  this  w.is  not  coincident  with  con- 
ditions favouring  gLiciation.  H.  B.  W. 


UNIVERSIT  J  ■  A  ND    ED  UCA  TIONA  J. 
INTELLIGENCE. 

OxFORii. — Among  the  distinguished  men  upon  whom  it 
n  proposed  to  confer  the  honorary  decree  of  U.C.  L. ,  on  June 
26,  are  .Sir  W.  H.  I'lower  and  Prof.  Michael  Fo.ster. 

In  a  Convocation  held  on  Tuesday,  the  statute  appointing 
Dr.  K.  B.    Tylor  professor  of  .-Xnlhroixilogy  during   the  tenure 

'   '■       Reader  in   .\nlhro|iology  was  finally  approved. 

•  ■n.   held  on    the  same  date,    the   .Statute    on 
-  received  the   final  approval  of  the  hou.se,  and 
Il  ■mi)  ruiiiuiiis  for  it   to  Ije   |ia.sscd    by  Convocation      The  pro- 
ynj-A  I-itial  Honour  .SchrMil  of  ,-\nthro|M>logy  was  ,tgain   brought 
tiinn,  and  excited  some  op|K)silion.     On  a  divi- 
I  ^laliile  w.as  carried  by  a  considerable  m.tjorily, 
■    •.  iiig:   I'lacet,  47  :  Non-pLicel,  28.     The  .statute 
run   the  gaunllet  of  Convocation  liefore   il    finally 
liw.      In  the  same  Congregation,  thedatesof  the  pre- 
liminary exaniinalifjns  in  the  Honour  Schools  of  Natural  Science 
were  fixed  for  ihc  M-mdRV  after  the  eighth  week  of  I-'ull  Term 
in  Hilary  Term  )  r.  instead  ol^  in  the  last  week  or  last 

week  but  one,   •  '■>  liven  the  custom;  and   the  grant 

■'    '  '  •    i-al  de|>artnient  of  the   I'niver- 

I    jteriiKl    of  five   years.     The 
I'M    the   final  ami  preliminary 

NO.    1336.  VOL.   52] 


examinations  in  Natural  Science  show  that  there  are  44  candi- 
dates in  the  final  school  and  64  candidates  in  the  preliminary 
school.     These  figures  do  not  include  women  students. 

Cambridiie. — The  following  is  the  speech  delivered  by  the 
Public  Orator.  Dr.  Sandys,  on  May  30.  in  presenting  for  the 
honorary  degree  of  Doctor  in  Science,  Dr.  John  .Murray,  editor 
of  the  ChalUngii-  publicatiiins. 

Meministis  omnes  jxietae  nostri  niaximi  locum  insignem,  iibi 
Northumbriae  l^ucis  filius  acerrimus  non  recusavit  gloriam  aut 
ex  ip.sa  luna  audacter  deducere.  aut  maris  in  profumlo  demersam 
extrahere.  nicxlo  snlus  sine  rivali  laudem  omnem  sibi  vindicaret. 
(Juanto  pulchrius  auteni  lerum  naturae  iienetialia  intima  assidue 
perscnilari,  eque  oceani  altitudine  immensa  laudem  cum  sociis 
optimis  participatam  re]Kirtare.  Adest  unusex  illis  qui,  plusquam 
tribus  annis  in  oceano  explorando  fortiter  toleralis,  ut  poetae 
antiqui  verbis  sensii  novo  utar, 

''  referet>aiu  navibus  nltis 
occulta  spolia.  cl  plure.s  de  pace  triunipho>." 

Una  saltern  nominis  bene  ominati  navis  velut  ipsam  rerunr 
naturain  ad  certamen  provocavit,  ipsamque  veritatem  in  profundu 
abstnisam  orbi  terrarum  patefecit.  Tanti  autem  itineris 
monumenta,  quinquaginta  voluminum  in  serie  ingenti  a  collegis 
plurimis  parata,  viri  huiusce  praesertim  industria  infinita  nun 
modo  adaucta  el  summalim  liescripta  setl  etiam  ad  lerminum 
felicem  perducta  el  diei  in  lucem  prolata  sunt.  l^>uid  non  potuit 
reruin  naturae.  (|uid  non  potuit  veritalis  amor  ? 
"  Merses  profundo ;  pulclirior  cvcnit."' 
Diico  ad  vos  L'niversitatis  Edinensis  alumnum,  oceani  in- 
dagatorem  indefessum.  virum  etiam  in  posterum  sine  dubio 
laudem  indies  maiorem  meriturum,  lo.^NNKM  Mt■RR.^Y. 

The  -Master  of  Downing  (Dr.  Hill)  and  Dr.  Haiclay-Smilh 
will  give  a  course  of  instruction  in  Practical  Histology  during  the 
Long  \'ac.ation.  beginning  un  July  6. 

The  State  Medicine  Syndicate  propose  to  make  a  grant  of  ^50- 
to  the  Department  of  Pathology,  in  aid  of  the  course  of 
laboratorj'  instruction  in  Kacteriologj-  therein  provided  for 
candidates  for  the  diploma  in  Public  Healtli. 

Prof.  Kwing's  serious  illness  has  made  it  necessary  to  appoint 
Mr.  Dalby,  Demonstrator  in  the  Kngineeiing  Laboratory,  to  act 
as  Examiner  for  him  in  the  Mechanical  Sciences  Tripos. 

The  Smiths  Prizes  in  Natural  I'hilosojihy  have  been  awarded 
(I)  to  G.  T.  .Manley,  of  Christ's  College,  for  his  essiiy  on 
"The  Conformal  Representation  of  a  (Juadrilateral  on  a  Half 
Plane,'"  and  (2)  to  G.  H.J.  Hurst,  of  King's  College,  for  his 
essay  on  "  I'-lectro-magnelism  and  Magneto-ciplic  Rotation."' 
.Mr.  .Manley  and  .Mr.  Ilursl  were  respectively  Senior  and  Second 
Wrangler  in  1S93.  The  essays  of  II.  E.  .\lkins,  of  Petcrhou.sc, 
and  P.  K.  Bateman,  of  Jesus  College,  are  declared  worthy  of 
honourable  mention.  Mr.  .\tkins  was  bracketed  Tenth  Wrangler, 
and  Mr.  Hateinan  bracketeil  Kifleenlh  Wrangler  in  the  s.ame 
Tripos. 

.Mr.  S.  S.  Hough,  of  St.  John's  College,  has  been  elected 
Isaitc  Newton  Student  in  Astronomy  for  the  three  years  ending 
June  15,  1898. 

Mr.  Charles  Chree,  Director  of  the  Ke»  Observatory,  has 
been  approved  for  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  .Science. 

.Mr.  W.  N.  Shaw  has  been  appoinletl  Chairman  of  the 
Examiners  for  the  Mechanical  Sciences  Tripos,  in  the  room  of 
Prof.  Ewing,  who  has  resigned  on  the  ground  of  illness. 

.Mr.  Charles  Smith,  .Master  of  Sidney  Su.ssex  College,  has 
been  elected  Vice-Chancellor  for  the  ensuing  ac.tdemical  year, 

Cla.sses  in  Osteology,  in  General  Chemistry,  in  Geology,  and 
in  Experimental  Physics,  are  announced  t(i  be  held  in  the  Long 
Vacation. 

Mr.  .\.  E.  Shipley,  Cniversiiy  I^'Cturer  in  Invertebrate 
Morphology,  h.as  been  appointed  a  member  of  the  University 
Press  .Synilicalc, 

Prof.  W.  T.  A.  Emtaiik,  of  University  College,  Nottingham, 
has  been  elected  I'rincipal  of  the  Technical  Inslituli., 
Wandsworth. 

HuNoKARY  degrees  were  conferred,  by  Ihc  Chaiicellor  of 
Victoria  University,  la.st  week,  upon  Lord  Kelvin  and  Sir  Henry 
Ko.scoe,  among  others,  for  distinguished  services  rendered  to  the 
University. 

TlIK  twelfth  annual  rejiort  of  the  .Mitchell  Library,  Glasgow, 
is  before  us.     The  library  is  open  1m  the  public,  and  is  a<Imini>- 


Junk  6,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


141 


lered  liy  a  committee  of  the  Glasgow  Town  Council,  from 
which  it  obtains  a  grant  of  £,zrxx>  a  year,  from  the  moneys 
received  under  the  Local  Taxation  (Customs  and  Kxcise)  Act  ; 
it  is  also  fortunate  in  being  the  recipient  of  several  bequests 
from  persons  interested  in  its  work.  A  noteworthy  point  is 
that,  out  of  a  total  of  112.447  volumes  contained  in  the  library, 
no  less  than  20,812  are  classified  under  "  .\rts.  Sciences, 
Natural  History."  This  is  two  thousand  volumes  more  than  are 
included  under  any  other  head.  The  most  important  accession 
10  the  library  during  the  three  years  covered  by  the  report 
(1892-94)  consists  of  a  complete  set  of  the  Transactions  of  the 
Royal  Society,  in  183  volumes.  X  very  valuable  addition  to  the 
scientific  resources  of  the  library  has  resulted  from  agreements 
entered  into  with  the  Glasgow  Natural  History  Society,  and 
with  the  Glasgow  Geological  Society.  These  societies  have  trans- 
ferred to  the  library  their  sets  of  the  Transactions  and  Memoirs 
of  foreign  scientific  societies,  the  Library  Committee  undertaking 
on  their  part  to  continue  to  the  members  their  privilege  of 
borrowing  the  books,  to  bind  such  as  required  it,  and  to  bear 
the  expenses  attending  the  printing  extra  copies  of  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  Glasgow  societies,  and  forwarding  the  same  to 
the  foreign  societies  as  an  exchange.  During  last  year,  1 15,788 
scientific  works  were  issued,  the  daily  average  being  386.  It 
would  be  well  if  there  were  more  public  libraries  conducted  on 
the  enlightened  plan  of  the  Mitchell  Library. 

Anothkr  library  of  which  we  have  received  the  report 
(in  this  case  the  first  report)  is  that  of  St.  George,  Hanover 
Square.  Though  on  a  much  smaller  scale  than  the  Mitchell 
Library,  the  Commissioners  appear  to  aim  at  making  the 
library  a  means  of  education  as  well  as  of  recreation.  There 
are  11,860  volumes  in  the  lending  library,  of  which  twenty  per 
cent,  are  fiction,  and  6206  in  the  reference  library,  none  of  which 
are  novels.  To  obtain  a  satisfactory  conclusion  as  to  the  work 
of  a  library,  the  use  made  of  the  library  as  a  whole,  and  not  of 
any  particular  department,  ought  to  be  taken  into  account. 
The  records  of  the  institution  show  that  out  of  416,760 
visitors  during  the  ye.ir,  only  thirteen  p2r  cent,  of  the  readers 
went  for  the  purpose  of  borrowing  works  of  fiction  from  the 
lending  library.  .\  rioteworthy  feature  iri  connection  with  the 
library  is  a  museum  of  objects  arr,lnged  as  an  elementary  and 
self-explanatory  collection,  as  an  introduction  to  larger  museunis 
of  natural  history. 

It'  is  iiropnsed  to  hold  a  Technical  Education  Conference  at 
the  Society  of  .Arts  on  Jime  20.  The  Society  has  addressed  a 
letter  to  Technical  Education  Committees,  asking  them  to  send 
delegates  to  the  Conference.  Among  the  .subjects  to  be  con- 
sidered is  the  "  lack  of  a  central  organisation  which  might  deal 
especially  with  such  questions  as  the  examination  and  inspection 
of  classes.  In  spite  <jf  the  valuable  work  which  has  been  done 
by  the  City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute,  and  by  other  bodies, 
it  is  only  in  a  pr>rtion  of  the  subjects  sanctioned  as  sidjjects  of 
technical  instruction  that  examinations  are  held.  The  wide  field 
of  agriculture  and  home  intlustries  is  untouched  ;  while  no  means 
are  provided  for  anything  like  a  general  system  of  inspection 
which  local  authorities  may  call  to  their  aid  should  they  desire  to 
do  so."  There  are  also  other  points  with  regard  to  which 
common  action  would  be  desirable,  and  it  is  ho)jed  that  by 
bringing  together  those  who  are  interested  in  technical  educa- 
tion the  best  way  in  which  the  Society  can  enlarge  the  scope 
<if  its  present  action  in  connection  with  thesub-ect  will  be  found. 

The  Technical  Instruction  Committee  of  the  Essex  County 
•  ouncil  have  arranged  for  a  short  course  of  elementary  in- 
■ruction  in  horticulture,  to  be  given  at  the  County  Technical 
Laboratories,  Chelmsford,  during  the  first  three  weeks  in  July. 
The  course  of  study  is  intended  to  give  sound  elementary  in- 
struction in  the  cultivation  of  plants,  liased  upon  a  knowledge 
of  plant  physiology.  The  teaching  throughout  will  be  practical  ; 
every  lecture  will  be  abundantly  illustrated  and  immediately 
followed  by  demonstrations  and  individual  jiractical  work  by  the 
students  themselves. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

Internationales  Archir  fiir  Elhno!;raphie,  Band  viii.  Heft  ii.— 
On  the  ethnography  of  Slitty  Island,  by  Dr.  K.  von  Luschan. 
Although  Matty  is  a  small  island,  about  ninety-three  miles  north 
of  (;erman  New  I'.uinea,  between   142'  and   143'  E.  long.,  Dr. 

NO.    1336,   VOL.    52] 


von  Luschan  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  the  natives  are  not 
.Melanesians  ;  they  are  much  lighter  than  almost  any  Melan- 
esians,  some  being  of  a  deep  red  flesh  colour,  eyes  slit-like,  nose 
narrow,  hair  Vjlack  and  in  long  locks.  Of  the  thirty-eight 
weapons  and  utensils  in  the  Berlin  .Museum  not  one  can  with 
certainty  be  allocated  to  any  known  culture-mixture ;  any 
.Micronesian  resemblance  is  purely  superficial.  It  seems  probable 
that  the  people  have  remained  isolated  for  at  least  300  years. 
Three  plates  of  utensils,  &c.,  illustrate  the  paper. — Dr.  O. 
Schellong's  note  on  some  Melanesian  drawings  is  illustrated  by 
two  coloured  plates,  and  is  sujiplcmented  by  some  notes  by  J. 
D.  E.  .Schmeltz.  The  draw ings  are  interesting  as  showing  how 
unlike  the  oVijects  intended  native  delineations  may  be.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  more  illustrations  of  this  aspect  of  the  art  of 
savages  will  be  forthcoming.  Of  the  notices  of  recent  publica- 
tions, tho.se  on  "  .\rrow-poison  "  and  "Ethnological  Botany" 
are  especially  interesting. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Royal  Society,  May  2. — ".Alternate  Current  Dynamo 
Electric  Machines."  By  J.  Hopkinson,  F.R.S.,  and  E. 
Wilson. 

The  paper  deals  experimentally  with  the  currents  induced  in 
the  coils  and  in  the  cores  of  the  magnets  of  alternate  current 
machines  by  the  varying  currents  in  and  the  varying  positions  of 
the  armature.  It  is  shown  that  such  currents  exist,  and  that 
they  have  the  effect  of  diminishing  to  a  certain  extent  the  electro- 
motive force  of  the  machine  when  working  on  resistances  as  a 
generator  without  a  corresponding  eftect  tipon  the  phase  of  the 
armature  current.  It  is  also  shfjwn  that  preventing  variations 
in  the  coils  of  the  electromagnet  does  not,  in  the  machine 
experimented  upon,  greatly  afiect  the  result,  and  that  the  eftect 
of  introducing  copper  plates  between  the  magnets  and  the 
armature  has  not  a  very  great  eftect  upon  the  electromotive  force 
of  the  armature,  the  conclusion  being  that  the  conductivity  of 
the  iron  cores  is  suflrcient  to  produce  the  main  jjart  of  the  effect. 
.\  method  of  determining  the  efficiency  of  alternate  current 
machines  is  illustrated,  antl  the  results  of  the  experiments  for 
this  determination  are  utilised  to  show  that  in  certain  cases  of 
relation  of  phase  of  current  to  phase  of  electromotive  force,  the 
eftect  of  the  local  currents  in  the  iron  cores  is  to  increase, 
instead  of  to  diminish,  the  electromotive  force  of  the  machine. 

May  9. — Bakerian  Lecture  :  "On  the  Laws  of  Connexion 
between  the  Conditions  of  Chemical  Change  and  its  Amount." 
By  .\.  \'ornon  Harcourt,  F.R.S.,  and  William  Esson,  F.R.S. 
"  III.  Further  Researches  on  the  Reaction  of  Hydrogen  and 
Dioxide  and  Hydrogen  Iodide."' 

In  this  paper  are  considered  the  effect  upon  the  reaction  of 
(I)  .substances  not  directly  participating  in  reaction,  (2)  tem- 
perature. 

The  general  conclusion  as  to  the  effect  of  the  medium  upon 
the  reaction  is  expressed  as  follows  ; — 

Each  constituent  of  the  medimn  produces  an  effect  on  the 
rate  of  change  of  unit  peroxide  and  unit  iodide,  jiroportioned  to 
the  mass,  aiul  vary'ing  with  the  nature  of  the  constituent.  The 
increment  of  this  rate  per  unit  mass  of  each  constituent  is 
constant  so  long  .as  the  quantity  of  the  predominant  constituent 
present  in  the  inediun)  is  sulVicienlly  large,  in  comparison  with 
the  other  constituents  of  the  medium,  to  render  the  media  in 
successive  experiments  practically  honiogene<nis.  For  example, 
when  the  ratio  of  the  numbers  o{  ff-SO'  and  HT'm  the  medium 
exceeds  20,  the  fornnda  for  the  rate  at  a  given  temperature  is 

a-i\a  +  b(i-\)  +  ds\, 

a  being  the  theoretical  rate  with  unit  of  HI,  h  the  increment 
per  unit  of  hyilrogen  iodide  per  unit  of  iodide,  and  d  the  incre- 
ment per  unit  of  hydrogen  sulphate  per  unit  of  iodide.  If  the 
ratio  falls  below  20  the  formula  is 

a  =  I  \a  ■\-  h' {i  -  i\+  d's\, 

in  which  h'  and  eC  depenil  upon  the  relative  masses  of  sulphate 
and  iodide  present  in  the  medium. 

/  'ariation  of  Temperature. 

The  discussion  of  the  nimierous  experiments  made  at  lem- 
]5erature5  ranging  fron  o^   to  50',  in  media  in  which  the  quan- 


14: 


NATURE 


[June  6,  1895 


lities  of  iodide  range  from  3-64  HI,  lo  23  HI.  the  quantities  of 
hydrogen  sulphate  from  45  H'-SO^  tn  46S  H-SO*.  and  the 
quantities  of  hydrogen  chloride  from  70  HC!  \o  547  HCK  leads 
lo  the  following  law  of  connexion  lielween  chemical  change  and 
temperature. 

If  a,  is  the  rate  of  chemical  change  at  a  teniiierature  /,°  in 
a  homc^cneous  medium  consisting  of  given  constituents  ]ier 
unit  volume,  and  o,  is  the  rate  at  a  tem|KTature  /,°  in  the 
same  metlium.  the  ratio  of  a,  to  o,  is  ;  (273  -r  /i)/(273  -r  /j))'". 
m  l>eing  a  constant  iie]">entiing  ufH)n  the  character  of  the  con- 
stituents iif  the  medium.  When  the  tem|>enitures  are  measured 
from  the  aljsolute  zero  -  273^.  and  arc  denoted  b)  1\.  T,,  the 
formula  assmnes  the  simpler  form, 

a,/a.,  =  IT,/ T,)"'. 

The  constancy  of  the  \alue  of  111  for  a  |x»riicular  medium  is 
securetl  when  the  quantity  of  the  j')redominant  constituent  of 
the  medium  is  sufticicntly  lai^e  in  comparison  with  the  quan- 
tities of  the  other  constituents  to  make  the  medium  praclicallv 
homogeneous.  When  this  is  not  the  case  the  \Tilue  of  m  has 
some  value  intermediate  to  the  values  which  it  has  when  one 
or  other  of  the  constituents  is  sufficiently  preilominant  to  secure 
a  constant  value. 

In  media  in  which  hydrogen  sulphate  is  sufficiently  pre- 
dominant, the  value  of  w  is  20'38 ;  similarly  for  hydrogen 
chloride  the  value  of  m  is  21  "17.  \\'hen  the  meditim  consists  of 
water  and  hydrogen  iodide,  the  value  of  in  is  24"!.  The  intro- 
duction of  sodium  sulphate  In  large  quantity  into  a  medium 
oiherwi.se  consisting  mainly  of  hydrogen  sulphate  reduces  the 
value  of  ;ii  from  20'38  to  iSi.  In  a  medium  in  which  the  main 
ingredient  is  Mxliuni  hydrogen  carbonate,  the  value  of  m  is 
approximately  to. 

A  further  contirmalion  of  the  law  of  connexion  l>et«een 
chemical  change  and  tem|K"rature  is  obtained  from  the  iliscussion 
of  cx|)eriments  on  the  rate  of  change  of  hydrogen  chlorate  and 
poL-ussium  iodide  made  by  \V.  H,  I'endlebury  and  M.  .Seward. 
The  value  of /«  is  in  the  case  of  this  chemical  change  40"5. 

It  follow  s  from  the  law  emmciatcd  alx)Ve  that  at  the  tem|)erature 
of  al>solute  zero  no  chemical  change  can  take  place. 

If  the  smallest  v.ilueof  w,  viz.  10,  is  taken,  a  chemical  change, 
which  is  c<im))leted  in  one  minute  al  a  temperature  zero,  would 
require  for  its  completion,  at  a  tem]jerature  of  -200°,  a  little 
more  than  a  year.  If  20  is  taken  as  the  value  of  m.  the  minute 
woidd  be  increased  to  more  than  half  a  millioi\  of  years  by  the 
same  re<luction  of  temperature. 

The  law  enunciated  aliovc  may  also  be  statetl  in  the  follow  ing 
form. 

The  increntent  ol  each  unit  of  chemical  change  due  lo  a  rise 
of  lemiK-rature  varies  as  the  increment  of  each  unit  ol  absolute 
temperature. 

Thi.s  law  is  expressed  b)'  the  formula 

IDo/o  =  wDT/T. 

Chemical  Ei/iiilihriiiiii. 

A  case  of  equilibrium  Iwtween  the  reactions 

U-W  +  2UI  =2ll«f)  -I-  I-. 
2ir-()  :    I-      =  II-O-  -i   2in. 

Ic-ads  111  a  discussion  of  the  general  equation'-  ol  clieniical 
ctjuilibrium,  which  is  given  in  an  appendix  lo  the  iKqK'r.  These 
equations  are  ein[iloyed  to  interpret  the  results  of  eX)K'riments 
published  by  Dr.  (Hailstone  in  the  Traiisaitioii)  u{  the  Royal 
.S<icicly  {Phil.  Tram.,  vol.  cxlv. ).  They  had  been  [weviously 
applied  to  the  case  of  chemical  equilibrium  in\e-.tigaleil  !>)•  I'rof. 
Dixon,  in  a  i>a|K-r  publi.sheil  in  vol.  cKxv.  of  the  .  raiisiu lions 
of  the  Royal  .Society,  the  reactions  in  that  case  lieing 

ll'O-l-CO    =  ll-'-f  CO', 
l{"  +  €()"■=  IR)-F  CO. 

Physical  Society/May  24. —Captain  W.  de  W.  .\bney.  Presi- 
dent, in  the  chair.  Dr.  Kuenen  read  a  jiaper  entitled  "  On  the 
condensation  and  the  <ritlcal  phenomena  of  mixtures  of  ethane 
and  nilrou.s  oxide.''  If  the  vapour  of  a  pure  substance  is  com- 
prcMcd  at  cnn.stant  temperature,  then  when  a  certain  pressure  is 
reached  the  \a|H>ur  commences  to  condense,  and  the  pressure 
remains  ronslani  until  all  the  va|x)ur  is  liipiefieil.  Taking  the 
prcMure  anil  lenqierature  as  coordinates  the  corres|xindlng 
temperatures  and  pressure^  at  which  liipiefnction  lakes  place  are 
pl'iltcd,  the  curve  obl.-iinc'i  i>  railed  the   vajxiur  pre-sure  curve. 


NO.    1336,  VOL.  52] 


and  this  curve  ends  at  the  critical  temperature  and  pressure  ot 
the  given  substance.  On  the  other  hand,  if  a  mixture  of  two- 
vapours  is  compressed  at  constant  temperature  the  ]iressure  no 
longer  remains  constant  while  condens;>tion  is  takini;  place,  but 
gra<lually  rises.  The  points  at  which  condensation  commences- 
and  enits  lie  on  a  U-.shaped  curve  having  its  vertex  turned  to- 
wards the  direction  of  increasing  temperatures.  Such  a  curve 
the  author  calls  a  "border  curve."  The  point  at  which  a  line 
parallel  to  the  axis  of  /  touches  a  border  curve  corresixmds  to 
the  critical  i>oint  (R)  of  the  given  mixtiu'e.  For  all  temperatures 
higher  than  that  corresjionding  to  R  there  is  no  cundens;ition 
into  liquitl  (wssible,  while  for  any  temperature  below  the  critical 
temperature  there  are  two  va|x>ur  pressures,  one  corresponding 
to  the  commencement,  and  the  other  to  the  conclusion  of  lique- 
faction. The  envelope  of  all  the  border  curves  for  mixtures, 
containing  diflerent  jiroportions  of  the  two  bodies  is  a  curve, 
called  the  jilait-point  curve,  joining  the  critical  points  of  the  two 
constituents.  The  point  of  contact  (!')  of  a  border  curve  with 
the  plait-point  curve  corresponds  to  the  plait-point  on  van  der 
Waal's,  thermodynamic  surface.  If  when  we  go  along  the 
border  curve,  starting  from  its  lower  branch,  we  first  reach  R 
and  then  I',  and  if  we  indicate  the  temperatures  corresponding 
to  I*  and  R  by  Ti'  and  T  r,  then  fi>r  temperatvtres  between. 
Ti-  and  Tk  as  the  pressure  is  increased  the  ipiantity  of  liquid 
firts  increases,  reaches  a  maximiun,  and  after  tiiat  decreases  till 
it  disippears.  This  is  called  retrograde  condensjition  of  the  first 
kind,  and  has  been  observed  by  the  author  in  the  case  of  mix- 
lures  of  methyl  chloride  and  carbon  dioxide.  If  1',  however, 
lies  beyond  R  the  process  of  condensation  for  temperatures  be- 
tween Ti'  aiul  Tit  is  different.  In  this  case  the  volume  of  vapour 
increases,  reaches  a  maximum,  antl  then  decreases.  This  con- 
.stitules  retrograde  condensation  of  the  second  kind.  It  was  with 
a  view  to  the  exi>erimental  (>bservation  ol*  this  second  kind  ot 
retrograde  condensation  that  the  author  undertook  his  observa- 
tions. .\  .series  of  observations  were  made  with  each  of  the 
pure  gases,  and  gave  the  following  values  for  the  critical  tem- 
perature : — 


Kthane 
Nitrous  oxide 


36°' I  c. 


In  the  ca.se  of  the  mixtures,  the  very  interesting  result  is  obtained 
that  the  critical  temperature  is  in  some  cases  less  th.an  th.it  ot 
either  of  the  constituent  gases.  Thus  a  mixtme  containing  10 
percent,  of  Cjll,-.  has  a  critical  tcnqieralure  of  32%  the  same 
critical  temperature  as  for  pure  ethane.  .Ml  mixtures  containing 
more  than  10  per  cent,  of  ethane  have  a  lower  critical  tempera- 
ture than  32"  :  the  lowest  critical  temperature  obtained  is 
25^'S,  and  belongs  to  a  mixture  conlaining  etpial  volumes  of 
ethane  and  nitrous  oxide,  .\noiher  important  point  is  ihal  the 
border  curves  do  not  all  lie  lu'lween  the  vapour  pressure  curves 
of  ethane  and  nilrous  oxide.  Hence  for  any  temperature  there 
is  some  mixture  which  gives  a  maximum  vapour  pressure.  It 
also  appears  from  the  curves,  given  in  the  paper  that  the  maxi- 
mum vapour  |)ressure  is  obtained  with  almost  the  s;rme  mixture 
at  all  temperatures,  and  that  this  maximinn  vapour  pressure  doe 
not  ilisq)pear  willi  increase  of  temperature,  but  remains  even  up' 
to  the  critical  region,  for  mixtures  containing  between  20 
and  50  |x.-r  cent,  of  C._,II|,  retrogr,ade  condensation  of  the 
second  kind  takes  place,  but  ihe  authiu-  has  no  been  able  to 
observe  it,  since  theditTerence  between  Ti*  nd  Tu  for  the  two 
substances  experimented  on  caimot  be  more  than  o"" I,  and  the 
temperalure  could  not  be  maintained  suHiciently  constant  to  hope 
to  lie  able  t<i  ilelect  any  phenoniennn  taking  place  o\er  such  a 
small  temperature  range.  The  author  showeil  his  arrangement 
for  stirring  the  litpiid  and  vapour  in  the  experimenlal  tube  .so  as 
to  prevent  any  retardation  of  ihe  dilTerent  phases  due  to  slow 
diffusicm  in  the  long  narrow  tubes  employed.  A  small  piece  ol 
iriin  with  enamel  beads  on  the  ends  is  enclosed  in  the  experi- 
mental tuiie,  and  by  meatis  of  a  small  magnetising  coil  which 
suridunils  the  jacket  useil  to  keep  the  temperalure  of  the  lube 
constant,  this  piece  ot  iron  can  be  moved  up  an<l  down  the 
lube  so  as  to  keep  the  licpiiil  an<l  vapom  thiirou^;hIy  stirred. 
I'rof.  Carey  Kosler  and  I'rof.  Ramsay  complimented  Ihe  author 
on  the  very  luciil  way  he  had  expounded  a  iiy  no  means  easy 
subject.  I)r.  Siilney  \oung  congratulated  the  author  on  the  able 
use  he  hail  made  of  his  lucky  discovery  nf  two  bodies  .sm  h  thai 
their  mixture  should  have  a  lower  critical  lemperature  lliaii  thai 
of  either  of  the  pure  substances.  I'rof.  Ramsay  and  he  I  Dr. 
\oimgl  had  made  experiments  on  the  va|iour  pressure  of  mix- 
Uire>  of  alcohol  and  ether,  and  had  fouiul  great  dillicully  in  pre- 


June  5,  1895] 


NATURE 


143 


venting  the  separation  of  the  components  when  the  volume  was 
nltered,  and  he  could,  therefore,  thoroughly  appreciate  the 
iitility  of  the  author's  device  for  overcoming  this  difficulty.  They 
liad  also  experienced  considerable  difticully  in  filling  the  tube 
uith  a  mixture  of  known  composition  and  free  from  air,  and  he 
■  msidered  that  when  dealing  with  mixtures  it  was  better  to 
employ  gases,  although  they  could  not  be  obt,iined  in  so  perfect 
a  state  of  purity  as  liquids,  on  account  of  the  greater  ease  with 
■which  a  mixture  of  known  composition  can  be  obtained.  The 
plan  of  making  separate  observations  on  the  jiure  substances  was 
a  good  one,  and  considering  that  the  author  measures  the 
increase  of  pressure  during  the  process  of  condensation,  so  that 
any  air  which  happened  to  be  present  produced  the  maximum 
effect,  the  small  rise  in  pressure  obtained  indicated  a  high  degree 
of  purity  in  the  gases  employed.  He  would  like  to  ask  the 
author  if  in  the  case  of  mixtures  he  found  it  possible  to 
determine  accurately  the  point  where  condensation  commenced 
antl  ended,  for  with  the  alcohol  and  ether  mixtures 
they  had  found  it  very  difficult  to  determine  these 
points.  He  also  hoped  the  author  would  continue  his  obser\'- 
ations  in  the  direction  indicated  in  the  |)aper.  Mr.  Inwards 
suggested  that  in  the  case  u{  liquids  which  act  on  iron,  the  iron 
stirrer  could  be  enclosed  in  glass  or  india-rubber.  It  might  also 
be  pos.sible  to  obtain  more  efticient  stirring  by  means  of  a  small 
fan  or  pro[)eller  worked  by  an  electro-magnet  rotating  outside 
the  tube.  The  author,  in  his  reply,  said  that  when  the 
mixtures  were  well  stirred,  the  pressures  at  which  condensation 
commenced  and  en<led  were  well  marked. — Mr.  Burstall  com- 
menced the  reading  of  a  paper  on  the  measurement  of  a  cyclic- 
ally varying  temperature.  The  experiments  were  undertaken 
with  a  view  of  measuring  the  temperature  inside  the  cylinder  of 
a  gas  engine  at  different  points  of  the  stroke  of  the  piston.  .V 
m<xlified  form  of  platinum  thermometer  is  employed  to  measure 
the  temperature,  and  since  the  variations  in  temperature  are 
extremely  rapid,  the  wire  had  to  be  very  thin  and  unprotected 
1)y  any  covering  such  as  is  ordinarily  employed.  The  leads  of 
the  thermometer  [Mss  through  a  slate  plug  fixed  in  a  seamless 
steel  tube,  asl>estos  being  used  as  a  packing  to  prevent  leakage. 
The  resistance  of  the  thermometer  is  mea-sured  by  means  of  a 
Wheatstone's  bridge.  .Since  the  temperature  at  a  certain  part 
•only  of  the  Kwr/'f//^  stroke  had  to  be  measured,  the  galvanometer 
■circuit  was  broken  in  two  jilaces  ;  one  of  these  breaks  was  closed 
by  means  of  a  cam  on  the  shaft  of  the  engine  at  a  given  fxiint  of 
each  revolution,  while  the  other  was  closed  when  an  explosion 
took  place  by  means  of  a  relay  worked  by  the  ]K)interf)f  a  steam 
•engine  indicator  att.iched  to  the  cylinder  of  the  engine.  The 
Temainiler  of  the  paper  was  postponed  till  the  next  meeting. 

Linnean  Society,  May  24. — .Xnniversary  Meeting  —Mr. 
C  B.  Clarke,  President,  in  the  chair. — The  Treasurer  presented 
his  annual  reiJort,  duly  audited,  and  the  Secretary  having 
announced  the  elections  and  deaths  during  the  past  twelve 
months,  the  usual  ballot  took  place  for  new  members  of  Council. 
The  following  were  elected  : — Prof  J.  B.  farmer,  Mr.  .\.  (iepj). 
Prof  Howes,  Dr.  Si.  (1.  .Mivart,  and  .Mr.  .\.  S.  Woodward. 
On  a  ballot  taking  place  for  the  election  of  President  and  officers, 
Mr.  Charles  Baron  Clarke  was  re-elected  President,  Mr.  Krank 
Oisp  Treasurer.  Mr.  B.  I).  Jackson  Botanical  Secretary,  and 
Prof  (i.  H.  Howes  Zooli^ical  .Secretary.  The  Librarian's 
re|)ori  having  been  read,  anil  certain  formal  business  dis|X)sed 
■of,  the  President  delivered  his  annu.al  address,  prefaced  by  some 
remarks  on  the  present  position  of  the  Society.  On  the  motion 
of  Sir  Joseph  Hooker,  seconded  by  I'r.  John  .\nders<m,  a  vole 
of  thanks  was  accorded  to  the  President,  with  a  reipiest  that  he 
would  allow  his  address  to  be  printed.  The  .Society's  gold 
medal  was  then  formally  awarded  to  Prof  Ferdinand  Cohn,  of 
Breslau,  and  was  received  on  his  behalf  by  .Mr.  B.  I).  Jackson  for 
transmission  through  the  Herman  emba.ssy.  The  President 
■having  called  attention  to  the  retirement  of  the  Zoological  Secre- 
tary, Mr.  \V.  Percy  Sladen,  after  holding  office  for  ten  years,  an 
announcement  which  he  felt  sure  would  lie  received  with  uni- 
versal regret,  it  was  jiroposed  by  Mr.  Carruthers,  seconded  by 
Mr.  Crisp,  and  supported  by  Mr.  Charles  Breese— "That  the 
I'ellows  of  this  Society,  regretting  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Walter 
Percy  Slailen  fr<un  the  post  of  Zoological  Secretar)',  which  he 
has  occupieil  for  the  |)ast  ten  years,  desire  to  record  upon 
the  Minutes  of  the  Society  an  ex|>ression  of  their  high 
appreciation  of  the  services  which  he  has  rendered  to  the 
.Society,  and  of  the  very  able  manner  in  which  he  has  at  all  times 
discharged  the  duties  of  his  office.  "  This  resolution  having  lieen 
put,   was  carried   unanimously,  and  after   a   sympathetic  reply 

NO.    1336,  VOL.   52] 


I  from  Mr.    Sladen,  the  Society  adjourned   to  June  6.     In  the 
'  evening  a  number  of  Fellows  of  the  Society  dined  together  at 
the  Grand   Hotel,  Charing  Cross,  the   President  occupying  the 
chair,  and  being  supported  by  several  distinguished  visitors. 

Royal  Meteorological  Society,  May  15. — Mr.  R.  Inwards, 
President,  in  the  chair.  —  .Mr.  (j.  J.  Symons,  V'.K.S.,  and  Mr. 
G.  Chatterton  read  a  paper  on  the  November  floods  of  1894  in 
the  Thames  Valley,  which  they  had  prepared  at  the  request  of 
j  the  Council  of  the  Royal  .Meteorological  Society.  This  con- 
'  sisted  of  a  systematic  description  of  the  cause>  which  led  to  the 
,  great  floods  of  November  last,  and  an  analysis  of  the  records 
■  obtained  from  the  Thames  Conservancy  Board,  from  the  engineers 
of  several  of  the  towns  along  the  river,  and  also  from  rainfall 
observers  throughout  the  Thames  watershed.  The  information 
1  was  given  chiefly  in  the  form  of  tables,  one  of  the  first  being  a 
I  chronological  history  of  floods  in  the  Thames  \  alley  from  the 
!  year  9  A. i».  down  to  the  present  time.  This  was  followed  by  a 
short  description  of  the  damage  wrought  in  November  1894, 
which  was  illustrated  by  a  number  of  interesting  lantern  slides. 
Details  were  then  given  of  the  levels  reached  at  various  places 
in  all  the  principal  floods  from  1 750  to  the  present  time.  The 
authors  exhibited  a  map  showing  the  relative  elevation  of  all  the 
parts  of  the  Thames  basin,  and  then  gave  details  of  the  rainfall 
for  each  day  from  October  23  to  November  iS.  1894.  The 
results  obtained  by  the  Thames  Conservancy  Board,  showing 
the  flood  levels  at  each  lock,  were  exhibited  on  a  longitudinal 
section  from  Lechlade  to  Teddington,  and  the  hydraulic  inclina- 
tions from  lock  to  lock  were  shown  in  a  tabular  form.  The 
volume  of  flood  water,  as  gauged  by  the  Thames  Conser\-ancy 
at  Teddington,  rose  rapidly  from  4000  million  gallons  per  diem 
on  November  12,  \^.^  10,250  million  gallons  on  the  l6lh,  12,800 
million  gallons  on  the  17th.  and  to  over  20.000  million  gallons 
on  the  iSth,  when  the  discharge  reached  its  maximum.  The 
la.st-named  tlischarge  is  equivalent  to  0"37  inch  over  the  whole 
watershed  of  the  Thames  .above  Teddington  Lock. — Mr.  F.J. 
Brodie  read  a  short  paper  on  the  barometrical  changes  pre- 
ceding and  accompan)'ing  the  heavy  rainfall  of  Nfivember  1894, 
from  which  it  appeared  that  the  latter  half  of  October  was 
characterised  by  unusually  bad  weather,  especially  in  the  more 
western  and  southern  parts  of  the  Briti-sh  Isles.  The  torrential 
rains  from  November  11  to  14,  which  actually  caused  the  floods, 
were  due  to  two  secondary  depressions  which  developed  a 
certain  anirmnl  of  intensity  as  they  passed  over  the  southern  pan 
of  England. 

Cambkidc;e. 

Philosophical  Society,  May  13. — Prof  J.  J.  Thomson, 
President,  in  the  chair. — Exhibition  of  some  recent  photographs 
of  the  moon,  by  Mr.  Newall. — On  the  "volume  heat''  of 
aniline,  by  Mr.  E.  H.  Griftiihs.  The  results  of  an  inquiry  (by 
what  may  be  termed  an  absolute  method)  into  the  influence  of 
temjierature  on  the  caiiacity  for  heat  of  aniline  were  published 
in  the  Philosophical  Maga-ine,  Januarj-  1S95.  During  last 
autumn,  Mr.  C.  (Ireen,  of  Sydney  College,  made  a  series  of 
observations  on  the  density  of  the  same  com|Miund,  over  the 
temperature  range  15°  to  52'  C.  Three  separate  sets  of  deter- 
minations of  the  density  gave  very  concordant  results.  If  the 
capacity  for  heat  of  equal  volumes  at  different  temperatures  Ix: 
denoted  by  the  phrase  "  voUtmc  heat^^  then  the  "  \olumeheat" 
at  any  tem|)erature  is  the  product  of  the  capacity  for  heat  and 
the  density.  In  the  case  of  aniline,  the  "  volume  heat  "  appears 
to  t)e  constant.  Our  knowledge  Of  the  change.--  in  the  capacity 
for  heat  of  water  due  to  changes  of  temperature  is  m>  uncertain 
that  the  ntativc  values  of  the  changes  in  the  sjiecihc  heat  of 
other  substances  are  of  little  absolute  value.  The  author,  there- 
fore, has  been  unable  to  exlenil  the  inquir)-  into  the  "  volume 
heat  "  of  other  bodies  than  aniline,  for  he  has  not  .succeeded  in 
finding  any  other  determinations  which  do  not  rest  on  some 
a.ssumption  as  to  the  behaviour  of  water. — Kxhibiiion  of  Gold- 
stein's experiments  on  kathtnle  rays,  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Capstick. 
Mr.  Capstick  showed  ( loldstein's  experiments  on  the  effect  of  a 
stream  of  kathode  rays  on  salts  of  the  alkalies.  When  the  rays 
are  directed  on  pot.as.sium  chloride,  for  instance,  the  salt  becomes 
of  a  heliotrope  colour,  and  retains  the  colour  for  several  days  if 
kept  out  of  contact  with  moisture.  The  eti'ect  api>ears  to  be 
due  to  a  chemical  change  in  the  substance — proliably  the  forma- 
tion of  a  sub-chloride — hut  the  Layer  of  altered  salt  is  so  exceed- 
ingly thin  that  it  is  difiticult  to  get  unequivocal  chemical  evidence 
as  to  its  nature. — On  a  curious  dvnamical  property  of  celts,  by 
.Mr.  C;.  T.    Walker.      Mr.  G.  T.  W.ilker  exhibiio.l    ,  elt-;  which 


144 


NATURE 


[Jim:  6,  1895 


possessed  the  property  of  spinning  in  only  one  direction  ujwn 
a  horizontal  surface. — On  the  formation  of  cloud  in  the  absence 
of  dust,  by  Mr.  C.  T.  R.  Wilson.  The  cloud-formation  is 
brought  about,  as  in  the  experiments  of  -Aitken  and  others,  by 
the  sudden  exjansion  of  saturated  air.  .A  form  of  api>aratus  is 
used  in  which  a  very  sudden  and  definite  increase  in  volume  is 
produced,  and  in  which  the  possibility  of  dust  entering  from  the 
outside  seems  to  be  excluded.  If  ordinary  air  is  started  with, 
it  is  found  that  after  a  comparatively  small  number  of  expan- 
sions, to  remove  dusi  particles  by  causing  condensation  to  take 
place  on  them,  there  is  no  further  condensation  unless  the  ex- 
pansion exceeds  a  certain  definite  amount.  With  exjiansion 
greater  than  this  critical  value  condensation  invariably  takes 
place,  and  the  critical  expansion  shows  no  tendency  to  rise,  how- 
ever many  expansions  be  made.  The  latest  result  for  the  ratio 
of  the  final  to  the  initial  volume,  when  the  critical  expansion  is 
just  reached,  is  f258  (when  initial  temperature  =  167).  This 
corresponds  to  a  fall  of  ten>))eralure  of  26-' C,  and  a  vapour 
pressure  4'5  times  the  saturation  pres.sure  for  a  plane  surface  of 
water.  The  radius  of  a  water  drop  just  in  equilibrium  with 
this  degree  of  su|iersaturation  =  6'5  x  10"*  cm.,  assuming  the 
ordinary  value  of  the  surface  tension  to  hold  for  drops  of  that 
size. 

May  27. — Evaluation  of  an  automorphic  function,  by  Mr. 
H.  F.  Baker. — On  a  construction  in  geometrical  optics,  by  Mr. 
J.  Larmor. — Note  on  the  steady  motion  of  a  viscous 
incompressible  ftuitl.  by  Mr.  J.  Brill. 

r.vKi^. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  May  27.  —  M.  Cornu  in  the  chair.  - 
On  an  algebraical  prfiblem  connected  with  Fermat's  last  theorem, 
by  M.  de  Jonquieres.  --.A  coniribution  to  the  historj-  of  (he 
cerium  earths,  by  M.  I'.  .Schulzcnl)erger. — (Jn  the  accumulation 
in  the  soil  of  cupric  compounds  use<l  in  the  treatment  of  para- 
sitic disea-ses  in  plants,  by  M.  .Ainie  Girard.  The  evidence 
furnished  by  the  author,  in  addition  to  the  facts  made  known 
by  other  writers,  completely  proves  that  continuous  treatment 
with  copper  compounds  for  a  long  perio<l  has  no  influence 
either  ujwn  the  quantity  or  the  quality  of  the  crop  obtained 
from  the  vine  or  potato. — Dr.  Krankland  was  elected  Foreign 
.As.sociate  of  the  .Academy. — Injection  of  ethyl  alcohol  into 
venous  blood,  by  M.  X.  drehant.  From  exjxjriments  made  on 
a  dog,  it  is  concluded  th.tt,  after  the  injection  into  the  blood 
of  a  considerable  volume  of  alcohol,  the  projxirtion  of  this  sub- 
stance in  the  blof>d  five  minutes  after  the  injection  and  for  more 
than  eight  hour>  afterwarils  becomes  absolutely  constant.  - 
Spectroscopic  researches  i>n  Saturn's  rings,  by  M.  II.  Deslandres. 
The  rotation  of  the  planet  and  of  its  inner  and  outer  rings  has 
liecn  measured  by  the  methods  used  first  by  the  author  with  the 
planet  Jupiter,  and  employed  by  Keeler  in  his  recently  pulilished 
researches  on  the  subject  of  this  pa|)er.  The  author  differs  from 
Kccler  in.somuch  .ts  he  does  not  regard  this  kind  of  evidence  as  a 
profif  of  the  meteoric  nature  of  the  rings. — On  the  reduction  of 
nitric  oxide  by  iron  or  zinc  in  presence  of  water,  by  M.M.  Paul 
Saljalier  and  f.  H.  Senderens.  The  reduction  of  gaseous  nitric 
oxide  or  nitric  oxide  disstilved  in  ferrous  sulphate  solution  results 
in  the  prtxluction  of  nitrous  oxide  and  nitrogen,  finally  the  nitrous 
oxide  is  completely  reduced  also.  .A  small  amount  of  anniionia  is 
formed,  and  a  consiilerable  quantity  of  hydrogen  liberated,  when 
the  reaction  is  )>ermillefl  to  grj  (m  for  a  consitierable  time. — On 
the  reduction  of  silica  by  aluminium,  by  M.  N'igouroux.  Silicim 
obtained  in  the  cry.italline  form  by  this  process  is  described.  —  .\ 
study  of  some  reactions  of  lead  sulphide,  by  M.  .A.  Lodin.  Mr. 
fames  llannay's  conclu.sions  concerning  the  hypothetical  com- 
|iound  I'bSjtJ...  and  the  |iart  played  by  it  in  the  metallurgy  <if 
lead,  arc  controvertetl.  It  is  found  that  lead  sulphide  fuses  at 
935',  but  exerts  a  consiilerable  va|)our  pressure  at  temperatures 
much  lower;  hence  the  explanation  of  the  volatilisation  of 
galena  requires  no  new  comp^iuul  to  \ni  sup|>osed  to  exist.  The 
lr>ng-arlinitted  ef|Uations  expressing  the  reactions  taking  place  in 
the  reverlicrator)-  furniice  are  completely  verified  by  the  author.  — 
(Jn  camijholenic  derivatives,  by  .M.  .A.  liehal. — On  crystallised 
cinchonicine.  by  M.  Ferdinand  I<(X|ues. — Transformation  of  an 
aniline  salt  into  an  anilidoacid.  Pyruvic  aciil  forms  with 
aniline  a  conilensation  proiluci,  CII,  .  C  (NC,II,) .  C(JOII. 
I'hcnylglyoxylir  acid,  under  the  same  conditions,  forms  the  salt, 
C,ll,  .  C'J.  CO,M  .  .MI,.  Cnllj.  Ondisv.lving  this  in  methyl 
alcohol,  the  condensation  pro<luct,  C^Wt, .  ('  (NCjII,)  .  CO,H, 
separate!)  out  in  the  crystalline  form  in  a  few  minutes  in  the  cold. 
— On  ozolienzcne.  by    M.   Adolphe   Kenard.      Hy  the  action  of 

NO.    1336,  VOL.  52] 


ozone  on  benzene  a  white  cxjilosive  substance  is  produced  having 
the  composition  CjIIgOj. — On  the  fixation  of  iodine  by  potato- 
starch,  by  M.  tiaston  Rouvier. — On  the  elimination  of  magnesia 
in  the  urine  of  infants  suffering  from  rickets,  by  M.  Oechsner  de 
Coninck. — ( )n  the  employment  of  serum  from  animals  immunised 
against  tetanus,  by  M.  L.  X'aillard.  The  antitetaiiic  serum  is 
able  to  confer  complete  immunity  for  from  two  to  six  w  eeks,  but 
if  the  tetanus  has  become  established,  inoculation  is  not  able  to 
prevent  progress  of  the  disease.  The  toxine  in  tetanus  is  per- 
haps the  most  active  of  the  bacterial  poisons,  yet  the  antitoxine 
of  the  serum  is  even  more  active. — The  relation  between  reliet 
and  the  frequency  and  intensity  of  earthquakes  of  any  region, 
by  M.  de  Montessus. — -Atmospheric  and  seismic  perturbations  oi 
the  month  of  M.ay  last  and  their  connection  with  solar 
phenomena,  by  M.  Ch.  \'.  Zenger. 


BOOKS  AND  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Books. — On  certain  i*l»t.'noiiit--na  belonging  to  iIk-  Clo>t;  of  tli;;  lasi  Geo- 
logical Period  and  on  their  Bearing  upon  the  Tradition  of  the  Flood  :  Dr.  J.. 
Pre-itwich  (Macmillan). — Fallacies  of  Race  Theories  as  applied  to  National 
Characteristics:  W.  D.  Babington  (Longmans), — A  Junior  Course  of 
Practical  Zoology  :  Prof.  A.  M.  Marshall  and  Dr.  C.  H.'Hur>i,  4th  edition 
(Smith.  Elder). — Handbuch  fur  Botanische  Bestimmungsubungen  :  Dr.  F* 
Niedenzu  (Leipzig,  Engelmann). — Cours  FIrfmeniaire  dElectricit^  :  M.  B. 
Brunhes  (Paris,  (iauthicr-V'ilKirs). — Vcrlagskatalog  von  W'ilhclm  Engelmann 
in  Leipzig  bis  ende  des  Jahres  1894  (Leipzig,  Engelmann). — The  Time 
Machine  :  H.  G.  Wdls  (Heincmaim). — A  Text-Book  of  Physiology  :  Dr. 
NL  Foster,  6th  edition.  Part  2.  comprising  Hook  -2  (Macmillan).— The  Lum- 
leian  1-eciures  on  certain  Points  in  the  .'Etiology  of  Discx^e,  and  the 
Harveian  Oration :  Dr.  P.  H.  Pyc-.Smith  (Churchill). — Meteorological 
Charts  of  the  Red  Sea  (Eyre  and  .Spottiswoode). 

Serials. — Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  Vol.  xx. 
pp.  ^05-384  (F^dinburgh).— National  Review,  June(Arnold). — Humanitarian^ 
June  (Hutchinson).  —  Natural  Science,  June  TRait). — Conicinporary  Re\  iew, 
June  (Kl)istcr). — Scribner's  Magazine,  lunc(Low). — Zcitschrifi  fiir  Physikal* 
ischc  Chemie,  .vvii.  Band,  i  Heft  (Leipzig.Engelm.inn). — Fonnigbily  Review. 
June  (Chapman). — North  American  Fauna,  No.  S  (Washington). — Proceed- 
ings of  the  American  Philosophical  Society  ,  May  i8g3(Philadclphia).  — Ditto, 
July  to  December,  1894  (Philadelphia).— Proceedings  of  the  .Vcadeiny  of 
S'atural  Sciences  of  Phil.idelphia,  1894,  Part  3  (Philadelphia). — Bulletin 
from  the  Laboratories  of  Natural  Historj-  of  the  State  Univei-sity  of  Iowa, 
Vol.  3,  No.  3  (Iowa). — Geographical  Journal,  June  (Stanford). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  "Challenger"   Expedition   and    the    Future    of 

Oceanography.      Kv  Dr.  Anton  Dohrn 121 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

TegelnKier  and  .Sutherland  :   "  Horses,  .A.sses,  Zebras, 

.Mules,  and  Mule  Breeding." -W.  F.  G 126 

F.lger  :   "The  Moon" 127 

.Senior:   ".Algebra" 127 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

.Vrgon    and     Dissociation.-  Prof.    Penry  Vaughan 

Sevan  :  Lord  Rayleigh.  F.R.S 127 

Terrestrial  Helium  (?).      Prof.  C.  Runge 12S 

The    Origin   <if   the    Cultivated    Cineraria. — W.     T. 
Thiselton-Dyer,    C.M.G.,   F.R.S.  :    Prof.    W. 

F,  R.  Weldon,  F.R.S 12S 

Some   Hililiological     DiM-overies   in    Terrestrial     .Mag- 
netism.    Captain  Ettrick  W.  Creak,  F.R.S.  .    .     129 
Kffects  of  l!arlhquake  in  .Sumatra.     (With  Diai^raiiis.) 

— Th.  Delprat 129 

Inslinillmpulse.      Henry  Rutgers  Marshall  ;  The 

Writer  of  the  Notej 130 

Recent  Excavations  at   the   Pyramids   of   Dahshiir. 

{///usirahd.) I.il 

Notes     I  i,; 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Ihc  Moli'Mi  of  the  Solar  Sy.stem ij5 

The  Rotation  of  Mars 13S 

The  Sun"s  Stellar  .M.ignilude IJS 

The  Greenwich  Observatory Ij6 

The  Field  Columbian  Museum,     {/lliislratcd.)     ...     137 
Prize  Subjects  of  the  French  Soci^tc  d'fincourage- 

mcnt  I  ;S 

Recent  Glacial  Studies  in  Greenland,     liy  H.  B.  W.     139 

University  and   Educational  Intelligence 140 

Scientific  Serials I4> 

Societies  and  Academies 141 

Books  and  Serials  Received I44 


NA TURE 


145 


MASKEL  YNE'S  CRYSTALLOGRAPHY. 
Crystalloj^raplty,    a     Trea/isc     on     the     Morphology    of 
Crystals.       By    N.     Stor>-.Maskclync,    M.A.,    K.R.S., 
Professor  of  Mineralogy,  Oxford.     521  pp.  and  xii.  pp., 
398  figures,  8  plates,  8vo.     (Clarendon  Press,  1895.) 

\rTEK  wandering  in  the  desert  for  considerably  more 
than  forty  years,  the  English  student  of  crystallo- 
graphy is  at  length  brought  within  sight  of  the  promised 
land  ;  it  is  true  that  guides  have  been  offered  to  him 
m  the  interval,  but  they  have  spoken  in  strange  tongues, 
and  have  sometimes  been  mere  dust-clouds  of  unneces- 
sary formula'  and  notations,  calculated  rather  to  bewilder 
than  to  lead. 

The  long-expected  treatise  of  Prof  Maskclync  will  be 
found  to  fully  justify  the  anticipations  with  which  it  has 
been  awaited  ;  those  who  desire  to  study  crystals  and 
crystallogiaphy  arc  no  longer  confronted  by  the  want  of 
an  authoritative  handbook,  and  need  no  longer  lose  them- 
selves among  the  works  of  foreign  authors.  The  English 
books  hitherto  available  are  few  in  number.  The  re- 
markable "Treatise"'  and  "Tract"  of  the  late  Prof 
Miller  established,  in  the  most  rigid  manner,  a  mathe- 
matical basis  for  the  science,  and  must  always  remain 
standard  works — masterpieces  of  precision.  These  two 
books  contain,  in  a  few  pages,  all  that  is  essential  ;  but 
being  condensed  into  a  bald  sequence  of  theorems,  they 
appeal  almost  exclusively  to  the  mathematician.  Mr. 
Gurney's  little  introduction  to  the  subject,  and  the  text- 
book of  the  late  Prof  V,.  H.  Williams,  are  excellent 
stimulants  to  the  beginner,  but  will  not  suffice  for  the 
more  advanced  student  ;  the  present  work  supplies  most 
completely  what  was  wanted. 

It  is  easy  to  state  what  is  required  from  the  practical 
point  of  view  in  a  text-book  on  the  morphology  of  crystals  : 
the  learner  desires  to  know  what  are  the  forms  of 
crystals,  and  how  the)'  differ  from  other  figures  ;  he  must 
be  told  how  they  are  determined  and  described,  and  for 
educational  purposes  it  is  especially  important  that  the 
geometrical  relations  should  be  established  by  simple 
methods  of  proof  from  intelligible  principles. 

.■Ml  this  the  present  \olumc  satisfactorily  accomplishes. 
.■\  crystal  is  considered  to  be,  for  morphological  purposes, 
a  complex  of  planes  which  obey  a  simple  geometrical 
law — that  known  as  the  law  of  rational  indices,  and  the 
early  part  of  the  book  is  consequently  devoted  to  the 
investigation  of  such  a  complex,  and  shows,  further,  how- 
it  is  denoted  and  represented  ;  this  involves  a  series  of 
propositions  relating  to  axes  and  indices,  to  stereographic 
projection,  and  to  the  relations  of  zones.  The  idea  of 
symmetry  superimposed  on  such  a  geometrical  complex 
is  considered  in  the  two  following  chapters,  and  the  six 
systems,  having  thus  been  established,  are  considered  in 
detail  in  cha|)ter  vii. 

.\llhnugh  this  treatise  will  certainlj-  not  prove  attrac- 
tive to  readers  who  are  totally  unfamiliar  with  mathe- 
matical methods  and  conceptions,  yet  it  succeeds  in 
giving  simple  and  elegant  proofs  (many  of  them  new) 
of  all  the  necessary  theorems  without  introducing^  any 
advanced  mathematics.  .-Xt  the  same  time  the  book  is 
NO.    1 33-,   VOL     52J 


far  from  being  a  geometrical  study.  The  eighth  and 
ninth  chapters,  comprising  more  than  one  hundred  pages, 
are  devoted  to  the  practical  methods  emjjioyed  in  the 
goniometrical  measurement  and  calculation  of  angles,  and 
to  the  manner  in  which  crystals  are  depicted  by  projec- 
tions and  perspective  drawings  ;  further,  each  crystalline 
type  is  represented  by  copious  examples  from  minerals 
and  chemical  products,  and  frequent  references  will  be 
found  to  the  bearing  of  certain  physical  investigations 
upon  the  points  discussed.  .Such  a  complete  treatment, 
for  example,  as  is  here  given  of  the  twinning  of  diamond, 
quartz,  and  felspar  is  infinitely  more  satisfactory  than 
the  meagre  sketch  usually  found  in  text-books,  whether 
of  crystallograph)-  or  mineralog\'. 

But  the  book  contains  far  more  than  is  indicated 
above  ;  it  is,  at  least  so  far  as  regards  certain  aspects 
of  the  subject,  a  really  philosophic  treatise,  of  which 
the  originality  and  peculiar  interest  will  be  best  ap- 
preciated by  a  reader  who  refers  to  the  discussion  of 
crystalloid  symmetry  contained  in  the  fifth  and  si.xth 
chapters.  Here  the  nomenclature  is  to  a  large  extent 
new,  although  some  of  the  terms  have  become  familiar 
in  Mr.  Crurney's  little  book,  where  they  are  mentioned 
as  due  to  Prof  Maskelyne.  Many  of  them  are  invaluable 
aids  to  precision  ;  haplo-  and  diplo-hedral,  meta-  and 
anti-strophic,  holo-  and  hemi-systematic,  for  example, 
are  terms  which  avoid  much  circumlocution,  introduce 
clear  conceptions,  and  once  used  can  scarcely  be  dis- 
pensed with. 

The  chapters  dealing  with  symmetry  must  ha\c  been 
familiar  to  Prof  Maskelyne's  pupils  many  years  ago,  at 
a  time  when  the  importance  of  this  subject  was  by  no 
means  recognised  ;  to  him  is  undoubtedly  due  the  credit 
of  first  in  this  country  directing  to  crystal  symmetry  the 
consideration  which  it  deserves,  which,  moreover,  it  failed 
to  receive  in  the  methods  of  Miller.  In  the  present  book 
symmetry  is  of  cardinal  importance  :  the  systems  are 
deduced  from  a  discussion  of  the  possible  forms  which 
inay  be  assumed  by  the  systematic  triangle,  i.e.  the 
triangle  formed  by  the  intersection  of  a  sphere  with 
three  adjacent  planes  of  symmetry  ;  the  mcro-symmetrical 
divisions  of  the  systems  are  then  considered  as  resulting 
from  the  possible  "  presence  or  absence  of  certain  faces 
consequent  upon  the  abeyance  of  the  actual  symmetrical 
character  of  planes  which  are  otherwise  potentially  planes 
of  symmetiy "  ;  in  other  words,  the  symmetry  of  the 
system  is  regarded  as  a  complete  type  latent  in  the 
hemihcdral  and  tetartohedral  crystals,  and  exercising 
a  symmetrical  influence  by  virtue  of  the  axes  of  symmetry, 
which  arc  themselves  the  result  of  dormant  jjlanes  of 
symmetiy. 

Now  in  recent  years  new  methods  of  treating  crystallo- 
graphy, also  mainly  from  the  point  of  view  of  symmetry, 
have  been  developed  in  other  countries  ;  to  avoid  criti- 
cising the  present  treatise  in  the  light  of  the  newer 
teaching,  would  be  to  shirk  a  responsibility  obviously 
imposed  upon  a  conscientious  review. 

One  method  frames  a  theory  of  crystal  structure  which 
shall  accord  with  the  observed  homogeneity  of  crystals, 
finds  in  how  many  ways  such  structures  may  be  sym- 
metrical, and  so  deduces  the  systems  ;  such  is  the  course 
pursued  in  Mallard's  magnificent  treatise  upon  the  basis 
of   Bravais'  theory  of  structure,  and   a  similar  method 

li 


146 


NA  TURE 


[Junk   13,  189; 


I 


might  be  based  upon  a  more  extended  theor>',  such  as 
that  of  Sohncke  or  that  of  Fedorow  and  Schonflics,  and 
would  lead  to  all  known  varieties  of  crystal  symmetry. 
Such  a  deductive  method  is  not,  however,  one  which  has 
ever  commended  itself  to  scientific  teachers  in  this 
country,  and  it  is  not  one  which  can  be  logically  .idopted 
in  a  book  dealing  solely  with  the  morphology  of  crystals. 

The  second  method  is  the  one  introduced  by  C.adolin  ; 
it  inquires  in  how  many  ways  a  figure  obeying  the  law 
of  rational  indices  can  be  symmetrical  according  to  the 
number  and  distribution  of  its  planes  and  axes  of  sym- 
metr>',  and  it  leads  satisfactorily  to  all  the  known  varieties 
of  cr>'stals.  It  was  employed  by  Liebisch,  and  has  been 
carried  to  its  utmost  extreme  in  the  new  edition  of  Groth's 
"  Physikalische  Krystallographie,"  where  the  systems  arc 
geometrically  little  more  than  artificial  groups  constructed 
by  synthesis  of  the  various  types,  the  conception  of  mcro- 
symmetry  being  completely  abandoned.  Prof  Maskelyne 
treats  of  planes  before  axes  of  symmetry,  and  regards  the 
latter  as  begotten  by  the  former;  accordingly  he  is  com- 
pelled to  introduce  the  idea  of  mero-symmetry  as  a  second 
empirical  law,  whereas  the  method  of  (iadolin  requires 
the  one  law  of  rational  indices  alone.  In  the  opinion  of 
the  present  writer,  (iadolin's  is  the  most,  indeed  the 
only,  logical  process.  It  must,  however,  be  confessed 
that  the  method  of  Prof  Maskelyne  possesses  a  sim- 
plicity which  is  important  from  the  educational  point 
of  view,  and  might  alone  be  sufficient  justification  for 
its  use ;  that  he  has  considered  and  rejected  other 
possible  courses  is  clear  from  the  discussion  on  p.  171, 
which  leads  to  the  following  suggestive  remark  :  "  It  is, 
however,  evident  that  the  whole  treatment  of  crystal- 
lographic  symmetrj-  on  the  assumption  of  planes  and 
axes  of  symmetry,  actual  or  potential,  represents  a  geo- 
metrical abstraction  ;  an  abstraction  that  needs  for  its 
development  and  due  explanation  a  complete  science  of 
position  applied  to  the  molecular  mass-centres." 

In  the  preface  it  is  stated  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
present  treatise  has  long  been  in  print  ;  this  being  the 
case,  the  earlier  part  must  inevitably  be  somewhat  out  of 
touch  with  recent  discovery,  and  since  there  is  no  list  of 
errata,  statements  which  are  not,  like  the  geometrical 
propositions,  unassailable,  must  be  received  with  due 
caution.  Thus  milk-sugar  is  stated  to  be  orthorhombic, 
it  has  recently  been  proved  mono-symmetric  ;  the  whole 
of  §  314  should  now  be  cancelled.  Again,  §  140  must  be 
read  in  the  light  of  §  266.  Cuprite  is  described  both  as 
holo-symmetrical  and  as  hemi-symmetrical  ;  but  the 
intelligent  reader  will  find  the  most  important  of  such 
contradictions  implicitly  corrected  in  a  table  of  crystalline 
types,  with  authentic  examples,  given  on  p.  502.  This 
table  is  introductory  to  eight  useful  plates  which  deserve 
special  .attention,  since  they  represent  all  the  varieties  of 
merohedra  and  their  relations,  and  render  the  previous 
descriptions  cisily  intelligible. 

The  appearance  of  this  book  is  an  interesting  event  in 
the  history  of  crystallography.  The  volume  stands  as  a 
striking  and  permanent  record  of  the  original  manner  in 
which  this  science  has  for  many  years  been  treated  by 
the  Oxford  Professor  in  lectures,  of  which  the  substance 
is  now  for  the  first  lime  made  public.  IJy  those  who 
have  had  the  privilege  of  personal  acquaintance  with  his 
(caching,  it  will  be  welcomed  as  the  familiar  echo  of  a 
NO.    1337.  VOL.   52] 


style    of  exposition    singularly    adapted    to   kindle    en-    i 
ihusiasm  for  an  abstruse  subject,  and  by  the  scientific    ' 
public,  as  an  authorit.-itive  treatise  on  a  science  of  which 
the   growing  importance  is   continually  becommg    more 
fully  recognised.  H.  .\.   iVIiers. 

THE  STUDY  OF  STEREOCHEMISTRY. 
Stt'reoiitimie.     Exposi'  des   theories  de  Le   /ie/  et    Va)H 
Hoff.     Par  E.  G.  Monod,  avec  une  preface  de  M.  C. 
Kriedel.     (Paris:  (7authier-Villars  et  Fils,  1895.) 

THIS  is  a  small  Ijook  of  162  pages  which  gives  a  cUiir 
account  of  the  fundamental  ideas  upon  which  is 
founded  the  modern  doctrine  of  chemistry  in  space,  which 
sprang,  as  every  one  knows,  out  of  Pasteur's  classical  re- 
searches on  the  relation  between  optical  activity  and 
crystalline  form.  Much  fault  need  not  be  found  with  this 
book  because  it  contains  rather  dogmatic  statements  of 
debatable  propositions,  but  we  venture  to  think  tlic 
treatment  of  the  subject  too  sketchy  and  superficial  to 
aflford  much  real  help  to  the  student. 

M.  Monod's  little  Ijook  relates  only  to  the  stereochem- 
istry of  carbon,  and  tlic  isomerism  of  nitrogen  compounds 
is  not  referred   to.     Now  this  department  of  theoretical 
chemistr>'  is  one  which  should  be  entered  by  the  student 
at    a    comparatively   advanced    stage    of    his    progress, 
when  he  is  already   familiar   with    the    more    important 
facts     upon    which     the    theory    is    based.       It    seem- 
doubtful,   therefore,    whether    so    scanty    an   outline   as 
this   will   supply   what   is    wanted   by    students   at    this 
stage.     They  will  desire  to  be  told  not  only  tliat  a  certain 
'  number  of  groupings  are  possible  with  a  stated  number  of 
carbon  atoms,  which  is  usually  obvious  enough,  but  they 
will  require  to  be  told  something  of  the  secondary  hypo- 
,  theses    with    which    the    fundamental    idea   has   become 
encrusted.     Kor  example,  the  union  between  two  carbon 
atoms  joined  by  a  single  bond  is  shown  (p.    17)  to  be 
"mobile,"  that  is,  each  carbon  is  supposed  to  be  able  to 
rotate,  together  with  its  attached  radicles,  round  the  axis 
joining  the  two  carbons  ;  but  the  student  is   left  at   th.it 
point  to   wonder  why   it  should  rotate  at  all.      It  is  only  . 
much  later  (p.  63),  in  connection   with    the   isomerism   of  i 
fumaric  and  maleic  acids,  that  reference  is  made   to  the  | 
doctrine  of  attractions  between    the    radicles    associated  I 
with  carbon  atoms  adjacent  to  each  other.      In  this  case  it 
is  not  justifiable  to  say  that  the  attraction  of  CO^ll  for  H 
is  C7'iiieii//y  greater  than  that  of  CO^H  for  COJl  or  H   : 
for   n.     There  is  nothing  ei'iden/  about  the  statement, 
which  is  almost   purely  hypothetical,  such    evidence   as  | 
docs  exist  tending  almost  as  much  one  way  as  the  other.     ' 

Throughout  the  book  the  conventional  tetrahedron  is 
the  symbol  used,  and  we  have  not  been  able  to  find  any 
account  of  \\  iinderlich's  hypothesis  as  to  the  configur- 
ation and  union  of  carbon  atoms,  nor  of  Bacyer's  strain 
theory  in  the  formation  of  closed  chains,  nor  of  any  oilur 
explanation  of  the  way  in  which  two  carbons  may  unite 
by  double  or  triple  bonds,  and  the  consequences  of  sucli 
union. 

The  most  inlercsting  part  of  tlic  hook  is  the  hiiif 
fourth  section,  which  relates  to  the  researches  and  in  - 
potheses  of  (iuye  as  to  the  relation  between  the  rotatory 
power  of  the  substance  and  the  masses  of  the  radic  les 
attached  to  an  asymmetric  carbon  in  the  molecule  of  an 
optically  acti\e  compound. 


June  13.  1895J 


NA  TURE 


'4; 


One  word  more.  The  sliort  preface  by  I'rof.  Friedel 
explains,  as  follows,  the  object  of  the  book  :  "  La  branchc 
de  la  science  chiniique  a  laquelle  on  a  donne  le  nom  de 
stereochimie  ou  chimie  dans  I'espace  est  de  date  toute 
recente.  Elle  a  ete  cret5  par  MM.  A.  Le  Bel  et  Van't 
Hoff:  ...  A  I'dtranger  les  publications  d'ensemble  faites 
pour  repandre  ces  notions  ne  manqucnt  pas.  II  n'en  est 
pas  de  mcme  en  France,"  &c.  This  seems  strange,  while 
(lose  by,  rue  S.  Andre  dcs  Arts,  may  be  had  Meyerhoffers 
edition  of  X'an't  HofTs  celebrated  "  Di.\  annees  dans 
I'histoire  d'une  th^orie,''  a  book  of  infinitely  greater 
interest  than  the  volume  before  us. 

.\  practice  has  grown  up  of  late  years  of  inserting  into 
text-books  by  obscure  authors  little  prefaces  by  better- 
known  men,  containing  nothing  in  particular  in  the  way  of 
information,  and  in  which  the  laudatory  expressions  are 
not  always  quite  justified  by  the  character  of  the  book. 
So  long  as  "puffing''  is  regarded  as  allowable,  there  is 
no  very  clear  reason  why  it  should  not  be  pennitted  in 
connection  with  books;  but  the  sort  of  preface  referred  to, 
has  rather  too  strong  a  family  likeness  to  the  "  certificate  ' 
so  often  found  on  the  label  of  hair-restorers  and  packets 
of  cocoa,  to  the  virtues  of  which  these  writers  of  prefaces 
would  probably  in  most  c;ises  shrink  from  testifying. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 


By 


The  Telephone  Systems  of  the  Continent  of  Europe. 
.A.  R.  Bennett.     (London  :  Longmans,  1895.) 

With  what  object  was  this  book  written  ?  The  introduc- 
tion is  a  violent  diatribe  against  the  telephone  powers 
that  be  in  England  ;  and  yet  by  his  titles,  the  author 
seems  to  have  been  nursed  in  their  service.  Moreover, 
England  and  (".ermany  with  their  162,000  telephones,  rank 
next  to  the  I'nited  States,  and  possess  more  telephones 
than  all  the  rest  of  Europe  put  together.  In  fact,  next  to 
Scandinavia  and  Switzerland,  England  ranks  above 
( iermany  in  telephonic  development  the  rest  of  Europe 
being  "  nowhere."  Why,  therefore,  this  wailing  and 
gnashing  of  teeth  ':  Why  should  England  and  Germany 
alone  in  Europe  excite  his  wrath  r  Is  it  that  they  will 
not  adopt  at  home  his  \icw  s  of  low  rates  and,  perhaps,  no 
profits,  and  did  his  apparent  rough  treatment  in  Berlin 
prejudice  his  judgment  of  ( lerman  ways?  The  book  is 
full  of  statistics  of  the  growth  and  development  of  the 
business  in  different  European  countries — except  England. 
It  indicates  the  public  uses  to  which  telephones  can  be 
applied,  but  it  contains  little  that  is  scientific  or  prac- 
tical. Its  facts  are  fleeting,  and  its  raison  detre  is  not 
exident. 

The  development  of  telephony  in  Sweden  is  very  re- 
markable. The  difficulty  of  locomotion,  and  the  long 
(lark  days  in  winter,  may  account  for  much  of  it.  In  a 
population  of  4.8:4,000  there  are  26,201  telephones  in 
use.  This  means  one  telephone  to  184  inhabitants.  In 
the  L'nited  States  there  is  one  telephone  to  270  in- 
habitants. 

In  Switzerland  it  is  even  more  developed  than  in 
Sweden.  The  difficulties  of  locomotion  and  internal 
communication,  the  isolation  of  valleys,  that  gold  mine 
to  the  country— the  great  summer  tourist  traffic— and 
hotel  life,  may  account  for  this,  but  the  author  attributes 
its  success  solely  to  its  cheapness.  In  fact  it  is  too 
cheap,  for  it  docs  not  pay.  and  this  state  of  things  is  not 
londucive  to  future  prosperity. 

'I'he  great  development  of  telephony  in  the  United 
States,  where  there  are  232,140  subscribers  in  spite  of 
very  high  rates,  does  not  support  the  views  of  the 
author. 


NO. 


VOL. 


5^1 


The  annual  charge  in  Switzerland  was  originally  150 
francs  per  annum  for  an  unlimited  local  service,  and  an 
additional  25  francs  per  annum  to  cover  trunk  or  inter- 
urban  service.  It  was  soon  found  necessary  to  charge 
2(3  centimes  per  talk  of  five  minutes  on  trunk  lines. 
Since  1890  the  local  charges  have  been  80  francs  per 
annum  with  800  free  talks,  and  5  centimes  per  extra  talk, 
and  the  trunk  charges  per  three  minutes,  30  centimes  for 
any  distance  up  to  50  kil.,  50c.  to  100  kil.,  and  above 
100  kil.  75c.  Vxom  January  i,  1896,  it  will  be  a  ver\- 
practical  and  sensible  tariff,  viz.  an  initial  annual  charge 
of  40  francs  and  a  uniform  charge  of  5  centimes  for  all 
local  talks,  the  trunk  charges  remaining  unchanged. 
The  number  of  talks  per  annnm  per  subscriber  during 
1894  was— local  504  and  trunk  85,  but  the  trunk  traffic  in 
many  places  far  exceeds  the  local.  In  Affoltern.  for 
instance,  during  1894,  there  were  only  105  local  talks, 
while  the  trunk  talks  amounted  to  8167  {Journal  Tele- 
graphique.  May  25,  i8<J5).  There  were  at  the  end  of 
1894,  18,814  subscribers  in  Switzerland.  This  means  one 
telephone  to  147  inhabitants. 

-A  word  is  wanted  badly  to  express  a  telephonic  con- 
versation or  talk  analogous  to  "telegram."  The  author's 
"  telephonogram  ''  is  lengthy.  "  Phonogram  "  is  in  use 
in  connection  with  the  phonograph.  "Telelogue"  has 
been  proposed,  but  has  not  met  with  general  approval 

The   Elements  of  Health.     By  Louis   C.    Parkes,   M.D. 
D.P.H.     (London  :  J.  and  A.  Churchill,  1895.) 

The  author  of  this  manual  states  in  the  preface  that  his 
"main  idea  has  been  to  give  some  simple  j'et  practical 
information  on  the  preservation  of  individual  or  personal 
health."  It  is  impossible  to  say,  with  any  degree  of  cer- 
tainty, who  is  to  be  accorded  the  distinction  of  having 
originated  such  an  "idea."  Certainly  Hippocrates  under- 
took the  writing  of  treatises  on  hygiene,  and  even  he 
\yas  only  following  in  the  footsteps  of  others.  This  pre- 
liminary remark  mainly  arises  out  of  the  fact  that  when 
another  manual  of  hygiene  appears,  one's  natural  impulse 
is  to  turn  to  the  preface,  in  order  to  see  if  the  author  has 
any  new  moti\  e  to  suggest  for  its  appearance  ;  for  the 
fact  is,  there  is,  at  present,  a  superabundance  of  such 
works.  Dr.  Parkes'  manual,  good  as  it  is,  contains  pnic- 
ticaily  nothing  that  cannot  be  found  in  any  of  the  other 
dozen  or  more  elementary  treatises  dealing  with  the  same 
subject  ;  and  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  same 
author's  work  upon  "  Hygiene  and  Public  Health,"  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  state  that  the  present  volume  under  review- 
is  practically  that  work  popularised  and  very  much 
abridged. 

The  illustrations  are  excellent  ;  and  it  is  a  positive  relief 
to  find  that  they  show  a  little  freshness  in  their  treatmen', 
and  are  something  more  than  the  slock  figures  that 
appear  in  so  many  similar  publications. 

Dr.  Parkes  occupies  a  deser\edly  high  position  among 
sanitarians,  and  it  goes  without  saying  that  his  teachings 
are  sound.  There  are  only  two  points  which  call  for 
adverse  criticism.  The  table  on  jjage  1 68  needs  revision  ; 
the  author  is  well  aware  that  the  fat  in  butter  does  not 
average  88  per  cent.;  indeed,  on  a  subsequent  page  (196) 
he  himself  puts  it  down  at  S3  per  cent.  ;  and  his  state- 
ment that  it  is  "doubtful  if  alum  (in  bread),  unless  pre- 
sent in  considerable  quantity,  is  able  to  influence  health 
adversely,''  is  also  open  to  criticism.  In  the  first  place, 
it  is  doubtful  whether,  if  such  be  the  case,  it  is  prudent  to 
make  so  loose  a  statement  in  what  is  designed  to  be  a 
popular  work  for  the  lay  reader.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  the  hydrate  of  alumina,  which  results  from  the  use 
of  baking  powders  containing  alum,  is  soluble  in  the 
hydrochloric  acid  of  the  gastric  juice,  and  there  are 
many  good  reasons  for  regarding  such  addition  as  ver\' 
undesirable  ;  it  would,  moreover,  probably  ])rove  harmful 
when  present  in  what  may  be  heW  to  constitute  less  th;m 
a  eonsiiterat'le  quantity. 


148 


X.-d  TURE 


[June  13.  1S95 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 


[  The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  iorrespoitdents.  Neither  can  he  undertake 
to  return^  or  to  correspond  luith  the  writers  of,  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  NATURE. 
Ac  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.^ 

Hypnotised  Lizards. 

Several  communications  relating  to  the  .so-called  "  death- 
feigning  instinct "  of  certain  reptiles  have  appeared  in  the 
columns  of  Nature  during  the  last  few  months.  The  following 
obsenations  bearing  on  this  question  may  be  of  sufficient  interest 
to  justify  publication.  They  refer  to  a  sjwcies  of  lizard  of  the 
genus  Stellio  (identified  in  Tristram's  "Fauna  and  Flora  of 
Palestine"  as  S.  cordylina),  which  is  extremely  common  in  these 
parts.  When  one  of  these  lizards  is  captured,  it  makes  a  few 
vigorous  efforts  to  escape,  and  then,  if  held  firmly,  falls  into  a 
limp,  motionless  state,  which  might  easily  lead  an  inexperienced 
person  to  think  it  dead.  A  very  little  examination,  however, 
shows  that  the  animal  is  not  dead,  but  in  a  trance-like  conditiim. 
Gentle  respiratory  movements  are  visible  just  behind  the 
shoulders,  and  sometimes  show  a  rising  and  falling  rhythm  with 
short  intervals  of  complete  rest  ;  the  eyes  may  remain  wide  open, 
but  are  commonly  half-closed,  and  the  lids  wink  slowly  Irom 
time  to  time  spontaneously  or  by  reflex  action  ;  the  mouth  is 
almost  always  open — sometimes  wide,  sometimes  but  little — and 
in  either  case  the  jaw  is  quite  rigid,  and  if  closed  by  force  is  apt 
to  reopen  when  the  pressure  is  withdrawn  ;  the  limbs  lie  extended 
and  semi-flaccid,  with  some  approach  to  a  cataleptic  condition, 
i.e.  if  bent,  or  stretched  into  positions  not  too  strained,  they 
maintain  such  jwsilions  when  let  go  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of 
the  trunk  and  tail.  If,  now,  the  lizard  be  laid  down  gently  nn 
the  floor  or  on  a  table,  it  will  lie  perfectly  still  and  seemingly 
unconscious  for  some  minutes  (unless  roused  by  a  sudden  jar  or 
loud  noise),  the  eyes  preserving  throughout  a  peculiarly  vacant, 
expres.sionless  as|)ect,  quite  suggestive  of  death.  While  in  this 
state  the  lizard  may  be  put  into  a  variety  of  positions  without 
eliciting  any  sign  of  consciousness,  and  will  lie  .is  quietly  on  its 
hack  as  in  the  natural  position  ;  and  I  have  without  difticulty 
made  one  maintain  various  grotesque  [x)stures,  such  as  .standing 
erect  with  one  hand  resting  on  the  edge  of  a  Ixjok,  like  a  preacher 
t)chind  a  pulpit  ;  bending  sharply  around,  and  seizing  the  tail 
with  the  claws  of  one  fore-foot  ;  cocking  the  tail  over  the  back, 
scorpion  fashion,  &c. 

.Although  some  reflex  actions  .ire  maintained  (<-.^.  winking,  as 
above  mentioned),  there  is  a  considerable  degree  of  cutaneous 
anasthesia.  as  shown  by  the  fact  that  a  pin  may  be  run  through 
a  fold  of  skin  without  fully  rousing  the  animal,  a  sluggish,  feeble 
wriggle  txring  the  .sole  result. 

This  trance  slate  (obviously  akin  lo.some  phases  of  hypnotism) 
lasts,  as  before  stated,  for  sever.il  minutes.  I  have  on  several 
occasions  timed  it,  the  li/.ard  being  laid  on  its  l)ack,  and  myself 
concealed  or  standing  quite  still  at  a  distance,  and  in  each 
instance  recovery  seemed  to  come  suddenly  after  alx>ut  five 
minutes  (sometimes  a  few  seconds  less,  sometimes  more),  the 
animal  .showing  no  sign  of  consciousness  until  by  one  brusque 
effort  it  turned  over  into  the  normal  [wsition  ;  this  done,  it  lies 
quite  still,  but  evidently  awake  and  observant,  for  a  few  moments 
more,  and  then  .scuttles  off  in  a  hurry. 

I  find  that  the  reailiest  way  of  inducing  the  trance  is  to  take 
the  liz^ard's  hcail  between  my  finger  and  thumb,  making  gentle 
pressure  upon  the  angles  of  the  jaw  and  u|Mjn  the  tympanic 
mendirane.s  ;  but  similar  pressure  on  the  sides  of  the  trunk,  just 
behind  the  forelimbs,  is  just  alMiut  as  cffc:tive. 

.Such  are  the  facts:  anti  it  seems  to  me  that,  so  far  as  the 
animal  in  question  is  concerned,  they  lend  no  supixirl  whatever 
to  the  hyp<jtliesis  of  voluntary  or  conscious  dealh-leigning  ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  are  fx.Tfectly  consistent  with  the  view  that  .such 
ph'-norn'im  Ijelong  to  the  same  cla.ss  iis  the  various  manifestations 
II,  iVc,  with  which  wc  arc  all  more  or  less  familiar 
;■  n  subiecl. 

'  .  for  the  sake  of  argument,  that  we  have  to 

-linn,  and  not,  as  I  believe,  with  a  mere 

1  1  reaction  of  the  higher  nervous  centres  — 

what    poMible    purpr)sc   coulil   such   an    instinct    serve  ?       The 

natural   enemies   ol    these   liziirds  are   foxes,  jackals,    martens, 

'or  U  of  prey,  and  snakes.     Can  any  one  believe  that  any  one  ol 

1      •   animals,  having  captured  a  lizard,   would  be  in  the  lca.st 

NO.    1337,  VOL.   52] 


inclined  to  let  it  go  because  it  lay  motionless  and  apparently 
I  dead  in  the  captor's  grasp  ?  Or  will  it  be  argued  that  the  trance 
I  condition  is  a  Sjwcial  gift  "  in  mercy"  to  the  victim,  to  mitigate 
or  abolish  the  pain  of  death?  If  the  last  be  the  true  explana 
tion,  one  is  tempted  to  ask  « hy  such  tenderness  is  shown  to  a 
favoured  few  of  the  victims  in  nature's  wondrous  system,  while 
the  m.ijority  (pace  Dr.  .\.  R.  Wallace)  are  left  in  ))ossession  of 
consciousness  and  sensibility  more  or  less  acute  until  they  have 
sustained  enough  mechanical  injury  to  kill  or  stun  them. 

W.  T.  Van  Dyck. 
Beyroul,  Syria,  May  i6. 


Stridulating  Organ  in  a  Spider. 

It  is  exactly  twenty  yuars  now  since  I  described  to  Geoffry 
Nevill  the  sound  made  by  our  large  "  BhaUik  -Mokra  "  (or  Bear 
Spider).  I  noticed  that  Wood  Mason,  who  sat  opposite  me, 
appeared  to  be  highly  amused,  but  he  said  nothing. 

Next  morning  when  he  joined  Nevill  and  me  at  table,  Mason 
was  in  high  glee,  and  said,  "  I've  found  out  all  aliout  your 
wonderful  sjiider.  I  thought  yesterday  you  were  telling 
Nevill  a  stiff  yarn  for  anuisement,  but  as  it  wasn't  your  usual 
custom,  I  unbottled  a  lot  of  the  big  spitlers,  antl  found  the 
stridulating  apparatus.'' 

He  there  and  then  made  me  recite  all  over  again,  and  promise 
to  write  out,  what  he  quoted  in  the  I'rans.  Ent.  Soc,  1877,  and 
give  him  a  sketch,  which  is  plate  vii.  ;  a  [jrevious  notice  of  it  all 
appearing  in  our  Proc.  As.  Soc,  Bengal,  1876,  and  .-/««.  and 
Mag.  A'al.  Hist. 

It  was  in  the  cold  sea.son  of  1869-70  that  1  captured  the  speci- 
men, and  noticed  the  stridulating  phenomena.  The  sound  can 
be  heard  easily  at  ten  or  twelve  yards,  antl  is  like  pouring  small 
shot  on  a  plate. 

I  should  not  have  mentioned  the  above,  were  it  not  that  my 
report  of  "  sound-producing  .Vnts"  seems  to  have  been  over- 
looked. If  I  mistake  not.  Sir  John  Lubbock  looks  on  them  as 
a  silent  group  ;  but  it  is  ten  or  twelve  years  now  since  I  drew 
attention  to  the  sounds  made,  and  gave  a  .small  "  Morse"  dia- 
gram of  the  same,  either  in  Nature  or  the  English  Mechanic, 
one  kind  of  ant  giving  a  .series  of  triple  sounds,  another  kind  a 
set  of  five  or  six,  gradually  decrexsing. 

I  describeil  how  the  soimds  were  made  by  rasping  the  horny 
tip  of  the  la.st  abdominal  segment  on  any  resonant  material,  such 
as  thin  dry  bark,  dry  leaves,  &c. 

Iain  not  aware  if  the  tolerably  loud  jiercussive  "tok-tok" 
of  the  Mahsir  (liarhestMacrocep)  is  known.  I  described  it  to  a 
friend  in  l'"ngland  in  1879,  and  saw  it  quoted  in  the  Daily 
Telegraph  (about  .August  to  October)  soon  after. 

While  on  this  subject,  I  may  mention  that  we  have  a  rather 
rare  butterfly  here,  which  is  dark  in  colour,  some  three  inches 
across,  a  very  hard  flyer,  and  when  darting  about  (generally  after 
sunset),  in  a  shady  avenue,  makes  a  scries  of  taps,  sounding  like 
"  lip,  tip,  tip." 

Three  or  four  of  these  butterflies  generally  fly  together.  I 
have  not  seen  one  alone  ;  and  though  I  have  often  enough  tried 
to  catch  one,  never  .secured  a  specimen.  The  sound,  1  presume, 
is  made  by  striking  the  anterior  margins  of  wings  together  : 
and  if  .standing  still,  one  can  hear  the  "tip.  tip''  six  or  seven 
yards  off. 

There  are,  no  doubt,  many  things  of  this  sort  that  an  old 
"Jungli  walla"  woulil  know,  and  think  of  small  value,  I  havi 
been  surprised  at  the  little  often  known  about  the  habits  and 
appearance  of  many  aninuils  and  insects.     Not  three  years  ago. 


a  well-known  naturalist  was  quile  interested  in  my  (hvcription 
of  the  "  happy  family"  one  often  finds  in  the  holes,  a  hlJe  above 
water  level,  in  our  clay  banks  of  small  ri\ers,  at  low  water 
iluring  cold  .sea.son  ;  fish  of  several  kinds,  and  crabs  (three  and 
four  inches  across)  living  together  in  the  hole  umler  water  as  a 
"  colony."  Hut  for  these  tolerably  deep  holes,  the  oilers  would 
leave  no  fish  in  the  smaller  rivers. 

S.  E.  I'liAl.. 
Sibsagar,  A.sam,  May  9. 


Junk   13,  1895J 


NATURE 


149 


The  Migrations  of  the  Lemmings. 

Ai.TIKU'iiH  I  have  dwelt  aiiion^;  the  Lemmings  for  many 
years,  and  paid  great  attention  to  their  migrations,  I  have 
thought  it  might  be  more  satisfactor)-  to  my  readers  to  record 
the  result  of  an  interview  with  a  captive  member  of  the  tribe, 
as  recorded  by  the  aid  of  a  phonogra|ih,  assisted  by  a  certain 
legitimate  amount  of  amplification  which  the  poverty  of  the 
language  necessitates.  This,  hoHever,  I  am  convinced  is  what 
my  little  prisoner  intended  to  say.  "  I  am  amused  by  the 
reasons  men  give  for  our  sudden  appearances  and  inexplicable 
migrations.  But,  although  I  do  not  see  why  I  should  enlighten 
\ou  on  either  of  these  pf>ints,  esj^ecially  as  you  wouki  probably 
only  stick  the  harder  to  your  own  opinion,  I  will  venture  to  ask 
whether  you  think  we  cross  wide  lakes,  the  oi)jDosite  shores  of 
which  are  quite  invisible  to  us,  in  order  to  find  the  food 
which  we  thus  aliandon  ;  indeed,  though  I  fear  I  am  somewhat 
letting  what  you  call  the  cat  out  of  the  bag  by  saying  it,  I  have 
often  wondered  why  I  myself  did  not  wander  along  the  green 
shores  of  Heimdalsvand  and  down  the  valley  amid  sweet  grasses 
and  clover,  instead  of  swinmiing  across  lo  barren  Valders,  and 
getting  caught  by  you  for  my  pains.  But,  after  all,  it  is  no  worse 
than  when  my  friends  the  swallows  leave  their  flies,  and  even 
their  families,  and  start  on  their  travels,  when  the  impulse  seizes 
them,  whilst  the  former  are  still  plentiful,  and  the  latter  not  yet 
ungrateful.  .So  I  feel  indignant  at  the  suggestion  that  we  travel 
Iwcause  we  are  overcrowded  and  underfed  at  home.  I  admit 
that  our  temper  as  a  race  ij  somewhat  short;  it  has  been  iir- 
l>aired  by  incessant  bullying.  Dogs,  wolves,  and  lynxes  eat  us 
wholesale  ;  and  the  reindeer  tlisgustingly  declare  that  we  are  a 
mere  bag  of  succulent  saitr-hrattt.  .Shadows  annoy  us.  and  you 
men  have  even  invoked  spiritual  weapons  to  aid  your  carnal 
implements  of  destruction.  Btit  let  me  seriously  advise  you  not 
to  fling  about  inappropriate  epithets  ;  our  customs  are  at  least  as 
good  as  your  own,  anil  i)robably  somew  hat  older,  for  we  too  have 
had  an  ancestry,  and  nobhsse  oblige.  Enough  ;  let  me  out  ;  I 
want  to  get  on."  W.  Dlita-Crotch. 

Richmond.  Surrev. 


over    nearly  seven  of   ilic    ten    volumes    projected.      It 
is    almost    a   Cambridge  work    in    a   double   sense,    for 
'rof.   Hcrdman,  who  is  to  write 


THE  CAMRRIDGK  NATURAL  IflSTORVy 
A  LTHOUCH  the  third  in  the  series,  this  volume  is 
■'  *■  the  first  of  the  long-promised  "  Cambridge  Natural 
History  "to  appear,  and  as  such  excites  additional  interest 
because  it  affords  some  clue  to  the  probable  style  of  the 
remainder- probable,  since  "complete  uniformity  of 
treatment  has  not,"  wc  are  told,  "been  aimed  at.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark  that,  contrary  to  what  obtains  in 
most  popular  works  on  natural  history,  the  In\crtcbrates 
are  to  receive  their  fair  share  of  atteiition,  and  to  extend 

I  "The  C.imhridKc  Natural  History."  Kdiled  by  S.  K.  Harmcr.  M..\. 
?-  /■  w  .^'•'I'l'^y.  M.A.  Vol.  iii.  "MoHuscs."  By  the  Rev.  A.  H. 
Looke      .M.A.       ••  Hrachiopods  •■    (Recent).       By    A.    K.    Shipley,    M.A. 

Brachiopods  (Fossd).  By  F.  R.  C.  Reed,  M.A.  Pp.  vii.  51s:  ,« 
higurcs  ii>  lexl,  and  j  Maps.     8vo.     (London  :  M.icmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 


with    the    exception  of 

on  the  "  .Ascidians  and  Amp/iicxiis"  and  Mr.  F.  E. 
Beddard,  who  will  undertake  two  such  widely  separated 
subjects  as  "  Earthworms  and  Leeches"  and  "  Mammals," 
all  the  contributors  are  connected  with  that  University. 

" 'I'he  Cambridge  Natural  History'  is  intended, "the 
publishers  announce,  "in  the  first  instance  for  those  who 
have  not  had  any  special  scientific  training,  and  who  are 
not  necessarily  acquainted  with  scientific  language.  .\l 
the  same  time  an  attempt  is  made  not  only  to  combine 
popular  treatment  with  the  latest  results  of  modern 
scientific  research,  but  to  make  the  volumes  useful  to 
those  who  may  be  regarded  as  serious  students  in  the 
various  subjects.  Certain  parts  have  the  character  of  a 
work  of  reference." 

By  this  standard,  then,  the  present  volume  must  be 
judged;  and  on  opening  its  leaves  and  turning  over  its 
pages,  with  their  abundance   of  new  and   beautiful    illus- 


Boltzmann's  Minimum  Theorem. 

There  is  a  |X)int  of  great  interest,  in  connection  with  Mr. 
Btirbury's  letter  in  your  issue  of  May  30,  on  which  he  has  not 
touched. 

The  expression  obtained  in  the   Boltzmann  theorem  for  the 

value  of  ,  depends  on  the  assumption  that  the  actual  dis- 
tribution is  at  every  instant  absolutely  identical  with  the  most 
probable  distribution.     This  we  know  cannot  be  exactly  true. 

Therefore  the  'alue  of  ,  in  Boltzmann's  theorem  is  not  iden- 
tified with  the /«<7j//*TO*a/5/e- value  of         .      It   is,   for  instance, 

de 
<(uile  possible,  in  the  absence  of  proof  to  the  contrary,  that  no 
matter  in  what  way  the  actual  ilistribution  difiers  from  the  most 

1   ti  ■  ""l' 

])rotjat)le  one,  the  actual  -.     may  be  numerically  smaller  than 

the  value  corresponding  to  the  most  probable  distribution. 

In  that  case  Boltzmann's  theorem  would  give  the  maximum 
rate  of  subsidence  instead  of  the  most  probable  rate.  Can  -Mr. 
Kurbury  or  Dr.  Boltzmann  throw  any  light  on  this  question  ? 

EdwI).  r.  ClI.VERWEI.I.. 

Trinity  College,  Dublin,  June  i. 


NO.    133;,   VOL.    52] 


Kic.  1. — Chiton  Spinosiis,  Brus. 

trations,  it  is  at  once  manifest  that  artist  and  engiaver, 
printer  and  publisher,  have  vied  with  each  other  to  pro- 
duce a  work  worthy  of  the  conception. 

The  major  portion,  or,  to  be  precise,  459  pages  of  the 
whole,  is  devoted  to  the  .Mollusca.  It  is  no  fault  of  the 
authors  if  it  has  to  be  admitted  that  a  treatise  on  this 
branch  of  natural  histoiy,  at  once  popular  and  scientific, 
still  remains  to  be  written.  Mr.  Cooke,  who  is  respon- 
sible for  this  section,  save  for  a  casual  passage  or  phrase 
here  and  there,  has  produced  a  most  readable  work  :  but 
the  burden  laid  on  his  shoulders  is  greater  than  one  man 
can  bear  nowadays,  for  no  single  individual  can  be  a 
specialist  in  all  the  numerous  branches  of  the  subject; 
and  yet  nothing  short  of  special  knowledge  in  every 
ramification  is  adequate  for  the  production  of  a  text- 
book. The  co-operation  of  specialists  is  yearly  becoming 
more  and  more  of  a  necessity  in  compiling  manuals  if 
good  work  is  to  be  achieved,  and  in  our  opinion  the 
system  of  minute  subdivision,  adopted  for  example  in 
the  "  Standard  Natural  History,"  which  was  published 
some  years  ago  in  .America,  is  the  only  wise  one. 

It  is  not,  therefore,  any  matter  for  wonder  that  Mr. 
Cooke  has  h;id  to  resort  largely  to  compilation,  with  the 
inevitable  result  that  facts  here  presented  in  one  form  of 
phraseology,  would,  with  a  more  intimate  personal  know- 
ledge, have  been  difierently  expressed.  Thus,  for  example, 
when  speaking  of  barriers  to  distribution,  we  are  told  that 
"ranges  of  inferior  .iltitude,  such  as  the  Pyrenees,  the 
Carpathians, and  the. Alleghanies,  may  be  turned  in  flank  as 
well  as  scaled,"  and  when  he  wiote,  "The  Mediterranean 
offers  no  effectual  barrier"  the  author  evidently  did  not 
take  into  consideration  the  altered  distribution  of  sea  and 
land    in    the    Mediterranean    region    during    I'lcistocene 


I50 


lYA  TURE 


[Junk 


1895 


times.  Whilst  iti  this  respect  the  work,  for  a  text-book, 
suffers  unavoidably  from  too  much  of  the  "study,"  it.  on 
the  other  hand,  would  have  been  better  if  an  extension  of 
time  had  been  allowed  the  author  in  which  to  weld  his 
mass  of  interesting  and  valuable  material  into  a  more 
homogeneous  whole. 

The  method  of  treatment  of  the  subject,  differing  as  it 
does  in  many  respects  from  that  of  the  ordinan,-  hand- 
book, will  best  be  jjrathered  from  a  brief  recapitulation  of 
the  order  in  which  the  main  points  are  taken. 

I'rcfi.xed  is  a  scheme  of  the  classification  adopted  ;  and 
concerning  this  it  will  be  more  convenient  to  speak  later 
on.  The  opening  pages  are  devoted  to  a  brief  intro- 
ductory statement  defining  the  relationship  of  the  MoUusca 
to  the  rest  of  the  animal  kingdom,  and  sketching  their 
classification  so  far  as  the  principal  groups  are  concerned. 
Only  one  phylogcnetic  table  is  submitted,  and  that,  un- 
fortunately, the  misleading  one  dividing  the  Molluscainto 
the  utterly  unnatural  groups  of  (.lossophora  and  .\glossa. 
On  the  other  hand,  .Mr.  Cooke  is  cordially  to  be  con- 
gratulated on  refusing  to  have  aught  to  do  with  that 
mythical  monster,  the  "archi-"  or  "schematic-mollusc."' 
.\  discussion  on  the  origin  of  ihe  land  and  fresh-water 


KiG.  3  — Three  Plages  in  ihc  growth  of  Ptcrocera  nigosa,  .Sow, 

mollusca  follows,  and  leads  up  to  chapter  ii.,  which  deals 
with  the  habits  and  economy  of  the  non-marine  forms. 
Knemics  of  the  mollusca,  means  of  defence,  parasitic 
mollusca,  commensalism,  and  variation  occupy  the  next 
chapter.  Field  malarologists  especially  will  appreciate 
the  bionomical  facts  and  fancies  here  carefully  gathered 
together  from  innumerable  minor  sources,  and  presented 
in  available  form  ;  indeed,  were  it  not  from  lack  of  space, 
wc  would  gladly  quote  largely  out  of  this,  the  most 
interesting  portion  of  ihe  work  from  a  popular  point  of 
view.  In  the  succeeding  four  chapters  (v.-\iii.),  the 
anatomy,  or  rather  the  comparative  anatomy,  and  embiyo- 
logy  of  the  several  classes  are  dealt  with.  The  shell  and 
the  designation  of  its  parts  come  next.  Distribution  (in 
space)  forms  the  theme  of  the  three  subseijuent  chapters, 
and  here  the  non-marine  have  preference  by  two  to  one 
over  the  marine  inollusca.  Three  maps  accompany  and 
"illustrate"  this  section,  by  obviating  the  necessity  of 
referring  to  an  atlas.  Finally,  there  is  the  systematic 
portion,  in  which  a  brief  description  is  given  of  the 
principal  1  h.iracters  of  each  family  with  its  distribution  in 
time,  and  a  list  of  the  more  important  genera  composing  it. 

NO.    1337.  VOL.   52] 


In  great  part,  therefore,  the  present  work  reverses  the 
method  .idopted  in  most  modern  text-books,  wherein  it 
is  customary  to  describe  the  animals  first  and  discuss 
their  habits  afterwards  ;  the  writer  has,  in  fact,  followed 
the  arrangement  adopted  in  the  preliminary  chapters 
of  Woodward's  "  Manual,"  rather  than  that  in  Fischer's. 
This  system  of  inversion  also  obtains  in  the  anatomical 
portion;  reproduction,  usually  reserved  for  the  last,  being 
put  first  .ipparently,  with  some  idea  of  starling  at  the 
beginning  of  the  molluscan  career.  The  principle  may 
undoubtedly  possess  advantages,  but  it  also  has  its  draw- 
backs. For  example,  the  nomenclature  of  the  parts,  (  r 
topography,  of  the  shell  is  not  given  till  the  close  of  chapter 
ix.,  whilst  many  of  the  terms  there  first  defined  have 
previously  been  freely  employed,  and  that  although  the 
student  is  theoretically  not  expected  to  1)C  acquainted 
with  anything  beforehand. 

This  is  a  detail  which  the  editors  should  have  attended 
to,  for  wherein  their  utility  if  not  to  assist  by  bringing  a 
fresh  and  impartial  eye  to  bear  on  the  work  they  super- 
vise, since  however  able  a  writer  may  l)e,  he  is  naturally 
apt  when  engrossed  with  his  task  to  overlook  such 
minuti;e.  -So,  too,  they  should  have  noted  that  the 
"classes"  have  in  the  opening 
pages,  by  a  slip  of  the  pen,  been 
c  ailed  "orders."  They  might  also, 
though  it  is  not  fair  to  charge  it  to 
their  account,  have  observed  that 
wlnist  at  p.  14  /^/rissi-nsi'ii  and 
Myfi/o/'sis  ,ire  spoken  of  as 
"  scarcely  modified  .1/v//7t\"  these 
two  genera  are  in  the  systematic 
part  correctly  referred  to  a  totally 
(litVerent  order  from  Myti/its.  The 
author  himself,  however,  must  l)e 
held  responsible  for  having  over- 
looked Dr.  Carpenters  retraction 
of  his  theory  of  shell  formation  in 
the  later  editions  of  "The  Micro- 
scope," and  for  such  other  over- 
sights as  referring  the  well-known 
and  beaiuiful  Clioanopoiiui  /lys/n.w 
fniMi  Culia.to  the  genus  Cylimlrcllii^ 
or  describing  .s//vi////'//.t  as  "  frugi- 
vorous." 

.Mthough    on    so   vexed   a  ques- 
tion  as   classification  the   greatest 
\  ^»  latitude  seems  allowable,  yet  certain 

V'Sli*-—/^  points  in  the  one  here  adopted  call 

N^^>^~p;jy  for     remark.        l'"or    instance,    the 

.Ampliineura  are  retained  as  an 
order  of  (iastropoda  (Mr.  Cooke 
prefers  the  older  and,  we  think,  less  correct  spelling 
of  (Gasteropoda)  in  ronlradislinclion  to  the  opinion  of 
recent  authorities  such  as  I'elseneer,  Simroth,  ivc.  More- 
over, by-lhe-by,  why  is  I'ilsbry's  classification  of  the  Chitons 
passed  over  for  an  oUler  and  less  complete  one  .^  What  to 
do  with  the  I'leropoda.  Mr.  Cooke  was  apparently  in  doubl 
when  he  began  his  book  i  pp.  6,  71,  biU  in  the  systematic 
pari  at  the  close,  their  affinities  with  the  Teclibranchiale 
Opislhobrant  lis  is  duly  pointed  out.  .\t  the  same  lime, 
though  their  two  main  tlivisions,  1  Ik  cosomala  and 
Ciymnosom.it.i,  are  most  closely  allied  to  the  liulloidea  ami 
the  .\plysioidea  respectively,  the  Fleropoda  are  here  for 
convenience  sake  retained  as  a  group  by  themselves  ol 
equal  rank  with  the  Tectibranchiata  as  a  whole.  This, 
if  not  exactly  logical,  is  coni|)rehensible,  but  not  so  the 
separation  of  these  two  sections  by  llu-  inli  ipositiim  nl 
the  .Ascoglossa  and  Nudibranchi.ita. 

About  the  lleleropoda,  on  the  other  hand,  our  aiulmr 
has  no  scruples,  and  though  they  retained  their  inde- 
pendent e  to  a  later  date  than  the  l'leroi]oda,  they  arc 
referred  without  commenl,  albeit  correctly,  to  the  I'roso 
br.inc  hiata,  and  even,  following  l.ang,  to  the  TaMiioglossa. 


Ji-M-;   13,  1895] 


NATURE 


I  =ii 


The  term  Platypoda,  founded  to  include  all  the  Pectini- 
brancliiate  Prosobranths  except  the  Hcteropoda,  is  here 
restricted  and  made  to  apply,  without  reason  {,'ivcn,  to  the 
l;unioglossa  other  than  the  Heteropoda. 

Those  interesting  and  somewhat  anomalous  genera 
Sipltonaiia  and  Omiinia,  Mr.  Cooke,  in  accordance  with 
the  conclusions  lately  arrived  at  by  Kohler,  Haller  and 
Plate,  places  with  the  Tectibranchiata,  creating  for  them 
the  sectional  name  of  Siphonarioidea.  Pelscneer,  we 
may  incidentally  remark,  in  his  "  Recherches  sur  divers 
I  )j)isiliobranches,"  which  has  only  just  been  published, 
objects  to  this  conclusion  of  his  German  confreres,  and 
seemingly  on  very  good  grounds. 

The  Brachiopoda,  which  are  incorporated  at  the  end  of 
the  volume,  are  subdivided  into  "recent''  and  "fossil." 
The  former  i'p[).  463-88)  have  been  undertaken  by  one  of 
the  editors,  Air.  A.  E.  Shipley;  the  latter  (pp.  491-512), 
by  .Mr.  F.  R.  Cowper  Reed. 

Mr.  .Shipley's  chapter  is  a  compact  little  summary, 
pithih-  written,  and  whilst  not  erring  on  the  side  of 
|j()|)ularity,  ought  to  be  readily  followed  by  any  average 
student  or  reader. 

It  consists  almost  entirely  of  anatomical  description, 
embryology,  &c.,  for  in  "  habits "  the  Brachiopoda  are 
extremely  deficient,  preceded  by  a  short  sketch  of  the 
historical  bibliography  of  the  group,  and  followed  by  a 
few  notes  on  their  distribution,  with  a  synopsis  of  their 
classification  by  Davidson. 

Mr.  Shipley  concludes  that  the  affinities  of  the  Brachio- 
poda   ''■  seem    to    be    perhaps    more    lioselv    with    the 


Fig.  3. — Spirifer  striata.  Carboniferous  I.imcsto  u-. 

iiephyrea,  and  with  Phoronis,  than  with  any  of  the  other 
claimants  "  which  have  from  time  to  time  been  advanced. 

Mr.  Reed,  on  the  other  hand,  by  the  nature  of  his  sub- 
ject, is  reduced  to  a  description  of  the  shell,  es|)ecially 
emphasising  such  features  as  indicate  anatomical  structure 
and  to  a  classification  or  "Synopsis  of  F.-miilies."  The 
latter  closely  approximates  the  classification  employed  by 
Zittel  in  his  "  Handbuch,"  and  hence  can  hardly  be  said 
to  embody  the  very  latest  researches.  Schuchert's  classi- 
fication should,  we  think,  at  least,  have  been  referred  to. 
.Some  allusion,  too,  ought  to  ha\e  been  made  to  Treiiiato- 
I'ohts,  which  its  discoverer,  Mr.  ('•.  F.  .Matthew,  describes 
as  possessing  articulate  valves,  though  it  is  allied  to  the 
<  Ibolidic.  Mr.  Reed's  descriptive  «  riting  must  be  accorded 
equal  praise  with  that  of  .Mr.  .Shipley  for  <  learness  of  style. 

Through  the  kindness  of  the  editors  and  the  publishers, 
we  are  enabled  to  reproduce  some  of  the  illustrations  in 
the  text.  These  of  themselves  should  serve  to  distinguish 
"The  Cambridge  Natural  History''  from  most  of  its 
competitors  for  popular  favour,  with  their  plentiful  repro- 
duction of  ancient  blocks,  now,  alas,  too  familiar  to  the 
e\  e,  and  by  no  means  always  joys  for  ever. 


NOTES. 

Thk  Ladies' soiree  of  the  Royal  Society  look  jilace  yesterday 
evening,  at  the  time  Nature  went  to  press. 

.\n  unknown  donor  has  given  to  the  University  of  the  City  of 
New  ^'ork,  funds  for  a  central  building,  on  University  Heights, 
fur  a  library,   museum,  and  hall,  so  arranged  that  all  may  be 


NO.    I 


0.1/  ' 


.-OL.   52] 


turned  into  a  library  capable  of  holding  i,coo,oco  volumes.  The 
gift  will  amount  10  250.OCO  dollars,  l>eing  the  largest  ever 
received  in  the  sixty-six  years  of  the  exi.stence  of  the  University. 
The  only  condition  is  that  the  name  of  the  donor  shall  never  !«.• 
revealed. 

AkraNGE.MENIs  arc  being  made  by  the  Marine  liiological 
jXssociation  for  a  series  of  dredging  and  trawling  expeditions 
during  July,  August,  and  September,  to  investigate  the  iauna 
and  flora  of  the  outlying  grounds  between  the  Eddystone  Rocks 
and  Start  Point.  In  order  to  make  the  results  as  complete  as 
possible  it  is  extremely  desirable  that  the  investigation  of  each 
group  should  be  carried  out  by  a  competent  naturalist.  Zoologists 
and  botanists  who  are  willing  to  take  (lart  in  these  expeditions, 
or  to  assist  in  working  out  the  material  collected,  are  requested 
to  communicate  with  the  Director,  the  I-aljoratory,  Plymouth. 

The  summer  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Naval  Architects 
was  opened  at  Paris  on  Tue.sday,  when  Lord  Bra.ssey  delivered 
his  presidential  address,  and  seveial  papers  were  read  and  dis- 
cussed. In  the  afternoon  the  members  of  the  Institution  visited 
the  Paris  Observatorj'  and  the  Arts  et  Metiers,  and  a  banquet 
was  given  at  the  Hotel  Continental  in  the  evening.  After  the 
close  of  the  meeting,  we  shall  give  a  report  of  the  proceedings. 

The  annual  meeting  of  the  Societe  des  Amis  des  Sciences  was 
held  at  Paris  last  week.  The  .Society  was  founded  by  Thenard 
in  1857,  for  the  purpose  of -iflbrding  assistance  to  men  of  science 
or  their  families.  It  numbers  more  than  two  thousand  members 
or  subscribers,  and  since  its  foundation  has  distributed  nearly 
^50,000  to  deserving  investigators.  Crants  are  only  made  to 
persons  who  have  had  papers  or  memoirs  presented  to  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  or  who  have  published  papers  of  equal 
merit  to  those  approved  by  the  Academy.  The  Society  lays 
stress  on  the  fact  that  the  grants  must  not  be  regarded  as 
charitable  doles,  but  as  rewards  for  services  to  .science,  and  of  a 
similar  nature  to  the  pensions  which  a  grateful  country  gives  to 
its  servants.  The  awards  are  therefore  publicly  announced,  and 
are  looked  upon  as  honours  for  meritorious  work. 

The  Committee  of  the  .American  Public  Health  .Association, 
appointed  to  determine  the  possibility  of  establishing  co-operative 
investigation  into  the  bacteriology  of  water  supplies,  have  made 
arrangements  for  a  conference  of  bacteriologists  to  be  held  on 
June  21  and  22,  in  the  Academy  of  .Medicine,  New  York  city. 
The  conference  will  consider  how  to  obtain  increased  exactitude 
in  the  details  of  bacteriological  research,  and  establish  standard 
methods.  The  conference  will,  in  fact,  attempt  to  establish 
some  common  ground-plan  for  systematic  work  in  bacteriology 
in  general,  and  in  the  bacteriology  of  water  supplies  in  par- 
ticular. The  Bacteriological  DejMrtments  of  many  State  and 
Provincial  and  Municipal  Boards  of  Health  will  be  represented 
at  the  conference,  as  also  the  ])rincipal  universities  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada. 

I.v  the  eyes  of  the  law,  the  Royal  .Agricultural  Society  is  not 
a  scientific  institution  which  can  claim  exemption  from  local 
rates.  It  was  decided  in  the  (lueen's  Bench  Division  on  Tues- 
day, that,  as  the  funds  of  the  Society  are  not  exclusively  applied 
to  the  purposes  of  science,  but  are  used  to  promote  "  the 
comfort  and  welfare  of  labourers,"  the  Society  does  not  come 
within  the  statute  under  which  exemption  from  rates  is  ckiiined. 

CoLO.N'Ei.  J.  Waterhouse  has  been  elected  President  of  the 
Photographic  Society  of  India  for  the  current  year. 

The  summer  meeting  of  the  Geological  Society  of  America 
will  take  pl.ice  at  Springfield,  Massachu-setls,  on  August  27 
and  28. 


NATURE 


[jUNK     13,    1S95 


We  learn  from  Science  that  nearly  a  thousand  dollars  have 
been  subscribe<I  in  the  United  States  towards  the  memorial  to 
Helmholtz. 

This  years  conversazione  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical 
Engineers  will  be  held  in  the  ('■alleries  of  the  Royal  Institute 
of  Painters  in  Water  Colours,  on  Wednesday,  July  j. 

The  third  International  Congress  of  Physiology  will  be  held  at 
Berne,  from  September  9  to  September  13.  An  exhibition  of 
physiological  apparatus  will  be  held  at  the  same  time.  Those 
who  desire  to  become  members,  or  to  read  |)apers,  should  com- 
municate with  Prof.  II.  Kronecker,  Berne,  before  August  I. 
The  subscription  is  ten  francs. 

Severai,  clearly  marked  earthquake  disturbances  have  been 
felt  at  Florence  during  the  past  week.  .\  strong  shock,  followed 
by  two  slighter  .shocks,  was  felt  there  at  1.36  a.m.  on  Thursday 
last.  The  shocks  have  ilone  no  damage  in  Florence,  nor,  .so  far 
as  can  be  learned,  in  the  surrounding  countr)'.  The  earthquake 
was  most  violent  at  Pontassieve,  Rignano,  and  San  Casciano. 

Sir  Samuel  Wilson,  whose  death  is  announced,  was  greatly 
interested  in  science  an<l  education.       .\mong   other   generous  [ 
acts,  he  presented  ^^30,000  to   Melbourne   University  in  1S75. 
He  was  Vice-President  of  ihe  Melbourne  Inlernalional  Exhibition 
of  1880,  and  a  Royal  Commissioner  for  tlic  Fisheries  Exhibition,   i 

.\MONO  the  recent  app:>intments  abroad  we  notice  the 
following  :— Dr.  Celakovsky  to  be  Professor  of  Pharmacolog}- 
in  the  Bohemian  University  at  Prague ;  Dr.  Rohde  to  be 
assistant  in  the  Zoological  Institute  at  Breslau  :  Dr.  F.  Trendel- 
enburg, Professor  of  .Surgery  in  Bonn  University,  to  succeed 
the  late  Prof.  Thiersch  at  Eeip/.ig  :  Prof.  |.  v.  Ivries  to  be  the 
late  Prof.  Ludwig"s  successor  at  Leipzig:  Dr.  F.  SchutI,  of 
Kiel,  to  Cireifswald  University  as  Professor  of  Botany,  and 
Director  of  the  Botanical  Cardens  and  .Museum  ;  Dr.  v.  Knorre 
to  the  new  chair  of  Electro-chemistry  in  the  Technical  High 
School  at  Charlottenburg  ;  Prof.  .\.  Overbsck,  of  ("ireifswald, 
to  be  Professor  of  Physics  in  the  University  of  Tiibingen  ;  Dr. 
Hermann  .Siruve  to  be  I'rofessor  of  .Astrontmiy  in  Kiinigsberg 
University  :  Prof.  i:.  Koken  to  be  Professor  of  C.eolof^y  and 
.Minerali>gy  in  Tubingen  ;  Prof.  R.  Brauns  to  be  Professor  of 
(Jeolug)-  and  Mineralogy  in  (liessen  ;  Dr.  T.  Smith  to  be 
Profe-s-sor of  Applied  Zralogy  in  Harvard  University. 

I.N  all  |iarts  of  Ihe  British  Islands,  and  especially  over  Eng- 
and,  Ihe  weather  has  continued  ixTsistently  dry  :  in  Ihe  neigh- 
Imurhood  of  London  Ihe  tolal  fall  during  Ihe  first  eleven  days  of 
June  (lid  not  excee<l  h.ilf  a  tenth  inch,  and  Ihe  aggregate  fall 
since  the  iK-ginning  of  May,  a  |)eri<Ml  of  six  weeks,  was  but 
little  over  half  an  inch.  The  IVeek/y  IVeal/ur  A'e/wrt  of  the  8lh 
inst.  showed  that  Ihe  amount  of  rainfall  since  the  beginning  of 
the  year  was  l)clow  Ihe  average  in  all  dislricls,  except  the  notlh- 
easl  of  England.  In  Ihe  west  of  .Scotland  the  ileficiency 
amounted  to  10-4  inches.  High  summer  Icmperalures  have 
occurred  during  the  past  week  in  many  parts  of  the  country, 
Ihe  .shaile  readings  having  reached  S4'' in  the  ea.st  of  Scotland, 
and  83' in  Ihe  south  of  England.  In  London,  readings  of  Ko° 
were  recorded  iKilh  on  .Saturday  and  Sunday  last. 

TllK  Whitsuntide  parly  al  the  Porl  Erin  Biological  Station 
incluiled  the  following  naturalists  :  -Mr.  F.  W.  Camble  ((Jwens 
College),  Mr.  W.  I.  Beaumonl  (Cambridge).  Dr.  H.  O.  Forlns 
LivcrpiK)!  Museum),  Mr.  A.  Ixriccsler  (South))orl),  and  Prof. 
K.  Boycc,  .Mr.  A.  Scoll  and  Prof.  Ilcrdman,  from  Liver|Hjiil. 
Dredging.  tf)w-nclting,  shore  collecting,  ami  lalioratory  work 
were  carricti  on  much  as  usual.  Amongst  the  more  noteworthy 
animals  oblalneil  were  I'olyi^rdius  -ip.,  Saicobnlrylloides  »p., 
limhltlomn  liiilchra,  lilyiia  -.•irijis,  ax\A  Cyiilliia  morns.  The 
low-ncis  contained  vtmc  fish  eggs,  but  fewer  than  al  Easter. 
NO.    1337,  VOL.   52J 


Diatoms  and  gelatinous  .Vlg.v  were  iiearlyabscm  :  Copcpod.i  au.l 
larval  forms  were  present  in  great  abundance.  Prof.  R.  Boyce 
and  Prof.  Herdman  have  commenced  an  investigation  on  the 
efiect  of  surrounding  conditions  upon  oysters,  and  their  connec- 
tion with  disease.  .\  numlwr  of  oysters  have  been  laid  down  in 
different  parts  of  Porl  Erin  bay  and  on  the  shore,  and  others  are 
being  experimentally  treated  with  various  fluids  and  food  matters 
in  Ihe  aquarium.  .Mr.  W.  I.  Beaumont  slays  on  for  some  weeks 
at  the  laboratory  studying  the  Xemertines  of  the  <listrict,  and 
the  Rev.  T.  S.  Lea  goes  to  Port  Erin  shortly  to  assist  Prof. 
Herdman  in  working  out  the  detailed  "zoning"  of  ihe  shore 
and  the  distribution  of  the  littoral  animals. 

The  general  arrangements  for  the  sixth  International  Geo- 
graphical Congress,  to  be  opened  in  London  towards  the  end  of 
next  month,  are  made  known  in  a  circular  just  distributed.  The 
Congress  promises  to  be  Indy  international,  for  deleg.ites  have 
been  appointed  to  represent  Governments  and  Geograjihical 
Societies  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  provisional  programme 
of  the  meelings  is  as  follows  : — The  Congress  will  be  opened  on 
•■"■'day,  July  26,  at  9  p.m.,  when  short  addresses  of  welcome 
will  be  delivered  by  H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  York,  Honorary 
President,  and  by  Mr.  Clements  R.  .Markh:im,  President.  On 
the  following  day,  Mr.  .Markham  will  deliver  his  inaugural 
address,  after  which  the  Congress  will  meet  in  two  sections  to 
discuss  pajwrs  on  geographical  education,  by  Profs.  Levasseur 
and  Lehmann,  and  others ;  and  on  mathematical  geography, 
especially  the  use  of  photography  in  surveying,  by  Colonel 
Laussedat,  Colonel  Tanner,  and  others.  (;)n  Monday,  July  29, 
a  general  meeting  of  the  Congress  will  discuss  the  subject  of 
Arctic  and  Antarctic  exploration,  introduced  by  Prof.  Neumayer 
and  Admiral  .\.  M.  .Markham.  In  the  afternoon  two  .sections 
will  be  formed,  in  one  of  which  questions  in  geodesy  will  be 
treated  by  General  Walker  and  .M.  Lallemand,  while  in  Ihe  other 
papers  will  be  re<id  by  Prince  Roland  Bonaparte  on  glaciers,  and 
M.  .Marlel  on  sjK'heology.  On  July  30,  report  of  Committees 
and  pai>ers  on  Ihe  proposed  map  of  the  world  on  the  scale  of 
I  :  1 ,000,000, and  on  international  geographical  bibliography,  will 
be  presented  at  the  general  meeting,  and  two  sections  will  Ihen 
deal  with  oceanography,  and  «ith  the  orthography  of  jilace  names. 
On  Wednesd.iy,  July  31,  Sir  John  Kirk  will  iniliale  a  discussion 
on  Europeans  in  .\frica  in  the  general  nreeting,  and  in  Ihe  after- 
noon the  sections  will  consider  applied  geography  (commercial 
geography)  and  limnology,  the  latter  to  be  introduced  by  Prof. 
Eorcl.  The  general  meeting  on  .Vugusl  i  will  deal  with  the 
terminology  of  land  forms,  and  in  the  afternoon  cartography  and 
other  subjects  will  be  treated.  On  Friday,  August  2,  Ihe  fore- 
noon will  be  devoted  to  papers  by  Baron  Nordenskiiild,  Prof. 
Hermann  W.igner,  and  others,  on  the  history  of  maps  ;  and  all 
the  remaining  papers  will  be  taken  in  the  afternoon.  <  )n  Augu,sl  3 
I  he  votes  proposed  for  consideration  will  ])robably  be  discussed, 
Ihe  dale  and  jilace  of  meeting  of  the  next  Congress  considered, 
and  the  President  will  deliver  his  ccmcluding  address,  .\flcr  Ihe 
close  of  Ihe  Congress,  a  series  tif  excursions  will  be  organised  to 
places  of  geological  and  geographical  interest. 

TllK  kcv.  ().  Fisher  contributes  a  short  paper  on  Ihe  age  of 
the  earth  to  the  Geological  Magazine  for  June.  Arguing  in 
favour  of  a  comparatively  thin  crust  and  a  li<pii<l  substratum,  he 
urges  Ihal  Ihe  continual  laving  of  the  bottom  of  the  crust  by  the 
molten  rock  will  retard  Ihe  cooling  of  the  crusl,  and  will  produce 
an  effect  on  the  temperature-gradient  at  the  surface  similar  to 
that  111  which  Prof.  Perry  has  recently  drawn  attention  (NaiI'RI:, 
vol.  li.  pp.  224-227).  If  this  be  the  ca.se,  ihen,  no  trustworthy 
estimate  of  Ihe  earth's  age,  based  on  Ihe  present  temperattrre- 
gradienl  at  the  surface,  has  yet  been  made. 

Dr.  -M.  Ciski.i.i  has  recently  compiled  a  valuable  list  of  the 
records  of   the   X'icentini  mieroseismograph  at    Siena  between 


JUXK    13,    1 895] 


NA  TURE 


'00 


July  15  anil  iJctoljer  31,  1^94  i-'V//,  K.  ,Iit.  lUt  ri,\iv( riUci,  v., 
1895).  An  examination  of  the  traces  corresponding  to  seismic 
movements  shows  that  they  exhibit  different  kinds  of  oscillations, 
some  short,  others  long,  in  period.  When  the  earthquakes 
occur  in  neighbouring  districts,  the  disturbance  of  the  instrument 
is  brief  and  the  vibrations  are  rapid.  But,  with  distant  earth- 
'juakes,  the  disturbances  last  for  much  longer  intervals.  They 
Ijegin  with  rapid  oscillations  which  generally  present  several 
maxima,  so  as  to  appear  as  if  distributed  in  groups  :  while 
towards  the  en<l,  either  alone  or  in  company  with  the  former, 
succeed  much  slow^er  oscillations,  which  perhaps  correspond  lo 
undulatory  movements  of  the  earth's  crust. 

Dr.  Hoeber  has  been  making  some  interesting  experiments 
to  ascertain  w  hether  the  presence  of  water- weeds  affects  the  vitality 
of  anthrax  germs  in  water.  l"or  this  purpose  he  constructed  small 
resli-waler  aquaria,  each  of  which  contained  about  eight  litres 
of  ordinar)-  river  Main  water,  some  river  sand,  and  a  supply  of 
water-weeds,  and  in  addition  about  200,000  anthrax  microbes. 
These  aquaria  were  only  submitted  to  diftused  light,  and  were 
kept  at  10°  and  19"  C. ,  respectively.  Dr.  Hoeber  pre- 
sumably worked  with  anthrax  bacilli  only,  but  special  pre- 
cautions were  not  taken  to  ensure  the  absence  of  spores ;  no 
anthrax  germs,  however,  could  be  found  after  three  days  at  the 
lower,  and  four  days  at  the  higher  temperature,  respectively.  In 
his  second  report  to  the  Royal  Society,  Prof.  Percy  Frankland 
states  that  ^poriferous  anthrax  retained  their  vitality  in  ordinary 
river  Thames  water  for  upwards  of  seven  months  without  losing 
their  vindence  ;  but  when  exposed  to  sunshine  they  were  destroyed 
after  eighty-four  hours.  On  the  other  hand,  when  using  aiUhrax 
bacilli  free  from  spores,  as  derived  from  the  dead  body  of  an 
animal,  the  same  authority  (Proceedings  Royal  Society,  1894,  p. 
549)  states  that  in  sterilised  river  Thames  and  loch  water  they 
were  destroyed  in  about  five  days  at  5°  C. ,  and  in  fourteen 
days  at  13°  C.  ;  but  that  at  19°  C.  they  multiplied  enor- 
mously, and  were  present  in  large  numbers  on  the  forty-second 
day.  This  different  behaviour  was  found  to  be  due  to  the  bacilli 
having  formerl  spores  in  the  water  at  the  higher  temperature. 
The  danger  of  anthrax  germs  gaining  access  to  water  dejwnds, 
therefore,  upon  the  temperature  of  the  water  and  the  presence  or 
absence  of  spores  in  the  morbific  material.  Judging  oy  Dr. 
Hoeber's  experiments,  it  would  appear  that  the  presence  of  water- 
weeds  and  the  ompctition  of  walcr-bacteria  may  offer  obstacles 
lo  the  vitality  of  anthrax  bacilli  in  water. 

A  SALE  of  much  interest  recently  took  place  at  the  dispersal  of 
the  herd  of  white  polled  cattle  belonging  to  Mr.  R.  E.  Lofft,  of 
Troston  Hall,  Bury  .St.  Edmunds.  The  herd,  which  comjirised 
twenty  cows  and  heifers  and  five  bulls,  represented  the  old  "  monks' 
cattle,"  descended  from  the  oldest  historic  breed  of  cattle  in  the 
British  Isles— the  [xilled  white,  with  black  or  red  points  on  the 
ears,  muzzle,  rims  of  eyes,  and  hoofs.  Under  the  wave  of  im- 
provement which  set  in  with  the  work  of  Kakewell,  of  Dishlcy, 
more  than  a  century  ago,  the  old  hornless  white  breeds  no 
longer  enjoye.l  the  pride  of  place,  and  .Mr.  Loffts  herd  really 
emlxKlied  an  attempt  to  restore  this  ancient  breetl  to  something 
like  its  former  position.  It  is  probable  that  these  cattle  were 
originally  selected  by  the  monks,  who  in  their  day  were  the 
leaders  of  agriculture.  Being  hornless,  the  animals  would  be 
more  easily  domesticated,  and  less  adapted  to  purposes  of  s[x)rt, 
such  as  the  chase  and  bull-baiting,  .\fter  the  dissolution  of  the 
monasteries,  these  cattle  were  dispersed  over  the  country,  and 
mosily  became  merged  in  the  common  local  varieties.  \  few, 
however,  were  kept  pure,  and  at  the  beginning  of  this  century 
there  were  twii  herds  in  Suffolk,  which  quite  escaped  the  notice  of 
the  late  Kev.  John  Storer,  the  historian  of  the  breed.  It  is 
satisfactory  lo  know  that  some  of  Mr.  Lofft's  quaint  cattle  were 
purchased  by  Mr.  .Assheton-Smilh,  of  Vaynol  Park,  Carnarvon- 
NO.    1337,  VOL.   52] 


shire,  where  he  has  a  herd  of  bla^,.  t.iii..i  ..u..  i. lack-muzzled 
white  horned  cattle,  and  is  now  going  to  keep  some  of  the  polletl 
type. 

Prof.  L.  ue  .M.\rchi,  the  author  of  an  Italian  hand-book  of 
Meteorology,  has  contributed  an  important  essay  on  the  theory 
of  cyclones  to  the  Piibblicazioni  ai  \\\e  Milan  Observatorv-.  The 
discussion  consists  of  42  .small  folio  pages  and  15  plates,  and 
while  ginng  a  general  account  of  recent  researches,  treats  the 
subject  chiefly  from  a  mathematical  [wint  of  view.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  brief  summary  of  the  principal  results  arrived  at : — The 
changes  in  the  shape  and  path  of  a  cyclone,  as  well  as  all 
the  principal  dynamic  phenomena  that  accompany  it,  may  be 
deduced  from  the  equations  of  the  horizontal  motion,  if  account 
is  taken  of  the  distribution  of  temi>erature  round  the  cyclone, 
both  as  regards  that  which  previously  existed  in  the  mass  of  air 
subsequently  occupied  liy  the  cyclone,  and  that  drawn  into  the 
same  area  by  the  vertical  movements  produced  by  the  earths 
rotation.  Therefore  in  some  cases,  if  not  always,  it  is  useless  to 
have  recourse  to  external  causes,  and  particularly  to  the  general 
circulation  of  the  atmosphere,  to  explain  the  persistence,  change 
of  form,  or  the  motion  of  a  cyclone.  The  general  circulation 
may  be  the  determining  cause  of  a  cyclone  at  a  given  point ; 
its  propagation,  or  the  succes.sive  transference  of  cyclonic 
conditions  to  contiguous  masses  of  air,  is  determined  and 
maintained,  at  least  in  some  ca.ses,  by  the  disturbances  of 
thermic  equilibrium  caused  by  the  sun  at  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  and  induced  by  the  earth's  rotation. 

The  old  and  fascinating  problem  concerning  the  manner  in 
which  the  ether  moves  with  or  through  matter  has  been  attacked 
by  Herr  L.  Zehnder,  who  contributes  an  interesting  paper  on 
the  subject  to  VViedctnaun  s  Anna/en.  Me  endeavoured  to 
decide  whether  the  ether  is  pushed  along  by  atoms  or  bodies,  or 
whether  it  passes  through  them  without  resistance,  or,  finally, 
whether  only  a  portion  of  the  ether  adheres  to  the  particles  of 
bodies,  and  this  portion  only  is  carried  along.  The  apparatus 
used  consisted  of  a  cast-iron  cylinder  in  which  a  piston  moved 
air-tight.  A  narrow  tube  led  out  from  one  end  of  the  cylinder, 
doubled  back  upon  itself,  and  returned  by  the  other  end.  Now 
if  the  cylinder  was  exhausted  of  air,  and  the  piston  pushed  the 
ether  before  it,  the  latter  would  stream  through  the  narrow  tube 
with  a  velocity  greater  than  that  of  the  piston  in  the  ratio  of  the 
sectional  areas  of  the  cylinder  and  the  tube.  This  ratio  was 
560,  and  exhaustion  was  carried  to  i  •40,000th  of  an  atmosphere. 
To  test  the  motion  of  the  ether,  a  beam  frcjm  a  brilliant  sodium 
flame  was  passed  through  two  thick  parallel  glass  plates,  the 
.second  one  being  silvered  at  the  back.  This  plate,  by  its  two 
reflecting  surfaces,  split  the  beam  into  two,  each  of  which 
travelled  through  one  jwrtion  of  the  narrow  tube.  The 
two  beams,  reflected  near  the  cylinder  by  a  rectangular  prism, 
were  recombined  by  the  same  thick  plate  and  returned  along  the 
way  they  had  travelled,  being  finally  reflected  into  the  reading 
telescope  by  the  first  plate.  Interference  fringes  were  thus  pro- 
duced in  the  field  of  view,  the  motion  of  which  would  have  indi- 
cated a  motion  of  the  ether.  But  no  such  motion  was  observed 
when  the  tidies  were  thoroughly  exhausted,  so  tha;  it  must  hi 
concluded  that  the  ether  passes  freely  through  solid  bodies. 
The  corollary  to  this  conclusion,  that  there  is  a  relative  motion 
between  the  earth  and  ihe  luminifcrous  ether,  though  investi- 
gated by  the  author  by  means  of  a  new  and  ingenious  apparatus 
on  the  Rosskopf,  near  Freiburg,  could  not  be  proveil. 

The  thirteenth  part  of  Kemer  and  Oliver's  "  Natural  History 
of  Plants,"  just  published  by  Messrs.  Blackie  and  Son.  refers 
chiefly  to  the  production  and  characteristics  of  plant  hybrids. 

TnEjuneyc«rH(j/of  the  Chemical  Society  contains,  in  addition 
to  pajiers  read  before  the  Society,  and  abstracts  of  other  papers, 


'54 


NATURE 


[J  UNE 


189: 


a  dticriptiun  of  iKl-  lilc-work  of  the  late  Prof.  J.  C.  G.  de 
Marignac,  by  Prof.  P.  T.  Cleve,  together  with  a  portrait  of  that 
lamented  chemist. 

Mr.  C.  L.  Prince  has  sent  us  details  of  observations  made 
made  by  him  at  Crowhorough  Hill,  Sussex,  during  the  great 
frost  of  Januar)-  and  February  last.  In  his  report,  he  contrasts 
the  period  with  other  periods  of  severe  cold  which  have  occurred 
during  the  present  century. 

The  t;uide-l)Ooks  to  Middlesex  and  Hertfordshire,  published 
by  Messrs.  Iliffe  and  Son,  will  direct  the  tourist's  steps  aright, 
and  afford  him  instruction  upon  points  of  more  or  less  historical 
interest,  but  they  furnish  very  little  information  with  regard  to 
the  counties  from  a  scientific  point  of  view. 

We  have  received  a  "  Guide  to  the  Bristol  Museum,"  by  Mr. 
Kdward  Wilson,  the  Curator.  The  Museum  contains  a  large 
numl>er  of  valuable  objects,  and  geology  is  verj-  well  repre- 
•scnled.  With  this  guide  to  assist  them,  students  of  science 
must  find  the  collections  more  helpful  than  they  used  to  be. 

The  Lumleian  Lectures  on  certain  points  in  the  aetiology  of 
disease,  delivered  by  Dr.  P.  H  Pye-Smith,  F.R.S.,  before  the 
Royal  College  of  Physicians  in  1S92,  and  the  Harveian  Oration, 
delivered  before  the  College  in  the  following  year,  have  been 
published  in  volume  form  by  .Messrs.  J.  and  -V.  Churchill. 
The  volume  also  contains  a  memoir  ot  the  life  and  works  of 
Harvey. 

The  fact  that  the  report  of  the  Marlborough  College  Natural 
History  Society  for  the  year  1894  runs  into  one  hundred  and 
fifty  pages,  may  be  taken  as  an  indication  that  the  Society  is  in 
a  satisfactor)-  condition.  The  report  contains  summaries  of 
lectures  delivered  during  the  year,  a  description  of  the  College 
museum  and  the  collections  in  it,  notes  and  observations,  and 
accounts  of  the  work  of  sections  ;  it  is  altogether  a  creditable 
production. 

PCBl.lsHERs"  catalogues  are  frequently  of  great  assistance  to 
librarians  and  bibliographers.  A  catalogue  lately  issued  by  \V. 
Kngelmann,  ol  Leipzig,  belongs  to  that  class  of  useful  publi- 
cation.s.  It  contains  descriptions  of  all  the  books,  memoirs,  and 
periodicals  published  by  Kngelmann  from  the  foundation  of  the 
firm  to  February  of  this  ye.ir.  The  books  are  arranged  alpha- 
lictically  according  to  the  authors'  names,  and  are  also  classified 
into  subject.s.  There  is,  therefore,  no  difiiculty  in  finding  a 
volume  of  which  the  author  or  the  title  is  known. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Zoological  Society  of  I'hilaiklphia 
shows  that,  but  for  grants  nude  by  the  City  Councils,  the 
Gardens  would  have  had  to  be  closed,  the  receipts  from  admis- 
sions having  been  loo  low  to  meet  expenses.  We  notice  that, 
in  addition  to  nearly  three  thousand  free  admission  tickets  to 
charitable  institutions,  donors,  &c.,  the  Society  issued  fifty 
Ihuu-iand  tickets  to  the  Bjard  of  Kducation,  for  the  admission 
of  pupils  of  the  elementary  schools.  The  collection  of  animals 
now  comprises  251  mammals,  416  birds,  and  245  reptiles  and 
amphibians,  or  a  total  of  912  specimens. 

The  n.-w  editions  received  during  the  past  few  clays  include 
Ihc  sccmd  part  of  IJr.  Michael  Foster's  standard  "Textbook 
•if  Physiology  "  (.Macmillan),  dealing  with  the  ti.ssucs  o(  chemical 
action  and  their  respective  mechanisms,  and  with  nutrition. 
The  work,  which  is  now  in  its  sixth  edition,  has  been  brought 
into  line  with  the  present  stale  of  physiob  gi  :al  knowledge. 
Messrs.  J.  and  A.  Churchill  have  published  a  sixth  revised  edition 
"f  "  A  Treatise  on  Practical  Chemistry,"  by  Prof.  Frank 
Clowct ;  and  Messrs.  Smith,  F.lder,  and  Co.  have  published  a 
fourth  edition  of  Mir.4hall  and  Hurst's  "Junior  Course  of 
Practical  Zoology." 


There  are  only  four  papers  in  the  June  number  of  Science 
Progress,  but  each  of  them  is  an  important  contribution  to 
scientific  literature.  Prof.  Marshall  Ward  describes  the  growth 
of  knowledge  concerning  the  fixation  of  free  nitrogen  by  plants. 
He  briefly  states  the  as|)ects  of  the  question,  and  gives  references 
to  ihe  most  important  papers  upon  it.  A  valuable  i«per 
on  the  ratio  of  the  sjiecific  heats  of  ga.ses  is  contributed  by  Mr. 
J.  W.  Capstick  ;  it  affords  interesting  reading  in  connection 
with  the  recent  discussion  in  these  columns  of  points  arising 
from  the  kinetic  theory  of  gases,  and  also  with  reference 
to  the  atomicity  of  argon.  Mr.  J.  W.  Rodger  concliules 
his  most  useful  statement  of  the  progress  made  in  physi- 
cal chemistry  during  1894.  The  papers  arc  classifieil  in  such 
a  manner  that  it  is  easy  to  find  what  was  done  in  ever)- 
branch  of  the  subject.  The  fourth  jiaper  is  by  Mr.  J.  K.  S. 
Moore,  and  has  for  its  subject  "  The  Protoplastid  Body  anil  the 
Metapla.stid  Cell."' 

The  current  y<)«/-«<i/ of  the  .-Xnthropological  Institute  (No.  4) 
contains  the  presidential  address  delivered  by  Prof.  A. 
Macalister,  F.  R.S.,  in  January  last.  The  Institute  by  no 
means  possesses  a  membershi]i  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of 
the  subjects  fostered  by  it.  "  When  we  consider, "  remarks  Prof. 
Macalister,  "  the  wide-reaching  importance  of  the  myriad  of  prac- 
tical problems  with  which  we  as  anthropologists  are  concerned, 
and  the  useful  work  which  the  Institute  has  done  in  the  past,  it  is 
scarcely  conceivable  that  our  membership  of  362  should  be 
taken  as  representing  the  number  of  persons  to  whom  these 
matters  are  interesting.  .\nd  further,  it  is  little  short  of  a  national 
disgrace  thai  in  the  largest  empire  of  the  world,  within  whose 
bounds  there  are  nearly  as  many  sep.irate  peoples,  and  tribes  and 
kindreds  and  tongues  as  in  all  the  other  nations  put  together, 
there  is  no  Imperial  depaitnieni  whose  function  should  be  to 
collect  and  classify  the  f,icts  of  the  physical,  psychical,  and 
ethical  histories  of  our  fellow  subjects." 

Two  years  ago  the  .-Vmerican  Philosophical  .Society,  of  which 
Benjamin  Franklin  w.is  the  first  I'resiilent,  held  a  meeting,  .at 
Phikadelphia,  in  cimimemoraliim  of  the  I50lh  anniversary  of  its 
foundation.  The  meeting  was  attended  by  <lelegales  represent- 
ing learned  societies  and  institutions  in  most  parts  of  the  world, 
and  wxs  completely  successful.  The  volume  containing  full 
reports  of  the  proceedings  h.is  only  lately  appeared,  but  llu- 
delay  in  its  publication  is  probably  due  to  the  many  addresses, 
memoirs,  and  plates  contained  in  it  ;  for  the  priming  of  tlu- 
communications,  and  the  preparation  of  nearly  sixty  plates, 
necessarily  takes  lime  when  the  work  is  so  carefully  done  as  it 
seems  to  be  in  the  volume  before  us.  Amimg  the  addresses  is 
one  by  Dr.  Koberls  (the  delegate  of  the  Royal  .\slronomical 
Society),  entitled  "  llluslraliims  of  Progress  made  during 
Recent  \ears  in  .\slronomical  Science."  This  address  is  illus- 
trated by  thirteen  plates  representing  some  of  Dr.  Roberts' 
classical  photographs.  .\  richly  illustrated  paper  on  Tertiary 
Tipulidie,  by  Dr.  S.  II.  Scudder,  has  already  been  noticed  in 
these  columns  (vol.  50,  p.  III).  Seven  plates  illustrate  Dr. 
.\.  S.  Packarcl's  "Study  of  the  Transformalion  and  An.atomy 
of  Lagoa  irispata,  a  Bondiycine  Moth,"  and  sixteen  embellish  a 
paper  by  Prof.  .\.  Hyatt  on  "The  I'hylogeny  of  an  Acquired 
Characteristic."  Limits  of  space  prevent  us  from  referring  to 
the  m.any  olh>.r  papers.  Suffice  it  to  say  (hat  ihe  volume  is  a 
worthy  memorial  of  a  remarkable  meeting. 

The  Zeitsi/irifl  fiir  Aiittrgatiist/ie  Clieniie  ^WKf.  a  very  com- 
plete account  of  the  synthesis  of  metallic  ores  by  crystalli-sation 
from  .solution  in  Ihe  appropriate  molten  metal,  by  Friedrich 
Roessler.  The  work  includes  the  i>roduction  of  crystalline 
sulphides  and  selenides  of  such  metals  as  Ua<l,  bisnuith,  and 
silver,  and  of  arsenides,  antimimides,  and  bisinulhides  of  plati- 
num, palladium,  and  gold.     The  production   of  silver  MMiiiilh 


N(.     1337,   VOL     52] 


June   13,  1895] 


NATURE 


!.■>:) 


sulphide  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  method  followed.  Twenty 
grams  of  bismuth  were  melted  in  a  covered  crucible,  and  two 
grams  of  silver  sulphide  were  added.  By  solution  of  the  slowly 
cooled  product  in  nitric  acid  of  specific  gravity  ii,  there  re- 
mained small  dark  crystals  intermixed  with  silver -white  crystals. 
The  latter  consisted  of  a  bismuth-silver  alloy,  and,  in  time,  dis- 
si lived  in  the  acid.  On  drying,  the  remaining  dark  crystals  were 
ri)un<l  to  possess  a  steel-blue  lustra.  They  formed  pretty  groups 
'if  oclahcdra  (figure  given  in  the  paper)  attached  in  rows. 
.Vnalyses  proved  their  composition  to  be  well  represented  by  the 
formula,  .\gBiS._,  or  .-^g.^S -i- BioS^. 

In  the  current  number  of  the  Comptesr^itdiis^  M.  Cleve  gives  the 
results  of  a  determination  of  the  density  of  the  new  gas  helium  by 
.M.  I-anglet.  The  gas,  extracted  from  cleveite,  was  freed  from 
hydrogen  by  passage  over  red-hot  copper  oxide,  and  from 
nitrogen  by  metallic  magnesium.  It  contained  no  argon.  The 
density  was  found  to  be  notably  less  than  the  number  given  by 
I'rof.  Ramsay,  being  OT39  (air  =  i)  or  2-02  (hydrogen  =  I). 
The  determination  of  the  specific  heat  of  the  gas  has  Ik  en  taken 
in  hantl  by  the  same  investigators  ;  their  results  will  be  awaited 
with  much  interest. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Oardens  during  the 
past  week  include  two  Rhesus  .Monkeys  (Maiams  rhesus,  i5  9  ), 
from  India,  presented,  respectively,  by  Sir  Henry  W.  Peek, 
and  .\Ir.  R.  Kdmeades  ;  a  Patas  Monkey  (Cenopitheciis 
(ruber,  <}),  {torn  West  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Armit- 
age  ;  a  Campbell's  Monkey  (Cereopitliecus  campbelli,  i),  from 
West  Africa,  presented  by  Miss  L.  Panther  ;  a  Herring  Gull 
(Larus  argentalus],  Briti.sh,  presented   by  Mr.    J.   T.   Oorvin  ; 

three  Ocellated  Skinks  (Sepsocel/atus),  a. Skink  (ChaUides 

.«•/>()/</«),  a  Defenceless  Lizard  (Agama  i>iermis),\.v,o  Diademed 

Snakes    (Za/uenis    diadema),    two     .Snakes     (Calopeltis 

nioileiisis),  four  Egj'ptian  Eryx  (Eryx  jaculus),  two  Cerastes 
\ilK'rs  (  Vipera  cerastes),  two  Egyptian  Cobras  (Naia  haje),  from 
Lower  Egypt,  presented  by  Dr.  John  Anderson,  K. R. S.  :  a 
White-crowned  Monkey  ( C<moce'i5«^  lelhtops),  a  White-necked 
.Stork  (Dissura  episcopus),  from  West  Africa  ;  two  White 
Pelicans ( Pelecanusonocrolaliis),  from  North  .\frica ;  aBarraband's 
Parrakeet  (Polylelis  barrabandi),  from  New  South  Wales  ;  three 

Hamadryads  (Ophiophagus  elaps),  from  India  :  fifty Tree 

Krogs(/i5'/a ),  from  America,  deposited;  a  Red  Deer  ( Cfrc'/« 

elaphus),  an  Argus  Pheasant  (Jrgus  giganteus),  three  Ruddy- 
headed  Geese  {Rernicla  rubidictps),  bred  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR   ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMX. 

CoMKT  1892  \.  (Bar.nakI)).— The  orbit  of  this  comet,  which 
had  been  discussed  by  Mr.  J.  G.  Porter  (Astroiioiiikal Journal, 
No.  310),  has  recently  been  made  the  subject  of  a  further  invesli- 
galiim  by  M.  J.  Coniel  :  but  the  elements,  resting  as  they  do 
on  a  very  few  observations,  still  remain  uncertain  to  a  consider- 
able extent.  The  comet  was  discovered,  photographically,  on 
Oclolier  12,  1892,  and  regular  observatitms  do  not  extend  beyond 
November  22,  1892,  about  six  weeks  only  from  the  date  of  dis- 
covery ;  l)ut  an  isolated  observation  made  at  Nice  on  December 
8,  not  taken  into  the  discussion  by  Mr.  Porter,  induced  M.  J. 
Coniel  (o  reopen  the  inquiry,  with  the  hope  of  making  a  better 
determinalioii  of  the  period.  Mr.  Porter's  orbit  represented 
this  observation  within  the  errors  -  005s.  and  -  I2'9,  in  R..A. 
and  Declination  respectively  ;  and  considering  the  difficulty  of 
the  ()l)serv.ilion,  such  a  discrepancy  is  not  more  than  might  be 
anticiiiated,  and  consequently  does  not  suggest  the  possibility  of 
decided  improvement.  The  feature  of  the  more  recent  discussion 
is  ti«  show  that  the  observations  can  be  equally  well  .satisfied 
with  elements  in  which  the  mean  daily  motion  is  altered  by  some 
26".  This  is  not  quite  the  twentieth  part  of  the  whole  motion, 
therefore  the  jjeriod  is  uncertain  to  its  twentieth  part,  or  about 
0-3  of  a  year. 

.M.  Coniel  judges  that  the  uncertainty  in  the  mean  motion 
may  extend  to  25'  on  either  side  of  his  result,  and  that  the  period 

^'O-  ^17)1  ^  VOL.  52] 


may  lie  between  6-23  and  6-84  years.  The  consequence  of  this 
uncertainty  is  that  the  search  for  the  comet  at  future  returns  must 
be  greatly  extended.  In  I S99,  the  sweeping  ephemeris  must  be 
based  on  a  mean  motion  corresponding  to  6  •65-6 '84  years.  In 
1905,  the  comet  may  be  visible  if  the  period  lies  between  6-34- 
6-55  years  :  while  in  191 1,  and  even  1912,  the  return  may  be 
expected  with  still  other  and  possible  values  of  the  mean  motion. 
No  near  approach  to  Jiqjiter  will  take  place  during  this  intenal, 
but  the  situation  of  the  orbit  is  such  that  the  comet  can  approach 
both  Jupiter  and  .Mars.  Confining  attention  to  the  most  probable 
period  (652  years),  the  comet  approaches  the  orbit  of  Jupiter 
within  ooyrv,  in  Hel.  Long.  207°,  and  that  of  Mars  within 
OOI2R,  in  Hel.  Long.  28^  This  interest  in  the  comet's  path 
is  still  further  increased  by  the  speculation,  due  to  M.  Schulhof, 
that  this  comet  formed  originally  a  part  of  Wolfs  comet,  from 
which  it  possibly  se|>arated  in  181 5. 

Me.^slrement  ok  Radi.\i,  Velocities. — The  methods  at 
present  employed  for  the  measurement  of  the  movements  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  towards  or  away  from  the  earth  usually  involve 
the  use  of  a  comparison  spectrum,  whether  the  observations  be 
made  by  eye  or  by  photography.  In  special  cases,  however, 
other  methods  are  employed,  as,  for  example,  the  use  of  telluric 
lines  by  Duner  in  the  measurement  of  the  suns  rotation.  It  h-is 
not,  however,  yet  been  considered  practicable  to  utilise  the 
objective  prism  for  the  work,  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of 
obtaining  reference  spectra.  -\  new  method,  which  has  the 
great  advantage  of  being  applicable  to  spectra  photographed 
with  or  without  slits,  has  recently  been  suggested  by  .M. 
Orbinsky,  of  Odessa.  (As/r.  Xac/i.  3289. )  The  principle  of  the 
method  is  based  on  the  fact  that  the  displacements  of  lines  are 
different  at  different  wave-lengths,  so  that  the  distance  be- 
tsveen  two  lines  in  a  spectrum  depends  upon  the  velocity 
of  the  source  of  light  ;  the  higher  the  velocity,  the  greater  or  less 
will  be  the  distance  between  any  two  lines  in  the  spectrum, 
according  as  the  source  of  light  is  approaching  or  receding,  and 
providing  the  dispersion  be  sufficient,  it  may  be  possible  to 
measure  the  velocities  l)y  this  means.  Obviously  the  measure- 
ments are  much  more  delicate  than  the  direct  measures  of  the 
displacements.  In  practice  it  is  proposed  to  employ  reference 
stars,  the  velocities  of  which  have  been  determined  in  the 
ordinary  way  by  photographic  comparison  spectra  of  hydrogen  or 
iron,  fine  of  these  Iwing  photographed  on  the  same  plate  as 
the  star  under  investigation,  the  results  will  give  the  velocity  re- 
latively to  the  comparison  star,  and  hence  the  absolute  velocity. 
The  instruments  emiili>yeil  should  give  the  greatest  jx)ssible 
range  of  wave-lengths,  and  it  will  be  specially  advantageous  to 
obtain  as  great  a  difference  of  dispersion  as  possible  between  the 
extreme  ends  of  the  spectrum.  It  is  shown  by  actual  figxires 
that  the  measurements  are  quite  practicable,  both  in  the  case  of 
the  PoLsdam  spectrograph  and  in  the  objective  prism  employed 
at  Harvard  College.  It  is  in  the  case  of  the  latter  class  of 
instruments  that  the  method  seems  most  likely  to  be  of  practical 
value. 

Two  Remarkable  Bi.narv  Stars. — Apart  from  the  binary 
stars  which  can  only  be  recognised  as  such  by  the  aid  of  the 
spectroscope,  the  two  binary  stars  of  shortest  periods  at  pre- 
sent known  are  k  Pegasi  and  5  Equulei.  The  orbits  of  these 
have  been  redetermined  by  Dr.  See,  using  all  available  obser- 
vations, many  of  which  are  due  to  the  industry'  of  Profs. 
Burnham  and  Barnard.  The  elements  deduced  are  as  follows 
{Aslr.  Nai/t.  3285,  3290)  :— 

K  PcK.irii.  6  Equulei. 

P         ...  11-42  years  ...  11-45  years 

T         ...  1S96-03     1892-8 

t  ...  0-49  0-14 

a         ...         o'-42i6       o"-452 

I         ...  Si'-2         79''05 

a         ...  n6°-2S      22°-2 

A         ...  89'-2  o°-o 

n         ...  -3'°'5236  •••  -3>°'44i 

Prof.  Burnham  has  repeatedly  called  attention  to  the  impor;- 
ance  of  systematic  observations  of  rapid  binaries  with  large 
telescopes,  so  that  ive  should  in  a  few  years  get  good  orbits, 
which  in  the  case  of  most  binaries  would  require  the  observations 
of  centuries. 

It  will  l)e  seen  that  there  is  still  a  great  gap  between  the 
telescopic  and  spectroscopic  binaries,  but  it  is  quite  possible  that 
as  the  powers  ot  both  instruments  are  increased  the  gap  may  l>e 
gradually  shortened  from  both  sides. 


i=;6 


NATURE 


[Junk 


'O' 


189  = 


THE  SUXS  PLACE  IN  NATURE} 

VI. 

\\rF.   come   niiw    id   the   third    new    |Kjint   of    vie«.       Many 
'  ap)>areiit   stars  are   really    centres    of    nebiiUv,    i.e.    of 

ulctcoritic  swarms. 

In  that  vcf)'  simple  statement  we  have  perhaps  the  very 
greatest  and  the  most  fundamental  change  which  hivs  lieen  sug- 
gested by  the  new  hypothesis.  I  am  quite  certain  that  all  of 
you  who  have  rciid  texlUiulcs  of  astronomy  will  t>e  perfectly 
familiar  with  the  statement  that  all  stars  are  distant  suns.  I 
have  written  that  myself  several  times,  liut  I  now  know  that  it 
is  not  true.  .Some  stars,  instead  of  being  distant  suns  like  our 
sun.  a  condensed  mass  of  gas  with  a  crtisl  gradually  forming  on 
it,  and  a  thick  atmosphere  over  it,  are  simply  the  Ijrighter  con- 
denaitions,  the  central  condensations  of  nebuhv,  whether  they 
lie  like  that  nf  .\ndr<imcda,  or  planetary  nebul.v,  or  such  a 
nebula  as  that  of  Oriim.  Vou  see  the  idea  is  perfectly  new  and 
completely  different  from  the  old  one,  which  taught  us  that  all 
-Stars  were  suns.  Shortly  after  I  made  this  as.sertion,  photo- 
graphv  came  to  our  aid.  and  I  am  so  fortunate  as  to  Ix;  able  to 


I  .    .  -'1.      .S-  lail.i  i-'iinil  I)  Ar^i!^  (  i  'r.  *  iiilj. 

prove  to  yiu  the  absolute  truth  of  it  by  an  appeal  to  Nature 
herself;  that  is.  I  refer  fur  demonstration  to  autobiographical 
records  with  which  the  heavens  themselves  have  supplied  us. 
Among  the  tinesi  anil  most  wonderful  of  the  nebulx  is  one 
which,  unforlun.alely,  we  do  nut  see  here,  liecause  it  is  in  the 
viuthern  hemisphere  :  it  is  that  surmunding  the  star  ij  in  a 
wonderful  constellation.  .\rgo,  which  it  isipiite  worth  while  to  go 
•inuth  to  sec,  were  there  no  other  re;Lsons.  Krom  the  photo- 
Kraph  you  see  that  there  is  such  an  intimate  connection,  such 
nn  obvious  relation,  lietween  st^  and  nebula,  that  it  is  iinpos- 
sible  for  us  to  inmgine  for  one  moment  that  they  arc  not  most 
Clr«cly  and  mlimalely  connected. 

I  will  now  bring  liefore  you  another  case  which  we  can,  all  of 
u.%,  .we,  w>  far  as  a  certain  (Kirt  of  the  phenomena  is  concerned, 
and  especially  al  this  lime  of  the  year.  I  refer  to  those  "stars," 
the  »ix  I'lciads.  which  you  will  rememlier  once  lo.st  a  sister, 
that  one  sees  in  the  constellation  of  the  Bull.      Mere  they  are, 

•  KcvimnJ  from  ^horlh.in'l  note*  of  a  course  of  I^cturcft  to  Workinjt  Men 
Al  the  Mutetmi  of  l'f;M;ii<:.'tl  (Ecology  during  November  and  DcccmlM:r, 
lB04.     (Ojntinued  from  y*4,<:    14.) 


photographed  by  Dr.  Roberts.  You  see  they  are  not  stars ;  they 
are  nebula:.  \\'hat  we  see  in  this  photograph  (see  Kig.  25),  in 
the  case  of  e.ich  so-called  "  star,"  is  obvious  ;  we  see  the  centre 
of  condensation,  and  more  than  that,  it  is  not  a  simple  con- 
densation, but  there  are  stream-lines  going  in  all  directions, 
and  the  maximum  luminosity,  where  we  locate  the  '*  star."  is 
just  at  the  place  where,  according  tu  this  photograph,  the 
greatest  number  of  the.se  streams  cut  each  other,  antl  where, 
therefore,  we. should  get  the  greatest  |xissible  number  of  collisions 
per  second  of  time.  The  main  point  demonstrated  by  this 
photograph,  then,  is  that  we  are  not  dealing  with  stars  anything 
like  our  sun  :  we  are  simply  dealing  with  nebidous  condensa- 
tions. I  can  show  you  the  spectra  of  the  lirighter  parts  of  these 
condensiitions,  anil  you  will  see  tliat  they  resemble  the  spectra  ot 
ordinar)'  stars.  Broad  dark  lines  of  hydrogen  are  represented 
in  every  one  ;  hence,  although  we  are  dealing  not  with  a  star 
like  the  sun,  but  a  meteoric  condens.tlion  -  a  place  of  inter- 
section of  streams  of  nebulous  matter — we  get  a  spectrum  such 
as  is  generally  as.sociated  with  the  spectrum  of  a  star.  And  for 
this  there  is  very  good  reason. 

Mere  an  interesting  ]K)int  comes  in.     Suppose  that  we  wished 
to  observe  spectr<  s-opically  what  was  going  on  in  these  condensa- 
tions, and  that  I  allow  the  image  of  one  of  them  to  fall   on  the 
slit  of  the  spectroscope,  so  that  we  have  the  condensittion  at  the 
centre,  and  the  ends  of  the  slit  of  the  spectroscope  beyond  the 
condensation.     At  the  centre,  where  the  slit  crosses  the  con- 
dcnsjition,  of  course  we  should  have  the  spectrinn  which  you  have 
already  seen  on  the  .screen,  a  spectrum  indicating  that  there  is 
something  there  which  gives  us  a  continuous  spectrum,   i.e.   one 
rich  in  all  the  colours  of  the  rainbow  ;  liut  thai  some  of  the  light 
is  absorbed   here  and  there   in  consequence  of  the  surrounding 
atmosphere  of  hydrogen  gas.      So  much  for  the  centre.     Next 
consider  what  will  hapjien  when  I  observe,  for  instance,  this  or 
thai    part  of  the  nebula   where  the  condensation  is  absent  ;  we 
shall  not  get  absorption  phenomena,  but  we  shall  get  radiation 
phenomena,   and   therefore  a   long  bright    line  representing  the 
radiation  of  hydrogen  over  a  large  area,  and  al   the  middle  of  it 
the   ordinary  spectrum   of  a   star.      I'rof.    Canqibell,  at  the  Lick 
Observatory,   has   recently  subjected  another  star    to  a   similar 
treatment,  and  you  will   .see  (Fig.  26)  what  he  has  found.     By 
letting  the  .slit  of  the  si)ectroscoi)e  ui)on  the  image  of  the  star, 
lie  finds  that  he  gets  the  spectrum  from  one  end   to  the  other ; 
but  you  .see  that  at  the  place  occupied   by  one   of  the  hydrogen 
1  lines  he  gets  a  much    longer  image  of  the  slit,  showing  that   he 
I  had  to  deal  there  with  a  star  immersed  in  something  which  was 
!  competent   to  give  a  spectrum   of    hy<lrogeii.       What   was  that 
I  something?     N'ou  can  understand  perfectly  well   thai,   if  one  of 
I  the   rieiads  had  been  examined  in  the  same  way,  it  would  be 
I  quite    possible   that   we  should  get  just   such  an  ai)l>earance  as 
I   I'rof.    Campbell    was  fortunate  enough   lo  obtain.       This  raises 
i  an  interesting  i|ue.stion,  in  which  astronomic  thought  has  been 
going  up  and  ilown   now  for  the  last   foiirlecn   or  fifteen   years, 
and    I    think    I  can  show  you  exactly  liow  llic  mailer  lies.      The 
diameter  of  the  sun  is  very  nearlya  million  miles.      Now,  supjiosc 
Ihal  Ihe  iliameter  of  the  solar  atmosphere  was  ten  million  miles  ; 
then  if  we   were  by  any  means  whatever   lo   speclroscopically 
examine  Ihe  image  of  ihe  sun  under  such  condilions  llial  all  the 
light  coming   from   these  different   regions  could  enter  ihe  slit  of 
the  speclroscope  al  the  same  lime,  and  give  us,   aildcd  logelher, 
the  whole  light,  we  shoiiM  be  able  lo  ilelermine  practically  what 
we  might  be  able   to   see    uniler   these  conditions  by  some  such 
considerations  as  these  ;  — 

Diameter  of  the  sun,  one  milliim  miles. 
Diameter  of  the  sun's  atmosphere,  ten  million  miles. 
We  shoulil  therefore  get  the  light  from  the  sun  in  the  ratio  of 
I  to  99 'of  Ihe  light  from  the  almosphere.  Now  suppose  that 
there  is  any  chemical  connection  belween  the  absorplion  in  the 
light  of  the  sun  and  Ihe  radialion  in  Ihe  light  of  ihe  sun's  al- 
mosphere, if  we  sweep  the  slit  of  the  s|Krlr<iscope  along  ihced^e 
of  Ihe  sun,  the  part  of  the  spectrum  which  writes  for  us  wh.at  is 
going  im  in  the  sc.lar  phi>losphcre,  gives  us  the  speclriim  crossed 
by  dark  lines  :  Ihe  eflecl  of  the  almosphere  is  to  absorb  ihe  light 
of  the  more  distant  sun  at  which  we  look,  and  the  result  of  ihe 
absorplion  is  lo  give  us  dark  lines. 

Hul  when  we  look  al  ihe  almosphere  which  is  resting  on  the 
c.lge  oflhe  sun.  an<l  look  at  it  where  there  is  no  brighler  sun 
behinil,  absorplion  no  longer  comes  inio  play,  ami  we  get  bright 
lines.  This  is  what  happens  when  we  look  al  the  solar  atmosphere 
above  Ihe  sun's  eilge  and  the  solar  atmosphere  between  us  and 
the  sun.      So  long  :is  we  are  telling  ihe  slory  of  ihe  sun,   we  get 


NO.    1337.  VOL.   52] 


June   13,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


D/ 


the  dark  lines  ;  so  long  as  wo  are  telling  the  storj'  of  the  sun's 
atmosphere,  we  get  bright  lines. 

We  found  that  the  area  from  which  the  sunlight  comes  to  us 
is  represented  by  i,  whereas  the  area  from  which  the  atmospheric 
light  comes  to  us  is  represented  by  99  ;  so  that  if  the  light  of  the 
atmosphere  is  very  much  dimmer  than  the  light  of  the  central 
sun,  in  consequence  of  its  enormous  area  we  may  get  some  light 
from  it  intermingled  with  the  light  of  the  sun  itself  in  our 
spectroscopes. 

Therefore,  when  we  look  at  the  complete  spectrum,  we  may 
lose  the  dark  hydrogen  lines  in  the  spectrum  of  the  star,  and  we 
may  get  bright  lines  instead  of  dark  ones  for  every  line  in  the 
spectrum  of  a  star  which  is  filled  up  by  the  absorption  of  a  sub- 
stance the  line  of  which  may  be  seen  bright  in  the  spectrum  of 
that  star's  atmosphere.  Thus  there  is  the  possibility  that  when 
we  have  to  deal  with  liright  lines  in  the  spectrum  of  an  apparent 
star,  we  may  be  dealing  with  the  atmosphere  of  the  star.  Vou 
•will  at  once  see  that  ;  if  we  are  dealing  with  a  pure  meteoric 


I  give  in  Fig.  27  untouched  photographs  of  a  star  in 
Orion,  and  a  star  in  Cassiojjeis;.  The  latter  is  very  like  the 
star  in  Orion,  because  all  the  absorption  lines  are  common  to 


-+■ 


Willi  wicli:  slit. 


with  narrow  slit* 


Fk-..  25.— The  Pleiades  (Dr.  Roljurls). 

agglomeration,  then  of  course  we  shall  get  that  appearance  beyond 
all  possible  question. 

N()W,  let  me  give  yovi  one  or  two  cases  showing  you  how 
this  thing  works  out.  The  strongest  case  would  be  that  we 
should  get  the  bright  hydrogen  lines  putting  out  the  dark 
hydrogen  lines,  so  that  if  we  got  a  class  of  stars  without  any 
dark  hydrogen  lines,  we  shouhl  be  justified  in  supposing  that 
those  stars  had  an  enormous  atmosphere  of  hydrogen,  and  that  the 
fainter  bright  lines  from  the  larger  area  just  cancelled  the  effect 
iif  the  other  light  from  the  very  much  smaller  area.  Another 
way  that  we  might  expect  this  thing  to  work  would  be  that  we 
should  not  get  the  liright  hydr(»gen  lines  entirely  ]iulling  t)ut  the 
<lark  hydrogen  lines,  l>ut  that  we  should  get  a  thinner  line  in 
the  centre  of  a  broader  dark  one.  Now,  that  really  happens  in 
several  stars  in  the  heavens. 

NO.    1337,  VOL.    52] 


Fig.  26.— Prof.  Campbelfs  observation  of  the  F  line  of  hydroi;en  in 
the  spectrum  of  a  bright  tine  star. 

the  two  Stars  ;  but  I  may  point  out  to  you  that  we  get  a  bright 

hydrogen  line  running  down  the  centre  of  the  dark  ones.     We 

may  have  such  an  effect  produced  either  by  a  star  having  an 

enormous  atmosphere,    or    by   the    star    with 

which  we  are  dealing  being  simply  the  central 

condensation  of  an  enormous  nebula. 

I  am  bound  to  say  that  when  I  began  this 
work  in  1876,  I  was  under  the  im[)ression  that 
such  phenomena  were  due  only  to  the  effects 
of  the  atmosphere.  But  one  lives  and  learris, 
and  since  then  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  that  explanation  is  not  the  best  one,  and 
that  when  we  get  such  phenomena  as  those 
you  now  see  on  the  screen,  we  have  really  to 
deal  with  the  central  condensations  of  nebulous 
swarms.  I  do  not  hesitate  to  bring  these  facts 
before  you,  because  it  is  particularly  in  this 
connection  of  thought  and  experiment  and 
comparison  that  whatever  progress  which  is 
now  being  made  in  astronomical  science  is 
being  secured. 

Associated  with  this  view  we  have  the  state- 
ment that  stars  with  bright  lines  are  closely 
associated  with  nebulas,  as  evidenced  by  their 
structure.  Vou  will  see  that  there  is  one 
method  which  enables  us  to  compare  the  bright 
lines  in  stars  like  7  Cassiopeia.-  with  the 
nebuliv,  as  it  gives  us  an  opjiortunity  of  deter- 
mining whether  or  not  the  bright  lines  seen 
in  the  so-called  bright-line  stars  are  or  are  not 
the  same  as  the  bright  lines  seen  in  neliute. 
In  the  first  inquiry  in  this  direction,  which 
consisted  of  a  statistical  statement  of  the 
number  of  times  certain  lines  were  seen  in  the 
spectra,  both  of  nebula-  and  of  bright-line 
stars,  it  was  stated  that  nine  lines  were  coin- 
cident, and  that  and  other  work  done  about 
that  time  was  of  such  a  very  trenchant  nature 
that  I'rof.  Pickering,  who  is  one  of  our  very 
highest  authorities  in  all  these  matters,  ac- 
cepted at  once  the  grouping  together  of  stars 
having  bright  lines  in  their  spectra  with  the 
nebulfe.  That,  you  see,  was  another  very 
definite  step  in  advance  indeed. 

I    can    show    you    a    map    giving    you  the 

evidence  of  this  kind   which  has  l>een  brought 

into  court.     We  have  in  it  the  lines  seen  in 

the  spectrum  of  the  nebula  of  Orion,  and  the 

longer  the   line  is    the   .stnmger  it    is   in  the 

photograph.     Then  we  have  underneath    the 

lines  recorded  in  the  Orion  stars,  in  the  bright  line  stars,  and  in 

the  jilanetary    nebula-  ;    and  if  you  will    cast    your  eyes  down 

these    chief  lines,    you   will    see    that    there   is    a   considerable 

number  of  lines  common  to  all  these  Iwdics. 

That  is  the  kind  of  evidence  on  which  we  have  Ijeen  com- 
pelled to  rely  to  answer  the  question  :  Is  there  any  chemical 
relationship,  and  therefore  i)hysical  relationship,  between  the 
bright  line  stars  and  the  nebula  of  Orion  ?  .\nd  you  see  the 
evidence  is  very  strongly  in  favour  of  an  affirmative  state- 
ment. Not  only  does  I'rof.  I'ickering  accept  it,  but  Prof. 
Keeler  also  confirms  it.  He  says  the  spectra  of  the  planetary 
nebula-  have  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  the  bright  line 
stars. 

Bui  even  nii>re  fortunate  for  us  than  all  this  is  the  fact  that 
Prof.  Campbell  has  jusl  finished  a  most  important  and  laborious 


iss 


X.-l  TURE 


[June 


189- 


study  of  these  stars  at  the  Lick  Observator)",  and  has  obsen-ed 
all  the  lines  in  the  spectra  of  a  much  greater  number  of  stars  than 
was  available  when  I  began  the  inquirj- :  his  measurements  are 
ver\'  much  more  accurate  than  any  that  were  possible  then  to 
me.  What  hap|K-ns  when  we  come  to  deal  w  ith  his  results  ? 
The  thing  is  a  thousand  times  more  convincing  than  it  ever  was. 
When  we  take  Campbell's  list,  we  get  ver\'  many  more  co- 
incidences than  we  had   when  we  dealt   with  Pickering's.     So 


seems  to  confirm  the  idea.  The  great  question  is  the  question 
of  carbon.  You  know  the  imiwriance  of  carbon  in  a  star  like 
this,  because  we  have  had  carbon  differentiating  comets  from 
nebula-,  and  finally  the  discovery  of  carbon  in  the  nobulv. 

I  have  some  ap(xtr.ilus  bore  10  show  yovi,  which  illuslmtes 
what  one  has  to  do  in  sludying  the  spectrum  of  carlxm  ;  we 
must  not  only  deal  with  it  in  its  ordinary  form,  and  observe  the 
spectrum  as  seen  in  the  liunscn  flame,  and  so  on,  but  wc  must 


Aug.  33. 
1893. 


.Aug.  16, 
1893. 


* 


Hi- 


Wi 


I 


iCassiopeiae: 


)RIONIS 

Fig.  27. — Spectra  of  y  Cassiopeiae  and  Beliatrbc.  from  photographs  taken  al  Soulti  Kensington. 


that,  the  further  we  go  in  this  inquiry,  the  greater  is  the  number 
of  coincidences.  I  told  you  that  in  the  first  inquiry  there  were 
nine  coincidences  oKserveil ;  now  we  get  nineteen  coincidences 
out  of  thirty-three.  We  are  therefore  justified  in  .saying  that  the 
more  these  phenomena  are  observed,  the  more  closely  associated 
are  they  seen  to  lie. 

I..et  us  take  the  ca.se  of  one  of  the  brightest  stars  of  this  class  in 
Argo,  the  spectrum  of  a  star  w  hich  my  friend  Respighi  and  myself 


'  I iii»iiw iii(Jp|WMiM|H» 


get  different  com]X)Uiids  of  carlion,  and  expose  them  to  difl'crent 
temperatures  and  different  pressures.  That  ha.s  been  done  by 
myself  and  others :  during  the  last  twenty  years  I  suppose  I 
have  made  thousiinils  of  observations  on  the  spectrum  of  carbon 
in  different  forms  and  conditions. 

Kig.  28  show  s  a  series  of  photographs  of  the  same  carbon  com- 
pound in  the  same  tiil)C,  taken  under  different  conditions  ;  you 
will    see    that    there    is    a    very  cunsidendilc    differciue  in  the 
intensity  of  the  s;ime  bands,  as  the  pressure  tif 
i  lie  gas  has  been  changed  ;  the  |Mrticular  |>art 
'f  oi^e  of  the  bands  which   you  see  enhanced 
-rcms  to  l>e  playing  a  role  of  consi<leralile  ini- 
|iortaiue  in  the  sjiectra  of  simie  of  these  stars. 
This  is  shown  merely  as  an  indication  of  the 
l^iinl  of  inituite  work  wliich  is  ahsululcly  essen- 
iial   to    determine    what    is    happening  in  the 
Iteinical  elements  in  these  bodies, 

I,  Ndkman  I,ikkvi;r, 


474      F 


.      iiiiji    iiiiiHi      iiSl'"4 


( To  he  coitliniied. ) 


/■///■;    MAX. I uEMENT 
EPPING  EOREST. 


OE 


h  iG,  30. — .Spectrum  of  carbon  at  ditTerent  temperature*. 

were  the  first  to  see  on  a  very  hot  night  in  .Madras  in  1871,  a 
lieautiful  s|>eLlrum  with  man^  bright  lines.  Now,  here  these 
bright  linen  are  indicated  in  the  diagram,  anti  we  find  by 
attempting  to  Mudy  their  real  gmsilions  that  some  of  them  are 
<hie  to  carlxin,  and  vnne  of  them  to  iron,  and  sfime  of  them  to 
WHiium.  I'riif.  Campliell  h.ts  recently  iiuludcd  the  study  of  this 
star  in  his  work  at  l.ick,  and  everything  that  he  has  done  there 

NO.    1337,  VOL.  52] 


A  S  a  sequel  to  the  continued  agitation  in 
^^  the  newspapers  alioul  Kppiiig  I'oresI,  a 
leputation  was  received  by  the  Coniniitlee  al 
iheir  meeting  on  Tuesday  last  at  the  (iuildhull. 
The  object  of  the  (leputation  was  to  present 
ihe  following  memorial :  — 

"  N'ovir  memorialists  have  heanl  «ilh  grave 

'oncern  that  your  t'oniuiitlee  have  hcen  urged 

10  put  a  stop  to  all  furllier  removals  nf  trees 

in  Kpping  I'orest  for  a  period  of  years.     The 

undei. signed  have  examined  the  area  ijiipiestion 

and   are  of  opinion  that   such  a  rcKihition,  if 

!  sanctione<l   by    your  Committee,   would    be  productive    of  un- 

I  doubted     iimiry    to    the     Korcst,   especially    as    regards    those 

portions    of    Loiighton,    ICpping,   Waltham    and    ,Sewardstone 

I  Slanors  which  are  covered    with  a  dense  growth  of  pollanled 

trees, 

"Those  who  have  approached  you  with  the  reipiesl  to  «liich 
we  have  refctn-d  <lo  not  appear  to  liavi-  ajiprehended  the  altered 


Junk   13.  1^95] 


NA  TURE 


159 


conditions  which  were  brought  about  by  the  arrest  of  pollarding 
enacted  in  1878. 

"  Many^of  these  pollards,  whether  single  trees  or  groups,  are 
ca|)al>le  of  picturesque  development,  but  only  under  healthy 
conditions  and  with  adequate  space.  To  leave  them  all  to  grow 
together — several  hundreds  to  the  acre — will  lead  to  mutual  de- 
struction, while  the  continuous  overhead  shade  destroys  the 
undergrowth  and  the  varied  vegetation  which  constitutes  the 
chief  charm  of  a  forest  and  the  hope  of  its  reproduction  in  the 
future. 

"The  evils  we  have  indicated  are  already  sufficiently  manifest, 
and  it  must  be  obvious  to  all  competent  observers  that,  unless 
timely  steps  are  taken,  a  few  years"  further  growth  must  produce 
a  singularly  monotonous,  artificial,  and  unhealthy  result. 

"  Some  of  us  have  been  familiar  with  the  Forest  for  many  years, 
anil  can  certify  to  the  great  improvement  and  the  increase  of 
natural  growth  which  has  already  resulted  from  the  operations  of 
your  Committee,  now  continued  for  many  years." 

The  following  signatures  were  attached  : — The  Earl  of  Gains- 
borough, Viscount  I'owerscourt,  Lords  Northbourne,  Rayleigh 
(Lord  Lieutenant  of  Essex)  and  Walsingham,  Sir  John  Lub- 
iKick,  Sir  \V.  H.  Elower,  Right  Hon.  J.  Br>ce  (President  of  the 
Hoard  of  Trade),  Right  Hon.  G.  Shaw  Lefevre  ( President  Local 
i'lovernment  Board),  Mr.  Justice  Wills,  .Sir  Robert  Hunter 
(Solicitor  to  the  I'ost  (Jfifice),  Prof.  G.  S.  Boulger,  Mr.  Horace 
T.  Brown,  Mr.  Y.  Chancellor  (Mayor  of  Chelmsford),  Mr.  \V. 
Cole  (Secretary  to  the  E.ssex  Field  Club),  Dr.  M.  C.  Cooke, 
Prof.  J.  B.  Farmer,  Prof  W.  R.  F'isher  ( Royal  Indian  Engineer- 
ing College),  Mr.  W.  Forbes  (Agent  to  the  Duke  of  Richmond 
and  Gordon),  Mr.  F.  Carruthers  Gould,  .Mr.  J.  E.  Harting, 
Mr.  T.  V.  Holmes,  Mr.  David  Howard  (President  of  the  Essex 
Field  Club),  Mr.  Andrew  Johnston  (Chairman  of  the  Essex 
County  Council),  Mr.  H.  Joslin  (High  Sheriff  of  E.ssex),  .Mr.  T. 
Kemble,  Colonel  Lockwood,  M.P. ,  Dr.  Maxwell  Masters,  Prof. 
R.  Meldola,  Mr.  Briton  Riviere,  R..^. ,  Prof  E.  B.  Poulton, 
Mr.  -V.  Savill,  Prof.  Stewart,  Mr.  W.  White  (Curator  of  the 
Ruskin  Museum). 

The  following  memorial ,  bearing  the  signatures  of  about  forty 
residents  in  the  Forest  district,  was  at  the  same  time  pre- 
■sented  :  — 

"  We,  the  undersigned,  being  residents  in  the  Forest  parishes, 
beg  to  state  that  we  have  witnessed  with  satisfaction  a  great 
improvement  in  the  aspect  of  the  Forest  directly  due  to  the 
removal,  during  the  i>ast  sixteen  years,  of  inferior  stems,  and  to 
the  crmscquent  advance  in  beauty  of  tho.se  that  remain,  as  well  as 
the  encouragement  f)f  healthy  young  growth.  We  are  certain 
that  it  will  be  an  irreparable  misfortune  if  the  careful  thinning 
which  has  been  hitherto  carried  out  is  not  steadily  continued. 

"  We  further  beg  to  assure  the  Committee  that  in  our  opinion 
the  operations  in  Hawk  Wood,  so  far  from  being  excessive, 
still  fall  short  of  what  is  required  for  the  healthy  growth  of  oak 
trees. 

"  In  Monk  Wood  there  is  already  a  marked  improvement 
following  on  your  removal,  eighteen  months  ago,  of  a  propor- 
tion of  the  poorest  pollarded  trees.  The  .same  is  true,  even  in  a 
more  marked  degree,  of  Lord's  Bushes.  We  believe  that,  if 
the  gentlemen  w  ho  have  appeared  as  critics  of  your  management 
were  to  judge  of  it  by  the  appearance  of  the  portions  thinned 
three  or  four  years  after  thinning,  instead  of  immediately  after, 
when  they  necessarily  have  a  bare  and  unattractive  effect,  they 
would  themselves  be  of  a  different  opinion. 

"  In  conclusion,  we  beg  to  assure  you  that  the  view  that  the 
action  of  the  Committee  has  been  destructive  is  not  entertained 
by  those  living  on  the  spot  who  are  most  i|ualified  to  judge."' 

The  deputations  were  formally  introduced  by  the  Chairman  of 
the  Essex  Council,  and  the  first  memorial  was  presented  by  Prof. 
Meldola.  The  Committee  was  addressed  also  by  Sir  Robert 
Hunter,  Prof  Boulger.  and  Mr.  F.  C.  Gould,  .\fter  these  re- 
Iircsertations  the  public  may  safely  disregard  all  future  expres- 
sions of  irresponsible  and  unskilled  opinions  in  the  press.  The 
Ch.iirman  of  the  Committee  assured  the  deputation  that  their 
policy  would  not  be  influenced  by  such  criticisms. 


SCIENCE  IN  THE  MAGAZINES. 
^R.  HERBERT  SPENCER'S  second  article  on  "Pro- 
fessional Institutions"  appears  in  the  Contemporary. 
The  article  deals  with  the  intimate  relation  between  the  priest 
and  the  medicineman  of  early  societies,  and  shows  how  the 
physician  was  originated   from   the  priest.       Many   proofs   are 

NO.    1337.  VOL.   52] 


given  that  medical  treatment  was  long  associated  with  priestly 
functions,  and  that  the  uncultured  mind  still  believes  in  some  of 
the  methods  of  the  jirimitive  medicine-man.  Mr.  Spencer  has 
also  an  article  in  the  Forlnighl !y ,  in  which  he  exhibits  the  in- 
secure base  upon  which  Mr.  Balfour  has  laid  his  "  Foundations 
of  Belief,"  and  describes  that  distinguished  author's  dialectic 
efforts,  as  well  as  Lord  Salisburys  address  to  the  British  As- 
sociation at  Oxford,  as  sacrificial  offerings  of  effigies  to  an 
apotheosised  public.  Neither  one  nor  the  other  have  produced 
the  faintest  impression  in  the  world  of  science.  Another  article 
which  may  interest  our  readers,  deals  with  University  degrees  for 
women,  the  writer  comparing  the  action  of  Gottingen,  in  recently 
granting  a  degree  to  Miss  Chisholm,  with  the  policy  of  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  Universities  as  to  women  students. 

In  a  superbly  illustrated  paper,  entitled  "  The  Discover)- of 
Glacier  Bay,'  that  veteran  explorer  Mr.  John  Muir  gives,  in  the 
Century^  an  account  of  his  journey  to  the  now  famous  Glacier 
Bay  of  Alaska,  in  1S79.  The  great  public  library  in  Boston  is 
described  in  the  same  magazine  :  its  artistic  aspects  by  Mrs.  S. 
Van  Rensselaer,  and  its  ideals  and  working  conditions  by  Mr. 
Lindsay  Swift. 

That  fluent  writer  Eha,  the  author  of  "  S.  Naturalist  on  the 
Prowl  "  and  other  equally  attractive  works,  contributes  a  short 
paper,  entitled  "  Voices  of  the  Indian  Night,"  to  the  Sunday 
Magazine.  Ethnologists  may  be  interested  in  an  article  by  Miss 
A.  Spinner  in  the  A'ational,  on  beliefs  concerning  "  Duppies" 
prevalent  in  the  West  Indies.  A  "Duppy"  is  not  simply  the 
negro  equivalent  for  a  ghost,  but  is  regarded  as  the  shadow  of 
the  departed. 

There  are  two  popularly-written  papers  in  Longman's,  one,  of  a 
Selbornian  character,  by  Mr.  H.  G.  Hutchinson,  and  another 
concerned  with  the  natural  jjrocesses  involved  in  the  evolution 
of  soil  in  general,  and  golf-links  in  particular,  by  Dr.  Edward 
Blake. 

Science  Gossip  has  among  its  articles  one  on  explosions  in 
electric  light  mains,  by  Mr.  J.  A.  Wanklj-n  and  Mr.  W.  J. 
Cooper,  and  some  suggestions  with  reference  to  the  work  of  a 
scientific  society,  by  the  Rev.  H.  N.  Hutchinson.  Chambers' s 
Journal  contains  short  papers  on  soluble  paper,  Scottish  gold- 
fields,  forest  dwarfs  of  the  Congo,  and  the  habits  and  tastes  of 
Lepidoptera.  Scrihner  has  some  common-sense  remarks,  by 
Dr.  J.  W.  Roosevelt,  on  cycling  from  a  physiological  point  of 
view. 

We  have  received,  in  addition  to  the  magazines  named  in  the 
foregoing.  Humanitarian  and  Good  Words,  but  no  articles  in  them 
call  for  comment  here. 


I 


ARGON} 

T  is  some  three  or  four  years  since  I  had  the  honour  of 
lecturing  here  one  Friday  evening  upon  the  densities  of 
oxygen  and  hydrogen  gases,  and  upon  the  conclusions  that 
might  be  lirawn  from  the  results.  It  is  not  necessary,  therefore, 
that  I  should  trouble  ytiu  to-night  with  any  detail  as  to  the  method 
by  which  gases  can  be  accurately  weighed.  I  must  take  that  as 
known,  merely  mentioning  that  it  is  substantially  the  same  as  is 
used  by  all  investigators  nowadays,  and  introduced  more  than 
fifty  years  ago  by  Regnault.  It  was  not  until  after  that  lecture 
that  I  turned  my  attention  to  nitrogen  ;  and  in  the  first  instance 
I  employed  a  method  of  preparing  the  gas  which  originated  with 
Mr.  \'ernon  Harcourt,  of  Oxford.  In  this  method  the  oxygen 
of  ordinary  atmospheric  air  is  got  rid  of  with  the  aid  of  ammonia. 
Air  is  bubbled  through  liquid  antmonia,  and  then  pasised  through 
a  red-hot  tube.  In  its  passage  the  oxygen  of  the  air  combines 
with  the  hydrogen  of  the  ammonia,  all  the  oxygen  being  in  that 
way  burnt  up  and  converted  into  water.  l"he  excess  of  ammonia 
is  subse(|Uently  absorbed  with  acid,  and  the  water  by  ordinary 
desiccating  agents.  That  melhoil  is  very  convenient ;  and,  when 
I  had  obtained  a  few  concordant  results  by  means  of  it,  I 
thought  that  the  work  was  complete,  and  that  the  weight  of 
nitrogen  was  satisfactorily  determined.  But  then  I  reflected 
that  it  is  always  advisable  to  employ  more  than  one  method,  and 
that  the  method  that  I  had  used — Mr.  \ernon  Harcourt's 
method  -  was  not  thai  w  hich  had  been  used  by  any  of  those  w  ho 
had  preceded  me  in  weighing  nitrogen.  The  usual  method 
consists  in  absorbing  the  oxygen  of  air  by  means  of  red-hot 
copper ;  and  I  thought  that  I  ought  at  least  to  give  th.at  method 

^  A  discourse  delivered  nl  the  R0y.1l  Institution  un  Friday,  .^pril  5,  by 
ihe  Right  Hon.  Lord  R.tyleigh,  F.R.S. 


i6o 


NATURE 


[JLNl-     13,    1S95 


a  trial,  fully  expecting  to  obtain  forthwith  a  \-alue  in  harmony  with 
that  already  affortle<l  by  the  ammonia  method.  The  result, 
however,  provcti  otherwise.  The  g.-is  obtained  by  the  copper 
mctho<l,  as  I  may  call  it,  proved  to  Ik;  one-thousandth  part  heavier 
than  that  obtained  by  the  ammonia  method  :  and.  on  rcixitition. 
that  difference  was  only  brought  out  more  clearly.  This  was 
aliout  three  years  ago.  Then,  in  order,  if  possible,  to  gel 
further  light  u|K)n  a  discrepancy  which  puzzled  me  ver)'  much, 
and  which,  at  that  time,  I  regarded  only  with  disgust  and 
impatience,  I  published  a  letter  in  N'ATfRE  inviting  criticisms 
frimi  chemists  who  might  be  interested  in  such  questions.  I 
•ibtainetl  various  useful  suggestions,  but  none  going  to  the  root  of 
the  matter.  .Several  jX-Tsons  who  wrote  to  me  privately  were 
inclined  to  think  that  the  explanation  was  to  be  sought  in  a 
lartial  dissociation  of  ihe  nitrogen  derived  from  ammonia.  For, 
before  going  further,  I  ought  to  explain  that,  in  the  nitrogen 
oblainetl  by  the  ammonia  method,  some — about  a  seventh  i>art  — 
is  derived  from  the  ammonia,  the  larger  part,  however,  t>eing 
derived  as  usual  from  the  atmosphere.  If  the  chemically 
tlerived  nitrogen  were  partly  dissociated  into  its  comix)nent 
atoms,  then  the  lightness  of  the  gas  so  prepared  wculd  be 
explained. 

The  next  step  in  the  inquir)'  wiis,  if  possible,  to  exaggerate 
the  discrepancy,  (ine's  instinct  at  first  is  to  tr)-  to  get  rid  of  a 
discrepancy,  but  I  l>elieve  that  experience  shows  such  an 
endeavour  to  \k  a  mistake.  What  one  ought  to  do  is  to  magnify 
a  small  discrejancy  with  a  view  to  finding  out  the  explanation  : 
and,  as  it  appeared  in  the  present  case  that  the  root  of  the  dis- 
cre|>ancy  lay  in  the  fact  that  i>art  of  the  nitrogen  prepareii  by  the 
ammonia  metho<l  was  nitrogen  out  of  ammonia,  although  the 
greater  ]>art  remained  of  common  origin  in  both  cases,  the 
application  of  the  principle  suggested  a  trial  of  the  weight  of 
nitrogen  obtamed  wholly  from  ammonia.  This  could  easily 
Ik.-  done  by  substituting  pure  oxygen  for  atmosijheric  air  in 
Ihe  ammonia  mclhoil,  so  that  the  whule,  instead  of  only  a  part. 
of  the  nitrogen  collected  should  Ik;  derived  from  the  ammonia 
itself.  The  discre])ancy  was  at  once  magnified  some  five  limes. 
The  nitrogen  so  obtained  from  ammonia  proved  to  be  about  one- 
holf  [ler  cent,  lighter  than  nitrogen  obtained  in  the  orclinarj-  way 
from  the  atmosphere,  and  which  I  may  call  for  brevity  "  atmo- 
spheric "  nitrogen. 

That  result  st<i<)d  out  pretty  sharjily  from  the  first ;  but  it  was 
necessar)-  to  confirm  it  by  comjiarison  with  nitrogen  chemically 
dcrive<l  in  other  ways.  The  table  before  you  gives  a  summary 
of  such  results,  the  numliers  being  the  weights  in  grams  actually 
contained  under  standard  conditions  in  the  globe  employed. 


.Vtmosphf.kic  Nitrogen. 


By  hot  copper  (1802)  ... 

By  hoi  iron  (1S93) 

Hy  ferrous  hyilrate  (1894) 


...  2-3103 
..  2-3100 
...   2-3102 


Mean  2-3102 

...  2-3001 
2-2990 
2-2987 
2-2985 
2  2987 


Chemical  Nitrockn. 

From  nitric  oxide 

From  nitrous  oxide 

From  ammonium  nitrite  purified  at  a  read  lie;il 

From  urea 

From  ammonium  nitrite  purifie<l  in  the  cold 

Mean  2-2990 

The  difference  is  alxiul  II  milligrams,  or  about  one-half  per 
rent.  ;  ami  it  was  sufficient  to  prove  conclii.sively  that  the  two 
kiniU  of  nitrogen — the  chemically  derived  nitrogen  ami  the 
almiispheric  nitrogen — <liffered  in  weight,  and  therefore,  of 
CMurst-.  in  qu.-ility,  for  some  rca.s«>n  hitherto  unknnwn. 

I  nccil  not  s|x.-nd  time  in  explaining  the  various  precautions 
lliat  were  neri-ssarj-  in  order  to  establish  surely  that  conclusion. 
One  hail  tn  lie  <in  one's  guard  against  impurities,  e.s|x-cially 
again.«l  the  pre.sence  of  hydrogen,  which  might  .scriou.sly  lighten 
any  gn.»  in  which  it  was  contained.  I  lielicve,  however,  that  the 
precautions  taken  were  suflicienl  to  exclude  all  (piestions  of  that 
sort,  and  the  reMill.  which  I  published  alniut  this  lime  l.rsi  year, 
M.nid  sharply  out.  thai  the  nitrogen  obtained  from  chemical 
iwmrces  was  /lifft-rcnt  from  the  nitrogen  obtained  from  the  air. 

Well,  that  differcnrc,  admitling  it  to  Ije  established,  was 
sufficient  lo  show  ihal  vmie  hitherto  unknown  ga.s  is  involved  in 
Ihe  mailer.  Il  might  Ih.-  that  the  new  giLs  w.is  dis.socialed 
nitrogen,  contained  in  thai   which  was  l<>o  light,  the  chemical 

NO.  1337,  vor.  52] 


nitrc^en — and  at  first  that  was  the  explanation  to  which  I 
leaned  :  but  certain  experiments  went  a  long  way  lo  discourage 
such  a  SHp|X)sition.  In  ihe  first  place,  chemical  evidence — and 
in  this  matter  I  am  greatly  dependent  u|>on  the  kindness  of  chem- 
ical friends — tends  to  show  that,  even  if  ordinary  nitrogen  could 
he  disstjciaietl  at  all  into  its  com|xinent  atoms,  such  atoms 
would  not  be  likely  to  enjoy  any  verj-  long  continued  existence. 
Even  ozone  goes  slowly  lack  lo  the  more  normal  slate  of  oxygen  -. 
and  it  was  thought  that  dis-sociated  nitrogen  would  have  even  a 
greater  tendency  to  revert  to  the  normal  condition.  The  ex- 
periment suggeste<l  hy  ihat  remark  was  as  follows — lo  keep 
chemical  nitrogen — the  loo  light  nilrt)gen  which  might  be  sup- 
posed lo  contain  dissociated  molecules — for  a  good  while,  and  lo 
examine  whether  il  changed  in  density.  Of  course  it  would  be 
useless  to  shut  up  gas  in  a  globe  and  weigh  il,  and  then,  after  an 
interval,  lo  weigh  il  again,  for  there  would  be  no  t>i>porlunity 
for  any  change  of  weight  lo  occur,  even  although  the  gas  within 
the  globe  had  inidergone  some  chemical  alteration.  It  is 
necessar)'  to  re-establish  Ihe  standard  conditions  of  temperature 
and  pressure  which  are  always  understood  when  we  speak  ol 
filling  a  globe  with  gas.  for  I  need  hardly  say  that  filling  a  globe 
w  ilh  gas  is  but  a  figure  of  speech.  Kverylhing  dejicnds  upon  the 
lem|X-rature  and  pressure  at  which  you  work.  However,  that 
obvious  [wint  being  Imrnein  mind,  il  was  proved  by  experiment 
that  the  gas  did  not  change  in  weight  by  standing  for  eight 
months — a  result  lending  10  show  that  ihe  abnorntal  Hghmess 
was  not  the  consequence  of  dissociation. 

l-'urther  exiierimeiUs  were  tried  U))on  the  action  of  the  silent 
electric  discharge  l«)lh  upon  the  atmospheric  nitrogen  an<l  upon 
the  chemically  derived  nitrogen — but  neither  of  Ihem  .seemed  10 
be  sensibly  aflecled  by  such  Irealment ;  .so  that,  altogether,  ihe 
Ixilance  of  evidence  seemed  to  incline  against  the  hypothesis  of 
abnormal  lighlness  in  Ihe  chemically  derived  nitrogen  being  due 
li>  dissociation,  anil  lo  suggest  strongly,  as  ahnosl  the  only 
jiossible  alternative,  that  there  nuisi  Ije  in  atmospheric  nitrogen 
some  conslilueni  heavier  than  true  nitrogen. 

\\  lhal  point  the  tpieslion  arose,  What  was  the  evidence  that 
all  the  so-called  nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere  was  of  one  <|uality? 
-Vnd  I  remember — I  think  it  was  about  this  time  la.sl  year,  or  a  ■ 
little  earlier — pulling  the  question  lo  my  colle;igue  I'rof.  Dewar. 
His  answer  was  lhal  he  doubled  whether  anything  material  h.ad 
been  done  upon  the  matter  since  the  lime  of  Cavendish,  and 
thiit  I  hail  belter  refer  lo  t'avendish"s  original  pa|Kr.  That 
advice  1  quickly  followe<l,  and  I  was  rather  surprised  to  find  lhal 
Cavendi.sh  hail  himself  put  this  question  (|uile  as  .sharply  as  I 
could  put  it.  Translated  from  the  old-fashioned  phraseology- 
connected  with  the  theor)-  of  phlogiston,  his  cpieslion  was 
whether  the  inert  ingredient  of  the  air  is  re.ally  all  of  one  kind  : 
whether  all  the  nitrogen  of  the  air  is  really  the  same  as  Ihe  nitro- 
gen of  nitre.  Cavendish  not  only  a.sked  himself  this  question, 
bul  he  enileavoured  lo  answer  il  by  an  ajipeal  In  ex|K-riment. 

I  should  like  to  show  you  Cavendish's  experiment  in  some- 
thing like  its  original  form.  He  inverted  a  C  lube  filled  with 
mercury,  the  legs  standing  in  two  separate  mercury  cups.  He 
then  i)a.ssed  up,  so  as  to  stand  above  the  mercur)-,  a  mixture  of 
nitrogen,  or  of  air,  and  nxygen  :  anil  he  caused  an  electric 
current  from  a  frictional  electrical  machine  like  the  one  I  have 
before  me  lojuss  fmm  the  mercur)-  in  the  one  leg  lo  ihe  mercury 
in  Ihe  other,  giving  sparks  across  the  intervening  colunm  of  air. 
I  (111  not  propose  lo  use  a  frictional  machine  to-night,  liul  I  will 
subslilule  for  il  one  giving  electricity  of  Ihe  same  quality  of  the 
construction  introduced  by  Mr.  Wimshurst,  of  which  we  have  a 
fine  specimen  in  the  Institution.  Il  stands  just  outside  the  door 
of  the  theatre,  and  will  supply  an  eleclric  current  along  insulateit 
wires,  leading  In  the  mercury  cups  ;  and,  if  we  are  successful,  we 
shall  cause  sparks  lo  |)ass  through  ihe  small  length  of  air  included 
above  Ihe  columns  of  mercur)-.  There  they  are  ;  and  after  a 
lillle  time  you  will  notice  that  the  mercury  ri.ses,  indicating  lhal 
the  gas  is  sensibly  absorbed  under  ihe  influence  of  ihe  sparks 
and  of  a  piece  of  pol.ash  floating  im  the  mercury.  Il  was  by 
that  means  lhal  Cavemiish  established  his  great  discovery  iif  ihe 
iialure  of  ihe  inert  ingredient  in  the  atmosphere,  which  we  now 
call  nilriigen  -.  and,  as  I  have  viid,  C"avendish  himself  proposed 
the  question,  as  distinctly  as  we  can  do.  Is  this  inert  ingredient 
all  of  one  kind?  and  he  proceeded  to  lest  lhal  question.  He 
found,  after  days  anil  weeks  of  prolracled  experiment,  that,  for 
the  most  pari,  the  nitrogen  of  the  atmosphere  absorbed  in  this 
manner,  was  converted  into  nitrous  acid  :  but  that  there  was  a 
small  residue  remaining  after  prolonged  treatment  wilh  sparks, 
and   a   final   absnrption   of  ihe   residual   oxygen.      That    residue 


JUXK     13,    1895] 


NA  rURE 


161 


amounletl  to  about  ,  i  j  part  of  the  nitrogen  taken  ;  and  Cavendish 
draws  the  conclusion  that  if  there  be  more  than  one  inert  in- 
gredient in  the  atmosphere,  at  any  rate  the  second  ingredient  is 
not  contained  to  a  greater  extent  than  yi^  part. 

I  must  not  wait  too  long  over  the  experiment.  Mr.  Gordon 
tells  me  that  a  certain  amount  of  contraction  has  already 
occurred  ;  and  if  we  project  the  U  upon  the  screen,  we  sliall 
be  able  to  verify  the  fact.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time  for  the 
greater  part  of  the  gas  to  be  taken  up,  as  we  have  proved  by 
preliminary  experiments. 

In  what  I  have  to  say  from  this  point  onwards,  I  must  l)e 
understood  as  speaking  as  much  on  behalf  of  Prof.  Kamsay  as 
for  myself.  At  the  first,  the  work  which  we  did  waste  a  certain 
extent  independent.  .\fterwards  we  worked  in  concert,  and 
all  that  we  have  published  in  our  joint  names  must  be  regarded 
as  being  equally  the  work  of  both  of  us.  But,  of  course,  l*rof. 
Ramsay  must  not  be  held  responsible  for  any  chemical  bluniler 
into  which  I  may  stumble  lo-night. 

liy  his  work  and  by  mine  the  heavier  ingredient  in  atmo- 
spheric nitrogen  which  was  the  origin  of  the  discrepancy 
in  the  densities  has  been  isolated,  and  we  have  given  it 
the  name  of  "  argon."  For  this  purpose  we  may  use  the 
original  method  of  Cavendish,  with  the  advantages  of  modern 
appliances.  We  can  procure  more  powerful  electric  sjwrks 
than  any  which  Cavendish  could  command  by  the  use  of  the 
ordinary  Ruhmkorff  coil  stinudated  by  a  battery  of  drove 
cells  ;  and  it  is  possible  so  to  obtain  evidence  of  the  existence  of 
argon.  The  oxidation  of  nitrogen  by  that  method  goes  on  ]iretty 
quickly.  If  you  put  some  ordinary  air,  or,  better  still,  a  mixture 
of  air  and  oxygen,  in  a  tube  in  which  electric  sparks  are  made  to 
pass  for  a  certain  time,  then  in  looking  through  the  tube  you 
observe  the  well-known  reddish-orange  fumes  of  the  oxides  of 
nitrogen.  I  will  not  take  up  time  in  going  through  the  experi- 
ment, but  will  merely  exhibit  a  tube  already  prepared  (image  on 
screen). 

One  can  work  more  efficiently  by  employing  the  alternate  cur- 
rents from  dynamo  machines  which  are  now  at  our  command. 
In  this  Institution  we  have  the  advantage  of  a  ]>ublic  supply  ; 
and  if  I  pass  alternate  currents  originating  in  I)eiitfi>rd  through 
this  Kuhmkorff  coil,  which  acts  as  what  is  now  called  a  *'  high 
potential  transformer,"  and  allow  sparks  from  the  secondary  to 
|)ass  in  an  inverted  test  tube  between  platinum  pf)ints.  we  shall 
be  able  to  show  in  a  comparatively  short  time  a  pretty  rapid  ab- 
sorption of  the  gases.  The  electric  current  is  led  into  the  »c)rking 
chamber  through  bent  glass  tubes  containing  mercury,  and  pro- 
vided at  their  inner  extremities  with  platinum  points.  In  this 
arrangement  we  avoid  the  risk,  which  woidd  (Otherwise  be  serious, 
of  a  fracture  just  when  we  lea.st  desired  it.  I  now  ^tart  the 
sparks  by  switching  on  the  Kuhmkorff  to  the  alternate  current 
.supply  ;  and,  if  you  will  take  note  of  the  level  of  the  liquid 
representing  the  quantity  of  mixed  gases  included,  I  think  you 
will  see  after,  perhaps,  a  quarter  of  an  hour  that  the  lii)uid  h,as 
very  appreciably  risen,  owing  to  the  union  of  the  nitrrjgen  and  the 
oxygen  gases  under  the  influence  of  the  electrical  discharge,  and 
subseipient  absorption  of  the  resulting  compound  by  the  alkaline 
liquid  with  which  the  gas  sp.ice  is  enclosed. 

By  means  of  this  little  apparatus,  which  is  very  convenient  for 
operations  upon  a  moderate  scale,  such  as  for  analyses  of 
"nitrogen"  for  the  amount  of  argon  that  it  may  cimtain,  wc 
are  able  to  get  an  absorption  of  about  80  cubic  centimetres  per 
hour)  or  about  4  inches  along  this  lest  tube,  when  all  is  going 
well.  In  order,  however,  to  obtain  the  isolation  of  argon  on 
any  considerable  scale  by  means  of  the  oxygen  method,  we  must 
employ  an  apparatus  still  more  enlarged.  The  isolation  of 
argon  requires  the  removal  of  nitrogen,  and,  indeed,  of  very 
Urge  quantities  of  nitrogen,  for,  as  it  appears,  the  proportion 
of  argon  contained  in  atmospheric  nitrogen  is  oidy  about  I  per 
cent.,  so  that  for  every  litre  of  argon  that  you  wi.sh  to  get  you 
must  eat  up  some  hundred  litres  of  nitrogen.  That,  however, 
can  be  done  upon  an  adequate  scale  by  calling  to  our  aid  the 
powerful  electric  discharge  now  obtainable  by  means  of  the 
alternate  current  supply  and  high  potential  transformers. 

In  what  I  have  done  upon  this  subject  I  have  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  advice  of  Mr.  Crookes,  who  some  years  ago 
drew  special  attention  to  the  electric  discharge  or  Hanie,  and 
showed  that  many  of  its  properties  ilepended  upon  the  fact  thil 
it  had  the  power  of  causing,  upon  a  very  considerable  scale,  a 
combin.ation  of  the  nitrogen  and  the  oxygen  of  the  air  in  which 
it  was  made. 

I  had  first  thought  of  showing  in  the  lecture  room  the  actual 


NO.    1337,  VOL.   52] 


apparatus  whicli  I  have  employed  for  the  concentration  of  argon  : 
but  the  ilifticully  is  that,  as  the  apparatus  has  to  Ix-  used,  the 
working  parts  are  almost  invisible,  and  I  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  would  really  be  more  instructive  as  well  as  more  con- 
venient to  show  the  parts  isolated,  a  very  little  eflbrt  of  imagina- 
tion being  then  all  that  is  required  in  order  to  reconstruct  in  the 
mind  the  actual  arrangements  employed. 

First,  as  to  the  electric  arc  or  flame  itself.  We  have  here  a 
transformer  made  by  I'ike  and  Harris.  It  is  not  the  one  that  I 
have  used  in  practice  :  liut  it  is  convenient  for  certain  purposes, 
and  it  can  lie  connected  by  means  of  a  sw  itch  with  the  alternate 
currenis  of  100  volts  furnished  by  the  Supply  Company.  The 
platinum  terminals  that  you  .see  here  are  ritodelled  exactly  upon 
the  plan  of  those  w  hich  have  been  employed  in  practice.  I  may 
say  a  word  or  two  on  the  question  of  mounting.  The  terminals 
require  to  be  very  massive  on  account  of  the  heat  evolved.  In 
this  case  they  consi.st  of  platinum  wire  doubled  upon  itself  six 
times.  The  platinums  are  contii  u.'l  by  iron  wires  going  through 
glass  tubes,  and  attached  at  the  ends  to  the  copper  leads.  For 
better  security,  the  tubes  themselves  are  stop|ied  at  the  lower 
ends  with  corks  and  charged  with  water,  the  advantage  being  that, 
when  the  whole  arrangement  is  fitted  by  means  of  an  india- 
rubber  stopper  into  a  closed  vessel,  you  have  a  witness  that,  as 
long  as  the  water  remains  m  position,  no  leak  can  have  occurred 
through  the  insulating  lubes  con\*cying  the  electrodes. 

Now ,  if  we  switch  on  the  current  and  approximate  the  jwints 
sufficiently,  we  get  the  electric  flame.  There  you  have  it.  It 
is,  at  present,  showing  a  certain  amount  of  soda.  That  in  time 
would  burn  of)',  .\fter  the  arc  has  once  been  struck,  the 
platinums  can  be  separated  ;  and  then  you  have  two  tongues  of 
fire  asceniling  almost  independently  of  one  another,  but  meeting 
above.  Under  the  influence  of  such  a  flame,  the  oxygen  ar.d 
the  nitrogen  of  the  air  combine  at  a  reasonable  rate,  and  in  this 
way  the  nitrogen  is  got  ri<l  of.  It  is  now  only  a  c|uestion  of 
boxing  up  the  gas  in  a  closed  space,  where  the  argon  concentrated 
by  the  combustion  of  the  nitrogen  can  Iw  collected.  But  there 
are  difficulties  to  be  encountered  here.  One  cannot  well  use 
anything  but  a  glass  vessel.  There  is  hardly  an)'  metal  available 
that  will  wilhstaiiil  the  action  of  strong  caustic  alkali  and  of  the 
nitrous  fumes  resulting  from  the  flame,  t  )ne  is  i:)ractically 
limited  to  glass.  The  glass  vessel  emph)yetl  is  a  large  flask  with 
a  single  neck,  about  half  full  of  caustic  alkali.  The  electrodes 
are  carried  through  the  neck  by  means  of  an  indiarubber  bung 
provided  also  with  lubes  for  leading  in  the  gas.  The  electric 
flame  is  situated  at  a  distance  of  only  about  half  an  inch  above 
the  caustic  alkali.  In  that  way  an  efficient  circulatir.n  is  estab- 
lished ;  the  hot  gases  as  ihey  rise  from  the  flame  strike  the  top, 
and  then  as  they  come  round  again  in  the  course  of  the  circula- 
tion they  pass  sufficiently  close  to  the  caustic  alkali  to  ensure  an 
adequate  removal  of  the  nitrous  fumes. 

There  is  another  ]>oint  to  be  mentioned.  It  is  necessary  to 
keep  the  vessel  cotil  ;  otherwise  the  heat  would  soon  rise  to  such 
a  point  that  there  would  be  excessive  generiition  of  .steam,  and 
then  the  operation  would  come  to  a  .standstill.  In  order  to 
meet  this  difficult}'  the  upper  part  of  the  vessel  is  provided  with 
a  water-jacket,  in  which  a  circulation  can  be  established.  No 
doubt  the  glass  is  .severely  treatetl.  but  it  seems  to  stand  it  in  a 
fairly  amiable  manner. 

By  means  of  an  arrangement  of  this  kind,  taking  nearly  three- 
horse  power  from  the  electric  siqiply.  it  is  possible  to  consume 
nitrogen  at  a  reasonable  rate.  The  transformers  actually  used 
are  the  "  Hedgehog"  Iransfijrmers  of  Mr.  Swinburne,  intended 
to  transform  from  too  volts  to  2400  volts.  By  Mr.  ."swinburne's 
advice  I  have  used  two  such,  the  fine  wires  being  in  series  so 
as  to  accumulate  the  electrical  potential  and  the  thick  wires  in 
jrarallel.  The  rate  at  which  the  mixed  gases  are  absorbed  is 
about  seven  litres  jier  hour  :  and  the  apparatus,  when  once 
fairly  slarteil,  works  very  well  as  a  rule,  going  for  many  hours 
without  attention.  .\t  times  the  arc  has  a  trick  of  going  out, 
and  it  then  requires  to  be  restarted  by  approximating  the 
platinums.  We  have  already  worked  fourteen  hours  on  end. 
and  by  the  aid  of  one  or  two  automatic  appliances  it  would,  I 
Ihmk,  be  pos.sible  to  continue  operations  day  and  night. 

The  ga.ses,  air  and  oxygen  in  about  equal  pro]iortions,  are 
mixed  in  a  large  gasholder,  and  are  fed  in  automatically  as  re- 
required.  The  argon  gradually  accumulates  ;  and  when  it  is 
desired  to  .stop  operalioEis  the  supply  of  nitrogen  is  cut  oft',  and 
only  pure  oxygen  allowed  .admittance.  In  this  way  the  remaining 
nitrogen  is  consmned,  so  that,  finally,  the  workirg  vessel  is 
charged  with  a  mixture  of  argon  and  oxygen  only,  from  which 


l62 


NATURE 


[Junk   13,  189  = 


(he  oxygen  is  rc-niovcil  by  urdinary  well-know  n  chemical  methods. 
I  may  mention  that  at  the  close  of  the  0|Jeration.  when  the 
nitrogen  is  all  gone,  the  arc  changes  its  appearance,  and  becomes 
of  a  brilliant  blue  colour. 

I  have  said  enough  alK)ut  this  method,  and  I  must  now  pa-ss 
on  to  the  alternative  method  which  has  been  verj-  successful  in 
Trof.  Kamsay's  hands — that  c^f  abst^ibing  nitrogen  by  means  of 
red-hot  magnesium.  By  the  kindness  of  Prof.  Ramsay  and  Mr. 
Matthews,  his  assisUint,  we  have  here  the  full  scaleapparatus  before 
us  almost  exactly  as  they  use  it.  On  the  left  there  is  a  reservoir 
of  nitrt>gen  derived  from  air  by  the  simple  removal  of  oxygen. 
The  gas  is  then  dried.  Mere  it  is  bubbled  through  sulphuric  acid. 
It  then  passes  through  a  long  tube  made  of  harcl  glass  and 
charged  with  magnesium  in  the  form  of  thin  turnings.  During 
the  |>a.ssage  of  the  gas  over  the  magnesium  at  a  bright  red 
heat,  the  nitrogen  is  absorl>ed  in  a  greater  degree,  and  the 
gas  which  finally  [xisses  through  is  immensely  richer  in  argon 
than  that  which  first  enters  the  hot  tube.  At  the  present 
time  you  see  a  tolerably  rapid  bubbling  on  the  left,  indicative 
of  the  flow  of  atmospheric  nitrogen  into  the  combustion 
furnace  ;  whereas,  on  the  right,  the  outflow  is  very  much  slower. 
Care  must  \k  taken  to  prevent  the  heat  rising  to  such  a  point 
as  to  soften  the  glass.  I'he  concentrated  argon  is  collected  in  a 
second  gas-holder,  and  afterwards  submitted  to  further  treat- 
ment. The  ap|>aratus  employed  by  Prof.  Ramsay  in  the  sub- 
sequent treatment  is  exhibited  in  the  diagram,  and  is  very 
effective  for  its  purjKjse  ;  but  I  am  afraid  that  the  details  of  it 
Would  not  readily  l<c  followed  from  any  explanation  that  I  could 
give  in  the  time  at  my  dlsjxisal.  The  principle  consists  in  the 
circulation  of  the  mixture  of  nitrc^en  and  argon  over  hot 
magnesium,  the  gas  being  made  to  |>a&s  round  and  round  until 
the  nitrogen  is  effectively  removed  from  it.  At  the  end  that 
o|K-ration,  as  in  the  case  of  the  oxygen  method,  proceeds  some- 
what slowly.  When  the  gre;iler  part  of  the  nitrogen  is  gone, 
the  remainder  seem>  l^i  be  unwilling  to  follow,  and  it  requires 
somewhat  protracted  treatment  in  order  to  be  sure  that  the  1 
nitrogen  has  wholly  disap|K-arcd.  When  I  say  "  wholly  dis-  I 
appeared,"  that,  |ierha|>s,  would  be  too  much  to  say  in  any 
case.  What  we  can  say  is  that  the  s|)ectrum  test  is  adequate 
to  show  the  presence,  or  at  any  rate  to  show  the  addition,  of  I 
alfout  1^  ^>er  cent,  of  nitrogen  to  argon  as  pure  as  we  can 
gel  it  ;  .so  that  it  is  fair  to  argue  that  any  nitrogen  at  that  stage  j 
remaining  in  the  argon  is  only  a  small  fraction  of  i.J  i>er  cent. 

I  .should  have  liked  at  this  [Mint  to  be  able  to  give  advice  as 
to  which  of  the  two  methods — the  oxygen  method  or  the 
magnesium  method — is  the  easier  and  the  more  to  be  recom- 
ntcnded  ;  but  I  confess  that  I  am  quite  at  a  lo.ss  to  do  so.  One 
difficulty  in  the  com|>arison  arises  from  the  fact  that  they  have 
lieen  in  different  hands.  As  far  as  I  can  estimate,  the  quantities 
of  nitn^^en  eaten  up  in  a  given  time  are  not  very  different.  In 
that  resixrcl,  |>erha|is,  the  magnesium  method  has  some  advan- 
tage ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  said  that  the  m.agncsium 
ITT'Kcss  retjuires  a  much  closer  su|x:rvision,  so  that,  jjerhaps, 
fourteen  hours  of  the  oxygen  meth^nl  may  not  unfairly  compare 
with  eight  hours  or  .so  of  the  magnesium  metho<l.  In  practice  a 
great  deal  would  dcpenil  u|Kin  whether  in  any  |>articular  labora- 
tory alternate  currents  are  available  from  a  public  supply.  If 
the  alternate  currents  are  at  hand,  I  think  it  may  probably  be 
I  he  case  that  the  oxygen  method  is  the  easier;  but,  otherwise, 
the  inagnesium  method  woulil,  probably,  be  preferred,  esiK'cially 
by  chemi.sts  who  are  familiar  with  0|H;rations  conducted  in  red- 
hot  tulxjs. 

I  have  here  another  ex|x:rimcnt  illustrative  of  the  reaction 
lictwcen  magnesium  and  nitrogen.  Two  rods  of  that  metal  are 
suitably  mounted  in  an  atniftsjihere  of  nitrogen,  s<j  arranged  that 
we  can  bring  them  into  contact  and  cause  an  electric  arc  to  form 
lictween  them.  Under  the  action  of  the  heat  of  the  elecliicarc  the 
nitrogen  will  combine  w  ith  the  nLignesium  ;  and  if  we  had  lime  to 
carrj'  out  the  ex|K'riment  we  cf>ukl  demonstrate  a  rapiil  absftrplion 
of  nitrogen  by  this  method.  When  the  eX|K-riment  w.as  first  tried,  I 
had  ho|ied  that  it  might  lie  |)ossible.  by  the  aid  of  electricity,  to 
start  the  action  v»  effectively  that  the  magnesium  would  Cfintinueto 
burn  indeiHiidenlly  under  its  own  develo|)ed  heal  in  the  .atmo- 
sphere of  nitrogen.  Possibly,  on  a  larger  scale,  Mimething  of  this 
sort  might  succce<l,  but  I  bring  it  forward  here  tmly  as  an  illustra- 
tion. \Vc  lum  on  the  electric  current,  and  bring  the  magnesiums 
together.  \'ou  ve  a  brilliant  green  light,  indicating  the  vapir- 
isalion  of  the  msigiK-iium.  Under  the  influence  of  the  he.at  the 
magnesium  burns,  and  there  is  collected  in  the  glass  vessel  a 
certain   amount    of    lirownish-lnoking    |iowder    which    consists 


mainly  of  the  nitride  of  magnesium.  Of  course,  if  there  is  any 
oxygen  present  it  has  the  preference,  and  the  ordinary  white 
oxide  of  magnesium  is  formed. 

The  gas  thus  isolated  is  proved  to  be  inert  by  the  very  fact  of 
its  isolation.  It  refuses  to  combine  under  circumstances  in 
which  nitrogen,  itself  always  considered  very  inert,  does 
combine — both  in  the  case  of  the  oxygen  treatment  and  in  the 
case  of  the  magnesium  treatment  :  and  these  facts  are,  [Krhaps, 
almo.st  enough  to  justify  the  name  which  we  have  suggested  for  it. 
But,  in  itd<iition  to  this,  it  has  been  proved  lobe  inert  uniler  a 
considerable  variety  of  other  contlitions  such  as  might  have  Iteen 
expected  to  tempt  it  into  combination.  I  will  not  recapitulate 
all  the  experiments  which  have  been  tried,  almost  entirol)' 
by  Prof.  Isamsiiy,  to  induce  the  gas  to  combine.  Hitherto, 
in  our  hands,  it  has  not  done  so  ;  and  I  may  mention  that 
recently,  since  the  publication  of  the  abstract  of  our  paper  read 
before  the  Royal  Society,  argon  has  been  submitted  to  the  action 
of  titanium  at  a  red  heat,  titanium  being  a  metal  having  a  great 
affinity  for  nitrcjgen,  and  that  argon  has  resisteil  the  temptatii>n 
to  which  nitrogen  succumbs.  We  ne\er  have  asserted,  and  we 
do  not  now  assert,  that  argon  can  under  no  circumstances  be  got 
to  combine.  That  would,  indeed,  be  a  rash  assertion  for  any 
one  to  venture  upon  ;  ami  only  within  the  last  few  weeks  there 
has  l>een  a  most  interesting  announcement  by  M.  Herthelot,  ol 
Paris,  that,  under  the  action  of  the  silent  electric  discharge, 
argon  can  be  absorbed  when  treateil  in  contact  with  the  vapour 
of  ben/ine.  Such  a  statement,  coming  from  .so  great  an  authority, 
commands  our  attention  :  and  if  we  accept  the  conclusions,  as  I 
sup|X)se  we  must  do,  it  will  follow  that  argon  has,  under  those 
circumstances,  combined. 

Argon  is  rather  freely  soluble  in  water.  That  is  a  thing  that 
troubled  us  at  first  in  trying  to  isolate  the  gas ;  because,  when 
one  was  dealing  with  very  small  quantities,  it  seemed  to  be 
always  disapjiearing.  In  trying  to  accumulate  it  we  made  no 
|)rogress.  .\fter  a  sufficient  ijuantity  had  been  iirejiared,  special 
exiwriments  were  made  on  the  .solubility  of  argim  in  water.  It 
has  been  found  that  argon,  prepared  both  by  the  m.-ignesium 
method  and  by  the  oxygen  method,  has  about  tile  same  solubility 
in  water  as  oxygen  -some  two-and-a-half  tintes  the  soluliility  of 
nitrogen.  This  suggests,  what  has  been  verified  by  experiment, 
that  the  dissolved  ga.ses  of  water  should  contain  a  larger  pro- 
portion of  argon  than  does  atmospheric  nitrogen.  I  have 
liere  an  apjiaratus  <tf  a  .stuiiewhat  rough  description,  which  I 
have  employed  in  ex|Kriments  of  this  kind.  The  boiler 
employed  consists  of  an  old  oil-can.  The  water  is  supplied  to  it 
an<l  drawn  from  it  by  coaxial  tubes  of  metal.  The  incoming  colli 
water  flows  through  the  outer  annulus  between  the  twii  tubes. 
The  outgoing  hot  water  |wsses  through  the  inner  tube,  which 
ends  in  the  interior  of  the  vessel  at  a  higher  level.  Hy  means  of 
this  arrangement  the  heal  of  the  water  which  has  done  its  work 
is  pas-sed  on  to  the  incoming  water  not  yet  in  operation,  and  in 
that  way  a  limited  amount  of  heat  is  made  to  bring  up  to  the 
Imil  a  very  much  larger  quantity  of  water  than  wiiuld  otherwise 
be  possible,  the  greater  part  of  the  dissolved  ga.ses  being  liberated 
at  the  .same  lime.  These  are  collected  in  the  ordinary  way. 
Wh.at  you  see  in  this  flask  is  dis.solved  air  collected  tJUt  of 
water  in  the  course  of  the  last  three  or  four  hours.  .Such  gas, 
when  treated  as  if  it  were  atmospheric  nitrogen,  that  is  to  say 
after  removal  of  the  oxygen  and  minor  impurities,  is  lound  to  be 
deciilcdly  heavier  than  atmospheric  nitrogen  to  such  an  extent 
.as  to  indicate  that  the  |)ro|«irtit>n  of  argon  contained  is  almut 
double.  It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  the  dissolved  gases  of 
water  form  a  convenient  source  of  argon,  by  which  some  of  the 
lalwiur  of  separation  from  air  is  obviated.  During  the  last  few 
1  weeks  I  have  been  supplied  from  Manchester  by  .Mr.  Macdougall, 
who  has  interested  himself  in  this  matter,  with  a  quantity  of 
dis.solved  gases  obtained  from  the  condensing  water  of  his  steam 
engine. 

As  to  the  S|K'Ctruni,  we  have  been  inilebted  from  the  fiist  to 
Mr.  Crookes,  and  he  has  been  gi>od  enough  to-night  to  bring 
some  lubes  which  he  will  o|)erate,  and  which  will  show  you  at 
all  events  the  light  of  the  electric  discharge  in  argon.  I  cannot 
show  you  the  spectrum  of  argon,  for  unfortunately  the  amount  of 
light  from  a  vacuum  tulie  is  not  .sufficient  for  the  projection  of 
its  spectrum.  I'mler  .some  circumstances  the  light  is  red,  and 
under  other  circumstances  it  is  blue.  Of  course  when  these 
lights  are  examined  with  the  s|)ectroscope  — and  they  have  been 
examined  by  Mr.  ("rookes  with  great  care  the  differences  in  the 
colour  of  the  light  translate  themselves  into  different  groups  of 
S|jcclruin  lines.     We  have  before  us  Mr.  Crookes"  map,  .showing 


NO.    1337.   vol..   52] 


Junk   13,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


16- 


the  two  spectra  upon  a  very  large  scale.  The  upjjer  is  the  spcc- 
iriiin  of  the  blue  light  ;  the  lower  is  the  spectrum  of  the  red  light  ; 
anil  it  will  be  seen  that  they  differ  very  greatly.  Some  lines  are 
common  to  both  ;  but  a  great  many  lines  are  seen  only  in  the 
red,  and  others  are  .seen  only  in  the  blue.  It  is  astonishing  to 
notice  what  trilling  changes  in  the  ccmditions  of  the  discharge 
bring  about  such  extensive  alterations  in  the  spectrum. 

One  question  of  great  importance,  upon  which  the  spectrum 
throws  light  is,  Is  the  argon  derived  Ijy  the  oxygen  method 
really  the  same  as  the  argon  derived  by  the  m,ignesium  method  ? 
By  Mr.  Crookcs'  kindness  I  have  had  an  opportunity  of  examin- 
ing the  spectra  of  the  two  gases  side  by  side,  and  stich  examina- 
tion as  I  coidtl  make  revealed  no  difference  whatever  in  the  two 
spectra,  from  which,  I  suppose,  we  may  conclude  either  that  the 
gases  are  absolutely  the  same,  or.  if  tliey  are  not  the  same,  that 
at  any  rate  the  ingredients  Ijy  which  they  differ  cannot  be  present 
in  nn>re  than  a  small  jiroportion  in  either  of  them. 

My  own  observations  upon  the  spectrum  have  been  made 
princi|)ally  at  atmospheric  pressure.  In  the  ordinary  process 
'^f  sparking,  the  pressure  is  atmospheric  ;  and,  if  we  wish  to 
look  at  the  spectrum,  we  have  nothing  more  to  do  than  to 
include  a  jar  in  the  circuit,  and  put  a  direct-vision  prism  to  the 
eye.  .\t  my  request,  Prof.  Schuster  examined  some  tubes  con- 
taining argon  at  atmospheric  pressure  prepared  by  the  oxygen 
method,  and  I  have  here  a  diagram  of  a  characteristic  group. 
He  also  placed  upon  the  sketch  some  of  the  lines  of  zinc, 
which  were  very  convenient  as  tlirecting  one  exactly  where  to 
look.     (See  Fig.  i.) 


43 


44       45 


46 

I 


47 


48        49 


5000 

I 


^ 


jyon 


->  M^d 


J' 


inc 


7(ydrocic7i 


ur 


Fig. 


Within  the  last  few  days,  Mr.  Crookes  ha.s  charged  a  radi- 
ometer with  argon.  When  held  in  the  light  from  the  electric 
lamp,  the  vanes  revolve  rapidly.  Argon  is  anomalous  in  many 
res|>ects,  but  not,  you  see,  in  this. 

Next,  as  to  the  density  of  argon.  Prof.  Kanisay  has  made 
numerous  and  careful  observations  upon  the  density  of  the 
gas  prepared  by  the  magnesium  method,  and  he  finds  a  density 
of  about  I9'9  as  compared  with  hydrogen.  Equally  satisfactory 
ob.servalions  upon  the  gas  derived  l.)y  the  oxygen  method  ha\''' 
not  yet  l)een  made,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  sujipose  that  the 
ticnsily  is  different,  such  numbers  as  197  having  been  obtained. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  matters  in  connection  with  argon, 
however,  is  what  is  known  as  the  ratio  of  the  specific  heats.  I 
must  not  stay  to  elaborate  the  i^uestions  involved,  but  it  will  be 
known  to  many  who  hear  nie  that  the  velocity  of  sound  in  a  gas 
ilc|H'nds  u]Kin  the  ratio  of  two  specific  heats— the  specific  heat 
of  the  gas  measured  at  constant  pressure,  and  the  specific  he.it 
measured  at  constant  volume.  If  we  know  the  density  of  a  gas. 
and  also  the  velocity  of  sound  in  it,  we  are  in  a  pfjsition  to  infer 
this  ratio  of  specific  he.ats  ;  and  by  means  of  this  method.  Prof. 
Ramsay  h.-is  determined  the  ratio  in  the  case  of  argon,  arriving 
at  the  very  remarkable  result  that  the  ratio  of  specific  heats  is 
represented  by  the  number  I  "65,  approaching  very  closely  to  the 
theoretical  limit,  i '67.  The  number  1  •67  would  indicate  that 
the  gas  has  no  energ)-  except  energj'  of  translation  of  its 
molecules.  If  there  is  any  other  energy  than  that,  it  would 
show  itself  by  this  number  dropping  below  i '67.  ( )rdinary  gases, 
oxygen,  nitrogen,  hydrogen,  tvc,  do  drop  below,  giving  the  num- 
ber I '4,  Other  gases  drop  lower  still.  If  the  ratio  of  specific 
heats  is  1-65,  pr.actically  I'67,  we  may  infer  then  ihal    llie  wliole 

NO.    1337,  VOL.   52] 


energy  of  motion  is  translational :  and  from  that  it  would  seem 
to  follow  by  arguments  which,  however,  I  must  not  stop  to 
elaborate,  that  the  gas  must  be  of  the  kind  called  by  chemists 
monatomic. 

I  had  intended  to  say  something  of  the  operation  of 
determining  the  ratio  of  specific  heats,  but  time  will  not  allow. 
The  result  is,  no  doubt,  very  awkward.  Indeed  I  have 
seen  .some  indications  that  the  anomalous  properties  of  argon 
are  brought  as  a  kind  of  accusation  .against  us.  But  we  had  the 
very  best  intenticms  in  the  matter.  The  facts  were  too  much 
for  us  ;  and  all  we  can  do  now  is  to  apologise  for  ourselves  and 
for  the  gas.  Several  questions  may  be  asked,  upon  which  I 
should  like  to  say  a  word  or  two,  if  you  will  allow  me  to 
detain  you  a  little  longer.  The  first  question  (I  do  not  know 
whether  I  need  ask  it)  is.  Have  we  got  hold  of  a  new  gas  at 
all  ?  I  had  thought  that  that  might  be  passed  over,  but 
only  this  morning  I  read  in  a  technical  journal  the  suggestion 
that  argon  was  our  old  friend  nitrous  oxide.  Nitrous 
oxide  has  roughly  the  density  of  argon  ;  but  that,  as  far  as  I 
can  see,  is  the  only  i>oint  of  resemblance  between  them. 

Well,  supposing  that  there  is  a  new  gas,  which  I  will  not  stop 
to  discuss,  because  I  think  the  spectrum  alone  would  be  enough 
to  prove  it,  the  next  question  that  fii.ay  be  asked  is.  Is  it  in  the 
atmosphere?  This  matter  naturally  engaged  our  earnest  atten- 
tion at  an  early  stage  of  the  inquiry.  I  will  only  indicate  in  a 
few  words  the  arguments  which  seem  to  us  to  show  that  the 
answer  must  be  in  the  affirmative. 

In  the  first  place,  if  argon  be  not  in  the  atmosphere,  the 
original  discrepancy  of  densities  which  formed  the 
starting  point  of  the  investigation  renains  unex- 
plained, and  the  discover}'  of  the  new  gas  has  been 
made  upon  a  false  clue.  Passing  over  that,  we  have 
the  evidence  from  the  blank  experiments,  in  which 
nitrogen  originally  derived  from  chemical  sources 
is  treated  either  with  oxygen  or  with  magnesium, 
exactly  as  atmospheric  nitrogen  is  treated.  If  we 
use  atmospheric  nitrogen,  we  get  a  certain  propor- 
tion   of    argon,    about    I     per    cent.       If    we    treat 

chemical  nitrogen  in  the  same  way,  we  get,  I  will 

nf)l  say  absolutely  nothing,  but  a  mere  fraction  of 
what  we  should  get  had  atmospheric  nitrogen  been 
the   subject.      \'ou  may   ask,  why   do   we  get  any 

fraction  at   all   from  chemical   nitrogen?     It  is  not 

difficult  to  explain  the  small  residue,  because  in  the 
manipulation  ol  the  gases  large  quantities  of  water 
are   userl  ;  and,  as  I  have  already  explained,  water 

rlissolves  argim  somewhat  freely.      In   the  processes 

of  manijiiilation  some  of  the  argon  will  come  out  of 
solution,  and  it  remains  after  all  the  nitrogen  has 
been  consumed. 
Another  wholly  distinct  argument  is  founded  upon  the  method 
of  diffusion  introduced  by  Ciraham.  (Iraham  showed  that  if 
you  pass  gas  along  porous  tubes  you  alter  the  composition,  if 
the  gas  is  a  mixture.  The  lighter  constituents  go  more  readily 
through  the  pores  than  do  the  heavier  ones.  The  experiment 
takes  this  form.  A  numlier  of  tobacco  pipes — eight  in  the  .actual 
arrangement — are  joined  together  in  .series  with  indiarubber 
junctions,  and  they  are  jnit  in  a  space  in  which  a  vacuum  can  be 
made,  so  that  the  S]iace  outside  the  porous  pipes  is  vacuous,  or 
ap|iroxiniateIy  so.  Through  the  pipes  <irdinary  air  is  led. 
One  end  may  be  regarded  as  open  to  the  atmosphere.  The 
other  end  is  connected  with  an  aspirator  so  arranged  that  the 
gas  collected  is  only  some  2  per  cent  of  that  which  leaks  through 
the  porosities.  The  case  is  like  that  of  an  Australian  river  drying 
up  almost  to  nothing  in  the  course  of  its  flow.  Well,  if  we 
treat  air  in  that  way,  collecting  only  the  small  residue  which  is 
less  willing  than  the  remainiler  to  penetrate  the  ]Kirous  walls, 
and  then  prepare  "  nitri>gen  "  from  it  by  removal  of  oxygen  and 
moisture,  we  obl.ain  a  gas  heavier  than  atmospheric  nitrc^en,  a 
result  which  proves  that  the  ordinary  nitrogen  of  the  atmo.sphere 
is  not  a  single  body,  but  is  cajiable  of  being  divided  into  parts 
by  so  simple  an  agent  as  the  toliacco  pipe. 

If  it  be  admitted  that  the  gas  is  in  the  atmosphere,  the  further 
question  arises  as  to  its  nature. 

At  this  point  I  would  wish  to  say  a  word  of  explanation. 
Neither  in  our  original  announcement  at  Oxford,  nor  at  any 
time  since,  until  January  JI,  did  we  utter  a  word  suggesting  that 
argon  was  an  element  ;  and  it  was  only  after  the  experiments 
upon  the  specific  heats  that  we  thought  that  we  had  sufficient  to 
go  upon  in  order  to  make  any  such  suggestion  in  public.      I  will 


164 


NA  TURE 


[Ju 


NE     I 


O' 


189; 


not  insist  that  that  observation  is  absolutely  conclusive.  It  is 
certainly  strong  evidence.  But  the  subject  is  dithcuh,  and  one 
that  has  given  rise  to  some  difference  of  opinion  among  physi- 
cists. .\l  any  rale  this  property  distinguishes  argon  very  sharply 
from  all  the  ordinar)-  gases. 

One  question  which  occurred  to  us  at  the  earliest  st,ige  of  the 
inquiry,  as  soon  as  we  knew  that  the  density  was  not  very  dif- 
ferent from  21,  was  the  question  of  whether,  jiossibly,  argon 
could  be  a  more  condensed  form  of  nitrogen,  denoted  chemically 
by  the  symbol  Nj.  There  seem  to  be  several  dirticulties  in  the 
way  of  this  sup|Hisilion.  Would  such  a  constitution  be  con- 
sistent with  the  ratio  of  s|H.-cific  heats  {I-65)?  That  seems 
extremely  doubtful,  .\nolher  question  is.  Can  the  density  be 
really  as  high  as  21,  the  numlxjr  required  on  the  supix>silion  of 
Nj  ?  As  to  this  matter,  I'rof.  Kanisay  has  repeated  his  measure- 
ments of  density,  and  he  finds  that  he  cannot  get  even  so  high  as 
20.  To  suppose  that  the  density  of  argon  is  really  21,  and  that 
it  appears  to  lie  20  in  consetjuence  of  nitrogen  still  mixetl  with 
it,  would  Iw  to  sup|X)se  a  contamination  with  nitrogen  out  of  all 
proportion  to  what  is  probable.  It  would  mean  some  14  per 
cent,  of  nitnigen,  whereas  it  seems  that  from  ij  to  2  per  cent. 
is  easily  enough  detectetl  by.  the  S|»:ctroscope.  Another  ques- 
tion that  may  lie  asked  is,  Would  N3  require  so  much  cooling  to 
condense  it  as  argon  requires  ? 

There  is  one  matter  on  which  I  would  like  to  say  a  word — 
the  question  as  to  what  Nj  wouUl  Ije  like  if  we  had  it  ?  There 
seems  to  lie  a  great  discre|>ancy  of  opinions.  Some  high 
authorities,  among  whom  must  be  included,  I  sec,  the  celebrated 
Mendtleef,  consider  that  N3  would  be  an  exceptionally  stable 
body :  but  most  of  the  chentisls  «ith  whom  I  have  consulted 
are  of  opinion  that  N3  would  be  explosive,  or,  at  any  rate,  abso- 
lutely unstable.  That  is  a  tpiestiun  which  may  be  left  for  the 
future  to  decide.  We  must  not  attempt  to  put  these  matters  too 
positively.  The  lalance  of  evidence  still  seems  to  be  again.st 
the  supposition  that  argon  is  Xj,  but  for  my  part  I  do  not  wish 
to  dogmatise. 

A   few  weeks  ago   we  hail  an   eloquent    lecture    from    Prof, 
kiicker  on  the  life  and   work   of  the  dlustrious  Helmholt?.     It 
will  \hi   known  to  many  that  during  the  last  few  months  of  his 
life    Ilelmholt/    lay    prostrate    in    a    semi-paralyse<i    condition, 
forgetful   of  many  things,  but  still    retaining  a  keen   interest  in 
science.     .Some  little   while  after  his  death  we  had  a  letter  from  ' 
his  widow,  in  which  she  described  how  interested   he  had  been  1 
in  our  preliminary  announcement  at   Oxford  ujion   this  subject,  ' 
and  how  he  desired   the  account   of  it   to  \k  read  to  him  over 
again.      lie  added   the  remark,  "  I   always  thought  that   there 
must  be  something  more  in  the  atmosphere." 

A    srECTKoscoric   I'KOOF  or   r/fE 

ME  TEL m/C    Cl ).\S Tl TU T/OX    ( >/•' 

SATLh'.X'S    A-AVcy^.'  , 

'T'llE  hypithesis  that  the  rings  of  Saturn  are  com|K>sed  of  an 
immense  multitude  of  comp.iratively  small  IkkIIcs,  re- 
volving around  .Saturn  in  circular  orbits,  has  been  firmly 
establisheil  since  the  publication  of  MawvelTs  classical  paper  in 
1859.  The  grounds  on  which  the  hyiMithesis  is  Uaseil  are  too 
well  known  to  retpiire  s|)ecial  mention.  .Ml  the  observed  , 
i>hcnomcnaofthe  rings  are  naturally  and  completely  explained  by 
II,  and  mathematical  investigation  shows  that  a  solid  or  fluid  ring 
could  n>it  exist  imdcr  the  circumstances  in  which  the  actual  ring 
is  placol.  I 

The  s]x"ctroscr)pic  proof  which  I'rof.  Kccler  has  recently 
obtained  of  the  meteoric  conslilulion  of  ihe  ring,  is  of  interest 
l»ecause  it  is  the  first  i/imt  proof  of  the  correctness  of  the 
accepted  hyi>>illiesis,  and  liecause  it  illustrates  in  a  very  lieautiful 
manner  Ihe  I'ruilfulness  of  Doppler's  principle,  and  the  value  of 
the  '.jierlroscoiK;  as  an  inslnnnent  for  the  measurement  of 
celestial  motions. 

Since  the  relative  velocities  of  different  i»arls  of  the  ring 
would  l»-  I'xMnlially  different  uniler  the  Iwn  hypotheses  of  rigid 
rtructure  and  meteoric  constitution,  it  is  jHissilile  lo  rlistinguish 
lictwecn  these  hyiKitheses  by  measuring  the  motion  of  different 
parts  of  the  ring  in  the  line  of  sight.  The  only  diOiculty  is  to 
fimi  a  methcxi  so  rlelicate  that  the  very  small  differences  of 
velocity  in  <|ueslion  may  n<il  lie  masked  by  instiumental  errors. 
Succcs»  in  vLnunl  ol>servalion.s  of  the  s|)cctruni  Is  hardly  lo  \k 
cxpcclc<l. 

I  Alrtdilcil  from  .1  (Kipcf.  Iiy  l*r.,f.  Jnmc*  K,  Kcclcr,  in  die  .  \ttivfhyiitat 
Jpitrnal  I'^r  Way . 


After  a  nundjer  of  attempts.  Prof.  Keeler  obtained  two  fine 
photographs  of  the  lower  spectnnii  of  .Saturn  on  .Xpril  9  and  to 
of  the  present  year.  The  exposure  in  each  case  was  two  hours, 
and  the  image  of  the  planet  was  kept  very  accurately  central  on 
the  slit-plate,  .\fter  the  exposure  the  spectrum  of  the  Moon 
was  photographed  on  each  side  of  the  spectrum  of  Saturn,  and 
nearly  in  contact  with  it.  Each  |^>art  of  the  lunar  si>ectrum  has 
a  width  of  about  one  millimetre,  which  is  also  nearly  the 
extreme  witlth  of  the  jilanetary  s]>ectrum.  On  lK)th  sides  of  the 
spectrum  of  the  ball  of  the  planet  are  the  narrow  s|)ectra  of  the 
ans,v  of  the  ring.  The  length  of  the  spectrum  from  *  to  D  is  23 
millimetres. 

These  jihotographs  not  only  show  ver)'  clearly  the  relative 
displiicement  of  the  lines  in  the  sjiectrum  of  the  ring,  due  to  the 
opixisite  motions  of  the  ans,v,  but  exhibit  another  peculiarity, 
w  hich  is  of  special  importance  in  connection  with  the  subject  of 
the  present  (xiper.  The  planetarj'  lines  are  strongly  inclined,  in 
conseijuence  of  the  rotation  of  the  ball,  but  the  lines  in  the 
spectra  of  the  ansie  do  not  follow  the  direction  of  the  lines  in  the 
central   spectrum  :    they  are  nearly  parallel    lo  the  lines  of  the 

One  niilliinclrc. 


Fli..   1. 

comparison  s|>ectrum,  and,  in  fact,  as  com|>arcd  with  the  lines  of 
the  ball,  have  a  slight  tendency  to  incline  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion. Hence  the  outer  ends  of  these  lines  are  less  displaced 
than  Ihe  inner  ends.  Now  it  is  evident  that  if  the  ring  rotated  as 
a  whole,  the  velocity  of  the  outer  e<lge  would  exceed  that  of  the 
inner  edge,  and  the  lines  of  the  ans^e  would  Ik.-  inclined  in  the 
same  direction  as  those  of  the  ball  of  the  planet.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  ring  is  an  aggregation  of  satellites  revolving 
aroimd  .Saturn,  ihe  \'eloclly  wtmld  be  greatest  at  the  inner  edge, 
and  the  Inclinalion  of  lines  In  llie  spectra  of  the  ans;e  would  be 
rc\erse<l.  The  photographs  are  iherefttre  a  direct  proof  of  the 
approximate  corrcclness  of  the  latter  supposition. 

It  is  interesting  lo  delerniine  the  form  of  a  line  in  Ihe  spectrum 
of  .Saturn  when  the  slit  is  in  the  major  axis  of  Ihe  ring,  on  the 
a.ssumpllon  that  the  planet  rotates  as  a  solid  body,  and  ihat  the 
ring  Is  a  swarm  f»f  particles  revolving  in  circular  orbils  .accord- 
ing lo  Kepler's  third  law,  .\l  present  the  niollon  of  Ihe  system 
as  a  whole  is  neglected.  The  upper  part  of  I'ig.  I  represents 
the  image  of  Saturn  on  the  slit  of  the  sjicctroscopc  (the  scale 


NO.  i3;,7,  vor..  52] 


June  1;^,  1895] 


JVA  rURE 


16^ 


above  it  applies  to  the  instrument  used  at  Allegheny),  and  the 
narrow  horizontal  line  in  the  lower  part  of  the  figure  represents 
an  undisplaced  line  in  the  spectrum,  or  solar  line. 

Ky  Dop|)ler's  principle,  the  displacement  of  any  point  on  this 
line  is  proportional  to  the  velocity  in  the  line  of  sight.  The  in- 
clination of  the  planetary  line  to  the  solar  line  can  be  expresse<l 
by  a  simple  formula.  It  is  also  possible  to  determine  the  form 
of  a  line  in  the  spectrum  of  the  ring,  regarded  as  a  collection  of 
satellites,  by  the  application  of  Kepler's  third  law.  With  the 
computed  motions  of  different  parts  of  the  system,  the  dotted 
curves  in  the  figure  were  plotted.  For  the  ordinates,  how- 
ever, twice  the  calculated  values  were  taken,  since  the  dis- 
placement of  a  line,  due  to  motion  in  the  line  of  sight,  is 
doubled  in  the  case  of  a  body  which  shines  by  reflected  and  not 
by  inherent  light,  provided  (.as  in  this  case)  the  .Sun  and  the 
Earth  are  in  sensibly  the  same  direction  from  the  body.  The 
planetary  line  is  drawn  to  the  same  scale,  and  the  heavy  lines 
in  the  figure  represent  accurately  the  aspect  of  a  line  in  the 
S[)ectrum  of  Saturn,  with  the  slit  in  the  axis  of  the  ring,  as 
photographed  with  a  spectroscope  having  about  three  times  the 
dis|icrsion  of  the  instrument  used  by  Prof.  Keeler. 

The  width  of  .slit  used  is  also  represented  in  the  figure. 

If  the  whole  system  has  a  motion  in  the  line  of  sight,  the 
lines  in  the  figure  will  be  displaced  towards  the  top  or  the 
bottom,  as  the  case  may  be,  but  their  relative  positions  will  not 
be  altered. 

It  is  evident  that  in  making  a  photograph  of  this  kind  the 
image  must  be  kept  very  accurately  in  the  same  position  on  the 
slit-plate,  as  otherwise  the  form  of  the  lines  shown  in  the  figure 
would  be  lost  by  the  superposition  of  points  having  different 
velocities.  The  second  plate  was  made  with  s]iecial  care,  and 
as  the  air  was  steadier  than  on  the  first  occasion,  the  tiefinition 
is  on  the  whole  somewhat  better  than  that  of  plate  I,  altliough 
the  difference  is  not  great.  On  both  plates  the  aspect  of  the 
spectrum  is  closely  in  accordance  with  that  indicated  by  theory, 
and  represented  in  the  figure.  The  planetary  lines  are  inclined 
from  3"  to  4°,  and  the  lines  in  the  spectra  of  the  ansie  have  the 
appearance  already  described. 

If  the  ring  revolved  as  a  whole,  the  displacement  of  lines  in 
its  spectrum  would  follow  the  same  law  as  for  a  rotating  sphere  ; 
that  is,  the  lines  would  be  straight  an<l  inclined,  their  direction 
jiassing  through  the  origin.  If  the  ring  rotated  in  the  period 
of  its  mean  radius,  a  glance  at  the  figure  shows  that  the  lines 
would  i>ractically  be  continuations  of  the  planetary  lines.-  Such 
an  aspect  of  the  lines  as  this  would  be  recognisable  on  the 
photographs  at  a  glance. 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing  considerations  that  the 
photographs  prove  not  only  that  the  velocity  of  the  inner  •■dge  of 
Saturn's  ring  exceeds  the  velocity  of  the  outer  edge,  but  thai, 
within  the  limits  of  error  of  the  method,  the  relative  velocities  at 
different  parts  are  such  as  to  satisfy  Kepler's  thirtl  law. 

Besides  (i)  the  proof  of  the  meteoric  conslituticm  of  the  rings, 
explained  above,  each  line  of  the  photographs  gives  (2)  the 
period  of  rotation  of  the  planet,  (3)  the  mean  ])eriod  of  the  rings, 
{4)  the  motion  of  the  whole  system  in  the  line  nf  sight.  Prof, 
Keeler  has  measured  a  number  of  lines  on  each  ])late,  and  com- 
])ared  the  results  with  the  computed  values  of  the  corresponding 
quantities. 

The  results  for  (2)  and  (3)  from  both  photograjihs  are  : 

(2)  Velocity  of  limb  =   IO-3  +  0'4  kilometres, 

(3)  Mean  velocity  of  ring  =  iSo  +  0*3  kilometres  ; 

the  computed  values  being  I0'29  and  1S78  kilometres  respec- 
tively. 

Prof.  Keeler  has  not  yet  determined  from  his  photographs  the 
motion  of  the  whole  system  in  the  line  of  sight. 


UNIVERSITY  AND   EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

CAMUK1D(;K.--Mr.  T.  J.  I.  Bromwich,  Scholar  of  St.  John's 
College,  is  the  Senior  Wrangler  of  the  year.  There  are  thirty 
Wranglers,  of  whom  St.  John's  furnishes  ten,  ami  Trinity  six. 
One  Lady  only  is  among  the^Wranglers,  namely  Miss  N.  A.  L. 
Thring,  of  Newnham,  who  is  placed  twenty-third  in  the  list. 

The  Tyson  Medal  for  Astronomy  is  awarded  to  Mr.  .\.  \'.  ('.. 
Campbell,  of  Trinity. 

Sir  Edward  Maunde  Thompson,  K.C.B.,  has  been  a|)pointed 
the  first  Sandars  Reader  in  Bibliography  for  the  year  1895-6. 

NO.   1337,  VOL.   52J 


The  Board  of  Managers  of  the  .•\rnold  Gerstenbi;rg  Student- 
ship give  notice  that  a  .Studentship  on  this  Foundation  will  be 
offered  for  competition  in  1896.  'I'he  competition  will  be  open 
to  men  and  wumen  who  have  obtained  honours  in  Part  I.  or 
Part  II.  of  the  Natural  .Sciences  Tripos,  and  who.se  first  term  of 
residence  was  not  earlier  than  the  Michaelmas  term  of  1890. 
The  Studentship  w  ill  be  awarded  to  the  writer  of  the  best  essay 
on  one  of  the  six  subjects  printed  below.  The  essays  must  be 
sent  before  October  I,  1896,10  Dr.  .Sidgwick,  Newnham  College, 
Cambridge.  The  Studentship  will  be  of  the  value  of  nearly 
^90.  It  will  be  tenable  for  one  year  only,  but  subject  to  no 
conditions  of  tenure. 

Subjects: — "A  statement  of  the  physicist's  'working  con- 
ceptions' of  Matter  and  Motion,  together  with  a  discussion  of 
the  philosophical  questions  to  which  they  give  rise."  '"  A  criti- 
cism of  the  diverse  views  that  have  prevailed  from  the  time  of 
Newton  onwards  as  to  the  conceivability  or  otherwise  of  Actio  in 
distans.'^  "  .■\  critical  examination  of  the  doctrines  of  J.  S.  Mill 
concerning  the  ground  of  Induction  and  the  Methods  of  Inductive 
Inquiry.''  "  The  limits  and  relations  of  mechanical  and  teleo- 
logical  explanations  of  natural  phenomena."'  "A  brief  historical 
account  and  a  critical  examination  of  the  views  which  make  the 
phenomena  of  life  dependent  on  the  existence  of  a  special  vital 
principle."  "  Natural  Selection  considered  as  a  special  example 
of  the  general  principle  of  Evolution." 

With  the  view  of  encouraging  University  Extension  students 
to  take  up  systematic  courses  of  study,  the  Local  Examinations 
and  Lectures  Syndics  have  remodelled  their  scheme  of  Local 
Lectures  Certificates,  and  have  made  several  other  changes  of 
importance.  The  certificates  are  now  arranged  so  as  to  form 
successive  steps  in  a  ladder  of  continuous  work,  beginning  with 
the  Terminal  Certificate  for  one  term's  work  passing  through 
the  Sessional  Certificate  for  a  year's  work  to  the  Vice-Chancel- 
lor's Certificate  of  Systematic  Study  for  four  years'  work.  There 
is  also  an  Afifiliation  Certificate  obtainable  only  at  centres 
affiliated  to  the  University.  This  certificate  is  accepted  by  the 
Education  Department  as  qualifying  a  person  to  be  recognised 
as  an  assistant  teacher.  This  system  is  thus  adapted  to  the 
needs  of  persons  who  merely  desire  a  general  acquaintance  with 
the  subjects  taught,  as  well  as  to  students  who  are  anxious  to 
make  a  more  thorough  study  of  them. 


The  Technical  Education  Board  of  the  London  County 
Council  will  proceeil  in  July  next  to  award  five  of  its  valuable 
Senior  County  Scholarships.  These  scholarships,  which  are 
reserved  as  a  rule  for  young  men  and  women  under  nineteen 
years  of  age,  are  intended  to  enable  promising  and  deserving 
students,  who  would  otherwise  be  unable  to  afford  the  expense, 
to  go  through  a  three  year.s'  course  at  a  University  or  at  a 
Technical  Institute  of  University  rank.  They  are  limited  to 
those  candidates  whose  jiarenls  are  in  receipt  of  not  more  than 
^^400  a  ycir.  The  scholarships  not  only  give  free  tuition,  but 
also  a  money  payment  of  £(>o  during  each  of  the  years  that  the 
scholarship  is  tenable.  They  are  primarily  intended  to  encour- 
age the  pursuit  of  some  branch  of  science,  art,  or  technology, 
but  they  may  also  be  awarded  for  the  promotion  of  studies  in 
modern  languages  or  other  branches  of  education.  In  making 
the  award,  the  Board  takes  mainly  into  account  the  record  of 
each  candidate's  past  career  and  distinctions,  and  the  evidence 
as  to  ability,  intlustry,  and  good  character  which  the  candidate 
is  able  to  supply.  At  the  .same  time  it  re.serves  the  right  to 
ap|ily  any  examination  test  that  it  may  think  fit.  Full  particu- 
lars may  be  obtained  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Board,  at  13 
Spring  (lardens,  S.W.  Candidates  should  send  in  their  names 
not  later  than  June  29. 

The  summer  assembly  01  the  National  Home-Reading  Union 
will  be  hel<l  at  Leamington  S|")a,  from  Saturday,  June  29,  to 
Monday,  July  8.  Lectures  will  be  given  by  Major  Leonard 
Darwin,  M.P, ,  on  '*  The  National  and  International  .Advantages 
of  the  Study  of  deography  "  :  Sir  Robert  Ball,  on  "Comets"  ; 
Mr.  H.  Vulc  OUlham,  on  "The  Discovery  of  America";  Mr. 
J.  E.  Marr  on  "The  Geology  of  the  District";  Mr.  G.  V. 
Scott  Elliot,  on  "  Intere.sting  Problems  in  Botany,  suggested  by 
the  Flora  of  the  District."  There  will  also  be  a  conference  on 
"The  Wider  Education,"  at  which  the  chair  will  be  taken  by 
Dr.  Hill,  Master  of  Downing  College,  Cambridge.  Addresses 
will  be  given  by  Miss  Moiuly,  Dr.  R.  D.  Roberts,  a  represent- 
ative of  the  Oxford  Delegacy  for  University  Extension,  Mr.  T. 


1 66 


NA  TURE 


[June  13,  1895 


C.  Horsfall,  Mr.  J.  E.  FUmcr  (Secrelan-  Recreative  Evening 
Schools  Association),  and  other  s|x;akers.  Excursions  will  he 
made  to  a  number  of  places  in  the  district,  and  Profs.  \V.  Ridge- 
way  and  T.  McKenny  Hughes,  Mr.  J.  i;.  Marr,  Mr.  .Scott  Elliot, 
and  others,  will  accomirany  the  excursions  for  the  purpose  of  ex- 
plaining the  archaeolog)',  geology,  and  botany  of  the  places 
visited. 

Mr.  C.J-  Forth,  Mathematical  .Master  at  Bolton  Grammar 
.School,  has  been  appointed  Lecturer  in  Mathematics  at  the 
Plymouth  Technical  ScIkxiIs. 

The  textile  de|)artment  of  the  Yorkshire  College  at  Leeds  h.as 
just  been  added  to  by  the  o|iening  of  a  nuiscum  which  is  to  con- 
tain a  complete  collection  of  woven  samples  and  models  of 
weaving  machinerj'.  The  building  has  cost  the  Clothworkers' 
Comiany  £yxa,  and  they  will,  to  the  extent  of  £\200, 
defray  the  cost  of  equipping  the  museum.  The  opening  cere- 
mony was  performed  by  Mr.  Sidney  Wilson,  Master  of  the 
Clothworkers,  assisted  by  .Mr.  J.  E.  Home,  his  senior  warden, 
anil  other  members  and  officials.  Twenty  years  ago  the  Cloth- 
workers established  the  textile  department  of  the  college  at 
the  cost  of  ;f34,ooo,  and  they  make  an  annual  grant  to  it 
of  /■2500. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

LONliON. 

Chemical  Society,  May  i6.— Mr.  \.  G.  Vernon  Harcourt, 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  |)a|)ers  were  read: — 
Kjeldahl's  method  for  the  determination  of  nitrogen,  by  U. 
Dyer.  The  author  describes  an  exhaustive  .series  of  experiments 
made  with  the  various  modifications  of  Kjeldahl's  ])roccss  in 
order  to  ascertain  their  appliculiilily  to  organic  nitrogen  com- 
jxiunds  of  different  ty|>es.  — Note  on  liquation  in  cry.stalline 
standard  gold,  by  T.  K.  Rose.  —  Preparation  of  the  active  lactic 
acids,  and  the  rotation  of  their  metallic  salts  in  solution,  by  T. 
Purdie  and  J.  \V.  Walker.  The  optical  activity  of  the  metallic 
lactates  in  aqueous  solution  is  in  the  opposite  sense  to  that  of 
the  active  acid  from  which  the)  are  derived  ;  cryoscopic  deter- 
minations made  with  the  lithium  and  strontium  lactates  show 
that  the  racemic  form  is  resolved  into  the  two  active  ones  in 
aqueous  solution. — Derivatives  of  succinyl  and  phlhalyl  dithio- 
carbimides,  by  A.  E.  Dixon  and  R.  l-'..  Doran.  On  heating  suc- 
cinyl or  phthalyl  chlorides  with  lead  Ihiocyanate  and  dry  benzene, 
succinyl  or  phlhalyl  dilhiocarbimide,  respectively,  is  formed  ;  a 
number  of  derivatives  of  these  Iwd  substances  are  described. — 
The  action  of  nitrous  acid  on  dibromaniiinc,  dHjBrlir.NH.,  = 
I  :  4  :  2,  by  R.  Meldola  and  E.  K.  .\ndrews.  The  authors  were 
unsuccessful  in  preparing  a  diazoxide  from  dibromaniline  under 
the  conditions  which  yield  these  conqxjunds  in  the  naphthalene 
series  ;  in  the  jiresent  case  a  diMoamido  derivative,  C„l  l3Br.,.N,. 
N'H.C,ll:,lirj,  was  obLiined.  -  .-K  new  modification  of  benzilosa- 
zone,  by  M.  Ingle  and  II.  II.  Mann.  The  unstable  o-l)enzilosa7.one, 
corrcs|)onding  to  the  known  fl-iscmieride,  is  obtained,  together 
with  dil)en7.aldiphenylhydrotetrazone  by  iheactiim  t>f  iodine  on  a 
mixture  of  benzalphenylhydrazone  and  stxlium  ethoxide.  — 
Affinity  of  weak  liases,  by  J.  Walker  and  E.  A.ston. — .Substitu- 
tion derivatives  of  urea  and  thiourea,  by  \.  E.  Dixon.  The 
pro|)erties  of  a  number  of  subsliluled  ureas  are  described. — Note 
on  some  reactions  of  ammonium  salts,  by  W.  R.  E.  Ilodgkinson 
and  N.  E.  Hellairs.  I'"used  ammonium  nitrate  and  sulphate  are 
readily  attacked  by  many  metaU  with  evolution  of  ammonia  ; 
•ither  prfKlucts,  such  as  hydrogen  and  sulphites,  also  result  in 
■certain  cases. 

Zoological  Society,  .May  21.— Lieut. -Colonel  H.  II. 
(iinlwin-.Vuslen,  K.R.S.,  Vice-President,  in  the  chair. — Dr.  K. 
Bowiller  .Shar|ie  gave  an  account  of  the  ornithological  collection 
made  by  Dr.  l)onalils<m  Smith  <hiring  his  recent  ex|)edilion  into 
-Somaliland  and  (iailaland.  The  present  series  contained  about 
500  s|K'cimcns,  which  were  referred  to  182  s|H:cies.  Of  these 
twelve  were  cimsidered  to  lie  new  to  science. — Mr.  G.  A. 
Buulenger,  K.R..S. ,  read  a  .syno|>sis  of  the  genera  and  species  of 
ajxKlal  Uilrarhians,  and  gave  a  description  of  a  new  genus  and 
species  projH«;(l  to Ix- called  /itif/li>p/iis t'illalus.  -\JiK\ii.-Cii\imc\ 
II.  II.  (ioflwin-Auslen,  l-.K.S.,  reiil  a  li.st  of  the  land-niollu.scs 
of  the  Andaman  and  Nicoliar  groups  of  islanils  in  the  Bay  i>f 
Bengal,  and  gave  <lescriptlons  of  some  new  species,  together 
with  a  complete  account  of  the  distribution  of  all  the  species  in 
the  various  islands  of  these  two  grou|)s, — A  communication  was 


read  from  Dr.  J.  .Anderson,  K.R.S.,  containing  the  descrijition 
of  a  new  sjwcies  of  hedgehog  from  Somaliland,  which  he  pro- 
posed to  name  Eritiaceus  silalcri. — .\  communication  from  Mr. 
R.  Lydekker  contained  notes  on  the  structure  and  haliits  of  the 
sea-otter  [Lala.x  liilris).  —  .\  connnunication  was  read  from  Dr. 
B.  C.  A.  Wintlle  containing  remarks  on  .some  double  malform- 
ations observed  amongst  fishes. — Mr.  K.  E.  Beddard,  K.R.S., 
read  a  paper  on  the  visceral  and  muscular  anatomy  of  Crypto- 
proita,  dealing  chiefly  with  the  brain,  alimentary  canal,  and 
muscles  of  this  carnivore. 

Geological  Society,  May  22. — Dr.  Henry  Woodward, 
F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — On  a  human  skull  and  limb- 
bones  found  in  the  pahvolithic  terrace-gravels  at  Galley  Hill, 
Kent,  by  E.  T.  Newton,  K. R. S.  .-V  human  skull  with  lower 
jaw  and  parts  of  the  limb-bones  were  obtained  by  Mr.  R. 
Elliott  from  the  high-terrace  gravels  at  Galley  Hill,  in  which 
numerous  pahvolithic  implements  have  been  found.  The  skull 
is  extremely  long  and  narrow,  its  l»rea<lth-index  being  about  64, 
it  is  hyperdolichocephalic  ;  it  is  likewise  much  depressed,  having 
a  height-index  of  about  67.  The  small  extent  of  the  cranium  in 
both  height  and  width  shows  that  it  has  undergone  little  or  no 
post-mortem  compression,  although  it  has  become  somewhat 
twisted  in  <lrying.  The  supraciliar)'  ridges  are  large,  the  fore- 
head somewhat  receding,  the  probole  prominent,  and  the  occiput 
flattened  bel.iw.  .Ml  the  chief  sutures  are  oliliterate<l.  Three 
lower  molars  and  two  premolars  are  in  place  and  are  well  worn, 
the  three  molars  being  iis  neatly  as  possible  equal  in  size.  The 
limb-bones  indicate  an  individual  about  5  ft.  I  in.  in  height. 
These  remains  were  compared  with  the  fossil  human  relics  which 
have  been  found  in  Britain  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  as 
well  as  with  the  dolichocephalic  races  now  living,  and  their 
relations  to  the  "Spy,"'  "River-bed,"  "Long-barrow," 
"  Eskimo,"  and  other  types  were  pointed  out.  The  gravels,  in 
which  these  human  bones  were  found,  overlie  the  chalk  at  a 
height  of  about  90  feet  al«)ve  the  Thames,  and  are  about  10  feet 
thick.  They  form  part  of  the  high-terrace  gravels  extending 
from  Dartford  1  le.ath  to  Norlhfleet,  and  their  pahvolithic  age  is 
shown  by  the  numerous  implements  whicli  have  been  foimd  in 
them,  as  well  as  by  the  mammalian  remains  which  have  been  met 
with  in  similar  beds  near  by,  although  not  at  Galley  Hill.  The 
human  bones  were  seen  /;/  situ  by  Mr.  R.  Elliott  and  Mr. 
Matthew  Heys,  both  of  whom  speak  positively  as  to  the  undis- 
turbed condition  of  the  8  feet  of  gravel  which  overlay  the  bones 
when  discovered. — Gen  ogical  notes  of  a  journey  rounil  the  coast 
of  Norw.ay  and  into  Northern  Russia,  by  G.  S.  Boulger.  The 
author  accomiianied  the  Jacksim-IIarmsworlh  Polar  Expedition 
as  far  as  .-Vrchangel,  and  returned  by  way  of  the  River  Dvina. 
His  observations  relate  n\ainly  to  four  points  :  the  origin  of  the 
foliation  of  the  Norwegian  gnei.ss ;  the  question  of  raised 
beaches  on  the  north-western  coast  of  Norway  ;  the  boulders 
and  boulder-formation  of  Northern  Russia  ;  and  the  I'ria'- 
of  the  Dvina  valley.  Between  Chrisliansund  and  Tromsii  the 
.^uthor  was  struck  with  Ihe  wide-sweeping  folds  of  the  lolialion- 
pl.anes  of  the gneissose rocks,  which  appeared  lohini  more  reailily 
explicable  on  a  theory  of  dynamo-metaniorphism  of  rocks  origin- 
ally  in  part  igneous,  than  by  any  prt)cess  of  diagenesis.  He 
noted  that  Ihe  terr.aces  observed  in  the  transverse  fjords  would  be 
perfectly  explained  by  the  formation  of  ice-dammed  lakes, 
though  the  terraces  of  the  Gulf  of  Onega  seemed  less  dubiou-, 
raised  beaches  than  those  of  the  north  west  of  Norway.  He 
confirmed  the  views  of  previous  w  rilers  that  many  of  Ihe  boulders 
of  the  boulder-formalion  of  Norlhiri  Rus^ia  were  of  .Scandi- 
navian origin.  The  beils  on  ihe  Dvina  consist  of  siinds  and 
loams,  often  coloured  red,  with  bands  of  alabaster  and  aidiydrile. 
The  strata  are  horizontal  or  inclined  at  a  low  angle.  Norlh  of 
Ustyug  Veliki  the  strata  are  markc  1  .as  Permian  on  the  Russian 
maps,  and  those  to  the  south  as  Trias,  but  Ihe  author  saw  no 
perceptible  break  in  the  .succession. — On  some  I'oraniinifera  of 
Rh;ttic  Age,  from  Wedmore  in  .Somerset,  by  Frederick  Chap- 
man. The  author  hfs  examined  six  samples  of  clays  and  lime- 
st<mcs  collected  from  a  quarry  soulh-e.a.sl  of  the  village  of 
Wedmore,  which  has  yielded  Megalos:iurian  remains.  The 
microscopical  details  of  the  various  cl.iy-washings  were  given, 
and  Ihe  great  abundance  of  some  forms  of  Ihe  acervuline  fora- 
minifer  S/di/iria  w.as  noticed.  In  a  comparison  made  with  Ihe 
foraminiferal  faun.e  of  the  older  and  younger  rocks  respectively, 
the  l<ha.lic  fauna  shows  marked  aflinilies  with  bolli  the  Upper 
Pal.x-ozoic  and  the  Liassic  facies.  Twnly-six  species  of  fora- 
minifera,  chiefly  of  arenaceous  t}-]x-s,  were  described,  nine  of 
which  are  new  Itirms. 


NO-    J  337.  VOL.   52] 


June   13,  1895J 


NA  TURE 


167 


Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  June  4.  — M.  Lnu-wy  in  the  chair. — 
Ndlicc  on  the  works  of  M.  Neiniiann,  by  .M.  J.  Bertrand. 
Kranz  Nt-iimann,  correspondent  of  the  tieoiuetry  Section,  died 
.il  Koni^jsberg  on  May  23  last.  He  will  be  chiefly  remembered 
by  his  great  memoir  "On  the  theor)-  of  undulations,"  in 
which  he  considers  luminous  vibrations  as  occurrini;  in  the  plane 
of  polarisation.  His  great  mathematical  ability  was  especially 
shown  by  the  general  formulae  in  which  he  expressed  the  results 
of  Faraday's  discoveries  and  I,enz's  rules. — Volume  of  salts  in 
their  aqueous  solutions,  by  M.  Lecoq  de  Boisbaudran.  The 
author  compares  the  dilatometer  and  pyknometer  methods,  and 
describes  a  special  form  of  dilatometer  used  in  this  work. — A 
contribution  to  the  study  of  the  acetylcyanacetic  esters  of  the 
Ijenerai  formula. 


C.IL.„n-CO.CH 


,„/■ 


CN 


C,.1I,.„+,.CII  :COH  .  (11 


CO.R 


by  M.  A.  Ilaller. — A  projected  Swedish  exploration  of  Tierra 
del  Kuego,  by  M.  Daubrce.  The  .Swedish  government  is  about 
to  send  out  an  expedition  of  three  persons  to  explore  the  un- 
known parts  of  Tierra  del  Fuego,  and  the  .Argentine  Govern- 
ment will  assist  by  conveying  the  members  of  the  exploring  party 
to  their  destination  and  finding  attendants.  M.\I.  Xordenskiold, 
I)usen,  and  Ohiin  will  arrive  at  Buenos  .\yres  in  .September, 
and  hope,  during  the  Antarctic  summer,  to  explore  those  parts 
of  the  islanil  nnvisited  by  the  French  expedition  of  1882-1883. 
They  aim  ]Mrlicularly  at  gathering  material  for  a  comparison  of 
the  southern  island  with  Northern  Kurope  ;  for  instance,  the 
quaternary  rocks  of  Tierra  del  Fuego  will  be  compared 
with  rocks  of  the  same  age  in  the  boreal  continents. 
— Report  on  the  project  of  a  balloon  expedition  to  the 
Polar  regions,  by  M.  J.  .'\.  Andree  (Committee  :  MM.  Faye, 
Daubrce,  Blanchard).  It  is  reported  that  the  conditions  for 
the  success  of  such  an  expedition  have  been  fully  considered, 
the  funds  necessary  have  been  raised,  and  the  expedition  will 
set  out  from  Spitzbergeii  in  July  of  the  coming  year.  The  con- 
ditions formulate<l  by  M.  .Andree  are:  (I)  The  balloon  must 
have  an  ascensional  power  suHicient  to  carry  three  persons,  all 
the  necessary  instruments,  food  for  lour  months,  arms,  a  boat 
transformable  into  a  sledge,  and  the  ballast,  in  all  about  3000 
kilograms.  (2)  The  balloon  must  have  the  cpialily  of  impermea- 
bility to  such  an  extent  that  it  can  remain  thirty  days  in  the  air. 
(3)  It  must  be  to  a  certain  extent  dirigable.  — .Memoirs  pre- 
sented :  By  M.  A.'  Lucas,  on  the  centrifugal  and  centripetal 
forces  and  on  a  new  value  of  a; ;  by  M.  Bonnal,  an  alcoholi- 
meter  allowing  the  simultaneous  estimation  of  alcohol  and 
extract  in  wines. — Observations  of  Charlois'  planet  BX,  made 
with  the  Coude  equatorial  at  Algiers  Observatory,  by  .MM. 
RamlKiud  and  .Sy. — On  the  movement  of  a  plane  figure  in  its 
plane,  by  M.  \.  Pellet.  -On  a  category  of  groups  of  substitutions 
a.ssociateil  with  groups  of  which  the  order  equals  the  degree,  by  M. 
R.  Levavas.seur.  — On thedensity  of  helium  (a  letter  from  M.  Cleve 
to  M.  Berthelot).  (See  Notes.)— On  the  reduction  of  nitrous  oxide 
by  metals  in  presence  of  water,  by  M.M.  I'.aul  .Sabatier  and  J.  B. 
Senderens.  The  results  fully  confirm  those  formerly  obtained. 
Dissolveil  nitrous  oxide  is  reduced  to  the  state  of  nitrogen 
by  magnesium,  zinc,  iron,  and  even  cadmium,  with  the 
simultaneous  formation  of  a  little  ammonia.  —  Heal  of  forma- 
tion of  s'odium  acetylide,  by  .\I.  de  Forcrand.  —On  phthalyl 
chloride  and  phthalide,  by  .M.  Paul  Rivals.— Conducti- 
bilily  of  some  i8-ketonic  esters,  by  M.  J.  Guinchant.  The 
siHliuni  salts  of  the  cyanomelhinu  acids  behave  ijuite  normally 
with  regard  to  conductibilily.  These  acids,  as  well  as  acetyl- 
acetone.  obey  Ostwalil's  law  (K  =  const.). as  far  as  can  be  expected 
with  coinpoumls  containing  an  acid  group  and  an  ether  function. 
Their  chemical  affinity  deduced  from  thermochemical  data  agrees 
well  with  that  obtained  from  their  conductibilities.  The  values 
of  K  for  homologous  acids  diminish  .as  the  molecular  weight 
increases.  — ICstimation  of  volatile  acids  in  wines,  by  M.  E. 
Burcker.  Considerations  on  the  chemical  phenomena  of  ossifi- 
cation, by  M.  C.  Chabrie.— On  the  fl.ira  of  the  coal  deposits  of 
Asia  Minor,  and  the  jiresence  in  this  flora  of  the  genus  Phyllo- 
Ihciit.  by  M.  R.  Zeiller. — On  the  chlorosis  of  .\merican  vines 
and  its  treatment  by  sulphuric  acid,  by  M.M.  (;a,stine  and 
Degrully.     The  authors  find  treatment  by  ferrous  sulphate  and 

NO.    1337,  VOL.    52] 


by  sulphuric  acid  to  yield  identical  results  ;  it  is  concluded  that 
the  sulphuric  acid  is  the  active  agent  in  overcoming  chlorosis. — 
Oii/iiim  albican!,  a  general  pathogenic  agent.  Pathi^eny  of 
morbid  tlisorders.  by  MM.  Charrin  and  Ostrowsky.  In  conclu- 
sion, the  study  of  the  general  disexse  which  determines  inocula- 
tion by  OrJiiim  alhUaiis  reveals  a  series  of  proces.ses  peculiar  to 
this  fungus.  Comparing  these  processes  with  those  due  to 
bacteria,  some  analogies,  but  more  differences,  are  ob.served. 

BF.Ri.rs. 

Physiological  Society,  May  3.  —Prof.  H.  Munk,  President, 
in  the  chair.  —  After  the  President  had  dwelt  on  the  loss  physio- 
logy had  sufl'ered  by  the  death  of  Prof.  Ludwig,  I'rof.  I.  Munk 
spoke  on  Kjeldahl's  method  for  determining  nitrogen  in  organic 
substances  as  C(jmpared  with  Dumas'  method.  The  former  has 
largely  supplanted  the  latter  ow  ing  to  the  greater  ease  with  which 
it  may  be  carried  out,  but  some  chemists  have  found  it  less 
accurate  than  thai  of  Dumas,  notably  when  applied  to  casein. 
The  speaker  had  recently  repeated  the  analysis,  and  found  the 
above  statement  confirmed  as  long  as  he  used  oxide  of  coppei 
in  Kjeldahl's  process.  But  when  he  used  oxide  of  mercur\' 
(Wilfarth)  or  polassimii  bichromate  (Kriiger),  the  two  methods 
gave  identical  resvdts  for  the  nitrogen.  He  had  also  foimil 
Kjeldahl's  method  applicable  to  nitrogenous  compounds  with 
clo-sed  rings,  such  as  pyridin,  chinolin,  ..Vc.  Prof,  (jad  developed 
F'ick's  hypothesis  as  to  the  two-fold  nature  of  the  chemical 
processes  taking  place  in  a  contracting  muscle,  a  hypothesis  to 
which  he  gave  his  support  on  the  ba.sis  of  his  experiments  made 
together  with  Heymans  (see  Naturk,  vol.  xl.  p.  288),  on  the 
influence  of  tenq")erature  on  nuiscular  contraction.  He  described 
several  experiments  on  the  production  of  heal  in  muscles  con- 
tracting isotonically  and  isometrically,  which  can  be  most  readily 
I  explained  on  the   basis  of   Fick's  hypothesis  of   two  mutually 

interfering  chemical  jjrocesses. 
I  M<ay  17.  —  Prof  H.  Munk,  President,  in  the  chair. — Dr. 
[  W.  Cowl  spoke  on  the  action  of  diaphragms  in  microscopes,  and 
,  explained  a  general  improvement  he  hafl  obtained  by  applying 
I  an  iris-diaphragm  to  the  ocular,  capable  of  regrdation  from  the 
outside. — Dr.  Thierfelder  gave  an  account  of  experiments  made 
with  Dr.  \utan  tin  guinea-pigs. 

Physical  Society,  May  10.  — Prof,  von  Bezold,  President, 
in  the  chair. — .\fter  election  of  officers.  Prof.  Konig  spoke  on 
!  experiments  made  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Rubens  on  the  dis- 
;  tributiim  of  energy  in  the  spectrum  of  a  triplex  burner.  The 
methods  employed  made  it  possible  to  measure  the  energy  by 
means  of  a  bolometer  between  W.L.  800^  to  W.  L.  420  ji. 
and  at  the  same  time  to  measure  the  intensity  of  the  light  at 
the  same  part  of  the  spectrum  by  means  of  a  Limimer  photo- 
meter. He  dealt  in  great  detail  with  the  correction  which  is 
i  necessary  on  account  of  the  fact  that  diffused  light  acts  on  the 
bolometer  in  addition  to  that  of  each  given  wave-length.  The 
curve  of  energy  thus  obtained  was  so  steep  that  it  could  only  be 
recoriled  by  logarithms  ;  the  energy  of  the  extreme  red  was 
more  than  a  ihousanit  times  as  great  .as  that  of  the  blue.  By 
comparing  the  relative  intensities  of  the  rays  of  a  normal  amyl- 
acetate  flame  w  ith  that  of  the  above  burner,  the  distribution  of 
energy  in  the  amylacetate  flame  was  deduced  by  calculation,  and 
in  this  case  also  the  curve  w\as  very  steep  ;  the  energy  of  the  red 
end  being  300  times  that  of  the  blue.  "The  curve  for  the  spec- 
trimi  of  the  cloudless  sky  ascended  from  the  red  towards  the 
blue  end,  whereas  it  was  nearly  horizontal  for  the  light  from  a 
cloud. — Prof.  Neesen  exhibited  two  automatic  mercurial  air- 
pumps. 

May  24.  —  Prof,  du  Bois  Reymond,  President,  in  the  chair. — 
Prof.  Neesen  described  an  automatic  mercurial  valve  added  to 
his  automatic  pumps. — Prof,  von  Bezold  spoke  on  a  theory  of 
terrestrial  magnetism,  based  on  the  constniction  of  the  i.sonomals 
of  terrestrial  magnetic  ]>otentials.  He  explained  the  methods 
by  which  he  had  calculated  the  isonomals,  anil  iliscussed  the 
results  observable  on  a  chart  of  the  s.ame  for  the  year  1880. 
The  mean  values  of  magnetic  potential  are  sinqile  functions  of 
geographical  latitude,  and  the  isonomals  have  both  their  poles  in 
the  southern  hemisphere.  The  determination  of  the  potential 
and  the  construction  of  the  lines  of  equilibrium  is  far  simpler 
by  Prof,  von  Bezold's  method  than  by  the  employment  of 
Gaus.s's  formuUe,  and  w  ill  make  it  possible  to  attack  a  whole 
series  of  imi>ortant  problems  concerning  terrestrial  magnetism. 
]  As  soon  as  isonomal  charts  have  been  constructed  for  different 
J  periods  it  will  be  possible  to  draw  conclusions a-s  to  the  causes  of 
I  magnetic  disturbances. 


ibS 


NA  TURE 


[June  13,  189; 


Nkw  SoiTii  Wales. 


Linnean  Society,  April  24. — The  President,  Mr.  Henry 
Ucane,  in  the  chair.  —  Description  of  a  fly-catcher,  presumably 
new,  by  C.  W.  <lc  \"is.  The  name  Arsis  hreah's  was  projiosed  for 
a  fly-catcher  from  Cape  \'ork,  with  the  lower  surface  entirely 
while  in  the  male,  ochreous  in  a  band  on  the  lower  throat  in  the 
female,  and  with  white  lores  in  lioth  sexes. — On  the  specific 
identity  of  the  rerijxitus.  hitherto  sup|X>se<l  to  l>e  P.  Utt^karti^ 
Sanger,  by  J.  J.  Fletcher.  It  was  shown  by  a  translation  of 
Sanger's  pajM;r( in  Russian )  descriptive  of  the. \ustralian  i*eri|>atus, 
that  P.  iiisignii,  Dendy,  is  a  synonym  of  P.  Uiukarli.  \arious 
considerations  \*mi\\  to  the  following  classification  of  Australian 
I'erifMlus :  Pciipaliis  kiiiAart:',  .Sang,  -\ustralian  I'eripatus 
with  14  or  15  jMirs  of  walking  legs;  without  or  with  an 
accessory  tooth  at  the  liase  of  the  fang  of  the  outer  jaw  blade, 
or  with  several  (three  in  one  case,  indications  of  even  more  in 
another*.  Males  with  a  pair  of  (accessory  genital)  pores  between 
the  gcnilal  |xipilla  and  the  anus  ;  with  a  while  tubercle  on  each 
leg  of  the  first  jiair  only,  or  of  the  last  pair  only,  or  of  all  or 
only  some  of  the  pairs  with  the  exception  of  the  first,  (l)  P. 
leitikarti,  Siing. ,  var.  typica  (P.  Uuckarii,  Siing.  ;  P.  iti- 
signis,  Dendy).  With  14  jxiirs  of  walking  legs  ;  no  accessory 
tooth  ;  New  South  Wales,  Victoria,  Tasmania.  (2)  P.  Uiiikarii, 
.Sang.,  var.  odidiiilalis.  With  15  pairs  of  walking  legs;  no 
accessory  bHilh ;  We.si  .\ustr.ilia  (.Mr.  .V.  .M.  Lea).  (3) 
/'.  lemkarli,  Siing. ,  var.  oiicii talis  (P.  Uuckarli,  Sang.) 
With  15  jiairs  of  walking  legs  ;  with  one  or  more  acces- 
.sory  teeth ;  viviixirous :  t,)ueensland.  New  South  Wales. 
(4)  The  Victorian  l'eri)»Uis  described  by  Dr.  Dendy  as  P. 
oviparus.  Victoria  and  Tasmania  (probably — for  a  specimen  in 
the  .Macleay  Museum).  —  Description  of  Pcripaliis  mipariis,  by 
Dr.  \.  Dendy.  In  the  light  of  knowledge  gained  from  the 
translati'in  of  Sanger's  description  of  P.  Uiukarli.  already  re- 
ferred to,  and  the  consequent  necessary  revision  of  the  nomen- 
clature at  present  in  use,  ihe  author  dealt  at  length  with  ihe 
larger  Victorian  Teripatus,  which  he  proposed  to  call  /'.  n-iparus. 
— Notes  on  the  sidj-family  Prmhysceliiiu-,  with  descriptions  of 
new  s|)ecies,  by  W.  W.  Kroggatt.  This  [japer  comprised  notes 
nixjn  the  classification  anil  systematic  position  of  Ihe  gall- 
making  Coccids,  s<mie  corrections  in  the  earliiT  descriptions  of 
Brachysulh  Thornloni,  together  with  descriptions  of  three  new 
species  pro|X>sed  to  l>e  called  />.  dipsaiiforntis^  />'.  St'ssi/is^  and 
A  rosi/ormis. — On  a  Fiddler  Kay  (  Trygonorhiiia  fasciata)  with 
abnormal  pectoral  fins,  by  J .  1'.  Hill.  The  six-cimen  observeil. 
a  young  male  26*9  cm.  long,  ]iresented  a  striking  appearance  by 
reasfin  of  the  anterior  |M)rtion  of  each  perioral  fin  being 
.separated  from  the  head  by  a  wide  and  deep  notch.  The  sig- 
nificance of  the  abnormality  was  discussed  at  sonic  length. 

\\I>rKRI>\M. 

Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  .\pril  18.  I'rof.  \'an  de 
Sande  IJakhuyzen  in  the  chair. —I'rof.  Mactlillavry  gave  a  sketch 
of  two  melhmls  employed  by  him  to  detect  ihe  adulteration  of 
butler  with  less  than  one  |K'rcent.  of  ole<j- margarine  or  with  oils. — 
Prof.  I'ekelharing  read  a  |>a|x;r  on  the  objections  raised  agiiinst 
his  view  .xs  to  the  nature  of  the  fibrine  ferment,  viz.  Ihal  it  is  a 
compound  of  nudeoproteiil  and  lime,  more  |>;irlicularly  on  the 
objections  brought  forward  by  Halliburton,  who,  by  his  important 
an<l  extensive  mvesligalions,  has  contribulefl  sc»  much  to  our 
knowle<lge  in  this  deiJartmenl.  The  author  had  found  (I)  that 
artificial  fibrine  ferment,  prep.»red  by  treating  nucleoproteid  first 
with  lime-water  and  then  with  carl)onic  acid,  became  only  partly 
.soluble  by  lieing  kept  under  alcohol  for  a  long  lime,  whereas 
when  treated  in  the  same  manner  as  Schmidt's  ferment,  it  yielded 
a  powerful  fibrino-plastic  solution  ;  (2)  that  in.ignesium  sulphate- 
phvsma  remained  liijuiil,  not  for  want  of  nucle<iprolei<l,  but  be- 
r.ius*-  it  di,l  not  contain  enough  calcium  salts.  The  magnesium 
Milphaie  prevented  Ihe  ccmibination  of  nucleoproteirl  anil  lime  ; 
but  when  the  combination  h.id  once  Iwen  brought  about,  MgSt ), 
in  ■     '     '  ■'  '  ■'-   -.  in  a  much  smaller  degree.      Magnesium 

MK  iilate<l  by  artificial  fibrine  just  as  well  as 

1"  -enim  ;  (J)  that  inlravenous  injecliim  r)f 

S'  nerslon's  ferment  had  the  same  conseipience 

a^  i  --ninll  qunntitv  of  nucleoproteifl,  viz.  Wool- 

*lridgi.\  "  jii .  !■!  ton  rjf  the  coagulation  of  the 

bliHxl  which  ->els.      On  the  other  hand,  if 

a    I  .1   lilirine    ferment,    jirepared   by 

< '  '  rnt"  a  \'ein  of  a  rabbit,  the  animal 

•  i  K ■   •'•      I'rof.  Schoule  proved  that  the 

>  of  cry.stnllographic  lornis  of  the  regular  system  in  nupace 

to.    1337.  VOL.    52] 


of  n  dimensions  is  2"-l. — Prof.  Kamerlingh  Onnes  communi- 
cated the  results  of  investigations  by  Mr.  A.  Lebrel  in  the  Lcyden 
lahoratorj'  :  (i)  com]>ensation  method  of  the  observation  of 
Hall's  effect ;  {2|  on  the  dissymmetry-  of  Hall's  effect  in  bismuth 
when  the  directions  of  the  magnetic  field  are  opjwsite  to  each 
other.  In  every  plate  there  are  two  perpendicular  directions  of 
great  imiwrlance.  The  primar)*  electrodes  being  attached  in 
accordance  with  these  directions,  there  is  no  dissymmetrv. 
When  they  are  attached  in  a  direction  making  an  angle  a  with 
one  of  theni,  the  HaU  effect  is  given  by  H  +  i(K,  -  K,)  sin  2q. 
It  is  explained  i>y  a  difference  between  the  variations  of  resist- 
ance through  magnetisation  Kj  and  K.^  in  two  perpendicular 
directions. 


BOOKS  AND   SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

RnoKS. — Dairj-  Bacteriology- :  Dr.  E.  von  Freudenrcich,  tr.inslated  by 
Prof.  J.  R.  A.  Davis  (Methucn).— Petrology  for  StudcnLs  :  A.  Harkcr 
(Cnmbriiigc  University  Press). — .\  Tcxt-Iiook  of  Zoogeography:  K.  K.  Bed* 
dard  (Cambridge  University  Pres>). — Hydrodynamics:  Prof.  H.  Lamb 
(Cambridge  I'niversity  Press).— Museums  .\ssociation.  Report  of  Proceed- 
ings, vSic.  at  the  Fifth  .'Xnnual  General  Meeting,  held  in  Dublin,  June  a6  to 
29,  1894  (Sheflield).— The  Horticulturist's  Rule-Book  :  L.  H.  Bailey.  3rd 
edition  (Macmillan). — .'Vgricuhurc  :  R.  H.  Wallace  (Chambers), — Off  the 
Mill :  Bishop  G.  F.  Browne  (Smith,  Elder).— Bibliotheca  Gcographica, 
Band  I  (Berlin,  Kuhl). 

Serials. —  I0urn.1l  of  the  .-Vnthropological  Institute,  May  (K.  Paul). — 
Bulletin  of  ilie  American  Mathematical  Society,  May  (New  York,  Mac- 
millan).— Proceedings  of  the  Physical  Society  of  London,  June  (T.iy lor). — 
Report  of  the  Marll»orough  College  Natural  History  Society,  1894  (Marl- 
Ixirough). — Journal  of  tlie  Chemical  Society,  June  (Gurncy). — Geological 
Magazine,  June  (Dulau). — Phycolosicat  Memoirs,  Part  3  (Dulau). — Eth- 
nographische  Heitr.'ige  zur  Kcnninisdes  Karolinen  Archipcls,  3  Hefi(I..eidcn,  , 
Trap). — Natural  History  of  Plants,  Part  1 1,  ;  Kcrner  and  Oliver  (Hlackie). —  ' 
.\mcrican  Journal  of  .Science,  June  (New  Haven).— Maleri.-ils  for  a  Flora  of 
the  Malay.an  Peninsula.  No.  7  :  Dr.  G.  King  (Calcutta). — Journal  of  the 
.'Vsiaiic  Society  of  Bengal,  Vol.  Ixiii.  Part  2,  No.  4  (Calcutta). — 'Diito  Vn|. 
Ixiv.  P.art  2,  No.  I  (Cilcutta).  — Science  Progress,  June  (Scientific  Press,  Lid.). 
—Strand  Magazine,  June  (Newnes). — Picture  Magazine,  June  (Ncwnes). — 
Engineering  Mag.-uinc.  June  (Tucker). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Maskelyne's  Crystallography,      liy  H.  A.  Miers     .    .  145 

The  Study  of  Stereochemistry 146 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Bennell :   "  The  Telephone  Systems  of  the  Continent 

of  Kurope" 147 

Parkes  :  "  The  Elements  of  Health  " 147 

Letters  to  the  Editor:  — 

llypnniised  l.i/ards.      Dr.  W.  T.  Van  Dyck     ...  148 
Slridulatinj;  t  )rgan  in  a  Spider.      (With  Diagram.)^ 

S.  E.  Peal 148 

The    .Migrations    of    the    Leinniinj^s.   -W.    Duppa- 

Crotch: 149 

Boltzmann's  .Minimum  Theorem. — Edwd.  P.  Culver 

wU 149 

The  Cambridge  Natural  History,  (/lliisl rated.)    ...  149 

Notes     151 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Comet  1S92  \'.  (Barnard) 155 

Measurement  of  Radial  Velocities 155 

Two  KcniarkaliK-  Binary  Slars 155 

The  Sun's  Place  in   Nature.     VI.     (Illustrated.)     By 

J.  Norman  Lockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S 156 

The   Management  of  Epping  Forest 15S 

Science  in  the  Magazines 159 

Argon.     (Widi  IMa-r.im.)     By  Lord  Rayleigh,  F.R.S.  15s 
A  Spectroscopic  Proof  of  the  Meteoric  Constitution 
of    Saturn's    Rings.      {Willi    Ditigntm.)      By   Prof. 

James  E.  Keclcr 164 

University  and   Educational   Intelligence 165 

Societies  and  Academies '6< 

Books  and   Serials   Received i6> 


. 


NA  TURE 


169 


THURSDAY,  JUNE   20,  1895. 


THE  ATOMIC  THEORY  AND  ITS  AUTHOR. 
John  Da/ton  and  the  Rise  of  Modern  Chetiiistry.     By  Sir 
Henry  E.    Roscoe,    D.C.L.,  LL.D.,  F.R.S.      Century 
Science    Series.      Pp.    212.      (London  :    Cassell    and 
Company,  Ltd.,  1895.) 

WE  have  read  through  this  httlc  boolc  from  beginning 
to  end  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure.  It  tells  the 
story  of  a  life  which  has  already  been  told  more  than 
once,  but  it  tells  it  in  a  pleasant  style,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  is  fairly  complete  and,  what  is  equally  important 
in  these  days,  not  too  long^. 

John  Dalton  was  born  at  Eaglesfield,  near  Cocker- 
mouth  in  Cumberland,  in  1766,  about  .September  6  ;  but 
as  no  register  containing  a  record  of  his  birth  has 
been  found,  the  exact  date  is  not  known.  John  is 
supposed  to  have  been  the  second  son  of  his  parents, 
Joseph  and  Deborah  Dalton,  but,  for  the  same  reason,  this 
statement  cannot  now  be  verified.  According  to  his  own 
account  he  attended  the  village  schools  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  was  fortunate  in  attracting  the  notice  of  Mr. 
Elihu  Robinson,  a  Quaker  like  his  parents  ;  but  while 
Joseph  Dalton  was  but  a  humble  hand-loom  weaver, 
Robinson  was  a  man  of  independent  means  and  con- 
siderable scientific  ability.  Under  the  influence  of  Mr. 
Robinson,  John  made  such  progress,  especially  in  mathe- 
matics, that  at  the  age  of  twelve  he  set  up  school  teaching 
on  his  own  account.  When  he  was  about  fifteen  he  left 
his  native  place,  in  order  to  join  his  elder  brother  Jonathan 
in  the  conduct  of  a  school  at  Kendal.  Four  years  later, 
in  1785,  George  IJewley,  the  proprietor  of  the  school 
retired  from  the  management,  and  John  became  his 
brother's  partner.  A  quaint  card,  reproduced  photo- 
graphically in  the  book,  announced  to  their  friends  and 
the  public  that  youth  would  be  "  carefully  instructed  in 
English,  Latin,  Greek,  and  French,  also  writing,  arith- 
metic, merchants'  accompts,  and  the  mathematics." 

.■Ml  this  time  John  was  diligently  occupied  in  self- 
improvement.  His  active  mind,  however,  could  not  be 
contented  with  mere  acquisition  of  knowledge,  and  we 
find  that  his  first  attempts  at  scientific  investigations  were 
made  here.  Meteorological  observations  occupied  him 
in  the  first  instance,  and  the  requisite  barometers  and 
thermometers  were  made  with  his  own  hands.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  the  long  series  of  daily  observations 
which  were  continued  without  a  break  until  the  evening 
before  his  death  in  1844. 

In  1793  Dalton  left  Kendal  for  Manchester,  having 
undertaken  for  the  modest  stipend  of  £,%o  a  year  to 
teach  mathematics,  mechanics,  geomctr>',  book-keeping, 
natural  philosophy,  and  chemistry,  and  we  are  told  that 
in  1794  he  had  twenty-four  students  in  these  subjects. 
In  this  position  of  college  tutor  Dalton  remained  si.>c 
years,  and  then  resigned  his  post  in  order  to  obtain  time 
for  his  researches,  supporting  himself  by  private  tuition. 
When  he  left  the  college,  he  lived  first  in  a  house  in 
Faulkner  Street,  then  with  John  Cockbain,  a  member  of 
the  Society  of  Friends  ;  but,  after  a  time,  joined  the 
family  of  the  Rev.  William  Johns,  with  whom  he  remained 
nearly  thirty  years.  It  was  here  that  his  most  important 
NO.   1338,  VOL.   52] 


original  work  in  physics  and  chemistry  was  accomplished, 
here  he  brought  out  his  system  of  chemical  philosophy, 
and  here  he  attained  to  that  celebrity  which  brought  him 
honours  from  abroad,  as  well  as  the  friendship  of  the 
most  distinguished  of  his  own  countrymen. 

To  the  pages  of  the  book  we  must  refer  our  readers  for 
many  of  the  details  of  Dalton's  subsequent  career  :  how  he 
delivered  courses  of  lectures  in  Edinburgh  and  (Glasgow 
(1807),  and  twice  at  the  Royal  Institution  in  Albemarle 
Street  (1803-4  and  1809-10) ;  how  he  was  made  a  cor- 
responding member  of  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences 
(18 16),  and  a  Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  (1822)  ;  how  he 
visited  Paris  (1822),  and  subsequently,  after  the  death 
of  Davy,  was  elected  a  Foreign  Associate  of  the 
.•\cademy  (1830)  ;  how  he  received  honorary  degrees 
from  many  universities,  among  the  rest,  from  Oxford 
(1832);  and,  finally,  was  assigned  a  pension  out  of  the 
funds  of  the  Civil  List  by  King  William  the  Fourth. 

Dalton  died  on  July  27,  1844.  Since  1837,  when  he 
had  a  paralytic  stroke,  his  vigour  had  very  seriously 
declined ;  and  of  this  decline  it  is  obvious  that  he 
was  conscious.  Old  people  are  usually  parsimonious, 
especially  if  in  their  younger  days  they  have  been  obliged 
to  practise  economy.  Dalton  was  no  exception  to  this, 
and  an  amusing  account,  which  will  not  bear  condensa- 
tion, is  given  of  a  transaction  of  his  with  Dr.  Lyon 
Playfair,  in  January  1844,  only  a  few  months  before  his 
death. 

Dalton  seems  to  ha\e  been  a  great  smoker.  In  a 
letter  quoted  on  p.  166,  he  says  (January  10,  1804)  : 

"  I  was  introduced  to  Mr.  Davy,  who  has  rooms  adjoin- 
ing mine  in  the  Royal  Institution.  He  is  a  very  agreeable 
and  intelligent  young  man,  and  we  have  interesting 
conversations  in  an  evening.  The  principal  failing  in  his 
character  is  that  he  does  not  smoke." 

Wrapt  as  he  «as  from  early  youth  in  his  scientific  and 
philosophical  pursuits,  it  is  perhaps  not  surprising  that  he 
should  have  declared  that  his  head  was  "too  full  of 
triangles,  chemical  processes,  and  electrical  experiments, 
&c.,  to  think  much  of  marriage."  Nevertheless,  it  appears 
that  the  Quaker  philosopher  had  at  least  one  or  two 
affairs  of  the  heart,  and  c\en  when  past  the  age  of  giddy 
youth  he  seems  to  ha\e  been  accessible  to  the  charm  of 
female  beauty ;  for  in  a  letter  in  which  he  describes  "  the 
belles  of  New  Bond  Street,"  he  admits  that  he  is  "■  more 
taken  up  with  their  faces  than  their  dresses,"  and  ends 
with  the  remark,  "  I  do  not  know  how  it  happens,  but  I 
fancy  pretty  women  look  well  anyhow." 

Every  one  has  heard  of  Dalton's  peculiarities  of  vision. 
It  seems  remarkable  that  he  should  have  grown  to  man- 
hood without  becoming  aware  of  his  defect,  but  it  appears 
that  it  was  not  till  about  the  age  of  six-and-twenty  that  he 
found  out  that  his  notions  of  green  and  red  were  different 
from  those  of  other  people.  This  evidently  caused  him 
at  first  a  good  deal  of  perplexity,  and  brought  down  a 
certain  amount  of  "  chaff,"  for  he  writes  to  his  old  friend 
Elihu  Robinson,  that  "  the  young  women  tell  me  they 
will  never  suffer  me  to  go  iiTto  the  gallery  of  the  meeting- 
house with  a  green  coat ;  and  I  tell  them  I  have  no 
objection  to  their  going  in  with  me  in  a  crimson  1  that  is, 
(lark  drab)  gown."  Dalton  had  a  notion  that  his  defect  of 
vision  was  due  to  the  existence  of  a  coloured  medium  in 
one  of  the  humours  of  the  eye.     It  is  almost  needless  to 

I 


I/O 


NATURE 


[June  20,  1895 


say  that  this  was  a  mistake,  and  that  the  fact  has  now- 
long  been  recognised  that  many  persons  are  unable  to 
distinguish  red  and  green,  though  the  true  physiological 
explanation  is  still  unknown. 

We  must  now  turn  to  a  brief  consideration  of  the  chief 
subject  of  Ualtons  scientific  investigations.  In  connection 
with  the  histor>-  of  the  evolution  of  the  atomic  theorj', 
Sir  Henrj-  Roscoe  has  been  so  fortunate  as  to  make  an 
interesting  discover)-.  .Among  the  "  Dalton  Papers  "  in 
the  possession  of  the  Manchester  Literar>-  and  Philo- 
sophical Society,  he  has  found  the  manuscript  notes  pre- 
pared by  Dalton  for  the  course  of  lectures  delivered  at 
the  Royal  Institution  in  the  winter  of  1S09-10.  In  these 
notes  he  gives  an  account  of  the  train  of  thought  which 
led  him  to  adopt  the  atomic  hypothesis  for  the  explanation 
of  chemical  phenomena.  Contrary  to  the  commonly  re- 
ceived account,  which  appears  to  ha%e  originated  with  a 
statement  by  Dr.  Thomas  Thomson  in  his  "  History-  of 
Chemistr)-,"  the  atomic  theor)-  did  not  first  occur  to  him 
during  his  investigation  of  defiant  gas  and  carburettcd 
hydrogen  gas.  From  the  newly-discovered  manuscript  it 
appears  that  Dalton's  atomistic  ideas  arose  in  the  course 
of  his  study  of  the  atmosphere,  and  in  speculating  as  to 
how  a  mixture  of  two  or  more  clastic  fluids  could  con- 
stitute a  homogeneous  mass.  .-V  reader  of  his  "  Chemical 
Philosophy  "  would  perceive  how  thoroughly  he  was  im- 
bued with  the  Newtonian  doctrine  of  particles,  and  in 
Henn-'s  "  Life"  this  is  clearly  pointed  out. 

By  whatever  process  Dalton  arrived  at  the  adoption 
of  the  atomic  hypothesis,  it  is  certain  that  his  great 
merit  consisted  in  the  application  of  a  commonly 
accepted  (see  "  Chemical  Philosophy,"  part  i.  p.  141),  but 
vaguely  conceived,  notion  to  the  explanation  of  che- 
mical phenomena.  It  was  ''for  the  development  of  the 
chemical  theory  of  definite  proportions,  usually  called  the 
"Atomic  Theory,"  more  especially,  that  he  received  the 
first  awarded  Royal  Medal  in  1826.  This  is  the  point 
upon  which  emphasis  was  particularly  placed  by  the 
president.  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  in  presenting  the  medal. 

In  the  course  of  reading  this  little  book  we  have  met  with 
only  one  passage  which  seems  to  require  correction.  The 
statemcnt'fp.  153)  that  Dalton's  "  great  achievement  was 
that  he  was  the  first  to  introduce  the  idea  of  quantity  into 
chemistry"  is  not  only  erroneous  but  is  inconsistent  with 
the  writeHs  own  text,  which  on  p.  161  contains  a  reference 
to  the  names  of  Wenzel  and  Richter. 

We  shall  look  forward  with  pleasure  to  the  other 
volumes  of  the  series.  W.  A.  T. 


HYDRAULIC  AND   OTHER  POWERS. 

Hydraulic  Motors,  Turbines,  and  Pressure  Enginct.  By 
(",.  R.  Bf)dmer,  A.M.Inst.C.E.  Pp.  540.  (London: 
Whiltakcr  and  Co.,  and  George  Bell  and  Sons,   1895.; 

Motive  Powers  and  their  Practical  Selection.  By 
Reginald  Bolton,  .A.M.Inst.C.E.  Pp.  250.  (London 
and  New  York  :  Longmans,  Gtecn,  and  Co.,  1895.) 

THE  first  of  these  works  is  a  second  and  enlarged 
edition  of  an  excellent  treatise  on  a  subject  seldom 
dealt   with  in   English  text-books.     The  question  of  the 
applicatitm  of  water-|)ower  to  useful  purposes  is  becoming 
more   and    more   of  importance,  and    the   study   of  the 
NO.    1338,  VOL.  52] 


design  and  construction  of  the  necessary  machinery 
naturally  follows.  Continental  engineers  are  in  advance 
of  us  in  this  matter,  they  having  long  studied  the  problem 
successfully.  This  difference,  however,  is  rapidly  dis- 
appearing, and  will  be  greatly  assisted  by  the  issue  of 
this  work. 

The  author  has  consulted  to  a  greater  or  less  extent 
many    works    and    publications,   and    appears   to    have 
brought  together  much  valuable  information  ;  this,  com- 
bined   with   his   own     experience,    makes    the    work   an 
important  one.      Historical    matter  has    been   purposely 
avoided,  as  well  as  descriptions  of  obsolete  forms  of  motors. 
The  author  rather  jocularly  observes  in  his  preface  that 
he  is  sure  to  be  criticised,  one  way  or  the  other,  as  to  the 
use  of  mathematics  in  his  work.     On  the  question  of  the 
free  use  of  mathematical  methods  we  arc  entirely  of  his 
opinion,  \iz.   that  formuUi;  afford  the  readiest   means  of 
accurately  stating  facts  which  in  the  simplest  cases  can 
only  be  \erbally  defined  in  elaborate  phraseology.     The 
desciiption  of  the  Niagara  Falls  installation  is  concise  and 
to  the  point.     This  installation  is  designed  for  utilising 
10,200  cubic  feet  of  water  per  second,  with  an  available 
head  of  140  feet,  which  is  equivalent,  with  an  assumed 
eflSciency  of  turbine  of  75  per  cent,  to  about  120,000  horse 
power.     The  turbines  were  designed  by  Messrs.  Faesch 
and  Piccard,  of  Geneva,  and  made  by  the  I.  P.  Morris  Com- 
pany of  Philadelphia  ;  each  of  these  wheels  is  to  develop 
5000-horsc  power,   with  a  mean  head  of  136  feet.     Other 
interesting  descriptions  of  recent  installations  arc  added, 
but  we  miss  an  account  of  the  Worcester  Electric  Lighting 
Station.     This  is  to  be   regretted,  because  the  installa- 
tion   is    an    example   of  a    considerable   application    of 
water-power  under  somewhat  adxerse  conditions.     The 
yround    covered    in    this    book,    both    theoretical    and 
practical,  is  of  considerable  extent.     The  author  handles 
the  subject  in  a  sensible  manner,  and  arranges  it  in  such 
a  way  that  the  student  can  ha\e  little  diflficult\  in  master- 
ing it.     For  the  engineer  who  looks  for  theoretical  con- 
siderations,   there   is    ample    food    for    reflection.     The 
descriptions  of  the  general  theor)'  of  various  turbines  are 
remarkably   clear,   and   are    assisted    by   diagrams   and 
woodcuts.     To  those  engaged  in  the  design  of  turbines 
the  volume  must  be  invaluable. 

Mr.  Bolton's  book  on  "Motive  Powers"  is  of  a  very 
diflfcrent  nature,  and  belongs  to  that  large  number  of  text- 
books written  under  the  impression  that  a  mere  stringing 
together  of  "facts,  formuhe,  and  data  "  is  of  service  to  the 
non-technical  reader.  The  choice  of  a  motor  for  any 
particular  duty,  of  course,  largely  depends  on  various 
circumstances,  and  these  must  be  considered  by  a  quali- 
fied engineer.  It  is  questionable  whether  any  amount  of 
study  can  qualify  a  non-technical  man  to  niake  a  suitable 
choice  in  such  a  matter.  The  book,  however,  contains  a 
large  store  of  information  suitable  for  engineers,  and  it  is 
arranged  in  a  way  that  easy  reference  is  possible,  which  is 
an  important  consideration.  The  author  \cxy  properly  falls 
foul  of  the  term  "  nominal  horse-power,"  a  useless  term, 
and  one  very  likely  to  mislead.  It  is  quite  time  that  steam 
and  other  engines  were  sold  as  representing  tlie  available 
power,  or  "  brake  horse-power."  Under  the  head  of  power 
defined  and  compared,  the  author  might  \\:\\ii  been  more 
explicit  in  his  definition  of  the  relation  between  "the 
wall"  and   the   "horse-power";  746   watts  are  et|iial   lo 


June  20,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


171 


•one  <'/^(r//-/V(z/ horse-power.  In  the  chapter  on  the  power 
of  the  wind,  there  is  an  interesting  description  of  an 
electrical  plant  for  lighting,  which  was  used  in  London 
some  time  ago,  the  motive  power  being  a  windmill  on  the 
top  of  the  building.  There  apjjcars  to  be  an  opening  for 
this  type  of  motor.  The  author  gives  rales  and  tables  for 
their  design  and  construction. 

Water-wheels,  turbines,  and  hydraulic  motors  generally 
come  in  for  a  good  deal  of  notice.  The  information  given 
concerning^  these  motors  is  very  much  condensed,  but  is 
in  a  useful  form.  "  Molesworth's  Pocket-book  "  is  quoted 
for  rules  for  the  actual  construction  of  turbines  ;  Bodmcr's 
book  can  be  added  with  advantage.  The  question  of 
labour  and  attendance  has  to  be  carefully  considered  in 
connection  with  the  adoption  of  steam-power  ;  a  type  of 
motor  which,  for  small  powers,  is  being  discarded  in  favour 
of  oil  and  gas  engines.  The  steam  engine,  however,  has 
points  in  its  favour,  simplicity  of  parts  being  not  the  least 
of  them.  The  author  gives  a  table  showing  relative  values 
for  heating  purposes  of  various  fuels  ;  this  is  of  vrUie,  and 
may  pro\e  of  use  to  many  steam  users. 

llnder  the  heading  of  liquid  fuel,  no  observations  are 
to  be  found  describing  "  Holden's  -System"  for  burning 
oil,  tar,  &c.  ;  this  should  be  added  in  a  future  edition. 
An  essential  feature  of  this  work  is  a  statement  of 
the  probable  cost  of  the  machinery  described,  thus 
rendering  a  comparison  possible  of  alternate  schemes. 
The  condensation  of  exhaust  steam  from  engines  in  large 
towns  is  an  imijortant  ([uestion,  because  in  some  cases 
it  may  become  a  nuisance.  The  author  describes  the 
usual  methods  in  vogue,  but  omits  to  mention  the 
atmospheric  condenser  used  to  condense  the  steam, 
and  so  get  rid  of  it.  .Steam  engines  of  various  kinds 
are  fully  dealt  with,  including  those  suitable  for 
dynamo  driving.  Under  the  latter  class  we  find  no 
description  of  the  Willan's  central  valve  engine,  probably 
the  most  efficient  of  any.  If  chapter  x.\i.  is  intended  to 
include  this  engine,  why  not  say  so  ? 

The  author  has  much  to  say  on  the  subject  of  different 
types  of  boilers.  On  page  179  we  find  a  table  giving 
the  pitch  of  stays  in  flat  surfaces  in  locomotive  fire-boxes. 
This  requires  considerable  alteration.  The  pitches  given 
for  the  higher  pressures  and  i-inch  plates  are  ridiculous  ; 
no  locomotive  builder  exceeds  4^- inches  pitch  with  copper 
fire-boxes.  The  usual  hydraulic  test  for  boilers  is  stated 
to  be  twice  the  working  pressure.  This  is  so  in  many 
cases,  and  we  agree  with  the  author  that  the  boiler  is 
needlessly  strained.  One  and  a  half  times  the  working 
pressure  is  ample,  and  is  quite  sufficient  to  test  the 
w  orkmanship.  As  to  the  general  essentials  for  good  boiler 
work,  given  on  page  181,  we  cordially  agree,  but  would 
add  that  machine  flanging  should,  if  possible,  be  done 
at  one  heat. 

Much  has  been  said  of  late  about  the  virtues  of  the 
tubulous  boiler.  No  doubt  its  convenience  of  transport 
is  great,  repairs  are  easily  effected,  and  steam  can  be 
rapidly  raised.  The  author  gives  some  interesting  data 
on  these  boilers,  including  the  Belleville  type  now  being 
adopted  in  this  country. 

Users  of  small   power   motors    will   be    interested    in 
chapter  xxx.  <•/  scq.     These  deal  with  gas  and  oil  engines, 
and  contain  some  interesting  information.     Taken  as  a 
NO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


whole,  this  book  contains  a  serviceable  collection  of  data 
on  various  subjects.  The  volume  should  prove  of  use  to 
engineers,  who  will  find  in  it  much  information  relative 
to  motive  powers.  N.  J.  L. 


TRAVELS  IN  TIBET. 

Diary  of  a  Journey  tltrotigh  Mongolia  and  Tibet  in  1 89 1 
andi&()2.  By  William  WoodvilleRockhill.  8vo.  Pp. 
x.x.  and  414.  Illustrations.  (Washington  :  published 
by  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  1894.) 

MR.  ROCKHILL  is  no  stranger  to  the  British  public; 
his  admirable  work  on  Tibet — "  The  Land  of  the 
Lamas,"  published  in  1891— has  been  widely  read,  and 
his  second  great  journey,  described  in  the  book  now 
before  us,  earned  for  him  the  gold  medal  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  the  highest  geographical  prize  in 
the  world.  The  book,  as  now  published,  differs  from 
"The  Land  of  the  Lamas"  by  being  less  a  piece  of 
literature  for  general  reading  than  a  compendious  record 
of  observations  suited  for  serious  students  of  Central 
Asia. 

Tibet  is  peculiar  amongst  the  regions  of  the  world  by 
possessing  ahnost  every  possible  barrier  to  discourage  the 
would-be  explorer.  Its  physical  conditions,  lying  in  the 
centre  of  the  largest  continent,  raised,  though  just  with- 
out the  tropic,  into  the  frigid  zone  of  altitude,  composed 
in  large  part  of  rainless  arid  plains,  girdled  by  the  most 
stupendous  mountains  of  the  earth,  conspire  with  the 
fanatical  exclusi\eness  of  its  governing  body  to  keep 
the  land  in  seclusion.  There  have  been  fewer  travellers 
in  Tibet  than  in  almost  any  other  area  of  the  known 
world.  In  his  preface  Mr.  Rockhill  recalls  the  deeds  of 
his  predecessors  from  Friar  Oderic  in  1325  to  the  Russian, 
French,  and  British  travellers  of  the  last  decade.  The 
last  Europeans  to  reach  the  capital  city  of  Lhasa  were 
the  Lazarist  fathers,  Hue  and  Gabet,  in  1846.  Since 
then  the  Indian  native  surveyor,  Sarat  Chandra  Das, 
has  succeeded  in  disguise  in  making  a  survey  of  the 
town,  but  e\ery  European  has  been  successfully  stopped 
and  turned  back  at  the  entrance  to  Lhasa  territory. 
Mr.  Rockhill  was  no  more  fortunate  in  evading  this 
fiite  than  his  predecessors  were,  or  than  his  successor, 
Miss  Annie  Taylor,  has  been  ;  but  he  was  fortunate  in 
being  able  to  give  'an  excellent  account  of  the  portions 
of  the  country  which  he  visited.  Mr.  Rockhill  has  the 
almost  unique  attainment  of  knowing  both  the  Chinese 
and  the  Tibetan  literary  languages  perfectly;  consequently 
he  was  able  to  make  his  own  negotiations  with  the 
natives,  and  to  obtain  information  from  them  at  first 
hand.  It  is  gratifying  to  find  that  one  result  of  his 
careful  study  of  Tibet  is  to  vindicate  the  general  truth- 
fulness of  the  Abb^  Hue's  picturesque  description  of 
the  country  and  the  people,  which  is  really  responsible 
for  such  popular  knowledge  of  Tibet  as  exists  in  European 
literature,  and  on  which  some  recent  travellers,  misled 
by  bad  interpreters,  had  cast  serious  doubts. 

Mr.  Rockhill  describes  his  journey  in  the  form  of  a 
diary,  a  form  which  throws  all  the  details  mto  equal  and 
somewhat  undue  prominencc,dcmanding  very  careful  read- 
ing, and  many  references  to  different  passages,  before  the 


NATURE 


[June  20,  1895 


general  bearing  can  be  understood.  A  series  of  appen- 
dices containingvocabularies  of  the  Salar,  and  San-Ch'uan 
Tu-jen  languages,  a  list  of  the  plants  met  with,  compiled 
by  Mr.  W.  Betting  Hemsley,  a  table  of  latitudes  and 
altitudes,  and  a  few  meteorological  statistics,  in  some 
measure  makes  up  for  the  defects  of  the  diary  form.  The 
index,  which  is  all-important  in  a  book  of  this  kind,  is 
unsatisfactory- ;  the  entries  are  numerous  enough,  but 
they  are  not  descriptive.  The  mere  facts  that  snow  is 
referred  to  on  twenty-eight  specified  pages,  and  sand- 
stone on  forty,  docs  not  assist  the  reader  in  the  way  a 
well-arranged  index  should.  On  the  other  hand,  the  illus- 
trations are  excellent,  and  leave  nothing  to  be  desired, 
except  indeed  that  they  were  more  numerous. 

A  map,  on  the  generous  scale  of  thirty-two  miles  to  an 
inch,  gives  details  of  the  route,  but  it  is  confined  to  Mr. 
Rockhill's  own  surveys,  all  outside  being  left  blank. 

Mr.  Rockhill   left   Pekin  in  the  hope  of  crossing  Tibet 
from  north  to  south,  by  a  road   leading  to  India,  without 
touching  Lhasa  territory.     He  accordingly  made  his  way 
through  Mongolia,  passing  by  Ordos   and   Alashan,  up 
the  valley  of  the  V'ellow  River  to  Hsi-ning,  and  collecting 
the  neccssar>'  material  for  a  long  desert  journey,  he  left 
Lusar  (Kumbum)   on    Februarv-   17,   1893,   passed  west- 
ward   through   the    marshes   of    Tsaidam,   and    at    the 
Kaichi   Gol,   on    May    17,   turned   south-westward    with 
guides  who  had  agreed  to  take  him  across  the  mountains 
to  the  Tengri-nor.     It  was  a  severe  journey  :    grass  for 
the    horses  and  mules  was   often   scarce  ;   snow  fell  at 
midsummer,  and  herds  of  wild-yaks  and  wild-asses  were 
the   only   living  creatures   to    be  seen.      The  snow-line 
appeared  to  be  about  17,000  feet,  but  no  glaciers  were  to 
be  seen  on  any  of  the  mountains.     At  length,  on  July  6, 
after  three  days'  travelling  without  food,  supporting  life 
only   on  tea,  the  party  sighted  the  tents  of  the  Namru 
Tibetans,  about  two  days'  journey  from  the  Tengri-nor. 
Here   there   was  safety  from   starvation,   but    the  tribe 
being  under  the   government   of  Lhasa,  the   inevitable 
result   followed.       The   tribe   mustered   sixty   or  eighty 
armed  men,  and  with  the  utmost  courtesy  the  head  men, 
reinforced  by  officials  from   Lhasa,  forbade  any  advance 
southward.     After  much  talking,   Mr.   Kockhill  secured 
the  alternative  of  returning  as  he  came,  or  going  east- 
ward  to  China  viA  Ta-chicn-lu,  which   was  reached  on 
October  i.      By  avoiding  the  high  road,   Mr.   Kockhill 
succeeded    in   surveying    a   good  deal   of  new  country, 
and    he    made    many     most     interesting     observations 
on  the   people,  who   in    south-eastern   Tibet    are   much 
more  liberal  and  enlightened  than  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Lhasa. 

On  returning  to  Shanghai  the  traveller  found  that  in 
the  eleven  months  since  he  had  left  it  he  had  travelled 
8000  miles,  of  which  he  had  surveyed  3400  miles,  and 
crossed  69  passes,  all  more  than  14,500  feet  above  the 
sea.  Three  hundred  photographs  were  taken,  and  be- 
tween three  and  four  hundred  ethnological  specimens 
collected.  The  journey  was  in  fact  a  great  and  a  suc- 
cessful one,  though  it  led  to  no  sensational  discoveries  ; 
and  we  believe  that  the  work  of  the  American  traveller 
from  the  east  will  bear  the  closest  comparison  with 
that  of  the  Russian  explorers  from  the  north,  and  the 
British  and  Indian  sun'cyors  from  the  south. 

Hugh  Rohkrt  Mii.i.. 

NO.  1338,  VOL.   52] 


MIND  AND  BODY. 

The  Philosophy  of  Mind;  an  Essay  in  the  Metaphysics 
of  PsycholOi^'.  By  C.  T.  Ladd,  Professor  of  Philo- 
sophy in  the  Yale  University.  (Longmans,  Green, 
and  Co.,  1895.) 

PROF.  LADD'S  latest  book  opens  with  two  excellent 
chapters  on  the  connection  between  psychology  and 
the    philosophy  of  mind,  which  lead  one   to  hope  great 
things  of  the  rest  of  the  work.      It  is  refreshing  to  find  an 
author  deliver  an  energetic  and  effective  protest  against 
the    "  water-tight    compartment "   theor)- — that  science, 
and  even  the  science  of  psychology,  can  get  on  without 
metaphysics — and  then  turn  round  and  declare  in  favour 
of  a  good  healthy  realism.      It   is  a  psychological  fact 
which  is  well  worth  keeping  in  mind,  that  we  all  naturally 
are,   and,  even  in   spite   of  philosophic  training,  in   our 
ordinary  life  remain,  dualistic  realists.  This  metaphysical 
position  is   implied   in  all   the  language   of  science  ;    so 
that,  in   particular,  it   is  well-nigh  impossible  to  interpret 
the  results  of  psycho-physics  in  any  other  sense.     His 
arguments  against  the  view  of  consciousness  as  a  mere 
series  of  passive  states,  which  he  attributes  to  Prof.  James, 
are  well  worthy  of  attention,  and   further  great  expecta- 
tions will  be  raised  in   the  mind   of  the  reader  by  the 
heading   of  the    fifth   chapter — "The    consciousness    of 
identity,  and  so-called  double  consciousness."    For  surely 
it  is    time  that   professed  psychologists    should  give  up 
ignoring  the  alleged  facts  of  multiple  personality  and  the 
various   phenomena   connected    with  "  suggestion "  and 
"  hypnotism."     Whence  are  we  to  learn  about  the  psycho- 
logical import  of  these  things  if  not  from  them  ?     But 
the  expectation   is  unfortunately  doomed  to  disappoint- 
ment.    After  making  some  show  of  attacking  the  question, 
and  expressing  a  pious  belief  that  "  the  explanation  of 
double-consciousness,  when  the  facts  are  ascertained  and 
the  explanation  is  made,  will  be  found  in  extension  rather 
than  reversal  of  the  principles  already  known  to  apply 
to  the  normal  activity  of  body  and  mind  "  (p.   168),  he 
"  feels  obliged  for  the  present  to  maintain  a  position  of 
reserve."     He  admits,  indeed,  that  if  an  individual  should 
alternate  from  one  condition  to  another,  between  which  no 
actual  connection  by  way  of  self-consciousness,  memory, 
or  thought  could  be  traced   (and,  presumably,  <?  fortiori, 
if  both   conditions  should    co-exist   and  manifest   them- 
themselves  by   diflfcrcnt    channels,   c.t;.   by   speech   and 
so-called  "automatic"   writing),  we  should  have  a  true 
case  of  "  double  Ego."     But  he  goes  on  to  declare  that 
"no  such  case,  so  far  as  the  evidence  is  as  yet  sifted 
and  understood,  has  ever  occurred."     It  cannot  be  sup- 
posed  that  a  professor  of  psychology  has  never  come 
across  the  evidence  ;    we   can,  therefore,  only   suppose 
that  he  relies  upon  the  cffic.icy  of  his  saving  clause  ;  for 
such  cases  have  certainly  been   reported   in  abundance, 
though  it  may  be  that  the  evidence  with  respect  to  tlicm 
is  not  yet  thoroughly  "  sifted  and  understood." 

The  main  thesis  of  the  book,  however,  is  the  duality 
of  body  and  mind  ;  or,  at  least,  the  defence  of  natural 
dualism  against  such  rival  theories  as  Prof.  L;uld  con- 
ceives to  be  arrayed  against  it.  It  may,  lu)we\cr,  fairly 
be  doubted  whether  any  materialist,  s])irilualist,  or 
monist  would  recognise  his  own  theory  among  the  dum- 
mies which    Prof.   Ladd   puts  up   to  knock  down  again. 


June  20,  1895 J 


NATURE 


He  admits,  in  a  note,  that  it  is  not  likely  that  any  one 
could    be  found  to  espouse  the   cause  of  what  he  calls 
materialism.     The    most    effective    answer    he    has    to 
give    to    "  monistic    spiritualism,"    that     if     consistently 
argued   out   it   would   lead   to   solipsism,  applies   rather 
to    idealism  than     to    the    animism   against    which   the 
rest    of    his     argument    is    directed.     To    his    polemic 
against   monism  it  might  be  objected,  as  to  that  against 
materialism,  that  no  one  would  be  found  to  defend  the 
\  iews    attacked — at   least,  surely  no  one   who    belie\cd, 
not  only  in  body  and  mind,  but  in  a  third  entity  also, 
which  is  neither  (even  if  this  entity  is  "unknown  and  un- 
knowable"), could  call  himself  a  Monist.     Monism,   as 
ordinarily  understood,   is   the  view,   or  hypothesis,  that 
the   Triiger  of  conscious  states  is   just  the   brain,   and 
nothing   else,    and   conversely    that   consciousness    is   a 
manifestation  or  aspect  of   certain  brain  activities.     No 
third  being  is  required  where  not  even  two  are  postulated. 
The  rest  of  the  argument  against  monism  is  to  the  effect 
that  the  supposed  psycho-physical  parallelism  is  not  com- 
pletely proven — which  may  be  admitted — and  even  that  in 
some  cases  it  can  be  shown  not  to  e.xist,  a  point  on  which 
Prof.  Ladd's  arguments  hardly   seem    conclusive.      The 
weakest  part  of  the  argument,  however,  is  the   implied 
idea,  so  common  in  philosophical  discussions,  that  a  meta- 
physical theory  to  be  accepted  ought  to  be  capable  of  rigid 
demonstration,  instead  of  being  of  the  nature  of  an  hypo- 
thesis postulated  to  explain   the  facts  of  consciousness, 
which  can  never  be  absolutely  proved,  but  may  be  belie\ed 
in  with  greater  or  less  strength  of  conviction.  It  is  therefore 
no  argument  against  the  monistic  hypothesis  to  say  we 
cannot  yet,  and  probably  never  will  be  able  to,  trace  the 
psycho-physical  parallelism  everywhere. 

The  most  curious  thing  in  the  book  remains,  however, 
to  be  told.  In  its  last  pages  the  author  admits  not  only 
that  "  this  dualism  is  not  the  Hnal  word,"  but  that  "  it  must 
undoubtedly  be  dissolved  in  some  ultimate  monistic 
solution  '  !  .\nd  it  must  be  a  little  annoying  to  the 
monists,  whom  he  has  so  bitterly  attacked,  to  find  that  this 
is  a  problem  which  "  this  treatise  hands  over  to  the  larger 
and  all-inclusive  domain  of  philosophy." 

Edw.ard  T.  Dixon. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

The  Slory  of  •' Primitive'  Man.   By  Edward  Clodd.   Pp. 

206.  (London:  Cleorge  Xewnes,  Limited,  1895.) 
A  HOOK  such  as  this  forms  a  useful  stepping-stone  to 
higher  knowledge;  it  creates  interest,  and  develops  a 
desire  for  further  information,  therefore  it  possesses  the 
chief  qualities  that  go  to  make  a  good  book  for  the 
average  man.  For  the  reader  who  wishes  to  know  more 
about  the  subject  than  can  be  compressed  in  two 
hundred  small  pages,  a  list  of  books  is  gi\cn  at  the  end 
of  the  volume.  The  illustrations  are  numerous,  but  some 
of  these  are  badly  printed.  The  text  is  very  attractively 
written,  scarcely  a  sentence  being  beyond  the  compre- 
hension of  the  popular  mind.  Though  the  story  is  briefly 
told,  we  have  no  douljt  it  will  prove  interesting  to  a 
WMdc  circle  of  readers.  It  may  be  well  to  point  out 
that  the  remarks  with  reference  to  the  chipped  flints 
found  in  what  was  believed  to  be  an  Upper  Miocene 
<leposit  in  Further  India  (pp.  23,  24),  will  need  modifi- 
•cation  when  the  book  comes  to  a  second  edition,  the 
bed  in  which  the  flints  occur  having  been  shown  to  be 
1  liocene  (see  N.vture,  vol.  li.  p.  608). 

NO.   1338,  VOL.  52] 


Britain's  Naval  Power.  By  Hamilton  Williams.  (Lon- 
don :  Macmillan,  1894.) 
This  little  volume  ought  to  prove  very  useful  to  those 
who  wish  to  know  the  chief  events  in  the  rise  of  Britain's 
naval  power,  without  having  to  plod  through  details 
of  little  consequence.  All  the  great  battles  are  described, 
and  plans  of  the  actions  are  supplied  with  them.  Cele- 
brated single  actions  are  also  mentioned,  and  although, 
as  the  author  himself  states,  some  parts  require  revision 
and  slight  corrections,  the  volume  is  altogether  a  light 
and  readable  history  of  the  first  line  of  defence,  to  be  com- 
mended to  ever)'  one  who  desires  to  know  something 
about  na\al  battles  without  undertaking  a  systematic 
study  of  the  subject. 

Portraits  beriihmter  Naturforscher.    (Wien  und  Leipzig : 

.K.  Pichler's  Witwe  and  Sohn.) 
Thk  forty-eight  portraits  which,  with  short  biographical 
sketches,  make  up  this  album,  represent  well-known  men 
of  science  of  the  past  and  the  present.  With  one  or  two 
exceptions,  the  plates  are  finely  engraved  from  good  por- 
traits. .Among  our  own  countrymen  in  the  collection  are 
Darwin,  Faraday,  Sir  William  Herschel,  Xewton,  Lord 
Kelvin  (who  is  given  his  old  and  better-known  name), 
and  Tyndall. 

LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

The  Editor  does  not  hold  liimself  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.] 

Discovery  of  Aboriginal  Indian  Remains  in  Jamaica. 
The  island  of  J.imaica,  at  the  time  of  its  discovery  by 
Cokimbus  in  1494,  is  estimated  to  have  been  inhabited  by  about 
600,000  natives,  belonging  to  the  race  of  the  .-Vrawaks — a  people 
of  simple  habits  and  of  a  peaceable  disposition.  The  barbarous 
and  cruel  treatment  of  these  Indians  by  their  Spanish  conquerors, 
so  rapidly  decreased  their  numbers,  that  in  1655,  the  date  of  the 
conquest  of  the  island  by  the  English,  it  is  probable  that  not  a 
single  specimen  of  the  original  type  of  inhabitant  remained  alive. 
\ery  little  was  left  behind  as  a  record  that  ever  such  a  race 
existed  here.  .-V  few  pieces  of  earthenware  showing  very  primi- 
tive ornamentation,  and  a  few  flint  implements  and  beads,  are 
practically  all  that  remain  to  represent  their  arts  and  manu- 
factures. Parts  of  the  interior  of  the  country  are  formed  of 
Miocene  limestone,  and  in  this,  many  caves  are  to  be  found. 
Most  of  them  have,  however,  yielded  little  of  interest.  In 
one,  at  Pedro  Blufl',  the  only  two  aboriginal  skulls  hitherto 
known  were  found.  These  were  submitted  to  Sir  William 
Flower,  and  show  a  frontal  conqiression  with  corresponding 
lateral  expansion,  a  deformation  produced  artifically  during 
infancy  by  the  former  inhabitants  of  the  West  Indian  islands. 
A  kitchen-midden  at  Xorthbrook,  investigated  by  I^dy  Blake, 
has  yielded  pieces  of  ancient  pottery,  flint  implements,  shells,  and 
bones  of  the  Jamaica  coney,  Capromys  brachyurus,  Hill. 

Great  interest  has  been  aroused  in  the  island  within  the  past 
few  weeks  by  the  disco\ery  of  a  cave  containing  the  skeletons  of 
at  least  twenty-four  individuals  ;  the  .tges  varying  from  that  of  a 
child  with  the  permanent  dentition  not  yet  apix.'aring,  to  that  of 
aged  persons  with  the  teeth-sockets  obliterated.  Maiiy  of  the 
skulls  in  their  depressed  frontal  region  resemble  those  from 
Pedro  Blufl',  and  are,  no  doubt,  aboriginal  in  type.  There  is, 
however,  considerable  variation  in  the  amount  of  compression. 
Four  of  the  skulls  have  been  taken  to  England  by  Mr. 
Cundall,  the  Secretary  of  the  Jamaica  Institute,  to  be  submitted 
to  .Sir  William  Flower. 

A  somewhat  shattered  canoe,  about  7  feet  long  and  I J  feet 
wide,  made  of  cedar-wood,  was  lying  above  many  of  the 
skeletons.  .\n  outer  p<jrtion  of  the  trunk  of  an  arbor-vittc,  pro- 
bably serving  at  one  time  as  a  "mortar,"  scarcely  shows  any 
signs  of  decay,  as  a  result  of  the  three  or  four  hundred  years  it  may 
have  been  in  the  cave.  .Among  the  remains  were  also  obtained 
the  perfect  skulls  and  other  parts  of  the  skeleton  of  two 
coneys ;  two  large  marine  shells  (Fusus  and  Afurex),  soft 
parts  of  which  are  still  eaten  by  the  natives  ;  numerous  land 
shells  (Hc/i.\),  and  insect  remains. 


174 


NATURE 


[June  20,  1895 


Two  small,  nearly  perfect,  earthenware  vessels  were  also 
found,  similar  to  those  known  to  have  been  made  by  the  Arawaks. 
One  of  these  sappoorm  is  oval  in  shape,  7  inches  in  length  and 
2  inches  high,  with  a  rude  handle  at  each  end  :  the  other  is 
round,  with  a  small  ledge  below  the  upper  mai^n.  Along  with 
these  were  fragments  of  pottery  belonging  to  a  much  larger 
sjiecimen. 

The  cave  was  discovered  by  the  Rev.  \V.  \V.  Rumsey  on  the 
Halberstadt  estate  belonging  to  Mr.  Clossett.  It  is  in  a  wild 
rocky  part  of  the  Port  Royal  Mountains,  at  a  height  of  about  2000 
feet  alx)ve  the  sea.  The  narrow  entrance  in  the  face  of  the  hill- 
side was  blocked  by  Ixiulders  of  limestone.  On  removing  these, 
a  cavern  with  waterworn  sides,  jiartially  covered  with  stalactitic 
deposits,  was  displayed,  |)enetrating  into  the  rock  for  a  distance 
of  about  20  feet,  and  in  some  places  two  or  three  feet  high.  The 
floor  is  covered  with  a  dejxisit  about  12  inches  thick,  of  a  fine, 
light  yclIowi.sh  dust,  but  the  remains  were  superficial. 

The  size  of  the  cave  is  not  such  as  could  possibly  contain  the 
whole  of  the  individuals  when  alive,  so  that  it  is  probable  that  it 
must  have  been  u.sed  at  one  time  as  a  burial-place  ;  while  the 
presence  of  the  canoe,  mortar,  earthenware,  coney  bones,  marine 
shells,  and  a  flint  implement,  is  suggestive  that  some  of  the 
people  may  have  lived  or  fled  there  for  safety,  and  jwrhaps  been 
immured  by  their  destroyers,  the  Spaniards.  WTiatever  may  be 
the  explanation  of  their  occurrence,  the  acquisition  of  the 
remains,  which  have  I)een  presented  to  the  .Museum,  will  bo  a 
great  addition  to  the  archa-olc^'  of  Jamaica. 

Museum,  Jamaica,  May  28.  '  J.  E.  Duerde.n. 


It  would  seem  then,  from  historj-,  that  the  medical  profession 
is  quite  as  old  as  either  that  of  theology  or  law. 

Edinburgh,  June  17.  \V.  C.  Ki_\CK. 


The  Antiquity  of  the  Medical  Profession. 

With  reference  lo  .\lr.  II.  .Spencer's  article  on  the  evolution 
of  the  medical  profession,  in  the  Contemporary  Rcvictv  for  June, 
it  may  Ik:  inferred  that  his  remarks  should  only  apply  to  its 
historical  slate  in  Britain,  and  not  to  that  in  KuroiJcan  countries. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  that  the  profession  had  existed  many 
centuries  before  that  ei>och  in  the  Roman  and  Grecian  nations, 
as  may  Ik-  seen  by  any  one  in  looking  over  Lempriere's 
Dictionaries. 

We  have  their  medical  works  handed  down  to  us  in  Celsus 
(14  A.D.)  and  Hippocrates  (422  B.C.)  ;  likewise  the  Greek  army 
at  Troy  (1184  B.C.)  had  military  surgeons  (Machaon)  ;  and 
I'rof.  Simps<jn  had  discoursed  on  those  in  the  Roman  armies — 
papers  indicated  1856. 

.See  also  Dr.  Smith's  Dictionar)',  "Greek  and  Roman  Anti- 
quities," for  articles  on  the  subjects  under  : — Art.  Medicus,  art. 
.Medicina,  art.  Chirurgia,  art.  I'hysiolc^ia. 

The  art  of  medicine  seems  to  have  been  ushered  ofi'  the  stage 
in  the  Dark  j\ges,  and  lo  have  Ijeen  consigned  lo  the  care  of  the 
monasteries  and  monks  for  a  long  pcrio<l. 


A  History  of  British   Earthquakes. 

On  two  or  three  occasions  you  have  alloweil  nie  lo  ask  the 
readers  of  N.-^tcke  for  aid  in  studying  recent  Brilish  earth- 
quakes, and  I  have  gratefully  to  acknowledge  the  valuable 
assistance  which  I  have  thus  obtained. 

If  I  might  trespass  once  more  upon  your  siiace,  1  should  be 
glad  to  mention  that  I  am  now  preparing  a  history  <if  British 
earthquakes  during  the  nineteenth  century,  and  would  ihank- 
flilly  receive  notices  of  any  shocks,  either  past  or  future,  which 
your  readers  may  be  able  and  willing  to  send  me.  Extracts 
from  provincial  newspapers,  from  jirivate  diaries,  or  from  any 
other  trustworthy  source,  would  be  most  useful. 

With  a  view  to  aiding  in  the  more  careful  observation  of 
earthquakes  in  the  future,  I  have  drawn  up  a  short  jviper  of 
suggestions,  and  this  I  shall  be  happy  to  send  to  ;uiy  one  who 
may  wish  for  it  on  receipt  of  his  name  anil  address.  Those  who 
desire  to  examine  accounts  of  recent  earthquakes  in  thi .  country, 
I  may  refer  to  the  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  for  1S94, 
the  Qiiarleriyjoiiniaioflht  Geological  Society  for  1891,  and  the 
Geo/ogiial Magazine  iot  li^l-l^^y.  Cli.\Rl.ES  Daviso.\. 

,;:,!,  Gillott  Road,  Birmingham,  June  17.  _ 

r/iRMS    OF   IMPRISONMENT. 

T  T  H  ould  have  been  expected  that  the  various  terms  of 
•*■  imprisonment  awarded  by  judj;cs  should  fall  into  a 
continuous  scries.  .Such,  however,  is  not  the  case,  as  is 
shown  by  Table  I.,  whicli  is  derived  from  a  Parliamentary 
Blue-book  recently  published  under  the  title  of  "  Part  I. — 
Criminal  .Statistics,"  p.  215.  The  original  has  been  con- 
siderably reduced  in  size;  first,  by  limiting  the  extracted 
data  to  sentences  passed  on  male  prisoners  without  the 
option  of  a  fine,  and,  secondly,  by  entering  the  number 
of  sentences  to  the  nearest  tenth  or  hundietlth,  as  stated 
in  the  headings  to  the  columns.  The  material  dealt  with 
is  thereby  more  homogeneous  than  in  the  original,  and  its 
significance  is  more  easily  seen.  The  number  of  cases  is 
amply  sufficient  to  afford  a  solid  base  for  broad  con- 
clusions, there  being  in  round  numbers  S30  sentences  for 
various  terms  of  years,  10,540  for  various  terms  ot 
months,  and  43,300  for  various  terms  of  weeks.  The 
diagram  drawn  from  Table  I.  gi\es  a  still  clearer  view 
of  the  distribution  of  these  sentences  : — 


Table  I. — Distribution  0/  Sentences. 


I^cnelh 
sentence. 

One  icnih 
(10  nearest  integer) 

of  the 
number  of  !>entence!(. 

Length 
sentence. 

One  Icnlh 
(to  nearest  integer) 

of  the 
number  of  sentences. 

I.cngl)) 
sentence. 

Onc  tenth 
(to  nL-:irest  inlegcr) 

of  ihc 
number  of  sentences. 

1 
I  ......  1.                O'"-'  llU'iJr^llh 

"^                (10  ne.-u-est  integer) 

sentence.    '     number"of  sentences. 

Year.. 

Reconled. 

Smoothed. 

Months. 

Recorded. 

Smoothed. 

Months, 

10  - 

9- 
8- 

7- 
6- 

5 

4- 

3- 

Recorded. 

9 

59 
21 

20 
112 
4S0 

.Smoothed. 

Weeks. 

Recorded. 

Smoothed. 

16- 

'5- 

14- 

'3- 

12- 
II  - 
10- 

9- 

8  - 

7- 
6- 

s- 

4- 
3- 

0 

0 

1 
0 

3 
0 

8 

2 

24 
6 

36 

2 
.1 

4 

7 

10 

.9 
36 

24- 
23- 

22  - 
21  - 
20- 
I't- 
IS- 

•7- 
16- 

'5- 
■4- 
'3- 
12  - 
II  - 

5 

0 

1 
2 

3 

2 

30 
0 

3 
16 

3 

4 

79 

I 

2 
2 

3 
4 
5 
() 
i( 
12 
14 
'7 
20 

25 
29 

14'( 

34 
40 

47 

(>s 

Si 
102 
480 

90s 

1  1  • 
10- 

9- 

8- 

7- 
6- 

5- 
4- 

3- 
2- 

I  - 

0 
1 

S}, 

10 

2 

23 

77 

35 

37 

iiS 

97 

0 

.S 

9 

14 

2t 

30 
40 

52 
67 
85 
1  10 

^i 

M 

149 

905 

Mi 



433 

NOTK.— In  readins  the  Inhle,  "  16- "  means  "  i6  and  above  15";  "15— "mean*  "tcand  aliove  14  "  ;  &c.    The  number  of  ihcftc  iiwermediatc  caM« 
arc  presumably  in«iKnincnni  ;  ilicy  arc  not  noticed  in  the  diagram,  where  all  case*  arc  referred  to  the  uf>peT  of  their  limilin^^  vahies. 

NO.    1338,  VOL.  52] 


June  20,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


175 


The  extreme  irregularity  of  the  frequency  of  the  different 
terms  of  imprisonment  forces  itself  on  the  attention.  It 
is  impossible  to  believe  that  a  judicial  system  acts  fairly, 
which,  when  it  allots  only  20  sentences  to  6  years  im- 
prisonment, allots  as  many  as  240  to  5  years,  as  few  as  60 
to  4  years,  and  as  many  as  360  to  3  years.  Or  that, 
while  there  are  20  sentences  to  19  months,  there  should 
be  300  to  18,  none  to  17,  30  to  16,  and  150  to  15.  The 
terms  of  weeks  are  distributed  just  as  irregularly.  Runs 
of  figures  like  these  testify  to  some  powerful  cause  of 
disturbance  which  interferes  with  the  orderly  distribution 
of  punishment  in  conformity  with  penal  deserts. 

On  examining  the  diagram  we  are  struck  with  the 
apparent  facility  of  drawing  a  smooth  curve,  that  shall 
cut  off  as  much  from  the  hill-tops  of  the  irregular  trace 
as  will  fill  their  adjacent  valleys.  This  has  been  done, 
by  eye,  in  the  diagram,  the  small  circles  indicating  the 
smoothed  values.  Care  has  been  taken  that  the  sums  of 
the  ordinates  drawn  to  the  smooth  curves  should  be  equal 
to  sums  of  those  drawn  to  the  traces,  as  is  shown  by  the 
totals  in  the  bottom  line  of  Table  I.  The  smoothed 
curves  may  therefore  be  accepted  as  an  approximate 
rendering  of  the  general  drift  of  the  intentions  of  the 
judges  as  a  whole,  and  show  that  the  sentences   passed 


by  them  severally,  ought  to  be  made  more  appropriate 
to  the  penal  deserts  of  the  prisoners  than  they  are  at 
present.  The  steep  sweeps  of  the  cur\es  afford  a 
strong  testimony  to  the  discriminative  capacity  of  the 
judges,  for  if  their  discrimination  had  been  ////  and  the 
sentences  given  at  random,  those  steep  curves  would  be 
replaced  by  horizontal  lines.  We  have  now  to  discuss 
the  disturbing  cause  or  causes  that  stand  in  the  way  of 
appropriate  sentences. 

The  terms  of  imprisonment  that  are  most  frequently 
awarded,  fall  into  rhytlimic  series.  Beginning  with  the 
sentences  reckoned  in  months,  we  see  that  their  maxima 
of  frequency  arc  at  3,  6,  9,  12,  15,  and  iS  months,  which 
are  separated  from  one  another  by  the  uniform  inter\al 
of  3  months,  or  a  quarter  of  a  year — a  round  figure  that 
must  commend  itself  to  the  judge  by  its  simplicity. 
And  we  may  in  conscciuence  be  pretty  sure  that  if  the 
year  had  happened  to  be  divided  into  10  periods  instead 
of  12,  the  exact  equivalent  of  3  months,  which  would 
then  have  been  2i  periods,  would  not  have  been  used 
in  its  place.  If  this  supposition  be  correct,  the  same 
penal  deserts  would  have  been  treated  differently  to  what 
they  arc  now. 

Thus    the    precise  position  of  the  maxima  has  been 

NO.   1338,  VOL.  52] 


apparently  determined  by  numerical  fancy,  and  it  seems 
that  the  irregularity  of  the  trace  is  mainly  due  to  the 
award  of  sentences  being  usually  in  terms  of  the 
3-monthly,  but  sometimes  in  that  of  the  1 -monthly,  series. 
The  trustworthiness  of  this  solution  is  tested  by  group- 
ing the  entries  in  sets  of  three,  each  set  having  one  of  the 
maxima  for  its  middle  member,  as  shown  in  Table  II. 
(where,  however,  the  first  and  last  entries  are  perforce 
limited  to  sets  of  two;.  The  agreement  between  the 
recorded  and  the  smoothed  entries  is  now  passably 
good  ;  it  would  become  somewhat  closer  if  the  smoothed 
curve  were  revised  by  paying  regard  to  the  series  of  sets 
of  three,  thereby  taking  facts  into  account  that  were 
not  utilised  before. 

Table  II.  (derived  from  Table  I.). 


Terms  of  sentence  in 

Number  0; 

sentences. 

months. 

Recorded. 

Smoothed. 

24  and  23 
22  —    20 

5 
6 

3 
9 

19  —    17 
16  —    14 
13  —    II 
10—8 

32 

22 

84 
89 

20 

43 

74 

121 

4  and    3 

224 
592 

202 
582 

1054 

1054 

This  solution  does  not,  however,  account  for  all  the 
peculiarities  of  the  irregular  trace.  For  instance,  in  the 
original  table  in  the  Blue-book,  absolutely  not  a  single 
sentence  of  17  months  has  been  recorded,  although 
there  are  32  sentences  of  16  months,  and  340  of  18.  I 
account  for  the  absence  of  the  number  17,  by  the  un- 
doubted fact  that  almost  all  persons  have  a  disposition 
to  dwell  upon  certain  numbers,  and  an  indisposition  to 
use  others,  and  that  1 7  is  one  of  the  latter.  These  curious 
whimsies  become  conspicuous  whenever  calculators,  who 
are  not  forewarned,  are  set  to  record  long  series  of  measures, 
entering  them  by  estimation  to  the  nearest  decimal  of  the 
divisions  of  the  scale  they  use.  Each  figure  from  o  to  9, 
in  the  decimal  place,  ought  then  to  occur  with  equal  fre- 
quency, but  they  never  do  ;  there  is  always  a  run  upon 
some  figures,  while  others  are  hardly,  if  ever,  introduced. 
The  fancies  in  this  respect  of  different  persons  differ 
widely  ;  the  biblical  Jews,  for  e.xample,  were  fond  of  40, 
apparently  employing  it  as  a  noun  of  indefinite  multitude, 
but  it  has  no  preferential  use  with  us.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  probable  that  a  large  and  awkward  prime  number, 
such  as  17,  would  be  generally  in  disfavour. 

As  regards  the  sentences  reckoned  in  years,  they  range 
from  3  years  upwards  (those  between  2  and  3  years  being 
here  reckoned  as  3  years,  while  those  below  2  years  are 
reckoned,  as  above,  in  months).  The  maxima  of  fre- 
quency in  this  group  are  at  3,  5,  7,  and  10  years,  showing 
a  tendency  to  a  unit  of  2  years  at  first,  and  then,  presum- 
ably guided  by  the  habit  of  decimal  notation,  to  jump 
from  7  to  10.  The  bias  due  to  decimal  notation  is 
forcibly  shown  by  some  entries  in  the  original  table 
which  fall  outside  the  limits  of  Table  I.  It  there  appears 
that  7  sentences  were  awarded  for  20  years,  and  6  for  1 5 
years,  but  absolutely  none  for  the  4  intermediate  years, 
19,  18,  17,  16.  It  should  be  added  that  there  were  also 
8  sentences  for  14  and  for  12  years  respectively.  Had 
these  appeared  in  Table  I.,  they  would  have  been  entered 
to  their  nearest  tenths,  that  is  as  i  in  each  case,  but  I 
did  not  care  to  enlarge  the  table  for  the  sake  of  including 
these,  comparatively  few,  additional  cases. 


176 


NATURE 


[June  20,  1895 


The  sentences  in  terms  of  weeks  have  their  maxima  at 
2.  ;.  and  9,  for  reasons  which  I  do  not  as  yet  understand 
sufficiently  to  write  about. 

The  general  resuh  is  that  if  the  judges  were  to  act  on 
uniform  rules,  the  cur\-e  of  distribution  of  terms  of  sen- 
tence would  be  mainly  dependent  on  two  sets  of  causes 
only,  and  would  become  much  smoother  in  consequence. 
These  are:  (1)  The  distribution  of  true  penal  deserts; 
(2)  errors  of  estimation,  which  would  be  distributed  about 
each  point  in  the  true  curve,  according  to  the  ordinary- 
law  of  frequency  of  error,  and  with  a  modulus  that  might 
perhaps  be  determined. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  tabulate  the  sentences  passed 
by  the  several  judges  since  their  appointments,  to  discover 
their  respective  peculiarities  and  personal  equations,  all 
who  exercise  extensive  jurisdiction  in  criminal  cases  being 
-included  under  the  title  of  judge.  We  test  the  acquire- 
ments of  youths  by  repeated  ex,-vminations,  but  do  not  as 
yet  employ  the  methods  of  statistics  to  test  the  perform- 
ances of  professional  men.  Examiners,  for  example, 
should  themselves  be  tested  in  this  way,  and  1  have  a 
fancy  that  a  discussion  of  the  clinical  reports  at  the 
various  large  hospitals  might  enable  a  cautious  statistician 
to  express  with  some  accuracy  the  curative  Capacities  of 
different  medical  men,  in  numerical  terms.  Before  putting 
oneself  into  the  hands  of  any  new  professional  adviser, 
it  would  certainly  be  a  grateful  help  to  know  the  indexes 
of  capacity  of  those  among  whom  the  choice  lay,  not 
merely  such  as  might  be  inferred  from  their  performances 
in  school  and  undergraduate  days,  or  by  their  unchecked 
professional  repute,  but  as  they  really  arc  in  their  mature 
and  practical  life. 

I  will  conclude  by  moralising  on  the  large  effects  upon 
the  durance  of  a  prisoner,  that  flow  from  such  irrelevant 
influences  as  the  associations  connected  with  decimal  or 
duodecimal  habits  and  the  unconscious  favour  or  disfavour 
felt  for  particular  numbers.  These  trifles  have  been  now 
shown  on  fairly  trustworthy  evidence  to  determine  the 
choice  of  such  widely  different  sentences  as  imprison- 
ment for  3  or  5  years,  of  5  or  7,  and  of  7  or  10,  for  crimes 
whose  penal  deserts  would  otherwise  be  rated  at  4,  6, 
and  8  or  9  years  respectively.  F"r.\\cis  Galton. 


PROFESSOR  FRANZ  NEUMANN. 
AS  already  announced  (p.  133)  Prof.  Neumann,  the 
■'*•  eminent  physicist  and  mathematician,  died  on 
May  23  at  Konigsbcrg  at  the  age  of  ninety-seven.  At 
a  recent  meeting  of  the  l\-iris  Academy,  the  Secretary', 
]M.  Hcrtrand,  in  announcing  the  loss  the  Academy  had 
sustained  by  the  death  of  such  a  distinguished  Correspon- 
dent in  the  (Geometry  Section,  pronounced  the  following 
short  I'loge  on  I'rof.  Neumann's  contributions  to  know- 
ledge : — 

"  Franz  Neumann,  Professor  of  I'hysics  and  Mineralogy 
at  the  university  of  Konigsberg,  made  his  lii'hiit  in 
science  more  than  seventy  years  ago,  by  some  beautiful 
works  on  mineralogy.  .Soon  after  he  directed  his  studies 
towards  physics,  and  by  an  admirable  '  M^moire  sur  la 
Theorie  des  Ondulations,'  which  was  presented  to  the 
licrlin  Academy  in  1835,  he  took  his  place  among 
the  masters  of  science.  Neumann,  like  Cauchy,  but 
by  vcr>-  different  means,  was  led  to  consider  luminous 
vibrations  as  taking  place  in  the  jjlane  of  polarisation, 
while  I'resncI  thought  them  perpendicular  ;  he  knew 
how  to  follow  in  the  most  minute  details,  always  in 
accordance  with  the  obser\ation,  the  mathematical  con- 
sequences of  his  hypothesis.  Hut  Kresnel's  theory  is  not 
contradicted  by  any  of  the  experiments,  so  doubt  con- 
tinues, and  the  ever  renewed  discussions,  whatever  their 
conclusion  may  be,  will  remain  a  noble  homage  to  the 
man  of  science  and  profound  physicist  who  was  the  first 
to  start  them. 

'•  Neumann's  memoir  on  induction  showed   again  the 

NO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


great  mathematical  skill  of  its  author.  In  it  Neumann' 
translated,  by  general  formula;,  the  discoveries  of  Fara- 
day and  Lenz's  laws  ;  it  is  to  him  that  we  owe  the 
expression  of  the  potential  of  a  system  of  two  closed  cur- 
rents, of  which  merely  the  existence,  independently  of 
the  very  elegant  form  which  he  has  given  it,  has 
played  such  a  great  part  in  science. 

"  Franz  Neumann  was  a  great  Professor.  Even  at  the 
age  of  ninety  he  attracted  numerous  auditors  ;  his 
lessons,  received  and  written  out  by  learned  students, 
have  been  studied  in  all  the  universities  of  Europe.  The 
study  of  physics  was  his  aim  ;  but  when  he  came 
across  a  fine  mathematical  problem,  he  excelled  in 
interesting  his  auditors  by  initiating  them  occasionally 
into  the  highest  theories  of  analysis.  It  is  with  justice 
that  in  1S63  the  Section  of  Geometry,  making  amends 
for  a  long  neglect,  elected  this  illustrious  physicist  intO' 
the  .-Xcademv." 


NOTES. 
The  annual  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  for  the  election  of 
Fellows  was  held  on  Thurs<lay  List,  when  the  following  gentle- 
men were  elected  into  the  Society  : — Mr.  J.  Wolfe  Harry,  C.B., 
Prof  .\.  G.  Bourne,  Mr.  G.  H.  Bryan,  Mr.  John  Eliot,  IVof. 
J.  R.  Green,  Mr.  E.  H.  Griffiths,  Mr.  C.  T.  Heycock,  Prof.  S. 
J.  Hickson,  Major  H.  C.  L.  Molden,  Dr.  Frank  McClcan,. 
Prof  William  MacEwen,  Dr.  Sidney  Martin,  Prof.  G.  M. 
Minchin,  Mr.  W.  H.  Power,  Prof.  T.  Piirdie. 

Mr.  C.  C.  H.\rrison  has  presented  a  sum  of  ;£'ioo,ooo  to 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  in  memory  of  his  father,  Dr. 
George  Lieb  Harrison.  The  fund  is  to  be  known  as  the 
"George  L.  Harrison  Foundation  for  the  Encouragement  of 
Liberal  Studies  and  the  Advancement  of  Knowledge.''  Only 
the  income  from  the  fund  can  ever  be  used,  and  it  must  be 
devoted  to  the  establishment  of  scholarships  and  fellowships 
intended  solely  for  men  of  exceptional  ability  ;  to  increasing  the 
library  of  the  University,  parlicuK-irly  by  the  acquisition  of  works- 
of  |X'rnianent  use  and  of  lasting  reference  to  and  by  the  scholar  ;. 
to  the  teini>orary  relief  from  routine  work  of  professors  of  ability 
in  order  that  they  may  devote  ihemselves  to  some  special  work  ;- 
or  to  securing  men  of  distinction  to  lecture  and  for  a  term  to. 
reside  at  the  University. 

Science  gives  the  following  as  the  preliminary  arrangements  for 
the  forty-fourth  meeting  of  ihe  American  .'Vssoci.ition  for  the 
Advancement  of  .Science,  to  be  hold  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  from 
August  28  to  September  7,  1895  '■ — -"^^  ^^'^  f"'^'  general  session 
the  President-elect,  Prof.  E.  W.  Morley,  will  be  introduced  by 
the  retiring  President,  Prof  D.  G.  Brinton,  who  will  afterwards 
give  an  .address  on  "  The  .'\ims  of  .'Xnlhropology."  The  Presi- 
dents of  the  sections,  ami  Ihe  subjects  of  .some  of  tlicir  addresses, 
are  as  follows  : — Section  of  Physics  :  "  The  Problem  of  Aerial 
Locomotion,"  W.  Le  Conte  Stevens.  Section  of  Anthroi)ology  : 
F.  II.  Gushing.  .Section  of  (Jcology  .and  Geography:  "The 
Geological  .Survey  of  Virginia,  1835-1841 — its  History  and  In- 
fluence in  the  Advancement  of  Geologic  .Science,"  Jed. 
Hotchkiss.  .Section  of  Economic  Science  and  .Statistics:  "The 
I'rovidcniial  Function  of  Government  in  Relation  to  Natural 
Resources,"  H.  E.  Fcrnow.  Section  of  Chemistry:  MrMurtie. 
.Seclion  of  Botany :  "  The  Development  of  Vegetable  Physiolog)-," 
J.  C.  Arthur.  Section  of  Mechanical  .Science  and  Engineer- 
ing :  William  Kent.  The  aflili.ated  .societies  nieeling  in  con- 
junction with  the  Associalion  are  : — The  Geological  .Society  of 
America  :  Prof.  N.  S.  Shaler,  President ;  Prof  H  .  L.  Fair- 
child,  .Secretary.  .Society  for  Promotion  of  Agricullural 
Science  ;  Prof  William  S,iundcrs,  President  ;  Prof  William 
Frear,  Secretary.  Associaticjn  of  Economic  I*>ntf)mo]ngists. 
Association   of  .Stale  Weather  .Service:  M.ijor  H.  II.  C.   Dun- 


June  20,  1895] 


NATURE 


^77 


woody,  President  ;  James  Berry,  Secretary.  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Engineering  Education :  Geo.  F.  Swain,  President  ; 
Prof.  J.  B.  Johnson,  Secretar)'.  American  Chemical  Society  : 
Edgar  F.  Smith,  President ;  Prof.  Albert  C.  Hale,  Secretary. 
American  Forestry  Association  :  Hon.  J.  Sterling  Morton, 
President  ;  F.  H.  Newell,  Secretar)-.  Applications  relating  to 
membership  and  papers  should  be  sent  to  Prof.  F.  W.  Putnam, 
Permanent  Secretary,  Salem,  Mass.  For  all  matters  relating  to 
local  arrangements,  hotels,  railway  rates  and  certificates,  Mr. 
W.  A.  Webster,  Local  Secretar)-,  A.  A.  A.  S.,  Springfield, 
Mass.,  .should  be  addressed. 

Mr.  R.  F.  Sti-part  has  succeeded  the  late  Mr.  C.  Carpmael, 
as  Director  of  the  Meteorological  Service  of  Canada. 

The  Grocers'  Company  have  renewed  the  research  scholar- 
ship held  by  Mr.  Leonard  Hill,  and  have  elected  Dr.  J.  Haldane 
and  Prof  Waymouth  Reid  to  the  places  vacated  by  Dr.  Vaughan 
Harley  and  Dr.  E.  Stirling.  The  scholarships  are  each  of  the 
value  of  ;£^250  a  year. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  London  Library-,  held  on  Friday 
last,  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  w-as  elected  a  vice-president,  and  Prof 
Huxley  was  elected  a  member  of  the  committee.  A  srheme  for 
the  reconstruction  and  extension  of  the  premises,  at  an  estimated 
cost  of  ^17,000,  was  discussed  and  adopted,  and  it  was  decided 
to  commence  the  work  when  a  sum  of  ^5000  has  been  obtained 
by  means  of  donations. 

The  Organising  Committee  of  the  International  Congress  of 
Applied  Chemistry,  to  be  held  in  Paris  next  year,  met  a  few- 
days  ago  to  make  preliminary  arrangements.  The  Congress  will 
■be  divided  into  ten  sections,  referring  respectively  to  sugar  re- 
fineries, distilleries  and  brewing  industries,  agricultural  industries, 
agricultural  chemistry,  alimentation  and  public  hygiene,  chemical 
industries,  chemical  apparatus,  metallurgical  chemistr)-,  photo- 
graphic chemistr)-,  and  electro-chemistr)-. 

The  fifth  annual  conference  of  rej^resentativcs  of  authorities 
under  the  Sea  Fisheries  Act  was  held  on  Friday  last,  under  the 
presidency  of  Sir  Courtenay  Boyle.  In  the  course  of  a  few  re- 
marks upon  the  establishment  of  hatcheries  for  sea-fish  by  com- 
mittees, or  out  of  Imperial  funds,  Mr.  Bryce  pointed  out  that  a 
great  deal  had  been  done  by  marine  laboratories  and  stations  for 
observation,  to  determine  more  fully  the  habits  of  the  fish,  and 
remarked  that  only  by  means  of  hatcheries,  and  by  prohibiting 
the  taking  of  undersized  fish,  was  it  possible  to  recreate  the 
diminishing  supply  of  our  soles  and  other  flat  fish. 

We  notice  with  regret  that  Dr.  Valentine  Ball,  C.B.,  I-.R.S., 
Director  of  the  National  Museum,  Dublin,  died  on  Saturday, 
after  a  short  illness.  Dr.  Ball  was  for  seventeen  years  con- 
nected with  the  Geological  Survey  of  India.  On  the  resigna- 
tion of  the  chair  of  Geology  in  the  University  of  Dublin  by  Dr. 
Haughton,  he  was  appointed  to  it,  and  twelve  years  ago  he 
accepted  the  position  which  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
He  was  the  author  of  several  valuable  treatises,  and  while 
Director  of  the  National  Museum,  he  greatly  added  to  the  value 
of  the  collections. 

Several  exhibitions  and  congresses  of  scientific  interest  are 
noted  in  the  Board  of  Trade  Journal  as  having  been  lately  pro- 
jected. In  connection  with  the  thirteenth  International  Exhibi- 
tion to  be  held  at  Bordeaux  in  September  next,  the  Societe 
Philomathiijue  of  the  town  will  organise  a  congress  of  technical, 
industrial,  and  commercial  instruction  similar  to  that  held  in 
1886,  at  which  the  English  Government  was  officially  rejire- 
SLUted.  An  international  exhibition  of  articles  of  food,  clothing, 
hygienic  appliances,  sport,  and  inventions  of  all  kinds  will  be 
held  at  the  "  Parkhaus,"  Bremen,  in  the  course  of  this  year. 
It  will  be  open  from  September  14  to  October  6.  An  inter- 
national exhibition  will  also  be  held  in  Montreal,   Canada,  next 

NO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


year.     The  exhibition  will  open  in  May,  and  close  in  October. 

It  will  be  held  on  the  site  of  the  present  exhibition  grounds  and 
on  adjoining  land  of  the  Mount  ICoyal  Park,  embracing  altogether 
about  120  acres.  The  buildings  will  be  twenty-seven  in  number, 
and  will  be  devoted  to  fine  arts,  manufactures,  and  liberal  arts, 
electricity,  machiner)-,  fisheries,  forestry,  horticulture,  agri- 
culture, &c.  Finally,  according  to  latest  advices  from  Denver, 
the  plans  for  the  holding  of  a  mining  and  industrial  exhibition  in 
that  city,  in  the  fall  of  next  year,  are  being  advanced  w  ith  vigour 
and  success. 

The  New  Vork  State  Bridge  Commission  have  approved  the 
plan  of  Engineer  Charles  MacDonald  for  a  steel  suspension  bridge 
from  New  Jersey  to  New  Vork  City.  The  bridge  will  be  5600  feet 
long,  with  a  length  of  3110  feet  between  piers;  125  feet  wide, 
with  room  for  six  railroad  tracks  ;  and  1 50  feet  above  mean  tide- 
water. The  piers  will  be  557  feet  high,  supported  by  125^ 
feet  of  solid  masonry.  The  cost  is  guaranteed  not  to  exceed 
25,000,000  dollars.  The  bridge  will  be  much  the  largest 
suspension  bridge  ever  attempted. 

0.\E  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  earthquake-pulsa- 
tions is  their  great  duration.  The  originating  earthquake  may 
last  but  a  few  seconds  or  minutes,  while  the  ground  at  a  dis- 
tance may  rock  gently  through  a  very  small  angle  for  several  or 
many  hours.  Dr.  E.  Oddone,  of  the  geodynamic  observ-atory 
at  Pavia,  has  recently  contributed  an  interesting  paper  on  this  sub- 
ject (Rend,  delta  K.  Ace.  del  Lincei,  iv.,  1895,  pp.  425-430). 
Making  use  of  the  records  of  distant  earthquakes  during  the 
years  1893-94  by  delicate  seismometrographs  at  Rocca  di  Papa, 
Rome  and  Siena,  he  arrives  at  the  important  conclusion  that  the 
duration  of  the  pulsations  increases  with  the  distance  from  the 
epicentre. 

Some  singular  curves  showing  the  distribution  of  daily  wind 
velocities  in  the  United  States,  are  published  by  Mr.  F.  Waldo 
in  the  current  number  of  the  American  Journal  of  Science.  The 
stations  chosen  range  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  and. 
Mexican  coasts,  and  include  Block  Island,  New  Vork,  Cleveland, 
San  Francisco,  San  Diego,  North  Platte,  Fort  Apache,  Sail 
Lake  City,  and  Roseburgh,  among  others.  The  months  of 
January  and  July  are  selected  as  typical  months  for  average  daily 
variation.  The  daily  variations  are  always  greater  in  summer 
than  in  winter,  except  for  Fort  Apache,  on  the  great  plateau,, 
where  the  e.xcursions  are  about  equal.  At  this  place  the 
velocities  vary  from  9-2  to  3-3  miles  per  hour  in  January,  and 
from  lo'i  to  2-9  miles  per  hour  in  July,  the  maximum  in  each 
case  taking  place  at  about  4  p.m.,  and  the  minimum  at 
8  a.m.  The  greatest  variation  of  all  is  shown  by  the  San 
Francisco  curve  for  July.  About  4  p.m.  the  wind  blows  with  a 
speed  of  some  18  miles  per  hour,  which  falls  to  7  miles  per  hour 
in  the  forenoon.  Tatoosh  Island  show-s  a  minimum  at  2  p.m. 
in  January-,  but  its  variations  in  July  are  similar  to  those  at 
Block  Island  in  the  .\tlantic,  which  shows  the  same  sequence  as 
the  continental  stations  referred  to,  but  with  smaller  amjilitudes. 

Two  observations  recorded  by  Mr.  W.  C.  J.  Butterfield,  in 
the  Zoologist,  give  support  to  the  view-  that  individual  female 
Cuckoos  only  introduce  their  eggs  into  the  nests  of  one  particular 
species  of  birds,  and  not  indiscriminately  into  those  of  any  of 
the  birds  usually  selected  as  foster-parents.  Mr.  Butterfield 
took  a  Cuckoo's  egg  from  a  Wren's  nest  in  the  early  part  of 
May,  and  three  weeks  later  found  another  Wren's  nest  within 
a  few  yards  of  the  former  one,  also  containing  a  Cuckoo's  egg. 
The  two  eggs  were  exactly  alike,  both  as  to  size,  and  as  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  colouring  matters  and  markings  were 
disposed.  It  is  therefore  most  probable  that  the  eggs  were  laid 
by  the  same  bird  ;  for  it  is  well  known  that  a  strong  family 
likeness  exists  between  the  eggs  laid  by  the  same  individual, 
although  the  eggs  of  different  individuals  of  the  same  specie-s- 


178 


NATURE 


[June  20,  1895 


may  vary  considerably.  The  observation  thus  affords  another 
instance  of  a  Cuckoo  placing  its  e^  in  the  nest  of  a  particular 
species  of  bird,  although  there  were  numerous  nests  of  Hedge- 
Sparrows  and  other  dupes  of  the  bird  in  the  vicinity,  into  which 
the  e^  could  have  been  put  with  much  less  difficult}'. 

A  STORY  to  the  effect  that  a  new  breed  of  cats  had  been  pro- 
duced in  the  cold-storage  warehouses  of  Pittsburg  went  the 
rounds  of  the  newspapers  some  months  ago,  and  was  reprinted 
in  most  of  our  scientific  contemporaries.  It  has  even  found  its 
way  into  Mr.  Lydekker's  recent  volume  on  "Cats."  A  letter  re- 
ceived from  the  Secretary  of  the  Cold  Storage  Co.,  and  published 
in  the  June  number  of  the  American  Naturalist,  shows  that  the 
story  has  but  a  slight  foundation  in  fact.  The  letter  reads 
as  follows  : — "  While  there  is  some  foundation  for  the  newspaper 
article,  it  is  somewhat  exaggerated.  Our  cold-storage  house  is 
separated  into  rooms  of  various  sizes,  varjing  from  io°  to  40° 
above  zero.  About  a  year  ago  we  discovered  mice  in  one  of  the 
rooms  of  the  cold-storage  house.  We  removed  one  of  the  cats 
from  the  general  warehouse  to  the  room  referred  to  in  the  cold- 
storage  house.  While  there,  she  had  a  litter  of  several  kittens  ; 
four  of  these  were  transferred  into  one  of  the  general  warehouses, 
leaving  three  in  the  cold-storage  house.  After  the  kittens  were 
old  enough  to  take  care  of  themselves,  we  put  the  old  cat  back 
into  the  house  we  had  taken  her  from.  The  change  of  climate 
or  temperature  seemed  to  affect  her  almost  immediately.  She 
got  very  weak  and  languid.  We  placed  her  again  in  the  cold- 
storage  room,  when  she  immediately  revived.  \\Tiile  the 
feelers  of  the  cats  in  the  cold-storage  room  are  of  the  usual 
length,  the  fur  is  thick  and  the  cats  are  larger,  stronger,  and 
healthier  than  the  cats  in  any  of  the  other  warehouses."  Thus, 
it  is  pointed  out,  the  only  result  of  the  change  of  environment 
was  the  usual  one  which  ensues  on  the  advent  of  winter  in  extra- 
tropical  latitudes  generally. 

IIerk  H.  Schinz  reprints  from  V.n^tT's  Botanisclusjahrbiuh, 
vol.  \xi.,  a  synopsis  of  the  African  Amaranthace^,  in  which  a 
numl>er  of  new  species  are  described. 

Thk  most  recent  part  published  (No.  7)  of  Dr.  Geoi^e  King's 
"  -Materials  for  a  Flora  of  the  Malayan  Peninsula,"  published  in 
the  foiirnat  of  the  .Asiatic  .Society  of  Bengal,  is  occupied  by  the 
orders  Melia<ett,  Oladnta,  and  Ilicinea.  A  large  number  of 
new  siwcies  are  described ,  and  a  new  ^enus,  Bracea,  belonging 
to  the  OLicinea-. 

I.N  an  article  reprinted  from  the  Ann.  de  la  SocitSt^  beige  de 
.Mii-rosiopie,  .M.  E.  Marchal  discusses  the  microbiological 
l>rcjcesses  which  take  part  in  the  ripening  of  soft  cheeses, 
especially  those  known  as  "  fromage  de  Herve  "  and  "  fromage 
Casctte."  While  a  kirgc  number  of  microbes  appear  to  assist 
in  the  process,  he  states  that  the  essential  part  is  played  by 
the  fungus  known  as  Oospora  lattis,  Sacc. 

In  a  previous  note  (vol.  li.  p.  540),  we  have  given  a  brief 
account  of  the  Vicentini  microscismograph  erected  in  the 
University  of  Siena.  A  full  description  of  the  instrument, 
illustrated  with  three  figures,  has  now  been  published  by  the 
inventor  (Bull.  Sot.  Veiuto-Trenliua  di  S<i.  Nat.  vi.,  1895), 
and  well  deserves  the  attention  of  seismologists. 

Wk  are  glad  to  observe  that  the  South  London  Entomological 
and  Natural  History  .Society  re])orts  a  prosperous  condition,  in 
ihc  volume  ni  Prxeedin/p  for  the  year  1894.  The  Society  dates 
back  to  1872,  and  has  been  a  centre  of  scientific  energies  ever 
since  its  foundation. 

Tmr  |>a(>ers  read  at  the  fifth  annual  meeting  of  the  Museums 
Avv>cialiiin,  held  at  Dublin  a  year  ago,  have  just  been  published 
in  a  re|Kjrt  of  the  proceedings  at  the  meeting.  The  report, 
which  is  edited  by  Mr.  K.  Ilowarth  and  Mr.  H.  M.  Platnaucr, 
should  be  in  the  han>ls  of  all  curators  of  museums. 

XO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


The  first  number  of  a  bimonthly  journal  for  sanitary  engineers 
will  be  published  at  Brussels  on  .Vugust  I ,  under  the  title  La 
Technologii  Sanitairc.  It  will  be  under  the  direction  of  an 
editorial  committee,  the  secrelar)-  of  which  is  M.  Victor  J.  Van 
Lint,  115  rue  Joseph  II.,  Bruxelles.  The  journal  will  deal  with 
all  questions  relating  to  public  health. 

A  Fl'i.i.  abstract  of  a  paper  on  "  The  Psychologic  Development 
of  Medicine,"  read  by  Dr.  J.  H.  McCormick  before  the  Johns 
Hopkins  Hospital  Historical  Club,  on  .\pril  8,  appears  in  the 
Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  Bulletin,  No.  49.  The  paper  follows 
almost  exactly  the  same  lines  as  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  paper 
in  the  current  number  of  the  Contemporary  Xeview. 

The  latest  addition  to  the  Encyclopedic  Scientifique  des 
Aide-Memoire  is  "  Transmissions  par  Cables  Mctalliques,"  by  M. 
M.  H.  Leaute  and  A.  Berard.  The  transmission  <if  power  by 
metallic  cables  has  given  rise  to  important  mathematical 
developments  which  are  considered  in  this  .\ide-.Memoire.  The 
authors  confine  themselves  to  the  theoretical  points  which  ought 
to  be  known  to  every  engineer  concerned  with  cable  trans- 
mission. 

To  the  series  of  Economic  Classics  in  course  of  publication  by 
Messrs.  Macmillan,  has  just  been  added  Thomas  Mun's  impor- 
tant treatise,  "  England's  Treasure  by  Korraign  Trade,"  written 
about  1630,  and  printed  for  the  first  time  in  1664.  The  treatise 
marks  an  important  (period  in  the  history  of  economic  thought, 
and  its  author  is  regarded  by  political  economists  as  the  founder 
of  the  mercantile  system.  In  the  present  reprint  of  the  first 
edition  of  the  book,  the  lille-iMge  is  reproduced  in  facsimile, 
and  the  original  spelling  and  punctuation  are  followed  through- 
out. 

The  third  part  of  "  I'hycological  Memoirs,"  edited  by  Mr. 
George;Murray,'has  just  been  published  by  Messrs.  Dulau  and  Co. 
The  memoirs  are  devoted  to  researches  made  in  the  Botanical 
Department  of  the  British  Museum  (Natural  History),  and  Ihe 
present  jiart  contains  jiapers  on  "  .\  New  Part  of  rachytheca," 
"  Calcareous  Pebbles  formed  by  Alga:,"  "  The  Sori  of  Macro- 
cystis  and  Postelsia,"  and  "  X  Comixirison  of  the  Arctic  and 
Antarctic  Marine  Floras."  Four  very  fine  lithographed  plates 
illustrate  the  papers. 

The  colours  exhibited  by  the  artificial  spectrum-top,  described 
and  discussed  in  these  columns  some  months  ago,  are  shown  much 
more  distinctly,  and  in  greater  variety,  by  a  "  Betts's  Chromo- 
scope,"  sent  to  us  by  Messrs.  deorge  Philip  and  Son.  The 
instrument  consists  of  an  ingenious  whirling  table,  by  means  of 
which  heart-shaped  pieces  of  cardboard,  having  arcs  of  diflferenl 
thicknesses  variously  disposed  up<in  them,  are  put  in  rotation.  A 
moderate  speed  of  rotation  jiroduces  a  ver>'  definite  impression  of 
coloured  rings,  an<l  when  some  of  the  more  complicated  designs 
are  used,  secondar)'  tints  are  clearly  seen. 

Messrs.  J.  and  A.  Churchill  have  published  an  eighth 
edition  of  the  well-known  "  Bloxam's  Chemistry,  Inorganic  and 
Organic,"  rewritten  and  revised  by  Prof.  J.  M.  Thomson  and 
Mr.  A.  G.  Bloxam.  Several  new  woodcuts  have  been  added, 
and  some  obsolete  ones  have  been  omitted.  Considerable 
changes  have  been  made  in  the  arrangement  of  the  subject- 
matter,  and  a  large  portion  of  the  took  has  been  rewritten,  while 
the  whole  of  it  has  been  well  revised.  The  changes  all  appear  to 
have  l>een  in  the  direction  of  improvement  ;  hence  the  l)ook  will 
hold  its  place  as  a  good  text-book  and  a  handy  work  of  reference. 

We  have   received   from   Dr.   L.   Palazzo  an   account  of  a 

meteorological  station   recently  attached  to  Ihe  laboratories  of 

the    Public    Health    Department    in    Kome.     The    authorities, 

recognising  the  important  connection  between   various  diseases 

atmospheric  conditions,  have  provided  the  station  with  a  full 


June  20,  1895] 


NATURE 


•79 


.set  of  instrnments,  and  intend  to  instruct  students  belonging  to 
the  school  annexed  to  the  laboratories  in  their  use,  and  to 
include,  among  other  studies,  a  short  course  of  nieteorolc^  as 
■applie<l  to  hygiene.  The  results  of  the  observations  will  be 
regularly  published  in  a  special  bulletin,  with  a  view  to 
determining  more  particularly  the  medico-climatology  of  that 
city. 

Miss  E.  A.  Or.merod  has  sent  us  a  leaflet  referring  to  the 
Forest  V\y  (Hippohosca  equina,  Linn.),  a  well-known  trouble  in 
the  New  F'orest  of  I  lampshire  and  its  neighbourhood.  This  fly 
is  to  Ix;  founil  on  various  kinds  of  animals,  as  horses,  donkeys, 
cattle,  dogs,  and  cats,  to  all  of  which  its  presence  in  the  hair  is 
a  severe  annoyance.  jVccording  to  general  telief,  the  fly  feeds 
by  blood-sucking  ;  it  is  also  said  to  find  nourishment  in  the 
perspiration  given  off  by  cattle,  but  further  investigation  as  to 
how  far  th  is  occurs  is  required.  The  method  adopted  to  pre- 
Tenl  the  attacks  is  to  wipe  the  horses  over  with  a  cloth  moistened 
with  paraffin,  or  with  some  dilute  sanitary  solution. 

We  have  received  a  copy  of  Mr.  W.  E.  Plummers  Report 
of  the  Observations  made,  under  his  direction,  at  the  Liverpool 
Observatory,  Birkenhead,  during  1894.  From  obser-ations  of 
twenty-two  stars,  the  latitude  of  the  Observatory,  for  the  mean 
epoch  18947,  ^^'^s  found  to  be  54"  24'  4"'8.  A  new  longi- 
tude determination  has  also  been  made  ;  exchange  of  signals 
with  Greenwich  Observatory  on  thirteen  nights  gave  the  value 
I2m.  I7'33s.  West  of  Greenwich.  The  long  series  of  photo- 
graph records  accumulated  at  the  Observator)',  has  been  used  by 
Mr.  riummer  for  the  derivation  of  the  diurnal  inequality  of 
barometric  pressure.  The  results  of  his  investigation  are  stated 
in  an  appendix  to  the  Report,  and  are  clearly  exhibited  by 
means  of  curves  representing  the  diurnal  changes  of  the 
barometer  in  each  month,  and  also  for  the  year. 

O.NE  after  another,  .scientific  societies  are  beginning  to  organise 
their  literature.  Quite  recently,  under  the  title  "  Bibliotheca 
Geograjihica,*'  the  first  volume  of  a  geographical  bibliogiaphy 
has  been  published  by  the  Berlin  tlesellschaft  fiir  Erdkunde. 
The  volume  contains  the  titles  of  all  the  geographical  publica- 
tions during  1891  and  1892,  classified  into  subjects,  and  each 
section  arranged  alphabetically  according  to  the  author's  names. 
In  general  geography  there  are  diff'erent  clas.ses  for  text-books, 
historical  geography,  mathematical  and  physical  geography, 
biological  geography,  antl  anthropological  geography  (which 
covers  colonisation  and  the  distribution  of  disease).  The  classi- 
fication adopted  for  purely  geographical  i:>apers  is  very  elaborate, 
and  the  work  done  in  any  region  during  the  years  covered  by 
the  bibliography  can  be  very  easily  found.  It  is  proposed  to  issue 
annual  bibliographies  similar  to  the  present  volume.  The 
editor  of  the  series  is  Herr  Otto  Baschin,  and  the  first  volume 
has  been  prepared  with  the  assistance  of  Dr.  Ernst  Wagner. 

The  Belgian  Society  of  Geolog)-,  Palaontology  and 
Hydrology,  aided  by  Government  and  other  subsidies,  has 
published  the  first  part  of  an  elaborate  rainfall  investigation  of 
that  country,  prepared  by  A.  Lancaster,  of  the  Royal 
Observatory  of  Brussels.  The  author  is  well  known  to  men  of 
science  by  various  valuable  publications,  and  it  was  entirely  due 
to  his  eftorts  that  the  rainfall  service  in  its  i)resent  complete  form 
was  established  in  the  year  1882.  The  complete  publication 
will  consist  of  two  or  three  volumes,  the  first  of  which  contains 
224  octavo  pages,  accompanied  by  a  map  drawn  by  the 
Military  Cartographical  Institute,  to  the  400,000th  of  the  true 
>cale.  The  number  of  rainfall  .stations  dealt  with  is  282,  and 
the  monthly  sums  and  means  are  given  for  the  whole  period, 
together  with  a  series  of  tables  showing  the  geograi)hical 
distribution  according  to  catchment  basins,  and  tinted  charts 
showing  various  annual  rainfall  zones.  The  second  part  will 
contain  various  supplementary  tables,  such  .as  the  distribution  of 
NO.    1338,  VOL    52] 


rainfall  according  to  seasons,  variability  of  rainfall,  &c. ;  the 
expense  of  this  part  is  to  be  defrayed  from  the  proceeds  of  the 
sale  of  the  first  part,  which  is  issued  at  cost  price. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  stereochemistry,  the  supposed 
impossibility  of  preparing  optically  active  halogen  compounds- 
from  the  corresponding  active  hydroxy-acids  has  been  a  serious- 
defect  in  the  strong  array  of  evidence  which  has  com])elled  the 
acceptance  of  van't  Hoff's  hypothesis  of  the  a-symmctric  carbon 
atom.  This  defect  has  at  last  been  remedied  by  P.  Walden, 
who  describes  a  series  of  active  halogen  substitution  products  in 
the  current  number  of  the  Berichte.  Inquiring  whether  the 
inactivity  of  the  halogen  derivatives  prepared  by  replacement  of 
the  hydroxyl  group  in  active  compounds  by  bromine  or  by 
chlorine,  were  due  to  an  inherent  quality  of  the  halogen  atom,  or 
rather  due  to  the  racemisation  of  the  compounds  under  the 
conditions  hitherto  employed  in  their  production,  the  author 
undertook  the  task  of  examining  the  methods  useil  in  preparing 
these  compounds.  Working  on  the  active  hydroxy-acids : 
malic,  tartaric,  sarcolactic,  and  mandelic  acids,  the  substitution 
of  chlorine  and  bromine  for  hydroxyl  was  accomplished  by  means 
of  phosphorus  pentachloride  and  pentabromide  respectively 
Under  the  conditions  detailed  by  the  author,  this  substitution 
was  carried  out  without  the  racemisation  which  appears  hitherto 
to  have  always  occurred  when  these  halogen  derivatives  have 
been  prepared.  He  has  shown  that  ( i )  dextro-rotatory  chlor- 
or  brom-succinic  acid  may  be  prepared  from  the  ordinary  hevo- 
rotatory  malic  acid  ;  (2)  Ijevo-rotatory  tartaric  acid  yields  k-cvo- 
rotatory  derivatives  of  its  esters,  containing  a  halogen  atom  in 
place  of  a  hydroxyl  group,  which  retain  the  optical  activity  due 
to  the  presence  of  the  asymmetric  carbon  atom  ;  (3)  similarly^ 
dextro-rotatory  derivatives  of  o-chloropropionic  acid  and  a-bromo- 
propionic  acid  can  be  obtained  from  the  tevo- rotatory  -sarco- 
lactic acid  ;  and  (4)  laevo-rotatory  mandelic  acid  (from  aniyg- 
dalin)  yields  dextro-rotatory  phenylchloracetic  acid  and  ])henyl- 
Ijromacetic  acid.  These  active  com]X«mds  have  hitherto  only 
been  prepared  in  the  racemic  form.  Their  observed  inactivity 
when  so  prepared  was  not  due  to  any  accidental  limitation  of  the 
generality  of  van't  IIolTs  theory,  but  only  to  the  racemisation 
they  had  undergone  during  the  process  of  preparation.  It  is 
probably  quite  generally  possible  to  substitute  halogen  atoms  for 
hydroxyl  groups  in  combination  with  active  asymmetric  carbon 
atoms  without  destruction  of  their  optical  activity.  The  activity 
of  the  compound  depends  only  on  the  fact  of  four  dift'erent 
atoms  or  atomic  groups  being  connected  with  one  and  the  same 
carbon  atom,  while  the  amount  and  direction  of  the  rotation 
produced  is  unquestionably  related  to  the  specific  nature  of  these 
atoms  and  groups. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  two  Macaque  Monkeys  (Macacus  cyno- 
fiio/giis,  i  f  )  from  India,  presented  respectively  by  Mr. 
Charles  Roberts  and  -Miss  Wieldt ;  a  Leopard  (Fe/ispardtis,  9  )• 
from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  Edward  Langworthy  ;  a  Common 
Otter  (Ltitra  vulgaris,  S  ),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  .M.  P. 
Clarke  ;  a  Northern  Mocking  Bird  (Mimiis  polyglottus)  from 
North  America,  presented  by  Mr.  Henry  J.  Fulljames ;  a 
Vellcjw-throatcd  Sparrow  (Gyiiiiior/iiiiiisjlavicollis),  a  Double- 
banded  Pigeon  (Trcron  hidiiila),  two  Chinese  (Quails  {Coliiniix 
thiiiciisis),  two  White-breasted  Gallinules  (Ca///««/<7/A«-H/VK/i;) 
from  India,  presented  by  -Mr.  Frank  F'inn  ;  two  Weka  Rails 
(Ocyiiroiitus  aiislralis)  from  New  Zealand,  presented  by  Mr. 
Reginald  Moorhouse  ;  two  Southern  River  Hogs  (Potoiiiachnrus 
africantis,  i  9  )  from  East  .\frica,  presented  by  the  late  Mr. 
B.  W'ard  ;  a  European  Pond  Tortoise  (Eiiiys  t-iiropn-a),  European, 
presented  by  Miss  Laura  Bedford  ;  a  Sharp-nosed  Crocodile 
(Crocodiliis  aciiliis)  from  Jamaica,  presented  by  Lady  Blak'e ;  a 
Black -spotted  Teguexin  (Tiipiiiatiibis  nigro-punclatiis)  from 
South    .\merica,   deposited ;  a    Ring-tailed   Phalanger  (Pseiido- 


I  So 


NATURE 


[June  20,  189  = 


<-*/>»« /ert-^//i»«)  from  Australia,  two  Nicobar  Pigeons  ( Ca&naj 
nuobarica)  from  the  Indian  Archipelago,  purchased  ;  a 
Reticulated  Python  (Python  retuiitata)  from  Malacca,  received 
in  exchange  ;  a  Thar  (Capra  jemlaiia,  9  ),  a  Red  Deer  {Cervtis 
elafhtis),  txjrn  in  the  Gardens. 

OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 
OccULTATlON  OF  Reoulus. — On  June  26  there  will  be  an 
occullation  of  Regulus,  magnitude  I  '5.  The  disappearance  will 
take  place  at  S.4  p.m.,  while  the  sun  is  still  above  the  horizon, 
and  the  star  will  reappe-nr  at  S.56 — that  is,  about  37  minutes 
after  sunset  at  Greenwich.  The  point  of  disappearance  will  be 
at  an  angle  of  147°  from  the  north  point  towards  the  east,  and 
of  reappearance  at  275°  reckoned  in  the  same  direction.  The 
age  of  the  mi»n  will  be  a  little  less  than  4  days. 

The  RECfRRENCE  OF  Eclipses. — A  new  period  of  the  re- 
currence of  eclipses,  which  promises  to  be  of  great  use  in  the 
discussion  cf  ancient  eclipses,  has  been  investigated  by  Prof. 
J.  M.  Slockwell.  (Aslronomual  Journal,  No.  346.)  He 
points  out  that  372  tropical  years  are  very  nearly  equal  to  4601 
iunations,  and  also  very  nearly  equal  to  twenty  revolutions  of 
the  moon's  node  ;  thus: 

372  tropical  years  =  135870-10348  days. 

4601  lunations  =  :35870'23425    ,, 

20  revolutions  of  node  =   135870700        ,, 

During  this  period,  the  change  of  mean  longitude  of  the  sun  and 
moon  at  the  time  of  new  moon  is  -  5'''057,  of  the  longitude  of 
the  moon's  perigee  +11 '■464,  and  of  the  longitude  of  the 
ascending  n^ide  +o''02l.  The  precession  of  the  equinoxes 
during  4601  lunations  amounts  to  5°'I368,  so  that  the  mean 
longitude  nf  the  sun  and  moon  when  referred  10  the  movable 
equinox  only  changes  by  o''0797  in  a  ]5eriod  of  372  years.  From 
.this  it  follows  that  if  an  eclipse  hap|iened  on  a  given  day  of  the 
tropical  year,  there  would  !«.■  another  eclipse  on  the  same  day  of 
the  tropical  year  372  years  afterwards. 

As  an  example  of  the  application  of  this  new  cycle.  Prof. 
Stockwell  gives  [larticulars  of  an  inquiry  into  an  eclipse  of  the 
sun  which  is  said  to  have  been  observed  in  China  on  the  day 
of  the  autumnal  equinox  during  the  twenty-second  century  H.c. 
According  to  Op[)olzer,  an  eclipse  occurred  at  the  autumnal 
equinox  in  the  year  B.C.  1039,  October  3,  and  going  back  three 
periods  of  372  years,  the  year  2155  B.C.  is  de<luced  ;  other 
eclipses  about  this  time  are  found  by  adding  multiples  of  nineteen 
years  to  that  date.  The  discussion  of  the  conditions  shows  that 
the  eclipse  which  satisfies  the  tradition  occurred  on  October  10, 
2136  B.C.  ;  this  would  Ix.-  visible  as  a  partial  eclipse  over  nearly 
the  whole  uf  China,  .\ccording  to  a  well-known  story,  the 
;istronomers  Ho  and  Hi  were  put  to  death  for  having  failed  to 
predict  this  eclipse. 

Variabii.i  rv  OK  Nebi'I.t-:. — One  of  the  best  authenticated 
cases  of  a  variable  nebula  is  that  discovered  by  Hind  in  1852  in 
the  constellaticjn  Taurtis.  The  nebula  was  then  easily  seen  in 
ordinary  telescoj>es,  but  D'Arrest  was  quite  unable  to  see  it  in 
Ocl<il«;r  1861,  though  it  was  detected  shortly  after  as  an  ex- 
ceedingly faint  object  in  the  Pulkowa  refractor,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  was  seen  a  little  brighter  with  the  same  telescope. 
In  1868,  however,  the  nebula  was  invisible  lo  .Struve,  but 
another  nebula  was  discovered  4'  preceding.  Struve's  nebula 
was  subsequently  observed  by  D'.VrresI,  who  testified  to  its 
aljscncc  in  previous  observations  of  the  nelghbourhoo<l  ;  it  was 
seen  also  by  Tenipcl  in  November  1877,  but  was  not  visible  lo 
him  a  month  later.  The  in'eresl  att.iching  to  this  region  w.is 
1;  '      'len,   in    1890,  Mr.   Uurnham  found  that  t  Tauri  w.is 

1  ncbul'isity  ;  this  was  confirmed  by   Prof.   Barnard, 

V. served  th.it  Hind's  nebula  was  only  just  visible  with 

the  l,n:k  leleM:o|>c,  while  Struve's  nebula  was  not  [jerceplible. 
In  a  i>aptr  rtcenlly  comniunic.itcd  to  the  Royal  Astronomical 
.Society,  I'l'.f.  Hamard  stales  that  on  February  25  of  the  present 
year  he  fnund  Hind's  nebula  to  \k  an  easy  object,  while  .Struve's 
ii  '     '  '  the  nebulosity  round  t  Tauri  ha<l  pr.icti- 

lurlher  observations  on   March   24 
sli  •  .  Iiula  was    again   scarcely  visible,  while 

T  Tarn  '  bulous,  and  a  faint  nebula  was  suspected 

in  the  ;  10  .Stnive's  nebula  (Ohsenatory,  June). 

It  thu:,  .i|>|x;;iM  lliat  there  are  really  three  variable  ncoula'  in 
this  region,  and  the  observations  rather  suggest  that  there  is  a 
oonncction  lictween  them.    In  1890,  Prof.  Keeler  found  that  the 

NO.    1338,  VOL.  52] 


nebulosity  round  t  Tauri  was  probably  of  the  bright-line  type, 
but  nothing  seems  to  be  at  present  known  as  to  the  spectra  of 
Hind's  and  Struve's  nebul.v.  On  the  meteoritic  hyjxithesis, 
changes  in  the  brightness  of  nebul.-e  are  due  to  the  interpenetra- 
tion  of  nebulous  streams  and  sheets. 

The  Zi-ka-\vei  Observatory. — The  Zika-wei(or  Sicawei) 
Observatory,  near  Shanghai,  w.-is  founded  in  1S73  by  the  French 
Rom.an  Catholic  Mission  of  Kiang-nan,  and  provided  with  the 
instruments  necessary  for  the  study  of  meteorology  and  terrestrial 
magnetism.  .Since  that  time,  excellent  service  to  commerce  and 
to  science  has  been  rendered  by  the  Observatory,  l>y  the  daily 
publication  of  weather  bulletins,  and  the  issue  of  a  number  ofim- 
jwrtant  memoirs.  Up  to  the  present,  however,  astronomy  has 
received  little  attention  at  Zi-ka-wei.  Twelve  years  ago,  the 
Municipal  Council  of  the  French  Settlement  furnished  the 
Observatory  with  a  small  transit  instrument  for  time  determina- 
tions in  connection  with  the  time-ball  service  then  established, 
but  that  instrument  represents  the  whole  astronomical  oxitlit. 
Recognising  this  deficiency.  Father  Chevalier,  the  Director  of  the 
Observatory,  has  made  an  appeal  for  funds  to  purchase  a  good 
cqu,atorial  telescope.  The  English  Settlement  at  Shanghai  has 
voted  a  sum  of  ^400  towards  the  cost  of  the  instrument,  and  the 
French  Settlement  has  granted  a  like  amount.  The  shipping 
companies  at  Shanghai  have  also  ))romised  a  sum  of  about  £400, 
so  that  ;^I200  may  be  taken  to  be  already  available.  But  Father 
Chevalier  wishes  to  have  an  instrument  with  an  aperture  of  about 
twenty  inches,  and  for  this  the  money  already  subscribed  is  in- 
suflicient.  He  has  therefore  appealed  to  friends  of  science  in 
France,  .\merica,  and  England  lor  a  sun)  of  about  ^1000  more. 
If  this  is  contributed,  he  hopes  to  h.ave  erected  a  great  equatorial, 
and  to  accomplish  v.aluable  work  wjth  it. 


THE   ROYAL    SOCIETY  CONVERSAZIONE. 

'T'HE  rooms  of  the  Royal  Society  .at  Burlington  House  were 
•*•  filled  last  Wednesday  evening,  when  the  annual  conversa- 
zione to  which  ladies  are  .idmilted  took  place.  .Some  of  the 
exhibits  were  shown  at  the  conversazione  on  .May  i,  and  have 
already  been  described  in  these  columns.  Follow  ing  our  usual 
custom,  we  only  give  descriptions  of  new  exhibits. 

Perhaps  the  most  striking  feature  of  the  evening  was  the  tele- 
phonic communication  with  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Belfast,  and 
Dublin,  |)raclically  shown  by  the  Postmaster-General.  The  line 
used  is  the  first  link  of  the  great  Trunk  Telephone  System 
erected  by  the  Post  Office,  which  will  eventually  place  the  chief 
towns  in  the  British  Isles  in  direct  communication  with  e.ach 
other.  The  wires  lo  Irelaiul  extend  thnmgh  Leeds  and  Carlisle 
to  Portpalrick,  thence  by  cable  .across  the  North  Channel  to 
Donaghadee,  anil  thence  to  Belfast  anil  Dublin,  the  distance  by 
this  route  from  London  lo  Dublin  being  467  miles.  The  lines 
are  so  carefully  laid  that  it  was  easy  to  converse  with  persons  at 
the  places  connected  by  lliem,  without  being  disUirlied  by  the 
foreign  .sounds  usually  associated  w  ilh  telephonic  communicalions. 

An  electograph  for  indelible  linen  marking  w.as  .shown  by 
Messrs.  Nalder  Bros,  and  Co.  The  instrument  is  u.sed  as  fol- 
lows :  the  fabric  is  damped  and  a  current  is  passed  for  about 
two  seconils  from  a  silver  die,  carrying  silver  into  the  fabric 
wherever  the  die  touches.  The  current  is  then  reversed  for 
three  .seconds,  which  reduces  the  silver  in  the  fabric  ;  the  final 
result  being  the  same  as  with  ordinary  marking-ink,  viz.  that 
metallic  silver  is  deposited  in  the  tissue.  Plain  water  can  be 
used,  but  a  salt  .solution  is  preferable,  as  the  result  is  much  more 
quickly  obtained. 

.Mcxlels  illustrating  Lewis  and  Hunter's  patent  coal  shipping 
system,  .as  in  use  at  the  Bute  Docks,  Cardiff,  were  exhil)ited  by 
the  Bute  Docks  Company.  With  this  system  the  coal  isship|>ed 
in  very  much  bcller  ccmdition  than  with  the  old  systems,  ami 
owing  lo  the  construction  of  the  carrying-boxes,  with  a  cone 
valve  or  bottom,  which  is  only  relcsused  lo  let  the  load  out  when 
it  is  lowered  down  into  the  hold  of  the  vessel,  within  some 
18  inches  of  the  flooring  of  the  ship  or  the  cargo,  .aslhecase  m.ay 
l>e,  the  breakage  is  greatly  reduced.  Each  crane  is  capable  ot 
loading  300  tuns  per  hour. 

Prof  C.  V.  Boys  jlluslrated  the  projection  of  ripples,  and 
showed  a  logarithmic  chart  of  wave  and  ripple  velocities  and 
frequencies.  Kipples  produced  by  tuning-forks  are  so  small, 
an<l  travel  so  cpiickly,  as  to  be  invisible  unless  illuminated  either 
instantaneously  or  intermiltcntly  at  the  proper  rale.  They  are 
then  visible,  and  the  relations  of  velocity  and  freipiency  can  be 


June  20,  1895] 


NATURE 


181 


illustrated.  Both  tuning-forks  and  a  mechanical  device  were 
eiuiiliiycd  to  produce  the  ripples.  By  the  use  of  "scale  lines," 
the  logarithmic  chart  was  made  more  comprehensive  than  usual. 
The  lines  were  employed  to  illustrate  the  effect  of  all  possible 
variations  of  gravity  and  of  surface  tension  divided  by  density 
upon  velocities  and  frequencies  of  waves  and  ripples. 

Mr.  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  C.  B. ,  had  three  exhibits.  One  was  a 
photograph  of  apparatus  employed  for  collecting  the  gases  obtained 
from  minerals  by  the  distillation  method.  A  small  retort  con- 
taining the  mineral  is  connected  with  an  end-on  spectrum  tube 
joined  on  to  a  Sprengel  pump.  -After  exhaustion,  the  mineral  is 
heated  to  redness,  and  the  spectra  of  the  gases  evolved  at  the 
various  stages,  as  exhibited  by  the  spectrum  tube,  are  both 
observed  and  photographed.  The  gases  are  collected  in  a 
"steeple"  at  the  foot  of  the  fall  tube  of  the  pump,  and 
they  can  then  be  observed  at  atmospheric  pressure.  The 
second  exhibit  consisted  of  photographs  of  the  spectra  of 
Bellatrix,  and  of  a  part  of  the  solar  chromosphere,  showing  co- 
incidences with  the  lines  photographed  in  the  spectra  of  the 
gases  obtained  from  uraninite.  The  photographs  showed  a 
■close  relation  of  the  new  gas  or  gases  to  solar  and  stellar 
phenomena.  They  appear  to  point  to  the  vera  airisa,  not  of  two 
or  three,  but  of  many  of  the  lines  which  so  far  have  been 
•classed  as  "  unknown."  The  spectrum  of  Bellatrix  was  jjhoto- 
graphed  at  South  Kensington  with  a  6-inch  prism  of  4^",  and  that 
of  the  solar  chromosphere  with  the  same  instrument  during  the 
total  eclipse  of  the  sun,  1893.  Mr.  Lockyer  also  ex- 
hibited photographs  of  the  spectra  of  the  new  gases.  In 
the  preliminary  experiments,  the  new  gases  have  not  been 
separated  from  the  known  gases  which  come  over  with 
them,  so  that  the  spectra  exhibited  contained  many  known  lines. 
The  photographs  illustrated  :  (a)  The  'presence  of  the  yellow 
line  (U3)  in  some  instances  wi't/i  the  blue  line  4471,  and  in 
others  without  it.  {b)  The  presence  of  the  yellow^  line  in  some 
spectra  with  an  ultra-violet  line  at  3889,  and  in  others  without  it. 
Dr.  A.  A.  Common  exhibited  the  following  silvered  glass 
mirrors:  (l)  21-inch  convex  mirror,  54-inch  radius,  being  the 
small  mirror  of  an  oblique  Cassegrain  reflecting  telescope. 
^2)  20-inch  concave  mirror,  90-inch  radius,  spherical  curve. 
{},)  Two  16-inch  plane  mirrors  for  heliostats  to  be  used  at  the 
1896  total  solar  eclipse. 

Air.  .\.  E.  Tutton  exhibited  an  instrument  for  cutting,  grind- 
ing, and  polishing  accurately  orientated  plates  and  prisms  of 
•crystals  of  every  degree  of  hardness.  The  instrument  combines 
an  accurate  reflecting  goniometer  \\  ith  a  diamond-edged  cutting 
•disc  and  grinding  and  polishing  laps.  The  adjusting  segments 
of  the  goniometer  are  graduated,  in  order  that  the  crystal  may 
be  adjusteil  so  that  the  desired  direction  in  it  can  imme^liately 
be  brought  i>arallel  to  the  cutting  disc  or  grinding  lap.  Numerous 
interchangeable  l»ps  are  provided  suitable  for  all  classes  of 
crystals,  and  the  interchange  may  be  effected  with  great  readi- 
ness. A  counterpoising  arrangement  is  also  provided  which 
■enables  the  pressure  with  which  the  crystal  bears  upon  the  lap 
to  be  nicely  adjusted,  according  to  the  strength  of  the  crystal. 
The  instrument  may  either  be  driven  by  hand  or  by  means  of 
any  form  of  small  motor. 

Mr.  A.  P.  Trotter  showed  a  model  illustrating  the  relation  of 
volts,  amperes,  and  length  of  electric  arc.  The  model  was  made 
from  the  diagrams  in  Prof.  Ayrlon's  paper,  read  before  the 
Chicago  Congress,  and  described  in  Mrs.  ,\vrton"s  article  in  The 
Elcctridau.  Drawings  of  the  electric  arc  were  shown  by  Mrs. 
Ayrton.  The  drawings  were  in  sepia,  and  ten  times  the  full  size. 
They  showed  the  form  of  the  arc  produced  with  a  current  of  20 
am^>eres  between  a  positive  carbon  18  millimetres  in  diameter, 
and  a  negative  one  15  millimetres  in  diameter,  when  the 
uc  was  respectively  4,  7  and  18  millimetres  long.  Eroni 
(lie  drawings  it  could  be  seen  that  using  a  cored  positive 
carbon  diminishes  the  visible  jiart  of  the  arc,  and,  when  the  arc 
is  long,  causes  the  central  portion  to  become  gourd-shaped. 

The  Applied  Mathematics  Department  of  University  College 
•showed  a  series  of  diagrams,  calculated  and  prepared  by  Miss 
Alice  Lee,  to  illustrate  the  time-decay  of  the  tield  due  to  a 
Hertzian  oscillator.  The  late  I'rof.  Hertz  prepared  four 
diagrams  to  illustrate  the  nature  of  the  field  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  an  oscillator  giving  a  stable  wave  train.  His  theory 
requires  modification,  owing  to  every  Hertzian  oscillator  really 
giving  a  rapidly  damped  wave  train.  Miss  Lee's  diagrams  illus- 
trated the  changes  in  the  field  during  6^  complete  oscillations. 
Four  systems  of  curves  gave  the  points  of  the  field  with  relative 
strengths  50,  30,10  and  i.    The  decadence  of  the  field  was  repre- 


NO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


sented  not  only  by  the  gradual  change  of  shape  of  the  curves, 
but  by  the  complete  disappearance  of  the  cur\'es  of  greater 
strength.  When  the  series  is  complete,  it  is  proposed  to  reduce 
it  by  photography  and  use  it  in  a  "  wheel  of  life,"  to  illustrate 
the  decadence  of  an  oscillator-field. 

A  curious  model  for  showing  the  gyroscopic  properties  oi  a 
wheel  was  exhibited  by  Mr.  Killingworth  Hedges.  The  wheel 
was  represented  by  a  rim,  having  within  it  a  heavy  inner  disc 
which  could  be  made  to  revolve  rapidly  on  the  axis  of  the 
wheel.  When  the  wheel  was  allowed  to  roll  slowly  down  an 
inclined  plane,  and  the  inner  disc  was  made  to  revolve  in  the 
same  direction  as  the  wheel,  they  both  assisted  to  keep  the 
system  upright.  When,  however,  the  inner  disc  revolved  in 
the  opposite  direction  to  the  wheel,  the  system  was  in  a  state  of 
unstable  equilibrium  which  caused  a  rapid  revolution  through 
180°,  when  both  the  wheel  and  the  inner  disc  revolved  in  the 
same  direction,  and  so  produced  a  state  of  stable  equilibrium. 

Four  photographic  views  taken  by  Mr.  W.  Bartier,  and  illus- 
trating the  accumulation  of  ice  on  the  river  near  the  Beckton 
Gas  Works,  North  Woolwich,  in  February  of  this  year,  were 
shown  by  Mr.  G.  J.  Symons. 

Photographs  of  curvilinear  crystals  of  water  were  exhibited  by 
Dr.  Gladstone,  F.  R.S.  The  photographs  were  taken  during 
the  severe  frost  of  last  February,  and  showed  the  forms  assumed 
by  the  vapour  when  frozen  upon  a  shoji  window,  and  the  glass 
roof  of  a  photographer's  studio.  All  the  lines  of  the  crystals 
were  curved.  Another  exhibit  by  Dr.  Gladstone  consisted  of  a 
blue  photograph  showing  the  way  in  which  a  solution  of  sodium 
salts  mixed  with  some  earthy  matter  and  water  may  be  made  to 
crystallise  on  evaporation.  This  specimen  showed  many  spiral 
forms.  It,  and  the  original  specimens,  were  prepared  by  Mrs.  M, 
Watts  Hughes. 

Prof.  A.  G.  Greenhill  and  Mr.  T.  I.  Dewar  exhibited  an 
algebraical  spherical  catenary.  By  a  special  choice  of  the  con- 
stants, depending  upon  the  quinquisection  of  the  period  of  the 
associated  elliptic  functions,  the  general  equations  of  the 
spherical  catenary,  considered  by  Clebsch  in  Crelle,  57  were 
shown  reduced  so  as  to  make  the  projection  of  the  chain  on  a 
horizontal  plane  a  closed  algebraical  curve  of  the  tenth  degree. 

A  number  of  interesting  Japanese  pictures,  selected  to  illustrate 
the  effects  of  time  on  the  pigments  used  by  tlie  old  painters 
of  Japan  {a.D.  1322  to  the  early  part  of  the  igth  century), 
were  exhibited  by  Mr.  W.  Gowland.  The  chief  pigments  used 
in  these  pictures  were  as  follows  : — Greens  and  blues  :  carbonates 
of  cojiper.  Permanent  blue  :  the  mineral  Lapis  lazuli.  Reds  : 
red  oxitle  of  iron,  vermilion,  carmine.  Permanent  white : 
levigated  oyster-shells.  Black  :  soot  prepared  from  the  oil  of 
Sesaiuttin  Ifidiium^ 

Tropical  American  butterflies,  selected  to  show  the  existence 
of  common  colour-types  among  species  associated  in  the  same 
areas,  were  exhibited  by  Mr.  W.  F.  H.  Blandford.  The  phe- 
nomenon ( Homaoihromatism )  is  observed  chiefly  among  species 
of  the  sub-families  Daitaimc  and  Heliconiiiut,  but  frequently 
species  of  other  sub-families  conform  to  the  prevailing  colour- 
type.  To  a  particular  class  of  cases  of  colour-resemblance  the 
term  "mimicry"  has  been  applied.  The  .series  shown  com- 
prised : — (l)  Species  oi  Heliconius3s,soz\-!Ae.A  in  pairs,  the  colour- 
type  varying  with  the  distribution  from  north  to  south.  {2) 
Species  of  diflerent  genera  (  Tithorea  and  Helieoiiius)  associated 
in  pairs,  and  sometimes  mimicked  by  butterflies  of  other 
families.  (3)  Homceochromatic  types  from  various  districts 
represented  by  numerous  species  in  different  families,  sub-families 
and  genera. 

.\linutiiu  in  finger-prints  formed  the  exhibit  of  Mr.  Francis 
Galton.  The  exhibit  furnished  an  illustration  of  the  exceptional 
trustworthiness  of  the  finger-print  method  in  determining  ques- 
tions of  identity.  It  demonstrated  that  in  a  case  of  twins,  whose 
portraits,  classificatory  measures,  and  finger-print  formula:  were 
closely  alike,  the  finger-]irint  minutia;  were  quite  different.  .-V 
second  exhibit  of  Mr.  Gabon's  was  the  print  of  the  hand  of 
a  child  eighty-six  d,ays  ol<l.  \\\  enlargement  of  this  print  showed 
the  development  of  the  ridges  at  that  early  age. 

.Mr.  B.  Harrison  exhibited  Eolithic  implements  from  the 
chalk  plateau  of  Kent.  The  implements  were  found  by  the 
exhibitor  in  pits,  dug  under  the  auspices  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion. Stones  were  shown  which  were  thought  to  bear  evidence 
of  use  as  tools,  naturally  of  suitable  shapes,  but  improved  upon 
by  chipjiing  roimd  the  edges  where  required. 

The  Curator  of  the  Maidstone  Museum  showed  a  series  of 
nine   photographs  (with   map,  ground  plan,  and  section)  of  a 


l82 


NA  TURE 


[June  20,  1895 


supposed  Roman  Mithneum  or  Milhraic  temple  discovered  on 
the  east  bank  of  the  river  Medway  at  Wouldham,  near  Maid- 
stone. The  temple,  or  "  cave,"  was  found  by  workmen  while 
engaged  in  remo\nng  sand  for  ballast,  and  excavated  under  the 
superintendence  of  the  exhibitor.  It  had  api^arcntly  been  built 
into  the  Ixink,  standing  east  and  west,  measuring  40  feet  in 
length  and  20  feet  in  width.  Numerous  fragments  of  tiles, 
samian  and  other  ix)tteiy,  animal  bones,  and  a  coin  of  Constan- 
tinopolis  were  found  in  the  filling,  but  no  statuarj-  or  inscriptions. 
So  far  this  "cave'"  is  the  only  one  found  south  of  the  river 
Tyne. 

Mr.  G.  F.  Scoit  Elliot  had  on  view  photographs  and  objects 
illustrating  his  recent  expedition  to  Ruwenzori.  The  photographs 
showed  characteristic  trees  and  shrubs  of  Tarn,  view  of  Kagera 
River,  and  of  Ruwenzori.  The  objects  consisted  ol  Wandorobbo 
costume,  sword,  quiver,  fire-stick,  and  arrows  ;  Uganda  pottery, 
bark  cloths,  &c.  ;  banana  meal,  &c.,  in  form,  ready  for  export. 

Mrs.  Ellis  Rowan  exhibited  Australian  wild  flowers  in  water- 
colours.  The  examples  were  from  Northern  Queensland  and 
Western  .Australia. 

A  letter  and  original  manuscrifit  of  Emin  Pasha's  last 
Omithok^ical  Journal  formed  an  interesting  exhibit  by  Sir 
William  H.  Flower.  The  objects  were  found  by  the  officers  of 
the  Congo  Free  Slate,  after  Emin  had  been  murdered  by  the 
Arabs  at  Kinena,  on  or  about  October  28,  1892. 

A  series  of  cultures  of  various  forms  of  the  bacteria  which 
had  Ijeen  isolated  from  the  river  Thames,  and  then  cultivated 
by  the  methcKls  employed  in  the  laboratory,  formed  Prof. 
Marshall  Ward's  exhibit.  The  bacteria  were  grouped  in  sections 
corresixinding  to  the  different  types,  and  characterised  by 
differences  as  to  the  pigment-production,  temperature  of  growth, 
Capacity  of  forming  spores,  behaviour  in  different  media,  sizes, 
shapes,  and  power  of  movement,  &c.  Some  of  them  l>elonged 
to  common  species ;  others  were  rare,  or  unknown,  and  not 
classified. 

.\n  instrument  for  describing  parabolas  by  means  of  a  com- 
bined sliding  and  link  motion  was  exhibited  by  the  inventor, 
Mr.  II.  Thomson  Lyon. 

Sir  David  Salomons  showed  new  forms  of  "lop"  slides  for 
the  lantern,  selenile  and  hot-water  slide  heated  electrically  ;  and 
illustrated  the  behaviour  of  aglow  lamp  in  (he  magnetic  field,  S:c. 

.Mr.  F.  Knock  exhibited  a  living  aquatic  hymenopterous 
insect,  Polyncma  iialans  (I,ubt>ock),  Caraphractus  liiiclus 
( I  laliday),  described  by  him  in  these  columns  a  few  w  eeks  ago. 
This  minute  and  most  Ixjautiful  llymenopteron  w,-is  observed  by 
Sir  John  Lublnick  swimming  or  flying  under  water,  crawling 
alxjut  weed,  \c.  The  Mymarida  (llal.)  all  oviposit  in  the 
eggs  of  other  insects  ;  Polyntiiia  nataits,  according  to  Ganin, 
having  lieen  bred  from  eggs  of  a  dragon  fly,  yEsihiia.  The 
smallest  of  this  family,  Campioptcra  papavcris,  is  but  one  eighty- 
fifth  of  an  inch  in  length. 

The  bone  structure  in  the  dentary  lx)ne  of  Gomphognalhus,  a 
South  .African  reptile,  was  illustrated  by  one  of  Prof.  Seeley's 
exhibil.s.  The  Ijone  structure  in  this  fossil,  which  is  of  I'ermian 
age,  is  not  distinguishable  from  the  iKmeslnicturcof  a  mammal, 
in  the  arrangement  of  the  haversian  canals  and  the  lacuna-. 
IVof.  Seeley  also  showed  vertical  sections  through  the 
maxillary  and  mandibular  teeth  from  the  same  skull.  This 
exhibit  consisted  of  three  vertical  .sections  of  the  skull  of 
Gomphognathus  taken  at  the  hinder  termination  of  the  hard 
imlale,  showing  the  conical  fonns  of  the  single  roots  to  the 
molar  teeth,  the  flat  transverse  crowns  to  the  teelh,  and  the 
way  in  which  the  mandilnil.ar  teeth  arc  opposed  to  those  in  the 
skull. 

A  sacred  l>onc-lrumpet,  drum,  and  flute  were  exhibited 
by  Dr.  George  llarley.  The  trumpet  and  tom-t<mi  drum  were 
from  the  temple  of  a  Uuddhi.st  monastery  in  Thibet.  They 
were  made  from  the  liones  of  priests—from  their  being  sup|>osed 
to  tic  more  religiously  effectual.  The  lruin|>el  when  lilown 
emits  a  rising  and  falling  mournful  wailing  sound.  The  drum, 
„),..„  ,1,.  1  ,  ,  I  ,i|;irhed  to  its  strings  are  rattled  against  the 
-'•  reealile  harsh  noise  which  is  thought  to  drive 

ill  of  the  temple.      The  flute  is  a  Carib  Indian's, 

from  tfUiaiui,  made  from  the  tibia  uf  a  ileer  (Coasstii  nifiiiin). 
From  it  ••an  1»'  got  the  notes  I,  2,  and  3,  in  the  natural 
harmot/  '  (1,  7,  and  S,  as  in  the  French  flageolet. 

Thi   !  hiliits,  with  demonstrations  by  means  of  the 

electrii  i 'k  place  in  the  meeting-room  of  the  Stwiety. 

I.juitcm  slides,  illustrating  the  ethnography  of  Hritish  New 
Guinea,    liy    Prof.     A.     C.     Iladdon.       The    slides    illustrated 


the  physical  characters  of  different  tribes  inhabitii^  British 
New  Guinea,  some  of  the  occui>ations  of  the  people,  several 
kinds  of  dances,  and  the  distribution  of  dance-m.a.-iks.  A 
scries  of  dwellings  from  one  end  of  the  Protectorate  to 
the  other  was  shown,  and  two  types  of  canoes.  Finally, 
illustrations  of  the  decorative  art  of  various  districts  were 
thrown  upon  the  .screen.  Evidence  was  given  in  support 
of  the  view  that  British  New  Guinea  is  inhabited  by  true  dark 
Papuans,  and  by  two  distinct  lighter  Melanesian  peoples,  one  of 
whom  may  have  come  from  the  New  Hebrides,  and  the  other 
from  the  Solomon  Islands. 

Dr.  J.  Joly  exhibited  examples  of  colour  photograjJiy,  and 
described  his  method  of  obtaining  them.  The  photographs  were 
a  realisation  ol  composite  heliochromy  in  a  single  im;ige.  The 
method  of  composite  heliochromy  requires  three  images  super- 
imposed by  projection.  In  Dr.  Joly's  photographs  the  colour 
analysis  and  synthesis  are  carrietl  out  in  the  one  image.  The 
colours  are  the  natural  colours  as  they  registered  themselves  U(X)n 
the  plate,  and  in  no  case  altered  after  reproduction,  lite  s|)eci- 
mens  shown  were  first  attempts,  produced  with  rough  apparatus. 
The  images  showed  a  slightly  grained  appearance,  but  this  is 
avoidable  with  proper  appliances.  The  process  of  taking  and 
reproducing  the  phott^tgraplis  tlifters  in  no  way  from  iirdinary 
photography  \x\K>n  the  dry  plate,  save  that  the  sensitive  pU»te  is 
exposed  in  the  camera  behind  a  screen  lined  in  jxirticularc-oloiu's. 
The  positive  is  subsequently  viewetl  through  a  screen  lined  with 
three  other  colours;  the  three  "fundamental  colours,'  which 
upon  the  three-colour  theory  of  vision  are  supposed  to  give  rise 
to  all  our  colour  sensations. 


ON   THE    TEMPERATURE    VARIATION  OF 
THE  THERMAL  CONDUCTIVITY  OF  ROCKS> 

§  I.  'T'llE  experiments  described  in  this  communicatioit 
were  undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  finding 
lem|>erature  variation  of  thermal  conductivity  of  some  of  the 
more  important  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust. 

§  2.  The  method  which  we  adopted  w:is  to  measure,  by  aid 
of  thermoelectric  junctions,  the  lemiKraiurcs  at  dift'erenl  points 
of  a  flux  line  in  a  solid,  kept  unequally  heated  by  sources 
(positive  and  negative)  applied  to  its  surface,  and  maintained 
uniform  for  a  suthcienlly  long  lime  to  cause  the  temperature  lo- 
be as  nearly  constant  at  every  |)oint  as  we  could  arrange  for. 
The  shape  of  the  .solid  and  the  thermal  sources  were  arranged  to 
cause  the  flux  lines  to  be,  .as  nearly  as  possible,  parallel  straight 
lines ;  so  that,  according  to  Fourier's  elementary  theory  and 
definition  of  thermal  conductivity,  we  .should  have 

/■(M,  B)_[f'(M)  -5'(T)]-hMT 
"/•(T,  M)~[f(B)  -  f(M)]-^B.M  ' 

where  T,  .\l,  B  denote  three  points  in  a  stream  line  (respectively 
next  to  the  top,  at  the  middle,  and  iiexl  to  the  bottom  in  the 
slabs  and  columns  which  we  used);  ;(T),  r'(M),  :(li)  denote 
the  steady  temperatures  at  these  ]X)ints  ;  and  .<-(T,  M),  ^(M,  B), 
the  mean  conductivities  lietween  T  and  M,  and  between  M  and 
B  respectively. 

§  3.  The  rock  ex]x;rimented  on  in  each  case  consisted  of  two- 
equal  and  similar  rectangular  pieces,  pressed  with  similar  faces 
together.  In  ime  of  these  faces  three  straight  parallel  grooves 
are  cut,  just  deep  enough  to  allow  the  thermoelectric  wires  and 
junctions  to  be  embedded  in  them,  and  no  wider  than  to  admit 
the  wires  and  junctions  (see  di.igram,  §  8  below).  Thus,  when 
the  two  pieces  of  rock  are  pressed  together,  and  when  heat  is 
so  applied  that  the  flux  lines  are  jKirallel  to  the  faces  of  the  two 
parts,  we  had  the  same  result,  so  far  as  thermal  conduction  is 
concerned,  as  if  we  had  taken  a  single  slab  of  the  same  size  .as 
the  two  together,  with  long  fine  perforations  to  receive  the  elec- 
tric junctions.  The  ccmipouiid  slab  was  placed  with  the  jier- 
I  forations  horizontal,  and  their  plane  vertical.  Its  lower  .side, 
when  thus  placed,  was  immersed  under  a  bath  of  tin,  kept 
melted  by  a  lamp  lielow  it.  Its  upjK-r  side  was  flooded  over 
with  mercury  in  our  later  experiments  (§!i  6,  7,  8),  as  in  I  lopkins' 
experiments  im  the  thermal  conductivity  of  rock.  Ileal  w.as 
carried  off  from  the  mercury  liy  a  meiLsured  quantity  of  cold 
water  (xiured  ii|Kin  it  once  a  minute,  allowed  to  remain  till  the 
end  of  a  minute,  and  then  drawn  off  and  immediately  replaced 

1  A  p.i(x:r  by  Ixird  Kelvin,  P.R.S.,  and  J.  R.  Erskinc  Murr.iy,  rciil  at 
ihc  Royal  Socicly  on  May  30. 


NO.    1338,  VOL.  52] 


June  20,  1895] 


NATURE 


183 


Ijy  another  equal  quantity  of  cold  water.  The  chief  difficulty 
in  respect  to  steadiness  of  temperature  was  the  keeping  of  the 
i;as  lamp  below  the  bath  of  melted  tin  uniform.  If  more 
experiments  are  to  be  made  on  the  same  plan,  whether  for  rocks 
-or  metals,  or  other  solids,  it  will,  no  doubt,  be  advisable  to  use 
an  automatically  regulated  gas  flame,  keeping  the  temperature 
cif  the  hot  bath  in  which  the  lower  face  of  the  slab  or  column  is 
iuimersed  at  as  nearly  constant  a  temperature  as  possible,  and 
ti)  arrange  for  a  perfectlj'  steady  flow  of  cold  water  to  carry  away 
heat  from  the  upper  surface  of  the  mercury  resting  on  the  upper 
side  of  the  slab  or  column.  It  will  also  be  advisable  to  avoid 
the  complication  of  having  the  slab  or  column  in  two  parts, 
when  the  material  and  the  dimensions  of  the  solid  allow  fine 
perforations  to  be  bored  through  it,  instead  of  the  grooves 
which  we  found  more  readily  made  with  the  appliances  avail- 
able to  us. 

§  4.  Our  first  experiments  were  made  on  the  slate  slab, 
25  cm.  square  and  5  cm.  thick,  in  two  halves,  pressed  together, 
each  25  cm.  by  I2"5,  and  5  cm.  thick.  One  of  these  parts 
cracked  with  a  loud  noise  in  an  early  experiment,  with  the  lower 
face  of  the  composite  square  resting  on  an  iron  plate  heated  by 
a  powerful  gas  burner,  and  the  upper  face  kept  cool  by  ice  in  a 
metal  vessel  resting  upon  it.  The  experiment  indicated,  very 
decidedly,  less  conductivity  in  the  hotter  part  below  the  middle 
than  in  the  cooler  part  above  the  middle  of  the  composite 
square  slab.  We  supposed  this  might  possibly  be  due  to  the 
crack,  which  we  found  to  be  horizontal  and  below  the  middle, 
and  to  be  complete  across  the  whole  area 
■of  12^  cm.  by  5,  across  which  the  heat 
■was  conducted  in  that  part  of  the  com- 
posite slab,  and  to  give  rise  to  palpably- 
imperfect  fitting  together  of  the  solid  above 
and  below  it.  We  therefore  repeated  the 
experiment  with  the  composite  slab  turned 
upside  down,  so  as  to  bring  the  crack  in 
one  half  of  it  now  to  be  above  the  middle, 
instead  of  below  the  middle,  as  at  first. 
We  still  found,  for  the  composite  slab, 
less  conductivity  in  the  hot  part  below  the 
middle  than  in  the  cool  part  above  the 
middle.  We  inferred  that,  in  respect  to 
thermal  conduction  through  slate  across 
the  natural  cleavage  planes,  the  thermal 
conductivity  diminishes  with  increase  of 
temperature. 

§  5.  We  next  tried  a  composite  square 
slab  of  .sandstone  of  the  same  dimensions 
as  the  slate,  and  we  found  for  it  also  decisive 
proof  of  diminution  of  thermal  conductivity 
■with  increa.se  of  temperature.  We  were 
not  troubled  by  any  cracking  of  the  sand- 
stone, with  its  upper  side  kept  cool  by 
an  ice-cold  metal  plate  resting  on  it,  and 
its  lower  side  heated  to  probably  as  much  as 
300'  or  400^  C. 

§  6.  After  that  we  made  a  composite 
piece,  of  two  small  slate  columns,  each 
3-5  cm.  square  and  6-2  cm.  high,  with 
natural  cleavage  planes  vertical,  pressed 
together  with  thermoelectric  junctions  as 
before  ;  but  with  appliances  (see  §  10)  for 
preventing  loss  or  gain  of  heat  across  the  vertical  sides,  which 
the  smaller  horizontal  dimensions  (7  cm.,  3-5  cm.)  might  require, 
but  which  were  manifestly  unnecessary-  with  the  larger  horizontal 
ilimensions  (25  cm.,  25  cm.)  of  the  slabs  of  slate  and  sandstone 
used  in  our  former  experiments.  The  thermal  flux  lines  in  the 
former  experiments  on  slate  were  perpendicular  to  the  natural 
cleavage  planes,  but  now,  with  the  thermal  flux  lines  parallel  to 
the  cleaviige  planes,  we  still  find  the  same  result,  smaller  thermal 
conductivity  at  the  higher  temperatures.  Numerical  results  will 
be  .stated  in  §  12  below. 

§  7.  Our  last  ex|)eriments  were  made  on  a  composite  piece 
of  Aberdeen  granite,  made  up  of  two  columns,  each  6  cm.  high 
and  7-6  cm.  square,  pressed  together,  with  appliances  similar  to 
those  described  in  §  6  ;  and.  as  in  all  our  previous  experiments 
on  slaleand  sandstone,  we  found  less  thermal  conductivity  at  higher 
temperatures.     The  numerical  results  are  given  in  §  12. 

§  8.  The  accompanying  diagram  ( Fig.  i )  represents  the  ther- 
mal appliances  and  thermoelectric  arrangement  of  §!;  6,  7.  The 
columns  of  slate  or  granite  were  placed  on  supports  in  a  bath  of 
melted  tin  with  about  0'2   cm.   of  their    lower   ends  immersed. 


The  top  of  each  column  was  kept  cool  by  mercury,  and  water 
changed  once  a  minute,  as  described  in  §  3  above,  contained  in 
a  tank  having  the  top  of  the  stone  column  for  its  bottom,  and 
completed  by  four  vertical  metal  walls  fitted  into  grooves  in 
the  stone,  and  made  tight  against  wet  mercury  by  marine  glue. 

§  9.  The  temperatures  S'(B),  <'(M),  vCY)  of  B,  M,  T,  the  hot, 
intermediate,  and  cool  points  in  the  stone,  were  determined  by 
equalising  to  them  successively  the  temperature  of  the  mercury 
thermometer  placed  in  the  oil-tank,  by  aid  of  thermoelectric  cir- 
cuits and  a  galvanometer  used  to  test  e(|uality  of  temjjerature  by 
nullity  of  current  through  its  coil  when  placed  in  the  proper 
circuit,  all  as  shown  in  the  diagram.  The  steadiness  of  tempera- 
ture in  the  stone  was  tested  by  keeping  the  temperature  of  the 
thermometer  constant,  and  observing  the  galvanometer  reading 
for  current  when  the  junction  in  the  oil-tank  and  one  or  other  of 
the  three  junctions  in  the  stone  were  placed  in  circuit.  We  also 
helped  ourselves  to  attaining  constancy  of  temperature  in  the 
stone  by  observing  the  current  through  the  galvanometer,  due  to 
differences  of  temperature  between  any  two  of  the  three  junctions 
B,  M,  T  placed  in  circuit  with  it. 

§  10.  We  made  many  experiments  to  test  what  appliances 
might  be  necessary  to  secure  against  gain  or  loss  of  heat  by  the 
stone  across  its  vertical  faces,  and  found  that  kieselguhr,  loosely 
packed  round  the  columns  and  contained  by  a  metal  case  sur- 
rounding them  at  a  distance  of  2  cm.  or  3  cm.,  prevented  an)^ 
appreciable  disturbance  due  to  this  cause.  This  allowed  us  to 
feel  sure  that  the  thermal  flux  lines  through  the  stone  were  very 


Fig.  I. — Iron  wires.-ire  marked  /.  Platinoid  wires  are  marked/.  B.  M,  T.  Thermoelectric  junctions  in 
slab..  X.  Thermoelectric  junctions  in  oil  bath.  A.  Bath  of  molten  tin.  C.  Tank  of  cold  water.  D. 
Oil  bath.  E.  Thermometer.  F.  Junctions  of  platinoid  and  copper  wires.  The  wires  are 
insulated  from  one  another,  and  wrapped  altogether  in  cotton  wool  at  this  part,  to  secure  equality 
of  temperature  between  these  four  junctions,  in  order  that  the  current  through  the  galvanometer 
shall  depend  solely  on  differences  of  temperature  between  whatever  two  of  the  four  junctions. 
X,  T,  M,  B,  is  put  in  circuit  with  the  galvanometer.  G.  Galvanometer.  H.  Four  mercurj-cups. 
for  convenience  in  connecting  the  galvanometer  to  any  pair  of  thermoelectric  junctions,  x,  b,  fft,  t, 
are  connected,  through  copper  and  platinoid,  with  X,  B,  M,  T,  respectively. 


approximately  parallel   straight   lines  on  all  sides  of  the  centra 
line  BMT. 

§  II.  The  thermometer  which  we  used  was  one  of  Casella's 
(No.  64,168)  with  Kew  certificate  (No.  48,471)  for  temperature 
from  o^  to  100^,  and  for  equality  in  volume  of  the  divisions  above 
100°.  We  standardised  it  by  comjiarison  with  the  constant 
volume  air  thermometer'  of  Dr.  Bottomley  with  the  following 
result.  This  is  satisfactory  as  showing  that  when  the  zero  error 
is  corrected  the  greatest  error  of  the  mercury  thermometer, 
which  is  at  211°  C,  is  only  0-3". 
Reading. 


NO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


Air 

thermometer. 

O 
120-2  ... 
166-8  ... 
2II-I  ... 
2657  - 
'  Phil.  Mag,,  .\ugust  i3 


Mercury 
thermometer. 


Correction  to  be  subtracted 
from  reading  of  mercurj- 
thermometer. 


1-9         I'Q 

122-2  2-0 

16S-6        1-8 

212-7         1-6  . 

267-5        '"8 

,  and  Roy.  Soc.  Edin.  Prsc.  January  6, 


1 84 


NA  TURE 


[June  20,  1S95 


§  12.  Each  experiment  on  the  slate  and  granite  columns  lasted 
about  two  hours  from  the  first  application  of  heat  and  cold  ;  and 
we  generally  found  that  after  the  first  hour  we  could  keep  the 
temperatures  of  the  three  junctions  ver)-  nearly  constant. 
Choosing  a  time  of  best  constancy  in  our  experiments  on  each 
of  the  two  substances,  slate  and  granite,  we  found  the  following 
results  : — 

Slate  :  flux  lines  parallel  to  cleavage. 

f(T)  =  so°-2  C. 
70l)=  i23°-3- 

f(B)  =  202°-3. 

The  distances  between  the  junctions  were  BM  =  2'S7  cm.  and 
MT  =  2'6  cm.     Hence  by  the  formula  of  §  2, 


>i<M.  B)  _  731-^26    _  281  _ 


Kl,  M) 
Aberdeen  granite : 


79-0^257      307 

i'<T)  =  8l°l. 
f(B)  =2i4°-6. 


0-91. 


The  distances  between  the  junctions  were  BM  =  I  "9  cm.  and 
MT  =  2'0  cm. 

^(MB)  _  645-=-20  _  32^2  ^     .„„ 
-t(TMJ      69-0-=- 1-9      363 

§  13.  Thus  we  see,  that  for  slate,  with  lines  of  flux  parallel  to 
cleavage  planes,  the  mean  conducti\-ily  in  the  range  from  123°  C. 
to  202"  C.  is  91  per  cent,  of  the  mean  conductivity  in  the  range 
from  50'  C.  to  123°  C,  and  for  granite,  the  mean  conducti\nty 
in  the  range  from  145°  C.  to  214"  C.  is  SS  per  cent,  of  the  mean 
conductivity  in  the  range  from  81°  C.  to  145°  C.  The  general 
plan  of  apparatus,  described  above,  which  we  have  used  only  for 
comparing  the  conductivities  at  different  temperatures,  will,  we 
l)clieve,  be  found  readily  applicable  to  the  determination  of 
conductinties  in  absolute  measure. 


THE  RELATIOX  liRTWEEN  THE  MOVE- 
MENTS   OF    THE   EYES   AND    THE    MOVE- 
MENTS OF  THE  HEAD} 

AVE  all  know  that  it  was  a  long  time  before  mankind  found 
out  that  the  earth  moves.  For  ages  the  apparent  motion 
of  the  heavenly  Ixxlies  was  supposed  to  be  their  real  motion, 
the  earth  being  fixed.  We,  who  know  something  of  the  truth 
in  this  matter,  do  not,  however,  any  more  than  our  ancestors 
did,  see  or  feel  the  earth  move.  We  believe  that  it  does  so 
either  Ixsrause  we  have  Ijecn  told  by  some  one  who,  we  think, 
knows  about  such  things,  or  liecausc  we  have  reasoned  the 
matter  out  from  data  observe<l  by  ourselves  or  reported  by 
credible  olwcrvers.  But  in  habitual  thought  and  sjxjech  we  go 
liack  to  the  old  assumption  which,  for  our  practical,  terrestrial 
purposes,  answers  well  enough,  and  is  perfectly  in  accordance 
with  our  sensations. 

When  we  turn  from  the  great  Cosmos  to  the  microcosm  ; 
when  we  compare  the  motion  of  our  own  body  among  the 
v.irious  fixed  (terrestrially  fixed)  and  moving  bodies  around  us, 
with  the  motion  of  the  earth  among  the  stars,  we  find  quite  a 
different  slate  of  matters.  It  never  occurs  to  us  that  our  own 
l»ody  is  at  rest,  and  that  the  trees,  houses,  \c.,  move.  When 
we  really  move  we  not  only  know,  but  feel  and  see  that  we  are 
moving,  and  every  one  learned  or  ignorant,  old  or  young — if 
only  he  is  sober — feels  and  sees  that  the  solid  earth  is  fixed, 
except  on  the  rare  occa.sion  of  an  carthrjuake,  and  in  the  case 
of  .some  illusions  which  we  shall  have  to  consider.  I  wish  to 
discuvs  the  cause  of  this  sensation  of  the  fixedness  of  the  earth, 
and  also  inciflenlally  of  the  exception  implied  in  the  words  I 
have  juM  used,  "  if  only  he  is  sober." 

If  we  keep  our  head  fixed  and  look  at  any  really  fixed  scene 
—say.  a  room  in  whi'-h  there  is  nothing  moving — or  a  landsca|x:, 
■'  ■'   railway  trains,  ships,  moving  Iwasts, 

'"  '»'  our  eyes  to  run  over  it  in  as  uniform 

"'  •'•  —  >. •  •'  "•'•  •'-  >»<-•  please,  and  sec  that  Ihc  scene  remains 

fixed.     We  might   have  supposed  that,  as  we  move  our   eyes 

•  livcrcti  Jjcfore  the  OxTortl 
iiy  Muwrum,  Oxford,  on 


I 

.M.. 


NO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


from  right  to  left  the  whole  scene,  like  a  moving  (xinorama^ 
would  seem  to  move  from  left  to  right,  but  it  does  not  do  so. 
It  remains  visibly  at  rest,  and  we  know,  without  any  reasoning 
about  it,  that  the  changes  of  view  were  produced  by  the  motion 
of  our  eyes. 

We  fancy  that  we  can  move  our  eyes  uniformly,  that  by  a 
continuous  motion  like  that  of  a  telescope  we  can  move  our 
eyes  along  the  sky-line  in  the  landscape  or  the  cornice  of  the 
room,  but  we  are  wrong  in  this.  However  determinedly  we  try 
to  do  so,  what  actually  hapjiens  is,  that  our  eyes  move  like  the 
seconds  hand  of  a  w. itch,  a  jerk  and  a  little  pause,  another  jerk  and 
so  on  ;  only  our  eyes  are  not  so  regular,  the  jerks  are  sometimes  of 
greater,  sometimes  of  less,  angular  amount,  and  the  pauses  varj-  in 
duration,  although,  unless  wc  make  an  effort,  they  arc  always  short. 
During  the  jerks  we  practically  <lo  not  see  at  all.  so  thai  we  have 
before  us  not  a  moving  jxinorama,  but  a  series  of  fixed  pictures 
of  the  same  fixed  things,  which  succeed  one  another  rapidly.  It 
is  not  difficult  to  understand  how  this  gives  rise  to  a  sensation  of 
the  fixedness  of  the  external  scene.  If,  in  the  otherwise  fixed 
scene,  there  is  a  really  moving  object,  we  see  it  move,  because 
during  the  pauses,  short  .as  they  are,  the  moving  object  has 
visibly  changed  its  place,  and  in  each  of  our  fixed  pictures  the 
moving  object  is  seen  to  move.  If  it  moves  too  slowly  for  this, 
then  we  do  not  sec  it  move,  but  only  infer  its  motion  from  com- 
parison of  its  position  at  tlifferent  times.  If  we  keep  our  eyes 
fixed  on  the  moving  object,  and  this  is  possible  if  it  does  not 
move  too  fast  or  too  irregularly,  then  we  see  it  fixed  and  the 
really  fixed  things  moving,  an  illusion  we  have  all  observed 
when  the  pier  seems  to  move  and  the  steamer  remain  at  rest. 

That  the  eyes  jerk  in  the  way  now  stated  can  be  made  plain 
by  means  of  a  simple  ex|ieriment.  If  we  have  In  the  field  of 
view  a  bright  object,  such  as  an  incandescent  electric  lamp,  and 
after  running  our  eyes  over  the  scene  before  us,  shut  our  eyes, 
we  see  secondar)-  images  of  the  bright  object.'  Now  if  the 
eyes  move  continuously  from  one  position  to  another,  we  should 
see  lx;tween  the  two  secondary  nnages  of  the  bright  object 
corresponding  to  these  two  positions,  a  bright  band  compo.scd  of 
an  infinite  number  of  im.Tgcs  each  infinitely  near  its  two  neigh- 
bours. But  we  see  no  such  l»nd,  but  a  finite  numl)er  of  sharp 
individual  images,  each  of  which  corresponds  to  the  position  of 
the  eyes  during  a  pause  between  jerks  ;  unless  the  bright  object 
is  ver)'  bright,  there  is  nothing  in  the  secondary  image  to  repre- 
sent the  iX)sitions  of  the  eyes  during  the  jerk.  If  for  a  bright 
object  we  take  the  sun,  then  we  do  see  bands  joining  the  sharp 
seconilar)'  images.  These  Ixinds  are  fainter  than  the  sharp 
images,  and  die  away  soimer.  They  are  the  impressions  made 
on  the  retina  by  the  image  of  the  sun  jiassing  rapidly  across  it 
during  the  jerk.  But,  if  with  the  fixed  bright  object  in  the 
field  we  follow  with  our  eyes  a  really  moving  thing,  then  on 
shutting  the  eyes  we  see  a  band  of  light,  because  the  image  of 
the  bright  object  passed  not  very  rapidly  across  the  retina. 

This  habit  of  jerking  the  eyes  from  one  position  of  vision  to 
another,  as  fast  as  the  light,  wcll-jioised  globes  can  1k"  .swung 
round  by  the  quick  working,  straight-filircd  muscles  which 
move  them,  may  be  an  innate  habit,  or  it  may  have  l>ecn  ac- 
quired by  our  looking  at  things  and  turning  quickly  from  one 
object  of  interest  to  another  ;  at  all  events,  it  is  now  the  way  in 
which  alone  we  can  move  them,  unless  we  fix  them  on  a  moving 
object. 

So  far  I  have  supposed  the  head  fixed  and  the  eyes  alone 
moving.  Let  us  now  attend  to  what  happens  when  we  move 
our  head.' 

The  movement  of  the  head,  unless  il  is  very  rapid,  makes  no 
difference  at  all  in  the  phenomena  just  described. 

If  we  call  the  line  along  which  we  look  during  the  jxiuse 
between  the  two  jerks  a  glance-line,  we  may  describe  the  whole 
phenomenon  by  saying  thai  the  glance-lines  are  fixed  relatively 
to  fixed  external  olijecis,  whether  the  head  is  rotated  ur  not. 
This,  of  course,  means  that,  during  a  jiause,  the  eyes  are  rotated 
relatively  to  the  head  :il>oul  the  axis  about  which  the  head  is 
really  rotated,  in  the  opjiosile  sense  and  through  the  same  .angle 
OS  the  head. 

It  might,  for  all  that  has  lx:cn  yet  said,  be  supposed  thai  this 
fixedness  of  the  glance-lines,  when  the  head  is  rotated,  dei^nds 
on  the  li.abit  of  looking  at  things  ;  but  that  this  is  mil  ihe  cause, 
or,  at  all  events,  not  the  only  cause,  is  plain  from  the  fact  that 
the  same  relative  movements  of  ihe  eyes  take  place  when  wc 

_'  The  Mcondarj*  im.lKes  are  iKIIcr  seen  if  wc  look  at  a  white  surface  and 
wink  rapidly. 

'■i  Bv  "  moving  ihc  head,"  I  mean  moving  the  head  either  alone  or  along 
with  ine  body  or  anv  p.iri  .if  it. 


June  20,  1895] 


NATURE 


185 


look  at  an  objectless  field  of  view,  such  as  ihe  clear,  cloudless 
sky,  or,  as  was,  I  believe,  first  noticed  by  Dr.  lireuer,  when  the 
eyes  are  shut.  By  placing  the  fingers  lightly  over  the  closed 
eyelids  we  can  feel  the  motion  of  the  prominent  cornea.  If, 
with  eyes  shut  and  fingers  so  placed  on  the  eyelids,  we  turn  the 
head  or  turn  head  and  body  round,  we  feel  the  eyes  twitch.  As 
the  head  turns  round  the  eyes  retain  for  a  little  a  fixed  orientation 
in  respect  to  external  fixed  things,  and  then  jerk  so  as  to  make 
up  for  lost  time,  again  pause,  and  again  jerk,  and  soon.  .So  that 
while  the  head  turns  uniformly,  the  eyes,  which  iintst,  of  course, 
on  the  whole  make  one  full  turn,  while  the  head  makes  one  full 
turn,  do  their  rotation  intermittently,  being,  so  to  speak,  left 
behind  by  the  head,  and  then  making  up  by  a  rapid  jerk. 

Another  proof  that  these  compensatory  movements,  as  they 
may  be  called,  of  the  eyeballs  are  not,  or.  at  least,  not  wholly, 
caused  by  the  effort  of  looking  at  things,  is  afforded  by  ob- 
serving what  happens  when  the  head  is  rotated  about  a  fore  and 
aft  axis,  about  an  axis  coinciding  with  a  glance-line.  If  we  keep 
our  eyes  fixed  on  a  particular  point  and  rotate  the  head  about 
the  line  along  which  we  look,'  we  still  see  things  fixed,  the  world 
does  not  seem  to  revolve  about  our  fore  anrl  aft  axis.  Here  also 
we  can  show  by  means  of  secondary  images  that  we  see  a  series 
of  fixed  j^ictures. 

If,  with  a  bright  object  in  the  field  of  vision,  we  fix  our  eyes 
and  keep  them  fixed  on  a  jioint,  about  15°  distant,  from  the 
bright  object  (if  we  keep  both  eyes  open,  about  as  far  from  our 
eyes  as  the  bright  object  is,  so  as  to  avoid  double  vision),  and 
then  rotate  the  head  about  a  fore  and  aft  axis  through,  say,  30°  by 
inclining  the  head  towards  one  shoulder,  and  shut  the  eyes  after 
this  performance,  we  see  a  number  of  sharji  secondary  images  of 
the  bright  object  arranged  upon  an  arc  of  a  circle,  the  radius  of 
which  is  the  angular  distance  of  the  bright  object  from  the  point 
fixed. 

If  I  have  rotated  my  head  through  about  30',  I  see  about  five 
secondary  images,  so  that  what  I  call  the  atr^li'  of  rotatory 
nystagmus  is,  in  my  case,  about  6°.  Here  we  have  been  looking 
all  the  time  at  the  same  jioint,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  su]ipose  that 
the  very  slight  attention  we  pay  to  objects  seen  indirectly,  or,  as 
we  sometimes  say,  "  with  the  tail  of  the  eye,"  could  lead  to  a 
habit,  so  fixed  that  we  cannot  escape  it,  of  moving  the  eyeballs 
in  the  way  described. 

I  have  said  that  the  movement  of  the  head,  unless  it  is  very 
rapid,  does  not  affect  the  fixedness  of  the  glance-lines.  Trans- 
latory  motion  of  our  body  may  be  so  rapid,  as  in  a  railway  train, 
that  the  eyes  cannot  twitch  so  fast  as  to  keep  the  glance-lines 
fixed  relatively  to  near  fixed  objects. 

The  eyes  do  their  best,  they  twitch  but  not  enough,  unless 
the  train  is  moving  slowly,  and  near  objects  seem  to  fly  back- 
wards. We  succeed  with  fixed  objects  at  a  greater  distance 
from  us  ;  we  can  see  them  fixed,  and  all  ol)jects  between  us  and 
.such  visibly  fixed  objects  are  seen  to  move  liackwards,  fixed 
things  beyond  tliem  seem  to  mo\e  forward  with  us.  Of  course 
if,  by  keeping  our  attention  on  our  carriage  and  its  contents,  our 
glance-lines  bect)me  fixed  in  reference  to  these  really  moving 
things,  they  seem  fixed,  and  the  whole  world  outside  of  the 
carriage  is  seen  to  move  in  the  direction  opposite  to  that  of  our 
real  motion.  It  is  also  obvious  that  rotation  of  Ihe  head,  if  it 
is  more  rapid  than  the  quickest  possible  rotation  of  the  eyeball 
in  the  head,  must  affect  the  position  of  a  glance-line,  for,  in 
order  that  the  gl.ance-line  may  remain  fixed,  the  eyeball  must 
rotate  in  reference  to  the  head  as  fast  in  (me  sense  as  the  head 
rotates  in  reference  to  external  things  in  the  other  .sense  ;  but  in 
the  case  supposed,  the  eyeball  cannot  do  so.  We  can  try  this 
experiment  without  having  recourse  to  mechanical  means  of 
rotating  our  body  and  head,  which,  of  course,  we  could  do  as 
fast  as  we  please,  and  a  great  deal  faster  than  would  be  either 
]>leasant  or  safe.  The  most  rapid  rotation  of  our  head  which 
we  can  produce  by  the  direct  action  of  our  muscles  is  what  is 
known  as  wagging,  that  is,  a  rotation  about  a  vertical  axis  upon 
the  joint  between  the  first  two  vertebra;.  In  this  way  we  can 
give  the  head  an  angular  velocity  considerably  greater  than  the 
maximum  angular  velocity  of  the  eyeball.  When  we  do  this  as 
fast  as  we  can,  we  see  that  external  things  do  not  apjiear  steady. 
When  we  wag  our  head  to  the  right  we  see  the  world  wag  to 
the  left,  and  -.'in-  versa.  Hut  the  external  really  fixed  things 
do  not  appear  to  us  to  describe  nearly  so  large  an  angle  as  the 

1  If  we  lalce.l  sufficiently  disl,-im  object  as  the  tiling  to  be  loclicd  at,  wc 
may  neglect  the  want  of  coincidence  of  tlie  two  glance-lines  Ijeloiiging  to  ttic 
two  eyes,  andj  moreover,  all  that  is  here  described  is  seen  as  well,  though 
not  so  conveniently  with  one  eye  shut. 

NO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


head  really  does,  the  eyes  make  an  effort  to  compensate  the 
rotation  of  the  head,  an  effort  only  partially  successful,  the  angle 
through  which  external  things  seem  to  move  being  the  difference 
between  the  actual  angular  rate  of  movement  of  the  head,  and 
the  maximum  possible  angular  rate  of  movement  of  the  eyeball 
in  its  socket.  This  diflerence  can  best  be  observed  and,  indeed, 
can  be  approximately  measured  by  observing  a  distant  light  on 
a  dark  night,  while  we  wag  the  head.  The  point  of  light  seems 
drawn  out  into  a  horizontal  line  of  light,  the  apparent  length  or 
which  is  the  angular  diflerence  in  (piestion.  As  we  can  wag 
our  head  much  faster  than  we  can  nod  it,  the  apparent  length  01 
the  vertical  line  of  light  into  which  a  bright  point  is  drawn  out 
when  we  look  at  it  and  nod  as  rapidly  as  we  can,  is  much  less 
than  that  of  the  horizontal  line  of  light  just  spoken  of;  but  I 
find  that  I  can,  by  nodiling,  rotate  my  head  about  a  right  and 
left  axis  a  little  faster  than  I  can  rotate  my  eyes  aVjout  the  same 
axis,  so  that  the  luminous  point  does  appear  drawn  out  into  a 
short  vertical  line. 

Such  violent  movements  of  the  head  occur  sometimes  in  our 
ordinary  (not  experimental)  use  of  our  eyes,  but  they  are  rare 
and  isolated,  so  that  the  disturbance  of  the  fixedness  of  the 
glance-lines  which  they  cause  does  not  really  afi'ect  our  sense  01 
the  fixedness  of  the  world.  The  illusion  of  the  moving  pier  and 
fixed  steamer,  which  we  have  all  also  observed  when  there  is  a 
train  alongside  that  in  which  we  happen  to  be,  and  we  see 
the  moving  train  fixed  and  the  fixed  train  moving,  is  cor- 
rected by  looking  at  the  shore  or  the  railway  station.  For  a 
moment  these  also  seem  to  move,  but  our  glance-lines  almost 
instantly  become  fixed  in  reference  to  these  things  which  we 
know  are  fixed,  and  it  is  then  difficult  to  recall  the  illusion. 
Another  similar  case  is  that  of  the  moon  and  the  clouds.  We 
sometimes  see  the  moon  moving  and  the  clouds  fixed,  sometimes 
the  clouds  moving  and  the  moon  fixed,  as  our  glance-lines  are 
fixed  relatively  to  the  clouds  or  to  the  moon,  and  a  little 
practice  enables  us  to  change  from  the  one  sensation  to  the  other 
at  will. 

W'hat  has  been  said  seems  to  show  that  our  immediate  sense 
that  the  earth  and  what  we  call  fixed  objects  on  it  are  fixed  is  a 
consequence  of  the  way  in  which  we  move  our  eyes,  and,  in 
particular,  of  the  way  in  which,  by  a  suitable  movement  of  the 
eyeballs,  we  involuntarily  and  unconsciously  comjiensale  move- 
ments of  the  head,  voluntary  or  involuntary,  conscious  or 
unconscious.' 

That  such  an  immediate  sense  of  the  fixedness  of  external 
fixed  things  is  of  great  use  to  us  in  moving  about  among  them  is 
plainly  shown  w hen  we  observe  the  trouble  which  a  drunken  man, 
who  has  lost  this  sense,  has  in  guiding  himself. 

I  now  turn  to  the  qviestion.  What  is  the  cause  of  this  ]irompt 
and  wonderfiilly  accurate  compensatory  movement  of  the 
eyeballs  ? 

There  are  tliree  sources  from  which  we  can  obtain  information 
leading  to  an  answer.  ( I )  Kxiieriments  on  ourselves,  (2)  anato- 
mical observations  and  measurements,  and  (3)  observations  of 
the  effects  of  injuries  to  the  labyrinth  of  the  internal  ear. 

I  shall  consider  these  in  their  order. 

By  experiments  on  ourselves  I  mean  the  study  of  the  effect  on 
the  motion  of  the  eyes  and  on  our  sense  of  the  fixedness  of 
external  things,  of  movements  of  our  head  (in  this  case,  always 
along  w  ith  the  rest  of  our  body)  which  we  do  not  make,  as  a  rule, 
for  any  other  purjiose. 

I  have  already  staled  that  if  we  shut  our  eyes,  place  our  fingers 
on  the  eyelids,  and  turn  roundabout  a  vertical  axis,  we  feet  with 
our  fingers  the  jerking  motion  of  the  eyeballs.  If  instead  of 
turning  once  round,  we  turn  round  several  times,  still  better  if 
we  seat  our.selves  on  a  turning-table  and  get  some  one  else  to  turn 
it  and  us  round  at  a  uniform  rate,  we  find  that  the  jerks  become 
less  and  less  frequent,  and  after  two  or  three  turns  cease  alto- 
gether. .Another  thing  which  we  observe  is,  that  although  the 
turn-table  is  being  turned  round  at  a  perfectly  uniform  rate,  we 
feel  the  rotation  becoming  slower  and  slower,  and  when  the 
jerks  of  the  eyeballs  have  quite  ceased  we  feel  ourselves  at  rest, 
and  have  no  sens.alion  of  rotation.  Let  us  for  convenience  call 
the  sense  in  which  the  rotation  is  still  going  on  positive.  This 
uniform  juisitive  rotation  has  become  to  usim]>erce]itible  (as  King 
as  we  keeji  our  head  in  the  same  ]iosition  in  respect  to  the 
vertical),  and  is  what  we  may  call  a  new  zero  of  rotation.  If  the 
rale  of  rotation  is  now  increased,  we  feel  this  increase  as  a  positive 
rotation  ;  if  it  is  diminished,  we  feel  the  diminution  .as  a  negative 

1  I  need  hardly  repeat  that,  by  movements  of  the  he.ld,  I  mean  movements 
of  the  head  wliether  accompanied  or  not  by  movj  nents  of  the  body. 


iS6 


NA  TURE 


[June  20,  1895 


rotation — a  rotation  the  other  way  about.  What  we  really 
perceive  then  is  acceltralton  of  rotation,  using  the  word  ac- 
celeration in  its  technical  sense.  If  the  turn-table  is  stopped, 
this  is  a  negative  acceleration,  and  what  we  feel  is  that  we  are 
l>eing  turned  round  in  a  negative  sense,  and  at  the  same  time  «e 
feel  our  eyeballs  jerk.  The  sense  of  rotation  and  the  jerking  die 
away  in  this  as  in  the  former  case. 

If,  while  we  are  Iwing  turned  round  with  uniform  angular 
velixity,  but  after  all  sense  of  rotation  and  all  jerking  of  the 
eyeballs  have  ceased,  we  ojK'n  our  eyes,  we  still  feel  ourselves 
quite  at  rest,  but  we  .see  all  external  objects  turning  rounil  us  ;  as 
has  been  well  .said  by  Prof.  .Mach,  the  external  «orId  seems 
to  turn  round  inside  an  outer  unseen  fixed  worhl.  It  is  in 
reference  to  this  imaginary  fixe<l  world  that  our  glance-lines  are 
now  fixed.  If  the  rale  of  rotation  is  changed  while  the  eyes 
are  open,  the  sensation  of  rotation  is  exactly  the  same  as  if 
they  were  shut,  we  feel  the  acceleration — [xjsitive  or  negative — 
as  a  rotation  in  the  one  or  in  the  other  sense,  and  the  jerks  of 
the  eyeballs  take  place  as  if  the  real  external  world  were  not 
there,  and  we  were  looking  l)eyond  it  at  the  unseen  fixed  world 
outside  of  it,  that  imaginary  world  in  reference  to  which  our 
glance-lines  are  now  fixed. 

If  while  the  experiment  I  have  described  is  going  on,  we 
move  so  as  to  change  the  direction,  in  our  head,  of  the  axis  of 
rotation — for  instance,  if,  after  uniform  rotation  about  a  vertical 
a.xis  has  gone  on,  with  the  head  in  its  usual  ui>right  jiosition, 
until  the  sense  of  rotation  has  cea.sed,  we  1k)w  our  liead  forwards 
so  that  the  axis  of  rotation  is  now  parallel  to  a  line  from  the 
<Kciput  to  the  chin,  a  very  striking,  and  somewhat  alarming, 
but  most  instructive  sen.salion  is  ex|x;rienced.  What  we  feel  is 
that  we  are  being  turned  round  with  a  rotation  which  is  the 
resultant  of  two  rotations  of  equal  angidar  vclixity — one  the 
real  rotation  about  what  is  now  the  vertical,  the  other  the 
imaginar)-  (but  equally  perceived)  rotation  in  the  op|X)site  sense 
alxiut  the  line  in  the  head  which  was  vertical.  If  the  angular 
movement  of  the  head  is  small,  so  that  the  angle  between  what 
is  the  vertical  and  what  was  the  vertical  is  small,  then  the  two 
component  rotations  nearly  neutrali.se  one  another,  and  the 
.strange  and  alarming  resultant  is  slight ;  but  if  the  head  is  l)ent 
so  that  the  old  and  new  verticals  are  at  right  angles  to  one 
another,  the  real  and  the  imaginary  comijonenLs  are  bf>lh  felt  in 
full,  and  the  effect  is  ver)'  startling.  If  the  rate  of  rotation  is 
changed  simultaneou.sly  with  the  change  of  position  of  the  head, 
we  have  a  resultant  of  two  rotations  of  different  angidar 
veliKity.  The  most  easily  observed  c,i.se  of  this  kind  is  when 
the  rotation  is  stopped  altogether  at  the  moment  of  change  of 
p)sition  of  the  head.  Mere  the  rc-al  component  is  zero,  and  we 
have  only  the  imaginary  one.  This  is  the  case  of  the  well- 
known  practical  joke  :  a  man  is  asked  to  plant  the  poker  l)efore 
him  on  the  flixir.  pl.-ice  his  forehead  on  the  end  of  it,  walk 
round  it  three  times,  and  then  rise  and  walk  to  the  diHir.  The 
preliminary  |iart  of  this  ex|)erimenl  presents  no  ditliciilty  ;  the 
victim  pl.ints  the  poker,  puts  his  forehead  cm  it,  walks  round  it 
with  the  greatest  ca.se  and  with  no  sense  of  anything  unusual. 
But  when  he  rises,  the  line  in  his  heail  which  w.is  vertical  is  now 
horizontal,  and  he  feels  himself  turned  round  alwut  that 
horizontal  line.  The  external  world  he  also  .sees  turning  round 
this  line,  objects  on  the  one  side  rising  up  and  objects  on  the 
other  side  sinking  down.  In  this  visibly  sw.aying  world  he  has 
to  guide  his  .sensibly  rotating  lifxly,  and  if  his  friends  do  not 
catch  hold  of  him  he  is  pretty  sure  to  fall.  All  these  ex|XTi- 
mcnLs  are  most  conveniently  made  on  a  smrxjthly  working  turn- 
t.ablc  of  .such  a  size  that  one  can  comfortably  lie  down  U|xjn  it. 
liy  the  kindness  of  Messrs  Dove,  lighthouse  engineers,  I  had 
the  Use  of  a  large  turn-table  made  for  the  revolving  lantern  of  a 
lighthouse.  It  could  lie  turned  round  smiKithly  and  uniformly, 
at  the  mrxicralc  si)eed  that  is  most  .suit.ible  for  eX|K-rimenls  of 
the  kinil  in  question.  A  few  exixriments  with  such  an  ap- 
jiaraiiis  will  convince  any  one  that  we  have  here  to  do  with  a 
|>crfectlv  definite  .scn.sc,  and  not  with  any  vague  sensations 
caused  dy  the  inertia  of  the  soft  jxirts  of  the  Ixwly. 

This  is  one  of  the  ways  in  which  the  ])henomena  have  Ijccn 

''-■  ' '  '  ■    '■      '•  who  hesitate  to  Ix-lieve  that   there  can  Ix;  a 

'■  -e  1  inly  discovered   »ilhin   the  last  few  years. 

I  „         '   the  sensiition   is  not    in  the  soft   parts  of  the 

Ixxly  generHJIy,  Init  in  the  head,  is  made  ix;rfeclly  plain  by  the 
fact  that  the  (xisilion  of  the  head  and  the  changes  of  that 
|«>siii<.n  alone  determine  Ihe  sensations.  We  must  therefore 
|i-ik  in  the  head  for  Ihe  organ  of  this  .sen.se. 

In  clone    proximity   to  the  cochli-a.   which   is  universally  re- 


NO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


garded  as  the  oi^n  of  hearing,  there  is  an  organ  of  very 
striking,  and  we  might  say  mysterious,  form.  It  occurs  in  all 
vertebrates,  and  occurs  in  them  fully  developed,  except  in  tlie 
lowest  forms  of  fish.  It  is  contained  in  a  bony  or  cartilaginous 
cavity,  which  communicates  with  the  ctxrhlea  t»r  lagena.  This 
ca\-ity  may  lie  divided  into  the  vestibule  and  the  three  seniiciicular 
canals.  The  canals  i^jk-u  at  both  ends  into  the  vestibule,  and  eacli 
has  at  one  end  an  enlargement  called  the  ampulla.'  Within  this 
bony  case  is  contained  a  membranous  structure,  consisting  of  the 
utricle,  situated  in  the  vestibule,  and  three  membranous  canals, 
each  in  one  of  the  bony  canals,  each  with  an  ampulla  in  the 
Irany  ampulla,  and  each  opening  at  both  ends  into  the  utricle. 
The  vestibule  contains,  besides  the  utricle,  the  s.-icculc.  a  mem- 
branous Ixig  continuous  with  the  cochlear  tiuct,  and  has  in  the 
side  next  the  tympanic  cavity  a  hole  in  the  bony  wall  fdled  in 
by  a  membrane,  and  known  .as  theye«<',r/ra  m'alis.  The  s;iccule 
and  the  utricle  have  each  a  spot  on  the  lower  wall  supplied  with 
nerves  ending  in  hair-cells,  and  known  as  the  matiiln  aaistua. 

The  maciilic  aciisticit  are  probably,  as  suggested  by  Mach  and 
Breuer,  organs  fitted  to  ]ierceive  acceleration  of  translatory 
motion,  and  are  iu)(  connected  directly  with  the  function  of  the 
semicircular  canals.  The  fiiirslra  07Hi/is  belongs  to  the  organ  of 
hearing,  which  may  thus  be  said  to  have  a  right  of  way  througli 
the  vestibule.  We  need  not  therefore  here  consider  any  further 
these  organs,  but  confine  ourselves  to  the  semicircular  canals  and 
the  utricle  in  its  relation  to  them.  As  already  stated,  each  Ixmy 
canal  contains  a  membninous  canal.  The  membranous  canal  is, 
except  at  the  ampulla,  nuich  smaller  in  bore  than  the  bony 
canal,  so  that  the  sjiace  outside  the  mend)ran»>us  canal  filled  « ilh 
|x;ril)Tnph,  is  much  greater  than  the  sjwce  inside  filled  with 
endolymph.  The  membranous  ampulla  much  more  nearl)-  fills 
the  bony  ampulla,  so  that  here  the  perilymph  sjxice  is  compara- 
tively small.  The  membranous  canal  is  pretty  firmly  attached 
(in  .some  animals,  at  all  events)  to  the  periosteum  of  Ihe  bony 
canal,  so  that  in  man  a  section  has  somewhat  this  form  : 


ETX 


'iT^TUpK 


endolynipK 


Each  canal  is,  in  all  animals  I  have  examined,  approxim.ately 
in  a  plane,  and  it  is  iniporlanl  to  consider  the  relations  of  these 
planes  to  one  aimlher  and  to  Ihe  mesial  plane  of  the  head. 

As  I  have  limughl  part  of  the  api«ratus  with  me,  I  may 
shortly  describe  the  melluxl  I  used  to  measure  the  angles  which 
these  planes  make  with  one  another,  and  also  an  improved 
methixl,  of  uhich  I  have  not  yet  had  time  to  make  any  \ery  h\\\ 
trial. 

[The  method  illustrated  by  tlie  luinian  skull  shown  is  fully 
described,  with  woodcuts  from  nholographs,  in  I'rof.  McKend- 
rick's  "  Text-book  of  I'hysiolDg^-,  '  vol.  ii.  pp.  697-699,  and  there- 
fore need  not  be  reprinted  here.  The  other  metluxl  will,  I  ho|K-, 
give  more  accurate  measurements.] 

It  consists  in  alt.aching  the  preimration  -either  a  cast  of  the 
canals,  or,  in  the  case  of  a  bird,  the  dissected  and  cleaned  Ixjny 
canals — to  one  ann  of  a  branched  rod,  and  a  lump  of  wax  to  the 
other.  The  ro<l  is  then  fixed  to  the  large  apparatus  already 
referred  to.  The  canals  are  successively  made  liorizontal,  and  a 
small  plate  of  glass  fixed  horizontally  in  each  case-  parallel 
therefore  to  e.ich  canal  lo  tlic  lump  of  wax.  We  can  alsii 
att.ach  a  glass  plate  parallel  lu  the  mesial  plane.  We  can  thus 
have,  on  a  com|«ratively  small  piece  of  wax,  glass  plates  parallel 
to  all  Ihe  planes,  the  relations  of  which  to  one  another  are  to  be 
me.-usured.  The  lump  of  wax  is  then  remove<l  from  the  rod,  and 
the  angles  between  the  iilanes  of  the  glass  jilatcs  measured  by 
means  of  an  ordinary  reflexion  goniometer. 

The  general  results  art  : 

(1)  The  canals  do  not  lie  rigorously  in  ])lanes,  but  sulliciently 
nearly  so  to  give  closely  accordant  results. 

(2)  The  external  canals  are  very  nearly  at  right  angles  to  the 
mesial  plane,  and  therefore,  from  the  bilateral  symmetry,  Ihe  two 
external  canals  are  very  nearly  in  one  plane. 

{3)  The  superior  and  |x).sterior  canals  of  the  .same  side  make 

*  In  .-ill  anim.iU  (he  non-.impuU.irx-  ends  of  the  superior  and  the  iiosterior 
canal  li.ivc  .1  common  opening  into  tlie  vcstiliiilc. 


June  20,  1895] 


NATURE 


18; 


ii|i|)roximately  equal  angles  with  the  mesial  plane.  In  all  cases 
which  I  have  examined,  the  angle  between  the  posterior  canal 
and  the  mesial  plane  is  somewhat  larger  than  that  between  the 
superior  canal  and  the  mesial  plane. 

From  the  bilateral  symmetry,  therefore,  the  superior  canal  of 
Ihe  one  side  is  nearly,  but  not  quite,  parallel  to  the  posterior 
canal  of  the  other  side.  In  the  discussion  of  the  way  in  which 
the  system  of  canals  may  Ije  supposed  to  act,  I  shall  for  con- 
venience assume  that  these  canals  are  parallel,  as  the  deviation 
from  exact  parallelism  only  complicates,  but  does  not  at  all 
vitiate,  the  argument. 

(4)  In  man,  and  in  a  large  number  of  other  animals,  the  three 
canals  are  very  nearly  at  right  angles  to  one  another.  But,  in  a 
good  many  of  the  animals  I  have  looked  at,  the  superior  and 
posterior  canals  make  with  one  another  an  angle  considerably 
greater  than  a  right  angle. 

Looking  at  the  six  canals  as  forming  one  system,  we  see  that 
we  have  three  axes,  that  at  right  angles  to  each  axis 
there  are  two  canals,  one  in  the  one  internal  ear,  the  other 
in  the  other ;  these  two  canals  having  their  ampulla;  at 
opposite  ends,  so  that  if  rotation  takes  place  about  the 
axis,  the  ampulla  in  the  one  case  precedes  the  canal,  in 
the  other  follows  it.  The  vertical  axis,  as  we  may  call  that  at 
right  angles  to  the  two  external  (or  horizontal)  canals,  is  pretty 
nearly  vertical  in  most  animals,  in  the  usual  position  of  the  head 
when  the  animal  looks  to  the  horizon  ;  in  man  it  is  lot  exactly 
so,  we  must  bow  our  head  a  little  to  make  this  axis  vertical.  If 
we  suppose  we  are  looking  north,  the  other  two  axes  are  north- 
east and  south-west  and  north-west  and  south-east  respectively. 
In  man  they  pass  from  the  eye  of  one  side  to  the  mastoid  ])ro- 
cess  of  the  other  side,  and  are  nearly  at  right  angles  to  one 
another.  As  already  stated,  in  some  animals  they  are  inclined 
and  are  nearer  the  right  and  left  than  the  fore  and  aft  line  in  the 
head. 

In  order  to  see  how  such  a  system  can  work  as  a  hydro- 
dynamical  instrument,  let  us  first  consider  one  canal. 

Here  we  have  two  watery  liquids,  the  endolymph  within  the 
membrantfus  canal,  its  amj^ulla  and  the  utricle,  the  perilymph 
between  these  and  the  bony  case.  How  will  these  behave  when 
rotation  takes  place  about  an  axis  normal  to  the  plane  of  the 
canal  ?  The  inertia  of  the  liquids  will  tend  to  produce  a  flow 
through  the  canal  in  the  sense  opjxisite  to  that  of  the  rotation. 

Let  the  rotation  take  place  so  that  the  ampulla  precedes  the 
canal.  Here  the  endolymph  will  tend  to  flow  from  the  utricle 
into  the  .ampulla,  and  thence  through  the  canal  to  the  utricle 
again.  But,  as  Mach  has  pointed  out,  the  canal  has  too  small 
a  bore  to  allow  of  any  sensible  flow  through  it,  so  that  the 
effect  of  this  rotation  will  be  to  increase  the  pressure  within  the 
membranous  ampulla.  But  (and  this  is  a  point  to  which,  as  far 
a,s  I  kn(jw,  no  one  has  hitherto  called  attention)  as  there  will 
also  he  a  tendency  of  the  pcrilynq)h  to  circulate,  so  in  its 
circle  there  is  also  a  narrow  place,  namely  at  the  ampulla  : 
for  as  the  membranous  ampulla  nearly  fills  its  bony  case,  there 
is  not  nmch  room  there  for  the  perilymph  to  pass  from  the 
vestibule  into  the  space  .surrounding  the  membranous  canal. 
There  will,  therefore,  be  a  diminution  of  pressure  of  perilynq>h 
at  the  ampullary  end  of  the  canal,  so  that  the  ampullary  walls 
will  be  stretched  by  the  increase  of  pressure  within  and  the 
diminution  of  pressure  withtmt.  Of  course  when  the  rotation 
is  kept  up  uniformly  for  some  lime  the  pressure  inside  and 
outside  of  the  membranous  ampulla  is  soon  equalised,  and  the 
stretching  or  relaxation  ceases.  With  the  cessation  of  the 
stretching  the  sensation  must  also  cease. 

If  now  the  rotation  is  stopped  the  |ierilympli  and  endolymph 
will  lend  to  move  on,  .and  pressure  will  be  produced  inside  the 
membranous  anqiulla  of  that  canal,  which  during  the  rotation 
moved  with  anqiulla  following  the  canal. 

All  this  will  of  course  be  reversed  when  the  rotation  takes 
place  with  the  ampulla  following  the  canal  ;  the  pressure  inside 
the  membranous  auqmlla  will  be  diminished,  that  without 
increased,  and  the  walls  will  become  flaccid. 

In  each  membranous  ampulla  there  is  a  so-called  crista  acustica 
where  nerves  terminate  in  hair-cells,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to 
sup|Kise  that  stretching  of  the  ampullar)'  walls  will  irritate  these 
nerve-endings,  while  a  relaxation  of  the  ampullary  walls  will 
I>roduce  no  irritation.  If  this  be  so,  then  we  have  three  axes 
each  with  an  organ  sensitive  to  rotation  about  it  in  either  sense, 
and  caixxble  of  discriminating  between  the  two  ;  and  as  every 
rotation  of  the  head  can  be  resolved  into  component  rotations 
about   these   three  axes,  we   have  the   means  of  perceiving  the 

NO.    1338,  VOL.  52] 


axis  and  what  we  may  call  the  intensity  of  the  rotation,  or 
perhaps  more  correctly  the  rotational  acceleration. 

This  hydrokinetic  theory  of  the  function  of  the  semicircular 
canals  was  propoun<led  at  very  nearly  the  same  time  by  I'rof. 
-Mach  of  Prague,  Dr.  Breuer  of  Vienna,  and  myself.  I  give 
the  names  in  the  order  of  publicali<m.  The  views  expressed 
by  us  were  not  exactly  the  same,  and  the  statement  of  the 
theory  I  have  just  given  is  any  one  of  them  with  additions  and 
corrections  from  the  other  two. 

I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  refer  to  the  hydrostatic 
theor)'  of  Goltz,  or,  indeed,  to  give  any  details  of  the  literature  of 
the  subject.  .\  very  full  and  accurate  digest  of  almost  every 
thing  that  has  been  written  on  the  functions  of  the  several 
parts  of  the  labyrinth  of  the  ear  has  been  published  in  Russian 
by  Dr.  Stanislaus  vcm  .Stein,  and  translated  into  German  by  Dr. 
C.  von  Krzywicki. 

The  theory  as  I  have  just  described  it  might  perhaps  have 
been  developed,  as  I  have  here  developed  it,  from  a  considera- 
tion of  the  strvicture  and  position  of  the  canals.  But,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  this  was  not  the  historical  order.  It  was  the 
experiments  of  Flcurens  that  first  directed  attention  to  these 
organs  as  having  something  to  do  with  the  equilibrium  of  the 
body. 

In  reference  to  these  experiments  and  those  made  since  by 
many  able  physiologists  and  skilled  operators,  I  shall  only  say 
that  the  results  seem  to  me  to  be  consistent  with  the  hydro- 
kinetic  theory.  Certain  of  de  Cyon's  experiments,  in  which  he 
increased  the  pressure  in  the  canals  by  inserting  in  them  small 
tangle  plugs  without  producing  any  nystagmus  or  rotatory 
movements  of  the  head,  appear  to  contradict  the  theory.  But 
increase  of  pressure  in  the  bony  canal  can  have  no  tendency  to 
stretch  the  walls  of  the  membranous  ampulla,  and  therefore 
could  not  be  expected,  if  the  theory  as  I  have  stated  it  is  correct, 
to  produce  a  sensation  of  rotation  ;  what  is  required,  is  that  the 
pressure  inside  the  membranous  ampulla  should  be  greater  than 
that  outside  of  it. 

The  symptoms  observed  in  cases  of  disease  of  the  internal  ear 
also  appear  to  support  this  hydrokinetic  theor)-. 

But  the  position  of  the  canals  in  close  anatomical  relation  to 
the  organ  of  hearing  had  impressed  on  the  minds  of  physiologists 
so  obstinate  an  opinion  that  they  must  be  connected  with  the 
perception  of  sound  in  some  way  or  other,  that  even  now  many 
will  not  admit  that  they  are  the  peripheral  organs  of  a  sense 
of  rotation. 

A  favourite  theory  was  (and  there  are  still  some  who  hold  it) 
that  the  semicircular  canals  give  us  information  as  to  the  direction 
in  which  sovmd  comes  to  us.  There  are  two  ways  in  which  we 
can  show  that  this  view  is  erroneous. 

(ll  By  considering  the  physical  conditions. 

The  shortest  soimd  wave  which  we  can  hear  is  so  long  com- 
pared with  the  dimension  of  the  ear,  that  every  part  of  the  ear 
nnist  be  at  any  instant  in  the  same  phase  of  the  wave.  We  must 
assume  that,  as  far  as  Ihe  effect  of  such  sound  waves  is  concerned, 
the  liquid  contents  of  the  internal  ear  are  inconqiressible.  It  is 
as  absurd  to  speak  of  sound-waves  travelling  round  one  of  the 
canals  as  to  say  that  it  is  high  water  at  one  end  of  a  dock  and 
low  water  at  the  other,  at  the  same  time. 

(2)  By  experiments  on  the  way  in  which  we  really  do  perceive 
the  direction  of  sound.  I  shall  describe  two  such  experiments. 
{a)  Let  the  observer  close  his  eyes — for  security  it  is  best  to 
bandage  them — seat  liimself  in  a  chair,  and  keep  his  head  steady. 
Now  let  an  assistant  prodiu:e  a  sharp  short  sound.  In  showing 
this  experiment  to  Section  I)  of  the  British  A.ssociation,  at  its 
meeting  at  Belfast  in  1874,  I  used  three  coins  in  the  w.ay  I  show 
you  now.  The  observer  can  tell  with  really  astonishing  ac- 
curacy whether  the  sound  comes  from  the  right  or  fri>m  the  left, 
because  he  hears  it  louder  in  the  nearer  ear,  but  he  is  without 
any  knowledge  at  ail  as  to  whetheril  comes  from  above  or  below, 
from  the  front  or  the  back.  Me  forms  a  judgment  indeed  on 
this  point,  but  his  judgment  is  usually  wrong,  often  very 
ludicrously  so. 

The  experiment  is  most  striking  when  the  click  is  produced  in 
the  mesial  plane  of  his  head,  in  which  case  he  has  not  the  binaural 
eflect  to  ln'ip  him.  In  this  connection  I  may  s;iy  that  I  know  no 
experimeiU  which  illustrates  so  well  the  marvellous  ileltcacy  of 
our  sense  of  relative  loudness  of  sound,  a  very  small  deviation 
from  the  mesial  plane  being  quite  certainly  recognised. 

We  have  then  with  one  ear  no  means  of  ascertaining  the 
direction  of  sound  if  we  keep  the  head  fixed.  How  then  do 
we  ascertain  the  direction  of  sound  ?  for  we  all  know  that  we 


i88 


NA  TURE 


[June  20,  1895 


-.1  with  very  considerable  accuracy.  This  leads  me  to 
thu  second  e\|5eriment.  (*)  Let  the  observer,  still  with  eyes 
closed  and  bandaged,  stand  up  and  tie  at  liberty  to  move  his 
head.  Let  the  assistant  produce  the  clicking  sound,  not  once 
only,  but  again  and  again  at  short  intervals,  always  in  the  same 
place.  The  obser\er  turns  round  until  he  faces  the  source  of 
sound.  He  knows  that  he  is  facing  it  when  he  hears  it  equally 
loud  in  b.5th  ears,  and  hears  it  to  the  right  when  he  turns  a 
little  to  the  left,  and  to  the  left  when  he  turns  a  little  to  the  right, 
that  is  the  criterion  of  whether  the  source  is  behind  or  before 
him.  Having  now  got  the  aziniuth,  he  seeks  the  altitude. 
Moving  his  head  about  a  right  and  left  axis,  he  seeks  the  jxjsition 
in  which  he  hears  the  sound  l)est.  He  is  now  looking  towards 
the  source  of  the  sound. 

The  concha  of  the  external  ear  acts  as  a  screen,  and  it  is 
remarkable  how  much  difference  there  is  in  the  quality  as  well 
as  in  the  loudness  of  most  sounds  with  different  altitudes. 

Stand  in  front  of  a  pi|)e  from  which  water  is  rushing,  and 
move  the  head  round  a  right  and  left  axis,  bow,  in  fact,  to  the 
pipe,  and  a  striking  difference  in  the  quality  and  loudness 
of  the  sound  will  be  observed  in  the  different  |X)sitions  of 
the  head. 

It  may  Ik;  said  birds  have  no  concha,  and  yet  they  perceive  as 
well  as  we  do  the  direction  of  sound.  But  there  is  a  method 
by  which,  without  any  use  of  the  action  of  the  concha,  and 
by  purely  binaural  observations,  we  can  ascertain  the  direction 
of  sound.  By  one  observation,  as  already  described,  we  can 
find  a  plane  containing  the  line  along  which  the  sound  reaches 
us.  That  plane  is  at  right  angles  to  the  line  joining  our  two 
ears.  By  moving  the  head  we  can  shift  the  line  joining  our  two 
ears,  and  then  by  another  similar  observaiion  obtain  the  plane 
at  right  angles  to  the  new  position  of  the  line  joining  the  two 
ears  and  containing  the  direction  of  sound.  The  direction  of 
sound  is  the  intersection  of  these  two  planes. 

I  do  not  think  we  use  this  method  (allh<uigh  I  have  tried  it 
and  found  it  work),  but  we  often  see  birds  incline  their  heads 
when  listening  in  such  a  way  as  to  suggest  that  they  use  it. 

There  is  another  objection  which  is  often  brought  ag.iinst  the  j 
theory  I  have  Ixren  explaining.  It  is  said,  "  Is  it  conceivable 
that  there  should  lie  a  special  sense,  common  to  man  and  all 
vertebrate  animals,  which  has  remained  unknown  till  about 
twenty-two  years  ago  ?  This  is  a  sense  invented,  not  discovered 
by  scientilic  men,  otherwise  we  should  all  have  known  about  its 
existence  at  least." 

This  objection  is  not  one  to  be  met  by  contempt ;  it  has  a 
real  basis,  and  as  I  believe  this  sense  to  be  a  real  one,  I  feel 
bound  to  look  for  the  cause  of  the  incredulity. 

.\  six-cial  sense  is  (xipularly  understood  to  be  a  gateway  of 
knowledge.  Information  as  to  external  things  comes  to  us  in 
various  ways,  and  each  of  these  ways  has  from  ancient  time 
been  recognised  and  named  as  a  special  sense.  But  this  is  not 
exactly  the  physiological  way  of  looking  at  things.  I  may 
illustrate  the  ilifference  by  a  sort  of  analog)'.  In  a  large  busi- 
ness estal)lishment  the  manager  sits  in  his  room  upstairs.  He 
has  various  ways  of  getting  information.  The  post  brings  him 
letters,  he  lofiks  at  them  ;  some  he  carefully  considers  and 
answers,  others  he  looks  at  and  puts  into  the  waste-paper 
lasket— but  he  has  hxiked  at  them  all.  So  we  sec  things; 
many  of  the  things  we  consider,  take  note  of,  others  we  pay  no 
attention  to — do  not  an  hour  later  remember  anything  about 
them.  But  there  are  many  messages  which  come  to  the  busi- 
ness establishment  anil  never  reach  (he  manager's  nmni  at  all. 
They  are  allcndtd  to  by  clerks  in  the  oliice.  They  are  not 
futile,  they  are  real  mess.agcs  and  serve  their  purpose,  a  purpose 
cssenlial  lo  the  carr)'ing  on  of  the  business.  If  these  were  not 
attended  to  downstairs,  the  manager  would  ver)'  soon  hear  of  it. 
So  with  us.  There  are  what  we  may  call  sensory  impressions 
which  ilo  not  make  their  way  lo  the  conscious  li^,  but  arc  all 
the  same  properly  attended  lo  by  what  in  us  correspon<ls  lo  the 
clerks.  If  our  clerks  neglect  Iheir  work,  the  conscious  Ego 
ver)'  S4)'m  Iwcomes  aware  thai  ihere  is  something  wrong. 

In  ihe  case  of  ihc  sense  of  rotation,  ordinarily  we  |)ay  no 
attention  lo  its  mess-iges  — Ihc  clerks  at  the  sensory  cenlres  of 
the  ampullary  nerves,  and  aX  the  motor  cenlres  of  the  muscles 
of  Ihc  eyeUdls,  do  all  thai  is  necessary.  We  ixrrceive  the  result 
of  Ihcir  work  in  our  visual  sense  of  Ihe  fixedness  of  ihe  outside 
world,  anil  we  do  not  Irmilile  ourselves  as  to  how  Ihe  office  work 
has  JK-'cn  done. 

Hut  and  here  I  come  lo  a  matter  I  referred  to  early  in  this 
Irrtiire^the  office  work    is  vimeliines   not   well   diine,  and  the 

NO.    1 338,  VOL.   52] 


visual  sense  of  the  fixedness  of  the  outside  world  is  lost.  If 
this  is  due  to  disease,  we  send  for  the  doctor  and  ask  him  to 
find  out  what  is  wrong  in  the  office,  and,  if  he  can.  put  it  right. 
But  Ihere  is  a  far  more  common  cause  of  the  loss  of  the  visual 
sense  of  the  fixedness  of  the  outside  world,  one  which  it  has 
not  been  left  for  two  or  three  scientific  men  lo  discover  in  the 
last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  most  characteristic 
effect  of  alcohol  is  to  make  all  reflex  actions  sluggish. 
Under  the  influence  of  a  moderate  dose  of  alcohol,  what  I 
have  called  the  office  work,  goes  on  all  right  but  not  quite 
so  fast  as  with  no  alcohol.  The  iness.age  arrives,  and  the 
answer  is  sent,  but  not  quite  so  promiitly.  The  conscious 
Ego  may  not  note  anything  wrong,  but  a  quantity  of  alcohol, 
far  short  of  a  dangerously  ix)isonous  dose,  may  delay  the 
transmission  of  the  signal  to  the  muscles  of  the  eyel)all  so  much 
as  to  affect  quite  perceptibly  the  compens;ition  of  the  move- 
ments of  the  head.  .V  jwrfectly  sober  man  sees  the  world  wag 
a  little  when  he  wags  his  head  very  vigorously  — a  i>oint  of 
light  is  perceptibly  drawn  out  into  a  horizontal  line  of  lights 
the  office  work  fails  a  little  under  such  extreme  pressure.  But 
a  little  alcohol  makes  the  office  work  fail  more  readily,  and  as 
the  dose  is  increa.sed  it  fails  altogether,  and  the  sense  vif  the 
fixedness  of  the  world  is  wholly  lost.  Kven  in  such  an  extreme 
case  of  intoxication,  short  of  paralysis,  thetlrunken  man  may  see 
the  world  steady,  if  only  he  can  kee])  himself  steady.  I  dare 
say  we  have  all  seen  very  drunken  men  walking  quite  straight, 
but  with  a  preternatural  fixeilness  of  the  head.  If  anything 
makes  them  move  their  head,  they  totter  and  reel.  They  move 
the  head  a  little  :  that  happens  to  them  in  consequence  of  a 
small  and  slow  rotation  of  the  head,  which  happens  to  us  when 
we  wag  our  head  violently,  and  they  reel  and  stagger  just  as  we 
should  reel  and  stagger  if  we  tried  to  walk,  violently  wagging 
our  head  all  the  lime. 

Just  as  there  are  blind  men  and  deaf  men,  so  there  are  men 
who  have  lost  or  never  had  the  sense  of  rotation.  Such 
persons  are  almost  always  deaf-mutes.  The  close  anatomical 
relation  of  the  organ  of  heating  and  the  organ  of  the  sense  of 
rotatiiwi  has  this  effect,  that  imperfect  develoimienl  of  jiiitho- 
logical  injury  of  the  one  is  usually  associateil  with  similar  defect 
in  the  other.  .\nil  exjieriments  on  deaf-mutes  have  shown  that 
a  large  proportion  of  them  are  defective  in  the  sense  of  rotation. 
This  is  shown  by  the  absence  of  the  normal  jerking  of  the  eye- 
IkiIIs  when  they  are  rotated,  and  by  a  perceptible  insecurity  in 
their  gait.  They  tlo  not  reel  as  driuiken  men  do,  just  as  blind 
men  find  their  way  about  much  belter  than  we  could  do  if  our 
eyes  were  bandaged  up  :  they  have  learned  to  gel  on  fairly  well 
with  the  help  of  ex]ierionce  ami  iheir  other  senses. 

I  am  not  sure  «  helher  in  this  account  of  the  sense  of  rotation, 
of  its  organ,  and  of  the  use  of  it,  I  have  carried  all  my  hearers 
with  me,  and  convinced  you  of  Ihe  real  existence  and  real 
practical  use  of  ihis  sense.  I  hope,  however,  I  h:ive  made  it 
clear  thai  the  sulyect  is  worthy  of  attention,  and  that  we 
h.ave  here  matter  fiir  the  careful  consideration  of  physicists, 
physiologists,  and  psychologists. 

UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
OxKORi). — In  a  Convocation,  held  on  Tuesday  last,  Iho 
University,  or  at  le.-ujt  a  section  of  it,  displayed  itself  in  an 
unfavourable  light.  The  Convocation  House  was  crowded,  not 
because  of  the  Statute  on  Research  Degrees,  which  came  before 
the  House,  and  passed  its  final  stage  without  opposition,  Imt 
because  of  the  proposid,  which  seemed  to  be  a  modest  one, 
that  .\nthro|iology  should  be  included  anuing  the  subjects  of  the 
I'inal  .School  of  Natural  Science,  not  as  an  extra,  but  as  an 
equivalent  subjecl.  This  prmiosal  was  from  Ihe  first  strongly 
opposed  by  a  few  members  of  Congregation,  but  p.issed  the  two 
readings  in  that  body  by  subslanllal  majorities.  The  opponents 
of  the  subjecl,  however,  were  not  content  to  accept  the  results 
of  these  voles,  aiul  issued  an  urgent  whip  to  members  of  Convo- 
cation, with  the  result  that  the  statute  was  rejected  by  68  votes 
against  60.  I'resumably  the  philosojihers,  historians,  and 
divines  who  succeeded  in  throwing  out  the  statute  at  its  final 
stage  are  pleased  with  their  performance.  To  the  outside  world, 
which  is  less  than  ever  convinced  that  education  is  comprised 
within  the  limits  of  the  subjects  of  the  School  of  l.iter.e 
Humaniores,  Iheir  action  will  be  but  another  instance  of  the  in- 
comjielency  of  a  section  of  the  classical  world  to  understand 
what  is  going  on  around  ihem.     The  circular  which  was  issued 


June  20,  1895] 


NATURE 


189 


by  the  opponents  of  the  statute  was  so  artfiilly  worded  as  to 
rouse  theological  suspicions.  Reference  was  made  to  the  un- 
desirability  of  the  comparative  study  of  religions,  and  it  was 
obvious  that  a  considerable  proportion  of  those  who  attended  to 
vote  against  the  measure,  had  come  in  obedience  to  a  summons 
to  resist  the  enemy,  and  were  in  no  way  qualified  to  form  a 
judgment  on  educational  matters.  The  larger  proportion,  how- 
ever, consisted  of  those  classical  teachers  whose  belief  it  is  that 
science  may  safely  be  ignored  in  a  nineteenth  century  education, 
and  that  a  "good  general  education  "  means  only  a  training  in 
the  Greek  and  Latin  languages,  with  a  smattering  of  ancient 
history  anti  philosophy.  The  result  of  the  vote  was  a  great  dis- 
appointment to  those  who  had  hoped  that  the  work  of  Prof. 
Tylor,  Prof  .Vrthur  Thomson,  and  Mr.  H.  Balfour,  would  find 
its  fruition  in  a  small  but  earnest  school  of  anthropologists  in 
O.\ford. 


The  National  Association  for  the  Promotion  of  Technical  and 
Secondary  Kducation  has  made  arrangements  for  a  Conference  of 
the  repre.sentatives  of  Technical  Education  Committees  to  be 
held  at  the  Royal  United  Service  Institution,  on  July  11,  when 
the  Duke  of  Devonshire,  President  of  the  Association,  will  take 
the  chair.  The  object  of  [this  Conference  is  to  discuss  means 
whereby  the  various  authorities  charged  with  the  provision  of 
technical  education  may  be  brought  into  closer  relatioiiship,  and 
may  be  enabled  to  avail  themselves  of  the  results  of  the 
experience  of  others  as  regards  many  important  details  of  their 
work.  Among  the  subjects  which  it  is  proposed  to  deal  with 
are  (a)  scholarships  (local  conditions  and  uniformity  in  respect 
to  award  and  tenure),  {b)  evening  continuation  schools  (the 
co-ordination  of  their  work  with  that  of  evening  science,  art, 
and  technical  classes),  (1)  trade  and  tectinology  classes  and  their 
relation  to  the  various  trades. 

The  chemical  and  engineering  societies  formed  by  the  members 
of  many  of  our  polytechnic  institutes  might  emulate,  with  advan- 
tage, the  Engineering  Society  of  the  School  of  Practical  Science, 
Toronto.  We  have  lately  received  a  volume  of  253  pages  con- 
taining the  papers  read  before  the  Society  during  the  session 
1894-95.  The  papers  refer  to  both  the  theoretical  and  practical 
sides  of  engineering,  and  their  publication  cannot  but  encourage 
investigation  among  the  students.  A  plan  adopted  by  this 
Society,  and  by  a  number  of  American  societies  of  a  similar 
kind,  is  worth  noting.  Before  a  paper  is  read,  150  proofs  of  it 
arc  distributed  among  engineers  and  specialists  interested  in  the 
subject  with  which  it  deals,  and  their  opinions  upon  any  par- 
ticular point  are  invited.  The  replies  received  are  read  after  the 
paper,  and  help  to  make  the  discussion  more  general  and  of 
greater  value  than  it  otherwise  would  be. 

The  Corporation  of  the  Mas.sachu.setts  Institute  of  Technology, 
Boston,  have  a  good  understanding  of  what  technical  education 
means.  The  following  par.igraph,  from  the  Calendar  of  the 
Institute  received  a  few  days  ago,  should  be  borne  in  mind  by 
the  organisers  of  technical  education  in  this  country: — "The 
foundation  of  all  sound  technological  education  requires  not  only 
thorough  theoretical  training,  liut  also  prolonged,  well-directed 
laboratory  drill  which  shall  first  give  the  student  the  power  of 
cIo.se  and  accurate  observation,  and  then  bring  him  into  direct 
contact  with  the  material  problems  of  his  future  profession."  It 
is  by  acting  upon  this  educational  principle  that  the  Massachu- 
setts Institute  has  gained  such  a  large  measure  of  success. 

Tables  showing  the  number  and  proportion  of  pupils  attend- 
ng  secondary  schools  in  London  are  given  in  the  Tdhnical 
Education  Gazette.  The  returns  obtained  show  that  the  number 
of  pupils  receiviiig  education  in  84  public  endowed  and  public  pro- 
prietary schools  is  19,072,  and, the  number  receiving  education  ni 
126  private  or  .semi-private  schools  is  7 107.  The  proportion  which 
pupils  attending  secondary  schools  bear  to  those  attending  public 
elementary  schools,  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  the  num- 
ber |)er  icx),cxx)  of  the  population  attending  secondary  schools  is 
623,  while  the  number  per  ioo,ckx)  of  the  population  attending 
1  ublic  elementary  schools  is  16,904. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

Bulletin  of  the  Ameriian  Ma  hematical  Society,  vol.  i.  No.  8 
I  May  1895). — Kinetic  stability  of  central  orbits,  by  Prof. 
\\cx)lsey  Johnson,  contains  an  investigation,  of  an  elementary 
.  haracter,   of  a   problem    not   discussed   in    the   fourth  edition 


NO.    1338,  VOL.   52] 


(p.  125)  ofTait  and  Steel's  "  Dynamics  of  a  Particle."  It  is 
a  satisfactory  discussion  of  the  problem  so  far  as  it  relates  to 
central  orbits.  The  note  was  read  before  the  Society  at  its  April 
meeting. — Dr.  J.  Pierpont,  in  a  short  paper,  read  before  the 
Yale  Mathematical  Club,  entitled  '•  I^range's  place  in  the 
Theory  of  Substitution,"  though  he  cannot  vindicate  Lagrange's 
right  to  the  title  of  creator  of  the  theory  of  substitutions,  presents 
a  few  examples  of  his  methods  in  order  to  show  the  importance 
of  considering  him  from  this  point  of  \icw.  "  Lagrange  was 
led  to  the  study  of  this  theory  by  his  attempts  to  solve  equations 
of  degree  higher  than  the  fourth." — Gauss's  third  proof  of  the 
fundamental  theorem  of  algebra,  by  Prof.  Bocher,  indicates  the 
connection  between  (Gauss's  third  proof  that  every  algebraic 
equation  has  a  root  and  those  branches  of  mathematics  which 
have  since  been  developed  under  the  names  of  the  theory  of 
functions  and  the  theory  of  the  potential.  The  notes,  among 
other  details,  give  the  different  courses  of  lectures  in  mathe- 
matics at  -A.merican  and  European  colleges. — There  is  the  usual 
long  list  of  new  publications. 

Wiedemann  s  Annalen  der  Physik  tind  Ckemie,  No.  5. — 
Wave-lengths  of  ultra-violet  aluminium  lines,  by  C.  Runge. 
The  lines  of  the  spark  spectrum  near  186  /x  wave-length  are 
of  great  intensity,  and  may  be  used  as  standards  of  reference. 
They  were  therefore  carefully  determined  by  means  of  a 
Rowland  concave  grating  and  sensitive  plates  prepared  by 
Schumann's  method.  They  were  compared  with  the  spectrum 
of  iron,  and  referred  to  Rowland's  standard  wave-lengths  for 
that  substance.  The  figures  for  the  four  lines  at  760  mm. 
pressure  and  20°  C.  were  1854 'og,  :862'20,  I935'29,  and 
I989'90.  The  wave-lengths  reduced  to  a  vacuum  would  be 
about  o'6  units  greater. — On  the  dichroism  of  calcspar,  quartz, 
and  tourmaline  for  infra-red  rays,  by  Ernest  Merritt.  The 
absorption  of  the  infra-red  rays  in  these  substances  depends 
upon  the  plane  of  polarisation.  Especially  in  calcspar  and  in 
tourmaline  the  two  curves  representing  the  transmittency  for  the 
ordinary  and  the  extraordinary  ray,  respectively,  are  quite 
different,  so  that  they  appear  to  be  independent  of  each  other. 
The  following  absorption  bands  were  observed  in  these  curves  : 
Calcspar,  at  2 '44^  and  274 /i  for  the  ordinary  ray.  These  are 
very  sharp.  Some  broad  bands  also  appear  at  3 '4//,  4  m>  ^nd 
ii'tp..  The  extraordinary  ray  is  absorbed  at  wave-lengths  of 
3"28,  375,  and  4'66m.  Quartz  shows  an  absorption  band  for 
the  ordinary  ray  at  2'9yu.  When  the  wave-length  exceeds 
475 /i  the  substance  is  practically  opaque  for  both  rays.  Tour- 
maline absorbs  the  ordinary  ray  of  wave-length  2 '82 /».  The 
two  curves  intersect  at  230 /»  and  again  at  y%i,n,  so  that 
between  these  two  points  the  dichroism  of  tourmaline  is  reversed. 
— On  the  transmittency  of  solid  bodies  for  the  luminiferous 
ether,  by  L.  Zehnder  (see  p.  153). — On  the  measurement  of 
high  temperatures  with  the  thermo-element  and  the  melting- 
points  of  some  inorganic  salt«,  by  John  McCrae.  The  melting- 
points  of  a  number  of  salt'^.  chiefly  alkaline  haloids,  were 
determined  by  means  of  a  platinum  and  platinum-rhodium 
couple,  whose  E.M.K.  is  proportional  to  the  temperature 
between  300°  and  1400°.  The  temperature  of  the  alcohol 
flame,  as  shown  by  the  same  couple,  was  1488",  and  that  of  the 
Bunsen  flame  at  its  hottest  part,  1725°  C. — On  electric  reson- 
ance, by  V.  Bjerknes.  This  is  an  important  contribution  to 
the  theory  of  Hertzian  oscillations.  The  author  considers  the 
effect  of  the  periods  of  the  oscillator  and  the  resonator,  and 
their  logarithmic  decrements,  together  with  a  constant  measuring 
the  intensity  of  the  oscillations.  He  thus  arrives  at  several 
fundamental  laws,  such  as  :  The  secondary  spark  potential  is 
proportional  to  the  square  of  the  period  of  the  resonator,  the 
magnetic  or  thermal  integral  eflfect  to  its  cube,  and  the  electric 
integral  eff'ect  to  its  fifth  power. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Physical  Society.  June  14. — Captain  W.  de  iW.'.\bney, 
President,  in  the  chair.  —  Mr.  Hurstall  continued  the  reading  of 
his  paper  on  the  measurement  of  a  syclically  varying  tempera- 
ture. Three  sizes  of  platinum  wire  have  been  employed  for  the 
thermometers  in  order  that  some  idea  might  be  formed  as  to 
the  magnitude  of  the  error  caused  by  the  lag  of  the  temperature 
of  the  wire  behind  that  of  the  ga.ses.  The  constants  of  the 
platinum  thermometers  were  determined  either  by  comparison 
H  ith  a  standard  Qillendar  platinum  thermometer  or  by  means  of 


igo 


NATURE 


[Junk  20,  1895 


ce,  boiling  water  and  boiling  sulphur.  In  most  cases  the  ther- 
mometer constants  were  determnie<l  after  the  wire  had  been 
ex[X)se<l  to  the  action  of  the  hot  gases  for  about  half  an  hour. 
One  wire,  however  was  calibrated  before  Ix'ing  used,  and  an  un- 
usually high  value  was  obtained  for  the  coefficient  5.  After  this 
w  ire  had  been  ex|x>.sed  to  the  hot  gases,  the  value  of  S  fell,  how- 
ever, to  the  nomial.  The  author  thinks  the  abnormal  value 
may  have  been  due  to  the  fonnation  of  a  gold  platinum  alloy 
during  the  process  of  attaching  the  h  ire  to  the  leads,  and  that 
this  alloy  was  subsequently  swept  off  by  the  hot  gases.  The 
]>a|X'r  includes  a  number  of  tables  and  curves  which  embody  the 
numerical  results,  and  show  that  concordant  results  can  be  ob- 
tained on  different  days  and  with  different  thermometers.  Prof. 
I'erry  said  that  an  instrument  for  quickly  recording  varying 
temperatures  was  greatly  required  by  engineers.  The  tempera- 
ture just  inside  the  cylinder  walls  was,  however,  the  most  im- 
portant to  determine,  and  a  knowledge  of  how  the  lemi>eralure 
from  I  to  2  m.m.  inside  the  walls  varied  would  be  of  the  greatest 
im|)ortance.  He  would  like  to  ask  the  author  if  the  observed 
temperatures  agreed  with  the  values  calculated  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  gases  in  the  cylinder  behaved  as  a  perfect  gas,  and 

I'V 
that   --      was  constant    during    the  whole  stroke.      Differences 

l>etween  the  olwerved  and  calculated  values  might  be  due  to  dis- 
sociation, and  not  entirely  to  lag  in  the  thermometers.  It  was 
astonishing  that  even  the  fine  wires  employed  were  able  to  follow 
the  rapidly  varying  temperature,  and  he  would  like  to  see  some 
special  experiments  made  to  test  this  point.  Prof.  Cap|X'r 
showed  a  diagram  gi^'ing  the  values  calculated  on   the  assump- 

PV 
tion  that     —  =  constant.     In  such  a  calculation  it  was  necessary 

to  assume  some  tem|)erature  as  a  starting-point,  and  in  general 
this  tem|)erature  was  obtained  from  an  analysis  of  the  exhaust 
gases,  so  that  the  calculated  cur\e  is  most  likely  to  depart  from 
the  Inith  at  the  commencement  of  the  stroke.  He,  Prof. 
Cap|x.T.  ho]X'd  that  the  author  would  be  able  to  accurately 
determine  the  tem|x;rature  of  some  one  point  of  the  siroke,  anil 
he  suggested!  that  the  |x)int  where  the  observed  curve  crossed 
the  theoretical  curve  would  be  the  most  suitable  one  for  this  pur- 
pose. Such  a  point  must  exist,  since  at  the  commencement  of 
the  .stroke  the  lag  causes  the  obsen'cd  temperature  to  be  too  low, 
while  at  the  end  of  the  siroke  the  observe<l  temperatures  are  too 
high.  Mr.  ISurstall  finds  a  curious  bump  in  his  curves,  and  it 
is  curious  that  a  similar  bump  exists  in  the  calculated  curves. 
From  the  constancy  with  which  this  bump  appears,  it  would  seem 
lh,it  it  niusi  have  sfime  physical  meaning.  It  was  important  to  re- 
n)en)l)er  that  the  expansion  in  the  g-os-engine  cylinder  is  not  adia- 
Intic,  for  heat  is  lK>lh  abstracted  and  generated  during  the  stroke. 
Mr.  lilakesley  suggested  that  since  the  temperatures  dealt  with 
were  sufficient  to  make  the  wire  red-hot, the  question  arose  whether 
lag  might  Ik:  investigated  by  the  wire  l>eing  examined  by  means 
of  Becquerel's  phosphorosco]x;,  at  a  known  interval  after  the  re- 
moval of  the  s<iurce  of  heat.  .Mr.  (iriflilhs  s.iid  he  considered 
an  im|x>rtant  source  of  error  was  the  large  thermal  capacity  of 
the  leads  when  the  working  wire  w.as  so  very  short.  He 
ihought  it  would  lie  |K)ssihlc  to  standardise  the  thermometers 
under  conditions  similar  to  those  which  occur  in  the  engine 
cylinder.  Thus  |>erhaps  alternate  gushes  of  air  at  o"  and 
ICX3'  C.  might  l>e  used.  The  use  of  golil  to  attach  the  fine  wire 
to  the  leads  was  objectionable,  since  the  gold  must  permeate  ihe 
platinum  for  quite  .an  .appreciable  fr.aclion  of  the  whole  length  of 
the  wire.  He  would  like  to  know  whether  the  change  in  S 
nlliukd  to  by  the  .author  occurred  with  Ihe  first  explosion,  or 
r  it  was  a  gradual  one.  Mr.  Knright  |)ointed  out  Ihat 
lire  of  the  working  substance  in  a  gas  engine  varied 
the  stroke.  Prof.  I'erry  said  that  the  change  in  the 
volume  of  the  gases  before  and  after  combustion  did  not 

1   to   more  than   I '25  [kt  cent.      Mr.  K.  Wilson  said  he 

Ihought  il  was  most  in)|y>rtanl  to  shorten  the  time  of  contact, 
since  at  present  Ihe  galvanometer  readings  corresponded  to  ihc 
mean  temiKTature  f>ver  a  range  of  abfiut  5  [xrrcent.  of  the  whole 
stroke.  Il  might  Im;  |X)Ssible  lo  make  use  of  a  condenser  to  get 
over  this  difficully.  Prof.  Kllckcr  said  lhat  Ihe  Kew  Observa- 
tory were   making   nrrani;emenls  lo    undertake    the   testing   of 

plnlinun     'i-   ■   -  Mr.     Knrighl    suggested    lhat     with 

a    ver>  .|    currents    might     cause    errors. 

Mr.  Kh  iind  thai  Ihe  method  of  determining 

Ihc  7.ero  |>oinl  of  Ihermomelcrs,  by  means  of  melting  ice,  was 
far  from  salisfaclory,  and  thai  the  results  obtained  could  not  be 
depended  upon  lo  wilhin  o''l  C.     The  author,  in  his  reply,  said 

NO.    1338,  VOL.  52] 


the  only  chemical  action  on  the  wires  he  thought  proluble  was 
the  formation  of  a  carbide,  .\fler  several  hours  use,  however, 
the  wires  appear  quite  bright  and  clean. —Mr.  N.  V.  Deerr 
read  a  jxiper  on  the  thermal  constants  of  the  elements.  The 
object  of  the  paper  is  to  establish  the  following  laws:  If  T 
denote  the  melting-point  on  the  absolute  scale.  C  the  mean  co- 
efficient of  exp-insion  between  ?ero  and  the  meUing-poinl,  S  Ihe 
mean  specific  heat,  and  L  the  latent  heat  of  fusion,  then,  for  any 
family  in  Mendeleefs  i)eriodic  classification,  the  following 
relations  will  hold  between  melals  and  metals,  and  between  non- 
metals  and  non-metals  : 


(t+|)c  = 


const. 


const. 


=  const. 


TC 
LC 

S 

In  Ihe  absence  of  other  data,  the  mean  values  of  C  and  .Sliclween 
0°  and  100°  have  been  taken.  .\noinaIous  values  are  ob- 
tained in  the  case  of  gold  and  mercury,  if  these  melals  are  in- 
cluded in  their  usual  |«silions.  The  author  considers  thai  Ihe 
thermal  constants  indicate  that  gold  ought  to  be  ]ilaceil  among 
the  transition  elements.  He  further  proposes  to  place  mercury 
in  a  new  group  to  come  before  the  lithium  group.  Such  a  group, 
he  suggests,  would  contain  hydrogen,  argon  and  mercury.  The 
])aper  concludes  with  an  attempt  to  justify  the  expression 

V' 

S> 


-^  -^j  C  =  const. 


on  theoretical  grounds.  Dr.  Gladstone  considered  that  the  paper 
containc<l  valuable  numerical  relationship,  and  lhat  Ihe  secomi 
and  thirtl  formul.e  were  much  more  strongly  sup|K)rled  by  Ihe 
data  given  than  Ihe  first  formula.  He.  the  speaker,  had 
previously  noticed  lhat  the  elements  of  llie  Iransilion  group 
might  be  subdivided  into  sub-groups,  and  lhat  Ihe  [elemenls  ol 
each  of  these  sub-groups  were  particularly  closely  relaled.  Ik- 
agreed  with  the  author  that  gold  ought  not  to  be  included  in  the 
first  group.  Mr.  !•".  H.  Neville  s;iid  that  since  the  author  did 
not  give  Ihe  source  of  the  ilala  he  had  einployeil,  most  of  Ihe 
results  given  were  rather  indefinite.  For  example,  while  Ihe 
author  gives  S70'  as  the  melliug-poinl  of  aluminium,  Mr. 
lliiycock  and  himself  had  found  the  value  927".  The  value 
of  the  latent  heat  of  aluminium  given  was  29'3,  while  I'ionchon, 
in  a  recent  ]>a|)er  in  the  Complts  reiidiis,  gives  the  value  80. 
Theoretical  considerations  appear  to  indicate  lhat  80  is 
the  minimum  value  possible.  The  author  assumes  that  when 
you  heal  a  substance  from  the  absolute  zero  lo  its  melting  point, 
all  Ihe  energ)-  supplied  is  expended  in  Ihe  work  of  expansion. 
Some  of  Ihe  heal,  however,  nuisl  be  employed  in  changing  Ihe 
kinetic  energy  of  Ihe  molecules,  e\en  in  Ihe  case  of  a  solid. 
Prof.  Worlhington  said  that  in  some  cases  the  amount  of  work 
done  against  cohesive  forces  between  0°  and  100°  was  much  less 
than  one  ten-thousandth  of  Ihe  whole  amount  of  energy  su|)plied. 
Mr.  C'.riffithssaid  he  did  not  believe  in  any  generalisalion  which 
dei>ended  011  the  values  of  the  specific  heats  deUrmined 
between  o"  and  100°,  the  rale  of  change  with  leinperalure 
of  specific  he.it  being  so  great.  The  .author  in  his 
reply  said  he  had  made  every  endeavour  lo  obtain 
the  most  accurate  data  for  his  calculations.  The  value  29'3 
for  the  latent  heal  of  aluminium  was  obtained  from  a  paper  by 
J.  t'l.  Richards. — A  jiaper  on  an  eleclroinagnelic  effect,  by  Mr. 
!•'.  \V.  Bowden,  was  postponed  lill  Ihc  next  meeting. 

Entomological  Society,  June  5.  -The  Kighl  Hon. 
Lord  \Valsiiif;ham,  I'.  U.S.,  X'icePresideiil,  in  Ihe  chair. 
-Dr.  Sharp,  I'.K.S.,  exhibited,  on  behalf  of  Dr.  ('..  D.  Ilavi- 
land,  Iwci  species  of  Cii/olrniii-i  from  lii>rneo,  Ihe  inilividuals 
being  alive  and  apparently  in  good  heallh ;  one  of  Ihc 
two  small  communities  (which  were  cimlained  in  glass 
lubes)  consisted  of  a  few  individuals  of  the  immature  sexual 
forms  and  of  a  ncoleinic  queen  ;  this  latter  had  increased  some- 
what in  size  during  Ihc  eight  moiilhs  il  had  been  in  Dr.  Havi- 
land's  possession,  iml  no  eg^;s  had  been  deposiled,  neither  had 
any  of  ihe  ininialure  individuals  developed  inio  winged  forms. 
The  second  lommunily  exhibited  lonsisleil  entirely  of  the  im- 
mature  sexual  forms,  and  Ihiscommunily  had  produced  numerous 
winged  adulls  while  il  had  been  in  Dr.  Haviland's  po.sses.sion. 
.Specimens  were  also  exhibited  to  illustrate  the  ncoleinic  forms 
Ihal  were  pr(«luced  in  Horneo  after  a  communily  had  been 
artificially  orphaned.      As  regards  these,   Dr.   Sharj)  expressed 


June  20,  1895] 


NATURE 


191 


the  hope  that  Dr.  llaviland  would  shortly  publish  the  very 
valuable  observations  he  had  made.  In  the  case  of  a  species  of 
fungus  Termite,  Dr.  Haviland  had  found  that  the  community 
had  replaced  a  king  and  queen  by  normal,  not  by  neoteinic 
forms.  —  Mr.  McLachian,  K.K.S.,  exhibited  examples  of  the  female 
of  Pyrr/iosoma  niiiiiiim,  Harris,  having  the  abdomen  incrusted 
with  whitish  mud  through  ovipositing  in  a  ditch  in  which  the  water 
W.1S  nearly  all  dried  up.  He  had  noticed  the  same  thing  in  other 
species  of  Agrionidce. — Mr.  Koland  Trimen,  F.R..S.,  exhibited 
some  specimens  of  "Honey"  .\nts,  discovered  at  Estcourt,  in 
Natal,  about  a  year  ago,  by  Mr.  J.  M.  Hutchinson.  The  species 
has  not  been  identified,  but  isquite  difierent  (riiw\ Myrmecocystus 
and  Camponottis — the  genera  which  have  long  been  distinguished 
as  containing  species,  some  of  whose  workers  are  employed  as 
living  honey-pots  for  the  benefit  of  the  community.  The  speci- 
mens exhibited  included  six  "globulars" — touse  Mr.  McCook's 
term  in  regard  to  the  American  species,  Myrmeiocystiis  liortus- 
diorum — all  with  the  abdomen  enormously  distended  with 
nectar ;  but  other  examples  presented  to  the  South  African 
Museum  by  Mr.  Hutchinson  comprised  various  individuals 
exhibiting  different  gradations  of  distension,  thus  indicating 
that  the  condition  of  absolute  repletion  is  arrived  at  gradually, 
and  may  possibly  be  reached  by  some  few  only  of  those  indi- 
viduals who  feed,  or  are  fed,  up  for  the  purpose.  Certainly,  in 
the  nests  examined  by  Mr.  Hutchinson,  in  Natal,  the  number 
of  ''globulars"  was  very  small  in  proportion  to  the  population 
of  ordinary  workers  ;  and  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to  understand 
of  what  particular  value  as  a  food  reserve  so  very  small  a  quan- 
tity of  nectar  so  exceptionally  stored  can  be.  Mr.  Trimen 
added  that  while  the  occurrence  of"  Honey"  Ants  in  Southern, 
North  America,  South  Australia,  and  he  believed  also  in  India, 
was  well  known,  the  Natal  species  now  exhibited  was  the 
first  .-\frican  one  that  had  come  under  his  notice. — Dr.  Sharp 
exhibited  a  series  of  Coleoptera,  to  illustrate  variation  in  size. — 
Herr  Brunner  von  Wattenwyl  made  a  communication  informing 
the  Society  that  a  most  unfortunate  error  had  crept  into  the 
table  of  genera  in  his  .Monograph  of  Psiudophyllidcs  ;  on  page  9, 
line  I,  and  on  page  13,  line  37,  instead  of  "  mesonotum "  should 
be  read  "  mesosternum." 

Geological  Society,  June  5.— W.  H.  Iludleston,  F.R.S., 
A'ice-I'resident,  in  the  chair. — On  a  well-marked  horizon  of 
Radioliirian  rocks  in  the  Lower  Culm  Measures  of  Devon,  Corn- 
wall, and  West  Somerset,  by  Dr.  (I.  J.  Hindc  and  Howard 
Fox.  .In  the  Lower  Culm  Measures  the  basal  I'osidoiiomya-hed?, 
and  the  \Vaddon  Hartfjn  beds  with  Goiiialiles  spiralis  consist  of 
fine  shales  with  thin  limestones,  and  above  these  are  the  beds 
which  form  the  subject  of  the  present  paper.  The  Upper  Culm 
Measures  consist  of  conglomerates,  grits,  sandstones,  and  .shales, 
with  occasional  bedsof  culm.  There  is  evidence  of  the  partial 
denudation  of  the  radiolarian  rocks  during  the  accumulation  of 
the  Upper  Culm  beds,  as  indicated  by  the  presence  of  pebbles  of 
the  former  in  the  latter.  The  radiolarian  beds  consist  ofa  series 
of  organic  siliceous  rocks — some  ofa  very  hard  cherty  character, 
others  platy,  and  yet  others  of  soft  incoherent  shales.  The  term 
"grits,"  which  has  been  used  in  connection  with  these  beds,  is 
a  misnomer ;  there  are  beds  which  are  sujierficially  like  fine 
grits,  but  they  are  found  to  be  radiolarian  deposits.  .\t  present 
there  are  not  sufficient  data  for  estimating  the  thickness  of  the 
radiolarian  deposits  ;  but  they  are  probably  some  hundreds  of 
feet  thick,  though  the  whole  does  not  consist  of  beds  of  organic 
origin.  In  a  quarry  in  the  Launceston  district  50  feet  of  radio- 
larian cherty  rock  are  seen  without  admixture  of  shale.  .\ 
<letailed  description  of  the  lithological  characters  of  the  rocks  of 
the  .series  was  given,  and  analyses  by  Mr.  J.  Hort  Player:  a 
marked  feature  of  their  compo.sition  is  the  very  general  absence 
of  carbonate  of  lime.  The  microscopic  characters  of  the  rocks 
were  also  described,  and  the  small  amount  of  detrital  matter  in 
the  beds  of  the  series  was  noted.  The  fossils  tend  to  confirm 
the  view  that  the  Lower  Culm  .Mea.sures  are  the  deep-vv.ater 
eijuivalents  of  the  carboniferotis  limestone  in  other  parts  of  the 
British  Isles,  and  not  shallow-water  representatives  of  deeper 
bells  occurring  to  the  north,  as  was  formerly  supposed.  In  con- 
nection with  this  it  was  noted  that  the  deep-sea  character  of  the 
Lower  Culm  of  (lermany,  which  corresponds  with  our  Lower 
Culm  Measures,  was  maintained  by  Dr.  Hobajifel  even  before 
the  discovery  of  radiolaria  in  the  Leds  of  Kieselschiefer  furnished 
such  strong  evidence  in  support  of  this  view.— The  geology  of 
Mount"  Kuwenzori  a'nd  simie  ailioining  regions  of  Equatorial 
Africa,-  by  C.F:  Scott-i:ili6t  and  Dr.  J.  \V.  Gregory.  Kuwen- 
zori  is-  a-  nu«imain    between    the   Albert   and  Albert   Edward 


NO.   1338,  VOL.   52] 


Nyanzas.     Topographically  it  is  a  narrow  ridge  which  extends 
for  about  50  miles  in  a  direction  from  north-north-east  to  south- 
south-west.     Its  summit  .attains  a  height  of  16,500   feet.     The 
western  slope  is  at  an  angle  of  22° ;  the  eastern  slope  at  about 
one  of  4^     The  authors  described  sections  across  the  ridge  at 
right  angles  to  its  trend.     These  showed  that  Kuwenzori  is  not 
volcanic,  nor  is  it  a  sini])le  massif  of  diorite.     Epidiorite  occurs 
only  as  banded  sheets  in   the  schists  on  the  flanks  of  the  moun- 
tain, and  is  not  the  central  rock  of  the   ridge.     The  strike  of  the 
flanking  schists  seems  to  run  concentrically  round  the  ridge  as 
though  the  central  rock  were  intrusive  into  them.     The  highest 
rock  collected,  a  coarse-grained  granite  or  granitoid  gneiss,  may 
be  an  intrusive  igneous  rock,  but   it   may  be    part   of  the  old 
Archaean  series  faulted  up  ;  there  is  nothing  in  its  microscopical 
characters   to   separate   it  from    the   Archaean   rocks,  and   the 
authors  thought  it  probable  that  this  rock  was  raised  into  its 
present  position  by  faulting.     In  this  case  Kuwenzori  is  simply 
composed  of  an  orographic  block  or  "  scholl,"  which  was  at  one 
time  probably  part  of  a  w  ide  plateau  of  Archaean  rocks.     There 
is  abundant  evidence  of  volcanic  action  around   Kuwenzori,  for 
the    plains,  especially  to  the   east  and  south-east,  are  studded 
w  ith  small  volcanic  cones,  arranged  on  lines  which  radiate  from 
Kuwenzori.     Evidence  points  to  the  former  occupation  of  the 
Xyaniwamba,  Mubuku,  and   Batagu   valleys  by  glaciers,  roches 
iiioiitoinu'es  of  tyjjical  character  having  been  noted  in  the  two 
former   valleys.     The    country   round    Kuwenzori    consists    of 
rocks  which  may  be  conveniently  grouped  into  two  series — one 
composed  of  gneisses  and  schists,  and  the  other  of  non-foliated 
sediments.     The  former  (the  .^rchaen  series)  are  of  the  type  that 
has  an  enormous  extension  in  Equatorial  Africa,  and  forms  the 
main  plateau  on  which  all    the    sediments  and  volcanic  rocks 
have   been   deposited.      The  sedimentary   rocks   are   probably 
Paleozoic,  possibly   pre-carlioniferous,   but   in  the   absence   of 
fossils   it  would  be  unsafe  to  go  beyond   this  statement. — On 
overthrusts  of  tertiary  date  in  Dorset,  by  A.  Strahan.     The  re- 
sults given  in   this  paper  were  obtained  during  a  re-survey  of 
South   Dorset  on  the  6-inch  scale.     The  disturbances  can   be 
divided  into  two  groups — the  one  being  mainly  of  Miocene  date, 
and  the  other  of  intra-cretaceous  (between  Wealden  and  C.ault) 
age.     The  former  includes  the   Isle  of  Purbeck  fold  (which  is 
the  continuation  of  the   Isle  of  Wight  disturbance),  the  King- 
stead  fold,   the  Chaldon  and   Ridgeway  disturbances,   and  the 
Litton  Cheney  fault.     In  the  latter  are  placed  the  anticline  of 
Osmington  Mill,  the  syncline  of  Upton,  and  a  part  of  the  anti- 
cline of  Chaldon  ;  farther  west  the  Broadw-ay  anticline  and  Up- 
way  syncline,  a  fault  at  Abbotsbury,  and  many  other  folds  come 
into  the  same  group.     These  earlier  movements  led  to  the  well- 
known  unconformity  at  the  base  of  the  Upper  Cretaceous  rocks. 

W  Linnean  Society,  June  6. — Mr.  W.  Percy  Sladen,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  minutes  of  the  last  meeting  having 
been  read  and  confirmed,  the  Chairman,  on  behalf  of  the  Presi- 
dent, declared  the  following  to  be  \'ice-Presidents  : — Messrs. 
T.  G.  Baker,  F.  Crisp,  A.  Lister,  and  W.  P.  Sladen.  Mr.  B. 
B.  Woodward  was  elected  a  Fellow.  — Mr.  M.  Buysnian,  who 
has  laboured  for  many  years  to  establish  a  garden  at  .Middleburg 
for  economic  plants,  exhibited  specimens  to  show  the  excellence 
and  completeness  of  his  preparations. — On  behalf  of  Mr.  T.  J. 
Mann,  who  had  lately  returned  from  Ceylon,  Mr.  Harting 
exhibited  specimens  of  a  butterfly,  Calophaga  galena,  Felder, 
which  had  been  observed  migrating  in  thousands  across  the 
northern  part  of  the  island  during  March  and  April  last, 
in  a  direction  from  north-east  to  south-west.  The  move- 
ment commenced  about  7  a.m.  and  lasted  until  noon, 
when  it  decreased,  and  was  resumed  in  the  afternoon  for 
another  two  hours.  Mr.  Harting  referred  to  the  remarks  on  this 
subject  made  by  Sir  J.  Emerson  Tennent  ("Nat.  Hist.," 
Ceylon,  1861,  p.  404,  note)  to  the  observations  of  Darwin 
on  the  countless  myriads  of  butterflies  met  with  at  sea  some 
miles  off  the  mouth  of  the  Plata,  and  to  a  paper  by  Mr. 
R.  McLachian  on  the  migratory  habits  of  Vanessa  tardiii 
{Enlom.  Mo.  Mag.,  xvi.  p.  49).  He  did  not  think  that  the 
movement  was  analogous  to  the  migration  of  birds  which 
migrated  in  opposite  directions  in  spring  and  autumn,  for  the 
insects  moved  only  in  one  direction,  and  did  not  return,  vast 
numbers  perishing  en  route.  The  phenomenon  rather  resembleil 
what  had  been  observed  in  the  case  of  lemmings,  locusts,  and 
dragon-flies  (Weissenborn,  Mag.  Nat.  Hist.,  n.s.,  vol.  iii. 
p.  516),  and  might  be  explained  as  a  sudden  exodus  from'  the 
birthplace,  leading  to  a  compensating  reduction  of  ttiCL  si^ecies 
after  a  season  exceptionally  favourable  to    its  increase.      "" 


His 


NA  TURE 


[June  20,  1895 


remarks  were  criticiseil  by  Culoncl  Swinhoe,  who  was  inclined 
to  confirm  this  view,  and  by  Mr.  Kirby,  who  referred  to  the 
particular  species  which  were  found  to  take  part  in  these  so- 
calle<i  '"migrations." — A  new  Distomtim  was  described  by  Mr. 
G.  West,  whose  obser\'ations  were  favourably  criticised  by  Mr. 
W.  P.  Sladen  and  Prof.  Howes. — On  behalf  of  Mme.  van  der 
Bosse,  Mr.  George  Murray  communicated  a  description  of  a  new 
genus  of  .\lg.»;  (Pseudoioditim),  the  characters  of  which  were 
minutely  pointed  out  by  means  of  specially-prepared  lantern 
slides. — \  paper  was  then  read  by  Mr.  .\.  Vaughan  Jennings 
on  the  nature  of  MMiisispoiigia  parasitica,  on  which  critical 
remarks  were  made  by  Prof  Rupert  Jones  and  Mr.  K.  Chap- 
man.— .\  second  [xiiK'r  by  Mr.  X'aughan  Jennings  contained  a 
description  of  a  new  genus  of  l-oraminifera  of  the  family  Astro- 
rhizidiz, 

P.^RIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  June  lo. — M.  Lcew^  in  the  chair. — 
On  the  Mcudon  Physico-.\stronomical  Obser\atory,  by  M.  J. 
Jansscn.  \n  account  of  the  present  state  of  the  Observatory 
and  of  the  difficulties  through  which  it  has  pas-sed  on  account  of 
the  reductions  made  in  the  State  grants  and  appropriations, 
tc^ether  with  some  details  of  the  work  done  since  1S76. — On 
the  necessarily  harmonic  form  of  expression,  for  the  displace- 
ments of  each  particle  in  an  ocean  roller,  as  a  function  of  the 
time,  by  M.  J.  Boussinesq. — Note  on  the  photographic  sur\eys 
executed  in  1894  by  the  Canadian  engineers  and  the  United 
States  Coast  and  Geodetic  .Survey  Service  for  the  delimitation  of 
.\laska  and  British  Columbia,  by  .M.  .-V.  I-aussedat.  This  is  an  I 
account  of  the  spread  of  the  Canadian  method  into  the  United  i 
States  Service,  and  a  review  of  the  general  adoption  of  similar  I 

S recesses  in  other  countries. — Solar  observations  made  at  Lyons  I 
bscr\atory  during  the  first  quarter  of  1895,  by  M.  J.  Guillaume. 
— On  algebraical  curves  of  constant  twist  and  on  algebraical 
minima  surfaces  inscril>ed  in  a  sphere,  by  .M.  E.  Cosscrat. — New 
theorems  in  arithmetic,  by  P.  Pepin. — On  an  explosive  system 
capable  of  demonstrating  the  rotation  of  the  terrestrial  globe, 
by  .M.  Jules  Andrade. — S|)ectroscopic  study  of  carbons  from  the 
electric  furnace,  by  .M.  H.  Deslancires.  Two  carl)on  poles  used 
in  M.  Moissan's  electric  furnace  were  examined.  Those  parts 
of  the  carbon  removed  from  the  arc  showed  the  usual  spectra 
of  impurities,  whcrc-as  the  parts  in  the  arc  were  free 
from  all  impurities  except  calcium.  The  growths  on  the 
negative  pole  were  of  greatest  purity,  and  furni.shed  carbon 
s[)ectra  showing  wave-lengths  (cite<l)  much  fewer  than  those 
recorded  for  carlion  by  Hartley  and  others.  The  purification  of 
the  carUjns  by  the  passage  of  the  current  in  the  arc  is  due  to 
the  volatilisation  of  the  more  volatile  constituents  at  the  high 
lem|)eraiure  r.btained. — On  sen.sitive  flames,  by  M.  E.  Bouty. — 
lliysiral  |iru])erlies  of  acetylene  ;  acetylene  hydrate,  by  M.  P. 
Villard.  .\  table  of  pressures  corresponding  to  certain  tempera- 
tures is  given  for  acetylene,  together  with  a  table  of  dissociatitjn 
pressures  for  the  hydrate  of  acetylene.  This  hydrate  resembles 
the  hydrates  of  nitrous  oxide  and  carbon  dioxide,  and  is  rcpre- 
.scnted  as  C,Ilr6H,0.  Its  heat  of  combination  is  I5"4  Cal.  per 
molecule,  very  near  to  the  value,  l5'o  Cal.,  obtained  for  carbon 
dioxide  and  nitrous  oxide. — Synthetical  production  of  nitro- 
alcohols,  by  M,  Louis  Ilenr)'. — Condensation  of  aldehydes  and 
siturated  ketones,  by  MM.  Ph.  Barbierand  T^.  Bouvcault.  The 
researches  detailed  apjiear  to  establish  the  fact  that  only  ordinary 
acetone  can  condense  easily  with  aldehydes ;  on  the  other 
hand,  as  the  molecular  weight  of  the  aldehydes  increases,  the 
aptitude  for  condensation  with  acetone  diminishes,  and  the 
principal  reaction  Ijccomes  the  condensation  of  the  aldehyde 
Itself. — On  the  causes  of  the  colouration  and  the  coagulation  of 
milk  by  heal,  by  M.M.  P.  Cazeneuve  and  Iladdon.  The  con- 
•  I  •  ■•■■  drawn  :  (I)  That  the  yellowing  of  milk  by  heat  is 
■Ion  of  lactose  in  the  presence  of  the  alkaline  salts 
;  (2)  the  oxidation  of  lactose  prmiuces  .acids,  formic 
.1  ■  f^,  and  hence  cau.ses  coagvd.ation  of  the  milk  ;  (3) 

li  I  i-asein  is  not  itself  altered,  but   is  merely  tinted 

'  i'ln  prfKlucts  of  lactose.  —  Esters  of  the  active 

u  .   by   MNL    Ph.    .\.   (Juye  anil  Ch.  Jordan. — 

'  '  ■.,•.!  the  alkaloids  of  the    l-'umariace-.e  and    Papa- 

.M.    Battandier. — Contribution     lo     the    study    of 
g'  '  .  by  .M.  Th.  .Schlfcsing.     The  germination  of  lupin 

seeds  or  wheat  docs  not  entail  an  appreciable  loss  of  nitrogen  in 
Ihc  ga.«:ou»  slate. — On  amylase,  by  M.  Effronl. — The  Ceci- 
domyia  of  oaU  [Cecidoniyia  oTfnir,  nov.  sp. ),  by  M.  Pa\d 
Marchal.— The  epidermal  cell  of  insccls :  its  iiaraplasm  and  its 

NO.   1338,  VOL.  52] 


nucleus,  by  M.  Joannes,  Chalin. — On  the  relation  of  the  thermal 
springs  of  Ncris  and  Evaux  with  ancient  faults  of  the  Central 
Plateau,  by  M.  L.  de  Launay. — On  the  succession  of  fauna  of 
the  Upper  Lias  and  Lower  Hajocien  in  Poitou,  by  W.  Jules 
Welsch. — Researches  on  the  modifications  of  nutrition  in  jiersons 
suffering  from  cancer,  byM.\L  Simon  Duplay andSavoire.  The 
differences  observed  in  amounts  of  urea  and  phosphoric  acid 
excreted  by  cancerous  patients,  as  compared  with  the  normal 
healthy  excretion,  are  due  entirely  to  defective  nutrition,  and 
disappear  when  a  suitable  regime  is  used.  These  differences 
cannot  be  used  for  purposes  of  diagnosis. — On  the  use  of 
chloride  of  lime  and  its  mode  of  action  against  the  bite  of 
venomous  serpents,  by  MM,  C.  Phisalix  and  Ci.  Hertrand. — 
Storms  of  five  days  from  May  20  to  May  25,  1895,  ^^  Bohemia, 
by  M.  Ch.  V.  Zenger. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  SERIALS,  &c.,  RECEIVED. 

Books. — A  Chaptt-r  on  Birds.  K.irc  British  Visitors  :  Dr.  R.  B.  Sharps 
(S.P.C.K.).— The  iMct.-»nurgy  of  Iron  and  Sled.  Vol  i.  The  Metallurgy  of 
Iron :  T.  Turner  (Griffin).— The  Storj-  of  the  Plants :  Grant  Allen 
(Newncs). — England's  Treasure  by  Foreign  Trade  :  T.  Mun,  1664  (Mac- 
millan).— Natural  Histor>'  of  Aquatic  Insects:  Prof.  L.  C.  Miall  (Mac- 
milian). — Chemistry-,  Inorganic  .ind  Organic  :  C.  1-.  Blo.vam,  8ih  edition, 
rewritten  and  revised  by  Thomson  and  Bloxam  (Churchill). — The  Great 
Frozen  Land  :   F.  G.  Jack.son  (M.icmillan). 

Pamphlets.— Report  of  the  Director  of  the  Ol>servalor>'  to  the  Marine 
Committee.  Liverpool  Observaiorj*.  Bidston,  1S94  (Ltvcrptwl). — Les  Varia- 
tions Piriodiqucs  dcs  (ilacicrs  dcs  Alpes,  Report,  1S94  :  Prof.  Forel  (Berne), 
— While  Servitude  in  ihe  Colony  of  Virginia  :  J.  C.  Ballagh  (Baltimore).— 
Protection  from  Lightning:  .\.  .McAdie  (Washington). 

Serials.— Americ.in  Naturalist,  June  (Philadelphia).— Journ.il  of  the 
Fr.inklin  Institute,  June  (Philadelphia). — .\bstract  of  Proceedings  of  the 
South  London  Entomological  and  Natural  Hi>tor\-  Society,  1804  (London). 
— Seismological  Journal  of  Japan.  Vol.  4  (Vokohama). — Mathematical 
Gazette,  May  (.Macmlllan).— Slimoires  dc  la  Sociit6de  Physique  et  D'His- 
loirc  Naturcile  dc  Geneve,  tome  .xxxii.  Premiferc  Panic  (Gcnive).  —  Kcw 
Obscrvatorj',  Richmond,  Report  for  the  Vear  1894  (Harrison).— Bulletin  of 
the  Geological  Institution  of  the  University  of  Upsala,  Vol.  2,  Part  i.  No.  3 
(Upsala). — Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  Boston,  Annual  Cata- 
logue, 1894-95  (Cambridge,  Mass.). 

Betts's  Chromoscope  (Philip). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  Atomic  Theory  and  its  Author.      Hy  W.  A.  T.  .  169 

Hydraulic  and  other  Powers.      Hy  N.  J.  L 170 

Travels  in  Tibet.      By  Dr.  Hugh  Robert  Mill      ...  J71 

Mind  and  Body.     I'.y  Edward  T.  Dixon 172 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

CI  odd  :   "  The  Stor)' of  '  Primitive  '  Man" 173 

Williams:  "  Britain's  Naval  Power" 173 

"  Portraits  berlihniter  Naturforscher" 173 

Letters  to  the  Editor  : — 

Di.scoveryiif  .\horii;iiiaI  Indian  Remains  in  Jamaica. — 

J.  E.  buerden' 73 

The  .\niii]\iiiv  of  ihe  Medical  Profession. — Surgeon- 
Major  VJ'.  G.  Black 174 

.\  I  lislory  nf  liritish  ICartliquakes. — Charles  Davison  174 
Terms     of     Imprisonment.       (//'///;     Diagram.)      Hy 

Dr.  Francis  Galton,  F".R.S 174 

Professor  Franz  Neumann 176 

Notes ". 176 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Occiillation  of  Rc(jiilus iSo 

The  Recurrence  of  Kclipses iSo 

\'arial>ilily  of  Nehulx 180 

The  /i-ka-wei  01»scrvatory 180 

The  Royal  Society  Conversazione 180 

On    the    Temperature    Variation     of    the    Thermal 

Conductivity  of  Rocks,     (ll'il/i  Diai^ram).     Hy  Lord 

Kelvin,  P.R.S.,  .111.1  I.  R.  Erskine  Murray    ....  1.S2 

The  Relation   between  the  Movements  of  the  Eyes 

and  the  Movements  of  the  Head.   ( /////;  /Mapaiii.) 

Hy  Prof.  A.  Crum  Brown,  F.R.S 184 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 188 

Scientific  Serials 1.S9 

Societies  and  Academies 189 

Books,  Pamphlets,  Serials,  &c.,  Received 19- 


NA  TURE 


193 


'•THE    WIZARD    OF  MEXLO    PARK:' 

The  Life  ami  Indentions  of  Tliomas  Al7'a  Edison.  By 
W.  K.  L.  Dickson  and  Antonia  Dickson.  (London  : 
Chatto  and  Windus,  1894. 

TWV.  present  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of 
places  where  the  Edison  Kinetoscope  is  exhibited, 
leads  one  to  glance  through  the  account  which  was 
published  towards  the  end  of  last  year  of  the  life  and 
adventures  of  the  American  inventor.  The  career  of  one 
who  started  as  a  newsboy,  and  who  has  raised  himself  to 
fame  and  wealth  by  his  quickness  of  perception,  fertility 
of  resource,  and  general  shrewdness,  has  been  too  varied 
and  exciting  for  the  authors  to  succeed  in  rendering  the 
narrative  uninteresting. 

But  the  pages  of  rhapsody  with  which  this  long  quarto 

book  is  filled,  combined  with  the  extremely  verbose  and 

i.intlilaqucnt  style  in  which  it  has  b3en  written,  not  only 

luler   the   ms^ming    well-nigh     unintelligible     in    many 

|)laces,  but   give  a  wholly  false   notion   of  Mr.  Edison's 

hiractcr.     For  those  who  have  m2t  him  must  have  been 

truck  with  his  somewhat  boyish  character,  his  fondness 

I  >r  a  joke,  and  his  objection  to  black  coats,  tall  hats,  and 

I  niirility.     The   Edison    of   this    book   would   hardly  be 

■  ognised  as  the  Edison  who,  we  remember,  some  years 

_;()  could  not  be  induced  to  put  on  his  coat  or  shoes  to 

eive   an    English    peer,   well    known   to    science,    who 

li.ippcned  to  call  at  Menlo   I'ark  when  the  inventor  was 

iking  his  afternoon  nap. 

We  start,  of  course,  with  Edison's  pedigree,  and  wc  are 
'Id  that  his  father,  "Samuel  Edison,  however,  was  not 
iiinded  to  stimulate  the  waning  flames  of  patriotism  by 
I  libation  of  personal  gore."  We  should  have  thought  the 
lather  of  an  inventor  would  have  known  that  gore  «as 
not  a  good  sort  of  kindling.  Then  comes  a  desciiption 
t^i  "callow  collegians  dragged  through  an  uncongenial 
1  oursc  of  study,  boarding-school  graduates  steeped  in  a 
weak  solution  of  accomplishments,  ephemeral  creatures 
on  whose  glossy  plumage  the  dews  of  Parnassus  have 
no  power  to  rest "  ;  but  Edison,  on  the  contrary,  "despite 
his  paucity  of  years,"  read  through  "  fifteen  feet  of 
closely  serried  volumes."  Then  we  come  to  an  excellent 
portrait  of  Edison  at  fourteen  years  of  age,  which  strik- 
ingly resembles  the  closely  shaven  Edison  of  to-day,  and 
shows  the  same  merry  twinkle  of  the  eye. 

Faesiiniles  are  gi\en  of  pages  of  Edison's  newspaper, 
the  Grand  Trunk  Herald,  started  in  1862,  the  vast 
number:  of  blots  on  which  are  explained,  we  suppose,  by 
the  fact  that  this  newspaper  was  regularly  composed  and 
printed  in  a  dilapidated  freight  car  attached  to  a  running 
train.  His  next  venture  in  the  newspaper  line,  Paul  Pry, 
led  to  his  beingducked  bya  subscriber,  and,  as  his  travelling 
railway  printing  establishment  and  laboratory  were  burnt, 
through  the  constant  jolting  of  the  springless  car  shaking 
the  cork  out  of  a  bottle  of  phosphorus,  he  turned  his 
attention  to  the  construction  of  a  telegraph  line.  This 
was  not  attended  with  success,  since  to  produce  an 
lectric  current,  "Edison  secured  two  Brobdingnagian 
» ats,  with  volcanic  tempers,  attached  a  wire  to  their  legs, 
NO.    1339,  VOL.    S2] 


administered  a  violent  amount  of  friction  to  their  backs, 
and  breathlessly  awaited  developments." 

Afterwards  he  became  a  real  telegraph  operator,  and 
when  on  night  duty  in  the  service  of  the  C'.rand  Trunk  Rail- 
way of  Canada,  he  was,  in  common  with  the  other  night 
operators,  required  to  signal  the  word  six  every  half- 
hour  to  show  that  he  was  awake.  Preferring,  however, 
to  wander  about  the  town,  he  obtained  a  clock  and 
converted  it  into  an  automatic  telegraph  key.  This  key, 
however,  would  do  nothing  more  than  periodically  signal 
the  word  six,  and  declined  to  answer  inquiries,  so  a 
detective  operator  was  put  on  the  track,  and  Edison  had 
to  make  his  escape  into  the  United  States. 

During  the  severe  winter  which  followed,  the  ice  broke 
the  telegraph  cable  under  the  river  which  separates  Port 
Huron  from  the  Canadian  city  of  Sarnia,  on  the  opposite 
bank  a  mile  and  a  half  away,  and  further  rendered  all 
traffic  across  the  river  impossible.  Communication 
between  the  two  cities  was,  however,  restored  by  Edison 
using  the  alarm  whistle  of  a  locomoti\  e  engine  to  send 
Morse  signals.  This  power  of  overcoming  difficulties 
brought  him  into  public  notice,  and  he  obtained  in 
succession  several  good  posts  as  a  telegraph  operator. 
His  love  of  fun  and  of  making  experiments,  however,  led 
him  into  constant  trouble  ;  but  he  was  rewarded  at  the' 
age  of  seventeen  by  making  his  first  invention  of  an 
instrument  for  automatically  repeating  a  telegraphic 
message. 

Edison's  electric  device  for  killing  cockroaches  "  is 
told  in  the  prosaic  terms  of  the  nineteenth  century,"  and 
commences,  "Curiosity  betrayed  our  Mother  Eve,"  and  so 
on  for  many  lines.  Edison's  first  patent  for  a  "  \'ote 
Recorder  "  was  not  commercially  successful,  as  its  employ- 
ment in  the  Massachusetts  Legislature  was  found  to  inter- 
fere with  the  power  of  the  House  to  use  ^'■filibustering.'' 
Then  come  his  Universal  Stock  Printer  and  his  employ- 
ment as  operator  by  the  Law's  Gold  Reporting  Company. 

During  the  excitement  connected  with  the  operations 
of  the  Gould  and  Fisk  ring  to  make  a  corner  in  gold,  the 
stock  quotation  printer  broke  down,  and  Edison  gave 
the  very  simple  explanation  that  a  contact  spring  had 
broken  and  fallen  between  two  cog-wheels  in  the  instru- 
ment. To  describe  this,  however,  the  authors  require 
several  pages.  "  Inflamed  by  the  lust  of  gold "  (not 
Edison,  however,  for  he  was  very  poor  at  the  time  and 
owed  200  dollars),  "and  reduced  to  the  semblance  of 
insatiate  brutes,  the  great  sea  of  sentient  humanity  surged 
around  the  shrine  of  its  desires,"  &c. 

Chapter  iv.  commences  with  a  description  of  "  Edison's 
storm-tossed  craft,"  and  tells  how  "a  steady  gale  blew 
from  the  Blessed  Isles,  wafting  the  adventurer  into  all 
tempting  harbours  of  successful  discovery."  We  much 
doubt  the  value  of  a  wind  blowing  from  an  island, 
whether  blest  or  not,  to  take  a  craft  into  its  harbour. 

In  1870  he  was  developing  his  automatic  telegraph  for 
transmitting  a  message  by  the  use  of  a  perforated  strip  of 
paper,  and  receiving  it  in  Roman  characters  at  the  other 
end  of  the  telegraph  line  ;  also  instruments  for  auto- 
matically sending  messages,  using  the  Morse  code,  as  in 
the  well-known  Whcatstonc's  Fast  Speed  instruments. 

Next  came  the  carbon  button  and  the  loud-speaking 
telephone.  No  reference  is  here  made  to  Prof.  Hughes 
microphone,  or  to  the  controversy  which  was  carried  on 

K 


194 


NA  TURE 


[June  27,  1895 


about  1876,  as  to  who  invented  the  carbon  telephone 
transmitter,  and  we  are  told  that  the  Edison  carbon  trans- 
mitter "held  the  monopoly  of  the  telephone  in  England 
for  many  years."  In  the  next  chapter,  "  the  pretensions 
of  his  rival "  are  touched  on,  and  Edison's  remark,  that 
"  one  of  the  biggest  steals  ever  made  was  filched  directly 
from  my  telephone,"  is  quoted. 

"The  individual  mistress  of  Edison's  heart  until 
now  had  been  science,  but  a  new  potency  was  at  hand 
equally  strong,  but  immeasurably  more  subtle  and  all- 
pervading."  Then  the  authors  drop  into  poctr>',  which 
they  have  a  way  of  doing  on  all  possible  occasions.  Later 
on  we  are  told  that  "  prior  to  his  marriage  Edison  por- 
tioned out  the  hours  of  sleeping  and  waking  by  the  ebb 
and  flow  of  the  Divine  afflatus,"  and  that  his  "  blood  after 
having  served  the  purpose  of  stimulating  the  capillar)- 
vessels  of  the  brain,  and  inducing  inventive  capacity,  soon 
retreats  quietly  to  its  legitimate  source."  We  note  in  this 
chapter  references  to  "  Mrs.  Noah's  superior  faculties," 
the  Roman  Empire,  Carthage  and  her  glor>-,  a  Phoenician 
axiom,  and  a  disquisition  on  "  the  sickly  and  mercurial 
sentimentality  of  the  Oriental  and  Latinic  races,"  "  the 
Plutonian  broths  of  Sparta,"  "  the  delicious  pastoral 
flavour  to  the  Allegrello  and  the  Lycidas."  We  presume 
Milton's  title  " I'.-Vllegro "  was  not  long  enough  for  the 
authors  ;  and  all  this  while  Edison  has  been  left  gazing 
at  a  test-tulie  in  a  large  photograph  on  page  95  of  this 
book. 

By  1876  forty-five  of  his  distinct  inventions  were  in  dif- 
ferent processes  of  completion  ;  ^100,000  had  been  realised 
from  the  manufacture  and  the  sale  of  patents  ;  and  the 
throng  of  sight-seers  to  Edison's  laboratory  at  Newark 
became  so  great  that  he  niovcd  to  .Menlo  Park,  twenty- 
four  miles  from  New  York,  and  stacked  there  his  "  cases 
of  every  ordinary  and  cxtraordinar>-  device  born  of  that 
prolific  parent,  necessity." 

The  first  sketch  of  the  phonograph,  on  p.  1 23,  is  of  real 
interest,  for  we  regard  the  phonograph  as  scientifically 
the  greatest  of  Edison's  achieveinents,  in  that  Edison 
accomplished  with  its  use,  in  an  extremely  simple  way, 
what  the  previous  elaborate  talking-machines  could  not 
perform.  But  why  the  microscopic  examination  of  the 
tin-foil  showed  that  "  the  feminine  members  of  the 
alphabet  were  less  aggressive  in  their  outlines  than  their 
masculine  coadjutors,"  or  why  the  "long  E  vindicated  her 
rights  to  female  enfranchisement,"  we  know  not. 

IJcscriptions  of  various  forms  of  phonographs,  phono- 
graphic dolls,  &c..  take  us  to  the  end  of  chapter  xi. 
Chapter  xii.  is  devoted  to  telegraphing  from  trains  in 
motion,  a  subject  that  is  certainly  worthy  of  more  con- 
sideration than  it  has  yet  received,  and  to  Edison's  pyro- 
magnetic  motor,  which,  from  its  principle  of  construction, 
could  never  have  Ixien  comnicrcially  successful. 

The  chapters  on  the  development  of  the  glow-lamp  by 
Edison,  and  those  associated  with  him,  are  some  of  the 
most  interesting  in  this  book.  Phlegmatic  indeed  must 
be  the  reader  who  does  not  feel  inspired  by  the  enthu- 
siasm which  led  Edison  to  despatch  .Mr.  Moore  to  search 
through  China  and  Japan,  Mr.  McCowan  to  explore  the 
American  continent  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and 
Mr.  Kicalton  to  seek  in  India,  Ceylon,  and  the  neighbour- 
ing countries  for  a  vegetable  fibre  suitable  for  being  car- 
Imniscd  into  a  glow-lamp  filament.     But,  if  the  reader  be 

NO.  1.339  VOL.  52] 


of  a  critical  temperament,  liis  pleasure  at  reading  the 
account  of  these  explorations  will  be  diminished  by  the 
many  faults  which  mar  the  description. 

For  example,  the  large  picture  on  p.  217  of  "  Cingalese 
Women,  photographed  by  Mr.  Ricalton  in  his  Search 
for  Fibre,"  was  never  taken  in  Ceylon,  since  it  is 
ob\iously  a  photograph  of  a  group  of  Japtmcsc  girls 
posed  in  front  of  a  theatrical  back  scene.  One  of  these  girls 
^s  sitting  on  a  Western  rustic  garden-chair;  so,  perhaps,  the 
photograph  was  taken  in  New  York  or  Paris,  on  the 
principle  followed  by  the  special  correspondent  in  the 
Soudan  war,  whose  envelopes  bore  the  St.  John's  Wood 
post-mark.  Oddly  enough,  the  book  contains  several 
other  photographs  of  Cingalese  people  taken  by  Mr. 
Ricalton  :  but  the  authors  do  not  seem  to  have  been  struck 
with  the  fact  that  a  comparatively  small  isUuul  like  Ceylon 
should  have  possessed  inhalsitants  of  sucli  a  variety  ol 
dititerent  types. 

A  great  deal  of  tall  talk  follows  about  Edison  s 
work  on  the  dynamo  machine.  "  All  !  potent  wizard, 
you  shame  the  records  of  the  .Arabian  nights  and  the 
fabled  glories  of  the  East,"  &c.,  with  the  following  sur- 
prising bit  of  information  for  the  Englishman  :  "  To-day 
there  is  not  a  hamlet  in  England,  however  insignificant, 
which  is  not  in  \ital  connection  with  the  central  sources 
of  supply,"  that  is,  has  electric  energy  supplied  to  it  from 
a  central  electric  light  station.  Passing  over  pages  of 
grandiloquence,  we  come  to  a  long  description  of  Edison's- 
factory  and  laboratories  at  Orange.  The  pictures  remind 
us  of  what  we  ourselves  saw  when  visiting  Edison,  but  we 
have  no  recollection  that  in  the  laboratory  "fragrant 
gums  and  spices  recall  memories  of  the  fair  Babe  of 
Bethlehem."  In  fact,  what  we  chiefly  remember  was  our 
surprise  at  the  large  number  of  phonographs  which  we 
saw  in  course  of  manufacture,  and  Edison's  sallies  of 
laughter  at  the  simplicity  of  the  English  in  t>cing  st> 
easily  gulled  by  limited  liability  companies. 

Although  this  book  is  in  parts  as  silly  as  anything  we 
have  ever  read,  it  is  nevertheless  full  of  interest ;  for  it 
gives  a  graphic  picture  of  the  struggles  and  success  of 
one  who  is  certainly  remarkable  for  his  quickness  of 
insight,  originality,  and  capacity  for  long  stretches  of 
hard  work,  even  if  we  do  not  agree  with  the  authors  that 
he  is  "  the  greatest  genius  of  this  or  any  other  age."  Even 
if  we  were  not  told  on  the  title-page  that  the  book  was 
written  by  W.  K.  L.  and  Antonia  Dickson,  we  should  feel 
quite  sure  that  it  was  a  joint  production,  one  of  the 
authors  being  Edison's  superintendent  of  the  experimental 
department  in  New  York,  and  the  other  a  poctir 
rhapsodist  who  has  never  read  her  "  Mark  Twain."  1  In 
illustrations  arc  well  executed,  the  printing  and  |)aper 
good,  and  the  general  get-up  of  the  book  all  that  can  be 
desired  of  an  expensive  quarto  volume  to  lie  on  thi:  draw- 
ing-room table.  But  why  was  it  not  edited  ?  asks  the 
English  reader.  "  '*•  I^- 


CRIMINAL   IDENTIFICA  TION. 
Finger-print   Directories.      By   Francis    C.alton,    I'.R.S, 
(London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 

IT  will  be  remembered  that  the  Departmental  Committee 
which   re])orted  in  the  beginning  of  last  year  upon 
the  best    method   of   identifying   haljilual  criminals,   re- 


June  27,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


195 


commendccl    the   adoption    of    the    Bertillon    system    of 
measurement  conjointly  with  the  plan  of  takinj,'  finger- 
prints now  associated   in  this   country  with  the  name  of 
Mr.    Francis   Galton.     He   loyally  disclaims  the  honour 
of  being  the  first  to  use  it  ;  that  rests  with   Sir  William 
Hcrschel,  of  the  Indian  Civil  Service.     But  it  is  really  from 
the  unwearied  labours  of  Mr.  Galton  that  the  scientific 
certainty  of  the  system  has  been  fully  proved.     He  has  so 
simplified  the  processes  of  taking  and  recording  the  im- 
pressions of  the  finger,  has  invented  so   complete  and 
intelligible  a  series  of  indications  and  formulas,  that  the 
system   can    now  be  worked   with    the    greatest    facility 
and  with  mathematical  precision.     Of  the  supreme  value 
of  the   finger-print   as    a   means   of  identification,  there 
can  be  no  manner  of  doubt.     It  is,  as  Mr.  Galton  happily 
describes  it,   "  an  automatic  sign-manual  subject  to  no 
fault  of  observation    or   clerical    error,  and   trustworthy 
throughout   life."     The   Committee   above   quoted   fully 
recognised   this.      "Finger-prints,"  they  reported,  "are 
an  absolute  impression  taken  direct  from  the  body  itself; 
if  a  print  be  taken  at  all,  it  must  be  necessarily  correct." 
But   they  were   met    with    the  difficulty  of  classification 
as  applied  to  any  large  collection  of  impressions.     Where 
these  were  comparati\ely  few,  the   index  adopted  by  Mr. 
Galton   was  admirable   and    most  effective.     But    where 
the  numbers  rose  to  many  thousands,  as  «ould  of  course 
be  the  case  in  a  criminal  register,  it  might  be  a  serious 
question  whether  searches   could  be  made  with  reason- 
able facility  and  dispatch.      It  was  for  this  reason  that 
the  double  system  of  identification  was  recommended,  for 
■lie  strongest  point  in  the  Bertillon  plan  of  measurement 
1^  practised  in  Paris  was  its  perfect  classification.    There 
I  111-  particular  card  required,  giving  the  name  and  ante- 
<  edcnts  of  an  individual,  "  could  be  found  as  certainly  and 
almost  as  quickly  as  an   accurately  spelt  word  could  be 
found  in  the  dictionary." 

Since  then  Mr.  Francis  Galton  has  devoted  much  time 
and  \  cryhighly  skilled  intclligencctoenlarginghis  methods 
■  if  indexing  and  proving   beyond   all  question   the   useful- 
ness of  the  finger-prints.     He  now  tells  us,  in  his  new  work 
on  "  Finger-print   Directories,"  how  these  indexes  may  be 
most  easily  and    surely    constructed,    how    the    work    of 
'  reference  and  search  can  be  easily  and  quickly  performed. 
I  )f  course  the  result  is  largely  dependent  upon  the  size 
"f   the  directory,   the  number  of  "sets"  of  impressions 
that    have  been   collected  to  compose  it.     Mr.   Galton's 
I  xpcriments  were  made  with  two  collections,  one  of  300 
.  omplete  sets  of  finger-prints,   the  other  with  2632.     In 
lioth,   even   with   the   largest,  he  was  entirely  successful. 
•The  efficiency  of  a  directory,"  as  he  says,  "depends  on 
IS  power  of  breaking  up,  with  the  maximum  of  surety 
i.id   the    minimum    of  labour,    a  collection   of  sets  into 
-roups  of  which  even  the  largest  shall  be  easily  manage- 
.iblc,  so  that  when  a  group  is  designated  as  that  in  which 
the  set  searched  for  must  be,  if  it  exists  anywhere   in  the 
.(illection,  it  shall  be  (|uickly  discovered."    The  collection 
that    Mr.    (jalton   finds   most   easily  manageable    is    not 
necessarily  the  smallest,  but  that  which  lends  itself  best 
10   search,  in  its  character  and  its  form.     The  one  he  has 
idoiited  is  the  card  catalogue  :  "a  collection  of  separate 
>  ards  stacked  behind  one  another  in  the  separate  order 
iif  their  formula."     Mr.    Galton    timed    himself    in    his 
examination  of  156  sets  in  his  largest   collection,  which 
NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


fell  all  under  the  same  formula.  Eight  searches  were 
made,  during  which  a  total  of  373  cards  were  examined, 
and  the  time  taken  was  a  little  over  thirty-six  minutes. 
Mr.  Galton  could  therefore  get  through  ten  cards  per 
minute,  the  trouble  of  opening  the  drawer  or  other 
receptacle  having  been  done  by  an  assistant.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  Mr.  Galton  in  his  inquiries  first 
accepted  the  "whorl"  as  the  basis  of  classification, 
thinking  that  from  its  almost  endless  variety  of  shape  it 
would  be  the  most  useful  of  the  three  forms  of  impression  ; 
but  as  he  went  on  he  discarded  it  in  favour  of  the  "  loop," 
the  plainer  forms  of  which  could  be  "  classed  numerically 
by  the  simple  expedient  of  recording  the  number  of 
ridges  in  each  of  them  that  are  crossed  by  an  imaginary 
line  drawn  between  two  definite  termini." 

For  a  minute  and  detailed  account  of  the  primary-  and 
secondary  classification  of  finger-prints,  as  well  as  for 
the  best  methods  of  taking  them  and  studying  their 
forms,  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  Mr.  Galton's  new 
book.  This  most  useful  work  contains  a  number  of 
woodcuts  and  ample  indications  for  the  instruction  and 
guidance  of  the  student,  with  a  specimen-book  directory 
for  three  hundred  sets.  But  whether  the  index  is  in  the 
form  of  a  book  or  of  cards,  Mr.  Galton  affirms,  on  per- 
fectly good  grounds,  that  it  is  quite  possible  to  have  "a 
finger-print  directory,  even  of  three  thousand  sets  or 
more,  that  shall  discriminate  to  within  two  or  three 
sets."  There  can  be  no  question,  therefore,  but  that 
the  whole  system  has  passed  out  of  the  academic 
stage  into  one  of  real  practical  usefulness  ;  and  we 
may  expect  to  see  it  applied  for  other  purposes  than 
that  of  criminal  identification.  Now  that  it  has  been 
made  really  manageable,  it  may  be  strongly  recom- 
mended, for  instance,  to  the  military  authorities  as  an  in- 
fallible method  of  checking  desertion  and  fraudulent  re- 
enlistment.  It  appears  that  out  of  35,000  men  who  enlist 
annually,  5000  desert,  and  only  half  are  recaptured.  Of 
the  other  half  many,  undoubtedly,  re-enlist,  .•\lthough  the 
exact  number  cannot  be  positively  fixed,  it  is  estimated  at 
600,  all  of  whom  defraud  the  exchequer  to  the  \-alue  of 
their  second  bounty  and  outfit.  If,  however,  the  finger- 
prints of  all  recruits  were  taken  on  attestation,  and  a 
register  formed  on  the  plan  of  the  directories  constructed 
by  Mr.  Galton,  indisputable  evidence  would  be  afforded 
which  would  certainly  convict  the  re-enlisted  deserter  of 
his  original  offence 


BIRDS,    BEASTS    AND    FISHES    OF    THE 
NORFOLK   BROADLAND. 
Birds,  Beasts  and  Fishes  of  the  Norfolk  Broadland.     By 
P.  H.  Emerson.     8vo,  pp.  396,  illustrated.      (London  : 
David  Nutt,  1895.) 

AFTER  reading  the  severe  criticisms  passed  on  the 
works  of  several  eminent  British  ornithologists — 
especially  as  regards  illustrations — in  the  introductory 
chapter  to  the  \olume  before  us,  wc  hoped  we  were  going 
to  be  rewarded  by  finding  something  that  would  eclipse 
all  previous  efforts,  both  in  the  way  of  letter-press  and 
plates.  But  we  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  in  both  re- 
spects we  are  disappointed.  After  all  the  writing  about 
the  "  caricatures  "  of  Bewick,  and  the  "  monstrous  and 
.gaudy  decorations  "  of  .Selby,  (jould,  and  Dresser,  we  find 


196 


X.-l  TURE 


[June  27,  1895 


only  a  series  of  ver>"  ordinar>-  photographs,  many  of  which 
have  evidently  been  done  from  mounted  specimens,  and, 
what  is  more,  from  badly  mounted  ones.  As  to  the  text, 
we  fail  to  see  the  reason  for  interlarding  it  with  a 
provokingly  numerous  series  of  provincialisms,  which, 
although  no  doubt  familiar  enough  to  the  dwellers  in 
East  Norfolk,  are  certainly  not  household  words  in  other 
parts  of  Her  Majesty's  dominions.  To  Norfolk  people 
the  names  of  "  Herring-Spink,"  '"  Reed- Pheasant," 
" Spinex,"  and  '"  Draw- Water,'  doubtless  have  a  mean- 
ing, but  we  should  be  somewhat  surprised  if  all  our 
readers  are  aware  that  they  respectively  indicate  the 
gold-crest,  bearded  tit,  chaffinch,  and  goldfinch.  It  is 
true  that  in  most  cases  the  author  does  introduce  a  better- 
known  name  in  the  course  of  his  notices,  but  this  is  not 
so  with  the  "reed-pheasant."  In  omitting  all  scientific 
names,  we  are  by  no  means  sure  that  Mr.  Emerson  is  not 
right,  seeing  that  these  arc  constantly  being  changed, 
while  English  names  are  permanent  ;  but  then  let  us 
have  English  names,  and  not  Norfolk  ones. 

In  the  introductory  chapter  the  author  says  indirectly 
that  not  much  has  been  left  out  in  regard  to  the  habits  of 
British  birds  ;  and  we  cannot  help  adding  that  if  any  im- 
portant omissions  do  occur,  he  has  done  but  little  in  the 
way  of  supplying  them.  Writing  of  the  wren,  he  observes 
that  "  the  tomtit,  as  the  Hroadsmen  call  this  pert,  child- 
like little  bird,  always  brings  an  affectionate  smile  to  your 
face  as  you  see  his  hopping,  plump  little  body  flitting  over 
the  bank,  or  running  along  the  branches  of  a  leafless  tree, 
stopping  every  now  and  then  to  sing  his  loud-voiced 
song  ;  for,  though  his  is  a  little  body,  he  has  a  mighty  and 
pleasant  song."  This  example  cited  is  only  one  of  many 
taken  almost  at  random.  The  professed  ornithologist 
surely  docs  not  want  such  descriptions,  and  if  the  book  is 
intended  for  the  eyes  of  ladies  and  young  people,  why  are 
we  treated  on  p.  2 1 1  ct  seq.  to  a  \ery  unnecessar)' anecdote 
concerning  the  amours  of  swans  ? 

We  will  take  it  for  granted  that  among  the  birds  our 
author  has  correctly  determined  the  species  he  notices, 
and  has  recorded  all  those  found  in  the  Broads  ;  but  in 
the  case  of  the  mammals  he  is  far  from  e.xact.  He 
states,  for  instance,  that  there  are  two  kinds  of  bats  found 
there,  one  of  which  is  designated  the  common,  and  the 
other  the  large  bat.  By  the  former  is  doubtless  meant 
the  pipistrclle,  but  as  to  the  species  indicated  by  the 
latter  title  we  have  no  clue  ;  and  surely  there  ought  to  be 
more  than  two  species  of  bats  in  Norfolk.  Among  the  voles, 
again,  we  have  two  species,  respectively  termed  the  "  red 
mouse"  and  the  "marsh-mouse";  and,  although  the 
former  may  be  the  bank-vole,  we  can  scarcely  recognise 
the  common  field-vole  under  the  latter  inappropriate 
title,  if  so  be  that  it  is  intended  for  that  species.  The 
Broadland  rats  (which  the  author  places  a  long  distance 
after  tlic  mice  and  voles)  are  likewise  left  in  a  state  of 
hopeless  confusion,  and  we  quite  fail  to  recognise  what 
arc  the  three  kinds  alluded  to  under  the  names  of  "  big 
rat  with  yellow  chest,"  "large  brown  rat,"  and  "little 
red  rat."  1  f  the  author  thinks  he  has  got  hold  of  new 
species,  or  the  more  fashionable  sub-species,  why  did  he 
not  submit  his  spccimi-ns  to  a  specialist?  But  as  it  is, 
his  notes  are  useless  to  the  scientific  zoologist,  and,  we 
should  think,  of  no  great  interest  to  the  ordinary  observer 
of  nature. 

NO.    1339,  vol..  52] 


In  the  chapter  on  frogs  and  toads,  the  author  excels 
himself.  Of  these  animals  he  recognises  the  following  : 
viz.  the  "  garden-toad,"  "  water-toad,"  "  running  toad," 
"  common  frog,"  and  "  land-frog."  To  know  what 
creatures  are  meant  might  perhaps  tax  the  acumen  even 
of  Mr.  Boulenger  ;  but  the  notes  on  their  habits  are  too 
naive.  The  garden-toad,  we  are  informed,  "  makes  a 
form  in  the  grass  during  the  hot  weather  in  which  to 
shelter  himself ;  and  should  you  come  upon  him,  he  will 
squat  with  his  bright  eyes  fixed  upon  you  all  the  time." 
This  merely  records  a  fact  known  to  every  one  ;  but 
what  shall  we  say  of  the  following  concerning  the  run- 
ning toad  ?  "  The  chief  thing  in  connection  with  this 
creature  is  the  rockstafi"  that  a  man  can  quiet  the  most 
restive  horse  with  the  Ijone  of  a  running  toad,  which,  it 
is  said,  will  swim  against  the  stream.  Yacht  designers 
and  others  might  well  look  into  the  matter."  .Vpart  from 
the  grammar,  what  a  rockstaff  is,  we  do  not  know,  and 
we  are  equally  ignorant  whether  it  is  the  toad  or  its  bone 
that  can  swim  against  stream.  \  lack  of  information  as  re- 
gards species  and  habits  is  also  displayed  when  the  author 
comes  to  eels  ;  and  he  seems  to  be  totally  unaware  that 
some  years  ago  the  late  Surgeon  Day  communicated  an 
important  paper  on  the  breeding  of  these  fishes  to  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Cotteswold  Naturalists'  Kicld  Club. 

As  to  the  literary  style  of  the  book,  perhaps  the  less 
said  the  better  ;  and  although  it  may  attain  a  popularity 
among  the  numerous  frequenters  of  the  Norfolk  Broads^ 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  it  cannot  take  a  high  rank  among 
zoological  works.  K.   l.vniKKi  R. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 


Object-Lessons  in  liotany.  (Book  ii.,  for  Standards  iii., 
iv.  and  v.)  Being  a  Teachers  .Aid  to  a  Systematic 
Course  of  One  Hundred  Lessons  for  Boys  and  tiirls. 
By  Edward  Snelgrove,  B.A.  (London  :  Janold  and 
Sons.) 

It  is  not  perhaps  very  often  that  elementary  scientific 
books  of  the  type  to  which  the  volume  before  us  belongs, 
either  meets  with,  or  indeed  deserves,  much  success.  It 
is  with  the  greater  pleasure,  then,  that  we  feel  that  the 
author  is  to  be  congratulated  on  having  succeeded  in 
producing  a  really  good  series  of  lessons  which  will  be 
most  useful,  either  in  guiding  teachers  in  arranging  their 
class  work,  or  in  enabling  a  student  to  acquire  a  know- 
ledge of  plants  for  himself.  The  series  of  lessons  is 
progressively  arranged,  beginning  with  the  simpler  forms 
of  leaves  and  stems,  and  passing  on  to  the  various  types 
of  flowers  and  fruits.  The  really  excellent  feature  of  the 
work  is  the  method  by  which  the  student  is  led  to 
examine  actual  plants.  The  book  would  proliably  be  of 
little  service  to  anyone  merely  desirous  of  "  getting  up" 
the  subject  without  troubling  to  form  any  pradical 
acquaintance  with  the  objects  ticalt  with.  The  examples 
selected  as  types  are  well  chosen,  and  the  student  or 
teacher)  receives  plenty  of  hints  as  to  other  forms  which 
he  may  usefully  compare  with  them.  .Mmost  the  only 
fault  we  have  io  find  with  the  book  is,  after  all,  only  a 
literary  one;  still,  it  seems  a  pity  that  the  generic  names 
of  the  plants  should  have  been  conunenccd  with  a  siiintl 
letter,  especially  in  the  chapters  on  botanical  names. 
This,  however,  is  a  defect  that  can  easily  be  remedied  in 
a  future  edition,  which  soon  should  be  needed,  for  we  can 
cordially  recommend  the  volume,  both  Io  the  elementary 
teacher  and  student,  as  a  thoroughly  good  one. 


June  27,  1895] 


NATURE 


197 


Dental  Microscopy.  V>y  A.  Hopewell  Smith,  L.R.C.P., 
L.D..S.,  &c.  Pp.  119.  (London:  The  Dental  Manu- 
facturing Company,  Limited.) 
Student.s  of  dental  microscopy  will  find  this  work  a 
valuable  guide  to  the  preparation,  obser\  ation,  and  photo- 
graphy of  microscopical  sections  of  hard  and  soft  dental 
tissues.  The  volume  is  practical  throughout,  and  is 
illustrated  by  eight  lithographed  jilates,  from  which  typical 
structures  may  be  rcadih' recognised.  It  should  prove  of 
great  assistance  to  workers  in  dental  histology. 

On^anic  Chemistry,  Theoretical  and  Practical.  By 
Prof  J.  S.  Scarf,  F.I.C.,  F.C.S.  Pp.  240.  (London 
and  Glasgow  :  \V.  Collins,  Sons,  and  Co.,  Limited.) 

WlC  find  no  feature  which  distinguishes  this  text-book 
from  others  "adapted  to  the  requirements  of  the  Science 
and  Art  Department,  and  of  the  London  University." 
The  book  may  assist  students  to  pass  the  examinations 
for  which  it  has  been  constructed,  but  it  is  not  a  desir- 
able introduction  to  the  science  of  organic  chemistry. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[Tlie  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undertake 
to  return.,  or  to  correspond  with  the  ^uriters  of.,  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  NATURE. 
No  notice  is  tal;en  of  anonymous  com/iiunications.\ 

The  Antiquity  of  the  Medical  Profession. 

Dr.  Black  displays  a  surprising  facility  of  misajiprehension — 
greater  than  I  should  have  supposed  possible. 

The  final  sentence  of  his  letter  runs  thus  : — "  It  would  seem, 
then,  from  history,  that  the  medical  profession  is  quite  as  old  as 
either  that  of  theology  or  law." 

Now  since  the  first  sentence  of  my  essay  contains  the  clause — 
■'  In  rude  tribes  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish  between  the  priest 
Hid  the  mc<licine-uian '"  :  and  since  various  illustrations  are 
hen  given  of  the  unicjii  of  the  priestly  and  medical  functions  in 
the  same  individual ;  and  since  it  is  thereafter  shown  that  this 
inion  long  continues  among  early  civilised  peoples — Egyptians, 
liabylonians,  Hebrews,  Hindus,  CJreeUs  it  is  a  necessary 
implication  that,  as  Dr.  Hlack  says,  "the  medical  profession  is 
quite  as  okl  as  either  that  of  theology  or  law."  For  if  two  pro- 
fessions are  at  first  exercised  by  the  same  jiersons  they  are 
nece.s.sarily  of  equal  anticjuity.  So  that,  strangely  enough.  Dr. 
I'.lack  points  out  to  me  a  truth  which  it  is  one  of  the  purposes  of 
iiy  essay  to  teach.  I  can  only  suppose  either  that  he  did  not 
read  the  first  part  of  the  essay  at  all,  or  that  before  he  had  reached 
the  end  he  had  forgotten   the  beginning. 

Westerham.  Kent.  Hkkbkrt  Spkncer. 

Halley's  Equal  Variation    Chart. 

I  HAVK  read  Mr.  Ward's  interesting  letter  on  this  topic  in 
Naturk  of  May  30,  p.  106.  I  embrace  this  opportunity  to 
correct  some  typographical  errors  in  my  letter  in  the  issue  of 
May  23. 

No.  974  (4)  should  be  977  (4). 

In  foot-note  3,  p.  79,  the  title  of  atlas  referred  to  should  he 
'  TahuKv  Nautic<d  Varialiones  Magneticas  Denotantes." 

I  have  compared  .Mr.   Ward's  description  of  his  own   chart 
with  my  notes.      He  evidently  is  the  lucky  possessor  of  the  ex'- 
i  cdingly  rare  Halley  chart  977  (4).    I  should  be  pleased  to  have 
.lim  inform   me  if  the   word   "  Britannia^  "  in  the  dedication  is  ! 
not  spell  with  two  t's. 

The  size  of  the  British  .Museum  copy  is  about  48  x  57  cm.,  tlie 
shorter  dimension  being  in  an  east-west  direction  :  it  is  in  a 
splendi<l  condition. 

The  earliest  mention  made  of  Halley's  Equal  \ari ation 
Chart  is  found  in  "  Hisloire  de  I'Acad.  de  Paris,"  1701,  p.  9. 
The  chart  referred  to  there  must  be  the  above  977  (4),  of  which 
we  now  know  that  two  copies  exist — the  British  Museum's 
and  Mr.  Ward's.  L.  A.  BAfER. 

The  t'niversity  of  Chicago. 


to  the  art  of  netting.  It  is  of  intere.sl  to  note  that  the  following 
citation  is  found  in  a  Chinese  cyclopaedia:  "Y'uen-kien  Lui- 
han"(i70i,  torn,  ccccxlix.  art.  "Chi-chu,''  2): — "  In  '  Pau- 
puh-tsze '  it  is  said,  '  Tai-hau  [or  I'ao-hsi]  made  a  spider  his 
master  and  knitted  nets.'  " 

In  the  "  \'ih-King,''  the  oldest  authority  that  ascribes  to  Pao- 
hsi  the  invention  of  the  net,  no  mention  is  nmde  in  this  con- 
nection of  spider  (see  Legge's  translation,  in  the  "  Sacred  Books 
of  the  East,"  vol.  xvi.  p.  3S3)  ;  but  the  above-quoted  passage 
of  "  Pau-puh-tsze  "  is  tantamount  to  prove  such  a  view,  as  sug- 
gested by  Mr.  Pocock,  to  have  already  occurred  among  the 
Chinese  in  the  fourth  centur)-,  A.  n. ,  when  the  book  was  written 
by  a  Taoist  recluse  named  Koh  Hung. 

June   17.  KfMAGfSU    MiNAKATA. 


The  Bird  of  Paradise. 

I  DESIRE  to  call  the  attention  of  your  readers  to  a  fashion 
which  in  the  month  of  May  was  at  its  height  in  London,  and  is 
now  much  patronised  throughout  the  country.  I  refer  to  the 
wearing  in  hats  and  bonnets  of  a  graceful  spray  of  soft  fine 
plumes  with  drooping  or  curly  tips.  These  the  milliners  call 
Bird  of  Paradise  feathers,  the  assurance  being  constantly  given 
that  they  are  real.  They  are  often  mixed  with  osprey  tips, 
which,  to  the  shame  of  womanhood,  have  so  long  been  in 
fashion,  and  are  still  largely  used.  I  may  state  on  trustworthy 
authority  that  during  the  past  season  one  warehouse  alone  has 
disposed  of  no  less  than  sixty  thousand  dozens  of  these  mixed 
sprays  '. 

The  Bird  of  Paradise  most  used  in  millinery  is  that  obtained 
in  the  Papuan  Islands  and  New  Guinea.  Mr.  Wallace,  in 
describing  the  Paradisea  apoda,  says  : — "  From  each  side  of  the 
body,  beneath  the  wings,  springs  a  dense  tuft  of  long  and 
delicate  plumes,  sometimes  two  feet  in  length,  of  the  most 
intense  golden-orange  colour  and  very  glossy,  but  changing 
towards  the  tips  into  a  pale  brown.  This  tuft  of  plumes  can  be 
elevated  and  spread  out  at  pleasure,  so  as  almost  to  conceal 
the  body  of  the  bird."  In  his  "  Oiseaux  dans  la  Mode'' of 
October  20,  1894,  M.  Jules  Forest  bitterly  deplores  the  de- 
struction which  has  been  going  on  during  the  last  decade.  He 
emphasises  the  fact  that  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  procure  such 
perfect  specimens  as  were  common  ten  years  ago,  since  the 
unfortiuiate  birds  are  so  hunted  that  none  of  them  are  allowed 
to  live  long  enough  to  reach  full  maturity,  the  full  plumage  of 
the  male  bird  requiring  several  years  for  its  development  1  He 
further  st;rtes  that  "the  liirds  which  now  flood  the  Paris  market 
are  for  the  most  part  young  ones,  still  clothed  in  their  first 
]ilumage,  which  lacks  the  brillianc}-  displayed  in  the  older  bird, 
and  are  consequently  of  small  commercial  value."  Since 
January  I,  1892,  strict  regulations  for  the  preservation  of  the  Bird 
of  Paradise  have  been  in  force  in  Cerman  New  Guinea,  and  M. 
Forest  appeals  to  the  English  and  Dutch  Governments  to  follow 
thei.-  good  example. 

The  ciuumon  sense  of  every  thoughtful  woman  must  at  once 
tell  her  that  no  comparatively  rare  tropical  species,  such  as  the 
Bird  of  Paradise,  can  long  withstand  this  drain  upon  it,  and 
that  this  ruthless  destruction,  merely  to  pander  to  the  caprice  of 
a  jiassing  fashion,  will  soon  place  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
denizens  of  our  earth  in  the  same  category  as  the  Great  Auk  and 
the  Dodo. 

The  women  of  England  are  earnestly  entreated  not  to  counten- 
ance the  sacrifice  of  this  bird  by  encouraging  the  demand  for  its 
precious  feathers.  Let  them  resolve  to  do  what  they  can  to 
prevent  the  extermination  of  this  "  wonder  of  nature"  by  stoutly 
refusing  to  purchase  or  wear  anything  purporting  to  have  once 
belonged  to  a  Bird  of  Paradise. 

Mari;aretta  L.   Lemon. 

Ketlhill.  Surrey,  June  21. 


The   Invention  of  the   Net. 
In  your  number  of  February  28  |p.  417),  .Mr.  R.   I.   Pocock 
suggests  that  the  observation  of  a  spider's  web  may  have  given  rise 

NO.    1339,   VOL.   52] 


THE  TICK  PEST  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

THOSE  living  in  temperate  climates  have  probably 
small  idea  of  the  virulence  of  insect  and  other  pests 
in  the  tropics.  A  ])l:iguc  of  caterpillars  may  destroy  a 
season's  crop  in  F.ngland,  but  there  is  the  winter's  frost 
to  be  passed  through  before  a  second  attack  need  be 
feared.  It  is  otherwise  in  the  tropics.  \'egetatiofi  is 
much  more  luxuriant,  and  the  food  supply  is  permanent  : 
and,  when  once  a  plague    has   obtained  :i  firm  foothold 


I9S 


NA  TURE 


[June  27.  1895 


there  is  no  apparent  reason  why  it  should  cease  its  ravages 
before  it  has  entirely  destroyed  its  particular  host.  It  is 
fortunate  for  agriculturists  that  the  great  increase  of  any 
particular  parasite  seems  ultimately  to  work  out  its  own 
destruction  ;  and  frequently  when  all  hope  seems  over,  the 
plague  rapidly  and  unaccountably  disappears. 

Surprise  has  been  expressed  that  ticks  infesting  cattle 
have  received  so  little  real  study.  Quite  recently  the 
statement  appeared  that  these  parasites  formed  the  least 
known  part  of  the  tropical  fauna.  But  a  great  deal  has 
been  done  in  this  direction  of  recent  years,  and  there 
seems  some  hope  of  real  progress  being  made. 

Taking  the  conditions  into  consideration,  it  is  a  matter  of 
great  wonder  that  so  few  ticks  exist  in  many  parts  of  the 
tropics.  No  real  attempt  has  been  made  to  decrease  their 
numbers,  and  there  appears  to  be  no  season  of  the  year 
when  the  climate  is  fatal  to  them.  \'egetation  is  rank, 
and  we  know  now  that  they  can  li\e  to  a  great  extent  upon 
vegetable  matter  ;  further,  c\en  where  there  is  a  scarcity 
of  small  indigenous  mammals,  there  are  plenty  of  horses 
and  cattle.  The  multiplying  powers  of  ticks  arc  enormous. 
In  one  case  I  detennined  the  number  of  eggs  from  one 
female  as  over  20,000  (see  Fig.  3),  and  almost  all  of  these 
were  fertile  and  produced  young  ticks.  The  increase  in 
numbers  of  ticks  in  most  countries  is  not  marked,  however, 
and  we  are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  here,  in 
the  animal  kingdom,  a  waste  of  material  analogous  to  that 
in  the  seeding  of  parasites  and  saprophytes  amony  plants. 

It  is  not  surprising  now  and  then  to  hear  of  a  long- 
continued  plague  of  ticks  from  one  place  or  another  where 
cattle-rearing  is  a  staple  industr)-.  In  Jamaica,  it  is  by  no 
means  uncommon  for  the  traveller  to  get  covered  with 
"  grass-lice."  On  pushing  aside  the  branches  overhang- 
ing the  riding  path,  1  have  been  immediately  covered  with 
firmly  attached  young  ticks  which  needed  much  care  and 
patience  to  remove.  The  ticks  of  Jamaica  are  now  a  ver^' 
serious  source  of  anxiety  in  cattle-pens,  and  much  loss  is 
attributed  to  these  parasites. 

During  my  stay  in  .•\ntigua,  complaints  were  loud  and 
frequent  of  the  ravages  of  a  large  tick,  which  infested 
the  cattle  between  the  months  of  May  and  September. 
In  the  cattle  and  sheep  farms  of  the  Cape  of  (lood  Hope 
and  .\ustralia  the  "tick"  matter  is  absorbing  much  atten- 
tion. Specially  large  and  annoying  forms  arc  described 
from  parts  of  India,  Central  Africa  and  Central  .•\merica  ; 
while  extraordin.ar)'  tales  are  told  of  the  destruction  caused 
by  these  par.isitcs  in  cattle-rearing  districts  of  South 
America.  Elaborate  and  expensive  researches  have  been 
conducted  in  the  United  States  Southern  Experimental 
Stations  upon  the  lifc-histor)'  of  the  ticks  and  their  re- 
lations to  cattle  ;  and  the  exhaustive  reports,  issued  from 
the  Bureau  of  .Animal  lndustr\',  form  by  far  the  most 
valuable  part  of  our  economic  literature  on  these  pests. 

The  books  of  travellers  teem  with  references  to  the 
annoyance  caused  by  ticks.  .Sir  Joseph  Hooker,  in  his 
"  Himalayan  Journals,"  describes  their  abundance  in  the 
frontier  regions  between  .Sikkim  and  Nepaul,  in  pathless 
tracts  destitute  of  animal  life.  He  writes  the  following 
concerning  the  neighbourhood  of  Tonglo  :  "  .V  large  tick 
infests  the  small  bamboo,  and  a  more  hateful  insect  I 
never  encountered.  The  traveller  cannot  avoid  these 
insects  coming  on  his  person  (sometimes  in  great  numbers) 
as  he  brushes  through  the  forest  ;  they  get  inside  his 
dress,  and  insert  the  proboscis  deeply  without  pain. 
Buried  head  and  shoulders,  and  retained  by  a  barbed 
lancet,  the  lick  is  only  to  be  extracted  by  force  which 
is  ver>'  painful.  I  have  devised  many  tortures,  mechanical 
and  chemical,  to  induce  these  disgusting  intruders  to 
withdraw  their  proboscis,  but  in  vain." 

Bates,   on    passing    through    the   grassy   lanes   of  the 
second-growth   woods  on  the  Amazons,  often  found  him- 
self covered  by   ticks.      It  occupied  him,  he  says,  a  full 
hour  after  his  day's  work  to  clear  himself  of  the  parasites. 
Belt    refers   to  the    "grass-lice"    on     the    plains     of 

NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


Nicaragua,  as  quickly  covering  anyone  travelling  throuyh 
the  country-  ;  so  much  so,  that  the  herdsmen  or  "  vac- 
queros"  keep  a  ball  of  soft  wax  with  which  to  rub 
themselves.  The  smaller  ticks  are  thus  removed  from 
their  skin,  while  the  larger  ones  are  picked  off  by  hand. 

Many  a  time,  in  walking  through  grass  in  the  Leeward 
Islands,  1  have  been  conscious  of  the  peculiar  itching 
at  the  ankles  caused  by  the  attacks  of  "  bete  rouge.' 
The  bete  rouge  is  not  in  reality  a  tick,  although  often 
confused  with  it.  Horses  seem  to  be  particularly  liable 
to  its  attacks,  with  the  result  that  they  lose  all  the  hair 
about  the  face  and  eyes.  In  all  probability  the  poor 
animals  suffer  a  good  deal,  for  the  personal  irritation  is- 
extreme.  The  bete  rouge  is  exceedingly  minute,  and, 
as  its  name  implies,  is  of  a  brilliant  scarlet.  At  night, 
after  retiring  to  rest,  the  warmth  of  the  body  seems  to- 
increase  the  irritation  to  the  utmost  pitch,  and  sleep 
becomes  .ibsolutcly  impossible.  Rubbing  or  scratching 
the  parts  attacked  merely  intensifies  the  discomfort,  the 
creature  pushing  itself  deeper  into  the  flesh.  Most  pain- 
ful sores  are  the  result  if  the  greatest  care  is  not  taken. 
The  one  certain  remedy  seems  to  be  to  anoint  the  inflamed 
spots  with  vaseline.  This  substance  not  only  soothes, 
but  appears  to  destroy  the  bete  rouge  by  stopjiioi;  up  its 
breathing  pores.  1  have  never  succeeded  in  detecting  the- 
creature  on  the  skin,  but,  when  reailing  in  or  near  an 
infested  lawn,  I  have  captured  many  by  watching  for  the 
minute  scarlet  dots  travelling  over  the  white  paper. 

The  damage  done  by  ticks  to  cattle  is  undoubtedly 
very  serious.  According  to  observ.ations  by  Leidy,  the 
adult  female  tick  is  able  to  absorb  100  times  its  weight 
of  blood,  swelling  during  that  time  to  an  enormous  ex-- 
tent.  This  food  is  rapidly  changed  into  eggs.  The 
,idult  male  does  not  increase  apprecial)ly  in  size,  but 
his  demands  upon  the  host  have  probably  been  greatly 
underrated.  .\n  account  of  tick-infested  cattle  in  Queens- 
land states  that  they  were  so  completely  co\ered  that 
the  branding-iron  had  to  be  burnt  through  the  ticks 
before  it  was  possible  to  reach  the  animals'  skins.  A 
case  in  Texas  is  mentioned  where  it  was  found  impossible 
to  lay  a  silver  dollar  upon  the  body  of  the  animals  with- 
out touching  some  ticks,  .\gain  in  Texas,  100  full-grown 
ticks  were  collected  from  each  ear  of  a  pony,  while  many 
immature  ones  were  left  behind.  The  mere  abstraction 
of  blood  must,  in  this  case,  be  a  very  serious  drain  upon 
the  system. 

When  one  considers,  further,  the  irritation  experienced 
by  travellers  from  the  few  ticks  fixed  upon  them  in  their 
daily  rambles,  it  may  be  safely  concluded  that  the  pene- 
tration of  the  countless  proboscides  into  the  skin  of  cattle 
must  of  itself  be  a  source  of  great  discomfort,  especially 
as  these  animals  are  quite  unable  to  get  rid  of  them. 
Calves  not  uncommonly  are  destroyed  by  the  formation 
of  balls  ofliair  in  their  stomachs  ;  and  in  tick-regions  this 
is  undoubtedly  due  to  an  attemi)t  to  f^et  rid  of  tlie  parasites 
by  licking  and  biting  them  off. 

It  is  quite  conceivable,  then,  that  ticks  do  really  cause 
the  death  of  multitudes  o(  cattle  on  the  great  estates 
where  it  is  impossible  to  examine  them  closely.  We 
should,  however,  approach  this  part  of  the  subject  with 
caution.  Sickly  cattle  are  usually  covered  by  ticks,  while 
the  healthy  ones  have  only  a  few  ;  but  it  is  questionable 
whether  the  ticks  are  the  real  cause  of  their  emaciation. 
The  case  of  ticks  seems  rather  to  be  analogous  to  th.tt 
of  scale  insects  on  plants.  The  latter  pests  appear  in 
great  quantities  at  any  period  of  stress,  when  from  lack 
of  nutriment  or  other  cause  the  plants  become  weakly. 
Thus,  in  .-\ntigua,  there  is  a  marked  disappearance  of 
scale  insects  with  the  commencement  of  the  rainy  season. 
It  seems  probable  that  the  prevalence  of  ticks  upon 
certain  cattle  is  rather  due  to  conditions  of  the  blood 
or  skin  of  the  animal,  closely  connected  with  its  general 
nutrition.  This  is  an  exceedint;ly  important  matter  for 
determination,  for  upon   it,  as  will  presently  be  shown. 


June  27,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


199 


<lcpcnds  the  only  means  of  freeing  the  cattle  from  these 

pests. 

Thus  far  the  direct  eftccts  of  ticks  upon  cattle  have 
been  considered.  Certain  alarminy  facts  have  lately  been 
brought  to  light  with  regard  to  the  relations  existing 
between  ticks  and  different  well-known  cattle  diseases. 
The  subject  is  by  no  means  new,  having  long  been  a 
fascinating  one  for  cattle-breeders.  The  "louping-ill  " 
or  "  trembling"  of  the  north  of  Britain  has  been  traced 
by  some  directly  to  the  presence  of  ticks  upon  the  sheep. 
The  same  may  be  said  of  a  disease  called  "heart-water" 
at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Finally,  the  United  States 
Department  of  .Agriculture  has  for  the  last  five  or  si.\ 
years  been  conducting  exhaustive  experiments  upon  the 
connection  between  ticks  and  the  Texas  cattle  fever,  the 
results  of  which  have  appeared  in  the  annual  reports 
of  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry  already  referred  to. 

There  is,  in  this  latter  case,  present  in  the  blood  of  the 
cattle  suffering  from  disease,  an  infusorian  which  quickly 
destroys  the  red  blood  corpuscles.  This  minute  organism 
has  also  been  detected  in  the  body  of  the  tick.  It  has  been 
again  and  again  transferred  from  diseased  animals  to 
healthy  ones  by  means  of  the  tick,  and  tick  alore.  The 
presence  of  this  infusorian   is   regarded  as  diagnostic  of 


I  he  Great  Antigua  Oold  Tic\i.~f/yalomiim  venustiim,  Koch,  (i)  M.iturc 
m.ile,  n.itural  size  ;  colours,  gold,  sc.irlel,  and  liKick.  (la)  Magnified 
%cnlr3l  view,  (-j)  Female,  mature  but  not  inflated  ;  colours,  shield 
hl.^ck  with  fle.sh-coloured  and  gold  spots  ;  body  dark  green.  (3)  Female 
full  of  blood,  natural  size  ;  colour,  dark  green.  (4)  The  same  female  as 
in  (3),  after  20,000  eggs  h.ld  been  laid.  (5)  Fem.ile  into  which  m.ile  had 
accidentally  inserted  his  proboscis  ;  both  m.agnified. 

the  disease  ;  and  the  effect  of  its  corpuscle-destroying 
powers  is  seen  all  over  the  body,  as  well  as  in  the  red- 
•  oloured  urine,  which  has  won  for  tlie  disease  the  colonial 
name  of  "red-water." 

Ticks,  then,  are  in  certain  cases  connected  with  the 
transmission  of  deadly  disease.  In  how  many  more  cases 
this  is  so  remains  to  be  investigated.  It  is  quite  possible 
I  hat  some  of  the  obscure  cattle  diseases  in  different  parts 
if  the  world  are  caused  by  ticks,  and  that  other  countries 
^^  ill,  in  their  turn,  be  forced  to  face  this  problem. 

There  is  no«-  and  then  an  outbreak  of  a  severe  skin 
disease  among  cattle  in  .Antigua  ;  and  this  disease  does 
not  appear  to  be  known  in  the  neighbouring  islands. 
Jud^'ing  from  the  climate  and  peculiar  conditions  of 
.\ntigua,  the  scarcity  of  water  and  lack  of  nutritious  food 
fi>r  part  of  the  year  might  be  considered  sufficient  to 
.iccount  for  a  local  disease  ;  but  there  is  also  a  large 
tick  present,  which  has  not  been  recorded  from  the  other 
islands  of  the  group.  A  loose  theorj'  has  thus  arisen 
that  this  "gold  tick"  is  connected  with,  if  not  the  direct 
cause  of,  the  cattle  disease. 

The  evidence  available  does  not  tend  to  confirm  this 
idea,  but  it  is  obviously  impossible  to  solve  the  problem 

NO.    1339,  VOL.   52"*  " 


in  the  absence  of  proper  appliances.  I  was  led,  however, 
to  commence  observations  upon  the  gold  tick,  which  may 
be  of  interest. 

Mr.  A.  D.  Michael  has  determined  it  to  be  Hyalomiiia 
vcniistwn,  which  Koch  described  in  1847  from  a  single 
male  specimen  collected  in  Senegal.  There  is  a  local 
tradition  in  .Antigua  that  the  tick  was  introduced  some 
thirty  or  forty  years  ago  with  some  imported  .Senegal 
cattle  ;  and  this  determination  lends  probability  to  the 
belief  The  male  is  a  very  beautiful  creature,  decked  in 
scarlet  and  gold,  whence  he  obtains  his  name.  The 
female  is  very  large,  one  specimen  being  nearly  an  inch 
in  length  and  weighing  '17  oz.  1  calculated  the  number 
of  eggs  laid  by  this  female  at  over  20,000.  She  com- 
menced laying  on  July  31,  and  finished,  a  shrunken  mass, 
on  September  10 — a  period  of  exactly  six  weeks.  The 
accompanying  life-size  drawings  are  of  Antigua  gold 
ticks.  The  first  is  a  mature  male.  He  is  not  usually 
larger  than  this,  and  may  be  seen  moving  rapidly  across 
the  ground,  or  firmly  attached  to  the  skin  of  the  cattle 
close  to  a  female.  The  next  three  figures  are  of  females, 
all  mature,  but  at  different  stages.  The  first  is  undis- 
tended  ;  the  second  gorged  with  blood,  and  commencing 
to  lay  its  eggs  ;  while  the  third  is  the  same  tick  after 
the  last  egg  was  laid.  There  is  also  the  drawing  of  a 
curious  case,  in  which  a  male  had  by  accident  attached 
himself  to  a  distending  female — a  mistake  which  resulted 
in  the  premature  death  of  both. 

The  period  of  incubation  observed  in  the  tick's  eggs 
\aried  from  twenty-three  to  fifty-one  days.  The  young 
ticks  usually  emerged  in  great  numbers  on  the  same  day, 
and  any  eggs  left  unhatched  quickly  dried  up.  In  An- 
tigua the  gold  ticks  appear  upon  cattle,  in  numbers,  from 
May  till  September  each  year.  It  became  important  to 
determine  what  became  of  them  in  the  meantime  ;  and 
whether  they  passed  the  winter  in  the  body  of  the  parent, 
in  the  egg,  or  as  young  ticks.  From  experiments  in  the 
laboratory,  it  would  appear  that  the  little  ticks  pass  the 
winter  months  huddled  together  in  masses  of  several 
hundreds  at  the  roots  of  the  old  dead  grasses. 

In  considering  the  remedies  for  ticks,  one  is  soon  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  direct  measures  against  the  parasite 
themselves  will  be  of  little  avail.  Methods  of  pre- 
vention are  always  preferable  to  those  of  cure,  and  in 
no  case  is  this  more  so  than  with  parasites  of  this  class. 
Besides  this,  they  are  practically  invisible  at  the  most 
dangerous  stage  ;  and  when  we  see  the  ugly,  swollen, 
mature  specimens,  we  know  that  their  evil  work  is  dont^ 
All  large  females  should  be  carefully  collected  and  burnt, 
however,  as  thus  future  attacks  will  be  diminished. 

The  treatment  of  pastures  is  a  very  important  matter. 
Here  probably  the  parasite  spends  the  greater  part  of 
his  early  life — usually  on  the  ragged  bunches  of  old  grass 
left  from  previous  years.  The  proper  feeding  or  cutting 
of  the  grass,  and  the  liming  and  draining  of  the  pastures, 
will  destroy  myriads  of  the  infant  ticks  or  "grass-lice." 
For  the  sake  of  the  animals,  there  is  every  inducement 
to  render  the  pastures  as  nutritious  as  possible  :  and 
ticks  do  not  seem  to  trouble  the  sleek  cattle  of  the  herd. 
It  is  an  undoubted  fact,  moreover,  that  the  improvement 
in  food,  due  to  change  of  pasturage,  does  in  certain  cases 
cause  all  the  ticks  to  drop  off  infested  animals.  The  first 
class  of  remedies  will  aim  at  cutting  off  the  supply  of 
ticks  by  treating  the  pastures. 

The  second  class — one  might  say  almost  the  only  one 
which  is  attempted  in  the  tropics-  is  the  destruction  of 
ticks  upon  the  cattle. 

The  common  method  of  tying  the  legs  of  the  animal 
together,  hurling  it  to  the  ground,  and  smearing  some 
tick-destroying  compound  over  it,  cannot  be  too  strongly 
condemmed,  especially  as  there  is  no  need  for-  it 
whatsoever.  Cattle  may  be  handled  with  impunity  if 
some  form  of  cattle-bail  is  employed  ;  by  this  means  they 
may  be  driven  one  by  one   into  a  small  trap,   where  they 


200 


NA  TURE 


[June  27,  1895 


can  be  treated.  But  even  this  is  hardly  necessarj'  if  the 
application  to  the  skin  is  in  the  liquid  form  :  for  with  a 
powerful  spraying  machine,  as  many  as  one  hundred  cattle 
have  been  completely  covered  in  the  space  of  an  hour. 

Of  pastes  and  powders  and  fluids  recommended  there 
is  no  end  ;  and  it  will  serve  no  useful  purpose  to  give 
detailed  lists  discussing  the  merits  of  each.  The  points 
to  be  kept  in  view  are  that  the  liquid  should  be  of  an  oily 
and  non-poisonous  nature,  capable  of  clogging  up  the 
air-pores  of  the  ticks.  It  should  be  cheap,  and  easily 
applicable  without  handling  the  cattle  ;  it  should,  finally, 
not  easily  evaporate,  or  be  washed  off  by  the  rains.  .A 
full  discussion  of  remedies  has  recently  been  published 
by  me,  the  following  being  taken  from  the  summary  at  the 
end:  "  .-X  number  of '  types  of  washes  for  spraying  are 
selected  for  description.  .-Ml  poisonous  ones  should  be 
rejected,  as  there  are  non-poisonous  preparations  equally 
effective.  Carbolic  acid  dips  and  other  liquids,  which 
evaporate  quickly,  need  frequent  applications,  and  should 
be  discarded  in  favour  of  oily  liquids  or  emulsions  where 
the  latter  are  equally  effective.  The  best  of  all  these  is  the 
kerosene  emulsion  regularly  used  for  plants.  There  are 
many  formula-  for  the  preparation  of  this  ;  a  useful  one 
(for  ticks)  is  given."  The  formula  referred  to  is  as  follows  : 
"  In  two  quarts  of  boiling  water  dissolve  half  a  pound  of 
soap  ;  remove  from  fire  ;  immediately  add  one  pint  of  kero- 
sene, and  agitate.  In  from  three  to  five  minutes  the  liquid 
becomes  creamy.  It  may  be  stored  in  this  form  in  bottles 
or  barrels.  For  use,  add  three  of  water  to  one  of  emulsion  ; 
mix  thoroughly,  and  apply  with  a  spraying  pump." ' 

The  third  and  most  important  class  of  remedies  is  closely 
connected  with  the  nutrition  of  the  animal.  If  we  can 
render  the  skin  or  blood  of  our  cattle  so  distasteful  to 
the  tick  that  the  latter  will  not  attach  itself,  we  have  a 
solution  of  the  whole  matter.  We  should  confer  immunity 
upon  our  animals,  and,  at  one  stroke,  do  away  with  the 
necessity  of  all  the  laborious  and  expensive  methods 
now  in  vogue  for  the  destruction  of  these  parasites. 

The  first  step  in  this  direction  has  been  taken  ;  and, 
in  various  parts  of  the  world,  most  excellent  results  are 
recorded  from  the  addition  of  small  doses  of  sulphur  to 
the  animal's  food. 

It  has  already  been  noted  that  the  food  of  animals  has 
an  influence  upon  their  infestation  by  ticks.  Cases  are 
not  uncommon  among  cattle-breeders  where  a  mere 
change  of  pasture  will  cause  all  the  ticks  to  drop  off. 
This  change  is  obviously  felt  through  the  animal's  skin. 

It  has  also  been  mentioned  that  the  ticks  seem  to 
congregate  upon  cattle  in  poor  condition,  while  those 
with  sleek  skins  are  more  or  less  untouched.  Dr.  Cooper 
Curtice  (late  of  the  United  .States  Bureau  of  Animal 
Industry)  suggests,  as  an  explanation  of  this,  that  there 
is  in  well-fed  cattle  an  oily  condition  of  the  skin  obnoxious 
to  the  ticks  ;  and  this  suggestion  is  the  more  worthy  of 
consideration  when  we  remember  the  aversion  of  these 
creatures  to  grease  of  any  kind. 

It  is  certain  \\\?A  sulphur  taktii  iiifernnl/y  \\\\\  render 
the  skin  evil-smelling,  by  the  exhalation  of  sulphuretted 
hydrogen,  a  substance  highly  obnoxious  to  all  parasites. 
The  following  seem  to  be  the  physiological  changes  which 
take  place  during  the  passage  of  the  sulphur  through  the 
animal's  body  to  the  skin.  .Sulphur  taken  in  with  the 
food  passes  the  stomach  unaltered.  In  the  intestines  a 
small  portion  is  changed  into  sulphides  of  hydrogen  and 
the  alkalies.  Part  of  these  sulphides  pass  into  the  blood, 
and  into  the  tissues  from  the  blood,  and  act  chiefly  upon 
the  central  nervous  system.  The  sulphides  in  the  tissues 
arc  variously  excreted.  By  the  kidneys  they  are  excreted 
as  sulphates  ;  if  in  excess,  part  is  also  excreted  in  the 
fonn  of  sulphides.  By  the  skin  they  escape  as  sulphides, 
giving  the  characteristic  foul  odour  to  the  perspiration, 
and  somewhat  increasing  its  amount. 

'  Fof  further  detail*,  we  p;iper»  in  l.ccw-.ird  Ulandt  AgrkuUiirat  Juiiniat, 
No».  l-J. 


The  doses  of  sulphur  should  be  small,  but  they  should 
be  constant.  The  form  in  which  the  medicine  is  offered 
to  the  animals  will  best  be  decided  by  the  manager  of 
the  estate.  With  stall-fed  cattle  there  can  be  no  difficulty 
at  all  ;  but  with  the  cattle  of  large  estates,  which  are 
seldom  handled  and  sometimes  not  seen  for  long  periods, 
it  will  be  necessary  to  prepare  the  sulphur  with  salt  as 
a  "  lick,"  to  which  cattle  will  readily  help  themselves  if 
it  is  scattered  about. 

The  success  of  this  sulphur  treatment  has  so  far  been 
encouraging,  both  at  the  Cape  of  tiood  Hope  and  in  the 
United  .States.  Doubtless  with  continued  study  other 
similar  preventive  remedies  will  from  time  to  time  be- 
discovered,  and  thus  rid  the  stockowners  of  the  tropics 
of  one  of  their  most  dreaded  enemies. 

C.  .A.   H.^RBliK. 


NOTES. 

Proi--.  lli-xi.Ev's  health  is  at  present  a  source  of  great 
anxiety  to  his  friends.  Symptoms  of  renal  insufficiency  a]  p-'.ired 
last  week,  and  Ibis,  with  the  other  complications  which  have- 
attended  his  protracted  illness,  has  made  his  condition  a  very 
critical  one,  but  we  are  glad  to  learn  that  it  is  improving. 

We  deeply  regret  to  notice  the  announcement  of  the  death  of 
Dr.  W.  C.  Williamson,  Emeritus  Professor  of  Botany  in  Owens 
College,  Manchester.  Dr.  Williamson  was  elected  into  the 
Royal  Society  in  1854. 

Prof.  Verneuil,  the  eminent  French  surgeon,  and  Mcmlur 
of  the  Paris  .\cademy  of  Sciences,  died  on  June  12. 

Prof.  Simon  Newcomb  has  been  elected  Associe  t-lranger 
of  the  Paris  Academy  _of  Sciences,  in  succession  to  the  late- 
von  Helmholtz. 

Prof.  W.  Peterson,  Principal  of  the  University  College,. 
Dundee,  h.as  accepted  the  position  of  Principal  of  Met  oil 
University,  .Montreal,  in  succession  to  Sir  William  Dawson. 

Sir  K.  M.\rMiF.TlioMi'SiiN,  principal  lilirarian  of  the  British 
Museum,  has  been  elected  a  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Philo- 
sophico-liislorical  Section  of  the  Berlin  .\cademy  of  Sciences. 

The  University  of  I'ennsylvania  has  received  gifts,  within  a 
few  days,  aggregating  nearly  a  million  dollars.  This  includes 
half  a  million  dollars  fri>m  Provost  Harrison,  already  noted  in 
these  columns.  Scarcely  a  week  passes  without  our  being  able  to 
record  similar  gifts  from  private  benefactors  to  the  universities  and 
colleges  of  the  United  States.  Sa'aia-  reimrts  that  Dr.  D.  K.. 
Pearson  has  offered  ;£'lo,ooo  to  Mount  I lolyoke  College  if  a* 
additional  ;^30,o<io  can  be  raised.  Il  is  said  that  Dr.  Pearsim 
has  already  given  ^400,000  to  various  colleges. 

The  death  is  announced  .if  Dr.  .\.  Kliseief,  known  fur  his 
explorations  and  anthropological  work. 

The  St.  Petersburg  correspondent  <>f  the  l.aiuft  reports  that 
the  Emperor  of  Russia  ha.s  appointed  a  committee  to  organise 
the  collection  of  subscriptions  for  the  monumeni  whirh  the 
Institute  of  France  pro|X)SC  to  erect  to  Lavoisier. 

The  trustees  of  Columbia  College  decided,  a  few  ilays  ago, 
to  grant  the  Barnard  Medal  to  Lord  Rayleigh  and  Prof. 
Ramsay  jointly  for  their  discovery  of  argon.  Only  Lord  Kay- 
leigh's  name  was  mentioned  in  the  previous  anmninnnu-nl  of 
the  award. 

Dk.  Backi.unij  has  been  elected  a  Correspomlant  of  the  Paris 
Academy,  in  the  Section  of  .Vslronomy,  in  the  place  of  the  late 


NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


June  27,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


201 


M.  Wolf;  and  Prof.  Kowalewsky  has  been  elected  lo  fill  the 
late  M.  Cotteau's  place  as  Correspondant  in  the  Section  of 
Anatomy  and  Zoology. 

Thb  French    .\ssociation   for  the   Advancement   of  Science   i 
will  meet  at  Bordeaux,  from   .\ugust  4  to  August  9,   under  the 
presidency   of  M.    E.    Trelat.      .Applications   for    membership 
should  be  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  the  .Association,   28 
me  Serpente,  Paris. 

The  third  international  meeting  of  Psychologists  will  be  held 
at  Munich  from  .\ugust  4  to  7.  The  first  meeting  was  held  at 
Paris  in  1889,  and  the  second  in  London  in  1892.  Prof. 
Stumpf,  of  Berlin,  will  act  as  President,  and  Dr.  von  Schrenck- 
Xotzing,  of  Munich,  as  General  Secretary. 

The  second  Italian  Geographical  Congress  will  be  held  in 
Rome  next  September,  under  the  patronage  of  the  King  of  Italy 
and  the  Uuke  of  (ienoa.  The  President  of  the  Congress  will  be 
.Marquis  (J.  Doria,  President  of  the  Societa  Geographica  Italiana. 
The  Secretary  is  Prof.  D.  Vinciguerra,  and  his  address  is  Via  del 
Plebiscito,  102,  Roma. 

Dr.  T.  G.  Brodie  has  succeeded  Prof.  C.  S.  Sherrington, 
F.  R.S. ,  as  Lecturer  on  Physiology  at  St.  Thomas's  Hospital. 

Prok.  E.  Hering,  of  Prague,  has  been  proposed  as  successor 
of  the  late  Carl  Ludwig  in  the  chair  of  Physiology  at  Leipzig. 

Prof.   E.    .Mach,  of   Prague,   well  known    by  his  book  on  j 
Mechanics,  and  by  his  experimental  researches  on  Physics,  has 
l)een  appointed  Professor  of  Philosophy  at  the  Vienna  University.   1 
X'ienna  will,  therefore,  be  the  first  place  where  Philosophy  will 
he  taught  on  a  modern  and  scientific  basis. 

TiiK  Cracow  .\cademyof  Sciences  offers  prizes  of  loooand  500 
ilorins  for  the  best  discussion  of  theories  referring  to  the  physical 
condition  of  the  earth,  and  for  the  advancement  of  an  important 
point  connected  with  the  subject.  Memoirs  must  be  sent  in 
liefore  the  end  of  1898. 

The  International  Conference  on  the  Protection  of  Wild 
Birds  met  at  Paris  on  Tuesday,  under  the  presidency  of  M. 
dadaud.  Minister  of  .Agriculture.  England  was  repiesented  by  j 
Sir  Herbert  Maxwell,  .Mr.  Howard  Saunders,  and  Mr.  F. 
Harford,  of  the  British  Embassy  at  Paris.  Belgium,  Holland, 
Germany,  Russia,  .\ustria-Hungary,  Luxemburg,  .Switzerland, 
Italy,  Greece,  and  Spain  have  also  sent  delegates.  The  con- 
ference meets  as  the  result  cjf  a  resolution  passed  at  the  Inter- 
national .'Vgricultural  Congress  held  at  the  Hague  in  1891. 

.V 1  the  recent  annual  meeting  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Canada, 
the  following  ofticers  (says  Sdeme)  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  : 
year ;— President,   Dr.    R.    S.    C.    Selwyn,   C.M.G.,    K.R.S.  : 
\'ice- President,    the    .Vrchbishop    of    Halifax,     Dr.     G'Brien : 
Secretar)',    Dr.   J.   G.   Bourinot,   C..M.G.  :  Treasurer,   Prof.  J.   1 
Fletcher.    Prof.  Bovey,  Dean  of  the  Faculty  of  .Vjiplied  Science,   ' 
.McGill    University,   was  chosen   President    of   the    Section    of 
Mathematical,  Physical,  and  Chemical  .Sciences,  Prof.  Dupuis, 
X'ice-I'residcnt,  and  Captain   E.    Deville,  Surveyor-General  of 
the   Dominion,   Secretary.     In   the  Section   of  Geological  and 
Biological  Sciences  the  following  choice  was  made  : — President, 
Prof.   Wesley   Mills  ;  \'ice- President,    Prof.   Penhallow  ;  Secre- 
tary. Dr.  Burgess. 

-\i   the  annual  general   meeting   of  the  Numismatic  Society 

of  London,  held  on  Thursday  last.  Sir  John   Evans,  President, 

in  the  chair,  the  silver  medal   of  the  .Society  was  awarded  to 

I'rnf.  Theodor   Mommsen,  for  his  distinguished  service  to  the 

NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


science  of  Numismatics.  Dr.  Barclay  Head,  keeper  of  coins 
in  the  British  Museum,  in  returning  thanks  on  behalf  of  Prof. 
Mommsen,  drew  attention  to  the  fact  that  quite  recently 
Mommsen  had  handed  over  to  the  Royal  Academy  of  Sciences 
of  Berlin  the  sum  of  25,000  marks,  presented  to  him  as  a 
testimonial  from  his  disciples  in  all  countries  on  the  occasion  of 
the  jubilee  of  his  Doctorate,  with  directions  that  it  should  be 
devoted  to  the  compilation  and  publication,  under  the  auspices 
of  the  .'Vcademy,  of  a  complete  (orpus  of  all  known  extant 
Greek  coins. 

F'ew  neighbourhoods  offer  more  features  and  objects  of  interest 
than  the  district  around  Clalway.  An  excursion  to  this  district, 
arranged  by  the  Irish  Field  Club  Union,  will  therefore  probably 
be  a  very  successful  one.  The  country  west  of  Galway  presents 
the  geologist  with  a  great  variety  of  rocks  and  rock  structures. 
Some  of  the  most  interesting  studies  in  F'thnography  afforded 
in  the  British  Isles  may  there  be  found,  and  the  antiquarian 
and  archaeologist  are  offered  exceptional  attractions.  The 
party  will  meet  at  Galway  on  Thursday,  July  11,  and  will  stay  in 
the  neighbourhood  until  the  following  Wednesday.  The  places  to- 
be  visited  are  :  The  Twelve  Bens,  Connemara,  Ballyvaughan 
and  the  Burren  district,  the  .\ran  Islands.  Oughterard  and  Lovigh 
Corrie.  -\  programme,  containing  notes  on  the  topography, 
geology,  botany,  zoology,  ethnography,  and  archi^ology  of  these 
places  has  been  prepared.  During  the  reunion,  a  conference 
will  be  held  for  the  consideration  and  discussion  of  matters 
relating  to  the  advancement  and  extension  of  Field  Club  work 
in  Ireland.  The  Secretary  of  the  Union  is  Mr.  R.  Lloyd 
Praegar,  National  Library,  Dublin. 

It  has  long  been  known  in  a  general  way  that  the  time  re- 
quired for  hatching  out  the  eggs  of  cold-blooded  animals  is 
dependent  on  the  temperature  at  which  thsy  are  kept  ;  and  that 
in  the  case  of  birds  "  the  period  of  incubition  is  much  related 
to  the  size  of  the  bird."  Mr.  .\.  Sutherland  (Roy.  Soc.  of 
Victoria,  December  1894)  has  recently  mide  some  observations 
on  the  relations  between  hatching-time  and  temperature,  and 
formulates  a  law  based  upon  his  results.  He  has  further  in- 
vestigated incubation  among  birds  and  gestation.  Bir<ls  and 
mammals  keep  at  a  practically  constant  temperature — between 
37°  C.  and  43'  C.  ;  and  it  may  be  assumed  that  sitting  birds 
keep  their  eggs  at  a  tolerably  definite  temperature.  Why  then 
should  the  period  of  incubation  or  gestation  vary  so  much  ? 
Mr  Sutherland  asserts  that  the  time  of  incubation  or  gestation, 
as  the  case  may  be,  has  a  certain  definite  relation  to  the  weight 
of  an  animal.  He  states  the  two  laws  he  has  arrived  at  in  the 
following  words  : — (l)  "  For  animals  of  the  same  size  the  time 
of  embryo  development  is  inversely  pro])ortional  to  the  scjuare  of 
the  temperature,  that  temperature  being  reckoned  from  a  definite 
point."  (2)  "  .\t  the  same  temperature,  the  period  of  develop- 
ment is  directly  proportional  to  the  sixth  root  of  the  weight  o 
the  mature  animal." 

A  I'EW  months  ;igo,  M.  de  Montessus  published  an  interesting 
paper  on  the  frequency  of  earthquakes,  of  which  a  summary 
is  given  in  a  previous  note  (vol.  li.  p.  540).  This  he  has 
followed  up  by  another  paper  of  still  greater  value  on  the 
rclaticm  between  seismic  frequency  and  the  relief  of  the  ground 
(Coniptis  rendus,  vol.  cxx.  pp.  1183-1186).  The  following 
are  the  general  conclusions  at  which  he  has  arrived  from  a  study 
of  348  regions,  in  which  9700  earthquakes  and  5000  volcanic 
eruptions  are  known  to  have  occuired.  In  a  group  of  adjoining 
districts,  the  most  unstable  are  those  which  present  the  greatest 
(lift'erences  of  relief,  i.e.  those  whose  average  slope  is  greatest. 
The  unstable  regions  follow  the  great  lines  of  folding  of  the 
earth's  crust.  Mountainous  countries  are  generally  more 
unstable  than  fiat   ones,  and,   in  any  one  mountain-chain,   the- 


202 


NA  TURE 


[June  27,  1895 


short  and  steep  slope  k  the  more  unstable  of  the  two,  especially 
in  its  steepest  parts.  Coast  regions  with  a  rapidly  deepening 
sea  are  unstable,  especially  if  bordered  by  an  important  moun- 
tain-chain ;  those  with  a  slightly  sloping  sea-bed  are  stable, 
especially  if  they  adjoin  a  flat  country.  Lastly,  in  regions  which 
are  frequently  disturbed  by  earthquakes,  and  which  at  the  same 
time  possess  ver)-  active  volcanoes,  the  seismic  frequency  and 
volcanicity  are  independent.  It  follows,  therefore,  that  earth- 
quakes are  a  purely  geological  phenomenon,  and  probably  have 
their  origin  in  the  same  dynamical  forces  to  which  the  present 
relief  of  the  earth's  crust  is  due. 

R.\DlOlJVRlAN  earth  of  Tertiar}-  age  has  long  been  familiar 
from  Barbados  :  in  a  recent  number  of  the  Bull.  Museum  Comp. 
Zool.  (Harvard),  Mr.  R.  T.  Hill  records  it  from  the  island  of 
Cuba.  It  occurs  at  one  place  only,  near  Baracoa,  where  it  is 
over  500  feet  in  thickness  and  is  well  stratified,  the  strata  being 
vertical.  The  rock  is  chalky  in  appearance,  with  occasional 
thin  separation-layers  of  a  grey-blue  clay,  and  .some  flint-like 
siliceous  nodules  :  spongespicules  and  echinoid  fragments  were 
found  in  it,  but  no  diatoms  It  appears  to  lie  below  certain 
yellow  beds  identified  as  Miocene.  The  paper  contains  much 
other  information  on  the  geology  of  Cuba,  and  the  origin  of  the 
circular  harbours  of  the  north  coast  is  dealt  with.  The  author 
finds  no  evidence  of  any  movement  of  depression  in  the  island 
since  the  beginning  of  Tertiary  times. 

Dr.  F.  Kl.ENGEL,  of  Leipzig,  has  sent  us  a  copy  of  his 
paper,  read  some  time  since  before  the  Bohemian  .Society  of 
Sciences,  on  the  non-periodical  variations  of  temperature  in  the 
district  of  the  Pic  du  Midi  and  Puy  de  Dome,  compared  with 
those  at  St.  Bernard,  for  which  station  a  longer  series  of 
observations  is  available.  The  problem  undertaken  by  the 
author  was  mainly  to  show  how  far  the  irregular  variations  of 
temperature  in  these  three  widely  separated  and  high  regions  of 
Central  Europe  agreed  together.  The  most  important  con- 
clusions drawn  from  various  tables  are,  that  a  remarkable 
agreement  is  shown  in  the  non-periodical  changes  at  the 
mountain  stations,  whereas  in  the  plains  the  variations  differ 
materially  from  each  other.  The  influence  of  the  sea  is  visible 
in  the  lower  region  of  of  the  Pic  du  Midi,  but  at  the  higher 
level  it  entirely  disappears. 

The  papers  in  the  June  fournal  of  the  Royal  Microscopical 
Society  include  one  on  <Briti.sh  patents  taken  out  in  connection 
with  the  microscope,  between  1666  and  1800. 

The  Department  of  Mines  ot  Victoria  has  is.sucd  a  report  on 
the  Victorian  coalfields,  the  development  of  which  is  |)rocccding 
rapidly.  Evidence  is  given  to  .show  that  the  coal  is  of  drifted 
origin  :  among  other  points,  the  mixture  of  conifers  and  ferns  in 
the  flora  can  only  be  explained  by  transport  before  deposition. 

.Mr.  John  Tebbi'TT  has  sent  us  a  report  of  the  work  done  at 
his  oljscTvator)',  Windsor,  New  South  Wales,  during  1894. 
Meteorological  ol>servations  have  now  been  made  at  the 
oliscrvatory  for  thirty-two  years.  Among  the  astronomical  work 
of  last  year  were  observations  of  lunar  rxrcuUations  of  stars,  of 
southern  comets,  and  of  double  stars. 

The  sixty-first  annual  rcjwrtof  the  Natural  History,  Lilcrary, 
and  Polytechnic  Society  of  York  School  gives  evidence  of 
enthusiastic  work  in  many  branches  of  science.  Few  school 
societies  of  a  similar  kind  can  lioast  of  reports  running  into  the 
sixties.  With  this  report  we  received  the  Natural  Hhlory 
Journal  and  School  licporter  for  June  15,  conducted  by  the 
vicietics   in     Fric^d.^'    schools.     Thu   journal  contains    articles 

NO.    1339,  VOL.    52] 


on  Southern  Tyrol  and  on  the  planet  Mars,  as  well  as  notes,  and       I 
records  of  observations  of  scientific  interest. 

Bulletin  No.  48  of  the  U.S.  National  Museum  is  devoted  to 
"A  Revision  of  the  Deltoid  Moths,"  by  Prof  John  B.  Smith, 
the  paper  being  a  contribution  towards  a  monograph  of  thi- 
insects  of  the  Lcpidoplerous  fiimily  Noctuidiv  of  Boreal  Norlli 
America.  Fourteen  plates,  showing  the  different  species  ot 
these  Noctuids,  and  the  structur.il  char.ictcrs  of  the  Heliini, 
Ilerminiini,  and  Ilypenini,  accompany  the  descriptive  text.  The 
genera  Pseudorygia  and  Rivula  are  not  included  in  the  series, 
Prof.  Smith  being  of  the  opinion  that  they  do  not  possess  real 
Deltoid  characteristics. 

The  Report  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  Canada  lor  1S94  de- 
scribes the  results  of  geological  expeditions  in  the  Labrador 
Peninsula  and  west  of  Hudson  Bay.  In  consequence  of  lack  of 
money  it  was  found  necessary  to  reduce  the  number  of  parties 
working  in  the  field,  while  there  is  an  .accumulation  of  material 
awaiting  publication.  -V  deej)  boring  for  petroleum  has  been 
begun  at  Athabasca  Landing,  but  at  a  depth  of  toil  feet  the  oil 
had  not  been  reached  ;  all  indications,  however,  point  to  the 
existence  of  great  quantities  of  petroleum  in  the  Devonian  strata 
which  immediately  underlie  the  Cretaceous. 

TtlE  Central  Physical  Observatory  of  St.  Petersburg  has 
made  an  important  addition  to  its  comprehensive  Monthly 
IVcather  Report  by  showing  on  a  chart  the  deviations  of 
temperature  and  rainfall  of  the  month  from  the  normal  con- 
ditions. To  arrive  at  this,  M.  Wild  slates  that  the  values 
have  been  calculated  for  no  less  than  322  stations,  all  of  which 
are  represented  in  the  report.  The  excess  or  defect  of  tempera- 
ture at  each  place  is  shown  on  the  chart  by  drawing  curves 
through  those  places  where  the  deviation  is  equal  in  amount, 
while  the  deviation  of  rainfall  is  represented  by  red  and  blue 
tints.  The  work  is  very  neatly  executed,  and  .shows  clearly,  at  a 
glance,  the  climatic  conditions  of  the  month. 

The  1895  Photography  Annual,  editeil  by  Mr.  Henry 
Sturmey,  is  an  invaluable  compendium  o(  photograjihic  in- 
formation, and  a  useful  record  of  the  progress  made  during 
last  year  in  the  various  branches  of  the  science  and  practice  of 
photography.  In  it  Mr.  C.  H.  Bothamley  traces  the  advances 
of  photogr.-.phic  chemistry;  Mr.  Chapman  Jones  describes  the 
work  done  in  the  field  of  photographic  optics;  Mr.  T.  Bolas 
records  the  progress  made  in  photo-mechanical  printing  :  Captain 
.■\bney  writes  on  spectrum  photography;  and  Mr.  Albert  Taylor 
contributes  a  very  full  .iccount  of  what  w.as  done  in  .astronomical 
photography  during  1894.  These  records,  together  with  de- 
scriptions of  new  photographic  apjiaratus  and  materials, 
technical  articles,  and  particulars  of  photographic  societies 
throughout  the  United  Kingdom,  render  the  .4h«ki7/ indispens- 
able to  all  who  take  .an  intelligent  interest  in  photography.  The 
publishers  are  Messrs.  Ilific  and  Son. 

The  current  number  of  the  Comples  rendus  contains  an 
account,  by  M.  Berthelot,  of  a  new  combination  of  argon. 
I'ollowing  u|)  his  researches  on  argon,  this  author  has  discovered 
that  free  nitrogen,  prepared  pure  from  nitrites,  can  be  caused  to 
enter  into  combination  with  the  elements  of  carbon  disulphidc 
when  .subjected  to  the  spark  or  silent  discharge  after  .saturation 
with  disulphide  vapour.  The  resulting  compound  contains 
some  mercury  sul|)hocyanidc,  and  docs  not  regenerate  nitrogen 
under  the  action  of  heat  or  of  concentrated  sulphuric  acid. 
When  argon  is  employed  in  place  of  nitrogen,  a  similar  reaction 
appears  to  take  place.  Under  the  continued  action  of  the  .silent 
discharge,  a  sample  of  6-55  c.c.  of  argon,  as  pure  as  it  could 
possibly  be  obtained,  saturated   with   carbon  disulphide  vapour 


June  27,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


203 


at  20°  C,  and  confined  in  the  reaction  tube  by  mercury,  gave  a 
continuous  absorption  which  appeared  to  go  on  indefinitely. 
The  product  contained  mercury,  but  gave  no  reaction  for  sulpho- 
cyanide.  When  heated,  a  quantity  of  gas  was  recovered  equal 
to  about  one  half  the  volume  absorbed,  and  this  recovered  gas 
was  proved  to  be  argon  by  condensation  with  benzene,  and 
production  of  the  remarkable  fluorescence  previously  described. 
Though  this  work  has  been  done  on  such  small  quantities  of 
material  that  an  e.xhaustive  examination  of  the  product  was  not 
possible,  M.  Berthelot  believes  that  he  has  satisfactorily  demon- 
strated the  significant  property  of  argon,  that  it  can  enter  into 
combination  and  be  regenerated  from  its  compound  or  com- 
pounds with  its  initial  properties  intact. 

As  a  result  of  observations  carried  on  by  the  Iiivestigalor  in 
the  autumns  of  1892-3-4,  Commander  C.  F.  Oldham,  R.N., 
contributes  two  papers  on  the  Laccadive  Islands  to  the  Journal 
of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal  (vol.  Ixiv.  pt.  ii.  No.  I,  April 
1895).  T'l^  gfoup  consists  of  four  submerged  coral-reefs,  six 
reefs  with  small  islets  ("  sand-cays"),  and  eight  inhabited  atolls  : 
three  of  the  reefs  and  five  of  the  atolls  were  examined.  The 
islands  and  sand-cays  occur,  in  all  cases  but  one,  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  atolls  ;  they  cannot,  therefore,  have  been  built  up  by 
the  action  of  the  ordinary  monsoon  winds  which  blow  mainly 
firom  the  west,  but  must  be  due  to  the  occasional  hurricanes 
which  reach  the  eastern  and  north-eastern  sides  of  the  atolls. 
The  effect  of  the  tides  and  currents  is  seen  in  the  more  vigorous 
growth  of  the  atolls  to  the  south  and  west.  The  islands  and 
islets  are  extending  at  their  extremities,  and  in  some  cases  are 
being  added  to  on  the  south-western  sides  where  they  face  the 
lagoon.  No  evidence  of  either  elevation  or  subsidence  was 
observed. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Rhesus  Monkey  {Macacus  rhesus,  9  )  from 
India,  presented  by  Mrs.  Stevens ;  two  Javan  Parrakeets 
(Palteornis  javanica)  from  Java,  presented  by  Lieut. -General 
Sir  H.  B.  Lumsden  ;  a  Green-winged  Trumpeter  (Psophia 
viridis)  from  Brazil,  presented  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Astlett ;  a 
Diamond  Snake  {Morelia  spilotes)  from  Australia,  presented  by 
Mr.  M.  Mitchcner  ;  a  Natal  Python  (/^///ck  nalalensis)  from 
South  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  William  Norman  ;  a  Korin 
Gazelle  (Gazella  ritfifrons,'}  )  from  Senegambia,  a  Blue  and 
Yellow  Macaw  (Ara  aiaraiina)  from  South  America,  a  Naked- 
necked  Iguana  {Iguana  delicatissima)  from  Tropical  America, 
thirty-four  Black  Salamanders  (Salaniandra  aira).  South 
European,  deposited  ;  a  Tachiro  Goshawk  (Asltir  tachiro)  from 
South  .\frica,  nine  Red-beaked  Weaver-Birds  ( (^;«.7fij  .(«Hy«j«j- 
rastris)  from  West  Africa,  jiurchased  ;  a  White-crested  Jay 
Thrush  {Garrulax leucolo/hus),  a  StriAlcd]a.y  Thrush  (Gramma- 
toptila  striata)  from  India,  received  in  exchange ;  a  Burrhel 
Wild  Sheep  (Ovis  burrhel,'}),  a  Patagonian  Cavy  (Dolichotis 
patachonica),  born  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR   ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Yerkes  Ouservaiory.— From  a  note  in  the  -J.c/ra- 
physical /ournal  {ot  ]\inQ,  we  le.arn  that  the  construction  of  the 
buildings  uf  the  \"crkes  Observatory  is  advancing  rapidly,  and  it 
is  hoped  the  40-inch  refractor  will  be  ready  for  use  in  Sep- 
tember or  October.  The  Observatory  is  situated  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Geneva,  Wisconsin,  at  an  elevation  of  180  feet  above  the 
lake,  and  is  about  seventy-five  miles  from  Chicago.  The  dome 
for  the  great  telescope,  which  is  being  built  liy  Warner  and 
Swasey,  is  90  feet  in  diameter,  with  a  shutter  opening  12  feet  : 
the  rising  lloor  is  75  feet  in  diameter,  .and  will  have  a  vertical 
movement  of  22  feet.  The  motive  power  for  turning  the  dome 
and  elevating  the  floor  of  the  Observatory  will  be  supplied  by 
electro-motors. 

In  addition   to   the  large  telescope,  provision  is  made  for  the 

NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


use  of  the  12-inch  telescope  now  at  the  Kenwood  Observatory, 
and  another  telescope  of  16  inches  aperture.  The  meridian 
room  is  designed  to  accommodate  a  large  meridian  circle,  but, 
in  the  first  instance,  a  transit  instrument  will  be  employed. 

The  Observatory  buildings  appear  to  be  designed  on  a  very 
liberal  scale,  and  comprise  offices,  library,  lecture  theatre, 
spectroscopic,  physical,  chemical,  photographic,  and  other 
laboratories.  We  understand  that  Prof.  Barnard  and  Prof.  Burn- 
ham  have  accepted  positions  in  the  Observatory. 

The  Granulation  oi--  the  Sun's  Surface. — The  granular 
or  mottled  appearance  of  the  surface  of  the  sun  is  familiar 
to  all  observers,  and  the  great  resemblance  to  terrestrial  cirrus 
clouds  has  long  been  recognised.  A  possible  cause  of  this 
appearance  has  been  recently  suggested  by  Dr.  Scheiner  (Astr. 
Nach.  3279),  the  idea  being  that  Helmholtz's  investigations  on 
the  formation  of  waves  in  our  own  atmosphere  apply  also  in 
the  case  of  the  sun.  According  to  Helmholtz,  air  waves  are 
produced  when  two  strata  of  air  of  different  temperature  and 
density  glide  over  each  other  ;  if  the  lower  layer  is  nearly 
saturated  with  aqueous  vapour,  the  wave  crests  will  be  centres 
of  condensation,  in  consequence  of  diminished  pressure,  and 
will  appear  as  clouds,  while  the  depressions  will  form  trans- 
parent interspaces.  On  this  theory  a  "  mackerel  sky  "  is  pro- 
duced when  two  series  of  waves  cross  each  other.  Dr.  Scheiner 
points  out  that  somewhat  similar  conditions  prevail  in  the  sun  ; 
there  are  layers'of  different  temperature,  and  currents  in  various 
directions  in  these  layers,  and  in  the  photosphere  the  condens- 
able gases  are  in  an  over-saturated  state.  He  therefore  con- 
siders that  the  bright  grains  of  the  photosjihere  are  wave-crests 
of  two  crossing  systems  of  waves,  rendered  visible  by  an  in- 
crease of  condensation.  In  the  case  of  the  sun,  the  observed 
lengths  of  the  waves — that  is,  the  distance  between  the  separate 
grains — is  from  icxxi  to  3000  kilometres,  and  it  is  believed  that 
waves  of  this  magnitude  might  be  produced  without  the 
assumption  of  extraordinary  velocities. 

Assuming  this  to  be  a  true  explanation,  the  photosphere  must 
be  a  very  thin  layer  ;  and  since  the  granules  are  of  about  the 
same  size  in  all  parts  of  the  surface,  the  velocity  of  the  currents 
must  be  nearly  equal  in  all  heliocentric  latitudes.' 

The  S.'^tellites  of  Jupiter. — Not  contented  with  his 
brilliant  discovery  of  a  fifth  satellite  to  Jupiter,  Prof.  Barnard 
has  been  employing  the  great  resources  of  the  Lick  telescope  in 
further  investigations  of  the  satellites  which  were  discovered  by 
Galileo  (Monthly  Notices,  R.A.S.,  vol.  Iv.  p.  332).  One  part 
of  his  work  has  consisted  of  micrometric  measurements  of  the 
diameters  of  the  satellites,  and  the  results,  reduced  to  a  mean 
distance  of  the  planet  from  the  sun  equal  to  5 '20,  are  as 
follows  : 

Angular  diameter.  DLimeter  in 

„  miles. 

Satellite  I.         ...  1-048  ...  2452 

,,        II.       ...         0874  ...  2045 

„       IIL      ...  1-521  ...  3558 

,,       IV.       ...  1-430  ...  3345 

It  is  pointed  out  that  these  values  are  in  good  accordance  with 
the  mean  values  derived  from  nine  sets  of  measures  made  by  as 
many  different  observers  since  1829.  Of  the  earlier  estimations, 
those  made  by  Schroeter  in  1 798  agree  most  closely  with  modern 
results. 

Special  attention  appears  to  have  been  given  by  Prof.  Barnard 
to  Satellite  I., on  which  hediscovcrcd,  with  the  12-inch  equatorial, 
on  September  8,  iSgo,  the  existence  of  a  bright  equatorial  belt 
and  dark  polar  caps.  These  appearances  have  been  verified  at 
every  favourable  opportunity,  and  "  they  are,  beyond  question, 
permanent  features  of  the  satellite,  and  will  always  be  visible 
when  a  favourable  transit  occurs."  These  markings  on  the 
satellite  fully  account  for  all  the  phenomena  which  have  been 
reported  of  the  distortion  or  elliiiticity  of  its  disc,  xs  well  as  for 
the  apparent  doubling  of  the  satellite  during  some  transits. 
When  the  satellite  is  transiting  over  a  dark  part  of  the  planet, 
the  white  belt  appears  very  prominently,  while  the  dark  poles 
are  c<irrespondingly  difficult  to  see,  so  that,  without  very  close 
attention,  the  satellite  looks  like  a  thin  white  strip.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  be  transiting  across  a  bright  part  of  the  planet, 
the  white  belt  is  losl  in  the  bright  l)ackgroimd,  and  the  polar 
regions  appear  ;is  two  separate  dark  spots,  making  the  satellite 
appear  double.  The  dark  polar  caps  are  darkest  at  the  poles, 
and  become  rapidly  less  intense  towards  the  equator.  Prof. 
Barnard  considers  that  the  phenomena  observed  on  this  satellite 
indicate  that  its  physical  condition  is  similar  to  that  of  Jupiter. 


204 


NATURE 


[June  2;,  1895 


THE  SUN'S  PLACE    IN  NATURE} 

VII. 

AT  the  end  of  the  last  lecture,  mmul  iMilence  was  brcmghl 
"^  forward  which  leads  to  the  cvuicUision  that  in  those  stars  in 
the  spectrum  of  which  bright  lines  arc  seen,  we  arc  dealing  with 
bodies  closely  associated  with  nebulx-.     It  was  at  once  suggested 


ALGOL                                                                                   1 

DAYS.      0                  ,       \                          2                        3                         4 

11         1    1         Wod        1    |. 

-    ^       -J 

1000 
900 

eoo 

700 

isoo 

500 

400 

300 

H^BBIS^B          BBBBBBBB 

S^BBBBB 

■    BBBB            BBBBBBBB 

M  M-M 

B  ■■■■         sfflntsnsBB 

ISSsir     SBBBBBBB 

■    BBBB              ■■■■BHHR 

IBBBBBB 
IBBBBflS 

H    !■■■       UiflBBBBBBl^B 

■    ■■■■■         BBBBBBBB 

.    ■               ''                • 

■I  BBBB       Ka'"'^^'"" 

. 

■££3BB    BBBBBBBBBBB 
■bbbbb  B  BBBBBBBBB 
■bBBBB    B    BBBBBBBBB 

BBBB 

Ki...  .-.j.      I.ifihl-curvc  of.Mi;..!. 

tli.i!  |>.>-iiM\  lj\  ilioie  nu«  nielhiMi^  of  in(|iiiry  to  which  I  have 
already  referred,  we  might  be  enabled  to' demonstrate  the 
existence    of  the    nebuhe,    although     we    can     never    hoi>e     to 


see  them  by  the  unaided  human  eye 
to  me  that  long  exjiosed  |>hotograph> 
surrounded  by  nebulx.  So  I  wrote 
to  Dr.  Koljerls,  who  always  kindly 
places  himself  at  the  dis|x>sal  of  any 
student,  and  a,skecl  him  if  he  would 
l>e  sf)  g(K)d  .Ts  to  photograph  that  re- 
gion of  the  heavens  in  which  most  of 
the  bright-line  .stars  have  l>een  ob- 
.served.  Me  at  once  acceded  to  my 
retjuesl,  an<l  took  |>hotographs,  .is 
<lcsired.  with  his  in.slnnnent,  giving  an 
•ex|>')sure  ofthreeanda  quarter  hours. 
The  result  a  little  <lisap|viinted  me. 
l)ecau.sc  he  re|X)rled  that  there  w;is  no 
inilication  whatever  of  any  nebulosity 
surrounding  these  stars.  I'o.ssibly  it 
was  on  this  account  that  Dr.  Muggins 
felt  hiin.wlf  justified  in  objecting  to  the 
view  which  associ.-ited  thew:  .stars  with 
nebulous  surroundings.  But  that  is  noi 
the  whole  story.  .Some  time  aflerwanls. 
al  the  rcjuest  of  Mr.  Kspin.  Dr.  Max 
Wolf,  who  has  an  instrument  which 
is  even  more  comgietent  to  pick  up 
faint  nebula:  than  the  wonderful  tele- 
scojK-  i-mployc<l  by  Dr.  Koljcrts, 
■•'       '  I  liotographs     of    this   same 

'  I  need    not    tell  you  thai, 

to  carry  the  inipiiry  .-is 


The 

niii,'hl 


idea 

L:i\e 


occurred 

us      si. Us 


is  the  most  competent  to  give  a  verdict  upon  such  inquiries  as 
this.  Here,  in  the  first  instance,  we  have  a  photograjih  of  the 
region  surrounding  the  brightest  star  in  the  constellation  Cygnus. 
and  you  will  observe  that  we  have  here  and  there  indications 
of  nebulous  matter  as  well  as  of  stars.  That  is  rendered  evident 
by  the  fact  that  in  certain  other  regions  we  get  a  perfectly  flat 
background,  whilst  in  this  the  background  itself  is  luminous. 
Now  we  come  to  the  region  in  which 
I  hese  bright  1  inc  .stars  have  been  recordci  I 
lor  several  years,  and  you  see  itisalnmsl 
inipossibletopoint  out  in  this  phot(\graph 
.1  large  area  in  which  there  is  not  a 
most  obvious  indicatitm  of  tliis  luminous 
nebulosity.  Patches  here  and  there 
^eem  to  indicate  that  the  great  difteren- 
liation  between  this  i>art  of  the  sky  and 
others,  lies  not  in  the  wealth  of  stars, 
but  in  the  wealth  of  the  luminosity  in 
which  they  are  situated. 

It  was  obvious  therefore.  fr^)m  this 
experiment,  thai  1  w.as  perferlly  justi 
fied  in  stating  that  these  brii;ht  line 
stars  were  associated  with  nebuhe. 
since  we  find  the  statement  maile  on 
theoretical  grounds  now  backed  up  by 
these  extjuisite  data,  which  indicate 
that  most  certainly  there  is  a  complete 
association  of  nebulous  matter  willi 
these  stars. 

I  do  not  want  to  part  with  that  dia- 
i;ram  imtil  I  have  pointed  out  to  you 
ihe  enormous  advanl.ige  students  of 
science  now  ha\e  in  possessing  such 
magnificent  photographs  as  these.  Not 
only  is  the  wealth  ^>f  science  rendered 
obvious,  but  the  wealth  of  nature. 
Here,  you  see,  is  what  modern  science 
makes  of  a  little  patch  of  the  sky  on 
w  liich  the  naked  eye  sees  nothing  ai  all. 

Ihe  conclusion  is  therefore  this:  there  seems  to  lie  no  doubt 
thai  bright-line  stars  are  directly  connected  with  nebulous 
nutter.  I  am  glad  to  .add  that  this  is  also  the  conclusion  of  the 
Aincilcui  aslr■■rlolln■^^  wlv.  Ii:i\i    innuiml  inl"  tin-  -iibiisl. 


I.' 


far  as  he  could,  he  made  the  exjxjsure 

what    Hc    should  consider    almost  im- 

jit^sibly  long— s<i    hmg,    in    fact,    that 

one   whole    night    was    not    sufficienl. 

Il's  fi'  ■     '    ■  'h  of  this  rcgiim  was  exposed  lor  thirteen  hours 

^•n   Ih'  he   next   one  was  exposed    fi»r  eleven   hours. 

Now  I  i,n  the  screen  the  result  which  wiis  obtained 

Jjy  Dr.  Wolf  With  the  instrument  which  at  the  present  monicnl 

fa  cotirtc  of  l,ecturc«  to  Workinx  Men 
"KV   durinic    Novcmlwr   .-inO    I  >cccmlK;r, 


'  Krvucd  from  shnr-' 
at  the  MuAcum  of  I 
1B94.    (Continued  fr  ' 


NO.   1339,  vol..   52] 


I  he  m\i  pMiiii  III  Ihe  iiu-lciiiilir  hypniliesis  that  some  ol  ihe 
heavenly  bodies  are  increasing,  others  diminishing  their  tempera- 
lure  -is  one  which  1  have  brought  out  in  Ihat  strong  form,  but  I 
do  not  propose  to  say  very  imich  about  it  to-night.  Vou 
may  remember  what  has  been  said  with  reference  to  the  h)po- 
thesis  of  Kant  and  Laplace,  and  especially  Laplace's  \iew 
that     in    the  nebuhe    we    have    to  deal,    as    also  in    the   stars 


June  27,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


205 


associated  with  them,  with  gases  at  a  very  high  temperature. 
Now ,  in  the  hypothesis  which  I  have  ventured  to  jjut  liefore  the 
world  of  science,  I  differ  in  this  particular  hoth  from  Laplace 
and  also  from  Vogel,  who  has  most  induslriotisly  attempted  to 
establish  a  classification  of  the  celestial  bodies.  I  pointed  out 
that  in  accordance  with  thermo-dynamical  principles,  the 
temperature  must  increase  with  condensation,  and  of  course  it 
will  depend,  therefore,  u]>on  the  condensation  of  the  gas,  whether 
we  have  to  deal  with  high  or  low  temperatures  in  the  bright-line 
stars  and  the  nebulx.  I  wish  to  take  this  occasion  to  state  that 
Prof.  Darwin  has  recently  shown,  as  the  result  of  a  most  pro- 
found inquiry,  that  swarms  of  meteorites  in  space  will  behave 
exactly  like  a  gas  ;  therefore,  what  can  be  said  of  the  thermo- 
ilynaniics  of  a  gas  may  be  said  also  of  the  tliermo-dynamics  of  a 
meteoritic  swarm. 

Now  we  come  to  a  very  interesting  part  of  the  inquiry, 
because  it  lands  us  among  phenomena  which  so  far  have  been 
considered  to  be  exceptional.  I  refer  to  the  phenomena  of  the 
so-called  variable  stars.  Vou  will  see  in  a  moment  that  if  there 
is  any  truth  in  what  has  been  brought  before  you,  the  Ijght  of  stars 
as  they  pass  from  the  nebulous  to  the  more  luminous  stage  must 
change  during  the  progress  of  that  evolution.  But  remember, 
that  change  will  not  be  visible  to  one  generation  of  men,  prob- 
ably not  to  a  thousand  generations  of  men.  It  is  a  change  which 
will  require  millions,  and  possibly-billions,  of  years  for  its  accom- 
plishment ;  and  therefore  we  must  not  associate  the  word 
*' variable"  with  any  change  which  dei^ends  wholly  upon  the 
evolution  of  these  various  stellar  conditions.  But  in  addition  to 
that,  we  can  see  almost  in  hours,  certainly  in  days,  frequently  in 
months,  .sometimes  in  years,  changes  in  the  light  of  certain  stars  ; 
and  it  is  these  short  period  changes  which  mark  out  and  define 
for  us  the  phenomena  of  variable  stars. 

Take  a  star  like  the  sun.  It  is  pretty  obvious  to  you  that  any 
change  in  the  sun,  such  as  we  see  it  now,  would  require  a  very 
■considerable  time  for  its  accomplishment,  so  as  to  be  obviously 
vi.sible  to  us  all  ;  hut  if  you  take  two  bodies  like  the  sun,  you 
might  imagine  a  condition  of  things  in  which  one  body  would 
come  e.xactly  in  the  line  between  the  earth  and  the  other  body, 
and  woidd  so  eclipse  the  further  one.  There  yon  have  at  once 
the  possibility  of  an  eclipse  due  to  the  passage  of  one  body  in  front 
of  another,  and  therefore  of  a  variability  which  depends  upon 
eclipses.  So  much  for  two  bodies  like  the  sun  ;  but  we  know 
that  in  various  parts  of  celestial  space  some  of  the  stars  have 
run  through  their  life  of  light,  and  exist  as  dark  bodies.  Obviously 
we  should  get  the  same  eclijjse  phenomena  when  dealing  with 
<me  star  like  the  sun  and  another  dark  body,  provided  always 
that  the  dark  body  came  and  eclipsed  the  light  one.  That  is  a 
very  well  known  and  accepted  cause  of  variability,  and  one  of 
the  most  cjbvious  cases  of  this  kind  we  have  in  the  star  Algol. 
There  we  have  two  bodies,  a  bright  and  a  dark  one,  and  a 
diagram  will  give  us  what  is  called  the  light -curve,  the  curve  in- 
dicating the  variability  brought  out  by  such  a  condition  as  that 
I  refer  to.  When  we  come  to  examine  the  light-curve  of  a  body 
like  this,  we  find  that  the  lumino.sity  of  the  star  remains  constant 
for  some  considerable  time  in  relation  to  the  period  of  variability, 
and  then  it  suddenly  decreases.  It  almost  at  once — in  an  hour  or 
two — goes  up  again,  continues  then  for  another  period,  and 
suddenly  diminishes  again  (Fig.  29). 

.Spectroscopically  we  can  inquire  into  the  question  as  to 
whether  there  is  or  is  not  any  physical  change  connected  with 
this.  Obviously,  if  it  is  merely  an  eclipse,  there  should  be 
no  physical  change,  and  therefore  no  change  in  the  spectrum. 
Here,  t)y  the  kindness  of  I'rof.  Pickering,  I  can  show  you  two 
photographs  of  the  spectrum  of  this  star,  when  it  is  most 
luminous,  .and  when  it  is  least  luminous,  and  the  spectra  of  these 
two  conditions  are,  you  see,  quite  similar.  The  broad  lines  are 
alike  :  in  other  dark  lines  also  there  is  no  change.  Therefore, 
spectroscopically,  we  are  justified  in  saying  that 'the  theory  that 
variability  is  caused  by  eclipses  is  a  perfectly  justiliablc  one'. 

But  supposing  we  consider  no  longer  two  bodies  like  the  sun, 
or  even  one  sun  and  another  body  more  condensed  and  colder 
than  the  sun,  but  two  not  completely  condensed  meteoritic 
swarms ;  various  probabilities  never  before  considered  will  lie 
open  to  our  inquiry. 

We  inay  take  the  remarkable  case  of  variability  presented  to 
us  by  one  of  the  brighter  stars  in  the  constellation  of  the  Lyre, 
fl  Lyra-.  The  spectrum  i>f  that  star  has  been  very  carefully 
studietl,  and  if  you  will  look  at  the  details  now  on  this  diagram, 
you  will  see  a  series  of  the  most  marvellous  spectral  changes 
-showing  at   once  that  we  are  not  in  the  presence  of  phenomena 

NO.    1339,   VOL.    52] 


at  all  similar  to  those  presented  in  the  last  star  examined.  Fig. 
30  shows  the  light  curve  of  &  Lyra.-,  which  when  at  its  lowest 
brightness  is  a  4A  inagnituile  star,  and  at  its  greatest  brightness  is 
a  3i  magnitude  star,  the  changes  going  through  one  magnitude. 
In  this  scale  you  see  that  the  changes  are  run  through  in  a  period 
of  thirteen  days.     From  the  period  of  the  greatest  obscuration  of 


light,  in  nearly  three  days  we  get  to  the  highest  lumino.sity,  then 
at  the  sixth  day  we  get  to  what  is  called  a  secondary  minimum, 
i.e.  the  light  has  gone  down  a  bit,  but  not  so  much  as  it  had  done 
at  the  beginning  of  this  light  cycle  :  then  it  goes  up  again,  so 
that  on  the  tenth  day  we  get  a  maximum  of  light  such  as  we 
had   on  the  third   day  ;  after  that  it  goes  down,  so  that  on  the 


2o6 


NATURE 


[June  27,  1895 


thineenth  day,  or  thereabouts,  we  get  to  another  minimum,  and 
then  the  cycle  begins  again.  Associated  with  these  changes  we 
have  considerable  changes  in  the  spectrum.  We  have  U'en 
fortunate  enough  to  get  a  spectrum  of  this  mar\cllous  star  for 
every  day  included  in  this  |ieriod  of  change,  although  of  course 
the  photographs  have  not  been  taken  in  a  period  of  thirteen 
days  or  in  ten  periods  of  thirteen  days  ;  but  by  knowing  this 
period,  we  have  been  able  to  place  the  different   pholograjihs 


Kli#,  3i.     L.iu.sc  uf  %ari;ibility  in  uucondcn^cd  Nw;iriu>, 

together  so  as  to  see  exactly  what  happens.  We  get  bright  lines 
and  dark  lines,  and  bright  lines  changing  their  places  :  but  the 
main  jxjint  we  have  lieen  able  to  make  out  so  far,  is  that  we  are 
dealing  with  two  stars  very  njuch  like  a  number  of  stars  that  we 
see  in  the  constellation  of  Oriim.  In  Kig.  31  we  have  photo- 
graphs of  the  s|)ectra  of  two  of  the  stars  in  the  constellation 
of  Orion,  and  a.ssociated  with  them,  three  photographs  of 
the  spectnmi  of  /3  Lyrx-  ;  from  the  change  in  the  position  and 
coincidence  of   ihcse    lines  we  are  able   lo  make  out   that  the 


minimum  the  spectnmi  of  fl  Lyr.v  (3)  becomes  more  like  that  of 
Rigel  (4),  the  differences  at  these  times  being  mainly  in  the 
intensities  of  the  lines.  The  photograph  of  the  spectrum  about 
the  time  of  second  ma.ximum  (5)  shows  that  there  are  two  spectra 
displaced  with  respect  to  each  other.  The  spectrum  displaced 
to  the  less  refrangible  side  is  shown  to  resemble  that  of  Rigel, 
while  that  displaced  to  the  more  refrangible  side  closely  re- 
sembles Bellatrix.  I  do  not  profess  for  one  moment  to  imagine 
that  all  the  conditions  of  varialnlity  in  that 
star  have  been  thoroughly  explained,  but 
we  know  enough  to  say  that  it  is  something 
quite  different  from  the  condition  which 
obtains  in  such  a  star  as  .\lgol.  Also, 
from  the  fact  that  we  are  dealing  wi,th  stars 
like  those  in  Orion,  we  know  that  we  have 
to  do  with  more  or  less  condensed  bodies, 
bodies  not  so  condensed  as  the  son  is,  but 
still  condensed  enough  to  be  called  stars, 
without  fear  of  making  any  great  mistake. 
But  in  this  class  of  condensed  bodies 
we  have  only  really  touched  one  part  of 
the  subject,  because  if  that  condition  holds 
for  bodies  which  are  condensed,  it  will  not 
have  held  good  for  then>  and  for  others 
when  they  were  less  condensed  than  they 
are  now.  How,  then,  can  we  explain  the 
variability  of  uncondensed  swarms  ?  Fig. 
32  shows  this. 

Here  we  are  dealing  with  two  swaniis 
so  sparse  that  they  may  Ik-  almost  con- 
sidere<l  as  nebulx  ;  antl  we  will  suppose 
that  round  the  denser  and  larger  one  a 
smaller  one  is  moving  in  the  orbit  repre- 
sented on  the  diagram.  You  will  see  that 
for  a  considerable  part  of  the  orbit  the 
smaller  swarm  can  perlorm  its  movement 
along  the  orbit  without  any  chance  of 
running  U]i  against  any  of  the  constituents 
of  the  greater  swarm  :  but  when  that  little 
swarm  has  got  to  go  round  what  is  called 
the  periastron,  i.e.  the  region  nearest  the 
centre  of  gravity,  which  is  occupied  by  the 
densest  portion  of  the  primary  swarm,  it 
is  impossible  that  it  can  get  through  with- 
out a  considerable  number  of  collisions 
between  its  own  constituents  and  the  con- 
stituents of  the  majority  (1  am  not  talking 
[xilitics).  What  will  haiipen  ?  \'ou  will 
get  light  and  heat  produced,  forming  a  variable  star,  which 
will  give  the  greatest  amount  of  light  w  hen  those  two  swarms  are 
closest  together,  and  the  least  amount  of  light  when  they  are 
furthest  apart. 

You  can  imagine  also,  that,  instead  of  dealing  with  a  highly 
elliptic  orbit  such  as  imagined  in  Kig.  32,  we  may  have  one 
in  which  the  main  mass  is  very  much  nearer  the  centre  of  the 
orbit  of  the  smallest  swarm,  that  orbit  being  much  more 
circular   than  in   the  former  case.     There  you  will  get  a  chance 


Fi(i   33. — Spcclriiin  of  o  Ccli  (I'ickcring). 


variability  of /9  I.yne  is  produced  by  the  revolution  round  each 
other  of  two  Mars  like  certain  stars  in  the  conslellaliim  of 
Orion,  and  that  |nrt  of  the  light  i.s  proliably  cut  off  l;y  some  kind 
of  eclipse  ;  alv)  that  a  certain  amount  of  light  which  writes 
out  for  us  these  bright  lines  is  produced  at  a  certain  part  of  the 
light  curve.  The  photographs  show  that  alMiul  the  lime  of 
prinrifKil  minimum,  the  dark  line  spectrum  of /3  Lyne  (2)  is  very 
similar  lo  that  of  Kellalrix  (I),  while  about  the  time  of  secondary 

NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


of  a  greater  number  of  collisions  in  one  part  of  the  orbit  than 
in  another;  but  there  will  not  be  anything  like  so  great  a 
difference  Ijctween  the  number  of  collisions  at  the  two  ends  of 
the  major  axis  of  the  orbit  as  there  would  have  been  in  the  first 
ca.se  supposed.  In  that  way,  therefore,  we  can  explain  the 
variability  of  these  uncondensed  swarms,  and  not  only  the 
variability,  but  a  very  consiilerabic  differciii  c  in  llu'  lime  of  Ihe 
cycle  occupied  by  the  changes  and  in  the  inlensily  of  the  greatest 


June  27,  1895] 


NATURE 


207 


light  produced.  So  much  is  that  to  be  anticipated,  that  I  pre- 
dicted in  1888  that  when  we  got  any  indications  of  stars  the 
spectra  of  which  showed  that  they  were  really  sparse  swarms, 
such  as  that  depicted  on  the  diagram,  at  the  maximum  of  their 
luminosity  we  should  get  V>right  lines,  and  in  all  probability 
bright  lines  of  hydrogen,  visible  in  their  spectra.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  shortly  after  this  prediction  was  made — and  when  a 
man  of  science  predicts  he  does  it  chiefly  not  for  the  sake  of 
influencing  others,  but  to  point  out  where  the  path  of  truth 
really  lies — I,  in  common  with  many  other  students  in  this 
country,  received  from  Prof  Pickering  a  photograph  of  the  s])ec- 
trum  of  that  most  wonderful  of  all  variable  stars,  commonly  called 
Mira,  or  the  marvellous  star  (Fig.  33).  We  knew  before  we  re- 
ceived the  photograph  what  its  spectrum  would  in  all  probability 
be,  but  the  interesting  point  was  to  see  whether  or  not  there  were 
any  bright  lines  in  it.  Vou  see  there  is  an  obvious  bright  line  at 
that  |rart  of  the  spectnmi  which  represents  the  wave-length  of 
one  of  the  hydrogen  lines  ;  there  is  another  where  the  wave- 
length of  another  hydrogen  line  is  represented,  and  there  is 
another  very  obvious  bright  line  in  another  part  of  the  spectrum. 
So  that  this  photograph  entirely  justifies  the  prediction  that  had 
been  made  with  regard  to  this  class  of  stars.  .\nd  so  well  is 
that  now  recognised  that,  quite  independent  of  the  meteoritic 
hypothesis,  one  of  the  most  characteristic  features  of  this  class 
of  stars  is  acknowledged  to  be  the  appearance  at  the  top  of  the 
light  curve — at  the  moment  of  the  greatest  giving  out  of  light — the 
bright  lines  of  hydrogen  and  possibly  of  other  substances  in  the 
spectrum.  Forty  old  variables  of  this  class  show  bright  lines, 
and  twenty  new  variables  have  been  detected  by  the  appearance 
of  bright  lines,  i.e.  bright  lines  being  seen  in  them  sugge.sted 
that  they  were  variable,  and  a  further  inquiry  into  the  old  records 
showcfl  that  undoubtedly  their  light  had  varied, 

J.  Norman  Lockyer. 
(To  be  continued.) 

THE  INSTITUTION  OF  NA  VAL 
ARCHITECTS. 
"T^ME  summer  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Naval  Architects 
has  been  held  this  year  in  Paris,  and  has  proved  one  of  the 
most  successful  gatherings  of  the  kind  it  has  ever  been  our  good 
fortune  to  attend.  It  had  become  known  amongst  members  for 
.some  time  past  that  a  very  strong  Reception  Committee  had 
been  formed,  consisting  of  many  French  gentlemen,  eminent 
both  in  the  scientific  and  naval  world.  A  large  part  of  the  week 
devoted  to  the  meeting  was  given  up  to  purely  pleasure  excur- 
sions and  entertainments.  Of  these  it  is  not  within  our  province 
to  speak,  but  it  would  be  ungracious  on  the  part  of  any  English 
journal,  dealing  with  the  meeting  in  any  way,  not  to  say  a  word 
in  recognition  of  the  generous  hospitality  so  lavishly  displayed 
by  all  those  connected  with  the  organisation  of  the  programme 
in  France. 

There  were  three  sittings  for  the  reading  and  discussion  of 
papers;  Lord  Brassey,  the  President  of  the  In.stitution,  taking 
the  chair  on  each  occasion.  Members  assembled  for  the  first 
time  in  the  new  amphitheatre  of  the  .Sorbonne,  which  had  been 
kindly  placed  al  the  disposal  of  the  Fxecutive  by  the  Keclor  of 
the  University  of  Paris,  M.  Octave  Oreard.  Vice-Admirsl 
Charles  Duperre,  President  of  the  Reception  Committee, 
welcomed  the  members,  and  Lord  Brassey  responded  in  a  brief 
address. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  the  papers  set  down  for  reading  and 
discussion  on  the  programme. 

"  The  Amplitude  of  Rolling  on  a  Non -Synchronous  Wave," 
by  tmile  Bertin,  Direcleur  des  Constructions  Navales,  and 
Directeur  de  I'ficole  d'.\pplication  Maritime. 

"  On  W^jod  and  Copper  Sheathing  for  Steel  .Ships,"  by  Sir 
William  White,  Director  of  Naval  Construction,  and  Assistant 
Controller  of  the  Na\-j'. 

"The.M.t;.  Metre,"  by  Archibald  Denny. 

"  On  the  utility  of  making  the  calculation  of  the  total  external 
volume  of  ships,  and  of  drawing  out  the  complete  scale  of 
solidity,  from  the  triple  point  of  view  of  tonnage  laws,  stability 
and  load-line,"  by  \'.  Daymard,  Engineer  in  Chief  of  the 
Compagnie  (lenerale  Transatlantique. 

"On  Light  Scantling  Steamers,"  by  B.  Martell,  Chief 
-Surveyor  Lloyd's  Registry  of  Shipping. 

"On  Coupling  Boilers  of  Different  Systems,"  by  Pierre 
Sigaudy,  Engineer  in  Chief  of  the  Forges  et  Chantiers  de  la 
Medilerranee. 

NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


"  On  the  Cost  of  Warships,"  by  Francis  Elgar. 

"  On  some  necessary  conditions  for  resisting  intense  firing  in 
water  tube  boilers,"  by  Augustin  Normand. 

"  On  the  Xiclausse  Boiler,"  by  .Mark  Robinson. 

M.  Bertin's  paper,  which  was  the  first  to  be  read,  treated  a 
highly  technical  subject  from  a  strictly  mathematical  point  of 
view.  The  author  pointed  out  that  perfect  synchronism  between 
the  period  of  rolling  and  of  the  wave  is  practically  a  purely 
theoretical  case.  He  referred  to  the  latest  calculations  made 
which  bear  upon  a  large  number  of  particular  cases,  and  also  to 
the  principle  of  the  graphic  method,  which  has  been  previously 
de.scribed,  and  which  is  a  simple  extension  of  the  method 
employed  to  determine  the  amplitude  of  rolling  on  a  synchronous 
swell.  The  subject  is  one  of  extreme  interest,  but  we  fear  we 
nmst  refer  those  of  our  readers  who  are  not  acquainted  with  it  to 
the  published  paper  in  the  volume  of  the  "  Transactions  "  of  the 
Institution.  It  would  be  impossible  to  give  an  abstract  of  M. 
Bertin's  mathematics,  or,  indeed,  to  make  the  matter  clear  with- 
out the  diagrams  which  accompanied  the  paper.  One  result, 
however,  which  may  be  quoted,  is  that  M.  Bertin  confirms  the 
facts  brought  out  by  Sir  William  White  as  to  the  great  increase 
of  efficiency  of  bilge-keels  in  large  as  compared  with  small  ships. 
This,  as  our  readers  are  aware,  came  somewhat  as  a  surprise  to 
those  engaged  in  these  matters.  M.  Bertin  states  :  "  We  find, 
therefore,  in  bilge-keels  a  more  powerful  method  of  checking 
hea\y  rolling  than  has  been  foreseen.  In  a  different  condition 
of  things,  free  liquid  provides  a  more  rapid  means  of  extinguish- 
ing small  rolls  than  could  have  been  foreseen  from  any  calcula- 
tions founded  on  the  known  properties  of  liquids."  M.  Bertin 
states  that  the  question  upon  which  he  treats  is  one  that  cannot 
be  solved  by  calculation  ;  accurate  observations  made  at  sea  are 
the  necessary  complement  of  all  the  theoretical  researches  and 
experimental  study  made  in  port. 

Sir  William  White  opened  the  discussion  on  this  paper.  It  will 
be  remembered  that  at  the  spring  meeting  of  the  Institution 
the  Director  of  Naval  Construction  was  unable  to  be  present, 
owing  to  a  verj'  severe  illness.  In  spite  of  this,  a  paper  which 
he  had  written  on  the  subject  now  under  consideration  was  read 
in  his  absence.  His  reappearance  at  the  meetings  was  the 
occasion  of  a  very  general  outburst  of  enthusiasm  on  the  part 
of  the  members  present,  for  no  one  is  more  popular,  and  indeed 
few  have  done  more  for  the  Institution,  than  Sir  W^illiam  White. 
Sir  William  pointed  out  that  for  mathematical  purposes  it  was 
necessary  to  make  assumptions  which  could  be  corrected  by  and 
applied  to  practical  work.  He  paid  a  handsome  compliment  to 
the  author  by  coupling  his  name  with  that  of  the  late  Mr. 
Froude. 

The  next  paper  read  was  Sir  William  WTiite's  own  contribu- 
tion on  sheathed  ships.  This,  as  the  author  pointed  out,  was  a 
direct  contrast  to  the  paper  last  read,  being  of  a  simply  practical 
nature.  As  is  well  known,  the  purpose  for  which  steel  vessels 
of  war  are  sheathed  with  wood,  is  in  order  that  they  may  be 
coppered,  and  their  bottoms  may  thus  be  preserved  from  fouling. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  wooden  planking  is  applied  as  a 
means  of  preventing  [galvanic  action  between  the  ct.jpoer  and 
steel.  In  order  to  effect  this,  it  is  necessary  that  the  planking 
should  be  w-ater-tight,  for  sea  water,  in  contact  both  with  the 
copper  and  the  steel  skin,  would  set  up  galvanic  action.  It  may 
be  stated,  however,  in  pa.ssing,  that  if  the  sea  water  is  not  in 
circulation,  the  galvanic  action  will  not  be  intense  or  continuous, 
which  is  a  fact  that  might  be  anticipated.  In  order  to  make  the 
planking  water-tight,  it  was  originally  thought  neces.sary  that  a 
double  skin  should  be  used,  and  very  elal«>ratc  precautions  were 
taken  in  regard  to  fastenings.  Sir  William  While,  then  Mr. 
White,  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  double  planking  was  un- 
necessary, and  that  with  proper  care  a  single  skin  could  be  made 
to  answer  the  |)urpose  required.  In  this  he  was  opposed  by  a 
large  number  of  eminent  authorities,  but  having  the  courage  of 
his  convictions,  he  introduced  the  new  system  into  Her  Majesty's 
Navy.  The  result  has  justified  his  anticipations,  for  after 
several  years'  experience,  the  hulls  of  ships  thus  sheathed  have 
not  been  found  to  suft'er. 

.Mr.  Archibald  Denny's  paper  described  a  small  instrument  he 
has  invented  by  which  the  metacentric  height  of  a  vessel  can  be 
ascertained.  It  is  intended  for  the  use  of  captains  of  ships,  so 
that  they  may  ascertain  the  stability  of  their  vessels  under 
various  conditions  of  lo.ad  and  trim.  "The  instrument  is&implya 
spirit-level  pivoted  at  one  end  and  adjusted  al  the  other,  by 
means  of  a  micrometer  screw.  This  combined  with  a  dia- 
gram gives  the  value  M.G.     The  method  of  using  the  instru- 


20S 


NATURE 


[Junk  2;,  1895 


ment  is  given  in  detail  in  the  paper,  and  is  made  clear  by  means 
of  diagrams. 

M.  Daymard's  pajier  was  of  a  commercial  rather  than  a 
scientific  interest.  We  all  recognise  that  our  tonnage  laws  are 
anomalous.  Unfortunately  they  have  become  so  interwoven 
with  our  commercial  system,  that  it  would  require  nothing 
ess  than  a  revolution  to  reduce  them  to  a  common-sense 
standard.  M.  Oaymard  commands  our  admiration  by  his 
courageous  attempt,  but  .is  was  shown  during  the  discussion, 
the  new  laws  he  proposes,  however  unexceptionable  from  a 
scientific  stand(X)int,  would  introduce  undesirable  features.  .-Vs 
indicated  by  the  title,  he  proposes  to  take  the  whole  external 
volume  of  a  ship  in  e.slimating  her  tonnage  and  load-line  as 
well  as  stability.  This  seems  reasonable,  but  as  an  illustration 
of  the  undcsirability  of  such  a  law .  it  may  be  pointed  out  that 
the  tendency  of  the  ship  designer  working  for  commercial  ends, 
as  all  designers  of  mercantile  vessels  must  do,  would  be  to 
stint  engine  accommoiiation  to  the  manifest  danger  and  dis- 
comfort of  the  engineering  staff.  The  subject,  is,  however, 
one  which  we  need  not  pursue. 

Mr.  Martell's  contribution  was  one  full  of  information  and 
nstruction  to  the  designer  of  light  draught  vessels.  Its  value  ; 
consisted  chiefly  in  the  thirteen  plates  of  illustration  containing 
details  of  construction  of  a  large  number  of  vessels  designed 
for  shallow  water  navigation.  The  descriptions  which  accom- 
panied the  illustrations  were  also  of  great  practical  information.     [ 

M.  Sigaudy"s  pa|)er,  on  coupling  boilers  of  different  systems, 
was  a  brief  but  instructive  contribution.  The  introduction  of  j 
the  watcr-lulie  Iwiler,  which  may  be  said  now  to  lie  complete  in  1 
the  case  of  small  and  exceedingly  fast  war  vessels,  appears  likely 
to  make  headway  even  in  craft  not  of  this  special  description. 
The  water-lube  Ixjiler  is.  however,  something  new,  and  the 
average  engineer,  engaged  in  practical  work,  always  shies  at 
novelties.  That  is  but  natural,  and  it  is  the  result  of  common 
sense  that  caution  should  l)c  observed  when  risks  have  to  be 
run.  By  the  system  a<lvocated  by  M.  Sigaudy,  the  risk  is  re- 
duced to  the  smallest  dimensions.  In  a  tug-boat  built  by  his 
Company,  an  ordinary  return  tul)e  marine  Iwiler  is  combined  w  ith 
wo  water-tulx;  lioilers.  The  engineers  of  the  vessel  have  there- 
fore a  steam  generator  at  their  dis|x>sal,  which  they  thoroughly 
understanil,  and  which  is  sufficient  to  supply  steam  to  drive  the 
lifiat  at  miKlerate  speed.  .Should  the  water-tube  lioilers  fail, 
therefore,  they  would  not  \k  left  helpless.  One  advantage  of  the 
watcr-tul)e  Ixiilers  is  that  steam  can  l>e  raised  very  quickly,  and 
this  is  a  ver)'  desirable  feature  in  a  tug  which  has  at  times  to  be 
used  in  cases  of  emergency.  The  time  occupied  uix>n  two  trials 
n  raising  sleani  w.is  resi>ectivcly  22  and  23  minutes.  The  con- 
sumpiiiin  of  fuel  was  i  78  lbs.  |x;r  horsc-|x)wer  per  hour,  which, 
it  need  hardly  be  said,  is  a  very  satisfactory  result.  No  trouble 
has  Ix-en  found,  since  the  tug  has  Ix-en  used,  to  arise  from  the 
combination  of  the  two  systems  of  boilers.  In  the  discussion 
which  followed  the  reading  of  this  paper,  Mr.  Yarrow  stated  that 
a  similar  system  has  been  adopted  by  the  Dutch  (".overnment  in 
.some  cruisers  they  are  having  huill.  These  vessels  are  n.^turally 
of  much  larger  size  than  the  tug-boat  described  by  M.  .Sigaudy, 
and  their  trials  will  Ik.-  looked  forward  to  with  considerable  in- 
terest by  the  naval  wurld. 

I>r.  Elgar's  jxiper,  on  the  cost  of  war-ships,  constituted  a  new 

dc|»rture  in  the  annals  .>f  the  Institution.    It  has  generally  been 

considered,  if  not   expressly  slated,  thai   financial   questions  are 

lalKioed  by  the  Inslilution.      In  the  case  of  ("lovernment  vessels, 

<loublless  more  lalilude  should  be  .illnwed.  but  in  any  event  it  is  a 

ditficull   thing  10  exclude  money  considerations  from   discussions 

■r     iitijtcls  which  have  a  commercial  liasis.      .\fler  all,  ships 

ill  lo  earn  money,  and  even  the  designer  of  war-ships  has 

!■  Ihe  i|ueslion  of  cost  incessantly  before  him.    It  woulil  be 

-.  for  instance,  .suggesting  a  new    fr>mi   of  marine  engine, 

■  .r  i»rfecl  from  a  scientific  point  of  view  or  economifal  in 

.  if  its  first  cost  were  lo  Ik;   prohibitive.      In  the  dis- 

h  followed   Ihe   reading   of  the  pajier.  views  similar 

;  ressed  by  prominent  niemliers  of  the  Institution, 

thai  more  lalilude  will  l>e  given  for  the  future 

for  our  own   («rl,  il  will    l>e    im|x>ssiblc    to 

ir.-iiai  I,  III  uiiytliing  like  reasonable  s|>acc,  the  vast  quaiitilies  of 

l,M,.,.-«  given  bv   Ih'-  author  of  ihe  |>a|)er.      His  analysis  of  ihc 

;.li-.  and  il  may  Ik-  staled,  briefly,  led  lo 

H  (jorkyardbuilt  war  vessels  are  cosling 

;,„  ,,,.,, ,  i     .Id,  relatively   lo  the  work  put  into  them. 

Il  may  Ik-  staled,  although  Dr.  Elgar  failed  lo  |>oinl  the  fact  oul 
in  hi.«  |xil>er,  that  this  happy  stale  of  affairs  is  largely  due  lo  Ihe 
good  work  he  himself  did  when  Director  of  Dockyards. 

NO.  i,v^9.  VOL.  52] 


The  last  two  papers  of  the  meeting  were  on  the  subject  of  the 
hour,  water-tube  boilers.  M.  Normand,  the  well-known  builder 
of  torpedo  boats  at  Havre,  and  one  of  the  most  scienlific  and 
best  informed  marine  engineers  of  the  day,  gave  a  very  valuable 
analysis  of  the  points  which  should  be  observed  in  designing  a 
water-tube  boiler.  Naturally,  circulation  occupied  his  chief 
attention,  and  it  may  be  said  briefly  that  if  sufticient  activity  of 
circulation  of  water  and  steam  in  the  boiler  can  be  maintained, 
that  boiler  is  likely  lo  lie  an  cthcienl  steam  generator.  How  lo 
obtain  such  circulation  is  a  complex  and  disputed  question,  anil 
here  we  find  our  own  great  authority  on  the  subject,  Mr. 
Thornycrofi,  at  issue  with  the  author  of  the  paper.  Mr.  Thorny- 
croft,  as  is  well  known,  is  a  strong  advocate  of  above  water  dis- 
charge into  Ihe  steam  drum.  M.  Normand,  on  the  other  hand, 
upholds  "drowned "  tubes.  The  subject  is  a  large  one,  fiir  too  large 
for  discussion  in  a  report  of  Ibis  nature.  To  us  it  appears  that 
M.  Normand  is  not  warranted  in  all  the  assumptions  upon  which 
he  ba.ses  his  conclusion,  and  further  il  may  be  said  that  Mr. 
Thornycrofi  has  exiierimental  data  on  his  side  in  maintaining 
that  the  circulation  of  water  is  more  active  with  above  water 
discharge  than  w  ith  drowned  tubes.  Whether  with  the  latter  the 
circulation  is  suHiciently  active  for  all  practical  purposes  is  of 
course  another  mailer,  the  bearing  of  which  it  remains  for 
practical  experience  lo  prove.  l-"or,  like  the  problem  >!. 
Berlin  attacked  in  his  paper,  it  is  not  solvable  by  theoretical 
analysis. 

-Mr.  Mark  Robinson,  in  his  paper,  described  a  very  promising 
form  of  water-tube  boiler  which  has  been  introduced  in  France 
by  M.  Niclausse,  the  inventor.  Without  illustrations  it  would 
be  utterly  imjOTssible  lo  make  the  design  clear ;  but  il  may  be 
said  that  the  principle  followed  is  that  of  the  KieUi  tube,  in 
which  circulation  is  promoted  by  means  of  a  pipe  inside  and 
coaxial  with  the  heating  lube,  furiously  enough,  however, 
the  lubes  in  the  Niclausse  boiler  are  horizontal,  or  approxi- 
mately horizontal,  so  that  the  circulation  is  maintained  in  the 
"header"  which  is  divided  by  a  diaphragm,  the  difference  be- 
tween the  specific  gravities  of  the  water,  or  water  and  steam, 
contained  on  each  side  of  the  diajihragm  causing  Ihe  movement 
of  the  water.  This  boiler  appears  to  be  one  of  great  promise 
amongst  water-lube  boilers  in  situations  where  ihe  highesi 
evai)oralive  efficiency  is  not  required.  Il  is,  however,  in  these 
positions  thai  the  ordinary  return  lube  boiler  is  strongest. 
j  Whether  il  will  be  supplanted  by  a  water  tube  boiler  remains 
I  to  be  seen  ;  but  should  such  be  the  case,  Ihe  Niclausse  Iwiler 
has  the  anpearance  of  being  a  formidable  competitor. 

No  account  of  Ihe  Paris  meeting  w<iuld  be  complete  without 
reference  being  made  to  the  beautiful  series  of  jihotographs 
shown  by  .M.  Berlin  in  illustration  of  Ihe  movements  of  .ships  in 
a  sea-wave.  These  photographs  were  taken  by  the  method 
devised  by  M.  .Marey,  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made  in  these  columns.  \  dozen  or  more  different  views  are 
given  of  a  ship  during  its  ])a.ssage  through  a  wave,  and  ihe 
whole  movement  can  thus  be  fixed  and  analysed.  The  value  of 
such  <lata  to  ihe  naval  architect  is,  of  course,  immense.  In 
connection  with  these  photographs,  which  were  shown  on  the 
.screen,  there  were  also  exhibited  some  very  beautiful  projecli.ms 
of  photographs  in  colours.  These  were  shown  by  M.  Charles 
Comte,  one  of  M.  Marey's  iissislunl.s.  The  subject  is  one  which 
has  been  attracting  attention  of  late,  and  has  been  referred  to 
elsewhere  in  these  columns. 


METEOROLOGICAI.    PROIiLEMS    FOR 
PHYSICAL     I.AIiORA  TORIES. 

IN  response  lo  several  refpiesls  from  both  teachers  and  slii(lent.s 
for  suggestions  as  to  problems  that  can  be  taken  up  in 
iihysical  lalniralories,  I'rof.  Cleveland  Abbe  gives  Ihe  following 
list  of  subjects,  in  the  American  Meteorological  loiirnal  for  May. 
The  initialled  subjects  are  due  to  I'rof.  C.  I'".  Marvin. 

Subjects  for  Kxi'ERIMk.siai.  Investigation. 

(1)  The  inlernal  sensitiveness  of  ihermomelers,  or  the  lenglh 
of  time  required  lo  bring  the  top  of  the  thermometer  column  lo 
Ihc  |)roper  reading  when  the  external  surface  of  bulb  and  stem  is 
kept  at  a  constant  temperature  below,  or  above,  some  initial 
Icmperalure. 

(2)  The  influence  of  the  wind  on  the  pressure  within  a  room, 
or  other  closeil  space,  containing  a  bar<iineler. 

(3)  The    influence   of   the    condition    of    any    surface   (as   to 


June  27,  1895J 


NATURE 


209 


chemical  nature,  cleanness,  and  dust)  upon  the  deposition  of 
dew  and  the  determination  of  the  dew-point. 

(4)  The  ))ehaviour  of  the  wet-bulb  thermometer,  when  covered 
with  water,  in  an  atmosphere  of  water  vapour  and  of  ice  vapour. 

(51  The  influence  of  radiant  heat  on  wet  bulbs  covered  with 
ice  or  water. 

(6)  The  increase  of  the  reading  of  the  wet-bulb  thermometer 
due  to  any  compression  that  may  result  from  the  formation  of 
the  ice  film  on  the  muslin  covering ;  its  dependence  on  the 
muslin  rather  than  on  the  ice. 

(7)  The  determination  of  the  tension  of  water  vapour  and  ice 
vapour  at  and  below  freezing. 

(8)  The  rate  of  iliffusion  of  ice  vapour  as  distinguished  from 
aqueous  vapour,  and  also  the  rates  of  evaporation  from  ice  and 
water  at  the  same  tem]>erature. 

(9)  The  condensation  of  vapour  in  a  region  free  from  solid 
nuclei,  and  after  the  temperature  has  been  reduced  to,  or  below, 
the  point  of  saturation  so  that  the  vapour  is  in  a  state  of  unstable 
equilibrium. 

!  10)  The  change  that  can  be  produced  in  the  pressure  and 
temperature  of  a  confined  volume  of  dust  free  "  dry  saturated  " 
steam  or  other  vapour  by  the  introduction  of  dust  particles 
having  various  chemical  and  physical  properties.  This  is  the 
secret  of  the  action  of  the  "cloud  engine  '  of  Montgomery  J. 
Storms. 

(11)  Invention  tif  improved  and  practical  methods  ,:)f  obtaining 
the  moisture  contents  of  the  air — especially  at  low  temperatures. 
— C.  F.  .M. 

(12)  Invention  of  recording  thermometers,  barometers,  and 
hygrometers  adapted  by  their  accuracy,  their  extreme  lightness, 
and  the  quickness  with  which  they  respond  to  atmospheric 
changes,  to  be  carried  up  by  balloons  and  by  kites  in  investiga- 
tions into  the  condition  of  the  higher  atmosphere. — C.  F.  M. 

(13)  The  development  and  perfecting  of  the  art  of  constructing 
and  tlying  kites  with  a  view  of  rendering  this  practically  applicable 
in  investigations  of  the  condition  of  the  atmosphere  at  moderate 
elevations. — C.  F.  .M. 

(14)  Invention  of  improved  and  practical  devices  for  the 
registration  of  sunshine  and  cloudiness,  both  day  and  night. — 
C.  F.  M. 

(15)  Invention  of  devices  recording  exactly  the  beginnings  and 
endings,  amounts  and  rates,  of  precipitation,  &c. — C.  F.  M. 

(16)  F.\plan;Uion  of  the  formation  of  ice-needles  in  gravelly 
soil,  and  determination  t)f  the  amount  of  heat  x-\\  moisture 
retained  at  the  earth's  surface  by  this  formation. 

(17)  Explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  hollow  tubes  in  the  ice- 
needles  anil  the  similar  hollow  tubes  in  snow  crystals  and  the 
analogous  holes  in  hailslt>nes. 

(18)  The  connection  between  atmospheric  conditions  and  the 
formation  of  snow  crystals  of  different  shapes  and  sizes. 

I19I  The  radiating  and  conducting  powers  of  layers  of  snow 
freshly  fallen  or  old  and  granulated. 

(20)  The  radiation  and  absorption  of  heat  by  dustless,  dry 
air,  and  also  by  ordinary  atmospheric  air  containing  dust  and 
vapour  or  ice  particles. 

(21)  Investigation  of  the  formula  for  computing  the  velocity 
and  the  pressure  of  the  wind  from  various  forms  of  anemometers, 
especially  the  whirling,  the  pressure,  and  the  suction  anemo- 
meters. 

(22)  Invention  of  the  most  convenient  and  cheapest  form 
of  nephoscope  for  determining  either  direction  or  velocity,  or 
both  these  elements  of  the  motion  of  the  clouds.  I 

(23)  Investigation  of  the  correction  to  be  made  to  the  record 
of  the  ordinary  cylindrical  rain  and  snow  gauge  for  the  effect  of 
the  wind  in  drifting  the  rain,  an<l  especially  the  snow. 

(24)  Study  of  the  temperature  of  the  soil  at  ditVereiU  depths 
from  the  surface-layer  down  to  three  feet  and  under  different 
conditions,  as  to  moisture-content,  sunshine,  and  wind. 

(25)  Invention  of  better  metho<lsof  determining  at  any  moment 
the  temperature  and  moisture  at  any  depth  in  the  soil. 

(26)  Determination  of  the  quantity  of  water  evaporated  from  ' 
natural  surfaces,  especially  ocean  water,  ice  or  snow,  fresh  water, 
and   forests  or  cultivated   fields,  and   its  relation  to  humidity, 
temperature,  and  wind. 

(27)  Improvements  in  the  actinometer  and  a  series  of  deter- 
minations of  the  amounts  of  heat  received  at  any  point,  both 
from  the  sun  directly  and  from  the  clouds  and  the  atmosphere  by 
reflection  or  radiation. 

(28)  Observations  of  the  polarisation  and  the  intensity  of  blue 
sky  light  and  comjiarison  with  o|rtical  theories. 


(29)  Instrumental  methods  for  recording  some  of  the  various 
chemical  effects  directly  produced  by  solar  radiation,  and  which 
are  of  special  importance  in  the  growth  of  plants,  the  decomposi- 
tion of  the  soil,  and  the  purification  of  water. 

(30)  .A  series  of  determinations  or,  still  better,  a  continuous 
record  of  the  simultaneous  differences  of  electric  jwtential 
between  the  earths  surface,  and  several  points  in  the  free 
atmosphere,  one  hundre<l  feet  apart,  vertically,  meridionally, 
and  prime-vertically. 

(31)  A  similar  series  for  several  points  beneath  the  earth's 
surface  as  to  their  electro-magnetic  condition,  and  a  correlation 
of  the  distribution  of  electric  conditions  with  the  electric  currents 
in  the  air  and  the  earth. 

(32)  A  study  of  the  scintillation  of  the  stars  and  its  relation 
to  atmospheric  conditions. 

(il)^  ^  study  of  the  ap|>arent  acoustic  opacity  of  the  atmosphere 
at  certain  places  and  times. 

(34I  An  explanation  of  the  sounds  attending  large  aerolites, 
and  an  explanation  as  to  what  may  be  learned  therefrom  regard- 
ing the  upper  atmosphere  and  in  regard  to  the  improvement  of 
fog  signals. 

(35)  A  study  of  the  formation  of  halos,  parhelia,  .and  corona, 
by  the  action  of  snow  crystals  and  water-drops  on  sunlight. 

(36)  Investigation  of  the  first  step  in  the  process  of  convection, 
as  it  occurs  in  the  free  atmosphere  by  which  small  currents  of 
warm  air,  rising  as  slender  rolls  and  whirls,  mix  with  the  cooler 
air,  and  are  broken  uj>  within  a  few  feet  of  the  earth's  surface  ; 
a  tletermination  of  the  limit  at  which  such  convection  becomes 
inappreciable. 

(37)  A  study  of  the  larger  convection  currents,  their  relation 
to  the  horizontal  motion,  the  extent  to  which  they  retard  and 
accelerate  the  motions  or  increxse  and  tlecrease  the  pressures  in 
the  upper  and  lower  strata. 


THE  SENSES  OF  IXSECTS} 

/^F  the  five  ordinary  senses  recognised  in  ourselves  .ind  most 
^■^  higher  animals,  insects  have,  beyond  all  doubt,  the  sense 
of  sight,  and  there  can  be  as  little  question  that  they  possess  the 
senses  of  touch,  taste,  smell,  and  hearing.  Vet,  save  perhaps 
that  of  touch,  none  of  these  senses,  as  possessed  by  insects,  can 
be  strictly  compared  with  cjur  own,  while  there  is  the  best  of 
evidence  that  insects  possess  other  senses  which  we  do  not,  and 
that  they  have  sense  organs  w ilh  which  we  have  none  to  compare. 
He  who  tries  to  comprehend  the  mech.anism  of  our  own  senses — 
the  manner  in  which  the  subtler  sensiitions  are  conveyed  to  the 
brain — will  realise  how  little  we  know  thereof  after  all  that  has 
been  w  ritten.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that  authors 
should  differ  as  to  the  nature  of  many  of  the  sense  organs  of 
insects,  or  that  there  should  be  little  or  no  absolute  knowledge 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  senses  act  upon  them.  The  solution 
of  psychical  j^roblems  may  never,  indeed,  be  obtained,  so 
infinitely  minute  are  the  ultimate  atoms  of  matter  ;  and  those 
who  have  given  most  attention  to  the  subject  must  echo  the 
sentiment  of  Lubbock,  that  the  princiixtl  impression  which  the 
more  recent  works  on  the  intelligence  and  senses  of  animals 
leave  on  the  mind  is  that  we  know  very  little,  indeed,  on  the 
subject.  We  can  but  empirically  observe  and  experiment  and 
draw  conclusions  from  well  attested  results. 

Sight. — Taking  first  the  sense  of  sight,  much  has  been  written 
as  to  the  picture  which  the  compound  eye  of  insects  pro<luccs 
upon  the  brain  or  upon  the  nerve  centres.  -Most  insects  which 
undergo  complete  metamorphoses  possess  in  their  adolescent 
states  simple  eyes  or  ocelli,  and  sometimes  groups  of  them  of 
varying  size  and  in  varying  situations.  It  is  difficult,  if  not 
impossible,  to  demonstrate  experimentally  their  efliciency  as 
organs  of  sight  :  the  iirobabilities  are  that  they  give  but  the 
faintest  impressions,  but  otherwise  act  as  do  our  own.  The  fact 
that  they  are  |X)ssessed  only  by  larvx-  which  are  exposed  more  or 
less  fully  to  the  light,  while  those  larva*  which  are  endophytous, 
or  otherwise  hidden  fnuu  light,  generally  lack  them,  is  in  itself 
proof  that  they  ]>erf()rm  the  ()rtlinary  functions  of  sight,  however 
low  in  degree.  In  the  imago  state  the  great  majority  of  insects 
have  their  simple  eyes  in  addition  to  the  compound  eyes.  In 
many  cases,  however,  the  former  are  more  or  less  covered  with 
vestiture,  which  is  another  evidence  that  their  function  is  of  a  low 

I  From  an  address  on  "  Social  Insects,"  delivered  by  Prof.  C.  V.  ^ilcy,  as 
President  of  tlic  Rtological  Society  of  Wasliinglon.  (Reprinted  (sliglitly 
condensed)  from  Insect  Life.  vol.  vii.  No.  I.") 


NO.    1339,  VOL.    52] 


2IO 


NATURE 


[June  2;,  1895 


order,  and  lends  weight  lo  the  view  that  they  are  useful  chiefly  for 
near  \'ision  and  in  dark  places.  The  compound  eyes  are  prominent 
and  adjustable  in  proportion  as  they  areof  serWce  to  the  species,  as 


Fig.  I. MS  in   Instcl^:  a,  wnc  ctumciu  cf  cjc  of  cockro.icli  (after  Grcn.iclicr) ;  li, 

*    diapt  n  of  compound  eye  in   insect   (after    Miall    and    Denny);    c,   organs   of 

smell  -ha  (after   Kr.-iepclin)  ;   d,  a,  b,  senscorgans  of  abdominal  appendages  of 

ChrysopiU  ;  t,  small   pit  on    termin.al  joint  of  palpus  in   IVrIa  (after  Packard):  •-:.  diaKr.am 

of  sensory  ear  of  insect  (after  .Miall  and   I>cnny) ;  f,  auditory  apparatus    of  Meconenia  ;  a, 

r.r--  lili.i  ..f  ihis  locust;^,  diagrammatic  section  through  same  (after   Grabcr) ;   o,  auditory 

■'^'-■nus.  seen  from  inner  side,  showing  tympanum,  auditory  nerve,  terminal 

■id  opening  .and  closing  muscle  of  same,  as  well  as  muscle   of  tympanum 

I  .raber). — .Ml  very  greatly  enlarged. 

witness  those  of  the  common  house-fly  and  of  the  Libellulid^e  or 

dragon-flies.      It  is  obvious  from  the  .structure  of  these  compound 

eyes  that  impressions  through  Ihcm  must  l)e 

ver)'  different   from    those  received   through 

our   o»-n,  and,  in   pf)int  of  fact,  the  experi- 

menial  researches  of  llickson,  Plateau,  TtKrke 

and    Lemmcrmann,    I'ankrath,    Kxner,    and 

\'iallancs  have  practically  established  the  fact 

that  while  insects  are  shtirtsighled  and  |>cr- 

rcive  slationar)'  ol>jects  im]H.rfcctly,  yet  tlieir 

compound  eyes    arc    letter    filleti  than    the 

vertebrate  eye  for  apprehending  objects  set 

in    relief  or   in    motion,    and    are    likewise 

keenly  sensitive  to  colour. 

.So  far  as  experiments  have  gone,  they  .show 
that  insects  have  a  keen  colour  sense,  though 
here  .igain  iheir  .sensations  of  colour  are 
rliffereiit  from  those  prrKluced  u|X)n  us. 
Thus,  as  Lublxick  has  shown,  anis  arc  ver)- 
.sensitive  to  the  ullra-violet  rays  of  the  spec- 
trum, which  we  cannot  |K-rceive,  though  he 
was  led  lo  conclude  that  to  Ihe  ani  the 
general  a.spcct  of  nature  is  jiresenled  in  an 
aspect  very  different  from  that  in  which  it 
appears  to  us.  In  reference  to  Itees,  I  he 
experiments  of  the  same  author  prove  clearly 
that  they  have  this  sense  of  colour  highly 
dcvclopcfl,  as  indeetl  might  lie  expected 
when  we  consirler  the  |>art  they  have  played 
in  I'  I iient  of  flowers.      While  these 

c^l  in   lo  show   that    blue  is  the 

!>«••<-       '■    iiijour,   this  does  not  accord 

with  Albert  .Miiller's  ex|x-riencc  in  nature, 
nor  with  the  general  exjierience  of  apiari.ins, 
who,  if  asked,  would  very  generally  agree 
that  Ix-es  show  a  preference  for  white  flowers. 

Touch. — The  sense  of  touch  is  supposed 
lo  rnide  chiefly  in  Ihe  anlenn:e  or  feelers, 
though  it  rerjulres  bul  the  simplest  oltscrva- 
lion  lo  show  ihal   »iih  sofilKHJieil   insects  the  sense  resides  in 
any  |>ortion  of  the  b  xly,  very  much  as  it  docs  in  other  anim.il.s. 

NO.    1339,  VOL.  52] 


In  short,  this  is  the  one  sense  which,  in  its  manifestations,  may 
be  conceded  to  resemble  our  own.  ^■et  it  is  eWdently  more 
specialised  in  the  maxillary  and  labial  jxtlpi  and  the  tongxie  than 
in  the  antcnnx  in  most  insects. 

Tast,\ — \ety  little  can  l>e  positively  proved 
as  to  the  sense  of  taste  in  insects.  Its  exist- 
ence may  be  confidently  predicated  from  the 
acute  discrimination  which  most  monopha- 
gous  species  exercise  in  the  choice  of  their 
ftxxl,  and  its  location  m.iy  be  assumed  to  be 
the  mouth  or  some  of  the  special  trophial 
organs  which  have  no  counterpart  among 
vertebrates.  Indeed,  cert.iin  pits  in  the 
epipharjnx  of  many  mandibulate  insects  and 
in  the  ligula  and  the  niaxilhv  of  lx;es  and 
wasps  are  conceded  by  the  authorities  to  be 
gustator)'. 

Smell. — That  insects  possess  the  power  of 
smell  is  a  matter  of  common  observation, 
and  has  been  experimentally  proved.  The 
many  experiments  of  I.ubbork  upon  anis  left 
no  doubt  in  his  mind  that  the  sense  of  smell 
is  highly  developed  in  them.  Indeed,  it  is 
the  acuteness  of  the  sense  of  smell  which 
attracts  many  insects  so  unerringly  to  given 
•ilijects,  and  which  has  led  many  persons  to 
believe  them  sharp-sighted.  Moreover,  the 
innumerable  glands  and  special  organs  for 
secreting  odours  furnish  Ihe  strongest  indirect 
proof  of  the  same  fact.  Some  of  these,  of 
which  the  osmaterium  in  Papilionid  larvx 
and  the  eversible  glands  in  I'aroigyia  are 
conspicuous  examples,  are  intended  for  pro- 
tection against  inimical  insects  or  other 
animals  ;  while  others,  possessed  by  one  only 
of  the  sexes,  are  obviously  intended  to  please 
or  attract.  A  notable  development  of  this 
kind  is  seen  in  the  large  gland  on  the 
hintl  legs  of  the  males  of  some  sjiecies 
of  Ilepialus,  the  gland  being  a  modification  of  the  tibia, 
ant!  sometimes  involving  the  abortiim  of  the  tarsus,   as  in   the 


2.— -Sensory  Orsan*  in   Inuct't  : 


sensor)'  piis  on  aiitcnnn:  of  younu  winKlc--s  Aphis  f^rrsi- 
ctrnigcr  (after  Smith)  ;  n,  urgan  of  smell  in  May  ln-cilu  (after  Mauser);  c,  oryaii  of  smell 
in  V'c^pa  (after  Hauscr)  ;  i>,  %cnsor>'  organs  of  Ttrnifs  flai»if*ts  ;  a,  tibial  auditory  organ  ; 
tr,  cnlarRcmcnt  of  same  ;  b,  sensory  pits  of  tarsus  (after  Stukcs)  ;  li,  organ  of  ta-stc  in  maxilla: 
of  I'cifta  7' u/e-ari J  (nUcr  Will)  ;  F,  organ  of  taste  in  laiaum  nf  same  insect  (after  Will)  ;  <;, 
organ  of  smell  in  Caloplcnus  (after  Hauscr)  ;  M,  sensory  pilose  depressions  on  tibia  of  Termcs 
(after  Sioke*) ;  t,  terminal  portion  of  antennn;  of  Myrmica  ru^inodt's  :  c,  cork-shaped  organs  ; 
J,  outer  sac  ;  /,  iiilw  ;  w.  posterior  chaml>cr  (after  Lubbock)  ;  K,  longiluflinal  section  through 
portion  of  flageltum  of  antenna:  of  worker  bee,  showing  Mnsory  hairs  and  supposed  olfaclorj" 
organs  (after  Cheshire).     All  vcr)  greatly  enlarged. 

Kuropcan  ff.  hectus  (L.)  and  our  own  H.  ^r-Arcwj/'IStrctch.)    Thi: 
posiicssion  of  odorifcrous'glands,  in  other  words,  implies  the  pos- 


June  27,  1895J 


NATURE 


211 


a. 


session  of  olfactory  organs.  Vet  there  is  among  insects  no  one 
specialised  olfactory  organ  as  among  vertebrates  ;  for  while  there 
is  conclusive  proof  that  this  sense  rests  in  the  antenna;  with  many 
insects,  especially  among  Lepidoptera,  there  is  good  evidence 
that  in  some  Hymenoptcra  it  is  localised  in  an  ampulla  at  the  base 
of  the  tongue,  while  tlraber  gives  reasons  for  believing  that  in 
certain  Orthoptera  (Hlattida;)  it  is  located  in  the  anal  cerci  and 
the  i)alpi, 

Hoiriiig. — In  regard  to  the  sense  of  hearing,  the  most  casual 
experimentation  will  show  (and  general  experience  confirms  it) 
that  most  insects,  while  keenly  alive  to  the  slightest  movements 
or  vibrations,  are  for  the  most  part  deaf  to  the  sounds  which 
affect  us.  That  they  have  a  sense  of  sound  is  equally  certain, 
but  its  range  is  very  different  from  ours.  A  sensitive  flame, 
arranged  for  Liibbock  by  the  late  Prof.  Tyndall,  gave  no  response 
from  ants,  and  a  sensitive  microphone,  arranged  for  him  by  I'rof. 
Bell,  gave  record  of  no  other  sound  than  the  patter  of  feet  in 
walking.  But  the  most  sensitive  tests  we  can  experimentally 
apply  may  be,  and  doubtless  are,  too  gross  to  adjust  themselves 
to  the  finer  sensibilities  of  such  minute,  active,  and  nervous 
creatures.  There  can  be  no  question  'hat  insects  not  only  pro- 
duce sounds,  but  receive  the  impression  of  sounds  entirely 
beyond  our  own  range  of  perception,  or,  as  Lubbock  puts  it, 
that  "  we  can  no  more  form  an  idea  of  than  we  should  have 
been  able  to  conceive  red  or  green  if 
the  human  race  had  been  blind.  The 
human  ear  is  sensitive  to  vibrations 
reaching  at  the  outside  to  38,000  in  a 
second.  The  sensation  of  red  is  pro- 
duced when  470  millions  of  millions  of 
vibrations  enter  the  eye  in  a  similar 
tin\e  ;  but  between  these  two  numbers 
vibrations  produce  on  us  only  the  sen- 
sation of  heat.  We  have  no  especial 
organ  of  sense  adapted  to  them."  It 
is  quite  certain  that  ants  do  make 
sounds,  and  the  sound.i)roducing  organs 
on  some  of  the  abdominal  joints  have 
been  carefully  described.  The  fact  that 
so  many  insects  have  the  power  of  pro- 
ducing sounds  that  are  even  audible  to 
us,  is  the  best  evidence  that  they 
possess  auditory  organs.  These  are, 
however,  never  vocal,  but  are  situated 
upon  various  parts  of  the  body,  or  upon 
different  members  thereof. 

Special  Sense  and  Sense  Organs. — 
While  from  what  has  preceded  it  is 
somewhat  difficult  to  compare  the  more 
obvious  senses  possessed  by  insects  with 
our  own,  except  perhaps  in  the  sense 
of  tf>uch.  It  is,  I  repeat,  just  as  obvious 
to  the  careful  student  of  insect  life  that 
they  possess  special  senses  which  it  is 
difficult  for  us  to  comprehend.  The 
sense    of    direction,    for    instance,    is 

very  marked  in  the  social  Ilymenoptera  which  we  have  been 
considering,  and  in  this  respect  insects  remind  us  of  many 
of  the  lower  vertebrates  which  have  this  sense  much  more 
strongly  developed  than  we  have.  Indeed,  they  manifest  more 
es|K'cially  what  has  been  referred  to  in  man  as  a  sixth  sense, 
viz.  a  certain  intuition  which  is  essentially  psychical,  and  which 
undoubtedly  serves  and  acts  to  the  advantage  of  tlie  species  as 
fully,  perhaps,  as  any  of  the  other  senses.  Lubbock  demon- 
strated that  an  ant  will  recognise  one  of  its  own  colony  from 
among  the  individuals  of  another  colony  of  the  same  species  ;  and 
when  we  consider  tliat  the  members  of  a  colony  number  at  times, 
not  thousands,  but  hundreds  of  thousands,  this  remarkable  power 
will  be  fully  appreciated. 

The  neuter  Termites  are  blind,  and  can  have  no  sense  of  light 
in  their  internal  or  subterranean  burrowings  ;  yet  they  will  under- 
mine buildings,  and  pulverise  various  parts  of  elaborate  furniture 
without  once  gnawing  through  to  the  surface  ;  and  those  species 
which  use  clay,  will  fill  up  their  burrowings  to  strengthen  the 
sup|iorts  of  structures  which  might  otherwise  fall  and  injure  the 
insects  or  betray  their  work.  The  bat  in  a  lighted  room,  though 
blinded  as  to  sight,  will  fly  in  all  directions  with  surh  swiftness 
and  infallible  certainly  of  avoiding  concussion  or  coEilact,  that 
its  feeling  at  a  distance  is  practically  incomprehensible  to  us. 

Telepathy.  —  But  howeverdifticull  itmaybe  to  define  thisintuitive 

NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


sense  which,  whileapparently  combining  some  of  the  other  senses, 
has  many  attributes  peculiar  to  itself,  and  however  difficult  it  may 
be  for  us  to  analyse  the  remarkable  sense  of  direction,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  many  insects  possess  the  power  of  communicating 
at  a  distance,  of  which  we  can  form  some  conception  by  what  is 
known  as  telepathy  in  man.  This  power  would  seem  to  depentl 
neither  upon  scent  nor  upon  hearing  in  the  ordinary  under- 
standing of  these  senses,  but  rather  on  certain  subtle  vibrations 
as  difficult  for  us  to  comprehend  as  is  the  exact  nature  of  elec- 
tricity. The  fact  that  men  can  telegraphically  transmit  sound 
almost  instantaneously  around  the  globe,  and  that  his  very 
speech  may  be  telephonically  transmitted,  as  cjuickly  as  uttered, 
for  thousands  of  miles,  may  suggest  something  of  this  subtle 
power,  even  though  it  furnish  no  explanation  thereof. 

The  power  f)f  seml.-ling  amongst  certain  moths,  for  instance, 
especially  those  of  llie  family  Bondiycida;,  is  well  known  to 
entomologists,  and  many  remarkable  instances  are  recorded.  I 
am  tempted  to  put  on  record  for  the  first  time  an  individual 
experience  which  very  well  illustrates  this  power,  as  on  a  number 
of  occasions  when  I  have  narrated  it  most  persons  not  familiar 
with  the  general  facts  have  deemed  it  remarkable.  In  1863  I 
obtained  from  the  then  Commissioner  of  .'\griculture.  Colonel 
Capron,  eggs  of  Samia  {ynthia,  the  Ailanthus  silkworm  of  Japan, 
which  had  been  recently  introduced  by  him.      I   was  living   in 


Flo.  3. — Some  .'Vntennae  of 
Dendroides ;  y,  Dineutes 
— .\ll  greatly  enlarged. 


Coleoptera  :    a,    l.udius  ;     b,    Corj'mbites  ;  t,  Prinocyplion  ;  (/.  .\cneus  ;  c, 
g^  Lachnosterna  ;  k,  Bolbocerus ;   i,   Adranes  (after  Le  Conte  and  Horn). 


Chicago  at  the  lime,  and  in  my  garden  there  grew  two  .Vilanthus 
trees,  which  were  the  catise  of  my  sending  for  the  aforesaid  eggs. 
I  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  there  were  no  other  eggs  of 
this  species  received  in  any  part  of  the  country  within  hundreds  of 
miles  around.  It  seemed  a  good  opportunity  to  lest  the  power 
of  this  sembling,  anil  after  rearing  a  number  of  larvx  I  carefully 
watched  for  the  ap]iearance  of  the  first  moths  from  the  cocoons. 
I  kept  the  first  moths  separate,  and  confining  a  virgin  female  in 
an  improvised  wicker  cage  out  of  doors  on  one  of  the  -Vilanthus 
trees.  On  the  same  evening  I  took  a  male  to  another  part  of  the 
city,  and  let  him  loose,  having  previously  tied  a  silk  thread 
around  the  base  of  the  abdomen  to  insure  identificatiim.  The 
distance  between  the  ca])tive  female  anil  the  released  male  was 
at  least  a  mile  aiul  a  half,  and  yet  the  next  morning  these  two 
individuals  were  together. 

Now,  in  the  moths  of  this  family  the  male  antenna-  are 
elaborately  pectinate,  the  pectinations  broad  and  each  branch 
minutely  hairy  (see  Fig.  5,  a.)  These  feelers  vibrate  incessantly, 
while  in  the  female,  in  which  the  feelers  are  less  complex,  there 
is  a  similar  movement  connected  with  an  intense  vibration  of  the 
whole  body  and  of  the  wings.  There  is,  therefore,  everj' reason 
to  believe  that  the  sense  is  in  some  way  a  vibratorj'  sense,  as, 
indeed,  at  base  is  true  of  all  senses,  and  no  one  can  study  the 
wonderfully   diversified   structure   of  the    antenna;    in    insects, 


I  2 


NA  TURE 


[June 


■i ' 


189: 


especially  in  males,  as  verj-  well  exemplified  in  some  of  the 
commoner  gnats  (see  Fig.  5,  d,  t),  without  feeling  that  they  have 
been  developed  in  obedience  to,  and  as  a  result  of,  some  such 
subtle  and  mtuilive  power  as  this  of  teleiMthy.  Kvery  minute 
ramification  of  the  wonderfully  delicate  feelers  of  the  male 
mosquito,  in  all  probability,  pulsates  in  response  to  the  piping 
sounds  which  the  female  is  known  to  produce,  and  doubtless 
through  considerable  distance. 

There  is  ever)-  justification   for  believing  that  all  (he  subtle 
cosmic  forces  involved  in  the  generation  antl  development  of  the 


y  Ic.  4. — .\ntcnna  of  male  Phcngodes  with  portion  of  ray. 
(original). 


-Greatly  enlarged 


highest  are  equally  involved  in  the  production  and  building  up 
of  the  lowest  of  organisms,  and  that  the  complesing  and  com- 
pounding and  specialisation  of  parts  have  gone  on  in  ever)' 
possible  and  conceivable  direction,  according  to  the  siKcics. 
The  highly  developed  and  delicate  antenna-  in  the  male 
Chironomus,  for  instance,  may  l)e  likened  to  an  external  brain, 
its  ramifying  fibres  corresponding  to  the  highly  complicated  pro- 


Flo.  5.  — S<>mc  Anicniueof  Ill'tccI*  :rt,  'Idea  polyphtmii-..  nialc,  X  3:  ^  antl 
c  lip  of  ihc  ray*  of  fcimc— still  more  cnlarKcj  ;  ^/,  ChironomUB  X  6  ;  e, 
Mclion  of  Kame— ■<tlill  more  enlarged  (original). 

cesies  that  ramify  from  the  nerve  cells  in  the  internal  brains  of 
higher  animals,  and  respinding  in  a  somewhat  similar  way  lo 
external  impressions.  While  having  no  siirt  of  sym|)alhy  with 
the  fiKilish  n'llinns  ihal  the  spiritualists  proclaim,  to  edify  or 
terrify  the  gullible  ami  unscientific,  I  am  Just  as  much  'lul  of 
.Hym|)athy  «iili  that  class  f)f  materialists  whf»  refuse  to  re- 
cognise that  Ihiri-  may  be  and  are  subtle  psychical  plieni)niena 
licyond  the  rea<  h  of  present  ex|)erimental  methods.  The  one 
claw  lo<i  readily  assumes  su|>ernatural  |K>wer  to  explain 
abnormal  phenomena  ;  (he  other  denies  the  abnormal,  Ifecause 
il,  likewiM:,  i»  |>ast  our  limited  understanding. 


UNIVERSITY  AND   EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Cambridge. — The  Harkness  Scholarship  in  Cieologj-  has 
been  awarded  to  .-Vrthur  William  Rogers,  of  Christ's  College. 

Mr.  J.  S.  Cardiner,  of  Caius  College,  has  been  chosen  to 
occupy  the  University's  table  at  the  Naples  Zoological  Station 
for  six  months  from  (jctober  I. 

The  Newall  Observer  re)Torts  that  the  fine  spectroscope 
designed  for  use  with  the  Newall  Telescope  is  now  ready,  and 
that  the  preliminary  trials  of  it  have  been  satisfactory.  The 
mounting  has  l)een  made  by  the  Cambridge  Scientific  Instrument 
Company,  and  the  optical  parts  by  Mr.  IJrashear,  of  .Mleghany. 

Mr.  F.  Darwin,  .Mr.  W.  G.  I'.  Fllis.  I'rof.  Liveing.  Mr.  T. 
B.  Wood,  Prof.  M.  Foster,  Mr.  \.  Eichholz,  Mr.  .V.  F. 
Shijiley,  Mr.  C.  Warburlon,  Prof.  Hughes,  Mr.  P.  Lake,  Mr. 
O.  P.  Fisher,  Mr.  J-  Owen,  Mr.  K.  Menzies,  and  Mr.  C.  H. 
Fisher,  have  been  appointed  Fxaminers  in  the  Science  and  .\rt 
of  .'Vgriculture  for  the  University  Diploma.  The  examination 
will  be  held  in  July. 

Sir  David  L.  Salomons,  Bart.,  has  founded,  in  connection  with 
Caius  College,  a  Scholarship  in  Kngineering.  The  first  award 
will  be  made  in  October.  The  value  of  the  Scholarship  is 
£\o  a  year  for  three  years.  The  Salomons  Scholar  must  become 
a  candidate  for  the  Mechanical  Sciences  Tripos.  Applications 
for  further  information  should  Ijc  made  to  the  Tutors  of  Caius 
College. 


The  Conference  on  Technical  Fducalion  held  at  the  Society 
of  Arts  last  Thursday,  resulted  in  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolution  : — "  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  meeting  it  is  desir.ible 
that  provision  should  be  made  for  examination  and  inspection  in 
the  subjects  of  instruction  luulcrtaken  by  technical  instruction 
committees  but  not  at  i)resent  included  in  the  schemes  of  the 
Science  and  .Art  Department,  the  Cily  and  (luilds  of  London 
Institute,  and  the  Society  of  .Vrts,  and  that  with  the  object  of 
giving  effect  lo  the  same  this  conference  recommends  that  a 
representative  committee  be  appointed  lo  draw  up  a  report  and 
prepare  recommendations  on  the  whole  subject." 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

A  mcriiaii  Journal  of  Siiiiue.  June. — The  preparation  of  per- 
chloric aciil  anil  its  application  lothe  determination  of  potassium. 
by  D.  .Mbert  Krcider.  The  difticulty  attending  the  removal 
of  the  potas.sium  in  the  ordinary  preparation  of  this  acid  fri>m 
potassium  chlorate  may  be  overcome  by  using  the  sodium  salt 
instead.  The  insolubility  of  chloride  of  sodium  in  strcmg 
hydrochloric  acid,  with  the  aid  of  the  acid-proof  Ciooch  crucible, 
affords  a  means  for  the  liberation  of  the  perchloric  acid  and  the 
removal  of  the  greater  part  of  the  sodium  in  one  operation. 
Sodium  chli>rale  is  heated  until  it  gives  ofl'  oxygen.  When  all 
the  possible  oxygen  bus  been  given  off,  and  only  the  chlorideanil 
the  perchlorale  remain,  the  residue  is  treated  with  strong  hydro- 
chloric acid  and  filleretl  The  perchloric  .acid  is  thus  liberated, 
and  the  sodium  pvecijutated  as  chloride.  Theli(|iiid  isdcranted, 
and  undergoes  the  .s;\me  operation  again.  The  solution,  con- 
taining hydrochloric  and  perchloric  .acids  and  a  small  amount  of 
.sodium  chloride,  is  evaporated  till  the  former  acid  is  ilriven  ofl' 
and  the  hea\y\\liite  fmnes  of  the  perchloric  at'id  appe-ar.  It 
is  then  ready  for  potassium  determinaliims,  with  which  the 
snmll  residue  of  .sodium  does  not  interfere.  The  filtering  is  done 
by  means  of  a  Ciooch  crucible,  and  the  operation  reipiires  le-ss 
time  iind  atlentiim  than  the  old  jjrocess,  and  is  much  less 
dangerous.  — Mode  of  growth  and  development  of  the  grapholilic 
genus  I)iplof;)ii/>liis,  by  K.  Uueilemann  By  the  possession  of 
a  piieumatocysl  and  the  arrangement  of  the  reproductive  organs 
at  the  bases  of  the  stipes,  the  colonial  stocks  of  Difilograpliis 
have  a  general  .similarity  to  those  of  certain  Siphotiophor<,\  while 
the  chitinous  structure  of  the  hydrothec;v  and  gonangia  can  only 
l)e  referred  to  the  .Sertularians.  Il  thus  becomes  evident  that 
the  genus  Jiiplof^aplin,  like  so  many  pakvozoic  fossils,  has  the 
combined  properties  of  different  groups,  thus  giving  valuable 
hints  in  regard  lo  the  common  ancestors  of  those  gmups.  ( )n 
the  elevation  along  the  Uocky  Mountain  range  in  British 
.\merica  since  the  ckise  of  the  Cretaceous  period,  by  Dr.  (1.  M. 
Daw.son.  In  the  mountains,  the  cretaceous  rocks  have  been 
involved  in  all  the  flexure,  faulting,  and  overlhrusl  suO'ered  liy 
the  Palieozoic  ;  and  both  in  the  mountains  and  foothills  these 
rocks  are  found  iil  all  angles  up  to  vertical,  and  even  overlurneil. 


NO.   1339,  VOL.  52J 


June  27,  1895] 


NATURE 


21 


It  is  thus  difficult  to  know  the  amount  of  elevation  of  these 
rocks,  Ijut  about  latitude  50°  the  base  of  the  cretaceous  must 
in  several  places  have  considerably  exceeded  10,000  feel  in 
altitude. 

Symo)iis  Mottt/ily  Mctcoroh^ical  Magazine,  June. — The 
prmcipal  article  deals  with  rainfall  in  China,  with  remarks 
by  the  editor,  based  on  observations  made  from  1886-92,  and 
published  in  various  places  by  Dr.  Doherck,  of  Hong  Kong. 
The  mean  annual  rainfall  is  small  in  the  north,  and  increases 
greatly  towards  the  south.  In  the  Gulf  of  Pe-chi-li  the  fall  is  20 
inches,  but  reaches  double  that  amount  in  the  Delta  of  the  Vang- 
Tse-Kiang,  58  inches  at  Hankow,  and  68  inches  at  Ningpo.  In 
Formosa  it  ranges  from  60  to  90  inches,  but  at  Keelung,  in  the 
north-east,  it  reaches  148  inches.  The  seasonal  rainfall  is 
shown  in  tables  divided  into  six  districts.  Notwithstanding  the 
proximity  of  most  of  the  stations  to  the  sea,  the  distribution  is, 
generally  speaking,  of  that  type  which  prevails  over  the  greater 
part  of  Asia. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Royal  Society,  January  24. -"  Micro- Metallography  of 
Iron."      Part  I.      By  Thomas  Andrews,  F.R.S. 

In  tile  course  of  a  research  with  high  microscopical  pou'ers 
(including  300,  500,  Soo,  1200,  and  upwards  to  2000  diameters) 
on  the  micro-crystalline  structure  of  large  masses  of  wrouglit 
iron,  the  author  observed  the  following  novel  metallurgical 
facts  : — 

When  large  masses,  several  tons  in  weight,  of  practically  pure 
wrought  iron  were  allowed  to  slowly  cool  from  a  white  heat,  a 
sec<jndary  or  subcrystallisation  of  the  metallic  iron  occurred. 
The  n<jrmal  primary  crystals  ot  the  iron,  or  those  which  have 
hitherto  been  regarded  as  constituting  the  ultimate  structure  of 
the  metal,  were  found  to  enclose  a  subcrystalline  formation  con- 
sisting of  very  minute,  and  much  smaller,  crystals  of  pure  iron 
also  belonging  to  the  regular  order  of  crystallisation.  These 
crystals  sometimes  manifested  the  hexagonal  form,  the  pre- 
dominant angle  being  about  I20',  and  often  they  assumed  the 
form  of  simple  cubes.  The  secondary  crystals  were  contained 
within  the  area  of  the  larger  primary  crystals. 

Typical  illustrations  of  this  duplex  crystallisation  found  in  two 
large  iron  forgings  are  given  in  Figs.  I  and  2,  and  the  relative 
dimensions  of  a  number  of  individual  crystals  are  given  in  the 
paper. 

The  results  of  twenty  measurements  of  the  primary  crystals 
and  twenty  measurements  ot  the  secondary  crystals  taken  on  each 
forging  are  given  on  these  tables. 

The  markings  of  the  intercrystalline  spaces  or  junctions  of 
the  secondary  crystals  were  very  clearly  defined,  but  they  were 
exceedingly  minute.  The  general  form,  contour,  and  relative 
size  of  the  priniary  and  secondary  crystals,  as  seen  in  section, 
will  be  noticed  on  reference  to  the  accurate  tracings.  Figs.  I  and 
2.  The  linear  dimensions  of  the  primary  crystals  would  average 
about  O'oi  inch,  the  linear  dimensions  of  the  secondary  crystals 
aver.aging about  O'OOI  inch. 

Judging  roughly  from  the  indications  of  the  average  micro- 
measurements,  there  would  appear  to  be  approximately 
1 ,000,000,000  of  the  secon<lary  crystals  in  a  cubic  inch  of  the 
metallic  iron. 

In  the  case  of  both  the  primary  and  secondary  crystals  the  pre- 
dominant well-defined  angles  of  the  facets  of  the  crystals  hovered 
more  or  less  about  the  angle  of  120°.  The  majority  of  the  angle 
readings,  made  with  the  goniometer  attached  to  the  microscope, 
indicating  generally  a  hexagonal  structure  on  form  of  crystal- 
lisation. There  were,  however,  also  perfect  cubical  crystals 
observe<l. 

The  observations  were  made  with  a  Ross  first-class  microscope. 
The  micro-measurements  afford  an  indication  of  the  comparative 
size  of  the  primary  and  sect)ndary  crystals.  These  measurements 
were  carefully  taken  by  a  Jackson  micrometer,  and  in  some 
cases  by  a  Kamsden  screw  micrometer,  both  accurately  calibrated 
with  a  standard  stage  micrometer.  The  wrought  iron  forgings 
on  which  the  observations  were  made  were  constituted  of 
practically  jnire  hammered  wrought  iron,  the  dimensions  of  the 
mass  being  about  10  feet  long  and  about  12  inches  .square.  The 
great  length  of  lime  required  for  such  large  masses  of  iron  to 
i-ool  from  a  white  heat  appeared  to  facilitate  the  production  of 
the  crystals  of  the  secondary  formation. 


^■O.    1339.  VOL.   52] 


The  rationale  of  this  duplex  crystallisation  has  apparently  been 
as  follows  : — The  mass  of  metallic  iron  on  cooling  having  reacherl 
the  crystallising  point  at  about  740'  C. ,  the  peripher)'  or  skelet<ms 
of  the  larger  or  jirimary  crystals  were  then  formed.  As  the 
period  of  cooling  was,  however,  very  slow,  the  semi-fluid  or 
viscous  metal  in  the  interior  of  these  primary  crystals  was,  on 
finally  consolidating,  ajiparently  further  broken  up  or  sutxtivided 


into  a  considerable   number  of  smaller  cr)'stals,  enclosed  within 
the  boundary  or  periphery  of  the  primary  crystals. 

In  the  course  of  further  experiments  on  the  cooling  of  large 
masses  of  wrought  iron,  the  author  has  also  found,  by  the  use  of 
high  power  objectives,  that  the  secondary  crystals  sometimes 
enclosed  a  still  more  minute  form  of  crj-stals  of  pure  iron,  of  the 
cubical  form,  which  may  hence  be  regarded  as  constituting  a 
tertiary  system  of  cr)-stallisalion  in  pure  metallic  iron.     These 


experiments  therefore  indicate  that  large  masses  of  heated 
wrought  iron,  on  cooling  from  above  the  temperature  of  the 
crystallisation  of  metallic  iron,  viz.  740'  C. ,  are  capable  of 
crystallising  in  three  distinct  modifications  which  may  tentatively 
be  called  the  primary,  secondary,  and  tertiary  system  of  crystal- 
lisation in  iron,  these  various  crystalline  modifications  being  all, 
however,  connected  with  the  regular  system  of  crystallisation. 


-'4 


NA  TURE 


[June  27,  1895 


The  crj'Stalsofthis  secondar)-  fonnation  are  not  often  distinctly 
discernible  in  smaller  masses  of  metallic  iron,  such  as  rolled  rods, 
plates,  or  sheets,  as  these  in  the  course  of  manufacture  rapidly 
cool,  and  are  frequently  manipulated  during  the  finishing  pro- 
cesses at  temperatures  below  the  crystallising  point  of  wrought 
iron  (740°  C). 

The  microscopical  examinations  were  made  on  carefully  pre- 
|)ared  and  polished  samples,  etched  in  nitric  acid  (i  i«rt  HNO3, 
sp.  gr.  I  '20,  and  49  jxirts  water),  and  by  the  use  of  high  micro- 
scopical powers  (J-inch  to  ^^j-inch,  and  other  ojectives);  The 
drawings  were  accurately  made  with  the  camera  lucida.  In  each 
observation  the  etching  was  prolonged,  under  constant  ob- 
servation with  lenses,  a  suitable  time  to  develop  the  accurate 
structure  of  the  metal. 

June  13. — "On  the  New  Gas  obtained  from  Uraninite." 
Fourth  Note.     By  J.  Norman  Lockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S. 

Continued  exjierimenis  on  the  gases  obtained  by  heating  the 
minerals  brc^gerite  and  euxenite  in  vatuo  have  revealed  the 
presence  in  the  spectrum  of  an  important  line  in  the  infra-red. 
By  comparisons  with  the  solar  spectrum  in  the  first  order  grating 
spectrum,  the  wave-length  of  the  line  has  been  approximately 


(2)  Contrariwise,  when  we  are  dealing  with  a  known  com 
pound  gas :  at  the  lowest  tension  we  may  get  the  complete 
spectrum  of  the  compound  without  any  trace  of  its  constituents, 
and  we  may  then,  by  increasing  the  tension,  gradually  bring  in 
the  lines  of  the  constituents  until,  when  complete  dissocia- 
tion is  finally  reached,  the  spectrum  of  the  compound  itself 
disappears. 

Working  on  these  lines,  the  spectrum  of  the  spark  at  at- 
mospheric pressure,  passing  through  the  gas,  or  gases,  distilled 
from  briiggcrite,  has  been  studied  with  reference  to  the  special 
lines  C  (hydrogen),  Dj,  667,  and  447. 

The  first  result  is  that  all  the  lines  do  not  vary  equally,  as  they 
should  do  if  we  were  dealing  with  a  simple  gas. 

The  second  result  is  that  at  the  lowest  tension  667  is  re- 
latively more  brilliant  than  the  other  lines :  on  incre.-ising  the 
tension,  C  and  1)3  considerably  increase  their  brilliancy,  667 
relatively  and  absolutely  becoming  more  feeble ;  while  447, 
seen  easily  as  a  narrow  line  at  low  tension,  is  almost  broadened 
out  into  invisibility  as  the  tension  is  increased  in  some  of  the 
tubes,  or  is  greatly  brightened  as  well  as  broadened  in  others 
(Fig-  !)• 


4471 

3675. 

r 

5563  667. 

1. 

2. 

Fig.  1.— Diagram  showing  changes  in  intensities  of  lines  brought  about  by  var>'ing  the  tension  of  the  spark, 
(i)  Without  air-break.    (2)  With  air-brcik. 


determined  as  7065.  There  can  be  little  doubt,  from  the 
observations  which  have  lieen  made,  that  this  new  line  is 
coincident  with  a  chromospheric  line  which  occurs  in  ^'oung's 
ILst,  having  a  frequency  of  100,  and  of  which  the  wave-length 
on  Rowland's  scale  is  statc-d  to  be  7o65"5. 

It  follows  therefore  that,  besides  the  hydrogen  lines,  all  three 
chromospheric  lines  in  Young's  list  which  have  a  frequency  of 
100  have  now  been  recorded  in  the  spectra  of  the  new  gas  or 
gases  obtained  from  minerals  by  the  distillation  method. 

These  are  as  follows : — 

7065-5 

5875-98 
4471-8 

The  wave-lengths  of  the  lines  are  in  Rowland's  scale,  as  given 
in    Scheiner's    "Astronomical    Spectroscopy."'       In    a    partial 


The  above  observations  were  made  with  a  battery  of  five  Grove 
cells  ;  the  reduction  of  cells  from  5  to  2  made  no  dificrence  in 
the  phenomena  except  in  reducing  their  brilliancy. 

Reasoning  from  the  above  observations,  it  seems  evident  that 
the  effect  of  the  higher  tension  is  to  break  u|)  a  coni|x<und,  or 
compounds,  of  which  C,  Dj,  and  447  represent  constituent 
elements  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  it  would  appear  that  667 
represents  a  line  of  some  compound  which  is  simultaneously 
dissociated. 

The  unequal  behaviour  of  the  lines  has  been  fiirther  noted  in 
another  experiment,  in  which  the  products  of  distiJj.Ttion  of  hrog- 
gerite  were  observed  in  a  vacuum  tube  and  jihotographed  at 
various  stages.  After  the  first  heating,  Dj  and  4471  were  seen 
bright,  before  any  lines  other  than  those  of  carbon  and  hydrogen 
made  their  appearance.  With  continued  heating,  667,  5016,  and 
492  also  appeared,  although  there  was  no  notable  increase  of 

D, 


447. 


3876. 


654. 


667. 


Fic. 


49EJ0I 
50* 
Di.lgram  showing  order  in  which  lines   appcMr  in  spectrum  of  vacuum  tube  when  brtiKneritc  is  heated. 


revision  of  his  chromospheric  list,  Prof.  Young  gives  the  corona 
line  53'6'79  ^^  "'''o  having  a  frequency  of  100  in  the  chromo- 
sphere, but,  up  to  the  present,  this  line  has  not  been  an)ong 
those  obtained  in  the  laljoratory. 

"  On  the  New  Gas  obtained  from  Uraninite."  Fifth  Note.  By 
J.  Norman  Lockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S. 

In  a  former  communication  I  |x>inlcd  out  the  siwctroscopic 
evidence,  furnished  by  the  isolation  of  lines  in  certain  miner.ils, 
which  indicates  that  the  complete  siiectrum obtained  when  brrig- 
gcritc  is  submitted  to  the  distillation  melhoti  is  prcxluced  by  a 
mixture  of  g.ases. 

In  order  to  test  this  view,  I  have  recently  made  some  obscr\a- 
tion.s,  \tmxA  on  the  following  considerations  : — 

<I)  In  a  simple  gas  like  hydrogen,  when  the  tension  of  the 
electric  current  given  by  an  induction  coil  is  increased,  by  insert- 
ing fir'  -  ■  -  — '  •'  ,  .,,1  air-break  into  the  circuit,  the  efiecl  is 
•"  inc-  uid  l.re.idth  of  all  Ihe  lines,  the  brilliancy 

AnAXiK.  ,,  „      '--t  when  the  longest  air-break  is  Used. 

'  Froil's  translation,  p.  1B4. 


NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


still    further  heating  introduced 
the  following 


brightness  in  the   yellow  line ; 
additional  lines  5048  and  6347. 

These  changes  are    represented  graphically 
diagram  (Fig.  2). 

It  was  recorded  further  that  the  yellow  line  was  at  times 
dimmed,  while  Ihe  other  lines  were  brightened. 

"  On  the  Origin  of  the  Triradiatc  Spicules  of  Leucosolenia." 
By  IC.  A.  Minchin. 

Chemical  Society,  June  6.— Mr.  A.  Vernon  llarcourl, 
I'rcsiilenl,  in  llic  1  hair. — The  following  papers  were  read  : — The 
molecular  refractions  of  dissolved  salts  and  acids,  by  J.  II. 
Gladstone  and  W.  Ililibert.  The  authors  show  that  in  many 
cases  when  a  pure  sulistance  dissolves  in  water,  an  alteration  of 
its  specific  refractive  energy  txrcurs. — A  com|)arison  of  some 
properties  of  acetic  acid  and  its  chloro-  and  bromo-derivatives, 
liy  .S.  U.  I'ickering.  A  number  of  thermal  and  other  physical 
proiierties  of  acetic  acid,  and  its  inonochloro-  and  monobromo- 
derivatives  have  been  (plant ilalively  examined  and  compared  ; 
four  distinct   crystalline  modifications  of  monochlor.-icelic  acid 


June  27,  1895] 


NATURE 


215 


have  been  prepared. — fl;3-Dinaphthyland  itsquinones,  by  F.  D. 
Chattaway.  Two  quinones  are  obtained  by  oxidising  33-dina- 
phthyl  under  different  conditions  ;  from  their  chemical  behaviour 
these  seem  to  be  ;8-naphthyl  naphthoquinone,  CjoHj.O.CijHj.O 
(I  :  2:  4)  and  3)3-di-o-naphthoquinone,  CjoHaOo.CioHjO, 
(I:  2:  4:  1:2:  4). — Action  of  benzaldehyde  on  phenyl- 
semicarbazide,  by  G.  Young.  The  interaction  of  benzaldehyde 
and  phenylsemicarbazide  yields  a  diphenyloxytriazole 
NPh.  NH. 

I  >co, 

CPh :      n/ 
which  on  reduction  gives  diphenyltriazole 
NPh.    N, 

CPh:   N^ 

— Note  on  the  latent  heat  of  fusion,  by  N.  F.  Deerr.  Acid 
compounds  of  some  natural  yellow  colouring  matters,  part  I, 
by  A.  G.  Perkin  and  L.  Pate.  The  yellow  colouring  matters, 
quercitin,  rhamnazin,  rhamnetin,  luteolin,  fisetin  and  morin 
form  orange  or  scarlet  crystalline  compounds  with  some  of  the 
mineral  acids  ;  catechin  and  maceurin  do  not  yield  such  com- 
pounds.—  Action  of  sulphur  on  a-nitronaphthalene,  by  A. 
Herzfeldcr.  On  heating  a  mixture  of  sulphur  and  o-nitro- 
naphthalene  an  amorphous  substance  is  obtained,  w  hich  probably 
has  the  constitution 

CH:  CH.   C^  I  '^CH 

..      S      I 
CH:  CH:  C.     |    „CH, 

and  to  which  the  name  oa'-thionaphthalene  is  given. 

Mathematical  Society,  June  13. — Major  MacMahon,  K.A., 
F.R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  G.  H.  Bryan,  F.R.S., 
communicated  a  note  on  an  extension  of  Boltzniann"s  minimum 
theorem,  by  Mr.  S.  H.  Burbury,  F.R.S. — Dr.  J.  Larmor, 
F.K.S.,  gave  a  brief  sketch  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  J.  Brill,  entitled 
"  On  the  form  of  the  energy  integral  in  the  variable  motion  of  a 
viscous  incompressible  fluid  for  the  case  in  which  the  motion  is 
two  dimensional,  and  the  case  in  which  the  motion  is  symmetrical 
about  an  axis.' — A  paper  by  Dr.  Roulh,  F.  R.  S. ,  on  an  expansion 
of  the  potential  function  i/R«"iin  Legendre's  functions,  was 
taken  as  read. — Mr.  Macaulay  read  a  paper  entitled  "Groups  of 
points  on  curves  treated  by  the  method  of  residuation."  The 
President  stated  that  Prof.  A.  M.  Nash,  of  the  Presidency 
College,  Calcutta,  had  died  on  the  voyage  home,  for  a  two 
years'  furlough,  after  twenty  years'  residence  in  India. 

Zoological  Society,  June  18. — Sir  W.  H.  Flower,  K.C.B., 
F.  1\.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  J.  Graham  Kerr  read  a 
paper  on  sonic  points  in  the  anatomy  of  NatUiliis  poinpiliiis. 
The  author  advocated  the  abandonment  of  the  view  that  the 
arms  in  Cephalopods  are  pedal,  and  the  resumption  of  what 
appeared  the  inherently  more  probable  view,  that  they  are 
processes  of  the  head-region.  In  conclusion,  the  author  drew 
attention  to  certain  indications  which  appeared  to  point  to  the 
.\mphineura,  and  especially  to  the  Chitons,  as  being  of  all 
living  .MoUusca  those  which  most  nearly  approximate  to  the 
ancestral  form  of  the  time  w^hen  the  Cephalopods  diverged  from 
the  main  Molluscan  stem. — A  communication  was  read  from 
Mr.  F.  F.  Beddard,  F.R.S.,  and  Mr.  A.  C.  Iladdon,  contain- 
ing an  account  of  a  collection  of  Nudibranchiate  .Mollusca 
recently  made  by  the  latter  in  Torres  Straits. — Mr.  Boulenger 
rea<l  a  paper  on  a  large  collection  of  fishes  made  by  Dr.  C. 
Ternilz  in  the  Rio  Paraguay. — .\  coninumication  was  read  from 
the  Habu  Uani  Uramha  Sanyal,  giving  an  account  of  the  moult- 
ing of  some  Birds  of  Paradise  in  the  Zoological  Gardens, 
Calcutta. — A  communication  was  read  from  Jlr.  O.  Thomas 
and  Colonel  J.  W.  Verbury,  giving  a  description  of  a  collection 
of  mammals  made  at  Aden  by  Colonel  Verbury  in  the  winter  of 
this  year.  It  was  shown  that  thirty-six  species  of  niamiiials 
were  now  known  to  occur  in  the  .Aden  district. — A  com- 
munication was  read  from  Mr.  Edwyn  C.  Reed,  containing  a 
list  of  the  liemiptera-Meteroptera  of  Chili. — Mr.  II.  M.  Drucc 
read  a  paper  on  Bornean  butterflies  of  the  family  Lyc;x;nid;v,  in 
which  he  had  catalogued  all  the  species  already  recorded  from 
that  island,  and  gave  descriptions  of  a  considerable  number  of 
new  species,  principally  from  Mount  Kina-Balu.  Mr.  Druce 
stated  that   the  number  of  butterflies  of  this  family  previously 

NO.    1339,  VOL.   52] 


recorded  from  Borneo  was  about  75,  and  that  his  paper  contained 
references  to  about  220. — A  communication  was  read  from  Dr. 
A.  G.  Butler,  containing  an  account  of  a  small  collection  of 
butterflies  sent  by  Mr.  R.  Crawshay  from  the  country  west  of 
Lake  Nya.sa.  Five  species  were  described  as  new  to  science. 
— Mr.  J.  -Anderson,  F.R.S.,  read  a  paper  describing  a  collection 
of  reptiles  and  batrachians  made  by  Colonel  Verbury  at  Aden 
and  its  neighbourhood  during  the  past  winter. — Mr.  Boulenger, 
F.  R.  S. ,  gave  an  account  of  the  reptiles  and  batrachians  collected 
by  Dr.  A.  Donaldson  Smith  during  his  recent  expedition  in 
Western  Somaliland  and  the  Galla  country. 

Royal  Meteorological  Society,  June  19. — Mr.  R.  Inwards, 
President,  in  the  chair.— -Mr.  K.  H. "Curtis  read  a  paper  on  the 
hourly  variation  of  sunshine  at  seven  stations  in  the  British  Isles, 
which  was  based  upon  the  records  for  the  ten  years  1881-90. 
Falmouth  is  decidedly  the  most  sunny  station  of  the  seven,  hav- 
ing a  daily  average  amount  of  sunshine  of  4A  hours.  This 
amount  is  half  an  hour  more  than  that  recorded  at  Valencia,  and 
three-quarters  of  an  hour  more  than  at  Kew.  Of  the  other  four 
stations,  Aberdeen,  the  most  northern  but  at  the  same  time  a 
coast  station,  with  3-64  hours,  has  more  than  either  Stonyhurst 
or  Armagh,  both  inland  stations  ;  whilst  tilasgow,  with  only  3 
hours,  or  about  a  quarter  of  its  possible  amount,  has  the 
smallest  record  of  the  seven,  a  result  to  some  extent  due  to  the 
nearness  of  the  observatory  to  the  large  manufacturing  works  with 
which  the  city  of  Glasgow  abounds.  At  Valencia,  Kew,  Stony- 
hurst, and  Armagh,  the  maximum  duration  is  reached  in  May, 
the  daily  mean  amount  varying  in  the  order  named  from  6J  to 
6  hours.  At  Falmouth  and  at  the  Scotch  stations  the  increase 
goes  on  to  June,  when  the  mean  duration  at  Falmouth  reaches 
7 J  hours,  at  Aberdeen  t\  hours,  and  at  Glasgow  5 '6  hours. 
January  and  December  are  the  most  sunless  months  of  the  year. 
The  most  prominent  feature  brought  out  at  all  the  stations  is  the 
rapid  increase  in  the  mean  hourly  amount  of  sunshine  recorded 
during  the  first  few  hours  following  sunrise,  and  the  even  more 
rapid  falling  off  again  just  before  .sunset. — Mr.  H.  Harries  read 
a  paper  on  the  frequency,  size,  and  distribution  of  hail  at  sea. 
The  author  has  examined  a  large  number  of  ships'  logs  in  the 
Meteorological  Office,  and  finds  that  hail  has  been  observed  in 
all  latitudes  as  far  as  ships  go  north  and  south  of  the  equator, 
and  that  seamen  meet  with  it  over  wide  belts  on  the  polar  side 
of  the  35th  parallel. 

Royal  Irish  Academy,  June  10. — Dr.  J.  K.  Ingram, 
President,  in  the  chair. — A  paper  on  a  basaltic  hill  of  Tertiary  age 
in  county  Clalway,  by  A.  MacHenry  and  Prof.  W.  J.  SoUas, 
F.R.S. ,  was  read  (communicated  by  permission  of  the  Director- 
General  of  the  Geological  Survey).  The  extensive  occurrence  of 
basaltic  dykes  ninning  with  a  general  north-west  to  south-east 
direction  through  the  whole  northern  third  of  Ireland  has  been 
described  by  Sir  Archibald  Geikie,  who,  in  a  bold  but  true 
generalisation,  has  referred  them  to  the  Tertiary  period.  The 
authors  bring  forward  evidence  of  a  still  more  southern  and 
western  extension  of  igneous  activity  in  Ireland  during  this 
period,  basaltic  rocks  similar  to  those  of  .\nlrim  being  shown  to 
occur  at  Bunowen,  seven  miles  south-west  of  Clifden,  and 
thus  about  five  or  six  miles  north  of  the  latitude  of  Dublin. 
They  form  a  hill  rising  to  a  height  of  200  feet  above  the  sur- 
rounding plain,  which  is  composed  of  gneissose  rocks,  through 
which  the  basalt  has  been  extruded.  The  hill  trends  from  north 
to  south,  and  is  450  yards  in  length.  It  consists  of  olivine  bear- 
ing dolerite,  and  vasicular  basalt  containing  unaltered  gla.ss,  and 
a  substance  which  has  been  de.scribed  '  as  a  mineral  under  the 
name  of  "  hullite."  This  substance  is  shown  not  only  to  occur 
in  the  vesicles  of  the  basalt  as  volcanic  glass  docs  in  the 
"  amygdaloiils  "  of  the  Tynemouth  dyke  described  by  Teall,  but 
also  to  contribute  to  the  ground  mass,  where  it  presents  all  the 
characters  of  an  interstitial  glass.  Its  most  remarkable  character 
is  its  extremely  low  specific  gravity  (176),  which  is  small  even 
for  a  hy<lrous  volcanic  glass,  such  as  this  so-called  mineral  must 
be  admitted  to  be. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  June  17. — M.  Cornu  in  the  chair. — 
The  President  announced  to  the  Academy  the  decease  of  M. 
Verneuil,  member  of  the  Medicine  and  Surgery  Section. — A 
note  on  the  law  of  absorption  of  bands  of  the  oxygen 
spectrum,  by  M.  J.  Janssen. — On  the  necessarily  harmonic 
form    of    displacements    in     ocean    rollers,    even     when    the 

1  "  On  Hullite,"  by  E.  T.  Hardm.in  and  E.  Hull  (Proe.  R.  I.  .A.,  Second 
Scries,  vol.  iii.  p.  161.) 


ri6 


NA  TURE 


[June  27.  1895 


nnn-linear  terms  of  the  ecjuations  of  movement  are  not 
neglecie<l,  by  M.  J.  Boussmesq. — On  the  combination  of 
free  nitrogen  with  the  elements  of  carbon  disulphide,  by 
M.  Berthelol.  (See  Notes,  p.  202.) — A  new  combination 
6f  argon,  its  synthesis  and  analysis,  by  M.  Berthelot.  (See 
Notes,  p.  202.) — rroiiaraliun  ami  pro[x'rties  of  pure  fused 
molybdenum,  by  M.  Henri  Muissan.  I'urc  fused  molybdenum 
has  l>een  obtained  by  means  of  the  electric  furnace.  Its  proper- 
lies  and  reactions  are  vcr)'  luUy  given  in  the  paper.  Among 
these  it  is  stated  to  have  a  density  =  g'Ol,  to  be  as  malleable  as 
iron,  and  capable  of  being  filed  cold  or  forged  hoi.  When 
heated  in  contact  with  carbon,  it  forms  a  steel  by  cementation 
much  harder  than  the  pure  metal.  It  is  suggested  that  molyb- 
denum may  be  used  in  the  Bessemer  process  in  place  of  man- 
ganese, bccau.sc  it  furnishes  a  volatile  o.\idc  disengaged  in  the 
gaseous  state,  and  any  excess  of  the. metal  remaining  in  ihe  iron 
would  lie  as  malleable  as  the  iron  it.self,  and  similarly  capable  of 
l)eing  hardened. — .Action  of  phenyl  isocyanate  on  cam|)holic, 
carboxylcanipholic,  and  phth.alic  acids,  by  M.  .\.  Hallcr. — Dis- 
cover)' of  a  third  |>ernianent  radiation  of  the  solar  atmosphere  in 
the  gas  from  cleveite,  by  M.  H.  Deslandres.  The  line  of  wave- 
length 706 '55  has  been  obtained  in  the  spectrum  of  cleveite  gas, 
using  a  very  luminous  tul>e.  This  corresponds  to  a  third  per- 
manent chromospheric  line,  leaving  now  only  the  green  line  53 1  '66 
— the  coronal  line  not  obtained  from  terrestrial  sources.  The 
new  line  corresponds  with  a  line  observed  in  the  argon  spectrum 
by  the  author,  employing  argon  prepared  by  means  of  lithium. 
It  bears  out  the  suggestion  of  Prof  Kamsay,  that  argon  and 
cleveite  gas  contain  a  comnum  constituent. — Comparative 
observations  with  declinometers  of  different  magnetic  moments, 
by  M.  Ch.  Lagrange. — f)n  the  molecular  transformations  of 
chromic  hydrate,  by  .M.  .-X.  Kecoura. — On  some  basic  halogen 
compounds  of  the  alkaline-earthy  metals,  by  M.  Tassilly  — 
Action  of  heat  <m  the  double  alkaline  nitrites  of  metals  of  the 
platinum  group :  Iridium  compounds,  by  MM.  A.  Joly  and  K. 
Leidic.  Among  the  |)roducts  of  the  action  of  heat  on  potassium 
iridium  nitrite,  the  author  signalises  the  compnunds  :  6IrOj. 
KjtJ,  and  I2lr(),.  K,0. — On  the  ammonium  sodium  acid  tung- 
slalcs,  bv  M.  L.  A.  Hallopeau.  The  compounds  16WO.,. 
3Na.,0.3('NH,);f).22ll.,0  and  i2VVOj.4Na/J.(NH,),0.25M„0 
are  described  —Rotator)'  powers  of  some  amyl  derivatives  in 
the  liquid  and  gaseous  states,  by  M.M.  I'h.  .\.  (luye  and  A.  P. 
do  Amaral — On  synthesi.sed  colloids  and  coagulation,  by  M.  J. 
W.  I'ickering.  Synthetic  colloids  behave,  when  injected  into  the 
vascular  system,  in  a  ver)' similar  m.anner  to  the  nucleo-alliumins. 
— On  a  new  bed  of  "cipolin"  in  (he  rocks  of  the  Central 
Plateau,  by  .M.  L.  de  Launay. — Gl.acial  and  fluvio-glacial  deposits 
of  the  basin  of  the  Durance,  by  .\I.\I.  \V.  Kilian  and  A.  Penck. 
— Onthecoexi.slence,inthe  iKisin  of  the  Durance,  of  two  systems 
of  conjiig.ate  foUls  of  different  age,  by  .M.  Kmile  Ilaug.  — On  the 
Jurassic  and  Cretaceous  systems  in  the  Balearic  Islands,  by  M. 
II.  Nolan.— On  the  Miocene  of  the  Novalaise  Valley,  by  MM. 
J.  Revil  and  II.  Douxami.  — Researches  on  the  sugar  and 
glycogen  in  lymph,  by  M.  A.  Dastre.  Lymph  contains  an  ap- 
preciable quantity  (0'097  per  thousand)  of  glycogen,  obtainable 
by  the  usual  methmls.  Olycogen  is  destroyed  in  lymph,  in  less 
than  twenty-four  hours,  by  a  diastasic  ferment  (lymphodiaslasc). 
Rohmann  has  .shown  the  existence  of  a  ferment  of  this  kind  in 
lymph.  The  glycogen  appears  to  be  entirely  carried  by  the 
vjlid  elements,  and  absent  from  the  liquid  plasma.  The  doctrine 
that  sugar  is  Ihe  circulating  form  of  carbohydrate  is  thus  con- 
firmed.—Modification  of  the  heal  radiated  by  the  skin,  under  the 
influence  of  continuous  currents,  by  M.  Ix;cerclc.  — Denionslra- 
lion,  by  a  new  pupillimicter,  of  the  direct  .action  of  light  on  the 
iris,  by  M.  Charles  Henry.  — Experimental  production  of 
guMindised  ganglionary  lynqihadeiiouiia  in  a  dog,  by  .M.  Pierre 
DelU'l.      The  author   h.xs  proved    the  infectious  nature  of  this 

ih  ■      1'  -1 -i-d  Ihe  iKitliogenic  lacillus  causing  it. — On 

.  r,  by  M.  Paul  (libier.      Details  of  scrum 
II,  .  of  cancer  and  the  consequent  effects.— 

Kildinc  Island  and  lis  hydrologic.d  iKTuliarities,  by  M.  Veriukoff. 
— The  recent  earthquakes  and  their  periodicity,  by  M.  Ch.  V. 
Zcngcr. 

Berlin. 

Meteorological  Society,  May  7.  — I'rof.  Ilellmann,  Presi- 
dent, in  the  chair.  Dr.  II.  Meyer  spoke  on  most  proK-ible 
and  mean  Icmpcralures  of  Ihe  air.  lie  showed  by  several 
examples  (Berlin,  Ncrlschinsk,  Alexandria)  that  Ihe  value.i  of 
(he  summit  of  the   curve  of   frcipiency  and  of   the   arithmetic 

NO.    1339.  VOL.   52] 


mean  exhibit  a  relationship  to  each  other  w  hich  is  dependent  on 
cloudiness,  and  shows  diurnal  and  annual  periodicities  w hich  arc 
of  considerable  iinporlaiice  for  the  characterising  of  clim.itc.  The 
same  speaker  next  de.tll  with  the  applicability  of  I^ambert's 
formula  to  the  calculaliim  of  the  average  direction  of  the  wind. 
He  showed  that  later  observers  had  neglected  Lambert's  pre- 
.supposition  thai  either  the  velocity  or  pressure  of  the  wind  must 
be  introduced  into  his  formula,  and  had  employed  the 
"frequency"'  instead,  a  fact  which  must  lead  to  worthless 
results.  liut  even  when  the  formula  is  employe<i  in  accordance 
with  Lambert's  instructions  the  resultant  diiectiim  arrived  at  htis 
no  climatic  .significance.  .\  lengthy  discussion  ensued,  which  the 
President  summed  u]i  as  indicating  that  Lambert's  fornnila  was 
not  generally  regarded  as  sufticiiig  for  Ihe  calculation  of  the 
average  direction  of  the  wind.  tJnly  in  the  case  where  the 
movements  of  the  air  lie  close  together  for  a  given  pcrioil,  and  (K> 
not  differ  by  more  than  2°,  docs  it  appear  at  all  profitable  to 
calculate  the  resultant  by  means  of  this  formula. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

BiKtKs. — Garden  Flowers  .ind  Plants:  J.  Wright  (Miicmillaii).  —  Long- 
mans' School  Alut-'lira  :  W.  S.  Beard  and  A.  Tclfer  (Longmans). — Hutlein) 
of  the  U.S.  Naiionai  Museum,  No.  48.  A  Revision  of  the  Deltoid  Moths  : 
Dr.  J.  B.  Smith  (Washington).  — Heligoland  as  an  Ornithological  Observa- 
tory ;  H.  G.'itke,  translated  by  R.  Rosenstock  (Edinburgh,  Douglas).— .-Vn 
Introduction  to  Chemical  Crystallography:  Dr.  A.  Fock,  translated  and 
edited  by  W.  J.  I'opc  (Oxford,  Clarendon  Press).  —  Lcitfaden  for  Histiolo- 
gische  Untersuchungcn:  Dr.  B.  Rawitz.  Zwciie  Auflage  (Jena,  Fischer).—  Das 
Pflanzenphysiologische  Praktikuni :  Dr.  W.  Deimer,  Zwciie  Auflage  (Jena, 
Fischer).  — Untersuchungen  ul>er  die  Starkckilrner  :  Dr.  A.  Meyer  (Jena, 
Fischer),- .\  Te.vi-Book  of  the  Science  and  Art  of  Bread-Making  :  W.  Jago 
(Simpkin). — The  Structure  and  I-ife  of  Birds  ;  F.  W.  Hcadley  (Niacmillan). 
Photography  Annual  for  1895  (Iliffe). — E.vierior  and  Interior  Photography  : 
F.  W.  MdK  (Dawharn). — 1^  Gifologie  Comparie  :  Prof.  S.  Mcunier  (Pans, 
Alcan). — Mind  and  Motion  and  Monism  :  r>r.  G.  J.  Romanes  (I^>ngmans). 

Pamphlicts. — ProiopK-Lsme  el  Noyau:  Prof.  J.  P'irez  (Bordeaux). — Ucbcr 
die  Auslese  in  der  Erdgcschichte  :  Ur.  J.  W'alther  (Jena,  Fischer).— Walks 
in  Belgium  (30  Fleet  Street). 

Sekiai_s. — Bulletin  de  l/.-\cad<?mie  Royale  dcs  Sciences,  &c.,dc  Belgiijiie, 
Tome  20,  Nos.  4  and  5  (Bru.\clles). — American  Journal  of  Mathematics, 
Vol.  xvM.  No.  3  (Baltimore). — Botanische  Jahrbnchcr  fiir  Systematik.  Ptlan- 
zen^ischichtc  und  Pfl an zen geographic,  Einundzwanzigslcr  Band,  i  and  2  Heft 
(I.«ipzig,  Engclmann). — Morphologisches  Jahrbuch,  22  Band.  4  Heft  (Leip- 
zig, Engelmann). — Economic  Journal,  June  (Macmillan). — Royal  Natural 
History,  Vol.  4.  Part  20  (Warne). — Travaux  de  la  Sociiic'  des  Naturalistcs 
a  rUnivcrsiti  Imperials  de  Kharkow,  tome  .v.\viii.  1893-94. — Quarterlv 
Journal  of  Microscopical  Science,  June  (Churchill). — Astrophysical  Journal, 
June  (Chicago).~Bullelin  of  the  Geographical  Club  of  Philaclelphia,  Vol.  1, 
No.  5  (Philadelphia). — Zeitschrifi  f-T  Wisscnschaftliche  Zoologie.  lix.  Band, 
3  Hcfi  (I<eipzig,  Engelmann). — Longman's  Magazine,  July  (Longmans). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

"The  Wizard  of  Mcnlo  Park."     Hv  "  P.  D."  .    ...  193 

Criminal  Identification         194 

Birds.  Beasts,    and    Fishes  of  the   Norfolk   Broad- 
land,      liv  R.  Lydekker,  F.R.S 195 

Our  Book  Shelf  :  — 

Snelgrove  :   "  Object -Lessons  in  Botany  " 196 

Smith  :  "  Dent.al  Microscopy  "   ,                             ...  197 

.Scarf:  "  Organic  Chemistry,  Theoretical  and  Practical "  197 
Letters  to  the  Editor;  — 

The  .Xnliquity  of  the  Medical  Profession.— Herbert 

Spencer 197 

M.iUey's  Kqual  Variation  Chart.— Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer  .  197 

The  Invention  of  the  Net.      Kumagusu  Minakata  .  197 

The  Hird  of  l'ara<lise.      Margaretta  L.  Lemon  197 
The  Tick  Pest   in   the  Tropics.     {Illiislralal.)     Hy  C. 

A.  Barber      197 

Notes      200 

Our  Astronomical  Column: — 

The  \erkes  ( Ibscrvatiiry 203 

The  ('iranulalion  of  the  .Sun's  Surface 203 

The  Satellites  of  yuj)ilcr 203 

The  Sun's  Place  in'Nature.     VII.     (fllmlraleii.)     Hy 

J.  Norman  Lockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S 204 

The  Institution  of  Naval  Architects  .    .        207 

Meteorological  Problems  for  Physical  Laboratories  208 
The  Senses  of  Insects.    i,///iislial,<l.)    Hy  Prof.  C.  'V. 

Riley 209 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 212 

Scientific  Serials 212 

Societies  and  Academies.     {Illmlratfil.) 213 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 216 


NA  TURE 


2  1 


THURSDAY,  JULY   4,  1895. 


on  the    Malay 
the    study    of 


THE  MOLUCCAS. 

Reisen  in  den  Molukken,  in  Ambon,  den  Uliassern,  Seran 

(Ceram)  und  Buru.     Eine  Schilderung  von  Land  und 

Leu/en.     \'on   K.   Martin.     Large  8vo.     Pp.  xviii.  and 

404,  and  volume  of  plates.     ("Leyden  :  E.  J.  Brill,  1894.) 

THE  Moluccas,  the  spice  islands  of  the  farthest  east, 
were  the  most  powerful  magnets  which  drew  the 
fleets  of  Portugal  eastward  around  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and  in  the  sixteenth 
induced  Magellan  to  start  on  that  voyage  through  his 
straits  which  culminated  in  the  first  circumnavigation  of 
the  globe.  They  were  the  most  coveted  lands  on  earth 
at  the  commencement  of  the  history  of  modern  discovery, 
the  most  eagerly  sought  for,  first  acquired,  and  the  most 
firmly  held  of  the  colonies  of  Europe.  Yet  while  the 
group  has  changed  hands  again  and  again  without 
passing  out  of  European  ownership,  the  islands  are  still 
most  imperfectly  known.  The  system  of  exclusion  which 
animated  Portuguese,  Spaniards,  and  Dutchmen  alike, 
discouraged  systematic  exploration  ;  and  the  works  of 
such  travellers  as  have  recently  made  explorations  in 
the  islands,  are  for  the  most  part  locked  up  from  the 
general  reader  in  the  Dutch  language.  In  English, 
indeed,  there  is  the  matchless  work  of  Wallace  ;  but 
this,  like  several  later  English  books 
archipelago,  is  mainly  concerned  with 
biological  conditions. 

Dr.  Martin,  the  Professor  of  (icology  in  the  L'niversity 
of  Leyden,  already  well  known  for  his  admirable  work 
on  the  Dutch  West  Indies,  obtained  a  grant  from  his 
Ciovernment  in  1891,  and  with  a  years  leave  of  absence 
proceeded  to  the  study  of  some  of  the  more  interest- 
ing and  less  known  islands  of  the  Malay  archipelago. 
Leaving  Batavia  on  November  3,  1891,  he  coasted  along 
Java,  touched  at  Bali,  visited  various  points  on  Celebes 
and  Jilolo,  making  such  geological  and  general  obser- 
\ations  as  were  possible  in  the  limited  time  at  his 
disposal.  On  November  27  he  reached  Amboyna,  and 
imtil  July  27,  1892,  he  devoted  his  whole  time  to  de- 
tailed exploration,  determining  positions  and  heights, 
photographing  scenery,  people  and  houses,  and  collect- 
ing everything  that  came  in  his  way  in  the  islands  of 
.\mboyna,  the  Uliasser,  Buru,  and  Ceram.  In  this  way 
many  places  were  visited  which  had  never  been  adequately 
<lescnbed  before,  several  districts  which  had  never  been 
traversed  by  Europeans,  and  some  which  even  the  natives 
had  a\oided  as  sacred  or  unclean.  The  book  is  mainly 
geographical,  going  so  far  into  the  structure  and  vegeta- 
tion of  the  land  as  is  necessary  in  order  to  understand 
the  life-conditions  of  the  inhabitants,  on  whom  also  great 
attention  is  bestowed.  Detailed  reports  on  the  geology, 
botany,  the  birds,  insects,  and  other  collections  are  being 
prepared  by  Prof  Martin  and  other  specialists  ;  but 
here  he  confines  himself  to  the  narrative  of  his  ex- 
pedition, with  numerous  explanations  suggested  by  the 
preliminary  results. 

We  so    often    find    that    books    of    travel    are   flabby 
masses    of    ill-upholstered    padding,    put     together     at 
second-hand  by  some  big-game  hunter  or  globe-trotter 
NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


after  his  return,  that  we  feel  it  a  duty  to  call  attention 
to  the  admirable  form  and  substance  of  this  one.  It  is 
of  the  order  of  Darwin's,  Wallace's,  and  Bates'  work,  and 
though  based  on  shorter  experience  than  theirs,  is  none 
the  less  scientifically  put  together. 

Prof  Martin  says  in  his  preface,  that  he  gives  a  pure 
record  of  actual  observations  taken  directly  from  his 
note-books  and  collections.  After  writing  it,  he  proceeded 
to  read  up  all  the  available  literature  on  the  subject, 
and  took  occasion  in  a  series  of  footnotes  to  explain 
discrepancies  or  criticise  his  predecessors.  In  many 
respects  this  is  an  excellent  method  to  pursue.  The 
mind  is  free  from  prejudice  or  anticipation,  and  the 
observations  bring  the  charm,  and  lea\e  the  stimulus  of 
discoveries.  On  the  other  hand,  unless  what  is  known 
is  previously  worked  up,  there  is  apt  to  be  much  loss 
of  time  which  could  be  more  profitably  spent,  and  points 
of  the  highest  interest,  being  unsuspected,  may  pass 
unnoticed.  We  are  inclined  to  believe,  however,  that, 
in  spite  of  his  modest  disclaimer.  Prof  Martin  had  a 
very  good  notion  of  what  had  been  done  before  he 
entered  the  field.  Otherwise  he  could  scarcely  have 
been  so  self-denying  as  to  turn  away  from  the  people 
of  Amboyna  and  the  Uliasser,  who  have  been  fully  studied 
by  van  Hoevell,  Joest,  Riedel,  and  others,  and  give 
attention  mainly  to  the  features  of  the  land.  And  in 
Ceram  he  knew  very  well  where  the  coast-lines  were 
faultiest  on  the  maps,  and  the  mountains  and  rivers 
scattered  according  to  the  freest  fancy  of  the  carto- 
grapher ;  for  there  he  proceeded  to  fix  positions  and 
draw  maps,  while  giving  attention  at  the  same  time  to 
general  collecting  and  to  the  study  of  the  people  and 
their  customs. 

In  view  of  the  distrust  which  has  gradually  beset  the 
aneroid  when  used  for  measuring  heights,  it  is  interest- 
ing to  learn  that  the  result  of  Dr.  L.  S.  Siertsemas 
discussion  of  the  numerous  aneroid  readings  made  on 
this  journey  is  to  show  that  it  is,  after  all,  an  instrument 
of  considerable  precision  for  elevations  well  under 
10,000  feet. 

The  book  is  to  be  welcomed  as  the  thoroughly  sound 
work  of  an  experienced  man  of  science,  and  as  containing 
a  notable  contribution  to  our  scanty  knowledge  of  a  most 
fascinating  region,  and  of  primitive  peoples  whose  ancient 
customs  are  fast  giving  way  before  the  pervading 
European  influence.  It  suggests  forcibly  the  importance 
of  the  study  of  regional  geog^raphy  in  those  places  where 
the  natural  equilibrium  of  life  and  physical  environment 
has  not  been  disturbed  ;  such  places  as  are  now  scarcely 
to  be  found.  It  is  exasperating  to  think  that  the  careless 
traders  and  earnest  missionaries  who  haunt  the  islands  of 
the  sea  are  even-  day  rejecting  sybillinc  books,  the  value 
of  which  seems  likely  to  remain  unsuspected,  save  to  a 
handful  of  anthropologists,  until  the  last  of  them  is 
destroyed  beyond  recover)-.  The  facts  that  primitive 
man  must  be  studied  at  once  if  he  is  to  be  studied  at  all, 
and  that  purely  natural  floras  and  faunas  are  doomed  to 
early  disappearance  from  this  planet,  call  for  more  workers 
like  Prof  Martin,  and  demand  them  soon.  The  demand 
is  for  educated  scientific  explorers  such  as  there  is  at 
present  no  means  for  training  in  this  country.  The  day 
when  geographical  work  of  the  first  magnitude  can  be 
done  by  mere  pluck  and  perseverance  is  almost  past,  and 

L 


2lS 


NATURE 


[July  4,  1S95 


the  explorer  of  to-day  must  add  to  his  enterprise  scientific 
training,  and  to  scientific  training  diligent  study. 

The  contrast  between  the  means  of  training  for  ex- 
plorers in  this  country-  and  on  the  continent,  suggests 
many  curious  thoughts  as  to  the  proportion  in  which 
different  countries  will  undertake  the  detailed  study  of 
the  earth's  surface  in  all  its  aspects,  from  which  alone  a 
true  view  of  nature  can  be  obtained.  The  theoretical 
training  in  geography  only  to  be  obtained  in  continental 
universities,  and  the  practical  training  in  the  use  of 
instruments  and  methods  offered  only  by  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  are  too  far  apart,  and  until  they 
come  together  the  general  level  of  original  work  in 
unexplored  countries  will  fall  far  short  of  the  standard 
set  by  Prof.  Martin.  Hugh  Robert  Mill. 


MILL  ENGINEERING. 

Steam  Power  and  Mitt  Work.  13y  George  William 
Sutcliffe,  M.Inst.C.E.  (London  :  Whittaker  and  Co.. 
1895) 

TH  E  Specialist  Seri  es  of  technical  books  is  well  known 
and  appreciated  ;  many  subjects  are  admirably 
treated  by  well-known  authors.  The  present  volume,  of 
some  800  pages,  is  no  exception  to  this  rule,  and  it  fully 
maintains  the  high  character  of  the  series.  In  the 
preface  we  are  told  that  this  work  aims  at  giving  an 
account  of  modem  practice  for  the  consideration  of  those 
interested  in  the  manufacture,  control,  and  operation  of 
boilers,  engines,  and  mill  work,  also  of  the  leading  prin- 
ciples and  calculations  affecting  such  work,  most  of  the 
subject-matter  being  based  upon  the  personal  experience 
of  the  author.  Useful  information  has  also  been  obtained 
from  the  minutes  of  proceedings  of  the  leading  technical 
societies  and  from  various  journals,  adding  considerably 
to  the  value  of  the  book.  Taken  as  a  whole,  this  work 
will  be  of  much  use  to  steam  users,  particularly  those 
employing  steam  power  extensively  with  much  machinery 
in  operation. 

It  is  impossible  to  notice  in  the  space  at  our  disposal 
the  large  amount  of  ground  covered  in  this  book.  The 
author  has  arranged  his  matter  in  a  sensible  manner,  and 
explains  himself  in  a  practical  way.  Many  steam  users 
are  under  the  erroneous  impression  that  the  economical 
firing  of  a  boiler  is  easily  accomplished,  that  any  labourer 
is  capable  of  handling  the  shovel  ;  to  such  men  we  re- 
commend a  careful  perusal  of  this  work,  wherein  they 
will  discover  that  economical  firing  means  more  than 
they  anticipated. 

The  author  has  much  to  say  in  chapter  vi.  on  convec- 
tion, circulation,  evaporation,  and  priming  in  boilers. 
These  points  are  thoroughly  well  discussed,  being  all- 
important  to  the  life  of  the  boiler  iind  the  comfort  of 
the  user.  The  estimation  of  the  moisture  in  steam  as 
delivered  from  the  boiler  is  often  necessary,  and  the 
difficulty  of  obtaining  a  true  sample  of  the  steam  has  to 
be  met.  Much  useful  information  is  given  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  we  would  draw  the  attention  of  the  author  to  an 
instrument  designed  by  Prof.  Watkinson,  of  Glasgow, 
which  appears  to  give  true  results  for  the  direct  estima- 
tion of  small  i|uantitics  of  water  in  steam. 

The  different  methods  of  forced  draught  are  discussed  in 
NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


the  following  chapter.  The  author,  when  descriljing  tho 
closed  stoke-hole  system,  observes  :  "  It  is  scarcely  possible 
to  imagine  a  case  in  which  it  would  be  wise  to  adopt  a 
closed  stoke-hole  in  stationary  work."  This  is  a  \cry 
usual  opinion  held  by  engineers,  who  believe  that  most 
of  the  break-downs  in  the  Na\y,  through  leaky  tubes, 
may  be  traced  to  this  system  of  forced  draught  being 
adopted.  The  question  of  gas  firing  appears  to  be  coming 
to  the  front  for  steam  boilers  in  towns,  for  the  preven- 
tion of  smoke,  and  an  increased  economy  in  fuel.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  a  good  deal  can  be  said  in  favour  of  the 
system.  The  author  has  much  useful  information  on  the 
subject,  particularly  on  the  production  of  gas  for  the  pur- 
pose. Liquid  fuel,  again,  is  another  innovation  in  the  way 
of  raising  steam.  This  system  has  reached  its  present 
state  of  perfection  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Holden,  the  loco- 
motive engineer  of  the  Great  Eastern  Railway,  who  has 
successfully  applied  it  to  locomotives  and  stationar)' 
boilers. 

The  important  subject  of  a  pure  water  supply  for  steam 
boilers  is  pointed  out  in  the  following  chapter.  The 
effects  of  different  impurities  are  described,  besides  the 
dangerous  results  involved  by  admitting  grease  into  a 
boiler  with  the  feed-water  through  contamination  with 
the  exhaust  steam.  Many  furnaces  ha\e  collapsed  from  , 
this  cause.  We  now  come  to  the  more  mechanical  part  ' 
of  the  book,  commencing  with  the  construction  and 
general  fittings  of  Lancashire  and  Cornish  boilers. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  the  subject  of  boilers  generally  is 
fairly  well  dealt  with.  In  the  paragraph  on  internal  tlucs. 
we  find  no  description  of  Fox's  corrugated  tlues,  nor 
those  of  the  Farnley  Company  ;  both  are  \er)'  commonly 
in  use,  and  should  have  been  mentioned.  Under  the 
head  of  "riveting"  it  might  be  well  to  point  out  that, 
although  steel  rivets  are  now  the  general  rule  when  closed 
by  machine,  the  few  hand  rivets  necessary  should  in  all 
cases  be  of  Yorkshire  iron.  Caulking  is  now  generally 
done  by  steam  or  pneumatic  tools,  the  best  of  which  is 
certainly  Maccwan  Ross's  patent,  of  (".lasgow.  Probably 
the  most  important  fitting  for  a  boiler  is  the  glass-water 
gauge,  and  this  should  close  automatically  if  the  glass 
breaks.  There  are  many  of  these  in  the  market,  more  or 
less  trustworthy  ;  those  supplied  by  Messrs.  Dcwranceand 
Co.  being  among  the  best.  The  author  recommends  the 
pendant  syphon  arrangement  for  fixing  the  pressure  gauge 
to  the  boiler.  This  allows  loo  much  heat  to  reach  the 
gauge  through  the  heavy  metallic  fitting,  and  cannot  be 
recommended  for  this  reason.  The  locomotive  type  of 
stationary  boiler  is  being  largely  used  for  steam  raising  ; 
it  is  economical,  easily  set  in  position,  and  produces  large 
quantities  of  steam  when  pressed. 

Under  the  heading  of  "Types  of  Steam  Engines,"  we 
find  much  information  of  a  varied  nature.  The  Willans 
central  valve  engine  is,  however,  not  described.  This  is 
a  pity,  because  it  is  now  being  largely  used  for  ordinary 
work,  and  gives  great  satisfaction.  It  is  most  economical, 
and  will  run  for  months  without  attention.  The  author 
goes  into  much  detail  when  discussing  valve  arrangemcnls 
for  steam  engines,  commencing  with  the  well-known 
"technical  school"  diagrams  of  slide  valves  with  and 
without  lap,  &c.,  and  ending  with  the  piston  valve  ;  then  \ 
follows  double  beat  valves,  Corlin  valves,  and  many  others. 
All  these  descriptions  arc  clear  and  to  the  point. 


July  4.  1895J 


NA  TURE 


219 


Chapters  xxiv.  to  xxxiv.  may  be  said  to  contain  descrip- 
tions of  the  construction  and  design  of  the  principal  parts 
of  steam  enjjines.  Some  formuhc  are  given,  as  well  as  a 
few  maximum  pressures  allowable  on  the  different  parts. 
On  page  428,  the  author  says  that  the  pressure  of  80  lbs. 
per  square  inch  of  bearing  surface  is  allowed  in  locomo- 
tive practice  between  the  slide  blocks  and  bars,  when  both 
surfaces  are  of  hardened  steel.  It  is  not  the  usual  practice 
to  make  the  slide  block  surfaces  of  hardened  steel,  and  in 
engines  built  years  ago,  the  pressure  per  square  inch  very 
much  e.xceeded  this  limit.  In  most  recent  practice  with 
cast-iron  bars  and  slide  blocks,  this  limit  may  be  safely 
used.  The  taking  of  indicator  diagrams  is  always  one  of 
mterest.  Chapter  .\xv.  deals  very  thoroughly  with  this 
subject.  Trials  in  connection  with  the  power  and 
efficiency  of  engines  and  boilers  naturally  follow  the 
indicator,  and  ver)'  complete  instructions  are  given  for 
carrying  these  out,  including  precautions  in  advance  of 
the  trial.  The  concluding  chapters  of  this  work  deal 
principally  with  mill  work  in  its  many  branches.  Friction 
and  lubrication  are  explained,  and  many  valuaole  hints 
are  given.  This  book  should  prove  of  assistance  to  the 
steam  user.  The  information  given  is  of  such  a  nature 
which  will  appeal  to  his  partial  knowledge  of  the  subject, 
and  render  him  more  capable  of  understanding  machinery 
generally.  N  J.  L. 


LECTURES    ON   DARWINISM. 
Lectures   on  the   Darwinian   Theory.     Delivered  by   the 

late  Arthur  Milnes  Marshall,  M..A.,  M.D.,  D.Sc,  F.R.S., 

Edited     by     C.     F.    Marshall,     M.B.,    B.Sc,   F.R.C.S. 

(London  :  David  Nutt,  1894.) 

A  LL  the  characteristics  of  the  late  Prof.  Milnes 
-'^  Marshall  are  strikingly  apparent  in  these  lectures. 
In  dealing  with  the  many  aspects  of  a  subject  which  is 
often  imperfectly  understood,  these  lectures  are  clear  and 
forcible,  and  the  metaphors  apt  and  convincing. 

The  first  lecture  deals  with  the  history  of  the  theorj' 
of  evolution,  and  contains  a  concise  and  interesting 
epitome  of  the  growth  of  this  great  conception,  together 
with  a  brief  account  of  the  chief  writers  on  the  subject. 
The  relationship  between  the  process  of  evolution  and 
the  causes  upon  which  it  depends  are  perhaps  liable  to 
misinterpretation,  the  want  of  any  feasible  suggestion  as 
to  the  latter  being  spoken  of  as  a  "  fatal  flaw  "  in,  or  a 
"  fatal  objection  "  to  the  former.  Undoubtedly  the  want 
of  some  efficient  cause  at  first  prevented  a  wide  belief 
in  evolution,  but  logically  the  two  questions  are  entirely 
distinct,  and  the  evidence  for  evolution  itself  would  stand 
undisputed,  even  if  every  one  of  the  causes  which  now 
find  acceptance  were  to  be  abandoned  for  ever.  We  know 
that  Darwin  himself  was  a  convinced  evolutionist  long 
before  his  discover)-  of  the  principle  of  natural  selection. 

The  second  lecture  treats  of  artificial  and  natural 
selection,  and  is  accompanied  by  useful  figures  showing 
some  of  the  changes  which  man  has  been  able  to 
accomplish  in  the  creation  of  his  domestic  breeds.  The 
whole  lecture  is  clear  and  telling,  the  last  paragraph 
being  alone  liable  to  possible  misconception.  In  stating 
that  "every  species  is  for  itself  and  for  itself  alone,"  it 
would  have  been  advisable  to  bring  forward  instances  in 
NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


which  a  species  benefits  itself  by  benefiting  others.  It 
is  most  probable  that  such  cases  were  described  in  the 
actual  delivery  of  the  lecture. 

Then  follow  the  arguments  in  favour  of  evolution, 
palaeontology  being  first  considered.  We  here  meet, 
as  in  many  of  the  other  lectures,  with  exceedingly  apt 
quotations  from  Darwin,  Wallace,  and  others.  It  is  an 
unfortunate  omission  that  references  are  not  given.  In 
the  deliver^'  of  the  lectures  to  a  general  audience  they 
may  have  been  out  of  place,  but  there  could  have  been 
no  difficulty  in  their  insertion  in  the  present  volume.  Here, 
too,  we  find  many  useful  figures  of  some  of  the  extinct 
forms  which  are  of  the  highest  interest  to  the  student 
of  evolution.  The  reasons  for  the  imperfection  of  the 
geological  record  are  ver)'  excellently,  and  yet  briefly, 
surveyed  ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  sketch  of 
the  argument  from  geographical  distribution,  in  which, 
however,  by  an  obvious  slip,  the  forest  region  of  Brazil 
is  spoken   of  as    "south   of  the  river   La   Plata ''(p.  75). 

The  argument  from  embrj-ology  was  probably  the  most 
congenial  to  the  lecturer.  This  chapter  is  well  illustrated, 
and  contains  more  detail  than  the  others.  The  term 
"acquired  or  lar^'al  characters"  (p.  103)  is  open  to  ex- 
ception, and  the  statement  that  rudimentary  organs  must 
be  "  inherited,  for  in  no  other  way  can  their  presence 
be  explained"  {loc.  cit.),  is  too  brief  to  be  clear.  It  is 
probable  that  this  sentence  served  as  a  note  to  be  ex- 
panded by  the  lecturer  ;  but  it  also  required  expansion 
by  the  editor.  The  chapter  will  be  found  extremely 
interesting  and  instructive  by  those  who  wish  to  read  a 
popular  account  of  the  bearing  of  embr)'ological  facts 
upon  the  Darwinian  theory. 

The  chapter  on  the  colours  of  animals  and  plants, 
although  containing  much  information  in  a  little  space, 
is  not  worked  out  in  so  complete  and  balanced  a  fomi 
as  the  other  chapters,  and  in  large  part  consists,  appar- 
ently, of  notes  for  the  lecturer's  use.  It  is  erroneously 
stated  that  the  colours  of  certain  lepidopterous  lar\ae 
are  due  to  their  food,  and  some  of  the  supposed  examples 
of  the  direct  action  of  environment  are  by  no  means 
proved  to  be  caused  in  this  way. 

Then  follows  an  interesting  lecture  on  the  "  objections 
to  the  Darwinian  theory."  The  figures  of  Pteropus  on 
p.  165,  although  sufficient  in  themselves,  are  clumsily 
arranged.  Here,  too,  many  aspects  of  the  subject  are 
only  treated  in  brief  lecturers  notes,  although  these 
frequently  contain  trenchant  remarks. 

The  "origin  of  vcrtebrated  animals"  is  next  con- 
sidered, and  the  series  concludes  with  an  excellent  epitome 
of  "  the  life  and  work  of  Darwin." 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  sequence  of  subjects  is  a 
very  natural  one,  and  well  calculated  to  lead  a  general 
audience  to  follow  and  understand  the  most  prominent 
and  important  aspects  of  the  Darwinian  theory. 

E.  B.  P. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

My   Climbs  in   the    Alps    and    Caucasus.      By    .A..    F. 

Mummer)'.     Illustrated.     (London  :  T.  Fisher  Unwin, 

1895.) 
Mr.  Mummery   is   a    bold    man.       Not    only    has    he 
dared    greatly    among    peaks    and     glaciers,   but     also 
he  does  not  scruple  to  declare  that  he  enjoys  mountain 


220 


^\'.-^  TURE 


[Jii.v  4,  1S9: 


climbing  for  its  ow-n  sake.  He  leaves  science  for  others, 
cares  nothing  for  topography  except  as  ministering  to  his 
pastime,  and  holds  a  plane-table  in  abhorrence.  Thus 
between  his  book  and  Sir  W.  M.  Conway's  "Climbing  in 
the  Karakoram  Himalayas,"  there  is  a  great  difference. 
Still  this  is  common  to  both  :  a  delight  in  the  wild  beauty 
and  silent  grandeur  of  the  crags,  pinnacles  and  snows  of 
the  higher  peaks.  There  is,  no  doubt,  a  beauty  in  the 
.•Mps  which  all  the  world  can  see,  as  Ruskin  has  truly 
remarked  :  but  there  is  another  aspect,  solemn,  almost 
stern,  yet  with  a  strange,  thrilling  fascination,  which  he 
only  can  appreciate  who  has  grasped  their  rocky  ledges, 
or  planted  his  ice-axe  in  their  unsullied  snows.  \'ain  it  is 
to  rebuke  Mr.  .Mummery  for  treating  the  mountains  like 
greased  poles.  He  retorts,  unabashed,  that  the  pole  is 
slippery,  not  gre.-isy,  and  that  he  enjoys  trying  to  climb 
it.  But  he  seeks  not  to  vulgarise  the  mountains  ;  he  has 
no  love  for  the  crowd  of  tourists  which  now  annually 
deluges  the  .Alps,  nothing  but  contempt  for  the  cockney 
"mountaineer"  who  is  h.iuled  up  a  peak  by  his  guides, 
like  a  bale  of  goods,  or  who  makes  an  ascent  simply 
because  it  is  "the  thing  to  do."  Perhaps  Mr.  Mummery 
mav  sometimes  carr\'  daring  beyond  the  verge  of  rash- 
ness. It  is  to  be  hoped  that  few  readers  of  this  book 
will  be  tempted  to  follow  his  example  of  making  difficult 
ascents  without  guides :  for  such  work  requires  not  only 
gjTnnastic  skill,  but  also  knowledge  and  judgment,  which 
very  few  amateurs  can  ever  acquire.  Still  it  is  difficult 
to  avoid  sympathising  with  his  love  of  a  struggle — it  is  the 
spirit  which  has  made  England  great,  a  spirit  which  is 
too  often  lacking  in  this  age  of  molluscous  sentimentality 
and  invertebrate  opportunism. 

Mr.  Mummery's  book,  as  we  have  said,  contains  no 
science  and  hardly  any  geography,  but  those  who  Io\e 
the  story  of  a  plucky  scramble,  cle.irly  told  in  good  pithy 
English,  will  be  loth  to  lay  it  down.  It  is  well  illustrated, 
with  a  number  of  small  sketches  introduced  into  the  text, 
and  eleven  full-page  pictures  from  either  drawings  or 
photographs.  One  or  two  of  these  will  repay  study  as 
fine  examples  of  the  fonns  of  weathered  crags.  None  is 
better  than  the  photogra\-ure  of  the  lower  peak  of  the 
Aiguille  CrtJpon.  .\mong  the  expeditions  described  are  two 
ascents  of  the  Matterhorn  by  unwonted  routes,  a  passage 
of  the  Col  du  Lion  and  Col  des  Courtes,  ascents  of  the 
Teufelsgrat  (written  by  Mrs.  Mummer>'),  of  the  .Xiguilles 
des  Charmoz,  Grepon,  du  Plan,  Verte  (also  by  two  un- 
wonted routes),  and  of  the  Dent  du  Requin.  The  chapters 
on  the  Caucasus  describe  some  fine  excursions,  the  chief 
of  which  is  the  first  ascent  of  the  Dychtau  (17,054  feet)  in 
1888,  a  magnificent  peak,  called  m  \.hc  A/pim- Journal 
of  that  date  Koshtantau,  for  apparently  this  and  a  slightly 
lower  summit  to  the  east  (climbed  by  another  parly  in  the 
following  year)  indulge  in  a  distracting  habit  of  exchang- 
ing names.  In  a  concluding  chapter  Mr.  .Mummery 
discusses  various  moot  points  in  ,A.lpine  craft,  advocating 
a  preference  for  "  two  on  a  rope  "  in  difficult  places,  a 
preference  which  is  not  likely  to  pass  unquestioned  by 
some  of  his  brother  climbers.  T.  (I.   HoNNKV. 

Dairy    Haclerioloj^:     IJy    Dr.    Ed.    von    Freudenreich. 

Translated    by    j.    R.    Ainsworth    Davis.     (London: 

Methucn  and  Co.,  1895.) 
An  English  translation  of  Dr.  Freudenrcich's  little  book 
appears  vcr)'  approiiriatcly  at  the  present  juncture,  when 
serious  efforts  are  at  length  being  made  to  raise' the 
standard  of  our  dairy  produce  by  providing  special 
courses  of  study  for  those  engaged  m  its  production. 
Although  some  of  the  peripatetic  instruction  on  dairy- 
work  instituted  in  various  districts  by  local  County 
Councils  has  not  been  attended  with  the  success  antici- 
pated, yet  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  systematic  training 
m  this  direction  is  very  urgently  required.  As  the  trans- 
lator truly  remarks:  "Not  only  Denmark,  but  .America, 
France,  (Icrmany,  and  .Switzerland   are  far  ahead  of  us 

NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


!  in  these  matters,  and  compete  against  home  dairy  pro- 
ducts with  only  too  much  success,  while  .Australia  is 
rapidly  becoming  another  serious  rival."  The  informa- 
tion contained  in  "  Dairy  Bacteriology"  as  to  the  .fi/t7;/;_/ft 
origin  of  some  of  the  troubles  with  which,  in  actual  prac- 
i  tice,  the  manufacturer  of  dair\'  produce  is  only  too  well 
!  acquainted,  will  doubtless  be  a  revelation  to  many,  whilst 
the  instructions  given  for  their  successful  elimination 
from  the  dair>%  should  at  any  rate  impress  the  student 
with  the  hopelessness  of  attempting  such  delicate  opera- 
lions  as  are  involved  in  dairy  work  without  an  adequate 
knowledge  of  the  various  parts  played  by  bacteria  in 
dairies. 

The  little  volume  is  but  an  introduction  to  the  subject, 
otherwise  we  should  have  been  justified  in  expecting  a 
better  account  of  the  milk-microbes  which  have  been 
discovered  ;  it  is,  however,  written  in  an  attractive 
manner,  and  the  author  has,  moreover,  succeeded  in 
making  it  interesting  and  readable  to  the  public  gener- 
ally, who  as  consumers  are  even  more  concerned  than 
the  manufacturers  in  the  hygienic  aspects  of  our  dairy 
produce. 

We  note  that  an  edition  of  this  useful  little  manual  has 
already  appeared  in  French,  Italian,  and  Hungarian,  and 
it  only  remains  for  us  to  congratulate  Prof  Davis  upon 
the  excellent  manner  in  which  he  has  translated  it  into 
English. 

j  Longmans'  School  Algebra.  By  W.  S.  Beard  and  .\. 
Telfer.  Pp.  528.  (London  :  Longmans,  Cirecn,  and 
Co.,   1895.) 

I  So  far  as  abundance  of  examples  goes,  this  book  is  in 

!  advance  of  other  text-books  of  algebra.  There  are  as 
many  as  5200  examples  in  the  book,  500  of  which  are 
collected  as  miscellaneous  examples  at  the  end.  Teachers 
who  like  to  have  plenty  of  material  upon  which  to  exer- 
cise their  pupils'  minds,  will  find  that  this  volume  satisfies 
their  requirements.  It  seems  hardly  necessary,  however, 
to  include  in  a  school  algebra  such  a  ver\'  large  number 
of  examples  ;    in  our  opinion,  the  volume   would   have 

j  been  improved  by  omitting  many  of  them,  and  amplifying 

I  the  very  scanty  descriptive  text. 

Fallacies    of  Race    Theories    as   Applied    to     National 
Characteristics.     By  the  late  W.  1).  Babington,    M.A. 
Pp.277.     (London:   Longmans,  (Ireen,  and  Co.,  1895  ) 
Mr.   H.   H.  ("..  M.vcDoNNKl.i.    prefaces  these  collected 
essays  with  a   brief  statement  of  the  views  expressed  in 
I  them.     The  late  author  contended  that   the  mental  and 
I  moral  characteristics  of  nations  are  mainly  the  result  of 
I  environment,    and  arc    not   derived    from    ancestors  by 
'  heredity.     The  transmission  of  physical  characteristics  is 
not  taken  into  consideration,  and  the  treatimnt   through- 
out is  more  historical  than  scientific. 

A  Chapter  on  Birds.  I$y  R.  Bowdler  Sharpe,  LI..I)., 
F.L.S.  Pp.  124.  (London:  Society  for  Promoting 
Christian  Knowledge,  1895.) 

Eli;HTKl".N  of  our  rare  avian  visitors,  and  their  eggs,  arc 
brilliantly  depicted  by  rhromo-liihogr.iphy  in  this  attrac- 
tive \olume  for  lovers  of  birds.  Dr.  .Sharpe's  notes  on 
the  life-histories  and  natural  relations  of  the  different 
,  species,  furnish  instructive  reading  for  young  students  of 
ornithology.  Such  a  volume  ought  not,  however,  to  be 
published  without  an  index. 

Nature  in  Acadic.  By  11.  K.  Swann.  Pp.  74.  (Lon- 
don :  John  Hall  and  Sons,  1895.) 
From  the  observations  of  birds,  insects,  and  other  forms 
of  life,  made  by  the  author  while  on  a  voyage  to  Nova 
Scotia,  and  diffusely  recorded  in  this  book,  it  is  possible 
to  find  notes  of  interest  to  naturalists.  A  systematic  list 
of  the  species  of  .North  American  birds  mentioned  in  the 
text,  is  given  in  an  appendix. 


July  4.  1895] 


NA  TURE 


221 


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  tahen  of  anonymous  communications.  ] 

The  Size  of  the  Pages  of  Scientific  Publications. 

It  was  with  much  surprise  that  we  received  the  circular  of  the 
Royal  Society  stating  that  it  had  been  decided  to  abandon  the 
present  size  of  its  Proceedings  in  favour  of  royal  octavo, 
accompanied  liy  a  voting  card  on  the  question  of  a  similar  change 
in  the  size  of  the  Transactions.  At  the  Oxford  meeting  of  the 
British  Association,  a  Committee  was  appointed,  by  Section  A,  to 
endeavour  to  secure  greater  uniformity  in  the  sizes  of  the  pages 
of  the  Transactions  and  Proceedings  of  all  societies  which  publish 
mathematical  and  physical  papers.  In  view  of  the  report  which 
that  Committee  will  present  shortly  at  Ipswich,  it  is  much  to  be 
hoped  that  the  Council  of  the  Koyal  Society  will  take  no 
immediate  steps  toward  carrying  their  recommendations  into 
effect. 

A  considerable  degree  of  uniformity  already  exists.  The 
present  octavo  size  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Poyal  Society  is  very 
nearly  the  same  size  as  the  l^hilosophical  Magazine,  the  Report 
of  the  British  .Association,  the  Proceedings  of  the  London  Mathe- 
matical Society,  and  of  the  Cambridge  Philosophical  Society,  and 
many  other  publications.  The  Annalen  der  Physik  iind  Chcmie 
is  so  very  little  smaller,  that  reprints  from  it  can  be  bound  up 
with  others  from  the  afore-mentioned  sources,  without  paring 
down  their  margins  excessively.  For  papers  involving  long 
mathematics  or  large  diagrams,  the  quarto  size  of  the  present 
Philosophical  Transactions  approximates  to  uniformity  w  ilh  the 
American  fournal  of  Mathematics,  the  Comples  rcndus  of  the 
-Vcademie  des  Sciences  of  I'aris,  the  Cambridge  Transactions, 
the  Edinburgh  Transactions,  and  numerous  other  quarto 
Transactions,  such  as  those  of  the  Institution  of  Naval  Architects. 

It  is  very  important  that  specialists  in  any  branch  of  science 
should  be  able  to  collect,  and  bind  together,  reprints  of  papers  on 
their  own  particular  subjects,  and  such  volumes  are  of  permanent 
value  as  works  of  reference.  So  long  as  there  are  only  two 
sizes  to  deal  with — the  above-mentioned  quarto  and  octavo — there 
is  little  difficulty  about  this,  but  occasionally  one  comes  across  a 
pajjer  of  intermediate  size,  which  cannot  be  bound  up  with 
either,  and  the  collection  is  thus  necessarily  incomplete.  It  is 
hoped  that  the  report,  .so  shortly  to  be  presented,  will  be  a  guide 
to  authors  of  papers  in  indicating  which  publications  to  select, 
and  which  lo  avoid,  if  ihcy  desire  to  conform  to  the  average 
standard  sizes.  .-Vlthough  the  work  of  the  Committee  is  at 
jiresent  confined  to  mathematical  and  physical  |)apers,  it  might 
jierhaps  be  of  advantage  that  the  matter  should  he  discussed  in, 
and  re]ircsentatives  on  the  Committee  appointed  from  the  other 
.Sections  of  the  British  A.ssociation  as  well.  The  question  of 
changing  the  size  of  the  Proceedings  was  recently  discussed  by 
the  London  Mathematical  Society,  but  it  was  decided  to  retain 
the  existing  form,  at  any  rate  for  the  present,  mainly  on  account 
of  its  uniformity  with  other  jjublications.  It  will  be  most 
unfortunate  if  the  Royal  Society  takes  any  retrograde  step  w  hich 
may  prevent  the  sizes  of  its  Proceedings  and  Transactions  from 
being  adopted  as  the  standards. 

C.  H.  Bryan. 
Svi,v.\Ms  P.  Thompson. 


On  the  Minimum  Theorem  in  the  Theory  of  Gases. 

Vor  woulil  oblige  me  by  inserting  the  following  lines  in 
Nati'RK.  The  last  remark  made  by  Mr.  Burbury  points  out, 
indeed,  the  weakest  point  of  the  demonstration  of  the  H-thcorem. 
If  condition  (.\)  is  fnlfdle<l  at  /  =  o,  it  is  not  a  mechanical 
necessity  that  it  should  be  fulfdled  at  all  subsequent  limes.  But  let 
the  mean  path  of  a  molecule  be  very  long  in  comparison  with 
the  avcriige  distance  of  two  neighbouring  molecules  ;  then  the 
absolute  position  in  space  of  the  place  where  one  impact  of  a 
given  molecule  occurs,  will  be  far  reinoved  from  the  jilace 
where  the  next  impact  of  the  same  molecule  occurs.  For  this 
reason,  the  distribution  of  the  molecules  surrounding  the  place  of 
the  second  inqiact  will  be  inde[ieiideiit  of  the  conditions  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  place  where  the  first  impact  occurred,  and 
therefore  independent  of  the  motion  of  the  molecule  itself. 
Then  the  probability  that  a  second  molecule  moving  with 
given  velocity  should  fall  within  the  sjiace  traversed  liy  the  first 

NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


molecule,  can  be  found  by  multiplying  the  volume  of  this  space 
by  the  function/.     This  is  condition  (.K). 

Only  under  the  condition,  that  all  the  molecules  were  arranged 
intentionally  in  a  |rarticular  manner,  would  it  be  possible  that 
the  frequency  (number  in  unit  volume)  of  molecules  with  a  given 
velocity,  should  depend  on  whether  these  molecules  were  about 
to  encounter  other  molecules  or  not.  Condition  {\)  is  simply 
this,  that  the  laws  of  probability  are  applicable  for  finding  the 
number  of  collisions. 

Therefore,  I  think  that  the  assumption  of  external  dis- 
turbances is  not  necessary,  provided  that  the  given  system  is  a 
very  large  one,  and  that  the  mean  path  is  great  in  comparison 
with  the  mean  distance  of  two  neighbouring  molecules. 

LlDWIG    Bol.TZ.\IANN. 

9  Tuerkenstrasse,  Vienna,  June  20. 


Argon  and  the  Kinetic  Theory. 

The  spectrum  exhibited  by  argon  undoubtedly  shows  that, 
under  the  conditions  of  the  experiment,  the  molecules  composing 
the  gas  are  set  into  an  intense  state  of  vibration,  while  the  ratio 
of  the  specific  heats  (5/3,  about)  shows,  according  to  the  equation 

J3  =  | ,  that  (8=1,  and  therefore  the  gas  is,  as  pointed  out  by 

7-  I 
Lord  Rayleigh,  monatomic,  and  cannot  therefore  be  capable  of 
vibrating.  But  there  is,  I  think,  a  very  simple  explanation  of 
this  apparent  contradiction,  and  that  is,  that  the  above  equation 
is  not  tnie,  and  that  it  should  be,  as  will  be  proved  hereafter, 
^  ~  3^'(>  ~  t)>  where  k  is  very  nearly  i  for  argon  and  other  so- 
called  permanent  gases.  This  latter  equation  gives  2  for  the 
value  of  3  in  argon,  a  value  easily  understood. 

The  virial  equation  for  smooth  elastic  spheres  of  finite  magni- 
tude is  fPV  =  2.Joti''-  -  J2R/-;  and  since  the  resilience  is  unity 
and  r  finite,  the  term  -  A2R/'  cannot  vanish.  Now  the  term 
SPV  represents  work  or  its  equivalent  of  energy  ;  hence  the 
right-hand  member  of  the  equation  must  represent  the  same, 
and  since  the  term  2Jwt'-  is  obviously  kinetic  energy,  or  its  equiva- 
lent of  work,  the  term  -  i2R''  must  also  represent  work  or 
energy.  Now  we  can  find  the  value  of  |PV  in  terms  of  'S.hmi^, 
as  follows.  Imagine  a  cube  box  so  constructed  that  one  side  of 
each  pair  can  be  used  as  a  spring  to  discharge  any  mass  in  con- 
tact with  a  velocity  r.     And    suppose    three    smooth    elastic 

spheres  each  of  mass  —  to  be  discharged    by  the  three  spring 

3 
sides  with  the  above  velocity  into  the  interior  of  the  box.     Then 

M 
the  work  done  on  each  mass  will  be  4  .  —  w-.     Put  this  equal  to 

PV  and  take  V  equal  to  the  volume  of  the  box.  The  total  work 
done  is  evidently  3PV  =  AMf-'.  If,  instead  of  three  elastic 
spheres,  we  imagine  a  very  great  number  of  very  minute  ones  of 
the  same  total  mass  to  be  discharged  by  the  spring  sides  with  the 
same  velocity,  the  energy  will  be  the  same  as  before,  and  the 
above  equation  will  still  be  applicable  ;  and  the  state  of  affairs 
now  represented  would  be  that  of  an  ideal  gas.  But  owing  to 
collisions  after  first  starting  the  velocities  of  the  particles  will 
vary,  and  therefore  we  must  write  the  equation 

3PV  =  PU^=; (I) 

where  v'  is  the  mean  square  velocity  of  the  particles.  By  hypo- 
thesis V  has  the  same  value  in  the  above  equation  as  in  the  virial 
equation  ;  and  P  can  be  proved,  if  necessary,  to  have  the  same 
value  in  the  two  equations  as  follows. 

Ify  =  the  mean  acceleration  or  retardation,  as  the  case  may  be, 
of  the  cr.  of  gr.  of  an  elastic  sphere  impinging  directly  against  a 

plane;  then  ft  =  v.     Also /=  —,.'.  t  =  —      Mere  /  is  half 

2s  V 

the  time  of  impact,    and  v  the   velocity  normal   to    the    plane 

before  and  after  impact.     Now   if  it  can  be  shown  that  the  time 

taken  by  the  spring  side  of  our  im.aginary  Ixix  to  give   the  same 

velocity  is  the  Siimc  as  the  above,  then  it   is  obvious  that   the 

mean  pressures  in  the  two  cases  must  be  identical. 

Assume  i'  to  be  the   volume  of  the  cul>e   box,  then  s"  is  the 

area  of  each  side.     Now  let  the  spring  side  be  drawn  back  so  as 

to  act  through  a  distance  s  on  the  mass  —  with  a  constant  pres- 
sure P  per  unit  of  surface  ;  then  Pr*  x  j  =  PV  represents  the 
work  done.  The  velocity  given  to  the  mass  is  v,  and  the  ac- 
celeration constant.     Hence  the   mean   velocity  of  the   spring 


222 


NATURE 


[July  4,  1895 


side  in  |>assing  through  the  distance  s  is  f/z,  and  the  time  is 
s  -=-  z'/2  =  2  siv,  the  same  as  in  the  first  case.  Which  proves 
the  proposition. 

Since  from  (I)  we  have  3  I'V  =  *  m7*  or  3  PV  =  \  y\T~, 
we  may  substitute  this  value  in  the  virial  equation,  and  remem- 
bering that  1.\iii--  =  \'S\-y-,  we  get  -  ^2Rr  =  -  ^Mt". 
Hence  also 

1'  =  J  pr^ (2) 

The  above  equation  is  easily  ob- 


where  f  —  '--    the  density. 


tainable  without  the  use  of  the  virial  equation  U'lien  the  time  of 
impact  is  taken  into  consideration.  \  phenomenon  which  can- 
not be  assumed  to  be  instantaneous  without  upsetting  the 
dynamical  definition  of  the  measurement  of  a  force  ;  which 
expressed  algebraically  is  Vt  =  Mj'.  From  which  it  is  evident 
that  when  /  the  time  is  o,  £•  the  velocit)',  is  also  o. 

When  the  virial  equation  is  made  applicable  to  the  case  of  a 
gas  composed  of  molecules  capable  of  vibrating,  it  seems 
obrious  that  the  term  'S,\niv'-  should  be  written  ShBmv- ;  be- 
cause, as  shown  by  Clausius,  the  internal  energ)'  of  the  mole- 
cules bears  a  constant  ratio  to  the  energy  of  agitation.  We 
must  look  to  the  tnec/iaiiical  stnuture  of  the  tiiolaule  for  the 
reason  of  this.  Here  the  fact  is  simply  accepted,  not  explained  ; 
but  it  is  obvious  that  the  same  forces  which  impart  translator)' 
energy  to  a  molecule  will  imi>arl  vibratory  energ)'  also.  The 
same  reasoning  applies  to  the  term  -  j2Rr,  which  now  be- 
comes —  2fl(Rr).  The  volume  of  the  gas  is  unaltered  by  the 
nbrations,  and  the  pressure  is  dependent  on  the  two  other 
terms.      Hence  the  equation  may  be  written 


3PV  =  2iSwE'-  - 
And  from  this  we  get 

P  =  \&fv 
The  above  equation  may  be  written 


i2«K') (3) 


(4) 


(5) 


P„  =  \fm.'i ; 

Where  Vi  —  $v.     .»\gain  equation  (2)  may  be  w  rillen 

Vi  =  Iv.ii' ; (6) 

the  suffix  i  denoting  that  the  pressure,  density,  and  mean  square 
velocity  are  those  of  an  ideal  gas  composed  of  smooth  elastic 
spheres. 

If  P„  pi,  and  Vi  in  (6)  are  taken  respectively  equal  to  P,  p, 
and  Vt  in  (5) ;  then  it  is  evident  that  J',  in  (5)  is  the  velocity  of 
mean  square  of  an  ideal  gas  which,  having  the  same  density, 
would  give  the  same  pressure  as  a  natural  gas.  Hence  f,  can 
l)e  found  from  (6).  Now  the  total  energy  in  unit  mass  of  a  gas 
is  given  by  the  equation 

K.T  =  Jflz?; (7) 

where  K-  is  the  specific  heat  at  constant  volume,  and  T  is  the 
al)5olute  tem)>erature.  Krom  which  equation  vs,'0  can  be  found. 
Wc  have  also  from  above 


(8) 


from  which  ctjuation  the  value  of  s/ff  and  conse<|Ucnlly  B  can  he 
found. 

The  equation  0  —  ^iiy  -  I)  can  now  be  proved  as  follows. 
Multiplying  both  siilcs  of  (4)  by  V,  the  volume  of  unit  mass,  and 
combming  with  (7),  we  get 

K,.T  =  3PV (9) 

Now  from  (5)  and  (6),  taking  p  =  pt  we  get  1'  =  P,/fl,  and 
sulKtituting  in  (9)  K„  =  3P,\7i8T.  Hut  PA/T  =  K<^ -  K„. ;  or 
the  difference  between  the  specific  heats  at  con.stant  pressure 
and  constant  volume ;  the  suffix  i  indicating,  a-s  before,  that  the 
symlKils  refer  to  an  ideal  gas.      Hence 

^  =  3(K,^  -Jw)^3*(K,  -  K.)^3^.y_  , )       , ,0, 

Here/'  is  wmc  factor  which  for  so-called  permanent  gases  is 
very  nearly  unity.      Kor  such  gases  we  may  w  rile  ( 10) 

fi  =  ih-  >);  or7=l(fl-f-3)     .    .    .    .(II) 
In  the  following  table  the  values  of  $,  except  in  the  case  of 
argon,  arc  calculated  from  equation  (8)  ;  and  P,  the  velocity  of 
ideal  gases  having  the   same  pressure  and  density  as  their  cor- 

NO.   1340,  VOL.    52] 


responding  natural  gases,  at  standard  temperature  and  pressure, 
from  (6).  The  velocities  are  given  in  feet  per  second,  .and  the 
value  of  gravity  is  t.iken  at  32-2.  Column  (4)  gives  the  values  of 
y  for  the  diflerent  gases  calculated  from  equation  (11);  and 
column  (5)  gives  the  experimental  values  of  7.  The  close 
agreement  between  these  values  is  a  significant  fact. 


(■) 


(2) 


Hydrogen  ... 
Oxygen      ... 
Nitrogen    ... 
Drj-  air 
Argon 


8551 
2140 
3282 
2250 
1940 

8,  Norfolk  Square,  W. , 


1-234    - 
1197    .-. 

1-227      — 

1-222   ... 
a  (about).. 


(.3) 


...  6925 

...  1787 

...  i8«o 

...  1841 

...  970 

lune  13. 


(4) 


(5) 
K.X- 


7     JWTj/  penment 


(6) 


1-4115 

'■399 
1-409 
1-407 


...  1*412 

...  1  -402 

...  1-411 

...  1-409 

...  1-7 

C.  E.  B.^SEVi. 


1-00035 

I-0021 
1-0014 
I -001 4 


Romano-British   Land  Surface.— Flint  Flakes 
Replaced. 

In  the  early  spring  of  the  present  year,  whilst  passing  a  newly- 
opened  excavation  near  Caddinglon  Church,  three  miles  south- 
east of  Dunstable,  I  noticeil  a  very  thin  horizontal  line  of  sharp 
flint  flakes,  embedded  a  foot  deep  from  the  surface-line  of  .in  old 
pa.sture.  I  could  see  at  once  that  the  line  represented  an  old 
living  surface,  so  I  took  a  few  of  the  flints  away.  In  removing 
the  stones  from  the  soil,  one  or  two  little  fragments  of  Romano- 
British  pottery  came  away  with  them.     The  flakes  were  lustrous. 


Fk;.  I. — Fragment  of  perforated  Roniano-liriti>li  pottery  (half  .actual  si/c). 

chiefly  black  and  brown-grey,  and  as  sharp  as  when  first  struck. 
On  looking  over  the  flints  in  the  evening,  I  was  able  to  repl.tce 
five  on  to  each  other.  This  fad,  and  the  occurrence  of  the  pottery 
fragments,  proved  the  old  surface  to  have  remaineil  intact  from 
Romano-British  times. 

A  little  later  in  the  spring,  about  six  square  yards  of  the  super- 
incumbent soil  were  carefully  removed  for  me,  \\hen  other  flakes 
were  found  i/i  situ  to  the  exact  number  of  fmir  hiiinlrcil  :  with 
these  were  eighteen  fragments  of  Romano-British  pottery,  one 
piece — somewhat  like  the  bottom  of  a  pot — perforated,  as   here 


I'lG.  a. — Four  conjoined  flint-tl.akcs  (lialf.ictual  si/e). 

illustrated.  Amongst  the  flints  were  two  cores,  two  hammer- 
stones,  three  scrapers,  part  of  one  edge  of  a  chipped  celt,  and 
several  neatly  chipped  but  ap]iarcnlly  unfinished  lillle  im)ile- 
mcnts.  A  middle-br.iss  Roman  <-r)in,  too  corroiled  for  idcniili- 
cation,  was  found  on  the  same  surface  in  a  second  excavation 
close  by  j  with  this  was  a  small  piece  of  wood  carved  to  repre- 
sent a  horse's  fore-leg,  and  a  well-finished  ami  perfect  unpolished 
flint  celt. 

In  .sorting  the  flints  I  was  able  to  replace  thirty-eight  on  to 
each  other  in  groups  f>f  from  two  to  five.     Two  of  these  groups 


July  4,  1895] 


NATURE 


22  ■ 


are  here  illustrated — one  a  group  of  four,  the  other  of  two  ;  the 
latter  shows  a  straight- edged  scraper  above,  conjoined  to  a  simple 
flake  below. 

Hertfordshire  conglomerate  occurs  as  a  surface  stone  at  the 
same  place,  and  I  have  at  different  times  picked  up  very  thin 
pieces  without  bulbs  which  appeared  to  me  to  have  been  artifi- 
cially flaked.  I  have,  however,  kept  no  disputable  objects. 
I  lertfordshire  "  ])Iuni-pudding  stone  "  was  certainly  flaked  by  the 
Kelts  of  this  district,  as  is  proved  by  the  large,  faceted  and  w  ell- 
bulbed  knife-like  flake  of  conglomerate,  found  by  myself  at  Cad- 
<lington,  here  illustrated.     This  stone  is  not  mentioned  as  one 


Fig.  3. — Straight  edged  scraper,  conjoined  to  a  flake  (half  actual  size). 

known  to  have  been  utilised  for  tools  in  the  list   given   by  Sir 
(ohn  Evans,  in  his  '•  .Stone  Implements  of  Great  Britain." 

It  is  difficult  to  fi.\  a  date  for  the  Romano- British  living  sur- 
face here  mentioned,  as  the  coin  is  too  corroded  for  determination  ; 
but  a  correspondent,  the  Rev.  Henry  Cobbe,  of  Maulden,  has  a 
Roman  coin,  found  in  an  adjoining  field  at  Caddington,  inscribed 
"  C.  CtSAR  Xvc.  Germ.\nicis."  If  this  inscription  indicates 
the  Emperor  Caligxila,  as  Mr.  Cobbe  believes,  we  have  a  date, 
A.  D.  37-41,  and  the  coin  was  probably  brought  over  by  one  of  the 


Fi<;.  4.  —  Larj^c  knifc-likc  flake  of  Hertfordshire  conglomerate  (half  actual 
size). 

soldiers  of  Aulus  I'lautius  under  Claudius,  in  the  second  coming 
of  the  Romans  in  A.I).  43. 

\  short  distance  from  the  old  land  surface  here  described  is 
an  extensive  Roman  refuse  pit  w  ith  abundant  broken  pottery  ; 
so  that  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  a  Roman  villa  once  stood  close  by, 
and  we  seem  to  have  evidence  of  the  curious  fact  of  a  Kelt  sitting 
down  in  close  proximity  to  a  Roman  house  and  its  refuse  pit, 
quietly  chipping  his  stone  implements.  It  is  equally  curious  that 
the  implements  and  detached  flakes  have  remained  undisturbed 
so  near  the  surface  for  nearly  two  thousand  years. 

Dunstable.  Wokthington  G.  Smith. 


The  Bifilar  Pendulum    at   the    Royal   Observatory, 
Edinburgh. 

.SoMK  interesting  readings  of  the  bifilar  pendulum,  designed 
by  Mr.  Horace  Darwin  for  measuring  movements  in  the  earth's 
surface,  were  made  here  at  noon  on  the  9th  inst.     This  instru- 


ment, which  indicates  oscillations  in  a  north  and  south  direction, 
was  erected  in  March  of  last  year,  and  daily  observation  of  it 
has  since  been  carried  on,  the  scale  being  read  off  each  minute, 
from  five  minutes  before  to  five  minutes  after  Paris  noon.  On 
the  gth  inst.  nothing  unusual  was  noticed  during  the  first  seven 
readings,  these  being  all  practically  the  same  ;  but  on  putting 
my  eye  to  the  telescope  for  the  eighth,  I  at  once  noticed 
that  during  the  interval  of  less  than  a  minute  since  the 
])receding  reading,  the  mirror  had  rotated  considerably  about 
its  vertical  axis,  the  normal  having  moved  towards  the 
north,  the  difference  between  the  seventh  and  eighth 
readings  being  no  less  than  7 '6  mm.  of  the  scale.  An  imme- 
diate examination  of  the  lamp-stand  showed  it  to  be  perfectly 
firm.  After  the  regular  daily  readings  were  completed,  others 
were  made  at  intervals  of  generally  two  minutes,  for  half  an  hour 
after  Paris  noon.  These  showed  two  quite  conspicuous  oscilla- 
tions of  the  mirror  during  its  return  to  its  original  position,  which 
it  reached  about  thirteen  minutes  after  noon.  It  continued  to 
move  beyond  this  point  towards  the  south,  till  at  oh.  31m.  Paris 
mean  time  it  was  4-1  mm.  south  of  the  point  at  which  the  scale 
was  first  read  off.  Later  readings  in  the  course  of  the  day 
showed  that  it  was  still  moving  slow  ly  to  the  south,  but  no  further 
oscillations  were  recorded.  In  the  evening,  when  the  mirror 
appeared  to  have  come  to  rest,  the  sensitiveness  of  the  instrument 
was  tested,  and  with  this  the  column  headed  "Tilt  of  mirror- 
fraine  "  in  the  follow  ing  table  has  been  computed.  The  positive 
sign  indicates  a  tilt  to  the  north. 


Paris  mean 

Scale  '  reading  of 

Tilt  of  minor- 
frame  in  preceding 

time. 

ray  from  mirror. 

minute. 

h.       m. 

mm. 

June  8    .     . 

23  55 

284-2 

„ 

56 

4-1 

-0-005 

57 

4-I 

o-ooo 

5S 

4-0 

-o-cws 

59 

40 

0-000 

June  9    .     . 

0    0 

4-2 

-fo-oio 

I 

284-4 

-Fo-oio 

2 

292-0 

-F  0-385 

3 

2-1 

-rO-005 

4 

1-6 

-  0025 

0    5 

2-3 

+  0-035 

0       6 

2-1 

-  o-oio 

8 

290-2 

-0-096 

10 

2S8-7 

-0076 

12 

70 

-0-086 

14 

S'4 

-0081 

16 

2-8 

-0-132 

18 

2-1 

-0-035 

19 

2-8 

-foo35 

21 

1-4 

-007 1 

23 

0-3 

-  0056 

25 

17 

-f  0-071 

27 

I  "3 

-  0-020 

0     31 

280-1 

-o-o6i 

Thomas  Heath. 
Royal  Observator)-,  Calton  Hill,  i;dinburgh,  June  20. 


NO.    1340,   VOL.  52] 


Migration  of  a  Water-beetle. 

Last  night,  at  about  ten  o'clock,  a  beetle  flew  in  through  the 
open  window,  alighting  on  a  bowl  of  roses  in  the  centre 
of  the  dining  table.  On  being  dropped  into  a  finger-bowl 
he  promptly  dived  and  swam  merrily,  and  jirovcd  to  be  a 
specimen  of  the  ordinarj'  brown  water-beetle,  to  be  found  in 
every  pond  or  ditch  of  water.  Now  the  nearest  water  to  my 
dining-room  w  indow  is  the  Thames,  distant  over  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  as  the  crow  flics,  w  hence  this  water-beetle  must  have  flown. 
Can  any  of  your  readers  inform  me  whether  such  long  flights 
have  been  observed  before  in  connection  « ith  the  pairing  .season 
or  migration  of  this  species?  I  enclose  you  a  rough  sketch  of 
the  beetle,  not  know  ing  its  specific  title  amongst  the  Coleoptera. 

Rose  Haig  Thomas. 

Basildon,  Reading,  June  23. 


NATURE 


[July  4.  189; 


ARGON  AND  HELIUM  IX  METEORIC  IRON. 

T  N  the  light  of  the  new  discoveries  of  argon  and  helium, 
■»■  it  appeared  that  the  reinvestigation  of  the  gas 
evolved  on  heating  meteoric  iron  might  promise  interest- 
ing results.  This  anticipation  has  been  fulfilled.  Meteoric 
iron,  heated  in  vafuo,  yields  a  small  amount  of  both  argon 
and  helium,  besides  a  comparatively  large  quantity  of 
hydrogen. 

The  investigation  of  gases  occluded  in  meteoric  iron 
was  undertaken  by  Craham  in  1867  (Proc.  R.  S..  xv.  502). 
From  452  grams  of  a  specimen  of  iron  from  Lenarto, 
in  Hungary-,  Graham  obtained,  by  heating  it  //; 
vacuo,  i6"53  c.c.  of  gas,  consisting  of  8568  per  cent, 
of  hydrogen,  4"46  of  carbonic  o.xide,  and  9S6  per  cent, 
of  "  nitrogen.''  .And  eight  years  later.  Prof.  .Mallet 
investigated  the  gases  from  a  specimen  of  meteoric  iron 
from  .Augusta  County,  \'irginia,  and  found  3583  per  cent, 
of  hydrogen,  38"33  per  cent,  of  carbonic  oxide,  975  per 
cent,  of  carbonic  anhydride,  and  ib'oq  per  cent,  of 
"  nitrogen."     iProc.  R.  .S".,  xx.  365.) 

In  the  same  year.  Prof  .A.  \V.  Wright  examined 
spectroscopically  the  gases  evolved  from  two  meteorites, 
one  the  "  great  Texas  meteorite  "  in  the  museum  of  Vale  ' 
College,  which  weighs  742  kilograms  ;  another  a  specimen  ; 
of  meteoric  iron  from  Tazewell  County,  Tennessee  ;  and 
a  third  set  of  experiments  was  made  with  fragments  of  a 
meteorite  from  .Arva,  in  Hungar)-.  The  gases  obtained 
were  examined  spectroscopically,  and  were  found  to  show 
the  usual  spectra  of  hydrogen,  carbon  compounds, 
oxygen,  and  nitrogen.  He  was  searching  for  lines  present  j 
in  the  spectra  of  stars,  but  found  none  ;  and  he  con- 
cludes that  the  spectrum  of  the  solar  corona  is  to  be 
ascribed  merely  to  atmospheric  gases.  .A  preliminary 
account  of  the  examination  of  a  fourth  I'a  stony)  meteorite 
is  given  in  the  same  journal  iAiner.  foiirnal  of  Science 
[3].  ix.  pp.  294  and  459,1,  and  the  full  account  in  vol.  x.  44. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  last  fractions  of  gas  evolved  con- 
tained 6'gi  per  cent,  of  "nitrogen."  On  p.  257  of  the 
next  volume  'xi.j.  Prof  Wright  gives  analyses  of  the  gases 
from  various  samples  of  meteorites,  which  contain  from 
I  '54  to  5-38  per  cent,  of  "  nitrogen."  .And  lastly,  in  vol.  xii. 
p.  165,  he  gives  further  details,  including  descriptions  of 
spectra,  in  none  of  which  he  noticed  anything  unusual. 

Prof.  Wright's  interesting  papers  are  instructive, 
inasmuch  as  they  show  how  little  reliance  is  to  be  placed 
on  the  evidence  of  the  spectroscope  as  to  the  presence  of 
any  one  gas  in  a  gaseous  mixture  consisting  of  a  large 
proportion  of  other  gases.  There  is  no  doubt  that  in 
future,  much  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  relative  con- 
ductivity of  gases.  The  characteristic  spectrum  of  argon 
is  almost  completely  masked  by  the  presence  of  a  few 
parts  per  cent,  of  nitrogen  or  of  hydrogen  ;  and  that  of 
helium  is  similarly  affected,  although  to  a  less  degree. 
Though  no  quantitative  experiments  have  been  made 
on  the  subject,  yet  I  should  judge  that  the  presence 
of  from  5  to  10  per  cent,  of  nitrogen  entirely  obscures  the 
characteristic  yellow  line  ;  the  other  strong  lines  still 
remain  visible.  I  hope  soon  to  be  able  to  communicate 
further  information  on  this  interesting  subject. 

The  presence  of  both  argon  and  helium  has  been 
demonstrated  in  the  meteorite  from  .\ugusta  County, 
Virginia,  a  sample  of  which  was  purchased  from  Mr. 
Gregor)'.  Two  ounces  of  turnings  of  this  meteorite  were 
heated  to  bright  redness  in  a  hard  glass  tube,  all  air 
having  been  first  removed  in  the  cold  by  a  Tiipler's  pump. 
From  this  iron,  45  c.c.  of  gas  were  obtained.  It  was 
mixed  with  oxygen  in  a  gas  burette,  and  exploded.  It 
appeared  to  consist  for  the  most  part  of  hydrogen.  After 
absorption  of  any  carbon  dioxide  and  the  excess  of 
oxygen  with  alkaline  pyrogallate.  the  residue  amounted  to 
atxjut  half  a  cubic  centimetre.  It  was  transferred  to  a 
small  tube  and  dried  with  a  morsel  of  solid  caustic 
potash,  and  with  it  several  vacuum  tubes  xvere  filled.    The 


NO.    1340,  VOL.  52] 


spectrum  showed  that  it  consisted  for  the  most  part  of 
argon  ;  the  trace  of  nitrogen  which  appeared  at  first 
rapidly  disappeared  under  the  influence  of  the  discharge. 
The  spectrum  was  carefully  compared  with  that  given 
by  a  tube  of  atmospheric  argon,  provided  with  magnesium 
electrodes.  This  sample  of  argon  always  shows  the  U 
lines  of  sodium,  owing  to  the  magnesium  electrodes,  and 
proves  especially  convenient  for  the  detection  of  helium, 
the  yellow  line  of  which  is  not  coincident  with  the  lines  of 
sodium.  Both  spectra  were  thrown  into  a  two-prism 
spectroscope  at  the  same  time,  and  on  circful  comparison 
it  was  evident  that  all  the  argon  lines  were  present. 
Besides  these,  the  yellow  line  Dj  of  helium  was  faintly 
visible,  not  coincident  with  the  sodium  lines;  and  on 
cornparing  the  spectrum  of  the  gas  directly  with  that  of 
helium  from  cleveitc,  it  was  possible  to  recognise  the 
identity  of  the  red,  blue-green,  blue,  and  violet  lines  of 
helium  in  the  meteoric  gas.  No  other  lines  were  visible 
than  those  of  argon  and  helium.  It  may  thus  be  con- 
cluded, on  spectroscopic  evidence,  that  both  argon  and 
helium  are  contained  in  meteoric  iron,  the  former  in  much 
larger  amount  than  the  latter.  This  conclusion  was  veri- 
fied by  mixing  about  90  per  cent,  of  argon  with  10  per 
cent,  of  helium.  The  spectrum  of  helium,  under  these 
circumstances,  was  much  more  brilliant  than  that  of 
argon  ;  hence  it  may  be  concluded  that  less  than  10  per 
cent,  of  this  gaseous  residue  consisted  of  helium. 

It  appeared  likely  that  metallic  iron  might  be  induced 
to  absorb  argon.  It  had  been  noticed,  last  tictober,  that 
in  attempting  to  prepare  argon  by  passing  atmospheric 
nitrogen  through  iron  tubes  filled  with  magnesium  turn- 
ings, and  heated  to  redness,  a  smaller  quantity  of  argon 
than  usual  was  collected.  This  rendered  it  not  improb- 
able that  iron  at  a  red  heat  is  permeable  to  argon.  If 
permeable,  then  it  might  be  permanently  absorbed.  .An 
experiment  was  therefore  undertaken  by  .Mr.  Kellas,  to 
whom  1  have  to  express  my  indebtedness,  to  ascertain 
whether  finely  divided  iron,  obtained  by  the  reduction  of 
ferric  oxide  in  hydrogen,  would  occlude  argon, 

-About  14  grams  of  the  finely  divided  iron  was  placed 
in  a  combustion-tube,  the  capacity  of  which  was  53'6 
c.c.  The  tube  was  connected  by  a  three-way  stop- 
cock to  a  Sprcngel's  pump  and  to  a  water-jacketed 
reservoir  containing  argon  over  mercury.  .After  exhaust- 
ing the  tube,  argon  was  allowed  to  enter,  and  the  tem- 
perature was  slowly  raised  to  600  and  maintained  for 
three  hours.  Until  equilibrium  of  temperature  had  been 
established,  no  perceptible  change  of  volume  could  be 
noted.  The  tube  was  allowed  to  cool,  connection  with 
the  argon  reservoir  was  closed,  and  the  gas  was  pumped 
off.  The  volume,  corrected  for  temper.iiure  and  pressure, 
was  54'2  c.c.  On  heating  the  tube,  about  59  c.c.  of  gas 
was  given  off;  it  was  collected  in  three  fractions,  (c/),  (b\ 
and  (f),  the  heating  having  been  continued  for  twelve 
hours. 

[a)  The  volume  of  this  gas  was  30  c.c.  It  was  i:ol- 
lected  at  about  200"  C.  This  was  exploded  with  oxygen  ; 
and  a  residue  was  obtained,  of  which  the  greater  p.irt  dis- 
solved in  caustic  jjotash,  showing  that  the  gas  had  con- 
sisted of  hydrogen  and  hydrocarbons.  The  final  residue 
was  17  c.c. 

{b)  The  second  fraction,  collected  at  450',  amounted 
to  15  c.c,  and  after  treatment  as  above,  the  residue  was 
o"25  c.c.  This  residue  was  united  with  that  from  C(/), 
and  a  vacuum  tube  was  filled.  The  flutings  of  carbon 
were  visible,  and  also  a  trace  of  hydrogen,  but  no  argon, 
This  gas  was  sparked  with  l  c.c.  of  oxygen,  antl  on  absorb- 
ing the  excess  of  oxygen  with  alkaline  pyrog.illate,  045  c.c. 
remained.  On  transferring  this  residue  to  a  vacuum 
tube,  the  banded  spec  trum  of  nitrogen  was  alone  visil)le. 
ic)  The  third  fraction,  collected  at  a  red  heat,  also 
showed  only  the  spectrum  of  nitrogen,  when  purified 
and  transferred  to  a  v.icuum  lube,  and  on  continuing 
the  discharge  it  also  disappeared   and  the   tube  became 


July  4,  1895] 


NATURE 


225 


phosphorescent.  Judging  from  previous  experience,  the 
presence  of  argon  would  have  revealed  itself  after  the 
nitrogen  had  disappeared.  It  may  therefore  be  concluded 
that  whether  iron  is  permeable  to  argon  at  a  red  heat  or 
not,  it  docs  not  permanently  retain  the  gas.  It  is  not  im- 
probable that  the  condition  of  retention  may  be  that  the 
iron  is  heated  to  fusion  in  an  atmosphere  of  hydrogen, 
hydrocarbons,  argon,  and  helium,  and  that  it  is  then 
suddenly  cooled.  This  I  should  imagine  to  be  the  case 
if  the  iron  were  ejected  from  some  stellar  body  at  a  high 
temperature.  I  am,  however,  unaware  whether  any  of 
the  lines  of  the  argon  spectrum  have  been  identified  in 
the  spectra  of  stars  ;  if  not,  it  is  probably  because  they 
are   masked  by  the  spectra  of  hydrogen  and  carbon. 

W".   Rams.w. 


SUBTERRANEAN  FAUNAS. 

THE  researches  of  geologists  and  engineers  have  re- 
vealed the  e.\istence  of  vast  tracts  of  underground 
waters,  often  associated  with  more  or  less  e.\tensive 
caves.  The  investigation  of  these  underground  waters 
is  interesting  to  naturalists,  as  it  has  led  to  the  discovery 
of  a  special  subterranean  fauna,  different  in  different 
regions,  it  is  true,  but  characterised  throughout  by  modi- 
fications in  certain  definite  directions.  The  study  of 
these  modifications  is  a  fascinating  one,  and  the  problem 
of  their  evolution  seems  to  be  rendered  comparatively 
easy  by  the  simplicity  and  limitations  of  the  conditions 
of  life  which  obtain  beneath  the  earth's  surface  ;  for  these 
subterranean  forms  live  in  continual  darkness,  and  are 
exposed  to  a  fairly  uniform  temperature  at  all  times.  It 
is  also,  in  many  cases,  possible  to  tell  from  what  surface- 
species  an  underground  form  has  descended,  and  to 
infer  the  age  of  the  latter  with  a  fair  approach  to 
accuracy  ;  the  nature  of  the  changes  undergone,  and  the 
rate  at  which  these  modifications  have  taken  place,  can 
thus  be  estimated  in  particular  instances. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  in  Packard's  well-known 
memoir  on  the  Cave  Fauna  of  America,  the  peculiar 
modifications  of  subterranean  animals  were  interpreted 
as  lending  strong  support  to  the  theory  of  the  inherit- 
ance of  acquired  characters.  Recently,  however,  in  a 
careful  and  interesting  memoir  on  the  subterranean 
Crustacea  of  New  Zealand  {Trims.  Linn.  Soc.  London, 
vol.  vi.,  T894),  Dr.  Chilton  considers  the  question  from 
the  N'eo-Darwinian  aspect  ;  and  he  adduces  a  number  of 
facts  and  arguments  which  greatly  tend  to  reduce  the 
force  of  Packard's  contentions. 

Dr.  Chilton  begins  his  memoir  with  a  completed 
account  of  the  New  Zealand  subterranean  Crustacea, 
including  a  description  of  some  new-  species.  The 
underground  crustacean  fauna  of  New  Zealand  has  a 
more  varied  aspect  than  that  of  Europe  or  North 
.\merica  ;  of  the  si.K  species  known,  three  arc  -Xniphipods 
and  three  Isopods,  and  these  belong  to  as  many  as  five 
different  genera,  .\mong  them  Uivniiuirtis  /nti;i/is  is 
interesting  to  us  as  being  allied  to  the  blind  Nip/turgiis 
of  Europe.  Crurcgcns  Jonlnnus,  an  Isopod  belonging  to 
the  family  .\nthurid;c,  is  curious  in  possessing  only  six 
pairs  of  legs  ;  the  seventh  segment  is  small  and  without 
appendages,  as  is  the  case  also  in  young  Isopods  ;  this 
larval  character  is  retained  in  Crurci^ens,  probably  owing 
to  an  arrest  in  development  on  account  of  the  scanty 
supply  of  food.  Two  subterranean  species  of  the  genu's 
Phreatoicits  are  described,  P.  typicus  and  P.  assiini/is, 
n.  sp.  ;  a  surface  species,  P.  australis,  lives  on  the 
top  of  Mount  Kosciusko  in  Australia.  This  genus  is 
peculiar,  and  the  type  of  a  new  family  of  Isopods  which 
approaches  the  .-Xsellidiv  in  some  respects,  but  differs  in 
the  possession  of  a  laterally  compressed  body  and  a  long 
six-jointed  pleon. 

In  addition  to  the  description   of  these   underground 

NO.   1340,  VOL.   52] 


forms,  the  writer  gives  a  ri.'nani'  of  our  only  too  scanty 
knowledge  of  the  habits  and  conditions  of  life  of  subter- 
ranean animals.  He  discusses  also  the  question  of  the 
origin  of  cave  forms,  and  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that 
the  New  Zealand  subterranean  Crustacea  have  clearly 
been  derived  from  a  surface  fauna,  though  the  affinities 
of  one  or  two  species  seem  to  be  rather  with  marine  than 
with  known  fresh-water  forms.  It  is  pointed  out,  how- 
ever, that  the  cave  fauna  is  not  necessarily  descended 
from  the  present  surface  fauna  of  the  country-  ;  Crangony.x 
coiHpactus,  for  instance,  has  its  nearest  allies  in  Europe 
and  North  .A.nierica,  and  the  remarkable  habitat  of  the 
fresh-water  species  of  Phreatoicus  has  already  been 
mentioned. 

Cave  crustaceans,  according  to  Packard,  live  "  in  a 
sphere  where  there  is  little,  if  any,  occasion  for  struggling 
for  existence  between  these  organisms."  Chilton,  how- 
ever, suggests  that  there  is  evidence  for  thinking  that 
Natural  Selection  has  come  into  play  in  the  evolution  of 
cave  animals.  He  points  out  that  the  scanty  supply  of 
food  must  inevitably  lead  to  a  keen  struggle.  Moreover, 
Packard  himself  states  that  the  Ccrcidotca  and  Crangony.x 
of  the  North  American  caves  are  eaten  by  the  blind  cray- 
fish, which  in  its  turn  is  devoured  by  the  blind  fish 
Aiiihlyopsis ;  so  that  these  animals  must  struggle  with 
their  destroyers.  To  this  end  have  probably  been 
developed  the  additional  olfacton,'  setiE,  described  by 
Packard  and  others,  to  enable  the  pursued  animals  to 
escape  from  their  enemies.  If  there  were  no  occasion 
for  struggling  for  existence,  why  should  these  additional 
sense  organs  have  been  developed  at  all  ?  .\t  first  sight, 
it  certainly  seems  natural  to  attribute  the  degeneration 
of  the  eyes,  observed  in  underground  forms,  to  disuse  ; 
and  it  is  but  a  further  step  to  assume  that  these  new 
characters,  resulting  from  disuse  and  adaptation  to  new 
conditions  of  life,  were  inherited  by  successive  genera- 
tions. But  Chilton  ingeniously  remarks  that,  if  the 
modifications  in  the  eyes  of  cave  animals  were  the  direct 
inherited  effect  of  the  environment,  we  should  expect  to 
find  the  lines  of  modification  similar  in  all  animals  sub- 
jected to  the  same  conditions.  This,  however,  is  not  the 
case,  as  Packard's  own  investigations  have  shown.  The 
influences  leading  to  degeneration  act  uniformly  on  all 
individuals,  but  the  modifications  produced  in  the  eyes 
are  various,  and  occur  in  different  ways.  In  some  cases 
there  is  total  atrophy  of  the  optic  lobes  and  optic  nerves, 
with  or  without  the  persistence  in  part  of  the  pigment  (or 
retina)  and  the  crystalline  lens  ;  in  others  the  optic  lobes 
and  optic  nerve  persist,  but  there  is  total  atrophy  of  the 
rods  and  cones,  retina,  and  facets  ;  while  in  extreme  cases 
there  is  total  atrophy  of  the  optic  lobes  and  nerves,  and 
all  the  optic  elements.  These  examples,  showing  a 
development  apparently  capricious  and  varying  in  direc- 
tion in  animals  all  subjected  to  the  same  or  similar 
environment,  point  rather  to  the  action  of  Natural  Selec- 
tion than  to  that  of  the  direct  inherited  influence  of  the 
conditions  of  life. 

In  a  more  recent  essay  in  the  American  Naturalist 
(September  i894\  Packard  has  restated  his  views  on  the 
subject  of  the  modifications  of  the  eyes  in  subterranean 
animals,  and  concludes  his  remarks  with  the  following 
words  :  "That  while  the  heredity  of  acquired  characters 
was,  in  the  beginning,  the  general  rule,  as  soon  as  the 
congcnitally  blind  preponderated,  the  heredity  of  con- 
genital characters  became  the  normal  state  of  things." 
In  support  of  his  view,  Packard  cites  some  statistics  upon 
the  inter-marriage  of  deaf-mutes,  which  have  been  re- 
cently furnished  by  Prof  Graham  Bell.  It  would  appear 
that,  in  .America  at  any  rate,  the  segregation  of  deaf- 
mutes  within  asylums  has  been  followed  by  a  striking 
increase  in  intermarriages  among  them  :  so  that,  of  the 
deaf-mutes  who  marry  at  the  present  time,  no  less  than 
80  per  cent,  marrj'  deaf-mutes.  .A.  marked  increase  in 
the  numljcr  of  the  deaf-mute  population  has  ensued,  and 


226 


NA  TURE 


[July  4,  189- 


Prof.  Bell  points  out  the  danger  which  consequently 
exists  of  the  formation  of  a  distinct  deaf-mute  variety  of 
mankind. 

All  this  is  clearly  brought  out  in  Prof  Bell's  memoir  ; 
but  Mr.  Packard  goes  so  far  as  to  state  that  Mr.  Bell's 
statistics  appear  to  "almost  demonstrate  the  fact  of  the 
transmission  of  characters  acquired  during  the  life-time 
jf  the  individual,"  and  also  says  that  "deaf-mutes  already 
appear  to  breed  true  to  their  incipient  strain  or  variety, 
whether  congenitally  deaf  or  ri-iidcred  so  by  disease  during 
the  life-time  of  either  or  hotli  parents."  (The  italics  are 
ours  J.  We  are  thus  left  in  no  doubt  as  to  Mr.  Packard's 
interpretation  of  Mr.  Hell's  researches  ;  but  an  attempt 
on  our  own  part  to  find  in  Mr.  Bell's  pages  the  particular 
statistics  or  remarks  which  may  be  regarded  as  all  but 
demonstrating  the  inheritance  of  acquired  characters  has, 
remarkably  enough,  been  completely  unsuccessful.  Mr. 
Bell's  conclusions  lend  no  support  to  such  a  view.  So 
far  as  they  bear  upon  the  present  subject,  they  are  briefly 
as  follows  :  (l)  That  the  great  factor  in  determining  the 
production  of  deaf-muteness  in  offspring  is  the  existence 
of  a  hereditary-  taint  in  the  direction  of  deaf-muteness  in 
one  or  both  branches  of  the  family.  (2)  That  this 
hereditary'  taint  is  not  the  less  potent  in  its  effects  if  it 
fails  to  manifest  itself  in  the  actual  parents  of  the  deaf- 
mute.  (3)  That  "non-congenital  deafness,  if  sporadic, 
is  little  likely  to  be  inherited." 

It  would  thus  appear,  both  from  Chilton's  presentation 
of  the  facts,  and  from  the  failure  of  Packard's  appeal  to 
analogy,  that — often  as  the  contrary-  opinion  has  been 
urged — the  peculiarities  of  cavernicolous  animals  do  not 
lend  any  particular  degree  of  support  to  the  Lamarckian 
principles  of  evolution.  W.  G. 


PROPOSED  liALLOON  VOYAGE  TO    THE 
POLE. 

DUKIXCi  the  last  ccntuiy  many  expeditions  to  the 
North  Pole  have  been  undertaken,  but  with  no 
result  so  far  as  reaching  it  is  concerned.  Baron  Nordcn- 
skiold,  the  great  .Arctic  explorer,  has  made  four  expeditions 
to  .Spitzbergen,  and  two  to  Nova  Zenilia  and  Crccnland, 
besides  having  taken  part  in  the  celebrated  voyage  of  the 
Vega.  In  all  explorations  both  he  and  others  have  found 
the  icebergs  the  chief  obstacle  ;  and  it  may  be  said  that 
Arctic  explorers  are  now  almost  all  unanimously  con- 
vinced that  the  I'ole  can  never  be  reached  in  steamer  or 
sledge.  .Attempts  on  foot  have  likewise  failed,  for  the 
■distance  of  about  ten  miles  has  never  been  e.\ceeded, 
owing  to  the  great  difficulties  and  dangers. 

Notwithstanding  these  facts,  Dr.  Nansen,  the  celebrated 
Norwegian  explorer,  attempted  yet  another  way,  and 
instead  of  cutting  a  path  through  the  ice,  he  has  allowed 
himself  to  be  carried  polewards  Ijy  a  northerly  current. 
This  took  place  a  year  and  eight  months  ago,  and  he  has 
not  been  heard  of  since. 

Quite  recently,  at  the  Royal  Academy  of  Jicience, 
Stockholm,  an  even  more  perilous  project  was  proposed 
by  M.  Andree,  a  .Swedish  engineer.  M.  Andree  proposes 
making  the  expedition  in  a  balloon.  The  project  is  not  a 
new  one,  but  it  has  never  been  seriously  discussed  by  Arctic 
explorers.  M.  Andr(?e,  however,  has  had  much  expe- 
rience in  polar  regions,  having  spent  the  winter  of  1882-83 
in  the  far  north,  and  also  taken  part  in  the  Swedish 
Meteorological  Expedition,  which  lasted  a  year.  He 
has  also  proved  hnnself  to  be  a  dauntless  aeronaut,  his 
most  interesting  voyage  being  one  from  (lothenburg  to 
the  Isle  of  (iothland,  in  which  he  had  to  cross  part  of  the 
Baltic.  Everything  in  connection  with  this  proposed 
xpcdition  has  been  minutely  studied  and  discussed  ; 
nd  infinite  pains  have  been  taken  to  solve  all  ilifficullies. 

The  balloon  would  require  a  double  outer  covering, 
and  a   volume  of   6500  cubic   yards.     The   ascensional 

NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


power  thus  obtained  would  be  sufficiently  great  to 
earn.'  three  persons,  furnished  with  provisions  for  four 
months,  besides  allowing  for  the  car  being  fitted  up  with 
necessary  instruments  for  observation,  life-buoys,  and 
Bertons  collapsible  boats.  The  car  could  be  suspended 
in  such  a  way  as  to  allow  of  instant  detachment  in  case 
of  a  descent  into  the  sea.  The  entire  weight  of  the 
balloon  must  not  exceed  about  three  tons.  In  the 
instance  of  Henri  Giffard's  captive  balloon,  exhibited  in 
1 8/8,  and  which  weighed  about  six  tons,  it  only  required 
newly  inflating  after  a  yeai^'s  use.  .According  to  G.raham's 
observations,  a  balloon  measuring  8|  yards  in  diameter 
can  be  made  sufficiently  air-tight  so  as  to  suffer,  per 
month,  merely  a  loss  of  13^  lbs.  of  its  ascensional  force. 
M.  .Andrde,  however,  hopes  to  produce  an  absolutely 
impermeable  covering. 

The  balloon,  being  protected  from  the  wind  by  a 
wooden  enclosure,  would  be  inflated  as  far  north  as 
possible,  by  means  of  hydrogen  compressed  in  cylinders. 
This  once  accomplished,  it  would  begin  to  ascend.  To 
a  certain  extent  it  might  be  steered  by  means  of  a  sail 
and  several  guide-ropes,  which,  dragging  on  the  earth, 
form  as  it  were  a  brake.  The  ropes,  however,  would 
have  to  be  of  special  composition,  in  order  to  produce 
the  same  effect  in  water.  The  hindrance  thus  caused  to 
the  flight  of  the  balloon,  together  with  the  pressure  of 
the  wind,  would  allow  the  use  of  a  sail.  The  flight  then 
might  reach  an  angle  of  40"  away  from  the  wind  tlirec- 
tion.  This  steering  apparatus,  inxcntcd  by  M.  Andrde, 
has  often  been  used  by  him  in  his  aerial  voyages. 

Besides  the  guide-ropes,  heavy  lines,  on  which  would 
be  placed  numbered  metal  plates,  would  be  attached  to 
the  car ;  these  would  serve  as  ballast.  In  case  of  a 
lowering  of  temperature,  and  a  consequent  descent  of 
the  balloon,  it  could  be  lightened  by  throwing  off  these 
plates,  which,  if  found,  would,  to  a  certain  extent,  show 
the  course  taken  by  the  explorers. 

Spitzbergen  has  been  chosen  as  the  starting-point,  for 
this  island  is  almost  always  clear  of  ice  by  the  middle  of 
June.  The  departure  would  lake  place  in  July,  on  a 
clear  day,  with  a  southerly  wind.  .At  Spitzbergen  the 
average  rate  of  wind  per  second  is  loi  yards  ;  the  guide- 
ropes  would  cause  a  hindrance  of  about  2^  yards  per 
second,  therefore  the  average  rate  of  balloon  would  be 
nearly  8  yards  per  second,  which  is  about  16  miles  an 
hour.  .At  this  rate  the  I'ole  should  be  reached  in  43 
hours. 

The  summer  is  in  all  respects  the  most  suitable  time 
for  an  aeronautic  voyage  in  Spitzbergen.  The  lowest 
temperature  observeti  at  Ca|)e  Thordsen  in  July,  1883, 
was  4- o^'S  C,  and  the  highest  4- 1 1  6  C.  The  move- 
ments of  the  balloon  would  therefore  be  very  regular. 
Besides  this,  there  are  pr.utirally  no  storms,  and  the 
fall  of  snow  in  June  and  July  is  both  slight  and  rare. 

M.  Andree's  project  has  been  highly  approved  of  by 
the  most  experienced  .Arctic  explorers.  Baron  Nordcn- 
skiiild  has  declared  himself  in  favour  of  it,  and  M. 
Eikholm,  chief  of  the  .Swedish  Meteorological  Expedi- 
tion to  Spitzbergen  in  1882-83,  states  that  the  conditions 
of  the  .\rctic  regions  are  most  favouralile  for  this  voy.ige. 
He  thinks,  moreover,  that  in  the  future  the  lialloon  will 
be  the  principal  means  of  exploring  that  part  of  the 
world. 

For  many  of  the  above  details,  we  are  indebted  to  an 
article  in  the  /uTi/e  Seientiliqiie^  bv  M.  Cliarles  Rabol. 

W. 


THOMAS  HENRY  HUXLEY. 
■\X7E  regret  to  announce  that,  after  an  illness  extending 
*  "^  back  to  last  March,  and  relieved  only  by  two  or 
three  brief  periods  of  improving  luallh.  Prof.  Huxley 
passed  peacefully  into  the  silence  of  death  on  Saturday 
afternoon. 


JuLv  4,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


227 


So  long  ago  as  1874,  a  notice  of  the  life  and  work  of 
I'rof.  Huxley  was  included  in  our  "  Scientific  Worthies  " 
(vol.  ix.  p.  257),  and  Dr.  Ernst  Haeckel  added  to  it  an 
appreciative  notice  of  his  biological  labours.  These 
twenty-year-old  publications  render  it  unnecessary  that 
any  extensive  reference  to  the  subject-matter  of  them 
should  be  given  now,  and,  moreover,  the  chief  details 
of  his  life  are  well  known. 

Huxley  was  born  at  Ealing  in  1825.  His  scientific 
training  began  in  the  medical  school  attached  to  Charing 
Cross  Hospital,  which  he  entered  in  1842.  Four  years 
later  he  joined  the  medical  service  of  the  Royal  Navy, 
and  proceeded  to  Haslar  Hospital  ;  from  there  he  was 
selected  to  occupy  the  post  of  Assistant-Surgeon  to 
H.M.S.  Rattlesnake,  \.\\c'!\  about  to  proceed  on  a  sur\eying 
voyage  in  the  Southern  Seas.  The  ship  sailed  from 
England  in  the  winter  of  1846,  and  returned  to  England 
in  1850,  after  surveying  the  inner  route  between  the 
Barrier  Reef  and  the  East  Coast  of  Australia  and  New 
Guinea.  During' this  period,  Huxley  sent  home  several 
papers,  some  of  which  were  published  in  the  Philo- 
sophical Transaetions  of  the  Royal  Society.  His 
first  important  paper,  "  On  the  .Anatomy  and  Affini- 
ties of  the  .Medusa;,"  was  published  in  1849.  His 
communications,  and  the  evience  of  ability  which 
they  furnished,  led  to  his  election  into  the  Royal  Society 
in   1851. 

In  1854,  Huxley  succeeded  his  friend  Edward  Forbes 
as  I'ahcontologist  and  Lecturer  on  Natural  History  at 
the  Royal  School  of  Mines,  a  post  which  he  held  until 
his  retirement  in  1885.  He  was  a  great  teacher,  and  the 
high  reputation  of  the  School,  now  combined  with  the 
Royal  College  of  Science,  is  largely  due  to  his  great 
influence.  At  the  request  of  the  Lords  of  the  Committee 
of  Council  on  Education,  he  continued  to  act  as 
Honorary  Dean  of  the  School,  and  at  death  he  still 
retained  that  post.  He  also  agreed  to  be  responsible  for 
the  general  direction  of  the  biological  instruction  in  the 
School,  so  that  his  place  as  Professor  of  Biology  has  never 
been  filled  up. 

Huxley  was  twice  chosen  Fullerian  Professor  of 
Physiology  to  the  Royal  Institution,  the  first  time  in 
1854.  In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  Examiner  in 
Physiology  and  Comparati\c  .Anatomy  to  the  University 
of  London.  Other  posl.s  and  honours  were  crowded  upon 
him.  In  1858  he  delivered  the  Croonian  Lecture  of  the 
Royal  Society,  when  he  chose  for  his  subject  the  "'Theor)- 
of  the  X'ertebrate  Skull.'  From  1863  to  1869  he  held  the 
post  of  Hunterian  Professor  at  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons.  In  1S62  he  was  President  of  the  Biological 
Section  at  the  Cambridge  meeting  of  the  British  Associa- 
tion, and  eight  years  later  held  the  Presidency  of  the 
Association  at  the  Liverpool  meeting.  In  1869  and  1870 
he  was  President  of  the  Geological  and  Ethnological 
Societies,  and  in  1872  was  elected  Lord  Rector  of  .Aber- 
deen University  for  three  years.  .As  might  be  expected. 
Prof  Huxley  held  strong  and  well-defined  views  on 
the  subject  of  education.  He  was  a  man  who  at  all  times 
had  a  keen  sense  of  public  duty,  and  it  was  this  which 
induced  him  to  seek  election  on  the  first  London  School 
Hoard  in  1870.  Ill-health  compelled  him  to  retire  from 
that  post  in  1872,  but  during  his  period  of  service  as 
chairman  of  the  Education  Committee  he  did  much  to 
mould  the  scheme  of  education  adopted  in  the  Board 
Schools. 

He  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1873, 
and  ten  years  later  was  called  to  the  highest  honorary 
position  which  an  English  scientific  man  can  fill,  the 
presidency  of  that  Society.  During  the  absence  of  the 
late  Prof  Sir  \\'y\ille  Thomson  with  the  Challenger 
Expedition,  Huxley,  in  1875  and  1876,  took  his  place  as 
Professor  of  Natural  History  in  the  University  of  Edin- 
burgh. From  1881  to  1885  he  acted  as  Inspector  of 
Salmon    Fisheries.     But   this   and   all   his  other  official 


NO.    1340,  VOL.  52] 


posts  he  resigned  in  1885,  shortly  after  which  he  removed 
to  Eastbourne. 

In  1892,  more  than  six  years  after  his  retirement,  the 
dignity  of  Privy  Councillor  was  conferred  upon  him. 
The  Copley  Medal  of  the  Royal  Society  was  awarded 
to  him  in  1888,  the  Royal  Medal  having  been  received 
by  him  in  1852  ;  and  in  December  last  he  received  the 
Darwin  Medal,  the  two  previous  recipients  being  Dr.  A. 
R.  \\'allace  and  Sir  Joseph  Hooker.  His  honorary 
degrees  were  : — D.C.L.  (O.xford)  ;  LL.D.  (Cambridge, 
Edinburgh,  and  Dublin)  ;  M.D.  (Wurzburg.i  ;  Ph.D. 
(Breslau).  The  King  of  Sweden  created  him  Knight  of 
the  Polar  Star,  and  he  was  elected  into  most  foreign 
Societies  and  Academies  of  Science  of  note.  He  was  a 
Correspondant  of  the  Paris  Academic  des  Sciences 
(Section  of  Anatomy  and  Zoology j,  and  Corresponding 
Member  of  the  St.  Petersburg  Academic  Impdriale  des 
Sciences,  the  .Akademie  der  Wissenschaften,  of  Berlin 
and  of  Munich,  the  Svenska  \'etenskaps-.Akademie, 
Stockholm,  the  Halle  Akademie  der  Naturforscher,  the 
Academies  of  Natural  Sciences  of  Philadelphia,  Boston 
and  Buffalo,  the  Gottingen  Gessellschaft  der  Wissen- 
schaften, the  Paris  Societe  d'.AnthropoIogie.  and  the 
Naturforschende  Gessellschaft  at  Frankfurt-a-M.  He 
was  Honorary  Member  of  the  Royal  Irish  .Academy,  the 
Accademia  dei  Lincei  at  Rome,  the  Brussels  .Acadifmie 
de  Mddecine,  the  Institut  Egyptien  at  .Alexandria,  the 
Batavia  Genootschap  van  Kunsten  en  Wetenschappen, 
the  American  Academy  of  .Arts  and  Sciences,  National 
Academy  of  Sciences,  and  the  Amsterdam  .Akademie  van 
Wetenschappen.  He  was  also  Foreign  Member  of  the 
Brussels  .Academic  des  Sciences,  the  Haarlem  Maat- 
schappij  der  Wetenschappen,  the  Philadelphia  .Academy 
of  Natural  Science,  and  the  Societa  Italiana  delle 
Scienze. 

How  far-seeing  Huxley  was,  with  regard  to  our 
present  scientific  needs,  may  be  gathered  from  his 
address  when  he  retired  from  the  presidency  of  the  Royal 
Society.  He  saw  that  scientific  literature  would  have  tO' 
be  organised  before  it  could  be  fully  utilised.  His  words 
were  :  "  We  are  in  the  case  of  Tarpeia,  who  opened  the 
gates  of  the  Roman  citadel  to  the  Sabines,  and  was 
crushed  under  the  weight  of  the  reward  bestowed  upon 
her.  It  has  become  impossible  for  any  man  to  keep  pace 
with  the  progress  of  the  whole  of  any  important  branch 
of  science.  ...  It  looks  as  if  the  scientific,  like  other 
revolutions,  meant  to  devour  its  own  children  ;  as  if  the 
growth  of  science  tended  to  overwhelm  its  votaries  ;  as  if 
the  man  of  science  of  the  future  were  condemned  to  diminish 
into  a  narrower  and  narrower  specialist  as  time  goes  on. . . . 
It  appears  to  me  that  the  only  defence  against  this  ten- 
dency to  the  degeneration  of  scientific  workers,  lies  in  the 
organisation  and  extension  of  scientific  education,  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  secure  breadth  of  culture  without  super- 
ficiality ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  depth  and  precision  of 
knowledge  without  narrowness."  .Another  point  touched 
upon  in  the  same  address  was  the  claims  of  science  to  a 
place  in  all  systems  of  education.  "  We  have  a  right,"^ 
he  said,  "  to  claim  that  science  shall  be  put  upon  the  same 
footing  as  any  other  great  subject  of  instruction,  that  it 
shall  have  an  equal  share  in  the  schools,  an  equal  share 
in  the  recognised  qualification  for  degrees,  and  in  L'ni- 
versity  honours  and  rewards.  It  must  be  recognised  that 
science,  as  intellectual  discipline,  is  at  least  as  important 
as  literature,  and  that  the  scientific  student  must  no  longer 
be  handicapped  by  a  linguistic  (I  will  not  call  it  litcran,-) 
burden,  the  equivalent  of  which  is  not  imposed  upon  his 
classical  compeer."  To  the  expression  of  such  views  as 
these  we  owe  the  increased  attention  now  given  to  scien- 
tific instruction  in  this  country,  though  we  have  not  yet 
reached  the  impartial  stage  to  which  science  has  a  right. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  too  early  to  fix  Huxley's  real  place 
in  Biology.  Writing  in  these  columns  in  1874,  the 
eminent  German  naturalist,  Haeckel,  ranked  him  among 


22S 


NATURE 


[July  4,  189; 


the  first  zoologists  in  Englai\d,  taking  zoology  in  its  widest 
and  fullest  signification.  "  When  we  consider,"  he  re- 
marked, "the  long  series  of  distinguished  memoirs  with 
which,  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  ccntur\-.  Prof  Huxley 
has  enriched  zoological  literature,  wc  find  that  in  each  of 
the  larger  divisions  of  the  animal  kingdom  we  are 
indebted  to  him  for  important  discoveries."  From  the 
lowest  animals  he  gradually  e.\tended  his  investigation  to 
the  highest.  In  the  Protozoa,  he  was  the  first  to  come 
to  satisfactor>-  conclusions  concerning  the  nature  of 
Thalassicollid;c  and  Spha-rozoida  ;  and  by  his  work  on 
"Oceanic  Hydrozoa,"  he  greatly  extended  the  knowledge 
of  Zoophytes.  His  researches  upon  members  of  the 
important  group  of  Tunicata  are  of  great  value,  and 
many  important  advances  in  the  morphology  of  the 
.MoUusca  and  .Arthropoda  are  due  to  him.  Further, 
Huxley  especially  studied  and  advanced  the  knowledge 
of  the  comparative  anatomy  and  classification  of  the 
\'ertebrata.  His  "  Lectures  on  the  Elements  of  Compara- 
tive .A.natomy,"  and  his  numerous  monographs  on  living 
and  extinct  species,  afford  abundant  endence  of  what 
biological  science  owes  to  him.  ' 

Huxley's  place  as  one  who  has  Iffl-gely  influenced 
mo<lem  thought  on  many  questions,  is  acknowledged 
by  all  to  be  a  ver)-  high  one.  The  profound  and  truly 
philosophical  conceptions  which  guided  him  in  his 
inquiries,  always  enabled  him  to  distinguish  the  essential 
from  the  unessential.  First  among  the  subjects  which 
owe  their  advancement  to  his  support  is  the  theory  of 
biological  evolution.  When,  in  i860,  it  became  his  duty 
as  Professor  at  the  Royal  School  of  Mines  to  give  a 
course  of  lectures  to  working  men  in  the  Jcrmyn  Street 
Museum  of  Practical  Geology,  he  selected  for  his  subject 
"The  Relation  of  Man  to  the  Lower  .-Vnimals."  The 
questions  arising  out  of  this  topic  became  the  subject  of 
warm  controversy  at  the  meeting  of  the  British  .\ssocia- 
tion  in  that  and  subsequent  years.  The  lectures  were 
published  in  1863,  under  the  title  "  Evidence  as  to  Man's 
Place  in  Nature,"  and  excited  great  interest  both  in  this 
countr)-  and  abroad.  In  this  and  in  other  works  he 
advanced  the  principles  of  the  Darwinian  theory,  and 
worked  out  many  important  developments. 

To  again  quote  Hacckel  :  '"  Not  only  has  the  Evolution 
Theory  received  from  Prof  Huxley  a  complete  demon- 
stration of  its  immense  importance,  not  only  has  it  been 
largely  advanced  by  his  valuable  comparative  researches, 
but  its  spread  among  the  general  public  has  been  largely 
due  to  his  well-known  popular  writings.  In  these  he  has 
accomplished  the  difficult  task  of  rendering  more  fully 
and  clearly  intelligible  to  an  educated  public  of  very 
various  ranks,  the  highest  problems  of  philosophic 
biology.  From  the  lowest  to  the  highest  organisms, 
he  has  elucidated  the  connecting  law  of  development. 
In  these  several  ways  he  has  rendered  science  a  ser\ice 
which  must  ever  rank  as  one  of  the  highest  of  his  many 
and  great  scientific  merits." 

As  a  writer  of  English,  Huxley  has  been  unsurpassed  in 
<iur  time  and  generation.  He  has  set  a  standard  in  scien- 
tific literature,  both  in  clearness  of  exposition  and  in  the 
most  perfect  handling  of  words,  which  it  behoves  his  suc- 
cessors to  closely  follow.  He  aimed  at  writing  clearly, 
and  avoided  the  use  of  technical  language  whenever 
possible.  .As  he  remarks  in  the  preface  to  the  volume  of 
"'-ollected  Essays  "containing  his  biological  and  geological 
addresses  :  "  I  have  not  been  one  of  those  fortunate  pcr- 
.sons  who  are  able  to  regard  a  popular  lecture  as  a  mere 
liors  (fa-uiT,;  unworthy  of  being  ranked  among  the  serious 
efforts  of  a  philosopher  ;  and  who  keep  their  fame  as 
scientific  hierophants  unsullied  by  attempts  at  least,  of 
the  successful  sort  to  be  undcrslanded  of  the  people. 
On  the  contrary.  I  found  that  the  task  of  putting  the 
truths  learned  in  the  held,  the  iaborator)' and  llic  museum, 
into  language  which,  without  bating  a  jot  of  scientific 
;»ccuracy  shall  be  generally  intelligible,  taxed  such  scien- 

NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


tific  and  literary  abilities  as  I  possessed  to  the  uttermost ; 
indeed,  my  experience  has  furnished  me  with  no  better  cor- 
rective of  the  tendency  to  scholastic  pedantry  which  besets 
all  those  who  are  absorbed  in  pursuits  remote  from  the 
common  ways  of  men,  and  become  habituated  to  think 
and  speak  in  the  technical  dialect  of  their  own  little 
world,  as  if  there  were  no  other." 

This  Journal  especially  loses  in  him  one  of  its  best 
friends.  We  are  now  in  the  second  series  of  fifty  volumes, 
and  his  was  the  hand  that  commenced  both  of  them.  His 
introduction  to  the  fifty-first  volume  will  be  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  our  readers,  and  it  justified  the  position 
he  had  occupied  since  1S59,  as  the  devoted  apostle  of 
the  Darwinian  tlieor)'.  He  was,  moreover,  not  only  a 
most  valued  contributor  to  our  columns,  but  his  advice 
on  many  points  has  been  freely  asked,  given,  and 
followed,  during  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Hu.xley's  wonderful  kindness  to  young  men  is  very  well 
known.  He  would  discuss  subjects  with  his  students, 
and  his  perfect  geniality  put  them  entirely  at  their  ease. 
.\lways  ready  to  extend  a  helping  hand,  he  assisted  many 
to  higher  ranges  than  they  could  otherwise  have  attained, 
and  by  words  of  encouragement  induced  others  to  con- 
tinue their  ascent. 

The  objects  which  Huxley  stated  he  had  in  mind  from 
the  commencement  of  his  scientific  career  are  these  :-- 

"To  promote  the  increase  of  natural  knowledge  and  to 
forward  the  application  of  scientific  methods  of  investi- 
gation to  all  the  problems  of  life  to  the  best  of  my  ability, 
in  the  conviction  which  has  grown  with  my  growth  and 
strengthened  with  my  strength  that  there  is  no  alleviation 
for  the  sufferings  of  mankind  except  veracity  of  thought 
and  of  action,  and  the  resolute  facing  of  the  world  as  it 
is  when  the  garment  of  make-believe  by  which  pious 
hands  have  hidden  its  uglier  features  is  stripped  ofl".  It 
is  with  this  intent  that  I  have  subordinated  any  reason- 
able, or  unreasonable,  ambition  for  scientific  fame,  which 
1  may  have  permitted  myself  to  entertain,  to  other  ends  ; 
to  the  popularisation  of  science  ;  to  the  development  and 
organisation  of  scientific  education  ;  to  the  endless  series 
of  battles  and  skirmishes  over  evolution  ;  and  to  untiring 
opposition  to  that  ecclesiastical  spirit,  that  clericalism, 
which  in  England,  as  everywhere  else,  and  to  whatever 
denomination  it  may  belong,  is  the  deadly  enemy  of 
science.  In  striving  for  the  attainment  of  these  objects, 
I  have  been  but  one  among  many,  and  1  shall  be  well  con- 
tent to  be  remembered,  or  even  not  remembered,  as  such." 

How  nobly  he  acted  up  to  his  principles  we  all  know  ; 
how  greatly  the  pursuit  of  his  objects  have  benefited  in- 
tellectual and  material  progress,  we  can  only  estimate. 

In  the  preface  of  the  fifth  \oluine  of  his  "Collected 
Essays,"  Huxley  gives  a  quotation  from  Strauss's 
"  Der  alte  und  der  neue  C.laube,''  which  describes  so 
exactly  the  guiding  principles  of  his  life,  that  it  is  difficult 
to  believe  the  lines  were  written  by  another  hand  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  "  For  close  upon  forty  years," 
wrote  Strauss,  "  1  have  been  writing  with  one  purpose  ; 
from  time  to  time  I  have  fiiughl  for  that  which  seemed  to 
me  the  truth,  perhaps  still  more,  against  that  which  I 
have  thought  error  :  and  in  this  way  I  have  reached, 
indeed  overstepped,  the  threshold  of  old  age.  There  every 
earnest  man  has  to  listen  to  the  voice  within  :  '  Ciivc  an 
account  of  thy  stewardship,  for  thou  mayest  be  no  longer 
steward.'  That  I  have  been  an  unjust  steward,  my  con- 
science does  not  bear  witness.  .-Xt  times  ])lundering,  at 
times  negligent.  Heaven  knows  :  but,  on  the  whole,  1 
have  done  that  which  I  fi-lt  al)le  and  called  upon  to  do  ; 
and  1  have  done  it  without  looking  to  the  right  or  to  the 
left  ;  .seeking  no  man's  favour,  fearing  no  man's  disfavour." 

Huxley  leaves  a  wife  and  seven  children  three  sons 
and  four  daughters.  They  mourn  the  loss  of  a  loving 
husband  and  father,  and  their  affliction  is  shared  by  ;ill 
who  were  fortunate  enough  to  know  him  as  a  friend.  Hut 
his  loss  will  not  only  be  felt  by  these  ;  it  affects  the  whole 


July  4,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


229 


intellectual  world.  Men  will  arise  who,  like  him,  will 
advance  and  extend  scientific  knowledge  by  research  and 
exposition,  but  rarely  will  the  qualities  of  the  investigator 
and  interpreter  be  combined  with  a  more  charming 
personality. 

The  funeral  has  been  fixed  to  take  place  at  Marylebone 
Cemetery  this  afternoon,  at  2.30  o'clock. 


NOTES. 

Among  the  honours  which  Lord  Roseliery  recommended  on 
leaving  otiice,  and  which  the  Queen  has  approved,  we  notice 
that  Dr.  Robert  Cliffen,  C.  B. ,  whose  work  in  various  departments 
of  statistical  science  will  be  known  to  our  readers,  has  become 
K.C.B.,  and  that  I'rof  J.  \V.  Judd  has  been  appointed  C.B. 
Mr.  James  Blyth,  the  well-known  agriculturist,  has  received  a 
baronetcy,  Colonel  V.  D.  Majendie,  C.B. ,  has  been  promoted 
to  K.C. H. ,  and  Captain  Lugard  has  been  appointed  C.B. 

Thk  International  Meteorological  Committee,  at  its  last 
meeting  at  Upsala,  in  August  1894,  recommended  that  an 
International  Conference  of  the  same  character  as  that  of  .Munich 
in  1S91,  should  be  held  at  Paris  about  the  middle  of  September, 
probably  September  15,  1896.  A  circular  has  just  been  distributed 
among  meteorologists,  announcing  that  ^L  Mascart  has  under- 
taken to  make  the  arrangements  necessary  for  the  meetings 
of  the  conference.  Mr.  K.  H.  Scott  will  be  glad  to  receive, 
at  the  .Meteorological  Office,  notes  on  any  questions  suitable  for 
insertion  in  the  programme  for  the  conference.  It  is  proposed 
that  the  definitive  programme  .shall  be  prepared  before  the  end 
of  the  present  year  1895,  in  order  to  give  meteorologists 
interested  in  the  subjects  proposed  for  discussion,  time  to 
formulate  their  views  thereon. 

TftE  death  is  announced  of  Prof  D.  Kirkwood,  for  many 
years  Professor  of  Mathematics  in  Indiana  .State  University, 
and  known  for  his  investigations  of  the  orbits  of  planets  and 
comets. 

An  influential  committee  has  been  formed  in  Paris,  to  collect 
fimds  for  the  erection  of  a  monument  to  Francis  Gamier,  the 
explorer.  The  Treasurer  of  the  Committee  is  M.  J.  Ruetf, 
43  rue  Taitbout,  Paris. 

Proi'.  Fl'CHS  has  been  elected  a  Correspondant  of  the  Paris 
.\cademy  of  Sciences,  in  the  Section  of  Geometry  ;  Dr.  Xansen 
has  been  elected  a  Correspondant  of  the  Section  of  Geography 
and  Navigation,  and  Dr.  Laveran  a  Correspondant  of  the  Section 
of  Medicine  and  Surgery. 

Prok.  V\ii.|)  has  formally  announced  the  resignation  of  his 
office  at  St.  Petersburg  as  from  September  13.  His  future 
residence  will  be  at  Zurich,  and  he  requests  that  papers  and 
books  hitherto  addressed  to  him  at  St.  Petersburg,  should  be 
sent  to  his  new  address. 

The  subject  of  the  essays  for  the  Howard  Medal  of  the 
Royal  Statistical  Society,  to  be  awarded  in  1896,  with  £zo  as 
heretofore,  js  "  School  Hygiene,  in  its  Mental,  Moral,  and 
I'hysical  Aspects."  Kssays  should  be  sent  in  on  or  before  June 
30,  1896. 

Prof.  C.  Ij.ovd  Morg.\n  has  accepted  an  invitation  to 
deliver  four  lectures  in  the  Columbia  University  Biological 
Course  next  winter.  His  subject  will  be  "Some  Habits  and 
iTistincts  of  Birds."  Mr.  Frank  M.  Chapman,  of  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History,  will  also  give  four  lectures  upon 
birds,  from  the  zoologist's  standpoint. 

The  American  Museum  Expedition  of  1S95  has  already  com- 
pleted  the  exploration   of   the    linta    basin    fossil  fauna,   and 
NO.    1340    VOL.   52] 


established  the  fact  that,  like  the  Phosphorites  of  France,  it  is 
completely  transitional  between  the  Focene  and  Miocene.  The 
])arty  is  now  passing  north  to  explore  Brown's  Park  on  the 
eastern  base  of  the  Uinta  .Mountains,  an  ancient  lake  basin  which 
has  been  long  known  but  hitherto  unexplored  for  fo.ssils. 

The  Fxecutive  of  the  Midland  Union  of  Naturalists  at  their 
annual  meeting,  held  on  Monday  last  at  Oxford,  awarded  to 
Mr.  Walter  E.  Collinge,  .\s.sistant-Lecturer  in  Zoology  and 
Comparative  Anatomy,  -Mason  College,  Binningham,  the 
"Darwin  Medal"  for  his  recent  researches  on  the  cranial 
nerves  and  sensory  canal  system  of  fishes. 

Mr.  George  S.  Davis,  who,  .since  Januar)'  1885,  has  at  a 
very  hea\'y  loss  maintained  the  "  Index  Medicus,'  announces 
he  will  be  obliged  to  discontinue  that  very  useful  publication, 
owing  to  insufficient  support.  It  would  hardly  be  to  the  credit 
of  medical  societies,  and  .scientific  workers  generally,  if  this 
indis|)ensable  monthly  index  is  allowed  to  come  to  an  end  for 
want  of  .something  like  ;f400  a  year. 

The  fortieth  annual  exhibition  of  the  Royal  Photographic 
Society  will  be  inaugurated  on  Saturday,  September  28,  by  a 
private  view,  followed  in  the  evening  by  a  conversazione.  The 
exhibition  will  remain  open  daily  (Sundays  excepted)  from 
.September  30  until  November  14.  Medals  will  be  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  judges  for  the  artistic,  scientific,  and  technical  excel- 
lence of  photographs,  lantern  slides,  and  transparencies,  and  for 
apparatus.  The  judges  for  the  technical  section  are  Captain  W. 
de  W.  Abney,  Mr.  Chapman  Jones,  and  .Mr.  Andrew  Pringle. 

A.N  International  Exhibition  of  Hygiene,  organised  under  the 
direction  of  M.  Brouardel,  was  opened  at  Paris  on  Thursday 
last.  The  exhibits  are  divided  into  five  groups,  referring 
respectively  to  (i)  the  hygiene  of  private  houses;  (2)  city 
hygiene;  {3)  the  prophylactics  of  zymotic  diseases,  demography, 
.sanitary  statistics,  &c.  ;  (4)  the  hygiene  of  childhood,  including 
alimentary  hygiene,  questions  of  clothing,  and  physical  exercises ; 
(5)  industrial  and  professional  hygiene. 

The  Weekly  Weather  Report  of  the  29th  uU.  shows  that  the 
rainfall  for  the  first  half  of  this  year  is  much  below  the  average 
in  all  districts  except  the  north-east  of  England.  The  deficiency 
varies  from  2'5  inches  in  the  east  of  Scotland,  to  5  inches  in 
the  south-west  of  England,  but  in  the  west  of  Scotland  the 
deficiency  amounts  to  12  inches.  Some  heavy  amounts  have, 
however,  been  measured  recently  ;  at  Churchstoke,  Mont- 
gomery, the  abnormally  large  fall  of  4^83  inches  was  recorded 
on  the  26th  ult. 

A  FEW  days  ago,  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Liverpool,  on  behalf  i>f 
the  Museum  Committee  of  the  Corporation  (of  which  Sir 
William  B.  P"orwood  is  chairman),  opened  in  the  Public  Museum, 
in  presence  of  a  numerous  assembly,  a  large  new  gallery  ex- 
clusively devoted  to  ethnography.  .\n  interesting  account  of 
the  origin  and  history  of  the  collection,  and  of  the  method  of 
its  arrangement,  was  given  by  Dr.  H.  O.  Forbes,  the  Director 
of  Museums.  The  African,  Papuan,  and  New  Zealand  sections 
are  especially  rich,  while  those  of  Mexico,  Peru,  and  Patagonia 
contain  some  very  rare  exhibits  of  exceptional  value. 

At  the  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Society  of  .\rts,  the 
following  gentlemen  were  elected  \ice-Presidents  : — Sir  Edward 
Birkbeck,  Mr.  B.  Francis  Cobb,  the  Hon.  Sir  Charles  W. 
Fremantle,  Sir  Douglas  Galton,  and  Prof  W.  C.  Roberts- 
.Vusten.  To  fill  the  places  vacated  by  retiring  members  of 
Council,  there  were  elected,  at  the  same  meeting,  .Sir  Steuart 
Colvin  Bayley,  M.ajor-General  Sir  Owen  Tudor  Burne,  Mr.  R. 
Brudenell  Carter,  and  Dr.  Francis  Elgar.  Sir  Frederick 
lirannvell  was  elected  Treasurer  of  the  Society. 


ISlA  TURE 


[July  4,  1895 


The  following  recent  appointments  are  announced  in  Science. 
To  be  assistant  professors  in  Johns  Hopkins  University  :  Dr.  C. 
Lane  Poor,  astronomy  ;  Dr.  A.  S.  Chessin,  mathematics  and 
mechanics :  Dr.  Simon  Klexner,  pathology ;  Dr.  .-Mbert  Mann 
to  be  professor  of  biolog)-  in  Ohio  Wesleyan  University.  In 
Syracuse  University,  Dr.  E.  C.  (Juereau  to  be  professor  of 
geoli^-  and  mineralogy,  and  Dr.  W.  H.  Metzler  associate 
professor  of  mathematics.  Mr.  M.  A.  Mackenzie  has  been 
appointed  professor  of  mathematics  in  Trinity  University, 
Toronto.  The  chair  of  physics  in  the  University  of  California, 
recently  filled  by  the  late  Prof.  Harold  Whiting,  h.os  been 
offered  to  Dr.  E.  I'.  Lewis. 

A  NOVEL  engineering  .scheme  in  the  construction  of  the 
foundation  of  the  retaining  wall  of  the  new  speedway  at  High 
Bridge,  in  New  York  City,  is  the  freezing  of  a  bed  of  quicksand 
which  impeded  the  work.  A  row  of  4-inch  pipes  have  been 
sunk  a  few  feet  apart,  to  the  depth  of  40  feel.  These  pipes  are 
capped  at  the  bottom,  and  inside  them  are  inserted  smaller 
pipes,  open  at  the  bottom.  Cold  air  is  forced  from  a  condenser 
through  the  smaller  pipes  into  the  larger,  and  thence  returned 
to  the  condenser.  The  air  is  cooled  by  expansion  to  a  tempera- 
ture of  about  -45°  C. ,  thus  freezing  the  surrounding  mud  and 
wet  sand,  and  checking  the  flow  into  the  excax-ation. 

Those  who  have  read  Prof  Crum  Brown's  "  Robert  Boyle  " 
Lecture,  reported  in  our  columns  (vol.  Hi.  p.  184),  will  be 
interested  to  leam  that  among  the  "  Studies  from  the  Princeton 
Laboratory,"  contributed  to  the  current  number  of  the  Psycho- 
io^'cal  AW'/Wt',  there  is  a  pa^xir  on  *'  Sensations  of  Rotation,"  by 
Mr.  H.  C.  Warren.  The  particular  object  of  this  investigation 
was  to  determine  the  relative  influence  of  sight  and  the  internal 
.sense  of  rotation  on  the  subjective  estimate  of  movement.  By 
means  of  a  mirror — which  could  be  inserted  or  removed  at  will — 
thcapjMrent  motion,  as  given  to  sight,  could  be  reversed.  For 
the  detailed  results  the  paper  itself  must  be  consulted.  In 
general  they  seem,  we  are  told,  to  favour  the  view  that 
the  semicircular  canals  constitute  the  organ  for  the  sense  of 
rotation. 

The  Meteorological  Office  has  received  from  the  Central 
Physical  Observatory  of  St.  Petersburg,  copies  of  a  circular 
addressed  to  various  institutions  with  reference  to  a  proposed 
meteorological  exhibit  at  Nizhny-Novgorod  Exhibition  in  1896. 
The  Central  Physical  (Jbservatory  being  desirous  of  making  this 
exhibit  as  complete  as  possible,  and  at  the  same  lime  of  making 
known  to  the  Russian  public  the  progress  of  meteorological 
science  in  various  countries,  desires  to  obtain  information  on  any 
of  the  following  points  : — ( I )  Number  of  stations,  of  diflerenl 
orders.  (2)  Titles  of  pcriwlical  publications,  any  of  which  will 
lie  exhibited.  (3)  Summary  of  practical  applications  of  meteor- 
ology, with  titles  of  any  works  on  the  subject.  (4)  Copies  of 
works  containing  mean  values  or  references  to  them,  instruction  s 
for  t.aking  observations,  descriptions  of  instruments  with  methods 
of  exposure,  and  charts  referring  to  maritime  meteorology. 

The  autumn  meeting  of  the  Iron  and  .Steel  Institute  will  be 
helil  at  Birmingham  from  Tuesday  to  Friday,  August  20-23. 
The  programme  will  embrace  visits  to  the  leading  industrial 
establishments  in  and  around  Birmingham.  The  Mayor  of 
Birmingham  will  hold  a  reception,  at  the  City  Council  House 
and  Art  Gallery,  on  the  evening  of  August  20.  The  Earl  and 
Countess  of  Warwick  will  also  give  a  reception  at  Warwick 
Castle.  Among  the  pa]>crs  that  arc  ex|x:cted  to  be  read  are  :  — 
"  The  Thcrmo-chemistry  of  the  Bessemer  Process,"  by  Prof.  W. 
N.  Hartley,  F.R.S.  ;  "The  Hardening  of  Steel,"  by  H.  M. 
I  Inwe  ;  "  The  Mineral  Resources  of  South  .Staffordshire."  by  H. 
W.  I  lughcs  ;  "  On  Tests  of  Ca.st  Iron,"  by  W.  J.  Keepand  by  T. 
I).  West  ;  "  The  Estimation  of  Oxide  of  Iron  in  Steel,"  by  A.  E. 

NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


Tucker  ;  "  The  Use  of  Nickel  in  the  Metallurgy  of  Iron,"  by 
H.  A.  Wiggin. 

Prof.  Kikuchi,  of  the  Science  College,  Tokyo,  is  preparing 
a  short  life  of  the  late  Prof  Cayley,  to  be  accomixmied  by  a. 
photograph,  for  a  Japanese  popular  scientific  monthly,  viz.  the 
"  Toyo  Gakugu  Zasshi." 

A  REMARKABIX  system  of  electric  lights  on  buoys  has  just 
been  completed  at  the  Gedney  Channel,  off  Sandy  Hook.  This 
channel  is  only  1000  feet  wide,  and  vessels  have  not  heretofore 
been  able  to  pass  through  it  by  night.  The  new  system,  how- 
ever, provides  a  brilliant  thoroughfare,  lighted  by  ten  incan- 
descent lights  of  100  candle-power  each,  and  each  on  a  buoy, 
about  50  feet  long,  and  rising  12  feet  out  of  water.  The  cable 
which  conveys  the  electricity  carries  the  pressure  of  1000  volts- 
under  water,  and  is  sL\  and  half  miles  long,  being  the  longest 
cable  in  the  world  carrying  a  liigh-pressure  current  under  water, 
and  also  the  only  one  of  its  kind  ever  made.  It  consists  of  a 
copper  conductor,  insidated  with  gutta-percha,  bedded  in  jute, 
and  sheathed  with  hard  drawn  copper  wire.  The  machines  have 
an  output  of  only  100  volts,  but  the  current  flows  through  a 
step-up  converter,  back  of  the  switchboard,  where  it  is  converted 
into  the  required  voltage,  thus  being  perfectly  safe  to  operate. 

The  palaiontological  department  of  the  American  Museum 
has  recently  secured  by  purchase  the  entire  collection  of  fossil 
mammals  of  North  America  brought  together  by  Prof  E.  D. 
Cope  since  1S70.  This  includes  552  of  Prof.  Cope's  mammalian 
types,  besides  the  unique  single  skeletons  of  Plienacodus, 
Hyracotherium  and  Hyrachy;is,  and  the  rich  series  from  all 
formations  described  .and  figured  in  Cope's  Tertiary  Vertebrata, 
besides  all  his  unpublisheil  material.  This  famous  collection, 
together  with  the  otliers  which  are  rapidly  coming  in  from  the 
annual  western  expeditions  to  the  Rocky  Mountain  region,  will 
be  arranged  in  the  Lirge  new  hall  upon  the  geological  floor 
of  the  Museum,  which  h.-is  been  designed  and  cased  for  the 
purpose.  The  coUectiorLs  are  being  prepared  for  exhibition  and 
research  as  rapidly  as  possible. 

By  the  kindness  of  Mr.  R.  H.  Scott,  we  are  .ible  to  print  the 
following  information  received  at  the  Meteorological  Office  with 
reference  to  some  recent  earthquake  disturbances  in  the  Leeward 
Islands.  The  note  was  drawn  up  by  Mr.  F.  Watts,  the  t'lovern- 
ment  .Vnalytical  Chemist  at  .Vntigua,  and  was  sent  to  the  Colonial 
Office  with  two  letters  on  the  effects  of  the  earlliquake  in  Barbuda. 
"  On  Monday,  May  20,  1895,  a  long  and  somewhat  severe  earth- 
quake shock  was  felt  in  Antigua  at  4.44  p.m.  This  shock  threw 
down  a  steel  rod  4  inches  long  and  J  inch  in  diameter,  in  a. 
rough  earthquake  indicator  at  Skcrretts.  Slight  shocks  followed 
at  intervals.  I  Wiis  able  to  ascertain  Ihitt  there  were  at  least  seven 
shocks  between  4.44  anil  8. 20  p.m.  A  shock  at  6. 58  p.m.  was 
rather  severe,  causing  one  of  the  C.ithedral  bells  to  sound  slightly 
and  slopping  the  clock.  Slight  shocks  have  been  experienced 
almost  every  day  since.  Similar  shocks  are  reported  from. 
Mont.serrat,  Nevis,  .St.  Kilts,  and  Barbuda.  Some  injury  to 
buildings  is  reported  from  Barbiula,  but  I  am  unaware  of  the 
extent  of  the  damage.  It  is  stated  that  distant  sounds,  as  of 
explosions,  were  heard  in  Harbuda  ;  these  appear  to  have  been 
heard  in  a  northerly  direction.  Through  llie  courtesy  of  the 
Telegraph  Company,  I  am  informed  that  these  earthquakes  have 
not  been  felt  in  any  islands  save  those  in  the  groups  .Antigua, 
.Mont.serrat,  Nevis,  St.  Kills,  Barbuda.  From  this  fact, coupled 
with  the  rei>orl  of  noises  heard  in  Barbuda,  I  .should  infer  that 
these  disturlxinces  are  purely  local,  and  in  no  way  related  to  (lie 
earthquakes  in  Euroix:  about  the  same  time." 

An  elal)oriile  investigation  on  the  Iwcterial  contents  ot 
margarine  and  margarine-products  has  been  recently  made  by 
Messrs.  Jolles  ami  Winkler.  It  is  satisfactory  to  find,  in  view 
of  the   large  quantities  of  margarine  which  are   placed   011   Ihc 


July-  4,  1895] 


NATURE 


market  in  one  form  or  another,  that  it  is  considerably  freer  from 
microhes  than  ordinary  butter  when  the  latter  is  not  made  with 
Pasteurised  cream.     \\Tiereas  butter  contains  an  average  of  from 

10  to  20  millions  of  microbes  per  grm. ,  margarine-butter  yields 
but  from  4  to  6  millions ;  moreover,  whilst  in  extreme  cases  as 
many  as  47  millions  of  microbes  have  been  found  per  grm. 
in  butter,  margarine  can  only  boast  of  at  most  something  over 

11  millions.  Cold  appears  to  act  more  prejudicially  on 
margarine  microbes  than  it  does  on  butter  germs  ;  thus  in  one 
case  a  reduction  from  6i  millions  to  230,200  per  grm.  was 
observe<l  in  margarine,  whilst  a  similar  exposure  never  succeeds 
in  eliminating  more  than  one-third  of  those  present  in  butter, 
according  to  Lafar.  It  is  reassuring  to  learn  that  in  none  of  the 
numerous  samples  examined  were  pathogenic  bacteria  dis- 
covered ;  many  of  the  ordinary  microbes  present  were  isolated 
and  described,  and  amongst  these  two  were  found  which  the 
authors  believe  are  closely  associated  with  rancid  processes  which 
occur  in  old  samples  of  margarine.  To  further  reduce  the 
microbial  population  of  margarine  butter,  it  is  suggested  that 
only  .sterile  milk  and  sterile  water  should  be  used  in  its  manu- 
facture from  oleo-margarine,  which  is  considerably  poorer  in 
bacterial  life  than  the  finished  product. 

I.N  the  years  1891  and  1892,  the  Norwegian  Government  fitted 
out  a  vessel  for  the  purpose  of  making  temperature  observations 
round  the  Lofoden  Islands,  with  the  view  of  tracing  the  con- 
nection between  the  habits  of  the  cod  and  the  temperature  of  the 
water,  and  the  Parliament  voted  a  sum  of  money  for  the  pur- 
chase of  thermometers  for  registering  the  temperature  at  various 
depths.  We  have  received  from  Lieutenant  G.  Gade,  who  was 
entrusted  with  the  investigation,  a  pamphlet  entitled  "  Tempera- 
turmaalinger  i  Lofoten,"  which  contains  an  inlieresting  account 
of  the  results  obtained.  He  found  that  at  the  same  places  the 
temperature  sometimes  increased  regularly  according  to  the 
depth,  while  at  others  there  were  two  distinct  strata  of  water, 
the  cold  being  uppermost.  .-Vlthough  the  vertical  variations  of 
temperature  may  have  been  considerable,  yet  he  always  found 
an  increase  with  depth.  The  favourite  temperature  of  the  cod 
is  supposed  to  be  5°C.,and  while  in  January  1892  this  was 
found  at  the  surface,  in  March  1891  it  was  only  found  al  a  depth 
of  160  metres  ;  the  greatest  depth  at  which  fishing  takes  place 
is  200  metres,  where  6°-7°  C.  were  recorded  nearly  constantly 
from  Januar,'  to  the  middle  of  April.  Lieutenant  Gade  found 
that  when  there  were  two  strata  of  water,  one  cold(2°-3°C.) 
uppermost,  and  one  warmer  (5°- 7°  C. )  below,  the  cod  was 
always  found  in  the  warmer  stratum  ;  but,  as  the  fishing  takes 
place  al  depths  where  the  temperature  is  from  4°-7°  C.  or  more 
(and  the  depths  where  these  temperatures  are  found  are  very 
different),  the  author  considers  that  the  fisherman  cannot  derive 
practical  advantage  from  temperature  obsen'ations  alone. 

Chorisis,  or  the  doubling  of  the  parts,  is  by  no  means  a  rare 
occurrence  in  flowers.  In  this  jAenomenon  there  appear, 
apparently  in  the  place  of  one  floral  leaf,  especially  a  stamen, 
two  such  Ic-ives  either  collaterally,  i.e.  beside  one  another,  or 
serially,  above  one  another.  These  pairs  of  leaves  may  arise 
either  out  of  a  single  common  primordiuin,  or  directly  from  the 
axis.  Up  to  the  publication  of  a  paper  on  "  Das  Reductions- 
ge-setzder  Blilthen,"  by  Dr.  Lad.  J.  Celakovsky  (Stzb.  derkiinigl. 
bohnii.schan  Ges.  der  Wissenschaften),  morphologists  agreed 
in  regarding  chorisis  as  the  division  or  branching  of  an  originally 
simple  leaf.  Dr.  Celakovsky,  however,  comes  to  the  following 
conclusions,  amongst  others,  after  a  very  com])lete  consideration 
of  a  large  number  of  instances.  Normal  chorisis  occurs  not  as 
a  division  of  a  single  leaf,  but  rather  as  a  fusion,  or  at  least  an 
approximation  of  distinct  and  originally  uniformly  separated 
leaves.  In  the  ontogeny  of  the  plant  this  may  occur  as  a 
branching  or  positive  chorisis,  as  he  terms  it,  of  a  single 
NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


primordium,  but  this  fact  does  not  afford,  according  to  him,  a 
clue  to  the  steps  in  the  phylogenetic  development,  by  which  the 
present  state  has  come  about ;  but  he  believes,  in  opposition  to 
the  hitherto  received  opinion,  that  the  present  condition  in 
these  flowers  was  attained  by  negative  chorisis  or  approximation. 
Normal  chorisis  is  the  expression  of  an  incomplete  transition 
from  a  state  in  which  the  indivi<lual  leaves  composing  a  whorl  or 
whorls  were  more  numerous,  into  one  in  which  they  are  less 
numerous.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  resultant  of  two  tendencies — one,  the 
older,  to  polymerism,  and  the  other  and  newer,  to  oligomerisni. 
The  reduction  so  effected  is  always  governed  by  the  la«  of  the 
alternation  of  the,  consecutive  leaf-whorls.  Dr.  Celakovski^s 
paper  is  one  of  great  interest,  and  the  discussion  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  various  types  of  andrrecium  will  no  doubt  be 
specially  useful  to  those  who  are  interested  in  the  affinities  of 
the  natural  orders  of  dicotyledons  and  monocotyledons. 

The  publishers  of  Knowledge  announce  that  Dr.  Isaac 
Roberts,  F.  K.S.,  will  shortly  continue  in  that  magazine  his 
selection  of  photographs  of  stars,  star-clusters,  and  nebula;. 
The  series  is  intended  to  be  in  continuation  of  Dr.  Roberts's 
work,  "  A  Selection  of  Photographs  of  Stars,  Star-Clusters, 
and  Nebula,"  recently  published,  and  which  has  contributed 
very  largely  to  the  extension  of  the  knowledge  of  astronomical 
phenomena. 

The  July  number  of  Natural  Science  is  devoted  to  brief 
descriptions  of  the  results  of  the  Challenger  Expedition,  from 
the  points  of  view  of  investigations  in  many  branches  of  know- 
ledge. Each  of  the  contributors,  all  of  whom  write  with 
authority  upon  their  respective  subjects,  more  or  less  confines 
himself  to  answering  the  question,  "  How  has  the  Challenger 
Expedition  advanced  science?"  The  brief  summaries  thus 
obtained  form  a  very  valuable  and  compact  index  to  the  advances 
in  various  fields  of  natural  knowledge  due  to  the  Expedition. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Bonnet  Monkey  (Macaciis  simcus,  9  )  from 
India,  presented  by  Mr.  John  Norbury,  Junr.  ;  a  Macaque 
Monkey  (Macaciis  cynomolgus,  i )  from  India,  presented  by 
Mr.  11.  W.  Ball ;  a  Black-eared  Marmoset  (Hapale  pencillala) 
from  South-east  Brazil,  presented  by  Mr.  H.  P.  Roberts ;  a 
Rough  Fox  {Canis rudis)  from  British  Guiana,  presented  by  Dr. 
Irvine  K.  Reid  ;  a  Grey  Ichneumon  (Herpestes  griseus)  from 
India,  presented  by  Lady  Champion  de  Crespigny ;  seven 
Black  Salamanders  (Salamandra  atra),  a  Slowworm  {.Anguis 
fragilis)  from  .Switzerland,  presented  by  the  Rev  J.  W. 
Horsley  ;  a  Burchells  Zebra  (Eijiius  burchelli,  <J )  from  South 
Africa,  a  Common  Rhea  ( AV/ta  americana)  from  South  America, 
deposited  ;  two  Black-necked  Swans  (Cygniis  nigricollis)  from 
.\ntarctic  America,  three  Blue  Snow  Geese  (Chen  cariilescens) 
from  Alaska,  purchased;  a  Thar  (Capra  jeinlaica,9  ),  born  in 
the  Gardens. 


OUJ?  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Variable  Stars. — Dr.  Chandler  has  completed  a  revised 
supplement  to  his  well-known  second  catalogue  of  variable 
stars  ;  together  they  furnish  a  complete  list  of  known  variables, 
comprising  in  all  344  stars.  Some  little  difiiculty  has  been  ex- 
perienced in  connection  with  the  southern  variables,  on  account 
of  the  want  of  accurate  positions  and  certain  identifications  in 
some  cases.  Dr.  Chandler  especially  shows  a  want  of  confidence 
in  the  data  relating  to  the  variables  discovered  photographically 
at  the  Boyden  station  of  the  Harvard  College  Observatory  at 
Arequipa,  ;  but  considering  the  pressing  need  of  a  definitive 
nomenclature,  and  relying  on  the  assurances  of  Prof.  Pickering, 
most  of  these  objects  have  been  included  in  the  catalogue  and 
letters  assigned  to  them. 

All  the  recent  observations  made  by  the   South  .\frican  ob- 


NATURE 


[July  4,  1895 


server,  Mr.  Roberts,  have  also  been  included  in  the  new  iata- 
logue.     {Astronomical  foiinial.  No.  347.) 

The  Temi'ERatire  of  the  SfN. — A  new  method  of  deter- 
mining the  temperature  of  the  sun  has  lieen  employed  by  H. 
Ebert  (Aslrophysical  foumal,  June).  With  the  aid  of  data 
supplied  by  Langley's  investigalions,  kubens  deduced  the  law 
that  the  wave-length  of  the  maximum  energy  is  inversely  pro- 
portional to  the  square  root  of  the  absolute  temperature  of  the 
radiating  body.  Experiments  on  the  radiation  of  blackened 
bodies  between  absolute  temperatures  373"  and  ioSS°  indicated 
the  relation 

AV''T=I23, 

T  being  the  aljsolule  temperature,  and  A  being  expressed  in 
microns  (;i=  '001  mm.).  Langley  has  shown  that  the  maximum 
energy  of  the  continuous  background  of  the  solar  siiectrum  is 
very  nearly  at  0*6  /i,  and  assuming  that  the  incandescent 
particles  in  the  sun  which  yield  the  continuous  spectrum  are 
comparable  to  a  black  body  as  regards  their  total  radiating 
capacity,  the  application  of  the  alwve  formula  gives  a  tempera- 
ture of  about  40,000'  C.  The  ]xirls  of  the  sun  to  which  this 
temperature  applies  are  stated  to  belong  to  the  interior  regions, 
below  the  photosphere. 

Dr.  Ebert  enters  into  a  discussion  of  the  electromagnetic 
nature  of  the  solar  radiation,  in  order  to  justify  the  application  of 
the  formula  in  the  cise  of  the  sun.  This  leads  him  incidentally 
to  suppose  that  the  continuous  background  of  the  solar  spectrum 
is  mainly  due  to  hydrogen  in  a  strongly  compressed  state. 

The  Rotation  ok  Sati'RN. — In  1S93  Mr.  Stanley  Willi.ims 
announced  some  highly  interesting  facts  with  reference  to  the 
period  of  rotation  of  Saturn,  as  deduced  from  observations  of 
spots  on  different  parts  of  the  surface  of  the  planet  (Natire, 
vol.  I.  p.  32).  The  observations  were  conlinue<l  during  the 
opposition  of  1894,  and  similar  striking  results  have  been  arrived 
at.  {Monthly  Notices,  vol.  Iv.  p.  354).  It  was  again  found 
that  the  sptjis  indicated  widely  different  rotation  periods  in  the 
same  latitude,  but  in  different  longitudes,  as  shown  in  the 
following  table  : — 


Range  in  longitude. 


30-130  

140-200  

,240-360  

f      0-80  

80-160  

[  163-360  

The   average  rotation   periods  of  the  whole  equatorial  spot 
zone  during  the  four  years  of  observation  were  as  follows  : — 


Dark  spots 
(I7°-37^N.: 

Bright  spots 
(6°S.-6^N.; 


M 

ean  period. 

h. 

m. 

s. 

10 

14 

57-29 

14 

44-23 

'S 

47-97 

'.5 

I  69 

12 

40-03 

to 

12 

25-«3 

Diff. 


43-6 

45  ■« 
i6-6 


U.S.  Weather  Bureau.  The  law  of  emission  for  a  white  light 
is  that  its  visibility  is  proportional  to  the  square  root  of  its 
candle-power,  and  the  results  of  the  experiments  by  the  Com- 
mittee closely  follow  the  law,  the  departures  being  no  greater 
than  the  estimated  errors  of  position  of  the  vessel.  The  mean 
of  a  large  number  of  observations  gave  .is  the  distance  at  which 
a  while  light  of  one  candle-power  became  visible  I  -40  miles  for 
a  dark  clear  night,  and  i  00  mile  for  a  rainv  one.  Experiments 
undertaken  in  -America,  after  the  International  Maritime  Con- 
gress in  1889,  gave  the  following  results  in  very  clear  weather  : 
.\  light  of  I  candle-power  was  plainly  visible  at  1  nautical  mile, 
and  one  of  3  candle-power  at  2  miles.  .X  10  candle-power  light 
was  visible  with  an  ordinary  binocular  at  4  miles  :  one  of  29 
candles  faintly  at  5,  and  one  of  33  candles  visible  without  ditti- 
cully  at  the  same  di.stance.  On  a  second  evening,  exceptionally 
clear,  a  white  light  of  32  candle-power  could  readily  be  distin- 
guished at  3,  one  of  5-6  at  4,  and  one  of  17-2  at  5  miles.  The 
Dutch  governmental  ex]>eriments,  conducted  at  Amsterdam, 
gave  the  following  results  :  -V  light  of  i  candle-power  was  visible 
at  I  nautical  mile  ;  3-5  at  2,  and  16  at  5  miles.  Experiments 
with  green  lights  gave  O'So  as  the  distance  in  miles  at  which  a 
green  light  of  a  single  candle-power  is  just  visible.  The  candle- 
ix)wer  required  for  a  green  light  to  be  visible  at  1,2,  3,  and  4 
nautical  miles  was  2,  15,  51,  and  106,  respectively.  The  Ameri- 
can experiments  before  referred  to  give  for  green  light :  3-2 
candle-power  fairly  visible  at  I  mile,  and  28-5  clearly  at  2  miles, 
these  results  being,  however,  fron\  a  limited  number  of  experi- 
ments. The  German  trials  were  much  more  numerous.  The 
extraordinarily  rapid  diminution  of  the  visibility  of  the  green  light 
with  the  distance,  even  in  good  observing  wealher,  and  the  still 
more  rapid  decrease  in  rainy  weather  of  a  character  which  « ill 
but  slightly  diminish  the  intensity  of  a  white  light,  show  that  it 
is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  select  for  the  glass  a  shade  of 
colour  which  w  ill  interfere  with  the  intensity  of  the  light  as  little 
as  po.ssible.  The  sh.ade  recommended  is  a  clear  blue-green. 
Yellow-green  and  gra.ss-green  sliouUl  not  be  employed,  as  they 
become  indistinguishable  from  white  at  a  very  short  distance. 
Eor  the  red,  a  considerably  wider  range  is  allowable,  but  a 
copi)ery-red  is  said  to  be  the  best. 


1891  10     14     21-8 

1892         13     38-2 

'893  '2      52-4 

1894  10      12      35-8 

The  extreme  difference  of  Im.  46s.  observed  since  1891 
"  means  a  very  considerable  increase  in  the  velocity  of  motion  of 
the  surface  material,  amounting  to  66  miles  per  hour.  In 
other  words,  the  great  ecpiatorial  atmospheric  current  of  .Saturn 
was  flowing  66  miles  an  hour  more  quickly  in  1894  than  it  was 
in  1891." 

Taken  as  a  whole,  the  observations  indicate  a  more  rapid 
rotation  of  the  planet  in  the  equatorial  regions  than  in  the 
northern  zone  of  s|K)Is,  and  they  appear  to  establish  that  there 
arc  great  differences  of  velocity  in  different  longitudes. 

To  I'rof.  Darwin,  these  results  "  suggest  a  rather  wild  con- 
sideration "  (fAjt-rr'rt/o/j,  June).  He  considers  it  possible  that 
seriioiis  of  the  planet  |»irallcl  to  the  equator  may  not  be  circular, 
ill   '  that  it  might  be  worth  trying  to  detect  systematic 

ill  'ween  the  various  equatorial  diameters  by  inicro- 


J/II-:  vjsiiuLirY  OF  ships'  ligi/ts. 

T  T  m.ay  be  remembered  that  in  1890,  the  Cicrman  Marine  t)bscr- 
vatory  lesleil  some  three  thousand  running  lights  in  use  on 
Imard  ships,  and  founil  two-ihir'ls  of  them  defective,  l-'urlher 
tests  of  the  visibility  of  lights  of  known  candlc-|X)wer  were  made 
by  the  (jcrman  Committee  last  year,  and  .some  of  the  results 
obtained  arc  noted  in  a  leaflet  just  distributed  to  .seamen  by  the 

NO.    1340,  VOL.    S2] 


THE    RELATIVE    POWERS    OF   LARGE 

AND    SMALL    TELESCOPES    LW    SHOIVLXG 

PLANETARY    DETAIL. 

T  T  is  to  be  hoped  that  a  definite  understanding  will  soon  be 
*  arrived  at  regar<ling  the  differences  between  large  and  small 
telescopes  in  revealing  delicate  surface-markings  on  Mars,  Jupiter, 
and  Saturn.  The  subject  of  relative  efViciency  «as  discussed 
about  ten  years  ago,  and  some  interesting  evidence  was  evoked 
as  to  the  different  forms  and  sizes  of  telescopes,  but  no  settlement 
of  the  question  was  possible  in  the  face  of  the  diversity  of  o]union 
existing.  The  lime  seems  to  have  come  when  the  subject  may 
be  suitably  referred  lo,  and  the  facts  considered  a]iarl  from  mere 
prejudice  or  preference  for  any  kind  or  size  of  instrument. 

The  phenomenal  results  receiuly  claimed  for  certain  sni;iU 
telescojK'S  are  almost  of  a  character  to  shake  even  the  faith  of 
those  disposed  to  acknowledge  their  great  utility  -.n  several 
classes  of  objects,  for  our  confidence  caiuiol  go  beyond  reason- 
able limits.  In  individual  cases  a  good  thougli  small  instrument, 
an  acute  well-trained  eye,  acting  in  combination  with  the  best 
atmospheric  conditions,  will  yield  surprising  results  ;  but  some 
of  those  lately  published  border  upon  r<miance,  and  henceforth  it 
would  seem  that  if  all  the  data  derived  with  .such  means  are  to  be 
absolutely  accepted,  then  large  telescopes  are  grossly  incapable 
on  certain  important  objects,  and  may  as  well  be  packed  away 
in  the  lumber  rooms  of  our  observatories. 

This  is  the  more  surprising  when  we  consider  the  opinions 
expressed  during  the  discussion  which  previously  took  place  on 
the  same  subject.  I'rof.  C  A.  \'oung,  who  has  charge  of  the 
2V'nch  refractor  at  Princeton,  s:iitl  :  '*  I  can  almost  always  see 
with  the  23-inch  everything  I  see  with  the  gj-inch  under  the 
same  atmospheric  conditions,  anfl  see  it  better — if  the  seeing  is  bail 
only  a  little  better,  if  good  immensely  better."  OiIkt  observers 
having  the  means  of  comparing  large  and  small  instruments,  side 
by  side,  furnished  similar  evidence,  except  in  the  case  of  .\l. 
Wolf,  of  Paris,  who  said  :  "  1  have  observed  a  great  deal  with 
two  instruments  (both  rellectors)  of  15-7an<l  472  inchesaperture. 
I  have  rarely  found  any  advantage  in  using  the  larger  one  when 
iheobjecl  was  sufficiently  luminous."      I'rof.  ,\saph  Hall,  whose 


July  4,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


valuable  work  with  the  25'8-inch  refractor  at  Washington  is  so 
well  known,  once  said  :  "The  large  telescope  does  not  show 
enough  detail."  The  testimony  was  not,  therefore,  unanimously 
in  favour  of  big  telescopes. 

More  recently  the  36-inch  at  Mount  Hamilton  has  been 
eulogised  for  its  fine  performance.  Mr.  Keeler,  in  January  1888. 
saiil  that  the  minutest  details  of  .Saturn's  surface  were  visible 
with  wonderful  distinctness  with  this  instrument.  The  12-inch 
and  6-inch  refractors  at  the  same  observatory  were  found  far 
inferior  in  capacity  to  the  36-inch.  Prof.  Barnard  has  also 
staled  :  "  Let  the  conditions  be  the  best  for  observing,  with  the 
air  steady,  and  the  36-inch  is  far  ahead  of  the  12-inch.'"  The 
same  observer  has  also  remarked  :  "  350  is  the  most  useful  power 
on  Jupiter  and  Mars,  520  on  Saturn."  For  planetary  work  he 
jirefers  using  the  full  aperture  and  low  powers. 

We  have  it  on  the  authority  of  most  of  those  who  have 
employed  both  large  and  small  telescopes,  and  are  therefore  in 
ihe  best  position  to  speak  as  to  their  relative  merits,  that  large 
instruments  in  good  air  will  reveal  more  than  small  ones.  The 
observer  would  in  preference  use  the  largest  instrument  for  any 
'  ritical  purpose  :  and  this  being  so,  how  shall  we  e.xplain  their 
up])arent  failure  in  regard  to  planetary  details  ?  Is  it  that  the 
big  telescopes  show  too  little,  or  that  the  small  instruments 
exhibit  too  much  ? 

And  here  it  may  be  noted  that  only  in  exceptional  cases  do 
we  find  phenomenal  results  accruing  from  the  use  of  small 
apertures.  It  is  not  every  one  who  has  a  telescope  of  6  or  8 
inches  diameter  who  can  discover  the  various  spots  and 
numerous  belts  on  Saturn,  or  trace  the  double  and  often  inter- 
lacing canals  of  Mars. 

During  the  last  few  years  numerous  dark  and  light  spots  have 
been  detected  on  the  ball  of  Saturn  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Williams,  who 
used  a  6-inch  reflector.  These  have  been  distinguished  when 
Saturn  was  nearing  conjunction  with  the  sun,  and  in  spite  of  two 
unfavourable  circumstances — namely,  the  small  diameter  of  the 
planet,  and  its  proximity  to  the  horizon.  The  spots  have  been 
seen  so  distinctly,  that  the  observer  has  been  enabled  to  describe 
them  individually  as  bright  or  faint,  small  or  large,  round  or 
oval,  iS;c.  These  observations  have  not,  perhaps,  been  fully 
corroborated,  though  several  observers  appear  to  have  glimpsed 
!he  markings  alluded  to.  When  we  consider  that  many  hundreds 
'if  amateurs  have  been  employing  their  telescopes  upon  .Saturn 
without  seeing  the  spots,  the  affirmative  evidence  of  a  few 
is()late<l  |X'rsons  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  conclusive.  It  is  a 
fact  that,  if  any  new  feature  on  a  planet,  or  an  unknow^n  com- 
panion to  a  star  were  confidently  announced,  a  few  of  the  many 
observers  who  looked  for  it  woukl  certainly  assert  they  could  see 
it  though  not  really  existing. 

I'rof.  Hough,  with  the  l8A-inch  refractor,  at  Chicago,  made 
a  series  of  observ.-.l  ions  in  1884  and  1885  for  the  special  pur- 
pose of  detecting  definite  markings  on  Saturn  and  redetermining 
the  rotation  period,  but  he  quite  failed  to  get  the  necessary 
data.  His  statement  was  :  "  The  belts  on  the  disc  of  the 
planet  were  at  times  quite  conspicuous  and  very  sharply  de- 
fined, but  we  were  unable  to  find  any  spot  or  marking  by 
which  to  observe  rotation."  Vet  the  Monthly  Notices  for  June  1884 
contain  a  drawing  which  gives  a  numerous  array  of  condensations 
attached  to  the  dark  narrow  belt  bounding  the  equator  on  its 
southern  side.  This  drawing  was  made  wilh  an  SJ-inch  re- 
flector, and  at  about  the  same  period  many  other  observers 
examined  the  planet  with  an  entirely  negative  result  as  far  as 
the  existence  of  these  condensations  was  concerned.  \  drawing 
was  published  in  \\\<i  Journal  of  the  British  Astronomical  Asso- 
ciation for  July  1894,  showing  the  planet  as  he  appeared  on 
March  26  of  thai  year  in  a  12-inch  reflector.  .\  numerous 
assemblage  of  dark  bells  are  shown,  and  many  other  observers 
appear  to  have  seen  several  comparatively  narrow  belts.  I'rof. 
Barnard,  however,  using  the  36-inch  refractor  in  re-measuring 
the  dimensions  of  Saturn  and  his  rings  in  1894,  was  led  to  pay 
some  attention  to  the  physical  appearance  of  the  planet,  and 
significantly  remarks  :  "  But  one  dark  narrow  belt  was  seen 
upon  the  planet.  The  black  and  white  spots  recently  rejiorted 
with  small  telescoiies  were  not  seen  at  any  time."  It  is  certainly 
a  remarkable  circumstance  that  the  belts  and  spots,  if  really 
existing,  cannot  be  seen  in  the  large  instrument.  .•\rc  llie 
observers  with  small  apertures  suffering  from  some  extraordinary 
hallucin,ation,  or  must  we  consider  that  the  brightness  of  the 
image  in  large  telescopes  anil  inferior  definition  are  sufiicieni  (o 
obliterale  very  delicate  markings?  Is  the  glare  sufficiently 
strong   to  overcome  the  slight   contrasts  of   tone  readily    per- 


ceptible on  a  fainter  image  ?  Prof.  Holden  thus  expressed  him- 
self in  1891  :  "There  is  no  doubt  that  the  belts  on  Saturn  are 
often  marked  and  mottled  with  brighter  spots.  I  presume  that 
such  spots  woukl  be  as  easily  seen  in  a  small  but  jwrfect  tele- 
scope as  in  a  larger  one.  Seeing  such  faint  markings  is  entirely 
a  matter  of  detecting  faint  contrasts,  and  these  should  be  de- 
tected as  readily  in  a  small  instrument  as  in  ours,  if  not  more 
readily,  except  that  the  large  size  of  our  image  helps  us."  On 
the  other  hand,  I'rof.  Young  has  suggested  that  faint  images 
are  very  encouraging  to  the  imagination,  and  therefore  often  a 
source  of  observational  errors. 

Prof.  Holden's  remarks  are  tantamount  to  an  admission  that 
large  instruments  are  ineffective  on  planetary  details,  for  what 
are  delicate  markings  but  "faint  contrasts"  ?  \'et  it  would  be 
conceived  that  the  36- inch  had  proved  itself  quite  ca|>able  of 
dealing  with  such  contrasts,  for  it  is  stated  by  Prof.  Barnarti, 
from  observations  of  Jupiter  in  .September-October  1894  :  "  The 
red  spot  is  fairly  distinct  in  outline,  though  quite  pale — a  feeble 
red.  The  following  end  of  the  spot  is  quite  dark.  There  are 
white  regions  on  its  surface.  The  belt  south  of  it  seems  to  be 
in  contact  with  the  spot,  if  it  does  not  actually  overlap  it 
slightly." 

The  36-inch  is  mounted  in  one  of  the  finest  localities  for  celes- 
tial observations,  but  shows  nothing  on  Saturn  but  the  dark 
narrow  belt  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  equatorial  zone,  while 
certain  telescopes  of  small  aperture  reveal  the  disc  furrowed  with 
belts  and  mottled  with  spots.  Nearly  every  small  telescope 
shows  more  than  one  belt  upon  Saturn,  but  the  delineations 
seldom  agree  as  to  the  number  or  latitudes  of  these  belts.  We 
ought  to  expect  approximately  accordant  positions  ;  Vmt  the 
majority  of  drawings  are  hurriedly  executed  and  based  on  rough 
estimations,  so  that  they  are  often  found  inconsistent.  The  dif- 
'  ferences  referred  to  are  not,  therefore,  proof  of  the  non-existence 
I  of  the  objects  depicted,  for  the  same  disagreements  are  found 
with  reference  to  well-assured  formations.  In  some  cases  un- 
doubtedly observers  will,  perhaps  unconsciously,  use  their 
imaginatious,  as  the  desire  is  always  to  put  in  as  nuich  detail  as 
possible.  When  mere  fancy  assists  the  optical  powers,  the  re- 
sulting drawings  are  often  very  pretty  and  attractive  from  the 
number  and  novelty  of  the  features  shown.  We  can  fill  in  any 
number  of  dark  belts  and  bright  zones,  beaded  with  spots  of 
various  forms  and  tints,  and  tone  the  whole  to  suit  our  ideas  ;  but 
unfortunately  such  drawings,  though  pleasijig  to  the  eye,  have  a 
bad  influence,  since  they  pervert  the  truth,  and  lack  that  fidelity 
to  nature  which  could,  alone,  make  them  really  valuable. 

Mr.  Williams,  the  discoverer  of  the  Satumian  spots,  has  made 
some  hundreds  of  observations  of  them,  and  fully  detailed  his 
methods  and  his  results  in  the  Monthly  Notices  of  the  R.A.S., 
liv.  p.  297,  et  sei/.  First  detecting  them  in  the  spring  of  1891, 
he  has  now  followed  them  during  five  oppositions  of  Saturn. 
The  bright  equatorial  spots  apparently  show  a  period  of  rotation 
decreasing  with  the  time,  for  the  mean  period  during  1891  was 
loh.  14m.  22s.,  while  in  1892  it  decreased  44  seconds,  in  1S93 
43  seconds,  and  in  1894  15  seconds.  The  care  with  which  Mr. 
Williams  proceeded  in  his  work,  and  the  plan  he  adopted  to 
avoid  bias  or  preconceived  ideas,  are  explained  in  the  paper 
alluded  t(i,  and  every  one  reading  his  description  must  be  favour- 
ably impressed  with  it.  If  his  results  are  fully  confirmed,  \\ie.y 
will  deserve  to  be  ranked  among  the  best  observational  feats  of 
modern  times.  To  have  been  the  first  to  discover  these  <lelicate 
objects  in  all  their  variety,  to  have  traced  out  their  individual 
motions  with  unwearying  persistency  year  by  year,  and  to  have 
empltjyed  all  the  time  a  very  small  telescope,  must  be  regarded  as 
a  remarkable  attainment.  It  is  to  lie  hoped  that  the  necessary 
corroboration  will  soon  be  forthcoming. 

I  have  myself  practically  endeavoured  to  afford  this,  but 
failed.  The  spots  on  Saturn  are  certainly  not  visible  under 
powers  of  252  and  312  on  my  lo-inch  reflector.  The  power 
of  252  is  the  eye-lens  of  a  Iluyghenian  eyepiece,  that  of  312  is 
one  of  the  "  monocentric  micrometer  oculars  "  of  J-inch  equiva- 
lent focus  by  Steinheil  of  Munich.  The  latter  has  a  distinct 
advantage  over  my  Iluyghenian  eyepieces.  I  have  sometimes 
used  a  Barlow  lens  in  combination  with  it,  increasing  the  power 
to  about  450,  but  do  not  think  any  .advantage  has  been  gained. 
I  have  occasionally  had  impressions  of  white  spots  mottling  the 
bright  equatorial  zone  of  Saturn,  and  occasionally  also  of  faint 
condensations  in  the  dark  belts  ;  but  as  to  seeing  the.se  details 
outright,  and  obtaining  their  times  of  tran.sit  with  all  the  cer- 
tainty of  a  definite  s|K)t  on  Jupiter,  I  have  quite  failed.  I  am 
induced  to  believe,  from  a  number  of  observations  dedicated  to 


NO.    1340,   VOL.   52] 


234 


NA  TURE 


[July  4,  1S95 


the  purpose,  that  my  suspicions  of  spots  were  entirely  illusorj-, 
and  that  such  markings  as  objective  features  were  invisible  to  my 
eve  with  the  means  employed.  On  the  worst  nights  I  could 
easily  imagine  a  mottled  aspect  of  the  belts  ;  but  with  good  de- 
finition and  a  steady  image,  the  tone  of  the  belts  and  bright 
equator  appeared  [Terfectly  even  and  free  from  noticeable  irr^- 
larities.  In  a  case  of  this  kind  the  observer  has  to  be  severe  with 
himself.  There  is  a  distinct  line  of  demarcation  between  what  is 
absolutely  seen  and  what  is  jxissibly  seen  or  suspected.  An 
object  may  be  only  glimiised,  and  yet  it  is  certainly  seen,  for  its 
impressions  reach  the  eye  now  and  then  in  a  form  not  to  t>e  mis- 
taken. But  with  some  objects  the  experience  is  different.  We 
fincy  they  are  there,  but  cannot  fix  them  w  ith  certainly  ;  ap- 
parently they  flit  about  like  an  ignis  fatuiis,  and  are  intractable 
to  our  utmost  efforts.  Obviously  in  such  a  case  the  observer 
has  but  one  alternative,  and  that  is  to  regard  the  objects  as 
imaginar)'. 

On  Mars,  as  well  as  Saturn,  small  instruments  have  done 
■wonders.  It  is  well  known  that  the  canals  and  their  duplication 
were  discovered  by  Schiaparelli  with  a  refractor  of  only  bj  inches 
aperture.  In  1S92,  dunng  a  favourable  presentation  of  Mars, 
the  large  American  telescopes  showed  very  little  either  of  the 
canals  or  of  their  duplication.  During  the  opixisition  of  1894 
the  planet  was  better  placed  as  regards  altitude  (but  not  so  near 
10  the  earth  as  in  1892),  and  the  results  of  observations  have  been 
more  satisfactory.  Mr.  Williams  with  a  6J-inch  reflector,  and 
Mr.  Brenner  with  a  7-inch  refractor,  have  recovered  many  of 
the  double  canals  of  Schiaparelli.  Mr.  V.  Lowell,  with  the  18- 
inch  refractor  at  the  observatory  at  Arizona,  has  also  observed 
many  remarkable  and  intricate  details  of  the  planet's  tojwgraphy. 
This  observer  remarks  that  in  regard  to  the  visible  markings  on 
the  inner  planets  of  the  solar  system  up  to  and  including  Mars, 
size  of  instrument  is  quite  secondary  ti>  quality  of  atmosphere. 
He  draws  the  "oases"  on  Mars,  and  a  large  number  of  inter- 
lacing lines  on  the  planet,  in  Popular  Astronomy  for  .\iiril  1895, 
and  the  pictures  are  very  effective.  There  are  many  of  us  who 
would  like  to  obtain  a  view  of  .Mars  similar  to  what  he  has 
<lepicted.  Mr.  Lowell  notes  that  with  the  18-inch  a  power  of 
420  was  as  high  as  the  atmos|)here  permitted  to  be  used  with 
advantage,  though  drawings  w  ere  generally  made  with  370.  On 
the  6-inch  refractor  270  showed  well,  the  dark  and  light  mark- 
ings lieing  more  contrasted  than  in  the  larger  instrument.  As 
affecting  the  comparative  utility  of  large  and  small  telescopes, 
Mr.  Lowell  remarks:  "  .\  large  instniment  is  a.ssumed  to  be 
necessarily  suiierior  to  a  small  one,  quite  irrespective  of  what  it 
is  that  is  to  be  observed.  Now  the  fact  is  that  there  are  two 
<]uite  different  classes  of  celestial  phenomena — those  dependent 
on  quantity  of  light,  and  those  dependent  on  qu.ility  of  definition 
for  their  visibility,  and  the  two  means  to  these  ends  go  anything 
but  hand  in  hand,  hor  the  one,  the  illumination,  the  size  of  the 
in.strument  is  the  prime  requisite  ;  for  the  other,  the  definition, 
the  atmosphere  is  the  first  essential.  As  an  object-le.sson  in 
this,  it  is  worth  noticing  that  the  biggest  instruments  have  not 
always  given  the  best  views  of  Mars.  In  matters  of  Martian 
detail  it  is  amply  evident  from  the  results  that  observer,  atmo- 
sphere, instrument,  is  the  order  of  weight  to  be  given  as  the  factors 
of  an  observation." 

I  have  referred  to  this  subject  without  any  desire  to  lake  up 
the  cudgels  on  liehalf  of  any  cla.ss  of  instniment,  but  it  is  .sugges- 
tive that  the  large  ones  will  not  bear  |X)wers  commensurate  with 
their  size  on  planetary  details.  Thus  with  the  36-inch  at  Mount 
Hamilton  a  ixiwer  of  350  has  l>cen  found  the  most  effective  on 
Mars  ;  a  similar  pfiwer  can  \k  used  with  advantage  on  glasses  of 
only  8  or  10  inches  diameter.  It  is  difficult  to  understanil, 
therefore,  where  the  su|>eric)rily  of  large  instniments  comes  in,  as 
the  object  is  sufficiently  bright  in  small  telescopes,  and  the  latter 
l>eing  more  easily  manipulated  and  less  affected  by  atmospheric 
tremors,  they  obviously  iM)ssess  some  distinct  advantages.  But 
this  interesting  and  im|H>rtant  tpiestion  is  scarcely  to  l)e  .settled 
by  a  mere  discussion  of  this  sort.  It  is  only  to  Ik:  settled  by 
careful  trials  of  large  and  small  instruments,  side  by  side,  u|)on 
the  planets  .Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Saturn.  If  observers  having  the 
appliances  at  command  will  institute  v>me  further  conqiarisons  of 
the  kind  suggested,  the  problem  might  be  virtually  solved  in  a 
short  lime.  Relying  u|)on  evidence  of  fragmentary  character  is 
scarcely  fair,  since  differences  of  eyesight  anfl  atmosphere  come 
into  play  most  prominently.  The  most  valuable  eviflence  would 
Xk  Inat  of  an  oliserver  who  used  a  number  of  telesro|ies  of 
<llfrercnl  apertures  at  one  and  (he  same  station.  Up  to  the 
•jrcscnt  time  it  must  lie  confes.v:d  that  small  instruments  have 


somewhat  the  best  of  the  ai^iment ;  but  if  the  unanimous  testi- 
mony of  our  most  trustworthy  oKservers  a.sscrted  the  superiority  of 
large  telescopes  on  bright  planets,  it  is  hard  to  see  how  they  could 
be  disproved,  as  they  alone  have  the  effective  means  of  judging 
the  question  on  its  merits.  W.  1".  Dennim;. 


SUBJECTIVE    VISUAL   SENSATIONS} 

'T'HK  activity  of  the  cerebral  centres  which  is  independent  of 
■'■  their  common  exciting  causes,  and  which  is  termed 
"  discharge,"  presents  indications  of  the  character  and  loss  of 
their  function  which  can  be  obtained  from  no  other  source. 
I'orcmost  in  interest  and  also  in  importance  are  the  sensations  of 
sight  which  occur  without  stimulation  of  the  retina.  Of  these 
the  most  important  are  two.  ( i )  Those  which  occur  at  the  onset 
of  epileptic  fits,  from  the  "discharge"  in  the  brain  influencing 
consciousness,  through  the  visual  centre,  before  loss  takes  i>lace. 
(2)  Those  which  occur  as  the  precursory  symjitonis  of  the 
paroxysmal  headaches  which,  from  their  one-sided  distrilmtion, 
have  been  called  "  hemicrania,"  "megraine"  or  "  iiiegrim," 
from  the  freijuent  vomiting,  "  sick  headaches."  and,  from  the 
inhibitory  loss  of  sight,  "  blind  headaches."  These  two  classes 
fonii  the  subject  of  the  lecture. 

In  what  part  of  the  brain  does  the  process  occur  ?  The 
impulses  from  the  retina  reach  the  cortex  of  the  brain  first  in 
the  extremity  of  the  occipital  lobe,  where,  as  Munk  first  showed, 
the  half-fields  are  represented  in  strictly  local  definiteness.  The 
left  occipital  lobe  receives  the  impulses  from  the  left  half  of  each 
retina,  produced  by  the  rays  of  light  from  the  right  half  of  each 
field  of  vision.  So,  conversely,  with  the  right  occipital  lobe. 
To  each  side,  impulses  proceed  from  a  very  minute  area  around 
the  centra!  point  of  the  retina,  the  fixation  point  of  the  field. 
But  we  cannot  conceive  that  the  functional  disturbance  occurs  in 
these  centres,  for  the  strict  medial  division  in  two  halves  is 
absolutely  ignored  by  the  subjective  sensations.  Moreover,  the 
strange  but  certain  facts  of  hysterical  hemiana.sthesia,  in  which 
there  is  inhibition  of  all  the  sensory  centres  of  one  hemisphere, 
present  us  with  remarkable  evidence  of  the  higher  visual 
function  in  each  hemisphere.  This  is  supported  by  some  cases 
of  organic  disease,  which  cause  an  affection  of  sight  similar  to 
that  of  hysteria,  and  by  more  common  cases  of  hemianopia  from 
disease  of  the  hemisphere,  in  which  there  is  a  precisely  similar 
contraction  of  the  remaining  half-fields.  The  significance  of  all 
these  is  that  the  early  conclusions  of  Kerrier  are  correct,  and 
that,  in  addition  to  the  lower,  occijiital  half-vision  centre,  there  is 
a  higher  centre  in  each  hemisphere,  situated  in  the  region  of  the 
angular  convolution.  This  theory  of  the  dmilile  visual  centres, 
consisting  of  a  combination  of  the  conclusions  of  Kerrier  and 
Munk,  was  first  slated  by  the  lecturer  in  1SS5,  and  has  been  con- 
firmed by  all  the  facts  he  has  since  met  with.  It  is  inilispens.able 
for  the  comprehension  of  morbid  functional  .action,  and,  indeed, 
for  that  of  normal  vision,  but  is  not  yet  recognised  by  ph)siolo- 
gists,  even  as  hypothetical. 

The  character  of  the  function  of  this  centre,  so  far  as  it 
can  be  discerned  from  the  facts  of  its  loss,  are  of  great  imjwrt- 
ance  for  the  study  of  visual  sensations.  The  two  higher  centres 
seem  to  be  blended  into  one  in  function  in  a  manner  that  is 
unique  so  far  as  our  knowledge  extends.  If  the  centre  on  one 
side  is  functionless,  there  is  loss  of  sight  in  the  periphery  of  Uith 
visual  fields  ;  there  is  visiim  in  the  central  third  of  the  eye  on  the 
same  side,  and  a  far  smaller  central  area  on  the  opposite  side. 
The  only  conclusion  is  the  startling  inference  that  either  higher 
centre  can  .subserve  central  vision  in  both  eyes,  but  that  peri- 
|)heral  vision  depends  on  the  co-operation  of  the  function  of 
both  hemispheres.  Between  the  central  area  for  which  either 
centre  suflices  and  the  peripheral  area  for  which  neither  is  coni|)C- 
tent  but  both  are  needed,  there  is  an  intermediate  zone  in  which 
vision  is  sub.scrved  imly  by  the  opposite  hemisphere  when  acting 
alime.  This  gradation  of  functional  capacity  enables  some  fads 
of  subjective  sensations  to  be  C(miprehended  which  cannot  other- 
wise be  untlerstood. 

Moreover,  the  facts  suggest  that  the  function  of  these  higher 
centres  is  quite  different  from  that  of  the  lower  ones,  and  from 
that  of  other  cerebral  centres  the  action  of  which  we  can  study. 
In  the  lower  half-vision  centres  function  is  localised,  so  that 
destruction  of  part  causes  absolute  loss  of  a  part  of  the  half-field, 
blindness  of  the  corresponding  [wrt  of  the  retina.  But  partial 
'  The  Ilownuin  Lecture,  delivered  l)efore  llie  Opluli.-ilniological  .Suciety, 
liy  Dr.  W.  R.  Cowen,  F.R.S.,  June  m. 


NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


July  4,  1895] 


NATURE 


-00 


damage  to  the  liigher  centre  seems  to  lower  the  function 
of  the  whole,  as  if  the  function  were  diffused,  and  all 
its  elements  were  represented,  in  varying  degrees,  in  ever)' 
part.  This  conception  is  so  unfamiliar  that  it  may  seem 
inconceivable,  and  yet  it  harmonises  with  many  of  the  facts  of 
subjective  sensations.  Moreover,  in  a  large  part  of  the  brain, 
local  loss  of  tissue  has  only  the  effect  of  lowering  function  as  a 
whole.  It  seems  to  be  only  where  the  sensory  impulses  reach 
the  cortex,  and  motor  impulses  leave  it,  that  the  local  distribu- 
tion of  function  is  definite,  and  limited  damage  has  definite  and 
lasting  results. 

The  spectra  perceived  before  epileptic  fits  vary  widely.  They 
may  be  stars  or  sparks,  spherical  luminous  bodies,  or  mere 
flashes  of  light,  white  or  coloured,  still  or  in  movement.  Often 
they  are  more  elaborate,  distinct  visions  of  faces,  persons,  objects, 
places.  They  may  be  combined  with  sensations  from  the  other 
special  senses,  as  with  hearing  and  smell.  In  one  case  a  warn- 
ing, constant  for  years,  began  with  thumping  in  the  chest  ascend- 
ing to  the  heail,  where  it  became  a  beating  sound.  Then  two 
lights  appeared,  advancing  nearer  with  a  pulsating  motion. 
Suddenly  these  disappeared  and  were  replaced  by  the  figure  of 
an  old  woman  in  a  red  cloak,  always  the  same,  who  offered  the 
patient  something  that  had  the  smell  of  Tonquin  beans,  and  then 
he  lost  consciousness.  Such  warnings  may  be  called  p.sycho- 
visual  sensations.  The  psychical  element  may  be  verj-  strong, 
as  in  one  woman  whose  fits  were  preceded  by  a  sudden  distinct 
\-ision  of  London  in  ruins,  the  river  Thames  emptied  to  receive 
the  rubbish,  and  she  the  only  survivor  of  the  inhabitants. 

The  colours  seen  are  chiefly  described  as  red,  green,  blue  and 
yellow.  A  yellowish  red-like  flame  is  very  common.  In  some 
cases  red  changes  to  green,  a  curious  complementary  relation, 
when  we  consider  that  the  sensation  is  due  to  a  primary  process 
in  the  centre.  One  obtrusive  fact,  in  these  spectra  and  in  those 
of  migraine,  is  the  frequency  with  which  colours  extend  to  the 
edge  of  the  field  of  vision.  In  one  case,  each  fit  was  preceded 
by  the  appearance  of  a  green  colour  occupying  the  lower  half  of 
the  field  so  completely  that  the  patient  said  he  seemed  to  be  in 
a  field  of  grass.  It  is  often  said  that  the  periphery  of  the  retina 
is  not  sensitive  to  colour,  and  that  red  and  green  are  seen  only  in 
the  centre.  But  long  ago,  Chodin  and  Landolt  showed  that 
colour  vision  extends  to  the  periphery.  The  peripheral  colour 
spectra  led  the  lecturer  to  make  a  careful  examination  of  the 
peripheral  colour  vision,  especially  in  regard  to  area,  to  which  it 
seems  to  be  related  in  a  greater  degree  than  to  illumination. 

Red  can  be  seen  up  to  the  margin  of  the  field  for  white,  an 
area  in  6  cm.  square  ;  green  cannot  well  be  discerned  within 
5°  of  the  margin,  but  yellow  and  blue  can  be  seen  up  tn  the 
margin  with  4  cm.  square.  The  fields  for  each  area  from  "25  to  4 
cm.  square  are  concentric  with  the  fiekl  for  white. 

One  fact  was  ascertained  which  illustrates  the  mutual  influeiice 
of  the  two  visual  centres.  When  both  eyes  are  open  the  two 
fields  correspond,  except  in  ihe  outer  temporal  third  of  each 
field.  The  nasal  half  of  left  field,  for  instance,  extends  to  55° 
of  the  outer  horizontal  radius  of  the  right  field,  the  end 
of  which  is  at  90°.  When  both  eyes  are  open,  not  only 
is  the  perception  of  colour  intensified  in  the  part  where  the  two 
fields  overlap,  but  the  intensification  goes  on  to  the  periphery, 
through  the  part  in  which  there  is  no  more  retinal  stimulation 
than  when  the  right  eye  alone  is  open.  Thus,  in  this  radius, 
red  is  seen  in  2  cm.  square  at  62°  with  right  eye  alone,  but 
at  74°  if  the  left  eye  is  also  open,  although  the  left  field 
does  not  extend  beyond  55".  The  colour  is  seen  in  4 
cm.  square  at  77"*  with  the  right  eye  only,  and  at  the  margin 
of  the  field  only  with  6  cm.  s<iuare,  but  with  both  eyes  open  the 
4  cm.  stjuare  enables  the  colour  to  be  seen  up  to  the  margin, 
instead  of  at  77°.  There  is  thus  greater  sensitiveness  in  the 
centres  to  colour  impulses  proceeding  from  the  peripheral  region, 
where  the  field  is  single,  if  light  from  the  other  eye  intensifies 
their  action — a  striking  instance  of  their  intimate  co-operation. 

The  motor  relations  of  the  epileptic  spectnim  are  instructive 
but  too  complex  for  brief  description.  It  is  common,  in  one- 
sided fits,  for  an  object  to  appear  at  the  edge  of  the  field  of  vision 
on  Ihe  side  afterwards  convulsed,  and  pass  across,  to  disappear 
at  the  opposite  side.  Its  appearance,  c./r.,  on  the  left  is  followed 
by  movement  of  the  head  towards  it,  Ijy  the  motor  centres  of  the 
right  hemisphere,  but  the  head  then  follows  the  movement  of  the 
spectrum,  by  the  action  of  the  centres  of  the  other  hemisphere 
(sometimes  with  a  conscious  sense  of  irresistible  compulsion),  and 
then  finally  deviates  strongly  in  the  first  direction,  as  the  con- 
vulsion comes  on,  usually  with  loss  of  consciousness.     A  sense 


NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


of  vertigo  may  accompany  the  deviation.  The  eyes  move  before 
the  head,  and  may  be  absolutely  fixed  when  the  head  can  be 
moved  by  the  will.  These  phenomena  throw  instructive  light 
on  the  relations  of  objective  and  subjective  vertigo.  Inhibition 
frequently  precedes  the  epileptic  spectra,  but  is  always  general, 
never  partial,  and  neither  the  loss  nor  the  spectrum  is  ever  on 
one  side  only.  If  they  appear  on  one  side,  it  is  only  to  move 
across  the  field,  apparently  as  the  result  of  the  effect  on  the  visual 
discharge  of  the  associated  motor  nature  of  the  epileptic  process. 

The  visual  sensations  which  precede  the  paroxysmal  head- 
aches of  migraine  differ  very  much  from  the  warnings  of 
epilepsy.  Their  general  character  is  limited,  but  their  forms  are 
extremely  varied.  One  has  been  well  made  known  by  the 
careful  study  of  his  own  sensations  by  Dr.  Hubert  Airey, 
published  in  the  Philosophical  Transaclioits  for  1870,  reproduced 
by  Dr.  Liveing  in  his  classical  work  on  megrim.  (Unpublished 
drawings  by  Dr.  Airey,  and  several  other  series  of  drawings 
were  exhibited.  One  curious  set  was  made  by  a  mechanical 
draughtsman  who,  from  sixty  to  sixty-five  years  of  age,  frequently 
experienced  visual  sensations,  similar  to  those  of  migraine,  as 
isolated  s)Tnptoms,  without  headache,  and  always  depicted  them 
as  objective  things,  related  to  his  own  figure.)  In  this  class  of 
spectra,  inhibitory  loss  of  sight  is  almost  invariable,  but  it  is 
always  partial,  never  general  as  in  epilepsy,  and  it  bears  a 
definite  relation  to  the  spectrum.  The  phenomena  are  generally 
on  one  side,  but  occasionally  medial,  although  never  central,  and 
they  never  correspond  to  one  half  of  the  field.'  Even  loss 
strictly  limited  to  the  medial  line,  as  in  hemianopia  due  to 
organic  disease,  is  practically  unknown,  contrary  to  the  common 
impression.  The  special  feature  of  the  "discharge"  is  an 
angled  line  of  light,  the  "zigzag"  spectrum,  single  or  repeated, 
sometimes  in  many,  as  it  w-ere  reflected,  fading,  lines.  In 
round  or  oval  form  it  has  been  termed  the  "  fortification 
spectrum,"  from  resemblance  to  the  plan  of  a  fortress  devised 
by  \'auban.  The  angled  line  may  be  of  simple  bright  light  or 
may  present  colours,  red,  green,  blue,  orange,  which  sometimes 
alternate  in  successive  segments.  It  often  seems  made  up  of  a 
multitude  of  minute  brilliant  points  in  rapid  movement.  \\Tien 
a  single  bright  line,  it  may  be  banded  on  each  side  by  a  very 
narrow  black  line.  This  feature  may  be  observed  in  the 
"phosphene"  produced  by  pressure  on  the  eye,  even  in  the 
dark,  when  it  is  apparently  due  to  a  limiting  line  of  loss  of  the 
"  essential  light  of  the  retina,"  but  its  presence  in  a  central 
spectrum  raises  the  question  whether  this  so-called  "  light  of  the 
retina"  is  not  of  purely  central  origin. 

The  central  region  is  remarkably  indisposed  to  discharge,  but 
prone  to  inhibition.  A  medical  practitioner,  a  carefiil  obser\-er, 
experienced  first  a  spot  of  central  dimness  of  sight,  which 
enlarged,  becoming  darker  in  the  centre  and  ultimately  extended 
from  top  to  bottom  of  the  field,  occupying  the  middle  third, 
banded  on  each  side  by  a  double  curve.  Sometimes,  when  the 
spot  had  reached  half-way  to  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  field, 
a  bright  zigzag  line  appeared  on  one  side,  which  extended 
upwards  and  downwards,  as  the  inhibitory  loss  increased, 
became  brighter,  but  seemed  to  restrain  the  inhibition,  which 
extended  no  further  on  that  side,  but  was,  as  it  were,  reflected 
back  and  reached  almost  the  extreme  edge  of  the  field  on  the 
other  side.  This  illustrates  the  occurrence  of  the  discharge 
secondary  to  inhibition,  and  limiting  it.  It  is  an  instance  of 
the  way  in  which  all  half-field  relations  are  absent  in  these 
phenomena.  The  common  commencement  is  for  an  angled 
sphere,  or  stellate  spectnmi,  to  appear  in  the  middle  zone  of  one 
half  of  the  field,  and,  expanding,  form  an  oval  within  which 
vision  is  partially  or  completely  lost.  The  edge  is  often  coloured. 
The  angles  are  especially  developed  towards  the  outer  side  of 
the  field.  Towards  the  centre  of  the  field  the  expansion  is  less, 
the  angles  smaller,  and  the  spectrum  breaks.  Sometimes  one 
limb  passes  downwards,  and  the  other  towards  the  central  point, 
but  in  the  latter  the  angles  gradually  cease,  and  the  spectrum 
never  reaches  the  centre — an  illustration  of  the  resistance  of  the 
central  region  to  discharge.  In  other  cases,  however,  the  ends 
of  the  bri^ken  oval  may  pass  into  the  other  half  of  the  field,  one 
on  each  side  of  the  central  point,  enclosing  this  between  them. 
When  they  reach  the  middle  zone  on  the  other  side,  a  second 
star,  like  that  from  which  the  spectrum  originated,  may  suddenly 
appear  for  a  short  time  as  a  terminal  feature.  These  character- 
istics show  how  remarkable  must  be  the  relation  of  the  centres 
in  which  their  cause  occurs. 

1  By  "  (ield  "  is  mcaiu  the  area  included  by  the  bound.irj-  of  the  conjoined 
fields  of  both  eyes,  lo  which  alone  the  central  phenomena  seem  related.     ; 


2?6 


NA  TURE 


[July  4,  1895 


An  angled  spectrum  of  curved  course  may  also  develop  by  pro- 
gression through  the  middle  zone,  beginning  below,  and  attaining 
its  chief  development  in  the  upi>er  half  of  that  side,  passing  only 
a  little  way  l)eyond  the  middle  line  above.  In  one  case  this 
was  preceded  by  a  transient  angled  star  near  the  ]xiint  of  com- 
mencement, and  its  early  stage  was  accompanied  by  inhibitory- 
loss  at  the  margin  of  the  field,  outside  the  region  in  which  the 
discharge  commenced. 

Although  discharge  never  occurs  at  the  central  ]»int,  it 
may  occur  around  it,  as  a  circular  zigzag,  surrounding  a  round 
object  looked  at — an  instructive  example  of  the  fact  that  the 
<lischarge  may  be  related  to  the  central  effect  of  actual  retinal 
stimulation.  Analogous  to  this  "  jjericentral"  spectrum,  is  one 
that  takes  the  form  of  an  arch  above  the  central  region,  which 
may  sejxirate  into  two  [arts  at  the  middle  line.  As  an  instance 
of  the  strong  tendency  there  is  to  regard  the  spectrum  as  an 
objective  thing,  a  memlwr  of  the  medical  profession,  when  asked 
to  draw  that  which  he  saw,  sent  a  drawing  of  his  eye  surmounted 
by  an  angled  corona.  These  forms  again  indicate  disturbance 
in  centres  in  which  there  is  no  half-field  representation.  Besides 
other  forms,  an  angled  spectrtmi  sometimes  a|)pears  near  the 
outer  temporal  edge  of  the  field,  anil  extends  outwards  for  a 
short  distance  and  then  curves  downwards,  never  upwards.  Such 
a  peripheral  sixiclrum  always  seems  to  the  subject  to  begin  at 
the  extreme  edge  of  the  field  and  extend  outside  it.  In  one  case 
it  was  drawn  as  attached  to  the  junction  of  the  upjjer  and  lower 
eyelids. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that,  by  the  study  of  these  subjective 
symptoms,  much  will  ultimately  W  learned  regarding  the  function 
and  mmle  of  action  of  the  cerebral  visual  centres.  Whatever 
the  drawbacks  to  observation  through  the  consciousness  of 
another  person,  knowledge  can  be  gained  in  no  other  way  of  the 
action  of  the  higher  centres  of  the  brain,  and  the  time  must 
come  when  the  physiological  knowleilge  which  can  be  gained 
only  through  the  effects  of  disease  and  the  disturbance  of  func- 
tional derangement,  will  receive  more  attention.  The  facts  of 
these  spectra,  when  studied  in  their  detail,  compel  the  conclusion 
that  they  occur  in  centres  in  which  function  is  related  to  the  con- 
joint fields,  and  in  these  to  a  central  and  a  peripheral  region  and 
to  a  medial  zone  between  the  two  :  that  the  chief  relations  are 
central  and  peripheral  :  llmt  outside  the  central  region  there  is  a 
one-sifled  relation,  but  that  there  is  no  distribution  of  function 
at  all  ci>rres|K)nding  to  the  division  of  the  fields  at  the  medial 
line.  The  dominant  rekilion  is  concentric,  and  the  indications 
afforded  by  the  absolute  one-sided  loss  caused  by  destruction  of 
one  occipital  lobe,  has  no  reflection,  positive  or  negative,  in 
these  results  of  spontaneous  central  activity. 

HIGH-LE  VEL  METEOROLOGICAL  STA  T/ONS} 

(~\^V.  of  the  greatest  drawbacks  to  a  full  understanding  of 
^-^  meteorological  ])henomena  is  that  the  obser\ations  on 
which  we  tjose  our  knowledge  are  generally  made  close  to  the 
ground  in  the  most  restricted  air-stratum  ;  whereas  the  general 
atmospheric  movements,  iKjth  in  velocity  and  direction,  arc 
much  UKKlified  in  the  lower  strata,  and  the  air  surrounding  and 
in  contact  with  the  earth  differs  greatly  Uith  in  temperature 
and  humiility  from  the  free  air.  The  more  strongly  agitate<l 
upix-T  strata  react  i>n  the  lower  in  many  ways,  and  a  knowledge 
of  the  m'lvcment  of  the  moderately  high  atmospheric  layers  is 
of  great  importance  for  the  theory  of  the  general  circulation  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  pr.ictically  for  our  weather  forecasts,  since 
the  forces  which  develop  storms  have  their  origin  and  sphere  of 
action  within  two  or  three  miles  of  the  earth. 

If  the  atmosphere  were  only  in  complete  e<|uililirium,  then 
the  few  irregular  observations,  a.s  regards  time  and  place,  which 
have  been  made  in  balloons,  would  give  some  ilala  on  which 
III  Inu-  general  laws  ;  but,  in  the  actual  condition  of  con- 
I  tinenis  and    changes    in    the   atmosphere,    this    can 

■  .  anil    the   continuous  observations   reipiired   of  all 

;.,^ :-,  at   all  seasons  and   in  all    weathers,   can  only  be 

made  on  mountains,  even  (hough  the  conditions  there  only 
approximate  to  those  of  the  free  air.  In  this  way  observations 
on  mountaini.  complete  those  of  the  usual  low-level  stations. 

When  the  I'arth  s  surface  rises  in  plateaux,  the  advantage  of 
cicvati'm  alcive  the  sea —that  is  to  say,  the  innnersion  in  the 
upper    strata     is  almnsl    enlirely    neutr.ilised,   because  still   our 


instru!" 


placed   in   air    masses  which  are    affected   by 

n  paper,  tiy    Mr.  A.  l.awrcncc   Rotrh.  rend  twforc  the 
icty. 


contact  with  the  earth.  For  this  reason  meteorological  obser- 
\-atories  should  be  located  on  high  and  isolated  peaks.  The 
erection  of  such  stations  and  the  discussion  of  their  observations 
during  the  last  fifteen  years  have  contributed  largely  to  the  rapid 
progress  of  the  science  of  meteorology. 

The  chief  first  order  stations  (those  possessing  self-recording 
instruments,  or  where  observations  are  made  on  an  extensive 
scale  I  which  are  located  on  niountain  tops  in  the  various 
countries,  will  now  lie  briefly  described. 

The  first  sununit  station  in  the  world  was  that  establi.shcil  in 
1S70,  jointly  by  the  I'.S.  Signal  .Ser\ice  and  I'rof.  J.  II 
Huntington,  on  Mount  Washington,  N.H.,  6280  ft.  above  the 
sea.  I'rolKtbly  nowhere  else  in  the  world  has  such  severe 
weather  been  experienced,  the  low-est  temperature  being  here 
often  accompanied  by  the  highest  winds,  indike  the  calms  which 
|)revail  with  intense  cold  at  low  levels.  Vax  instance,  in 
February  1SS6,  with  a  teniix-rature  of  50  degrees  below  zero,  a 
wind  velocity  of  1S4  miles  an  hour  was  recorded  on  .Mount 
Washington.  The  tiovernmenl  meteorological  station  on  I'ike's 
I'eak,  at  an  elevation  of  14,134  ft.,  was  for  many  years  the 
highest  in  the  world.  Now  both  these  stations  are  closed, 
so  that  there  seem  to  be  actually  in  the  United  States  but  two 
summit  stations  where  meteorological  observations  are  made 
throughout  the  year,  viz.  :  The  Lick  (Jbservatory.  on  Mount 
Hamilton,  California — primarily  astronomical — and  the  Blue  Hill 
Meteorological  Observatory  in  Massachusetts,  situati-d  at  a  very 
moderate  elevation.  Prof.  S.  1'.  L^ngley's  important  researches 
on  the  nature  and  amount  of  solar  heat  received  by  the  earth 
were  carried  on  in  18S1  upon  Mount  Whitney,  the  summit  of 
which  is  14,500  ft.  above  the  sea. 

It  is  due  to  an  .\merican  institution  that  the  highest  meteoro- 
logical station  in  the  world  is  now  in  Peru,  where  the  Harvard 
College  Observatory,  several  years  ago,  established  an  outpost  at 
.\requi|)a.  In  1893,  I'rof.  Bailey  succeeded  in  jilacing  self- 
recording  instriMuents  on  the  smumit  of  the  neighbouring 
volcano  of  El  Misti,  19,300  ft.  high,  when  a  former  station  on 
the  side  of  Mount  Chachani.near  the  snow -line,  at  an  elevation  of 
16,650  feet,  was  abandoned.  It  is  impossible  for  persons  to 
remain  at  these  stations,  so  they  were  ])rovided  with  automatic 
instruments  which  should  give  a  continuous  record  of  the  chief 
meteorological  elements  during  two  weeks.  .Sever.il  times  a 
month  one  of  the  Obser\atory  staff  climbs  the  mountain  in 
order  to  wind  the  clocks  and  change  the  register  sheets,  at  the 
Slime  time  making  a  check  reading  of  standard  instruments. 
Breaks  in  the  record  occur,  owing  to  imforeseen  stoppage  of  the 
instruments,  or  inability  to  make  the  .ascent  at  the  appointed 
time. 

France  stands  unrivalled  in  her  superb  chain  of  summit 
stations  on  the  I'uy  de  Dome  (4800  ft.)  in  Auvergne,  on  the 
I'ic  du  Midi  (9440  ft.)  in  the  Pyrenees,  on  the  Mont  \'entoux 
(6250  ft.)  in  Provence,  and  on  the  Aigoual  (5150  ft.)  in  the 
Cevennes,  whose  construction  has  cost  the  natiiinal  and  pro- 
vincial Ciovernments  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  and 
years  of  time.  They  are  generally  defective  in  having  no  co- 
operating base  stations,  and  their  observations  have  not  been 
published  in  detail.  In  1890,  M.  \'allol,  a  devoted  .\l|>inist 
and  meteorologist,  established  several  stations  on  and  near  Mont 
I{|anc,  from  which  records  have  lieen  obtained  each  sunnner 
since.  The  highest  of  these  stations,  at  the  Kochers  des  Bosses, 
14,320  ft.,  is  provided  with  many  self-recording  instruments 
0|Kraling  two  weeks  without  attention,  which  are  lookeil  after 
by  the  owner  or  hisguides  e.ich  week  or  twn  during  the  summer. 
The  Observatory  of  M.  Janssen,  sunk  in  the  snow  on  the  very 
lop  of  Mount  Blanc,  1460  ft.  higher,  is  not  yet  in  operation, 
but  a  meteorograph  has  been  made  for  it  in  Paris,  which  will  con- 
tinuously record  all  the  meteorological  elements  during  a 
periodof  three  months  without  atlenlion.  A  similar  inslruuient 
is  being  constructed  at  Blue  Hill,  by  .Mr.  Fergusson,  for  Prof. 
Pickering's  station  im  F.I  Misti. 

On  the  F.iffel  Tower  In  Paris  are  inslrunients  980  ft.  above 
ihe  ground,  which  give  more  nearly  the  condilions  i)revailin(J  in 
the  free  air  than  do  any  others  permanently  al  this  elevation. 
They  record  at  the  Central  Meteorological  Office,  a  ipiarler  of  a 
mile  distant,  si<le  by  side  with  .similar  inslrunients  exposed  near 
the  grouml. 

.Among  Ihe  ( lerman  and  Austrian  stations,  that  on  ihe 
Soindilick,  a  peak  of  the  .\uslrian  .Mps,  10,170  ft.  high,  ami  the 
highest  permanently  occupied  observatory  in  lairope,  slan<ls 
preeminent,  having  furnished  very  valuable  results  under  Dr. 
Ilann's  direction. 


NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


JuLV  4,  1 895 J 


NA  rURE 


Switzerland,  which  since  1873  had  maintained  stations  in 
mountain  piisses,  &c. ,  has  now  on  the  Santis  (8200  ft.)  in  the 
cantcjn  of  A|)penzell,  one  of  the  licsl  located  and  equipped 
summit  stations  in  the  world  :  and  in  Italy  an  observatory  on 
Monte  Cimone  (7100  ft.)  in  the  Apennines,  near  Lucca,  has 
recently  been  completed. 

On  Hen  Nevis,  the  highest  mountain  in  Great  Britain  (4400 
ft.),  there  is  a  remarkable  station  where  during  ten  years  an 
unbroken  series  of  hourly  observations  has  been  maintained. 
There  is  a  base  station  at  sea-level,  and  the  advantageous  situa- 
tion on  the  west  coast  of  .Scotland  renders  the  results  of  the 
observations,  which  have  been  discussed  by  Dr.  Buchan,  of 
great  value. 

It  is  impossible  to  even  enumerate  all  that  has  been  gained 
from  these  high-level  observations,  but  the  chief  results  attained, 
or  still  sought,  may  be  thus  summarised  :  Determination  of 
normal  decrease  of  temperature  and  humidity  with  elevation  ; 
abnormal  changes  with  elevation  in  cyclones  (or  areas  of  low 
pressure  near  the  ground)  and  in  anti-cyclones  (or  areas  of  high 
pressure  near  the  ground)  ;  height  to  which  these  cyclones  and 
anti-cyclones  persist,  and  the  circulation  of  the  air  around  each 
at  various  levels. 


UNIVERSITY  AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

O.XKORD. — At  the  Encaenia,  or  Commemoration  of  Oxford 
Founders,  held  on  June  26,  the  honorary  degree  of  D.C.  L.  was 
conferred  upon  Sir  W.  II.  Flower,  Prof.  Michael  Foster,  M. 
Edward  Naville,  the  distinguished  .Swiss  Egyptologist,  and  Sir 
A.  W.  p'ranks,  President  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries. 


Sir  J.  E.  Gorst  has  succeeded  Mr.  .Acland  as  Vice-President 
of  the  Council  for  Education. 

Mr.  IIkrbert  IIa.ncock,  Mathematical  and  Physics  master 
in  Bancroft's  School,  Woodford,  London,  has  just  been 
appointed  to  the  headmastership  of  the  Hipperholme  Grammar 
School,  an  important  science  centre  for  the  North  of  England. 

A  r  a  Convocation  of  Durham  University  on  Tuesday,  June  25, 
the  Sub-Warden  announced  that  the  new  Charter  had  been 
received  by  which  power  is  given  to  the  University  to  confer 
degrees  upon  women  in  all  faculties  except  Divinity,  .\mong  a 
large  number  of  degrees  conferred  was  that  uf  Bachelor  of 
Science  on  Miss  Ella  Mary  Brjant,  Durham  College  of  Science, 
Newcastle. 

In  consequence  of  the  shortly  ensuing  General  Election,  the 
annual  meeting  of  the  National  .Association  for  the  Promotion 
of  Technical  and  .Secondary  Education,  and  the  Conference  of 
representatives  of  Technical  Education  Committees,  which  had 
been  arranged  to  take  place  in  Lond(jn  on  Iidy  11,  have  been 
postponetl. 

On  Thursday  last  a  very  successful  and  numerously  attended 
conversazione  was  held  at  University  College,  London.  The 
guests  were  received  on  the  grand  staircase  by  the  President  (Sir 
John  Erichsen,  Bart.,  K.R.S. )  and  Deans  of  Faculties.  The 
various  scientific  departments  of  the  College  were  thrown  open, 
and  many  interesting  exhibits  contributed  to  the  success  of  the 
evening.  Among  the  latter  were  included  the  spectra  of  argon 
and  helium,  various  electrical  and  physical  experiments,  living 
--eaweeds  and  marine  animals,  new  models  of  dividing  nuclei,  &c. 

Thk  University  of  London  has  conferred  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Science,  without  examination,  on  Mr.  Th.  Groome,  Professor 
of  Natural  History  at  the  Royal  Agricultural  College,  Cirencester, 
m  recognition  of  the  merits  of  his  original  researches  and 
published  ixipers. 

The  Berlin  correspondent  of  the  Lancet  writes  as  follows  : — 
"The  publication  of  a  rumour  that  the  authorities  intend  to 
abolish  the  University  of  Jena,  has  caused  a  stir  in  the  scientific 
world,  the  university  being  one  of  the  oldest  in  Germany,  and 
h.-iving  often  occupied  a  leading  position.  Financial  reasons  are 
said  to  have  induced  the  authorities  to  arrive  at  this  decision. 
The  Constitution  of  the  University  of  Jena  is  somewhat  peculiar. 
It  is  not  under  the  jurisdiction  of  a  single  State,  but  belongs 
jointly  to  fourSt.atesof  Thuringia,  viz.,  Saxe- Weimar,  Meiningen, 
Coliurg,  and  Altcnburg.  The  Governments  of  those  small 
States  entirely  control  the  afl'airs  of  the  university.     If,  for  in- 

NO.    1340,  VOL.    52] 


stance,  a  new  professor  is  to  be  appointed  they  must  all  consent 
to  his  nomination.  To  put  a  stop  to  the  further  propagation  of 
this  rumour,  the  official  journals  of  the  four  united  Governments 
declare  that  the  continued  existence  of  this  venerable  university 
is  assured  both  by  public  grants  and  by  large  donations  recently 
made  by  old  pupils  and  others.  This  communication  has  been 
received  with  general  satisfaction,  particularly  in  the  town  of 
Jena  itself,  which  is  entirely  dependent  upon  the  university." 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

The  Mathciiialical  Gazette,  No.  5  (.May  1895). — This  numtjer 
opens  with  a  paper  read  by  Dr.  C.  Taylor  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
the  A.I.G.T.  in  January  last,  of  which  the  title  is  "The  Syllabus 
of  Geometrical  Conies."  In  it  the  writer  passes  in  review  what 
he  has  done  in  the  subject  since  his  first  contribution  to  the 
Messenger  m  1862.  Amongst  other  reasons  for  writing  at  this 
date.  Dr.  Taylor  states:  "  I  have,  as  I  think,  arrived  at  some- 
thing like  finality  in  my  own  view  of  the  way  in  which  the  sub- 
ject should  be  approached."  It  is  on  this  ground  that  we  com- 
mend the  author's  paper  to  persons  interested  in  the  teaching 
of  geometrical  conies.  They  will  derive  profit  from  it.  The 
second  of  the  mathematical  worthies  noticed  by  Mr.  Heppel  is 
John  Dee,  noteworthy  from  his  contributions  to  Billingsley's 
translation  of  I^uclid.  The  notes,  solutions  of  Gazette  questions, 
solutions  of  examination  questions,  and  questions  for  solution, 
which  are  all  ver)'  useful  for  the  readers  addressed,  are,  with 
the  enlarged  form  of  the  journal,  greatly  increased  in  number 
and  variety.  Several  recent  text-books  are  also  the  subject  of 
judicious  and  discriminating  criticism.  The  Gazette  should 
certainly  have  a  successful  career. 

American  Journal  of  ^[athemat^cs,  vol.  x\4i.  No.  3. — On  irra- 
tional covariants  of  certain  binary  forms,  by  E.  Study,  discusses 
the  most  importanc  covariants  of  binary  cubics  and  quartics  and 
of  some  other  special  binary  forms.  .After  paying  tribute  to  the 
methods  of  Cayley  and  Clebsch,  the  author  gives  his  reasons  for 
working  the  whole  subject  over  again.  By  means  of  a  carefully 
chosen  system  of  notation,  he  presents  his  results,  as  he  believes, 
in  a  form  that  will  be  useful  to  those  who  have  to  deal  with  the 
numerous  applications  of  the  binary  quantics  of  the  lowest 
orders.  In  some  detail  (pp.  185-215)  he  examines  the  cubic, 
and  the  quartic  and  octahedron,  and  points  out  several  small 
numerical  errors  in  previously  obtained  results.  The  same 
writer  contributes  an  article  on  the  connection  between  binary 
quartics  and  elliptic  functions.  This  is  an  application  of  the 
theory  developed  in  the  previous  article  to  elliptic  functions.  In 
it  he  compares  the  relations  among  the  rational  and  irrational 
covariants  of  a  quartic  with  the  identities  among  the  four  theta- 
functions ;  by  this  means  a  new  light  is  thrown  upon  the 
familiar  formula-,  and  at  the  same  time  a  number  of  new  results 
are  derived,  which  make  the  theorj'  in  question,  the  author 
states,  in  a  certain  sense  complete.  Stress  is  laid  upon  the  fact 
that  all  the  results  are  obtained  by  means  of  actual  calculations, 
and  that  no  use  is  made  of  the  method  of  indeterminate 
coefficients. — Semi-combinants  as  concomitants  of  affiliants,  by 
H.  S.  White,  opens  up  a  new  path  apparently  (pp.  234-265): 
"  I  consider  all  ground  forms  that  are  included  in  the  con- 
junctive of  the  system,  and  those  of  them  that  satisfy  invariant 
equations  of  suitable  order,  linear  in  their  coefficients,  I 
designate  as  affiliant  ground  forms."  The  paper  shows  that  not 
only  is  every  semi-combinant  ground  form  an  affiliant,  but  also 
every  affiliant  ground  form  is  a  semi-combinant.  Three  short 
notes  follow,  viz.  :  Simplification  of  Gauss's  third  proof  that 
every  algebraic  ecjuation  has  a  root,  by  ,M.  Bikher,  a  note  read 
before  the  American  Mathematical  Society  (^/.  Nature,  p.  189); 
note  sur  les  lignes  cycloidales,  by  R.  de  Saussu  re  :  and  note 
on  lines  of  curvature,  bv  T.  II.  Taliaferro. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 

Royal    Society,    .April    25. — '' Acokanlhera  .Schimperi: 
Natural    History,    Chemistry,  and    Pharmacology."      By    Prof. 
ThoiiLis  R.  Eraser,  F.  R.S.,  and  Dr.  Joseph  Tillie. 

Specimens  of  the  wood  from  which  the  Wa  Nyika,  W"a 
Gyriama  and  Wa  Nyika  arrow-poison  is  prepared  have  been 
examined  by  us  and   referred   to  the  genus   Acokan:hera.  and 


238 


NA  TURE 


[Jiu.v  4,  189  = 


leaves,  flowers,  and  fruit,  each  taken  from  the  same  individual 
tree,  having  also  been  sent  to  us,  we  have  been  enabled  to  deter- 
mine that  the  wood  of  the  s^cXcsAcokanthcraSihimpcri,  Benth. 
and  Hook.  (Carissa  Schimperi,  A. DC. ),  is  used  by  the  Wa 
Nyika  and  other  tribes  inhabiting  the  coast  regions  near 
Momljasa  in  pre|Mring  their  arrow-poisons. 

The  arrow-poisons  of  these  trilies  usually  contains  a  crystalline 
glucosidal  active  principle,  which,  in  its  chemical  properties  and 
Ijharmacological  action,  is  identical  with  the  active  principle  also 
separated  by  us  from  the  wood  of  Acokaiithcra  Sibintpi:ri. 

The  complete  recognition  of  the  species  of  Aiokaiithera  is  of 
primarj-  importance,  because  several  supplies  of  the  wood  of 
unidentified  species  of  Aiokanthera  sent  to  us  from  East  Equa- 
torial -Africa  yielded  only  a  glucosidal  active  principle  which  was 
amorphous. 

The  characters  of  the  crystalline  active  principle  w  hich  we  have 
separated  from  the  wood  of  the  fiilly  identified  species,  Acokan- 
thera  Schimperi,  Benth.  and  Hook.,  agree  with  those  of  the 
crystalline  active  principle  ouabam,  sejiarated  by  Arnaud  from 
the  w  ikkI  of  the  unidentified  species  of  Acokanthera,  provisionally 
named  Ouabdio^  obtained  from  North  Somaliland,  and  also  from 
the  seeds  of  an  unidentified  species  of  Strophanthus,  obtained 
from  West  Africa.  --Vs,  however,  the  name  ouabain  is  used  for 
three  quite  different  substances,  two  of  w  hich  are  amorphous,  we 
would  suggest  that,  in  accordance  with  a  usual  custom,  the 
crystalline  active  principle  of  Acokanthera  Schimperi  should  tie 
named  acokantherin,  and  not  ouabain. 

The  work  accomplished  by  Amott  and  by  Haines  in  1853,  by 
Ringer  in  iSSo,  by  Kochebraunc  and  .Arnaud  in  1881,  by 
l-iborde  in  18S7,  by  Langlois  and  \'arigiiy,  by  dley  and 
Rondeau,  and  by  Gley  in  1888,  by  Sailer  in  1891,  by  I'aschkis 
in  1892,  and  by  Lewin  in  1893,  ^^^  been  more  fully  descril)ed  in 
this  pajwr  than  in  our  preliminary  notice  of  March  23,  1893. 

A  detailed  examination  of  the  pharmacological  action  of 
acokantherin  has  not  led  to  the  discovery  of  any  important 
qualitative  differences  between  its  action  and  that  of  Strophanthus 
hiipiiius  and  of  its  active  principle  slrophanthin,  Nshicli  was 
descrilx:d  by  one  of  us  in  1870,  in  1S72,  and  in  1890.  -As,  how- 
ever, a  sjiecial  interest  must  be  attached  to  the  effects  upon  the 
circulation,  the  experiments  upon  the  heart,  blood-vessels,  and 
blood-pressure  are  described  with  more  detail  than  those  upon 
other  systems. 

The  predominant  action  of  acokantherin  is  that  exerted  upon 
striped  muscle,  and,  l>ecause  of  this  action,  with  |)ossibly  an 
action  upon  the  intrinsic  cardio-motor  ganglia,  the  chief  effect  is 
produced  upon  the  heart,  while  the  influence  exertcil  upon  the 
cardio-respiratory  centres  in  the  medulla  is  relatively  slight  or 
secondary. 

May  30. — "  On  the  Effect  of  Pressure  of  the  Surrounding 
Gas  on  the  Tem|x;rature  of  the  Crater  of  an  Electric  Arc  Light. 
Preliminary  Notes  of  Observations  made  at  Daramona,  Slreete, 
Co.  Westmeath."     By  VV.  E.  Wilson. 

Of  late  years  it  has  often  been  assumed  that  the  temperature  of 
the  crater  forming  the  [jositive  pole  of  the  electric  arc  is  thai  of 
the  Ixiiling  of  carlx)n.  The  most  modern  determinations  give 
this  [xjint  as  alxiul  3300'-35C»"  C. 

Solar  physicists  have  thought  that  the  photosphere  of  the  sun 
consists  of  a  layer  of  clouds  formed  of  jiarticlesof  solid  carbon. 
As  the  temperature  of  these  clouds  is  certainly  not  below 
8000  C,  it  seems  very  difficult  lo  explain  how  carbon  can  be 
iKiiling  in  the  arc  at  3500'  and  yet  remain  in  the  solid  form  in 
the  sun  at  8000'.  l'res,sure  in  the  solar  atmosphere  seemed  lo 
tie  the  most  likely  cause  of  this,  and  yet,  from  other  physical 
rea-sons,  this  seemed  not  probable. 

In  order  lo  investigate  whether  increased  pressure  in  the  gas 
surrounding  an  electric  arc  woulil  raise  the  temperature  of 
the  crater,  the  author  used  a  .strong  casl-iron  box  in  the 
inleri'ir  of  which  an  electric  arc  light  could  l)e  maintained.  .At 
the  side  of  the  l)ox  was  inserted  a  glass  lens,  liy  which  an  image 
<if  the  crater  was  formed  at  a  distance  <jf  80  cm.  When  this 
image  was  allowed  to  fall  on  the  a|ierlure  of  a  Boys  radio-micro- 
meter, 'h"-  deflections  of  this  instrument  showed  any  variations  in 
"  I  from   the  crater.     The  .-luthor   then  descrilxis  the 

made  with  this  apparatus,  an<l  shows  that  by 
iri>  1..1  nit;  liic  prosMire  of  the  gas  in  the  box  the  temperature  of 
the  crater  is  runsider^ibly  lowered  intead  of  being  raised,  and  he 
concludes  that  ihese  experhnents  .seem  to  show  that  the  tem- 
|ierature  of  the  crater,  like  that  of  a  filament  in  an  incandescent 
lamp,  depends  on  how  much  it  is  cooled  by  the  surrounding 
atmosphere,  and  not  on  its  iK'ing  the  lcm|ierature  at   which   the 

NO.   1340,  VOL.  52] 


vapour  of  carbon  has  the  same  pressure  as  the  surrounding 
atmosphere.  That  carbon  volatilises  in  some  form  at  compara- 
tively low  temperatures  seems  likely,  from  the  way  in  which  the 
carbon  of  incandescent  lamp  filaments  is  transferred  to  the  gl.iss. 
The  pressure  of  the  vapour  of  carbon  in  the  arc  may  consequently 
be  very  small,  and  further  it  would  seem  thai  the  sujiptisilion  of 
high  pressures  in  the  solar  photosphere,  whicli  has  been  referred 
to  in  the  beginning  of  this  paper,  is  not  borne  out  by  these 
experiments,  and  that  carbon  may  exist  there  in  the  solid  form 
at  very  high  temperatures  although  the  pressures  are  compara- 
tively low. 

June  13. — "  Further  Observations  on  the  Organisation  of 
the  Fossil  Plants  of  the  Coal  Measures.  Part  3.  Lyginodcndron 
and  Ileliran^iiiiii.'"  By  W.  C.  Williamson,  F. R.S.,  and 
D.  H.  Scott,' F.R.S.  I 

The  authors  sum  up  their  conclusions  as  follows  : — 

The  vegetative  organs  of  these  genera  show  a  remarkable  com- 
bination of  fern-like  and  cycadean  characters.  The  leaves  o( 
Lyginodcndron,  which  are  now  well  known,  are  so  like  fern- 
leaves,  not  only  in  form  and  venation  but  in  minute  structure, 
that  if  they  stood  alone  they  would,  without  hesitation,  be 
referred  to  Filices.  -Although  many  leaves  simulate  those  of 
ferns  in  external  characters  (Stangcria,  Thalictrum,  &c. ),  none 
are  known  which  at  the  same  time  show  the  characteristic 
anatomy  of  fern-leaves.  Hence  we  are  led  to  attach  great 
weight  to  the  characters  of  the  Lyginodcndron  foliage.  That  of 
Hcterangiuin,  though  less  well  preserved,  was  evidently  of  the 
same  type. 

In  Hcterangium  the  primary  structure  of  the  stem  is  nuich 
like  that  of  a  monoslelic  fern  such  as  Glcichenia,  but  the  leaf- 
trace  bundles  closely  resemble  the  foliar  bundles  of  a  Cycad. 

In  Lyginodcndron  the  whole  structure  of  the  stem  suggests  a 
Cycad,  but  with  the  remarkable  peculiarity  thai  the  bundles 
here  have  the  structure  which  in  Cycade.e  is  usually  (tiunigh  not 
always)  limited  to  those  of  the  leaf  The  cycadean  characters 
are  loo  marked  lo  be  accidental,  though  the  general  anatomy  of 
Lyginodcndron  is  not  inconsistent  with  a  close  relationship  lo 
ferns,  for  in  OsmiinJa  we  have  a  monoslelic  fern,  with  a  large 
])ilh,  collateral  bundles  in  the  stem,  and  concentric  ones  in  the 
leaf  The  mere  occurrence  of  secondary  growth  in  a  fern-like 
plant  is  not  surprising,  considering  that  it  lakes  place  in 
Botrychiiim  and  Jielminthoslaihys  at  the  present  day. 

In  various  respects  Lyginodcndron  and  Hcterangium  have 
points  in  common  with  ("deicheniacex,  ( )smundace;v,  Marat- 
tiace^e,  Ophioglossex,  and  Cycadea;.  The  view  of  their 
aftinilies,  which  we  suggesl,  is  that  they  are  derivatives  of  an 
ancient  generalised  race  of  ferns,  from  wliich  they  have  already 
diverged  considerably  in  the  cycadean  direction.  Of  the  two 
genera,  Jlctcrangiutn  appears  to  be  gei)logicaUy  tile  more 
ancient,  and  certainly  stands  nearer  to  the  filicinean  slock. 
L^yginodendron ,  while  retaining  conspicuous  fern-like  characters, 
has  advanced  much  further  on  cycadean  lines.  Tliis  view  by  no 
means  involves  the  improbable  assumption  that  these  plants  were 
the  .actual  ancestors  of  existing  Cycade;e.  I  low  far  their 
<livergence  from  the  fern  stock  had  proceeded  cannot  be 
determined  until  we  are  acquainted  with  their  organs  of  re- 
production. 

The  existence  of  a  fossil  group  on  the  border  land  of  ferns  and 
Cycads  seems  now  to  be  well  established.  Count  Solms-Laubach 
places  his  Protopilys  in  this  position,  which  is  probal)ly  shared 
tjy  Mycloxylon  and  Poro.xy/on.  Messrs.  Bertrand  aiul  ReiiauU 
h.ave  indeed  endeavoured  to  derive  the  last-named  genus  from 
Lycfipodiacca',  and  have  extended  tlie  same  view  to  Lygino- 
dcndron and  Hctcrangiitvi.  In  tile  latter  cases  their  theory  is 
completely  negatived  by  the  organisation  of  tile  leaves,  and  by 
many  structural  details. 

The  relation  of  the  genera  which  we  have  described  to  those 
ancient  gymnosperms,  the  Cordaitctr,  will  form  one  of  the  most 
interesting  palaobolanica!  problems  of  the  future. 

The  paper  is  illustr.ated  by  micro-photographs  and  liy  caniera- 
lucida  drawings. 

Geological  Society,  June  19.  -Dr.  Henry  Woodwanl, 
F.R..S.,  President,  in  the  ch.air. — On  the  occurrence  of  radio- 
laria  in  chalk,  by  W.  Hill  and  A.  J.  Jukes-Browne.  The  authors 
noticed  the  rarity  of  records  of  Cretaceous  railiolaria,  and 
alluded  lo  those  which  have  been  made,  including  those  by  Kilsl 
and  Sollas.  They  recently  discovered  spherical  liodies  resem- 
bling in  form  and  general  appearance  certain  calcified  and  par- 
tially  <le.stroyed  radiolarian  tests  from   some   of  the   liarl>aclian 


July  4.  1895] 


NA  TURE 


239 


rocks ;  microscopic  examination  of  these  proved  that  many  of 
them,  at  any  rate,  are  radiolaria.  The  bodies  occur  in  the  nodules 
of  the  lower  bjcls  of  the  ^^ell)ourn  rock  at  Melbourn,  Royston, 
near  Hitchin,  Leagrave,  near  Luton,  Pitstone  and  Tring,  Wat- 
lington,  the  Richmond  boring,  the  lower  part  of  the  "Grit  Bed  "  at 
I  )i)ver,  Sutton  Waldron  and  Burcombe  (Dorset),  and  in  a  nodular 
chalk  which  may  be  considered  as  the  equivalent  of  the  Melbourn 
rock  from  Bindon  Cliffs,  near  Axmouth, Devon.  Similar  organisms 
liave  recently  been  found  in  the  chalk  marl  of  Lincolnshire,  Vork- 
shirc,  and  Norfolk,  but  have  not  been  noticed  in  any  other  parts 
of  the  chalk.  It  was  suggested  that  they  occurred  in  many  por- 
tions of  the  chalk-ooze,  but  were  usually  rapidly  and  completely 
dissolved,  and  contributed  to  that  solution  of  silica  which  fur- 
nished the  substance  of  Hint-nodules  ;  and  the  authors  concluded 
that  the  preservation  of  traces  of  the  radiolaria  in  the  nodules  of 
the  Melbourn  rock  was  due  to  some  specially  favourable  con- 
ditions. A  description  of  the  changes  undergone  by  Barbadian 
radiolaria  was  given  to  illustrate  the  instability  of  radiolarian 
tests.  All  stages  were  traceable,  from  the  perfect  siliceous  test 
to  a  structureless  ball  or  disc  filled  with  calcareous  matter,  or  a 
mere  patch  of  clear  crystalline  material.  A  description  of  forms 
lecognised  in  the  nodules  of  the  Melbourn  rock  was  given. — 
The  crush-conglomerates  of  the  Isle  of  Man,  by  G.  W. 
Lamplugh,  with  an  appendix  by  W.  W.  Watts.  The  Skiddaw 
elates  of  the  Isle  of  Man  have  everywhere  undergone  intense 
^hearing,  and  on  the  north-ne.st  side  of  the  main  stratigraphical 
iixis  actual  <lisruption  of  the  bedding  with  the  resultant  formation 
•  >f  breccia  or  crush-conglomerate  on  a  large  scale  has  taken  place. 
This  structure  attains  its  widest  development  on  the  north  side  ot 
I  he  central  valley,  though  it  is  noted  on  a  more  limited  scale  in  a 
kw  localities  farther  south.  The  sections  described  showed  the 
gradual  smashing  into  fragments  of  highly  contorted  strata  until 
ever)' trace  of  the  original  bedding  is  lost,  and  a  "crush-con- 
glomerate" \Tith  lenticular  and  partly  rounded  inclusions  is 
formed.  The  rocks  described  in  Mr.  Watts's  appendix  were 
groujied  in  four  classes.  Firstly,  the  grits  and  slates  which  had 
been  crushed  but  had  not  been  converted  into  crush-conglomer- 
ates :  secondly,  the  crush-conglomerates  themselves,  and  the 
fragments  which  they  contain  ;  thirdly,  the  dykes  of  decomposed 
dolerite  (greenstone)  and  fresh  later  dolerite  which  penetrate  the 
conglomerate  ;  fourthly,  a  portion  of  the  crush-conglomerate 
metamorphosed  by  these  intrusions.  The  chief  point  of  interest 
H.as  brought  out  by  the  examination  of  the  fragments  in  the  con- 
glomerate. All  stages  of  crushing  could  be  traced,  until  the 
grit-fragments  had  a  structure  which  was  a  mere  miniature  of  the 
crush-conglomerate  itself :  that  is  to  say,  if  the  crush-conglomerate 
be  regarded  as  made  of  "  fragments"  of  hard  rocks  enclosed  in 
I  rushed  "matrix"  of  soft  rocks,  a  host  of  intermediate  varieties 
with  varying  resistances  will  occur. — The  chalky  clay  of  the 
I'enland  and  its  borders  ;  its  constitution,  origin,  distribution, 
and  age,  by  Sir  Henry  H.  Howorth,  .M.P.,  F.R.S.  The  dis- 
tribvition  of  the  clay  (so  often  termed  chalky  hotilder  clay)  was 
noticed.  The  paucity  of  foreign  .stones  was  noted  as  compared 
with  natives,  and  the  similarity  of  the  matrix  of  the  chalky  clay 
to  the  material  of  the  older  deposits  of  the  neighbourhood.  The 
author  maintained  that  the  contents  of  the  clay  indicate  move- 
ment of  material  from  west  to  cast  in  some  places,  as  shown  by 
Jurassic  fossils  in  the  East  .\nglian  chalky  clay,  and  from  east  to 
west  in  others  ;  in  fact,  that  movement  took  place  in  sporadic 
lines  diverging  from  the  Wash  and  the  Fens.  He  appealed  to 
the  amount  of  disintegration  that  had  taken  place  to  furnish 
the  material  for  the  clay,  the  shape  of  the  stones  in  the  clay,  and 
the  distribvttion  of  the  clay  itself,  as  evidence  against  the  action 
of  land-ice  t>r  icebergs,  and  maintained  that  there  was  no  evi- 
dence of  submergence  at  the  time  the  clay  was  formed  ;  and 
criticised  the  attempts  made  to  explain  the  formation  of  the  clay 
by  water  produced  by  the  melting  of  ice. — On  the  occurrence  of 
5/m'rAn-.limestonc  and  thin  coals  in  the  so-called  Permian 
rocks  of  Wyre  Forest ;  with  considerations  as  to  the  systematic 
|M).sition  of  the  "  Permians"  of  Salopian  type,  by  T.  Croslwe 
Omtrill.  In  South  Staffordshire  a  thick  series  of  red  rocks — 
the  so-called  Lower  Permian — overlies  the  ordinary  yellow  and 
grey  coal  measures,  and  underlies  the  Triassic  rocks.  They  con- 
sist of  sandstones,  marls,  calcareous  conglomerates,  and  breccias, 
having  a  general  red  or  purplish-red  colour.  Sinkings  have 
shown  that  these  red  rocks  must  be  regarded  as  of  Upper  Coal 
.Measure  age,  because  their  included  fossils  have  an  Upjier  Coal 
Measure /i!</Vx  The  rocks  contain  bands  of  limestone  char.ac- 
tcriseil  by  the  presence  of  Spirothis  pusillus :  those  parts  of  the 
series  which    have  not  yielded  Coal  Measure  fossils  being  ap- 


parently similar  lithologically  to  those  which  have  yielded  them. 

The  evidence  furnished  by  the  deposits  of  the  Forest  of  Wyre 
(  =  Enville)  district  also  led  the  author  to  regard  the  red  rocks 
associated  with  Spiroriis-hme'ilone  and  coals  as  Upper  Coal 
Measures,  exhibiting  a  gradual  passing  away  of  Coal  Measure 
conditions  and  the  incoming  of  those  of  new  red  sandstone 
times. 

Linnean  Society,  June  20. — Mr.  C.  B.  Clarke,  President, 
in  the  chair. — Mr.  F.  Enock  exhibited  and  made  some  remarks 
u])on  a  living  specimen  of  an  aquatic  hymenopterous  insect, 
Polyiiema  natans,  Lubbock. — Messrs.  E.  Baker  and  C.  Reid 
exhibited  some  rare  plants  from  the  limestone  hills,  Co.  Kerry, 
including  Pinguicula  grandiflora^  Lam.  contrasted  with  P. 
vulgaris,  and  Saxifraga  Getim  contrasted  with  5'.  uiiihrosa,  with 
a  view  of  determining  their  value  as  sub-species  or  geographical 
races. — .Mr.  Carruthers  exhibited  some  feathers  of  a  cuckoo 
taken  at  Whitchurch,  .Shropshire,  on  May  23  last,  amongst 
which  were  some  moulted  feathers  which  were  held  connected 
with  the  new  feathers  which  had  replaced  them  by  means  of  the 
barbed  seed  capsules  of  a  sub-tropical  grass,  Cenchriis  echinatus. 
— On  behalf  of  Mr.  S.  Loat,  there  was  exhibited  a  cuckoo's 
egg,  taken  from  the  nest  of  a  hedge-sparrow,  together  with  five 
white  eggs  of  that  species,  an  abnormality  not  often  met  with. 
.•\n  examination  of  these  eggs  under  the  microscope  showed 
that,  in  regard  to  the  texture  or  grain  of  the  shell,  they  agreed 
with  eggs  of  the  hedge-sparrow,  and  not  with  those  of  the  robin, 
of  which  white  varieties  are  not  so  rare. — Mr.  George  West  then 
gave  the  substance  of  a  paper  on  some  North  Americai^ 
Dcsmidieir,  describing  the  characters  of  several  new  species  with 
the  aid  of  specially  prepared  lantern  slides. — Mr.  A.  Vaughan 
Jennings  gave  a  detailed  account  of  the  structure  of  the  Isopod 
genus  Oitrozeiiktes,  upon  which  a  most  instructive  criticism  wa.s 
offered  by  the  Rev.  J.  R.  Stebbing,  who  was  present  as  a  visitor  ; 
some  further  remarks  being  offered  by  Mr.  W.  P.  Sladen. — Mr. 
F.  N.  Williams  communicated  the  salient  points  in  a  critical  paper 
which  he  had  prepared,  entitled  "A  Revision  of  the  Genus 
Sileiie." — On  behalf  of  .Mr.  E.  R.  Waite,  Prof  Howes  gave  an 
abstract  of  a  well  illustrated  paper  on  "  The  Egg-cases  of  Port 
Jackson  Sharks,"  and  exhibited  several  spirit  specimens  in 
further  elucidation  of  the  subject. — This  meeting  terminated  the 
session. 

P.\RIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  June  24. — M.  Marey  in  the  chair. — 
(!)n  the  gradual  extinction  of  an  ocean-roller  at  great  distances- 
from  its  place  of  production  :  fonnation  of  equations  of  the 
problem,  by  M.  J.  Boussinesq. — New  studies  on  the  fluorescence 
of  argon  and  on  its  combination  with  the  elements  of  benzene, 
by  M.  Berthelot.  With  the  help  of  M.  Deslandres,  the 
author  has  made  a  more  complete  spectroscopic  examination 
of  the  emerald-green  light  produced  by  the  fluorescence  of 
argon  under  the  influence  of  the  silent  electric  discharge.  The 
significance  of  the  various  rays  observed  or  photographed  is  dis- 
cu.ssed.  Finally,  the  conclusion  is  drawn  that  this  fluorescence 
is  definitely  due  to  a  condensation  compound  of  argon  ;  it 
points  to  the  probable  existence  of  a  complex  state  of  equili- 
brium in  which  argon,  mercury,  and  the  elements  of  benzene  are 
concerned. — On  the  campholenic  lactones,  by  .MM.  Berthelot 
and  Rivals.  The  lactones  have  heats  of  formation  greater 
than  those  of  the  isomeric  acids. — On  the  heats  of  solution  and 
neutralisation  of  campholenic  acids,  by  M.  Berthelot. — Reduc- 
tion of  silica  by  carbon,  by  M.  Henri  Moissan.  With  a  current 
of  1000  amperes  at  50  volts,  the  author  has  obtained  character- 
istic crystals  of  silicon,  but  always  mixed  with  carbon  silicide. 
.\t  the  high  temperature  attained,  carbon  from  the  crucible 
reduces  the  .silica  of  the  charge. — Observations  on  a  note, 
by  MM.  Barbier  and  Bouveault,  on  the  products  of  con- 
densation of  valeric  aldehyde,  by  ^L  C.  Friedel.— On 
the  integration  of  linear  equations  by  the  aid  of  definite 
integrals,  by  M.  Ludwig  Schlesinger. — On  the  determination  of 
the  ratio  of  the  two  specific  heats  for  .air,  by  M.  G.  Maneuvrier. 
A  new  method  and  new  apjiaratus  are  described.  The  experi- 
mental determination  of  the  ratio  of  the  specific  heats  h;ts 
yielded  the  follow  ing  numbers  : — Air,  y  —  I  '3924  ;  carbon 
dioxide,  7=  I  298  ;  hydrogen,  7  =  I  "384  under  the  ordinary 
conditions  of  temperature  and  pressure. — On  the  propagation  of 
sound  in  a  cyhndrical  tube,  by  MM.  J.  VioUe  and  Th.  Vautier. 
An  account  of  the  conduction  of  musical  sounds  over  long  dis- 
tances by  pipes  of  wide  diameter. — On  the  refraction  and.  dis- 
persion of  ultra-violet  radiations  in  some  crystallised  substances. 


NO.    1340,  VOL.   52] 


-40 


NA  TURE 


[July  4,  189- 


1)  M.  >..  Ailolphe  Borel. — On  the  \-ariations  of  "  ecroiiissage " 
of  metals,  by  M.  K.iurie. — On  punching,  by  M.  Ch.  I'remont. 
An  experimenlal  inquir)'  into  the  conditions  affecting  the  amount 
of  play  nccessan-  between  a  punch  and  its  bed.  The  results 
lead  to  the  conclusions  :  ( I )  That  the  maximum  effort  in  punch- 
ing metals  is  independent  of  the  clearance  .space  in  the  ordinary 
practical  conditions ;  (2)  that  the  clearance  space  or  play  is  a 
function  of  the  thicknesis  of  the  metal  to  be  punched,  and  not  of 
the  diameter  of  the  punch  :  (3)  that  it  is  also  a  function  of  the 
elongation  of  the  metal,  but  in  a  less  pro|x>rtion  ;  (4)  that  the 
play  allowed  ought  to  be  about  a  fifth  of  the  thickness  of  the 
metal  puncheil.  .V  figure  is  given  illustrating  the  form  of  punch 
I)est  adapted  for  piercing  perfect  holes. — Properties  of  solid  car- 
t>onic  acid,  by  M.\I.  I'.  \'illard  and  K.  Jarry.  Carbon  dioxide 
solidifies  and  melts  under  a  pressure  of  5-1  atmospheres  at 
—  56  ■"  C.  In  free  air,  the  solid  has  the  tem|)erature  -  79°; 
ether  does  not  lower  this  temperature,  as  h-as  been  hitherto  sup- 
posed, but  methyl  chloride  and  solid  carbon  dioxide  produce 
a  temperature  of  -  85°  C.  .\t  a  pressure  of  5  mm.  the  solid 
has  reached  a  temperature  of  -  125°. — On  M.  Ciuye's  hypo- 
thesis, by  M.  .\.  Colson. — On  the  alcohols  derived  from  a 
dextrorotatory  tur|ientine.  eucalyptene,  by  MM.  c;.  Bouchardat 
and  Tardy. — Condensation  of  the  unsaturated  alcohols  of  the 
fatty  scries  with  dimethylketone. — Synthesis  of  aromatic  hydro- 
carlxins.  by  .MM.  I'h.  Harbier  and  L.  Bouveault. — Double  com- 
|)ounds  of  the  fatty  and  arom,atic  nitriles  with  aluminium 
chloride,  by  M.  ('•.  Perrier. — .-Vctlon  of  the  air  on  raisin  must, 
by  M.  \  .  Martinand. — On  the  preservation  of  wheat,  by  M. 
Balland. — On  the  .sexual  dimorphism  of  the  Nautilus,  by  Nl.  A. 
\'ayssiere. — On  the  variations  of  apparent  clearness  with  the 
distance,  and  on  a  law  of  these  variations  as  a  function  of  the 
luminous  intensity,  by  .\l.  Chailes  Henry. — Seismic  observations 
made  at  Orcnoble,  by  M.  Kilian. — On  the  dissolved  gases  at 
the  bottom  of  Lake  dcneva,  by  MM.  .\ndre  Delebeccpie  and 
.Mexander  Le  Rojer. — The  effects  of  the  synodic  and  anoma- 
listic revolutions  of  the  moon  \x\ion  the  distribution  of  pressures 
in  the  season  of  winter,  by  M.  \.  Poincare. — On  the  subject  of 
the  treatment  of  the  bites  of  venomous  serpents  by  chloride  of 
lime  and  by  antitoxic  serum,  by  M.  A.  Calmette. 

.Vmsierham. 

Royal  Academy  of  Sciences,  May  25. — Prof.  Van  de 
Sande-B.akhuyzen  in  the  chair. — Prof.  J.  C.  Kapteyn  showed 
how  the  follow  ing  three  laws  may  be  deduced  from  otxservations  : 
(I)  the  law  according  to  which  the  linear  vek)cities  of  the 
stars  are  <listributed ;  (2)  the  law  according  to  which  the 
number  of  stars  per  unit  of  volume  varies  with  the  dist.ance  from  the 
.sun:  (3)  the  law  according  to  which  the  absolute  .stellar  magnitudes 
(magnituile  at  unit  of  ilistance)  are  distributed.  The  hypotheses 
on  which  the  author's  conclusions  were  based  were  as  follows  : 
(a)  the  real  movements  of  every  degree  of  m.ignitude  of  the  stars 
in  space  are  ei|ually  numerous  in  every  direction  ;  {h)  the  law  of 
the  tlistribulion  of  stellar  vehKilies  does  not  vary  with  the  ilis- 
tance from  the  sun  ;  (i)thc  function  representing  this  law  has  but 
a  single  maximum. — Prof.  Kngelmann  treated  of  reciprocal 
and  irrecipr<Kal  con<luclivily  of  muscles,  with  special  relation 
to  the  theory  of  the  heart. — Prof.  Van  der  Waals  treated  of 
the  relation  between  the  critical  temperature  and  the  critical 
pressure  for  a  mixture  (tacno<lal  curve). — Prof.  H.  Behrcns 
descrilHKl  some  cases  of  artificial  dichroism.  .Strong  dichroi.sm 
were  observed  on  flax  and  hemp  fibres  after  havmg  been  dyed 
with  congo-red  or  benzo-azurine.  A  similar  result  was  ob- 
tained with  the  majority  of  the  tetrazo-dyestuffs  used  for  <lying 
cotton ;  whereas,  by  the  application  of  naphthol  i>range, 
croceinc  scarlet,  and  other  .similar  dyestufls,  no  dichroism  was 
developed.  Only  three  lasic  dyesluffs  were  found  to  be 
raiwhle  of  making  flax  dichroic.  Among  other  fibres  the  straw 
'  .    next  to  flax  and  hemp  ;  the  cotton   and  the  woral 

I  lower  in  the  .scale  ;  silk   requires  to  be  ilyed  a  deep 

: ., in  acidulated  solution  of  bcnzo-azurinc,  and  on   wool 

the  phenomenon  of  artificial  dichroism  has  not  Iwen  produced 
liy  any  of  the  colouring  matters  named  above.  Klax  and 
hemp  are  strongly  |>olarising,  and  can  be  rendered  strongly 
dirhroir,  whil"-  In  cotton  these  two  qualities  are  found  in  a 
liut   silk,  ranging  above  straw  in   polarisation, 

■  oiton  as   to  artificial  ilichroisui.     The  phcno- 

■  !>c   of  a  complex  nature,    not    ex]>lainefl  by 
inati'in   of  ordmary  absorption   with   ordinary 

ri.  —  I'rof.  \'an  rier  Waals  presenleil  a  paper  by 
Pro).  \V.  H.  Juliu.s,  entitled  "(Jn  an  arrangement  for  protecting 

NO.    1340,  VOL.   52J 


measuring  instruments  from  the  ordinary  vibrations  of  the 
ground." — Prof.  Kamerlingh  Onnes  presented,  (i)  on  behalf  of 
Prof.  \V.  Einthoven,  an  isolation  arrangement  against  vibrations 
of  contigxious  bodies  ;  (2)  on  behalf  of  Dr.  J.  P.  Kuenen.  the 
influence  of  gravitation  upon  the  critical  phenomena  of  simple 
substances  and  mixtures. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Books. — .\  M. -inu.il  of  Hot.-iny  :  Prot'.  J.  R.  tlreen.  Vol.  i.  Morphology 
and  Anatomy  (Churchill). — Architecture  for  General  Readers  :  H.  H. 
St.ithant  (Chapman). — The  Manufacture  of  Explosives,  i  Vols.  :  O.  Gutt- 
niann  (Whitlaker).— The  Cell  :  Dr.  O.  Hertwis,  translated  by  M.  C.-unpt»ll. 
and  edited  by  Dr.  H.  J.  Campbell  (Sonnenschein).— Studies  in  the  Evolu- 
tion of.\nimals:  Dr.  E.  Bonavia  (Constable). — Electrical  [.aboratorj-  Notes 
and  Forms  :  Prof.  J.  .\.  Fleminc  i^EUctriiian  Company). — Ostwald's 
KKissilcer  der  Ewikten  Wissenschaften,  Nos.  60,  61,  62  (Leipzig,  Engel- 
mann). — .\  Manual  of  Book-keeping  :  J.  Thornton  (M.-icmil)an). — Geo- 
graphical Journal.  Vol.  v.  (.St.anford). 

Pa.\U'HI.ets. — 11  Porto  di  Venezia  ;  Prof.  L.  Prime  (Verona,  Drucker). — 
The  Genesis  of  Californi.i's  First  Constitution  (1846-49)  :  R.  D.  Hunt  (Balti- 
more).— Enumeracidn  Sistem.'itica  y  Sinonimica  »le  los  Peces  de  las  Cost.xs 
.-Vrgentina  y  Uruguaya  :  Dr.  C.  Berg  (Buenos  .\ircs). — Origine  e  DiflTusionc 
della  Stirpe  Mediterranea  :  G.  Sergi  (Roma,  Societ^  Editrice  Dante 
.\lighicri). 

Serials. — Journal  of  the  Roj-al  Microscopical  Society,  June  (20  Hanover 
Square). — Chambers's  Journal,  July  (Ch.imbers). — tJood  Words,  July  (Is- 
bister). — Sund.iy  Mag.i7inc,  July  (Isbislcr). — Humanitarian,  July  (Hulchin* 
son). — English  Illustrated  Magazine.  July  (198  .Strantl). -  Zeitschrift  fiir 
Physikalischc  Chemie,  xvii.  Band,  2  Heft  (L.eipzig,  Engelm.ann). — N.ational 
Review,  July  (.-Vrnold).— Natural  Science,  July  (Rait).— Bulletin  de 
r.\cad6mie  Imp^riale  des  Sciences  de  St.  Piterstwurg,  March  and  April 
(St.  Petersbourg). — The  Rcliquar>'  and  Illustrated  .'Vrch.xologist,  July  (Bem- 
rose). — Contemporary  Review,  July  (Isbister). — tleographical  Journal,  July 
(Stanford). — Journal  of  the  Royal  .\gricultur.al  Society  of  England,  Vol.  o, 
Part  2  (.Murray). — Fortnightly  Review,  July  (Chapman). 


PAGE 


CONTENTS. 

The  Moluccas.     By  Dr.  Hugh  Robert  Mill     ....  217 

Mill  Engineering.     By  N.  J.  L 2ii5 

Lectures  on  Darwinism.     Hv  E.  B.  P 219 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Mumnierv  :   '"  Mv  Climlis  in  the  .\lps  and  Caucasus." 

Prof.  T.  G.  Bonney.  F.R.S 219 

Kreudenreich  :  "  Dairy  Bacteriology  " 220 

Beard  and  Telfer  :   Longmans'  School  ."Mgebra  "...  220 
Babington  :   "  Kallacies   of  Race  Theories  as  .-Ypplied 

to  N'ation.il  Characteristics" 220 

Sharpe  :  "  .\  Chapter  on  Birds  " 220 

Swann  :  "  Nature  in  .\cadie" 220 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The  Size  of  the  Pages  of  .Scienlific  Pulilicalions.      G. 

H.  Bryan,  and  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson,  F.R.S.  221 
(Jn  the  Mlninniin  Theorem  in  the  Theory  of  Gases. — 

Prof.  Ludwig  Boltzmann 221 

.•\rgon    and    the    Kinetic    Theory. — Colonel   C    E. 

Basevi       221 

Romano- British  Land  Surface. — Flint  I'lakes  Replaced. 

(///wi/™/,-!/.)— Worthington  G.  Smith      ....  222 
The     Bifilar    Pendulum    at     the    Royal    Observatory, 

ICdinliurgh.      Thomas  Heath 223 

Migration  of  a  Water- Beetle.      Rose  H.  Thomas     .  223 
Argon  and  Helium   in    Meteoric  Iron,      liy  Prof.  W. 

Ramsay,  F.R.S.                          224 

Subterranean   Faunas.      By  W.  G 225 

Proposed  Balloon  Voyage  to  the  Pole.      By  W.     ,    .  226 

Thomas  Henry  Huxley 226 

Notes 229 

j  Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

\ariable  Stars 23I 

The  Temperature  of  the  Sun 232 

The  Rotation  of  S;iturn 232 

The  Visibility  of  Ships'  Lights 232 

The   Relative   Powers    of    Large   and   Small  Tele- 
scopes in  showing  Planetary  Detail.      By  W.  F. 

Denning 232 

Subjective     Visual     Sensations.       By    Dr.     W.     R. 

Gowers,   F.R.S 2j4 

High-Level   Meteorological  Stations.      By  A.  Law- 
rence Rotch  2j6 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 2^7 

Scientific  Serials '  v 

Societies  and  Academies -  i7 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 240 


NA TURE 


241 


THURSDAY,  JULY    11,   1895. 


THE    TEACHING    OF  PATHOLOGY. 

The   E/fiiuit/s  of  Pathological   Histology.     By    Dr.    A. 
Weichselbauni.       Translated     by     W.     R.      Dawson. 
London  :   Longmans,  Green,  and  Co.,  1895.J 

THOSE  who  have  watched  the  progress  of  patho- 
logical teaching,  in  this  country  especially,  must 
have  recognised  that  during  recent  years  its  scope  has 
become  much  wider,  or  that  at  least  there  is  a  tendency 
towards  broader  conceptions.  Cohnheim  made  an  at- 
tempt to  cast  off  the  narrow  fetters  of  Morbid  Anatomy, 
and  to  instil  into  his  pupils  that  wonderful  enthusiasm 
which  he  himself  felt  for  General  Pathology,  or,  as  we 
may  term  it,  "  .Morbid  Physiology."  His  "' \'orlcsungen 
iiber  .Mlgemeine  Pathologie"  still  form  a  monumental 
record  of  what  he  has  achieved,  and  his  method  must 
and  should  be  the  ideal  of  every  teacher  of  pathology. 
Strange  to  say  with  his  death  things  reverted  into  the 
old  groove,  and  until  recently,  pathological  teaching 
restricted  itself  almost  exclusively  to  Morbid  .A.natomy. 
*'N'ec  silet  mors"  is  the  motto  of  the  Pathological 
Society  :  it  is  not  appropriate,  because  patholog>'  deals 
not  merely  \\\ih  death  ;  its  soul  and  essence,  however 
morbid,  is  "life."  Bacteriology,  now  a  recognised 
branch  of  pathology,  in  spite  of  all  the  harm  it  has 
wrought,  has  achieved  this,  that  it  has  carried  us  away 
I  rom  the  dead-house  to  the  laboraton.-,  and  has  awakened 
a  us  the  spirit  of  experimental  inquiry. 

Bacteriology  should  be  regarded,  however,  as  an  adjunct 
to  pathology,  i.e.  so  far  as  it  applies  to  disease  ;  beyond 
that  it  belongs  to  botany.  Every  bacteriologist  should 
l)e  a  pathologist,  and  e\ery  pathologist  should  possess 
.m  ade(.[uatc  knowledge  of  physiology  as  well  as  a  com- 
plete mastery  over  morbid  anatomy.  The  day  is  to  be 
regretted  when  we  follow  the  footsteps  of  our  continental 
brethren,  and  become  mere  specialists  in  the  art  of  grow- 
ing bacteria  and  of  immunisation.  It  is  not  intended  to 
-ive  the  erroneous  impression  that  morbid  anatomy  is  not 
pathology — it  still  is,  as  ever  it  was,  the  most  important 
partner  from  the  student's  as  well  as  the  investigator's 
point  of  view  and  for  practical  purposes  ;  but  this  must 
be  insisted  upon,  that  the  morbid  physiology  of  the  body 
and  of  disease  has  been  too  much  neglected.  This  be- 
comes evident  when  we  look  through  our  text-books  and 
manuals  of  pathology.  Year  after  year  we  have  fresh 
treatises  on  morbid  anatomy  and  histology,  or  on  bacteri- 
ology, but  there  is,  if  we  except  Cohnheinrs  classical 
work,  hardly  a  book  on  the  pathology  of  disease  and  its 
;)rocesses.  If  we  wish  to  learn  this,  we  have  to  turn  to 
our  standard  works  on  medicine  or  to  the  journals.  The 
present  volume,  the  subject  of  this  review,  deals  exclu- 
sively with  morbid  histology  and  bacteriology,  and  for 
■liat  reason,  however  \aluable  it  may  be,  it  may  be  asked 
whether  there  was  the  need  for  Dr.  Dawson  to  give  up 
so  much  time  to  its  translation.  \Ve  have  a  sufficient 
number  of  similar  works  already  ;  why  give  us  a  stone 
when  it  is  bread  we  want  ?  Prof.  Weichselbauni's  name 
IS  suft'u  lent  to  lead  us  to  expect  a  useful  book  on  bacteri- 
ology, and  a  satisfactory  one  on  morbid  histology  ;  more 
NO.    I  34  I,  VOL.   52] 


we  cannot  look  for  from  that  source.     A  careful  perusal 
of  the  translation  justifies  our  expectations. 

Of  44!  pages,  more  than  eighty  are  devoted  exclusively 
to  bacteriology,  i.e.  to  the  description  of  bacteriological 
methods,  and  to  a.  n'.^uine  ot  the  general  principles.  If 
we  keep  in  mind  that  under  each  organ  also  subsequently 
all  the  various  infective  and  microbic  lesions  are  care- 
fully discussed,  it  seems  to  us  that  the  author  has  given 
undue  prominence  to  this,  which  is,  after  all,  a  small  part 
of  his  subject. 

It  is  difficult  to  serve  two  masters,  and  the  result 
must  be  that  for  bacteriological  methods  and  principles 
we  shall  continue  to  consult  special  works  :  they  are 
numerous,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  works  of 
greater  usefulness  than  Prof.  C.  Frankel's  excellent  text- 
book or  the  elaborate  compilation  of  Dr.  Heim.  The 
directions  given  for  bacterial  staining  or  cultivation  are 
too  meagre  to  be  of  much  use  to  the  beginner.  Gram's 
well-known  method,  e.g.,  is  described  thus  :  "  Sections 
are  placed  for  half  an  hour  in  aniline  gentian  violet,  then 
for  two  or  three  minutes  in  iodine  and  potassium  iodide, 
and  then  in  alcohol,  which  is  changed  as  it  becomes 
coloured.  Finally  they  are  cleared  and  mounted."  One 
can  imagine  the  poor  tyro  mournfully  contemplating  the 
result  of  those  instructions.  We  therefore  adhere  to 
the  opinion  that  in  works  intended  for  students,  too  much 
should  not  be  offered  between  the  covers  ;  but,  if  a 
comprehensive  treatise  is  intended,  fulness  and  complete- 
ness of  directions  and  instructions  are  imperative.  The 
descriptions  of  the  micro-organisms,  though  short,  are 
succinct  and  good,  so  far  as  they  go  ;  but  the  German 
edition  having  appeared  in  1892,  new  discoveries  and 
altered  views  are  wanting,  and  the  briefness  is  often 
exasperating. 

Xow  as  to  the  ])urely  anatomical  or  histological  part 
of  the  book,  it  also  suffers  from  shortness,  and  we  must 
confess  that  we  have  works  in  the  English  language  which 
are  sure  to  occupy  a  higher  position  than  this  translated 
importation.  Useless  Dr.  Dawson's  work  certainly  is 
not  ;  the  beautiful  illustrations  and  a  chapter  on  blood 
examination,  short  though  it  be,  recommend  it.  Many 
of  the  illustrations  are  new  and  original,  and  are  exactl>- 
the  kind  of  representation  wanted  to  bring  out  the  salient 
points  in  a  histological  specimen.  The  English  pub- 
lishers also  have  done  all  they  could  to  give  the  work 
a  good  appearance,  and  altogether  it  is  a  pleasant  book 
to  possess.  It  is  essentially  an  annotated  picture-book; 
but  as  a  picture-book  it  is  excellent,  and  will  be  of  great 
use  to  those  who  consider  the  study  of  morbid  anatomy 
and  histology  a  form  of  "  .\nschauungsunterricht"  ;  and, 
indeed,  much  can  be  learnt  from  good  pictures.  One  point 
this  work  brings  home  to  us  in  a  painful  manner,  viz.  the 
decline  of  pathological  anatomy.  Bacteriology  swamps 
evervthing.  On  the  continent,  professorial  chairs  of 
pathology  are  occupied  by  bacteriologists,  and  the  in- 
struction of  hygiene  is  also  given  over  to  bacteriologists. 
The  result  is  that  sound  pathological  anatomy  is  pushed 
steadily  into  the  background.  So  far  in  this  country, 
fortunately,  we  have  suffered  less  ;  in  principle,  at  least, 
we  still  consider  bacteriology  merely  a  fraction  or  an 
element  of  pathology,  but  already  the  spectre  has  risen, 
and  unless  we  take  care,  we  also  shall  be  ruled  by  the 
liacillus,  and  find  contentment  in  the  haven  of  mediocrity 

.M 


IJ^2 


NATURE 


[July   ii,  1S95 


which  so-called  bacteriological  research  opens  up  to  those 
who,  incapable  of  doing  real  pathological  or  physiological 
work,  have  leisure  to  practise  bacteriology  as  a  ''  fireside  " 
game. 

In  conclusion,  a  word  in  praise  of  the  translator  and 
editor :  he  has  done  his  work  excellently,  so  well,  in  fact, 
that  one  cannot  help  regretting  that  he  used  his  gifts  and 
expended  his  labours  on  a  book  hardly  worthy  of  so  much 
conscientious  energ)-  and  patience.  The  translation  is 
better  than  the  original  in  arrangement,  type  and  general 
"get  up."  Since  it  is  pleasing  to  most  to  possess  a  nice 
book,  and  one  which  is  at  the  same  time  instructive,  in 
spite  of  some  remarks  which  may  appear  severer  than 
they  are  meant  to  be,  we  may  recommend  it  safely  as  an 
addition  to  the  student's  library. 

\.    .\.    K.WTH.MK. 


THE    NATURAL    HISTORY  OF  AQUATIC 
INSECTS. 
The  N'lliiral  History  of  Aquatic    Insects.     By   Prof    L. 
C.  Miall.  F.R..S.     (London  :   Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 

PERH.\PS  no  country-  possesses  so  many  amateur 
naturalists  as  England,  at  least  in  proportion  to  its 
population,  and  it  is  not  without  significance  in  this 
direction  that  many  of  our  best  professional  men  of 
science  have  not  thought  it  undignified  to  furnish  sound 
information  on  their  special  subjects  in  a  popular  and 
yet  accurate  manner.  The  present  work  is  a  good 
example  of  this,  and  I'rof  Miall  dcsenes  praise  for  the 
•idmirablc  account  lie  has  put  together  of  the  insect 
inhabiuints  of  our  lakes,  ponds,  and  watercourses. 

Of  course  it  has  not  been  without  forerunners.  One 
of  the  last  works  of  that  well-known  writer  on  popular 
science,  the  late  Rev.  J.  G.  Wood,  was  entitled  "  The 
Brook  and  its  Banks,"  and  covered  much  the  same 
ground  ;  but  one  may  say,  without  any  dispar.igement, 
that  his  book  was  more  picturesque  or  anecdotal  natural 
histor)-  than  strictly  scientific. 

Again,  I'rof  Miall,  like  everj-  subsequent  writer  on 
entomological  subjects,  is  greatly  indebted  to  the  laborious 
researches  of  Swammerdam,  Rcaimiur,  Lyonnet,  and 
others  of  the  early  naturalists,  but  in  every  case  this  is 
freely  acknowledged,  and  he  adduces  their  works  as 
models  of  patient  investijjation  on  the  living  animal,  par- 
ticularly worthy  of  emulation  at  the  present  lime,  when 
attention  is  almost  exclusively  paid  to  phylogeny  and 
classification,  to  the  neglect  of  the  actual  life  history, 
where  so  much  still  remains  to  be  discovered.  Some 
essential  matters  are  briefly  treated  in  an  introductory 
chapter,  such  as  the  equilibrium  of  aquatic  insects,  the 
tension  of  the  surface  film  of  water  and  its  effect  on  small 
objects,  and  also  the  question  of  the  original  habitat  of 
inserts,  whether  terrestrial  or  aquatic,  which  I'rof  Miall 
confidently  decides  as  the  former,  mainly  from  the 
universal  presence  of  trachea-  and  functionally  active 
spiracles  even  in  purely  aquatic  insects,  showing  that 
such  as  arc  fitted  for  breathing  only  dissolved  air  are 
those  that  deviate  from  the  general  and  primitive  rule. 
The  chief  aquatic  Coleoptcra  are  taken  first,  and  certain 
curious  structures  in  the  larva  and  imago  of  several 
families  somewhat  fully  described.  Among  these  we 
may  mention  the  mouth  organs  of  the  larva  of  Uyliscus, 
NO.    I  34  I.  VOL.  52] 


which  have  been  a  subject  of  controversy  from  the  time 
of  Swammerdam  and  De  (^.eer  up  to  .Meinert,  Schiodte 
and  Burgess,  whose  description  has  been  verified  by  I'rof 
.Miall,  and  also  the  well-known  tarsal  clasping  suckers  of 
the  adult  male,  the  real  structure  and  action  of  which 
was  first  pointed  out  by  I.owne.  The  method  of  re- 
spiration in  the  adult  Hydrophilus  is  well  explained,  and 
the  extraordinary  arrangement  for  obtaining  air  from 
ca\ities  in  submerged  roots  adopted  by  the  larva  of 
Donacia,  as  discovered  by  Siebold.  Flies  with  aquatic 
lar\a  receive  considerable  attention,  no  less  than  1 22  pages 
being  devoted  to  these  extremely  interesting  creatures, 
which  from  their  transparence,  in  many  cases,  have  long 
been  fa\ourite  objects  with  microscopists.  The  develop- 
ment of  the  (Inat,  Chironomus,  Simulium,  Eristalis,  and 
numerous  others  is  fully  gone  into,  and  the  amateur 
naturalist  will  find  plenty  of  occupation,  and  derive  no 
little  benefit,  by  following  out  their  structure  with  this 
book  as  his  guide.  There  is  a  short  account  of  that  very 
beautiful  aquatic  hymenopterous  insect  I'olynema,  which, 
according  to  Cianin,  deposits  its  eggs  in  the  eggs  of  a 
Dragon-fly  ;  and  another  form,  .Vgriotypus,  said  to  be 
parasitic  on  a  Caddis-worm.  Caddis-flics  (Trichoptera), 
Sialis,  the  alder-fly  of  anglers,  the  stone-flies,  may-flies, 
dragon-flies,  pond-skaters,  water-boatmen,  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  host  of  insects  which  pass  a  large  part  of  their 
existence  in  the  water,  are  dealt  with  in  due  order,  and 
the  descriptions  arc  frequently  supplemented  with  biblio- 
graphies, which  will  be  useful  to  those  who  require  further 
information  on  special  points.  A  word  must  be  said  for 
the  illustrations,  which  in  large  part  have  been  drawn  by 
Mr.  .-\.  R.  Hammond  for  this  work  ;  they  are  extremely 
clear  and  well  executed — quite  a  relief,  indeed,  from  the 
old  cliches  usually  considered  good  enough  by  publishers 
to  adorn  a  work  of  this  kind.  Altogether,  the  "  Natural 
History  of  Aquatic  Insects"  is  a  very  good  and  useful 
specimen  of  its  class. 


- 


* 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

The     Royal    Natural     History.       Edited     by     Richard 

Lydekker,  K.  R.S.,  ..tc.     \'olunie  iii.     (London:  Warne, 

1895.) 
Thi;  third  volume  of  this  excellent  "Natural   History" 
finishes  the  mammals,  and  commences  the  birds. 

Among  the  former  the  Cetaceans,  the  Rodents,  the 
Edentates  with  the  pouched  mammals,  and  the  Mono- 
tremes  are  describetl  at  appropriate  length.  The  in- 
formation is  generally  up  to  date,  and  the  illustrations 
are  good.  To  the  notices  of  the  occurrence  of  Sowcrliy's 
whale  on  the  coasts  of  England  and  Scotland,  may  be 
added  th.it  of  its  being  captured  some  years  .igo  in 
Brandon  Bay,  Kerry,  the  head  of  the  specimen  being  in 
the  Dublin  Museum.  The  immense  grou])  of  llic  Rodents 
is  judiciously  treated,  most  of  the  more  im])orlant  fads 
of  their  history  being  given.  Only  six  pages  arc  devoted 
to  the  egg-laying  mammals,  and  there  is  no  figure  of  ihe 
duckbill's  egg. 

The  chapters  on  the  perthiiij^  1)iids  and  I'icaria-  ;ue 
contributed  by  Mr.  11.  A.  Macphcrson  and  Dr.  Bowdler 
Sharpe.  "The  number  of  the  existing  species  of  birds 
being  in  all  pioliability  considerabh-  over  ten  thousand," 
the  authors  are  obliged  to  treat  of  them  even  in  a  more 
condensed  form  than  were  the  mammals  ;  still  the  order 
of  Passeres,  which  includes  by  far  the  majority  of  known 
birds,  is  fairly  treated,  and  most  of  the  well-known  or 
interesting  birds  are  alluded  to.     Dr.  Sharpe  confesses 


July    i  i,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


243 


)iis  inability  to  give  a  diagnosis  of  the  Picariii;,  that  is  in 
the  logical  sense,  but  claims  that  the  group  as  selected 
by  him  possess  "certain  common  features  not  found 
among  the  Passeres."  In  the  last  chapter  in  this  \()lume, 
he  treats  of  the  Jacamars  to  the  Toucans. 

Coiirs    Eh'mcniairc    cf ElcLtricih'.     By    M.  B.    Brunhes. 

Pp.  265.  (Paris  :  Gauthier-V'illars  et  Fils,  1895.) 
Thk  experimental  laws  and  general  principles  belonging 
to  the  study  of  teclinical  electricity  are  set  forth  in  this 
liook  in  an  elementary,  but  strictly  scientific,  manner. 
The  book  reproduces  the  author's  tirst-year  course  of 
theoretical  electricity  at  the  Institut  industriel  du  Nord 
dc  la  France,  and  its  contents  furnish  just  the  kind  of 
foundation  needed  by  students  of  electrical  engineering. 
In  several  respects,  the  treatment  difters  from  that  gene- 
rally followed  in  text-books;  hydrodynamic  analogues 
are  entirely  omitted,  and  the  word  potential  is  not  em- 
ployed, voltage,  or  E.M.F.  between  two  points,  being  used 
to  express  potential  difference. 

Off  the  Mill :  Soiin'  Ocoisional  Piipcrs.  By  (1.  F.  Browne, 
B.I).,  U.C.L.,  Bishop  of  Stepney.  Pp.271.  (London: 
Smith,  Elder,  and  Co.,  1895.) 

Al.l'lXF.  climbers,  and  others  who  find  delight  in  motni- 
tain-peaks  and  glaciers,  may  like  to  read  the  papers  on 
y\lpine  subjects  reprinted  in  this  volume.  The  papers 
originally  appeared  thirty  years  ago,  and  they  offer  to 
the  present  generation  of  mountaineers  an  interesting 
picture  of  the  way  in  which  climbs  were  then  made. 
The  ice-caves  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Annecy  form 
the  subject  of  one  of  the  papers  appealing  to  scientific 
read<rs. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondetits.  Neither  can  he  nnderlake 
to  return,  or  to  correspond  with  the  writers  of,  rejetled 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  NATURE. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.  ] 

A  Cyclonic  Indraught  at  the  Top  of  an  Anticyclone. 

liK'IW'KKN  June  7  and  12  an  anticycltine,  with  maximum 
pressure  of  30*20  to  30'30  inches,  passed  slowly  from  the  north- 
west acr<tss  southern  New  England.  The  isoljars  formed  well- 
defined  ovals,  with  their  longer  axes  running  from  south-west  to 
north-cast.  It  was  difficult  to  locale  the  centre  of  the  anti- 
cyclone because  the  isobars  were  broken  on  the  side  toward  the 
ocean  ;  l)iu.  by  drawing  a  line  llirough  the  stations  showing  the 
maximum  pressure,  the  crest  or  ridge  of  the  anticyclone  could 
be  easily  located  up  to  the  Ilth,  after  which  it  passed  otT  the 
coast  and  its  position  became  somewhat  uncertain,  although  the 
pressure  continued  above  normal  over  southern  New  England 
until  the  night  of  the  I2lh. 

The  interest  attaching  to  the  anticyclone  lies  in  the  fact  that 
cirrus  observations  obtained  on  botli  sides  of  the  line  of  maxi- 
mum pressure  indicate  an  indraught  at  the  lop  of  the  anticyclone 
of  the  same  nature  as  that  observed  at  the  bottom  of  cyclones. 

The  anticyclone  passed  nearly  centrally  over  the  Klue  Hill 
Meteorological  Observatory.  As  it  approached  from  the  north- 
west, the  cirrus  clouds  on  the  8th  were  observed  moving  from  the 
south-southeast.  As  the  line  of  maximum  pressure  jxissed  over 
the  observatory  on  the  gth,  the  cirrus  movement  shifted  to  the 
north-c.ast,  frcmi  which  direction  it  was  observed  on  the  lolh  and 
nth.  This  change  corresponds  almost  exactly  with  what  would 
be  observed  in  the  surface  wind  should  a  trough  of  low 
pressure  pass  over  Blue  Hill  from  the  same  direction.  On  the 
12th  the  cirrus  shifted  to  south,  and  on  the  13th  to  the  west, 
with  the  a]iproach  of  a  cyclone  from  that  direction. 

The  direction  of  cirrus  movement  and  the  mean  direction  of 
the  wind  is  recorded  at  the  observatory  in  degrees  of  a/imuth 
beginning  with  the  south  point.  The  first  is  measured  with  a 
nephoscope,  and  the  seciind  recordetl  by  a  Draper  anemoscojie. 
The  following  table  gives  the  cirrus  and  corresponding  wind 
observations  between   the  8lh  and    loth,  no  cirrus  observations 

NO.    I34I,  VOL.  52] 


being  obtained  on  the  7th.  The  velocities  of  the  cirrus  were 
obtained  by  multiplying  the  observed  relative  velocities  by  a 
factor  to  reduce  to  absolute  velocities.  This  factor  was  deter- 
mined from  direct  measurements  of  cloud  heights  and  velocities 
carried  on  for  some  time  at  this  observatorj'.  The  last  column 
in  the  table  contains  the  directions  in  degrees  of  azimuth  of  the 
line  of  maximum  pressure  in  the  anticyclone,  taken  from  the 
maps  of  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau. 

Cirrus.  Wind. 


Dir. 

Veloc. 

Dir. 

Veloc. 

I.inc  of 

from. 

Miles. 

from. 

.Miles. 

ma.\.  prcs 

June  S, 

S  a.m. 

...    329      . 

.      48      .. 

203    . 

..    29 

...       50 

„  s, 

8  p.m. 

...    320      . 

■      34     •• 

225 

••    23 

...      45 

..    9. 

8  a.m. 

...    243      , 

6    .. 

233 

.     iS 

...     47 

,,  10, 

5  p.m. 

...    213      . 

.     34     ■• 

'3 

..    12 

...     60 

,,  > ', 

2  p.m. 

...    245      . 

•     34     •• 

21 

-    14 

...     70 

.,  12 

8  a.m. 

...    340  ?  . 

.     16?.. 

47 

■•   '3 

,,  12 

5  p.m. 

...    341       ■ 

.     18     .. 

8 

..  22 

The  changes  in  the  direction  of  the  cirrus  and  of  the  surface 
wind,  as  related  to  the  line  of  maximum  pressure,  is  shown 
graphically  in  the  accom)ianying  diagram.     The  line  nf  maximum 


Cirrus 


Wind. 


MILES 
100  200 


pressure  is  indicated  in  each  case  by  the  long  slanting  line.  The 
arrows  Hy  with  the  cirrus  and  with  the  wind,  and  the  length  of 
the  arrows  indicate  the  velocity,  though  on  a  different  scale  in  the 
two  cases.  The  small  figures  near  the  arrows  give  the  dates  of 
observation. 

Repeated  observations  of  this  kind,  here  and  elsewhere,  ought 
to  throw  some  light  on  the  causes  of  cyclones  and  anticyclones. 
If  an  indraught  prevails  at  the  top  of  the  anticyclone  of  the  same 
nature  as  the  indraught  at  the  earth's  .surface  in  a  cyclone,  it 
seems  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion  that  there  is  an  area  of 
low  pressure  in  the  upper  air  above  anticyclones,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  studies  of  mountain  observations  by  Hann  and 
others  lead  to  an  opposite  conclusion.  In  the  present  case  the 
inward  gradient  above  appears  not  to  have  extended  entirely  to 
the  outer  limit  of  the  anticyclone  .as  indicated  by  the  observations 
(m  the  I2tb. 

Direct  observations  of  the  anticyclonic  inflow  must,  however, 
be  rare  :  first,  because  of  the  infreipiency  of  cirrus  in  the  proper 
positions,  and  the  general  absence  of  exact  methods  of  measuring 
the  slow  motions  observed  ;  second,  because  there  is  usually  a 
strong  eastward  drift  in  the  upper  air,  which  greatly  interferes 
with  the  anticyclonic  circulation,  and  generally  overrides  it, 
so  that  it  only  becomes  strongly  marked  under  stagnant  con- 
ditions of  the  general  atmosphere  ;  third,  the  upper  air  isobars 
are  usually  distorled  by  strong  contra.sts  of  temperature  in  the 
area  of  the  anticyclone.  But  notwithstanding  these  drawliacks, 
I  am  confident  that  with  the  increasing  attention  given  to 
cloud  observations,   cases  like  the   present  will    be    frequently 


244 


NA  TURE 


[July   i  i,  189- 


ol>serve<i.  With  a  great  many  observalinns  ihe  anticyclonic 
inflow  can  be  lirought  out  by  a  system  of  averaging,  as  shi»\vn  in 
the  Ameriian  MiUorologiial Jcuriuxl  iot  August  1S93. 

H.HeI.M  Cl-AYTOX. 
Blue  Hill  Meteorological  Observaton'.  lune  i". 


EfTects  of  a  Lightning  Flash  in  Ben  Nevis  Observatory. 

Whenever  a  thunderstorm  passes  the  summit  of  the  Ben, 
there  occurs  almost  invariably  a  discharge  from  metallic  bodies  in 
the  Obser\atory,  as  the  cloud  is  |iassing  away.  K  Hash  of  greater 
or  less  extent  is  given  off  the  stoves,  accomivanied  by  a  sharp 
crack.  In  January  1S90  there  was  an  exceptionally  severe 
flash;  "  one  of  the  observers  was  almost  knocked  down  when 
sitting  writing,  and  the  telegraph  wire  was  fused,  and  all  com- 
munication stop|x*d  for  five  days."  But  more  destructive  than 
any  previous  flash  was  that  which  occurred  this  year  on  June  19, 
when  the  Observatory  narrowly  escaped  being  ilestroyed  by  fire. 
Between  two  and  three  o'clock  on  that  .afternoon,  rejwated 
clicks  on  the  telegraph  instrument  were  heard  by  one  of  the 
assistants  who  was  sitting  in  the  oftice  :  he  had  been  carefully 
noting  the  times  at  which  the  clicks  occurred,  when  suddenly 
the  whole  office  was  filled  with  a  brilliant  flash  and  deafening 
roar.  A  pillar  of  smoke  was  discharged  from  the  telegraph 
instrument  and  from  the  stove|)ipe,  filling  the  room.  So  severe 
was  the  flash  that  the  .assistant,  who  w,as  quite  deafened  by  the 
repirl,  thought  that  his  hair  had  been  singed.  \  second  slighter 
discharge  took  place  immediately  after,  when  the  writer  had 
entered  the  ofiice  to  commence  the  fifteen  hours  observations. 
The  discharge  hurled  two  Ixixcs  and  a  small  picture,  that  were  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  lightning  protector,  across  the  kitchen,  and 
blew  off  the  button  and  outer  casement  of  the  electric  bell  in  the 
visitors'  room.  The  solder  on  the  kitchen  cliimney  outside,  a 
copper  fastening  of  the  lightning  conduct<5r,  and  many  portions 
of  the  telegraphic  wire  and  apparatus  were  fused,  and  the  wood- 
work of  the  OI)ser\atory  was  scorched  in  several  i)laces.  The 
great  flash  occurred  at  14  hours  57A  minutes,  and  the  hourly 
barometric  reading  wa_s  taken  at  15  hours,  as  usual.  There  was 
a  very  heavy  fall  of  snow  at  the  time,  equivalent  to  0^470  inches 
of  rainfall  for  the  hour,  but  in  the  confusion  the  writer  omitted  to 
take  the  rain-gauge  with  him,  and  had  to  return  for  it.  This  w.is 
a  fortunate  incident  ;  for  it  was  only  on  leaving  the  oflice  for  a 
second  time,  that  he  observed  smoke  and  flame  issuing  from  be- 
hind the  panelling  between  the  kitchen  and  the  office.  Assistance 
was  secured,  and  the  fire — which  was  in  a  very  awkward  and 
<langerous  place — was  overcome  in  good  time,  and  the  dam-tge 
done  was  very  slight. 

The  damage  done  to  the  telegraphic  apparatus,  however,  was 
serious,  and  Mr.  Crompton,  engineer  of  the  Post  Office  tele- 
graphs, has  supplied  me  with  the  following  inform.ation. 

The  lightning  protector  w.xs  badly  fused,  the  plates  showing 
a  patch  of  fusion  as  large  as  a  sixpence.  This  saved  the  cable 
from  serious  damage.  .\ll  connecting  wires  within  Ihe  building 
were  rendered  useless.  The  majority  were  so  heated  as  to  melt 
the  insulation  off.  and,  in  one  or  twocases,  the  copper  conductors 
were  melted  by  the  discharge.  In  one  case,  the  fusion  set  fire 
to  the  wfKMlwork. 

The  coils  of  Nealc's  .sounder  were  fused  and  rendered  useless. 
The  keys  suffered  worst  of  all,  the  left  pedal  or  "tapper" 
bearing  Ihe  strongest  evidence  of  the  severity  of  the  discharge. 
The  Ijack  contact  (platinum),  the  brass  extension  holding  the 
>ame,  and  the  steel  spring  (plalinum-lipped)  above,  all  being 
fused  into  one  solid  ainalgam.  The  pillar,  to  which  the  zinc 
le.vling  wire  from  the  battery  was  connected,  had  a  large  p.ilch 
of  fusion  near  its  base,  and  the  front  platinum  contacts  of  the 
same  (left-hand)  pedal  were  consumed  entirely.  There  were 
small  traces  r)f  fusion  on  the  right  pedal,  but  of  a  trifling 
character.  The  line  wire  connected  to  the  left-hand  terminal 
of  the  coil  had  Ixien  fused  close  to  the  terminal.  The  interior  of 
t*^  ■  nt  c.Tse  was  considerably  blackened,    as  also   the 

r  'H  of  the  keys,  as  a  result  of  the  "arc"  caused  by 

li  ^'- at  the  moment  of  fusion. 

The  vacuum  protector  at  .Aslimtee,  the  l)a.se  of  the  cable,  also 
Ihe  plate  protector  in  Kort  William  I'ost  f  )fficc,  were  fused,  but 
only  slightly,  the  main  discharge  having  expended  itself  on  Ihe 
summit.  The  I^w  I^vel  Oljservalory  instrument  and  protector 
were  uniin|i.iired,  and  crmimunication  lielwcen  there  an<l  Fori 
William  \'><-\  <  )llicc  ».vs  carried  on  as  usual  after  the  removal  of 
the  fault  in  the  Tost  Office  protector. 

The  registering  aneroid   shows  a  slight  upward  kick  at  the 

NO.    1341.   VOL.    52] 


time,  but  the  curve  is  otherwise  fairly  ste.idy  :  the  temper.uuif 
was  317  1".,  Ihe  wind  south-south-east  and  light.  Heavy  snow 
was  falling  at  the  time,  which,  with  a  fall  on  the  17th.  made  a 
total  depth  of  nine  inches  on  the  summit.  St.  Klmo's  Fire  wa^ 
very  strongly  felt  and  heard  until  after  seventeen  hours. 

Wii.i.iAM  S.   Brick. 


The  Kinetic  Theory  of  Gases. 

It  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Hurbury's  and  Trof.  Bolt/man n';. 
last  letters  will  enable  us  to  reconcile  all  the  main  differences 
of  opinion  which  were  brought  to  light  in  our  recent  corre- 
spondence in  the  columns  of  X  ATI' RE.  From  Prof.  Boll/mann's 
letter  it  appears  that  the  Minimum  Theorem  can  only  be  applied 
with  absolute  certainty  to  gases  whose  molecules  are  not  toi> 
closely  crowded  together.  Thus  the  proof  that  an  aggregation 
of  molecules  tends  io/;/(';/ho/m/|' towards  the  Boltzmann- Maxwell 
distribution  dependsquite  as  much  on  assumptions  as  to  the  mixing 
of  the  molecules  between  collisions  as  on  consideration  of  whai 
happens  al  collisions.  We  cannot  prove  for  certain  thai 
densely  crowded  assemblages  of  molecules  such  as  solids  an<l 
liquids  tend  to  .assume  this  distribution,  .ind  this  is  just  as  ii 
should  be,  for  when  a  substance  is  capable  of  existing  sinuil 
laneously  in  two  states,  the  distiitnition  cannot  be  unique.  For 
Ihe  same  reason  the  proof  does  not  a]jply  to  molecules  movini; 
about  in  a  continuous  medium  such  as  the  ether.  So  far  from 
this  limitation  being  a  weak  point  in  the  proof,  it  precludes  th\ 
theorem  from  proving  too  much,  or  from  leading  to  resulu 
which  may  nol  accord  with  experience. 

If  we  do  not  know  that  solids  and  liquids  satisfy  the  Boltz- 
mann-.Maxwell  distribution,  we,  nevertheless,  know  thai  they  are 
subject  to  the  Second  l^w  of  Thermodynamics.  It  cannot  be 
said  that  any  dynamical  "  proof  of  the  .Second  Law"  that  has 
yet  been  given,  is  so  conclusive  as  the  mere  statement  of  the 
Law  itself,  but  the  proof  of  the  Minimum  Theorem  subject  to 
"  Condition  (.\)  "  le.ads  to  a  result  somewhat  analogous  to  the 
statement  that  when  two  or  more  bodies  al  unequal  temperature 
are  brought  into  thermal  contact,  their  entropy  tends  lo  increase. 
For  let  the  probability  of  the  coordinates  on  momenta  of  the 
molecules  of  one  body  lying  between  certain  limits  be  pro- 
portional to  F  (i!//the  coordinates  and  moiuenla  lieiiig  included 
in  the  nuilliple  difterential  by  which  F  is  multiplied).  Let  the 
corresponding  jMobabilily  for  a  second  body  be  |)r<>portional  to /'. 
Then  when  the  two  bodies  are  jilaced  in  thermal  contact,  we 
know  of  no  relation  connecting  the  Iwd  simultaneous  prob- 
aliilities,  and  we  may  therefore  assume  them  to  be  independent, 
so  that  condition  (.\)  is  satisfied,  al  any  rate  initially.  The 
theorem  then  asserts  Ihat  al  all  subsequent  instants  of  time,  the 
value  of  the  Minimum  Function  will  be  not  greater  than  it.s 
initial  value,  and  therefore  it  either  remains  stationary  or 
decreases  every  time  the  process  is  repeated.  Thus  ftir  we  can 
get  if  no  further. 

The  application  of  the  Second  I^w  dejiends  largely  on  the 
distinction  lietween  availahle  and  unavailable  energy.  When 
we  construct  a  thermodynamic  engine  for  converting  heat  into 
work,  we  introduce  just  the  kind  of  external  disturbances  that 
Mr.  Hurbury  requires  every  time  that  the  "  working  substance" 
is  placed  in  contact  with  either  the  "source"  or  the 
refrigerator."  C.  11.  Brvan. 

An  Abnormal  Rose. 

I  HAVE  in  my  garden  al  Keigale  a  -.vhite  Mo.ss  rose-tree,  every 
blos.soni  on  which  is  white  except  one  which  is  half  white  and 
half  red,  divideil  iliametrically  in  nearly  eipial  portions. 

The  colours  are  nol  shaded  one  into  the  other,  but  are  per- 
fectly distinct,  and  one  petal  is  half  red  and  half  white,  the  edge 
of  Ihe  colouration  being  cjuite  sharp. 

I  am  told  lhat  one  similar  blo.ssom  was  produced  earlier  in  ihe 
season. 

I  imagine  this  is  an  attempt  to  revert  to  its  ancestral  colour, 
but  by  what  mechanism  such  a  partial  result  has  been  accom- 
pli.shcd  seems  diflicull  to  understand. 

Newmiam  Hrowne. 

TilKKE  are  several  varieties  of  rose  that  sport  or  revert  in  the 
manner  described  by  Mr.  Ncwnham  Browne.  The  "  York  and 
Lancaster"  rose  is  a  familiar  exauqile.  In  this,  ihe  recognised 
or  genuine  condition  is  red  and  white  slripud  ;  but  the  proporlioiis 
of  white  and  red  are  rarely  exactly  the  same  in  any  two  flower* 


JULV     II.    1895] 


NA  TURE 


245 


on  a  hush,  and  very  frequently  some  are  wholly  red  and  some, 
perhaps,  wholly  white,  though  I  am  not  sure  on  this  point. 
Many  other  cross-bred  plants  exhibit  this  inconstancy,  which  is 
supixised  to  be  due  to  an  imperfect  blending  of  the  elements  of 
parentage.  That  the  sporting  is  irregular  and  inconstant  is  not 
to  be  wondered  at,  when  we  consider  that  a  plant  is  not  an 
individual  in  the  sense  of  possessing  only  one  set  of  organs. 
Any  vegetative  bud  of  a  plant  is  capable  of  producing  any  and 
all  of  the  organs  of  the  whole  plant,  or,  if  detached  from  the 
li.irent  plant,  to  develop  into  a  similar  organism,  with  all  its 
attributes.  tJiven,  then,  a  cross-bred  variety,  which  is  not  con- 
stant, or  "fixed,"  as  florists  term  it,  any  vegetative  bud  may 
give  rise  to  the  cross  or  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  parents. 

W.   BOTTINO   Hemsi.ev. 

Mineralised  Diatoms. 

Nearly  twenty  years  have  elapsed  since  you  allowed  me  to 
announce  in  Natike  the  unexpected  discovery  of  mineralised 
diatoms  in  the  I^ondon  clay  of  Sheppey. 

Subsequent  investigations  demonstrated  the  existence  of  these 
unique  microscopic  fossils  on  the  same  geological  horizon  at 
several  widely  separated  localities  in  the  south-east  of  England  : 
leading  to  the  assumption  that  the  band  of  diatomiferous  earth 
was  continuous  throughout  the  formation. 

Heme  Hay  was  one  of  the  places  at  which,  in  accordance  with 
experlation,  search  was  followed  by  success.  Revisiting  this  place, 
.1  few  days  ago,  for  the  first  lime  since  the  discovery,  I  readily 
found  the  fossil  diatoms  as  abundant  as  before  in  some  recently 
fallen  blocks  of  clay  about  half-way  between  Heme  Bay  and  Old- 
haven  Gap.  .\s  there  has  been  much  waste  of  land  at  this  spot 
<iuring  the  interval,  it  is  interesting  to  observe  the  presence  of  these 
•  liatoms  in  the  newly  exposed  clay,  giving  support,  as  it  does,  to 
(he  hypothesis  of  their  general  distribution  at  a  definite  level 
throughout  the  London  clay. 

I'erhaps  some  readers  of  Nature  may  be  going  to  that  part  of 
the  coast  before  long,  and  will  then  take  the  opportunity  of 
verifying  my  observations.  W.  H.  Shrubsole. 


SIR  Ji)flN   LUBBOCK  AND    THE    TEACHING 
UNIVERSITY  FOR  LONDON. 

'PHE  address  in  which  .Sir  John  Lubbock  solicits  the 
*■  suflTrages  of  the  Electors  of  the  University  of  London 
has  aroused  feelings  of  surprise  and  regret  among  the 
friends  of  higher  education  in  London,  owing  to  the  un- 
fortunate nature  of  the  references  made  to  the  Teaching 
L'nivcrsity  question.  Six  paragraphs  out  of  tei.  are 
devoted  to  this  important  subject,  and  it  seems  almost 
incredible  that  so  far  from  recognising  that  the  Gresham 
Commissioners'  scheme  has  enlisted  a  considerable 
measure  of  support  in  the  University  \cf.  vol.  1.  269  ;  li. 
298),  Sir  John  Lubbock  refers  only  to  the  views  of  its 
opponents,  and,  in  accepting  them,  makes  the  remarkable 
statement  : 

"  Keeling  that  Convocation  ought  to  be  consulted  on  a 
matter  so  vitally  affecting  the  L'niversiiy,  I  would  strongly 
urge,  and  do  my  best  to  secure,  that  the  scheme  when 
arranged  should  be  submitted  to  Convocation  for  their 
approval,  to  be  signified  as  at  a  Senatorial  Election,  and 
would  oppose  the  Bill  unless  this  were  conceded." 

Now  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Report  of  the 
<^resham  Commissioners  has  met  with  a  degree  of  ap- 
proval from  educational  authorities  and  institutions,  which  1 
not  only  far  exceeds  that  extended  to  any  previous 
attempt  to  solve  the  vexed  question  of  L'niversity 
reform  in  London,  but  has  been  sufficiently  unanimous  to 
lead  to  the  introduction  of  the  "  University  of  London 
.\ct,  1895.'  '"  'he  House  of  Lords  by  the  late  (lovcrn- 
mcnt.  This  IJill,  in  accordance  with  the  general  tenour 
of  the  resolutions  passed  by  the  various  institutions 
named  in  the  Report  as  constituent  colleges  of  the  teach- 
ing l'niversity,  enacted    clause  iii.  para.  1,1: 

"The  Commissioners  will  have  power  to  make  statutes 
and  ordinances  for  the  L'niversity  of  London  in  general 
accordance  with  the  scheme  of  the   Report  hereinbefore  I 

NO.   1341,  VOL.  52] 


referred  to,  but  subject  to  any  modifications  which  may 

appear  to  them  expedient  after  considering  any  repre- 
sentations made  to  them  by  the  .Senate  or  Convocation 
of  the  University  of  London,  or  by  any  other  body  or 
persons  affected." 

.A.nd  further   pmra.  2;  : 

"  In  framing  such  statutes  and  ordinances,  the  Com- 
missioners shall  see  that  provision  is  made  for  securing 
adequately  the  interests  of  non-collegiate  students." 

Convocation  in  January  last  had  the  opportunity  of  ex- 
ercising its  veto  in  meeting  assembled  as  provided  by  the 
Charter  of  the  L'niversity  on  the  scheme  of  reconstitution 
proposed  by  the  Commissioners,  which  had  previously 
received  the  general  approval  of  the  Senate.  Instead  of 
insisting  on  this  right,  it  preferred  to  bring  itself  into  line 
with  the  other  institutions  affected  by  the  scheme,  by 
adopting  a  resolution  in  terms  almost  identical  with  those 
employed  in  the  Bill.  Only  so  recently  as  May,  it  de- 
clined to  reconsider  this  attitude  by  a  majority  of  two  to 
one,  yet  it  is  clear  that  the  Bill,  if  again  brought  forward, 
is  to  meet  with  opposition  from  Sir  John  Lubbock,  if  re- 
elected, unless  an  amendment  is  inserted  providing  that  the 
completed  scheme  shall  be  submitted  to  Convocation  for 
approval  in  a  manner  expressly  excluded  under  the  tenns 
of  the  present  Charter,  viz.  by  means  of  a  referendum. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  by  what  process  of  reasoning 
this  seemingly  gratuitous  proposal  can  be  reconciled  with 
the  functions  of  a  statutory,  that  is  a  judicial  and  execu- 
tive, Commission.  Convocation  is  but  one  of  the  bodies 
affected  by  the  scheme,  and  in  common  with  the  others, 
it  can,  under  the  terms  of  the  Bill,  present  its  case  for 
modifications  in  the  scheme  to  the  Commissioners  before 
the  statutes  are  framed,  and  like  them  can  appeal  against 
the  statutes  dunng  the  forty  days  they  must  lie  on  the 
table  in  both  Houses  of  Parliament  before  they  become 
operative.  Such  an  amendment  could  only  have  the 
effect  of  wrecking  the  latest  and  most  satisfactory  scheme 
of  University  reform,  since  no  other  institution  affected  by 
the  scheme  could  be  expected  to  agree  to  such  an  un- 
precedented proposal.  S'or  is  it  likely  that  any  person 
fitted  to  occupy  the  position  would  consent  to  serve  on 
the  Commission,  and  devote  his  time  and  best  energies 
to  the  difficult  and  deliaitc  work  of  adjusting  the  relations 
between  these  institutions,  with  the  knowledge  that  the 
statutes  and  ordinances  eventually  framed  would  be 
subject  to  the  approval  of  any  irresponsible,  non-judicial 
body,  let  alone  one  of  the  institutions  closely  affected. 

For  the  most  part,  .Sir  John  Lubbock  has  held  aloof 
from  the  controversy  on  the  Teaching  University 
question.  Once  only  does  he  seem  to  have  taken  sides. 
It  is  on  record  that  he  voted  with  the  majority  when  the 
Senate  in  June  of  last  year  passed  a  resolution  expressing 
general  approval  of  the  proposals  of  the  Gresham  Uni- 
versity Commission,  with  which  action  his  present  attitude 
is  wholly  inconsistent.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know 
whether  his  descent  on  the  other  side  of  the  fence  is  in 
any  way  connected  with  the  absence  of  opposition  to  his 
candidature  on  the  part  of  the  opponents  of  the  scheine. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  this  uncalled  for  proposal  to  subordinate 
the  interests  of  higher  education  in  London  to  the 
pleasure  of  Convocation,  ascertained  not  after  debate, 
but  by  a  referendum,  is  not  to  pass  without  protest,  and 
we  are  glad  to  note  that  the  following  letters  have  already 
appeared  in  the  press.  The  .first  is  from  Prof  Michael 
Kostcr,  Sec.R.S.,  and  President  of  Sir  John  Lubbock's 
Parliamentarv  Election  Committee. 

"Shelford,  Cambridge,  July  4,  1895. 
"  Dear  Sir  John,  —  .As  you  know,  I  am  wholly  opposed 
to  your  view  that  the  scheme  for  the  University  of  London 
to  be  proposed  by  the  Statutory  Commissioners  ought  to 
be  submitted  to  Convocation  for  approval.  Vou  also 
know  that  this  difference  of  opinion,  important  as 'it  is, 
does  not  prevent  my  desiring  that  you  should  continue  to 


246 


NATURE 


[July  ii,  1895 


represent  the  I'niversity  of  London  in  Parliament.  I 
find,  however,  that  your  letter  addressed  to  me  is  imder- 
stood  to  show  that  1  ajjrec  with  all  the  opinions  expressed 
by  you  in  that  letter,  and  in  justice  to  myself  I  must  make 
known  to  my  fellow  electors  and  others  how  wholly  we 
disagree  on  the  above  point,  and  how  much  1  regret  the 
attitude  you  assume  in  the  matters  in  question. 

".\'ours  \er>-  truly, 
"  Sir  John  Lubbock,  Bart.*"  "  M.  Foster. 

The  second  has  been  addressed  to  Sir  John  Lubbock 
by  the  President  and  a  number  of  Fellows  of  the  Royal 
Society  :— 

"July  6,  189;. 

"  Dear  .Sir  John  Lubbock,- The  interests  of  learning 
and  of  education  are  so  closely  bound  up  with  the  future 
development  of  the  I'niversity  of  London  that  we  hope 
you  will  not  regard  us  as  interfering  between  yourself  and 
the  Electing  Body  of  the  University  if  we  venture  to  ex- 
press our  regret  at  some  of  the  opinions  you  have  put 
forvvard  in  your  Election  address. 

"  You  state  that  you  would  do  your  best  to  secure  that 
the  scheme  (for  the  reorganisation  of  the  University), 
when  arranged,  should  be  submitted  to  Convocation  for 
their  approval,  to  be  signified  as  at  a  .Senatorial  Election, 
and  would  oppose  the  Hill  unless  this  were  conceded. 

"  You  must  allow  us  to  point  out  that  this  proposal 
would  confer  upon  Convocation  a  right,  which  is  without 
precedent,  to  supervise  the  acts  of  a  Commission  en- 
trusted with  the  reorganisation  of  the  University  of  which 
Convocation  itself  is  a  part. 

"The  scheme  of  the  '  Gresham  Commissioners'  has 
been  approved  not  only  by  all  the  institutions  concerned, 
but  by  the  great  body  of  educated  public  opinion.  It  is, 
however,  certain  that  very  grave  difficulties  will  arise  if 
the  ultimate  fate  of  the  scheme  is  to  depend  upon  the 
votinu  papers  of  Convocation. 

"  We,  therefore,  believe  that  the  proposal  you  support, 
if  adopted,  will  result  in  the  failure  of  another  attempt  to 
establish  a  Teaching  L'niversity  in  London,  and  will  in- 
definitely postpone  the  solution  of  a  question  which, 
after  prolonged  discussion,  seemed  to  be  on  the  eve  of 
settlement. 

"  We  are,  yours  faithfully, 
"  KKr.viN  (P.R.S.),  John   Ev.w.s   (Treas.R.S.),  M. 
Foster   (Sec.R.S.),  Joseph    Lister,   R.\vi,eu;h, 
DorcL.vs  G.VLTON,  T.  C.  Bonnev,  T.  E.  Thori-e, 

HOR.XCE  L.\Mli,  J.  H.  I'OVNTl.NT..  ARTHIR  \V. 
RtcKER.  E.  FR.\NKI..\NI),  N.  Storv  M.xskelvxe, 
Henry  E.  Roscoe,  P.  H.  Pve-Smith,  J.  Normax 
l.wKVER,  John  Erk-  ERitHsEv,  \Vii  mam 
Ramsay,  G.  Carev   Foster." 

In  his  address.  Sir  John  Lubbock  states  that  the  opinions 
of  the  present  Government  on  the  I'niversity  question 
have  yet  to  be  made  known.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
Commission,  whose  report  has  been  so  generally  ap- 
proved, was  appointed  during  Lord  Salisbury's  last  term 
of  office,  this  attitude  ought  not  to  be  doubtful. 


THE   KI.ECTKICAL    AfEASCKEMEW   OF 
ST  AH  LIGHT. 

IT'WXK  the  light  of  a  star  is  able  to  produce  al  the 
■*■  •surface  of  the  earth  a  measurable  effect,  other  than 
the  anion  on  a  photographic  plate,  is  a  fact  which  was 
published  in  these  pages  in  January  last  year.  The  light 
of  stars  and  planets  produces  two  efTccts— the  one  photo- 
graphic and  the  other  electric.  The  first— which  has,  of 
course,  been  known  for  many  years  is  slow  in  its  opera- 
tion ;  the  second  which  was  discovered  only  a  year  ago 
in  Mr.  Wilson's  obscrvator>' at  Oaramona,  Wcsimeath — 
is  almost  instantaneous. 


NO.    I  34  I.  VOL.   52] 


In  order  to  obtain  the  electrical  effect,  a  photoelectric 
cell  of  extremely  great  sensitiveness  to  light  is  employed. 
Such  a  cell  is  constructed  with  selenium,  aluminium. 
and  the  liquid  ctnanthol.  If  we  take  a  strip  of  clean 
aluminium -say  half  an  inch  long,  one-tenth  of  an  inch 
wide,  and  thick  enough  to  be  fairly  stift"  lay  it  on  an 
iron  i)Iatc  which  is  heated  by  a  Bunsen  tlame,  and  place 
on  the  end  of  the  strip  a  veiy  small  particle  of  selenium, 
this  selenium  will  mell  and  form  a  small  black  globule 
of  liquid.  Let  the  flame  be  now  withdrawn,  and  the 
globule  of  melted  selenium  spread  over  the  end  of  the 
aluminium  strip,  by  means  of  a  hot  glass  rod,  so  that  il 
forms  a  thin  uniform  layer  of  area  about  'i  of  an  inch 
square  on  the  end  of  the  strip,  and  let  this  dark  layer 
cool  to  a  few  degrees  below  its  melting  point  (about  217' 
C).  Now  apply  heat  again  to  the  under  surface  of  the 
iron  plate  until  the  aluminium  strip  becomes  nearly  hot 
enough  to  re-melt  the  layer  of  selenium.  In  ihis  process 
the  colour  of  the  layer  will  gradually  change  from  black 
to  a  greyish  brown.  When  it  is  just  on  the  point  of  melt- 
ing, withdraw  the  heat  and  blow  over  its  surface  ;  this 
will  instantly  check  the  tendency  to  melt,  and  will  leave 
the  surface  of  the  selenium  in  the  state  in  which  it  is 
most  sensitive  to  light.  If  this  strip  (or  rather  its  sele- 
nium-covered end  I  is  immersed  in  a  glass  tube  contain- 
ing acetone  or  ccnanthol,  and  connected  with  one  pole  of 
a  quadrant  electrometer,  whose  other  pole  is  connected 
with  a  platinum  wire  scaled  into  the  glass  tul)e,  we  ha\  e 
a  photoelectric  cell,  in  which  the  action  of  light  falling 
on  the  selenium  layer  results  in  giving  the  selenium  a 
positive  electric  charge  and  tlic  liquid  a  negative  one,  the 
former  charge  being  conveyed  to  one  pole  of  the  electro- 
meter by  the  aluminium  plate,  and  the  latter  to  the  other 
pole  by  the  platinum  wire  scaled  into  the  cell. 

Roughly  speaking,  the  difference  of  potential  produced 
in  such  a  cell  as  this  by  ordinary  ditTused  daylight 
is  something  between  one-third  and  one-half  of  a  volt. 

Such  were  the  seleno-aluminium  cells  used  in  the 
measurement  of  starlight  in  January  1894,  the  liquid 
in  them  being  tenanthol.  This  liquid  was  found  to  be 
better  than  acetone  (which  had  been  previously  used), 
not  only  because  of  the  greater  ease  with  which  it  can  be 
sealed  up  in  glass  tubes,  but  because  it  does  not  act 
chemically  on  selenium,  which  acetone  seems  to  do 
sooner  or  later.  But  it  is  obvious  that  a  cell  formed  in 
this  way  contains  an  element  of  inconstancy  ;  for,  the 
strip  of  aUiminiiun  will  at  the  same  time  convey  to  the 
insul.itcd  |)nle  of  the  electrometer  the  positive  charge 
generated  by  light  in  the  selenium  and  a  portion  of  the 
negative  charge  imparted  to  the  liquid,  so  that  the 
effective  E. M.F".  is  less  than  it  sliould  be  :  and,  again, 
there  will  be  currents  circulating  perpetually  between  the 
selenium  and  the  back  of  the  ahuninium  slii]),  and  such 
currents  deteriorate  the  cell.  Hence  it  happened  that 
such  cells  always  fell  oft' in  strength  after  about  six  hours. 
They  sufficed,  however,  to  show  very  easily  measurable 
electromotive  forces  from  the  light  of  the  planets,  and 
even  from  the  light  of  Sirius. 

.Shortly  after  January  1S94,  a  very  notable  improve- 
ment was  made  in  the  construction  of  the  cells,  this 
improvement  resulting  from  the  perception  of  the  cause 
of  deterioration  above  explained.  Instead  of  a  strip  of 
aluminium  as  a  l)ase  for  the  selenium  layer,  the  end  of 
an  aluminium  wire,  about  one  millimetre  in  diameter, 
was  used.  This  wire  was  enclosed  in  .1  glass  tube  iA,  It, 
in  the  figure  on  p.  247).  into  which  it  fitted  tightly,  one 
end  of  the  wire  being  flush  with  ;in  end  of  the  tube. 
On  this  end  was  deposited  the  layer  of  selenium,  with 
the  same  process  of  heating  as  that  already  described. 
The  other  end  of  the  aluminium  wire  inside  the  glass 
tube  was  connected  with  a  fine  platinum  wire,  I',  which 
emerged  from  the  second  enti  of  the  tube,  and  which 
formed  the  selenium  pole  of  the  photoelectric  cell. 

In  this  way  the  liquid  is  kept  out  of  contact   with  the 


July  1 1,  1895] 


NATURE 


H7 


aluminium  wire,  and  the  deteriorating  local  currents  in 
the  cell  are  avoided,  if  the  glass  tube  exactly  fits  round 
the  aluminium  wire  ;  but  this  desirable  result  has  not  yet 
been  perfectly  attained,  the  liquid  finding  its  way  into 
the  tube  after  some  considerable  time.  However,  in 
this  way  have  been  constructed  cells  which  have  re- 
mained constant  for  about  three  weeks. 

In  the  figure,  t:  c  is  a  cork  in  which  the  glass  tube,  n, 
lontaining  the  aluminium  wire  at  the  end  A  and  the 
attached  platinum  wire,  fits,  this  cork  fitting  lightly  into 
the  side  of  the  glass  cell  which  contains  the  liquid.  The 
tube  H  passes  close  up  to  a  quartz  window,  (j  (^),  cemented 
to  the  cell  opposite  the  cork  C  C.  The  light  of  the  star  is 
received  on  the  window,  Q  Q,  and  is  made  to  fall  on  the 
selenium  layer  at  the  end  A  of  the  tube  li.  .A.  platinum 
wire,  p',  is  sealed  into  the  bottom  of  the  glass  cell,  and 
conveys  the  charge  taken  by  the  liquid  to  one  pole  of  the 
electrometer,  while  the  platinum  wire  l'  conveys  the  charge 
taken  by  the  selenium  to  the  other  pole  of  the  electrometer; 
s  IS  a  ground  stopper  at  the  top  of  the  cell,  where  the 
liquid  is  poured  in. 

This  cell  is  fitted  into  a  holder  which  can  be  fi.\ed  to  a 
telescope  in  place  of  the  eyepiece  ;  and  this  cell-holder 
allows  of  the  adjustments  which  are  necessary  to  bring  the 
point  .\  to  the  position  of  the  image  of  a  star. 

This  is  the  form  of  ])lu)toelectric  cell  with  which,  in 
conjunction  with  Prof  Fitzgerald  and  Mr.  \V.  E.  Wilson, 
1    measured   the   electromotive   forces   of   the    lights    of 


Jupiter,  Satum,  \'ega,  .Arcturus,  Regulus,  I'rocyoii,  and 
some  other  stars  last  .April,  in  .Mr.  Wilson's  observatory 
at  Uaramona,  Westmeath.  The  telescope  used  was  Mr. 
Wilson's  2-feet  reflector. 

In  order  to  give  a  notion  of  the  sensiti\eness  of  the 
•cell  to  light,  I  may  say  that  if  an  ordinary  paraffin  candle 
is  held  at  a  distance  of  9  feet  fronr  the  window  (.)y,  it  will 
produce  an  electromotive  force  of  about  '03  volts  ;  or,  to 
put  the  matter  differently,  suppose  an  ordinarv  quadrant 
■electrometer,  of  Clifton's  pattern,  charged  so  that  a 
])aniell  cell  gives  a  deflection  of  400  divisions  on  the  ordin- 
ary scale  (placed  at  a  metre  distance,!  ;  then  the  light  of 
the  candle  at  9  feet  falling  on  the  photoelectric  cell  would 
give  a  deflection  of  twelve  di\  isions,  and  the  deflection 
varies  inversely  as  the  distance  of  the  candle. 

Now  the  light  of  X'ega  as  concentrated  in  the  2-feet 
telescope  gives  a  slightly  greater  deflection  than  the 
(of  course  unconcentrated)  light  of  the  candle:  so  that  we 
arc  evidently  dealing  with  easily  measurable  quantities. 

The  cell  is  sensitive  to  all  the' rays  of  the  spectrum,  but 
the  inaximum  effect  is  produced  by  the  yellow.  It  is 
sensitive  to  rays  considerably  below  the  \  isible  red  and 
beyond  the  blue. 
_  The  light  of  .Arcturus  was  found  to  give  o'82  of  the 
K.M.F.  produced  by  the  candle  at  9  feet;  the  light  of 
Saturn  056,  which  was  also  about  the  value  of  the  light 
of  Regulus.     Unfortunately  neither  .Sirius  nor   Capella, 


nor  any  star  in  Orion,  nor  any  in  the  Great  Bear,  was 
available  for  our  observations  ;  but  these  we  hope  to 
include,  before  long,  in  the  list  of  measured  stars. 

It  will  be  observed  that  in  this  electrical  measurement 
of  starlight  we  do  not  measure  lurrents,  but  electromotive 
forces — we  do  not  use  a  galvanonietei,  but  an  electro- 
meter ;  and  an  electrometer  of  small  capacity  was 
specially  constructed  for  these  e.xperiments,  with  the  aid 
of  the  (iovernment  grant  dispensed  by  the  Royal  .Society. 

It  is  not  desirable  to  allow  the  light  to  generate 
currents:  the  electrical  charges  must  be  allowed  to  flow 
back  into  the  cell,  so  that  it  may  not  be  temporarily 
deteriorated  during  the  observations.  Hence  the  pre- 
ference for  the  electrometer. 

The  space  at  my  disposal  will  not  allow  of  my  entering 
into  many  details  :  but  I  may  mention,  in  particular,  the 
importance  of  having  the  whole  of  the  sensitive  surface  in 
the  cell  covered  by  the  light  of  the  star.  It  matters  not 
to  the  value  of  the  E.M.F.  produced  how  far  behind  the 
focal  image  of  the  star  the  sensitive  surface,  A,  is 
placed — provided  that  the  image  of  the  star  just 
covers  the  surface  A.  This  is  essential  in  all 
photoelectric  cells,  and  also  in  thermopiles  ;  and  the 
neglect  of  this  condition  may  partly  explain  the 
failure  of  attempts  to  obtain  thermoelectric  indications 
from  the  stars  and  planets,  although  we  should  scarcely 
expect  success  from  methods  which  aim  at  measuring 
merely  a  \ei-)-  limited  portion  of  the  radiation  I'viz.  the 
heat,  or  infra-red  1.  The  photoelectric  cell  integrates  the 
whole  energy  of  the  radiation  on  the  sensitive  surface; 
and  the  sgtinre  of  the  observed  E..M.F.  is  the  measure  of 
this  incident  energy, 

It  is  interesting  to  know  how  ihc p/iofelectric  measures, 
so  far  as  they  have  gone,  compare  with  the  photometrU 
measures  of  "magnitudes"  hitherto  employed  by 
astronomers.  In  the  latter,  if  B  and  B' are  the  "bright- 
nesses "  of  two  stars  of  the  magmitudes  111  and  iii 
respectively,  we  ha\  e  by  definition 


1        B        4  ,    ' 


III)', 


(I) 


This  equation  defines  merely  the  diflerence  of  the 
magnitudes,  and  the  definition  is  quite  arbitrary. 
The  essential  things  are  B  and  B'.  How  are 
they  measured  .'  The  photoelectric  method  says  that 
they  are  E^  and  E'-,  the  squares  of  the  electromotive 
forces  generated  in  a  given  cell  by  the  lights  of  the  two 
stars.  The  ])hotometric  method  says  that  they  are 
measured  by  the  thicknesses  of  certain  interposed  glass 
prisms  which  extinguish  the  lights,  or  by  polarising 
apparatus  which  render  the  shades  of  the  transmitted 
lights  "equal."  Hence  we  may  expect,  perhaps,  a  fair 
amount  of  agreement  between  the  two  methods,  if  we  are 
comparing  two  or  more  stars  of  the  same  colour.  Thus, 
in  the  photoelectric  method,  we  have  for  any  two  stars 

III'  -  w  =  5  iog,o  -:-, (2) 

.A])i)lying  this  to  .Arclurus  and  Regulus,  and  taking  the 
magnitude  of  the  former  as  "2,  we  find  the  magnitude  of 


Regulus  to  be  f^ 


In  .Miss  Clerke's  ".Svstem  of  the 


NO.  1 34 1,  VOL.  52] 


.Stars  '  (.Appendix),  Regulus  is  quoted  asi4,  .Arcturus 
being  '2. 

Comparing  in  the  same  way  I'rocyon  and  Regulus,  the 
latter  being  taken  as  of  magMiitude  i -33,  the  magnitude 
of  Procyon  would  be  "46.  Miss  Gierke  c|uotes  Procyon 
as  of  magnitude  '5. 

But  no  agreement  between  the  two  methods  is  to  be 
expected  when  two  stars  of  different  colours  are  com- 
pared. The  photometric  method  of  equalisation  seems 
to  be  just  as  meanmgless  as  the  ordinary  "  grease-spot  ■' 
method  of  attempting  to  equalise  a  blue  and  a  red  light  I 
In  this  case  the  only  intelligible  comparison  of  two  lights 
consists  in  measuring  the  energies  which  they  radiate  per 


'48 


NA  TURE 


[Ji-i.v  11,  189  = 


unit  time  per  unit  area  at  a  %\\cn  distance— just,  for 
example,  as  Newton's  Second  .Axiom  defines  two  masses 
to  be  "  equal "  when  the  same  force  produces  the  same 
acceleration  in  both  ;  an  equality  which  is  real  if  the  sub- 
str.itum  at  the  basis  of  all  bodies  is  the  same,  but  merely 
con-'cntional  if  it  is  not. 

If  the  distance  of  a  star  is  known,  we  can  determine 
its  intrinsic  enerjfy,  i.e.  the  quantity  of  energy  which  it 
radiates  into  all  space  per  unit  time. 

Thus,  let  1  be  tlie  intrinsic  energy  of  a  star  whose  dis- 
tance from  the  earth  is  K  :  let  K  be  the  electromotive 
force  of  its  light  as  measured  by  the  cell  ;  let  /,  /•,  €-  be 
the  analogous  quantities  for  a  candle  or  any  other  chosen 
source  of  light  :  and  let  .A  and  a  be  the  areas  of  the 
aperture  of  the  telescope  and  the  selenium  surface  in  the 
cell.     Then  we  have 


k- .  K- .  .7 
r^ .  ■■■ .  .\ 


(3) 


Let  us  take,  for  example,  a  result  which  I'rof.  Hoys 
recently  told  me  that  he  had  obtained.  He  found,  in 
conjunction  with  Mr.  Watson,  of  South  Kensington,  that 
if  the  light  of  a  standard  candle  was  observed  across  a 
valley  and  almost  in  the  line  of  sight  of  .-Xrcturus,  the 
light  of  the  candle  and  that  of  the  star  seemed  to  be 
equal  when  the  candle  was  at  a  distance  of  five-eighths,  or 
•625.  of  a  mile. 

Now,  let  .f  be  the  distance  at  which  the  candle  light 
seems  to  be  as  bright  as  that  of  the  star.     Then 


I 

U- 


.      (4) 


.And  if  I)  and  li  are  the  diameters  of  the  telescope 
aperture  and  the  circular  layer  of  selenium  in  the  cell, 
we  have  from  (3 

I'ut,  now,  r  =  9  feet,  <•  =  10,  E  =  8-2,  U  =  24  x  25 
millimetres,  d  =  2  m.m.,  as  in  our  experiments,  and  we 
find 

.V  =  3 JOG  feci,  nt.nrly 
=  "  62  miles. 

This  agrees  remarkably  well  with  the  observation  of 
I'rof   Bovs.  '         C,KOHc;i-:  M.  Minchin. 


FiWERAL  OI-  PROFESSOR  HUM.EV. 
I  .\  accordance  uith  his  own  wish,  the  late  I'rof  Huxley 
■*  was  buried  at  the  Marylebone  Cemeter)-,  I'inchlcy, 
last  Thursday  afternoon.  The  coffin  came  up  from  ICast- 
bourne  in  the  morning,  and  the  numerous  mourners 
assembled  at  the  cemeter>-  to  meet  it.  Wreaths  from 
members  of  the  family,  and  from  friends  and  fellow 
workers  of  the  great  naturalist  whose  loss  we  mourn, 
covered  the  coffin.  The  Kfiyal  College  of  .Science,  with 
which  Huxley  was  connected  so  many  years,  sent  a  large 
wreath,  and  there  were  also  wreaths  from  Lady  Hooker, 
Mrs.  Tyndall,  the  members  of  the  staff  at  the  Koyal 
<  iardcns,  Kcw,  Mr.  Herbert  .Spenccr,Sir  Henry  Thompson, 
Sir  Henry  Koscoc,  Messrs.  Macmillan,  and  the  Kditor  of 
Naiikk,  among  others. 

The  funeral  service  was  performed  by  the  Kev.  J. 
Llewelyn  Davies,  an  old  friend  of  I'rof  Huxley's,  now 
rector  of  Kirby  Lonsdale,  but  formerly  vicar  of  .Maryle- 
bone, where  he  was  for  a  long  time  Huxley's  neighbour. 

The  family  was  represented  by  Mrs.  Huxley,  the  two 
sons,  .Mr.  Leonard  Huxley  and  Mr.  Henry  lluxky,  and 
three  daughters,  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Collier,  Mrs.  Waller,  and 
Mrs.  Lckersley  ithe  remaining  daughter,  Mrs.  Koller.  is 
in  Switzerland  with  her  husband,  who  is  ilL,  .Mrs.  Heath 
(a  niccc),  and  two  sonsin-lau,  the  Hon.  John  I  Oilier 
and  .Mr.  K.  W.  Waller. 


NO.    I  34  I,  VOL.   52] 


No  announcements  of  the  funeral  were  sent  out,  and 
the  large  number  of  distinguished  men  who  attended, 
and  the  various  learned  Societies  that  sent  representatives, 
did  so  on  their  own  initiative.  The  Royal  -Society  wa> 
officially  represented  by  Lord  Kelvin,  Sir  John  Evans. 
Prof.  Michael  Foster,  and  Sir  J.  Lister,  many  of  the 
Fellow  s  also  being  present.  The  C.cological  Society  wa> 
represented  by  Dr.  Henry  Woodward,  Dr.  Blanford. 
and  Prof,  lionney.  Dr.  Krankland,  Mr.  Crookcs,  Dr. 
Thorpe,  and  Dr.  Gladstone  «ere  the  representatives  of 
the  Chemical  Society.  The  mourners  from  the  Royal 
College  of  .Science  included  I'rof  Riicker,  Prof  Norman 
Lockyer,  CIS.,  Prof  Tilden,  Prof  judd,  C.H.,  Prof.  W.  C. 
Koberts-.-Vusten,  C.15.,  Prof  Howes,  Prof  Farmer,  Dr. 
Wynne,  Mr.  J.  W.  Rodger,  and  Mr.  Woodward.  Major- 
C.eneral  Sir  J.  F.  1).  Donnelly,  K.C.H.,  Major-Ciencral 
Festing,  Captain  .A.bney,  C.B.,  Mr.  T.  .Armstrong,  Mr.  F. 
R.  Fowkc,  and  .Mr.  .\.  S.  Cole  represented  the  Science  and 
Art  Department:  Sir  William  Flower,  K.C.H.,  Dr.  .A. 
Ciiinlher,  Mr.  l.eorge  Murraj-,  Mr.  C.  E.  Fagan,  Prof 
Jeffrey  Bell,  and  Mr.  F.  .A.  Bather,  the  Natural  History 
.Museum  :  I'rof  .Armstrong,  Prof  S.  P.  Thompson,  Prof. 
Perrv,  and  I'rof  .A\rton,  the  Citv  and  (iuilds  Institute  : 
Mr. 'Stanley  Hoyd',  Mr.  H.  F.  Waterhouse,  Mr.  J.  F. 
Pink,  the  Charing  Cross  Hospital  Medical  School  :  ^Ir.  J. 
J.  H.  Teall,  Mr.  F.  W.  Rudkr,  and  Mr.  E.  T.  Newton, 
the  Ceological  Survey.  In  addition  to  the  Fellows  of 
the  Royal  Society  not  included  in  the  above,  there- 
were  present  Prof  E.  Ray  Lankestcr,  Dr.  Dallinger. 
Sir  Joseph  Hooker,  K.C.B.,  (General  Strachey,  Dr.  Lauder 
Brunton,  Dr.  Sclater,  Prof  Carey  Foster,  Prof  (i. 
H.  Darwin,  Sir  James  Paget,  Dr.  Burney  Yeo,  I'rof. 
H.  Marshill  Ward,  Prof  Seeley,  and  Mr.  F.  Darwin. 
.Among  the  other  mourners  were  .Mr.  Walter  Troughton, 
representing  Mr.  Herbert  .Spencer,  who  was  prevented 
bv  illness  from  being  present,  Dr.  T.  K.  Rose,  .Mr.  W. 
Darwin,  Mr.  .A.  H.  Heath,  Mr.  S.  Highley,  Mr.  W.  S. 
Stewart,  Major-(;eneral  .Sir  Richard  Pollock  and  Mr. 
1).  Pollock,  Mr.  .Mnia  Tadema,  .Mr.  W.  E.  H.  Leckv, 
.Mr.  and  Mrs.  Humphrv  Ward,  Mrs.  Tvndall,  Mrs.  W.  K. 
Cliftbrd.  .Mr.  Henry  James,  Mr.  .Mat'k  Judge,  Mr.  H. 
Saunders,  Dr.  -Semon,  Mr.  F.  Macmillan.  Mr.  ("..  L. 
Craik,  Mr.  Clodd.  Mr.  ( ..  C.ritifith,  Lady  Stavelcy  Hill, 
Mr.  Paynter  .Allen,  .Mr.  John  Boyes,  Mr.  Spencer 
Walpole,  Mr.  Woodd  .Smith,  Dr.  J.  Johnson,  Mr.  James 
Hulme.  Mr.  Stanlev  tldwards.  Dr.  Clover,  .Mr.  T.  B. 
Windsor,  the  Rev.  'l).  1).  Jeremy.  Dr.  J.  Malecki.  Mr. 
J.  Spiller  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Briton  Riviere. 

The  funeral  was  at  first  announced  to  take  place  at  3 
o'clock,  whereas  the  time  fixed  upon  was  2'30.  Owing  to  a 
delay  in  the  train,  a  number  of  workers  in  science,  from 
the  .\lidlands  and  the  .North  of  EnglantI,  did  not  arrive 
at  the  cemetery  until  the  ccremonx  was  over,  anil  thus,  to 
their  deep  regret,  they  were  deprived  of  the  nielancholv 
satisfaction  of  being  present  when  the  remains  of  an 
esteemed  master  and  frientl  were  laid  to  rest. 

The  Miemory  of  Huxley  will  always  be  cherished  among 
men  of  science,  and  it  is  imperative  that  there  should 
be  a  permanent  memorial  of  some  kind  to  show  the 
world  how  great  is  their  regard  for  him.  The 
memorial  should  be  a  truly  national  one,  and  not 
limited  to  any  p.irticular  institution.  We  understand 
that  the  Dean  of  Westminster  is  willing  that  a  tablet 
shall  be  erei  ted  in  the  Abbey  if  desired,  and  this  is 
one  of  the  forms  which  the  memorial  might  take.  ,Sir 
William  Flower  suggests  another  form,  in  a  letter  to 
the  'I'iiius  of  .Monday.     He  writes  : 

"  In  the  great  hall  of  our  national  Musemn  of  Natinal 
History  the  noble  statue  of  Darwin  will  h.ind  down  to 
posterity  the  image  of  the  man  as  he  appe.ired  lo  all  who 
knew  him  in  life.  Near  this  will  soon  be  pla(  ed  another 
statue  remarkable  for  the  accuracy  with  which  the 
striking  personality  of  Owen  is  represented,  as  all  who 
see  it  now  at  the   Roval  .Acidemv  Exhibition  can  testifv. 


Jui.\ 


I  I , 


<895j 


NATURE 


249 


Surely  this  group  of  the  great  naturaHsts  of  this  country 
and  this  centun-  must  be  completed  b\-  the  one  we  have 
just  lost,  in  some  respects  the  greatest  of  the  three.  The 
statues  of  I'itt  and  Fox  stand  side  by  side  in  Westminster 
.A.bbey.  Huxley  and  Owen,  often  divided  in  their  lives, 
would  here  come  together  after  death  in  the  most  appro- 
priate place  and  amid  the  most  appropriate  surround- 
ings." 

What  Is  now  wanted  is  a  representative  committee  to 
take  the  matter  up  ;  we  are  confident  that  an  appeal  for 
funds  \\  ould  meet  « ith  a  ready  response,  and  we  are  glad 
to  know  that  steps  are  being  taken  in  this  direction.  A 
circular  signed  by  Dr.  Foster  and  Sir  William  Flower  has 
been  issued,  calling  a  meeting  at  the  rooms  of  the  Royal 
-Socictv  this  afternoon. 


NOTES. 
The  meeting  at  which  the  Prince  of  Wales. ])rcsided  in  St. 
James's  I'alace  on  Tuesday,  ought  to  further  the  interests  of  the 
liritish  School  at  .Vthens,  in  support  of  which  it  was  held.  A 
distinguished  and  representative  company  was  present,  among 
'hem  being  many  well-known  men  of  science.  Tl.e  Prince  of 
Wales  has  concerned  himself  with  the  existence  and  welfare  of 
the  School  from  the  time  of  its  foundation  in  1883,  and  we  are 
glad  to  notice  that  in  his  remarks  to  the  meeting  he  drew  atten- 
tion to  tile  fact  that  the  scantiness  of  the  means  provided  was 
out  of  all  proportion  to  the  valuable  archa;ological  work  carried 
on.  The  School  only  has  a  precarious  annual  income  of  .^500, 
whereas  the  French  School  at  .\thens  has  an  assured  income  of 
over  ;f  3000  a  year,  and  the  Herman  .School  more  than  /.2000  a 
year.  Owing  to  this  state  of  .affairs,  it  is  quite  impossible  for  the 
British  School  to  enter  into  competition  with  such  undertakings 
as  the  explorations  of  the  Germans  at  Olympia,  the  French  at 
Delphi,  the  .\mericans  at  ."Vrgos,  or  the  Cireeks  at  P^leusis  and 
Ejiidaurus.  The  sum  required  to  bring  Kngland  approximately 
into  line  with  other  nations  is  at  least  ^1500  a  year..  For- 
tunately, as  the  Prince  of  Wales  remarked  at  the  meeting, 
there  are  hi>peful  signs  that  matters  will  soon  be  placed  on 
a  more  satisfactory  footing.  \  petition  for  support  addressed  to 
the  late  (jovernment,  met  with  a  ready  response  :  and  before 
leaving  office  .Sir  William  Harcourt  took  steps  to  use  some  jior- 
tion  of  the  public  funds  devoted  to  the  encouragement  of  scientific 
investigation  for  the  support  of  the  .School,  andit  is  understood  that 
the  present  Ministers  are  willing  to  confirm  the  action  of  their  pre- 
decessors. (Jneof  the  colleges  at  Canibridge.  which  has  been  most 
severely  tried  through  the  agricultural  dcjiression,  has  generously 
made  an  annual  appropriation  out  of  its  reduced  funds,  and  three 
colleges  at  fJxford  have  voted  annual  grants.  The  public 
schools  are  also  moving  in  the  matter.  The  Prince  of  Wales 
supgesletl  that  perhaps  .some  of  our  Cit\"  (.\)mpanies,  whose  funds 
are  devoted  nut  only  to  local  charities,  but  which  have  extended 
their  sphere  to  the  support  of  educational  and  scientific  institu- 
tions, may  see  their  way  to  encourage  research  in  Greece  ; 
and  he  ho|)ed  that  our  colonies,  which  are  so  intimately  bound 
up  with  our  own  culture  and  our  higher  national  aspirations, 
will  recognise  the  fact  that  all  the  privileges  of  the  Athens  School 
are  open  tu  their  qualified  students,  and  will  make  some  effort 
towards  securing  its  adequate  efficiency.  Lastly,  he  appealed 
to  the  liberality  of  private  individuals,  and  expressed  himself 
convinced  that  the  appeal  would  find  a  response  throughout  the 
country.  Kvery  year  excavation,  both  in  Greece  and  else- 
where, is  becoming  more  important  to  science.  The  follow- 
ing resolutions,  confirmatory  of  the  object  of  the  meeting, 
were  carried  unanimously: — (i)  "That  the  British  School 
at  .\thens  has  already  done  excellent  work  during  the  nine 
years  of  its  existence,  and  is  well  deserving  of  increa.sed 
-supjiorl."  (2)  "That  this  meeting  pledges  itself  ti>  use  every 
effort  to  place  the  School  upon  a  sound  financial  ba.sis.  so  that  in 
NO.   1341,  VOL.  52] 


point  of  dignity  and  efficiency  it  may  worthily  represent  this 
country  among  the  other  foreign  institutes  in  .Vthens." 

Pkoi\  CiRTits,  of  the  University  at  Kiel,  has  been  ap|5ointed 
successor  to  the  late  Prof.   Lothair  von  Meyer  at  Tubingen. 

Prok.  Daxiei.  C.  F'atox,  well  known  in  botanical  circles  by 
his  work  on  ferns,  has  just  died  at  New  Haven,  U.S. 

We  learn  that  SL  J-  Deby,  one  of  the  leading  authorities  on 
diatoms,  whose  magnificent  collection  was  recently  acquired  by 
the  British  Museum,  is  dead.  He  was  in  his  seventieth  year, 
having  been  born  at  I^acken,  in  Belgium,  in  1826. 

To  the  list  of  honours  given  last  week  should  have  been 
added  Sir  Bernhard  Samuelson.  M.P.,  F.R.S.,  who  has  been 
made  a  Privy  Councillor,  and  Dr.  H.  D.  Littlejohn,  who  has 
been  made  a  knight.  On  Thursday  last,  Mr.  Thornley  Stoker, 
President  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  in  Ireland,  and  Dr. 
Christopher  Nixon,  were  knighted  by  the  Lord-Lieutenant  of 
Ireland. 

The  date  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Society  of  Chemical 
Industry,  which  is  this  year  to  be  held  in  Leeds,  has  been  post- 
poned from  July  17  to  July  31,  in  consequence  of  the  General 
Election.  It  is  not  thought  that  any  material  change  will  have 
to  be  made  in  the  programme. 

Prof.  Sch  w.\rz  has  been  elected  a  Correspondant  of  the  Paris- 
Academy,  in  the  Section  of  Geometry  ;  Baron  von  Midler  has 
been  elected  to  the  late  Prof  Pringsheim's  place  in  the  Section 
of  Botany,  and  Prof  Engelmann  succeeds  Ludwig  in  the  Section 
of  Medicine  and  Surgery. 

We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  announce  that  the  Italian  Meteoro- 
logical Society,  which  was  temporarily  dissolved  after  the  death 
of  Padre  Denza,  has  again  been  reorganised,  under  the  presi- 
dency of  Count  \'igodaizere,  whoisthe  proprietor  of  an  observa- 
tory at  Fontaniva.  The  central  observator)-  will  be  at  Moncalieri, 
as  before,  and  we  look  forward  to  a  continuation  of  the  useful 
work  carried  on  formerly  by  the  Society. 

We  are  informed  that  King's  College,  London,  will  open  next 
October  a  department  for  training  teachers  for  Secondary 
Schools.  There  will  be  a  two-years'  course  of  technical  studies 
combined  with  the  preparation  for  the  B..\.  degree  of  the 
University  of  London.  Detailed  instruction  in  the  art  of  teach- 
ing i>articular  subjects  will  be  given  by  the  Professors  of  the 
College.  Six  FZxhibhions  of  /15  are  offered.  Names  of 
students  should  be  sent  in  before  September  16. 

A  Reiter  correspondent  at  St.  John's  reports  that  the 
steamer  Kite  left  there  for  Crreenland  on  Tuesday  to  bring  home 
the  Pearj-  Arctic  Expedition.  It  is  expected  to  return  on 
October  l.  The  party  on  board  includes  Prof  Salisbury,  of 
Chicago  University,  who  goes  to  study  the  glaciers  and  geology 
of  the  region  ;  Prof  Dyche,  of  the  State  University.  Kansas, 
who  will  collect  specimens  of  the  fauna  and  flora  ;  and  Mr. 
Boutillier,  of  Phil.adelphia,  who  represents  the  Geographical 
Society. 

The  influence  of  the  Royal  Gardens  at  Kew  is  felt  in  widely 
diflerent  regions  of  the  world,  through  the  men  who  are 
trained  at  the  (lardens  and  sent  out  to  various  Botanic  Stations. 
Three  new  appointments  of  men  who  have  benefited  by  the 
Kew  training,  are  notified  in  the  current  Kew  Bulletin  :  they 
are  .Mr.  C.  II.  Humphries,  who  has  been  made  Curator  of  the 
Botanic  Station  of  .Aburi,  on  the  Gold  Coast ;  Mr.  J.  C.  Moore, 
who  has  been  appointed  Curator  of  the  Botanic  Station  at  St. 
Lucia,  in  the  Windward  Islands,  West  Indies ;  and  Mr.  H. 
McMillan,  who  goes  as  Head  Gardener  to  the  Royal  Botanic 
Gardens  at  Peradeniya,  Ceylon. 

Mr.  a.  B.  Basset  has  sent  us  a  letter  referring  to  the  proposed 
changes  in  the  size  of  the  pages  of  the  R05  al  Society's  publications. 
He  directs  attention  to  chapter  xii.  .section   ii.  of  the  Statutes 


:!=iO 


NA  rURE 


[July   ii,  189- 


of  the  Society,  empowering  any  six  Fellows  to  convene  a  s|)ecial 
general  meeting,  and  suggests  that  such  a  meeting  should  be 
summoned,  and  the  foUowinj;  resolutions  submitted  to  it:  (I) 
That  this  meeting  is  of  opinion  that  the  present  form  of  publish- 
ing the  Transactions  should  be  continued.  (2)  That  this  meet- 
ing is  of  opinion  that  the  present  form  of  publishing  the  Pro- 
ceedings should  Ik-  continueJ.  The  resolutions  are  drawn  up 
separately,  so  as  to  obtain  the  votes  of  Fellow  s  who  approve 
of  a  change  being  made  in  the  form  of  one  kind  of  publication, 
but  disapprove  of  any  change  as  regards  the  other. 

Is  the  recent  death  of  Prof.  N'erneuil,  France  has  lost  one  of 
her  most  eminent  surgeons.  His  name  is  intimately  connected 
with  the  history  of  conteniixirary  surgery.  At  first,  .Assistant  of 
Anatomy,  Prosector,  as  well  as  Professor  of  Anatomy  to  the 
Faculty  of  Medicine,  he  devoted  himself  to  anatomical  and 
physiological  studies,  and  left  his  mark  by  important  works, 
chiefly  on  the  heart,  and  on  the  anatomy  and  physiology  of  the 
venous  system.  Later,  he  formed  part  of  thai  noted  phalanx 
which,  under  the  auspices  of  Leberl,  with  Kobin,  Broca,  Follin, 
introduced  histological  studies  into  F'rance.  I'rom  this  time 
date  a  scries  of  original  memoirs,  notably  on  the  demoid  cysts 
of  the  face,  and  on  the  scrotal  enclosure,  in  which  he  expounded 
new  views,  and  established  the  scientific  theory  which  is  now 
generally  adopted.  Later  still,  when  hospital  surgeon  and  pro- 
fessor in  the  Faculty  of  Medicine,  he  introduced  important 
methods  of  operation.  Animated  by  the  most  ardent  love  of 
science,  he  knew  how  to  communicate  his  enthusiasm  to  those 
around  him  ;  he  had  all  the  requisite  qualities  of  a  founder 
of  a  school.  His  activity  showed  itself  by  a  great  number 
of  communications  to  learned  societies  of  which  he  was  a 
member. 

The  extensive  science  laboratories  and  buildings  recently 
opened  at  Lille  are  described  in  detail  in  the  Rcvtu  G<!>it'ra/e  dcs 
Sciences.  The  buildings  comprise  a  physical  institute,  an  insti- 
tute of  natural  science,  and  an  institute  of  chemistry,  erected  at 
a  cost  of  ;^65,C)0O.  The  cost  of  the  whole  work  was  nearly 
^140,000,  and  this  has  been  borne  by  the  Municipal  Council 
anil  the  Academy  at  Lille,  assisted  by  a  gift  of  ^4000  from  M. 
Philip|>art.  The  town  of  Lille  has  guaranteed  an  annual  grant 
>>f  £,iioa  lot  twenty  years,  to  be  used  in  the  interests  of  higher 
education,  and  has  shown  the  greatest  interest  in  the  work  of 
the  new  institute.  The  de|iarlmenl  of  chemistry  is  divided  into 
two  parts,  in  which  general  chemistry  and  applied  chemistry  are 
respectively  dealt  with  ;  and  in  e.ich  section  laboratories  are  pro- 
vided for  research  as  well  as  for  instruction.  The  physical  de- 
jidrtment  occupies  a  se|)arate  building,  in  which  .iccommodation 
is  provided  for  ex|Jeriments  of  extreme  delicacy  as  w  ell  as  routine 
work.  On  account  of  the  great  stability  now  demanded  by  many 
l>hysical  investigations,  all  the  research  laboratories  are  on  the 
ground  floor  ;  for  the  same  reavm,  numerous  large  isolated  pillars 
of  mavmry  have  lieen  provided,  and  strong  slate  slabs  have  been 
lixcd  into  the  comers  of  the  laboratories.  The  natural  science 
buil'ling  provides  accommodation  for  geology,  zrxilogy,  and 
Iniiany  ;  and  a  room  is  reserved  foi  the  ( leological  Society  of  the 
North  of  France.      Every    facility    for    study    under  gotxl    con- 

■  n,  appears  to  l)c  offered  by  the  new  lalK>ratories,  and 
n;i  ■  r  education  in  France  will  <lcrivc  benefit  from  the  increased 
<>p|»>rtunilieH  now  offered  it  at  Lille. 

TliK  third  International  Agricultural  Congress  will  take  place 
at  Bni.McK  from  September  8  to  16  ;  hence  it  will  clash  with  the 
nii-'.Ming  of  the  Ilritish  Association  at  Ipswich,  which  begins  on 
^'  l'i>nil>er  II.  The  Congress  will  l»e  held  unfler  the  imtronage 
of  the  King  of  the  Ik'lgians,  and  embraces  twelve  sections.  In 
the  section  of  agricultural  education  the  subjects  for  discussion 
include  niral  schooli,  fields  for  ex|>eriment  and  demonstration, 
the  [Hrt^ibility  of  devising  an  international  programme  of  superior 

NO.    I  34  I,  VOL.   52] 


agricultural  study,  and  the  professional  training  of  farmers"  sons 
by  interchange  of  the  young  |>eople  of  different  districts.  The 
section  of  agricultural  science  will  embrace  chemistry  and 
physiology  as  applied  lo  agriculture  ;  the  utilisation  and  conserva- 
tion of  natural  manures  ;  agricultural  meteorology  :  experiment 
stations  and  laboratories  of  control  for  manures,  foods,  and 
seeds.  The  third,  fourth,  and  fifth  sections  deal  respectively 
with  co-operation,  legislation,  and  currency.  The  section  oi 
animal  production  will  discuss  i)r.ictical  (juestions  relating  to 
stock-breeding,  selection  and  crossing,  the  improvement  of 
breeds,  and  the  feeding  of  slock  in  times  of  drought.  The 
veterinary  section  will  concern  itself  with  the  organisation  of 
veterinary  sanitary  police  and  the  contagious  diseases  of  animals, 
including  pleuro-pneumonia,  anthrax,  and  tuberculosis.  The 
section  of  jjlant  production  is  lo  discuss  the  selection  of  seed, 
the  cultivation  of  malting  barley,  "sideralion,"  the  cultivation 
of  peaty  and  mossy  soils,  drainage,  and  irrigation.  The  ninth 
section — southern  agriculture  and  colonisation — embraces  grape 
and  silk  culture  ;  the  cultivation  of  flowers  for  perfume,  of  oil- 
yielding  plants,  and  of  coffee,  tea,  and  sugar-cane  ;  the  agricul- 
ture of  the  Congo  and  of  Tunis  :  and  the  conditions  of  countries 
to  which  emigrants  might  be  sent.  The  tenth  section  takes  in 
forest  economy,  the  eleventh  deals  with  pisciculture,  and  the 
twelfth  with  agricullur.1l  industries,  such  as  dairying,  brewing, 
and  bee  and  poultry  culture. 

Thk  results  of  a  competition  organised  ,at  Paris  last  inontli,  by 
the  Petit  Journal.,  are  of  some  scientific  interest.  Sixty  thousand 
carrier  pigeons  from  all  parts  of  I'rance,  and  from  some  places  in 
Belgium,  were  released  from  the  ICiffel  Tower  at  known  intervals 
and  times.  The  first  jiigeon  travelled  a  distance  ol  150  kilo- 
metres (93!  miles),  with  a  velocity  of  76  kilometres  (47  miles)  per 
hour.  The  highest  average  rates  of  flight  ranged  between  this 
and  43  miles  per  hour  for  a  distance  of  264  miles.  These  rales 
are  low  compared  with  previous  records.  .V  distance  of  600 
miles,  has  been  covered  at  an  average  rate  of  50  miles  an  hour, 
and  in  June  i860,  a  pigeon  travelled  from  Blois  to  Dijon,  a 
distance  of  290  miles,  in  4h.  46m.,  which  gives  a  rale  of  about 
60  miles  per  hour.  There  is  also  evidence  that  much  higher 
average  velocities  than  these  have  been  reached. 

Dr.  J.  Han.n,  Secretary  of  the  Vienna  Academy  of  Sciences, 
laid  before  it,  on  the  20th  ull.,  an  investigation  on  the  daily 
range  of  the  barometer  on  clear  and  cloudy  days,  esjiecially  on 
mountain  summits.  Il  was  known  that  at  ordinary  stations  the 
daily  barometric  range  in  clear  and  cloudy  weather  only  ex- 
hibited a  diflerence  in  the  single  iluily  oscillation,  while  the 
double  daily  oscillation  remaineil  unchanged.  Hut  a  similar  in- 
vestigaliim  for  mountain  stations  had  not  yet  been  made.  With 
this  object  the  author  undertook  the  tedious  operation  of 
calcuUaling  the  ilaily  barometric  range  at  a  number  of  mountain 
stations  for  the  .summer  season,  and  found  that  al  these  the 
double  daily  oscillation  remained  the  same  in  both  kinds  of 
weather.  At  the  earth's  surface  the  daily  curve  showeil  a  nuich 
greater  amplitude  in  clear  than  in  cloudy  weather,  and  a  lolally 
different  c|X)ch.  The  average  form  of  the  daily  curve  for  the 
mountain  stations  is  represented  by  the  formula  :  0"4S  sin 
(353°  +  x)on  clear  days,  and  o'26  sin(loi''  +  .v)  (m  cloudy  days. 
On  clear  days  the  maximum  of  the  single  <laily  oscillation  occurs  at 
6h.  30m.  a.m.,  while  on  cloudydays  il  occurs  at  I  ih.  p.m.  The 
author  also  fi>und  that  the  diflerences  in  the  daily  range  on  clear 
and  clou<ly  days  corresponded  entirely  to  the  diflerences  which 
exist  over  the  land,  as  compared  with  those  over  adjacent  seas. 

A  RKII'KN  h.as  been  issued  showing  the  number  of  licensed 
ex]K-riments  performeil  on  living  animals  during  1894.  The 
total  number  of  persons  h>)lding  licences  during  Ihe  year  was 
185,  and  of  these  56  performed  no  exDerimenls.  The  tables 
given  afford  evidence  that  licences  and  certificates  have  been 
granted  and  allowed  only  upon  the  recommendalion  of  persons 


July  ii,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


251 


of  high  scientific  standing,  and  that  the  licencees  are  persons 
who,  by  their  training  and  education,  are  fitted  to  undertake 
experimental  work  and  to  profit  by  it.  All  the  experimental 
work  has  been  conducted  in  suitable  places  ;  the  number  of 
experiments  performed  was  3104.  In  more  than  one-third  of 
these  the  animal  suffered  no  i)ain,  because  complete  anjesthesia 
was  maintained  from  before  the  commencement  of  the  experi- 
ment until  the  animal  was  killed.  More  than  fifteen  hundred 
of  the  remaining  experiments  were  of  the  nature  of  hypodermic 
injections  or  inoculations.  In  about  five  hundred  experiments 
the  animal  was  anivsthetised  during  the  operation,  but  was 
allowed  to  recover.  These  operations,  in  order  to  insure  success, 
are  necessarily  done  with  as  much  care  as  are  similar  operations 
upon  the  human  subject  :  and  the  wounds  being  dressed  anti- 
septically,  no  pain  results  during  the  healing  process. 

TllK  Geologists'  Association  will  visit  the  coast  of  Antrim 
and  the  Mourne  Mountains  this  summer  (July  29  to  August  3). 
The  programme  includes  the  examination  of  sections  in  sedi- 
mentary rocks  ranging  from  the  Ordovician  to  the  Chalk,  pre- 
Devonian  gneisses,  and  the  basalts,  rhyolites,  and  drusy  granites 
of  the  Tertiary  eruptive  series.  The  illustrative  papers  by 
Messrs.  McHenry  and  Lloyd  Praeger  will  shortly  be  issued  as 
a  pamphlet,  in  advance  of  publication  in  the  Proceedings.  The 
country  to  be  visited  is  classic,  and  additional  interest  is  added 
to  it  by  the  recent  publication  of  two  papers  in  the  Geological 
Magazine.  The  first  of  these,  in  the  June  number,  by  Mr. 
Mclienry  of  the  Irish  Geological  Survey,  describes  valuable 
evidence  as  to  the  age  of  the  trachyte  (rhyolite)  of  the  district. 
In  a  section  at  Templepatrick  Quarry,  the  acid  lava  is  seen,  by 
the  arrangement  of  its  columnar  and  flow-structure,  to  have 
flowed  over  the  surface  of  the  Chalk,  sweeping  the  overlying 
gravel  before  it,  and  piling  it  up  against  the  denuded  edge  of  a 
mass  of  basalt  belonging  to  the  earlier  of  the  two  basic  series. 
As  fragments  of  the  trachyte  occur  elsewhere  in  gravels  overlain 
by  the  la/er  basalts,  it  may  be  said  to  be  of  "  mid-basaltic"  age. 
The  second  paper,  in  the  July  number,  is  by  I'rof.  Cole,  and 
deals  with  the  nature  of  the  acid  rocks  poured  out  from  the 
Tardree  volcano,  which  are  said  to  equal  in  variety  the  better 
known  rhyolites  of  Hungary. 

TllK  numbers  of  the  Botanical  Gazette  for  May  and  June 
contain  a  translation,  by  Mr.  G.  J.  I'eirce,  of  Prof.  Strasburger's 
laper  on  the  '•  Development  of  Botany  in  Germany  during  the 
Nineteenth  Century."  In  the  latter  number  there  is  also  a  very- 
instructive  article,  by  Mr.  J.  .M.  Coulter,  on  the  "  Botanical 
Work  of  the  American  (jovernment."  .\t  present  four  distinct 
divisions  of  botanical  work  are  organised  under  the  Department 
of  .Vgriculture,  although  other  divisions  also  do  a  certain  amount 
of  work  that  may  fairly  be  called  botanical.  These  four  divisions 
are  those  of  botany,  vegetable  physiology,  and  pathology, 
agrostology,  and  forestrj-.  The  Division  of  Botany,  under  the 
general  supervision  of  Prof.  Y.  \.  Coville,  of  Cornell  University, 
is  engaged  in  strictly  scientific  work,  such  as  the  working  out  of 
local  floras,  the  examination  of  seeds,  investigation  of  weeds,  i\:c. 
To  this  department  the  Government  appropriates,  during  the 
l.rcscnt  year,  33,800  dollars.  The  division  of  vegetable  physi- 
ology and  pathology  (26,300  dollars)  is  concerned  with 
investigations  into  the  phenomena  of  the  growth  of  plants,  and 
into  the  diseases  of  cultivated  plants.  Its  chief  is  Prof.  B.  T. 
Galloway,  University  of  Missouri:  but  investigations  on  behalf 
of  the  department  are  carried  on  also  at  the  following  centres  : — 
University  of  Nebraska,  University  of  Michigan,  University  of 
Illinois,  Kansas  Agricultural  College,  University  of  Copenhagen. 
The  function  of  the  Division  of  .\grostology  (15,000  dollars)  is 
to  deal  with  forage  plants  as  well  as  grasses,  to  instruct  and 
familiarise  the  people  with  the  habits  and  uses  of  these  plants, 
to  condvict  investiga'.ions  relative  to  their  natural  history  and 
NO.    I  34 1,  VOL.  52] 


adaptability  to  diffierent  soils  and  climates,  to  introduce  promising 
native  and  foreign  plants  into  cultivation,  and  to  identify  grasses 
and  forage  plants.  Its  chief  is  Prof.  F.  Lawson-Scribner.  The 
Division  of  Forestry,  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  B.  E.  Fernow, 
has  at  present  chiefly  been  occupied  with  the  study  f)f 
character  and  value  of  different  timbers. 

The  current  number  of  ihc:  Journal  tie  Pliysii/ne  contains  the 
second  part  of  the  paper,  by  M.  P.  Curie,  on  the  magnetic 
properties  of  bodies  at  difierent  temperatures  (see  X ATI' RE, 
June  6,  1895,  p.  134).  The  present  paper  deals  with  iron,  nickel, 
and  magnetite.  In  the  case  of  iron,  measurements  have  been 
made  at  temperatures  between  20'  C.  and  1360' C,  and  for  field 
strength  of  from  25  to  1350  C.tl-.S.  units.  The  observations  on 
nickel  and  magnetite  were  only  made  at  temperatures  above  that 
at  which  the  great  change  in  the  magnetic  properties  of  these 
bodies  takes  place.  The  values  obtained  with  iron  up  to  about 
756'  C.  agree  with  those  previously  obtained  by  Dr.  Hopkinson. 
Above  this  temjierature  the  author  finds  that  the  curves  showing 
the  relation  between  the  intensity  of  magnetisation  (I)  and  the 
strength  of  the  field  are  straight  lines  passing  through  the  origin 
for  temperatures  between  750°  and  1280°  F.  decreases  more  and 
more  slowly.  At  first  (I)  decreases  to  half  its  value  for  a  rise  of 
temperature  of  a  few  degrees,  but  between  950°  and  1280°  the 
susceptibility  is  almost  a  constant,  only  decreasing  very^  little  as 
the  temperature  rises.  At  a  temperature  of  about  1280'  the 
susceptibility  suddenly  increases  by  about  50  per  cent.,  and  then 
again  gradually  decreases  up  to  1365".  The  author,  with  some 
hesitation,  gives  the  following  explanation  of  this  behaviour  : — 
"  Up  to  a  temperature  of  860°  iron  behaves  like  any  other- 
paramagnetic  bod)'.  At  a  temperature  of  about  860°,  however, 
it  begins  to  change  into  a  second  allotropic  form,  this  trans- 
fonnation  being  complete  at  about  920  \  and  the  iron  remaining 
in  this  condition  up  to  1280°,  and  behaving  like  such  a  body 
as  oxygen  or  palladium.  Finally  at  1280"  the  iron  changes 
suddenly  back  to  its  first  condition."  The  attractiveness  of  the 
above  theory  can  only  Vje  appreciated  by  a  study  of  the  author's 
curves,  for  if  the  curve  showing  the  connection  between  the 
logarithm  of  the  susceptibility  and  the  logarithm  of  the  tempera- 
ture is  plotted,  it  is  found  that  the  curve  between  750°  and 
860'  would,  if  prolonged,  form  with  the  curve  above  1280°  a 
curve  in  all  respects  similar  to  the  curves  obtained  in  the  case  of 
nickel  and  magnetite.  With  nickel  the  author  finds  that  the 
temperature  of  the  magnetic  transformation  is  about  340°.  After 
this  temperature  the  susceptibility  is  independent  of  the  strength 
of  the  field,  and  decreases  regularly  and  very  rapidly  as 
the  temperature  rises.  In  the  case  of  magnetite  the  chief 
magnetic  transformation  takes  place  at  a  temperature  of  535°. 
Ai  temperatures  between  550^  and  1370'  the  susceotibilily 
is  independent  of  the  strength  of  the  field,  and  decreases 
regularly,  and  between  850°  and  1360'  varies  inversely  as 
the    absolute    temperature.       The    value    of  K   (see    previous 

note,  he.  cit.)  being  given  by  the  expression  K  =       „  -  where 

T  is  the  absolute  temperature.  From  the  differences  exhibited 
by  the  behaviour  with  change  of  temperature  of  diamagnetic 
and  paramagnetic  bodies,  the  author  considers  that  these  two 
properties  must  be  attributed  to  different  causes. 

L.\si'  week  the  Pharmcueulieal  Journal  began  the  first 
of  a  new  and  enlarged  series  (the  fourth).  The  journal, 
which  is  now  in  its  fifty-fifth  year,  has  done  much  to  promote 
pharmaceutical  organisation  and  progress. 

Tm.  second  part  of  the  Report  of  the  International  Meteoro- 
logical Congress  held  at  Chicago  in  1S93,  has  just  come  to  us 
from  the  United  States  Deiiartment  of  Agriculture  (Weather 
Bureau).  The  papers  included  in  the  Report  were  communicated 


25' 


NATURE 


[July   \  i,  1S9; 


to  the  sections  of  hisiorj-  and  bibliography,  agricultural  meteoro- 
logj',  and  atmospheric  electricity  and  terrestrial  magnetism. 
Part  iii.  will  comprise  climatology,  instruments  and  methods  of 
obseri-ation,  and  theoretical  meteorology. 

The  most  important  articles  in  the  Kcw  Bulletin  for  .Xpril  to 
lulv,  are  one  on  the  \-arious  sugar-cane  diseases  in  Barbadoes, 
one  on  maple  sugar,  containing  information  with  regard  to  the 
growth  of  the  sugar-maple  in  the  L'niteil  .States  ;  and  one  on 
anbur)-,  club-root,  or  finger-and-toe,  describing  the  mode  in 
which  this  disease  is  produced  in  a  number  of  species  of  Crucifer.v 
by  the  attacks  of  the  parasite  P!asiin\1iophora  Brassiitt,  and  the 
best  modes  of  counteracting  it. 

The  new  quarterly  number  of  the  Journal  of  the  Royal 
.\gricultural  Society  contains  a  paper  on  "Cross-bred  Sheep," 
by  Mr.  H.  J.  Elwes,  in  which  many  facts  of  biological  interest 
are  recorded.  The  \-alue  of  a  first  cross  between  two  pure 
breeds  is  insisted  upon,  whilst  due  importance  is  attached  to  the 
dangers  which  l>eset  the  breeder  should  he  venture  beyond  the 
first  cross.  .Mr.  Elwes  is  in  a  position  to  draw  ujxin  the  results 
of  long  practical  experience  in  the  cross-breeding  of  sheep. 
The  general  improvement  which  the  sheep  of  this  country  have 
undcigone  within  recent  years  is  attributed  to  the  increa.sing 
resort  to  the  services  of  pure-bred  sires,  but  much  remains  to  lie 
done  by  those  breeders  who  possess  the  necessary  skill, 
patience,  and  energy.  .\nother  paper  of  scientific  interest  is 
one  by  Prof.  G.  T.  Brown,  C.  B. ,  on  "  Ringworm  of  Calves,'' 
which  is  illustrated  with  five  original  drawings.  It  is  demon- 
strated that  the  living  spores  of  the  fungus  of  ringworm  may 
1*  transmitted  from  one  animal  to  another  by  means  of  lice. 
Prof.  Kdgar  .M.  Cr^wikshank  contributes  a  popular  paper  on 
"  Microl>es  in  Health  and  Disea.se,'"  and  economic  botanists 
will  finil  much  that  is  interesting  in  Mr.  Ijlenny's  |>aper  on 
"The  Onion  and  its  Cultivation."  This  issue  aKso  contains  a 
schedule  of  such  native  wild  birds  as  are  "undoubtedly 
beneficial  to  agriculture."  .Altogether,  38  species  are 
cnumerate<l,  and  details  are  given  concerning  their  food,  nests, 
and  eggs. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  an  .Anubis  Balx>on  (Cyno,ephnliis  annlns,  i  ), 
a  Leopard  (Felis  parJus),  two  Two-s|X)tte<l  Paradoxures 
{NanHinia  hinolala),  a  Sharpe's  Wood  Owl  (Syrninm  nnc/iale) 
from  .\ccra,  Gold  Ci>a.st,  presented  by  Mr.  \V.  H.  .Adams;  two 
Ked-creslerl  Cardinals  (Paraaria  cnaillata)  from  South  .America, 
presented  by  Dr.  G.  Fielding  Blandford  :  a  .Small  Hill  Mynah 
{Graiula  retigiosa)  from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  W.  N'orbury  ; 
a  Brown  Capuchin  {Cetiiis  falufilus)  from  Brazil,  presented 
liy  .Mr.  \V.  E.  Gibbs ;  a  .Spiny-tailed  Monitor  (V'aranns 
a(anlhiiriis)  from  Roebuck  Bay,  West  -Australia,  presented  by 
Mr.  Sa\-ille  Kent  ;  a  Campljell's  Monkey  (Circopilhdus 
r'ili)  from  West  .Africa,  an  Egyptian  L'rom.Tstix 
itti.x  spini/vs)  from  Egypt,  depKiled  ;  two  .Manlchurian 
Ctaii',5  {Grns  v'iridiroslris)  from  Xorth  China,  purchaseil  ;  two 
Mule  Deer  (Carioius  matrolis),  a  Jafianese  Deer  (Ctn'iis  siia), 
bom  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR   ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

^ir.  .  I    I'mirih  Vakiabi.e  Si  ARs.  -The  recent  s|)cclro.scopic 
of  J  Ccphci    by    Bclo|xilsky   (Nau'RE,   vol.    li. 
j  '   "f  B  I.yr.v  by    Pickering.    I,<x:kyer,    and    others, 

'■  've   still  a  great  deal  to  learn  .-us  to  the 

'  ■  s  in  v.iriablesof  short  |>eriod  other  than 

ihr.-v    it  !»■    .\ii:"i  TV)"-.      In  these  in(|uirieH,  it  has  twcomc  clear 


NO.    I  34  I,  VOL.  52] 


that  a  study  of  the  light-curves  must  go  hand-in-hand  with  that 
of  the  spectroscopic  changes,  and  we  therefore  welcome  the 
)>ubUcation,  by  Dr.  Schur,  of  new  light-curves  of  S  Cephei. 
II  .\quilie,  and  fl  Lynv  {Ast.  .\'<i./;.  J282-S3).  The  obser- 
vations were  made  at  Strassburg  in  the  years  1S77-S5  by 
.Argelander's  method,  an  opera-glass  providing  the  requisite 
optical  aid. 

In  the  case  of  S  Cephei.  the  observations  and  light-curve  .-igree 
very  well  on  the  whole  with  those  of  Argelander  and  .Schonfeld, 
but  the  interval  from  minimum  to  maximum  is  reduced  by  Hr. 
.Schur  from  id.  I4'6h.  to  id.  I37h.,  and  the  period  derived 
is  5d.  Sh.  47m.  3S'947s.,  or  1027s.  less  than  that  of 
-Argelander.  There  does  not  seem  to  be  any  ground  for  the  iilca 
that  the  length  of  the  period  is  sensibly  changing.  Dr.  Schur 
also  obtained  distinct  evidence  of  a  standstill  in  the  light-curve 
in  the  descent  to  minimum.  The  period  arrived  at  for 
7j  .Aquilx  is  about  4s.  less  than  that  of  .\rgelander,  namely. 
7d.  4h.  13m.  59'3iSs.  -A  verj' decided  "hump"'  is  shown  on  the 
descending  side  of  the  light-curve  :  this  is  not  merely  a  halt  like 
that  in  the  case  of  5  Cephei.  but  an  actual  incre.ise  of  light, 
commencing  about  3d.  2oh.  after  minimum,  and  reaching  an 
abortive  maximum  about  twelve  hours  later.  The  interval  from 
minimum  to  maximum  is  2d.  6h.  The  observations  of 
$  Lynt  give  a  light-curve  of  which  the  general  form  is  almost 
identical  with  that  given  by  .Argelander,  but  the  agreement  of 
indintlual  minimum  with  calculated  times  is  not  very  goo<i.  To 
bring  these  into  belter  agreement,  .Argelander's  formula  is 
corrected  to  the  following  :  Epoch  424,  Bonn  mean  lime,  1855 
Ian.  6,  I5h.  2Sm.  +  I2d.  2ih.  47m.  23s.  72  E  -t-  Os.  31593S 
E-  -  o -000012 1  IS.  Iv'. 

The  paper  givis  full  details  of  the  observations  and  their 
reduction,  and  its  value  is  incrcised  by  a  plate  .showing  the 
forms  of  the  light-curves  of  the  three  variables  in  question. 

The  Nice  Observ.\tory. — Vol.  iv.  of  the  .Innaus  of  the 
Nice  Observatory  is  a  monument  to  the  industry  of  the  director 
and  staff  of  the  magnificent  observatory  founded  by  M.  Bischoft- 
.sheim.  M.  Perrotin,  the  director,  contributes  an  elaborate 
investigation  of  the  ineijualities  of  the  first  order  in  the  elements 
of  Vesta,  pro<luce(l  by  the  acticm  of  Jupiter,  employing  inter- 
|K>lation  methods.  M.  Javelle  furnishes  full  particulars  of  505 
new  nebuUv  discovered  by  him  during  iSgo  and  1S91  with  the 
great  eipiatorial  of  15  inches  aperture.  "The  positions  of  these 
were  determined  by  micrometric  measures  of  distances  from 
compari.son  stars,  and  awaiting  accurate  meridian  observaliims 
of  lhe.se,  provisional  positions  for  1S60  have  been  computeil. 
Some  of  these  objects  are  easily  visible,  l>ut  the  majority  of  them 
are  rather  difficult,  and  others  are  at  the  limit  of  visiliilily  of  the 
Nice  refractor.  .Star  clusters  have  been  rigorously  excluded 
from  the  catalogue. 

The  meridian  work  at  the  observatory  is  |>articHlarly  directed 
to  the  double  stars  of  the  Dorpat  catalogtie,  and  the  already 
numerous  stars  which  have  been  used  as  comparisons  in  the 
observations  made  with  the  ei)uatorial.  The  perioil  covered  by 
the  present  publication  is  18S8  .April  5  to  1889  December  23. 

From  May  1887  to  December  1892,  26  new  minor  planets 
were  iliscovered  at  Nice  by  M.  Charlois,  the  last  1 1  by  phoi.i- 
graphy.  -A  vast  number  of  observations  of  these  and  other  minor 
planets  have  also  been  made  by  M.  Charlois,  full  det<iils  of 
which  are  recorded  in  the  present  volume.  Ob.scrvations  of  19 
comets  are  also  included. 

Koi<Ari.i"s  Pemhi.im  Extkrimknt. — The  experimeiual 
demcmstralion  of  the  earth's  rotatiim,  devised  by  Koucault  in 
1S51,  hits  recently  been  repeated  at  the  De  Ut  Salle  Training 
College,  Watcrford,  on  a  somewhat  smaller  scale  than  in  the 
original  exiK'rimenl.  The  weight  of  the  iK-ndulum  bob  was 
19  lbs. ,  and  il  was  sus)K'nde<l  by  a  wire  37  feet  6  inches  in  length. 
To  set  the  pendulum  in  vibration,  the  usual  method  of  burning 
the  string  by  which  the  bc-b  is  tethered  was  employetl.  Thirty- 
three  observations  of  the  hourly  motion  of  the  pendulum  plane 
were  made  during  I'ebruary  anil  March  of  the  present  year,  and 
the  mean  result  w.as  if  48',  the  calculaleil  value  being 
II*  53'  37".  The  lime  of  the  earth"s  rotatiim,  or  length  of  the 
siilereal  day.  thus  tieduced  is  24h.  7m.  30s.,  an  amount  only 
alx)ul  llm.  in  excess  of  the  true  lime.  l*"oucauIt's  observations 
gave  23h.  33m.  57s.  as  the  lime  of  rotatiim.  Particulars  of  the 
Watermrd  e\|X!riment,  and  an  explanation  of  the  principles 
involved,  are  given  by  Dr.  M.  V.  o'Ueilly  in  /in.,-ine,iiii/;, 
July  5. 


July    i  i,  1895] 


NATURE 


25: 


THE  SUN'S  PLACE    IN  NATURE} 

VIH. 

'T'WCJ  objections,  however,  have  Ijeen  niaile  to  these  hyjiolhetical 
_  two  swarms.  It  has  been  tirgefl  that  the  secondary  swarm 
which  we  saw  moving  in  a  closed  orliit  round  the  primary  one 
woidd  soon  sprea<l  out  into  a  line  along  the  orbit,  st)  that  there 
would  always  be  some  parts  of  it  mixed  up  with  the  constituents 
of  the  parent  swarm.  That  is  a  perfectly  fair  objectirm,  sup- 
jio.sing  we  are  dealing  with  millions  and  billions  of  years,  but  I 
think  that  those  who  have  made  it  do  nfit  know  the  history  of 
astronomy.  Let  us  take,  for  instance,  the  history  of  the 
November  swarm  which  cuts  the  earth's  orbit,  so  that  in  certain 
Novembers,  generally  about  thirty-three  years  apart,  we  gel  this 
swarm  of  meteorites  passing  through  our  atmosphere,  getting 
burnt  out  in  that  passage, and  giving  us  one  of  the  most  magnificent 
siijhts  which  it  is  possible  for  mortals  to  see — a  whole  hemisphere 
of  sky  filled  with  shooting  stars.  Some  of  you  may  remember 
such  a  phenomenon  as  that  in  the  year  1866,  some  of  us  are 
hoping  to  see  the  recurrence  of  it  in  1899,  for  which  we  have  not 
long  to  wait.  But  the  fact  that  we  only  get  this  appearance  every 
thirty-three  years  shows  that,  at  all  events,  that  swarm  of 
meteorites  to  which  the  phenomena  are  due  has  not  changed 
(luring  our  life-time  -  nay,  it  has  not  changed  during  the  last 
thousand  years,  for  man  has  known  of  that  November  swarm 
for  more  than  a  thousand  years,  and  we  have  only  kiKnvn  of  the 
varialiility  of  .\I  ira  for  300  years  ;  so  that  you  see  such  an  objection 
a.s  that  is  entirely  out  of  court,  because  it  lacks  the  historical 
touch. 

Another  objection  which  has  been  urged  is  that  there  are 
certain  irregularities  in  the  light-curves  of  these  l)odies  ;  that 
Mira.  for  instance,  does  not  always  come  up  to  the  same  amount 
oi  brightness  at  its  maximinn,and  jierhaps,  for  all  we  know,  does 
not  always  go  down  to  the  same  low  magnitude  when  it  is  at  its 
low'est.  That  also  is  ])erfectly  true,  and  on  this  account  :  there 
is  no  reason  why  we  should  suppose  that  these  phenomena  of  the 
waxing  and  waning  light  of  the  body  are  produced  by  the  move- 
ment of  one  body  oid\'  :  suppose,  for  instance,  that  there  is  some 
cosmic  eye  a  billion  miles  away  from  our  solar  system,  so  beauti- 
fully and  exquisitely  wrought,  so  <lelicate  in  its  cvjnslruclion,  that 
it  can  see  an  increase  in  the  light  of  the  sun  every  lime  a  big  comet 
5Joes  round  it.  Now  v\e  know  fr<mi  our  own  exjierience  of  comets 
that  it  would  lie  absolutely  impossible  for  that  delicately  constructed 
eye  to  see  anything  like  a  constant  variability  in  the  light  of  the 
sun  under  these  conditions,  because  sometimes  the  brightest 
■comets  which  come  to  us  are  absolutely  unpredicted,  they  come 
at  irregular  times.  It  must  also  l)e  pointed  out  in  coimeclion 
with  this  objection  that  there  are  other  obvious  causes  for 
■considerable  variations  in  the  light,  both  at  the  maximum  and 
at  the  minimum,  ^'ou  remember  that  I  showed  you  those  beau- 
tiful spiral  nebula;  of  which  Dr.  Roberts  has  given  us  such 
magnificent  photographs  :  suppose  them  to  represent  the  irarenl 
swarms,  and  that  another  minor  swarm  tries  to  pass  them  ;  it  is 
imjinssibic  t<>  imagine  that  the  minor  swarm  woidd  exactly  ])ass 
through  all  the  intricacies  of  those  magnificent  spirals,  and  go  and 
■come  through  it  precisely  on  the  same  |Mth.  It  would  be  certain 
that  in  consequence  of  perturbations,  the  secondary  swarm  would 
Tiometimes  go  through  a  denser  portion,  at  other  times  through  a 
less  dense  portion,  and  then  you  see  that  would  be  quite  sufficient 
to  give  us  a  considerable  difierence  of  luminosity. 

I  have  another  interesting  series  of  diagrams,  which  will 
.show  you  that  almost  any  amount  of  variability  and  irngiilar 
variability  in  the  light  curves  of  these  bodies  may  be  explained 
on  very  simple  grounds,  supposing  we  acknowledge  that  we  are 
■ilealing  with  the  movements  of  more  than  two  bodies.  For  in- 
stance, suppose  we  have  one  cause  at  work  which  gives  us  a 
maximum  and  minimum,  and  another  cause  which  gives  us 
two  very  nuich  smaller  maxima  and  minima  occurring  at  a 
ilirtereni  period  rei)re.sented  in  Kig.  34  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
•  liagram. 

If  we  add  these  two  together,  we  gel  the  irregular  light  curve 
shown  below  the  two  simple  curves  in  the  diagram.  But  the 
amount  of  irregularity  may  possibly  only  reveal  the  amount  of  our 
ignorance,  and  when  the  time  comes  when  we  can  isolate  these 
t«o  causes,  and  thus  see  how  the  addition  of  them  should  be  made, 
we  shall  find  that  every  i>art  of  this  curve  is  really  the  result  of  a 

'  Revised  from  shonh.iiul  notes  of  a  course  of  Lectures  to  Working  Men 
-«  the  Museum  of  Pr.-ictic.-\l  Ceolosy  during  Xovemtjer  and  I)ecenit)er, 
'694.    (Cotuinued  from  |).'ige  J07). 

NO.   I  34  I,  VOL.    t2] 


most  beautiful  law.  I  am  very  glad  to  say  that  quite  recently  Mr. 
Maxwell  Read,  of  the  Harvard  Observatory,  has  put  forward 
this  very  same  suggestion,  so  that  we  may  hope  that  it  will  soon 
be  worked  out  on  pretty  broafl  lines. 

But  sujipose  for  a  niojiient  that  this  vie«  of  two  bodies  is  not 
accejned.  What  have  we  got  in  place  of  it  ?  W'ell,  we  have  to 
explain  all  the  phenomena  of  variability  by  one  body.  That  has 
been  attempted  more  or  less  liapjjily.  Suppose,  for  instance,  we 
have  the  case  of  a  liody  waxing  and  waning  quite  regularly  ;  you 
have  only  to  say  that  body  is  like  a  soup-plate,  and  rotates  cm  an 
axis,  so  that  sometimes  you  see  the  face,  sometimes  only  the  edge. 
But  that  is  not  very  satisfactory,  because  we  do  not  know  any  stars 
which  are  like  soup-plates,  .\nother  way  is  to  .say  that  the  stars 
whichare  variable  have  great  dark  p.atchesonone.side  of  them,  great 
bright  patches  on  the  other.  Well,  of  course  you  can  get  a  varia- 
tion of  light  by  such  a  scheme  as  that  ;  but  we  have  not  observed 
that,  we  are  sim])ly  inventing,  merely  suggesting  ideas  to  nature 
that  I  fancy  nature  will  tell  us  by  and  by  are  (juite  erroneous. 
P'or  instance,  I  have  .shown  you  the  facts  with  regard  to 3  Lyra;. 
What  is  the  explanation  put  forward  for  the  variability  of  that 
star?     Simply  this,  that   it   is  a  surface  of  revolution,  the  ratio 


-indicating   lunv  jippnrenliy  irregular  light-curves  may  be  due  to 
the  summation  of  two  regular  light  variations. 


of  the  axes  being  5  to  3,  i.t-.  elliplic  beyond  any  experience  of 
ours  with  regard  to  any  other  bodies;  there  is  a  dark  portion 
at  one  end  of  the  axis  symmetrically  situated.  This  thing  then 
has  to  turn  and  twist  with  its  axes  and  the  bl.ack  spot,  and  .soon, 
and  at  the  end  of  the  chajiter  you  are  to  have  such  a  light  curve 
as  that  of  3  Lyr.v.  That  you  see  is  blown  into  thin  air  by  the 
spectral  facts.  I  think  you  will  .acknowledge  that  these  things 
are  irrational,  because  they  have  no  true  basis  of  fact,  and  we 
must  remember  that  in  all  this  work  we  must  deal  strictly  with 
the  facts  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of  philosophising  ;  i.e.  we 
must  never  have  a  complicated  explanation  until  we  are  perfectly 
certain  that  a  simjiler  explanation  will  nol  do,  and  the  simplest 
ex]ilanation  of  all  is  that  which  occurs  most  fretjuently  in  the 
region  of  facts.  That  puts  the  soup-plate  theory  with  regard  to 
variable  stars  entirely  out  of  court.  Further,  remember  that 
supjwsing  those  gentlemen  who  still  hold  to  the  one-body  theory, 
one  star,  one  variability,  olyect  to  the  possible  explanation  of 
variability  by  the  meteoritic  hypothesis,  they  will  fiiul  it  very  much 
more  difficult  to  ex]ilain  the  ileparture  from  regularity  by  any 
getjmetric  system,  because  a  geometric  system  must  certainly  be 


254 


NA  TURE 


[July  ii,  189; 


more  rigid  than  any  other,  and  therefore  any  irregularity  under 
it  would  lie  almost  impossible. 

Closely  associated  with  this  reference  to  double  swarms  in  the 
case  of  \-ariable  stars  are  the  phenomena  of  so-called  "  new 
stars."  Indeetl.  the  whole  conception  of  the  mcteoritic 
h}"pothesis  arose  from  a  consideration  of  thi>se  IxKlies  which 
sometimes  ijuite  suddenly  make  their  appearance  in  the  heavens. 
We  have  had  during  the  last  thirty  years  five  of  these  new  stars. 
and  it  was  during  the  appearance  of  one  in  the  constellation 
Cygnus  in  l  S76  thai  I  was  led  to  the  views  w  hich  I  still  hold 
with  regard  to  their  origin. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the.se  new  stars  is  the 
rapidity  with  which  they  lose  their  lirilliancy,  and  it  wa-s  this 


Kic    35. — Thc_  region'in  the  heavens  where  Nov.-i  .Auri^j.-u 
(l)aflcr  iLi  dls.ippear.-ince  ;  (2)  when  Imghtly  \isihle  (ne.irly 


w.x-i  observed 
in  the  centre). 


which  led  me  in  1877  to  write,  in  connection  with  Nova  Cygni 
(NATt:RE,  vol.  xvi.  p.  413,  1877):  "We  seem  driven,  then, 
from  the  idea  that  the.se  phenomena  arc  proiluced  by  the  in- 
candescence of  large  ma.sses  of  matter,  because  if  they  were  so 
produceil,  the  running  down  of  brilliancy  would  l>e  exceedingly 
slow. 

"  Let  us  crjnsidcr  the  ca.se,  then,  on  the  sup|K)sition  of  small 
masses  of  matter.  Where  are  we  to  find  Ihem  ?  The  answer  is 
easy :  in  those  small  meteoric  ma.s.ses  which,  an  ever-increasing 
ma.ss  of  evidence  tends  to  show,  occupy  all  the  realms  of 
space.  .  .  .  The  Nova  now  exists  as  a  nebula,  so  fiir  .is  its 
s|5ectnim  goes,  and  the  fact  not  only  goes  far  to  sup|Mirt  the  view 
I  ha%-c  suggested,  as  again.st  that  of  Ziillner,  but  it  affords 
collateral  evidence  of  the  truth  of  Thom.son  and  Tail's 
hy|)othesis  of  the  true  nature  of  nebul.x-." 


we  get  the  greater  light  formed  at  the  moment  when  two  swarms, 
one  revolving  round  the  other,  are  nearest  together. 

Kortimateiy  for  science,  one  of  these  new  stars  appeareii  in 
1S92  ;  it  is  known  as  Nova  .-Xurii^.e,  and  two  photographs  will 
give  us  an  idea  of  the  sort  of  thing  w  hich  an  astronomer  sees  in 
the  heavens  when  the  discovery  of  a  new  star  is  announced. 
The  photograjjhs  show  a  [xirlion  of  the  constellation  of  .Auriga, 
and  a  star  which  is  verj-  clearly  seen  in  the  photograph  taken 
very  soon  after  this  star  had  burst  ujwn  us,  is  absent  from  one 
taken  a  few  months  later. 

Since  the  spectroscope  w.as  first  applied  to  the  stars,  five  new 
stars  have  l>een  observed  and  spectroscopically  examined.  One 
ap|)earecl  in  Corona  Borealis  in  1866,  one  in  Cygnus  in  1876,  and 
one  in  .\ndromeda  in  1S85  :  then  came  the  one  in  .\uriga  in 
1892,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  and  last  of  all 
was  one  in  the  .southern  hemisphere,  discovered  in  1893.  The 
first  three  of  these  were  observed  by  eye  only,  but  in  the  two 
recent  ones  we  have  the  immense  benefit  of  photographic 
records. 

It  was  therefore  a  ver)'  interesting  point  w  hen  a  new  star  came 
along,  to  see  whether  there  was  any  additional  light  thrown  by 
it  upon  the  ])roblem  of  two  bodies  ;  and  further,  upon  one  of  the 
points  in  which,  if  the  meleoritic  hypothesis  failed,  it  was  worth 
absolutely  nothing  at  all.  If  there  was  any  truth  in  the  idea  of 
the  light  of  these  l>odies  being  produced  by  the  clash  of  meteor- 
swarms,  w  hen  the  clash  was  over  the  swarms  should  go  back 
into  their  native  oi)scurity,  or  cont!iti<in  of  low  tcmpemlure,  and 
should,  if  they  were  seen  at  all,  put  on  the  spectriini  of  sparse 
swarms  in  other  parts  of  the  sky  ;  that  is,  they  should  put  on  the 
spectrum  of  a  nebula. 

That,  you  see,  was  a  ver)'  crucial  point  :  it  was  a  ptiint  which 
could  be  settled  by  the  spectroscope,  (irovided  always  we  had 
one  of  these  marvellous  bodies  at  such  a  distance  from  us  that 
we  could  still  observe  it  spectroscopically,  and  see  what  the 
ilifferent  changes  really  amotinted  to. 
I  -Vlready  in  the  case  of  Nova  Cygni,  the  s|>ectrum  had  l)een 
obser\ed  to  change  from  a  rather  complicated  one  of  liright 
lines  and  flutings  to  a  very  simple  one,  similar  to  that  of  a 
planetary  nebula.  The  observations  <li<l  not,  however,  furnish 
any  direct  evidence  that  more  than  a  single  bo<ly  was  concerned 
in  the  outburst. 

The  apjiearance  of  Nova  .\uriga-,  however,  furnished  a  s])lendiil 
opportunity  of  testing  the  many  theories  wliidi  have  been  at 
various  times  ad\"anced  to  account  for  the  phenomena.  This 
No\a  was  discovered  at  Kdinburgh  by  Or.  .\nderson,  who  was 
modest  enough  to  announce  his  discovery  by  sending  an  anonymous 
post-card  to  Or.  Copeland,  the  .Astronomer  Royal  for  .Scotland,  on 
Kebruar)'  I,  1892.  It  was  then  a  star  of  the  fifth  magniliule, 
and  on  confirming  the  true  nature  of  the  newly-discovered  star  by 
means  of  the  spectroscope,  Dr.  Copeland  m.ide  the  news  public. 
Information  was  received  at  nu)st  observatories  (Hi  l*"ebruary  3, 
and  on  the  same  evening  two  photographs  of  the  spectrum  were 
taken  at  South  Kensington.  During  the  next  two  or  three  weeks 
the  star  fluctuated  consideralily  in  brightness,  though  being 
generally  ()n  the  down  grade  :  and  by  .\pril  26  had  fallen  to  the 


FrnMimminMrTi 

K     I.  .  (,  1' 

Flo.  36. — IMiolugr.iph  of  the  Ajicclrum  of  Nuva  Aurig.t,  taken  at  .Nouth  Kensington,  February  7,  1892. 


Returning  to  the  subject  of  new  stars  in  1887,  in  a  general 
discnssirm  of  the  mcteoritic  hy|Kilhesis,  I  «iw  no  reitson  to  change 
my  views,  and  an  incjuiry  into  the  siwctroscopic  phenomena  leil 
me  to  state  that  -"  New  stars,  whether  seen  in  cimneclion  with 
neliuLx'  or  not.  arc  produce<I  by  the  clash  of  meteor  swarms, 
Ihc  bright  lines  seen  having  low  tem|>eraturc  lines  of  elemen(s, 
the  ■"     '      '      ;       K-.st  brilliant  at  a  low  stage  of  heat." 

A  iiinn  iif  all  the  new   stars  which  had 

I*'  firmed  the  subject  of  a  communication 

lo  '  1  w :ls shown  that  the hy|xilhesis  would 

e»|'i  iighl,  the  changes  of  colour,  and  the 

ftpcctriKriiopii.  .ip|H.-.tr.i)i«.c>. 

To  make  a  vcr)-  long  story  short,  it  «a.s  suggested  that  the 
phenomena  of  new  stars  were  prinluccd  by  exactly  the  same 
cause  as  that  which  wa.s  at  work  in  the  variable  stars  in  which 


NO     1341.  vol.   52] 


l6th  magnitude,  .so  that  it  could  only  be  picked  up  at  all  in  the 
very  largest  tele.sco|)cs.  Thanks  to  the  photographic  records  ol 
the  stars,  it  was  pos.sible  to  learn  something  of  ihe  earlier  history 
of  the  new  star.  It  had  really  been  pholograplieil  l)y  I'rol. 
Pickering  two  immlhs  before  its  existence  was  known. 

Kig.  36 shows  usa  photograph  of  the  spectrum  of  this  wonderful 
star  itself,  and  it  will  be  .seen  that  In  the  case  of  all  the  chief 
lines  we  get  a  bright  lint  and  a  dark  line  side  by  side.  There 
arc  the  hydr<igen  lines  ;  that  is,  in  the  spectrum  of  that  body  wo 
were  ilealing  with  the  giving  out  of  hydrogen,  and  the  absoip- 
lion  of  hydrogen.  Now,  the  same  .set  of  iiarticles  cannot  be 
producing  bright  and  dark  linesal  Ihe  same  time.  We  were  then 
obviously  dealing  with  two  sets,  and  the  first  photograph,  there- 
fore, which  was  taken  of  the  spcclriim  of  this  strange  body,  put: 
beyond  all  ipiestion  the  fact  that  we  were  really  dealing  with  two 


July    i  i,  1895] 


NATURE 


btxiies,  and  not  with  one.  That  was  ver)'  important  ;  but  you  will 
see  from  the  photograph,  that  it  is  very  unlike  the  spectrum  of 
nebulie,  so  that  it  required  a  certain  amount  of  faith  when  the 
spectrum  was  observed  to  be  such  as  you  see  it  here,  to  suppose 
that  after  a  certain  time,  when  the  action  which  produced  the 
i^realer  luminosity  was  reduced  and  the  light  toned  down,  we 
should  eventually  get  the  spectrum  of  a  nebula. 

Well,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  Xova  reappeared  in  .\ugust 
1S92,  and  was  observed  to  have  increased  in  brightness  from  the 
16th  magnitude  in  April  to  about  9th  magnitude.  What,  then, 
w<as  the  spectnim  ?  It  had  almost  completely  changed  ;  and 
among  the  first  to  observe  the  new  spectrum  was  I'rof.  Campbell, 
of  the  Lick  Observatory.  This  observer  then  stated  that  "the 
spectrum  resembles  that  of  the  planetary  nebula;."  In  the 
following  month  the  spectrum  was  also  observed  by  Drs. 
Copeland  and  Lohse,  and  their  observations  seemed  to  them  to 
"prove  beyond  doubt  that  Nova  .\urigoe  is  now  mainly  shining 
;us  a  luminous  gas  nebula."  The  most  striking  evidence  on  this 
point,  however,  is  that  afforded  by  the  photographic  investiga- 
tions of  \"on  Gothard.      He  not  only  shows  us  the  photographic 


17  Sept. 


<  i.C  .    49D4. 

-5  Sept. 

i;.c.  4373. 

13  Oct. 


■  5     ■  H5 


G.C.  4514. 
14  Oct. 


(j.C.  4628. 
=7  Oct. 

N'.ti.C.  7027 
2=  Oct. 

X.G.C.  6891 
27  Oct. 


N.G.C.  6884 
28  Oct. 

New  Star 
aS  Oct. 


Hy      H«  Hi 


Nebular  lines. 

Fi<-,.  37.— Tile  spectrum  of  the  new  star  in  -Auriga,  as  compared  with  the 
spectra  of  planetary  nebulae  (Gothard). 

siK-clrum  of  the  new  star  at  this  stage  of  its  history,  but  gives 
us  also  the  spectra  of  several  nebula;  to  compare  with  it ;  and  it 
IS  evident  that  we  were  certainly  dealing,  in  the  case  of  the 
IVova,  with  the  same  spectrum  as  in  the  nebukv.  Dr.  Gothard, 
at  least,  wa.s  satisfied  on  this  point,  and  stated  that  "  the 
Jihysiral  aiul  chemical  state  of  the  new  star  resembles  at  present 
(September  and  October  1892)  that  of  the  planetary  nebula;.'' 

So  you  see  we  get,  first  of  all,  the  hard  fact  that  the  spectrum 
iiidicated  the  e.\istence  of  two  Ijodies  ;  and  then  the  very  much 
harder  fact  for  some,  that,  after  the  war  was  over,  we  got  back 
to  the  condition  of  the  nebuUv.  I  need  not  tell  you  th.at  there 
IS  not  universal  agreement  on  this  i>oint.  and  chief  among  those 
who  (1„  nnt  yet  acknowledge  it  are  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Iluggins. 
Writing  of  Iheir  observations  of  Kebruary  189J,  they  s.ay  :   "  We 

f  1.^"  t'"^""^  "'  l"''^'"^"'  "'•'i  Kf'-'-'^l  reserve,  as  our  knowledge 
ot  ihe  Nova  is  very  incomplete  ;  biU  we  do  not  regaril  the 
circumstance  that  the  two  groups  of  lines  above  described  fall 
near  the  positions  of  the  two  principal  nebular  lines  as  sufficient 
to  show  any  connection  between  the  present  physical  state  of 
ihc  Nova  and  that  of  a  nebula  of  the  class  which  gives  these 
lines.  "^ 


NO.    1341,  VOL.   52] 


But  I  may  say,  at  all  events,  that  I  have  the  great  authority  of 
the  names  of  Campbell,  Copeland,  and  Gothard,  who  state  that 
they  have  certainly  observed  the  spectrum  to  be  that  of  the 
nebulje,  and  in  reply  to  Dr.  Huggins,  I'rof.  Campbell  says  ;  "  If 
I  the  spectrum  is  not  conceded  to  be  neljular,  I  must  ask  what  else 
we  should  expect  to  find  in  that  spectrum,  if  it  were  nebular?" 
The  answer  to  that  is,  that  you  would  not  expect  to  find  anjlhing 
else  because  it  is  all  there  already.  In  fact,  out  of  nineteen 
lines  observed  or  i>hotographed  by  I'rof.  Campbell  in  the 
spectrum  of  the  Nova,  eighteen  correspond  perfectly  with  nebular 
lines.  "  Therefore  the  spectrum  is  nebular,  and  the  fact  that 
the  lines  have  remained  broad,  or  may  have  remained  multiple, 
does  not  militate  against  the  theory." 

Further,  there  is  even  telescopic  and  photographic  evidence  of 
the  fact  that  Nova  .Auriga'  liecame  a  nebula.  Dr.  Max  Wolf's 
photographs  of  the  Nova  and  its  surroundings  in  1893,  resulted 
in  the  discovery  of  a  number  of  new  diffuse  nebula;  in  its  vicinity, 
"  and  there  even  appeared  to  be  traces  of  nebulous  appendages 
proceeding  from  the  star  itself.'' 

Another  new  star  appeared  in  the  southern  constellation  Norma 
in  1893.  This  was  discovered  on  (.)ctober  26,  on  a  photograph 
taken  at  Arequipa,  Peru,  on  July  10,  1893.  P'ortunately  the 
photograph  was  one  showing  the  spectra  of  stars  instead  of  the 
simple  images  of  the  stars  themselves,  and  the  spectrum  was  seen 
to  be  identical  with  that  of  Nova  .Auriga;.  Even  more  important 
were  the  obser\'ations  of  Campbell  in  February  and  March  1S94, 
when  the  star  was  about  loth  magnitude.  .\s  the  result  of  his 
work,  he  stated  that  "  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  spectrum  of 
Nova  Norm*  is  nebular.'' 

T.  Norman  Lockyer. 

(  To  he  L'ONliinu-d. ) 


THE  FLUORESCENCE  OF  ARGON,  AND  ITS 
COMBINATION  WITH  THE  ELEMENTS 
OF  BENZENES 

AT     BERTHELOT   read   the     following    paper,    containing 
observations  by  M.    Deslandres  and   himself,    before    a 
recent  meeting  of  the  Paris  .Academy  of  Sciences  : — 

I  have  thought  it  useful  to  study  more  closely  the  conditions  of 
the  combination  w  ith  benzene  under  the  influence  of  the  silent 
discharge  and  those  of  the  special  fluorescence  which  accom- 
panies it. 

M.  Deslandres,  whose  great  competence  in  spectroscopic 
questions  the  Academy  is  w ell  aware  of,  has  been  kind  enough  to 
help  me  in  these  new  determinations,  made  with  higher  dis- 
persion, and  rigorously  determined  by  photography.  It  is  my 
duty  to  thank  him  here  for  this  long  and  laborious  work. 

We  must  remember  that  the  combination  of  argon  with  the 
elements  of  benzene,  under  the  influence  of  the  silent  discharge, 
is  a  slow  process  ;  according  to  the  present  research,  it  is  accom- 
plished with  the  help  of  mercury,  which  intervenes  under  the 
form  of  a  volatile  compound.  The  use  of  very  frequent  dis- 
charges appears  not  to  modify  the  general  characters  of  the 
reaction. 

At  the  beginning,  nothing  is  seen  in  daylight,  and  it  is  only  in 
a  dark  room  that  one  perceives  a  feeble  violet  glow,  similar,  in 
its  intensity,  to  that  which  the  discharge  develops  generally  in 
gaseous  systems.  .At  the  end  of  an  hour,  when  in  a  dark  room, 
a  green  glimmer  is  seen,  which  occupies  the  middle  of  the 
interval  between  the  spirals  of  the  platinum  l>and  wound  round 
the  discharge  tube,  the  luminous  spectrum  gives  two  yellow 
lines  at  K  579  and  577,  a  green  line  at  A.  546.  and  a  green  band 
at  \  Si6'5.     These  different  lines  will  be  defined  by-and-by. 

The  photographic  spectrum,  taken  during  this  time,  with  an 
hour's  exposure,  shows  the  princii>al  bands  of  nitr<^en,  as  well 
as  a  blue  line  K  436,  a  violet  line  A  405,  and  an  ultra-violet  line 
\  354  :  these  latter  being  more  feeble  than  the  bands  of  nitrogen. 

During  the  following  hours,  the  green  glow  constantly  increases, 
the  yellow  lines  and  line  X  546  increase,  and  the  band  \  5l6'5 
diminishes.  .At  the  end  of  eight  hours,  the  bands  of  nitrogen 
have  almost  entirely  disa|)peared  in  the  photograph  :  without 
doubt  it  is  because  the  corresponding  nitrogen  has  been  absorbed 
by  the  benzene. 

Seven  additional  hours  of  sparking  bring  the  fluorescence  to  a 
brilliant  emerald  colour,  visible  in  broad  daylight  :  the  intensity 
of  this  phenomenon,  as  I  have  already  had  occasion  to  sav, 

*  Translated  from  C^t^wz/Zi-i  fituiui,  June  24,  pp.   1386-1390 


256 


NATURE 


[Jli.v   1 1,  1895 


not  to  be  compared  with  the  tluonr-tcnLc  utvci'i  m  i*  lin.  mi>- 
charge  in  an}'  known  gas.  The  yellow  and  green  lines  can  be 
seen  and  measured  in  the  s|>eclroscope  in  full  daylight. 

The  photographs  give  the  following  lines  wavelengths.  X  X 
579.  577  and  546;  456,  405,  354.  313  and  312  (ultra-violet): 
one  can  see  two  \iolet  lines  besides,  420  and  416,  scarcely 
visible,  and  the  lines  385  and  35S. 

The  s[>ectrum  observed  at  the  end  of  fifteen  hours  was 
maintained  during  thirty  consecutive  hours. 

.\lthough  advantage  has  l>een  taken  of  photography  for  the 
r^istration  of  these  phenomena,  care  must  be  taken  not 
to  confound  such  eftVcts,  observed  in  the  daytime  and  under 
norm.il  pressure,  with  the  glows  developed  by  the  discharge  in 
very  rarefied  gases,  such  as  are  generally  observed  in  a  si>eclro- 
scope. 

The  meaning  of  these  lines  is  as  follows  : 
The  line  A  579  is  simply  one  of  the  lines  visible  in  daylight, 
ami  under  normal  pressure,  which  I  had  described  in  Comptcs 
rtiidiis  (t.  cxx.  p.  800).  ixjinting  out  that  it  was  probably  double. 
The  lines  AX  580- 1  .and  577 'I  descrilied  in  the  spectrum  of  rarefied 
argon,  by  Mr.  Crookes  (Jan.  24,  1895),  rnust  be  comjiared  with 
them. 

Line  X  546  is  also  described  (547)  in  my  preceding  note,  and 
answers  to  a  strong  line  545  "6  attributed  to  the  spectnmi  of  rarefied 
argon  by  Mr.  Cnvokes.  M.  I)i— landrcs  h.as  recognised  the  same 
lines  in  the  sjicctrum  of  rarefied  argon,  which  he  had  prepare<l 
by  means  of  lithium.  I  have  verified,  by  juxtaposition,  the 
coincidence  of  the  last  line  of  rarefied  argon  with  that  of  my 
tube. 

I  have  also  announced  line  436,  found  again  in  the  photo- 
graph, and  very  close  to  434"5  of  rarefied  argon  (Crookes).  The 
lines  420  and  416  coincide  with  the  very  strong  lines  420"!  — 
4I9'8  and  4I5'<)6  of  rarefied  argon  (Crookes).  The  line  405 can 
lie  Identified  with  the  line  404-4  of  Crookes  (argon).  I  have 
verified  the  coincidence.  Line  385  coincides  with  Crookes" 
strong  line  385-I5  (argon).  Line  354,  with  a  group  of  strong 
lines  at  3547 — 353"4  of  argon  (Crookes).  Line  35S  with 
CrtKikes'  group  of  strong  lines  3587 — 357'S  (argon). 

K  5l6'5  is  a  hydrocarlion    Kand  ;  313  and  312  are  the  lines  of  1 
the  va|K)ur  of  mercury  vajxiur.  I 

None  of  these  lines,  as  I  have  already  stated,  coincide  either  I 
with  the  line  of  helium  (5S7'5I  or  with  the  principal  line  of  the  I 
aurora  Ijorealis  (557),  although  the  latter  is  very  near  to  a  .strong 
line  of  argon  ( 5557).  If  the  .actual  fluorescence  is  not  the  same 
.as  that  of  the  aurora  borealis,  still  its  development,  and  the 
nearness  of  the  preceding  lines,  establish  a  probalile  relation 
lietwcen  this  meteor  and  the  existence  of  argon  in  the 
atmosphere. 

Here  a  very  imp<jrtant  circumstance  presents  itself.  While 
examining  the  table  of  argon  lines,  given  by  Mr.  Crookes, 
certain  lines  were  seen  to  coincide  with  certain  lines  of  the  va|xnir 
of  mercury.  The  same  coincidence  is  found  in  the  straight  lines 
visible  in  daylight,  under  the  normal  pressure,  in  the  fluorescence 
developed  during  the  reaction  of  lien^enc  on  argon.  Such  are, 
according  to  M.  Deslandres,  the  yellow  lines  579  and  577  :  al>o 
the  very  cliar-icleristic  green  line  546,  the  blue  line  436,  the 
violet  line  405,  the  ultra-violet  line  354.  On  the  contrary,  the 
lines  420,  416,  385,  358,  l>eloni.'  to  argon  only,  the  lines  313 
and  312  tomcrcur)-. 

.\I.  Deslandres  attributes  the  common  lines  lo  the  presence  of 
the  vajxiur  of  mercury,  either  in  rarefied  argon,  or  in  the 
fluorescent  light  obtained  with  bcn/ene  umler  normal  pressure. 

Nevertheless,  as  no  known  gas  gives  this  fluorescence,  or  these 

bnes.  under  normal  pressure  in  (.jierating  with  mercury,  it  is  not 

|«.s-ible  lo  explain  their   production  merely  by  the  presence  of 

this  vaixjur  alone.     Otherwise  it  would  not  Ik:  un<ler.stoiKl  why 

thry  did   not  show  themselves  in  pure  argon,  in  the  presence  of 

1,  final  pressure, and  th.it  Ihcy  would  not  ppKluce 

Ihe   first    UKpments  of  rlischarge,   either  with 

■  .  .nth   lien/ene,  or  with  sulphide  of  carbon  over 

with  nitrogen  under  the  s.-imc  conditions,  where  it 

•li  I  .  [,/.  ijf  and  sulphide  of  carlxin.     f)n  the  con- 

Willi  ■d  with  lien«ne.  they  develop  themselves 

ii  ilv  i..l  hours,  anil  after  the  progressive  trans- 

••.u/ene  into  a  M-rieM>f  romixiunds   more  and 

It  ii  one  of  these  roni|Miunds  which,  imme- 

'    ■     "   'oth  with  argon  and  mercury, 

ir  rc.mmon  character  of  mon- 
■  begins  when  there  still  exists 
|unntily  ot  li<|iiid  licnAcnc  in  the  lulx.-s  ;  it   is  (hen 
'  d  by  a  diminution  of  gaseous  volume. 

NO.    I  34  I,  VOL.  52] 


Irary 

"nlv 


1  iii>  !uii'iL->^  L-iKc  L. 'Utituicsa  V cry  long  lime,  even  after  there  1> 
no  apivirent  benzene;  at  last  the  fluorescence  ceases  lo  be  visible  in 
the  daylight,  in  consequence  of  the  very  prolonged  action  of  the 
discharge,  which  at  last  extinguishes  the  green  tint,  and  brings 
back  this  gaseous  system  to  a  glow  analogous  to  that  of  ordinary 
gases,  this  happens  doubtless  in  consequence  of  the  destruction 
of  the  last  traces  of  benzene  (or  the  products  of  intermediate 
condensation),  which  maintained  the  equilibrium  of  the  dissocia- 
tion of  the  system. 

( )nce  the  green  fluorescence  is  well  established,  the  comixjuiuls 
which  develop  it  are  stable  Viy  themselves  ;  even  after  twelve 
hours"  break,  if  the  apparatus  h.as  not  l>een  disturbed,  it  suftices 
to  pass  the  discharge,  to  see  that  the  fluorescence  re-establishe.s 
itself  vvith  all  its  brilliancy  in  an  instant.  But  it  ceases  so  soon 
as  the  electric  current  is  stopped. 

But  if  the  gas  is  separated  from  the  condensed  matter,  the 
phenomenon  cannot  be  immediately  produced,  either  on  the  one 
or  on  the  other.  The  gas  alone,  subjected  to  the  action  of  thedis- 
charge,  puts  on  almost  immediately  a  special  violet  fluorescence, 
visible  in  darkness,  and  which  generally  precedes  the  develop- 
n>ent  of  the  beautiful  green  fluorescence.  Nevertheless  this  does 
not  reproduce  itself  then,  which  seems  to  indicate  that  the  con- 
densed matter  contains  one  of  the  products  necessary  to  the 
equilibrium.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  new  argon  is  reintroduced 
into  the  tulic  containing  the  condensed  matter  (free  from  visible 
benzene),  the  green  fluorescence  does  not  reproduce  itself:  Imt 
after  some  time,  near  the  surface  of  the  mercury,  there  appears, 
where  the  sirarking  is  most  intense,  a  local  green  lint,  which  gives 
the  special  lines,  although  not  ver>- distinctly.  This  appearance  is 
doubtlcssdue  to  the  existence  (or  to  the  regeneration)  of  a  trace 
of  benzene,  more  or  less  modified.  In  fact,  if  a  few  more  drops 
of  liquid  benzene  are  added  in  the  tube  which  contains  the 
condensed  matter  and  the  new  argon  over  mercury,  half  an 
hour  is  enough  to  make  the  green  tint  reappear  in  all  its 
brilliancy.  Hut  if  there  is  an  excess  of  lienzene,  several  hours  are 
required  for  its  reappearance. 

These  various  observations,  added  to  the  limited  character  of 
the  absorption  of  argon,  demonstrate  the  existence  of  a  com- 
plex state  of  equililirium.  in  which  at  the  same  time  argon,  mer- 
cury, and  the  elements  of  benzene,  or  rather  a  compound  con- 
densed from  it,  are  concerne<l. 


T 


II IE  REFORM  OF  OCR  WEIGHTS  ANH 
MEASURES. 

'111.  Report  of  the  Select  Committee  appointed  to  inquire 
whether  any,  and  what,  changes  in  the  present  system  of 
weights  and  measures  should  be  adopted,  has  been  published  as 
a  Parliamentary  paiier. 

Kvidence  from  witnesses  representing  oflicial,  commercial, 
manufacturing,  Irade,  educational,  ami  professional  interests  was 
received  by  the  Committee,  and  numerous  corporations.  School 
Boards,  and  other  public  iKidies  sent  resolutions  in  favour  of  the 
adoption  of  the  metrical  system. 

.\ll  the  witnesses  expressed  a  strong  opinion  .as  lo  the  compli- 
cated and  unsatisfactory  condition  of  the  present  weights  and 
mea.sures  in  use.  and  of  the  distinct  and  serious  drawback  ti> 
British  commence,  especially  in  the  foreign  tnule.  which  this 
system  entails,  difl"ering  as  it  does  from  the  system  ( met  rical )  now 
adopted  by  almost  every  Luropcan  nation,  as  well  asbyiarthe 
majority  of  non-l-".uro|x.'an  countries  with  which  this  kingdom 
trades.  The  evidence  also  showed  that  the  home  trade -.vould 
be  benefited  if  more  simple  and  uniform  standards  of  weights 
and  measures  than  those  now  existing  were  adopted. 

.Moreover,  strong  evidence  was  brought  forward  as  to  the 
-.erious  loss  of  time  incurred  by  Knglish  sclioiil-childreii  In  having 
lo  learn  the  complicated  system  of  tables  of  existing  weights  and 
measures,  and  the  urgent  need  of  the  adoption  of  a  sliiiplei 
system.  It  was  .statedihat  no  less  than  one  year's  school  lime 
would  lie  saved  if  the  metrical  system  were  taught  in  place  of 
that  now  in  use.  ■  t      ■ 

IMdence  from  competent  witnesses  proved  to  the  satislaclion 
of  the  Committee  that  a  compulsor)-  change  from  an  old  .and  com- 
plicated system  to  Ihe  melrical  had  taken  jilace  in  tlerinany, 
Norway  and  Sweden.  Switzerland,  Italy,  and  many  other 
Kuropean  countries  without  serious  opposition  or  inconvenience  : 
that  this  change  was  carried  out  in  a  comparatively  .short  period  ; 
and  thai  as  s.M.n  as  the  simple  character  of  the  new  system  was 
understi«.d  it  was   appreci.ated   by  all  clas.ses  of  the   population. 


JULV     I  I,    1895] 


NATURE 


'■:>/ 


and  no  attempt  to  use  the  old  units  or  to  return  to  the  old  system 
was  made. 

In  the  United  States,  where  a  system  founded  on  the  Knglisli 
units  exists,  a  Commission  is  at  present  engaged  in  an  invcstiga- 
liun  of  the  same  character  as  that  with  which  the  Committee  was 
charged,  and  the  Federal  C.overnment  has  this  year  passed  an 
Act  rendering  the  metrical  system  compulsory  fnr  pharmaceutical 
purposes. 

The  Committee  believes  that  the  adoption  of  the  metrical 
system  by  l-;ngland  would  greatly  tend  to  render  that  system 
universal. 

U  is  recommended  ; — 

(a)  That  the  metrical  .system  of  weights  and  measures  be  at 
once  legalised  for  all  purposes. 

(1*)  That  after  a  lapse  of  two  years  the  metrical  .system  be 
rendered  compidsory  liy  .Act  of  Parliament. 

(1)  That  the  metrical  system  of  weights  and  measures  be 
taught  in  all  public  elementary  schools  as  a  necessary  and  integral 
part  of  arithmetic,  and  Ihal  decimals  Kte  introduced  at  an  earlier 
period  of  the  schot)l  ciu'riculuni  than  i>  the  case  at  present. 


SCIENCE  IN  THE  MAGAZINES. 

'T'HIS   month's    Coiitfiii fiorary  Rc-neii'  is  remarkably  rich   in 
articles  of  .scientific  interest.      Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  third 
paper  on  professional  institutions  deals  with  the  "  Dancer  and 
Musician."     So  far  back  as  1857,  Mr.  Spencer  .showed  that,  ex- 
cluding movements  which   are  reflex  and  involuntary,  muscular 
movements  in   general    are   originated    by   feelings  in  general. 
*'  As  a  consequence  of  this  psycho-physical    law,    the    violent 
nniscular  motions  of  the  limbs  which  cause  bounds  and  gesticu- 
jatii^ns,  as  well  as  thc^se  strong  contractions  of  the  pectoral  and 
vocal  muscles  which  produce  shouting  and   laughter,  become  the 
natural   language  of  great  pleasure.'     Krom  the  ways  in  which 
children   manifest    their  joy  were   evolved    the    expressions    of 
elated    feeling  with   which  peoples  meet  their  conquering  chief 
or  king,  and  eventually  the  natural  displays  of  joy  came  "  to  be 
observances   used   on  all   ]>ublic  occasions   as  demonstrations  of 
allegiance,    while,   simultaneously,   the    irregular  jumpings  and 
gesticulations  with  unrhythmical  shouts  and  cries,  at  first  arising 
without  concert,  gradually  by  repetition   became  regularised  into 
the   measured  movemtnts  we    know    as   dances,  and  into    the 
organised  utterances  constituting  songs.    Once  more,  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  out  of  the  groups  of  subjects  thus   led  into   irregular 
ovations,  and  by-and-by  Into  regular  laudatory  receptions,  there 
will  eventually  arise  some  who,  distinguisheil   Ijy  their  skill,  are 
set  apart  as  dancers  and  singers,  and   presently  acquire  tlie  pro- 
sessional  character."      In  support  of  this  interpretation  evidence 
obtained  from  many  nations  Is  adduced,  and  the  separation  and 
secularisation   of  the  twin  professions  of  dancing  and  music  are 
traced.     Mr.  ().  I''.  Scott-Klliot  writes  in  the  saine  review  on 
**  The  Best  Route  to  I'ganda."     He  is  In  favour  of  a  route  fol- 
io wing  the   line   of  the   .African    lakes.     The   route  enters  the 
Zambesi  at   Chinde,  and  continties  up  the  Zambesi  and  Lower 
Shire   as   far  as  Chlromo,    from    whence  a  railway  of  approxi- 
mately 120  miles  would  be  re<iulred  across  the  .Shire  Highlands 
to  .Matope,  from  which  point  the  L'pper  Shire  is  navigable,  and 
goods  can   be  carried  to  the  north  end  of  Lake  Nyassa.      Here 
another  railway  would   be   required    from    Karonga    to   South 
Tanganika  (240  miles).     Krom  the  north  end  of  Tanganika  a 
line    woulil    run    to    Kagera.     The    Kagera    river  rises    on    the 
easterly    flanks    of  the    mountains    to    the    east    of    Tanganika, 
an<l  eventually    falls    into    the    X'ictoria    Nyanza.       A    cataract 
is  said   to  exist   on    the   river,    but    even   if  this   is  so,  and  a 
length   of  line   is  required  to  avoid    it,    the  cost  of  the  whole 
line     would     only    be     about     ^1,700,000,     or    one-half    that 
necessary  for  the  Mombasa  railway.     Other  considerations  point 
clearly  to  the  Lake  route   as   the  better  of  the  two  suggested 
lines.      Prof.    Lombroso  contributes  a  paper  on  "  .Atavism  and 
Evolution."      1  le  gives  a  number  of  instances  of  what  he  regards 
as  alavi.stic  phenomena  in    social    life.      "  Kngland,"    he    says, 
"has  succecde<l  in  estalilishing  a  form  of  monarchy  the  most 
liberal  in  Europe  ;  and  Is  working  out  without  di.sturbance  the 
alms  of  Socialism.     But,  at  the  siime  time,  she  not  only  main- 
tains the  privileges  of  her  Peers,  but  actually  dres.ses  them  up,  as 
well  as  her  judges.  In  the  wigs  aiul  robes  of  the  Normans  :  and 
still  uses,  on  ceremonial  occasions,   the  language  of  her  ancient 
conquerors.   .   .   .   Then   this  \ery  jiositixe  and   ]iractlcal    nation 
insists  on  retaining  a  system   of  weights,  measures,  and   coins, 
which  Is  opposed  to  that  of  all  modern  Europe,  and  is  an  obstacle 
NO,    I  34  I,  VOL.   52] 


both  to  commercial  exchange  and  to  scientific  research."  He 
clas.sifies  recent  inventions  which  arc  shown  to  be  old  as  evidence 
of  atasisiu.  and  e\i>lalns  the  duplication  by  the  dislike  with 
which,  according  to  him.  human  nature  regards  novelties.  Too 
rap/id  advance  in  the  arts  provokes  reaction  and  causes  the  tide 
of  progress  to  ebb  when  It  should  be  flowing.  \  sensible  article 
on  the  " Physiolog}' of  Recreation"  is  contrilnited  by  Mr.  Charles 
Roberts,  in  the  course  of  which  he  gives  the  following  dassifica- 
tif)n  of  [ihysical  recreations  according  to  their  physiological 
value.  Outdoor:  running,  athletics,  games,  skating,  skipping, 
»N:c.  ;  riding,  rowing,  swinmiing,  walking,  cycling,  marching. 
Indoor  :  fencing  and  other  military  exercises  with  arms,  boxing 
and  wrestling,  dancing,  billiards,  duml)-bells,  machine  gym- 
nastics, trapeze  and  high  gymnastics,  singing  and  reading  aloud, 
playing  musical  instruments.  Recreations  of  a  leisurely  sort, 
])hysiologically  considered,  are: — Outdoor:  natural  history, 
gardening  and  farming,  carpentry  and  other  technical  work. 
Indoor :  reading  ;  chess,  dr.aughls,  and  cards  ;  music.  Another 
paper  In  the  Conliinporaiy,  entitled  "The  Origin  of  Man  and 
the  Religious  Sentiment,  "  by  A.  Fogazzaro,  invites  criticism  from 
the  standpoint  of  evolution. 

Prof.  Case,  Professor  of  Moral  and  Metaphj'sical  Philosophy  in 
Oxford  L'niverslty,  champions  the  cause  ".Against  Oxford  Degrees 
for  Women, "  in  the  Fortnightly.  He  holds  that  the  admission 
of  women  to  University  examinations  has  brought  out  the  diffi- 
culties of  teaching  mixed  classes,  and  that  a  mixed  University  is 
not  desirable,  especially  at  Oxford.  Let  women  have  facilities 
for  higher  education,  by  all  means,  thinks  Prof.  Case,  but  let 
these  opportunities  lieaftorded  by  a  University  especially  founded 
for  women.  Mr.  Grant  Allen  writes  on  "The  Mystery  of 
Birth,''  in  the  same  review,  the  object  of  his  article  being  to 
raise  the  question,  "  Is  there  any  real  and  essential  difference 
betwceir  the  transniission  of  functionally-acquired  modifications 
to  oft'spring.  and  their  registration  or  persistence  in  the  in- 
dividual organism?"  Disciples  of  Weismann,  and  biologists 
generally,  will  lie  interested  to  know  that  Mr.  Allen  proposes 
"  to  throw  back  upon  assimilation,  in  its  \videst  sense,  the 
burden  of  the  mystery  hitherto  attached  to  the  reproductive 
function.'' 

The  Kelii/iiarj'  and  Illustrated  A  re /urologist  has  among  its 
articles  one  by  .Mr.  H.  \V.  Young,  on  the  discovery  of  an  ancient 
burial-place  and  a  symbol-bearing  slab  at  Ea.sterton  of  Ro.seisle. 
.A  large  number  of  flint  instruments,  such  as  arrow-heads, 
axes,  scrapers,  iS:c. ,  found  associated  with  the  remains,  make 
the  discovery  interesting  and  important,  especially  in  relation  to 
the  geology  of  the  "  Laich  of  Moray." 

Natural  science  predominates  in  Seienee  Progress  this  month. 
The  pathological  results  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  Tuber- 
culosis are  discussed  by  Dr.  Sidney  .Martin,  and  Mr.  .Vrthur 
Keith  uses  Dr.  Dubois"  Pithecanthropus  Kreetus  as  a  text  for  a 
hel]>ful  review  of  human  fossil  remains.  The  geology  of  the 
Sahara  forms  the  subject  of  a  paper  by  Mr.  Philip  Lake.  .As  in 
July  1894,  Mr.  Chree  shows,  in  an  extremely  valuable  table,  the 
recent  values  of  the  magnetic  elements  at  the  principal  mag- 
netic observatories  of  the  world.  In  an  article  entitled  "  .-V 
Type  of  I'akeozoic  Plants,"  Mr.  .\.  C.  Seward  directs  attention 
to  the  histfjlogical  structure  and  affinities  of  the  genus  Crt/aw/Vt'y, 
and  finally  Dr.  \V.  1).  Halliburton  describes  the  formation  of 
lyinjih. 

Among  the  articles  in  Knozvledge,  we  notice  "  The  .Sugar 
Cane,"  by  Mr.  C.  .A.  Barber;  "Scorpions  and  their  An- 
tiquity," by  Mr.  I.ydekker,  illustrated  by  two  fine  pictures  of  the 
giant  .sand-scor|iion  of  Namaqualand,  reproduced  from  photo- 
graphs, and  "  "The  (ireat  Nubecula,"  \>y  Mr.  E.  \V.  Maunder. 
"There  are  also  articles  on  the  fielil  of  diameter  of  the  field  of 
view  of  a  telescope.  Dr.  Roberts'  photographs  of  star-clusters  and 
ncbnke,  the  cause  of  earthcpiakes,  and  on  Prof  Eraser's  experi- 
ments to  find  a  cure  for  snake-bites. 

Hlachvood  s  Magazine  contains  a  paper  in  wnich  Ciilonel 
Knollys  dwells  upon  pulilic  .school  and  .\rmy  competitive 
examinations.  He  holds  that  the  Imperfections  of  the  training  at 
our  public  schools,  and  the  character  of  some  of  the  examina- 
tion (ia]iers,  are  responsible  for  the  crannning  now  so  common 
with  candidates  for  the  .Army.  Two  other  articles,  in  which  our 
readers  may  be  interested,  are  "  .Mountaineering  Memories,"  by 
Mr.  H.  Preston  Thom.as,  and  "The  Terrhorial  Waters  and  Sea 
Fisheries." 

A  passing  notice  must  suffice  for  the  remaining  articles  of 
.scientific  interest  In  the  magazines  and  reviews  received  by  us. 
The  Century  has  an  article  on  "  Picturing  the  Planets,  by 
Prof.  I.  I!.  Keeler  ;  the  article  is  illustrated  by  views  of  Jupiter, 


25S 


NA  TURE 


[July 


1 1, 


1 89: 


Mars,  and  Saturn,  obtained  at  the  Lick  Observalor}-.  To  the 
Unglish  Illustrated,  Mr.  Grant  Allen  contributes  another 
"Moorland  Idyll";  and  the  inhabitants  of  "The  Monkey 
House  in  the  Zoo"  are  described  and  illustrated  by  Mr.  F. 
Miller.  In  the  Htitiiaititarian,  Mr.  J.  d.  Kaupert  has  a  [Keudo- 
scientific  article  upon  "  Some  Results  of  Moilern  Psychical 
Research  "  :  and  in  Chambers' s  Journal,  there  arc  articles  worth 
reading  on  death  from  snake-bile  in  India,  the  Carstairs  Electric 
Light  KaiUvay,  and  citric  acid.  Geographers  will  Ix;  interested 
in  a  paper  on  "England  and  France  in  the  Nile  Valley,"  con- 
tributed by  Captain  F.  D.  I.ugard  to  the  National.  Here  we 
may  also  mention  that  the  Geografhiial  /ounial  coMAins  a  valu- 
able paper  in  which  Dr.  H.  K.  Mill  descril>cs  his  bathymetrical 
sur\ey  of  the  English  lakes.  Gooil  Il'ords  has  an  illustrated 
article  upon  the  manufacture  of  coal-gas,  but  neither  5ir/AHt7- nor 
the  Sunday  Mas^azine  have  articles  calling  for  connnent  in  these 
columns. 


THE  RE  LA  TION  OF  BIO  LOG  Y  TO  GEO- 
LOGICAL INVESTIGATION^ 

I. 

Thk  Ch.vracter  a.M)  Origin  of  I'ossii.  Ke.\i.\i.\s. 

T  N  prosecuting  the  study  of  the  fossil  remains  of  animals  and 
])lants,  the  investigator  may  have  cither  one  or  the  other  of 
its  two  leading  oVijccts  in  view  ;  but  each  lieing  so  closely  related 
to  the  other,  it  is  always  essential  that  they  should  be  pursued 
with  direct  relation  to  each  other.  In  the  first  case,  the  leading 
object  to  be  attained  is  the  extension  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  far  beyond  that  which  may  be 
acquired  by  the  study  of  living  animals  and  plants  :  and  in  the 
second  ca,se,  it  is  to  apply  that  knowledge  to  the  study  of 
.strtictural  and  systematic  geology.  The  olyecl  in  the  first  case  is 
purely  |>al;eontological  ;  in  the  second,  it  is  not  only  to  acquire 
jKil.eontological  knowledge,  but  to  ap|)ly  it  to  various  branches 
of  geological  investigation. 

There  are  seven  different  natural  conditions  in  which  fos.sil 
remains  are  recognisable,  three  of  which  relate  to  substance, 
three  to  form,  and  one  to  Ixjth.  To  those  relating  to  substance 
the  terms  |K-rminerali.sation,  histometaljasis,  and  carlKinisation  are 
here  applied  ;  to  those  relating  l(j  form,  the  terms  moulds, 
imprints,  and  casts  ;  and  to  the  one  relating  to  Ixjth  form  and 
.substance,  the  term  pseudimiorphism. 

The  term  |>emiineralisation  applies  to  that  condition  of  fossil 
remains  of  animals  which  differs  least  from  their  original  con- 
dition as  [arts  of  living  animals  ;  such,  for  example,  .is  bones  of 
vertebrates,   shells  of  molluscs,  tests  of  crustaceans,  \c.      The 
term  hislomelaU-usis  is  applied  to  that  condition  of  fossdisation  in 
which  an  entire  exchange  of  the  original  substance  for  another 
has  occurretl   in  such  a  manner  as  to  retain  or  reproduce  the 
minute   and    even   the    microscopic    texture   of    the    oriyinal. 
I'seudonuirphism   of  fossils  is  so  nearly  like   that    of   mmeral 
crystals,  that  this  term  is  equally  applicable  to  both.      It  consi.sts 
in  the  repLacement  of  the  original  suljslance  of  the  fossil  by  a 
crystallisable  or  crjstalliscd  mineral,  such,  for  example,  ascalcite, 
pyrite,  (quartz   in   the  form  r)f  chalcedony,  \c. ,  the  iiriginal  form 
of  the  fossil  iK'ing  |K-rfeclly  retained.     The  term  carbonisation  is 
applied  in    this   connection  only  or   mainly  to  such  miLsscs  of 
vegetable  remains  as  coal,  lignite,  and  |x;at.      Moulds  are  cavities 
in  sedimentary  rocks  which  were  originally  occupied  by  fossils, 
the  laller  having  been  subsequently  removed    by  the  |K'rcolation 
•  if  water  containing  a  solvent  of  the  fossils  but  ntil  of  the  rock. 
Imprinis  ilo  nut    differ  malerially  in   characler  from  moulds,  the 
former  lenn  lieing  usually  applied  to  impressions  left  in  the  ri>ck 
by  thin  sul>stanccs  like  leaves  of  plants,  wings  of  insects,  &c. , 
nft<-r  ih'ir  removal  by  decom|x>sition.      Sometimes,  however,  the 
'    shells  and   other  fossils  have   Ijeen  reduced   to  the 
f  imprints  by  the  extreme  pressure  to  which  the  strata 
■'         have  Ijcen  subjected.     Casts  arc  countcrixirts  of 
en   produced    by  ihe   filling  of  moulds   with  a 
hn.   111. 11  of  the  original   fossil.      These  are  Ihe 
pnii'  li  frfssils  occur,  or  by  which  they  are 

'ep"  'nally  finds  sjiccimens  which  indicate 

certain  l!jiiiIi1ii.ii>  ih.a  .nc   not  fully  recognised  in  the  foregoing 
de<>cri|>lions. 

'  By  C  harln  A.  While.     (Alxlracl  of  a  «cric«  of  eight  Muys  publiiihcd  in 
the  kcf^'Ti  of  the  t'nilc<]  .Stalc%  National  .MuKum.) 


Sei^imentarv  Formations,  their  Char.^cter  and 

LlMIT.^TION. 

There  has  lieen  much  difference  of  custom  among  geologists 
as  regards  the  use  of  the  term  formation,  some  applying  it  to 
the  smallest  assemblages  of  strata  which  ix>.ssess  common 
characteristics,  while  others  designate  by  the  .same  term  those 
series  of  formations  for  which  the  word  system  has  been  generally 
used.  That  is,  some  ajiply  the  lenn  formation  to  local  or 
limited  develoiiments  of  strata,  while  others  ajiply  it  to  such 
systems  as  the  Devonian,  Carboniferous,  Cretaceous,  &c.  Thi> 
term  has  generally  been  confined  to  the  .stratified  rocks,  but  by 
a  few  authors  it  has  been  applied  to  the  eruptive,  and  also  to  the 
great  crystalline,  rock  m.i.sses.  In  this  ]xiper,  however,  the  use 
of  the  term  formation  is  not  only  ci>nfined  to  the  stratified  rock^. 
but  it  is  restricted  to  those  assemblages  of  strata  which  have 
common  distinguishing  characteristics,  whether  they  have  little 
or  great  geographical  extent,  or  whether  they  aggregate  a  few 
feet  or  thousands  of  feet  in  thickness.  That  is,  the  use  of  the 
term  is  confined  to  those  assemblages  of  stratified  rocks 
of  .sedimentary  origin'  to  which  many  authors  have  applied  the 
term  group,  and  others  the  term  terrane. 

The  foregoing  remarks  concerning  the  characterisation  oi 
formations  have  been  made  with  s|)ecial  reference  to  those  whicli 
are  more  or  less  fossiliferous.  It  sometimes  happens,  however, 
that  fossils  do  not  exist,  or  are  not  discovered,  in  certain 
formations  which  are  evidently  of  sedimentary  origin.  This  may 
have  been  <lue  in  some  cases  to  the  uncongeniality.  as  a  faunal 
habitat,  of  the  waters  in  which  the  formation  was  deposited,  and 
in  others  to  their  failure  to  receive  any  fossilisable  remains  ol 
animals  and  plants  from  the  land.  In  i)ther  cases,  iheabsence*'! 
fossils  may  have  been  due  to  their  destruction  or  obliteration. 
The  latter  has  probably  been  the  case  with  many  melaniorphic 
rocks  and  with  the  great  pre-Cambrian  series  of  stratified  rock^ 
generally.  In  all  these  cases  the  ft)rmations,  while  ihey  may 
possess  more  or  less  distinct  ]>hy.sical  characteristics,  lack  the 
chief  characteristics  of  sedimentary  formations,  namely,  the 
biological. 

The  occurrence  of  an  unfossiliferous  sedimentary  fiirmation  a> 
a  member  of  an  otherwise  fos.siIiferous  .series  is  unusual,  but  in 
such  a  case  its  definition  and  limit.ition  would  be  efl'eclually 
accom|ilished  by  the  inulerlying  and  overlying  formations.  In 
the  case,  however  of  a  great  unfossiliferous  series  of  stratified 
rocks  like  the  pre-Cambrian  it  is  neces.sary  to  adopt  a  method  Im 
their  study  and  classification  b.ased  wholly  upon  physical  dal:i, 
after  the  fact  that  they  are  pre-Candirian  has  lieen  detemiincl 
from  biological  data.  Such  a  method  of  cla.ssifying  anil  charac- 
terising tho.se  unfo.ssiliferoHs  stratified  rocks  as  they  occur  in 
North  America  has  been  proposed  by  I'rof.  K.  I).  Irving'-  and 
afterwards  elaborated  by  others.  This  great  series  of  rock>, 
as  it  is  develoiied  in  .\merica,  h.as  such  distinguishing  general 
characteristics  and  such  magnitude  and  geographical  extent,  that 
some  geologists  have  thought  it  worthy  ol^  being  as.sigiied  lo  a 
six;cial  division  of  study,  liul  liecause  no  certain  tr.aces  tif  organic 
forms  have  been  discovered  in  them,  they  have,  so  f;\r  as  it  is  , 
now  known,  only  the  indirect  relation  lo  biological  geology 
that  has  just  been  referred  to.  .Still  it  is  not  improhalile  that 
those  strata  were  once  fo.ssiliferoiis,  and  that  the  great  series 
was  once  niiide  up  of  formations  similar  to  ihose  which  have 
been  alre.idy  defined,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  follow 
that  the  divisions  which  are  now  recognisable  by  physical 
characteristics  corresi«ind  to  thftse  formations.  It  is  priibable 
thai  Ihey  more  nearly  corres|«md  to  systems  or  to  the  larger 
divisions  of  .sy.steins  .Ts  they  are  recognised  in  the  greal  scale  of 
the  fossiliferous  rocks  of  the  earth. 

The  following  conclusions  concerning  formations  are  deducihle 
from  a  cimsiileralicm  of  ihe  available  facts  :  — 

While  formalionsare  physical  objects  and  have  only  a  ])hysical 
exislence,  Iheir  proper  characlerisalion  is  cliielly  biological. 

They  are  characlerisjible  mainly  by  the  iiissil  remains  of 
atpialic  faunn.s. 

Neither  their  jihysical  nor  biological  limits  are  sliarply  defined 
except  as  a  result  of  accidental  causes. 

Their  geographical  limilalions  are  indefinite  except  llio^e 
which  were  occasioned  by  .shore  lines. 

1  To  avoid  frequent  repelilion,  the  terms  scdimenlnry  formation  alKl 
Rlratified  formation  arc  iivrd  inlcrcIianKcal)!)'  wtien  applied  lo  formation*  a* 
defmcd  atiovc.  The  Icrms  >edimcnlary  rocks,  stralllied  rocks,  and  fosMU- 
ferous  rfH-ks  are  also  used  iiilcrchanKeably.  lull  willi  a  somewhat  more  general 
meaninu  llian  is  intended  Iiy  Ihe  two  former  terms. 

-  IrvniK.  K.  I>.  :  "Classilicationof  the  Karly  Cambrian  and  Pre-Cambrinn 
Formalions."    (.Seventh  Ann.  kcp.  I'.S.  licol.  Survey,  pp.  371-399.) 


NO.  1 34 1,  VOL.  52] 


July    1 1,  1895] 


NATURE 


259 


They  do  not  necessarily  bear  any  close  relation  to  one  another 
as  to  geographical  area,  thickness,  or  the  duration  of  time  in 
their  accumulation. 

Although  they  are  thus  unequal  to  one  another,  they  constitute 
the  only  availalile  physical  units  for  local  or  regional  stratigraphic 
classification. 

Because  of  their  limited  geographical  extent  they  cannot  be 
used  as  units  of  the  universal  classification  of  the  stratified  rocks. 

The  Rki.atio.n  oi'  r"ossii,  Rf.m.-mns  to  Striitir.\i. 

Gf,oi,o<;v. 
There  are  two  methods  by  which  the  study  of  fossils  may  legiti- 
mately be  applied  to  geological  investigation,  and  the  following 
statement  of  the  character  of  these  is  in  jjart  ex])lanatory  of  the 
results  that  may  be  obtained  by  their  aid.  For  convenience,  one 
of  them  may  i)e  termed  empirical  and  the  other  philosophical, 
because  in  the  one  case  results  are  obtained  by  experience,  and 
in  the  other  by  reasoning  upon  the  various  results  thus  obtained. 
Still,  discrimination  between  these  two  methods  cannot  usually 
be  sharply  drawn,  because,  while  all  geological  investigation  is 
largely  empirical,  it  is  always  more  or  less  philosphical.  Such  a 
division  of  the  subject,  however,  besides  being  a  convenience, 
gi\es  an  op|)ortunity  to  emijhasise  the  fact  that  a  large 
ljro|iortion  of  the  work  that  is  done  in  structural  geology  is  based 
mainly  upon  the  empirical  observation  and  collection  ()f  biological 
data. 

Both  these  methods  are  not  only  important  but  indispensable, 
the  cine  not  less  so  than  the  other.  Both  may  be,  and  aften  are, 
used  together,  but  the  em])irical  method  is  more  largely  used  in 
jiractical  field  studies  than  in  others,  because  in  such  studies 
fossils  are  to  a  large  extent  treated  as  characteristic  tokens  of 
formations,  or  as  arbitrary  means  of  identif}ing  them  and  distin- 
guishing them  from  one  another.  Such  identificatinn  necessarily 
constitutes  one  of  the  first  stei>s  in  the  practical  study  of  structural 
geolog}",  but  the  suiisequent  study  of  the  fossils  thus  empirically 
used  is  necessarily  more  jihilosophical. 

The  ])hiIosophical  method  of  treating  fossil  remains,  however,  is 
largely  applicable  to  systematic  geology  or  those  branches  which  per- 
tain to  the  universal  chronological  classification  of  the  sedimentary 
fi'miations  and  to  their  correlation  in  different  parts  of  the  world. 
The  naturalist  studies  fo.ssil  remains  as  representatives  of  the 
l<"'ng  succession  of  jjrogressively  and  differentially  developed 
organic  forms  which,  during  geological  time,  have  existed  and 
become  extinct,  and  of  which  succession  the  now  existing  forms 
I  'f  life  constitute  only  the  terminal  portion.  It  is  the  results  of 
>uch  studies  as  these  that  the  geologist  uses  in  the  philosophical 
studies  referred  to. 

Of  the  two  ways  in  which  formations  are  naturally  characleris- 
;il)le,  one  is  physical  and  the  other  biological.  Physical  charac- 
lerisation  may  be  direct  or  general,  that  is,  it  may  be  by  identity 
of  kind  or  kinds  of  rock  of  which  the  formation  is  composed,  or 
by  its  |X)ssession  of  that  more  general  or  indefinite  jjroperty  or 
condition  which  indicates  honmgeny. 

Formations  are  biologically  characterised  only  by  the  fossil 
remains  of  animals  and  plants  which  lived  while  they  were  in 
process  of  deposition,  and  the  more  intimate  the  n.atural  relation 
of  any  of  those  animals  and  plants  to  the  physical  conditions 
which  produced  a  formation,  the  more  characteristic  of  it  are 
their  remains.  This  inqjlies  that,  while  no  kind  of  fossil  remains 
is  to  be  rejected  in  practical  studies  of  structural  geolog)',  there 
is  much  difference  in  the  value  i>f  the  different  kinds  for  this 
pur|X)se.  These  differences  in  value  will  be  S|x;cially  discussed 
later  on. 

Much  has  been  written  on  methods  of  <listinguishing 
Ijctween  formations  of  marine  and  non-marine  origin,  and  the 
legitimate  inferences  that  may  be  drawn  from  them,  respectively, 
as  to  the  physical  conditions  which  prevailed  while  they  were 
accumulating.  It  is  desirable  here  to  present  some  remarks  upon 
the  relative  value  in  practical  geological  field  work  of  the  fossils 
found  in  marine  and  non-marine  formations,  respectively. 

That  the  fossil  remains  of  marine  faunas  arc  far  more  valuable 
as  indicators  of  the  chronological  divisions  of  the  geological  scale 
and  of  the  correlation  of  its  divisions  in  different  parts  of  the 
world  than  are  those  of  non-niarine  faimas,  is  apparent  to  every 
one  who  is  familiar  with  even  the  general  facts  of  biological 
geolog)-,  but  it  does  not  follow,  and  it  is  not  true,  that  the  latter 
are  intrinsically  less  valuable  than  are  the  former  in  field  studies 
of  practical  geology.  For  this  practical  work,  both  marine  and 
non-marine  fossils  are  treated  by  the  empirical  method  already 
explaitied,  and  both  are  found  to  characterise  the  respective 
formations  in  the  same  maimer. 


NO.    1 34 1,  VOL.  52] 


Certain  conditions,  however,  give  each  an  advantage  over  the 
other  under  different  circumstances.  For  example,  the  geo- 
graphical range  of  the  non-marine  invertebrate  fossil  faunas, 
especially  those  of  fresh  water,  having  been  sharply  defined  by 
shore  lines,  the  species  which  constituted  them  are  to  that  extent 
more  characteristic  of  the  formations  in  which  they  occur  than 
is  the  case  with  marine  faunas.  Certain  species  of  the  latter 
faunas,  as  already  shown,  usually  ranged  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
area  which  was  occupied  by  each  fauna  as  a  whole. 

Non-marine  formations,  as  a  rule,  occur  singly  in  a  series  of 
marine  formations,  in  which  case  the  vertical  as  well  as  the 
geographical  range  of  their  invertebrate  species  is  sharply  defined. 
It  is  tnie  that  in  the  interior  portion  of  Xorth  America  there  is 
a  continuous  series  of  fresh-water  formations,  and  that  certain  of 
the  species  range  from  one  into  another.  These,  however,  are 
notable  exceptions  to  the  nile  referred  to,  and  they  at  most  only 
make  such  non-marine  faunas  equal  to  the  average  marine  fauna 
as  regards  exceptional  vertical  range  of  species.  Again,  non- 
marine  formations  usually  have  the  advantage  of  the  presence  of 
remains  of  plants  and  of  land  vertebrates  and  invertebrates, 
which  in  marine  formations  are  usually  so  extremely  rare  as  to  be 
unavailable. 

On  the  other  hand,  marine  faunas  embrace  such  a  wide  diver- 
sity of  forms  as  compared  with  the  non-marine,  and  their 
progressive  and  differential  evolution  from  e|XKh  to  eixjch  has 
been  so  nnich  greater,  that  they  offer  as  faunas  much  more 
abundant  means  for  the  characterisation  and  identification  of 
formations.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  opinion  which  some 
geologists  have  expressed  or  implied,  that  the  fossil  contents  of 
non-marine  formations  are  of  little  value  in  practical  geological 
investigation,  is  not  well  founded.  The  following  conclusions 
sum  up  the  case  : — 

Formations  being  the  only  true  units  of  local  or  regional 
stratigraphic  classification,  their  correct  identification  is  the  first, 
and  an  indispensable,  step  in  the  practical  field  work  of  structural 
geolog)-. 

Although  formations  as  such  have  only  a  physical  existence, 
their  biological  characteristics  aie  always  the  best,  and  often  the 
only,  means  of  their  identification,  and  therefore  the  exhaustive 
study  of  fossils  is  of  paramount  importance  in  connection  w  ith 
all  practical  investigations  of  that  kind. 

The  value  of  fossils  in  this  respect  is  as  purely  practical  as  is 
that  of  any  other  aid  to  geological  investigation,  and  it  may  be 
made  available  without  reference  to  their  great  value  in  other 
respects. 

-\lthough  all  fossil  remains  are  valuable  for  this  practical  use, 
those  of  aquatic  faunas  are  more  valuable  than  any  others. 

Remains  of  non-marine  faunas  are  of  similar  value  ftir  this 
purpose  to  those  of  marine  origin. 

The  Relation  of  Biology  to  Systf.matic  and  Historical 
Geology. 

It  has  been  made  apparent  in  the  preceding  sections  that  each 
case  of  structural  classification  of  stratified  rocks  based  upon 
formations  as  physical  units  is  independent  of  all  others,  and 
that  its  application  is  necessarily  of  limited  geographical  extent, 
because  formations  are  themselves  thus  limited.  It  therefore 
follows  that  the  structural  geolog)'  of  any  district  or  region, 
embracing  even  an  extensive  series  of  formations,  may  be 
practically  and  thoroughly  investigated,  as  regards  both  scientific 
accuracy  and  economic  requirements,  independently  of  that  of 
any  other  district  or  region,  especially  of  those  regions  which 
are  not  adjacent.  It  is  now  to  be  shown  how  the  nuiltitiule  of 
series  of  formations  thus  locally  cla-ssified  throughout  the  wiirld 
have  been  grouped  into  a  universal  system  of  classification  in 
connection  with  a  scale  having  its  divisions  arranged  in 
chronological  order. 

When  the  fossil  faunas  and  floras  which  characterise  each  of  a 
given  series  of  sedimentary  formations  are  compared  with  thirse 
which  .severally  characterise  the  formations  of  the  next  preceding 
and  succeeding  series,  and  the  whole  are  systematically  com« 
pared  with  living  faunas  and  floras,  there  is  to  be  observed 
among  those  fossil  forms,  when  studied  through  an  unbroken 
vertical  range  of  fonnations,  an  order  of  successive  changes  and 
modifications  indicative  of  a  general  advance  in  biological  rank, 
and  also  an  indication  of  structural  relationship.  Furthermore, 
when  the  faunas  and  floras  of  a  given  series  of  formations  are 
compared  with  those  of  other  series  in  other  i>arts  of  the  world, 
it  frequently  appears  that  there  is  a  close  similarity  between  those 
of  a  certain  portion  of  each  series  which  indicates  their  co'rrela- 
tion.     In  such  cases  an  order  of  biological  rank  is  to  be  obserNeci 


26o 


NATURE 


[July  ii,  1895 


similar  to  that  which  was  observed  in  the  original  case.  It  also 
frequently  occurs  that  the  range  of  rank  is  found  to  Iw  greater  in 
one  or  both  directions  than  is  to  be  observed  in  other  cases.  By 
such  means  a  know  ledge  of  the  order  of  faunal  and  floral,  .is  well 
as  of  stratigraphical,  succession  far  beyond  that  which  could  be 
obtained  in  any  one  region,  has  been  acquired. 

It  is  upon  such  empirical  facts  as  these  that  the  early  geologists 
based  their  investigations  concerning  the  chronological  arrange- 
ment of  the  sedimentar)-  formations  of  the  earth,  and  the  grand 
result  of  which  was  the  adoption  of  a  general  scheme  and  the  con- 
stniction  of  a  corresponding  scale  for  their  classification.  This 
scale,  which  in  its  present  condition  is  a  masterpiece  of  inductive 
reasoning,  necessarily  originated  in  Eurojie.  l)ecause  it  was  there 
that  geology  was  first  systematically  studied,  and  it  is  there  also 
that  its  adaptation  is  more  complete  than  elsewhere. 

Although  the  scale  now  in  use  was  established  l)efore  the  truth 
of  the  pri^essive  evolution  of  oi^anic  foniis  was  acccptefl  by 
naturalists,  and  when  all  differences  between  those  forms  was 
t)elieved  to  be  due  to  special  creations,  general  progression  in 
average  biological  rank  during  geological  time  was  perceived  by 
the  early  geologists,  .-is  well  as  by  those  of  the  present  day  ; 
but  with  them  it  was  the  perception  of  a  pri^essive  succession  in 
rank  of  faunal  an<l  floral  groups  of  great  assemblages  of  organic 
forms,  and  not  the  recognition  of  the  principle  of  evolution. 
Therefore  they  sought  methods  of  explaining  the  facts  and  con- 
cliti.ns  which  they  observed  with  reference  to  the  geological 
x  ill-  which  they  had  establishe<l  that  should  acconl  with  the 
hicLigical  views  which  then  prevailed,  and  which  were  largely  of  a 
>uiK.rnatural  character.  Indeed,  in  the  absence  of  the  now- 
prevalent  natural  method  of  explaining  these  facts,  the 
~ui>ematural  method  of  the  early  geolt^sts  seems  to  have  been 
nece-v<if>-. 

The  f<)llowing  deductive  propositions  which  now  remind  a 
naturalist  of  the  articles  of  a  cree<l  more  than  of  a  statement  of 
~icrilific  principles,  are  presented  as  indicating  the  fundamental 
I'lii^  helil  by  the  early  geologists  in  connection  with  the  con- 
-!ri!  ii.in  of  the  geological  scale,  and  .is  illustrating  the  state  of 
irn.ilcnl  opinion  among  leading  geologists  U|K)n  biological 
~iii.;ccts  in  their  time.  It  is  true  that  no  one  author  has  ever 
|)ublishe<l  these  pro|X6itions  in  the  exact  fonn  in  which  they  are 
here  presented,  but  they  have  been  formulated  from  the  published 
utterances  of  numerous  authors,  and  from  [lersonal  recollec- 
tions of  an  active  imrticipation  in  geological  work  tluring  a 
numlx-r  of  years,  immeiliately  preceding  the  great  revolution  in 
methods  of  biological  thought  and  investigation  which  has  been 
referred  to.     These  propositions  are  : — 

(1)  That  every  s|xs:ies  of  animals  and  plants,  Ixjth  living  and 
extinct,  was  sfiecially  created,  and  that  they  arc,  and  always 
have  been  immutable.  That  genera,  and  also  the  higher  groups 
into  which  both  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms  are  system- 
atically divisible,  are  categories  of  creative  thought,  and  that 
they  also  are  immutable. 

(2)  That  although  secular  extinction  of  certain  species,  and 
even  genera,  occurre<l  during  ever)-  stage  of  the  geological  scale, 
at  the  close  of  each  stage,  except  the  Tertiary,  all  life  ujion  the 
earth  was  simultaneously  destroyed,  and  that  at  the  close  of  each 
sub-stage  life  was  at  lea.st  in  large  |)art  destroyed. 

(3)  That,  at  the  close  of  each  st.ige  oiincidently  with,  and  the 
•  livinely  ordainerl  instninient  of,  the  complete  eslinction  of  life, 
there  was  a  universal  physical  cat.islrophe,  iind  that  the  close  of 
each  sub-si,igc  was,  at  least  in  ]«rt.  physically  catastrophic. 

(4)  That  all  life  for  each  successive  stage  was  createtl  anew. 

(5)  That  the  life  of  each  stage  embraced  sjx-cially  ordained 
generic,  or  more  general,  types  which   were  distinctive  of  and 

I',  anfl  that  their  distribution  w,is  world-wide, 
■here  was  a  s|>ecial  ordination  of  char.icteristic  ty[ies 
st.ige.  which  received  world-wide  and  simultaneous 
vsilhin  its  narrow  lime  limits. 

110  i<lentical,  and   few   similar,  s|>ecific  forms  were 
I  !•  ti'.l  lilt  any  twn  or  more  slage.s. 

(Si  Thill    rhe  world-wide  distribution  of  the  di.stinctive  lyjx-s 

»% hich  were  or<laine<l  to  characterise  any 

cfleried   in  connection   with  the  act  by 

i>-and   floras  were  created:  or  that 

t\ing  a  world-wide  distrilmtion  the 

..     ,  I'l  floras  was  preserved  by  the  intro- 

•11  ol  rcprev:mativc--that  is,  cloM-ly  similar — but  distinct 


!9)  That  by  rr. 
new  creation  wa- 


i  ihe  average  biological  rank  of  each 
ihil  of  the  next  preceding  one. 


(10)  That  upin  the  fossilisable  jxirts  of  the  animals  and  plants 
which  were  created  for  each  stage,  and  U|xin  those  <lesigned  to 
characterise  each  sub-stage,  was  impressed  not  only  their  own 
structural  features,  but  reci^isable  eWdence  of  their  chrono- 
logical ordination. 

These  propositions  represent  only  those  views  of  the  pioneer 
geologists  which  pertain  to  biological  geolc^-.  Other  views 
which  were  held  by  them  are  unjissailable,  even  in  the  light  of 
I  the  present  advance  of  science,  and  their  biological  views  are 
I  not  introduced  here  for  the  purpose  of  disixiragement,  Init  to 
I  show  that  they  gave  origin  to  certain  erroneous  metho<ls  which 
I  are  in  part  retaine<l  as  an  inheritance  by  some  (Xikvontologists, 
I  even  though  they  ostensibly  accept  the  principles  of  nu«lern 
I  biolog)-. 

I       The  foregoing  pro|x)sitions  relate  to  what  were  regarded  by 
,  the  early  geologists  as  fundamental  ideas  in  the  constraction  of 
the  geological  scale,  while  the  following  relate  to  those  ideas 
I  which  are  now  held  to  constitute  its  true  Kisis  because  they 
only  accord  with   natural  laws.     These  are  therefore  essentially 
a    counter-statement    of  the    precetling    projKisitions ;    but    the 
princi|xil  object  of   their   pre|)aration  is  to  (Kiint  out  the  true 
relation    of   biologv'   to    systematic,    historical,    and    correlative 
I  geology.     They  consist  largely  of  the  statement  of  certain  of 
the  principles  involved  in  the  theory  of  organic  evolution.  Init 
i  they  are  by  no  means  intended  as  a  full  statement  of  those  prin- 
ciples, nor  are  they  presented  for  the  purix)se  of  either  discuss- 
ing or  defining  then)  as  such.     That  is,  the  statements  are  made 
not  for  the  pur|x)se  of  formally  enunciating  these  principles,  but 
for  the  puriwse  of  making  practical  application  of  them  to  the 
subject  in  hand.      Such  of  these  have  been  selected  for  statement 
and  comment  as  are  believed  to  Ik"  accepted  by  all  naturalists 
who  .idmit  the  truth  of  organic  evolution,  and  such  application 
is  made  of  them  as  will  necessarily  commend  itself  to  all  geologists 
who  admit  that  tnilh  and  its  applicability  to  biological  geologj. 
These    propositions  are  not  intended  to  embrace  the  wliolc 
range  of  biological  geolog)-,  but  only  such  of  its  leading  jirin- 
ciples  as  are  discussed  in  these  essays.     Therefore  a  certain  lack 
of  innnediate  relevancy  will  appear  in  the  order  in  which  they 
are  stated. 

(1)  All  species  of  animals  and  plants  have  originated  genetic- 
ally from  pre-existing  forms,  and  therefore  all  are  more  or  le.-s 
mutable  as  regards  their  reproduction.  These,  together  with 
the  various  divisions  higher  than  species  into  which  the  animal 
and  vegetable  kingdoms  are  divisible,  have  resjiectively  aojuired 
their  distinguishing  characteristics  by  diflerential  aiul  gmtlually 
progressive  evolution.  The  extinction  of  all  species  and  other 
divisions  of  the  animal  an<I  vegetable  kingdoms  which  has  taken 
place  during  geological  time,  h.is  always  been  by  natural  means 
and  in  accordance  with  natural  laws.  It  has  generally  lieen 
secular  and  gradual,  but  in  many  rases  ItKally  or  regionally 
accidental.     No  universal  extinction  has  ever  occurred. 

(2)  Coincident  with  the  progress  of  evolution,  notwithstanding 
the  retardation,  inertion,  and  even  degrad.ition  that  have  occurre<l 
along  certain  lines,  there  has  been  during  geological  time  a 
general  average  advancement  in  biological  rank  of  animal  and 
vegetable  forms,  evidence  of  which  is  aflforded  by  certain 
characteristics  of  their  fossil  remains.  The  evidence  of  this 
general  advancement  cimstitutes  the  ultimate  standard  of 
measures  of  geological  time  as  a  whole,  ami  the  princi]\il  means 
of  .ascertaining  the  order  of  full  succession  of  the  events  which 
attended  the  prixluction  of  the  stratified  rocks  of  the  earth. 

(3)  The  chronological  features  which  fossils  |>ossess  are  not  of 
a  siwcial  character  as  .such,  but  they  are  nnnmg  those  Ujxm  which 
their  biological  cLissification  is  l>.i.sed,  all  of  which  features 
have  resulted  from  Uilh  jirogressive  and  diflerential  evolution. 

(4I  The  average  rate  of  progressive  evi>Uilion  for  the  diflerent 
branches  or  divisions  of  lK)lh  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingiloms 
has  not  been  the  s;ime  for  each  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  nor  the 
same  for  all  in  anyone  giart  of  the  worlil,  during  all  the  time 
they  have  coexisted. 

(5)  The  rate  of  differential  evolution  among  Ihe  forms  con- 
stituting certain  divisions  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms 
was  greater  than  that  among  th<ise  constituting  other  ilivisions  ; 
and  it  was  greater  for  some  of  the  memliers  of  a  given  division 
uniler  certain  ccmditi<pns  than  it  was  for  other  members  of  the 
same  division  under  other  conilitions. 

(6)  The  succession  of  gra<lual  miilations,  in  Ihe  development 
of  the  leading  classificatory  features  which  characterise  certain 
groujis  of  fovsil  forms,  was  not  necessarily  concurrent  with  ion- 
sccnlive  ixirtions  of  time. 


NO. 


1 34  I,  VOL.  52] 


Jui.v    I  I,  1895] 


NATURE 


261 


(7)  The  progress  of  secular  extinction  of  species  and  other 
divisions  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms,  including  the 
types  which  s])ecially  characterise  the  various  stages  and  suli- 
stagcs  of  the  geological  scale,  was  accelerated  by  adverse  changes 
of  environing  c<mditions,  and  were  retarded  liy  a  continuance  of 
congenial  conditions.  The  final  consummation  of  the  extinction 
•  if  the  types  was  naturally  often,  and  perhaps  usually,  caused  by 
catastrophic  changes  of  conditions  which  occurred  within  the 
limited  areas  to  which  they  were  reduced  by  approaching  secular 
extinctifin. 

(S)  The  geographical  distribution  of  species  within  the  time- 
limits  of  the  stages  and  sub-stages  of  the  geological  scale,  and 
consetjuently  tliat  of  the  distinguishing  types  which  the  species 
ciinstitute,  has  been  eflected  liy  natural  means.  Such  means 
included  not  only  locomotory  and  mechanical  dispersion  within 
those  time-limits  from  one  original  centre  which  was  then  the 
terminus  of  an  evulutional  line,  but,  at  least  in  the  same  cases, 
survival  in  \arious  regions  by  sejjarate  evolutional  lines  from  the 
faunas  of  preceding  stages  and  sub-stages  was  also  included. 

(9)  The  animal  and  vegetable  life  of  each  stage  of  the 
geological  scale  was  in  the  aggregate  different  as  to  its  forms 
from  that  of  all  others,  and  each  stage  and  sub-stage  was  further 
s|iecially  characterised  by  certain  generic,  and  also  more  genera!, 
types  or  peculiar  groups  of  species.  These  types,  however, 
were  not  necessarily  confined  within  absolute  time-lim-ts. 

(10)  .Although  movements  and  displacements  of  the  earth's 
crust  have  from  time  to  time  occurred  over  large  portions  of  its 
surface,  arresting  sedimentation  or  changing  its  character  and 
causing  great  destruction  of  life,  there  has  never  been  a  universal 
catastrophe  of  that  kind.  On  the  contrary,  during  all  the  time 
that  disastrous  conditions  prevailed  in  any  given  area,  conditions 
congenial  to  the  existence  and  perpetuity  of  life  prevailed  in 
other  antl  greater  areas. 

The  second  of  the  two  sets  of  propositions  show  that  certain 
of  the  views  held  by  the  early  geologists,  notably  those  which 
assumed  the  universally  sharp  definition  of  all  the  divisions  of  the 
geological  scale,  were  radically  wrong.  .Still,  it  is  evident  to  every 
one  who  is  familiar  with  modern  geological  literature  that  those 
views  have  continued  to  exert  an  adverse  influence  upon  the 
biological  branch  of  geological  investigation  long  after  they  have 
been  formally  rejected,  even  by  those  who  continued  to  be  in- 
fluenced by  them.  The  early  geologists  adopted  methods  of 
investigation  which  were  consistent  with  their  biological  views, 
but  it  has  been  shown  that  from  the  present  standpoint  of 
biology  certain  of  those  views  were  so  fiindamentally  wrong 
that  the  melhoils  which  were  based  upon  them  are  quite 
out  of  place  in  modern  investigation.  Still,  those  methods 
ol  our  energetic  predecessors  have  come  down  to  the 
present  time  with  such  force  and  with  such  evidence  of  the 
general  correctness  of  the  scale  which  they  had  established 
by  them,  that  it  has  been  difficult  for  their  successors  to  adopt  the 
modification  of  methods  which  has  been  necessitated  by  the 
great  subsequent  revolution  in  biological  thought  and  methods  of 
investigation. 

The  facts  which  have  been  stated  show  that,  while  the 
scale  which  the  early  geologists  established  is  a  wonderful 
production  of  human  reasoning  and  the  best  possible  general 
standard  which  can  be  adopted  before  a  comparatively 
lull  in\estigation  of  the  geology  of  the  whole  earth  has  been 
made,  it  is  not,  and  cannot  be  except  in  a  general  way, 
of  univers;il  applicaliility.  That  is,  while  the  respective  stages 
and  sub-stages  of  the  scale  are  recognisalile  only  by  means  of 
(heir  characteristic  fossil  remains,  it  has  been  shown  that  any  of 
tho.sc  characteristic  forms  are  so  liable  to  range  from  one  stage 
or  sub-stage  to  another,  that  it  is  impossible  to  sharply  define  the 
limits  of  stages,  and  often  impossible  to  distinguish  sub-stages  in 
<me  part  of  the  world  as  they  are  known  in  another  ]>art. 

( To  be  iontinued. ) 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 
Ihillctm  (/<•  r Academic  des  Sciences  de  St.  Pt'tersbotirg,  V« 
serie,  t.  ii.  No.  2,  Febmary  1895.— We  notice  in  the  proceed- 
mj;sof  the  meetings,  that  the  full  account  of  Baron  Toll's  observ- 
ations in  the  New  Siberia  Islands  will  soon  be  published  by  the 
Academy.  In  the  meantime  the  explorer  has  visited  Switzerland 
m  or<ler  to  study  glacier  ice,  and  has  found  there  further  proofs, 
su|iported  by  .\.  Korel,  in  favour  of  the  masses  of  ice  which  he 
hits  found  in  New  Siberia  (buried  under  clays  containing  fos.sil 
slenis  of  Alniis  friilicosa  fifteen  feet  long),  really  being  remains 

NO.   I  34  I,  VOL,   52] 


of  the  ice-sheet  which  covered  the  islands  during  the  glacial 

period. — The  yearly  report  of  the  Academy,  which  contains; 
among  other  matters,  the  obituaries  of  L.  Schrenck,  A.  Midden- 
dorff',  I.  Schmalhausen,  and  I*.  Tschebychefi',  whom  the 
Academy  has  lost  during  the  last  year. — The  positions  of  140 
stars  of  the  star  cluster  20  Vulpeculae,  according  to  measurements 
taken  from  photographic  plates,  by  A.  Uonner  and  O.  Backlund 
(in  C'.erman).  The  measurements  were  taken  on  two  plates,  one 
of  which  had  been  exposed  for  twenty  minutes  only,  and  the 
other  for  one  hour,  and  the  accord  between  the  two  is  most 
satisfactory,  the  average  difi'erence  being  o'oos.  in  right  ascen- 
sion, and  o"'02  in  declination,  while  the  difi'erence  between  the 
measurements  on  the  photographic  plates,  and  the  direct  measure- 
ments of  Schultz,  attains  on  the  average  -o-040s.  in  R.A.  and 
.-o"-55in  D. — (Jn  the difl'erential equation (/j'/o'.i- =  i  +  R  (.»■)/;', 
by  N.  Sonin. — On  a  new  entoptric  phenomenon,  by  S.  Chirieff. 
— Note  on  the  last  mathematic  conversation  with  P.  L.  Tsche- 
bychefi', about  his  rule  for  finding  the  approximate  length  of  a 
cord,  and  the  means  of  extending  the  method  to  curves  of  double 
flexure  (all  three  in  Russian). — The  ephemeride  of  the  planet 
(loS)  Hecuba,  by  .\.  Kondratiefli'. 

Vol.  ii.  No.  3,  March  1895. — Yearly  reports  of  the  Philological 
Section  of  the  .\cademy,  and  of  the  committees  :  for  the  Baer 
l^remium,  which  was  awarded  this  year  to  the  Tomsk   Professor 
Dogel,  for  his  researches  into  the  histology  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem, and  to  Prof  Danilevsky  for  researches  into  the  comparative 
study  of  parasites  in  blood,  and  the  Lomonosov  premium,  which 
was  awarded  to  .\.  Kaminsky  for  his  work  on  the  yearly  march 
and  geographical  distribution  of  moisture  in  the  Russian   empirfe 
in  1871-90. — On  the   Perseids  observed  in   Russia  in   1894  (in 
French),  by  Th.  Bredikhine.     The  observations  were  made  by 
several  observers  at  (Odessa  and  at  Kieff.      It  must  be   remarked 
that  the  observers  have  had  difficulty  in   ob.serving  the   meteors, 
the  course  of  which  made  a  sharp  angle  with  the  direction  of  the 
vertical  line;  and  this  circumstance  is  probably  not  without  some 
influence   upon  the  determination  of   the   radiant  point.     The 
meteors  observed  on  July  24,  26,  and   27,  seem  to    belong  to 
a    meteoric  stream    other   than  the   Perseids.      Combining  the 
results  of    this    year's    observations  (which    are    given    in   full 
in  thirteen    tables)  with    the    observations    of    the     precedint; 
year,  and  calculating  the  elements  for   each   of   the    radiants, 
the    author   sees   in   them   a   confirmation    of    the    theoretical 
results  he  arrived  at   in   his   paper  on   the   Perseids  of   1893  ! 
the  values  of  the  inclination  \i)  of  the  centres  of  radiation — 
with  the  exception  of  the  three  first,  which  are  .somewhat  un- 
certain— are  all  below  the  value  of  i  for  the  comet  of  1 866.     The 
average  value  of  /  before  the  epoch  (.August    lO'j)  is  60",  while 
after  that  time  it  is  only  56' ;  but  this  decrease  cannot  be  con- 
sidered as  quite  real,  on  account  of  the  said  uncertainty  in  i  for 
July  24-27.     -An  inspection  of  the  charts  shows  that  a  condensa- 
tion of  the  radiation  is  taking  place  towards  the  epoch  which 
falls  on  the  night  of  the  loth  to  the  nth,  as  seen  from  the  obser- 
vations made  in  Italy  by  P.  Denza.     The  arithmetical  average 
of  the  coordinates  of  the  three   chief  radiants   of  August    10 
are  0  =  48°  48',  and  8  =  56"  30',  we  have  :  /=6y  32',  (''  =  36''  51', 
2'=64°'8,  .r  =  72°-8,  and  1'=  +^^''-j,.     The  value  of  /  corresponds 
to  the  radiant  of  the  comet  of  1866.     Considerable   variations 
appear  in  the  elements  n  and  ir  ;  the  perihelium  is  displaced  in 
the  direction  of  the  orbital  motion  of  the  meteors.     In  a  sub- 
sequent memoir  the  author  proposes  to  take  tip  the  theory  of  the 
subject,  and  to  evaluate  the  secular  variations  of  the  generating 
orbit  of  the  comet,  and  of  some  of  its  derived  orbits. — On  the 
best  means  of  representing  a  surface  of  re\"olution  on  a  plane,  a 
mathematical  treatment  of  the  subject,   in   Russian,  by  A.  \. 
Markoff. — On  the  limit  values  of  integrals,  by  the  same. — List 
of  the  works  of  P.  L.  Tschebychefi'. — On  the  methods  for  cor- 
rectly  determining   the   absolute   inclination  by    means  of  the 
induction  inclinator,   and    the  degree  of  exactitude  lately  ob- 
tained with  this  instrument  at  the  Pavlovsk  Observatory,  by  II. 
Wild  (in  French).      The  non-periodical  variations  in  the  quantity 
of  precipitation    at  St.  Petersburg,  by    K.    Heintz  (in    Russian, 
summary  in   French).  —  Kjihemeride  of  the  planet  (209)  Didon, 
by  Mine.  Eugenie  Maximofi'. — Determinaticm  of  the  magnitudes 
of  the  stars  in   the  star  cluster  20  \'ulpecuUe,  by  Mmc.  Marie 
Sliilow.     The  diameters  were  measured  by  the  micrometer,  and 
the   corresponding   magnitudes   were   calculated    by   means   of 
Charlier's    formula. — On    one   sum,  a   mathematical    note,  (in 
Russian),  by  I.  Ivanoff. 

The   numbers   of  the   loiirnal  of  Botany  for  May  to  July 
contain,    besides   mere   technical    papers,    one    on    the    genu 


262 


NA  TURE 


[July   11,  1S95 


Argeiiioiu,  by  Dr.  D.  Prain,  a  description  of  a  new  species  of 
Bryopsis,  and  of  a  peculiar  mode  of  growth  in  another  sj)ecies, 
by  Miss  E.  S.  Barton  ;  an  account  of  fossil  plant-remains  in 
peat,  by  Mr.  A.  depp  ;  and  a  description  of  a  lar^e  number  of 
new  species  of  (Jrchidac&v,  by  Mr.  A.  B.  Kendle,  from  the 
plants  brought  by  Mr.  Scott  Elliot  from  Tropical  Africa. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 

Royal  Society,  May  i6.— "  The  Complete  System  of  the 
I'eriodsofa  Hollow  Vortex  Ring."     By  II.  C.  Pocklington. 

May  30.  — "The  Kinematics  of  Machines."  By  Prof.  T.  A. 
llearson. 

In  this  paper  it  is  shown  that  all  machine  movements,  however 
complex,  are  derived  from  the  association  together  of  some  of  a 
comjiaratively  limited  number  of  kinds  of  simple  motions,  which 
take  place  l)et»een  consecutive  directly  connected  ])ieces. 

Certain  geometrical  laws  are  enunciated,  from  which  are 
derived  the  conditions  necessary  for  the  assixiation  of  those 
motions  together  in  one  machine.  It  is  shown  that  those  laws 
preclude  the  existence  of  certain  combinations  of  motions.  By 
attaching  to  each  kind  of  motion  a  suggestive  symbol  a  method 
of  expressing  the  constitution  of  a  machine  movement  by  a 
simple  formula  is  proposed,  whereby  similarities  and  differences 
between  machines  may  be  exhibited  at  a  glance. 

The  author  commences  by  considering  a  mechanism,  consisting 
of  four  bars  united  in  one  continuous  linkage  by  four  pins  which 
have  (larallel  axes.  By  imagining  the  length  of  the  links  lo 
undergo  variation  from  zero  to  infinity,  it  is  shown  that  this 
mechanism  is  representative  of  all  the  simple  plane  mechanisms, 
and,  by  inuagining  other  variations  lo  occur,  it  is  shown  to  be 
representative  of  slill  further  classes  of  mechanisms,  in  which 
the  parts  do  not  move  in  or  |>arallel  lo  one  plane.  In  this  the 
relative  motions  of  consecutive  pieces  are  either  turning,  when 
one  piece  revolves  completely  around  relatively  to  the  other,  the 
reprcsenlative  .symbol  being  the  letter  O,  or  swinging,  when  one 
piece  turns  through  a  limited  angle  relatively  to  the  adjoining 
one,  represented  by  the  letter  U. 


O    Gttrip. 


Q   Croup. 


O   Croap. 


D    Croup 


F^  n 


n 

•r-^' 


( 


■3 


By  the  application  of  the  governing  laws  14  distinct  comliina- 
tions  are  found  to  be  possible,  and  only  14.  They  are  exhibited 
by  the  following  formuhv,  in  which  a  large  1)  associated  witli  a 
small  o  signifies  that  in  one  case  adjacent  links  turn  relatively 
to  one  another  so  as  to  continxiously  increase  the  angle  between 
them,  and  in  the  other  to  continuously  iliminish  the  angle.  The 
double  ®)  signifies  that  two  complete  re\olutions  accompany  one 
complete  to-andfro  ssving  or  slide. 

Applying  Reuleaux's  principle  of  "  Inversion  "  it  will  be  seen 
that  32,  and  only  32,  distinct  machine  movements  can  be 
derived  from  the  above  14  mechanisms.  Those  from  the  same 
mechanism  are  distinguished  from  one  another  in  the  fornnila 
by  using  a  thick  line  for  the  frame  link.     For  example, 

/0~Ok    signifies  a  machine  movement  like  that  employed  in  the 
V^J    j'        crank-and-connecting-rod  engine. 


The  first  law  enunciated,  which  governs  the  association  of  the 
O  and  U  motions,  is  founded  on  the  geometrical  fact  that  the 
sum  of  the  four  angles  of  the  i|uadrilateral  is  constant.  After  a 
complete  revolution  the  angle  between  the  bars  is  considered  lo 
have  been  increased  or  <liminished  liy  2ir. 

From  this  it  is  impossible  for  only  one  motion  lo  be  turning 
and  the  other  three  swinging,  otherwise  the  sum  of  the  four 
angles  would  increxsc  or  decrease  by  2ir  each  revolution. 

The  second  law,  which  governs  the  association  of  the  motions, 
has  lo  do  with  the  proixirtions  between  the  length  of  the  links 
neceswry  to  |)ennit  of  complete  turning.  This  is  founded  on 
the  fact  that  one  side  of  a  triangle  cannot  lie  greater  than  the 
sum  of  the  other  iwo.  From  these  two  laws  together  it  is 
shown  that  it  is  impossible  to  have  Iwo  <Js  alternating  with 
two  L's. 

Next  it  i.s  jx)inted  out  how  the  U  motion  may  be  provided  for 
by  conMrucling  a  circular  slotway  in  one  piece,  and  shaping  the 
other  piece  to  lit  the  slotway,  so  that  by  imagining  the  radius  of 
curvature  of  ihe  -ilotwny  to  be  iniiefmilely  increased  a  relative 
""■'*'  ■  sliding   motion,  represented  by  the 

*)'"'  ubslituted   for   the  swinging   motion 

'-'••■■  '1  to  \k  a  swing  through  a  zero  angle 

aUiut  an  I'nire,  the  previously  mcniioneil  laws 

will  appl)  >iilaining  I  motions, anil  It  will  follow 

that  a  coinbiiuitiun  o(  three  slides  and  one  swing  is  precluded 
by  ihc  firM  law. 

NO.    1341,  VOL.  52] 


O 


,0-cn 


is  exemplified  in  the  oscillating  engine  nnich  used  in 
liaddle-wheel  steamers. 


(_^    jl     is  found  in  Slannah's  pendulum  pump,  and 

/tr"CN     ijuadrupled  is  the  movement  ado|>ted  by  Kigg  in  the 


The  author  next  discusses  the  relation  of  cams  and  spur-w  heel 
mechanisms  to  the  foregoing  kinematic  chains,  showing  that 
they  are  the  result  of  the  suiijiression  of  one  of  the  previous  four 
links  and  the  amalganiation  of  the  two  adjoining  simple  motions 
into  one  more  complex.  A  comparison  is  also  made  with  belt 
gearing,  and  expressive  formuhe  suggested. 

The  author  then  passes  to  the  consiileration  of  machines  the 
parts  of  which  do  not  move  jxtrallel  li>  one  plane. 

The  first  13  of  the  previously  mentione<l  mechanisms  have 
their  counter|>art  in  mechanisms  the  jiarts  of  which  ntove 
(xirallei  lo  the  surface  of  a  sphere,  llooke's  joint  is  the  best 
known  example.  The  14th  consisting  of  3  slides  cannot  be 
adapted  to  a  sphere  but  it  can  to  a  cylinder,  and  iVom  it  are 
<lerived  4  possible  screw  mechanisms. 

The  remaining  mechanisms  consist  of  those  in  which  the  axes 
of  the  turning  and  swinging  motions  neither  meet  nor  are 
parallel.  They  include  the  motion  which  oecms  at  a  ball-ami 
socket  joint.  The  method  of  classification  according  to  the 
proposed  scheme  is  simimarised  as  follows: — 

All  simple  machine  movements  may  be  ranged  in  four  divisions, 
viz. : — 

(i)  Consisting  of  plane  mechanisms.  In  which  the  pieces  move 
in  or  |)arallel  to  the  surface  of  a  plane. 

(2)  Spherical  mechanisms.  In  which  the  pieces  move  In  or 
parallel  to  the  surface  of  a  sphere. 

(3)  Cylindrical  mechanisms,  in  which  ihe  pieces  nuive  in  or 
])arallel  to  the  surface  of  a  cylinder. 

(4)  The  remainder,  to  which  the  name  conoidical  mechanisms 
is  given,  in  which  the  axes  of  ihe  swinging  and  turning  nioiions 
neither  meet  nor  are  parallel. 

The  mechanisms  in  each  of  these  divisions  are  classed  in  two 
subdivisions. 

Subdivisi(m  .S,  with  .surface  contact  of  consecutive  linU^. 

Subdivision  P,  with  point  contact  of  consecutive  links. 

The  mechanisms  In  each  of  the  eight  subdivisions  are  still 
further  subdlvideil  into  combinations.  The  comliinatiims  of  In 
2,,  and  3,,  are  exh.austlvely  enumerated,  and  it  is  suggested  that 
an  extension  of  Ihe  methods  of  applying  the  geometrical  laws 
would  lead  to  the  preparation  of  an  exhaustive  list  ol  the 
possible  combinations  In  (he  other  subdivisions.  The  coniliina- 
tions  are  still  further  subdivided  Into  Inversions  according  to 
Reuleaux's  principle  of  the  Inversion  of  a  machine. 

Lastly,  the  author   proceeds  to  show  how  the  foregoing  con- 
siderations .assist  in  Ihe  analysis  of  compound   mechanisms.     Hi; 
Is  assumed  th.at  practically  all  compoimd  mechanisms  contain  a  j 
continuous    mechanism   A,   of  not  nu)re  than  four  links,  from  , 
which  definiteness  of  relative   motion  of  all   the  other   links  is 
derive<l.     .\ny  Iwo  links  of  .\  in  their  exact  length,  or  longer  or  j 
shorter,  may  be  adopted  lo  form   wilh  two  new    links  a  second  i| 
mechanism  H,  and  any  Iwo  of  A  or   li,  or  one  of  A  and  one  of 
H,  may  be  adopted  lo  form   with  Iwo  slill  further  added  links  a  | 
third  merhanism  C,  and   so  on.      In    this   way  a  delinllcness  of 
relative  motion   of   many  links  in  a  compound    mechanism  is 
derived.     The  notation  lends  itself  to  a  clear  exhibilion  of  the 


JULV     II,    1895] 


NATURE 


26- 


manner  in  which  two  or  more  simple  mechanisms  are  associated 
together,  and  the  compound  mechanism  built  up. 

June   20. — "The   Influence  of  the  Cerebral   Cortex   on   the 
Larynx."     By  Dr.  J.  S.  Kisien  Russell. 

The  author  found  the  condition  of  the  peripheral  laryngeal 
apparatus  has  practically  no  effect  on  the  result  obtained  from 
the  central  nervous  mechanism,  for  abduction  or  adduction  of 
the  vocal  cords  resulted  on  excitation  of  the  appropriate  area  of 
the  cerebral  cortex,  irrespective  of  whether  abduction  or  adduc- 
tion was  obtained  on  excitation  of  the  recurrent  laryngeal  nerves 
iq  the  same  animal.  No  evidence  of  unilateral  representation 
of  the  movements  of  the  vocal  cords  in  the  cerebral  cortex  w-as 
obtained,  although  this  point  was  tested  in  various  ways.  Nor 
was  it  found  possible  l»-»  inhibit  the  abductor  muscles  by  excita- 
tion of  the  cortical  centre  of  their  antagonists  the  adductors. 
It  was  founil  that  both  in  the  dog  and  cat  there  existed  a  focus, 
excitation  of  which  resulted  in  .idduction  of  the  vocal  cords,  and 
another  near  to  this,  stimulation  of  which  resulted  in  alxluction 
of  the  cords.  While  in  the  cat  it  was  possible  to  differentiate 
these  movements  without  any  preliminary  measures  being 
adopted,  it  was  only  after  the  adductor  fibres  of  one  recurrent 
lary'ngeal  nerve  had  been  divided  transversely  that  it  first  became 
possible  to  evoke  abduction  of  tl-.e  vocal  cords  on  excitation  of 
the  cortex,  th<)Ugh  in  subsequent  experiments  it  was  sometimes 
possible  to  evoke  this  movemen*  on  excitation  of  the  cortex  of 
the  dng  without  adopting  this  preliminary  measure.  The  other 
effect  on  the  cords,  which  it  was  as  a  rule  found  most  nifficult  to 
differentiate  from  that  of  abduction,  was  acceleration  of  their 
movements.  It  was  further  found  that  on  the  anterior  composite 
gyrus,  below  the  abductor  centre,  there  existed  a  focus,  excitation 
of  which  resulted  in  a  clonic  adductor  effect  on  the  cords,  in 
which  the  cords  were  first  brought  into  a  position  of  moderate 
adduction,  and  then  there  was  added  rapid  short  to-and-fro  ex- 
cursions. On  passing  within  the  confines  of  Spencer's  area  for 
arrest  of  respiration,  it  was  found  that  in  the  peripheral  parts  of 
this  area  there  existed  three  foci,  excitation  of  which  affected  the 
cords  in  different  ways.  The  most  anterior  was  responsible  for 
arrest  of  the  cords  in  adduction,  i.e.  in  the  expiratory' stage  of 
their  excursions  ;  excitation  of  the  focus  behind  this,  and  corre- 
sponding, jjrobably,  to  Horsley  and  .Semon's  abductor  centre 
in  the  cat,  was  followed  by  arrest  of  the  cords  in  abduc- 
tion, i.e.  their  inspiratory  position  ;  while  the  most  posterior 
focus,  which  is  situated  at  about  the  junction  of  the 
anterior  composite  and  anterior  sylvian  convolutions,  resulted 
in  intensification  combined  with  acceleration  of  the  movements 
of  the  cords  when  stimulated.  Excitation  of  Spencer's  chief 
focus  for  arrest  of  respiration  on  the  olfactory  lobe,  resulted 
in  arrest  of  the  cords  in  the  position  they  occujjy  during 
expiration  in  the  dog,  .ind  in  the  position  they  occupy  during 
inspiration  in  the  cat. 

Physical  Society,  June  28. — Dr.  dladstone,  \'ice-Presidenl, 
in  the  chair. — Mr.  Howden  read  a  note  on  an  electro-magnetic 
effect.  .\  long  glass  tube  containing  mercury,  and  fitted  with  a 
small  stand-jjipc  to  indicate  hydrostatic  pressure,  is  pa.ssed  be- 
tween the  poles  of  an  electro-magnet.  On  passing  a  current  of 
about  30  amperes  through  the  mercury  in  this  tube,  the  stand- 
pipe  being  turned  so  as  to  indicate  the  pressure  either  per- 
pendicular or  parallel  to  the  lines  of  force  of  the  field  of  the 
electro-magnet,  movements  of  the  mercury  in  the  stand-pipe 
take  place.  When  the  stand-|)ipe  is  perpendicular  to  the  lines 
of  force  of  the  field,  the  mercury  rises  or  falls  according  to  the 
direction  of  the  current.  When  the  stand-pipe,  however,  is 
parallel  to  the  lines  of  force,  the  mercury  always  rises,  whatever 
the  direction  of  the  current.  I'rof.  S.  1'.  Thompscm  .said  there 
appeared  to  be  three  unexplained  efi'ects,  one  proportional  to 
the  current  and  the  field,  and  reversible  ;  another,  indepen- 
dent of  the  direction  of  the  cmrent,  or  of  the  field;  and 
a  third,  which  only  occurred  while  the  current  was  changing 
in  strength.  In  addition  there  may  be  a  fourth  effect,  which 
up  to  now  has  not  been  noticetl.  The  motion  of  the  mercury 
column  in  I'ig.  I  of  the  paper  was  in  the  opposite  direction  to 
that  of  the  drag  on  a  conductor  carrying  the  current.  An 
ii|i].arenl  rise  in  pressiue  might  be  due  to  a  decre.-ise  in  the 
density  of  the  mercury  due  lo  the  heat  developed  by  the 
current.  Mr.  Blakesley  asked  ii  the  author  had  noticed  any 
changes  in  level  in  the  mercury  reservoirs  at  the  ends  of  the 
lube.  The  author,  in  his  reply,  said  the  reservoirs  at  the  ends 
were  so  large  that  no  changes  of  level  were  appreciable. — Mr. 
Rhodes  read  a  paper  on  the  armature  reaction  in  a  single  i^hase 

NO.   1 34 1,  VOL.  52] 


alternating  current  machine.  In  this  paper  the  author  gives  the 
investigations  that  were  the  subject  of  a  verbal  addendum  to  a 
paper  read  before  the  Society  orv  a  previous  occasion.  He  inves- 
tigates the  lag  or  lead  of  the  K.M.F.s  over  the  current,  and 
applies  the  results  to  examine  whether  the  field  excitation  of  the 
generator  or  the  motor  is  strengthened  or  weakened  by  the  re- 
action of  the  armature  currents.  Mr.  Tunzelmann  expressed  a 
hope  that  the  .author  would  amplify  parts  of  his  paper.  Mr. 
Hlakesley  said  the  conclusion  of  the  author  that  "  either  of  two 
alternate  current  machines  may  be  driven  as  a  motor  by  the 
other,  irrespective  of  their  relative  E.  M.F.s,"  is  not  invariably 
correct.  The  facts  of  the  case  were  these  :  the  E. M.E.  of  the 
motor  may  exceed  that  of  the  other  machine  to  a  certain  extent ; 
but  that  E.M.E.,  multiplied  by  the  cosine  of  the  angle  of 
electric  lag,  must  yield  a  product  not  greater  than  the  E..M.F. 
of  the  generator  ;  i.e.  using  Mr.  Rhodes'  symbols  e  cos  9  must 
not  be  greater  than  E.  Mr.  Blakesley  gave  a  geometrical  proof 
of  this,  but  the  same  proposition  had  been  given  by  him  some 
ten  years  ago  in  the  course  of  investigating  the  subject  generally. 
This  was  at  a  time  when  Dr.  John  Hopkinson  was,  with  less, 
than  his  usual  ]iersi)icuity,  leaching  that  synchronous  alternate 
current  machines  could  not  be  run  in  series  with  stability,  both 
doing  work.  Referring  to  the  author's  diagrams,  Mr.  Blakesley 
said  that  in  a  jiroblem  involving  so  many  elements  as  that  under 
consideration,  it  was  impossible  with  the  limited  dimensions  of 
space  to  represent  the  results  with  the  complete  generality  of  a 
formula.  Some  elements  had  to  be  taken  as  the  independent, 
others  as  the  dependent  variables.  The  author  had  considered 
the  power  transmitted  to  the  motor,  the  E.  M.F.  of  the  generator 
and  the  angle  of  electric  lag  as  independent.  The  E.  M.  F".  of  the 
motor  was  dependent.  In  Mr.  Blakesley's  original  diagrams  the 
E. M.F.s  were  both  considered  independent  as  well  as  the 
electric  lag,  and  the  powers  applied  or  transmitted  as  dependent 
variables.  In  any  case  the  formuk-e  properly  derived  fron.  such 
diagrams  became  perfectly  general,  and  it  did  not  ajipear  to  him 
that  the  change  of  method  indicated  could  properly  be  called  a 
new  theory  on  the  subject.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  diagrams  based 
on  the  independence  of  the  E. M.F.s  and  the  electric  lag  would 
furnish  a  better  means  of  discussing  the  question  of  the  stability 
of  the  motion  than  Mr.  Rhodes'  plan,  and  this  might  account 
for  the  entire  omission  from  the  paper  of  this  important  matter. 
I'rof.  S.  1'.  Thompson  said  it  was  imjiossible  to  discuss  the 
question  of  stability  till  the  subject  of  armature  reaction  had  been 
thoroughly  investigated.  The  terms  lag  and  lead  had  been  used 
by  Mr.  Rhodes  in  a  consistent  manner;  but  this  was  not  always 
done,  and  he  reconnnended  that  the  phase  of  the  current  which 
was  common  to  both  generator  and  motor  be  taken  as  the 
standard.  The  author,  in  his  reply,  said  he  agreed  with  Mr. 
Hlakesley  that  there  was  a  limit  to  the  extent  lo  which  the 
motor  might  be  excited,  and  this  upper  limit  could  easily  be 
obtained  from  the  figure  given  in  the  paper.  The  queslicm  of 
armature  reaction  was,  however,  most  important,  as  it  might 
excite  the  field  two  or  three  times  more  than  the  original  excita- 
tion. Since  motors  were  designed  to  do  a  certain  amount  of  work, 
and  not  the  work  to  fit  the  motor,  it  w-as  most  natural  to  take  the 
output  of  the  motor  as  fixed. — Mr.  Shelford  Bidwell  read  a 
pajier  on  the  electrical  properties  of  selenium.  The  author  h.as 
continued  his  investigations  on  this  subject,  and  has  come  to  the 
following  conclusions  :  ( i )  The  conductivit)-  of  crystalline  Se 
appears  to  depend  princii»lly  on  the  impurities  which  it  con- 
tains in  the  form  of  metallic  selenides.  It  may  be  that  the 
selenides  conduct  electrolytically,  and  that  the  influence  of  light 
in  increasing  the  conductivity  is  to  be  attributed  to  its  proi^rty 
of  facilitating  the  combination  of  Se  with  metals  in  contact  with 
it.  (2)  A  Se  cell  having  platinum  electrodes,  and  made  with 
Se  to  which  about  3  per  cent,  of  cuprous  selenide  has  been 
added  is,  even  tho\igh  unannealed,  greatly  superior  both  in 
conductivity  and  sensitiveness  lo  a  similar  cell  made  with 
ordinary  Se  and  annealed  for  several  hours.  (3)  Red  Se  in 
cont.act  with  cojiper  or  brass,  is  quickly  darkened  by  the  action 
of  light,  owing,  it  is  suggested,  lo  the  formation  of  a  selenide. 
(4)  Crystalline  Se  is  porous  and  absorbs  moisture  from  the  air, 
and  it  is  this  moisture  that  causes  the  polarisation  of  Se  after 
the  passage  of  a  current.  (5)  The  presence  of  moisture  is  not 
essential  to  sensiti\  eness,  but  appears  to  be  in  a  slight  degree 
favourable  to  il.  (6)  If  cuprous  selenide  is  made  the  kathotle 
in  an  electrolytic  cell,  and  a  strip  of  platinum  the  anode  in 
water,  red  Se  mixed  with  detached  particles  of  the  selenide  is 
deposited  in  the  waler.  (7)  The  photo-electric  currents  some- 
times set  up  when  light  falls  upon  Se,  are  dependent  upon  the 


.64 


NATURE 


fjvi.v    II,  1895 


presence  ol'  moi.-iure.  ami  arc  n.)  iluubl   of  voliaic  orison.     (S) 
Perfectly  dry  Se  is  below  )>latinum  in  the  thermo-electric  series. 
IVof.     Minchin    (communicateill   suggested    that    the   selenium 
••cell""    should    be   called    a    selenium    •'resistance.        A   gnd 
ha\-ing  one  terminal  made  of  aluminium  and  the  other  of  copper, 
mii;ht  form  a  true  cell,  and  might  generate  an   E.M.F.  when 
light  fell  on  it.     He  (Prof.   Minchin (  would  like  to  know  if  the 
author  had  tried  any  such  cell  in  which  light  simply  and  solely 
generate.1  an  E.M.K.     He  could  not  .igree  that  chemical  action 
must  necessarily  follow  the  action  of  light  in  a  cell.      tor.  take  ; 
the  case  of  the  .Mdest  photo-electric  cell— the  thermopile— what 
chemical  action  can   we  show  here  for  all  the  energ>-  of  the 
inoident  heat.     Chemical  action  due  to  light  may,  or  may  not, 
.jccur   ac-or.ling   to    the    nature   of  the   cell.     Mr.    Applej-ard 
asketl  whether  the  author  had  submitted  these  selenium  resist-  | 
ances   to   the   action  of  electric   oscillations.     Prof.    Mmchin  s  ; 
•'impulsion"  cells  were  greatly  influenced  by  electric  o.scilla-  , 
lions.      The   great    variation    in    the    resistance    with    time   ol 
the  authors  cells  pointe<l  rather  to  an  eflecl  of  contact  between  I 
the  selenium  and  the  electrwles.  than  to  an  elementary  change 
in    the    structure   or   composition.      He    (Mr.    Appleyartl)   had 
recently  tried  to  crjstallise  a  siiiiersaturaied  solution  of  sodium 
sulphate  by  electric  oscillations,  as  well  as  by  direct  si>arks.  an. 
by  currents  of  several  amperes,  but  no  crystals  could  l>e  induced 
to  form.     Change  of  contact,  rather  than  change  of  structure, 
appeared  to  him  to  l)e  the  most  promising  direction  m  which  to 
look    for   an    adequate   theory   of  selenium    resistances.      Prof. 
Ramsey    said    the    quantity    of    Se    litwrated    in    the   eleclro- 
Ktic  e\iieriment  was  much  too  great   to  he.  accounte<l  for  by 
oNvgen  dissolve.!   in    the    water.     The   study   of  Se  was  verj- 
interesting,  for  this  substance  was  on  the  borderiand  between 
those  l»Klics  in  which  the  electric  conduction  was  met.-illic,  and 
those  in  which  it  was  known  to  Iw  electrolytic.     The  author,  in 
his  reply,  saitl  he  agreed  that  the  name  "selenium  cell     was  not 
an  appropriate  one.      He  had  n.n   trie«l  the  effect  of  electric 
.■scillations.— The  Society  then  adjourned  till  the  autumn. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  Fulv  i.  — M.  Marey  in  the  chair.— 
The  Prc-ident  announced  the  decease  of  Prof.  Huxley,  Corrc- 
spondant  of  the  .\natomy  and  Zoology  Section.— On  photographs 
of  the  moon  and  new.jbjects  discovere.l  by  means  of  them,  by  .M.M. 
I^ewy  and    Puiseux.— (Jn    an    extensive  cla.ss  of  linear  partial 
.lifferential   cjuations,  of  which  all  the  integrals  are  an.ilytical, 
by  M.  Emile   I'icard.— Laws  of  extinction  of  a  simple  wave  on 
the  high  seas,  by  M.  1.  Houssinesq.     The  coefficient   of  exlmc- 
•:  —   (with   the  dLstancc)  of  a  simple  wave  is  inversely  proiior-   , 
I  10  the  fifth  (lower  of  its. lemii)eri<Kl  T.— On  the  estimation  j 
■      iiiule  quantities  of  arsenic,  by  .M.  .\d.  Carnot.     The  arsenic  I 
IS  sciarate.l  in  the  usual  manner   as  sulphide,  this  is  ..issolved  , 
in  free  ammonia  an.l  treated  with  silver  nitrate  and  liydrogen 
l«roxide.     The  solution  is  then  precipitated  by  bismuth  nitrate, 
followed  by  ammonia,  the  accom|mnying  bismuth  hydrate  is  .lis-  ] 
vjlved  out  by  nitric  acid  ( ,'.  nitric  acid  of  sp.   gr.    1-33),  and, 
linally,   the  bismuth  arsenate  is  >lrieil|at    1 10   .in.l  weighed.— 
Truffles  (Terfislfrom  Mor.icco  and  Sar.linia.  by  M.  .\d.  Chalin. 
—Comparison  of  the  healing  .if  the  muscles  in  the  cases  ..f  iwsi- 
livc  an.l  negative   work,  by  -M.  A.  Chauveau.     During  nega- 
tive work,  descent  or  lowering,  the  temperature  ..f  the  muscles 
conccme.1  was  rai.se<l  to  a  notably  less  degree  than  .luring  corre- 
sponding  prsitive  work,  .iscent  or  raising.  -Conlributum  t.)  the 
study  of  arable  soil.     (Quantities  .)f  .air  and  water  contained  in 
cI.hIs  of  earth,  by   M.    V.    1'.    Deherain.— On  the   products  of 
..xidalion  of   lienzylidcnccamphfir  and  Ixn/ylcamph.ir.      ■^'•f"' 
sate  <jr  nitronitritc  of  lK'n/.yli.lenecamph.)r,  by  M.  .\.  llaller.— 
\    new   instrument   (tache.)graph)  serving   to   survey  an.l  trace 
.lircctly  from  the  earth's  surface,  by  M.   Schrader. -On  curves 
\         ,  surface,  of  which  the  osculating  sphere  is  tangential 
ml   to  the  surface,  by   M.    K.  .Cosserat.— On   linear 
i>L,  derive.1  larlials,  by   M.  Ktienne  DeKssus.— On 
the  .f  or.linary  .lifferenlial  equations,   by.M.   .yf- 

(lul,,  he  propagati.Mi  of  sound  in  a  cylindrical  tube, 

by  M.M.  J.  \iolle  ami  Th.  Vautier.— On  the  apimrent  attrac- 
tions an.l  repulsions  of  electrified  con.lucL.rs  in  a  .lielc-ctric 
llui.l,  by  M.  ilouy.  The  ap|)arent  forces  exercise.l  lielwcen 
I  ..mluclors  wilh  given  charges  in  a  liquid  dielectric  result:  (I) 
from  their  mum  .1  .i!i.u  tn.ns  and  repulsions,  the  same  a.s  in  a 
vacuum  ;   (2)    b  Irostatic    pressiure  iir.idured   by  the 

force  which  attr..  trie  in  the  sense  where  the  intensity 

of  Ihe  field  increa.»e.^  iiiu,l  rapidly.  — New  method  of  measure- 
ment of  electric  capacilies  Icised  .jn  the  sensitiveness  of  the  skin, 


by  M  H  Bordier.— On  the  solubility  of  superfused  liquids.  In 
M.  Louis  Kruner.  The  author  finds  that  superfused  sodium 
thiosulphate  is  much  more  soluble  in  alc.ihol  than  the  corres- 
ponding solid  compound.— On  the  specific  heat  of  superfused 
salts,  by  M.  Louis  Kruner.  The  curve  of  specific  heats  at 
diflferenl  temperatures  for  sodium  thiosulphate  shows  a  maximum 
near  the  point  of  fusion,  48'  C— On  iiaratungstic  aci.l.  l>y  -M. 
L  \.  Hallopeau.— On  the  estimation  of  alumina  in  phosphates, 
by  M.  Henri  Lxsne.  -V  method  of  precipitation  of  pure 
aluminium  phosphate  is  described,  which  avoids  the  complica- 
tions introduced  by  the  use  of  molybdate  or  citrate  in  estimating 
alumina.  The  precipitation  is  accomplished  by  the  use  or 
ammonium  thiosulphate.— On  sodammonium,  by  .M.  .le 
Forcrand.  A  thermo-chemical  sludy.-On  the  phosphoric 
esters  of  allyl  alc0h.1l.  allylphosph.iric  acid,  by  M.  1.  tavaliev. 
— rreparati.m  and  con.Uictibility  a{  new  methyl  alkylcyan- 
acetates.  by  M.  I.  Guinchant.— \'erificalion  of  Ischeimak  s  aw 
relative  to  plagioclases,  and  a  new  process  .)f  orieiitation  and  ol 
diagnosis  ,if  felspars  in  thin  plates,  by  M.  A.  Michel-Levy. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

liooKS.-.Ma.ricuUtion  Directory.  No.  xviii     June,  >«"?('•  "'^'••3-V'>"Vh: 

Came  Birds  Vol.  1  :  W-  R-  Ogilvie-t.ranl  (.\llen).-M's^o"r'  •ot--.n"^-il 
.  aSen  Six  h  .\nnual  Rcpo.t  (Sr  l.ouis  Mo.).-Iowa  Geo log.cal  ;,..rvey. 
Vol  -  -nd  \nnual  Report.  1803  (U<--s  Moines). -.\nAnalysi>  of  .Ulro- 
,«S«icarMotion:  Pr.  I?,  l^ra.t  (Norman).--Repor.  of  .he  ln'"na.K,na 
M^eoroloKical  Congress  held  a.  Chic.-.fio.  111..  -^"8"*.  ;=.-=4.  .89  •  ••  "J 
(Washington).-lce-Hound  on  K..lguev  :  .\.  Trevor- Bat. ye  (Con,...bM 
Wild  Fneland  of  To-day:  C.  I.  Cornish  (Seclcy).— 1  h  rlcenlh  -Wnn-^l 
ReporroT.he  Fishei^Boid  for  Gotland.     P.-.r.  ..  General  Repo..  (Ed.n- 

''"p;''MVHLb;Ts.-Report  on  ihe  Loss  of  Cold  in  the  Reduction  of  .\nriferou4 
Vei.t..o."eti.  Victoria  :  H.  Ros.-,les  {.Melbour,ie).-Royal  Gardens.  Ke«;, 
Hand-hs' of  Herbaceous  PI.-.n,s(K>Te). -Great  Ea^.ern  Raihv.ay  Company  s 
Tourisi  Guide  to  the  Continen.  (JO  Kleet  .s.treet).  ^    ..        .^    M.Bxiine 

Serials -Geologic.il  Mag.T7ine.  July  (Dul.au).— bcrilmer  s  .M.igazine, 
Ju^^  (Uw).-:jahrbuch  der  K.K.  . iologischen  Re,chs.^ns>aU  Jahr„ng 
■^S,^.  V  iv.  Band,  2.  3,  and  4  Hef.  (\Vien).-I..\n.hropolog.e,  T'^"  ^  •^•'-  -j. 
(Pii  s).-Science  Progress,  July  (Sc.ennhc  P'?^*;  '•  ^.-'r-i^r'f"/'"*'  "] 
.he  Bath  Xatur.al  Hislorv-  and  .\nt14uar1an  tleld  Llub,  Vol-  8,  >''■  2 
H^.h  -  WsSf  s"i..ish  Nalural  H.slory,  July  (KJ'nburgh.  l.ouglas).- 
Journal  of  .he  Sani.ary  bis.i.u.e,  J.;ly  (^'- V'~i?'Tr';  .'"c.ions  if  .hi 
(Herlin).-Blackw«odsM.-.g.-uine.  Ju'V  <P-'^^^»».°?>-7.^™  ^'I'S-^d  ,  ,,' 
Leicester  Li.erarv-  and  Philosophical  Society,  -^P"' < ';^\''-f  V^'ATr,^,'-  "'^ 
(\ViUi.-u..s).-l!otinische  Jahrbacher,  Zwanz.gster  Band,  5  Heft  (l-eipng). 


I 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  Teaching  of  Pathology.     By  Dr.  A.  A.  Kanthack  241 

The   Natural   History  of  Aquatic  Insects 4- 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

••The  Uoyal  Natural  History       .    .    .    ..  ;  .-    •        •    •  -^- 

Brunhes  :   ••  Ciurs  Klementaire  d'tlectncite     .    .    .    .  -4j 

Browne  :  "  Off  the  Mill  :  Some  Occa-sional  Papers     .  ::4j 
Letters  to  the  Editor:—                               .     •      , 

\  Cyclonic  Indraught  at  the  Top  of  an  Anticyclone. 

(//VMZJw^T.t'/'.l-H.  Helm  Clayton -4j 

Kffects  of  a  1  jghtning  Klash  in  Hen  Nevis  ( )bserv;ilory. 

William  S.  Bruce       .    .    .    .    •    •    ■    •    •    •_•_•„■  ;■*'' 

The  Kinetic  Theory  of  (..scs.-G.  H.  Bryan,  F.R^.  244 
Vn    .\bnormal     Rose.     Newnham     Browne:    W. 

Bolting  Hemsley.F.R.S..    .    .        -4-J 

Mincralisc^l  Diatoms.     W.  H.  Shrubsole              .    .  .!45 

Sir  John  Lubbock  and  the  Teaching  University  for  ^^^ 

Th^e°Eleclricai  Measurement  of   Starlight^     (///">■ 

/r,,/,,/)    liv  Prof.  George  M.  Minchin.  F.R.S.     .    .    -4'' 

Funeral  of  Professor  Huxley -■^• 

Notes 

Our  Astronomical  Column: — 

Short-1'erio.l  Variable  Stars      .    .    .  O- 

The  Nice  Obscrvalory  .    . "^ 

K..ucault's  Pendulum  Kxperiment    ...    .    •    •    ■    •    •       i 
The  Sun's  Place  in  Nature.    VHI     (////»//-.»/.•"'•)     ») 

I    Norman  Lockycr,  C.B.,  F.RS.    .    .    .    .    -    ■    .^    ^53 
The   Fluorescence   of  Argon,  and   its  Combination 

with  the  Elements  of  Benzene  .        •    •    •  •    ^.J> 

The  Reform  of  our  Weights  and  Measures    ....    250 

Science  in  the  Magazines .••,','■    ;•„'„' 

The  Relation  of  Biology  to   Geological  Investiga- 

lion.      P.y  Charles  A.  White ^5» 

Scientific  Serials     •    •    •    •    •,•,■,•   ;  /, ^62 

Societies  and  Academics.    (Il/ustralol.) 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received -M 


NO.    134'.  VOL.   52] 


NA  TURE 


265 


THURSDAY,  JULY    18,   1895. 


ANALYSIS  OF  OILS,  FATS,  AND  WAXES. 
Chemical  Analysis  of  Oils,  Fa/s,  and  JJ'tLXCs,  and  of  the 
Commercial  Products  derived  therefrom.  From  the 
(icrman  of  Prof.  Dr.  R.  liencdikt.  Revised  and  en- 
larged by  Dr.  J.  Lewkowitsch,  F.I.C.,  F.C.S.  (London  : 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 

TEN  or  tvvehe  years  ago,  the  analysis  of  oils  was 
one  of  the  most  neglected  branches  of  an.^iytical 
chemistry.  How  the  study  of  it  has  been  taken  up  and 
de\elopcd  since,  may  be  gathered  by  turning  over  the 
670  pages  of  this  excellent  volume,  the  first  English  work 
devoted  exclusively  to  this  subject.  The  information 
existing  in  1882  was  comprised  within  140  pages  (much 
smaller  than  these)  of  Allen's  "  Commercial  Organic 
Analysis."  In  the  second  edition  of  the  same  work, 
published  in  1886,  the  subject-matter  had  grown  to  318 
pages.  Benedikt's  "  Analyse  der  Fette  und  Wachsarten," 
second  edition,  published  in  1892,  upon  which  the  present 
work  is  based,  contained  460  pages,  and  as  the  literature 
of  the  subject  has  accumulated  since  then,  at  an  in- 
creasingly rapid  rate,  it  is  evident  that  a  new  volume  was 
demanded,  the  preparation  of  which  could  not  have 
devolved  upon  any  one  more  capable  than  Dr.  Lew- 
kowitsch, whose  practical  experience  in,  and  valuable 
contributions  to,  our  knowledge  of  this  branch  of  chemistry 
are  well  known.  To  regard  this  work  merely  as  a  trans- 
lation of  the  work  of  Dr.  Benedikt  would,  obviously,  be 
aljsurd.  As  the  author  points  out  in  the  preface,  every 
page  bears  evidence  of  the  alterations  and  numerous 
adilitions  which  have  been  made.  Obsolete  processes 
have  been  abridged  or  entirely  omitted,  and  the  new  work 
of  the  last  four  years  has  been  sifted,  and  all  that  is  of 
value  has  been  incorporated,  including  a  large  number  of 
the  author's  own  experiments  and  observations  hitherto 
unpublished.  Benedikt's  arrangement  of  the  subject- 
matter  has  been  generally  adhered  to,  but  an  improve- 
ment has  been  effected  by  transferring  to  the  end  of  the 
book  the  chapter  on  the  analysis  of  soap,  candles,  glycerine, 
and  other  products  of  the  fat  industry. 

The  first  two  chapters  contain  a  description  of  the 
sources  and  chief  properties  of  the  various  acids  and 
alcohols  obtained,  or  derived  by  oxidation,  from  the 
fats  and  waxes,  followed  by  an  account  of  the  chemical 
constitution  and  thechief  chemical  and  physical  characters 
of  the  oils,  fats,  and  waxes  themselves.  Commercial  fats 
and  oils  are  not  pure  neutral  bodies,  but  always  contain 
more  or  less  free  fatty  acids  which,  for  some  purposes, 
depreciate  their  value.  The  percentage  of  free  acid  is 
liable  to  increase  on  keeping,  and  it  was  until  recently 
believed  that  the  development  of  rancidity  was  connected 
with  this  change.  But  Ballantyne  has  disproved  this 
by  showing  that  an  oil  may  become  lancid  without 
becoming  acid,  and  Heyerdahl  has  proved  that  the 
converse  may  also  be  true.  The  discovery,  by  Kirchner, 
of  micro-organisms  in  poppy-seed  oil,  lent  support  to  the 
view  that  rancidity  might  be  the  result  of  a  fermentation 
process  ;  but  Ritsert  sliowed  that  a  fat  which  had  been 
sterilised  by  heating  to  140'  C,  might  subsequently  become 
rancid  if  exposed  to  light  and  air.  The  latter  investigator 
has  also  shown  that  moisture  is  by  no  means  essential, 
NO.    1342,  VOL.   52] 


and  he  has  finally  concluded  that  rancidity  must  be  due 
to  the  direct  oxidation  of  the  oil  or  fat  by  the  oxygen 
of  the  air  acting  in  presence  of  light. 

Chapter  iii.  describes  the  determination  of  water  and 
other  non-fatty  admixtures,  and  the  preparation  of  the 
pure  fat  for  analysis.  Then  follow  a  chapter  on  the 
physical  properties  and  methods  of  examining  fats,  and 
four  chapters  on  chemical  methods.  In  the  two  next 
chapters  the  application  of  the  foregoing,  and  some  other 
methods,  to  the  examination  of  fats  is  discussed,  and 
data  obtained  by  submitting  the  various  oils,  fats,  &c., 
to  examination  by  each  method  are  collected  and  arranged 
in  tables.  This,  however,  is  hardly  shown  by  the  head- 
ings of  the  chapters.  Thus,  chapter  iv.,  which  is  headed 
"  Physical  Properties  of  Fats  and  Waxes,"  should  rather 
be  "  Physical  Properties  and  Methods  of  Examining 
Fats  and  Waxes"  ;  and  chapters  ix.  and  x.,  headed 
"  Systematic  Examination  of  Liquid  and  Solid  Fats  and 
W' axes,"  with  the  sub-headings  "  Physical  Methods  "  and 
"  Chemical  Methods,"  would  be  better  entitled  "  Applica- 
tion of  the  foregoing  Methods  to  the  Systematic  Ex- 
amination," &c.,  with  sub-headings  "  Application  of 
Physical  Methods "  and  "  Application  of  Chemical 
Methods."  These  eight  chapters  are  admirably  written, 
and  the  value  of  the  information  given  is  greatly  enhanced 
by  the  able  manner  in  which  each  method  is  discussed 
and  criticised.  The  completeness  of  the  treatment  shows 
how  thoroughly  the  author  has  ransacked  the  literature 
of  the  subject.  Unfortunately  the  task  of  reading  and 
sifting  papers  is  rendered  heavier  than  need  be  by  the 
growing  tendency  to  rush  into  print  with  trivial  and  ill- 
considered  observations.  Thus,  "  the  excellent  Reichert- 
Meissl  process  has  not  escaped  the  fate  of  nearly  all 
modern  methods  used  in  fat  analysis  "  (there  is  no  need 
to  limit  the  statement  to  fat  analysis,  as  the  literature 
of  steel  analysis  would  show),  "  viz.,  to  receive  at  the 
hands  of  numerous  analysts  a  number  of  supposed 
improvements,  most  of  which  are  altogether  insignificant 
and  hardly  offer  any  advantage  whatever."  Again,  re- 
ferring to  the  Hiibl  process  :  "  The  chemical  literature 
of  the  last  few  years  contains  numerous  papers  by  various 
authors  purporting  to  give  improvements  or  modifications 
of  the  original  method.  Most  of  these  refer  to  minor 
and  unimportant  points,  and  some  of  them  even  reproduce 
methods  which  Hiibl  in  his  classical  paper  has  rejected." 

For  the  determination  of  unsaponifiable  matter,  the 
author  recommends  petroleum  spirit  in  preference  to 
ether,  but  he  very  rightly  insists  upon  the  necessity  of 
carefully  purifying  and  rectifying  the  spirit  used.  If  this 
is  not  done,  some  of  the  lighter  mineral  oils  occasionally 
used  to  adulterate  rape  oil,  for  instance,  may  be  lost,  and 
for  that  reason  I  prefer  to  use  ordinary  ether,  which  can 
be  completely  expelled  at  a  very  moderate  temperature. 

For  the  determination  of  resin,  Twitchell's  process  is 
recommended  as  yielding  the  best  results,  but  no  process 
yet  exists  by  which  resin  can  be  determined  with  absolute 
accuracy. 

"  If  a  correct  nuthod  of  determining  accurately  the 
oxygen  absorbed  were  known,  it  would  be  possible  to 
class  the  determination  of  the  drying  power,  or,  as  it 
might  be  called,  the  'oxygen  value'  amongst  the  quan- 
titative reactions."  Such  an  addition  to  existing  methods 
would  be  of  the  greatest  value  in  the  examination  of  the 

N 


266 


NATURE 


[July   i8,  189: 


various  oils  from  cruciferous  and  other  seeds  which  now 
pass  under  the  name  of  "  rape  oil." 

In  the  eleventh  chapter,  which  extends  over  273  pages, 
the  natural  oils,  fats,  and  waxes  are  systematically 
arranged  and  separately  described,  a  ver>'  excellent  and 
most  valuable  feature  being  a  series  of  tables  appended 
to  the  description  of  each  oil,  fat,  and  wax,  giving  the 
physical  and  chemical  constants  (1)  of  the  oil  itself,  (2)  of 
the  mixed  fatty  acids,  and  13)  of  the  wax  alcohols.  It  is 
a  pity  these  tables  were  not  arranged  so  as  to  be  readable 
without  having  to  turn  the  book  half  round,  which  might 
have  been  done  by  cutting  each  t.ible  in  half  No  less 
than  106  oils,  &c.,  are  thus  separately  described,  and 
their  physical  and  chemical  constants  are  collected  and 
arranged  in  about  175  tables.  The  usefulness  of  these 
tables  to  the  analyst  cannot  be  over-rated,  though  it  does 
not  appear  to  be  clear  in  all  cases  by  what  method  the 
melting  and  solidifying  points  of  the  fatty  acids  were 
determined.  The  "saponification  values"  arc  expressed 
per  mille,  and  the  iodine  and  other  values  per  rent.,  but 
there  is  no  reason  why  the  simpler  plan  of  expressing  all 
the  quantitative  values  in  percentages  should  not  be 
adopted.  The  section  on  butter  fat,  the  analysis  of  which 
was  the  first  to  be  placed  upon  a  scientific  basis,  occupies 
twenty-three  pages. 

In  chapter  xii.  the  analysis  of  the  raw  materials  and 
products  of  the  fat  and  oil  industries  is  treated,  and  in 
the  concluding  chapter  some  examples  of  the  interpre- 
tation of  results  arc  given  ;  but  space  does  not  admit  of 
further  reference. 

This  book  is  unique  :  the  analyst  will  find  in  it  prac- 
tically all  the  available  information  upon  the  subject  up 
to  date,  with  full  references  to  the  original  papers  ;  and  it 
will  increase  the  author's  already  high  reputation. 

L.  Arch  BUTT. 


TRACES   OF  A   DELUGE. 

On  Certain  Phcnomeiui  bclongini;  to  the  Close  of  the 
last  Geological  Period,  and  on  their  bearing  upon  the 
Tradition  of  the  Flood.  By  Joseph  I'rcstwich,  D.C.L., 
P'.R.S.,  &c.     (London  :   Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 

H.\I)  the  story  of  the  Deluge  a  foundation  in  fact; 
in  other  words,  is  it  a  record  of  some  inundation 
which  affected  a  considerable  area  of  the  earth's  surface  ? 
This  is  the  question  which  I'rof  I'restwich  sets  himself 
to  answer  in  the  small  volume  before  us — a  volume 
which  combines  a  paper  read  to  the  Victoria  Institute 
with  some  of  the  material  communicated  to  the  Royal 
and  the  Geological  Societies. 

In  the  south  of  England,  especially  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  the  coast,  a  drift  is  often  found,  varying  in 
thickness  from  a  few  inches  to  a  few  feet,  which  consists 
of  angular  fragments  of  rock  with  loam  derived  from 
adjacent  higher  ground,  and  lies  on  the  slo|)es  of  the 
hills  and  at  the  bottom  of  the  valleys.  Frequently  it  is 
absent,  but  where  hollows  occur  in  the  surface  of  the 
underlying  rocks,  it  has  accumulated  in  greater  quantities, 
and  occasionally  even  exceeds  eighty  feet  in  thickness. 
In  some  localities  it  rests  on  an  old  raised  beach,  and 
is  banked  up  against  a  buried  sea  cliff;  in  others  it  fills 
up  fissures  in  ihc  rocks.  In  the  last  case  it  frequently 
NO.    1342,  VOL.   52] 


contains  the  bones  of  mammals,  many  of  them  now 
extinct — at  any  rate  in  Britain.  These  are  neither 
worn  nor  gnawed,  but  are  commonly  broken  and  split. 
Its  fossils,  almost  without  exception,  are  of  terrestrial 
origin.  Similar  deposits  occur  in  the  Channel  Isles  and 
on  the  French  coast,  and  in  many  places  around  the 
Mediterranean,  not  to  mention  others.  What  is  the 
origin  of  this  "  rubble  drift,"  "  head,"  osseous  or  fissure 
breccia .' 

Prof.  Prestwich  refers  all  these  deposits  to  one  epoch 
of  verj-  limited  duration.  He  supposes  that  there  was 
a  rather  widespread  subsidence,  amounting,  in  some 
places,  to  a  few  hundred  feet,  during  which  the  sea 
overflowed  the  lower  land.  This  was  sufficiently  rapid 
to  make  the  in\ading  water  muddy  ;  then,  before  the 
marine  molluscs  had  time  to  establish  themselves  in  the 
new  territory',  the  land  was  upheaved  by  ierks  (^with 
intervening  pauses).  These  sudden  disturbances  of  its 
bed  set  up  currents  in  the  sea,  strong  enough  to  sweep 
heavy  debris,  and  even  largish  blocks  of  rock,  from  the 
higher  to  the  lower  ground,  and  to  precipitate  the 
material  into  any  open  fissures.  By  this  tumuUuous 
action  the  bones  of  the  terrestrial  mammals  which  had 
been  drowned  by  the  submergence  would  be  dispersed 
and  shattered,  and  it  explains,  in  his  opinion,  all  the 
phenomena  better  than  any  other  hypothesis.  .As  man 
was  living  at  the  time,  it  gave  rise  to  llic  tradition  of 
the  Flood. 

.\n  adequate  discussion  of  Prof  Prestwich's  hypothesis 
is  impossible  in  our  limited  space  ;  but  we  may  be  per- 
mitted to  remark  that  it  is  not  free  from  serious  difficulties. 
Many  geologists  would  dispute  the  assumption  that  these 
deposits  all  belong  to  one  and  the  same  epoch.  Others 
will  doubt  whether  the  sudden  upheavals,  which  he 
postulates,  would  be  adequate  to  produce  currents, 
capable  of  moving  the  larger  debris,  or  whether  the 
earth  movements  would  suffice,  as  he  supposes,  to  m.ike 
gaping  fissures.  Some  will  think  that  he  hardly  ap- 
preciates the  effect  of  "  cloud  bursts,"  such  as  may  be 
seen  in  many  mountain  and  even  lowland  districts  of 
Europe,  in  transporting  ddbris  very  similar  in  character 
to  the  ''head."  It  is  admitted  that  since  this  was  de- 
posited denudation  has  wrought  some  changes  in  the 
contours  of  the  country,  and  this  may  exjjlain  the  apparent 
isolation  of  some  patches  of  the  "head,"  whether  it  fill 
fissures  or  cap  tabular  hills.  In  several  cases  the  ordinary 
explanation  of  breccias  (admitting  as  an  adjunct  the 
action  of  snow)  seem  to  us  more  simple  than  that  pro- 
posed by  Prof  Prestwich,  and  his  mode  of  accounting 
for  the  abundance  of  hippopotamus  bones  at  San  Ciro, 
near  Palmero — that  as  the  land  sank  they  were  embayed 
between  its  precipitous  face  and  the  advancing  sea,  and 
at  last  were  drowned  can  hardly  be  called  probable. 
Lions  and  hy;enas  might  have  jjcrished  in  that  way, 
but  the  hippopotamus  seems  far  from  helpless  in  the 
water,  ;md  is  likely  to  have  saved  itself 

We  think,  then,  that  Prof  Prestwich's  hypothesis  will 
be  received  with  some  scepticism  ;  nevertheless,  it  de- 
mands careful  consideration  as  an  attempt  to  solve  a 
very  difficult  problem,  which  is  put  forward  by  one  who 
may  now  be  termed  the  Nestor  of  British  geologists,  and 
who  has  paid  especial  attention  to  questions  of  this 
nature. 


JuLv  1 8,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


267 


AN  ECLECTIC  HISTORY  OF  SCIENCE. 
Progress  of  Sciemc.     liy  J.   X'illin    Marmery.     Pp.   357. 
(London  :  Chapman  and  Hall,  Limited,  1895.) 

THE  custom  of  inserting  laudatory  prefaces  or  in- 
troductions, written  by  well-known  men,  in  works 
of  science  by  lesser  lights,  which  was  commented  upon 
in  these  columns  a  few  weeks  ago,  reaches  the  ridiculous 
in  the  case  of  this  book.  A  letter  from  Mr.  Samuel 
Laing  to  the  publishers  is  printed,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  says  :  "  I  have  now  had  time  to  read  .Mr.  Marmery's 
book,  and  find  it  a  work  of  great  learning  and  research 
.  .  .  and  I  can  confidently  recommend  it  as  alike  in- 
teresting and  instructive."  What  induced  the  publishers 
to  print  this  purely  business  letter  as  a  testimonial  to 
the  book's  good  qualities,  passes  our  comprehension.  A 
book  usually  finds  its  proper  level,  and  the  effort  to 
force  it  into  a  higher  position  by  means  of  a  letter  of 
introduction  from  a  more  or  less  distinguished  individual, 
must  pro\e  futile  ;  for  in  literature,  scientific  or  other- 
wise, authors  are  judged  entirely  by  their  own  works. 

Ever)'  one  will  recognise  that  to  attempt  to  condense 
the  history  of  science  into  a  volume  of  about  three  hundred 
and  fifty  pages,  is  to  court  failure.  .-Ml  that  can  be  ac- 
complished in  so  small  a  space  is  to  describe  the  well- 
defined  steps  of  advancement  along  the  road  of  natural 
knowledge,  and  to  exhibit  the  continuity  of  scientific 
developments.  Mr.  Marmery  has  done  this  with  a  fair 
amount  of  success.  After  briefly  noting  the  knowledge 
of  the  Egyptians  and  Chaldeans  so  far  back  as  3000  B.C., 
he  surveys  the  successive  stages  in  the  history  of  science, 
and  devotes  a  few  lines  to  men  and  matters  of  first- 
rate  importance  in  each.  His  statement  of  the  progress 
made  by  the  .Arabians  from  the  ninth  to  the  fifteenth 
centuries,  brings  into  view  the  substantial  achievements 
of  a  people  which  then  stood  in  advance  of  the  wi-.ole 
world.  Our  obligations  to  the  Arabs  are  indubitable  ; 
nevertheless,  i^w  European  historians  ha\e  expressed 
them.  "  Eminence  m  science  is  the  highest  of  honours" 
was  a  maxim  which  represented  the  bearing  of  Islam 
towards  scientific  knowledge  at  a  period  when  Europe 
was  ruled  by  monkish  philosophy,  and  when  investigators 
were  stamped  as  heretics. 

The  review  of  the  science  of  the  Greek,  the  Arabian, 
the  Mcdiiuval,  and  the  Revival  periods,  leads  to  the 
science  of  the  Modern  period,  from  the  end  of  the 
sixteenth  century  to  the  present  time.  And  here  the 
author  treads  upon  dangerous  ground.  He  has  had, 
perforce,  to  create  invidious  distinctions  by  selecting  from 
the  host  of  scientific  workers  those  that  appear  to  him 
to  have  added  most  to  the  store  of  knowledge.  Huxley 
got  over  the  difficulty  in  his  address  on  "  The  Progress 
of  Science,"  published  among  his  collected  essays  (vol.  i.), 
by  omitting  references  to  all  living  men,  and  by  dealing 
only  with  results.  Mr.  .Marmery  might  ha\e  saved  him- 
self from  hostile  criticism  by  following  the  same  method  ; 
but,  in  that  case,  his  volume  would  have  wanted  the 
\ery  information  which  is  the  chief  justification  for  its 
existence.  H  is  selection  of  names  has,  he  says,  been  deter- 
mined "  by  what  appears  typical  origiiui/itv  in  the  work, 
rather  than  by  what  is  imposing  in  extent  and  weight." 
Hero  and  there  we  fancy  this  criterion  has  not  been 
applied  :  but  in  a  book  covering  so  wide  a  scope,  such 
NO.    1342.   VOL.   52] 


deficiencies  may  well  be  excused.  Modern  investigators 
are  divided  into  seven  groups,  viz.  (i)  biologists,  (2) 
geologists,  (3)  chemists,  (4)  mathematicians,  (5)  astro- 
nomers, (6j  physicists,  (7)  eminent  practical  men.  Short 
accounts  of  the  main  achievements  of  the  individual 
workers  in  each  group  are  given,  and  are  fairly  trust- 
worthy. In  an  appendix,  the  names  of  foremost  men  of 
science  in  all  the  periods  are  tabulated,  and  a  copious 
index  makes  it  easy  to  find  the  sketch  of  the  works  of 
any  one  of  them. 

Many  imperfections  the  book  certainly  has,  but  in  spite  of 
them  we  think  it  deserves  some  words  of  commendation. 
Those  who  wish  to  know  something  about  the  evolution  of 
scientific  knowledge,  and  the  multitude  of  readers  who 
like  to  dip  into  a  book  to  find  what  this  or  that  man 
of  science  has  done,  may  obtain  from  this  handy  volume 
the  information  they  seek.  We  could  easily  enumerate  a 
score  of  names  which  ought  to  find  a  place  in  the  book, 
but  are  wanting.  Probably  it  was  because  the  author 
was  aware  of  the  incompleteness  of  his  record,  that  he 
omitted  the  definite  article  from  the  title  of  his  book. 

MICROSCOPIC  STUDY  OF  ROCKS. 
Petrology  for  Students :  an  Introduction  to  the  Study  of 
Rocks  under  the  Microscope.     By   .A..    Harker.     (Cam- 
bridge  L"niversity  Press,   1895.) 
THIS    latest     addition    to    the    Cambridge    Science 
Manuals  is  intended  by  the  author  as  a  guide  to 
the  study  of  rocks  in   thin  slices  under  the  microscope 
In  scarcely  another  English  text-book  on  the  subject  has 
the  treatment    of  rocks  from  the  purely  petrographical 
point  of  view  of  microscopic  examination  been  so  strictly 
adhered     to    throughout    as    in    the     book     before    us. 
"  Microscope  "   is  almost  the  first  word  in  the  book,  and 
sounds  the  key-note  of  the  whole. 

.\fter  a  short  introduction,  containing  a  few  notes  on 
the  optical  properties  of  minerals,  the  author  plunges  at 
once  into  the  systematic  description  of  the  different  rock 
species.  The  usual  chapters  on  the  characters  and 
methods  of  separation  and  determination  of  the  rock- 
forming  minerals  are  omitted  altogether ;  for  all  such 
niineralogical  points,  the  reader  is  referred  to  standard 
works  on  the  subject.  The  book,  therefore,  corresponds, 
though  on  a  much  smaller  scale,  to  the  second  volume  of 
such  text-books  as  those  of  Rosenbusch  and  Zirkel. 

In  the  classification  of  the  massive  igneous  rocks  the 
author  divides  them  into  plutonic,  intrusive  and  volcanic, 
but  is  careful  to  point  out  that  the  divisions  themselves 
are  based  upon  the  structural  characters  resulting  from 
the  different  conditions  of  consolidation.  This  classi- 
fication resembles  that  of  Rosenbusch,  but  the  author's 
intrusive  groups  do  not  correspond  exactly  with  the 
Ganggesteine  of  Rosenbusch,  for  he  extends  them  to  the 
basic  family,  whereas  even  Rosenbusch  considered  this 
to  be  impracticable.  In  this  connection  we  notice  that 
those  much  abused  terms  "diabase"  and  " porphyrite "' 
receive  new  definitions.  Diabase  is  in  this  book  used  to 
designate,  not  pre-Tertiary  or  altered  dolerites,  but  the 
group  of  intrusive  basic  rocks  corresponding  to  the 
volcanic  basalts,  while  porphyrite  is  applied  to  the 
intrusive  rocks  corresponding  to  the  volcanic  andesites. 
The  author,  of  course,  follows  the  British  school  in  admit- 


j68 


NATURE 


[July   iS,  1S95 


ting  no  criterion  of  geological  age  in  the  nomenclature  of 
the  rocks. 

Throughout  the  book,  each  rock  group  is  treated  for 
the  most  part  under  the  three  headings  :  constituent 
minerals,  structure,  illustrative  examples.  Under  the 
last  heading,  purely  petrographical  descriptions  are  given 
of  typical  examples,  chosen  generally  from  British  rocks. 

The  sedimentary  rocks  are  treated  under  the  divisions, 
arenaceous,  argillaceous,  calcareous,  and  pyroclastic.  In 
perhaps  no  other  English  text-book  have  the  microscopic 
characters  of  the  sedimentary  rocks  been  so  minutely 
described.  The  subject  of  metamorphism  is  treated 
under  the  two  heads  of  thermal  metamorphism  and 
dynamic  metamorphism,  and  the  effects  produced  on 
arenaceous,  calcareous,  argillaceous  and  igneous  rocks 
are  separately  described.  The  book  concludes  with  a 
short  chapter  on  various  crystalline  rocks,  including 
gneisses,  granulites,  &c.  It  is,  perhaps,  almost  inevit- 
able, owing  to  the  nature  of  the  subject,  that  the  book 
should  give  the  general  impression  of  consisting  of  a 
series  of  descriptions  of  rock-sections  ;  but,  be  this  as  it 
may,  there  can  be  nothing  but  praise  for  the  clear  and 
straightforward  way  in  which  the  author  has  presented 
his  facts,  and  for  the  wealth  of  new  matter  which  the 
book  contains.  The  book  shows  evidence  of  most  careful 
research  into  the  literature  of  the  subject,  and  is  in 
fact  thoroughly  up  to  date,  containing  many  extracts 
from  papers  which  have  appeared  within  the  present 
year.  G.  T.  P. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 
Garden  Flowosand  Plants:  a  Primer  for   Amateurs. 

By  J.  Wright.       With    fifty    Illustrations.      (London  : 

.Marmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 
One  of  the  great  advantages  of  gardening  and  of  a  love 
of  flowers  consists  in  the  fact  that  they  may  be  indulged 
in  by  rich  and  poor  alike. 

The  rich  have  no  monopoly  in  the  beauty  of  flowers, 
the  poor  are  not  debarred  from  their  enjoyment.  The 
costliest  orchid  in  a  ducal  garden  is  not  one  whit  more 
beautiful  than  an  Iris  which  may  be  bought  for  a  few  pence. 
If  a  slug  devour  the  one  it  is  easily  replaced,  if  such  an 
accident  befall  the  other  the  loss  may  be  beyond  repair. 
Nor  by  those  who  look  beneath  the  surface  and  seek  to 
|jenetrate  the  significance  of  the  diversity  of  form,  and 
the  meaning  of  the  beauty  they  witness,  is  costly 
expenditure  needed.  The  cheapest  and  commonest 
afiord  as  copious  materials  for  research  and  inves- 
tigation as  the  dearest  plant  in  the  nurseryman's  price 
list.  Anything  that  will  lighten  the  sordid  conditions 
under  which  so  many  of  the  poorer  classes  live,  anything 
that  will  brighten  their  homes  and  give  them  an  interest 
in  something  beyond  their  daily  toil,  must  be  considered 
as  a  l>oon  of  incalculable  value.  .Such  a  boon  is  offered 
by  the  pursuit  of  gardening.  In  country  districts,  more- 
over, where  small  gardens  and  allotments  can  be  had, 
gardening  may  be  made  to  add  considerably  to  the 
resources  of  the  family.  It  may  be  doubtful  whether 
market-gardening  on  a  large  scale  will  always  be  profit- 
able, but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  small  plot  of  the 
lalx)urcr  may  he  turned  to  gowl  account,  provided 
circumstances  are  even  only  moderately  favourable.  To 
provide  for  the  needs  of  small  gardeners  and  amateurs, 
.Mr.  Wright  has  published  the  little  manual  before  us. 
The  author  is  an  accomplished  practitioner,  and  his  ex- 
perience as  a  County  Council  lecturer  has  enabled  him  to 
ascertain  precisely  what  is  wanted  by  his  auditory.  Mr. 
Wright  Ixrgins  at  the  beginning  by  telling  his  readers  how 

NO.    1342,  VOL.   52] 


to  make  a  yarden,  how  to  lay  down  gra\el  walks,  what  to 
grow  on  walls,  what  on  beds,  even  what  may  be  cultivated 
in  areas.  The  principal  categories  of  hardy  plants  are 
passed  in  review,  such  as  annuals,  perennials,  bulbous 
plants,  bedding  plants,  and  so  on,  and  clear  directions  are 
given  as  to  their  management  from  beginning  to  end.  In 
all  this  there  is  not  much  that  needs  comment  from  a 
reviewer,  who  can  only  say  that  the  little  primer  is  well 
done,  and   excellently  suited  for  its  purpose. 

An  explanation  of  the  real  cause  of  "  damping "  off 
would  ha\  e  been  of  value,  as  the  most  "  practical  "  of 
gardeners  is  not  desirous  of  cultivating  fungus  at  the 
expense  of  cherished  seedlings. 

The  small  illustrations  are  helpful,  and  a  full  index 
adds  materially  to  the  value  of  the  book. 

T/ie  Time  Machine.     By   H.   G.  Wells.     (London:  Wm 

Heinemann,  1895.) 
iNGEXlorsi.v  arguing  that  time  may  be  regarded  as  the 
fourth  dimension  of  which  our  faculties  fail  to  give  us  any 
distinct  impression,  the  author  of  this  admirably-told 
story  has  conceived  the  idea  of  a  machine  which  shall 
convey  the  traveller  cither  backwards  or  forwards  in  time. 
-Apart  from  its  merits  as  a  clever  piece  of  imagination, 
the  story  is  well  worth  the  attention  of  the  scientific 
readef,  for  the  reason  that  it  is  based  so  far  as  possible  on 
scientific  data,  and  while  not  taking  it  too  seriously,  it 
helps  one  to  get  a  connected  idea  of  the  possible  results 
of  the  ever-continuing  processes  of  evolution.  Cosmical 
evolution,  it  may  be  remarked,  is  in  some  degree  subject 
to  mathematical  investigations,  and  the  author  appears  to 
be  well  acquainted  with  the  results  which  have  been  ob- 
tained in  this  direction.  It  is  naturally  in  the  domain  of 
social  and  organic  evolution  that  the  imagination  finds 
its  greatest  scope. 

Mounted  on  a  "time-machine"  the  "  time-tra\cller' 
does  not  come  to  a  halt  until  the  year  eight  hundred 
and  two  thousand,  and  we  are  then  favoured  with  his- 
personal  observations  in  that  distant  period.  In  that 
"  golden  age,"  the  constellations  had  put  on  new  forms,  and 
the  sun's  heat  was  greater,  perhaps  in  consequence 
of  the  fall  of  a  planet  into  the  sun,  in  accordance  with 
the  theory  of  tidal  evolution.  "  Horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and 
dogs  had  followed  the  ichthyosaurus  into  extinction  "  ;  but, 
most  remarkable  of  all,  "  man  had  not  remained  one 
species,  but  had  difl'crcnliatcd  into  two  distinct  animals," 
an  upper-world  people  of  "  feeble  preltiness,"  and  a  most 
repulsive  subterranean  race  reduced  to  mere  mechanical 
industry.  It  is  with  the  time-tra\  eller's  adventures  among 
these  people,  and  their  relations  to  each  other,  that  the 
chief  interest   of  the  story,  as  such,  belongs. 

Continuing  his  journey  to  an  age  millions  of  years  hence, 
nearly  all  traces  of  life  had  vanished,  the  sun  glowed 
only  with  a  dull  red  heat,  tidal  evolution  had  broufjht 
the  earth  to  present  a  consl^int  face  to  the  sun,  and  the 
sun  itself  covered  a  tenth  part  of  the  heavens.  These  and 
other  phenomena  are  very  graphically  described,  and 
from  first  to  last  the  narrative  never  lapses  into  dulness. 

LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  <an  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  taien  of  anonymous  communications.  ] 

The  Teachinj;  University  for  London. 

I  liAVi.  read  with  surjinso  your  article  cjn  the  Uiiivcrsily  of 
Loiulon. 

rrolahly  by  some  accident  you  had  not  seen  my  reply  to 
I..ord  Kelvin's  letter  when  you  went  to  press.  I  now  enclose  a 
copy,  and  trust  to  your  fairness  to  insert  it  : 

"  2  St.  fames' s  S,/uare,  S.  IV.,  fuly  9. 

"  Mv  Ukar  RiJi'KKR,— I  am  sorry  I  could  not  inimcdialcly 
answer  the  letter  which  you  have  forwarded  t'l  me  on  behalf  of 


July   i8,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


269 


Lord  Kelvin  and  other  members  of  the  Royal  Society,  l)ut  I 
•only  received  it  this  morning,  as  I  was  away  from  home.  I  ob- 
serve that  most  of  those  who  have  signed  it  are  (as  they  them- 
rselves  say)  not  members  of  Convocation,  and  consequently  not 
■constituents  of  mine.  Still,  I  should  welcome  any  opportunity 
of  co-operation  with  such  high  authorities  in  the  promotion  of 
those  interests  which  we  all  have  at  heart.  I  regret,  however, 
that  before  publishing  the  letter  they  did  not  give  me  an  o|)por- 
tunity  of  conferring  with  them,  in  which  case,  I  think,  I  could 
have  given  good  reasons  for  what  I  have  said  in  my  letter  to 
Prof.  Foster.  I  am  glad  to  observe  that  the  only  jioint  objected 
to  is  the  reference  of  any  new  charter  to  Convocation.  In  this, 
however,  I  am  not  asking  that  any  privilege  which  they  do  not 
at  present  possess  should  be  conferred  on  my  constituents,  but 
only  supporting  what  is  now  their  legal  right.  As  the  law  now 
stands  no  change  can  be  made  in  the  charter  without  the  consent 
of  the  graduates.  This  right  I  know  they  highly  value,  and  it 
is  surely  natural  that,  as  their  representative,  I  should  do  my  best 
to  preserve  it.  Moreover,  in  view  of  the  difficulty  of  passing  a 
Bill  strongly  opposed,  as  any  Kill  would  be,  which  seeks  to 
abrogate  the  present  right  of  veto  possessed  by  Convocation,  I 
can  imagine  nothing  more  likely  to  wreck  any  scheme  such  as 
you  desire  than  to  link  it,  quite  unnecessarily,  with  an  attack  on 
that  right.  Your  objection  to  the  reference  to  Convocation  im- 
plies the  belief  that  a  Statutory  Commission  would  arrange  a 
wise  charter  for  the  University,  and  that  the  graduates  would 
reject  it.  But  why  should  it  be  assumed  that  the}  woidd  do  so  ? 
It  has  been  my  proud  boast  that  I  represent  a  constituency 
second  to  none  in  education  and  ability,  and  I  am  sure  you  will 
not,  on  reflection,  be  surprised  if  I  have  every  confidence  that 
when  any  new  charter  is  submitted  to  my  constituents,  they  will 

■  exercise  the  rights  well  and  wisely,  and  with  an  earnest  wish  to 
further  the  interests  of  Learning  and  Education. 

"  I  am,  yours  very  sincerely, 

"John  Lubbock." 

I  must  also  ask  you  to  let  me  say  a  few  words  on  your  own 
article. 

In  the  first  place,  I  have  not  "accepted  the  views"  of  those 
Avho  altogether  oppose  the  Reorganisation  Scheme.  Some, 
indeed,  of  the  modifications  suggested  seem  to  me  important 
improvements,  but  that  is  a  very  different  thing. 

You  .say  that  Convocation  is  only  one  of  the  bodies  affected. 
In  the  case  of  the  Colleges  and  Medical  Institutions  certain 
privileges  are  granted,  but  the  University  is  the  only  body  whose 

■  constitution  it  is  |>roposed  to  change. 

-At  present,  this  cannot  be  done  without  the  consent  of  Con- 
vocation, and  you  blame  me  ff>r  endeavouring  to  maintain  that 
right.  \'(jur  whole  article  assumes  that  the  Cf>mniissioners  will 
make  a  wise  scheme,  and  then  you  allege  that  a  reference  to 
Convocation  would  wreck  it.  This,  liowever,  is  an  attack  on 
my  constituents  and  not  on  me.  John   Li;bbock. 

High  I'^lms,  July  15. 


The    Density   of  Molten    Rock. 

In  a  review  of  Lord  Kelvin's  "  tieology,"  in  N..\TURE,  July 
26,  1894,  vol.  I.  p.  292,  the  question  of  whether  solid  rock  sinks 
or  swims  in  molten  rock  was  left  open  for  further  experimental 
evidence. 

My  impression  is  that  this  was  in  accordance  with  the  views 
■  of  the  writer  of  the  book  ;  but  if  I  had  had  proper  acquaintance 
with  the  work  of  Mr.  Carl  Barus,  of  the  .Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion, Washington,  I  should  at  lea.st  have  referred  to  it.  Permit 
me  to  do  so  now,  and  to  give  the  references  : — Am.  Journ.  of 
Science,  1893,  vol.  xlv.  p.  i  ;  Pliil.  Mag.,  1893,  vol.  xxxiv. 
p.  I  ;  vol.  XXXV.  pp.  173  and  296  ;  also  certain  Hullctiits  of  the 
U.S.  Geological  .Survey,  particularly  No.  103,  which  contain 
the  most  complete  account.  Oi,ivI';k  |.  Lodc.k. 


\ 


The  Earliest  Magnetic  Meridians. 

In  Nati-rk  of  June  6,  p.  129,  Captain  E.  \V.  Creak,  F.R.S., 
questions  a  statement  of  mine  with  regard  to  this  subject,  as 
"Published  in  NATt'KE  of  May  23,  p.  80.  I  there  credited 
k'eates  instead  of  Duperrey  with  the  first  construction  of  the 
magnetic  meridians  for  the  whole  earth.  I  was  careful  not  to 
say  thai  Yeates  originated  the  idea  of  magnetic  meridians. 

Luler,  to  my  knowledge,  about  the  middle  of  last  century, 
appears  to  have  first  appreciated  the  importance  of  those  lines 
from  a  theoretical  standpoint.  He  defines  them  as  those  curves 
on    the   earth's  surface,  the   tangents   to  which   mark  out   the 

NO.    1342,  VOL.    152] 


actual   direction  of  a  comjiass   needle.     He  did   not  actually 
construct  them,  however,  if  I  remember  correctly.' 

It  was  my  belief  then  that  \'eates  first  drew  these  curves,  as 
based  upon  observations.  Captain  Creak,  however,  thinks  that 
John  Churchman  deserves  this  honour. 

So  far  as  I  know.  Churchman  published  but  two  magnetic 
charts  or  atlases,  one  in  1 790,  the  other  in  1794.  The  chart 
referred  to  by  CajHain  Creak  is  the  earlier  one,  if  I  mistake  not. 
A  text  to  this  chart  was  also  published,  called  "  An  Explana- 
tioii  of  the  Magnetic  Atlas,"  Philadelphia,  1790.  It  was  my 
belief  that  this  was  an  isogonic  chart — a  chart  giving  the  lines 
of  equal  variation— not  a  chart  of  the  magnetic  meridians. 
Churchman's  later  work,  "  The  Magnetic  .•\tlas  or  Variations 
Charts,"'  London,  1794,  contains  charts  which,  according  to  Prof. 
Hellmann,  are  more  theoretical.  Prof.  Ilellmann  mentions  and 
briefly  describes  both  of  Churchman's  charts,  and  gives  the 
impression  that  they  are  isogonic  charts.'- 

-As  I  have  no  means  at  present  of  verifying  this  matter,  may 
I  ask  Captain  Creak  to  make  further  examination,  and  state  if 
Churchman's  magnetic  meridians  are  based  upon  observation  ? 

L.  A.  Bauer. 

The  University  of  Chicago,  June  29. 

Curious  Habit  of  the   Spotted  Flycatcher. 

I  IIAVR  been  watching,  at  intervals  during  the  last  week, 
a  pair  of  Spotted  F'lycatchers  feeding  their  young  in 
a  nest  on  a  ledge  of  the  wall  of  this  house.  The  nest  is 
embowered  by  a  very  free  blossoming  white  rose.  I  noticed 
to  my  surprise  the  parent  birds  again  and  again,  after  taking  food 
to  their  offspring,  plucking  off  the  petals  of  the  rose  near  the  nest, 
and  transporting  them  to  an  acacia  tree  about  ten  yards  distant, 
where  they  let  the  petals  drop  upon  the  ground.  The  rose 
blossoms  are  now  quite  cleared  away  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  nest,  and  the  lawn  beneath  the  acacia  thickly  strewn  with 
them. 

The  rose  flowers  do  not  obstruct  the  approach  to  the  nest,  to 
which  the  birds  have  access  by  running  a  short  distance  along 
the  ledge.  It  is  also  difficult  to  suppose  that  the  object  of  the 
birds  is  to  admit  more  air  and  light  to  the  nest,  which  is  more 
open  to  the  sunlight  than  very  many  nests  of  this  species  which 
I  have  found.  Moreover,  the  birds  take  no  trouble  to  remove 
any  of  the  dead  leaves  which  are  near  the  nest,  having  aniibjec- 
tion,  as  it  appears,  only  to  the  blossoms  of  the  rose.  "l  can 
offer  no- explanation  of  this  curious  conduct  of  the  flycatchers. 

W.  Clement  Lev. 

Tellack  \'icarage,  Ross,  Herefordshire,  July  11. 

A  Brilliant  Meteor. 

On  Sunday,  July  7,  about  10.45  P-m.,  I  observed  a  meteor  of 
rather  peculiar  character.  Contrary  to  the  general  method  of 
appearance  of  these  objects,  it  came  into  view  very  gradually, 
and  its  motion  was  so  uniform  and  slow  that  its  form  could  be 
clearly  discerned. 

The  meteor  was  double,  the  two  components  being  about  \' 
apart,  but  travelling  together,  the  smaller  one  being  ahead  of 
the  larger.  The  combined  magnitude  was  probably  equal  to 
that  of  Venus  as  .seen  earlier  on  the  same  evening. 

Some  trace  of  trail  could  faintly  be  made  out,  but  this  was 
rendered  uncertain  •  by  the  sky  being  very  luminous  in  conse- 
quence of  the  moon's  jiosition  near  the  meridian  at  the  time. 

While  visible  the  meteor  travelled  about  20°  in  a  path  approxi- 
mately parallel   to  the    horizon,    and  a   rough    estimate  of  its 
position  would  be  : 

R  A.  Decl. 

Appearance    ...         ...      Ijh.  ...  -(-  20° 

Disappearance  ...      iih.  30m.      ...  +35° 

No  explosion  of  any  kind  was  noticed,  nor  any  accompanying 
sound.  Ciiari.es  P.  Buti.er. 

Royal  College  of  Science,  July  9. 


Newton  and  Huygens. 
UroN  Newton's  conception  of  the  universe,  space  is  con- 
sidered to  be  void.  .-V  fluid  or  gas  would  oppose  resist- 
ance to  the  motion  of  the  planets,  and  however  small 
this  resistance  might  be,  it  wotdd  cause  a  diminution  of 
the  linear  velocity  of  the  planets.  The  central  attr.action  being 
unchanged,  a   diminution   of  the   linear  velocity  of  the    earth 

J  See  tJehlcr's  "  Physik.-iiisches  Woertcrbuch,"  article  "  Magnetismus." 
-  '*  Neudrucke  von  Schriftcn  und    K.-utcil  iiber  Alcteorologie    und   Erd- 
m-ignctismus,"  No.  4,  p.  22, 


270 


NA  TURE 


[July  iS,  1895 


would  cause  an  augmentation  of  its  angular  velocity  around 
the  sun.  The  period  of  revolution  would  take  less  lime,  and  the 
length  of  the  year  would  gradually  decrease.  Observation 
proves  that  this  is  not  the  case,  and  the  necessary  conclusion  is, 
that  there  is  no  resisting  medium  in  space,  which  must  be,  there- 
fore, considered  as  perfectly  void. 

There  is  no  objection  to  be  made  to  this  reasoning  so  long  as 
we  suppose  the  sun  immovable  in  space,  which  was  the  gener- 
ally accepted  belief  in  Newton  s  time.  But  we  know  at  present 
that  the  sun,  with  all  the  planets,  has  a  motion  through 
space ;  and  this  knowledge  changes  the  conditions  of  the 
problem,  as  may  be  demonstrated  by  what  lollows. 

In  theaccompan)-ing  figure,  s  is  the  sun  in  a  certain  |x>int  of  its 
orbit  in  space,  t:  is  the  earth  in  a  certain  |x>int  of  its  orbit  around 
the  sun.  I^t  the  linear  velocity  of  the  sun  in  its  orbit  Iw  v,  and 
the  linear  velocity  of  the  earth  in  its  own  orbit  be  v. 

When  the  earth  is  on  one  side  of  the  sun's  orbit,  say  in  E, 
then  V  and  v  are  opposite  in  direction,  and  the  absolute  velocity 
of  the  earth  in  sjaace  will  Iw  v-<'.  When  the  earth  is  on  the 
other  side  of  the  sun's  orbit,  say  in  c,  then  v  and  v  have  the 
same  direction,  and  the  absolute  velocity  of  the  earth  will  be 
V  -f-  V. 

Now  it  seems  evident  that  we  have  here  what  may  l>e 
called  a  self-acting  regulation  of  the  angular  velocity  of  the 
earth  in  its  orbit  around  the  sun.  For  the  absolute  linear 
velocity  of  the  earth  is  jwriodically  accelerated  and  retarded, 
and  the  mean  velocity  would  remain  exactly  constant  if  the  sun's 
orbit  were  a  straight  line. 

.Most  prolably  the  sun's  orbit  through  sjrace  will  prove  to  be 
a  curve.     If  this  is  the  case,  then  the  part  of  the  earth's  orbit  on 


the  concave  or  outer  side  of  the  sun's  orbit  will  \)e  somewhat 
longer  than  the  part  on   the  convex  or  inner  side. 

If  this  l)e  so,  then  the  acceleration  on  the  outside  part  will  l>e 
somewhat  greater  than  the  retardation  on  the  inner  side  of  the 
earth's  orbit.  Thus  the  surplus  velocity,  gained  in  each  revolution 
around  the  sun,  will  compensate  the  loss  of  linear  velocity  which 
the  earth  might  suffer  in  its  yearly  orbit  around  the  sun  by  the 
resistance  of  a  sup|xised  mediuni  in  s|)ace. 

It  might,  however,  be  askeil.  Why  it  is  that  this  compensa- 
tion is  s<j  exact  as  we  find  it  to  lie  ?  For  I^placc,  in  his  well- 
known  work  on  the  "  .Systeme  du  nionde,"  explains  clearly 
that  no  change  in  the  |>enod  of  revolution  uf  the  earth  around 
the  sun  has  been  obser^'ed. 

But  we  may  quite  iis  well  wonder  why  the  tem|>cralure  of  our 
bkxKl  is  nearly  constant  ;  and  the  Ijesl  answer  to  such  questions 
is  in  the  well-known  words  :  "  Philosophy  does  not  ask  what 
agrees,  but  what  is." 

The  sun's  motion  in  space  is  a  iliscovery  with  far-reaching 
consequences  for  science  in  general  ;  and  if  space  be  allowed,  a 
few  other  corollaries  must  follow  upon  it.  For  the  present,  it  is 
better  to  limit  research  to  the  single  question  as  to  whether 
we  may  a<lmit  the  existence  of  a  resisting  medium  in  s|)ace. 
The  answer  is  that  the  di.scovcry  of  the  sun's  motion  in  sixice 
allows  us  to  settle  this  much  disturl>ed  tjucstion  in  a  )X)Silive 
sense. 

This  result  h.is  a  |xirticular  value,  Iwcause  it  takes  away  the  con- 
tradiction Iwiwcen  Iwr.  theories  which  are  Ixith  generally ailniitled. 
Till-  iirwliil.iioty  ilR<iry  of  light,  which  was  first  enuncialerl  by 
llu)j;iii-.  viii.|-.,.s  the  existence  of  an  elastic  meiliuni  in  s|Kice. 
When  It  IS  dcfiionslrated  lliat  the  sup|y>sition  of  this  medium 
is  not  incom|>alible  with  Newton's  theory  of  central  forces  as 
applied  lonur  planetary  sv. I.  rn,  il.l,  imisi  irrMJiily  be  considered 
»»  a  step  in  advance.  .\.  lliET. 

Delll,  Holland.  Jul)    ; 

NO.    1342,   VOL.    52] 


THE   I.XTERXATIOyAL    CATALOGUE    OF 
SCIENTIFIC   PAPERS. 

'X'HE  following  report  of  the  Inteinational  Catalogue 
^       Coiiiinittce   was   presented    to  the  President    and 
Council  of  the  Royal  Society  on  July  5,  and  the  recom- 
mendations contained  in  it  were  approved. 

-At  the  first  meeting  of  this  Committee  (February  8, 
1894),  the  .Memorial  to  the  President  and  Council  (July 
1893)  which  led  to  the  appointment  of  the  Committee,  and 
the  Minute  of  Council  of  December  7,  1893,  appoint- 
ing the  Committee,  lia\  iny  been  read,  it  was  resolved  to 
request  the  President  and  Council  to  authorise  the 
Committee  to  enter  directly  into  communication  with 
societies,  institutions,  &c.,  in  this  country  and  abroad, 
with  reference  to  the  preparation,  by  international  co- 
operation, of  complete  subject  and  authors"  catalogues  of 
scientific  literature. 

Subsequently,  a  draft  circular  letter  was  prepared, 
which,  on  February  22,  1894,  received  the  approval  of 
the  President  and  Council,  who  also  authorised  its  issue. 

This  letter  was  sent  to  207  societies  and  institutions 
selected  from  the  exchange  list  of  the  Royal  Society,  and 
to  a  few  others.  It  was  also  sent  to  the  Directors  of  a 
number  of  Observatories  and  of  Ciovernment  geological 
surveys,  to  the  Foreign  .Members  of  the  Royal  Society, 
as  well  as  to  those  of  the  following  .Societies  : — Chemical, 
(ieological.  Physical,  Royal  .\stronomical,  Linnean, 
Royal  Microscopical,  Entomological,  Zoological,  Physio- 
logical, and  Mineralogical,  and  of  the  .-Anthropological 
Institute.  .\  special  letter  was  addressed  to  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution. 

More  than  a  hundred  replies  to  the  letter  have  been 
received  ;  several  of  these  are  reports  of  Committees 
specially  appointed  to  consider  the  suggestions  put 
forward  by  the  Royal  Society.  .\  list  of  answers  received 
up  to  December  1894,  with  brief  excerpts  from  the  more 
suggestive,  was  issued  to  members  of  the  Committee  early 
in  this  year.  It  should,  however,  be  added  that  from 
some  important  institutions  no  answer  has  as  yet  been 
received. 

It  may  be  said  at  the  outset  that  in  no  single  case  is 
any  doubt  expressed  as  to  the  extreme  value  of  the  work 
contcni|)l:itcd,  and  that  only  two  or  three  correspondents 
question  whether  it  be  possible  to  carry  out  such  a  work. 
It  is  a  great  gratification  to  the  Committee  that  the 
matter  has  been  taken  up  in  a  most  cordial  manner  by  the 
.Smithsonian  Institution,  the  .Secretary  of  which,  in  his 
reply,  refers  to  the  desirability  of  a  catalogue  of  the  kind 
suggested  as  being  so  obvious  that  the  work  commends 
itself  at  once.  The  importance  of  having  complete  sub- 
ject catalogues,  and  not  mere  transcripts  of  titles,  is  also 
generally  recognised. 

Some  bodies  and  indi\  iduals  take  the  m.itler  up  very 
warmly  and  urge  th.it  steps  be  taken  forthwith  to  put  the 
scheme  into  action,  this  being  especially  true  of  the 
replies  received  from  the  United  .States  ;  others,  while 
giving  a  general  approval,  dwell  upon  the  difficulties  of 
carrying  out  the  suggestions  put  forward  ;  and  others, 
again,  ask  for  more  tlctails  before  committini,'  them- 
selves to  any  answer  which  may  seem  to  entail  future 
responsibility,  especially  of  a  linancial  character. 

Incidentally  it  may  be  pointed  out  as  very  noteworthy 
that  over  and  over  ag.iin  reference  is  m.ide  to  the  great 
value  of  the  Royal  Society's  "Catalogue  of  .Scientific 
Papers."  There  is  abundant  evidence  that  considerable 
use  is  made  of  this  on  the  ccmtinent  of  Kurope.  .And  it  is 
clear  that  a  proposal  to  carry  out  a  more  comprehensive 
scheine  initially  under  the  direction  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  London  is  likely  to  meet  with  general  approval  owing 
to  the  fact  that  the  Society  is  credited  with  having 
already  carried  out  the  inost  comprehensive  work  of  the 
kind  yet  attempted.  Indeed,  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  of  Phil.adelphia,  U.S..A.,  directly  advticates  the 


July  i8,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


271 


establishment  of  a  central  bureau  under  the  Royal 
Society  ;  and  several  others  more  or  less  clearly  imply 
that  they  would  fa\our  such  a  course. 

Over  and  over  again,  it  is  stated  that  the  production 
by  international  co-operation  of  a  catalogue  such  as  is 
contemplated  is  not  only  desirable,  but  practicable.  The 
Americans  who,  as  already  stated,  are  the  most  enthu- 
siastic supporters  of  the  scheme,  especially  dwell  on  the 
importance  of  early  action  being  taken.  Prof  Bowditch, 
of  Harvard  University,  in  particular,  points  out  that  if 
the  Royal  Society  of  London  wish  to  guide  the  enter- 
prise, it  ought  to  announce  its  views  and  put  forward  a 
comprehensive  scheme  with  the  least  possible  delay.  It 
maybe  added  here  that  he  also  urges  that  in  determining 
the  scope  of  the  catalogue  a  ver)-  wide  interpretation 
should  be  given  to  the  word  "  Science." 

No  very  precise  information  as  to  the  best  mode  of 
putting  the  scheme  into  operation  is  to  be  gathered  from 
the  replies  as  a  whole. 

It  is  generally  agreed  that  the  enterprise  should  be  an 
international  one.  ^L'iny  think  that  international  financial 
support  should  and  would  be  accorded  to  it,  but  no  method 
of  securing  this  is  indicated  ;  others  express  the  view 
that  the  cost  may  be  met  by  subscriptions  from  societies, 
libraries,  booksellers  and  individuals  without  Government 
aid,  and  this  is,  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  the  prevailing 
feeling  among  those  who  have  discussed  the  matter  from 
a  financial  point  of  view.  But  in  no  case  is  any  attempt 
made  to  form  any  exact  estimate  of  the  cost. 

A  number  of  scientific  bodies  and  institutions  e.xpress 
themselves  prepared  to  work  in  such  a  cause.  The 
.Secretary  of  the  .Smithsonian  Institution  suggests  that  as 
the  Institution  receives  all  the  serials  and  independent 
works  published  in  America,  a  branch  office  might  be 
established  there,  and  that  it  is  not  impossible  that  a  sum 
of  money  might  be  given  yearly  in  aid.  The  Royal 
Danish  .\cademy  is  willing  to  render  as  much  assistance 
as  possible.  It  would  charge  an  official  of  one  of  the  I 
Danish  chief  libraries  in  receipt  of  all  Danish  publications  i 
with  the  task  of  editing  slips,  and  would  defray  the  cost  ! 
of  this  work.  The  Societe  des  .Sciences  of  Helsingfors 
would  furnish  the  central  office  with  information  as  to 
the  scientific  work  done  in  Finland.  The  Kongl.  \'eten- 
skaps  Akademie  of  Stockholm  would  organise  a  Com- 
mittee for  .Sweden. 

As  regards  language,  there  appears  to  be  more  unani- 
mity than  could  have  been  expected.  Over  and  over 
again  the  opinion  is  expressed  that  English  should  be 
the  language  of  the  subject  catalogue.  Frequent  reference 
is  made  to  the  importance  of  quoting  titles  in  the  original 
language,  although  some  suggest  that  this  should  be  done 
only  in  the  case  of  those  published  in  English,  French, 
or  German,  and  perhaps  Italian. 

Some  form  of  card  catalogue  appears  to  be  generally 
favoured,  especially  in  .'\merica,  as  the  basis  of  the 
scheme  ;  the  Committee  of  Harvard  University,  whose 
reply  is  very  full,  in  particular  discuss  this  point  in  detail. 

In  an  interview  with  the  Committee  in  March  last, 
I'rof.  .Agassiz  spoke  very  warmly  in  favour  of  the  scheme, 
and  of  the  support  which  it  would  meet  with  in  the 
United  .States,  especially  from  libraries.  .As  others  have 
done,  he  strongly  urged  that  the  co-operation  of  book- 
sellers and  authors  should  be  secured.  Prof  Agassiz 
also  expressed  the  view  that  the  regular  issue  to  libraries 
and  scientific  workers  from  the  central  office  of  cards  or 
slips  which  would  aftbrd  the  material  for  the  construction 
of  card  catalogues  would  form  ;m  important  source  of 
income,  at  all  events  in  his  country. 

From  various  sides  it  is  urged  that  an  International 
Congress  should  be  held  to  discuss  plans.  This  is  ad- 
vocated as  a  first  step  in  a  reply  received  from  the 
Konigl.  (jesellschaft  dcr  Wissenschaften  in  (lijttingen,  a 
reply  to  which,  not  only  as  regards  this  point,  but  also 
in  rcsjiect  to  the  whole  matter,  the  Committee  attach  vcr\- 

NO.    1342,  VOL.   52] 


great  weight,  since  it  embodies  in  an  official  form  views 
arrived  at  by  the  academies  of  Vienna  and  Munich,  and 
by  the  scientific  societies  of  Leipsic  and  Gottingcn,  who 
have  considered  the  matter  in  common.  Prof.  .Agassiz 
strongly  urged  the  calling  of  a  conference,  and  among 
others  who  share  this  view.  Dr.  Gill,  of  the  Cape  Ob- 
servatory, in  his  letter  particularly  dwells  on  the  great 
value  of  such  meetings  as  the  means  of  securing  unanimity 
of  action. 

Such  being  the  tenour  of  the  correspondence,  your 
Committee  are  convinced  that  initial  steps  of  a  definite 
nature  in  furtherance  of  the  scheme  ought  now  to  be 
taken. 

They  accordingly  request  the  President  and  Council 
to  take  measures  w  ith  the  view  of  calling  together,  in 
July  of  next  year  (1896),  an  International  Conference,  at 
which  representatives  of  the  several  nations  engaged  in 
scientific  work  should  be  invited  to  attend,  with  the  view 
of  discussing  and  settling  a  detailed  scheme  for  the  pro- 
duction by  international  co-operation  of  complete  authors' 
and  subject  catalogues  of  scientific  literature. 

London  will  probably  be  found  the  best  place  in  which 
to  hold  such  a  conference.  It  may  be  desirable  to 
summon  the  representatives  of  the  different  countries 
through  their  respective  Governments,  and  it  will 
obviously  be  necessary  that  a  detailed  scheme  be  pre- 
pared, to  serve  as  a  basis  for  discussion  at  the  con- 
ference. These  and  other  points  will  require  much 
consideration  before  any  action  at  all  can  be  taken  ; 
meanwhile,  it  is  desirable  that  a  beginning  should  be 
made  during  the  autumn,  before  the  winter  session  of 
the  Society.  The  Committee  therefore  recommend  that 
the  President  and  Council  should  give  the  Committee 
(which  includes  the  President  and  officers)  executive 
powers  in  order  that  they  may  take,  in  the  name  of  the 
Society,  such  steps  as  they  may  think  desirable  with  the 
view  of  calling  together  the  above-mentioned  conference. 

SCIENCE  SCHOLARSHIPS  AT  CAMBRIDGE. 

"\\^ITHIX  the  past  academical  year  an  attempt  has 
'  '  been  made  by  the  college  tutors  at  Cambridge, 
in  consultation  with  representatives  from  0.xford,  to  come 
to  an  understanding  as  to  the  times  at  which  examinations 
for  entrance  scholarships  shall  be  held.  Headmasters 
have  frequently  complained  of  the  interruption  to  school 
work  caused  by  the  present  somewhat  haphazard  arrange- 
ments, and  have  suggested  the  grouping  of  colleges  and 
other  expedients  in  mitigation  of  the  difficulty.  Some 
of  the  colleges,  notably  Caius,  Jesus,  Christ's,  and  Em- 
manuel, Pembroke  with  King's,  and  Clare  with  Trinity 
Hall,  have  agreed  to  group  their  examinations,  candidates 
entering  for  the  combined  examination  being  required  to 
indicate  the  colleges,  in  the  order  of  their  preference, 
which  they  desire  to  join  if  successful.  The  larger 
colleges,  Trinity  and  .St.  John's,  have  for  various  reasons 
found  it  impracticable  to  form  such  combinations  :  but 
they  have  agreed  at  least  to  avoid  clashing  by  fixing 
their  examinations  about  a  month  apart.  Nine  of  the 
colleges  ofter  scholarships  and  exhibitions  for  natural 
science,  the  rest  confining  the  competition  to  the  old- 
established  subjects  of  classics  and  mathematics.  In  the 
ensuing  academical  year,  examinations  in  natural  science 
for  these  aw^ards  will  be  held  as  follows  :  at  Trinity, 
November  5  ;  at  Peterhouse  (physical  sciences  only), 
November  19;  at  the  group —Caius,  Jesus,  Christ's, 
Emmanuel — November  26  ;  at  the  group — Pembroke, 
King's — and  also  at  St.  John's  College,  December  3  ; 
at  Sidney,  Sussex,  December  12  ;  at  the  group — Clare, 
Trinity  Hall-  January- 1 ;  and  at  Downing,  about  March  17. 
The  value  of  the  scholarships  varies  from  ^80  to  ^40 
a  year,  of  the  exhibitions  from  ^50  to  £10.  They  are 
usually  tenable  for  three  or  four  years,  with  a  condition 
that  bv  the  end  of  the  second  vear  the  scholar  shall  have 


NATURE 


[July   iS,  1895 


approved  himself  sufficiently  in  the  college  examinations. 
Scholars  are  practically  required  to  become  candidates 
for  honours  in  the  natural  sciences  tripos,  though  the 
new  mechanical  sciences  tripos  will  no  doubt  attract 
some.  The  new  Salanion  scholarships  at  Caius  are, 
indeed,  specially  intended  for  students  of  engineering. 
It  should  be  added  that  candidates  for  scholarships,  who 
are  not  yet  members  of  the  university,  must  be  under 
nineteen  years  of  age  ;  there  is  no  restriction  of  age  in 
respect  of  the  science  exhibitions.  Though  only  nine 
colleges  specifically  offer  entrance  scholarships  in  science, 
an  examination  of  the  awards  to  the  first,  second,  and 
third  year  students  shows  that  in  many  more  good  work 
in  science,  as  tested  by  university  or  inter-collegiate 
examinations,  does  not  go  unrecognised.  The  large  body 
of  medical  students,  now  approaching  five  hundred  in 
number,  is  distributed  over  all  the  colleges,  and  their 
presence  has  apparentK-  brought  home,  even  to  the  most 
conser\ative,  the  fact  that  intellectual  ability,  high-minded 
devotion  to  study,  and  social  energy  are  not  confined 
to  students  of  classics  and  mathematics  alone.  Thus, 
though  something  remains  to  be  done  in  certain  quarters 
.n  the  direction  of  placing  science  on  an  equal  footing 
with  the  older  subjects  as  a  fit  object  of  college  recogni- 
tion and  reward,  it  must  be  owned  that  a  great  advance 
has  been  made  within  the  last  ten  years.  The  natural 
sciences  tripos  now  attracts  a  larger  number  of  candidates 
than  any  other,  and  this  notwithstanding  that  its  standard 
has  steadily  been  raised.  In  the  majority  of  the  colleges, 
distinguished  eminence  in  this  tripos  has  been  admitted 
as  a  qualification  for  a  fellowship,  and  in  not  a  few 
instances  governing  bodies  have  felt  the  need  of  strengthen- 
ing themselves  on  the  side  of  science,  and  have  departed 
from  Cambridge  custom  by  selecting  scientific  members 
of  other  colleges  for  this  honour. 

The  endowments  for  research,  other  than  scholarships 
and  fellowships,   have   in    late  years   been   substantially 

ncreased.  In  addition  to  post-graduate  studentships  at 
the  larger  colleges,  such  as  the  Hutchinson  at  St.  John's 
(physical  and  natural  science),  the  Coutts-Trotter  at 
Trinity  (physics  and  physiology),  the  Frank  Smart  at 
Caius  (botanyj,  the  university  has  of  late  received  a 
number  of  benefactions  for  the  same  purpose.  The 
Balfour  studentship  in  animal  morpholog^y,  worth  ^200 
a  year,  the  Harkness  scholarship  in  geology  about  £.\<x>, 
the  Clerk  Maxwell  scholarship  in  physics  about  ^185, 
the  John  Lucas  Walker  studentship  in  pathology  £100 
to  l,yx>,  the  Isaac  Newton  studentships  (three)  in  as- 
tronomy ^200,  and  the  Arnold  Gerstenberg  studentship, 
for  natural  science  students  pursuing  philosophical  study, 
about  £S3i  3te  among  these  recent  foundations.  They 
are  expressly  intended  to  foster  advanced  study  and  re- 
search, and  they  have  alrc.idy  produced  excellent  results. 
The  university  still  lacks  the  means  of  providing  similar 
encouragements  for  higher  work  in  chemistr)',  in  anatomy 
and  anthropology,  in  botany,  in  mineralogj-,  in  physiology, 
in  pharmacology,  and  in  scientific  engineering.  It  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  line  of  generous  benefactors  is  not  yet 
extinct,  and  that  some  of  these  important  subjects  may 
ere  long  receive  the  benefit  of  their  munificence.  The 
new  scheme  for  the  promotion  of  post-graduate  study 
and  research,  which  has  received  the  approval  of  the 
senate,  and  now  only  awaits  the  assembling  of  Parliament 
for  the  sanction  of  the   necessary  statutes,   will    render 

such  endowments  opportune  and  fruitful. 

SCALE  LIXES  ON  THE  LOGARITHMIC  CHART 
'T'llK  .kK.iiii.i   IS  iif  logarithmic   plotting   for  certain 
'  i  live  for  some  time  been  recognised, 

and  n'>  to    Mr.    Human,    logarithmically 

ruled  paper  <  an  i)f  obtained  ready  made,  the  facility  of 
such  plotting  i^  greatly  increased,  so  that  there  is  all  the 
more  reason  on  this  account  why  it  should  become  more 

NO.   1342,  VOL.  52] 


common  than  it  seems  to  be  at  present.  It  may  perhaps 
be  well  to  point  out  shortly  what  the  nature  and  effect  of 
logarithmic  plotting  is,  and  to  contrast  it  with  the  more 
common  method  on  square-ruled  paper.  Instead  of 
paper  ruled  in  equal  squares,  logarithmic  paper  is  ruled 
first  in  a  scries  of  large  equal  unit  squares  representing 
tenfold  changes  in  the  coordinates.  Thus  two  units 
represent  100,  three  units  1000,  and  so  on.  .Similarly  the 
squares  are  broken  up  fractionally  and  unequally  into 
a  series  of  vertical  and  horizontal  lines,  whose  distance 
from  the  left  or  lower  side  of  the  square  is  equal  to  the 
logarithms  of  the  numbers  2,  3,  4,  lifcc,  and  these  are  sub- 
divided again  logarithmically  just  in  the  same  way  that 
a  slide  rule  is  subdivided.  In  fact,  if  logarithmic  paper 
is  not  available,  logarithmic  plotting  can  still  be  carried 
out  fairly  expeditiously  by  pricking  off  distances  direct 
from  a  good  slide-rule.  The  meaning  of  lines  drawn 
upon  logarithmic  paper  is  very  ditierent  from  that  upon 
ordinary  square  ruled  paper.  For  instance,  an  inclined 
straight  line  ruled  in  the  ordinaiy  way  represents  the 
equation  V  =  <(  -f-  /u",  whereas  when  logarithmic  paper  is 
employed  the  corresponding  line  gixes  )'  =  ax''.  The 
consequence  is  that  whenever  two  quantities  are  related 
so  that  one  varies  as  any  power,  positive,  negative, 
integral,  or  fractional  of  another,  a  straight  line  drawn 
in  the  proper  positibn  and  inclination  represents  that 
relation,  the  power  being  equal  to  the  trigonometrical 
tangent  of  the  angle  of  slope  of  the  straight  line.  If  the 
relation  that  is  to  be  represented  is  less  simple,  if  the 
index  changes  gradually  as  either  of  the  coordinates 
changes,  so  that  a  curve  has  to  be  employed,  then  the 
size  and  shape  of  the  curve  represents  the  law  in  the 
abstract,  and  the  position  of  the  curve  on  the  sheet  the 
actual  numbers  for  the  particular  case  and  with  the 
I  particular  units  ;  a  mere  shift  of  the  curve  bodily  upon 
the  chart,  as  pointed  out  by  I'rof  Osborne  Reynolds  long^ 
ago,  being  all  that  is  necessary  to  adopt  the  same  law  to 
new  circumstances  or  new  units. 

One  very  important  feature  of  logarithmic  plotting  is 
I  the  fact  that,  not  only  is  it  practicable  to  include  an 
,  enormous  range  (in  .Mr.  Human's  sheets  of  four  by  five 
squares  of  10,000  and  100,000  in  the  two  directions),  but 
[  the  proportionate  accuracy  is  identical  in  all  parts,  if  it 
is  possible  to  draw  or  read  to,  say,  I  per  cent,  in  one  part 
of  a  curve,  the  same  figure  is  true  everywhere.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  ordinary  plotting  the  proportionate  ac- 
curacy of  quantities  near  the  origin  is  very  small,  while  at 
a  great  distance  it  becomes  enormous.  In  order  to  assist 
in  the  process  of  sliding  any  curve  about  on  a  logarithmic 
chart  so  as  to  represent  particular  cases,  special  logarith- 
mic scales  may  be  ruled  upon  the  sheet,  having  a  suitable 
magnitude  depending  on  the  index  which  connects  the 
result  with  the  new  variable,  or  what  I  have  called  scale 
lines  may  be  employed.  In  illustrating  the  laws  which 
connect  the  velocity  and  frequency  of  waves  and  ripples 
at  the  Koyal  .Society  soiree,  I  exhibited  these  lines,  and 
showed  how,  in  order  to  determine  by  inspection  either  the 
velocity  or  the  frequency  of  wa\  es  and  ripples  of  any  wave- 
length on  the  surface  of  any  liquid  under  any  acceleration 
of  gra\  ity,  a  single  curve  and  two  scale  lines  are  all  tliat 
are  needed.  As  by  their  use  the  logarithmic  chart  is  made 
I  even  more  comprehensi\e  than  it  is  at  present,  I  feel  that 
i  no  apology  is  needed  for  making  use  of  the  columns  of 
N  ATl'KK  to  make  them  more  widely  known. 

As  is  well  known,  the  velocity  of  surface  waves  on  a 
fluid  depend  both  on  gravity  and  on  kinematic  capillarity 
or  capillarity  divided  hv  density.  In  the  case  of  waves 
of  liirge  size,  capillarit)  is  of  practically  no  account,  and  the 
velocity  dependsonly  on  the  acceleration  of  gravity.  Since 
it  depends  on  the  square  root  of  this  acceleration,  the  line 
on  the  logarithmic  chart  that  represents  the  velocity  of 
waves  of  any  size  travelling  under  the  influence  of  gravity 
alone  is  straight,  and  slopes  up  so  as  to  rise  one  square' 
for  every  two  that   it  moves  to  the  right,  its  tangent  is- 


July  i8,  1895] 


NATURE 


27: 


=  \.  On  the  other  hand,  since  the  velocity  of  waves 
travelling  under  the  influence  of  capillarity  alone  is  pro- 
portional to  the  square  root  of  the  wave  shortness  or 
reciprocal  of  the  wave-lenj^th,  the  line  that  represents 
their  velocity  is  straight  also,  but  slopes  the  other  way 
and  to  the  same  extent.  Actually  both  causes  are  in 
operation,  but  except  over  a  range  of  wave-length  of 
about  I  to  100,  the  one  influence  so  largely  predominates 
that  the  other  is  negligible.  In  the  diagram  this  is  made 
evident  on  the  velocity  cur\'e  which  consists  of  two 
straight  branches  joined  by  a  cur\e,  which  runs  into 
them  and  is  rapidly  indistinguishable  from  them.  The 
dotted  continuation  of  the  branches  shows  what  would 
be  the  velocities  under  the  influence  of  either  cause 
alone.  Where  the  two  lines  cross,  both  gravity  and 
capillarity  have  equal  influence,  and   the   two  together  ] 


scale  line,  however,  is  much  simpler,  more  convenient,, 
and  less  confusing.  In  order  to  draw  it,  find  a  point 
in  either  branch  of  the  curve  where  the  velocity  reading 
on  the  vertical  scale  of  the  chart  is  equal  to  the  value 
of  T  /)  for  the  left,  or  of  ^''  for  the  right  branch.  If  within 
the  limits  of  the  paper  the  branch  of  the  curve  does  not 
indicate  a  velocity,  of  which  the  value  is  T  p  or  g,  as  the 
case  may  be,  take  some  whole  power  of  lo  or  ^q  as  a 
factor.  P'or  instance,  though  T 'p  =  8i  is  within  the  limits 
of  the  left  branch,  .^  =  98  ri  is  outside  the  paper  on  the 
right,  therefore  find  on  the  right  branch  ^^;  10  =  gS'ii. 
Now,  in  order  to  find  some  other  point  on  the  scale  line, 
imagine  that  each  of  these  quantities  is  multiplied  tenfold. 
Tlie  corresponding  branch  of  each  will  be  raised  vertically 
v'lo,  or  half  a  square.  The  new  line  so  drawn  will  at  some 
point  cut  the  vertical  scale  of  the  chart,  in  a  line  of  which  the 


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produce  a  minimum  effect.  The  actual  curve  may  be 
planted  anywiiere  on  the  chart:  but  in  the  diagram  it  is  so 
placed  as  to  represent  the  facts  with  water  for  which  T  p  =  8i 
and  willi  ^  =  981-1.  If  other  liquids  are  chosen,  then, 
since  the  gravitational  branch  of  the  curve  is  unaffected, 
the  curve,  as  a  whole,  must  be  made  to  slide  along  the 
gravity  branch  on  the  right  until  the  left  branch  assumes 
its  proper  position.  Similarly  to  represent  the  effect  of 
changes  of  g,  the  curve  must  be  made  to  slide  along 
its  capillary  branch  on  the  left  until  the  gra\ity  1)ranch 
on  the  right  assumes  its  proper  position.  The  proper 
position  in  either  case  may  be  indicated  bv  ;i  special 
logarithmic  scale  ruled  to  half  the  scale  adopted  for  the 
squares  of  the  chart,  and  placed  upon  the  chart  with  its 
length  vertical  and  so  that  the  branches  of  the  curve 
cut  each  scale,  one   at   Si  and  the  other  at   gSri.     The 

NO.   1342,  VOL.   52] 


value  is  ten  times  the  reality,  or  is  one  square  higher  up 
than  the  first  point.  Mark  this  point,  and  join  it  to 
the  first.  The  result  is  a  sotlc  line  having  the  property 
that  wherever  it  is  cut  by  the  corresponding  branch  of 
the  curve  the  reading  on  the  chart  gives  at  once  the 
value  of  T  p  or  of  _^'',  as  the  case  may  be,  that  is  proper 
to  the  new  position  of  the  curve,  and  conxersely  in 
order  to  fix  the  place  of  the  curve  for  any  value  of 
T  por  of_<;,  it  is  merely  necessary  to  find  the  desired  values 
of  these  quantities  on  the  scale  lines,  and  then  to  shift 
the  cur\e  until  its  two  branches  or  its  two  branches  pro- 
duced if  necessary  pass  through  the  points  on  the  scale 
lines  having  the  values  sought.  If  the  effect  of  a 
variation  of  the  constant  upon  the  value  indicated  by 
the  curve  line  is  one  of  simple  proportion,  the  scale  -line 
will  be  vertical.      If  its   power  is  less  than  one,  it  will  be 


2/4 


NA  TURE 


[July   i8.  1895 


between  the  v  ertical  and  the  slope  of  the  curve  ;  if  more 
than  one,  it  will  slope  the  other  way,  if  it  is  neg^ati\e  the 
slope  will  be  less  than  that  of  the  curve.  In  order  to  apply 
a  general  rule  to  all  possible  cases  where  both  the  index 
connecting  .V  and  I' and  the  index  connecting  the  result 
(y)  with  the  variation  of  the  constant  may  have  any 
\alues  whatever,  it  is  merely  ncccssar\'  to  find  a  point  a 
upon  the  inclined  straight  line  representing  )•  =  ax , 
at  which  j-  is  equal  to  u,  or  to  that  part  of  n  which  may 
assume  various  values.  At  any  distance  above  it  rule  a 
horizontal  line.  Where  the  horizontal  line  cuts  the  inclined 
line,  write  the  figure  o;  where  it  cuts  the  vertical  through 
the  point  .(.write  the  figure  +i.  Then  complete  a  scale 
of  equal  p;irts  on  the  horizontal  line  extending  to  +  so  and 
—  =0 .  Lines  drawn  through  the  original  point  u  and 
any  point  f  on  this  scale  will  be  scale  lines  correspond- 
ing to  the  case  where  the  result  depends  upon  the  yth 
power  of  the  constant  as  well  as  upon  the  filh  power 
of  x. 

The  frequency  cur\e  placed  upon  the  same  chart  has 
two  branches  inclined  at  tan"'  -  ii  and  tan"'-  i,  joined  by 
a  cur\e  such  that  not  only  on  the  straight  branches,  but 
at  every-  point,  the  algebraical  difference  of  the  tangent 
of  its  inclination  and  that  of  the  velocity  curve  for  the 
same  value  of  .i'  the  wave-length  is  equal  to  unity.  The 
left-hand  branch  of  the  frequency  curve  supplies  another 
example  of  the  rule  given  above  for  drawing  a  scale  line  ; 
for,  while  its  tangent  is  —  i(,  that  of  the  scale  line  is  -  3. 

It  is  evident  that  the  curve  may  be  con\eniently  drawn 
upon  tracmg-paper,  which  may  then  be  moved  about,  but 
always  keeping  the  inclinations  unchanged  until  the 
branches  pass  through  the  desired  points  upon  the  scale 
lines.  The  numerical  relations  for  the  new  constants 
may  then  be  read  at  once. 

I  have  thought  it  best  to  explain  the  method  by  the 
use  of  a  concrete  e.xample.  Of  course  it  is  not  limited 
to  the  case  of  ripples  and  wa\cs,  but  may  be  applied  very 
widely. 

By  way  of  illustrating  how  to  change  from  one  system 
of  units  to  another,  I  have  drawn  a  pair  of  double-ended 
aji'iws  in  the  middle  of  the  chart,  which  show  the  mag- 
n..ude  and  direction  of  the  movement  of  each  of  the 
curved  lines  with  its  straight  dotted  continuations,  which 
will  be  nccessar)'  in  order  to  read  the  results  in  inches 
instead  of  in  centimetres.  The  one  relating  to  \elocities 
is  inclined  at  45  ,  as  both  the  velocity  and  wave-length 
are  equally  changed  in  the  ratio  of  254  :  i,  or  1  :  "3937. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  frequency  being  a  mere  number 
is  not  affected,  except  in  so  far  as  the  wave-length  will 
be  expressed  by  a  difierent  number.  Hence  the  direc- 
tion of  sliding  is  here  horizontal  and  the  same  in  amount 
as  either  component  of  the  other.  The  scale  lines  must 
then  be  put  in  parallel  to  their  former  directions,  and 
running  through  points  for  which  the  vertical  scale  read- 
ing has  the  numerical  \alue  of  the  constant  according  to 
the  system  of  units  chosen.  C.  V.  Uov.s. 

[No/e.-  The  numerical  values  represented  by  the  ver- 
tical and  horizontal  lines  in  each  square  in  the  diagram 
are  1,  r,,  2,  rs,  3,  3-5,  4.  45,  5,  55,  6,  6-5,  7,  7-5,  8,  9,  10. 
The  nunil)cr  of  lines  in  the  lluinan  sheets  is  five  times  as 
great,  but  they  are  drawn  in  three  degrees  of  darkness  to 
distinguish  them. — C.  \'.  H] 


JVOTES. 

A  RKl'RK.>KSTA'llve  meeting  of  friends  and  ailniirer.s  of  ihc 
I.ilc  Mr.  Iluxicy  ».xh  held  on  Thursday  afternoon,  al  Ihc  rooms 
of  the  Koyal  .S'K:itly,  under  the  chairmanship  of  Lord  Kelvin, 
I'.R.S.,  Ill  CKriHidiT  what  .steps  should  1m:  taken  ti>  iniliatc  a 
national  memorial.  Ii  was  determined  la  call  a  general  puhlic 
meeting  after  the  autumn  rccevi,  and,  in  Ihc  meantime,  to  form 
NO.    1342.  VOL.   52] 


a  general  committee.  Sir  John  Lubbock  (15  Lombard-street) 
has  consented  to  act  as  treasurer,  and  I'rof.  d.  B.  Howes  (Royal 
College  of  Science,  South  Kensington)  as  secretary  to  the  pro- 
visional committee. 

We  notice,  also,  that  it  is  proposed  to  establish  a  memorial  to 
commemorate  the  connection  of  Huxley  with  the  Charing  Cross 
Hospital  Medic.1l  School.  At  a  meeting  held  at  the  School  on 
Tuesday,  the  following  resolution  was  passed  : — "  That  the 
memorial  shall  take  the  form  of  a  Huxley  scholarship  and  medal 
to  be  awarded  annually  at  the  Charing  Cross  Hospital  Medical 
School,  and  that  if  funds  permit  an  annual  public  lecture  at  the 
Charing  Cross  Medical  School  dealing  with  recent  advances  in 
science,  and  their  bearing  upon  medicine  shall  be  instituted." 

We  understand  that  a  large  majority  of  those  Kellows  of  the 
Royal  Society  who  have  expressed  an  opinion  on  the  matter, 
being  in  favour  of  retaining  the  present  quarto  form  of  the 
Philosophual  Transactions,  the  President  and  Council  have 
decided  to  retain  that  form.  As  stated  in  a  circular  recently 
addres-sed  to  Fellows,  the  President  and  Council,  finding  that 
the  majority  of  those  expressing  their  opinion  were  in  favour  of  a 
royal  octavo  form  for  the  Proccediiigs,  have  decided  to  adopt  that 
form.  The  change  will  probably  be  made  at  the  beginning  of 
next  year. 

Se\ER.^l  new  instances  of  generous  gifts  for  the  advance- 
ment of  scientific  knowledge  are  reported  in  Science.  Mr.  Archi- 
bald, President  of  the  Trustees  of  Syracuse  University,  has 
offered  to  be  one  of  six  subscribers  for  funds  to  build  a  hall  of 
science  costing  about  ;f30,ooo.  The  University  has  also  been 
offered  ;^2000  and  ^'20,000  towards  a  new  medical  college. 
Another  American  institution  which  has  benefited  by  the 
i  epidemic  of  generosity  which  has  lately  prevailed  in  the  United 
States  is  the  Johns  Hopkins  University,  which  has  received  from 
Mrs.  Williams  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  to  establish  a  lecture- 
ship in  geology  in  mcmor)'  of  the  late  Prof,  ('leorge  11.  Williams. 
•Sir  Archibald  Cleikie  has  been  invited  to  lie  first  lecturer. 

The  sum  of  ;f 50,000  required  for  the  New  York  Botanic 
Garden  has  been  contributed  by  twenty-two  donors.  Sub- 
scriptions of  j^SOOO  were  given  by  each  of  the  following : — 
Mr.  J.  P.  Morgan,  Columbia  College,  Mr.  Andrew  Car- 
negie, .Mr.  C.  ^■anderbilt,  Mr.  J.  I>.  Rockefeller,  Mr.  D.  O. 
Mills,  Judge  A.  Brown.  Mr.  Wm.  Ii.  Dodge,  Mr.  J.  A. 
Scrjinser,  and  Mr.  Wm.  C.  Schermerhorn  each  gave  £2000, 
and  there  were  eight  sub.scribers  of  /^looo  each.  The  act 
iif  incorporation  required  that  this  amount  be  collected  for  an 
endowment.  The  city  must  now  raise  ^100,000  by  bonds  for 
building  purposes,  and  provide  250  iicres  of  land  in  Itronx  Park. 
This  part  of  (he  agreement  will  proljably  soon  be  carried  out,  so 
New  N'ork  may  look  to  possessing  shortly  a  botanic  garden  of  the 
first  order.  Writing  with  reference  to  the  prospect  in  Science  of 
July  5,  Prof.  Ci.  L.  (loodall,  of  Harvard  I'nivcrsity,  remarks: 
"  To  Columbia  College  and  the  other  educational  institutions  of 
New  York  and  vicinity,  this  new  appliance  for  instruction  will 
mean  indeed  a  great  deal.  To  all  the  citizens  who  are  to 
lake  .advant.ige  of  the  opportunities  for  instruction  which  the 
garden  will  afford,  Bronx  Park  will  be  a  constant  delight.  But 
far  beyond  these  limits,  wide  as  they  arc,  the  garden  will  exert 
a  profound  and  beneficial  influence.  Other  cities  will  surely  l)e 
stimulated  by  this  noble  movement  and  enrich  their  park  systems 
with  an  educaliimal  aid  of  the  greatest  value.  Formerly  lK)tanic 
gardens,  attached  even  in  a  remote  manner  to  educational 
institutions,  were  largely  used  for  the  cultivation  of  medicinal 
plants,  and  for  the  reception  of  s|)eeies  from  distant  lands.  Of 
course,  this  use,  although  its  importance  is  now  relatively  less 
than  ever  licfore,  will  still  long  continue  to  he  a  factor  in  the 
direction  of  activities.     But  here  and  there  new  pha.scs  of  plant 


July   i8,  1895] 


NATURE 


275 


relations  are  being  displayed  in  the  greater  gardens,  and  with  the 
most  gratifying  results,  (geographical  questions  are  asked  and 
answered  by  skilful  grouping  of  species,  and  in  the  n.ost  attractive 
way.  The  bearing  of  climate  on  the  structure,  habit,  and 
possibilities  of  plants  is  made  prominent  in  an  interesting  fashion. 
The  capabilities  of  useful  plants  and  the  extension  of  their  range 
of  usefulness  comprise  another  phase  of  illustration  which 
always  sets  visitors  to  thinking.  Beyond  and,  we  may  say, 
above  these  questions,  which  are  pretty  strictly  utilitarian,  there 
comes  nowadays  another  class  of  illustrations  which  are  of  the 
highest  educational  value  in  a  community,  namely,  the 
biological  features  which  are  invested  with  such  important 
relations  to  all  departments  of  intellectual  activity." 

We  regret  to  announce  the  death  of  Prof.  K.  Tietjen,  for 
many  years  past  Director  of  the  Recheninstitut  of  the  Berlin  Ob- 
servator)',  and  editor  of  the  Berliner  Astronomisches Jahrbuih  ; 
also  of  Prof.  G.  F.  W.  Sporer,  of  the  Potsdam  Observatory, 
well  known  amongst  astronomers  for  his  solar  observations. 

A  STATUB  to  Boussingault  was  unveiled  at  the  Paris 
Conservatoire  des  Arts  et  Metiers  last  week.  The  French 
Minister  of  .\griculture,  who  presided  at  the  inauguration, 
pointed  out  how  very  largely  Boussingault's  work  had  benefited 
agriculture.  The  funds  for  the  erection  of  the  monument  were 
raised  by  public  subscription,  through  a  Committee  of  which  M. 
Schloesing  was  the  president. 

A  FEW  days  ago,  the  Municipal  Council  of  Paris,  and 
the  General  Council  of  the  Seine,  presented  Dr.  E.  •  Roux, 
who  has  devoted  so  much  attention  to  the  anti-toxic  serum 
treatment  of  diphtheria,  with  two  gold  medals  struck  in  his 
honour.  M.  Pasteur  was  unable  to  be  present  on  account  of 
ill-health,  but  he  sent  a  letter  in  which  he  expressed  hi.s  great 
gratification  at  the  way  in  which  the  municipality  were  publicly 
expressing  their  appreciation  of  the  work  of  his  pupil  and 
collaborator. 

Sir  William  11.  Flower,  K.C.B.,  has  been  elected  a  Cor- 
respondant  of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences  ;  and  Prof.  Cohn 
has  been  elected  to  succeed  the  late  Marquis  de  -Saporta,  as 
Correspondant  in  the  Section  of  Botany. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Dr.  Hermann   Knoblauch,  Presi- 
dent of   the  Kaiserliche   Leopoldinisch-Carolinische  Akademie 
of  Halle.     He   died    in  the    seventy-sixth   year   of  his  age  on  I 
June  30th. 

Dr.  Fabian  Franklin,  Professor  of  -Mathematics  in  the 
Johns  Hopkins  University,  has  resigned  his  position  in  order  to 
take  up  editorial  work  on  the  Baltimore  A'eivs. 

M.  Pail  .Siniknis  has  returned  from  Turkish  Armenia 
with  large  collections  of  rare  plants. 

Sir  Kdwari)  Lawson  will  distribute  the  prizes  to  the 
students  of  the  Charing  Cross  Hospital  Medical  School  this 
afternoon,  at  4  o'clock.  Next  Thursday  evening,  the  distribu- 
tion of  i)rizes  to  the  students  of  the  Dental  Hospital  of  London 
will  be  made  by  Sir  William  MacCormac,  at  a  conversazione  to 
be  held  in  :he  Royal  Institute  Calleries,  Princes  Hall, 
Piccadilly. 

The  University  of  Chicago  has  decided  to  add  Terrestrial 
Physics  to  the  subjects  taught  in  the  Physical  Department  under 
Prof.  Michelson,  says  the  Aiiieriian  Meteorological  /oiiriial. 
Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer  has  just  commenced  courses  in  terrestrial 
magnetism,  thermodynamics  of  the  atmosphere,  and  dynamic 
meteorology.  This  step  marks  a  new  era  in  the  development  of 
the  study  of  meteor(jlogy  in  the  United  States. 
NO.    1342,  VOL.   52] 


Prof.  F.  Omori,  of  the  Seismological  Institute  of  Tokio,  con- 
tributes an  interesting  paper  on  the  velocity  of  earthquake- waves  to 
the  Bollettino  of  the  new  Italian  Seismological  .Society  (vol.  i., 
1895,  PP-  52-60).  The  chief  value  of  his  investigation  lies  in  the 
fact  that  the  distances  traversed  are  generally  short  and  the  times 
exceedingly  accurate,  so  that  we  thus  obtain  some  idea  of  the 
surface-velocity  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  epicentre.  The 
mean  velocity  for  twenty-five  earthquakes  (1891-94)  is  found 
to  be  2 "04  km.  per  second.  Prof.  Omori  also  shows  that  for 
earthquakes  originating  in  the  same  region,  the  velocity  is  prac- 
tically constant,  whatever  be  the  intensity  of  the  initial  disturb- 
ance or  the  distance  of  the  place  of  observation  from  the  centre. 

The  prizes  and  metlals  of  the  Paris  Societe  dEncouragement 
have  just  been  awarded.  The  prize  of  twelve  thousand  francs 
(^480),  awarded  every  six  years  to  the  author  of  the  most  use- 
ful discovery  to  French  industry,  has  been  given  to  Prof. 
Lijipmann,  for  his  method  of  photographing  colours.  Amon^ 
the  other  awards  we  notice  the  following  :  Prize  of  2000  francs 
to  M.  F.  Osmond  for  his  works  on  the  microscopic  analysis  of 
steel,  of  which  an  account  is  given  in  the  May  Bulletin  of  the 
Society  ;  500  francs  to  M.  Gar^on  for  his  work  on  "'La 
Pratique  du  teinturier "  ;  1000  francs  to  M.  Ch.  Tellier,  500 
to  M.  Lacroix,  500  to  M.  Maignen,  and  500  to  M.  Schlum- 
berger,  for  the  purification  of  potable  waters  ;  500  francs  each 
to  M.  Lartigue  and  M.  Roux  for  their  investigations  in  con- 
nection with  the  electrical  installations ;  1000  francs  to  M. 
Guerrier,  500  francs  to  M.  Allard,  and  500  francs  to  M.  Martin 
for  their  agricultural  studies.  The  grand  gold  medal,  awarded 
every  six  years  for  works  which  have  exercised  the  greatest 
influence  upon  the  progress  of  French  industry  during  the  pre- 
ceeding  six  years,  has  been  given  to  the  Comite  de  PAfrique 
fran9aise  for  their  great  services  to  African  colonisation. 

The  current  number  of  the  Annales  de  flnstitut  Pasteur 
contains  an-official  account  of  the  antirabic  inoculations  carried 
out  at  the  Pasteur  Institute  in  Paris  during  the  past  year.  From 
this  it  appears  that  1387  persons  were  treated,  out  of  which 
seven  died  subsequently.  On  comparing  the  statistics  for  last 
year  with  those  compiled  for  1893,  we  find  that  although  the 
total  number  of  admissions  fell  short  last  year  by  261  of  the 
figure  reached  in  the  previous  year,  yet  England's  contribution 
in  the  shape  of  patients  rose  from  23  in  1S93  ^'^  ^^  many  as  12S 
in  1894.  Thus,  in  spite  of  the  liroadcast  circulation  of  a  vast 
amount  of  sentimental  opposition  to  the  carr)ing  out  of  Pasteur's 
antirabic  treatment  in  this  country,  we  appear  to  be  developing 
an  increasing  desire  to  avail  ourselves  of  the  benefits  to  be 
derived  from  its  use  across  the  Channel  !  In  all,  226  foreigners 
were  treated  in  the  Institute  last  year;  Spain  and  (ireece  each 
sentling  26  ;  Belgium,  16  ;  Turkey,  7  ;  Russia  and  Egypt,  i 
each  ;  and  Holland,  2 ;  whilst  under  the  heading  "  Indes 
Anglaises"  we  find  19  as  compared  with  14  last  year. 

I.\"  connection  with  the  questions  lately  raised  as  to  the  relation 
of  spectra  to  molecular  structure,  it  is  interesting  to  recall  a  pa[)er 
by  Prof.  Eder  and  and  Mr.  Valenta,  comnumicated  to  the  Vienna 
Academy  a  year  ago.  Mr.  J.  S.  Ames  summarises  the  paper  in 
the  May  Astropliysical /ournal  as,{o\\ovi%: — "The  paper  deals 
with  the  difierent  spectra  of  mercury.  Observations  on  the  arc 
and  spark-spectra  and  on  the  ordinary  Geisslcr  tube  discharge 
showed  that  all  three  were  alike,  the  most  prominent  lines  in 
one  spectrum  being  also  the  most  prominent  in  the  others.  But 
two  entirely  new  spectra  were  discovered.  If  mercury  vapour 
is  distilling  at  a  low  pressure  through  a  capillary  tube,  and  if  a 
spark  be  passed  through  it,  spectra  are  observed  which  are  quite 
distinct  from  the  ordinary  one.  If  there  is  a  large  number  of 
I.eyden  jars  in  circuit,  the  spectrum  consists  of  an  immense 
number  of  fine,  sharp  lines  ;  but  if  there  are  no  jars  in  circuit, 
the  spectrum  is  entirely  changed  ;  it  becomes  a  series  of  bands 


'76 


NA  TURE 


[July   i8,  1895 


whose  edges  are  towards  the  red.  One  sjiectrum  is  just  as 
complete  as  the  other,  neither  one  being  a  development  of  the 
other.  The  band  si)ectruni  corresponds  to  a  trifle  lower  tem- 
perature than  the  new  line  si)ectrum  ;  but  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  complexity  of  molecular  .structure  can  account  for  the  dif- 
ference between  the  two  spectra  in  the  case  of  mercur)-,  whose 
\-apour  is  monatomic.  This  has,  of  course,  a  most  important 
bearing  on  the  theory  of  band  and  line  spectra,  and  seems  to 
decide  definitely  against  some  of  the  present  ideas  concerning 
them." 

The  current  numlwr  of  M'itdemaiiii' s  Annalen  contains  a 
paper  by  Herr  J.  E.  Myers  on  the  influence  of  gases  dissolved 
in  the  electrolyte  of  a  silver  voltameter  on  the  w  eight  of  deposited 
.silver.  The  author  finds,  as  has  previously  been  shown  by 
Schuster  and  Cro.ssley,  that  if  the  same  current  is  sent  through 
two  voltameters  containing  neutral  solutions  of  silver  nitrate  of 
the  same  strength  and  at  the  .same  temperature,  one  voltameter 
being  in  a  vacuum  and  the  other  in  air,  then  the  weight  of  the 
silver  deposited  in  the  v.acuum  voltameter  is,  for  a  solution 
containing  from  20  to  40  \xx  cent,  of  silver  nitrate,  about  O'l 
l>er  cent,  greater  than  that  of  the  silver  deposited  in  the  other 
voltameter.  For  a  5  per  cent,  solution,  the  diflerence  is  some- 
what smaller.  If  the  solution  is  saturated  with  carbon  dioxide 
the  deposit  is  alx>ut  0"055  per  cent,  lighter  than  when  the 
solution  is  saturated  with  air.  With  nitrogen,  however,  the 
<leposit  is  almut  O'OS  i>er  cent,  heavier  than  with  air.  The 
electrical  resistance  of  a  5  jier  cent,  solution  saturated  with  air 
is  practically  the  same  as  that  of  the  same  solution  in  a  vacuum. 
With  a  current  of  more  than  0'2S  ampere,  it  is  found  that  in 
vacuum  an  evolution  of  gas  takes  |ilace  at  the  anode.  The 
author  has  also  examined  the  grey  deposit  which  is  formed  on 
the  anode,  and  finds  that  it  consists  of  pure  silver  oxide. 

Thk  results  of  some  observations  on  declination  made  by  M. 
Ch.  I^grange,  which,  if  unaffected  by  some  unsusjiectcd  error, 
are  most  unexpected,  are  given  in  a  recent  number  of  the 
Coiiiflts  rcndtis  (June  17,  1895).  During  the  last  three  years  the 
author  has  been  making  observations  of  declination  at  the  Ucclc 
Observatory  at  Brussels,  using  for  this  purpose  magnets  having 
very  different  magnetic  moments.  He  finds  that  systematic 
rliffercnces  occur  in  the  values  obtained,  but  what  is  most 
xslonishing  is  that  diminution,  within  certain  limits,  of  the 
magnetic  moment  of  the  magnet  causes  an  amplification  of  the 
observed  changes  in  declination.  In  one  set  of  observations, 
lasting  for  six  months,  one  of  the  magnets  consisted  of  the 
almost  astatic  m^netic  .system  taken  from  a  galvanometer. 
By  comparing  the  readings  obtained  with  this  system  of  magnets 
wilh  those  obtained  on  the  self-registering  magnetometers,  it 
was  found  that  the  amplitude  of  the  movements  of  the  galva- 
nometer needle  was  from  fifteen  to  twenty-five  times  as  great 
a-s  that  of  the  magnetometer  needle.  Another  set  of  observations 
have  iK'en  made  wilh  a  large  steel  magnet,  only  feebly 
magnetised,  however,  .so  that  its  magnetic  moment  was  only 
alKiul  Vt  of  '''•'•'  of  'he  magnet  of  the  magnetograph.  This 
magnet  wa.s  suspended  by  a  fine  platinum  wire,  and  here  again 
ihc  amplitude  of  movement  of  the  feebly  magnetised  bar  was 
greater  than  that  of  the  more  strongly  magncti.sed  one. 

Wk  have  received  BiilUlins  Nos.    1 19-124  of  the   Michigan 

.Agricultural  Kx|x;rimcnl  Station,  dealing  with  a  variety  of  subjects 

<if  horticultural    interest.      Wilh    regard    lo    the    troublesome 

diicaM;  of  tomato  rot,  which  is  often  the  cause  of  serious  loss,  it 

Sat  spraying  with   Bordeaux    mixture  is  cflicaciou.s. 

1  11.    when    the    tomatoes  had  grown    to    the  size    of 

linLn)  i.ui».  ilie    plants  were  given   a   thorough  spraying,  and 

Ihre"-  »<-<-l,v  Imr  ili<-  application  was  repeated.      \ery  little  rot 

I  lyed  plants,  whilst   on  those  which  were 

id  many  diseased  fruits  were  to  l>e  seen. 

NO,    1342,  VOL.  52] 


In  the  summary  of  results  of  experiments  with  potatoes,  it  is 
said  that  potatoes  deteriorate  rapidly  under  ordinary  cultivation, 
and  It  is  necessary  lo  frequently  change  seed  in  order  to  keep 
them  in  their  |)ristine  purity  and  excellence.  We  need  go  no 
farther  than  Ireland,  with  its  worn-out  variety  of  the  Champion 
potato,  for  a  case  in  point.  As  a  treatment  for  apple-scab 
(Fiisicladiiimdciidriliiiim,  Fckl. )itis recommended tothoroughly 
spray  the  trees,  before  growth  begins  in  spring,  with  copper 
sulphate  solution.  This  should  be  followed  with  an  ap]ilication 
of  Bordeaux  mixture  as  soon  as  the  blossoms  have  fallen.  In  a 
wet  season  two  or  three  more  dressings  w  ill  be  necessar)'  to  pro- 
duce the  best  results.  The  addition  of  Paris  green  to  the  second 
and  third  .applications  will  keep  the  codlin-moth  and  the  canker- 
worm  in  check.  A  caution  is  given  never  to  spray  with 
arsenites  when  fruit-trees  are  in  bloom,  or  the  bees  «ill  lie 
killed. 

An  attempt  at  a  partial  restoration  of  the  geography  of  the 
world  in  Cretaceous  times  is  made  by  Dr.  ¥.  Kossniat,  of 
\"ienna,  in  the  May  number  of  the  AWordi  of  the  Indian 
Geological  Survey.  He  recognises  the  broad  distinction  of 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  faunal  pro\-inces  in  Cretaceous  times,  a  dis- 
tinction very  marked  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  but  disappear- 
ing to  the  south  of  the  then  existing  Indo- African  continent. 
The  Cretaceous  beds  of  Southern  India  form  the  clearest  link 
between  the  two  ;  combining  in  their  fauna  the  typical  Pacific 
forms  with  others  characteristic  of  Central  ICurope.  Their  con- 
nection with  thv  latter  area  was  a  roundabout  one,  through 
Natal,  Angola,  and  the  Atlantic,  by  which  they  are  also  linked 
to  the  Cenomanian  and  Uanian  deposits  of  Brazil.  The  fauna 
of  Northern  India  is  quite  distinct,  and  must  lie  regarded  as 
inhabiting  the  easterly  termination  of  the  Meclilerranean  pro- 
vince, one  which  was  an  almost  isolated  area,  though  to  the 
westward,  in  the  Gosau  beds  and  those  of  Southern  France,  we 
can  see  evidence  of  a  connection  with  the  Atlantic.  Further 
west  a  similar  fauna  is  found  in  the  Antilles,  and  extends  even 
into  the  Pacific  region  in  Peru.  The  fauna  of  North  America 
shows  close  aflinities  with  that  of  Kurope,  and  less  marked 
relations  to  that  of  Southern  India,  while  it  stands  .sharply  con- 
trasted with  that  of  the  Pacific  side  of  the  continent.  The 
upper  Cretaceous  beds  of  Atlantic  facies  are  found,  however, 
to  extend  into  Briti-sh  Columbia  and  Queen  Charlotte's 
Islands,  and  there  rest  upon  lower  Cretaceous  beds  of  Pacific 
facies.  The  American  continent  must  thus  have  existed  as  two 
great  insular  masses  forming  a  barrier  between  the  two  great 
marine  i)rovinces,  broken  across  by  two  arms  of  the  sea.  The 
author  jnuposes  constructing  a  chart  to  embody  these  con- 
clusions. 

Tn.\  r  <piile  a  considerable  number  of  bacteria  exist  which 
will  only  gro«  at  such  high  temperatures  as  lie  lietween  50°  and 
70°  C.,  was  first  shown  by  (dobig  ;  but  his  investigations  only 
succeeded  in  demonstrating  them  in  the  .superficial  layers  of  soil. 
Now,  however,  we  know  that  such  bacteria  are  to  be  found  in 
river  water  and  mud,  in  foeces,  and  at  considerable  depths  in  the 
soil.  (Juite  recently  Dr.  Lydia  Kabinowitsch  has  made  ex- 
tensive researches  in  Dr.  R.  Koch's  laboratory  on  these  so- 
called  thermophilic  bacteria,  and  their  distribution  appears  to 
be  much  wider  than  was  at  first  supposed.  Thus  Dr.  Kabino- 
witsch has  found  them  abundantly  present  in  .surface  soil  col- 
lected from  various  parts  of  Berlin  ami  other  places  in  Germany; 
they  were  also  discovered  in  freshly-fallen  snow,  indicaling  their 
probable  presence  in  the  air,  and  large  numbers  were  obtained 
from  river  Spree  water,  although  they  were  not  found  in  the 
Berlin  water  supply ;  they  were  also  isolated  from  excre- 
menlitious  matter  derived  from  horses,  cows,  g<iats,  dog«i 
rabbits,  ducks,  parrots,  some  fish  and  other  cold-blooded 
animals,  such  as  the  frog  and  python.     These  bacteria  are  also 


July   i8,  1895] 


NATURE 


277 


present  in  large  numbers  in  the  mouth  and  all  along  the  intes- 
tinal tract  of  man.  Cow's  milk  contains  them,  and  they  are 
not  destroyed  even  when  the  latter  is  vigorously  boiled.  The 
most  favourable  temperature  for  the  growth  of  these  thermophilic 
bacilli  lies  between  60°  and  70°  C,  but  they  may  be  induced  to 
grow  also  between  34°  and  44°  C.  It  would  Ijc  interesting  to 
learn  what  part  is  played  by  these  bacteria  in  nature,  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  Dr.  Rabinowitsch  will  continuethese  investigations, 
and  instruct  us  as  to  these  functions  of  thermophilic  bacteria. 

Dr.  J.  Haxn"  has  sent  us  a  copy  of  his  paper  on  the  condi- 
tions of  atmospheric  electricity  on  the  summit  of  the  Sonnblick 
mountain,  deduced  from  the  records  of  an  improved  registering 
hair  hygrometer  by  Richard,  which  had  been  adjusted  and  tested 
at  the  Central  .Meteorological  Office  in  \'ienna.  The  discussion 
is  one  of  much  importance,  and  the  subject  is  treated  by  Dr. 
Hann  in  a  very  thorough  manner ;  but  the  space  at  our  disposal 
will  only  allow  us  to  notice  briefly  some  of  the  general  results. 
The  yearly  range  of  relative  humidity  <m  the  mountain  is  the  re- 
verse of  what  it  is  over  the  plains  ;  the  minimum,  or  greatest  dry- 
ness, occurs  in  winter,  and  the  maximum  in  spring  and  summer. 
This  much  was  known  from  observations  at  Alpine  stations,  but  at 
these  the  uncertainty  of  the  behaviour  of  the  hygroi.ieters  in  low 
temperatures  made  the  results  doubtful.  Temperature  and  vapour 
pressure  on  the  Sonnblick  run  in  nearly  parallel  curves,  each  degree 
of  difference  of  temperature  corresponds  to  a  change  of  tension  of 
vapour  in  the  same  direction.  With  regard  to  the  daily  range,  it  is 
found  that  in  all,  except  the  three  winter  months,  there  is  low- 
relative  humidity  in  the  morning  and  a  great  humidity  during  the 
evening  and  night.  In  winter,  however,  the  case  is  very  dif- 
ferent;  from  about  6h.  p.m.  to  7h.  a.m.  the  relative  humidity 
remains  below  the  mean,  and  from  gh.  a.m.  to  5h.  p.m.  it  is 
above  the  mean.  The  daily  range  of  absolute  humidity  (vapour 
tension)  is  nearly  the  same  in  all  seasons  of  the  year  ;  the 
minimum  occurs  early  in  the  morning,  and  the  maximum  in  the 
afternoon.  The  most  remarkable  feature  in  the  daily  range  of 
relative  humidity  is  that  on  very  clear  and  warm  days,  long  before 
the  rise  of  the  sun  has  any  effect,  the  humidity  falls  below  the 
mean  value  on  the  Sonnblick,  and  by  about  6h.  in  the  morning,  it 
has  fallen  nearly  7  per  cent,  below  the  daily  mean.  This  important 
fact  seems  to  show  that  the  relative  dryness  of  the  forenoon  on 
mountains  is  due  to  a  descending  movement  of  the  atmosphere, 
caused  by  the  winds  blowing  from  the  mountains  to  the  valleys 
during  night-lime,  and  thus  cooling  the  sides  of  the  mountains. 

The  ]\\\y  Journal  o{  the  Chemical  Society  contains  the  paper 
on  "Helium,  a  Constituent  of  certain  Minerals,"  by  Prof.  W. 
Ramsay,  Dr.  J.  Norman  Collie,  and  Mr.  M.  Travers,  read 
before  the  Society  at  the  last  meeting.  There  are  also  fifteen 
other  papers  read  before  the  Society,  and  13S  pages  of  abstracts 
of  chemical  papers  published  in  other  journals. 

With  the  current  number,  the  Medical  .Magazine  enters  upon 
its  fourth  year  of  issue.  The  magazine  is  always  readable,  not 
only  by  members  of  the  medical  profession,  but  liy  the  laity,  and 
the  papers  which  it  publishes  on  medical  history  and  literature  are 
invariably  of  general,  as  well  as  technical,  interest.  We  notice 
among  the  articles  in  the  number  before  us,  one  on  "  Mountain 
Sickness,"  by  Dr.  H.  Kronecker ;  and  another  on  "  Immunity," 
by  Dr.  J.  G.  Sinclair  Coghill. 

Under  the  title  Beitriige  znrwissenschaftlkhen  Botaiiik  a  new- 
contribution  to  general  botanical  literature  is  announced,  to  be 
edited  Ijy  Dr.  M.  Kiinfstiick,  and  published  by  Nagele,  of 
Stuttgart.  The  first  number,  which  is  already  published,  con- 
tains papers  on  the  physiology  of  w-oody  iilanls,  by  Lutz  ;  on 
the  action  of  "  Bordeaux-briihe"  and  its  constituents  on  Spiro- 
gyra  longata  and  on  the  uredespores  of  Puccinia  coronata  ;  and 
on  the  oily  excretions  of  calcareous  lichens,  by  the  editor. 

NO.    1342,  VOL.   52] 


The  report  for  1894  of  the  .American  Museum  of  Natural 
History  shows  that  a  number  of  valuable  specimens  were  added 
to  the  collections  last  year.  The  new  wing,  for  the  building 
and  equipment  of  which  550,000  dollars  (;£^I  10,000)  were  voted 
in  1893  ^n*!  '894,  is  approaching  completion,  and  is  expected 
to  be  opened  to  the  public  in  the  autumn.  Since  the  prepara- 
tion of  the  report,  the  Legislature  has  given  power  to  the 
authorities  of  New  York  City  to  appropriate  ;^ioo,ooo  for  a 
further  enlargement  of  the  museum,  and  for  an  increased  grant 
of  ^4000  annually,  for  maintenance.  The  erection' and  equip- 
ment of  another  wing  to  the  museum  will  provide  the  facilities 
for  carrying  out  the  plans  of  the  Trustees  for  the  establishment 
of  a  great  department  uf  Anthropology. 

The  report  of  the  Trustees  of  the  South  African  Museum,  fo' 
the  year  1894,  has  been  received.  As  the  staff  of  the  museum 
does  not  include  collectors,  it  is  gratifj-ing  to  learn  that  nearly 
seven  thousand  specimens  were  presented  by  private  collectors 
during  last  year.  That  the  museum  is  appreciated  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  the  number  of  visitors  in  1894  was  nearly 
twenty-six  thousand.  The  Curator,  Mr.  R.  Trimen,  has  com- 
pleted the  manuscript  of  descriptions  of  new  Lepidoptera  from 
Mashonaland,  which  will  be  published  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year.  He  has  also  begun  the  incorporation  of  the  tropical 
African  insects  of  this  order  in  the  South  African  collection, 
adopting  the  16°  of  latitude  S.  as  the  South  African  limit.  The 
staff  has  been  increased  by  the  appointment  of  Dr.  G.  S. 
Corstorphine  as  assistant  in  the  department  of  geology  and 
mineralogy.  A  report  by  him,  on  the  existing  collection  of  that 
department  as  at  present  exhibited,  is  appended  to  the  report 
of  the  Trustees. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during  the 
past  week  include  a  Campbelli  Monkey  {Cercopilhecus campbelli) 
from  West  Africa,  presented  by  Miss  C.  Thompson  ;  a  Yellow- 
billed  Sheathbill  (Cluonis  alba),  captured  at  sea,  presented  by 
Captain  Plunket ;  four  Common  Chameleons  ( Chamii:leon  vul- 
garis) from  Egy-pt,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  C.  Mitchell  ;  a  Sharp- 
nosed  Crocodile  (Crocodiliis  aaitus)  from  Columbia,  presented 
by  Mr.  James  {j.  Green  ;  a  Royal  Python  (Python  regius)  from 
West  Africa,  ])resented  by  Colonel  Frederick  Cardew  ;  an 
Alexandra  Parrakeet  (Polyfelis  alexandra)  from  Australia, 
six  Grey  Francolins  (Francoliniis pontiieriamis)  from  Mombassa, 
a  Black  Tortoise  (Tesludo  tarhonaria)  from  South  America, 
deposited  ;  five  l-'ennec  Foxes  (Cants  cerdo),  two  Variegated 
Jackals  (Cants  variegaliis),  two  Libyan  Zorillas  (Iclonyx 
lybiea),  two  Fgy-ptian  Cats  (Felis  liiaiis),  three  Dorcas  Gazelles 
(Gazella  Donas),  iowx  White  Pelicans  (Pelecaniis  onocrotalus), 
a  Grey  Monitor  ( Varaniis  griseiis),  from  Cairo,  received  in 
exchange ;  a  Wapiti  Deer  (Ccrvus  canadensis),  two  Short- 
headed  Phalangers  (Belideus  breviceps),  born  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  New  M.^dras  Observai'orv. — Prof.  Michie  Smith, 
the  successor  of  Mr.  Pogson  at  Madras,  has  lately  made  known 
a  few  particulars  relating  to  the  new  Solar  Physics  Ob- 
servatory which  is  to  be  erected  in  India.  The  funds  have 
been  voted  by  the  Indian  Government,  and  the  site  selected  is 
in  the  Palani  Hills  at  Ivodaikanal,  300  miles  south  of  Madras. 
The  daily  work  of  photograjihing  the  sun,  which  is  now-  carried 
on  for  the  Solar  Physics  Committee  at  Dehra  Dim  by  the 
officers  of  the  Indian  Trigonometrical  Survey,  will  form  ])art  of 
the  routine  work  of  the  new  observatory.  It  is  also  proposed  to 
undertake  a  systematic  spectroscopic  examination  of  the  sun,  but 
the  details  of  this  jiortion  of  the  programme  have  not  yet  been 
finally  determined  upon.  The  climate  of  Kodaikanal  seems  to 
be  almost  all  that  can  be  desired  for  astronomical  purposes. 
The  mean  daily  temperature  varies  from  54°"I  C.  in  December 
to  62°"2  C.  in  May,  while  the  rainfall  is  about  47A  inches.  From 
March  to  December  in  the  year  in  which   observations   were 


278 


NATURE 


[Jlly   i8,  1895 


specially  made,  the  bright  sunshine  amounted  101634  hour». 
thT  morning  is  usually  bright  until  about  eleven  o  clock  then 
clouds  con,?  up  and  continue  unt.l  about  four  o  clock  bj  s.x 
o'dock  the  sky  is  generally  cloudless.  Except  durmg  the  north- 
J:^'  monsoon.^  nfgh-  «hich  is  wholly  cloudy  is  almost  unknown^^ 
Under  these  highly  advantageous  conditions,  'here  is  oery 
pr.vspect  that  the  establishment  of  this  observatory  will  resuU  in 
\  grc^t  gain  to  astronomy,  especially  in  the  department  of  solar 
physics.  . 

Star  C\T^LOGlES.-An  admirable  r^sumi  d  the  history'  of 
slJ<^ulo^urnE?from  the  pen  of  Mdlle  Klumpke  the  g,.rted 
d^?ressofthe/;Kr«"</<-.'^»/<'""-«"f  "^^  l'*"^  Observatory. 
apXrHn   the  current  numl^r  of  the /?»//</"'   of  the  Astr..- 

nEl  Society  of  France.  From  -;-'™'-"'^  ^by  sole  im 
three  great  eptjchs  may  be  recognised,  each  marked  b>  some  im- 
portant discover.-.  The  first  eixKh  is  that  in  which  the  line  o 
^ion  is  defined  by  hollow  cylinders  or  by  an  alidade,  and 
:.rnds  from  the  time  of  IlipVrchus  to  ^^^ -' ^:^^f^^^ 
comiuises  the  catalogues  of  ilipiJarchus,  Ptolemy,  Llugh-Beigh, 
and  T  xho  Brahe.  The  catalogue  of  Hevelius,  though  drawn 
up  fro,^  observations  with  the  naked  eye,  marks  a  trans,  ion 
"«riod  as  he  took  advantage  of  the  application  of  the  pendulum 
to  the  regulation  of  clocks.  ,  r  ,u     1  ,i„ 

The  second  epoch  is  marked  by  the  applicatH,n  of  the  te le- 
sco,^  for  accurate  sighting  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  t^^^e 
employment  of  the  siderc-al  clock.  This  period  commenced  » 
Fla'msteed,  and  extends  even  to  the  present  "■"«=•,  I"  ^f^'f 
eix>ch  the  photographic  plate  replaces  the  eye.  tnthiisi,  ,  f>  r 
this  method  of  cataloguing  the  ^'"^"mmenced  with  th  k 
results  obtained  by  the  H^nO-S  but  it  should  not  be  forgotten 
that  .-us  far  l«ck  a/  1865,  Rutherford  obtained  Photographs  of 
stars  down  to  the  ninth  magnitude,  and  that  he  clearly  fore^w 
the  .dvamages  to  be  derived  from  the-  photogn.phic  metho.f 
\ll  the  world  knows  now  that  a  great  photographic  chart  of  the 
heavens,  initiated  by  the  late  Admiral  Mouchez.,  ^^^^^^^^ 
con.struction,  eighteen  observatories  partici|Mting  in  ihc  gigantic 
under^king.  -Mdlle.  Klumpke  estimates  that  this  imernational 
catal.nrue  will  contain  upwards  of  three  millions  of  stars. 

Th^photographic  method,  however,  <loes  not  yet  appear  to 
be  without  imperfections,  as  the  impressions  on  the  negatives  are 
not  certainly  .K-rmancnt.  In  a  communtcation  to  the  editor  ol 
the  Ohcrfltory,  Dr.  Isaac  Roberts  gives  some  figures  relating  to 
the  dusapi«arance  of  the  smaller  images  in  the  course  of  years  ; 
in  one  nc^'vc  no  less  than  130  out  of  364  star  images  had  d,s- 
amxrared  in  nine  and  a  quarter  years.  Hence  ,t  isimpor  ant  that 
aTshort  a  time  as  possible  should  elapse  between  the  •a'j'ng  o  a 
photograph  and  its  reduction,  or,  better  still,  ,ts  manifoldtng  by 
some  carbon  process. 


THE  PI  ACE  OF  A  KG  OX  AMONG  THE 
ELEMENTS. 
TIIK  ix.sition  of  argon  in  a  classification  of  the  elements 
A  deilcnding  on  atomic  weights  ha.s  been  recently  defined  by 
C  ]  Kee<l  ( /oiinial  of  the  hranklin  InstiluU,  July).  The 
elements  are  a.ssigned  (wsitions  on  a  plane  determined  by 
aLs  issa-  prop<,rtional  to  their  atomic  weights  ami  ordinates 
.>roporti..nal  to  their  ^alency.  Oxygen  is  a-ssumed  to  have  an 
electronegative  valency  2,  and  the  valency  of  other  elements  is 
referred  to  this  as  standard  ;  electro-iMsitive  valency  is 
,„ca.sure<l  upwards,  electro-negative  downwards  from  the  zero- 
axis.  Under  these  conditions  most  of  the  e  ements  fall  on  a 
ix-culUr  series  of  double,  equidistant,  i«rallel  .straight  lines 
connecting  elements  in  order  of  their  atomic  weights  and 
sei«rated  allernatily  l>y  distances  corresponding  to  one  and 
sixteen  units  of  atomic  weight  respectively. 

If  the  plane  1«.-  now  fol.le.l  into  acylmder  w,lh  axis  l>arallel  to 
the  at>scisvi'  and  a  circumference  ..f  eight  units  of  valency,  it  is 
found  that  ihe  uptK.r  and  lower  (Kirls  of  the  connecting  lines 
coincide;  ihe  vshole  of  these  lines  then  form  a  i«irallel  i>air  of 
M«ral»  on  the  surface  of  the  cylinder,  and  valency  in  angular 
mea.«ure  U-r-nvs  direrlly  pro|)f)rtii>nal  to  atomic  weight. 

The  re  ■  «hich  Ihe  elementsof  l.iweralomic  weight 

'all  oltei.i  1  "f  Ihe  (nrallel  spirals  is  very  sinking,  but 

this  regul  .laiiilained  among  elements  <if  high  atomic 

weight.  II  ...ns  <K:curring  with  n,o.st  of  the  elements 

of  which  'I  weight  ranges  from  loo  to  130.     The  ax,.s 

of  .iKiniic  weights  repie^-nls  the  valency  -I-  o  or  -t-  8  and  is  cut 
l.y  Ihe  double  »pir.il  11,  fifteen  jxiinls.      There  should  then  \k  a 

NO.    1342,  VOL.  52] 


group  of  fifteen  elements  hav-ing  a  valency  of  zero  or  eight,  and 
their  atomic  weights  should  be,  respectively.  4.  2°.  i^.  52.  ob, 
84,  100,  116,  132,  14S,  164.  180,  196.  212.  and  228.  .Ml  th^. 
known  elements  appear  to  In.'  grouped  together  on  certain  regions 
of  the  surface  of  the  cylinder,  other  parts  remaining  comixuatively 
bare.  The  only  menibers  of  this  family  to  lie  expected  to  occur 
in  terrestrial  matter  will  be  those  in  the  inhabited  regions  ol  the 
cylinder  surface.  The  hyi>othetical  elements  having  atounc 
weights  20,  36,  84.  and  132  are  the  most  necessary  from  this 
point  of  view.  .  .         . 

It  seems  reasonable  to  suppose  from  the  peculiar  position  ol 
these  elements  on  the  border-line  between  electronegative  and 
electro-positive  valencies,  that  they  should  be  more  strongly 
electro-negative  than  the  corresponding  members  of  the  sulplnii 
eroun,  an<l  should  nevertheless  be  without  valency  (or  octads). 
They  should,  in  general,  be  more  volatile  than  thecovrespomhng 
members  of  the  sulphur  group.  As  electro-negative  valency 
diminishes  in  any  group  with  increase  of  atomic  ""S^'"'  '  .'^ 
element  196,  if  it  exists,  cannot  be  expected  to  be  electro- 
necative.  This  element  should  be  a  volatile  metal,  heavier  and 
scarcer  than  gold,  an<l  capable  of  easier  reduction  to  the, netallic 
state  ;  it  should  be  capable  of  forming  an  oxide  KU4  or  a  s;iu 
K  RO,  The  volatile  metal  osmiom  agrees  with  the  require- 
ments of  this  elen,ent  very  closely.  Similarly,  ruthenium  may 
possibly  be  the  element  too. 

Finally,  argon  falls  naturally  into  the  place  of  clement  20,  and 
possesse-s,  so  far  as  is  known,  the  proi«rties  to  be  expected  o 
[his  element  in  position  20  in  the  new  group.  Argon  and 
element  36  should  be  comparatively  abundant  m  nature,  while 
84  and  132  should  be  scarce,  but  not  more  rare  than  selenium 

and  tellurium.  .    ,<;     r  ;,   ,.„ 

On  Mr.  Reed's  system,  argon  should  lie  element  36  ,1  it  be 
monatomic  as  now  believed,  and  not  20  as  he  .-issiimes  :  Uie 
actual  atomic  weight  found.  39'9,  ^vo"l>l  "^•^"  ,,'"''''^  ^i,,' ,5 
possibility  of  the  presence  in  argon  of  soine  sinall  <|uami  >  ot 
Llement  84  or  element  .32.  It  ,s  remarkable  also  th.it,  if 
helium  has  the  atomic  weight  4-  it  falls  naiura  ly  in  ih.s  groui , 

i  and  that  its  atomic  weight  .leduced  from  the  observed  ^l-.""-''  >> 
somewhat  greater  than  this  number.      H  th,s  diflerence  should 

I  be  due  to  Ihe  presence  .if  some  small  quantity  of  element  84, 
then  the  spectroscopic  evidence  leading  to  the  conclusion  that 

'  argon  and  helium  contain  a  common  constituent  would  he 
explained. 


POCKET  GOPHERS  OF  THE  INITED 
STATES. 
TN  /iulhlin  No.  5  of  the  I'.S.  Department  of  .\giic»ltv,re, 
i  Mr  \ern.in  Bailey  gives  an  account  of  the  habits  and  life- 
hislory  of  the  I'ocket  f.ophers  of  the  United  ^-Jales,  which 
contains  a  number  of  interesting  facts  and  ol«ervalio  s  .le  1  ed 
from  various  sources.  These  curious  little  "-S'^-"'; '.;,""  ''','■ 
ground  in  burrows  which  Ihey  tunnel  in  the  soil.  Whc  «  irk- 
ing  their  way  through  the  earth,  they  use  the  upper  mcsors  ,s 
L  nick  to  loc^en  the  ground,  while  the  f.ire-feet  are  armed  «ilh 
str'^ng  curvc-d  claws  tr  .ligging.  When  a  sufilcient  quantity  of 
soil  h^as  accumulated  behind  an  animal,  he  "'"^'^  ">  ''-  '"7  ^ 
and  pushes  it  out  in  fronl  until  an  opening  in  the  l"  >"'■'>'• 
reached  :    the    earlh    is   here    discharged,   and  forms  a  Inllock 

m  iar  .0  the  hills  ,hro«n  up  by  moles.  Copher  l-»r->«  «« 
extended  and  added  to  year  by  year,  an<i  .he  c-'V^^"-- ';"»';" 
by  the  hills  of  .soil  brought  up  to  the  surface  ■"!'''"'•  '"^ 
hiU-rnate,as  has  been  commonly  supposed    but   work  stead  ly 

hroughot  I  the  winter.  They  do  a  great  deal  <if  good  m  m,xing 
,l,c  soil,  and  in  .his  way  are  probably'  m.ist  useful  on  poor  o 
,„„n,ltiv;,te<l  ground.  Hut,  .m  the  o.her  han.l,  in  agr.c.i lu  al 
distric.s  .he  .animals  are  highly  injurious  ;  they  devour  potatoes 
and  other  tubers  and  roots  in  large  quantities,  as  well  as  com, 
wheat,  and  .ither  farm  crops;  an.l  they  destroy  great  nmnbers 
of  fruit  trees  by  gnawing  off  the  roots.  .  .opher  ■"";'«■•  =^';° 
often  <lo  a  great  <leal  of  damage  in  ine.a.  ..w*  or  on  1'-'  V"  ^J;^  °' 
ar.ilicial  waler-courses.  So  great  is  .he  harm  '^"^'^^^J  '"^^^l^ 
that  in  many  districts  boun.ies  have  been  'f^c^  for  their  cap 
Hire.  (Jne  of  the  most  striking  features  of  Pocket  '"I *  ^^* 
their  ,x,s.se.vsion  <if  cheek  lx,uches  opening  outside  he  mm  Ih. 
It  is  commonly  supimsed  that  these  pouches  are  used  lor  c.irr) 
ing  earth  out  of  iKe  burrows;  bu.  Mr.  U.iUy's  .nvestigalion* 
lead  him  unhesitatingly  to  the  conclusion  '"'-l'  ''"''j;'^"'  ff 
erroneous;    they    are   used    only    for   carrying   food-pieces   ol 


July   i8,  1895J 


NATURE 


279 


potato  and  roots,  leaves,  &c. — to  be  eaten  at  ease  in  the 
seclusion  of  the  animals'  burrows,  or  to  be  stored  up  for  use  in 
the  winter.  The  food  is  passed  into  the  pouches  liy  the  fore- 
feet :  and  the  animals  empty  their  pockets  by  pressing  the  sides 
of  the  head  with  the  fore-feet  from  behind  forwards,  so  that  the 
contents  fall  out  in  front  of  them.  In  disposition  (lophers  are 
verj'  fierce  :  and  on  the  rare  occasions  on  which  they  wander 
from  their  holes,  frequently  attack  passers-by  without  any  pro- 
vocatii)n.  They  are  not  very  prolific  animals,  as  is  commonly 
stated,  for  only  one  litter  of  two  or  three  young  is  ])roduced  in 
a  year  ;  but,  although  their  rate  of  increase  is  slow,  their  mode 
of  life  ]5ro'.ects  them  from  many  enemies  which  attack  squirrels, 
mice,  and  many  other  rodents.  The  I'ocket  (iophers  of  the 
United  States  belong  to  three  genera,  Geoiiiys,  Cratogeoiiiys, 
and  Tlwmomys :  Mr.  Bailey  gives  two  charts  illustrating 
the  distribution  of  these  different  genera  and  their  constituent 
species. 


COLOUR  PHOTOGRAPHY. 
A  N  important  paper  on  the  theory  of  colour  photography  is 
■^  *-  contributed  to  No.  6  of  Wit'demann" s  Annalen,  by  Herr  Otto 
^Viener.  The  paper  deals  with  the  methods  of  attacking  this 
problem  which  are  based,  not  upon  the  photography  of  the  dif- 
ferent constituents  of  coloured  light  and  their  subsequent  re- 
cognition— like  Mr.  Ives's  heliochromy  and  similar  processes 
-—but  upon  the  direct  production  of  colour  by  the  influence 
of  light  upon  certain  chemical  substances.  The  most  recent, 
.ind  in  a  way  the  most  successful  of  these  methods  is  that  due 
:  i  Lippmann.  and  the  question  raised  by  Herr  Wiener  is  whether 
ihe  old  processes  invented  by  Becquerel,  Seebeck,  and  Poitevin 
are  based  upon  interference  colours  like  Lippmann's,  or  upon 
*' body  colours,"  ?.t'.  colours  produced  by  partial  absorption  of 
the  incident  light.  That  Lippmann's  colours  are  due  to  inter- 
ference may  be  very  simply  proved  by  breathing  upon  a  plate 
with  a  iihotf>graph  of  the  s])ectrum,  when  the  colours  quickly 
wander  towartis  the  violet  end,  this  result  being  due  to  an  in- 
crease in  the  distance  between  the  nodal  layers.  This  experi- 
ment cannot  be  applied  to  a  spectrum  photographed  by 
Becquerel's  method.  But  Herr  Wiener  succeeded,  t)y  a  simple 
and  ingenious  contrivance,  altering  the  path  of  the  rays  thr^)ugh 
the  coloured  film  by  placing  a  rectangular  prism  on  the  jilate, 
with  its  hypolhenuse  surface  in  contact  with  the  spectrum.  This 
experiment  had  the  startling  result  that  that  part  of  the  spectrum 
covered  iiy  the  prism  a]5peared  strongly  displaced  towards  the 
red.  Hence  Zenker's  theor}'  of  Becquerel's  process,  enunciated 
in  1868,  which  ascribed  the  colours  to  interference,  is  substan- 
tiated. Instead  of  Becquerel's  homogeneous  sheet  of  silver 
chlfjride  containing  subchloride,  Seebeck  used  the  powder,  and 
I'oitevin  nu>unted  the  salt  on  paper.  In  these  two  processes  the 
1  tfect  described  is  not  observed.  Hence  these  colours  are  body 
colours  in  these  two  cases.  The  j^roduction  of  these  body  colours 
is  a  very  mysterious  process,  but  the  author  hopes  that  here  will 
eventually  lie  found  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem.  To 
account  for  the  |iroduction  of  these  colours  he  advances  a  remark- 
able theory  which  has  a  well-known  analogy  in  comparative 
physiology,  (iiven  a  collection  of  compounds  of  silver  chloride 
and  subchloride  of  indefinite  proportions,  such  as  those  which 
Mr.  Carey  Lea  calls  by  the  collective  name  of  "  photochloride," 
we  must  suppose  according  to  the  modern  kinetic  theories  that 
they  are  undergoing  a  rapid  series  of  successive  modifications. 
When  the  red  combmation  happens  to  be  exposed  to  red  light,  it 
reflects  it  without  absorption,  and  will  therefore  no  longer  be 
aftected  or  changed  by  it.  Similarly  for  the  other  cases.  This 
is  another  process  of  "  adaptation.''  The  author  describes  some 
experiments  which  jirove  that  this  is  the  true  explanation,  and 
points  out  the  importance  of  this  view,  not  only  for  colour  ])hoto- 
graphy,  but  for  the  production  of  colours  in  the  animal  world. 


THE  SLATE  MLNES  OF  MERLONETHSHIRR} 

AN  official  Blue  Book  drawn  up  by  a  Departmental  Committee 
^^  appointed  by  Mr.  Asquith,  and  referring  to  the  dangers  of 
slate  quarrying  in  Merionethshire,  has  recently  appeared,  .\fter 
a  brief  account  of  the  mode  of  occurrence,  the  method  of  getting 
the  slate  by  true  mining  operations  is  described,  and  the  principal 

'  Report  of  the  Departmetu.iICominittee  upon  Merionethshire  Slate  Mines. 
with  Appcndic.-s.  Presented  to  lioth  Houses  of  Parliament  by  command  of 
Her  Majesty,  1895. 


NO. 


1342,  VOL.   52] 


causes  of  accidents  are  enumerated  and  explained.  Judging  by 
the  statistics  of  the  last  nineteen  years,  the  underground  worker 
in  Merionethshire  is  exposed  to  greater  risks  than  the  average 
collier;  some  40  per  cent,  of  the  deaths  are  caused  by  falls  of 
rock,  a  fact  which  causes  no  surprise  when  one  considers  the 
conditions  under  which  the  slate-getters  carry  on  their  daily  work 
in  huge  chambers,  the  roofs  and  sides  of  which  cannot  be 
examined  without  rigging  up  lofty  ladders. 

An  interesting  table  of  death-rates  shows  that  the  Merioneth- 
shire slate  quarrymen  are  better  off  as  regards  the  safety  of  their 
occupation  than  many  other  classes  of  workmen,  such  as  navvies, 
railway  servants,  and  sailors. 

The  medical  evidence,  especially  that  of  Dr.  Richard  Jones, 
is  very  complete,  and  we  learn  that  some  of  the  ills  of  the 
Merionethshire  quarrymen  are  practically  of  their  own  making. 
Judging  by  the  report  and  the  evidence  upon  which  it  is  based, 
the  men  are  not  cleanly  in  their  ways,  and  if  their  sober  habits 
lead  them  to  ruin  their  digestions  by  stewed  tea,  it  becomes  a 
question  whether  their  so-called,  but  incomplete,  temperance  is 
an  unmixed  benefit. 

For  preventing  accidents,  the  Committee  make  several  useful 
suggestions  ;  one  of  the  most  important  is  their  advocacy  of 
"channelling  machines"  or  "groove  cutters,"  for  assisting  in 
getting  the  slate,  instead  of  \-iolently  wrenching  off  the  blocks  by 
blasting. 

The  value  of  the  report  is  enhanced  by  some  useful  ayipendices, 
a  copious  index  of  the  evidence,  and  several  woodcuts  and  plates. 
The  plates  are  noteworthy  as  being  the  first  instances  of  repro- 
ductions of  photographs  in  a  Blue  Book  by  the  half-tone  process. 
Five  of  the  eight  photographs  were  taken  underground  by 
magnesium  light  ;  the  two  best,  which  represent  ladders  set  up 
in  underground  chambers,  are  the  work  of  Mr.  Burrow,  of 
Camborne,  already  well  known  by  his  successful  pictures  of 
Cornish  mines. 

The  report  is  signed  by  Mr.  Le  Neve  Foster,  the  Inspector  of 
Mines  of  the  district,  Mr.  J.  E.  Greaves,  the  owner  of  one  of 
the  largest  slate  mines,  Mr.  E.  ;P.  Jones  and  Mr.  J.  J.  Evans, 
both  quarry  managers  of  wide  experience,  and  Mr.  J.  Jenkins, 
President  of  the  (Juarrymen's  Union.  The  opinions  of  a  practical 
Committee  of  this  kind  are  entitled  to  consideration,  and  it  will 
be  interesting  to  note  how  far  their  suggestions  are  carried  out, 
and  how  far  they  attain  their  object,  viz.  the  increased  safety 
and  general  well-being  of  the  Merionethshire  quarrymen. 


THE  RE  LA  TLON  OF  BIO  LOG  Y  TO  GEO- 
LOGICAL INVESTIGATION  > 

II. 

The  Riii..^rivE  Chronological  Value  of  Fossil  Kk.mains. 

■p  EJECTING  the  idea  of  special  endowment  held  by  early 
geologists,  we  must  consider  the  relative  chronological  value 
of  fossil  remains  with  reference  to  the  natural  laws  which  have 
produced  their  characteristics  and  governed  the  various  conditions 
of  their  origin.  .Much  may  profitably  be  .said  concerning  the 
comparative  chronological  value  of  the  difterent  genera,  families, 
lie,  belonging  to  one  and  the  same  class  of  any  liranch  of 
either  the  animal  or  vegetable  kingdom,  or  to  difl'erent  classes  ; 
but  I  propose  to  discuss  only  the  broader  relations  to  one 
another  of  the  more  general  kinds  of  fossil  remains.  These 
discussions  will  relate  to  the  time-range  of  each  of  those  general 
kinds,  the  various  conditions  under  which  they  have  been 
preserved,  the  various  conditions  of  habitat  of  the  animals  and 
plants  which  they  rejiresent,  the  relative  rate  of  e\(ilutional 
develoi)ment  of  the  different  kinds  and  their  diflerences  of 
reciprocal  relation  to  one  another. 

No  fact  in  historical  geology  is  more  conspicuous  than  that 
of  the  great  diflerences  in  time  range  of  the  various  kinds  of 
organic  forms,  some  of  them  having  ranged  through  the  whole 
of  the  time  represented  by  the  geological  scale,  while  others, 
and  among  them  some  of  the  biologically  most  important  kinds, 
ranged  through  only  a  comparatively  small  part  of  it. 

.■\  special  grouping  of  the  diflferent  kinds  of  fo.ssil  remains  is 
more  appropriate  for  these  discussions  than  is  a  strictly  systematic 
one,  and  I  have  therefore  adopted  the  following  :  (a)  marine 
invertebrates,  (b)  non-marine  antl  land  invertebrates,  (r)  fishes. 
((/)    batnachians    and    reptiles,     (c)    birds,    (/)    mammals,    and 

1  By  Charles  .\.  White.  .Abstract  of  a  scries  of  ciRht  cs.savs  published  in 
the  Report  of  the  t^'iiited  States  National  Museum.    (Continued  from  p.  261. 


2  8o 


NATURE 


[July   iS,  1895 


(f)  land  plants.  For  convenience  of  reference,  our  present 
knowledge  of  the  time-range  of  these  kinds  may  be  presented  in 
tabular  form.  The  accompanjnng  illustration,  representing  the 
whole  of  geological  time  by  its  height,  indicates  in  a  general  i 
way  by  jxrr]ientlicular  lines  the  time-range  of  the  kinds  just 
mentioned,  and  remarks  in  following  paragraphs  further  explain 
the  known  range  of  some  of  the  subordinate,  as  well  as  that  of 
the  principal  kinds. 

The  horizontal  spaces  of  the  table  represent  the  systems  or 
stages  of  the  geological  scale.  The  |iro|X)rtionate  width  of  the 
spaces  which  contain  the  names  of  those  systems  or  stages  is  not 
intended  to  indicate  the  actual  ratio  of  geolc^cal  time  for  each, 
but  it  may  be  stated  as  the  general  opinion  of  comix-tenl 
nvestigalors  that  the  portion  of  the  scale  from  the  Cambrian 
'  the  Carboniferous  inclusive  represents  a  much  greater  length 
of  time  than  does  the  portion  from  the  Trias  to  the  Tertiar)- 
inclusive.  In  other  words,  it  is  generally  believed  that  the 
PaktMzoic  portion  of  the  geological  scale  was  of  much  longer 
duration  than  was  that  of  the  Mesozoic  and  Cenozoic  ]X)rtions 
together. 

The  perpendicular  lines  in  the  table,  which  are  placed   singly 
or  ill  jsiirs  or  groups  under  letter;  of  the  alphabet  from   .V  to  G 


CARBONIFEROU! 


CRETACEOUS 


U.  SILURIAN 


L.  SItURIAM 


Time  r.T 
inv- 

mojiii 


M.nrinc  invertebrates,  (tt)  non.ni.irinc  niid   land 
.  (I))    batrachian*!  and   reptiles,  (|0  liirds,  (i--) 
1  iiiants. 


inclusive,  represent  the  time-range  of  the  kinds  of  animals  and 
plants  which  have  already  been  mentioned,  and  which  for 
convenience  of  reference  arc  again  recorded  with  their  corre- 
.sixjniling  letters  at  the  foot  of  the  table.  This  method  of 
grouping  the  different  kinds  of  animals  and  plants,  as  alrcatly 
ir'  .11  AcA  only  for  present  convenience  in  making 
r  r.inological   values.       .Ml   the   princi|)al  kinds 

V  id  in  the  usual   systematic  classification  are. 

:    in    these   sjiccial    groups,   the  few   that  are 
-.irded   as   of  little  or    no  importance  in  this 
coiiin.  !i:)ji.      I  lie  dotted  (xirtion  of  certain  of  the  lines  indicates 
uncertainty   as   to   the    real    extent    of  the  time-range  which,  is 
^t  '      ■'  '  .if  iin|jerfect  or  doubtful   represenlalion 

('!  '  red  fossil  remains. 

•■  liive  existed   U|x)n  the  earth,  .ind  of 
"  .  ered,  only  those  of  m.'irine  inverte- 

■He  through  the  whole   geological 
'-  im|Kirtant  |nrtions  of  the  animal 
gr<iup  of  five  |)er|X!n(licular  lines 
1  '1.     marine   invertebrate  life  thus  retire 


I.I. 

.Kale.  1  Ik 
kingdom  is  r 
under    the    Vu 


sented  includes  the  Protozoa,  Coelenterata,  -Annuloida,  Anmilosa, 
and  Mollusca,  the  latter  including  the  MoUuscoida.  That  is,  it 
includes  five  of  the  six  sub-kingdonts  or  branches  of  the  animal 
kingdom. 

The  non-marine  and  land  invertebrates,  the  tinie-i^ange  of  which 
is  intended  to  be  represented  in  the  table  by  the  two  perjiendicuiar 
lines  under  the  letter  B,  are  only  insects  and  fresh-water, 
brackish-water,  and  land  molluscs.  The  discovered  fossil 
remains  of  all  other  non-marine  and  hnd  invertebrates  are 
regarded  as  either  too  rare  or  too  imimportaiU  to  be  profitably 
considered  in  the  comparisons  which  arc  to  f<illow.  The  longer 
of  the  two  lines  may  be  taken  as  representing  the  known  time- 
range  of  insects,  and  the  shorter  that  of  land  and  non-marine 
mollusca. 

The  pair  of  peri>endicular  lines  in  the  table  under  the  letter  C 
shows  the  apiiroximate  time-range  of  all  the  various  kinds  of 
animal  remains  which  have  been  referred  to  the  fishes.  The 
shorter  of  the  two  lines  indicates  the  known  range  of  the  teleostcan 
fishes,  and  the  longer  that  of  the  other  kinds,  the  latter 
including  certain  forms  that  difier  materially  from  any  living 
fishes. 

The  time-range  of  batrachians  and  reptiles,  so  far  as  it  is 
known,  is  shown  by  the  three  perpendicular  lines  in  the  table 
under  the  letter  D,  that  of  the  dinosaurs  alone  l>eing  represented 
by  the  shortest  line  of  the  three. 

The  known  time-range  of  birds  is  represented  by  the  single  line 
under  the  letter  K.  It  is  here  assumed  that  most,  if  not  all,  the 
fossil  tracks  found  in  Triassic  strata,  and  formerly  referred  to 
birds,  are  those  of  ilinosaurs. 

The  two  lines  in  the  table  under  the  letter  T  represent  the 
known  time-range  of  mammals,  the  longer  line  representing 
that  of  the  non-placental,  and  the  shorter  that  of  the  placental 
mammals. 

The  known  time-range  of  land  plants  is  represented  by  the  two 
lines  under  the  letter  I'l.  The  shorter  line  represents  the  range 
of  the  dicotyledons  and  jxtlms,  and  the  longer  one  that  of  all 
other  kinds.  The  alga'  and  diatoms  are  omitted  from  the  table, 
its  being  of  little  or  no  importance  in  the  comparisons  and  dis- 
cussions w  hich  are  to  follow. 

The  earlier  portion  of  the  time-range  for  each  of  the  kinds  of 
animals  and  plants,  .is  shown  by  Ihe  per|ieiulicular  lines  in  the 
table,  is  naturally  more  incompletely  and  indefinitely  represented 
by  fossil  remains  than  is  the  later  portion,  Ijecause  of  the  smaller 
variety  and  greater  rarity  of  those  earlier  remains,  and  also  in 
most  cases  because  of  the  increasing  difference  in  character  from 
living  forms  which  is  observable  from  later  to  earlier  formations. 
In  some  ca,ses,  however,  the  early  portion  of  the  lime-range  as 
it  is  now  known  begins  so  suddenly,  and  with  forms  of  such  high 
biological  rank,  as  to  make  it  evident  that  its  real  beginning  w.as 
much  earlier  than  it  has  yet  been  proved  to  be  by  actual  dis- 
covery of  fossil  remains.  The  last-mentioned  fact  is  of  great 
importance  in  many  respects,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  aflect 
the  question  mider  consideration,  because  all  estimates  of  the 
relative  chronological  value  of  fossil  remains  must  lie  confined  to 
the  kinds  already  known,  and  the  apjilication  of  such  estimates 
nuist  refer  only  to  those  portions  of  the  geological  scale  in  the 
strata  pertaining  to  which  the  remains  are  known  to  occur. 

It  has  liecn  shown  that  it  is  the  general  advancement 
in  biological  rank  for  all  organic  forms  ami  for  the 
whole  of  geological  time  that  constitutes  the  ideal  uliimate 
standard  of  measure  for  that  time.  It  does  not  necessiirily 
follow,  however,  that  the  geological  scale  is  actually  liased  upon 
the  combine<l  average  rate  of  advancement  of  all  those  forms, 
because  this  is  a  factor  which  cannot  be  definitely  ascertainetl. 
.Still,  in  all  cases  it  is  necessary  to  apply  that  idea  .so  far  as  is 
pr.acticable. 

In  view  of  the  facts  recorded  in  the  preceding  paragraphs, 
Ihe  highest  estimate  of  chronological  value  must  necessarily  be 
placed  nixjn  the  fossil  remains  of  those  kinds  which  have  existed 
under  the  most  nearly  uniform  conditions  through  the  whole  of 
geological  time,  and  which  give  evidence  of  the  most  nearly 
uniform  advancement  in  biological  rank.  Accordingly,  the 
remains  of  marine  inverlel)rates  jxissess  legitimate  claims  to  a 
higher  estimate  of  chronological  value  than  do  those  of  any  other 
kinds  of  animals  or  of  plants. 

It  is  true  that  the  rate  of  development  in  biological  rank  of 
marine  invertebrates  does  not  embrace  the  entire  advance  for  the 
whole  animal  kingdom,  liecause  it  begins  in  the  scale  as  il  is 
now  known  with  many  highly  organised  forms,  and  endswilhoul 
including  the  vertebrates  ;  but  this  fact  does  not  affect  any  of  the 


NO.   1342,  VOL.   52] 


July   i8,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


2SI 


necessary  elements  of  their  superior  chronological  value,  which 
have  just  been  mentioned.  The  following  summary  of  facts 
relating  to  the  marine  invertebrates  show  their  [irincipal  claims 
to  the  highest  estimate  of  value  in  characterising  the  divisions  of 
the  geological  scale,  and  in  determining  tlie  geological  age  of  the 
strata  in  which  their  remains  are  found. 

The  marine  invertelirates  emljrace  five  of  the  six  suit-kingdoms 
or  branches  of  the  animal  kingdom. 

They  have  coexisted  in  every  stage  of  geological  time,  while 
the  known  time-range  of  other  animals,  as  well  as  of  land  plants, 
has  been  very  much  less. 

The  ]}reservation  of  their  remains  having  been  a  natural  con- 
sequence of  the  character  of  their  habitat,  they  are  faunally 
more  complete  than  are  those  of  any  land  animals,  and  for  the 
same  reason  they  are  florally  more  complete  than  are  remains  of 
land  plants. 

They  all  lived  under  the  same  or  closely  similar  conditions,  and 
those  conditions  were  more  nearly  uniform  throughout  all  geo- 
logical time  than  were  those  imder  which  any  other  forms  of  life 
existed.  Their  remains  have,  therefore,  produced  a  more  nearly 
uniform  chronological  record. 

Their  relations  to  one  another  were  wholly  congruous,  while 
the  relations  of  all  of  them  to  all  non-marine  fainias  and  land 
floras  was  more  or  less  incongruous,  and  in  many  cases  ex- 
tremely so. 

The  formations  containing  their  remains  are  for  the  whole  world 
and  the  whole  of  the  geological  scale  far  in  excess  of  those  which 
contain  the  remains  of  any  oilier  forms  of  life,  especially  the 
remains  of  land  plants  and  land  animals. 

Correlative  Geology  and  its  Critkria. 

The  term  "  correlative  geology"  is  not  in  common  use,  but  it  is 
adopted  as  a  present  convenience  in  discussing  the  correlation  of 
assemblages  of  strata  as  divisions  or  subdivisions  of  the  geological 
scale  as  it  is  developed  in  separate  regions,  and  the  identification 
of  formations  within  one  and  the  same  district  or  region.  .\s 
liere  used,  the  term  correlation  refers  to  geological  systems  or 
>ther  comjirehensive  series  of  stratified  rocks  which  occur  in 
different  and  more  or  less  widely  separated  parts  of  the  world, 
Itetween  which  parts  there  is  no  phy.sical  continuity  of  strata, 
ir  none  that  it  is  possililc  to  discover.  Correlation  applies  to 
^rneral  geolog)',  identification  to  local  or  regional  investigations. 
The  latter  may  be  discussed  under  two  heads,  direct  and  re- 
lative. Direct  identification  applies  to  formations  the  characteristics 
'if  which  at  one  or  more  localities  have  been  ascertained,  and  as 
these  are  naturally  of  limited  geographical  extent,  the  application 
!^  similarly  restricted. 

.\lthough  fossils  in  all  cases  ccmslitute  not  only  much  themo.sl, 
liut  usually  the  only,  trustworthy  criteria  f)r  such  indentification 
of  formations  as  is  indis|iensalile  in  the  .study  of  structural  geology, 
the  various  kinds  difler  materially  as  to  their  relative  value.  This 
value,  however,  has  no  necessary  relation  to  that  which  they  may 
possess  as  indicators  of  geological  time,  or  of  the  C(jrrelation  of 
the  strata  containing  them  with  tho.se  of  other  parts  of  the  world. 
The  two  values  are  distinct,  although  one  kind  of  fossil  remains 
may  often  possess  both. 

\V'hile  fossil  remains  unqueslionalily  afford  the  most  trustworthy 
and  often  the  only  means  of  cither  direct  or  indirect  identification 
of  formations,  in  the  absence  of  these  means  the  geologist  often 
reaches  conclusions  in  this  resjiect  by  methods  of  reasoning  that 
it  would  be  difficult  even  for  himself  to  foruudale,  and  these  con- 
clusions  are   valualjle    in    proi>ortion    to  his  acquirements  and 
experience.     .Vmong  these  le.ss  clearly  definable  methods  is  that 
which  takes  cognisance  of  homogeny  ;  that  is,  of  a   method  in 
connection  with   which   certain   inherent   lilhological   and  strati- 
graphical  characteristics,  which  are  ].iossesseil  by  a  formation  or 
series  of  strata  in  one  part  of  a  given  region  under  investigation, 
pre  accepted  as  evidence  that  it  had  a  common  origin  with  a  for- 
mation or  series  presenting  .similar  characteristics  in  another  part 
'f  the  same  region.     Such  a  conclusion  neces.sarily  implies  that 
•riginally  there  was  physical  continuity  of  .similar  strata  between 
-iich  localities,  ani.1  that  il  has  either  been  destroyed  ctr  t>!)scured. 
This  methoti  of  identifying  formations  is  one  of  minor  im]iort- 
nce  as  compared  with  that  which  is  based   upon  fossil    remains, 
ul  unfortunately  it  has,  especially  within  the  Last  few  years,  been 
idopted  by  certain  geologists  in  charge  of  important  works,  almost 
'  1  the  entire  exclusion  of  palasonlological  considerations.  .Although 
11  cannot  lie  denied  that  in   the  hands  of   an   experienced  and 
broad-minded  investigator  this  method  of  identifying   formations 
is  of  great  value,  the  fact  remains  that  some  of  the  most  grievous 


mistakes  that  have  ever  thrown  discredit  upon  geological  investi- 
gation have  occurred  by  its  adoption  to  the  exclusion  of  palaeonto- 
logical  evidence. 

It  has  been  the  custom  of  a  large  proportion  of  geologists  to 
regard  the  geological  scale  as  it  has  Iteen  established  in  Europe 
as  the  absolute  standard  for  the  whole  earth.  A  necessary  con- 
sequence of  this  view  is  their  assumption  that  the  systems  which 
physically  constitute  that  scale,  and  at  least  most  of  the  divisions 
of  those  systems,  may  not  only  be  recognised,  but  as  clearly 
defined  in  all  parts  of  the  earth  as  they  are  in  Europe,  if  in 
those  parts  contemjioraneous  deposits  were  made  and  still  remain 
intact. 

In  view  of  known  facts  and  principles,  the  idea  held  by  the 
early  geologists,  as  w'ell  as  by  some  of  those  now  living,  that 
identity  of  fossil  types  proves  synchronism  or  exact  contenqiora- 
neity  of  origin  of  any  two  or  more  series  of  strata  containing 
them,  is  quite  untenable.  The  facts  which  have  been  presented 
also  suggest  that  the  term  *'^homotaxy"  must  be  used  with  some 
degree  iif  latitude  as  to  its  application  to  the  subdivisions  of 
systems,  because  the  order  of  sequence  in  the  occurrence  of  the 
types  which  characterise  them,  res]5ectively,  in  one  part  of  the 
world  is  in  another  part  sometimes  jjartially  reversed  or  partially 
interchanged.  That  is,  the  taxonomy  of  those  divisions,  as 
biologically  indicated,  is  not  the  same  for  all  parts  of  the  world. 

The  presence  in  widely  separated  parts  of  the  world  of  all  the 
systems  of  the  geological  scale,  as  well  as  of  some  of  their  larger 
divisions,  has  been  demonstrated  by  the  labours  of  a  multitude  of 
geologists,  so  the  fact  of  correlation  is  not  called  in  question.  The 
principal  questions  which  are  here  raised  concern  the  scope  of 
correlation,  or  the  limitation  of  the  assemblages  of  strata,  the 
relation  of  which  to  respective  divisions  of  the  .scale  is  more  or 
less  obvious.  These  questions  are  of  practical  application  in 
the  study  of  the  structural  geology  of  any  part  of  the  world 
other  than  that  in  which  the  geological  scale  was  established  ; 
but  they  are  of  such  a  character  that  they  must  be  conventionally 
rather  than  arbitrarily  determined. 

For  example,  in  discussing  the  questions  which  have  arisen 
concerning  the  earlier  and  later  limits  of  the  systems  of  the 
geological  scale  in  North  America,  the  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  those  limits  have  been  wider  and  more  various  with  regard  to 
the  later  systems  than  to  the  earlier.  This  is  because  of  the 
greater  number  and  variety  of  the  kinds  of  fossil  remains 
to  be  considered  in  such  discussions  of  the  later  systems. 
It  is  therefore  evident  that  in  reaching  a  conclusion  as 
to  the  limitation  of  any  of  these  .systems,  or  of  any  of  their 
subdivisions,  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  consideration  all  avail- 
able facts,  jihysical  as  well  as  biological.  It  is  equally  evident 
that  il  is  the  duty  of  every  American  geologist  to  hold  in 
abeyance  any  final  decision  as  to  the  correlation  of  the  groups  of 
strata  which  he  may  study  with  the  divisions  of  the  Eurftpean 
scale  luitil  all  such  facts  have  been  duly  and  justly  considered. 
In  short,  the  idea  of  absoluteness  in  such  cases  is  as  much  out 
of  place  as  is  the  assertion  or  recognition  of  personal  authority. 

Although  these  remarks  refer  directly  to  North  American 
geology  and  geologists,  they  are  equally  applicable  to  other  parts 
of  the  world  when  reference  is  made  to  the  scale  as  represented 
by  the  European  rocks. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  excellence  of  the  scale  now  in 
general  use,  and  the  fact  that  so  little  change  has  been  made  in 
it  since  it  was  first  devised  by  the  early  geologists,  the  future 
progress  of  geological  science  will  demand  modifications  the 
necessity  for  which  will  be  especially  urgent  when  the  true 
character  of  correlation  for  all  the  principal  ]iarts  of  the  earth 
has  been  ascertained.  Hitherto  correlation  has  been  investigated 
v\ith  the  single  jHirpose  i^f  adjusting  the  series  of  formations 
which  occur  in  each  of  the  various  parts  of  the  world  to  the 
scale  now  in  use  ;  but  although  its  general  applicability  to  that 
purpose  is  not  to  be  questioned,  the  ultimate  result  of  the  study 
of  correlation  will  be  to  modify  this  scale  and  adjiLst  it  to  the 
systematic  geology  of  the  whole  earth.  That  is,  the  scheme  of 
stratigra[)hic  classification,  which  has  been  the  main  factor  in 
adjusting  the  elements  of  systematic  getilogy,  must  in  turn  he- 
itself  adju.sted  to  the  great  .sysiim  uhi.li  it  will  have  been  the 
principal  agent  in  producing. 

Critf.ria  of   Past  Aijllois  Conditions. 

.\mong  the  more  conspicuous  facts  in  geology  are  some  of  those 

which  relate  to  the  manner  of  origin  as  well  as  to  the  original  and 

present  condition  of  the  sedimentary  formations.     These  subjects 

have  already  been  discussed,  and  among  those  discussions  are 


NO.    1342,  VOL.   52] 


NA  TURE 


[juLv   18,  1895 


Slime  references  lo  the  character  of  the  water  in  which  each 
turmation  was  dejx)sited.  Stiulies  of  the  seilimenlary  formations, 
esix^ially  those  made  from  a  biological  standpoint,  have  demon- 
strated that  the  bodies  of  water  in  which  they  were  dejwsited 
were  of  the  various  kinds  that  are  now  known  ;  that  is,  some 
were  marine,  some  fresh,  and  some  brackish. 

L'lxin  physical  evidence  alone,  it  is  not  practicable  to  satis- 
factorily classify'  the  setlimentary  formations  of  the  earth  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  serve  the  pur]X)se  of  thorough  geological  investi- 
gation. Therefore  such  data  are  in  this,  as  in  most  other  cases, 
chiefly  valuable  as  being  accessory  to  the  evidence  afforded  by 
biolc^cal  data. 

The  biolt^cal  criteria  which  are  relied  u|X)n  by  geologists  to 
distinguish  from  one  another  the  sedinientar)'  formations  which 
have  been  pnxiuced  in  marine  waters,  or  in  those  of  inland  seas, 
lakes,  rivers,  or  estuaries,  relate  to  the  characteristics  of  faunas 
which  now  inhabit  those  waters  res|iectively.  and  to  the  differ- 
ences from  one  another  of  such  faunas.  That  is,  the  conclusions 
w  hich  geologists  reach  concerning  the  questions  just  indicated 
are  Ijasetl  ui>on  now-existing  physical  conditions,  ujion  the  known 
character,  structure,  and  habits  of  animals  with  relation  to  tho.se 
conilitions,  and  upon  the  assumption  that  in  |>ast  geological 
ei»chs  animals  of  a  given  character  and  stnicture  had  similar 
habits,  and  lived  under  conditions  similar  to  those  which  are 
congenial  to  their  living  congeners. 

The  various  Ixxlies  of  water  which  existed  during  geological 
time,  and  which  constituted  the  habitat  of  aquatic  animals,  were 
of  the  same  kinds  that  now  exist,  namely,  marine  and  fresh, 
together  with  those  of  the  various  intervening  grades  of  saltness. 
.\lthough  it  is  |irof«able  that  the  marine  w.iters  of  early  geological 
time  were  not  so  salt  as  those  of  the  present  oceans,  it  is  believed 
that  this  difference  in  saltness  has  not  lx;en  so  great  as  to  make 
any  apprc-ciable  difference  as  to  legitimate  conclusions  of  the 
kind  that  have  l>een  indicated.  It  seems  to  Ik;  es|x;cially  evident 
that  this  difference  has  Ix-en  thus  inappreciable  since  the  close 
of  pal.vozoic  time,  since  which  time  the  greater  jMirt  of  the 
known  unmistakably  non-marine  formations  were  de|x>sited. 

If  all  the  known  now  living  memlxjrs  of  a  given  family 
are  confined  to  niarine,  or  to  fresh  waters,  as  the  case  may  be,  it 
is  assumed  that  the  habitat  of  the  extinct  niembers  of  such 
families  were  similarly  restricted,  and  that  the  presence  of  fossil 
remains  of  such  animals  in  a  given  formation,  is,  in  the  absence 
of  conflicting  facts,  sufficient  evidence  of  its  marine  origin  on  the 
one  hand,  or  of  its  fresh-water  origin  on  the  other.  Again,  if  a 
given  family  is  known  to  have  (representatives  now  living  in 
marine,  brackish,  and  fresh  waters,  respectively,  it  is  assumed 
that  it  had  a  similar  range  of  habitat  during  past  geological 
e|x>chs.  Therefore,  the  discovery  in  a  given  fi>rmation  of  fossil 
remains  of  a  single  representative  of  a  family  having  such  a 
varied  range  of  habitat  is  not  of  itself  sufficient  to  enable  one  to 
decide  whether  it  wxs  of  marine,  brackish,  or  fresh-water  origin, 
and  other  evidence  must  Ik;  s<jught. 

The  criteria  of  past  aqueous*  conditions  here  discussed 
arc,  of  course,  only  such  as  may  lie  derived  from  sedi- 
mentary formations  and  their  contents.  It  cannot  Ik;  said  thiit 
there  are  any  fully  trustworthy  physical  criteria  because  a  non- 
marine  fonnation  rarely  presents  any  condition  of  stratification, 
«ir  any  lithological  character,  which  is  not  oliservable  in  .some 
marine  formations.  Still,  there  arc  many  more  or  less  valuable 
indications  which  may  lie  observed  and  lo  some  degree  relied 
o|xin  in  the  absence  of  fossil  remains. 

I'cir     example,     although      consideral)le      accumulations      of 
calcareous    strata    arc    sometimes    found    among    the   generally 
arenaceous  strata  of  fresh-water  formations,  they  have  never  been 
found  lo  contain  any  im|xirtant  accunudalions  of  regularly  bedded 
limestones.      I-'urthermore,  esluarine  dejxisits  are  often  still  more 
of  a  <letrital  character  than  are  fresh-water  formations,  an<l  .'ilso 
nore   rarely  conL-iin  calcareous  layers.      Therefore,  if  one 
■nrcdinter  a  series  fif  regularly  bedded   limestones,  either 
lan  f<r  fully  calcareous,  he  will  rarely,  if  ever,  Ix:  at  fault 
'r<ling  them  as  of  marine  origin  even  without  biological 
I'  e. 
Ill  a  large  pro|x>rlion  of  the  non-marine  formations,  the  si  ratifica- 
tion is  less  regular  ihan   is  usually  Ihe  case  with  marine  forma- 
tion-.    .Siill,  this  is  by  nf»  means  a  certain  criterion,  and  in  some 
ras/'s  non-marine  formations  are   foiHul   Ut  rest   s<»  ("(mforniably 
nji'in  Ihe  mjirine  and  to  Ix;  so  conformably  overlain  by  them  .i-s  lo 
give  lillle  indication  of  Ihe  great  difference  in  the  condition  of 
Ihcir  origin. 

These  examples  »cr\c  lo  show  how  indefinite  is  the  ch.xracler 


of  physical  evidence  as  to  the  p-ist  aqueous  conditions  under 
which  the  various  sedimentary  formations  have  been  [jroduced, 
but  they  serve  to  emphasise  a  statement  of  the  fact  that  almost 
entire  reliance  must  be  placed  u|X>n  the  evidence  furnished  by 
fossil  remains. 

With  reference  to  general  indications  of  difference  Ix'tween 
marine  and  non-marine  formations  which  are  furnished  by  their 
fossil  remains,  we  observe  that  a  conspicutnis  difference  lies  in  the 
comparative  abundance  and  variety  of  forms  of  life  which  the 
fossil  faunas  of  the  formations  respectively  represent.  Marine 
waters  have  always  teemed  with  life  in  a  wonderful  \ariely  of 
forms,  and  their  fossil  remains  are  proix>rtionaIly  abundant.  The 
variety  is  less  in  brackish  waters,  and  least  of  all  in  lacustrine 
waters.  It  is  true  that  ichthyic  life  is  abundant  in  some  fre.sh 
waters,  but  never  so  generally  abundant  or  .so  various  as  in  marine 
waters.  It  is  also  true  that  molluscan  life  is  often  locally  abun- 
dant in  shallow  fresh  waters,  but,  as  already  several  times 
mentioned,  the  variety  is  extremely  meagre.  All  these  peculiar- 
ities are  distinctly  observable  imong  the  fossil  faunas  of  the 
non-ntarine  formations. 

Other  general  indications  of  difference  between  marine  and 
non-marine  formations  are  furnished  by  remains  of  land  plants 
and  animals.  Open-sea  formations  are  nalvirally  free  from  any 
vegetable  remains  derived  from  the  land,  although  coal  and  other 
materials  of  vegetal  origin  are  not  unfrequenlly  found  alternat- 
ing with  layers  containing  marine  fossil  remains.  These, 
however,  are  regarded  as  cases  of  emergence  of  Ihe  bottom  of 
shallow  sea  waters  and  the  subsequent  subsidence  of  the  .same  as 
plant-laden  marshy  land.  It  is  a  matter  of  fact,  Ihe  rea.son  for 
which  has  been  suggested  in  jireceding  sections,  that  plant 
remains  of  any  kind,  especially  such  as  are  in  a  classifiable  con- 
dition, have  so  rarely  been  finnul  as.s<.)ciated  with  remains  of 
denizens  of  marine  waters,  that  the  discovery  of  fossil  plants  in 
any  formation  is  of  itself  |)resumptive  evidence  of  its  non-marine 
origin. 

It  has  already  been  shown  that  the  remains  of  land  animals 
have  so  seldom  reached  marine  waters,  or,  having  reached  them, 
they  were  probably  so  generally  destroyed  by  the  triturating 
action  of  co.asi  waves,  that  the  di.scovery  of  any  of  this  kind  of 
fo.ssil  remains  in  any  formation  may  also  be  regarded  as  presump- 
tive evidence  of  its  non-marine  origin. 

The  foregoing  statements  have  been  made  with  reference  lo 
indications  which  are  either  of  a  general  character  t)r  without 
direct  relation  to  the  quality  of  the  waters  in  which  .sedimentary 
formations  have  been  deposited.  .\11  the  direct  evidence,  as 
has  been  alreatiy  fully  stated,  is  derivai)le  from  the  fossil  remains 
of  the  denizens,  especially  the  gill-bearing  kinds,  of  the  waters  in 
which  were  deix)sited  the  formations  untier  investigation. 

Referring  to  the  previous  review  of  the  animal  kingdom,  it 
will  be  seen  that  a  large  number  of  families  of  both  fishes  and 
invertebrates  are  confined  to  a  marine  habitat,  and  that  every 
mcnilx;r  of  even  .some  of  the  higher  divisions  is  similarly 
restricted.  For  example,  every  known  member  of  the  classes 
Cephalopoda  and  Hrachiopoda  is  confined  to  a  marine  habitat. 
It  will  also  be  seen  that  a  certain  small  number  of  families, 
especially  of  ihe  mollusca,  are  equally  reslricled  to  fresh  waters. 
The  significance  of  such  cases  as  these  has  already  been  |K)inled 
out,  but  it  is  desirable  to  refer  lo  them  ag.iin. 

I''ossil  remains  representing  any  one  of  these  kind  t)f  animals 
may  be  taken  .as  ]xwitive  evidence  of  the  quality  of  the  water  in 
which  Ihe  fornialion  containing  them  w.as  deposited,  provided 
there  shall  be  no  room  for  reasonable  doubl  that  Ihe  animals 
were  really  denizens  of  that  waler.  That  is,  caution  is  necessity 
even  in  these  more  |«)silive  cases,  es|)ecially  when  the  amount  of 
discovered  fossil  material  is  meagre. 

Not  only  caution  but  the  exercise  of  careful  judgment  is 
neccssjiry  in  other  Civses.  I'or  example,  it  will  also  be  seen  by 
referring  lo  Ihe  foregoing  review  that  certain  families,  while  most 
of  ils  members  are  confined  to  one  kind  of  waler,  may  have  one 
or  more  represenlalives  in  other  kinds  ;  and  again,  thai  certain 
families  may  have  representatives  in  all  the  known  kinds  of 
habitable  waters.  In  such  ca.ses  as  these  it  is  plain  that  all 
evidence  afforded  by  fossil  remains,  to  be  of  any  value,  must  be 
corrolKtraled  by  other  evidence. 

.Still,  the  cases  are  very  few  in  which  .serious  doulil  neefl  be 
enlerlained  as  to  the  true  charaiier  of  the  waler  in  which  a  given 
formaliim  was  deposile<l.  This  is  especially  true  if  Ihe  fossil 
remains  are  Mifficient  in  <juantity  and  perfection  lo  approximately 
represent  the  whole  fauna  Ihal  livei!  in  those  waters.  Indeed, 
if   Ihe  facts   which  are  recordeil    in    this  review    are    borne  in 


NO.    1342,    VOL.   52] 


July    i8,  1895] 


NATURE 


283 


mind,  there  need  be  no  more  doubt  as  to  what  was  the  quality  of    careful  descriptive  record  be  made  of  the  stratigraphical  con- 


the  water  in  which  any  given  formation  was  deposited,  than  might 
arise  concerning  any  other  geological  oljservation. 

The  Claims  ok  CiEOLOGicAi,  Science  upon  Investigators, 

Ml!SEUMS,  &C. 

With  reference  to  the  ordinary  {pursuits  of  life  it  can  hardly  be 
said  that,  apart  from  a  natural  demand  for  respectable  emulation, 
one's  occupation  has  any  claims  upon  him  other  than  those  which 
are  either  conventionally  or  legally  imposed  by  society  upon  ever}' 
one  of  its  members.  The  geological  investigator,  however,  is  not 
only  amenable  to  all  such  claims,  but  to  others  of  a  different 
nature  which,  although  not  enforceable  by  legal,  and  unfortu- 
nately not  yet  by  conventional,  penalties,  are  not  less  imperative 
in  their  character. 

Much  might  be  said  in  favour  of  the  demands  which  may  be 
made  in  the  name  of  science  upon  the  individual  on  the  ground 
of  justice  and  of  moral  and^social  ethics  ;  but  all  considerations 
of  this  kind  will  be  omitted,  reference  only  being  made  to  those 
claims  which  are  supported  by  the  urgent  necessities  of  science 
itself  Claims  of  the  kind  referred  to  might  lie  nmde  in  favour  of 
all  the  various  divisi(msof  science  :  but  on  the  present  occasion  the 
discussions  will  be  confined  to  those  which  pertain  to  biological 
geolog}',  including  both  its  stnictural  and  systematic  branches. 
With  reference  to  the  manner  in  which  the  subject  is  pre- 
sented, it  is  proper  to  say  that  thehomiletic  form  has  not  been 
adopted  merely  from  personal  preference,  but  becaure  it  appears 
to  be  in  the  present  case  a  proper  and  effective,  if  an  indirect, 
method  of  calling  attention  to  prevalent  errors,  and  of  suggesting 
necessary  improvements  in  certain  prevalent  methods. 

These  claims  of  science  will  be  considered  not  only  with 
reference  to  the  individual  investigator,  but  to  associations, 
museums,  and  geological  organisations.  Those  which  may  be 
made  upon  the  individual  investigator  relate  t<j  the  manner  of 
prosecuting  his  work  and  of  publishing  its  results,  and  also  to  his 
final  disposition  of  the  evidence  upon  which  his  conclusions  are 
based.  Claims  upon  associations  or  societies  relate  to  the  character 
and  methods  of  publicatiijn  ;  those  upon  museums,  to  the  con- 
servation and  installation  of  fossil  remains,  and  of  the  records 
pertaining  to  them  ;  and  those  upon  organisations,  to  the  pre- 
-servation  of  the  integrity  of  geological  science. 

In  considering  the  claims  of  science  upon  the  individual,  it  is 
desirable  to  make  some  reference  to  the  amateur  as  well  as  to 
the  special  investigator.  This  recognition  of  non-professional 
work  is  desirable  because  the  general  subject  of  geology  has 
acquired  such  a  hold  upon  the  popular  mind,  and  the  opportuni- 
ties for  making  observations  with  relation  to  it  are  everywhere 
so  common,  that  in  every  civilised  coimtry  there  is  a  multitude  of 
persons  who  are  in  the  habit  of  making  more  or  less  critical 
observations.  Notwithstanding  the  usual  limited  aiul  desidtor)' 
character  of  svich  observations,  they  ha\'e  often  contributed 
materially  to  the  general  fund  of  geological  knowledge,  especially 
when  accompanie<l  by  a  faithful  record  and  preservation  of 
evidence.  Indeed,  some  of  the  most  valuable  facts  in  geologj* 
have  been  brought  out  by  amateur  observers,  who  themselves 
were  hardly  consciovis  that  they  had  ma<le  their  way  alone  to  the 
frontier  of  ac<|uired  knowledge  ;  and  from  the  ranks  of  such 
observers  have  arisen  many  of  the  leaders  in  geological 
investigation. 

It  has  been  shown  that  systematic  geologj'  coulrl  have  no 
existence  without  the  use  of  fossil  remains,  and  also  that  without 
their  use  structural  geology  would  be  reduced  to  mere  local  and 
disconnected  studies.  It  has  also  been  shown  that  to  arrive  at  a 
just  estimate  of  the  value  of  f  issil  remains  in  these  branches  of 
geology  they  must  be  thoroughly  and  systematically  studied  as 
representatives  of  faunas  and  floras,  as  well  as  tokens  of  the 
formations  in  which  they  are  found.  The  proper  collection  and 
preservation  of  fossil  remains  is  therefore  a  subject  of  the  greatest 
importance.  In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  the  plain  duty  of  every 
geologist,  upon  beginning  a  jiiece  of  fieUI-work  in  structural 
geology,  to  accimipany  every  step  of  his  examination  of  the  strata 
by  as  full  a  collection  ;is  possible  of  the  contained  fossils, 
and  to  preserve  them,  together  with  notes  recording  the  re- 
sults of  his  observations  and  a  statement  of  all  the  facts  rele- 
vant thereto. 

Kossils  thus  collected,  and  the  facts  concerning  them  recorded, 
become  invested  with  a  value  which  differs  materially  from  that 
which  is  i>ossessed  by  ordinary  property,  and  the  claims  of  science 
U|)i)n  them  and  upon  ihe  investigator  with  relation  to  them  at 
once   begin.      These   claims,   as  just    inlinialed,    require    that    a 


ditions  under  which  the  fossils  are  found,  including  a  directive 
record  of  the  locality  and  designation  of  the  stratum  from  which 
they  were  obtained.  They  also  require  that  these  records  should 
be  inviolably  preserved  and  made  inseparable  from  every 
specimen  by  indices  that  shall  be  as  intelligible  to  other  investi- 
gators as  to  the  original  observer. 

Apart  from  the  claims  of  science  such  precaution  is  necessar)-, 
because  reliance  ui>on  memory  alone  is  always  unsafe  in  the  most 
favourable  cases,  and  it  can  at  best  give  rise  only  to  such  oral 
traditions  as  are  out  of  place  in  .scientific  work.  The  immediate 
preparation  of  the  records  and  indices  just  mentioned  is  also 
necessary,  because,  while  every  specimen  is  at  all  times  com- 
]>etent  to  impart  to  an  investigator  all  obtainable  knowledge  of 
its  own  character,  it  can  of  it.self  convey  no  information  as  to  its 
original  locality  and  stratigraphic  position.  With  this  informa- 
tion secured  for  a  collection  of  fossils  they  may  be  made  at  all 
times  available  as  aids  to  scientific  research,  not  only  by  the 
collector,  but  by  all  other  investigators. 

The  claims  of  science  also  recjuire  that  immediately  u]X)n  the 
completion  of  the  original  study  of  fossils  thus  collected  and 
recorded,  they  shall  be  placed  where  they  w ill  lie  freely  accessible 
to  the  scientific  public,  and  that  reference  to  their  place  of 
deposit  .shall  be  made  in  connection  with  their  publication.  It 
is  needless  to  say  that  the  only  suitable  places  for  such  deposit 
are  public  museums.  It  is  only  when  this  indispensable  evidence 
is  thus  made  accessible  that  the  public  can  e.xercise  that  arbitra- 
tion over  the  accumulated  results  of  the  labours  of  investigators 
which  has  been  shown  to  Ite  imperative. 

The  preparation  and  publication  of  complete  records  concern- 
ing the  locality  and  strata  from  which  fossil  remains  are  obtained 
are  necessary  even  from  a  biological  point  of  view  alone, 
especially  when  those  remains  are  studied  with  reference  to  the 
range  of  organic  forms  in  time,  and  without  such  records  fossil 
remains  are  comparatively  worthless  as  aids  in  geological  in- 
vestigation. It  is  unfortunately  true  that  a  not  unimportant 
proportion  of  the  pakvontoU)gical  material  contained  in  our  best 
nuiseums  is  w  ithout  these  essential  lecords,  and  that  many  <_)f  the 
publications  containing  descriptions  and  illustrations  of  fo.ssil 
remains  give  no  satisfactory  information  as  to  the  localities  and 
strata  from  which  they  were  obtained,  or  of  the  final  disposition 
of  the  specimens.  In  such  cases  those  authors  and  collectors 
have  evidently  assumed  to  decide  for  themselves  and  for  science 
the  exact  taxoncmiic  position  in  the  geological  .scale  of  the  .strata 
from  which  their  fossils  came.  In  omitting  such  records  as  have 
been  referred  to,  they  seem  to  have  considered  any  information 
unnecessary  that  would  enable  the  scientific  public  to  repeat 
their  observations  upon  their  specimens,  or  those  which  they  may 
have  made  in  the  field,  or  to  learn  the  biological  characteristics  of 
the  formations  from  which  their  collections  were  obtained  other 
than  those  which  may  be  suggested  by  their  own  partial 
collections  and  their  necessarily  imperfect  descriptions.  It  is 
floubtless  true  thai  such  omissions  have  been  largely  due  to  an 
honest  lack  of  appreciation  on  the  part  of  authors  and  collectors 
of  the  importance  of  preserving  such  records,  but  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  in  some  important  cases  the  omissions  or  suppressions 
have  been  intenti^mal.  In  the  former  class  of  cases  the  fact  can 
only  lie  deploreil.  but  in  the  latter  every  geologist  is  justified  in 
feeling  that  a  crime  has  been  committed  against  science. 

The  claims  f>f  geological  science  upon  .associations  and 
societies  are  so  generally  and  justly  recognised,  that  only  the  one 
which  relates  to  the  manner  of  publishing  the  results  of  investi- 
gation need  be  referred  to  in  this  connection,  and  this  reference 
will  be  confined  to  the  necessity  of  enforcing  the  claims  ujxin 
individual  investigators  which  have  already  been  discussed. 
This  claim  may  be  sufticiently  indicated  by  reference  to  those 
last  mentioned,  and  by  the  remark  that  if  it  is  the  duly  of 
individuals  to  publish  records  of  their  observations  in  the  manner 
that  has  been  stated,  it  is  plainly  the  duty  of  tho.se  persons  who 
may  be  in  charge  of  the  means  of  publication  to  refuse  to  publish 
the  writings  of  those  authors  who  do  not  conform  to  that 
rccpiirement. 

The  facts  and  principles  which  have  been  stated  fully  warrant 
the  statements  that  iiulivitlual  aiUhority  can  have  no  existence 
with  relation  to  geological  .science,  that  the  public  must  be  the 
final  arbiter  of  all  questions  c<mcerning  the  value  of  proposed 
contributions  to  its  advancement,  .and  that  a  public  exixjsition 
should  be  made  of  the  evidence  upon  which  any  contribution  to 
biological  geology  is  b,a.sed.  In  accordance  with  the  last-named 
re(|uirement  it  is  necess;iry  to  consider  the  claims  of  this  branch 


NO.    1342,  VOL.  52] 


>S4 


NA  TURE 


[July  i8,  1895 


of  science  upon  museums,  the  force  of  h  hich  is  ap|»rent  h  hen  it 
is  remembered  thai  the  material  |)ertaining  to  it  therein  stored 
constitutes  the  vital  evidence  of  the  value  of  all  contributions  to 
its  advancement,  and  that  without  such  evidence  this  branch  of 
science  would  be  reduced  to  a  mass  of  fwrsonal  testimony. 

In  view  of  the  great  scientific  value  of  fossil  remains  the 
following  remarks  are  offered  concerning  the  precautions  which 
are  necessary-  in  their  preser\-ation.  It  is  true  that  most,  if  not 
all.  these  precautions  are  observed  in  a  large  part  of  the  principal 
scientific  museums  of  the  worlil,  but  it  is  also  true  that  much 
remissness  in  this  respect  h.as  occurred  in  others.  Besides  the 
propriety  of  referring  to  the  latter  f.ict,  these  remarks  are  neces- 
sar)-  to  complete  my  statement  of  the  claims  of  science  which 
constitute  the  subject  of  this  essay. 

Three  general  classes  of  specimens  of  fossil  remains  should  be 
recc^nised  in  museum  collections,  namely,  typical,  authenticated, 
and  unauthenticated.  Under  the  head  of  typical  or  type  speci- 
mens are  included  not  only  those  which  have  been  described  and 
figured  in  any  publication,  whether  original  or  otherwise,  but 
those  which  have  in  any  public  manner  been  so  used  or  referred 
to.  While  all  such  s|K-cimens  as  these  should  at  all  times  be 
accessible  to  any  com|ietent  investigator,  the  risk  of  loss  or 
injury  is  so  great  that  they  should  in  no  c.ise  be  allowed  to  be 
taken  from  the  museum  building  in  which  they  are  installed. 
Such  s|jecimens  arc  in  a  |ieculiar  sense  unique,  and  there  can  be 
no  substitution  and  no  equivalent  in  value.  Their  loss  greatly 
reduces  the  value  of  every  publication  any  (Kirt  of  w  hich  is  based 
upon  them,  and  to  that  extent  retards  the  .advancement  of  science. 
It  is  not  enough  that  other,  and  even  better,  specimens  of  pre- 
sumably the  same  S|^cies  may  be  discovered  ;  the  former  con- 
stitute the  original,  the  latter  only  suppositious  evidence.  Besides 
the  risk  of  loss  or  injury  to  type  specimens  by  removal  from  the 
place  of  their  instalment,  their  absence  is  a  disadvantage  to  science. 
That  is,  no  one  investigator  should  be  allowed  their  use  to  the 
exclusion  of  any  other. 

The  term  "authenticated  specimens"  is  here  applied  to  such 
as  have  l>een  studied  and  annotated  by  competent  investigators 
anfl  pro|>erly  installed.  .Such  material  constitutes  the  bulk  of 
every  im|Mirtant  museum  collection,  and  next  to  the  type  speci- 
mens already  mentioned,  they  are  most  valuable.  Their  increased 
\3.\wQ  is  due  to  the  scientific  lalxjur  that  has  l)een  Iwstowed  u|X)n 
them,  anil  it  needs  only  the  additional  labour  of  ])ublicati<m  to 
constitute  them  type  specimens  and  to  m.ike  them  of  like  value. 
.Xuthenticated  specimens  when  installed  are  ready  aids  to  all 
investigators  of  such  value,  that  even  the  temporary  removal  of 
any  of  them  from  a  public  museum  is,  to  say  the  le.ast,  of  iloubtfid 
expediency. 

Unauthenticated  specimens  are,  of  course,  those  which  have 

not  been  studied  and  installed,  and  they  constitute  the  great  m.ass 

of  material  from  which  .authenticated  and  lypes|x-cimensaredrawn. 

Among  them  are  those  which  constitute  the  luatcrial  evidcnceupon 

which  original  observations  in  biological  geology  are  liaseil.      If 

these  are  accom|Kinied  by  the  records  and  descriptive  notes  which 

are  essential   to  their  value,  they  constitute  proper  material  for 

acceptance  by  museum  authorities  ;  but  if  not,  their  instalment 

should  be  refused,  whatever  their  character  may  be.     That  is,  l(. 

apply  a  statement  made  in  another  connection,  no  specimen  of 

fossil   remains  should   be  .admitted   to   permanent  installation  in 

any  public  museum  which  is  not  .accomp.inied  by  such  a  record 

..i' ill.,  locality  and  stratum  from  which  it  w.as  obtained,  as  will 

any  investigator  to   revisit   the  same.     In  ever)-  ca.se  of 

lent    such   records  should    be    so   connected    with   every 

icn  as  lo  be  readily  accessible,  and  so  arranged  that  the 

r  of  loss  or  <lisconnection  shall  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

i  he  foregoing  discussion  of  Iheclaiius  of  science  upon  nniseums 

i^  intended  to  enibr.ace  reference  only  to  those  which  are  devoted 

to  the  preservation  of  materi.al  pertaining  to  biological  geology. 

but  they  are  of  more  or  less  general  applicability.     These  (Kirtial 

1 1. it..-  .il.iie  demonstrate  the  important  relation  that  nniseums 

'  nee  and  to  civilisation  as  centres   of  learning  and 

^  of  the  evidence  concerning  acquired  knowledge. 

I    not    only    l>e    made    safe    treasure-houses    of 

-hould  lie  what  their  name  implies — temples  of 

n  to  all  investigators. 

i  e  upon  geological  organisations  cannot 

I  I    here,   but    liecausc    the  ratio  of   |K)wer 

for   ll.  ...Ill  or    rctardalicm    of  science    possessed    by 

such    '  -  is  «)  much  greater  than  that   of  individuals 

working  111. |._|.'-iidenlly,  it  is  desirable  lo  make  this  brief  refer- 
ence lo  them.     That  |)owcr  increases  also  with  the  ratio  of  the 

NO.    1342,  VOL.  52] 


extent  of  the  organisation,  and  it  is  largely  centred  in  thi- 
director.  His  res|X)nsibilily,  esiwcially  if  his  organisation  is  a 
large  one,  is  peculiar,  and,  lo  himself,  of  an  unfortunate  character. 
That  is,  while  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  advancement  of  science  that 
may  be  accomplished  by  the  org.uiisation  is  the  work  of  his  sub- 
ordinates, retardation,  if  it  shouUl  occur,  is  mainly  due  to  his 
failure  to  require  that  each  branch  of  investigation  should  be 
prosecuted  in  accord  with  all  others,  and  the  case  would  be  little 
less  than  disastrous  should  he  himself  favour  ex  parti  methods, 
or  fail  to  require  a  symmetrical  development  of  the  work  in  his 
charge.  The  claims  of  science  uimn  geological  organisations  are 
therefore  really  claims  u|>on  their  directors,  and  they  are  more 
responsible  than  any  other  class  of  persons  for  the  preservation  of 
the  integrity  of  geological  science. 


UNIVERSITY  AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

.\t  a  meeting  of  the  Council  of  University  College,  Dundee, 
last  week,  it  was  announced  that  the  trustees  of  the  late  Miss 
Margaret  Harris  had  allocated  a  number  of  securities,  valued  at 
nearly  jf  14,000,  to  establish  a  chair  of  Physics  in  the  College,  as 
rectimmended  by  tlie  University  Commissioners.  The  Council 
resolved  to  institute  immediately  a  chair  of  Natural  Philosophy  ; 
and  an  appointment  will  be  made  before  the  beginning  of  next 
session.  Hitherto  the  classes  of  Mathematics  and  Physics  have 
been  combined.     The  salary  will  be  .^400  with  share  of  the  fees. 

Till.;  invaluable  Record  of  technical  and  .secondary  education 
continues,  in  the  quarterly  number  just  issued,  the  review  of  the 
work  done  by  the  Technical  Education  Committees  of  the 
English  County  Councils,  commenced  in  the  jireccding  issue.  .\ 
summar)'  is  also  given  of  the  work  of  the  .Scotch  Cou!:ly  Councils, 
from  which  it  appears  that,  out  of  a  total  of  thirty-three  County 
Councils,  twenty-four  are  devoting  the  whole,  and  seven  a  part, 
of  their  grants  to  educational  ]iurposes,  while   two  counties  are 

j  applying  the  whole  of  the  fund  to  the  relief  of  the  rates.  Out 
of  a  t<ital  sum  of  .^25,157  distributed  among  the  County 
Councils  of  Scotland,  ;{,"22,49i  w;is  devoted  to  education  in  the 
year   1893-94.     Mr.  P.J.  Hartog  contributes  to  the  Kciord  sa\ 

i  illustrated  description  of  the  Owens  College,  Manchester. 

]  Thk  Town  Trustees  of  Shellield  have  (says  the  Alhciiu'iim) 
voted  a  sum  of  ^10,000  towards  the  endownienl  of  I'irth  Col- 
lege, with  a  view  to  enabling  the  authorities  to  affiliate  it  to 
\'icloria  University.  The  actual  endowment  of  the  College  is 
;^23,ooo,  in  addition  to  its  income  of  ;f  1200  from  the  .Slate  and 
;^8oo  from  the  Corporation.  It  is  understood  that  a  t<ital  of 
.^50,000  would  be  sullicient,  but  no  more  than  sufficient,  for  the 
purpose  of  affiliation.  \  further  sum  of  £y>Xi  has  been  con- 
ditionally promised  by  Sir  Henry  Stephenson,  and  a  public 
appeal  is  contemplated  for  the  remaining  .^12.000. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

The  Qtiarlcrly  Journal  of  Miirostofnal  Sdeiue  for  March 
1895  contains:  On  the  variation  of  the  tenlaculocysts  of  ./«<v//(i 
aiirita,  by  Edward  T.  Browne.  (Plate  25.)  Of  359  Ephync 
collected  in  1S93,  226  per  cent,  were  abnormal  in  possessing 
more  or  less  than  eight  lent.iculocysts  ;  and  of  1 156  collected  in 
1804,  nearly  the  same  percentage,  20'9  was  obtained.  Of  383 
adult  .\urelia  collected  in  1894,  22'S  per  cent,  were  abnormal. — 
On  the  structure  of  ]',riiiiiii/iis  ptiosus,  by  E.  S.  Cioodrich, 
gives  a  detailed  .tccount  of  this  interesting  Oligoch^vte,  found 
near  Weymouth  in  1S92.  (Plates  26-28.)— On  the  mouth  jiarts 
of  the  Cypris  stage  of  Balanus,  by  Theo.  T.  Oroom.  (Plate  29.) 
"  It  may  be  regar<led  as  tolerably  certain  that  :  (l)  The  antennae 
of  the  Naupllus  become  definitely  lost  with  the  moult  resulting 
in  the  production  of  the  Cypris  stage.  (2)  The  biramous 
mandibles  of  the  Naupliiis  become  reduced  at  the  same  time  to 
the  small  mandibles,  llie  ramus  being  probably  preserved  in  the 
form  of  the  small  palp.  (3)  The  first  pair  of  maxili.e  arise 
l>ehind  the  mandibles,  and  at  a  later  date,  as  a  small  pair  of 
f<iliaceous  appendages.  (4)  The  second  pair  of  maxili.e  arise 
still  Inter,  just  in  front  of  the  first  pair  of  thoracic  legs  (cirri)." — 
A  study  of  Coccidia  met  with  in  mice,  by  J.  Jackson  Clarke. 
(Plnlc  30. )— Observations  on  various  Sporo/.oa,  by  the  same. 
(Plates  31-33.)— Revision  of  the  genera  and   species  of   the 


July   i8,  1895] 


NATURE 


28: 


I 


Branchiostomidas,  by  J.  W.  Kirkaldy  (Plates  34  and  35), 
enumerates  two  genera,  Branchiostonia  (as  sub-genera,  Am- 
pliioxus,  Heteropleiiron)  and  Asymmetron.  A  new  species 
of  Heteropleuron,  H.  cingaleiise,  is  described. — On  Sedgwick's 
theory  of  the  embryonic  phase  of  ontogeny  as  an  aid  to 
phylogenitic  theory,  by  E.  W.  MacBride. 

June. — On  the  anatomy  of  Aliyoniuiii  digitatuiii,  by  Prof. 
Syihiey  J.  Ilickson  (Plates  36-39),  gives  a  brief  account  of 
our  knowledge  of  the  anatomy  of  Alcyonium,  the  general  morph- 
ology, the  English  species,  their  geographical  and  hathymctrical 
distribution,  then  the  general  anatomy,  followed  by  the  minute 
anatomy  of  the  ectoderm,  nematocysls,  stomodanun,  mesenterial 
filaments,  mesogl<ea,  spicules,  endoderm,  ovaries  and  testes, 
the  buds,  concluding  with  a  note  on  the  circulation  of  the  fluids 
in  the  colony  and  on  the  digestion.  In  the  history  of  investiga- 
tions, Pallas'  name  is  not  alluded  to,  and  yet  he  deserves  to  be 
quoted  as  having  even  before  .Savgny  assigned  correct  characters 
to  Alcyonium  ("  Hi.s'.  nat.  des  Coralliaires,"  Milne-Edwards, 
tome  I,  p.  114),  and  the  "Contribution  a  I'anatomie  des 
Alcyonaires,"  by  Pouchet  and  Myevre,  dates,  if  we  mistake  not, 
before  Vogt  and  Jung's  account  in  their "'  Lehrbuch,"  and  while  it 
may  be  oflittle  use  to  the  student,  it  is  not  without  interest,  as  it 
figures,  after  a  fashion,  the  nematocysts  in  A.  digitalujii,  and 
this  pos.sibly  for  the  first  time  (1870).  Prof.  Ilickson,  however, 
leaves  all  previous  writers  far  behind  in  his  modern  treatment  of 
this  subject,  and  if  he  keeps  his  promise  of  publishing  an  account 
of  the  maturation  and  fertilisation  of  the  ovum  and  it"  develop- 
ment, he  will  leave  us  under  still  further  obligations,  for  except 
Kowalevsky  and  Marion's  important  papers  on  the  develop- 
mental history  of  Clavularia  irassa  and  Sympodiutit  coralloides, 
we  have  but  little  light  on  Alcyonarian  development. — Note  on 
the  chemical  constitution  of  the  mesogloea  of  Alcyonium  digita- 
turn,  by  W.  Langdon  Brown.  It  is  chiefly  composed  of  a 
"  hyalogen "  prior  to  the  conversion  of  the  hyalogen  into 
hyalin  the  mesogloea  will  yield  a  mucin;  it  also  contains  a 
small  amount  of  an  insoluble  albuminoid  body,  whose  nature  was 
not  determined  ;  it  does  not  contain  gelatine  or  nucleo-albtmien. 
A  sludy  of  metamerism,  by  T.  H.  Morgan.  (Plates  40-43). 
The  author  in  a  long  memoir,  that  does  not  admit  of  being 
briefly  abstracted,  thinks  that  the  cases  he  cites  show  very 
positively  that  the  variations  appearing  in  a  radiate  animal  must 
have  come  simultaneously  and  all  together  into  the  antimeres  ;  he 
thinks  few  will  doubt  that  the  relation  existing  between  repeated 
organs  in  a  radiate  animal  is  at  bottom  the  same  relation 
existing  between  the  right  and  left  sides  of  the  body  of  a  bilateral 
animal.  Mivart  and  Brooks  have  emphasised  the  further  fact 
that  the  relation  between  the  right  and  left  sides  of  the  body  is 
the  same  relation  that  exists  between  the  serially  repeated  parts 
of  a  mctameric  animal  ;  and  he  concludes  that  if  this  line  of 
argument  be  admitted,  it  puts  the  problem  of  metamerism  into  a 
large  category  of  well-established  facts. — On  the  Ccelom, 
genital  ducts,  ami  Nephridia,  by  Edwin  S.  Goodrich.  (Plates 
44-45).  The  chief  object  of  this  paper  is  to  call  attention  to  the 
theory,  **  that  the  cavity  which  is  known  as  the  ccelom  in  the 
higher  Ccelomata  is  represented  by  that  of  the  genital  follicles 
in  the  lower  types  of  that  grade." 

Aineriam  Journal  of  Science,  July. — On  the  pitch  lake  of 
Trinidad,  by  S.  F.  Peckham.  This  pitch  lake  is  situated  near 
the  village  of  La  Brea,  on  the  Gulf  of  Paria.  At  first  sight  it 
appearstobeanexpan.se  of  .still  water,  frequently  interrupted 
by  clumps  of  trees  and  shrubs,  but  on  a  nearer  approach  it  is 
fouiul  to  consist  of  mineral  pitch  with  frequent  crevices  filled 
with  water.  The  consistence  of  the  surface  is  such  as  to  bear 
any  weight,  and  it  is  not  slippery  nor  adhesive.  It  is  about  100 
acres  in  extent.  It  occupies  a  bowl-like  depression  in  a  trun- 
cated cone  on  the  side  of  a  hill  covered  with  tropical  jungles. 
The  cone  consists  of  both  asphalt  and  earth.  A  heavy  stream 
of  asphalt  has  overflowed  to  the  sea,  forming  a  barrier  reef  for  a 
considerable  distance.  Asphalt  has  also  overflowed  to  the 
south,  anil  the  general  appearance  of  the  escarpment  .seems  to 
indicate  that  at  some  remote  period  the  basin  now  occupied  by 
the  lake  had  been  filled  some  three  feet  higher  than  the  present 
level.  It  occupies  what  appears  to  be  the  crater  of  an  old 
volcano.  Some  diggings  have  been  pu.shed  to  forty  feet  without 
reaching  the  bottom.  There  is  a  steady  outflow  towards  the 
sea  through  the  side  of  the  cone.  The  Trinidad  Bituminous 
.■\sphalt  Company  have  lately  run  a  tramway  from  the  pier 
through  the  lake  and  back,  so  as  to  facilitate  the  removal  of  the 
material.  This  tramway  in  crossing  the  lake  is  supported  on 
palm-leaves,  some  of  which  are  25  feet  long,  and  this  plan  has 

NO.    1342,  VOL.   52] 


answered  every  purpose. — On  some  reptilian  remains  from  the 
Triassic  of  Northern  California,  by  John  C.  Merriam.  The 
author  gives  a  descri]>tion  (jf  some  of  the  few  Californian  Mesozoic 
reptiles.  One  of  these  resembles  Ichlliyosaurus,  while  the  other 
is  described  as  Sliastasaunis  Pacijicus.  —  .\  further  contribution 
to  our  knowletlge  of  the  Laurentian,  by  Frank  D.  Adams.  This 
paper  is  accompanied  by  a  map  of  a  ])ortion  of  the  edge  of  the 
-\rchean  prolaxis  north  of  the  island  of  Montreal,  Quebec. 
There  are  in  the  dislrict  considered  at  least  two  distinct  sets  of 
foliated  rocks.  One  of  these  represents  highly  altered  and 
extremely  ancient  sediments,  while  the  other  is  of  igneous 
origin. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 

Royal  Society,  .May  16. — "  On  Measurements  of  .Small 
Strains  in  the  Testing  of  Materials  and  Structures."  By  Prof. 
J.  A.  Ewing,  F.  R.S. 

The  paper  describes  a  new  form  of  "extensometer,"  or 
apparatus  for  measuring  the  elastic  stretching  of  bars  subjected 
to  pull  in  the  testing  machine  or  otherwise.  .At  the  two  ex- 
tremities of  the  length  under  test,  which  is  usually  eight  or  ten 
inches,  two  cross-pieces  are  attached  to  the  rod  by  means  of  a 
pair  of  diametrically  opposed  set-screws.  Each  piece  is 
separately  free  to  oscillate  about  the  line  joining  its  screw  points, 
since  it  touches  the  rod  under  test  at  no  other  place,  but  the 
two  pieces  are  caused  to  engage  with  each  other  in  such  a  way 
that  when  the  rod  extends  the  end  of  one  of  the  pieces  becomes 
displaced  through  a  distance  which  is  proportional  to  the  exten- 
sion. The  amount  of  this  displacement  is  measured  by  means 
of  a  microscope  attached  to  the  other  piece.  The  whole  ap- 
paratus is  self-contained,  and  the  parts  are  arranged  to  have  no 
unnecessary  constraint.  Its  indications  show  the  mean  extension 
taken  over  the  whole  section  of  the  rod,  and  are  independent  of 
any  small  amount  of  bending  or  twisting  which  the  rod  may 
undergo  as  it  is  stretched.  The  microscope  is  ftirnished  with  an 
eye-piece  micrometer  which  reads  the  extension  to  j-jjJijTT  inch, 
and  a  calibrating  screw  is  provided  for  testing  and  setting  the 
micrometer  scale.  Two  forms  of  the  instrument  are  described, 
one  suitable  for  laboratory  use  when  the  specimen  under  test 
stands  vertically,  and  the  other  applicable  to  rods  in  any  position, 
such  as  the  members  of  bridge  or  roof  frames  in  situ.  In  the 
laboratory  use  of  the  in.strtnnent  the  elastic  properties  of  the 
material  are  examined  by  observing  the  strains  under  known 
loads  ;  in  the  application  to  structures  the  object  is  to  determine 
experimentally  what  the  stress  on  any  member  is,  from  observa- 
tion of  the  strain,  the  modulus  of  elasticity  being  assumed. 

The  author  describes  a  number  of  observations  made  with  the 
new  extensometer,  chiefly  on  rods  of  iron  and  steel.  The 
following  readings  refer  to  successive  loadings  of  a  bar  of  steel, 
which  conforms  closely  to  Hooke's  Law,  the  loads  being  well  with- 
in th°  primitive  elastic  limit.  They  serve  to  illustrate  the  sensibility 
of  the  instrument.  The  zero  of  the  extensometer  was  set  at  400, 
and  the  unit  of  its  scale  was  stjJt;,  inch.  The  bar  was  i\  inch 
in  diameter,  and  the  length  under  test  was  8  inches. 


Extensometer  readings. 

Differences. 

Load  in 

tons. 

First 

Second 

Third 

First 

Second 

Third 

loading. 

loading. 

loading. 

loading. 

lo.iding. 

loading. 

0 

400 

400 

400 

2i 

461 

461 

461 

61 

61 

6t 

5 

522 

522 

522 

6i 

61 

61 

h 

S83 

583 

S83 

6r 

61 

6r 

10 

645 

645 

64s 

62 

62 

62 

124 

707 

706 

707 

62 

61 

62 

IS 

769 

768 

768 

62 

62 

61 

17* 

830 

829 

830 

61 

61 

62 

20 

892 

891 

891 

62 

62 

61 

0 

400 

400 

400 

492 

491 

491 

In  other  experiments  the  rod  under  examination  was  allowed 
to  become  overstrained,  that  is  to  say  the  load  was  increa-sed 
until  the  elastic  limit  was  passed  and  permanent  set  was  produced. 
In  this  condition  the  elastic  properties  of  the  rod  are  materially 


;S6 


NA  TURK 


[July  iS,  1S95 


(UliVrent  from  its  properties  in  the  primitive  state.  On  reloading 
the  overstrained  rod  it  is  found  that  the  proportionaHty  of  strain 
to  stress  no  longer  holds  good,  even  under  verj-  light  loads,  and 
further  that  there  is  "  creeping,"  or  continued  extension  with  the 
lapse  of  time,  when  any  load  is  kept  on  for  a  few  minutes. 
.\gain,  on  removing  load  the  bar  continues  to  retract  for  some 
time.  These  features  of  the  overstrained  state  are  most  con- 
spicuous in  tests  made  directly  after  the  overstrain  has  taken 
place.  They  tend  to  disappear  if  the  bar  is  allowed  to  rest  for 
some  days  or  weeks.  This  elastic  recover)'  with  the  lapse  of 
time,  some  features  of  which  have  l>een  already  noted  by 
Kauschinger  and  others,  is  less  rapid  in  moderately  hard  steel 
than  in  iron  or  mild  steel,  ap|>arently  because  the  condition  of 
iwerstrain  requires  a  greater  load  to  produce  it.  Thus  a  rod  of 
common  iron,  overstrained  so  much  that  the  yield-point  was 
reached,  was  found  to  have  made  a  practically  complete  recover)- 
of  its  elasticity  in  five  days.  On  the  other  hand,  in  a  rod  of 
rather  hard  steel,  overstrained  by  appl)-ing  a  load  of  1 1  tons  and 
>ul)sequently  tested  with  loads  of  S  tons  only,  the  recover)'  was 
still  impcrlect  after  three  weeks.  The  following  table  shows 
the  progress  of  the  recovery  by  giving  the  observed  extensions  of 
this  rod  after  three  intervals,  namely  ten  minutes,  one  day,  and 
lliree  weeks,  after  the  overstrain  took  place. 


Ten  minutes 

Oni- 

d.iv 

T»'ent)--one  daj-s 

after  overstrain. 

after  over&train. 

after  o\'erstrain. 

Load 



tons. 

Exienso- 
mctcr 

Differ- 

Exlenso- 
meter 

Differ- 

Exicn  so- 
me ler 

Differ- 

readings. 

ences. 

readings. 
200 

readings. 

0 

200 

200 

1 

287 

87 

286 

86 

28s 

S5 

2 

377 

90 

373 

S; 

371 

86 

3 

469 

92 

463 

■  J  ) 

458 

87 

4 

56s 

96 

559 

90 

545 

87 

5 

662 

97 

658 

99 

632 

87 

6 

760     i      98 

758 

100 

720 

88 

7 

866 

106 

860 

ro2 

810 

90 

S 

976 

no 

963 

•03 

900 

90 

The  molecular  settlement  which  is  shown  by  these  experiments 
to  lie  going  on  for  some  time  after  overstrain  has  taken  place,  is 
known  to  be  associated  with  a  rise  in  the  yield-point.  Instances 
of  this  were  given  by  the  author  in  a  prev-ious  paper  {Proi,  Roy. 
.S'(V.,  No.  205,  1880). 

May  30  — "  On  the  Motions  of  and  within  Molecules  :  and 
•  in  the  Significance  of  the  Ratio  of  the  Two  -Specific  Meats  in 
(iaseJv"    By  Dr.  G.  Johnstone  .Stoney,  K.  K^S. 

In  treating  of  molecular  physics  it  is  found  to  lie  convenient  to 
widen  the  meaning  of  the  word  motion,  so  thai  it  may  lie 
employed  in  regard  to  any  change  or  event  in  which  encrg)'  is 
-torcd,  whether  as  kinetic  cnerg)',  or  as  potential,  electrical, 
chemical,  or  any  other.  It  is  in  this  generalised  .sense  that  the 
term  is  lo  l>e  understo<j<l  throughout  this  pa|>er. 

The  aim  of  the  ia|>er  is  lo  demonstrate  the  existence  of  events 
going  on  within  the  molecules  of  matter  which  are  so  sluggish 
in  affecting  its  pressure  when  in  the  gaseous  state,  or  its  tem- 
l^eralure  as  measured  by  the  thermometer,  th.-it  il  is  only  after 
millions  of  encounters  that  any  manifestation  of  their  having  thus 
lost  cnerg)'  by  conduction  t>ec<imes  appreciable ;  while  these  same 
events  are  prompt  and  active  agents  in  other  o|K'rations  of  nature 
'hrough  chemical  reactions  or  l>y  radiation. 

Molecular  events  may  lie  <listinguishe<I  into  A  or  external 
events,  and  B  or  internal.  The  external  events  arc  the  move- 
iiii'nls  of  the  centres  of  inertia  of  the  molecules  relatively  to  one 
.itii.ther.  They  present  themselves  most  conspicuously  in  those 
1  •mpar.ilively  protracted  journeys  which  the  molecules  of  gases 
m^\,.  |,i„,.,.n  (heir  much  briefer  encounters.  By  B  motions  are 
'  '  :dl  events  in  which  cnerg)'  can  be  stored  ihal 

lividual  molecules,  including  rotation  of  the 
'  nny  movement  of  this  kind,  which,  how- 
long  wilh  every  other  relative  motion  of 
^uule:  movements  within  its  |i<in<lerable 
matter,  or  of  its  electrons,  changes  in  the  configuration  of  its 
parts,  and  ever)-  other  event  within  the  molecule  which  can 
al'S'irb  and  yiel'f  encrg)'.  The  electrons  arc  those  remarkable 
ch.irges  of  electricity,  all  of  the  same  amount,  which  are  asso- 

NO.   1,342,  VOL.   52] 


ciatetl  in  ever)'  chemical  atom  with  each  capiicity  that  it  possesses 
of  entering  into  combination  with  either  atoms. 

It  is  convenient  to  distinguish  the  B  or  internal  events,  into 
Ba  events  between  which  and  the  .-V  or  translational  motions  of 
the  molecules  there  is  ready  interchange  of  energ)'  whenever 
encounters  take  place  ;  Be  events  which  are  so  isolated  that  no 
such  interchange  takes  place  ;  and  Bb  events  which  lie  between 
these  extremes.  In  the  struggle  which  takes  ])lace  during  an 
encounter,  or  in  arf)'  one  of  the  much  longer  intervals  between 
two  encounters,  a  Kb  event  will  part  wilh  but  ver)'  little  of  any 
excess  of  enei^'  it  may  possess  by  conduction,  /.('.  by  trans- 
ferring energ)'  over  to  .\  or  Ba  events.  Nevertheless  it  may 
sustain  an  appreciable  loss  of  energy  in  this  way  when  the  mole- 
cule has  been  buffeted  in  a  sullicicnt  number  of  encounters.  This 
may  easily  occtir  in  a  time  which  seems  short  to  us,  since,  if  th( 
gas  l>e  at  atmospheric  tem]>erature  and  pressure,  each  molecule 
meets  with  some  thousands  of  millions  of  encounters  ever) 
second.  Meanwhile,  during  this  process,  which  is  slow  from 
the  molecular  standpoint,  the  Bb  events,  if  they  have  electrons 
associated  wilh  them,  may  be  engaged  in  a  prompt  and  active 
exchange  of  energ)'  with  the  a.lher  by  radiation. 

In  substances  that  are  appreciably  phosphorescent,  it  is  easy 
to  detect  the  presence  of  these  Bb  events  ;  and,  accordingly,  a 
proof  that  they  exist  in  this  class  of  bodies  is  given  in  the  jxaper. 
Moreover,  by  comjaring  the  behaviour  of  different  phos- 
phorescent bodies,  we  learn  that  the  degree  of  isolation  in  which 
Bb  motions  stand  varies  much  from  substance  to  substance. 
Motions  of  this  tyi^e,  which  are  so  conspicuous  in  the  bodies 
that  can  be  perceived  to  be  phosphorescent,  are,  of  course,  not 
confined  to  that  class  of  bodies.  In  fact,  they  appear  to  be  an 
important  part  of  what  is  going  on  in  every  molecule  of  matter 
that  can  emit  a  S|)ectrum,  a  description  which  probably  em- 
braces ever)'  molecule. 

Since  Bb  motions  are  in  various  degrees  isolated  from  the 
other  events  that  are  simultaneously  going  on  in  the  molecules, 
it  follows  that  in  some  gases  the  specific  heat  as  determined  by 
experiment  will  not  be  a  definite  quantity,  but  will  [xtrtly  depend 
on  the  duration  of  the  experiment  by  which  it  is  determined — 
i.e.  ujwn  whether  or  not  there  has  been  time  for  an  interchange 
of  energy  Ijetween  the  Bb  motions  and  the  .-^  and  Ba  events. 
This  is  likely  in  some  gases  to  make  an  appreciable  difference 
between  determiniitions  of  7 — the  ratio  of  the  two  specific  heats 
— deduced  from  the  observed  velocity  of  sound  in  the  gas  (where 
the  real  experiment  lasts  only  during  one  semi-vibnition  of  the 
musical  note  employed),  and  determinations  made  by  other 
experiments  which  require  seconds,  perha]>s  minutes,  to  carry 
them  through. 

There  is  rea-son  to  believe  that  it  is  with  these  Bb  motions  that 
the  electrons  within  chemical  atoms  are  chiefly  a.ss()ciated.  and 
that  in  most  c;ises  il  is  ihey  which  are  concernetl  in  luinintjus 
effects,  whether  in  flames  or  when  the  gas  is  under  the  influence 
of  electricity.  Accordingly  in  both  cases  the  luminous  etTects 
may  have  their  origin  in  events  that  are  in  a  consideral)le  degree 
isolateil  from  those  that  directly  affect  the  ihermiuneter  ;  and 
wherever  this  is  the  case,  the  luminous  eft'ecls  will  be  in  excess  of 
what  belongs  to  the  temperature  of  the  gas  as  determined  by  its 
power  of  communicating  heat  by  conduction  to  bmlies  upon 
which  ils  molecules  impinge.  This  seems  to  have  been  proved 
l>y  I'rof.  Lewes  of  flames  {Pniiiidings  of  the  koyal  Society, 
vol.  Ivii.  p.  404  and  p.  467),  and  many  phenomena  indicate  thai 
it  is  also  true  of  all  ga.ses  which  exhibit  spectra  of  bright  lines 
when  in  that  slate  which  has  been  mi.scalled  incandescent. 

Il  is  s|K"cially  lo  lie  noted  that  the  interpretation  usually  put 
upon  the  value  of  y  in  a  gas  has  to  be  profoundly  modified  in  con- 
sequence of  the  presence  of  Bb  motions  within  the  molecules, 
and  of  the  degree  in  which  the  corresponding  Bb  motions  of 
swarms  of  molecules  are  more  or  less  linked  together  by  the 
interaction  that  goes  on  between  their  associated  electrons  and 
the  .-vlhcr.  (Sec  I'"il?.gerald,  in  the  Prodcdings  of  the  Koyal 
Scx;icty,  vol,  Ivii.  p.  312.) 

These  examples  may  serve  to  show  how  a  knowledge  of  the 
presence  and  .activity  of  Bb  motions  supplies  a  clue  lo  interprct- 
mg  some  of  the  jihenomena  of  nature  ;  and  the  extent  of  its 
applications  may  \k.  judged  by  reflecting  that  it  is  electrons 
for  the  most  \y\\\.  .associated  with  Bb  motions  which  apjK'ar  to 
be  printarily  concerned  in  every  chemical  reaction  and  in  all 
]>hcnomena  of  radiation. 

"On  the  \'elocities  of  the  Ions."  By  \V.  C  Dampier 
Whctham.  A  continuation  of  a  former  i>a|x;r  (Phil.  Tram. 
184,    1893    ^<     P-    337)-       The    velocities     of    certain    ions 


July   i8,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


287 


during  electrolysis  are  observed  by  tracing  the  formation  of  the 
precipitates  which  they  give  with  a  trace  of  a  suitable  indicator. 
Thus  solid  agar  jelly  solutions  of  barium  chloride  and  of  sodium 
chloride  containing  a  little  sodium  sulphate  were  set  u|)  in  contact, 
and  a  current  passed  across  the  junction.  The  barium  ions  form 
a  little  insoluble  barium  sulphate  as  they  travel,  and  so  their 
velocity  can  be  measured.  The  specific  ionic  velocity  under  a 
potential  gradient  of  one  volt  per  centimetre  can  then  be  calcu- 
lated, the  area  of  cross  section  of  the  lube,  in  which  the  solutions 
are  placed,  the  mean  specific  resistance  of  the  solutions,  and  the 
strength  of  current  being  known.  The  follow ing  table  gives  a 
comparison  between  the  results  thus  obtained  and  the  numbers 
theoretically  deduced  by  Kohlrausch  from  the  migration  con- 
stants and  the  conductivities  of  the  corresponding  aqueous 
solutions  : — 


Calculated  velocity  in 
cm.  per  sec. 


Barium  ...  0'00037 

Calcium         ...  o'ooo29 

Silver  ...         ...  0'00046 

Sulphate  group  (SO4)  000049 


Ob.served  velocity  in 
cm.  per  sec. 


o '00039 
0"ooo35 
0-00049 
o '00045 


June  20. — "  On  the  Occlusion  of  O.xygen  and  Hydrogen 
by  Platinum  Black."  Part  I.  By  Dr.  Ludwig  Mond,  F. R.S., 
Prof  W.  Ramsay,  F.  K.S..and  Dr.  John  .Shields. 

The  authors  describe  some  preliminary  experiments  on  the 
occlusion  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  by  platinum  sponge  and  foil, 
which  in  general  confirm  the  results  obtained  by  Graham.  At 
most  only  a  few  volumes  of  these  gases  are  occluded  by  the  more 
coherent  forms  of  platimmi. 

.■\fter  giving  details  of  what  they  consider  the  best  method  of 
preparation  of  jilatinum  black,  they  next  describe  some  experi- 
ments which  had  for  their  object  the  determination  of  the  total 
quantity  of  water  retained  by  jilatinum  black,  dried  at  100^  C., 
and  the  amount  of  water  which  can  be  removed  from  platinum 
black  at  various  temperatures  in  vacuo.  As  the  result  of  these 
experiments  they  find  that  platinum  black  dried  at  100^  retains 
in  general  0'5  per  cent,  of  water,  and  this  can  only  be  removed 
in  vacuo  al  a  temperature  (about  400*)  at  which  the  black  no 
longer  exists  as  such,  but  is  converted  at  least  partially  into 
sponge.  At  any  given  temperature  the  water  retained  by 
platinum  black  seems  to  be  constant.  The  density  of  platinum 
black  dried  at  100°  C.  is  I9'4,  or  allowing  for  the  water  retained 
by  it  at  this  temperature,  21 '5. 

The  amount  of  oxygen  given  off  by  platinum  black  at  various 
temperatures  was  determined.  .Vltogether  it  contains  about  100 
volumes  of  oxygen  :  the  oxygen  hegins  to  come  ofi"  in  quantity  at 
about  300'  C.  in  vacuo,  and  the  bulk  of  it  can  be  extracted  at 
400'  C. ,  but  a  red  heat  is  necessary  for  its  complete  ren\oval. 
Small  quantities  of  carbon  dioxide  were  also  extracted,  chiefly 
between  100-200°  C. 

In  determining  the  quantity  of  hydrogen  occluded  by  platinum 
black  the  authors  have  carefully  distinguished  between  the 
hyilrogen  which  goes  to  form  water  with  the  oxygen  always 
contained  in  j>lalinum  black,  and  that  which  is  really  absorbed 
by  the  platinum  per  sc.  Altogether  aliout  310  volumes  of 
hydrogen  are  absorbed  per  unit  volume  of  platinum  black,  but 
of  this  200  volumes  are  converted  into  water,  or  only  1 10  volumes 
are  really  occluded  by  the  platinum.  Part  of  it  can  be  again 
removed  at  the  ordinary  temperature  in  vacuo  ;  by  far  the  larger 
portion  can  be  extracted  at  about  250-300"  C,  but  a  red  heat 
is  necessary  for  its  complete  removal.  The  amount  of  hydrogen 
absorbed  by  platinum  is  very  largely  influenced  by  .slight  traces 
of  impurity,  probably  grease  or  other  matter  which  fornts  a  skin 
over  the  platinum. 

Platinum  black  in  vacuo  absorbs  a  certain  qu.antity  of 
hydrogen.  On  increasing  the  pressure  of  the  hydrogen  up  to 
about  200-300  mm.  a  further  (juantity  is  absorbed,  but  after  this 
pressure  is  almost  without  eft'ect.  By  increasing  the  pressure 
from  one  atTnospherc  up  to  four  and  a  half  atmospheres,  only 
one  additional  volume  of  hydrogen  was  absorbed.  On  placing 
platinum  black  charged  with  oxygen  in  an  atmosphere  of 
oxygen,  and  increasing  the  pressure  to  the  same  extent,  eight 
and  a  half  additional  volumes  were  however  absorbed. 

Platinum  lilack  charged  with  hydrogen  and  ])laced  in  an 
atmosphere    of   hydrogen    kept  approximately    at    atmospheric 

NO.    1342,   VOL.   52] 


pressure,  and  platinum  black  charged  with  oxygen  and  confined 
in  an  atmosphere  of  oxygen,  behave  quite  differently  when 
heated.  In  the  former  case  hydr(jgen  is  imme<liately  expelled 
on  raising  the  temperature,  whilst  in  the  latter  case  oxygen  is 
steadily  absorbed  until  a  temperature  of  about  360'  C.  (the 
temperature  of  maximum  absorption)  is  reached,  when  on 
further  heating  oxygen  begins  to  come  o(T  again. 

Incidentally  it  was  noticed  that  mercury  begins  to  combine 
with  oxygen  at  237°  C. ,  and  that  a  mixture  of  platinum  black 
and  phosphorus  pentoxide  absorbs  oxygen  al  a  high  temperature, 
probaljly  with  the  formation  of  a  phosphate  or  pyrophosphate. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  results  special  reference  is  made  to  the 
work  of  Berliner  and  Berthelot,  and  it  is  pointed  out  that  there 
is  not  suflicient  evidence  for  the  existence  of  such  chemical 
compounds  as  PtjoHj  and  Ptjnll;.  Moreover,  the  authors  are 
of  opinion  that  the  heats  of  combination  of  hydrogen  and 
platinum  as  determined  by  Berthelot  and  Favre  are  valueless, 
and  that  the  heat  which  they  measured  is  due  for  the  most  part 
if  nut  entirely  to  the  formation  of  water  by  the  oxygen  always 
contained  in  platinum  black.  It  has  yet  to  be  prcned  that  the 
absorption  of  hydrogen  by  pure  platinum  black  is  attended  by  the 
evolution  of  heat,  and  as  regards  the  formation  of  supposed  true 
chemical  compounds,  solid  solutions,  or  alloys,  the  authors 
prefer  to  wait  until  suflicient  data  have  been  accumulated  for  an 
adequate  inquiry  before  coming  to  any  definite  conclusion. 

Royal  Microscopical  Society,  May  15. — E.  .M.  Nelson, 
Vice-President,  in  the  chair. — Messrs.  Watson  and  Sons  ex- 
hibited a  simple  centring  underfitting  for  use  with  any  ordinary 
student's  microscope. — The  Chairman  exhibited  a  new  low- 
lower  lens  by  Zeiss,  and  a  new  photographic  lens. — .Mr. 
W.  C.  Bosanquet  read  a  paper  on  the  anatomy  of  Nycto- 
Iheriis  ovalis. — Mr.  G.  C.  Karop  read  a  paper,  by  Dr.  A. 
Bruce,  describing  a  new  microtome  for  cutting  sections. — The 
Chairman  announced  that  the  library  would  be  closed  from 
August  12  to  .September  9,  and  that  the  next. meeting  would  be 
on  (October  16. 

Mineralogical  Society,  June  18. — Lewisite  and  Zirkelite, 

two  new  Brazilian  minerals,  by  Dr.  E.  Hussak,  of  the 
Geological  Survey  of  Sao  Paulo,  and  Mr.  G.  T.  Prior. 
Lewisite  is  a  new  titano-antimonate  of  calcium  and  iron,  which 
was  found  with  xenotime,  monazite,  cinnabar  and  other  minerals 
in  the  heavj'  sand  obtained  by  washing  the  gravel  from  a  hill 
slope  at  the  cinnabar  mine  of  Tripuhy,  Minas  Geraes,  Brazil.  It 
is  cubic,  occurs  in  small  brown  tran.slucent  octahedra,  and  has 
the  composition  5RO. 3.Sb„05.2Ti02.  Zirkelite  is  a  new  titano- 
zirconate  of  calcium  and  iron  found  in  association  with  the  new 
zirconia  mineral  baddeleyite  in  the  magnetite-pyroxenite 
from  Jacupiranga,  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil.  It  is  cubic,  occurs 
in  Ijlack  octahedra,  and  contains  about  80  per  cent. 
of  ZrO,^  and  TiO.,.  The  authors  descrilie  the  physical  and 
chemical  characters  of  the  tw'o  minerals,  and  also  give 
an  account  of  the  minerals  associated  with  the  Lewisite  at 
Tripuhy  ;  amongst  these  occurs  sparingly  a  new  titano- 
antimonate  of  iron,  the  description  of  which  will  be  completed 
when  more  material  is  obtained. 

P.VRIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  8. — M.  Marey  in  the  chair. — 
On  the  phy.sical  characteristics  of  the  moon  and  the  interpretation 
of  certain  surface  details  revealed  by  photographs,  by  .MM. 
Loewy  and  P.  Puiseux.  A  general  discussion  of  surface  charac- 
ters of  the  moon  and  their  origin,  and  comparison  with  certain 
terrestrial  features  of  possibly  similar  origin. — 0\\  the  manner  in 
which  any  confused  but  periodic  wave-agitation  becomes  regular 
in  the  distance,  reducing  to  a  simple  wave,  by  M.  J.  Bous.sinesq. 
— Action  of  zinc  chloride  on  resorcinol,  by  M.  E.  Grimaux. — 
Comparison  of  the  work  done  by  muscles  in  the  case  of  positive 
work  with  that  developed  in  the  corresponding  case  of  negative 
work,  by  M.  k.  Chauveau. — Law  of  the  distribution  of  mean 
magnetism  at  (he  surface  of  the  globe,  by  General  Alexis  de 
Tillo. — Volumes  of  salts  in  their  aqueous  solutions,  by  .\I. 
Lecoci  de  Boisbaudran.  The  author  considers  all  soUible 
substances  to  belong  to  a  continuous  series  of  which  the  members 
at  the  one  end  may  show  dilatation  on  solution,  whereas  the 
members  at  the  other  end  may  exhibit  contraction  under  similar 
circumstances.  He  illustrates  his  theory  by  examples  demon- 
strating that  the  former  at  low  temperatures  give  contraction  also 
on  solution,  whereas  the  bodies  usually  showing  contraction  on 
solution  exhibit  dilatation  on  .solution  in  sufficiently  concentrated 


jSS 


NA  TURE 


[July   i8,  1S95 


solutions. — On  diphenylanthrone,  by  MM.  A.  Mailer  and  A. 
Guyol.    The  researches  detailed  prove  that  the  substance  CojIIijO 

is     diphenylanthrone,     CjH,^'''^^'^  ^CjH^.        From      this 

established  constitution,   the  phthalvl   tetrachloride   melting  at 

Sy  C.  must  have  the  dissymmetrical  formula,  CjHX  (-.qq. — .\ 

new  lymphatic  gland  in  the  European  scorpion,  by  M.  .\. 
Kowalewsky.  The  gland  described  has  already  been  made 
known  by  J.  Muller,  who,  in  182S,  termed  it  a  s;>livary  gland. 
— On  the  laws  of  friction  in  sliding,  by  M.  I'aul  Pain- 
leve.  The  conclusion  is  deduced,  from  the  singularities 
developed  in  the  paper,  that  the  empirical  laws  of  friction 
are  logically  inadmissible  (even  for  ordinary  pressures 
and  velocities)  so  soon  as  the  friction  becomes  at  all  noticeable. 
— On  the  mirage  effects  and  differences  of  density  observed  in 
Xatterer's  tubes,  by  M.  P.  \illard. — On  explosive  statical  and 
d}'namical  potentials,  by  M.  R.  Swyngedauw. — On  direct  1 
speclroscopical  analysis  of  minerals  and  of  some  fused  salts,  by  ' 
M.  A.  de  Gramont. — Determinations  of  the  solubility,  at  very  . 
low  tenifieratures,  of  some  organic  compounds  in  carbon  ' 
disulphide,  by  M.  Arctowski.  Ktard  found  the  solubility  of 
substances  to  be  represented  for  other  solvents  than  water  by 
cur^■es  practically  of  hyperbolic  form  of  which  the  branches 
respectively  directed  themselves  towards  the  jxiints  of  fusion  of 
the  solvent  and  of  the  dissolved  substance  ;  he  even  ailmitted 
that  the  solubility  would  be  zero  at  the  point  of  congelation  of  the 
solvent,  and  infinite  at  the  point  of  fusion  or  ebullition  of  the 
dissolved  substance.  The  author  finds,  with  carbon  disulphide, 
that  the  point  of  fusion  of  the  solvent  appears  not  to  be  an 
essential  point  on  the  curve  ol  solubilities ;  and  it  is 
otherwise  known  that  the  property  of  dissolving  is  not  an 
exclusive  property  of  the  liquid  state  of  matter. — On  some 
oxidising  properties  of  ozonised  oxygen  and  of  oxygen  in 
sunlight,  by  M.  .\.  Besson. — .Action  of  nitric  oxide  on  some 
metallic  chlorides  :  ferrous,  bismuth,  and  aluminium  chlorides, 
by  M.  V.  Thomas.  A  fine  red  ferrous  compound  has  been 
obtained  of  the  formula  5Ke.jCI4.NO.  By  decomposition  of  this, 
ot  by  suitably  healing  anhydrous  Ke-jCU  in  a  current  of  nitric  | 
oxide,  yellowish  l)rown  KeoCI4.NO  is  obtained.  A  fine  yellow  , 
bismuth  compound  and  a  pale  yellow  aluminium  com|Kiund  have 
also  been  obtained.  They  are  very  hygroscopic  substances,  and 
have  the  composition  Bids- NO  and  .VlXIfi.NO  respectively. — 
.Action  of  halogens  on  methyl  alcohol,  by  .M.  .A.  Brochet. — -On 
a  physical  theory  of  the  perception  of  colours,  by  M.  (leorges 
Darzens. — On  the  presence  and  the  roU  of  starch  in  the  em- 
bryonic sac  of  Cacti  and  Mesembryanthema,  by  M.  K.  d'lluberl. 
The  obser\ations  favour  the  view  that  starch  serves  to  preserve 
the  embryonic  sac  in  these  plants  in  that  state  w  hich  characterises 
the  ripe  and  readily  fertilised  sac. — On  the  tectonic  characters  of 
the  north-west  part  of  the  Al|jes-Maritimes  department,  by  M. 
Leon  Bertrand. — .An  inferior  maxillary  human  bone  found  in  a 
grotto  in  the  Pyrenees,  by  MM.  Louis  Koule  and  Kelix  Kegn.iult. 
Krom  the  characters  of  the  bone  described  and  other  similar 
remains  it  is  concluded  that  :  In  the  lime  of  the  great  Cave-bears, 
France  was  inhabited  by  a  human  race  of  normal  height  with  a 
flat  and  powerful  lower  jaw . 

New  SotTii  Wales. 

Linnean  Society,  May  29. — Mr.  P.  N.  Trebeck  in  the 
chair. — Oological  notes  (continued),  \rj  A.  J.  North. — Note  on 
the  correct  habitat  of  Patella  (SctiUllasIra)  kerniadeieiisis, 
Pilsbry,  by  T.  K.  Chccseman. — On  two  new  genera  anri  species 
of  fishes  from  Australia,  by  J.  Douglas  Ogilby.  —  Descriptions  of 
new  species  of  Australian  Coleoptera,  Part  11.,  by  .Arthur  .M. 
I,ea.  This  paper  comprises  descriptions  of  over  one  hundred 
.species,  for  the  most  part  referable  to  the  families  Afalato- 
atrmuitt,  Mordellidit,  Aiilhiddii,  and  Corylopliid,,-.  —  Life- 
histories  of  Australian  Coleoptera,  Part  III.,  by  \V.  W.  K'rog- 
'■  ription  of  a  giant  Ataiia  from  the  Hrimswick  River, 
Wales,  by  j.  II.  .Maiden.  This  .Acacia  was  col- 
1^  Mr.    W.    Bauerlen  on  Tergoggin   .Mountain    and  on 

Mullumbimby  Creek,  Brunswick  River,  N..S.\V.  As  far  as 
known,  it  is  confinc<l  to  brushes,  as  <lislinguished  from  open 
forc?t.  It  attains  a  height  of  120  fee*,  and  a  diameter  of  5  feci  ; 
it  is  therefore  one  fif  the  largest  of  the  genus.  Its  closest  affinity 
is  with  A.  I'iiicnala,  from  which  it  differs  in  the  structure  of  the 
flowers,  seeds,  and  |kk1,  and  in  other  less  iniiM)rlanl  particulars. 
The  inflorescence  is  in  loose,  elongated  |>anicles  or  racemes, 
with  peduncles  in  clusters.     The  flowers  are  few — never  more 

NO.    1342,  VOL    52] 


than  twenty — with  villous  petals  and  sepals,  which  are  spalhu- 
lale  and  tetranierous.  The  pod  is  nearly  six  lines  broail,  thin 
and  straight.  The  author  proposes  the  name  of  Aiacia  Balcri 
ior  the  species,  in  honour  of  his  colleague.  Mr.  R.  T.  Baker. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Hooks.— Open-.-\ir  Studies  :  Prof.  G.  .\.  Cole  (Griffin).— A  Garden  of 
Pleasure  (K.  Stock).— Ur.  Schlich's  Manual  of  Forestry,  Vol.  4  (Bradbur>-). 
—The  Alps  from  End  to  End  :  Sir  W.  M.  Conway  (Constable).  —  Nature 
vrr.fus  Natural  Selection :  C.  C.  Coc  (Sonncnschcin). — Microbes  and 
Disease  Demons  :  C.  Herdoe  (Sonnenschein).— The  Climates  of  the  Geo- 
logical Past  :  E.  Dubois  (Sonncnschcin). — Ph>-sikalisch-Chemische  Propae- 
dcntik  Krsic  Halfte  :  Prof.  H.  Griesbach  "(Leipzig,  En  gel  m  an  n).— Die 
Phj-siolocie  der  Gcruchs  :  Dr.  A.  Zwaardemaker  (Engclmann). — Experi- 
mental Plant  Physiolog>- :  D.  T.  Macdougal  (Holt  and  Co.,  New  York). 

Pamphlets.— Static  and  Dynamic  Sociology:  L.  F.  Ward  (Boston, 
Ginn  and  Co.). — On  Kaloxylon  Hookcri  and  Lyginodendron  Oldhamium  : 
T.  Hick. — On  the  Structure  of  the  Leaves  of  Calamites  (Manchester). — Re- 
port of  the  Trustees  of  the  South  African  Museum  for  1S94  (Cape  Town). — 
Returns  of  Agricultural  Statistics  of  British  India,  &c.,  1893-4  (Calcutt.i). — 
Studies  on  the  Dissemination  and  Leaf  Reflexion  of  Yucca  Aloifolia  :  H. 
J.  Webber  (Missouri  Hot.-inic  G.irden). — On  the  Osteology"  of  Agriochreus: 
),  L.  Woriman  (New  York). —  Fossil  Mammals  of  the  Uinta  Basin  Expedi- 
tion of  1894  :  H.  F.  Osborn  (New  York). 

Sekials.— Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  June  (Stanford).^- 
Record  of  Technical  and  Sccondarj-  Education,  July  (Macmillan  and  Co.). 
— .\merican  Journal  of  Science,  July  (New  Haven).— Psychological  Review, 
July  (Macmillan  and  Co.). — Engineering  ^L1gaz^nc,  July  (Tucker). — 
Medical  Magazine,  July. — Natural  History  of  Plants,  Part  14  (Blackie). — 
Tokyo  Sugaku — Butsurigakaukwal  Kizi  ^laki.  No.  vi.  Dai  1  and  2  (Syup- 
pan).— Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute,  July  (Philadelphia).— Bullctm  of 
the  American  Mathematical  Society,  June  (Macmillan  and  Co.,  New 
York), — Bulletin  of  the  Johns  Hopkins  Hospital  (Baltimore). 


CONTENTS.                      PAGE 
Analysis  of  Oils,  Fats,  and  Waxes.     I'.y  L.  Arch- 
butt     265 

Traces  of  a  Deluge 266 

An  Eclectic  History  of  Science 267 

Microscopic  Study  of  Rocks.     Hy  G.  T.  P 267 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Wright :   "  Garden  Flower.s  and  I'lanls  :  a  Primer  for 

Amateurs" 268 

Wells:   "  The  Time  Machine " 268 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The  Teaihing  I'niversity  fi)r  London.— Right  Hon. 

Sir  John  Lubbock,  Bart.,  F.R.S 268 

The    Density   of    Mollen     Rock.— Prof.    Oliver   J. 

Lodge,  F.R.S 269 

The  Karlicst  Magnetic  Meridians.  — Dr.  L.  A.  Bauer  269 
Curious  Habit  of  the  SpoltL'd  Flycatclur.— Rev.  W. 

Clement  Ley 269 

A  lirillianl  Meteor.— Charles  B.  Butler 269 

Newton  and  Huygens.     {IVs'lA  Diai^am). — A.  Huet  269 

The  International  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Papers    .  270 

Science  Scholarships  at  Cambridge 271 

Scale    Lines    on    the    Logarithmic     Chart.      {Il't/li 

Diajciam.)     »y  C.  V.  Boys,  F.R.S 272 

Notes     274 

Our  Astronomical  Column: — 

The  New  Madras  Observatory 277 

Star  Catalogues 278 

The  Place  of  Argon  among  the  Elements 278 

Pocket  Gophers  of  the  United  States 778 

Colour  Photography 279 

The  Slate  Mines  of  Merionethshire 279 

The  Relation   of  Biology  to   Geological   Investiga- 
tion.    II.     ( ;(■;//;  /V.i.^T.iw.)     Hy  Charles  A.  White  279 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 2S4 

Scientific  Serials 2S4 

Societies  and  Academies 2S5 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 2S8 


NA  TURE 


!89 


THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  ANIMALS. 
A     Text-Book    of  Zoogeography.      By    F.    E.    Beddard, 
M.A.,   F.R.S.     Cambridge   Natural  Science   Manuals. 
Pp.  viii.  and  246.    (Cambridge  :  University  Press,  1895.) 

WITHIN  the  small  limits  of  246  duodecimo  pages  of 
fairly  large  type,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  do  justice 
to  such  an  e.xtensivje  subject  as  the  geographical  dis- 
tribution of  animals  ;  and,  baaring  in  mind  the  difficulties 
thus  imposed  upon  him,  we  think  the  author  of  the  volume 
before  us  is.  on  the  whole,  to  be  congratulated  on  the 
manner  in  which  he  has  completed  a  very  difficult  task- 
He  has  given  the  student  a  large  am.ount  of  very  valuable 
information,  and  this  m  a  pleasantly-written  and  easily- 
understood  form.  A  writer  who  was  not  thoroughly  at 
home  in  his  subject  might  have  contented  himself  with 
merely  giving  us  abstracts  of  Mr.  Wallace's  works,  with 
such  corrections  as  are  necessary  in  order  to  bring  them 
up  to  date.  Not  so  Mr.  Beddard,  who  has  introduced 
into  his  te.\t-book  a  very  large  number  of  facts,  chiefly  re- 
lating to  the  lower  vertebrates  and  invertebrates,  which 
are  not  to  be  found  in  more  pretentious  works,  and  his 
volume  will  thus  be  of  value  to  all  students.  As  being 
one  of  the  author's  specialities,  attention  is  strongly 
directed  to  the  distribution  of  earth-worm;  ;  and  the  re- 
marks concerning  the  curious  relationship  between  the 
worms  of  Patagonia  and  those  of  Australia  and  New 
Zealand  will  be  found  spscially  interesting. 

The  general  plan  of  the  work  is  as  follows.  After  de- 
fining locality  and  station,  and  pointing  out  the  vari- 
ability in  the  distributional  areas  of  animals,  the  author 
takes  a  numbsr  of  selected  instances,  drawn  from  very 
varied  classes,  of  the  distribution  of  particular  groups. 
We  have,  for  example,  the  range  contrasted  of  such  dif- 
ferent animals  as  rheas,  ibs.ves,  gallinaceous  birds,  eden- 
tates, tortoises,  batrachians,  scorpions,  planarians,  and 
earth-worms.  Having  contrasted  the  differences  pre- 
sented b\'  these  groups,  Mr.  Beddard  comes  to  the  con- 
sideration of  zoological  regions  ;  and  here  he  concludes 
on  the  whole  to  adopt  those  of  Messrs.  .Sclater  and 
Wallace.  "  As  a  mere  matter  of  convenience,"  he  re- 
marks, "it  is  immaterial  whether  we  join  Europe,  Asia, 
and  North  America  into  one  Holarctic  region,  or  use  the 
current  terms  of  Nearctic  and  Patearctic  for  the  Old  and 
New  World  divisions  of  this  extensive  tract."  With  all 
due  deference,  we  submit  that  convenience  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  matter  ;  and  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  author  has  not  been  bolder,  and  made  a  clean 
sweep  of  what  is  obsolete  in  our  present  system  of  zoo- 
logical geography.  He  admits  that  mammals  arc,  on  the 
whole,  the  most  satisfactory  group  on  which  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  the  scheme  ;  and  yet  he  deliberately 
throws  away  Mr.  Blanford's  very  excellent  classification, 
in  order  to  adopt  one  which  obviously  does  not  accord 
with  the  facts. 

A  want  of  boldness  is,  indeed,  in  our  opinion,  one  of 
the  most  serious  defects  in  the  work,  and  we  should  have 
much  liked  to  hear  the  author  express,  without  rcserva- 
tinn,  his  re.il  opinions  both  as  regards  the  so-called 
.Antarctica,  and  also  in  respec:  to  Dr.  Baur's  view  that 
NO.    1343,  VOL.   52] 


the  Galapagos  Islands  are  part  of  a  sunken  continent. 
We  gather  that,  on  the  whole,  Mr.  Beddard  appears  to 
be  indisposed  to  admit  Antarctica  in  its  entirety,  but  as 
to  how  much  he  believes  in  a  southern  land  connection 
of  more  limited  extent,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  discover. 
In  this  section  of  the  work,  moreover,  the  author  has 
made  two  glaringly  contradictory  statements.  Thus 
whereas  on  page  116,  in  treating  of  the  limits  of 
the  Australian  region,  he  remarks  that  "the  boundary 
between  it  and  the  Oriental  is  sharply  marked,"  we  find 
him  on  page  io3  hesitating  whether  Celebes  should  not 
be  transferred  from  the  former  to  the  latter  region.  So 
much  for  sharp  boundaries. 

The  third  chapter  deals  with  the  causes  influencing 
distribution  ;  and  here  it  may  be  noted  that  the  author 
differs  from  Dr.  C.  H.  Merriam,'  in  that  he  attributes  a 
\ery  minor  part  to  the  influence  of  temperature.  Not 
improbably,  however,  the  difference  of  opinion  is  largely 
due  to  the  different  environment  of  the  two  workers,  the 
effiscts  of  this  factor  being  apparently  more  noticeable  in 
the  New  World  than  in  the  Old.  ^'ery  many  interesting 
instances  bearing  on  the  problem  of  dispersal  will  be 
found  in  this  chapter.  In  the  fourth  chapter,  the  faunas 
of  islands  are  discussed  ;  while  the  fifth  closes  the  work 
with  a  few  theoretical  considerations.  In  this  chapter 
we  find  the  remarkable  suggestion  that  Marsupials  have 
taken  their  origin  in  .Australia  ;  a  conclusion  which,  in  our 
opinion,  has  no  shadow  of  justification  from  the  facts  of 
their  past  history,  and  which  is  absolutely  contra- 
dicted by  the  author  himself.  After  stating  on  page 
226,  that  their  "number  in  Europe  may  have  been 
small,"  he  speaks  of  these  animals  on  page  227  as  "once 
existing  in  great  variety  in  Europe  and  North  America," 
and  later  on  in  the  same  page  that  the  "survivors  have 
been  pushed  in  to  the  furthest  corner  of  the  world — the 
.Australian  continent,  and  some  of  the  islands  to  the 
north."  More  hopelessly  contradictor)'  statements  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find.  As  to  the  author's  conclusions 
that  there  has  been  a  general  migration  of  the  older 
forms  from  north  to  south,  we  are  in  full  accord. 

It  is  much  to  be  regretted,  especially  from  the  point  of 
view  of  elementary  students,  that  the  work  should  be  dis- 
figured by  several  glaring  inaccuracies  which  ought  to  have 
been  corrected  in  proof.  We  find,  for  instance,  the  genus 
Anurosorex  given  as  exclusively  Pahearctic,  whereas  one 
of  the  two  known  species  is  from  -Assam.  On  the  same 
page,  again,  the  genus  Capra  is  likewise  given  as  confined 
to  the  Patearctic  region,  whereas,  on  p.  22,  the  South 
Indian  C.  hyloeriiis  is  included  in  the  same  genus. 
Should  Mr.  O.  Thomas  ever  read  the  work,  he  will  be 
surprised  to  learn  (p.  90)  that  he  has  identified  the 
.African  pouched  rats  of  the  genus  Criceloinys  with  the 
.American  Hesperomys.  On  p.  97  we  have  "  musk-deer  " 
in  place  of  "musk-ox"  ;  while  on  p.  100  we  find  the 
Siberian  hippopotamus  figuring  as  Chwropotamus  (the 
name  of  an  Eocene  genus  of  pigs)  instead  of  C/iwrop^is. 
Again,  on  p.  103,  we  have  the  langurs  alluded  to  under 
the  name  of  Presby/es,  while  on  p.  io3  they  appear 
as  Semnopithcctis.  By  what  confusion  of  ideas  the 
name  Hyracodon  (which  belongs  to  an  extinct  genus  of 
rhinoceros-like  animals)  is  made  to  do  duty  for  Didelpliys, 
we  arc  at  a  loss  to  understand.     Carelessness  is  likewise 

1  See  Xat.  Cc*s^.    ^fii  '•■  \"I    v!.  pp.  229-238  (1894). 

o 


290 


NA  TURE 


[July 


1895 


exhibited  by  the  statement,  on  p.  11 1,  that  Rhea  is  ex- 
clusively confined  to  the  Chilian  sub-ret;ion  of  South 
America,  especially  after  the  author  has  stated  on  p.  20 
that  Rhea  macrorhyncha  occurs  in  Pernambuco  and 
Bahia. 

As  likely  to  mislead  the  student,  we  must  also  call 
attention  to  the  so-called  genera  Aquias  and  Phyllotis 
being  placed  among  those  characteristic  of  the  Oriental 
region,  whereas  Dr.  Dobson,'  whose  views  are  en- 
dorsed by  Mr.  Blanford,  states  that  there  is  no  justi- 
fication for  the  separation  of  the  forms  thus  named 
from  the  ordinary  Rhinolophiis.  If  the  author  has 
reason  to  doubt  the  correctness  of  such  generally  ac- 
cepted views,  he  should  ha\e  appended  a  note  to  that 
effect.  Many  other  points  of  this  nature  might  be  alluded 
to  ;  but  we  cannot  help  regretting  that  the  author  has 
once  more  resuscitated  the  myth  of  the  fossil  .Australian 
elephant. 

While  the  book  would  have  been  much  better  had  more 
care  been  exercised  on  its  composition  and  correction,  it 
will  ser\-e  a  useful  purpose  as  a  general  guide  to  the 
principles  of  the  geographical  distribution  of  animals,  and 
may  accordingly  be  recommended  to  the  student,  pro- 
vided  he  have  sufficient  knowledge  to  steer  clear  of  the 

pitfalls.  1^.    l.M>KKKFR. 


ALKALI  MANUFACTURE. 

A  Tluoretical  and  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture 
of  Sulphuric  Acid  and  Alkali,,  ivith  the  Collateral 
Branches.  By  George  Lunge,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of 
Technical  Chemistrj-  at  the  Federal  Polytechnic 
School,  Zurich.  Second  edition,  vol.  ii.  Pp.  xi. 
929.    (London:   Gumey  and  Jackson,  1895.) 

TO  criticise,  in  the  ordinary-  sense  of  the  term,  such  a 
book  as  this,  demands  an  experience  as  wide  as  that 
of  the  author — not   only  in  the   laboratory  investigation 
and  the  exposition  of  the  problems  of  chemical  techno- 
logy, but  in  the  exigencies  of  daily  life  in  a  chemical  works. 
This  dual  experience  is  possessed  by  few,  and  the  present 
writer  can  lay  n  >  claim   to   it.      But  the  wide   acceptance 
of  the  first   edition  of  Dr.  Lunge's  book  as   the  work  of 
reference  on  alkali  manufacture,  makes  the  expression  of  a 
judgment  on  its  valu:  superfluous,  and  the  reviewer  need 
do  little  mare  than  make  a  general  comparison  between 
the  present  volume  and  its  predecessor  of  fifteen  years  ago. 
It   may   at   once   be    said    that    the    book    has    been 
thoroughly  brought  up  to  date.   It  is  bulkier  than  the  former 
edition  to  the  extent  of   over  2od  pages,  though   many 
processes  described  in   detail   in  the  earlier  work,  being 
now  obsolete,  or  nearly  so,  are  here  merely  referred  to  ; 
but  though  some  of  this  increased  bulk  arises  from  lengthy 
detailed  accounts  of  new  processes,  yet  most  of  it  is  due 
to  the  small  additions  interpolated  on  almost  every  page 
of  the  book.     No  published  work  on  alkali  manufacture 
appears  to  have  escaped   Dr.  Lunge,  whether  in  journal 
or  patent   literature  ;  and  he  has   not   only  furnished  an 
admirable  digest  of  the  progress  made  in   lc<hnf>l(>giral 
thought    and   practice   since     1880,   but    has   throughout 
given  references  to  original  sources. 

One  change  in  arrangement  commends  itself  at  once  : 

•  "  Cat.  Otiruptcra  llril,  Mu».,"  p.  306. 

NO.    1343.  VOL.  52] 


the  modes  of  occurrence  and  properties  of  raw  materials, 
and  products  are  collected  in  the  first  chapter,  while 
analytical  methods  are  similarly  gathered  together  in  the- 
second.  .\  striking  feature  in  the  first  chapter  is  the 
amount  of  space  devoted  to  native  soda.  Recent  explora- 
tions have  greatly  extended  our  knowledge 'of  the  occur-f 
rence  of  this  substance,  and  with  sources  of  supply  like 
Owen's  Lake  in  California,  it  seems  not  at  all  unlikely  that 
in  a  few  years  native  soda  may  compete' on  a  large  scale 
with  that  manufactured  by  the  Leblanc  and  the  ammonia 
processes.  The  chapter  on  analytical  methods  is  very 
complete,  the  chief  new  feature  in  it  being  •  the  dcscriptior 
and  illustration  of  Lunge  and  Marchlewski's  gas  analysis 
apparatus  on  p.  113.  It  seems  a  pity  that_those  who  buy 
and  sell  alkali  should  not  by  this  time  ha\e  reformed  the 
chaotic  condition  of  "  trade  customs  "  which  makes  it  neccs- 
sar)'  still  to  devote  five  pages  of  a  work  like  this  to  the- 
question  of  alkalimetric  "  degrees." 

In  the  chapter  on  the  salt-cake  process  the  changes 
consist  chiefly  in  the  greater  prominence  gi\en  to  plus- 
pressure  furnaces,  of  which  two  forms  are"figured,  and  to 
mechanical  furnaces.  At  the  date  of  the  first  edition,  plus- 
pressure  furnaces  were  in  little  more  than  an  experi- 
mental stage  ;  but  the  advantages  they  present  have 
gradually  made  themselves  felt,  and  their  use  has  become 
correspondingly  more  frequent.  The  early  type  of  the 
Jones  mechanical  furnace  has  been  omitted  from  this 
edition,  and  mechanical  furnaces  are  represented  by  the 
later  form  of  the  Jones  furn.acc,  with  fixed  stirrers  and 
movable  bottom,  by  the  Mactcar  furnace,  and  by  Larkin's 
mechanical  roaster.  These  furnaces  are  all  fully  described 
and  figured,  and  the  discussion  of  their  merits  .tnd 
demerits  is  eminently  fair.  The  account  of  the  Hargreaves 
process  has  been  completely  rewritten  and  greatly  im- 
proved, entirely  new  drawings  of  the  arrangement  of  the 
cylinders  having  been  introduced.  That  this  beautiful 
process  should  not  have  further  extended,  is  matter  for 
regret  ;  but,  as  Dr.  Lunge  justly  says,  it  came  too  late — it 
has  had  to  succumb  to  the  competition  of  the  ammonia 
soda  process,  and  the  consequent  necessary  subordination 
of  other  considerations  to  the  production,  in  the  l.eblanc 
process,  of  strong  hydrochloric  acid. 

The  condensation  of  hydrochloric  acid  had  reached 
such  a  stage  at  the  date  of  publication  of  the  first 
edition,  that  we  find  but  few  changes  in  this  one,  and  but  • 
two  noticeable  additions  :  an  account  and  discussion  of 
Dr.  Murter's  mathematical  treatment  of  condensation,  and 
a  description  of  the  Lunge- Kohrmann  |)late-C()!uinns. 
The  gist  of  Dr.  Hurter's  papers  is,  on  the  whole,  very 
faithfully  reproduced  :  but  there  are  two  errors  which  are 
likely  to  cause  confusion  to  the  reader  unarciuainted  with 
the  originals  :  on  p.  308,  lines  6  to  10,  where  the  source 
of  the  figure  43'3  is  not  obvious,  the  fact  being  that  it  is 
quoted  from  a  third  example  of  Hurler's,  in  which  the  gas 
dealt  with  contains  43-3  per  cent,  of  hydrochloric  acid  ; 
and  on  p.  313,  where,  in  converting  Dr.  Hurter's  Knglish 
measures  into  metric  units,  20  cubic  feet  per  second  is 
taken  as  20  feet  per  second,  and  the  resulting  contact 
figure  is  worked  out  to  324  instead  of  3474.  The  Lunge 
towers  arc  described  in  the  body  "f  the  work,  and  details 
of  their  structure,  as  well  as  a  summary  of  results  obtained 
in  their  actual  working  at  Duisburg,  are  given  in  the 
addenda.     These  figures  are  certainly  remarkable  tcsti- 


ifc 


JULV    25,    1895] 


NATURE 


291 


mony  to  the  efficiency  of  the  plate-columns  ;  whether  in 
all  respects  they  will  achieve  the  results  their  inventor 
claims  for  them,  it  is,  perhaps,  yet  premature  to  say. 

The  chapters  on  the  black  ash  process,  on  the  manu- 
facture of  finished  soda,  and  on  caustic,  are  examples  of 
what  has  been  said  above  as  to  Dr.  Lunge's  care  and 
industry  ;  Exhibiting  no  striking  changes,  they  are  yet 
charged  with  additional  matter,  of  which  no  satisfactory 
account  can  be  given,  but  which  will  become  continually 
evident  to  those  using  the  book. 

The  recover)'  of  sulphur  from  tank  waste  is,  of  course, 
treated  at  length.  The  multitude  of  attempts  to  solve  this 
problem,  the  repeated  failures — chemical  or  economic — 
of  these  attempts,  the  apparent  hopelessness  of  further 
discovery  in  so  well-explored  a  field,  and  the  tenacity  with 
which  the  attack  has  been  continued,  form  one  of  the 
most  interesting  chapters  in  the  history  of  manufacturing 
chemistry,  and  the  account  gi\en  here  is  full  and  accurate. 
Though  the  detailed  description  of  Schaffner  and  Helbig's 
process  has  been  omitted  from  this  edition,  yet  the  bulk 
has  swelled  by  some  forty  pages,  an  increase  due,  of 
course,  chiefly  to  the  Chance-Claus  process,  the  account 
of  which,  with  its  modifications  and  variations,  is  one  of 
the  best  written  portions  of  the  book.  How  far  this 
beautiful  process  affords  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
problem  of  sulphur-recovery,  may  be  gleaned  from  the  fact 
that  in  1893  the  produce  of  Chance  sulphur  in  Britain 
was  estimated  at  35,000  tons. 

An  indication  of  the  tendency  of  chemical  manufacture 
to   become   more   scientific,   to  be  guided  by  principles 
rather  than  by  rule-of-thumb,  is  found  in  the   increased 
amount  of  "theory"   in   the   book.      Not  only  have  we 
accounts  of  investigations  into  the  reactions  involved  in 
the  ^various  'processes,  but  also  accounts  of  the  thermo- 
chemistry of  the   Hargreaves  process  and   the  black  ash 
process,  and  of  Dr.  Hurter's  application  of  mathematics 
to  technology,  mentioned  above.     No  one  will  dispute  Dr. 
Lunge's  statement    that     manufacturing    conditions    are 
complex,  and  difficult  to  imitate  in  laboratory  experiments, 
still  more  to  state  in  a  form  definite  enough  for  mathe- 
matical expression  :  no  one  will  question  the  justness  of 
his  warning  against  proceeding  too  rashly  on  lines  sug- 
gested  by  theory  alone,   or   indicated    by  mathematical 
reasonings  on  insufficient  bases  ;  but  the  fact  that  thermo- 
chemistry and  mathematics  find  a  place  at  all  in  such  a 
work  as  this,  shows  that  our  manufactures  are  being  con. 
ducted   with   a    closer   knowledge  than  formerly  of   the 
principles — chemical,    physical,    and    mechanical — which 
underlie  them,  and  that  we  may  look  forward  to  a  time 
when  we  shall  have  as  full  control  over  the  conditions  of 
our  operations  in  the  manufactory  as  we  now  have  in  the 
laboratory. 

The  Lcblanc  soda  process  is  regarded,  by  those  who 
are  in  any  way  connected  with  it,  with  feelings  akin  to 
those  with  which  they  look  on  the  British  Constitution. 
It  inspires  a  certain  affi,'ctionate  respect,  from  its  com- 
bined familiarity  and  antiquity  ;  and  the  contemplation  of 
its  decay  or  extinction  gives  rise  to  feelings  of  regret, 
apart  altogether  from  the  pecuniary  interests  which  are 
involved  in  it.  The  statistics  given  by  Dr.  Lunge,  which 
show  a  steady  increase  in  the  salt  used  for  the  ammonia 
process,  from  27,000  tons  in  1880,  to  350,000  in  1S95,  while 
that  used  for  the  Lcblanc  process  has  decreased  in  the 


same  period  from  650,000  to  470,000,  are  not  reassuring  ; 
but  if  the  older  process  be  doomed  to  ultimate  extinction 
it  will  at  least  ha\e  a  worthy  monument  and  history  in  the 
successive  editions  of  Dr.  Lunge's  book. 

Misprints  and  slips  in  such  a  work  are  inevitable ; 
there  are  several,  but  nearly  all  such  as  betray 
themselves  at  once,  and  carr>'  their  corrections  on  their 
faces.  A  copious  index  to  the  volume  adds  greatly  to  its 
value  for  reference.  J.  T.  DUNN. 


PHYSICAL  ANALOGUES  OF  PROTOPLASMIC 

MOVEMENT. 
Microscopic  Foam   and  Protoplasm.     By   Otto  Biitschli. 
Translated  by  E.  A.  Minchin.     (London:    Black,  1894.) 

PROF.  bOTSCHLI'S  work  on  Microscopic  Foams  has 
been    already   discussed    in   these    columns  ;   and 
therefore,  in  noticing  the  English  translation,  a  very  short 
account  of  the  book  itself  will  suffice.     From  his  long 
series  of  observations,  especially  upon  the   structure  of 
the  protozoa,    the  author  was  led  to  regard   protoplasm 
as  a  substance   arranged  always   in  the   manner  of  an 
exceedingly  minute   honeycomb,    containing    a    second 
substance  in  its  cells.     Taking  this  view  of  the  structure 
of  protoplasm,  and  probably  stimulated  by   the  experi- 
ments upon   capillarity  and  surface-tension   made  by  his 
colleague  Prof  Quincke,  he  next  endeavoured  to     find  a 
substance  having  an  analogous  physical  structure,  and  to 
produce  in  it  some  of  the  simpler  phenomena  of  proto- 
plasmic movement.     The  result  was  the  manufacture  of 
the  remarkable  foams,  now-  so  well  known  in   zoological 
laboratories,   in   which    the   walls   of   the    protoplasmic 
honeycomb  are  represented  by  thin  lamin  e  of  olive  oil, 
the  chambers   containing  a   solution  of  potassium    car- 
bonate and  soap.     The  remarkable  resemblance  between 
the  histological  structure  exhibited  by  drops  of   this  sub- 
stance,  and  that  of  an  amceba,  is   probably   familiar  by 
this   time   to   most    biologists,    as    is    the    resemblance 
between  the  streaming  movements  of  the  two  structures, 
and  the  protrusion  and  retraction  of  pseudopodia  by  each. 
In  the  work  before  us,  the  final  investigations  upon  oil- 
foams  are  first  described.     The  first  eighty  pages  contain 
a  minute  description  of  the  manner  in  which  the  foams 
are  best  prepared,   and   of  their   behaviour     under   the 
influence  of  various  agencies.      Especially  interesting  is 
the  effect  of  induction  shocks,  by  which  convulsive  move- 
ments   are   obtained,    and    the   streaming    is    frequently 
slowed  down  or  depressed.     It  is  difficult  to  avoid  com- 
paring   the   manner  in  which  such  a    foam-drop   flows 
towards  a  solution  of  certain  substances,  such  as  soap, 
with  the  simpler  phenomena  of  "  chemiotaxic"  attraction. 
After  a   detailed   description   of  the    preparation  and 
behaviour  of  oil-foams  follows  a   summary  of  investiga- 
tions on  the  structure  of  protoplasm,  as  seen  in  the  living 
condition  and  after  various  methods  of  preparation.     This 
account  deals  with  the  structure  of  various   protozoa,  and 
with  the  cells  of  many  metazoon  tissues,  especially  with 
nerve-cells  and  fibres  ;  the  object  of  the  whole  account 
being  to  demonstrate   the    "  alveolar "  structure  of  the 
protoplasm  in  all  these  cases.     This  account  is  illustrated 
by  several   plates,  which  have  been  admirably  re.-drawn 
for  the  English  edition   of  the   work,  and  in  addition  to 
these  a   collection  of    photographs    has   been   prepared 


NO.    1343,  VOL.   52] 


292 


NATURE 


[July  25,  1895 


illustrating  the  minute  structure  of  oil-drops,  and  of  many 
of  the  animal  cells  described.  The  evidence  of  this  series 
of  photographs  is  perhaps  even  more  striking  than  that 
of  the  plates  ;  and  it  is  well  here  to  draw  special  atten- 
tion to  them,  because  the  only  information  given  to  the 
English  reader  as  to  the  means  of  obtaining  them  is  in  a 
note  on  p.  341.  where  it  may  be  easily  overlooked. 

The  second  part  of  the  book  contains  a  short  history 
of  the  views  which  have  been  held  concerning  the 
structure  of  protoplasm,  from  the  time  of  Remak's  early 
observations  on  nerve-fibres  until  the  year  1892  ;  this 
is  followed  by  a  full  exposition  of  the  view  that  all 
protoplasm  has  the  foamy  structure  exhibited  by  the  oil- 
foams  already  described,  and  by  a  discussion  of  the 
difficulties  which  attend  the  explanation  of  all  proto- 
plasmic movement  by  reference  to  changes  in  the  surface 
tension  of  a  foamy  substance. 

Such  is  the  arrangement  of  a  work  containing  the 
most  remarkable  attempt  to  express  protoplasmic  move- 
ment in  terms  of  inorganic  phenomena  which  has  yet 
been  made.  That  the  attempt  is  not  yet  successful  in  a 
number  of  special  cases.  Prof  Biitschli  himself  is  careful 
to  point  out  ;  and  the  difficulty  of  explaining  in  this  way 
the  formation  of  fine  thread-like  pseudopodia  is,  as  he 
admits,  very  great.  .-V  more  serious  difiiculty,  even  in 
cases  of  simple  lobose  motion,  is  the  difficulty  of  demon- 
strating those  currents  in  the  water  outside  an  amoeba 
in  motion,  which  should,  on  the  diffusion-theory,  exist. 
These  and  other  points  arc  clearly  stated  by  Prof. 
Biitschli,  so  as  to  inspire  the  hope  that  the  final  section 
of  his  book  will  lead  to  the  prosecution  by  himself  and 
his  pupils,  and  by  others,  of  further  work  on  the  lines  he 
has  here  laid  down.  Without  such  investigation,  any 
detailed  criticism  of  the  difficulties  would  be  simply 
impertinent. 

Mr.  Minchin  is  to  be  congratulated  on  his  translation. 
The  original  German,  while  always  lucid,  is  often  diflicult 
to  translate,  because  the  author  has  throughout  been  in- 
fluenced on  the  one  hand  by  a  desire  to  be  as  brief  as 
possible,  and  on  the  other  by  a  spirit  of  scientific  caution  ; 
so  that  he  qualifies  statement  after  statement  with 
epithets  which  make  his  sentences  easy  enough  to  under- 
stand, but  hard  to  render  into  such  English  as  .Mr. 
Minchin  has  generally  achieved. 

By  incorporating  the  appendix  of  the  original  edition  in 
the  body  of  the  work,  a  distinct  advantage  has  been 
gained  ;  and  a  useful  feature,  wanting  in  the  Cierman 
edition,  is  a  very  excellent  index. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

.Esthetic  Principles.     By  Henry  Rutgers  Marshall,  M.A. 
(■.S'ew  York  and   London  :  Macmillan,  1895.) 

Mk.  Maksiiai.i.  has  done  such  good  work  in  the  field 
of  asthetics  that  we  are  glad  to  welcome  this  short  and 
simplified  exposition  of  the  principles  which  he  regards 
as  fundamental.  As  we  said  on  reviewing  his  more 
tcchni'  al  treatise,  there  is  good  stuff  in  his  work,  and  it 
is  based  on  right  lines.  \Ve  have  only  space  to  deal  very 
briefly  with  one  or  two  points  on  which  we  are  still  con- 
strained to  assume  a  somewhat  critical  attitude. 

.•Mlhough  the  view  that  pleasure  is  the  accompaniment 
of  the  using  up  rif  surplus  stored  energy,  and  that  pain 
arises    when    the    stimulus   calls  for   an   overdraught   of 

N".    1343-   \"'L.   52] 


energy,  may  well  hold  good  in  certain  fields  of  activity, 
it  does  not  appear  to  touch  some  of  the  pleasures  and 
pains  of  special  sense.  That  certain  groups  of  sensory 
stimuli  arc  pleasurable,  and  others  painful,  seems  just  as 
primar)'  and  inexplicable  (and  therefore  to  be  at  present 
treated  merely  descriptively)  as  that  certain  light- 
vibrations  give  rise  to  the  sensation  blue,  and  others  to 
the  sensation  red.  They  are  primary  datq  of  "algc- 
donics,"  as  the  colour-sensations  are  primary  data  of 
colour-vision. 

In  the  helpful  classification  of  "  Instinct-feelings,"  so- 
called,  we  think  more  stress  is  laid  on  heredity  than  the 
facts  at  present  justify.  That  there  is  an  innate  inherited 
potentiality  of  fear,  for  example,  is  unquestionable  ;  and 
that  it  is  connected  with  a  tendency  to  tlee  from  a  dis- 
advantageous object,  may  be  admitted.  But  the  dis- 
advantageous nature  of  the  object  would  seem  to  be  a 
matter  of  individual  experience,  aided  by  the  effects  of 
what  Mr.  Hudson  terms  tradition  through  parents  or 
others.  It  is  at  least  questionable  whether  the  ad- 
vantageous or  disadvantageous  nature  of  the  object  is 
"determined  by  the  experience  of  untold  generations  of 
ancestr)-.'' 

The  third,  and  last,  point  on  which  we  would  touch  is 
the  delimitation  of  the  ;esthetic  field.  That  w  hat  is  judged 
to  be  ;Esthetic  appears  to  be  permanently  pleasant  in 
revival  may  be,  and  in  the  main  is,  true  enough.  But 
that  the  relative  permanence  of  the  pleasure-field  can  be 
regarded  as  a  sufficient  icsthetic  dilTerentia,  we  are  not 
prepared  to  admit.  We  cannot  here  discuss  the  i[uestion; 
we  hold,  however,  that  just  as  the  pleasures  and  pains 
of  sense  on  the  algedonic  accompaniments  of  sense- 
experience,  so  are  the  distinctively  asilutic  pleasures  and 
pams  the  algedonic  accompaniments  of  the  perception  of 
relations.  .Mr.  Marshall's  criticisms  of  the  inlellcctualist 
position  (if  this  view  of  the  purely  algedonic  accompani- 
ment of  activities,  which  in  their  cognitive  aspect  are 
intellectual,  may  be  included  under  this  head)  is 
insufiicient  to  carry  conviction. 

We  have  selected  one  or  two  points  on  which  Mr. 
Marshall's  views  do  not  appear  to  us  to  be  con\  incing  ; 
but  it  is  partly  because  he  is  really  worth  differing  from, 
that  we  can  recommend  his  work  for  careful  and  serious 
consideration. 

An  Analysis  of  Astronomical  Motion.     By  Henry  Pratt, 
M.D.     (London:  G.  Norman  and  Son,  1895.) 

Thk  present  small  volume  is  a  contribution  to  the  ever- 
increasing  mass  of  pseudo-scientific  literature,  in  dealing 
witli  which  a  scientific  reviewer  must  always  lind  a 
difficulty.  His  first  impulse  is  to  ignore  such  a  book 
altogether,  but  there  are  objections  to  such  a  course. 
To  preserve  strict  silence  might,  in  the  first  place,  lead 
the  author,  and  those  who  blindly  trust  his  guidance 
to  claim  that  his  work  was  of  real  scientific  value,  since 
it  had  been  tacitly  accepted  by  the  scientific  world,  or, 
at  least,  that  his  theory  could  not  be  confronted  by  any 
fatal  A  priori  objections.  Kurther,  a  book  of  this  kind 
is  liable  to  lead  astray  the  untrained  mintls  of  chance 
readers,  and  one's  duty  to  the  public  requires  that  some 
effort  should  be  made  to  prevent  the  waste  of  lime  and 
money  over  an  ignorant  and  worthless  book. 

Dr.  Pratt's  object  in  publishing  tlie  book  is  to  give  a 
simpler  expression  to  the  views  dev  eloped  in  his  earlier 
work,  "  Principia  Nova  Astronomica "  (sec  N.MlKIs 
May  17,  1894).  He  may  have  found  that  students  needed 
.additional  explanations,  or  that  another  advertisement 
was  necessary  to  assist  the  sale  of  the  earlier  work.  If 
the  course  were  prompted  by  the  first  suggestion,  one 
cannot  say  that  the  author  has  been  altogether  successful, 
for  his  theory  remains  ouite  as  obscure  and  unsatisfactory 
as  when  first  presented.  The  distinguishing  feature  of 
this  theory  requires  our  own  sun  to  revolve  roimd  an 
"  e(|uatorial  "  sun,  which  in  turn  revolves  round  a  "  polar" 


July  25,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


sun,  which  finally  has  its  centre  of  motion  in  a  "central " 
sun.  "  The  evidence  of  the  existence  of  the  central, 
polar,  and  equatorial  suns  is  found  in  certain  observed 
phenomena,  hitherto  attributed  to  other  causes,  but  which 
are  in  reality  due  to  their  presence  and  influence." 
Besides  the  simple  enumeration  of  these  phenomena,  it 
is  in  vain  to  look  for  any  direct  proof  of  tliis  statement. 
The  authors  method  of  removing  objections  to  his  theory, 
one  of  the  principal  objects  of  this  book,  is,  however 
complicated  in  detail,  extremely  simple  in  principle.  It 
practically  consists  in  calling  a  motion,  or  an  absence  of 
motion,  when  it  docs  not  fit  in  and  support  his  theory, 
apparent,  and  when  such  motion  can  be  explained,  or 
Dr.  Pratt  considers  is  explained,  ?vw/.  Such  juggling  with 
phenomena  resulting  from  a  combination  of  revolution 
and  rotation,  naturally  presents  no  difficulty  to  a  man 
who  cannot  see  that  a  body  re\olving  in  an  orbit,  and 
always  presenting  the  same  face  to  the  centre  of  the 
orbit,  rotates  once  in  the  period  of  revolution.  But  others, 
taught  in  a  ditTerent  and  more  rigorous  school,  have  great 
difficulty  in  apprehending  the  authors  meaning,  and  fail 
altogether  to  appreciate  the  arguments  by  which  he  seeks 
to  support  the  successive  parts  of  his  theoretical  system. 
Neither  does  Dr.  Pratt  understand  the  arguments,  nor, 
as  far  as  we  can  see,  admit  the  facts,  by  which  the 
gravitational  theory  is  supported.  In  the  third  chapter, 
the  author,  in  criticising  our  current  ideas  of  planetary 
motion,  discloses  the  awkward  fact,  that  he  has  not  the 
slightest  acquaintance  with  Kepler's  laws.  He  has  not 
taken  the  trouble  to  master  the  first  principles  of  the 
system  he  would  overthrow,  but  seems  to  think  himself 
qualified  by  inspiration  to  offer  another.  His  inspira- 
tion, we  fear,  is  due  to  a  disordered  and  ill-regulated 
imagination. 


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  atumymous  communications.'\ 

The  Physical  Properties  of  Argon. 
The  following  iiic.isurements  may  be  of  interest  in  connection 
with  the  chemical  position  of  argon.     The  gas  was   prepared 
from  atmospheric  air  with  the  aid  of  oxygen  and  alkali  only. 

Weighings  at  0°  C.  upon  a  large  .scale  (two  litres),  and  with 
the  apparatus  formerly  employed  for  other  gases,  give  as  the 
density  of  argon  (O^  =  i6) 

19-940, 

a  number  in-almost  exact  agreement  with  that  obtained  by  Prof 
Ramsay,  working  u]ion  a  relatively  small  scale  and  with  gas 
derived  by  magnesium  (Rayleigh  and  Ramsay,  Phil.  Trans., 
1895). 

In  spite  of  its  greater  density,  the  refraction  (/i  ~  i )  of  argon  is 
only  '961  of  that  of  air  :  so  that  if  we  take  for  air  under  standard 
conditions  11  =  I  0002923,  then  for  argon 
/»  =  I '000281. 

Terling  Place,  July  20.  Ravi.kigh. 

The  Teaching  University  for    London. 

I  WAS  absent  from  the  country  during  the  University  of 
London  Election  ;  but  I  may  be  jiermitted  to  make  a  few  re- 
marks on  .Sir  John  Lubljock's  letler  in  the  last  number  of 
Nature. 

I  am  afraid  he  has  hardly  weighed  the  very  serious  con.sc- 
quences  of  the  action  he  has  taken.  They  will  have  to  be  met 
as  best  we  may.  What  I  now  desire  to  consider  is  some  of  the 
grounds  im  which  he  has  attempted  to  defend  it.  These  them- 
selves afford  matter  fur  sufiiciently  grave  reflection. 

(i. )  Sir  John  states  in  his  letter  to  Prof.  Riicker  :  "  I  am  not 
asking  that  any  privilege  which   they  do  not  at  jiresent  possess 

NO.    1343,   VOL.   52] 


should  be  conferred  on  my  constituents,  but  only  sujjporting 
what  is  now  their  legal  right.  .  .  .  This  right  I  know  they 
highly  value."  This  is  a  most  extraordinary  statement.  What 
Convocation  undoubtedly  possesses  is  the  right  of  veto  on  any 
fund.imental  change  in  the  constitution  of  the  University.  It 
has  been  exercised  in  the  past  to  some  eflfect  when  Convocation 
summarily  rejected  the  recommendations  of  the  first  of  the  re- 
cent Commissions.  It  might  have  been  exerci.sed  when  Convo- 
cation assented  to  the  admission  of  women  to  the  University. 
But  it  has  never  hitherto  been  exercised  except  by  the  personal 
vote  of  members  attending  Convocation  who  have  had  the  opjior- 
tunily  of  hearing  in  adequate  debate  the  arguments  for  and 
against  the  pro]5osal  at  issue.  What  -Sir  John  jiroposes  now  is 
something  widely  difllerent  :  a  referendum,  in  fact,  in  which  the 
decision  of  Convocation  is  to  be  signified  "  as  at  a  Senatorial 
election,"  i.e.  by  voting  papers.  In  my  judgment  such  a  prece- 
dent, if  once  established,  would  utterly  destroy  the  prestige  and 
authority  of  the  meetings  of  Convocation  as  at  present  consti- 
tuted. To  this  ]>oint  I  will  return  presently.  But  at  any  rate  I 
think  it  will  be  admitted  by  all  who  know  anything  of  the  practical 
working  of  this  body  that  Sir  John's  proposal  is  a  pretty  revo- 
lutionarj-  change.  Mow  then  are  we  to  reconcile  it  with  his 
language  which  I  have  quoted  above. 

(ii.)  But  .Sir  John's  action  becomes  still  more  extraordinary  in 
the  light  of  the  actual  recent  proceedings  of  Convocation  itself 
To  read  his  letter  it  might  be  thought  that  we  were  smarting 
under  a  sense  of  injury  and  injustice,  and  that  Sir  John,  as  in 
duty  bound,  had  come  chivalrously  to  the  rescue  of  our  oppressed 
body.  Far  from  this  beint;  the  fact,  I  think,  that  in  plain 
language  .Sir  John  has  given  Convocation  the  severest  slap  in 
the  face  it  has  ever  received. 

After  the  report  of  the  first  Commission  was  dead  and  buried, 
the  second  came  up  in  due  course  for  consideration  by  Convoca- 
tion, and  for  the  past  two  years  its  mind  has  been  occupied  with 
little  else.  The  report  might  have  succumbed  to  the  veto  like 
its  predecessor,  but  it  did  not.  I  need  not  recaiiitulate  all  that 
has  happened.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  though  Convocation 
approached  the  conclusions  of  the  Commission  with  a  certain 
timidity  or,  at  any  rate,  reserve,  their  substantial  acceptance  after 
each  successive  debate  steadily  gained  ground. 

Finally  at  the  meeting  on  January  22  of  the  present  year  the 
following  resolution  was  carried  : — 

"That  Convocation,  while  desiring  to  express  generally  its 
approval  of  the  jiroposals  contained  in  the  Report  of  the  Royal 
Commission,  is  of  opinion  that  pi.iwer  ought  to  be  given  to  the 
Statutory  Commission  to  vary  the  details  of  the  scheme,  and 
that  it  ought  to  be  made  an  instruction  to  the  Commissioners, 
before  framing  the  statutes  and  regulations,  to  confer  with  duly 
accredited  representatives  of  the  Senate  and  of  Convocation,  as 
to  the  modifications  which  may  be  desirable." 

Now-  whatever  be  the  opinion  of  different  sections  of  Con- 
vocation on  the  general  merits  of  the  question,  I  think  that  we 
are  all  agreed  as  to  the  latter  part  of  the  resolution.  ConviKa- 
tion  regards  the  Report  as  a  possible  basis  for  reconstruction,  but 
declines  to  pledge  itself  to  all  the  details.  But  it  is  most  im- 
portant to  observe,  and  it  was  most  clearly  jiointed  out  in  the 
debate,  that  in  adoi^ting  this  resolution  Convocation  waived  its 
right  of  veto.  In  other  words  it  dropped  its  possible  non 
possuiiius  and  looke<l  to  negotiation  to  attain  what  it  wanted. 

This  resolution  was  followed  by  a  further  one,  which  was  its 
necessary  executive  corollarj'.  I  may  be  permitted  to  extract 
the  whole  from  the  minutes,  as  it  is  significant  to  observe  that  it 
was  moved  and  seconded  by  a  representative  of  either  side. 

"  On  the  motion  of  S.  P.  Thompson,  D.Sc,  B..\.,  seconded 
by  T.  B.  Napier,  LL.D.     Resolved:— 

"  ( I )  That  a  Special  Committee  of  nine  members,  including  the 
Chairman  of  Convocation,  be  nominated  to  prepare  for  presenta- 
tion to  the  Statutory  Commission,  when  appointed,  a  memo- 
randum of  points  in  the  Scheme  of  the  Royal  Commission  in 
which  modification  is  desirable,  and  with  power  to  confer  with 
such  said  Statutory  Con-mission,  and  with  any  Committee  of  the 
Senate. 

"(2)  That  this  Special  Committee  consist  of  the  following 
Members  : — The  Chairman  of  Convocation,  Dr.  .\llehin.  Mr. 
Bompas,  .Mr.  Stanley  Boyd,  Dr.  Cave,  Mr.  Cozens- Hardy,  Mr. 
Thisellon-Dyer.  Dr.  Napier,  Dr.  S.  P.  Thompson." 

Now  I  JHU  it  to  .Sir  John,  who,  tlu>ugh  I  am  glad  to  say  not"  an 
old,"  is  certainly  an  experienced  "  parliamentary  hand,"  whether 
the  action  he  has  taken  is  exactly  courteous  to  Convocation  in 
general  or  to  its  formally  constituted  Committee  in   particular. 


294 


NA  TURE 


[July  25,  1S95 


^\^lat  Sir  John  praclicallysays  to  us  is  this  :  "  You  may  do  as  you 
like,  but  I  am  taking  the  management  of  this  business  into  my 
own  hands."  Now,  we  are  untloubtedly  prttud  of  having  a 
representative  in  Parliament :  but  I  am  ver)'  iloublAil  whether 
Convocation  is  preparetl  to  accept  that  representative  as  its  master. 

The  resolution  of  January  22,  as  it  happened,  owing  to  the 
prolongation  of  the  debate,  was  not  carried  by  a  large  majority. 
The  question  was  therefore  brought  up  again  on  May  14,  and 
reaffirmed  by  more  than  two  to  one. 

The  present  position  then  is  this  :  Convocation  has  accepted 
the  Report  of  the  Commission  in  principle  ;  awaits  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Statutory  Commission  :  and  has  delegated  to  a 
Committee  of  men  representative  of  various  views  the  duty  of 
conferring  with  it.  This  Committee,  which  has  already  held  a 
preliminary  meeting,  can  be  in  touch  at  any  time  with  Convoca- 
tion, and  it  is  difficult  to  see  what  better  machinerj-  Convocation 
could  provide  to  bring  about  the  result  which  all  reasonable  men 
desire.  .\nd  all  this.  Sir  John,  who  is  not  a  member  of  Convo- 
cation, and  who  has  not  api»rently  taken  the  trouble  to  acquaint 
himself  with  its  proceedings,  calmly  sets  aside  for  a  new-fangled 
and  unheard-of  plan  of  his  own. 

(iii.)  Sir  John,  in  what  I  suppose  I  may  call  his  defence,  says 
"  the  University  is  the  only  liody  whose  constitution  it  is  proposed 
to  change."  I  do  not  know,  I  am  sure,  how  he  arrives  at  this. 
But  we,  who  have  had  to  consider  the  point,  have  l>een  advised 
very  differently.  It  has  been  jwinted  out  to  us  by  ver)'  high 
legal  authority,  that  some  at  least  of  the  bodies  which  it  is 
desirable  to  bring  into  closer  co-operation  w  ith  the  University  may 
be  impeded  by  disabling  enactments.  And  one  of  the  strongest 
arguments  brought  l)efore  us  in  favour  of  a  Statutory  Commission 
was  the  fact  that  it  is  a  legislative  solvent,  and  could,  subject  of 
course  to  the  approval  of  Parliament,  remove  any  legislative 
impediment  which  stood  in  the  way  of  its  ordinances. 

(iv. )  What  I  have  stated  above  is  sufficient,  I  hope,  to  show 
that  Sir  John's  interference  really  amounts  to  a  grave  invasion 
of  the  prinlcges  of  Convocation,  and  I  am  utterly  at  a  loss  to  see 
by  what  considerations  it  can  be  justified.  The  principle  of  a 
referendum  which  it  is  proposed  to  force  upon  us,  is  one  which 
can  only  be  accepted  after  the  most  serious  examination. 

Let  us  consider  what  it  involves.  At  present,  on  any  que.stion 
of  moment.  Convocation  only  proceeds  to  a  decision  after  a 
prolonged  debate.  And  I  venture  to  say  that  in  ability,  and 
certainly  in  earnestness,  the  dcljales  in  Burlington  Gardens  will 
compare  not  unfavourably  with  those  at  Westminster.  The 
divisions,  it  may  be  inferred,  are  the  outcome  of  reasoned  con- 
viction. A  referendum  is  a  very  different  matter.  It  is  only 
theoretically  applicable  when  the  issue  is  of  the  sharpest,  and 
can  be  stated  on  the  most  explicit  terms.  For  anything  short  of 
this  it  would  be  necessary  to  organise  for  and  against  any  proposal 
a  costly  machinery  in  order  to  pul  before  each  voter  a  reasonetl 
statement  on  one  side  or  the  other.  But  the  .Slalulory  Com- 
mission, from  the  nature  of  things,  will  have  to  deal  willi  matters 
of  the  most  delicate  compromise,  affecting,  as  I  have  shown, 
other  institutions  besides  the  University.  To  subject  these  to 
the  accidents  of  a  r^/trrt'W////;,  is,  I  venture  to  say,  one  of  the 
maddest  pcjlitical  expedients  ever  proposed. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  adding  one  more  remark.  I  deeply 
regret  that  Sir  John,  in  addressing  the  President  and  other 
Kellows  of  the  Koyal  .Society,  thr>ught  It  worth  while  to  point 
out  to  them  that  some  of  them  were  not  his  constituents.  There 
are  many  students  of  practical  ixilitics  who  find  it  difficult  to 
justify  lite  existence  of  University  Members  at  all.  I  take  it 
that  the  only  defence  that  can  be  made  for  them  is  that  they  are 
sf)mething  more  than  the  mandatories  of  merely  local  interests, 
such  as  may  exist,  say,  in  a  lxjr<»ugh.  They  stand  In  Parliament, 
if  they  have  any  claim  to  Ix:  there  at  all,  as  the  repre- 
sentatives of  those  interests  remote  from  party  which  ennoble 
and  dignify  (he  life  of  a  nation.  Universities  m.iy  select  and 
return  such  .Memljers.  But  that  duty  [x-rformed,  theirs  begins. 
If  Sir  John  really  seriously  thinks  thai  it  is  inappropriate  that  a 
Ixxly  of  Kellows  of  the  Koyal  Society  should  address  the 
.Mcmtx-r  f>ir  Ihe    University  of  I»ndon  on  a  matter  of  supreme 

rublic  Inleresi,  then  I  can  only  say  with  the  ilee|>esl  regret  that 
hope  that  the  day  Is  not  distant  when  our  choice  may  fall  on  a 
man  of  larger  sympathies  with  the  Interests  of  the  higher 
education  and  learnii^.  W.  T.  TlIISELTON-DvER. 

Kcw,  July  20. 

I'.S.  —  I  think  it  ini|K>rtant  to  atld  from  the  Bill  a.  portion  of 
Clause  3:  "(I)  The  Commissioners  shall  make  statutes  and 
ordinances  for  the  University  of  Lrmdon  In  general  accordance 


with  the  scheme  of  the  report  hereinbefore  referred  to,  but  subject 
to  any  modifications  which  may  appear  to  them  expedient  after 
considering  any  representations  maile  to  them  by  the  Senate  or 
Convocation  of  the  University  of  London,  or  by  any  other  body 
or  persons  affected."  It  will  l)e  seen  (i.)  that  it  practically 
accepts  the  procedure  of  Convocation  and  (ii. )  gives  a  locus 
standi  to  other  bodies  beside  the  University  which  may  be 
affected.— W.  T.  T.  D. 


NO.   1343,  VOL.  52] 


Sir  John  LtJBBOCK  seems  to  have  a  mistaken  conception  of 
the  nature  of  the  right  of  veto  possessed  by  the  Convocation  of 
the  University  of  London.  The  Charter  of  that  University 
provides  that  Convocation  shall  have  "  Ihc  pnver  of  accepting 
any  new  or  supplemental  Charter  for  the  University  or  consenting 
to  the  surrender  of  this  our  Charter."  But  such  provisions 
cannot  limit  the  action  of  Parliament.  The  provision  is  similar 
to  the  reference  to  Convocation  at  both  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
of  new  statutes  and  of  all  alterations  in  old  statutes  proposed  by 
the  Council  of  the  University.  Our  statutes  take  the  place  of 
the  Charier  of  the  University  of  London  in  many  respects. 

When  Parliament  h;vs  overhauled  the  Universities  of 
Oxford  and  Cambridge  by  means  of  a  Royal  Commission,  it 
has  never  occurred  to  any  one  that  it  would  be  proiier  to  refer 
the  statutes  jiroposed  by  such  Commission  to  the  Convocation 
of  Oxford  or  Cambridge.  .Sir  John  Lubbock's  proposal  to  do 
what  Is  parallel  to  this  in  (he  case  of  the  University  of  London 
is  a  new  departure.  Whether  he  is  aware  of  the  customary  pro- 
cedure in  dealing  wi(h  universilies,  and  thinks  it  objectionable, 
or  whether  he  supposes  that  the  plan  he  suggests  is  according  to 
precedent,  or,  again,  whether  he  is  merely  anxious  to  claim  for 
his  constituents  an  exce|)tional  privilege  by  demanding  which  he- 
will  be  giving  effect  to  their  wishes  and  justifying  their  selection 
of  him  as  Parliamentary  representative,  does  not  appear. 

For  my  own  part,  (hough  no(  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
London,  I  have  been  most  closely  associated  wilh  its  work  anil 
organlsiition — as  professor  in  University  College  and  .is  examiner 
in  the  University — during  twenty  years.  .My  conviction  is  that 
there  is  a  large  body  of  graduates,  members  of  Convocation, 
who  do  not  at  all  approve  of  Sir  John's  too  flattering  claim  on 
their  behalf ;  they  do  not  desire  that  the  Convocation  of  London 
should  be  gi\'en  exceptional  jjowers  possessed  by  no  o(her  body 
of  Universi(y  graduates  in  (his  or  anycoun(ry.  They  are  deeply 
concerned  for  the  progress  and  developmen(  of  (he  University 
of  London  in  its  true  characler  of  the  University  in  (he  greatest 
city  in  the  greatest  emjiire  of  (he  world.  .\nd  they  arc  prepared 
to  forego  (he  gradficatlon  of  ]iersonal  vani(y  offered  liy  Sir  John 
Lublock,  In  order  thai  an  executive  Commission  may  carry  out 
wi(houl  delay  the  important  develo]mient  of  ihe  University  ])ro- 
jiosed  by  the  dresham  Commission.  These  proposals  have  been 
already  a|)prove<l  of  by  a  majority  of  vo(ers  in  meedngs  of  Con- 
vocadon  a(  which  ihey  were  considered  and  tliscussetl  ;  the 
plan  of  again  submitling  the  ma((er  to  Convocation  after  a 
Statutory  Commission  has  embodied  the  Circsham  Conmiis- 
sloners'  proposals  in  delaile<l  enactments,  Is  one  which  can  have 
no  o(her  object  (ban  (hat  of  defeating  or,  at  any  rate,  delaying 
the  whole  scheme. 

.Sir  John  Lubbock  has  adopted,  .and  made  himself  (he 
leader  of  (his  exlraordinary  and  fan(as(ic  pcilicy.  I(  seems 
(o  me  thai  he  has  by  his  action  shown  an  unfavimralile  estimate 
of  the  intelligence  of  his  constituents,  and  (hat  (he  (ime  may 
come  when  the  Convocadon  of  the  University  of  London  will 
require  from  i(s  represen(a(lve  .active  co-operadon  in  the  task  of 
organising  the  University,  ami  single-minded  devodun  (o  (he  In- 
terests of  science,  learning,  and  education,  together  wilh  a(lenlioI> 
to  those  interests  in  Parliament,  in  place  of  the  eniply  (la((ery 
itf  an  Impossible  proposal  to  confer  on  Convocadon  powers 
rendering  the  customary  Parliamentary  control  of  the  University 
Impossible.  IC.  Ray  LANKKStKK. 

July  20. 


Wii  MoiT  eiKerlng  ln(o  (he  vexed   queslioii  of  (he   (Iresham  ■ 
scheme,   will    you    allow    me    to    explain,  in  a    few    wiirds,  (he 
grounils  on  which   so  many  of  .Sir  John   Lubbock's  old  friends  1 
and  suppor(ers  join  issue  with  him   endrely  on  (he  attitude  he 
has  t.aken  up  in  his  le((er  (o  Dr.  Fos(er.  , 

We  objec(  (o  Ihe  proposed  referendum  (o  (he  gr.aduates,  and  to  j 
the  mode  In  which  he  suggests  (ha(  l(  should  lie  exercised. 

First,  as  lo  (he  mode.  If  Sir  John  Lubl>ock  insls(s  on  the  | 
mauKenance  of  (he  rlgh(  of  ve(o  according  lo  (he  Cliar(er,  this  I 
should  clearly  be  exercised  In  Ihe  only  melhod   provided  liy  the  1 


July  25,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


295 


■Charter,  that  is,  by  Convocation  assembltd  in  a  regular  way. 
The  constituency  may  be,  as  Sir  John  states,  an  exceptionally 
•educated  and  intelligent  one  ;  but  a  very  large  proportion  of  the 
graduates  have  never  studied  the  question  of  reorganisation, 
•and  are  ignorant  of  its  complications  and  difficulties.  V\'e  have 
jilready  had  painful  experience  cjf  how  the  votes  of  these 
graduates  may  lie  influenced  by  inaccurate  or  misleading  state- 
ments in  circulars  issued  through  the  post  on  the  eve  of  an 
-election  by  the  party  who  are  hostile  to  the  Gresham  scheme. 
If  made  in  debate  in  Convocation,  these  statements  could  at 
once  be  corrected. 

But,  secondly,  we  object  to  the  refereniiiiin  in  itself.  Con- 
vocation has  already,  twice,  deliberately,  knowing  what  it  was 
about,  waived  the  right  of  final  veto  by  agreeing  to  the  ap]xj!nt- 
ment  of  a  Slalulory  Commission.  It  maintains  its  full  right  of 
presenting  its  views  to  this  Commission,  when  appointed,  and  of 
protesting  against  any  provision  that  may  interfere  with  its 
rights  and  privileges ;  and,  furthermore,  of  influencing  Parlia- 
ment against  it  through  its  Member,  or  through  any  graduate 
who  may  have  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons,  or  through  its 
Chancellor,  w^ho  sits  in  the  I  louse  of  Lords,  should  any  such 
provision  still  be  retained  when  the  Bill  is  presented  to  Parlia- 
ment.     Any  further  right  than  this  Convocation  does  not  claim. 

For  my  own  jiart,  should  the  position  assumed  by  Sir  John 
Lubbock  be  maintained  by  Parliament,  it  seems  to  me  that  we 
must  abandon  all  hope  of  bringing  our  University  irto  a  line 
with  the  requirements  of  the  age.        Alfred  W.  Be.nnett. 


The  Earliest  Magnetic  Meridians. 

In  reply  to  Prof.  L.  A.  Bauer's  letter  in  Nature  of  July  i8, 
p.  269,  I  may  remark  that  I  possess  two  of  Churchman's  Mag- 
netic Atlases.  The  first  of  these  I  now  believe  was  published  in 
1790,  and  to  be  that  described  in  his  tract,  "  An  Explanation  of 
the  Magnetic  Atlas,  Philadelphia,  1790."  The  lines  on  this 
■chart  are  magnetic  meridians  only,  as  fully  defined  in  Churchman's 
text,  and  largely  based  upon  Cook's  observations  of  the  variation. 

It  is  evident  that  Churchman  depended  largely  on  observation, 
as,  he  discussed  the  question  of  the  effects  of  a  .ship's  iron  in 
-altering  the  value  of  the  variation  when  observed  on  board  ship. 

The  second  atlas,  which  is  dated  July  i,  iSoo,  has  isogonic 
lines  for  each  degree  of  variation  with  magnetic  meridians  super- 
posed, similar  to  Veates'  Chart  of  1S19,  which  I  also  possess; 

Lastly,  I  would  observe,  that  ^'eates  mentions  the  charts  of 
Halley,  Bellin,  and  Mountaine,  and  Dodson  in  1794,  but  makes 
no  reference  to  Churchman,  who  presented  a  copy  of  his  work  to 
the  Koyal  Society  in  January  1791.  It  is  possible,  therefore, 
that  \'eates  constructed  his  chart  in  ignorance  of  Churchman's 
work,  but  the  latter  certainly  was  the  first  of  the  two  to  construct 
■magnetic  meridians.  Ettrick  W.  Creak. 

London.  lulv  20. 


■Variegation  in  Flowers  and  Fruits. 

Referring  to  a  letter  by  Mr.  Xewnham  Browne,  in  Natire 
•of  July  II,  describing  a  parti-coloured  rose,  it  may  be  of  interest 
to  state  that  a  somewhat  similar  occurrence  in  the  case  of  an 
•apple  is  recorded  by  Mr.  Darwin  in  his  "  .■\nimals  and  Plants 
.under  Domestication"  (vol.  i.  pp.  392-3).  The  reference  is  to 
a  specimen  which  I  brought  from  Canada,  and  of  which  I  sent 
him  a  careful  drawing.  In  this  specimen  it  appeared  as  if  a 
smooth-skinned  bright  green  apple  had  been  cut  in  half  and 
joine<l  to  a  rough  hxovin.  ponimc-gris.  The  line  of  junction  was 
perfectly  sharp,  but  not  quite  .symmetrical,  the  brown  portion 
extending  over  the  whole  of  the  bud,  while  the  green  just  included 
the  stalk.  I  was  told  that  similar  instances  sometimes  were 
.found  on  the  tree  from  which  it  was  gathered. 

J.  D.  La  Touche. 

Slokesay  Vicarage,  Craven  .\rms,  July  12. 

Science  Scholarships  at  Cambridge. 

Thouc.ii  the  arrangements  for  the  competitions  for  Science 
:Scholarships  at  Cambridge,  as  described  in  Nature  of  July 
18,  are  in  many  respects  eminently  satisfactory,  yet  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  candidates  they  leave  something  to  be 
•desired. 

In  the  first  place,  they  are  unduly  favourable  to  those  whose 
nineteenth  birthdays  will  fall  early  in  1896,  and  correspondingly 
uinfavoiirable   to   those   who  are  six  or  eight  months  yoimger. 


NO.    1343,   VOL.  52] 


They  will  compel  these  younger  candidates  not  only  to  compete 
at  a  marked  disadvantage  in  the  matter  of  age,  but  also  after  a 
shorter  period  of  reading  in  science  ;  unless,  indeed,  they  have 
sacrificed  an  important  part  of  their  general  education  by  con-.- 
mencing  specialised  .study  at  an  undesirably  early  age.  .Secondly, 
they  are  calculated  to  throw  out  altogether  any  candidates  who 
may,  through  illness  or  other  causes,  be  unable  to  compete 
during  the  very  limited  period  covered  by  the  examinations  as  at 
present  arranged. 

Similar  difficulties  are  avoided  in  the  case  of  the  Army 
examinations  by  holding  them  twice  yearly,  at  intervals  of  about 
six  months.  In  the  present  case,  sufficient  equality  could  be 
secured  by  a  fairly  strong  group  of  colleges  holding  their  examina- 
tions a  little  later — for  example,  in  April  or  May. 

If  it  be  feared  that  only  the  inferior  candidates  would  be  left 
to  compete  at  this  later  examination,  we  would  point  out  that,  on 
the  contrary,  there  would  be  less  chance  of  this  happening  if  our 
suggestion  be  adopted  than  under  the  present  scheme.  In  April 
or  May  the  older  of  the  previously  unsuccessful  candidates  would 
be  excluded,  and  only  the  younger  and,  presumably,  better 
candidates  would  remain.  On  the  other  hand,  the  later  examina- 
tion would  have  attractions  for  the  ablest  of  those  still  younger 
candidates,  who  will  not,  under  the  present  system,  come  into 
the  field  until  the  autumn  of  1896.  \V.  A.  Shenstone. 

Clifton  College,  July  23.  D.  Rintoul. 


SIR  JOHN  LUBBOCK    AND    THE    TEACHING 

UNIVERSITY  FOR  LONDON. 
'HP HE  feelings  of  "surprise  and  regret"  which  we  said 
-'■  had  been  aroused  by  Sir  John  Lubbock's  election 
address,  will  not  be  diminished  by  the  perusal  of  the 
reply  to  which,  at  his  request,  we  gave  publicity  in  our 
last  issue.  Rather  the  surprise  will  turn  to  amazement, 
that  he  should  deem  that  to  be  a  reply  which  evades 
every  material  issue,  and  appears  to  be  written  in  ignor- 
ance or  forgetfulness  of  all  that  has  taken  place.  And 
the  regret  will  be  enhanced  when  it  is  observed  that  his 
language  now  makes  plain  what  could  only  be  inferred 
from  his  address,  namely,  that  he  has  never  grasped  the 
distinction  between  a  Charter  granted  by  the  prerogative 
of  the  Crown,  and  a  scheme  framed  under  the  authority 
of  the  Legislature. 

Yet  Sir  John  Lubbock  has  for  many  years  taken  an 
active,  and  even  a  prominent,  part  in  public  afTairs  ;  has 
for  many  years  occupied  a  seat  in  Parliament  ;  has  in 
the  course  of  his  lifetime  seen  almost  every  university 
in  the  three  kingdoms  reformed  by  the  machinery  of 
Statutory  Commissions  :  and  has,  if  we  are  not  mistaken, 
himself  sat  on  a  Commission  entrusted  by  the  Legis- 
lature with  the  duty  of  remodelling  the  constitution  of 
the  great  public  schools,  which,  next  to  the  universities, 
are  the  most  important  educational  institutions  of  the 
country.  That  he  should  be  unaware  of  the  distinction, 
or  have  forgotten  it,  seems  incredible  ;  but  his  language 
and  his  reasoning  seeni  to  leave  no  doubt  on  the  point. 
"  I  ani  glad,"  he  says,  "  to  observe  that  the  only  point 
objected  to  is  the  reference  of  any  new  Cliarter  to  Con- 
vocation. In  this,  however,  I  am  not  asking  that  any 
privilege  which  they  do  not  at  present  possess  should  be 
conferred  on  my  constituents,  but  only  supporting  what  is 
now  their  legal  right." 

\\'hat  then,  we  are  forced  to  ask,  is  Sir  John's  idea  of 
a  Statutory  Commission  ?  Does  it  need  an  .A.ct  of 
Parliament  to  authorise  a  body  of  persons  to  formulate 
proposals  affecting  a  public  corporation  or  institution, 
which,  when  framed,  may  be  accepted  or  rejected  at  the 
pleasure  of  those  whom  they  affect .'  Or  docs  he 
suppose  that  it  needs  an  .•\ct  of  Parliament  to  enable 
the  Crown  to  concur  with  bodies  which  the  Charter  of 
the  Crown  has  called  into  existence,  in  eflfecting  a 
modification  of  the  franchise  which  they  enjoy  ?  .-Xn  .■\ct 
of  Parliament,  we  had  thought,  was  an  Act  of  the 
Sovereign  Legislature,  which  changed  the  "legal  rights" 
as  they  previously  existed  ;  and  we  had  never  heard  that 
Parliament  added  to  its  necessary  labours  the  superfluous 


296 


NATURE 


[J 


ULV 


=  0> 


1S95 


task  of  passing  Statutes  to  enable  people  to  do  what  they 
had  already  the  •'  legal  right  "  of  doing. 

If  this  is  Sir  John  Lubbock's  view  of  a  Statutor)' 
Commission,  it  was  not  the  view  taken  by  the  late  Royal 
Commission,  to  whose  Report  he  indeed  refers,  but  w  hose 
Report,  we  are  compelled  to  believe,  he  has  never  read. 
For,  in  words  too  clear  for  misunderstanding,  they  have 
expressly  recommended  that  the  proposed  change  should 
be  effected,  "  not  by  CliarUr,  but  by  legislative  authority."  ' 
Is  it  possible  to  suppose  that  in  the  discussions  which  have 
taken  place  in  the  Senate  on  the  subject  of  the  Report, 
the  distinction  so  clearly  pointed  out  has  never  been 
noticed  or  commented  on  in  that  august  assembly, 
though  presided  over  by  the  highest  legal  authority  in  the 
realm  ?  Or  if  (as  we  must  needs  assume)  the  distinction 
did  not  pass  unnoticed,  was  Sir  John  slumbering  in  his 
chair  ;  and  when  he  concurred  in  voting  the  resolution, 
by  which  the  Senate  accepted  generally  the  recommend- 
ations of  the  Commissioners,  including  this  vital  one,  was 
he  not  aware  of  the  meaning  of  his  act  ?  Every  assump- 
tion we  make  seems  incredible  ;  yet  it  looks  as  if, 
notwithstanding,  some  or  one  of  them  must  be  triie. 

The  authors  of  the  protest  addressed  to  Sir  John 
Lubbock  say  truly  that  it  would  be  "  without  precedent  " 
to  confer  on  Convocation  the  right  to  '' supenise  the 
Acts  of  a  Commission  entrusted  with  the  reorganisation 
of  the  University  of  which  Convocation  itself  is  a  part." 
But  when  we  ask  ourselves  how  this  right  is  to  be  ex- 
ercised, the  matter  becomes  not  only  unprecedented,  but 
almost  inconceivable.  Is  the  ratification  or  veto  of  Con- 
vocation to  be  exercised  directly  on  the  .Acts  of  the 
Statutory  Commission,  so  as  to  be  interposed  between 
such  Acts  and  the  "approval  of  Parliament  ni  the  usual 
way,"  and  so  as  to  exclude  Tarliament  from  the  power 
of  considering  any  proposals  of  its  own  Commissioners 
not  so  ratified  ?  Or  is  it  to  stand  in  lieu  of  the  ratification 
of  Tarliament,  so  as  to  transfer  the  power  of  Parliament 
to  the  individual  graduates  ?  Or  is  the  ratification  of  I 
Parliament  to  be  given  only  subject  to  the  power  of  the 
graduates  to  disallow  the  Act  of  the  Legislature  ?  Or  is,  I 
perhaps,  the  ratification  and  veto  to  be  exercised  by  the 
more  compendious  method  of  entrusting  the  Member  for 
the  University  with  a  power  to  overrule  the  decision  of 
Parliament  and  its  Commissioners  ?  We  shall  look  with 
interest  at  the  particular  form  given  to  the  clause  which 
Sir  John  Lubbock  proposes  to  introduce  into  the  Bill. 

But  yet,  for  one  so  careful  of  the  "  legal  right,"  one  or 
two  strange  things  are  to  be  observed  as  to  his  proposal. 
Convocation,  as  we  all  know,  has  already,  like  the  Senate, 
accepted  the  recommendations  of  the  Commission,  and, 
like  the  Senate,  claims  to  represent  its  views  before  the 
Statutory  Commission,  when  appointed.  Convocation 
has  passed  this  resolution  in  the  exercise  of  its  "legal 
right,"  and  in  the  legal  mode,  that  is,  in  the  mode  pre- 
scribed by  the  Charter  on  which  alone  its  rights  depend.' 

*  "In  view  of  the  failure  of  previous  .attempts  10  .settle  this  iiucslion,  and  of 
(h*  Hifli'-iiltv  and  <\Aw  whtrh  must  inpvit.ihly  .ittend  .in  .^iteration  of  the 

■    -  ■"-'      '  ,     .1  -       ->   .1,        -inn  of  the  University  itself,  wc 

■  ■  rdents  fulluwcd  in  other  clscs 

mend  sluiuld  lie  ctTcctetl  not  by 

■\.  .if]iii.\  rhcnppointnictil  of  .iClijmmission 

.   in   the  first    instance,   arrangements   and 

■s-   with  ih'*  recommendations  which  we  are 

'■  •    I'    xii  ) 

iidcs'*That  the  Convocation 

'L'(»ha(  i»t'ls.^y)  :— The  power 

,  ,       f'  (f  ill  the  manner 

i^ocatinn,  as  pro. 

if  it  sh.ill  think 

'     <  >minations 

'-c  sii^ned, 

-uch  rcKU* 

I  i[ti<    I  ■  ririir   ileterniine, 

t  disciissiiin  any  matter 

■It;    ih.-   ■.piiii-.n    'if  fr)n- 

■I'W  or  sup. 

'ier  of  this 

'  !•■«!,  iiever- 


Is  it  not  a  little  strange,  then,  that  this  new  power  of  rati- 
fication or  veto,  which  is  not  an  "existing  legal  right"  at 
all,  is  to  be  exercised,  not  in  the  manner  in  which  the 
acceptance  of  a  new  Charter  is  by  the  express  language  of 
the  existing  Charter  to  be  exercised,  but  in  a  mode  in 
which  that  very  right,  on  the  analogy  of  which  the  claim 
is  based,  cannot  be  exercised.  But  truly  the  argument  is 
all  of  a  piece  :  and  the  result  is,  that  the  inilividual 
graduate  is  to  have  a  larger,  and  a  more  irresponsible, 
power  in  controlling  the  .-\cts  of  the  Legislature,  than  he 
has  in  controlling  the  .Acts  of  the  Crown  alone,  acting  on 
the  instance  of  the  Senate. 

For,  and  this  is  the  other  strange  thing,  what  in  the 
view  of  this  champion  of  "  legal  rights  "  is  to  become  of 
the  legal  rights  of  the  .Senate  ?  The  .Senate  is  the  sole 
administrative  governing  body  of  the  University.  It  is 
the  Senate  which  must  necessarily  have  the  most  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  working  of  the  system  which  it  ad- 
ministers, and  of  the  needs  of  the  University  ft^'  the  con- 
duct and  reputation  of  which  it  is  responsible.  It  is  the 
.Senate  which  would  alone  apply  to  the  Crown  for  that 
new  Charter  which  Convocation  has  the  power  of 
accepting  or  rejecting,  and  without  whose  application  no 
such  Charter  would  ever  come  under  discussion.  Surely 
it  would  be  logical,  or  at  least  consistent  in  its  illogicality, 
to  require  that  the  acts  of  the  Statutory  Commission 
should  also  be  submitted  to  the  approval  of  the  Senate, 
and  (let  it  be  added)  that  the  individual  members  of  the 
-Senate  should  record  their  opinion  by  means  of  voting 
papers.  Or  is  it  indeed  only  the  "legal  rights"  of  "con- 
stituents "  that  are  to  be,  not  indeed  preserved,  but 
extended  by  the  creation  of  a  new  and  exorbitant 
precedent  ? 


NO.    1343,  VOL.   52] 


POST-GRADUATE  STUDY  AND  RESEARCH 
A  T  CAMBRIDGE. 

THE  Senate  of  the  University  of  Cambridge  have  now 
approved  new  statutes  for  submission  to  Her 
Majesty  in  Council,  conferring  on  the  University  the 
power  of  admitting  to  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  .-Vrts,  or 
liachelor  of  Law,  "advanced  students"  who  have  resided 
six  terms,  and  have  fulfilled  certain  retiuircmenls  to  be 
prescribed  by  ordinance  from  time  to  time. 

The  regulations  which  will  become  ordinances  when 
the  statutes  are  confirmed  have  been  i)ublislied,  and  run 
as  follows  .-X  few  notes  are  added  in  si|uare  brackets  by 
way  of  cxplan.ation. 

Rf.cU'I.AT10.NS    1-OR   COI'RSKS  OV   ADVANCKD   SrlDV    .\M) 

Research. 

(.•\)  Admission  as  Adi'aiiccd  Stiideiils  of  Persons  who  arc  not 
already  Members  of  the  University. 

(1)  .Applications  for  .•nlmissii)ii  as  advanced  studi;nts  sliiill  he 
niailif  to  tht.-  Rfgislrary. 

No  jicrson  shall  be  admitted  as  an  atlvaiiccd  stinleiil  who  has 
not  attained  ihe  age  iif  twenty-one  years. 

(2)  Kach  application  shall  be  accomiwnietl  by  ■ 
(i. )  a  liiplonia  or  other  cerlificatc  of  graduation  at  a  L'nivcrsityf 

[British  or  foreign] ;  , 

(ii.)  a  sttitcincnt  a.s  to  the  course  or  courses  of  (o)  advanced^ 

study  iir  (/')  research  which  Ihe  applicant   desires  to   pursue,  ' 

gether   will)   such    evidence  "f    qualilicaliiin,   attainments, 

previous  study  as  he  may  be  able  ti>  submit  ; 

(iii.)  a  certificate  or  declaration  thai  Ihe   applicanl  has  altained 

the  age  of  twenty-one  years. 

(3)  In  exceptional  ca,ses  persons  who  do  not  present  a  (h|ilimia 
or  certificate  of  griidualion  [al  anoiher  University]  may  be  .id- 
initlcd  ius  .advanced  sludenls,  provided  ihey  give  Muh  evidence 
of  special  <|iialiruation  as  may  be  a])|ir(iviil  by  ibe  Degree  Com- 
mittee of  Ihe  Special  Hoard  of  SHidies  wilh  wliicli  Ihe  iiroposed 
course  iif  advanced  sliidy  i)r  research  is  most  nearly  cunneded. 

(4)  .\))plicalii)ns  shall,  in  general,  be  submilled  not  later  than 
,  ,„  I  Ihe    first  day  of  October   in   the  academic  year   in  wliicli  Ihe 

.)     I  applicant  pr(>ix)ses  to  begin    his  course.      But   Ihe   aulhorilics 


Ivancedi 
sue,  to-2 
Is,  andf 


July  25,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


297 


specified  in  Regulation  5  shall  have  power  to  consider  applica- 
tions submitted  at  other  times. 

(5)  The  Kegi'strary  shall  forthwith  communicate  each  applica- 
tion to  the  Chairman  of  the  Special  Board  of  Studies  with  which 
the  proposed  course  of  advanced  study  or  research  appears  to  be 
most  nearly  connected. 

Applications  for  admission  to  courses  of  advanced  study  shall 
be  considered  and  decided  upon  by  the  Chairman  of  the  Special 
Board. 

Applications  for  admission  to  courses  of  research,  and  excep- 
tional applications  under  Regulation  3,  shall  be  considered  and 
decided  upon  by  the  Degree  Committee  of  the  Special  Board. 

(6)  The  application  shall  not  be  granted  unless  it  shall  appear 
(i.)  that  the  course  or  courses  of  advanced  study  or  research 

can  conveniently  be  pursued  within  the  University  ;  and 

(ii.)  that  the  applicant  has  produced  adequate  evidence  that  he 
is  qualified  to  enter  ujion  the  projiosed  course  or  courses. 

(7)  When  the  application  has  been  decided,  the  Chairman 
shall  inform  the  Registrary  of  the  decision ;  and  the  Registrary 
shall  inform  the  applicant. 

(8)  Before  a  person  is  admitted  as  an  advanced  student,  he 
shall  become  a  member  of  a  College  or  Hostel,  or  a  non- 
collegiate  student  [for  this  admission  he  must  present  satis- 
factory testin\onials  of  character  and  attainments].  He  shall 
not  be  allowed  to  count  any  term  before  that  in  which  he  has 
matriculated  [by  signing  the  matriculation  book  of  the  Uni- 
versity, and  paying  a  fee  of  ^5  :  there  is  no  "  matriculation 
examination  "].  unless  he  has  satisfied  the  Council  of  the  Senate 
that  his  matriculation  had  been  deferred  for  grave  and  sufiicient 
cause. 

(B)  Courses  of  Advanced  Study. 

(9)  .\n  advanced  student,  who  has  kept  two  terms  by  resid- 
ence, may  in  his  third  term  of  residence  or  in  any  subsequent 
term  become  a  candidate  for  any  of  such  Tripos  examinations 
or  parts  of  Tripos  examinations  as  shall  have  been  opened  to 
advanced  students  under  the  provisions  hereinafter  contained. 

The  name  of  every  such  candidate  shall  be  sent  to  the  Regis- 
trar)' by  the  Pra;lector  of  his  College  or  Hostel,  or  by  the  Censor 
of  non-collegiate  students,  as  the  case  may  be,  at  the  same 
time  and  in  the  same  manner  as  the  names  of  other  candidates  ; 
but  a  mark  shall  be  added  to  his  name  showing  that  he  is  an 
advanced  student. 

(10)  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  each  Special  Board  of  Studies  from 
time  to  time  to  consider  whether  the  Tripos  examination  or  a 
part  only  of  the  Tripos  examination  with  which  that  Board  is 
connected  shall  be  open  to  advanced  students,  and  also  what 
standard  in  the  examination  must  be  attained  by  an  advanced 
student  in  order  that  his  name  may  be  included  in  the  list  men- 
tioned in  the  next  Regidation  :  and  their  recommendation  after 
approval  by  the  General  Board  of  Studies  shall  be  submitted  for 
adoption  by  C)race  of  the  Senate. 

In  cases  where  two  or  more  Special  Boards  are  connected 
with  a  Tripos  examination,  the  duty  prescribed  by  this  Regula- 
tion shall  be  performed  by  such  Boards  in  joint  meeting 
assembletl. 

(11)  The  names  of  such  advanced  students  as  satisfy  the 
Examiners  that  they  have  attained  the  required  standard  in  the 
examination  shall  be  placed  in  alphabetical  order  on  a  list, 
written  or  printed,  signed  by  all  the  Kxaminers  and  distinct 
from  the  Tripos  list,  which  shall  be  regarded  as  the  authorita- 
tive list  and  shall  be  preserved  in  the  Registry.  The  Chairman 
of  the  Examiners  shall  send  both  to  the  Vice-Chancellor  and  to 
the  Registrary  a  prinleil  copy  certified  by  him  to  be  a  correct 
copy  of  the  authoritative  list. 

(12)  An  advanced  student  who  has  satisfied  the  Examiners  as 
prescribed  in  Regulation  1 1  shall  be  qualified  to  enter  upon  a 
course  of  research,  provided  that  the  subject  of  his  research  be 
approved  by  the  Degree  Committee  of  one  of  the  Special 
Boards. 

(13)  \x\  a<lvanced  student  who  has  satisfied  the  Examiners  as 
prescribed  in  Regulation  1 1  and  has  kept  by  residence  at  least 
six  terms  shall  be  entitled  to  proceed  to  the  degree  of  B..\. 
and  thereafter  under  the  usual  conditions  to  the  degree  of  .M..\. 
and  to  other  degrees  in  the  University  {i.e.  for  example,  M.D., 
Sc.D.,  or  I.itt.D.]. 

(14)  .\n  advanced  student  who  has  satisfied  the  Examiners  in 
the  Law  Tripos  as  prescribed  in  Regulation  1 1  and  has  kept 
by  residence  at  least  six  terms,  shall  also  be  entitled  to  proceed 
to  the  degree  of  LL.  B.  and  thereafter  under  the  usual  con- 
ditions to  the  degree  of  LL.  .\1.  and  to  other  degrees  in  the 
University  [for  example,  LL. I).]. 

NO.    1343,  VOL.   52] 


(C)   Courses  of  Research. 

(15)  An  advanced  student  who  has  been  admitted  to  a  course 
of  research  shall  pursue  that  course  under  such  direction  and 
supervision  and  under  such  other  conditions  as  may  be  pre- 
scribed by  the  Degree  Committee. 

(16)  An  advanced  student,  who  has  kept  two  terms  by  resi- 
dence, may  in  his  third  term  of  residence,  or  in  any  subsequent 
term,  submit  to  the  Degree  Committee,  not  later  than  the  divi- 
sion of  the  term,  a  dissertation  containing  an  account  of  and 
embodying  the  results  of  his  research.  The  dissertation  shall  be 
referred  to  one  or  more  persons  appointed  by  the  Committe*;, 
who  shall  have  power  to  examine  the  student  orally  or  otherwise 
upon  the  subject  thereof,  and  shall  report  thereon  to  the  Com- 
mittee. Each  of  the  persons  so  appointed  shall  receive  a  fee  of 
two  guineas  from  the  University  Chest. 

The  Committee  shall  have  power  to  take  into  consideration  to- 
gether with  the  dissertation  any  memoir  or  work  [previously  or 
subsequently]  published  by  the  student  which  he  may  desire  to 
submit  to  them. 

(17)  If  the  Degree  Committee  be  of  opinion  that  the  work 
submitted  by  the  student  is  of  distinction  as  an  original  contribu- 
tion to  learning  or  as  a  record  of  original  research,  they  shall 
draw  up  a  statement  to  this  effect,  indicating  therein  the  subject 
or  subjects  of  the  student's  research. 

(18)  The  statement  drawn  up  by  the  Degree  Committee  shall- 
be  forwarded  by  the  Chairman  to  the  Registrar)',  who  shall  em- 
body it  in  a  Certificate  of  Research  in  a  form  approved  by  the 
General  Board  of  Studies.  Xo  such  Certificate  shall  be  granted 
unless  and  until  three  terms  have  been  kept  by  residence. 

Each  candidate  before  receiving  his  Certificate  of  Research- 
shall  deposit  in  the  University  library  a  copy  of  his  disserta- 
tion in  a  form  approved  by  the  Degree  Committee. 

(19)  A  student  who  has  obtained  a  Certificate  of  Research  and 
has  kept  by  residence  at  least  six  terms  shall  be  entitled  to  pro- 
ceed to  the  degree  of  B.A.  and  thereafter,  under  the  usual 
conditions  to  the  degree  of  M.A.  and  to  other  degrees  in  the 
University  [see  Regulation  13,  above]. 

(D)  Admission  to  Courses  of  Research  of  Persons  who  are 

already  Graduates  of  the  UniTersity. 

(20)  A  graduate  of  the  University  who  desires  to  be  admitted 
as  an  advanced  student  with  a  view  to  obtaining  the  Certificate 
of  Research  described  in  Regulation  18,  shall  make  application 
to  the  Chairman  of  the  Special  Board  of  .Studies  with  which  his 
proposed  course  of  research  appears  to  be  most  nearly  connected  ;■ 
and  the  application  shall  be  considered  and  decided  upon  by  the 
Degree  Committee  of  the  Special  Board. 

(21)  The  Degree  Committee  shall  not  grant  the  application 
unless  they  are  satisfied 

(i.)  that  the  course  or  courses  of  research  can  conveniently  be 
pursued  within  the  University  ;  and 

(ii.)  that  the  applicant  has  produced  adequate  evidence  that 
he  is  qualified  to  enter  upon  the  proposed  course  or  courses. 

(22)  If  the  application  be  granted,  the  student  shall  become 
entitled  to  a  Certificate  of  Research  upon  satisfying  the  require- 
ments of  Regtilations  15-18. 

(E)  Tab/e  of  Fees  for  Matriculation,  E.xaminations,  and 

Degrees. 
M.vrRicui.ATiox.  C    -f-  <^' 

Advanced  student  (at  any  time,  whether  fellow- 
commoner  or  not)  ...         ...         ...         ...     500 

[Certain  Colleges,  e.g.  St.  John's,  Trinity, 
and    King's,  have  recently  admitted  senior 
students,  generally  graduates  of  other  Uni- 
versities,   as    "  fellow-commoners."     These 
dine   with   the    fellows,    and    have    certain 
special    privileges.     Fellow-commoners   not 
admitted  as   "advanced   students"    pay    to 
the    University  a  matriculation    fee   of   ten 
guineas.] 
Examinations. 

Advanced  Students : 

On  admission  to  a  Tripos  examination  or  a  part- 

of  a  TriDos  examination  ...         ...         ...     300 

On  submitting  a  dissertation  for  the  Certificate  of 
Research,  on  each  occasion  \t.e.  the  fee  has  to  be 
paid  again  if  the  candidate  i^  unsuccessful  the 

first  time]  ...  .  .     500 

Dkcrees. 

.Advanced  Students : 

H..\.  or  LL.B.  at  anycongregationfor  degrees  ...     700 


NA  rURE 


[JuLv  25,  1S95 


[The  fee  for  these  degrees,  except  at  "  general  admissions,"  is 
len  guineas  for  students  not  admitted  as  "  advanced  students."] 

Advanced  students  shall  ]iay  to  the  University  Chest  tlie  same 
capitation  tax  as  other  members  of  the  University,  and  under  the 
same  conditions  as  to  standing  (Graces  June  I,  1S93,  and 
Februar)-  14,  1S95):  provided  that  the  quarterly  payment  to  be 
made  by  an  advanced  student,  who  has  obtained  a  certificate  of 
research  but  has  not  been  admitted  to  a  degree,  and  who  has 
<easet1  to  reside  in  the  University,  shall  from  and  after  the  end 
of  the  eighth  quarter  from  the  commencement  of  residence  be 
four  shillings  and  threepence. 

[The  ■■  capitation  ta.\  "  referred  to  is  thus  in  general  ten  shil- 
lings a  quarter  during  the  two  years  of  residence,  and  four 
shillings  and  threejience  a  quarter  thereafter  until  the  ad\-anced 
student  removes  his  name  from  the  boards  of  his  College.  ] 

The  outcome  ofthesereg^ulations  is  this,  that  ajjraduate 
of  a  British.  .American,  or  other  University,  who  can 
show  evidence  of  special  qualifications  for  advanced  study 
in  literature,  law,  histor\-,  or  other  like  subject,  or  for 
scientific  research,  may  be  admitted  under  exceptionally 
favourable  conditions  to  the  University  of  Cambridge, 
He  will  not  be  required  to  pass  the  "  previous  examina- 
tion "  in  Greek,  Latin,  elementarj-  mathematics,  and  other 
subjects  of  preliminary  education.  He  may  reside 
two  years  instead  of  the  three  required  of  ordinary 
undergraduates.  He  will  probably  be  allowed  special 
privileges  in  respect  of  the  University  librar\-,  the 
museums,  and  the  laboratories.  He  may  become  a 
-candidate  in  the  parts  of  certain  of  the  Triposes  con- 
cerned with  his  particular  subject,  or  he  may  engage  from 
the  outset  in  independent  research.  If  he  approves 
himself  sufficiently  in  the  Tripos  examination,  or 
achieves  results  in  relation  to  his  research  which  may 
fairly  claim  "distinction,"  he  may  proceed  to  the  degree 
■of  B.A.  without  further  examination.  Thereafter  he 
need  not  reside  further,  but  after  the  ordinary  period  of 
probation,  pass  to  the  higher  degree  of  .M..-\.  This 
opens  the  way  to  the  doctorate  in  science  or  in  letters 
for  those  whose  after-work  is  of  sufficient  merit.  .\  point 
of  importance  is  contained  in  the  second  clause  of  Regula- 
tion 16,  which  provides  that  work  published  elsewhere  may 
be  taken  into  account  in  deciding  whether  an  advanced 
student  is  qualified  for  his  certificate  or  degree. 

The  "  Degree  Committee  ''  of  a  .Special  Hoard  consists 
of  the  professors  and  other  elected  members  of  the  Board, 
but  not  the  examiners  for  Triposes,  &c.,  who  arc  appointed 
for  a  year  at  a  time.  The  special  Boards  deal  respec- 
tively with  theology,  law,  medicine,  classics,  oriental 
studies,  medi.eval  and  modern  languages,  mathe- 
matics, physics  and  chemistry,  biology  and  geolog)', 
history  and  arch;eology,  moral  science,  and  inusic.  The 
Triposes  are  the  mathematical,  classical,  moral  sciences, 
natural  sciences,  mechanical  sciences,  theological,  law, 
historical,  oriental  languages,  and  medi;eval  and  modern 
languages.  It  has  yet  to  be  determined  what  parts  of 
these  shall  be  specially  opened  to  advanced  students,  but 
as  most  of  them  are  divided  into  two  parts,  it  is  likely  that 
the  second  or  more  advanced  and  specialised  parts  will 
as  a  rule  be  made  available.  The  University  has  m.ide 
concessions  as  to  the  fees  to  be  paid  by  advanced  students, 
and  there  is  no  doubt  that  as  the  scheme  conies  into 
working  order,  the  colleges  will  follow  the  lead  of  the 
University  in   this  respect. 

The  ~rhcnie  is  one  which  should  lead  to  important 
d'  '^  in  the  future.     Graduates  of  other  univer- 

si'  they  came  from  Oxford  or  Dublin,  or  were 

spti  Lilly  '.ifliliatcd,"  could  share  in  the  advantages 
which  Caniliri(li.'c  has  to  offer,  only  on  condition  of 
I"  '   :  .^:raduate  students,  and  so  beginning 

il'  <■  over   again.      Now.    if  they  are 

^'  ■  'i   iiy  previous  study  and  attainments, 

ll  'It  on  a  higher  and  definitely  recognised 

fm.,,..^,  .,,,..  ,i,..j  at  once  enter  on  post-graduate  work. 
It    Is   to  be    ho|)cd    that,  at   least   in    English-speaking 

NO.    1343.  VOL.   52] 


countries,  the  opportunities  thus  offered  for  higher  study 
in  Cambridge  may  soon  be  appreciated  ;  and  that  a 
steadily  increasing  number  of  those  who  now  from  our 
colonies  and  the  United  States  proceed  to  continental 
universities  in  pursuit  of  learning  may  find  in  one  of  the 
old  English  universities  a  more  natural  and  a  more 
interesting  academic  resort. 


THE  HEALTH  OF  LONDON. 

T^HE  immense  strides  which  have  been  made  in 
■*■  sanitary  science,  the  well-nigh  feverish  eagerness 
with  which  all  questions  relating  to  health  are  pursued, 
causes  the  layman  to  turn  with  interest  and,  indeed, 
curiosity  to  any  reliable  record  he  can  obtain  of  statistics 
relating  to  the  public  health. 

"  What,"  he  asks,  "  is  the  actual  practical  result  of  all 
these  efforts  on  the  part  of  municipal  authorities  and 
other  responsible  public  bodies  on  the  health  of  our  great 
cities?" 

It  is  thus  that  statistics  become  invested  with  an 
interest  even  to  the  uninitiated,  and  there  is  no  more 
striking  tendency  in  the  hygienic  crusade  which  prevails 
than  the  sense  of  individual  responsibility  which  it  has 
succeeded  in  arousing  in  the  conduct  of  sanitary  matters, 
and  the  participation  of  the  people  theniseb  es  in  measures 
of  sanitary  reform.  Hence  the  compilation  and  issue  by 
the  London  County  Council  of  periodic  reports  on  a 
variety  of  hygienic  subjects  :  and  the  appearance  of 
"County  Council  Orange  Books"  may  now  be  regarded 
as  a  familiar  feature  in  the  administration  of  that  demo- 
cratic body. 

One  of  the  most  recent  of  these  is  the  annual  report 
of  the  London  County  Council's  Medical  Officer  of 
Health  for  the  year  1893. 

This  weighty  document  bristles  with  figures,  and  em- 
braces a  variety  of  subjects,  but  to  only  a  few  of  the 
more  important  of  these  can  we  briefly  refer  here. 

Perhaps  the  most  appropriate  point  to  start  from,  is 
the  consideration  of  some  interesting  data  dealing  with 
the  expectation  of  life,  actuarily  calculated,  enjoyed  by 
Londoners  from  fixe  years  upwards  in  the  period  of 
1881-90  and    1S61-70  respectively. 

These  statistics  go  to  show  that  the  expectation  of  life 
of  males  at  five  years  of  age  has  improved  from  47'49 
years  to  5077  ;  or,  in  other  words,  during  the  last  period 
there  has  been  a  gain  of  3'28  years.  As  regards  females, 
we  find  the  expectation  of  life  has  risen  from  5087  to 
54'43,  or  a  gain  of  3'55  years.  \\  subsequent  ages  there 
is  also,  in  all  cases,  an  improvement,  though  relatively 
less  than  at  age  five,  showing  that  the  greater  part  of 
the  gain  is  in  the  periods  of  youth  and  early  maturity. 

If  we  compare  these  tables  with  those  of  a  similar 
nature,  wliich  liaic  been  compiled  for  each  sex  in  Man- 
chester and  Glasgow  from  i88T-<p,  we  find  that  tlie 
expectation  of  life  in  London  exceeds  that  enjoyed  by 
the  inhabitants  of  both  these  large  cities. 

Londoners  may  also  congratulate  themselves  upon  the 
fact  that  the  dcatli-rate  in  London  was  lower  than  that 
of  the  m.ijoiity  of  the  capitals  of  Europe  and  of  New 
York;  thus,  we  can  contrast  a  death-rate  of  21 '3  per 
1000,  with  2V%  in  Paris,  IT},  in  Rome,  24'o  in  \'ienna, 
and  yyb  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  in  New  York  239  per 
1000. 

As  compared  with  our  five  largest  cities — Manchester, 
Liverpool,  Birmingham,  Leeds,  and  Sheffield  -London 
again  can  boast  of  the  lowest  death-rate  ;  whilst  our 
infant  mortality,  compared  with  that  of  other  English 
towns  having  more  than  200,000  inhabitants,  was  also 
lower  in  every  case  with  the  single  exception  of  Bristol. 

If  we  look  more  closely  into  the  particulars  of  the 
death-rate,  we  find  that,  as  regards  the  principal  zymotic 


July  25,  1895] 


NATURE 


299 


diseases,  London  shows  an  increased  mortality  over  tha 
average  for  the  preceding  ten  years,  the  rate  having 
risen  from  2'io  to  2'28  per  loao ;  and  althaugh  this 
zymotic  death-rate  compares  favourably  with  that  of  th; 
largest  of  our  towns,  yet  as  regards  foreign  capitals  it 
is  only  exceeded  in  two  cases,  i.e.  by  that  of  Stockholm 
and  Vienna. 

This  increase  is  largely  due  to  the  alarming  rise  which 
nas  taken  place  in  deaths  from  diphtheria,  a  rise  repre- 
sented by  a  death-rate  of  o"i2  per  ioo3  in  the  years 
1871-80,  o'26  in  i88t-90,  o'3i  in  1891,  o'44  in  1892,  and, 
lastly,  074  in  1893.  Such  a  diphtheria  death-rate  is 
markedly  in  excess  of  that  of  other  large  English  towns 
having  a  population  of  more  than  200,000,  being,  in  fact, 
more  than  double  that  of  any  with  the  exception  of  West 
Ham  (virtually  a  part  of  London)  ;  it  was  even  ten  times 
as  great  as  the  diphtheria  death-rate  of  Nottingham,  and 
six  times  as  great  as  that  of  Liverpool. 

.Small-pox  also  appears  to  be  on  the  increase,  and 
influenza  and  pneumonia  claimed  a  number  of  victims 
greatly  in  excess  of  the  average  of  the  preceding  ten 
years  ;  and  there  is,  also,  a  substantial  increase  registered 
in  the  scarlet-fever  death-rate. 

Hut  the  most  serious  problem  which  we  have  to  face  is 
our  diphtheria  epidemic  ;  various  attempts  have  been 
made  to  ascertain  to  what  it  can  be  traced,  but  so  far,  it 
must  be  confessed,  we  are  without  any  satisfactory  clue  as 
to  its  source.  It  has  been  attributed  by  some  to  altera- 
tions in  the  classification  of  diseases,  more  especially  by 
transference  to  diphtheria  of  deaths  which  in  former 
years  were  registered  as  croup,  by  others  to  increased 
facilities  for  the  spread  of  infection  afforded  by  increased 
school  attendance,  to  sewer  ventilators,  &c.  ;  but  the  fatal 
objection  to  all  these  explanations  is  that  they  are  cir- 
cumstances which  are  shared  by  all  the  other  great  cities 
and  towns  of  the  countr\%  and  yet  London  alone  is 
pre-eminent  in  its  death-rate  from  diphtheria. 

There  appears,  however,  to  be  a  very  decided  tendency 
in  England  for  diphtheria  to  increase  in  densely  inhabited 
centres,  whilst  in  the  more  sparsely  populated  districts 
there  is  a  decrease,  which  has  been  especially  emphasised 
of  late  years. 

Curiously,  this  is  not  the  experience  of  our  neighbours 
in  Germany.  Dr.  Hecker  has  quite  recently  conducted 
an  elaborate  inquiry  into  the  diphtheria  death-rate  during 
the  years  1883-93  '"  a  number  of  German  cities,  and  he 
states  that  it  is  a  decreasing  one. 

The  problem  of  diphtheria  in  London  is  as  yet  unsolved, 
neither  is  its  solution  likely  to  be  accomplished  through 
such  isolated,  individual  investigations  such  as  have 
hitherto  prevailed.  What  is  required  is  the  appointment 
of  a  Commission,  composed  of  men  abreast  of  the  time, 
acc|uainted  with  modern  methods,  and  capable  of 
pursuing  experimentally,  if  necessary,  the  course  of  this 
scourge. 

Fortunately,  as  regards  cholera,  our  past  experience 
has  enabled  us  to  cope  satisfactorily  with  what  was  at  one 
time  our  most  dreaded  foe,  and  altliough  Europe  has 
suffered  severely,  England  has  escaped  since  the  outbreak 
of  cholera  in  London  in  the  year  1866. 

The  freedom  of  London  from  this,  to  a  large  extent, 
water-borne  disease  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of 
another  malady  in  the  communicability  of  which  water  is 
also  largely  responsible,  i.e.  typhoid  fever. 

In  this  connection  it  is  satisfactory  to  read  the  follow- 
ing :  "A  point  well  deserving  of  observation,  is  the 
diminishing  London  typhoid  fever  death-rate." 

.Mthough  it  cannot  be  assumed  that  it  is  entirely  due 
to  improvement  in  the  water  supply  of  London,  yet  the 
evidence  of  the  connection  between  typhoid  fever  and 
mpure  water  sup|)lies,  has  been  too  firmly  established 
not  to  permit  of  the  London  water  companies  obtaining 
some  credit  for  this  improved  hygienic  condition. 

NO.    1343,  VOL.  52] 


On  this  point,  the  evidence  afforded  by  the  city  of  Zurich 
is  instructive,  for  it  has  been  distinctly  found  that  since 
the  establishment  of  the  new  filtration  works  in  1886,  and 
the  consequent  greatly  improved  bacterial  quality  of  the 
water  distributed,  a  very  marked  diminution  has  taken 
place  in  the  number  of  cases  of  typhoid  fever.  This  fact 
has  been  vouched  for  after  most  careful  investigation  of 
facts  and  statistics  by  the  city  authorities. 

Again,  we  ha\e  only  to  recall  the  invariable  increase  in 
cases  of  typhoid  fever  in  Paris,  when  in  consequence  of 
an  insufficient  supply  of  purer  sources  of  water,  recourse 
has  to  be  had  to  that  of  polluted  river  Seine  water.  Now 
Dr.  Percy  Frankland,  in  his  reports  to  the  Local  Govern- 
ment Board,  showed,  for  the  first  time  in  this  country, 
the  bacterial  purification  which  Thames  water  undergoes 
at  the  hands  of  the  London  water  companies  ;  and 
although  in  his  recent  report  to  the  Royal  Society  on  the 
vitality  of  the  typhoid  bacillus  in  various  waters,  he 
points  out  that,  whilst  unable  to  increase  in  numbers,  it 
can  yet  remain  alive  for  days  and  weeks  in  water,  yet  we 
may  assume  that  the  typhoid  bacillus  will  submit,  as  all 
ordinary'  water  microbes,  to  the  purification  processes 
which  Thames  water  undergoes  before  delivery,  processes 
which  Dr.  Percy  Frankland  has  repeatedly  shown,  re- 
moves frequently  as  many  as  99  per  cent,  of  the  bacteria 
present. 

Under  the  heading  of  ".-Administration,"  we  read  that  the 
Council's  inspectors  made  numerous  inspections  of  dairies 
and  milk-shops,  as  well  as  cow-sheds  ;  as  a  result  of  these 
investigations,  no  less  than  133  cases  of  scarlet  fever 
were  discovered  as  occurring  on  milk-shop  premises,  46 
cases  of  diphtheria  and  membranous  croup,  21  cases  of 
typhoid  fever,  10  cases  of  small-pox,  5  cases  of  erysipelas, 
and  2  cases  of  measles.  These  probably  represent  only 
a  proportion  of  the  actual  number  of  cases  which  took 
place  in  such  establishments.  Knowing  as  we  do  that 
milk  offers  every  facility  for  the  growth  and  abundant 
multiplication  of  pathogenic  germs,  it  may  be  easily  con- 
ceived how  much  zymotic  disease  may  have  been  dis- 
seminated broadcast  from  these  centres  of  infection. 

In  the  recent  report  issued  by  the  Royal  Commissioners 
on  tuberculosis,  we  find  the  following  significant  para- 
graph :  "  In  regard  to  milk,  we  are  aware  of  the  pre- 
ference by  English  people  for  drinking  cow's  milk  raw, 
a  practice  attended  by  danger  on  account  of  possible 
contamination  by  pathogenic  organisms.  The  boiling  of 
milk,  even  for  a  moment,  would  probably  be  sufficient  to 
remove  the  very  dangerous  quality  of  tuberculous  milk.'' 

We  quote  these  words  in  full,  not  only  because  of  the 
official  weight  which  attaches  to  them,  but  because  it  is 
of  such  great  hygienic  importance  that  these  facts  should 
be  known  and  realised  by  the  general  public. 

On  the  continent,  the  practice  of  drinking  raw  milk  is 
fast  becoming  obsolete,  and  sterilised  milk  is  an  article 
of  commerce,  and  successful  so-called  "milk  sterilising 
associations ''  have  been  formed  for  its  distribution. 

We  have  seen  that,  as  regards  the  zymotic-disease 
death-rate,  London  is  less  favourably  situated  than  the 
majority  of  the  capitals  of  Europe.  May  we  not  possibly 
find  at  least  one  cause  of  this,  to  us  humiliating  fact,  in 
the  insular  prejudice  which  prevails  in  favour  of  raw- 
milk  ? 

In  conclusion,  valuable  as  statistics  may  be  and  un- 
doubtedly are,  it  must  be  remembered  that  there  is  yet 
much  which  statistics  cannot  reveal,  that  a  lower  death- 
rate  cannot  express  the  whole  result  of  hygienic  enter- 
prise and  progress.  To  adequately  measure  the  value  of 
sanitary  reform  to  the  community  at  large,  we  must  look 
as  well  to  the  numerous  and  important  improvements 
which  have  resulted  in  the  increased  comfort  and  well- 
being  of  the  indiviilual,  and  it  is  in  such  directions  that 
tlic  London  Counts'  Council  has  accomplished  some  of 
its  most  useful  and  meritorious  work. 


;oo 


NATURE 


[July  25.  1895 


THE  RECENT  RACE  OF  AUTO-MOBILE 
CARRIAGES  IN  FRANCE. 

LAST  month  a  most  interesting  race  of  auto-mobile 
carriages  took  place  in  France.  The  course  taken 
was  from  \'ersail!es  to  Bordeaux,  and  then  back  to  Paris. 
June  1 1  was  tixed  for  the  day  of  starting,  and  forty-six 
carriages  were  to  have  taken  part  in  the  race,  but  only 
twenty-eight  arrived  in  time,  twenty-two  of  these  taking 
active    part,   and    nine    performing    the    journey  within 


/n-;'-c 


Fig.  I. — No.  5.  MM.  Panhard  and  Levas&or's  carriage,  worked  by  gazoline, 
and  10  >cai  two  pcrsoiu  (2nd  prue,  13,600  fianc>).  Arrived  June  13,  at 
12,57  .-urn. 

a  hundred  hours  ;  eight  of  the  latter  were   worked   by 
petroleum  or  "gazoline,"  and  one  by  steam. 

The  accompanying  illustrations,  which  we  are  enabled 
to  reproduce  by  the  courtesy  of  the  Editor  of  La  Nii/un\ 
are  from  photographs  taken  at  the  exhibition  of  the 
carriages  on  their  return.  No.  5  (Fig.  1)  is  the  one  which 
was  the  first  to  arrive  back  in  Paris.  It  received  the 
second  prize,  for  it  only  seats  two  persons,  and  a  regula- 
tion had  been  made,  that  no  carriage  seating  less  than 
four   persons   could    receive  the   first.     No.    16  (Fig.  2) 


msm^^ 


i  .M.M._  l*cuj(cor»  phaclon,  worked  l>y  Kaxuline,  and  lo  Miat 

<  |..t  |rrij>e,  ji,5<x>  franco).    Arrived  June  14,  at  12.2  a.in. 

really  caim  in  fnurth,  but  received  the  first  prize,  for  on 
reckoning  up  ilu-  time  taken  in  the  journey,  it  was  found 
tol)elwi)  Miinuti-.  Ie•.^,  than  that  taken  by  No.  8.  The 
third  pri/c  n;i>  \wpii  l.-,   Xn    15  M-'ig.  3). 

Taking    all    il  iitt)   consideration,  it   appears 

that   the  lighter  tra\elled  best.     This  proves 

the  advantage  of  using  petroleum  or  gazoline,  for  in 
order  to  produce  one  horse-power  it  requires  per  hour 
1 1*/,  lbs.  of  gazoline,  whereas,  if  it  were  worked  by  steam, 

NO.    1343,  VOL.  52] 


at  least  65  lbs.  of  coal  and  39i  lbs.  of  water  would  be 
necessar)'  per  hour,  and  if  worked  by  electricity,  there 
would  have  to  be  accumulators  of  the  weight  of  220  lbs. 

Light  carriages  have  many  advantages,  for  besides 
having  to  be  less  careful  about  the  weight  of  fuel, 
they  can  also  have  lighter  constructed  wheels.  M. 
Michelin's  carriage,  with  pneumatic  tyres,  went  the  whole 
distance  w  ithout  an  accident,  whereas  the  steam  vehicles, 
one  and  all,  had  mishaps,  oh ing  almost  always  to  their 
great  weight. 

It  would  take  up  much  time  and  space  to  relate  the 
many  incidents  which  occurred  ;  suffice  it  to  say  that, 
apart  from  ordinary  breakdowns,  in  some  towns  the 
travellers  were  hindered  by  the  inhabitants,  in  others  they 
were  enthusiastically  pelted  with  flowers. 

These  auto-mobile  machines  arc  evidently  the  carriages 
of  the  future.  According  to  the  Times  of  July  10, 
a  journey  has  quite  recently  been  performed  in  our  own 
country  by  the  Hon.  Evelyn  Ellis,  who  was  accompanied 
by  Mr.  T.  R.  Simms,  managing  director  of  the  Daimler 
Motor  Syndicate.  The  carriage  is  a  four-wheeled  dog- 
cart, and  will  hold  four  persons,  with  room  also  for  two 
portmanteaus.  It  was  built  by  Messrs.  Panhard  and 
Levassor,  of  Paris,  and  is  worked  by  petroleum,  the  cost 


1 

\"^iv^ 

Fig.  3. — No.  15.  Worked  by  g;i.coline,  to  seal  two  person^.  IteloneinK  to  the 
>ons  of  Peugeot  Brothers  (3rd  prize,  6300  francs).  Arrived  June  13,  at 
6.37  p.m. 

being  about  a  halfpenny  an  hour.  The  journey  under- 
taken by  Mr.  Ellis,  a  distance  of  fifty-six  miles,  was 
performed  in  fi\e  hours  and  a  half 

We  understand  that  the  proprietors  of  the  F.ni>inccr 
are  offering  a  prize  of  _^iooo  to  the  maker  of  the  fastest 
going  motor.  W. 


1  ^ 
i 


NOTES. 

W'k  regret  to  notice  that  I'rof.  C.  C.  Hahiiiglon,  K. U.S., 
Professor  of  Botany  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  died  on 
Monilay  morning,  at  ihu  age  of  eighty-six. 

I'Ror.  Ramsay  h.as  been  elccltd  a  Corrcspondant  of  the  Paris 
.\cadctiiy  of  .Sciences,  in  the  Section  of  Chemistry,  and  M. 
Sabalier  has  been  elected  a  Corrcspondant  of  the  Section  of 
Anatomy  and  Zoology. 

Mr.  H.  J.  CllANKV,  of  the  Standards  Department,  Board  of 
Trade,  will  attend  the  Sexennial  Conference  of  the  International 
Committee  on  Weights  atitl  Mea.sures  at  Paris,  on  .September  6 
next,  a.s  the  representative  of  Her  Majesty's  Government. 

Dr.  Carl  Baris,  of  the  Stnilhsonian  Instilution,  has,  says 
Sdcme,  accepted  the  lla/ard  Profe.s.sorsliip  of  Physics  in  Brown 
University.  It  is  slated  that  Brown  University  has  recently 
s|M:nl  ^■20,000  in  the  litiikiing  ami  eqtiipmeiil  of  a  physica 
lalxiralory. 


July 


'895] 


NA  TV  RE 


\o\ 


The  death  is  announced  of  Prof.  Baillon,  Director  of  the 
Botanical  Laboratory  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine  at  the 
Sorbonne.  Prof.  Haillon  was  one  of  the  nio.st  distinguished  of 
Krench  botanists,  and  perhaps  quite  the  most  prolific  author  of 
works  in  that  science  of  the  last  ijuarter  of  a  century.  The 
Times  gives  the  following  details  of  his  life.  He  was  born  at 
Calais,  November  30,  1827,  and  was  destined  for  the  medical 
profession.  He  prosecuted  his  studies  at  Paris,  and  soon 
obtained  prizes  for  work  in  "  L'Ecole  Praticiue,"  and  in  the 
hospitals.  In  1855  he  received  the  double  degree  of  doctor  of 
medicine  and  of  the  natural  sciences.  In  1864  he  was  appointed 
Professor  of  Medical  Natural  History  to  the  Faculty  of  Paris, 
and  soon  afterwards  Professor  of  Hygiene  to  the  Central  School 
of  Arts  and  Manufactures.  He  was  decorated  with  the  Legion 
d'Honneur  on  August  17,  1867,  and  promoted  to  Officer  July 
13,  1888.  His  chief  publication  was  "  I  listoire  des  Plantes,"  a 
vast  undertaking,  in  twelve  fully-illustrated  volumes,  the  public- 
ation of  which  commenced  in  1866,  and  concluded  only  three 
years  ago.  It  has  been  partly  translated  into  English.  His  next 
great  work  was  a  "  Dictionnaire  de  Botanique,"  which  he  begun 
in  1876 ;  the  first  volume  appeared  in  1S78,  and  the  fourth 
in  1885.  He  also  published  a  number  of  monographs  and 
studies  on  various  natural  orders  and  group;  of  plants. 

Mr.  W.  N.  Moore  has  succeeded  Prof.  Mark  W.  Harrington 
as  Chief  of  the  U.S.  Weather  Bureau. 

Mr.  O.  a.  L.  Pihl,  whose  careful  measurements  of  the  stars 
in  the  cluster  x  Persei  are  well  known  in  astronomical  circles, 
has  just  died  at  Christiania. 

Prof.  J.  G.  Aoardh  has  presented  his  fine  collection  of 
dried  algai  to  the  University  of  Lund,  on  the  condition  that  it 
remains  there  intact,  and  the  specimens  not  be  lent  out. 

Mr.  Ciiari.es  Leigh,  assistant  in  the  General  Library  of 
the  Natural  History  Museum,  South  Kensington,  has  been 
appointed  to  the  post  of  assistant  secretary  and  librarian  to 
the  Manchester  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  created 
tinder  the  Wilde  Endowment  Fund. 

A  SHARP  earthquake  shock  was  felt  at  .\lgiers  at  1 1.25  on  the 
night  of  Friday  last,  July  19.  The  direction  of  motion  is  said 
to  have  been  from  nest  to  east. 

The  National  Herbarium  of  the  United  States  at  Washington 
has  been  transferred  from  the  building  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture,  and  now  forms  a  part  of  the  National  Museum  in 
the  Smithsonian  Institution.  The  collection  of  grasses  remains, 
however,  with  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  as  also  do  the 
collections  of  the  Divisions  of  \'egetable  Pathology  and 
Forestry.  .-V  movement  is  now  on  fool  among  American 
botanists  for  providing  the  National  Herbarium  with  a  suitable 
building  and  a  staff  of  scientific  assistants. 

TiiK  adjudicators  appointed  under  the  provisions  of  the  deed 
of  settlement  of  the  Daniel  Hanbury  Memorial  Fund  have,  says 
the  Phaniiaitiitital Journal,  awarded  the  eighth  Hanbury  Gold 
Medal  to  Dr.  August  Vogl,  Professor  of  Pharmacology  and 
Pharmacognosy  in  the  University  of  \'ienna.  The  medal  is 
awarded  biennially  for  the  prosecution  or  promotion  of  original 
work  in  the  chemistry  and  natural  history  of  drugs.  On  the 
last  occasion,  in  1893,  it  was  awarded  to  the  late  Johann 
Michael  .\Iaisch,  who  received  it  just  before  his  death. 

The  following  grants  have  been  made  by  the  Council  of  the 
Chemical  Society  on  the  recommendation  of  the  Research  Fund 
Committee  :— .£30  to  Messrs.  J.  J.  Hummel  and  A.  G.  Perkin, 
for  the  investigation  of  certain  natural  colouring  matters.  ;f  10 
to  Dr.  H.  Ingle,  for  the  purchase  of  various  aldehydes,  ketones, 
and  hydrazine,  to  continue  his  work  on  stereoisomeric  osazones. 
NO.    1343,  VOL.   52] 


^10  to  Dr.  J.  J.  Sudborough,  to  continue  his  work  on  diortho- 
substituted  benzoic  acids.  ^^15  to  Mr.  E.  Haworlh,  for  the 
synthesis  of  an  acid  having  the  composition  CgH]j(COOH)o,  and 
the  comparison  of  its  properties  with  those  of  camphoric  acid. 
^^5  to  Mr.  K.  E.  Doran,  for  a  research  on  the  preparation  of 
mustard  oils  by  the  reaction  of  chlorocarbsnic  esters  with  lead 
thiocyanate.  £i$^o  Dr.  W.  A.  Bone,  to  continue  a  research  on 
the  substituted  succinic  acids,  and  on  the  behaviour  of  various 
trimelhylene  compounds  on  treatment  with  the  sodium  com- 
pound of  ethylic  malonate.  ;^lo  to  Dr.  B.  Lean,  to  extend  his 
work  on  the  derivatives  of  ethylic  butane  tetracarboxylate. 
^20  to  Dr.  J.  Walker,  for  an  investigation  of  the  conditions  of 
equilibrium  between  the  cyanates  and  the  corresponding  ureas. 

Mr.  W.  .S.wille-Kent,  who  has  recently  returned  from 
Western  Australia,  has  presented  and  otherwise  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  the  Trustees  of  the  British  Museum  a  further  collec- 
tion of  Madreporarian  corals  and  sponges  collected  by  him  on 
the  north-western  coast-line  of  the  above-named  colony.  The 
series  includes  many  new  species  and  specimens  calculated  to 
prove  attractive  exhibits  in  the  public  galleries.  With  this  latest 
addition  included,  the  Natural  History  Museum  becomes 
possessed  of  the  most  complete  collection  of  Australian  Madre- 
poraria  that  has  yet  been  brought  together,  and  which  now  com- 
prises typical  examples  collected  by  the  same  authority  from 
every  region  of  the  extensive  coral-producing  waters  of  the 
Australian  continent.  Mr.  Saville-Kent  will  probably  be 
engaged  for  the  next  few  months  in  the  compilation  of  a  book 
dealing  generally  with  the  more  interesting  natural  history 
observations  and  investigations  he  has  recorded  and  prosecuted 
during  the  past  ten  years  while  holding  the  appointments  of 
Commissioner  of  Fisheries  to  the  several  Governments  of  Queens- 
land, Tasmania,  and  Western  Australia. 

By  the  provisions  of  the  will  of  the  late  Dr.  William  Johnson 
Walker,  two  prizes  are  annually  offered  by  the  Boston  Society  of 
Natural  History  for  the  liest  memoirs  written  in  the  English 
language  on  subjects  proposed  by  a  Committee  appointed  by  the 
Council.  For  the  best  memoir  presented,  a  prize  of  sixty  dollars 
may  be  awarded  ;  if,  however,  the  memoir  be  one  of  marked 
merit,  the  amount  may  be  increased  to  one  hundred  dollars,  at 
the  discretion  of  the  Committee.  For  the  next  best  memoir,  a 
prize  not  exceeding  fifty  dollars  may  be  awarded.  The  competi- 
tion for  these  prizes  is  not  restricted,  but  is  open  to  all.  Attention 
is  especially  called  to  the  following  points  : — (i)  In  all  cases  the 
memoirs  are  to  be  based  on  a  considerable  body  of  original  and 
unpublished  w-ork,  accompanied  by  a  general  review  of  the 
literature  of  the  subject.  (2)  Anything  in  the  memoir  wliich 
shall  furnish  proof  of  the  identity  of  the  author  shall  be  considered 
as  debarring  the  essay  from  competition.  (3)  Each  memoir  mu>t 
be  accompanied  by  a  sealed  envelope  enclosing  the  author's 
name  and  sujjerscribed  with  a  motto  corresponding  to  one 
borne  by  the  manuscript,  and  must  be  in  the  hands  of  the 
Secretary  on  or  before  .Vpril  I  of  the  year  for  which  the 
prize  is  offered.  The  subjects  for  1896  are  : — (i)  A  study  of  an 
area  of  schistose  or  foliated  rocks  in  the  eastern  United  .States  ; 
(2)  a  study  of  the  development  of  river  valleys  in  some  considerable 
area  of  folded  or  faulted  .Appalachian  structure  in  Pennsylvania, 
\'irginia,  or  Tennessee  ;  (3)  an  experimental  study  of  the  effects 
of  close-fertilisation  in  the  case  of  some  plant  of  short  cycle  ; 
(4)  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  general  morphology  or 
the  general  physiology  of  any  animal,  except  man.  The  subjects 
for  1897  are: — (i)  A  study  of  glacial,  fluviatile,  or  lacustrine 
phenomena  associated  with  the  closing  stages  of  the  glacial 
period  ;  (2)  original  investigations  in  regard  to  the  chalazal 
impregnation  of  any  North  American  species  of  Angiosperms  ; 
!  (3)  an  experimental  investigation  in  cytology  ;  (4)  a  contribution 
I  to  our  knowledge  of  the  morphology  of  the  Bacteria. 


30- 


NATURE 


[July  25,  189  = 


Reports  upon  ihe  circumstances  attending  an^'explosion 
which  occurred  in  the  Timsbur)-  Collier)-  last  Febniar)-,  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  J.  Roskill  and  Mr.  J-  S.  Martin,  have  just  been 
published  in  a  Blue  Book.  The  explosion  is  interesting  because 
firedamp  is  practically  unknown  in  the  collier)'.  In  this  col- 
liery, as  throughout  the  Radstock  series  of  the  Somersetshire 
coalfield,  naked  lights  are  used  :  it  is  exempted  from  the  appli- 
cation of  the  section  of  the  Rule  which  prohibits  explosives  being 
taken  down  in  mines  except  in  cartridges,  and  gunpowder  alone 
is  used  for  blasting.  It  is  evident  from  the  inquiry  that  this 
exemption  should  be  cancelled,  and  Mr.  Roskill  recommends 
that  the  use  of  gunpowder,  except  in  cartridges,  should  be  pro- 
hibited. Although  before  the  explosion  parts  of  the  colliery 
were  known  to  be  dry,  while  more  or  less  dust  occurred  in 
places,  yet  the  mine  was  not  regarded  as  a  "dry  and  dusty 
mine."  Judging  from  the  explosion,  however,  the  mine  should 
ccme  within  that  catcgoiy.  The  explosion  occurred  at  a  spot 
which  was  apparently  not  dry  and  dusty  within  the  meaning  of 
the  Act ;  tut  it  was,  if  not  caused,  certainly  intensified,  by  the 
presence  of  dust  at  much  greater  distances  than  twenty  yards 
from  the  spot,  though  the  Rule  relating  to  shot-firing  in  a  dry 
and  dusty  place,  only  prescribes  watering  within  a  radius  of 
twenty  yaids.  The  moral  drawn  from  the  disaster  is  (l)  that 
roburite,  or  one  of  the  so-called  flanieless  explosives,  should,  in 
future,  be  used  instead  of  powder,  and  (2)  that  when  places  in  a 
mine  aie  admittedly  diy  and  du.sty,  ever)-  place  in  the  mine 
should  be  considered  to  be  so,  for^lhe  purpose  of  shot-firing,  in 
order  to  make  it  imperative  that,  in  such  mines,  the  precautions 
prescribed  by  General  Rule  12  should  be  observed  in  all  places 
of  firing. 

We  have  received  a  copy  of  the  Report  of  the  Epping  Korest 
Committee  presented  to  the  Court  of  Common  Council  on  June 
13,  of  the  present  year,  and  containing  the  memorials  which 
were  reprinted  in  these  columns  a  short  time  i^o  (June  13, 
p.  158).  In  presenting  the  Report  the  chairman,  Mr.  Deputy 
liaise,  said  that  "  if  the  action  of  ycur  Committee  were  judged 
alone  by  the  weight  of  authority  attaching  to  those  who  have 
expressed  themselves  to  be  so  entirely  in  accord  with  the  past 
management  of  the  Forest,  a  complete  answer  to  the  charges 
has  already  been  made  ;  tut  we  prefer  to  await  and  present  to 
your  Honourable  Ccurt  the  Report  of  the  eminent  experts  in 
Forcslr)-  whom  we  consulted  last  year,  and  by  whose  opinion  and 
decision  we  are  perfectly  ]>re]  ared  to  be  judged  and  bound." 
We  understand  that  the  Ccmmittce  of  experts  visited  the  Forest 
last  week,  and  their  judgment  will  be  awaited  with  interest. 
Nothing  cculd,  however,  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Committee 
more  than  the  memorials  which  are  now  made  public  with  their 
attached  signatures.  The  value  of  the  Report  from  a  public 
I»int  of  view  is  greatly  enhanced  by  a  set  of  photographs 
reproduced  from  the  illustrations  in  one  of  the  daily  jiapers,  and 
placed  opposite  the  views  of  the  actual  ])laccs  which  the  news- 
paper artist  is  .'upposed  to  have  repre,sented.  The  article  from 
the  paper  itself  is  reprinted  in  cxicnso,  with  a  note  stating  that 
"  the  above  article  was  accompanied  by  the  illustrations  re- 
prcduced  on  the  annexed  photographic  sheet.  Its  accuracy  may 
Ic  judged  fr(  m  the  photographs  of  those  portions  of  the  Forest 
EO  professed  to  tc  illustiated,  which  were  taken  within  two  days 
of  the  appearance  of  the  article."  The  absurdity  of  ithe  clamour, 
which  is  raided  year  after  year  by  a  small  and  irresp<jnsible  body 
of  agitators,  is  well  brought  out  by  the  article  and  its  illustrations 
thus  confu.nlcd  with  the  true  representations.  Any  |>aper  that 
lends  il.scif  in  future  to  such  perversions  will  justly  forfeit  public 
confidence.  The  keen  interest  taken  by  the  people  in  the 
management  of  Epping  Forest  is  a  very  healthy  sign,  but  the 
ca'C  against  the  present  Conservators  must  indeed  have  l>een 
feeble   if    it    was   founil    necessary   to   resort   to   such    pictorial 

NO.   1343,  VOL.  52] 


artifices  as7are  exposed  in  the  Report  issued  by  the  Common 
Council.  '^      ^ 

Unsettled  weather  has  jirevailed  in  most  parts  of  the  British 
Islands  during  the  last  week,  and  thunderstorms  have  occurred  in 
various  places,  while  falls  of  rain  exceeding  an  inch  in  twenty-four 
hours  have  been  recorded  on  several  days.  In  London,  there 
were  two  distinct  thunderstorms  on  Sunday  1,-vst,  one  of  which, 
between  two  and  three  i\m. ,  was  accompanied  by  .an  exceptionally 
heavy  fall  of  hail.  The  amount  of  lain  in  London  on  that  day 
was  about  I  -3  inch,  w  hich  is  the  heaviest  fall  in  twenty-four  hours 
since  last  October. 

A-r  the  recent  meeting  of  the  .-Uistralasian  .Vssoriation  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  at  Brisbane,  Mr.  C.  L.  Wr.-igge  pro- 
posed the  erection  of  a  meteorological  station  on  Mount  Welling- 
ton, Hobart.  The  proiiosal  was  supported  by  Mr.  II.  C.  Russell, 
Government  .■\strononicr  of  New-  South  Wales,  an.l  by  the 
Royal  Society  of  Tasmania,  in  consequence  of  which  the  Govern- 
ment voted  the  necessary  funds.  .\n  experimental  station  has 
just  been  established  by  Mr.  Wragge  on  the  summit  of  the 
mountain  at  a  height  of  4166  feet  alxive  sea-level,  and  .a  perma- 
nent observatory-house  is  now  in  course  of  erection.  There  are 
also  corres|X)nding  stations  at  the  Springs  (2495  feet),  and  at 
Hobart  (160  feet) ;  we  have  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  results  of 
importance  will  be  derived  from  them.  Mount  Wellington  is 
about  four  miles  distant  from  Hobart,  in  a  straight  line,  and 
rises  almost  directly  from  tlie  level  of  the  sea ;  it  cons-jquenlly 
offers  considerable  advantages  for  meteorological  research. 

The  Pilot  Chart  of  the  North  .\tlantic  Oce.in  for  July  con- 
tains monthly  charts,  representing  gra|>hically  the  regions 
where  fog  was  experienced  most  frequently  on  the  North 
Atlantic  during  1S94.  As  this  year  can  be  taken  as  a  ty|->ical  one 
to  illustrate  the  distribution  at  dificrent  scisoivs,  it  is  interesting 
to  note  that  during  the  first  three  months  of  the  ye.xr  fog  is 
exjierienced  on  the  Grand  Hanks  and  to  the  westwaril,  but  not 
in  large  quantities.  During  April  it  begins  to  extend  to  the 
northward  and  eastward,  increasing  in  frequcnc)-  as  the  spring 
advances,  and  reaching  its  maximum,  generallj',  in  June  or  July, 
during  which  months  it  may  be  expected  anywhere  between  the 
American  coast  and  this  country  in  large  areas  and  of  long  dura- 
tion. In  .-Vugust  the  fog  begins  to  dissi]xite  in  the  e.Tstern  part 
of  the  ocean,  and  in  September  the  decrease  is  very  ]>erceptible. 
During  the  remaining  three  months  the  charts  show  that  it 
reaches  its  minimum  again,  and  is  mostly  restricted  to  the  west- 
ward of  40°  west  longitude. 

So.ME  brief  telegrams  in  the  ilaily  |iapers  ,-uinounced  the 
occurrence  of  an  earthipi.-ike  in  the  Meshed  district  of  I'ersia  oiv 
January  17,  but  gave  little  indication  of  its  destructive  char.icter. 
The  centre  of  the  earthcpuike  ap|X'ars  to  liave  Iwen  near 
Kiich.-in,  a  town  which  has  l)ccn  ilamaged  or  destroyed  by  earth- 
i]uakes  several  limes  during  Ihe  present  century,  the  last  occasion 
being  in  1893,  when  it  was  completely  reduced  to  ruins.  .\fter 
this  the  town  w.as  rebuilt  on  the  old  site,  but  the  houses  were 
made  very  largely  of  wood.  At  the  beginning  of  this  year,  the 
new  town  contained  about  2000  houses  and  8000  inhabitants. 
On  January  17,  shortly  before  noon,  another  disastrous  earth- 
quake occurred.  It  lasteel  about  a  minute,  and  the  shock  was  so- 
severe  that  it  completely  destroyeel  every  house  in  the  town, 
with  the  exception  of  a  few  .small  shinties.  The  wooden 
pillars  of  the  Ijetter-built  houses  were  all  broken  in  the 
middle.  Numbers  of  people  were  buried  in  the  ruins,  but, 
owing  to  the  lightness  of  the  materials,  the  loss  of  life  was 
much  less  than  it  would  otherwise  have  been.  The  local 
authorities  estimated  the  number  of  deaths  from  two  to  six 
thousand,  but  the  careful  inquiries  of  an  att.ach;  at  the  British 
Consulate-General  at  Meshed  have  reduced  this  figure  to  abnut 


JULV    25.    1895] 


NA  TURE 


•joa.  Orders  have  been  issued  by  the  Persian  Government  for 
the  town  to  be  rebuilt  near  Hai  Hai,  a  place  six  or  seven  miles  to 
the  south-east,  which  experience  has  shown  to  be  safe  from 
<Iestructive  shocks. 

The  histof)'  of  the  Russian  Biological  Station,  on  the  island 
of  Solowet/k  in  the  North  Sea,  has  already  been  given  in  our 
columns  (Nature,  November  1894,  p.  83).  One  of  the  most 
interesting  of  the  results  achieved  by  the  naturalists  of  the 
laboratory  has  been  the  discovery  of  a  remarkable  lake  on  the 
island  of  Kildine  in  the  Arctic  Ocean.  This  lake,  which  is 
completely  separated  from  the  sea  by  a  narrow  strip  of  land,  was 
discovered  by  the  Russian  naturalist,  M.  Merzenstein,  who 
was  struck  by  finding  in  the  lake  a  fish  which  is  exclusively 
marine  in  habit,  namely  the  common  cod.  Further  observations 
by  M.M.  I-'aussek  and  Knipowitsch  have  elucidated  the  peculiar 
features  of  the  fauna  of  the  lake.  On  the  surface  the  water  is 
fresh,  and  is  inhabited  by  fresh-water  animals,  such  as  Daphnids, 
&c.  ;  this  water  is  brought  to  the  lake  by  streams  from  a  neigh- 
bouring marsh.  Under  the  superficial  layer  of  fresh  water  is 
/ound  salt  water,  supporting  a  Marine  fauna — Sponges,  Sea- 
anemones,  Nemertines,  Polychietes,  marine  Molluscs  (Chiton, 
j'Eolis,  AstarU),  Starfish,  and  Pantopods.  There  is  even  a 
regular  littoral  zone  beneath  the  fresh  water,  characterised  by 
small  Fuci.  The  bottom  of  this  lake  is  covered  with  mud  ex- 
haling an  odour  of  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  and  is  not  inhabited. 
The  water  of  the  lake  shows  a  slight  ebb  and  flow,  attaining  a 
vertical  height  of  only  a  few  inches,  while  the  tides  in  the 
adjacent  sea  are  considerably  greater.  This  fact  would  appear 
to  point  to  the  existence  of  some  subterranean  communication 
.between  the  lake  and  the  sea. 

Some  important  additions  to  a  knowledge  of  the  latest 
Mesozoic  and  early  Tertiary  mammalia  have  recently  been  made 
irom  Patagonia  and  the  Uinta  Basin.  From  the  former  place  a 
collection  of  ungulates  of  very  late  Cretaceous  date  is  described 
by  Seiior  V,  .^meghin  in  the  Bol.  Inst.  Geograjico  Argentina, 
t.  XV.,  II  and  12.  The  most  important  is  a  new  genus, 
Pyrothcrium,  which  is  made  the  type  of  a  new  sub-order, 
regarded  a.s  ancestral  to  the  Proboscidea,  and  showing  marsupial 
affinities.  A  number  of  other  new  genera  are  also  described, 
-and  it  is  anticipated  that  when  the  fossil  localities,  which  are 
•very  difficult  of  access,  have  been  more  fully  investigated,  still 
more  valuable  infonnatiim  on  the  late  Mesozoic  mammalia  will 
.be  obtained.  Large  Dinosaurs  and  birds  also  occur  in  these 
beds. 

Pkok.  II.  F.  OsEORN  reports  in  the  Bull.  Amer.  Mm.  Nat. 
Hist.,  New  York,  vol.  vii.,art.  2,  on  a  more  extensive  collection 
than  has  hitherto  Vjeen  obtained  from  the  Eocene  beds  of  the 
Uinla  Basin.  Beneath  the  true  Uinta  fauni  comes  one  which 
is  intermediate  between  it  and  the  Bridger  and  Washakie  faunas, 
.>nd  thus  supplies  a  most  important  link  in  the  faunal  succession 
of  this  province,  while  at  the  same  time  it  shows  affinities  to  the 
Miixrene  fauna  of  the  White  River.  Among  the  mammalia 
found  in  this  transitional  fauna  are  a  monkey,  and  species  of 
Tclmatotheriuin,  which  definitely  confirm  the  view  that  that 
genus  was  ancestral  to  the  Titanotheria.  It  is  expected  that 
Still  more  valuable  results  may  be  got  from  a  more  thorough 
.exploration  that  is  being  made  this  year. 

The  application  of  electricity  to  locomotion  has  recently 
made  notable  progress  in  the  United  States.  At  a  trial  of 
electric  motors  at  Nantasket  Beach,  near  Boston,  a  few- 
days  ago,  it  is  stated  that  a  speed  exceeding  sixty  miles 
an  hour  was  attained ;  and  the  experiment  demonstrated 
ihe  utility  of  this  motor  for  suburban  traffic.  The  system 
went  into  practical  and  regular  operation  on  the  Nantasket 
Beach  Railway  at  the  end  of  June.  A  successful  test  has  also 
NO.    1343,  VOL     52] 


been  made  at  Baltimore  of  the  electric  ocomotive  designed  to 
draw  trains  through  the  tunnel,  7430  feet  long,  in  that  city. 
This  and  its  companion — the  first  locomotives  of  the  kind  ever 
built — have  each  two  trucks  and  eight  wheels,  sixty-two  inches 
in  diameter.  Flexibly  supported  on  each  truck  are  two 
six-pole  gearless  motors,  one  for  every  axle.  A  maximum  speed 
of  fifty  miles  an  hour  is  to  be  developed,  and  it  is  guaranteed  that 
the  locomotive  will  pull  1200  tons  at  a  speed  of  thirty  miles  an 
hour.  When  coupled  to  a  six-wheel  New  York  Central 
locomotive,  the  electric  locomotive  pulled  it  up  and  down  the 
track  at  will,  against  the  pull  of  the  steam  locomotive. 

.\t  a  recent  meeting  of  the  Societe  Francaise  de  Physique,  M. 
Pierre  Weiss  gave  an  account  of  the  results  of  his  experiments  on 
the  aelotropic  magnetic  properties  of  crystallised  magnetite. 
The  magnetisation  curve  of  magnetite  crystallised  in  the  cubic 
system  presents  the  same  general  features  as  those  of  iron, 
nickel  and  cobalt.  The  magnitude  of  the  magnetisation 
(i.e.  the  permeability),  however,  varies  with  the  inclination  of 
the  magnetising  field  to  the  crystallographic  axes.  Experiments 
have  been  made  by  a  ballistic  method  suitably  modified  so  as  to 
permit  of  observations  being  made  on  very  small  specimens. 
The  results  thus  obtained  have  been  confirmed  by  other  experi- 
ments in  which  a  small  disc  of  magnetite  was  rotated  in  a  strong 
magnetic  field,  and  the  variations  in  the  induction  measured  by 
means  of  a  small  coil  surrounding  the  disc  and  connected  to  a 
ballistic  galvanometer.  The  discs  examined  were  cut  parallel  to 
the  faces  of  the  cube,  octahedron  and  rhombic  dodecahedron. 
If  the  results  are  expressed  by  drawing  radii  vectores  from  a 
given  point  of  such  length  that  they  represent  the  magnetisation 
of  the  specimen  in  that  direction  when  saturated,  the  surface 
which  contains  the  ends  of  all  these  radii  vectores  is  a  cube  with 
rounded  edge";,  and  with  its  faces  slightly  hollow.  The 
magnetisation  is  the  same  in  all  directions  contained  in  a  plane 
parallel  to  one  of  the  faces  of  the  octahedron,  S3  that  the  above- 
mentioned  surface  is  cut  by  such  a  plane  in  a  circular  section. 
.\n  experiment  illustrating  this  aelotropic  property  of  magnetite 
was  shown  before  the  Society.  A  small  disc  of  magnetite  placed 
on  a  plate  of  glass  between  the  pjles  of  a  strong  electro-magnet, 
turne<l  so  that  one  of  its  axes  of  maximum  permeability  was 
parallel  to  the  field.  Besides  the  difference  which  these  experi- 
ments show  between  a  body  crystallised  according  to  the  cubic 
system  and  an  isotropic  body,  they  also  show  that  the  theories 
which  regard  magnetisation  as  resulting  from  the  orientation  of 
particles  of  fixed  magnetic  moment  are  insuflicient  to  explain 
the  magnetisation  of  crystalline  bodies. 

During  his  recent  visit  to  the  Algerian  Sahara,  M.  Janssen 
made  some  decisive  observations  concerning  the  absorption  bands 
.near  the  D  line  of  the  solar  spectrum,  supposed  to  be  due  to 
atmospheric  oxygen.  The  object  was  to  test  whether  these  absorp- 
tion bands  correspond  to  those  observed  on  transmitting  white 
light  through  a  tube  containing  condensed  oxygen.  In  some 
previous  experiments  on  this  question,  M.  Janssen  had  obtained 
these  bands  by  means  of  a  tube  60  m.  long,  containing  oxygen 
compressed  up  to  6  atmospheres.  .A.n  account  of  the  Sahara 
observations  is  given  in  the  Coinptes  rcndiis,  together  with  a 
theoretical  investigation  concerning  the  equivalent  height  of  the 
atmosphere.  Starting  with  the  remarkable  law  discovered  by 
M.  Janssen  that  the  absorptive  power  of  a  gas  is  proportional  to 
the  thickness  traversed  and  to  the  square  of  Ihe  density,  the 
integration  of  the  different  layers  of  the  atmosphere  with  their 
different  densities  gives  3981  m.  as  the  equivalent  thickness  for  a 
vertical  ray  of  light.  But  since  the  density  of  oxygen  is  only 
0'2o8  of  that  of  the  atmosphere,  this  number  must  be  multi- 
plied by  0-043,  ^^^  square  of  that  density.  This  gives  i;2  m. 
as  the  equivalent  thickness  of  the  oxygen  layer.  This  thick- 
ness, at  a  pressure  of  one  atmosphere,  would  not  be    ufficient 


j04 


NATURE 


[July  25,  1S95 


fi)r  showing  the  absorption  bands,  and  this  accounts  for  their 
absence  when  the  sun  is  high  in  the  heavens.  But  as  the  sun 
sets,  the  thickness  of  air  traversed  by  its  rays  increases,  and  .it 
an  altitude  of  4°  the  conditions  are  the  same  as  those  in  the 
60  m.  tube  at  6  atmospheres  pressure.  At  this  altitude  they  do 
in  fact  appear,  and  the  excessive  dr)Tiess  of  the  desert  air  pre- 
cludes the  possibility  of  their  being  due  to  water  vapour.  Thus 
tx)th  the  terrestrial  origin  of  these  oxygen  bands,  and  also  the 
validity  of  Janssen's  law  of  absorption,  have  received  a  striking 
confirmation. 

The  fifth  volume  of  the  Geosraphital Journal ,  comprising  the 
numbers  Usued  during  the  first  sbc  months  of  this  year,  has  just 
been  published. 

We  have  received  the  Report  for  the  year  1894-95  "f  ^^^ 
Ko)-al  Garden,  Calcutta,  by  the  Curator,  Dr.  G.  King,  issued  by 
the  authority  of  the  Ciovemment  of  Bengal.  It  reports  a  con- 
si<lerable  amount  of  work  done  in  the  improvement  of  the 
(hardens,  and  especially  in  the  increase  and  arrangement  of  the 
Herbarium. 


The  numlH;r  of  [X'riodicals,  both  in  Europe  and  ,\merica,  deal- 
n^  with  electrical  matters  is  considerable,  the  last  addition  to 
the  list  being  the  EUdriial  Journal,  a  new  monthly  published 
in  San  Francisco.  The  first  number  contains  a  long  account  of 
the  "  Express  "  system  of  telephone  switchboard.  Other  articles 
appearing  deal  with  the  efficiency  of  electric  plants,  the 
electrical  installation  on  I  card  the  cruiser  Ofympia,  and  the 
field  of  operations  of  an  electrica'  engineer. 

The  volume  containing  the  Proceedings  of  the  American  Asso- 
ciation for  the  .Vdvancement  of  Science  at  the  forty-third  meeting,  | 
held  at  Brooklyn  List  .-Vugust,  has  lately  been  issued.  .As  we  gave  | 
•It  the  time  a  report  of  the  work  of  the  Sections,  and  jirinted  some 
of  the  presidential  addresses  in  full,  it  is  only  necessary  for  us 
now  to  say  that  the  volume  is  very  well  produced,  and  contains 
many  very  valuable  papers. 

The  fourth  and  apparently  concluding  volume  of  the  Seis- 
mological  Journal  of  Japan   h.is    recently   been   published.      It 
consists  of  a  very  valuable  ixijier  of  nearly  400  pages,  by  Prof. 
Milne,  ".A  Ctlalogue  of  8331    Earthquakes  recorded   in  Japan 
l>etween  1885  and   1892."     The  materials  were  obtained  from 
968  stations,  distributed  over  the  whole  empire,  the  total  number 
of  documents  being  perhajis  not  less  than  eighty  or  a  hundred 
thousand.     In    the   first  catalogue  are  given  for  each  shock  the 
time  of  its  occurrence,  the  land-area  shaken,  and  data  by  which 
the  position  of  the  epicenter  and  the  boundar}-  of  the  disturbed 
area  arc  approximately  determined.     The  second  catalogue  states 
the  seismic  district  to  which  each  shock   belongs,  the   lengths  of 
Ihc  axes  of  the  disturbed  area  in  tens  of  miles,  from   which  the 
loul  area  can  be  roughly  a.sccrlained,  and,  when  the  shock  is 
submarine,  the  distance  of  the  epicenter  from   the  shore.     The 
chief  object  of  the  japer  is  to  provide  tnistworthy  materials  for 
fu;urc  investigations,  but  some  results  have  been  already  obtained 
.-ind  are  briefly  <lescril>ed.      Prof.    Omori's  work  on  aflcr-shf>cks 
Ilis  been   referred  to  in  a  previous  number  (vol.    li.    p.    423). 
The   distribution  of  earth(|uakcs   in   Japan    forms  jx-Thaps  the 
most  ini|xirtant  section.      I':arthquakes,  it  apiicars,  are  singularly 
rare   in    the   central   iiarls  of  the  countrj-,   which   includes  the 
mountainous  districts  where  active  volcanoes  are  numerous.    The 
m.ijorily   of    sli'.cks   originates   along  the   eastern  coast    of  the 
empire,  and   many  are  of  submarine  origin.     A   large  number 
seem  to  start  from  the  face  of  the  sleep  monoclinal   slope  which 
Japan    presenH  lt>war<l»  the   Pacific  Ocean.      ICarthquakes  arc 
numerous  where  the  slope  is  steep,  and  rare  where  it  is  com- 
imralively  gentle  (see  pp.  201-2).     They  are  frequent  in   those 
districts  where  movemenls  of  secular  clev.ition  or  depression  are 

NO.  1 343-  ^OL.  52] 


now  taking  place.  Earthquake-sounds  are  often  heard,  but  more 
so  in  the  rocky  mountainous  districts  than  on  alluvial  plains.  .Ai 
the  close  of  the  paper  is  given  a  list  of  301  seismic  disturbances 
observed  from  1SS9  to  1S93  in  Europe  and  at  Tenerifte 
with  the  horizontal  pendulum  of  Dr.  von  Rebeur-Paschwitz. 
Seven  of  these  disturbances,  and  possibly  five  others,  corresixmd 
to  earthquakes  in  Japan. 

The   flora  of  the  Caucasus  lias  lately  been    the    subject    of 
several    interesting  explorations   and   speculations   by    Russian 
bot.anists.     The  old  data,  contained  in  the  works  of  Boissier  and 
Ledebour,  are  now  of  little  value,  on  account  of  the  too  broad 
remarks  concerning  the  distribution  of  the  different  S]iecies,  such 
as  Caucasus,  pro^'inci,c  Caucasicit,  and  so  on,  which  one   finds 
in  these  otherwise  classical  works.     On   the  other  hand,  such 
recent   explorers  as  X.  KuznelsofT  and  .V.  KrasnotT,  who  have 
paid  great  attention  to  the  comjiosition  of  the  floras  of  ilifterent 
parts  of  Caucasia,  and  their  probable  origin,  have  rather  raised  a 
series  of  most  important   geo-botanical   questions    than    solved 
them  definitively;  while  MM.  Lipsky,  .Mbofl",  and  .\kinficff  have 
devoted    their    chief    attention    to    the    collection    of    positive 
systematic  data,  with  exact  indications  relative  to  the  distribution 
of  difl'erent  species.    We  have  now  in  the  "  .Memoirs  (Trudy)  of 
the  Kharkoft"  Naturalists"  (vol.  xxvii.)  a  first  instalment,  by  the 
last-named  botanist,  of  a  detailed   list   of  plants  in  the  middle 
p.arts  of  the  Caucasus  main  ridge,  with  full   indications  concern- 
ing their  vertical  and  horizontal   distribution.     Considering  the 
generalis-ations  of  M.  Kuznetsoft"  and  M.  Krasnoflas  premature 
under  our  yet  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  orography  and  geology 
of  Caucasia,  M.  .\kinfielf  only  ventures  to  formulate  a  few  con- 
clusions ;  namely,  that  the  flora  of  Colchida  is  the  youngest  in 
Caucasia,  as  it  has  the  least  number  of  S])ecies,  and  especially  of 
endemic  forms,  and  that  it  contains  but  a  small   jxirt   of  what 
constitutes  the  Mediterranean  flora,  as  well  as  very  little  of  what 
I  is  found  in  other   parts  of  Caucasia.     The  flora  of  Daghestan, 
.\siatic  in  its  origin,   has,  on   the  contrary,  in  its  steppe,  sub- 
Alpine  and  Alpine  representatives,  a  wide  distribution  over  all 
Caucasia,  with  the  exception  of  Colchida  ;    fouv-fiflhs   of    the 
surface  of  Caucasia  are  thus  genetically  connected  for  their  flora 
with  Asia,  and  one-fifth  only  with  Europe,  the  boundary  between 
the  two  being,  not   the  main  ridge,  but  a  broken  line  running 
aijproximately  from  Stavropol,  or  rather  north  of  this  town,  along 
the  water-ixarting  between  the  Kuban  and   the   Terek,   to  the 
Elbonis,  along  the  main  ridge  to  the  .Vdaikhokh,  and  further 
to  the  Mesques  Mountains  and  the  Suram  Pass.    It  should  be  said 
that  this  conclusion  seems  to  .agree  very  well  with  what  we  now 
learn  about  the  orgraphical  structure  of  Caucasia,  from  which  it 
appears  more  and   more  that  the  Mesques  Mountains  must  be 
considered  as  a  continuation  of  the   border-ridge  of  the   .Vsia 
Minor  plateau,  which  ridge  runs  along  the  south-eastern  coast  of 
the  Black    Sea,  and  is  continued   north-east    10   meet   llio   mam 
ridge. 

Wic  have  received  from  Dr.  Dobcrck,  Government  .Vstrononier 
of  Hong  Kong,  the  report  of  that  observatory  for  1894,  contain- 
ing inter  alia  an  account  of  nineteen  typhoons  w  liich  occurred 
during  the  year,  and  the  paths  of  which  have  been  laid  down  on 
two  pliites.  Information  regarding  storms  is  regularly  exhibited 
and  telegraphed  whenever  they  can  be  justified  by  the  oljserva- 
tions  received,  but  the  work  is  apparently  much  interfered  wi'tb 
by  the  lardy  arrival  of  telegrams  from  the  outlying  stations.  Vox 
the  purpose  of  elucidating  the  behaviour  of  typhoons  and  other 
meteorological  features,  observations  are  regularly  extracted 
from  the  logs  of  ships  which  visit  the  China  seas,  and  tabulated 
for  future  use  :  in  addition  to  these,  observations  are  received 
from  about  forty  land  stations.  The  astronomical  and  magnetical 
work  of  the  observatory  has  been  regularly  carri.-.l  on,  as  m 
former  years. 


July  25,  1895] 


NATURE 


505 


Whereas  a  few  years  ago  the  discovery  of  a   new  spirillum 
form  was  hailed  as  a  bacteriological  novelty,  we  are  now  con- 
stantly receiving  fresh  additions    to  this    interesting  group   of 
microbes.     With  improved  methods  their  detection  and  isolation 
have  been  rendered  comparatively  easy,  and  they  are  now  found 
fairly  widely  distributed   in   water.     Sanarelli    isolated  no   less 
than  thirty-two  different  vibrios  from  the  river  Seine,   sewage- 
effluent,  and   pond  water,  and  various  authorities  in   Germany 
have  detected  such  forms  in  rivers.     So  far  the  larger  number 
have  been  obtained  from  river  water,  and  have  been  but   rarely 
met  with  in  well  water  ;  but  quite  recently  .MM.  -V.  Zawadzki 
and  (j.  Brunner,  of  the  Imperial  Institute  for  I'reventive  Medi- 
cine in   St.    Petersburg,    have    discovered   and    isolated    three 
vibrios  from  polluted  well  water,  which  do  not  liquefy  gelatine, 
and   in  other  respects    are  easily  distinguishable  from    Koch's 
cholera  vibrio.     As   regards  their  pathogenic    properties,   it  is 
stated  that  white  mice  were  quite  unaffected  when   the  vibrios 
were  subcutaneously  introduced.      The  investigations  and  de- 
scriptions have  been  carefully  done  and  are  fully  recorded,  and 
the  authors  are  persuaded  that   they  have  discovered  new  forms. 
It   is,  however,  difficult  to  decide  this  point,  for  only  a  slight 
acquaintance  with  the  literature  of  the  subject  is  apparent  ;  and 
whilst    the    authors    complain    that    Eisenberg's    catalogue    of 
bacteria  is   out   of   date,    and   those  of    Roux  and   Lustig  are 
respectively   incomplete,    they    do    not    appear    to    have    any 
acquaintance    with    Percy    Frankland's    ".Micro-organisms    in 
Water,"  containing  descriptions  of  over  200  bacteria  found  in 
water,  neither  have  they  consulted  many  important  memoirs  on 
vibrios  which  have  been  published  in  recent  German  and  Frenc  h 
journals. 

The  writer  of  the  note  on  \>.  ITJ,  referring  to  hygrometric 
observations  on   the  Sonnblick   mountain,  inadvertently  wrote, 
"atmospheric  electricity,"  instead  of  "atmospheric  humidity, 
in  the  second  line  of  the  note. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Mozambique  Monkey  (Cenopil/iecus 
pygerythrus)  from  East  Africa,  presented  by  Mrs.  A.  Canning 
Fysh ;  a  Khesus  Monkey  (Macaciis  r/usiis)  from  India,  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  A.  Kagele  ;  an  Irish  Stoat  [Piiloniis  hiliernkus) 
from  Ireland,  presented  by  the  Viscount  Powerscourt  ;  a 
Suricate  (Stiritale  telradaclyla)  from  South  Africa,  presented  by 
Miss  Dorothy  Lowndes  ;  a  Bosch-bok  ( Tragelaphus  sylvaticus) 
from  South  .Vfrica,  presented  by  Mr.  W.  Champion  ;  six 
Orbicular  Horned  Lizards  (/%/-i'«o.fOT«(Z  orbiculare)  from  .Mexico, 
presented  by  Mr.  E.  J.  .Scarbrough  ;  a  West  .African  Python 
Python  sebcr)  from  West  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  Edward 
Straw  ;  a  Red-sided  Tit  (Parus  variiis)  from  Japan,  a  White- 
browed  .\mazon  (C/irysolis  albifroiis)  from  Honduras,  two 
Adorne<l  Terrapins  {Ctcmmys  ornata)  from  Central  America, 
deposited  ;  a  Japanese  Deer  (Cervus  siitt),  born  in  the  tiardens. 


OU/i  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Al  TlTl'DE  AND  .■VziMUTH  OF  Poi.ARIS.— It  IS  a  matter  of 
common  knowledge  that  the  Pole  star  is  about  a  degree  and  a 
quarter  from  the  true  pole,  so  that  azimuths  and  latitudes  cannot 
be  direclly  <letermined  by  observations  of  this  star.  The  usual 
mode  of  procedure  is  to  employ  tables  reducing  the  observations 
to  the  true  pole  ;  a  grajihical  method  of  performing  this  rather 
tedious  reduction,  with  an  accuracy  sufficient  for  most  puri>oses, 
has  been  devised  by  A.  Tanakadate,  of  Tokio  (Sugakub.-Kizi.) 
It  is  shown  that  the  usual  formula  for  the  calculation  of  azimuth 
corresponds  very  nearly  with  the  equation  of  a  circle  of  radius 
P  sec  <p  {p  being  the  polar  distance  of  Polaris,  and  <p  the 
latitude  of  the  place  of  observation),  and  the  centre  of  which  is 

displaced  above  the   origin    by  an  amount  equal   to  /liHL* 


NO.    1343,   VOL.    52] 


cos  (p. 


An  origin  being  chosen  near  the  middle  of  a  sheet  of  squaretl 
|3aper,  degrees  and  minutes  are  marked  off  along  the  axes  in 
both  directions,  and  a  circle  is  drawn  on  the  same  scale  with 
radius  and  displacement  of  centre  adapted  to  the  latitude  as 
defined  above.  Radiating  straight  lines  drawn  from  the  origin 
correspond  to  different  hour  angles,  the  line  > -o  being  that 
along  which  the  centre  of  the  circle  is  displaced.  The  abscissa 
of  the  point  where  the  line  corresponding  to  the  hour  angle  at 
which  an  observation  is  made  cuts  the  circle,  gives  <lirectly  the 
azimuth  of  Polaris,  the  star  being  east  or  west  of  the  true  north 
according  as  the  point  lies  to  the  right  or  left  of  the  origin  in  the 
diagram.  Neglecting  errors  of  construction,  the  readings  will 
only  differ  by  a  few  seconds  from  the  calculated  results,  and  it  is 
shown  that  even  these  errors  can  be  reduced  by  slightly 
enlarging  the  radius  of  the  circle. 

If  a  circle  be  drawn  from  the  origin  as  centre,  with  radius  equal 
/,  the  diagram  can  also  be  used  for  reducing  the  latitude  from 
observations  of  the  Pole  star  by  giving  a  small  correction  to  the 
hour  angle,  ^  /  tan  /;  sin  t,  where  //  is  the  observed  altitude, 
and  /  the  hour  angle.  The  ordinate  of  this  circle  gives  the 
correction  to  be  applied  to  the  observed  altitude  in  order  to 
obtain  latitude. 

It  is  pointed  out  in  the  paper  that  these  principles  may  easily 
be  embodied  in  an  instrument,  and,  in  fact,  such  a  contrivance  is 
no\y  in  use  among  the  students  of  astronomy  in  the  Imperial 
University. 

Observations  of  Double  Stars.— The  measurements  of 
position  angles  and  distances  of  double  stars  made  at  the  Paris 
Observatory  from  July  1890  to  the  end  of  last  j-ear,  are 
pidjlished  by  M.  Bigourdan  in  a  very  concise  form  in  the 
Bulletin  Astronomiijue  for  July.  The  telescope  employed  was 
that  of  the  western  tower,  having  an  object  glass  O'JOj  m. 
diameter  and  a  focal  length  of  5 '25  m.,  the  magnifying  power 
usually  being  478.  Most  of  the  observations  were  made  in  the 
twilight  or  in  the  early  night,  at  which  times  the  star  images  are 
at  their  best.  The  list  of  stars  observed  includes  about  150  from 
the  Dorpat  catalogue,  76  from  the  Pulkowa  catalogue,  and 
nearly  30  others ;  in  many  cases  there  are  long  series  of 
measures  of  the  same  pair.     A  filar  micrometer  was  employed. 

.\t  the  Berlin  Observatory,  Dr.  \.  Knorre  has  used  a  double 
image  micrometer  in  the  measurement  of  double  stars,  and  some 
of  the  results  are  given  in  Ast.  Nacit,  3300.  The  measures 
appear  to  agree  ver)-  well  with  those  of  M.  Bigourdan,  in  the 
case  of  stars  common  to  the  two  sets  of  observations. 

A  GRE.vr  Xebui.a  in  Scori'IO. — In  the  course  of  his  work 
on  the  photography  of  the  Milky  Way,  Prof.  Barnard  exposed  a 
plate  on  the  region  near  Antares  for  2h.  20m.  on  March  25, 
1895.  The  resulting  negative  showed  a  vast  and  magnificent 
nebula,  intricate  in  form,  and  apparently  connected  with  many  of 
the  bright  stars  of  that  region,  including  .\ntares  and  a  Scorpii. 
The  nebula  is  gathered  in  cloud-like  forms,  the  greatest  masses 
being  around  p  Ophiuchi  and  two  neighbouring  small  stars.  This 
photograph  was  taken  with  the  Willard  lensof  6.  inches  aperture, 
with  which  Prof.  Barnard  has  previously  obtained  such  splendid 
results. 

Even  more  interesting  is  a  photograph  of  the  same  region 
taken  with  a  "lantern  lens"  of  li  inches  aperture  and  5  inches 
equivalent  focus,  the  exposure  being  2h.  i8ni.  The  scale  of 
this  photograph  is  about  10"  to  the  inch,  and  in  addition  to 
bringing  out  some  new  points  about  the  great  nebula,  it  shows 
the  sky  itself  in  that  region  to  he  very  wonderful.  The  first 
photograph  hail  shown  that  the  nebula  occupied  a  singularly 
blank  part  of  the  sky,  from  which  large  vacant  channels  diverged 
towards  the  east,  and  the  negative  taken  with  the  lantern  lens 
showed  that  these  channels  ran  irregularly  eastward  for  15°  or 
20°. 

The  photograph  taken  with  the  lantern  lens  shows  that  the 
new  nebida  extends  southward  for  two  or  three  degrees  beyond 
-Antares  and  a  Scorpii  in  a  southward  direction.  An  elongated 
nebula  about  2°  or  3°  long,  involving  the  star  r  Scorpii,  is  also 
seen  on  the  photograph. 

Prof.  Barnard  goes  on  to  say  that  "  this  magnificent  nebula  is 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  sky,  antl  as  it  involves  so  many  of  the 
bright  stars  in  th.at  region  it  would  imply  that  they  are 
essentially  at  the  same  distance  from  us."  (Ast.  Xacli.  3301). 
The  unpretentious  char.actcr  of  one  of  the  instruments  eni'ployed 
by  Prof.  Barnard  is  not  the  least  remarkable  feature  almut  this 
new  discovery. 


;o6 


NA  TURE 


[July 


=  o> 


1895 


New  Variable  Stars. — Wolsingham  Observatory  Circular, 
No.  42,  received  from  the  Kev.  T.  E.  Espin,  announces  that  a 
red  star  of  Secchi's  Type  III.,  magnitude  S"4,  was  detected  at  his 
Obsen-ator)-  on  July  14,  in  R..\.  igh.  52-4m.,  Decl.  2'  11' 
(1900).  The  ."itar  is  probably  a  new  variable,  and  is  not  in  the 
southern  Durchinusterung.  The  star  ilesignate<l  Espin  1021  is 
also  probably  variable. 


THE  BRITISH  MEDICAL  ASSOCIATION. 


A  S  already  noted,  the  sixty-third  annual  meeting  of  the  British 
•**■     Mediad  .\ssociation  will  be  held  in   London  next  week. 
From  the  programme  of  final  arrangements  published    in    the 
current  number  of  the  British  Mediial  Jouriial,  it  is  evident 
that  the  meeting  will  be  of  exceptional  interest  anil  importance. 
The  President-elect  is  .Sir  J.  Russell  Reynolds,  Ban.    .\n  address 
in  Medicine  will  be  d-^livered  by  Sir  W'illiam  Broadbent,  Bart. ; 
an  address  in  Surger)'  by  Jonathan  Hutchinson,  K.  R.S.;  and  an 
address  in  I'hysiologj- by  I'rof.  Edward  .Albert  Schafer,  F. R.S. 
The    scientific  business  of   the  meeting  will   be   conducted   in 
fifteen  sections  : — Numerous  papers  have  been  received  by  each 
Section,  and  specific  points  have  been  selected  for  tliscussion. 
In  the  Section  of   Medicine,  presided  over  by  Dr.  K.  W.  I'avy,  I 
K.  R.S.,  the  following  .subjects  have  been  selected  for  discu.ision  : 
( 1 )  Diphtheria  and  its  treatment  by  the  antitoxin  ;  acute  lobar  or 
croupous  pneumonia,    its   etiology,   pathology,  and   treatment ; 
the  causes  of  acute  rheumatism  and  its  relation  to  other  affec- 
tions.    The   President  of  the    Surgery-  Section   is  Sir  William 
MacCormac,   who    will    make   .some    introductorj-    remarks,  in 
which  he  will    refer  to  the  effects    produced   by  modern   rifle 
bullets  on  the  human  body.     The  following  suiijects  have  been 
.selected  for  discussion  :  The  diagnosis  and  treatment  of  fractures 
of  the  upper  third  of  the  femur,  including  the  neck  ;  the  surgical 
treatment  of  cysLs,  tumours,  and  carcinoma  of  the  thyroid  gland 
and   access<jry   thyroids.      Sir   William    Priestley   presides  over 
the  Section  of  Obstetrics  and  Gyn;ecology.     Tlie  President  of 
the    Section    of    Public    Medicine   is    Dr.    Ernest    Hart.      The 
regular  business  of  this  Section  will  commence  each  day  with  a 
fnrmal  discussion  by  gentlemen  who  have  been  invited  to  o|ien 
the  debates.     The  subjects  selected  are  as  follows  :   Presidential 
address — Water-borne  disease  and   its  prevention  ;    discussions 
upon  the  regulation  of  the  slaughter  of  animals  for  human  food 
and  the  inspection  of  animals  before  and  during  slaughter :  the 
insecurity  of  tenure  of  extra-Metropolitan    Medical  UtVicers   of 
Health   under   the    Public   Health   .\ct,  1875.     The  Section   of 
I'sychology  h.-is  for  its  I'resident  Dr.  W.  J.  Mickle.     The  Presi- 
dent will  open  the  section  with  an  address  on  the  brain.     A 
di.scussion   has  Ijcen  arranged  to  take  place  on  each  day,  the 
subjects  being  :  On  the  treatment  of  melancholia  ;  on  insanity,  in 
relation  to  criminal  responsibility  ;  on  epilepsy,  and  its  relation 
1.1   insanity.     The    President  of  the   Phy.siology  Section  is  Dr. 
David    Kerrier,    K.R.S.     In    this    Section  a  discussion    on    the 
mechanics  of  the  cardiac  cycle  will  t»e  introduced  by  Prof.  Hay- 
craft  and  Dr.    D.  I'aterson  ;  the  following  will  take  jiart — Dr. 
Noel    Paton,   Dr.    Lauder   Brunton,    K.R.S.,  and    Dr.   Gibson. 
The  .\nalomy  and    Histology  Section  has  for  its  President  Mr. 
Henrv  Morris.      The  following   subjects  have  lieen  selected  for 
-ion:   .\rt    in   its  relation   to  anatomy;    the  development 
lucture  of  the  placenta  ;  the  topographical  anatomy  of  the 
Men.     The    President    of    the    Section    of    Pathology    and 
1  riol<,gy  is  Dr.   Samuel  Wilks,    K.R.S.     The  work  of  the 

~       in    includes  the  demonstration  of  the  malaria  jarasite  by 
Dr.  P.  .Manson,  with  Sf)me  facts  as  to  its  lifc-histor)-.     There 
wilt  Ik-  a  discussion   upon  this,  and  upon  neuritis ;  vaccinia  and 
lis  an.x-mia  :    and  lymphadenoma.     The  Presi- 
i.n  of  Ophthalmology  is  Mr.  II.  Power.     The 

i ,  M  .,     ,,-,  ,.,,ions  have  lieen   arranged   in  this  Section  :  On 

certain  rare  ca.ses  of  recurrent  o)ihthalmia  ;  on  the  diagnosis  of 

<.rl,i:.il     L;r.'»ihs;    on    the   (juestion    of    o|>erating    in    chronic 

The  Section  of   Di.sca.ses  of  Children    has  for   its 

I  I  r.  I'.hn  H.  Morgan  ;  and  the  President  of  the  Section 

\V.  Dalby.     The  Section  of  Pharmacology  and 

lor  lis   President  .Sir  William    Roberts,  I'.  K.S. 

1m  ■     ■  ■"  '     -  ,!•    ■■!-.;   ti  ii|xin  senimthera|)cutics, 

and  I    kssion  with  reference  to 

the  r'  /  ,'"'•      I'f-  I'elix  .Scmon  is 

the  Prcnlent  of  the  .Seriirin  of  I^ar)ngology  ;  and   Dr.  H.  Rad- 

cliffe  Crocker,  of  the  Dermatology  Section.      Finally,  the  ethics 

of  the  medical  profession  has  a  Section  to  itself,  presided  over  by 

NO.   1343.  VOL.  52] 


Dr.  W.  F.  Cleveland.  Only  members  of  the  British  Medical 
Association,  invited  guests,  and  accredited  strangers,  will  be 
allowed  to  attend  the  general  meetings  or  the  meetings  of 
Sections.  The  reception-rooms  will  be  openeii  on  Monday,  July 
29,  at  12  o'clock  noon.  The  members'  reception-room  is  in  the 
large  hall  of  King's  College.  A  separate  reception-room  has 
been  provided  for  inviteil  foreign  guests  next  to  the  members" 
reception-room,  and  another  for  ladies  at  the  Royal  Society's 
Rooms,  Burlington  House.  The  arrangements  for  the  conduct 
of  the  work  of  the  Sections,  and  for  the  comfort  of  the  members, 
have  been  admirably  arranged,  so  there  is  every  promise  that  the 
meeting  will  be  a  verv  successful  one. 


HE  LI  CM,  A    COXSTITCENT  OF  CERTAIX 

MLVEKALS.' 

1. 

'X'HE  gas  obtained  from  the  mineral  cleveite,  of  which  a 
•^  preliminary  account  has  been  communicated  to  the  Royal 
Society  {Proieediiigs ,  May  2,  1895),  has  been  the  subject  of 
our  investigation  since  the  middle  of  April.  Although  much 
still  remains  to  be  done,  enough  information  has  been  gained  to 
make  us  believe  that  an  account  of  our  experiments,  so  far  as 
they  have  gone,  will  be  received  with  interest. 

We  have  attempted  to  ascertain,  in  the  first  place,  from  what 
minerals  this  gas,  showing  a  yellow  line  almost,  if  not  quite, 
identical  in  wave-length  with  the  line  D3  of  the  chromospheric 
siiectrum,  and  to  which  one  of  us  has  provisionally  given  the 
name  "  helium  " — a  name  applied  by  Profs.  Lockyer  and  Frank- 
land  some  thirty  years  ago  to  a  hypothetical  solar  element, 
characterised  by  the  yellow  line  D,  of  wave-length  5S75'9S2 
(Rowland).  We  may  state  at  once  that  it  is  not  our  purpose  to 
altemjJt  to  prove  this  coincidence,  but  willingly  to  leave  the 
subject  to  those  who  are  more  practised  in  such  measurements. 

We  propose  therefore,  first,  to  discuss  the  terrestial  sources  of 
this  gas ;  second,  to  describe  experiments  on  products  from 
several  sources  ;  and  last,  to  propound  some  general  views  on 
the  nature  of  this  curious  substance. 

I .    The  Sounes  of  Helintn. 

It  is  usual  in  a  memoir  of  this  kind  to  cite  previous  work  on 
the  subject.  It  would  be  foreign  to  our  jiurpose  to  discuss 
observations  on  the  solar  spectrum  ;  our  memoir  deals  w  ith 
terrestrial  helium.  .And  we  have  been  able  to  find  only  one 
short  note  of  a  few  lines  on  the  subject  ;  it  is  a  statement  by 
Signor  Palmicri  <  Kcnd.  .-/.v.  di  Xaf'oli,  xx.  2331,  that  on  ex- 
amining a  lava-like  product  ejected  by  \esuvius,  he  found  a  soft 
substance  which  gave  a  yellow  sjiectral  line  of  wavelength 
587-5  ;  he  promised  further  researches,  but,  so  far  .as  we  know-, 
he  did  not  fulfil  his  promise.  He  does  not  give  any  details  as  to 
how  he  examined  the  mineral. 

An  account  has  already  been  given  in  Part  I.  of  Dr.  Hille- 
braniVs  investigations  on  the  gases  occlude<l  by  various 
uraninites  which  he  was  so  unfortunate  .-us  to  mistake  for  nitrogen. 
Dr.  Hillebrand  was  so  kind  as  to  supply  us  with  a  fair  ipianlity 
of  the  uraninite  he  employed  :  and  it  is  s;itisfaclory  to  be  able 
to  confirm  his  results  so  far ;  for  it  is  beyond  doubt  that  the  gas 
evolved  from  his  uraninite  by  heating  it  in  a  vacuum  or  by 
boiling  with  sulphuric  acid  contains  about  to  per  cent,  of 
its  volume  of  nitrogen.  It  is  therefore  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
that  he  formed  the  conclusion  that  the  gas  he  hail  was  nitrogen  ; 
for  he  obtained  some  evidence  of  the  formation  of  nitrous  fumes 
on  |>a.s.sing  sjarks  through  a  mixture  of  this  gas  with  oxygen  ; 
he  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  weighable  amount  of  ammonium 
platinichloridc  from  the  product  of  sparking  it  with  hydrogen 
m  presence  of  hyilrochloric  acid  ;  and,  in  ad.lilion,  he  observed 
a  strong  nitrogen  siu-clrum  in  a  sample  of  the  gas  transferred  to 
a  vacuum-tube.  Had  he  operated  with  cleveite,  as  will  lie 
shown  later,  he  would  have  in  all  probability  discovered  helium 
(/*«//.  U.S.  Ceo/oxiia.'  Siinry,  Ixxviii.  431. 

To  extract  the  gas  from  small  (juantities  of  minerals,  from  i 
to  5  grains  of  the  coarsely-  powdered  substance  wiis  heale<l  in 
a  small  bulb  of  combustion-tubing,  jjreviously  exhausted  by  a 
Toppler's  pump.  As  it  was  founil  that  water  and  carbon  dioxide 
were  often  evolved,  a  soda-lime  tube  and  a  lube  filled  with 
phosphoric  anhydride  were  often  interixjseil  between  the  bulb 

1  A  p.-iprr  tiy  Prof.  William  R.im.K.-i>-,  F.R.S.,  Dr.  J.  Norman  Collie,  and 
Mr.  Morri«  rr-ivcrs,  read  before  the  Clicmical  Society  on  June  »o. 


JULV    25,    1895] 


NA  TURE 


507 


and  the  pump.  After  most  of  the  gas  had  been  evolved,  the 
temperature  was  raised  until  the  hard-glass  bullj  bejjan  to 
ccjllapse. 

Many  of  the  minerals  evolved  hydrogen  ;  hence,  after  the  gas 
had  entered  the  pump,  the  bulb  was  completely  exhausted,  and 
the  gas  was  sparked  with  oxygen,  no  alkali  being  present.  The 
oxygen  was  then  absorbed  with  caustic  soda  and  pyrogallic  acid, 
and  the  gas  was  transferred  to  a  vacuum-tube.  As  this  process 
of  transference  proved  very  convenient,  it  is  worth  while  to 
describe  it  in  full. 

The  apparatus  is  shown  in  the  annexed  figure.  It  consists  of 
a  tube  provided  with  a  perfectly-fitting  stop-cock  ;  this  tube  is 
cimnected  with  a  Tiippler's  pinup.  The  vacuum-tube  or  tubes 
to  be  fitted  are  sealed  to  a  lateral  branch  above  the  stop-cock. 
The  lower  part  is  bent  into  a  sharp  U ,  and  the  end  drawn  out 
to  a  point  and  sealed.  The  stop-cock  is  then  turned  full  on, 
and  the  whole  tulje  is  completely  exhausted,  until  the  vacuum- 
tube  shows  lirilliant  phosphorescence,  or,  indeed,  as  often 
happens,  ceases  to  conduct  the  discharge  ;  the  stop-cock  is  then 
closed.  A  mercury  trough  is  placed  lielow  the  bend  of  the 
tube,  and  the  latter  is  sunk  until  the  clo.sed  end  disappears 
below  the  mercury.  A  small  tube,  which  need  not  contain 
more  than  i  c.c.  of  the  gas  to  be  introduced  into  the  vacuum- 
tulw,  is  then  placed  over  the  closed  end  of  the  bent  tube,  and 
the  mercury  trough  is  lowered.  The  sealed  end  is  then  broken 
by  pressing  it  against  the  interior  of  the  gas-tube,  when  gas 
enters  up  to  the  stop-cock.  On  carefully  opening  the  stop-cock 
a  trace  of  gas  is  passed  into  the  vacuum-tube  ;  this  gas  is  then 


))umped  out  and  collected  below  the  delivery  tube  of  the 
Topjiler's  pump.  One  such  Hashing  with  gas  is  usually 
sufficient.  The  stop-cock  is  again  opened,  and  a  sufficient 
amount  of  gas  introduced  into  the  vacuum-tulje  to  show  the 
spectrum.  The  vacuum-tube  is  then  removed  by  sealing,  and 
the  gas  still  remaining  in  the  bent  tube  may  be  transferred  to  the 
pump  and  collected.  It  is  seen  that  this  method  jiermits  of  the 
filling  of  a  vacuum-tube  absolutely  without  loss,  and  it  may  be 
added  with  great  expedition. 

The  results  obtained  with  the  minerals  examined  are  given  in 
the  following  table. 

The  spectrum  of  helium  is  characterised  by  five  very  brilliant 
lines  ;  these  occur  in  the  red,  the  yellow,  the  blue-green,  the 
blue,  and  the  violet.  In  every  case,  except  with  hjelinite, 
fergusonite,  and  xenotime,  in  which  cases  the  lines  were  merely 
seen,  all  these  lines  were  identified  by  simultaneous  comparison 
in  the  same  spectroscope  with  the  spectrum  of  helium  from 
cicveile.  With  the  gas  from  samarskite  and  in  some  other 
cases  a  still  more  careful  comparison  was  made,  and  the  absolute 
coincidence  of  every  visible  line  was  ascertained. 

Krom  many  of  these  minerals,  a  hydrocarbon  was  extracted  : 
this  was  manifested  by  the  non-absorption  of  the  gas  by  caustic 
potash  until  after  explosion  with  oxygen.  It  would  be  interest- 
ing to  ascertain  whether  the  hydrocarbon  is  present  as  such  in 
the  mineral,  or  is  formed  during  the  heating,  for  in  all  cases 
where  a  hydrocarbon  was  evolved,  a  large  quantity  of  hydrogen 
was  also  obtained.     If  a  vacuum-tube  be  charged  with  the  crude 

NO.    1343,   VOL.   52] 


gas,  merely  deprived  of  carbon  dioxide  by  caustic  alkali,  the 
spectrum  consists  almost  wholly  of  the  fluted  bands  of  carbon. 


Name  of  mineral. 


Vttrotantalite . 
Samarskite 


Kachwane,  Ceylon 
Unknown    


Rt:-^ull. 


Iljclmite. 


Fergusonite 

Tantalite 

Pitchblende 


Fahlun,  Sweden... 

\'tterby,  Sweden.. 
Fahlun,  Sweden.. 

Cornwall 


Pitchblende     ... 

Unknown 

Polycrase     

Hittero,  Norway.. 

All  these  minerals  con 

Monazite...-. 

N.  Carolina 

»»       

>)       

)»       

Xenotime     

Fahlun,  Sweden... 

Bahia   

Skrotorp,       near 

Moss,  Norway... 

Brazil  

Orangeite    

Near  Arendal 

Columbite   

N.  America     

Perofskite    

Magnet  Cove, 
Arkansas  

Wazite 

Sweden    

Thorite    

Norway  

Orthite    

dadolinite   

Ilitterii,  Norway.. 

Kuxenite 

Cerite  

Unknown    

Hydrogen  and  helium. 

A  little  hydrogen  and 
nitrogen.  After  spark- 
ing with  oxygen  over 
caustic  soda,  15  grams 
yielded  approximately  4 
c.c.  of  helium.  At  high 
pressure  (4  mm.)  the 
unsparked  gas  shows 
fluted  carbon  spectrum. 
At  low  pressures  this  is 
invisible. 

No  hydrogen ;  trace  of 
helium. 

Do.  do. 

Trace  of  helium. 

50  grams  yielded  about 
o"5  c.c.  of  helium.  After 
fusion  with  hydrogen 
potassium  sulphate  a 
further  very  small  quan- 
tity was  obtained. 

Small  quantity  of  helium. 
Do.  do. 


Contains    hydrogen    and 

helium  in  fair  quantity. 

Do.  do. 

Do.  do. 

Do.  do. 

Hydrogen,  and,  after 
explosion  with  oxygen, 
a  trace  of  helium. 
Easily  gave  a  good 
spectrum  of  pure 
helium. 

Much      hydrogen  ;       no 
helium. 
i 

I  Very   little    gas  ;     partly 
I    hydrogen. 
I  lardly  any  gas  :  trace  of 
hydrt)gen. 
I  Fair   quantity  of   hydro- 
;    gen. 

Carbon  dioxide ;  glass 
etched. 

I  Carbon  dioxide  and 
-  small  quantity  of 
\  hydrogen. 

Do.  do. 

90  grams  gave  50  c.c.  of 
gas,  leaving  i  '3  c.c. 
after  explosion  with 
oxygen.  Alter  spark- 
ing and  absorbing  oxy- 
gen, o'l  c.c.  remained. 
Not  examined. 


Blende 

Unknown 

Flat    Rock 
Mitchell  ( 
Carolina 

Unknown 
Brazil  

No  gas. 

Kutile       

M 
^o. 

ine, 
N. 

No  gas,  except  a  trace  of 

carbon  dioxide. 
Only  oxygen. 
Trace  of  oxygen. 
Trace  of  oxygen  in  larger 

quantity,    and  .trace    of 

nitrogen. 

Pyrolusite    

Native  platinum 

;oS 


NATURE 


[July  25.  1895 


-  Il  is  hcrt  of  imerest  to  inquire  which  constituent  of  these 
minerals  is  effective  in  retaining  helium.  Kor  this  purjiose,  it  is 
neces.sar^•  to  know  their  coiTi]x>sition  :  but  it  has  not  been 
possible  to  make  accurate  analyses  of  all  the  samples  of  minerals 
treated.  Hillebrand  sup|xi.*ed  that  the  gas  was  retained  by  ths 
uranium,  and  states  that  its  volume  varies  roughly  with  the 
amount  of  uranium  oxides  present.  To  decide  the  question,  it 
is  necessary  to  consider  the  composition  of  these  minerals  in 
some  detail. 

YtlrolaiilaliltK  essentiallya  tantalate  of  yttrium  and  calcium, 
containing  a  little  tungstic  acid,  and  small  amounts  of  iron  and 
nianium.     The  yield  of  helium  w.as  here  small. 

Samarskile  is  a  niobate  of  uranium,  iron,  and  yttria,  contain- 
ing smaller  amounts  of  tungsten,  zirconium,  and  thorium.  The 
amount  of  uranium  oxide  is  about  II  or  12  per  cent.  ;  of  thorium 
oxide  about  6,  of  yttrium  13,  and  of  cerium  3.  It  yields  a 
moderate  amount  of  helium. 

Hjflmile  closely  resembles  tantalite  in  composition,  but 
contains  stannic  oxide.     The  jield  of  helium  was  minute. 

Fergiitonitt  is  a  niobate  of  yttrium  and  cerium,  containing 
only  a  small  amount  of  uranium,  zirconium,  tin,  tungsten,  i&c. 
The  j-ield  of  helium  was  here  minute. 

Tiintalitt  con.sisLs  of  tantalate  of  iron  and  manganese  ;  the 
helium  obtained  was  a  mere  trace. 

PilihUcitdf  consists  mainly  of  the  oxide,  UjO,.  The  rare 
metals  are  present  in  English  pitchblende  in  verj- minute  amount. 
The  helium  obtained  was  very  minute  in  c)uantity,  and  had  a 
large  amount  of  the  mineral  not  been  used  it  would  doubtless 
have  esca(xxi  detection. 

Polycrase  is  a  nioliate  of  uranium,  containing  titanium,  iron, 
yttrium,  and  cerium.  The  amount  of  helium  obtained  from  it 
was  small. 

These  minerals,  il  will  be  seen,  all  contain  uranium.  To 
Ihem  must  l)e  added  cicveite  and  broggerite,  from  which  by  far 
the  l>est  yield  was  obtained. 

MonaziU,  which  gave  a  good  yield  of  helium,  is  a  phosphate 
of  cerium,  lanthanum,  and  thorium,  but  does  not  contain 
uranium.  It  might  serve,  if  necessary,  as  a  source  of  helium, 
for  it  is  comparatively  cheap  ;  it  would  form  a  more  economical 
source  than  either  cicveite  or  broggerite. 

Xenolimc  is  a  phosphate  of  yttrium,  and  yields  a  trace  of 
helium. 

Oram:cili-  and  Thorite  are  silicates  of  thorium  containing 
small  quantities  of  uranium  and  lead.  The  former  of  these 
yielded  a  fair  amount  of  helium,  but  none  could  be  obtained 
from  a  larger  quantity  of  the  latter. 

Krom  these  details,  it  may  be  concluded  that  the  helium  is 
retained  by  minerals  consisting  of  salts  of  uranium,  yttrium,  and 
thorium.  Whether  its  presence  is  conditioned  by  the  uranium, 
the  yttrium,  or  the  thorium,  we  are  hardly  yet  in  a  i)osition  to 
decide.  To  judge  by  the  Cornish  ore,  oxide  of  uranium  alone  is 
.sufficient  to  retain  it  ;  but  that  its  jircsence  is  not  absolutely 
necessary  is  shown  by  its  existence  in  monazite  and  xenolime. 
The  high  atomic  weights  of  uranium  and  thorium,  and  the  low 
atomic  weight  of  helium  suggest  some  connection  ;  and  yet 
yttrium,  which  possesses  a  medium  atomic  weight,  sometimes 
apjiears  to  favour  the  presence  of  the  gas  ;  for  yttrium  is  iiresent 
in  yitrotantalile,  whi:h,  however,  contains  uranium,  and  in 
cicveite,  in  which  uranium  is  present  in  relatively  large  amount. 

None  of  the  oxirles  of  uranium,  when  heatefl  in  helium  and 
allowed  to  cool,  retains  the  gas ;  but  similar  experiments  have 
not  yet  Wen  made  with  oxides  of  thorium  and  yttrium,  or  with 
a  mixture  of  these  with  uranium  oxide. 

(  To  he  (o)ilinued. ) 


Master  of   the  Accrington   Municipal   Technical  Schools,  just 
erected  at  a  cost  of  ^12,000. 

Ak'I'KR  ten  years  of  quiet  and  unostentatious  work  in  temporary 
buildings,  the  authorities  of  the  Cambridge  Training  College 
for  Women  Teachers  have  been  able  to  erect  large  and  handsome 
college  buildings  by  means  of  a  grant  from  ihc  Pfeifler  Hequest 
and  voluntary  subscriptions.  The  new  buildings  will  be 
formally  oi>ened  on  Saturday,  October  19,  by  the  Marquess  of 
Kipon,  and  other  well-known  persons  interested  in  education 
have  ])romised  to  take  part  in  the  proceedings.  Practical 
demonstrations  will  be  arranged  to  illustrate  some  of  the  latest 
developments  of  educational  method,  both  in  teacliing  and  train- 
ing, so  as  to  make  the  occasion  one  of  special  interest  to  those  who 
are  taking  a  share  in  the  development  of  secondary  education  in 
Enj^land.  The  experiment  of  training  teachers  under  new  condi- 
tions, and  to  some  extent  on  new  lines,  imder  the  shadow  of  an  old 
University,  isof  special  interest,  and  the  opening  ceremony  will 
afford  a  unique  opportunity  lo  those  interested  in  secondary 
education  to  learn  something  of  the  nature  and  results  of  this 
exj>eriment. 

Her  Ma.iIlSTv's  Commissioners  for  the  Kxhibition  of  1851 
have  made  the  follo\\  ing  a]ipointmcitls  lo  science  research 
scholarships  for  the  year  1895,  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
authorities  of  the  respective  universities  and  colleges.  The 
scholar-ships  are  of  the  value  oi  £\ya  a  year,  and  are  tenable  for 
two  years  (subject  lo  a  satisfactory  report  at  the  end  of  the  first 
year)  in  any  university  at  home  or  abroad,  or  in  some  other 
institution  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  :  University  of  l"(Iinliuvi;li.  jolin  1).  K. 
Gilchrist  ;  University  of  Glasgow,  Walter  Stewart  ;  University 
of  St.  Andrews,  Henry  C.  Williamson  ;  University  College, 
Dundee,  James  Henderson  ;  Mason  College,  Birmingham, 
Robert  H.  I'ickard  :  University  College,  Bristol,  Samuel  R. 
Milner  ;  University  College,  Liverpool,  John  T.  I'armer  ;  Uni- 
versity College,  London,  Kniily  .Vston ;  Owens  College, 
Manchester,  William  H.  Moorby;  Durham  College  of  .Science, 
Newcastle-on-Tyne,  Alexander  L.  .Mellanby;  University 
College,  Nottingham,  Martin  li.  I'eilmann  ;  (,)ueen's  College, 
Belfast,  William  Hanna  ;  M'Ciill  University,  Montreal,  Robert 
O.  King  ;  Queens  University,  Kingston,  Canada,  Thomas  L. 
Walker  ;  University  of  .Sydney,  John  A.  Watt  ;  University  of 
New  Zealaii  1.  I' -1  Rutherford. 


L  XnEliSITY  AM)  EDUCATIONAI. 
IXTEI. LICENCE. 

M.  LlAKD,  Director  of  higher  education  in  Krance,  has  been 
raised  to  the  rank  of  Commander  in  the  Legion  of  Honour. 

Bv  Ihc  will  of  the  late  Mrs.  Fra-scr,  widow  of  the  late  Bishop 
of  Manchester,  a  sum  of  i^yxxi  is  bequeathed  lo  Oriel  College, 
Oxford,  for  the  founrlation  of  a  Scholarship. 

Mr.  Hkvrv  IIii.Ks,  who  was  an  evening  student  in  the 
Oicmiral  Iie|>arlnienl  of  the  I'insbury  Technical  College,  has 
Ijccn  elected  by  the  Technical  Inslruclion  Committee  of 
Accrington  Town  Council  to  the  post  of  l'rinci|>al  and   I  lead 

NO.   1343.  VOL.   52] 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

.'liiictican  Me/eorological  Journal^  June. — The  principal 
articles  are: — The  Thermophone,  by  IL  E.  Warren  and 
(1.  C.  Whipple.  This  is  an  instrument  for  measuring  tempera- 
lure,  particularly  of  distant  or  inaccessible  jilaces.  It  was 
devised  by  the  authors  for  the  purixise  of  obtaining  the 
temperature  of  the  water  at  the  bottom  of  a  |)ond,  but  is  also 
suitable  for  obtaining  the  temperature  of  the  soil  at  various 
depths.  The  apparatus  resembles  Siemen's  resistance  thermo- 
meter, advantage  being  taken  of  the  fact  lh.it  different  metals 
have  different  electrical  temperature  coefficients.  The 
instrument  is  not  yel  self-reconling.  -California  electrical 
storms,  by  J.  I).  Barker.  The  object  of  the  paper  is  to  intpiirc 
into  the  causes  of  the  infreipiency  of  electrical  storms  in 
California.  At  San  Diego,  for  instance,  the  Weather  Bureau 
has  only  reported  two  electrical  storms  in  the  last  sixteen  years. 
Among  the  princi]>al  causes,  the  author  mentions  the  humidity 
of  the  atmosphere,  llie  absence  of  excessive  heal  dining  the 
rainy  se;\son  (SeptemlK.'r  lo  May),  and  llie  absence  of  c)'clones 
during  the  dry  season  (May  to  Septemlwr). 

Wiedemann's  Annalcn  tier  I'hysik  um!  Cheniie,  No.  0. 
Survey  of  the  present  position  of  energetics,  by  Ceorg  Helm. 
The  two  directions  in  which  the  ctmversion  of  physics  into  a 
science  of  energy  has  been  mo.st  successfully  carried  oul  arc 
those  of  mechanics  and  of  thermodynamics.  Two  views  of 
energy  are  at  present  struggling  for  supremacy,  Ihal  which  re- 
gards energy  as  a  malhemalical  abstraction,  non-existent  except 
I'n  equations,  and  Ihal  «hich  regards  energy  as  a  concrete  reality, 
filling  space,  and  migraling  continuously  from  one  place  to 
another.  One  of  Ihe  chief  generalisations  of  the  .science  of 
energetics   is   this:    In  order   Ihal  sonielhing   may  happen   il   is 


July  25,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


309 


sufficient  and  necessary  that  uncompensated  differences  of  in- 
tensity exist. — Influence  of  gases  in  solution  upon  the  silver 
voltameter,  by  John  E.  Myers.  (See  p.  276).  — The  aureole  and 
stratification  in  the  electric  arc,  and  in  discharges  in  rarefie<l 
gases,  by  ().  Lehniann.  The  appearance  of  the  electric 
arc  with  horizontal  carbons  is  that  cjf  two  gas  jets  burning 
against  each  other,  and  flaring  vertically  upwards.  This 
is  due  to  (he  currents  of  hot  air  ascending  between  Ihem, 
and  is  the  same  as  if  the  carbons  were  joined  by  a  white- 
hot  wire.  There  is  no  fundamental  difi'erence  Iwlween 
the  arc  and  discharges  in  rarefied  gases,  as  may  be  shown  by 
taking  very  small  terminals  or  very  large  discharge  vessels  for 
ihe  latter.  That  the  current  travels  not  only  through  the  arc 
proper,  but  also  through  the  surroimding  "aureole,"  may  be 
proved  by  approaching  a  magnet,  which  bends  the  aureole 
aside. — Magnetisni  of  asbestos,  by  L.  Bleekrode.  The  grey 
variety  of  asbestos  is  highly  magnetic.  Strips  of  so-called 
asbestos  paper  4  by  3  cm.  are  attracted  at  I  cm.  distance  by  an 
electromagnet  capaijle  of  carrying  5  kgr.,  and  fibres  of  pure 
asbestos  attract  .small  particles  of  the  .same  substance.  Asbestos 
should  only  be  used  with  great  care  in  sensitive  magnetic 
instruments. 

liullclin  dc  r Acad^mii  Koyale  de  Belgiijue,  No.   4. — On  the 
specific    heat   of  peroxide   of  hydrogen,  by   \V.   Spring.     The 
method   of  cooling  was   employed,    and    aqueous  solutions   of 
various  strengths  were   experimented   upon.     .\   74  per   cent, 
solution  gave  the  value  o"6893,  which  fell  to  0'6739  at  71   per 
cent.,  0'6276  at  60  per  cent.,  and  o'62o8  at  34  per  cent.     On 
further  dilution  to  31  per  cent,  the  specific  heat   rose  again  to 
o  8065.     Peroxide  of  hydrogen  thus  behaves  ver)'  much  like  a 
solution  of  alcohol.     Chemical  decomposition   probably  exerts 
a  strong  influence  upon  the  values  at  high  concentrations,  and 
0'62o8    nnist    be   taken  as   a   superior  limit.      Woestyn's    law- 
would  give  o'6840.      Hence  it  follows  that  the  internal  work  of 
hydrogen   peroxide  must  be  less  than  that  of  water. — On  meta- 
geometry  and   its   three    subdivisions,   by    P.    Mansion.      The 
author  gives  a  sketch  of  a  system  of  geometry  of  n  dimensions, 
by  which  the  three  varieties,  those  due  to  Euclid,  Riemann,  and 
I^jbatchevski,  respectively,  can  be  deduced  from  elementary  con- 
siderations.     The  theorem    that  a  straight   line,  two  of  whose' 
points  lie  in  a  plane,  lies  in  that  plane  altogether,  applies  to  all 
the  varieties.     But  Riemann's  geometry  is  characterised  by  the 
proposition  :  If,  in  a  plane,  two  straight  lines  which  intersect  in 
a  point  A  also  intersect  in  a  second  point  B,  all  straight  lines 
pa.ssing  through  A  will  also  cut  the  line  .\  B  a  second  time.     If 
the  sum  of  the  three  angles  of  a  .single  triangle  is  etjual  to  two 
right  angles,  the  same  applies  to  all  triangles,  and  the  space  will 
be  Euclidean.     In   Riemann's  curved  space  this  sum  is  greater, 
and  in   Lobatchevski's  curved  space  it  is  less  than    two  right 
angles. — On   the  period   of  frost  extending  from  January  27  to 
Eebruary   17,  1895,  by  A.  Lancaster.     This  amount  of  frost  is 
imprecedented  since  1S38,  when  the  mean  of  the  minima  for  the 
da\s  between  January  8  and  27  was  -  1 3° '4  C.  at  Brussels.   This 
year  the  mean  was  -  II"C.     The  isothermals  of  mean  tempera- 
tures during  this  period  for  Belgium  show  maxima  of  frost  on  Ihe 
frontier'ofLimburgand  north  of  Ha-sselt,  the  least  cold  being  along  I 
an  isothermal  of  -  5'pa.ssingalong  the  coast  through  Ostende. — 
(Jn  a  silicate  which  probably  constitutes  a  new  mineral  species,  by 
(f.  Cesaro.   This  mineral,  which  accompanies  hexagonite  (a  violet 
manganiferous   tremolite),    comes    from  .St.   I-awrence  County, 
N.\'.     It  is  colourless,   or  a  delicate  opaline-jjink.     Its  hard- 
ness is  45.      It  crystallises  in  the  orthorhouibic    system,    and 
presents  two  cleavages  along  iw'o  planes  of  symmetr}-.     Hitherto 
it  has  probably  been  taken  for  enstatite,  but  it  is  distinguished 
from   this  by  the  sign  of  its  bisectrix,  by  the  absence  of  well- 
defined  prismatic  cleavages,  by  its  fusibility  before  the  blowpipe, 
and  by  ils  angles.      Krom  anlhophyllite  it  is  distinguished  by  the 
absence  of  inm.  —  Lunar  topogiaphical  measurements  taken  on 
jihotographs,   comparetl    with    the    records    of    Lohrman    and 
.Madler,   by  W.    Prinz.     A  table  is  given  of  twelve  craters  near 
the  centre  of  the  di.sc,  with  the  values  of  their  diameters  from 
Ihe  maps  and    photographs.     The  greatest  diflerence  between 
the  two  cartograijhers  appears  in  the  case  of  Ptoleni;eus,  whose 
crater  is  given  21,518  m.  bn  ader  by  .Miidler  than  by  Lohrmann, 
and  the  latter  observer  is  confirmed  by  the  photographs. 

Ihilliliii  df  r.-lcadi'mie  Koyak  dc  Bilgii/iie,  No.  5. — Chloro- 
bmniomatic  anhydride,  byiDr.  A.  J.  J.  Vandevelde.  This  is 
obtained  by  the  action  of  bromine  upon  chlorofumaryl  chloride. 
It  is  easily  sublimed,  even  at  ordinary  temperatures,  in  a  current 


NO.   1343,  VOL.   52] 


of  dry  air,  and  can  be  purified  in  this  manner.  Its  formula 
appears  to  be  CCl.CBr.(CO).0.  It  fuses  at  113°  and  boils  at 
203°.  It  has  a  very  irritating  but  not  disagreeable  odour,  and 
violently  attacks  the  nuicous  membranes.  It  is  soluble  in  alcohol, 
ether,  chloroform,  carbon  bisulphide,  and  benzol,  and  easily 
crystallises  in  needles  by  concentration.  When  sublimed,  it 
crystallises  in  plates.  Water  only  dissolves  it  slowly,  and  aa 
aqueous  solution,  when  spontaneously  evaporated,  gives  a  very 
soluble  deliquescent  substance,  which  only  crystallises  when 
nearly  dry. 

Proceedings  of  the  Si.  Petersburg  Society  of  Naturalists,  vol.  i. 
No.  1-3. — The  St.  Petersburg  Society  of  Naturalists  has  intro- 
duced this  year  a  most  welcome  improvement  in  its  publications. 
The  Proceedings  of  the  Society  are  now  published  separately,  in 
advance  of  the  Memoirs,  and  all  the  communications  are 
summed  up  by  the  authors  themselves  in  Krench  or  in  Cerman. 
We  have  already  received  three  fascicules  of  the  Proceedings, 
which  contain  a  number  of  interesting  communications  ;  on  the 
petrography  of  central  Caucasus  and  on  \'esuvian  lavas,  by  .M. 
Loewinson-Lessing ;  on  the  morphology  and  phylogenetic 
relations  of  the  .Myriapoda,  by  P.  Schmidt,  from  which  we  learn 
that  the  Paitropus  Hu.xleyi  is  possessed  of  a  pair  of  tracheas.  of 
a  ver)'  plain  structure,  which  open  under  the  mandibles  ;  on  the 
flora  of  the  Zerafshan  region  in  Turkestan,  by  W.  Komarofi";  on 
the  embryolog)-  of  the  Diplopodes,  by  N.  Cholodkovsky  :  on  the 
l)Tnph  glands  of  the  earthworms,  by  G.  Schneider ;  on  geological 
researches  in  the  Altai,  by  Prof.  Inostrantsefi";  on  the  formation 
of  the  egg  in  the  Dytiscus,  by  K.  Sainl-Hilaire  ;  and  on  the 
Pantopodes  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  and  the  White  Sea,  being  a 
review  of  the  species  described  and  collected  both  by  the  author 
and  different  previous  explorers,  with  a  description  of  one  new 
species  and  two  new  varieties. 

Memoirs  (  Trudy )  of  the  St.  Petersburg  Society  of  Naturalists, 
vol.  xxiv. ,  Section  of  Botany. — Beside;  the  Proceedings,  this 
volume  contains  two  important  works  : — The  sub-genus 
Eugentiana  of  Tournefort's  genus  Gentiana,  by  N.  Kuznetsov, 
being  an  elaborate  work  of  530  P'lg^s,  with  a  plate  and  geo- 
graphical maps,  and  containing  the  systematic  description  of 
this  sub-genus,  established  by  the  author,  its  morphology,  and 
the  geographical  distribution  of  its  species. — The  flora  of 
Crimea,  by  W.  Ageenko,  part  ii. ,  first  fascicule,  containing  the 
tribes  from  the  Ranunculacese  to  the  Capparidea;.  In  the  first 
volume  of  this  work  the  author  gave  a  review  of  the  literature  of 
the  subject,  as  well  as  a  review  of  the  collections  of  Crimean 
plants  which  he  had  at  his  disposal,  and  an  excellent  sketch  of 
the  flora  of  Crimea  and  its  dependency  from  the  local  physical  and 
geological  features  of  the  country.  Now  he  gives  the  full  list  of 
the  vascular  plants  of  Crimea,  which  will  be  followed  by  a 
review  of  the  geological  changes  untlergone  by  Crimea  and  their 
influence  upon  the  present  composition  of  the  flora. 

Bollettino  delta  Societa  Sismologica  Italiana,  vol.  i. ,  1895, 
Nos.  I,  2. — Whether,  and  to  what  extent,  an  earthquake-wave 
can  afibrd  criteria  for  reasoning  with  regard  to  the  nature  of 
the  formations  traversed  by  it,  by  Prof.  P.  M.  Garibaldi. 
— On  conical  or  horizontal  pendulums,  by  Prof.  G.  Grablovitz. 
In  this  paper  is  described  a  simple  form  of  horizontal  pendulum 
designed  for  timing,  or  calling  attentitm  to,  the  beginning  of  a 
disturbance.  The  mode  of  susj^ension  resembles  that  adopted 
by  ticrard  and  Milne,  and  from  the  mass  at  the  free  end  of  the 
horizontal  rod  there  projects  downwards  a  wire  into  a  small  cup 
of  mercury.  When  the  pendulum  is  disturbed,  an  electric 
circuit  is  closed,  and  a  bell  is  rung,  or  the  time  determined  by 
stopping  a  clock,  cVC. -  The  Lecco  earthquake  of  March  S, 
1894,  by  Dr.  M.  Baratta.  This  earthquake  was  a  very  slight 
one,  and  its  interest  lies  in  the  discovery  by  its  means  of  a  new 
centre  of  disturbance  in  Lombardy,  with  which  other  slight 
shocks  may  also  be  connected.  The  relation  between  these 
earthquakes  and  the  geological  structure  of  (he  district  is  dis- 
cussed.— Vesuvian  notes  (1S92-93),  by  Prof.  G.  Mercalli. — Seis- 
moscope  for  electrical  registration,  by  Prof.  G.  Mugna. — 
Geodynamic  levels  for  continuous  registration,  by  Prof.  G. 
Grablovitz.  The  author  has  had  two  water-levels  constructed 
for  Ihe  geodynamic  observatory  at  Ischia.  They  are  each  2j 
metres  long,  and  are  arranged  north-south  and  east-west. 
The  movements  of  the  ground  are  indicated  by  floats,  whose 
displacements  are  magnified  fifty  times  by  levers  carrying  [wns 
at  their  free  ends.  Copies  of  the  record  obtained  from  the 
Laibach  earthquake  of  April  14  are  given. — On  the  velocity  of 
propagation  and  on  the  length  of  seismic  waves,  by  Prof.  F. 


;io 


NA  TURE 


[July 


1S9; 


Omori.  (See  p.  275.) — Notes  on  the  state  of  Etna,  by  Prof.  A. 
Ricco. — Xoteson  Italian  earthquakes  (January,  February,  1895), 
by  Dr.  M.  Baratta.  These  are  inserted  as  an  apj^endix  to  each 
number,  and  form  a  catalogue  of  all  earthquakes,  tremors  and 
pulsations  recorded  at  the  Italian  gemlynamic  and  meteorological 
observatories,  Aic.  They  are  a  ctmtinuation  of  the  valuable 
SuppUmcnti  \o  the  Annali  ai  the  Ufficio  Centrale  di  Mcteoro- 
Ic^^  e  Geodinamica. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Lo.NDOX. 
Royal  Society,  June  20. — "ADjaiamical   Theory   of   the 
Electric    and    Luminiferous    Medium.       I'art    II.  :    Theory   of 
Electrons."     By  Joseph  Larmor,  F.  R.S. 

In  a  previous  paper  on  this  subject,'  it  has  been  shown  that 
by  means  of  a  rotationally  elastic  a;ther,  which  otherwise 
behaves  as  a  (lerfect  fluid,  a  concrete  realisation  of  MacCullagh's 
optical  theory  can  be  obtained,  and  that  the  same  medium 
affords  a  complete  representation  of  electromotive  phenomena  in 
the  theory  of  electricity.  The  ponderomotive  electric  forcives 
were,  on  the  other  hand,  deduced  from  the  principle  of  energy, 
as  the  work  of  the  surplus  energ)'  in  the  field,  the  motions  of  the 
bodies  in  the  field  being  thus  supposed  slow  comp.ired  with 
radiation.  It  was  seen  that  in  order  to  obtain  the  correct  sign 
for  the  elect rodynaniic  forcives  between  current  systems,  we  are 
prcxluded  from  taking  a  current  to  be  simply  a  vortex  ring  in  the 
fluid  a;ther ;  but  that  this  difficulty  is  removed  by  taking  a 
current  to  be  produced  by  the  convection  of  electrons  or  ele- 
mentary electric  charges  through  the  free  a.'ther,  thus  making 
the  current  effectively  a  vortex  of  a  type  whose  strength  can  be 
altered  by  induction  from  neighbouring  currents.  .An  electron 
occurs  naturally  in  the  theory  as  a  centre  or  nucleus  of  rotational 
strain,  which  can  have  a  permanent  existence  in  the  rotationally 
elastic  ather,  in  the  same  sense  as  a  vortex  ring  can  have  a  per- 
manent existence  in  the  ordinary  perfect  fluid  of  theoretical 
hydrodynamics. 

In  the  present  pai^er  a  further  development  of  the  theory  of 
electrons  is  made.  .As  a  preliminary,  the  consequences  as  re- 
gards ponderomotive  forces,  of  treating  .an  element  of  current  i5i 
as  a  separate  dynamical  entity,  which  were  indicated  in  the 
previous  paper,  are  here  more  fully  considered.  It  is  maintained 
that  a  hy|vnhesis  of  this  kind  would  lead  to  an  internal  stress  in 
a  conductor  carrying  a  current,  in  addition  to  the  forcive  of 
Ampere  which  acts  on  e.ach  element  of  the  conductor  at  right 
angles  to  its  length.  Though  this  stress  is  self-e<iuilibraling  as 
regards  the  c«  inductor  as  a  whole,  yet  when  the  conductor  is  a 
liquid,  such  as  niercur)',  it  will  involve  a  change  of  fluid  pres- 
sure which  ought  to  Iw  of  the  .same  order  of  magnitude  as  the 
amperean  forcive,  and  therefore  capable  of  detection  whenever 
the  latter  is  easily  observed.  Experiments  made  by  I'rofs.  Filz- 
(ierald  and  Lodge  on  this  subject  have  yielded  purely  negative 
results,  so  that  there  is  ground  for  the  conclusion  that  the 
ordinary  current-element  i5i  cannot  be  legitimately  employed  in 
framing  a  dynamical  theory. 

This  result  is  entirely  confirmed  when  we  work  out  the  pro- 
perties of  the  field  of  currents,  considered  as  produced  by  the 
convection  of  electrons.  It  is  shown  that  an  intrinsic  singu- 
larity in  the  a;ther,  of  the  form  of  an  electron  e,  moving  with 
velocity  (j,  >',  i)  relative  to  the  quiescent  mass  of  .-ether,  is 
subject  to  a  force  e  (I',  <^,  R),  given  by  equations  of  the  form 

V  =  ci-  hy  -  dVjdt  -  dVjdx  ; 

in  which  (a,  *,  c)  is  the  velocity  of  flow  of  the  a;ther  where  the 
electron  is  situated,  and  is  etjual  to  the  curl  of  (F,  ("i,  II)  in  such 
way  ihal  the  latter  is  .Maxwell's  vector  pHential  given  by  the 
forniuhe  of  the  type 


F 


=/"^^A«i 


.li 


!-)^r, 


dz         dy/r 

and  where  y  is  the  electrostatic  potential  due  to  the  electrons  in 
the  field,  so  that  y  =  c'Xr'r,  where  c  is  the  velocity  of  radia- 
tiim.  Thi-t-  equations  are  proved  to  hold  good,  no",  merely  if 
the  motions  of  the  electrons  are  slow  comjiared  with  radiation, 
as  in  the  previous  pa|>cr,  but  quite  irrespective  of  how  nearly 
the)-  approach  that  limiting  value ;  thus  the  phenomena  of 
radiation  itself  are  includeil  in  ihe  analysis. 

An  clement   of  volume  of  an  unelectrificd   material  medium 
contains  as   many  positive    electrons   as  negative.     This  force 

>  Primed  in  atniract  in  Natvuk,  %\\x.  pp.  360,  380. 


NO.    1343,  VOL.   52] 


(P,  Q,  R)  tends  to  produce  electric  separation  in  the  element  by 
moving  them  in  opposite  directions,  leading  to  an  electric 
current  in  the  case  of  a  conductor  whose  electrons  are  in  part 
free,  and  to  electric  polaris;>tion  in  the  case  of  a  dielectric 
who.se  electrons  are  paired  into  polar  molecules.  In  the  former 
case,  the  rate  at  w  hich  this  force  works  on  a  current  of  electrons 
(«',  v' ,  K''),  is  Vu'  +  Q;'  +  Ric' :  it  therefore  is  identical  with 
the  electric  force  as  ordinarily  defined  in  the  elementar)' 
theory  of  steady  currents.  In  the  case  of  a  dielectric  it  repre- 
sents the  ordinary  electric  force  pnxlucing  polarisation.  So 
long  as  a  current  is  prevented  from  flowing,  the  ponderomotive 
force  acting  on  the  element  of  volume  of  the  metlium  is  the  one 
of  electrostatic  origin  due  to  such  polaris;ition  as  the  element 
may  possess,  for  as  the  element  is  unelectrificd  it  contains  as 
many  positive  electrons  as  negative.  But  if  a  current  is  flowing, 
the  first  two  terms  of  (P,  Q,  R),  instead  of  cancelling  for  the 
positive  and  negative  electrons,  become  additive,  as  change  of 
sign  of  the  electron  is  accompanied  by  change  of  sign  of  its 
velocity ;  so  that  there  is  an  electrodynamic  force  on  the 
element  of  volume, 

(X,  Y,  Z)  =  (t'V  -  7f 'A,  w'a-ii'c,  u'b-i''a), 

where,  however,  («',  v\  w')  is  the  true  current  composed  of 
moving  electrons,  not  the  total  circuital  current  (//,  v,  w)  of  Max- 
well, which  includes  the  rotational  displacement  of  the  free 
ivther  in  .addition  to  the  drift  of  the  electrons. 

The  electric  force  ( P,  (,),  R)  as  thus  deduced  .agrees  with  the 
form  obtained  originally  by  .Maxwell  from  the  direct  considera- 
tion of  his  concrete  model  of  the  electric  field,  with  idle  wheels 
to  represent  electrification.  It  has  been  pointed  out  by  von 
Helmholtz  and  others,  that  the  .abstract  dynamical  analysis  given 
in  his  Treatise  does  not  really  lead  to  these  e<iuations  when  all 
the  terms  are  retained  ;  this  later  analysis  proceeds,  in  fact,  by 
the  use  of  current-elements,  which  form  an  imperfect  represen- 
tation, in  that  they  give  no  account  of  the  genesis  of  the  current 
by  electric  separation  in  the  element  of  volume  of  the 
conductor. 

The  ponderomotive  force  (X,  Y,  Z)  is  at  right  angles  to  the 
direction  of  the  true  current,  and  is  precisely  that  of  .\mpere 
in  the  ordinary  cases  where  the  difference  between  the  true 
current  and  the  total  current  is  inappreciable.  It  difl'ers  Irom 
Maxwell's  result  in  involving  true  current  instead  of  total 
current  ;  that  is,  the  forcive  tends  to  move  an  element  of 
a  material  body,  but  there  is  no  such  forcive  tending  to  move 
an  element  of  the  free  xther  itself.  In  this  respect  it  (lifters  also 
from  the  hypothesis  underlying  von  Helmholtz's  recent  treatment 
of  the  relations  of  moving  matter  to  ;vther 

The  theory  is  applied  ( 1 )  to  the  determination  of  the  electric 
and  magnetic  stresses  in  material  media  and  of  the  mechanical 
i)ressure  caused  by  radiation,  (2)  to  optical  propagation,  includ- 
mg  detailed  theories  of  dispersion  and  metallic  reflexion, 
including  also  the  influence  of  motion  of  the  material  medium. 
It  is  shown  that  if  electrons  are  accepted  as  the  basis 
of  nmterial  atoms,  the  latter  topic  is  fully  elucidated  :  also 
th<at  the  theory  is  not  at  a  loss  when  explanations  of  the 
phenomena  of  inertia,  gravitation  and  spectra  are  demanded. 

June  20. — "An  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  of  the  \'esicating 
Constituent  of  Croton  Oil."  By  Wyndham  K.  Dunslan, 
F. U.S.,  and  Miss  L.  E.  Boole. 

The  vesicating  constituent,  or  more  strictly,  the  pustule- 
producing  constituent  of  croton  oil,  has  been  the  sul>jecl  of 
mvcstigation  by  numerous  chemists  and  pharnlacologi^ts  during 
the  ]>ast  forty  years.  According  to  the  researches  of  liuchheim, 
and  more  recently  of  Robert  and  Hirscheydt,  the  vesicating 
action  is  due  to  an  acid  closely  allied  to  oleic  acid,  which  h.is 
been  given  the  name  of  crotonoleic  acid.  This  substance  is  now 
prepared  on  a  large  scale  in  (lerm-iny  fur  medical  use,  lieing 
extracted  from  croton  oil  by  the  method  devised  by  Kohert  ind 
Mirscheydt.  This  consists  in  sajionifying  with  liariuni  hyilrovide 
that  part  of  croton  oil  which  readily  dissulvos  in  strong  alcolml. 
The  resulting  barium  salts  are  waslieil  with  water,  (hen  dried, 
and  repeatedly  extr.acted  with  ether,  which  dissolves  the  liariuni 
salts  of  oleic  an<l  cmtonoleic  .acids.  These  sails  are  separated 
by  means  of  ether,  which  disscilves  only  the  barium  crotomileate, 
and  this,  when  decomposed  with  dilute  sulphuric  acid  and 
extracted  with  ether,  furnishes  the  crotMUdleic  acid  as  a  viscid  ciil. 
.Since  very  little  is  known  about  this  ,icid,  even  ilscomposilion 
being  undeterinineil,  the  aullicirs  prepared  il  willi  Ihe  oiijecl  of 
studying  its  properties  and,  if  possible,  of  determining  the  con. 
.stitulion  since  no  fatty  acid  of  known  constitution  exhibits  the 
property    of    vesicatmg.       Starting   with    the   crotonoleic   acid 


July  25,  1895] 


NATURE 


1 1 


prepared  as  described  above,  the  lead  salt  was  obtained  and 
submitted  to  a  process  of  fractional  precipitation  by  adding 
successive  quantities  of  water  to  its  solution  in  alcohol.  By  this 
means  crotonoleic  acid  was  proved  to  be  a  mixture  composed 
for  the  most  pirt  of  inactive  oily  acids,  the  lead  salts  of  which 
are  precipitated  first,  whilst  the  true  vesicating  constituent  (or 
its  lead  salt)  is  principally  contained  in  the  last  fractions,  and 
represents  but  a  small  pro])ortion  of  the  original  material.  It 
was  observed  that  the  conversion  of  the  crotonoleic  acid  into  a 
lead  salt  did  appreciably  affect  its  vesicating  power. 

The  supposed  active  constituent  of  crolon  oil,  crotonoleic  acid, 
having  thus  been  shown  to  be  a  mi.xture,  the  authors  proceeded 
to  attempt  to  isolate  the  vesicating  constituent  from  croton  oil 
direct. 

By  saponifying  that  part  of  croton  oil  which  is  soluble  in 
strong  alcohol  with  a  mixture  of  lead  oxide  and  water,  and  , 
repeatedly  fractionating  an  alcoholic  solution  of  the  lead  salts 
with  water,  the  later  fractions,  which  possessed  the  greatest 
vesicating  power,  ultimately  furnished,  when  submitted  to  a  j 
fseries  of  fractionations,  a  resinous  substance  having  extraordinary 
power  as  a  vesicant.  This  substance  could  not  be  further 
resolved  by  repeating  the  process  of  fractional  precipitation  of  j 
the  alcoholic  solution  with  water.  The  same  substance  was 
isolated  from  the  so  called  "crotonoleic  acid,"  and  the  authors 
propose  to  name  it  "  croton-resin."  To  its  presence  the 
vesicating  property  of  croton  oil  is  due.  The  composition  of 
croton-resin  is  expressed  by  the  empirical  formula  CisHjgOj. 
So  far  all  attempts  to  crystallise  it,  or  to  obtain  crystalline 
derivatives  from  it,  have  been  unsuccessful.  It  is  a  hard,  pale 
yellow,  brittle  resin,  nearly  insoluble  in  water,  light  petroleum, 
and  benzene,  but  readily  dissolved  by  alcohol,  ether,  and 
chloroform.  When  heated  it  gradually  softens,  and  is  quite 
fluifl  at  90°  C.  Croton-resin  has  neither  basic  nor  acidic 
properties:  it  may  be  boiled  with  a  mixture  of  lead  oxide  and 
water  without  being  apprecial)ly  affected.  KbuUition  with 
aqueous  potash  or  soda  gradually  decomposes  it,  destroying  its 
vesicating  power.  The  products  of  this  action  are  several  acids, 
some  of  which  are  members  of  the  acetic  series.  By  oxidation 
of  the  resin  with  nitric  acid  a  mixture  of  acids  is  obtained. 
The  constitution  of  croton-resin  is  therefore  complicated,  and  its 
molecular  formula  would  appear  to  be  at  least  (Ci^HigOj),  or 
CjdHjjOs.  Since  it  is  not  saponified  by  a  mixture  of  lead  oxide 
and  water,  and  as  no  glycerol  could  be  detected  among  the 
products  of  its  decomposition  liy  alkalis,  it  is  not  a  glyceride, 
and  as  it  does  not  react  with  hydroxylamine  or  phenylhydrazine 
or  sodium  bisulphite,  it  is  probably  neither  a  ketone  nor  an 
•\ldehy<le.  The  evidence  so  far  obtained  jioints  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  constitution  of  the  vesicating  constituent  of  croton  oil 
may  be  that  of  a  lactone  or  anhydride  of  complicated  structure. 

"  (Jn  the  Magnetic  Rotation  of  the  Plane  of  I'olari.sation  of 
Light  in  Litpiids.  I'art  I.  Carbon  Bisulphide  and  Water."  By 
I .  VV.  Rodger  and  W.  Watson. 

The  aim  of  this  investigation  is  the  determination  in  absolute 
measure  of  the  magnetic  rotation  of  litpiids  at  different  tempera- 
lures,  the  effect  of  the  chemical  nature  of  the  liquid  on  this 
properly,  and  its  correlation  with  other  physical  properties. 

The  present  communication  contains  a  descri|ition  of  the 
apparatus  and  method  of  experiment,  and  the  results  obtained 
with  the  standard  liquids,  carbon  bisulphide  and  water,  fo;- 
sodium  light,  in  a  magnetic  field  of  constant  intensity,  and  at 
difk-renl  temperatures  between  o'  and  the  ordinary  lioiling  jioint. 

in  the  case  of  carbon  bisidphitle  three  different  samples  were 
used,  and  identical  results  were  obtained  with  three  separate 
coils.  In  the  following  table  are  collected  the  mean  values  of 
the  liiiiling  point  (b.  p.),  density  at  o°  (p„),  and  X'erdet's  con- 
slant  at  o"  (7,,).  Ver(let's  constant  may  be  defined  as  the  rota- 
tiiin  in  minutes  of  arc  produced  in  a  column  of  liquid  when  the 
(hhiTence  between  the  magnetic  potentials  at  the  ends  of  the 
'I'himn  is  equal  to  one  CCS.  unit. 


B.p. 

Po. 

yo- 

CSj  No.  I 

..    46°-2S 

I  -29271 

0  -04348 

CSj  No.  2 

46  -26 

I  -29282 

0  -04347 

CS,  No.  3 

46  -26 

I  -292S3 

0  -04347 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  three  different  samples  give  practically 
identical  values  for  the  three  physical  constants. 

The  results  obtained  for  the  rotation  of  carbon  bisulphide  may 
Ik-  summed  up  in  the  follii«ing  e()uation,  where  7,  is  the  value 
of  Xerdet's  constant  at  the  temperature  /, 

7f  =  0-04347  (1—0-001696/). 

NO.    1343,  VOL.   52] 


The  expression  connecting  rotation  and  temperature  is  there- 
fore linear. 

In  the  case  of  water  the  results  are  best  represented  by 

7,  =  0-0131 1  (I— ooi  305/— o-Oj  305/^). 

Here  the  rate  of  change  of  the  rotation  with  temperature  in- 
creases as  the  temperature  rises. 

In  the  case  of  water  the  quotient  7/p,  where  p  is  the  density 
is  practically  constant  up  to  20°,  it  then  very  slowly  increases, 
the  rate  of  increase  between  20'  and  100"  being  practically 
constant. 

For  carbon  bisulphide  the  quotient  7/p  decreases  at  a  constant 
rate  as  the  temperature  rises,  the  rate  of  decrease  being  very 
much  greater  than  the  rate  of  increase  in  the  case  of  water. 

The  measure  of  the  molecular  rotation  which  is  usually 
employed  in  chemical  investigations  is 

(M7/P)  substance  /  (M7/P)  water, 
where  M  is  the  molecular  weight.  Although  the  authors  post- 
pone a  detailed  discussion  of  the  validity  of  this  expression,  they 
show  that  for  carbon  bisuljihide,  at  any  rate,  its  value  changes 
with  the  temperature,  and  hence  the  conclusions  obtained  by  its 
use  regarding  questions  of  chemical  constitution,  especially  of 
tautomerism,  are  affected  on  this  account. 

They  also  point  out  that  the  above  expression  involves  the 
properties  ci  water.  The  only  justification  for  the  use  of  water 
in  relative  observations  is  the  elimination  of  variations  in  the 
strength  of  the  magnetic  field  in  which  the  observations  are 
made.  If  the  temperature  of  observation  is  always  the  same, 
this  can  readily  be  done.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  temperature 
varies,  it  is  essential  to  know  how  the  rotation  of  water  alters 
with  the  temperature.  In  the  past  this  alteration  was  unknown, 
and  the  arbitrary  measure  of  the  molecular  rotation  above 
referred  to  has  come  into  use.  Since  an  expression  for  the  tem- 
perature variation  has  now  been  obtained  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
observers  will  employ  a  measure  of  the  molecular  rotation  which 
does  not  involve  the  properties  of  water.  Indeed,  other  con- 
siderations make  such  a  measure  all  the  more  desirable.  Up  till 
now  the  authors  have  made  observations  on  eight  liquids, 
besides  water  and  carbon  bisulphide,  and  in  all  cases  except  that 
of  water  the  relation  between  rotation  and  temperature  is  linear, 
and  the  quotient,  rotation  di\ided  by  density,  diminishes  as  the 
temperature  rises.  It  is  highly  probable,  therefore,  that  as 
regards  magnetic  rotation,  as  in  the  case  of  so  many  other 
]3roperties,  the  behaviour  of  water  is  exceptional,  and  hence  it  is 
particularly  ill-suited  for  the  use  to  which  it  has  been  put. 
Again,  on  account  of  the  snallness  of  the  rotation  in  water,  the 
unavoidable  inaccuracies  in  determining  its  rotation,  and  thus 
estimating  the  strength  of  the  magnetic  field,  produce  a  larger 
percentage  error  in  the  results  than  if  a  liquid,  such  as  benzene, 
having  a  considerably  higher  rotation  than  water,  were  used  for 
this  purpose. 

Chemical  Society,  June  20. — Mr.  .\.  Ci.  \'crnon  Harcourt, 
President,  in  the  chair. — The  following  papers  were  read  : — On 
the  "isomaltose"  of  C.  J.  Limner,  by  H.  T.  Brown  and  G.  H. 
Morris.  Lintner's  isomaltose  is  shown  to  be  merely  impure 
maltose,  and  the  isomaltosazone  derived  from  it  is  maltosazone  ; 
maltose  is  the  only  stdistance  produced  in  the  diastatic  conversion 
of  starch  which  yieUls  a  crystallisable  osazone.  — Action  of  diastase 
on  starch  :  nature  of  Lintner's  isomaltose,  by  A.  R.  Ling  and 
J.  L.  Baker. — The  transformation  of  ammonium  cyanate  into 
urea,  by  J.  Walker  and  1-".  J.  Hambly,  The  velocity  of  inter- 
conversion  of  urea  and  ammonium  thiocyanate  under  various 
ctmditionsin  aqueous  solutions  has  been  <iuantitativelystudied;  the 
numbers  obtained  can  be  interpreted  bythe  dissociation  hypothesis. 
— Note  on  the  transformation  of  ammonium  cyanate  into  urea, 
by  U.  J.  H.  l-'enton.— Some  derivatives  of  humulene,  by  A.  C. 
Chapman.  A  number  of  derivatives  of  humulene,  the  sesquiter- 
pene contained  in  the  essential  oil  of  hops,  are  described. — Note 
on  thio-derivatives  from  sulphanilic  acid,  by  Miss  L.  E.  Walter. 
The  parasulphonate-xanthate,  .SOsK.CulIj.S.CS.OEt,  obtained 
by  the  interaction  of  patassium  xanthateand  diazotised  sulphanilic 
acid,  is  readily  converted  into  derivatives  of  the  sulphydride, 
.S().,K.C|iH4.SH,  a  number  of  w-hich  are  described  together  with 
their  oxidation  produc;s.  —  Helium,  a  constituent  of  certain 
minerals  (part  ii.),  by  W.  Ramsay,  J.  N.  Collie,  and  M 
Travers.  Fifteen  out  of  about  thirty  minerals  studied  were  found 
to  yield  helium,  the  density  of  the  several  samples  of  gas 
examined  being  alxiut  2*2  :  the  w-ave-length  of  sound  in  the  gas 
corresponds  to  i  :  \\,  so  that  the  atomic  weight  should  be  4-4. 
Helium  has  the  solubility  0-007  'i  water  .at  iS',  and  is  hence  the 


L 


;i2 


X.I  TURE 


[JULV 


'D> 


189: 


least  soluhle  gas  known.  -  New  formation  of  glycollic  aldehyde, 
by  H.  J.  H.  Kenton.  The  acid,  CjIl^Og.alljO.  previously  pre- 
pared by  the  author,  yields  glycollic  aldehyde  when  heated  with 
water  ;  the  aldehyde  readily  jxilynicrises,  yielding  an  amorphous 
hexose,  C,H, .<),;. — Kthereal  salts  of  ethanetctracarboxylic  acid, 
by  J.  Walker  and  I.  R.  .\ppleyard. — On  the  occurrence  of  argon 
n  the  gases  enclosed  in  ri^ck  salt,  by  P.  I'.  Bedson  and  S.  Shaw. 
The  nitrogen  given  ofT  by  the  Middlesburj;h  brine  contains  about 
the  same  proportion  of  argon  as  does  atmospheric  nitrogen. — On 
the  dissociation  of  gold  chloride,  by  T.  K.  Rose. — On  some 
physical  properties  of  the  chlorides  of  gold,  by  T.  K.  Rose. — 
The  dissociaticjn  of  liquid  nitrogen  peroxide  (part  ii.):  the  in- 
fluence of  the  s<jlvent.  by  J.  T.  Cundall.  The  dissociation  of 
nitrogen  peroxide  in  solution  is  de|)endent  on  the  temperature 
and  on  the  nature  of  the  solvent ;  solutions  in  fourteen  "  inactive" 
solvents  have  been  quantitatively  examined. — Condensation  of 
lienzil  with  ethylic  acetoacetate,  by  F.  R.  Japp  and  d.  D. 
Lander. — On  a  method  for  preparing  the  formyl  derivatives  of 
the  aromatic  amines,  by  }1.  R.  Hirst  and  J.  B.Cohen.  The 
primary  aromatic  amines  yield  formyl  derivatives  when  treated 
with  formamide  in  acetic  acid  solution. — .\  modification  of 
Zincke's  reaction,  by  M.  R.  Hirst  and  J.  B.  Cohen.  The  con- 
densation of  aromatic  hydrocarbons  w  ith  l)cnzyl  chloride,  chloro- 
form, &c.,  is  readily  brought  about  by  amalgamated  aluminium 
foil. — A  method  for  preparing  cyanuric  acid,  by  W.  II.  .Arch- 
deacon and  J.  B.  Cohen.  Cyanuric  acid  and  hydrogen  chloride 
are  obtained  on  heating  urea  and  pho^ene  in  toluene  solution  at 
230°  in  sealed  tubes. — The  oximes  of  benzaldehyde  and  their 
derivatives,  by  C.  .M.  I-uxmore. — On  a  colouring  matter  from 
l.omalii  Hidfolia  and  Lomalia  loni^/olia,  by  E.  H.  Rennie.  .\  I 
yellow  colouring  matter,  which  seems  to  be  hydroxyla|)achol,  is  i 
found  adhering  to  the  seeds  of  the  two  s|)ecies  of  Lomatia. — The  ' 
colouring  and  other  constituents  contained  in  Chay  root  (part  ii. ),  ' 
by  A.  G.  Perkin  and  J.J.I  lummel.  In  addition  to  the  constituents 
previously  isolated  from  Chay  root,  the  authors  now  describe  a 
hystazarin  monomethyl  ether  and  the  three  anthragallol  dimethyl 
ethers. — The  six  dichlorotoluenes  and  their  sulphonic  acids,  by 
W.  I*.  Wynne  and  \.  Greeves. — The  disulphonic  acids  of  toluene 
and  of  ortho-  and  para-chlorololuene,  by  W.  P.  Wynne  and  J. 
Bruce. — Contributions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  aconite  alk,iloids. 
Part  xii.  The  constitution  of  pseud.iconitine  ;  preliminary 
notice,  by  W.  R.  Ounstan  and  V.  II.  Carr. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  15. — M.  Marcy  in  the  chair. — 
Researches  on  the  electric  discharge  of  the  torpedo,  by  iM. 
d'.-Vrsonville.  The  author  hits  investigated  this  discharge  by 
means  of  self-registering  ap|>aratus,  and  has  rendered  it  ap- 
)>arent  by  passing  the  current  through  various  disjiositions  of  a 
set  of  small  incandescent  lamps.  .\t  ig'  C.  the  mean  duration 
of  a  discharge  is  from  0"I  to  005  second.  With  torpedos  from 
25  to  35  cm.  in  diameter,  kept  for  eight  days  in  the  laboratory 
lasins,  the  K..M.K.  oscillates  tjetween  8  and  17  volts,  and  the 
intensity  l>etwecn  i  and  7  amjK-res.  There  is  no  diflerence  of  ' 
potential  l>etween  the  two  faces  of  the  organ  in  repose.  The 
two  organs  function  synergically  and  with  the  same  intensity, 
each  organ  having  several  sections  giving  independent  discharges. 
During  a  discharge,  the  organ  rises  from  02"  to  03  in  tem- 
|K.Tature  if  short -circuilefl,  Init  does  not  l>ecome  heated  if  in  open 
circuit.  The  electricity  is  produced  in  the  organ  itself,  and  not 
in  the  nerves  serving  it.  M.  Marey  followed  up  this  paper  with 
a  few  appreciative  remarks,  emphasising  the  auth<»r's  point  that 
new  light  on  the  nature  of  muscular  action  might  be  ex|)ected 
from  oWrvalions  on  the  electric  organs  of  the  torpeilo,  and 
asserting  that  the  author  intends  studying  the  effect  of  certain 
)Hiiv>ns  and  physical  agents  of  which  the  action  <jn  muscles  is 
.1  '  '  An.— f)n  a  iK'd  of  (xitassium  and  aluminium  phos- 
;  i    in   .Vlgeria,  and  on  the  genesis  of  these  miner.tls, 

I  Tarnot. — Calculation   of    fluid   trajectories,  by    M. 

1  he. — A  comparison  Ijctween   electric    motors    with 

'  currents    and     those     with     alternating  currents, 

by  .M.  I>ue/..  --  On  the  atworplion  spectrum  of  liquid 
air.  by  Profs  I.iveing  and  Dewar.  Janssen's  law  that 
''         ■  ...       '    :      ,       ,  ,  ..y.  the  square  of  the  density 

■    that  these  tnrticular   bands 

u:       ,  ..i  ..L   :ilcs  produced  fty  ctmdensation, 

or  10  the  e:  molecules  of  ordinary  mass,  encounters 

which  arc  in   -  1  ,xs  their   free  path  is  diminished.     An 

examinati^m  of  the  .tl/v»rption  s|)ectrum  of  liquid  air  and  com- 
|";ifi»on  with    that    of  litjuid    oxygen    under    ordinary   pressures 

NO.   1343,  VOL.   52] 


shows  that  a  thickness  of  0*4  cm.  of  liquid  oxygen  gives  a  much 
greater  band  intensity  than  I  -9  cm.  of  liquid  air.  The  bands  in 
the  liquid  air  spectrtim  become  more  intense  as  the  nitrogen  boils 
oflf.  Nlixtures  of  liquid  air  anil  oxygen  confirm  Janssen's  law  at 
low  tem|)eratures.  Solid  air,  whether  containing  solid  oxygen 
or  not  must  remain  doubtful,  shows  practically  the sante  character 
and  intensity  of  absorption  as  liquid  air,  hence  the  encounter 
theory  is  not  borne  out  by  exix'riment. — .\ction  of  the  infra-red 
rays  on  silver  sulphide,  by  M.  II.  Rigollot.  Using  silver  sulphide 
as  an  electrochemical  actinometer,  its  sensitiveness  to  infra-red 
rays  has  Iwen  recognised  far  lieyond  the  last  visible  radiations. 
The  E. M.F.  jiroduced  may  possibly  be  due  to  a  calorific 
action. — On  the  detection  and  presence  of  laccase  in  plants,  by 
M.  G.  Berlrand.  Laccase  has  been  recognised  in  many  plants ; 
a  list  is  given.  It  appears  only  to  be  found  in  the  rapidly 
developing  parts,  the  older  [XJrtions  of  plants  not  yielding  this 
diastase-like  substance. — t^n  the  essence  of  Linaloe,  by  MM. 
Ph.  Barbier  and  L.  Bouveault.  This  essence  consists  essentially 
of  licireol  with  small  quantities  of  a  sesquiterpene,  of  licarhodol, 
and  di.-itomic  and  tetratomic  terpenes,  together  with  01  percent. 
of  a  ketone,  CgllijO. — On  the  penetration  of  embryos  of 
"  I'anguillule  stercorale '"  into  human  blootl  and  the  relation 
between  the  jire-sence  of  these  embryos  and  certain  fevers  of  hot 
countries,  by  M.  P.  Teissier. — On  a  transition  form  between 
cartilaginous  and  osseous  tissues,  by  M.  Joannes  Chatin.  The 
Gecko  (Plalydactylus  fasdtiilaris,  Daud.)  has  furnished  the 
tissue  described. — On  pelagic  fishing  in  the  deep  sea,  by  MM. 
L.  Boutan  and  E.  P.  Racovitza.  The  author  is  not  able  to 
confirm  the  existence  of  types  specially  adajited  for  life  at  great 
depths.  Me  gives  a  list  of  forms  found  at  from  400  to  500 
metres  below  the  .surface,  and  shows  that  they  are  nearly  the 
same  as  the  forms  asserted  by  Chun  to  be  characteristic  of  great 
depths  (1400  metres) ;  the  same  types  have  even  been  collected 
near  the  surface.  M.  Je  Lacaze-Duthiers  made  some  remarks 
on  this  paper,  and  particularly  called  attention  to  the  suitability 
of  the  Banyuls  station  for  this  kind  of  work. — The  jihenoniena 
of  karyokinesis  in  the  Uredin;v,  by  M.\I.  G.  Poirault  and  M. 
Raciborski. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The    Distribution  of   Animals.       liv    R.   Lydekker, 

F.R.S ' 289 

Alkali  Manufacture.      HyJ.  T.Dunn 290 

Physical  Analogues  of  Protoplasmic  Movement    .    291 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

.Marshall  :   "  .Ksthetic  Principles" 292 

I'r.ili  :   "  .\n  .\naly.sis  of  Astronomical  Motion"  .    .    .     292 
Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The  Physical  Properties  of  .-Vrgon. — Lord  Rayleigh, 

F.R.S 293 

The    Teaching     I'niversitv     for     London.  —  W.     T. 
Thiselton-Dyer,    C.M.G.,    F.R.S.:     Prof.    E. 
Ray  Lankester,  F.R.S.  :  Alfred  W.  Bennett  .     293 
The  l%arlieNl   Magnetic  .Meridians. — Captain  Ettrick 

W.  Creak,  F.R.S 295 

\'ariegation     in     Flowers    and     Fruits. — J.     D.     La 

Touche 295 

.Sricnie  Scholarships  al    Cambridge. — W.  A.   Shen- 

stone ;    D.  Rintoul      ...        295 

Sir  John  Lubbock  and  the  Teaching  University  for 

London 295 

Post-Graduate  Study  and  Research  at  Cambridge  .    296 

The  Health  of  London 298 

The    Recent    Race    of   Auto-Mobile    Carriages    in 

France.     (///mlnUiil.) 300 

Notes     300 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Altitude  and  Azimuth  of  Polaris 305 

Observations  of  I louble  Stars 305 

.'\  tircai  Nebula  in  .Scorpi 305 

.\ew  \'iirial)le  Stars 306 

The  British  Medical  Association    ...        306 

Helium,  a  Constituent  of  Certain  Minerals.  I. 
{///iislr,t/,;/.\  liy  Prof.  William  Ramsay,  F.R.S., 
Dr.  J.  Norman  Collie,  an.l  Mr.  Morris  Travers       .     306 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence jjS 

Scientific  Serials 308 

Societies  and  Academics 310 


NA TURE 


31. 


THURSDAY,  AUGUST    i,  1895. 


LINEAR    DIFFERENTIAL     E<2UATI0NS. 
Handbuch   der    Theorie  dcr    linearen    Differentialgkich- 
un^cn.      \'on   Prof.    Dr.    Ludwig   .Schlesinger,   Privat- 
docenten  an  der  Universitiit  zu  Berlin.      Erster  Band. 
(Leipzig:  Teubner,  1895.) 

DE  MORGAN  is  reported  to  have  said  of  the  subject  of 
differential  equations,  that  it  illustrated  the  proverb 
that  he  who  hides  knows  how  to  find.  This  was  true 
enough  at  a  time  when  the  sole  aim  of  the  analyst  was 
to  "solve"  differential  equations  by  reducing  them  to 
quadratures,  or  to  construct  ingenious  puzzles  for  the 
benefit  of  undergraduates.  Integration  by  series  was 
kno\vn,  of  course  ;  but  this  was  regarded  as  a  mean 
device,  useful  indeed  for  purposes  of  calculation,  especi- 
ally to  the  physicist,  but  unworthy  of  the  serious  attention 
of  the  pure  mathematician. 

A  new  era  began  with  the  foundation  of  what  is 
now  called  function-theory  by  Cauchy,  Riemann,  and 
Weierstrass.  The  study  and  classification  of  functions 
according  to  their  essential  properties,  as  distinguished 
from  the  accidents  of  their  analytical  forms,  soon  led 
to  a  complete  revolution  in  the  theory  of  differential  equa- 
tions. It  became  evident  that  the  real  question  raised 
by  a  differential  equation  is  not  whether  a  solution, 
assumed  to  exist,  can  be  expressed  by  means  of  known 
functions,  or  integrals  of  known  functions,  but  in  the 
first  place  whether  a  given  differential  equation  does  really 
suffice  for  the  definition  of  a  function  of  the  independent 
variable  (or  variables),  and,  if  so,  what  are  the  character- 
istic properties  of  the  function  thus  defined.  Few  things 
in  the  history  of  mathematics  are  more  remarkable  than 
the  de\  elopments  to  which  this  change  of  view  has  given 
rise.  Leaving  out  of  account  the  theorj'  of  partial 
differential  equations,  which  is  still  beset  with  many  and 
serious  difiicultics,  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  th.at  in  the 
course  of  less  than  half  a  century  the  theory  of  ordinary 
linear  differential  equations  alone  has  attained  a  degree 
of  extent  and  importance  which  makes  it  comparable 
with  ahnost  any  of  the  main  branches  of  analysis. 

The  landmarks  of  the  new  departure  are  the  memoir 
of  Briot  and  Bouquet  in  the  Journal  dc  PEcole  Poly- 
techniiiiie  (cap.  36),  Riemann's  paper  on  the  generalised 
hypergeometric  series,  and  Fuchs's  memoir  in  the  sixty- 
sixth  volume  of  CreUe's  Journal.  Since  the  publication 
of  this  last  work,  more  especially,  the  progress  made 
has  been  exceedingly  rapid  :  the  general  principles  of 
the  subjects  have  been  permanently  established,  so  as 
already  to  admit  of  methodical  treatment,  and  numerous 
particular  applications,  all  of  great  interest  and  beauty, 
have  attracted  and  continue  to  invite  the  attention  of 
mathematical  explorers.  Thus  there  is  the  problem  of 
discovering  whether  a  given  equation  has  an  algebraic 
integral,  and,  if  so,  of  finding  it  ;  there  is  the  theory  of 
equations  with  doubly  periodic  coefficients  ;  and  there  is 
the  theory  of  differential  invariants.  Each  of  tlicse  is 
associated  with  some  of  the  most  brilliant  discoveries 
of  modern  analysis,  and  each  offers  abundant  oppor- 
tunity for  further  research. 
The  wide  extent  of  the  subject,  and  the  immense 
NO.    1344,  VOL.  52] 


number  of  memoirs  relating  to  it,  have  created  an  urgent 
need  for  systematic  treatises  to  serve  as  an  introduction 
to  the  theory,  and  presenting  its  main  outlines  in  a  proper 
perspective.  Fortunately  this  want  seems  likely  to  be 
supplied  before  long  ;  various  excellent  works,  dealing 
wholly  or  in  part  with  linear  differential  equations,  have 
recently  appeared  or  are  in  course  of  publication,  and 
among  these  the  book  now  under  review  will  take  an 
honourable  place. 

Dr.  Schlesinger's  work,  to  be  completed  in  two 
volumes,  is  intended  to  give  a  coherent  and  comprehensive 
account  of  the  theory  in  the  light  of  its  most  recent 
developments.  This  first  volume  is  divided  into  eight 
sections,  exclusive  of  two  introductory  chapters,  one 
historical,  the  other  treating  of  the  existence  of  an 
integral,  and  the  general  nature  of  the  singular  points. 
Of  the  eight  sections,  the  first  contains  the  first  principles 
of  the  theory,  mostly  after  Fuchs  ;  the  second  discusses 
systems  of  independent  integrals,  reduction  when  par- 
ticular integrals  are  known,  Lagrange's  adjoint  equation, 
non-homogeneous  equations,  and  Frobenius's  theorems 
on  irreducibility  ;  the  third  relates  to  the  funda- 
mental equation  ;  the  fourth  to  unessential  singular 
points  ;  the  fifth  to  equations  of  the  "  Fuchsian  "  class, 
that  is  to  say,  of  which  the  coefficients  are  rational 
functions  oi  x  and  all  the  integrals  are  regular  ;  the  si.xth 
treats  of  the  development  of  integrals  within  a  circular 
annulus  ;  and,  finally,  the  seventh  and  eighth  contain  the 
general  theory  of  equations  with  rational  coeflficients. 

The  treatment  is  entirely  analytical,  and  is  based 
principally  on  the  methods  of  Weierstrass  as  expounded 
by  Fuchs,  Frobenius,  Hamburger  and  others  ;  thus  the 
integrals  are  obtained  in  the  form  of  power-series  vahd 
within  a  certain  region  of  the  plane  of  the  complex 
variable,  and  no  use  is  made  of  geometrical  diagrams 
such  as  those  employed  by  Schwarz,  Klein,  and  Goursat. 
Moreover,  except  in  the  fifth  section,  which  contains  a 
brief  discussion  of  Riemann's  P-function  and  of  the 
hypergeometric  series,  the  author  confines  himself  to  the 
general  theory,  and  does  not  consider  special  cases,  or 
particular  applications.  The  demonstrations,  for  the 
most  part,  are  concise,  and  free  use  is  made  of  the  sign 
of  summation  and  double  suffixes.  For  these  reasons 
the  book  is  perhaps  hardly  suitable  for  those  who  are 
approaching  the  subject  for  the  first  time ;  but  any  one 
who  has  read,  let  us  say,  Goursat's  thesis  on  the  hyper- 
geometric series,  or  Klein's  lectures  on  linear  differential 
equations  of  the  second  order,  and  is  moderately  familiar 
with  the  Weierstrassian  function-theory,  will  be  able  to 
consult  it  with  advantage.  To  those  who  are  engaged  in 
research.  Dr.  Schlesinger's  treatise  will  be  of  great  value, 
because  those  parts  of  the  subject  which  are  included 
within  the  author's  plan  are  discussed  with  sufficient 
thoroughness,  with  a  consistent  notation,  and  in  logical 
order  ;  while  the  analytical  table  of  contents  gives 
references  to  the  original  sources  in  direct  connection 
with  the  articles  of  the  book  which  are  based  upon  them. 
It  is  rather  a  pity,  by-the-by,  that  the  dates  ha\e  not 
always  been  gi\en  in  these  references  ;  the  reader  may 
very  possibly  wish  to  know  the  date  of  a  paper,  and  not 
be  able  to  consult  the  volume  of  the  journal  in  wliich  it 
appeared. 

Mathematicians   will    look    forward    with    interest    to 


314 


NATURE 


[August  i,  1895 


the  appearance  of  the  concluding  volume  of  the  treatise, 
which  will  contain,  inter  iilia,  a  discussion  of  the 
group  of  an  equation,  and  of  the  classification  of  equa- 
tions according  to  the  nature  of  the  groups  belonging  to 
them.  Until  the  work  is  complete,  it  is  premature  to 
express  an  opinion  as  to  the  degree  of  success  with  which 
the  author  has  attained  the  object  he  has  in  view  ;  but 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  valuable  ser\'ice  which  is 
rendered  to  science  by  the  composition  of  a  methodical 
treatise  like  this.  So  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge,  account 
has  been  taken  of  all  the  most  important  researches 
which  come  within  the  scope  of  the  present  volume  ;  the 
three  last  sections,  in  particular,  include  an  account 
of  the  recently  published  papers  of  Helge  von  Koch, 
Poincare,  and  Mittag-Lefller. 

The  proof-sheets  appear  to  have  been  ver>-  carefully 
revised,  so  that  the  book  is  happily  free  from  the  crowd  of 
misprints  with  which  mathematical  text-books,  other\vise 
excellent,  are  not  unfrequently  disfigured.  G.  B.  M. 


////•.    HESEARCHES  OF  TESLA. 
Inventions,  Researches,  and  Writings  of  Nikola    Tesla. 
By  Thomas  Commerford    Martin.     (New   York  :   The 
Electrical  Engiiuer,  1894.) 

WE  have  here  an  account  of  Nikola  Tesla,  his 
scientific  inventions  and  work,  by  a  devoted 
admirer.  Mr.  Martin  is  not  a  Boswell,  and  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  his  book  could  hardly  have  about  it 
all  that  human  interest  which  pervades  the  life  and 
achievements  of  a  veteran  discoverer  in  science.  Mr. 
Tesla  is  a  young  man  whose  career  has  been  somewhat 
romantic,  and  whose  ingenuity  is  such  as  to  rank  him 
very  high  indeed  among  the  electrical  workers  and  dis- 
coverers of  the  day.  Born  in  .Austro-Hungary,  educated 
at  the  Rcalschule  at  Carstatt  and  the  Polytechnic  at 
Gratz,  and  professionally  first  in  the  Government  Tele- 
graph Department,  and  afterwards  in  Paris,  his  career 
as  an  engineer  really  began  when  he  arrived  in  America 
little  more  than  ten  years  ago. 

In  two  or  three  years  from  the  day  on  which  he  took 
off  his  coat  in  the  Edison  Works,  Tesla  motors  had 
attracted  attention,  and  he  leaped  at  once  to  a  position 
as  a  successful  experimenter  and  inventor,  which  his 
subsequent  work  has  only  secured  and  made  more  im- 
portant. His  researches  on  the  effects  of  alternating 
currents  of  high  potential  and  frequency,  in  particular, 
though  they  had  the  misfortune  to  be  made  the  subject 
of  the  speculations  of  the  ordinary  journalist,  are  of  great 
scientific  interest,  and  continued  by  Mr.  Tesla  himself 
and  the  army  of  enthusiastic  workers  we  now  have, 
cannot  fail  to  yield  theoretical  results  and  practical 
applications  which  will  more  than  fulfil  the  anticipations 
of    '  '  ■!  t<M)k  a  sober  and   rational  view  of  their 

P"  None  of  those  who  listened   to  Mr.  Tesla 

at  il    Institution   will   soon    forget    the  almost 

ni.'  vpcriments  performed,  their  clear  exposition 

in  what  was  to  the  lecturer  manifestly  a  foreign  language, 
and  the  enthusiasm  which  the  results  displayed  excited 
in  those  present  who  were  best  able  to  judge  of  their 
scientific  interest  and  importance. 

Mr.  Martin's  account  of  .Mr.  Tesla's  work  is  interest- 
ing, and  ycl  perhaps  it  might  have  been  in  some  respects 
NO.    1344,  VOL.   52] 


better  than  it  is.  He  has  had  excellent  materials,  such 
as  the  various  lectures  delivered  by  Mr.  Tesla  on  his 
researches  generally,  the  papers  read  from  time  to  time 
to  scientific  societies  on  particular  inventions  and  points 
of  interest,  and  apparently  the  specifications  of  Mr. 
Tesla's  patents.  Our  complaint,  if  we  have  one,  is  that 
this  material  has  hardly  been  sufficiently  worked  up. 
Many  of  the  lectures  and  papers  were,  as  was  inevitable, 
hurriedly  composed,  and  the  expression  of  Mr.  Tesla's 
theoretical  \iews  contained  in  them  is  not  always  so 
clear  and  complete  as  it  might  have  been  made  by  one 
not  so  rapidly  carried  forward  by  the  stream  of  dis- 
covery. .\  great  inventor  can  hardly  be  expected  to  j 
spend  time  weighing  words  and  phrases,  at  any  rate  he  > 
has  a  title  to  be  excused  from  doing  so,  which  others 
who  expound  him  do  not  possess.  As  it  is,  Mr.  Martin's 
book  is  on  the  whole  a  reproduction  of  articles  which 
appeared  from  time  to  time  in  the  Electrical  Engineer 
{ai  New  York),  and  all  we  wish  is  that  he  could  have 
spared  the  time  and  trouble  necessary  to  cast  the  matter 
into  a  more  homogeneous  and  symmetrical  form. 

For  the  lectures  which  are  reproduced  we  are  very 
grateful.  They  give  Mr.  Tesla's  own  description  of  his 
inventions,  and  his  views  on  points  of  theory — views, 
which  if  not  always  orthodox,  and  sometimes  expressed 
in  language  which  appears  strange,  are  ahvays  fresh 
and  suggestive.  The  unavoidable  repetitions  of  the 
same  ideas,  and  recurring  descriptions  of  the  same 
apparatus,  arc  not  without  some  advantage,  though  they 
interfere  with  the  unity  of  Mr.  Martin's  book,  as  they 
enable  the  lecturer's  meaning  to  be  made  out  more  com- 
pletely than  would  otherwise  be  possible. 

The  book  is  divided  into  four  parts :  Polyphase  currents ; 
Tesla  effects  with  high  frequency  and  high  potential 
currents  ;  miscellaneous  inventions  and  writings  ;  early 
phase  motors  and  the  Tesla  oscillators.  The  two  first 
parts  are  of  course  much  more  interesting  than  the  re- 
maining two,  which  have  to  do  with  such  things  as  oil 
condensers,  anti-sparking  dynamo  brushes,  unipolar 
generators,  the  Tesla  exhibit  at  the  World's  Fair,  and 
the  Tesla  mechanical  and  electrical  oscillators. 

The  discussion  of  polyphase  currents,  which  occupies 
the  first  1 1 5  pages  of  the  book,  has  more  unity  of  treat- 
ment about  it  than  the  second  part,  which  consists 
mainly  of  the  lectures  Mr.  Tesla  delivered  in  this  country 
and  .•\merica.  After  a  short  introductory  and  bio- 
graphical chapter,  Mr.  Martin  proceeds  to  expound  the 
principle  of  the  rotating  magnetic  field  and  ihc  con- 
struction of  synchronising  motors.  .X  paper  by  Tcsl.i,  on 
a  "New  System  of  .Mtcrnatc  Current  Motors  and  Trans- 
formers," is  reproduced  in  this  connection,  and  contains 
the  foundation  on  which  is  based  the  remaining  twenty- 
one  chapters  which  make  up  Part  i.  These  contain 
numerous  modifications  of  the  original  idea,  man"  of 
them  exceedingly  ingenious.  .A  motor  "  dcpcndinj;  on 
'magnetic  lag'  or  hysteresis"  is  described  in  Chapter  xii. 
The  peculiarity  of  this  is  stated  in  an  introductory  para- 
graph to  be  "  that  in  il  the  attractive  effects  or  phases, 
while  lagging  behind  the  phases  of  current  which  produce 
them,  are  manifested  simultaneously  and  not  succes- 
sively." This  statement  itself  seems  to  want  some  little 
exposition,  though  the  arrangement  is  really  very  simple. 
.•\n  iron  disc  is  pivoted  within  a   fixed  coil,  wound  just 


August  i,  1895] 


NATURE 


315 


large  enough  to  admit  the  diameter  of  the  disc  one  way, 
and  a  little  more  than  its  thickness  the  other.  The  coil 
carries  two  pole-pieces,  one  at  each  end,  which  project 
from  opposite  sides  a  little  way  round  the  disc.  Thus 
•opposite  poles  are  stretched  out  as  it  were  from  the  coil 
round  the  disc  in  the  same  direction.  An  alternating 
current  passed  round  the  coil  magnetises  both  these  pole- 
pieces  and  the  disc,  and  the  repulsion  between  the 
.adjacent  similar  polarities  of  the  disc  and  pole-pieces 
produces  the  rotation,  the  polarities  of  both  being  of 
•course  reversed  with  the  current.  The  disc  is  wound 
with  closed  coils,  so  that  the  induced  currents  augment 
the  turning  couple  developed.  This  arrangement  is 
further  developed  into  a  "multipolar  motor";  but  in 
•neither  case  is  there  any  clear  statement  of  how  the 
•action  depends  on  hysteresis. 

In  connection  with  these  and  similar  devices  it  would 
have  been  interesting  to  have  had  some  estimate  of 
•efficiency,  but  generally  speaking,  in  no  part  of  the  book 
is  there  any  discussion  of  this  most  important  question. 
Indeed,  when  the  word  energy  is  used  it  seems  to  bear 
.a  somewhat  peculiar  sense.  For  e.\ample,  at  p.  8i  we 
have  a  statement  as  to  the  "energies"  of  the  field  and 
the  armature,  and  the  importance  of  these  being  equal  if 
for  a  given  sum  the  motor  is  to  have  the  greatest 
efficiency.  This  passage  is  a  little  difficult  of  interpret- 
ation, if  the  word  energy  is  to  be  taken  as  it  ought  to  be 
in  its  technical  sense  throughout,  though  it  is  not  very 
hard  to  make  out  the  idea  intended. 

By  far  the  most  interesting  portion  of  the  book  to  a 
student  of  electricity  generally  is  Part  ii.  The  alter- 
nator of  high  frequency  which  Mr.  Tesla  used  is  fully 
described,  and  the  arrangements  for  using  it  explained 
in  the  first  of  the  lectures  already  referred  to.  The 
phenomena  produced  are  set  forth  in  the  remaining 
chapters  with  numerous  illustrations  which  render  the 
•descriptions  very  easy  to  follow.  The  whole  subject  of 
high  frequency  phenomena  is  very  intimately  connected 
•with  the  researches  of  Hertz  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
work  of  Mr.  Crookes  on  the  other,  and  forms  a  most 
inviting  field  of  research  for  e.xpcrimentalists  who  possess 
the  necessary  equipment.  Whether  always  the  theo- 
retical view  taken  by  Mr.  Tesla  is  correct,  is  matter  for 
legitimate  difference  of  opinion.  For  one  thing,  we  do 
not  think  that  there  is  any  difference  at  all  between 
•electric  force  produced  by  what  is  properly  called  electro 
static  action  and  that  produced  by  electro-magnetic 
action.  The  distinction  is  only  mathematical — the 
former  force  can  be  derived  from  a  potential  function, 
the  latter  cannot — and  in  a  sense  only  expresses  our 
ignorance  of  the  mode  of  production  of  the  force.  But 
perhaps  we  are  mistaken  in  supposing  that  Mr.  Tesla 
regards  the  electric  forces  in  these  two  cases  as  different 
in  nature. 

To  every  |)hysical  inquirer  the  perusal  of  these  lectures 
cannot  but  be  of  the  greatest  benefit.  It  will  again  re- 
mind him  that  the  field  of  research  is  unlimited,  and 
quicken  his  scientific  enthusiasm,  if  not  to  taking  part  in 
the  work  of  this  particular  part  of  it,  to  at  least  prosecut- 
ing with  renewed  vigour  the  intiuiry,  whatexcr  it  is,  which 
lies  ready  to  his  hand. 

It  was  reported  a  few  weeks  ago  that  all  the  apparatus 
and  machinery  belonging   to    Mr.  Tesla   had   been  de- 
NO.   1344,  VOL.   52] 


stroyed  by  fire.  Every  reader  of  his  researches  must 
sincerely  sympathise  with  Mr.  Tesla  in  his  loss  of 
valuable  appliances  and  still  more  valuable  time.  That 
he  at  once  set  himself  to  repair  the  loss  is  only  what 
was  to  be  expected  from  his  character  ;  let  us  hope  that 
it  may  result  in  such  improvements  of  his  means  of 
experimenting  as  may,  in  some  measure  at  least,  make 
up  for  his  disappointment,  if  it  is  not,  what  is  perhaps 
too  much  to  suppose,  turned  into  a  blessing. 

A.  Gr.'vv. 

OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 
An  Introduction  to  Chemical  Crystallograpliy.  By  Andreas 

Fock,  Ph.D.,  translated  and'edited  by  William  J.  Pope, 

with  a  preface  by   N.    Story-Maskelyne,  M.A.,  F.R.S. 

Pp.  iSgand  xvi.  8vo.  (Oxford:  Clarendon  Press,  1895.) 
This  little  book  is  issued  by  the  Clarendon  Press  as  a 
companion  volume  to  Maskelyne's  "  Morphology  of 
Crystals,"  which  was  recently  reviewed  in  these  columns. 
It  is  far  from  being  a  mere  translation  of  Fock's  "  Einlei- 
tung  in  die  chemische  Kr\-stallographie,"  which  was 
published  in  1888.  That  book  contained  a  useful  sum- 
maiy  of  the  leading  facts  known  about  the  origin  and 
growth  of  crystals,  and  the  general  relations  between 
their  chemical  composition  and  other  properties,  especially 
as  regards  isomorphism  and  the  properties  of  mixed 
crj'stals.  .All  this  is  contained  in  the  present  volume, 
which  is,  moreover,  less  sketchy  than  the  earlier  book, 
and  the  somewhat  numerous  inaccuracies  which  dis- 
figured the  German  edition  have  been  corrected.  But  it 
is  in  the  additional  matter  that  the  chief  alteration  is  to 
be  found,  .\bout  fifty  pages  have  been  introduced,  con- 
taining a  survey  of  those  important  contributions  to  our 
knowledge  of  crystals  which  have  recently  been  made 
from  the  side  of  physical  chemistry  ;  the  remarkable 
theoretical  researches  of  \'an  t'Hoft'and  Willard  Gibbs, 
and  the  quite  recent  experimental  investigations  of 
Bakhuis  Roozeboom,  to  which  they  gave  rise,  are  here 
ver)-  happily  summarised  and  brought  within  the  reach  of 
the  English  elementary  student. 

In  order  to  give  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  origin 
and  growth  of  crystals,  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  account 
the  properties  of  the  solutions  from  which  they  separate, 
and  several  chapters  are  accordingly  devoted  to  such 
subjects  as  the  relations  between  osmotic  pressure  and 
concentration,  the  separation  of  double  salts  and  those 
containing  water  of  crystallisation,  the  conditions  of 
equilibrium  in  a  solution  containing  various  solutes  (to 
employ  a  convenient  word  suggested  by  Prof.  Maskelyne 
in  his  preface  as  a  term  for  the  substances  dissohed),  and 
the  resulting  variations  in  the  isomorphous  mixtures  which 
cr>-stallisc  from  such  solutions  ;  all  these  are  subjects 
of  great  importance,  which  have  up  to  the  present  time 
met  with  no  adequate  treatment  in  English  text-books. 

A  treatise  which  merely  summarises  without  criticism 
loses  much  piquancy  and  interest,  and  also  some  value  as 
a  guide  to  students.  This  objection  may  fairly  be  urged 
against  Fock's  book,  which  appears  to  accept  without 
question  all  the  observations  reported  by  the  author.  It 
would  have  been  better,  for  example,  to  indicate  the 
insecure  nature  of  some  of  the  evidence  which  rests  only 
upon  microscopical  observation,  such  as  that  of  Lehmann 
and  \'ogelsang. 

This  book  remains,  nevertheless,  an  excellent  survey  of 
chemical  crystallography,  brought  fully  up  to  date,  and 
one  which  will,  we  hope,  open  the  eyes  of  English  chemists 
to  a  new  field  of  work. 

Mr.  Pope's  translation  is  both  fluent  and  accurate  :  he 
is  further  responsible  for  some  of  the  new  matter  intro- 
duced into  this  edition.  The  book  is  lucid,  readable, 
and  interesting,  and  is  one  which  does  credit  to  the 
Clarendon  Press. 


;i6 


X.-4  TURE 


[August  i,  1895 


Ltiboratory  Exercises  in   Botany.     By  Prof.   Edson   S. 

Bastin,  A.M.     (Philadelphia  :   W.  B.' Saunders,  1S95.) 
For  a  laborator>-  manual  this  book  is  of  i,'reat  extent,  for 
it  includes  more  than  500  octavo  pages,  with  no  less  than 
87  plates.     Yet  it  is  more  remarkable  for  what  is  omitted 
than  for  what  is  contained  in  it. 

The  first  half  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  organography, 
and  consists  of  descriptions  of  the  gross  structure  of  a 
number  of  types  of  flowering  plants,  fully  illustrated  in 
the  first  37  plates.  This  part  of  the  book  seems  to  us 
decidedly  well  done. 

The  second  half,  with  50  plates,  is  on  vegetable 
histology.  Strange  to  say,  it  deals  simply  and  solely 
with  the  vt-gclaiivc  structure  of  phanerogams  and  \  ascular 
cryptogams.  This  branch  of  the  subject  is  illustrated  in 
great  detail,  and  the  anatomical  work  is  sound,  if  not 
quite  up  to  the  highest  modem  standard. 

Not  a  word,  however,  is  said  as  to  reproduction,- 
development,  or  life-histor)-.  The  words  polkn-ttihc, 
tn'tile,  cDibryo-siU,  arcliegonium,  anthcridiuiit,  and  grinu- 
ing-point,  are  sought  in  \ain  in  the  index,  nor  ha\e  we 
found  any  reference  to  them  in  the  text,  except  that 
ovules  are  of  course  mentioned  in  the  descriptive  part. 
In  fact,  just  those  subjects  which  are  most  important  in 
a  scientific  course  of  laboratory  work  are  entirely  passed 
over.  The  utter  absence  of  any  account  of  the  lower 
cryptogams  is  also  astonishing,  for  there  is  no  indication 
that  a  second  volume  may  be  looked  for. 

The  author  is  professor  at  a  pharmaceutical  college, 
and  this  fact  may  help  to  account  for  the  extraordinary- 
unevenness  with  which  he  has  treated  his  subject. 
.Students  of  pharmacy  in  .America  arc  no  doubt  required 
to  have  some  acquaintance  with  the  external  characters 
of  the  higher  plants,  and  some  anatomical  training  may 
also  be  expected  of  them,  with  a  view  to  the  identification 
of  drugs.  Beyond  this  it  would  ai)pear  that  their  botanical 
education  is  not  meant  to  go.  The  author  has  expended 
great  pains  on  his  work,  but  its  manifest  one-sidedness 
renders  it  quite  valueless  as  a  scientific  guide  to  labor- 
atory botany.  Students  of  phaniiacy  in  England  are 
happily  accustomed  to  a  very  dilTercnt  system  of  botanical 
teaching.  D.  H.  S. 

The  Source  and  Mode  of  Solar  Eiwrify.  My  I.  \\.  I 
Heysinger,  M..\.,  M.D.  (Philadelphia*:' J.  B.  Lippin-  | 
cott  and  Co.,  1895.) 
On  the  strength  of  an  acquaintance  with  popular  astro- 
nomical literature,  in  many  cases  not  up  to  date,  the 
author  of  this  work  offers  a  theory  which  he  stales  to  be 
capable  of  interpreting  all  the  phenomena  presented  to 
us  in  the  heavens.  Briefly,  we  are  asked  to  believe  that 
all  interstellar  space  is  filled  with  attenuated  water 
va|>our,  and  that  this  vapour  is  decomposed  into  its  con- 
stituents by  the  electricity  generated  by  the  movements 
of  planetary  bodies  ;  the  oxygen  remains  on  the  planets, 
while  the  hydrogen  goes  to  maintain  the  incandescence 
of  the  central  suns.  The  author  deals  very  ingeniously 
with  many  of  the  apparent  difficulties,  such,  .for  ex- 
ample, as  the  absence  of  an  atmosphere  from  the 
moon  ;  but  his  anxiety  to  leave  nothing  unexplained,  has 
onally  demanded  other  assumption',  and  led  to 
ntradictions.  Thus,  in  regard  to  comets,  it  is 
..I-  .^TTiry  to  suppHJSc,  from  the  repulsion  of  the  tails,  that 
when  they  enter  our  systein,  they  do  not  behave  electri- 
ralK  .1^  r.Iinets  do,  but  like  suns,  and  so  they  should 
li  '  -:in  atmospheres  ;  on  the  other  hand,  since 

'1  '.-.umed  to  be  a  "planetary"  clement  (p.  69), 

they  should  not  contain  carbon.  This  is  in  complete 
contradiction  with  the  facts.  The  author  is  so  much 
behind  ihi-  Inn'-',  in  spectroscopic  matters  as  to  imagine 
that  nebul.i  abdiind  in  free  nitrogen,  and  possibly  oxygen, 
and  that  free  nitrogen  and  hydrogen  are  characteristic  of 
comets.  It  »vould  serve  no  good  purpose  to  discuss  a 
thcor\'  based  on  such  misconceptions. 

NO.    1344,  VOL.  52] 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  respottsible  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  Huxley  Memorial. 

I  TRUST  you  will  allow  me  through  the  medium  of  your 
columns  to  make  it  known  that  at  the  meeting  of  the  Provision.-U 
Commitlee,  which  was  helil  at  the  rooms  of  the  Royal  SiKiety 
on  Tuesday  afternoon,  it  was  amiouncod  that  a  large  number  of 
acceptances  had  already  liten  received  to  the  invitation  which 
was  issued  a  few  days  ago  to  a  number  of  gentlemen  to  serve  on 
the  General  Committee  which  it  h.ad  been  decided  to  form  to 
inaugtirate  a  National  Memorial  to  the  late  Right  Hon.  T.  H. 
Huxley,  F.K.S. 

.■\  list  of  the  Committee  will  shortly  be  published. 

Owing  to  the  lateness  of  the  sea.son,  it  has  been  decided  to 
defer  until  after  the  autumn  recess  the  meeting  of  the  tlenera! 
Committee,  at  which  the  propos,ils  of  the  Provisional  Co;nmittee 
with  regard  to  the  form  which  the  National  Memorial  shall  take 
may  be  discussed  and  decided. 

With  a  view  of  a.ssisting  the  Pro\-isional  Committee  in  arriving 
at  .some  general  ideas  on  the  subject,  it  is  suggested  that  those 
who  projwse  to  contribute  to  the  fund  might  be  willing  to  inform 
the  Trea.surer  of  the  probable  amount  of  their  subscriptions. 

Subscriptions  will  be  received  and  aeknowledgeil  by  adverlise- 
ment  in  The  Times  by  the  Treasurer,  Sir  John  Lubbock. 

J.  D.  Hooker, 

July  30.  Chairman  of  the  Provisional  Committee. 


The  Kinetic  Theory  of  Gases. 

Wic  shall  all  agree  with  Dr.  Boltzmann's  views  as  ex]iressecl 
in  Nati'kk  of  July  4,  that  if  in  a  system  of  elastic  sphere 
molecules  the  free  paths  be  very  long,  anil  if  at  the  s;ime  lime 
the  system  be  of  unlimited  extent,  condition  .A  will  always  be 
satisfied.  The  system  will  go  on  till  it  attains  Nirvana  in  the 
Maxwell-Boltzmann  distribution. 

It  is  <inly  for  a  finite  system  that  it  api)eared  to  me  that 
occasional  disturbances  from  the  outside  were  necessary  to  pro- 
duce this  result.  I  agree  with  Mr.  liryan  that  contact  with  the 
refrigerator  or  with  the  reservoir,  such  as  is  supposeil  to  take 
l)lace  in  thermodynamics,  is  for  this  purpo.se  a  disturbance. 

But  it  is  this  very  length  of  free  path,  and  condition  \ 
which  follows  from  it,  that  restricts  our  kinetic  theory  to  the 
limiting  case  of  a  rare  gas. 

We  have,  as  I  maintain,  to  abandon  condition  .\  altogether  if 
we  wish  to  present  our  theory  in  a  form  applicable  to  ilense 
media.  We  must  consider,  not  single  spheres,  but  groups  of 
spheres  to  begin  with.  Civen  that  there  are  at  this  instant  it 
spheres,  and  no  more  within  a  spherical  sjKice  S,  but  nothing  is 
known  of  their  position  within  .S,  what  is  the  chance  that  their 
component  velocities  shall  at  this  instant  be 

«,    .     .     .    Ui  +  dUi  re,,    .    .    .    -Wn  +  dlCnf 

I  a.ssume  that  chance  to  he 

Cf^idui   .    .    .  du;„ 

in  which  (>  =  ai{u'  +  t"  +  tf')  +  fiSi{uu'  +  ti/  +  jom'),  the 
summation  including  the  n  spheres  and  ever)'  [lair  of  them.  The 
coefticienl  /'  excludes  condition  .\. 

Hut  whatever  be  the  v.ilues  of  ,1  and  b,  this  distribution  of 
velocities  remains  undisturbed  by  collisions.  .\nd  by  suitably 
choosing  ii  and  /',  we  can  satisfy  all  other  necessjiry  conditions. 

The  same  thing  can  lie  done  for  two  sets  of  spheres  of  une(|ual 
ma-sses  in  and  «;'.     In  that  case  we  must  put  t,)  in  the  form 

n  =  ri2(i/'  +  if  +  w')  +  a'i(u"'  +  v'^  +  tti'') 

t  bii(ii'fU,  +  VfV,  +  WfU',)  +  h'XSiu'fii'^  +  f'pv',,  +  w'f-w'.,) 
+  $H{uu'  +  ird  +  vtv'), 

in  which   the  accents  '  refer  to  the  ///'  set,   Jiml  iSu/i't,  <.V<.» 
means  sunnnalion  over  all  pairs  of  spheres  in,  iVc. 

Here  we  have  five  coeflicienls,  a,  b,  d,  b',  $.  But  the  condi- 
tion for  permanence,  notwithstanding  collisions  between  111  and 
;/;',  recpnrcs 

2(1///'  -  2a'm  +  P[iii'  -  ///)  =  o 

b  =  '"B      b'^"''0. 
m  /// 


1 


August  i,  1895] 


NA  rURE 


117 


ihree  conditions  reducing  the  five  coefficients  to  two  independent 
■  >nes.  It  will  be  found  that  mii^  =  m'li'^,  as  in  the  ordinary' 
theorj'. 

I  doubt  not  that  Boltzmann's  minimum  theorem  can  with 
some  modification  be  applied  to  this  system,  at  all  events  if  he 
will  take  up  the  theory  of  dense  gases  himself. 

S.  H.  BuRRURY. 


On  Skew  Probability  Curves. 

In  a  memoir,  entitled  "Contributions  to  the  Mathematical 
Theory  of  Evoluti(jn.  II.  Skew  \'ariation  in  Homogeneous 
Material  "  (Phil.  Trans.  iS6,  A,  pp.  343-414),  and  noticed  in 
your  columns  by  Mr.  Francis  Galton  (Januar)-  31,  1S95),  I  ''^^'^ 
dealt  with  four  types  of  skew  frequency  curves. 

Last  Tuesday,  I'rof.  Edgworth  drew  my  attention  to  the  fact 
that  a  portion  of  my  results  has  been  anticipated  by  Mr.  E.  L. 
De  Forest  in  vols.  vi. ,  ix. ,  and  x.  of  The  .-Inalyst,  an  excellent 
American  mathematical  journal,  the  acquaintance  of  which,  I 
am  sshamed  to  say,  I  have  only  to-day  made  for  the  first  time. 

So  far  as  Mr.  De  Forest's  priority  is  concerned,  it  covers  the 
special  class  of  curve  I  have  in  my  memoir  termed  Type  III.  He 
has  fully  worked  out  the  geometry  of  this  type,  and  I  consider  his 
deduction  of  it,  if  somewhat  more  lengthy  than  mine,  to  have 
the  advantage  of  greater  generality.  .So  far  as  my  own  memoir 
is  concerned,  a  knowledge  of  Mr.  De  Forest's  memoir -vould  not 
have  led  me  to  rewrite  pp.  373-6  of  mine,  which  deal  with  this 
type,  because  my  discussion  there  is  only  a  branch  of  my  general 
treatment  of  a  series  of  skew  frequency  curves.  I  should,  how- 
ever, have  referred  to  Mr.  De  Forest's  priority  and  the  excellency 
of  his  work.  In  particular  I  should  have  cited  the  whole  of  his 
numerical  table  iii.  x.  p.  69,  w  hich  gives  the  values  of  the  fre- 
quency in  excess  and  defect  of  the  mode,  and  the  probable 
errors  in  excess  and  defect,  for  a  considerable  range  of  values. 
These  results  are  only  given  Ijy  algebraic  or  empirical  formulje 
in  niy  i")aper.  The  statisticians  among  your  readers,  who  may 
be  proposing  to  deal  with  skew  frequency,  would  find  a  copy  of 
Mr.  De  Forest's  Table  III.  of  considerable  service  should  they 
come  across  a  curve  of  Type  III.  Karl  Pearson. 

University  College,  London,  July  24. 


Evolution,  or  Epigenesis? 

In  the  English  translation  of  I'rof.  Ilertwig's  book  "The 
Cell,"  it  is  stated  (p.  295),  "  When  the  female  gamete  of  the 
Alga  Ectocarptts  comes  to  rest,  for  a  few  minutes  it  becomes 
receptive.  If  the  egg  is  not  fertilised  at  this  time  .  .  .  parthe- 
nogenetic  germination  begins  to  make  its  appearance  ...  It 
may  be  accepted  as  a  law  of  nature  (italics  mine)  for  mammals, 
and  for  the  majority  of  other  organisms,  that  their  male  and 
female  sexual  cells  are  absolutely  incapable  of  development  by 
themselves."  Thus,  what  occurs  in  the  lower  organisms  is  no 
criterion  of  what  occurs  in  the  higher,  and  vice  versA.  Then 
why  does  I  lertwig  remark  (ji.  348),  "  It  is  quite  sufficient  for  our 
purpose  to  acknowledge,  that  in  the  plants  and  lower  animals, 
all  the  cells  which  are  derived  from  the  ovum  contain  equal 
i/uaiilities  0/ the  hereditary  ma-is.  .  .  .  All  idioblasts  must  divide 
and  must  l)e  transmitted  to  the  daughter-cells,  in  ei/iial  propor- 
tions hoth  as  regards  equality  and  <juantity^^  (italics  mine). 
According  to  the  above,  it  is  "quite  sufficient"  for  Hertwig's 
purpose  of  discrediting  Weismann's  contention  for  differentiated 
distribution  of  hereditary  elements  among  somatic  cells,  to  show 
that  there  is  imdifferentiated  distribution  in  the  case  of  plants 
and  lower  animals.  Hut,  reverting  to  the  earlier  quotation,  if  it  is 
not  sufficient  to  prove  sexual  reproduction  in  the  case  of  the 
higher  organisms,  in  order  to  disprove  parthenogenesis  in  the 
case  of  the  lower  organisms,  why  should  it  be  "quite  sufficient," 
in  order  to  disprove  distribution  through  germ-cells,  in  the  case 
of  the  higher  organisms,  to  show  that,  in  plants  and  the  lower 
animals  one  cell  contains  the  same  hereditary  constituents  as 
another?  It  is  permissible  to  infer  that  differentiation  in  regard 
to  germ-cells,  in  the  higher  animals,  is  no  more  disproved  by  the 
assumed  demonstration  that,  in  plants  and  the  lower  animals, 
there  is  no  such  differentiation,  than  that  a.sexuality  in  lower  is 
disproved  by  sexuality  in  higher  organisms.  Weismann,  in  my 
opinion,  has  proved  to  rational  satisfaction  that  difTcrenliation 
of  germ  from  other  cells  must  occur  in  the  higher  org.anisms,  and 
he  has  offere<l  a  rational  explanation,  confi)rmable  with  the  theory 
of  germ-plasm,  of  the  apparently  summational  distribution  of 
hereditary  elements  through  somatic  cells.     Until  Weismann's 


NO.    1344,  VOL.  52] 


position  is  seriously  undermined,  which,  so  far,  is  not  even  a 
likely  contingency,  we  must  decline  to  accept  Hertwig's assunie<l 
dentonstrations  in  regard  to  plants  and  lower  animals  as  invalidat  - 
ing  the  theory  of  germ-jjlasm.  Similarly,  that  environment  ma)' 
affect  the  hereditar)-  character  of  a  primitive  organism  is  no  more 
evidence  that  it  may  so  aft'ect  a  mammal,  than  sexuality  in 
the  latter  is  evidence  against  parthenogenesis  in  the  former. 
On  page  348  we  are  told  :  "Johannes  Miiller  has  raised  the 
question,  '  How  does  it  happen  that  certain  of  the  cells  of  the 
organised  body,  although  they  resemble  both  other  cells  and 
the  original  germ-cell,  can  produce  nothing  but  their  like,  i.e.  cells 
which  are  (in-  ?)  capable  of  developing  intothecompleteorganism? 
Thus  epidermal  cells  can  only,  by  absorbing  material,  develop 
new  epidermal  cells,  and  cartilage  cells  only  other  cartilage  cells, 
but  never  embryos  or  buds. '  To  which  he  has  made  answer  : 
'  This  may  be  due  to  the  fact  that  these  cells,  even  if  they  possess 
the  power  of  forming  the  whole,  have,  by  means  of  a  particular 
metamorphosis  of  their  substance,  become  so  specialised,  that 
they  have  entirely  lost  their  germinal  properties,  as  regards  the 
whole  organism,  and  when  they  become  sejiarated  from  the 
whole,  are  unable  to  lead  an  independent  existence."'  The  above 
is  simply  a  restatement  of  Weismann's  doctrine  regarding  the 
origin  of  germ-cells.  All  cells  which  have  not,  as  Miiller  states, 
"  lost  their  germinal  properties,  as  regards  the  whole  organism," 
are  W^eismann's  germ-cells. 

So  far  as  regards  the  essential  question  of  heredity,  Hertwig 
agrees  with  W'eismann.  Special  units  (idioblasts)  are  the 
bearers  of  hereditary  qualities.  This  is  "evolution,"  and  no 
superstructural  epigenetic  thesis  attributing  modifying  effects  by 
environment,  as  the  cause  of  a  somatic  cellular  development,  can 
aftect  the  point  that  differentiation,  through  hereditary  units,  is 
the  fundamental  condition  of  morphological  development.  To 
accept  "hereditary  units,"  in  my  opinion,  excludes  "hereditary 
effect  through  environment,"'  never  mind  to  what  matter-system 
the  latter  assumption  be  applied,  whether  the  systems  be,  for 
instance,  unicellular  organisms  or  somatic  cells.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  we  accept  "  hereditary  extraneous  influence,"  we  need 
not  trouble  ourselves  with  "  hereditary  units."  If  "  extraneous 
influences  "  have  hereditary  effect,  "  hereditary  units  "  have  no 
logical  existence.  All  we  then  need  for  a  theory  of  heredity  are 
primordial  homogeneous  matter  and  environment.  Mr.  Herbert 
Spencer's  earlier  hypothesis,  in  which  he  attributed  all  variation 
to  extraneous  influence,  would  have  been  logical  had  he  ex- 
cluded "  physiological  units.''  With  these,  it  became  illogical. 
For  this  reason  :  if  all  organic  variability  depended  on  the  effect 
of  extraneous  influences,  why  should  such  influences  not  have 
produced  the  diflerentiations  called  physiological  units  ?  W'hy 
should  the  only  logical  ' '  unit ''  not  be  homogeneous priniordium  .' 
That  the  conception  "hereditary  unit"  shall  be  logical,  involves 
that  the  "  unit''  shall  be  as  unchangeable  as  an  "atom.''  If,  on 
the  contrary,  we  have  a  variable  "unit,"  it  is  not  a  genuine 
"  hereditary  unit,''  but  merely  the  equivalent  of  any  later  variable 
"  unit."  Hertwig's  "  hereditary  units,''  or  "  idioblasts"  (p.  340), 
"are  the  smallest  particles  of  material  into  which  the  hereditary 
mass  or  idioplasm  can  be  divided,  and  of  which  great  numbers 
and  various  kinds  are  present  in  this  idioplasm.  They  are, 
according  to  their  diflerent  composition,  the  bearers  of  different 
properties."  They  are  not  indivisible,  like  atoms,  but  assimilate 
food,  grow  and  divide,  as  do  Weismann's  "  bio])hors,"  from 
which  they  appear  to  differ  only  to  the  extent  that  they  are  com- 
plex organisms.  The  hereditary  factor  in  Weismann's  theory 
which  corresponds  with  these  "  idioblasts"  of  Hertwig  appears 
to  be  the  "determinant."  All  the  functions  of  the  latter  seem 
to  be  performed  by  the  former.  These  "idioblasts"  (p.  343) 
"  must  evolve  in  regular  sequence  during  the  process  of  develop- 
ment." As  sentences  are  formed  from  words,  so  are  organisms 
formed  from  these  "  idioblasts.''  We  can  attain  a  clear  conception 
of  the  formation  of  sentences  from  words,  but  Hertwig  does  not 
enable  us  to  apjjrehend  how  organisms  can  arise  from  "  idio- 
blasts." As  he  very  truly  observes  (p.  344),  "  this  portion  of  the 
theory  is  the  most  difficult  to  understand." 

Hertwig,  like  Spencer,  takes  his  stand  on  cpigene.sis.  It  iiiay 
be  asked,  wherein  is  the  epigenetic  character  of  his  (Hertwig's) 
theory?  Unlike  Sjiencer's  "physiological  units,"  Hertwig's 
"idiobla.sts"  are  intrinsically  differentiated  organisms  with 
specific  tendencies.  Now,  for  a  genuine  epigenetic  theory, 
hereditary  units  must  merely  compose  a  plastic  mould  to  take  the 
impress  of  environment,  whereas  these  "  idioblastic  "  cells  arc 
composed  of  elements  with  predetermined  peculiarities.  Ac- 
cordingly they  must  function  in  a  predetermined   manner,  and 


;i8 


NATURE 


[AuGCJST  r,  1895 


thus  the  prixlucls  of  their  activity  must  issue  through  evolutionary 
processes  ;  what  they  will  become  after  millions  of  generations 
must  be  determined  so  soon  as  these  "  idioblasts  "  combine  as 
the  first  cell.  If,  however,  we  are  to  assume  that  the  hereditary- 
qualities  of  "  idioblasts "'  can  be  eliminated  by  environment — as 
we  must  assume  if  we  attempt  to  combine  evolution  with 
epigenesis — I  reply,  as  in  my  earlier  proposition,  we  have  no 
need  for  "  idioblasts"  or  any  other  "  hereditary  unit."  All  we 
then  need  for  a  theor)'  of  heredity  is  some  plastic  primordium 
and  environment.  Then,  as  such  primordium  would  have  no 
hereditary  predisposition,  there  would  be  no  room  for  pre- 
determinism,  and  it  would  remain  for  ingenious  theorists  in  love 
with  epigenesis  and  the  tape-measure  system  of  estimating  the 
cosmos,  to  explain  the  persistence  of  types  under  variable 
environment,  and  the  differentiation  of  types  under  identical 
en\nronment. 

I  can  appreciate  the  eagerness  of  the  "  mechanical  school"  to 
welcome  any  loophole  of  escape  from  predeterminism.  A 
genuine  epigenetic  theor)'  is,  no  doubt,  their  great  desideratum. 
If  they  "  won't  be  happy  till  they  get  it,"  I  venture  to  predict 
that  they  are  doomed  to  a  lengthened  spell  of  dumps  !  The 
main  issue  raised  by  Hertwig  in  "  The  Cell,"  is  :  evolution  or 
epigenesis  ?  He  tries  to  accept  both,  basing  epigenesis  on  evolu- 
tion. Thereby,  in  my  opinion,  he  stultifies  lK>th  doctrines. 
All  biologists,  so  far  as  I  am  aware,  start  their  theories  from  the 
l>asis  of  differentiated  units.  Equally  they  all  evade  the  attempt 
to  account  for  the  differentiation.  This  omission  I  have  en- 
deavoured to  rectify  in  "Rhythmic  Heredity  "  (Williams  and 
Norgate).  H.  Croi-t  Hii.ler. 


A  Sound-producing  Insect. 

In  your  issue  of  June  13,  Mr.  S.  E.  I'eal  speaks  of  a  lepi- 
dopterous  insect  in  .-Vssam  which  makes  a  tapping  noise  when 
flying.  His  description  so  closely  resembles  an  insect  in 
Gorakhpur,  that  I  think  it  must  be  identical  or  closely  allied. 

The  alar  expanse  is  alK>ut  three  inches.  The  wings  are  broad, 
not  indented,  of  a  very  dark  chocolate-brown  colour  on  both 
sides,  with  one  small  yellowish-brown  blotch  on  the  costa  of 
fore-wing  on  upper  surface.  The  body  is  thin,  like  a  butterfly, 
but  the  antenna.-  are  not  clubbed.  It  is  apparently  a  (leometer 
or  slender-lxxlied  Bombyx.  1  It  flies  in  the  darkest  parts  of  woods, 
just  as  twilight  is  settling  into  night,  and  is  very  hard  to  see 
when  standing  up.  By  lying  down,  so  as  to  get  the  sky  as  a 
Ijackground,  it  is  c-asily  visible.  It  cannot  be  netted  in  the 
ordinary  way,  as  the  eye  cannot  follow  it,  but  by  standing  still 
till  one  is  heard  near,  and  then  striking  in  the  direction  of  the 
sound,  one  may  sometimes  be  successful.  I  first  succeeded  in 
striking  one  down  with  my  "  solah  topi"  ;  afterwards  I  netted 
two,  and  brought  them  home  alive,  to  see  how  the  noise  was  made. 
The  sound  is  a  sort  of  clicking,  which  may  Ite  fairly  imitated  by 
striking  the  nails  of  the  thumb  and  fore-finger  together.  Krom 
the  thorax,  lx.'tween  the  bases  of  the  wings,  a  stiff  bristle  (like  a 
pig's)  projects  almut  a  quarter  of  an  inch.  The  noise  is  made  by 
this  bristle  catching  in  the  hind-margin  of  the  fore-wings  and  the 
costal  margin  of  the  hind-w  ings.  I  fancy  it  must  be  of  a  warning 
character,  as  if  the  insect  is  eatable,  it  would  help  to  enable  bats 
and  birds  to  find  it.  I  think  I  have  noticed  that  the  insect  is 
attracted  by  imitating  the  clicking  sound  with  the  nails,  but 
could  not  .satisfy  myself  on  this  point.  I.  K.  Molt. 


A  FEW  MORE  WORDS  ON  THOMAS  HENRY 
HUXLEY. 

'T^WO  scenes  in  Huxley's  life  stand  out  clear  and 
•^  full  of  meaning,  amid  my  recollections  of  him, 
reaching  now  some  forty  years  back.  Itoth  took  place 
at  Oxford,  both  at  meetings  of  the  IJritish  Association. 
The  first,  few  witnesses  of  which  now  remain,  was 
the  memorable  discussion  on  Darwin  in  l8to.  The  room 
was  <  rowdrd  though  it  was  a  .Saturday,  and  the  meeting 
was  excited.  The  ISishop  had  spoken  ;  cheered  loudly  from 
lime  to  lime  during  his  speech,  he  sat  down  amid  tumul- 
tuous applause,  ladies  waving  their  handkerchiefs  with 
great  enthusiastti  ;  and  in  almost  dead  silence,  broken 
merely  by  greetings  whirh,  coming  only  from  the  few 
who  knew,  seemed  as  nothing,  Huxley,  then  well- 
nigh    unknown  outside   the    narrow    circle    of   scientific 


NO.   1344,  VOL.   52] 


workers,  began  his  reply.  A  cheer,  chiefly  from  a  knot  of 
young  men  in  the  audience,  hearty  but  seeming  scant 
through  the  fewness  of  those  who  gave  it,  and  almost 
angrily  resented  by  some,  welcomed  the  first  point  made. 
Then  as,  slowly  and  nieasuredly  at  first,  more  quickly  and 
with  more  vigour  later,  stroke  followed  stroke,  the  circle 
of  cheers  grew  wider  and  yet  wider,  until  the  speaker's 
last  words  were  crowned  with  an  applause  falling  not  far 
short  of,  indeed  equalling,  that  w  hich  had  gone  before,  an 
applause  hearty  and  genuine  in  its  recognition  that  a 
strong  man  had  arisen  among  the  biologists  of  England. 

The  second  scene,  that  of  1894,  is  still  fresh  in  the 
minds  of  all.  \o  one  who  was  present  is  likely  to  forget 
how,  when  Huxley  rose  to  second  the  vote  of  thanks  for  the 
presidential  address,  the  whole  house  burst  into  a  cheer- 
ing such  as  had  never  before  been  witnessed  on  any  like 
occasion,  a  cheering  which  said,  as  plainly  as  such  things- 
can  say:  "This  is  the  faithful  servant  who  has  laboured, 
for  more  than  half  a  century  on  behalf  of  science  with  his 
face  set  firmly  towards  truth,  and  we  want  him  to  know 
that  his  labours  have  not  been  in  vain."  Nor  is  any  one 
likely  to  forget  the  few  carefully  chosen,  wise,  pregnant 
words  which  fell  from  him  when  the  applause  died  away. 
Those  two  speeches,  the  one  long  and  polemical,  the 
other  brief  and  judicial,  show,  taken  together,  many  of  the 
qualities  which  made  Huxley  great  and  strong. 

.Among  those  qualities  perhaps  the  most  dominant, 
certainly  the  most  cfifective  as  regards  his  influence  on 
the  world,  were  on  the  one  hand  an  alertness,  a  quick- 
ness of  apprehension,  and  a  clear  way  of  thinking,  whirh, 
in  dealing  with  a  problem,  made  him  dissatisfied  with 
any  solution  incapable  of  rigid  proof  and  incisive  ex- 
pression, he  seemctl  always  to  go  alxiut  with  a  halo  of 
clear  light  inimediately  around  him  ;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  power  of  foreseeing  future  consequences  of 
immediate  action  which  forms  the  greater  part  of 
what  we  call  sagacity.  The  former  gave  him  his 
notable  dialectic  skill,  and  mark  all  his  contributions 
to  scientific  literature  :  the  latter  made  him,  in  addi- 
tion, an  able  administrator  and  a  wise  counsellor,  both 
within  the  tents  of  science  and  beyond.  These  at 
least  were  his  dominant  intellectual  qualities  ;  but  even 
more  powerful  were  the  qualities  in  him  which  though 
allied,  we  distinguish  as  moral  ;  and  perhaps  the  greater 
part  of  his  influence  over  his  fellows  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  ever)-  one  who  met  him  saw  in  him  a  man  bent  on 
following  the  true  and  doing  the  right,  swerving  aside 
no  tittle,  either  for  the  sake  of  reward  or  for  fear  of  the 
enemy,  a  man  whose  uttered  scorn  of  what  was  mean  and 
cowardly  was  but  the  reciprocal  of  his  inward  lo\e  of 
nobleness  and  courage. 

Hearing  in  mind  his  possession  of  these  general 
qualities,  we  may  find  the  key  to  the  influence  exerted  by 
him  on  biological  science  in  what  he  says  of  himself  in  his 
all  too  short  autobiograi)hic  sketch,  n.imely,  that  tlie  bent 
of  his  mind  was  towards  mechanical  problems,  and  that 
it  was  the  force  of  circumstances  which,  frasirating  his 
boyish  wish  to  be  a  mechanical  engineer,  brought  him  to 
the  medical  profession.  Probably  the  boyish  wish  was 
merely  the  natural  outcome  of  an  early  feeling  that  the 
solution  of  mechanical  problems  was  congenial  to  the  clear 
decisive  way  of  thinking,  to  which  I  referred  above,  and 
which  was  obviously  present  even  in  the  boy  ;  and  that  it 
was  not  the  subject-matter  of  mechanical  problems,  but  the 
inodc  of  Heating  them  which  interested  him,  is  shown  by 
the  incident  recorded  by  himself,  how  when  he  was  a  mere 
boy  a  too  zealous  attention  to  a  ])osl-mortem  examination 
cost  him  a  long  illness.  It  is  clear  that  the  call  to  solve 
biologic  problems  came  to  him  early  ;  it  is  also  clear 
that  the  call  was  a  real  one  :  and,  as  he  himself  has  said, 
he  recognised  his  calling  when,  after  some  years  of 
desultory  reading  and  lonely  irregular  mental  activity,  he 
came  under  the  influence  of  Wharton  Jones  at  Charing 
Cross    Hospital.     That   made   him   .1    biologist,  but  con- 


August  i,  1895J 


NATURE 


319 


firmed  the  natural  aptitude  of  his  mind  in  making  him  a 
Ijiologist  who,  rejecting  all  shadowy  intangible  views,  was 
to  direct  his  energies  to  problems  which  seemed  capable 
of  clear  demonstrable  proof  In  many  respects  the 
biologic  problems  which  lend  themselves  most  readily 
to  demonstrable  solutions  capable  of  verification  are  those 
which  constitute  what  we  call  physiology;  and  if  at  the 
time  of  his  youth  the  way  had  been  open  to  him,  Huxley 
would  probably  have  become  known  as  a  physiologist. 
But  at  that  time  careers  for  physiologists  were  of  the 
fewest.  His  master,  Wharton  Jones,  a  physiologist  of  the 
first  rank,  whose  work  in  the  first  half  of  this  century  still 
remains  of  classic  value,  had  been  driven  to  earn  his  bread 
as  an  ophthalmic  surgeon,  and  an  even  greater  physio- 
logist, William  Bowman,  was  following  the  same  course. 
There  was  no  opening  in  physiology  for  the  young  student 
at  Charing  Cross,  and  he  was  driven  by  stress  of  circum- 
stances to  morphological  rather  than  to  strictly  physio- 
logical problems  ;  but  it  was  not  until  long  after,  when 
he  had  achieved  eminence  as  a  morphologist,  that  he 
finally  abandoned  his  old  wish  to  hold  a  physiological 
<;hair. 

Looking  back  on  the  past,  we  nia\-  now  be  glad  that 
circumstances  were  against  his  wishes  ;  fo-  (though 
in  every  branch  of  science  there  is  need  at  all  times 
of  a  great  man  i  there  was  at  the  middle  of  the  century, 
in  the  early  fifties,  a  special  need  in  morphology  for 
ii.  man  of  Huxley's  mould.  Richard  Owen  was  then 
dominant,  and  it  is  an  acknowledged  feature  of  Owen's 
work  that  in  it  there  was  a  sudden  leap  from  most 
admirable  detailed  descriptive  labour  to  dubious  specula- 
lations,  based  for  the  most  part  on,  or  at  least  akin  to,  the 
philosophy  of  Oken.  Of  the  "  new  morphology  "  in  which 
Johannes  .Miiller  was  leading  the  way,  and  the  criteria 
•of  which  had  been  furnished  by  the  labours  of  von  Baer, 
there  was  then  but  little  in  England  sa\e,  perhaps,  what 
was  to  be  found  in  the  expositions  of  Carpenter.  Of  this 
new  morphology,  by  which  this  branch  of  biology  was 
brought  into  a  line  with  other  exact  sciences,  and  the 
note  of  which  was  not  to  speculate  on  guiding  forces  and 
■on  the  realisation  of  ideals,  but  to  determine  the  laws  of 
growth  by  the  careful  investigation,  as  of  so  many  special 
problems,  of  what  parts  of  different  animals,  as  shown 
among  other  ways  by  the  mode  of  their  development, 
were  really  the  same  or  alike,  Huxley  became  at  once  an 
apostle.  His  \ery  first  work,  that  on  the  Medusae,  wrought 
out  amid  the  distractions  of  ship  life,  written  on  a  lonely 
vessel  ploughing  its  solitary  way  amidst  almost  unknown 
seas,  away  from  books  and  the  communion  of  his  fellow 
workers,  bears  the  same  marks  which  characterise  his  sub- 
sequent memoirs  ;  it  is  the  effort  of  a  clear  mind  striving 
to  see  its  way  through  difficult  problems,  bent  on  holding 
fast  only  to  that  which  could  be  proved.  This  is  not  the 
occasion  to  insist  in  detail  on  the  value  of  the  like  mor- 
phological work  which  he  produced  in  the  fifties  and  the 
sixties,  or  to  show  how  he  applied  to  other  forms  of  animal 
life,  to  echinoderms,  to  tunicates,  to  arthropods,  to  mol- 
luscs, and  last  though  not  least  to  vertebrates,  the  same 
method  of  inquiry  which  guided  the  work  on  the  Medusa;. 
Nor  need  1  dwell  on  the  many  \  aluable  results  which  he 
gained  for  science  by  attacking  in  the  same  spirit  the 
problems  offered  by  the  remains  of  extinct  forms.  More- 
over, he  strengthened  the  effect  of  his  own  labours  by  ad- 
mirable expositions  of  the  results  of  others.  Further, 
unlike  his  great  predecessor  who  formed  no  school  and 
had  few  if  any  disciples,  it  was  Huxley's  delight  to  hold 
■out  his  hand  to  e\ery  young  man  whom  he  thought  could 
profit  by  his  help,  and  before  many  years  were  over  his 
spirit  was  moving  in  the  minds  of  many  others.  Thus  it 
came  about  that  during  the  latter  half  of  this  century,  owing 
largely  to  Huxley's  own  labours  and  to  the  influence  which 
he  exerted  not  only  in  England  but  abroad,  there  has 
been  added  to  science  a  large  body  of  morphological 
truths,  truths  which  have  been   demonstrated   and  must 

NO.    1344,  VOL.   52] 


remain,  not  mere  views  and  theories  which  maybe  washed 
away. 

The  excitement  of  the  Darwinian  controversy,  with  its 
far-reaching  issues,  has  been  apt  to  make  us  forget  how 
great  has  been  the  progress  of  animal  morphology  during 
the  past  half  century.  Undoubtedly  the  solution  of  special 
problems  touching  animal  forms,  and  the  great  theor)'  of 
Natural  Selection  through  the  Struggle  for  Existence  have 
been  closely  bound  together  ;  the  special  learning  has 
furnished  support  for  the  general  theory,  and  the  general 
theory,  besides  strongly  stimulating  inquir)-,  has  illumined 
the  special  problems.  But  the  two  stand  apart,  each  on 
its  own  basis  ;  and  were  it  possible  to  wipe  out.  as  with  a 
sponge,  everything  which  Darwin  wrote,  and  which  his 
views  have  caused  to  be  written,  there  would  still  remain  a 
body  of  science  touching  animal  forms,  both  recent  and 
extinct,  acquired  since  1850,  of  which  we  may  well  be 
proud.  In  the  gaining  that  knowledge  Huxley,  as  well 
Ijy  his  own  labours  as  by  his  influence  over  others,  stands 
foremost,  Gegenbaur  being  almost  his  only  peer  ;  and 
had  Huxley  done  nothing  more,  his  name  would  live  as 
that  of  one  of  the  most  remarkable  biologists  of  the 
present  century. 

As  we  all  know,  he  did  much  more  ;  his  influence  on 
England  and  on  the  world  went  far  beyond  that  of  his 
purely  scientific  writings.  But  when  we  reflect  that  a 
hundred  years  hence  the  image  of  the  man  as  he  went 
to  and  fro  among  men,  so  bright  and  vi\id  to-da\-,  will  have 
become  dim  and  colourless,  a  shadow  as  it  were,  and  that 
then  the  man  will  be  judged  mainly  by  the  writings  which 
remain,  we  must  count  these  writings  as  the  chief  basis 
of  his  fame.  And,  though  we  may  think  it  possible  that 
the  world  of  that  day,  much  that  is  unwritten  having 
been  forgotten,  may  find  it  in  part  difficult  to  understand 
how  great  a  power  Huxley  was  in  his  time,  the  lapse  of 
years  will,  we  may  be  sure,  in  no  way  lessen,  it  may  be 
will  heighten,  the  estimate  of  his  contributions  to  exact 
science. 

As  we  all  know,  he  did  much  more.  To  the  public 
outside  science  he  first  became  known  as  the  bold,  out- 
spoken exponent  and  advocate  of  Darwin's  views,  and 
indeed  to  some  this  is  still  his  chief  fame.  There  is  no 
need  hereto  dwell  on  this  part  of  his  work,  and  I  speak 
of  it  now  chiefly  to  remark  that  the  zeal  with  which  he 
threw  himself  into  this  advocacy  was  merely  a  part  of  the 
larger  purpose  of  his  life.  Science,  or,  to  use  the  old 
phrase  of  the  Royal  Society,  Natural  Knowledge,  had  a 
two-fold  hold  on  Huxley.  On  the  one  hand  he  felt  deeply 
all  the  purely  intellectual,  and  if  we  may  use  the  word, 
selfish  joys  of  fruitful  progressive  inquiry  after  truth. 
This  was  dominant  in  his  early  days,  and  to  it  we  owe 
the  long  list  of  valuable  researches,  of  which  I  just  now 
spoke,  and  which  followed  each  other  rapidly  in  the 
fifties  and  the  sixties.  On  the  other  hand,  feeling  deeply, 
as  he  did,  his  duties  as  a  citizen  of  the  world,  science 
laid  hold  of  him  as  being  the  true  and  sure 
guide  to  conduct  man  in  all  his  ways  ;  and  this 
latter  working  of  science  in  him,  evident  even  in 
early  days  (witness  his  Address  to  Working  Men  at  St. 
Martin's  Hall  in  1854).  grew  stronger  and  stronger  as  the 
years  went  on,  until  at  last  it  took  almost  entire  possession 
of  him.  To  him,  indeed,  it  may  be  said,  science  was 
all  in  all.  He  saw,  as  others  see,  in  science  a  something 
which  is  broadening  and  strengthening  human  life  by  un- 
ceasingly bending  nature  to  the  use  of  man,  and  making  her 
resources  subservient  to  his  desires  ;  he  saw  the  material 
usefulness  of  science,  but  he  saw  something  more.  He 
saw  also,  as  others  see,  in  science  a  something  in  which 
the  human  mind,  exercising  and  training  itself,  makes 
itself  at  once  nimble  and  strong,  and  dwelling  on  which 
is  raised  to  broad  and  high  views  of  the  nature  of  things  ; 
he  saw  in  science  a  means  of  culture,  but  he  saw  some- 
thing more.  He  saw  in  science  even  as  it  is,  and  still 
more  in  science  as  it  will  be,  the  sure  and  trustworthy 


;2o 


NA  TURE 


[August  i,  1895 


guide  of  man  in  the  dark  paths  of  hfe.  Many  a  man  of 
science  goes,  or  seems  to  others  to  go,  through  the  world 
ordering  his  steps  by  two  ways  of  thinking.  When  he 
is  dealing  with  the  matters  the  treatment  of  which  has 
given  him  his  scientific  position,  with  physical  or  with 
biological  problems,  he  thinks  in  one  way  ;  when  he  is 
dealing  with  other  matters,  those  of  morals  and  religion, 
he  thinks  in  another  way  :  he  seems  to  have  two  minds, 
and  to  pass  from  the  one  to  the  other  according  to 
the  subject  matter.  It  was  not  so  with  Huxley.  He 
could  not  split  himself  or  the  universe  into  two  halves, 
and  treat  the  one  and  the  other  half  by  two  methods 
radically  distinct  and  in  many  ways  opposed  ;  he 
applied  the  one  method,  which  he  believed  to  be  the  true 
an  d  fruitful  one,  to  all  problems  without  distinction. 
A  nd  as  years  came  over  him,  the  duty  of  making 
th/i-  view  clear  to  others  grew  stronger  and  stronger. 
ReZ/nquishing,  not  without  bitter  regret,  little  by  little,  the 
calm  intellectual  joys  of  the  pursuit  of  narrower  morpho- 
logical problems,  he  became  more  and  more  the  apostle 
of  t  he  scientific  method,  driven  to  the  new  career  by  the 
force  of  a  pure  altruism,  not  loving  science  the  less  but 
loving  man  the  more.  .And  his  work  in  this  respect  was 
a  double  one  ;  he  had  to  teach  his  scientific  brethren,  at 
least  his  biologic  brethren,  the  ways  of  science,  and  he 
had  to  teach  the  world  the  works  of  science.  It  was 
this  feeling  which,  on  the  one  hand,  led  him  to  devote 
so  much  labour  to  the  organisation  of  biologic  science 
in  order  that  his  younger  brethren  might  be  helped 
to  walk  in  the  straight  path  and  to  do  their  work  well. 
It  was  this  feeling,  on  the  other  hand,  which  made  him 
urgent  in  the  spread  of  the  teaching  of  science.  It  was 
this,  and  no  vain  love  of  being  known,  which  led  him  to 
the  platfonn  and  the  press.  The  zeal  with  which  he  de- 
fended the  theor\-  of  Natural  Selection  came  from  his  see- 
ing the  large  issues  involved  ;  to  him  the  theory-  was  a  great 
example  of  the  scientific  method  applied  successfully  to 
a  problem  of  more  than  biologic  moment ;  while  the 
fierceness  of  his  advocacy  was  a  natural  expression  of 
resentment  on  the  part  of  one  who  saw  a  scientific  con- 
clusion, gained  with  unstinted  pains  and  large  reasoning, 
judged  contemptuously  by  men  who  knew  nothing  of 
science  according  to  methods  in  which  science  had  no 
part. 

Science,  under  this  aspect,  is  a  part  of  what  is  sometimes 
called  philosophy  :  and  though  Huxley  felt,  in  common 
with  others,  and  felt  deeply  the  pleasures  of  the  intellec- 
tual wrestler,  struggling  with  problems  which,  seemingly 
solved  and  thrown  to  the  ground,  spring  up  again  at  once 
in  unsolved  strength,  it  was  not  these  pleasures  alone 
which  led  him,  especially  in  his  later  years,  to  devote  so 
much  time  and  labour  to  technical  philosophic  studies. 
He  hoped  out  of  the  depths  of  philosophy  to  call 
witnesses  to  the  value  of  the  scientific  method.  Indeed, 
nearly  all  the  work  of  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  including 
the  last  imperfect  fragment,  written  when  the  hand  of 
disease  which  was  to  be  the  hand  of  death  was  already 
laid  upon  him,  and  bearing  marks  of  that  hand,  was 
wrought  with  one  desire,  namely  to  show  that  the  only 
possible  solutions  of  the  problems  of  the  universe  were 
such  as  the  scientific  method  could  bring.  This  was  at 
the  bottom  of  that  antagonism  to  theology  which  he 
never  attempted  to  conceal,  and  the  real  existence  of 
iihii  h  no  one  who  wishes  to  form  a  true  judgment  of  the 
iii.in  ■  an  ignore.  He  recognised  that  the  only  two  con- 
sistent conceptions  of  man  and  the  universe  were  the 
distinctly  thcologic  one  and  the  scientific  one  ;  he  put 
aside  as  unworthy  of  serious  attention  all  between.  He 
was  convjnrcd  ihal  the  theologic  conception  was  based  on 
error,  and  v"-  '■  -f  liii  old  age  was  spent  in  the  study  of 
thcologic  hereby  he  gathered  for  himself  in- 
creasing pp         tre  was  no  flaw  in  the  judgment  which 

had  guided  his  «.iy  from  his  youth  upward.     Not  only  so, 
but    he   was   no  lc^s   cunvinccd  that,  owing   to  what   he 

NO.    1344.  VOL.  52] 


believed  to  be  the  essential  antagonism  of  the  theologic 
and  the  scientific  methods,  the  dominance  of  the  former 
was  an  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  the  latter.  This. 
conviction  he  freely  confessed  to  be  the  cause  of  his 
hostile  attitude  :  he  believed  it  to  be  the  justification 
of  even  his  bitter  polemics. 

But  while  on  the  objective  side  his  scientific  mode  of 
thought  thus  made  him  a  never-failing  opponent  of 
theologic  thought  of  every  kind,  a  common  tie  on  the 
subjective  side  bound  him  to  the  heart  of  the  Christian 
religion.  Strong  as  was  his  conviction  that  the  moral 
no  less  than  the  material  goo'd  of  man  was  to  be  secured 
by  the  scientific  method  alone,  strong  as  was  his  con- 
fidence in  the  ultimate  victory  of  that  method  in  the  war 
against  ignorance  and  wrong,  no  less  clear  was  his  vision 
of  the  limits  beyond  which  science  was  unable  to  go. 
He  brought  into  the  current  use  of  to-day  the  term 
"agnostic,"  but  the  word  had  to  him  a  deep  and  solemn 
meaning.  To  him  "  1  do  not  know "  was  not  a  mere 
phrase  to  be  thrown  with  a  light  heart  at  a  face  of  an 
opponent  who  asks  a  hard  question  ;  it  was  reciprocally 
with  the  positive  teachings  of  science  the  guide  of  his  life. 
Great  as  he  felt  science  to  be,  he  was  well  aware  that 
science  could  never  lay  its  hand,  could  never  touch,  e\  en 
with  the  tip  of  its  finger,  that  dream  with  which  our  little 
life  is  rounded,  and  that  unknown  dream  was  a  power  as 
dominant  over  him  as  was  the  might  of  known  science  ; 
he  carried  about  with  him  every  day  thai  which  he  did 
not  know  as  his  guide  of  life  no  less  to  be  minded  than 
that  which  he  did  know.  Future  visitors  to  the  burial- 
place  on  the  northern  heights  of  London,  seeing  on  his 
tombstone  the  lines — 

"  And  if  there  be  no  meeting  p.ist  the  grave. 
If  all  is  darkne.ss,  silence,  yet  \  is  rest. 
Be  not  afraid  ye  wailing  hearts  that  weep, 
For  God  still  '  givelh  his  beloved  sleep,' 
And  if  an  endless  sleep  He  wills, — so  best" — 

will  recognise  that  the  agnostic  man  of  science  had 
much  in  common  with  the  man  of  faith. 

There  is  still  much  more  to  say  of  him,  but  this  is 
not  the  place  to  say  it.  Let  it  be  enough  to  add  that 
those  who  had  the  happiness  to  come  near  him  knew 
that  besides  science  and  philosophy  there  was  room  in 
him  for  yet  many  other  things  ;  they  forgot  the  learned 
investigator,  the  wise  man  of  action,  and  the  fearless 
combatant  as  they  listened  to  him  talking  of  letters,  of 
pictures,  or  of  music,  always  wondering;  wliiih  delighted 
them  most;  the  sure  thrust  with  which  he  hit  the  mark 
whatever  it  might  be,  or  the  brilliant  wit  which  flashed 
around  his  stroke.  .And  yet  one  word  more.  .\s  an  object 
seen  first  at  a  distance  changes  in  aspect  to  the  looker-on 
who  draws  nearer  and  yet  more  near,  featmes  unseen 
afar  off  filling  up  the  vision  close  at  hand,  so  he  seemed 
to  change  to  those  who  coming  nearer  and  nearer  to  him 
gained  a  happy  place  within  his  innermost  circle  ;  his  in- 
cisive thought,  his  wide  knowledge,  his  sure  and  prompt 
judgment,  his  ready  antl  sharp  word,  all  these  shrunk 
away  so  as  to  seem  but  a  small  part  of  him  ;  his  greater 
part,  and  that  which  most  shaped  his  life,  was  seen  to  be 
a  heart  full  of  love  which,  clinging  round  his  family  and 
his  friends  in  tenderest  devotion,  was  spread  over  all  his 
fellow  men  in  kindness  guided  by  justice. 

j\I.  Foster. 


DR.   I- R I  ED  RICH   TIETJEN. 

AT  a  time  when  astronomical  knowledge  is  being  ex- 
tended at  so  rapid  a  rate,  and  in  so  many  directions, 
as  has  been  the  case  during  the  last  few  years,  it  is 
natural  and  right  that  the  highest  honour  should  be  paid 
to  those  astronomers  to  whose  genius  and  industry  are 
due  discoveries  possible  on  account  of  original  suggestion 


August  i,  1895] 


NA TURE 


321 


or  ingenious  execution.  But  at  the  same  time,  and  on 
the  other  hand,  there  is  no  small  danger  that  we  may  fail 
to  give  proper  recognition  to  those  other  astronomers 
whose  lives,  unmarked  by  brilliant  achievements,  have 
been  devoted  to  labours  which  are  none  the  less  valuable 
because  they  have  been  accomplished  while  quietly 
pursuing  recognised  lines,  and  are  therefore  devoid  of 
conspicuous  originality.  In  particular,  the  work  of  com- 
putation and  arithmetical  reduction  of  observations, 
without  which  the  observations  themselves  either  cannot 
be  made  or  must  remain  almost  entirely  useless,  is  apt  to 
fall  into  disrepute,  as  being  wholly  mechanical  and  un- 
enterprising. This  is  certainly  to  be  regretted  ;  for  just 
as  a  victorious  general  marching  forward  in  the  enemy's 
country'  must  depend  for  his  ver>'  safety  on  the  fidelity 
and  capacity  of  those  officers  who  hold  the  conquered 
territory,  so  our  scientific  knowledge  is  liable  to  become 
disconnected  and  fragmentary'  unless  we  have  capable 
men  ready  to  perform  the  task  of  computing  from  the 
observations,  and  co-ordinating  the  results  achieved  in 
more  exciting  spheres  of  scientific  work.  If  the  pursuit 
of  such  unostentatious  work  lead  to  the  efiacement  of  the 
worker,  our  gratitude  should  be  even  all  the  greater  for 
the  self-denial  exhibited  and  practised.  Of  S"ch  a  man 
we  have  recently  had  to  lament  the  loss,  owing  to  the  sad 
death  of  Dr.  Tietjen,  of  Berlin. 

Friedrich  Tietjen  was  bom  in  Oldenburg,  in  the  year 
1834  ;  we  therefore  lose  his  ser\ices  at  the  comparatively 
early  age  of  sixty-one.  He  studied  mathematics  and 
astronomy  at  Gottingen,  and  subsequently  at  Berlin,  with 
which  latter  city  he  has  been  continuously  connected.  In 
1861,  he  became  attached  to  the  staff"  of  the  Berlin 
Observatory,  and  in  one  or  other  capacity  this  connection 
remained  unbroken  till  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was 
appointed  Professor  of  Astronomy  in  the  University  of 
Berlin,  and  Director  of  the  Rechcninstitict,  allied  to  the 
Berlin  Observatory.  In  his  earlier  career,  Dr.  Tietjen 
occupied  himself  with  the  observations  of  comets  and 
asteroids,  discovering  in  this  way  the  asteroid  Semele. 
To  his  activity  and  devotion  the  pages  of  the  Astrono- 
inischc  Nachrichten  abundantly  testify.  He  is  also  known 
as  the  calculator  of  several  cometary  orbits,  and  also  of 
the  orbits  and  ephemerides  of  many  asteroids.  Some 
twelve  years  later.  Dr.  Tietjen  became  superintendent  of 
the  Rerliner  Astrowmischcs  Jahrbiich,2i'nA  his  reputation 
in  that  capacity  is  not  less  assured  than  that  of  Dr. 
Powalky,  who  had  preceded  him  in  that  office.  As 
official  director  he  paid  great  attention  to  shortening  the 
labour  of  the  necessary  calculations  as  far  as  possible. 
Some  of  his  methods  have  been  published,  others  are  not 
so  well  known,  ill-health  having  prevented  him  from  giving 
them  to  the  world.  Of  the  value  and  of  the  accuracy  of 
this  publication  under  the  superintendence  of  Dr.  Tietjen 
it  is  unnecessary  to  speak  here,  for  it  is  sufficiently  well 
know-n.  Probably  his  most  useful  work  was  that  done  in 
superintending  the  preparation  of  the  ephemerides  of 
the  small  planets,  the  continual  and  rapid  increase  in  the 
number  of  which,  while  it  enormously  increased  his  work, 
had  likewise  the  effect  of  lessening  the  interest  in  this 
class  of  discoveries.  While  the  national  almanacks  of 
other  countries  practically  discontinued  the  publication 
of  this  class  of  ephemerides,  Dr.  Tietjen  loyally  struggled 
to  supply  sufficient  information  to  ensure  the  observation 
of  the  small  planets.  Those  who  have  attempted  the 
determination  of  the  mass  of  Jupiter  from  the  perturba- 
tions of  these  bodies,  and  similar  kinds  of  work,  know- 
how  to  appreciate  the  labours  of  Dr.  Tietjen,  by  which 
the  continuous  observation  from  opposition  to  opposition 
has  been  rendered  possible. 

This  skilled  mathematician  and  remarkably  facile  com- 
puter died  at  Berlin,  on  June  21,  deeply  lamented  by  his 
numerous  friends,  and  regretted  by  many  who  have 
profited  by  the  devotion  of  his  quiet  unambitious  life  to 
the  service  of  astronomy. 


NO.    1344,  VOL.   52] 


THE   MAXIM  FLYING   MACHINE. 

ON  Friday,  July  5,  a  large  party  of  scientific  men  paid 
a  visit,  by  invitation  of  Mr.  Hiram  .Maxim  and  Mr. 
Brodrick  Cloete,  to  Baldwyns  Park,  Bexley,  to  witness  a 
trial  of  the  celebrated  flying  machine,  and  the  latest 
development  in  the  direction  of  mechanical  flight. 

The  invitations  were  carefully  distributed  among  those 
who  were  competent  to  judge  of  the  magnitude  of  the 
task  to  be  attempted,  and  who  were  prepared  to  examine 
closely  the  ingenious  mechanical  details  by  which  it  was 
clearly  demonstrated  that  the  machine  had  ample  power 
to  lift  itself  off"  the  ground,  carrying  with  it  a  supply  of 
fuel  and  water,  and  a  crew  for  the  navigation. 

An  unscientific  crowd  of  spectators  might  have  become 
unmanageable,  and  might  have  developed  iconoclastic 
tendencies  (like  the  Weser  boatmen  with  Denis  Papin's 
original  steam  vessel)  when  the  machine  did  not  take  to 
flight  immediately  and  disappear  from  their  astonished 
gaze. 

"As  lewed  people  demelh  comunly 

Of  thinges  that  ben  maad  more  subtilly 
Than  they  can  in  her  lewednes  comprehende 
They  demen  gladly  to  the  badder  ende " 

But  the  Bexley  machine  is  purposely  designed  of 
extreme  size,  with  the  intention  of  thoroughly  testing  and 
elaborating'  the  details  of  the  mechanism,  and  of  measur- 
ing the  lifting  power,  within  immediate  reach  of  a  work- 
shop and  skilled  mechanics,  more  than  of  actually 
taking  to  the  air  ;  this  will  probably  be  first  attempted 
with  a  much  smaller  machine,  capable  of  lifting  one  man. 
of  jockey-like  proportions,  and  mounted  on  a  boat  on  a 
lake,  so  that  short  flights,  like  those  of  a  flying  fish,  can 
be  attempted  for  initial  practice. 

The  lifting  force  of  the  machine  is  measured  automatic- 
ally as  it  runs  along  a  railway  track  about  half  a  mile  in 
length,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  illustration  (Fig.  i), 
and  the  machine  is  prevented  from  taking  to  flight  by 
wheels  running  underneath  the  outer  wooden  rails,  seen  in 
the  figure  ;  for  much  yet  remains  to  be  done  in  the  way  of 
practice  in  vertical  steering  before  taking  leave  of  the 
earth  ;  the  chief  difficulties  of  the  Aviator  beginning 
when  he  wishes  to  descend  and  alight  on  the  ground 
again. 

Chaucer  did  not  realise  the  difficulties  of  the  problem 
when  describing  so  jauntily  the  Bronze  Horse  in  the 
Squieres  Tale  : — 

■ '  This  same  stede  shall  bare  yo w  ever-more 
With-outen  harm,  til  ye  be  ther  yow  leste. 
Though  that  ye  slepen  on  his  bak  or  reste  ; 
.\nd  turne  ayejTi,  with  wrything  of  a  pin."' 

"  But  whan  yow  list  to  ryden  any- where, 

Ve  moten  trille  a  pin,  stant  in  his  ere — " 
"  Bid  him  descend,  and  trille  another  pin," 
"  Trille  this  pin,  and  he  wol  vanishe  anon.' 

The  "  wrything  of  a  pin  "  is  not  inapt  in  describing  the 
dominating  gyrostatic  brain  of  the  .Aviator,  designed  by 
Mr.  Maxiin  to  perform  the  vertical  steering  automatically. 

The  Bexley  machine,  complete  with  the  water,  naphtha 
fuel,  and  crew  of  three  men  on  board,  weighs  Sooo  lb.  ; 
and  running  at  forty  miles  an  hour  with  a  pressure  of 
275  lb.  per  square  inch,  the  engines  develop  360- 
horse  power,  the  thrust  of  the  screws  is  :ooo  lb.,  and 
the  lifting  effect  of  the  aeroplanes  and  wings,  40CO 
square  feet  in  area,  is  10,000  lb. 

A  thrust  of  2000  pounds  at  45  miles  an  hour  gives 
240  thrust  horse-power  ;  or,  with  a  speed  of  advance 
of  the  screw  of  60  miles  an  hour,  320  indicated  horse- 
power. 

The  total  projected  disc  area  of  the  screws  is  500  square 
feet,  each  screw  being  nearly  iS  feet  in  diameter, -with  a 
pitch  of  16  feet  ;  and  thus  recpiiring  330  revolutions  a 
minute  to  give  a  speed  of  advance  of  60  miles  an  hour. 


NA  TURE 


[August  i,  1895 


NO.  1344.  vol..  52] 


August  i,  1895] 


NATURE 


0^1 


NO.    1344,  VOL.   52] 


NATURE 


[August  i,  1895 


Mr.  Maxim  calculates  that,  after  making  all  allowances, 
he  can  at  present  lift  28  pounds  per  horse-power  :  but  that, 
with  improvements,  he  hopes  to  raise  this  figure  to  50  or 
60  pounds,  and  then  a  machine  could  take  a  flight  of  500 
or  600  miles. 

When  the  machine  is  perfected,  Mr.  Ma.\im  claims  that 
the  railway  track  may  be  dispensed  with  ;  and  that  a 
short  run  over  a  moderately  le\el  field  will  enable  it  to 
attain  the  velocity  necessar>'  to  rise.  As  far  as  landing  is 
concerned,  he  says  that  the  aerial  navigator  will  touch 
the  ground  while  moving  forward,  and  the  m.ichine  will 
be  brought  to  rest  by  sliding  on  the  ground  for  a  short 
distance.  In  this  manner  very  little  shock  should  result, 
v/hereas  if  the  machine  is  stopped  in  the  air  and  allowed 
to  fall  directly  to  the  earth  without  advancing,  the  shock, 
though  not  strong  enough  to  be  dangerous  (?)  to  life  or  limb, 
might  be  sufficient  to  disarrange  or  injure  the  machinery. 

These  numbers  are  taken  from  Mr.  .Maxim's  lecture  on 
"  Experiments  in  .Aeronautics,"  before  the  Society  of 
Arts,  November  28,  1S94,  where  a  full  account  of  the 
mechanical  details  will  be  found.  Each  engine  is  a  two- 
cylinder  compound,  with  the  cranks  set  at  iSo"  ;  in  this 
way  the  inertia  stresses  are  self-contained,  and  racking  of 
the  framework  is  avoided  ;  a  similar  arrangement  is 
adopted  by  Mr.  Thomycroft  in  his  recent  torpedo  boats. 
A  photograph  showed  Mr.  Maxim  lifting  with  ease  one 
of  these  engines,  from  which  180-horse  power  can  be 
developed.  The  boiler  is,  if  possible,  a  still  more 
wonderful  miracle  of  lightness  for  its  power,  weighing 
only  1000  lb.,  and  providing  360-horse  power  ;  the  fire  is 
given  by  a  steel  burner  with  14,000  jets,  made  from  the 
naphtha  vapour  delivered  from  an  automatic  gas  gene- 
rator. For  details  the  reader  must  be  referred  to  Mr. 
Maxim's  lecture  :  but  the  chief  result  arrived  at  may  be 
summarised  as  a  performance  of  one-horse  power  for 
every  1 1  lb.  of  weight  in  the  motor  complete. 

At  this  rate  a  lo-horse-power  motor  can  be  produced, 
which  will  weigh  considerably  less  than  an  ordinary  man  ; 
so  that  when  .Sir.  .Maxim  can  spare  a  little  leisure  from 
this  fascinating  problem  of  flight,  he  can  beat  easily  the 
perfonnance  of  the  steam  carriages  recently  competing 
m  France,  and  carrj-  ofi",  we  hope,  the  prize  of  ^1000 
offered  in  this  country  by  the  proprietors  of  the  £'//i,'///ct'/-y 
and  some  day  we  may  see  his  motor  utilised  for  purposes 
of  militar>-  traction,  and  galloping  round  the  smartest 
battery  of  artiller)-  on  Woolwich  Common. 

Mr.  Maxim  eschews  the  gas  bag  of  balloons  and  the 
use  of  vertical  screws  for  securing  levitation,  and  he 
relies  cntirch-  on  the  upward  thrust  on  the  aeroplane  and 
wings,  mounted  at  a  slope  of  about  I  in  8,  due  to  the 
currents  of  air  rushing  past  them. 

These  surfaces  are  formed  of  canvas,  stretched  on  a 
skeleton  frame"ork  of  hollow  steel  rods  for  the  struts 
and  thin  steel  wire  for  the  ties  ;  the  large  central  .lero- 
plane  is  composed  of  two  parallel  canvas  surfaces,  with  a 
space  between,  and  in  this  way  the  shape  is  preserved 
better  ;  and  the  general  set  of  the  wings,  smooth  like 
cardboard,  should  excite  the  envy  and  stimulate  the 
imitation  of  our  sailmakers  for  yacht  racing.  The  front 
and  rear  wings  are  shown  pivoted  about  a  horizontal  axis, 
so  as  to  act  as  rudders  in  a  vertical  plane. 

The  machine  is  started  from  the  position  in  the  photo- 
graph, l)cing  tied  up  to  the  indicator  post  shown  in  its  rear  ; 
the  pr()peller>  are  then  set  in  motion,  and  soon  drive  a 
gale  of  "mil  in  their  wake  ;  when  the  pull  of  the  rope 
h.i  '     '   .1  definite   amount,  say  2000  lb.,  a  hook  is 

re!'  tlic  machine  starts  on  its  journey  along  the 

Ira.  r..  '      111  ran  now  carr)'  out  his  original  notion 

«f  cxpi  th  a  model  machine,  tied  to  a  post  in  a 

^alc  of  1   .    .in  hour,  to  be  found  every  afternoon 

in  the  taiions  of  California,  in  an  artificial  gale  produced 
in  111';  A.il.i  of  his  propellers.  Dynamometers  register 
si'  '>■  the  thrust  of  the  propellers,  so  that  much 

inv  formation  ronrcrning  the  dynamics  of  screw 

NO.    1344.  VOt,.   52] 


propulsion  can  be  obtained  here,  especially  if  Mr.  Maxim 
will  stretch  a  wire  carrying  ribbons  across  the  axes  of 
the  propellers,  in  front  and  in  rear,  to  measure  the  direction 
of  the  air  currents.  The  speed  in  air  Mr.  Maxim  deals 
with  is  about  double  the  speed  of  the  torpedo  boat  in 
water;  but  the  eflfect  of  "cavitation"  in  water,  which  is 
beginning  to  trouble  the  naval  architects,  is  one  which 
will  not  concern  the  propeller  working  in  air. 

Now  that  the  main  mechanical  difficulties  of  construc- 
tion have  been  overcome,  a  longer  track  is  required  for 
the  purpose  of  practice  in  vertical  steering  while  the 
machine  is  off"  the  ground,  but  bearing  upwards  against 
the  outer  rails.  It  is  unfortunate  that  ditficulties  should 
have  been  thrown  in  the  way  of  making  an  extension  of 
the  present  track  beyond  the  domain  of  Haldwyns  Park  ; 
so  another  practice  ground,  perhaps  a  sheet  of  water, 
must  be  found,  not  too  far  from  headt|uarters  or  from 
skilled  assistance. 

During  a  short  interval  of  delay,  caused  by  a  refractory 
pump,  an  adjournment  was  made  to  a  gravel-pit  close  by, 
to  witness  a  performance  of  the  .Maxim  automatic  gun. 

Ancient  and  medi.i;val  mythology  is  full  of  references 
to  flying  machines,  from  Dadalus  and  his  son  Icarus,  and 
Archytas  of  Tarentum,  to 

"  The  story  of  Cambuscan  Iwld 

.   .   .   .'Vnd  of  the  wondrous  horse  of  brass 
On  which  the  Tartar  king  did  ride '' 

of  Chaucer's  Squieres  Tale  ;  and  to  Johnson's  "  Rasselas," 
Peter  Wilkins,  Baron  Munchausen,  and  .Ruber's  opera  "  le 
Cheval  de  Uronze." 

•'  Rasselas,"  chapter  vi.,  "A  Dissertation  on  the  .^rt  of 
Flying,"  is  so  curiously  apposite  that  some  extracts  may 
well  find  a  place  here. 

"  .-Vmong  the  artists  that  had  been  allured  into  the 
Happy  X'alley,  to  labour  for  the  accommodation  and 
pleasure  of  its  inhabitants,  was  a  man  eminent  for  his 
knowledge  of  the  mechanic  powers,  who  had  contrived 
many  engines,  both  for  use  and  recreation."  "This 
artist  was  sometimes  visited  by  Rasselas,  who  was 
pleased  with  every  kind  of  knowledge,  imagining  that 
the  time  would  come  when  all  his  acquisitions  would 
be  of  use  to  him  in  the  ojien  world.  He  came  one  day 
to  amuse  himself  in  his  usual  manner,  and  found  the 
master  busy  in  building  a  sailing  chariot.  He  saw  that 
the  design  was  practicable  upon  a  level  surface,  and 
with  expressions  of  great  esteem  solicited  its  com- 
pletion. 'Sir,'  said  the  master,  'you  have  seen  but  a  small 
part  of  what  the  mechanic  arts  can  perform.  I  have  long 
been  of  opinion  that  instead  of  the  tardy  conveyance  of 
ships  and  chariots,  man  might  use  the  swifter  migration 
of  wings,  that  the  fields  of  airare  open  to  knowledge,  and 
that  only  ignorance  and  idleness  need  crawl  upon  the 
ground."  "  '  The  labour  of  rising  from  the  giounil  will  be 
great,'  said  the  artist,  '  as  we  sec  it  in  the  heavier  domestic 
fowls  ;  but  as  we  mount  higher  the  earth's  attraction 
and  the  body's  gra\ily  will  be  gradually  diminished,  till  we 
arrive  at  a  region  where  man  shall  float  in  the  air  without 
any  tendency  to  fall  ;  no  care  will  then  be  necessary  but 
to  move  forward,  which  the  gentlest  impulse  will  effect.' 
'  Nothing,'  replied  the  artist,  '  will  ever  be  attempted 
if  all  possible  objections  must  be  first  overcome.  If  you 
will  favour  my  project  1  will  try  the  first  flight  at  my  own 
hazard.  I  have  consi<lcic(l  the  structure  of  all  volant 
animals,  and  find  the  folding  continuity  of  the  bat's  wings 
most  easily  accommodated  to  the  human  form.  Upon 
this  model  I  will  begin  my  task  to-morrow,  and  in  a  year 
expect  to  tower  into  the  air  beyond  the  malice  and  pur- 
suit of  man.'"  "  The  Prince  visited  the  work  from  time 
to  time,  observed  its  progress,  and  remarked  many 
ingenious  contrivances  to  facilitate  motion  and  unite 
levity  with  strength.  The  artist  was  every  day  more 
certain  that  he  should  leave  vultures  and  eagles  behind 
him,  and  the  contagion  seized    ujion  the   Prince.     In  a 


August  i,  1895] 


NATURE 


325 


year  the  wings  were  finished,  and  on  a  morning 
a])|)ointcd  the  maker  appeared,  furnished  for  flight,  on  a 
htlle  promontory  ;  he  waved  liis  i)inions  awhile  to  gather 
air,  then  leaped  from  his  stand,  and  in  an  instant  dropped 
into  tlie  lalve.  His  wings,  which  were  of  no  use  in  the 
air,  sustained  him  in  the  water,  and  the  Prince  drew  him 
to  land  half  dead  with  terror  and  \exation." 

These  extracts  show  that  Dr.  Johnson  had  realised  to 
some  extent  the  difficulty  of  the  problem  to  be  solved  ; 
although  Herr  von  Lilienthal's  experiments,  recently 
attempted  by  Prof.  Fitzgerald,  have  to  a  certain  extent 
falsified  the  unixersal  application  of  his  final  catastrophe. 

But,  viewed  with  the  cold  calculating  eye  of  mechanical 
science,  the  poetical  descriptions  are  seen  to  he.  hope- 
lessly absurd  and  impossible  ;  now  that  Mr.  Maxim 
has  taken  up  the  subject,  and  proved  to  demonstration 
the  enormous  power  required,  out  of  all  proportion  to  the 
size,  if  man  is  ever  to  emulate  the  birds. 

A.    G.    GREENHILt,. 


NOTES. 

The  Organising  Committee  of  the  third  International  Zoo- 
logical Congress,  to  be  held  at  Leyden,  September  16-21,  has 
sent  us  a  copj-  of  the  provisional  programme.  The  programme 
contains  some  details  with  reference  to  the  work  proposed,  not 
given  in  our  previous  notes  on  the  forthcoming  Congress.  At 
the  first  general  meeting,  a  discourse  will  be  delivered  by  Dr. 
VVeismann ,;  Mr.  Haviland  Field's  scheme  for  bibliographical 
reform  will  be  reported  upon  by  M.  E.  L.  Bouvier  ;  and  a 
report  on  the  prize  instituted  in  1S92,  at  the  Moscow  meeting, 
w  ill  be  made  by  M.  Blanchard.  At  the  second  general  meeting, 
Prof.  Milne  Edwards  will  give  a  discourse,  and  Dr.  F.  E. 
Schulze  will  propose  the  nomination  of  a  commission  of  three 
members  to  draw  up,  in  three  languages,  the  code  of  zoological 
nomenclature.  Ur.  John  Murray  will  address  the  third  general 
meeting.  With  regard  to  the  sections  :  up  to  the  middle  of  July, 
the  first  section  had  been  promised  a  communication  on  Weis- 
nianism,  by  M.  A.  (jiard  ;  on  cellular  theory,  by  Mr.  A.  Sedg- 
wick ;  on  Plankton  studies,  by  Prof.  Victor  Hensen  ;  and  a 
])aper  by  Dr.  S.  Apathy.  Dr.  Kowdler  Sharpe  will  address 
Section  II.  upon  the  classification  of  birds  ;  and  there  will  be 
papers  on  the  origin  of  the  lacustrine  fauna  of  European  Russia, 
ly  Prof.  N.  Zograf  (Moscow);  on  the  fauna  of  Borneo,  by  J. 
Buttikofer  ;  'and  on  Pithecanthropus  ereitiis,  by  Dr.  E.  Dubois. 
In  the  third  sectum.  Prof.  W.  Leche  (Stockholm)  will  read  an 
odontological  paper,  and  there  will  also  be  papers  by  Prof.  R. 
Semon  (Jena)  and  Prof.  O.  C.  Marsh.  In  the  fourth  section, 
papers  referring  to  the  classification  of  living  and  fossil  inverte- 
brates, and  binnoniy,  will  be  read  by  Dr.  \".  Salensky,  Dr.  C.  W. 
Stiles,  M.  Blanchard,  and  Prof.  S.  J.  Hickson.  The  section 
of  entomology  has  received  papers  by  M.  E.  de  Selys-Lon- 
champs.  Father  E.  Wasmann,  Dr.  A.  Fritze,  and  Prof.  G. 
Canestrini.  In  Section  VI.,  papers  on  the  comparative  anatomy 
and  embryology  of  invertebrates  will  be  read  by  A.  de  Korotnev, 
M.  E.  Perrier,  Prof.  J.  W.  Spengel,  and  Prof.  Herdman.  We 
understand  that  up  to  now  the  following  delegates  have  been 
ofiicially  announced  by  the  respective  foreign  Governments  : — 
Belgium,  Prof  Ed.  van  Beneden,  Prof.  Ch.  van  Bambeke,  Prof. 
Gilson,  and  Prof.  Lameere  ;  France,  Prof.  Milne  Edwards.  MM. 
R.  Blanchard,  E.  Bouvier,  A.  Certes,  J.  de  Guerne,  II.  Filhol, 
Ch.  Schhimberger,  and  L.  Vaillant  ;  Great  Britain,  Sir  W.  H. 
Flower,  Prof.  Sydney  J.  Hickson,  Dr.  J.  Anderson,  Dr.  St. 
<ieorge  Mivart,  and  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater ;  Sweden,  Prof  F.  A. 
.Smith  ;  Swhzerkuul,  Prof.  Th.  Studer,  and  E.  Jung  ;  United 
States  (Department  of  .VgricuUure),  Dr.- C.  W.  Stiles. 

.\  IIESIRF.  is  widely  felt  among  the  pupils  of  Prof  Leuckart 
that  the  occasion  of  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  doctorate  should  not 
pass  without  some  durable  mark  of  recognition  from  those  who 

NO.    1344,  VOL.   52] 


have  known  and  valued  his  inspiring  influence.  It  is  proposed 
that  the  memorial  should  take  the  form  of  a  marble  bust,  and 
an  appeal  for  contributions  is  being  circulated  as  widely  as 
possible.  There  is  naturally  some  difficulty  in  obtaining  the 
addresses  of  all  old  pupils ;  and  it  is  hoped  that  those  who 
receive  the  appeal  will  make  it  generally  known.  Contributions 
should  be  sent  to  Herr  Carl  Gr.aubner  (C.  F.  Winters  Verlag, 
Leii)zig,  Johannes-gasse  S),  who  has  consented  to  act  as 
treasurer  of  the  memorial  fund. 

If  is  proposed  to  honour  Sir  Joseph  Lister  by  presenting  his 
portrait  to  the  Roj-al  College  of  Surgeons  for  England,  to  be 
placed  by  the  side  of  the  portraits  of  John  Hunter  and  other 
great  surgeons  of  the  past.  On  Tuesday  last,  in  the  presence  of 
a  large  company.  Sir  Joseph  was  presented  with  a  testimonial, 
in  the  form  of  a  portrait  of  himself,  subscribed  for  by  his  past 
colleagues  and  pupils,  as  a  mark  of  esteem  and  admiration, 
on  his  retirement  from  the  chair  of  clinical  surgery  at  King's 
College  Hospital. 

The  sixty-third  annual  meeting  of  the  British  Medical  AjJd- 
ciation  was  opened  on  Tuesday,  when  Dr.  E.  Long  Fox  retired 
from  the  presidential  chair,  and  Sir  J.  Russell  Reynolds  was  in- 
stalled as  his  successor.  Dr.  Ward  Cousins,  in  moving  the 
report  of  the  Council,  said  that  when  they  last  met  in  London, 
in  1873,  they  numbered  only  1500,  whereas  now  their  member- 
ship exceeded  16,000.  The  financial  position  of  the  .Association 
is  most  satisfactory',  the  assets  exceeding  the  liabilities  by  more 
than  ^60,000.  In  his  opening  address,  Sir  Russell  Reynolds  dwelt 
chiefly  upon  the  great  advances  that  have  been  made,  during  the 
past  twenty  years,  in  the  elucidation  of  both  structure  and  func- 
tion— such,  for  example,  as  in  the  researches  upon  the  thyroid, 
the  adrenal  bodies,  the  spleen,  and  the  liver  ;  the  advance  of 
bacteriology  ;  the  function  of  the  axis-cylinder  of  nerves  ;  and  the 
development  of  a  new  field  of  therapeutics  in  the  serum-treat- 
ment of  disease. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Prof  H.  Witmeur,  Professor  of 
Mineralogy  and  Geology  in  the  University  of  Brussels,  and  of 
Prof.  Josef  Loschmidt,  at  Vienna. 

Sir  John  Tomes,  F.RS.,  died  at  Caterham  on  Monday,  at 
eighty  years  of  age.  He  was  elected  into  the  Royal  .Society  in 
1850,  after  carrying  out  valuable  work  referring  to  dental  physio- 
logy and  surgery.  In  1SS3,  with  the  late  Prof  Huxley,  he  was 
elected  an  honorary  fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons ; 
an<l  three  years  later  the  honour  of  knigjithood  was  conferred 
upon  him,  in  recognition  of  his  services  to  his  profession. 

We  have  already  noted  that  an  international  conference  for 
the  protection  of  birds  useful  in  agriculture,  by  helping  to 
destroy  injurious  insects,  has  recently  been  held  in  Paris.  Most 
of  the  countries  in  Europe  were  represented  at  the  conference  ; 
and  it  was  agreed  that  various  measures  should  be  taken  to  pre- 
.serve  useful  birds,  and  to  protect  their  nests  and  eggs  from 
destruction.  A  list  of  birds  considered  useful  has  now  been 
published  by  the  Commission,  and  as  this  includes  a  number  of 
our  caged  friends  as  well  as  other  birds  at  present  ruthlessly 
sacrificed  for  ornament.al  purposes,  the  trade  in  birds  in  various 
directions  will  naturally  be  curtailed.  We  learn  from  the  J^ihrue 
Siicntifiquc  that  a  period  of  three  years  is  to  be  accorded  to 
the  different  countries  of  Europe  to  allow  them  to  arrange  their 
laws  in  accordance  with  the  principles  agreed  upon  by  the 
International  Commission. 

The  prospectus  is  issued  of  a  proposed  complete  directory  of 
living  botanists  of  all  countries,  inclusive  of  the  ofticers  of  botanic 
gardens,  institutes,  and  societies,  as  also  of  their  works  and  the 
botanical  papers  issued  by  them.  Any  communication  should 
be  made  to  Herr  J.  Dbrfler,  HI  Barichgasse  36,  Vienna,  of 
the  botanical  section  of  the  Imperial  Museum  of  Natural 
History. 


326 


A' A  TURE 


[August  i,  1895 


Mr.  F.  T.  Coville,  ihe  honorar)-  curator  of  the  Department 
of  Botany  of  the  United  States  National  Museum,  issues  an 
appeal  for  information  on  the  aboriginal  uses  of  plants  by  the 
natives  of  Xorlh  .\merica,  accompanied  by  instructions  as  to  the 
collecting  of  specimens,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  information 
under  \'arious  heads. 

We  learn  from  the  Botanical  Gazette  that  the  Dirision  of 
\'egetable  Physiology  and  Pathology  in  the  United  States 
Dejiartment  of  .\griculture  has  had  under  cultivation  during  the 
past  year  over  looo  varieties  of  wheat  and  oats.  The  grains 
have  been  collected  from  nearly  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  have 
been  grown  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  information 
upon  their  rust-resisting  qualities.  Numerous  crosses  have  been 
made,  and  material  and  facts  obtained  which  will  be  used  in 
further  work. 

A  VALUABLE  memoir  on  the  earthquakes  of  the  Philippine 
Islands  has  recently  been  published  by  P.  Miguel  Saderra  Maso, 
the  director  of  the  seismic  section  of  the  Observatory  of  Manila. 
The  work  consists  of  122  quarto  pages,  and  is  illustrated  by  48 
plates,  representing  the  instruments  used  in  the  observatory,  the 
disturl)ed  areas  and  isoseismal  lines  of  sixty-one  important  earth- 
quakes, and  copies  of  some  of  the  seismographic  records,  one  of 
them  somewhat  resembling  a  bank  manager's  signature.  With 
a  seismological  observatory  so  well  equipped  as  that  of  Manila, 
a  network  of  seismic  and  meteorological  stations  already 
established  over  the  country,  an  energetic  and  capable  director, 
and  numerous  shocks,  the  Philippine  Islands  promise  to  become 
as  important  a  district  for  studying  earthquakes  as  the  neigh- 
I)ouring  empire  of  Japan. 

Some  beautiful  enlargements  of  phonograph  traces  arc  given 
by  Dr.  John  G.  McKendrick  in  the  Journal  of  Anatomy  and 
Physiology,  illustrating  his  paper  "On  the  Tone  and  Curves  of 
Ihe  Phonograph."  The  accuracy  of  the  phonograph  records  is 
strikingly  exemplified  by  the  traces  of  four  Koenig  tuning-forks, 
giving  64,  128,  256,  and  512  vibrations  per  second  respectively. 
In  each  case,  the  length  of  indentations  is  half  of  that  of  the 
prenous  set,  and  they  arc  of  the  same  character.  Traces  of  the 
sounds  of  a  violin,  flute,  organ,  military  land,  and  human  voice, 
singing  and  speaking,  are  reproducetl.  But  these  traces  do  not 
show  the  exact  motion  of  the  vibrating  disc.  To  exhibit  this, 
the  phonograph  traces  were  converted  into  curves  by  a  lever 
arrangement.  The  lever  ended  in  a  fine  point  of  a  hard 
needle,  which  translated  the  up-and-down  motion  of  the 
reproducing  style  into  a  to-and-fro  wave  motion.  To  get  rid  of 
all  disturbing  vibrations  due  to  the  needle  itself,  the  latter  was 
firmly  fixed  in  a  lead  block  to  which  the  reproducing  style  was 
attached,  and  the  phonogram  cylinder  was  turned  so  slowly  that 
its  motion  was  almost  imperceptible  to  the  eye.  By  this  con- 
trivance the  uniform  curves  due  to  a  tuning-fork,  the  smooth 
notes  of  a  piccolo,  the  strong  undulations  of  a  liassoon,  and  the 
highly  over-tonc<l  ripples  of  an  old  English  coach  horn  were  very 
effectively  made  visible  to  the  eye. 

A  RECENT  number  of  Modem  Medicine  aiif  Bacteriological 
A'nvVra;  contains  an  article  on  Prof.  Uunge's  important  ]iaper  on 
the  therapeutic  value  of  iron,  read  at  the  German  Congress  of 
Internal  Medicine  last  spring.  .\n  interesting  tabic  is  quoted 
showing  the  amount  of  iron  founti  in  various  food  substances. 
Spin.ach  contains  considerably  more  iron  than  the  yolk  of  eggs, 
whilst  the  latter,  again,  is  suj^rior  in  this  respect  to  beef,  next  in 
order  coming  apples,  lentils,  strawlK-rrics,  white  Ijcans,  |icas, 
potatoes,  wheat,  &c.,  and  almost  at  the  Uittom  of  the  list  we 
find  cow's  milk.  That  this  article  of  food,  of  such  great  import- 
ance in  infant  life,  thould  contain  so  small  a  quantity  of  iron,  led 
Prof.  Bungc  to  conduct  a  scries  of  experiments  on  animals,  to 
ascertain  in  what  quantity  iron  was  present  in  the  '.v'.irni  .if 
NO.    1344.   VOL.   52] 


animals  of  different  age.  The  interesting  fact  was  established 
that  younger  animals  contain  a  much  greater  quantity  of  iron 
than  adult  animals,  that  the  body  of  a  rabbit  or  a  guinea-pig,  for 
example,  one  hour  old,  w.is  found  to  contain  more  than  four 
times  as  much  iron  as  that  of  similar  animals  two  and  a  h.ilf 
months  old.  Prof.  Bungc  is  of  opinion  that  a  long-continued 
exclusive  milk  diet  for  infants  is  not  ad\-antageous,  but  should  be 
supplemented  by  the  addition  of  wheat  preparations.  Strawberries 
and  apples,  however,  become  investe<l  with  fresh  attractions  by 
the  light  of  these  investigations.  The  writer  of  the  article  suggests 
that  reform  is  required  in  the  .tdministration  of  iron,  ami  that  the 
immense  quantities  of  iron  in  the  shape  of  tonics,  which  custom 
prescribes  for  patients,  may  very  possibly,  in  a  large  number  of 
cases,  only  ser\e  to  increase  the  discomfort  of  the  inv.»lid  by  the 
disturbance  caused  in  the  digestive  functions  of  the  body.  In 
conclusion  the  hope  is  expressed  that  Prof.  Bunge's  valuable 
results  will  "set  physicians  to  thinking  more  of  materia  ali- 
mentariie,  and  less  of  materia  medica  "  ! 

Iwt.  American  Naturalist  for  July  contains  a  statement  of  the 
advantages  offered  for  scientific  study  by  the  Missouri  Botanical 
Garden  at  St.  Louis,  and  by  the  Hopkins  Seaside  Laboratory, 
situated  at  Pacific  Grove  on  the  coast  of  California,  and  main- 
tained by  the  Lcland  Stanford  Junior  University. 

Quai.n's  "Elements  of  Anatomy"  (Longmans,  Green,  and 
Co.)  is  now  in  its  tenth  edition.  The  second  part  of  the  third 
volume,  which  has  just  been  published,  comprises  the  descri]itive 
anatomy  of  the  cerebro-spinal  and  sympathetic  nerves,  and  their 
ganglia.  It  is  by  Prof.  G.  D.  Thane,  who,  with  Prof.  Schiifer, 
edits  the  edition. 

We  have  received  the  first  ])art  of  a  new  monthly  microscopical 
journal,  the  Zeitschrift  fur  angc-u<andte  Mitroskojiie,  edited  by 
G.  Marpmann,  and  published  by  Thost,  of  Leipzig.  It  will  be 
esix'cially  concerned  with  technique  and  methods.  The  present 
number  contains  papers  on  a  new  species  of  Sceiiedesmus,  by  P. 
Richter  ;  on  modern  imbedding  materials,  by  the  editor  ;  on  the 
fixing  of  spores  and  pollen  in  glycerin,  by  H.  Reichelt  ;  and  a 
number  of  reviews  and  notes. 

The  Central  Meteorological  Institute  of  Finland  has  just 
issued  vol.  xii.  (new  series)  of  its  observations  for  the  year  1893. 
This  service  is  one  of  the  oldest,  having  been  established  about 
1844,  and  reorganised,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Society 
of  Sciences  of  Finland,  in  1882.  -Vmong  its  earlier  publications 
there  is  a  series  of  eye  observations  taken  at  twenty  minutes 
interval,  from  March  1848  to  December  1856,  before  the 
establishment  of  self-registering  instruments,  a  labour  which  is 
probably  without  a  ixirallcl.  The  present  volume  contains 
hourly  observations  for  Helsingfors,  particular  attention  being 
paid  to  the  character  and  motion  of  clouds,  and  to  atmospherical 
electricity. 

The  eighth  volume  of  the  late  Prof.  Cayley's  "  Collected 
Mathematical  Papers  "  has  just  appeared.  The  volume  contains 
seventy  papers,  numbered  from  486  to  555,  published  for  the 
mcst  part  in  the  years  1871-73,  and  runs  into  570  |)ages.  In  a 
prefatory  note.  Dr.  A.  R.  Forsyth,  the  editor  of  this  and  the 
remaining  volumes,  .says  that  Prof.  Cayley  had  himself  passed 
the  first  thirty-eight  sheets  for  press,  and  prepared  one  note. 
The  actual  manuscript  of  this  note,  which  was  one  of  the  last  of 
Cayley's  writings,  is  reproduced  in  fac-siuiile  in  the  present 
volume,  u|)on  Ihe  kind  of  paper  which  he  regularly  used  during 
his  malhemalicnl  investigations.  The  remaining  papers  will 
appear  without  notes  and  references.  The  long  biographical 
ntvtice  of  Cayley,  contributed  by  Dr.  Forsyth  to  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Royal  .Society,  is  reprinted  in  the  volume  just  published. 

The  sixth  annual  report  of  the  Missouri  Itutanical  Garden 
l«ars  witness  that  useful  work  was.iccomplished  during  la.sl  year. 


August  i,  1895] 


NATURE 


327 


In  addition  to  the  necessary  routine  work,  several  researches 
were  carried  out,  and  the  results  of  some  of  these  investigations 
are  embodied  in  the  report.  Mr.  M.  A.  Brannon,  who  occupied 
the  Garden's  table  at  the  Wood's  Holl  Marine  Biological 
Laboratorj',  has  his  studies  on  Grinnellia  nearly  ready  for 
jiublication.  The  Director,  Mr.  \V.  Trelease,  has  made  a  large 
collection  of  the  flora  of  the  Azores,  and  is  now  working  at  it. 
The  collection  fully  represents  the  flora  of  those  islands,  and  adds 
somewhat  to  what  is  known  of  the  distribution  of  species  through 
the  group.  The  papers  included  in  the  present  report  are  : — 
"  Revision  of  the  North  American  Species  of  Sagittaria  and 
Lophotocarpus,"  by  Mr.  J.  G.  Smith,  who  also  describes  a  few 
new  or  little  known  species;  "  Leitiieria  Floridana,"  by  Mr. 
Trelease.  "  Studies  on  the  Dissemination  and  Leaf  Reflection 
of  Yucca  aloifolia  and  other  Species,"  by  Mr.  H.  J.  Webber ; 
and  "  Notes  on  the  Mound  Flora  of  Atchison  County,  Missouri,'' 
by  Mr.  B.  I".  Bush.  The  report  is  illustrated  by  sixty  excellent 
plates. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Rhesus  Monkey  (Macacus  rhesus,  9  ) 
from  India,  presented  by  Captain  Fitzgerald ;  "  Common 
Marmoset  (Hapalc  Jacc/iiis)  from  South-East  Brazil,  presented 
by  Mrs.  Florence  Cowlard  ;  a  Serval  (Felts  serz'al),  a  White- 
necked  Stork  (Dissura  episcopiis),  a  Vocifereous  Sea  Eagle 
(Haliatiis  voci/er),  an  Antarctic  Skua  (Stenorariits  antanticHs) 
from  Mozambique,  presented  by  Mr.  W.  A.  Churchill ;  a 
Cardinal  Grosbeak  (Cardinalis  virgiiiianus)  from  North 
America,  a  Lazuline  Finch  (Guiraca  pare/liita)  from  Mexico, 
presented  by  Miss  E.  A.  Krumbholz  ;  an  Orbicular  Horned 
Lizard  {Phrynosoma  orbiciilare)  from  California,  presented  by 
Miss  Mabel  Baker;  a  Frilled  Lizard  (Chlamydosaiiriis  kingi) 
from  Roebuck  Bay,  West  Australia,  presented  by  Mr.  Saville- 
Kent  ;  an  Orang-outang  (Siiiiia  safyriis,  ? )  from  Borneo, 
three  Pratincoles  (G/areola  pratincola),  European,  an  Eyed 
Lizard  (Lacerta  ocellata)  from  North  Africa,  a  Brazilian 
'Xo\Ui\^(Testudo  tabulata),  a  Black  Tortoise  (7'<?rf«rftf  carbon- 
aria)  from  Brazil,  deposited ;  two  Plumed  Ground  Doves 
(Geophaps  plutnifera),  bred  in   the  Gardens. 


OUR   ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

TERRF.STRiAi.  Hki.ilm. — The  discovery  by  Messrs.  Runge 
and  Paschen  of  the  duplicity  of  the  bright  yellow  line  seen  in 
the  spectrum  of  the  gas  obtained  from  cleveite,  and  of  its  apparent 
non-coincidence  with  the  solar  D3  line,  as  announced  in  Nati're 
of  June  6,  has  naturally  led  to  the  re-observation  of  the  solar 
line. 

Mr.  Lockyer  informs  us  that  on  June  14,  observing  in  the 
fourth  order  spectrum  of  a  grating  having  14,438  lines  to  the 
inch,  he  found  the  1),  line  in  the  chromosphere  to  have  a  con- 
siderable breadth  with  rather  uncertain  indications  of  doubling, 
while  in  the  spectrum  of  a  prominence  the  line  was  much  better 
defined,  and  was  distinctly  double,  the  less  refrangible  component 
being  the  fainter,  as  in  the  case  of  the  gas  from  cleveite. 

Writing  under  date  June  25  (Ast.  Nach  3302),  Prof.  G.  E. 
Hale  gives  a  preliminary  account  of  the  observations  he  has 
made  with  the  powerful  spectroscope  of  the  Kenwood  Obser- 
witory.  To  eliminate  the  efl'ect  of  the  sun's  rotation  in  dis- 
placing the  lines,  observations  were  made  of  the  chromosphere 
at  the  sun's  north  and  south  pfiles. 

On  June  19  and  20  the  chromospheric  line  was  found  to  be 
0'54  tenth  metres  broad,  the  wave-length  of  the  middle  being 
determined  as  5875'924.  In  the  spectrum  of  each  of  two 
prominences  observed  on  June  20  and  21,  an  inconspicuous 
bright  line  was  detected  on  the  less  refrangible  side  of  D3,  both 
lines  being  narrow  and  sharp,  and  the  distance  between  them 
being  o'357  tenth  metres.  "The  absence  of  metallic  lines,  other 
than  II  and  K,  indicated  that  the  fainter  line  was  probably  not 
due  to  the  accidental  proximity  to  Dj  of  a  faint  metallic  line. 
Further  observations  on  June  24  showed  that  the  broad  line  in 
the    chromosphere   was  also    divisible    into   two   parts,  and  it 

NO.    1344.  VOL.   52] 


became  evident  that  the  wave-length  of  the  Dj  line  determined 
on  June  19  and  20,  as  well  as  that  determined  by  Rowland, 
must  be  affected  by  an  error  on  account  of  the  presence  of  the 
faint  line  on  the  less  refrangible  side.  So  far.  Prof.  Hale  has 
not  succeeded  in  obtaining  a  measure  of  the  wave-length  of  the 
more  refrangible  and  brighter  of  the  solar  Dj  lines,  considered  as 
a  separate  line. 

The  results  so  far  obtained  may  be  stated  as  follows  : — 

A.  of  solar  Dj  line  (Rowland) 5875-982 

„     (Hale) .  5875"924 

,,  brightest     component      of     terrestrial      line 

(Runge  and  Paschen) 587S'883 

Distance  apart   of  components  of  terrestrial  line 

(Runge  and  Paschen) 0'323 

Distance  apart  of  components  of  solar  D3  (Hale)        o'357 

The  wave-length  of  the  brighter  component  of  the  solar  D3 
line  remains  to  be  determined  before  the  question  of  the  identity 
of  the  solar  and  terrestrial  gas  can  be  regarded  as  completely  set 
at  rest. 

The  announcement  that  the  yellow  line  of  the  gas  from  cleveite 
was  double,  also  led  Dr.  Huggins  to  observe  the  chromospheric 
line.  In  his  first  attempts  he  failed  to  see  the  line  double 
[Chemical Neivs,  No.  1855),  but  he  now  states  that  he  clearly 
saw  the  line  to  be  double  on  July  10,  11,  and  13,  the  less 
refrangible  line  being  the  fainter,  and  the  distance  apart  of  the 
lines  being  about  the  same  as  that  of  the  lines  in  the  cleveite  gas 
according  to  Runge  and  Paschen  (Ast.  Nach.  3302). 

It  is  worth  recalling  that  Belopolsky  observed  the  solar  D3  line 
to  be  double  in  May  1894,  and  ascribed  the  appearance  to  the 
superposition  of  a  telluric  line  upon  the  bright  line.  Prof  Hale's 
observations  demonstrate  very  clearly  that  Belopolsky's  explana- 
tion cannot  possibly  account  for  the  doubling  of  the  line  as 
observed  by  him. 

Ephemeris  for  B.\rnard's  Comet,  1884  II. — The  follow- 
ing search  ephemeris  for  the  return  of  this  comet  is  due  to 
Dr.  Berberich  (.ist.  Nach.  3301)  : — 

R.A.  Decl. 

h.  m.     s.  ,  , 

Aug.  2         2  23     9  -1-  12  29 

6        2  29     7  13  I9'5 

10        2  34  30  14  6'8 

14        2  39  16  14  50'9 

18        2  43  23  15  319 

22        2  46  48  16  97 

The  positions  are  for  Berlin  midnight,  and  are  computed  on  the 
assumption  that  the  comet  will  pass  through  perihelion  on 
June  3.  On  June  30,  Swift  discovered  a  nebulous  object  in 
R.A.  20°,  decl.  -f  2°  55',  which  was  missing  on  July  4,  and  was 
thought  to  be  a  possible  return  of  the  comet  for  which  the 
ephemeris  is  given  above.  Dr.  Berberich  states  that  the 
observation  by  Swift  does  not  fit  closely  into  the  orbit. 

The  AiGfsT  Meteors. — Shooting  stars  from  various 
radiants  appear  during  the  month  of  August :  but  the  most 
important  shower  is  that  of  the  Perseids.  These  are  \'isible  for 
a  considerable  jieriod,  with  a  maximum  on  August  10.  .\ccord- 
ing  to  Mr.  Denning,  the  radiant  point  exhibits  an  easterly 
motion  among  the  stars  ;  on  the  loth  it  is  situated  in  R.A.  45', 
decl.  57"  N.  ;  on  August  2  it  is  in  R.A.  36°,  decl.  55°,  and  on 
August  16  in  R..-\.  53°,  decl.  -I-  58°.  The  density  of  the 
shower  varies  but  little  from  year  to  year,  the  number  of  meteors 
seen  by  one  observer  on  the  morning  of  August  1 1  being  from 
sixty  to  eighty.  Unfortunately  the  moon  rises  about  nine 
o'clock  on  the  10th,  so  that  this  year  only  the  brighter  meteors 
will  be  visible. 


THE  SUNS  PLACE 
IX. 


IN  NATURE.^ 


T  N  most  of  the  earlier  attempts  which  w  ere  made  to  explain  the 
origin  of  new  stars,  the  leading  idea  w,as  that  of  a  single  body 
being  suddenly  disturbed  in  some  way,  with  the  ])ossible  result 
that  the  heat  of  its  interior  became  manifested  at  the  surface. 
Thus  Zcillner,  in  1865,  suggested  that  the  phenomena  might   be 

1  Revised  from  shorthand  notes  of  a  course  of  I.ecturcs  to  Working  Men 
at  the  Museum  of  Practical  GeoIog>'  during  November  and  December, 
1894.    (Continued  from  p.ige  ?55). 


528 


NATURE 


[August   i,  1895 


produced  by  the  bursting  of  the  crust  which  had  just  formed  on 
the  surface  of  a  star  approaching  extinction.  Again,  in  con- 
nection with  the  new  star  in  Corona,  I  [winted  out  in  iS66  that 
all  that  seemed  necessar)'  to  get  such  an  outburst  in  our  own  sun 
was  to  increase  the  [xiwer  of  his  convection  currents,  which  we 
know  to  be  ever  at  work.  Dr.  Huggins  at  that  time  believed 
that  the  appearances  were  due  to  gaseous  eruptions  in  a  single 
body,  and  that  "  possibly  chemical  actions  l>elween  the  erupted 
gases  and  the  outer  atmosphere  of  the  star  may  have  contributed 
to  its  sudden  and  transient  splendour." 

Though  Zollncr's  iheor)'  was  further  advocated  by  ^'ogeI  and 
Lohse  in  1S77,  the  idea  that  such  outbursts  can  be  produced  in  a 
single  body,  without  external  influence,  is  now  almost  universally 
abandoned. 

The  alternative  hypotheses  mostly  have  to  do  with  the  possible 
action  between  two  bodies — an  idea  first  suggested  by  Newton — 
and,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  the  evidence  that  two  bodies 
were  engage<l  in  the  case  of  Nova  Aurigiv,  at  least,  is  conclusive. 
Even  Dr.  Huggins  has  found  it  necessar)-  to  suppose  the  exist- 
ence of  two  Ixxlies,  in  order  to  explain  the  phenomena  observed 
in  this  case  ;  and  Dr.  \'ogel,  who  made  some  most  admirable 
obser\ations  during  the  appearance  of  this  new  star,  states  most 
distinctly  that  we  can  no  longer  regard  the  assumption  of  a 
single  body  as  sufficient  in  any  explanation  of  the  occurrence. 

Notwithstanding  the  general  agreement  as  to  the  presence  of 
at  least  two  bodies  in  the  outburst  of  Nova  Auriga:,  there  re- 
main considerable  differences  of  o|>inion  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
separate  bodies,  and  of  the  kind  of  interaction  between  them. 

One  explanation  which  has  been  suggested  ascribes  the 
luminous  effects  to  the  development  of  heat  due  to  the  passage  of 
a  dark  body  through  a  gaseous  mass,  somewhat  after  the  manner 
in  which  meteoric  stones  produce  the  appearances  of  shooting 
stars  in  passing  through  our  atmos|)hcre.  This  kind  of  action 
w.as  first  suggested  by  .Mr.  .Monck  in  1885,  but  the  possibilities  of 
such  actions  have  been  recently  more  fully  discussed  by  Prof 
Seeliger.  He  points  out  that  the  photographic  investigations  of 
I>r.  Max  Wolf  and  others  leave  but  little  doubt  that  .space  is 
tilled  with  more  or  less  extensive  aggregations  of  thinly-.scattered 
matter,  which  may  be  called  cosmical  clouds,  thereby  accepting 
my  view  of  a  "  meteoritic  plenum." 

If  a  heavenly  body  in  rapid  motion  becomes  involved  in  one  of 
these  cosmical  clouds,  its  surface  will  become  he.ited,  and  the 
vapouriscd  prcxlucts  will  be  partly  detached  and  assume  the 
velocity  of  the  cloud  ;  the  fluctuations  of  brilliancy  of  a  new  star 
on  this  hypfjthesis  are  produced  by  the  varying  density  of  the 
co.smic  cloud  through  which  the  body  is  |».ssing. 

This  hypothesis  of  Prof  Seeliger's  has  beer 
bated  by  Dr.  \'ogel. 

Another  explanation  de|x;nding  upon  the  action  of  gases  has 
lieen  suggested  by  Dr.  Huggins: 

"The  phenomena  of  the  new  star  scarcely  permit  us  to 
suppose  even  a  partial  collision  ;  though  if  the  bodies  were  very 
diffuse,  or  the  approach  close  enough,  there  may  have  been 
pos.sibly  some  mutual  interpenetration  and  mingling  of  the  rarer 
gases  near  their  boundaries." 

The  idea  that  the  phenomena  might  be  produced  by  the  close 
apprrach  of  two  Ixxlies,  and  the  consequent  disturbances  due 
lo  lidal  action,  was  first  started  l>y  Klinkerfues  ;  it  has  been 
recently  strongly  advocated  by  Dr.  Huggins,  though  I  fail  to  see 
how  it  fits  in  with  his  previous  explanation. 

The  lidal  theory  differs  from  Ziillner's  only  in  ascribing  the 
eruptions  l<i  ihe  dislurliances  produced  by  tiilal  .action  when  two 
\*Aks  approach  each  other.  To  employ  the  words  used  by  Dr. 
Huggins,  the  tidal  action  gives  rise  to  "  enonnous  eruptions  of 
the  hotter  matter  from  within,  immensely  greater,  but  similar  in 
kind,  to  5f)lar  eru|)li<.ns."  This  explanation,  however,  has  met 
with  much  oppr>silion  on  physical  grounds. 

Thus,  Prof.  Seeliger  writes  : 

"The  sialic  theory  of  the  tides,  which  is  used  throughout, 
ixquitc  incajable  of  giving  a  correct  representation  of  the  deform- 

" ■' '  '  li  are  doubtless  produced  by  the  close  passage  of  the 

;  for  with  very  eccenlric  orbits  (which  it  is  necessary 

•  m  other  gr<iunds),   the    conlinually   varjing  action 

would  la.st   for  v>  short  a  time  thai  one  could  scarcely  expect  to 

drrivc  :i  iniM'.v'.rfhy  ronchision  in  regard  to  the  actual  circum- 

r.ition  based  on  the  forms  which  Ihe  bodies 

rium." 

not  lie  a.<uumcd  to  last  for  any  con- 
•  1  of  the  great  relative  velocity  of  the 


been  strongly  com- 


NO.  1344.  VOL.  52] 


bodies,  they  would  separate  at  the  rate  of  forty-six  millions  of 
miles  per  day." 

These,  however,  are  not  the  only  objections  «hich  may  be 
raised  to  the  idea  that  we  have  to  do  «ith  phenomena  of 
the  nature  of  solar  prominences,  whether  jirnduced  by  tidal 
action  in  the  case  of  two  bodies,  or  by  a  bursting  of  the  crust 
which  is  forming  in  the  case  of  a  star  approaching  the  end  of 
its  career  as  a  luminous  body.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  no 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  prominences  in  our  own  sun  are  pro- 
duced by  tidal  action.  The  fact  that  many  of  the  lines  seen  in 
the  spectrum  of  Nova  Aurig;v  during  its  first  appearance  were 
coincident  with  lines  seen  in  the  solar  chromosphere,  appears, 
at  first  sight,  to  support  the  idea,  but,  since  the  spectra  of  nebuKe 
also  show  chromospheric  lines,  the  same  argument  might  also  be 
applied  to  prove  that  nelnil.v  are  manifestations  of  prominences. 
I  do  not  imagine  that  very  many  will  be  preivtred  to  believe  that 
nebula:  are  iirominences,  for  if  they  are,  they  must  be  prominences 
of  an  unseen  sun  !  ! 

Mr.  Maunder  and  others  have  pointed  out  that  if  the 
phenomena  be  due  to  the  formation  of  solar  prominences,  the 
bright  lines  should  be  displaced  to  the  more  refrangible  sides  of 
their  normal  places,  for  the  reason  that  only  those  prominences 
on  the  side  of  the  star  presented  to  us  would  be  able  to  produce 
visible  bright  lines,  and  such  prominences  would  necess;irily 
have  their  chief  movement  in  a  direction  towards  the  earth.  We 
have  seen,  however,  that  in  Nova  Aurigie,  the  actual  displace- 
ment of  the  bright  lines  w.is  just  the  reverse. 

.•\gain,  the  fact  lliat  Nova  .\uiig;v  ended  by  becoming  a 
nebula  is  difticult  to  reconcile  with  the  idea  that  in  its  earliest 
stages  its  luminosity  was  produced  by  outbursts  of  the  nature  of 
solar  prominences.  Nothing  seems  more  remote  than  the 
possibility  of  prominences  cooling  down  and  becoming  ncbuUv. 
To  have  so-called  "  solar  prominences  "  there  nuist  be  a  sun 
to  produce  them,  and  that  must  remain  when  the  outburst  of 
prominences  has  ceased  ;  in  this  case  the  last  stage  of  the 
spectrum  of  the  new  star  should  have  resembled  that  of  the  sun. 
The  fact  that  it  di<l  not  indicates  how  worthless  is  the  prominence 
suggestion  in  the  light  of  modern  knowledge. 

Another  very  important  objection  to  the  solar  prominence 
theory  is  this  :  If  new  stars  are  real  stars  capable  of  exhibiting 
prominence  jihenomena,  then  we  have  real  stars  ending  as 
nebuUe,  and  thus  clashing  with  the  idea  now  accepted  even  by 
Dr.  Huggins,  that  nebuhv  arc  "early  evolutionary  forms  '  of 
heavenly  bodies.  Further,  if  new  stars  be  real  stars,  we  sliould 
have  to  believe  that  the  hast  expiring  atmospheres  of  stars  cunsist 
of  hydrogen  and  unknown  gases  ;  but  if  we  take  the  evidence 
afforded  by  the  stars  themselves,  we  find  that  instead  of  their 
last  atmosphere  consisting  of  hydrogen  it  indicates  carbon  or 
carbon  compounds. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  al  present  there  is  no  agreement 
among  authorities  as  to  which  of  the  special  theories  I  have 
liroughl  to  your  notice  is  to  hold  the  field,  each  special  hypo- 
thesis having  got  no  further  than  a  damaging  criticism  from  the 
authors  of  the  others. 

The  remaining  general  hypothesis  we  have  to  consider  is 
that  advanced  by  myself  We  have  everywhere  in  space,  .as  is 
now  being  revealed  to  us,  especiall)'  by  the  photographs  of 
Uarnard,  .Max  Wolf,  and  others,  meteoritic  .iggregatiims,  swarms, 
and  streams,  the  constituents  of  which  are,  comparatively 
speaking,  at  rest,  or  are  all  moving  one  w,ay,  if  they  are  moving 
at  all,  and  undisturbeil,  because  they  are  not  being  intersectea 
by  other  streams  or  swarms  at  any  one  time.  But  suppi>sing 
any  of  these  bodies  cross  e.tch  other,  as  unfortunalely 
.sometimes  excursion  trains  cross  each  other,  then  there 
is  a  very  considerable  difference  in  the  phenomena  ;  there  are 
collisions,  and  the  collisi(ms  produce  increased  light,  and  we 
think  that  a  new  star  is  being  born.  Nothing  of  the  kind. 
No  new  star  is  being  Iwirn  ;  there  is  .simply  a  disturbance  in  a 
certain  part  of  space,  and  when  the  disturbance  cools  down  we 
shall  find  that  that  part  i>f  space  is  still  absolutely  in  the  same 
order.  In  the  case  of  Nova  Aurig.e,  and  in  the  case  of  Nova 
Cygni  after  the  war  w.is  over,  nelmhv  have  been  found  lo  lie  in 
the  precise  posiliims  occupie<l  by  the  new  stars,  and  the  only 
thing  that  one  h.as  to  say  about  it  is  that  the  nelml.e  were  there 
before,  but  that  in  conseijuence  of  our  incomplete  survey  of  the 
heavens  they  had  not  been  observed. 

After  the  new  photograjihic  chart  of  the  heavens  has  Iwen 
made,  in  future  times,  il  will  be  found  that  all  new  stars  are  not 
really  new,  but  the  lighting  up  of  something  which  existed  ihere 
already.     The  argument  for  this  theory,  you  will  understand,  L<i 


August  i,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


329 


simply  this.  Suppose  I  light  a  match,  the  smaller  the  match 
the  sooner  will  it  go  out,  and  similarly  the  larger  a  fire  the 
longer  will  it  last.  So  if  you  are  dealing  in  space  with  those 
illuminations  which  disappear  in  hours,  days,  or  weeks,  you 
cannot  be  dealing  with  any  large  mass  ;  therefore  the  collisions 
in  question  cannot  be  between  large  masses  of  matter,  but  it 
must  be  a  question  of  collisions  amongst  the  smallest  particles 
of  matter  we  can  conceive. 

It  is  interesting  to  consider  one  of  the  possibilities  which  may 
explain  why  small  nebulae  may  be  overlooked  in  telescopic 
observations.  In  the  so-called  achromatic  telescope,  all  the  rays 
of  light  are  not  brought  to  quite  the  same  focus,  so  that  when 
ordinary  stellar  observations  are  being  made,  the  focus  is  ad- 
justed for  yellow  rays  which  are  most  luminous  to  the  eye.  Now 
the  greater  part  of  the  visual  light  of  a  planetary  nebula  is  con- 
lined  to  a  single  line  of  the  spectrum  in  the  green,  so  that  the 
focus  which  is  best  adapted  for  observations  of  stars  is  not 
suitable  for  the  observation  of  a  small  nebula,  the  nebula  being 
out  of  focus,  and  its  feeble  light  thus  reduced  by  the  diffusion 
of  the  image.  This  difference  is  much  more  marked  in  large 
than  small  telescopes,  and  Prof  Campbell  has  pointed  out  that  a 
small  nebula  like  Nova  Auriga;  will  in  general  appear  relatively 
brighter  in  a  small  telescope  than  a  large  one. 

I  will  next  go  into  some  details  touching  the  phenomena  of  the 
Nova;  in  relation  to  the  hypothesis. 

First  let  us  see  the  crucial  phenomena  we  have  to  explain. 
We  have  (l)  the  sudden  bursting  out  of  light  and  accompanying 
spectra  ;  (2)  the  indication  of  the  existence  of  two  bodies  revealed 
by  the  spectra  ;  (3)  the  variations  and  dimming  of  the  light  and 
accompan)'ing  spectral  changes  ;  and  (4)  the  final  stage  giving  us 
the  spectrum  of  a  nebula. 

Since  the  new  era  of  spectroscopic  work  has  begun.  Nova 
.\urigx'  and  Nova  Normns  have  proved  to  us  that  the  sudden 
illumination  was,  to  say  the  least,  associated  with  two  bodies, 
and  that  these  were  in  different  stages  of  condensation.  On  the 
meteoritic  hypothesis  it  was  shown  that  the  main  differences 
between  bodies  giving  bright  and  dark  line  spectra  is  one  of  con- 
densation only  :  a  sparse  swarm  gives  us  bright  lines  because  the 
number  of  meteorites  in  unit  volume  is  small  and  the  interspaces 
are  great  ;  a  more  condensed  swarm  gives  us  dark  lines  because 
the  number  of  meteorites  in  unit  volume  is  greater,  and  the 
atmospheres  of  cooler  vapour  round  each  meteorite  in  collision 
begins  to  tell  because  the  interspaces  are  reduced.  I  am  the 
more  justified  in  insisting  upon  the  importance  of  this  view 
that  two  bodies  in  difierent  stages  of  condensation  are  involved, 
because  years  after  it  was  formulated  Dr.  Muggins  apparently 
arrived  at  it  independently — at  all  events  he  makes  no  reference 
to  my  prior  announcements  when  he  brings  it  forward  as  an 
explanation  of  the  phenomena. 

The  following  quotations  will  show  how  this  matter  stands  : — 

"If  we  assume  a  brightening  of  the  meteor-swarm  due  to 
collisions  as  the  cause  of  the  so-called  nesv  stars,  we  have  good 
grounds  for  supposing  that  in  these  bodies  the  phenomena  should 
be  mixed,  for  the  reason  that  we  should  have  in  one  part  of  the 
swarm  a  number  of  collisions  probably  of  close  meteorites,  while 
among  the  outliers  the  collisions  would  be  few.  We  shall,  in 
fact,  have  in  one  part  the  conditions  represented  in  Class  Ilia, 
and  in  the  other  .such  a  condition  as  we  get  in  7  Cassiopeix."' 

"  The  discussion  of  the  observations  which  have  been  made 
of  the  changes  that  take  place  in  the  spectra  of  new  stars,  has 
already  shown  that  the  sequence  of  phenomena  is  strikingly 
similar  to  that  which  occurs  in  cometary  spectra  after  perihelion 
passage.  In  general,  however,  there  will  be  a  diH'erence : 
namely,  that  in  comets  there  is  usually  only  one  swarm  to  be 
considered,  whereas  in  new  stars,  there  are  two,  which  may  or 
may  not  be  equally  dense.  In  new  stars,  we  have  accordingly  the 
ntegration  of  two  spectra,  and  the  spectrum  we  see  will  depend 
upon  the  densities  and  relative  velocities  of  the  two  swarms." - 

"  The  spectrum  of  Nova  Aurig.v  would  .suggest  that  a  dense 
swarm  is  moving  towards  the  earth  with  a  great  velocity,  and 
passing  through  a  sparser  swarm,  which  is  receding."  ' 

"  The  circumstance  that  the  receding  body  emitted  bright 
Imes,  while  the  cme  approaching  us  gave  a  continuous  spectnmi 
with  broad  absorption  lines  similar  to  a  white  star,  may,  per- 
haps, be  accounted  for  by  the  two  bodies  being  in  different 
evolutionary  stages,  and  consequently  differing  in  diffuseness  and 
temperature."  ■* 

•  November,  1887.  Lockyer.  Proc.  R.S.,  vol.  xliii.  p.  147. 
2  November,  1890.  Lockyer.  /"A//.  7"ra«i.,  182  A,  p.  407. 
»  February  11,  1892.     Lockyer.    Proc.  R.S.,  vol.  1.  p.  435. 

*  May  16,  1892.     Dr.  Muggins.     /"»•«.  R.S.,  vol.  li.  p.  494. 


NO.    1344,  VOL.  52] 


Now  two  sheets  or  streams  of  meteorites  interpenetrating  and 
thus  causing  collisions  will  produce  luminosities  which  will  in- 
dicate the  condensation  of  each,  and  the  spectra  of  the  two 
Nov:e  we  are  considering  thus  indicate  that  the  colliding  swarms 
were  of  different  degrees  of  condensation,  and  the  variations  of 
light  observed  indicate  several  such  encounters  between  less 
dense  swarms  after  the  most  dense  one  had  somewhat  cooled 
down.  The  final  stage  was  arrived  at  and  the  pure  nebula 
spectrum  produced  when  the  most  condensed  swarm  had  ceased 
to  indicate  any  disturbance,  after  all  the  others  had  returned  to 
their  pristine  quiet  and  in\isibility. 

It  is  important  to  insist  upon  the  fact  that  the  nebula;  are  now 
almost  generally  conceded  to  represent  "  early  evolutionary 
forms."  We  have  then  from  the  first  appearance  of  a  Nova  to 
the  la.st  a  "backwardation"  in  the  phenomena  ending  in  an 
"early  evolutionary  form."  Increase  of  temperature  is  accom- 
panied by  spectral  changes  in  a  certain  order ;  if  the  temperature 
is  reduced  the  changes  occur  in  reverse  order,  until  finally  we 
reach  the  "  early  evolutionary  form,"  which  cannot  be  a  mass  of 
gas  because  its  temperature  is  lower  than  that  of  the  sun,  which 
it  is  potentially,  and  it  must  contain  all  the  substances  eventually 
to  appear  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  sun. 

On  the  hypothesis,  then,  we  imagine  a  nebula  in  the  position 
occupied  by  Nova  Auriga;  not  chronicled  for  the  reason  stated. 
This  nebula  is  approaching  us.  It  was  distiirbed  by  a  much 
sparser  stream  leaving  us,  the  relative  velocity  being  over  500 
miles  a  second.  During  the  time  of  impact,  the  disturbances 
]3roduced  in  the  two  swarms  gave  rise  to  bright-line  spectra  in 
the  sparse  swarm,  and  to  dark-line  spectra  in  the  more  condensed 
one.  The  spectrum  of  the  sparse  swarm  disappears,  the  spectrum 
of  the  dense  swarm  changes  gradually  from  dark  to  bright  lines, 
and  ultimately  it  puts  on  the  original  nebula  spectrum.  It  is 
still  there,  and  still  approaching  us. 

We  have  next  to  consider  the  objections  which  have  been 
urged  against  this  hypothesis.  They  are  of  a  most  trivial  nature. 
hn.  objection  made  by  Vogel  is  that  it  is  improbable  that  the 
velocities  could  have  been  so  great  after  collisions.  The  reply  is 
easy.  The  light  was  produced  by  the  disturbed  members  of  the 
two  swarms  which  escaped  end-on  collision.  On  the  meteoritic 
hypothesis  we  can  escape  from  the  difficulties  produced  by  the 
old  idea  of  collisions  en  bloi.  Such  objectors  would  urge  that  the 
velocity  of  a  comet  as  a  whole  would  be  retarded  by  passing 
through  the  sun's  corona,  but  we  have  instances  to  the  contrar)'. 

Another  objection  has  been  raised  by  Dr.  Vogel  because  in 
relation  to  the  Nova  I  did  not  restate  all  I  had  preWously 
written  concerning  the  origin  of  the  cause  of  bright  and  dark 
line  spectra  in  stars.  It  has  been  difficult  for  him  to  understand 
how  one  (temporary)  star  should  have  bright  lines  in  its  sjiectrum, 
and  another  (temporary)  star  should  have  dark  lines.  All  I  can 
say  is  that  upon  such  objectors  lies  the  onus  of  producing  a  more 
simple  (and  yet  sufficient)  explanation  than  that  I  have  suggested. ' 

J.  NoRM.vN  Lockyer. 
( To  be  continued. ) 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  GEOGRAPHICAL 
CONGRESS. 

'X'HE  International  geographical  Congress,  now  a  recognised 
-^  institution,  has  this  year  met  for  the  first  time  on  British 
ground.  Originating  in  a  festival  organised  to  celebrate  the 
inauguration  of  statues  of  Mercator  and  Ortelius  at  -Antwerp  and 
Rupelmond,  the  first  Congress  was  held  at  Antwerp  in  .\ugust 

^  It  h.xs  been  st.ated  that  the  meteoritic  hj-pothesis  has  received  a  fatal 
blow  from  the  observations  of  the  Nova  ^.Astronomy  and  .'Istrophysics^ 
1892J  p.  jog).  Capable  and  unprejudiced  persons  I  think  will  not  Ik:  of  this 
opinion,  r  append  a  quotation  from  an  article  by  Prof.  C.vnpbcll.  which  has 
appeared  since  the  lectures  were  delivered. 

"  As  bearing  upon  .any  possible  theory  of  Nova  .\uriga;,  perhaps  it  will 
not  be  out  of  place  to  say  here  what  1  said  last  winter  in  another  journal 
(Pub.  .\.S  P.  vi.,  52,  133.)  The  Harvard  College  Observatory  has  shown  that 
both  Nov.i  .-Vuriga;  and  Nova  Norma:  at  discovery  possessed  substantially 
identical  spectra  of  bright  and  dark  lines,  similarly  and  equally  dispLiced. 
Both  diminished  in  brightness,  and  both  assumed  the  nebular  type  of 
spectrum.  The  new  star  of  1876  in  Cygnus  probably  had  nearly  an  identical 
history  :  passing  from  a  bright  star  with  a  spectrum  of  bright  and  dark  lines, 
to  a  faint  object  with  a  spectrum  consisting  of  one  bright  line  (undoubtedly 
the  nebular  line  A  5010,  or  the  two  nebular  lines  A  5010  and  A  4960  combined). 
We  may  say  that  only  five  'new  stars'  have  been  discovered  since  the 
application  of  the  spectroscope  to  astronomical  investigations,  and  that  three 
of  these  have  had  substantially  identical  spectroscopic  histories.  This  is  a 
remarkable  fact.  We  cinnot  say  what  the  full  significance  of  this  fact  is. 
One  result,  however,  is  very  cic.ir  :  the  special  theories  propcunded  by 
various  spectroscopisls  to  account  for  the  phenomena  observed  in  Nova 
.\uriga;  must  unquestionably  give  way  to  the  more  i'C«tfra/ theories."  (.-isiro- 
physical  Journal,  Jan.  1895,  p.  51.) 


330 


NA  TURE 


[Auc.rsT  I,  1895 


1871,  under  the  name  of  the  "Congres  des  Sciences  g<k>gra- 
phiques,  cosnmgraphiques,  et  commercialcs,"  and  under  the 
influence  of  the  revival  of  geographical  learning  sulisequent  to 
the  KrancoClennan  War,  it  has  met  from  time  to  time  at  different 
centres,  gaining  strength  and  vitality  on  each  iKcasion.  The 
second  Congress  assembleil  at  I'arisin  1S75  ;  the  third  at  Venice 
in  iSSi  :  the  fourth  at  I'aris  in  connection  with  the  Great 
Kxhibitionof  1889  ;  and  the  fifth  at  Berne  in  1891.  In  each  case 
the  representative  Geographical  Society  of  the  countrj' concerned 
was  resi»nsible  for  the  organisation  and  arrangement  of  the 
meeting,  and  at  Berne  it  was  definitely  resolved  thai  in  future  the 
Congress  should  be  constituted  at  intervals  of  not  less  than  three, 
nor  more  than  five  years,  the  resolution  taking  practical  shape 
in  the  acceptance  by  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  of  the 
responsibilities  of  a  meeting  in  London  in  1895.  A  pro|K>sal, 
emanating  from  the  Berne  C'leographical  Society,  to  the  effect 
that  the  chief  officials  of  each  Congress  shall  retain  office  until 
the  meeting  of  the  next,  is  to  be  submitted  this  year,  and  its 
acceptance  would  mark  a  further  step  towards  the  establishment 
of  a  great  |>cm<anent  organisation  for  the  systematic  study  and 
exploration  of  the  globe. 

The  sixth  Congress  differs  from  its  predecessors  in  a  charac- 
teristically British  fashion,  inasmuch  as  it  is  practically  a  private 
enterprise  ;  no  Sjate  or  munici])ai  aid  being  forthcoming,  as  on 
previous  occasions.  Nevertheless  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  aided  by  grants  from  a  few  of  the  City  companies  and 
by  private  generosity,  has  been  able  fully  to  cope  w  ith  the  de- 
nuinds  made  on  its  resources  by  the  immense  influx  of  geo- 
grapher>  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  .Accommodation  has  been 
found  in  the  Ini|x-rial  Institute,  which  affords  ample  room  for 
private  and  public  business  meetings,  for  exhibitions,  and  for  all 
manner  of  social  functions,  as  well  as  opportunity  for  that  pri- 
vate intercourse  which  goes  so  far  to  enhance  the  value  of  such 
meetings.  The  Congress  is  under  the  [Jatronage  of  the  (,)ueen 
and  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  honorary  pre.-iidency  of  the 
King  of  the  Belgians,  the  Duke  of  Connaught,  the  Duke  of 
\<>rk.  the  Crown  I'rince  of  Denmark,  and  the  Grand  Duke 
Niciilas  .Michailovich.  The  President  is,  according  to  the  custom 
of  the  Congress,  the  President  of  the  deographical  Society 
under  whose  auspices  it  meets  ;  in  this  case  the  President  of  the 
K'lyal  Geographical  Society,  Mr.  Clements  R.  Markhani,  C.I!., 
K.  R.S.  A  large  numtier  of  eminent  public  men  and  geographers 
have  accepted  the  |)o.silion  o(  honorar)'  vice-presidents. 

The  work  of  organisation  has  l)een  carrietl  out  !))■  a  number  of 
committees,  under  the  chairmanship  of  Major  L.  Darwin,  R.  K. ; 
the  general  secretaryship  is  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  |.  Scott  Keltic 
and  Dr.  H.  R.  Mill  ;  and  the  exhibition  is  under  the  direction  of 
Mr.  K.  G.  Ravenstein,  Mr.  John  Coles,  and  Mr.  John  Thomson. 
In  devising  the  general  arrangements,  it  has  hitherto  been 
the  practice  to  al)stain  from  formulating  any  rigorous  rules,  and 
to  leave  the  managing  .Society  a  pretty  free  hand.  In  some 
ciscs,  notably  at  \  enice,  the  Congress  was  somewhat  over- 
whelmed by  the  exhibition  of  geographical  objects  ;  while  in 
others  undue  sulxlivisinn  into  sections  has  tended  to  defeat  one 
eif  the  most  praiseworthy  objects  of  the  meeting.  Profiting  by 
the  exi>eriencc  obtained,  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  has 
kept  the  range  of  the  exhibition  within  comparatively  narrow 
limits.  The  Geographical  .Societies  of  Paris,  Berlin,  and  .St. 
Pelcrsburg,  and  various  (iovernment  <lei>artments  and  private 
individuals  in  all  parts  of  the  glolje  have  sent  representative 
exhibits  of  recent  work,  and  the  collections  have  been  in  many 
cases  arranged  entirely  by  the  exhibitors.  .Xnother  department 
is  devote<l  to  |>aintings  and  photographs  of  geographical  interest, 
including,  amongst  other  things,  a  series  of  historical  portraits 
<if  eminent   travellers,  cartographers,  and  geographical   writers, 

•■ ■'" '''le  sketchesand  photographscrintribiiled  by  explorers, 

slides  and   <liagrams    adapted    to  the    purposes    of 
I   education.     .\  third    section,    due  to    .Mr.   K.  (I. 
I  consi.sts  of  a  loan  exhibition,  intended  to  illustrate 

nicnt  of  cartography  from  the  lime  of  l'|r)lemy  to  the 
end  >i\  the  eighteenth  century.  Mr.  Ravenstein  is  to  Ix;  con- 
gratulated  on    the   achievement    of    a    remarkable   success,  for 

'•'"' '     •■■:•■-  frf  pr<igress  is  unrepresented,  those 

\  .ire  wonderfully  few.      The  collcc* 
'  .    ,  -  examples,  such  .as  the   Leonardo 

da  \  inn  niapi  lielonging  to  the  'Jueen,  the  "Henry  II."  map 
lielonging  to  the  Karl  .pf  Crawford  and  Balcarres,  the  Mullineux 
gliilw  from  the  library  nf  the  .Middle  Temple,  the  .\gas  map  f)f 
■  ./indon  from  the  Guildhall,  the  manuscripts  of  the  early  Indian 
sur\e)!i  by  Kilchie  and  Kennel, Topping,  Macluer.  and  Mackenzie, 


from  the  India  Office,  and  extensive  contributions  from  the 
libraries  at  Lambeth  Palace,  the  Admiralty,  the  Ordnance 
Survey,  various  Geographical  Societies,  and  the  i>rivate  collec- 
tions of  Mr.  S.  W.  Silver,  Mr.  H.  Vates  Thompstm,  Mr.  li.  A. 
Petherick,  and  many  others.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  cata- 
logue of  this  exhibition,  with  its  appended  list  of  maps,  jKirto- 
lani,  and  aliases  in  the  British  Museum,  forms  an  excellent  biblio- 
graphical outline  of  the  subject. 

.\  similar  collection,  though  on  a  necessarily  smaller  scale,  has 
been  m.ade  by  Mr.  John  Coles,  in  the  department  of  surveying 
and  meteorological  inslrmnents.  The  exhibits  of  the  Hydro- 
graphic  Department  ul  the  Admiralty  and  the  <  )rdnaiu-e  Survey 
Office  are  of  great  historical  interest.  We  could  ha\e  wished  il 
had  been  possible  to  allot  a  further  space  to  instruments  used  in 
deep  sea  explorations,  especially  as  their  modern  develoiMucnts 
are  so  well  illustrated  by  Prof.  Otto  Pettersson  and  Dr.  11.  K. 
Mill. 

A  final  section  of  the  exhibition  consists  of  the  most  recent 
equijiments  for  exploration,  surveying,  mapping,  and  teaching 
geography,  shown  by  numerous  private  firms. 

The  same  leading  idea,  that  of  representing  general  features, 
has  been  kept  in  view  in  arranging  the  work  of  the  meetings. 
While  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  present  popular  pro- 
grammes, the  whole  range  of  geogra])hy  h.is  been  covered,  and 
the  chief  etVort  directed  towards  furthering  those  larger  interests 
which  concern  all  geographers,  rather  than  to  the  discussion  of 
more  minute  technicilities,  however  important  in  themselves. 
Thus  general  meetings  are  to  be  devotetl  to  l\»lar  I'.xploration, 
the  development  of  Africa,  Kxploration,  and  Cartography  ;  and 
sectional  meetings  deal  with  Geographical  lulucation.  Photo- 
graphic Surveying,  Physical  Geography,  Geodesy,  I  )ceanogiaphy. 
Geographical  Orthography  and  Definitions,  and  Limnology. 

The  date  of  our  going  to  press  constrains  us  to  defer  a  re|Kirt 
of  most  of  the  work  done  in  all  these  different  departments  until 
next  week,  except  in  so  far  as  the  earlier  meetings  are  concerned. 
On  I'riday  evening  (July  26)  the  delegates  were  presented  to 
H.R.H.  the  Duke  of  S'ork  by  the  .-Vmbassatlor  or  Charge 
d' Affaires  of  their  respective  countries.  The  following  were 
represented,  either  by  Government  delegates  01  by  delegates  of 
Geographical  Societies: — Austria-Hungary,  Belgium,  Denmark, 
France,  Germany,  Greece,  Italy,  Netherlands,  Norway, 
Portugal,  Roumania,  Russia,  Spain,  Sweden,  Switzerland, 
Turkey,  United  States,  Mexico,  Brazil,  Japan,  Persia,  New 
South  Wales,  New  Zealand,  (^)ucensland,  .South  Australia, 
Tasmania,  X'icloria,  Western  Australia,  Cape  of  Good  Hope, 
an<l  the  United  Kingdom.  -After  the  private  reception,  the 
Duke  of  \'ork  welcomed  the  whole  Congress  in  the  name  of  the 
(,>ueen  and  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  the  President  made  a  brief 
address  of  welcome  on  behalf  of  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society,  the  other  British  Geographical  .Societies,  and  the 
(tcographers  of  the  United  Kingihim.  The  Ibui.  Chief  Justice 
Daly,  of  the  New  \'ork  Geographical  Society,  the  oldest  Pre- 
sident of  a  Geographical  Society  living,  replied  on  behalf  of  the 
foreign  members  and  delegates,  and  the  meeting  .adjourned,  the 
remainder  of  the  evening  being  ,s|K"nt  in  the  gardens  of  the 
Institute,  where  music  was  discoursed  by  .Strauss'  orchestra. 

On  .Saturday  (July  27)  the  Congress  assembled  .at  10  a.m.  to 
hear  the  President  s  opening  address,  which  paid  a  gracefiil 
tribute  to  the  geographical  work  of  the  nations  whose  delegates 
and  representatives  he  conlially  welcomed,  and  gave  a  forecast 
of  the  work  about  to  be  midertaken  by  the  Congress.  A  vole  of 
th.anks  was  proposed  by  Prince  Rolaml  Bonaparte,  and  seconded 
by  Prof  von  den  .Sleinen.  At  ni>on  two  sections  were  formed. 
In  Section  B,  which  was  prcsiiled  over  by  Mr.  Markliam, 
sup|)orted  by  Chiel  Justice  I  'aly  ami  Prof,  von  den  .Sleinen, 
Prof.  Lev.isseur  read  a  paper  on  geography  in  schools  and 
universities,  which  outlined  a  system  of  geographical  education 
extending  through  |)riinary,  secondary,  and  higher  stiigcs. 
Seizor  Torres  Campos  supported  the  views  expressed  by  Prof 
Lcvasseur,  and  discussion  was  continued  by  M.  Ludovic 
Drapcyron.  The  importance  of  a  university  training  for 
leacners  of  geograpiiy  was  urged  by  Dr.  R.  Lelimaim  in 
the  .second  paper,  an<l  the  needs  of  gcograjihy  in  secondar)' 
education  were  set  forth  by  Mr.  .\.  I.  llerlierlson  in  the 
Ihiril.  Thereafter  Dr.  W.  Ilenkel  'allowed  a  paper  on 
geography  and  history  in  schools,  standing  in  his  name, 
to  be  held  as  read,  in  order  to  allow  time  for  discussion. 
Mr.  IL  J.  M.ickinder  advocated  the  establishmenl  of 
a  central  .school  of  geography  in  London,  in  order  to  place 
geogr.-tphical  teaching  in  this  country  on  a  |iroper  footing.     Mr. 


NO.   1344.  VOL.  52] 


August  i,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


il^ 


C.  N.  Hooper  referred  to  the  work  done  by  the  London 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  the  discussion  was  continued  by 
Messrs.  PhilUps,  Burgess,  Batalha  Reis,  and  Vule  Oldham. 
The  President  proposed  that  a  committee,  consisting  of  Chief 
Justice  Daly  (chairman),  I'rof.  Levasseur,  Prof  Lehmann,  Mr. 
Mackinder,  and  Mr.  Herbertson,  should  be  appointed  to  consider 
a  resolution  on  geographical  education,  to  be  submitted  to  the 
Congress. 

Section  C,  which  met  at  the  same  time,  concerned  itself  with 
photographic  surveying.  The  presidential  chair  was  occupied 
by  Prince  Roland  Bonaparte  and  (General  Walker  jointly.  In  a 
paper  read  on  his  behalf  by  M.  Schrader,  Colonel  Laussedat 
considered  the  application  of  photography  to  the  rapid  deter- 
mination of  points  in  levelling,  and  a  combined  camera  and  theo- 
dolite was  exhibited.  M.  de  Dechy,  in  discussion,  insisted  that 
photography  must  always  be  merely  auxiliary  to  triangulation, 
and  must  not  in  any  way  replace  i(  ;  and  Mr.  Coles  described 
his  work  in  constructing  a  map  of  the  Caucasus  from  photo- 
graphs alone.  Captain  E.  H.  Hills  then  read  a  paper  on  the 
determination  of  terrestrial  longitudes  by  means  of  photography, 
in  which  he  described  improved  methods  of  exposing  and 
measuring  plates  used  in  photograph.ing  lunar  distances,  by 
means  of  which  he  had  obtained  better  results  than  those 
obtained  by  Schlichter  and  Runge.  An  abstract  of  a  paper 
by  Prof  \.  Thoulet,  suggesting  the  extended  application  of 
photography  to  the  survey  of  rapidly  shifting  sandbanks,  was 
read  in  his  absence.  Mr.  Coles  described  and  exhibited  Colonel 
Stewart's  camera  for  producing  photographs  of  the  whole  horizon, 
and  the  proceedings  closed  with  an  informal  communication  by 
M.  Janet  on  the  determination  of  longitudes  without  instruments 
of  precision. 


HELIUM,  A    CONSTITUENT  OF  CERTAIN 
MINERALS} 

n. 

( H. )   The  Properties  of  Helium. 

17  ROM  what  has  preceded,  it  appears  that  up  to  now  only  three 
mineralsareavailableassourcesof  helium,  unless,  indeed,  very 
large  quantities  of  samarskite  and  yttrotantalite  are  worked  up. 
These  three  arecleveile,  the  iiraninile  investigated  by  Hillebrand, 
and  broggerite.  .'Vnd  here  we  wish  to  express  our  indebtedness 
to  Prof  Hrogger  for  his  great  kintlness  in  placing  a  large  stock  of 
brc)ggerite  at  our  disposal.  It  has  furnished  a  large  quantity  of 
the  helium  which  we  have  had  in  our  hands. 

.Mthough,  so  far  as  we  were  able  to  judge  by  throwing  into  a 
two-prism  spectroscope  of  Browning's  the  spectra  of  samples  of 
gases  obtained  from  the  minerals  previously  mentioned,  all  the 
specimens  of  helium  were  identical,  still  a  further  proof  was 
desirable.  Owing  to  the  small  quantities  of  gas  yielded  by  these 
minerals,  amounting  in  most  cases  to  a  few  c.c. ,  it  was  impossible 
to  ascertain  whether  these  samples  were  of  the  same  density  : 
but  the  case  was  different  with  the  gas  from  cleveite  and  from 
broggerite.  In  each  case  a  sufficient  quantity  was  obtained  to 
make  it  possible  to  determine  the  density  with  fair  accuracy.  It 
will  be  convenient  therefore  to  describe  the  methods  of  extracting 
the  gas  and  the  methods  determining  its  density. 

In  the  communication  to  the  Royal  .Society  it  was  stated  that 
the  maximum  density  of  the  original  gas  from  cleveite  was  3  "89. 
The  spectroscojie  showed  the  presence  of  nitrogen  in  this  sample  ; 
the  bands  were  very  l»rilliant  at  high  pressure,  but  on  reducing 
the  pressure  the  yellow  line  became  brilliant,  and  the  nitrogen 
spectrum  disappeared.  This  alwayshappens  when  the  lube  has 
platinum  electrodes  and  a  strong  discharge  is  passed  for  a  con- 
.siderable  time.-  An  attempt  was  made  to  remove  the  nitrogen 
from  this  sanqilc  of  gas  by  circulating  it  over  red-hot  magnesium  ; 
but  an  unfortunate  accident  caused  the  admixture  of  about  its 
own  volume  of  air,  carrying  with  it  argon,  from  which  at  present 
there  is  no  known  method  of  separating  helium. 

It  appeared  important  to  deciile  whether  the  gas  evolved  from 
these  minerals  is  helium,  or  a  compound  of  hydrogen  and 
helium  ;  for  in  the  preliminary  set  of  experiments  the  treatment 
was  such  that  a  hydride  would  have  been  decomposed  either 
by  sparking  with  oxygen  or  by  jiassage  over  copper  oxide  at  a 
red  heat. 

>  .\  paper  by  Prof.  \Villi.im  R.-ims,-iy,  F.R.S.,  Dr.  J.  Xorman  Collie,  and 
Mr.  Morns  Travers,  read  before  the  Chemical  Society  on  June  20.  (Continued 
from  p.  308.) 


NO.    1344,  VOL.   52] 


The  result  of  experiments  directed  to  this  end  is  to  show  that 
no  combined  hydrogen  is  present.  Gas  was  extracted  from 
nineteen  grams  of  broggerite  by  heating  it  in  a  combustion-tube 
to  dull  redness ;  the  combustion-tube  was  connected  with  a 
Tiippler's  pump  by  means  of  thick-walled  india-rubber  tubing, 
wired  carefully.  Special  experiments  showed  that  the  leakage 
through  the  india-rubber  amounted  between  Saturday  and 
Monday  to  less  than  one  small  bubble.  The  broggerite 
yielded  about  75  c.c.  of  gas,  a  large  portion  of  which  was 
absorbed  by  caustic  soda,  leaving  about  35  c.c.  \  second 
charge  of  i8-3  grams  gave  585  c.c,  and  a  third,  of  22'i  grams, 
gave  66 'O  c.c.  The  amount  of  gas  evolved  depends  largely  on 
the  temperature.  The  evolution  is  rapid  at  first,  but  becomes 
very  slow  after  three  hours,  and  the  heating  was  always  stopped 
before  all  the  gas  which  might  have  been  extracted  had  come 
off.  The  last  portions,  as  will  be  seen  later,  were  extracted  by 
fusion  with  hydrogen  potassium  sulphate. 

This  crude  product  from  broggerite  blackened  mercury, 
doubtless  owing  to  the  presence  of  hydrogen  sulphide. 

The  density  of  this  sample  was  determined  ;  the  data  are 
these. 

Volume  of  bulb  33023  c.c. 

Temperarure   ...         ...         ...         ...     22'9 

Pressure  (corr.)  ...         ...         ...   7667  mm. 

Weight...         0'0327  gram 

Density  (0  =  l6)         ii-go 

The  exceedingly  small  capacity  of  the  bulb  calls  for  some 
remark,  hut  for  no  apology.  The  object  here  is,  not  to 
determine  the  density  with  the  utmost  accuracy,  but  to  secure  a 
guide,  sufficient  for  our  purpose,  which  will  indicate  the  prob- 
able molecular  weight.  Now  the  hydrogen  contained  in  such  a 
bulb  at  0°  and  760  mm.  weighs  approximately  0'0030  gram. 
A  sensitive  balance  by  Oertling,  adjusted  for  the  special  purpose, 
could  easily  be  read  to  o"oooo5  gram,  without  resorting  to  the 
the  reading  of  oscillations  of  the  pointer ;  and  this  gives  an 
accuracy  of  5  parts  in  300,  or  i  7  per  cent.  Hence  the  density 
of  hydrogen,  thus  determined,  might  vary  between  0-983  and 
I '017.  It  is  evident  that  such  an  approximation  is  quite 
sufficient  for  our  present  purpose.  The  total  volume  of  this 
gas  was  124'5  c.c.  A  solution  of  soda  was  introduced  by 
means  of  a  pipette,  and  after  all  absorption  had  ceased, 
the  residue  measured  78-0  c.c.  The  density  was  again 
determined. 


33-023  c.c. 
21-6' 


\"oIume  of  bulb 
Temperature   ... 

Pressure  (corr.)  765 '4  mm. 

Weight  o'oo58  gram 

Density  (0=  16)         2105 

This  gas  was  now  left  in  contact  with  palladium  sponge  for  a 
night.  The  sponge  was  made  by  reducing  the  chloride  in  a 
current  of  hydrogen,  at  a  dull  red  heat.  As  it  was  some- 
what porous,  it  was  hammered  on  a  steel  anvil  before  intro- 
ducing it  into  the  gas,  which,  of  course,  was  confined  over 
mercury.  The  contraction  amounted  to  abont  l/30th.  The 
density  was  again  taken. 

Volume  of  bulb  ...         ...         ...  33-023  c.c. 

Temperature  ...         ...         ...         ...      19-2° 

Pressure  (corr. )  ...  ...         ...  760-2  mm. 

Weight  o-cx)630  gram 

Density  (0=  16)        2-284 

This  gas  had  undergone  no  treatment  which  was  of  a  kind  to 
remove  combined  hydrogen,  unless,  indeed — a  very  iuqirobable 
assumption — it  be  supposed  that  the  compound  should  be 
decomposed  by  contact  with  metallic  palladium.  The  gas  was 
therefore  placed  in  contact  with  copper  oxide,  which  h.->d 
previously  been  heated  to  redness  in  a  vacuum,  and  a  tube  filletl 
with  (ihosphoric  anhydride  was  so  interposed  as  to  alisorb  any 
water  produced.  The  gain  in  weight  of  this  tube  was  0-0016 
gram,  indicating  the  oxidation  of  about  2  c.c.  of  hydrogen.  In 
all  probability  this  hydrogen  had  remained  over  after  treatment 
with  palladium  ;  for  it  bears  no  proportion  to  the  total  quantity 
of  gas — 78  c.c. 

The  density  was  again  determined. 

Vohnne  of  bulb           ...         ...         ...  33-023  c.c. 

Temperature  ...         ...         ...         ...  1667' 

Pressure  (corr. )           754-9  mm. 

Weight             0-00720  grant 

Density  (O- 16)         2606 


JO- 


NATURE 


[Al'C.LST    I,    1S95 


i6-iS" 


We  i;..^  .....>  minutely  all  the  determination  of  density  of 
such  >amplcs,  because,  although  they  refer  to  an  imperfectly 
|>uriliei.l  sample,  yet  they  show  that  the  density  is  very  low,  and 
they  trace,  moreover,  the  gradual  change  as  one  ingredient 
after  another  is  removed. 

The  bn'^erite  which  had  been  heateil  in  a  vacuum  was  next 
fused  in  successive  portions  with  hydrogen  potassium  stdphate. 
A  large  quantity  of  gas  was  evolved,  consisting  of  sulphur  dioxide, 
carlion  dioxide,  nitrogen,  and  helium.  The  sulphur  dioxide  was 
removed  with  chromic  mixture,  and  the  carbon  dioxide  with 
caustic  soda :  the  yield  was  45  c.c.  The  density  was  then 
detcrmine<l. 

Volume  of  bull' 
Temperature    ... 
Pressure  (corr. )  ..  ...   75J'3  mm. 

Weight  ...  ...  ...  ...       001035  gra'" 

Density  (0=  16)         374S 

No  alteration  in  volume  occurred  on  passing  the  gas  for 
several  hours  over  red-hot  cop|>er  oxide.  Hence  no  hydrogen 
was  present  in  the  free  state  ;  and  if  combined,  passage  over 
cop|)er  oxide  does  not  decompose  the  hydride,  as  was  seen 
Iwfore,  when  the  water  produced  was  weighed.  It  may  be 
remarked  that  every  known  hydride  would  yield  its  hydrogen 
on  such  treatment. 

This  sample  of  gas  was  ne.\t  circulated  over  red-hot  magnesium 
for  several  hours.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  state  that  the  mag- 
nesium was  first  heated  to  redness  in  a  vacuum  so  as  to  remove 
hydrogen.  In  ca.se  any  shoidd  escape  removal,  however,  a  red- 
hot  tube  of  copper  oxide  formed  |»art  of  the  circuit,  as  well  as 
a  tube  filled  with  phosphoric  anhydride.  .Some  caustic  soda 
solution  was  present  in  the  reser\oir  above  the  niercur)',  which 
would  have  absorlied  the  products  of  combustion  of  any  hydro- 
carlwn  present.  The  density  of  this  gas  was  calculated  from  the 
data  appended. 

Volume  of  bulb       ...         ..         ...     33'023  c.c. 

Temperature  ...  ...  ...      I4'SS' 

Pressure  (corr.)        ...  ...  ...  7560  mm. 

Weight  0-00845  gram 

Density  (O  =  16) yoyi 

On  examining  the  magnesium  tube,  after  it  had  cooled,  it  was 
found  that  on  moistening  it  ammonia  was  evolved.  The  gas 
was,  therefore,  again  circulated  over  magnesium,  at  a  somewhat 
higher  tem|x;raturc,  so  high,  indeed,  that  the  gas  must  have 
[M-ssed  repeatedly  through  magnesium  va|K)ur.  On  pumping  out 
the  tubes,  an  accident  led  to  the  loss  of  a  few  c.c.  of  gas  ;  hence 
the  weighing  bulb  hail  to  be  filled  at  a  somewhat  reduced  pressure. 
The  density  is  given  t>elow. 


\'oluine  of  bull' 
Temperature 
f'res.sure  (corr.) 

Weight         

Density  (O  =.  16)  .. 


33023  c.c. 

615-8  mm. 
0-0049  gfam 
2-187 


Again,  on  moistening  the  broken  magnesium  lube,  ammonia 
was  evolved  ;  it  was  recognised  by  its  odour  and  by  its  turning 
rc<l  litmus  paper  blue. 

A  further  experiment  was  made  with  broggerile.  30-8  grams 
were  heated  in  a  vacuum  and  the  gas  was  collected  over  mercur)-, 
on  to  the  surface  of  which  a  few  c.c.  of  caustic  .smla  solution 
were  intrcxluced.  The  yield  of  gas  was  65  c.c.  It  wascirculated 
over  copper  oxide  to  remove  hydrogen,  and  its  density  was  then 
dctcrmmcd. 


Volume  of  bull. 
Temperature 
I'rcssurc  (corr.) 
Weight 
DetLsity 


33023  c.c. 
•     "970 
..   756-7  mm. 

0-0068  gram 

2-481 


The  <lensily  of  this  samiilc  is  almost  coincident  with  that  of  a 

f>rcviiiii-  -.11111.1.  .  idryi    ..l.i.^incd  in  the  same  way,  after  it  had 
"ccn  I       This  gas  was  next  circulated  over 

v-ri-  to  remove   nitrogen.     Again,  it  is 

'  I'l  juaiiy  li.iui.i  the  gas  must  have  been  mixed   with 

r  vaiHiur,   for  the  magnesium   had  been    completely 

'it  part  of  the  combuslion-lulie,  and  had 
rid.   Again,  the  priHlucI,  when  moistened 

I  ammonia,  proving  that  nitrogen  had  been 

removed.     The  density  of  this  sample  was  next  taken. 


\'olume  of  bulb 
Temperature 
Pressure  (corr.) 
Weight 
Density 


33-023  cc. 
19-17- 
756-7  mm. 
0-0056  gram 
2-044 


The  copper  oxide  tuln;  was  omitted  during  this  circulation  ; 
hence  the  density  was  low,  2  044.  The  spectrum  of  this  gas 
showed  hydrogen  lines  and  feeble  nitrogen  bands.  A  second 
determination  of  density,  in  which  the  bulb  was  freshly  filled, 
gave,  at  the  same  pres.sure  and  at  a  temperature  dift'cring  by 
only  I'  from  the  previous  one,  an  identical  weight.  I'urther 
circulation  for  a  whole  day  over  red-liot  magnesium,  raised  to 
the  highest  temperature  which  the  lube  could  stand,  gave  a 
specimen  from  which  hydrogen  and  nitrogen  were  absent ;  at 
least,  the  Ixirest  trace  was  visible  in  a  vacuum-tube  filled  at  a 
fairly  high  i)ressure  ;  and  care  was  taken  to  interpose  a  red-hot 
copper  oxide  tube,  and,  as  usual,  a  tube  containing  phosphorus 
pentoxide.  The  e(fecl  of  this  circulation  was  to  raise  the 
density. 

Volume  of  bulb       ...  ...         ...     33-023  c.c. 

Temperature  I7'l" 

Pressure  (corr.)        ...  ...  ...   763-2  mm. 

Weight         0-0060  gram 

Density  (O  =  16) 2-152 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  this  .sample,  procured  by  heating 
broggerite  in  a  v,acuun),  has  a  density  practically  identical  willi 
that  of  gas  obtained  by  fusing  bniggerite  with  hydrogen  pot;is- 
.siuni  sulphate  ;  that  sample  had  density  2-187. 

We  next  proceeded  to  extract  the  gas  from  6-96  grams  of 
Swedish  cleveite.  When  heated  in  a  vacuum,  the  gas  was  rajiidly 
evolved  at  first,  more  quickly  than  from  broggerile.  Almul 
60  c.c.  were  obtained,  and,  after  treatment  with  soda,  the  residue 
occupied  26-3  c.c.  As  this  was  not  surticieiit  for  our  purpose, 
and  as  we  had  already  by  density  and  spectrum  proved  the 
identity  of  gas  evolved  from  bniggerite  on  healing,  and  on  fusion 
wilh  acid  sulphate,  the  remaining  cleveite  was  mixed  withaliout 
five  limes  its  weight  of  fused  and  dried  hydrogen  potassium 
sulphate,  placed  in  a  lube,  and  healed  in  a  vacuum.  A  further 
quantity  of  gas  was  evolved,  which  was  at  once  treated  with 
caustic  soda  solution.  Both  quantities  of  gas  were  mixeil.  This 
samjile  was  then  circulated  over  copper  oxide  for  several  hours, 
and  the  density  was  then  determined  with  the  following  result. 


Volume  of  bulb 
Temperature... 
Pressure  (corr.) 
Weight 
Density 


33-023  c.c. 

19  43" 
763-2  mm. 
00061  gram 
2-205 


NO.    1344,  VOL.  52] 


The  spectrum  of  this  gas  showed  the  merest  trace  of  nitrogen, 
but  no  hydrogen.  The  density,  it  will  be  seen,  is  practically 
coincident  wilh  thai  of  the  gas  from  bniggerite.  It  is  note- 
worthy that  the  gas  from  cleveite  contains  no  nitrogen.  We 
are  absolutely  certain  that  the  presence  of  nitrogen  in  the  gas 
from  broggerile  is  not  to  be  explained  by  leakage  of  air,  for 
the  tightness  of  the  apparatus  was  frequently  tested  during  each 
operation. 

We  have  therefore  three  determinations  of  density,  and  the 
mean  may  be  taken  as  approximately  correct  to  within  0-05. 
They  are  : 

(l.as  from  bniggerite  by  heating     ...         ...     2152 

(las  from  briiggerite  wilh  II K.SOj             ...     2187 
Gas  from  cleveite 2-205 


Mean 


2-181 


All  these  samples  of  gas  were  now  mixed  and  p.issed  thmugh 
the  u.sual  alworbents  vn  nitmgen  and  fir  hydrogen,  namely 
magnesium,  copper  oxide,  so<la-lime,  ami  phosphoric  anhy- 
dride. The  riensily  of  this  sample  was  ihen  determined  with 
the  larger  bulb.  The  ernir  due  lo  error  in  weighing;  cannot  in 
this  ca.se  amount  to  more  than  0-3  |)er  cent.,  and  is  pnibably 
less.  Of  course,  the  purity  of  the  gas  would  aflect  the  result. 
The  (lata  are  as  follows. 


Volume  of  bulb 

Temperature... 

Pressure  (corr.) 

Weight 

Density  (O  =  16) 


162-843  c.c. 

1707" 
764-9  mm. 
003057  gram 

2-2lS 


August  i,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


•40S  :  I  632 


The  wave-kiigth  of  sound  was  determineil  with  this  sample  of 
gas  in  a  tube  i  metre  in  length  and  9  mm.  internal  diameter  ; 
the  vibrating  rod  was  580  mm.  long.  We  found  it  exceedingly- 
difficult  to  procure  a  tube  in  which  really  good  sound*waves 
could  be  shown  with  helium ;  indeed,  we  were  on  several 
occasions  nearly  despairing  of  gaining  our  object.  But  at  last 
perfect  waves,  easily  read  and  easily  counted,  were  produced, 
and  measurements  were  taken  with  the  following  results. 

Scries I.  II.         III.         IV.  V.  VI.         VII. 

"length  ""/^^'^    5^'^    97-6    98-3     loo-o    986    979  mm. 
Mean  of  all,  98 '8  mm.  at  iS'9°. 
In  air,  a  similar  series  gave  the  numbers 

Series     ...  I.  II.  III.  IV.  V. 

Half  wave-length  ...     36'00     3603     3611     3589    3616 
Mean,  36'04  mm.  at  20'I° 

The  ratio  of  the  specific  heat  at  constant  volume  to  that  at 
constant  pressure  for  air  is  i  408  ;  that  for  helium  is — 

(36-04)'x(273+i8-9)xi4-479.  (a8-Si=x-n8 
273  +  201 

This  sample  of  gas  was  again  circulated  over  very  hot  magne- 
sium and  copper  oxide  for  seven  hours  ;  the  magnesium  had  no 
smell  of  ammonia  when  breathed  on,  nor  did  it  turn  red  litmus 
paper  blue  until  after  long  standing.  The  magnesium  was 
mostly  volatilised  out  of  the  hot  part  of  the  tube. 

The  density  of  this  sample  of  gas  was  determined. 

\'olume  of  bulb  ...  ...  ...  162*843  c.c. 

Temperature..  ...         ...         ...     19S' 

Pressure  (corr.)         ...         7300mm. 

Weight  00278  gram 

Den.sity  ...  ...         ...         ...       2'I33 

The  wavelength  of  sound  was  re-determined  in  the  same  tube 
as  before.     The  figures  are 

Series...    I.  II.  III.  IV.  V.  VI.         VII.      VIII. 

Half  \ 

wave-      1027   1007  1016  1007   I02'6  1016  1009  loi'i  mm. 
length.  J 

Mean  of  all,  1015  mm. 

The  ratio  of  the  specific  heats  of  helium,  calculated  from 
the.se  numbers  as  before,  is  I  '652,  a  sufficiently  close  approxima- 
tion to  the  theoretical  number  I  66.  In  the  case  of  argon,  the 
purest  specimen  obtained  gave  for  the  ratio  i'659:  and  as 
remarked  (in  the  Philosophical  Transactions,  1895,  5-)>  not 
much  dependence  can  be  placed  on  the  accuracy  of  the  last 
ligure. 

The  result  of  these  experiments  goes  to  prove  that  the  density 
of  the  gas  named  helium  is  not  less  than  2'I3,  and  that  it  has 
the  same  claim  to  be  considered  a  monatomic  gas  as  mercury 
gas  ;  or  if  it  is  a  mixture,  it  must  be  a  mixture  of  monatomic 
gases. 

As  hydrogen  was  often  evolved  along  with  helium  from 
minerals,  it  occurred  to  us  that  if  a  definite  ratio  could  be  found 
between  the  heliimi  and  the  hydrogen  evolved  by  the  action  of 
acid,  some  idea  might  be  gained  a.s  to  the  valency  of  helium.  It 
would  be  as  if,  for  example,  hydrogen  and  chlorine  were  evolved 
separately  from  salt  by  .sulphuric  acid,  instead  of  in  combination  ; 
by  mea.suring  each,  the  deduction  could  be  drawn  that  chlorine 
was  univalent.  Kxperiments  made  to  this  end  showed,  however, 
that  from  some  minerals  no  hydrogen  is  evolved.  Cias,  from  a 
sample  of  uraninile  sent  by  Dr.  Hillebrand,  contained  no  trace 
of  hydrogen.  It  is,  of  course,  possible,  and,  indeed,  not  unlikely, 
that  all  hydrogen  is  absorbed  in  reducing  the  uranic  oxide  to 
uranous  oxide.  The  |irobIem  then  becomes  a  complicated  one  ; 
but  we  hope  to  solve  it  by  future  experiments. 

As  yet  but  few  experiments  have  been  made  with  the  object  of 
inducing  helium  to  enter  into  combination.  Like  argon,  it  is  not 
attacked  by  oxygen  in  presence  of  caustic  stxla  under  the  action 
of  the  electric  discharge  ;  indeed,  this  forms  a  good  method  of 
removing  all  impurities  other  than  argon.  .Vgain,  like  argon, 
it  is  not  affected  by  red-hot  magnesium,  and  it  is  not  oxidised  by 
COp|x:r  oxide  at  a  red  heat. 

As  helium  is  evolved  from  cleveite  and  similar  minerals  at  a 
red  heat,  an  attempt  was  made  to  reabsorb  it  by  heating  the 
powdered  mineral  to  redness  in  cimtacl  with  the  gas,  but  not  to 
so  high  a  temperature  as  that  which  had  served  to  cause  it  to  be 


NO. 


1344,   VOL.    52] 


evolved.  But  the  attempt  was  fruitless  ;  no  gas  was  absorbed. 
When  all  the  gas  in  the  tubes  had  t)een  pum])ed  out,  after  they 
were  cold,  heating  failed  to  cause  the  evolution  of  more  gas. 

X  further  experiment  was  made,  in  which  metallic  uranium 
was  heated  to  bright  redness  with  a  blow-pipe  in  contact  with  a 
mixture  of  helium  and  oxygen,  the  latter  gas  being  greatly  in 
excess.  But,  curiously,  the  oxidation  of  the  uranium  was  very 
slow,  and  all  the  helium  was  recovered,  none  having  been 
absorbed.  The  conditions  have  yet  to  be  discovered  under 
which  helium  can  be  made  to  combine  with  o.xides  of  uranium, 
so  as  to  reproduce  the  natural  product. 

The  Solitbilily  of  Helitim. 

Helium  is  verj'  sixiringly  soluble  in  water.  A  determination 
made  by  the  method  previously  described  for  argon  {Phil. 
Trans,  h,  1895,  37)  gave  00073  ^^  ''^  coefficient  at  l8'2^ 
The  tuf)e  contained  i62'3  arbitrary  divisions,  of  which  26'0 
were  occupied  liy  helium  and  I36'3  by  water.  After  shaking, 
the  volume  of  the  helium  was  reduced  to  25 'O  dixisions,  and 
that  of  the  water  was  increased  to  137 '3.  -As  1 37 '3  absorb 
I  o,  I  volume  of  water  absorbs  00073  volume.  The  whole 
apparatus  was  jacketed  with  running  water  during  this  experi- 
ment. 

This  is  the  lowest  solubility  hitherto  recorded.  Generally 
speaking,  the  solubility  of  a  gas  is  related  to  the  temperature  at 
which  it  condenses  to  a  liquid,  and  the  sparing  solubility  of 
helium  points  to  its  having  a  very  low  boiling  point.  Prof. 
Olszew'ski  has  kindly  undertaken  to  make  experiments  on  the 
temperature  of  liquefaction  of  helium,  and  it  will  be  interesting 
to  find  whether  its  boiling  point  does  not  lie  below,  or,  at  least, 
as  low  as  that  of  hydrogen  ;  for  their  molecular  weights  are  not 
very  different,  and  helium  is  a  monatomic  gas,  a  condition  which 
appears  to  lower  the  boiling  point. 

Helium  is  totally  insolufjle  in  absolute  alcohol  and  in  benzene. 

The  Spectrum  of  Helium. 

Mr.  Crookes  is  making  an  exhaustive  study  of  the  siwctntm  of 
helium,  and  will  shortly  publish  an  account  of  his  work.  But, 
as  some  of  the  deductions  to  be  drawn  later  depend  on  the  lines 
observed,  it  is  necessary'  here  to  add  a  few  words.  In  general 
terms,  the  spectrum  has  already  been  described.  The  particular 
point  to  which  attention  is  neces.sary  here  is  that  at  least  two  of 
the  lines  in  the  spectnnn  of  helium,  seen  with  a  wide  dispersion 
prism,  are  coincident  with  two  of  the  argon  lines.  These  occur 
in  the  red,  and  comprise  one  of  each  of  the  two  pairs  of 
characteristic  argon  lines.  This  observation  has  been  frequently 
repeated,  using  for  the  purpose  spectroscoiies  of  different  dis- 
persive jx)wer,  and  throwing  into  the  field  lx)ih  spectra  at  the 
same  time,  with  an  exceedingly  narrow  slit :  and  we  may  say 
that  if  not  absolutely  identical,  the  lines  are  so  near  that  it  is  not 
possible  with  the  means  at  our  disposal  to  recognise  any  differ- 
ence in  position.  But  the  relative  brilliancy  is  by  no  means  the 
same.  One  of  the  argon  lines,  rather  faint,  is  coincident  with 
the  prominent  red  of  the  helium  spectrum,  .and  one  of  the  strong 
red  argon  lines  is  coincident  with  a  faint  red  line  in  the  helium 
spectrum. 

Besides  the.se  two,  there  is  a  liae  in  the  orange-red,  which 
though  perhaps  not  identical,  yel9^  very  clo.se.  This  line  is 
faint  in  helium,  but  moderately  sm)ng  in  argon.  It  is  much 
more  easily  visible  with  helium  in  the  "  negative  glow"  than  in 
the  capillary  tulie. 

It  may  also  f)e  of  interest  to  state  that,  according  to  Runge's  ob- 
.servation,  the  brilliant  yellow  line  of  helium  is  undoubtedly  a 
doublet.  This  was  frequently  observed  by  us  with  a  grating  of 
14,000  lines  to  the  inch  in  the  spectrum  of  the  third  order.  But  it 
must  also  be  noted  that  one  of  the  lines  is  very  faint ;  the  other, 
more  refrangible,  is  immensely  lirighter.  The  distance,  judged  by 
eye,  appears  to  be  aliout  l/50th  part  of  that  between  the  lines  D, 
and  D,  of  sodium,  .\ccurate  information  on  this  l.-ust  point  may 
be  looke<l  for  from  Mr.  Crookes,  Mr.  Lockyer,  and  from  many 
others  who  are  interested  in  the  probable  occurrence  of  this 
element  in  the  sun.' 

III.  General  Conclusions, 

It  cannot  be  dotdjted  that  a  close  analogy  exists  between 
argon  and  helium.  Both  resist  sparking  with  oxygen  in 
presence  of  caustic  soda ;  both  are  unattacked  by  red.-hot 
magnesium  ;  and  if  we  draw  the  usual  inference  from  the  ratio 

»  Prof.  Hale  and  Dr.  Huggins  have  recently  observed  that  the  solar  line 
Dj  is  also  a  doublet.    (\V.  R.,  July  20)* 


oj4 


NA  JURE 


[August  i,  1895 


between  their  specific  heats  at  constant  volume  and  at  constant 
pressure,  both  are  monatomic  gases.  These  properties  un- 
doubtedly place  them  in  the  same  chemical  class,  and  differentiate 
them  from  all  known  elements. 

.Although  opinion  is  diWded  on  the  precise  significance  of  the 
ratio  of  s()ecihc  heats,  I  '66,  it  ap|)ears  to  be  most  probable  that 
in  all  cases,  as  in  that  of  niercur)-,  this  ratio  jwints  to  the 
monatomicity  of  the  molecule.  I(  we  assume  this  provisionally, 
it  follows  that  the  atomic  weight  of  helium  is  identical  w ith  its 
molecular  weight.  The  molecular  weight  is  twice  the  density, 
for  the  molecular  w  eights  of  gases  are  coni|xired  w  ith  the  atomic 
weight  of  hydrogen,  taken  as  unity ;  hence  the  atomic 
weight  of  helium  on  this  assumption  is  2'l3x2  =  4"26.  But 
agam  we  assume,  in  making  this  calculation,  that  helium  is  a 
single  element,  and  not  a  mixture  of  elements.  Before  dis- 
cussing this  question,  it  appears  advisable  to  inquire  whether 
there  is  any  eWdence  which  would  corroborate  the  deduction 
that  it  is  a  monatomic  element.  This  evidence  must  be  sought 
for  in  the  proiwrties  of  argon,  for  those  of  helium  have  not  as 
yet  been  sufficiently  investigated. 

We  know  from  countless  examples  among  compounds  of 
hydrogen  and  carbon  that  increase  in  molecular  weight  is 
accompanied  by  rise  of  boiling  point  ;  and  it  may  be  stated  as  a 
])roved  fact  that  a  polymeride  has  always  a  higher  boiling  point 
than  the  simpler  molecule  of  which  the  p<jlymeride  is  formed. 
Among  the  substances  germain  to  this  inquiry,  ozone  and 
oxygen  may  be  cited  ;  the  complex  molecule  of  ozone  is  shown 
by  the  higher  temperature  at  which  it  boils.  It  might  be  con- 
cluded with  certainty,  therefore,  that  A,,  could  it  exist,  should 
have  a  higher  boiling  point  than  -A,. 

Next,  it  is  generally  the  case  that  the  boiling  ix)int  of  an 
element,  provided  it  has  not  a  complex  molecule  like  that  of 
sulphur  and  phosphorus,  is  lower,  the  lower  its  molecular 
weight.  There  are  the  well-known  instances  of  chlorine, 
bromine,  and  iotlinc  :  but  if  it  be  objected  that  these  all  belong 
to  the  same  group,  we  may  cite  the  cisesof  hydrogen,  -  243.5'  • 
nitrogen,  -194.4':  and  oxygen,  -1827°;  and  we  may  add 
chl<irine,  -  102°.  If  argon  jwsscssed  the  atomic  weight  20 
and  the  molecular  weight  40,  it  is  probable  that  its  boiling 
point  would  lie  above  that  of  chlorine,  instead  of,  as  is  actually 
the  fact,  at  -  187" — below  that  of  oxygen.  But,  it  may  be 
■  '•■'  ted,  the  Imiling  |X)inl  is  determined,  not  by  the  molecular 
1'.  il;1u.  but  by  the  density.  It  maybe  urged  that  the  density  of 
.u,^'jii  is  20,  and  that  its  molecules,  like  tho.se  of  oxygen 
and  nitrogen,  arc  diatomic,  in  spite  of  the  argument  to  the  con- 
trar}-  from  the  ratio  of  specific  heats.  The  answer  to  this 
ilpjection  is  obvious  :  if  this  were  so,  its  boiling  point  should  lie 
.iKrve,  and  not  l>elow  that  of  oxygen. 

These    considerations    cannot,    of    course,    be    accepted    as 

'  evidence,    but    merely   as   corroborative   of    the   conclusion   as 

,...>r.|s  the  monatomicity  of  argon.     If  they  a))ply  to   argon, 

.ipply    with    equal    force    to    helium ;    and    if    ihey   are 

■  1  ted,  it  follows  that  the  atomic  weight  of  helium  is  4'26. 

It   is  again   neccssar)'  to  consider  the  character  of  argon   in 

attempting  to  answer  the  next  question  :  .Are  argon  and  helium 

.single  elements  or  mixtures  of  elements?     But  before  discussing 

il,  let  us  consider  anothers|ueslion  :   How  does  argon  happen  to 

' '■'■nr  in  the  air  and   heliuhi  only  in  minerals?  Why  is  helium 

1     •  1  resent  in  air?    A  satisfactor)'  anssver  to  this  question  is,  we 

:mii!v,  contained   in    a    pajK-r  by  Dr.  Johnstone  Stoney  (tV/cw;. 

iVnvs,  1895.  Ixxi.  67).     lie  there  shows  that  were  hydrogen  to 

be  present  in  air  (and  it  might  Iw  present,  in  spite  of  the  oxygen 

rtith  which  it  could  be  mixed,  for  a  small  €|uantity  would  surely 

e><-a|>e  combination),  it  would,  in  virtue  of  the   velocity  of  its 

r      ,  .!       '  ,T  motion,  remove  itself  from  our  ]>lanel, 

i.il  body  possessing  .sufficient  gravitational 

.  ,:::.:;.      Dr.  .Stoney  suggests  this  explanation  to 

account  fur  the  aljsencc  of  an  atmosphere  and  of  water  vapour  on 

the  nifHin,  and  for  the  presence  of  an  atmo-spherc  of  hydrogen 

'in  the  sun.      1 1  would  also  account  for  the  absence  of  helium  in 

<iur  atmospliere.  and  for  the  presence  of  the  chromospheric  line 

''        '   '  '        ill  can  form  compfiunds,  or  if  il  is 

hiun    ap|K-ars    to    l>e,    it    will,    like 

'••I  "II  the  earth. 

'lid  favour  their  existence  in 
in  the  atmosphere,  precisely 
iii|«>uhiU.     Similarly  nitrogen   is  a  con- 
in  the  first  place  those   elements  with 
iirectly  are   comparatively  rare,  and   also 
liecausc  such  compounds  are  mostly  decimiixised  by  water ;  and 

NO.    1344,  VOL.   52] 


I  he  mertnes^ 
the  free  slatr. 
lnraiMf  it  ' 
>IitiR-rit  <-! 
which    it    C'liiiDiiic- 


the  excess  of  nitrogen  therefore  occurs  in  the  free  state. 
Similarly,  the  occurrence  of  free  oxygen  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
some  remains  over,  after  all  or  almost  all  the  readily  oxidised 
substances  have  already  united  with  oxygen.  If  there  exist 
gases  similar  to  argon  in  inertness,  they  too  may  be  looked  for 
in  air. 

Now  if  argon  possess  the  atomic  weight  40,  there  is  no  place 
for  it  in  the  periodic  table  of  the  elements.  .And  up  to  now 
there  is  no  exception  to  this  orderly  arrangement,  if  the  doulitful 
case  of  tellurium  be  excluded.  Kaylcigh  and  Ramsay  have  show  n 
that  the  high  density  of  argon  c.in  hardly  be  accounted  for  by 
supposing  that  molecules  of  A„  are  mixed  with  molecules  of  A,  ; 
and  excluding  as  untenable  the  supiwsition  that  argon  is  a 
compound,  the  only  remaining  suggestion  is  that  it  is  a  mixture. 
No  attempts  ha\e  as  yet  been  made  to  test  the  correctness  of  this 
idea  ;  but  exi)eriments  have  already  been  started  which,  it  is 
hoped,  will  throw  light  on  this  question. 

The  density  of  argon  is  too  high  ;  to  fill  its  place  in  tlie 
periodic  table,  between  chlorine  and  potassium,  its  density 
should  be  about  19  and  its  atomic  weight  38.  We  might 
expect  the  presence  of  another  element  with  a  density  of  41 
and  an  atomic  weight  of  82.  to  follow  bromine,  as  argon 
follows  chlorine  ;  and  this  element  would  probably  also  be  a 
gas,  since  its  density  would  be  only  a  little  higher  than  that  of 
chlorine. 

But  here  we  meet  with  a  difficulty.  There  are  certain  lines 
in  the  spectrum  of  helium  coincident  with  lines  in  the  argon 
spectrum.  There  can  be  only  one  explanation,  excUuling  the 
extremely  improbable  hypothesis,  which  is  not  verified  in  any 
instance,  that  two  elements  may  give  spectra  containing 
identical  lines.  That,  explanation  is,  of  course,  that  each  con- 
tains some  common  ingredient ;  and  there  appears  to  be  a  place 
for  one  with  density  10  and  atomic  weight  20,  to  follow 
fluorine  in  the  periodic  table.  The  density  of  helium  is, 
however,  so  low,  that  there  does  not  appear  room  for  any 
large  quantity  of  a  heavier  gas  ;  and  to  fit  the  periodic  table, 
the  density  of  argon  should  be  diminished  by  removal  of  a 
heavier  admixture,  rather  than  increased  by  removal  of  a 
lighter  one. 

Such  are  the  jiroblems  which  now  confront  us.  Until  more 
experiments  have  thrown  further  light  on  the  .subject,  we 
regard  it  as  labour  lost  to  discuss  the  relations  of  these  curious 
elements  to  others  which  find  their  proper  place  in  the  periodic 
table. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Sir  Julian  Goi.dsmid  has  been  elected  Vice-Chancellor 
of  the  University  of  London,  in  succession  to  Sir  James  Taget, 
who  has  resigned. 

Tut:  new  Directory  n{  the  Department  of  Science  and  -Art, 
which  has  just  come  to  hand,  contains  the  regulations  for 
Organised  Science  Schools,  previously  referred  to  in  these 
columns.  .Among  other  matter  new  to  the  Diredory,  and  an- 
nouncements of  changes,  we  notice  that  a  new  method  of 
according  the  Niitional  .Scholarships  is  in  contemplation.  The 
change  will  not  take  effect  until  the  Session  1896-97,  and 
due  intimation  of  its  nature  will  be  given.  The  .syllabus  of 
Practical  Plane  and  Solid  Geometry  h.is  been  recast  in  the 
elementary  stage,  in  the  direction  already  noted,  and  new  sylla- 
buses are  given  for  Inorganic  Chemistry,  theoretical  and  practical. 
Geology,  anil  I'hysiography.  Il  is  not  clear,  however,  wlaiher 
the  questions  to  be  set  for  the  examinations  next  -May  will  lie 
based  up^jn  the  new  or  the  old  .syllabuses. 

At  the  ordinary  ipiarterly  meeting  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Physicians  of  London,    held  on    Thursday    last,     .Sir     Rus.sell 
Reynolds,  K. R.S. ,  in  the  chair,  the  following  gentlemen  were 
elected    officers    of  the  College  :— Censors,    Sir    William    II. 
Broadl)ent,    Dr.    P.    II.    Pye-Smilh,  Dr.    T.   Tillyer  WMipliam, 
Dr.  William  Cayley  ;  treasurer.  Sir  Dyce  Duckwcirlli  :  emeritus 
registrar,   Sir  I lenr)-  Pitman  ;  registrar.    Dr.    IMward   l.ivcing: 
librarian.     Dr.     William     Munk ;    examiners— chemistry     ami 
chemical  physics,   Mr.  Charles  K.  Groves,  K.K.S.,  Mr.  W.  R-  ' 
Dunstan,  .Mr.  J.  Millar  Thimison,  Dr.  Samuel    Kicleal,  Dr.  R. 
Taylor    I'limplon  ;    materia    medica    and     pliuriiiacy.    Dr.    T.   , 
I.auder  Brnnton,   K.K.S.,   Dr.   Daniel  J.  Leech,  Dr.  .Sidney  I'.  ] 
Phillips,     Dr.    Frederick  Willcocks,   Dr.    Krancis   G.    Penrose  i 


August  i,  1895] 


NATURE 


oo3 


elementary  biology,  Mr.  V.  Gymer  Parsons,  Mr.  P.  Chalmers 
Mitchell  ;  elementary  iihysioloRj')  Dr.  H.  Lewis  Jones  ;  physio- 
logy, Dr.  Vincent  D.  Harris,  Dr.  Thomas  Oliver,  Dr.  Frederick 
W.  Mott  ;  anatomy,  Mr.  Charles  .Stonham,  Prof.  t;.  Dancer 
Thane  ;  medical  anatomy  and  principles  and  practice  of  medicine, 
Dr.  Philip  J.  Hensley,  Dr.  J.  Burney  Yeo,  Dr.  (I.  Vivian  Poore, 
Dr.  J.  .Mitchell  Bruce,  Dr.  Frederick  Taylor,  Dr.  Stephen 
Mackenzie,  Dr.  William  Ewart,  Dr.  Seymour  J.  Sharkey,  Dr. 
J.  Kingston  Fowler,  Dr.  Robert  .Saundby  ;  midwifery,  I)r.  J. 
Baptiste  Potter,  Dr.  J.  Watt  Black,  Dr.  Peter  Horrocks,  DV. 
Walter  S.  A.  (iriffith  ;  surgical  anatomy  and  principles  and 
practice  of  surger)',  Mr.  John  Langton,  Sir.  J.  N.  C.  Davies- 
Colley ;  public  health.  Dr.  Charles  H.  Ralfe,  Dr.  William 
Pasteur ;  Murchison  Scholarship,  Dr.  F.  Charlwood  Turner, 
Dr.  Samuel  H.  West. 

We  gave  last  week  the  names  of  the  Research  Scholars 
appointed  for  1895,  by  Her  Majesty's  Commissioners  for  the 
Exhibition  of  1851.  We  are  now  informed  that  the  following 
.scholars,  appointed  in  1894,  have  forwarfled  satisfiictory  reports 
of  their  work  during  the  first  year  of  their  scholarships,  which 
have  accordingly  been  renewed  for  a  second  year. 


Name  of  Scholar. 

Xoniinatiiig  In.stitution. 

Place  of  Study. 

1. 

C.  Beattie 

University  of  Edinburgh 

University  of  Vienna. 

1. 

R.  E   Murray      ... 

University  of  Cllasgow  ... 

University  of  Glasgow. 

\\ 

.  B.  Davidson 

University  of  Aberdeen... 

University  of  Wiirzburg. 

k 

C.  Clinker 

University    College, 

Bristol 

University   College, 
Bristol. 

1' 

Dent          

Yorkshire  College,  Leeds 

University  of  Munich. 

A 

J.  Kwart    ... 

University     College, 

Liverpool           

University  of  Leipzig. 

u 

K.  Morris 

University     College, 

London    ..          

University     College, 
London, 

f. 

Frith           

Owens  College,  Man- 

chester    

Owens  College. 

K 

Beatiie 

Durham    College    of 

Science 

Durham      College       of 
Science. 

W 

.  B.  r.uriiitj 

University      College, 

Nottingham 

Central    Technical    Col 

lege. 
Owens  College. 

1- 

A.  McClelland      ... 

Queen's  College,  Galway 

University  of  Toronto   ... 

1-' 

li.  Kcnrick 

University  of  Leipzig. 

1 

J.  A.  McKlitrick 

Dalhousic      University, 

Halifax^  Nova  Scotia... 

Cornell  University. 

,^''Ji'(■.— Such  of  the  above  .Scholars  as  remained  at  the  nominating  Institu- 
tion for  the  first  year  will  now  proceed  to  another  Institution  in  England 
or  abroad. 

The  following  scholars,  appointed  in  1S93,  have  been  selected 
or  exceptional  renewal  for  a  third  year  : — 


Name  of  Scholar. 


H.  W.  R^>!am., 
J.  \V.  WalkL-r 


J.  E.  Myers 
E.  C.  C.  Hal 


Nominating  Institution. 


University  of  Edinburgh 
University      of      St. 
.\ndrcws 

Yorkshire  College,  Leeds 
University     College, 
London  


Place  of  Study. 


University  of  Leipzig. 

Universities  of   Leipzig 

and  St.  Andrews. 
University  of  Strassburg 

University    College, 
London. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

American  ■  Mcleorolooical  foiirnal,  July. — The  geographical 
distribution  of  the  maximum  and  minimvnn  hourly  wind  velocities 
.  .  .  for  January  and  July,  for  the  United  States,  by  Dr.  F. 
Waldo.  This  discussion  is  based  on  the  .Signal  Service  and 
Weather  Bureau  observations,  and  the  subject  is  treate<l  in 
various  ways,  and  illustrated  by  wind  charts.  We  select  from 
ihesc  (i)  the  hour  of  maximum  wind  and  {2)  the  maximum 
hourly  wind,  in  miles  per  hour.  There  is  no  great  regularity  in 
I  he  time  of  occurrence  of  the  strongest  wind;  in  January  it 
occurs  on  the  Atlantic  coast  from  2h.  to  4h.  a.m.,  and  on  the 
North  Pacific  coast  it  is  retarded  to  6h.  a.m.  On  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  it  takes  place  about  noon,  while  at  inland  stations  it 
occurs  generally  about  2h.  p.m.  In  July,  on  the  .\tlantic  coa.st, 
I  there  is  a  maximum  wind  about  2h.  p.m.  in  latitude  45°,  but 
with  soiuhward  progress  it  is  retarded,  until  in  latitude  30'  the 
hour  is  changed  to  6h.  p.m.      In  the  southern  i)art  of  the  Pacific 

!  NO.   1344,  VOL.   52] 


coast,  the  time  of  maximum  is  ih.  p.m.,  which  is  much  earlier 
than  for  the  adjacent  inland  or  the  northern  part  of  the  coast. 
In  general,  for  the  inland  north-east  the  hour  is  2h.  p.m.,  and 
there  is  a  retardation  with  both  western  and  southern  progress. 
In  January  the  maximimi  hourly  wind  reaches  a  velocity  of 
seventeen  miles  on  the  northern  parts  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
ct>asts,  decreasing  with  southward  progress,  while  the  inland  dis- 
tribution .shows  a  maximum  of  ten  to  thirteen  miles  per  hour  over 
the  (Sreat  Plains.  In  July,  the  maximum  hourly  wind  is  eleven 
to  thirteen  miles  on  the  -\tlantic  coast,  while  on  the  North 
Pacific  coast  there  is  a  very  small  maximum  (eight  miles),  but 
this  is  counterbalanced  by  the  very  high  velocity  of  eighteen 
miles  per  hour  on  the  central  Californian  coast.  A  reference  to 
the  wind  charts  shows  the  prevailing  conditions  much  better  than 
any  verbal  description  can  do. 

BnUctin  of  the  American  Mathematical  Society^  Xo.  9. 
(June  1895,  New  York). — Mr.  J.  dePerottgivesa  very  interesting 
sketch  of  Euclidian  arithmetic  in  connection  with  a  notice  of  the 
late  M.  Stieltjes'  contribution  tcj  the  Annales  dc  la  Faciiltc  dcs 
Sciences  dc  Toulouse,  vol.  iv.,  entitled  "  Sur  la  theorie  des 
nombres.'  M.  Stieltjes  had  it  in  contemplation  to  write  an  ex- 
tensive treatise  on  the  theory  of  numbers,  but  unhappily  his 
weak  health  and  final  untimely  death  prevented  his  getting 
beyond  the  paper  noticed  by  Mr.  de  Perott.  This  paper  is 
devoted  to  a  greatly  generalised  form  of  Euclid's  work.  "  It 
does  not  insist  on  the  definition  of  number,  nor  on  the  laws 
which  are  at  the  base  of  the  operations  we  perform  on  numbers, 
but  passes  immediately  to  the  exposition  of  the  chief  properties 
of  the  least  common  multiple  and  the  greatest  common  divisor 
of  numbers.  .  .  .  Poinsot  was  the  first,  I  think,  to  whom  it 
occurred  that  the  course  could  be  reversed.''  The  results  are 
expressed  in  a  very  symmetrical  form  by  the  author  of  the  note. 
— Mr.  G.  L.  Brownwrites  a  short  note  on  Holder's  theorem  con- 
cerning the  constancy  of  factor-groups,  and  Prof.  F.  Morley 
a  like  note  on  the  theory  of  three  similar  figures.  The  theory 
has  been  recently  given  in  the  sixth  edition  of  Casey's  "  Sequel 
to  Euclid,"  and  also  in  the  second  edition  of  his  "  Conies." 
Prof.  Morley' believes  that  something  is  to  be  said  in  favour  of 
an  appropriate  analytic  handling  of  the  theory,  and  gives  here 
some  preliminary  equations  in  a  convenient  form. 

Bollettino  della  Societa  Sisinologicd  Italiana,  I.,  1S95,  ^*'' 
3. — Microseismograph  for  continuous  registration,  by  Prof.  G. 
Vicentini  (see  p.  178.) — New  type  of  seismic  photochronograph 
and  its  applications,  by  -\.  Cancani.  ,\  description  of  an 
instrument  by  which  the  face  of  a  chronometer  is  photographed 
at  the  moment  of  the  shock  or  of  the  arrival  of  long-period 
pulsations  from  a  distant  earthquake. — Review  of  the  principal 
eruptive  phenomena  in  Sicily  and  the  adjacent  islands  during  the 
four  months  January- April,  1895,  by  S.  Archidiacono. — The. 
Viggianello  (Basilicata)  earthquake  of  May  28,  1894,  by  M. 
Baratta.  An  account  of  an  interesting  tectonic  earthquake. 
The  meizoseismal  area,  whicli  is  elliptical  and  only  about  17  km. 
long,  is  restricted  to  the  northern  slopes  of  .M.  Pollino.  This 
group  of  mountains  represents  the  northern  half  of  a  vast 
ellipsoid  of  dolomites  and  limestones,  traversed  by  great 
fractures,  which,  if  produced,  pass  through  Rotonda  and 
Viggianello,  the  towns  most  damaged  by  the  shock. — Notices  of 
Italian  earthquakes  (February-April,  1895). 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  22. — M.  Marey  in  the  chair. — 
Researches  on  the  composition  of  grapes  from  the  principal 
French  vines,  by  M.M.  Aime  Girard  and  L.  Lindet. — On  the 
osmotic  phenomena  produced  between  ether  and  methyl 
alcohol  across  ditferent  diaphragms,  by  M.  F.  M.  Raoult.  It  is 
found  that  with  ether  and  methyl  alcohol  on  the  respective  sides 
of  a  diaphragm  of  pigs  bladder,  the  methyl  alcohol  jiasses  by 
osmosis. to  the  ether  side.  The  bladder  membrane  appears  to 
be  impermeable  to  ether  ;  even  with  mixtures  the  transference 
is  always  of  methyl  alcohol  towards  the  side  where  it  is  of  less 
concentration.  Exactly  the  reverse  occurs  with  a  vulcanised 
caoutchouc  membrane,  which  is  impermeable  to  methyl  alcohol, 
but  permealile  to  ether.  The  experiments  show  :  ( i )  that 
osmosis  between  two  determined  liquids  may  not  only  vary 
nuich  in  energy,  but  even  change  its  sense  with  the  nature  of 
tlie  diaphragm  ;  (2)  that  the  osmotic  movement  of  substances 


oo^ 


NATURE 


[August   i,  1895 


across  the  diaphragm  niay  l)e  absolutely  inde|wndent  of  their 
molecular  weights  ami  of  their  condition  as  dissolved  substance 
or  solvent. — Action  of  phenyl  isocyanate  on  some  acids  and 
ethereal  salts,  by  M.  A.  llaller. — M.  Ketzius  was  elected 
Correspondant  of  the  Anatomy  and  Zoolc^'  Section,  in  succes- 
sion to  M.  Carl  Vogt. — Abnormal  refractions  at  the  surface 
of  water,  by  M.  Ch.  Uufour.  Attention  is  directed  to  a  source 
of  error,  due  to  irregular  refraction  caused  by  differences  in 
temperature  between  water  and  air  immediately  above  its  surface, 
which  may  arise  in  taking  the  latitude  or  determining  time  at  sea. 
— On  static  or  dynamic  explosive  potentials,  by  M.  R.  Swynge- 
dauw.  According  to  the  experiments  described,  the  explosive 
potential  between  two  poles  shielded  from  ultra-Wolet  radiations 
is  not  appreciably  diminished  by  very  small  and  very  rapid 
variations  of  potential. — On  a  phosphorescence  phenomenon 
obtained  in  tubes  containing  rarefied  nitrogen  after  the  passage 
of  the  electric  discharge,  by  M.  Gaston  Seguy.  In  presence  of 
xapours  of  stannic  chloride,  the  author  finds  the  light  emitted 
from  a  nitrogen  tutje  to  be  rose-coloured  during  the  discharge, 
and  milky  white  for  some  lO  to  So  seconds  after  interruption  of 
the  current. — On  the  electromotive  force  of  the  I^timer  Clark, 
Gouy,  and  Daniell  standards,  by  M.  C.  Limb.  The  values  found 
by  the  author's  method  for  the  elements  at  o°  C.  are  :  Latimer 
Clark  I  4535  volts  (absolute),  Gouy  I"392S  volts  (abs.),  Daniell 
(Fleming  type)  i  '0943  volts  (abs.). — On  Natterer's  tubes,  by  M. 
Gouy. — On  anhydrous  crystallised  manganese  sulphide,  by  M. 
A.  NiourloL  Crystallised  sulphide,  identical  with  alabandine, 
has  been  obtained  by  means  of  the  electric  furnace.  Small 
cubes  or  trans|»rent  derived  oclahedra  of  a  greenish  shade  are 
obtained.  They  have  the  density  3  92  and  hardness  3-5  to  4. 
— On  some  properties  of  combinations  of  ferrous  chloride  and 
nitric  o.xide,  by  M.  \'.  Thomas.  The  experiments  detailed  show 
that  the  three  compounds  pbtained  by  the  author  in  the  dr)-  way 
possess  no  appreciable  tension  of  dissociation  at  the  ordinary 
temperature,  and  hence  differ  from  the  comjiounds  obtained  in 
solution  by  M.  Gay. — On  some  alkaline  phosphides,  by  M.  C. 
Hugot. — Sjiecific  heats  of  superfused  formic  and  acetic  acids. 
Modifications  applied  to  Regnault"s  thermocalorimeter  to  enable 
the  determination  of  the  specific  heats  of  a  large  number  of 
superfused  liquids,  by  M.M.  Massol  and  Guillot.  The 
specific  heats  of  formic  and  acetic  acids  in  the  solid  state 
are  much  greater  than  their  sjxjcific  heats  in  the  liquid 
state.  The  sixsrific  heat  in  the  liquid  slate  diminishes  with  the 
temperature.  When  superfused,  the  specific  heat  is  slightly 
augmented,  but  remains  of  the  same  order  as  the  sixicific  heat  in 
the  liquid  .state.— Synthetic  formation  of  nitro-alcohols,  by  M. 
Louis  Henry. — Oxidation  of  inactive  camnholenic  acid,  by  M. 
A.  Behal. — On  the  constitution  of  vegetable  albumcnoid  sub- 
stances, by  M.  E.  Fleurent. — Influence  of  respiration  on  the 
volumetric  trace  of  the  limbs,  by  MM.  A.  Binct  and  J.  Courtier. 
— Modifications  of  the  heat  radiated  produced  by  faradisation, 
by  M.  L.  Lecercle.  An  account  of  the  local  rise  in  tcmiwrature 
produced  in  animals  by  electric  excitation,  and  its  effect  on  the 
general  tcmpeiaturc. — Aggravation  of  the  effects  of  certain 
microljc  toxines  by  their  |)ass.ige  through  the  liver,  by  MM.  J. 
-f — ....  ,.,,]  L_  Guinard. — \  contribution  to  the  histology  of 
L;lands,  by  M.M.  J.  Kunstler  and  A.  GruVel.— On  the 
t  the  magmas  of  certain  amphibole  granites,  by  M. 
A.  .Michel  Lc\7.— On  the  first  alcohol  ihcrmomcler  used  in 
I'aris,  by  M.  I'AblK-  Maze. 

Bkri.in. 

Physiological  Society,  June  7. — I'rof.  Munk,  I'resiilenl,  in 

the  chair.  —  I'rof.    l'>.Tginski    re|Kirted   on  ex|x;rimenls  m.ide,  in 

r  ■■   n   with   I>r.  Siimmerfcld,  on  bile   from    1 15  children. 

.wed  that,  in  com])ari.son  with  the  bile  of  .idults,  il 

mure  water  and  mucin  .and  less  bile-salt.s.   Il  contained 

no  urea  or  ethereal  sulphates,  and  in  the  ca.se  of   children   who 

hn'!  '!iH  'if 'liphihcria  it  was  free  from  bile-s.ilt.s.     Kxamin.ition 

'■  n  suffering  from  various  forms  of  nephritis 

■  I  an  abnormally  large  amount  of  xanthin 

Id  not  Ik:  accounted  for  by  any  breaking 

1^  or  blofKl  corpuscles.     Dr.    Benda  de- 

iidi  in  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  true 

ich  cause  corres|x)nding  furrows  in  the 

!inl  hyer.     They  can  be  readily  brought 

iliclium  by  macerating  in  dilute 

r   than   the   vocal  cords,  and 

arc  j-.iiino  .11  c.if  11  cmi.     i\.ir) ' .Kinetic  cell-division  can  often  l>e 

seen  taking  place  in  the  epithelial  layer. 


NO.    1344,  VOL.  52] 


June  21. — Prof,  du  Bois  Reymond,  President,  in  the  chair.— 
Dr.  Schuiz  spoke  on  the  anatomy  of  unstriated  muscles  in  verte- 
brates. He  finds  that  they  consist  of  elongateil  cells,  pointed  at 
each  end,  whose  length  is  very  variable  in  different  animals. 
Each  cell  consists  of  fibrils  imbedded  in  a  highly  refractive  inter- 
fibrillar  substance,  and  of  granules  and  a  nucleus  in  the  middle 
of  the  cell  with  two  nuclear  bodies.  Two  nuclei  in  one  cell  were 
only  seen  once  among  thousands  of  preparations.  The  fibrils 
interlace  with  each  other.  The  seiMrate  cells  are  not  held  to- 
gether by  any  cement-substance,  but  by  protoplasmic  threads 
and  branches.  The  transverse  striation  describe<l  by  many 
observers  appears  to  be  due  to  a  wrinkling  of  the  cell  resulting 
from  incomi)lete  extension  after  having  been  contracted.  Nerve 
fibres  are  very  plentiful.  With  methylene-bUie,  gold  chloride,  or 
by  Golgi's  method  numerous  ganglion-cells  can  be  brought  into 
view,  from  which  short  branches  are  distributed  to  the  muscle 
cells.  In  addition  to  these  numerous  ner\-e-fibrils  ran  be  seen 
ending  in  minute  bulbous  swellings  which  are  applied  to  the 
nmscle.  The  nerves  are  sensor)'  as  well  as  motor. — Dr. 
Cohnstein  re|X)rted  experiments  on  injecting  solutions  of  sugar 
into  the  blood-vessels,  in  support  of  his  views  on  the  formation 
of  lymph  in  opposition  to  Heidcnhain.  The  results  were  the 
same  as  on  the  injection  of  salt  solutions.  The  amount  of  sugar 
in  the  blood  rose  and  fell  very  rapidly,  whereas  it  rose  and  fell 
ver)'  slowly  in  the  lymph.  The  m.aximuni  of  sugar  observed  in 
the  lymph  w.as  equal  to  the  maximum  met  with  at  an  earlier 
stage  of  the  experiment  in  the  blood.  The  solitl  constituents  of 
the  blood  became  less  after  the  injection,  and  then  incrct-scd 
slowly  to  the  normal  :  in  the  lymph,  on  the  other  hand,  they 
increased  at  first  and  then  became  less.  After  the  injection  of 
sugar  the  blood  capillaries  of  a  frog's  web  were  considerably 
dilated  and  the  circulation  quickened.  Dr.  Cohnstein  interpreted 
these  results  ;is  indicating  an  initial  pass,age  of  water  from  the 
intercellular  spaces  into  the  blood-vessels,  followed  at  a  later 
stage  by  a  return  filtration  into  the  lymph,  lie  had  .also  observed 
a  diminution  in  the  .secretion  of  bile  after  the  injection  of  sugar, 
and  attributed  this  to  compression  of  the  bile  capillaries  resulting 
from  dilatation  of  the  blood  capillaries. 


i 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Linear  Differential  Equations.  Hy  G.  B.  M.  .  .  .  313 
The  Researches  of  Tesla.  By  Prof.  A.  Gray  .  .  .  314 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

I'cjck  :     "  An    Introduction    to    Chemical    Crystallo- 
graphy"   315 

Bastin  :       "  Laboratory      Exercises      in    Botany."' — 

D.   H.  S 316 

Heysinger :     "  The    Source     and     Mode    of    Solar 

Energy"      316 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

The    Huxley   .Memorial. — Sir  Joseph    D.   Hooker, 

K.C.S.I.,  F.R.S 316 

The    Kinetic    Theory  of   Gases. — S.    H.   Burbury, 

F.R.S 316 

On  Skew  Probiibility  Curves.— Prof  Karl  Pearson     317 
Evolution  or  Epigcncsis  ?—H.  Croft  Hiller  ....     317 

A  .Sound-producing  Insect. — J.  R.  Holt 318 

A  Few  more  Words  on  Thomas  Henry  Huxley.  By 

Prof  Michael  Foster,  F.R.S 318 

Dr.  Friedrich  Tietjen 320 

The     Maxim     Flying     Machine.       (IlluslraieJ.)      liy 

Prof.   A.  G.  Grccnhill,  F.R.S '     321    I 

Notes     325  I 

Our  Astronomical  Column: —  I 

Terrestrial  Helium 327  ; 

Ephemeris  for  Barnard's  Comet,  1884  11 327  1 

The  Aug\isl  Meteors 327 

The   Sun's  Place   in  Nature.     IX.     liy  J.    Norman 

Lockycr,  C.B.,  F.R.S 327 

The  International  Geographical  Congress    ....    329 
Helium,    a    Constituent    of    Certain    Minerals.      II. 
By  Prof.  William  Ramsay,  F.R.S.,  Dr.  J.  Norman 

Collie,  an. I  Morris  Travcrs         331 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 334 

Scientific  Serials 335 

Societies  and  Academies 335 


NA  TURE 


THURSDAY,  Al'GL'ST   8,   1895. 


THE  STUDY  OF  INSECTS. 
A  Manual  for  the  Study  of  Insects.     B\-  Prof.  John  Hcnrj- 
Comstock   and   Anna    Botsford    Comstock.     I'p.    701. 
(Ithaca,  X.Y. :  Comstock,  1895.) 

THE  present  work  is  very  much  on  the  same  lines 
as  Dr.  Packard's  well-known  ''(luide  to  the  -Study 
of  Insects,"  though  somewhat  more  popular,  and  dealing 
still  more  exclusively  with  North  American  entomology, 
of  which,  on  the  whole,  it  furnishes  an  admirable  com- 
pendium. It  is  got  up  in  a  verj-  attractive  form,  and  is 
crowded  with  illustrations,  the  woodcuts  being  chiefly 
from  engravings  from  nature  by  Mrs.  Comstock. 

The  first  chapter  is  devoted  to  a  brief  e.xplanation  of 
the  principles  of  zoological  classification  and  nomen- 
clature, in  the  course  of  which  we  meet  with  a  system 
of  trinomial  nomenclature  for  sub-species,  or  constant 
varieties,  which  has  not  hitherto  been  much  patronised 
by  entomologists.  Thus,  with  reference  to  a  common 
American  swallow-tail.  Prof  Comstock  writes  : 

"  This  name,  Jasoniades  glaucus,  is  used  when  re- 
ference is  made  to  the  species  as  a  whole.  But  if  one 
wishes  to  refer  to  the  black  form  alone,  it  is  distinguished 
as  Jasoniades  glaucus  };laucus  ;  while  the  yellow  form 
is  distinguished  i\s  Jasoniades  i^laucus  turnus." 

Surely  this  is  too  complicated  and  clumsy  a  system 
for  ordinary  use  ! 

The  second  chapter  deals  w  ith  "  Insects  and  their  near 
relatives,"  and  includes  a  brief  definition  of  the  branch 
(or,  as  it  is  more  commonly  called  in  England,  sub- 
kingdom)  .Xrthropoda,  and  a  table  of  the  four  classes 
Crustacea,  Arachnida,  Myriapoda,  and  Hexapoda,  or 
insects.  The  Crustacea  and  Myriapoda  arc  very  briefly 
noticed,  though  a  few  typical  forms  of  each  are  figured  ; 
but  the  Arachnida  recei\e  more  attention,  the  orders 
and  principal  families,  especially  of  the  Arancida,  being 
briefly  discussed,  with  notices  of  their  chief  peculiarities 
and  habits.  .\s  an  illustration  of  the  author's  style  in 
the  more  popular  parts  of  his  book,  as  well  as  embody- 
ing a  curious  phase  of  cannibalism,  we  may  c|uote  the 
following  passage  from  p.  24  :  — 

"  Fig.  23  represents  the  large  egg-sac  of  one  of  the 
cobweavers.  This  is  made  in  the  autumn,  and  contains 
at  that  season  a  large  number  of  eggs — five  hundred  or 
more.  These  eggs  hatch  early  in  the  winter  ;  but  no 
spiders  emerge  from  the  egg-sac  until  the  following 
spring.  If  egg-sacs  of  this  kind  be  opened  at  different 
times  during  the  winter,  as  was  done  by  Dr.  Wilder, 
1  the  spiders  will  be  found  to  increase  in  size,  but  diminish 
in  number  as  the  season  advances.  In  fact,  a  strange 
tragedy  goes  on  within  these  egg-sacs  ;  the  stronger 
spiders  calmly  devour  their  weaker  brethren,  and  in  the 
spring,  those  which  survive  emerge  sufficiently  nourished 
to  fight  their  battles  in  the  outside  world." 

The  remaining  chapters  are  taken  up  with  a  sketch 
of  the  seventeen  orders  of  insects  admitted  by  Prof 
Comstock,  with  special,  and  indeed  almost  exclusive, 
reference  to  the  North  .•\merican  species.  These  chapters 
diflbr  very  much  in  length  and  importance,  the  space 
allotted  to  some  of  the  smaller  orders  being  barely  a 
couple  of  pages,  while  the  chapter  on  I.epidoptera  alone 
01  (uincs  nearly  a  third  of  the  volume. 
NO.    1345.  VOL.   52] 


The  interest  of  the  book  is  much  enhanced  by  the 
illustrations  ;  and  in  speaking  of  the  Mendiracidie,  one 
of  the  families  of  Hontoptera,  Dr.  Comstock  observes  : 
"  .Nature  must  have  been  in  a  joking  mood  when  tree- 
hoppers  were  developed  "  ;  and  the  row  of  "  odd  fellows  " 
at  the  foot  of  p.  154,  where  this  observation  occurs,  fully 
bears  out  the  remark. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  book  is  too 
popular  to  appeal  to  serious  students  ;  far  from  it.  Some 
of  the  smaller  orders  of  insects  are,  indeed,  passed  over 
with  but  slight  notice  ;  but  in  the  larger  ones,  we  meet 
with  elaborate  descriptions  of  structure,  and  dichotomous 
tables  of  the  principal  families,  which  are  afterwards 
discussed  in  greater  detail,  and  in  most  cases  one  or 
more  of  the  representative  .American  species  are  figured, 
frequently  with  transformations. 

.Vlthough,  as  a  rule,  .\merica  suffers  more  from  insect 
pests  than  Europe,  yet  there  seem  to  be  exceptions  which 
we  should  hardly  anticipate.  Thus  Prof  Comstock  in 
forms  us  (p.  103;  that  "  The  earwigs  are  rare  in  the  .Nortli- 
Eastern  United  States,  but  are  more  often  found  in  the 
South  and  on  the  Pacific  coast,"  and  the  native  .American 
cockroaches  also  are  regarded  by  him  (p.  106)  as  harm- 
less, the  destructive  species,  as  in  England,  being  all 
imported  insects.  Among  these,  he  mentions  the  "  Croton 
Bug,"  as  he  calls  Phyllodromia  germanica,  as  infesting 
"the  vicinity  of  the  pipes  of  the  water-systems  of  many 
of  our  cities."  In  England,  this  species  is  particularly 
numerous  m  bakeries. 

Under  the  Ftdgoridce  (Lantern-flies),  Prof  Comstock 
refers  to  "the  fact  that  they  are  phosphorescent,"  ap- 
parently being  unaware  that  the  statement  is  very  greatly 
doubted,  though  it  is  perhaps  premature  to  say  that  it 
has  been  actually  disproved. 

-A  great  many  figures  of  neuration  of  Lepidoptera  and 
other  insects  are  given,  all  numbered  according  to  a 
uniform  system  which  Prof  Comstock  has  adopted 
from  Redtenbacher,  with  modifications  of  his  own,  but 
which  is  unfortunately  not  fully  explained  in  the  work 
before  us. 

English  names  are  given  to  most  of  the  insects  noticed, 
some  of  them  being  rather  grotesque.  Thus,  at  p.  274, 
we  find  a  figure  of  ''The  Firstborn  (leometer"  {Hrephos 
in/ans),  with  the  explanation  on  the  following  page  : 
"  .\s  this  is  probably  the  most  primitive  geometer  occur- 
ring in  our  fauna,  we  suggest  the  popular  name  Firstborn 
for  it."  This  is  not  the  first  occasion  on  which  we  have 
had  occasion  to  animadvert  on  the  introduction  of  crude 
speculations  on  the  course  of  evolution,  as  if  they  were 
established  or  probable  facts. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  noticing  that  Prof  Comstock 
places  the  Lepidoptera  between  the  Mynneleonidce  and 
the  Diptera.  He  has  a  peculiar  classification  of  his  own, 
which  we  have  not  space  to  indicate  in  detail  ;  but  he 
makes  the  Ilepialidic  and  Micropterygidu-  a  separate 
sub-order  under  the  name  of  Jugatcc,  and  after  it  he 
places  the  Frenatcc,  in  which  he  includes  all  the  re- 
maining families,  commencing  with  the  Megalopygidie, 
l'.tychid(r,  Cossidce,  &c.,  and  ending  with  the  "super- 
family  "  Satur/tiina,  the  "  families "  Lacosomidie  and 
LasiocampidiT  (apparenth-  not  referred  to  any  "super- 
family"),  and  the  butterflies,  including  the  "super-families" 
Hesperiimx  and  I'apilionina,  in  a  reversed  order,  terminal- 


33^ 


NA  rURE 


[August  8,  1895 


ing  with  the  Nymphalids,  sub-family  Salyruur.  In  the 
butterflies,  Dr.  Scudder  has  been  chiefly  followed. 

The  family  Papilionidir  supplies  us  with  an  illustration 
that  the  book  is  only  written  primarily  for  .-Vmerican 
students  ;  for  the  Piipilioiiincc  are  distinguished  by  the 
black  ground-colour,  the  tail, and  the  fi\e-branched  radius 
of  the  fore-wings  ;  and  the  Pariuissiimc  by  the  white  tail- 
less wings  and  four-branched  radius,  characters  not 
universally  exact,  though  amply  sufficient  to  distinguish 
the  North  .\merican  forms. 

.\  curious  fact  is  noticed  by  Prof.  Comstock  with  re- 
ference to  the  Garden  Whiles.  He  tells  us  that  the 
native  .American  species — Pieris  olcracca  and  Poii/ia  pro- 
toiiitc — have  both  become  greatly  lessened  in  numbers 
by  the  increase  of  the  imported  European  Pieris  rapcF. 

.\nother  curious  fact  noticed  by  Prof.  Comstock  is  that 
the  dog-flea  is  the  common  flea  of  the  United  .States,  the 
true  Pulex  irritans  being  comparatively  rare  :  while  the 
importance  of  counter-checks  in  agricultural  entomology 
is  illustrated  by  the  author's  remark:  ''Nothing  more 
wonderful  has  been  accomplished  in  economic  entomology 
than  the  subduing  in  California  of  the  cottony-cushion 
scale  by  the  introduction  from  .Australia  of  a  lady-bug, 
Veiialia,  which  feeds  upon  it." 

We  cordially  commend  Prof  Comstock's  book  to 
European,  and  especially  to  British,  entomologists  :  for, 
although  it  is  written  mainly  for  .American  students,  it 
contains  much  which  entomologists  of  other  nations  will 
find  both  useful  and  instructive.  W.  V.  K. 


AGRICULTURE  AND  HORTICULTURE. 
Agriculture,  Praclical  and  Scientific.     By  James   Muir, 

M.R..A.C.     Pp.350.     (London:   Macmillan,  1895.) 
Agriculture.      By    R.    Hedger  Wallace.      (London  and 

Edinburgh  :  W.  and  K.  Chambers,  1895.) 
Tlie  HorticulturisCs  Rule-lionk.     By  L.  H.  Bailey.     Third 

edition.      (London  and   New   York  :     Macmillan   and 

Co.,  1895.) 

PROF.  MUIR'S  neat  and  presentable  volume  is 
the  latest  claimant  upon  the  indulgence  of  the 
agricultural  public,  the  number  of  readers — and  what  is 
more  to  the  point,  the  number  of  students — amongst 
whom  is  undoubtedly  steadily  increasing.  Commencing 
with  a  discussion  of  the  plant,  the  author  speedily  falls 
back  upon  the  soil  as  the  staple  of  his  discourse,  though 
parenthetically  he  introduces  a  chapter  on  plant  food  in 
the  soil.  Then  we  get  the  inevitable  section  on  the 
IJritish  geological  formations,  which  has  about  as  much 
relation  to  the  living  art  of  agriculture  as  a  list  of  our 
kings  and  queens  has  to  a  true  understanding  of  English 
hislor)'.  Drainage,  irrigation,  and  other  processes  for 
ameliorating  the  soil  are  next  discussed,  and  then  half  a 
dozen  chapters  are  devoted  to  the  important  subject  of 
manures.  Implements  and  machines  are  next  briefly 
glanced  at,  and  the  remainder  of  the  book  is  occupied 
by  chapters  on  the  chief  crops  of  British  agriculture. 
We  believe  that,  well-worn  as  the  theme  is,  there  is  still 
rtM>m  for  novelty  in  the  treatment  of  agriculture  as  a  book 
subject,  but  Prof.  Muir  does  not  appear  to  have  hit 
upon  iu 

Live-stock  constitute  the  backbone — the  sheet-anchor 

NO.    1345,  VOL.  52] 


— of  British  agriculture,  and  to  omit  all  reference  to  this 
indispensable  section  of  our  greatest  national  industry  in 
a  book  bearing  the  comprehensive  title  of  the  volume 
under  notice,  is  a  blemish  upon  the  work.  No  one 
would  ever  infer  from  its  name  that  the  volume  is  silent 
upon  the  great  subject  of  sheep  husbandry,  which  has 
become  so  inextricably — and  we  may  <idd  so  ad\an- 
tageously— interwoven  with  the  arable  farming  of  this 
country.  Nor  would  any  one  expect,  in  a  book  on 
".Agriculture,  Practical  and  Scientific,''  to  find  no 
allusion  to  the  milk-pail  and  the  cows  that  fill  it,  and 
no  mention  of  the  butter  and  cheese  industries.  The 
author  recognises  that  agriculture  embraces  "  the  breed- 
ing, feeding,  and  man.igement  of  all  kinds  of  farm  live- 
stock," but  it  is  not  till  the  reader  begins  perusing  its 
pages,  that  he  learns  that  the  work  "  will  not  attempt  to 
deal  with"  this  part  of  the  subject.  In  this  matter,  the 
author  had  nobody  but  himself  to  please,  and  all  we 
venture  to  say  is  that  the  title  of  the  volume  should 
have  fitted  its  contents.  .A  work  on  "agriculture"  that 
ignores  live-stock  might  fairly  be  compared  to  a  treatise 
on  chemistry  that  made  no  mention  of  carbon. 

The  part  of  the  work  that  is  best  done  is  that  relating 
to  crops,  and  had  Prof  Muir  chosen  to  confine  himself 
to  this  branch  of  farming,  he  would  not  have  acted  un- 
wisely. His  skilful  treatment  of  this  section  of  the  sub- 
ject serves  to  revive  the  recollection  of  John  Wilson's 
admirable  work  in  the  middle  of  the  century.  But  the 
most  important  cropping  of  all — that  of  grass  land  -is 
inade(.|ualcly  treated,  though  it  is  abundantly  evident, 
from  the  few  pages  allotted  to  this  subject,  that  the  author 
might  usefully  have  given  more  space  to  it  at  the  expense 
of  one  or  two  perfunctory  chapters  which  would  not  have 
been  missed.  The  processes  of  hay-making  and  ensilage 
are  well  described,  yet  here  again  the  idea  arises  that 
the  author  felt  he  was  approaching  his  limits,  and  the 
result  is  that  he  appears  to  exercise  a  restraint 'which 
we  feel  sure  has  operated  to  the  disailvantage  of  the 
reader.  .A  feature  of  the  work  that  will  be  much  appre- 
ciated is  that  it  reproduces  in  a  handy  form  many  of  the 
tabular  statements  that  have  from  time  to  time  been 
published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural 
Society  of  England.  Three  dozen  illustrations  accom- 
pany the  text,  and  those  of  seeds  are  particularly  note- 
worthy for  iheir  fidelity. 

Commending  the  book,  then,  for  its  triistwoilliy  tioal- 
ment  of  farm  crops,  we  may  notice  one  or  two  features 
that  seem  to  call  for  criticism.  The  index  is  sometimes 
relied  upon  for  the  introduction  of  terms  not  given  in 
the  text.  Thus,  "nitrification  "  is  indexed  as  dealt  with 
at  page  25,  turning  to  which  the  reader  finds  the  process 
described,  but  no  name  given  to  it,  unless  perchance  the 
term  "oxidation  "  is  inadvertently  used  instead.  Other 
similar  cases  occur.  .A  highly  important  subject  to 
farmers,  the  temperature  of  germination,  is  surely 
awarded  scant  treatment  when  it  is  dismissed  in  the 
brief  paragraph  :  "The  temperature  most  favourable  to 
germination  varies  in  the  seeds  of  different  plants." 
Such  frequent  recourse  is  made  by  the  author  to  the 
work  of  Lawes  and  C.ilbert,  that  it  is  regrettable  he  did 
not  imitate  the  consistency  with  which  they  employ  the 
term  "nodules"  to  denote  the  outgrowths  on  the  roots  of 
papilionaceous  plants.     The   repeated   use  of  the  word 


August  8,  1895] 


NATURE      t,!^ 


339 


'"tubercle''  can  only  lead  to  confusion,  especially  now 
that,  in  connection  with  bovine  and  other  tuberculosis,  it 
is  so  frequently  heard  at  aj^ricultural  gatherings.  Several 
peculiarities  in  spelling,  adhered  to  throughout  the  work, 
might  in  a  new  edition  be  brought  into  conformity  with 
general  usage  :  examples  are  afforded  in  Telletia,  Cecyd- 
oiiiyia,  Ccntorhyiichus,  Si/o/t^,  C/ionopo:iiii»i,  Cliwiceps 
purpura. 

It  is  difficult  to  understand  wh\'  the  second  of  the 
volumes  of  which  the  titles  head  this  notice  has  been 
prepared,  unless  it  be  to  find  favour  with  candidates  in 
a  certain  specified  examination,  the  syllabus  of  which, 
however,  the  author  tells  us,  "  has  not  been  slavishly 
followed."  The  really  valuable  parts  of  the  book  have 
apparently  been  culled  from  the  writings  of  five  living 
agricultural  authors  whose  names  are  mentioned  in  the 
preface,  and  who,  if  they  turn  over  the  pages  of  this 
compilation,  can  hardly  fail  to  alight  upon  much  that 
they  have  seen  before.  It  is  regrettable  that  the  author 
did  not  cling  to  his  guides  throughout.  He  would  not 
in  that  case  have  said  of  sainfoin  :  "  In  appearance  the 
lea\es  resemble  those  of  vetches,  but  the  blossom  is 
more  like  that  of  red  clover."  Apart  from  the  worth- 
lessness  of  such  a  statement  as  this,  it  cannot  fail  to 
raise  a  doubt  as  to  whether  the  author  has  e\er  seen 
a  field  of  sainfoin,  .\gain,  with  reference  to  lucerne, 
we  read  :  "  Like  sainfoin,  it  produces  good  crops  for 
about  ten  years."  Where,  we  would  ask,  is  the  district 
in  which  sainfoin  stands  for  anythmg  like  this  period  ? 
What  is  meant  by  the  statement  that  "  sainfoin  is  much 
harder  than  lucerne "  ?  The  germination  of  a  seed  is 
described  as  "the  period  parallel  to  the  sucking  of  a 
young  mammal ";  and  elsewhere  we  read,  "nitrification 
goes  on  or  acts  more  quickly  under  circumstances  favour- 
able for  rapid  growth,  and  in  this  respect  is  parallel  to 
germination."  Nothing,  perhaps,  indicates  the  character 
of  the  book  more  thoroughly  than  the  page  of  illustra- 
tions entitled  "  \'arious  Specimens  of s  Grass  .Seeds." 

We  omit  the  name  of  the  seedsman,  who  jjrobably 
would  be  sorr)'  to  claim  that  a  seed  of  rye-grass,  for 
example,  sold  by  him  is  difterent  from  all  other  rye- 
grass seed. 

The  350  pages  of  the  book  are  di\  ided  into  no  fewer 
than  70  chapters.  Inter  a/in  a  treatise  on  chemistry 
is  introduced,  with  figures  of  a  spirit-lamp  and  test- 
tube.  From  a  chapter  on  "  Blossoms  and  their  func- 
tions," wo  cull  the  following  specimen  of  literary  grace : 
"  We  are  apt  to  look  upon  them  merely  as  objects 
1  reated  to  feast  man's  eye  with  their  beauty,  or  his  nose 
with  their  sweet  scent."  The  language  of  the  book  is 
of  an  irritating  style,  which  is  constantly  in  evidence 
from  the  grammatical  blunder  at  the  close  of  the  pre- 
face down  to  the  final  chapter,  in  which  reference  is 
made  to  what  "the  plant  needs  to  live  healthy."  It 
is,  however,  only  fair  to  add  that,  at  the  outset,  the 
author  writes  :  "It  has  been  my  endeavour  to  a\oid 
errors." 

The  sub-title  of  .Mr.  L.  H.  Hailey's  book— "  .A.  com- 
pendium of  useful  information  for  fruit-growers,  truck- 
gardeners,  florists,  and  others  "—indicates  its  scope. 
In  a  score  of  chapters  such  subjects  are  dealt  with  as 
injurious  insects,  insecticides,  plant  diseases,  fungicides, 
lawns,  grafting,  seeding,  storing  of  fruits  and  vegetables, 

NO.    1345,   VOL.   52] 


the  weather,  and  many  other  matters  of  practical  interest. 
It  is  stated  in  the  preface  :  "  The  contents  of  the  volume 
ha\e  been  gleaned  from  many  sources  ;  and,  whilst  the 
compiler  cannot  assume  the  responsibility  of  the  value 
of  the  many  recipes  and  recommendations,  he  has  ex- 
ercised every  care  to  select  only  those  which  he  con- 
siders to  be  reliable."  The  result  is  a  most  valuable 
book,  and  though  intended  primarily  for  American 
readers,  it  will  none  the  less  constitute  a  useful  reference 
manual  for  horticulturists  in  this  country.  We  notice, 
with  regard  to  potato  disease,  that  it  is  recommended 
to  spray  the  plants  with  Bordeaux  mixture  "upon  the 
first  indication  of  the  blight."  It  would  probably  be 
better  to  follow  the  advice,  recently  published  by  the 
Irish  Land  Commission,  to  spray  before  the  appearance 
of  disease,  and  thus  employ  the  application  as  a  preven 
tive  rather  than  a  remedial  measure.  It  is  when  the 
reader  meets  H-ith  such  a  remark  as  the  "  marsh-marigold 
or  so-called  cowslip,"  that  he  must  bear  in  mind  the 
.■\merican  origin  of  tlie  book.  There  is  probably  no  better 
work  of  its  kind. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Electrical  Laboratory  Notes  and  Forms.  Arranged  and 
prepared  by  Dr.  J.  .\.  Fleming,  F.R.S.  (London  :  The 
Electrician  Printing  and  Publishing  Co.) 

It  is  now  generally  recognised  that  the  best  way  to 
teach  the  rudiments  of  science  is  by  the  natural  or 
kindergarten  method,  which  aims  at  leading  the  young 
student  to  observe  facts  and  phenomena  for  himself,  and 
come  to  conclusions  concerning  them.  The  method  is 
applied  easily  enough  to  very  elementary  practical  work, 
and  with  the  best  results.  In  the  case  of  elementary 
work  in  physics,  all  the  student  requires  to  be  told  is 
what  to  do,  and  he  may  be  left  to  find  the  teaching  of  his 
results.  For  instance,  it  is  only  necessary  to  instruct 
him  to  find  the  weights  of  equal  bulks  of  different  liquids 
and  solids,  and  the  results  of  his  experiments  show  him 
at  once  what  relative  density  means.  This  principle  of 
letting  the  results  of  experiments  suggest  conclusions  is 
undoulitedly  the  right  one  for  introductory  courses  of 
practical  physics  and  chemistry  ;  indeed,  almost  the  only 
information  that  need  be  given  to  the  students  in  the 
laboratory  is  how  to  set  up  their  simple  a])paratus  and 
what  to  do  with  it  :  nothing  ought  to  be  said  about  what 
they  are  going  to  prove,  or  the  experiments  lose  their 
value  of  developing  the  faculties  of  acute  observation  and 
intelligent  induction  from  the  observed  facts. 

.•\dvanced  work  in  physics  and  chemistry  offers 
difficulties  to  the  extension  of  the  scientific  method  of 
observation  and  induction.  The  time  spent  in  the 
laboratories  is  far  too  short  to  enable  students  to  re- 
discover the  more  intricate  laws  and  relationships  for 
themselves,  however  admirable  the  mental  training  of 
such  researches  may  be  ;  and  if  the  instruments  are  all 
arranged  so  that  it  is  only  necessary  to  press  a  knob  to 
make  them  act,  and  obtain  a  result,  the  value  of  the 
mechanical  observations  then  made  cannot  be  very  great. 
The  difficulty  of  applying  the  scientific  method  to 
physical  laboratory  work  is  brought  out  by  the  \  olume 
before  us.  The  \olume  contains  twenty  elementary  and 
twenty  advanced  exercises  in  electrical  measurement. 
Each  exercise  consists  of  a  six-page  sheet,  two  pages 
of  which  are  occupied  with  a  condensed  account  of  the 
theoretical  and  practical  instructions  for  performing  the 
particular  experiment,  while  the  remaining  pages  are  ruled 
up  in  lettered  columns,  to  be  filled  in  by  the  student  with 
the  results  of  his  observations.     What  the  student  does 


)40 


NA  TURE 


[Aic.usT  8,  1S95 


is  really  to  test  the  accuracy  of  fonnute,  mostly  arrived 
at  by  theoretical  considerations  :  the  work  is  therefore 
purely  deductive,  and  not  inductive.  Vet  it  is  difficult  to 
see  how  to  make  the  work  covered  by  these  notes 
anything  but  deductive  ;  certainly  no  better  system  of 
teaching  practically  the  elements  of  electrical  engineering 
has  so  far  been  developed. 

By  means  of  Dr.  Fleming's  notes  and  a  little  oral 
assistance  now  and  then,  the  student  «iU  be  able  to 
perform  instructive  experiments,  and  will  be  taught  to 
obser\e  closely,  and  to  record  his  results  neatly.  The 
method  followed  facilitates  the  work  of  the  demonstrator 
and  the  student,  and  enables  a  large  amount  of  practical 
work  to  be  carried  out  in  a  comparatively  short  time. 

Microbes  and  Disease  Demons.     By  Dr.  Berdoe.     Pp.  93. 

(Swan  Sonnenschein  and  Co.,  1895.) 
Uniier  the  above  sensational  title  the  writer  discusses, 
or  rather  attacks,  the  anti-toxin  treatment  of  diphtheria. 
It  is  difficult  to  understand  what  has  prompted  the  pro- 
duction of  so  prejudiced  and,  we  regret  to  say,  unscientific 
comment  upon  this  subject.  We  most  emphatically  take 
exception  to  such  expressions  as  "scientific  quackery," 
and  others  of  a  similar  character,  being  applied  to  in- 
vestigations of  which,  although  the  therapeutic  value  may 
be  as  yet  a  question  of  opinion,  undoubtedly  mark  a  new 
step  forward  in  our  endeavour  to  unravel  the  problems 
surrounding  disease. 

We  have  no  intention  of  discussing  Dr.  Berdoe's  views 
in  detail,  but  we  feel  ourselves  called  upon  to  refer  to 
one  statement,  because  the  writer  has  used  it  as  a  \  antage 
ground  for  his  most  savage  attack  upon  this  method  of 
treating  diphtheria.  We  refer  to  the  death  in  Brooklyn 
alleged  to  have  resulted  from  the  injection  of  some  of 
the  anti-toxin.  .Several  pages  are  devoted  to  a  detailed 
account  of  the  incidents  of  the  case,  and  Dr.  Berdoe  does 
not  hesitate  to  designate  it  as  "sudden  death  from  anti- 
toxin." This,  however,  is  not  the  view  of  the  Brooklyn 
Health  Department,  or  of  authorities  in  the  Bacteriological 
Laboratory  of  the  New  York  City  Board  of  Health,  in 
both  of  which  institutions  the  anti-toxin  used  was  sub- 
mitted to  a  very  careful  and  exhaustive  examination,  and 
the  official  opinion  given  that  it  was  not  responsible  for 
the  death  of  the  patient. 

The  case  for  or  against  the  anti-toxin  treatment  of 
diphtheria  is  not  one  which  should  lie  approached  from 
a  party  point  of  view,  and  such  prejudiced,  \aporous 
■effusions  as  Dr.  Berdoe  has  permitted  himself  to  indulge 
in,  will  never  take  any  part  in  deciding  the  question  of 
its  efficiency.  To  arrive  at  any  such  positive  conclusion 
is  of  necessity  a  matter  upon  which  lime  and  experience 
can  alone  give  the  final  verdict,  and  its  discussion  should 
only  be  entrusted  to  those  who  are  capable  of  approaching 
the  subject  in  a  scientific  and  judicial  spirit. 

Men-gu-yu-mu-Isi ;  or.  Memoirs  of  the  Mongol  IZncamp- 
menls.     Translated  from  the  Chinese  by  I'.  .S.  Popov, 
Russian  (lencral  Consul  at  Peking.     580  pp.     {Memoirs 
of   llic     Russian    Gcogrnpliical     Society,    vol.     xxi\.  ; 
Russian.)     (.St.  J'etersburg,  1895.) 
This  is  the  work  of  two  Chinese  men  of  science,   Chjan- 
mu,  or  .Shi-chjou,  author  of  a  history  of  Jinghiz  khan's 
conquests,  and     Khc-tsyu-tao,    author    of    several    geo- 
graphical works,  of  which  the  description  of  the  northern 
borderlands  is  best  known.     It  was  published  in   China 
in     1867,   and    consists    of    two    parts :    a    description 
of  the  different  tribes  and  confederations  into  which  the 
Mongols   arc   divided,   with  short  notes  on  the  extent  of 
the  territories  they  occupy,  and  short  historical  notices — 
the  whole  cf)vering  only  about   160  pages  of  the  Russian 
edition— and  a  great  number  of  most   interesting   foot- 
notes, which   rover  more  than  two-thirds  of  (he  volume, 
and  contain  a  great  variety  of  miscellaneous  geographical 
and  historical  informaticm. 

NO.    1345,  VOL.  52] 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[  The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  f.v- 
pressed  by  his  correspondents.      Neither  can   he  undertake  j 
to   return,    or  to  correspond  with    the  writers  of,    refected  ■ 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature.    ■ 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.  ] 

University  of  London  Election. 

I  HAVK  read  the  lellcrs  which  Mi.  Bennett.  .Mi.  Thisolion- 
Dyer,  .ind  Prof.  R.iy  Lankesler  have  addressed  you  on  the 
subject  of  the  University  of  London,  and  much  regret  that  my 
friends,  whose  opinion  I  value  so  much,  take  exception  to  one 
paragraph  in  my  letter  to  Prof.  Foster.  I  do  not  wish  to  seem 
to  treat  their  views  with  any  want  of  respect,  and  perhaps, 
therefore,  you  will  allow  me  to  send  a  few  lines  in  reply. 

They  all  criticise  the  sentence  in  which  I  state  that  I  should 
endeavour  to  maintain  the  right  of  Convocation  given  in  the 
Charter,  which  expressly  provides  that  no  alteration  should  he 
made  in  the  constit  ition  of  the  University  without  the  assent  of 
Convocation. 

Prof.  Ray  Lankester  says  that  "  Sir  John  Luhbock  has 
adopted  and  made  himself  the  leader  of  this  extraordinary  and 
fantastic  policy."  Whether  it  is  extraordinary  and  fantastic  or 
not,  is  of  course  a  matter  of  opinion,  but,  at  any  rate,  it  is  the 
law  at  present. 

I  am  satisfied  that  my  constituents  highly  value  this  right, 
and  I  fail  to  understand  how  Mr.  Thiselton-Dyer  has  been  alile 
to  persuade  himself  that  in  endeavouring  to  maintain  it  I  am 
taking  a  line  "not  courteous  to  Convocation,"  or  have  given 
'"Convocation  the  severest  slap  in  the  face  it  has  ever  received."' 

Prof  Ray  Lankester  .also  says  that  I  "have  shown  an  un- 
favourable estimate  of  the  intelligence"  of  my  constituents. 
This  is  such  an  cxtraordinar)'  version  (not  to  s;iy  perversion)  of 
what  I  said,  that  I  trust  you  will  allow  me  to  quote  my  own 
words.      What  I  said  w.is — 

"  Keeling  that  Convocation  ought  to  be  consulted  on  a  m.atter 
so  vitally  aft'ecting  the  University,  I  should  strongly  urge,  and 
would  do  my  best  to  secure,  that  the  scheme  when  arraiigeil 
should  be  submitted  to  Convocation  for  their  approval,  to  be 
signified  .is  at  a  senatorial  election,  and  would  oppose  the  Hill 
unless  this  were  conceded." 

Why  should  this  proposal  appear  to  my  friends  as  being,  in 
.Mr.  Bennett's  words,  fatal  to  "  all  hopes  of  bringing  tiur  I'niver- 
sity  into  line  with  the  requirements  of  the  .age  ""  ?  The  Coniinis- 
sinners  will  either  propound  a  wise  scheme  or  an  unwise  one. 
.My  critics  believe  that  it  will  be  wise.  Why,  then,  should  they 
assume  that  Convocation  will  reject  it  ?  .\i  any  rate  it  is  an  ex- 
traordinary reason  for  attacking  me  as  a  Member  of  Parliament, 
that  I  have  faith  in  the  good  sense  and  sound  judgment  of  my 
constituents.  John  LfiiROCK.    ■ 

High  Kims,  July  30. 


Metrical  Relations  of  Plane  Spaces  of  »  Manifoldness. 
Pl.ANK  spaces  of  n    manifolilness  arc   assumed    to    have  the 
following  properties  : — 

(1)  Civen  a  S„-,  (a  plane  space  of  «  -  I  manifoldness)  and  a 
point  P  outside  the  same,  then  a  certain  S„  will  exist  which 
contains  both  the  .S„. ,  and  P. 

It  follows  therefore  that  a  S,,  is  determined  by  h  -t-  I  of  its 
points,  unless  these  points  have  that  special  situation  to  each 
other  by  virtue  of  which  they  are  contained  in  a  plane  space  of 
minor  manifoldness. 

(2)  If  a  plane  space  .S„  contains  n  +  I  points,  which  have 
not  the  special  situation  to  e.ach  other  above  mentioned,  then  it 
will  Contain  the  plane  space  .S„,  determined  by  these  points. 

It  therefore  appears  that  //  -I-  I  points  ileterminc  a  S« 
uniquely. 

(liven  a  straight  line  L  and  any  point  P  upon  the  same; 
through  L  any  numlier  of  planes  can  be  constructed,  each  of 
which  contains  a  certain  line  L'  through  P  perpendicular  to  L. 
The  aggreg.ale  of  such  lines  L',  in  a  space  .S„  form  a  .S„.„ 
which  has  that  special  position  towards  L  by  virtue  of  which  it 
is  called  perpendicular  to  L  in  P. 

To  prove  this  theorem,  which  certainly  holds  if  «  =  2  or  3, 
let  us  assume  that  it  is  true  when  /;  =  /•;  then  it  will  also  be  true 
when  n  =  k  +  l.  Through  P,  in  a  space  Sj  which  contains  L 
and  is  contained  by  S,„  cimstrucl  the  S*  ,  per|>endicular  to  L. 
.\ny  point  not  contained  in  the  S*. ,  and    L  determines  a  plane, 


August  8,  1895] 


NATURE 


341 


which  contains  the  perpendicular  PQ  to  L.  l'(J  and  the  S/ . , 
determine  a  space  Sx,  and  the  proposition  is  that  any  hne 
through  r  in  this  S^  is  perpendicular  to  L.  Through  I'O  con- 
struct a  plane  space  2*.,  in  S*  perpendicular  to  I,.  It  must  exist, 
according  to  hypothesis.  Si_,  cuts  the  S^.  into  two  parts, 
because  ever)-  straight  line  in  S/..  (as  easily  follows  from  the  as- 
sumptions) has  one  point  in  common  with  the  S/-  ,,  we  therefore 
have  no  means  of  passing  from  one  point  of  such  straight  line  to 
its  other  points  without  passing  the  S^.,.  S/--,  and  2x-^,  cut 
the  Si-  therefore  into  four  dift'erent  parts,  which  have  the  cut  of 
2i_,  and  S/._,,  that  is  a  certain  S^-j,  in  common.  Let  the 
four  departments,  into  which  the  .S<.  is  cut,  lie  called  A,  B,  C,  D. 
A  straight  line  through  P,  not  contained  by  the  Sx-,,  will  be 
situated  (as  it  passes  P,  that  is  a  point  of  the  S.(-..)  in  two 
dift'erent  departments  ;  and  if  we  change  the  situation  of  this  line 
continuously,  without  passing  either  the  Sx  - ,  or  the  2*- 1,  it 
will  remain  in  the  same  two  departments.  Tlie  departments 
are  therefore  arranged  by  two.  If  a  straight  line  through  P, 
belonging  to  A,  also  belongs  to  B,  then  A  and  H  shall  be  called 
opposite  to  each  other.  Let  A,  B  and  C,  I)  be  opposite  to  each 
(■ther.  We  have  no  means  wha^tever  of  distinguishing  two 
(_>liposite  fle]-iartments,  unless  we  assume  at  the  very  least  another 
arbitrary  point,  because  every  plane  configuration  through  the 
Si--..,  extending  into  one  department,  equally  extends  into  the 
opposite  one.  Whatever  is  true  for  the  one  department  must 
therefore  be  true  also  for  the  opposite  one. 

Now  construct  any  line  L'  through  P  in  the  S*.  Let  L' 
belong  to  A  and  B.  If  L  and  L'  are  not  perpendicular,  then 
the  angle  I.L'  contained  in  A  must  be  larger  or  smaller  than 
the  corresponding  angle  LL'  contained  in  B.  Let  L'  change  its 
position  continuously  ;  if  the  angle  LL'  contained  in  A  would 
be  always  larger  than  the  corresponding  angle  in  B,  this  would 
amount  to  a  permanent  property  of  A  distinguishing  it  from  B, 
which  it  cannot  possess.  Therefore,  whichever  evolution  L' 
may  ])erform  from  the  Si.i  to  the  2x-i  in  A  (and  B),  it  must 
have  at  least  one  intermediate  situation  in  which  L  and  L'  are 
jierpendicular.  The  aggregate  of  such  situations  form  a  surface 
in  .-\  and  B.  Let  L',  .  .  .  L'/-i  be  /■  -  i  lines  contained  in 
that  surface  ;  then  the  plane  space  of  /•  -  i  manifoldness  contain- 
ing these  k-\  lines,  must,  according  to  the  hypothesis,  be 
jierpendicular  to  L.  The  surface  must  therefore  contain  this 
jilane  space.  If  now  we  replace  one  of  the  two  Sx  ,  or  2x-i  by 
this  space,  the  argument  will  still  hold.  However,  near  the 
two  borderings  plane  spaces  will  finally  approach,  there  will 
always  be  at  least  one  intermediate  plane  i>erpendicular  space, 
all  of  which  are  contained  in  the  Si.  It  is  therefore  nothing 
left  but  to  concede  that  the  Si  in  question  has  the  property 
established  in  the  proposition. 

Through  any  point  P  only  one  line  L  «ill  pass,  which  is 
perpendicular  to  a  space  .S.  Assume  indeed  two  such  lines, 
H  hich  may  have  with  S  respectively  <  J  an<l  R  in  common.  Then 
I'tjR  woidd  form  a  triangle,  of  which  i  I'<^)R  as  well  as  ^  PKQ, 
according  to  the  foregoing,  will  be  =  a  right  angle.  This, 
however,  is  impossible,  unless  O  and  R  coincide. 

A  point  and  a  plane  space  therefore  determine  a  certain  line, 
the  perpendicular  to  that  space  through  the  point,  a  certain  point 
— the  one  in  which  the  line  aiiove  mentioned  ciUs  the  space — 
and  a  magnitude,  the  distance  of  the  two  points  above  mentioned. 
Tliis  is  always  true,  unless  the  point  belongs  to  the  space.  Let 
the  point  approach  the  space.  If  the  two  points  in  question 
coincide,  then  the  point  will  belong  to  the  space.  The  conditions, 
therefore,  that  a  point  and  a  space  are  iniited,  is  (distance  of 
point  antl  space)  —  o. 

Let  P  move  continuously  so  that  its  distance  froma  plane  space 
.S  remains  unaltered  ;  P  and  S  may  determine  a  space  2  ;  then 
the  aggregate  of  such  points  in  2  is  another  plane  space.  Let 
P  and  (J  be  two  situations  of  I*.  Then  all  points  of  the  line 
I'lJ  have  the  same  distance  from  .S,  as  is  easily  seen  to  rest 
on  I*'uclid"s  parallel  axiom  by  means  of  parallelograms.  The 
general  proposition  can,  from  this,  be  established  by  considera- 
tions anah)gous  to  the  proof  of  our  first  theorem,  independent 
of  any  new  assumption.  Two  such  spaces  2  anil  S  art;  called 
parallel,  and  determine  a  certain  magnitude,  whtjse  disappear- 
ance is  the  condition  cif  coincidence  of  2  antl  S. 

Let  2  and  S  be  [larallel.  Through  any  ixiint  .\  outside  the 
same  draw  two  lines,  which  cut  both  2  and  S,  in  B,  C  and 
B',  C  respectively,  then  the  lines  .VBB'  and  ACC  have  a 
point  \\\  connnon,  the)'  are  therefore  in  the  same  i)lane,  BC  and 
B'C  must  therefore  either  have  a  point  in  commtm,  or  be 
parallel.     A  point  in  common   they  have  not,  as  they  are  con- 


NO. 


1345,   VOL.   52] 


tained  in  2  and  S,  and  these  t«o  have  no  point  in  common.  It 
follows  thai 

AB  :  AB'  =  AC  :  AC. 

We  now  add  to  our  assumption.s  another  one.  n-\-\  points- 
determine,  as  already  slated,  a  plane  space  S„,  and  besides  a 
certain  pyramid  of  11  dimensions  :  of  w hich  we  assume  that  it 
shall  possess  magnitude.  Let  the  11+  I  points  Vje  A,  .  .  .  A,i+i. 
A.,  .  .  .  A,i+i  determine  a  certain  space  S„-i.  Draw  any  line 
through  A].  It  cuts  S„_i  in  a  point  B.  Choose  A'l  on  this 
line  so  that  A,B  =  BA',.  Then  the  two  points  A,,  A'l  have 
an  exactly  symmetrical  position  to  S,,..  1.  No  property  can  be 
valid  for  the  one  which  is  not  valid  for  the  other  (as  long  as  nO' 
elements  are  introduced  to  disturb  the  symmetr)).  We  caimot 
therefore  assume  that  one  of  the  two  pyramids,  determined  re- 
spectively by  A,  and  the  A„  .  .  .  A„+i  or  A'j  and  A,  .  .  . 
A„+i,  should  be  larger  than  the  other.  Now  the  locus  of  points 
A'j  is,  according  to  the  foregoing,  a  parallel  2„_i  to  S„-i.  It 
follows  :  The  magnitude  of  the  pyramid  is  dependent  (i)  on  «  of 
its  points  (2)  and  the  distance  of  the  n-VV'  from  the  plane 
space  determined  by  these  ii  points. 

What  we  have  in  mind,  when  we  speak  of  the  magnitude  of  a 
pyramid,  will  come  out  clearer  when  we  give  a  theorem  of 
addition.  Let  .\  be  any  point  collinear  with  and  intermediate 
betw een  An  and  Ag.     Then  we  say  : 

The  pyramid  determined  by  AjX  and  any  other  points 
-r  the  pyramid  determined  by  XA.,  and  those  other  points  = 
to  the  pyramid  formed  by  AjAj  and  the  rest  of  the  points. 

This  explanation,  combined  with  the  above,  shows  that  the 
magnitude  of  a  pyramid   is  equal  to  some  constant  multiple  (say 

-)  of  the  product  of  the  magnitude  of  the  pyramid  A„  .    .    .  A„-|-i^ 

and  the  distance  of  K^  from  the  space  fixed  by  the  other  points. 
We  shall  write  this  number  (A,Aj  .  .  .  A„+i).  (AjAj)  is  simply 
the  distance  of  the  two  points,  and  according  to  a  convention 
necessitated  by  considerations  of  continuity,  we  assume 

(AjA,)  -V  (.V.A,)  =  o. 

Generally,  if  we  transpose  any  two  letters,  the  magnitude  desig- 
nated changes  sign. 

If  A,  B,  C  are  three  collinear  points,  and  if  we  designate  by 
the  single  letters  A,  B,  C  the  distances  from  these  points  of  any 
fixed  point  O  on  that  line,  then  we  have  identically 

(AB)C  -h  (BC)A  -h  (CA)B  =  o. 

This  is  an  algebraical  identity  easily  established.  The  same 
holds  also  when  the  single  letters  A,  B,  C  are  made  to  denote 
the  distance  of  these  points  from  any  space  2,  which  either  is 
parallel  to  line  ABC,  or  has  with  it  a  point  in  common,  as  is 
easily  established  by  proportions. 

If  between  three  points  of  a  line  such  an  equation  exists,  this 
must  be  true  also  for  it  +  i  points  in  a  S„.  The  proof  of  this 
by  induction  is  perfectly  easy  Let  for  instance  A,  B,  C,  D,  be 
four  iwints  in  a  plane,  and  let  2  be  any  space,  that  has  with  it 
a  line  in  connnon.  Join  CI)  :  it  may  meet  AB  in  E.  Then  we 
ha\'e  some  linear  identity 

a.\  -<-  bW  -t-  <E  =  o 
where  a,  h,  c  denote  constants  independent  from  2,  and  also 

dC  -I-  eV)  +/V.  =  o. 
Eliminating  E,  we  obtain  some  linear  identity  between 
A,  B,  C,  D. 
In  order  to  determine  the  constants,  let  us  assume   the  space- 
2  (which  is  permitted)  to  be  parallel  to  the   plane  ABCI>  :  then 
we  have  if 

aA  +  iB  +  <C  -^  </I)  =  o 
a  +  />  +  <■  +  J  =  o. 

If  we  place  2  so  that  it  cuts  ABCD  in  CD,  and  if  then  we 
make  a  =  (BCD),  <  follows  =  (CDA).     We  therefore  olUain 

(BCD)A  +  (CDA)B  +  (DAB)C  +  (ABC)n  =  o 
and  just  so  in  the  general  case 

(BCD .  .  .  L)A  -KCD  .  .  .  LA)  B  -KD  .  .  .  LAB)  C  H-  .  .  .  =  o. 
The  use  of  the  distances  of  points  from  variable  plane  spaces 
enables  us  to  do  away  with  fixed  coordinate  s)stems.  The  proof 
of  projective  theorems  becomes  perfectly  lucid,  while  at  each 
stage  of  the  proceedings  we  are  always  able  to  give  the 
geometrical  significance  of  the  constants  employed.     To  give  a 


34^ 


NATURE 


[August  8,  1895 


few  instances  :  I^t  A)  .  .  .  A^fi  be  n  +  i  points  in  a  plane 
space  S//.  Let  I'  Iw  any  other  point.  We  then  have  one 
linear  relation 

a,  A,  +  OjAj  +  .   .   .   +  <i„i.,A„+,  -f  pV  =  o. 

.Vssume  outside  the  siMce  any  p<jim  (^.  Constnict  the  plane 
sjxices  QA,  .  .  .  Aa,  <JAj  .  .  .  A«+,,  .  .  .  //  +  i  in  all, 
anil  cut  them  by  some  line  joining  the  residual  |xiint  A/,-(-,,  A, 
.  .  .  respectively  with  a  point  R  on  the  line  <^>l'.  AVe  thus 
obtain  /;  +  I  new  jxiints  A'n+,,  A\  ....  which  joined  give  a 
plane  space  Zn,  that  cuts  S/i  always  in  one  and  the  same  plane 
cut  Sx-,,  however  we  may  choose  O  and  R,  which  is  related 
to  P  and  the  configuration  of  the  A  in  a  |>eculiar  manner. 
To  follow  the  difl'erent  steiJS  indicated,  let  us  .assume 

pV  =  ,/Q  +  /R 

(the  three  (wints  are  collinear) ;  therefore 

(i,.\,  +  a^\.  +    .    .    .    +  </Q  +  rR  =  o. 

Joining  R   with  Aj,  we  obtain    a  line  that  contains  the  point 

J'J —  ,  which  as 


is  also  =  -  •    - 

";  + 
space  Aj.\j   .    . 

Jasi  so 


.7,  +  «.,+    ..    .     (-  </  +  r  =  O 

'^  "■ ,   lliat   is  contained   in    ihc   plane 
•     +'/ 


A',  is  therefore  =  ' 


a,  +  /• 


.  I    _  rtcA.,  +  rR 
"  ff.,  +  R 


The  line  .\'|  .\'.j  contains  the  point 

(a,  +r)A', -(a, +  i-).V,. 

|7,    -    (Ij 

rJ|.\,    -  (JoA., 
"1    ~  "i 

iliinear  wiih  .\,,  .\j.     The  (ilane  sp.ice  S«-i  contains 


that  is 


therefore  all  the 


points  thus  formed,  and  the  proposi- 


tion follows  at  once. 

Ill  a  similar  way  it  may  \m:  proved  that,  if  two  («  -i-  i )  |)yramids 
in  a  .Sm  are  in  i>ers|)ective,  the  intersection  of  coi  responding  sides,, 

in  all,  are  .til  contained  in  a  Sn-,.     We  provf;  this 

simply  for  «  =  2,  which  is  sufficient  to  exhibit  the  general  nay 
of  proceeding.  \x\  \  B  C,  .\'  B'  C  Ije  two  triangles  in  |)er- 
spective  ;  lei  .\.\',  B15',  CC  have  |K)int  I'  in  common.  Then  we 
must  have 

I'  =  <iA  -frt'A' 

=  AB  +  A'B' 

=  <C  +  f'C 

Join  .\B,  .\'B'-     Their  intersection,  from 

aA  +  a'A'  =  *B  +  A'B' 
follows 

aA  -  <iB_a'A'-i»'B' 
a  -  b  a'  -  «'■  ■ 

aA  -  m    6K  -  .C    «C  -  aA 
■      /'  -  <■    ' 

Two  plane  S|>aces  in  general  <lo  not  determine  one  magnitude 

only.     Take,   for  instance,   two  lines   in  s|)ace.     They   have  a 

di-ianre,  and  form  an  angle.    If  their  distance  or  the  sine  i>f  iheir 

i-  =  o.  they  •\ill  Ik;  coplanar.     If  Ijoth  arc  =  o,  they  will 

•  .      We  have  two  magnitudes,  because  the  system  of  two 

■  h.xs  two  degrees  of  degeneration  (coplanarily  and 

'  This    is    also   generally  the  ca.se,   lieraust-  geo- 

"  ;Miiudcs  are  nothing  but  ihe  mosl  suitable  invariants, 

whoM:  eiancscence   is  the  necessary  and  sultirienl   condition  for 

(h.-d.-gon"r;(>i..n  ..f  ilv  system  lo  which  ihey  belong. 

'  A,  B  determine  >m\y  our  magnitude,  we 

M'-).      Ix't   .\  Ik-  a  straight   line,  for   in- 

•""  •  ■  ■"  "  '■  •'  1  I  I",    ^ince  which  has  tine  |Hiiiil  in  common  with 

.\.      Iroiii  any  [K^iinl  of  A,  say  I',  draw  the  |M,-r|)cndicular   t<i  B. 

Join  l!«iih  point  i,i, common  to  Ban<l  A.    Then  the  sine  of  .  (J 

NO.   1345.  VOL.  52] 


N. 


,    ,       ,  ,         -  ,  are  obviously  collinear. 

a  -  b  h  -  (  (a 


is  the  magnitude  denote<l  by  (.\B).  Let  .\  be  a  plane,  having  in 
common  with  B  a  line.  Krom  any  point  P  of  the  plane  draw 
the  perpeiulicular  on  B,  say  PB,  and  from  this  jioint  B  tile  per- 
pendicular on  the  common  line  B(^).  Then  again  sin  (  .  i)) 
=  (.\B),  and  thus  generally.  We  determine  the  sign  of  the 
magnitude  according  to  the  rule 

(.\B)  +  (BA)  =  o. 

Let  us  now  add  another  plane  s|->ace  C  to  the  systetn  .\,  B,  such 
that  both  C.V  and  CB  determine  only  one  magnitude.  Then 
the  whole  system  may  determine  an  additional  one,  whose  evan- 
escence would  signify  that  C  belongs  to  the  )ilane  space  fixed  by 
A'.and  B  in  conjunction,  and  is  unired  with  the  space  that  .\,  B 
have  in  common.  It  is  in  fact  the  product  of  (.\B)  and  the 
m.agnitude  formed  by  C  and  the  space  .\B,  and  will  be   written 

(ABC) 

In  this  w.iy  we  proceed,  obtaining  the  definition  of  a  m.tgnilude, 
which  has  the  property  that  its  evanescence  is  the  necessary  and 
sutticient  condition  for  the  ilegeneration  of  the  system  to  wliich 
it  belongs. 

The  magnitude  in  questiun  may  be  formed  in  various  ways, 
hut  the  system  being  such  that  it  can  possess  only  one  such  mag- 
nitude, the  diflerent  formations  must  always  lead  to  one  and  the 
same  result,  with  the  exception  of  a  constant  factor.  This  factor 
must  either  be  -^  I,  or  else  -  i,  on  account  of  the  symmetrical 
way  in  which  the  magnitude  is  formed.  If  the  system  is  one  of 
straight  lines  through  a  ]X)int  P,  the  magnitude  in  question  has  a 
special  significance.  Two  triangles  which  ha\e  an  angle  in 
common,  are  in  proportion  as  the  proiluct  of  the  sides  including 
this  angle.  Three  lines  in  sjxice  which  hiive  a  point  in  connnon 
and  are  not  coplanar,  form  a  corner.  Cut  a  corner  by  two  ilif- 
ferent  planes.  The  two  dift'erent  pyramids  are  in  proportion  as 
the  product  of  the  three  sides  forming  the  corner.  .\nd  so  in 
general,  as  can  be  easily  i>roved  by  induction.  Therefore,  if  we 
have  such  a  corner  of  11  lines  in  a  space  S„  and  cut  it  by  a  space 
.S„.,  the  pyramid  formed  is  =  the  product  of  the  n  si<les  exk-nd- 
ing  from  the  vertex  of  the  corner  multiplied  with  a  factor  which 
is  specific  for  the  corner  ;  and  this  latter  factor  is  exactly  the 
magnitude  formed  accoriling  lo  the  rule  given. 

(It  may  happen  that  the  formation  of  the  magnitude,  as  given, 
leads  to  zero  without  giving  a  significant  result.  This  is 
an  indication  that  somewhere  during  the  process  one  of  the 
conditions  of  degeneration  is  fulfilled — for  instance,  when  C 
belongs  to  ihe  space  .\B.  T'len  the  process  is  the  reciprocal 
one.  We  determine  the  magnitude  formed  liy  C  and  the  space 
connnon  to  A  and  B.  If  that  also  is  zero,  then  i\,  B,  C  belong 
to  what  is  called  a  pencil.  The  simjilest  case  of  this  Uiml  is 
the  system  of  three  Imes  in  a  plane. ) 

Let  .\  B  t"  be  three  plane  spaces  belonging  to  a  pencil  :  ihai 
is,  let  (.\BC)  =  o.  Let  U  be  any  other  plane  sjMCe,  which  has 
an  efemenl  with  the  jjencil  in  common.     Then  we  have  again 

(AB)C  +  (BC)A  -f  (CA)B  =  o, 

where  the  single  letters  .\,  B,  C  in  this  identity  denote  the 
magnitude  formed  between  each  of  these  three  S|)aces  and  the 
auxiliary  one. 

It  will  suffice  lo  imive  this  for  the  case  of  three  lines  through 
a  point  P.  Let  2  cut  the  pencil  in  a  line  S.  Let  .V,  B,  I"  form 
with  .S  the  angles  a,  /3,  7  respectively,  (hen  the  proposition 
amounts  to 

sin  (a-/8)  sin  y  -t-  sin  (fl-7)  sin  a  +  sin  (7-  a)  sin  fl  =  o, 

which  is  nothing  but  the  Plolemiius  theorem  about  four  points 
in  a  circle. 

Now  again  we  may  proceed  to  .show,  that  between  //  -I-  2 
elements  .\,.  for  which,  to  be  short  (.\^.\^  .  .  .  .\„  +  ») 
=  o,  a  linear  relation  must  exist  1  a,  Ai  =  o,  where  the 
a/  arc  certain  constants.  Of  course,  if  not  also  some  of  ihe 
minors  are  zero,  such  as  (A, A,  .  .  .  A/i-t-,\  this  will  be  the 
oii/y  relation  that  can  thus  exisi.  We  can  therefore  iletermine 
the  (I,,  by  giving  2  exceptional  positions.     The  result  is  again 

(AjAj  .  .  .  A,, .(- ,)  A,i  +  5  -f  (AjAj  .  .  .  .\„  +  ,  A„  -)- ,)  A, 

(   (.Aj.  .  .  A«  I  jAiJ.Vj  +  .  .  .  =  o. 

Lei  Aj  .  .  .  A«  f  ,  form  the  space  S,  and  the  magnitude  (.S) 
then,  making  2  identical  wilh  S,  we  obtain 

(.\,,S).  (S)A,  +  (.SA,).(S).\,  =   o. 

But  (AjS)  =  -  Ajfor  this  special  position  of  2,  and  (S  .\,)  =  .\|, 
therefore  Ihe  test  applies,  and  the  theorem  must  be  correct. 


August  8,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


o4j 


Kor  such  systems  A,,  as  we  have  considered,  all  projective 
properties  will  he  corresponding  to  each  other,  and  all  metrical 
properties  at  least  as  far  as  they  are  dependent  upon  the  inter- 
|)retation  of  the  constants  employed.  Emanuei,  Laskkr. 

IlUley,  July  9. 

P.S. — The  same  holds  true,  with  slight  modifications,  for  the 
only  curved  space  that  contains  no  exceptional  elements,  that  is 
the  surface  of  a  globe  of  «  manifoldness. — E.  L. 


The  Feigning  of  Death. 

TllIO  discussion,  a  few  months  since,  of  the  feigning  of  death  in 
reptiles  (vols.  li.  pp.  107,  128,  223,  and  lii.  p.  148),  induced  me 
to  exjjeriment  on  the  Currant  Moth,  whose  |xj\\ers  of  "  sham- 
ming" are  so  familiar.  The  moth  was  first  seized  l>y  one  wing, 
and  it  at  once  feigned  death  ;  thereupon  I  cut  off  Us  head  with  a 
pair  of  scissors,  and  the  aitinial  (Oitliiuied  to  feign  death.  I  use 
the  expression  advisedly,  for  absolute  inunobility  was  maintained 
for  some  seconds,  anil  then  violent  fluttering  ensued,  causing  the 
animal  to  rush  wildly  about  the  table,  but  failing  to  lift  it  into 
the  air.  In  this  condition  any  impulse,  .such  as  touching  or 
pinching,  inducefl  a  repetition  of  "  shamming."  .\fter  a  strong 
stimtdus  the  shamming  was  prolonged,  and  indeed  a  direct  con- 
nection was  obvious  between  the  strength  of  stimulus  and  the 
length  of  period  of  (juiescence.  This  power  of  resjionse  to 
stimulus  was  maintained  for  two  da)'s,  and  then  weak  fluttering 
set  in  for  some  hours,  followed  by  death.  Our  entire  ignorance 
of  the  jjhysiology  of  the  nervous  system  of  insects  renders  it 
difficult  to  draw  complete  conclusions  from  these  phenomena  : 
nevertheless,  it  is  difticult  to  conceive  that  volition  can  persist  for 
fort)-eight  hours  in  a  tlecapitated  animal.  We  are  forced  then 
to  conclude  that  here,  at  any  rate,  death-feigning  is  a  purely  reflex 
phenomenon,  and  that  the  sensory  stimulus  received  by  the  sur- 
face of  the  body  causes  inhibitor)'  impulses  to  arise  reflexly  from 
the  ganglia  of  the  central  nerve  chain,  and  prevent  all  movement 
of  the  locomotor  inuscles.  In  confirmation  of  this,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  denudingthe  wing  of  its  scales  over  any  area  caused 
a  marked  diminution  of  sensiti\eness  over  the  area  so  treated. 
Since  all  stages  between  sensory^  hairs  and  ordinary  scales  occur 
in  Lepid<)ptera,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  assume  that  the  scales 
still  fiuiction  as  tactile  eiul-organs,  in  spite  of  their  modification 
.subserving  decorative  purposes.  Osw.vi.li   H.  I..\T1'F.R. 

Charterhouse,  Godalming,  July  31. 


Halley's  Chart  of  Magnetic  Declinations. 

In  NaiurI';  for  .May  23  and  30,  1895,  are  interesting  com- 
munications from  Dr.  Bauer  and  .Mr.  Ward  in  reference  to 
Halley's  old  chart  of  magnetic  declinations. 

I  have  a  copy  of  this  chart  not  referred  to  by  either  of  these 
gentlemen. 

It  is  bound  in  vol.  i.  of  "Miscellanea  Curiosa."  This  work 
was  eilited  by  Halley  ;  it  consists  of  three  volumes,  containing, 
in  the  main,  rejjrints  of  papers  read  before  the  Royal  Society. 
\'ol.  i.  was  published  in  1705,  and  wa.s  printed  by  J.  B.,  for 
jeftery  Wale  and  John  .Senex. 

The  chart  is  7A  inches  high  and  13  inches  long,  and  endiraces 
just  the  circumference  of  the  earth. 

The  title  in  the  u]>]ier  left-hand  corner  reads  :  "  A  new  and 
correct  Sea  Chart  of  the  Whole  World,  showing  the  Variations 
of  ye  cf)m]')ass  as  the)'  were  iound  .'\ii()  1700  with  a  view  of  the 
('■eneral  and  Coasting  Trade  Winds  and  Monsoons  or  shifting 
Tr.ade  Winds  by  the  Direction  of  Capl.  Kdm.  Halley." 

In  the  lower  left-hand  corner  is  the  note:  "  Capt.  Halley's 
map  of  the  World  in  two  large  sheets  is  sold  by  R.  Mount  and  T. 
Page  on  Great  Tower  Hill,  London." 

The  name  "I.  Hairis,  delin.  iV  scu.''  is  in  the  lower  right- 
hand  corner  of  the  chart.  CllARi.lis  I,.  Ci.arkic. 

New  \'ork,  July  27. 


THE   ERUPTION  OF   VRSilliS, 

jri.y  3,  1895. 

'X' HIS  recent  distuiliance  .it  X'esitvitis  is  interesting  in 
^       sc\cral  ways,  and  at  one  time  had  all  the  appear- 
ance or   developing   into  as   ^Tand  a  display  as  that  of 
187:;. 

The  last  eruptive   cycle   of  \'esuvius  commenced  on 
June  7,  1S91,  when  I  had  the  good   fortune  to  be  but  a 

NO.    1345,  VOL.   52] 


few  hundred  yards  distant  at  the  time  the  main  bursting 
of  the  rift  took  place.  The  detads  of  that  eruption,  with 
illustrations,  can  be  referred  to  in  my  articles  and  reports.' 
W'c  may  briefly  state  that  cycle  as  follows  :  the  splitting  of 
the  whole  of  the  great  cone  of  X'esuvius  by  a  radial  rift 
which  extended  beyond  the  base  for  some  distance  across 
the  Atrio  del  Cavallo.  At  the  first  moment  a  little  lava 
issued  from  the  upper  part  of  the  rift,  but  after  a  {^\s 
hours  all  came  from  its  lowest  extremity  in  the  Atrio,  and 
continued  to  flow  with  practically  no  interruption  for  a 
period  of  nearly  three  years,  or,  more  correctly,  from  June 
7,  1891,  to  February  7,  1894.  During  that  period  no 
great  quantity  was  given  forth  at  any  one  time,  so  that 
no  stream  could  attain  much  length  before  cooling. 
Though  the  amount  etiiitted  during  that  period  is  enor- 
mous, and  if  vesicularised  into  pumice  and  scoria  would, 
I  think,  quite  equal  .Monte  Nuovo  in  volume.  The  con- 
sequence of  this  is,  that  a  great  and  pure  lava  cone  was 
built  up  in  the  Atrio,  of  low  inclination  (14'),  and  adding 
much  to  obliterate  that  interesting  and  characteristic 
feature  of  the  volcano.  Coincident  with  the  formation  of 
the  rift,  the  central  cone  rapidly  crumbled  in,  until  a  deep 
crater  was  formed  which  eventually  attained  over  1 50  m. 


Fig.  I. — Diagram  sliowing  the  .ictu.-il  sl.lle  of  \'esuviu\.  from  .t  drawing  Ijj- 
M.  A.  liourdariat,  after  an  earlier  plan  of  mine  (/-a  i\'atiir(r,  June  8, 
1895).  (a)  Limit  of  the  crater  edge  of  1S72:  [he  part  represented  by  a 
dotted  line  is  that  covered  Ijy  more  recent  lavas  of  different  dates.  The 
parts  a  and  a"  are  still  uncovered.  {/')  Crater  of  June  1801.  (^')  Active 
vent  of  the  i8gi  crater,  {c)  New  cone  in  process  of  formation  (May 
1895).  W)  .Active  vent  of  the  cone  on  May  12.  1895.  (rf)  Rift  and 
vapour  mouth  of  June  7,  1891,  U)  Fissure  emitting  acid  vapours  on 
crater  plain  formed  in  the  1872  crater.  (/)  Very  old  hot-air  passages 
and  fumaroles.  {g)  Fissure  of  May.  1889.  _(//)  Numerous  fissures  on  the 
south-east  edge  of  the  crater  plain.     (/")  Guides'  shelter. 

in  depth  and  diameter.  It  was  at  its  greatest  dimensions 
in  February  1894.  when  the  la\a  stopped  issuing  by  the 
lateral  outlet,  and  therefore  commenced  to  rise  in  the 
chimney.  The  immediate  result  of  that  stop|)agc  was 
that  the  formation  of  a  cone  was  soon  commencecl  at  the 
bottom  of  the  ciatcr  by  the  ejection  of  lava  cakes.  The 
growth  of  this  new  cone  of  eruption  was  so  rapid  that,  when 
I  visited  and  photographed  the  interior  of  the  1891  crater 
in  Xovcmber  last,  this  was  not  abov  e  60  or  70  m.  deep, 
and  the  cone  of  eruption  was  rapidly  increasing  in  height 
w  ithin  it. 
My  friend  M.Alex.  Bouidariat  has  carefully  observed  the 

I.'Krtiption  tlu 


1S91, 


upti 


1  "  II  Vesuvio."  Corriert  <ti  Xa/'oli.  June 
V6suve,"  IS Itatte,  Rome,  June  13,  1891  ;  /,(■  Figaro,  Paris,  June  17, 
1891.  "The  Kruption  of  Vesuvius,"  Mcfittcfranean  SaturaiUt,  .Malta, 
July  I  and  .'\iigust  i.  1891.  "  Lettre  sur  I'Kruption  du  Visuvc."  L'ftatic. 
Rome.  July  18,  1891.  "  L'Kruption  du  VAsuve,  visiles  d'e.vplitration  au 
Volcan.'"  La  Xatmr,  August  8,  iSgl  (itlastrated).  "  The  Kruption  of 
Vesuvius,"  Natckk,  vol.  xliv.  pp.  1^0-161,  320-322,  _and  362  (illustrated). 
"  Report  British  As.sociation,"  1891-92-93-94.  '*  L'Eriuipne  del  Vesuvio," 
Kassfgna  lielle  Sticnzc  Ccotoghtte^  vol.  t.  Rome,  1891  (illustrated). 


344 


NATUJ^E 


[August  8,  1S95 


phenomena  of  the  \olcano  during  the  early  months  of  the  I 
present  year,  and  has  recorded  the  changes  in  La  .\>t/uri\  \ 
June  S  (  Fig.  l).     It  appears  from  his   interesting  descrip- 
tion that  in  January  of  this  year  the  apex  of  the  cone  of 
eruption  overtopped  the  edge  of  the   1S91   crater.     Lava  [ 
even   flowed   out    in    the  crescentic  depression  between 
eruptive  cone  and  crater  ring.     This  was  followed   by  a 
little  repose  of  some  days,  to  be  succeeded  by  powerful 
ejections  of  lava  cakes  to  a  considerable  height  i8o  to  100 
m.i,  which  rapidly  added  to  the  growth  of  the  erupti\e 
cone.    In  May,  this  new  cone  was  from  15  to  20  m.  above 
the  1891   crater,  and  at  the  commencement  of  July  was 
considerably    more,    as     is    shown    by    Fig.     2,    taken  I 
from    San    (liorgio    a     Cremano,   as    the    others-  and  ■ 
also  notes — by  Mrs.  T.  R.  Guppy.'     This  sketch  shows 
that  on  the  day  preceding  the  eruption,  central  activity 
with   cone-forming  stage  was  vei-y  active,  attaining  the 
fifth  degree  on  my  scale. 

M.  Bourdariat's  plan  of  the  summit  of  the  great  cone, 
constructed  on  one  of  mine  of  earlier  date,  shows  the  axis  | 
of  the  new  eruptive  cone  is  not  concentric,  but  to  the  nortli- 
west  of  the  1S91  crater.  This  he  attributed  to  the  wind, 
no  doubt  one  of  the  causes  at  w  ork,  but  1  had  seen  such 
displacement  to  be  the  case  in  November  last,  when  from 
the  depth  of  the  cone  top  within  the  enclosing  crater  walls 
these  sheltered  the  falling  cakes  from  the  wind.  There 
was  evidently  even  then  the  radial  fissure  directed  to  the 
north-west  in  process  of  formation,  which  has  now  been  ' 
the  point  of  issue  of  this  new  eruption.  | 


Fic.  2.— Vesuvius  a.s  seen  from  San  (icorgio  a  Cremano  before  the  eruption 
(commencement  of  July). 

The  first  indication  of  the  final  splitting  of  the  great 
cone  was  at  midnight,  when  the  crater  became  quiet.  In 
half  an  hour  that  is,  on  July  3  at  12.30  o'clock— when 
the  guardian  of  the  upper  railway  station  of  .Mr.  G.  M. 
Cooks  railroad,  which  is  but  a  very  short  distance 
from  the  rift,  was  awakened  by  a  strong  shock  of 
earthquake  that  produced  some  slight  cr.uks  in  the 
masonry  foundation  of  the  building.  The  shocks. 
though  slighter,  continued  during  the  night.  .\t  eight  the 
stronger  shocks  were  again  repeated,  and  the  activity, 
which  had  recommenced  at  the  chimney,  had  again 
ceased.  This  was  due  to  the  filling  f)f  the  fissure  as  it 
extended  outwards  by  the  lava,  the  level  of  the  surface  of 
which  naturally  sunk.  When  this  takes  place,  support 
is  removed  from  the  inner  sides  of  the  chimney  in  the 
cone,  which  crumbles  in  and  chokes  the  vent.  The  whole 
top  of  the  mountain  had  by  this  lime  become  fissured,  in 
consequence  of  which,  at  nine  o'clock,  seven  or  eight 
large  blocks  of  rock,  besides  a  quantity  of  small  ones, 
were  detached  from  the  top  of  the  cone,  crashed  and 
ploughed  down  its  side,  leaving  a  scar  described  as 
looking  like  a  mud  stream,  and  marked  by  a  number  of 
pits  at  equal  distances,  due  to  the  bounding  of  some  of 
these  boulders.     This  scar  is  seen  in  Fig.  3,  close  by  the 

''''"■     Mr,,    r.iipny    tnt  imtc^  iind 
Y  tM-.  ttlated  A\  my  fliv[N>^.il. 

'■1  know,  .'til   the  chiin^es  o( 

*' '    '  •"  '  ■"'•.:  '"•    ■Ti..',>,   ,..,.-  .rir  rt.i.  r.^i>l.:H  in  N.iplro. 

NO.    1345,  VOL.   52] 


side  of  the  right  of  the  new  lava  stream.  .Mr.  Ticibcr, 
Mr.  Cook's  engineer,  calculates  one  of  these  blocks  to  be 
at  least  20  cm.  The  point  of  detachment  and  the  re- 
sulting scar  was  h\  the  side  of  the  upper  part  of  the  new 
fissure,  but  a  little  to  the  south-west,  and  the  traces  left 
by  the  rolling  masses  are  parallel  to  it. 

.■\t  10.18,  the  radial  dyke  reached  the  surface  of  the  great 
cone  and  formed  an  eruptive  mouth  on  a  level  with  and 
to  the  north  of  the  upper  railway  station,  from  which  a. 
copious  outflow  of  lava  took  place,  running  down  the 
cone,  as  seen  in  the  figure  below. 

.•\t  10.30,  about  70  m.  low  cr  dow  n.  a  fresh  erupti\  e  mouth 
was  opened,  and  is  well  seen  in  Fig.  3,   having  an  oblique 


f 


Fh;.  3. — Vesuvius  as  seen  on  July  3,  .it  10  a,m. 

cralerifonn  appearance,  as  in  the  case  of  the  upper  one, 
and  on  other  similar  occasions  a  Jet  of  steam,  that  con- 
stitutes the  excavating  agent,  was  converted  into  a  blackish 
column  by  the  lapilLe,  sand,  and  dust  dislodged  and 
carried  up  with  it  from  the  side  of  the  mountain.  There 
is  certainly  some  discrepancy  in  Mr.  Treiber's  report,  for 
Mrs.  Guppy's  sketch,  made  at  ten  o'clock,  shows  this  low  er 
docctt  already  in  existence.  Her  sketch  likewise  exhibits 
the  progress  of  truncation  of  the  central  eruptive  cone  by 
the  formation  within  it  of  a  crater.  Such  a  crater  is 
entirely  due  to  the  crumbling  in  of  the  edges  and  their 
fall  down  the  chimney,  as  no  explosions  were  going  on  by 
the  top  part  of  the  main  chimney.  Lava  continued  to  pour 
forth  from  ilie  low  er  end  of  the  low  er  craleret,  and  probably 
from  a  part  of  the  radial  fissure  that  reached  the  surface 
below  it,  IhiI  which  of  course  is  hidden  by  the  flowing 
lava.  The  stream  reached  the  bottom  of  the  g^e,^t  com.- 
at  the  junction  of  the  .Vtrio  del  Cavallo  and  the  I'iano  di 
Genista,  and  then  extended  towards  the  upper  end  of  the 
ridge  of  the  Lion's  Paw,  or  I  Canteroni,  where  w  as  once 
the  old  Crocelle.  Here  it  soon  formed  a  fine  stream  60  m. 
in   bre.adth.       Besides   the    two    iiifiin    craterets.  already 


Vu..  4    -Vcsuviun  tu  seen  on  July  s,  at  10  .i.m. 

described,  two  minor  ones  also  were  formed  on  the  same 
line  of  rift. 

<  )n  July  4.  the  craterets  quieted  down,  little  la\a  flowcil, 
so  that  during  twenty-four  hours  the  face  of  tlie  stream 
only  .advanced  12  m.  This  corresponded  with  a  slight 
return  of  .activity  at  the  main  chimney,  so  as  to  relieve  the 
accumulating  vapour  tension  of  the  lava  below,  wlili  li  ihe 
mountain  will  not  resist  for  long. 

The  ejections  w  ere,  of  course,  of  the  mci'ssory  type  thai 
is,  not  csscii/ia/  to  the  eruption,  but  simply  the  remnants 
of  ihc  (  rumhled-in   porlion  iif  the  eruptive  cone.     ICach 


August  8,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


545 


puff  had  its  characteristic  black  colour,  due  to  the  quantity 
<ii  accessory  sand  and  dust. 

At  22  o'clock,  the  up|)crcrateret  gave  out  a  little  vapour 
and  a  little  lava,  but  again  became  quiet.  At  23  o'clock, 
the  lower  crateret  showed  new  cracks  around  about  it, 
with  the  escape  of  vapour.  ' 

During  the  night,  between  the  4th  and  5th,  the  lava 
-again  increased,  so  that  it  is  reported  the  next  morning 
to  be  advancing  at  the  rate  of  25  m.  per  hour.  It  had 
turned  to  the  west,  and  flowed  down  on  the  south  side  of 
the  Lion's  Paw,  or  the  Observatory  ridge,  and  had  divided 
into  two  main  streams,  which  subsequently  subdivided 
into  minor  ones  that  radiated  in  different  directions. 

On  July  5,  the  explosions  at  the  central  crater  were 
powerful,  so  as  to  form  from  time  to  time  pine-shaped 
vapour  plumes  over  the  volcano.  .\t  others,  the  vapour 
was  bent  over  the  .\trio  by  the  sirocco  wind,  so  as  to 
spread  a  shower  of  dust  and  sand  right  across  that 
•depression.     One  of  these  is  well  indicated  in  Fig.  4. 

.So  far  no  damage  has  been  done  except  to  a  private 
■carriage  road  that  crosses  the  Piano  di  Ginista  to 
the  lower  railway  station.  Xo  cultivated  land  has 
been  reached.  The  lava  is,  however,  on  a  steep  slope, 
and  is  flowing^  in  the  direction  of  the  valley  called 
the  Cupa  Pallarino,  over  the  edge  of  which  a  magnificent 
-cascade  of  incandescent  rock  was  formed  in  1872. 

The  eruption  is  quite  identical  in  all  its  details 
with  the  usual  antecedent  ones,  resulting  from  the  for- 
mation and  extension  outwards  of  radial  dykes.  Many  of 
such  eruptions  1  have  described  in  these  pages  and  else- 
where, and  fully  explained  their  mechanism,  production, 
jjrowth  and  closure. 

Three  results  may  happen  :  (l)  The  radial  sheet  of 
rock  may  cool  and  seal  the  rift  so  that  the  volcano  will 
soon  return  to  the  cone-forming  stage,  as  seems  to  be 
indicated  by  the  appearance  of  pasty  lava  cakes  amongst 
the  cjecta  on  July  5.  (2)  The  fissure  may  enlarge  and 
extend  downward  with  the  outflow  of  lava,  as  in  1872, 
with  the  formation  of  a  much  larger  central  crater.  (3)  It 
may  follow  the  more  usual  course,  as  its  immediate  prt- 
•decessor,  and  gi\e  issue  to  a  small  but  almost  continuous 
outflow  of  la\a  during  months  or  years. 

H.  J.  J0HNSTON-L.4VI.S. 


/'.    L.    CHERYSHEV  iTCHEBICHEFF). 

T^  H  E  death  of  Prof.  Chebyshev  has  hardly  been  noticed 
-•■  in  the  English  papers  ;  and  even  in  Russia,  except 
for  a  short  sketch  in  the  University  Bulletin,  and  in  a 
speech  of  Prof  .Markoffs  with  reference  to  him,  which 
is  reported  in  the  Bulletin  de  r Academie  imperinlc  des 
Sciences  dc  St.  Pelersiourt;,  no  biographical  notice  has 
;ippearcd  of  this  celebrated  mathematician. 

I'aphnyty  Levovitch  Chebyshev  was  born  on  May  14, 
182  I,  al  .\katovo,  in  the  g^overnment  of  Kaluga  ;  and  after 
being  educated  privately,  entered  .Moscow  I'niversity  :  he 
completed  the  usual  courses,  and  took  his  Bachelor  de- 
gree. In  1846  he  received  his  Master's  degree  at  the  same 
university  for  his  "  Essay  on  the  elementary  analysis  of 
the  thcor)'  of  probability,"  and  in  the  following  year 
commenced  a  series  of  lectures  as  assistant  lecturer  in 
Petersburg  University.  He  received  the  Doctor's  degree 
in  1849  '"r  h'*  well-known  "Theory  of  Comparison," 
which  contained  a  model  exposition  of  the  forma- 
tion of  the  theory  of  numbers,  and  clearly  proved  the 
strength  of  his  mathematical  genius.  In  1852  Chebyshev 
was  promoted  to  an  extra  professorship,  and  in  i860  to 
a  regular  professorship.  During  1853-59  he  was  elected 
successively  assistant,  extra,  and  ordinary  tutor  in  the 
Academy  of  Sciences.  He  remained  a  professor,  doing 
active  work  of  the  most  valuable  kind,  thirty-five  years, 
•during  the  course  of  which,  at  various  times,  he  lectured 
on  every  branch  of  pure  mathematics,  and  during  one 
period-  in  1849-  5'— on  practical  mechanics. 

NO.   1345,  VOL.   52] 


In  his  numerous  writings  Chebyshev  left  a  veiy  great 
deal  to  the  reader's  imagination,  often  giving  deductions 
simply  without  proofs,  but  in  his  lectures  he  never  left 
a  point  without  the  fullest  explanation  ;  and  his  lectures 
are  distinguished  not  only  for  elegance  and  accuracy, 
but  for  their  extraordinary  simplencss  ;  the  already- 
mentioned  "  Theor)'  of  Comparison "  may  serve  as  a 
good  example,  as  well  as  his  proof  of  Bernoulli's  theorem, 
which  is  now  given  in  all  works  on  the  theorv-  of 
probability. 

The  professorial  services  of  Chebyshev  had  a  great 
significance  to  the  Petersburg  University.  He  placed 
the  teaching  of  mathematics  on  a  firm  basis,  and  formed 
an  independent  school  of  thought.  .\11  the  present  staff 
of  mathematical  teachers  m  the  Petersburg  University, 
except  a  very  few  of  quite  the  youngest,  are  his  pupils 
and  follow  in  his  footsteps.  His  moral  influence  did  not, 
therefore,  cease  when  he  resigned  his  professorship  in 
1882.  The  Council  of  the  University  elected  him  an 
honorary  member,  and  his  pupils  kept  up  the  habit  of 
going  to  him  on  certain  days  to  have  lively  discussions 
on  various  scientific  subjects,  in  which  his  indomitable 
energy  acted  on  his  hearers  in  the  most  animating 
manner.  He  was  always  to  be  found  engaged  either  on 
some  complicated  calculation  or  on  models  of  mechanism 
he  had  invented. 

Everything  Chebyshev  did  bore  the  impress  of  genius  ; 
he  invented  new  methods  for  the  solution  of  difficult 
problems,  which  had  appeared  and  had  remained  un- 
solved ;  he  suggested  himself  a  series  of  most  important 
problems,  and  worked  at  them  till  the  end  of  his  life. 
His  very  first  writings  on  the  theory  of  numbers,  devoted 
to  the  problem  of  the  inter-dependence  of  the  prime 
numbers,  and  on  limits,  gave  him  a  European  reputation, 
and  his  succeeding  investigations  on  irrational  differ- 
entials, and  maximal  and  minimal  quantities,  assured  his 
position  as  the  most  original  mathematician  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

He  died  November  26,  1894  ;  his  works  will  shortly 
be  republished  by  the  Petcr-^burg  University. 


NOTES. 

As  already  briefly  announced  in  these  columns,  the  Institule 
of  France  will  celebrate  its  centenary  next  October.  The  pro- 
gramme of  the  fetes  which  have  been  organised  in  connection 
with  that  event  has  just  been  sent  to  the  Members  and  Cor- 
respondants  of  the  Institute,  the  intention  being  that  the  cen- 
tenary shall  be  marked  by  a  reunion  of  all  the  men  of  light  and 
leading  who  belong  to  the  Institute.  f)n  the  afternoon  of 
October  23,  there  will  be  a  reception  in  the  Palais  de  I'lnstitul 
of  the  Foreign  .Vssociates  and  Correspondants  and  of  French 
Correspondants,  and  in  the  evening  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction  will  hold  a  reception.  On  October  24,  a  meeting 
will  be  held  in  the  Great  Hall  -of  the  Sorbonne,  at  which  the 
President  of  the  Republic  will  attend.  Discourses  will  he 
delivered  by  the  President  of  the  Institute,  the  Minister  of 
Public  Instruction,  and  M.  Jules  Simon.  .-V  banquet,  to  which 
all  the  .\ssociales  and  Correspondants  are  invited,  «ill  take  place 
on  the  evening  of  the  .same  day.  On  October  25,  there  will  be  a 
special  performance  at  the  Comedie  Fran^aise,  and  a  reception 
will  he  held  by  the  French  President.  The  celebration  will  ba 
concluded  on  October  26,  by  a  visit  to  the  Chateau  de  Chantilly. 
Ii  will  be  seen  from  this  that  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
foun<lation  of  the  Institute  of  France  will  be  celebrated  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  the  high  position  which  the  Institute  holds 
among  the  world's  societies  of  science,  art,  and  literature. 

Thk  seventh  session  of  the  .•\ustralasian  .\ssociation  for  the 
.\dvancement  of  Science  will  he  held  in  .Sydney,  from  January 
3  to  10,  1897.  under  the  presidency  of  Prof.  .\.  Liversidge, 
F.R.S.     The   Presidents   and   Secretaries   of  the   Sections  are 


546 


NATURE 


[August  8,  1S95 


as  follows  :  Astronomy,  Mathematics,  and  Physics  :  President, 
Mr.  R.  L.  J.  Eller),  ^CM.G.,  F.R.S.  ;  Secretaries,  Prof.  R. 
Threlfall  and  Mr.  J.  Arthur  Pollock.  Chemistr)- :  President, 
Mr.  T.  C.  Cloud  :  Secretar)-,  Mr.  W.  M.  Hamlet.  Gcolog)- 
and  Mineralog)- :  President,  Captain  F.  W.  Hiilton,  K.  R.S.  ; 
-Secretaries,  Prof.  T.  \V.  K.  David  and  Mr.  E.  F.  I'ittman. 
Biulogj- :  President,  Prof.  T.  J.  Parker,  F.R..S.  ;  Secretaries, 
Prof  \V.  A.  Ilaswell  and  Mr.  I.  II.  Maiden.  Cieography  :  Sec- 
retar)-, Mr.  II.  S.  \V.  Cnmimer.  Kthnolog)'  and  .\nthroiX)lc^' : 
President,  Mr.  A.  \V.  Howitt ;  Secretar)-,  Dr.  John  Frascr. 
Economic  Science  and  Agriculture :  President,  .Mr.  R.  M. 
Johnston  ;  Secretaries,  Prof  Walter  Scott  and  Mr.  F.  B. 
Guthrie.  Engineering  and  .Vrchitecture  :  President,  .Mr.  H.  C. 
Stanley  ;  Secretar)',  J.  W.  Grimshaw.  Sanitar)-  Science  and 
Hygiene:  President,  Hon.  Allan  CamptwU ;  Secretar)-,  Dr. 
J.  Ashburton  Thompson.  Mental  Science  and  Education : 
President,  Mr.  John  Shirley  ;  Secretary,  Prof  Francis  Anderson. 
Communications  and  papers  for  the  meeting,  or  inquiries,  may 
lie  addressed  to  the  Permanent  1  Ion.  Secretar)-,  The  Chemical 
I.alx>rator)-,  The  University,  .Sydney,  N.S.W. 

I  r  is  announced  that  the  Hotlgkins  prize  of  ten  thousand 
dollars  has  been  awarded  by  the  Smithiionian  Institution,  in 
equal  proportions,  to  \joxA  Rayleigh  and  Prof  Ramsay,  in 
rect^nilion  of  their  discovery-  of  argi)n. 

;  \Vk  regret  to  notice  the  death  of  .Mr.  Joseph  Thomson,  whose 
explorations  in  Africa  have  added  so  much  to  our  knowledge  of 
thai  continent.     lie  was  only  thirty-six  years  of  age. 

Scietue  announces  the  following  appointments : — Prof  William 
J.  Hus.sey,  of  Illihois,  to  succeed  Prof  Barnard  as  Astronomer  al 
the  Lick  Observatory ;  Dr.  J.  Allen  Gillierl  to  be  Assistant  Pro- 
fessor of  P.sychology  at  the  University  of  Iowa  ;  Mr.  J.  M. 
Tyrrell  to  \x  Professor  of  Geology  and  Mineralogy  in  the 
University  of  Toronto. 

Rf.I-TKr's  corres(>ondem  at  Newfoundland,  writing  under 
date  of  July  23.  says:— The  steamer  A'ih;  having  on  board  llie 
nienilwrs  of  the  Peary  Relief  I-^xpeilition,  took  her  departure  a 
few  (lays  ago  for  Bowdoin  Bay,  IngleficUI  Gulf  Her  return  can 
hardly  U:  looked  for  before  October  I. 

Mk.  Ckcii.  II.  Smith,  of  the  Deparlment  of  Greek  and 
Roman  Antiquities  in  the  British  Museum,  has  been  appointed 
director  of  the  British  School  at  Athens  for  Ihe  next  two  years, 
in  succession  to"  Mr.  Ernest  Gardner,  who  has  held  the  office 
since  1887.  The  Trustees  of  the  British  .Museum  have,  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  Treasury,  given  Mr.  Smith  .special  leave 
of  aincnce  for  the  purpose. 

TllK  annual  meeting  of  the  Scwiely  of  Chemical  Industry  was 
helil  in  ^  orkshirc  College,  I-ecds,  last  week.  In  his  presidential 
■address.  Dr.  T.  E.  Thorjic,  F.R.S. ,  described  .some  of  the 
im|X)rtant  advances  made  in  technological  chemistry  during 
recent  years,  and  especially  dwelt  U|ion  Ihe  methods  used  for 
the  enrichment  of  coal  gas  ;  the  mannficturc  of  glycerine  from 
w.-isle  soap  lyes  ;  the  manufacture  of-ftlible  fals  ;  the  improve- 
mcnls  on  the  chemical  side  of  photography  :  and  the  chemistry 
of  textiles.  The  following  new  officers  were  elected  :  —  President, 
Mr.  Tyrer  ;  Vice-Presidents,  Mr.  T.  Fairley,  Mr.  Boverton  Ked- 
wikmI,  Sir  H.  E.  Roscoe,  Dr.  T.  E.  Thorpe.  Memljers  of 
Cipuncil,  Prof  I^  Neve  Foster,  Mr.  Dougl.is  llerm.in,  Mr.  C. 
C.  Hiitchinvin,  Mr.  Ivan  I-evinstein,  Mr.-J.  S.  Mc.Arlhur,  Sir 
Kniicrt  Pullar.  Treasurer,  Mr.  E.  Rider  Cook.  Foreign 
Secretar)-,  Dr.  I.u<lwig  .Mond.  It  was  decided  to  hold  the 
next  annual  meeting  of  the  .Society  in  Ixindon. 

BKiit-'ORli  Coi.i.KCF.  (for  Women)  has  taken  what  apjwars  to 
us  to  \k  an  important  and  commendable  step  in   establishing  a 
NO.    1345,  VOL.  52] 


separate  and  scientific  course  of  instruction  in  hy-giene.  This 
subject,  w-hich  is  becoming  evei-)-  day  of  more  consideration, 
has  generally  been  taught  in  a  stpmewhal  disconnected  manner, 
as  an  adjunct  to  be  attached  anywhere,  rather  than  as  a  distinct 
study  ;  at  Bedford  College  it  is  now  to  lake  its  place  as  a  special 
subject.  Students  will  be  required  to  devote  themselves  for  a 
session  or  more  solely  lo  this  and  allied  branches  of  science, 
namely,  physiology,  bacteriology,  chemistry,  and  physics, 
practically  as  well  as  theoretically,  and  thus  they  will  have  1 
the  opportunity,  by  following  a  connected  system  of  teaching,  of 
really  understanding  the  meaning  and  practical  bearings  of  the 
subject.  Many  appointments  as  sanitar)-  inspectors,  health 
mistresses  in  schools,  and  teachers  of  hygiene,  being  now  open 
to  women,  the  subject  seems  to  ofier  considerable  inducement  to 
those  who  have  an  aptitude  and  liking  for  scientific  work,  to 
devote  themselves  to  this  study. 

Men  of  .science  often  have  occasion  to  regret  that  ihey  do  not 
live  in  the  glorious  age  when  tidal  evolution  shall  h-ive  so 
reduced  the  spin  of  this  world  of  ours  that  there  will  be  forty- 
eight  hours  in  a  day.  To  be  able  to  devote  twice  the  present 
amount  of  time  to  observation  would  indeed  be  a  boon  lo  the  J 
busy  investigak)r,  and  the  man  who  shows  how  to  do  it,  places  ] 
his  fellow  workers  under  a  deep  obligation  to  him.  Vet  that  is  j 
what  Dr.  Gowers,  F.R.S.,  did  in  an  inaugural  address  delivered 
before  a  general  meeling  of  the  Society  of  Medical  Phono- 
graphers  last  week.  Here  is  his  argument :  "  Science  rests  on 
observation,  which  without  immediate  record  is  of  little  value  ; 
not  cnly  is  menuiry  inadequate,  but  record  at  once  reveals  un- 
suspected imperfections  in  observation,  Compatetl  with  long- 
hand, shorthand  permits,  in  a  given  time,  twice  the  amount  of 
record,  while  leaving  twice  the  time  for  observation."  Shorthand 
requires  no  better  recommendation  than  this  to  the  notice  of 
students  of  science,  and  we  are  glad  lo  know  that  the  Society 
of  which  Dr.  Gowers  is  president,  though  only  started  last 
December,  h.as  now  165  members.  In  the  daily  work  of  the 
practitioner,  which  is  peculiar  in  being  a  form  of  personal 
science,  record  is  very  importanl.  l-'or  most  jiraclitioners,  how- 
ever, record  is  practically  impossible  in  longhand,  while  short- 
hand offers  them  the  desireil  means.  But  this  is  not  only  the 
.l^c  with  medical  men  ;  il  is  always  importanl  that  observations, 
li..»ever  trivial  or  strange,  should  be  committed  to  writing.  W'e 
are,  therefore,  a  little  surprised  thai  the  Society  should,  so  far 
its  the  name  is  concerned,  be  only  one  of  .Meilical  Phonographers. 
Its  objects  appear  to  be  broad  enough  lo  justify  the  name  being 
changed  to  the  Society  of  Scientific  Phonographers,  and  a 
further  argument  for  ihe  more  comprehensive  designation  is  ih.at 
many  scientific  workers  outside  the  nmks  of  ihe  medical  pro- 
fession have  already  become  members. 

An  interesting  point  in  connection  with  the  sand  fillralion  of 
waler  h.is  been  recently  bmiighl  lo  light  by  Dr.  Kurlli,  of  Bremen. 
Il  has  freipienlly  been  pointed  out  that  the  thickness  ol  the 
layer  of  fine  sand  in  filtering  beds  cannot  be  reduceil  beyond 
cerlain  limits  without  endangering  the  bacterial  (|u.ility  of  the 
filtrate.  Making  more  detailed  examinations  of  the  particular 
bacteria  present  in  ihe  ellluenl  from  a  filler  in  which  llie  depth 
of  filtering  material  h:id  been  interfered  with,  Dr.  Kurlh  Umm\ 
Ihat  the  rise  in  the  numlier  of  luctcria  w.as  almost  entirely  due 
to  the  presence  in  large  (juantily  of  one  particular  microbe,  of 
which,  however,  no  trace  could  be  found  in  the  raw  waler  with 
which  Ihe  filler  was  being  fed.  t)n  one  occasion  there  were  as 
many  as  900  in  I  c.c.  present  of  this  .special  microbe,  whilst  all 
Ihe  Ixicleria  together  in  Ihe  raw  w.ater  did  not  amount  to  more 
than  760  in  I  c.c.  In  this  instance,  therefore,  the  object ion.ible 
rise  in  ihe  number  of  bacteria  present  in  the  filtrate  di<l  not 
necessarily  indicate  that  the  efficiency  of  the  filler  in  dealing 
•.vith  Ihe  raw  waler  was  in  fault,  but  rather  that  the  disturbance 


August  S,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


547 


'  if  the  sand  had  dislodged  certain  microbes  present  in  the  filter- 
ing material.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  of  interest  to  obtain 
in  cases  where  the  filtrate  is  unsatisfactor)'  some  particulars  of 
the  microbes  present  in  the  effluent,  and  determine  in  what 
relation  they  stand  to  the  raw  water  microbes. 

The  question  of  the  audibility  of  fog-horn  signals  at  sea  seems 
lestined  to  occupy  a  great  deal  of  attention  in  naval  circles. 
Some  time  ago  we  gave  a  description  of  the  American  experi- 
ments, which  went  to  prove  that  round  each  siren  there  is  a  zone, 
about  I J  nautical  miles  broad,  within  which  f<jg-signals  cannot 
lie  heard,  although  they  are  distinctly  heard  outside  that  zone. 
These  observations  cannot  now  be  treated  w  ith  the  incredulity 
hey  at  first  met  with,  since  other  experiments  have  confirmed 
them.  A  series  of  such  experiments  are  described  in  Hansa. 
In  one  of  these,  the  vessel  steamed  with  the  wind  straight  towards 
the  light-ship  from  a  distance  of  4A  nautical  miles.  At  a  distance 
if  z\  miles  the  sound  became  faintly  audible,  and  suddenly 
uicre-ascd  in  loudness  at  2.J  miles,  retaining  the  same  intensity  up 
to  two  miles  distance.  From  i^  to  li  miles  the  note  was  scarcely 
.ludible,  but  then  it  immediately  increased  to  such  an  extent  that 
it  appeared  to  originate  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the 
vessel.  The  steamer  at  this  point  reversed  its  c6urse,  and  the 
fluctuation  over  this  part  of  the  course  was  found  to  be  the  same, 
•xcept  that  it  was  even  more  strongly  marked.  Reversing  again, 
he  vessel  steamed  over  this  distance  a  third  time,  and  again  the 
Mjund  disappeared  at  li  miles  and  reappeared  again,  so  loud 
that  it  sounded  as  if  the  fc^horn  was  only  two  cables'  lengths  off. 
Then,  at  half  a  mile,  the  sound  disappeared  entirely,  to  reappear 
it  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  light-ship,  after  which  it  gradually 
and  steadily  increased  in  intensity  until  the  latter  was  reached. 
It  is  time  that  this  question,  which  is  of  great  practical 
importance,  should  be  .systematically  investigated. 

Til K  second  annual  report  of  the  Iowa  (Geological  Survey, 
lealing  with  the  work  done  during  1893,  has  just  come  to  hand. 
The  Survey  was  organised  just  three  years  ago,  and  it  has  carried 
out  .some  very  valuable  investigations  during  its  comparatively 
^hort  existence.  The  coal  deposits  of  Iowa  have  received 
special  attention  since  the  organisation  of  the  Survey,  and  one 
.olume  descriptive  of  them  was  issued  last  year.  But  these 
Icposits  are  far  too  extensive  to  be  discussed  in  a  single  volume. 
We  have  it  on  the  authority  of  Dr.  C.  R.  Keyes,  the  Assistant 
State  (Geologist,  that  the  ar<;a  of  the  coal  measures  in  Iowa  is 
somewhat  over  twenty  thousand  square  miles,  and  that  isolated 
carboniferous  outliers,  and  the  region  bordering  the  productive 
coal  measures,  which  must  he  gone  over  in  tracing  the  limits  of 
the  formation,  occupy  fully  five  thousand  square  miles  or  more. 
With  reference  to  the  beds  of  gypsum  at  Fort  Itodge,  Dr.  Keyes 
says  the  area  covered  by  the  gypsum  contains,  approximately, 
twenty-seven  square  miles,  and  that,  at  the  lowest  estimate, 
the  mass  of  gypsum  which  is  found  available  in  the  region  is  not 
less  than  sixty  millions  of  tons.  Much  valuable  data  with 
reference  to  these  deposits  are  given  in  the  report,  and  also  in- 
firnialion  in  regard  to  the  building  .stones,  clays,  and  other  useful 
mineral  substances  in  Iowa.  Though  the  Survey  has  primarily 
a  utilitarian  point  of  view,  it  is  clear  from  the  report  that  the  more 
scieniific  side  of  geology  is  not  neglected.  Prof  W.  II.  Norton 
contributes  to  the  report  a  paper  on  the  thickness  of  the 
I'al.vdzoic  strata  in  North-Western  Iowa,  based  upon  records  of 
a  number  of  borings  for  artesian  and  other  deep  wells.  Me  also 
gives  the  results  of  a  study  of  Devonian  and  Carboniferous  out- 
liers in  Kastern  Iowa.  The  report  is  illustrated  by  thirty-four 
figures  in  the  text,  and  thirty-six  plates  ;  the  most  striking  of  the 
latter  belong  to  a  paper  by  Dr.  Keyes,  on  glacial  scorings  in 
Iowa.  Two  new  localities  showing  cxce))lionally  fine  effects  of 
glacial  action  were  found  near  the  city  of  Burlington  in  1893. 
'  Ine  of  them  is  near  Kingston,  on  the  top  of  a  bluff  overlooki.ng 
-NO.    1345,  VOL.   52] 


the   Mississippi  river,  and  judging  from  the  reproduction  of  a 

jAoiograph,  it  furnishes  a  very  remarkable  example  of  a  glaciated 
surface.  I'rof  Calvin,  the  Stale  Cleologust,  is  t()  be  congratu- 
lated upon  the  work  carried  on  under  his  direction.  The  Survey 
has  lately  lost  Dr.  Keyes,  who  has  become  State  CSeologist  of 
Missouri,  his  place  being  filled  by  Mr.  H.  F.  Bain. 

The  fifty-sixth  annual  meeting  of  the  Royal  Botanic  Society 
will  be  held  in  the  Cardens,  Regent's  Park,  on  Saturday  after- 
noon next,  the  loth  inst.,  at  one  o'clock. 

-V  D.\IXTY  catalogue,  in  which  many  rare  and  valuable 
geographical  works  are  described,  has  been  issued  by  .Mr. 
Bernard  Quaritch.  The  catalogue  should  be  seen  by  all 
interested  in  geographical   literature. 

We  learn  from  the  Journal  of  Botany  that  the  herbarium  of 
the  British  Museum  has  recently  acijuired  a  very  fine  collection 
of  llepatica:  made  by  Ilerr  F.  Stephani.  It  numbers  about 
10,000  specimens,  and  includes  types  of  iioo  new  species 
described  by  Herr  Stephani. 

The  Proceedings  of  the  Liverpool  Naturalists'  Field  Club  for 
1894  contain  a  record  of  a  large  amount  of  .scientific  work  done 
in  the  way  of  botanical  excursions  in  Lancashire,  Cheshire,  and 
North  Wales  ;  a  list  of  carboniferous  fossils  found  within  twenty 
miles  of  Liverpool ;  and  reports  of  papers  read  at  the  evening 
meetings.  The  total  number  of  animals  and  plants  that  has  been 
recorded  as  occurring  in  the  district,  both  living  and  extinct,  is 
given  as  5735. 

The  August  nunilier  of  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Geological 
Society  contains  a  paper,  l)y  Dr.  J.  W.  Gregory,  on  the  Paliuonto- 
logy  and  Physical  (Seology  of  the  West  Indies.  Among  the 
other  papers  we  notice  the  following  : — Prof.  I.  B.  Harrison 
and  Mr.  A.  J.  Jukes-Brown,  on  the  chemical  compo.ition  of 
oceanic  deposits  ;  Mr.  II.  M.  Bernard,  on  the  systematic  posi- 
tion of  the  Tnlobites  ;  Prof.  W.  J.  Sollas,  on  the  mode  of  flow  of 
a  viscous  fluid  ;  Dr.  C.  S.  Du  Riche  Preller,  on  fluvio-glacial 
and  inter-glacial  deposits  in  Switzerland  ;  and  Mr.  E.  T.  Newton, 
on  fosisil  human  remains  fnmi  Palaeolithic  gravels  at  Galley  Hill, 
Kent. 

The  Royal  College  of  Bclen,  Havana,  has  just  published  its 
magnetical  and  meteorological  observations  for  the  year  1890. 
This  institution  h;is  regularly  issued  reports  .since  1S62,  and  the 
continuous  instrumental  curves,  which  accomjiany  the  tables^ 
have  furnished  valuable  information  for  the  investigation  of 
West  India  hurricanes.  Since  1872,  one  of  the  late  Padre 
Secchi's  well-known  and  expensive  meteorographs  has  been 
regularly  at  work  at  Havana,  and  is  said  to  give  very  satisfactory 
results.  -We  note  that  an  attempt  is  matic  each  month  to  connect 
the  magnetical  w  ith  the  atmospherical  disturbances. 

We  have  received  from  the  Jesuit  College  of  Qua,  pro\  ince  of 
Burgos,  a  pamphlet  containing  meteorological  oliservalions  made 
twice  daily,  with  monthly  and  yearly  results  for  the  years  18S3- 
1894.  The  Observatory  is  1900  feet  above  sea-level,  and  is 
rather  sheltered  ;  but  the  summary  of  the  climate  of  that  part  of 
Spain  by  Prof.  X'alladares,  and  the  observations  of  cirrus  clouds 
and  iheir  connection  with  atmfispheric  disturbances,  are  valuable 
contributions  to  meteorological  science.  During  the  twelve 
years  in  question,  the  extreme  shade  temperatures  varied  from 
l''"3  to  100°,  the  annual  mean  being  5I°'8,  and  the  aver.age 
yearly  rainfall  was  22  inches. 

M.  C.AsiMiR  IJE  C.wnoi.i.K  contrilmtes  to  the  Archives  des 
Sciences  Physiques  el  Naturelles  an  important  iiajjer  on  the 
latent  life  of  seeds.  From  a  series  of  experiments,  chiefly  on 
seeds  of  wheat,  oat,  and  fennel,  he  concludes  that  dormant 
seeds  pass  through  a  period  of  completely  suspended  animation, 


548 


A'A  TURE 


[August  S,  1895 


in  which  all  the  functions  of  the  protoplasni  arc  cjuiesccm,  but  i 
from  which  they  re\'ive  when  again  placed  in  conditions  suitable  | 
for  germination.     The  immunity  from  injury  appears  to  depend  \ 
on  the  protoplasm  of  the  seed  passing  into  a  completely  inert  I 
>late,  in  which  it  is  inca|xible  of  either  respiring  or  assimilating, 
liefore  exposure  to  the  unfavourable  conditions.     The  period  of  , 
suspende<l  animation  may  e.\tend  over  an  indefinite  lime,  prob- 
ably through  a  long  series  of  years,  and   the  seeds  may  during 
this  perio<l  be  subjected  to  very  low  temperatures  without  de- 
stro)-ing  their  vitality.     Those  above  mentioned  were  exposc<t, 
in  a  refrigerator,  as  many  as  Ii8  times  in  succession,  to  a  sudden 
cooling  to  temperatures  varying  between    -30°  and    -S3'C., 
without  injurious   effects.     On    the   other   hand,   seeds    of  the 
sensitive  plant  and  of  Lobelia  Eriiins  succumbed,  for  the  most 
|jart,  to  similar  treatment.     These  statenients  have  an  important 
liearing  on  the  question  of  the  retention  of  their  vitality  by  buried 
seeds. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Macaque  Monkey  (Afacaiiis  •yiiama/^iis) 
from  India,  presented  by  Mrs.  Herman  Schlesenger ;  a  Rhesus 
Monkey  {.Vaiaciis  r/tisin)  from  India,  presented  by  Miss 
l-'olhurst  ;  a  Macaque  Monkey  (Afattuiis  iyiioHio/giis)  from 
India,  three  .Slow  Lorises  {Afyi/i,</nis  lardigradiis)  from 
Sumatra,  presented  by  Mr.  Stanley  S.  l-lower ;  a  deoffroy's 
Marmoset  (Midos  geoffroii)  fron>  Panama,  presented  by  Miss 
Mina  Sangiorgi ;  a  Green  .Monkey  (Cercopitludis  callitrichtis) 
from  West  .\frica,  presented  by  .\ldlle.  Eugenie  Grobel:  a 
liarljary  Ape  {Afaiaiiis  iiiiiiis)  from  North  .\frica,  presented  by 
Mr.  Edwin  Fletcher :  two  Crested  rorcupines(/yi'.f//7.v<>/.f/ato), 
two  Cape  Zorillas(/.7<;H_j'.v  zorilla)  Uom  South  .\frlca,  presented 
by  .Mr.  J.  E.  .Matcham  :  a  Ducorp's  Cockatoo  (Coi-a/HH  dmorpsi) 
from  the  Solomon  Islands,  presented  by  Mrs.  Dexler;  a 
Nightjar  (Ca/»r/;7/«4'"-'  eurofhcm),  European,  presented  by  Mr. 
T.  West  Carnie  ;  two  Robbcn  Island  .Snakes  (Coronel/a  pho- 
(arum)  from  South  Africa,  presented  by  .Mr.  Barry  McMillam  ; 

a    Chameleon    (ChamitUoii     hasilhius)    from    Eg)pt, 

presented  by  Mr.  J.  Buchanan  ;  a  Brown  Capuchin  {Cchis 
J'aliiUlus)  from  Guiana,  a  Black-liacked  Jackal  (C<J//*> "/«««'<•/«.>) 
from  South  Africa,  six  King-tailed  C<jatis  {Nasiia  nifa)  from 
.South  America,  deposited  ;  a  Red  River  Hog  (Polanioihirrus 
penicillalus)  from  Wc-st  Africa,  a  Sooty  I'halanger  (Phalaiigisla 
/iiliginosa)  from  .\ustralia :  a  l)c  l-'ilippi's  Meadow  Starling 
{Sturiiel/a  dcfilippi)  from  I^  Plata,  purchased  :  t«o  Manelarin 
I)ucks  (./;>  gaicriciilala),  seven  Summer  Ducks  (.  /-..i  sfoiisa), 
three  Chilian  Pintails  (Dofila  spinicaiida),  bred  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Thk  Rotation  ok  VKNt;s. — Not willistamling  the  persistence 
with  which  the  planet  \'enus  has  l>eeii  telcscopically  observed, 
ihe  [leriwl  of  rntatiun  is  still  undetermined  with  anything  like 
rcrtainty.  Schroter  l>elieved  the  time  of  rotation  to  be  23h.  2Ini.  : 
anil  this  i)eriiKl,  or  iherealKiuts,  was  pretty  generally  arlopled  until 
the  announcement  by  Schiaparelli.  m  1890,  that  the  lime  of  rota- 
lion  was  (mibably  e<)ual  to  lh.1l  of  the  planet's  revolution  riumd  the 
sun,  that  is,  alwut  225  ilays.  This  conclusion  was  based  on  the 
rigidity  of  the  markings  at  different  hours  of  the  day  and  fur  weeks 
together.  ( Jbservatinns  by  M.  Perrotin  and  Dr.  Terby  tend  |i. 
strengthen  the  conclusion  arrived  at  by  Schiaiiarelli.  t)n  Ihe 
lither  hand,  M.  Niesten  observed  the  planet  between  1881  and 
1890,  and  found  that  a  periixl  of  23  hours  satisfied  his  observa- 
tions ;  while  M.  Trouvclot,  from  nearly  twenty  years'  work, 
concluded  that  the  rotation  [icriod  was  alioiit  24  hours.  In  this 
divided  stale  of  opinion,  therefore,  it  is  evident  that  much 
remains  to  Ix:  done  Iwfore  any  sitisfaclory  cfmcluslon  can  lie 

awn.  ■ 

During  the  present  year,  Mr.  Brenner,  of  the  Manors 
( »l»crvalory,  has  olwcrveil  the  planet  as  frequently  as  jxissible 
.since  .\pril  17  (.-hi.  Xatli.  3300).  His  first  observalions  of  a 
bright  and  a  dark  .s|>ot  near  the  north  |i<)le  led  him  to  agree  wilh 

NO.   1345.  VOL.   52] 


Schiaparelli,  but  further  observations  have  changed  his  opinion, 
and  he  now  believes  the  period  to  be  about  24  hours.  On  July  2 
he  announced  that  a  marking  near  the  southern  cusp  had  been 
visible  since  June  q,  but  became  in\isible  about  4  p.m.  each 
day,  while  a  well-marked  streak  appeared  about  8  p.m.  Olher 
marks  also  ajijieared  and  disappeared  in  a  manner  inconsistent 
with  a  rotation  period  of  more  than  24  hours.  One  of  the  most 
important  of  the  markings,  though  noted  quite  independently, 
appears  to  be  i<lentical  with  one  observed  by  Mr.  Stanley  Wil- 
liams eleven  years  ago  :  in  a  communication  to  Mr.  Brenner, 
.Mr.  Williams  states:  "In  1SS4  I  managed  to  .secure  about 
one  hundreil  sketches  of  the  markings  on  ^'enus.  These  mostly 
favour  a  rotation  of  about  24  hours  :  but  there  was  one  strongly- 
marked  indentation  near  the  southern  horn,  which  remained 
visible  continuously  for  about  a  monlh.  It  was  prolonged  on 
the  disc  by  a  narrow  and  unusually  dark  and  definite  streak  (for 
\'enus)."  Mr.  Brenner  has  since  claimed  lo  have  proved  wilh 
cerlainty  that  \'enus  rotates  in  about  24  hours  :  some  of  Ihe 
markings  return  regularly  at  Ihe  same  hour  of  Ihe  day,  and  are 
invisible  at  other  times,  when  the  definition  is  ec|ually  good  :  and 
it  is  even  possible  lo  observe  Ihe  appearance  and  advancing  of 
Ihe  most  conspicuous  streak. 

Gkodeticai.  Observaiions.  — Dr.  Geelmuyden,  of  Chris- 
liania,  has  recently  published  the  results  of  a  comiiiirison  between 
the  astronomical  and  geodelical  determinations  made  in  Ihe 
course  of  a  Iriangulation  of  Norway.  The  stations  selected  for 
oliservation  lie  between  59^  and  64°  lal  ,  and  Ihe  astronomical 
work  connected  with  the  investigation  was  conducted  under  Ihe 
direction  of  the  late  Prof  Kearnley,  extending  as  far  back  as 
186S.  The  observations  refer  to  measurements  made  at  eleven 
stations,  of  which  nine  have  both  the  a/imulh  and  latitude 
determined,  and  two  the  diflerence  of  longitude. 

As  origin  for  the  geodelical  survey,  the  geographical  coordi- 
nates of  Dragonkollen,  a  station  on  the  Swedish  border,  have 
been  chosen,  partly  because  its  position  is  particvilarly  well 
determined,  but  principally  on  the  ground  that  iis  situation 
points  to  Ihe  existence  of  a  very  small  local  attraction,  .\ssuniing 
that  for  this  station  a  vertical  line  coincides  with  the  normal  of 
Bessel's  ellipsoid,  Dr.  tieelmuyden  has  conqnUei.1,  with  the  data 
already  collected  in  Ihe  course  of  the  geodetic  survey,  Ihe  devia- 
tions of  the  plumb-line  for  the  other  stations,  in  which  both  the 
azimuth  and  the  latitude  have  been  dclermined.  Tlie  results  are 
show  n  in  the  follow  ing  table  :  — 


Station. 


I  >itrereiice 
of 
I      azimuth. 


Jonsknuden     . . . 

Gausta 

Musbergoen     ... 

Chrisliania 

Hogcvarde 

Hoslbjorkampen 

Na'verljeld 

Gien     ... 

Graakallen 

Norberghaug  ... 


+  S-S5 

-  6  33 

-  072 

-  3-87 

-  i3'oo 
+   6-40 

+  4 '49 
- 1072 

-  7'7i 

-  670 


DifTereilce 

Deviation 

of 

of 

latitude. 

verticil. 

-'•J' 

5' "7 

+  0'S4 

0-6& 

+  1-79 

2-87 

■4-4 -68 

588 

^-6•6^ 

706 

-2-65 

6'20 

-6-98 

7-98 

-fo67 

3 '36 

The  deviations  of  the  plumb-line  here  shown,  agree  on  Ihe 
whole  with  what  might  be  ex|X-cted  from  the  confcirmation  of 
the  surface  and  the  contiguity  of  neighbouring  mountains.  I'or 
example,  ihe  westerly  deviation  of  Cden  can  be  explained  liy  the 
attraction  of  Dovrefjeld.  An  exception  is,  however,  met  in  the 
rase  of  NorlK-Tgh-iug,  where  an  easterly  rather  than  a  westerly 
deviation  would  have  been  exix;cled.  .\  map  is  allached,  in 
which  is  shown  bolh  the  position  of  the  several  .stations  and  ihc 
direction  of  the  deviation  of  Ihe  iilumb-Iine. 


TffE  INSTITUTION  OF  MF.CHANICM. 
ENGINF.F.KS. 
\\V.  annual  summer  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  was  held  in  Glasgow  lasl  week,  under  the  chair- 
manshipof  the  President  of  the  Inslitutiim.  Prof.  Alexander  H. 
W.  Kennedy,  K.R.S.  .\  strong  local  comniitlee  had  been 
organi.sed  under   the  chairmanship  of  Sir  Kenny  Watson,  Prof. 


T' 


August  8,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


349 


Aichihald  Barr  being  Secrelarj',  and  very  complete  arrange- 
ments had  been  made  for  the  instruction  and  entertainment  of 
members  taking  part  in  the  meeting.  In  a  great  engineering 
centre  there  can  be  no  lack  of  objects  of  interest  to  afford  ex- 
cursions for  a  meeting  of  this  Institution,  and  the  organising 
ronmiittee  had  taken  full  advantage  of  the  facilities  put  at  their 
disposal  by  owners  of  works  who  had  liberally  thrown  them  open 
to  members. 

The  meeting  commenced  on  Tuesday,  July  30,  and  was 
brought  to  a  conclusion  on  the  Friday  following.  The  mornings 
'  'f  the  two  first  days  were  devoted  to  the  reading  of  papers,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  list :  — 

Hydraulic  stoking  machinery  and  labour-saving  appliances  in 
modern  gas  works,  by  Andrew  S.  Biggart. 

Notes  on  modern  steel-\Nork  machinery,  by  James  Riley. 

Recent  engineering  improvements  of  the  Clyde  Navigation,  by 
lames  Deas,  Kngineer  of  the  Clyde  Navigation. 

Notes  on  hydraulic  jxiwer  supply  in  towns :  GKisgow ,  Man- 
chester, Buenos  Ayres,  i:c. ,  by  Edward  B.  Ellington. 

I'apers  on  telemeters  and  range-finders  for  naval  and  other 
purposes,  by  Profs.  Barr  and  -Stroud,  and  on  the  electric  light- 
ing of  Edinburgh,  by  Henry  K.  J.  Kurstall,  were  also  on  the 
agenda,  but  had  to  be  adjourned  until  the  next  meeting. 

On  members  assembling  in  the  Institute  of  Fine  Arts,  they 
were  welcomed  by  the  Lord  Provost  of  Glasgow,  Sir  James 
Hell,  and  the  usual  formal  business  having  been  disposed  of,  the 
Hrst  paper  wa.s  taken,  namely,  that  of  Mr.  Biggan,  on  gas 
works  machinery.  In  this  the  author  described  an  extensive 
liyilraulic  plant  which  has  recently  been  laid  down  at  the 
Dawsholm  Gas  Works  in  Glasgow.  The  apparatus  is  designed 
I"  supersede  hanil  labour  in  the  charging  of  retorts,  and  clearing 
them  of  the  residual  ctrke  when  the  gas  has  been  abstracted  from 
the  fuel.  The  usual  method  of  performing  these  operations  by 
hand  must  be  known  to  mo»t  people.  The  coal  having  been 
broken  to  suitable  size  by  hand,  is  placed  in  the  retort  by 
uieans  of  a  long  half-round  scoop  or  trough.  This  is  pushed 
into  the  retort  and  then  turned  over,  the  coal  then  being  spilled 
and  spread  evenly  throughout  the  length  of  the  retort.  This  is 
\er)-  laborious  work,  and  moreover  the  smoke  and  dust  accom- 
I  inying  it  are  very  injurious.  It  is,  however,  less  trying  than 
the  discharging  of  the  retorts,  an  operation  which  consists  of 
raking  out  a  mass  of  coke  almost  at  a  white  heat.  It  will  be 
easily  understood,  even  by  those  not  jiersonally  acquainted  with 
gas  works,  that  labour  of  this  nature  docs  not  tend  to  the 
advancement  of  the  labourer,  for  though  good  wages  are  paid 
they  are  apt  to  be  spent  in  ways  not  all  that  could  be  desired. 
The  introduction  of  machiner)-  to  supersede  this  somewhat  de- 
moralising work  is  therefore  a  distinct  boon  to  the  workman  as 
Hcll  as  the  proprietors  of  gas  works,  and  thus,  indirectly,  the 
users  of  gas  ;  in  fact,  it  is  the  oft-told  tale  of  intelligent  work 
being  required  to  produce  machines  which  take  the  place  of  the 
unthinking  lalx)urer.  That  is  very  nearly  the  whole  history  of 
llie  elevation  of  the  working  classes.  In  the  machinery  de. 
scribed  by  Mr.  Biggart,  and  illustrated  by  wall-cartoons 
displayed  at  the  meeting,  the  coal  is  broken  by  a  machine 
having  rolls  with  powerful  steel  claws  which  draw  in  the  coal 
and  break  it  to  pieces  of  the  required  size.  The  coal  is  con- 
veyed by  means  of  buckets  travelling  on  chains  :  the.se  scoop  it 
up  and  take  it  to  the  machine  or  to  the  required  spot  after  it  is 
broken.  The  charging  machine  consists  first  of  a  steel  frame 
mountetl  on  a  carriage  which  runs  on  rails  laid  on  the  platform 
in  front  of  the  battery  of  retorts.  Attached  to  the  frame  is  a 
hopper,  and  from  this  a  given  quantity  of  coal  is  allowed  to  fall 
in  front  of  a  "  pusher-plate."'  The  function  of  the  latter  is  to 
thrust  the  coal  into  the  retort,  the  neceswarj-  forward  motion 
being  obtained  by  means  of  a  hydraulic  ram.  .\  second  ram  is 
used  to  withdraw  the  pusher,  .\bout  six  or  seven  pushes  are 
required  to  place  the  coal  in  a  retort,  the  quantity  that  has  to  be 
placed  at  the  far  end  naturally  going  in  first.  The  arrangement 
"f  the  mechanism  is  such  that  the  coal  is  practically  level  in  the 
retort,  a  fact  which  the  gas  manager  looks  on  as  im]x>rtant. 
There  are  many  very  ingenious  devices  incorporated  in  the 
design  of  this  machine,  which  we  have  described  in  so  elementary 
a  manner,  but  to  make  them  clear  we  should  require  somewhat 
elaborate  illustrations.  .\I1  charging  ojierations  are  performed 
by  means  of  a  single  lever.  Having  charged  one  retort,  the 
machine  is  run  along  the  lines  of  rail  to  the  next  retort,  and  so 
on  through  the  whole  range. 

Having  described  the  main  outline  of  the  charging  machine, 
the  action  of  the  drawing  machine  hardly  needs  explanation. 


the  two  being  so  like  in  principle.  In  both  the  mechanism 
for  raising  the  pusher  or  rake,  respectively  from  the  coal 
or  coke  so  as  to  clear  them,  is  ver)-  ingeniously  devised, 
compared  to  hand  labour.  The  saving  in  time  and  latmur  is 
considerable,  as  the  machine  will  charge  forty-eight  retorts  in 
an  hour  under  favouralile  conditions.  Not  half  the  number 
of  men  are  required  in  the  retort-house  ;  and  it  is  said  that 
the  sa\ing  which  this  represents,  averages  about  a  shilling  per 
ton  of  coal  carbonised.  As,  roughly,  about  8,000,000  tons  of 
coal  are  annually  used  for  gas-making  in  this  country,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  universal  use"  of  these  machines  should  lead  to  a 
.saving  of  ^400,000  every  year,  to  say  nothing  of  relieving  the 
working  classes  of  exhausting  and  by  no  means  elevating  labour. 
It  is,  however,  worthy  of  note,  as  indicative  of  the  spirit  of  the 
age,  that  it  was  strikes,  or  the  fear  of  strikes,  that  led  to  the 
more  general  introduction  of  these  labour-saving  appliances. 

In  the  long  discussion  that  followed  the  reading  of  the  paper, 
the  most  notable  point  was  the  testimony  of  experienced  persons 
as  to  the  success  of  these  machines. 

Mr.  James  Riley's  paper,  on  modern  steel  works  machiner)-, 
was  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  pubV\s\\ed  knowledge  on  this 
subject.  -Mr.  Riley  has  taken  a  prominent  position  in  the 
manufacture  of  mild  steel  from  the  time  the  material  was  intro- 
duced commercially,  and  he  therefore  speaks  with  authority. 
He  was  connected  with  the  now  almost  classic  Landore  Works 
under  Sir  William  Siem'-ns,  but  it  was  as  head  of  the  Steel 
Company  of  Scotland  that  he  made  his  name  most  widely  known  ; 
indeed,  there  is  no  one  to  whom  naval  architects  and  ship 
constructors  owe  more  than  to  the  author  of  the  paper  for  what 
has  been  done  in  the  development  of  the  steel-plate  industry. 
Mr.  Riley  has  recently  found  a  new  field  for  his  energies,  and 
it  w,as  largely  in  the  description  of  the  plant  which  he  has  been 
fiitting  up,  that  his  paper  dealt. 

Some  of  the  most  impressive  examples  of  the  mechanical 
engineer's  art  are  to  be  found  in  the  modern  steel  works  of  this 
countrj-.  Massive  cogging-mills,  which  wiU  roll  down  an 
ingot  of  ten  tons  of  steel,  almost  at  a  white  heat,  into  slabs  ; 
hydraulic  shears  which  crop  off  the  ends  of  these  slabs,  cut- 
ting through  a  thickness  of  12  inches  and  a  width  of  5  feet  of 
glowing  steel ;  the  enormously  powerfid  hydraulic  forging 
presses— the  casting  for  the  cylinder  alone,  in  an  instance 
mentioned  by  Mr.  Riley,  weighing  64  tons  ;  the  plate  mills, 
rail  mills,  hot  saws,  the  live  rollers  and  hydraulic  turning  gear, 
which  deal  with  many  ton  ingots  of  steel  as  if  they  were  but  play- 
things ;  all  these  form  an  exemjilification  of  artificial  force  hardly 
surpassed.  The  paper  in  question  gave  descriptions  in  detail  of  the 
most  recent  examples  of  these  machines,  which  it  would  be  of 
interest  to  repeat  ;  but  the  difficulty  of  making  the  forms  of  con- 
struction clear  without  the  diagrams  shown  on  the  walls,  will 
compel  us  again  to  confine  ourselves  to  mere  outline.  In  a  cog- 
ging mill  described  and  illustrated,  slabs  up  to  60  inches  wide 
could  be  produced,  and  these  are  rolled  on  their  edges  by  ver- 
tical rolls,  the  ordinary  horizontal  rolls  being  used  for  rolling 
on  the  flat.  Ingots  and  slabs  are  taken  to  and  from  the  mill 
by  special  carriages  actuated  by  hydraulic  rams.  Hydraulic 
slab  shears,  described  in  the  paper,  have  a  centre  cylinder 
of  31  inches  in  diameter,  and  two  side  ones  22  inches  each  ; 
the  work  being  held  down  by  hydraulic  power  whilst  being 
sheared.  The  accumulator  [iressure  is  one  ton  per  square  inch. 
The  table  has  two  hydraulic  cylinders,  by  which  it  is  raised  or 
lowered.  Steam  slab  cutting  shears  and  plate  mills  are  also  de- 
scribed. The  author  advocates  the  use  of  three-high  plate  mills 
in  place  of  the  more  usital  reversing  mill.  .\  three -high  mill 
runs  continuously,  the  work  being  passed  forward  lietwcen  the 
bottom  and  middle  roll,  and  back  between  the  top  and  middle 
roll.  The  frequent  reversing  of  the  engine  driving  the  ro 
thus  done  away  with,  is  naturally  a  source  of  loss.  Hydraulic 
power  h.is  also  Iwen  adopted  for  working  plate  shears,  the 
mechanism  employed  for  actuating  the  bl.ades  being  of  the  nature 
of  a  toggle  arm  worked"  from  a  crank  shaft  by  levers. 

.\  long  discussion  followed  the  reading  of  this  paper,  in 
which  the  desirability  of  rolling  plates  trom  the  ingot, 
withcuit  previous  cogging,  was  considered  very  fully.  In 
.America  this  practice  is  largely,  indeed  all  but  universaljy, 
followed  ;  but  the  general  opinion  of  the  high  authorities 
who  spoke,  appeared  to  be  that  in  England,  owing  to  the 
diversity  of  sizes  of  plates  required,  cogging  into  slabs  was  a 
necessary  part  of  plate  rolling.  It  is  jM.ssible,  however,  that  by 
properly  apportioning  mills  to  the  description  of  work  required, 
the  intermediate  process  may  in  time  become  less  universal  in  this 


NO.    1345,  VOL.   52] 


350 


NATURE 


[August  8,  1895 


country.  That,  however,  remains  to  be  seen,  and  one  must 
remember  how  diflicult  it  is  to  shalce  trade  customs,  however 
much  they  may  stand  in  the  way  of  advancement  in  manufactur- 
ing processes. 

.Mr.  I)e;»s"  |)aper  on  Clyde  navigation  improvemenls  was  an- 
other excellent  contribution  to  the  procccdini;s  of  the  Institution, 
although  perhaps  rather  of  the  nature  of  a  civil  than  a  mechanical 
engineering  paper.  We  use  the  term  "civil  engineering "  in 
its  restricted  but  more  generally  accepted  sense.  The  Clyde 
is  probably  the  most  artificial  tidal  river  in  the  world.  What 
man  has  done  for  the  Clyde,  and  what  the  Clyde  has  done 
for  Cilasgow,  ever)'  one  has  heard.  Mr.  Deas  carries  the 
det.ails  of  the  narrative  a  step  further,  showing  how  he  built  up 
gixxi  and  eniluring  quay  walls  svhere  the  nature  of  the  ground 
rendered  the  task  one  of  the  greatest  difticulty.  The  most 
striking  feature  was  the  series  of  hollow  concrete  cylinders, 
sunk  into  the  natural  sanil  or  gravel  to  form  a  foundation  for  the 
<(uay  walls.  The  methcKl  of  sinking  was  ingenious,  anil  to  those 
interested  in  these  matters  a  perusal  of  the  pajier  will  be  of 
great  interest,  both  in  regard  to  this  and  many  other  points. 

Mr.  Kllington's  jxtper  was  one  of  great  interest,  as,  intleed, 
were  all  the  memoirs  read  at  this  meeting.  The  author  has 
taken  the  foremost  position  in  the  introduction  of  the  distribu- 
tion of  hydraulic  power  from  a  central  station.  The  first  example 
<jn  a  large  .scale  was  the  installation  al  Mull,  which  w;is  laid 
down  in  1877.  This  was  followed,  after  an  interval  of  seven 
years,  by  the  London  scheme,  which  has  now  reached  large 
<iimcnsions,  not  far  from  ten  million  gallons  of  water  being 
pumpe<l  per  week  at  a  pressure  of  750  lbs.  to  the  s<iuare  inch  ;  the 
mains  extending  over  the  most  imporl.ant  p;irls  of  the  melro])olis. 
Since  then  the  system  has  l>een  applied  in  Liver]>ool,  Melbourne, 
Birmingham,  Sydney,  and  -Antwerp  ;  the  latter  city  using  over 
three  million  gallons  |ier  week.  The  latest  examples  are  Man- 
chester and  Cilasgow,  where  the  pressure  has  been  increased  to 
1120  lbs.  to  the  square  inch.  Il  was  the  (ilasgow  .scheme  that 
.Mr.  Kllington  chiefly  <lescribed.  These  woiks  have  been 
•carried  out  under  the  su|K-rvision  of  Mr.  Corl)et  Woodall,  acting 
for  the  Cor|K)ration.  The  engine-house  is  laid  out  to  contain 
six  sets  of  triple  conipounti  engines  of  200-horse  jxiw  er  each. 
There  are  two  accumulators  having  rams  iS  inches  in  diameter, 
and  23  feet  stroke;  each  is  loaded  to  127  tons.  The  capacity 
is  57,500  gallons  ))er  hour  at  the  standard  pressure  of  1 120  lbs. 
to  the  s<|uare  inch.  The  water  supply  is  taken  from  the 
•CorjKiration  mains  ;  in  Ijindon  Thames  water  is  used.  The 
mains  are  7  inches  in  tliameter,  there  being  gutta-percha  packing 
rings  at  the  joints. 

.Speaking  of  the  efiiciency  of  the  system,  the  author  founded  his 
remarks  chiefly  on  his  experience  in  London,  and  it  w.as  found 
that  the  aver.age  for  ten  years  was  o'9243.  The  ctTiciency  is  de- 
lennined  by  the  fraction  representing  the  ratio  of  the  (juanlily  of 
water  registered  by  consumers'  meters  to  the  (juanlily  pum|ied 
at  the  central  stations.  In  Liverpool  a  slill  better  coeflicient 
is  obtaincil,  the  efiiciency  being  0'9555.  A  Parkinson  meter  is 
used  by  the  author ;  this  is  very  like  a  gas  meter.  The  Kent 
]>ositive  low-pres.sure  meter  is  largely  usetl  in  London. 

rerha|>s  the  most  interesting  [art  of  Mr.  Kllington's  |)a|)er 
was  that  in  which  he  com|>ared  the  cost  of  hydraulic  power  sup- 
ply and  electric  supply.  The  results  were  largely  in  favour  of 
the  water  system,  and  were  certainly  somewhat  surprising  to 
many.  In  making  this  coiu|>arison  data  were  taken  from  the 
reconis  of  the  Ix>ndon  Hydraulic  I'ower  Company  and  of  the 
Wcslmin.ster  Electric  Supply  Cor|)oratiim.  In  making  the 
comparison  looo  gallons  o(  water  at  750  lbs.  \ki  square  inch  is 
laken  as  equivalent  lo  6  5 1 8  Boaril  of  Trade  units  of  electricity. 
Thi-  analysis  showed  thai  the  slalion  cost  o(  hyilraulir  |i<iwer  is 
5I72</.  |>cr  thou-sind  gallons  pum|>ed  at  a  previure  of  750  lbs. 
jier  Mjuarc  inch.  The  corres|)<>nding  cost  of  an  ei|uivalent 
r<ni'runt  of  electric  energ)',  reduced  lo  the  same  hydraulic 
rl.  is  9'oi4y/.  |>er  thousand  gallims ;  on  an  electrical 
r.l  i.f  Hiiard  of  Trade  units  of  0793^/.  and  1  ■383^/.  for 
I  I  electrical  energy  res|KCtively.      Il    was  a  curious 

'  ■\\.\\.  in  nuaking  ihis  comparison,  ihe  capital  outlay, 

•  ...;,,.;.  ,..,;, lily  vild,  and  average  price  obtained  were  nearly 
ihe  same  ;  il  was  only  in  cost  of  pr'Kluction  that  the  divergence 
was  remarkable.  .\  further  point  that  came  out  in  the  di.scussion 
wa.H  ihai  the  dividends  jiaiil  by  the  two  companies  res|)eclivcly 
were  not  greally  ilifferenl.  The  author  could  come  lo  no  other 
conclusion  on  the  figures  than  that,  from  some  cause  nol 
hitherlfi-  explainer!,  hydraulic  |)ower  is  much  less  cr>stly  to 
priKluce  than  eleclricily.      I'rof.    Kenne'ly,   who   occupieil    the 


chair,  and  who  is  so  largely  responsible  for  the  distribution  of 
electrical  energy,  could  find  no  fault  with  Mr.  Kllington's  figures; 
but  we  believe  the  matter  is  likely  to  become  the  subject  of 
further  investigation. 

We  do  nol  propose  dealing  with  the  many  excur.sions  that 
were  made,  and  which  included  visits  10  a  large  number  of 
shipyards,  engine  works,  iron  and  steel  works,  as  well  as  the 
large  Corporation  undertakings,  such  as  the  gas  and  water  works. 
To  describe  these  at  all  adequately  would  require  a  volume 
rather  than  an  article.  It  will  suffice  to  say  here  that  these 
excursions  were  well  attended,  and  the  meeting  was  highly 
successful  generally. 


NO,    1345,  VOL.   52J 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  CEOCKAFH ICAI. 
CONGRESS. 

""rilK  closing  meeting  of  the  Internalional  (leographical  Con- 
Jiress  took  jilace  on  Saturday  morning  (.August  3).  and  there 
seemed  to  be  no  dissentieius  from  the  opinion  thai  in  all  its 
tieparlments  the  Congress  has  Ijeen  a  great  success.  In  parti- 
cular, Ihe  meeting  is  to  be  congratulated  on  accomplishing  much 
important  work,  and  combining  ihcrewilh  a  large  amount  of 
entertainment  and  social  intercourse,  without  imduly  taxing  the 
energies  of  its  members.  While  there  was  no  reason  to  expect, 
in  a  scientific  body  like  Ihe  Congress,  any  serious  complication 
of  interests,  it  is  specially  satisfactory  to  recognise  the  spirit 
which  showed  itself  in  all  the  sittings  from  day  today,  and  found 
its  most  definite  expression  in  the  graceful  and  courteous  speech 
in  which  General  (Ireely  seconded  the  proposal  ihai  the  Congress 
accept  the  invitation  of  the  Cerman  delegates  10  hold  the  next 
meeting  in  Berlin.  The  Congress  has  not  as  yet  met  in 
(Jermany,  and  it  was  felt  that  a  large  number  of  mendiers  would 
have  great  ditiicvdly  in  attending  a  meeting  at  Washington, 
although  a  visii  in  ihe  L'niled  Stales  otVerecl  many  inducements 
lo  accept  the  cordial  invitation  which  came  from  that  cuuniry. 

At  the  close  of  its  proceedings  the  Congress  gave  deliverance 
on  a  number  of  inqxirlant  questions  which  we  may  lake  as 
representing  the  general  views  of  geographical  experts  on  matters 
of  special  moment  in  thai  branch  of  science.  With  regard  to 
-Africa  il  was  agreed  that  it  is  desirable  to  bring  to  the  notice  of 
the  ( ieographical  .Socielies  inlerested  in  .Africa  the  atlvantages  to 
be  gained  : — 

(1)  Hy  the  execution  of  accurate  topographical  surveys,  lased 
on  a  sufficient  triangulalion,  of  the  districts  in  .Africa  suitable  for 
colonisation  by  lairopeans. 

(2)  By  encouraging  travellers  to  sketch  areas  rather  than  mere 
routes. 

(3)  By  the  formation  and  publication  of  a  list  of  all  the  places 
in  unsurveyed  Africa,  which  have  been  accurately  determined  by 
astronomical  observations,  with  explanations  of  the  methods 
employeil. 

(4)  By  the  accurate  determination  of  the  position  of  many  of 
the  most  important  places  in  unsurveyed  .\frica,  for  which 
operation  Ihe  lines  of  telegraph  already  erected,  or  in  course 
of  erection,  afi'ord  so  great  facililies. 

Kesolulions  were  pa.sscd  as  to  the  collection  and  cataloguing  of ' 
cartographic  materials,  and  urging  that  all  maps  should  bear  ihe 
dale  of  their  publicalion,  and  the  reporl  of  an  influential 
commission  api)ointed  al  Berne  to  consider  a  pro|)osed  map  ol 
Ihe  world  on  a  scale  of  1  :  1,000,000  was  adopteil  in  a  form 
endx>dj^ing  a  resoluliim  that  :   - 

(1)  "The  Commission  has  received  the  Report  of  ihe  Heme 
Conunillee,  and  feels  gralefiil  for  the  work  done  by  it.  ^ 

(2)  The  Comniissiiin  iledares  ihal  ihe  production  of  a  map  of 
ihe  earth  lo  be  exceedingly  desirable.  ^ 

(3)  \  scale  of  1  ;  i.ooo.coo  is  recomniemled  as  being  more 
esiiecially  suited  for  that  purpose. 

(4)  The  Commission  recommemls  lhal  each  sheel  of  Ihe  map 
l)c  bounded  by  arcs  of  parallels  and  of  meridians.  .A  poly-conical 
projecliim  is  the  only  one  which  is  deserving  ol  consideration. 
K.ich  sheel  ol  the  map  is  to  end)race  4  degrees  of  latiuide  and 
6  degrees  of  longitude,  up  lo  Oo  degrees  north,  and  12  ilegrces 
of  longitude  beyond  lhal  parallel. 

(5)  The  Connnission  recommends  uniinimously  that  ilu- 
meridian  of  I'lreenwich  and  the  metre  be  accepted  for  tliis  map. 

(6)  The  Commission    recmmnends  goverimienls,  institutions, 
and    socielies,   who   may    publish    maps,  lo   acccepi    the   scale' 
recommended. 

(7)  The  Commission  lays  down  ils  mandate,  nnd  recommends 


August  8,  1895] 


NATURE 


jo' 


iliat  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Congress  be  charged  with 
the  duty  of  carr)ing  on  its  work,  and  be  authorised  to 
co-opt  for  this  purpose  scientific  men  representing  various 
lountries. 

Supjjort  was  given  to  the  ])roposal  for  fiirther  international  sur- 
veys in  the  North  Atlantic,  the  North  Sea,  and  the  Baltic,  by  the 
^idoption  of  a  resolution,  drawn  up  by  a  special  Committee — 
"  That  the  Congress  recognises  the  scientific  and  economic  im- 
portance of  the  results  of  recent  research  in  the  Haltic,  the  North 
Sea,  and  the  North  Atlantic,  especially  with  regard  to  fishing 
interests,  and  records  its  opinion  that  the  survey  of  these  areas 
-hould  be  continued  and  extended  by  the  co-operation  of  the 
different  nationalities  concerned  on  the  lines  of  the  scheme  pre- 
-ented  to  the  Congress  by  Prof.  Pettersson." 

The  recommendation  of  the  I'xiucalion  Committee  was  adopted, 
to  the  effect  that — "'The  attention  otthis  International  Congress 
having  been  drawn  by  the  British  members  to  the  educational 
("fforts  being  made  by  the  British  (ieographical  Societies,  the 
I  "ongress  desires  to  express  its  hearty  sympathy  with  such  efforts, 
.md  to  jjlace  on  record  its  ojiinion  that  in  every  country  ]iro- 
\  ision  should  be  made  for  higher  education  in  geography,  either 
in  the  universities  or  otherwise." 

Other  resolutions  were  also  carried,  expressing  the  approval 
if  the  principle  of  Stale  printed  registration  of  literature,  as 
the  true  foundation  of  national  and  international  bibliography, 
urging  the  need  of  some  agreement  as  to  the  writing  of  place- 
names,  and  acknowledging  the  scientific  necessity  of  an 
international  system  of  stations  for  the  observation  of 
rarthquakes. 

Besides  the  above,  a  number  of  resolutions  were  adopted  in 
the  course  of  the  daily  deliberations,  of  which  the  following 
i~,  perhaps,  the  most  important  of  all  the  decisions  of  the 
Congress. 

The  resolution  refers  to  the  Exploration  of  the  Antarctic  re- 
'„'ions,  concerning  which  the  Congress  recorded  its  opinion  that 
ibis  is  the  greatest  piece  of  geographical  exploration  still  to  be  un- 
dertaken, and  in  view  of  the  additions  to  knowledge  in  almost 
'■very  branch  of  science  which  would  result  from  such  a  scientific 
I-  xploration,  the  Congress  recommended  that  the  several  scientific 
~icieties  throughout  the  world  should  urge  in  whatever  way 
-eemed  to  them  most  effective,  that  this  work  shall  be  under- 
taken before  the  close  of  the  century. 

The  following  is  a  summary  of  the  proceedings  ot  the  Congress 
during  the  week.  Previous  meetings  were  reported  in  our  last 
i~sue. 

The  general  session  on  Monday  {July  29)  opened  with  a  jiaper 
"U  .\nlarctic  Exploration  by  (leheimrath  Prof.  Dr.  (1.  Neumayer, 
md  a  discussion  followed,  in  which  the  President,  Sir  Joseph 
Hooker — the  only  survivor  of  .Sir  James  Clark  Ross's  Antarctic 
Expedition  of  1843 — Dr.  John  Murray,  Sir  ( ieorgc  Baden- 
Po\\eil,  Mr.  Arundell,  M.  tie  Lapparcnt,  Cleneral  Greely,  and 
Prof.  Ciuido  Cora  took  part  ;  and  a  committee  was  ap|X)inted  to 
draft  the  resolution  already  (pioted.  The  Congress  then  turned 
its  .attention  to  the  Arctic  regions,  papers  being  presented  by 
Admiral  A.  H.  Markham,  (leneral  (Ireely,  Herr  S.  A.  Andree, 
and  M.  E.  Payart.  Herr  Andree's  project  for  reaching  the 
North  Pole  by  means  of  balloons  was  somewhat  severely  criti- 
cise<l,  but  the  author  was  confident  of  being  able  to  meet  all  the 
difficulties  suggested,  and  announceil  that  he  had  already  obtained 
the  funds  necessary  for  his  expedition.  A  paper  on  Russian 
researches  on  a  sea  route  to  .Siberia  «as  afterwards  reail  by 
l.ieut. -Colonel  de  Shokalsky. 

In  the  afternoon.  General  Anncnkofi'and  Mr.  J.  \'.  Buchanan 
presided  over  Section  B,  which  dealt  with  jiapers  relating  to 
]ihysical  geography.  M.  le  Comte  de  Bizemont  presented  a 
paper  by  M.  G.  l.ennier  on  the  modifications  of  the  coasts  of 
Normandy,  and  Prince  Roland  Bona])arte  gave  an  account  of 
researches  on  the  periodic  variations  in  Erench  glaciers.  After 
these  were  discussed,  papers  on  the  decimal  division  of  time  and 
angles,  on  the  centesimal  division  of  the  right  angle,  on  standard 
time,  and  on  a  system  of  syndrolic  hour  zones,  were  read  by  .\I. 
le  Dr.  J.  de  Key  Pailhade,  M.  Louis  labry  (presented  by  .M. 
Jacijues  Leotard),  M.  Bciulhillier  de  Beaumont  (presented  by  M. 
le  Comte  de  Bizemont),  ;ind  I'rof.  d'ltalo  Erassi,  and  a  further 
discussion  followed. 

Section  C,  presided  over  by  M.  le  Colonel  Bassot  ami  Colonel 
Sir  lleniy  Thuillier,  concerned  itself  with  geodesy,  and  im- 
portant papers  were  read  on  the  geodetic  operations  of  the 
Indian  Survey,  by  General  J.  T.  Walker,  C  B.,F.R.S.,  late 
Surveyor-General  of  India:  the  desirability  oi  a  geodetic  con- 


NO.    1345,   VOL.    53] 


nection  between  the  surveys  of  Russia  and  India,  by  Colonel 
T.  H.  Iloldich,  C.B.  (read  by  Colonel  Sir  John  Ardagh) ;  the 
general  levelling  of  France,  by  M.  Charles  Lallemand,  Directeur 
du  Service  <lu  nivellement  general  ;  the  rise  and  i>rogress  of 
cartography  in  the  Colony  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  by  A. 
de  Smidt,  late  .Surveyor-!  General  of  that  colony  ;  and  on  the 
geodetic  survey  ol  South  Africa,  by  Dr.  David  Ciill,  F. K..S. , 
.\stronomer-General  for  Cape  of  Good  Hope  (coinmunicated  by 
Mr.  A.  de  Smidt). 

In  the  course  of  discussion  the  need  of  surveys  of  the  Nile 
\'alley  in  connection  with  the  South  African  triangulation  was 
emphasised. 

On  Tuesday,  July  30,  the  general  meeting  was  chiefly  occupied 
with  reports,  and  the  discussion  of  resolutions  already  referre<l 
to.  Section  B  was  devoted  to  oceanography,  under  the  jire- 
sidency  of  Dr.  John  Murray.  Mr.  J.  \ .  Buchanan  gave  a 
retrospect  of  oceanography  during  the  last  twenty  years,  and  read 
a  iiaper,  by  the  Prince  of  Monaco,  on  the  work  of  the  yacht 
Pfiitit'ss  Aiice.  A  i)aper  on  ocean  currents  and  the  methods  of 
their  observation,  by  Captain  \.  S.  Thomson,  was  laid  on  the 
table  ;  and  Prof.  W.  Libbey,  of  Princeton,  gave  an  account  of 
some  valuable  researches  on  the  relations  of  the  Gulf  Stream  and 
the  Labrador  current.  Prof.  Libbcy's  investigations  have 
afforded  some  remarkaljlc  results  bearing  on  the  migrations  of 
fish  on  the  eastern  seaboard  of  the  United  Slates,  and  they  form 
an  interesting  contribution  to  the  study  of  certain  problems  in 
marine  zoology.  A  paper  by  Prof.  J.  Thoulet,  suggesting  thai 
geographical  societies  in  towns  situated  near  the  coast  should 
interest  themselves  in  the  oceanography  of  neighbouring  seas,  was 
laid  on  the  talile. 

Section  C,  presided  over  by  Prof.  H.  Cordier  and  Prof.  J.  J. 
Rein,  discussed  geographical  orthography  and  definitions. 
Papers  were  read  on  the  orthography  of  place-names  by  Mr. 
G.  G.  Chisholm  ;  on  geographical  place-names  in  Europe  and 
the  East,  by  Dr.  James  Burgess;  and  on  the  transliteration  and 
pronunciation  of  place-names,  by  Dr.  Cduseppe  Ricchieri. 

Popular  interest  in  the  Congress  probably  reached  its  highest 
point  at  the  general  meeting  on  Wednesday  (July  31 ),  when  the 
proceedings  related  exclusively  to  Africa  and  its  development. 
Sir  John  Kirk  read  a  paper  on  the  suitability  of  tropical  Africa 
for  devekjpment  by  white  races  or  under  their  superintendence, 
dealing  with  the  possibilities  of  colonisation  proper,  the  estab- 
lishment of  European  settlements  in  places  permitting  of  tem- 
porary residence,  and  the  means  whereby  the  native  races  maj- 
themselves  be  taught  to  aid  in  the  development  of  the  country. 
Count  von  Pfcil  laid  down  the  conditions  of  success  in  colonising 
tropical  .Africa,  which  he  said  were  chiefly  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  character  of  the  country  it  was  proposed  to  colonise,  of  tro- 
pical hygiene,  and  of  the  art  of  making  the  native  take  an  active 
share  in  the  work.  Mr.  Silva  While's  paper  dealt  with  the  problem 
from  various  points  of  view,  the  author  concluding  that  tropical 
.Vfrica  is  on  the  whole  unsuitable  for  Euri>pean  colonisation,  and 
that  it  is  capalile  of  only  a  limited  degree  of  development  as 
com])ared  with  other  and  still  undeveloped  regions  of  the  world. 
Mr.  H.  M.  Stanley,  Mr.  E.  G.  Ravenstein,  M.  Lionel  Decle, 
and  Slatin  Pasha  also  presented  communications  to  the  meeting, 
and  a  discussion  followed.  ( '.encral  Chapman  read  a  paper  on 
the  mapping  of  Africa,  and  a  proposal  w-as  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee whose  rejiort  includes  the  resolution  given  above.  A 
pajier  on  a  crestographic  map  of  Africa  was  read  by  Mr.  Silva 
White,  and  another  by  M.  Victor  deTernant.  on  Erench  Africa, 
was  laid  on  the  table. 

Only  one  of  the  sections  met  (Sectiim  C).  The  Presidents 
were  Dr.  A.  Grcgoriev  and  Prof.  Libbey.  Oceanographical 
papers  were  communicated  by  Prof.  Otto  Pettersson  and  Mr.  II. 
N.  Dickson,  dealing  with  recent  research  in  the  North  Sea. 
Prof.  Pettersson  submitted  a  scheme  for  an  extension  of  the  same 
work,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  draw  up  the  resolution 
afterwards  adopted  by  the  Congress.  A  jxiper  on  limnology 
as  a  branch  of  geography  was  then  read  Ijy  Prof.  I-orel,  ami 
after  remarks  by  I'rof.  .\nuchin.  Prof.  Halbfass,  Prof.  Penck, 
Prof.  Libbey,  and  M.  de  Krapotkine,  Dr.  II.  R.  .Mill  asked  that 
his  paper  on  "Limnology  in  the  British  Islands"'  be  held  as 
read.  Scnor  F.  .\.  Pezet  gave  an  account  of  the  counter-current 
"  i;i  Nino''  on  the  coast  of  Northern  Peru. 

The  general  meeting  of  Thursday  (August  I)  opened  with  a 
return  to  the  subject  of  Antarctic  exploration.  Mr.  C.  E. 
Borchgre\ink,  who  had  been  unable  to  reach  London  in 
time  for  the  meeting  on  Monday,  read  a  |)aper  on  his 
voyage    in    the   Aiilarclii   to   N'icloria     I..and.       Prof.    C.    M. 


o.-'- 


NATURE 


[August  S,  1895 


Kan  rcau  .\  mpci  on  Wtsiciii  Nm  i.ujut.i.  ami  hmire  ex- 
ploration in  Australia  was  discusseil  l>y  Mr.  Oavid  Lindsay. 
A  memoir  on  the  Niger  lakes,  by  .M.  I'aul  \uillot,  was  laid  on 
the  table,  and  one  on  explorations  in  Madagascar,  by  M.  K.  K. 
Clautier,  was  communicated  in  abstract.  In  the  absence  of  M. 
Maistrc,  who  was  to  have  read  a  paiier  on  the  hydrographic 
system  of  the  Shari  and  Logone,  beiior  Don  Torres  Campos 
gave  an  account  of  the  climatology  of  the  I'ortuguese  and 
Sj^anish  colonies  on  the  west  coast  of  .\frica. 

Section  B — Presidents,  M.  Levasseur  and  Mr.  Kavenstein — 
received  the  following  papers: — On  the  construction  of  a 
terrestrial  globe  on  the  scale  of  I  :  loo,oco,  by  I'rof.  E.  Reclus  : 
on  the  construction  of  globes,  by  Signor  Cesare  I'omba  ;  the 
life  and  geographical  works  of  Cassini  de  Thury.  by  M. 
Ludovic  Dra|)eyron  ;  an  ethnographical  m.-^p  of  Eurojie,  by 
Herr  V.  von  Ilaardt. 

I'r<jf.  de  Lap|>arent.  Ur.  John  Murray,  and  I'rof.  Penck 
presided  over  Section  C,  where  Prof.  Palacky  read  a  paper  on 
the  gec^raphical  element  in  evolution  ;  Dr.  E.  Naumann,  one 
on  the  fundamental  lines  of  .\natolia  and  Central  Asia  ;  Dr. 
S.  I'assarge,  a  third  on  laterite  and  red  earth  in  .\frica 
and  India:  and  Mr.  Henry  G.  Bryant,  a  fourth  on  the 
most  northern  Eskimos.  The  last  paper  described  observations 
made  in  North  and  South  Greenland  during  the  I'eary  Relief 
Expeditions. 

On  Friday  (.\ugusl  2)  the  President  communicated  a  paper  to 
the  general  meeting,  by  Baron  .\.  E.  Nordenskiold,  on  ancient 
charts  and  sailing  directions.  Prof.  Hermann  Wagner  read  a 
laper  on  the  origin  of  the  niedixval  Italian  nautical  charts, 
which  gave  some  interesting  results  as  to  the  length  of  the 
medi.-eval  nautical  mile.  Mr.  Vule  Oldham  dealt  with  the  place 
of  meili.vval  manuscript  maos  in  the  study  of  the  history  of 
geographical  discovery,  and,  in  the  course  of  remarks  on  this 
iiapcr,  .Mr.  Batalha-Keis  announced  thediscovery  of  an  authentic 
fifteenth  century  portrait  of  Prince  Henry  the  Navigator,  at 
Lislx)n.  The  Congress  received  a  number  of  presentations,  and 
discussed  various  proposals  and  resolutions. 

Section  B — Presidents,  Senor  Don  Torres  Campos  .ind  M.  le 
Prof.  1^-va.sseur — dealt  with  siKvliology  (or  the  science  of  caverns) 
and  mountain  structure.  .\  i)a|)er  on  the  methoil  of  investigat- 
ing caverns,  by  M.  E.  A.  Nlartel,  was  read  ;  M.  K.  Schra<ler 
descrilied  new  instruments  and  methods  used  in  surveying  the 
I'yrenees ;  and  Prof.  Rein  gave  an  account  of  observations  in 
the  S|xinish  Sierra  Nevada. 

Dr.  E.  Naumann  occupied  the  chair  in  Section  C,  in  which 
I'rof.  Penck  read  an  im|K>rlant  paper  on  the  morphology  and 
termini )log)'  of  land  forms,  and  communications  were  received 
from  Mr.  Bat.ilha-Keis  on  the  definition  of  geography,  and  Prof. 
<ierland  on  earthquake  ob.servalions. 

On  Saturday  only  a  general  meeting  was  held.  General 
Anncnkoff  read  a  |)aper  on  the  imjMjrtance  of  geography  in  con- 
nection with  the  present  .agricultural  and  economical  crisis,  and 
the  rest  of  the  lime  was  occupied  with  resolutions  and  reports. 
The  President  dissolveil  the  Congress  in  a  short  concluding 
address,  and  bid  the  foreign  visitors  a  hearty  farewell. 

.•\fter  such  well-filled  days  the  Congress  wisely  devoted  most 
of  its  evenings  to  recreation.  Only  two  exceptions  were  made. 
<Jn  Monday  night  Prof.  Libbey  showed  by  the  lantern  a  large 
numljcr  of  photographs  made  in  the  north  of  (jrecnland  ;  and 
on  Thursday  Dr.  II.  R.  .Mill  gave  a  demonstration  in  the  form 
of  a  lecture  on  the  English  lakes. 


THE  BRITISH  MEDICAL  ASSOCIATION. 

''V'WV.  sixly-lhird  annual  meeting  of  ihc  British  Medical  .\ssocia. 
tion.  held  in  Ixmdon  last  week,  was  the  largest  in  the 
history  of  the  As.vKialion,  and  one  of  the  greatest  assemblies  of 
mc<lical  men  c^■cr  known.  Twcniy-lwoyearsago  the  .Association 
held  its  ,'\nnn.il  meeting  in  Ixndon,  but  whereas  at  that  time  the 
mcmlicrship  was  only  1500,  the  numtwr  now  exceeds  16,000. 
A  large  nuinlier  of  foreign  meflical  men  were  present  at  the  meet- 
ing, among  Ihcni  lieing  I'rof  Stokvis,  Dr.  \V.  \V.  Keen,  Dr. 
Apost<ili,  I'rof.  Mosso,  Dr.  I'raenckel,  Dr.  Knrkas,  I'rof  I'ozzi,  Dr. 
Ottolinghi,  I'rof  I.a7arewiich,  I'rof.  von  Kanke,  I'rof.  Baginsky, 
Dr.  Hermann  Biggs,  Dr.  Ball,  Dr.  Rosier,  I'rof  (iayet.  Dr.  Meyer, 
I'rof.  panas,  I'rof  l-'uchs.  Prof.  Bowditch,  Dr.  I..  A.  Nekam,  I'rof 
I'>aumler,  I'rof  Martin,  l)r.  Cushine,  I'rof  Cordis,  I'rof  Ham- 
burgher,    I'rof     Marinevo.    and    I'rof    ( leikie.      Sir   T.    Kusscll 


Rey-nolds  therefore  presided  over  an  assembly  internatiortal  in  its 
main  aims,  and  rejjresenting  an  AssiKiation  .■«  remarkable  in  its  i 
growth  as  it  is  high  in  its  slan<ling.  ll  is  only  possible  here  to 
give  a  few  extracts  from  some  of  the  addresses  and  refer  brielly  to 
a  part  of  the  general  work  of  the  sections.  For  these  reports  we 
are  indebted  to  the  Hritish  Medical  Journal,  the  organ  of  the 
-Association.  Sir  T.  Russell  Reynolds  took  for  the  object  of  his 
address  "  the  most  striking  fact  of  mixlern  jihysiological,  patho- 
logical, and  thera[K'Ulical  research,  \\i.  the  ]iower  of  living  things 
for  Ixjth  good  and  evil  in  the  conservation  of  health  and  in  the 
prevention  or  cure  of  disea-se."  In  the  course  of  his  remarks  he 
said: — "  The  most  important  fact  with  regard  to  recent  micro- 
biological research  is  the  graduallyincreiising  appreciation  of  the 
fact  that  these  lower  forms  of  life  exert,  not  necessarily  mis- 
chievous, but,  indeed,  benignant  influences  on  the  human  tiody, 
and  that  although  the  mode  of  their  operation  is  not  fully  ex- 
plained they  take  [xtrt  in  healthy  processes,  assisting  nornial 
functions,  nay,  indeed,  it  would  seem  sometimes  producing  them 
and  warding  off  the  malign  effects  of  other  influences  to  which  wo 
are  habitually  exposed.  These  bodies,  to  which  we  are  indebted 
for  this  aid,  operate  partly  liy  their  chemic  action  and  partly  by 
what  we  must  call  a  vital  process,  and  by  their  cultivation  out- 
side the  human  boily  and  their  modification  by  i)a.ssing  through 
other  organisms,  can  be  made  to  exert  a  malign  or  a  beneficial 
agency  on  man.  It  seems  even  in  the  range  of  ix)ssibility  thai 
at  some  time  not  very  distant  some  other  than  '  the  ancient 
mariner"  may  apply  to  tliem  the  far-reaching  words  of  Coleridge, 
and  exclaim  — 

O  happy  living  things  I  no  tongue 

Their  iK.tuty  might  decl.irc  : 

•        •        «        •        « 

.*^ll^e  mv  kind  saint  took  pity  on  me, 
.\nd  I  hles.sed  them  unaw.ire. 

"The  third  great  revelation  of  the  last  twenty  years  is  the 
wonderful  protective  and  curative  power  of  these  living  products. 
This,  in  a  very  w  iile  sense,  is  not  new.  Of  all  the  most  powerful 
agents  of  destruction,  the  most  violent  have  l)een  derived  from 
'living'  things  :  they  are  to  be  found  in  the  animal  and  vegetable 
worlils,  not  in  the  mineral.  In  their  most  terrible  malignity — 
such  as  in  snake-bite,  glanders,  or  hydrojihobia — these  need  no 
human  skill  for  their  development  ;  they  arc  jireixired  in  the 
laboratory  of  nature,  and,  alas  I  are  <mly  loo  ready  to  our  hand. 
Next  to  these  come  the  poisons  of  stinging  things,  and,  after 
them,  the  more  slowly  operating  and  less  de.tdly  animal  infec- 
tions ;  some  with  indeed  Ijeneficial  influence,  as  'v,accinia'; 
others  with  local  effects  on  the  skin,  but  not  often  great 
disturbance  of  the  general  health. 

"  The  vegetable  kingdom  can  produce  jiolent  poisons,  such  as 
Ijclladonna  berries,  ,aconile  root  and  leaves,  poppy  juice,  and  the 
ignatian  bean  ;  but  in  order  to  render  these  more  deadly  the 
hand  of  man  has  to  come  in  and  prepare  nicotine,  strychnine, 
morphine,  and  the  like  ;  jusi  as  it  may  produce,  from  the 
mineral  or  cjuasi-mineral  world,  such  potent  agents  as  hylro- 
cyanic  aciil,  concentrated  .acids,  and  other  tlealers  of 
ileslniction. 

"  The  interest  in  these  facts  lies  in  the  modern  mode  for  their 
utilisation.  The  great  potency  of  living  products  has  led  to  very 
fanciful  notions  in  thera|K'Utics :  and  there  have  been  those  who, 
to  cure  diseases  of  organs,  have  given  portions  of  the  same  but 
healthy  organs  of  animals  or  of  man  or  other  animals.  .Again, 
the  idea  has  been  pronounceil  that  oven  excreta  were  useful 
drugs,  and  that  the  ilisoasod  organs  of  man  might  effecl  a  cur;  of 
those  supposeil  to  be  atilicled  in  like  manner. 

"  Curious  as  simie  of  these  details  are,  they  are  of  real  inierest 
to  us  only  as  they  lead  up,  through  inoculaticm  for  small-iwix.  to 
our  own  Eilward  fenner's  discovery  i>f  vaccination,  imd  then, 
through  the  researches  of  I'asleur,  I.islor,and  HrownSt'<|uar(l,  to 
our  present  stale  and  plane  of  knowledge.  It  «ould  seem  now 
that  there  is  scarcely  any  limit  to  what  may  be  expected  in  the 
cure  «tr  prevention  of  disease;  and  the  most  striking  of  all 
phenomena  is,  to  my  mind,  the  probability  of  remlerini;  an 
animal  immune  by  the  inlroduclion  into  its  organism  of  a  healthy 
constituent  of  the  lio<ly  ipf  another.  This,  if  fidly  confirmed,  will 
Ik:  the  greatest  veritable  triumph  'ti  thorapeiilir  anil  proxentivc 
medicine,  instituted  and  guideil  by  eMendod  intpiiry  into  com- 
parative anatomy,  physiology,  anil  pathology.  As  in  ihe  human 
race  or  species  there  exist,  as  is  well  known,  what  maybe  termed 
*  idio.syncra-sies'-  by  which  is  simply  meant  that  as  a  matler  of 
fad  wmie  |>eople,  and  some  people's  families,  escape  epMemie 
disi-ascs.   whereas   they  are    e-perially  |irone  to  Lake  others  to 


NO.   1345,  VOL.  52] 


August  8,  1S95] 


jVA  rURE 


^^a 


which  they  may  he  exposed —So  in  the  great  econoniy  of  Nature 
'certain  groups  of  animals  have  been  shown  to  exhibit  no  capacity 
for  '  taking.'  or  for  even  being  '  inoculated'  with  the  poisons  to 
which  others  are  exposed,  and  from  which  they  sufl'cr,  and  that 
severely.  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  use  may  be  made  of 
these  animals,  more  or  less  naturally  immune  from  certain 
maladies,  and  that  their  immunity  may  be  partially  conferred  on 
man. 

'•  (Juite  recently  a  communication  of  the  greatest  im])ortance 
lias  been  made  on  the  rendering  of  animals  immune  against 
the  venom  of  the  cobra  and  other  snakes,  and  on  the  antidotal 
properties  of  blood  serum  of  immunised  animals.  This  subject 
has  occupied  attention  during  the  last  six  years,  and  we  must 
all  look  forward  with  expectancy  and  hope  to  the  possible 
and  probable  diminution  of  a  great  national  and  im]ieri3l 
calamity. 

"The  outcome  of  what  I  have  Ijeen  saying  is  this:  that 
the  scattered  fragments  of  knowledge  and  '  guesses  at  truth  '  of 
many  years  have  been  gathered  into  a  focus  during  the  jiast 
Iwenty-live  years;  that  the  vegetable  life,  extracting  from  the 
mineral  world  the  materials  it  needs  for  growth  and  production 
of  jiowerful  agencies  for  good  in  the  form  of  foo<l  and  medicines, 
and  for  evil  in  the  form  of  poisons,  has  given  itself  up  to  the 
growth  of  animal  life,  with  its  much  more  com])lex  organs,  and 
for  cure  of  ills  once  thought  beyond  the  reach  of  human  aid  ; 
but  that,  thanks  to  man's  scientific  ardour  and  industry,  it  has 
again  shown  itself  to  be  our  servant,  our  helper,  and  our 
jirotector. 

"These  are  not  dreams  of  the  study,  they  are  facts  of  the 
laboratory  and  of  daily  life;  and  in  using  that  word  'life' 
again,  I  must  endeavour  to  emphasise  still  more  forcibly  upon 
you  my  urgent  belief  that  it  is  to  living  ;igencies  and  their 
cmplov'ment  that  we  must  look  for  help  in  the  care  of  infancy, 
the  coniluct  of  education  —moral,  mental,  and  physical — the 
training  up  of  character  as  well  as  of  limbs  ;  that  it  is  the 
guidance  of  living  functions,  in  the  choice  of  living  occupations, 
be  they  either  of  hard  work  or  of  amusement.  It  is  to  these  we 
must  api)eal  if  we  would  see  the  mens  saita  in  iorpore  saiw : 
and  then  it  will  be  to  these  that  we  may  confidently  look  for 
help  when  the  inroads  of  age  or  of  disease  are  at  hand,  often 
to  cure  us  of  our  trouble  ;  or,  if  not,  to  give  us  rest  and  peace. 

"  It  wtmid  be  absurd  in  me,  now  and  here,  to  attempt  to  say 
in  what  this  potency  of  life  exists.  It  is  enough  for  us  to 
ieci»gnise  its  existence,  rejoice  in  its  marvellous  energy,  and 
;inticipate  still  more  from  our  investigations  of  its  modes  of 
action,  but  I  cannot  help  feeling  that,  however  far  we  go  in  our 
research  into  the  arcana  of  nature,  one  of  our  ablest  tieuro- 
logisls,  who  has  gone  very  far,  is  right  when  he  .says  :  '  .Search 
while  you  may  with  eyes,  however  aided  and  however  ea.'nest, 
that  which  we  call  "  life,"'  eludes  our  search  and  resists  our 
ertbrts.  We  must  be  content  with  what  knowledge  we  can 
gain,  secure  or  insecure,  and  while  using  it  as  best  we  may, 
should  realise  in  all  humility  how  much  there  is  we  cannot 
know,  an.l  yet  we  cannot  doubt.'"' 

An  a<ldress  in  medicine  was  delivered  l)y  .Sir  William  Broad- 
bent,  who  traced  the  growth  of  the  art  and  science  of  medicine. 
He  pointed  out  that  of  the  infancy  of  medicine  properly  speaking 
nothing  is  know  n. 

Indiviilual  acts  of  healing  are  related  in  the  (JId  Testament, 
and  the  treatment  of  wounds  is  described  by  Homer;  the 
Chinese  from  remote  antiquity  had  a  system  of  medicine,  and 
medicine  has  a  place  in  the  Vedas :  but  in  the  works  of 
Hippocrates,  who  was  Ijorn  about  46on.c-.,the  earliest  medical 
literature  which  has  been  handed  dr)wn,  the  theory  antl  i)ractice 
of  the  art  of  healing  is  shown  in  a  considerably  advancetl  stage 
of  development.  The  development  of  medicine  fnini  that  time 
was  sketched  by  Sir  W.  Broadbent  in  an  admirable  a<ldress,  and 
the  great  advances  made  <hiring  the  present  century  in  the  many 
<lepartmeiits  of  his  subject  were  touched  upon.  In  one  of  the 
sections,  the  excellence  .and  defects  of  modern  therapeutics 
were  passeil  in  review  as  follows  : — 

"  We  have  still  to  ask.  What  is  the  bearing  of  all  these  ad- 
vances of  knowledge  on  therapeutics,  which,  after  all,  is  the 
object  of  our  lives  ? 

"  Until  the  last  few  years  it  has  not  been  easy  to  answer  this 
<luestion  by  instances  of  any  very  extensive  ajiplications  of 
jihysiology  III  the  treatment  of  disease,  and  morbid  anatomy  vias 
at  one  time  a  slvmd)ling  block  in  the  way  of  therapeutic  eftort. 
The  i>athologist,  pointing  to  an  excavatcil  lung  or  eirrhoseil 
iivcr,  would  ask  the  |)hysician  what  he  could  expect  to  do  with 

NO.    1345,  VOL.   52] 


ilrugs  against  such  conditions.  But  that  sLage  has  pa>sed  away, 
and  I  will  not  mock  your  intelligence  by  other  illustrations  be- 
yond those  just  given  of  therapeutic  applications  of  jihysiolc^ical 
and  pathological  knowledge,  or  by  arguing  that  all  knowledge  of 
nrjrmal  jirocesses  aids  in  the  com|)rehension  of  morbid  ]irf)cesses, 
and  that  we  are  in  a  better  p(jsition  to  combat  disease  when  we 
thoroughly  understand  its  causation  and  initiation,  and  follow 
mentally  its  development,  course,  and  tendencies. 

"(liven  the  faculty  of  observation,  the  insight  which  jwne- 
tr.ates  the  meaning  of  the  phenomena,  the  analytical  and  syn- 
thetical jiowers  by  which  a  diagnosis  is  constructed,  the  ready 
adaptation  of  means  to  a  well-defined  end,  and  the  firmness  of 
char.acter  required  to  deal  with  the  frailties  of  human  nature,  and 
the  best  physiologist  will  make  the  best  pathologist  and  the  best 
pathologist  the  best  jihysician. 

"  .-^s  regards  the  remedies  at  <jur  command,  they  are  only  loo 
numerous.  Recourse  to  a  great  variety  of  drugs  is  fatal  to  exact 
knowledge  of  their  efl'ects  and  to  j^recisiijn  in  their  use,  Init  new 
ones  are  added  every  day  for  the  lienefit  chiefly  of  those  who  do 
not  know  how  to  empl<.)y  the  <jld  tines.  There  have,  however, 
been  recent  accjuisitions  of  extreme  value,  heavily  discounted, 
imfortimately,  in  the  case  of  some  by  the  mischief  done  through 
their  indiscriminate  use  :  the  antiseptic  group,  the  chloral  sul- 
phonal  group,  the  salicylates  and  salicine,  the  phenacetins  and 
antipyrin  class,  coca  and  cocaine.  What  makes  some  of  these, 
moreover,  far  more  important  and  interesting  is  the  fact  thai 
their  physiological  action  has  been  inferred  from  iheir  chemical 
constitution. 

"  A  fact  which  brings  practical  therapeutics  into  near  relation 
with  physiology  and  jiathology  is  that  the  active  principles  of  all 
drugs  are  isolated,  their  chemical  composition  is  ascertained,  and 
their  physiological  action  investigated.  Pharmacology,  in  eft"ect, 
has  become  a  branch  of  exjierimental  physiology,  and  the  imme- 
diate efl'ect  of  remedies  is  known  with  a  completeness  and  accu- 
racy heretofore  undreamt  of.  .\11  this  is  working  towards  a 
more  intelligent  employment  of  drugs,  and  leads  towards  the 
goal  of  all  the  eftbrts  to  bring  therapeutics  within  the  ciicleof  the 
sciences.  This  goal  is  that  we  should  know  not  only  the  effects 
of  remedies,  but  how  these  effects  are  produced.  This  is  in  the 
last  resort  a  question  of  chemistry.  .\s  I  have  said  before,  all 
vital  actions  are  attended  with  molecular  or  chemical  changes  ; 
are,  from  one  point  of  view,  chemical  action,  and  come  under 
the  laws  of  the  correlation  of  force  and  conservation  of  energy  ; 
so,  therefore,  are  the  physiological  and  thera])eutical  action  of 
drugs,  and  obviously  the  key  to  the  latter  is  to  be  found  in  the 
chemistry  of  vital  processes.  Therapeutics,  to  become  scientific, 
is  only  waiting  for  answers  to  the  questions  which  she  puts  to 
chemistry.  Why  are  sodium  salts  so  much  more  abundant  than 
potassium  salts  in  the  blood,  and  whyare  the  former  almost  con- 
fined to  the  liquor  sanguinis,  and  ihe  latter  to  the  corjiuscles  ?  We 
must  assume  that  albuminoid  proteids  have  an  aftinity  for  sodiinu, 
and  the  globulins  for  ixjtassium.  With  the  answer  to  this  is 
bound  up  the  secret  of  the  necessity  of  sodium,  potassium,  and 
calcium  salts  to  anabolic  and  cat,abolic  operations,  in  which  they 
Lake  no  traceable  part,  and  of  the  presence  of  iron  in  the  blood 
corpuscles. 

"  Why,  again,  in  the  case  of  substances  apparently  so  similar 
as  potassium  and  sodium  salts  will  the  former,  if  injected  into  a 
vein,  even  in  small  quantity,  p.aralyse  the  heart  and  destroy  life, 
while  we  see  i)ints  of  normal  saline  solution  thrown  into  the 
circulation  with  none  but  good  results  ?  How  does  prussic  .acid 
— the  simplest  in  composition  and  constitution  of  all  organic 
std)stances — prove  fatal  with  such  fearful  |)romptitude  by  its  pre- 
sence in  infinitesimal  jirojK.irtion  in  the  blood?  How  again  does 
morphine  suspend  the  .activity  of  the  nerve  centres?  Chemists 
must  admit  that  the  poisonous  efi'ects  of  jirussic  acid  and  nmr- 
phine  can  only  be  due  to  some  molecular  change  in  these  sub- 
stances ;  they  know  that  if  the  deadly  cyanogen  is  so  tied  up  that 
its  component  atoms  cannot  fly  a|>art  it  is  innocuous,  and  that  a 
very  slight  change  in  the  chemical  constitution  of  the  morphine 
molecule  entirely  alters  its  eftect ;  it  is  an  almost  irresistible  in- 
ference from  the  doctrine  of  conservation  of  energy  that  the 
change  in  the  molecule,  say  of  the  morphine,  must  be  equal  and 
o]5posite  to  the  molecular  change  in  the  nerve  cells  which  it 
.arrests.  It  seems  to  me.  therefore,  that  we  have  in  the  chemical 
constitution  of  the  morphine  molecule  a  clue  to  ihe  character  of 
the  chemical  change  by  which  nerve  action  takes  place  and  to 
the  (juantivalence  of  nerve  energy. 

"  What  then  is  our  i)o,silion  to-day  in  resi)ect  of  the  three  jwints 
which  we  have  been  following — the  recognition  of  disease,  the 


554 


NATURE 


[August  8,  1895 


knowledge  of  remedies,  and  the  ideas  which  govern  the  employ- 
ment of  remedies  in  the  treatment  of  disease? 

"  The  ba.sis  iif  thcr.iiieutics  is  iliagnosis,  the  grasp  of  the  actual 
condition  underhiny  the  >yniptonts  or  phenomena,  and  the 
ijreater  our  command  of  i>«\vcrful  remctlies  and  the  more  precise 
our  know  letige  of  their  cft'ects  and  of  the  mode  in  which  these 
ert'ects  are  produced,  the  more  important  does  accuracy  in  diag- 
nosis become. 

'■  A  diagnosis,  to  Ik:  real,  implies  not  only  the  recognition  of 
the  disease  which  may  be  present  and  an  accuntle  appreciation 
of  the  nuirbid  changes  w  hich  may  have  taken  place  in  various 
organs.  It  enihraces  a  knowletlge  of  the  nature  and  intensity 
of  the  pathological  processes  w  hich  have  lieen  and  are  in  opera- 
tion, and  of  the  causes  which  set  them  going,  and  also  of  the 
results  to  which  they  tend.  A  further  element,  moreover,  enters 
into  the  consideration  ;  an  estimate,  by  the  aspect  of  the  [Mtient, 
by  the  pulse  and  temi>erature,  and  by  other  subjective  and  ob- 
jective indications,  of  the  impression  made  on  the  system,  and  of 
the  resistance  which  it  is  capable  of  to  the  lethal  tendencies  of  the 
disease. 

"  Near  by  year  we  see  improvement  in  this  respect  :  not  only 
that  hospital  physicians  and  teachers  endeavour  to  carry  di;»gnosis 
to  a  greater  pitch  of  accuracy  and  a  higher  point  of  refinement 
than  ever  l)efore,  but  that  the  entire  iMxiy  of  medical  men  are 
trained  by  improvetl  education  and  systematic  clinical  teaching 
to  appreciate  and  to  practise  careful  di;ignosisin  their  daily  work. 

"  Diagnosis,  we  may  say,  has  reached  an  extraordinary  degree 
of  advancement.  There  are,  no  doubt,  still  new  fields  to 
conquer,  but  in  the  recognition  of  diseases,  local  and  general, 
there  is  not  much  which  seriously  concerns  the  human  race 
which  remains  to  lie  done.  The  same  degree  of  knowletlge, 
however,  docs  not  extend  to  morl>id  processes.  Our  compre- 
hension of  the  significance  and  essential  character  of  inflam- 
mation is  by  no  means  complete  and  satisfactor)'.  The  part 
which  fever  ])lays  and  the  place  which  it  holds  among  the 
phenomena  of  <li-sc.ase  is  far  from  l>eing  fully  understfxxl.  It 
cannot  have  lieen  intended  by  nature  for  the  destruction  of 
the  subject,  and  we  can  see  distinctly  that  in  some  ca,ses  it 
forms  [art  of  the  defensive  oiieralions  ;  |)ossibly,  indeed,  its 
general  tendency  is  defensive,  by  promoting  the  |)roduction 
of  phagfK'ytes.  or  |xjssibly  a  certain  elevation  of  the  tem- 
l>eraiure  may  be  fatal  to  maleficent  organisms  which  have  taken 
l)ossesaiiin  of  the  blo<Kl  or  tissues.  We  are  not  certain,  indeed, 
whether  in  pyrexia  the  heat-producing  oxidation  in  the  structures 
receives  its  stimulus  from,  or  lakes  place  at  the  bidding  of, 
the  nervous  centres,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  is  due  to  enfeeble- 
ment  of  the  restraint  which  they  normally  exercise  over  it,  or 
whether  it  defies  control  by  the  thermo-taxic  nervous  centres."' 

An  address  in  surgery  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Jonathan 
Hutchinson,  who  gave  a  brief  rctros|)ect  of  the  surgery  of  the 
(lasi.  interspersed  with  a  few  comments  as  to  what  may  be  hoped 
for  the  future. 

I'rof.  Schafer  delivered  an  address  in   I'hysiology,  taking  for 

his  subject    "  Internal    Secretions.'      After  describing   various 

glands  and  secretions  and   their  method  of  interaction,  he  said  : 

The   general    results  to  which  we  are  led   |K)int  very  stnmgly  in 

favour  of  the  notion  that  internal  secretions  are  yielded  Uith  by 

the  ductless  glands  and   by  what  are  usually  known  as  the   true 

secreting  glands,  and  it    is  obvious  that   such    internal  secretions 

may  In:  of  no  less  imixirtancethan  the  lM;ller-rccognised  fimrtions 

of  the  external  secreting  glands.     Thai  a  failure  ol  one  or  other 

'  f  iliise  internal  secretions  has   to  \k  definitely  reckoned  with 

•Ih   (ihysician  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever,  while  at  the 

11,,.   idt   thera|ieutist    will  lie  able  to  avail  himself  of  the 

iples  which  the  intenially  .secreting  organs  aflord,  and 

i~es  to  use  Iheir  extracts  in  place  of  ihe  hitherto  more 

(.xiiiiiiuiily  employed  vegetable  medicaments. 

The  work  of  the  different  sections  covered  a  wide  range,  and 
nnidi  of  it  relates  purely  to  medical  practice.  It  will  l>e 
Millie  Fini.  therefore,  for  iisto  indicate  by  the  following  summary 
Ihe  general  character  of  a  few  of  ihe  more  imiKirlant  papers 
and  discuvsions  re|K>rtcd  in  Ihe  British  Mcdiial  /oiiriia/. 

SKCnON   OF   MP.DlrlNF. 

The    I'resiilcnl,    Dr.    J'avy.    o|K-ned    Ihe    proceedings    in    this 

Section  by  an   .iddress.   in   which  he  deM;ril)ed  the  progress  in 

''      '  '       "     ''  f\of  the  c.xsiial  relationshi]>  existing 

rid  certain  diseases,  enlarging  upon 

liail  had  ujKin  Ihe  <|ueslion  of  treat- 

NO.   1345,  VOL,  52] 


ment,  and  U|X>n  the  control  that  could  be  exercised  upon  the 
spread  of  infectious  disea.ses.  He  briefly  touched  ujion  the  serum 
treatment  of  diphtheria.  Dr.  Sidney  Martin  then  intrmluced 
the  discussion  on  diphtheria  and  its  treatment  by  the  antitoxin. 
Dr.  .Martin  commenced  by  staling  that  there  hat!  always  been 
two  schools  of  therapeutists  with  regard  to  the  treatment  of 
di])htheria,  the  one  trying  to  discover  .some  local  application 
which  would  loosen  or  remove  membrane  in  the  throat,  and  the 
other  to  provide  a  remedy  that  would  act  upon  the  general 
symptoms  of  the  disease.  The  want  of  success  in  the  past  made 
it  essential,  in  his  opinion,  to  examine  most  carefully  into  any 
new  method  of  treatment  suggested,  anil  to  submit  it  to  a  most 
rigid  scientific  inquiry  before  accepting  it.  The  antitoxin  treat- 
ment, he  stated,  had  been  studied  with  the  greatest  care,  and 
its  recommendation  was  l>aseil  upon  the  results  of  a  considera- 
tion of  the  pathology  of  the  disease. 

I'rof.  von  Kanke  (Munich)  slated  that  whilst  in  1S92  he  had  in 
his  hos|iilal  a  mortality  of  562  per  cent.,  in  1893  of  46  percent., 
and  in  1894  up  to  .September  24,  when  he  had  commenced  the 
serum  treatment,  one  of  57  per  cent.,  since  thai  time  his  death- 
rate  had  been  reduced  to  177  per  cent.  Me  further  considered 
that  not  only  w.as  the  reduced  death-rate  due  to  the  injection  of 
antitoxin,  but  that  the  course  of  the  disease  was  favourably 
influenced  in  the  most  striking  manner.  I'rof  Baginsky.  of  the 
Kmpress  I'lederick  Hospital,  Kerlin.  though  not  speaking  witli 
the  high  enthusiasm  of  Dr.  Kanke,  yet  ga\e  equally  slailling 
figures,  stating  that  whilst  the  mortality  in  the  four  years  previous 
to  1895  had  been  on  the  average  41  per  cent,  under  the  old 
system  of  trealmenl,  during  ihe  last  year,  umler  the  seium treat- 
ment, it  hiid  been  reduced  to  15 "6  percent.  Dr.  Sims Woodhead 
spoke  briefly  upon  Ihe  importance  of  using  large  doses  of  serum, 
and  concluded  by  quoting  some  Paris  statistics  which  were 
highly  favourable.  Dr.  Hermann  ISiggs  (New  York)  then  gave 
a  most  interesting  account  of  the  immunising  efl'ect  of  the  serum, 
quoting  figures  to  show  that  in  almost  all  cases  the  immunising 
)X)wer  of  the  serum  extends  to  a  period  of  thirty  days.  He 
further  slated  that  out  of  Soo  healthy  children  who  had  received 
injections,  he  had  not  setn  a  single  case  in  which  any  harm  had 
resulted  from  the  treatment. 

Section  ^>^■  StRCKRV. 

Sir  William  .MacCormac,  President  of  the  Section  of  Surgery, 
took  for  the  subject  of  his  address  "  Some  I'oinls  of  Interest  in 
Connection  with  the  Surgery  of  War."  He  came  to  the  following 
conclusion  : — 

"  It  would  ajipear  probable  that  in  a  future  war  many  of  the 
wounds  produced  by  the  new  projectile  will  be  surgically  less 
.severe,  and  i^rove  amenable  to  eft'ective  smgical  treatment. 
Probably  also  the  number  of  severe  injuries  will  be  very  great 
when  we  consider  the  enormous  range  of  the  new  weapon  anil 
the  penetrating  power  of  Ihe  projectile,  which  enables  il  lo 
traverse  the  Imdies  of  two  or  three  individuals  in  line,  inchiiling 
Ixmes,  and  to  inflict  serious  or  fatal  wounds  ai  a  distance  of 
3000  or  4000  yards.  It  is  imixissible  to  say  what  ihe  (iroporlion 
between  these  two  is  likely  to  lie.  At  near  ranges  the  explosive 
etTects  will  be  much  the  same  as  before ;  but  at  long  range  ihe 
narrow  bullet  track,  the  small  eMcrnal  wounds,  which  olien 
apprinich  the  suliculaneous  in  cliaraclei,  and  the  moderate  tie- 
gree  of  comminution  and  Assuring  of  the  iione  will  be  surgically 
a<lvantageous.  These  will  form  the  bulk  of  Ihe  gunshot  injuries- 
of  the  future,  for  it  would  seem  impossible  with  magazine  quick- 
firing  rifles  lo  maintain  a  contest  at  close  quarters  without  speeily 
mutual  annihilation. 

"  We  may  lake  It  for  granted  that  the  number  of  wounded,  in 
priiporlion  lo  the  numbers  engage*!  and  arlually  under  Inc.  "ill 
be  greater  than  before.  The  supply  of  aininunilion  will  \te 
larger,  the  facility  for  its  ilischarge  greater,  and  smokeless  powder 
will  increase  accuracy  of  aim. 

"  I  think  we  are  ju.stified  in  believing,  although  there  is  high 
authf)rity  for  a  conlrarj'  opinion,  that  Ihe  next  great  war  will  lie 
more  destructive  to  human  life,  '  bloodier,'  in  fail,  than  any  "f 
its  predccesst)rs  :  and  that  the  number  of  injuries,  and  in  many 
ca.scs  the  severity  of  the  injury,  will  be  largely  increasecl.  Hut 
very  many  ca.ses  will  remain  less  severe  in  character,  more 
capable  of  successful  trealmenl,  and  less  likely  lo  entail  future 
disablement,  while  improved  sanitation  and  antiseplic  methods 
will  enormously  increase  Ihe  proporticm  of  recoveries. 

*'  It  is  ihe  unceasing  efliirl  of  nuHlern  surger)'  lo  prox'ide  anll- 
seplic  protection  in  an  elfeclive  form  in  lime  of  war  :  ami  I  may 
lie  |x-rmilled  lo  recall  that  the  medical  organisation  during  our 


August  8,  1895] 


NATURE 


000 


last  war  in  Egypt  was  so  complete  in  this  respect  that  not  a 
single  case  of  infective  wound  disease  occurred  during  the  whole 
campaign. 

"  As  a  temporary  dressing,  some  form  of  antiseptic  occlusion 
will  prove  most  generally  applicable.  The  small  w(»unds  of 
entrance  and  exit  render  this  plan  comparatively  easy  of  appli- 
cation, and  the  chances  of  septic  infection  will  he  diminished  by 
the  less  frequent  necessity  for  probing  or  searching  for  a  ludgetl 
projectile,  and.  indeed,  ihe  ascertained  presence  of  the  bullet  is 
no  sutticienl  indication /t'r  .ct- to  attempt  ils  removal.  The  eye, 
rather  than  tlie  hand,  is  the  best  thing  to  employ  at  a  first  dress- 
ing station,  as  Fischer  has  well  said. 

' '  I  f  only  asepticity  can  be  ensured — and  this  is  the  great  difficulty 
— we  may  expect  a  large  measure  of  success  to  follow  the  treat- 
ment of  wounds  of  the  soft  ))arts,  many  forms  of  fracture — 
notably  als(j  wounds  of  the  joints,  and  very  especially  wounds  of 
the  lung." 

.Skciion"  of  Pubi.ii:  Meoicine. 

The  proceedings  in  this  .Section  were  opened  by  Mr.  Ernest 
Mart,  who  delivered  an  address  on  "  Public  Health  Legislation 
and  the  Needs  of  India."  Mr.  Hart  strongly  criticised  the  whole 
system  of  the  sanitary  service  and  the  medical  service  of  India, 
and  held  that  it  needs  to  be  overhauled  and  reconstituted. 

"  What  is  urgently  needed,"  he  said,  "  is  a  Royal  Commission 
or  strong  Departmental  Committee  (o  inquire  into  the  whole 
matter,  and  to  institute  a  radical  change.  For  at  present  India  is 
decimated  by  preventable  diseases  ;  the  health  of  our  troojis  is 
ruinetl  by  the  same  causes.  With  us  lies  the  reproach  of  nursing 
and  fostering  cholera  in  what  is  called  its  endemic  home — a 
purely  ignorant  and  silly  phrase.  Until  some  great  change  is 
made  in  the  whole  system  of  the  present  administration,  the  great 
sanitary  needs  of  India  will  never  be  met." 

Section  oi'  Pharmacology  .and  Therapeutics. 

"  In  this  Section,  under  the  jiresidency  of  Sir  William  Roberts, 
there  was  a  discussion  on  Sero-Therapeutics,  embracing  the 
application  of  serum  treatment,  not  only  to  the  acute  infective 
disorilcrs,  but  also  to  the  cure  of  bites  from  venomous  serpents. 
In  his  introductory  remarks  the  President  drew  attention  to  a 
hitherto  much  neglected  alkaloid  of  opium,  generally  known  as 
"  narcotine,"  but  more  properly  termed  "anarcotine,"  from  the 
complete  absence  of  narcotic  jiroperties.  .\  large  amount  of 
evidence  was  available  which  seemed  to  show  that  this  alkaloid 
has  very  valuable  antii^eriodic  powers,  which,  should  furllier 
investigation  corroliorate,  will  render  it  a  valuable  remedy  in 
certain  cases  of  malaria  in  which  quinine  entirely  fails.  The 
discussion  on  Sero-therapeutics  was  opened  by  Dr.  Klein  in  a 
pajier  on  the  nature  of  .\ntitoxin.  He  drew  attention  particularly 
to  the  difterences  in  action  between  a  protective  serum  obtained 
from  animals  imnuinised  by  injections  of  fdlered  diplitheria  toxin, 
and  i)y  tliose  treated  with  li\ing  cultures  (jf  the  diphtheria 
bacillus,  lie  had  found  that  while  the  first  had  an  extremely 
high  neutralising  power  on  the  chemical  jioison  se|)arated  from 
the  bacilli,  it  hail  not  nearly  so  marked  an  immunising  power. 
On  the  other  hand,  an  antitoxin  prepared  with  the  aid  of 
living  cultures,  while  it  was  less  active  than  the  other  in 
neutralising  toxins,  was  far  more  efiicacious  as  an  immunising 
agent.  He  also  gave  brief  hints  on  the  advantage  of  using  a 
dried  serum  in  place  of  the  usual  litpiitl  form,  anil  statetl  that 
the  use  of  the  former  was  far  less  likely  to  be  followed  by  the 
appearance  of  rashes  and  other  complications. 

Other  -Sections. 

Dr.  Mickle,  President  of  the  Section  of  Psychology,  delivered 
an  address  on  the  abnormalities  occurring  in  the  form  and 
arrangement  of  brain  convolutions.  The  Section  of  Physiology 
was  opened  by  Dr.  Ferrier  with  an  address  on  the  relations  of 
physiology  and  medicine.  In  the  .Section  of  .\natomy  and 
Histology,  Mr.  Henry  Morris,  in  his  ])resiilential  atldress,  gave 
a  brief  history  of  the  rise  of  artistic  illustration  in  its  relation  to 
anatomical  leaching. 

The  presidential  address  in  the  .Section  of  Pathology  and 
Bacteriology  was  delivered  by  Dr.  Samuel  Wilks,  F.  R.S.  In 
the  course  of  his  remarks  he  drew  attention  to  the  fact  that  every 
pathological  process  is  accompanied  by  a  corresponding  repara- 
tive process,  and  lamented  that  suflicient  regard  had  not  been 
jiaitl  to  the  dislinclion  between  these  constructive  and  destructive 
prix-esses.  To  study  these  for  the  sake  of  discovering  the  several 
influences  exerted  in  the  production  of  each  is  of  great  practical 


NO.    1345,   VOL.    52] 


import ;  and  a  consideration  of  them  also  shows  that  pathology 
is  governeil  by  the  same  laws  as  those  which  exist  in  every  other 
department  of  nature,  and  therefore  must  take  its  place  on  an 
equivalent  footing   with  the  other  sciences. 

Mr.  H.  Power,  the  President  of  the  Section  of  Ophthalmology, 
remarked  on  the  work  that  had  been  done  by  the  founders  ot 
ophthalmology  in  the  past,  and  the  gradual  formation  of  a 
scientific  branch  of  medicine,  of  which  the  methods  of  diagnosis 
and  treatment  were  fortunate  in  being  foundeil  on  jiure  science. 
Owing  to  its  intimate  relations  with  the  other  branches  ot 
medicine  and  surgery  there  was  no  danger  of  its  separating  from 
the  parent  stem  and  becoming  barren  ;  at  the  same  time  he 
advocated  a  sounder  education  in  the  sciences  on  which  oph- 
thalmology was  established,  such  as  mathematics  and  physics, 
being  required  of  all  candidates  for  ophthalmic  posts  in 
hospitals. 

BacTERIOI.OC.UAI.    KXHIIilTS. 

A  collection  of  exhibits  brought  together  to  illustrate  points 
of  general  pathological  interest  was  on  view  during  the  meeting. 
Bacteriological  exhibits  made  up  one  of  the  departments  of  the 
temporary  museum  thus  formed.  Dr.  Cautley  exhibited  cultures 
and  coverglass  prejiarations  of  an  organism  found  in  seven  out 
of  eight  cases  of  the  aftection  usually  termed  iiiHuen/a  cold.  It 
was  of  special  interest  and  importance'^s  showing,  first,  that  the 
disease  in  question  is  microbial  in  origin,  thus  ex]>laining  the 
frequency  with  which  such  colds  affect  all  the  members  of  a 
household  ;  secondly,  that  it  po.ssesses  a  certain  relationship  to 
epidemic  influenza.  The  biological  characteristics  indicated 
that  the  organism  is  allied  to  the  organism  of  epidemic  influenza. 
Morphologically  the  organism  presented  a  further  point  of  in- 
terest, many  club-shaped  forms,  similar  to  those  of  the  diphtheria 
bacillus,  appearing  in  the  specimens.  Some  excellent  photo- 
gra[)hs  of  the  specimens  accompanied  the  exhibit,  and  were 
taken  by  Mr.  1%.  C.  Bousfield. 

The  cultivations  from  the  laboratories  of  the  Conjoint  Board 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  London,  and  of  the  Royal 
College  of  Surgeons,  England,  were  permanently  fixed  by  formic 
aldehyde.  This  substance  arrests  the  growth  almost  at  once, 
and  after  the  lapse  of  two  or  three  days  kills  the  bacilli.  Various 
organisms  in  culture  illustrated  this  method,  and  showed  its 
applicability  to  museitm  and  other  specimens. 

Drs.  MacFadyen  and  Hewlett  exhibited  from  the  Bacterio- 
logical Department  of  the  Briti^h  Institute  of  Preventive 
Medicine  a  complete  series  of  cultures  of  the  most  important 
micro-organisms,  and  Mr.  Joseph  Lunt  exhibited  living  cultures 
of  various  water  organisms  isolated  from  drinking  w'ater,  sewage, 
air,  iS:c.,  together  with  some  interesting  instances  of  enzymes 
filtered  from  both  cultures  of  various  organisms,  possessing  lique- 
fying and  other  properties  similar  to  those  po.ssessed  by  the 
parent  organisms. 

Dr.  Klein  showed  a  large  number  of  photographic  lantern 
slides  representing  nearly  all  known  pathogenic  bacteria,  and, 
amongst  others,  duplicates  of  Mr.  Bousfield's  work  for  the  in- 
fluenza and  cholera  reports,  the  latter  especially  showing  vibrios 
with  their  flagella  with  wonderful  clearness. 


SCIENCE   IN    THE   MAGAZINES. 

I70UR  short  )iapers  on  Huxley  appear  in  the  Fortnightly 
^  AVt'/cjc.  The  Hon.  C.  C.  Hrodrick,  Warden  of  Merton 
College,  (Jxford,  records  some  jiersonal  reminiscences  of  the 
man  whose  loss  is  so  keenly  felt.  It  appears  that  about  thirty- 
seven  years  ago,  when  a  I.inacre  Professorshi])  of  Physiology, 
coupled  with  Human  and  Comparative  .\natomy,  was  founded, 
Huxley  meditaied  becoming  a  candidate  for  the  chair.  Before  the 
election  took  place,  however,  he  made  up  his  mind  not  to  seek 
the  office,  which  was  awarded  to  the  late  Prof.  Rolleston.  The 
reason  he  assigned  was  that  his  opinions  were  too  little  in 
harmony  with  those  prevalent  at  Oxford.  This  opinion  he 
again  gave,  but  with  diminished  emphasis,  when  he  w.is  asked, 
twenty  years  later,  to  accept  the  chair,  upon  the  death  of  Prof. 
Rolleston.  His  work  for  the  advancement  of  anthropology  forms 
the  subject  of  a  note  by  Prof.  F.  B.  Tylor.  '"Close  upon  the 
^\\i.\  of  his  life,"  says  Prof.  Tylor,  "  Huxley  did  his  best  to  .pro- 
mote the  scheme  to  make  anlhiopology  at  Oxford  an  examination 
subject  for  an  Honours  ilegree  in  Natural  Science.  Writing  to 
me,  he  said,  "  If  I  know  anything  about   the  matter,  anthm- 


JO'- 


NATURE 


[August  8,  1895 


|K)Ii<gj-  is  good  ns  knowledge,  and  good  as  discipline.'  But 
Convocation  thought  he  did  not, '  know  anything  about  the  matter," 
and  threw  out  the  proposed  statute."  Huxley"s  career  as  biologist 
issketched  by  "  A  Student  of  Science."  The  following  i.-;  worth 
cjuoting  from  that  contribution.  "  It  «as  characteristic  of  the 
I'rofes.'^irs  general  mental  attitude  that  mere  novelty  ne\er 
at^'righted  him.  When  Ramsay  pro]xiunded  his  theory  of  the 
c.\ca\-ation  of  lake  basins  by  glacial  action,  Huxley  sup[x)rted  it, 
even  against  the  opposition  of  Lyell  and  Falconer.  Sup|x>se 
.St.  I'aufs  Cathedral  removed  from  its  present  site  to  any  part  of 
the  North  Sea,  the  KnglLsh  Channel,  or  the  Irish  Sea.  and  the 
whole  dome  would  lie  clear  out  of  water.  I'lacc  it, 
on  the  other  hand,  on  the  flow  of  I.och  Lomond,  and 
the  largest  ship  in  the  British  Navy  might  float  safely  over 
the  golden  ball,  for  the  Loch  has  a  maximum  depth  of 
630  feet.  Sir  .\ndrew  Ramsay's  theory  explains  a  striking  fact 
like  this,  and  aflfords  undoubtedly  a  rational  explanation  of  many 
similar  phenomena."  The  fourth  of  the  papers  treats  of  Huxley 
as  philosopher,  and  is  by  Mr.  \V.  L.  Courtney,  the  editor  of  the 
I'ortnightly.  Under  the  title  "  The  Spectroscope  in  Recent 
Chemistry,"  Mr.  R.  .\.  C>regory  contributes  to  the  s;xme  review 
a  brief  history  of  the  discover>'  of  argon  and  helium,  and  dis- 
cusses the  many  interesting  points  raised  by  the  advent  of  those 
two  new  terrestrial  elements,  especially  with  reference  to  their 
spectra.  It  is  worthy  of  contemplation  that,  so  far  as  instru- 
mental possibilities  go,  l)oth  argon  and  helium  could  have 
been  discovercxl  sjiectroscopically  many  years  ago,  and  Lord 
Rayleigh  would  have  lieen  save<l  his  years  of  tantalising  ex- 
|>crimentation.  .\nd  yet  there  are  some  who  think  that  the 
spectroscojx;  will  not  helj)  much  more  in  the  extension  of  natural 
knowledge  I 

The  ev<ilution  of  the  orator  and  poet,  actor  and  dramatist,  is 
traced  by  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  in  his  fourth  paper  on  "  Pro- 
fessional Institutions,"  which  ap|x^rs  in  the  Contemporary. 
First  in  his  story  of  development  comes  the  orator,  who  pro- 
claimed the  great  deeds  of  a  victorious  chief  during  the  triumphal 
reception ;  then  wa^  evolved,  through  natural  selection,  the 
|>oet,  who,  with  picturesque  phrases  and  figures  of  speech,  gave 
rhythm  to  the  laudatory  speeches.  Gradually  the  orator  or  poet 
joined  with  his  speeches  mimetic  representations  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  living  or  the  apotheosiscd  ruler,  or  else  they  were 
simultaneously  given  by  .some  other  celebrant.  So  the  actor 
was  prfxlucetl,  and  a.s  more  complex  incidents  came  to  Ix:  illus- 
trated by  speech  and  action,  it  w.ts  necessary  for  one  to  arrange 
the  parts  to  be  played,  and  thus  the  dramatist  was  developed. 
In  support  of  this  very  natural  sequence,  Mr.  Spencer  adduces  a 
variety  of  evidence  supplied  by  uncivilised  races  and  by  early 
civilised  races.  Another  |n|x:r  in  the  Contcnifiorary  consists  of 
extracts  from  Mr.  K.  .\.  Fitzgerakl's  journal  of  his  ascents  of 
virgin  peaks  in  the  New  Zealand  ,\lps.  live  new  peaks  vvere 
a.vrendefl,  namely.  Scaly,  .Silberhorn,  Tasman,  Ilaidingcr,  and 
Sefton,  the  Matterhorn  of  the  range.  He  also  discovered  a 
(Hs-i  which  has  received  his  name,  and  across  which  the  range 
has  now  l)een  traverse<l  to  the  west  coast.  Several  attempts  had 
previously  Ijeen  made  to  find  such  a  route,  but  unsuccessfully. 
.Mr.  I- il/gerald's  |>apcr  will  therefore  not  only  Ix;  read  with  in- 
terest by  lovers  of  Al|)ine  a<lvenlHre,  but  will  also  be  valued  by 
the  geographer. 

The  story  of  Antarctic  exploration  is  told  in  J\/ai)iii//aii's 
Afaga'iiif.  and  the  iiuivement  for  further  researches  in  those  higher 
vniihern  latitudes  is  given  .sup|X)rt.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
ihe  efforts  made  by  the  Royal  Geographical  .Society,  in  ("onnec- 
lion  with  a  committee  of  the  Koyal  Society,  to  induce  the 
<  lovemment  to  fit  out  an  cx|x;dition  for  exploring  in  the  .Xntarclic 
Ocean,  were  not  succes.sful.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  writer  of 
the  article  expresses  the  general  opinion  vihen  he  s,iys  ;  "  When 
it  i-  undertaken  at  all  it  is  desirable  lli.it  Ihe  next  .Antarctic  ex- 
n  ~lKmld  l>e  a  national  one.  Private  enterpri.se,  which 
ni  splendidly  active  of  late  in  Ihe  way  of  .\rctic  di.scovery, 
v\iju1'I  scarcely  be  equal  to  nil  '.he  demands  of  extensive  and 
thorough  .\niarclic  exploration." 

.\  [xussing  notice  must  suftice  for  the  remaining  articles  of 
mote  or  less  scientific  interest  in  the  m.igarine>.  and  reviews 
received.  .\  brief  sketch  of  the  characteri.stics  of  .Sonya  Koval- 
cv.<ky  is  given  in  the  Cfiitiiry,  and  one  of  the  concluding  sen- 
tence* rcails :  "Notwithstanding  her  solid  contributions  to 
apiiliol  malhenulics,  she  originat«l  nothing  ;  she  merely  <le- 
vclo|xtl  the  ideas  of  her  teachers."  A  numl>er  of  elementary 
fact*  with  reference  to  the  transiKirting  |iower  of  water  and  the 
deposit  of  .»edimcnl,  arc  .Mated  by  Mr.  W.  II.  Wheeler  in  Long- 


mail's  Magazine:  The  A'aliona/  contains  an  article,  by 
Mr.  J.  L.  Macdonald,  im  fruit-farming  in  California,  which 
is  worth  the  attention  of  agriciilturists.  In  the  Quarterly 
Kci'iciv,  roses  and  rose  cultivation  are  surveyed,  though 
more  from  an  historical  than  a  .scientific  point  of  view. 
An  Edinburgh  /■!ez'inver  discusses  organic  variation  and 
animal  coloration,  Ixusing  his  remarks  uixm  Mr.  Bateson's 
"  Materials  for  the  Study  of  Variation  "  and  Mr.  F.  E.  Bed- 
dards  "  .\nimal  Coloration."  In  Gomi  Words  we  find  an  illus- 
trated article  by  Dr.  Bowdler  Sharpe,  on  curious  nests  of  birds, 
and  a  paper  on  the  Earl  of  Kosse  and  his  great  telescope,  by  Sir 
Robert  Ball.  Chamlvrs's  Journal  contains,  among  other  in- 
structive articles,  one  on  the  U.S.  North  .-Vtlantic  Pilot  Chart, 
and  another  on  "  T.tka  Joli,"  a  new  .substitute  for  yeast. 
Finally  we  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  Scrihiitrs  Maga- 
zine, the  Sunday  Magazine,  and  the  Hiinianilarian. 


T 


NO.    1345,  VOL.   52] 


PHOTOMETRIC  STAX HARDS. 

HE  following  Re|Kirt  of  the  Committee  appointed  by  the 
Board  of  Trade,  in  December  1S91,  "  to  inquire  into  and 
report  to  them  ujwin  the  subject  of  the  standards  to  Ix'  used  for 
testing  the  illuminating  power  of  coal  gas,"  h.is  just  been  published 
as  a  Parliamentary  paper. 

"  (1)  I'  "•">*  intimated  to  us,  by  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  to- 
the  Boar<l,  that  the  method  at  present  in  use  for  measuring  the 
illuminative  value  of  coal  gas  has  been  objected  lo,  alike  by  the 
Metroixilitan  tlas  Referees  and  the  London  County  Council,  as 
lieing  of  an  unsatisfactory  nature ;  that  the  Ixjndon  Gas 
Comimnies  are  alive  to  the  defects  in  the  present  system  ;  and 
that  legislation  is  admittedly  necessitry  for  the  jiurpose  of  sub- 
stituting a  more  trustworthy  standard  for  that  now  in  existence  p 
l>ut  that,  in  view  of  ihe  ditVerence  in  opinion  as  to  what  the  sub- 
stituted standard  shouKi  be,  the  President  of  the  Board  deemeil 
it  advisable  that,  before  his  support  was  given  to  any  legislation, 
the  whole  question  should  be  considereil  by  a  C'ommittee  that 
would  command  the  confidence  of  the  various  interests  aflecteil. 

"  (2)  The  method  at  present  in  use  for  measuring  the  illuniina- 
tive  value  of  coal  gas  con.sists  in  comparing  the  light  of  tlie  gas, 
when  burning  from  a  particular  burner  at  a  specitied  rate,  with 
the  light  of  a  sperm  canille  burning  also  at  a  spuciliecl  rate, 
which  last  is  taken  as  a  staiulard.  We  have  satisfied  ourselves, 
from  considerations  set  forth  in  the  .\ppendix  to  this  Keptirt, 
that  the  flame  of  a  sperm  candle  does  not  furnish  a  .siitis- 
factory  standard,  by  reason  of  the  amount  of  light  which  it 
affords  varying  over  a  wide  range,  under  conditions  as  to  the 
manufacture  of  the  candle,  as  to  its  mode  of  use,  and  as  to- 
advenlitious  circumstances  allending  its  use,  which,  as  a  whole, 
it  is  not  ixissible  to  regulate  and  define. 

*'  (3)  Though  recognising,  however,  that  tlie  s|K'rni  candle 
flame  does  not  furnish  a  .sal isfiictory  standard,  we  nevertheless 
consider  it  advi,s;ible  that,  in  olVicial  documents  and  reports,  Ihe 
quantity  of  light  yielded  by  coal  gas  burned  under  specified  con- 
ditions should  continue  to  be  expres.sed  as  heretofore,  in  leriii>  of 
candle-light,  the  actual  comparison,  however,  being  iiKule 
between  the  gaslight  and  some  well-defined  and  constant  light 
a.scerlained  to  be  equal  in  quanlily  lo,  or  a  definite  multiple  of, 
the  average  light  given  by  the  slaiulard  sperm  candle. 

"  (4)  We  have  further  come  to  the  conclusion  that,  in  the  pre- 
sent .state  of  ex|x-rie[ice  and  knowledge,  the  source  of  ihe  light 
lo  lie  used  .as  a  standard  by  gas-testers  generally  must  be  jiro- 
diiced  by  the  process  of  combustion,  and  be  in  the  nature  of  a 
flame. 

"  '5).We  find  Ihat  the  one-candle-lighl  flame  proposed  by  Mr. 
.-\.  Vernon  Harcourl  as  giving  a  standard  light,  and  commonly 
known  as  Ihe  '  Harcourt  |>enlane  air-gas  flame,'  when  used 
under  the  conditions  defined,  <loes  constilule  a  very  exact 
.standard,  ca|)able  of  being  reproduced  at  any  lime  wilhoiit 
variation  of  illuminative  value. 

"(6)  We  have  salisfied  ourselves  that  the  Mghl  given 
by  Mr.  Haicourl's  above-mentioned  pentane  air-gas  flame  as 
defined,  in  respect  to  the  conditions  of  ils  production,  in  ihc 
Apjiendix,  is  a  true  representative  of  the  average  light 
furnished  by  the  s|)erm  candle  flame  constituting  the  present 
st.andard.  Since  1879,  when  Ihe  penlane  air-gas  flame  w.is  first 
introduced,  many  series  of  experiments  have  been  made  liy 
different  olwervers,  in  which  the  lighl  of  ihe  pro|«)sed  standard 
has  Iwen  c<mii)ared  with  the  light  of  the  standard  .sperm  candle 


August  8,  1895J 


NATURE 


55; 


flame,  with  the  resuh  that  in  those  series  of  experiments  in 
which  the  height  of  the  pentane  air-gas  flame  was  adjusted 
strictly  according  to  the  directions  given  in  the  Appendix,  the 
light  afforded  by  this  flame  was  found  to  agree  exactly  with  the 
mean  result  afforded  by  the  standard  candle  flame.  In  other 
series  of  experiments,  indeed,  in  which  a  slight  variation  was 
made  in  the  mode  of  adjusting  the  height  of  the  pentane  air-gas 
tlame,  some  discrejiancies  in  the  direct  results  furnished  by  the 
comparison  of  its  light  with  that  of  the  standard  candle  flame 
were  observed  ;  but  in  these  several  series  of  exjieriments  also, 
when  the  necessary  correction,  called  for  by  the  difference  in 
the  mode  of  adjustment  resorted  to,  was  made,  the  light  of  the 
pentane  air-gas  flame  was  found  to  accord  closely  with  the  mean 
result  afforded  by  the  standard  candle  flame. 

"(7)  Inasmuch,  however,  as  there  is  a  practical  advantage  in 
comparing  directly  the  light  of  such  a  coal-gas  flame  as  is  usually 
tested  (being,  that  is.  of  about  a  sixteen-candle-light  value),  with 
a  light  apjiroximating  somewhat  in  value  thereto,  we  have  further 
submitted  to  carefid  examination  the  flame  of  the  ten-candle- 
light pentane  argand  proposed  as  a  standard  by  Mr.  W.  J. 
I  )ibdin  in  iSS6.  This  flame  is  produced  by  burning  a  mixture  of 
air  and  pentane  vapour  from  a  suitable  argand  burner,  provided 
with  an  opaque  screen  by  which  the  light  from  the  upper  [portion 
of  the  flame  is  cut  ofl'.  The  screen  being  set  at  a  definite  height, 
it  was  found  by  .Mr.  Dibdin  that,  owing  to  a  compensating  acticm 
affecting  the  lower  or  exposed  portion  of  the  flame,  th^  luminosity 
of  this  portion  of  the  flame  remains  constant  even  under  con- 
siderable variations,  whether  in  the  ttital  height  of  the  flame  or 
in  the  jiroportion  of  pentane  vapour  to  air  in  the  mixture  burnt. 
With  a  view  to  simplify  the  construction  of  the  argand  burner 
furnishing  a  cut-off  flame  of  this  constant  luminosity,  we  have 
tried  various  changes  in  the  form  of  the  cone  and  in  the  division 
^^f  the  air  supply  to  the  flame,  but  in  every  case  have  found  the 
original  burner,  as  su]iplied  by  Mr.  Sugg  for  the  purpose,  to  give 
more  satisfactory  results  than  the  modified  forms. 

"  (8)  The  amount  of  light  emitted  by  the  portion  of  the 
I  )ibdin  argand  pentane-air  flame  that  is  used  in  photometry,  being 
depeiulent  on  the  distance  above  the  steatite  ring  of  a  screen  by 
which  the  u]iper  part  of  the  flame  is  cut  ofli,  we  have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  when  the  bottom  of  the  screen  is  fixed  at  a  height 
■  if  2'15  inches  (54"6  mm.)  above  the  lop  of  the  steatite  ring,  the 
amount  of  light  emitted  by  the  lower  portion  of  the  flame  is  sub- 
stantially equal  to  ten  times  the  average  light  of  a  standard 
sperm  candle  flame,  or  to  ten  limes  the  light  of  Mr.  Harcourt's 
one-candle-light  pjntane  air-gas  flame. 

"  (g)  We  have  further  satisfied  ourselves  that  any  number  of 
Dibdin  argand  burners  may  be  produced,  having  the  form  and 
dimensions  set  forth  in  the  Appendix  ;  and  that  these  several 
burners,  when  useil  in  the  manner  there  defined,  may  be 
depended  on  to  furnish  a  flame  giving,  when  duly  sceened  on 
the  top,  ten  times  the  average  amount  of  light  given  by  a 
standard  sjierm  candle. 

"(10)  We  therefore  recommend  that  the  pentane-air  flame 
furnished  by  a  Dibdin  argand  Ijurner,  having  the  form  and 
<limensions  set  forth  in  the  A])pendix,  and  used  in  the  manner 
there  defined,  be  accepted  as  giving  the  light  of  ten  standard 
■candles,  and  that  this  flame  be  authorised  and  prescribed  for 
ofticial  use  in  testing  the  illuminating  power  of  the  gas  supplied 
by  the  I.ondcm  (las  Companies. 

"(II)  We  further  recommend  that  sealed  specimens  of  the 
Inirner,  the  carburetter,  and  the  pentane  for  use  therewith,  duly 
■certified  by  the  Gas  Referees,  be  deposited  with  the  Board  of 
Trade,  anti  also  in  such  places  and  in  the  care  of  such  persons 
as  the  Hoard  may  direct,  to  be  available  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
parison, in  the  event  of  any  question  arising  as  to  whether  the 
1ientane-air  flame  of  some  jjarticular  burner  does  or  iloes  not 
afford  the  same  amount  of  light  as  that  now  proposed  for 
adoption  as  a  standard. 

"(12)  With  a  view  to  making  some  provision  for  future  pos- 
sible improvements  and  requirements,  we  further  recommend 
that  the  Gas  Referees  be  authorised,  should  they  at  any  time  see 
fit,  to  approve  and  certify  for  use  in  g.as-testing  any  other  flame 
based  u|ion  the  locandle  standard  defineil  above,  which  they  may 
consider  suitable  for  the  purpose,  whether  produced  in  a  like  or 
unlike  w.ay,  and  whether  having  the  same  or  a  different  multiple 
value  ;  such  other  flame,  however,  not  to  be  used  for  g:is-tesling 
unless  approved  by  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  unless  the  Gas 
Companies  give  their  consent  to  its  adojition  as  a  standard. 

"(13)  We  further  recommend  that  the  Illuminating  power  of 

NO.   1345,  VOL.   52] 


coal  gas  shall  continue  to  lje  recorded  as  heretofore  in  terms  of 
the  light  given  by  a  specified  number  of  cubic  feet  (to  wit,  5 
cubic  feet)  burnt  per  hour  from  the  standard  London  argand 
burner,  but  that,  in  testing  the  illuminating  power  of  the  gas, 
the  requirement  that  the  gas  shall  .actually  be  consumed  at  this 
rate  be  rescinded,  so  as  to  allow  the  (Jas  Referees  to  sanction  a 
mode  of  testing  in  which  the  gas  shall  be  burned  from  the 
standard  London  argand  burner  at  whatever  rate  is  found 
requisite  in  order  that  it  may  give  a  light  equal  to  that  of  the 
prescribed  number  of  candles,  and  in  which  the  illuminative 
value  of  the  gas  shall  be  calcidated  as  being  inversely  as  the  rate 
at  which  such  gas  had  to  be  burned  during  the  testing  so  as  to 
give  this  amount  of  light." 

The  Report  is  signed  by  Prof.  William  Odling,  F.R.S. 
(Chairman),  Mr.  W.  J.  Dibdin,  Dr.  E.  Frankland,  K.R.S., 
Dr.  A.  Vernon  Harcourt,  F.  R.S.,  Mr.  (leorge  Livesey, 
Dr.  William  Pole,  Mr.  Cleorge  Rose-Innes,  Prof.  A.  W.  Riicker, 
I'.R.S.,  Dr.  W.  j.  Russell,  F.R.S.,  Mr.  (,.  C.  Trewby,  and 
(subject  to  the  omission  from  (13),  line  7,  of  the  words  "  the  Gas 
Referees  to  sanction  ")  by  Mr.  II.  E.  Jones.  Prof.  Vinan  B. 
Lewes  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee. 


SCIENTIFIC  EDUCATION  IN  AMERICA. 

T  T  PON  the  occasion  of  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  a  new 
^  building  for  a  Museum  for  Dartmouth  College,  Hanover, 
U.S.,  Prof.  A.  .S.  Bickmore  recently  delivered  an  address,  in  the 
course  of  which  he  dealt  with  the  methods  of  .scientific 
instruction  in  .Vmerica.  The  College  was  originally  designed 
to  elevate  the  Indian  race  in  America,  hence  its  location  at 
Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  in  1770.  It  was  named  after  Lord 
Dartmouth,  who  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  aborigines  of  the 
New  World,  and  who  was  the  principal  benefactor  of  the 
school  established  for  their  education. 

We  extract  the  following  from  the  report  of  Prof.  Bickmore's 
address  in  the  Nciu  York  Times : — 

"The  present  is  pre-eminently  an  educational  age,  and  the 
princely  gift  from  one  of  our  alma  mater's  loyal  sons  for  the 
purpose  of  endowing  a  '  professorship  of  pal.eontolog)-,  arche- 
ology, ethnology,  and  kindred  subjects,  and  for  the  erection  of  a 
building  for  preserving  and  exhibiting  specimens  illustrating  the 
aforesaid  branches,'  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  judgment  of 
the  leading  educators  of  our  times,  namely,  that  the  greatest 
benefit  it  is  our  privilege  to  confer  upon  coming  generations  is  to 
provide  ever-incre.ising  means  for  their  mental  improvement. 

"  As  we  meet  to-day  to  lay  the  corner-stone  of  the  noble  edifice 
so  generously  provided  for  by  the  late  Dr.  Ralph  Butterfield, 
and  to  celelirate  the  commencement  of  a  structure  which  will 
add  so  largely  to  the  educational  facilities  of  this  college,  I  invite 
you  to  consider  with  me,  as  a  subject  suggested  by  this  occasion, 
'  The  Place  in  Modern  Education  of  the  Natural  Sciences  and 
their  Museums.' 

"  In  a  period  which  will  ever  be  famous  in  history  for  the  great 
donations  that  are  being  constantly  made  by  our  private  citizens 
for  the  public  good,  it  is  worthy  of  our  careful  consideration 
that  the  most  munificent  gifts  are  almost  exclusively  for  the 
purpose  of  promoting  education.  In  the  United  States  where, 
even  the  existence  of  '  a  Government  for  the  people  and  by 
the  people '  must  ever  rest  upon  the  intelligence  and  the 
integrity  of  each  individual  citizen,  it  is  not  a  matter  of  desir- 
ability, but  simply  one  of  necessity,  that  the  promotion  of  public 
instruction  shall  ever  be  a  question  of  paramount  importance. 

American  System  of  Te.xchinc. 
"  Our  American  system  of  instruction  may  be  rajiidly  sum- 
marised. First  and  lowest  is  the  kindergarten,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  still  in  its  experimental  stage,  but  which  is  certainly 
destined  to  become  one  of  our  most  effective  methods  of  mental 
training.  Next  come  the  public  schools,  supjKirteil  by  taxation, 
with  their  primary  .and  grammar  gr.ades,  and  the  high  schools 
and  ])rivate  academies.  Above  these  are  the  colleges,  with  their 
ever-increasing  series  of  elective  .studies  ;  and  then  the  univer- 
sities, with  their  special  schools  of  science,  meilicine,  law,  .and 
theology ;  and  finally,  the  great  post-graduate  institutions, 
composed  of  entirely  di.slinct  corporations  for  the  creation  of 
great  museums  of  science  and  art,  and  the  accmnulation  of 
exhaustive  libraries. 


35S 


NA  TURE 


[August  S,  1S95 


"  As  neirly  as  it  is  possible  to  ascertain,  we  hive  b;;n  expending 
twice  as  much  per  individual  for  public  education  as  lin;»hiid, 
but  as  she  increases  her  grants  for  thil  purpjse,  our  provision 
must  bi  enlarged  in  the  same  ratio,  and  espscially  oujht  we  to 
introduce  the  latest  and  most  improved  methods  for  imparting 
instruction. 

"The  National  Educational  Association,  at  its  meeting  at 
Saratt^a  in  1S92,  appointed  a  committee,  with  President  Kliot 
at  its  head,  to  suggest  improvements  in  the  studies  of  our 
secondar)'  schools,  and  in  their  report  those  eilucators  state 
their  opinion  that  '  the  study  of  both  plants  and  animals  should 
begin  in  the  lowest  grade,  or  even  in  the  kindergarten,  and 
that  such  studies,  with  geography  subsequently  added,  ought  to 
count  in  an  examination  for  college.'  Indeed  we  find  the 
latter  study  already  in  the  curriculum  of  liarxard  University. 
In  1S82,  just  ten  years  before  President  Eliot's  committee  was  j 
appointed,  we  b^an  to  seek  to  render  our  Museum  of  Natural 
Histor)'  in  New  \'ork  City  an  aid  to  the  instruction  given  in 
our  public  schools,  by  placing  in  each  of  them  a  small  cabinet  of 
the  rocks,  corals,  shells,  insects,  and  birds  of  our  own  countr)'. 
We  also  organised  for  the  teachers  a  series  of  illustrated  lectures, 
describing  the  collections  on  exhibition  in  our  halls,  and  picturing 
the  regions  from  which  they  came.  Our  first  audience  consisted 
of  twenty-five  teachers  and  three  officers  of  our  Board  of 
Education.  Last  year,  under  the  auspices  of  the  State 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  we  s]X)ke  directly  at  the 
museum,  and  indirectly  by  the  repetition  of  our  lectures  else- 
where, to  103.OCO  of  our  educators  and  other  citizens,  and  now, 
through  a  provision  made  by  the  last  legislature,  our  visual 
instruction  will  be  rei>eated  in  the  public  schools  of  every  city  in 
our  State,  and  in  all  the  villages  having  a  population  of  5000 
and  upward,  so  that  during  the  coming  year  we  shall  reach 
800.000  pupils,  besides  large  audiences  ot  adults  on  the  public 
holidays.  The  mea.sure  of  success  that  h.as  attended  our  labours 
has  been  largely  <lue,  first,  to  our  l)elief  that  it  is  the  duty  and 
the  privilege  of  every  educational  institution  of  every  grade  to 
try  to  render  a  distinct  benefit  to  each  class  of  the  citizens, 
wherever  it  may  be  located,  and,  secondly,  to  the  illustrative 
method  employed  Uased  on  the  maxim  that  '  the  eye  is  the 
ro)"al  avenue  to  the  mind.' 

'•  To  the  question,  what  kind  of  a  collection  in  natural  history 
.should  be  desired  for  each  of  these  grades  of  instruction,  we 
would  reply  that  it  shmdd  exactly  correspond  to  the  curriculum 
of  .study  adopted  by  that  grade.  A  college  museum  should 
possess  a  full  .series  of  the  animals,  plants,  and  minerals  of  the 
.State  in  which  it  is  situated,  with  typical  specimens  of  the  orders 
of  these  natural  kingdoms  from  other  States  and  other  Continents  ; 
and  al.so  a  library  that  will  enable  its  teachers  to  keep  up  with 
the  general  progress  of  their  de|>artments.  lOven  this  sintple 
plan  may  be  made  lo  absorb  more  money  than  most  of  our 
colleges  are  likely  to  acquire  for  such  purjioses  during  many 
generations,  on  account  of  the  unfortunate  tendency  in  these 
times  for  many  a  frienrl  of  education  to  foimd  a  new  institution 
which  may  Ijcar  his  name. 

"  In  this  pre.sence  I  hardly  need  to  add  that  every  sItuIenL 
.should  Ik:  encouraged  to  improve  his  leisure  hours  in  taking  long 
walks  through  all  the  region  surrounding  his  place  of  study,  in 
order  to  make  his  own  observations  and  his  own  <leductions  u|x>n 
the  physical  geography  and  geology  of  the  pl.aces  visited.  Mis 
vacations  may  in  this  w.ay  liecome  ipiite  .as  important  as  the  .same 
length  of  term  time.  If  during  these  travels  he  will  gather 
minerals,  fos.sils,  f»r  make  a  small  cabinet  »<f  Ixilanical  specimens 
or  insects,  he  will  not  only  gain  im|>ortant  informallon,  but  will 
ha*e  discovered  the  tnie  mtKle  of  gaining  by  healthy  exercise  in 
the  ojien  air  that  relaxation  which  is  a  necessar)'  condition  to  the 
liest  remits  in  the  recitation  riM>m  :  and  whatever  may  be  his 
sul«ei|nent    occupation,    thankful    indeed    will    he    be    that    he 

■ '  • -irly  to  learn   how   to   forget  the  overwhelming 

,  and  that   therefore  he  is  abk-  once  more  lo 
ire  as  reslfully  as  he  did  in  his  college  ilays. 

"  \  university  which  has  courses  r»f  jKist-grafluate  studies 
aildf'l  !■.  ilk  rt,)|(.j»(..  curriculum  may  follow  the  same  plan,  and 
al-  ins  for  original  research  along  those  lines  in 

"'  '-   may   l>e  eminent  .authorities.       However, 

e^  ■        ihal   when   one  enthusia.stic  instructor 

di'  jilaci-.  iliL-   new   o(TU|>ant   of  the    pro- 

fv-  already  given  his  leisure  time  to  some 

one  of   ihc   thousand   grnu|>s   of  the   animal    kingdom  entirely 
different   from  those  studied   by  his  preilecessor,  and  the  Imiks 


NO.    1345,  VO',.   52] 


and  specimens  he  finds  already  gathered  will  prove  of  little  v-alue 
to  him  for  the  pursuit  of  his  own  fiivourite  branch  of  our  science. 

MfSEfMS   AS    EmCATORS. 

"A  museum  of  natural  history  developed  by  a  distinct  corpora- 
tion may  advance  education  in  two  different  ways — firstly,  by  the 
exhibitions  of  its  collections  and  by  illustrated  lectures  ;  and, 
secondly,  by  securing  sucli  exhaustive  series  of  specimens  and 
the  books  treating  of  them  as  to  render  it  possilile  for  original 
research  to  be  carried  on  in  many  or  most  of  the  orders  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  Such  organisations  could  favo\irably  utilise  an 
unlimited  amount  of  funds,  and  even  partly  to  fulfil  tlieir  mission 
must  ab.sorb  enormous  sums.  They  can,  iherefoio,  only  be 
created  in  our  great  and  wealthy  cities,  and  iu  them  only  by  a 
happy  and  enthusiastic  co-ojieration  of  their  .State  and  Muiiici|wl 
tkivernmenls,  supplemented  by  large  gifts  from  their  wealthiest 
and  most  generous  citizens.  Our  museum  in  Central  Park  is 
becoming  such  an  institutitm  for  instruction  and  investigation. 
The  city  has  provided  a  site  of  eighteen  acres  and  §2,500,000  for 
that  i>art  of  the  structure  already  erected  and  under  contract. 
Our  specimens  .and  books,  the  gifts  of  private  citizens,  ainount 
to  about  $2,000,000  mc)re,  ami  yet  we  have  conipletetl  less  than 
one-fifth  of  our  propi>sed  etlifice.  The  .\rt  Museum  has  even  a 
larger  property  and  as  comprehensive  a  plan,  and  now  tile  Lenox 
and  .Astor  Libraries,  and  the  Tilden  gift  are  happily  united,  anel 
together  form  a  third  stone  in  the  arch  of  this  central  university 
for  the  highest  culture.  So  that,  while  we  visit  London  to 
admire  its  group  of  noble  institutions  at  South  Kensington,  we 
are  at  the  same  time  founding  in  our  new  land  a  similar  series  on 
agrealer  scale,  and  erecting  buildings  and  accumulating  collections 
at  a  rate  not  witnesscil  on  the  other  side  of  ihesea;  but  the 
extensive  ground  jilan  u|M»n  which  we  are  buiUiing  the  Museum 
of  Natural  Historj'  embodies  the  views  of  the  late  .Sir  Richartl 
Owen,  the  ablest  investigator  in  our  science  of  the  present 
cmtury. 

"  In  such  a  museum  the  specimens  of  minerals,  rocks,  and  even 
fossils  may  be  nearly  jierfect  in  themselves  or  fairly  re]ircseiua- 
tive  of  the  formations  from  which  they  were  taken,  but  ilshoulil 
be  remembered  that  in  the  usual  mode  of  exhibition  of  animals 
and  plants  we  necessarily  lose  the  charm  of  their  environment. 
Thus  the  song-thrush,  which  in  life  fills  these  northern  valleys 
with  the  magical  music  of  its  licpiid  notes,  when  mounted  and 
placed  in  a  ca,se  is  not  only  mute  but  uninteresting.  The  hum- 
ming birds,  in  all  their  array  of  brillianl  gems,  to  be  known 
nuisl  be  seen  alive,  darting  lo  and  fro  amid  llie  Iragranl  and 
richly-coloured  Howers  which  supply  their  food  in  the  tropical 
lands  where  the  stately  palm-trees  wave  their  graceful  fromls. 
The  albatross,  as  usually  mounted,  with  its  wings  tamely  folded, 
hardly  suggests  the  noble  bird  that  skims  gleefully  over  the 
crests  of  mountainous  waves,  while  the  storms  are  raging  in  the 
*  Roaring  Forties  '  «)f  the  southern  ocean.  The  chamois  can 
only  be  appreciated  when  it  is  seen  aloft  on  some  projecting 
crag  of  the  .Mps,  and  the  Rocky  Mountain  goat  when,  after 
long  climbing,  we  fiml  it  surrounded  by  the  splintered  peaks  of 
the  Selkirks  high  up  on  the  borders  of  eternal  ice. 

"  To  remedy  these  defects  such  a  progressive  thinker  as  Sir 
William  I'lovver  wisely  proposes  an  entire  change  in  the  present 
style  of  taxidermy,  and  our  experience  in  New  VorU  has  been 
that  our  ca.ses  of  American  birds  in  their  native  haunts  are 
among  the  most  attractive  as  well  as  instructive  displays  in  our 
halls.  In  our  illustrated  lectures  we  exhibit  on  one  screen  the 
Rocky  Mountain  sheep,  while  we  picture  on  another  screen 
beside  it  the  grand  mountain  of  the  Holy  Cross,  where  this  rare 
animal  formerly  roamed. 

"  Zoology  has  attained  a  prominent  place  in  this  country  largely 
through  that  great  investigator  and  instructor,  Prof.  Lewis 
.\gassiz,  whose  marvellous  store  of  kncjw  ledge  was  equalled  only 
by  his  devotion  to  his  favourite  study. 

"  Hut  while  science  shoulil  be  pursued  fiir  science's  sake,  yel  we 
must  not  utuler-estimate  the  value  of  the  technical  sciences  which 
take  the  results  of  original  research  and  transform  them  so  that 
Ihey  may  confer  an  immcdi.ate  and  practical  benefit  upon  the 
whole  worlil.  It  is  in  this  great  department  of  modern  education 
—  the  applied  science: — Ihal  the  .\merican  people  are  pre- 
eminently successful,  and  in  Ihe  coming  conlesl  for  the 
supremacy  among  all  nations,  ours  is  deslineil  lo  maintain  a 
commanding  place  through  our  untiring  indu.stry,  inventive 
genius,  and  peculiar  adaptability  lo  meet  new  c<  ndilions." 


August  8,  1895] 


NATURE 


559 


UNIVERSITY  AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

I'ROF.  J.  \V.  Ji'lH),  C.B.,  F.R.S.,  has  been  appointed  Dean 
of  the  Royal  College  of  Science,  in  succession  to  the  late  Prof. 
H  uxley. 

Thk  following  list  of  Royal  scholarships,  medals,  and  prizes 
awarded  last  month  in  connection  with  the  Royal  College  of 
Science,  London,  has  just  been  issued  by  the  Department  of 
Science  and  Art.  Royal  scholarships : — Kirst  year's  Royal 
scholarships,  Ernest  Smith,  George  Marks  Russell,  Frank  Fishei, 
Norton  Baron  ;  second  year's  Royal  scholarships,  Robert  Sowter, 
|oe  Crowther.  Medals  and  prizes  : — "  Kdward  Forbes"  medal 
and  prize  of  books  for  Biology,  William  (ieorge  FVeeman  ; 
"  Murchison"  medal  and  prize  of  books  for  Geology,  John  Cas- 
pell  ;  "  Tyndall"  prize  of  books  for  Physics,  Part  I.,  William 
Herbert  White;  "  De  la  Beche"  medal  for  Mining,  Robert 
William  I'ringle;  '*  Bessemer"  medal  and  prize  of  books  for 
Metallurgy,  John  Collet  Moulden  ;  "  F'rank  Hatton  "  prize  of 
l)ooks  for  Chemistry,  William  Longshaw,  Prizes  of  books  given 
by  the  Department  of  Science  and  Art  : — Mechanics,  Cecil 
Alwyne  Selpram  Baxter  :  Astronomical  Physics,  Ernest  F'dward 
Leslie  Dixon,  William  Herbert  White;  Practical  Chemistry, 
Henry  William  Hutchin ;  Mining,  Robert  William  Pringle ; 
Principles  of  Agriculture,  William  Williams. 

The  University  of  Pennsylvania  has  issued  an  appeal  (says 
Scieme)  asking  for  an  endowment  fund  of  ;^i, 000,000  to  meet 
the  immediate  requirements  of  the  University.  Mr.  Thomas 
McKean  has  given  without  restrictions  a  sura  of  ^10,000  in 
addition  to  the  ;^io,ooo  given  a  few  months  ago.  A  contribu- 
tion of  ^2000  has  also  been  received  from  Mr.  Richard  F. 
Loper.  It  is  stated  that  this  is  the  thirteenth  contribution  of  a 
similar  kind  that  has  been  received.  We  learn  from  the  same 
source  that  the  University  of  Cincinnati  has  received  a  gift  of 
j^gooo  from  Mr.  Henry  Hanna.  10  Ije  used  in  the  erection  of  a 
wing  in  the  new  University  building. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

DCBl.IN. 

Royal  Dublin  Society,  .\pril  24. — Prof.  J.  Mallet  Purser  in 
the  chair.  The  following  communications  were  read: — Dr.  E. 
J.  .M'Weeney  on  a  temporary  variation  in  the  quality  of  the 
\'artry  water.  [Tliis  is  the  \\a!er-sup])ly  of  the  city  of  Dublin.] — 
Dr.  l).avid  Hepburn  (of  Edinburgh  I,  on  the  i)apillary  rid'^es  on 
the  hands  and  feet  of  monkeys  and  men.  The  material  for  this 
[aper  was  supplied  tiy  the  anthropological  laboratory  of  Trinity 
College.  Dublin,  and  the  paper  was  communicated  by  Prof.  D. 
I.  Cunningham,  F.R..S. — Mr.  Walter  V..  Adeney,  on  the  course 
and  nature  of  fermentative  changes  in  natural  and  polluted 
waters,  and  in  arlitlcial  solutions,  as  indicated  by  the  composi- 
tion of  the  gases  in  solution. 

May  22. — Mr.  Thomas  Preston  in  the  chair. — The  following 
communications  were  presented  : — Prof  Emerson  Reynolds, 
F.R.S.,  note  on  the  spectrum  of  argon.  —  .Mr.  W.  K.  -Vdeney,  on 
the  chemical  examination  of  organic  matters  in  river  water. — 
.Mr.  Richard  \.  Moss,  on  the  preparation  of  helium.  —Mr.  Moss 
also  exhibiled  a  simple  form  of  apparatus  for  the  distillation  of 
mercury  in  vacuo  ;  and  Dr.  W.  Frazer  showed  some  photographs 
of  the  natives  of  Formosa. 

June  26.  —  Dr.  J.  Joly,  F.R.S. ,  in  the  chair. — The  following 
papers  were  read:  —  NIr.  Thomas  Preston,  on  the  rectilinear 
propagation  of  light. — Dr.  J.  Joly,  on  photography  in  natural 
colours. — Sir  J  William  Dawson,  F.  RS.,  note  on  a  paper  on 
*'  Eozoonal  struolm'e  of  the  ejcctetl  blocks  of  Monte  Somma,'' 
by  Dr.  H.  J.  Johnston- Lavis  and  Dr.  J.  W.  Gregory,  and  reply 
to  the  note  by  the  last-named  authors.  —  Dr.  ('•.  Johnstone 
Sloney,  F.R.S.,  criticism  of  the  kinetic  theory  of  ga.ses  regarded 
as  illustrating  nature. — Dr.  E.  J.  M'Weeney,  further  observa- 
tions on  the  Vartry  water.  —  Dr.  M.  Weeney  exhibited  cultivations 
of  rhoma  Bcltc,  a  fungus  that  produces  a  disea.se  of  the  mangold 
wurzel. 

P.XRIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  July  29.— M.  Marey  in  the  chair. — 
On  the  presence  of  water  vapour  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  planet 
Mars,  by  M.  J.  Janssen.  Mr.  W.  W.  Campbell  has  recently 
isserled   that   the  atmosphere  of  Mars  does  not   contain   water 

NO.    1345,  VOL.   52] 


vapour,  and  has  requested  further  details  concerning  the  authors 
observations,  from  which  the  pre.sence  of  water  vapour  had  been 
supposed  to  be  proved.  These  details  are  now  supiilied  ;  the 
author  particularly  points  out  that  his  Etna  observations  were 
carried  out  under  exce]>tionally  favourable  conditions,  and  that 
the  definite  and  convincing  evidence  they  afforded  was  confirmed 
by  observations  carried  out  at  Palermo  and  at  .Marseilles. — On 
groups  of  substitutions  of  the  same  order  and  degree,  by  XL 
Levavasseur. — On  algebraical  surfaces  admitting  of  a  continuous 
group  of  internal  biraticmal  transformations,  by  MM.  G.  Castel- 
nuovo  and  F".  F^nriques. — On  algebraical  machines,  by  M. 
Leonardo  Torres. — X'ibrations  of  the  tuning-fork  in  a  magnetic 
field,  by  M.  Maurain. — New  photographs  of  lightning  flashes, 
by  M.  N.  Piltschikoff.  .Several  types  of  lightning  tiash  are 
defined,  and  the  dimensions  are  given  for  ceitain  flashes;  for 
instance,  a  photograph  taken  during  a  storm  at  Odessa  on  June 
13,  shows  a  luminous  band  075  mm.  wide,  caused  by  a  flash  at 
a  greater  distance  than  10  kilometres  ;  the  actual  width  of  the 
flash  was  therefore  more  than  62  metres.  A  new  voltaic  cell, 
by  M.  -Morisot.  The  cell  consists  of  a  carbon  pole  immersed  in 
I  :  4  sulphuric  acid  saturated  with  potassium  bichromate  and  a 
zinc  pole  within  a  porous  cell  containing  concentrated  caustic 
soda  solution  (sp.  gr.  i'25),  this  cell  being  .separated 
from  the  depolarising  acid  solution  by  a  sec(md  larger 
porous  cell  containing  dilute  caustic  soda  (sp.  gr.  I '05).  The 
E.  M.F".  of  this  cell  is  to  begin  with  2 '5  volts,  and  remains  above 
2"4  volts  during  at  least  ten  hours  of  uninterrupted  action,  and 
with  variable  external  resistance  remains  constant.  The  inter- 
mediate bath  of  dilute  alkali  diminishes  the  action  across  the 
porous  diaphragm  between  the  soda  and  the  sulphuric  and 
chromic  acids  without  materially  increasing  the  resistance.  The 
zinc  is  less  attacked  than  with  an  acid  bath,  and  may  readily  be 
brought  into  good  condition  after  long  use  by  a  short  immersion 
in  acid. — Action  of  aniline  on  mercurous  iodide,  by  M.  Maurice 
Francois.  The  aniline  decomposes  the  mercurous  iodide  w  ith  the 
formation  of  the  substance  diphenylmercurodiammonium  iotlide 
(CsH,NH.^)._,HgI;,  and  metallic  mercury.  The  reaction  is  in- 
complete and  exactly  similar  to  the  action  of  water  on  bismuth 
sulphate  or  mercuric  sulphate.  The  boiling  saturated  aniline 
.solution  (Hssolves  mercurous  iodide  and  redeposits  it  on  cooling 
in  the  crystalline  form. — .Vction  of  nitric  peroxide  on  campho- 
lenic  acid,  by  MM.  .V.  Behal  and  Blaise. — On  the  products  of 
the  condensation  of  isovaleric  aldehyde,  by  M.  L.  Kohn. — (.)n 
the  estimation  of  boric  acid,  by  .MM.  H.  Jay  and  Du])a.squier. 
The  boric  acid  is  distilled  over  into  soda  by  the  aid  of  methyl 
alcohol  used  continuously  and  the  residual  soda  determined  by 
titration. — On  the  elimination  of  linte  among  those  aft'ected  with 
rickets,  by  .M.  Oechsner  de  Coninck. — On  the  utility  of  injections 
of  oxysparteme  before  ana;sthesia  by  means  of  chloroform,  by 
.MM.  P.  Langlois  and  G.  .Maurange.  The  injection,  an  hour 
before  the  operation,  of  4  to  5  cgr.  of  sparteme  or  310  4  cgr. 
of  oxysparteine,  together  with  I  cgr.  of  morphine,  gave  rapid 
naicosis  easily  maintained  with  little  chloroform  and  a  regular 
pulse,  energetic  even  when  the  respiration  became  superficial. — 
Influence  of  toxines  on  jjrogeny,  by  M.  .\.  Charrin.  Bacterial 
poisons  derived  from  the  mother,  like  those  introduced  otherwise 
into  the  system,  retard  the  growth  of  infants  l)y  rendering 
assimilation  less  perfect. — On  the  structure  of  the  ectoderm  and 
of  the  nervous  system  of  parasitic  Plathelminthes  (Trcmatodes 
et  Cestodes),  by  M.  Leon  Jamnies.  —  Contributions  to  the 
euibryogeny  of  simple  ,\.scidians,  by  .M.  Antoine  Pizon. — <._)n 
the  composition  of  the  monazite  sands  of  Carolina,  by  M. 
Boudouard. — Discovery  of  gigantic  remains  of  fossil  elephants, 
made  by  M.  Le  HIanc,  in  "  la  ballastieredeTilloux  (Charente)," 
by  M.  .Marcellin  B<.ule. 

Bkki.in. 
Physical  Society,  June  14.  —  Prof,  du  Bois  Reymond, 
President,  in  the  chair. — Dr.  F.  Kurll)aum  gave  an  account  of 
his  determination  of  the  unit  of  light  made  in  conjunction  with 
Prof.  Lummer.  The  unit  W'as  based  im  the  light  entitted  by 
white-hot  platinum  foil.  Since  the  radiant  energy  varies  with 
the  temperature,  it  was  necessary  to  keep  the  latter  constant  for 
a  prolonge<l  jieriod,  and  to  be  able  to  re-establish  it  at  any  time. 
This  result  was  arrived  at  bolometrically  by  measuring  the  ratio 
of  the  total  radiant  energy  from  the  glowing  foil  to  the  radiation 
taking  place  across  an  absorbing  metiium.  This  ratio  is  de- 
pendent upon  the  temperature  of  the  radiating  body,  and  pro- 
vides a  trustworthy  measure  of  its  temperature.  It  was  nece.ssary 
to  find  some  covering  for  the  bolimieter  which  should  absorb  all 
rays  as  uniformly  ;is  possible  ;  after  many  experiments  a  layer  of 


36o 


NA  TURE 


[August  S,  1895 


platinum  black  was  found  most  suitable  for  this  purpose.  The 
absorbing  medium  employed  consisted  of  a  thin  layer  of  water 
in  a  quarti  cell.  The  energy  radiatecl  from  the  heated  foil  passed 
through  a  diaphragm  of  known  ajxjrture,  whose  temperature  was 
the  same  as  that  of  the  bolometer.  The  errors  in  determining 
the  unit  of  light  amounteil  to' one  per  cent.,  due  chiefly  to  the 
air  currents  on  the  surface  of  the  foil.  The  unit  can  now  lie 
establishe<l  a',  any  time  in  the  Imperial  Physico-technical  Institute 
(Berlin) ;  but  in  order  to  facilitate  its  accurate  establishment  at 
any  other  place,  experiments  are  Iwing  made  to  determine  the 
temperature  of  the  glowing  foil  from  ratio  of  the  radiation  over 
the  range  of  the  visible  siX'Ctnmi. 

June  28. — Prof,  von  Bezold,  President,  in  the  chair. — Dr. 
Raps  exhibited  and  descril>ed  some  new  electric  meters  con- 
structed by  Siemens  and  Halske,  which  by  the  use  of  constant 
magnets  provide  an  accurate  measure  for  technical  pur]xises,  ami 
are  uninfluenced  by  ordinary  variations  of  temperature.  Dr.  du  I 
Bois  descrilx;d  exiwrimcnts  made  by  Dr.  E.  T.  Jones  on  magnetic 
lifting-power.  He  had  already  showed  that  Maxwell's  formula 
holds  good  for  a  field  whose  strength  is  up  to  500  C.G.S.,  and 
now  passed  on  to  fields  of  greater  strength.  In  the  last  set 
of  experiments  electro-magnets  were  employed  with  a  sectional 
surface  of  an  iron  bar  [lassed  through  the  armatures.  \  m.-ignetic 
lifting  power  of  52  kilogrammes  per  square  centimetre  of 
.surface  was  thus  for  the  first  lime  obtained,  and  Maxwell's 
formula  was  found  to  hold  good  up  to  this  maximal  value  ;  the 
error  was  at  most  five  per  cent.,  due  as  yet  to  insuflicieni  intro- 
duction of  corrections.  Stephan's  formula  did  not  in  any  way 
corrcsp<:'nil  with  the  results  of  the  above  experiments.  It  further 
ap[K.-arcd  that  a  lifting  piwer  of  150  kilogramnies  (X-'r  square 
centimetre  should  be  obtainable. 

-•VMSTERnAM. 
Royal    Academy  of   Sciences,   June  29. — Prof  Van  dcr 
\Vaal>  in  the  chair.  —  Pmf  Martin  presented  a  work,  written  by 
him,  and  entitled  "  Die  l-'ossilien  von  Java."     Basing  his  argu- 
ments on  the  presence  of  the.se  fossils,  the  author  showed  that 
iji  Java  there  are  found  Upper  Miocene,  Pliocene  and  (Juaternary 
sediments.      When    the    distribulion    of    these    formations    is 
consiflered,  it  appears  that  in  general  the  newer  strata  have  been 
fomicfl  on  the  otiter  side  of  the  older  ones,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that   since  the  time  of  the  Upper  Miocene  formation  a 
continuous   and    very    slow    elevation   of    the   coast  ("negativ 
strandverschiebung")  took  place,  in  consequence  of  which  the 
Upper  Miocene,  I'liocene  and  <,)uaternary  sediments  of  the  coast 
were   laid  dry.     That   this  shifting  of  the  coa.sl  was  very  con- 
siderable, is  proved  hy  the  Xjaliendoeng  fossils,  fotmd  910  m. 
above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  this  fact  further  tallies  with  what 
is  known  about  Sumatra,  where  in   the   "  Padangsche  Boven- 
landen  "  Xeogene  sediments  have  lieen  found  up  to  a   height  of 
1088  m.     Not    long   ago   the   author  showed    that  during  the 
•  Juaternar)-  iK-riixl  a  considerable  movement  took  place  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  archipelago,  and  numerous  facts  .show  th.at 
the  wh'ile  (if  the  Indian  archiiwlago  w.-is  subjected  to  this.     The 
.author  further  remarked  that  he  ha<l  received   interesting  fossils 
from  Western  Borneo.    Among  them  are :  Perhfhitules  ( Waag. ), 
Proloiardia,  and  Corhiila.     AH  these  fossils  have  been  found  in 
strata  th.at  were  formerly  known  as  "  ancient  schists,  "  which, 
hfiwever,  f)n  account  of  the  above-mentioned  fossils,  ran  only  be 
rci-k'ineil  to  Inrlnng  to  the  Mesozoic  |K-rifMl :  more  |virticularly  they 
ought  lolx' classed  eillier  with  the  Jurassic  or  with  the  Cretaceous 
formation.    In  accordance  with  the  present  slate  of  our  knowledge 
it  is  highly  prril«lile  that  the  fossils  in  question  have  been  taken 
from  Jurassic  fonnation.s.     It  ap|iears,  then,  that  Me.sozoic  strata 
hnve  a  ver)-  wide  distribution  in  the  Indian  archipelago.  —  Prof 
1     ■    rinck  rrada  paiK-ron  Cynipstatyds.    The Ci'«//»jfri/r<;.f gall- 
•  rycommrm  m  Austria- Hungary  on  Qiifniis  /V(/hh. h/iiAi, 
'.  d  in  conmicrcc  as  a  first-rate  tanning  material.      In 
i  inds  two  or  three  small  localities  are  known  where 
,  1,1    fi run. I, —The  dehydr.ition,  rehydration  and   le- 
•  1  silicic  acid,  by  Prof,  van  Bemmelcn. — 
i  Mime  iximjihlels  by  himself  and  simie  of 
i»l,  Hiili  reference  to  Dr.  Langcmeyer's  <lisserlalion, 
•  influence  of  the  use  of  sugar  u|xin  muscular  labour. 
I  .le  with  the  ergograph,  it  is  ileduced  that 

\  been  proved  that  sugar  has  a  favourable 

.,    :  :i  laliour. — .\t  the  request    of  Dr.   C.  A. 

I  iv  de  Ifruyn,  Prof  Kranchimont  c<imnumicaled  that  free 
I  .  ir.i/inc  had  been  pre|>are<l  'oy  the  former  in  t«o  ways: 
I'  fr.tm    NilljllCI  with  vnlium  mcthylate  in  a  methyl  alcoholic 

NO.    1345.   VOL.   52] 


solution,  and  2°  by  heating  the  hydrate  to  100"  with  barium- 
oxide.  Free  hydrazine  is  a  somewhat  thick  fluid  with  the  smell 
of  the  hydrate.  It  boils  without  decomposition  at  iij°'S  and  a 
I'ressure  of  761  m.m. ,  and  at  56°  if  the  pressure  is  71  ni.m. 
When  cooled,  it  becomes  solid,  and  then  melts  again  at  2° ; 
its  density  at  2j°  is  1-0075  ^"''  <'<^<-**  ""'■  therefore,  difter  much 
from  that  of  the  hydrate  (boiling  .at  119  ).  Ii\  ordinary  air  it 
forms  strong  va|x>urs  and  is  easily  oxidised  by  oxygen  « ith  the 
formation  of  nitrogen.  In  the  air  it  will  burn,  but  not  explode, 
like  hydroxylamine,  and  consequently  it  is  much  more  stable, — 
Prof.  Kamerlingh  Onnes  communicated  meastirements  on  the 
capillarity  of  liquid  gases,  made  by  Dr.  V'crschafielt  in  the  Leyden 
laborator}'.  Carbonic  acid  and  nitrous  oxide  obey  the  law  of 
corres|X)nding  slates  ;  their  capillary  equation  h.as  an  exixirtent 
approaching  the  theoretical  value  giveii  by  \"an  der  Waals,  and 
they  are  not  associated  fluids.  —  Prof  \'an  der  Waals  presented 
a  |iaix"r  intended  for  the  reixirt  of  the  meeting,  and  enlitled  : 
"  On  the  critical  circumstances  of  a  mixture, "  l>eing  a  sequel  to 
what  was  comnuinicate<l  in  the  meeting  of  the  section  held  in 
May. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Books.— Bouches  a  Feu  :  E.  Hennelx:rt  (Paris.  Gauthier-Vill.irs). — 
Balisliquc  Ext^elire :  E.  V.-illier  (P.iri.4,  Gaulhicr-Vill.irs).— Gcologic.->l 
Survey  of  Canada,  Annual  Report,  new  series,  Vol.  6  (Ollaw.i). — Science 
Re.-iders,  Book  iv.  :  V.  T.  .Murch*  (M.-icinill.-ln).— A  Text-lxjok  of  the 
I*rinciplc.s  of  Physics  :  Dr.  .-X.  Daniell,  3ni  edition  (Macmillan).— Pau- 
Gnosticisin  :  N.  Winter  (Transatlanlic  Publishing  Company). — .\  Hand- 
lxx)k  to  the  Flora  of  Ceylon  :  Dr.  H.  Trimcn,  P,art  3  and  plates  (Uulau).  _ 

PAMl'llLirrs. — tlcogcnelische  Beitrage  :  Dr.  O.  Kunt/e  (I-eip/ij, 
Grcssner).— Sobre  Peces  de  .\gua  Dulce  :  C.  Berg  (Buen.>s  .\ires,  .Msina). — 
The  Grimsby  Trawl  Fishery,  ii;c.  :  F,.  W.  I..  Holt  (Plymouth). 

SERIAI.S. — Journal  of  the  Institution  of  Electrical  Engineers,  Julv(Spon). 
—Quarterly  journal  of  the  Geological  Society,  August  (Longnraivs).— Fort- 
nightly R'eview,  .\ugust  (Chapman).— Macmillan's  Magazine,  Auguxt 
(M,-tcmilt,an). — Scribner's  Magazine,  August  (Low). — Verhandlungcn  des 
N'alurhistorischcn  Vereins,  Ac,  EinundmnfzigNter  Jalirg.,  Sechste  Folge, 
I  Jahrg.,  Zweite  H5lfte(Boun).— Bulletins  de  laSocietd  IV.'Vnthroiwlogie  de 
P;iris,  tome  vi.  4*-'  serie  (Paris,  M.asson). — Geological  M;igazine,  August 
(I)ulau).r-Geographical  Mag.lzine,  .'\ugust  (Stanford).— Transactions  and 
Proceedings  of  the  New  Zealand  Institute,  1804,  Vol.  xw-ii.  (Welliirgton,, 
Costall). — Science  Progress,  August  (Scientific  Press,  Ltd.). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The   Study  of  Insects.      H\  W.  F.  K ,;37 

Agriculture  and  Horticulture 33S 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

"  Floclrical  l^alxjratory  Notes  and  Forms" 339 

Berdoe  :  "  Microbes  and  Disea.se  Demons"'     ....  340 
"  Men-gu-yu-niH-tsi  :  or.  Memoirs  of  the  Mongol  En- 
campments '' 340 

Letters  to  the  Editor : — 

I'niversily  of    l.onilon    Kkriion. --Right    Hon.  Sir 

John  Lubbock,  Bart.,  M.P.,  F,R.S 340 

Metrical  Kclali.ms  of  Plane  Spaces  of;;  Manifoldness. 

Emanuel  Lasker 340 

The  I- eigning  of  Death,— Oswald  H,  Latter     ,    ,    .  343 
llallcv's  Chart  of   M.agnetic  Declinations.— Charles 

L.  Clarke 34J. 

The  Eruption  of  Vesuvius,  July  3,  1895.  (llliistiated.) 

lt\  Dr.  H.  J.  Johnston-Lavis 343 

P.  L.  Chebyshev  (Tchebicheff) 345 

Notes     345- 

Our  Astronoinical  Column:  — 

The  K.itation  of  \  Liuis 34^ 

('■eoileliial  Ohseivalimis 34^ 

The  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers 348 

The  International  Geographical  Congress    ....  350. 

The  British  Medical  Association 35* 

Science  in  the  Magazines 355 

Photometric  Standards 35^ 

Scientific  Education  in  America      357 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 359 

Societies  and  Academies 359 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received i(^- 


NA  TURE 


\6i 


THURSDAY,    AUGUST    15,   1S95. 


///£  HLSTORY  OF  F.VOLUTION. 
I'roni  the  Greeks  to  Darwin  :  an  Outline  of  the  Develop- 
ment of  the  Evolution  Idea.  By  Henry  Fairfield 
Osljom,  Sc.D.,  Da  Costa  Professor  of  Biology  in 
Columbia  College,  &c.  (New  York  ;  Macmillan  and 
Co.) 

""T^HE  object  of  this  most  interesting  and  useful  work  is 
-L  to  survey  the  last  twenty-four  centuries  and  bring 
together  the  thoughts— true  and  false — upon  evolution. 
ICxamining  and  comparing  the  material  which  he  has 
I  oilccted,  the  author  concludes  "that  the  influences  of 
larly  upon  later  thought  are  greater  than  has  been 
lielie\ed,  that  Darwin  owes  more  even  to  the  Greeks 
than  we  have  ever  recognised."  In  supporting  this  con- 
c  lusion  the  author  desires  to  give  due  credit  to  the  earlier 
writers,  but  not  to  lower  in  an)-  way  the  transcendant 
position  occupied  by  Darwin.  Indeed,  so  scrupulously 
lair  is  the  treatment  that  the  materials  are  thoroughly 
.nailable  to  those  who  do  not  altogether  follow  the  author 
11  his  conclusion.  And  many  objections  to  the  conclusion 
arc  most  prominently  brought  forward.  Thus  the  great 
interval  between  the  beginning  and  the  middle  of  the 
present  century,  when  all  continuity  in  evolutionary 
thought  seemed  to  be  broken,  is  described  again  and 
igain.  We  read  on  page  12:  "Perhaps  the  sharpest 
iiaiisitioii  was  at  the  close  of  the  third  period,  in 
hich  a  distinct  anti-evolution  school  had  sprung  up 
aid  succeeded  in  firmly  entrenching  itself,  so  that  Darwin 
and  Wallace  began  the  present  era  with  some  abruptness." 
Again,  on  pages  227  and  228,  the  strong  prejudice  against 
evolution  which  marks  this  peiiod  is  illustrated  in  many 
\\  ays,  and  the  section  concludes  :  "...  all  the  progress 
»  hich  had  been  made  in  the  long  centuries  we  have  been 
.  onsidering  was,  for  the  time,  a  latent  force.  The  Evolu- 
tion idea,  with  the  numerous  truths  which  had  accumulated 
il>out  it,  was  again  almost  wholly  subordinate  co  the 
Special  Creation  idea." 

The  recognition  of  this  strongly-marked  gap  in  the 
history  of  evolutionary  thought,  and,  above  all,  the  details 
u  hich  we  learn  from  Darwin's  "  Life  and  Letters,"  tend 
to  throw  doubt  upon  the  view  that  he  drew  much  of  his 
inspiration  from  the  past.  The  great  majority  01 
naturalists  could  not  entertain  the  idea  of  evolution  unless 
some  explanation  of  its  cause  was  forthcoming.  Darwin 
treated  the  process  and  the  cause  as  entirely  distinct,  and 
was  convinced  of  the  one  long  before  he  had  come  to  any 
definite  opinion  about  the  other.  In  accepting  evolution 
as  against  special  creation,  we  fail  to  find  any  evidence 
that  Darwin  was  influenced  by  the  arguments  or  con- 
clusions of  an  earlier  day.  He  was  influenced  and  finally 
convinced  by  his  conclusions  from  his  own  observations 
on  the  lieagle  (quoted  by  Prof.  Osborn  on  p.  233).  In 
looking  for  the  causes  of  evolution  he  was  equally  in- 
dependent of  the  past  ;  for  he  saw  that  adaptation  was 
the  central  fact  which  required  explanation,  and  which 
had  recei\ed  none  at  the  hands  of  the  naturalists  u  ith 
whose  writings  he  was  acquainted. 

Hut  whether  the  thread  be  broken  or  continuous,  the 
history  of  thought  upon  this  all-important  subject  is  of  the  I 


NO.    1346,  YOI,.   52] 


deepest  interest,  and  Prof  Osborn's  work  will  be  welcomed 
by  all  who  take  an  intelligent  interest  in  evolution.  Up  to 
the  present,  the  pre-Darwinian  evolutionists  have  been  for 
the  most  part  considered  singly,  the  claims  of  particular 
naturalists  being  urged  often  with  too  warm  an  enthusiasm. 
Prof  Osborn  has  undertaken  a  more  comprehensive 
work,  and  with  well-balanced  judgment  assigns  a  place 
to  e\ery  writer. 

The  histor)'  of  thought  upon  e\olution  from  640  B.C.  to 
the  present  day  is  divided  into  two  main  phases,  the 
second  of  which  is  further  subdivided  into  three  periods. 

The  first  phase,  "  The  Anticipation  of  Nature  :  Greek 
Evolution,  "  and  its  effects  on  Christian  Theology-  and 
Arabic  Philosophy,  lasted  from  640  li.c.  to  1600 A.J). 

The  second  phase,  "  The  Interpretation  of  Nature  : 
Modern  Evolution,"  opens  with  the  period  of  "  Philoso- 
phical Evolution,"  from  1600  to  1800,  associated  with  the 
names  of  Bacon,  Kant,  Herder,  Bonnet,  Oken,  &c.  In 
this  period  the  tueek  traditions  were  largely  shaken  off, 
and  inductive  evolution  began. 

The  next  period,  that  of  the  rise  and  decline  of 
"  Modern  Inductive  Evolution,"  ^omewhat  overlapping 
the  last,  is  limited  by  the  years  1730  and  1S50,  from 
Buffon  to  St.  Hilaire.  It  depends  upon  the  writings  of 
Linnaius,  Erasmus  Darwin,  Lamarck,  Goethe,  Treviranus, 
&c.  At  the  close  of  this  period,  Owen  and  Herbert 
Spencer  are  placed. 

The  last  period,  that  of  the  re-establishment  of 
"  Modern  Inductive  Evolution"  upon  a  firmer  foundation, 
dates  from  1858  to  the  present  day.  It  is  associated  with 
the  names  of  Darwin  and  Wallace,  and  marked  b\-  the 
scientific  evidences  of  evolution,  by  the  theory  of  natural 
selection,  by  observation  and  speculation  upon  other 
factors  of  evolution. 

The  section  which  deals  with  the  Greeks  has  been 
somewhat  unfairly  criticised.  Some  people  appear  to 
believe  that  an  account  of  Greek  ideas  upon  evolution 
can  only  be  attempted  with  success  by  an  eminent  clas- 
sical scholar.  But  classical  scholars  have  already  done 
their  utmost  in  the  way  of  translation  and  of  study.  It  is 
now  of  far  greater  importance  to  have  a  critical  account, 
like  that  in  the  work  vvc  arc  considering,  by  a  w-riter  who 
is  an  authority  upon  evolution. 

In  discussing"  The  Legacy  of  the  (Ireeks  "  (pp.  64-6S) 
the  author  points  out  that  the  first  element  is  "  scientific 
curiosity,  their  desire  to  find  a  natural  e.xplanation  for 
the  origin  and  existence  of  things."  The  complete  de- 
pendence of  all  investigation  upon  this  spirit  is  main- 
tained, and  it  is  truly  said  that  "  the  ground  motive  in 
science  is  a  high  order  of  curiosity,  led  on  by  ambition  to 
overcome  obstacles."  The  final  conclusion  is  that  "  the 
( jreeks  left  the  later  world  face  to  face  with  the  problem 
of  causation  in  three  forms  :  first,  whether  intelligent  de- 
sign is  constantly  operating  in  nature  ;  second,  whether 
nature  is  under  the  operation  of  natural  causes  originally 
iinplanted  by  intelligent  design  ;  and  third,  whether 
nature  is  under  the  operation  of  natural  causes  due  from 
the  beginning  to  the  laws  of  chance,  and  containing  no 
e\  idences  of  design,  e\en  in  their  origin." 

In  this  section  of  the  work  we  find,  as  we  might  expect, 
that  the  genius  of  Aristotle  completely  overshadows  that 
of  the  other  Greek  writers  who  attempted  to  face  the 
problems  of  the  origin  and  development  of  living  forms. 

R 


?62 


NA  TURE 


[August  15,  1S95 


In  the  lonj<  second  period,  that  of  the  thcolog^ians 
and  natural  philosophers,  '"  no  advance  whatever  in  the 
<levelopment  of  the  evolution  idea  was  made  .  .  .  ; 
scientific  speculation  and  observation  were  at  a  stand- 
still, except  among  the  Arabs  "  (p.  70\ 

As  we  advance  towards  the  work  of  the  naturalists  and 
philosophers  of  the  two  last  centuries,  the  difficulties  and 
dangers  of  interpretation  increase.  It  is  even  easier  to 
read  preconceived  notions  into  the  single  passages  of 
dead  writers  than  into  the  phenomena  of  nature  ;  and  we 
all  know  that  the  latter  process  is  only  too  easy.  If  the 
results  are  not  to  be  in  the  highest  degree  misleading, 
the  author  must,  like  Prof.  Osborn,  be  entirely  free  from 
bias,  and  must  possess  a  cool  and  critical  judgment. 

We  meet  with  constant  and  timely  protests  against  the 
rash  conclusions  which  may  be  reached  by  selecting 
isolated  passages  from  an  author,  and  dealing  with  thcin 
apart  from  their  context,  and  the  full  recognition  of  the 
great  danger  which  underlies  this  too  common  practice, 
VIZ.  that  we  unconsciously  read  into  such  passages  our 
present  knowledge  (p.  80). 

Prof.  Osborn  considers  that  too  high  a  place  has 
been  assigned  to  Oken  and  Treviranus  by  Haeckel  and 
Huxley  respectively,  and  that  Xaudin's  supposed  antici- 
pation of  natural  selection  is  far  from  being  as  satisfactory- 
as  Quatrefages  and  X'arigny  maintain.  The  suggestion 
that  Oken  anticipated  the  cell  theory  is  acutely  criticised  : 
it  is  suggested  that  his  conception  of  the  cell  as  a  sphere 
was  probably  only  a  result  of  the  transccndant  position 
occupied  by  this  geometrical  form  in  his  system  of 
philosophy  (p.  124). 

The  suggestion  (on  p.  235)  that  Darwin's  1844  Essay 
should  be  published  will,  the  present  writer  feels  assured, 
meet  with  warm  approval  from  the  wide  circle  of  readers 
who  are  eager  to  learn  all  that  can  be  learnt  of  the 
histor)'  of  Darwin's  views  upon  the  great  work  of  his 
life. 

The  hope  is  expressed  (on  p.  245)  that  we  shall  learn 
the  steps  which  led  to  Wallace's  independent  discover)' 
•of  natural  selection.  That  information  is  fortunately  now 
before  us,  and  we  know  that  Wallace  was  led  to  the  dis- 
cover)- by  reflecting  on  Malthus'  "  Essay  on  Popu- 
lation," as  he  lay  ill  of  intermittent  fever  at  Ternate 
(quoted,  without  reference,  in  .\Iilncs  Marshall's  "  Lectures 
on  the  Darwinian  Theory,"  London,  1894,  pp.  212,  213, 
and  to  be  found  in  the  abridged  form  of  the  "  Life  and 
Letters  of  Charles  Darwin").  Thus  another  most  im- 
portant detail  is  added  to  the  extraordinary  coincidence 
of  the  independent  discovery  of  natural  selection. 

There  is  comparatively  little  to  criticise  in  the  volume. 

The  idea  of  the  marine  origin  of  life,  traced  to  Thalcs, 
is  stated  to  be  "now-  a  fundamental  principle  of  evolu- 
tion "  ^p.  33,  ;  but  at  the  end  of  the  volume  it  is  more 
correctly  asserted  that  we  are  now  too  wise  to  answer 
the  inquiry  :  Where  did  life  first  appear?  (p.  247). 

Concerning  the  debated  question  as  to  whether 
I-imarck  was  aware  of  Erasmus  Darwin's  writings,  and 
made  use  of  (hem  without  acknowledgment,  the  author 
I'pp.  154,  155;  quotes  a  passage  from  the  ".\nimaux  sans 
Vertcbres,"  in  which  Lamarck  states  that  his  theory  is 
the  first  which  has  been  presented.  This  he  considers 
to  be  "  satisfactory  evidence  that  Erasmus  Danvin  and 
NO.    1346,  VOL.  52] 


Lamarck  independently  evolved  their  views."  But  if 
Lamarck  borrowed  without  acknowledgment,  it  would  be 
but  a  small  step  further  to  write  the  passage  in  question. 

The  statements  and  conclusions  to  which  exception  is 
chiefly  to  be  taken  concern  the  life  of  Darwin  himself, 
which  the  author  professedly  treats  in  a  very  brief  and 
imperfect  manner,  any  detailed  account  being  beyond  the 
scope  of  this  volume. 

The  author  spe.-iks  (p.  227)  of  "  Huxley's  somewhat 
guarded  acceptance  of  the  theory  "  on  the  fust  appearance 
of  the  "  Origin,"  and  implies  that  he  became  a  much 
stronger  supporter  of  evolution  in  later  years.  But  in 
reality  his  convictions  on  this  subject  never  changed.  In 
his  letter  to  Darwin,  written  November  23,  1859,  the  day 
before  the  publication  of  the  "  Origin,"  Huxley  expressed 
himself  as  "prepared  to  go  to  the  stake,  if  requisite,  in 
support  of"  those  parts  of  the  book  which  deal  with 
evolution  as  apart  from  natural  selection.  .•\s  to  the  latter 
he  says  :  "  1  think  you  have  demonstrated  a  true  cause 
for  the  production  of  species,  and  have  thrown  the  onus 
probandi  that  species  did  not  arise  in  the  way  you  sup- 
pose, on  your  adversaries."  And  these  were  Huxlej-'s 
views  up  to  the  last  occasions  on  which  he  spoke  on  the 
subject,  at  the  Oxford  meeting  of  the  British  .Association 
last  year,  and  at  the  anniversary  of  the  Royal  Society 
when  he  received  the  Darwin  Medal.  On  both  occasions 
he  carefully  distinguished  between  evolution  and  natural 
selection,  being  prepared  to  defend  the  former  to  the 
uttermost,  while  lie  declined  to  commit  himself  upon  the 
latter. 

It  is  contended  .p.  239^  that  Darwin's  faith  in  natural 
selection  reached  its  climax  in  1858,  and  then  gradually 
declined.  The  evidence  quoted  in  support  of  this  con- 
clusion is  a  letter  to  Carus  in  1869,  in  which  Darwin  says  : 
"  I  have  been  led  to  infer  that  single  variations  are  of 
even  less  importance  in  comparison  with  individual 
differences  than  I  formerly  thought."  Hut  this  passage 
proves  a  strengthening,  and  not  a  weakening  of  his  belief 
in  the  efficiency  of  natural  selection,  inasmuch  as  it  is 
considered  competent  to  work  upon  the  minute  differences 
which  separate  individuals  instead  of  upon  the  ready- 
made  material  provided  by  single  variations,  however 
conspicuous.  By  "  single  variations  "  he  meant  single 
individuals  differing  widely  and  conspicuously  from  the 
average  of  (heir  species.  His  letter  to  Carus  was  written 
shortly  after  he  had  been  convinced  on  this  point  by 
Fleeming  Jenkin's  re\iew  of  the  "  Origin  "  {iVoii/i  Ihilish 
Re^iiew,  June  1867).  A  careful  study  of  vol.  iii.  of  the 
"Life  and  Letters"  leaves  no  doubt  upon  this  point; 
while  the  facts  thus  brought  out  tend  10  refute  the 
argument  on  p.  245  as  to  the  supposed  antagonism  be- 
I  iween  Darsvin's  .-ind  Wallace's  conception  of  the  operation 
of  natural  selection  as  expressed  in  their  contribution^  to 
the  Linnean  Society  in  1858. 

.\  jjassage  in  the  sixth  edition  of  the  "Origin"  is  re- 
ferred to  (p.  242)  as  having  been  published  in  1880.  ami 
is  therefore  considered  to  be  "  among  Darwin's  last  words 
upon  the  factors  of  evolution."  The  passage  in  i|uestion 
is  referred  to  p.  424  of  the  "  Origin,"  but  occurs  on  p.  421 
of  the  copies  I  have  consulted.  In  it  Darwin  expresses 
his  belief  that  evolution  has  been  effected  "chielly  'by 
natural  selection,  "aided  in  an  important  manner  by  the 
inherited  effects  of  use  and  disuse  of  parts  ;   and  in  an 


AUGL-ST    15,    1895] 


NA  TURE 


o-'o 


unimportant  manner  ...  by  the  direct  action  of  ex- 
ternal conditions  .  .  ."  This  passage  is  considered  by 
Osbom  to  pro\c  that  the  progressive  tendency  towards 
the  explanations  of  Lamarck  and  Buffon  which  he  beheves 
Darwin  exhibited  from  1859  onwards -cuhninated  at 
he  close  of  his  life.  But  the  sixth  edition  appeared  in 
1872,  and  the  date  1880  is  merely  that  of  a  reprint.  The 
words  in  question  were  certainly  written  before  the  former 
date,  and  e\cn  in  the  fifth  edition  (1869)  Darwin  inserted 
the  word  "chiefly"  to  qualify  an  expression  of  confidence 
which  might  have  been  interpreted  as  a  belief  in  the  all- 
sufficiency  of  natural  selection. 

The  fact  appears  to  be  that  there  was  no  progressive 
change  in  Darwin's  attitude  on  this  subject,  but  that  his 
opinion  fluctuated  as  various  classes  of  evidence  were 
brought  before  him,  and  at  the  very  end  of  his  life  his 
belief  in  the  direct  action  of  external  conditions  was 
seriously  shaken  by  the  results  of  Hoftmann's  experiments. 
The  effect  produced  on  him  is  well  shown  in  his  letter  to 
Semper,  written  July  19,  1881,  less  than  a  year  before  his 
death  ("  Life  and  Letters,"  vol.  iii.).  But  although 
Darwin's  opinion  fluctuated  as  to  the  relative  value  of  the 
supposed  causes  of  evolution  other  than  natural  selection, 
liis  views  as  to  the  paramount  importance  of  the  latter 
ne\er  varied  in  any  of  his  published  utterances.  The 
words  which  conclude  the  Introduction  of  the  1859 
"  Origin  "  are  repeated  without  change  in  each  succeed- 
ing edition  and  reprint.  "  Furthermore,  I  am  convinced 
that  natural  selection  has  been  the  main,  but  not  the 
exclusive  means  of  modification." 

The  printing  and  general  get-up  of  this  interesting 
work  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired,  being  far  abo\c  the 
average  that  obtains  in  scientific  publications.  It  may 
confidently  be  predicted  that  the  book  will  be  widely 
read  and  greatly  appreciated.  E.   B.   P. 


THE   ELEMENTS   OF  ARCHITECTL'RE. 

Architcclitrc  for  General  Readers^  ^c.     By  H.  Heathcote 
Statham.     Svo.     (London  :   Chapman  and  Hall,  1895., 

THE  aim  of  this  treatise,  as  stated  in  the  preface,  ig 
certainly  a  good  one,  namely,  to  supply  the 
"general  reader'  with  the  means  of  criticising  architec- 
ture in  an  intelligent  manner,  and  principally  by  giving 
an  analysis  of  the  two  most  logical  and  complete  styles 
that  have  ever  existed,  namely,  the  Greek  and  the 
C.othic;  the  former  representing  the  trabeated,  and  the 
latter  the  arcuate  system  of  building.  Our  author,  how- 
ever, very  properly  does  not  confine  his  attention  to 
these  two  styles  and  their  later  developments,  but  also 
makes  wide  digressions  in  the  direction  of  Egyptian, 
Byzantine,  and  Mahommedan  structures,  all  of  them 
being  copiously  illustrated  and  discussed  at  considerable 
length.  The  work  exhibits  throughout  the  author's  great 
and  varied  acquaintance  with  his  subject,  and  cannot  but 
be  of  much  interest  and  value  to  any  reader  who  desires 
to  dive  more  deeply  than  amateurs  are  accustomed  to  do 
mto  the  principles  which  ought  to  guide  the  professional 
architect,  and  which,  indeed,  do  guide  all  those  who 
achieve  anything  worthy  of  the  art  in  which  they  practise. 
In  page  20  the  importance  of  planning  is  properly 
insisted  on.  The  plan  is  shown  to  be  the  very  "  back- 
bone' of  the  stioicture,  and  the  attention  of  the  "general 
NO.    1346,  VOL.   52] 


reader"  is  rightly  called  to  this.  It  may  be  doubted, 
however,  whether  the  general  reader  is  prepared  for  the 
minute  criticism,  which  we  find  a  little  further  on,  respect- 
I  ing  certain  competition  designs,  which  criticism  is 
rendered  the  more  difficult  to  follow,  in  consequence  of 
the  small  scale  of  the  plans  by  which  these  designs  are 
illustrated,  and  he  may,  perhaps,  wish  that  he  had  been 
led  into  such  deep  water  more  gently.  In  page  31,  with 
reference  to  the  proportions  of  buildings  as  affecting  the 
eye,  the  author  ap])ears  to  doubt  whether — with  the 
exception  of  the  late  Mr.  W.  \V.  Lloyd's  discovery  of  the 
system  which  prevails  in  the  Parthenon — any  definite  and 
clear  case  has  been  made  out  for  the  establishment 
of  proportion  theories.  The  author  is  probably  quite 
justified  in  his  refusal  to  accept  any  general  adoption  of 
a  system  for  proportioning  buildings  "on  the  basis  of 
geometrical  figures,  especially  triangles  of  various  angles.'' 
There  could  not  possibly  be  any  ;esthetic  value  in  con- 
fining the  main  lines  of  the  architecture  within  such 
limits  ;  but  rectangular  proportions  in  low  numbers  (of 
which  nature  are  the  proportions  of  the  Parthenon)  are 
on  a  different  footing,  and  it  is  e.xtremely  probable  that 
they  do  produce  harmonious  effects.  They  are  to  be 
found  in  man)-  other  (ireek  examples  besides  the  Par- 
thenon, and  in  one  Gothic  building  at  least,  namely,  the 
work  of  Bishop  Grosetete  in  the  nave  of  Lincoln 
Cathedral  (see  the  Transactions  of  the  Arch;eological 
Institute  of  Great  Britain,  &c.,  for  1848),  where  rectan- 
gular proportions  of  this  character  come  out  without  any 
"coaxing"  with  remarkable  exactness  ;  and  as  Bishop 
Grosetete,  besides  being  a  great  ecclesiastic,  was  one  of 
the  most  prominent  philosophers  of  his  day,  there  is 
the  more  reason  to  accept  it  as  having  been  intentional. 

In  p.  34,  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  Egyptian,  the 
Greek  and  the  Clothic  are  summed  up  in  a  few  words,  as 
.Mystery,  Rationalism,  and  .Aspiration.  In  p.  43,  the 
meed  of  merited  praise  is  given  to  Mr.  E.  L.  Garbett's 
excellent  little  treatise  on  "  The  Principles  of  Design  in 
Architecture."  In  p.  58,  doubt  is  thrown  on  the  wooden 
origin  of  the  Greek  entablature.  The  reader,  however, 
may  be  referred  to  M.M.  Perrot  and  Chipiez'  recent  work 
on  "  The  Arts  of  Primitive  Greece,"  in  which  this  deri- 
vation is  shown  from  the  remains  at  Tiryns,  Mycen;e,  and 
Orchomenus.  In  p.  73,  the  Corinthian  example  of  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  Olympius  at  Athens  should  not  be 
attributed  to  a  Roman  source  ;  it  dates  from  .'Vntiochus 
Epiphanes,  the  Greek  founder,  and  the  prototype  of  the 
capital  is  found  in  the  tholos  at  Epidaurus,  a  pure  Greek 
building.  No  doubt  at  the  time  the  .Athenian  temple  was 
built,  about  170  B.C.,  Rome  was  pushing  her  way  towards 
the  East,  and  .Vntiochus  himself  had  been  sent  as  a 
hostage  to  Rome  after  the  defeat  of  his  father  by  .Scipio. 
There  may  have  been  something  political  in  his  employ- 
ment, as  we  are  told  of  a  Roman  citizen  as  his  architect, 
but  the  architecture  itself,  at  that  date,  could  not  but 
have  been  thoroughly  Greek. 

In  p.  78,  the  author  well  illustrates  his  argument,  show- 
ing the  superiority  of  constructive  simplicity  in  a  design 
over  another  decorated  with  meaningless  architectural 
detail,  by  the  contrast  of  London  and  Blackfriars  Bridges; 
but  it  is  not  so  clear,  as  maintained  in  the  previous  page 
that  the  combination  of  columnar  and  arcuate  design  in 
the   same  wall  is  a  "  Roman   sham.'     It   is  no  doubt  a 


364 


NATURE 


[August  15,  1895 


<ief)arture  from  primitive  simplicity,  but  there  seems  no 
reason  for  calling  it  a  sham,  in  cases  where  both  t\'pes 
are  used  constructively.  The  "  general  reader "  may 
certainly  be  justified  in  passing  over  the  "approximate 
theory-"  of  the  strains  of  arches,  but  the  subject  of  pen- 
dentives  (in  p.  95)  is  more  to  the  point,  having  very  impor- 
tant relation  to  the  construction  of  cupolas.  Much  more 
seems  to  be  made  in  the  criticism  on  the  shams  of  St. 
Paul's  (p.  98)  than  the  subject  warrants.  The  design  is 
blamed  because  the  interior  cupola  is  distinct  from  the 
«.\ternal.  There  would  be  as  much  reason  to  blame  the 
magnificent  central  towers  of  some  of  our  cathedrals 
because  the  open  lantern  chamber  over  the  crossing  does 
not  rise  to  the  summit  of  the  tower  or  spire.  The  autKor, 
however,  duly  praises  Sir  Christopher  Wren's  first  design, 
the  Greek  cross  plan,  of  which  a  good  judge,  the  late 
Rev.  J.  L.  Petit,  has  maintained  that  if  this  design  had 
been  executed  it  would  have  been  the  finest  interior  in 
the  world.  On  the  subject  of  vaulting  (pp.  107-116),  the 
development  of  which  is  well  and  clearly  followed  out,  it 
is  stated  that  the  pointed  arch  was  invciilcil  for  the  pur- 
pose of  facilitating  the  construction.  This  could  hardly 
have  been  the  case,  because  the  pointed  arch  had  been 
used  in  the  East  long  before  the  period  referred  to  ;  but 
its  great  applicability  to  that  favourite  architectural  feature 
was  then  recognised,  and  when  once  introduced  for  con- 
structive reasons,  it  soon  began  to  influence  the  whole 
stnicture. 

In  p.  125  commences  a  chapter  on  the  theory  and  use 
of  mouldings,  which  play  so  important  a  part  in  archi- 
tectural design  that  it  is  quite  essential  that  an  amateur 
who  desires  to  form  a  right  judgment  on  architectural 
subjects,  either  historically  or  critically,  should  study 
their  development  and  application  ;  he  will  find  the  sub- 
ject clearly  and  logically  explained  in  this  chapter.  In 
chapter  v.  are  some  judicious  remarks  on  ornament, 
showing  on  the  one  hand  that  however  valuable  a  help  it 
may  be,  the  art  is  really  independent  both  of  sculpture 
and  carved  ornament,  and  that  the  latter  is  inferior  in 
expression  to  mouldings  properly  used.  In  pp.  184-188 
.are  some  just  views  on  the  combination  of  architecture 
with  scener)'.  Without  going  so  far  as  to  say  that  a  spire 
•on  a  hill — such,  for  instance,  as  Harrow — must  necessarily 
Tje  ill-placed,  the  statement  of  the  incongruity  of  this 
feature  in  a  mountainous  country  may  be  supported  by 
•citing  the  example  of  incongruous  effect  of  the  .\mble- 
-.ide  spire  in  a  Westmoreland  valley. 

The  work  ends  with  an  historical  sketch,  which  shows 
■much  thought  and  learning.  The  author  can,  however, 
scarcely  be  correct  in  speaking  of  such  structures  as  the 
Treasury  of  Atreus  at  Mycen.x  as  formed  of  large  blocks 
of  masonr>'  with  no  architectural  details  whatever.  It 
is  possible  that  the  ornate  elaboration  of  the  Beehive 
nombs  at  Mycenic  and  Orchomenus,  as  shown  in  Pcrrot 
and  Chipiez'  work,  before  referred  to,  may  be  a  good 
deal  exaggerated  ;  but  there  certainly  exists  evidence 
for  a  very  considerable  amount  of  architectural  embellish- 
ment. In  speaking  of  the  derivation  of  Ihc  Corinthian 
capital,  it  seems  unnecessar>-,  with  the  small  amount  of 
evidence  to  the  contrary  which  exists,  to  relegate  to  the 
regions  of  fable  the  touching  little  story  told  by  Vitruvius 
(chapter  iv.  p.  i)  of  its  invention  by  Callimachus, 
especially  ai  the  earliest  known  example,  in  the  temple  . 
NO.    1346,  VOL.  52] 


at  Bassa:,  was  the  work  of  a  contemporary,  and  probably 
a  friend  of  the  reputed  inventor. 

In  p.  255  the  very  important  derivation  of  the  dome  is 
traced  from  the  Pantheon,  of  which  the  date  (in  the 
reign  of  Hadrian  has  lately  been  established,  and  then 
the  addition  of  the  spherical  pendentivc  by  Justinian's 
architect  i.Anthemius  of  Tralles)  in  the  great  church  of 
St.  Sophia.  To  this  is  added  the  derivation  of  the 
architecture  of  the  Western  churches — which  is  traced— 
following  Prof.  Baldwin  Brown  ("  from  the  Schola  to 
Cathedral ")  :  from  the  Roman  house,  of  which  the 
atrium  and  peristylium  became  the  forecourt  or  parvis 
and  the  porch,  whilst  the  basilica  supplied  the  apse,  ;ind 
the  widening  of  the  basilica  on  each  side  of  the  tribunal 
gave  the  germ  of  the  transepts  of  our  c.ithedrals.  fn 
the  summary  of  the  different  contributions  made  by  the 
European  nations  to  Ciothic  architecture,  Italy  is  denied 
altogether  a  specimen  of  true  Gothic — and  yet  it  possesses 
in  Milan  Cathedral  an  interior  perhaps  more  impressive 
than  that  of  any  other  church. 


"  PA  R  TL  'RIL  'NT  MOSTESr 
The  Story  of  the  Plants.     By  Grant  .Allen.      (London: 
George  Newnes,  Limited,  1895.) 

MR.  GR.ANT  .\LLE\  tells  the  story  of  plants  in  a 
readable  and  very  inaccurate  manner.  The  key- 
note to  his  work  is  struck  in  his  preface,  in  which  he 
informs  his  reader  that  he  has  "  wasted  comparatively 
little  space  on  mere  structural  detail,"  and,  later  on,  that 
he  makes  "trivial  sacrifices  of  formal  accuracy"  in  order 
to  expound  general  biological  relationships.  It  is  true 
that  he  apologises  for  these  amiable  little  weaknesses, 
but  adds,  in  the  same  breath,  that  he  lays  before  his 
"  untechnical  readers  all  the  latest  results  of  the  most 
advanced  botanical  research."  It  is  impossible  to  avoid 
giving  some  samples  of  these  "latest  results." 

Kor  Mr.  Grant  .Allen,  the  plant  is  essentially  the  {,v<<7/ 
plant,  and  the  essential  function  of  this  plant  is  con- 
structive metabolism.  On  the  other  hand  the  animal  is 
the  very  opposite  of  this,  "  he  is  a  destroyer,  as  the  plant 
is  a  builder."  But  we  fancy  most  people  will  hardly 
admit  this  antithesis  nowadays.  Plants  and  animals 
both  exist  by  breaking  down  complex  bodies  to  simple 
ones,  but  plants  as  a  whole  can  get  the  energy  required 
for  first  building  up  these  complex  bodies  at  a  less 
expensive  outlay  than  animals,  and  the  green  plants,  as 
Mr.  .Allen  perfectly  correctly  observes,  jirc  further  able 
to  make  use  of  sources  of  energy  {i.e.  vibrations  of  ether) 
from  which  their  less  fortunate  relatives  are  debarred. 
But  to  draw  the  distinction  just  quoted  as  the  essential 
difference  between  the  two  kingdoms,  is  obviously  mis- 
leading. However,  Mr.  Allen  is  at  least  consistent  in 
his  views,  since  he  states  that  the  first  plants  "must  have 
been  green." 

In  the  account  given  of  the  niintiis  I'piraniii  of  the 
building  up  of  organic  matter  in  the  pl.mt,  the  author's 
claims  to  up-to-date  knowledge  will,  we  fear,  hardly  be 
admitted.  Cl)l(iri)plnll  is  said  to  be  the  active  agent  in 
splitting  up  (under  the  influence  of  sunlight)  the  carbon 
dioxide  and  water  to  form  starch.  Now  every  student 
knows  that  chlorophyll  can  do  no  such  thing,  and  further 
he  knows,  or  should  know,  that  starch  is  certainly  not  a 
primary   product   of  assimilation.     The    latter,  i)erhaps. 


August  15,  1895] 


NATURE 


365 


is  a  "  trivial  detail,'' but  Mr.  Allen  liasteiis  to  insist  on 
the  importance  of  "  living  chlorophyll  "  as  the  "original 
manufacturer  and  prime  maker"  of  all  the  material  of 
life,  either  vegetable  or  animal.  Evidently  chlorophyll 
is  here  doing  duty  for  the  alliance  of  chlorophyll  with 
a  vastly  more  important  substance,  protoplasm,  but  the 
author  could  hardly  e.xpect  "  untechnical  readers "  to 
appreciate  this  ;  and  his  statement  that  chlorophyll  is  a 
variety  of  protoplasm  will  certainly  not  meet  with  the 
assent  of  botanists.  Agam,  the  statement  that  "  plants 
alone  know  how  to  make  protoplasm "  is  one  Hhich  is 
contradicted,  fortunately  for  us  all,  by  the  experience  of 
tiaily  life  ;  in  order,  however,  that  we  may  be  quite  clear 
as  to  the  authors  conception  of  protoplasm,  he  defines 
it  (in  italics)  as  '■'■the  only  living  material  lue  know" ; 
and  this  w-ould  seem  to  make  it  clear  that  he  had  not 
by  a  lapsus  calami  written  protoplasm  when  he  meant 
proteid.  For  a  continuation  of  this  subject,  the  critical 
reader  may  refer  to  pp.  190- 191. 

When  Mr.  .Mien  comes  to  deal  with  what  we  gather 
from  his  preface  he  considers  the  most  important  part 
of  his  work,  we  find  evidences  of  hasty  generalisations 
on  insufficiently  ascertained  facts.  Many  plants  which 
are  certainly  not  degenerate,  are  regularly  self-fertilised ; 
and  we  submit  that  in  most  districts  in  England  the 
humble  bee  has  far  more  to  do  with  the  fertilisation  of 
the  TropH?olum  than  the  Humming-bird  hawk-moth  ;  and 
this  latter  insect  is  certainly  not  the  only  one  in  Europe 
capable  of  performing  this  office. 

But  it  is  needless  to  multiply  examples  further.  .-Ml 
we  can  say  is  that  those  readers  who  are  ignorant  of 
the  real  facts  may  find  the  book  pleasant,  though  we  can 
hardly  add  profitable,  reading. 

OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

LmJs   Clicinical  Lecture   Charts.      (London  :    Sampson 

Low,  Marston,  and  Co.,  1895.) 
This  is  a  series  of  diagrams  intended  to  illustrate  various 
chemical  and  metallurgical  processes  and  apparatus,  and 
designed  more  especially  for  the  use  of  teachers  who  are 
preparing  students  for  the  examinations  of  the  Science 
and  .Art  Department,  the  London  .Matriculation,  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  Local,  iSrc. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  a  good  set  of  useful  diagrains, 
of  convenient  size  and  moderate  price,  would  be  gladly 
welcomed  by  a  large  number  of  teachers,  but  the  charts 
before  us  can  scarcely  be  said  to  fulfil  all  the  require- 
ments of  such  a  set  of  diagrams.  The  size  of  the  sheets, 
namely,  30  in.  x  40  in.,  is  sufficiently  large  for  the 
use  of  such  classes  as  they  are  intended  for,  and  it  does 
not  render  them  too  bulky  for  convenient  storage.  In 
most  cases  the  illustrations  arc  \ery  roughly  executed 
enlargements  of  familiar  cuts  from  various  text-books 
and  treatises  on  chemistry,  sometimes  well  chosen,  some- 
times not.  Many  of  the  sheets  contain  several  pictures, 
and  where  it  happens  that  the  subjects  rc])resented  are 
in  a  manner  related,  this  does  not  detract  from  their 
merit,  except  in  so  far  as  it  necessitates  the  illustrations 
being  smaller  than  if  each  occupied  a  single  sheet.  But 
in  a  number  of  instances  the  subjects  depicted  on  the 
same  diagram  have  no  connection  ;  thus,  on  the  same 
sheet  we  find  a  representation  of  Hofmann's  apparatus 
for  showing  the  volume  composition  of  water,  and  illus- 
trations of  certain  apparatus  used  l)y  Dewar  in  making 
experiments  at  low  temperature. 

Again,  another  diagram  contains  the  following  illustra-  : 
tions  :  (1)  Hofinann's  apparatus  for  composition  of  sulphur 

NO.    1346,  VOL.   52] 


dioxide  ;  (2)  ozone  apparatus  ;  (3)  apparatus  for  composi- 
tion of  ammonia  ;  ("41  apparatus  for  composition  of  hydro- 
chloric acid  ;  f,  (  .Andrews'  and  Tait's  ozone  tube  ;  (6) 
apparatus  for  composition  of  nitrous  oxide  ;  (7)  Smithell's 
flame  cone  separator.  With  so  many  illustrations  on  one 
sheet,  30  in.  x  40  in.,  each  one  must  be  almost  insig- 
nificantly small,  and  quite  erroneous  ideas  of  the  relative 
sizes  of  various  pieces  of  apparatus  are  likely  to  be  con- 
\eyed  to  the  student.  With  some  of  the  figures  still 
more  serious  exception  must  be  taken  ;  thus.  Fig.  2, 
Sheet  14,  depicts  a  piece  of  apparatus,  the  design  of  which 
is  of  more  than  questionable  feasibility  ;  while  Fig.  2^ 
Sheet  17,  is  an  impossible  arrangement. 

Many  of  the  metallurgical  figures  are  badly  chosen. 
Thus,  the  old  method  for  extracting  zinc,  known  as 
"  distillation  per  descensum,"  which  has  been  quite  ob- 
solete for  many  years,  is  brought  to  life  again  in  Diagram 
No.  I  [. 

If  these  diagrams  were  a  little  better  e.xecuted,  and 
could  be  purchased  singly,  they  would  be  of  much  more 
service  to  the  general  run  of  teachers,  who  could  then 
select  from  a  catalogue  such  as  they  might  require. 

C.  S.  X. 

Brasilische    Pilzbltimen.      \'on    .Alfred    Moller.      Mit   8 
Tafeln.     (Jena  :  (iustav  Fischer,  1895.) 

This  volume  fonns  the  seventh  part  of  the  "  Botanische 
Mittheilungen  aus  den  Tropen,"  edited  by  Prof. 
Schimper,  of  Bonn.  The  title — "  Fungus-Flowers  " — is 
suggestive  of  a  popular  and  aesthetic  treatment  of  the 
subject,  but  this  impression  is  somewhat  misleading, 
for  Dr.  MoUefs  work  is  of  a  strictly  scientific  character, 
and  appeals  more  especially  to  systematic  mycologists. 
.At  the  same  time,  the  extraordinary  forms  of  the  Fungi 
described  give  a  considerable  degree  of  general  interest 
to  the  book,  which  is  enhanced  by  the  pleasant  style  in 
which  the  subject  is  treated.  Dr.  Moller  is  already  well 
known  for  his  mycological  in\estigations,  particularly 
for  his  fascinating  work  on  the  cultivation  of  Pungi  by 
South  .American  ants.  The  "  Fungus-Flowers ''  are 
simply  gastromycetous  fungi  of  the  family  Phalloidea% 
of  which  that  repulsive  plant  the  "  Stinkhorn "  {Ithy- 
phalltis  impudicus)  is  the  best-known  British  represen- 
tative. 

The  author  has  been  most  fortunate  in  his  investigation 
of  the  remarkable  Brazilian  forms  of  this  family,  which 
includes  perhaps  the  most  highly  differentiated  of  the 
Fung:i.  He  has  founded  no  less  that  four  new  genera  on 
his  discoveries.  One  of  these  {Protubera)  is  referred  to 
the  Hymenogastrea-,  and  is  of  special  interest,  for  it 
appears  to  connect  that  family  with  Clathrus  among  the 
Phalloidea*.  The  other  new  genera  ilUiimena-'ia,  Aporo- 
phatlus^  and  Itajaliya)  are  members  of  the  Phalloidea-, 
Hlumcnavia  showmg  affinity  with  Clathrus,  while  the 
remaining  two  belong  to  the  tribe  Phalles.  Eight  new 
species  are  described  in  all. 

The  book  is  full  of  interesting  details  of  the  occurrence 
and  mode  of  growth  of  these  Fungi.  It  is  illustrated  by 
eight  fine  plates,  many  of  the  figures  in  which  are  from 
photographs  of  the  specimens,  while  others  represent  their 
more  minute  structure.  The  first  plate,  a  coloured  re- 
presentation of  "  the  most  remarkable  of  all  Fungi," 
Dictyophora  phalloidea,  is  especially  striking.  This  is 
not  one  of  the  new  species,  but  has  never  been  adequately 
figured  before.  This  extraordinary  fungus  bears  a  general 
resemblance  to  Ithypliallus,  but  is  distinguished  by  the 
presence  of  an  immense  net-like  indusium  surrounding 
the  stem,  from  which  it  stands  out  like  a  crinoline.  The 
German  colonists  at  Blumenau  have  given  it  the  name 
of  "  the  veiled  lady." 

Dr.  Mollcr's  book  will  be  indispensable  to  students 
of  mycology,  and  will  no  doubt  attract  more  general 
attention  to  a  most  interesting'  group  of  plants,  about 
which  much  still  remains  to  be  discovered.         L).  H.  S. 


:66 


NATURE 


[August  15,  iSg; 


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  -jiith  the  writers  of,  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  NATURE. 
No  notice  is  taken  oj  anonvmoiis  communications.'] 

The   University  of  London. 

Sir  John  LibbolK  does  not  seem  to  me  to  appreciate  in  the 
smallest  degree  the  facts  of  the  position. 

His  projKJsal  is,  as  I  and  others  understand  it,  that  the  result 
of  the  labiiurs  of  the  Staluior)-  Commission  "  should  be  sub- 
mitted to  Convocation  for  their  approval,  to  be  signijiid  as  at  a 
senatorial  election." 

The  words  which  I  have  placed  in  italics  propose  a  new 
pnxredure  which  I  presume  would  have  to  be  provided  for  in  the 
Act.  This  is  what  for  the  sake  of  brevity  has  been  called  the 
referendum. 

Kor  reasons  which  I  have  sufficiently  set  out  in  my  former 
letter  I  think  the  institution  of  the  referendum  extremely 
undesirable  under  any  circumstances,  and  peculiarly  open  to 
objection  in  the  present  instance. 

But  I  think  we  are  now  entitled  to  ask  Sir  John  explicitly  what 
he  means  when  he  says  "  it  is  the  law  at  present,"  and  that  his 
"  constituents  highly  value  this  right."  In  so  grave  a  matter  it 
is  difficult  to  Iwlieve  that  he  is  indulging  in  a  mere  logomachy, 
or  that  he  means  seriously  that  the  veto  exercised  under  existing 
conditions  and  the  new  referendum  are  one  and  the  same  thing. 

f  he  meaning  of  the  whole  business  is,  of  course,  verj'  simple. 
Convocation,  in  common  with  the  Senate  and  practically  every 
bo<ly  interested  in  the  higher  education  in  London,  has  expressed 
its  approval  of  the  Report  of  the  late  Commission  as  aflbrding  a 
fasis  for  the  reorganisation  of  the  University.  .\s  Convocation 
is  not  to  Ik-  moved  from  its  decision  expressed  in  the  customary 
and  constitutional  way,  the  leaders  of  the  minority,  mainly 
drawn  from  the  Faculty  of  Laws,  have  induced  Sir  John  Lub- 
txxrk  to  suggest  a  fundamental  change  in  our  iJrocedure.  The 
hope,  of  course,  is  that  by  this  means  a  different  result  may  be 
manipulated.  I  say  "  manipulated  "  because  I  entirely  agree  with 
Mr.  .\.  \V.  Bennett,  who  in  his  admirable  letter  clearly  indicates 
the  kind  of  tactics  we  may  expect.  .\s  the  avowed  object  of  the 
whole  scheme  is  to  set  aside  and  nullify  the  action  which  Con- 
vocation has  taken,  I  do  not  think  that  the  language  in  which  I 
descriljed  it  is  in  any  way  inappropriate. 

Sir  John  may  be  as  polite  .-is  he  likes  to  our  intelligence.  But 
what  he  has  done  is  to  constitute  himself  the  instnnnent  of  those 
who  would  destroy  the  prosiK-cIs  of  academic  study  in  London, 
and  of  making  the  University  of  London  a  belter  mechanisn)  for 
the  purjiose  for  which  it  exists.  .\n<l  this  is  not  what  we  hati  a 
right  to  expect  of  Sir  John  Lubtwck. 

Kew,  .\ugust  10.  \V.  T.  TillsEi.rox-DvER. 


Note  on  Quaternions. 

On  reading  Cayley's  fanunis  memoir  on  matrices,'  I  have 
noticed  in  passing  that  in  .Mc.\uley"s-  notation  we  may  write 
in  general, 

^"'  =  V)\ogm,  ip"^  —  I)  log///; 


1^  =  I)///, 


^'  =  Dm  ; 


,..(.\) 


^Dlog  ///  =  ^Dlog  ///  =  iji  'D///  =  i(("'D///  =  L 
«'  «  <»'  4 

^^  ■    n  invariant  of  ip,  which  being   the  original  linear 

<)i  is  Ilamillonian    inverse    function,   and  I   is 
■r  ;  they  are  respectively  defined  by 

mS\fiv  =  HtpK^fi^v  =  Sp'K^'fi'p'v, 
4i  =  nip'\  Ip  =  p. 

Indeed,  we  may  prove  the  above  relation  by  the  variation 
formula, 

i(>  =  -  (,),S».;.(:i),i. 


3  "  L'tilily  (if  (^u.ilcrnion*,  fie," 

3  I  cannot  refer  to  llic  jiauc,  n*  I  h.'ivc  not  (he  book  in  hand. 


Sm  =  -  /«,S5^fn,f  =  -  SSp(DmC=  -  S5(J>fi(,'C 
*  «• 

=  -  SS<>/^^'/  -  S5()>/'^^/  -  S5<^k\(i'k 
=   -  SSipiipjpK  -  SS<Pj<pK<pi  -  SS<pK<piip/ 
=  —  SS^i^JipK  =  5///. 

If  W  be  any  scalar  function  of  (p,  and  if  its  independent 
variable  be  ///  (as  it  is  so  in  some  cases  of  the  problems  in 
elasticity,  where  ///  is  the  volume-dilatation),  we  might  dispense 
with  the  notation  D,  for  we  may  write  in  general, 

DW  =  — +' (B) 

*  dm 

-Vlso,  if  tj  be  any  quaternion  function  i>f  <p,  and  if  its  inde- 
pendent variable  be  ///,  we  have  again 

JQ  =  -  '^^hip^'C \0 

dm 

For,  beginning  with  Mc.\ulcy"s  form,  we  have 

5(1  =  -  (3,SS0fD,f  =   -  '-^'S5.fif  f 
^  am 

=  -  ^lSS<pi\fi'i  +  SSa/i^/V  +  SS(f)Kf  k] 
dm 

=  ^5/«  =  8(). 
dm 

SiH'NKicni   Ki\iii;\. 
Japanese  Legation,  The  H.igue,  Jidy  i6. 

To  Find  the  Focal   Length   of  a  Convex   Mirror. 

Till-;  following  method  is  so  much  simpler  than  those  ordinarily 
used,  that  it  may  be  of  interest  to  your  re.iders. 

Use  as  ol)ject  an  opaque  screen  with  a  hole  and  pin-point,  and 
painted  w  hile,  or  covered  with  «  hitc  paper. 

Set  up  on  the  bench  in  line,  say,  with  the  left  edge  of  the  hole, 
the  convex  mirror  and  an  auxiliary  biconvex  lens  of  short  focal 
length  (six  inches  or  so),  and  adjust  the  lens  so  that  the  image  of 
the  hole  and  pin-point  is  formed  side  by  side  with  tlie  object.  The 
centre  of  the  mirror  is  now  at  the  point  at  which  the  image 
would  be  formed  by  the  lens  alone  ;  this  position  may  either  be 
calculated  or  found  (after  noting  the  position  of  the  mirror  and 
then  removing  it)  by  means  of  a  screen.  Thus  the  radius  is 
easily  measured. 

If  the  focal  length  of  the  mirror  be  greater  than  /  that  of  the 
lens,  the  simplest  way  of  adjusting  is  to  put  the  lens  as  close  as 
possible  to  the  mirror,  put  the  object  at  principal  focus  of  lens, 
and  move  the  object  back  until  the  image  is  formed  as  above. 

If,  however,  the  focal  length  be  less,  we  can  be  sure  of  linding 
the  position  by  putting  the  mirror  at  a  distance  of  4  /  from  the 
object,  and  the  lens  at  2  /,  and  moving  the  lens  back  until  the 
desired  jiosition  is  reached. 

The  following  is  a  simple  way  of  making  a  direct  measure  of 
the  focal  length  of  a  concave  lens: — 

Use  an  object  like  the  one  mentioned  above,  an  auxiliary  con- 
vex lens  (say  six  inches  focal  length)  to  produce  a  ccmvergent 
Ix'am,  and  an  auxiliary  plane  mirror,  placed  beyond  the  concave 
Icn.s. 

.\djusl  imtil  the  image  is  formed  side  by  side  with  the  object 
as  before,  then  the  rays  must  be  emerging  parallel  to  one 
another  from  the  concave  lens,  ami  hence  the  convergent  beam 
from  the  convex  lens  will  (when  the  concave  lens  and  mirror  are 
removed)  form  an  image  at  the  principal  focus  of  the  concave 
lens.      .\  direct  measure  can  thus  be  made  of  the  focal  length. 

I  may  arid  that  both  methods  are  very  simple  in  practice. 

Grammar  School,  M.-iccleslield.  ICdwin  H'  hiun. 


Oceanic  Islands. 
I  r  is  lo  be  hoperl  thai  in  the  i>rogramme  of  the  present  govern- 
ment a  place  will  be  found  for  an  item  hundile  and  unimportant 
in  the  |>olitician's  eyes,  but  to  the  biologist  of  the  ulmost 
urgency-  the  sending  out  of  a  scientific  expedition  or  expedi- 
tions lo  sludy  the  fauna  ami  llora  of  oceanic  islands  before  ihey 
are  exterminated  by  continental  imporlaliims.  Let  it  be  granted 
thai  men  of  science  are  busy  with  problems  of  even  greater 
interest  than  those  which  such  expeditions  might  help  lo  >olve. 
But  aniirng  all  the  ambitious  aims  of  science,  it  wrnilil  be  hard  lo 
find  one  to  which  rlelay  would  be  more  ruinous  than  lo  this  -the 


NO.   1346,  VOL.  52] 


August  15,  1895] 


NATURE 


367 


thorough  knowledge  of  the  inhabitants,  whether  animal  or  vege- 
table, of  oceanic  islands.    The  work  must  be  done  speedily,  or  it 
will  be  too  late  ;  and  it  is  work  that  can  hardly  be  undertaken 
on  a  sufficiently  extensive  scale  without  aid  from  Government. 
Haileybury  College.  F.  W.  Headley. 


MICROGRAPHIC  ANALYSIS. 

MEr.-\LLURGIST.S  would  have  been  greatly  aston- 
ished if  they  had  been  urged  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century  to  gather  information  as  to  the  com- 
position of  samples  of  iron  and  steel  by  merely  looking  at 
polished  and  etched  specimens  through  a  microscope. 
The  operation  is,  nevertheless,  rapidly  taking  its  place  in 
the  ordinary  routine  of  a  works  laboratory. 

As  regards  the  history  of  the  development  of  this  new- 
branch  of  investigation,  it  appears  that  micro-metal- 
lography has  not  been  developed  from  petrography.  It  is 
the  natural  extension  of  the  study  of  meteoric  iron,  and, 
as  has  often  happened  in  the  history  of  science,  it 
seems  to  have  had  more  than  one  independent  origin. 
Priority  of  date  rests  with  our  own  countryman  Dr. 
Sorby.  In  1864  he  submitted  to  the  British  .Association 
photographs  of  opaque  sections  of  various  kinds  of  iron 
and  steel,  and  he  endeaxoured  to  develop  a  method  for 
the  industrial  examination  of  such  sections  under  high 
powers,  preferring  polished  sections  to  fractured  surfaces. 
The  abstract  of  his  paper  is  very  brief;  but  looking  back, 
it  seems  strangely  comprehensive  and  suggestive.  He 
claimed  that  the  sections  showed  "various  mixtures  of  iron, 
two  or  three  well-defined  compounds  of  iron  and  carbon, 
of  graphite,  and  of  slag  ;  and  these,  being  present  in 
different  proportions,  and  arranged  in  various  manners, 
give  rise  to  a  large  number  of  varieties  of  iron  and  steel 
differing  by  well-marked  and  \exy  striking  peculiarities 
of  structure.'' 

Later,  Prof.  Martens,  in  Berlin,  without  neglecting  the 
examination  of  sections,  carefully  studied,  in  1878,  the 
general  laws  which  govern  the  occurrence  and  formation 
of  fractures,  fissures,  blow-holes,  and  crystalline  structure 
in  metals  and  alloys.  His  work,  therefore,  presents  all 
the  characteristics  of  perfect  originality.  It  was  not  long 
after  the  publication  of  Martens'  work  that  M.  Osmond, 
then  engineer  at  the  Creusot  Works,  began,  with  his 
colleague  .M.  W'erth,  investigations  on  the  cellular 
structure  of  cast  steel.  This  work  was  published  by  the 
Actidi'mic  dcs  Sciences  in  1885,  and  in  order  to  trace  the 
progress  which  has  been  made  in  micro-metallography 
during  the  past  ten  years,  it  would  be  difficult  to  do 
better  than  consult  the  beautiful  monograph  by  M. 
Osmond  which  has  recently  been  published  by  the  Societe 
if  Encoiirtigcincnl  of  Paris.' 

As  .M.  Osmond  justly  observes,  metallography  should 
in  its  early  days  be  descriptive  ;  it  should  enable 
us  to  determine  the  form  and  nature  of  the  various 
constituents  of  alloys,  to  ascertain  their  mode  of  dis- 
tributi(m,  and  to  measure  their  dimensions.  Later  on, 
when  sufficient  data  have  been  established,  it  will  be 
possible  to  apportion  the  observed  facts  to  their  respec- 
tive causes  1  1 )  by  ascertaining  the  way  in  which  the 
structure  of  a  given  metal  changes  under  the  influence 
of  the  three  combined  factors — temperature,  time,  and 
pressure,  and  (2)  it  will  be  possible  to  trace  the  relations 
l)ctween  the  observed  facts  and  their  consequences  by 
defining  the  mechanical  properties  which  correspond  to 
a  particular  structure. 

The  first  step  in  the  complicated  procedure  is  to  cut 
and  polish  the  opaque  specimens  of  steel.  The  methods 
do  not  admit  of  condensed  description,  and  the  original 
memoir  must  be  consulted,  as  even  the  technical  manuals 
of  crafts,  in  which  the  polishing  of  metals  plays  a  part, 

*  "  Mclhode  giincrale  pour  TAnab'sc  microgr.'xphiquc  des  acicrs  au 
*  .irlmne,"  p.ir   M.  K.  Osmond  (/>'»//.  tie  ia  Soc.  d' Encouragement,  vol.  x. 

p.  480.  1S95). 


NO.  1346,  VOL.   52] 


give  but  little  information  that  is  useful  in  the  preparation 

of  metallic  sections  for  the  microscope.  It  must,  how- 
ever, be  added  that  one  method  of  polishing  is  specially 
designed  with  a  view  to  wear  away  the  softer  constituents 
of  the  specimen,  and  bring  the  harder  into  relief.  It  is 
often  useful  to  attack  a  polished  specimen  of  steel  with 
a  reagent  which  will  colour  certain  constituents  only. 
For  this  purpose  M.  Guillemin  treats  sections  of  bronze 
by  oxidation,  at  regulated  temperatures,  which  produces 
varied  colourations  on  several  constituents  of  the  alloy, 
while  M.  G.  Charpy  prefers  an  electrolytic  attack.  It  is 
somewhat  surprising  to  find  that  an  infusion  of  coco  (a 
popular  French  term  for  an  infusion  of  liquorice)  is  very 
useful  for  the  purpose,  which  recalls  the  fact  that  Japanese 
artificers  have,  for  centuries,  used  plum-juice  vinegar, 
decoctions  of  finely-ground  beans  {Glycine  hispida),  or 
extracts  of  the  roots  of  certain  plants,  as  valuable  agents 
for  colouring  the  peculiar  alloys  which  they  employ  in 
art  metal-work.  It  may  be  that  the  micro-metallographer 
has  much  to  learn  from  the  Japanese. 

The  "attack"  of  polished  specimens  is  made  by  suit- 
able reagents,  which  may  be  divided  into  the  three  classes 
— acids,  halogens,  and  salts.  Of  the  acids,  nitric  acid  of 
36"  Baume  appears  to  be  the  most  useful.  Of  the  halogens 
the  pharmaceutical  tincture  of  iodine  gives  excellent 
results,  as  it  removes  carbon  from  the  steel,  and  colours 
certain  portions  of  the  specimen.  Such  treatment,  the 
nature  of  which  has  been  so  briefly  sketched,  will  serve 
to  reveal  the  main  constituents  of  steel.  These  are  five 
in  numljer,  and  it  has  been  found  convenient  to  give 
mineralogical  names  to  them,  following  the  suggestion  of 
the  distinguished  .American  metallurigist,  Mr.  Howe. 
Thus  pure  iron  is  called /jvvv'/cy  the  carbide  of  iron,  Fe^C, 
of  .Abel,  cementiie.  This  is  not  coloured  by  the  infusion 
of  coco  or  tincture  of  iodine,  which  latter  leaves  it  of  a 
silver-white  brilliancy  under  vertical  illumination.  Dilute 
nitric  acid  in  the  cold  does  not  affect  ccmentite.  The  third 
material  is  one  of  the  components  of  the  "  pearly 
constituent  of  Sorby,"  which  may  be  coloured  by  coco 
or  by  iodine,  and  M.  Osmond  proposes  the  name 
of  sorbite  for  it,  though  he  is  uncertain  as  to  its  exact 
constitution.  The  fourth  constituent,  to  which  he 
gives  the  name  of  inartensite,  is  that  which  is  ordin- 
arily obtained  by  the  rapid  cooling  of  a  specimen  of 
steel  during  the  familiar  operation  known  as  "harden- 
ing." It  is  a  crystalline,  fibrous  substance  which  iodine 
colours  readily  either  yellow,  brown  or  black,  according 
to  the  amount  of  carbon  it  contains.  Now,  martensite 
preserves  its  characteristic  forms  equally  well  in  very  low 
carbon-steels  which  have  been  hardened,  as  well  as  in 
high  carbon-steels  which  have  been  subjected  to  this 
process.  It  may  be  urged,  therefore,  that  martensite  is 
not  a  carbon-iron  compound  which  has  liquated  out  of  the 
mass,  but  that  it  represents  the  crystalline  organisation, 
formed  under  the  influence  of  carbon  by  one  of  the  allo- 
tropic  forms  of  iron. 

The  last  of  the  five  constituents  of  steel,  marks  the 
transition  of  soft  iron  into  hardened  steel.  The  name  of 
troostite  is  after  the  eminent  chemist,  and  it  resembles 
sorbite,  but  its  composition  is  as  yet  uncertain.  This 
name  is  not  well  chosen,  as  a  variety  of  silicate  of  zinc 
has  long  been  known  as  troostite. 

It  will  be  evident  that  a  micro-section  of  a  mass  of 
steel  closely  resembles  a  rock-section  which  has  con 
stituent  minerals  distributed  through  it.  It  should,  how- 
ever, be  pointed  out  that  there  are  cases  in  which  the 
existence  of  these  several  constituents  cannot  be  sharply 
defined,  as  it  is  frequently  necessary  to  deal  with  transi- 
tion forms  which  defy  classification.  Sorbite,  troostite, 
and  martensite  appear  to  be  solidified  solutions  of 
various  forms  of  carbon  in  diverse  forms  of  iron,  for  it 
seems  clear  that  metallographic  work  on  steel  brings  into 
prominence  the  existence  of  allotropic  forms  of  iron.' 

In  order  to  realise  how  complicated  the  structure  of 


?68 


NA  TURE 


[August  15,  1895 


ordinary-  steel  really  is.  reference  must  be  made  to  some 
facts  recorded  in  Xati-RE,  vol.  xli.  1S89,  p.  32.  An 
attempt  was  therein  made  to  show  that  notwithstanding 
the  importance  of  the  part  played  by  carbon  in  the 
hardening  of  steel,  the  phenomena  of  hardening  cannot 
be  explained  solely  by  a  change  m  the  relations  of 
carbon  to  iron.  The  iron  itself  appears  to  change  its 
state,  and  M.  Osmond  has  shown  that  it  probably  assumes 
at  least  three  distinct  allotropic  forms,  which  he  designates 
respectively  as  a,  fJ,  and  y  iron. 

The  fact  that  the  iron  itself  may  e.\ist  in  more  than 
one  state,  brings  into  prominence  the  causes  which  under- 


lie the  difference  between  an  ordinary  rock-section  and 
that  of  a  metal  or  metallic  alloy.  In  granite,  for  instance, 
as  the  fused  mass  cools  the  quartz,  mica  and  feldspar 
fall  out  of  solution  in  distinct  crystalline  masses  :  and 
although  the  fusibility  of  the  mass,  and  consequently  its 
structure,  may  be  greatly  influenced  by  the  presence  or 
absence  of  a  small  quantityof  impurity,  say  two  or  three  per 
cent,  of  sodium,  still,  so  far  as  we  know,  complications 
do  not  arise  from  allotropy  of  the  constituent  elements 
of  the  rock.  In  the  case  of  a  specimen  of  carburised 
iron  the  conditions  are  widely  different.  It  is  certain 
that  jone  very  vital  change   in   the  relations  between  the 


carbon  and  the  iron  does  actually  take  place  at  650  C. 
that  is  to  say,  at  a  temperature  far  below  the  fusing  point 
of  the  mass.  The  decomposition  of  the  carbide  of  iron, 
FcjC,  may  lake  place  at  various  rales.  Ccmcniite  can, 
for  example,  under  sufTicient  pressure,  resist  decomposi- 
tion at  a  lempcralure  well  above  that  al  which  it  would 
ordinarily  decompose,  and  we  are  confronted  with  the 
complications  which  ensue  when  carbon  is  united,  not 
merely  with  a  iron,  but  with  j3  or  y  iron,  so  as  to  form 
cither  FcjS^C  or  I-'ey'C. 

A  few  examples  will  serve  to  make  the  method  of  in- 
vestigation clear.     The  effect  of  annealing  slcel  is  very 

NO.   1346,  VOL.  52] 


remarkable.  The  operation  consists  in  raising  the  metal 
to  a  high  temperature  and  in  allowing  it  to  cool  slowly. 
.•\  granular  structure  is  thus  developed  in  the  metal,  the 
size  of  the  polyhedral  grains  being  proportional  to  the 
temperature  to  which  the  metal  is  raised.  If  the  tem- 
perature is  over  1000  C.  the  grains  of  ferrite  iron)  will 
be  large,  while  the  pcrlite  remains  outside  the  grains  and 
arranges  itself  in  the  joints  rour.d  them.  Fig.  1  represents 
a  sample  of  \ery  mild  steel  containing  o'i4  per  cent,  of 
carbon  which  had  been  forged  and  etched  with  dilute 
nitric  acid  ;  while  Fig.  2  represents  the  same  steel  which 
has  been  cooled  from  an   initial  temperature  of  1015"  C. 


In  it  the  ferrite  has  arranged  itself  in  larger  grains  than 
was  the  case  in  the  tirst  section,  which  had  not 
been  raised  to  nearly  so  high  a  temperature  before 
cooling.  Now  compare  this  with  Fig.  3,  which  shows 
the  effect  of  raising  the  steel  to  an  initial  tempera- 
ture of  960'  C,  allowing  it  to  cool  down  to  a  tem- 
perature of  770'  C,  and  then  cooling  it  rapidly  liy 
quenching  it  in  water.  Microscopic  examination  shows 
that  the  interstitial  matter  is  martensitc,  together  with 
some  troostitc,  while  the  principal  mass  is  still  ferrite  in 
grains.  These  three  specimens,  chosen,  it  should  be  re- 
marked, from  the  eighty-five  beautiful  photographs  given 


4* 


by  M.  Osmond,  serve  to  show  how  much  the  stnu  tuie 
of  the  same  \ariely  of  steel  will  vaiy  with  the  thermal 
treatment  to  which  the  metal  has  been  subjected.  Fig.  4 
shows  a  sample  of  more  highly  carburised  steel  polished 
with  rouge,  which  presents  ;i  vermicular  surface  of  ferrite 
and  perlite. 

There  would  appear  lo  be  no  limit  In  tin-  .ipplic  atinns 
of  micrographic  analysis,  as  all  metals  and  all  alloys 
maybe  subjected  10  its  action,  ll  is  known,  for  instance, 
that  the  t|ualities  of  the  copper  .illoys  are  gre.itly  modi- 
fied by  the  addition  of  minute  (|uantities  of  deoxidising 
agents,  such  as   ])li<isphoriis,  alinniiiium,  or  silicon,  ;mn 


August  15,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


369 


M.  ( "1111116111111,  in  an  admirable  paper  on  the  metallo- 
graphy of  the  alloys  of  copper  presented  to  the  French 
"Commission  des  Methodes  d'essai  des  Materiaux  dc 
Construction," '  has  given  evidence  that  it  is  possible  to 
pronounce  with  certainty,  by  the  examination  of  etched 
surfaces  of  examples  of  the  alloys,  which  deoxidiser  has 
been  employed. 

It  remains  to  be  seen  in  what  way  the  mechanical 
properties  of  steel  are  connected  with  the  structural 
changes  revealed  by  micrographic  examination.  In 
cver>'  specimen  of  steel,  as  has  already  been  stated,  at 
least  three  great  molecular  changes  are  produced  as  the 
metal  is  raised  from  the  ordinarj-  temperature  to  a  white 
heat.  The  belief  that  the  rearrangement  of  atoms  in 
the  molecule  of  iron  'which  is,  in  fact,  allotropyj  is  really 
fundamental  to  these  molecular  changes,  is  rapidly  gain- 
ing adherents,  but  authorities  on  hardening  of  steel  are  by 
no  means  in  accord  as  to  the  true  significance  of  allotropy 
in  relation  to  that  important  industrial  operation.  The 
w  riter  of  this  paper  has  long  declared  himself  to  be  a  pro- 
nounced allotropist,  and  many  patient  experimenters  arc 
hard  at  work  at  the  jiroblem.  M.  Charpy,-  for  instance,  had 
already  pointed  to  the  peculiar  beha\  iour  of  steel  under 
longitudinal  stress,  as  proof  that  the  metal  undergoes 
allotropic  change.  He  now  seeks,  by  an  elaborate  series 
of  experiments,  to  ascertain  whether  the  mechanical  tests 
of  steel  which  has  been  quenched  at  definite  temper- 
atures, support  Osmond's  view  as  to  the  significance  of 
the  part  played  by  allotropy  of  iron  in  the  hardening  of 
steel.  Charpy's  opinion  seems  to  be  that,  on  the  whole, 
his  experiments  do  not  afford  conclusive  evidence 
in  support  of  Osmond's  view.  It  may,  however,  be 
urged  that  in  the  case  of  steel,  mechanical  tests  could  not 
be  expected  to  afford  decisive  evidence  in  relation  to 
the  theoretical  significance  of  allotropy,  because,  as  M. 
Osmonds  micrographic  work  shows,  the  structure  of 
steel  is  so  complex  and  varies  so  much  with  thermal 
treatment.  It  is,  of  course,  ultimate  structure  which 
determines  the  strength  and  elasticity  of  steel,  and  none 
of  us  claim  that  allotropy  is  the  sole  factor  in  the 
production  of  structure. 

The  magnetic  behaviour  of  steel,  on  the  other  hand, 
as  .M.  Curie  has  recently  pointed  out,  is  greatly  influenced 
by  temperature,  for,  within  the  range  of  20'  to  1350', 
rapid  \ariations  in  magnetic  properties  of  soft  iron  reveal 
themselves  at  about  750,  860',  and  1280°.  This,  as  he 
says,  is  favourable  to  the  views  of  ^I.  Osmond,  because 
on  independent  evidence  we  are  led  to  conclude  that 
at  temperatures  near  these  points  the  metal  undergoes 
allotropic  modifications. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  microscopic  analysis  will  soon 
take  its  place  in  the  ordinary  routine  of  every  steel  works 
laborator)-,  and  it  should  be  added  that  in  this  country 
two  well-known  authorities,  Mr.  T.  .Andrews  and  Mr.  J. 
K.  .Stead,  constantly  employ  it,  while  Mr.  .-X.  Sauveur'' 
has  originated  the  system  already  in  the  works  of  the 
Illinois  .Steel  Company.  \V.  C.   Ror.KKTS-.VusTKN. 


THE  SClE.VriFIC  RKSII.TS  OF  THE  ANNUAL 
MEETING  OF  THE  BRFT/SH  MEDICAL  AS,- 
SOCIA  TION. 

•X* HE  annual  meeting  of  the  British  Medical  Associa- 
-*•  tion  is.  no  doubt,  increasing  in  importance,  since  it 
is  becoming  a  congress  for  the  demonstration  of  the  advance 
of  medicine.  The  work  of  the  meeting  may  be  con- 
sidered as  belonging  to  two  classes,  the  practical  and  the 
scientific.  Many,  no  doubt,  who  attend  the  annual 
meeting,  do  so  with  the  object  of  gaining  practical  help 

1  "  .\nal>-sc  Micrographique  des  .'\lliagcs."    {Comptcs  rendits^  vol.  c.w. 
p.  3(3.  July  25.  1893.) 

-  ■'  Bull,  dc  )a  Soc.  d'Ericouragcnicnl,"  vol.  x.  1895,  p,  660. 
*  "  Trail*.  .Amer.  See.  .Mining  Engineers,"  vol.  .\xii.  p.  546. 

NO.   1346,  VOL.  52] 


in  both  the  medical  and  the  surgical  treatment  of  their 
patients  ;  and  this  help  the  annual  meeting  g^ives  in 
abundance.  One  of  the  most  important  parts  of  the 
meeting,  however,  is  that  which  is  occupied  with  the 
progress  of  scientific  medicine,  and  consists  not  so  much 
in  the  announcement  bf  startling  discoveries  (for  with 
these  medicine  has  but  little  to  do;,  but  in  the  revision 
and  criticism  of  the  facts  discovered  by  experiment  and  at 
the  bedside. 

.Medical  science  is  becoming  more  e.xact,  as  the  know- 
ledge of  the  functions  of  living  tissues  'physiology)  and 
their  changes  in  disease   pathology;  increases. 

It  is  not  so  many  years  ago  when  the  chief  subject  in 
what  was  called  physiology  was  histology,  or  the  struc- 
ture of  the  tissues.  Physiology  proper  then  rapidly 
progressed,  and  although  at  first  it  was  considered  from 
a  somev\hat  too  physical  standpoint,  and  indeed  is  still 
so  considered  by  some,  yet  it  has  received  an  enormous 
impetus  by  being  associated  with  the  study  of  chemistry 
and  of  the  action  of  the  chemical  constituents  of  the 
body  on  the  living  tissues.  This  is  evidenced  in  the 
excellent  address  on  "  Internal  Secretion,"  given  by  Prof 
E.  A.  .Schafer,  F.  R.S.,  of  University  College,  a  subject 
which  in  its  scientific  aspects  is  of  a  quite  recent  develop- 
ment. .\  secretory  organ  may,  like  the  stomach,  saliv  ary 
glands,  &c.,  separate  materials  from  the  blood  and  pour 
them  into  a  cavity,  in  which  they  are  utilised  ;  this  may 
be  called  external  secretion.  On  the  other  hand,  "  some 
secreted  materials  are  not  poured  out  upon  an  external 
surface  at  all,  but  are  returned  to  the  blood  '  ;  these  may 
be  called  internal  secretions.  Although  it  is  probable 
that  in  the  widest  sense  everv-  tissue  has  an  internal 
secretion,  yet  this  is  most  obvious  in  the  ductless  glands, 
such  as  the  thyroid,  the  suprarenal  bodies,  and  the 
pituitary  body.  But  in  one  gland  with  an  important 
external  secretion,  viz.  the  pancreas,  there  is  also  an  in- 
ternal secretion  which  is  of  great  value  in  the  economy. 

The  subject  of  internal  secretion  has  developed  hand 
in  hand  with  clinical  medicine,  and  it  was  the  obser- 
vation of  patients  which  first,  as  in  the  case  of  the  thyroid, 
gave  the  clue  to  the  line  of  investigation.  It  is  im- 
possible in  this  place  to  give  a  detailed  account  of 
Prof.  Schiifers  address  ;  it  is  well  worthy  of  study 
by  ever)"  one  interested  in  the  progress  of  biological 
science.  It  will  not  be  out  of  place,  however,  to  illustrate 
the  subject  of  internal  secretion  by  quoting  as  examples 
the  investigation  of  the  pancreas  and  the  suprarenal 
capsules,  the  latter  of  which  has  been  the  subject  of 
special  study  by  Prof  Schiifer,  in  conjunction  with  Ur.  O. 
Oliver  and  .Mr.  Moore. 

The  association  of  disease  of  the  pancreas  with  the 
presence  of  sugar  in  the  urine  has  long  been  noted  ; 
although  only  a  certain  proportion  of  cases  of  diabetes 
show  any  great  changes  in  this  organ.  If  the  pancreatic 
juice  be  diverted  from  the  intestine,  or  if  the  duct  be 
blocked,  the  animal  experimented  upon  does  not  die, 
there  is  no  glycosuria,  nor  does  it  apparently  suffer  any 
great  nutritional  change.  If,  however,  the  pancreas  be 
totally  extirpated,  glycosuria  appears,  and  the  animal 
invariably  dies  ;  this  docs  not  occur,  however,  if  only  a 
part  of  the  organ  be  removed.  More  than  this,  if  a 
portion  of  living  pancreas  be  successfully  grafted  into  an 
animal  from  which  the  organ  is  subsequently  completely 
remov  ed,  no  evil  results  follow.  Besides  its  obvious  and 
important  function  of  secreting  a  digestive  juice,  the 
pancreas  therefore  produces  some  material  which  it  gives 
to  the  blood,  and  which  is  essential  for  the  continuance  of 
life  ;  this  is  the  internal  secretion.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  suggested  that  the  organ  nominally  separates  and 
transforms  some  toxic  substance  which  is  fatal  to  exist- 
ence ;  this  is  the  theory  of  auto-intoxication.  The  internal 
secretion  of  the  suprarenal  capsule  is  more  obvious,  per- 
haps, than  that  of  the  pancreas.  The  capsule  is  a  duct- 
less gland  ;  it  has  no  external  secretion.     The  complete 


570 


NA  TURE 


[August  15,  1895 


removal  of  both  suprarenal  capsules  results  in  rapid 
death,  which  is  preceded  by  great  muscular  weakness, 
diminished  tone  of  the  vascular  system,  and  some  nervous 
symptoms  :  a  combination  of  events  which  is  seen 
in  Addison's  disease,  which  is  a  disease  of  these  organs. 
From  the  medullar)-  portion  of  the  gland,  Schiifer  has 
obtained  an  extract  containing  an  active  substance  which 
is  remarkable  as  producing  its  effects  in  ver>'  small  doses 
(as  little  as  ji  milligrams  in  a  dog  weighing  lo  kilos.), 
and  as  being  capable  of  withstanding  for  some  time  the 
temperature  of  boiling  water.  This  substance  increases 
the  duration  of  the  contraction  of  muscle,  as  tested  by 
the  apparatus  ordinarily  in  use  in  the  physiological 
laborator)'  :  but  it  has  a  more  remarkable  effect  in  greatly 
increasing  the  blood  pressure,  a  result  following  a  direct 
action  on  the  peripheral  arteries.  In  the  case  of  the 
suprarenal  capsule,  there  is  thus  distinct  evidence  of 
internal  secretion  ;  that  is,  of  the  presence  in  one  part  of 
the  gland  of  a  substance  which  has  a  well-marked  physio- 
logical effect.  Into  all  the  questions  arising  out  of  this 
subject  it  is  impossible  now  to  enter.  The  subject  is  one  of 
vast  importance  to  scientific  practical  medicme.  .^s  the 
results  of  future  investigation,  we  may  hope  to  obtain 
not  only  a  greater  knowledge  of  the  pathology  of  some 
obscure  nutritional  diseases,  but  some  indications  for  their 
relief  and  treatment.  This  has  already  been  accom- 
plished in  the  case  of  my.\a:dema,  in  which  the  thyroid 
gland  is  degenerated,  and  in  which  very  great  benefit  is 
obtained  by  feeding  the  patients  with  fresh  thyroid  gland, 
or  by  injecting  the  extract. 

One  other  scientific  result  of  the  annual  meeting  may 
be  viewed.  It  is  the  predominant  place  now  given  in 
the  study  of  disease  to  the  question  of  infection.  .'\11 
disease  is  not  infective,  but  infection,  in  thcon',  has  for 
many  decades  played  an  important  part  in  pathology. 
The  great  change  which  has  come  over  medical  science 
is,  that  the  question  of  infection  is  now  studied  from  an 
experimental  point  of  view.  \'ague  theories  have  given 
place  to  facts,  which  are  of  prime  importance,  not  only 
in  the  understanding  of  disease,  but  in  its  treatment. 
In  the  investigation  of  diseased,  as  well  as  of  normal 
functions,  the  application  of  chemical  methods  has  been 
of  great  service,  and  is  destined  to  be  of  still  greater 
importance. 

The  accurate  study  of  infection  deals  with  a  far  wider 
subject  than  the  characteristics  of  the  infective  agent  ; 
since  it  is  also  concerned  with  the  reaction  of  the 
body  against  the  micro-organism  and  the  poisonous 
chemical  substances  this  produces.  The  study  of  this 
reaction  of  bod>'  has,  from  the  morphological  point  of 
view,  given  a  clearer  view  of  the  processes  occurring  in 
intlanimation  ;  and  from  the  chemical  point  of  view,  it 
has  opened  up  a  wide  field  of  possible  therapeutical 
agents.  The  prospect  is  one  which  is  reassuring  for  the 
future.  The  fact  that  infection  is  being  so  closely  studied, 
and  that  the  infective  agents  in  so  many  diseases  have  been 
isolated,  is  of  great  importance  to  the  human  race  ;  since 
infection  is  preventible.  The  fact  that  the  body,  in  re- 
.11  lini;  against  an  infective  disease,  produces  a  substance 
counteracts  invasion,  as  well  as  the  poisonous 
■  ^  formed  by  the  infective  agent,  is  of  as  great  im- 
poriance  as  the  first  point  ;  since  an  infective  disease  may 
tjc  cured.  .-\t  the  annual  meeting,  the  discussion  on 
pneumonia  as  an  infective  disease — a  discussion  which 
wf)ultl  have  been  impossible,  and  would  even  have  been 
considered  ludicrous  only  a  few  years  ;igo — as  well  as  the 
discussion  on  the  utility  of  the  diphtheria  anti-toxin, 
1''  lie   points  mentioned.     In   the  discussion  on 

'•  he  great  majority  of  the  speakers,  both  those 

MiiM  ■  •■!.  iilercd  the  subject  from  the  scientific  aspect 
and  those  who  looked  at  it  siniply  from  the  j>ractical 
|>oint  (if  view,  .igrecd  (hat  the  use  of  the  anti-to\m  in  the 
disease  was  not  only  based  on  a  firm  scientific  basis,  but 
that  it  had  completely  changed  the  aspect  of  the  disease. 

NO.    1346,  VOL.  52] 


Whatever  the  limitations  of  the  treatment  by  anti-ioxic 
serum  may  in  the  future  be  proved  to  be,  there  can  be 
but  little  doubt  that  its  discovery  marks  an  epoch  in  the 
treatment  of  infective  disease. 


THE  IPSWICH  MEETING   OF   THE  BRITISH 
ASSOC  I  A  TION. 

npHE  arrangements  for  the  meeting  of  the  British 
-'■  Association  at  Ipswich  this  autumn  are  making 
rapid  progress.  The  General  Election  somewhat  inter- 
rupted the  preparations  of  the  local  secretaries,  but  the 
excitement  bemg  now  over,  general  attention  in  the 
locality  is  again  centred  on  the  coming  visit  of  the 
.Association,  and  great  efforts  are  being  made  in  the 
town  and  neighbourhood  to  ensure  the  success  of  the 
meeting.  The  chief  public  buildings  in  the  town  are 
just  emerging  from  the  hands  of  the  painter  and  decor- 
ator. The  reception  room  will  be  located  in  the  Town 
Hall,  the  council  chamber  being  the  room  actually  set 
apart  for  the  purpose,  whilst  the  library  will  be  the 
writing  room.  The  I'resident's  address  and  the  evening 
discourses  will  be  delivered  in  the  public  hall,  as  will 
also  the  lecture  to  working  men.  In  the  matter  of 
Section  rooms,  the  Local  Committee  will  be  able  to  offer 
the  .Association  very  good  accommodation,  as  there  are 
fortunately  a  number  of  suitable  rooms  and  halls  in  the 
town  within  a  very  short  distance  of  each  other,  and  all  are 
close  to  the  reception  room.  The  two  halls  at  the  tlirls' 
High  School,  which  were  formerly  the  New  .Assembly 
Rooms,  and  were  used  for  the  reception  room  and  for 
Section  E  on  the  occasion  of  the  Ipswich  meeting  in  1851, 
will  be  allotted  to  Section  .A  .Mathematical  and  Physical 
Science)  and  Section  B  (Chemistrv).  .About  two  hundred 
yards  distant  is  the  Co-operative  Hall,  in  which  Section 
G  (Mechanical  Science)  will  meet.  Section  C  i^tJeolog)') 
will  be  accommodated  in  the  Art  Gallery  adjoining 
the  -Museum.  Section  I)  (Zoology)  and  the  new  Sec- 
tion K  (Botany)  will  have,  respectively,  the  banquet 
room  and  the  lodge  room  at  the  Masimic  Hall.  The 
Lecture  Hall,  adjoining  the  Ipswich  Institute,  will  be 
given  over  to  .Section  E  (Geography),  whilst  across  the 
street,  the  Working  Men's  College  (formerly  known  as 
the  Old  .Assembly  Rooms)  will  be  set  apart  for  .Section  H 
(Anthropology). 

The  proceedings  will  commence  on  the  evening  of 
Wednesday,  September  1 1,  when  the  Marquis  of  Salis- 
bury will  retire  from  the  presidential  chair,  and  Sir 
Douglas  Galton  will  take  his  place.  The  new  President 
will  then  proceed  lo  deliver  his  address.  The  second 
evening  will,  as  usual,  be  devoted  to  a  conversazione, 
which  will  probably  be  held  in  the  museum  and  the 
adjoining  buildings,  used  as  art  and  technical  schools. 
On  Kriclay  evening  Prof  Silvanus  P.  Thompson  will 
deliver  a  lecture  on  "  Magnetism  in  Rotation.''  On 
Monday  evening  Prof.  Percy  I',  l-rankland  will  discourse 
on  "the  work  of  Pasteur  and  its  various  developments," 
and  on  Tuesday  there  will  be  a  soiree  given  by  the 
Ipswich  Scientific  Society  and  the  Suffolk  Institute  of 
Archaology  jointly.  'Hiis,  like  the  first  soirc'e,  will  pro- 
bably be  held  in  the  Museum  buildings.  The  lecture  to 
working  men  will  be  given  on  the  Saturday  evening  by 
Dr.  Alfred  H.  Kison,  who  takes  "Colour"  for  his  subject. 
In  response  to  a  special  invitation  which  the  Local 
Committee  issued  to  foreign  men  of  science,  the  follow- 
ing gentlemen  have  signified  their  intention  of  being 
present  at  the  meeting  -.  —  Prof  A.  Gobert  (Brussels),. 
Prof  W.  E.  Ritler  I  Heidelberg),  Rev.  T.  Adams  (Canada), 
M.  j.  Dantzcnburg  (Paris),  Dr.  O.  Maas  (  Munichj,  M.  Bnulc 
(Museinn  d'llisloire  naturelle,  Paris),  Prof  Ira  Remsen 
(Johns  Hopkins  L'niversity.  U.S..A.),  Prof  Runge  (Han- 
over), Prof  E.  C.  Hansen  (Copenhagen),  Dr.  van 
Rijckevorsel  I  Rotterdam).  M.G.  Dolfus  (Paris),  His  Excel- 
lency  Don  Arturo  de  M.ircoartu,  M.  E.  van  den   Kmcck. 


August  15,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


Zl^ 


(Brussels),  Prof.  Michie  Smith  (Madras),  M.  A.  P.  N. 
Franchiniont  (Leiden),  Or.  H.  Haviland  Field  (New 
York!,  Dr.  Bashford  Dean  Colombia  College,  New- 
York  i,  Prof.  J.  W.  Langley  (Ohio,  U.S.A.),  Dr.  Paschen 
(Hanover),  Dr.  Conwentz  (Dantzic),  M.  Berthelin  (Pans). 
A  large  number  of  the  leading  scientitic  men  in  England 
ha\e  already  notified  that  they  will  attend  the  meeting. 

The  hon.  'local  secretaries  for  the  meeting  are  Messrs. 
S.  X.  Notcutt,  G.  H.  Hewetson,  and  E.  P.  Ridley.  All 
communications  to  them  should  be  addressed  to  the 
Museum,  Ipswich. 

BAILLON,  BABINGTON,  EATON. 

BV  the  death  of  Henri  Ernest  Baillon,  France  has  lost 
one  of  her  most  accomplished  botanists,  and  cer- 
tainly her  leading  systematist.  Under  date  of  the  19th 
ult.  the  writer  received  the  following  lines  from  a  friend 
at  the  .Museum  d'Histoire  naturelle,  Paris. 

•■  le  vous  ccris  sous  une  bien  pcnible  impression  ;  M. 
Baillon  est  mort  hier  soir  subitement.  Dans  I'apr^s 
midi  il  <?tait  venu  au  laboratoire  selon  son  habitude.  A  5 
heures  et  demie  il  prit  un  bain  ;  a  6  heures  son  fils 
rentrant  de  I'Ecole  de  Mcdecine  le  trouva  mort.  On 
croit  que  le  bain,  un  peu  trop  chauffe,  a  determine  .une 
congestion. 

"  C'est  une  grande  perte  pour  nous  et  pour  labotanique. 
S'il  avait  des  ennemis  implacables,  il  a\ait  aussi  des 
amitids  fiddles.  Je  ne  doute  pas  que  Tavenir  ne  montre 
que  derriere  un  esprit,  dont  les  manifestations  parfois 
acerbes  visait  moins  la  personnalite  que  ce  quMl  jugeait 
ctre  Terreur,  sc  cachait  un  cceur  sensible  a  Te.xces.  11  est 
un  bon  nombre  de  ses  cloves  pau\res  qui  sa\ent  de 
quclles  delicatesses  il  savait  entourer  une  aumone. 

"  Quoiquil  en  soit  c'etait  un  grand  botaniste  ;  vous  le 
jugez  ainsi,  n'est  ce  pas  .•' 

"  .Ses  quatre  enfants  vont  se  trouver  dans  la  mis^re  la 
plus  profonde  qu'cm  puisse  imaginer.  Ce  qu'il  n'a  pas 
dcpensc  de  sa  fortune  pour  la  publication  de  ses  livres 
a  disparu  dans  le  gouffre  des  dettes  de  celle  qui  a  porte 
son  nom.     .Aujourd'hui  il  ne  restc  rien." 

The  allusion  to  Baillon's  personal  character  in  the  fore- 
}joing  letter  will  appeal  to  the  sympathies  of  those  who 
knew  him  on  this  side  of  the  channel.  Unfortunately  he 
quarrelled  with  some  of  the  foremost  French  botanists 
of  assured  position,  which  led  to  regrettable  and  undig- 
nified recriminations  on  his  part,  and  resulted  in  closing 
the  doors  of  the  .Acaddmie  des  Sciences  against  him  for 
ever.  This  embittered  his  life  considerably,  and  ren- 
dered his  relations  with  a  section  of  the  botanists  of 
Paris  almost  unbearable. 

For  most  of  the  following  jjarticulars  of  Baillon's 
career  I  am  indebted  to  the  author  of  the  above 
letter.  Henri  Baillon,  as  he  usually  signed  himself,  was 
born  at  Calais,  November  29,  1827,  of  a  femily  of  good 
position  and  reputation  in  the  town  and  district.  He 
studied  with  great  distinction  at  the  Lycde  de  X'ersailles, 
and  commenced  his  medical  education  at  the  age  of 
seventeen.  In  1S54  he  became  house-surgeon  at  the 
Hopital  de  la  Pitie,  Paris,  a  position  obtained  only  by 
severe  competition  ;  and  he  was  so  brilliantly  successful 
in  his  work,  that  he  was  unanimously  awarded  the  gold 
medal  of  the  Internal,  the  highest  reward  at  the  disposal 
of  the  Facultc  de  Mcdecine.  His  candidature  for  the 
degree  of  Docteur  en  M<?dccine  was  a  perfect  triumph, 
for  he  completely  held  his  examiners,  both  by  the  elegance 
of  his  diction  and  the  depth  of  his  scientific  views.  In 
1863  he  succeeded  Moquin  Tandon  in  the  Chair  of  Botany 
at  the  F.cole  de  Mcdecine,  and  he  filled  this  chair  up  to 
the  time  of  his  death  ;  and  for  some  time  was  Professor 
of  Botany  at  the  Lycee  Napoleon  as  well.  He  was  also 
Docteur  Cs  .Sciences.  In  1875  he  was  elected  a  foreign 
member  of  the  Linnean  Society  of  London,  and  last  year 
he  received  the  same  distinction  from  the  Royal  Society. 

NO.    1346,  VOL.   52] 


This  gave  him  much  pleasure,  and  consoled  him,  in  some 
measure,  for  the  implacability  of  his  own  countrymen.  In 
1 866  he  and  a  few  others  founded  the  Societe  Linneenne 
de  Paris.  He  was  elected  president,  and  continued  to 
act  as  such  until  his  death.  For  some  years  the  Pro- 
ceedings of  this  very  small  Societ\-  were  published  in 
Baillon's  o«n  periodical,  Adansonia,  and  then  a  Hulletin 
Mensiiel  appeared,  and  has  continued  to  appear  down 
to  the  present  time,  entirely  owing  to  the  energy  and 
industry'  of  the  president.  This  organ  was  not  published, 
but  distributed  to  the  leading  botanical  establishments  ; 
hence  there  is  no  record  of  Baillon's  numerous  articles 
therein  in  the  Royal  Society's  catalogue  of  scientific 
papers.  Yet,  omitting  these,  the  catalogue  contains  the 
titles  of  230  of  his  papers,  published  between  1854  and 
1883.  But  Baillon  was  a  most  prolific  writer,  and  covered 
a  considerable  range,  though  systematic  botany  was  his 
chief  study.  1  need  only  name  his  Adansonia,  twelve 
volumes,  1866  to  1879  ; '"  Dictionnaire  de  Botanique," 
four  volumes,  1876  to  1892  ;  "  Histoire  des  Plantes," 
1867-95,  and  still  unfinished.  Baillon,  too,  was  the  only 
French  botanist  who  occupied  himself  on  the  rich  col- 
lections of  flowering  plants  in  Paris  from  Madagascar  ; 
being  the  author  of  the  uncompleted  "  Histoire  des  Plantes 
de  Madagascar,"  forming  a  portion  of  Grandidiers  great 
work  on  ^Madagascar. 

Baillon  was  one  of  the  few  existing  botanists  having  a 
good  knowledge  of  the  phanerogamic  flora  of  the  world. 
As  a  writer,  however,  he  was  more  critical  than  method- 
ical, and  many  of  his  original  observations  and  sugges- 
tions have  been  overlooked  by  botanists  who  have  subse- 
quently g-one  over  the  same  ground.  This  is  owing  to 
the  fact  that  the  titles  of  many  of  his  articles  do  not 
sufficiently  describe  their  contents.  Not  infrequently  a 
new  genus  or  a  new  species  is  described  in  the  body  of  a 
paragraph,  and  sometimes  so  informally,  that  only  by 
careful  reading  is  it  possible  to  arrive  at  the  fact.  This 
often  caused  the  author  himself  chagrin,  especially  as  he 
was  ver>-  sensitive  and  apt  to  believe  that  his  work  had 
been  purposely  ignored.  I  had  almost  forgotten  to 
mention  that  the  Euphprbiacea;  were  one  of  his  favourite 
families,  and  his  "  Etude  Gendrale  du  Groupe  des 
Euphorbiacdes  "  is  one  of  his  most  finished  works.  This 
is  not  the  place  to  enter  into  a  more  critical  examination 
of  his  works,  but  I  cannot  help  mentioning  that  the 
illustrations  almost  throughout  are  of  a  high  order  of 
merit.  Dr.  Baillon  has  been  a  frequent  visitor  to  Kew 
and  the  British  Museum  during  the  last  thirty  years,  and 
many  botanists  will  join  me  in  regret  for  his  sudden 
death  whilst  apparently  in  almost  the  full  vigour  of  life. 

The  veteran  Professor  of  Botany,  Charles  Cardale 
Babington,  in  the  University  of  Cambridge,  whose  death 
has  lately  taken  place,  was  bom  at  Ludlow  in  1808, 
and  educated  at  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  taking 
his  B..-\.  in  1830  and  M..\.  in  1833.  .\s  long  ago  as  June 
1830,  he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  the  Linnean  Society  ; 
yet  there  are  still  two  of  earlier  date  in  the  Society's  list, 
namely,  Dickinson  Webster  Crompton  and  William 
Pamplin,  both  elected  the  previous  January.  There  are 
only  two  others,  Thomas  .Archer-Hind  and  James  Bate- 
man,  who  have  been  Fellows  of  the  Society  for  upwards  of 
sixty  years.  In  185  I  Babington  was  elected  a  Fellow  of 
the  Royal  Society,  and  among  the  fifteen  of  that  year,  it 
may  be  mentioned,  were  the  late  Prof  Huxley,  Lord 
Kelvin,  Sir  James  Paget,  and  Sir  Gabriel  Stokes.  In 
1861  he  succeeded  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Henslow  in  the 
Botanical  Chair  at  Cambridge,  a  post  he  held  up  to 
his  death,  though  for  many  years  he  was  incapaci- 
tated from  performing  the  duties.  Prof  Babington 
was,  in  his  early  years  at  least,  a  prolific  writer, 
his  first  paper  appearing  in  1832.  His  writings 
were  almost  exclusively  on  the  British  flora  ;  and 
his  name  will  stand  in  the  history  of  British  botany 
as    the    inaugurator    of    a    more    critical    delimitation 


NATURE 


[Ai-nusT  15.  1895 


of  s|)ecies  than  had  previously  found  favour  in  this 
countr>\  Takiny  Koch  and  Fries  as  his  models,  from 
whom  he  largely  borrowed,  he  published  the  first  edition 
of  his  "Manual"  in  1S43.  This  new  departure  caused 
considerable  commotion  and  opposition  from  the  older 
school  of  botanists  ;  and  the  fact  that  liabinjjton  did  not 
possess  the  critical  acumen  and  originality  of  the  masters 
m  his  adopted  school,  sometimes  exposed  him  to  attacks. 
Nevertheless  the  "  Manual "  was  a  success,  passing 
through  eight  editions,  the  last  of  which  appeared  in 
iSSi  ;  and  it  still  enjoys  great  favour,  even  among  those 
who  do  not  go  so  far  in  the  matter  of  species.  Babington 
was  also  author  of  several  local  floras  :  the  first  being  the 
"  F'lora  Bathonicnsis,"  1834;  followed  by  the  "Flora 
Samiensis."'  1839,  and  a  '"  Flora  of  Cambridge,"  in  i860. 
Daniel  Cady  Eaton,  who  belonged  to  a  school  of 
.American  botanists,  of  whom  \er>'  few  sur\i\c  now,  was 
the  grandson  of  .\mos  Eaton,  the  author  of  the  formerly 
famous  '■  Manual  of  the  Botany  of  North  .-Xmerica,"  which 
passed  through  many  editions  :  and  son  of  deneral  .Amos 
E.  Eaton,  also  a  devotee  of  natural  histon-.  I).  C.  Eaton 
was  bom  in  1834,  and  early  evinced  a  liking  for  botany. 
After  a  successful  career  at  school  and  college,  he  ex- 
perienced many  changes,  including  service  in  the  federal 
army  during  the  civil  war.  In  1867  he  was  called  to 
the  Botanical  Chair  of  Vale  College,  New  Haven,  which 
he  held  until  his  death.  .As  an  author  he  will  be  best 
remembered  by  his  writings  on  North  .American,  Mexican, 
and  West  Indian  ferns.  His  principal,  or  at  least  most 
popular,  work  is  his  "  Ferns  of  North  .America,'  illus- 
trated in  colours  by  J.  H.  Emerton  and  C.  E.  Faxon. 

\V.  B.   H. 


NOTES. 
Dr.  Bf.Rgh,  of  Copenhagen,  has  been  elected  a  Correspondant 
of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Sciences,  in  the  Section  of  .Anatomy 
and  Zoolog)'. 

The  resignation  is  reported  of  Mr.  K.  Trimen,  F.  R.S., 
Curator  of  the  South  African  Museum,  Cape  Town,  and  also  of 
Mr.  R.  L.  J.  Eller),  C..M.U.,  F.R.S.,  Director  of  the  Obserra- 
tor)'  at  Melbourne. 

The  deaths  are  announced  of  Dr.  .\doIf  (Jerslacker,  Pro- 
fes.sor  of  Zoologj'  in  the  University  of  llreifswald  ;  Dr.  I'ellegrino 
Strotx;!,  Director  of  the  Natural  Mi,stor)-  Museum  at  I'arnia  : 
Prof.  H.  Wiimcur,  Professor  of  Mincralog)' and  Cleology  in  the 
University  of  Brussels  ;  and  Dr.  \V.  Fabrilius,  .\stronomcr  at 
the  Kicff  Uljscrvalorj'  from  1876  to  1894. 

The  French  .Association  for  the  Ad\-anccment  of  Science  met 
at  Bordeaux  la.st  week.  It  was  at  Bordeaux  that  the  As.sociation 
held  its  first  meeting  in  1872,  and  this  year  the  same  cordial 
hospitality  was  accorded  to  its  memticrs  as  was  given  twenty- 
three  years  ago.  The  presiilent  of  the  recent  meeting  w.is 
M.  Kmile  Trelal,  and  in  his  presidential  address  on  "  La 
Saluhrite,"  he  indicated  the  place  of  hygiene  among  the  .scieftces, 
and  traced  its  limits. 

The  annual  congress  of  the  British  Institute  of  Public  lk-.iltli 
»a.H  o|x:ncd  at  Hull  on  Thurs<lay  last,  under  the  presidency  of 
the  Mayor.  <in  Friday,  Sir  A.  Kollit  delivered  an  atldress  as 
president  of  the  municipal  and  |>arliamentar}'  section  of  the 
Institute,  and  Dr.  Cameron  delivered  an  .iddress  in  the  section 
of  preventive  medicine.  It  was  resolved  (m  Monday — "  Thai  in 
Iheinlir  '  lie  health  all  municipal  and  local  authorities 

thould  '  'I  to  provide  crematoria,  and  that  a  |)elition 

lie  prcsenlL'l  t'l  Parliament  in  .sup|X)rl  of  the  Bill  aUiut  lobe 
presented  lo  secure  this  object."  Prof  \V.  K.  Smith  brought 
forward  the  subject  of  the  influence  of  .schools  on  diphtheria, 
and  in  the  course  of  his  remark;  contended  that  schools  did  not 

NO.    1346,  VOL.   52] 


play  that  important  part  in  the  spread  of  iliphtheria  which  they 
had  been  supposed  to  do.  The  final  sitting  of  the  congress  was 
held  on  Tuesday,  when  the  reports  of  the  several  sections  were 
adopted,  and  a  resolution  was  |xisseil  that  every  house  in  a 
watering-place  where  lodgers  were  accommodated  should  undergo 
a  survey  by  the  sanitary  authority,  and  lliat  a  certificate  of  fitness 
should  be  compulsor)-. 

The  annual  summer  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Junior  Fn- 
gineers,  the  headquarters  of  which  are  in  London,  takes  place 
from  -August  17  to  24,  the  rendezvous  being  Belgium.  The  towns 
to  be  visited  include  .Antwerp,  where  the  municipal  docks,  M. 
Kr)n"s  diamond-cutting  works,  and  other  places  of  interest  will 
be  opened  to  members'  inspection.  At  Ghent,  MM.  Carefs 
engine  work;,  M.  de  Ilemptinne's  cotton-spinning  works,  and 
M.  \"an  Houtle's  nursery  gardens  will  be  seen  ;  at  Brussels,  the 
electric  lighting  station  :  whilst  at  Liege, the  works  of  the  Societe 
Cockerill,  the  \'ielle  .Montagne  zinc  works,  the  St.  Leonard 
locomotive  works,  the  \'al  St.  Lambert  glass  works,  the 
Small  -Arms  Factor)',  and  the  Electric  Tramway  Installation 
will  be  visited.  In  honour  of  the  Institution  a  banquet  is  to  be 
given  by  the  Liege  section  of  the  Society  of  Engineers  from  the 
University,  and  the  members  will  also  be  the  guests  of  the 
Societe  Cockerill.  .\n  excursion  to  \'erviers,  where  the  Chandler 
of  Commerce  will  entertain  the  visitors,  is  arranged  for  the  piu- 
ix)se  of  seeing  works  in  connection  with  the  woollen  cloth  in- 
dustr)'.  Here  MM.  Peltzers  works  and  those  of  M.  Duesberg- 
Delrez,  La  Ves»lrc,  and  M.  liauzeur  Gerard  fils,  will  be  opened. 
The  celebrated  Gileppe  reservoir,  from  which  \'erviers  receives 
its  domestic  and  manufacturing  supply,  is  also  included  in  the 
programme.  .  .A  large  number  of  members  have  notified  their 
intention  of  being  present  at  the  meeting,  which  promises  to  be 
one  of  the  most  succsssful  the  Institution  has  held. 

An  auto-mobile  carriage  race  between  Chicago  and  Milwaukee, 
promoted  by  the  Times-  Herald  of  Chicago,  will  be  decided  oi> 
Saturday,  November  2,  the  object  being  to  encourage  and 
stimulate  the  invention,  development,  perfection,  and  general 
adoption  of  motor  carriages.  The  amount  offered  in  prizes  is 
5000  dollars,  apportioned  as  follows: — First  prize,  2000  dollars 
and  a  gold  medal,  ojien  to  competition  to  the  world  ;  second 
prize,  1500  dollars,  with  a  stipulation  that,  in  the  event  the  first 
prize  is  awarded  to  a  vehicle  of  foreign  invention  or  manufacture, 
this  prize  shall  go  to  the  most  successful  .American  competitor  ; 
third  prize,  1000  dollars  ;  fourth  prize,  500  dollars.  The  third 
and  fourth  prizes  are  open  to  all  competitors,  foreign  and 
.American.  The  rules  laid  down  stipulate,  among  other  things, 
that  no  vehicle  shall  be  admitted  lo  competition  which  depends 
in  any  way  upin  muscular  exertion,  except  for  purposes  of 
guidance.  Competing  vehicles  which  derive  their  power  fron» 
lietroleum,  gasoline,  electricity,  or  steam,  and  which  are  pro- 
vided with  receptacles  for  storing  or  holding  the  same,  will  he 
l>crmitled  to  replenish  the  .same  at  Waukegan,  111.,  and  at 
Kenosha,  Wis.,  hut  at  no  other  |Kiints. 

DlRlNc;  the  pa.st  week  the  weather  over  the  United  Kingdom 
has  l)een  very  unsettled,  owing  to  the  .advance  of  various  low- 
pressure  areas  from  the  Atlantic.  Several  heavy  thunderstorms 
have  (Wcurred,  the  most  severe  Ijeing  on  Saturday  night,  the 
loth  inst.,  over  the  southern  and  south  eastern  parts  of  England. 
In  London  the  storm  was  ver)-  violent,  and  the  lightning  was  of 
unusual  brilliancy.  The  disturbance  travelled  from  south  lo 
north,  and  w.\s  accompanied  by  heavy  rain.  An  exceptionally 
heavy  thunderstorm  also  occurred  at  Holyhead  on  the  same 
night,  and  the  rain  mea.sured  there  on  the  next  uuirning  amounted 
to  2-68  inches.  The  UWkly  IWallur  Keforl  of  the  loth  inst. 
.Slates  that  the  rainfall  for  the  week  exceeded  the  aver.ige  in  all 
districts,  the  amount  over  England  Ijeing  about  twice  as  nuich 
:is  the  mean. 


August  15,  1895  J 


NATURE 


573 


The  Meteorological  Office  has  received  through  the  Colonial 
I  iffice  a  report  from  the  Governor  of  Hongkong,  according  to 
vvliich  it  appears  that  the  colony  was  recently  suflfering  from  a 
i;rcat  ilroiight ;  the  rainfall  from  January  I  to  June  23  last  having 
luen  only  \y;  inches,  being  a  deficit  of  no  less  than  2S7 
inches  on  the  mean  of  the  corresponding  period  of  the  previous 
ti\'c  years.  The  (iovernor  draws  attention  to  the  fact  that 
'  clween  October  1893  and  April  1894,  the  colony  suft'ered  much 
I  mm  want  of  rain,  and  that  the  |)lague  of  the  latter  year  was 
~ii|iposed  to  have  originated  from  a  deficient  water  supply. 
Though  the  drought  of  the  first  half  of  this  year  has  been  far 
more  serious  than  that  of  1893-94,  the  plague  has  not  yet  rc" 
appeared  in  an  epidemic  form  ;  but  the  reservoirs  had,  at  the 
(late  of  the  despatch  (June  26),  only  about  a  week's  supply  left 
ill  ihem.  Krom  a  return  furnishe<l  by  the  Director  of  the  Hong- 
kong f)bservator)',  it  appears  that  the  greatest  deficiency  has 
occurred  during  May  and  June,  when  it  amounted  to  11  and  124 
inches  respectively. 

La  Teihnologie  Sanilaire  is  the  title  of  a  nev\  journal  devoted 
lo  questions  of  water  supply  and  applied  hygiene.  It  is  pub- 
lished in  Louvain,  and  is  edited  by  a  civil  engineer,  N'ictor  J. 
\  an  [.int.  The  first  number,  amongst  other  contributions,  con- 
tains an  interesting  and  useful  article  by  M.  Ad.  Kemna,  the 
uell-known  Director  of  the  .\ntwerp  Waterworks,  on  "The 
Theory  of  .Sand  Filtration."  The  practical  genius  of  the  English 
in  the  past  is  emphasised  in  commenting  upon  Simpson's  intro- 
duction of  sand  filters  in  London  in  the  year  1839,  and  we  are 
tokl  that  having  produced  such  brilliant  results,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  as  a  nation  we  are  so  slow  and  reluctant  to  adopt 
more  modern  methods  and  change  our  system  of  technical 
instruction  !  Besides  original  articles,  reviews  of  books  are  also 
a|ipended,  and  what,  perhaps,  is  one  of  the  most  useful  features 
of  this  undertaking,  is  the  bi-monthly  issue  of  a  supplement, 
international  in  char.act«,  containing  a  bibliography  of  books, 
pamphlets,  &:c.,  published  on  subjects  connected  with  water 
supi'lj',  together  with  short  notices  of  public  hygienic  enterprise 
in  dift'erent  parts  of  the  world. 

Im  RA-KEl)  light  is  invisible  to  us  either  because  the  humours 
Composing  the  eye  are  opaque  to  it,  or  because  the  light  is  in- 
capable of  exciting  the  retina.  Cima  and  Janssen  have  adopted 
the  former  explanation,  but  the  alternative  one  has  been  accepted 
liyTyndall,  F.ngelniann,  and  others,  while  Helmholtz maintained 
tliat  the  strong  absorption  suftered  by  infra-red  rays  in  their 
passage  through  the  eye  is  sufficient  to  account  for  their  in- 
•  iiiibility.  That  they  are  strongly  absorbed  has  been  found  by 
all  observers,  but  Herr  K.  Aschkinass  proves,  in  the  last  number 
of  Wiejeinaiin' s  Aiinalcii,  that  there  is  no  sudden  increase  of 
absorption  beyond  the  red  end  of  the  spectrum,  and  that  the 
absorptive  powers  of  the  various  media  of  the  eye  are  practically 
the  same  as  that  of  water.  The  apparatus  used  for  this  investi- 
gation contained  a  fluor-spar  prism  and  a  liolometer.  Thin 
layers  of  the  humours  of  an  ox  eye  and  a  human  eye  were  inter- 
posed in  the  path  of  the  rays  from  a  zircon  burner,  and  the 
absorptive  eflects  noted  by  means  of  the  bolometer.  It  was 
found  that  at  a  wave-length  of  o'Sl  ^,  the  limit  of  the  visible 
siiectrum,  the  absorption  was  5  per  cent,  for  the  whole  human 
I  eye.  This  increased  to  lO'S  pei;  cent,  at  o'872,  reached  60  per 
I  cental  0-98,  decreased  to  345  |ier  cent,  at  1-095,  and  finally 
reached  100  per  cent.,  ortotal  absorption,  at  I '4  fi.  This  shows 
that  a  large  proportion  of  infra-red  light  fdoes  reach  the  retina 
through  the  eye,  but  is  not  capable  of  aftecting  the  nerves  and 
pro<lucing  visual  sensation. 

TuR    last   number  of    the    Wisscnsihafllichc    Bciliefle    ziim 

DeiilSi/ieii  Kolonialhlalte  (Bd.  viii.  Ht.  2)  is  a  further  illustration 

of  the  care  with  which  the  German  Colonial  Society  is  organising 

the   scientific   investigation   of    German    .\frica.     The    present 

NO.    1346,  VOL.   52] 


number  contains  the  calculations  by  Dr.  Fritz  Cohen,  Dr.  I.. 
Ambronn,  and  Dr.  \V.  Brix,  of  the  astrontjmical  observations 
made  by  Dr.  Griiner  in  Togo-land,  and  by  Ramsay  and  Stuhl- 
mann  in  German  East  Africa.  There  are  also  valuable  tables  of 
meteorological  observations,  made  in  German  South-West 
Africa,  and  in  Kondeland,  and  from  the  Marshall  Islands  :  from 
the  last  locality  comes  an  especially  useful  table  showing  the 
diurnal  variation  in  atmospheric  pressure,  and  giving  the  mean 
reading  for  every  hour  for  each  month  in  the  year.  Preuss  con- 
tributesa  report  on  the  geography  of  the  Smaller  Cameroons, 
and  Steinberg  one  on  the  diseases  of  the  natives  of  the  Marshall 
Islands.  There  is  also  a  detailed  study,  by  Dr.  O.  Warburg,  of 
a  beetle  {Herpetophygas  fasciatiis)  parasitic  on  the  coffee  trees  in 
German  East  Africa.  A  good  plate  shows  the  insect  in  its 
various  stages,  and  also  illustrates  its  ravages  on  the  trees. 

Herr  Oscar  Nei^max.n  has  published  a  preliminary  account 
of  his  recent  important  expedition  across  Masai-land  to  Uganda 
in  the  last  number  of  the  VerhaiiJlungi:it  ili'r  Gesellsihaft  fin- 
Enikimde  ztt  Berlin  (Bd.  xxii.  No  4-5).  Herr  Neumann  went 
out  to  East  .\frica  in  November,  1892,  and  after  spending  some 
months  in  preparation  there,  left  for  the  interior  on  -\pril  27, 
1893.  The  caravan,  consisting  of  135  men,  started  from  Tanga, 
and  passing  the  southern  border  of  the  Usambara  country, 
crossed  Nguru  to  Irangi.  Here  a  series  of  accidents,  exhaustion 
of  supplies,  and  some  severe  fighting  with  the  natives,  during 
which  Herr  Neumann  was  wounded  in  the  mouth  by  an  arrow, 
comjielled  the  expedition  to  retreat  southward  to  Mpwapwa. 
After  resting  there  the  party  went  northward  across  Irangi  to 
the  Gurui  IMountain.  This  was  ascended,  though  with  consider- 
able difficulty.  Upon  the  higher  slopes  an  interesting  series  of 
Alpine  plants  were  found,  including  Azalea  and  Rhododendron. 
No  trace  of  a  crater  remains  near  the  summit,  but  some  small 
craters  occur  in  an  adjoining  \alley.  FVom  Gurui  the  expedi- 
tion followed  up  the  East  African  Rift  \'alley,  along  Bau- 
mann's  route  past  the  salt  lakes  of  Manyara  and  Natron. 
He  examined  the  volcanoes  Doenyo  Kavinjiro  and  D.  Ngai ;  on 
the  latter  he  found  a  steam  vent  below  the  summit.  F'rom  this 
point  he  followed  Fischer's  track  past  Nguruman  to  the  south- 
west of  the  volcano  of  Suswa.  Thence  he  turned  westward  to 
the  shore  of  the  \'ictoria  Nyanza  in  Kavirondo,  where  the 
expedition  again  had  great  difficulties  with  the  natives.  Marching 
round  the  Nyanza  through  Usoga,  he  reached  Uganda,  but  the 
excessive  caution  of  an  English  oHicer  prevented  his  reaching 
Mt.  Elgon.  From  Uganda,  which  he  describes  as  unhealthy  and 
poorer  than  Usoga,  he  returned  along  the  English  road,  across 
.Mau,  and  past  Naivasha  and  Machakos  to  Kibwezi,  whence  he 
diverged  to  Taveta,  and  Kilima  Njaro,  and  thus  back  to  the 
coast  at  Mombasa,  where  he  arrived  on  February  5,  1S95.  ^'1*^ 
zoological  collections  inade  are  very  extensive,  including  600 
species  of  birds,  90  species  of  reptiles  and  amphibia,  50  species 
of  mollusca,  and  about  1000  species  of  insects,  and  90  species  of 
mammals,  of  which  fi\e  have  been  described  as  new  by 
Matschie. 

Dr.  Otto  Kinizk  has  recently  issued,  under  the  title  of 
"  Geogenetische  Beit  rage  "  (Leipzig,  1895,  7^  PP-)>  '^  series  of 
papers  dealing  with  various  geological  problems,  on  which  his 
journeys  have  thrown  light.  The  first  paper  gives  the  evidence 
for  some  oscillations  of  level  in  the  .\ndes,  based  on  the  inclina- 
tion of  some  beds  of  iron-stained  sands  and  laterite,  and  on  the 
distribution  of  plants.  He  states  the  evidence  with  care,  as  it 
shows  that  the  alterations  of  level  have  occurred  quietly  and 
without  any  sudden  catastro|)hic  changes.  .\  second  paper 
discusses  the  evidence  on  which  it  is  claimed  that  there  was  a 
glaciation  in  Carboniferous  limes.  The  phenomena,  often 
regarded  as  a  proof  of  this,  is  attributed  by  Dr.  Kunlje  to 
wind  erosion.     He  gives  a  figure  showing  perched  blocks  and 


..i 


o/  ■ 


iVA  TURE 


[August  15,  1S95 


ruundetl  rock  surfaces  in  the  Sierra  de  Tandil  in  the  Argentine 
Republic,  which  have  thus  been  formed.  The  third  article  in 
the  series  discusses  the  organic  and  chemical  theories  of  the 
origin  of  the  Chilian  deposits  of  saltpetre.  The  next  subject 
considered  is  the  method  of  the  silicitication  of  fossil  woo<I :  the 
author  readvances  his  old  the<.ir\-,  and  replies  to  the  criticisms 
made  by  Kothpletz  and  Solms-Laubach  upon  it,  and  advances 
nine  arguments  against  Solms-Laubach"3  rival  theor)-.  The  fifth 
|>aper  describes  cases  in  which  deposits  of  salt  have  been  formed 
under  continental  instead  of  marine  conditions,  which  the  author 
explains  as  due  to  the  decomiwsition  of  minerals  containing 
chlorine  in  r<x:ks  destroyed  by  subaerial  denudation.  The  last 
and  longest  jwijer  in  the  collection,  rediscusses  the  old  problem 
of  the  formation  of  coal.  He  considers  the  three  alternative 
theories  as  to  whether  coal  is  allochthon,  i.e.  formed  from 
vegetable  material  deposited  elsewhere  than  on  its  place  of 
origin  ;  or  is  autochthon,  or  fornie<l  by  the  decay  of  plants  in 
silu :  or  is  pelagochthon,  i.e.  formed  under  the  sea.  The 
author  advocates  the  last.  He  gets  over  the  difficulty  of 
Stigmaria,  by  declaring  that  his  fellow  botanists  are  wrong,  and 
that  its  supposed  rootlets  are  really  floating  leaves.  He  says 
that  the  figures,  given  in  the  text-books,  are  all  copied  from  one 
source,  and  declares  that  there  are  no  specimens  in  tlie  museums 
of  "  Dresden,  Vienna,  I^mdon,  Paris,  Berlin,  &c.,"  which  give 
any  support  to  the  rootlet  theory.  He  gives  an  ideal  view  of  a 
landscape  in  the  Carboniferous  period,  showing  the  Stigmaria 
spreading  over  the  floor  of  a  sheet  of  water,  with  the  "  rootlets'' 
rising  as  aquatic  leaves. 

Mr.  James  R.  Gregory,  the  mineralogist  and  dealer,  wishes 
it  to  be  known  that  he  has  removed  from  88  Charlotte  Street, 
Fitzroy  Square,  to  more  convenient  premises  at  I  Kelso  Place, 
Kensington,  W. 

Messrs.  Chai'MAN  and  Hali.  have  been  constituted  sole 
agents  in  this  country,  the  continent,  and  the  colonies,  for  the 
sale  of  the  im|X)rtant  scientific  and  technological  publications  of 
Messrs.  Wiley  and  Sons,  of  New  York. 

The  August  /onnial  of  the  Anthrojiological  Institute  contains 
papers  on  Prehistoric  remains  in  Cornwall;  the  northern  settle- 
ments of  the  West  Saxons ;  changes  in  the  proportions  of  the 
human  body  during  the  period  of  growth  ;  the  languages  sjioken 
in  Madagascar  ;  and  on  a  collection  of  crania  of  Esquimaux. 
There  isalso  a  description,  by  Mr.  M.  X.  Portman,  of  the  methods 
that  should  be  employed  by  anthropological  photographers. 

We  have  received  a  copy  of  a  "  Report  on  Slavery  and  the 
Slave  Trade  in  Zanzibar,  Pemba,  and  the  Mainland  of  the 
British  Protectorates  of  East  Africa,"  by  the  Special  Commis- 
sioner of  the  British  and  Foreign  Anti-Slavery  Society.  The  Com- 
missioner spent  pretty  nearly  six  weeks  in  East  Africa  in  studying 
the  subject.  Probably  the  most  valuable  and  trustworthy 
conclusiun  in  this  report,  though  (wrhaps  not  the  one  to  which 
its  author  attaches  most  imiKirt.ince,  is  that  "  the  whole  (|Uestion 
•  if  slavery  in  Zanzibar  and  Pemba  is  a  very  complicated 
question." 

TlIK  volume  of  Transaclions  and  Proceeili)i,:;s  of  the  New 
Zealand  Institute  for  the  year  1894,  has  reached  us.  A  few  of 
the  paiicrs  have  already  been  noted  in  these  columns,  and  as 
more  than  seventy  |>apers  are  included  in  the  volume  now 
publi.ihcd,  it  is  only  possible  for  us  to  refer  to  a  few  of  them.  A 
lynoptical  list  of  Coccid;c,  reported  from  .•\ustralia  and  the 
I'acific  Ulnnd.s  up  to  the  end  of  last  year,  is  given  by  Mr.  W. 
.M.  Ma^kcll.  Sir  W.  L.  Huller,  K.C.M.G.,  F.R.S.,  has  several 
omitholfigical  fjaper.i  in  the  volume,  and  Captain  V.  W.  Ilutton, 
K.  k.S. ,  adds  to  the  knowledge  of  the  axial  skeleton  in  the 
Oinomilhi'l.i'.  and  there  are  a  numlwr  of  other  |>a|K'rs  referring 
lo  the  .wme  birds.  Prof.  Arthur  Dendy /lescribes  some  land 
{ilannrians,  Imnging  the  total   numlier  of  s|«:cies  found  in    New 

NO.    1346,  VOL    52] 


Zealand  up  to  twenty.  The  editor  of  the  volume.  Sir  James 
Hector,  K.C.M.G.,  K.R.S..  contributes  several  papers  to  ii. 
and  the  Rev.  W.  Colenso,  K.R.S.,  with  others,  make  contribu- 
tions 10  the  knowledge  of  the  botany  of  New  Zealand. 

Among  the  new  editions  lately  received  is  a  translation  ol 
Prof.  Oscar  Hertwig's  book  "  Die  Zelle  und  Die  Gewebe," 
published  by  Messrs.  Swan  Sonnenschein  and  Co.  The  work 
has  been  translated  by  M.  Campbell,  and  edited  by  Dr.  H. 
Johnstone  Campbell.  As  we  reviewed  the  original  edition  in 
'S93  (^'ol-  xlvii.  p.  314),  it  is  only  necessary  to  express  satisfiic- 
lion  that  such  an  important  treatise  on  the  functions  an<l 
structure  of  cells  has  been  brought  within  the  reach  of  sluilenls 
who  do  not  read  German  easily.  Under  this  translation 
from  the  German,  we  find  on  our  table  two  translations  into 
German  of  jxipers  by  British  men  of  science.  The  papers  are 
published  by  W.  Engelmann  in  Ostwald's  A'/assi/.vr  tier  Exaltlcn 
IVissenschaften.  No.  61  of  this  scries  contains  Cieorge  Green's 
essay  on  the  mathematical  analysis  of  the  theories  of  electricity 
and  magnetism,  edited  by  Dr.  A.  J.  von  Oeltingen  and  Prof.  .V. 
Wangerin,  and  No.  62  is  a  translation  of  papers  on  the  jihysiology 
of  plants,  published  by  Thomas  .Vndiew  Kniglu  helwecn  1.S03 
and  1812.  This  is  edited  by  Prof.  H.  Ambronn.  .\  third 
volume  (No.  60),  just  received  in  the  same  series,  contains  papers 
by  J.-icob  Sleiner  on  geometrical  construction,  and  is  edited  liy  Dr. 
Oeltingen.  In  the  Aide-memoire  Series,  published  by  Gaulliier- 
\'illars,  we  have  received  two  books  on  ballistic  subjects,  viz. 
"  Balistique  Exterieure,"  by  M.  E.  N'allier,  and  "  Bouches  a  [ 
Eeu,"  by  Lieut. -Colonel  E.  Hennebert.  We  have  also  before 
us  "  An  Elementary  Text-book  of  Mechanics,"  by  Mr.  W. 
Briggs,  and  Mr.  G.  H.  Bryan,  F. U.S.,  jiublished  in  the 
Tutorial  Series  of  the  University  Correspondence  College.  The  [ 
volume  is  concisely  and  clearly  written,  and  may  be  recommended  | 
as  a  useful  text-book. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Rhesus  Monkey  (Maeacus  rhesus,  9  )  from 
India,  presented  by  Mr.  R.  Norton  Stevens  ;  a  Yellow  Baboon 
(Cynocephalus  baboiiin,  ?  )  from  Parrapatti,  Eastern  Coast  of 
Africa,  presented  by  ,Mr.  J.  V.  Williams  ;  a  Kinkajou  (Ceno- 
leptes  iaudivolvulus,  9  )  from  Denterara,  presented  by  Mr.  Sydney 
Matthews ;  three  Alligators  (.■ll/igalor  mississi/ipicnsis)  from 
Florida,  presented  by  Mr.  Ernest  H.  Sliacklelon  :  two  Green 
Turtles  (Chclone  viridis)  from  Ascension,  presented  by  Com- 
mander Duncan  Campbell ;  a  Common  N'iper  ( /  'i/>cra  herns), 
British,  presented  by  .Mr.  A.  Old  ;  a  Macacjue  Monkey  (/I/ikvj.hX 
cynomolgus)  from  Java,  a  Lion  (Felts leo,  9  )  from  India,  a  Sooty 
Phalanger  (Pha/angisia  faliginosa,  var. )  from  Tasmania,  a 
Larger  Hill  Mynah  (Gracnia  intermedia)  from  Northern 
India,  a  (jrcater  Sulphur-crested  Cockatoo  (Caealua  galrrita) 
from  Australia,  a  Derbian  Sternothere  (Slernol/urnis  derliiaiins) 
from  West  .\frica,  three  South  American  Rat  Snakes  {.SpiMes 
7'aria6i/is)  from  South  America,  deposited  ;  a  Blossom- 
headed  Parrakeel  (Pa/ieornis  (yano(cphalus)  from  India,  s 
TulxTculated  Iguana  {Iguana  Inherailala)  from  the  West  Indic!| 
purchased  ;  three  Pumas  (h'elis  eomolor),  eight  Black  Sala- 
manders (Salamatidra  atra),  born  in  the  tlardens,  two  Tri- 
angular-spotted  I'igeons(Ci)/««Ma  ^w/Hirir),  two  Crested  Pigeons 
{Oiypliaps  loplwles),  bred  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Rotation  oi-  VnNt's. — Since  our  note  last  week  on  this 
subject,  Signor  G.  Schiaparelli  has  published  in  the  Aslrotiomistke 
Xa</iri,/ilcn  (Ho.  3304)  two  letters  concerning  markings  observed 
on  the  planet  in  July,  and  llair  bearing  upon  ilie  ipieslion  of 
rotation.  The  planet  was  observed  from  July  3  to  8  under  all 
kinds  of  conditions,  and  the  conclusion  arrived  at  was  that  "  the 
aspect  of  the  dusky  markings  distributed  over  the  disc  did  not 
undergo  any  important  mwTificalion  in  form  or  siluaticm  during 
this   periotl.     Save   a   few   small  cxcejitions,   all  the  variations 


August  15,  1895] 


NATURE 


il'i 


obsened  belong  to  the  categorj'  of  those  apparent  changes  of 
diurnal  period  which  may  be  explained  by  the  varying  state  of 
rest  aiul  purity  ot  the  atmosphere  and  the  different  grades 
of  illumination  of  the  background  of  the  sky.  I  have  sought 
with  particular  care  for  an  indication  of  any  change  of  place  of 
the  most  pronounced  markings,  with  reference  to  the  horns  and 
with  reference  to  the  terminator  ;  but  I  have  not  been  able  to 
make  out  anything  with  certainty  which  would  indicate  a  more 
rajiid  rotation."  This  letter  is  accompanied  by  a  sketch  showing 
a  marking  diverging  from  the  north  pole,  and  another  and  more 
decided  one  proceeding  from  the  terminator  near  the  south  pole 
in  an  easterly  direction,  and  then  curving  round  towards  the 
north  in  the  direction  of  a  meridian.  This  marking  underwent 
some  slight  change  between  July  5  and  7,  the  marking  along  the 
meridian  only  appearing  on  the  latter  date.  In  conclusion, 
Schiaparelli  observes  that  the  period  of  2247  days  ajijicars  to  be 
placed  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt.  The  second  letter,  written 
after  the  publication  of  Brenner's  observations,  contains  a 
detailed  description  of  Brenner's  great  marking,  which  is 
identical  with  the  marking  just  described,  and  also  with 
that  observed  in  December  1S77.  Schiaparelli  remarks  that  the 
view,  advanced  by  him  in  "  Considerazioni  sul  moto  rotatorio 
del  Pianete  Venere,"  that  the  markings,  though  in  reality 
atmospheric  phenomena,  depend  to  a  certain  extent  upon  the 
topographical  conditions  underneath,  and  recur  under  the  same 
conditions,  appears  to  be  confirmed. 

The  Observatory  of  Vale  University. — The  report 
of  Dr.  W.  L.  Elkin  on  the  work  done  and  in  hand  at  the 
Observatory  of  \'ale  University,  has  been  received.  From  the 
report  we  learn  that  the  series  of  heliometer  mea.sures  on  the 
parallaxes  of  the  first  magnitude  stars  has  been  brought  to  a 
close,  and  the  definitive  results  will  be  presented  in  the  near 
future.  The  series  on  the  parallaxes  of  the  larger  proper 
motion  stars,  on  which  Dr.  Chase  has  been  mainly  engaged, 
now  comprises  99  stars,  all  but  two  of  which  have  been  observed 
at  two  parallax  maximum  epochs,  in  general  on  three  nights. 
Before  drawing  any  conclusions  from  these  data,  it  is  proposed 
to  secure  two  further  ejjochs  for  each  star,  in  order  to  eliminate 
the  effect  of  the  proper  motion.  An  arrangement  has  been  made 
with  Dr.  Gill  that  the  observations  and  discussion  of  the  Iris 
series  for  the  determination  of  the  solar  parallax  should  be 
printed  and  included  with  his  similar  investigations  on  Viitoria 
and  Sappho.  For  the  photography  of  meteor  trails,  an  equatorial 
mounting,  to  carry  a  number  of  cameras,  has  been  constructed 
and  set  up.  The  mounting  carries  four  cameras,  two  with 
lenses  of  about  6  inches,  and  two  with  lenses  of  about  5  inches 
effective  aperture.  Some  valuable  results  will,  undoubtedly,  be 
obtained  from  the  photographic  data  accumulated  by  instruments 
of  this  kind.  Already  the  Vale  Observatory  is  in  possession  of 
somet.velve  impressions  of  Perseid  trails,  four  of  which  were 
secured  there  and  two  at  .-^nsonia  by  Mr.  John  E.  Lewis,  work- 
ing in  collaboration  with  Dr.  Elkin.  Prof.  Barnard  has  sent 
three  plates  exposed  also  on  August  9,  10,  and  II,"l894,  for 
about  8  hours  in  all,  which  show  four  and  possibly  five  meteor 
trails.  And  Prof.  Pickering  has  found  on  an  examination  of  the 
Harvard  Observatory  plates  one  fine  trail  on  a  i)late  taken 
August  8,  1893.  and  sent  it  to  \'ale  for  measurement.  Dr. 
Elkin  has  carried  out  a  discussion  of  these  trails,  which  will  be 
very  shortly  ready  for  publication,  and  seems  to  lead  to  some 
interesting  conclusions. 

TiiK  Nebi'i.a  N.G.C.  2438.— The  first  of  a  new  series  of 
celestial  photographs,  taken  liy  Dr.  Isaac  Roberts,  appears  in  the 
current  number  of  Knon'kdge.  It  is  a  photograph  of  a  portion 
of  ihe  constellation  Argo,  and  shows  the  beautiful  cluster  M  46, 
and  the  involved  nebula  N.G.C.  243S.  The  nebula  is  a  very 
small  one,  and  was  clas.sed  as  a  planetary  nebula  by  Sir  John 
Ilerschel  ;  Lor<l  Rosse,  however,  on  some  occasions,  observed  it 
.as  an  annular  nebula  with  two  stars  and  a  suspected  third  one 
enclosed  ;  Lassell  described  it  as  a  planetary  nebula  w  ilh  two  stars 
involved.  The  photograph,  which  was  exposed  for  90  minutes 
in  the  20-inch  reflector,  shows  the  nebula  to  be  as  perfectly  of 
the  annular  type  as  that  in  Lyra.  It  is  circular  in  form,  w  ith 
three  stars  in  the  interior,  the  ring  being  most  condensed  on  the 
north  following  side.  The  brightest  .star  is  near  the  centre,  and 
is  estimated  at  from  13th  to  14th  magnitude  ;  on  the  south  pre- 
ceding side  is  a  .star  of  about  l6th  magnitude,  and  a  still  fainter 
one  almost  touches  the  ring  on  the  south  preceding  .side.  There 
arc  indications  of  faint  luminosity  in  the  interior  of  the  ring. 

The  cluster  depicted  in   the  s:ime   photograph  is  a  "  magni- 
ficent aggregation  of  stars  between  the  9th  and  l6lh  magnitude." 

NO.    1346,  VOL.  52] 


THE    VOYAGE    OF    THE    ''ANTARCTIC"     TO 
.  VICTORIA    LAND> 

ALLOW  me  first  to  explain  that  my  scientific  observations 
were  made  under  the  disadvantageous  circumstances  of  a 
sailor  before  the  mast  on  board  the  whaler  Aiilardic.  There 
seemed  no  choice  between  adopting  this  course  and  remaining 
on  shore,  and  I  was  consequently  able  to  take  very  few  instru- 
ments. This  explanation  may  to  some  extent  lighten  the  criticism 
of  my  results. 

We  left  .Melbourne  on  September  20,  1894.  It  was  originally 
our  intention  to  spend  a  few  weeks  in  search  of  spenn  whales  off 
the  south-west  of  Tasmania  ;  but  not  meeting  with  any,  we 
steered  for  Royal  Company  Islands.  On  October  18  we  had  snow- 
on  board  for  the  first  time.  It  came  in  heavy  squalls,  bringing 
a  large  specimen  of  the  Dionteda  cxulans  albatross  on  board  for 
refuge.  At  night  it  was  moonlight,  and  at  twelve  o'clock  the 
Aurora  Australis  was  visible  for  the  first  time,  w  ith  white  shining 
clouds,  rolling  from  west  to  east,  at  an  altitude  above  the 
southern  horizon  of  thirty-five  degrees.  The  Antarctic  was  at 
the  time  in  the  vicinity  of  Macquarie  Island,  in  latitude  about 
50'  south.  The  aurora  seemed  to  be  constantly  reinforced  from  the 
west,  the  intensity  of  the  light  culminating  every  five  minutes, 
dying  out  suddenly,  and  regaining  its  former  brilliancy  during 
the  succeeding  five  minutes.  The  phenomenon  lasted  until  two- 
o'clock,  when  it  was  gradually  lost  in  an  increasing  mist.  As 
the  snow  was  heavy,  and  there  was  little  probability  of  any 
material  benefit  from  landing,  we  set  out  for  Campbell  Island  on 
the  22nd,  and  dropped  anchor  in  North  Harbour  on  the  eve  of 
October  25,  drifting  the  following  day  down  to  Perseverance 
Bay,  a  much  safer  harbour,  where  we  filled  our  water-tanks  and 
made  final  preparations  before  proceeding  south.  Campbell 
Island  shows  from  a  great  distance  its  volcanic  origin  and 
character,  undulating  ridges  rising  in  numberless  conical  peaks, 
to  from  300  to  2000  feet  above  sea  level.  The  land  around  the 
bay  is  rich  in  vegetation,  and  most  of  the  island  is  covered  with 
grass,  on  which  a  few  sheep  seem  to  live  in  luxur)-.  Numerous 
I  fur  seals  were  ba.sking  on  the  rocks,  and  we  also  found  many 
sea-leopards  {Stenorhync litis  tcptonyx).  They  seemed  to  thrive 
I  well,  their  skins  being  without  scar  or  cut,  and,  except  human 
beings,  they  appear  to  have  no  enemies  in  these  waters. 

While  duck-shooting  on  the  Campbell,  I  came  on  three 
graceful  waders  of  the  snipe  type  (Noi\e  Zealandiic).  In  the 
interior  of  the  island  grass  was  everywhere  to  be  seen  except 
where  stunted  brushwood  covered  the  ground.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  some  of  the  hardy  species  of  ScandinaWan  trees 
I  would  do  well  on  this  island. 

I  We  weighed  anchor  on  October  31.  During  the  next  few 
I  days,  proceeding  further  into  the  fifties,  the  air  and  water 
remained  at  an  equal  temperature  of  44'  F.  A  large  number 
of  crested  penguins  were  seen  jumping  about  like  small  por- 
poises. We  met  with  several  icebergs  from  too  feet  to  150  feet 
in  height.  These  bergs  were  solid  masses  of  floating  ice,  with 
perpendicular  walls  and  an  unbroken  plateau  on  the  top. 

C3n  the  6th  of  the  following  month,  in  lat.  58^  14'  and 
long.  162"  35',  we  sighted  an  immense  barrier  of  ice,  or  chain 
of  icebergs,  extending  for  about  forty  to  sixty  miles  from  east 
to  north-west,  in  fact  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  top 
being  quite  level  and  absolutely  white,  and  the  greatest  height 
600  feet.  The  perpendicular  sides  were  dark  ashy  grey,  with 
large  worn  green  caves.  Several  icebergs,  similar  to  those  we 
had  encountered  before,  were  floating  in  all  directions,  and  were 
undoubtedly  children  of  this  enormous  monster. 

By  the  time  we  had  reached  55'  the  albatross  had  left  us,  as 
likewise  the  Cape  pigeon  {Daption  capcnsis)  ;  but  the  white- 
bellied  storm  petrel  still  followed  in  our  track.  A  lestris,  with 
dark  brown  head  and  white  bordered  w ings,  and  a  small  blue 
petrel  put  in  an  appearance.  On  December  7  we  sighted  the  edge 
of  the  pack  ice  and  shot  our  first  seal,  which  was  of  the  white 
kind  {Steiiorhyiii litis  carcinopliaga),  its  skin  being  injured  by 
several  deep  scratches.  We  had  also  a  very  heavy  snowfall,  the 
vessel  being  covered  on  deck  and  rigging  for  the  first  time. 

On  December  S,  in  lat.  68°  45',  long.  171'  30',  large  streams 
of  ice  drifting  around  us,  a  strong  ice  blink  appearing  towards 
the  south,  and  the  presence  of  the  elegant  white  petrel  (Procc/- 
lari  Nii'ca)  gave  us  unmistakable  evidence  that  we  had  now 
before  us  those  vast  ice-fields  into  which  Sir  James  Ross  success- 
fully entered  with  his  famous  ships  Erebus  and  Terror,  on 
Januaiy  5,  1841.     In  the  evening  we  slowly  worked  our  \yay  in 

t  Abstract  'of  a  paper  read  by  Mr.  C.  E.  Borchgrcvink  nt  the  Sixth 
International  Geographical  Congress  on  August  1 


37' 


NA  TURE 


[August  15,  189  = 


through  the  outer  edge  of  the  ice-pack,  which  consisted  of  large 
and  heav)-  hummocky  ice.  I  saw  multitudes  of  tlie  Argoimiila 
.-tiitiirctica  everywhere  in  the  jxick, usually  swimming  in  cavities 
in  the  ice-floes  to  escape  their  enemies  the  whales.  The  large- 
finned  whale  {Physa/iis  .4ustralis)  was  spouting  about  in  all 
directions.  The  white  petrels  were  numerous  here,  and  I 
secured  more  of  them.  The  white-ljellied  petrel  departed  at  the 
edge  of  the  jack,  leaving  the  icy  regions  to  its  darker,  hardier 
brethren  ( Thalassidroma  Wihoni'i).  We  shot  several  seals,  but 
they  were  scattered  about  sparsely,  most  having  scars  and 
scratches  in  the  skin.  Sir  James  Ross  noticed  similar  wounds 
on  the  seals,  and  it  has  been  supposed  that  they  are  inflicted  by 
the  large  tusks  in  liattle  between  themselves.  My  opinion, 
however,  Ls  that  these  scars  must  be  ascribed  to  the  action  of  a 
different  species.  The  wounds  are  not  like  those  inflicted  by  a 
tusk,  being  from  two  to  twenty  inches  in  length,  and  straight  and 
narrow  in  shape,  and  where  several  are  met  with  on  the  same 
animal,  they  are  too  far  apart  to  have  been  produced  by  the 
numerous  sharp  teeth  of  the  seal.  Nor  do  I  consider  that  they 
are  due  to  the  sword-fish,  though  that  is  doubtless  doing  mis- 
chief there.  If  my  opinion,  that  these  wounds  are  inflicted  by 
an  at  present  unknown  enemy  of  the  seal,  proves  correct,  it  may 
serve  to  explain  the  strange  scarcity  of  these  animals  in  regions  ' 
where  one  would  expect  to  find  them  almost  everj'where.  | 

When  we  entered  the  ice-pack  the  temperature  of  the  air  was 
25'  K.,  that  of  the  water  28    F.,  which  latter  temperature  was 
maintained  all  through  the  jxick.     Penguins  were  aljout  in  great  [ 
numbers. 

On  the  14th  we  sighted  Balleny  Island,  finding  it  in 
lat.  66°  44',  long.  164" ;  this  agreeing  with  Ross.  The  ice- 
floes became  gradually  larger  as  we  approached  land,  and  it  was 
evident  that  the  ice-pack  then  around  us  was  in  great  part  dis- 
charged from  the  glaciers  of  Balleny,  some  of  it  carrying  stone 
and  earth.  Although  the  higher  part  of  the  island  was  lost  in 
mist,  we  got  a  good  view  of  its  lofty  peak,  which  rises  to  a 
height  of  12,000  feel  at)ove  the  sea  level.  The  size  and  shape 
of  the  ice  alxiut  Balleny  was  a  source  of  considerable  danger 
to  our  vessel,  covered  as  it  is  with  snow  to  a  depth  of  several 
yards,  and  running  out  under  water  in  long  sharp  points.  It  is 
not  likely  that  a  vessel  dcj^nding  entirely  on  sails  would  long 
.survive  in  such  ice.  The  air  temperature  at  Balleny  was 
found  to  be  34°  K.,  that  of  the  w.-itcr  28°  F. 

Finding  the  pack  so  impenetrable  in  this  Kx;ality  we  resolved 
to  work  eastwards,  in  the  track  which  the  Erchus  and  Terror 
had  followed.  On  Decemlier  22,  in  lat.  66°  3',  long.  167°  37'  K., 
I  shot  a  seal  of  ordinary  size  and  colour,  but  with  a  very  thick 
neck,  and  no  sign  of  scars,  a  kind  which  none  of  our  old  sealers 
on  board  had  ever  seen  before. 

On  Wcdnesilay,  the  26th,  we  crossed  the  .\nlarctic  circle,  and 
on  New  Year's  Kvc  were  in  lat.  66' 47',  long.  174  8'  F.  at  twelve 
o'clock.  In  lat.  67'  5',  long.  175°  45'  E.,  I  secured  a  specimen 
of  ApfiiioHyles  Forstcrii — a  large  penguin.  I  only  secured 
four  of  these  birds  altogether,  and  never  saw  it  in  company  with 
others  of  its  kind.  On  the  14th,  in  lat.  69°  55'  and  157°  30'  IC, 
we  came  again  into  open  water,  having  spent  38  days  in  work- 
ing our  passage  through  the  ice-pack.  A  clear  open  space  of 
water  «as  now  liefore  us.  We  steered  straight  for  Cape  .Vdare 
on  Victoria  I^nd,  and  sighted  it  on  the  l6th  of  Januar)'.  On 
the  l8th,  in  lat.  71' 45',  long.  1 76°  3'  F.,  the  tem])erature  of  the 
air  was  32'.  and  of  the  water  30°.  The  cape,  which  is  in 
71*  23'  and  169'  56'  E.,  rises  to  a  height  of  3779  feet,  .and  con- 
.si.sts  of  a  large  sijuare  l>asaltic  rock  with  perpendicular  sides. 
From  there  we  saw  the  coast  of  \ictoria  I^nd  to  the  west  and 
south  as  far  a.s  the  eye  could  reach,  rising  from  dark  bare  rocks 
into  peaks  of  perpetual  ice  and  snow  12,000  feet  al)ove  the  sea 
level,  with  Mount  Sabine  standing  out  above  the  rest.  I 
counted  a.s  many  as  twenty  glaciers  in  the  imme<Iiate  vicinity  of 
the  boy,  one  of  which  seemed  covered  with  lava,  while  below  a 
layer  of  snow  apiK-ated  another  layer  of  lava,  resting  on  the 
.surface  of  ihe  glacier.  A  volcanic  |wak  about  8000  feet  in 
height  had  undoubtedly  Ixren  in  activity  a  short  time  before. 
On  the  l8lh  we  sighlc<l  Possession  Island,  and  effected  a  suc- 
cessful landing  (tn  the  North  Island,  itcing  Ihe  seconfi  to  set' 
foot  on  this  island,  Sir  James  Ross  having  preceded  us  fifty-four 
years  before.  The  island  consists  of  vesicular  lava,  rising  m  the 
Houlh  w-T  into  iwr)  ixjinted  peaks  300  feet  high.  I  scaled  the 
high  •  ,  and  called  it  Peak    -Vrcher,  after  A.  Archer, 

of    I  in,     ',)uecnsland.      To     the     west     the    island 

rises  gcnny  upward,  forming  a  Ixdd  and  conspicuous  cape, 
to  which,  not  having  Ixren  christened  by  Ross,  I  gave  the 
name   of  Sir    Ferdinand    von   Mueller,     I    quite   unexpectedly 

NO.    1346,  VOL.   52] 


found  vegetation  on  the  rocks  about  30  feet  above  the  sea  level, 
vegetation  having  never  been  discovered  in  so  southerly  a  lati- 
tude before.  We  gave  to  this  island,  w  hich  I  judged  to  be  alxtui 
300  to  350  acres  in  extent,  the  name  of  Sir  James  Ross  Island. 
Possession  Island  is  situateti  in  lat.  71'  56',  long.  171°  10'  F. 

On  January  20  we  steamed  southwards,  and  on  the  21  si 
sighted  Colman  Island  at  midnight.  Finding  the  eastern  cape  of 
this  island  unnamed,  we  called  it  Cape  Oscar,  in  honour  of  his 
Majesty  our  King.  I  noticed  great  irregidarities  in  our  comjiass 
at  Colman  Island,  and  undoubtedly  it  contains  secrets  of  scientific 
value.  On  tlie  22n(l,  being  in  lat.  74°  S.,  and  no  whales  ap- 
pearing, it  W.-IS  decided  to  head  northwards  again,  although  all 
regretleil  that  circumstances  did  not  permit  of  our  procee<ling 
further  south. 

On  the  23rd  we  were  again  at  Ca])e  -Vdare.     Icebergs  of  large 
size  were  every^vhere  to  be  seen,  and  showed  distinctly  whether 
they  were  broken  from  tlie  big  barrier  or  discharged  from  the 
glaciers  on  \ietoria  I-and.    W'e  landed  at  Cape  .\dare  that  night, 
being  the  first  human  beings  to  put  foot  on  the  mainland.     Our 
landing-pl.ice  was  a  kind  of  peninsula  or  landslip,  gently  slop- 
ing down  from  the  stee))  rocks  of  Cape  Adare  until  it   ran  into 
the  bay  as  a  long  flat   ]x;bbly  beach.     The  jieninsula  formed  a 
complete  breakwater  for  the  inner  bay.     The  penguins  were,  il 
possiljle,  even  more  numerous  here  than  on   Possession   Island, 
and  were  found  in  the  cape  as  far  up  as  1000  feet.     Having  col- 
lected siiecimens  of  the  rocks,  and  found  ihe  same  cryptoganiic 
vegetation  as  on    Possession   Island,  we  again  pulled  on  board. 
We  now   stood  northward,  and  in  lat.  69°  52',  long.  169°  6'  F. , 
again   ran    into   the  ice-pack.       On    February   I,    in    lat.    66', 
long.    179°    31'  E.,   we  reached    open  water,  having  this  time 
spent  only  six  days  in   the  icepack.     On  the  17th  the  Aurora 
appeared  stronger  than  lever  saw  the  Aurora  Horcalis.     Il  rose 
from  south-west  in  a  bro.ad  stream  towards  the  zenith,  and  down 
again  towards  the  eastern  horizon,  being  quite  difl'erent  in  ap- 
pearance from  when  we  last  saw  it  on  ( Ictober  20.     It  iiresented 
long  shining  curtains  rising  and  falling  in  wonderful  shapes  and 
shades,  sometimes  seemingly  quite  close  to  our  m.isthe.ads,  and 
it  evidently  exerted  considerable   influence  upon  our  compass- 
needle.      In    lat.   44°   35'  and    long.    147°  34'  we  met    with  a 
great  number  of  sjierm  whales,      .\fter   struggling  for  several 
days  with  a  furious   .storm   of  distinctly  cyclonic  character,  we 
\  sighted   the  co,xst  of  Tasmania  on  March  4,  and  entered  I'ort 
Philip  on  the  12th,  five  months  and  a  half  after  our  dejiarture 
from  .Melbourne. 
^       .\s  my  reix)rt  shows,  we  had  conqxiralively  high  temperatures 
during  our  voyage,  higher  than  .Sir  James  Ross  experienced,  and 
higher  than  those  ob.served  last  year  by  the  whaling  licet  south 
of   Cape   Horn.     The    minimum    lemper.ature   we  experienced 
within  the  .\ntarclic  circle  w;\s  25°  1'.,  the  maximum  46  .     The 
average  temperature  from  200  readings  each   numth  was   3-  '5 
for  January,  30'  for  l-ebroary.     The  lemiJeralure  of  the  water 
remained  at  28°  F.  all  through   the  ice-pack,  rising  i    wherever 
j  a  larger  sheet  of  water  broke  the  ice-fields.     In  the  large  bay  in 
■South  Victoria  Land  the  temperature  remained  nearly  constantly 
about  freezing-point.     The  question  naturally  ari.ses-   lias  ihe 
average  temperature  at  the  shore  of  Victoria    I-ind  risen  iluring 
I  the   Last   fifiyfour  years,  and  has  vegetation  for  Ihe   first   lime 
developed  in  those  southern  latitudes  since   Ross  was  there?     It 
does  not  seem   probable  that  Ihe  ajipcarance  of  vegetation  on 
Possession   Island  would  have  escaped   Ihe  observalion  of  the 
naturalists  who  accompanied  that  expedition.      It  is  evident  that 
a  warm  current  with  a  constant  direction  northwards  breaks  the 
ice-fiehls  at  the  very  place  where  .Sir  James   Ross  and  we  pene- 
trated to  the  open  Kay  of  Victoria  l,and.     Wilhin  the  .\nlarclic 
circle  the  barometer  at   29  inches  always  indicated  calm,  clear 
weather,   and   even  at   28  inches  il   remained    fine.     This    low 
Ijarometric  reading  is  remarkable  considering  the  dj^yness  of  the 
air.     The   |)rcvailing  wind  in   the  bay  seemed  to  be  from  ihc 
east,  but  at  Cape  .\dare  a  change  a|)|K'ared  to  take  place,  ami 
westerly  win<ls  are  there,  to  all  appearance,  predominanl.     The 
direction  of  the  movement  of  Ihe  ice  is  distinclly  norlh-Laslerly, 
and  Ihe  scarcity  of  ice  in  the  bayof  Victoria  Land  is  undnuliletlly 
not  alone  due  to  warm  currents,  but  also  to  llie  protection  from 
drift  ice  aft'orded   by  the  shore  from   Oipe   .\dare  down  to  the 
volcanoes  ICrebusand  Terror. 

The  rocks  on  Possession  Island  seem  all  lo  be  of  volcanic 
origin,  an<l  represent  basaltic  lava  flows  which  have  taken  place 
during  late  geological  epochs.  The  specimens  1  liroughl  from 
South  \icloria  Cimlinent  <liffer  but  lillle  from  those  I  found  on 
I'ossession  Island.  One  pecidiar  rock  1  cnllecled  has  an  indis- 
tinct granular  .structure,  and   nscinblis  uuich   the  garnet   sand- 


August  15,  1S95] 


NA TURE 


o// 


stone  of  Broken  1  lill  ;  it  seems  lo  bear  some  close  relation  to 
granilite.  The  specimen  is  composed  of  quartz,  garnet,  and 
felspar  fragments.  This  rock  holds  out  ho]ies  that  minerals  of 
economic  value  may  occur  in  these  regions. 

The  peninsula  on  which  we  landed  at  Cajie  .\dare  must  be 
some  seventy  acres  in  extent ;  on  the  top  of  the  guano  were  lying 
the  primitive  nests  of  the  penguins,  compo.sed  of  pebbles.  .Some 
hundreds  of  yards  up  these  landslips  I  came  upon  two  dead 
seals,  which  Irom  their  appearance  must  have  lain  there  several 
years.  I  made  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  landing-place, 
because  I  believe  it  to  be  a  ]ilace  where  a  future  scientific 
expedition  might  safely  stop  even  during  the  winter  months. 
Several  accessible  spurs  lead  up  front  the  place  where  we  were 
to  the  top  of  the  ca]")c,  and  from  there  a  gentle  slope  leads  on  to 
the  great  plateau  of  South  \'ictoria  Continent.  The  presence  of 
the  penguin  colony,  their  undisturbed  old  nests,  the  appearance 
of  the  dead  seals,  the  vegetation  on  the  rocks,  and,  lastly,  the 
flat  table  of  the  cape  above,  all  indicated  that  here  the  unbound 
forces  of  the  Antarctic  circle  do  not  display  the  whole  severity 
of  their  powers.  Neither  ice  nor  volcanoes  seemed  to  have 
raged  at  the  peninsula  at  Cape  Adare,  and  I  strongly  recommend 
a  future  scientific  expedition  to  choose  this  spot  as  a  centre  for 
operations.  -Vt  this  jilace  there  is  a  safe  situation  for  houses, 
tents,  and  provisions.  I  myself  am  willing  to  be  the  leader  of 
a  party,  to  be  landed  either  on  the  pack  or  on  the  mainland  near 
Colman  Island,  with  Ski,  Canadian  shoes,  sledges,  md  dogs. 
From  there  it  is  my  scheme  to  work  towards  the  south  magnetic 
pole,  calculated  by  Ross  to  be  in  75^  5' and  150°  E.,  Colman 
Island  lying  in  73^  36'  .S.  and  170"  2'  E.  I  should  have 
to  travel  about  160  miles  to  reach  the  south  magnetic  pole. 
Should  the  party  succeed  in  penetrating  so  far  into  the  continent, 
the  course  should  be  laid,  if  possible,  for  Cape  .-Vdare,  in  order 
to  join  the  main  body  of  the  expedition  there. 

As  to  the  zoological  results  of  future  researches,  I  expect  great 
discoveries.  I  base  my  expectations  on  one  jioint — on  the  scars 
found  on  the  seals,  which  in  my  opinion  point  to  the  existence  of 
a  large  unknown  mammal  within  the  .Antarctic  circle.  Although 
ihe  white  polar  bear  of  the  .Arctic  has  never  been  found  in  the 
south,  I  should  not  be  surprised  to  discover  similar  species  there. 
It  would  indeed  be  remarkable  if,  on  the  unexplored  \'ictoria 
Continent — which  probabl)"  extends  over  an  area  of  8,000,000 
sipiare  miles,  or  about  twice  Ihe  size  of  Europe — animal  life 
hitherto  unknown  on  the  southern  hemisphere  should  not  be 
found. 

It  is  of  course  possible  that  the  unknown  land  around  the  axis 
of  rotation  may  consist  of  islands,  only  joined  by  perpetual  ice 
and  snow  ;  but  the  appearance  of  the  land,  and  the  colour  of  the 
water  with  its  soundings,  in  a<!dition  to  the  movements  of  the 
-Antarctic  ice,  point  to  the  existence  of  a  mass  of  land  much  more 
extensive  than  a  mere  island. 

It  is  true  that  the  scientific  results  of  this  expedition  have  been 
few ,  but  my  little  work  gives  me  at  least  the  satisfaction  of  feeling 
that  it  will  fill  a  useful,  if  molecular,  place  among  those  strong 
arguments  which  for  years  have  accvnnulated,  and  which  jirove 
that  further  delay  of  a  scientific  expedition  to  .South  Victoria 
Continent  can  scarcely  be  justified. 


WE  A  THER    EALLACIES} 

T  N  the  long  and  |-)alient  pursuit  which  the  attainment  of  all 
accurate  knowledge  exacts  from  man,  it  may  sometimes  be 
instructive  to  turn  one's  gaze  backward  and  contemjilate  the 
errors  which  have  been  corrected,  the  fallacies  which  have  been 
demolished,  and  the  superstitions  which  have  been  lived  down  : 
and  this  consideration  has  prompted  me  to  take  for  the  subject 
of  this  year's  address  that  wide  range  of  human  opinions  which 
m.ay  fitly  be  classed  under  the  head  of  "  Weather  Fallacies.'' 

Nothing  could  have  been  more  in  accordance  with  the  law  of 
growth  in  other  branches  of  knowledge  than  that  Meteorology 
should,  in  its  earliest  dawn,  have  been  with  difficully  able  to 
emerge  froni  the  mists  and  darkness  of  guesses  and  surmises 
such  as  have  surrounded  the  transfer  of  any  truth  from  the 
barbaric  to  the  philosophic  stage. 

It  is  to  the  Creeks  that  we  must  look  for  the  first  real  w-eather 
observations  after  the  matter  had  passed  through  what  may  be 
called  the  mere  savage  phase ;  and  we  find  Hesiod,  Theo- 
phrastus,  and  .\ratus  presenting  us  with  an  early  code  of  rules, 
which  serve  at  least  to  show  us  how  little  we  have  ourselves 
advanced  in  some  matters  since  their  time. 

.Vn  .-uidrcN'.  delivered  to  the  Royal  Melcorologicxl  Society,  by  Mr.  Richard 
Inwards,  t'resideiu.    (Reprinted  from  the  Quarterly  J(Jiitnato{i\\>t  Society.) 

NO.   1346,  VOL.  52 J 


One  of  our  Fellows,  Mr.  J.  C.  Wood,  has  just  given  to  the 
world  an  excellent  and  scholarly  translation  of  the  work  of 
Theophrastus,  which  has  not  previously  been  put  in  an  Engli.sh 
garb,  and  Mr.  Wood  has  done  the  whole  country  a  great  service 
in  giving  us  this  translation  of  the  "  Winds  and  Weather  Signs," 
a  book  which  contains  a  host  of  rules  and  observations  about 
the  weather,  and  which,  as  might  have  been  expected  from  the 
production  of  the  favourite  pupil  of  I'lato  and  Aristotle,  is  sin- 
gularly free  from  errors  of  the  grosser  and  more  superstitious 
kind,  such  as  were  plentifully  produced  in  W'estern  Europe 
many  centuries  later. 

lUit  long  before  the  time  of  Theophrastus,  and  ])robably  very 
soon  after  the  invention  of  agriculture  itself,  there  were  w'eather 
gods  and  weather  fallacies  ;  for  we  find  that  Jupiter  Tonans  and 
Pluvius— the  thunderer  and  the  rain-maker — were  set  by  men  on 
the  highest  pedestals.  And  centuries  after  this,  Lucian  tell  us 
that  it  was  usual  in  his  time  to  offer  prayers  for  suitable  weather, 
and  he  recounts  in  his  "  Dialogues  ''  how  two  countrymen  w  ere  at 
the  same  time  ofl'ering  up  contrary  petitions — one  that  not  a 
drop  of  rain  might  fall  until  he  had  completed  his  harvest,  while 
the  other  prayed  for  innnediate  rain,  in  order  to  bring  on  his 
backward  crop  of  cabbages — lioth  suppliants  only  too  sure  to 
find  that  the  ears  of  the  image  w  ere  deaf  .as  the  stone  of  which 
they  w  ere  made,  and  that  the  wheels  of  the  universe  would  not 
wander  or  turn  back  for  any  selfish  ends  of  man. 

In  considering  these  early  times,  when  the  weather  had  to  be 
studied  from  cloud,  sky  and  sea,  and  from  the  behaviour  of  the 
animals  and  plants,  we  must  be  ready  to  excuse  men  for  doing 
that  which  is  still  too  frequently  a  cause  of  error,  viz.  fore- 
telling what  they  most  w  ished  for,  and  putting  down  as  universal 
law  that  which  was  only  a  coincidence  of  totally  independent 
events.  In  considering  weather  fallacies  it  will  be  impossible  to 
follow  a  chronological  order,  so  I  shall  treat  them,  or  rather  a 
small  portion  of  them,  under  the  heads  of  saints'  day  fallacies, 
Sim  and  moon  fallacies,  and  those  concerning  animals  and 
plants,  while  finally  I  shall  consider  the  almanack  makers, 
weather  prophets  and  impostors  who  have  from  time  to  time 
furnished  the  world  with  materials  for  its  credulity  or  its 
ridicule. 

The  first  class  of  w  eather  fallacies  which  I  shall  scarcely  more 
than  mention,  are  those  which  refer  to  the  supposed  connection 
between  the  weather  of  any  day  in  the  week  or  year,  and  that 
of  any  other  period,  and  it  may  be  as  well  to  state  at  the  outset 
that  there  is  no  kind  of  foundation  in  fact  for  any  of  these  so- 
called  rules.  They  are  for  the  most  ])an  born  of  the  wish  to  see 
certain  kinds  of  weather  at  certain  times  of  year,  and,  like  all 
these  predictions,  were  faithfully  remembered  when  they  came 
true,  and  promptly  forgotten  when  they  failed.  One  has  often 
heard — 

"  fine  on  Friday,  fine  on  Suiulay." 

Or  that  "  Friday  is  the  best  and   worst  day  of  the   week,"  and 

the  superstition  even  extends  to  hours  of  the  day,  for  we  have — 

'*  Rain  at  seven,  line  at  eleven," 

w  hich  is  only  another  way  of  saying  that  rain  does  not  usually 
last  four  hours,  and  the  rule  generally  fails  when  applied  to  d.tily 
experience  :  but  the  host  of  pro\'erbs  connected  with  saints'  days 
are  more  difficult  to  deal  with,  on  account  of  the  longer  lime 
which  elapses  between  the  prophecy  and  its  fulfilment  or  failure. 
XW  or  most  of  these  proverbs  concern  the  days  of  certain  saints, 
though  I  think  no  one  imagines  that  this  is  anything  more  than 
a  c<mvenient  method  of  fixing  the  date,  because  our  ancestors 
had  a  saint  for  every  day,  so  that  they  naturally  referred  to  the 
day  liy  his  name. 

There  are  forty  weather  saints,  among  the  most  prominent  of 
whom  is  undoubtedly  .St.  .Swithin,  whose  day  is  July  15,  and  the 
sui)erstilion  is  that  if  it  should  rain  on  that  day  it  will  rain  for 
forty  days  after.  Now,  as  .Mr.  .Scott  olxserves,  this  date  is  very 
near  a  well-known  bad  time  in  wet  years,  as  the  terms,  long  in 
use,  of  "  .St.  Margaret's  flood  ''  and  "  Lammas  flood  "  abundantly 
testify.  The  fact  that  some  of  these  heavy  rains  began  on 
July  15  has  been  enough  material  for  theadiige-monger,  and  so  we 
have  another  "  universal "'  law  laid  down,  a  law  which  is,  how- 
ever, constantly  broken,  as  every  student  of  the  weather  very 
well  knows.  The  whole  thing  is  a  fallacy  of  the  most  vulgar 
kind,  and  ought  speedily  to  be  forgotten,  together  with  all  the 
adages  which  make  the  weather  of  any  period  depend  on  that  of 
a  distant  day. 

Turning  in  weariness  from  this  class  of  superstitions,  which 
may  be  said  to  belong  to  the  self-exploding  order,  we  are  next 
met  by  an  extensive  array  of  authorities  w  ho,  under  the  jiri  'lecting 


0/  >^ 


NATURE 


[August  15,  1895 


shield  of  astronomy,  profess  to  have  framed  infallible  rules  for  i 
the  weather  as  judgoi  from  the  ever-var)ing  relative  positions 
i)f  the  sun,  moon,  and  planets.  They  attack  us  systematically 
antl  persistently,  api:)ealing  to  analogy,  to  reason,  and  to  common 
sense.  But  it  is  sometimes  necessar)'  to  be  on  our  guard,  even 
against  common  sense,  in  considering  jiroblems  to  which  un- 
common sense  has  for  centuries  been  devoted  without  avail. 
The  well-known  action  of  the  sun  and  moon  upon  the  ocean 
tides  is  generally  the  starting  ix>inl  of  these  theorists,  and  it  is 
soon  shown  to  common  sense  that  when  the  earth  is  nearer  the 
sun,  or  the  moon  is  nearer  to  the  earth  (it  being  remembered  that 
they  move  in  elliptic  orbits),  or  when  both  sun  and  moon  are,  as 
it  were,  pulling  together,  as  at  new  moon,  there  ought  to  be  a 
tide  of  atmosphere  caused  by  their  influence  similar  to  the  tides 
of  the  ocean,  which  such  agencies  undoubtedly  produce.  But 
we  find  that  whatever  .so-calle<l  reason,  analogy,  and  common 
sense  may  seem  to  dictate,  the  facts  will  not  follow  in  the  (xith 
marked  out  for  them  ;  and  the  atmospheric  tides  refuse  to  ebb 
and  flow,  except  in  a  most  infinitesimal  degree,  quite  dispropor- 
tioncd  to  their  supposed  moving  forces.  The  theorists  must  trj' 
again,  and  they  do  so  by  jwinting  out  that  the  moon  and  earth 
move  in  planes  which  are  inclined  to  each  other  at  an  angle,  and 
that  at  some  limes  of  the  year  the  attraction  of  the  sun  and  moon 
are  acting  in  somewhat  widely  diverging  lines,  whilst  at  others 
they  are  pulling  more  nearly  in  the  same  jilane.  Here  is,  they 
say,  a  clear  case.  .\t  times,  when  the  angle  is  gre.itest,  there 
should  at  any  rale  be  worse  weather  caused  by  the  conflicting 
forces.  When  the  moon  is  said  to  be  "  on  her  back,"  or,  in  other 
words,  when  the  line  of  the  shadow  boundary  of  the  half-moon 
or  crescent  is  much  inclined  to  the  earth's  axis,  then  is  the  time, 
say  they,  for  tempests  and  commotions  to  come.  But  again  the 
spirits  from  the  "vasty  deep"  do  not  come  when  called,  and  we 
have  to  invent  other  causes  for  our  earthly  disturbances. 

It  may  Ije-  safely  saiil  that  a  new  moon  theory  as  to  the  weather 
comes  out  at  least  once  a  year,  and  it  has  been  attempted  to 
connect  the  honoured  name  of  .Sir  William  lierschel  with  a  table 
which  profes.sed  to  show  the  dependence  of  weather  changes  on 
those  of  the  moon. 

By  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Symons  I  am  able  to  show  you  on 
the  screen  a  much  magnified  representation  of  this  production, 
now  very  scarce,  and  which  has  the  name  of  lierschel  in  Ltrge 
capitals,  no  doubt  as  a  sort  of  ballast  to  give  it  weight  and 
steadiness,  though  it  does  not  definitely  state  that  lierschel  had 
anything  to  do  with  it.  Herschel's  ow n  letter  on  the  subject 
runs  as  follows  : — 


J^ 


1  l%,<r**^     t^   /tC^ 


y- 


'/L,  /c^ 


/T-<*L^^^   <^  ^^a-tC'"^*-^-'     /4»'-''  ,Wt.<>V      isi^^« 


So  that  .my  Itllow  ..f  ihisScjcicly  who  .sees  one  of  these  diagrams 
in  the  future  will  kn><w  that  it  is  a  fraud. 

Ofroiii                    '  ,f  j.v^.,y  one  to  check  the  pre- 

dictions 1  I   with  respect  to  the  changes 

of   the  W' 1  K  I i!ie  change  of  the  ni'Kii;    but 


X 


9U 


many  eminent  men  have  occupied  themselves  with  the  subject,, 
and  the  result  is  that  no  corres]X)ndence  between  the  two  classes 
of  phenomena  has  been  established. 

Dr.  Horsley  examined  the  weather  tables  of  1774,  as  published, 
by  the  Koyal  Society,  and  out  of  46  changes  of  w  eather  in  that 
year  only  ten  occurred  on  the  days  of  lunar  influence,  only  two 
of  them  being  at  the  new  moon,  and  none  at  all  at  the  full.  M. 
Flarguergues,  of  \"iviers.  found  also  as  the  result  of  twenty  years' 
observations,  that  the  barometer  readings  taken  when  the  moon, 
was  furthest  from  the  earth  averaged  755  millimetres,  and  when, 
nearest,  754  millimetres,  show  ing  a  difierence  of  t  millimetre  or 
about  '04  inch,  and  this  in  a  direction  against  the  theory,  the 
pressure  being  greater  by  that  amount  when  the  moon  wtts- 
farthest  from  the  earth. 

\"arious  other  weather  seers  have  pinned  their  faith  on  lunar 
cycles,  and  have  predicteil  that  weather  changes  woulil  repeat 
themselves,  as  soon  as  the  sun  and  moon  got  back  into  tlie  same 
relative  )X)sitions,  which  they  do  in  nineteen  years,  with  only  an 
error  of  an  hour  and  a  half.  Others,  such  as  Mr.  ('•.  M.ickenzie,. 
advocated  a  cycle  of  54  years,  but  it  may  be  summarily  staled 
that  all  the  cycles  have  broken  down,  and  that,  as  far  as  we  know, 
there  is  no  definite  period  .after  w  hich  the  w  eather  changes  repeat 
themselves. 

(^ther  fallacies  about  the  moon  are  numerous,  such  as  that  the 
full  moon  clears  away  the  clouds  ;  that  you  should  only  sow 
beans  or  cut  down  trees  in  the  wane  of  the  moon  :  that  it  is  a 
b.ad  sign  if  she  changes  <m  a  Saturday  or  Sunday  ;  that  two- 
full  moons  in  a  month  will  cause  a  flood  ;  that  to  see  the  old 
moon  in  the  arms  of  the  new  brings  on  rain,  and  many  others,, 
of  which  a  catalogue  alone  wouUl  lake  up  a  good  deal  of  space. 
M.  Flannnarion  s;iys  that  "  the  moon's  influence  on  the  weather 
is  negligible.  The  heat  reaching  us  from  the  moon  wciuld  only 
after!  our  temperature  by  12  millionlhs  of  a  degree  :  and  the 
atmospheric  tides  caused  by  tlie  moon  would  only  aftecl  the- 
barometric  pressure  a  few  hundredths  of  an  inch — a  (|uantily  tar 
less  than  the  changes  whicli  are  always  taking  place  from  other 
causes."  On  the  whole  we  are  disposed  to  agree  wilh  the  rhyme 
which  thus  sums  uj)  the  subject  : 

The  moon  and  the  weather 
May  change  together  ; 
Hul  change  of  the  moon 
Does  not  change  the  weather. 

Even  the  halo  round  the  moon  has  been  discredited,  foi  Mr. 
Lowe  found  that  it  was  as  often  followed  by  fine  weather  as  by 
rain,  and  Messrs.  Marriotl  and  .Vbercromby  found  that  the  lunar 
halo  immediately  ))rece<led  rain  in  34  cases  out  of  61. 
We  always  have  a  lingering  hope  that  some  future 
meteorologist  will  disentangle  the  overlapping  influ- 
ences, and  arrive  some  day  at  a  definite  proof  that 
our  satellite  after  all  has  something  to  do  with  our 
weather. 

Abciul  the  sun,  also,  there  are  many  fall.icies,  and  ever 
since  the  discovery  that  the  spots  which  appear  on  hls- 
surface  have  a  i)eriod  of  greatest  and  less  freijULncy,  there 
have  been  theorists  in  shoals  who  have  sotight  to  i>rove 
that  this  (itct  rules  our  weather.  It  has  undoubtedly 
been  found  that  the  frequency  of  sun-spois  and  the 
variations  of  the  magnetic  needle  are  intimately  con- 
nected ;  and  it  is  almost  equally  well  established  that 
the  aurora  appears  ami  tlisappears  in  some  sort  of 
.sympathy  with  the  sun-spot  variali(ms.  Hut  this,  up- 
to  the  present,  is  as  far  .as  we  can  get  in  this  direction, 
for  our  weather  seems  to  have  no  ilefinile  relation  Vy 
these  changes. 

The  more  recent   discoveries  of  prominences  visible 
round  the  disc  of  the  .sun  during  an  ecli|)se,  and  of  the 
light  clouds  only  seen  in  M.  Deslandres  speitro- photo- 
graphs,  will  no  doubt  call  out   new   weather  theories 
on  the  subject.     .\nd  I  nnist  confess  to  a  wish  llial  those 
mysterious    flame-like    boilies    rushing    fmni    the    sun 
millions  of   miles  into  space,   will    lie   found   to    have 
some   influence   im   the    upper    layers   of    our   earlh* 
atmosphere  ;    bul   I  also  hope  that   we  nuiy  be  saved 
from  a    theory   on    the   subject    muil    more   facts  are 
before  us. 
Coming  down  to  earlli  again,  we  are  met   by  a  long  array  of 
fallacies  connected  with  the  behaviour  of  animals  ami  planls,  and 
which  have  a  .supposed  connection  with  weather  iluuiges.      tew 
of  these  are  .s..  well  grounded   that   they   may   be  considered  as- 
proved,  and  as  nothing  is  .sacred  to  a  meteorologist,  our  veteran 


NO.   1346,  VOL.  52] 


August  15,  1S95] 


NATURE 


379 


Fellow,  Mr.  E.  J.  Lowe,  F.R.S.,  has  endeavoured  to  put  some 
of  the  rules  from  this  source  to  the  test  of  definite  observation.  He 
took  a  number  of  well-known  signs  said  to  indicate  change,  and 
carefully  noted  what  happened  after  each  sign,  and  although  he 
does  not  say  thai  all  indications  from  animals,  birds  .and  plants  are 
■useless,  yet  certainly  those  he  did  investigate  seemed  utterly  to 
break  down. 

He  took  the  well-known  signs  of  bats  flying  about  in  the 
^evening,  many  toads  appearing  at  sunset,  many  snails  about,  fish 
rising  much  in  lake,  bees  busy, many  locusts,  cattle  restless,  land- 
rails clamorous,  flies  and  gnats  troublesome, many  insects,  crows 
congregating  and  clamorous,  spider-webs  thickly  woven  on  the 
grass,  spiders  hanging  on  their  webs  in  the  evening,  and  ducks  and 
geese  making  more  than  usual  noise.  Mr.  Lowe  found  that  in 
361  observations  of  the  above  signs,  they  were  followed  213  times 
\ty  fine,  and  only  148  times  by  wet  weather  ;  so  that  even  after 
the  prognostications  for  rain,  there  was  a  greater  preponderance 
of  fine  weather.  He  called  a  day  fine  when  no  rain  was  measur- 
able in  the  rain  gauge.  Mr.  Lowe  .says  that  even  swallows 
flying  low  cannot  be  depended  on,  as,  especially  at  the  close  of 
summer  and  autumn,  they  almost  invariably  skim  the  surface  of 
the  ground,  and  .Mr.  Charles  W.aterlon,  the  naturalist,  decided, 
after  careful  observation,  that  theunusualclamour  of  rooks  forms 
no  trustworthy  sign  of  rain.  These  must,  therefore,  swell  the 
list  of  fallacies,  although  there  are  many  other  rules  which  have 
not  been  so  carefully  examined,  but  which  may  still  be  true. 
.My  own  impression  is  that  although  it  is  painful  to  dismiss  the 
animals  from  their  ancient  position  as  weather  (iroiihets,  we  may 
cimsider  them  as  indicating  what  they  leel.  rather  than  as  pre- 
dicting what  is  to  come,  and  that  their  .actions  before  rain  simply 
rise  from  the  dampness,  darkness  or  chilliness  preceding  wet 
weather,  and  which  render  these  creatures  uneasy,  but  not  more 
so  than  they  aftect  man  himself.  The  sheep  turning  its  back  to 
the  wind  (one  of  the  best  known  signs  of  rain)  is  probably  only 
that  it  may  shelter  its  least  protected  jiart  from  the  effects  of  the 
weather  :  and  many  of  you  must  have  observed  sheep  sheltering 
their  heads  from  the  heat  by  getting  them  into  the  shade  of  each 
other's  bodies  in  a  similar  way. 

As  to  cows  scratching  their  ears,  and  goats  uttering  cries,  and 
many  other  signs  of  bad  weather,  they  are  at  least  very  doubtful  ; 
whilst  the  adage  about  the  pig  which  credits  him  with  seeing 
the  wind,  carries  with  it  its  own  condemnation. 

The  medicinal  leech  is  still  left  on  the  list  of  weather  prophets, 
though  he  has  no  doubt  had  his  powers  exaggerated  ;  and  two 
books  have  been  written  about  his  behaviour  during  changes  of 
weather.  One  is  by  Mrs.  Woollams,  who,  during  a  long  illness, 
watched  a  leech  in  a  bottle,  and  carefully  noted  what  it  did  ;  and 
the  other  is  liy  a  gentleman  at  Whitby,  who  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  leeches  could  be  made  to  give  audible  and  useful 
storm  warnings.  So  he  contrived  the  instrument,  of  which  I 
n<iw  show  you  a  drawing  taken  from  his  book.  No  one  would 
imagine  from  its  appearance  what  its  use  could  be.  It  consisted 
■of  twelve  glass  bottles  each  containing  a  leech  in  water,  and  so 
arranged  in  a  circle,  in  order,  as  the  humane  inventor  st.ates,  that 
the  leeches  may  see  each  other  and  not  endure  the  affliction  of 
<juite  solitary  confinement — this  rather  reminds  us  of  Isaac 
Walton,  who  t<ild  his  pu]iil  to  put  the  hook  into  the  worm 
**  tenderly,  as  if  he  loved  it '" — in  each  bottle  w.as  a  metal  lube 
of  a  jKtrticular  form,  and  which  was  made  somewhat  difficult  for 
.a  leech  to  enter,  but  into  which  it  would  endeavour  somehow  to 
creep  before  a  thunderstorm,  according  to  its  nature.  In  each 
lube  was  a  small  piece  of  whalebone,  to  w'hich  a  gilt  chain  was 
attached,  and  .so  arranged,  on  the  mouse-trap  principle,  that 
when  the  whalebone  was  moved  the  bell  at  the  top  of  the 
apparatus  was  rung  by  means  of  the  chain.  There  were  twelve 
leeches,  so  that  every  chance  was  given  that  one  at  least  would 
j;ound  a  storm  signal.  The  author  called  this  apjiaratus  the 
"  Tempest  Prognosticator,"  a  name  which  he  jireferred — and  I 
think  we  shall  agree  with  him-  -to  that  of  atmospheric  electric 
telegraph  comlucted  by  animal  instinct.  He  went  on  to  state  in 
his  little  liook  that  he  could,  if  required,  make  a  .small  leech 
ring  the  great  bell  of  St.  Paul  in  London  as  a  signal  of  an 
approaching  storm.  The  book  is  written  in  all  seriousness,  and 
a  number  of  letters  are  appended  from  gentlemen  who  certify 
that  correct  atmospheric  indications  were  at  various  times  given 
by  the  leeche.s.  The  name  of  the  inventor  of  this  ingenious 
contrivance  was  Dr.  Merryweather — himself  a  learned  leech. 

Plants  hiive  also  their  adv<Kates  as  weather  indicators  :  and 

there  is  no  doubt  that  in  most  cases  they  act    in   sympathy  with 

changes  in  the  dampness,  gloominess,  or  chilliness  of  the  air,  and 

as  these  conditiiuis  generally  precede  rain,  one  cannot  term  the 

NO.   1346,  VOL.   52] 


indications  altogether  fallacious.  The  pimpernel  and  the  man- 
gold close  their  petals  before  rain,  because  the  air  is  getting 
damper,  while  the  poplar  and  maple  show  the  under  surface  of 
their  leaves  for  a  similar  reason.  Indeed,  an  artificial  leaf  of 
paper  may  may  be  made  to  do  the  same  thing,  if  constructed  on 
the  same  principle  as  the  natural  one — a  hard  thin  paper  to 
represent  the  upper  side  of  the  leaf,  and  a  thicker  unsized  paper 
for  the  lower  side  :  these  will,  if  stuck  together,  curl  up  or  bend 
down  in  syinpathy  with  the  hygroscopic  condition  of  the  air.  \ 
slip  of  ordinary  photographic  paper  will  do  the  same,  and  will 
curl  up  at  once  when  placed  on  the  hand. 

The  same  slackness  which  moisture  produces  in  plants  applies 
in  some  degree  al.so  to  insects,  some  of  which  can  only  fly  in 
sunshine,  so  that  there  is  a  chain  of  weather  signs  all  following 
from  a  little  dampness  in  the  air.  The  flowers  close  their  i)etals 
and  shut  in  their  honey,  the  insects  cannot  fly  so  high,  and  the 
swallows  seeking  them  skim  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  even 
then  the  threatened  shower  may  not  come. 

In  1892  attention  was  directed  to  a  i)lant,  ihe  Abrus precatoriiis, 
a  beautiful  shrub  of  the  mimosa  kind,  which  has  the  property  of 
being  sensitive  in  a  high  degree,  so  that  its  pinnate  leaflets  go 
through  many  curious  movements,  and  it  was  claimed  that  these 
form  a  guide  of  unerring  certainty  to  foreshow  the  coming 
weather.  Even  earthquakes  were  said  to  be  predicted  by  this 
wonderful  plant.  If  it  closed  its  leaflets  upward,  after  the 
manner  of  a  butterfly  about  to  settle,  fair  weather  was  shown  ; 
when  the  leaflets  remained  flat,  changeable  and  gloomy  weather 
was  indicated  ;  while  thunder  at  various  distances  was  to  be 
foretold  by  the  curling  of  the  leaflets,  and  the  nearer  the  thunder 
the  greater  the  curl,  until  when  the  points  of  the  leaflets  crossed, 
the  thunderstorm  was  indicated  as  being  overhead.  Changes  of 
wind,  hurricanes,  and  other  phenomena  were  to  be  shown  by  the 
various  curious  and  beautiful  movements  of  the  leaflets  and 
stalks.  These  movements  undoubtedly  took  place,  but  when 
the  plant  was  submitted  to  the  unprejudiced  observaticm  of  Dr. 
F.  W.  (Jlivcr  and  Mr.  F.  E.  Weiss,  at  Ivew  Gardens,  those 
gentleman  failed  to  find  any  connection  between  these  movements 
and  the  weather,  and  Dr.  Oliver  made  a  report  on  the  matter, 
w  hich  hits  the  heart  of  the  whole  subject  of  plant  movements,  by 
ascribing  them  for  the  most  part  to  the  agency  of  light  and 
moisture.  Mr.  Scott,  of  the  Meteorological  Office,  gave  the 
finishing  stroke  to  the  theory  by  proving  that  the  movements 
had  no  connection  with  either  cyclones  or  with  earthquakes,  so 
that  the  sensitive  plant  may  he  considered  as  out  of  the  list  of 
weather  guides,  in  spite  of  having  been  made  the  subject  of  an 
English  patent. 

It  is  a  most  common  observation  in  the  country  that  a  large 
crop  of  hips,  haws,  and  holly-berries  indicates  a  severe  winter  to 
follow,  and  it  is  generally  pointed  out  that  nature  thus  provides 
winter  food  for  the  birds.     This,  too,  is  a  fallacy. 

.Vnolher  weather  fallacy,  for  which  artists  are  responsible,  is 
that  flashes  of  lightning  take  the  form  of  long  angular  lines  of  a 
zigzag  shape,  and  of  which  I  show  you  an  example,  taken  from 
a  work  on  the  subject.  This,  when  compared  with  the  next 
view,  which  is  a  photograph  taken  direct  from  nature,  shows 
that  the  artist  had  very  little  understood  the  true  foriu  of  the 
lightning  flash,  which  consists  of  numbers  of  short  curves  joining 
each  other,  something  like  the  course  of  a  river  depicted  on  a 
map,  or  in  some  degree  like  the  outline  of  a  clump  of  leafy 
trees  seen  against  the  sky.  But,  as  far  as  I  know,  there  were 
oidy  two  artists  whose  acute  vision  saw  lightning  in  anything 
like  its  true  form.  One  was  Tiirner,  who  long  before  the  time 
of  photography,  scratched  his  lightning  flashes  with  a  penknife, 
making  short  curved  dashes  across  the  picture  ;  and  the  other 
was  N'asmyth,  the  astronomer  and  engineer,  who  also  saw  the 
lightning  in  its  true  form,  and  duly  noted  the  same,  only  to  be 
confirmed  years  afterwards,  when  it  became  ea,sy  to  photograph 
the  lightning  fla,sh  itself.  While  on  the  subject  of  lightning,  I 
may  mention  that  it  is  recorded  that  in  one  ca-se  at  least  a 
rheumatic  man  who  had  been  confined  to  bed  six  weeks,  re- 
ceived a  shock  from  a  stroke  of  lightning,  jumped  from  his 
bed,  and  ran  down  stairs  completely  cured.  This  is  related  in 
the  Gcitllcmaii's  Magazine  for  June  1S20. 

It  h,as  been  often  .stated  that  the  noise  of  cannon  will  produce 
rain,  and  it  is  not  unusual  in  the  .\ustrian  Tyrol  to  hear  the  church 
bells  ringing  to  avert  thunder.  These  are  fallacies.  The  ex- 
periments in  .Xmerica  made  recently  to  test  whether  rain  could 
l)e  i^roduced  by  exploding  a  large  quantity  of  gunix>wder  in  the 
air,  resulted  in  nothing  except  noise  and  sm<<ke,  though  the 
thing  was  well  worth  trying. 

Empedocles  of  old  is  credited  with  the  invention  for  chasing 


;8o 


NA  TURE 


[August  15,  1S95 


away  the  Etesian  winds  by  placing  bottles  made  of  the  skins  of 
asses  on  the  hills  to  receive  then).  Tini;vus  relates  this.  After 
hearing  this  about  Enipedocles,  one  is  not  surprised  to  learn  that 
he  thought  there  were  two  suns,  that  the  moon  was  sha|x:d  like 
a  dish,  and  that  the  sea  was  the  sweat  of  the  earth  burnt  by  the 
.sun.  All  this  will  be  found  in  Stanley's  "  Lives  of  the  Philo- 
sophers." 

Almost  in  our  own  time,  too,  a  '•pluvihige."  or  machine  for 
blowing  away  rain,  was  proposed  in  Paris.  This,  loo,  was  a 
fallacy. 

To  give  an  account  of  all  the  various  ceremonies  in  savage  and 
civilised  countries  which  have  l>een  resorted  to  for  the  purix).se 
of  changing  the  course  of  the  weather,  would  lie  here  im|x>,ssible  ; 
but  such  rites  have  a  common  origin  and  a  common  result.  They 
begin  in  error,  and  end  in  failure.  In  India,  the  rain-god  is  im- 
agined to  pour  down  showers  through  a  sieve  ;  in  Peru  there  was 
supix)sed  to  be  a  celestial  princess,  who  held  a  vase  of  rain,  and 
when  her  brother  struck  the  pitcher,  men  heard  the  shocks  in 
thunder.  In  Polynesia  rain  comes  from  the  angry  stars,  stoning  the 
.sun  ;  while  in  Bumiah  it  is  still  the  custom  to  haul  down  rain  by 
pulling  at  a  rope.  New  Caledonia  has  its  regular  rain-making 
class  of  priests,  and  in  Moffatt's  time  the  rain-makers  of  South 
Africa  were  held  in  even  higher  estimation  than  the  kings ;  and 
on  the  other  side  of  the  world  the  -Vlaskan  propitiates  the  spirit 
of  the  storm  by  leaving  toUicco  for  him  in  a  cave.  In  onr  own 
country,  too,  there  have  l>ecn  weather  witches  of  various  grades, 
and  one  described  in  Drayton's  "  Moon  Calf" — 

'*  Could  ^11  winds  to  any  one  that  would 
Kuy  them  for  money,  forcing  ihcm  to  hold 
\\'hat  lime  she  listed,  tie  them  in  .1  thre.id 
Which,  ever  as  the  seafarer  undid 
They  rose  or  scintled  .xs  his  sails  would  drive 
To  ihc  same  port  where.it  he  would  arrive." 

The  Kinlanders  at  one  lime  drove  a  profitable  trade  by  the  sale 
of  »in<ls.  Aflt-r  l>eing  |iaid,  they  knitted  three  m.igical  knots, 
and  told  the  buyer  that  when  he  untied  the  first  he  would  have  a 
good  gale  ;  when  the  second,  a  strong  wind  :  ami  when  the 
third,  a  severe  tempest.'  Sir  Walter  .Scott  also  mentions  that 
King  Eric,  also  called  "Windy  Cap,"  could  change  the  direc- 
tion of  the  wind  by  merely  turning  his  cap  round  upon  his  head  ; 
and  old  Scotch  women  are  mentioned  who,  for  a  considera- 
tion, would  bring  the  wind  from  any  desired  ouarter.'-  The 
Mandan  Indian  rain-maker  had  a  rattle  by  the  noise  of  which  he 
calle<l  down  rain  from  heaven  by  the  simple  process  of  keeping 
on  long  enough.     It  is  safe  to  say  that  these  are  all  fallacies. 

From  the  rain-makers  we  may  now  turn  for  a  moment  to  the 
almanack  makers,  and  any  one  who  will  lookup  an  old  alman.tck 
of  the  early  (xirt  of  the  last  century,  will  find  the  greater  [lart  of 
it  filled  with  lucubrations  on  the  influence  of  the  stars  and  con- 
stellations ;  he  w  ill  also  find  a  column  giving  for  every  day  the  parts 
of  the  Ik >dy  which  are  |Kirticularly  under  the  celestial  influences 
on  the  given  <lates,  and  when  one  sees  for  the  first  time  this 
column  reading — head,  chest,  legs,  knees,  feel,  iVc,  onewonilers 
what  it  can  mean  ;  but  it  w.as  then  so  well  undersloinl,  as  not 
even  to  require  explanation,  and  there  was  geneially  too  a  rude 
woodcut  of  a  hifleous  human  figure,  tattooed  with  the  various 
signs  of  the  zodiac  to  show  the  same  thing.  The  sort  of  know  - 
lerlge  that  |)as,sed  for  meteorology  in  1 703  may  be  learned  from 
the  following  extract  from  "  ,Nleteorologi:e  '  by  Mr.  Cock, 
Philomathemat.  1 703 — a  rare  l)ook  in  the  possession  of  ,Mr. 
.Symons. 

"The  twelve  signs  ate  divided  into  four  sorts,  for  some  !«.■ 
earthy,  others  water)',  a  third  sort  aery,  and  the  fourth  sort  is 
fiery.  '  The  author  then  goes  on  to  stale  that  "  Jupiter  in  the 
Skinker  (whatever  that  may  l)e)  op|)o.scd  by  Saturn  in  the  Lion 
did  raise  mighty  .Sotith-west  winds.  .  .  .  Observe  when  a 
planet  is  in  an  earthy  sign  he  was  lately  dried  up  by  ]x.'raml>u- 
iating  n  fiery  sign,  and  after  that,  immediately  having  made  his 
progress  in  an  earthy  .sign,  is  (piile  liound  up  from  nmislure.  ' 

II  seems  incredible  that  our  ancestors,  only  a  few  generations  ' 
liack,  couhl  have  bought,  paiil  for,  and  believed,  such  stufl'  as  ' 
this.  The  early  almanacks  lK>lrll)  gave  a  jirediction  for  the  1 
'        '       '  ill  Ihe  year  ;  bul  after  a  lime  confined  Ihem- 

■iinenl  of  ihe  weather,  fnr  instance  "  Parl- 
1-   K  .1   1S35  h.as  Ihe  following  prophecy  for  June  : 

•*  F'  '  vvers  alleiided  with   thunder  and   liglilning  "— - 

this  •  lirsi  ten  d.'iys.      "  lair  and  at  limes  hot  "  for  Ihe  | 

middle  ol  ilie  month,  and  "  refreshing  rain  for  the  gra.ss  and 
com  ■'  for  any  time  liciwi-en  Ihe  2isi  ami  the  end  of  Ihe  inonlh.     1 

'  ''  "  Hi<.  of  iheGoihn,"  1638. 

'^   y  I'iralc."  1 


Authors  of  weather  almanacks  had  already  begun  to  seek 
safety  in  vagueness.  Some  of  these  almanacks  rose  to  a  great 
ixipularity  on  Ihe  strength  of  one  lucky  gtiess  ;  and  I  think  it  is 
told  of  this  same  Parlri<ige"s  almanack,  or  some  other  of  the  class, 
that  it  owed  its  reputation  lo  a  curious  prophecy  of  extmordinar)" 
weather  for  July  31.  when  hail,  rain,  snow,  thunder,  kVc.  were 
freely  indicated.  Forgetting  that  the  month  had  31  days  the 
almanack  maker  had  omitted  lo  insert  the  wealher  prediction  for 
the  last  day,  and  a  boy  was  sent  from  the  jirinting  office  to  know 
how  the  space  was  to  be  fillcil  up.  The  weather  prophet  was 
too  busy  lo  attend  to  him,  Imt  at  last  in  a  pa.ssion,  s.-iid  :  "  Put 
down  hail,  rain,  snow,  thunder,  anything";  and  the  boy 
taking  it  literally  told  the  compositor,  who  duly  set  into  type 
the  extraordinary  prediction,  and  which  by  a  freak  of  nature 
came  true,  and  made  the  fame  and  fortune  of  the  almanack 
maker.  This  story,  if  not  true,  is  at  le.ist  hen  Irm-ato,  and  shows 
the  force  of  the  bard's  statement — 

'•  Our  indiscretion  sometimes  ser\-es  us  well 
When  our  deep  plots  do  pall." 

The  Ihitish  Almanatk  for  1S31,  published  by  the  I'sefid 
Knowledge  Society,  had  no  weather  predictions. 

Patrick  Murphy  published  a  popular  weather  almanack,  ami 
his  fame  is  saitl  to  have  commenced  by  a  lucky  hit  in  one  of  the 
earlier  issues  by  which  he  indicated  which  wouUl  be  the  coldest 
da)'  of  the  year.  There  is  a  copy  of  this  almanack  for  1S38  in 
the  library  of  the  Society,  and  some  former  owner  has  evidently 
taken  the  trouble  to  pencil  in  the  actual  weather  opposite  to 
that  preilicted.  There  were,  according  to  this  annotation,  89 
incorrect  forecasts.  91  doubtful,  and  the  rest  correct. 

This  Patrick  Murphy  was  not  a  mere  charlatan.  He  had  a 
system,  and  though  he  ditTered  from  Sir  Isaac  Newton  and  the 
Royal  .\stronomical  Society,  he  gave  much  study  and  research 
to  the  subject  of  meteorolog)' — as  shown  by  his  various  books. 
There  was  an  .'Vstro-Metcorological  Society  as  late  as  1861,  and 
we  have  some  numbers  of  its  Retards  in  our  library. 

Next  comes  the  subject  of  weather  jirophets  as  distinguished 
from  mere  almanack  makers  :  and  who  profess,  sometimes  for 
pelf,  at  other  limes  for  honour  and  glory,  to  predict  the  weather 
for  any  future  date.  Tliese  are  always  arising,  antl  llie)  do  not 
lack  a  certain  number  of  followers,  w ho,  possessing  a  large  angle 
of  credence,  duly  trumpet  forth  the  successes  of  their  chiefs, 
when  they  are  .so  fortimate  as  to  make  any.  The  stock-in-trade 
of  a  prophet  is  of  a  slender  and  cheap  description,  llenuist 
have  an  inventive  mind,  a  store  of  self-confidence,  an  insensi- 
bihly  to  ridicule,  and,  above  all,  a  keen  memory  for  his  suc- 
cesses, and  a  prompt  forgetfulness  of  his  failures.  Me  should  by 
choice  have  a  theory,  and  this  should  he  of  the  elastic  order,  so 
that  if  a  predicted  event  does  not  punctually  occur,  he  will  he 
really  with  a  sort  of  codicil  lo  amend  it.  Hence  we  find  that 
the  firing  of  guns  has  been  cited  as  a  sufficient  reason  for  falsi- 
fying a  weather  prediction  ;  and  railways,  loo,  are  s;iid  lo  have 
an  adver.se  influence,  one  author  (not  a  prophet)  telling  us  that 
they  may  be  considered  as  "  large  winnowing  machines,  per- 
petu.-illy  fanning  and  agitating  Ihe  air  with  prodigious  power, 
ploughing  the  air.  as  it  were,  and  causing  waves  of  vast  extent), 
which,  invisibly  enlarging  like  the  waves  of  the  ocean,  probably 
meet  each  other,  clash,  and  produce  modified  elTects,  as 
resultants  from  adverse  motions." 

( )ne  of  the  first  weather  prophets  mentioned  in  that  delightful 
old  book,  Stanley's  "  Lives  of  the  Philosophers."  was  Demo- 
crilus,  ihe  Milesian,  known  as  Ihe  "laughing  pliilosoplier," 
who  foresaw  a  dearth  of  olives,  and  by  buying  up  all  he  could 
gel  might  have  made  a  fortune,  but  gave  il  back  lo  Ihe  bargainers 
with  the  remark,  "  \'ou  can  sec  now  that  a  philosopher  can  get 
rich  when  he  ple.ases. "  Then  there  was  Pherec)tles,  of  whom 
Pythagoras  was  a  favourite  pupil,  who  preilicted  an  earthquake 
three  days  in  advance  by  the  lasle  of  the  water  from  a  certain 
well.  Perhaps  Ihe  earliest  of  all  was  Elijah,  who  I roui  the  top 
of  Carmel  ]H)inted  out  the  coming  s()uall  cloud,  and  predicleil  | 
a  great  rain.  lie  forms  a  gooil  model  for  imilalion  to  the 
modern  weather  prophets,  for  he  diil  not  propliesy  until  he  saw  J 
the  storm  coming,  and  he  made  no  .secrel  of  his  method.  We  1 
have  slill  anmngst  us  in  our  country,  mostly  without  honour, 
seers  who  supply  us  with  wealher  predictions  in  various  forms, 
from  the  modest  duodecimo  almanack  lo  Ihe  flaring  liroadsheel 
which  compels  allention  ;  bul  il  would  be  a  task  too  lung  1" 
enter  on  a  systematic  refiitalion  of  their  conlrailictory  gues.sesai 
Ihe  wealher.  The  last  of  these  broadsheels  Ihat  caught  my  eye 
hail  fiir  ihe  days  of  the  gale  of  December  1894,  which  Mr.  C. 
Harding    has    described    lo    us,    the   tame    announcement    of  | 


NO.    T346,  VOL.   52] 


August  15,  1S95] 


NA  TL  'RE 


3S1 


"generally  uvcrcasi."  This  did  not  err  on  the  side  of  boldness 
when  considered  with  reference  to  one  of  the  severest  gales  of 
the  century. 

A  Spanish  peasant  whom  I  heard  of  in  Andalucia,  and  who 
had  the  reputation  of  a  weather  prophet,  wisely  said,  if  you 
■want  to  know  the  weather  for  to-morrow,  ask  me  early  in  the 
morning.  The  Indian  weather  prophets  who  made  a  failure  had 
to  be  silent  altogether  for  the  rest  of  their  lives  ;  and  this  causes 
lus  to  regret  that  some  of  our  own  seers  were  not  born  in  that 
■distant  land. 

.\s  to  the  so-called  weather  forecasts,  they  only  come  under 
the  title  of  this  paper  when  they  fail,  and  as  eight  out  of  ten  are 
said  to  be  correct,  I  shall  only  say  that  they  are  honest  attemjits 
on  the  part  of  civilised  governments  to  warn  their  people  as  far 
as  |x)ssible  against  the  march  of  known  disturbances.  I  could 
•wish  that  the  term  "weather  indications"  or  "indicated 
weather ''  had  been  adopted,  so  as  to  make  this  plain  to  all,  and 
that  ofjener,  when  the  signs  were  vague,  we  had  the  simple 
announcement  of  no  change  indicated. 

The  director  of  this  system  so  well  known  to  us,  and  who  is 
playfully  called  the  "  Clerk  of  the  Weather,"  sometimes  receives 
valuable  hints,  even  from  children  ;  and  I  must  quote  one  such 
■communication. 

"  Plea.se,  .Mr.  Clerk  of  the  Weather,  tell  the  rain,  snow,  and 
hail  to  stop  for  the  afternoon,  and  rain  in  the  night." 

I  may  conclude  this  section  by  saying  that  il  is  a  great  fallacy 
to  suppose  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  weather  prophet.  All 
the  great  .lulhorities  agree  that  in  the  present  state  of  our  know- 
ledge no  human  being  can  correctly  predict  the  weather,  even 
for  a  week  to  come. 

And  now  we  must  consider  a  class  of  weather  fallacies  of 
■which  the  victims  can  only  excite  in  a  well-regulated  mind  feel- 
ings of  sadness  and  com]>assion,  rather  than  the  ridicule  to  which 
at  first  sight  they  seem  more  naturally  entitled.  I  mean  those 
weather  prophets  in  whom  the  delicate  mechanism  of  the  mind 
5s  touched  by  disorder  or  decay,  even  if  it  has  not  already  fallen 
under  the  stroke  of  complete  dementia,  and  who  believe  that 
they  can  not  only  foresee  the  weather,  l)ut,  by  an  effijrt  of  their 
own  minds,  control  the  elements  and  compel  the  clouds. 

These  patients  I  had  hoped  only  existed  in  small  numbers  ; 
but,  on  perusing  the  correspondence  of  a  prominent  meteoro- 
logist, kindly  lent  me  for  the  purpose,  1  find  that  there  are  many 
■of  this  class  whose  name,  like  that  of  the  ancient  wanderer 
among  the  tombs,  is  "  Legion,"  and  who  still  come  on,  each 
prepared  to  drive  the  chariot  ot  the  sun,  or  by  an  exertion  of 
his  own  will,  odylize  (the  word  I  suppose  will  come)  all  the 
powers  of  nature. 

Dr.  Johnson's  .-Vstronomcr  says  in  "  Rasselas": — "  Hear  me, 
therefore,  with  attention.  I  have  diligently  considered  the 
position  of  the  earth  and  sun,  and  formed  innunierable  schemes, 
in  which  I  changed  their  situations.  1  have  sometimes  turned 
aside  the  axis  of  the  earth,  and  sometimes  varied  the  ecliptic 
of  the  sun,  but  I  have  found  it  impo.ssil)le  to  make  a  disposition 
by  which  the  world  may  be  advantaged.  What  one  region 
gains  another  loses.  Never  rob  other  countries  of  rain  to  pour 
il  <»n  thine  own." 

This  type  of  patient,  as  well  as  those  who  would  use  their  sup- 
posed |X)wer  for  the  purpose  of  creating  fine  weather  during  the 
holidays  of  the  people,  belong  to  the  more  noble  sort,  hut  thera 
have  been  others,  like  the  notorious  Friar  Kungay,  who  for  sordid 
reasons  have  professed  to  exert  a  similar  power.  The  only 
■wonder  is  that  anybody  ever  believed  them. 

Now,  as  this  mal.-idy  of  the  mind  is  not  incurable,  I  will  ven- 
ture to  offer  a  practical  suggestion,  and  would  recommend  these 
patients  who  have  nursed  themselves  into  the  belief  that  they 
possess  the  keys  of  the  weather,  to  .seek  the  hill-top  on  a  summer 
afternoon— the  air  and  exercise  wdl  do  them  good — and  watch 
the  fine  fleeces  of  cumulus  cloud  as  they  sail  m.ajestically  across 
the  sky,  e.ich  with  its  attendant  shadow  below.  Let  the  patient 
concentrate  his  attention  upon  one  single  feathery  cloud,  and  try 
by  the  exertion  of  his  utmost  force  of  'will  to  make  it  pause  for  a 
moment  in  its  career  :  and,  if  he  fails—"  as  fail  full  well  he  may" 

-then  let  him  banish  from  his  mind  for  ever  the  idea  that  he  can 
liy  his  own  will  dcmiinate  the  whole  firmament.  .-\nd  if  he  has 
ever  gone  into  print  upon  the  subject,  let  him  go  home,  and, 
like  Prospero,  his  prototype,  say — 

"  nccpcr  iti.in  ever  plummet  sounded, 
rit  ilrDwti  my  book," 

anil  so  save  the  world  from  the  trouble  of  investigating  much  pure 
nonsense.     To  these  sufferers  I  can  only  repeat  the  words  of  one 


NO.    1346,   VOL.   52] 


of  our  own  kings  to  the  last  man  he  touched  for  the  evil — "I 
wish  you  better  health  and  more  sense." 

I  must  he  forgiven  for  having  only  made  a  selection  from  the 
vast  catalogue  of  fallacies  which  have  accumulated  about  the 
subject,  and  I  must  continue  to  regret  that  there  are  still  people 
who  are  ready  to  believe  that  the  saints'  days  rule  the  weather, 
that  the  sun  jjuts  out  the  fire,  that  warm  water  freezes  sooner 
than  cold,  or  that  a  man  is  a  prophet  because  he  says  so  himself. 

This  Society  is  clearing  the  ground  of  many  weeds,  and  already 
the  fallacy  of  the  "equinoctial  "  gales  has  been  exploded  (by 
-Mr.  Scott),  while  the  churchyard  ghost  of  the  supposed  fatal 
"  green  Christmas  "  has  been  most  effectually  laid  by  a  recent 
statistical  paper  by  Mr.  Dines. 

Some  one  may  ask,  after  all  this  clearing  away  of  fallacies — 
What  have  we  left  ?  and  I  would  venture  to  refer  him  to  all  the 
jiatient  work  which  is  being  done  in  various  countries,  and  by 
which  a  real  .Science  of  Meteorology  is  being  slowly  built  up, 
while  to  the  outdoor  weather  student  I  wotdd  offer  this  consoling 
reflection — fhere  is  still  the  sky. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

1'rof.  .\.  H.  Ciit-RCH  AMI  Dr.  Fream  have  been  ofl'ered 
and  have  accepted  Honorary  Professorships  at  the  Royal  -Agri- 
cultural College,  Cirencester.  These  gentlemen  were  both 
formerly  i>rofessors  at  the  College,  and  both  took  part  in  the 
recent  jubilee  celebrations. 

It  would  be  a  great  advantage  to  the  numerous  students  of 
science  and  technology  if  the  scientific  works  in  all  public 
libraries  were  arranged  in  a  separate  class,  and  catalogued 
separately.  This  has  been  done  for  the  Central  Free  Public  Lend- 
ing Library  of  Nottingham,  by  Mr.  J.  P.  Briscoe,  the  librarian, 
and  Mr.  T.  Dent.  All  the  scientific  books  in  the  librar)-  have 
been  arranged  according  to  the  science  to  which  they  refer,  and 
indexed  according  to  sunjects  and  authors.  The  list  will  thus  be 
of  great  assistance  to  students. 

New  technical  schools,  presented  to  Winsford.  in  the  salt 
district  of  Cheshire,  by  Mr.  Joseph  Verdin,  at  a  cost  of  £&OQO, 
were  opened  by  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Westminster  Last 
week.  The  money  is  part  of  a  fund  of  /^26,ooo,  originally  in- 
tended to  compensate  projierty  owners  from  subsidences  brought 
about  by  brine-pumping.  As  he  was  unable  to  transfer  the  fund, 
the  Charity  Conmiissioners  were  applied  to,  and  it  was  decided 
that  ^12,000  should  be  used  in  the  erection  and  endowment  of 
technical  schools  at  Winsford  and  Northwich. 

Precedino  a  historical  account  of  the  Owens  College, 
Manchester,  contributed  by  Mr.  P.  J.  Hartog  to  the  current 
Kt-iOrd  of  Technical  and  Secondary  Kducation,  the  function 
1  of  university  colleges  in  technical  education  is  discussed. 
I  Mr.  Hartog  points  to  a  fundamental  distinction  established  by 
i  the  Royal  Commission  on  Technical  Instruction  between  (i) 
i  institutions  for  the  instruction  of  manufacturers  and  higher 
managers,  and  (2)  institutions  for  the  instruction  of  foremen  and 
workmen  engaged  in  industrial  pursuits.  He  rightly  remarks, 
however,  that  the  distinction  is  still  vague  in  the  mind  of  the 
\  public,  and  even  in  that  of  many  educationalists.  It  has  become 
more  vague  through  the  use  of  the  words  "polytechnic"  and 
"  technical  school  "  to  render  the  German  polyleihnidiin  and 
iechnisc/ie  hochsihuk,  to  which  they  are  not  at  all  equivalent. 
The  polyteihnuuiii  and  tichnischc  liOi/iSilitilc  educate  managers 
and  manufacturers  :  our  polytechnics  and  technical  schools,  with 
their  day-schools  for  lads  and  their  night-schools  for  adults 
occupied  during  the  day,  educate  foremen  and  workmen.  It  is 
not  nrces-ssary  to  insist  on  the  inestimable  value  of  the  latter 
class  of  school  ;  but  it  is  of  the  first  importance  that  the  public 
should  perceive  the  distinction  referred  to  by  .Mr.  Hartog,  and 
that  they  .should  not  think  that  they  are  following  the  nxample  of 
a  country  like  Switzerland,  which  eleven  years  ago  w.-is  spending 
over  ^14,000  a  year  on  the  Ziirich  Polytechnic,  when  they  vote 
a  large  sum  to  one  of  the  many  English  polytechnics  and 
technical  schools,  now  springing  up  so  rapidly  with  the  help  of 
fimds  derivfd  from  the  Customs  and  Kxcise  duties,  while  but 
meagre  support  is  given  to  the  institutions  for  the  training  of 
managers  and  manufacturers.  .\s  Mr.  Hartog  remarks,  the 
university  colleges  combine  the  faculties  of  a  tleniian  or  Swiss 
university  with  those  o(  a.fiolyl,<linuurii,  but  the  existence  of  the 
technical  jiart  of  the  instruction  given  is  often  ignored  liecause  it 
is  called  university  leaching,  and  not  technical  instruction,  and 


382 


NATURE 


[August  15,  1895 


Iiecause  side  by  side  with  the  teaching  of  science  there  is  the 
teaching  of  the  "humanities."  The  remarks  conclude  with  a 
statement  of  the  amount  allotted  from  the  public  funds  to 
university  colleges.  Out  of  the  sum  available  under  (he  Local 
Taxation  Act  alwul  £.(xo,ooa  a  year  is  devoteil  to  technical 
education,  but  only  ;{r23,S54  was  given  to  fourteen  university 
colleges  in  England  and  Wales  in  1892-3  by  twenty  local 
authorities,  in  addition  to  a  sum  of  ^^29,550  provided  by  the 
Treasur)-,  of  which  nearly  half  (i,'l3,3o6)  went  to  the  three 
W  elsh  colleges  alone.  The  sup|K)rt  certainly  seems  insufficient 
for  the  great  services  rendered  by  the  colleges  to  the  nation. 

The  third  Re|X)rt  of  Mr.  J-  A-  Bennion.  the  Director  of 
Technical  Instruction  in  the  County  Palatine  of  Lancaster, 
was  presented  to  the  County  Council  a  few  days  ,-igo. 
It  is  clear  from  the  report  that  ever)-  effort  is  being 
made  by  the  Committee  to  expend  judiciously  the  funds 
at  their  disposal.  A  .sum  of  £,2%,yxi  was  distributed 
among  the  urban  and  rural  districts  of  the  county  last  year. 
The  following  amounts  were  voted  for  work  in  special  sub- 
jects : — Navigation,  /'250  ;  Sea  Fisheries,  £,yxt ;  University 
Extension  Lectures,  2' 500;  Horology,  £2^3;  Mining,  ;f  500  : 
Silk  Industry,  jf  500  :  Plumbing  and  Sanitary  Science,  /'750 : 
Horticulture  and  Bee-keeping,  .{.500:  Practical  .\griculture 
(including  \eterinary  .Science,  Poultry-keeping,  and  allied  suIj- 
jects),  £\CXX>.  In  addition  to  the  ordinary  .sums  allotted  to  each 
district,  special  grants,  amounting  to  nearly  £\<xyo,  were  made 
for  the  pHrpo.se  of  purch.asing  ap|)aralus  and  ajipliances.  Uni- 
versity College,  Liverixxjl,  and  the  Owens  College,  Manchester, 
each  received  a  grant  of  /'400  for  the  same  pur|«se.  Classes 
in  h<irolog)-  are  held  at  Prescot,  but  they  are  <iHile  inadequate 
for  the  whole  county :  and  do  not  im|xirt  the  thorough 
teaching,  either  theoretical  or  practical,  that  is  given  on  the 
continent.  .\  deputation  from  the  Committee  visited  some  of 
the  Continental  Schools  of  Horolog)-,  and  as  a  residt  of  their 
ins|)ection  they  strongly  recommended  the  establishment  of  a 
County  .School  of  Horologj-,  similar  to  the  school  at  (ieneva.  It 
w.as  afterwards  resolved  at  a  large  and  representative  conference 
that  '•  it  is  desirable  to  establish  a  Technical  .School  of  Horology 
and  Scientific  Instrument-making,  including  electrical,  optical, 
and  mechanical  instruments,  Iwith  practical  and  thef>retical,  for 
the  County  of  I.ancasler."  Efforts  are  now  being  m.ide  to  put 
this  re-solution  into  effect.  The  establishment  of  a  .school  to 
afford  effective  teaching  in  .subjects  relating  to  the  silk  industry 
is  al.so  uniler  consideration.  It  is  proposed  to  found  the  school 
upon  the  mwlel  of  the  Scidenweb  Schule  of  Wipkingen,  in 
Zurich.  For  the  purpose  of  providing  instruction  in  practical 
agriculture,  a  farm  and  farm  buiMings,  covering  nearly  150  acres, 
has  been  actjuired  at  Ilulton,  near  Preslon.  ,\  vote  of  £i)^o 
was  made  to  the  Harris  Institute  for  sixrcial  courses  to  agri- 
cultural students  ;  and  a  number  of  lectures  on  .subjects  relating 
to  agriculture  were  delivered  in  various  jjarls  of  the  county, 
while  agricultural  ex|ieriments  were  carried  on  in  several 
districls. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

It'll, liiiiaiiii'i  Aiiiiahii  tUr  Physik  mid  Cluiiiic,  No.  7. — 
Al)Sorplion  sjwctruni  of  pure  water  for  red  and  infra-red  rays, 
by  E.  .-Vschkinass.  The  "extinction  coefficients'"  of  water  for 
the  various  wave-lengths  at  the  red  end  of  the  spectrum  were 
determined  by  the  bolometer,  and  calculated  by  the  formula 

J'=K"', 

where  J  is  the  intensity  of  the  incident,  and  J'  ihal  of  the  irans- 

niilted  light. // the  thickness  of  the  layer   in   (/;/.<- the   basis  of 

llie  Napierian   logarithms,  anri   «   the   "  extinction   coefficient," 

which  therefore   means  the  reciprocal  of  the  thickness  which  a 

ray  must  traverse  in  order  10  be  reduced  to   !/<    of  its  original 

intensity.     Of  these  extinction  coeliicienis  200  arc  given,   for 

»a\elfngihs  extending  from  0-4500  /j  to  8-49  )jl.    The  minimuin 

■  ^575,  lieing  000005,  ""''   •'"^  maximum  of  2733  is 

-  302/1.     A  second   maximum  occurs  at   6'09 /u, 

'    "    '   '  "■  '  ''  ■   values  of  the  exiinclion  coefficients 

'O.    -.\bs<irption  of  radiant  heat  by 

i.       The    lic|uids    investigated    were 

i      II  i.oiii|xMiriils  iMiiiaineil  in  cells  Ijctween  an  iron  lilock  and 

finnpili-       Ani..ni;  lh<- rrinlts  iiblalned  are  the  follfuving  : — 

Mid.  11,  O,  HO,  or  N  are  re- 

iismitlance  of  Ihc  soluticm   is 

-..:.i.,...,  1 M,{iig<ius  series  the transniitlanre 


is  regidarly  changed  by  ever)-  addition  of  CH^,  but  the  direction 
of  this  change  depends  upon  the  nature  of  the  other  atoms  con- 
tained in  the  molecule.  The  absorptive  power  of  a  compound 
does  not  essentially  depend  upon  the  size  of  the  molecule,  but 
seems  to  be  a  jiroperty  of  the  constituent  atoms.  The  greatest 
influence  is  alw.-iys  due  to  II,  N,  and  also  O.  In  isimieric  com- 
pounds the  diathermancy  is  ditTereiU,  and  the  difference  is  not 
only  connected  with  the  difference  of  atomic  volume  of  the  ele- 
nientar)-  atoms,  but  also  with  the  diflerence  of  linkage  of  the 
atoms  amongst  each  other  :  in  s;tturated  compounds  the  dia- 
thermancy (transmittance)  always  increases  with  the  atomic 
volume.  The  determination  of  the  diathermancy  is  the  most 
delicate  test  available  for  the  purity  of  organic  liquids  or  salts 
which  are  soluble  in  highly  diathermanous  liquids. 


NO.    1346,  VOL.  52] 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

I.OMION. 

Royal  Horticultural  Society,  June  25. — Mr.  Mcl.achlait 
in  the  chair.  —  Mr.  Wilson  exhibited  a  pot  containing  some  seed- 
ling plants,  in  blossom,  of  the  North  British  species  riiniuia 
Sioti<a,  which  is  ftiund  in  pastures  of  Orkney,  Caithness,  and 
Sutherland.  The  flowers  are  honiomorphic,  not  liaving  the 
stamens  and  pistils  of  tliflerent  lengths  as  in  most  other  Primulas. 
— Mr.  Jackman  exhibited  small  trees  of  Fai^iis  sylvatua,  with  tin. 
leaves  small,  entire,  and  round.  .\s  the  trees  exhibited  an  erect 
form,  with  short  branches,  it  would  seem  to  be  the  result  of  sonic- 
check  to  growth,  the  form  of  the  leaf  representing  a  less  deve- 
loped state  tlian  that  of  the  ordinary  type  of  tree,  -.Mr.  Coll 
netle,  of  Cniernsey.  forwarded  some  hazel  wood  found  in  peal 
near  the  coast  of  Ouern.sey,  containing  flint  implements,  stone 
rings,  and  pottery,  presumably  neolithic.  No  hazel  is  now- 
known  to  be  indigenous  to  C'lUernsey. — .Mr.  McLachlan  ex- 
hibited s|x;ciinens  of  Melanosloma  scalare  attached  to  flowering 
stems  of  a  grass,  Glyariajluitans. 

July  23. — Dr.  .M.  T.  Masters  describeil  a  curious  case  of  Ci'/r/- 
pt'diiutt  malforme<l,  receivetl  from  Messrs.  Sanderand  Co. ,  in  w  hich 
the  seiials  were  normal,  but  the  two  petals  and  lip  were  absent. 
Dr.  Masters  also  drew  attention  to  a  jieculiarity  in  the  venation 
of  the  lobed  leaves  of  Z.«t'(i;/i/«/<i  (/t-«/rt/<i. — Dr.  Cli.  B.  Phnvrighi 
forwarded  specimens  of  the  parasitical  fungus  .Kiidiiini  iiyiii- 
p/iicoidis,  with  the  following  observations:  —  "This  .l-'.cidiiini 
has  been  staled  by  Chodal  to  be  connected  with  the  Puccinia  on 
Sth'ptis  hcii.<tris.  In  November  1S77,  Piuiinia  siirpi  was 
found  floating  in  the  river  Ouse  at  King's  Lynn.  During  the 
past  -.\inter  I  found  it  on  the  bulrushes  (5".  lacuatris)  in  ihe 
'  Old  Bedford'  at  Karilh,  Huntingdonshire.  On  revisiting  the 
spot  this  July  the  .Ecidium  on  Villarsia  was  met  with  in  great 
abundance.''  Dr.  I'lowright  also  .sent  s|x.'cimens  of  the  fungus 
.Ecidium  iluiio/Htdii,  with  some  remarks  upon  them.  With, 
reference  to  the  specimens  of  flies  att.icked  by  a  fungus,  brought  . 
liefore  the  l.isl  meeting  by  Mr.  .Mcl.achlan,  it  was  re|K>rled  fronn 
an  examination  made  at  Kew  that  "the  fungus  is  Etiipiisa  lon- 
glomcratii ,  Thaxter  (a  somewhat  rare  s|)ecies),  parasitic  on  Dip- 
tera,  especially  the  larvit-  and  im.agines  of  Tipulie.  Dislrib. ^ 
Europe  and  United  .States.  This  is  the  first  record  for  Britain." 
—  MSI.  Letellier  et  l-'ils  forwarded  from  Caen  some  growing 
plants  of  thornless  gooseberry,  from  which  they  have  issued  four 
kinds,  raised  by  M.  Ed.  Lefort,  of  Meaux,  I'rance.  The  usual 
triple  spines  were  either  C|uite  absent,  or  represented  by  mere 
rudiments  only.  —  Mr.  Cannell  sent  .some  trusses,  with  small 
jagged-edged  petals  of  a  crims(m  colour,  appioxiinating  the 
original  wihl  form.  They  appeared  aUHHig  his  long-selected  beds 
of  sweet  Williams,  the  margins  of  the  |x:lals  being  rounded  and 
smooth. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  .Vugusl  5. — M.  Marey  in  the 
chair.  I'\periuieiital  study  of  the  transver.se  \"ibrations  of  ctirtis, 
by  M.  \.  Cornu.  The  complex  vibrations  of  strings  produced 
as  in  .actual  musical  instruments  have  l>een  studied.  The  trans- 
verse vibratimis  of  a  .string,  excited  in  any  way  whatever,  are 
always  accompanied  by  Inrsioiial  vibialions,  the  toisiiuial  elas- 
ticity of  the  cord  taking  efl'ecl  in  the  same  wa)'  as  the  transverse 
component  of  the  tension.  Not  only  Ls  (he  actual  vibration 
complicated  by  these  torsional  vibratioas,  but,  in  many  cases, 
Ihc  transverse  vibra'.ions  are  themselves  rendered  more  complex 
by  Ihe  fact  that  strings  are  .seldom  or  never  symmetrical  about 
their  axes.      The  vibrations  have  lieeii  :-lH<lied  by  iikmms  of  very 


August  15,  1895] 


NATURE 


ight  mirrors  attached  preferably  to  the  portion  of  the  string  near 
•one  of  its  points  of  attachment  or  a  node.  Light  figures  similar 
to  Lissajous'  figures  have  been  obtained.  With  the  mirror  at- 
tached parallel  to  the  axis,  all  the  components  of  the  vibration 
are  effective  :  when  its  plane  is  perpendicular  to  the  axis,  the 
torsional  vibrations  are  eliminated. — Some  considerations  on  the 
construction  of  great  dams,  by  M.  Maurice  Levy. — The  inter- 
national committee  on  glaciers.  A  note  by  >I.  F.  A.  Forel. 
From  the  observed  facts  it  is  deduced  that  the  general  behaviour 
of  glaciers  is  individual  and  special  to  themselves.  There  are 
some  traits,  however,  which  appear  in  certain  cases  in  con- 
Tiection  with  the  whole  of  the  glaciers  of  a  countr)'.  The 
■duration  of  the  oscillations  of  glaciers  is  measured  in  years  by 
lens,  the  mean  being  at  least  thirty  or  forty  years.  The  same 
■variations  are  met  with  in  other  glacier  regions  as  well  as 
iin  the  Alps.  The  committee  ask  the  co-operation  of  scientific 
•observers  to  ascertain  whether  there  is  coincidence,  alternation, 
•or  lack  of  agreement  in  glacial  variations :  (a)  In  the  dift'erent 
■glaciers  of  the  same  continent ;  (i)  in  the  glaciers  occurring  in 
the  same  hemisphere  ;  (i)  in  the  glaciers  of  all  parts  of  the  earth. 
— On  the  Krownian  movement,  by  M.  C.  Maltezos.  The  con- 
■clusion  is  drawn  that  the  Brownian  movement  is  a  capillar)' 
phenomenon. — Lighting  by  luminescence,  by  M.  A.  Witz. 
iighting  by  means  of  a  vacuum  tube  in  circuit  with  a  Holtz 
machine  or  Kuhmkorff  coil  is  proved  to  give  a  smaller  propor- 
ition  of  heat  in  relation  to  the  quantity  of  light  developed  than 
«ny  other  means  of  obtaining  light,  yet  the  light  so  obtained 
requires  the  expenditure  of  much  more  energy  per  candle-power 
than  ordinary  sources,  .and  hence  the  disposition  of  apparatus 
will  re<juire  tt)  be  very  much  modified  before  light  can  l>e  i>ro- 
duced  commercially  at  a  low  temperature. — On  the  nuclei  of  the 
Uredini;e,  by  MM.  G.  Poirault  and  Raciborski. — On  diphtheritic 
.anti-toxin,  by  MNL  Guerin  and  .Mace.  The  active  substance 
^appears  to  be  of  the  same  nature  as  the  soluble  ferments  classed 
Hinder  the  name  "  dia.stase." — On  a  toxic  substance  extracted 
Aom  the  suprarenal  capsules,  by  M.  D.  Gourfein. — Instantaneous 
ihyperglobulia,  by  ])eripheric  stimulation  ;  consequences,  by  M. 
Jules  Cheron.  Hypodermic  injection  of  artificial  serum  or 
stimulating  actions  on  the  sensitive  skin  surface  (such  as  a  cold 
•douche,  mass<age,  Aic. )  cause  an  immediate  loss  of  the  an.'emic 
symptoms  in  patients  suffering  from  an;\;mia.  The  result  is  prob- 
ably produced  by  a  stimulation  of  the  central  nervous  system, 
followed  by  a  bracing  up  of  the  vascular  system  as  evidenced  by 
the  increase  in  arterial  pressure.  The  apparent  increase  in  the 
■numbers  of  red  corpuscles  is  caused  by  the  greater  extravasation 
•oi  serum  brought  about  under  the  greater  pressure. 

New  Zealand. 

Philosophical  Institute  of  Canterbury,  May  i.-  Mr. 
C.  W.  rurneli.  on  "  true  instincts  of  ;inimals."  The  definition 
I  of  the  term  "instinct"  has  been  greatly  narrowed  of  late 
years.  Formerly  every  act  of  an  animal  betokening  intelligence 
was  ascribed  to  "  instinct,"  but  the  term  is  now  restricted  to 
acts  which  are  performed  in  an  apparently  mechanical  manner 
by  generation  after  generaticm,  and  seem  to  be  prompted  by 
^iimc  other  faculty  than  intelligence.  The  author  thought  that 
the  definition  could  bo  still  further  restricted.  Writers  u|Xjn 
'he  subject  had  not  taken  sufficiently  into  account  how'  much 
he  young  animal  might  be  taught  by  the  old,  and  how 
much  it  might  learn  from  imitation.  The  migratory  habits 
of  certain  birds,  for  example,  were  always  set  down  to 
instinct,  but  birds  usually  migrated  in  flocks,  and,  in  any  case, 
with  the  yoimg  bird  it  was  *'  follow  my  leader."'  The  same 
M-mark  applied  to  the  periodical  migrations  of  the  Norwegian 
iemming,  the  salmon,  and  other  animals.  The  nest-building 
habits  of  birds  could  be  similarly  explained  :  and  even  such 
extraordinary  habits  as  that  of  the  Australian  .Megapodida-, 
which  formed  immense  mounds  of  vegetable  and  other  matter, 
and  deposileii  their  eggs  in  the  midst,  leaving  them  to  be  hatched 
i)y  the  heat  evolved  from  the  fermentation  of  the  decaying  mass. 
The  beaver's  remarkable  habit  of  constructing  dams  and  canals, 
>ome  of  which  are  of  great  antiquity,  and  which,  if  constructed 
'•y  human  beings,  woukl  be  deeiuetl  jiroofs  of  considerable 
I  ngineering  skill,  illustrated  the  .author's  argument.  The  young 
lieaver  remained  in  the  parental  lodge  until  the  summer  of 
its  third  year,  when  it  began  housekeeping  for  iiself,  so  that  it 
had  abundant  opportunity,  during  its  youth,  of  receiving 
instruction  from  its  elders,  in  the  peculiar  ways  of  beaverdom, 
ind  when  it  did  make  a  .start  in  life  upon  its  own  account,  it  still 
iijoyed  ■>pporlunities  of  receiving  instruction  and  of  gaining 
NO.    1346,  VOL.   52J 


skill  by  experience.  Cats,  dogs,  and  monkeys  instructed  and 
corrected  their  young :  and  the  adult  carnivora  taught  their 
offspring  how  to  capture  and  kill  their  prey.  Some  of  the  most 
remarkable  so-called  instincts  displayed  by  animals  could  be 
accounted  for  in  the  same  way,  and  when  we  came  to  analyse 
these  instincts,  we  found  them  to  be  nothing  more  nor  less  than 
racial  habits,  transmitted  from  generaticm  to  generation,  and 
acquired  in  a  similar  way  to  that  in  which  the  racial  habits  of 
mankind  are  acquired.  Mr.  Purnell  then  referred  to  the  singular 
instinct  of  the  huanaco,  which,  in  the  southern  part  of  I'atagonia, 
resorted  to  ancient  dying  places,  whither  all  individuals  inhabit- 
ing the  .surrounding  plains  repaired  at  the  approach  of  death. 
Mr.  Hudson,  author  of  "  The  Naturalist  in  La  Plata,"  attributes 
this  practice  to  the  possession  by  the  huanaco  of  "a  fixed 
immutable  instinct,  a  hereditary  knowledge,  so  that  the  young 
huanaco,  untaught  by  the  adults,"  goes  alone  and  unerringly 
to  the  dying  place.  Sir.  Purnell  considered  this  an  unwarranted 
assumption,  and  that  it  was  a  far  more  likely  supposition  that,  if 
a  young  huanaco  was  in  extremis,  the  older  members  of  the  herd 
expelled  it  from  their  ranks,  as  other  sick  or  wounded  animals 
are  usually  exjielled  by  their  fellows,  and  indicated  to  it  whither 
it  should  go.  Traditi<jnal  and  tribal  memories,  perpetuated  by 
communication  from  old  to  young,  would  account  for  such 
habits  as  the  hive-constructing  habits  of  the  bee  and  the 
domestic  and  militarj'  habits  of  the  various  species  of  ants, 
which  were  so  commonly  regarded  as  typical  of  the  more 
wonderfiil  development  of  instinct  in  the  lower  animals. 
The  fact  that  many  so-called  instinctive  acts  were  really  the 
products  of  education  and  experience,  did  not  clash  with  the 
view  that  animals  might  be  and  probably  were  born,  into  the 
world  with  a  hereditary  predisposition  to  certain  tribal  habits 
which  rendered  instruction  in  those  habits  easier  and  more 
effective.  The  mental,  like  the  bodily,  structure  of  any- 
individual  animal  was  the  sum  and  outcome  of  all  its  progenitors' 
faculties,  and  just  as  its  bodily  organisation  was  better  fitted  to 
perform  certain  acts  than  others,  so  its  mental  organisation  was 
better  fitted  for  certain  mental  operations  than  others.  Body 
and  mind  were  correlated  and  developed  in  unison.  The  web- 
building  spiders  secreted  web-building  material  in  their  bodies, 
and  possessed  highly  specialised  organs  enabling  them  to  produce 
the  material  in  such  manner  and  quantity  that  it  can  be  used  in 
the  construction  of  snares,  and  just  as  this  specialised  anatomical 
structure  has  gradually  been  evolved  from  simjile  beginnings,  .so 
the  mental  faculty  required  for  the  construction  of  snares  has 
been  evolved  with  it.  The  spi<ler  is,  so  to  speak,  endowed  with 
mental  as  well  as  with  anatomical  spinnerets.  If  we  eliminated 
j  all  such  habits  as  might  have  been  acquired  from  teaching  or 
observation,  there  were  left  comparatively  few  fixed  haliits  of 
animals  which,  in  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge,  could  not 
1  l)e  .accounted  for  by  the  individual  having  received  in.struction 
I  from  its  fellows,  or  gained  knowledge  from  its  own  observation, 
j  and  it  was  to  such  habits  that  the  author  proposed  to  confine  the 
'1  term  "instinct."  For  the  purposes  of  this  paper,  he  woidd  call 
them  "  true  instincts."  These  true  instincts  were  found  almost 
solely  amongst  insects.  By  way  of  illu.stration,  he  would 
take  the  case  of  the  caterpillar  of  a  butterfly  ( Thekla),  which 
fed  within  the  pomegranate,  but  when  full-grown  ^^nawed  its 
way  out,  and  then  proceeded  to  attach  with  silk  threads  the 
point  of  the  fruit  to  the  branch  of  the  tree,  so  that  the  fruit 
could  not  fall  before  the  metamorphoses  of  the  insect  was 
complete.  Here,  there  was  apparently  no  means  by  which  the 
caterpillar  could  receive  instruction,  since  no  visible  intercourse 
'  took  place  between  the  butterfly  whose  offspring  the  caterpillar 
was  and  the  caterpillar.  In  considering  this  problem,  we  must 
;  firmly  grasp  the  fact  that,  although  the  caterpillar,  the  pupa, 
and  the  imago  were,  to  outward  seeming,  three  distinct  animals, 
in  reality  they  were  but  varying  phases  of  the  same  animal. 
Therefore  the  insect  posses-sed  the  power  of  inheriting  memories 
We  could  understand  how  the  memory  of  an  inherited  habit 
useful  andcommim  to  one  phase  of  the  animal's  existence,  might 
re.idily  be  transmitted  from  the  perfect  insect  to  its  oflTspring 
through  the  various  stages  of  that  offspring's  existence.  The 
order  in  which  these  memories  were  transmitted  would  be  the 
order  in  which  they  wouU!  manifest  themselves  in  the  new  life 
cycle.  Did,  then,  the  Thekla  possess  the  ]xnver  of  transmitting 
the  habit  referred  to?  It  appeared  not  unreasimable  lo  sup- 
pose that  such  a  habit  might  become  (metaphorically  speaking) 
so  ingrained  in  the  mental  constitution  of  the  animal  as  to  be 
capable  of  transmission  from  parent  to  offspring.  The  life  of  an 
insect  was  short  and  monotonous,  and  its  range  of  locomotion 
limited  ;  its  world  was  a  small  world  ;  it  enjoyed  little  scope  fir 


3S4 


y\V7  TURE 


[Ar 


t;r>r  i 


o> 


169: 


variation  of  habit,  ami  its  ways  of  life  consequently  tended  to 
become  stereot)-ped  ujwn  its  mental  system,  and  so  transmitted 
from  generation  to  generation.  As  the  mental  nature  of  the 
animal  grew  more  complex,  instincts  became  more  rare,  because 
the  animal  exercised  more  choice  in  its  actions.  The  fact  that 
the  ner^•ous  system  of  the  Invertebrata  was  materially  different 
from  that  of  the  \ertcbrata,  H-as  full  of  significance  in  this  con- 
nection. Amongst  true  instincts  he  would  class  such  acts  of 
protective  mimicry  as  those  iierformed  by  the  l'hasmid;v ;  al- 
though their  alleged  practice  of  shamming  death  might  possibly  be 
constitutional  letharg)',  which  had  misled  observers.  The  fear 
which  young  animals,  including  children,  usually  manifested 
towards  what  was  really  dangerous  to  them,  might  also  be  classed 
amongst  true  instincts  ;  although  recent  experiments  by  Prof. 
Lloyd  Morgan  proved  that  the  fear  was  not  universal.  Mr. 
Pumell  next  discussed  S|«lding's  ex|)eriments  with  newly-lxirn 
chickens,  ducks,  pigs,  A:c. ,  « hich  went  to  show  that  the  young 
of  these  anim.als  were  capable  of  |>crforming  many  acts,  ap- 
parently intelligent,  without  instruction.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  the  young  fowl,  duck,  or  pig  came  into  the  world 
with  its  intelligence  pretty  fully  develo|)ed,  although  it  grew 
wiser  as  it  grew  older,  and  all  the  acts  mentioned  by  Siialding 
were  intelligent  acts,  not  acts  performed  in  an  unvarying  fashion, 
but  acts  varying  with  surrounding  circumstances,  lie  therefore 
concluded  th.it  these  acts  could  not  he  attributed  to  instinct,  but 
were  directed  by  intelligence.  What  he  had  denominale<l  "  tnie 
instinc's"  suggested  an  analogy  with  reflex  actions,  but  the 
analogy  was  fallacious.  Singleness  was  of  the  very  essence  of  a 
reflex  action.  The  action  might  Ik'  complex  in  its  manifest.ition, 
but  it  was  essentially  one  act.  of  which  active  consciousness  and 
reflex  action  were  contradictory  terms.  A  true  instinct  com- 
monly involved  a  sequence  of  acts,  directed  towards  a  definite 
end,  while  the  acts  were  consciously  |x;rformed. 

Xew  SofTit  Wales. 

Linnean  Society,  June  26.— Prof.  T.  W.  K.  Uavid,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  chair. — (a)  Notes  on  the  Omeo  Blacks  :  [h)  on 
the  Monaro  Blacks,  with  a  description  of  some  of  their  stone 
implements  :  (<■)  a  native  burial-place,  near  Cobbin,  Monaro,  by 
k.  Helms.  —  Descriptions  of  some  new  Araneidi!  of  New  South 
Wales  (No.  5),  l>y  W.  f.  Rainbow.  Three  new  species  of  orb- 
weavers  of  the  genus  Xephila  from  Xew  |-".ngland  ami  Sydney 
were  descriljcd.  The  fact  w.is  recorded  of  a  )oung  bird 
(prolalily  EilrilJa  tniiporaiis)  having  been  caught  in  a  web 
of  X.  Tfiilricosa  m  the  vicinity  of  Sydney;  also  that  Mr.  A. 
J.  Thorpe,  of  the  Australian  Museum,  had  seen  an  emu 
wren  [Slipiliinis  iiia/iuhiinis)  entangled  in  the  web  of 
one  of  the  AV/>/;/7.r  at  Madden's,  near  Belle  Plains  (N..S.W.); 
ilso  at  Cape  \'ork,  several  of  the  blue  warblers,  notably 
Ma/iinu  hrncnii  (\ig.  et  Mors.)  and  .1/.  aiimhilis  l(!ould). 
It  was  pointed  out  that  it  is  only  young  birds  and  those 
if  weak  wing-|xjwer  that  are  arrested  by  such  webs  ;  and 
doubt  was  expressed  as  to  the  correctness  of  the  assertion  of 
some  writers  that  birds  so  caught  are  devoured  by  the  spiders. 
The  author  also  |x>inted  out  that  each  web  is  placed  in  p<isition 
by  the  unerring  instincts  of  the  spider,  simply  because  the 
situation  is  such  a.s  will  a.ssure  abundance  of  food  in  the  shape 
"f  in>ccts,  and  that  it  is  merely  an  .accident  when  a  bird  liecomes 
entangled  in  the  tr>il.  The  paiier  concluded  with  a  description 
iif  the  mode  of  coition  in  the  ^Vc/////..-,  and  a  list  of  the  previously 
de»crilx;d  Australian  .s|>ecics  of  the  genus. — On  the  methods  of 
fertilisation  in  the  Goateiiiaceic  (part  ii.),  by  Alex.  (1.  Hamilton. 
ICIeven  s[)ecies  of  Daiiif'ifra  were  treated.  (Jf  these  four  are 
usually  cross-ferlilLsed  by  the  aid  of  insects,  but  in  the  remaining 
seven  while  crossfertilsation  is  pos.sible  by  insect  aid,  yet  self- 
fertilisation  must  occur  more  commonly.  On  a  new  fossil 
mammal  allie<l  to  llypsifiryiiiniis,  but  resembling  ill  some  |X>inls 
the  Pia^iaiiiiUi'diff  by  Koljert  Bro<jni.  The  remains  described 
under  the  name  of  Hiitraniys  pan'iis  arc  those  of  a  small 
.[•ial  not  larger  than  an  ordinary  mouse.  The  form  is 
:iy  interesting  in  having  but  three  true  molars  in  each  jaw  ; 

-•■  ' ■■'     ■  <-'\  premolar  with  serrate  edge  \'ery  similar 

!  '  L'lie  genus  Niopla^^iaiita.x.  lis  aOinities 
■  length,  anil  an  endeavour  was  iiiiide  to 
trace  its  reialionship  phylogcnetically.  -On  some  new  or  hitherto 
little-known  land  shells  from  New  Guinea  or  adj.icent  islands, 
by  C  K.  .\nccy.  Three  new  Papuan  s|x;clcs,  viz.  Hiiiiiplfila 
xratn'iyrat  Papitina  tiiomeitsis^  and  Ptipina  ttetithinei^  were 
dcscrilied,  and  rither  known  land  shells  from  (Icrman  New 
4iuinea  were  discussed.    -Plants  of  N,;w  South  Wales  illustrated. 


Nu.  viii.  A<a^  ia  iaiiigera,  A.  Cunn. ,  by  R.  T.  Baker.  This  is  by  no 
means  a  rare  plant  in  New  South  Wales,  and  yet  of  the  several 
descriptions  that  have  been  published  from  time  to  time,  not  one 
is  sufficient  in  detail  to  accurately  determine  the  species  ;  in  the 
specimens  described  in  the  I'lora  Australiensis  the  pod  was 
incorrectly  matched.  The  author  gave  the  results  of  an 
examination  of  perfect  material  from  many  localities,  and  his 
jKiijer  should  prove  of  assistance  in  the  future  in  the  elucida- 
tion of  cognate  species  which  at  present  are  not  ea.sy  of  deter- 
mination.— Description  of  a  new  sjwcies  of  Acacia  from  New 
South  Wales,  by  J.  H.  Maiden  and  R.  T.  Baker. 

(uiTTINCEN. 

Royal  Society  of  Sciences. — The  Nachrichleii ,  Part  2  for 
1S95,  contains  the  following  memoirs  of  scientific  interest  : — • 

Feliruary  9. — W.  \  oigt  :  Some  applications  of  the  thermo- 
dynamic potential.  I'ranz  Meyer:  On  the  structure  of  dis- 
criminants and  resultants  of  binary  forms  (second  note). 

February  23. — Ii.  Ritter  :  On  the  representation  of  groups  of 
functions  by  means  of  one  base. 

March  9. — J.  Orth  :  On  mucous  tissue  and  my.xomata,  with 
special  reference  to  the  hydatidiform  mole. 

March  23. — .\.  von  Koenen  :  On  the  relation  of  river-\-alley< 
to  erosion  and  to  the  depisit  of  diluvial  and  alluvial  formations. 
O.  Mii.;ge:  On  the  plasticity  of  ice  crystals. 

May  ri. — O.  Wallach  :  Researches  from  the  University  La- 
boratory of  Giittingen.  (i)  On  a  method  of  preparing  ketones  ; 
(2)  on  deri\'atives  of  piperonal  (heliotropin)  :  (3)  the  oxidation- 
products  of  terpinol  :  (4)  the  reduction-products  of  carbon. 
R.  Dedekind  :  On  an  extension  of  the  symbol  (it,  b)  in  the 
theory  of  moduli.  K.  Netto  :  ( )n  the  structure  of  the  resultants 
of  binary  forms. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLET,  and  SERIALS   RECEIVED. 

Bi'i>K>.-  Traill  de  Mccaniniii;  Clt^iK^ralc  :  H.  Rcsal.  I>cu\.  Kdtii.  Tome  i 
and  2  (Paris,  (lauihier-Vill.-irs). — I.'Arithni<ititiue  Amusante :  K.  Luca^ 
(Pari>,  llaii(hier-\'i!lars).— Traiid  DAriilmi^tiquc  :  C.  A.  I^isant  ei  K. 
Lemoine  (Paris,  Gauthicr-Villars).— Philip's  Handy- Votiimc  Atlas  of  the 
World :  E.  G.  Ravetiritein  (Philip). — Philip"?i  Sysiemaiic  Ailxs,  School 
Edition:  E.  G.  Ravenstcin  (Philip).--A  Glossary  of  Greek  Birds:  Prof. 
H.  VV.  Thompson  (.Oxford,  Clarendon  Press). — Dcscrirtlve  CataloKuc  of  the 
Spiders  of  Burma  preserved  in  the  British  Museum  :  T.  Thorcll  (London). 
Pami-hlet.— Bahy  Buds:  E.  Eihelmer  (ConKleton,  Mrs.  W.  Elmy).  ■ 
Serials. — Engineering  Maga2ine,  August  (Tucker). —Journal  of  the 
.\iuhropological  Institute,  .Xugust  (K.  Paul).— Strand  Magazine,  August 
(Newncs).  — Himmcl  und  Erde,  August  (Berlin,  P.-\cicl). — Sitzungsherichte 
der  Physikalisch-Medicintschen  Societia  In  Erlangcn,  36  Heft.  1894 
(ErlangenV— Journal  of  the  Franklin  Institute.  August  (Philadelphia).— 
American  Journal  of  Science,  August  (New  Haven).— American  Natutalisi, 
August  (Philadelphia). 

CONTENTS.  PAGK 

The  History  of  Evolution.      By  E.  B.  P 361 

The  Elements  of  Architecture .  363 

'•Parturiunt  Monies" 364 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

"  Low's  Chemical  Lecture  Charts."     G.  S.  N.  .    .    .  3(15 

Mollcr:  "  Brasilische  Pil/blumen."     D.  H.  S.  .    .    .  365 
Letters  to  the  Editor:  — 

TIk-  I'liivcrsilvnf  L.m.loii.      W.T.  Thiselton-Dyer, 

C.M.G.,  F.R.S 360 

Note  on  (Quaternions.    -Shunkichi  Kimura    ....  366 
To    Kind   the    I'ocal    Length   of  a  Convex    Mirror.-- 

Edwin   Budden 366 

Oceanic-  Man.U.      F.  W.  Headley 366 

Micrographic  Analysis,    y/llinlralcj.)    I'.v  Prof  W.  C. 

Roberts-Austen,  C.B.,  F.R.S.  .  '  .  .  367 
The    Scientific    Results  of    the  Annual   Meeting  of 

the  British  Medical  Association              .....  369 

The  Ipswich  Meeting  of  the  British  Association  .    .  370 

Baillon,  Babington,  Eaton.      By  W.  B.  H 371 

Notes      37* 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Tlic  Kuuiiicin  cif  Xlmus 374 

riu-  (  llisrrvalciry  o(  \ale  1  niversity 375 

Th<-  Nrlml.i  N.O  C.   2438 375 

The  Voyage  of  the  Aiilarclic  to  Victoria  Land.      By 

C.  E.  Borchgrevink 375 

Weather  Fallacies.     By  Richard  Inwards 377 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 3S1 

Scientific  Serials 3**^ 

Societies  and  Academies .582 

Books,  Pamphlet,  and  Serials  Received 384 


.VO.    1346.    VOL.   52] 


NA  TURK 


385 


THURSDAY,   AUGUST    22,   1895. 

TWO   BOOKS   OJV  ARCTIC    TRAVEL. 
The  Great  Frozen  Land.     By  Frederick  George  Jackson. 

(London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 
Ice-bound    on    A'olgue':      By     Aubyn     Trevor-Battye. 

(London  :  .Archibald  Constable  and  Co.,  1895.) 

BOTH  these  books  are  well  worthy  the  attention  of 
every  one  interested   in    .\rctic    travel.     But  little 
was  known  about  the  island  of  Wai^'atz,  and  still  less  of 
Kolguef.     Both  books  are  profusely  illustrated,  and  pro- 
vided  with    useful    maps,   but   some    of  Mr.   Jackson's 
pictures    are    borrowed    without    acknowledgment.     As 
might  naturally  be  expected,  the  Samoyedes  occupy  the  j 
greatest  share  of  attention,  but  some  information  respect-  [ 
ing  the  fauna  and  flora  of  both  islands  is  added,  and  the  i 
difficulties  of  travelling  are  dwelt  upon  with  considerable  | 
detail.  I 

The  "  Great  Frozen  Land  "  has  been  compiled  by  Mr.  | 
Arthur  Montefiori  from  Mr.  Jackson's  journal  of  his  trip 
across  the  tundras  of  European  Russia,  from  the  Kara 
Gates  to  the  Varanger  Fiord  via  Ust  Zylma  and  Arch- 
angel. In  one  of  the  appendices,  Mr.  Montefiori  e.xplains 
the  object,  method,  and  equipment  of  the  Jackson- 
Harmsworth  Polar  Expedition,  and  in  another  appendix 
Mr.  Joseph  Russell  Jeaffreson  adds  some  notes  on  the 
ornithological  results  of  Mr.  Jackson's  journey. 

The  narrative  begins  on  .August  25,  1893,  outside  the 
lagoon  of  the  Pechora,  and  ends  on  January  18,  1894,  at 
Vadso,  the  frontier  town  of  Norway.  The  greater  part 
of  the  book  has  been  devoted  to  the  Samoyedes,  but  the 
real  object  of  the  journey  was  neither  ornithological  nor 
anthropological,  otherwise  it  would  not  have  been  under- 
taken in  winter.  Mr.  Jackson,  as  everybody  knows,  was 
planning  an  expedition  to  Franz  Josef  Land,  and  the  very 
practical  idea  occurred  to  him  that  a  winter  among  the 
Samoyedes  must  give  him  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
difficulties  of  land  travelling  in  the  high  north,  and  might 
suggest  a  successful  way  of  battling  with  some  of  them. 

Mr.  Jackson  must  be  congratulated  upon  his  editor. 
Mr.  Montefiori  has  spared  no  pains  to  make  the  book 
interesting.  The  information  which  Mr.  Jackson  him- 
self procured,  especially  on  the  island  of  Waigatz,  is 
valuable,  and  it  is  supplemented  by  quotations  from 
Rae,  Gastrin  von  Strahlenberg,  Purchas  his  Pilgrimes, 
and  the  works  of  various  other  travellers. 

Unfortunately  the  ornithological  part  has  not  fallen 
into  such  good  hands.  There  are  a  dozen  or  more  gross 
mistakes  in  the  spelling  of  the  names  of  the  birds,  and 
in  addition  there  are  some  curious  inconsistencies.  In 
the  preliminary  observations  we  are  told  that  Mr. 
Jackson  brought  home  "  of  swans — not  Bewick's — but  the 
common  variety  of  that  region,"  in  spite  of  which  the 
only  swan  in  the  list  (No.  28)  is  Bewick's  swan.  Mention 
is  made  of  grossbills.  (Does  the  writer  mean  crossbills  or 
grosbeaks.')  Of  the  little  stint  (No.  451  it  is  stated  that 
the  only  authentic  eggs  were  those  taken  by  MiddendorflT. 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  Middendorfif  ever 
found  the  eggs  of  the  little  stint.  The  eggs  which  he 
records  as  being  those  of  Tringa  minuta  were  probably 
those  of  Tringa  ruficollis  and  possibly  those  of 
Tringa  subminuta.  The  first  identified  eggs  of  the 
NO.    1347,  VOL.   52] 


little  stint  were  taken  on  July  22,  1875,  by  Mr.  Harvie- 
Brown,  on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  lagoon  of  the  Pechora, 
and  a  few  days  later  a  score  had  been  obtained  by  the 
expedition.  Other  eggs  equally  authentic  have  since 
been  taken  in  Lapland,  Novaia  Zemblia,  and  Kolguef. 
It  is  extremely  unlikely  that  the  identification  of  the 
species  in  the  list  is  always  correct.  No.  10  doubtless 
refers  to  Phyllosopus  tristis,  and  not  to  the  chiffchaff : 
No.  1 2  is  more  likely  to  be  a  redpole  than  a  siskin  ;  No.  39 
is  doubtless  .-Egialitis  hiaticula,  and  not  jE.  curonica, 
and  No.  53  is  more  likely  to  be  Stercorarius  richardsoni 
than  caiarractes.  In  but  few  cases  is  the  exact  locality 
given,  so  that  on  the  whole  we  must  condemn  the  list 
as  worse  than  useless. 

Mr.  Jackson  went  out  on  one  of  Captain  Wiggins' 
numerous  voyages  to  the  Yenesei,  and  was  left  on  the 
southern  shore  of  the  Yugorski  Strait,  with  little  or  no 
knowledge  of  the  language  of  the  country,  to  fight  his 
way  as  best  he  could.  He  was  anxious  to  go  to  the 
Yalmal  Peninsula,  but  the  Samoyedes  declined  to  take 
him  there.  .After  reading  the  account  of  the  difficulties 
which  Drs.  Finsch  and  Brehm  encountered,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  their  decision  was  very  wise.  Mr. 
Jackson  was,  therefore,  obliged  to  content  himself  with 
exploring  Waigatz  Island,  and  succeeded  in  making 
the  detour  in  a  fortnight.  The  north  of  the  island 
enjoys  a  milder  climate  in  winter  than  the  south,  the 
Yugorski  Straits  being  frozen  over,  whilst  there  is  always 
more  or  less  open  water  in  the  Kara  Gates. 

Winter  came  upon  the  adventurous  traveller  rather 
suddenly  during  the  second  week  of  October,  and  on  the 
1 3th  he  began  his  sledge  journey  to  the  Norwegian  frontier. 
During  the  three  months  that  this  occupied,  Mr.  Jackson 
lived  among  the  Samoyedes  and  picked  up  many  useful 
hints  as  to  dress,  food,  &c.,  as  well  as  accustoming  him- 
self to  camping  out  in  the  snow,  travelling  by  sledge, 
using  snow-shoes,  &c.  This  information  and  experience 
will  doubtless  be  of  great  value  to  him  on  his  expedition 
to  Franz  Josef  Land.  It  is  worth  something  to  know, 
instead  of  only  to  suspect,  that  you  have  pluck  to  face 
the  difficulties  of  Arctic  travel,  and  every  one  wishes  a 
safe  return  to  a  traveller  who  with  but  small  previous 
experience  has  gone  to  try  his  luck  in  battling  with 
enormous  difficulties. 

Mr.  Trevor- Batty e's  book  treats  of  the  journey  which 
he  made  in  1894  to  a  still  less  known  part  of  the  Arctic 
Ocean.  The  island  of  Kolguef  lies  about  1 50  miles  to 
the  west-north-west  of  the  lagoon  of  the  Pechora,  whilst 
the  island  of  Waigatz  lies  about  as  far  to  the  north-east 
of  that  basin.  Mr.  Trevor-Battye  sailed  from  Scotland 
in  the  steam-yacht  Saxon  on  June  2,  and  landed,  with 
his  bird-skinner,  on  the  west  coast  of  Kolguef  on  the 
i6th  ;  but  as  ill-luck  would  have  it,  they  went  again  on 
board,  and  did  not  finally  leave  the  vessel  until  the  21st, 
after  the  ice  had  driven  them  to  the  north  of  the  island. 
On  .August  18,  a  Russian  merchant  from  the  Pechora 
arrived  on  Kolguef,  and  Mr.  Trevor-Battye  and  his  com- 
panion left  in  his  boat  on  September  18,  and  after  a 
nineteen  hours  somewhat  perilous  sail,  reached  the  main- 
land.    In  two  months  he  was  back  again  in  England. 

Mr.  Trevor-Battye  appears  to  have  kept  a  copious 
journal,  and  very  interesting  reading  it  is.  It  bears 
internal  evidence  of  having  been  written  on  the  spot  by 

S 


i86 


NA  TURE 


[August  22,  1S95 


one  who  was  well  trained  in  habits  of  obsen-ation,  and 
accustomed  to  the  dnidgen-  of  making  daily  notes  of 
what  he  saw.  The  remarks  on  the  peculiarities  of  the 
Samoyedes  are  \aluable  from  their  originality,  and  are 
an  important  contribution  to  the  ethnology  of  Siberia  in 
Europe.  The  value  of  the  ornithological  appendix  is  in 
strong  contrast  to  that  in  Mr.  Jackson's  book  ;  but  it 
must  always  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Trevor- Batty e  is 
h  mself  an  ornithologist,  and  travelled  at  a  time  of  year 
when  the  countr)'  was  full  of  birds.  Mr.  Jackson  makes 
no  pretension  to  any  knowledge  of  ornithology',  he 
travelled  at  a  season  when  birds  were  very  scarce,  his 
mind  was  occupied  with  other  thoughts,  and  he  had  the 
misfortune  to  entrust  the  few  skins  he  brought  home  to 
hands  as  inexperienced  as  his  own. 

Mr.  Trevor- Batlye's  account  of  the  way  in  which  the 
Samoyedes  surround  the  geese  when  most  of  them  are 
unable  to  fly,  because  they  are  moulting  their  quills  before 
migrating  to  the  coasts  of  Western  Europe  to  winter,  is 
most  graphic. 

On  the  south-east  coast  of  Kolgucf  the  sea  is  shallow, 
and  at  low  tide  there  is  much  sand  exposed  within  the 
line  of  the  outer  barrier  of  pilcd-up  ice,  which  lies  some 
three  miles  out  to  sea.  In  this  lagoon  thousands  of  geese 
retire  towards  the  end  of  July  to  moult  their  flight 
feathers.  When  they  are  in  this  more  or  less  helpless 
state,  the  Samoyedes  slip  down  in  their  boats  through 
the  fog  and  get  behind  them,  and  gradually  drive  them 
on  shore,  where  a  decoy  net  has  been  staked  out  to  receive 
them.  Once  inside  this  trap  they  arc  slaughtered  with- 
out mercy  to  provide  food  for  the  winter.  The  day's  bag 
was  3300  brent  geese,  13  bean  geese,  and  12  white- 
fronted  geese.  Fortunately  for  the  two  species  of 
grey  geese,  they  moult  a  little  later  than  the  black  geese, 
so  that  most  of  them  were  able  to  fly.  The  Samoyedes 
told  our  travellers  that  the  bernacle  goose  nested  at  the 
north  of  the  island. 

Mr.  Trevor-Battye  was  fortunate  enough  to  obtain 
eggs  both  of  the  grey  plover  and  little  stint.  Mention 
is  made  on  page  209  of  the  capture  of  two  examples  of 
the  curlew  sandpiper,  but  curiously  enough  this  bird  does 
not  appear  in  the  ornithological  appendix. 

There  is  an  interesting  appendix  on  the  flora  of 
Kolguef.  The  cloudberry,  one  of  the  most  delicious 
of  fruits,  which  is  found  on  the  highest  summits  of  the 
Peak  of  Derbyshire,  and  on  the  Craven  .Mountains  in 
^'orkshire,  was  in  flower  by  the  second  week  of  June, 
but  the  fruit  did  not  ripen  before  August  25. 

Both  Kolguef  and  Waigatz  have  an  island  climate, 
very  different  from  that  of  continental  .Siberia  ;  and  it 
might  be  said  of  both  of  them,  as  is  frequently  said  of 
Lapland,  that  they  have  eight  months  winter,  and  four 
months  no  summer.  The  frequent  rains  arc  no  doubt 
vcr>'  favourable  to  the  growth  of  many  species  of  plants, 
but  they  sadly  interfere  with  the  pleasures  of  camp-life. 
When  the  north  wind  brings  down  fogs  from  the  Arctic 
ice  in  June,  and  snow  followed  by  rain  in  July,  varied 
with  thunder  in  August,  and  frosts  in  September,  it 
requires  some  enthusiasm  for  birds  or  flowers  to  enjoy 
the  fight  with  the  storms.  There  arc,  however,  some 
compensations,  if  there  be  little  sunshine  there  is  no 
ni^ht,  and  when  the  north  wind  blows  the  plague  of 
mosquitoes  is  stayed.  Hknkv  .Skicisohm. 

NO.    1347.  VOL.   52] 


ANOTHER  BOOK  ON  SOCIAL   EVOLUTION. 
The  Evolution  of  Industry.    By  Henry  Dyer,  C.E.,  M..A  , 
D.Sc,  &c.     (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1S95.) 

THIS  work  contains  much  valuable  suggestion,  many 
admirable  sentiments,  and  a  selection  of  choice 
extracts  from  the  best  writers  on  social  philosophy  ;  but 
it  is  hardly  what  one  would  expect  from  its  title.  The 
idea  of  evolution  is,  no  doubt,  more  or  less  present  to  the 
author  throughout  his  work,  and  some  of  its  main 
characteristics  are  referred  to  and  illustrated  by  the 
phenomena  of  industrial  progress  ;  but  there  is  a  want 
of  system  and  of  logical  connection  in  the  treatment  of 
the  subject,  and  an  entire  absence  of  the  unity  of  design, 
forcible  reasoning,  and  original  theoiy  which  were  such 
prominent  features  in  Mr.  Kidd's  work. 

Ur.  Dyer's  book  is  an  eclectic  one,  inasmuch  as  it 
adopts  from  previous  writers  such  ideas  and  principles  as 
commend  themselves  to  the  author.  His  frequent  quota- 
tions are  often  followed  by  the  remark — "  there  is  much 
truth  in  this'' — and  it  is  sometimes  rather  difficult  to  deter- 
mine what  are  his  own  conclusions.  It  would  not  be 
difficult  for  both  individualists  and  socialists  to  find  sup- 
port here  to  their  own  views  ;  but  the  general  impression 
made  by  the  volume  is,  that  the  author  is  profoundly 
dissatisfied  with  the  present  state  of  society,  and  is 
inclined  to  some  form  of  socialism  as  the  only  effective 
renied)'. 

In  the  introductory  cha|)ter  we  find  many  of  the  objec- 
tions to  socialism  very  strongly  put,  though  most  of  these 
are  objections  to  particular  details  rather  than  to  essential 
principles  ;  yet  in  the  same  chapter  we  find  statements 
of  fact  which  answer  many  of  these  objections.  Thus 
we  are  told  (p.  21) :  "Among  the  co-operators,  for  instance, 
we  find  men  managing,  with  the  highest  efficiency,  con- 
cerns of  great  extent  and  importance  for  salaries  smaller 
than  those  of  bank  clerks.  They  find  their  real  salaries 
in  the  success  of  their  work,  and  in  the  knowledge  that  it 
will  lead,  not  simply  to  individual  riches,  but  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  community,  and  especially  of  the  workers." 

.•\fter  quoting  from  the  late  Prof.  Cairnes  to  the  effect 
that  no  public  benefit  of  any  kind  arises  from  the  exist- 
ence of  an  idle  rich  class,  he  adds  :  "  From  a  scientific 
point  of  \iew,  and  therefore  from  a  moral  |5oiiu  of  \ icw, 
no  man  or  woman,  unless  physically  or  mentally  disabled, 
has  any  right  to  remain  a  member  of  a  community  unless 
he  or  she  is  labouring  in  some  way  or  other  for  the  common 
good.  In  every  organised  society,  therefore,  there  can 
be  no  rights  apart  from  duties  "  (p.  37).  This  principle 
is  thoroughly  socialistic,  and  would  lead  us  very  far 
indeed  ;  but  here,  as  elsewhere,  the  author  seems  afraid 
to  carry  out  his  own  principles  to  their  logical  con- 
clusions. Further  on,  he  tells  us  that  -"  In  some  parts  of 
the  country  as  much  as  between  40  and  50  per  cent,  of  all 
the  deaths  that  occur  are  those  of  children  under  five 
years  of  age,  a  state  of  matters  which  is  a  disgrace  to 
our  civilisation"  ;  and,  after  quoting  some  forcible  vvords 
of  Lady  Uiike  as  to  much  of  England's  industrial  great- 
ness being  due  to  her  practically  unlimited  supply  of  the 
cheap  labour  of  her  women  and  girls,  he  concludes  :  "  ll 
is  therefore  evident,  both  from  an  economic  and  a  nioral 
point  of  view,  that  the  individualist  system  of  industry, 
by  itself  is  not   sufficient   to  bring  about  a  stable  social 


August 


1895] 


NATURE 


30/ 


structure."  He  describes  hospitals  as  institutions  "  which 
are  founded  for  the  purpose  of  talcing  in  some  of  the  waste 
products  of  our  industrial  and  social  system,  and  for  re- 
pairing, as  far  as  possible,  the  injuries  which  they  have 
suffered  ";  and  he  adds  :  "  Such  institutions  are  sometimes 
pointed  out  as  the  glories  of  our  civilisation.  They  should, 
on  the  contrary,  be  looked  upon  chiefly  as  monuments  of 
neglected  duties,  and  the  object  of  all  social  reformers 
should  not  be  to  extend  them,  but  so  to  improve  social 
and  industrial  conditions  as  to  render  them  almost  entirely 
unnecessary."  This  will  be  a  new  idea  to  many  good 
people,  but  it  shows  that  the  author  is  far  ahead  of  the 
average  social  reformer. 

Again,  he  points  out  that  the  armies  and  navies  of  the 
world  afford  most  instructive  lessons  in  collective  action, 
and  that  it  would  be  equally  possible  to  have  armies  of 
men  organised  for  industrial  worV:,  and  navies  for  carry- 
ing on  such  commerce  as  was  essential  for  supplying  the 
wants  of  the  community  ;  and  in  his  chapter  on  "  Indus- 
trial Training,"  he  shows  how  necessaiy  it  has  become  to 
supplement  the  very  imperfect  means  now  rfforded  to 
apprentices  to  leam  their  business  by  some  systematic  and 
well-organised  system  under  local  or  other  authorities. 

In  the  last  chapter,  on  "Industrial  Integration,"  sug- 
gestions are  made  as  to  the  course  of  future  legislation. 
The  author  thinks  that  it  will  be  made  increasingly  diffi- 
cult for  people  to  live  upon  unearned  incomes,  while  the 
equalisation  of  opportunities  will  reduce  the  rewards  of 
extra  ability.  How  this  is  to  be  effected  is  not  made 
clear  ;  but  the  author  is  decidedly  of  opinion  that  "  the 
resumption  of  the  ownership  of  the  land  by  the  community 
is  a  first  essential  to  equality  of  opportunity";  concluding 
with  the  rather  weak  remark,  that  "  the  methods  to  be 
adopted  to  bring  this  about  will  require  very  careful  con- 
sideration, and  must  be  comparatively  slow  in  their 
operation." 

After  quoting  the  opinion  of  the  late  Mr.  Werner 
Siemens,  that  the  progress  of  science  will  lead  not  to  the 
increase  of  great  factories,  but  to  the  return  to  individual 
labour,  Mr.  Dyer  adds  : — 

"  The  factory  system  will  continue,  and  no  doubt  be 
extended,  for  the  supply  of  the  common  necessaries  of 
life,  but  the  applications  of  electricity  and  other  methods 
of  obtaining  motive  power  will  enable  large  numbers  of 
small  industries  to  be  carried  on  in  country  districts. 
This  movement  will  ultimately  bring  about  a  society  of 
integrated  labour,  which  will  alternate  the  work  of  the 
field  with  that  of  the  workshop  and  manufactory.  In  order 
that  the  e\  ils  arising  from  unlimited  competition  may  be 
avoided,  these  departments  of  work  will  all  be  so  co- 
ordinated that  a  considerable  region  will,  to  a  large  extent, 
be  self-contained  as  regards  its  requirements,  and  will 
produce  and  consume  its  own  agricultural  and  manufac- 
tured necessaries  of  life." 

This  conclusion  has  been  reached  by  the  present  writer 
and  some  others,  mainly  from  broad  considerations  of 
economy.  But  when  it  is  set  forth  in  a  work  which  pro- 
fesses to  trace  and  discuss  "  the  evolution  of  industry," 
we  expect  to  be  shown  that  it  is  a  logical  and  inevitable 
result  of  the  evolution  that  has  occurred  and  is  now- 
going  on.  This  is  nowhere  done,  and  in  this  respect  the 
book  must  be  pronounced  a  failure,  although  there  is 
much  in  it  with  which  every  friend  of  progress  and  ever)' 
student  of  social  science  must  heartily  agree. 

.■\LFRED     R.    VV'.ALLACE. 
NO.    1347,  VOL.   52] 


MA  VAN  HIEROGL  YPHICS. 
A   Primer  of  Mayan    Hieroglyphics.     By    Daniel    G. 
Brinton.     Publication  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
.Series  in    Philology,  Literature,  and  Archaiology,  vol, 
iii.  No.  2.     (London  :  Ginn  and  Co.; 

ALL  who  are  interested  in  .\merican  archaeology  (and 
especially  those  who  do  not  read  German,  must 
feel  greatly  indebted  to  Dr.  Brinton  for  his  "  Primer  of 
Mayan  Hieroglyphics,"  for  in  this  little  book  he  has 
brought  together  the  result  of  work  done  during  the  last 
few  years  in  America,  England,  and  Germany,  and  his 
own  extensive  knowledge  of  the  subject  of  which  he 
treats  gives  the  highest  value  to  his  selections  and  his 
comments. 

That  there  has  been  a  distinct  advance  made  all  along 
the  line  cannot  now  be  doubted,  and  material  for  study 
has  not  only  increased,  but  has  been  made  more  generally 
available  to  the  student 

Dr.  Brinton  divides  the  Maya  inscriptions  into  their 
three  elements — mathematical,  pictorial,  and  graphic, 
and  proceeds  to  review  them  in  that  order.  He  first  de- 
scribes Prof.  Forstemann's  interesting  investigation  into 
the  Maya  notation  for  the  higher  numbers,  and  then 
enumerates  the  various  divisions  of  time  in  use  amongst  the 
Mayas,  and  points  out  that  the  bringing  of  these  irregular 
numbers  into  unison  with  the  lunar  and  stellar  years  is 
the  difficult  task  which  lies  before  the  investigator. 

"  We  need  not  search "  [in  the  inscriptions]  "  for  the 
facts  of  history,  the  names  of  mighty  kings,  or  the  dates  of 
conquests.  We  shall  not  find  them.  Chronometry  we 
shall  find,  but  not  chronicles  ;  astronomy  with  astrological 
aims  ;  rituals,  but  no  records.  Pre-Columbian  history 
will  not  be  reconstructed  from  them.  This  will  be  a  dis- 
appointment to  many  ;  but  it  is  the  conclusion  toward 
which  tend  all  the  soundest  investigations  of  recent 
years." 

Whilst  dwelling  upon  the  elaborate  and  careful  re- 
searches of  what  may  be  called  the  astronomical  school 
of  investigators.  Dr.  Brinton  does  not  fail  to  give  an 
instance  of  how  far  they  differ  from  their  rivals,  by  quot- 
ing the  explanation  given  of  a  certain  series  of  figures  in 
the  "  Codex  Cortesianus,"  which,  in  agreement  with 
Forstemann,  he  supposes  to  represent  the  position  of 
certain  celestial  bodies  before  the  summer  solstice,  whilst 
Prof.  Cyrus  Thomas  says  of  them,  "  It  may  be  safely 
assumed  that  these  figures  refer  to  the  Maya  process  of 
making  bread"!  Such  differences  of  opinion  would 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  study  of  the  inscriptions  has 
not  yet  emerged  from  the  stage  of  guess-work,  and  to  a 
great  extent  this  is  undoubtedly  the  case  ;  but  it  is  satis- 
factor\-  to  mark  how  the  happy  guess-work  of  the  last  few 
years,  and  the  criticism  it  has  provoked,  has  led  to  a  solid 
foundation  of  ascertained  fact  from  which  a  fresh  start 
can  now  be  made. 

Under  the  heading  of  "  Pictorial  Elements,"  Dr.  Brinton 
gives  us  a  list  of  the  Maya  gods  and  their  attributes, 
gathered  chiefly  from  old  Spanish  records.  Regarding 
some  of  those  deities,  he  has  already  published  some 
interesting  studies  in  ".American  Hero  M)ths."  He 
then  proceeds  to  discuss  the  cosmogony  of  the  Mayas, 
and  in  the  following  pages  deals  with  the  pictorial  repre- 
sentations of  the  Maya  divinities,  referring  continually  to 
the  list  published  in  1892  by  Dr.  Schellhas  in  the  Zcit- 
schrift  fiir  Ethnologic. 


i88 


NATURE 


[August  22,  1895 


Students  appear  to  be  now  fairly  well  agreed  about  the 
order  in  which  the  glyphs  are  to  be  read,  and  on  the 
identification  of  the  signs  representing  days,  months,  and 
some  of  the  other  divisions  of  time  :  but  there  still  remains 
for  consideration  a  large  number  of  glyphs  to  which  the 
most  varied  and  contradictory  interpretations  ha\e  been 
given. 

The  most  essential  qualification  for  a  student  of  Maya 
inscriptions  is  without  doubt  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
Maya  language  as  it  is  now  spoken  in  Yucatan.  Dr. 
Brinton,  who  is  a  distinguished  philologist,  has  doubtless 
learnt  all  that  imperfect  dictionaries  and  grammars  can 
te.ich  him,  and  on  that  account  alone  would  hold  a  fore- 
most position  in  the  investigation.  But  the  only  way  to 
acquire  the  special  knowledge  which  is  now  so  much 
needed  is  a  prolonged  residence  in  Yucatan  itself,  which 
can  be  reached  in  five  days  from  New  N'ork  ;  and  it 
would  be  good  news  should  we  hear  that  Dr.  Brinton  has 
used  his  great  influence  in  persuading  some  of  the  well- 
endowed  universities  or  colleges  in  America  to  establish 
travelling  scholarships  for  the  study  of  native  .A.merican 
languages,  and  had  placed  the  Maya  language  first  on 
the  list. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Harrmi'  Butlcrflies  and  Mollis.  \'ol.  i.  By  J.  L.  Bonhote, 
M.B.O.U.,  and  Hon.  N.  C.  Rothschild,  F.E.S.,  K.Z.S. 
8vo.    Pp.  xi.  and  95.     Plate.    (Harrow  :  Wilbee,  1895.) 

At  the  present  day,  natural  histor)'  receives  considerable 
encouragement  at  our  larger  public  schools  and  colleges, 
many  of  which  now  boast  a  Natural  History  Society  of 
their  own,  and  publish  a  journal  of  their  own.  The 
naturalists  of  Harrow  .School  have  struck  out  a  bolder 
path,  and  have  begun  to  issue  a  series  of  manuals  of  their 
local  fauna,  of  which  this  is  the  second,  the  first,  by  Mr. 
Barrett- Hamilton,  having  been  devoted  to  the  birds  of 
H  arrow. 

The  volume  before  us  includes  the  Mtjcro-Lcpidoptcra 
to  the  end  of  the  Noctucc,  and  is  illustrated  by  a  useful 
plate  presented  by  the  Hon.  Walter  Rothschild,  repre- 
senting the  antenna;  of  the  three  British  species  of  ///o, 
the  neuration  of  Pupilin  inachapii,  and  the  egg,  lar\  a,  and 
pupa  of  Vitnts.ui  uin/ui.  The  second  volume  will  include 
the  remainder  of  the  Macro- Lipidoptcrd,  and  the  Picro- 
p/ioridu:  South  has  been  followed  for  L.itin  names,  and 
Newman  for  English  names,  and  the  indefinite  term 
'■  variety  '"  has  been  \  ery  properly  abandoned. 

The  district  included  comprises,  roughly  speaking,  a 
ridius  of  about  fi\e  miles  from  Harrow  Hill,  and  in- 
corporates the  notes  of  a  considerable  number  of 
observers,  the  majority  being  connected  with  Harrow 
School.  It  consists  mainly  of  a  record  of  localities, 
times  of  appearance,  and  habits,  with  occasional  notes 
on  species  not  found  in  the  district,  or  on  aberrations. 

As  a  record  of  the  present  fauna  of  a  restricted  locality, 
this  little  book  will  be  of  permanent  value,  in  view  of  the 
's  which  are  always  taking  place  in  the  appearance, 
/'•arance,  and  variation  in  distribution  and  aliund- 
a!i  jj  nf  individual  species.  One  or  two  species  which 
wi-  should  hardly  have  expected  to  meet  with  arc  in- 
cluded in  the  list,  such  as  /.yi'irna  corydcn,  but  we  arc 
surprised  to  miss  not  only  such  species  as  Aporia 
cralirj^i  'which  was  common  round  London  at  the 
beginning  of  the  century,  though  probably  no  Harrow 
records  were  kept  sti  far  back),  but  to  find  no  Krilillarics 
recorded,  c\(  epi  Ari^ynnis  sc/ciii;  ciiplirosyiic,  papliia 
and  Mi'litiiii  iiiirinin.     The  fondness  of  I'mirsMi  it/a/iin/a 


for  fruit  is  noticed  ;  and  we  may  remark  that  V.  aiitiopa 
also  shares  this  habit  with  its  congener. 

.-Xltogcthcr,  we  have  to  congratulate  the  authors  and 
the  Harrow  School  Scientific  Society  on  having  produced 
a  very  creditable  little  book,  and  we  hope  that  it  will 
serve  as  an  incentixe  to  the  members  of  other  School 
Scientific  Societies  to  go  and  do  likewise.         W.  K.  K, 

Hand-list  of  Herbaceous  Plants  Cultivated  in  the  Royal 
Gardens,  Kew.     (Sold  at  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew.) 

.'Vbout  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  the  border-flowers  in 
which  our  grandsires  delighted  were  all  but  pushed  out 
of  existence  by  "bedding  plants''  and  ribbon-borders  of 
glaring  hue.  Nurserymen  who  had  good  stocks  of  the 
older  favourites  found  them  unsaleable,  and  discarded 
them  accordingly.  Then  came  a  change,  largely  owing 
to  the  influence  exerted  by  Mr.  Robinson's  publications. 
"Herbaceous"  and  ".Alpine"  plants  were  once  more 
received  into  favour,  and  are  probably  more  numerous 
and  more  extensively  cultivated  than  ever  they  were. 
Kew,  as  usual,  has  been  responsive  to  popular  demands. 
In  times  well  within  the  memory  of  the  present  genera- 
tion, the  plants  we  speak  of  were  grown  there,  as  in 
otlier  botanic  gardens,  in  ugly  gridiron-like  beds,  an 
arrangement  which  might  have  been  suitable  for  strictly 
botanical  purposes,  but  which  was  as  unattractive  as 
possible. 

To  obviate  this,  and  to  allow  of  the  plants  grownig  in 
the  most  natural  way  possible,  the  new  rockery  was 
formed,  mainly,  we  believe,  after  the  plans  of  .Mr.  Dyer. 
At  any  rate,  it  now  forms  one  of  the  most  attractive 
features  in  the  garden,  and  with  the  frames  and  "  .-Xlijine 
House,"  serves  excellently  to  illustrate  this  class  of 
plants. 

A  proper  catalogue,  of  course,  became  necessary,  for, 
unfortunately,  the  names  and  descriptions  in  the  most 
popular  books  on  the  subject,  are  not  to  be  depended 
upon.  The  present  publication  is  an  alphabetical  list, 
the  only  information  given  in  addition  to  the  names, 
being  a  mention  of  the  botanist  responsible  for  the  name, 
and  a  general  indication  of  the  native  country  of  the 
plant. 

The  names  of  the  botanical  authorities  are  given  in  the 
contracted  form  adopted  in  scientific  works  ;  but  in  a  list 
of  this  character,  which  is  mainly  intended  for  unscientific 
readers,  the  names  should  either  be  gi\  en  in  full,  or  an 
explanation  of  the  abbreviations  supplied. 

No  fewer  than  6cxx)  species,  it  appears,  are  now  grown 
at  Kew,  including,  we  see,  as  many  as  a  hundred  species 
of  Carex. 

A  Manual  of  liook-keepinj;.     By  J.   riiornlon.      I'p.  527. 
(London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 

Thk  late  Prof.  Cayley  is  quoted  by  the  author  to  have 
said  of  l5ook-keeping,  "  It  is  only  its  extreme  simplicity 
which  prevents  it  being  as  interesting  as  it  otherwise 
would  be."  But  what  was  simplicity  to  the  master  of 
pure  mathematics  is  very  far  from  being  so  to  the  average 
shopkeeper,  as  witness  the  testimonies  of  Ofticial  Re- 
ceivers in  Bankruptcy.  As  Mr.  Thornton  points  out,  a 
general  opinion  among  uneducated  tradesmen  is  that 
Ijook-kecping  was  in\ented-  to  conceal  the  facts  ;  and 
therefore  they  think  the  least  they  know  about  i(  the 
higher  is  their  code  of  commercial  ethics.  This  Ijook 
will  undoubtedly  assist  in  rcmo\ing  such  mistaken 
opinions  ;  it  is  the  clearest  exposition  of  the  .principles 
and  practice  of  book-keeping  that  we  hav  c  yet  seen,  and 
the  most  original  in  design.  The  science  and  art  of  the 
subject  arc  dealt  with  simply  ;  the  matter  is  arranged  in 
an  admiral)Ie  manner  ;  and  by  subordinating  details  to 
principles,  the  author  has  made  his  l)(>ok  worthy  of  the 
attention  of  all  students  who  wish  to  acquire  a  sound  and 
sricnlin(   knowlc  dijr  of  book-keeping. 


NO.    1347,  VOL.  52] 


August  22,  1S95] 


NA  TURE 


389 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[  The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  lie  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  University  of  London. 

Mr.  TillsEi  ion-Dvek  now  narrows  his  attack  to  my  sug- 
gestionthatin  voting  on  the  new  Charter,  membersof  Convocation 
should  do  so  "  as  at  a  Senatorial  election,"  i.e.  by  voting  papers. 
This  seems  a  very  narrow  basis  for  so  severe  a  condemnation. 

The  reason  for  this  provision  was,  I  presume,  that  as  many 
members  of  Convocation  are  professional  men,  masters  of 
schools,  &c. ,  it  is  in  many  cases  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for 
them  to  come  up  to  London. 

The  provision  applies,  I  may  add,  not  only  to  Senatorial,  but 
aJso  to  Parliamentary,  elections.  I  cannot  see  why  Mr. 
Thiselton-Dyer  should  assume  thai  a  vote  so  taken  would 
"  destroy  the  prospects  of  academic  study  in  London."  That, 
however,  is  not  an  attack  on  me,  but  on  the  Constituency. 

High  Elms,  August  17.  John  Lubbock. 


Plant-Animal  Symbiosis. 

In  I'rof.  Stewart's  collection  at  the  Royal  College  of  Sur- 
geons there  is  a  preparation  of  a  mimosa  which  protects  itself 
from  browsing  animals  by  providing  in  its  great  thorns  a 
<lomicile  for  a  species  of  vicious,  stinging  ants.  I  believe 
this  example  of  plant-animal  symbiosis  comes  from  one  of 
the  West  Indian  Islands,  while  on  the  mainland  of  .\merica  the 
same  species  of  mimosa  exists,  but  suffers  greatly  from  the  depre- 
<lations  of  animals,  because  there  is  no  suitable  ant  to  come  and 
ward  them  off.  If  my  recollection  of  the  distribution  is  correct, 
the  following  note  of  a  similar  phenomenon  in  South  Africa,  I 
think,  is  of  considerable  interest. 

In  a  recent  tour  through  the  Karroo,  in  search  of  the  skeleton  of 
the  Dicynodons,  I  came  across  a  mimosa  tree  which  here  forms  the 
chief  fuel,  on  one  of  the  lower  branches  of  which  there  were  some 
very  large  thorns  ;  one  of  these  had  a  little  oval  hole  bored  just 
beneath  the  summit.  On  breaking  it  open,  there  issued  an  in- 
credible number  of  ants,  considering  that  they  were  packed  in 
the  space  of  a  pair  of  spines  about  four  inches  long  and  half  an 
inch  in  diameter.  The  asexual  forms  were  of  the  usual  two 
kinds  :  the  soldiers  were  about  a  quarter  of  an  inch  long,  brown, 
and  very  attenuated,  showing  very  markedly  the  influence  of 
surroundings  on  form  ;  while  the  workers  were  scarcely  half  the 
size  of  their  protectors,  and  of  a  darker  hue.  The  sexual  forms 
I  did  not  see.  The  ants  emerged  from  the  crack  in  a  very  sleepy 
manner,  and  did  not  seem  at  all  aggressive ;  this  may  have  been 
on  account  of  the  cold,  which  w'ould  affect  them  more  than  their 
relatives  which  live  in  the  earth.  Embeclded  in  the  soft  wood  of 
the  stem,  where  the  two  spines  meet,  were  several  aphides,  which 
thus  were  able  to  feed  themselves  on  the  sap  of  the  tree,  and 
yet  always  be  within  the  house  of  their  owners.  In  the  West 
Indian  thorn-tree  the  leaves  offer  a  further  inducement  to  the 
ants  to  remain  constantly  near  them,  by  providing  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  leaflets  little  masses  of  a  nutritious  substance 
adapted  to  the  digestions  of  their  guests  ;  in  the  South  .African 
tree  there  is  a  mass  situate  at  the  base  of  the  leaves,  similar  to 
that  in  the  cherry,  which  probably  serves  the  same  object.  On 
returning  shortly  afterwards,  I  found  the  ants  had  trekked  with 
all  their  cattle,  and  I  failed  to  trace  their  whereabouts.  The 
locality  w.as  the  gold-fields  of  Spreeunfontein,  in  the  Prince 
Albert  district.  Ernkst  H.  L.  Schwarz. 

Ca|x;  Town,  August  i. 

Definitions  of  Instinct. 
1  HAVE  read  with  interest  the  abstract  of  Mr.  C.  W.  Purnell's 
paper  which  you  published  in  last  week's  Naurk  (p.  383).  I 
think  he  is  in  error  in  supposing  that  young  birds  do  not  afford 
I's  examples  of  truly  instinctive  activities.  The  way  in  which  a 
young  moorhen  swims  with  accurate  coordination,  before  the 
•down  is  well  dry  after  hatching,  and  before  it  can  walk  steadily, 
is  very  instinctive.  I  would  suggest  to  Mr.  Purnell  that  there 
IS  a  wide  field  for  observation  open  to  him  among  his  native 
birds.  If  he  will  hatch  some  of  them  out  m  the  incubator,  and 
carefully  note  what  they  can  do  prior  to  experience,  and  how 
their  activities  are  modified  by  experience,  he  will  help  to  solve 
iome  of  the  difficult  problems  of  habit  and  instinct. 

NO.    1347,  VOL.   52] 


I  have  myself  advocated  a  restriction  in  the  meaning  of  the 
term  somewhat  similar  to  that  for  which  he  argues.  I  shall  be 
obliged  if  you  can  find  space  for  the  provisional  scheme  of 
terminology  thus  suggested  in  Natural  Science  for  May  1895, 
w  hich  I  have  since  somewhat  extended  and  amended.  To  bring 
it  into  line  w  ith  modern  biological  thought,  a  good  deal  of  stress 
is  laid  on  the  question  of  heredity,  and  on  the  distinction  be- 
tween the  definiteness  which  is  congenital  and  that  which  is  ac- 
quired.    It  may  be  premised  : 

( 1 )  That  the  terms  congenital  and  act/uired  are  to  be  regarded 
as  mutually  exclusive.  "VVhat  is  congenital  in  its  definiteness  is, 
as  prior  to  individual  experience,  not  acquired  ;  the  definite- 
ness that  is  acquired  is,  as  the  result  of  individual  experience, 
not  congenital ; 

(2)  That  these  terms  apply  to  the  individual.  Whether  what 
is  acquired  by  one  individual  may  become  congenital  through 
inheritance  in  another  individual,  is  a  <juestion  of  fact  which  is 
not  to  he  settled  Ijy  implications  of  terminolog)' : 

(3)  That  the  term  acijuired  does  not  exclude  an  inherited 
potentiality  of  acquisition  under  the  appropriate  conditions. 
Such  inherited  potentiality  may  be  termed  innate.  WTiat  is 
acquired  is  a  definite  specialisation  of  an  indefinite  innate 
potentiality  ; 

(4)  That  what  is  congenital  and  innate  is  inherent  in  the 
germ-plasm  of  the  fertilised  ovum. 

Congenital  mo^'cments  and  activities :  those  the  definite 
performance  of  which  is  antecedent  to  individual  experience. 
They  may  be  performed  either  (i)  at  or  very  shortly  after  birth 
(connate),  or  (2)  when  the  organism  has  undergone  further 
development  (deferred). 

Congenital  automatism  :  the  congenital  physiological  basis  of 
those  movements  or  activities  the  definite  performance  of  which 
is  antecedent  to  individual  experience. 

Thysioirgical  rhythms :  congenital  (and  connate)  rhythmic 
movements  essential  to  the  continuance  of  organic  life. 

Reflex  moz^ements :  congenital,  adaptive,  and  coordinated 
responses  of  limbs  or  parts  of  the  body  :  directly  evoked  by 
stimuli. 

Random  movements :  congenital,  more  or  less  definite,  but 
not  specially  adaptive  movements  of  limbs  or  parts  of  the  body  ; 
either  centrally  initiated  or  directly  evoked  by  stimuli. 

Instinctive  activities:  congenital,  adaptive,  and  coordinated 
activities  of  relative  complexity,  and  involnng  the  welfare  of  the 
organism  as  a  whole  ;  specific  in  character,  but  subject  to  varia- 
tion analogous  to  that  found  in  organic  structures  :  similarly 
performed  by  all  the  members  of  the  same  more  or  less  re- 
stricted group,  in  adaptation  to  special  circumstances  frequently 
recurring  or  essential  to  the  continuance  of  the  race ;  often 
periodic  in  development  and  serial  in  character. 

Imitative  movements  and  activities:  due  to  individual 
imitation  oi  similar  movements  or  activities  performed  by 
others. 

Impulse  ( Trieb) :  the  affective  or  emotional  condition,  whether 
congenital  or  acquired,  under  the  influence  of  which  a  conscious 
organism  is  prompted  to  movement  or  activity,  without  reference 
to  a  conceived  end  or  ideal. 

Instinct:  the  congenital  psychological  impulse  concerned  in 
mstinctive  activities. 

Control:  the  conscious  inhibition  or  augmentation  of  move- 
ment or  activity.  While  the  power  of  control  is  innate,  its 
special  mode  of  application  is  the  result  of  experience,  and 
therefore  acquired. 

Intelligent  activities:  those  due  to  individual  control  or 
guidance  in  the  light  of  experience  through  association  (volun- 
tary). 

Motive:  the  affective  or  emotional  condition  under  the  in- 
fluence of  which  a  rational  being  is  guitled  in  the  performance 
of  deliberate  acts. 

Deliberate  acts:  those  performed  in  distinct  reference  to  a 
conceived  end  or  ideal  (volitional). 

Habits :  organised  groups  of  activities,  stereotyped  by  rejieti- 
tion,  and  characteristic  of  a  conscious  organism  at  any  particular 
stage  of  its  existence. 

Acquired  movements,  activities,  and  acts :  those  the  definite 
performance  of  which  is  the  result  of  individual  experience.  Any 
modifications  of  congenital  activities  w  hich  result  from  experience 
are,  so  far,  acquired. 

Aci/uired  automatism  :  the  individually  modified  physiological 
basis  of  the  performance  of  those  acquired  movements  or  activities 
which  have  been  stereotyped  by  repetition. 

C.  Li.oYD  Morgan*. 


[August  22,  1895 


39c 


Scheme  of  Colour  Standards. 


T„EConfusionwhichha..on.M;r-i>^^^^^^^^^^ 

any  immediate  ^'^Pl'^^'?""' ^'„';t  ofany  definite  standards  of 
inerilable  consequence  of  the  absemreo^a)^^^.^^^^  ^^^ 

colour.  In  music  »"^ /""TJ^I  ^  ,'  ^nse  perceptions,  and  .t 
satisfactory  terms  to  de:A:nlK:  detait.  ^  ^  ^  ^^.■,^^  ,hem  ; 
would  be  difficult  to  conceive  ^^  \  «S^°7^  .  ^^ll-defined  con- 
but  for  colour  l«'"P"""V;;^;  ^.."or^^ll  itablished,  nor  any 
cepts  for  those  terms  «hich  ^^'■^^'J'-^^^^^^,  lerms  for  common 
delfinite  and  well-arranged  =>  ^  .^"^  °'  j"^;, ,  ^  ^n,ewhal  definite 
use.  Those  lerms  «.hf  J^^^,  f„',''"'  ery  wide  range  of  vana- 
significance  are  nevertheless  »^' '°' *  '  j^J.-hJch  have  been  used 
tSn.     Vermilion  and  ultramarine,  ternis  «">'^  f  anything 

by  many  of  our  best  -"^^onties  on  colou^  fo^^  w  ant  ^^^,J^^^^^^ 
litter,  L  a  l>asU  for  comi>anson  »"<\.^"*'ji^;,,„ce  l«;tween  a 
^  for  very  variable  ^"""l''^--  Ji^^^nsts  very  noticeable. 
Chine*  and  a  German  verm.l  on  in  pigment  >^^  ..  ^^^^^^^ 

WVinsor and  Newion"  chrome  yellow     ana  a  ^^^^^, 

yellow-'  differ  by  more  than  '^f^Vms  a 'sTui  greater  variation 
ktnong  several  --I^- "^  ^^^  ^ZT^  Lch  t-ms,  what  shall 
is  generally  fo""d- .  ^^]^  '^^Vthat  very  much  larger  group  of 
we  expect  will  be  the  case  "»n  ^^  ^      considerable  degree 

terms  whose  meaning  has.  nev e    reached  any  „,o,e  vague 


! 


^  olive,  citrine,  russet,  .Vc,  °    ""^„X  „;age,  Uke 

b^r^nutnerablecU^.  ^,X^-;?^^^::^'^lcoc. 

"Ix^.") •„    J^->u„l.  .'.f  n,h«s  still  more  vague  and 


"  — — ■ ,    _.vi.iv,i,vhlae         asnesoiio>ti.,        , 

,,r'f'hurr^.ui;"  an^aCt'of  others  still  more  vague  and 

'-i^s.  have  been  at^^  ^«  ^Z^l^'^^^ 
the  lack  of  any  agreement  in  the  use  o^  cm  ^^^ 

entomological     and  .  "'"'^'^"f °?  ^^f 'J^^J  fs  sometimes  confusing 
American  ^ulhonty  m  de^ni^J^^J^''^^  ^.,  ,^,k  of  any  standard 

ornithologist.  ,„ctheinconveniencc  has,  if  possible. 

In  applied  science  and  the  arts  h.. neon  interested 

l^en  ''i"g'-»\"''"^^";"^^eniencer=teadily  increasing  as  the 
is  larger.     .Vnd  this  '"Convenience    s  _u       j  brilliant, 

,cveUtions  of  chemistry  <''«='°>^,^"\l,'",^^ed.     With  the  rapid 

for  which  new  names  are  =^;^^°^^^;"„'^>,e«Uy  o^  '"'"'^  ■"^■'''"' 
advance  of  the  art  of  'lyemg  the  "^«^  i,„perative. 
colour  nomenclature  >'<=,<="7"  7  .^^^h"  contributed  greatly  to 
The  valuable  research  °f  »,''';• '^^'^"J^e  when  much  less  was 
our  knowledge  of  colour,  and  that  in  ^^'m^  «  .^^tributions  of 
known  on  the  subject  than  now^Th^'-^^;  ^^1^^,^,^  ^j^;. 
Abney  and  Church  in  tngland  ha^e  'i^^,/^,,,^,  „f  Chevreul, 

subject.  ^  .  .__„  ...  greatest  help  to  our  under-  1 

liut  while  these  have  B';';"  ''^'  f  ^f'folour,  none  of  them 
standing  of  the  "=«'."''  »'V';;',"„\\"^eL"'  "««•  W"''=''  =''■  ^'\ 
!^.r:?  X^''rmVnd':- Sei  offered,  nor  any  set  of 

about  twelve  years  since    while  connec  ^  ^^  ^^j 

Ma-ssachusetLs,  High  SchrK,  ,  as  teacher  ^  J^^  ^^  ^^^  ^^^^  „f 
„>,U«-,  that  a  series  of  ^^°"/^j^'?,f  ^'t'n.sensus  of  colour  ex- 
the  M.lar  spectrum,  ^""^  f '^f^"  „n,,ation  of  all  our  colour 
pcrts,   should   1m:  -'7?'fi,t'*„^i„;"uducational  work  be  made 

work,  and  '--^r"t">',.'^*'  'l"^Uer  and  more  accurate  know- 
Ihe  means  "f  esUbli.hing  '''*"/  receivcl  with  favour 
ledge  of  colour.  This  P'"!"'^" '""  "^.;^^"-„,entioned,  and  an 
from  the  first  by  those    to    -^^o"^;^;,:;  ^Tnto  material  form  ; 

=rth^:rr:Scrr  ^^^i^^-  -'>■  '"''^-  ^-'^^ 

wa*  made  for  several  vraR.  established  the  fact   that 

r,,.  W.V..  '-'•^:!^H^:r.Xtr^   -ve-length  in^  ;He 

;  „„,,ingc  u,..n  the  human  retina  »"<'  P'^ct 

'  . ',11  white  light.      ^>''■"  ^hese  we  ma>  select 

,^,  an,l  giving  it  a  name,  have  a  colour 

.y  musical  note  or  geometrical  [■""<•  Ti,,e 

ie^iraUhtyo.  .uch  .  deLitenes,  in   the   terms  which   describe 


colour,  all  will  immediately  recogms^.    J'^  ,^°  ^IJ^^^   J>„ade 
a  large  number  of  thus  accurate     fixe!  col  ^^^^^  ^^^ 

the  basis   of  colour  ^^^'^'^^'^^'Zli^^^^^^ry  ^ycL<^.^o.v^'"' 
distinguish  between  the  colours  selectecl    ^J^"=       >  j^  j  ^„^^^,^  i„ 

unlessSt  be  colour-blind,  d.stmgu.sh  six  -^^^^^„,^,^  „,„es. 

the  solar  s,x-ctrum,  for  *h.ch  there  arc^^^  ^^^  ^^^^  ^ues 

The  theory  of  three  primary  colours  from  wn  ^.^^^^    ^^.^^^    ^^^ 

of  the  s,«ctrum  are  derived  >"°'"^„S,\\he  always  question- 
present  knowledge  of  the  l^"'^  ''  'f ';  ,'^",,Jnised  as  one  of  the 
Lble  indigo  of  the  rainbow  '^^^  '^^S^^/  ,'^f''^,e.ical  convenience  , 

;!-^t^^t^^s:l^:^nVpc^-s^ectrumcolours.  , 

in  the  use  of  colours  as  to  exactly    "^^      -«'  ^^.,,„ed  'for  each 
spectrum  of  eight  or  ten  f^«  '°"eX,han  would  first  have  been  ; 

sUdard  was  a  "^"f'^^^tTveVgre^t  ""»"'""'>•  ''^  J'^^^mcnt  ; 

;^t=;:^'j:f^aonf^-^.-'^''"'-"^"^'^="'^°' .  r 

the  proi>osed  scheme.  .•  „  „r  .u,,  ,rea  must  be  determined 

fU  of  all  the  e-act  location  o    the  area  „^  ^^^  ^^^^^^ 

bv  careful  measurement  of  the  « as  eienM  standard   in 

w'ould  make  it  possible  l^^rnmert^  representation  of  the 
any  part  of  the  wor Id  without  any  "  »  f  ^^i^^.^"  .^ible  the  use  ot 
colUr  designated  :  in  "'^er  word^,  ^h^  ^^-^  \^.^.^^,  ,,,„,ards. 
the  designated  colour  as  one  of  a  ser  es  _^^_,,^„^„,  ,„,,  „.ule 
To  render  any  set  of  ,^^^"''.f '^ "^jopted  by  somebody  whose 
value,  it  is  desirable  that  it  be  .^^'"P'''  ^  e  of  sland.uds 
::thoVity  will  be  general^  recogm-^J^^^^^  ,„   ,„„ 

of  measurement,  the  (-""-^f "'".";"'     ,      ,„^,5t  ^.iher  rases  some 
interests  of  commerce  and  equ  t>      ^n  m  ^^^  .^  ^^^^  ^^^^^^^^ 

learned  society  adopts  <he  stan^^.  -«'  ^^^,^^  ^^^^.^^^.  , 

of  its  own  authority.     The  .Vmerica  t.^^  ^  jccommenda- 

appointed  a  committee  with  mst  u~;      ^^^^     The  endorse- 
tion  for  the  establishment  "   J'^  f.^^,  „,„,,  ,he  establishment  of       i 
„,ent  of  such  a  ^'f-'V  "■""';',^  „"    X  scheme  be  a  practical 
rnr'^'~t~:m'S'-Pticabilityno  authority  could 

involved,  especially  ',>^^-;f;"'^.,:,a^iy  particular  pigment  as 
another,  it  was  found  '^tt"  select       )J^  .^^^.,f  ,^,  ^ 

one  of  the  standards,  •"«>  "^^^  ^^^ifo  ,„„  unpracticable.     The 

as  a  standard,  was  not  only  "";^''-";'"  ^i^al  or  artistic  purposes. 
standardsifselectedw;.thav lew  toptac  ^_^^_^  ^^^  ^ 

and  most  of  all  with  ''^V;iT;ftooneano  hernot  unlike  those  of 
tional  value,  must  '«••?' ^  '•^'"V'',"  "",le  at  least  that  the  union  of 
,he  musical  scale  It  /""^i^Vrne  mediate  hues  of  the  solar 
these  standards  should  l^  '»^S'  l'^  .^f^^.,  „„,ch  care  six  .standards 
spectrum  in  colour  if  not  in  pur  tj     -^  '  ,   ^^^.      This  was  as 

were  selected  and  at  once  put  _  P"^"^  f  ^,,^.  wavelengths  of 
early  as  .884.  The  exact  '""j'^  ^-v  for  lune  9.  .893-  The 
thesUtandardswerepubhshe         i';';^       ^        ,,^a„g,  6085. 

values   there   given  were  - /■;»^;7,:,:,e,  ,,{'o,\.  ten-milhonths 

yellow  5793.  S^een  5164.  I>l"i-  4oyS' 

of  a  millimetre.  f  .,„  area  of  the  solar 

These  measuremen  s  ■"<=  for  tl  e  ce^''^  ^,„i„.  a  measure- 
spectrum  represente.1  by  f'f^)  "f  J  ^"^  ^,'  ,„,^y  or  twenty;hvc 
ment   .Ufiering  from  ^''thcr    °f  these    b>  ,>^.  ,„  ,he  trained 

would  hardly  vary  to  a  j  j^K  "  '"  ^'■^•h'.re'is.  however,  a  very 
eye,  much  less  to  the  ordinary  e>e.iner  ^^^  ^ 

gUt  variation  in  different  P"  ^  ^.'^^.^  '^'^  ^u,er  rapid,  a  small 
fellow,  and  green,  " ^".^■,  ';^„^^;^  ,hile  in   the  re<l  as  well  M 

""^^l%.iUon  Uradley,  ^'^^^t^  ^'^^"^^ 
great  credit  for  f-st,  undertaking  t-put'hi^^.^^^  ^^_^  .^^^ 

standards  '"'"  F''""'  I  r'^-lv  engage  in  the  manufacture  of 
first  nroixised  he  was  l"'?'-!) ,  "•"''"^''^  '  _„,i  he  at  once  under- 
c:Li;ed'pa,>ers  f--r;'.l»ca..ona    purj-so  ^^^^^,,^^^  „. 

took  to  reproduce  the  '^P'"-'^'"'"" '  '  ",  .(Uaing  the  great  advance 
The  task  proved  ""'-■'^^>' ""''•■  "'"l^.s  had  made  in  the  pro- 
which  the  discovery  of  the  »"'  \;'^> ";  „,^,  „i,„  the  utmost  pet- 
.luction  of  brilliant   co  ours.     It      a^  ^^"^/^„    Hsh  the  task  which 

sistency  that  Mr  »"'  '"--yXrn  Af  er  kmg  ind  repeate.l  expert- 
he  had  voluntarily  undertaken.     Alter  r    b 


■  II..;    ".     

NO.   1347.  VOL.  52 J 


August  22,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


391 


ments  he  succeeded  in  getting  coloured  papers  which  are  very 

good  reproductions  of  the  hues  of  the  solar  spectrum.  These 
pajieis  have  now  been  used  for  several  years  very  extensively 
in  kindergarten  and  primary  school  work,  and  they  are  an  im- 
portant means  toward  the  education  of  a  new  generation  of 
students  to  a  true  conception  of  colour,  a  more  careful  use 
of  colour  terms,  and  a  sharper  discernment  of  colour  percep- 
tions. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Society  of  American  Naturalists,  held  in 
Boston,  December  31,  1890,  I  read  a  jiaper  in  which  was  given 
a  more  elaborate  carrying  out  of  the  scheme  which  I  had  pre- 
viously proposed. 

In  order  that  any  fixed  scheme  of  colour  nomenclature  may  be 
of  some  practical  value  it  must,  of  course,  be  readily  understood 
by  people  of  only  ordinary  intelligence,  and  must  be  complete 
enough  to  meet  the  ordinary  wants  of  everyday  life.  There 
must  be  something  that  is  so  completely  fixed  as  to  be  perfectly 
trustworthy  for  present  and  future  needs. 

In  the  solar  spectrum  we  have  an  invariable  source  from  which 
to  derive  our  siiectrum  standards,  and  upon  these  the  whole 
scheme  is  to  be  based. 

Since,  however,  the  six  spectrum  standards  do  not  give  a  very 
extensive  repertoire  for  common  use,  to  say  nothing  of  the  needs 
of  the  more  artistic,  it  was  proposed  to  introduce  between  each 
two  spectrum  standards  tw-o  intermediate  hues  to  be  formed  by 
the  union  of  the  two  spectrum  standards  in  definite  proportions. 
Thus  between  orange  and  red  would  be  introduced  an  orange- 
red  and  a  red  orange.  In  the  former  red  would  predominate, 
while  in  the  latter  orange  would  be  more  ]irominenl.  Inasmuch 
as  these  hues  are  only  intended  to  be  combinations  of  the 
spectrum  standards,  it  is  not  necessary,  or  even  perhaj^s  desirable, 
that  these  hues  be  absolutely  fixed.  If,  however,  this  is  desirable 
in  any  jiarticular  case,  it  can  be  accomplished  in  a  manner  which 
will  be  indicated  subsequently.  In  addition  to  the  two  hues  in- 
troduced between  each  two  standards  it  is  also  necessary  to  use 
a  violet-red  and  a  red-violet  (or  two  purples,  a  reddish  puri)le 
and  a  violet  purple)  to  rejircscnt  the  actual  combinations  which 
occur  in  nature. 

Ii  is  also  very  desirable  that  the  standards  I)e  produced  in 
some  material  form  in  order  that  it  be  of  any  practical  value.  The 
task  of  reproducing  the  brilliant  hues  of  the  solar  spectrum  in 
pigmentary  material  or  in  glass  is  much  more  difficuli  than  (jne 
not  accjuainted  with  the  matter  would  suspect.  It  would  not  be 
difficult  to  select  well-known  pigments,  and  then  determine  the 
wave-length  which  most  nearly  corresjionds  to  the  hue  of  the 
pigment  ;  but  any  number  of  such  selections  would  not  form  a 
symmetrical  series  of  colour  standards.  The  colours  for  such  a 
scheme  being  selected  and  their  wave-length  determined,  the 
other  and  more  difficult  problem  is  that  of  finding  some  com- 
bination of  pigment  which  will  reproduce  it.  This  task  of 
reproducing  the  spectrum  hues  was  a  very  difficult  one.  It  is 
impossible  to  reproduce  some  of  the  spectrum  colours  with  the 
ordinary  pigments  either  in  hue  or  in  (|uality. 

Almost  at  the  very  outset  of  this  work  in  colour  it  was  found 
that  it  would  be  necessary  to  depend  upon  the  somewhat  fugitive 
aniline  colours  for  some  of  the  standards  as  the  only  colour 
material  which  would  ajiproach  the  sjiectruni  hues  in  brilliancy. 
The  difficulty  of  keeping  the  standards  up  to  tone,  so  to  say, 
while  using  somewhat  changeable  material,  is  a  serious  incon- 
venience but  not  an  insuperable  barrier.  With  the  solar  spectrum 
recognised  as  the  source  to  which  we  nnist  always  go  to  correct 
our  standards,  the  great  difficulties  of  colour-study  are  met. 
The  most  desirable  thing  now  to  be  accomplished  is  the  discovery 
of  some  permanent  colour  material  in  which  to  reproduce  the 
spectrum  standards.  Some  convenient  form  of  tablet  would 
then  be  produced  which  could  be  supplied  to  all  who  are  willing 
to  provide  themselves  with  it,  and  to  these  all  questions  of  colour 
would  be  referred.  The  standards  thus  established,  the  inter- 
mediate spectrum  hues  are  determined  by  them. 

Now,  by  the  use  of  the  Maxwell  discs  in  the  standard  colours 
described  above,  we  may  fix  upon  definite  proportions  of  each 
which  we  will  use  for  any  other  hue.  If,  for  examjile,  we  desire 
to  introduce  between  red  and  orange  two  hues,  we  must  first  of 
all  know  something  of  the  relative  effect  of  the  two  colours,  and 
combine  them  in  inverse  proportion  to  what  we  are  accustomed 
to  call  the  value  of  the  colours.  The  colour  which  has  the  lowest 
value  will  require  to  be  u^-ed  in  larger  proportion  than  the  other. 
In  this  case  we  may  take  a  red  and  an  orange  disc  and  put  them 
together  in  the  manner  above  described.  For  convenience  of 
measurement,  a  disc  just  a  little  larger  than  the  coloured  discs, 


with  the  margin  graduated  into  one  hundred  dejgrees,  is  placed 

behind  the  coloured  discs,  and  the  sectors  adjusted  as  desired. 
As  the  red  has  the  lowest  value,  more  of  the  red  disc  must  be 
exposed  in  order  to  produce  an  effect  equal  to  that  produced  by 
the  orange.  If  it  is  desired,  therefore,  to  introduce  two  hues 
between  red  and  orange,  we  must  still  more  increase  the  pro- 
portion of  red  in  the  combination  which  we  wish  to  be  most  like 
the  red.  For  our  orange-red  we  may  use  70  per  cent,  of  red  and 
30  per  cent,  of  orange,  and  for  our  red-orange  59  per  cent,  of  red 
and  41  per  cent,  of  orange.  By  making  a  scale  of  values  for  the  six 
standard  hues,  we  may  combine  them  in  the  manner  we  have  just 
illustrated  and  form  two  hues  between  each  of  the  standards,  and 
two  more  by  combining  red  and  violet.  These  twelve  hues, 
with  the  six  standards,  give  a  sufficiently  large  variety  of  hues 
for  practical  purposes. 

For  purposes  of  colour  education,  however,  it  must  be  home 
in  mind  that  pure  spectrum  colours  are  not  often  seen  either  in 
nature  or  art.  And  while  it  is  very  important  that  the  student 
should  be  taught  the  spectrum  colours  at  the  outset  of  his  educa- 
tion in  order  to  establish  some  accurate  knowledge,  derived  from 
the  only  source  of  accuracy,  the  solar  spectrum,  it  is  also  im- 
portant that  he  should  become  familiar  with  the  effect  produced 
by  the  mingling  of  these  spectnmi  hues  with  the  light  reflected 
from  other  oljjects,  as  well  as  the  effect  of  shadow  upon  the 
colours  themselves.  The  mingling  of  white  light  with  any  colour 
produces  a  tint  of  that  colour.  The  tints  are  what  we  most  often 
see  in  all  exce])t  the  most  brilliant  colours  of  flowers,  not  generally 
of  the  standards  but  the  intermediate  hues.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  a  coloured  object  is  seen  in  shadow,  or,  what  is  more  com- 
mon, when  the  coloured  surface  is  so  irregular  as  to  reflect  here 
colour  and  there  give  no  reflection,  the  effect  is  to  produce  a 
shade  of  the  colour.  In  foliage  the  prevalence  of  shades  is  the 
rule,  whether  we  consider  the  individual  leaves  or  the  masses  of 
foliage.  -\  knowledge  of  these  effects  is  best  acquired  by  the 
use  of  a  very  few  tints  and  shades  of  each  hue.  Any  convenient 
number  of  tints  and  shades  can  of  course  be  designated,  but  a 
few  will  serve  all  the  purposes  of  ordinary  educational  work.  In 
their  educational  papers  the  Milton  Bradley  Company  use  the  six 
spectrum  standards,  twelve  intermediate  hues,  including  the 
combinations  of  red  and  violet,  two  tints  and  two  shades  of  each 
of  the  pure  colours,  thus  giving  in  all  a  range  of  ninety  different 
modifications  of  colour.  With  these  are  used  black  and  white, 
together  w  ith  a  variety  of  greys.  The  facility  with  which  young 
children  learn  to  distinguish  and  designate  colour  is  really  quite 
surprising. 

But  a  still  larger  proportion  of  the  colour  effects  of  nature  and 
art  than  those  produced  from  either  tints  or  shades  are  the 
result  of  both  light  and  shadow  combined  with  colour.  This 
effect  has  been  well  enough  described  by  the  term  "  broken 
colour."  In  order  to  acquire  familiarity  with  this  eflect,  it  is 
desirable  to  use  a  series  of  broken  standards,  if  not  also  of  the 
twelve  intermediate  hues.  These  should  be  made,  as  should  also 
the  tints  and  shades,  by  using  proportions  which  take  into 
account  the  value  of  the  colours,  and,  above  all,  the  proportions 
of  white  and  black  used  should  be  such  as  to  avoid  destroying 
the  characteristic  eftect  of  the  colours.  Each  of  these  broken 
standards  may  have  its  tints  and  shades  like  the  standards  them- 
selves by  increasing  the  amount  of  white  or  black  which  is 
combined  with  the  colour. 

But  perhaps  the  most  interesting  jioint  in  connection  with  the 
introduction  of  definite  colour  standards  will  be  the  possibility 
of  talking  about  colour  in  a  definite  language.  Without  such 
standards  this  has  been  impossible.  By  the  use  of  the  Maxwell 
discs  made  in  the  standard  colours  we  may  easily  determine  the 
composition  of  any  colour.  This  is  a  great  convenience  in  the 
description  of  colours,  for  it  renders  it  possible  when  it  is 
necessary  to  give  an  exact  meaning  to  any  colour  term.  Only 
with  standards  which  can  be  accurately  fixed  is  this  possible. 
The  use  of  such  terms  as  vermilion,  emerald  green,  ultramarine, 
chrome  yellow,  and  similar  terms  as  a  basis  of  colour  analysis  is 
exceedingly  impracticable,  since  even  these  terms,  although  by 
far  the  most  definite  terms  in  common  use,  are  ipiite  too  variable 
to  give  results  which  can  be  of  any  real  value.  For  the  sake  01 
convenience,  the  first  letter  of  each  colour  is  used  as  the  symbol 
of  the  colour  in  all  formulce  in  which  the  analysis  or  composition 
of  colour  is  expressed.  N  is  used  for  black,  to  avoid  the 
repetition  of  B  which  is  used  for  blue. 

The  following  formul.-v  will  illustrate  the  practical  application 
of  the  idea  and  the  value  of  the  sjiectrum  standards  in  determin- 
ing the  composition  of  colours.     They  will  also  be  of  interest  as 


NO.    1347,  VOL. 


52J 


392 


NA  TURE 


[August  22,  1895 


showing  the  simplicity  of  the  proposed  nomenclature  and  method 
of  expressing  the  results  of  aiialysis. 

The  first  series  illustrates  the  variability  of  the  pigments  used 
by  artists.     These  analyses  are  made  by  Sir.  Bradley. 

A  Winsor  and  Newton  "cinnalar  green"  gives — V  14, 
G  iiJ,  N74i- 

.\  tlerman  pigment  of  the  same  name  gives — V  12J,  G  11, 
W  2.  N  74i- 

.\  W  insor  and  Newton  "  light  red  '  gives — O  24,  N  76. 

.\  licrman  pigment  of  the  same  name  gives — O  iS,  N  82. 

A   Winsor   and    Newton    "chrome    yellow"    gives — O    29, 

\  German  pigment  of  the  same  name  gives — O  35,  \  45, 
N  20. 

A  Chinese  vermilion  gives — R  77,  O  23. 

.\  yellow  ochre  gives — O  24,  V  24,  N  52. 

.\n  Indian  red  gives — R  7^,  O  17^,  N  75. 

An  emerald  green  gives — G  63,  B  144,  N  22J. 

One  calle<l  "chrome  green"  No.  2  gives — G  i6.\,  V  55, 
N  7Si. 

The  following  series  illustrates  the  significance  of  the  terms 
used  in  describing  the  colours  of  dress  goods.  .\  ver)'  wide 
range  of  tints  and  shades  of  the  colour  which  is  the  basis  of 
each  term  will  often  be  designated  by  the  same  name. 

.\  sample  of  goods  called  "ecru"  is — O  11,  V  13,  \V  18, 
N  58. 

Another  sample  marked  "raisin"  gives' — R  18,  \'  14,  W  5, 
N  63. 

.\  sample  called  "ashes  of  roses"  gives — R  8,  \  4,  \\  14, 
N  74. 

The  popular  colour  called  "eminence"  gives — R  14,  \'  19, 
N67. 

Another  popular  colour  called  "emerald"  is — G  21,  B  3, 
N  76. 

.\  sample  called  "crushed  strawberr)'"  gives — R  55,  O  5, 
W  27,  N  II. 

One  having  the  poetic  name  "absinthe"  gives — Y  35,  t;  45^, 
N  19J. 

.Vnother  called  "  .Marion"  gives — R  4,  O  3,  N  93. 

.A  s|)ecimcn  of  "  hussar  blue"  gives  this— G  4,  B  15,  N  81. 

.\  sample  called  "oasis"  gives  the  formula — V  7,  G  io.\, 
\V  8.i,  N  74. 

.\nother  called  "  dove  colour"  gives — B  9,  \V  9,  X  82. 

Still  another,  called  "  prairie,"  gives — V  loj,  K'>  14^,  N  75. 

.\  colour  called  "  .Styx  '  has  this  formula — R9i,  W  214,  N  69. 

A  sample  of  "  peacock  blue  "  gives  this — G  4A,  B  8J,  N  87. 

A  brown,  calle<I  "  vidette,"  gives  this — O  44,  V  3,  N  924. 

A  sample  of  "  navy  blue  "  gives — H  6,  N  94. 

Another  of  "  Turkey  red  "  gives — K  98,  O  2. 

.\  rather  dark  "plum  colour"  gives — 1<  3,  V  4,  N  93. 

.\  few  analyses  of  flowers  will  be  of  interest  to  others  beside 
the  Ixjtanist. 

The  Fringed  I'olygala  (P.  paiuifolia)  is — R  48,  V  52. 

The  Wistaria  ( /r.  /r/i/crav;^)  gives — for  the  wings  R  II,  V 
89 ;  and  for  the  slanilard  R  9,  \'  79,  W  1 2. 

The   Flowering  (Juince  (Cvaliw/'a /a/oH/Va)  gives — R  95,  V  2, 

The  wild  Cranesbill  (OVrawcw/z/wacM/a/H///)  gives — R  28,  \  66, 
W6. 

The  Fosythia  (/".  viridissima)  is  pure  s|x;ctrum  yellow. 
The    variations   of   foliage   are    worthy    of  note,  and   a    few 
examples  of  analyses  of  the  colour  of  various  leaves  will  perhaps 
l)e  of  interest. 

It  is  |x>ssible  that  some  knowledge  of  these  variations  on  the 
[art  of  more  of  our  artists  might  save  us  some  of  the  aUinunnble 
greens  which  w>  iiften  apjx^ar  in  |xiintings,  otherwise  t»f  an 
excellent  grade. 

Leaves  of  the  White  Oak  give     V  74,  G  114.  N  81. 
„  ,,     Apple  are— V  5,  G  13,  W  2,  N  80. 

,,  ,,     Cop|)cr  Beech  give — R  17,  V  2,  N  Si. 

.,      Hemlock  Spruce — V  2,  G  9,  N  89. 
,,     White  I'inc  give— V  24,  G  II,  N  864. 
„     White  Hirch  give-V  54,  G  114,  W  i,  N  82. 
„  ,,      Ilornlieam      VJ54.  G  124,  N  82. 

„  Shaglark  Hickory  -V  44,  «i  94,  N  86. 
With  diKs  made  in  the  spectrum  standards  colour  can  thus 
Ijc  analyMd  and  the  results,  expressed  as  in  the  examples  just 
given,  can  l>e  utiliserl  by  any  numl>cr  of  |K.Tsons  to  determine  the 
particular  cokjur  alNiut  which  a  statement  is  made.  .\s  these 
ditcs  are  not  cx|>cn»ivc,  and  the  means  of  rotating  them  very 


simple,  they  ought  to  come  into  ver)-  general  use.  It  is  only 
necessar)'  that  they  be  rotated  with  sufficient  rapidity  to  cause 
the  colours  to  blend  smoothly.  For  the  purposes  of  studying 
the  harmony  and  contrast  of  colour  it  is  desirable  to  have  discs 
of  several  sizes,  so  that  two  or  three  combinations  of  colour  may 
be  made  uixm  the  colour-wheel  at  the  same  time  ami  compared. 

Among  the  practical  applications  of  surli  a  scheme  of  spectrum 
standards  as  that  outlined  in  the  preceding  jxiragraphs,  some  of 
the  most  obvious  are  the  only  ones  which  need  be  mentioned  in 
this  connection. 

A  firm  dealing  in  large  quantities  of  coloured  material  desires 
to  order  a  stock  in  a  particular  colour  which  they  ha\e  not  used, 
and  of  wliich  they  have  therefore  no  s;iniples.  By  the  old 
method  they  must  find  something  as  nearly  like  what  is  desired 
as  possible,  and  then  dictate  as  best  they  can  just  what  varia- 
tions are  to  be  made.  Now  they  can  produce  the  colour  with 
the  discs  and  send  the  formula  only  to  their  manufacturer,  who 
also  has  a  set  of  the  discs,  and  he  "  sets  up  the  colour  "  and 
then  reproduces  it  in  the  material  desired.  The  gain  is  great  iiv 
several  ways.  In  the  first  place  it  saves  the  dealer  much  costly 
experiment  to  determine  just  what  he  really  wants.  Again,  if 
he  is  in  doubt  as  to  just  what  a  customer  wants,  he  takes  him  to 
his  colour  wheel  and  ascertains  what  the  desired  colour  is,  and 
then  communicates  it  to  the  manufacturer.  The  architect  may 
spend  much  lime  and  eflort  to  have  his  carefully- [ilanned  and 
beaulifid  villa  painted  in  colours  which  will  be  at  once  in  keeping 
with  the  style  of  architecture  and  the  surroundings  of  the  build- 
ing ;  but  unless  he  confine  himself  to  colours  ready  prepared  and 
of  certain  composition,  he  is  liable  to  extreme  disai')pointment.  .\ 
similar  use  of  the  colour  wheel  with  standard  discs  would  greatly 
reduce  his  difficulties.  The  artist  who  accustoms  himself  to  the 
analysis  of  colour  efi'ects  will  soon  find  that  he  is  able  to  write 
estimated  formul.v  which  will  be  of  service  to  him  in  the  sub- 
sequent com|X)sition  of  his  observations.  Alxive  all,  the  child 
who  is  thoroughly  educated  in  any  scheme  of  colours  which  has 
a  definite  b,isis,  and  consists  of  a  well-selected  series  of  standards, 
is  starting  with  a  most  valuable  groundwork  for  future  knowledge 
and  jiractice.  Hence  it  is  that  the  intro<luction  of  systematic 
colour  work  into  the  kindergarten  and  primary  school  has  so 
much  of  encouragement  to  those  who  desire  a  reformation  in  the 
use  of  the  teims  which  describe  colour  perceptions.  Why  may 
we  not  hope  for  the  time  when  a  system  of  colour  terms  with 
something  of  the  same  definiteness  as  those  used  in  music  shall 
be  in  common  use?  Surely  there  is  need  of  this,  and  the  time  is 
not  far  distant  when  this  need  will  so  assert  itself  as  to  bring 
about  a  revolution  in  our  methods  of  colour  education. 

Maiden,  Miiss.,  U.S..\.  J.   II.   l'ii.i.sBURV. 


NO.    1347.  VOL.   52] 


Globular  Lightning. 

On  June  21,  about  6  p.m..  Dr.  Wallis,  Mr.  Taylor  and 
myself  were  in  our  drawing-room  on  the  ground  floor,  taking 
shelter  from  a  passing  storm  ;  they  were  seated,  and  I  stood  five 
paces  from  them.  The  doors  were  all  closeil  at;ainst  the  storm, 
and  I  went  out  and,  fir  cool  air,  opened  one.  (In  returning,  I 
s;iw  a  gloliiilar  light,  abo  it  the  size  of  the  full  moon,  in  the  air 
between  Wallis  and  Taylor,  and  almost  instantly  I  heard  in  the 
room  a  terrific  clap  of  thunder  like  a  cannon.  I  suffered 
afterwards  from  acute  jxtin  down  the  left  side  of  my  face. 
Taylor,  who  h.id  an  iron-headed  golf  stick  in  his  hand,  felt  a 
twinge  up  his  right  arm,  and  a  sensation  as  of  singeing  in  his  hair. 
Wallis  fell  nothing  at  all.  We  all  experienced  a  sulphurous 
smell.  In  the  adjoining  room,  leaning  against  one  corner,  «ere 
two  Martini- Henry  rifles  in  leathei:  casesr  One  was  untouched. 
The  sliKk  of  the  other  was  almost  shattered,  splinters  lying 
about  the  room.  The  leather  covering  of  the  splintered  rifle 
was  torn,  but  the  metal  part  of  the  rifle  quite  uiduirl.  .\t  the 
ixiint  of  the  w.all  where  the  muzzle  of  the  shattered  rifle  touched 
ihe  wall,  there  was  a  hoh-  5  x  24  and  iJ|  to  2  inches  deep. 
The  wall  is  of  mud  and  plaster.  In  the  room  above  were  two 
holes  in  one  wall  ;  that  is,  the  wall  above  that  in  wliich  the  hole 
appeared  below.  These  holes  were  smaller  than  the  one  below, 
lust  below  the  two  holes  stood  a  wooden  case,  iron-bound,  and 
at  its  foot  the  matting  was  lorn  up,  but  the  floor  and  the  case  were 
untouched.  In  the  second  room  alxne,  that  is,  the  room  over 
that  in  which  I  had  seen  the  globular  lightning,  the  wall  near  the 
ceiling  was  cracked  for  six  or  eight  feet.  This  «.as  all  the 
damage  done  that  we  could  find.  G.  M.  Rvan. 

Karachi,  July  18. 

[The  alM)ve  letter  w.as  received  from   Mr.    F.  C.  Constable, 
who  .saw  Ihe  damage  dcscrilied. — Kli.  Nai  I'RK.] 


August  22,  1S95] 


NA  TURE 


93 


jyj 


RECENT  STUDIES   ON  DIPHTHERIA. 

IT  is  an  acknowledged  fact  that  as  regards  diphtheria, 
personal  predisposition  on  the  part  of  its  victims 
plays  a  most  important  part. 

We  find  this  well  illustrated  by  statistics  which  sho\v 
that  it  is  in  early  childhood  that  the  majority  of  cases 
occur,  and  the  heaviest  diphtheria  death-rate  is  recorded. 
Thus  Feer  in  Basel  found  that  the  most  susceptible 
age  to  diphtheria  lies  between  the  years  2  and  5 
and  5  and  10  ;  but  that  whilst  the  mortality  amongst 
children  attacked  in  the  earlier  period  was  254  per  cent., 
in  the  later  period,  with  piractically  no  diminution  in  the 
number  of  cases,  the  diphtheria  death-rate  fell  to  7'6  per 
cent.  After  this  period  there  is  not  only  a  great  decline 
in  the  number  of  cases  of  diphtheria,  but  also  a  marked 
decrease  in  the  percentage  of  deaths,  suggesting  that 
with  increasing  age  the  human  system  is  enabled  gradu- 
ally to  develop  means  of  protection  from  this  terrible 
disease. 

That  some  such  protective  power  must  also  be  possessed 
to  a  large  extent  by  children,  follows  from  the  fact  that 
with  a  disease  practically  endemic  in  some  of  our  large 
cities,  so  many  children  succeed  in  escaping  from  its 
ravages,  for  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  that  all  those 
who  ha\e  remained  unscathed  ha\e  ne\er  beer,  exposed 
to  infection  from  diphtheria. 

Thus  Fliigge  has  worked  out  an  interesting  diphtheria- 
table  for  the  city  of  Breslau  during  the  years  1886- 1890, 
in  which  he  not  only  confirms  Peer's  observations  upon 
the  connection  between  age  and  the  diphtheria  death-rate, 
but  he  also  shows  very  clearly  that  e\en  in  the  most 
susceptible  period  of  child-life,  the  number  of  cases  of 
diphtheria  is  relatively  small  when  compared  with  the 
number  of  children  of  the  same  age  who  are  not  attacked. 

In  what  does  this  protective  power  against  diphtheria 
infection  possessed  by  many  children  and  a  large  number 
of  adults  consist  ?  This  interesting  and  important  ques- 
tion Dr.  Wassemiann  has  recently  endeavoured  to  answer 
by  making  a  veiy  extensive  examination  of  the  properties 
possessed  by  the  blood  serum  derived  from  patients  not 
suffering  from  diphtheria,  but  admitted  on  other  grounds 
to  the  Berlin  Institute  for  Infectious  Diseases.  Careful 
inquiries  were,  moreover,  in  every  case  made  as  to  the 
patient's  previous  history  as  regards  diphtheria,  and  only 
those  were  included  in  the  investigation  who  had  never 
had  diphtheria. 

The  serum  which  was  obtained  from  these  strangers  to 
diphtheria  was  in  every  case  tested  for  its  immunising  or 
protective  power  by  inoculating  it  along  with  a  recog- 
nised lethal  dose  of  diphtheria  toxin  into  guinea-pigs,  the 
latter  by  itself  having  been  proved  capable  of  killing 
these  animals  without  exception  in  from  30  to  48  hours. 

The  results  obtained  were  extremely  interesting.  Out 
of  seventeen  children  varying  in  age  from  i^  to  11  years, 
eleven  yielded  senmi  with  highly  protective  properties  as 
regards  diphtheria,  for  all  the  animals  treated  with  their 
scrum  and  virulent  diphtheria  toxin  experienced  no  ill- 
efiects  whatever.  Two  out  of  the  seventeen  children 
yielded  serum  possessed  of  slightly  protective  power,  it 
being  found  capable  of  delaying  the  death  of  the  infected 
animals,  whilst  the  serum  derived  from  the  four  remain- 
ing children  had  no  protective  properties  whatever. 

.-\mongst  the  adults  the  number  of  those  yielding  an 
anti-toxic  serum  was  much  greater,  for  out  of  thirty-four 
individuals  the  serum  of  as  many  as  twenty-eight  was 
found  to  be  endowed  with  protective  properties  against 
diphtheria  infection  ;  and,  as  far  as  the  investigation  went, 
it  appeared  that  the  possession  of  such  serum,  as  well  as 
its  strength  or  degree  of  efficiency,  was  more  marked  w ith 
increasing  age. 

That  people  who  ha\e  gone  through  the  ordeal  of 
diphtheria  possess  such  antitoxic  serum  in  their  system 
has  been  shown  by  various  investigators,  but,  so  far  as  we 

NO.    1347,  VOL.   55] 


know,  Wassemiann  is  the  first  who  has  proved  that  anti- 
diphtheritic  serum  may  also  be  possessed  by  individuals 
who  have  had  no  previous  experience  of  diphtheria. 

This  discovery  serves  to  explain  how  virulent  diphtheria 
bacilli  may  be  present  in  the  throat  of  perfectly  healthy 
people,  without  producing  any  bad  results  at  all.  That 
such  may  be  the  case  has  been  proved  by  most  careful 
and  trustworthy  observers,  and  that  their  presence  does  not 
engender  diphtheria,  we  must  now  regard  as  probably  due 
to  the  possession  of  anti-diphtheritic  serum  by  the  indi- 
\  idual  who  so  unconsciously  has  harboured  them.  Such 
may  also  be,  and  probably  is,  the  explanation  of  the 
harmless  presence  of  virulent  diphtheria  bacilli  in  the 
throats  of  patients  convalescent  from  diphtheria  long 
after  the  disappearance  of  all  the  typical  symptoms. 

It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  because  at  some 
given  time  a  particular  individual  has  been  found  the 
happy  possessor  of  anti-toxic  serum  he  may,  therefore, 
rashly  assume  that  he  is  for  ever  after  proof  against 
diphtheria  infection. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  such  serum  is  possessed 
in  very  different  degrees  of  strength  by  different  indi- 
viduals, and  may  vary  also,  in  one  and  the  same  individual, 
in  its  protective  character  at  different  times. 

Research  has  show  n  that  people  possessing  only  feebly 
antitoxic  serum  can  contract  diphtheria,  but  in  the  ma- 
jority of  such  cases  it  is  satisfactory  to  learn  that  the 
symptoms  are  light,  and  the  disease  is  mastered  without 
much  difficulty. 

So  far  as  our  present  knowledge  goes,  it  would  appear 
reasonable  to  admit  that  although  the  possession  or  non- 
possession  of  antitoxic  serum  of  varying  degrees  of 
strength  may  not  be  the  only  circumstance  which  regu- 
lates the  fluctuating  personal  disposition  towards  diph- 
theria infection,  that  yet  it  may  be  regarded  as  an  im- 
portant factor,  and  Wassemiann  considers  principal 
cause,  in  determining  the  apparent  idiosyncracies  of 
diphtheria  infection.  What  the  mechanism  may  be 
whereby  this  anti-toxic  serum  is  produced  in  the  system 
is  still  a  mystery  ;  that  it  should  be  possessed  by  infants 
only  eighteen  months  old,  would  incline  to  the  belief  that 
it  is  natural  or  inborn,  and  not  subject  to  later  processes 
of  evolution. 

On  the  other  hand,  howe\er,  we  have  the  well-estab- 
lished fact  that  the  serum  of  animals  which  have  a  natural 
or  race  immunity  to  a  particular  disease,  is  wholly  devoid 
of  power  to  confer  protection  from  this  disease  on  other 
classes  of  animals. 

This  remarkable  circumstance  has  been  once  more 
very  clearly  demonstrated  by  Wassemiann  in  the  case  of 
diphtheria,  to  which  disease  white  rats  are  absolutely 
immune.  In  order  to  test  the  character  of  white-rat- 
serum  as  regards  diphtheria  infection,  fatal  doses  of 
diphtheria  toxin  were  administered  to  guinea-pigs  along 
with  such  serum,  but  in  no  single  case  did  the  latter 
survive,  showing  that  this  semni  possessed  no  anti- 
diphtheritic  properties  whatever,  and  was  incapable  of 
protecting  animals  from  diphtheria  infection. 

Thus,  on  the  one  hand,  we  find  that  natural  or  race 
immunity  to  a  particular  disease  does  not  provide  pro- 
tective serum  against  infection  from  that  disease  in  other 
animals,  .and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  serum  of 
individuals  who  have  never  had  diphtheria,  does  provide 
in  many  cases  such  protective  serum. 

Now  Wassemiann  argues  from  these  facts  that  the 
possession  of  protective  human  serum  is  not  natural  or 
born  with  the  indi\  idual  ;  for  otherwise,  as  in  the  case  of 
white-rat-serum,  it  would  be  incapable  of  conferring  im- 
munity, that  it  must  therefore  rather  be  regarded  as  a 
later  acquisition,  and  subject  to  evolution  processes. 

I  n  pursuing  this  line  of  reasoning,  Wassermann  assumes 
that  race  immunity  found  to  be  characteristic  of  a  parti- 
cular description  of  animal  is  necessarily  of  the  same 
character  as  exceptional  immunity  confined  to  particular 


594 


NATURE 


[August  22,  1S95 


individual  ii  .1  r.n c  In  the  one  case  it  belongs  to  the 
whole  race,  whilst  in  the  other  it  is  possessed  by  only 
panicularly  fortunate  individuals  of  a  race. 

Does  not  this  point  rather  to  the  operation  of  excep- 
tional circumstances,  in  which,  possibly,  heredity  may 
play  a  part?  How  is  it  that  whereas  some  families 
appear  to  have  a  faculty  for  contracting  ever)-  zymotic 
disease,  others  exposed  to  similar  conditions,  have  an 
equally  characteristic  faculty  for  escaping  such  diseases  ? 

The  impression  is  irresistible  that  such  a  faculty  is 
born  with  or  natural  to  the  individual. 

It  may  be  argued  that  the  white-rat-race-immunity 
may  also  be  ascribed  to  the  operation  of  heredity.  This 
is  quite  possible,  but  in  the  one  case  the  immunity  is 
l)erfected  or  heredity  has  accomplished  its  work,  whilst 
in  the  other  it  is  incomplete  and  is  still  in  an  evolutionary 
stage.  The  race  immunity  to  diphtheria,  or  immunity  in 
its  perfected  condition,  is  evidently  of  a  diftcreni  order, 
and  may  also  ver>-  possibly  have  been  developed  on  quite 
different  lines,  from  that  which  we  ha\e  been  discussing 
in  the  human  subject.  In  what  this  difference  consists  is 
at  present  unknown,  and  until  we  have  a  more  intimate 
understanding  of  the  actual  condition  in  the  system  upon 
which  immunity  depends,  or  a  closer  insight  into  the 
particular  agents  responsible  for  its  production  we  cannot 
hope  to  arri\e  at  any  definite  conclusion. 

There  is.  however,  another  obstacle  to  a  logical  accept- 
ance of  Wassemiann's  arguments  as  to  the  origin  of 
protective  diphtheritic  scrum  in  the  human  system,  that  is 
to  say,  in  the  light  of  our  present  knowledge,  for  it  entails 
the  supposition  that  such  indi\  iduals  have  been  subjected 
to  the  action  of  diphtheria  bacilli.  This  supposition  is  the 
logical  outcome  of  the  bacteriological  evidence  which  is 
at  our  present  command  on  this  subject.  Thus  it  has 
been  found,  over  and  over  again,  that  the  serum  of 
animals  artificially  rendered  immune  to  a  particular 
disease,  is  only  efficacious  in  affording  protection  to 
other  animals  infected  with  iiientically  the  same  tniirohial 
ttiscase.  This  has  quite  recently  been  carefully  worked 
out  by  I'feiffer,  who  has  shown  that  the  serum  of  horses 
rendered  immune  to  cholera  is  only  efficacious  in  cases  of 
infection  from  the  cholera  vibrio,  and  that  it  is  absolutely 
inoperative  in  protecting  from  an  infection  due  to  any- 
other  vibrio,  however  nearly  the  latter  may  resemble  that 
of  the  cholera  vibrio. 

liut  we  have  seen  that  protective  serum  may  be  pos- 
sessed by  individuals  who  have  never  had  diphtheria,  on 
whom,  moreover,  careful  investigation  has  not  been  able 
to  reve.il  the  invariable  presence  of  true  diphtheria  bacilli. 
.So  far  it  must  be  acknowledged,  then,  that  we  have  no 
working  hypothesis  which  enables  us  to  comprehend 
aright  the  circumstances  which  determine  the  presence 
of  or  control  the  generation  of  anti-diphtheritic  scrum 
in  the  human  system,  and  we  are  therefore  jjowcrless  to 
cither  stimulate  or  diminish  its  production  ;  but  we  are, 
however,  in  a  position  to  regulate,  to  a  great  extent,  the 
dissemination  of  diphtheria  virus  from  one  individual  to 
another. 

It  has  recently  been  shown  that  children  taken  from 
diphtheria  surroundings,  and  not  themselves  suffering 
from  the  disease,  in  a  large  number  of  cases  carry  about 
with  them  in  their  nasal  and  throat  passages  typical 
virulent  diphtheria  bacilli,  and  that  although  they  do  not 
necessarily  themselves  develop  the  disease,  they  thus 
become  the  dangerous  carriers  of  infection. 

It  is  considered  essential,  therefore,  that  no  member  of 
a  family  where  diphtheria  has  occurred,  should  be  allowed 
to  mix  with  others  until  a  bacteriological  examination 
ha-i  --.hnwn  that  diphtheria  bacilli  are  absent  from  the  air 
1  .either  arc   those  who    have    recovered    from 

'^  '  to  be  permitted  to  resume  their  usual  occu- 

p.iin.n,,  until  the  absence  of  diphtheria  bacilli  has  been 
conclusively  proved. 

In  C.crmany  such  systematic  examinations  arc  rapidly 
NO.    1347,  VOL.  52] 


gaining  ground,  and  already  in  some  of  the  hvgienic 
institutes  the  practice  is  regularly  carried  out.  Indeed,  in 
Konigsberg,  von  Esmarch  has  suggested  that  to  facilitate 
the  universal  adoption  of  such  precautions,  the  throat  of 
the  patient  or  suspect  should  be  wiped  with  a  sterile 
sponge,  and  the  latter  forwarded  for  bacteriological 
examination. 

The  causes  at  present  at  work  contributing  to  the 
generation  of  diphtheria  in  London  have  yet  to  be  found. 

If  the  contraction  of  diphtheria  primarily  depends 
upon  the  presence  or  absence  of  anti-toxic  serum  in  the 
human  system,  then  it  would  ajipear  that  some  causes  are 
at  work  tending  to  deprive  the  individual  of  the  capacity 
to  generate  this  means  of  protection. 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive,  and  hard  to  realise,  that  the 
advance  in  sanitary  science  and  improved  hygienic 
conditions  of  the  present  day  have  but  resulted  in  London 
in  increased  facilities  for  generating  and  distributing  the 
virus  of  diphtheria,  and  that  so  far  we  ha\e  pnncd  Our- 
selves hopelessly  unable  to  fathom  this  problem,  or  to 
stay  the  progress  of  this  terrible  malady. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  APPOINTED 
liV  THE  SMITHSONIAN  INSTITUTION  TO 
A  WARD  THE  HODGKINS  FUND  PRIZES} 

'T'HE   Committee  of  Award  for   the    Hodgkins  prizes 
■*■       of  the  Smillisonian    Institution   has    completed  its 
examination  of  the  two  hundred  and  eighteen  papers  sub- 
mitted in  competition  by  contestants. 

The  Committee  is  composed  of  the  following  members 
Dr.  S.  P.  Langley,  Chairman,  cx-officioj  Dr.  ("..  Brown 
(ioode,  appointed  by  the  .Secretary  of  the  Smithsonian 
Institution  ;  .Assistant  Surgeon-General  John  .S.  liillings, 
by  the  President  of  the  National  .Academy  of  Sciences  ; 
Prof  M.  W.  Harrington,  by  the  President  of  the  .American 
Association  for  the  .Advancement  of  .Science.  The 
Foreign  .Advisoiy  Committee,  as  first  constituted,  was 
represented  by  M.  J.  Janssen,  Prof  T.  II.  Huxley, 
and  Prof  von  Helmholtz  ;  and  after  the  recent  loss  of 
the  latter.  Dr.  W.  von  Bezold  was  added.  After  con- 
sultation with  these  eminent  men  the  Committee  decided 
as  follows  : 

Kirst  prize,  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  for  a  treatise 
eml)odying  some  new  and  im|)ortant  discoveries  in  regard 
to  the  nature  or  i)ropertics  of  atmospheric  air,  to  Lord 
Kayleigh,  of  London,  and  Prof  William  Ramsay,  of  the 
I'nivcrsity  College,  London,  for  the  discovery  of  argon, 
a  new  element  of  the  atmosphere. 

The  second  prize,  of  two  thousand  dollars,  is  not 
awarded,  owing  to  the  failure  of  any  contestant  to  comply 
strictly  with  the  terms  of  the  offer. 

The  third  jjrize,  of  one  thousand  dollars,  to  Dr.  Henry 
de  \'arigny,  of  Paris,  for  the  best  jiopular  treatise  upon 
atmospheric  air,  its  properties  and  relationships.  Dr.  ilc 
Varigny's  essay  is  entitled  "  L'.Air  ct  la   \'ie.'' 

(Signed),  S.  P.  L.ANCi.iiv, 

C  Brown  Cioonii, 
John  S.   Bii.i.inc.s, 
.M.  W.   Hakkincton. 
August  9,  1895. 

.SUPPI.KMKNT.\RV  UkPORT  ok  THK  COMMIIIKK  Al'- 
rOINTKIl  )1V  THK  Smithsoni.vn  I  NsmUTlON  TO 
A\V.\RI)   THK    HODCKIN.S    KfND    PkIZKS. 

.After  having  performed  the  function  to  wliic  li  the 
Committee  was  called,  as  announced  by  the  circular 
of  the  .Secretary  of  the  .Smithsoni.in  Institution,  dated 
March  31,  1893,  which  function  did  not  include  the  award 
of  any  medals,  there  remamed  several  papers  to  wliich  the 
'  Commiinicatcc]  liy  I»r.  S.  P.  l,.inKlcy,  Secretary  .Smithsonian  Institulion. 


August  22,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


395 


Committee  had  been  unable  to  gi\e  any  prize,  and  to 
which  they  had  felt  desirous  to  give  some  honourable 
mention,  and  on  their  representing  this  to  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  they  had  been  commissioned  to  do  so,  and  also 
to  give  certain  medals  of  silver  and  bronze  which  had 
been  subseciuently  placed  at  their  disposition. 

The  Committee  has  decided  that  honourable  mention 
should  be  made  of  the  papers,  twenty-one  in  number, 
included  in  the  following  list,  which  also  gives  the  full 
names,  titles,  and  addresses  of  the  authors,  and  the 
mottoes  or  pseudonyms  which  in  four  instances  were 
employed.  To  three  of  the  papers  a  silver  medal  is 
awarded,  and  to  six  a  bronze  medal. 


Honoii  rable  Mention  with  Silver  Medal. 

L.    Herrera  and  Dr.  \'ergara   Lopez,  of  the  city  of 
'  La   Atmosfera  de   las   altitudes   y   el    bienstar   del 


L.    Maclsen  ("Geo"),   Helsigor,  near  Copenhagen, 


Mr.   A. 
Mexico  : 
hombrc." 

Mr.    C. 
Denmark. 

Mr.  K.  A.  R.  Russell,  of  London,  Vice-President  of  the  Royal 
Meteorological  .Society  of  Great  Britain  :  "The  Atmosphere  in 
Relation  to  Human  Life  and  'Health.'" 

Honourable  Mention  with' Bronze  Medal. 

Mr.  E.  Deberaux-Dex  and  Mr.  Maurice  Dibos  ("Spes"),  of 
Rouen,  France  :  "  Etudes  des  courents  aeriens  continentaux  et 
de  leur  utilization  par  des  parostats  long-courriers." 

Dr.  O.  Jesse,  of  Berlin,  "  Die  leuchtendon  Nachtwolken." 

Dr.  .\.  Loewy,  of  Berlin :  "  L^ntersuchungen  Uber  die 
Respiration  und  cirkulation  unter  verdiuinter  und  verdichteter 
.Sauerstoflarmer  und  sauerstoffreicher  Luft." 

Mr.  Alexander  McAdie  ("  Dalgetty"),  of  Washington : 
"  The  known  properties  of  atmospheric  air  considered  in  their 
relationships  to  research  in  every  department  of  natural  science, 
and  the  importance  of  a  study  of  the  atmosphere  considered  in 
view  of  those  relationships  :  the  proper  direction  of  future 
research  in  connection  with  the  imperfections  of  our  knowledge 
of  atmospheric  air  and  the  conditions  of  that  knowledge  with 
other  sciences." 

Mr.  Hiram  S.  Maxim,  of  Kent,  England :  "  Natural  and 
Artificial  Flight." 

Dr.  Franz  Oppenheimer  and  Dr.  Carl  Oppenheimer  ("E  pur 
si  muove  '),  of  Berlin,  Germany:  "  Ueber  atmospharische 
Luft,  ihre  Eigenschaften  und  ihren  Zusammenhang  mit  dem 
menschlichen  Leben." 

Honourable  Mention. 

Mr.  E.  C.  C.  Baly,  of  University  College,  London  :  "  The 
decomposition  of  the  two  constituents  of  the  atmosphere  by 
means  of  the  passage  of  the  electric  spark."' 

I'rof  F.  H.  Kigelow,  of  Washington  :  "  Solar  and  Terrestrial 
Magnetism  and  their  relation  to  Meteorology." 

Dr.  I.  B.  Cohen,  of  Yorkshire  College,  Leeds,  England  : 
"  The  .\ir  of  Towns." 

Dr.  F.,J.  B.  Cordeiro,  of  Washington  : — "  Hypsonietrj'." 

I'rof  Emile  Duclaux,  of  the  French  Institute,  Paris,  France  : 
"  Sur  I'actinomctrie  atmospheritjue  et  sur  la  constitution 
actinimie  de  I'atmosphcre." 

Prof.  Dr.  Gieseler,  of  Bonn,  tlermany :  "  Mittlere 
Tagestemperaturen  von  Bonn,  1848-S8." 

Dr.  Ludwig  Ilosvay  von  Nag)-  Ilsova,  Professor  in  the 
Koyal  Joseph  Polytechnic  School,  Budapest,  Hungary  :  "  Ueber 
den  unmittelbar  oxydirenden  Bestandtheil  der  Luft." 

Dr.  A.  Magelssen,  of  Christiania,  Norway:  "Ueber  den 
Zusammenhang  und  die  Verwand.schaft  der  biologischen, 
meleorologi.schen,  und  kosmischen  F.rscheinungen." 

Dr.  A.  .Marcusc,  of  the  Royal  Observator)-,  Berlin, 
tiermany  :  "  Die  atmcspharische  Luft.' 

Prof.  C.  Nees,  of  the  Polytechnic  School,  Copenhagen, 
Denmark  :  "  The  Use  of  Kites  and  Chained  .Vir-balloon.s  for 
observing  the  Velocity  of  Winds,  etc." 

Surgeon  Charles  Smart,  of  Wa.shington  :  "  .\n  Essay 
on  the  Properties,  Constitution  and  Impurities  of  Atmo- 
spheric Air,  in  relation  to  the  promotion  of  Health  and 
Longevity." 

Dr.  F.  Viault,  of  the  Faculty  of  Medicine,  Bordeaux, 
trance:   "  Dccouvcrle  d'une  nouvclle    et   importante   propriele 

NO.    134;,  VOL.   52] 


physiologique   de   I'Air   atmospherique  (action   hematogene   de 
fair  rarefie)." 

(Signed),  S.  P.  Lanci.ev, 

G.  Browx  Goode, 
John  S.  Billings, 
.\ugust  9,  1S95.  M.  W.  Harrington. 

THE  PERSEIDS   OF  1895. 

THE  conditions  ha\e  been  very  unfavourable  for  the 
observation  of  this  meteoric  display.  The  moon's 
presence  in  the  firmament  overpowered  the  smaller 
meteors,  and  unfortunately  the  weather  was  very  un- 
settled, the  first  half  of  August  being  notable  for  its 
frequent  rains  and  clouded  skies. 

It  was  intended  to  obtam  some  observations  at  the  end 
of  July  before  moonlight  interfered,  but  the  attempt 
failed  at  several  stations.  On  July  25,  however.  Prof. 
A.  S.  Herschel,  at  Slough,  availed  himself  of  a  pretty 
clear  interval  between  irh.  and  I2h.  40m.  to  watch  for 
.\quarids  and  early  Perseids.  He  found  meteors  rather 
bright  and  plentiful,  and  the  chief  radiants  in  Cassiopeia, 
Camelopardus,  Perseus,  .Aquarius,  and  Capricomus.  .\t 
I  ih.  33jm.  an  .A.quarid  brighter  than  Jupiter  was  recorded 
in  a  position  a  few  degrees  north  of  the  head  of  Draco, 
and  at  iih.  55m.  a  bright  Capricornid,  equal  to  Jupiter, 
traversed  a  long  slow  course  from  the  north-east  region 
of  Cassiopeia. 

On  August  2,  Mr.  E.  R.  Blakeley,  of  De\vsbur>', 
watched  the  sky  from  iiih.  to  I4^h.,  and  obser\ed  thirty- 
one  meteors,  of  which  seventeen,  or  slightly  more  than 
one-half,  were  Perseids  with  a  radiant  about  y  in  diameter 
at  35i  '+  52^.  Mr.  Blakeley  regards  the  declination  as 
rather  uncertain  ;  it  is  probably  3^  S.  of  the  real  position. 
The  brightest  meteors  seen  were  Perseids  ;  very  fine  ones 
were  noted  at  I3h.  33m.  and  I3h.  45m. 

On  .August  7,  between  loh.  and  i2jh.,  some  meteors 
were  observed  at  Slough,  Bridgwater,  and  Bristol.  Prof. 
Herschel  at  the  former  place  found  them  veiy  scarce, 
howe\er,  for  though  the  sky  was  quite  clear  from  loh. 
50m.  to  1 2h.  only  four  meteors  were  detected.  Mr.  Corder, 
at  Bridgwater,  noted  twelve  in  a  w\atch  of  2A  hours.  Three 
or  four  of  the  paths  indicated  a  good  radiant  at  17  Persei, 
but  others  seemed  to  come  from  just  below  y.  At  Bristol 
the  writer  recorded  seven  meteors  in  i|h.,  and  of  these 
five  were  Perseids  with  a  radiant  at  41°  +  57°,  which 
agrees  with  the  usual  position  on  August  7.  Three 
meteors  were  obser\ed  at  more  than  one  station,  and  the 
particulars  are  as  follows  : 

loh.  I2ni. — .\  swift,  streak-leaving  meteor  of  2-3  mag- 
nitude observed  at  Bridgwater  and  Bristol.  Height  at 
beginning  43  miles  over  Bromyard,  Hereford,  and  it 
disappeared  at  an  elevation  of  28  miles  near  Crickhowell, 
Brecon.  The  real  length  of  path  was  42  miles,  and  the 
earth-point  at  Barnstaple,  Devon.  The  radiant  was  at 
45°  -f-  47",  so  that  it  was  not  a  true  Perseid,  but  a  mendjer 
of  a  well-known  contemporar)-  shower  near  a  Persei. 

iih.  4m. — .-X.  fine  moderately  swift  meteor  variously 
estimated  as  first  magnitude,  equal  to  a  Lyra-,  and  Jupiter 
by  observers  at  Bridgwater,  Slough  and  Bristol  re- 
spectively. Height  at  beginning  74  miles,  at  end  45 
miles.  The  meteor  passed  from  above  Newport,  Mon., 
to  C.ellygacr,  {'dam.  Real  length  of  path  33  miles. 
Earth-point  5  miles  north  of  Pontardawc.  Radiant  at 
jj-^f  -I-  36'  in  the  south  region  of  Lacerta. 

ilh.  29111. — .4  swift,  streak-leaving  meteor  of  second 
magnitude  observed  at  Bridgwater  and  Bristol.  Height  at 
beginning  105  miles  o\cr  Stratford-on-.\von,  at  end  63 
miles  over  01dbury-on-Sc\ern.  Real  length  of  path  64 
miles.  Earth-point  near  Chumlcigh,  Devon.  Radiant 
at  38'  +  57',  so  that  the  meteor  was  a  true  Perseid. 

On  .August  g.  Mr.  Corder,  at  Bridgwater,  watched  from 
loli.  34m.  to  I3h.  45m.,  and  saw  about  30  meteors,  nearly 
all  of  which  were  Perseids.  He  found  the  radiant  in- 
definitely marked.     .A  certain  proportion  of  the  meteors 


596 


NA  TURE 


[August  22,  1895 


obsen-ed  agreed  with  a  centre  at  43°  +  57',  but  others 
were  directed  from  ?;  Persei,  and  others  again  from  the 
cluster  at  x  Hersei.  On  August  10  the  writer,  at  Bristol, 
watched  the  eastern  sky  from  i  ^h.  46m.  to  1  jh.  1 7m.,  and 
saw  19  meteors,  of  which  17  were  Perseids  from  a  well- 
detined  radiant  at  45'+  55^  This  is  about  z'  S.  of  the 
correct  place.  More  meteors  would  have  been  seen  but 
for  the  interference  of  passing  clouds. 

On  .August  II,  between  loh.  and  iih.  at  Bristol, 
1 1  meteors  were  obsened,  including  7  Perseids  with 
radiant  at  44'  +  58'.  Clouds  were  again  ver>'  prevalent, 
and  greatly  restricted  the  view. 

••  On  the  same  night,  Prof  Herschel,  at  Slough,  had  a 
clear  sky  from  gh.  50m.  to  i2h.,  and  mapped  twenty-six 
meteors,  a  great  majority  of  them  being  Perseids.  Many 
of  the  meteors  were  bright,  and  I'rof  Herschel  regarded 
the  ma.ximum  frequency  as  occurring  on  this  date. 
■"  Besides  Perseids,  a  few  bright  meteors  diverged  from 
Pegasus,  Pisces,  and  the  head  of  the  Lynx.  .A.  pseudo 
radiant  (probablyj  of  the  Perseids  presented  itself  at 
46'  +  63!'.  But  the  body  of  the  Perseid  radiation  is 
ver>'  scattered — only  the  tail  end  of  the  shower  being  here 
recorded  very  likely — and  a  large  area  enclosing  y,  r,  17, 
X  Persei  and  H,  B,  C,  D  Camelopardi,  with  its  centre  at 
about  43°  +  58",  near  k  Persei,  is  the  best  approximation 
that  can  be  gathered  from  the  tracks  registered." 

.A  fourth  magnitude  meteor,  moving  swiftly,  was  seen 
at  I  oh.  7m.  both  at  Slough  and  Bristol.  Height  at 
beginning,  78  miles  :  at  end,  62  miles.  It  passed  from 
over  Brackley  (Northampton)  to  Farringdon  (Berks). 
Real  length  of  path,  30  miles  :  earth-point,  10  miles  south- 
Hcst  of  Portland,  Dorset.  The  radiant  was  at  48°  +  60', 
the  meteor  being  a  true  Perseid. 

From  the  various  reports  already  received,  it  appears 
certain  that  this  year's  display  lias  been  far  from  pre- 
senting a  conspicuous  character.  This  has  probably 
not  proceeded  from  any  special  weakness  in  the  shower 
itself,  but  from  the  unsuitable  circumstances  which  have 
attended  its  return.  Moonlit;ht  is  a  most  serious  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  meteoric  work,  and  when,  added  to  this, 
the  observer  is  confronted  with  skies  more  or  less  clouded, 
the  chances  of  success  become  very  remote.  But,  in 
spite  of  these  untoward  conditions,  the  shower  has  by 
no  means  passed  unobserved  ;  many  of  its  brilliant 
meteors  have  been  recorded,  and  the  radiant  point  has 
been  determined  on  several  nights.  .Some  of  the  chief 
contemporary  systems  have  made  their  presence  known 
by  some  fine  objects,  and  the  results  on  the  whole  may 
be  regarded  as  very  satisfactory. 

W.    F.    1)1. NX  INC.. 


.S7/v'  ytV/.V   TOMES,   F.R.S. 

ANOTHER  of  the  small  band  of  histologists,  who  took 
up  the  subject  when  the  field  was  almost  untrodden, 
has  passed  away,  at  the  age  of  eighty. 

Sir  John  Tomes,  after  serving  an  apprenticeship  to  a 
medical  man  at  Evesham,  came  to  London  in  1836,  and 
entered  at  King's  College  and  at  the  Middlesex  Hospital, 
being  at  the  former  a  class-mate  with  the  late  Sir  William 
P.owman,  with  whom  a  life-long  friendship  thus  began. 

For  two  years  O839-40)  he  resided  in  the  Middlesex 
Hospital  as  house-surgeon  ;  and  even  at  this  early  stage 
in  his  career  his  attention  became  turned  towards  the 
histolo^;y  of  bone  and  leelh,  and  we  find  him  feeding  a 
nest  of  young  sparrows  and  a  sucking-pig  upon  madder. 
From  a  somewhat  fragmentary  diary  which  he  kept,  we 
find,  too,  that  he  then  bought  from  Powell  afterwards 
Powell  and  I.cland;  a  microscope,  and  that  he  was  often 
spending  his  evenings  with  Bowman,  Quekctt,  Kiernan, 
'Ifxld,  Carpenter,  and  Edward  Forbes. 

He  was  an  early  member  of  the  .Microscopical  .Society, 
and  over  a  long  scries  of  years  his  contributions  to  the 
histology  of  the  hard  tissues  were  numerous.     .Amongst 

NO.    1347,  VOL.  52] 


his  more  important  papers  in  the  Phil.  Trans,  were 
those  on  bone  (in  conjunction  with  the  late  Campbell  de 
Morgan),  on  the  dental  tissues  of  niarsupi.als,  of  rodents, 
and  upon  the  structure  of  dentine,  this  last  establishing 
the  existence  in  dentine  of  the  soft  fibrils,  ever  since 
known  as  "  Tomes'  fibrils.'' 

Like  that  of  his  friend  Bowman,  almost  all  of  his  work 
has  stood  the  test  of  time,  and  to  this  day  remains  undis- 
turbed. A  strong  bent  towards  mechanical  in\eiition  led 
him,  while  still  house-surgeon,  to  icvoknionisc  the  con- 
struction of  tooth  forceps,  which  thenceforward  supplanted 
the  old  "key"  instrument  ;  and  at  the  advice  of  the  late 
.Sir  Thomas  Watson,  he  determined  to  devote  himself  to 
the  practice  of  dental  surgery,  in  which  the  busiest  years 
of  his  life  were  spent. 

Dr.  Morton,  a  dentist  of  Boston,  Mass.,  having  intro- 
duced the  use  of  ether  in  1846,  we  find  from  Sir  John's 
dian-  that  he  was  early  in  the  field  as  an  experimenter 
with  this  ana-sthetic.  .After  sundry  experiences  with 
it  for  tooth  extraction  at  the  Middlesex  Hospital,  some 
successful  and  some  not,  we  read  :  " Ga\c  ether  to 
.Arnott's  case  of  lithotomy  eiyht  minutes,  and  insensibility 
came — the  operation  then  commenced  and  lasted  twelve 
minutes."  (Jan.  14,  1847.)  .And  after  notes  of  many  ad- 
ministrations :  "  Gave  ether  to  eight  patients  for  operations 
with  great  success.  Earl  of  Cadogan  (a  governor  of  the 
hospital)  and  many  others  present."  (Feb.  23,  1847.) 

His  lectures  on  dental  physiology  and  surgery  were 
perhaps  the  first  in  which  the  subject  was  treated  from  a 
true  scientific  standpoint,  and  when  published  became 
quite  a  classic.  But  it  is  curious  to  read  in  his  diary  a 
resolve  that  he  really  will  not  deliver  any  more  lectures 
unless  he  has  a  class  of  at  least  six  students. 

In  1883  the  College  of  .Surgeons,  exercising  their  right 
to  confer  honorary  fellowships  of  the  College,  elected 
Sir  John  Tomes  and  the  late  Prof  Huxley. 

In  1886  he  obtained  the  honour  of  kniyhthood,  in  re- 
cognition of  his  great  services  to  the  cause  of  dental 
education,  and  to  the  establishment  of  a  dental  diploma 
and  its  recognition  by  Parliament,  his  unbroken  success  in 
all  that  he  undertook  being  largely  due  to  his  excellent 
business  capacity,  and  to  the  respect,  trust,  and  liking 
which  he  inspired  in  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact. 


NOTES. 

\Vk  understand  thnt  a  Civil  List  pension  of  ^200  lias  licen 
granted  to  Mrs.  Huxley. 

TiiK  following  have  lieen  elected  .A.ssociatcs  .ind  Correspondents 
of  the  Keale  .Accadcniia  dei  Lincei : — National  .Associates,  I'rdf. 
L.  Luciani  and  I'rof.  G.  Tizzoni ;  Corresponilonls,  Prof.  E. 
Ces.aro,  Prof.  A.  Ricco,  and  I'rof.  Carlo  de  .Slelani  :  Foreign 
.Associates  in  .Mathematics,  I'rof.  C.Jordan  and  Dr.  ('■.  Salmon  ; 
in  .Astronomy,  I'rof.  .Simon  Newcomh  ;  in  Physics,  I'rof.  II.  J. 
Wild  ;  in  Morphology,  I'rof  A.  Kiilliker. 

The  following  are  among  the  recent  apiioinlmtnts  ahroail  :— 
Dr.  R.  Bchrend  to  be  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  Tccliiiische 
Ihxrhschule  of  Hanover;  Dr.  X.  Siefcrl  to  be  Professor  of 
Forestry  at  the  Tcchnischc  Ilochschule  of  Karlsruhe  ;  Dr.  Y. 
Richar/,  to  be  Professor  of  Physics  in  the  University  of  Griefs- 
wald  ;  Dr.  P.  St.-ickel  to  be  Assistant  Professor  of  Mathemalicii 
in  Konigsbcrg  University  ;  Dr.  O.  Wiener  to  lie  Professor  of 
Physics  in  the  University  of  Giessen. 

Rf.i'TRr's  correspondent  at  Wellington  reports  thai  a  severe 
carlhejuakc  shock  was  felt  at  Taupo,  in  the  district  of  Tauranga, 
and  at  some  other  places  in  New  Zealand,  on  Saturday  last.  .An 
earthquake  wiis  also  fell  over  the  greater  part  of  Peru,  lull 
principally  in  the  south,  on  Monday. 

Wk  learn  from  Das  U'ellcr  that  the  efforts  which  have  ln-cn 
made  during  the  last  fifteen  years  for  the  re-cstablishment  of  a 


August  22,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


39; 


liicuorological  observatory  on  the  Brocken,  have  at  last  been 
crowned  with  success,  and,  if  unforeseen  difticuhies  do  not 
arise,  it  is  expecte<l  that  this  important  station  will  be  in  working 
order  during  the  coming  autumn.  This  successful  issue  is  mostly 
owing  to  the  support  given  to  the  undertaking  by  the  Ministry  of 
I'ublic  Worship  and  the  Meteorological  Institute  of  Berlin,  and 
l)y  the  Brunswick  and  Hanover  sections  of  the  German  and 
Austrian  Alpine  Club.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  observations 
from  this  mountain  observatory  will  be  of  considerable  value  for 
the  progress  of  meteorological  science. 

As  already  announced  in  these  columns,  the  sixty-seventh 
meeting  of  (jerman  physicians  and  men  of  science  will  take 
place  at  Liibeck  on  September  l6  to  21.  Members  and  visitors 
will  be  received  at  the  Town  Hall  on  .Sunday,  the  15th,  at  8  p.m. 
Business  will  commence  on  Monday  at  II  a.m.  in  the  Gymnastic 
Hall  with  a  presidential  address,  followed  by  some  medical 
papers.  At  3  p.m.  the  sections  will  be  formed,  and  at  7  p.m. 
there  will  be  a  social  gathering  at  the  Tivoli.  .\mong  the 
entertainments  of  the  following  days,  are  a  garden  party  given  by 
the  Senate  of  the  Free  Hansa  City  of  Liibeck  on  Tuesday,  a 
grand  ball  in  the  theatre  on  Thursday,  and  an  excursion  to  the 
lakes  of  East  Holstein  on  the  Saturday.  >redical  papers  are 
announced  by  Drs.  Klebs,  Behring,  Riedel,  and  Rindfleisch,  and 
general  scientific  papers  by  Drs.  Victor  Meyer,  Ostwald,  and 
others.  .Senator  Ur.  Brehmer  and  Dr.  Theodor  Eschenburg  are 
the  secretaries  of  the  meeting. 

The  Board  of  Trade  fouriial  reports  that  an  industrial 
exhibition,  to  celebrate  the  jubilee  of  the  recognition  of  Berlin 
as  the  capital  of  the  German  Empire,  is  to  be  held  next  year  in 
the  Treptow  Park,  near  that  town,  from  May  to  October. 
The  exhibition  will  embrace  the  following  groups: — (l) 
Textile  industries  ;  (2)  Clothing  industries  ;  (3)  Building  and 
engineering;  (4)  Wood  industries  (cabinet-making,  iVc);  (5) 
Porcelain,  glass  and  fire-brick  industry  ;  (6)  Smallwares  and 
fancy  goods  ;  (7)  Metal  industr)' ;  (8)  Engraving,  the  decorative 
arts,  and  the  book  trades;  (9)  Chemical  industry;  (10)  Food 
products  (including  tobacco,  spirits,  tic.) :  (ii)  Scientific  instru- 
ments ;  (12)  Musical  instruments;  (13)  Machine-construction, 
shipljuilding,  an<l  transport  trade;  (14)  A|>plied  cleclricity ; 
(15)  I.eaiher  and  india-rubber  industry;  (16)  Paper  industry; 
(17)  Photography;  (18)  Hygiene,  and  sanitary  dwellings; 
(19I  Education  and  instruction;  (20)  P'ishing  and  boating,  as 
industries  and  sports;  (21)  Riding  and  racing,  aquatic  sport ; 
cycling,  shooting  and  hunting,  pleasure-boating  ;  (22)  Horti- 
culture ;  (23  German  colonial  exhibition:  (24)  Hotel  and 
resl.aurant  trades. 

The  Council  of  the  Federated  Institution  of  Mining  Engineers 
have  had  for  some  time  under  their  consideration  the  holding  of 
meetings  of  the  student  members,  and  the  first  meeting  of 
students  was  successfully  held  in  the  North  of  England  district 
on  .\ugust  13,  14,  and  15.  With  a  view  to  interest  the  students 
more  especially  in  the  proceedings  of  the  first  meeting,  a  prize 
was  offered  by  the  Institution  for  the  best  essay  on  "  The  Pre- 
vention of  .\ccidents  in  Mines."'  The  prize  was  obtained  by 
Mr.  .\ustin  Kirkuj),  whose  essay  deals  concisely  with  the  com- 
monest forms  of  mining  accidents,  and  sets  forth  the  results  of 
the  experience  of  practical  men  on  their  prevention.  .Mr.  Kirkup 
has  based  his  facts  almost  entirely  on  the  knowledge  which 
])ractical  experience  and  observation  have  afforded  him,  so 
his  essay  possesses  a  real  value,  and  we  regret  that  pressure  upon 
our  space  prevents  us  from  doing  more  than  refer  to  it.  In  order 
that  the  meeting  in  connectiim  with  which  the  paper  was  pre- 
pared might  be  of  a  thoroughly  practical  character,  the  students 
who  look  part  in  the  proceedings  made  lengthy  underground 
visits  to  the  Wearmouth  and  Epplelon  Collieries,  and  were  given 
every  information  as  to  the  mode  of  working,  haulage,  venti- 

NO.   1347,  VOL.   52] 


lation,  &c.,  practised  at  these  extensive  collieries.  The  Institu- 
tion is  to  be  congratulated  upon  its  new  departure,  which  is 
certainly  calculated  to  give  the  students  a  wider  knowledge  of 
mining  than  they  would  otherwise  obtain. 

We  have  received  the  official  progranmie  of  the  prizes  offered 
for  1896  by  the  Societe  Industrielle  de  Mulhouse.  A  prize  of 
1250  francs  is  offered  for  a  complete  history  of  one  of  the 
principal  branches  of  Alsatian  industry,  such  as  spinning  and 
weaving  cotton  and  wool,  printing  woollen  and  cotton  fabrics, 
machinery,  &:c.  The  Hubner  prize,  represented  by  a  nUdaitle 
iT honiteur  an<\  1000  francs,  is  offered  for  the  best  memoir  on  the 
carding  of  spun  textile  materials  during  the  period  which  has 
elapsed  since  the  last  publication  on  the  subject,  or  for  the  im- 
provement which,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Society,  shall  have  con- 
tributed most  to  the  development  of  carding  operations.  Similar 
prizes  are  offered  for  a  substance  which,  in  the  coloured  cloth 
industr)',  can  replace  the  dry  albumen  of  eggs,  and  is  cheaper 
than  this  substance  ;  and  for  a  colourless  blood  albumen  which 
does  not  colour  on  steaming.  Silver  medals  and  prizes  of  500 
francs  each  are  offered  for  a  new  and  simple  means  of 
determining  the  amount  of  priming  in  steam  boilers ;  for 
a  new  and  advantageous  mode  of  constructing  buildings 
suitable  for  cotton  and  wool  spinning  and  weaving,  or  the 
manufacture  of  dyed  cloth ;  new  and  practical  researches 
on  the  movement  and  cooling  of  steam  in  long  conduits ; 
a  registering  pyrometer  for  steam  boiler  fires  ;  a  memoir  on 
the  spinning  of  carded  wool ;  and  for  a  complete  memoir  on 
the  drying  of  tissues.  Besides  these  prizes,  medals  of  various 
grades  are  offered  in  some  140  subjects  connected  with  chemical 
and  mechanical  arts,  agriculture,  commerce,  histor)-,  and  fine  arts. 
The  competitions  are  international,  but  it  does  not  appear  from 
the  programme  whether  French  is  to  be  the  only  language  per- 
mitted. The  memoirs,  designs,  samples,  &c. ,  must  be  marked  by 
a  device  or  motto  chosen  by  the  author,  and  addressed  to  the 
President  of  the  Society  before  February  15,  1896,  together  with 
a  sealed  envelope  containing  the  exact  name  and  address  of  the 
competitor. 

Mr.  T.  H.  Bicker  ion  pointed  out,  at  the  recent  meeting  of 
the  British  Medical  Association,  that  when  the  inquiry  was 
arranged  into  the  disastrous  collision  between  the  Elbe  and  the 
Crathic,  it  was  stated  that  "the  question  of  the  powers  of  vision 
will  be  carefully  borne  in  mind  in  the  Board  of  Trade  inquirj' 
into  the  cause  of  the  collision."  The  inquiry  has  now  been  con- 
cluded, but  it  appears  that  the  witnesses  were  not  examined  as 
to  their  eyesight.  This  act  of  negligence  will  need  a  de.al  of  ex- 
plaining. The  reading  of  Mr.  Bickerton's  paper  was  followed 
by  the  adoption,  on  the  proposal  of  Dr.  Farquharson,  M.P.,  of  a 
resolution  that  the  matter  should  at  an  early  date  be  brought  to 
the  notice  of  Parliament,  which  should  be  asked  to  insist  that 
adequate  tests  should  be  compulsorily  apjilied  before  a  lad  is 
a]iprenticed  to  the  sea  ;  that  the  Royal  Society's  recommenda- 
tions should  be  acted  on  by  the  Board  of  Trade  in  their  entirety  ; 
and  that  officers  already  holding  certificates,  and  now  by  the  in- 
stitution of  adequate  tests  found  colour  blind,  should  have  shore 
berths  given  them  in  Government  offices. 

The  morphological  place  of  moulds  and  yeasts,  respectively, 
has  long  been  the  subject  of  speculation  and  research,  some 
authorities  regarding  yeasts  as  having  an  independent  existence, 
others  considering  them  as  only  transitory  forms  in  the  life- 
history  of  moulds.  Most  important  and  interesting  contribu- 
tions to  this  subject  have  recently  been  furnished  by  the  experi- 
ments carried  on  in  Dr.  Jorgensen's  laboratory  in  Copenhagen. 
In  the  course  of  some  researches  on  the  diastatic  power  of  the 
well-known  Japanese  mould  Aspergillus  oryruc,  juhler  found 
that  in  the  flasks  in  which  this  mycelium  had  converted  rice- 
starch  into  sugar,  it  had   produced  a  growth  of  typical  alcohol 


598 


NATURE 


[August  22,  1895 


producing  saccharomyces  cells.  This  most  interesting  obser^-a- 
lion  was  subsequently  confirmed  by  Ji'i^ensen,  who  has  since 
endeavoured  to  ascertain  if  the  x-arious  types  of  alcohol  pro- 
ducing yeasts  can  be  traced  to  particular  moulds,  and  already  he 
has  succeeded  in  demonstrating  the  evolution  of  wine  yeast 
cells  from  a  particular  mould  extensively  present  on  gra|)es. 
Dr.  Jcii^ensen  intends  to  continue  these  most  suggestive  in- 
vestigations, and  publish  his  results  from  time  to  lime  in  the  form 
of  a  separate  Beriiht  exclusively  devoted  to  the  work  carried 
out  in  his  laborator)'.  In  pursuing  these  researches  Dr.  Jorgen- 
-sen  will  not  only  render  great  pnictical  service  to  the  science  of 
fermentation,  but  he  will  also  lay  botanists  under  deep  obligation 
to  him  for  having  rendered  possible  a  more  extended  and 
accurate  insight  into  the  life-history  of  moulds. 

The  annual  address  on  "  The  Recent  Evolution  of  Surgery," 
delivered  tjefore  the  Medical  Society  of  London  in  May  last, 
by  Mr.  .\.  Pearce  Gould,  has  lieen  published  in  the  form  of  a 
dainty  brochure  by  Messrs.  Kegan  Paul  and  Co. 

The  Transoitions  have  reached  us  of  the  Ballarai  meeting 
(iS94)of  the  .Australasian  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers.  Among 
the  papers  contained  therein,  we  notice  a  review  of  past  and 
present  steam  pumping  in  mines,  by  Mr.  J.  Tipping  ;  an  address 
on  the  mineral  wealth  of  Victoria,  by  Mr.  James  .Stirling  ;  an 
account  of  the  physiography  and  geology  of  the  Wadnaniinga 
Gold  Field,  by  Mr.  K.  D.  Johnson  :  notes  on  the  White  Cliffs 
Offal  Fields,  Wilcannia,  by  Mr.  F.  G.  de  \'.  Gipps ;  and  a 
description  of  ore-dressing  by  automatic  machinery,  by  Mr. 
I{.  \V.  F.   Kayser. 

We  have  received  from  Dr.  G.  Ilellmann,  of  Berlin,  a  revised 
edition  iif  "  .Meteorologische  Volksbticher,"  which  first  appeared 
in  Hitiinul  mid  Erde  in  1891  (see  Nati'RE,  vol.  .xliv.  p. 
185).  The  work  contains  an  account  of  the  earliest  popular 
(ierman  treatises  on  natural  science  and  meteorolog)'  from  the 
first  encyclopedia,  "  Lucidarius,"  which  was  written  more  than 
two  centuries  before  the  invention  of  printing,  to  the  "  Hundred- 
year  Calendar"  of  Dr.  Knauer,  for  the  years  1701-1801.  Dr. 
Ilellmann  has  embellished  the  work  by  further  biograjihical 
notes  and  additions  based  u|»n  his  laborious  researches  since 
Ihc  appearance  of  Ihe  first  edition. 

The  forty-first  annual  report  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Australian 
Museum  is  not  a  pleasing  one.  We  re.ad  :  "The  continued 
siruillncss  of  the  income  allowed  to  the  Trustees  by  Parliament 
has  practically  stopi>ed  the  acquisition  of  si)ecin>ens  by  purchase 
or  collection.  The  amount  expended  in  the  purchase  of  specimens 
[during  1894]  docs  not  exceed  £20.  No  collecting  expeditions 
have  been  sent  out,  all  that  has  lieen  done  in  this  way  being 
confined  to  fl>'ing  trips  around  Sydney.  .  .  .  The  staff  still 
continues  at  its  reduced  .strength,  and  the  forced  economics  of 
late  years  are  l>eginning  to  tell  on  the  efficiency  of  the  Institu- 
tion." It  is  really  time  that  something  was  done  to  alter  this 
unsalisfactor)'  state  of  things  ;  for  the  present  conditions  hamper 
the  usefulness  of  the  museum,  and  are  mo.st  detrimental  to  the 
interests  of  science.  A  few  researches  have  been  carried  on  by 
Ihc  officers  of  the  museum,  and  the  mention  of  them  givesa  little 
light  to  an  otherwise  rather  discouraging  rc|x>rt. 

Messrs.  George  Philii"  and  Son  have  published  a  .school 
edition  of  the  "  Systematic  Atlas."  The  atlas  has  lieen  s|K'cially 
arranged  for  the  use  of  students  in  higher  schools  and  training 
colleges.  Though  an  abridgement  of  the  "  .Systematic  Atlas," 
it  contains  .is  many  as  170  maps — practically  all  the  general 
one* — in  forty-one  pUlcs,  and  a  complete  index  of  more  than 
I  J,ooo  names.  The  atlas  will  be  very  valuable  for  class  work  in 
phy.sical  and  |>r>liiical  geography,  and  is  a  useful  introduction  to  the 
larger  edition,  which  has  already  been  reviewed  in  these  columns. 

NO.    1347,  VOL.  52] 


Another  atlas,  of  which  Messrs.  Philip  have  just  published 
a  new  edition,  is  the  "  Handy- Volume  .Atlas  of  the  World,"  by 
Mr.  E.  G.  Ravenstein.  This,  however,  is  almost  a  new  work, 
for  the  whole  of  the  maps  have  been  re-ilrawn  and  re-engraved, 
and  the  letterpress  accomixmying  them  has  been  rewritten.  We 
reviewed  the  original  edition  when  it  appeared  some  years  iigo ; 
and  it  IS  only  necessary  now  to  say  that  the  present  volunie,  like 
its  predecessor,  is  a  compact  and  an  efficient  pocket -atlas. 

The  second  part  of  the  fifty-first  volume  of  the  Verhand- 
liingfii  des  A'attirhistorischen  Vereins  der  Prcussischen  Kheiit- 
lande,  Westfalens  und  der  Reg.  Bezirks  Osnahriiik  (Bonn, 
1894),  contains  six  memoirs  and  a  series  of  shorter  papers  and 
notes.  The  first  memoir  is  a  list  of  the  fossils  derived  from 
northern  regions  found  in  the  diluvial  deposits  of  Weslphali;v, 
which  is  contributed  by  Dr.  W.  von  der  Marck.  Laspreyes  h.is 
issued  a  detailed  study  of  the  meteorites  in  the  museum  of  the 
University  of  Bonn,  in  which  the  literature  is  tabulated  with 
great  care.  Stockfleth  describes  the  iron-ore  deposits  in  the 
Hill  of  Huggel,  near  Osnabruck,  where  it  occurs  in  the  Zech- 
stein.  C.  Roettgen  gives  a  "Contribution  to  the  Coleoplera 
Fauna  of  the  Rhine  Province."  H.  Pohlig  continues  his  study 
of  abnormal  deer  antlers  by  a  description  of  two  pairs  belonging 
to  the  great  Irish  elk.  One  of  these  has  a  brow  tyne  on  the  left 
side,  but  no  trace  of  one  on  the  right,  whereas  tlie  first  of  the 
serial  tynes  on  that  side  is  branched.  In  the  other  case  both 
brow  tynes  are  present,  but  the  second  serial  tyne  on  llie  left 
side  has  a  rudimentary  branch.  Dr.  \"erhoff  contributes  a  short 
pajwr  on  the  biology  of  the  fire-fly  Phosplucmis  /ieiiiij>leriis. 
Among  the  smaller  papers,  a  note  by  Ludwig  gives  a  brief 
account  of  Marchiafava  and  Cellis  work  on  the  malaria 
parasite ;  Philippson  sunnnarises  the  geological  problems  that 
still  await  solution  in  Western  Turkey.  Schenck  gives  a  brief 
demonstration  of  the  structure  of  the  Brazilian  lianas,  or  climbing 
.stems. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Ruffed  Lemur  (Lfiinir  rarius,  9  )  lr<nn 
Madagascar,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Bingham  ;  a  \'ervet 
Monkey  (C"tT<v>//M<i/«  lahndii,  9  )  from  South  .Africa,  presented 
by  Mrs.  C.  J.  Hunijihrey ;  a  Mozambique  Mimkey  {,Cer<o- 
pithcLii!  pyger^'thrui,  9  )  from  East  .Africa,  presented  by  .Mrs. 
John  Mahon  ;  a  Sooty  Mangabey  (Cenocekiis  Juliginos:is,  9  ) 
from  West  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  Davies ;  a  Sykcs's  Monkey 
(Cercopilhcius  albigiitaris^  i)  from  East  Africa,  presented  by 
Mr.  J.  Watkinson  Brown  ;  a  Cheetah  [Cyiitrliiriis  jiil>atiis),  a 
Blotched  Genet  (Geiiflta  tigiina)  from  Somaliland,  presented  I 
by  Mr.  J.  L.  Harrington;  a  Martial  Hawk  Kagle  (Spi-M-lus  \ 
hel/iiosiis)  from  British  East  Africa,  presented  by  Captain  li.  L. 
Sclater ;  two  Ravens  (Con'iis  lorciA),  two  Buzzards  (fiiiUo  \ 
vulgaris),  two  Greater  Black-backed  Gulls  (Lams  inaniiiis), 
European,  presented  by  the  lion.  William  Edwards  ;  a  Herring 
Gull  {Lams  argciilaliis),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  George 
Hawes  ;  two  Orbicular  Horned  Lizards  {P/itynosomaoiiiitii/itre) 
from  Mexico,  presented  bj'  Mr.  Bernard  Jackson  ;  a  Rhesus 
Monkey  (Mac aciis  rhesus,  9  )  from  India,  a  Black-backed  Jackal 
(Cam's  iiiesoiiielas)  from  South  Africa,  four  Spinylailed  , 
Mastigurcs    (Uromaslix    aianlhinums)     front     North    Africa,       ^ 

de|>osited  ;    two    Octodons    (CUnodaityliis   gmidi)   from 

Egypt,  purcha-sed,  three  Dorcas  Gazelles  (Gazella  dorcas,  9  9  9) 
a  Siemmerring's  G.azelle  (Gazella  sanimerriiigi,  i  ),  an  Egyptian 
Cat  (Fell's  i/iaiis),  three  Libyan  Zorillas  (lelotiyx  lyhiia),  ten 
\aried  F'ield  Rats  (Lsoiiiys  variegaliis),  thirty-five  Hairy-fouled 
Jerboas  yDipiis  hirtipes),  forty-five  Lesser  Egyptian  Gerbilles 
(Gerhilliis  ngyplius),K\^\.  Larger  Egyptian  Gerbilles  [Gerhiltiis 
pyraiiiidmii),  two  ICgyptian  Kites  (Milviis  icgjpliiis),  a  Cerastes 
\"\y>Kt  (I'ipera  cerastes)  from  Egypt,  received  in  exchange  i  a  | 
S|>otted  Pigeon  (Coliimba  maculosa),  bred  in  the  Gardens. 


August  22,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


599 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

TflE  C'KI.OSTAT. — The  name  calostat  has  been  given  by 
M.  (i.  Lippmann  to  a  modified  fonn  of  siderostat  which  he  has 
devised  (Comples  reiidus.  No.  19,  1895,  and  Observatory, 
August).  The  special  feature  of  the  instrument  is  that  it  gets 
rid  of  the  rotation  of  the  field  of  view  which  disqualifies  the 
siderostat  for  some  purposes,  such,  for  instance,  as  long-exposure 
])hotogra])hy.  It  consists  simply  of  a  mirror  with  its  plane 
]>arallel  to  the  earth's  axis,  and  turning  on  a  polar  axis  once  in 
forty-eight  hours  in  the  same  direction  as  the  apparent  diurnal 
motion  of  the  heavens.  It  is  easily  demonstrated  that  the  image 
of  any  star  whatever  will  be  seen  stationary  in  a  mirror  so 
mounted,  and  a  telescope  pointed  at  the  mirror  in  any  direction 
will  have  a  constant  field  of  view.  The  telescope  being  directed 
to  the  crelostat  in  a  given  position,  to  observe  other  objects 
having  the  same  declination  as  that  in  view,  it  will  only  be 
necessary  to  turn  the  mirror  ;  but  for  objects  with  different 
declinations  the  telescope  must  also  be  moved.  If  it  be  desired 
to  use  a  horizontal  telescope,  it  must  be  directed  to  the  point  on 
the  horizon  where  the  object  rises,  and  the  mirror  must  be 
started  in  a  position  suited  to  the  hour-angle  ;  but  there  is  a 
limit  to  the  use  of  a  horizontal  telescope.  It  is  pointed  out  that 
the  simplicity  of  the  instrument  makes  it  possible  to  turn  it  into 
one  of  great  precision  ;  stability  being  readily  attained,  while  the 
l^ossibility  of  flexure  can  be  reduced  to  a  minimum. 

Adams'  Masses  of  Jupiter's  Satellites. — A  question 
having  been  recently  raised  by  Mr.  Marth  as  to  the  work  of 
.\dams  on  Jupiter's  satellites.  Prof.  K.  A.  .Sampson  has  stated 
the  results  of  an  inspection  of  the  MSS.  with  reference  to  this 
subject  (Observatory,  August).  It  appears  that  when  engaged 
upon  a  revision  of  Damoiseau's  tables  in  1875,  with  a  view  to 
their  continuation,  Prof.  Adams  determined  the  following 
revised  values  for  the  masses  of  the  satellites  : — 

in  =  0-0000283 1 13 

in'  —  0'00O0232355 

m"  =  O'oooo8i2453 

m'"  =  0'oooo2i48So 

"  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Adams  attached  any  weight 
to  the  above  determinations  of  the  masses,  seeing  that  he  never 
published  the  values  directly  ;  the  MS.  appears  to  be  little  more 
than  a  study  such  as  he  was  in  the  habit  of  making  upon  any 
work  that  he  was  examining,  in  order  to  test  by  cross  verifica- 
tions the  accuracy  and  consistency  of  the  whole.  .  .  .  Con- 
siderable expectations  have  been  built  upon  the  fact  that  Adams 
was  engagecl  more  or  less  closely  for  some  years  upon  the  theory 
of  Jupiter's  satellites.  It  will  be  well  to  say  at  once  that  the 
chief  fruit  of  his  attention  was  published  in  the  Nautieal  Almanac 
of  1S80  ;  this,  like  all  the  rest  of  his  published  work,  v.as  the 
result  of  e.xhaustive  labour,  quite  out  of  relation  to  the  unpre- 
tentious form  in  which  the  outcome  was  presented,  and  only 
■discoverable  by  searching  tests." 

ATMOsrnERir  Refraction. — The  ordinary  application  of 
Vessel's  expression  for  refraction  requires  that  five  i|uantities  be 
taken  from  specially  prepared  tables,  but  Prof  E.  C.  Conistock, 
Director  of  the  Washlnirn  Observatory,  has  worked  out  a  simple 
fornuila  for  conqiuting  the  refraction  -vithout  the  aid  of  tables. 
A  transformation  of  Bessel's  formula,  and  the  introduction  of 
numerical  constants  from  the  Pulkowa  refraction  tables,  leads  to 
the  following  simplified  form  : 

R  =  [2 -992 1 5]         tanZ 

455 '9  +  / 

logK  =  -  (42-3  -f  o"l2/)tan'-Z. 

The  number  in  brackets  is  a  logarithm  ;  B  is  the  barometric 
pressure  in  Knglish  inches  reduced  to  freezing-point  :  /  is  the 
temperature  in  clegrees  I-'ahrenheit,  and  Z  is  the  zenith  distance 
for  which  the  refraction  is  required.  The  formula  for  F  gives 
the  logarithm  in  units  of  the  fifth  decimal  jilace. 

The  comi)utation  by  the  formula  is  not  more  laborious  than 
the  direct  use  of  the  tallies,  and  a  comparison  of  the  two  methods 
shows  that  the  dift'erences  in  the  results  are  far  less  than  the  un- 
certainty in  the  tabular  numbers  themselves.  Prof.  Comstock's 
pajier  forms  one  of  a  series  of  interesting  "  Studies  in  .Spherical 
and  Practical  Astronomy,"  in  the  Bullcliii  of  the  University  of 
■Wisconsin  (vol.  i.  No.  3). 


NO.   1347,  VOL.   52] 


ON  THE  ORIGIN  OF  EUROPEAN  AND 
NORTH  AMERICAN  ANTS. 

QUESTIONS  belonging  to  zoogeography  may  be  practical  or 
theoretical,  actual  or  genetic  ;  ultimately  the  resolution  of 
them,  whatever  they  may  be,  lakes  its  chief  interest  from  their 
relations  to  genetical  problems,  that  is,  to  the  explanation  of 
the  origin  of  actual  fauna-,  and  to  the  knowledge  of  the  original 
home  of  phyletic  groups,  and  of  the  ways  followed  in  their 
gradual  diffusion  over  the  whole  or  part  of  the  world.  To  this 
purpose,  not  only  living  animals,  but  also  fossils,  have  to  be 
determined,  and  their  affinities  exactly  worked  out  ;  changes  in 
the  distribution  of  land  and  sea  and  in  the  shape  of  continental 
areas  must  be  investigated,  and  analogies  and  differences  in  the 
difi'usion  of  various  groups  of  living  beings  taken  in  considera- 
tion, as  far  as  they  are  known.  The  work  involved  is  long  and 
difficult,  and  its  results  will  form  the  science  of  the  future. 

In  a  jiaper  published!  in  1S91,  t»n  the  fossil  ants  of  .Sicilian 
amber,'  I  made  out  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  Miocene  epoch, 
North  and  South  Europe  had  very  different  fauna;  of  ants,  the 
Sicilian  amber  containing  genera  which  belong  to  the  actual 
Indian  and  Australian  fauna,  but  wanting  the  typical  holarctic 
genera  Formica,  Lasiits,  Alyrniica,  which  are  found  in  the 
Baltic  amber,  some  species  of  them  being  extremely  common 
and  abundant.  A  similar,  but  not  such  a  striking,  difference  exists 
between  recent  Mediterranean  and  North  European  ants,  the 
former  including  a  greater  percentage  of  Indian  and  cosmopolite 
forms,  and  an  absolutely  and  relatively  lesser  number  of  typically 
holarctic  ones,  the  most  species  of  Formica,  Myrmica,  and 
Lasitis  not  having  reached  .\frica  (F.  fiisca,  L. ,  and  M.  scabri- 
nodis,  Nyl.,  are  introduced  in  gardens  in  Algeria),  and  these 
genera  being  scarcely  represented  in  Mediterranean  islands. 
After  discussing  these  facts,  I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  South 
Europe  should  have  had  in  the  Tertiary  epoch  an  ant  fauna 
compound  of  old  Mesozoic  cosmopolite  genera  (chiefly  Ponerinte), 
mixed  with  Indian-Australian  forms.  In  North  Europe  these 
lived  together  with  northern  genera,  which,  after  the  emergence 
of  the  bottom  of  the  middle  European  sea,  invaded  the  South, 
being  perhaps  expelled  from  the  North  by  gradual  cooling  of 
climate.  Later,  the  glacial  epoch  destroyed  in  Europe  nearly 
all  the  rest  of  tropical  insects,  their  return  being  made  im- 
possible by  the  natural  barriers  of  sea,  deserts,  and  mountains, 
accumulated  southward  and  eastward  of  our  continent. 

These  studies  I  have  carried  a  step  further  in  a  revision,  now 
printed,  of  the  Foniiicid.-e  of  North  America."  A  great  number 
of  North  American  ants  are  specifically  identical  to  European 
ones.  My  attention  was  directed  to  find  differences  between 
American  and  European  specimens,  and  indeed  but  a  few 
species  were  so  similar  to  their  European  relatives  as  to  be  not 
distinguishable  as  sub-species  or  varieties.  The  one  genus, 
Epcecus  and  two  sub-genera  are  exclusively  Nearctic  ;  all  the 
other  genera  of  North  American  ants  not  represented  in  Eurasia 
(Discothyrea  has  two  species  only,  one  in  North  America, 
another  in  New  Zealand)are  Neotropical.  The  northern  regions 
of  Europe  has  the  one  peculiar  genus  Attergates,  allied  to 
Epacus  :  middle  and  south  Europe  have  two  further  genera  not 
foimd  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  some  others  known  from  . 
the  Indian  region.  All  these  facts  lead  to  the  result,  that  the 
Pala;arctic  ant-iauna  is  made  of  cosmopolite -f  Arctic -h  Indian 
elements  ;  that  the  Nearctic  fauna  is  similarly  composed  of 
cosmopolite  -f  Arctic  -t-  Neotropical  ones. 

The  question  that  now  arises  is  :  how  has  such  a  mixture  been 
efi'ectuated — what  changes  have  determined  it  ?  A  complete  and 
detailed  answer  I  believe  to  be  at  present  impossible  ;  but  the 
knowledge  of  the  fossil  mammals  may  help  us  greatly,  supply- 
ing for  the  want  of  evidence  taken  from  fossil  ants,  other  than 
the  .Miocene  fauna  of  European  amber,  the  fossil  prints  of 
Kormicidce  being  too  imperfectly  known,  and  a  careful  reWsion 
of  the  existing  collections  from  a  trained  specialist  wanted.  I 
believe  that  mammals  and  ants  are  both  of  the  same  age  ;  their 
migrations  took  place  by  means  of  the  same  land  connections, 
with  the  difference,  that  winged  females  of  ants  could,  easier  than 
terrestrial  mammals,  pass  over  sea-arms,  being  carried  by  winds. 

I  admit  that  in  the  Oligocene  epoch,  after  .\ustralia,  .Africa 
and  South  America  had   been  cut  off  from   a  great  northern 

1  C.  Emerj-.  "  I.e  Formiche  dell'  .■^mbr.l  Stciliana  net  Museo  Miner.i- 
logico  della  R.  Universita  di, Bologna."  {.Memor.  Acctui.  Boto^na[^\,  vol.  v- 
I.     1891). 

-  C.  Emery.  "  Beitrage  zur  Kenntniss  der  Nord:unerik.inischen  .Amcisen- 
fauna.  {Zootof^.  J aiirhucltcr.  Abth.  f.  Syst.  7  Bd.  pp.  633-682,  Taf.  22  ; 
S  Bd.  pp.  257-360,  Taf.  8.    1893-95  ) 


400 


NATURE 


[August  22,  1895 


system  of  dry  land  (such  a  s}-stein  was  rather  an  extensive 
archijielago  than  a  continuous  continent) ;  thb  last  was  a}piin 
di\ndeti  into  two  s)-stems  :  an  Arctic  and  Occidental  one,  com- 
prising  North  America,  together  with  the  northern  parts  of  Asia 
and  Kurope,  and  an  Indian  one,  communicating  with  South 
Europe.  The  former  was  the  home  of  the  Cer\ida',  the 
rhinoceroses  and  most  other  Perissodaclyls,  the  latter  that  of  the 
Ca\icoms  and  elephants.  \'er)'  few  mammals  of  Indian  origin 
migrated  into  .\merica  ;  much  more  from  the  .Vrclic  system  into 
India.  The  same  seems  to  be  the  case  for  ants.  Myrvucina 
is  perhaps  the  only  North  .\merican  genus  of  Indian  origin 
(Tetramorium  iitsfitiim  being  doubtless  introduced  by  man), 
whereas  a  number  of  .\merican-.\rctic  genera,  sub-genera  and 
species-groups,  as  j)^r//;<ri<)t^'.r/Hy,  Messor,  Myriiiua,  Camponottts 
pennsykanicus,  &c.,  are  more  or  less  far  diffused  in  India  and 
-Vfrica,  Mymiica  reaching  Borneo,  and  Messor  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope. 

In  Europe,  the  study  of  the  Baltic  and  Sicilian  amber  proves 
that  the  .\rctic  fauna  went  down  from  the  north,  as  a  host  of 
conquerors,  invading  the  lerritor)'  formerly  occupied  by  other 
people.  I  believe  that,  in  Miocene  times  the  North  .\merican 
fauna  was  much  like  the  actual  cosmopolite  and  Arctic  jiart  of 
the  recent  fauna,  and  might  have  included  a  number  of  forms 
actually  extinct.  As  in  the  I'liocene  a  bridge  was  put  between 
North  and  South  America,  an  invasion  of  neotropical  forms  took 
place,  walking  from  south  to  north.  But  it  is  not  improbable 
that  other  forms  migrated  in  the  opposite  sense,  and  descended 
from  North  America  into  the  neotropical  region.  I  suppose 
that  such  was  the  case  for  the  genus  Pogoiwniyriiiex,  perhaps 
also  for  Doryniyrmex^  Foretius^  and  several  species  of  Cam- 
ponotus.  It  is  not  improbable  that  other  penera  from  North 
.\merica  migrated  southward,  and  later  Ix'came  extinct  in  their 
primitive  home.  The  recent  work  of  Mr.  Scudder  on  Tertiary 
Curculionid.T;  of  North  .\merica  seems  to  confirm  this  view ,  some 
of  these  fossil  twetles  belonging  to  genera  now  living  only  in 
South  .\merica.  It  is  probable  that  a  number  of  insects,  actually 
regardcxi  as  typical  memliers  of  the  neotropical  fauna,  inimi- 
grated  from  North  -America,  as  it  is  proved  by  paheontology  for 
several  mammals,  as,  for  instance,  the  llama  and  alpacca  of 
the  Pampas. 

The  North  .\mcrican  origin  of  some  South  .\merican  ants  was 
suggested  by  Prof.  H.  von  Jhering,'  in  a  |ia|x;r  publi.shed  last 
year.  The  author  endeavours  to  sustain,  by  the  study  of  the 
ants,  his  theory  of  the  multiple  origin  of  actual  neotropical  fauna. 
I  agree  in  many  points  with  him,^but  I  must  recognise  that  the 
Formicida-  afford  but  little  evidence  in  favour  of  his  \-iews. 
Actually,  the  ants  of  South  America  are  distributed  chiefly  in 
relation  to  the  climate  and  vegetation,  no  strong  obstacles  being 
put  to  the  wide  dissemination  of  the  species,  some  of  which 
range  from  Central  America  or  from  Mexico  to  Paraguay  and 
kio  Grande  do  Sul.  Chili  is,  however,  .in  isolated  country, 
which  we  may  call  "  a  continental  island,"  although  it  is  not 
.surrounded  by  water.  If  we  should  take  the  Chilian  fauna  as  a 
standard  for  the  primitive  fauna  of  v.  Jhering's  .Archiplata,  that 
should  have  Ijeen  a  very  |»or  one,  like  the  fauna  of  New  Zea- 
land, with  which  it  offers  a  striking  resemblance.  The  most 
characteristic  feature  of  the  Chilian  ant  fauna  is  the  occurrence 
of  peculiar  species  of  Aloiiofitoriitrn^  like  those  inhabiting 
Australia  and  New  Zealand,  and  of  the  genus  Melophoriis,  found 
only  in  .'\u.stralia  and  New  Zealand.  These  facts  corrol)orate 
the  hypothesis  of  a  Cretaceous  or  Eocene  connection  Ijetween 
South  America  and  .Vustraiia. 

New  Zealand  ap|x-ars  as  a  bit  of  old  .Australia,  quite  free  from 
later  Papuan  or  Indian  intrusions,  like  Madaga.scar,  which,  as  an 
isolated  part  of  old  Africa,  has  received  but  a  lew  immigrants, 
when,  at  the  Pliocene  c|>och,  a  stream  of  Indian  life  entered  into 
the  .Ethiopian  continent.  Prolmbly  Chili  may  be  consitlered  as  a 
|«rt  of  anz-ient  Archiplata,  secured  from  (luyanean  and  Bra7.ilian 
ini  .  the  heights  of  the  Corilillcra,  but  having  preserved 

01  i]ilete  set  of  the  original  .\rchiplalean  faun.!. 

I  •   facts  for  the  purix>se  of  making  the  main  con- 

r'  ^lleci.^l    work    known    to  a   wide    public.      Exact 

kn  ^       :  the  exotic  faun.-e,  and  es|x:cially  of  the  fossils,  may 

enable  us  m  future  to  carry  further  these  incomplete  and  in  |)art 
hypfrthctical  results.  Similar  studies  made  on  single  groups  of 
animaU  and  plants  by  specialists,  which  do  not  only  accumulate 

'  H.  von  Jli»Ti"S  "  r>t'  AiT^'iirn  v-)n  Kio  ( Ir.indc  du  Sul."  (Herlincr 
r-!   ■■     •         '     ■  '■  ■  ,46.     1894.) 

ich  I  cinnot  accept,  refer  chiefly 
■  *  .V.     In   lhc?<  poinl«  I  think  lh.-it 


by  blind  statistical  work  names  of  families,  genera,  and  species, 
but  deal  with  them,  knowing  the  value  of  each,  are  highly  de- 
sirable. Summarising  and  integrating  the  single  results  will 
build  up  an  exact  knowledge  of  paUeogeography,  and  of  the 
origins  and  interrelations  of  the  fauna;  and  florve  of  the  world. 

C.  Emery. 


A  NEW  FILM  HOLDER. 

^JO  outdoor  photographer  can  take  a  rough  survey  of  the  past 
few  years  without  feeling  some  astonishment  at  the  rapid 
progress  made  in  nearly  every  branch  of  his  art.  The  amateur 
is  no  doubt  indirectl)  res|x>nsible  for  nuich  of  this  advance  i 
for  it  is  through  him  that  other  brains  have  been  set  to  work 
to  satisfy  all  his  many  and  variotis  wants,  in  the  way  of  instru- 
ments and  accessories,  to  lighten  his  task  at  every  step. 

The  camera,  which  a  few  years  Kick  was  a  heavy,  clumsy  and 
awkwaril  instrument,  is  now  of  a  light  aiul  hamly  construction, 
capable  of  being  used  in  many  cases  w  ithout  the  triixxl.  Stops 
are  now  more  generally  of  the  Iris  type,  thus  eliminating  all 
|»ssibilities  of  lo.ss  or  of  leaving  them  behind  ;  while  plate- 
holders  are  now  supplied  ca|>al)le  of  holding  a  dozen  or  more 
plates,  and  necessitating  the  use  of  only  one  dark  shutter. 

The  introduction  of  the  film  has  brought  us,  however,  into  a 
new  era  :  but  the  full  benefit  of  this  improvement  can  only  be 
best  ajipreciated  by  those  who  make  use  of  their  cameras  while 
travelling. 

Hitherto  it  ha.i  been  imiwssible  to  make  satisfactory  use  of 
the  enormous  advantages  of  celluloid  flat  films  over  glass  plates  ; 
but  now  we  have  before  us  a  holder  which  seems  to  give  satisfac- 
tion, and  which  should  prove  a  boon  to  phi>t(^raphcrs  in  general. 

A  holder  to  Ik'  really  efficient  shonhl  Ik;  readily  adaptable  to 
any  ordinary  camera  ;    it  must  contain  a.  large  quantity  of  films. 


NO.   1347.  VOL.   52] 


Fir..   I. — Magazine  .-iiui  receiver,  separated. 

and  when  complete  and  loaded  should  not  be  any  larger  or 
heavier  than  the  three  double  backs  (lighter  if  possible);  and, 
finally,  should  \x  [irovided  with  some  means  of  swiftly  and 
automatically  changing  the  |X)sitions  of  the  exposed  films. 

Such  a  holder,  if  simple  and  (>f  iiuKlerate  price,  would  be 
much  sought  after  by  the  photographic  world.  .\  very  near 
approach  to  such  an  ideal  film-holder  will  l)e  found  in  that 
known  as  the  "  Krena,"  of  which  a  short  description  follows. 

Hg-  '  gives  a  complete  view  of  the  holder  (the  two  parts 
are  here  shown  seixiratcly),  ready  to  \k  filled  to  any  camera. 
It  consists  of  two  parts:  the  magazine  (M)  and  the  receiver 
(r),  each  of  these  ixtrts  lx;ing  alxiut  half  as  thick  again  as 
an  ordinary  dark  slide.  The  exix>sure  is  made  in  precisely  the 
s;inie  way  as  with  an  ordinary  ilark  slide,  namely,  by  inserting 
the  m;iga/ine  in  ihe  slide  rails  of  the  camera,  and  by  wilhdrawing, 
and  subsequently  replacing,  the  shutter  of  the  muga/ine. 

The  film  changing  is  brought  alMuit  simply  by  folding  the 
magazine  and  receiver  together  until  they  interlock,  draw- 
ing out  the  two  shutters,  pressing  a  change  button  to  one  side, 
and  pushing  the  shutters  back  again. 

The  ex|)<iseil  films,  stored  in  the  receiver,  may  then  be 
removerl  for  ilevelnnmcnl  one  by  one,  or  as  a  complete  pack,  just 
as  ihe  operator  desires. 

.An  automatic  counter  upon  the  back  of  the  magazine  shows 
at  a  gkance  how  many  pictures  have  been  taken. 

The  iK'Culiarily  of  these  films  is  that  their  edges  are  notched, 
and  in  their  packing  an  alternnte  sequence  is  maintained  a» 
regards  the  [xisilion  of  these  notches. 


August  22,  1895] 


NA  rURE 


401 


The  films  are  supplied  ready  packed  and  arranged  in  the 
nrder  in  which  they  are  to  be  inserted  into  the  magazine. 

To  understand  more  clearly  the  position  of  the  notches,  it  is 
liest  to  take  the  empty  magazine  in  hand,  and  entirely  withdraw 
the  black  exposing  shutter.  It  will  then  be  seen  that  the  front  of 
the  magazine  is  provided  along  its  sides  with  two  series  of  pro- 
jecting tcelh  ;  it  is  upon  these  teeth  that  the  films  inserted  into 
the  holder  are  supported.  At  one  ^wX  of  the  magazine,  which 
we  shall  call  the  top,  is  a  button  ;  if  this  Inuton  be  pushed  from 
one  side  to  the  other,  this  movement  will  shift  all  the  sorting 
teeth  at  the  same  time,  so  that  they  will  occupy  positions  a  little 
to  one  side  of  their  former  ones. 

A  film  introduced  into  the  magazine  will  then  be  supported  by 
the  sorting  teeth,  when  these  stand  in  the  original  ]>ositions  ;  if 
this  film  be  put  into  the  holder  with  its  notched  corners 
towards  the  top  end  of  the  magazine.  It  will,  however,  fall 
past  the  sorting  teeth,  which  pass  through  its  notches,  when  the 
change  button  is  moved  to  one  si<le  and  the  sorting  teeth  stand 
in  the  second  position  mentiimed. 

The  process  of  filling  the  magazine  is  very  simple,  for  the 
pressure-board  has  only  to  be  removed,  and  the  films  inserted 
into  the  holder  with  the  white  film  downwards,  i.e.  towards  the 


an  apparatus  room,  and  workshop.  At  the  back  is  another  large 
r<jom  to  be  used  for  a  natural   history  museum. 

Every  room  is  fitted  with  electric  light  and  Ridge  ventilation, 
which  keeps  the  air  pure  even  when  filled  with  workers.  The 
lecture  theatre,  which  is  capable  of  hohling  from  80  to  lOO  boys, 
is  fitted  with  a  solid  slate  table  on  brick  piers,  so  that  work  can 
be  done  on  it  with  the  most  delicate  instruments  without  inter- 
ference from  the  vibration  of  the  floors.  The  fact  that  the 
rooms  are  all  on  the  ground  floor,  gives  the  opportunity  of 
])utting  all  delicate  instruments,  such  as  balances,  galvanometers, 
&c. ,  on  brick  pillars,  and  thus  to  get  rid  of  any  vibration 
whatsoever. 

The  main  laboratory  contains  ten  tables  for  elementary  physical 
measurements,  two  for  calorimetry,  two  for  magnetism,  and  two 
for  heat  experiments.  Each  table  has  a  cupboard  containing 
the  necessary  apparatus,  and  an  electric  lamp  giving  direct 
illumination  on  the  tables  without  shadow  or  glare  in  the  eyes  of 
the  w'orker. 

Of  the  two  smaller  laboratories,  one  is  an  optical  room,  which 
can,  of  course,  be  completely  darkened,  and  is  fitted  with  two 
optical  tables  and  a  heliostat,  so  as  to  use  direct  sunlight  as  often 
as  possible. 


pointers,  and  eventually  towards  the  lens.  .Should  there  remain 
m  the  magazine  any  unexposed  films,  with  their  backings, 
and  it  is  merely  required  to  a<ld  to  their  number,  the  additional 
films  with  their  backings  may  be  dropped  into  the  holder  by 
twos  or  threes,  due  care  being  taken  that  the  alternate  arrange- 
ment be  maintained. 

The  wholo  process,  although  somew hat  lengthy  to  describe. 
!s  in  itself  very  simple  and  neat,  and  can  be  at  once  grasped  by 
an  examin.atitm  of  the  holder  itself  in  daylight. 


THE    NEW 


NATURAL     SCIENCE 
AT  RUGnV. 


.SCHOOLS 


T 


HIS  new  building  for  the  physical  part  of  natural  science, 
which  has  recently  been  opened  at  Rugby  School,  is  well 
worth  a  visit  from  any  one  engaged  in  teaching  that  subject. 
The  building,  owing  to  want  of  funds,  is  not  at  present  of  a  per- 
manent nature,  being  of  the  felt  and  matchbnarding  ty])c,  and  in 
consequence  has  no  pretensions  to  structural  beauty  ;  but  when 
fiinds  are  forthcoming,  no  doubt  the  whole  will  be  built  in  brick, 
and  this  will  enable  any  alteration  or  improvement  which  may 
then  be  deemed  necessary  to  be  made.  The  building  com- 
prises a  lecture  rotmi,  a  large  laboratory,  two  small  laboratories, 

NO.    1347,  VOL.   52] 


The  other  is  the  electricity  room,  containing  two  tables  for 
frictional,  and  two  for  voltaic  electricity,  with  cupboards,  &c., 
as  in  the  main  laboratory. 

I'rovision  has  been  made  for  a  small  engine  and  dynamo  for 
electrical  work,  and  these  will  no  doubt  be  added  in  time. 

The  whole  is  under  the  charge  of  Mr.  L.  Gumming,  to  whom 
the  arrangeivient  is  due,  and  who  is  certainly  to  be  congratulated 
on  the  result. 

Every  boy  who  takes  up  natural  science  at  Rugby  not  only  goes 
through  a  course  of  lectures,  but  has  also  to  do  ex]ierimental  work 
himself  in  the  laboratciry.  This  enables  hiiti  to  grasp  the  subject 
much  more  thoroughly,  and  to  remember  it  much  better  than  if 
he  attended  the  .-Wctures  only.  That  this  method  has  had 
excellent  results,  will  be  seen  by  the  number  of  successes  in 
natural  science  that  Rvigby  has  gained  of  late  years  in  scholar- 
shi[)  and  other  examinations. 

EVIDENCE    OF    A    TWILIGHT  ARC    UPON 

THE   PLANET  MARS. 
■p^URINt;  last  summer  and  autumn  Mr.  Douglass  made  at  this 
'-^     observatory  341  micrometric  measures  of  the  diameters  of 
Mars.     In    addition    to    their    general    value    as    micrometric 
measurements,  these  turn  out  to  be  of  a   peculiarly  interesting 


402 


NATURE 


[August  22,  1S95 


character.  For  on  reducing  them  1  find  that  beside  furnishing, 
from  their  great  number,  relatively  accurate  %-alues  of  the 
ev)uatorial  and  polar  diameters  and  of  the  polar  flattening,  they 
yield  a  by-product  as  unex|)ected  as  it  is  important.  Their  dis- 
cussion reveals,  in  short,  what  appears  to  !«  unmistakable 
evidence  of  a  twilight  upon  the  planet,  sufticicntly  pronounced 
to  be  \Tsible  from  the  earth,  and  actually  to  have  been  measured 
unconsciously  by  Mr.  Douglass.  That  Mars  jxjssessed  an  at- 
mosphere, we  had  vihat  amounted  to  ])roof  positive  before  :  but 
that  the  fact  should  .-igain  be  brought  to  light  in  this  literal 
manner,  as  a  silver  lining  to  a  cloud  of  figures,  is  a  [xiint  of  some 
curiosity.  The  measures  had  no  such  end  in  view  ;  indeed,  to 
detect  the  presence  of  an  atmosphere  by  measures  of  the 
diameters  had  not  suggested  itself  to  any  of  the  most  adventurous 
of  observers.  Yet,  as  will  l)e  seen,  the  quantities  u|xin  which  the 
evidence  rests  are  so  large  as  to  be  quite  without  the  (xile  of 
accidental  error,  lieing  ten  times  as  great  as  the  probable  errors 
of  observation,  and  twice  as  large  as  those  that  disclose  the  polar 
flattening.  That  they  have  hitherto  escaped  detection  is  due  to 
their  having  been  masked  by  another  factor  affecting  the  size  of 
the  polar  diameter,  as  will  appear  in  the  course  of  this  paper.  To 
the  unsuspected  presence  of  these  two  causes,  at  times  nearly 
offsetting  each  other,  so  far  as  relative  values  go,  is  attributable 
in  all  probability  much  of  the  discrepancy  in  the  determinations 
of  the  polar  flattening  hitherto  m.ade. 

The  first  measures  were  m.ade  on  July  6,  and  the  last  on 
November  21,  1894.  Krom  October  12  they  were  taken  nearly 
every  night.  Those  here  given  were  all  made  by  Mr.  Dotiglass. 
Later  in  the  iiajwr  I  shall  introduce  others  by  Prof.  \V.  II.  Picker- 
ing, which  confirm  the  result.  But  here  at  the  outset  it  may  be 
well  to  point  out  that  whether  the  results  of  many  observers  are 
to  \yt  preferred  to  those  of  one  is,  omitting  discourteous  per- 
sonalities, a  question  entirely  of  what  is  to  be  determined.  If 
the  determination  l>e  one  of  absolute  quantity,  the  more 
otjservers  the  Ix'tter,  provided  they  l>e  good  ;  but  if,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  determination  be  of  relative  magnitudes,  one  observer 
is  lietter  than  many,  a.s  his  personal  equation  obligingly  eliminates 
itself,  whereas  two  such  e<|uations  can  by  no  possibility,  short  of 
chance,  eliminate  each  other.  Now,  in  the  present  case,  while 
the  determination  of  the  planet's  size,  and  even  to  some  extent 
of  its  jxilar  flattening,  are  matters  of  absolute  quantity,  the 
evidence  of  a  twilight  upon  it  is  one  which  rests  upon  relative 
results.  The  former,  therefore,  are  subject  to  any  systematic 
errors  there  may  be  ;  the  latter,  essentially  free  of  them.  In  con- 
sequence, the  by-product  in  this  case  is  actually  more  trust- 
worthythan  the  main  results  themselves. 

Much  care  was  taken  in  the  matter  of  the  Martian  measures. 
In  the  ones  I  shall  first  discuss,  those  made  from  October  12  and 
November  21,  Mr.  I)ougla.ss  adjusted  the  longituclinal  thread  of 
the  micrometer,  jxirallel  or  perix*nclicular.  as  the  case  might  be, 
to  the  planet's  polar  axis,  according  to  Marlh's  ephemeris,  and 
then  placed  himself,  so  that  the  line  joining  his  eyes  was  kejrt 
parallel  to  tbjs  thread  or  to  the  fixed  transverse  thread 
at  right  angles  to  it,  during  any  one  set  of  ol)serva- 
tions,  the  position  being  then  recorded.  As'  measures  were 
taken  in  Ixjth  ]x)sitions  for  each  diameter  at  various  times, 
v»e  have  here  a  commrison  of  some  eventual  value.  In 
eye-estimates  such  orientation  in  the  position  of  the  ob- 
server is  al>solutely  essential  in  order  to  correct  his  pos.sible 
astigmatism.  Into  measures,  however,  astigmatism  enters  only 
to  cancel  out.  For  if  we  consider  the  matter,  it  is  at  once 
evident  that  the  v^hole  field  is  distorlccl  in  the  same  proportion, 
the  sface  lx:twcen  one  turn  of  the  micrometer  and  the  next 
Ijcing  reduced  cir  exiKinded  in  the  same  ratio  as  the  part  of  the 
image  mea.surcd.      The  astigmati.sm  thus  eliminates  itself 

From  Octoljer  12  to  Novemlier  21,  Mr.  I)ougla.ss  made  in  all 
275  measures  ;  140  of  the  equatori.il,  and  135  of  the  |x>lar  dia- 
meter. In  the  reduction  of  the  mca.siircs,  account  has 
Ijccn  taken  of  the  place  upon  the  micrometer  .screw  at 
which  the  mca.surcs  were  made,  an<l  its  appropriate  value  in- 
trcKluced.  For  by  the  forethought  of  Mr.  Douglass  in  sus|x;cting 
the  possibility  of  variation,  we  measured  the  value  of  a  micro- 
meter turn  at  different  points  of  the  .scale  to  confirm  his 
conjecture. 

Preliminary  to  the  discussion  of  the  results,  it  will  be  well  to 
explain  ihi'  rnrrcctions  determined  anrl  applied.  The  first  cor- 
rei  arising    from   refr.aclion.      "Tnis  is   the  correction 

dii-  '  rcnli.-\l  effect  of  refraction  ii|x»n  the  planet's  op- 

Fo- ..i  the  extremities  of  the  (nrticular  diameter  niea.surcd, 
I  depend*  Iwth  upon  the  altitude  of  the  planet  at  the  lime  of 


observation,  and  upon  the  inclination  at  that  moment,  of  the 
particular  diameter  to  the  vertical.  In  many  cases  it  was  so 
small  as  not  to  make  itself  perceptible  in  the  column. 

The  correction  for  aberration,  similarly  a  differential  elTect, 
was  so  utterly  insignificant  throughout  as  not  to  apjiear  at  all. 

The  next  correction  is  thai  due  to  irradiation.  Toward  its 
determination  two  different  tests  were  made,  in  each  case  ujxm 
both  Prof.  W.  n.  Kckering  and  myself;  in  the  one  the  etiecl 
should  have  been  less  than  in  the  case  of  Mars,  in  the  other 
greater.  .\s  in  both  cases  the  observers  substantially  agreed, 
the  results  may  be  accejited  as  having  some  impersonal  value. 

The  first  test  was  made  upon  a  railroad  switch-head,  a  white 
circular  disc  with  a  smaller  black  circle  painted  upon  it.  The 
size  of  these  circles  was  unknown  to  the  observers. 

Their  estimates  were  : 

(W.  II.  P.)  ...  (white  rim)  ...    i  ;  (diameter black  circle)  ..     i"3 

(P.  I'-) „        „      ■•■   I  :  „         „         ,.  i"'265 

The  discs  and  their  distance  were  then  measured  and  gave  : 

For  diameter  bl.ack  circle  ...  ...     202  mm. 

For  radius  white  rim  ...         ...      126  mm. 

For  ratio      ...  ...  ...  ...     ii',i 

For  distance  from  eye         57  yds. 

Therefore  I  mm.  equalled  3"'9. 

For  the  amount  of  the  irmdialion  in  seconds  of  arc,  .i,  assume 
the  amount  of  the  irradiation  of  the  while  rim  .against  the 
general  background  of  earth  of  a  brown  colour  to  have  been 
two-thirds  that  of  the  rim  against  the  lilack  circle.  We  have 
then,  for  the  first  observer,  the  following  equation  to  deter- 
mine X. 


252  mm.  10/ 3  .<■  _  2"o 
212  mm.  6/3  .V       I '3  ' 
for  the  second  observer : 


from  which  .v  =  9-2  mm.  or  36" 


40 


The  second  lest  was  on  the  moon  (November  22),  when  the 
old  moon  was  seen  in  the  new  moon's  arms.  In  this  case  the 
irradiation  proved  for  both  observers  10  be  one-seventh  of  the 
radius  of  the  old  moon,  or  about  157". 

In  the  ca.se  of  Mars,  the  value  for  the  irradiation  probaljly  lies 
between  these  two  limits.  For  the  contrast  between  the 
Martian  limb  and  the  sky  is  pretty  certainly  greater  than  that  of 
the  white  rim  and  the  black  circle  of  ihe  switch-head,  and  less 
than  that  of  the  moon's  bright  limb  and  the  sky,  to  which  the 
contrast  between  the  limbs  of  the  old  and  of  the  new  moon 
closely  approximates. 

It  is  to  be  noted  th.at  with  a  given  illumination  and  a  given 
eye,  the  irradiation  correction  is  a  personal  constant,  not 
depending  upon  the  size  of  the  disc  measured  and  diminishing 
inversely  as  the  magnification.  In  all  the  measures  sulisequent 
to  and  including  October  15,  the  power  used  was  860  ;  in  those 
of  October  12,  it  w,as6l7.  The  correction,  therefore,  for  all 
except  those  of  October  12  was  o"'lo;  for  those  of  October 
12,  o"-l4. 

Such,  then,  is  the  correction  for  irradiation  upon  the  planeni 
limb.  The  double  of  it,  therefore,  would  need  to  be  subtracted 
from  the  measures  of  a  disc  .similarly  placed  to  that  of  Mars 
when  fully  illuminated.  But  the  disc  of  Mars  was  not  fully 
illuminated  even  at  the  moment  of  opposition,  ami  grew  less  .so 
as  time  went  on.  Now  il  will  l)e  evident  on  consideralii>n  llint 
the  irradiation  from  the  terminator  nuist  be  very  dilTeient  from 
that  uiHUi  the  limb,  inasmuch  as  the  light  fades  away  to  nothing 
at  the  one,  while  it  has  its  full  value  at  the  other. 

To  determine  the  amount  f>f  the  correction  needed  at  the 
terminator  it  is  to  be  observed  that  if 

7  =  the  areocentric  angle  between  the  sun  and  the  earth  ; 

a  =  the  angle  between  the  terminator  and  tile  poiiu  of  the  il- 
luminated .surface  of  which  the  irradiation  is  sought ;  ami  | 

III  =  the  ratio  of  the  irradiation  at  Ihe  liml)  to  the  radius  of 
the  disc,  we  have  ft>r  the  extent  of  the  irradiation  nl 
the  terminator 

,„(      '''"°— '\!,-/'cos7  -  cos(7+o)) 
\sin(7-fo)y       \  / 

where  11  denotes  the  ratio  of  the  irradiation  to  llie  illumination, 
and  is  equal  to  alxiut  2";  thai  is,  it  lakes  2"  liiiies  the  illumiiw- 
lion  to  produce  twice  the  irradiation  effect.  This  value  is  g"l 
from  intcr-comparison  of  the  above  tests  as  limiting  values,  the  1 


NO.    1347.  VOL     52] 


August  22,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


403 


resulting  value  for  Mars  and  the  known  decrease  in  illumination 
due  to  the  telescopic  maj;nification  employed. 

To  deduce  the  resulting  irradiation  we  must  find  the  value  of 
which  renders  the  above  equation  a  maximum,  and  then  substi- 
tute this  value  in  the  equation.  To  do  so  directly  leads  to  an 
equation  of  so  high  an  order  that  approximation  will  be  found 
the  better,  if  indeed  it  lie  not  the  only,  method  of  solution.  By 
this  means  it  appears  that  the  necessary  correction  does  not  be- 
come insensible,  to  three  places  of  decimals,  till  the  phase  angle, 
7,  somewhat  exceeds  30". 

The   formula   must    be    used    within    the    limits    for    which 

sin  a  1  1  .u  sin  a 

-  I  ;  beyond  them 


must    lie     taken    as 


sin(7-t-o)  '       J    -■    "        sin  (7-1- a) 

unity. 

If  the  reflection  from  the  disc  followed  the  law  of  the  cosines — 
that  is,  if  the  apparent  illumination  were  always  equal  to  the 
tnie  one — we  should  have 


'/(  sin  o  W 


cos  7 


COSMO 


7)) 


where  a,  7,  and  >i  have  their  previous  values,  and  w  =  a  constant 
to  be  determined  from  the  ei)uation,  from  the  value  at  the  limb. 

But  although  this  is  the  formula  for  the  case  of  a  theoretical 
rfiugh  bare  globe,  it  manifestly  does  not  hold  in  the  case  of  Mars, 
of  «  hich  the  limbs  are  not  only  as  bright  as  the  centre  of  the  disc, 
but  much  brighter.  The  previous  formula  is,  therefore,  to  be  pre- 
ferred to  it,  although  even  that  formula  makes  the  irradiation 
correction  at  the  terminator  too  great  as  compared  with  that  at 
the  limb. 

But  it  is  to  be  specially  noticed  that  no  law  of  correction  for 
irradiation  at  the  terminator,  however  big  it  make  that  correc- 
tion to  be,  is  able  to  do  away  with  the  outstanding  differences, 
presently  to  be  noted,  of  the  equatorial  diameter  at  different 
times  upon  which  the  evidence  of  the  twilight  arc  is  based. 

There  is  also  the  correction  for  phase.  Inasmuch  as  tlie 
phase  axis  and  the  polar  axis  did  not  in  general  coincide,  there 
entered  into  its  determination  beside  the  amount  of  the  lacking 
lune,  the  angle  of  inclination  of  the  two  axes.  So  that  the 
amount  of  the  defalcation  had  to  be  calculated  in  accordance  for 
each  night.  These  corrections  and  their  results  reduced  to 
distance  unity  have  been  calculated  and  tabulated. 

Besides  the  above  there  is  a  fifth  correction  neetled  to  reduce 
the  diameter  measured  tor  the  polar  one,  to  the  true  polar  (iia- 
meter.  The  diameter  measured  perpendicular  to  this,  or  the 
apparent  equatorial  diameter,  although  not  in  fact  an  equatorial 
diameter,  was  always  exactly  equivalent  to  one,  since  its  ex- 
tremities were  always  each  90'  distant  from  the  pole.  The  other, 
however,  was  the  diameter  of  the  ellipse  made  by  the  plane 
passing  through  the  polar  axis,  w  hich  was  inclined  to  the  polar 
axis  by  the  angle  of  lilt,  and  needetl,  therefore,  to  lie  re^luced  to 
that  ellipse's  minor  axis.  This  correction  is  best  applied  to  the 
means,  and  appears  in  the  subjoined  table. 

Polar  Diameters. 


Cor.. 

Cor.  for 

Further  cor.  for 

measures. 

inclination. 

twilight  band. 

Oct.  15  to  23  inc 

...     9"-38S     ■.• 

9  "-379 

...     9"-356 

,,      15  to     I 

of  24     ,, 

...     9"-377     ... 

9" -37 1 

...     9" -348 

,,      15  to  24     ,, 

...    9' -368     ... 

9' -362 

.       9  "-339 

.-    15 '029  „ 

...     9"-375     ... 

9" -369 

•  •     9" '346 

,,        12  to  30       ,, 

...     9"-384     ... 

9"-37S 

..■     9"-354 

Nov.      2  to  21       ,, 

...     9"-397     ... 

9"-39o 

•■•     9"-353 

Equatorial  Diameters. 

Oct.  15  to  23  inc 

...     9'-420     ... 

— 

..     9" -404 

,,      IS  to     I 

of  24       ,, 

...     9"-428     ... 

— 

...     9" -402 

,,       151024      „ 

...     9  "•424     ... 

— 

■     9" '395 

„       12  to  30      „ 

...     9"'440     ... 

— 

..     9  "-396 

Vov.      2  to  21       ,, 

•••     9"-S45     ••• 

— 

..     9" -402 

Twilight  arc  ... 

...     10' 

Polar  flattening 

..     1/191  of  the 

equatorial  diameter. 

As  previously  explained,  no  correction  is  needed  for  astigma- 
tism, as  the  measures  themselves  correct  it. 

So  soon  as  the  measures  had  been  corrected  and  reiluced  to 
distance  unity,  two  things  became  apparent,  both  so  large  as  to 
be  almost  unmistakable  licfore  taking  the  means.  The  first  was 
the  jxilar  flattening ;  the  other  an  equally  systematic  difierence 
in  the  size  of  the  equatorial  diameter  according  as  the  measures 

NO.    1347,  VOL.   52] 


were  made  in  October  or  in  November.  The  November  mea- 
sures came  out  much  larger  than  the  October  ones  ;  while  the 
corresponding  polar  measures,  on  the  other  hand,  showed  no 
corresponding  increase.  Struck  by  this  fact,  and  suspecting  its 
cause,  instead  of  taking  thei  mean  of  all  the  mea.sures  for  each 
diameter,  I  divided  them  into  sets  according  to  their  proximity 
in  date  to  the  time  of  opposition,  and  took  the  mean  of  these 
sets. 

The  means  are  as  follows  : — 
I  Polar  Diaiueter. 

Mean  October  15  to  October  23,  both  dates  inc.        9 '379 

12  „  30,         „         ,,  9J-378 

,,      Nov.         2  to  Nov.       21,         ,,        „  9"'390 


Equatorial  Diameter. 
Mean  October  15  to  October  23,  both  dates  inc. 

,.  >,         12  ,,  30  ..         .. 

,,       Nov.         2  to  Nov.        21,         ,,         ,, 


9  420 
9' 440 
9"-545 

Opposition  occurred  on  October  20.  The  first  set  in  each  sche- 
dule, therefore,  was  made  within  four  days  of  opposition  ;  the 
second,  within  eleven  days  of  it;  the  last, from  fourteentothirty-two 
days  after  it.  That  there  is  a  systematic  increase  in  the  equatorial 
measures  is  apparent.  That  it  is  not  paralleled  by  a  correspond- 
ing increase  in  the  polar  ones  shows  instantly  that  it  can  hardly 
have  been  due  to  systematic  error  in  the  observer,  since  in  that 
case  both  sets  of  measures  should,  in  all  probability,  have  been 
affected. 

Now  as  all  the  measures  had  previously  been  corrected  for  re- 
fraction, irradiation,  phase  and  tilt,  the  means  of  each  diameter 
should  have  agreed  with  themselves.  The  polar  did  so  in  a  very 
satisfactory  manner  ;  the  equatorial  not  only  did  not,  but  they 
differed  in  proportion  to  their  distance  in  time  from  the  date  of 
opposition.  Now  the  only  factor  that  increased  in  proportion  to 
the  distance  in  time  from  opposition  was  the  phase.  The 
direct  effect  in  the  way  of  decreasing  the  equatorial  diameter  had 
already,  as  we  have  seen,  been  allowed  for  ;  what  is  more,  it  is 
a  correction  susceptible  of  great  accuracy,  since  it  depends  upon 
the  motions  and  relative  distances  of  the  earth  and  Mars, 
quantities  very  accurately  known.  Besides  these  quantities, 
there  is  nothing  which  enters  into  the  calculation  but  the 
position  of  the  pole  of  Mars,  and  this  would  have  to  be,  not  only 
some  35  Martian  degrees  in  error  to  explain  the  discrepancy,  but 
would  have  had  to  have  shifted  obligingly  to  an  opposite  error 
during  July  and  August  to  account  for  the  measures  taken  then, 
as  we  shall  see  later.  In  other  words,  no  such  discrepancy  exists. 
In  the  case  of  a  bare  globe  this  direct  effect  would  be  the  only 
eflTect  phase  could  have  upon  the  equatorial  diameter  ;  not  so, 
however,  in  the  case  of  a  body  not  bare.  If  a  planet  possessed 
an  atmosphere,  that  atmosphere  would  cause  the  phenomenon  of 
twilight,  and  to  an  observer  at  a  distance  the  effect  of  the 
twilight  would  be  to  prolong  the  terminator  beyond  what  would 
otherwise  be  its  limits.  There  would  thus  result  a  seeming 
increase  in  the  equatorial  diameter  as  the  disc  passed  frcjm  the 
full  to  the  gibbous  phase.  Now  this  increase  is  precisely  the 
increase  that  the  measures  disclose. 

It  is  furthermore  worth  noting  that  in  the  absence  of  an 
atmosphere,  the  measures  of  the  equatorial  diameter  as  the 
phase  increased  would  not  only  have  shown  no  increase,  but 
would  actually  have  shown  a  decrease,  inasmuch  as  it  would  be 
impossible  for  an  observer  to  see  quite  out  to  the  edge  under  the 
diminishing  illumination. 

To  determine  the  extent  of  the  twilight  thus  disclosed  by  the 
measures,  the  angle  I)etween  the  radius  to  the  sunset  point  and 
the  radius  prolonged  to  the  point  of  the  atmosphere  last 
illuminated,  had  to  be  found.  This  enabled  an  equation  to  be 
developed,  which  gave  for  the  visible  twilight  fringe  an  arc  of 
5',  the  double  of  which,  or  10°,  is  the  angle  which  determines  the 
duration  of  the  twilight,  or  the  twilight  arc.  On  the  earth  this 
angle  is  18°. 

Applying  the  correction  due  to  the  twilight  fringe,  to  the 
means  previously  obtained,  we  find  the  following  close  agreement 
between  them  : — 

Polar  Diameter. 

October  15  to  22  inc 9  "'356 

October  12  to  30    ,,        9"'354 

November  2  to  21  ,,         9' '353 

Equatorial  Diameter. 
October  15  to  23  inc.       ...         ...     9 ""404 

October  12  to  30    ,,  ■      9"'396 

November  2  to  21  ,,         9" -402 


404 


NA  TURE 


[August  22,  1895 


The  >-alue  for  the  twilight  band,  deduced  from  these  observa- 
tions, does  not  measure  the  full  breadth  of  that  band.  It  gives 
rather  a  minimal  \'alue  for  it.  For  although  Mars  shows  us  a 
disc  which  is  always  more  than  half  full,  in  w  hich  aspect  an 
illuminated  fringe  of  atmosphere  would  be  more  perceptible  to  an 
observer  placed  without  than  to  one  placed  within  it,  provideti 
both  were  at  the  same  distance  off,  in  the  case  before  us  the  : 
outsider  is  a  great  deal  farther  off.  In  consequence,  what  would 
be  quite  recc^nisable  to  one  standing  upon  the  planet's  surface  i 
would  be  too  faint  to  be  seen  by  him  at  a  distance  of  forty 
millions  of  miles  away.  The  detection,  therefore,  of  any 
twilight  on  Mars  hints  that  the  extent  of  that  twilight  is  greater 
than  appears  :  how  much  greater,  we  cannot  at  present  say.  A 
second  possible  cause  affecting  the  extent  of  the  twilight  is  the 
constitution  of  the  Martian  atmosphere.  That  atmosphere  is 
practically  cloudless  :  if,  also,  it  be  clearer  than  our  own,  the 
twilight  would  Ije  relatively  less  for  equal  amounts  of  atmosphere, 
for  the  amount  of  twilight  is,  among  other  things,  a  question  of 
the  clearness  of  the  air.  In  a  perfectly  transparent  atmosphere 
there  would  be  much  less  twilight  than  in  one  charged  with 
solid  or  liquid  ))articles. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  evidence  of  a  twilight  is  independent 
of  any  possible  change  in  the  value  of  the  corrections.  The 
only  corrections  that  admit  of  uncertainty  are  those  for  the 
irradiation  :  and  on  examining  them  it  will  Ix;  seen  that  by  no 
possible  alteration  can  they  lie  made  equal  to  account  for  the 
obscr\ed  increase  in  the  equatorial  diameter.  Whatever  altera- 
tion in  them  be  assumed  only  affects  somewhat  the  extent  of  the 
increase  ;  it  never  does  away  with  it.  In  other  words,  whatever 
these  corrections,  the  fact  of  a  twilight  remains. 

For  the  determination  of  the  polar  flattening,  the  measures 
of  October  15  to  23  promise  the  best  result,  as  the  measures  of 
the  polar  diameter  on  the  24th  were  so  small,  com|)ared  with 
those  of  the  equatorial  diameter,  as  to  suggest  error.  Com]xir- 
ing,  therefore,  the  polar  and  equatorial  means  of  October  1 5  to 
23,  we  get  for  the  polar  flattening  1/196.  This,  however,  is 
probably  too  small  ;  for  though  the  |K)lar  cap  was  nearly  non- 
existent during  these  obser^•ations,  there  were,  on  occasions, 
.signs  of  its  temporary  reappearance,  and  an  almost  continuous 
brightness  of  the  limb  where  it  had  previously  existed.  This 
by  irradiation  would  incre.i.sc  the  apparent  polar  diameter,  and 
so  decrease  the  resulting  value  for  the  polar  flattening.  If  we 
compare  each  polar  determination  with  Us  corresponding  et)ua- 
torial  one,  deduce  the  resulting  polar  flattening,  and  then  take 
the  mean  of  them  all,  we  have  for  the  polar  flattening  the 
value  1/191. 

This  is  prolably  not  far  from  the  (ruth,  although  also  pro- 
liably  a  little  tof)  .small,  as  the  polar  diameter  was  unquestion- 
ably still  slightly  increase<l  Iwyond  its  real  extent,  by  irradiation 
from  the  remains  or  consequences  (vapour  in  the  air,  iVc.)  of  the 
polar  cap. 

This  value,  1/191,  is  also  happily  accordant  with  what  theory 
would  lead   us  to  expect.     Tisserand  has  found   thai   with  the 
known  rotation  of  Mars  and  supjxjsing  homogeneity,  the  planet's 
flattening  .should  be    1/175  of  the  equatori.-il  iliameter,  while  if 
the  strata  v,aried  in  den.sily,  after   the  manner  of  those  of  the 
earth,  the  [xjlar  flattening  should  \x  1/227  of  ■'•     Now,  assum- 
ing Mars  to  have  tx;en  developed  in  general  accordance  with 
the  nebular  hypothesis,  his  strata  would  Ix:  neither  homogeneous, 
on  the  one  hand,  nor,  on  the  other,  would  Ihey  vary  in  density 
from  the  .surface  to  the  centre  .so  markedly  as  is  the  case  with 
those    of   the    earth.      For    Mars    being    a    smaller    Imdy,     the 
previurc  due  to  gravity  would  t>c  less,  .somewhere  between  that 
<if  the  earth  and  that  of  homogeneity,  which  is  nothing,  and  the 
pilar  flattening  shuuhl  tic  .somewhere  lietween   1/227  '*"''  '/'/S 
<A  the  e<|uatorial  diameter.      1/191    is,  therefore,   not   far  from 
•    \\  >a\i\v  a  priori.     It  is  interesting  to  have  this  result 
•  ly  with   theory,  as  it  furni.shes  so  much  more 
li'  ling  in  the  general  evolution  of  our  solar  system, 
much   less  than    I/191    would    require    that    .Mars 
hail  at  sfjme  time  a  much  swifter  axial  rotation  than 
he  h.is  now.  which  there  is  not  only  no  ground  for  thinking,  but 
m'i'-h  rptKon  for  thinking  could  not   have  Ix-en  the  case.     For 
the  t'Kils  for    tidal   friction,  possessing    insufficient 
ihc  one  hand  and   insufficieni  oceans  on  the  other, 
'  -  •    '  I'l  Ix:  out  of  the  question.      Kven  had 

.  it    is  more  than  doubtful   if  their 
I'erially  affected  his  form.      For  on 
the  earth,  which  dul  possess  them,  we  see  that  they  were  practi- 
cally impotent  to  alter  her  shape.     Any  great  change  in  Mara' 


period  of  rotation  since  hecooletl  must  be  looked  upon,  therefore, 
as  unlikely. 

For  the  final  values  of  the  diameters  we  have,  allowing  for  a 
slight  irradiation  from  the  remains  of  the  polar  cap  : — 

True  equ.itorial  diameter    9''40         "'007 

True  polar  diameter    9 '35         "'007 

It  will  be  noticed  how  near  these  values  are  to  that  found  by 
Hartwig  from  his  general  discu.ssion  several  years  ago. 

We  will  now  consider  the  September  observations  and  the 
first  of  the  Octot)er  ones,  those  taken  ujxin  the  fifth  of  the 
month.  The  first  thing  we  notice  about  them  is  the  abnormal 
size  of  the  polar  measures,  so  large  as  to  suggest  error.  On 
examination,  however,  we  find  that  instead  of  mistake  they  give 
us  our  first  recognition  of  the  cause  that  has  so  long  masked  the 
efl'ect  of  the  twilight  fringe.  The  equatorial  measures,  it  will 
be  seen,  come  out  in  fairly  good  accordance  with  the  October  and 
November  determinations,  being  greater  than  those  taken  near 
opposition,  although  somewhat  smaller  than  the  November 
ones,  the  discrepancies  falling  probably  within  the  errors  of 
observation.  The  polar  measure  of  CJctober  5  is  also  much 
what  we  should  expect,  but  the  ixilar  measures  of  Sep- 
tember 20  and  23  are  ap|xarently  unaccountably  larger.  If  we 
consider,  however,  the  dates  at  which  they  were  taken,  we  shall 
at  once  perceive  a  cause  ca|iable  of  pr<xlucing  the  apparent  in- 
crea.se.  For  in  September  and  early  in  (October  the  polar  cap 
was  still  in  existence.  Now  the  south  )x)lar  cap  is  eccentric  to 
the  pole,  lieing  situated  .some  5°  from  it,  and  from  Mr.  Douglass's 
micrometric  measures  of  its  position  in  October,  in  longitude  59'. 
As  during  the  observations  the  south  pole  was  tipped  towards 
the  observer,  the  polar  cap  was  carried,  in  conse<iuence  of  the 
planet's  rotation,  now  in  upon  the  disc,  now  out  Ujxin  the  limb. 
Now,  if  it  chanced  to  be  upon  the  limb  at  the  hour  at  which  the 
measures  were  made,  its  excessive  irradiation  would  protlucc 
just  such  apparent  increase  in  the  (xilar  diameter  as  was  observe<l. 
<Jn  calculating  its  position  for  the  hours  of  observation  on  Sep-  ■ 
tember  20  and  23,  it  appears  that  at  those  times  it  was  in  fact 
upon  the  sideof  the  pole  toward  the  limb.  Here,  then,  we  have 
the  dius  ex  maJiina  in  the  matter.  To  clinch  the  conclusion, 
we  find  on  calculating  its  position  for  the  observation  on 
October  5,  when  it  suddenly  measured  small  again,  that  at  that 
hour  the  polar  cap  was  upon  the  hither  side  of  the  pole.  Such 
w.as  also  the  case  on  October  12.  The  discreii.incy  thus  stands 
accounted  for.  On  October  13,  very  obligingly,  the  polar  cap 
practically  vanished  just  in  time  not  to  interfere  with  the  most 
valuable  measures  at  and  near  opposition. 

That  such  is  the  explanation  of  the  change  in  the  [wl.-ir 
diameter,  comes  out  still  more  markedly  from  the  July  and 
.-Vugust  measures.  Turning  to  those  incisures  we  find  that  the 
jxisition  of  the  jK>lar  cap  is  an  all-im|X)rtant  factor  in  them.  In- 
deed, it  is  possible  to  follow  its  change  of  place  upon  the  ilisc 
from  its  effect  as  reflected  in  the  measures.  This  will  appear  at 
a  glance  from  the  accompanying  diagram  of  the  July  and  .Xugiist 
mea.su res  of  Mr.  nouglas,s.  .\  similar  sequence  of  position  and 
efl'ect  is  apparent  in  Prof.  Pickering's  measures  made  at  the  same 
time. 

COMI'ARISO.N    OF    POSITION    OK    Poi..\R   CAP  AND  MEASI'RI;  HI-' 

Poi.AR  Diameter. 

The  distance  of  the  ]X>int  from  the  medial  line  shows  the 
angular  |X)sition  of  the  jxilar  cap  from  the  pole  at  the  times  of 
observation  ;  90'  ilcnoting  its  lower,  and  90*  its  upper  meridian 
transit.  -At  its  lower  culmination  it  was  at  its  nearest  m  the 
centre  of  the  disc  ;  at  its  upper,  nearest  the  limb.  The  measures 
show  the  corresi»nding  eflect  in  irradiation. 

July  6.        July  8.      July  30.      July  33.     Aug.  11.      Aug.  14.     Aug.  31. 


'Is 

• 

(I 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

j; 

• 

<(.j . . 

NO.    1347,  VOL.   52] 


August  22,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


405 


Polar. 
9-85         io"-29        9"-S7        9".46        9"-4i         9"-40        9"-34 

Eijiialorial. 
9"-67        io"-oS       9"-48       9"-33        io"-03       g'vs       9" -41 
In  relative  values 

Polar. 
10:9  1021  loog  1014  93S  965  993 

Equatorial. 
1000  1000  1000  1000  1000  1000  lOOO 

At  first  siglit  it  wmikl  seem  that  the  later  August  measures  do 
not  support  the  rule.  Closer  consideration  will,  however,  show- 
that  they  do.  I'"or  while  in  July  the  polar  cap  was  still  large, 
and  in  consequence  reached  to  the  limb,  even  when  its  centre 
was  at  some  distance  from  it,  by  Augvist  it  had  <lwin<lled  to  so 
small  a  jiatch  as  to  be  incapable  of  doing  so  when  at  the  same 
angular  distance  away.  Taking  account  of  this  fact,  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  effect  is  quite  in  accordance  with  the  position,  as 
comes  out  clearly  in  the  relative  values  for  the  two  diameters  of 
August  14  and  August  21. 

It  w  ill  now  be  evident  why  so  large,  and  intrinsically  so  un- 
mistakable, an  effect  as  that  of  the  Martian  twilight  should 
hitherto  have  escaped  detection ;  the  reason  being  that  the 
twilight  effect  and  the  irradiation  from  the  polar  cap  each 
increased  their  respective  diameters  to  a  simultaneous  augmenta- 
tion of  both,  conspiring  each  thus  tf>  mask  the  other. 

Had  measures  been  continued  through  a  series  of  months,  and 
been  made  in  sufficient  number,  both  causes  must  have  made 
themselves  evident.  Kor  both  are  periodic,  and  their  periods  are 
not  the  same.  The  irradiation  from  the  polar  cap  has  a  primary 
period  of  thirty-seven  days,  a  secondary  one  of  a  Martian  year 
as  well  as  a  third  depending  on  the  tilt  of  the  pole  toward  the 
earth ;  that  of  the  twilight  fringe  a  varying  one  of  about 
thirteen  months.  But  as  previous  measures  have  been  made 
quite  regardless  of  the  twilight  effect,  and  largely  regardless  of 
the  polar  cap,  regardless,  that  is,  of  its  varying  position,  the 
results  have  merely  disagreed  with  each  other,  and  the  disagree- 
ments Ijecn  cre<lited  to  errors  of  observation.  One  result  of 
this  was  discordance  in  the  value  of  the  polar  flattening. 

When  w'e  take  both  causes  into  account  we  find  that  the 
means  of  the  July  and  August  observations  confirm  the  October 
and  November  ones. 

Kor  by  comparing  the  values  of  the  polar  diameter  when  on 
and  away  from  the  limb,  it  is  possible  to  deduce  both  the  amount 
of  the  irradiation  from  the  polar  cap  and  the  value  of  the 
twilight  band  from  the  measures  themselves.  The  results  in 
the  case  of  Mr.  Douglass  agree  with  those  of  his  October- 
November  measures.  In  the  case  of  Prof.  Pickering,  there  is 
the  same  relative  difference  between  the  determinations,  although 
tlie  absolute  values  are  all  smaller. 

That  in  the  table  the  corrections  to  the  July  and  August 
measures  differ  from  those  applied  to  the  later  ones,  comes  from 
the  dilTerent  manner  of  their  taking  ;  in  the  July  and  August 
measures  the  limgitudinal  thread  of  the  micrometer  having  been 
set  to  the  phase  axis  or  perpendicular  to  it,  instead  of  to  the 
polar  one. 

In  Mr.  Douglass'  determinations  the  value  for  the  twilight  arc 
comes  out  8".  This  is  somewhat  smaller  than  the  result  from 
the  November  measures.  But  a  smaller  value  is  jirecisely  what 
should  have  been  found.  Kor  the  greater  the  phase  angle,  thi; 
less  the  foreshortening,  which  foreshortening  by  massing  the 
illumination  lets  the  fringe  of  light  become  evident  farther  out. 
Now  the  average  phase  angle  was  43°  in  July  and  .August,  as 
against   iSi"  in  November. 

Krom  Prof.  Pickering's  measures  the  twilight  arc  comes  out 
greater,  or  11",  and  by  inference  would  have  come  out  greater 
still  in  November. 

Thus  it  appears  that  measures  made  by  separate  observers,  and 
measures  made  before  and  after  opposition,  all  confirm  each  other 
to  the  existence  of  a  twilight  band  upon  the  jilanet. 

Percival  Lowell. 


THE  FOUNDATIONS  OF  ENGINEERING 

EDUCA  TION.^ 

T    ET  us  consider  what  is  the  education  which  a  young  man 

needs  to  fit  him  for  the  jjrofession  of  engineering,  whatever 

be  the  special  line  of  engineering  which  he  proposes  to  follow. 

1  Extracted  from  a  course  of  lectures  delivereil  in  tlie  Lowell  Institute, 
Boston,  I)y  Prof.  (i.  Lanza,  Professor  of  Theoretical  and  .Applied  Mechanics, 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  .and  ])ublished  in  the /ottr/ut/  o(  the 
Franklin  Institute. 


NO.    1347,  VOL.  52] 


And,  before  discussing  the  details  of  what  he  ought  to  study, 
let  us  consider  what  it  is  that  we  desire  to  accomplish  by  giving 
him  an  engineering  education.  Naturally,  we  wish,  as  far  as  any 
education  can  accomplish  it,  to  put  him  in  the  best  condition  to 
meet  and  grapple  w  ith  the  duties,  the  probleins,  and  the  respon- 
sibilities of  his  profession,  as  they  arise. 

There  are  two  things  which  are  absolutely  necessary  to  make 
a  successful  engineer  :  first,  a  knowledge  of  scientific  principles 
and  of  the  experience  of  the  past ;  and  second,  his  o»  n  experience. 
The  last  cannot  be  given  in  a  school,  and  each  one  must  gain  it 
for  himself  in  his  practice. 

But  the  greater  his  familiarity  with  scientific  principles  and  the 
experience  of  the  past,  the  more  able  will  he  be  to  advance  in 
his  profession,  and  to  be  trusted  to  assume  responsibility  ;  in- 
deed, if  a  man  is  ignorant  of  certain  details  and  knows  he  is 
ignorant,  he  can — and  if  he  is  the  right  kind  of  a  man,  he  will — 
take  pains  to  learn  them,  if  they  bear  on  the  work  he  has  in 
hand  ;  but  if  he  is  ignorant  of  scientific  principles,  it  is  very 
likely  that  he  does  not  know  he  is  ignorant,  or,  if  by  good  luck 
he  becomes  aware  of  the  fact,  it  is  next  to  impossible  for  him  to 
devote  the  time  and  study  necessary  to  correct  his  ignorance  while 
his  mind  is  busy  with  his  daily  work. 

Moreover,  a  man  who  is  not  familiar  with  the  scientific 
principles  which  concern  his  work  is  not  a  safe  man  to  trust 
with  responsibility ;  for  scientific  principles  are  merely  the 
laws  of  nature,  as  far  as  known,  as  shown  by  the  experience  of 
the  past. 

Hence  it  is  that  the  first  and  most  important  thing  to  be  done 
for  the  student  is  to  give  him  a  thorough  drill  in  the  scientific 
principles  which  find  their  application  in  his  profession.  It  is 
in  the  school  that  this  knowledge  may  best  be  acquired,  since  it 
is  only  with  great  difficulty  that  principles  can  be  mastered  after 
the  student  begins  practice,  and  then  as  a  rule  but  very  im- 
perfectly ;  and  this  view  is  borne  out  by  those  engineers  who 
have  been  successful,  and  who  have  had  to  acquire  their  know- 
ledge of  scientific  principles  little  by  little,  and  as  best  they 
could,  during  the  practice  of  their  profession.  Too  much  cannot 
be  said  by  way  of  insisting  that  a  thorough  mastery  of  such 
scientific  principles  far  outweighs  in  importance  anything  else 
that  can  be  done  for  the  student  ;  and  this  is  so  tnie,  that  it  is 
a  decided  mistake  to  neglect  it  in  order  to  impart  to  him  greater 
skill  in  such  processes  as  will  probably  engage  his  attention  the 
first  year  after  he  goes  to  work,  as,  for  instance,  to  make  him  a 
skilful  surveyor,  a  finished  machinist,  or  an  elegant  draughtsman. 
Greater  skill  can  far  more  easily  be  acquired  after  he  goes  to 
work  than  can  scientific  principles,  and  if  this  mistake  is  made 
the  consequences  w  ill  probably  pursue  him  throughout  his  pro- 
fessional life. 

The  two  fundamental  sciences  upon  which  the  scientific 
principles  of  engineering  are  especially  dependent  are  mathe- 
matics and  physics,  and  no  proper  course  in  engineering  can  be 
arranged  without  insisting  upon  these  fundamentals. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  subject  of  pure  mathematics,  and  con- 
sider what  portions  should  be  studied,  how  they  shoulil  be 
studied,  or  rather  how  they  should  be  known,  and  of  what 
service  they  are  to  the  engineer  after  they  have  been  mastered  ; 
bearing  in  mind  that,  in  accordance  with  the  opinions  already 
expressed,  the  course  of  study  should  be  laid  out  with  direct 
reference  to  the  needs  of  the  engineer  ;  and  that  when  it  is  so 
laid  out,  it  will,  by  the  very  fact  that  it  leads  to  a  definite  end, 
subserve  best  the  purpose  of  true  education,  and  hence  of 
developing  the  powers  of  the  mind.  Probably  the  best  definition 
of  mathematics  is  that  given  by  Prof.  Benjamin  Pierce,  who 
defined  it  as  "  the  science  of  drawing  necessary  conclusions." 
This  definition,  of  course,  includes  formal  logic,  and  hence  em- 
braces more  than  is  ordinarily  understood  by  mathematics.  We 
may  assert,  however,  that  the  only  fimction  of  mathematics  is 
to  draw  necessary  conclusions  from  the  assumed  data.  Mathe- 
matics has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  correctness  or  in- 
correctness of  the  data.  If  these  are  correct,  the  conclusions 
deduced  by  mathematics  w  ill  also  be  correct ;  whereas,  if  the 
data  are  false,  the  conclusions  deduced  by  mathematics  will  be 
false. 

Thus,  if  we  require  the  sum  o.  a  certain  set  of  numbers,  the 
process  of  addition  will  give  the  correct  result,  provided  the 
lunnbers  added  are  the  right  ones  ;  but  if  the  numbers  added  are 
not  the  right  ones,  the  result  of  the  addition  will  not  be  the  one 
desired,  "indeed,  we  might  comixue  pure  mathematics  to  a  mill 
—it  will  only  produce  gt)od  meal  when  the  corn  furnished  to  it  to 
grintl  is  of  good  quality  ;  anil  if  the  corn  is  poor,  the  meal  pro- 


4o6 


jVA  TURE 


[August  22,  1895 


duced  wUl  be  poor.     With  the  selection  of  the  corn  which  it  is  to 

^t  1:.T2^^  ^t'^'dLtered  or  proved  by  mathematics 
alo^e  :  the  discoveo-  or  proof  of  natural  law  requires  exper.ment 
and  observation  in  all  cases.  ooirnlations   of 

r^rtan,  matter:  for,  if  our  P-^Pf.^"-„ -f^";;;::  "^^Yore  he 

r^,ml  hand  book  or  elsewhere;  using  'hese  constants  and  fo^- 
m,.H    blindly    without  knowinR   how    they   were   deduced,  or 

::Crat'all  e'lt^rtUS  rl;:  .Cls  Unown  about 
"  '^.^^rhi'snecial  work  to  be  done  in  each  of  these  subjects, 

stuflcnt  should  know  his  mathematics. 


concerns  the  trealmcni  oi  inc    "J  .raiment  of  the  pure 


^u^rnUySarkSng    in"  !he    mathematical    instruction  given    to 

•"aH;::,  method,  often  pursued,  is  to  -orcise  the  M^den^ 
incenuily  in  ,«rforming  a  variety  of  (sometimes  P"«'  "«    1''"'  , 

S"Sr.,;5:  ■ i;;-'r; ;:.  ts??:  ,£=». 


assmnptions  made   at   the   beginning,    o    m   the  course 

Sm:e;^,'r'y"^":^>e  can  make  him  think  the  more 
successful  iV'"V^'\,Tif  therfbe  any)  who  te.tch  mathemaucs 

The  other  f»"<'='":'^l^l  ^'^^""^\  ,,  l.,«runent  of  natural 
physics.  It  may  ''%  •'^'^^"'"t/^oveminn  he  various  manifesta- 
Lience  which  treats  of    ho  ;^^^^    !^  '■^  "^^S  ,,^.,,,i,i,     ,^c. ). 

tionsof  energy  (•'f«''^^''='';'\"- """"   \  ^.^.^^^^^^  ust  those  classes 

I,  deals  with  ihe  natural  law  »^.'\  J';''^'    „  j^,  joes  his  work. 

of  bodies,  »nd  substances  with  which   he  eiMncerd  ,  ^^^ 

Indeed,  physics  is  ^ ^^\f^::\:^^'^,:Z.^c^\\<^^\  l->-ome 
include  a  great  many  f^^^^^J^  mechanics  is  sometimes 
more  special  ""'"f  •  ^.,  '';,  ^'^^^'^mi  sometimes  ;ts  forming  a 
;^l^'=:fth;^i:s,^X;rmo::;:v:;;;.nder  any  definition  physics 

includes  a  part  of  '"«''»"'"•.  j^  (he  suitable  prcmralion  for 
Practically,  a  course  '"  1  ^V- ^  ^  ^^^  ,"  nciples\/most  of  the 
a  proper  un.lerslanding  -f  .'1''^,,"'^'  T^ J.  ,,iu'  come  in  conlact. 
enlnn'eering  work  «■' Vl^lfw",  ne  lie  more  thoroughly 
Treaiing,  a.s  It  do«,  of  <^^^ ^^^^^  ,,M  he  be,  and  an 

-.:^".  ICI^w;  can  oii^  -•l^^;;;^.e  al,  mauers 

.  J:tr «S^  of  rineer  so  i   ^m^^^-  - 

cannot  afford  '"  "f-\V4vereae    hat  there  islio  portion 
It  is  unnecessary  for  me  lo  say. tnuu  ^^^    thorough 

l:^7'JeS%;s:S^n,t'w,::^s,!:..d  be  inCud.,   ,n  ,he 

course  of  our  prospective  engineer  ^  ^vsical  lab..ral.iry  is 

Then,  a  certain  amount  of  wc.k  m  the  phy^^^^^  ^._^^  ^^^^^^  ^^^ 

:::^:::::s;rrnat^:^tiU^  ..^c.^ 

In  in  a  physical  laboraK-ry  ;  ^^^^^^  ^.g  of  jus,  such 
.,„,s,  inip..nam  ancl^ehca  c  woj^  nnoW^  ._^  ._^  ^  .^...^aniscl 
i..xi,i.Timcnt.i!  work  .as  nc  'W";^  .    '  .laKolhe  perf.>rniancc 

material.  .  mimbcr   of  experiments 

Indeed,    I    miKhl    mention   qu   e   a   nm  I     ^^^.^^^ 

«hich  are  all-im,..rlan,  '"/'^c  eng  Kcr   an    m  ^  ^^   ^^^^^^^ 

i,    woul.1   be  dithcul,   to  'I'^cide  wth  ^^  M  ._^,      ^.^^.^ 

physical  laboratory  or  '^"K'"cerin^  l.d  -ralor)    _  ,,,i,,„,i.,„ 

Ihey  often  have  ,o  be  performed     >        l,^  ^    ^'^   ,,  ;„  ^le  former, 

:Kr:;::;^:^;^:^-os';:^':x£en^^^ 


NO.   1347.    VOL.   52] 


August  22,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


407 


some  one  else  has  caliliraled.  Again,  the  determination  of  the 
mechanical  equivalent  of  heat  is  a  matter  of  vital  importance  to 
the  engineer,  but  the  best  and  most  accurate  work  thus  far  upon 
the  subject  has  been  done  by  Prof.  Rowland,  a  physicist,  in  his 
physical  laboratory. 

As  a  rule,  when  experiments  are  to  be  [jerformed  on  the  large 
scale  they  get  beyond  the  possibilities  of  a  physical  laboratory. 
In  this  categor)'  we  may  place  such  experimental  work  as  the 
testing  of  steam  engines  and  steam  boilers,  the  testing  of  the 
strength  of  materials  of  construction  on  a  practical  scale,  i:c.  ; 
but,  in  order  to  carry  out  these  tests  with  proper  accuracy,  we 
have  generally  to  perform  delicate  measurements,  as,  for  instance, 
measurements  of  temperatures,  iSic,  in  the  first,  and  measure- 
ments of  very  small  elongations  or  shortenings  in  the  second 
case,  and  consequently  have  to  use  the  suitable  ap|)aratus  with 
the  necessary  degree  of  accuracy. 

Since  we  have  just  been  considering  mathematics  and  physics, 
which  may  be  called  general  sciences,  perhaps  a  few  words 
should  be  said  in  regard  to  chemistry.  I  cannot  claim  for  it  a 
similar  position  of  fun<lamental  inqiortance  in  the  engineering 
part  of  an  engineering  course  that  belongs  to  mathematics  and 
physics.  Nevertheless,  a  certain  amount  of  chemical  knowledge 
is  of  great  importance  to  all  engineers  ;  but  when  they  have 
passed  this  point,  although  a  farther  knowledge  would  be  useful, 
it  is  not  one  of  the  most  important  things.  The  chemical  com- 
position of  fuels,  of  steels  and  irons,  of  cements,  of  oils,  and  of 
other  materials,  is  a  matter  that  directly  concerns  the  engineer. 
It  is  true  that  he  can  usually  have  his  chemical  analyses  made  for 
him,  and  generally  would  better  do  so ;  but  he  must  know 
enough  of  chemistry  to  understand  the  bearing  which  the  chem- 
ical composition  of  his  materials  have  on  their  use  in  engineering 
work.  Some  knowledge  of  industrial  cheinistry  is  also  desirable, 
so  that  he  shall  understand  the  nature  of  the  processes  performed 
in  manufactories  in  which  chemical  processes  on  a  large  scale  are 
[lerformed. 

The  instruction  in  chemistry  shoidd,  if  possible,  be  given  very 
early  in  the  student's  course.  In  the  case  of  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology,  and  also,  I  think,  in  that  of  several 
other  schools,  both  lectures  and  laboratory  work  in  chemistry 
are  given  in  the  first  year,  and  when  this  is  done  the  instruction 
in  chemistry  fulfils  another  important  function,  viz.  it  introduces 
the  student  at  the  very  threshold  of  his  course  to  a  species  of 
scientific  work  that  obliges  him  to  think,  and  this,  in  a  direction 
in  which,  as  a  rule,  he  has  not  been  trained  in  the  preparatory 
schools.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  laboratory  work,  for,  by 
i>bserving  the  results  of  experiments  which  he  himself  makes,  he 
must  learn  how  to  interpret  the  replies  of  nature;  and  as 
chcmistr)',  unlike  mathematics,  is  an  experimental  science,  it 
trains  the  thinking  powers  of  the  student  even  more  than  do  his 
algebra,  geometry,  antl  trigonometry. 

UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
A  I'ROsi'F.cri's  of  the  course  in  practical  chemistr)"  at  the 
Polytechnic  Institute  of  Brooklyn  has  been  received,  and  it  in- 
dicates that  very  efficient  work  is  carried  on  at  the  Polytechnic. 
The  course,  which  is  under  the  direction  of  Prof.  P.  T.  Austen, 
appears  to  be  adapted  in  every  way  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  da), 
and  to  train  competent  analytical  and  technical  chemists.  The 
claim.s  of  pure  chemistry  are  also  recognised,  facilities  being 
giveit  for  post-graduate  work  in  it,  as  well  as  in  applied  chemistry 
and  chemical  engineering. 

TnK  Department  of  Science  and  Art  has  issued  the  following 
lists  of  Scholarships  and  Exhibitions  just  awarded  : — Whitworth 
Scholarships  (tenable  for  three  years),  ;,J  125  a  year  each  :  Arthur 
II.  Karker  (24),  engineer :  George  \V.  Shearer  (21),  apprentice 
engineer  ;  Percy  Nicholls  (24),  engineer ;  Harold  K.  Cullen  (21), 
engineer.  Whitworth  Exhibitions  (tenable  for  one  year),  ^50 
a  year:  Charles  E.  (loodyear  (21),  shipwright;  George  .M. 
Brown  (23),  draughtsman  ;  Norton  Baron  (22),  engineering 
student;  Harry  Jacksim  (20),  engineering  student  :  Edward  .M. 
LeHufy  (22),  engine-fitter  apprentice;  Arthur  E.  Hyne  (21), 
fitter  apprentice  ;  Robert  McMillan  (20),  engineer  apprentice  ; 
John  W.  Roebuck  (23),  fitter;  George  Follows  (24),  engineer: 
Arthur  J.  Baker  (19),  engine-fitter  ajiprentice  ;  WHliam  U.  Ross 
(21),  fitter  ;  Frank  II.  Phillips  (20),  engineer  apprentice  ;  Henry 
T.  Ilildage  {20),  fitter  ;  William  P.  Jones (25),  marine  engineer ; 
John  W.  Milner  (20),  mechanical  engineer;  William  Bayliss 
"(20),  .api-rrentice  fitter  ;  John   B.   Shaw  (21),  engineer;    lames 

NO.    1347,  VOL.   52] 


Walker  (22),  engineer;  William  H.  C.  Kemp  (21),  engineer 
apprentice  ;  William  J.  Talbot  (23),  engineer  ;  Henry  C.  Trigg 
(24),  draughtsman  ;  Duncan  R.  McLachlan  (24),  engineer ; 
George  A.  Robertson  (21),  engineering  student  ;  Charles  H. 
Inirie  (22),  engineer ;  William  McG.  Wallace  (20),  apprentice 
fitter  ;  William  J.  (5ow  (20),  apprentice  fitter  ;  William  Lauder 
(20),  draughtsman  ;  Samuel  A.  Clarke  (25),  draughtsman ; 
Edmund  B.  Ball  (21),  engineer  student;  Jabez  W.  Ashdown 
(20),  engineer  apprentice. 

The  list  of  successful  candidates  for  Royal  Exhibitions, 
National  Scholarships,  and  Free  Studentships  (Science)  is  as 
follows  : — National  Scholarships  for  Mechanics  :  Edmund  R. 
Verity  (19),  student  ;  George  Patchin  (17),  engineering  student ; 
Harr)'  Jackson  (20),  engineering  student  ;  William  Ditchburn, 
jun.  (19),  teacher.  National  Scholarships  for  Chemistry  and 
Physics:  Thomas  S.  Price  (19),  student  ;  Franz  E.  Studt  (21), 
tailor;  Herbert  Bailey  (18),,  student  ;  William  Bennett  (16), 
.student;  John  W.  Barker  (18),  laboratory  assistant.  National 
Scholarships  for  Biological  Subjects  :  Thomas  G.  Hill  (19), 
student ;  Ernest  A.  .Scott  (17),  student.  National  Scholarships  : 
Charles  E.  Goodyear  (21),  shipwright  ;  Edward  M.  Leflufy  (22), 
engine-fitter  apprentice :  William  H.  James  (22),  student  ; 
William  T.  Clough  (18),  student;  Herbert  Halliday  (22), 
student;  William  Cameron  (18),  laboratory  assistant;  Ernest 
Hibbert  (15),  student;  Sidney  E.  Lamb  (21),  engine-fitter 
apprentice;  Joseph  Lister  (19),  teacher;  William  Parker  (19), 
student;  Ernest  T.  Harrison  (iS),  laboratory  assistant.  Royal 
Exhibitions  :  George  E.  Clarke  (17),  student ;  Edward  C.  Hugon 
(16),  student ;  Thomas  G.  Procter  (19),  engine-fitter  apprentice  ; 
John  A.  Tomkins  (20),  scientific  instrument  maker  ;  William  T. 
Swinger  (20),  engineer  ;  John  W.  Roebuck  (23),  fitter  ;  Robert 
L.  Wills  (21),  shipwright  apprentice.  Free  Studentships: 
William  D.  Ross  (21),  fitter  :  Leonard  W.  Cox  (21),  student; 
Edgar  R.  Sutclifle  (20),  engineer  ;  William  P.  Jones  (25),  marine 
engineer  ;  Percy  M.  Hampshire  (19),  lecture  assistant ;  William 
J.  Talbot  (23),  engineer. 

SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

Bulletin  de  fAcaddmie  des  Sciences  de  St.  PJtersbourg,  5th 
series,  t.  ii.  No.  4,  April  1895. — Proceedings,  in  which  we 
notice  the  discover)-,  by  G.  Schneider,  in  Prof.  Kovalevsky's 
laboratory,  of  lymphatic  glands  in  the  earth-worm,  Dendrolicna 
rubida  (Crimea),  and  in  Perichata ;  as  well  as  a  communi- 
cation by  E.  Burinsky,  on  his  method  of  restoring  by 
means  of  photography  the  writing  in  old  documents  which  time 
has  rendered  invisible.  A  number  of  good  negatives  having 
been  taken  on  collodion  pellicules,  they  are  superposed,  and  the 
visibility  of  the  faintest  markings  is  rendered  still  greater  by 
means  of  a  "contrast  positive''  obtained  with  regulated  artificial 
light. — Definitive  researches  into  the  variations  of  latitude  at 
Pulkova,  on  the  ground  of  older  observations  made  with  the 
great  vertical  circle,  by  A.  Ivanoft'  (in  French).  The  pre- 
vious men\oirs  of  the  author  on  the  same  subject  being 
considered  as  first  approximations  only,  the  definitive  fonnuke 
are  now  given.  The  observations  of  the  years  1863-1S75  and 
1842-1849  are  treated  for  that  purpose  separately.  Both  series 
lead  to  formuUe  which  agree  very  well  with  the  formula 
given  by  Mr.  Chandler  in  the  .Astronomical  fournal.  No.  322  ; 
however,  the  Pulkova  observations  of  the  first-named  period  seem 
to  point  to  the  necessity  of  slightly  reducing  the  half-amplitude 
of  the  yearly  term  in  Chandler's  formula.  Two  long  series 
of  Pulkova  observations  thus  fully  confirm  .Mr.  Chandler's 
conclusions. — On  the  niea.surements  and  calculations  of  some 
photographic  charts  of  the  stars,  by  1'".  Renz  (in  German).  A 
catalogue  of  all  stars,  down  to  the  magnitude  1 1  "O,  which  were 
occultated  by  the  moon  during  the  last  eclipse,  was  given  in 
the  Astronomische  Nachricliten.  It  appeared,  however,  that 
occultations  of  stars  down  to  the  twelfth  m;ignitude  could  be 
observed  at  several  observatories.  Accordingly,  the  correspond- 
ing region  of  the  sky  was  photographed  by  Prof.  Donner  with 
such  an  exposure  (25  minutes)  as  to  obtain  the  stars  of  twelfth 
magnitude  as  well,  and  F.  Renz  measured  their  positions  with 
the  Pulkova  Repsold  apjiaratus.  The  Potsdam  photographs  of 
the  same  region,  made  in  1S91,  were  also  re-measured,  while  the 
right  ascensions  of  thirty-five  fundamental  stars  were  accurately 
determined  at  Pulkova  with  the  meridian  circle.  The  agreement 
between  the  difterent  plates  is  quite  satisfactory  ;  and  no  dis- 
tortion of  the  field  could  be  detected.  However,  there  are 
certain   small   .systematic    errors    which    cannot    yet    be    well 


4oS 


NA  TURE 


[August  22.  1895 


explaioed.  Thus,  the  right  ascensions  on  plate  i.  are  on  the 
average  by  o-o4"s.  greater  than  the  values  deduced  from  plate 
ii. — The  Arachnides  collecteii  by  Ci.  I'otanin  in  Mongolia  in 
1876-1879,  by  E.  Simon  (in  Latin).  Part  i.  Aran.i;  and 
Opiliones ;  forty-one  species  are  mentioneti  and  described, 
nineteen  being  new  species. — Do  the  spurs  of  the  C.iriiathians 
penetrate  into  European  Rvissia?  by  (.leneral  A.  Tillo  (in 
Russian).  The  question  is  answered  in  the  negative.  Supan 
and  Lehman,  in  Kirchhoff  s  "  Landerkunde  von  Eurojia,"  trace 
the  limits  of  the  Carjiathians  outside  the  boundaries  of  Russia  ; 
so  also  the  Russian  geologists,  Barbot-de-Marnyand  Karpinskiy, 
did  not  sec  continuations  of  these  mountains  either  in  Poland  or 
in  Russia.  The  new  hypsomctrical  map,  now  compiled  by  the 
author  on  a  larger  scale  (27  miles  to  the  inch),  confirms  this  view. 
— New  or  little  known  Ixodid.i;  in  the  museum  of  the  St. 
Petersburg  Academy,  by  A.  Birula  (in  Latin).  Eight  new- 
species  are  described  and  figured  on  two  plates. 

Memoirs  (  Trudy')  of  the  Kharkoff  Society  of  Xatiiralists,  vol. 
xx\ni.,  1892-93. — Obituary  of  L  Th.  Levakovsky,  by  .\.  Guroflf, 
with  a  portrait. — Researches  into  the  crj-stals  of  kermesite  and 
uranotil,  by  P.  P.  Piatniuky. — The  .4lgu.-e  of  the  bays  and 
peatbogs  of  the  Dnieper,  in  the  government  of  Poltava,  by  M. 
Alexenko.  This  Hora  is  poor,  the  Cladophora,  Confinu. 
Enteromorpha,  and  Ulolrix  prevail,  while  Desmidiace.x  and 
Protococcoidea;  are  very  rare  ;  371  species  are  mentioned. — 
The  flora  of  the  Central  Caucasus,  by  \.  Akinfieflf,  part  i. 
(see  Notes,  vol.  lii.  p.  304). — On  the  part  played  by  hydro- 
carbons in  the  inter-molecular  respiration  of  higher  plants,  by 
\V.  Palladin.  It  had  been  shown  by  Diakonoff  {Ber.  d.  dent, 
hot.  Ges.,  1866)  that  certain  fungi  give  up  carbonic  dioxide 
during  their  inter-molecular  breathing,  only  when  the  surrounding 
feetling  medium  contains  a  substance  cajiable  of  fermenting.  It 
was  desirable  to  verifj-  whether  the  same  is  true  with  higher 
plants,  but  the  difficulty  was  in  the  fact  that  the  cellular  sap 
always  contains  glucose,  which  itself  is  capable  of  fermenting. 
By  a  scries  of  experiments  on  etiolated  leaves,  the  author 
now  confirms  I)iakonofi"s  conclusions  for  higher  plants  as 
well. — Short  preliminary  notes  in  the  .\ddenda.  Vol.  xxviii. , 
1893-1894. — Geological  description  of  Kharkoff  town,  with 
map  and  profiles,  by  P.  Poustovitov.— On  the  (art  played 
by  the  secondary  jiarallel  chains  in  the  grouping  of  forests  and 
steppes  in  West  Caucasus,  by  .\.  Krasnoff.  An  answer  to  O. 
Akinfiefl^s  criticisms. — Materials  for  the  .-Mg.v  flora  of  the 
government  of  Kharkoft',  by  M.  Alexenko ;  407  species  are 
descriljed. — Preliininar)'  report  on  a  geological  excursion  in  the 
government  of  Kherson,  by  P.  Piatnitzky. — Biological  observa- 
tions, by  W,  Taliev.  .\  scries  of  various  observations  of  facts 
relative  to  the  life  of  plants,  which  have  hitherto  attracted  but 
little  or  no  attention,  chiefly  relative  to  fertilisation,  colouration, 
movements  of  plants,  and  heliotropism  in  connection  with  the 
artlucncc  of  sap.  —On  the  flora  of  the  basin  of  the  Chakva,  by 
.\.  Krasnoff,  lx;ing  a  preliminary  report  of  a  botanic  excursion 
into  the  province  of  liatum,  containing  an  excellent  general 
description  of  the  vegetation,  poor  in  species,  but  attaining  a 
luxurious  development  of  the  individuals. — On  the  lichens  of  the 
neighltourhoods  of  Kharkov,  by  W.  Tschcrnov  ;  fifty-five  species 
are  described. — Chemical  studies  on  the  seeds  of  Afyristita 
fragratis,  by  \V.  Palladin,  being  a  note  on  a  s|xrcial  substance 
which  is  found  in  several  sce<Is,  but  neither  in  the  leaves  or  in 
the  twigs,  and  which  is  now  stmlicd  in  I'mf  Schult/e's  laboratory 
at  Zurich. — Preliminary  report  on  lx>lanical  researches  in  the 
Verkhncdnieprovsk  district  of  Ekaterinoslav,  by  I.  Akinfieff; 
twenty-six  .species,  new  for  South  Russia,  have  been  discovered. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  .August  12. — M.  Marey  in  the 
chair. — Observations  of  planets  made  al  Marseilles  Observatory, 
by  .M.  Cfiggia.  The  observations  were  made  with  the  0'26  m. 
equatorial,  and  for  the  planets  BZ  and  C.\  (Charlois).  — On 
algebraical  surfaces  which  admit  a  continuous  group  of  biralional 
tranHronii.ilions,  by  M.  Paul  I'ainlcvc. — On  a  special  microscope 
for  the  oliscrvation  of  o|>a(|uc  ImkIIcs,  by  .M.  Ch.  Fremont.  Tnc 
novelty  in  the  microsco|>c  described,  consists  essentially  in  the 
mclhnirl  used  for  obtaining  vertical  illumination  of  the  object, 
api>1icablc  with  high  pf>wers.  A  concave  mirror  is  arranged 
>>iiii(|ucly  imidr  the  microscope  tulic  to  reflecl  dnwnwarils  a 
l>eam  of  light  entering  at  a  side  aperture  in  the  luljc.  The  light 
poMCH  through  a   prism    which  reduces  the  rays  to  parallelism 

NO.    1347,  VOL.   52] 


with  the  axis  of  the  microscope  and  then  through  the  lenses  of 
the  objective  to  the  object.  The  concave  mirror  and  the  prism 
are  pierced  centrally  by  a  conical  tube  along  which  travel  the 
rays  of  light  from  the  object,  the  image  being  formed  and  m-ig- 
nified  by  the  eye-piece  in  the  usual  way.  NI.  Marey  remarked 
on  the  great  use  the  new  modification  would  have  in  the  chrono- 
photographic  study  of  the  movement  of  microscopic  beings. — On 
some  melting  and  boiling  points,  by  M.  11.  Le  Chatelier.  From 
the  experiments  made,  it  is  probable  that  the  melting  point  of 
gold  determined  by  M.  A'ioUe  to  be  1045°,  is  a  little  low.  The 
error  is  certainly  not  more  than  20°,  and  the  resulls  so  far 
obtained  would  not  justify  the  alteration  of  the  pyrometer  scales 
in  actual  use. — On  certain  ]x>tassium  derivatives  of  qiiinone  and 
hydroquinone,  by  M.  Ch.  .\stre.  A  number  of  potassium  deri- 
vatives are  described,  concerning  which  it  is  staled  :  the  action 
of  metals  on  quinone,  together  with  the  existence  of  oxy- 
potassium  compounds  yielded  by  quinone  and  hydro<iuinone  (to 
be  described  in  a  coming  ]xiper)  confirm  the  diketonic  nature  of 
quinone.  The  formation  of  these  compounds  and  the  jiassage  of 
some  of  them  from  the  hydnnpiinone  to  the  quinone  series,  allow 
a  formula  to  be  given  to  quinone  cle;irly  expressing  its  diketonic 
character  and  accounting  for  its  numerous  reactions. — .\  theorem 
concerning  the  scfxiration  of  the  roots  of  numerical  e<|uations  of 
every  degree,  by  M.  Teguor. — A  while  rainbow,  by  M.  E.  Kern. 
A  lunar  rainbow  observed  at  10  p.m.  August  5. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLET,  and  SERIALS   RECEIVED. 

Books.— Iiriti>h  liirjs  ;  W,  H.  Hudson  ll.onj;inans),  —  l.t-ouirts  on  l\lt- 
menlar>'  Navigation;  Rev.  J.  II.  Harbord  (Poller). — Polyph.iAc  Electric 
Currents  and  .Allernale-Current  Motors:  Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson  (Spon).— 
Transactions  of  the  .\ustralasian  Institute  of  Mining  Engineers,  Vol.  3 
(Adelaide). 

Pami'Hlet. — The  Recent  Evolution  of  SurRcry  :  .\.  P.  Gould  (K.  Paul). 

Sekiaus. — Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society,  August  (Gurney). — Proceed- 
ings of  the  Physical  Society  of  London,  .August  (Taylor). — Bulletin  of  the 
American  Mathematical  Society,  July  (New  York.  Macmillan). — Natural 
History  of  Plants:  Kerner  and  Oliver,  Part  15  (Blackie). — Bulletin  de 
L'Acadimie  Royale  des  Sciences,  &c.,  de  Belgique,  65*^  Annce,  No.  6 
(Bruxelles).— .\strophysical  Journal,  .-Xugust  (Chicago). — Royal  Natural 
Histor>-,  Part  23  (Warne). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Two  Books  of  Arctic  Travel,     liv  Henry  Seebohm  .  385 
Another  Book  on  Social  Evolution.      Hv  Dr.  Alfred 

R.  Wallace,  F.R.S ' 3S6 

Mayan  Hieroglyphics      3S7 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Bonhote  :    "  Harrow    Butterflies   and    Moths," — W. 

F.  K 3SS 

"  Hand-list  of  Herbaceous  Plants  Cultivated  in  the 

Royal  Gardens,  Kew  " 3S8 

Thornton:   "  .\  Manual  of  Book-keeping" ^% 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The   University  of  London. — Right  Hon.  Sir  John 

Lubbock,   Bart.,  M.P.,  F.R.S.                             .  3S9 

l'lanl-.\ninial  .Symbiosis.      Ernest  H.  L.  Schwarz  .  389 

Definitions  of  Instinct. — Prof.  C.  Lloyd  Morgan    .  389 

A  Scheme  of  Colour  Suinil:ir«ls.— J.  H.  Pillsbury     .  390 

I'.lcilmlar  I.ighlning.      G.  M.  Ryan 392 

Recent  Studies  on  Diphtheria 393 

Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  Smith- 
sonian  Institution   to  award  the  Hodgkins  Fund 

Prizes.      Ity  Dr.  S.  P.  Langley      . 304 

The  Perseids  of  1895.      Hv  VV.  F.  Denning       ....  395 

Sir  John  Tomes.  F.R.S,  ' 396 

Notes      396 

Our  Astronomical  Column: — 

I'lu- Cil.istal      399 

.\ilams'  .Masses  of  Jupiter's  Satellites 399 

.-\tmospheric  Refraction 399 

On  the  Origin  of  European   and   North   American 

Ants.      I'.y  C.  Emery 309 

A  New  Film  Holder.     (/IliistraUi/.) 400 

The    New    Natural    Science    Schools    at    Rugby. 

{/Iliiilr,il(d.) 401 

Evidence  of  a  Twilight  Arc  upon  the  Planet  Mars. 

(ll'ilh  /~>iii:,'ram.)     Hv  Percival  Lowell                   ...  40I 
The    Foundations    of  Engineering  Education.      By 

Prof.  G.  Lanza 405 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 407 

Scientific  Serials 407 

Societies  and  Academies 408 

Books,  Pamphlet,  and  Serials  Received 40S 


NA  TURK 


409 


THURSDAY,    AUGUST    29,  1895. 


SIR   SAMUEL  BAKER  AND  NORTHERN 
AFRICA. 
Sir  Samuel  Raker:  a  Memoir.     By  T.  Douglas   Murray 
and   A.    Silva   White.      8vo.      Pp.    xii.    447,  with   six 
illustrations  and  nine  maps.     (London:   Macmillan  and 
Co.,  1895.) 
North  Africa.     Stanford's   Compendium   of  Geography 
and  Travel.    (New  series).    Africa.     Vol.  i.    By  A.  H. 
Keane.     8vo.     Pp.  xvi.  639,  with  seventy-seven  illus- 
trations and  nine  maps.     (London:  E.  Stanford,  1895.) 
ASU.MM.\RY  of  our  present  knowledge  of  Northern 
.Africa,  and  a  memoir  of  the  late  Sir  Samuel  Baker, 
may  be  appropriately  considered  together,  for    Baker's 
main   title    to   fame    rests    on    the  work  he  did    in  that 
region  ;  and  had  his  experience  been   properly  utilised, 
the  most  interesting  part  of  it  might  not  have  been  lost 
to  civilisation  and  closed  to  scientific  inquiry. 

Samuel  White  Baker  came  of  an  old  Devonshire 
family,  members  of  which  have  done  good  work  for  their 
country-  since  the  time  when  Sir  John  Baker  served 
Henry  X'lIL  as  Attorney-General,  Chancellor  of  the 
Exchequer,  and  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
Baker  was  born  in  London  on  June  8,  1821,  and  spent 
most  of  his  early  life  at  Enfield.  He  was  destined  for 
a  commercial  career,  and  in  1842  placed  in  his  father's 
office  in  Fenchurch  Street.  But  the  work  was  utterly 
uncongenial  to  him.  His  marriage  kept  him  quiet 
for  a  time,  but  not  for  long  ;  for  next  year  he  gave 
up  business  and  went  to  Mauritius,  where  the  family  had 
estates.  In  1846  he  went  for  a  shooting  expedition  to 
Ceylon,  and  was  so  impressed  by  the  possibilities  of  the 
island,  which  then  had  a  very  bad  reputation,  that  he 
resolved  to  found  a  colony  in  it.  In  1848  he  led  a  party 
of  settlers  to  Newera  Eliya,  where  1000  acres  of  land  had  i 
been  bought  from  the  Government.  This  was  cleared, 
and  a  settlement  made.  Baker  remained  there  till  1855, 
and  during  his  stay  did  a  good  deal  of  big-game  shooting. 
In  1856  his  wife  died,  and  as  he  had  previously  lost  three 
of  his  children,  he  became  very  depressed,  and  actually 
resolved  to  enter  the  Church.  This  scheme  came  to 
nothing,  and  Baker  accepted  instead  the  post  of  manager 
of  the  Dobruscha  Railway,  the  construction  of  which  had 
been  just  begun.  This  kept  him  busy  in  1859  and  i860, 
and  raised  in  him  the  keen  interest  he  afterwards  felt  in 
the  Eastern  question.  It  was  in  the  next  year,  when 
Baker  was  forty  years  of  age,  that  he  resolved  on  an 
expedition  into  .Africa  to  try  to  meet  Speke  (whose  sister 
had  married  Baker's  father)  and  Grant,  and  carry  out 
some  explorations  to  supplement  theirs.  In  order  to  gain 
experience  of  the  people  and  to  learn  the  languages 
required,  he  made  a  preliminary  excursion  up  the  Atbara 
to  some  of  the  Abyssinian  sources  of  the  Nile.  He  left 
Khartum  on  his  main  expedition  on  December  18,  1862, 
reaching  Gondokoro  in  the  following  February.  Here 
he  met  Speke  and  Grant,  who  returned  northward  in 
Baker's  boats,  while  he  and  his  heroic  wife  continued 
their  journey  southward  along  the  Nile  valley,  and 
through  Unyoro  till  they  reached  the  .Albert  Nyanza  at 
Bako\ia.  The  discovery  of  this  lake  was  the  greatest 
NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


achievement  of  the  expedition  ;  but  it  was  only  the 
accident  of  the  condition  of  the  weather,  that  robbed 
them  of  the  discovery  of  the  snow-clad  peaks  of  Ruwen- 
zori.  They  had  reached  a  point  whence,  in  clear  weather, 
the  mountain  ought  to  have  been  as  visible  "as  St. 
Paul's  dome  from  Westminster  Bridge,"  as  Stanley  said. 
They  returned  to  Europe  in  1865,  and  in  1869  went  back 
to  the  Soudan  on  an  expedition  to  suppress  the  slave 
trade.  Baker  had  all  a  Devonshire  Quaker's  horror  of 
this  trade.  The  view  that  slavery' was  akindof  secondarj' 
larval  structure,  necessary  in  a  certain  stage  of  national 
progress,  and  later  on  to  be  absorbed  or  thrown  off,  was 
not  then  recognised.  Baker  simply  regarded  it  as  an 
unholy  thing,  which  was  to  be  crushed  by  any  means 
or  at  any  cost.  He  accordingly  went  for  it  with  the 
pluck  of  a  bull-dog,  and  just  about  as  much  judgment. 
He  was  given  a  commission  to  go  to  the  Soudan  to  break 
up  the  gangs  of  slave  raiders.  He  had  an  independent 
command,  but  could  do  little  of  permanent  value  with- 
out the  assistance  of  his  colleague,  the  Governor  of 
Khartum  ;  but  this  worthy  official,  as  well  as  Baker's 
native  assistants  and  the  supreme  authorities  in  Cairo, 
all  believed  in  the  slave  trade  in  theory,  and  carried  it 
out  in  practice.  Ismail  Pasha  alone  seems  to  have  been 
sincere,  and  not  to  have  endeavoured  to  thwart  the  efforts 
he  was  ostensibly  supporting.  Thanks,  however,  to 
Baker's  indomitable  pluck  and  energ)',  and  his  tact  with 
the  men,  this  Quixotic  expedition  was  carried  through 
with  a  certain  measure  of  success.  Its  commander  alone 
benefited  much  by  it,  for  he  secured  a  great  reputation 
as  a  leader  of  men,  and  learnt  better  to  understand  both 
the  Soudan  and  the  slave  trade.  He  returned  to  Europe 
i'n  1873,  recognising  the  futility  of  trying  to  effect  a  social 
revolution  over  several  millions  of  square  miles  by  shoot- 
ing a  few  score  of  the  agents  in  a  trade,  of  which  the 
principals  lived  unpunished  in  Cairo  and  Khartum.  He 
realised  that  the  only  useful  course  was  to  improve  the 
industrial  conditions,  so  as  to  render  slavery'  unnecessary. 
Had  Baker  been  sent  back  to  the  Soudan,  and  allowed 
to  work  on  these  lines,  the  subsequent  revolt  might  have 
been  avoided.  But  the  task  was  entrusted  to  other 
hands,  and  unfortunately  Gordon's  peculiar  genius  was 
less  successful  with  Mohammedan  fanatics  than  it  had 
been  with  the  stolid  Chinese. 

.After  Baker's  return  he  settled  at  Sandford  Orleigh  in 
Devonshire,  where  he  lived  till  his  death,  except  that 
every  winter  he  made  expeditions  to  some  wanner  clime. 
He  was  always  ready,  like  a  knight-errant  of  old,  to  rush 
forth  to  relieve  the  inhabitants  of  some  \  illage  on  the 
Brahmapootra  from  the  tigers  that  preyed  upon  them. 
He  was  fond  of  sport  to  the  last  ;  even  after  he  had  be- 
come too  unsteady  to  be  a  match  for  anything  worse  than 
the  worn-out  old  tigers  who  have  had  to  turn  "  man- 
eaters." 

The  story  of  Baker's  life  is  pleasantly  told,  and  even 
in  less  competent  hands  could  not  have  failed  to  be  inter- 
esting. The  editors  have  wisely  left  Baker  to  relate  most 
of  it  by  quoting  copious  extracts  from  his  letters. 
Ivxplanatory  chapters  help  the  reader  to  understand  the 
condition  of  .African  geography  at  the  time  of  his  journeys, 
and  to  appreciate  the  relative  importance  of  his  work. 
These  chapters  seem  to  be  judicious  and  well  infgrmed. 
Our  main  regret  is  that  we  do  not  hear  enough  of  Baker  as 


4IO 


XATURE 


[August  29,  1895 


a  sportsman  and  a  naturalist.  One  chapter  is  devoted  to 
this,  but  we  doubt  if  it  does  full  credit  to  Baker's  work  in 
this  field.  His  valuable  contributions  to  natural  history 
are  barely  referred  to  ;  his  important  ser\'ices  to  gunnery 
and  his  improvements  in  cartridges  are  not  mentioned.  We 
should  have  been  glad  to  have  seen  more  space  devoted 
to  this,  at  the  cost  of  condensation  of  the  political  writings, 
some  of  which  are  hardly  likely  to  add  to  his  reputation. 
For  when  we  remember  the  conditions  under  which  he 
shot,  the  clumsy  old  muzzle-lo.iders  and  the  badly-mixed 
powders  he  used,  and  the  accuracy  and  fulness  of  his 
obser\ations  upon  the  habits  of  animals,  we  cannot  but 
reckon  Baker  as  the  greatest  of  English  sportsmen. 

WTiile  Baker's  memoir  gives  an  account  of  the  political 
conditions  of  the  Soudan  from  i860  onward.  Prof  Keane's 
admirable  summary  of  the  present  knowledge  of  North 
African  geography  completes  the  sketch  in  other  depart- 
ments. He  divides  North  .Africa  into  six  divisions,  viz. 
the  .Atlas  (including  Morocco,  .Algiers  and  Tunis),  the 
Sahara,  the  Soudan  and  the  Niger  Basin,  Egypt  and 
Nubia,  and  Italian  North-East  Africa  (including  Abyssinia 
and  Somaliland).  Each  of  these  districts  is  described 
separately,  an  account  being  given  of  its  general  physical 
geography,  of  its  historj',  as  far  as  this  is  known,  of  its 
ethnography,  and  natural  history.  The  ethnographical 
sketches  are  especially  well  done,  while  the  political  his- 
tories are  the  most  detailed.  The  natural  history  is  the 
least  satisfactory"  part  of  the  book.  The  geology  is 
mostly  quoted  second-hand,  or  is  taken  only  from  geo- 
graphical instead  of  from  geological  papers.  Some  of 
the  botanical  records  are  certainly  quite  untrustworthy,  as 
when  on  p.  533  Casuarina  is  reported  on  the  banks  of 
the  Webi  Shebeyli,  whereas  it  occurs  only  on  the  ends  of 
the  promontories  on  the  eastern  coasts.  The  nine  maps 
are  admirably  clear,  while  full  of  information.  The  volume 
is  in  ever)'  way  a  great  improvement  on  the  preceding 
editions.  The  immense  increase  in  the  material  to  be 
summarised,  has  made  the  task  a  difficult  one.  This 
enormous  growth  of  knowledge  applies,  however,  to  five 
out  of  the  six  districts  described.  It  is  only  in  one  that 
progress  has  been  stopped,  and  of  which  the  new  edition 
has  nothing  fresh  to  report,  except  paper  delimi- 
tations in  Europe  and  reaction  in  .Africa.  .All  Junker's 
collections,  the  greatest  ever  made  in  the  eiiuatorial 
provinces  of  Egypt,  were  lost  by  the  closing  of  the 
.Soudan.  It  is  to  be  hoped,  however,  that  European 
officials  will  not  much  longer  prohibit  our  representatives 
in  the  field  from  taking  action,  and  again  opening  to 
progress  the  lands  where  Gordon's  death  and  Baker's 
life-work  added  their  names  to  the  roll  of  our  national 
heroes.  I.  W.  ('■. 


BIO-OPTIMISM. 
The  Evergreen.     A  Norlhern  Seasonal.     Published   in 
the  I.awnmarkct  of  Edinburgh  by  Patrick  ("leddes  and 
Colleagues.     (London  :  Fisher  Unwin,  1895.) 

IT  is  not  often  that  a  reviewer  is  called  upon  to  write 
art  criticism  in  the  columns  of  N.murk.  But  the 
circumstances  of  the  "  Evergreen  "  are  peculiar  ;  it  is  pub- 
li^li' '1  ^^ .:''  tific  sanction  as  the  expression  of 

1  •  ■•■■m:u^  enceof  Art,  and  it  is  impossible 

to  avoid  gLinciiig  .11  its  ii'sthetic  merits.     It  is  a  semi- 
NO.  134S,  vnr,.  52] 


annual  periodical  emanating  from  the  biological  school 
of  St.  .Andrews  University.  Mr.  J.  Arthur  Thomson 
assists  with  the  proem  and  the  concluding  article  \"  The 
Scots  Renascence "),  and  other  significant  work  in  the 
volume  is  from  the  pen  of  Prof.  Patrick  Geddes.  It 
may  be  assumed  that  a  large  section  of  the  public  will 
accept  this  volume  as  being  representative  of  the  younger 
generation  of  biological  workers,  and  as  indicating  the 
a'sthetic  tendencies  of  a  scientific  training.  What  in- 
justice may  be  done  thereby  a  glance  at  the  initial 
-Almanac  will  show.  In  this  page  of  "  Scots  Renascence  " 
design  the  beautiful  markings  on  the  carap.ice  of  a  crab 
and  the  exquisite  convolutions  of  a  ram's  horn  are  alike 
replaced  by  unmeaning  and  clumsy  spirals,  the  delicate 
outlines  of  a  butterfly  body  by  a  gross  shape  like  a  soda- 
water  bottle  ;  Its  wings  are  indicated  by  three  sausage- 
shaped  excrescences  on  either  side,  and  the  vegetable 
forms  in  the  decorative  border  are  deprived  of  all  variety 
and  sinuosity  in  favour  of  a  system  of  cast-iron  semi- 
circular curves.  Now,  as  a  matter  of  fa^t,  provided  there 
is  no  e.xcess  of  diagram,  his  training  should  render 
the  genuine  biologist  more  acutely  sensitive  to  these  ugly 
and  unmeaning  distortions  than  the  .iverage  educated 
man.  Neither  does  a  biolojjical  traininj^  liliiid  the  eye  to 
the  quite  fortuitous  arrangement  of  the  I  Mack  masses  ir> 
Mr.  Duncan's  studies  in  the  art  of  Mr.  lirardsley,  to  the 
clumsy  line  of  Mr.  Mackies  reminisceines  of  Mr.  Walter 
Crane,  or  to  the  amateurish  quality  of  Mr.  iJurn-Murdoch. 
And  when  Mr.  Riccardo  Stephens  honoiit-.  Herrickon  his 
intention  rather  than  his  execution,  ;nid  Mr.  Laubach, 
rejoicing  "with  tabret  and  string"  at  the  advent  of 
spring,  bleats 

"  Now  hillock  and  highway 

Are  bmkling  and  {jlad. 
Thro'  (linjjlc  ami  Ijyway 

t'lO  lassie  ami  lad," 

it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  frequenters  of  the 
biological  laborator>',  outside  the  circle  imniedialely 
about  Prof  Patrick  Geddes,  are  more  profoundly  stirred 
than  they  are  when  Mr.  Kipling,  full  of  knowledge  and 
power,  sings  of  the  wind  and  the  sea  and  tlic  heart  of  the 
natural  man. 

But  enough  has  been  said  of  the  artistic  merits  of  this 
volume.  Regarded  as  anything  more  than  the  first 
efforts  of  amateurs  in  art  and  literature  and  it  makes 
that  claim— it  is  bad  from  cover  to  cover  :  and  even  the 
covers  are  bad.  No  mitigated  condemnation  will  meet 
the  circumstances  of  the  case.  Imagine  the  New 
English  Art  Club  propounding  a  Scientific  Renascence 
in  its  leisure  moments  !  Of  greater  concern  to  the 
readers  of  Natukk  than  the  fact  that  a  successful  pro- 
fessor may  be  an  indifl'erent  art  editor,  is  the  attempt  on 
the  part  of  two  biologists-  real  responsible  biologists — 
writing  for  the  unscientific  public,  to  represent  Biology 
as  having  turned  upon  its  own  philosophical  implications. 
Mr.  Thomson,  for  inst.ince,  tells  his  readers  that  "the 
conception  of  the  Struggle  for  Existence  as  Nature's  sole 
method  of  progress,"  "  was  to  be  sure  a  libel  projected 
upon  nature,  but  it  h.id  enough  truth  in  it  to  be  mis- 
chievous for  a  while."  So  zoologists  honour  their  greatest  I 
"  Science,"  he  says,  has  perceived  "  how  false  to  natural 
fact  the  theory  was."  "  It  has  shown  how  primordial, 
how  organically  imperative  the  social  virtues  are  ;  how 


August  29,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


411 


love,  not  egoism,  is  the  motive  which  the  final  history  of 
every  species  justifies."  And  so  on  to  some  beautiful 
socialistic  sentiment  and  anticipations  of  "the  domin- 
ance of  a  common  civic  ideal,  which  to  naturalists  is 
known  as  a  Symbiosis."  And  Prof.  Geddes  writes 
tumultuously  in  the  same  vein — a  kind  of  pulpit  science 
— many  hopeful  things  of  "  Renascence,"  and  the  "  Elixir 
of  Life!" 

Now  there  is  absolutely  no  justification  for  these  sweep- 
ing assertions,  this  frantic  hopefulness,  this  attempt  to 
belittle  the  giants  of  the  Natural  Selection  period  of  bio- 
logical history.  There  is  nothing  in  Symbiosis  or  in 
any  other  group  of  phenomena  to  warrant  the  state- 
ment that  the  representation  of  all  life  as  a  Struggle 
for  Existence  is  a  libel  on  Nature.  Because  some 
species  have  abandoned  fighting  in  open  order,  each 
family  for  itself,  as  some  of  the  larger  carnivora  do, 
for  a  fight  in  masses  after  the  fashion  of  the  ants, 
because  the  fungus  fighting  its  brother  fungus  has  armed 
itself  with  an  auxiliary  alga,  because  man  instead  of  killing 
his  cattle  at  sight  preserves  them  against  his  convenience, 
and  fights  with  advertisements  and  legal  process  instead 
of  with  flint  instruments,  is  life  therefore  any  the  less  a 
battle-field  ?  Has  anything  arisen  to  show  that  the  seed 
of  the  unfit  need  not  perish,  that  a  species  may  wheel  into 
line  with  new  conditions  without  the  generous  assistance 
of  Death,  that  where  the  life  and  breeding"  of  every  indi- 
vidual in  a  species  is  about  equally  secure,  a  degenerative 
process  must  not  inevitably  supervene  ?  As  a  matter  of 
fact  Natural  Selection  grips  us  more  grimly  than  it  ever 
did,  because  the  doubts  thrown  upon  the  inheritance  of 
acquired  characteristics  have  deprived  us  of  our  trust  in 
education  as  a  means  of  redemption  for  decadent  families. 
In  our  hearts  we  all  wish  that  the  case  was  not  so,  we  all 
hate  Death  and  his  handiwork  ;  but  the  business  of  science 
is  not  to  keep  up  the  courage  of  men,  but  to  tell  the  truth. 
.And  biological  science  in  the  study  still  faces  this 
dilemma,  that  the  individual  in  a  non-combatant  species, 
if  such  a  thing  as  a  non-combatant  species  ever  e.\ist, 
a  species,  that  is  to  say,  perfectly  adapted  to  static  con- 
ditions, is,  by  virtue  of  its  perfect  reactions,  a  mechanism, 
and  that  in  a  species  not  in  a  state  of  equilibrium,  a  species 
undergoing  modification,  a  certain  painful  stress  must 
weigh  upon  all  its  imperfectly  adapted  indi\  iduals,  and 
death  be  busy  among  the  most  imperfect.  And  where  your 
animal  is  social,  the  stress  is  still  upon  the  group  of  imper- 
fect individuals  constituting  the  imperfect  herd  or  anthill, 
or  what  not — they  merely  suffer  by  wholesale  instead  of  by 
retail.  In  brief,  a  static  species  is  mechanical,  an  evolving 
species  suffering — no  line  of  escape  from  that  impasse  has 
as  yet  presented  itself.  The  names  of  the  sculptor  who 
carves  out  the  new  forms  of  life  are,  and  so  far  as  human 
science  goes  at  present  they  must  ever  be,  Pain  and  Deatli. 
And  the  phenomena  of  degeneration  rob  one  of  any 
confidence  that  the  new  forms  will  be  in  any  case  or  in 
a  majority  of  cases  "higher"  (by  any  standard  except 
present  adaptation  to  circumstances)  than  the  old. 

-Messrs.  Geddes  and  Thomson  have  advanced  nothing 
to  weaken  these  convictions,  and  their  attitude  is  alto- 
gether amazingly  unscientific.  Mr.  Thomson  talks  of 
the  Gospel  of  the  Resurrection  and  "that  charming  girl 
Proserpina,"  and  Baldur  the  Beautiful  and  Dornroschen, 
and  hammers  away  at  the  great  god  Pan,  inviting  all  and 
NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


sundry  to  "  light  the  Beltane  fires  " — apparently  with  the 
dry  truths  of  science — "  and  keep  the  Floralia,"  while  Prof. 
Geddes  relies  chiefly  on  Proserpine  and  the  Alchemy  of 
Life  for  his  literary  effects.  Intercalated  among  these 
writings  are  amateurish  short  stories  about  spring,  "de- 
scriptive articles  "  of  the  High  School  Essay  type,  poetry 
and  illustrations  such  as  we  have  already  dealt  with.  In 
this  manner  is  the  banner  of  the  "  Scots  Renascence," 
and  "  Bio-optimism "  unfurled  by  these  industrious  in- 
vestigators in  biology.  It  will  not  appeal  to  science 
students,  but  to  that  large  and  important  class  of  the 
community  which  trims  its  convictions  to  its  amiable 
sentiments,  it  may  appear  as  a  very  desirable  mitigation 
of  the  rigour  of,  what  Mr.  Buchanan  has  very  aptly 
called,  the  Cafvinism  of  science.  H.  G.  Wells. 

THE   GLYPTODONT   ORIGIN  OF  MAMMALS. 
Studies  in  the  Ez'olution  of  Animals.     By  E.  Bona\ia, 
M.D.     (London  :  Constable,  1895.) 

IN  his  preface  the  author  writes  that :  "  Having  com- 
pleted the  '  Flora  of  the  Assyrian  Monuments  and 
its  Outcomes,'  I  was  looking  about  for  something  to  take 
up  next  as  a  subject  of  study.  In  the  furriers'  windows  I 
was  attracted  by  the  leopard  and  tiger  skins,  which  by 
degrees  became  objects  of  interesting  study  and  specula- 
tion." In  the  true  interests  of  zoology,  it  is  to  be 
deplored  that  his  attention  was  not  attracted  by  some 
other  subject. 

The  key-note  to  the  startling  theory  propounded  in 
this  volume  is  to  be  found  in  a  sentence  on  page  131, 
where  it  is  stated  that :  "  The  Glyptodonts,  or  other 
armoured  animals  of  a  similar  nature,  were  the  originals 
from  which  all  existing  mammals,  including  marsupials, 
descended." 

This  astounding  statement  is  largely  based  on  the 
belief  that  the  rosettes  on  the  skins  of  the  jaguar  and 
leopard  are  the  remnants  of  the  rosette-sculpture  on  the 
bony  carapace  of  the  glyptodonts,  the  author  stating 
(p.  124)  that  these  markings  '^''  3.xe.  inherited  irom  ancestral 
plate-impressions  of  some  extinct  glyptodontoid  form, 
and  have  not  been  evolved  by  a  process  of  natural 
selection." 

How  the  author  can  conceive  that  the  Felidie  are  de- 
scended from  any  glyptodont-like  form  (by  which  it  may 
be  presumed  an  edentate  is  meant)  will  pass  the  com- 
prehension of  any  anatomical  zoologist  ;  but  all  will 
endorse  his  remark  (p.  163)  that  "one  would  indeed 
require  to  have  lived  a  good  bit  of  time  to  witness  a 
Glyptodon  changing  into  a  Jaguar."  This,  however,  is 
by  no  means  all.  Later  on  the  author  finds  evidence  of 
glyptodont  affinities  in  the  bosses  on  the  skin  of 
Rhinoceroses,  and  remarks  (p.  217)  that  "the  giant 
armadillo  has  its  hind  feet  ungulate,  its  hoofs  are  almost 
exactly  like  those  of  the  Malayan  Tapir  ;  and  in  some 
rhinoceroses  the  incisor  teeth  are  wholly  wanting,  and 
that  part  of  the  jaw  is  contracted,  not  unlike  that  of  the 
Glyptodon."  If  this  means  anything,  it  means  that 
rhinoceroses  are  evolved  from  a  veritable  edentate 
glyptodont  ;  and  it  is  thus  a  pity  the  author  did  not 
enlighten  us  how  the  full  dentition  and  claws  of  a  jaguar 
were  also  to  be  derived  from  such  a  type. 

It  would  be  mere  \vaste  of  space  to  state  how  mar- 


412 


NA  TURE 


[August  29,  1895 


supials  enter  the  scheme,  but  it  may  be  mentioned  that 
the  loss  of  the  primeval  carapace  of  ordinar>'  mammals 
is  attributed  (p.  209^  to  a  deficiency  of  carbonate  of  lime 
in  the  water  and  plants  on  which  they  subsisted.  It  will 
also  be  a  surprise  to  zoologists  to  learn  (p.  142)  that  the 
coloration  of  the  Indian  black-buck  is  due  to  its  having 
lost  its  armour  on  the  ventral  sooner  than  on  the  dorsal 
surface.  And  equal  wonderment  will  be  experienced 
when  they  read  (p.  300)  that  dolphins  are  near  relatives 
of  Plesiosaurs,  and  that  the  author  doubts  whether 
"  there  are  any  good  reasons  for  supposing  that 
Ichthyosaurs  were  nol  mammals"  I 

In  another  chapter  the  author  is  led,  from  the  study  of 
monstrosities,  to  the  conclusion  that  horses  are  more 
nearly  allied  to  the  Artiodactyla  than  they  are  to  either 
rhinoceroses  or  tapirs  1 

Many  more  similar  instances  might  be  quoted,  but  it 
will  suffice  to  say  that  if  the  author  be  right,  all  zoologists 
are  hopelessly  in  the  wrong  in  their  views  on  mammalian 
affinity. 

Among  the  redeeming  features  in  the  book  will  be 
found  many  interesting  obser\ations  on  the  coloration 
of  cats  and  horses,  and  the  author  appears  to  have  made 
out  a  fairly  good  case  for  the  derivation  of  the  striping 
of  the  tiger  from  the  spots  of  a  leopard-like  type.  Many 
of  the  figures  of  animals,  especially  the  skins  of  leopards, 
are  admirable  examples  of  photography,  and  would  be 
well  worth  reproduction  in  other  works. 

R.  LVDEKKER. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Le  Cause  DelF  Era  Glaciale.  By  Luigi  de  Marchi, 
Libcro  Docente  di  Meteorologia  nella  R.  Universita 
di  Pavia.     (Pavia:   Fratelli  Fusi.) 

This  work  does  not  fulfil  the  expectations  raised  by 
its  title.  It  is  a  prize  essay  of  220  large  octavo 
pages,  divided  into  three  sections.  The  first  treats  of 
the  climatic  conditions  of  a  glacial  invasion,  and  here 
the  author  agrees  with  a  number  of  German  writers 
whom  he  quotes,  in  considering  that  a  glacial  epoch  is 
due  to  a  lowering  of  mean  animal  temperature  and  a 
diminution  of  the  annual  range,-  accompanied  by  an 
increased  rainfall  in  summer.  The  next  section  treats 
of  the  temperature  of  the  air.  \Vc  find  a  large  collection 
of  empiric  fonnuUe,  taken  for  the  most  part  from  German 
authors,  some  of  which  arc  based  on  assumptions  which 
appear  to  be  far  from  satisfactory,  and  which  certainly 
cannot  be  verified  in  the  exhaustive  way  which  one  would 
wish  before  applying  them  to  find  the  lemperalurc  in  the 
Glacial  Age.  Among  these  there  is  one  more  important 
than  the  others,  in  which  /,  the  mean  annual  temperature 
at  any  given  locality,  is  expressed  in  terms  of  no  less 
than  fifteen  physical  quantities,  such  as  the  supposed 
temperature  of  an  ideal  sky,'  the  absolute  radiating  power 
of  this  sky,  the  transmissive  powers  of  the  atmosphere 
for  radiation  from  earth  and  water,  and  for  sun-he;it,  and 
last,  but  not  least  important,  "a  tcnn  of  correction  which 
expresses  the  cfiect  of  the  physical  and  meteorological 
condition  of  the  locality,"  and  this  term  may,  according 
to  the  author,  oscillate  between  -  6'  C.  and  -(-6'  C. 

The  third  section,  entitled  "The  Cause  of  a  Glacial 
Age;,"  contains  the  author's  deductions  from  this  fonnula. 


I  ■ 

Krfili 


liu(  (following  Pouillcl, 

'.ICC,  of  which  ihcradiat- 

' ,  and  of  all  the  celestial 

equal  10  —  45'*4  C.  for 


NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


He  uses  it  to  disprove  the  hypothesis  that  the  Ice  .Age 
was  due  to  a  change  in  the  obliquity,  but  he  cannot 
apply  it  to  discuss  CroH's  theory,  because  it  only  takes- 
account  of  the  total  annual  heat  received.  Hence  he 
refers  to  previous  writers  for  his  criticism  on  Croll. 
Similarly  the  geographical  hypothesis  is  dismissed  as 
insufficient,  so  that  the  way  is  cleared  for  the  author's 
own  hypothesis,  viz.  that  the  Ice  Age  was  caused  by  a 
general  lowering  of  temperature  which  arose  from  a 
diminution  of  the  atmospheric  transparency,  which  can 
only  be  explained  ^p.  183)  as  the  effect  of  a  general 
diffusion  into  the  atmosphere,  over  the  whole  surface  of 
the  earth,  of  a  gas,  vapour,  or  dust  which  absorbs,  or 
reflects  towards  space,  a  part  of  the  heat  which  comes 
from  the  sun.  "  But  since  the  glacial  epoch  also  pre- 
supposes .in  extraordinary  rainfall,  among  the  many 
hypotheses  which  may  be  framed,  one  spontaneously 
presents  itself,  viz.  that  a  great  mass  of  aqueous  vapour 
was  launched  against  and  diffiiscd  into  the  atmosphere." 
Owing  to  the  lowering  of  temperature  due  to  want  of 
transparency,  the  vapour  would  fall  as  snow,  and  this 
precipitation  would  go  on  until  the  mass  of  vapour 
injected  into  the  atmosphere  is  entirely  or  in  great  part 
eliminated. 

The  author  quotes  an  Italian  writer,  who  suggests 
that  the  action  of  volcanos  in  the  age  preceding  the  Ice 
.Ages  affords  a  possible  explanation  of  the  (supposed) 
launching  of  these  vast  masses  of  aqueous  vapour  into 
the  atmosphere. 

Lcitfadcn  fiir  Itistologische  Untcrsudiungcn.  B)-  Bemhard 
Rawitz.  Second  edition.  (Jena  :  Gustav  Fischer, 
1895.) 

HisTOl.OGic.M.  methods  have  become  so  perfected, 
microscopic  appliances  so  modified,  and  staining  reagents 
so  numerous,  that  it  is  necessary  to  have  good  reference 
books  for  use  in  laboratories.  .Mthough  there  are  .a 
number  of  such  works,  amongst  which  we  may  mention 
Lee's  "  \"ade  Mecum,"  Sims  Woodhcad's  "  Manual,''  and 
Fletcher's  edition  of  \'on  Kahldcn's  "  Practical  Patho- 
logical Histology,"  the  appearance  of  a  new  edition  of 
Rawitz's  compendium  will  be  welcomed  by  all  who  were 
familiar  with  the  first  edition,  which  was  published  six 
years  ago.  It  resembles  \'on  Kahldcn's  book  in  arrange- 
ment, but  while  this  latter  has  been  compiled  specially 
for  pathological  in\estigations,  Rawitz's  "Lcitfadcn" 
is  essentially  intended  for  the  biologist  and  physiologist, 
and  forms  a  suitable  supplement  to  its  morbid  counter- 
part. When  reviewing  Ur.  Fletchers  translation  of  \'on 
Kahldcn's  book,  some  time  back,  we  regretted  the  omission 
of  various  matters  relating  to  section-cutting,  embedding 
and  staining,  an  omission  which  is  excusable  on  the 
ground  that  in  a  work  on  practical  pathological  histology 
a  sound  knowledge  of  these  subjects  might  lie  taken  for 
granted.  Rawitz  gives  excellent  descriptions  of  all  our 
recognised  modern  methods,  and  a  careful  account  of 
paraffin  embedding  and  paraffin  cutting,  which  will 
prove  useful  to  all  who  wish  to  become  familiar  with  what 
IS  undoubtedly  the  best  method  for  gener.il  histological 
purposes.  His  directions  for  working  with  celloidiii  are 
equally  good,  and  since  this  method  is  somcwh.it  neglected 
in  this  country  the  beginner  will  find  a  nunilicr  of  hints 
which  Dr.  Fletcher  might  well  have  inclucled  in  his  trans- 
lation. The  completeness  with  which  the  \arious  methods 
of  fix.ition,  hardening,  and  staining  have  been  enumerated 
is  .'idmir.'ible,  and  we  gain  the  firm  conviction  that  the 
author  has  only  included  what  is  sound,  and  in  careful 
hands  certain  to  give  good  and  trustworthy  results. 
Chapter  xi.  (part  l)  contains  some  useful  information  on 
the  art  of  drawing  and  "reconstructing"  microscopical 
objects.  The  "  Leitfaden  "  may  be  recommended  with- 
out hesitation  to  the  histologist  as  a  Ijook  of  reference  for 
use  in  the  laboratory  :  it  will  save  time,  and  seldom  cause 
disappointment.  .A.  A.  K. 


August  29,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


413 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

( The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undertah,- 
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   University  of  London. 

I  AM  anxious  to  make  it  clear  that  what  Sir  John  Lubbock 
has  sprung  upon  us  is  a  radical  change  in  the  procedure  of  Con- 
vocation. 

The  object  can  only  be,  it  appears  to  me,  to  obtain  a  reversal 
<if  its  policy.  .\s  a  political  exjiedient  it  is,  therefore,  very  similar 
to  the  action  of  those  politicians  who  for  analogous  reasons 
would  change  the  constitution  of  the  House  of  Lords. 

Sir  John  now  defines  what  he  calls  his  "  suggestion"  in  the  fol- 
lowing words  : — "  That  in  voting  on  the  new  Charter,  members 
of  Convocation  should  do  so  'as  at  a  senatorial  election,'  i.e. 
by  voting  ])apers."  I  call  this  a  radical  change  in  the  procedure 
-of  Convocation. 

I  put  aside  the  not  immaterial  point  that  as  a  Statutory  Com- 
mission is  a  delegation  from  Parliament,  the  result  of  its  labours 
will  not  be  embodied  in  a  Charter,  but  will  be  virtually  in  effect 
an  Act  of  Parliament  when  approve<l  by  that  body. 

Sir  John  has  made  the  following  statements  about  his  "sug- 
gestion "  : — 

(i)  "I  am  not  asking  that  any  privilege  which  they  do  not  at 
present  possess  should  be  conferred  upon  my  constituents,  but 
■only  supporting  what  is  now  their  legal  right  .  .  .  This  right 
I  know  they  highly  value"  (N.A.TURE,  July  i8,  p.  269). 

(2)  "  It  is  the  law  at  present "  (NATURE,  August  8,  p.  340). 

The  words  which  I  have  put  in  italics  are  definite  and  explicit, 
and  are,  of  course,  in  flat  opposition  to  my  repeated  statement 
that  Sir  John's  suggestion  amounts  to  a  fundamental  and,  indeed, 
revolutionary  change  of  procedure.  This  change  consists  in 
extending  the  mode  of  voting  in  a  senatorial  election  to  other 
matters.  Now  the  mode  of  voting  at  a  senatorial  election  is 
prescribed  by  the  21st  clause  of  the  Charter,  which  is  printed  in 
Nature  for  July  25,  p.  296.  It  embraces  two  ver>'  important 
points,  first,  the  right  of  absent  members  to  vote  at  all  is  not 
absolute  but  only  permissive.  The  words  are:  "  Power  to  the 
Convocation,  if  it  shall  think  fit,  to  enable  absent  members  of 
the  Convocation  to  vote  on  such  nominations  .  .  .  by  voting 
papers."  Secondly,  this  permissive  right  is  strictly  limited  by 
the  words  '*  but  not  so  to  vote  on  any  other  matter.^^ 

It  is  upon  this  vital  discrepancy  between  Sir  John's  statements 
<juoted  above  and  the  provisions  of  the  Charter  that  I  think  it  is 
imperative  that  he  should  give  some  explanation.  This  demand 
on  my  part  he  is  pleased  to  call  an  "attack."  Well,  however 
that  may  be,  he  at  least  ow-es  it  to  himself  to  meet  it. 

I  trust,  however,  that  I  have  now  made  it  clear,  and  even  to 
■Sir  John,  that  his  "suggestion  "  is  not  the  law,  but  that,  further, 
it  involves  the  abrogation  of  a  portion  of  the  Charter.  I  think 
as  a  member  of  Convocation  that  in  making  such  a  proposal 
without  consulting  that  body  he  has  exceedetl  his  functions  as 
our  Parliamentary  representative.  At  any  rate  it  mu.st,  I  think, 
be  admitted  that  he  is  making  short  work  of  the  "  right"  which 
his  "  constituents  highly  value."     (Nature,  August  8,  p.  340.) 

I  am  unwilling  to  prolong  a  painful  discussion.  But  as  .Sir 
John  is  pledged  to  bring  forward  his  "suggestion''  in  Parliament, 
which  of  course  can  incorporate  it  in  the  Bill,  if  it  thinks  proper, 
,it  seems  to  me  of  extreme  importance  to  dissipate  his  contention 
that  it  is  already  the  "  law."  W.  T.  Tiiiselto.n-Dyer. 

Kew,  .-August  23. 

The    Nomenclature   of  Colours. 

The  interesting  article  of  Mr.  J.  H.  Pillsbury,  published  in 
your  last  number,  recalls  to  me  a  passage  in  my  autobiography, 
which,  though  it  is  already  in  print,  will  not  be  issued  until  after 
my  death.  .-\s  bearing  on  the  question  Mr.  Pillsbury  raises, 
this  passage  may,  perliaps  with  advantage,  be  ]iul)lished  in 
.advance.  The  plan  suggested  aims  at  n<j  such  scientific  nicety 
-of  discrimination  or  naming  .as  that  he  proposes,  but  is  one 
which  is  applicable  with  the  means  at  present  in  use.  It  is, 
as  will  be  ]ierceived,  based  on  the  old  theory  respecting  the 
primary  colours;  but  whatever  qualification  has  to  be  made  in  this, 
.need  not  atTect  the  method  described.  The  passage  is  as 
follows  ; — ■ 

"  I  mention  it  here  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  an 


NO.   1348,  VOL.   52] 


accompanying  thought  respecting  the  nomenclature  of  colours. 
The  carrying  on  of  such  a  scheme  would  be  facilitated  by  .some 
mode  of  specifying  varieties  of  tints  with  definiteness ;  and  my 
notion  was  that  this  might  be  done  by  naming  them  in  a  manner 
analogous  to  that  in  which  the  points  of  the  compass  are  named. 
The  subdivisions  coming  in  regular  order  when  '  boxing  the 
compass,'  as  it  is  called,  run  thus  : — North,  north  by  east, 
north-north-east,  north-east  by  north,  north-ea.st  ;  north-east  by 
east,  east-north-east,  east  by  north,  east.  Applying  this  method 
to  colours,  there  would  result  a  series  standing  thus  : — Red,  red 
by  blue,  red-red-blue,  red-blue  by  red,  red-blue  (purple)  ;  red- 
blue  by  blue,  blue-red-blue,  blue  hy  red,  blue.  And  in  like 
manner  would  be  distinguished  the  intermediate  colours  between 
blue  and  yellow  and  those  between  yellow  and  red.  Twenty- 
four  gradations  of  colour  in  the  whole  circle  would  thus  have 
names  ;  as  is  shown  by  a  diagram  I  have  preserved.  Where 
greater  nicety  was  desirable,  the  sailor's  method  of  specifying  a 
half-point  might  be  utilised — as  red-red-blue,  half-blue  ;  signify- 
ing the  intermediate  tint  between  red-red-blue  and  blue-red  by 
red.  Of  course  these  names  would  be  names  of  pure  colours 
only — the  primaries  and  their  mixtures  with  one  another ;  but 
the  method  might  be  expanded  by  the  use  of  numbers  to  each  : 
I,  2,  3,  signifying  proportions  of  added  neutral  tint  subduing 
the  colour,  so  as  to  produce  gradations  of  impurity. 

"  Some  such  nomenclature  would,  I  think,  be  of  much  service. 
At  present,  by  shopmen  and  ladies,  the  names  of  colours  are 
used  in  a  chaotic  manner — violet,  for  instance,  being  spoken  of 
by  them  as  purple,  and  other  names  being  grossly  misapplied. 
As  matters  stand  there  is  really  no  mode  of  making  known  m 
words,  with  anything  like  exactness,  a  colour  required  ;  and 
hence  many  impediments  to  transactions  and  many  errors.  In 
general  life,  too,  people  labour  under  an  inability  to  convey  true 
colour-conceptions  of  things  they  are  describing.  The  system 
indicated  would  enable  them  to  do  this,  were  they,  in  the  course 
of  education,  practised  in  the  distinguishing  and  naming  ot 
colours.  If,  by  drawing,  there  should  be  discipline  of  the  eye  in 
matters  of  form,  so  there  should  be  an  accompanying  discipline 
of  the  eye  in  matters  of  colour." 

Were  some  authoritative  body  to  publish  cards  representing 
these  various  gradations  of  colour,  arranged  as  are  the  points 
of  the  compass,  each  division  bearing  its  assigned  name,  as  above 
given,  such  cards  might  serve  as  standards  ;  and  any  one  pos- 
sessing them  would  be  able  to  indicate,  within  narrow  limits, 
to  a  shopkeeper  or  manufacturer,  the  tint  he  or  she  wanted.  Ot 
course  to  complete  the  method  it  would  be  needful  that  there 
should  be  a  mode  of  indicating  gradations  of  intensity,  and  if 
the  numbers  i,  2,  3,  were  appended  to  indicate  the  degrees  of 
impurity  by  mixture  with  neutral  tint,  a,  b,  c,  might  be  used  to 
signifj'  the  intensity  or  degree  of  dilution  of  the  colour. 

\'ery  possibly,  or  even  probably,  this  idea  has  occurred  to 
others,  for  it  is  a  very  obvious  one.  Herbert  Spencer. 

The  Mount,  Westerham,  July  23. 


Clausius'  Virial  Theorem. 

The  above-named  theorem,  which  appeared  in  the /V;//.  Mag. 
for  August  1S70,  much  .as  it  is  now  used  in  connection  with  the 
kinetic  theory  of  gases,  received  little,  if  any,  attention  in 
England  for  some  time  after  its  introduction.  Apparently  the 
theorem  was  accepted  without  hesitation  or  discu,ssion,  and,  as 
far  as  I  can  learn,  neither  on  its  first  introduction  or  since  has  it 
received  any  adverse  criticism,  or,  in  fact,  any  criticism  whatso- 
ever. My  object  in  writing  this  letter  is,  in  the  first  pKace,  to 
direct  attention  to  the  argtiments  used  by  Clausius  to  establish 
his  theorem,  which  appear  to  me  to  be  unsound,  and  secondly, 
by  applying  a  simple  test  case,  to  show  that  the  theorem  itself  is 
not  true. 

Clausius  first  proves  the  following  equation. 

itj^dl^  2lj^dP  dtjj^dt) 

If  for  the  moment,  for  the  sake  of  simplicity,  we  divide  bol 
sides  of  the  equation  by  — ,  we  get 

and  this  may  be  written 

«.v  =  /  xdii  +  I  ttdx. 
Jo  Jo 


414 


NA  TURE 


[August  29,  1895 


In  this  form  it  is  easy  to  see  that  each  term  may  be  graphically 
represented  by  an  area,  and  the  equation  simply  expresses  the 
fact  that  the   rectangular  area  xu  is  equal  to  the  algebraic  sum 

of  the  areas  /   udx  and  /  xdu.     It  is  obnous  that  for  txjriodic 

JO  J  " 

motion  the  rectangle  xu  will  vanish  when  a  suitable  value  is 

1*1  j"f 

given  to  /;  but  so  also  will  the  areas  /  «</.rand  /  xdu.    So  that 

when  xti  =  o  we  get,  either 

I    udx  =  o  and  /    xdu  =  o  ;    or  /   udx  =  -  j  xdu. 

-■^ain,  in  what  Clausius  calls  "stationary  motion"  when  xu 
docs  not  vanish  pcriixlically,  although  we  can   make   the   ex- 
pression  —ux  vanishingly  small,   by  taking  /  very  great,    it   is 
2/ 

obvious  that  if  the  aieas  /   udx  and  -  /  xdu  are  not  equal  be- 


fore multiplying  them  by  — ,  the  expressions  so  obtained  are  not 
so  afterwards.  Moreover,  and  finally,  it  should  be  observed 
that  the  expression  /«  j  udx  does  not  represent  iitulic  energy ; 

to  represent  which  the  expression  should  be  in  j  udii.      The 

•'  0 
above  considerations    seem    to  me  to  entirely   upset  Clausius' 
demonstration. 

In  the  tenth  edition  of  Maxwell's  "  Heat  "  (p.  323),  Lord 
Rayleigh  has  given  an  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  he 
sup|»ses  the  "  virial "  to  act  in  opposition  to  kinetic  energy, 
and  we  may  take  his  illustration  as  a  simple  test  of  the  theorem. 
He  suppijses  two  IxKlies,  each  of  mass  /«,  to  revolve  in  a  circular 
path  with  a  constant  velocity  about  their  centre  of  gravity. 
Here,  as  there  is  no  pressure,  the  so-called  virial  equation  takes 
the  form 

2j«;r-  =  i,2\ir. 

In  the  above  equation  v,  the  velocity,  is  constant,  and  R  =  ////". 
If  we  take  p  as  the  radius  of  the  circle,  then   r  =  2p,  and  the 
.  equation  liecomes 

^TrSm  =  4  X  2f)/Sm. 
Hence 

iv-  =  p/: 

which  equation  does  no/  refiresent  the  ordinary  law  of  <enlrijugal 
fone.     Lord  Rayleigh  omitted  to  notice  that 

2K  =  :i>ii/=/im  =  2m/. 

When,  however,  we  throw  overboarti  all  ideas  of  "  virial," 
and  look  upon  the  term  J2R>-  in  the  so-called  "  virial  equation" 
as  simply  representing  work  and  equal  to  j/V,  also  an  expres- 
sion for  work,  then  the  equation 

Sjwz-''  =  IpV  +  KtKr 

is  certainly  true.  But  there  seems  no  possible  advantage  to  be 
obtained  in  splitting  the  right-hand  member  into  two  equal 
terms,  instead  of  writing  the  equation 

2J/«f^  =  3/>V  ;  or  2J/«zr  =  5R/-  ; 

in  cither  of  which  forms — the  first  for  jireference — it  is  applicable 
to  ideal  gases.  For  natural  permanent  gases  the  equations 
become,  either 

i^Bmz"  =  3/V  ;  or  2j|8//;z''  =  IRr, 
and  not 

2i8"iT'''  =  ZaUr, 
as  given  in  my  letter   (p.    221)  on    "  .\rgim   and    ilii'   Kimiic 
Theor)."  C.  K.  Haskvi. 

I    ,,i,l,.,,    w      \,igust  14. 


Incubation  among  the  Egyptians. 

AUTiFifiM    inriitntii.n,  like  many  another  practice  supposed 

to  '  jvilisation,  is  but  a  revival    from   very 

«■'  .  an  author  who  wrolealKint  forty  years 

•  rii   of  the  Christian  era,   tells  how    Ihc 

'  'vith    their  own   hands,   bring   eggs    t(> 

y  ri  ■   ■  hi' kens  thus   proiluced  arc  not 

ii'  i  liy  I  he  U'iual  mcins. 

1  lis  differing  little  from  th'ise 

NO.    I34S,  VOL.   52] 


of  ancient  times,  survives  to  the  present  day  among  the  felKahs 
of  Egypt.  In  suitable  places  ovens  are  erected,  and  the  pro- 
prietors go  round  the  neighbouring  villages  collecting  eggs.  A 
sufficient  nuniber  having  been  collected,  they  are  placed  on  m.ats 
strewed  with  bran,  in  a  room  about  11  feet  square,  with  a  flat 
roof.  Over  this  chamber,  which  is  about  4  feet  high,  there  is 
another  built  about  9  feel  in  height.  The  roof,  which  is  vaulted, 
has  a  small  aperture  in  the  centre  to  admit  liglu  dining  the 
warm  weather  ;  below  it  another  opening  of  larger  dimensions 
conuiiunicates  with  the  oven  below.  In  the  cold  weather  both 
are  kept  closed,  and  a  lamp  is  kept  burning  within.  Entrance 
is  then  obtained  from  the  front  of  the  lower  chamber.  In  the 
upper  room  fires  are  made  in  troughs  along  the  sides,  and  the 
eggs  are  placed  on  the  mats  below  in  two  lines,  corresponding 
to  and  immediately  below  the  fires.  The  fires  are  lighted  twice 
a  day,  the  first  time  to  die  about  midday,  the  second  to  last  from 
about  3  p.m.  to  8  p.m.  The  first  batch  of  eggs  are  left  for 
about  half  a  day  in  the  warmest  situation,  after  which  they  are 
moved  to  make  rotmi  for  others,  until  the  whole  number  in  hand 
have  had  the  benefit  of  the  position.  This  is  repeated  for  six 
days.  Each  egg  is  then  examined  by  a  strong  light.  All  eggs 
that  at  this  stage  are  clear  are  rejected,  but  those  that  are 
cloudy  or  opaque  are  restored  to  the  oven  for  another  four  days. 
Then  they  are  removed  to  another  chamber,  where  there  are  no 
fires,  but  the  air  is  excluded.  Here  they  lie  for  five  days,  after 
which  they  are  placed  separately,  about  one  or  two  inches  apart, 
and  continually  turned.  This  last  stage  generally  takes  six  or 
seven  days.  During  this  time  a  constant  examination  is  made 
by  placing  e.ich  egg  to  the  upper  eyeliil,  when  a  warmth  greater 
than  that  of  .the  human  skin  is  a  favourable  sign.  The  duration 
of  the  process  generally  extends  over  twenty-one  days,  but 
thin-shelled  ej^s  often  take  only  eighteen  <lays.  The  average 
heat  required  is  86°  F.  Excessive  heat  is  prejudicial.  In 
Eg)'pt  the  best  time  is  from  February  23  to  April  24. 

I.    TVRKKl.l.   Hwi.i-.i. 


Mountain  Sickness. 

I  HAVE  just  come  back  from  a  journey  in  the  region  of  the 
Andes,  and  in  looking  overthe  numbers  of  Nati'RK,  which  had 
accumulated  during  my  absence,  I  came  across  the  extract, 
which  you  make  in  your  notes  of  February  21,  from  the  A'et'ue 
Scienti/it/ne,  on  the  subject  of  mountain  sickness.  I  cannot 
agree  with  M.  Kronecker's  statement  that  beyond  three  thousand 
metres  mountain  sickness  attacks  all  jiersons  as  .soim  as  they 
indulge  in  the  least  muscular  efi'ort,  as  I  made  the  acquaintance 
of  many  people,  mostly  railway  men,  living  and  working  at 
altitudes  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  thousand  feet  on  tlie  Oroya  line 
and  the  Southern  Railway  of  Peru,  who  had  never  experienced 
soroi/ie,  or  mountain  sickness.  As  far  as  my  own  experience 
goes,  in  three  journeys  across  the  .\ndes  and  several  n\ountain 
ascents,  including  one  to  the  top  of  the  crater  of  the  .Misti,  19,300 
feet  above  sea  level,  I  had  only  one  attack  of  sonv/ie,  and 
that  was  at  the  end  of  a  ride  on  an  oil  engine  from  sea 
level  to  fourteen  thousand  feet  in  nine  hours.  But  this  was  so 
complicated  with  suffocation  I >y  the  oil  fumes  iind  scorching  by 
the  heat  of  the  furnace  while  ruiming  through  the  filty-sevcn 
tunnels  on  the  line,  that  I  cannot  say  how  nnich  was  mountain 
sickness  and  how  much  w.as  not.  .At  any  rale,  I  was  perfectly 
well  the  next  morning,  and  rode  over  a  pass  nearly  seventeen 
thousand  feet  high  witliout  the  slightest  inconvenience.  .\s 
regards  the  danger  of  a  prolonged  sojourn,  my  experience  leaches 
me  that  it  is  almost  entirely  due  to  jiersonal  idiosyncrasy  and 
unwise  eating  and  <lrinking.  .\  healthy  person  whose  lungs  and 
heart  are  all  right,  who  does  not  over-eal  and  is  very  moderate  in 
the  use  of  stimulants,  will  not  suffer  from  mountain  sickness  after 
the  first  few  hours,  and  in  many  cases  will  not  sufl'er  at  all  if  the 
nscenl  is  sulTicienlly  gradual.  Of  course  very  violent  exertion 
produces  distress  by  reason  of  the  deficiency  of  oxygen.  I  do 
not  think  that  there  need  be  any  difficulty  about  tlie  ofiicials 
of  the  propose<l  Jungfrau  railway,  if  steady  men,  not  of  a  full 
habit  of  body,  are  selected.  I  never  heard  of  any  Iroulile  from 
mountain  sickness  among  the  Peruvian  railway  men  unless  they 
over-stimulated,  and  yet  they  are  accustomed  to  go  in  a  day 
from  sea  level  to  15,764  feet  on  the  Oroya  line,  and  to  14,666 
feet  on  the  Southern  line,  and  rclurn  lo  sea  level  on  the  follow- 
ing day.  I  may  add  thai  I  have  maile  both  lliese  journeys 
mysell'^withoul  the  slightest  inconvenience,  and  ha\e  luen  able 
to  walk  and  ride  without  any  trouble  at  the  end  of  them. 

Lonilon,  August  20.  CKdRCK  <j'kii  IITII. 


August  29,  1895] 


NATURE 


415 


How    was    Wallace    led    to    the    Discovery   of    Natural 
Selection  ? 

TiiK  reviewer  of  Osborn's  "  From  the  Greeks  to  Darwin" 
(antca  p.  362)  saj's  that  Marshall  quotes  the  fact  of  Wallace's 
Ijeing  led  "  to  the  discovery  of  natural  selection  as  he  lay  ill  of 
intermittent  fever  at  Ternalc,"  and  refers  one  to  the  abridi;ed 
lurm  of  the  "Life  and  Letters  of  Charles  Darwin"  for  this 
statement.  Having  only  the  original  edition  in  three  volumes, 
from  the  year  1887,  at  my  disposal,  wherein  I  cannot  find  it,  I 
would  draw  attention  to  my  having  published  the  fact  as  far 
back  as  1870  ("Charles  Darwin  and  Alfred  Russel  Wallace. 
Ihre  ersten  Publicationen  iiber  die  Entstehung  der  Arten,  nebst 
einer  Skizze  ihres  Lebens  und  einem  Verzeichniss  ihrer  Schriften. " 
Eriangen,  E.  Besold,  Svo,  pp.  xxiii.  and  56,  on  page  xviii. ) 
The  remarks  to  be  found  there  are  based  upon  a  letter  of  .Mr. 
Wallace's  dated  November  22,  1869,  and  now  before  me,  a 
passage  of  which  runs  thus  : — 

"The  paper  No.  9  ['on  the  law  which  has  regulated  the 
introduction  of  new  specie;,'  -A.N.H.  1855]  should  be  read 
niong  with  No.  19  ['on  the  tendency  of  varieties  to  depart 
indefinitely  from  the  original  type"  P.L.S.  1858].  When  I 
wrote  it  I  was  firndy  convinced  of  the  derivative  origin  of 
species,  but  had  not  arrived  at  an  idea  of  the  process.  When  I 
wrote  No.  19  at  Ternate  [in  the  year  1858]  I  did  not  [know] 
«hat  were  Mr.  Darwin's  views  or  the  nature  of  the  work  he 
was  engaged  on,  except  generally  that  it  was  on  '  Variation.' 
I  hit  upon  the  idea  of  '  NaUiral  Selection'  (though  I  did  not 
give  it  that  name)  while  shivering  under  the  cold  fit  of  ague, 
and  I  was  led  to  it  by  .Malthus'  views  on  population  applied  to 
animals.  As  soon  as  my  ague  fit  was  over  I  sat  down,  wrote  out 
the  article,  copied  it,  and  sent  it  off  by  the  next  post  to  Mr. 
[ )arwin.  It  was  printed  « ithout  my  knowledge,  and  of  course 
« ithout  any  correction  of  proofs.  I  should,  of  course,  like  this 
fact  to  be  stated." 

This  I  did  in  my  pamjihlet  of  1870  on  the  page  quoted,  and 
'>n  page  39,  and  I  hope  Dr.  Wallace  will  forgive  me  for  now 
making  known  the  whole  of  his  highly  interesting  statement 
///  his  tnvn  words.  Of  course  I  am  not  sure  whether  he 
did  not  tell  or  write  the  same  to  some  one  else,  though  I  am 
not  aware  that  it  has  been  published. 

Ordinary  mortals  dream  nonsense  in  their  fits  of  fever,  a 
jihilosopher  of  Dr.  Wallace's  standing  conceives  original  ideas  ! 

A.  B.  .Mever. 

Zoological  Museum,  Dresden,  August  19. 

The  letter  to  Prof.  Newton,  published  in  the  abridged 
■'  Life  of  Darwin,"  was  written  in  1887.  I  had  entirely  for- 
^iitten  lliat  I  had  written  on  the  same  .subject  to  Dr.  Meyer  in 
iS6g,  or  that  he  had  published  anything  in  reference  to  it.  That 
letter  probably  contained  my  earlie.st  statement  on  the  subject, 
ind  it  agrees  substantially  with  my  later  statements. — A.  R. 
Wallace. 


A  Problem  in  Thermodynamics. 

Siemens  taught  us  how,  by  using  the  heat  of  the  gases  escap- 
ing from  a  furnace  to  heat  the  gas  and  air  before  entering  the 
kirnace,  we  could  obtain  tem[>eratures  limited  only  by  the  fire- 
resisting  quality  of  the  materials  of  which  the  furnace  is  con- 
structed. Now,  it  occurred  to  me  whether  on  the  same 
principle  very  low  temperatures  might  not  be  reached.  My 
idea  is  this :  If  com]>ressed  air  is  expanded  to  atmospheric 
pressure,  the  gas  does  work  in  overcoming  the  resistance  of  the 
.itmosphere,  and  is  cooled  to  a  corresponding  amount. 

Suppose,  for  instance,  the  gas  is  compressed  to  I /too  of  its 
volume,  then  I  cubic  metre  would  perform,  in  expanding  against 
I  he  atmospheric  pressure  of  i  kil.  per  i  square  centimetre,  or 
10,000  kilos  per  square  metre,  an  amount   of  work  ecjual   to 

10,000  xo'99  =  9900  kilgr. -metres,  and  absorb  ^^  -  units  of  heat. 

'*^4 
Now,   I   cubic   metre  of  air  weighs   I "24    kil.,    and,    having  a 
specific  heat  of  024,  the  temperature  of  the  expanded  air  would 
be  lower  78°  than  before  expanding. 

Now  suppose  A  is  a  tube  of  a  material  impervious  to  heat — 
that  is,  a  perfect  nonconductor — and  B  a  tube  made  of  a  perfect 
conductor  of  heat  ;  the  tube  .\  being  closed  at  one  end,  and  B 
having  a  small  opening  in  the  end. 

Now,  if  a  continuous  supply  of  compressed  air  is  kept  up  in 

NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


tube  B,  this  air  will  come  down  in  temjierature,  and,  passing 
along  between  A  and  B,  cools  the  compressed  air  before  it 
expands. 


w 


u 

V 


'/////.'/////WAW/M;////////////////////////y////77> 


i:C^ 


V///y//y///////yyy^/y/y////y'y//w^'A^w/■■v/W/W.^777r'■, 


I  should  be  glad  if  any  of  your  readers  could  give  me   the 
theoretical  minimum  of  temperature  produced  at  C. 

Essen-Ruhr,  Germany.  E.  Blass. 


A  Remarkable  Flight  of  Birds. 

On  September  30,  1894,  about  3  p.m.,  I  was  observing  the 
sun  through  an  8-inch  telescope.  I  noticed  some  dark  figures 
of  birds  passing,  like  shadows,  across  the  sun.  I  was  using  a 
dark  glass,  and  the  birds  were,  consequently,  only  visible  when 
seen  against  the  bright  solar  disc.  The  silhouettes  of  the  birds 
were  very  sharply  and  clearly  cut.  Every  few  seconds  a  bird 
would  emerge  from  the  darkness,  pass  slowly  across  the  sun  and 
disappear  on  the  other  side.  I  watched  them  for  over  ten 
minutes  without  any  decrease  in  their  numbers.  The  whole 
number  of  birds  must  have  been  enormous,  otherwise  it  would 
have  been  impossible  for  some  of  them  to  have  passed  as 
frequently  as  they  did  between  my  telescope  and  the  sun.  The 
birds  were  flying  in  a  southerly  direction,  and  were  quite  invisible 
to  the  naked  eye.  I  was,  therefore,  unable  to  determine  their 
distance,  but  should  think  they  must  have  been  two  or  three 
miles  away,  for  the  telescope  was  in  focus  for  the  birds  and  sun 
at  the  same  time.  I  do  not  know  what  birds  they  were. 
Comparing  the  spread  of  tlieir  wings  with  the  solar -disc,  I  should 
say  their  wings  subtended  an  angle  of  about  two  minutes.  The 
place  from  which  I  observed  them  was  Shere,  a  village  between 
Guildford  and  Dorking.  I  am  told  that  such  a  flight  of  birds 
has  not  before  been  recorded  in  this  country,  and  have  been 
urged  to  publish  an  account  in  the  hope  that  other  astronomers, 
H  ho  may  have  seen  a  similar  thing,  may  be  led  to  mention  the  fact. 

Shere,  Guildford.  R.  A.  Bray. 


THE  IPSWICH  MEETING  OF   THE  BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 

IN  our  last  article  we  gave  a  general  outline  of  the 
local  arrangements  for  the'  Meeting.  The  programme, 
as  a  whole,  is  now  fairly  complete.  .A  slight  alteration 
has  been  made  with  reference  to  the  soirees  ;  the  first 
will  be  given  by  the  Ipswich  Scientific  Society  and  the 
Suffolk  Institute  of  .Architologj' jointly,  and  the  second 
by  the  Mayor  of  Ipswich  (Mr.  J.  H.  Bartlet,).  The 
fitting  up  of  the  Section  Rooms  is  proceeding  rapidly, 
and  arrangements  are  being  made  for  the  darkening 
of  those  in  which  a  lantern  will  be  used.  In  the  case 
of  Sections  .V  and  B,  which  meet  in  the  same  building, 
only  the  room  allotted  to  Section  B  will  be  fitted  up  with 
dark  blinds  and  a  lantern  screen,  and  the  Sections  will 
be  asked  to  exchange  rooins  on  days  when  papers  re- 
quiring lantern  illustration  arc  read  in  Section  A.  The 
same  arrangement  will  be  made  as  to  Sections  D  and 
K,  which  meet  in  the  two  rooms  at  the  Masonic  Hall. 
For  the  President's  address  in  these  Sections,  the  Lyceum 
Theatre,  which  is  a  short  distance  off,  will  be  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Sectional  Committees,  as  the  Masonic 
Hall  rooms  may  be  hardly  large  enough  to  contain  all 
those  who  would  probably  wish  to  be  present  on  these 
particular  occasions.  For  a  similar  reason,  Section  G, 
which  meets  in  the  Co-operative  Hall,  will  be  asked  to 
allow  the  President's  addresses  in  Sections  .Aand-B  to 
be  delivered  there.     A  spacious  room  adjoining  the  main 


4i6 


NATURE 


[August  29,  1S95 


street,  and  within   two   minutes'  walk  of  the   reception 
room,  will  be  set  apart  for  a  ladies  club-room. 

The  excursions  will  be  of  a  more  varied  character  than 
usual.  On  the  Saturday  afternoon  the  geologists  will 
visit  the  well-known  crag  district,  including  Orford,  Sud- 
boume,  and  Chillesford.  This  will  give  an  opportunity 
for  the  examination  in  the  field  of  many  of  the  deposits 
to  which  the  previous  days'  discussions  have  been  devoted. 
On  the  same  afternoon,  there  will  be  a  dredging  excursion 
down  the  Orwell,  whilst  other  parties  will  go  to  Bury 
St.  Edmunds  (on  the  invitation  of  the  Mayor),  to  Hel- 
mingham  Hall,  and  to  .Southwold  (where  also  the  Mayor 
and  a  Local  Committee  will  act  as  hosts).  On  the  Thurs- 
day afternoon  after  the  meeting,  there  will  be  another  dredg- 
ing expedition,  and  also  an  excursion  to  Colchester  (on  the 
invitation  of  the  Mayor),  to  the  Flint  Napping  Works  at 
Brandon,  and  to  the  Broads,  on  which  occasion  the  party 
will  be  entertained  en  route  by  the  Mayor  of  Yarmouth. 
The  geologists  on  this  day  will  go  to  the  Norfolk  coast  to 
examine  the  Glacial  and  Pliocene  deposits  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Cromer,  where  arrangements  will  be  made 
so  that  those,  who  wish,  may  stay  the  night.  Other 
short  afternoon  excursions  will  be  made  near  Ipswich 
whenever  time  allows. 

The  programme  of  work  in  the  Sections  is  rapidly 
filling  up.  In  Section  A,  the  President,  Prof  W.  M. 
Hicks,  will  take  as  the  subject  for  his  address,  "  The 
Fluid  Theories  of  Ether  and  Matter.''  On  the  Friday  a 
joint  sitting  will  be  held  with  Section  B,  when  Prof  A. 
Schuster  will  open  a  discussion,  in  which  Lord  Rayleigh 
and  Mr.  Crookes  are  expected  to  take  part,  on  the 
evidence  to  be  gathered  as  to  the  simple  or  compound 
character  of  a  gas  from  the  constitution  of  its  spectrum. 
On  the  same  occasion.  Captain  W.  de  \V.  .Abney  and  Mr. 
C.  H.  Bothamley  will  read  papers  on  orthochromalic 
photography.  There  will  also  be  important  discussions 
in  Section  .A,  on  the  question  of  a  new  practical  unit 
of  heat,  introduced  by  a  paper  from  Mr.  E.  H.  (".riffiths, 
and  on  the  objective  character  of  combination  tones, 
opened  by  Prof.  Kiicker.  Other  papers  to  be  read  in  the 
Section  will  be  on  the  teaching  of  geometrical  draw- 
ing in  schools,  by  Prof  O.  Henrici,  on  the  electrification 
and  diselectrification  of  gases,  by  Lord  Kelvin  and 
Messrs.  Maclean  and  Gait,  on  vertical  (earth-air) 
electrical  currents,  by  Prof  Kiicker,  on  the  events  that 
go  on  within  molecules,  by  Dr.  Johnstone-Stoncy,  on 
the  velocity  of  light  in  a  rarefied  gas  through  which  a 
current  is  passing,  by  Messrs.  Edser  and  Starling,  on 
a  dynamical  top,  by  Mr.  G.  T.  Walker,  and  on  lioltzmann's 
minimum  theorem,  and  the  question  of  reversibility  in 
the  kinetic  theor>- of  gases,  by  -Mr.  E.  P.  Cuherwell. 

In  .Section  B,  the  President,  Prof  R.  Meldola,  will  deal 
in  his  address  with  the  relations  of  physiology  and 
chemistry.  The  Monday  will  be  devoted  chiefly  to 
papers  dealing  with  the  relation  of  chemistry  to  agri- 
culture, which  arc  already  anticipated  locally  with 
considerable  interest,  on  account  of  the  large  slake 
the  district  has  in  agriculture.  Prof  Warington  will 
be  amongst  those  to  read  papers  on  the  question. 
The  Tuesday  will  be  given  up  to  papers  on  organic 
chemistry. 

In  Section  C,  the  address  of  the  President,  Mr. 
Whitakcr,  will  be  devoted  to  the  subterranean  geology  of 
the  Eastern  Counties,  as  exhibited  in  various  deep  borings 
and  wells.  Mr.  Whitaker  will  also  have  a  paper  on  llie 
latest  results  in  the  boring  for  coal,  now  being  made  at 
Stutton.  The  other  papers  on  local  questions  will 
probably  deal  mainly  with  newer  Tertiary  geology  ; 
Ipswich  being  a  capital  centre  for  the  study  of  our 
Pliocene  and  Pleistocene  deposits.  Besides  the  local 
papers,  communications  have  been  promised  from  cer- 
tain of  the  foreign  visitors,  on  the  correlation  of  our 
British  Tertiary  deposits   with  their  continental  equiva- 

NO.    1348,  VOL,  52] 


lents.  .\  paper  by  M.  Gustave  DoUfus,  of  Paris,  on  the 
extent  of  the  Tertiar)'  seas  of  Western  Europe,  will 
give  his  views  of  the  physiography  of  the  south  and  east 
of  England  in  Pliocene  times,  and  is  likely  to  lead  to 
some  discussion.  Glaciation,  as  was  to  be  expected  at 
Ipswich,  will  occupy  a  good  deal  of  time.  Prof. 
Sollas  will  exhibit  the  "  pitch-gl.iciers,"  by  which 
he  has  produced  in  the  laboratory  many  of  the 
obscurer  phenomena  of  glaciation.  Mr.  Robert  White 
communicates  a  paper  on  the  glaciation  of  tropical 
South  .\merica. 

Of  the  miscellaneous  cominunications  likely  to  be 
brought  forward,  we  can  only  mention  a  few.  Mr.  Joseph 
Francis,  the  engineer  to  the  .New  River  Company,  will 
have  one  on  the  method  adopted  to  ascertain  the  direc- 
tion of  the  dip  in  the  Palaeozoic  rocks  met  with  in  the 
deep  borings  at  Ware  and  Cheshunt.  It  may  be  observed 
that  while  there  is  no  difiiculty  in  obtaining  the  amount 
of  the  dip,  when  a  solid  core  is  brought  up,  it  has  always 
been  a  difficult  problem  how  to  obtain  the  far  more  im- 
portant d.ita  as  to  its  direction.  Papers  arc  also  expected 
from  Prof  Nicholson  and  Mr.  Marr,  on  the  phylogeny  of 
the  graptolites  ;  from  Messrs.  (larwood  and  .Marr,  on 
zonal  divisions  of  the  Carboniferous  system  ;  from  Mr. 
T.  \'.  Holmes,  on  the  ancient  physiography  of  South 
Essex  ;  from  Messrs.  Reid  and  Ridley,  on  the  .Arctic 
and  Paheolithic  deposits  at  Hoxne.  Others,  on  .American 
paheontolog)-,  have  been  promised  by  Profs.  Claypole 
and  Marsh. 

Section  D  meets  this  year  under  the  presidency  of 
Prof  W.  .A.  Herdman,  and,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  Association,  it  will  be  a  section  of  zoology  alone. 
Botany  now  forms  a  separate  section,  and  although  physi- 
ology is  nominally  attached  to  Section  IJ  for  this  meeting, 
it  will  in  fact  be  unrepresented.  The  work  of  Section  I> 
will  be  largely  devoted  to  questions  of  marine  fisheries 
and  marine  zoology.  On  the  Friday  of  the  meeting,  Prof 
Mcintosh  will  open  a  discussion  on  fishery  questions,  and 
an  interesting  debate  is  expected.  Prof  Haddon  will 
read  a  paper  on  the  Royal  Dublin  .Society's  Fishery 
Survey  ;  Dr.  Bashford  Dean,  of  New  York,  will  give  a 
paper  on  apparatus  for  catching  oyster  spat  and  its  failure 
m  practice,  and  will  also  exhibit  an  interesting  collection 
of  eggs  and  larvie  ;  Prof  Herdman  will  give  an  exhibi- 
tion of  lantern  slides  illustrative  of  fishery  problems,  and 
will  explain  the  method  of  "  zoning  "  of  shores,  .Sic,  and, 
in  conjunction  with  Prof  Boyce,  will  give  a  paper  on 
oysters  and  typhoid.  C)tlier  papers  will  be  read  by  Prof 
Miall,  on  pupation  in  insects  ;  by  Prof  Rittcr,  of  .New 
York,  on  budding  in  Tunicata  ;  by  Prof  Lloyd  Morgan, 
on  experiments  on  instinct  in  young  birds  :  by  Dr.  H.  O,. 
Forbes,  on  the  .Antarctic  continent,  and  on  seals  ;  and  by 
Dr.  Otto  Maas,  of  Munich,  Prof  Gilson,  of  Louvain, 
Prof  Howes,  Mr.  Moore,  Mr.  Iliiyle,  Dr.  Hurst,  and 
others  on  various  subjects. 

The  following  is  the  provisional  programme  for  Section 
C;  : — Thursday,  12.  — .Address  by  the  President,  Prof. 
N'ernon  Harcourt  ;  light  railways  in  agricultural  districts,, 
by  M.ijor-Gcncral  Webber  ;  congelation  of  soil  for  found- 
ation purposes,  by  .M.  Gobcrt  ;  Bcntley  coal  borings  (a  , 
local  work),  by  K.  C.  Rapier.  Friday,  13. — The  growth 
of  the  port  of  Harwich,  by  W.  Bin  ;  notes  on  im])rove- 
nicnt  of  Maas  in  connection  with  Hook  of  Holland  route, 
by  the  President  ;  .Snowdon  tram-road,  by  Sir  Douglas 
Fox  ;  notes  on  autumn  floods  of  1894,  by  W.  H.  Synions  ; 
river  weirs  and  flood  prevention,  by  F.  G.  M.  .Stoney. 
Saturday,  14. — Dredging  operations  at  .Mersey  Bar, 
by  A.  ('>.  Lyster  ;  carbonic  anhydride  refrigerating^ 
machinery,  by  E.  Hesketh  ;  deodorising  sewage  by 
Herzite  process  at  Ipswich,  by  J.  Napier. — Monday,  if), 
will  be  devoted  t  o  electrical  papers,  among  which  will  be 
the  following  :  Induction  telegraphy,  notes  on  further 
advance,  by  W.  H.  Prcece;  glow  lamps,  by  W.  II.  I'rctct: 


August  29,  1895] 


NA  rURE 


417 


modem  applications  of  electricity  to  traction,  by  P. 
Dawson  ;  the  chloride  battery,  by  \V.  H.  Earle  ;  exten- 
sion and  development  of  the  telephone  in  agricultural 
districts,  by  Major-General  Webber  ;  telephony,  by  A.  R. 
Hennett  ;  the  field  telegraph  in  Chitral  campaign,  by  P. 
v.  Luke  ;  a  new  portable  photometer,  by  W.  H.  Preece 
and  A.  P.  Trotter.  Tuesday,  17. —  Interim  report  of 
committee  on  standardising  ;  modern  flour-milling 
machinery,  by  F.  \V.  Turner  ;  paper-making  machinery, 
by  Mr.  Mason  ;  printing  without  use  of  movable  types, 
by  J.  Southward  ;  incandescent  gas  lamps,  by  C.  Cooke  ; 
B.A.  Standard  small  screws,  by  R.  B.  Compton  ;  uniform 
factor  of  safety  in  steam  boilers,  by  J.  Key. 

The  provisional  programmefor  Section  H  isasfollows: — ■ 
Thursday,  September  12. — Address  by  Prof.  Flinders 
Petrie  ;  skulls  of  the  aborigines  of  Jamaica,  by  Sir  W.  H. 
Flower  ;  skulls  of  the  Neolithic  invaders  of  Egypt,  by 
Dr.  J.  G.  Carson  ;  .Andamanese,  by  Morris  Portman  ; 
Neolithic  invaders  of  Egypt,  by  Prof.  Flinders  Petrie. 
Friday,  September  13. — Worked  flints  from  South  Africa, 
by  H.  W.  Seton  Karr  ;  flint  and  metal  working  in  Egypt, 
by  Prof  Flinders  Petrie  ;  flints  found  at  Thebes,  by  Gen. 
Pitt  Rivers  ;  plateau  flints  of  North  Kent,  by  B.  Harrison  ; 


A   SOUVENIR  OF  ''CHALLENGER"    WORK^ 

A  MEDAL  has  been  prepared  as  a  souvenir  of  the 
scientific  work  connected  with  the  Challenger  ex- 
pedition. The  medal,  which  is  in  bronze,  is  three  inches 
in  diameter,  and  was  modelled  by  Mr.  Birnie  Khind, 
sculptor,  from  designs  by  Mr.  William  S.  Black,  both  of 
Edinburgh.  It  was  cast  in  Paris,  and  is  being  presented 
by  Dr.  John  Murray  to  the  naval  oflicers  of  the  expedi- 
tion, the  contributors  of  memoirs  to  the  report  on  the 
scientific  results  of  the  expedition,  and  to  members  of 
the  civilian  scientific  stafli",  as  a  souvenir  of  Challenger 
work. 

The  accompanying  illustrations  have  been  reproduced 
from  two  photographs  of  the  casts  forwarded  to  us  by 
Mr.  Black,  and  show  the  two  sides  of  the  medal.  On 
the  front  of  the  medal,  the  head  of  Athena  with  owl 
occupies  the  centre,  and  is  placed  on  the  globe,  which 
in  turn  is  surrounded  by  a  border  of  water  indicating 
the  voyage  of  the  expedition  around  the  world.  Out  of 
the  water  rises  Neptune,  with  trident  and  a  trawl  dis- 
closing the  treasures  of  the  deep-sea.  The  decoration 
of  the  border  is  completed  with  a  dolphin  and  two  mer- 


graving  tools  from  terrace  gravels  of  the  Thames  valley, 
by  H.  Stopcs  ;  I'ala-olithic  projectiles,  by  the  same  ; 
megaliths  of  Tripoli,  by  Swainson  Cooper  ;  kitchen  mid- 
den at  Hastings  (report),  by  W.  J.  Lewis  Abbott. 
Saturday,  September  14. — North-west  tribes  of  Canada 
(report),  by  Prof  E.  B.  Tylor  ;  Samoyedes  of  the  Arctic 
tundras,  by  A.  Montefiore  ;  language  illustrating  primi- 
tive warfare,  by  Rev.  Hartwell  Jones  ;  ethnographical 
survey  (report),  by  E.  Sidney  Hanland  ;  deviations  of 
children  (report),  by  Dr.  Warner.  Monday,  September  16. 
• — Cannibalism,  by  Captain  Hinde  ;  folk-lore  of  Ipswich, 
by  Miss  Layard  ;  ethnographical  conclusions,  by  G. 
Laurence  Gomme  ;  general  conclusions,  by  Edward 
Clodd  ;  folk-lore  illustrated,  by  Prof  lladdon  ;  religious 
origin  of  dances,  by  Mrs.  Grove.  Tuesday,  .September  17. 
— On  interference  with  the  civilisation  of  other  races,  by 
Lord  Stanmore,  Prof  Douglas,  Prof  Haddon,  and  Dr.  R. 
N.  Cust,  and  letters  of  the  late  R.  L.  .Stevenson  ;  southern 
Arabians,  by  Theodore  Bent  ;  the  Eskimo,  by  F.  Linklater 
and  J.  A.  Fowler.  Wednesday,  September  18. — Lake 
village  of  (llastonburj-  (report),  by  Dr.  R.  Munro  ;  pre- 
historic tireek  idols,  by  .Arthur  Evans  ;  Neolithic  station 
of  Butniir,  by  Dr.  R.  ^iunro. 

NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


maids  supportmg  a  ribbon  with  tlic  words  "  X'oyage  of 
H.M.S.  Challenger,  1S72-1S76." 

The  back  of  the  medal  bears  the  crest  of  the  Challenger— 
a  mailed  warrior  throwing  down  the  gauntlet  to  Neptune, 
whose  trident  appears  above  the  waves.  This  central 
figure  is  surrounded  by  a  scroll  bearing  the  words, 
"  Report  on  the  Scientific  Results  of  the  Challenger  Ex- 
pedition, 1 886-1 895."  The  name  of  the  recipient  of 
each  medal  is  engraved  around  the  edge. 

It  is  hardly  necessarj'  to  say  that  the  medal  has  been 
very  inuch  appreciated,  and  appears  to  have  been  received 
with  special  satisfaction  by  foreign  contributors  to  the 
Challenger  Report,  who  regard  it  as  a  pleasing  recognition 
of  their  assistance  in  the  great  work  which  has  now  been 
completed. 


DR.  FRIEDRICH  W.  G.  SPORER. 

IN  a  recent  number  of  Nature  we  unfortunately  had 
to  record  the  loss  of  an  astronomer.  Dr.  Fricdrich 
Tietjcn,  who  devoted  himself  to  computation,' or,  we 
should  say,  to  that  branch  of  astronomy  which  deals  witb 


NA  TURE 


[August  29,  1895 


the  methods  of  calculation,  and  with  the  reduction  of  the 
observations  themselves. 

It  is  our  lot  to-day  to  say  a  few  words  about 
another  hard  worker  in  astronomical  science,  whose 
end  has  followed  too  soon  after  that  of  Dr.  Tietjen. 
This  devoted  student  of  astronomy  has  been  an  energetic 
obsener  in  the  same  degree  that  Dr.  Tietjen  was  an 
ardent  computer.  We  refer  to  Dr.  Fricdnch  Wilhelm 
Gustav  Sporer,  the  former  chief  assistant  of  the  Astro- 
Physical  Observatory  at  Potsdam,  and  who  died  on 
July  7  last. 

Dr.  Sp<)rerwas  bom  in  Berlin  on  October  23,  1S22,  and 
after  spending  some  time  at  the  Friedrich-Wilhelms  Gym- 
nasium, he  entered  the  University  of  Berlin,  making 
mathematics  and  astronomy  his  chief  studies.  On 
December  14,  1843,  he  gained  his  doctors  degree,  the 
subject  of  his  thesis  being  the  comet  of  1723.  In  the 
following  years  he  worked  under  Encke's  direction  at  the 
Berlin  Observatory',  and  in  1846,  after  having  made  his 
Staats  exam.,  went  as  a  teacher  of  mathematics  and 
natural  science  to  the  Gymnasium  at  Bromberg.  In  1847 
he  proceeded  to  Prenzlau,  and  two  years  later  to  Anclam, 
at  which  latter  place  he  taught  for  twenty-five  years,  and 
became  eventually  Pro-rector. 

It  was  during  liis  leisure  hours  there  that  Dr.  Sporer 
was  able  to  turn  his  attention  to  astronomical  observ- 
ations, his  instrumental  equipment  being  of  a  very  inferior 
kind.  Notwithstanding  this  hindrance,  he  was  able,  how- 
ever, by  great  diligence  and  perseverance,  to  make  useful 
obscr\-ations  with  regard  to  the  statistics  of  the  solar 
spots,  which  have  made  his  name  known  to  every  worker 
of  solar  physics.  Through  the  attention  of  Prof.  Schell- 
bach,  who  was  the  teacher  of  the  then  Crown  Prince 
Friedrich  Wilhelm,  afterwards  Kaiser  Friedrich,  Dr. 
Sporer  was  equipped  with  a  good  5-inch  telescope,  with 
which  he  continued  to  make  his  solar  observations  by 
the  known  method  of  projection.  His  .\nclam  observ- 
ations appeared  from  time  to  time  in  numerous  articles 
contributed  to  the  Astronomisclicn  Nac/iric/iten,  and  also 
in  two  larger  papers  which  came  out  in  the  years  1874 
and  1876  in  the  Publicatiorwn  dcr  Astronomisclicn  Gcscll- 
schaft.  The  chief  value  of  these  pieces  of  work  lies  in 
the  careful  determination  of  the  elements  of  rotation  of 
the  sun,  and  also  in  the  more  accurate  settlement  of  the 
then  empirically  known  law  of  Carrington,  namely,  the 
decrease  in  the  velocity  of  rotation  of  the  sun-spots 
according  to  increase  of  solar  latitude. 

In  the  year  1868,  accompanied  by  Prof.  Tietjen  and 
Dr.  Engcimann,  Dr.  Sporer  took  part  in  the  astronomical 
expedition  to  observe  the  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  visible 
in  the  East  Indies.  Six  years  later  (1874;  he  received 
the  appointment  as  observer  at  the  Potsdam  Astro- 
Physical  Observatory,  and  in  the  same  year  continued 
his  solar  observations  from  the  top  of  the  tower  of  the 
.Military  Orphan  Asylum,  until  the  completion  of  the 
obscr\ator)'. 

There  Dr.  Sporer,  with  untiring  energy  and  with  the 
same  ardour  that  he  displayed  m  .\nclam,  did  a  great 
amount  of  work  in  collcctmg  data  on  the  subject  of  sun- 
spots.  The  publications  of  the  Astro- Physical  Observ- 
atory 'years  1879-1894}  contain  four  valuable  papers  by 
him,  giving  a  rich  quantity  of  accurate  observations  that 
will  remain  a  classical  work  for  the  study  of  the  proper 
motion  of  the  solar  spots. 

In  1882  Dr.  Sporer  became  chief  assistant,  and  tliis 
position  he  held  until  October  1894,  when  he  retired  for 
a  wtllearncd  rest. 

From  Dr.  Sporcr's  observations  of  solar  spots,  the  most 
important  deductions  that  have  been  made  may  be 
^ummed  up  as  follows  :— 

(i)  That  the  period  of  rotation  of  the  apparent  surface 
of  the  »un   about   the  axis,  is  not  the   same  for  every 
|>art. 
(2)  That  the  velocity  of  the  spots  is  greater  nearer  the 

NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


equator  than  further  away  from  it,  and  that  this  velocity 
can  be  approximately  represented  by  a  formula. 

(3)  That  the  variation  in  latitude  is  periodical,  and  that 
there  are  two  series  of  spots.  We  learn  thus  that  the  true 
sun-spot  cycle  is  one  extending  over  twelve  to  fourteen 
years,  and  that  another  begins  in  high  latitudes  before 
the  former  has  ceased. 

(4)  His  observations  of  the  quantity  of  spotted  area 
between  the  years  1 856- 18S0,  show  a  length  of  period 
of  eleven  years,  this  being  the  time  between  two  consecu- 
tive maxima. 

The  maximum  is  reached  when  the  mean  latitude  of 
the  spots  is  about  16"  north  and  south.  .A  retreat  then 
takes  place  from  about  30'  to  16',  that  is,  14"  in  four  years, 
and  a  further  retreat  fro:n  16^  to  S",  that  is,  S'  in  eight 
years  ;  or,  in  other  words,  we  get  a  change  of  latitude  of 
over  3"  a  year  to  begin  with,  and  one  of  \'  a  year  to  end 
with. 

Such  results  as  these,  which  have  here  only  been  briefly 
summarised,  are  of  fundamental  importance,  and  form 
valuable  data  for  those  attempting  to  in\  estigate  the  con- 
ditions of  atmospheric  circulation  at  the  surface  of  our 
sun.  Since  the  observations  have  been  made  consecutively 
by  such  a  diligent  observer,  and  extend  over  a  consider- 
able period  of  time,  they  are  strictly  of  a  uniform  nature, 
and  in  consequence  they  are  comparable  inter  sc. 

Happy  in  his  work,  and  endowed  with  a  strong  con 
stitution.  Dr.  Sporer  was  free  from  the  ailings  of  old  age 
up  to  his  last  day.  It  was  when  on  a  journey  to  visit  his 
children  that  he  was  suddenly  seized  with  paralysis  of  the 
heart,  without  ever  having  had  any  previous  sign  of  illness, 
and  died  quietly  and  without  pain. 

His  loss  not  only  aftccts  the  astronomical  world,  but 
his  large  circle  of  friends,  all  of  whom  will  mourn 
deeply  such  a  sudden  and  unexpected  bereavement. 

W.  J.  S.  L. 


NOTES. 

Co.NSlDERABl.E  .nctivity  has  been  displayed  at  the  Plymoulh 
laboratory  of  the  Marine  Biological  Association  during  the 
present  summer,  and  general  satisfaction  has  been  experienced 
by  the  naturalists  who  have  visited  the  station  for  the  purpose  of 
research.  Progress  has  been  made  with  the  series  of  dredging 
operations  in  the  outlying  grounds  of  the  neighl)ourhood.  The 
unsettled  weather  of  the  past  two  months  has  been  a  somewhat 
unfavourable  condition  in  these  expeditions ;  but  it  is  expected 
that  these  operations  may  be  carried  on  regularly  and  with 
increased  success  during  the  autumn  months.  The  following 
naturalists  have  occupied  tables  at  the  laboratory  during  the 
summer:  Prof.  Weldon,  F.R.S.,  Mr.  G.  P.  Bidder,  Mr.  W. 
Garstang,  Mr.  T.  II.  Riches,  Dr.  Albrecht  Bethe,  Mr.  \V.  J. 
Beaumont,  Mr.  Gilchrist,  and  others. 

A  WEI.L-.MARKED  earthquake  disturbance  was  fell  at  Zcrmatl 
on  Wednesday,  .Vugust  21.     Many  houses  were  severely  shaken. 

Amo.nc  the  deaths  of  eminent  scientific  men  abroad,  we 
notice  the  name  of  Dr.  I''.  Hoppe-Seyler,  professor  of  physio- 
logical chemistry  in  Strassljurg  University,  and  also  that  of  Dr. 
S.  Moos,  professor  of  otology  in  Heidelberg  University. 

We  regret  to  record  the  death  of  Dr.  J.  S.  Brislowe,  F.K.S., 
whose  work  on  the  "Theory  and  Practice  of  Medicine"  is 
recognised  as  a  classic,  while  his  other  contributions  to  scientific 
literature  give  him  a  high  place  among  medical  worthies.  Dr. 
Brisl(jwc  had  fdled  the  offices  of  President  of  the  Me.lical 
Society,  of  the  Pathological  Society,  and  of  the  Neurological 
Society.  Me  was  elected  into  the  Royal  Society  in  June 
1881. 


August  29,  1895] 


NA  TORE 


419 


The  Assistant  Clerk  to  the  Geological  Society,  Mr.  F.  E. 
Brown,  died  suddenly  on  Sunday,  August  4.  The  Society  loses 
in  him  an  invaluable  official,  who  was  ever  rigid  in  the  exact 
performance  of  all  his  duties,  and  combined  with  strict  business- 
like habits  a  courtesy  and  patience  which  endeared  him  to  his 
colleagues  and  to  the  Fpllows  generally. 

The  eleventh  Congress  of  Americanists  will  be  held  in  the 
City  of  Mexico,  on  October  15-20.  The  meeting  has  for  its 
principal  object  the  progress  of  ethnographical,  linguistic,  and 
historical  studies  of  the  two  Americas,  especially  with  reference 
to  the  period  prior  to  the  discovery  of  the  New  World.  Among 
the  matters  which  w-ill  be  discussed  at  the  forthcoming  gather- 
ing are  the  following  : — The  relations  existing  between  different 
American  peoples  before  the  discovery  ;  maps  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  Oceans  in  the  sixteenth  century ;  medical  natural 
history  of  the  Ancient  Mexicans  ;  public  instruction  in  Mexico 
in  early  times,  and  from  the  conquest  o£  Mexico,  to.  the  middle  of 
the  sixteenth  century  ;  mines  and  metalhirgy  before  the  conquest 
of  Mexico  ;  interpretation  of  the  symbolic  dances  of  the  Azetics  ; 
diflerent  forms  of  arrows  and  their  use  among  the  natives  of 
Central  America  ;  recent  researches  with  regard  to  the  first 
appearance  of  man  in  America;  relationships  between  the 
I^squimaux  and  other  native  races  of  North  ..America ;  pre- 
historic man  in  Mexico  ;  the  stone  carvings  in  Central  America  ; 
the  pottery  of  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica  ;  the  chronological 
classification  of  the  monuments  of  Mexico  and  Central  America  ; 
the  human  inhabitants  of  caves  and  grottos  ;  Indian  hieroglyphics  ; 
names  of  animals  in  the  native  languages  of  Central  America  ; 
the  decipherment  and  comparison  of  the  hieroglyphics  of 
ancient  races  of  Mexico  ;  the  use  of  hieroglyphic  writing  since 
the  conquest  of  Mexico,  and  the  importance  of  its  study  in 
connection  with  the  Mexican  and  Mayan  languages.  The 
President  of  the  Congress  is  Sr.  J.  Baranda,  and  the  Secretar)', 
Sr.  T.  S.  Santos,  to  whom  all  memoirs  and  other  communications 
should  be  addressed  at  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  Mexico. 

Dl'RiNG  the  latter  part  of  last  week  the  area  of  high 
barometric  pressure  that  had  prevailed  over  the  greater  part  of 
the  British  Islands  gave  way  to  small  disturbances,  which  either 
approached  from  the  Atlantic,  or  were  formed  immediately  over 
this  country,  causing  severe  thunderstorms  over  England  and 
Ireland,  while  lightning  was  also  visible  in  Scotland.  In  the 
storm  of  Thursday  night  (22nd  inst.)  the  lightning  was 
extremely  brilliant  in  London,  the  (lashes  during  part  of  the 
time  being  almost  continuous.  Considerable  quantities  of  rain 
fell  in  many  localities,  and  in  some  of  the  English  districts  much 
damage  was  done  by  hail. 

The  problem  solved  by  Edison's  kinetoscope  has  been  suc- 
cessfully attacked  along  a  different  line  by  MM.  A.  and  L. 
I.umicrc.  Tlie  film  which  in  the  kinetoscope  takes  the  impres- 
sions of  moving  objects  is  passed  before  the  eye  with  a  con- 
tinuous motion,  and  it  is  only  illuminated  for  about  a  70cioth  of 
a  second  at  the  instant  at  which  each  successive  picture  is  fully 
in  view.  Hence  the  total  illumination  is  exceedingly  feeble. 
A  very  bright  object  is  necessary  ;  the  eye  has  to  be  brought 
close  to  the  moving  film,  and  the  number  of  impressions  per 
.second  must  be  at  least  thirty  in  order  to  give  continuity. 
MM.  I-umiere's  "  kinematograph,"  which  is  not  subject  to  the.se 
disadvantages,  is  described  in  the  Revue  Gdiierak  des  Sciences. 
The  principal  features  of  this  instrument  arc  a  mechanism 
whereby  the  film  is  at  rest  during  illumination,  and  an  arrange- 
ment for  projecting  the  images  upon  a  screen,  so  as  to  be  visible 
to  a  large  meeting.  Under  these  circumstances,  fifteen  images 
per  second  are  all  that  is  necessary.  The  film  is  at  rest  for 
two-thirds  of  the  time  of  passage  of  each  image.  During  the 
remaining  third  the  film  is  grasped  and  pulled  forward  as  far  as  I 
NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


the  next  image  by  a  set  of  teeth  attached  to  a  frame  whose 
motion  is  governed  by  a  cam  worked  by  a  revolving  handle. 
The  same  apparatus  also  serves  as  a  camera  for  taking  the 
photographs,  and  for  printing  transparencies  from  the  negative 
film.  For  this  purpose  two  films  are  passed  over  the  rollers, 
the  negative  and  the  film  to  be  printed  on,  and  exposure  is 
made  for  a  very  short  time  as  each  negative  image  is  placed  in 
the  field.  An  exhibition  was  given  on  July  1 1,  at  the  offices  of 
the  Revue  Ginerale  des  Sciences.,  at  which  the  evolutions  of 
cuirassiers,  a  house  on  fire,  a  factory,  street  scenes,  and  a  dinner- 
party were  shown  on  the  screen,  and  were  much  admired. 

A  NU.MBER  of  observations  referring  to  a  shower  of  dust  in 
connection  with  snow  in  Indiana  and  Kentucky,  are  brought 
together  and  discussed  in  the  Monthly  IVeat/ter  Review.  The 
dust  does  not  appear  to  have  been  the  nuclei  of  snow  flakes,  but 
was  intermingled  in  the  air  with  the  snow,  and  fell  during  an 
interval  between  two  snow-storms.  An  examination  of  numerous 
samples  showed  that  the  dust  was  made  up  largely  of  silt,  mixed 
with  organic  matter.  A  number  of  freshwater  algie  were  dis- 
tinguished, though  they  appear  to  have  been  dead  and  dried  for 
some  time.  There  were  also  groups  of  diatoms,  fiingi,  animal 
and  plant  hairs,  fibres  of  grasses,  shreds  of  woody  tissue  of  some 
shrub  or  tree,  and  many  other  objects  in  the  samples  examined. 
Everything  indicated  that  the  material  came  from  the  bottom  of 
some  dried-up  lake,  pond,  or  marsh,  or  some  river-bottom.  To 
afford  information  upon  the  belief  that  this  fine  material  is  very 
valuable  as  a  fertiliser,  an  examination  of  the  dust  was  made 
from  that  point  of  view.  The  analyses  showed  that  the  material 
is  no  better  fertiliser  than  any  other  good  surface  soil.  The  dust 
was  almost  identical  with  the  .so-called  "  loess"  formation, 
which  covers  very  extensive  areas  in  Illinois,  Indiana, 
Nebraska,  and  other  adjoining  States ;  its  de|ith  in  some 
places  amounting  to  a  hundred  feet  or  more.  This  is  interest- 
ing, because  there  is  a  long-standing  controversy  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  loess  formation  of  the  North-west.  Certain 
portions  of  the  loess  formation  of  Asia  are  known  to  be  wind 
deposits,  and  there  is  very  strong  presumptive  evidence,  now 
borne  out  by  the  examination  of  the  samples  of  dust,  that  much 
of  the  loess  of  the  Western  States  is  also  a  wind  deposit. 
Special  interest  is  thus  attached  to  the  dust-storm  referred  to,  on 
account  of  the  bearing  of  the  observations  on  the  question  of 
the  formation  of  agricultural  soils,  and  especially  the  loess,  which 
is  the  lightest  and  finest  of  all.  This  light  soil  is  easily  raised 
and  carried  by  the  strong  winds  of  the  western  plains  of 
America  :  instances  have  occurred  in  which  six  inches  of  surface 
soil  have  been  blown  away  from  freshly  cultivated  fields  in  the 
course  of  a  single  wind-storm.  Prof.  Cleveland  Abbe  is  of  the 
opinion  that  the  dust  caught  between  the  two  layers  of  snow  in 
Indiana,  probably  did  not  differ  materially  from  that  which  is 
daily  present  in  the  atmosphere  of  that  region,  but  its  presence 
on  the  top  of  a  layer  of  snow  rendered  it  ea.sy  to  gather  the 
du.st-fall  without  contamination  with  the  soil  already  existing. 
So  this  dust  formation,  or  loess,  when  it  has  once  settled  upon 
the  ordinary  soils,  Ijecomes  a  new  ingredient  in  their  composition, 
and  is  therefore  well  worth  further  study. 

A  USEI-'UL  bulletin,  on  the  pasteurisation  of  milk  and  cream 
for  direct  consumption,  has  been  issued  from  the  Agricultural 
Experiment  Station  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin.  It  is 
drawn  up  by  Dr.  II.  L.  Russell,  the  b.acteriologist  attached  to 
the  station,  and  contains  much  interesting  matter.  There  can  be 
no  doubt  whatever  that  the  pasteurisation  of  milk  is  a  most  im- 
portant hygienic  measure,  destroying  as  it  does  an  average  of 
about  997  per  cent  of  the  microbes  present  in  milk,  amongst 
which  are  the  diphtheria  and  typhoid  microbes,  as  well  as  those 
organisms  associated  with  gastric  and  intestinal  disturbances  so 
common  in  young   infants  during  the  sunnner.     It   is  claimed 


420 


NATURE 


[August  29,  1895 


that  the  introduction  of  (jasteurised  milk  among  the  poor  people 
of  New  York,  through  the  philanthropic  efforts  of  Mr.  Nathan 
Straus,  has  done  much  to  reduce  the  infant  mortalit)-  in  that  city 
during  the  hot  summer  months.  The  practical  side  of  the 
<juestion  has  not  been  lost  sight  of  by  Dr.  Russell,  and  the 
results  of  his  experiments  on  the  efficient  production  and 
distribution  of  pasteurised  milk  on  a  commercial  scale  are  care- 
fully brought  together.  The  subject  is  one  of  great  importance, 
both  from  a  hygienic  as  well  as  commercial  point  of  \iew, 
and  we  may  surely  hope  that  before  long  our  dairy  authorities 
will  take  the  matter  up,  and  that  we  shall  follow,  though  tardily, 
the  example  already  set  us  by  our  neighbours  in  France  and 
Germany,  « here  pasteurised  milk  may  be  purchased  across  the 
.counter. 

The  volume  of  "British  Rainfall"  for  1894,  compiled  by 
Mr.  G.  J.  S)Tnons  and  Mr.  H.  Sowerby  Wallis,  from  observa- 
tions made  at  more  than  three  thousand  stations  in  the  British 
Isles,  has  just  been  published.  As  in  previous  years,  the  volume 
contains  articles  upon  various  branches  of  rainfall  work,  and 
upon  rainfalls  of  exceptional  interesL 

Dr.  Th.  Woi.f  has  contributed  to  the  Verhandlungeii  der 
Geseltschaft  fiir  Erdkunde  :«  Berlin  (Bd.  xxii.  Nos.  4  and  5, 
1895,  pp.  246-265,  pi.  iii.)  a  detailed  sketch  of  the  Galapagos 
Islands,  describing  their  geolog)-,  in  some  detail,  with  shorter 
.accounts  of  the  botany  and  zoolog}-.  He  denies  that  there  are 
any  grounds  for  Dr.  Baur's  iheor)-  that  the  islands  were  once 
<:onnected  with  the  mainland  of  South  America. 

We  have  on  our  table  the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural 
and  Commercial  Society  of  British  Guiana,  containing  two 
papers  of  scientific  interest,  viz.  "Cane  Cultivation  in  the 
Straits  Settlements,"  by  Mr.  Y.  Campcn,  and  "  A  Journey  to 
the  .Summit  of  Roraima."  by  Mr.  J.  J.  Quelch  ;  also  ihe  Journal 
of  the  Institute  of  Jamaica,  which,  though  mostly  taken  up  with 
matters  of  historical  interest,  contains  several  notes  on  local 
natural  history  topics,  and  a  note  on  the  discover)'  of  aboriginal 
Indian  remains  in  the  Port  Royal  Mountains,  already  described 
in  these  columns  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Duerden  (p.  173). 

The  report  of  the  Royal  Prussian  Meteorological  Institute  for 
the  year  1894  draws  attention  to  two  points  :  the  completion  of 
the  arrangements  for  magnetic  observations  at  the  Potsdam 
■Obser\ator)',  and  the  conclusion  of  a  number  of  balloon  ascents 
made  during  the  year.  The  results  of  these  ascents  will  be  made 
the  subject  of  a  s|>ecial  investigation  ;  one  of  the  l)alloons,  sent 
up  with  registering  instruments  only,  reached  an  altitude  of  over 
sixty  thousand  feet.  The  report  shows  that  many  important 
publications  have  liccn  issued,  lioth  officially,  and  in  various 
periodicals,  by  mcmlwrs  of  the  staff;  some  of  these  papers  have 
hcen  noticed  in  our  columns.  The  laboratory  experiments  carried 
on  by  the  Institute  arc  of  a  high  order,  and  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  scientific  men  in  various  countries. 

The  Royal  Horticultural  Society's /oi/vwrt/ for  August  has  in 
it  several  important  (lapcrs.  There  is  a  re|>ort  of  the  Primula 
Conference,  held  a  short  time  back  with  the  idea  of  increasing 
and  improving  the  culture  of  the  various  species  of  Primula  by 
pr<icuring  new  plants  from  remote  regions ;  by  practising  the 
mf«t  successful  methods  of  culture  ;  and  by  producing  hybrids. 
A  pa|>cr  on  the  botanical  work  done  on  the  genus  Primula  since 
the  last  conference  in  1886  was  contributed  by  Mr.  J.  G. 
Baker,  l-'.K.S.,  and  thi.i  is  printed  with  one  on  the  culture  and 
.cla.«(ificatinn  of  Primulas,  by  Mr.  H.  .Sclfc- Leonard ,  and  another 
on  Ihc  Auricula,  by  Mr.  J.  Douglas.  Among  the  other  pajiers 
in  Ihc  foiirnal,  we  notice  a  long  and  very  valuable  description 
■of  the  plants  and  gardens  of  the  Canary  Isles,  by  Dr.  Morris, 

NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


C.  M.G.,  and  a   paper  on  the  culture  of  roses  under  glass,  by 
Mr.  F.  Cant. 

Dr.  K.  Sapper  has  supplemented  his  recent  memoir,  "  Bemer- 
kungen  liber  die  raiimliche  \'erteilung  und  morphologischen 
Eigentiimlichkeiten  der  Vulkane  Guatemalas"  (Zcit.  dcut.gcol. 
Gcr.,  Bd.  xlv.  1S93),  by  a  further  account  of  the  topography  of 
some  of  the  less-known  volcanos.  {Petermann  s  Milth.  Bd. 
xli.  No.  s,  1S95,  pp.  105-109,  pi.  sn.)  In  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  volcanos  of  Guatemala  have  been  repeatedly  examined 
during  the  last  half-century,  and  described  in  Dollfus  and 
Montserrat's  classical  work,  many  of  them  were  almost  unknown. 
Dr.  Sapper  now  describes  the  volcanos  of  Acalenango,  3950  m. , 
which  consists  of  five  craters  in  line  ;  San  Pedro,  3050m. ,  on  whicli 
no  trace  of  recent  volcanic  action  remains,  for  the  mountain  is 
wooded  to  the  summit,  and  the  crater  has  been  destroyed  ;  and  a 
group  of  western  volcanos.  He  was  anxious  to  explore  the 
previously  unknown  Lacandon,  which  if  proved  to  be  volcanic 
would  fill  uj)  a  gap  in  the  chain.  He  was  unable  to  ascend  the 
mountain,  but  saw  sufficient  to  render  it  almost  certain  that 
Lacandon  is  a  volcano  of  the  first  order. 

The  Madras  Government  Museum  is,  to  judge  from  the 
Administration  Report  for  the  year  1894-95,  a  very  progressive 
institution.  Mr.  Edgar  Thurston,  the  superintendent,  appears 
to  be  sparing  no  efforts  to  make  the  museum  more  valuable  for 
educational  purposes,  and  for  reference  ip  connection  with 
natural  history,  economic,  and  other  subjects,  and  also  more 
attractive  to  the  ordinary  sight-seer.  The  increase  in  the 
number  of  visitors  to  the  museum  during  the  year — ^from  311,112 
to  368,282 — shows  that  his  efforts  are  appreciated.  We  notice 
with  interest,  that  an  entirely  new  departure  was  made,  during 
the  year  covered  by  the  report,  by  the  commencement  of  a 
detailed  anthropological  survey  of  the  races,  cistes,  and  tribes 
which  inhabit  Southern  India.  The  Mailras  Goverimient 
express  in  the  report  their  satisfaction  that  the  survey  has  been 
set  on  foot.  Mr.  Thurston  has  already  collected  sutlicient 
evidence  to  make  it  clear  that  his  investigation  will  prove  of 
great  interest  and  value. 

When  Mr.  Alfred  Daniell's  "Text-Book  of  the  Principles  of 
Physics"  (Macmillan)  appeared,  eleven  years  ago,  it  was  at  once 
hailed  as  an  original  work,  and  a  decided  acquisition  to  the 
literature  of  physics.  The  third  edition,  which  is  now  before 
us,  maintains  the  characteristics  of  the  original  issue.  At  the 
time  when  the  work  w.is  designed,  it  was  possible  for  a  medical 
student  to  obtain  the  degre-  of  Doctor  of  Medicine  without  any 
.adequate  knowledge  of  physics.  "That  arrangement,"  Mr. 
Daniell  then  wrote,  "is  self-evident ly  opposed  to  common- 
sense,  and  to  the  exigencies  of  physiological  study  anil  of  medical 
practice  ;  such  an  anomaly  cannot,  it  may  be  anticip.ated,  endure 
much  longer.  Before  many  years  are  over,  it  will  be  universally 
acknowledged  in  practice,  as  it  alre.idy  is  in  theory,  that  Unnw - 
ledge  of  natural  philosophy  is  an  essential  part  of  the  menlul 
equipment  of  the  medical  student  and  of  the  properly-traimil 
medical  man."  It  is  satisfactory  to  be  able  to  record  that  .Mi. 
Daniell's  prognostication  was  fulfilled  in  1892,  when  the  new 
regulations  of  the  General  Medical  Council  came  into  force,  and 
it  is  also  gratifying  to  know  that  medicine  is  every  day  becoming 
more  truly  scientific  in  its  methods  and  objects.  Mr.  Daniell's 
work  is  by  no  means  only  suited  for  a  medical  cla.ss-room  ;  it  is 
alike  useful  to  all  students  of  science.  The  leading  principles  of 
physical  science  are  set  forth  in  the  pages  of  the  book  in 
language  the  precision  and  accuracy  of  which  make  the  volume 
welcome  to  all  who  study  physics. 

We  have  received  from  the  Deutsche  Seewarle  the  first  .sup- 
plement to  the  princijial  catalogue  of  its  valuable  library,  which 
now  contains  some  seventeen  thousand  works  relating  to  mcteoro- 


August  29,  1895] 


NATURE 


421 


logical  and  kindred  sciences,  and  includes  the  important  collec- 
tion of  the  late  I'rof.  II.  Dove.  It  is  arranged  under  subjects, 
with  the  titles  under  each  entered  according  to  authors  or 
institutions,  while  an  alphabetical  index  at  the  end  facilitates 
the  reference  to  the  subject  catalogue.  Opinions  differ  as  to  the 
best  method  of  publishing  such  a  work,  the  strictly  alphabetical 
arrangement,  such  as  followed  by  Prof.  G.  Mellmann  in  his 
excellent  Repertorium  der  Deutsche)!  Meteorologie ,  or  the  Royal 
Society's  catalogue  of  scientific  papers,  possesses  great  advan- 
tages, and  obviates  the  necessity  of  indexing  one  book  under 
several  sections  ;  but  as  the  Seewarte  originally  adopted  another 
method,  it  has  perhaps  done  well  to  keep  to  the  same  plan,  and 
has  rendered  good  service  to  science  by  its  careful  preparation 
and  timely  publication  of  the  catalogue.  The  first  part  was  issued 
in  the  year  1890. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Rhesus  Monkey  (Macacus  rhesus,  i ) 
from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  Hugh  H.  CoUis ;  a  Macaque 
Monkey  (Mtuacus  cynoinolgiis,  i  )  from  India,  presented  by  Mr. 
E.  Laundy  ;  a  Vervet  Monkey  (Cercopitheciis  lalaiidii,  9  )  from 
South  Africa,  presented  by  Mrs.  Edward  Webb  ;  two  Brown 
Capuchins  [Cebus  faliielliis)  from  Guiana,  presented  by  Major 
W.  S.  D.  Liardet ;  two  Black-eared  Marmosets  (Hapale 
iienicillala)  from  South-east  Brazil,  presented  by  Mrs.  H.  V. 
Friend  ;  a  Suricate  (Stiricata  tetradactyla)  from  South  Africa, 
presented  by  Mr.  J.  Lewis ;  a  Purple-capped  Lorj'  (Loriiis 
domicella)  from  Moluccas,  presented  by  Mr.  T.  Bailey ;  two 
Tarantula  Spiders  (^la^'^'^'''^'  ^P-  ™'^-)  from  Trinidad,  presented 
by  Mr.  J.  Hoadley  ;  six  Grey  Parrots  (Psillcuus  erithacus)  from 
West  Africa,  deposited  ;  a  Collared  Fruit  Bat  (Cynonycteris 
(ollaris),  a  Vpecha  Rail  (Aramides  ypecaha),  bred  in  the 
Gardens. 


OUR   ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Reappearance    of     Swift's    Comet.— The    Edinburgh 

Circular,  No.  44,  publishes  a  telegram  from  Kiel  announcing  that 

Comet  Swift  was  seen  by  Mr.  E.  E.  Barnard,  at  the  Lick  Observ- 

Ttory,  on  the  20th  and  21st  inst.   The  comet  is  described  as  faint, 

nd  its  position  and  daily  motion  are  given  as  follows  : — 


Local  Mean  Time, 
h.     m. 
1895,  August  21,  II  237 
Daily  Motion 


o  30 

+  2  i 


1-4. 


Decl. 

+  53855 

+      10 


The  Latitude  VARtATiON  Tide. — One  of  the  most  interest- 
ing outcomes  of  the  recognition  of  the  variability  of  the  earth's 
axis  of  rotation  has  been  the  search  for  the  tide,  corresponding 
to  the  latitude  variation.  The  separation  of  the  axis  of  rotation 
from  the  axis  of  figure  must  cause  at  any  point  on  the  earth's 
-urface  successive  divergences  of  the  sea-level,  from  that  which 
would  exist  if  the  figure  of  the  earth  remained  a  fixed  ellipsoid 
of  revolution.  This  consicleration  naturally  led  to  the  inquiry 
whether  a  small  oscillation  in  the  mean  sea-level  could  be  actually 
■detected,  bavins;  the  same  ])eriod  as  the  displacement  of  the 
pole.  The  earliest  results  published  were  those  obtained  by 
Dr.  Bakhuyzen  (Astr.  A'aek.  No.  3261),  who  used  the  tidal 
observations  for  the  years  1855  to  1892,  registered  on  a  mareo- 
graph  at  the  Helder,  and  these  results  showed  a  satisfactory 
agreement  with  those  deduced  from  astronomical  observations. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  A..  S.  Christie  has  been  at  work  on  the 
records  made  at  the  United  States  Coast  Survey  mareograph 
stations,  and  his  results,  embodied  in  a  paper  read  before  the 
Philosophical  Society  of  Washington,  are  now  before  us.  The 
paper  is  divided  into  two  sections,  the  first  of  which  is  devoted 
to  the  derivation  of  the  formuhv  necessar)'  for  the  elimination  of 
the  effects  of  other  tides,  and  the  second  contains  the  results  of 
the  application  of  these  formul.-e. 

The  observations  employed  are  obtained  from  two  series,  made 
at  stations  in  the  vicinity  of  San  l-'rancisco,  namely,  at  Fort 
Point  (1856-70)  and  Sausalito  (1877-91).  Mr.  Christie  has 
also  used  a  similar  series   made  at   I'ulpit   Harbour,  Penobscot 

NO.    1348,   VOL.   52] 


Bay,  Maine  (1870-SS).  It  will  be  sufficient  to  give  here  the 
final  result  arrived  at  by  combining  the  results  at  San  Francisco 
and  Pulpit  Harbour.  The  period  deduced  is  431  ±4  days,  and 
the  value  of  the  half-range  tide  is  15  ±  2  mm.  ;  while  the  dates 
at  which  the  critical  phases  of  the  tide  occurred  are  : — 

San  Francisco.  Pulpit  Harbour. 

Min. ,  1872,  July  15  +  15  days  ...  1878,  .\ugust  22  +  10  days. 
Max.,  1873,  Feb.  15  ±  15    ,,     ...  1879,  March  25  ±  10     ,, 

Dr.  Bakhuyren's  value  of  the  half-range  is  8'2  mm.,  a  result 
that  does  not  differ  greatly  from  the  mean  here  given,  15  mm., 
or  from  either  of  the  two  results,  17-4  mm.  and  I2"5  mm.,  on 
which  this  value  rests. 

Reduced  to  the  latitude  of  Berlin,  we  have  another  com- 
parison between  the  investigations  of  the  .-Vmerican  and  Dutch 
astronomers,  and  the  results  are  still  fairly  satisfactory,  as  shown 
below  : — 

fulian  Date  of  Maximum  Latitude  of  Berlin. 

Bakhuyzen,  from  astronomical  observations  2405 141  Julian 

,,  from  discussion  of  Helder  tides    ...  201 

Christie,        from  San  Francisco  tides   ...         ...   153+16 

It  seems  possible,  therefore,  that  this  difficult  question  of  the 
motion  of  the  earth's  pole  may  be  attacked  by  two  quite  separate 
processes. 

The  Solar  Parallax  from  Mars  Observatio.vs. — With 
the  view  of  making  a  new  and  trustworthy  determination  of  the 
solar  parallax,  a  scheme  was  suggested  in  1892  by  the  authorities 
of  the  Washington  Observator)'  for  the  observation  of  the  differ- 
ence of  declination  at  the  time  of  meridian  passage  between 
Mars  and  a  number  of  selected  stars.  The  horizontal  equatorial 
parallax  of  Mars  reached  in  that  year  a  maximum  of  23"'4,  a 
sufficiently  favourable  condition,  though  the  small  altitude  of 
the  planet  in  the  northern  observatories  was  likely  to  introduce 
considerable  uncertainty  in  the  amount  of  refraction.  Among 
the  observatories  that  replied  to  the  invitation  of  Washington  to 
take  part  in  this  scheme  are  those  of  Gotha  and  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope.  The  result  of  the  combination  of  the  two  sets  of  observations 
has  recently  been  published  by  Dr.  Paul  Harzer,  and  areof  especial 
interest,  since  Gotha  lies  nearly  on  the  northern  limit  of  the 
region  in  which  observations  of  Mars  could  be  made  with 
sufficient  accuracy. 

It  was  a  part  of  the  original  suggestion — to  which  some  ex- 
ception was  taken  at  the  time — that  in  addition  to  the  method 
of  fixing  the  declination  of  the  centre  of  Mars  by  the  employ- 
ment of  a  pair  of  wires,  separated  by  about  16"  to  cut  off  equal 
segments  from  the  northern  and  southern  limbs  of  the  disc,  a 
reflecting  prism  should  be  mounted  outside  the  eyepiece,  and 
that  half  the  observations  should  be  made  with,  and  half  with- 
out the  use  of  this  additional  apparatus.  The  result  of  the  pre- 
caution is  shown  in  the  following  figures,  in  the  case  of  the  two 
observers  who  look  part  in  the  series  : — 


Mars  stars 
Mars 


Dr.  H.-uzer. 

+  0-253 +  0-039 
-0-270  +  0091 


Dr.  Rohrbach. 

-o'3S3+o'i29 
-o-523±o-262 


These  figures  imply  that  Dr.  Harzer  placed  the  stars  too  low 
and  the  planet  too  high  with  reference  to  the  threads,  Dr. 
Rohrbach,  in  both  cases,  too  high. 

The  observations  were  continued  fi-om  June  22  to  September 
23,  and  when  combined  in  three  groups,  formed  on  the  assump- 
tion that  the  error  of  the  ephemeris  is  constant  throughout  each 
group,  the  resulting  values  of  the  solar  parallax  are — 


Group 


I. 

IL 

IIL 


IT  =  8-680+0081 
=  8-890+0-089 
=  8-828+0-065 
or  combined  into  one,  ir  =  8"-799+o"-044. 

The  complete  combination  of  the  whole  series  formed  into 
20  normal  places,  and  in  which  the  [xjssible  variation  of  the 
error  of  the  ephemeris  is  also  sought,  gives  ir  =8"'8oo±o"-039, 
and  the  value  of  di  is  expressed  in  the  form 


rfS 


_  -  i"-i47  +  o"-28S/ 


where /and  A     are  reckoned  from  August  7-000,  and  the  unit ''or 
/  is  50  days. 


4^- 


NATURE 


[August  29,  1S95 


THE  SUN'S  PLACE   IN  NATURES 
X. 

The  New  Classification  of  the  Stars. 

T    NOW  pais  to  the  new  classification  of  stars  which  has  been 
suggested  by  the  totalitj-  of  the  facts  which  I  have  so  far 
brought  before  you. 

Although  the  first  obser\-ations  of  stellar  spectra  were  made  by 
Fraunhofer,  we  owe  to  Rutherfurd  the  first  attempt  at  clarifi- 
cation.    In  December  1862  he  wrote  as  follows  :- 

"  The  star  s)>ectra  present  such  varieties  that  it  is  difficult  to 
point  out  any  motle  of  classification.  For  the  present  I  divide 
them  into  three  groups.  First,  th<ise  ha\-ing  many  lines  and 
hands  and  most  nearly  resembling  the  Sun,  viz.  Capella, 
R  Geminorum,  a  Ononis,  Aldcbaran,  7  Leonis,  Arcturus,  and 
a  Pegasi.  These  are  all  reddish  or  golden  stars.  The  second 
group,  of  which  Sirius  is  the  type,  presents  spectra  wholly  un- 
like that  of  the  Sun,  and  are  white  stars.  The  third  group, 
comprising  a  \'irginis,  Rigel,  &c.,  are  also  white  stars,  but 
show  no  lines  ;  perhaps  they  contain  no  mineral  substance,  or 
are  incandescent  without  flame. 

"  It  is  not  my  intention  to  hazard  any  conjecture  based  upon 
the  foregoing .  pteervations ;  this  is  more  properly  the  province 


stars  lie  along  one  line  of  temperature,  the  highest  temperature 
being  at  one  end,  and  the  lowest  at  the  other.  Such,  at  all  events, 
is  VogeKs  view.  Now  we  have  to  conclude  that  nebul.v  are 
stars  to  be,  and  that  some  apixirent  stars  are  really  nebula ; 
and  I  think  I  h.ive  shown  ymi  sufficient  justification  for  the  idea 
that  the  undisturbed  nebul.v  are  of  relatively  low  temperature  ; 
hence  we  have  boilies  getting  hotter  as  well  as  bodies  getting 
cooler,  .and  both  must  be  provided  for. 

In  1873  I^f-  Vogel  brought  out  a  new  and  much  more  detaile<l 
classification  considerably  extending  the  number  of  groupings 
employed  by  Rutl-.erfurd  and  Secchi.  This  classification  is  bas«l 
on  the  assumption  that  all  stars  began  by  t>eing  ver)-  hot,  and 
that  the  various  changes  observed  in  the  spectra  are  due  to> 
cooling,'  and  the  presence  of  bright  lines  is  considered  .as  ai  1 
matter  of  secondar)'  importance  only,  and  gives  rise  to  suh 
groupings  only. 

Dr.  Scheiner  has  quite  recently  accepted  this  statement.  _ 
appeals  to  his  new  observations  of  the  s|ieclrum  of  magnesium  as 
a  "  direct  proof  of  the  correctness  of  the  physical  interpretation 
of  \"ogers  spectral  .  classes,  according  to  which  Class  II.  is 
developed  by  cooling  from  I.,  and  III.  by  a  further  process  of 
cooling  from  II.''  (Astroiwiiiy  and .-Islro-P/iysus,  1S94,  p.  571.) 
Pechiile  was  the  first  to  object  to  Vogel's  classification,  mainly 

Group  IT 


Group  III     f-^y 


iroup  V 


Group  II 


Group  I 


Fig.  38. — Temperature  cur\-c. 


^(  -\    Group  VI 


Groii).  \1I 


of  the  chemist,  and  a  great  accumulation  of  accurate  data  should 
be  obtained  Ii^-fore  making  the  daring  attempt  to  proclaim  any  of 
the  c  :  I -menls  of  the  stars." 

Thi  in  was  followed  up  by  Secchi,  who  practically 

adopit.i  iM.  I.. nurd's  three  grou()s,  changing,  however,  the  word 
group  to  tyfx;.  and  adding  a  fourth.  On  lhis|xjint  Dr.  (iould, 
in  his  memoir '  of  Rutherfurd,  writes  as  follows  : 

"I    cannot    forbear    calling   attention    to    the  cl.assification, 

»^«entislly  the  same,  .subsequently  published   by  Secchi  without 

■  this  or  to  .any  of  the  other  laliours  of  Rutherfurd, 

is    generally  cited     under   Secchi's    name."     (See 

ir  II..  r,  '  p.  25S,  and  "Translation,"  pp.  235-236.) 

In   these  and  other  subsetjucnt  cltissificalions— and  of  course 

wc  must  classify  our  stars  if  we  are    to   sjieak   about    then    with 

intelligence,   and   to  understand  the  relations  of    one   b.idy  or 

<y«"m  nf  tKwlif,  I0  nnnlher— it  has  been  taken  for  granted  that 

■  hatcver  to  do  with  stars,  and  that  all  the 

.  .1'-..  of  a  countc  of  lectures  to  Workinn  Men 
lofjy  (luring    November  and   £>cccmber,    ( 


>  Kead  before  ihi 

NO.    13.1. 


vul.  JIKIIV.   p,   71, 

my,  April  1B95. 

'"••  52] 


on  the  ground  that  Secchi's  ty|x.-s  3  and  4  had  been  improperly 
brought  together.'-  Xow  the  views  I  have  brought  before  you  cut 
at  the  root  of  such  a  cla.ssification  ;is  this. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  while  in  p;issing  to  point  out  that  in  the 
course  of  lectures  I  gave  here  in  1S86  I  stated,  taking  the  then 
classification  as  a  basis  ^ : — 

"  On  the  nebular  h)|>othesis,  supmsing  ....  thai  we 
started  with  ordinary  comelary  materials,  then,  on  the  l)?- 
ginning  of  a  central  condens.ation  which  in  lime  is  to  becomes 
star,  as  Kant  and  Lapl?.ce  suggested,  such  central  condens^ilion 
should  then  give  us  a  star  of  the  fiuirlh  class.  As  the  energy  of 
condensation  increased  and  the  temper.iture  gol  higher,  the 
.spectra  would  change  llirough  the  third  and  second  il.isscs,  till 
ultimately,  7v/i(ii  llic  Icmpcralurc  -u-JS  /lig/ust,  the  first  i!;iss 
spectrum  would  \k  reache<l.  On  Ihe  slnckcniiii;  down  oj  Iht 
tcmperaliirc  of  the  now  formed  star,  the  spectra  of  the  second, 
third,  and  fourth  classes  would  then  be  reproduced,  but,  of 
course,  now  in  the  direct  order." 


lil>   "  .Mctcuollc  ilxx.tliot^,    pp.  34^-0. 

»  Ixickyer,  Natlku,  vol.  xxxiv.  1BB6,  p.  mS. 


ill-  l.s  pre- 

lliiiicr. 

re  i;ivci1  ill 


I 


August  29,  1895 J 


NATURE 


423 


We  now  know  that  this  classification  will  not  do,  since,  all 
ufercncc  to  bright  lines  is  omitted,  and  everyone  now  agrees 
ih;it  they  must  take  the  first  place,  and  this  is  one  of  the  great 
I  L-achings  of  the  views  I  have  been  bringing  forward  for  the  last 
ten  years. 

-  The  idea  which  one  arrives  at  by  a  discussion  of  all  the 
spectroscopic  facts  is  that  we  begin  with  a  condition  in  which 
meteorites  in  swarms  and  streams  are  very  far  apart,  and  we  get 
from  the  collisions  of  these  a  spectrum  which  gives  us  bright 
Hutings  and  lines,  in  other  words  the  spectrum  of  the  nebuhu  ; 
when  they  get  a  little  more  dense,  we  get  the  bright-line  stars; 
and  as  they  get  still  more  dense,  we  find  the  star  with  a  mixture 
of  bright  and  dark  flutings.  Then  we  get  still  more  condensa- 
tion and  dark  lines,  and  then  the  highest  temperature  of  all  ; 
I  Her  which  begins  a  descent  on  the  other  side,  till  at  last  we  end 
HI  cool,  dark  bodies  like  the  earth  and  moon. 

This  seems  to  be  the  classification  which  is  necessitated  by  the 
1 .  .nsideration  of  all  the  facts,  and  it  is,  moreover,  one  which 
Mcius  to  give  us  possibililiesof  an  explanation  of  the  phenomena 
il  new  stars  and  variable  stars,  and  many  other  things  without 
j'ing  into  the  region  of  the  unknown  and  impossible. 

It  also  lands  us  in  the  so-called  temperature  curve  along  which 
I  \  entured  to  place  the  various  classes  of  nebulx  and  stars  some 
nine  ago.  I  am  glad  to  say  that  so  far  no  valid  objection  has 
I  R-en  made  to  it. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  the  classification  I  have  suggested 
I  use  the  word  "group,"  first  employed  by  Rutherfurd  ;  itis  one 
which  ought  never  to  have  been  changed. 

With  regard  to  this  subject.  Prof.  Keeler,  one  of  our  most  im- 
portant authorities  in  this  matter,  agrees  that  a  classification 
which  depends  on  this  temperature  curve  certainly  has  ad- 
vantages over  other  systems.  He  writes  ' : — 
.  "  Prof.  Lockyer's  system  of  stellar  classification  provides  for 
both  an  ascending  and  a  descending  branch  of  the  temperature 
curve,  and  in  this  respect  it  certainly  has  advantages  over  other 
systems  which  claim  to  have  a  rational  basis." 

I  am  also  more  glad  than  I  can  say  that  Prof.  Pickering,  who 
has  now  given  many  years,  with  the  aid  of  appliances  beyond 
all  precedent,  to  the  study  of  these  questions,  has  arrived  at 
conclusions  .strikingly  similar  to  my  own. 

In  the  first  |ilace  he  includes  the  nebul.-e  as  well  as  the  stars 
in  his  system  ;  but  it  is  right  that  I  should  add  that  he  does  not 
commit  himself  to  any  statements  relating  to  the  relative  tem- 
jierature  of  the  different  groups,  although  he  distinctly  accepts 
the  idea  of  evolution,  or  what  he  terms  an  order  of  growth. 
He  writes  {Astronomy  and  Astro-Physiis,  1893,  p.  722) : 
"  In  general,  it  may  be  stated  that,  with  a  few  exceptions,  all 
the  stars  may  be  arranged  in  a  sequence,  beginning  with  the 
planetary  nebidic,  passing  through  the  bright-line  stars  to  the 
Orion  stars,  thence  to  the  first  type  stars,  and  by  insensible 
changes  to  the  second  and  third  type  stars.  The  evidence  that 
the  same  plan  go\erns  the  construction  of  all  parts  of  the  visible 
universe  is  thus  conclusive." 

Prof.  Pickering's  results  may  be  shown  in  tabular  form,  but 
first  it  will  be  well  to  show  the  general  differences  between  the 
more  recent  classifications  : — 


Nebub;     

Uright-linc  stars 

Mixetl  rtuting  stars 

Dark  line  stars  (ascending) 

Broad  hydrogen  stars 

Solar  stars 

Carbon  absorption  stars... 


Sccctii. 


Vogel. 


Not    clas- 
sified. 


Typi 


HI. 

II. 

I. 

II. 

IV. 


Not  classi- 
fied. 

Class"lII<2. 

„         II. 

I. 

II. 

„     III/.. 

Lockyer. 


Group  I. 

„  II. 
„  III. 
„  IV. 
„  V. 
„   VI. 


In  his  classification.  Prof.  Pickering  begins  with  the  earliest 
stages,  taking  the  planetary  nebuku  and  such  nebula;  as  that  of 
Orion  ;  he  tlien  comes  to  the  bright-line  stars,  and  then  to  such 
stars  as  those  of  Orion,  and  ultimately  places  the  Sun,  as  I  also 
do,  after  the  s|)ectrum  of  such  a  star  as  Sirius.  There  are  prac- 
tically two  departures  in  his  classification  from  that  given  by 
myself.  One  is  that  what  I  call  the  bright  and  dark  fluting 
group  of  stars,  represented  by  several  of  the  red,  and  brightesr, 

1  Astronomy  and  AstrO'FhyiicSy  1894,  p.  60. 

NO.    I34S,  VOL.  52] 


stars  in  the  heavens,  he  m.akes  cooler  than  the  Sun.  And  the 
class  of  stars  which  I  group  together  and  call  Group  VI.,  in  which 
we  get  mainly  the  absorption  of  carbon  in  the  atmosphere,  he 
omits  altogether,  possibly  for  a  very  wise  reason,  as  they  are 
certainly  the  most  dihlicult  stars  to  tackle  ;  but  you  see  the  diver- 
gences in  his  classification  from  mine  are  small  as  compared  with 
those  between  Dr.  \'ogel  and  myself,  and  he,  I  repeat,  like  my- 
self, attributes  the  variation  to  an  "order  of  growth." 

This  premised,   the  difierences   of   sequence    between   Prof. 
Pickering  and  myself  may  be  Shown  as  follows : — 


TxK;kycr. 

I. 

II. 

III. 

IV. 

V. 

VI. 


Pickering. 

I. 
III. 

V. 

II. 


Prof.  Pickering,  in  the  Draper  Catalogue,  combines  like  stars 
under  the  different  letters  of  the  alphabet.  The  distribution  of 
these  letters  in  relation  to  my  Groups  is  as  follows  : — 


Lockyer. 

Pickering. 
(Draper  catalogue.) 

Nebute    ... 

P.  (Planetary 

I. 

Nebulse. ) 

Bright-line  stars... 

0. 

Mixed  fluting  stars 

II. 

M. 

Dark-line  stars  (ascending) 

... 

III. 

B.  H.  I.  K.  (?) 

Broad  hydrogen  stars    ... 

IV. 

A. 

Solar  stars 

A^ 

F.  G.  K.  L. 

Carbon  absorption  stars 

VI. 

N. 

It  will  be  seen  that  certain  groups  are  represented  by  more 
than  one  letter,  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that  here  again  Prof. 
Pickering  and  myself  have  arrived  at  very  nearly  similar  results, 
for  generally  a  different  letter  with  him  represents  a  sub-group 
with  me.     This  will  be  gathered  from  the  subjoined  table. 

Table  showing  the  subdivisions  of  Groups  III.  and  V. 


Group. 
III.  a 
III.  & 
III.  7 


Pickering. 

H. 

I.  (some  Q. ) 
B. 


V.  a 
V.  8 
V.o- 


1-. 
K. 


L. 


With  regard  to  Prof  Pickering,  then,  I  have  chiefly  to  justify 
the  place  I  have  given  to  the  stars  of  my  Group  H.,  which  I  place 
after  the  nebuke  and  bright-line  stars,  and  he  jilaces  after  the  Sun. 

I  fancy  that  one  of  the  reasons  which  has  led  Prof.  Pickering 
to  this  conclusion  is  to  be  found  in  the  assumptiim  that  strong 
indications  of  calcium  and  iron  can  only  mark  one  stage  of 
growth,  while  I  think  it  is  certain  they  must  mark  two. 

We  know  they  mark  the  present  stage  of  the  Sun's  histor)*, 
and  taking  meteoiites  as  we  find  them,  a  relatively  low  tempera- 
ture would  provide  us  with  more  calcium  and  iron  vapours  to 
act  as  absorbers  round  each  one  than  anything  else. 

Now  we  have  strong  inilications  of  calcium  and  iron  absorp- 
tion in  such  stars  as  a  llerculis  as  well  as  in  the  Sun,  but  the 
general  appearance  of  the  spectra  of  these  stars  is  so  different 
that  both  Secchi  and  Vogel  have  classified  them  ajMrt,  and  so 
indeed  does  Prof.  Pickering. 

B\it  the  reason  that  I  classified  these  stars  also  in  different 
groups,  and  one  on  the  rising  and  the  other  on  the  descending 
arm  of  the  temperature  curve,  was  that  in  those  like  a  llerculis 
we  have  enormous  variability  as  well  as  bright  lines  and  flutings 
indicative  of  sparse  swarms,  while  in  those  like  the  Sun  the  pro- 
duction of  such  phenomena  is  almost  unthinkable.  The  special 
variability  of  stars  of  my  Group  II.  (Secchi's  type  III.)  and  the 
production  of  bright  lines  at  maximum  is  now  freely  acknow- 
ledged.    On  this  jKjint  Prof.  Pickering  remarks '  : — 

"  Long  ])eriod  variables  in  general  are  of  the  third  type,  and 
have  the  hydrogen  lines  bright  when  near  their  maxima,  as 
stated  above.     This  property  has  led  to  the  discovery  of  more 

I  Astrohomy  and  Astra-Physics,  1893,  p.  721. 


424 


NA  TURE 


[August  29,  1895 


than  twenty  objects  of  this  class,  and  no  exception  has  been 
found  of  a  star  having  this  spcctnira  whose  light  docs  not  really 
vary.  Of  the  variables  of  long  period  which  have  lieen  dis- 
covered visually,  the  hydrogen  lines  have  been  photographed  as 
bright  in  forty-one,  the  greater  portion  of  the  others  being  too 
fainter  too  red  to  be  studied  with  our  present  means." 

As  said  before,  it  seems  imiwssible  to  imagine  how  our  Sun, 
as  it  proceeds  along  its  "  order  of  growth,"  should  change  into  a 
body  with  such  characteristics  as  these.     But  on  this  point  we 


Flame  of  carbonic 
oxide. 


Flanie    of    cyanogen 
fed  with  O.Nygen. 


Fig.  39. — Showing  j-lhe  various   intensities  of  the  lines  of  magnesium  as  seen   under 
different  condi'ions. 


must  wait  for  more  large  scale  photographic  spectra  ;  in  other 
words,  more  facts. 

Associated  with  this  change  in  the  order  of  evolution,  Prof. 
Pickering  classes  the  chief  stars  in  Orion,  such  a.s  Bcll.itrix, 
characterised  by  spectra  containing  hydrogen  and  a  few  other 
dark  lines  of  unknown  origin,  as  early  forms.  On  this  point  I 
may  also  quote  the  following  from  Prof.  Campbell  {Astronomy 
and  Astro- Physics,  1894,  p.  475) : — 

"  In  conclusion,  I  think  we  can  say,  from  the  foregoing 
observations,  that  the  spectra  of  the  Wolf-Rayet  stars  are  not 
closely  related  to  any  other  known  type.  They  apjx'ar  to  have 
several  points  in  common  with  the  nebular  an<l  Orion  type 
spectra  ;  but  the  last  two  appear  to  be  much  more  closely  re- 
lated to  each  other  than  to  the  Wolf-Rayet  spectra.  It  istherefore 
difficult  to  place  these  stars  Ix-tween  the  nebulxand  Orion  stars. 
They  certainly  do  not  come  after  the  Orion  stars,  and  one  does 
not  like  to  place  them  before  the  nebula;.  We  can  probably  say 
that  the  bright  lines  are  chronios|iheric,  owing  their  origin  to 
very  extensive  and  highly-heated  atmospheres,  but  showing  very 
little  relation,  in  constitution  .and  physical  condition,  to  ih.al  of 
our  own  Sun.  I'or  the  present,  at  least,  this  type 
of  spectrum  must  be  considered  as  distinct  from 
every  other  known  type,  just  as  the  nebular  spectrum 
is  distinct,  and  like  the  nebular  spectrum  containing 
lines  whose  origin  cannot  now  be  assigned." 

.\lthough  Ur.  Vogcl  and  others  ap|)arently  still 
hold  in  the  main  to  the  classification  w  hich  .ossimies 
that  all  stars  were  created  hot,  and  that  nebulx 
have  nothing  to  do  with  them  ;  that,  in  short,  every 
star  began  in  the  highest  stage  of  temperature,  so 
that  the  whole  history  of  every  star  in  the  heavens 
has  been  a  process  of  cooling,  there  are  signs  of 
wavering  here  and  there.  Some  f>f  the  definitions 
are  being  "  edited "  and  rc-cdited  to  fit  the  facts 
which  the  photographic  record  is  ixmring  in  upon 
us.  I  may  take,  as  an  instance,  the  following  state- 
ment made  by  I)r,  Scheincr  with  reference  to 
a  Cygni,  which  is  classified  by  Dr.  \'i:>gel  as  a 
wilar  star. 

"  These  figtircs  plainly  show  that  the  spectrum  of 
o  Cygni,  in  spile  of  the  large  numlx:r  of  its  lines, 
has  no  resemblance  with  that  of  the  sun.     While  it 
is    p<jssilile    to  identify  most  of    the   lines  with   solar    lines    in 
rcsjicct  to  their  |x)sition,  yet  the  total   lack  of  agreement  as  to 
intensity  of    the    lines   makes    many     of    these    identifications 
worthlcM." 

The  "  figures"  referred  to  arc  micrometer  measures  of  a  photo- 
graph. My  ex|K;ricncc  in  these  matters  is  that  it  is  a  pure  waste 
of  time  to  mc-LSure  a  photograph  until  it  h.as  lieen  comimred  with 
others  to  which  it  is  important  to  refer  it,  enlarged  up  to  the 
umc  Kale.      In  this   I    think   I  carry   I'rof,  Kcelcr   with   mc 


(Astronomy  and  Astro-Physics,  1894,  p.  4S5).  "  The  coincidence 
of  ,  ,  .  lines  is  shown  more  beautifully  by  inspection  ot 
.  .  .  photc^raphs  than  by  any  process  of  measurement." 
Thus  a  comparison  of  the  spectra  of  a  Cygni  and  of  the  Sun 
which  Dr.  I  'ogel  classes  together,  shows  at  once  the  dissimilarity 
pointed  out  above  without  any  measurement  whatever.  I  anv 
glad,  however,  to  find  that  Dr.  Scheiner  now  regards  the  identi- 
fication as  "  worthless,"  l)ecause  it  is  such  difterences  as  these 
which  have  compelled  me  to  reject  Dr.  X'ogel's  classification. 
Dr.  Scheiner  then  goes  on  : — 
"The  magnesium  line  at  \  4481  is  the  strongest 
in  the  entire  spectrum.  The  other  strong  lines 
coincide  for  the  most  |X»rt  with  the  fainter  solar 
lines.  The  presence  of  numerous  iron  lines  can  be 
scarcely  doubted,  but  here  again  we  have  the 
peculiar  phenomenon  that  the  fainter,  instead  oj 
the  stronger,  lines  occur.  We  may  conclude  from 
all  these  facts  that  very  different  conditions  as  to 
temperature  must  prevail  in  a  Cygni  from  those  in 
the  stars  of  class  I<;."  (Scheiner's  "  Astronomical 
Spectrosco|iy,"  Krost's  translation,  p.  247.) 

Much  of  the  work  of  the  future,  which  eventually 
must  smooth  down  all  diflerences  between  stellar 
classifications,  must  consist  of  the  study  of  single 
lines  in  the  spectra  of  difierent  stars,  and  I  anv 
rejoiced  to  find  that  the  Potsdam  observers  are  a6 
length  beginning  to  take  this  matter  up.  Dr. 
Scheiner,  one  of  the  Potsdam  assistants,  has,  as  seen 
above,  called  attention  to  the  behaviour  of  the  line 
4481  of  magnesium,  and  agrees  that  the  variations 
in  the  line  observed  are  due  to  differences  of  leinjieratvire,  and! 
that  therefore  it  nmy  be  useil  .as  a  stellar  thermometer.' 

But  for  this  work  an  acquaintance  with  the  literature  of  the 
subject  is  desirable.  Had  Ur.  Scheiner  been  acquainted  with  it, 
I  am  certain  he  woukl  have  iluiie  me  the  honour  to  quote,  or 
at  all  events  to  refer  to,  a  communication  I  made  to  the  Ro)'al 
Society  (16  years  ago  !),  pointing  out  that  the  line  in  question 
was  visible  only  at  high  temperatures,  and  that  such  work  would 
help  us  in  the  study  of  "  the  atmospheres  of  the  hottest  stars."  * 
In  the  same  connection,  in  the  "Chemistry  of  the  Sun,"  pub- 
lished in  1887,  I  gave  the  diagrams,  here  reproduced,  indicating 
the  lines,  visible  at  various  lenipenitures  in  the  laboratory,  and  in 
the  Sun  and  prominences. 

Having  said  so  much  on  the  different  classifications  of  stars, 
and  indicated,  I  trust  judicially,  that  the  one  suggested  by  the 
meteoritic  hypothesis  is  so  far  holding  its  own,  I  now  pass  oiv 
to  some  recent  work  which  was  undertaken  to  test  it  by  a 
limited  photographic  survey.  In  the  first  instance  I  had  ustd 
the  eye  observations  of  others;  a  sliuly  of  spectra,  entirely 
photographic,    it    was    hoped    would    enable    an    independent 


Bunscn. 

Flame  of  cyanoKcn 
fed  with  oxygen. 

Flame  of  cnrlwnic 
o.\idc. 


(.      IN.   v.iiiii. -111. ^   -III.-   iM.i     ■.!   iii.(.:ni    It II  ranged  in  order  of 

increasing  tenipcraturc>.     The  lines  marked  rt  A  <•  (/ c  in  the  diagrams  have 
the  following  wavelengths  :—  5iO</8,  517  (/').  47o3'5,  457o'3,  4481. 


estimate  to  be  formed  as  to  the  validity  of  the 
hypothesis. 

The  conclusions  I  came  to  in  the  first  instance  were  necessarily 
based  on  observations  made  by  others,  for  the  reason  that  my 
own  work  up  to  that  time  had  been  chiefly  directed  to  the  Sun. 

So  .s<K)n,  however,  .as  my  solar  work  rendered  it  necessary  to 
determine  the  S'.ui's  true  pl.ace  among   the  st.ars  in  regard  to  its 

1  "  Astronomical  Spectroscopy, "  p.  viii. 
'  Key.  Soc.  t'roc.  vol.  xxx.  p.  3»,  1879. 


NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


August  29,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


425 


temperature  and  physical  conditions,  arrangements  were  made 
to  photograph  the  spectra  of  stars  and  nebula;,  in  order  to  test 
the  view,  employing  a  quite  new  basis  of  facts  ;  this  new  basis  of 
the  inquiry  consists  of  443  photographs  of  171  of  the  brighter 
stars. 

Having  this  new  and  accurate  basis  of  induction,  the  objects 
were  to  determine  whether  the  hypothesis  founded  on  eye  ob- 
servations is  also  demanded  by  the  photographs,  and  in  the 
affirmative  case  to  discover  and  apply  new  tests  of  its  validity,  or 
otherwise. 

The  results  as  yet  obtained  are  not  sufficient  to  permit  a  dis- 
cussion of  all  |)oints  bearing  upon  the  new  classification,  but 
most  of  the  crucial  ones  are  certainly  covered  by  the  photographs 
already  obtained. 

The  main  instrument  employed  in  the  work  has  been  a  6-inch 
refracting  telescope,  with  an  object-glass  made  and  corrected  for 
G  by  the  Brothers  Henry.     This  was  at  first  used  in  conjunction 


with  a  prism  of  7i°  of  dense  glass  by  Hilger.  The  object-glass 
and  prism  are  fixed  at  the  end  of  a  wooden  tube,  which  is  at- 
tached to  the  side  of  the  lo-inch  equatorial,  at  such  an  angle  that 
the  spectrum  of  a  star  falls  on  the  middle  of  the  photographic 
plate  when  its  image  is  at  the  centre  of  the  field  of  the  larger  in- 
strument. The  camera  is  arranged  to  lake  plates  of  the  ordinary 
commercial  size,  4I  ;<  3J  inches.  The  spectra  obtained  with 
this  instrument  are  o'6  inch  long  from  F  to  K.  .\n  excellent 
photograph  of  the  spectrum  of  a  first  magnitude  star  can  be  ob- 
tained with  an  exposure  of  five  minutes.  Afterwards  a  6-inch 
prism,  with  a  refracting  angle  of  45°,  obtained  from  the  brothers 
Henry,  was  used  with  the  Henry  6-inch  object  glass.  The  spectra 
obtained  with  the  latter  are  two  inches  long  from  F  to  K,  and 
tne  definition  is  exquisite.  In  some  photographs  the  calcium 
line  at  II  is  very  clearly  separated  from  the  line  of  hydrogen, 
which  occupies  very  nearly  the  same  position.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  swing  the  bark  of  the  camera  in  order  to  get  a  perfect  focus 
from  F  to  K.  The  deviation  of  the  jirism  is  so  great  that  it 
w  ould  be  verj-  inconvenient  to  incline  the  tube  which  supports  it  at 

NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


the  proper  angle  to  the  larger  telescope.  When  photographing 
the  spectrum  of  a  star,  therefore,  the  star  is  first  brought  to  the 
centre  of  the  field  of  the  large  telescope,  and  the  proper  des-ia- 
tion  is  then  given  by  reading  off  on  the  declination  circle.  This 
method  has  been  found  to  work  quite  satisfactorily. 

With  this  combination  the  exposure  required  for  a  first  magni- 
tude star  is  about  twenty  minutes.  The  method  of  mounting 
the  prism  is  shown  in  Fig.  41. 

For  the  fainter  stars,  the  6-inch  prism  of  7i°  has  been  adapted 
to  a  Dallmeyer  rectilinear  lens  of  6  inches  aperture  and  48  inches 
focal  length.  At  times  prisms  of  7i°  have  been  used  on  a 
lo-inch  equatorial. 

Since  the  spectrum  of  a  point  of  light  such  as  a  star  is  a  line 
so  fine  that  the  spectral  lines  would  not  be  measurable,  it  is 
necessary  to  give  it  breadth.  This  is  done  by  adjusting  the 
prism  so  that  the  spectrum  lies  along  a  meridian  of  R.A.  and 
altering  the  rate  of  the  clock. 

J.  NORM.\N    LOCKYER. 

( To  he  continued. ) 


THE  IRON  AND  STEEL  INSTITUTE. 

T^HE  annual  suminer  meeting  of  the  Iron  and  Steel  Institute 
was  held  in  Birmingham  last  week,  commencing  Tuesday, 
the  20th  inst. ,  and  extending  over  Friday,  the  23rd  inst.  Sir 
David  Dale,  the  President,  took  the  chair  at  the  sittings  for  the 
reading  of  papers,  and  it  may  be  said  here  that  the  meeting  was 
remarkably  successful  throughout,  being  one  of  the  pleasantest 
and  most  instructive  gatherings  that  has  been  held  for  a  long 
time  past  ;  both  .Mr.  Brough,  the  Secretar)'  of  the  Institute,  and 
the  local  committee  are  to  be  congratulated  on  the  excellence  of 
their  arrangements. 

There  were  twelve  papers  down  for  reading  and  discussion,  of 
which  the  following  is  a  list : — 

"  On  the  Direct  PuddUng  of  Iron,"  by  E.  Bonehill  (.Mar- 
chienne-au-Pont,  Belgium). 

"  On  the  Production  of  Iron  by  a  New  Process,"  by  R.  A. 
Hadfield,  member  of  Council  (Sheffield). 

'■f)n  the  Thermo-Chemistrv  of  the  Bessemer  Process,"  by 
Prof  W.  N.  Hartley,  F.R.S.  (Dublin). 

"  On  the  Hardening  of  Steel,"  by  H.  M.  Howe  (Boston, 
U.S.A.). 

"On  the  Mineral  Resources  of  South  Staffordshire,"  by 
II.  W.  Hughes  (Dudley). 

"  On  the  Iron  Industry  of  South  Staffordshire,"  by  D.  Jones, 
Secretary  of  the  South  Staffordshire  Ironmasters'  Association 
iShifnal). 

"On  the  Iron  Industry  of  the  South  of  Russia,"  by  George 
Kamensky  (St.  Petersburg). 

"  On  Cooling  Curves  and  Tests  of  Cast  Iron,"  by  W.  J. 
Keep  (Detroit,  U.S. .A.). 

"  On  the  Analysis  of  Ferro-Chromium,"  by  E.  H.  Saniter 
W'igan). 

"  On  Small  Cast  Ingots,"  by  R.  Smith-Casson  (Birmingham). 

"  On  Tests  of  Cast  Iron,"  by  T.  D.  West  (Sharpsville,  Penn- 
sylvania). 

"On  Nickel  Steel,"  by  H.  A.  Wiggin  (Birmingham). 

The  papers  of  Mr.  West  and  Mr.  Keep  were  taken  as  read, 
all  the  others  being  read  and  discussed. 

(Jn  the  members  assembling  on  Tuesday  morning,  in  the 
Council  House  of  Birmingham  Corporation,  they  were  welcomed 
by  the  Mayor,  and  by  the  members  of  the  local  reception 
committee. 

The  first  paper  taken  was  that  by  Mr.  D.  Jones,  on  the  iron 
industry  of  South  Staffordshire.  This  was  an  interesting  con- 
tribution, but  mainly  historical  in  its  char.acter.  It  dealt  with 
the  rise  and  progress  of  the  iron  industry  of  the  district  from  its 
earliest  days,  and,  in  treating  of  more  modern  times,  pointed  out 
how  the  production  of  wrought-iron  had  decreased  as  steel  had 
taken  its  place,  although  a  good  deal  of  puddled  iron  is  still 
produced  in  the  district.  The  paper  of  Mr.  Hughes,  on  the 
mineral  resources  of  South  Staffordshire,  was  very  much  of  the 
same  character,  and  gave,  in  a  convenient  form,  many  facts 
relating  to  the  subject. 

.M.  Bonehill's  paper  on  the  direct  puddling  of  iron  was  next 
read.  This  |)rocess  appears  to  be  a  revival  of,  and  doubtless 
an  improvement  on,  a  method  of  puddling  which  was  proposed, 
and  to  a  limited  extent  carried  out,  in  the  earlier  years  of  the 
century,  but  which  never  obtained  any  great  hold  in  the  iron 


426 


NA  TURE 


[August  29,  1895 


industry'.  It  consists,  briefly,  in  running  molten  iron  from  the 
blast  furnace  into  a  reservoir,  and  from  thence  letting  it  flow 
into  the  puddling  furnace,  the  latter  being  of  larger  description 
than  is  generally  used.  It  is  obvious  that  with  this  process,  as 
compared  to  the  ordinar)-  method  of  feeding  the  puddling  furnace 
with  cold  pig.  there  is  a  saving  of  fuel,  inasmuch  as  the  metal 
does  not  require  melting  :  on  the  other  hand,  the  dillicully  of 
getting  a  uniform  product,  owing  to  the  inability  to  mix  various 
kinds  of  pig,  has  to  be  overcome.  Apjiarently  the  author  has 
Iwen  successful  in  the  latter  resiiect,  although  how  he  has  ac- 
complished his  end  was  not  staled  in  the  paper ;  the  tests  given, 
however,  indicate  that  a  superior  quality  t)f  iron  is  producetl.         j 

Mr.  Kamensky's  ixqx-r  on  the  iron  industries  of  South  Russia  i 
was,  like  the  two  first  contributions,  of  an  historical  natuie.  In 
this  case,  however,  there  was  less  of  ancient  history  in  the  ' 
memoir,  and  necessarily  so,  as  the  production  of  iron  in  Kussia, 
as  an  industry  of  imi>ortance,  is  of  essentially  niotlcrn  growth. 
It  is  true  that  iron-making  has  been  carried  on  in  Russia  for  a 
long  time  jiast,  but  it  is  only  within  the  last  year  or  two  that  any 
great  strides  have  been  made.  Now,  however,  there  are  several 
works  in  operation,  and  it  ap|>ears  likely  that  more  will  follow  ; 
so  Russia  may  in  her  turn  put  in  a  claim  for  a  share  of  the 
o|x;ning  markets  of  the  world.  This  is  a  (act  that  British  steel- 
makers may  ])erhaps  look  on  not  altogether  with  satisfaction  ; 
but  it  is  incritaUe.  Only  by  increased  exertion  can  British 
manufacturers  maintain  their  (Hisition  in  the  markets  of  the 
world  ;  but  there  is  one  point,  however,  worthy  of  attention. 
If  kussLi  is  alx)ut  to  start  many  steel  works,  large  quantities  of 
plant  and  machinery  \\ill  l>e  required.  It  is  proposed  that  the 
Institute  shall  next  year  hold  its  summer  meeting  in  Russia. 
The  suggestion  is  a  bold  one,  but  is  worthy  of  consideration,  for 
it  is  only  liy  pushing  abioad  that  steel  makers  can  hope  to  keep 
abreast  of  the  times.  The  days  are  |>ast  when  the  manufacture 
of  iron  and  steel  was  almost  entirely  centred  in  England.  Now 
there  are  works  all  over  the  world,  under  intelligent  and  scientific 
management.  It  is  unreasonable  to  expect  that  we,  in  Kng- 
land,  will  continue  to  originate  all  new  and  valuable  processes, 
and  it  is  well,  therefore,  that  Knglish  manufacturers  should  go 
abroad  to  reap  the  advantages  of  foreign  research  and  practice  ; 
just  as  foreign  manufacturers  have  in  times  past,  and  are  still, 
reaping  the  advantage  of  Knglish  experience  and  study. 

The  reading  and  discussion  of  the  above  four  papers  con- 
stituted the  business  of  the  first  sitting.  The  afternoon  of  that 
day — Tuesday,  the  20th  inst. — w.is  devoted  to  visits  to  works. 
One  party  priKcedcd  to  the  Staffordshire  Steel  and  Ingot  Iron 
Company's  establishment  at  Bilston,  where  the  operations  of 
rolling  sections  and  plates  were  witnessed.  A  large  c|uantity  of 
l>asic  steel  is  produced  at  the.se  works  ;  and  the  method  of  deal- 
ing with  the  iKLsic  slag,  which  is  largely  used  for  agricultural 
purposes,  w.as  inspected  with  interest  by  the  members,  .\nother 
l»rty  xisiled  the  Klectric  Cfmstrjction  Com|)any's  works  at 
Wolverhampton  ;  whilst,  again,  others  distributed  themselves 
amongst  various  works  in  Birmingham. 

On  assembling  again  on  We<lnesday  mfirning  the  first  paper 
taken  was  that  contributed  by  Prof.  Ilarley,  on  the  thermo- 
chemistry of  the  Bessemer  process.  This  was  an  exceedingly 
interesting  |>apcr,  which  those  engaged  in  subjects  of  this 
nature  wouUl  do  well  to  read  in  full  in  the  Trail  sad  ion  i  of  the 
Institute.  The  author  commenced  by  saying  that  the  flame 
i.ssuing  from  the  mouth  of  a  Bes.semer  converter  w.as  first  inves- 
tigated by  .Sir  Ilcnry  Roscoe  in  1S63  (see  Manchester  Literary 
M\>\  I'liiln,ophical  Society's  ProteeJiiigs,  vol.  iii.  p.  57,  and 
/  :!  Magazine,  vol.   xxxiv.   p.   437);  by  Leilcgg  (sec 

lile  Kaiseil.  AkaJemie  der  M'isscnsthaflcn,  Wicn, 
V  .1.  Ii.  part  ii.);  and  by  M.arshall  Watts  in  1867  (see  Philo- 
iophital  Mai;azint,  vol.  xxxiv.  p.  437)  ;  by  Tunner(see  Dingler's 

/■  '■  '    '■••    '       ' '  ■    '  rlsxviii.  p.  465):  byj.  .M.Silliman 

I  7,  vol.  xli.  p.  I  );by  von  I.ichlenfels 

Journal,  vol.   cxci.  p.  213) ;  by 

il  Nrws,   vol.    xxii.    p.    25) ;  by   Ku])cl- 

Zeitsfhrift  fiir  Hcrg-iind  Hiillcnuu-sen, 

I.    ibOSj  ;   by  Brunncr  and   Wedding  in   1868  (see 

iiir   das    ]{cri;-Hiilt(n-iind  SalinrnwiSin  im  /•reiis- 

'        -  ii.  p.  117,  1869):  and  also  by  .\.  (Ireiner 

'  •••iridic  dfs  Minn,  vol.  xxxv.   p.   O23). 

I  ,  ihe  nature  of  the  spectrum,  the  cause  of 

its  pr'  n  disappearance  when  decarburisation  of 

the   III  .    and    Ihe  conneclicm   between   Ihe  dc- 

carburivitr.il  i.l   i!n    iiielal  and  the  extinction  of  ihe  spectrum, 

have  not   l<ecn   s.iti«f.uioriIy  cxpLained.     According  to  Roscoe, 


NO.    1348,  VOL.  52] 


Leilegg,  Kupelwieser,  and  Spear  Parker,  the  spectrum  is 
characterised  by  bands  of  carlwn  or  of  carbon  monoxide,  which 
disa])pear  when  all  the  carbon  is  burnt  out  of  the  metal.  CJn 
the  other  hand,  Simmler,  Brunner,  von  Lichtenfels,  and  Wedding 
hold  that  the  six-ctrum  is  not  due  to  carbon,  or  to  carbon  mon- 
oxide, but  to  manganese  and  other  elements  in  pig  iron.  Dr. 
Marshall  Walts  had  come  10  llie  conclusion  that  it  was  not  the 
spectrum  of  cijrbon  in  any  form,  nor  of  manganese,  but  that  of 
manganetic  oxide.  Leilegg  proved  that  carbon  monoxide  yields 
a  continuous  siwctrum,  which  causes  the  bright  siwctrum  of  the 
Bessemer  flame  ;  but  he  also  attributed  certain  lines,  or  tends, 
to  the  high  temperature  of  the  carbon  monoxide.  Mar,shall 
Watts  established  the  fact  that  six  lines  of  the  S]iectrum  of  iron 
were  jiresent  in  the  Bessemer  spectrum  ;  tireiner  observed  in 
flame  from  highly  manganiferous  pig  iron  the  sjiectrum  of 
manganese.  The  author  concluded  this  |xjrt  of  his  paper  by 
pointing  out  the  fact  that  notwithstanding  the  great  .advance 
which  has  been  made  in  spectroscopy  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  our  knowledge  of  flame  sjieclra  has  remained  almost 
stationary,  although  much  attention  has  been  directed  to  the 
spectra  of  the  elements  as  we  obtain  them  at  higher  temperatures 
by  vapourising  substances  in  the  electric  arc,  and  by  the  irans- 
mis,sion  of  electric  sparks. 

Prof.  Hartley  next  proceeded  to  describe  a  method  of  ac- 
curately investigating  the  Bessemer  flame.  He  pointed  out  that 
the  determination  of  wave-length  of  lines  and  bands  by  eye 
observation  only,  with  instruments  of  the  usual  form,  islalwrious 
under  the  most  advantageous  conditions,  but  it  is  especially  so 
when  the  spectra  are  constantly  changing :  and  it  becomes 
practically  impossible  when  the  lines  anil  bands  to  be  measured 
are  in  the  ultra-violet.  S|H;ctra  which  are  recorded  by  photo- 
graphy are  ca|xible  of  being  more  accurately  measured  at  leisure 
by  very  simple  means  ;  moreover,  they  constitute  a  permanent 
record  ;  and  for  accurate  observations,  determinations  of  wave- 
lengths are  absolutely  essential.  The  author  next  went  on  to 
describe  a  modification  of  the  instrument  he  ha<l  originally 
designed  for  this  purpose.  This  is  described  in  the  Prouiiiin;^ 
of  the  Royal  Dublin  Society,  and  also  in  Thorpe's  "  Dictionary 
of  .-Xpplied  Chemistry,"'  article  "  Spectroscope."  This  instrument 
wiis  especially  designed  for  use  in  steel  work,  particularly  for 
studying  the  spectra  of  flames  and  heated  gases  of  open  hearth 
furnaces.  It  w.as  therefore  desirable  that  it  should  give  a  fair 
amount  of  dispersion  at  the  less  refrangible  end  of  the  spectrum. 
A  train  of  four  quartz  jn'isms  was  at  first  arranged,  and  a  camera 
was  lilted  with  a  rack  and  ]iinion  movement  to  the  frame  hold- 
ing the  dark  slide,  so  that  as  many  as  thirty  spectra  could  be 
photographed  on  one  jilate.  The  stand,  however,  was  found  to 
be  too  light.  Instead  of  four  quartz  prisms,  a  single  jirism  of 
calcite  may  be  employed  if  the  surfaces  are  well  protected  from 
dust  ;  Ihe  prism  table  was  fixed  so  thai  it  could  be  jilaceil  in 
almost  any  required  position.  The  camera  was  of  metal  with 
an  eyepiece  behind  the  frame  for  the  dark  slide,  so  as  lo  make 
it  available  for  visual  observation.  In  a  circular  box  at  Ihe  end 
of  the  camera,  which  was  reducetl  in  size,  the  dark  slide  can  be 
fixed  at  any  angle,  as  it  is  rotated  by  means  of  a  toothed  wheel. 
The  prisms  move  automatically  svith  the  camera,  and  in  order 
to  secure  the  minimum  angle  of  deviation  lo  the  mean  rays 
photographed  there  is  a  condensing  lens  of  3-inch  focus.  There 
IS  a  slit  plate,  covered  with  ihin  quarlz  lo  exclude  dust  and 
din,  anil  upon  Ihis  the  image  of  ihe  flame  w.is  projecle<l.  \ 
metal  plate,  with  a  V-shaped  piece  cut  out  at  one  end.  slides 
over  the  slit  plate,  and  serves  to  shorten  or  lengthen  the  slit  and 
secure  a  greater  or  smaller  number  of  spectra  on  one  photo- 
graphic plate.  In  some  cases  a  photograph  w,is  taken  every 
half-minule,  from  the  commencement  to  Ihe  lerminatiim  of  ihe 
"  blow."  'I'his  could  be  .accomplished  only  by  the  use  of  llie 
arrangement  described,  as  the  plates  were  no  more  than  3  inches 
by  2j  inches.  The  instrument  was  focussed  by  a  jihotograph  of 
sun  s|)ectra. 

The  author  also  described  an  ingenious  arrangement  consist- 
ing of  yellow  cloth,  with  armholes  and  .sleeves  fitted  with 
clastic,  by  means  of  which  he  carried  on  development  of  ihe 
photographs  without  use  of  a  dark  room.  By  this  a)>paraUis  il 
was  shown  that  a  large  number  of  lines  in  the  spectrum  of  the 
Bessemer  flame  were  coincident  with  lines  in  the  solar  spectrum, 
an<l  Ihe  jxisilion  of  the  lines  and  edges  of  hands  with  respect  to 
the  sixlium  line  was  recorded,  being  measured  with  a  micro- 
meter  .screw  and  microscope.  Kniargements  were  m.ide  in 
which  the  s|)cctra  were  m.agnified  ten  diameters.  Several  inler- 
|x>lnlion  curves  were  drawn  by  which  linear  measurements  were 


August  29,  1895] 


NATURE 


427 


reduced  to  oscillation-frequencies,  and  by  means  of  Barlow's 
mathematical  tables  these  were  reduced  to  wave-lengths  which 
are  the  reci])rocals  of  the  oscillation-frequencies.  The  author 
tlien  went  on  tu  describe  some  of  the  difficulties  met  with  in 
obtaining  measurements  of  bands,  due  to  alterations  in  wi<lth, 
or  to  their  becoming  less  distinct  at  the  edges.  The  question 
is  dealt  with  in  "  Flanjc  Spectra  of  High  Temperatures,'  Philo- 
sophical Transactions,  1894,  part  I. 

Prof.  Hartley  had  carried  out  experiments  at  Crewe,  and 
at  Dowlais,  in  South  Wales.  Results  obtained  by  photography 
of  the  sjiectrum  of  the  Bessemer  flame  were  given  in  the 
paper.  For  the  details  we  must  refer  our  readers  to  the  original 
memoir.  As  the  author  pointed  out,  the  Bessemer  spectrum  is 
a  complex  one,  w-hich  exhibits  differences  in  constitution  during 
different  periods  of  the  blow,  and  even  during  different  intervals 
of  the  same  period.  Watts  had  observed  that  the  spectrum 
differs  in  different  works,  owing  to  variations  of  temperature  and 
the  composition  of  the  metal  blown.  After  discussing  the 
various  opinions  held  by  previous  investigators  as  to  the  utility 
of  spectrum  analysis  in  steel  making — on  which  subject  inquirers 
are  by  no  means  agreed — the  cause  of  the  non-appearance  of 
lines  at  the  termination  of  the  blow  is  discussed.  Prof  Hartley 
then  proceeded  to  what  was  jierhaps  the  most  interesting  part  of 
his  paper,  naTnely,  the  rempcrature  of  the  Bessemer  metal  and  of 
the  flame,  antl  the  use  of  the  spectrum  as  an  index  of  tempera- 
ture. Watts  concluded  that  though  the  temperature  of  the 
llame  was  above  the  melting  point  of  gold,  it  was  hcl'iw  that  of 
platinum.  Le  Chatelier  {Comptes  renciits,  vol.  cxiv.  p.  670) 
was  of  opinion  that  the  temperature  of  the  Bessemer  converter 
during  the  boil  is  1330  C,  at  the  finish  1580°  C, 
while  the  steel  in  the  ladle  is  at  1640"  C.  There  is  no 
measure  of  the  temperature  .at  the  hottest  period  of  the  boil,  and 
unless  the  metal  in  the  converter  is  cooled  during  the  last  minute 
of  the  blow ,  which  some  of  the  author's  photographs  indicated, 
it  was  difficult  to  understand  how  its  temperature  coidd  be  raised 
l>y  the  addition  of  the  cooler  spiegeleisen  and  ferro-manganese. 
The  rise  of  temperature  at  this  period  could  be  accounted  for  by 
the  after-blow.  Of  course  when  the  metal  is  charged  with 
'ixygen,  the  additional  spiegeleisen,  containing  carbon  and 
manganese,  woukl  cause  the  combustion  of  these  elements. 
When  the  oxyhydrogen  flame  spectra  of  the  manganese,  magnetic 
Mxide  of  iron,  and  ferric  oxide  are  photographed,  the  number  of 
lines  and  bands  in  the  spectra  are  not  more  numerous  than  with 
a  Bessemer  flame  spectrum  of  only  half  a  minute's  exposure, 
although  the  above  spectra  may  have  received  any  exposure 
from  thirty  to  eighty  minutes.  When  a  substance  emits  a 
spectrum  composed  of  liands  and  lines,  it  is  evidence  of 
ttie  ])resence  of  the  substance  'in  the  flame  in  a  state 
'if  glowing  vapour:  when  the  same  substance  emits 
two  spectra,  one  differing  from  the  other  by  the  largely  increased 
number  of  bands  or  lines,  it  is  evidence  that  either  the  suljstance 
is  more  copiously  vapourised,  or  that  the  temperature  of  the 
vapour  is  higher.  When  a  simple  spectrum  changes  to  one  of  a 
more  complex  character,  the  alteration  is  due  to  an  increase  in 
temperature,  other  things  being  equal.  .Similarly  when  a 
spectrum  extends  through  the  visible  rays  into  the  ultra-violet 
region,  and  an  increase  is  observed  in  the  number  and  intensity 
of  the  ultra-violet  rays,  nothing  but  an  increase  of  temperature 
will  serve  to  account  for  the  change  in  the  spectrum.  No 
increase  of  material  in  the  flame  would  increase  the  refrangi- 
bility  of  the  rays  emitted  by  its  vapour  :  hence  the  study  of  the 
ultra-\iolet  spectra  of  flames  by  the  photographic  method  becomes 
an  important  line  of  investigation. 

After  pointing  out  the  difficulty  of  ascertaining  the  maximum 
temperature  of  any  flame  (as  such  temperature  may  exist  over 
but  a  very  small  area),  and  giving  an  instance,  the  author  states 
that  Le  Chatelier's  recent  measurements  of  the  temperature  of 
furnaces  have  given  numbers  considerably  lower  than  those 
usually  accepted.  Langley's  estimate  of  the  temperature  of  the 
Bessemer  flame  at  2000°  C. — because  platinum  appears  to 
be  rapidly  melted  in  it  —is  not  to  be  relied  upon.  Le  Chatelier 
finds  that  the  metal  is  not  fused  but  dissolveil  in  drops  of 
molten  steel.  Marshall  Watts  observed  that  the  .sodium  lines 
5681  and  56S7  m.ay  be  enqiloyed  as  an  index  of  temperature, 
-Ince  they  are  present  in  the  spectrum  of  any  flame  containing 
iilium  the  temperature  of  which  is  hot  enough  to  melt  platimnn, 
liut  they  do  not  appear  at  lower  temperatures.  The  Bessemer 
flame  does  not  show  this  double  line,  but  only  the  D  lines, 
neither  does  it  show  lithium  orange  lines,  which  appear  at  a 
^'Muewhat  lower  temperature.      It   may  therefore 'oe  concluded 

NO.    1348,  VOL.    52] 


that  the  flame  is  not  hot  enough  to  produce  these  lines.  The 
proportion  of  sodium  in  the  Bessemer  flame  is  evidently  very 
small  from  the  narrowness  and  want  of  intensity  of  the  D  lines, 
and  the  fact  that  they  are  not  seen  reversed  in  any  spectrum  ; 
hence,  though  the  temperature  may  be  high  enough,  the  quantity 
of  material  present  is  not  sufficiently  large  to  yield  the  lines  5681 
and  5687. 

We  have  not  space  to  follow  the  author  in  all  the  interesting 
details  of  his  reasoning,  but  we  have  perhaps  said  enough  to 
indicate  his  line  of  thought.  He  later  points  out  that,  judging 
by  the  number  of  lines  and  bands  belonging  to  iron  and 
manganese,  which  have  been  photographed  in  the  spectrum  of 
the  Bessemer  flame,  the  temperature  must  in  any  case  nearly 
approach  that  of  the  oxyhydrogen  flame,  even  if  it  does  not  very- 
generally  exceed  it.  The  paper  concluded  with  particulars  of 
the  heat  of  combustion  of  the  oxidisable  impurities  in  pig  iron. 
He  calculates,  as  far  as  data  are  available,  the  absolute  heating 
effect  of  such  oxidation.  The  temperature  retained  according 
to  these  calculations  amounts  to  1454^  C.  above  that  of  molten 
cast  iron.  This,  however,  is  a  theoretical  value,  and  allowance 
must  be  made  for  the  specific  heats  of  the  gases,  the  metal,  and 
the  slag,  which  are  greater  at  the  elevated  temperatures  than  at  the 
temperatures  at  which  the  numbers  representing  specific  heats 
were  determined.  The  specific  heat  of  the  converter  must  be 
considerable,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  already  heated 
to  the  temperature  of  the  molten  metal ;  but  even  if  we  allow 
that  50  per  cent,  of  the  heat  is  absorbed,  or  conveyed  away,  we 
should  then  have  the  temperature  727"  C.  above  that  of  the 
molten  pig  iron  :  and  thus,  with  grey  iron,  at  1220'  C.  the  metal 
may  have  acquired  a  temperature  of  more  than  1947"  C. ,  which 
is  ver)'  considerably  above  the  melting  point  of  platinum. 

The  discussion  which  followed  the  reading  of  this  paper  was 
interesting,  but  no  new  points  of  importance  were  added.  Mr. 
Bauerman  considered  that  the  author  was  right  in  laying  stress 
on  the  temperature  of  the  flame  as  well  as  on  the  materials  in 
the  converter.  Mr.  J.  Stead  pointed  out  that  some  of  the  cal- 
culations were  made  in  cases  where  the  composition  of  the  metal 
was  very  different  to  that  common  in  England.  Mr.  Tucker 
also  pointed  out  the  difficulty  in  arriving  at  any  conclusion  owing 
to  the  variation  in  metal  used,  and  he  referred  to  the  effect  of  a 
temperature  of  dissociation  which  might  be  obtained  if  the  metal 
were  sufficiently  rich  in  silicon.  His  own  experiments  supported 
those  of  Prof.  Hartley,  that  the  temperature  was  certainly  at 
times  considerably  above  the  melting  point  of  platinum,  and  he 
was  inclined  to  think  that  the  temperature  of  dissociation  was 
often  reached. 

The  next  paper  was  also  one  of  considerable  scientific  interest. 
It  was  Mr.  Howe's  contribution  on  the  hardening  of  steel,  and 
was  read  in  abstract  by  Mr.  Brough,  the  Secretary-  of  the  In- 
stitute. As  the  paper  had  been  received  so  recently,  copies  of 
it  had  not  been  distributed,  and  it  was  manifestly  impossible  to 
discuss  a  memoir  of  this  alistruse  nature  at  first  sight,  especially 
as  the  paper  was  not  read  in  full.  It  was  therefore  wisely  deter- 
mined to  have  the  text  corrected,  after  which  the  paper  will  be 
distributed,  and  its  discussion  taken  at  the  next  meeting  in  May. 
For  the  present,  it  will  suffice  to  say  that  the  .author  deals  largely 
with  the  vexed  problem  of  the  allotropic  state  of  iron.  It  woulil 
have  been  a  pity  to  have  discussed  the  paper  on  the  spot,  as 
neither  Prof.  Roberts- Austen  nor  Prof.  .4rnold  were  present ; 
neither  had  .M.- Osmond  been  able  to  send  his  usual  written  con- 
tribution. In  fact,  the  only  person  present  whose  name  has  be- 
come at  all  prominently  identified  with  the  states  of  iron  treated 
was  -Mr.  Hadfield,  who  sixike  briefly,  saying  that  he  had  not 
had  time  to  master  the  paper.  We  will,  therefore,  defer 
our  abstract  of  this  memoir  until  the  time  comes  to  give  an 
account  of  the  next  meeting. 

Mr.  R.  A.  Hadfield's  paper  on  the  production  of  iron  by  a 
new  process  was  next  read.  The  author's  object  has  been  to 
obtain  a  pure  iron  ;  for  which  purpose  he  had  had  recourse  to 
aluminium  as  an  agent.  The  first  result  w.as  that  he  made  an 
alloy  of  iron  and  aluminium  very  rich  in  the  latter  constituent, 
there  being  no  less  th.an  36  per  cent,  present.  In  .spite  of  being 
a  failure,  so  far  as  the  object  in  view  was  concerned,  a  very 
interesting  result  was  obtained  ;  for  although  there  was  no  more 
than  a  trace  of  carbon  present,  the  alloy  was  hard  enough  to 
scratch  glass.  Proceeding  on  the  same  lines,  however,  and 
wcirking  with  ferrous  oxide  and  granulated  aluminium,  a  sample 
of  iron  containing  9975  per  cent,  of  that  metal  was  finally 
obtained  at  the  very  moderate  cost  of  about  eighteen  pence  per 
pound. 


NA  TURE 


[August  29,  1S95 


Mr.  Saniter  s  jiaper,  describing  a  ne«"  method  for  the  analj-sis 
of  chrome  and  ferrochromium,  was  the  last  read  at  this  sitting. 
This  is  a  further  extension  of  Mr.  Steads  modification  of  Dr. 
Clarke's  process,  and  has  the  great  advantage  of  reducing  the 
time  occupied  in  the  anah-sis. 

On  the  afternoon  of  this  day  there  were  several  excursions,  the 
chief  of  which  was  to  Worcester,  where  the  works  of  the  Roj-al 
Porcelain  Company  were  ins|iected.  Another  party  visited  the 
Round  Oak  Iron  and  Steel  Works,  while  others  proceeded  to 
the  glass  works,  fireclay  works,  small  arms  factories,  and 
to  other  works  in  and  around  Birmingham.  In  the  evening 
there  was  a  very  successful  reception  and  entertainment  in  the 
Edgbaston  Botanical  Gardens. 

The  final  sitting  of  the  meeting  was  on  Thursday  of  last  week, 
■when  a  paper  by  Mr.  Henry  Wi^n,  on  nickel  steel,  was  first 
taken.  In  this  contribution  the  advantages  of  nickel  steel  as  a 
constructive  material  were  brought  forward  ;  its  great  tensile 
strength  combined  with  excessive  ductility  being  dwelt  upon. 
Another  acK-antage  possessed  is  freedom  from  corrosion,  as 
compared  with  ordinary  steel.  Instances  were  given  of  the 
nickel  steel  containing  3i  per  cent,  of  nickel,  which  had  a 
tensile  strength  fully  30  per  cent,  higher  than  ordinary 
steel,  and  an  elastic  limit  at  least  75  per  cent,  higher. 
The  author  does  not  give  any  details  in  regard  to  cost, 
which  is  naturally  higher  than  that  of  ordinary  steel  ; 
l)ut  speaking  upon  the  subject  generally,  he  w;is  of  opinion 
that  the  additional  price  that  would  have  to  be  chaiged 
would  generally  be  more  than  com|Tensated  for  by  in- 
creased efficiency.  In  the  discussion,  Mr.  W.  Beardmore,  of 
Glasgow,  said  he  had  been  making  large  quantities  of  nickel 
steel  for  the  last  two  years.  This  was  for  armour-plates,  but  he 
was  now  preparing  a  series  of  tests  to  submit  to  Lloyd's  with  a 
view  to  intro<Iucing  the  material  for  marine  purposes.  Mr. 
Jeremiah  Head,  who  had  lately  visited  America,  said  that  at  the 
works  of  Mr.  Carnegie  he  had  seen  large  quantities  of  nickel 
steel  produced  at  a  cost,  he  was  told,  of  about  £,^  a  ton  ;  but 
there  natural  gas  of  great  richness  was  available.  Mr.  Thomp- 
son, of  New  ^■ork,  who  had  been  largely  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  nickel  steel,  said  that  in  America  50,000  to  75,000 
tons  of  this  material  had  been  produced  during  the  last  three 
years.  A  German  chemist  had  found  that  with  an  alloy  of  15 
per  cent,  of  nickel  almost  a  new  metal  was  made  having  a  tensile 
strength  of  244,000  lbs.  to  the  square  inch,  and  an  elastic  limit 
as  high  in  prfiimrtion.  He  estimated  that  to  build  a  large  battle- 
ship of  nickel  steel  would  add  but  2  [>er  cent,  to  her  cost,  whilst 
the  efficiency  would  be  doubled.  Sir.  Thomas  Turner  after- 
wards pointed  out  that  nickel  steel  was  supposed  to  have  a  wide 
range  of  extension  and  contraction  with  variations  of  tem|5era- 
ture,  so  that  if  a  ship  went  to  the  polar  regions  it  might  become 
even  feet  shorter  in  its  length. 

Mr.  Smith-Ca.sson's  paper,  on  .small  cast  ingots,  was  next 
read.  The  author  claims  to  have  got  very  good  results  by 
casting  ingots  together  from  the  lx)tlom.  This  was  the  last 
paper  read  at  the  meeting. 

Thursday  afternoon  wxs  devoted  to  an  excursion  to  Stratford- 
on-Avon,  whilst  on  the  following  day,  Friday,  an  excursion  was 
made  to  Kenilworth  and  to  Warwick,  where  members  and  their 
friends  were  entertained  at  the  Castle  by  Lord  and  Lady 
Warwick. 


poifj 

cle 

by.., 


of  the  tube.'  For  photographic  purposes  a  quartz  window  was 
attached  to  the  end  of  the  tube,  so  that  the  spectrum  of  the  gas 
could  be  taken  "  end  on." 

My  examinations  have  chiefly  been  made  on  five  samples  of  gas. 

( 1 )  .^  sample  from  Prof  Ramsay  in  March  last.  Prepared 
from  cliveite. 

(2)  -V  sample  from  Prof.  Ramsay  in  May  last.  Preixired 
from  a  sjiecimen  of  uraninite  sent  to  him  by  Prof.  Ilillebrand. 
Gas  obtained  by  means  of  sulphuric  acid  ;  purified  by  sparking. 

(3)  .\  -sample  from  Prof.  Ramsay  in  June  last.  Prepared 
from  briiggerite. 

(4)  A  sample  from  Prof.  Lockyer  in  July  last.  Prejiared  by 
a  process  of  fractional  distillation  from  a  sample  of  broggerite 
sent  by  Prof.  Brogger. 

(5)  A  sample  of  gas  from  Prof.  Ramsay,  "  Helium  Purissi- 
mum."  This  was  obtained  from  mixed  sources,  and  had  been 
purified  to  the  highest  pissible  point. 

In  the  following  table  the  first  four  samples  of  gas  will  be 
called  :— (I)  "  Cleveite,  R."  :  (2)  "  Uraninite,  R"  ;  (3)  "  Brog- 
gerite, R";  and  (4)  "Broggerite,  L."  Only  the  strongest  of 
the  lines,  and  those  about  which  I  have  no  doubt,  are  given. 
The  wave-lengths  are  on  Rowland's  scale. 

The  photographs  were  taken  on  plates  bent  to  the  proper 
curvature  for  bringing  the  whole  spectrum  in  accurate  focus  at 
the  same  time.  The  spectrum  given  by  a  spark  between  an 
alloy  of  equal  atoms  t)f  mercury,  cadmium,  zinc,  and  tin,  was 
photographed  at  the  same  time  on  the  plate,  partially  overlapping 
the  helium  spectrum  ;  suitable  lines  of  these  metals  were  used  as 
standards.  The  measurements  were  taken  by  means  of  a  special 
micrometer  reading  approximately  to  the  1/ 100,000th  inch,  and 
with  accuracy  to  the  1/ 10,000th  of  an  inch.  The  c.ilculations  were 
performed  .according  to  Sir  George  Stokes's  formula,  supple- 
mented by  an  additional  formula  kindly  supplied  by  Sir  George 
Stokes,  gi"ng  a  correction  to  be  applied  to  the  approximate 
wave-lengths  given  by  the  first  formula,  and  greatly  increasing 
the  accuracy  of  the  results. 

W.UC- 

Icni^th.     Intensity. 

7065-5         5       .\    red    line,    seen    in   all    the  samples   of  gas. 

Voung  gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  7065  5. 
6678  I  S       A    red    line,   seen    in    all    the   samples   of  g.is. 

Thalen  gives  a  line  at  6677,  and   Lockyer  at 

6678.     \oung  gives  a  chromospheric  line  at 

6678-3. 
5876-0       30       The  characteristic  yellow  line  of  helium,  seen  m 

ail    the   s;imples   of  gas.      Thalen    makes    it 

5875-9,  and  Rowland  5875-98.     Voung  gives 

a  chromospheric  line  at  5876. 


THE  SPECTRUM  OF  HELIUM} 

TN  the  Chemical  News  for  March  29  last  (vol.  Ixxi.  p.  151),  I 
■^  published  the  results  of  measurements  of  the  wave-lengths 
of  the  more  prominent  lines  .seen  in  the  spectrum  of  the  gas 
from  cleveite,  now  identifieii  with  helium.  The  gas  had  been 
given  to  me  by  the  discoverer,  I'rof.  Ramsay  ;  and  Iwing  from 
the  first  Ijatch  prc[«red,  it  contained  other  gases  as  impurities, 
such  as  nitrogen  and  aqueous  vapour,  Uuh  of  which  gave  s|x:ctra 
inlerftring  with  the  purity  of  the  true  helium  spcctnmi.  I  have 
jjnr.  1  1  '■,  the  kindness  of  Profs.  Ramsay  and  J.  Norman 
Li.  ii  opixirlunilyofexaniining  wimples  of  helium  from 
difl  I  lis  and  of  considerable  purity  .as  far  as  known 
contaniuKition  is  concerned.  These  samples  of  gas  were  sealed 
in  lulx-s  of  various  kinds  and  exhausted  to  the  most  luminous 
irum  oljscrvaticms.  In  most  cases  no  internal 
used,  but  the  rarefied  gas  w.as  illuminated  solely 
lelallic  terminals  being  attached   to  the  outside 

I   KroTi  the  Chfmkat  jVeu-s,  At'gusI  »> 


5062- 
5047- 


5015-9 


493'  9 
4922  6 

3 
10 

4870-6 

7 

4847-3 

7 

4805-6 

9 

4764-4 
4735  ■ 

2 
10 

47'3'4 

4658-5 
4579-1 


NO.    1348,  VOL.   52] 


'  Joitntat 


1891. 


A  yellow-green  line,  only  seen  in  "  Helium 
I'uriss."  and  in  "Broggerite,  R,"  and  "  L." 
Thalen  gives  the  wave-length  as  5048. 

A  green  line  seen  in  all  the  samples  of  gas. 
Thalen  gives  the  wave-length  5016.  \oung 
gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  50'5'9- 

A  green  line,  seen  in  all  the  santples  of  gas. 
Thalen  gives  the  wave-length  4922.  \'oung 
gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  4922  3. 

A  green  line,  only  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R." 
Voung  gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  48704. 

A  green  line,  only  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R.'' 
Voung  gives  a  chromospheric  line  al  4848-7. 

A  green  line,  only  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  K  " 
\oung  gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  4805  25. 

There  is  a  hydrogen  line  at  4764  o. 

A  very  strong  greenish  blue  line,  only  seen  in 
"  Uraninite,  K.'' 
9       A   blue  line,  seen    in   all    the   samples  of  g.is. 
Thalen's    measurement    is    47 '3 '5-       Voung 
gives  a  chromosjiheric  line  at  47 1 3  4. 
8       A  blue  line,  only  .seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R." 
3       A    faint    blue    line,    seen    in    "Uraninite,    R." 
Lockyer  gives  a    line  at   4580,   from  cert.iin 
minerals.      I  can  see  no  traces  of  it  in  the  g.is 
from   Broggerite.     A  hydrogen  line  occurs  at 
4580-1. 

of  the  linlilNllan  0/  KUdriral  Engmreri,  p.irl  91,  vol.  xx., 
Lddrcu  by  the  President,  William  Crookcs,  V.R.S.,  Jan.  15, 


August  29,  1895] 


NATURE 


429 


Wave- 
length.    Intensity. 

4559-4        2       \'oung  gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  4558'9. 

4544'I  5 

4520'9  3  A  faint  blue  line,  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R." 
Lockyer  gives  a  line  at  4522,  seen  in  the  gas 
from  some  minerals.  Young  gives  a  chromo- 
.splieric  line  at  4522-9.  It  is  absent  in  the  gas 
from  Broggerite. 

451 1 '4  5  A  blue  line,  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R,"  but  not  in 
the  others.  It  is  coincident  with  the  strong 
head  of  a  carbon  band  in  the  COj  and  Cy 
spectnmi. 

4497'8         2       There  is  a  hydrogen  line  at  449875. 

4471  '5  10  A  very  strong  blue  line,  having  a  fainter  line  on 
each  side,  forming  a  close  triplet.  It  is  a 
prominent  line  in  all  the  samples  of  gas 
examined.  Young  gives  the  wave-length 
447 1 '8  for  a  line  in  the  chromosphere,  and 
Lockyer  gives  4471  for  a  line  in  gas  from 
Brtiggerite. 

44357         9       Seen  in  "  Helium  I'uriss." 

44J7'i         I       Young  gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  4437 "2. 

These  two  lines  form  a  close  pair.     I  can  only 

■>8'f        rn      I     '""^^   them   in  "  Uraninite,    R."     No    trace  of 

~^  '     them    can    be  seen   in   the  gases  from    other 

■^"■^  i     sources.     Young  gives  chromospheric  lines  at 

!^    4426 '6  and  4425*6. 

4399"0  10  A  strong  line,  only  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R." 
-Ybsent  in  the  gas  from  the  other  sources. 
Lockyer  gives  a  line  at  439S  in  gas  from 
certain  minerals.  Young  gives  a  chromo- 
spheric line  at  439S"9. 

4386*3  6  Seen  in  all  the  samples  of  gas.  \'oung  gives  a 
chromospheric  line  at  4385  "4. 

4378*8         8    /These  tw-o  lines  form  a  pair  seen  in  "  Uraninite, 

4371.0         8     ^      R,"  but  entirely  absent  in  the  others. 

4348*4  10  Seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R."  Lockyer  finds  a  line 
at  4347  in  the  gas  from  certain  minerals. 

4333 '9  '°  Probably  a  very  close  double  line.  Seen  in 
"  Uraninite,  R,"  and  "  Cleveite,  R."  Not  seen 
in  the  other  .samples.  Lockyer  gives  a  line  in 
the  gas  from  certain  minerals  at  4338. 

4^98*7  6  Only  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R."  Young  gives  a 
chromospheric  line  at  4298*5. 

42Si*3         5       Only  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R." 

4271*0  5  (Jnly  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R."  Thestronghead 
of  a  nitrogen  band  occurs  close  to  this  line. 

4258*8         7       Seen  in  all  the  samples  of  gas. 

4227*1  5  Only  seen  in  ''Uraninite,  R.'  Young  gives  a 
chromosplieric  line  at  4226*89 

aiqS*6         o     I^*^^^^   three   lines   form  a  prominent   group  in 

^iSn*n         n     '      '"  Uraninite,     R,"    they    are     very    faint    in 

4181*5         9    1      "  Cleveite,   R,"  and    in    Broggerite,   L,"  but 


4178*1 


are  not  seen  in  "  Broggerite,  R.'' 


I  \n  extremely  faint  line.  Lockyer  gives  a  line 
at  4177,  seen  in  the  gas  from  certain  minerals, 
and    \'oung   gives    a    chromospheric    line   at 

4I79'5* 
4169*4        6      Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
4157*6         8       A  strong  line  in  "  Uraninite,  R,"  very  faint  in 

"Broggerite,    R,"    and    "  L,"    not    seen    in 

"  Cleveite,  R." 
4>43'9         7       Strong  in  "  Cleveite,  R,"  in  "  Helium  Puriss.," 

and    in    "Broggerite,     L."     It    is    faint    in 

"  Uraninite,  R,"  and  not  seen  in  "Broggerite, 

R."    Lockyer  gives  a  line  at  4145  in  gas  from 

certain  minerals. 
4121*3         7       Present  in  all  the  gases  except  "  Cleveite,  R." 
40443         9       Present  in  "  Uraninite,  R,"  and  "Cleveite,  R.'' 

.Ybscnt  in  the  others. 
j'  These   lines  form  a  very  close   pair,  seen  in  all 
4026*1        10    J      the  samples  of  gas,  except  "  Broggerite,  R." 
4024*15       6     I      Lockyer    finds   a   line   in    Broggerite   gas   at 

I     4026*5. 
4012*9         7       Seen  in  all  the  samples  of  gas. 
4009  2         7       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
3964*8       10       The  centre   line  of  a  dense  triplet.     Only  seen 

in   "  Cleveite,    R,"  in    Helium  Puriss.,"  and 

"  Broggerite,  L."  Hale  gives  a  chromospheric 

line  at  3964. 

NO.    1348,  VOL,   52] 


Wave- 
length.   Intensity. 

3962*3         4       Seen  in  all  the  samples  of  gas. 
3948*2       10       Very  strong    in   "  Uraninite,   R,"  very  faint   in 

"  Cleveite,   R,"  and   not  seen  in  the  others. 

Lockyer  finds  a  line  in  gas  from  Broggerite  at 

3947.      There  is  an  eclipse  line  at  the  same 

wave-length. 
3925*8         2       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
3917*0         2       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puri.ss." 
39132         4       Only  seen    in  "Uraninite,   R,"    and   "Helium 

Puriss."     Hale  gives  a  chromospheric  line  at 

39 '3  S- 

,'  A  very  strong  triplet,  seen  m  all  the  samples 
38905  9  \  of  gas.  Lockyer  finds  a  line  having  a  wave- 
3888*5       10  length    3889   in  gas  from  Broggerite.     Hale 

38859         9    '        gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  3888*73.     There 

is  a  strong  hydrogen  line  at  3889*15 
3874*6         6       Only  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R." 
3867*7         8       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
3819*4       10       Seen   in   all    the   samples   of    gas.     Deslandres 

gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  3819*8. 
38006         4       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
3732'5        5       Seen    in    "Helium     Puriss."      Hale    gives    a 

chromospheric  line  at  3733*3 
37054         6       Seen    in   all   the   samples   of   gas.     Deslandres 

gives  a  chromospheric  line  at  3705*9. 
36420        8       Only  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R." 
3633'3         S       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
3627*8         5       Only  seen  in  "  Uraninite,  R." 
3613*7         9       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
3587*0         5       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
3447*8         8       .Seen  in  "Helium  Puriss." 
3353'S         5       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
3247*5         2       .Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 

3187*3       10       The  centre  line  of  a  close  triplet.     Very  faint  in 
"  Cleveite,    R,"    and   "  Uraninite,    R,"   and 
strong   in   "Helium  Puriss."  and   in  "Brog- 
gerite, L."    It  is  not  seen  in  "  Broggerite,  R." 
2944*9         8       A    prominent    line,    only    seen    in     "  Helium 

Puriss."  and  in  "  Broggerite,  L." 
2536*5         8       Seen   in    "  Helium   Puriss."      .\   mercury   Une 

occurs  at  2536*72. 
2479*1         4       Seen  in  "Helium  Puriss." 
2446*4         2       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 
2419*8         2       Seen  in  "  Helium  Puriss." 

Some  of  the  more  refrangible  lines  may  possibly  be  due  to  the 
presence  of  a  carbon  compound  with  the  helium.  To  photo- 
graph them,  a  long  exposure,  extending  over  several  hours,  is 
necessary.  The  quartz  window  has  to  be  cemented  to  the  glass 
with  an  organic  cement,  and  the  long-continued  action  of  the 
powerfiU  induction  current  on  the  organic  matter  decomposes 
it,  and  fills  the  more  refrangible  end  of  the  spectrum  with  lines 
and  bands  in  which  some  of  the  flutings  of  hydrocarbon, 
cyanogen,  and  carbonic  anhydride  are  to  be  distinguished. 

There  is  a  great  difference  in  the  relative  intensities  of  the 
same  lines  in  the  gas  from  different  minerals.  Besides  the  case 
mentioned  by  Prof.  Kayser  of  the  yellow  and  green  lines,  5876 
and  5016,  which  vary  in  strength  to  such  a  degree  as  to  render 
it  highly  prolable  that  they  represent  two  different  elements,  I 
have  found  many  similar  cases  of  lines  which  are  relatively  faint 
or  absent  in  gas  from  one  source  and  strong  in  that  from  another 
source. 

Noticing  only    the    strongest    lines,   which    I    have  called 

"  Intensity  10,"  "  9,"  or  "  8,"  and  taking  no  account  of  them 

when  present  in  traces  in  other  minerals,  the  following  appear 

to  be  special  to  the  gas  from  uraninite  : — 

4735' I 

4658-5 

4428*1 

4424*0 

4399  •(> 
4378*8 
437 1'O 
4348 '4 
4198*6 
4189*9 
4iSi*5 
4157-6 
3948*2 
3642*0 


430 


NA  TURE 


[August  29,  1895 


The  following  strong  lines  are  present  in  all  the  samples  of 
gas  : — 

7065-5 

6678-1 

5876-0 

5015-9 

4922-6 

47134 

4471 '5 

43S6-3 

425S-8 

4012-9 

39623 

3890-5 

38SS-5 

3885-9 

3819-4 

3705-4 
The  distribution  assigned  to  some  of  the  lines  in  the  above 
tables  is  subject  to  correction.  The  intensities  arc  deduced 
from  an  examination  of  photographs,  taken  with  verj-  varietl  ex- 
ix>sures  :  some  having  been  e.xiiosed  long  enough  to  bring  out  the 
fainter  lines,  and  some  a  short  time  to  give  details  of  structure 
in  the  stronger  lines.  Unless  all  the  photographs  have  been 
ex|X)se<I  for  the  same  time,  there  is  a  liability  of  the  relative 
intensities  of  lines  in  one  picture  not  being  the  same  as  those  in 
another  picture.  Judgment  is  needed  in  deciding  whether  a  line 
is  to  have  an  intensity  of  7  or  8  assigned  to  it  ;  and  as  in  the 
tables  I  have  not  inchuletl  lines  below  intensity  8,  it  might 
happen  that  another  series  of  photographs  with  independent 
measurements  of  intensities  would  in  some  degree  alter  the  above 
arrangement. 

In  the  following  table  I  have  given  a  list  of  lines  which  arc 
probably  identical  w  ith  lines  observed  in  the  chromosphere  and 
|>rominences  : — 

Wavc'Icnglhi  Wave-lengths  of 

observed  cf  Intensities.  chromospheric  lines, 1 

helium.  Rowl.ind-s  sc.-»lc. 

7065-5  10  70655 

66781  10  667S-3 

58760  30  5S76-O 

5015-6    6    5015-9 

4922-6    10    49223 

4870-6    7    4870-4 

4847-3    7    48487 

48056    

4713-4    

45594 
4520-9 

4471-5    

44371 
442S-I 

.).'.■  ■ 
4- 

43"" '  .i 
42987 

4227-1    

4178-1    

3964-8    

3948-2 
39132 
3888-5 
3819-4 

3732-5    

3705-4    


UNIVERSITY  AND   EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
Mji.    Adoi.pii    Sutko,  well    known    as    the  buililir  of   the 
famou.t  Sulro  tunnel  on  the  Comstock  lode  in  Nevada,  and  now 


9 

480525 

9 

4713-4 

2 

4558-9 

3 

45229 

10 

4471-8 

I 

4437-2 

10 

4426-6 

10 

44256 

10 

1398 -9 

6 

4385-4 

6 

4298-5 

5 

4226-89 

1 

4179-5 

10 

",064  0  1 1  - 

10 

;-..,-.  -'  11 

4 

i'H  ; s  11 

10 

;s.vS73  11 

10 

;.Si9S  n 

5 

my  I 

6 

3705-9  D 

W.  Crookes. 

Spectroscopy."  !iy  Dr,  J.  Schemer,  traiu- 

ii,i.;.,K      t)    :.,w!     If     :,„.    ...!.I,-.I     ..r<,    wavC- 

■  hromo- 
'  extend 

J.  p.  116, 

'■*  between  the  wave* 
•rvcd  in  the  chromo* 


NO.    1348,  VOL,   52 J 


Mayor  of  San  Francisco,  has  just  offered  the  State  University 
R<^ents  thirteen  acres  of  land  within  the  city  limits,  on  which 
to  erect  buildings  for  the  afiiliatod  colleges  of  the  University. 
In  addition  to  this,  he  will  deed  to  the  Trustee  of  the  city 
thirteen  acres  adjoining,  as  a  site  for  the  Sutro  library  of  over 
200,000  volumes.  The  gift  is  valued  at  ;^300,ooo,  and  will  be 
worth  /^400,ooo  when  the  contemplated  improvements  are 
made. 

The  Clothworkers'  Exhibition,  awarded  by  the  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  Schools  Examination  Board  to  the  best  candidate  in 
physical  science  at  the  examination  held  for  higher  certificates, 
has  been  gained  by  T.  W.  F.igan,  Denstone  College,  StaH'ord- 
shire.  The  exhibition,  which  is  of  the  value  of  ;^52  lat.  a  year, 
is  tenable  for  three  years  by  the  holder  as  a  non-collegiate  student 
at  either  Oxford  or  Cambridge. 

Mr.  W.  M.  G.vrdner,  .\ssistant  Lecturer  in  Dyeing  in  the 
Yorkshire  College,  Leeds,  has  been  appointed  Head  Master  of 
the  Chemistry  and  Dyeing  Department  of  the  Bradford 
Technical  College. 

The  Calendar  of  the  Durh.im  Collegeof  Science,  Newcastle- 
upon  Tyne,  for  the  session  1895-96  hsisjust  been  publisheil,  and 
also  separate  prospectuses  of  the  day  and  evening  cKtsses. 

Sir  \.  Roi.LiT  askeil  the  First  Lord  of  the  Treasurj-  on 
Tuesday  whether  the  Government  intended,  and  when,  to  |)ro- 
pose  legisLition  in  pursuance  of  the  reix)rt  of  the  Gresham 
Commission  or  the  University  of  London.  In  reply,  .Mr. 
Balfour  .said  that  legislation  will  l)e  ini|K)ssible  on  the  subject  in 
the  course  of  the  present  Session,  and  he  was  unable  to  say  what 
action  will  be  taken  by  the  Government. 

The  operations  of  the  City  and  Guilds  of  London  Institute 
are  divide<l  broadly  into  two  branches,  viz.  the  educational 
work  of  three  London  Colleges,  and  of  the  Technological 
Examinations.  The  new  edition  of  the  prograntme  of  the  latter, 
including  regulations  for  the  registration  and  inspection  of  classes 
in  technology  and  manual  tiaining,  has  come  to  hand.  It  is 
more  bulky  that  any  of  the  previous  programmes  of  the  examina- 
tions, which  fact  may  be  taken  as  an  indication  that  the  Institute 
is  grtiwing  with  the  extension  of  tccltnical  e<Uication.  The 
technical  subjects  in  which  examinations  are  held  now  number 
sixty-three.  A  practical  examination  for  "electric  wircmcn" 
has  been  added,  and  a  corresponding  addition  has  been  made  to 
the  syllabus  for  the  preliminary  examination  in  "lectric  lighting. 
The  syllabuses  of  several  other  subjects  have  been  modified,  and 
that  in  wood-work  has  been  rewritten. 

The  forty-second  Report  of  the  Department  of  Science  and 
.Art  has  just  been  received.  \  noteworthy  point  shown  by  the 
statistics  contained  in  it  is  the  diminutiim  in  the  number  of 
science  schools,  clas,ses,  and  students  under  instruction,  brought 
about  by  the  abolition  of  grants  for  secimd-class  (la-sses  in  the 
Elementary  Stages  of  Science  subjects.  As  compared  with  the 
previous  year,  the  nundjer  t)f  scIuk>Is  in  1894  hail  <iecreasetl  by 
152 — from  2754  to  2602  ;  the  number  of  pupils  had  decreased  by 
about  10,000— from  193,431  to  183,120;  and  the  luimber  of 
classes  in  <lifl'erent  branches  of  science  had  decreased  by  <>o8  from 
10,341  to  9433.  This  diminution  is  attributed  to  the  changes  In 
payments  on  results,  "anil  also  probably  to  the  opening  of 
numerous  technical  cbsses  by  the  local  authorities  in  diti'irent 
parts  of  the  country,  which  have  drawn  away  the  students  from 
the  classes  in  (nire  science.  The  decrease  in  the  number  of 
schools  and  cl.asses  is  owing  partly  to  the  same  cause,  and  larlly 
to  the  amalgamation  of  smaller  S(-hools,or  to  their  absr>rplion  in 
the  more  pros[«;rous  and  better  .supporteil  schools  in  their  neigh- 
bourhood, many  classes  in  which  instruction  of  a  very  elementary 
nature  only  had  been  given  being  at  the  same  time  closed."  A 
determination  has  been  made  of  the  average  ages  at  which 
students  in  the  Department's  science  classes  obtained  surcisses 
in  the  I-Jemeiilary  am'  .\dvanced  .Stages,  It  was  found  thai  the 
average  age  in  D.iy  Schools  for  a  student  to  obtain  a  firslchiss 
elementary  success  was  about  14,  and  for  a  .second-class 
Advanced  about  15J,  while  in  the  evening  classes  the  ages  were 
respectively  .ibout  18  and  -21.  In  addition  to  statistics,  anti 
information  as  to  science  instruction  and  technical  education, 
the  Report  contains  the  reports  of  the  work  of  the  (Jeologlcal 
Survey  of  the  United  Kingdom,  and  of  the  Committee  on  .Solilr 
Physics. 


August  29,  1895] 


NATURE 


431 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

American  Journal  of  Science,  August. — The  earth  a  n\agnetic 
shell,  by  Frank  H.  Bigelow.  This  paper  gives  the  vectors  of 
the  polar  magnetic  field  at  the  earth  due  to  the  sun,  together 
with  certain  deductions  from  their  intensity  and  distribution. 
Unless  the  magnetic  permeability  of  the  interior  of  the  earth  is 
less  than  I,  which  is  highly  improbable,  the  polar  vectors 
obtained  must  be  interpreted  as  stream  lines  llowing  round  an 
obstacle  in  the  interior  of  the  earth.  In  other  words,  the  outer 
stratum  of  the  earth  is  permeable  to  the  external  magnetic  forces, 
while  the  nucleus  is  not  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  earth  is  a  magnetic 
shell.  The  diameter  of  this  impermeable  nucleus  is  calculated 
at  6340  miles,  and  the  thickness  of  the  shell  at  790  miles.  The 
external  ]iolar  field  is  concentrated  in  two  belts,  one  of  which  is 
the  auroral  zone  round  the  poles,  and  the  tropical  belt  at  the  two 
tropics.  It  is  a  pity  that  most  magnetic  observatories  are  placed 
on  the  middatitude  depression.  Since  both  the  magnetic  and 
the  electromagnetic  vectors  represent  cosmical  forces  of  the  same 
type  as  gravitation,  connecting  the  sun  with  the  planets,  they 
should  be  taken  into  account  in  general  theoretical  astronomy,  or 
the  celestial  mechanics  of  the  solar  system.  It  is  possible  that 
certain  irregular  motions  as  yet  unexplained  may  be  accounted 
for  on  the  basis  of  these  additional  forces. — On  the  velocity  of 
electric  waves,  by  John  Trowbridge  and  William  Duane.  The 
apparatus  used  for  photographing  successive  sparks  whose  images 
were  thrown  on  the  plate  by  a  revolving  mirror,  was  substantially 
the  same  as  previously  described  ;  but  the  dielectric  used  was 
plate  glass,  and  the  terminals  were  made  of  cadmuim.  The 
average  value  for  the  velocity  of  electric  waves  travelling  along 
two  parallel  wires  was  3*0024  x  10''*  cm.  per  second,  a  value 
w-hich  differs  from  the  velocity  of  light  by  less  than  2  per  cent, 
of  its  value,  and  from  the  ratio  between  the  two  systems  of 
electromagnetic  units  by  even  less. — On  the  distribution  and  the 
secular  variation  of  terrestrial  magnetism,  by  L.  A.  Bauer.  The 
distribution  and  the  secular  variation  appear  to  be  closely  related, 
they  obey  similar  law's,  and  seem  to  Ije  connected  in  some  way 
with  the  rotation  of  the  earth.  The  following  are  some  of  the 
laws  traced  by  the  author ;  The  mean  declination  along  a 
parallel  of  latitude  is  always  westerly,  the  minimum  occurring 
near  the  equator.  The  mean  inclination  along  a  parallel  of 
latitude  follows  quite  closely  the  law  ;  tan  1  =  2  tan  <^  where  I  is 
the  inclination  and  ip  the  geograjihical  latitude.  The  minimum 
range  in  declination,  and  the  minimum  average  secular  change 
from  17S0  to  18S5  along  a  parallel  of  latitude  occurred  near  the 
equator,  the  values  generally  increasing  ujion  leaving  the  equat<jr. 
The  corresponding  values  in  the  case  of  inclination  were  maxima, 
and  decrease  upon  leaving  the  equator. — Complementary  rocks 
and  radial  dykes,  by  L.  V.  Pirs.son.  "  Complementary  rocks  " 
are  such  that  if  the  basic  types  are  combined  with  the  accom- 
panying acid  types,  they  give  the  composition  of  the  main  type 
of  magma  with  which  they  are  associated. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

LO.NDON. 

Royal  Society,  May  I. — ^Dr.  E.  Lindon  Melius  gave  the 
results  of  experimental  lesions  of  the  cortex  cerebri  in  the 
Honnet  Monkey.  The  experiments  were  confined  to  the  left 
hemisphere,  and  consisted  in  the  removal  of  minute  portions  of 
the  cortex  (generally  about  16  sq.  mm.)  representing  the  centres 
for  movements  of  the  hallux  and  thumb,  as  well  as  several 
centres  within  the  facial  area.  The  animals  recovered  from  the 
operation  without  any  sign  of  .sepsis,  and  were  killed  from  ten  to 
thirty-five  days  after  the  operation,  the  l)rains  and  cords 
hardened  in  Midler's  fluid,  and  stained  by  the  Marchi  method. 
Numerous  as.sociation  fibres,  both  coarse  and  fine,  connecting 
the  lesion  with  the  surrounding  cortex,  were  found  tlegenerated. 
The.se  were  always  most  numerous  in  the  immediate  neighbour- 
hood of  the  lesion,  and  mostly  distributed  to  the  two  central 
convoluti(tns. 

From  lesions  in  the  hallux  centre  degenerated  association 
fibres  were  distributed  to  both  central  convolutions  to  the  level 
of  the  inferior  genu  of  the  fissure  of  Rolando,  to  the  parietal 
lobule,  to  the  posterior  portion  of  the  .superior  frontal  convolu- 
tion, to  the  lobulus  paracentralis,  precuneus,  and  the  gyrus 
tornicatus.  Degenerate  fibres  crossed  in  the  middle  third  of  the 
corpus  callosum  and  w'ere  distributed  to  corresponding  por- 
tions of  the   right  cortex,  the  degeneration  on   the    right  side 


NO.    1348,  VOL.  52] 


being  considerably  less  than  on  the  left.  In  the  lower  levels  of 
the  left  internal  capsule  the  degeneration  was  .scattered  over  the 
area  of  the  middle  third  of  the  posterior  limb,  being  somewhat 
anterior  to  its  position  in  higher  levels.  From  the  posterior 
limb  of  the  internal  capsule  most  of  the  fine  degeneration  passed 
into  the  optic  thalamus,  while  the  coarse  passetl  on  into  the  cms, 
where  it  was  found  in  the  middle  third.  \Iany  coarse  degenerate 
fibres  passed  from  the  crus  into  the  substantia  nigra.  At  the 
decussation  of  the  j.wramids  the  tract  divides,  the  larger  portion 
crossing  to  the  opposite  lateral  column,  while  the  smaller  goes  to 
that  of  the  .same  side.  The  amount  of  degeneration  {passing  to 
the  lateral  column  of  the  same  (left)  side  varies  from  a  third  of 
all  the  degeneration  in  one  case  to  about  a  twentieth  in  the 
others.  In  each  case  a  few  degenerate  fibres  remain  in  the  left 
anterior  column  after  the  completion  of  the  decussation.  The 
amount  varies  in  different  cases,  and  is  not  apjiarently  dejiendent 
on  the  proportion  ot  degenerate  fibres  passing  to  the  lateral 
column  of  the  same  side.  The  relations  and  extent  of  the  de- 
generated areas  remain  vmchanged  thioughout  the  cervical  and 
(lorsal  cord.  The  degeneration  in  the  crossed  tract  of  each  side 
is  evenly  scattered  over  its  entire  area,  the  tw-o  sides  only  differ- 
ing in  the  density  of  the  degeneration.  In  the  lumbar  region 
the  degeneration  in  each  crossed  tract  and  in  the  left  anterior 
column  begins  to  go  out,  and,  in  the  only  case  examined  at  that 
level,  the  degeneration  had  not  all  disappeared  at  the  level  of  the 
third  sacral  root. 

In  lesions  of  the  thumb  centre  (ascending  parietal  convolution 
just  above  the  inferior  genu  of  the  fissure  of  Rolando)  degenerated 
association  fibres  were  distributed  to  the  central  convolutions 
from  the  border  of  the  lofigiludinal  fissure  nearly  to  the  fissure 
of  Sylvius.  To  a  less  degree,  but  in  varying  amounts,  degenerate 
fibres  were  traced  to  the  posterior  portions  of  the  middle  and 
inferior  frontal  convolutions,  to  the  supra  marginal  and  angular 
gyri,  the  upper  or  posterior  portion  of  the  superior  temporal 
convolution,  the  precuneus  and  lobus  quadratus  and  paracen- 
tralis and  the  gyrus  fornicatus.  Degenerate  fibres  crossing  in 
the  middle  third  of  the  corpus  callosum  were  distributed  to  the 
corresponding  convolutions  of  the  right  side,  though  less  in 
amount  and  area  of  distribution.  There  was  a  remarkable 
variation  in  the  size  of  the  fibres  distributed  to  the  central  con- 
volutions of  both  hemispheres,  Ijeing  coarse  above  the  level  of 
the  lesion  and  fine  below',  thus  corresponding  with  the  measure- 
ments made  by  Bevan  Lew  is  of  the  corpuscles  of  the  fourth  layer 
of  the  cortex  in  this  region.  The  arrangement  and  distribution 
of  the  degeneration  in  the  posterior  limb  of  the  left  internal 
capsule  was  the  same  as  in  lesions  of  the  hallux  centre,  and  there 
was  the  same  passage  of  fine  degeneration  from  the  capsule 
to  the  thalamus.  The  amount  of  coarse  degeneration  jjassing 
from  the  crus  to  the  substantia  nigra  was  much  greater  than  in 
lesions  of  the  hallux  centre,  varying  from  a  half  to  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  degeneration  reaching  the  crus.  In  one  case  only 
was  there  a  division  of  the  degenerated  tract  at  the  decussation 
of  the  pyramids  such  as  was  observed  in  lesions  of  the  hallux 
centre,  and  the  amount  of  degeneration  passing  to  the  left 
lateral  colunm  was  less  than  in  either  of  the  hallux  cases.  This 
was  also  the  only  case  in  which  .a  few  degenerate  fibres  remained 
in  the  left  anterior  column  after  the  completion  of  the  decussation. 
In  two  cases  s<->me  degeneration  was  foiuid  in  the  right  capsule  and 
crus  occupying  the  same  position  and  following  the  same  course 
as  the  degenerate  fibres  in  the  left  capsule  and  crus,  but  its 
direct  connection  with  the  lesion  could  not  be  demonstrated. 
From  the  level  of  the  seventh  cervical  root  downward  the  de- 
generate fibres  steadily  and  gradually  disappeared,  and  at  the 
le\el  of  the  third  dorsal  root  there  were  none  left,  thus  confirm- 
ing the  results  obtained  by  excitation  of  the  nerve  roots. 

The  lesions  within  the  facial  area  were,  with  one  exception, 
along  the  upper  border  of  the  fissure  of  Sylvius.  The  single 
exception  was  in  the  a.scending  frontal  convolution  near  the 
inferior  genu  of  the  fissure  of  Rolando.  In  all  these  experiments 
the  degenerate  association  fibres  were  mostly  distributed  to  the 
central  convolutions,  but  in  .some  instances  to  the  posterior  por- 
tions of  the  middle  and  inferior  frontal,  the  superior  and  iirferior 
temporal  convolutions,  and  the  supra  marginal  gyrus.  The  de- 
generation in  the  corpus  callosum  was  mostly  in  the  anterior 
half  of  the  middle  third,  and  the  distribution  of  degenerate  fibres 
to  the  convolutions  of  the  right  hemisphere  more  nearly  corre- 
sponded to  that  of  the  left  than  in  lesions  of  the  hallux  or  thumb 
centre.  In  all  the  lesions  of  the  facial  area  the  degenerations  in 
the  uppermost  levels  of  the  capsule  were  in  the  anterior  jiortion, 
gradually  moving  backward  in   ihf  Imvir  Kvels  until  thi;y  were 


43^ 


NATURE 


[August  29,  1S95 


found  in  the  same  position  (the  middle  third  of  the  posterior 
limb)  as  the  degenerations  resulting  from  lesions  of  the  hallux  and 
thumb  centres.  In  this  backward  movement  of  the  facial  fibres 
in  the  capsule  there  is  necessarily  a  level  in  which  they  enveloi>e 
the  genu,  which  would  account  for  the  fact  that  they  are  gene- 
rally described  as  occupying  that  position.  .\s  in  the  other  lesions, 
most  of  the  fine  degeneration  passed  from  the  internal  capsule  to 
the  thalanms.  In  the  crus  the  degeneration  was  scattered  pretty 
evenly  over  the  area  of  the  middle  third,  exactly  corresix>nding 
to  the  situation  of  the  pyramidal  fibres  in  the  other  experiments, 
and  not  occup)-ing  the  position  usually  assigned  to  them,  mesial 
to  the  pyramidal  fibres.  No  degeneration  was  found  in  the 
accessory  bundle  to  the  fillet.  .Vs  in  the  other  experiments,  de- 
generate fibres  were  found  passing  from  the  crus  to  the  substantia 
nigra.  The  remaining  degenerate  fibres  began  to  leave  the  left 
pyramidal  tract  at  the  junction  of  the  pons  and  medulla,  passing 
as  single  degenerate  fibres  to  the  facial  nucleus  of  one  or  the 
other  side.  Below  the  level  of  the  facial  nuclei  these  fibres 
passed  to  the  motor  nuclei  of  the  glossopharyngeus  and  vagus 
on  both  sides,  the  majority  crossing  the  raphe  to  reach  the  nuclei 
on  the  opposite  side.  Occasional  fibres  were  observed  which 
apparently  jiassed  to  some  termination  dorsal  to  these  nuclei. 
This  movement  of  degenerate  fibres  continued  as  far  as  the 
sensorj-  decussation.  A  few  degenerate  fibres  ( probably  thumb 
or  finger  fibres)  remained  in  the  pyramid  and  crossed  in  the 
decussation  to  the  right  lateral  column,  and  disappeared  in  the 
lower  cervical  or  upper  dorsal  region.  In  some  of  the  facial 
lesions  there  were  appearances  of  ilegeneration  in  the  right 
internal  capsule,  but  its  connection  with  the  lesion  could  not  be 
demonstrated. 

P.\RIS. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  August  19.— On  matches  tipped 
with  explosive  mixtures,  by  .M.  Th.  Schlitsing.  The  author  has 
ex])erimented  with  a  number  of  mixtures  of  substances  with  the 
\new  of  finding  a  jxisie  endowed  with  the  properties  of  that  mix- 
ture containing  white  phosphorus,  and  not  having  its  poisonous 
character.  The  results  show  that  it  is  necessary  to  use  potas- 
sium chlorate,  red  phosphorus,  ground  glass,  and  glue  or  its 
equivalent,  and  that  it  is  by  no  means  a  simple  matter  to  find  a 
]wrfect  substitute  for  the  paste  used  in  tipping  common  matches. 
— On  the  storms  and  earthquakes  in  .\ustri;i  during  June,  by  M. 
Ch.  V.  Zenger.  It  is  shown  that  during  this  ixrriod  :  (i)  Solar 
activity  has  been  sexy  great.  (2)  Magnetic  perturbations  have 
been  very  ample  and  fre<)uent.  (3)  Karthquakes  and  cyclonic 
storms  of  extraordinar)'  violence  have  coincided  with  the  appear- 
ance of  numerous  and  brilliant  meteorites,  and  with  the  passage 
of  numerous  shooting  stars. — On  equilateral  hyperboke  of  any 
order,  by  M.  Paul  Serret. — On  permanent  deformations  and  the 
rupture  of  solid  Ixxlies,  by  M.  l-aurie. — On  the  conducting 
pfiwer  of  mixtures  of  metal  filings  and  dielectrics,  by  M.  Ci.  T. 
Lhuillier.  —  Researches  on  the  combinations  of  mercury  cyanide 
with  chlorides,  by  M.  Kaoul  \'aret.  A  thermocheniical  study 
on  the  combinations  of  mercury  cyanitle  with  the  chlorides  of 
sodium,  ammonium,  barium,  strontium,  calcium,  magnesium, 
zinc,  and  caflmium.  The  solutions  of  these  double  salts  do  not 
give  the  isopurpurate  reaction  with  a  iiicrate  at  30",  and  hence 
the  cyanr^en  remains  wholly  in  combmation  with  the  mercury 
at  this  lemiK'ralure.  On  boiling,  however,  there  is  evidence  of 
interchange  of  a  small  projOTrtion  of  cyanogen  for  chlorine. — 
Thermal  researches  on  cyanuric  acid,  by  M.  I'aul  Lemoull.  .'vs 
in  the  case  of  phosphoric  acid,  the  addition  of  each  of  three 
equivalents  of  alkali  is  marked  by  a  different  evolution  of  heal  ; 
the  acid  is  a  triliasic  mixed  acid. — Heat  of  combustion  of  some 
0-kclonic  ethereal  .salts,  by  M.  J.  duinchanl. — Oeterminalicm  of 
heat  disengaged  in  alcoholic  fermenlalion,  by  M.  .\.  Houffard. — 
f)n  the  gum  of  wines,  by  M.M.  O.  Niviere  and  .\.  Hubert. — 
')n  the  migration  of  phosphate  of  lime  in  jjlanls,  by  M.  L. 
Vaudin. — Origin  and  r<>le  of  the  nucleus  in  the  formation  of 
s|x)rcs  and  in  the  acl  of  fecundation,  among  the  Uredinea-,  by 
M.  .Sappin-Trouffy. 

BKRI.rN. 

Physiological  Society,  July  5.— Prof.  Munk,  President,  in 
tbi-  'hair.  — Prof.  II.  M\mk  spoke  on  conlracturcs  he  had 
oh.,  rvcd  in  monkeys  after  removal  of  the  motor  areas  of  the 
"'■'■'  •T'rx.  —  Prof,  (lad  reported  some  experiments  of  Prof. 
N  'f  Athens),  which  had  <lemonslralcd  the  presence  of 

li'     '  in  the  pyloric  gastric  glands  and  in  Hrunner's  glands, 

July  19.  — Prof,  du  Hois  Kcymond,  President,  in  the  chair.— 
Dr.  Schulti  demonstrated  micro-  and  macro-scopically  the  con- 
traction of  the  unstriatetl  muscle  fibres  of  the  stomach  of  Sala- 


mander. It  was  seen  that  the  excised  strips  only  contract 
when  they  are  cut  out  in  the  direction  of  the  long  axis  of  the 
fibres,  not  when  the  fibres  arc  cut  through  at  right  angles  to 
their  axis.  Dr.  Rawitz  had  stained  the  lymphatic  glands  in  the 
mesentery  of  Maciuiis  cynoiiio/giis  by  his  "additive"  method. 
He  found  the  nuclei  of  the  cells  were  generally  placed  excen- 
trically,  and  contained  a  minute  round  chromatin  ixilch.  The 
linin  network  was  marked  by  minute  nuclei  at  the  points  of 
intersection  and  attachment.  The  structure  of  the  plasma  was 
quite  indeterminate,  but  it  appeared  to  contain  a  small  round 
body,  2  to  3  ^  in  diameter,  which  stained  somewhat  deeply,  and 
which  he  regarded  as  van  Beneden's  " attraction  sphere."  Dr. 
Schultz  had  examined  the  optical  properties  of  unstriated 
muscle-fibres  of  vertebrates  in  polarised  light.  It  was  found 
that  although  single  fibres  were  not  doubly  refmcting,  a  thicker 
layer  of  them  was  so  quite  distinctly.  From  this  he  concluded 
that  the  siiig/i:  fibres  are  in  reality  doubly  refracting,  but  too 
feebly  so  to  be  perceptible.  The  double  refraction  l>ecame  less 
during  contraction,  from  which  he  concluded  that,  in  accordance 
with  von  Ebner's  theory,  llie  anisotropic  property  of  the  fibres  is 
due  to  differences  in  their  internal  tensions,  the  latter  being 
greater  in  a  transverse  than  in  a  longitudinal  direction. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Books. — Erdmagnetische  Me&sungen  in  Osterreich  :  J.  Liznar  (Wien). — 
Durham  College  of  Science,  Calendar  (Reid).— Oic  Schflpfung  des 
Menschen  und  ilciner  idealc  :  Dr.  \V.  Haacke  (Williams  and  Norgate).— 
Elements  of  Coordinate  Gcomctr>' :  Prof.  S.  I.oney  (Macmillan). — A 
Lalwraiory  Manual  of  Organic  Chemi.-iiry  :  Prof.  l^xss.-ir-Cohn,  translated 
by  Prof.  A.  Smith  (Macmillan). — Asironomische  Mitiheilungen  von  der 
Koniglichcn  Stcrnwartc  zu  Gotiin^cn  :  Prof.  \V.  Schur,  Vicrtcr  Thcil 
(GOitingen,  Kacstner). — Symons's  British  Rainfall,  1894  (Stanford). — Forty- 
second  Report  of  ih-  Department  of  Science  and  Art  (liyre  and  Spottis- 
woodc). 

pAMt'HLETS. — Geological  Survey  of  Alabama ;  Report  upon  the  Coosa 
Coal  Field  :  A.  M.  Gibson  (Montgomery). — Plants  and  (hardens  of  the 
Canar>"  Islands  :  Dr.  D.  Morris  (SpoitiswiH>de). 

Serials. — Boianischc  Jahrbuchcr  fur  Systematik,  Pflanzengcschichtc  und 
Pfl an zcn geographic,  Einundzwanzigsier  Band,  3  Heft  (Williams  and  Nor- 
gate).— Journal  of  the  Institute  of  Jamaica,  April  (Kingston). — L'Anthro- 
pologie,  Tome  6,  No.  4  (Paris). — Quarterly  Journal  of  Nlicroscoi>i«:al 
Science,  August  (Churchill). — Journal  of  the  Royal  Horticultural  Society, 
August  (117  Victoria  Street). — Longman's  Magazine,  August  (Longmans). 


NO.   1348,  VOL.  52] 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Sir     Samuel     Baker    and    Northern   Africa.     By  J. 

W.  G 409 

Bio-optimism.      Hy  H.  G.  Wells 410 

The     Glyptodont     Origin     of     Mammals.       Bv     R. 

Lydekker,  F.R.S 411 

Our  Book  Shelf;— 

l)c  Marchi  :   "  Le  Cause  dell'  Era  Glaciale"    ....  412 
Rawitz :  "  LeitfadenfiirhistologischeUntersuchungen." 

—A.  A.  K 412 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The    Tnivcrsitv    of    London. —W.    T,    Thiselton- 

Dyer,  C.M.G.,  F.R.S 413 

The  Nomenclature  of  Colours. —  Herbert  Spencer  .  413 

Clausius' Virial  Theorem.— Colonel  C.  E.  Basevi     .  413 

Incubatiim  among  the  Egyptians.     J.  Tyrrell  Baylee  414 

Mountain  Sickness.-  -George  Griffith      414 

IIow    was  Wallace   led    to    the   Discovery   of  Natural 
.Sclu(li.)n  ?     Dr.     A.      B.     Meyer;     Dr.     A.    R. 

Wallace,  F.R.S 415 

A    Problem   in   Thermodynamics.     (flluslraUd.) — E, 

Blass       415 

.\  RL-markalile  I'lighl  of  Birils     -R.  A.  Bray  .    .    .    .  415 

The  Ipswich  Meeting  of  the  British  Association  .    .  415 

A  Souvenir  of  C//.;//< /;;'.'  Work,     {//liislraltui.)     .    .    .  417 

Dr.  Friedrich  W.  G.  Sporer.      By  W.  J.  S.  L.     ...  417 

Notes      418 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Rcap])earaiife  of  .Swill's  Comet 421 

The  Latitude  Variation  Tide 421 

The  Solar  Parallax  from  Mars  Observations      ....  421 
The    Sun's   Place  in   Nature.     X.     {///it.(/ra/iJ.)      By 

J.  Norman  Lockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S 422 

The  Iron  and  Steel  Institute 425 

The  Spectrum  of  Helium.      I!y  V/.  Crookes,  F.R.S.  428 

University  and   Educational  Intelligence 430 

Scientific  Serials 431 

Societies  and  Academies 431 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 432 


NA  rURE 


433 


THURSDAY,    SEPTEMBER 


1S95 


THE  PENDULUM  AND  GEOLOGY. 
Rl'suIIs  of  a  Transcontinental  Series  of  Gravity  Measure- 
ments. Hy  George  Rockwell  Putnam.  Notes  on  the 
Gravity  Determinations  Reported  by  Mr.  G.  R.  Putnavi. 
By  drove  Karl  Gilbert.  (Washington,  U.S.A.  : 
Philosopliical  Society's  Bulletin,  vol.  xiii.  pp.  31-76.) 

SINCE  the  ninnber  of  swings,  which  a  pendulum  of 
given  length  makes  in  a  certain  number  of  hours, 
depends  upon  the  attraction  of  the  earth  at  the  place 
■where  it  is  swinging,  it  follows  that,  if  an  observer  carries 
the  same  pendulum  to  different  places,  and  notes  the 
number  of  swings  at  each  place  he  visits,  he  can  by  that 
means  compare  the  force  of  gravity  at  the  several  places. 
If  the  earth  were  a  smooth  spheroid  consisting  of  con- 
centric shells,  each  of  uniform  density  throughout,  then 
gravity  w-ould  have  the  same  value  at  all  stations  situated 
on  the  same  parallel  of  latitude.  But  if,  as  i?  the  case  in 
nature,  there  arc  mountains  and  elevated  plateaus  along 
the  course  followed  by  the  observer,  gravity  ought  to  vary 
from  its  normal  value,  and  in  fact  it  is  found  to  do  so. 
Theoretically  it  is  possible  to  calculate  what  variation  of 
gravity  at  a  given  station  ought  to  be  caused  by  the 
altitude  of  the  station,  and  the  attraction  of  the  neigh- 
bouring visible  masses — i.e.  of  the  mountain  or  plateau 
where  the  pendulum  is  swung,  and  of  the  rock  masses 
round  about,  and  when  these  disturbing  causes  are 
allowed  for,  and  the  corresponding  corrections  made,  the 
value  of  gravity  as  deduced  from  the  rate  of  the  pendulum 
might  be  expected  to  tally  with  what  it  would  be  at  the 
base  level,  supposing  the  mountains  and  all  the  sur- 
rounding masses  carted  clean  away,  and  the  smooth  sur- 
face of  the  globe  laid  bare.  This  correction  is  termed 
reducing  to  the  sea  level,  or  to  the  mean  level  if  the 
reference  is  made,  not  to  the  sea,  but  to  some  inland 
station.  The  question  then  to  be  answered  for  each 
station  is,  whether  when  this  correction  has  been  made, 
or,  in  technical  language,  when  gravity  has  been  reduced 
to  the  sea,  or  mean,  level,  does  the  reduction  give  the 
value  which  might  be  expected  for  the  latitude?  If  it 
does  not,  this  points  to  some  deviation  from  regularity  in 
the  density  of  the  earth's  crust  below  the  station,  the 
nature  of  which  may  be  inferred  from  the  character  and 
amount  of  residual  discrepancy,  when  the  reduction  has 
been  made.  In  this  w^ay  it  is  that  the  pendulum  becomes 
a  kind  of  geological  stethoscope. 

In  investigations  of  this  kind,  the  elevated  ground 
which  forms  the  station  is  usually  very  much  wider  than 
it  is  high,  so  that,  bearing  in  mind  the  law  of  the  inverse 
square,  it  may  be  regarded  as  an  extensive  plain.  If 
from  local  peculiarities  it  cannot  be  so  regarded,  com- 
pensatory allowances  are  made  to  bring  it  under  that 
category.  The  effects  of  the  station  being  situated  on  an 
elevated  plateau  are  of  three  kinds,  two  of  which  cause 
gravity  to  appear  smaller  than  it  would  appear  at  the  sea 
level  beneath  the  station,  and  one  which  causes  it  to 
appear  greater.  Of  the  two  which  make  it  appear 
smaller,  the  more  important  is,  that  the  increased  distance 
from  the  earth's  centre  causes  the  attraction  of  the  earth 
as  a  whole  to  be  diminished  ;  the  other,  which  is  insig- 

NO.    1349,  VOL.   52] 


nificant,  and  usually  neglected,  is  that  the  increased  dis- 
tance from  the  axis  of  rotation  increases  the  centrifugal 
force,  which  is  opposed  to  gravity.  The  third  effect, 
which  causes  gravity  to  appear  greater  than  at  the  sea 
level,  arises  from  the  attraction  of  the  matter  of  which  the 
elevated  plain,  or  mountain,  is  composed,  for  that  maybe 
regarded  as  an  adventitious  mass  of  rock,  in  excess  of  the 
sphere,  placed  beneath  the  pendulum.  The  reduction  of 
the  gra\ity  observed  at  the  station  consists,  therefore,  in 
adding  a  correction  equivalent  to  the  diminution  due  to 
the  elevation  of  the  station,  and  subtracting  a  correction 
equivalent  to  the  attraction  of  the  mass  of  the  elevated 
plain.  If  the  reduction  so  made  does  not  bring  the  ob- 
served value  to  agree  with  the  value  at  the  sea  level, 
appropriate  to  the  latitude  of  the  station,  there  must  be 
some  geological  cause  present  to  account  for  the 
discrepancy. 

It  came  to  light  in  1847,  in  consequence  of  the  great 
trigonometrical  survey  of  India,  that,  on  approaching  the 
range  of  the  Himalayas  within  about  si.xty  miles,  the 
plumb-line,  or  vertical,  was  slightly  deflected  towards  the 
mountains,  so  that  it  did  not  remain  exactly  perpen- 
dicular to  the  earth's  surface.  This  was  what  might  have 
been  expected,  because  the  great  rocky  mass  would 
naturally  draw  the  plumb-line  towards  it.  But  when  the 
attraction  of  the  mountains  came  to  be  calculated,  it  was 
discovered  that,  although  their  action  was  great  enough 
to  have  caused  a  source  of  perplexity  to  the  surveyors,  it 
was  nevertheless  not  so  great  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected. Clearly,  then,  some  geological  cause  was  latent, 
which  required  to  be  explained. 

After  some  not  very  successful  attempts  at  explanation 
by  others,  .'X.iry,  then  Astronomer  Royal,  proposed  in 
1855  a  solution  of  the  difficulty  which  met  the  case.  He 
assumed,  as  in  those  days  was  usually  done,  that  the 
crust  of  the  earth  was  comparatively  thin,  and  rested 
upon  a  more  or  less  liquid  substratum,  which  in  his 
paper  in  the  Philosophical  Transactions  he  called  "  lava." 
Then  he  showed  that  a  great  mountain  mass  would 
break  the  crust  through  unless  it  was  supported  by  a 
protuberance  beneath  it,  projecting  downwards  into  a 
layer  denser  than  itself.  In  short,  it  needed  to  be  held 
up  in  hydrostatic  equilibrium,  much  as  an  iceberg  is 
supported  in  the  ocean  ;  and  he  explained  how,  under 
these  circumstances,  the  observed  deficiency  of  attraction 
of  the  plumb-line  towards  the  mountains  would  be 
accounted  for. 

.•Mthough  this  observation  upon  the  plumb-line  was  not 
a  direct  investigation  of  the  force  of  gravity,  it  was  never- 
theless conducive  to  it,  for  the  unexpected  abnormality  in 
the  horizontal  effect  of  mountain  attraction  rendered  it 
probable  that  the  same  cause,  whatever  it  might  be, 
would  produce  some  corresponding  effect  upon  vertical 
attraction,  i.e.  upon  gravity.  It  has  been  explained  how 
the  pendulum  is  the  suitable  apparatus  for  measuring 
gravity,  and  accordingly  the  pendulum  w-as  called  into 
requisition  to  make  more  direct  observations.  At  certain 
stations  of  the  Indian  Survey,  of  which  the  height  and 
position  had  been  already  determined,  the  mean  number 
of  swings,  called  the  "  vibration  number,"  was  observ-ed, 
which  were  made  by  the  pendulum  in  twenty-four  hours  ; 
and  the  force  of  gravity  at  the  different  stations  \vas  thus 
compared.     The  local  attraction  of  the  elevated  mass  on 

U 


434 


jVA  TURE 


[Septkmber  5,  1S95 


which  the  pendulum  stood,  and  the  effect  of  elevation 
above  the  sea,  were  then  allowed  for,  and  the  vibration 
number,  when  so  corrected,  was  regarded  as  the  vibration 
number  for  that  station  when  reduced  to  the  sea  level. 
The  pendulum  used  would  have  made  S6,ooo  vibrations 
in  twenty-four  hours  at  the  equator.  It  must  therefore 
have  been  slightly  longer  than  a  seconds  pendulum, 
which  would  make  86.400  in  the  same  interval.  The 
observations  showed  that  there  was  a  more  or  less  marked 
deficiency  of  gravity  over  the  whole  continent  of  India, 
and  that  the  deficiency  was  greatest  at  the  most  lofty 
stations.  -At  Mor^,  15,408  feet  above  the  sea,  the  deficiency 
was  enough  to  make  the  vibrations  in  twenty-four  hours 
twenty-four  fewer  than  they  ought  to  have  been  if  the 
attraction  of  the  mountain  had  produced  its  full  effect. 
It  was  obvious,  therefore,  that  some  hidden  cause  existed 
which  counteracted  the  attraction  of  the  mountain, 
and  this  could  have  been  no  other  than  a  deficiency  of 
density  in  the  matter  beneath  it.  The  conclusion  is 
identical  with  that  reached  by  .\iry  in  connection  with 
the  deflection  of  the  plumb-line,  namely,  that  the  Hima- 
layan range  is  supported  by  a  downward  protuberance, 
projecting  into  a  more  dense  substratum. 

This  mode  of  suppon,  as  already  remarked,  is  similar 
to  what  is  termed  hydrostatic  equilibrium.  -As  applied  to 
the  support  of  the  earth's  crust  .American  geologists  have 
given  to  it  the  name  "  isostacy,"  w  hich  well  describes  the 
phenomenon. 

During  the  past  year  an  extensive  series  of  gravity 
measurements  has  been  carried  out  by  the  Coast  and  | 
Geodetic  Survey  of  the  United  States,  by  the  use  of  the 
half-second's  pendulum,  a  much  smaller  and  more 
portable  instrument  for  the  determination  of  gravity  than 
any  hitherto  employed.  Observations  were  made  at 
twenty-six  stations,  eighteen  of  which  follow  nearly  along 
the  39lh  parallel  of  latitude  ;  and  these  are  particularly 
well  adapted  to  throw  light  on  important  questions 
regarding  the  condition  of  the  earth's  crusl. 

"This  line  of  stations,  commencing  at  the  .Atlantic 
coast,  ascends  to  near  the  Appalachians,  traverses  the 
great  central  plain,  gradually  increasing  in  altitude  from 
495  106041  feet,  then  rises  to  the  high  elevation  of  the 
main  chain  of  the  Rocky  Mountain^,  reaching  an  altitude 
of  14,085  feet  at  l^ike's  Peak,  descends  into  the  eroded 
valleys  of  the  Grand  and  Green  Rivers,  crosses  the 
summit  of  the  Wasatch  ridge,  and  finally  descends  to  the 
great  western  plateau  of  the  continent." 

This  scries  of  gravity  determinations  affords  an  ex- 
ceptionally favourable  opportunity  of  helping  to  determine 
whether  the  support  of  the  elevated  regions  travcrsod 
apjjcars  to  be  best  accounted  for  by  rigidity  in  the 
foundations  on  which  they  rest,  so  that,  in  spite  of 
their  weight  and  the  largeness  of  the  area  occupied  by 
them,  they  are  prevented  from  sinking  down  into  the 
material  beneath  ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  whether  they 
are  supported,  as  we  have  said  that  .Airy  suggested, 
namely  by  flouting  in  a  denser  substratum,  or,  as  the 
Americans  say,  by  "  isostacy,"  which  is  the  same  thing 
as  hydrostatic  equilibrium. 

The  general  principle  of  the  method  pursued  In  re- 
ducing gravity  to  the  sea  level  has  been  already  explained. 
It  consists  In  adding  a  correction  equivalent  to  the 
diminution  of  gravity  due  lo  the  elevation  of  the  station, 

NO.    1349,  VOL.   52] 


and  subtracting  a  correction  cquiv.ilcnt  to  the  attraction 
of  the  mass  of  the  elevated  plain  upon  which  the  station 
may  be  considered  to  be  situated.  When  these  two 
corrections  have  been  made,  gravity  so  corrected  would 
be  the  same  as  that  appropriate  to  the  latitude,  or,  as  it 
may  be  tenned,  to  the  "computed  value,"  unless  there  is 
some  deviation  from  regularity  in  the  density  of  the 
matter  below  sea  level.  The  result  proved  that  this  was 
the  case.  For  gravity  so  reduced  turned  out  to  be 
invariably  less  than  that  appropriate  to  the  latitude.  It 
was  clear,  therefore,  that  at  these  stations  in  America 
there  was  a  deficiency  in  density  beneath  the  elevated 
districts,  just  as  had  already  been  found  to  be  the  case 
in  India.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  isostacy 
had  a  share  in  contributing  to  their  support.  The  inquiry 
was  now  carried  a  step  further.  Did  each  mountain 
individually  owe  its  support  to  a  separate  protuberance  of 
its  own  beneath  it,  or  was  the  mountainous  region  as  a 
whole  supported  in  that  manner,  each  separate  mountain 
o«ing  its  support  to  the  strength  of  the  crust  on  which  it 
was  a  mere5;excrcscence  ?  The  case  might  be  illustrated 
by  conceiving  a  number  of  logs  of  wood  of  different  sizes. 
If  these  float  side  by  side  in  water,  the  larger  logs  will 
stand  the  higher  above  the  surface  of  the  water  ;  but  each 
log  will  have  a  part  immersed  which  will  be  its  individual 
support,  and  this  will  be  deeper  for  the  logs  which  stand 
the  higher.  Hut  if  these  logs  are  placed  upon  a  raft,  the 
support  will  be  general,  and  derived  from  the  support  of 
the  part  immersed  of  the  entire  raft,  and  its  depth  will 
depend  upon  the  aggregate  weight  of  the  logs.  Never- 
theless it  need  not  dip  deepest  beneath  the  logs  which 
stand  the  highest  above  the  water,  or  above  the  floor  of 
the  raft. 

The  presumption  was  against  each  elevation  being 
separately  isostatically  supported,  because  the  deficiency 
in  gravity,  and  therefore  in  density,  was  not  found  to  be 
greatest  precisely  beneath  tlie  highest  stations.  To  carry 
out  the  inquiry  more  fully,  it  was  considered  that,  by 
omitting  the  part  of  the  reduction  to  the  sea  level  whicli 
takes  account  of  the  attraction  of  the  mass  of  the  plain 
(which  would  mean  omitting  to  subtract  the  attraction 
produced  by  it),  we  should,  as  it  were,  transfer  its  mass  to 
the  suljjacent  parts,  and  so  make  up  for  the  lack  of 
density,  and  obtain  the  condition  of  uniform  density  below 
the  sea  level.  There  would  then  remain  only  the  correc- 
tion for  elevation  necessary.  If  this  proceeding  gave  the 
value  appropriate  to  the  latitude  under  each  station,  it 
would  show  that  the  individual  stations  were  seriatim  in 
isostatic  equllibriuin.  Hut  the  attempt  failed.  It  was 
found  that  the  attraction  of  the  matter  of  the  more 
elevated  stations  was  not  separately  compensated  by 
defect  of  density  immediately  below.  The  analogy  of  the 
detached  floating  logs  did  not  hold  good.  It  remained  to 
inquire  whether  the  series  of  stations  was  In  isostatic 
ei|tiilibrium  when  considered  as  a  whole — the  case  more 
nearly  analogous  to  the  raft.  If  this  were  so,  gravity, 
when  reduced  to  the  sea  level,  would  be  uniform  for 
the  whole  tract. 

Fortius  purpose  a  mode  of  reduction  devised  by  M.  Faye 
was  adopted.  The  altitude  of  the  country  surrounding  the 
station  within  a  radius  of  100  miles  was  reduced  to  a  mean 
altitude,  and  the  attraction  of  a  plate  of  rock  of  thickness 
equal  to  the  difference  of  altitude  between    this    mean 


September  5,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


435 


plain  and  tlie  station  was  allowed  for,  and  it  was  found 
that  this  correction  brought  the  g^ravity  at  each  station 
much  nearer  to  the  computed  value  for  the  latitude  than 
either  of  the  previous  inethods.  The  conclusion  was  that, 
when  large  areas  were  considered,  they  were  approxi- 
mately in  isostatic  equilibrium.  "The  result  of  this  series 
[of  observations]  would  therefore  seem  to  lead  to  the 
conclusion,  that  general  continental  elevations  are  com- 
jiensated  by  a  deficiency  of  density  in  the  matter  below 
sea  level,  but  that  local  topographical  irregularities, 
whether  elevations  or  depressions,  are  not  compensated 
for,  but  are  maintained  [supported]  by  the  partial  rigidity 
of  the  earth's  crust."  (Putnam.)  "The  measurements  of 
gravity  appear  far  more  harmonious  when  the  method  of 
reduction  postulates  isostacy,  than  when  it  postulates  high 
rigidity.  Nearly  all  the  local  peculiarities  of  gravity  admit 
of  simple  and  rational  explanation  on  the  theory  that  the 
continent  as  a  whole  is  approximately  isostatic,  and  that 
the  interior  plain  is  almost  perfectly  isostatic."  (Gilbert.) 
It  appears  therefore  that  the  crust  of  the  earth  is 
sufficiently  thick  and  strong  to  carry  such  unequal  loads 
as  considerable  mountains  upon  its  surface  without 
necessarily  breaking  through  ;  but,  when  a  large  area  is 
involved,  it  bends  downwards  into  a  denser  material 
beneath,  so  that  the  crust  and  the  load  it  carries  are 
conjointly  in  approximate  hydrostatic  equilibrium. 

O.  Fisher. 


SOME  RECENT  BOOKS  ON  MYCOLOGY. 

British  Fii/ii^iis-Flora.  A  Classified  Text-book  of  Myco- 
logy. By  George  Massee.  Vol.  iv.  8vo,  pp.  viii.  522. 
(London  and  New  York  :  George  Bell  and  Sons,  1895.) 

Systematic  Arrangement  of  Australian  Fungi,  together 
with  Host-Index  and  List  of  Works  on  the  Subject. 
By  Dr.  McAlpine,  Government  Vegetable  Pathologist. 
4to,  pp.  vi.  236.  (Melbourne:  Robt.  S.  Brain,  Govern- 
ment Printer,  1895.) 

Guides  to  Growers.  No.  18.  Onion  Disease.  By  D. 
McAlpine.  (Victoria  :  issued  by  the  Department  of 
Agriculture,  1895.) 

MR.  M.A.SSEE  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the  comple- 
tion of  another  volume  of  his  "  British  Fungus- 
Flora."  There  has  been  no  complete  work  of  the  kind 
issued  since  the  publication  of  M.  C.  Cooke's  "  Handbook 
of  British  Fungi"  in  1871,  and  the  knowledge  of  these 
obscure  plants  has  advanced  enormously  since  then.  In 
the  first  three  volumes  the  author  treated  the  Basidio- 
mycetes  and  the  Hyphomycetes ;  the  present  volume  takes 
up  the  large  natural  order  of  the  Ascomycctes,  and  deals 
in  turn  w4th  three  families — ^the  Gyinnoascacea,  the  flys- 
teriaceie,  and  the  Discomycctes.  The  ffysteriacea:  form 
such  a  natural  transition  between  the  Discoinycetes  and  the 
Pyrenoinycetcs,  that  it  seems  a  pity  Mr.  Massee  has  not  so 
arranged  the  families  as  to  make  them  follow  each  other 
in  the  text-book  ;  he  has,  however,  very  carefully  pointed 
out  the  atifinities  of  the  different  groups. 

A  general  account  of  the  Ascomycetes,  their  life-history, 
habitat,  &c.,  is  given  in  the  introduction.  The  author 
agrees  with  Brefeld  that  sexual  reproduction  is  unknown 
in  this  family.  There  is  also  some  useful  information 
about  the  best  methods  of  collecting  and  preserving  speci- 
NO.    1349,  VOL.  52 1 


mens,  and  of  examining  them.  New  descriptions  have 
been  written  out  for  many  of  the  plants,  based  in  nearly 
every  case  on  the  author's  own  observations.  Wherever 
it  has  been  possible,  he  has  examined  the  type  specimens, 
or  those  specimens  accepted  as  authentic  in  well-known 
exsiccati.  It  is  impossible  to  over-estimate  the  value  of 
such  work.  The  descriptions  are  full  and  complete,  and 
great  care  has  been  taken  to  give  careful  measurements. 

The  HysteriacecE  have  not  before  been  worked  up  for 
Britain.  Mr.  Massee  has  not  included  Acrospcrmum  in 
this  family,  nor  in  this  volume.  We  await  the  next  instal- 
ment of  his  work,  to  see  where  he  will  place  it. 

"  British  Discomycetes,"  by  Mr.  W.  Phillips,  has  been 
for  some  time  the  standard  work  for  that  family.  It  was 
published  in  1887,  and  there  has  been  no  reason  for  any 
material  change  in  the  way  of  treating  the  subject.  The 
genera  Xylographa,  Biatorella,  and  Abrothallus,  pre- 
viously included  among  lichens,  have  been  proved  to  be 
fungi,  and  are  recorded,  Xylographa  in  the  family  of  the 
Phacidea,  Biatorella  and  Abrothallusm  ih.^  Patelliarii^. 

The  classification  of  the  fungi  is  pretty  well  fixed  as 
regards  the  natural  orders,  but  no  two  systematists  are 
agreed  on  the  arrangement  of  genera  and  species. 
What  characters  are  important  enough  to  constitute  a 
genus,  is  a  question  that  each  one  answers  in  his  own 
way.  Phillips  gave  great  importance  to  microscopic 
characters,  but  he  was  also  largely  guided  by  features 
visible  to  the  naked  eye  or  on  slight  magnification.  He 
has  comparatively  few  well-marked  groups,  and  somewhat 
large  genera  with  sub-genera.  Saccardo  laid  much  more 
stress  on  the  differences  between  the  species,  and  created 
new  genera  to  represent  deviations  from  the  types,  or 
revived  old  genera  that  had  been  sunk  by  systematists 
like  Phillips.  Mr.  Massee  goes  even  further  ;  he  retains 
nearly  all  the  genera  that  had  been  kept  up  by  .Saccardo, 
and  he  has  added  in  the  Discomycctes  eight  genera  revived 
from  older  authors,  and  five  new  genera,  none  of  these 
being  founded  on  new  plants.  Mr.  Massee  may  be  right 
in  his  views  of  classification,  but  the  multiplication  of 
genera  and  species,  where  that  can  be  avoided,  is  much 
to  be  regretted.  The  matter  has  been  admirably  stated 
by  Mr.  Spruce  in  his  "  Hepatica;  of  the  Andes  and 
Amazon,"  p.  73.  "For  a  local  flora,"  he  writes,  "or  a 
limited  area,  too  many  genera  will  tend  to  produce  con- 
fusion rather  than  precision,  especially  where  several  of 
the  genera  are  monotypic  ;  so  that,  on  the  whole,  it  seems 
desirable  to  make  our  genera  as  comprehensive  as  pos- 
sible." There  are  several  monotypic  genera  included  in 
this  volume,  as  for  instance  Citbonia,  to  which  genus 
Ascophanus  Boudieri  has  been  transferred  on  account  of 
its  globose  spores,  those  of  Ascophanus  being  elliptical. 

The  task  of  classifying  the  Pezisce  is  no  light  one  ; 
they  are  here  divided  into  three  large  groups — Glabratcc, 
Vestitce,  and  Ctirnosa-,  under  which  the  genera  and  species 
are  arranged  in  a  way  that  differs,  in  many  instances,  from 
that  of  every  previous  writer.  The  two  first  groups  arc 
familiar  to  us  as  the  Nudes  and  Vestitee  of  Phillips.  In 
the  latter  group  the  genus  Lachnclla  has  been  dropped, 
and  the  species  are  dispersed  and  reclassified  under 
Erinella,  Echinella,  Diplocarpa,  Dasyscypha,  &c.  f^ach- 
nella  Cupressi  has  been  placed  by  itself  in  the  genus  Pitya, 
because  the  margin  is  free  from  the  external  hairs  that 
are  so  marked  a  feature  of  this  group,  and  because  it 


436 


NATURE 


[September  5,  1895 


grows  on  conifers  !  In  this  group  we  also  find  Geopyxis 
Persoon  (emended)  Myc."Eur.  i.  p.  224  (not  p.  42,  accord- 
ing to  both  .Saccardo  and  Mr.  Massee)  :  Persoon  did  not 
make  Gi-opyxis  a  genus,  altliougli  Saccardo  also  credits 
him  with  having  done  so  ;  he  published  it  as  a  division  of 
Pesisa,  and  Saccar4o  is  the  first  who  made  it  a  genus, 
and  therefore  it  ought  to  be  Ccopyyis  Sacc.  One  of  the 
species  is  the  beautiful  Pczisa  coccinea  of  old  authors, 
transferred  by  Phillips  to  Lachnea,  by  Saccardo  to  Sarco- 
JH'/Z/J,  and  now  by  Mr.  Massee  to  Gfopy.vis.  The  division 
of  the  Ciir/iosir  includes  the  genera  Pis/zir,  Otidea, 
Huinariii,  and  others.  A  new  genus,  Currcyclla,  has 
been  made  to  include  Pezisa  radiila  and  P.  iracIiYcarpa. 
Are  we  to  assume  that  the  Cuban  species  Alassca  qitis- 
quiliarum  grows  also  in  Britain  ? 

In  the  family  of  the  Hclvcllea  there  is  much  less 
alteration  and  rearrangement  ;  but  even  there,  two  genera 
have  been  retained  that  were  considered  unnecessary  by 
Phillips  and  Saccardo  :  Cudonia  Fr.,  to  contain  Lcotia 
circinans,  which  differs  from  others  of  the  genus  in  the 
possession  of  filiform  spores,  and  Mitrop/iora  Ldv.,  in 
which  are  placed  two  species  of  Morchella,  M.  gigas  and 
M.  semilibera.  In  these  the  lower  half  of  the  pileus  is 
free  from  the  stalk. 

The  numerous  changes,  however  much  we  regret  them, 
testify  to  the  care  with  which  Mr.  Massee  has  treated 
the  subject.  He  has  omitted  to  mention  one  point  of 
considerable  morphological  interest  :  that  the  abnormal 
many-spored  condition  of  the  ascus  in  Tyiiipoiiis  is  due 
to  budding  of  the  original  eight  spores  in  the  ascus. 

The  classified  list  of  fungi,  issued  by  Dr.  Mc.-\lpine,  has 
been  compiled  to  assist  vegetable  pathologists  in  deter- 
mining the  diseases  of  plants  due  to  these  organisms. 
The  knowledge  of  Australian  fungi  is  as  yet  very  incom- 
plete, and  we  may  expect  the  list  to  be  largely  augmented. 
M.  C.  Cooke's  "  Handbook  of  Australian  Fungi "  has 
served  as  a  basis  for  the  present  work,  and  to  it  have  been 
added  the  genera  and  species  recorded  by  the  more 
recent  collectors  and  workers  in  this  branch  of  botany. 
Australia  possesses  such  a  unique  flora  of  the  phanero- 
gams, that  we  should  have  liked  some  indication  of  the 
fungi  that  belong  exclusively  to  that  country.  The 
author  has  mainly  followed  the  method  of  classification 
which  has  been  adopted  by  Saccardo  in  his  "  .Sylloge 
Fungorum."  Dr.  Mc.Mpine  retains  the  Ilyplioniycclcs  as 
a  class  by  themselves,  but  describes  them  as  imperfect 
Ascotnycetes ;  this  is  hardly  correct,  for  lliough  many  of 
them  have  been  proved  to  be  form-genera,  others  are 
unrelated  so  far  as  is  yet  known. 

Besides  giving  us  a  list  of  fungi,  Dr.  Mc.-Mpine  has 
drawn  up  some  very  instructive  tables.  The  number  of 
fungi  recorded  varies  very  much  from  colony  to  colony. 
Victoria  heads  the  list  with  1070  species,  though  we  sus- 
pect this  position  of  pre-eminence  is  due  to  the  presence  of 
Baron  von  Mueller,  rather  than  to  the  abundance  of  fungi. 
Queensland  records  1060  species,  a  large  percentage  of 
the  whole  due  to  the  labours  of  an  indefatigable  worker, 
Mr.  F.  M.  Bailey.  Brisbane  has  739  species,  and  New 
South  Wales  lags  far  lichind  with  406.  There  is  much 
work  evidently  to  be  done  before  the  localities  arc  all 
worked  out.  The  total  number  for  Australia  and  Tas- 
mania is  2294,  as  compared  with  5040  recorded  for 
Britain.  The  total  number  of  species  known  to  science 
NO.  134Q.  vor..  52] 


is  somewhere  about  40,000.  Dr.  Mc.^lpine  has  also  pre- 
pared a  host-index,  whicli  presents  many  points  of 
interest.  On  Casiitirimi,  that  peculiar  Australian  tree,  we 
find  Follies  ignian'i/s^  a  cosmopolitan  species.  Eucalyptus 
seems  specially  afliicted — leaves,  bark,  branches  and 
trunk  have  all  their  separate  fungal  parasites.  Tlie 
Coiiiposi/ce  are  hosts  to  but  two,  an  .Kcidium  and  a 
Syncliytrium,  evidently  an  incomplete  account. 

The  Agaricincic  and  Po/yporm  ha\e  received  a  much 
larger  share  of  attention  than  the  more  minute  forms  of 
the  Discomyci'les  and  the  Pyrenoiiiycctes ;  .Australian 
collectors  give  an  account  of  but  fi\e  Nccirias  and  two 
Valsas,  but  these  forms  are  very  easily  overlooked.  The 
Pliycoinycetes  are  also  very  sparingly  represented  ;  there 
are  two  Peronosporas,  one  on  tobacco-leaves,  the  other 
on  the  onion.  There  is  no  record  of  potato  disease,  nor 
of  salmon  disease ;  we  can  only  congratulate  the  colony 
on  its  immunity. 

In  addition  to  the  authority  and  date  for  each  fungus. 
Dr.  Mc.-\lpinc  gives  the  locality  in  Australia,  the  habitat 
and  a  description  in  English  of  the  species,  but  in  no 
case  does  he  indicate  the  characters  of  the  genus  ;  the 
list  thus  strikes  the  reader  as  being  very  imperfect,  and 
the  absence  of  all  information  as  to  the  size  of  the  par- 
ticular plants  renders  it  less  useful  than  it  might  otherwise 
have  been.  We  think  he  has  vainly  spent  his  strength 
in  his  attempt  to  provide  an  English  equivalent  for  the 
scientific  name  of  each  fungus.  Popular  specific  names 
ha\e  not  been  given  even  to  flowering  plants,  such  as  the 
diflfcrcnt  kinds  of  Myoso/is  or  C/rpis.  and  such  names  are 
equally  valueless  in  the  case  of  fungi. 

Dr.  McAlpine  has  recently  published,  in  "  tUiidcs  to 
Growers,"  a  most  ustful  and  practical  account  of  the 
disease  of  onions  caused  by  cclworms,  with  the  best 
methods  of  cure.  The  worms  live  in  the  soil,  and  various 
dressings  are  recommended,  suitable  rotation  of  crops,  or 
burning  the  surface  of  the  land.  This  particular  eehvonn 
attacks  the  stems  of  plants,  and  in  the  case  of  the  onimi 
destroys  the  bulbs,  leaving  tin-  roots  unharmed. 

A.   L.  -S. 


OUP  BOO  A'  SHELF. 

The  Climates  of  the  Geological  Past,  and  t/teir  Relation  to 
the  Evolution  of  the  Sun.  By  Eug.  Dubois.  (London  : 
Swan  .Sonncnschein  and  Co.,  1895.) 
Thk  first  part  of  this  essay  consists  of  a  brief  and 
judicious  summary  of  the  geological  evidence  as  to  great 
changes  of  climate  in  past  ages,  while  the  second  part  is 
an  attempt  to  explain  the  causes  of  such  variations. 
Various  well-known  theories  have  been  advanced  to  ac- 
count for  the  phenomena,  but  none  have  met  with  general 
acceptance  ;  a  ii^w  years  ago  Dr.  Ncumayr  wrote  :  "  Most 
plausible  and  simple  would  it  certainly  be  were  llic  sun  a 
variable  star  that  at  different  periods  emits  different 
quantities  of  heat  ;  but  for  this  no  proof  is  forthcoming." 
(NaTURK,  vol.  xlii.  p.  180.)  The  author  of  the  present 
work  seems  to  have  adopted  Dr.  Neumayr's  suggestion, 
but  goes  further  and  attempts  to  show  that  llu-  postulated 
changes  of  solar  r.idiation  have  actually  taken  place.  In 
a  general  way,  the  fact  that  the  sun  must  once  have  been 
hotter,  has  been  frec|uently  stated  as  a  possible  cause  of 
the  higher  temperatures  during  early  geological  times, 
but  a  gradual  cooling  of  the  sun  is  insufficient  to  explain 
all  the  vicissitudes  of  geological  climates.  Basing  his 
estimate  on  the  relative  jiroportions  of  stars  of  different 
spectroscopic  types,  the  author  considers  that  the  sun  has 


I 


September  5,  1895J 


NA  TURE 


437 


passed  about  three-fifths  of  its  star  life,  and  that  we  cannot 
be  far  wrong  in  assuming  for  the  past  a  maximum  duration 
of  about  ten  million  years,  and  a  radiation  in  the  white- 
star  stage  twice  as  intense  as  at  present.  As  a  step 
towards  the  reconciliation  of  the  life  assigned  to  the  sun 
by  physicists  and  that  demanded  by  geologists,  it  is  sug- 
gested that  in  consequence  of  the  higher  temperature 
when  the  sun  was  a  white  star,  denudation  was  carried  on 
more  vigorously,  and  animal  and  vegetable  life  developed 
more  rapidly  than  has  been  supposed. 

Notwithstanding  that  the  author  has  approached  the 
subject  with  an  enlightened  mind,  he  does  not  appear  to 
have  greatly  advanced  the  e.xplanation.  For  the  production 
of  changes  other  than  those  due  to  the  progressive  cooling 
of  the  sun,  it  is  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  sun  is  sub- 
ject to  periodical  changes,  and  the  chief  argument  brought 
forward  in  favour  of  this  supposition  is  that  the  acknow- 
ledged eleven-yearly  period  of  the  sun  renders  it  probable 
that  there  may  also  be  periods  of  longer  duration. 

It  is  clear  that  such  long-period  changes  are  quite  out- 
side our  range  of  observation,  and  the  indirect  evidence 
brought  forward  is  unconvincing.  We  do  know,  how- 
ever, that  the  variation  which  has  been  obser\ed  in  stars 
resembling  the  sun  is  verj-  rare  and  always  slight. 

Methodisches  Lehrbuch  der Elemejitar-Mathen,atik.     \on 

Dr.  Gustav  Holzmiiller.  (Leipzig  :  Teubner,  1894-5.) 
This  is  a  te.\t-book  of  elementary  mathematics,  showing 
the  extent  of  knowledge  required  of  the  German  school- 
boy ;  and  apart  from  the  interesting  presentation  of  the 
subjects  in  a  manner  far  superior  to  anything  we  can 
show,  the  book  is  well  worthy  of  translation  as  illustrating 
the  difference  in  the  standards  of  requirement  of  German 
and  English  schools  ;  the  knowledge  exacted  of  the 
German  schoolboy  being  about  the  equivalent  of  our  B.A. 
requirements. 

But  then  the  German  schoolmaster,  although  working 
to  a  much  higher  standard,  can  take  his  responsibilities 
lightly  ;  he  has  merely  to  point  out  to  his  pupils  that  it 
depends  entirely  upon  themselves  whether  they  are  to 
spend  three  years  or  only  one  under  the  civilising  in- 
fluence of  the  drill-sergeant. 

The  harder  his  pupils  work,  to  escape  with  one  year 
of  military  service,  the  higher  the  standard  which  the 
government  inspector  can  exact  for  exemption  ;  thus  the 
parado.xical  result  is  attained  that  the  system  of  con- 
scription tends  ultimately  to  elevate  the  intellectual 
standard  of  school  knowledge  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  physical  development  of  youth  runs  great  risk  of 
being  stunted.  Obviously  there  is  no  place  in  a  German 
school,  or  French  school  either  now,  for  the  cricket, 
rowing,  and  football,  which  we  now  consider  of  equal 
importance  with  abstract  studies.  .All  Europe  is  now 
an  armed  camp,  this  countr>'  excepted  ;  and  the  ob- 
servant philosopher  is  doubtless  beginning  to  draw  in- 
ferences as  to  the  comparative  effect  of  the  systems  on 
the  development  of  the  human  race. 

Dr.  Holzmiiller's  "  Einflihrung  in  die  Theorie  der 
isozonalen  X'erwandschaften  und  der  Conformen  .Abbil- 
dungen,"  1S82,  is  a  well-known  standard  work,  profusely 
illustrated  with  carefully-drawn  diagrams,  which  em- 
phasise many  delicate  points  in  the  Theory  of  Functions 
in  a  manner  much  more  convincing  than  arguments 
depending  on  a  procession  of  analytical  formulas  ;  so 
also  in  this  "Methodisches  Lehrbuch,"  a  plentiful  supply 
of  figures  serves  as  a  substitute  for  long  algebraical  calcu- 
lations. 

The  author  has  made  these  elementary  parts  of  mathe- 
matics more  interesting  and  pleasant  reading  by  historical 
notes  and  simple  applications  ;  and  altogether  the  work 
is  a  great  contrast  to  the  dry  bones  we  are  accustomed 
to  here  ;  it  would  be  well  for  our  writers  of  school  books 
to  study  the  sentiment  expressed  in  Dr.  Holzmiiller's 
preface  :  "  Uns  von  der  allzustarren  Gebundenheit  der 
Lehrpliine  zu  befreien."  G. 

NO.    I  3:J9,  VOL,   52] 


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.^ 

Heights  of  August    Meteors. 

Ln  addition  to  the  four  or  five  meteors  recorded  last  week  in 
Nature  (vol.  Hi.  p.  395-6),  by  Mr.  Denning,  as  having  been 
simultaneously  observed  at  more  than  one  station  during  this 
years  -Vugusi-nieteor  period,  particulars  which  have  just  now 
reached  nie  of  some  observations  of  the  Perseids  made  at  Tring, 
in  Herts,  on  the  night  of  the  nth  inst.,  show  that  two  of  the 
meteors  seen  and  mapped  here  between  9.45  and  12  p.-M.  on 
that  night,  also  had  their  apparent  paths  mapped  simultaneously 
at  a  place  at  Tring,  about  nineteen  miles  due  north  from  this 
point  of  obserxation.  The  base-line  between  the  two  stations  is 
a  rather  short  one  for  such  comparative  determinations,  but  as 
the  recorded  flights  passed  nearly  overhead,  and  nearly  from 
east  to  west  across  the  line  between  the  stations,  the  conditions 
for  accuracy  were  very  favourable  in  both  the  meteors'  cases,  and 
the  apparent  paths  seem  also,  by  the  comparison,  to  have  been 
mapped  with  much  precision.  They  require,  however,  as  usual, 
corrections  of  a  few  degrees  at  the  beginning  and  end  points  to 
make  them  quite  geometrically  compatible. 

Tring. — August  II,  9.53  I'. .\i.  ;  1st  magn.  ;  left  a  long  streak 
along  a  long  path  ;  33",  from  332*  -(-  39  to  287*  +  424 ; 
(corrected  path,  35°,  from  32S  ■¥  40  to  280  -I-  41).  Duration, 
2  or  3  seconds. 

Slough. — August  II,  9.53  r..M.  ;  1st  magn.,  white;  37°  in 
I '2  second,  from  331  -f  53  to  26S  -)-  51  ;  (corrected  path,  35% 
from  336  -r  5oi  to  277  +  54).  Left  a  bright  white  streak  on  its 
whole  course  for  3  seconds. 

The  observed  tracks  are  15°  to  13°  apart,  nearly  parallel,  but 
slightly  converging ;  and  if  made  parallel,  about  14"  apart 
throughout,  they  indicate  a  radiant-point  at  the  east-horizon 
(11°  N.  from  E.),  at  21  -i-  7,  near /i  and  0  PLscium,  from  very 
near  which  radiant-point  the  meteor  was,  no  doubt,  directed,  as 
its  long  streak-leaving  flight  plainly  enough  denoted  a  very 
nearly  horizontal  motion.  The  resulting  real  path  is  from  77 
miles  over  a  point  4  miles  north  of  Farringdon,  in  Oxfordshire, 
to  77  miles  over  a  spot  3  miles  E.N.E.  from  Uxbridge,  in 
Middlesex.  This  course  of  50  miles,  with  a  duration  of  l"2 
seconds,  gives  the  speed  of  flight  413  miles  per  second,  thespeed 
for  meteors  with  parabolic  motion  from  the  same  radiant-point 
(omitting  a  small  addition  for  the  earth's  attraction)  being  40J 
miles  per  second.  In  Mr.  Greg's"  General  Comparative  Table 
of  Radiant  Positions,"  as  No.  106  of  the  list  ("  Briti.sh  Associa- 
tion Report,"'  1874,  p.  },l},'),  a  place  at  22  4-  5  is  given  as  the 
average  radiant-centre  of  a  group  of  several  meteor  showers 
observed  by  Schmidt,  in  Athens  (p.  321-2  of  the  same 
'■  Report"),  in  July,  August,  and  September.  It  was  thus  from 
a  very  central  direction  of  a  rather  notable  autumnal  group  of 
meteor-showers  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  Piscium,  that  this 
bright  streak-leaving  meteor  seems  to  have  proceeded.  The 
corrections  above  applied  to  the  recorded  paths,  although  ap- 
jjarently  considerable,  are  really  only  slight  shiftings  of  the  flights 
lengthwise  ;  their  original  lines  of  direction,  and  hence  their 
resulting  radiant-point  being  left,  as  nearly  equally  as  possible  in 
both  the  paths,  almost  unaltered.  ' 

Tring. — 11.3  i'..\i.  ;  shot  12°,  leaving  a  streak,  from  345  -i-  58 
to  325  -t-  53  (corrected  path,  13°,  from  343  +  58  to  322  +  52). 

Slough. — 1 1.4  P.M.  ;  3rd  magn.  ;  shot  10°,  without  streak, 
from  350  -f  72  to  312  +  70  (corrected  path,  10°,  from  352  +  72 
to  317  +  70A). 

The  path  corrections  here  are  only  small  shortenings  or 
extensions  of  the  apiMrent  tracks  to  bring  their  lengths  into 
agreement  (at  distances  apart  then  of  13'  to  iS°,  in  the  right 
directions)  without  disturbing  the  path-directions,  which  diverge 
from  45  -f  53,  a  |K)int  nearly  coinciding  with  the  usual  radiant- 
point  of  the  Perseids  on  August  lo-ii,  at  44-t-56. 

The  concluded  real  path  is  from  67  miles  over  a  point  5  miles 
west  of  Leighton,  in  Bedfordshire,  to  53  miles  over  a  point  3  miles 
west  by  north  from  Tring.  The  length  and  downward  slope  of 
the  real  path  w.is  ig.J  miles,  from  45°  altitude,  34°  north  from 
east.  The  lime  of  flight  of  this  small  Perseid  was  not  noted  at 
either  place  of  observation,  but  as  it  probably  agreed  With  that 
of  several  similar  short  Perseids  noted  nearly  overhead  on  the 


43S 


NA  TURE 


[September  5.  1895 


same  night,  which  varied  with  the  lengths  of  path  from  about 
05  to  07  sec.,  the  velocity  deduce*!  would  \>i  between  39  and 
27  miles  per  second,  fairly  agreeing  with  the  real  meteor-speed 
of  the  Perseids,  which  is  38  miles  per  second. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  learn  if  any  observations  were  made 
elsewhere  of  a  meteor  seen  at  Tring  at  9.32  P.M.  on  the  19th 
inst.,  descending  from  near  the  zenith  at  3171  +  37,  southwards 
to  320+  15,  which  exceeded  the  fixed  stars  in  brightness,  and 
which  was  brilliant  enough  to  attract  the  attentions  of  ordinarj' 
wayfarers  there  ;  so  that  with  this  observation  of  its  path  at 
Tring,  its  real  course,  and  the  position  of  its  radiant-point  in 
the  northern  sky  might  be  determined.         A.  S.  Herschel. 

Ot»er%atory  House,  Slough,  Bucks,  August  29. 
3     

Do  the  Components  of  the  Compound  Colours  in  Nature 
follow  a  Law  of  Multiple  Proportion  .' 

Ox  examining  the  data  contained  in  Mr.  I'illsbury's  interest- 
ing and  valuable  risiim^  on  colour  measurements  in  the  United 
States,  by  means  of  ordinates  and  abscissa;  for  the  various 
colours  on  squared  paper,  it  became  at  once  evident  from  the 
parallelism  of  the  diagonals  which  could  be  drawn  that,  although 
previously  hidden,  there  was  a  numerical  relation  underlying 
them,  and  that  probably  the  measurements  would  furnish  an 
affirmative  answer  to  the  question  printe<l  at  the  head  of  this 
letter.  Can  it  |K>ssibly  be  that  those  compound  colours  which 
occur  with  such  profusion  in  nature  are  the  result  .of  simple 
colours  being  combine<l  in  definite  multiple  proportions  ?  Can 
there  be  a  law  of  multiple  proportions  here,  similar  to  that  which 
holds  good  in  the  domain  of  chemistry  .' 

Let  us  see  how  far  the  data  which  Sir.  I'illsbury  gives  support 
such  a  conclusion  :  they  cannot  from  their  iiau'city  prove  it.  If 
we  lake  all  the  foliage  greens  given,  raise  the  percentage  of 
black  to  100  in  each  case,  and  proportionately  increase  or 
decrease  the  yellows  and  greens,  then  the  amount  of  yellow  in 
each  case  divided  by  the  amount  of  green  in  each  case  will  give 
a  ratio  which,  the  black  Ix'ing  equal,  may  be  said  to  represent  in 
figures  the  colour  of  the  [xirticular  foliage.  Now  what  do  we 
find  on  examining  the  resulting  ratios?  They  are  all  divisible 
into  groups  of  multiples  of  2,  which  may  be  represented  as  in 
the  last  column  of  the  table  by  i-V,  2-Y,  yW  It  will  be  noticed 
that  while  the  figtire  in  the  second  decimal  place  is  not  exactly 
a  multiply  of  2,  yet  it  tends  very  much  in  that  direction. 


Yellow 

lilack. 

Yellow. 

fJrcen. 

-1- 

Urc-cii. 

Veil. 

Hemlock. Spruce 

too 

2-25 

lO-I 

■22  1 

\\ 

While  Pine 

,, 

29 

12-S 

■22  ( 

Apple 

,, 

6-25 

375 

■48) 

Hornbeam        .  . 

6-8 

'5"3 

•45. 

2\ 

Hick..ry 

V.i 

1 1  I 

■47  1 

White  Birch 

o-S 

141 

■48 1 

White  Oak       ... 

9  3 

'4-3 

■65 

y^ 

Of  course  the  conclusion  reached  cannot  by  any  means  be 
con.sidcred  proved,  as  we  do  not  know  if  the  foliage  greens  were 
selected  by  .Mr.  I'illsbury  pur|K)sely,  or  were  merely  the  result 
of  purechance  :  but  it  would  stem  amply  to  repay  further  invesli. 
galion,  and  I  should  be  plejLsed  to  hear  that  .Mr.  I'illsbury  could 
undertake  it,  or,  if  he  feels  unable,  but  would  furni.sh  nie  with 
the  nccessar)'  material,  I  would  try  and  undertake  il  myself. 

A-s  nmch  stress  is  laid  upon  the  commercial  utility  of  this 
system  of  colour  mea.surement,  might  I  .suggest  that  in  .-ill  cases 
I  he  simple  colour  of  which  there  was  the  largest  (piantity  shotild 
liu-  taken  as  mea.suring  loo?  liy  this  means  there  would  always 
lie  'inc  less  numlicr  to  recollect,  write,  or  telegraph,  than  there 
are  .i.....!.  ..Inurs  in  the  compound — no  small  factor  when 
<lc.'  rge  ■luantities.  !•".   HOWARD  Coi.l.lNs. 

'  ,   ICdgliaslon. 

Transformation  of  Moulds  into  Yeasts. 

TllK  experiments  carried  out  in  Dr.  Jiirgcnscn's  lalmralory  in 

Co|>ciili;ii.'i  11.  ■.II  iln-  iii'irphological  relations  of  moulds  and 
yc.i  ' ,  and  have  an  im|virlant  liearing  upon 
th'  ■'■  method  of  jrt/*/.brewing,  an  inves- 
"  I 

y 


liyaliun  of  uIulIi   ■A.t-.  made  by  the  writer  whilst  in  Ja|xin,  ant: 
the  rc.<tult.<  of  which  were  published  by  the  National    Univcrsilj 


fibres  of  the  mycelium,  and  this  product  {ii>/t),  mixed  with 
fresh  sleamed-rice  and  water,  is  placed  in  ma.sh-tuns  and  slightly 
warmed.  After  a  short  time  active  fermentation  sets  in,  result- 
ing in  the  preparation  of  a  liquid  {saic')  containing  as  much  as 
15  per  cent,  of  alcohol.  The  question  as  to  the  origin  of  the 
ferment-cells  was  discussed  in  the  memoir  above  referred  to,  and 
the  conclusion  was  arrived  at  that  there  was  no  evidence  to  show- 
that  the  mycelium  underwent  any  change,  but  that  the  ferment- 
cells  were  derived  either  from  the  air,  or  from  the  vats,  or 
from  spores  which  had  attached  themselves  to  the  .surface 
of  the  mycelium.  Microscopic  ilrawings  were  given  illustrating 
the  appearance  of  the  ma,sh  at  various  periods  during  the  fer- 
mentation, and  in  these  the  mycelium  was  seen  to  preserve  its. 
original  form  to  the  end  of  the  i>rocess.  The  feature  iipon  which 
most  stress  was  laid  by  those  who  asserted  that  the  mould  was 
converted  into  the  ferment,  was  the  suddenness  with  which  the 
fermentation  showed  itself,  of  which  fad  there  could  be  no 
doubt  ;  but  it  seemed  to  the  writer  that  there  was  a  vcrj-  simple 
explanation  of  this.  The  fermentation  aiipears  inuiiediately 
after  the  warming  of  the  mash,  which  has  already  been  exposed 
to  the  air  in  shallow  vessels  at  a  low  temiicrature  for  several 
days  before  being  collected  into  a  single  vat.  It  is  also  allowed 
to  stanil  in  this  vat  for  several  hours  before  heating,  during 
which  time  probably  all  the  dissolved  oxygen  has  been  used  up 
by  the  ferment.  By  healing,  the  temperature  is  then  raised  to 
about  25  C,  a  condition  very  favourable  to  the  growth  of  yeast. 
Knowing  how  rapidly  the  yeast  jilant  buds  under  such  con- 
ditions, it  does  not  seem  necessary  to  invoke  the  transformation 
of  the  mycelium  into  ferment-cells  to  account  for  the  sudden 
appearance  of  the  fermentation. 

The  note  (N.mi'rk,  .-Uigusl  22,  p.  397)  further  says  that 
Juhler  found  in  his  Hasks  in  which  the  Japanese  mould,  .-/x/r-;- 
gilliif  oryzic  (called  Eiiroliiim  oryur  in  the  writer's  memoir), 
was  cultivated  a  growth  of  typical  alcohol-producing  sacchar- 
oniyces  cells.  If  ihere  were  spores  attached  to  the  surface  of 
the  mycelium,  il  seems  neces.sary  to  know  in  what  manner  they 
were  destroye<l  before  the  introduction  of  the  mould  into  the 
culture  flasks.  It  w-ould  also  be  interesting  to  have  more  details 
of  the  size  of  these  cells,  to  ascertain  if  they  correspi.ind  exactly 
with  tho.se  found  in  the  native  Japanese  fermenting  vats.  The 
size  of  the  full-grown  cells  measured  by  the  writer  weic  on  the 
average  0-0082  m.m.  in  their  longest  diameter — that  is,  between 
the  dimensions  of  ordinary  beer-yeast  anil  wine-yeast. 

I  'irdiflT,  .-Xugust  24.  K.  \V.  Atkinson. 


..f  I- 
1 


inoiilil  i.H  cau.se<l  lo  grow  over  the  surface  of 
he  grains  are   firmly  matted  togelh'-r  bv  ihi- 

NO.   1349,  VOL.  52] 


l.N  reply  to  Mr.  Atkin,son's  inquiries,  we  would  refer  him  ii> 
Juhler's  origintil  communication  on  his  experiments  with  .■ls/>ir- 
gi/liis  oiyzic,  to  be  found  in  part  ii.  of  the  CciitralblatI  tiir 
Haklcriohgic,  Nos.  I  and  9,  1895. 

.\ugust  29.  TiiK  Writer  ok  thf.  Noti.. 


Mr.   Seebohm  on   MiddendorfTs  Credibility. 

.Mr.  Skkiioiim  writes  (aiitca  p.  385) :  "There  is  no  reason  to 
believe  that  Middendorflever  found  the  eggs  of  the  little  stint. 
The  eggs  which  he  records  as  being  those  of  Triiiga  niiiitita  were 
]irobal)ly  those  of  Triiiga  riificollis  and  possibly  those  of 
Triiiga  mhminiila."  To  me  these  statements  seem  made  in 
oblivion  of  the  facts,  and  as  some  years  .ago  I  exhibited  in 
London  (Proc.  Zool.  Sof.,  1861,  p.  39S)  one  of  ihe  s|)eciiuens  on 
which  doubt  is  thus  thrown,  I  beg  leave  to  show  that  there  is  no 
rea.son  for  believing  thai  distinguished  explorer  to  have  Ix'en 
mistaken.  The  only  eggs  he  records  (.V/V'.  A'ti'si',  II.  ii.  p.  221) 
are  four,  the  parent  of  which  he  caught  under  his  game  bag.  No 
other  nesi  is  mentiimed,  and  this  one  was  found  on  July  i,  1843, 
in  the  Taimyr  )wnin.sula,  which  is  admilleilly  as  well  within  the 
range  of  7".  miiiiila,  as  il  is  outside  of  that  recorded  f<ir  7'.  rii/i- 
(ollis  Uf.  Palmen,  VcgaE.xpcd.  I'clcnskapl. Jakllagtlstr,  v.  tab. 
4).  Though  not  recognising  these  two  birds  as  good  species. 
Vim.  Midden<lorfl'  ha<l  rarefiilly  noticed  {loin.  (it.  p.  222)  the 
difference  between  examples  obtained  in  Ihe  far  East  (Orhotsk) 
and  in  Ihe  high  Nortli  (Taimyr),  expressly  stating  that  the  latter 
agreed  with  Xauniann's  figure  which  unilouiiledly  represents 
T,  iiiiniila  in  summer  plumage.  As  to  T.  siihniiiiiita,  1  am  not 
aware  of  any  evi<lcnce  of  ils  occurrence  in  the  Taimyr,  and  by 
conjecture  only  can  it  be  ascribed  lo  that  di.slricl  ;  but  ihe  sup- 
|X)Siliim  that  a  single  nest  can  have  belonged  to  both  '/'.  riifiiolli<: 
"and  possibly"  7'.  siiliiiiiiiula,  is  a  masterpiece  of  conjecture 
wholly  alxjve  my  power  of  comprehension. 

Ai.iKKh  Nkwion. 

Magdalene  College,  Cambridge,  August  23. 


September  5,  1895] 


NATURE 


439 


"V  PHOTOGRAPHS  OF  THE   MOON  TAKEN 
AT  THE  PARIS   OBSERVATORY. 

QUITE  recently  some  negatives  of  photographs  of  the 
,^^  Moon,  taken  at  the  Paris  Observatory  by  MM. 
Lcfwy  and  P.  I'uiseux,  were  exhibited  at  tlic  Academy 
of  Sciences. 

The  negatives  have  been  carefully  studied,  enlarge- 
ments made,  and  specimens  sent  to  all  the  principal 
scientific  societies  interested  in  them.  These  enlarged 
copies  arc  of  great  help  in  the  study  of  the  Moon,  and 
ha\e  been  the  means  of  making  clearer  many  uncertain 
l)oints,  for  they  allow  every  detail  to  be  seen  without  j 
difficult)'.  Their  chief  adxantage,  however,  lies  in  the 
great  expanse  of  surface  which  they  embrace  ;  many 
facts,  hard  to  discover  on  the  smaller  negatives,  have 
now  been  ascertained. 

In  their  communication  made  to  the  Academy,  MM. 
Lrewy  and  Puiscux  gave  an  account  of  the  results  they 
have  obtained  in  studying  these  photographs.  Some  of 
them  are  of  great  interest. 

Considering,  first,  the  Moon's  surface,  they  note  that  its 
markings  arc  of  a  less  varied  type  than  those  of  the 
earth,  and  its  prominences  are  chiefly  of  a  circular  shape. 
By  the  way  in  which  the  Moon  reflects,  it  is  thought  that  j 
its  crust  is  of  solid  matter,  similar  to  \olcanic  rocks. 
This  agrees  perfectly  with  Laplace's  hypothesis,  in  which 
he  states  that  the  Moon  was  thrown  off  from  the  earth  ; 
when  the  latter  was  in  a  nebulous  state.  The  Moon's  ' 
mean  density  scarcely  surpasses  that  of  the  crust  of  the  - 
earth  ;  its  materials,  judging  exclusively  from  the  exterior 
crust,  are  of  a  more  uniform  chemical  composition. 
But  although  we  might  trace  its  history  from  the  time  in 
which  it  was  thrown  off  from  the  earth,  it  is  clear  that  all 
the  facts  rest  on  a  verj-  uncertain  basis  ;  it  is  scarcely 
]jrobable  that  the  Moon  had  the  same  appearance  then 
it  has  now  ;  it  is  only  when  the  masses  had  become  to 
a  certain  extent  solid,  that  the  surface-markings  could 
have  been  formed  which  are  now  to  be  seen.  .-\  very 
long  period  must  have  elapsed  between  the  nebulous 
state  of  the  .Moon  and  its  present  fi.ved  condition,  the 
jjrocess  commencing,  no  doubt,  by  the  union  of  the 
particles  of  scoria;.  Owing,  however,  to  currents  arising 
from  various  sources,  ruptures  must  often  have  taken 
place,  causing  lines  to  be  left  on  the  parts  which  were 
not  quite  solid. 

The  various  lines,  which  can  be  followed  on  the 
photographs,  may  be  c|uite  easily  described.  They  are 
valleys  between  huge  mountains.  One  of  the  largest  is 
the  valley  of  the  .\lps,  to  the  west  of  Plato  ;  another  one 
between  Herschel  and  Hipparchus,  between  Bode  and 
Ukert  ;  and  one  to  the  south-west  of  Rheita.  It  would 
be  absurd  to  imagine  them  anything  like  the  terrestrial 
valleys  ;  they  are  almost  perfectly  straight,  do  not  branch 
off  at  all,  and  keep  the  same  width  almost  the  whole 
length.  There  is  no  sign  of  what  has  become  of  the 
materials  out  of  them,  and  when  minutely  examined,  they 
appear  to  have  flat  bottoms  ;  this  fact  seems  to  prove 
that  they  were  once  filled  with  some  liquid  which  has 
dried  up.  .\s  before  stated,  their  origin  is  most  probably 
due  to  currents,  which  must  necessarily  have  developed 
in  the  mass  of  the  moon  when  still  fluid.  These  valleys 
are  grouped  about  in  various  parts,  and  run  parallel 
chiefly,  especially  near  the  equator,  but  they  also  go  in 
other  directions.  There  is  nothing  to  show  that  the 
direction  has  remained  the  same. 

So  long  as  the  revolution  and  rotation  of  the  Moon 
were  not  performed  in  the  same  time,  the  tides  must 
have  produced  very  considerable  change  of  level,  which 
would  hinder  the  crust  from  becoming  solid.  The  scoria, 
therefore,  would  gr.idually  form  itself  into  larger  and 
larger  islands,  which,  however,  might  often  have  got 
broken  up  owing  to  constant  collisions.  Still  gradually 
gaining   in    thickness,    they   eventually   constituted    the 

NO.   1349,  VOL.  52] 


oldest  part  of  the  Moon,  and  at  their  expense  the  circular 
formations  were  formed  which  we  now  see.  After  a  time 
banks  of  scoriic  of  great  length  covered  the  Moon,  leaving 
only  narrow  passages  for  circulation.  Continual  collisions 
destroyed  the  projecting  parts,  which  facilitated  the 
ultimate  joining  of  the  islands. 

The  fluid  masses  of  a  body  like  the  Moon  take  part  in 
the  general  circulation,  but  naturally  have  their  tides 
under  the  influence  of  gravity.  The  combination  of 
these  two  movements  produces  irregular  rates  in  the 
floating  masses,  which  more  or  less  always  impede  their 
displacement.  This  irregular  rate  causes  renewed 
collisions  and  rectilinear  formations  differing  in  direction 
from  the  first.  After  such  various  forces  had  been  brought 
into  play,  it  is  not  astonishing  that  the  marks  left  are 
not  absolutely  regular  and  symmetrical.  The  parallel 
lines  indicate  the  existence  of  similarly  directed  currents 
at  the  time  the  superficial  solidification  was  going  on. 
The  lines  running  in  different  directions,  indicate  changes 
in  the  direction  of  those  currents. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  result  of  a  huge  boulder  of 
crust  getting  detached  and  falling.  If  falling  on  a  slope, 
it  would  naturally  slip  down,  and  in  the  matter,  not  yet 
solid,  form,  as  it  were,  a  path  ;  thus  ultimately  a  valley 
would  be  made.  This  explanation  applies  itself  more 
especially  to  the  valley  of  the  Alps,  because  of  its  very 
precise  shape.  If,  therefore,  these  valleys  are  imperfect 
joinings  of  ancient  ruptures,  they  must  form,  on  the  hard 
crust,  lines  of  less  resistance.  The  lines  of  craters  are 
now  easily  explained,  also  the  various  holes  in  the 
furrows,  which- may  be  looked  upon  as  explosion  outlets. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  date  from  superficial  solidi- 
fication, their  presence  must  have  influenced  the  sub- 
sequent formations.  Admitting  that,  under  a  part  of  the 
crust  already  thick,  a  diminution  of  pressure  is  produced, 
capable  of  producing  a  cavity,  these  changes  might  be 
brought  about  by  the  gradual  cooling  of  the  Moon,  or  by 
the  movements  of  the  interior  tides.  The  cavities  might 
take  almost  a  circular  form  if  the  crust  were  homo- 
geneous, having  for  the  centre  the  point  where  the 
pressure  was  at  a  minimum.  But  if  there  arc  other 
ruptures  and  lines,  they  would  probably  form  the  boundary 
to  the  cavity.  \\'e  notice  that  the  polygon  form  is  most 
frequent  after  the  circular  ;  in  many  cases,  also,  the 
furrows  form  tangents  to  the  circles. 

MM.  Lcewy  and  Puiseux  remark,  finally,  that  it  is  not 
for  them  to  say  which  of  the  hypotheses  is  correct ;  they 
merely  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  immense  help 
the  enlarged  negatives  may  prove  themselves  to  be. 
Eventually,  no  doubt,  they  will  be  the  means  of  making  a 
map,  which  may  show  us  that  the  surface  structure  of  the 
Moon  is  very  similar  to  our  own. 

We  imagine  that  not  every  one  will  agree  with  all  the 
opinions  above  expressed  by  MM.  Locwy  and  Puiseux, 
but  it  is  clear  that  several  important  questions  have  been 
raised  by  the  magnificent  photographs  we  owe  to  their 
skill  and  industrv. 


UNSCIENTIFIC  EXCAVATIONS  IN  EGYPT. 

PROF.  DR.  G.  SCHWEIXFURTH  has  recently 
written  a  most  interesting  letter  to  the  editor  of 
Die  Zeitschrift  fiir  Aegyplisclie  Sprachc.  According 
to  him,  the  time  has  arrived  when  a  limit  ought  to 
be  put  to  the  energy  of  Egyptian  excavators.  Within 
the  last  few  years  there  has  been  such  a  tremendous 
collecting  of  antiquities,  that  it  has  seemed  to  be 
the  desire  to  leave  nothing  whatever  for  the  next  genera- 
tion to  discover.  Our  near  descendants  will,  in  all  prob- 
ability, not  thank  us  for  our  want  of  patience  ;  it  may  have 
totally  difterent  methods  of  research,  and  may  bring 
opinions  forward  we  have  not  dreamt  of  If  this  be  the 
case  we  shall,  most  probably,  be  blamed  for  having  dis- 


440 


NATURE 


[September  5,  1S95 


turbed  so  much,  and  shall  be  accused  of  "  vandalism '' 
under  the  mask  of  advancing  scientific  research. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  exca\ations  have  been  car- 
ried on  too  fast.  The  great  museum  in  Egypt  has  no 
proper  catalogue,  and  is  arranged  and  filled  up  with 
things  in  a  most  unsatisfactory-  way  :  many  objects  have 
not  even  got  the  date  when  found.  In  this  way.  what 
would  be  treasures  have  become  absolutely  valueless  on 
account  of  the  carelessness  of  former  officials,  who  con- 
stantly depended  on  each  other,  and,  in  many  cases,  on 
their  memory,  for  the  facts  connected  with  objects  found. 
This  will  always  be  the  state  of  things  unless  the  excava- 
tions are  super\ised  by  museums  ;  for  the  haste  with 
which  they  are  carried  on,  does  not  allow  time  to 
work  out  the  history-  properly.  The  things  are  merely 
brought  under  cover  ;  they  accumulate,  and  only  short 
notices  are  written  about  them.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
many  noted  things  found  have  not  been  heard  of  till  years 
afterwards  :  likewise,  before  the  old  treasures  were 
properly  examined,  others  have  been  dug  out,  particular 
attention  being  given  to  pretty  things  with  which  to 
ornament  museums.  Consequently,  while  search  was 
being  made  for  inscriptions,  smaller  objects  were 
neglected,  and  many  details  overlooked. 

UTiereas  formerly  complaints  were  ever  being  made 
about  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  permission  to  excavate, 
now  the  state  of  things  is  just  the  opposite.  There 
is  too  much  liberality  ;  men  are  allowed  to  excavate,  who 
have  no  knowledge  whatever  as  to  how  to  set  about  it, 
and  have  no  serious  object  in  view.  \'aluable  things 
have  been  removed  from  the  Fayum,  Hcliopolis,  and 
other  places  by  quite  uneducated  people,  and  sold  as 
market  goods  in  Cairo.  All  this  sort  of  thing  makes  the 
advancement  of  science  a  farce. 

.A.  natural  consequence  of  this  hasty  digging,  but  a 
state  of  things  greatly  to  be  lamented,  is  the  de- 
struction of  the  ancient  topography.  The  confusion 
caused  is  beyond  description.  It  is  very  desirable 
that  there  should  be  an  intemaitional  inspection 
committee,  which  would  insist  on  things  being  cleared 
up,  and  not  allow  the  graves  and  tombs  to  remain  open, 
with  bones  and  limbs  of  the  dead  in  them,  which  is  so 
often  the  case. 

Another  deplorable  fact  is  the  absolute  ignoring  of 
objects  connected  with  natural  histor)'.  These  objects 
require  special  care  when  being  dug  out,  and  also  are 
more  difficult  to  find.  Their  destruction  greatly  en- 
dangers the  science  of  antiquity,  and  many  an  object, 
the  value  of  which  is  now  unknown,  may  in  some  future 
period  be  the  key  to  some  great  problem.  Likewise  the 
bones  of  domestic  animals  are  overlooked,  although  the 
many  pictures  of  these  animals  help  to  make  a  study  of 
them  very  interesting,  and  the  remains  of  plants  and 
flowers  are  similarly  neglected,  though  these  objects  are 
the  stepping-stones  to  the  restoration  of  the  ancient 
history'. 


JOSEPH  THOMSON. 

ID  V  the  death  of  Mr.  Joseph  Thomson,  we  have  to  mourn 
■'-'  one  of  the  foremost  of  contemporary  .African  ex- 
plorers. His  loss  is  all  the  more  sad,  as  it  comes  in  what 
ought  to  have  been  the  prime  of  his  manhood.  When  we 
remember  what  Thomson  has  done,  what  a  part  he  played 
in  the  exploration  of  Uritish  P2ast  .\frica  and  in  securing 
for  England  her  supremacy  on  the  Niger,  it  is  difficult  to 
realise  thai  he  has  done  it  all  before  the  age  of  thirty- 
eight.  Joseph  Thomson  was  bom  in  Dumfriesshire,  on 
February  14.  1858,  and  was  the  son  of  a  quarry-owner. 
He  was  cdui-atfd  at  Edinburgh,  and  early  took  a  keen 
interest  1:  'xploration,  in  which  he  first  personally 

joined  a  m  Keith  Johnston's  expedition  to  the 

.African   i..ik. -.      I  his  left   Dar-cs-Salaam  early  in    1879, 

NO.    1349,  VOL.  52] 


but  before  it  reached  its  first  objective  point — Nyasa — its- 
leader  died.  Thomson  was  then  little  over  twenty-one 
years  of  age  ;  but  he  rose  to  the  occasion,  took  command, 
and  single-handed  carried  the  expedition  to  a  triumphant 
conclusion.  He  explored  the  plateau  between  Nyasa  and 
Tanganyika,  and  the  western  shore  of  the  latter  from  its 
southern  end  to  the  Lukuga  ;  there  he  added  another  to 
the  pile  of  contr.idictory  statements  as  to  the  relations  of 
this  river  and  the  lake.  He  tried  to  work  westward  to  the 
Upper  Congo,  but,  owing  to  the  hostility  of  the  natives, 
he  was  compelled  to  return  to  Ujiji  and  back  to  the  coast. 
This  was  Thomson's  first  expedition,  and  in  some  ways  it 
was  his  best,  for  his  scientific  obscivations  were  then 
made  with  greater  care  and  detail  than  in  any  of  his  later 
journeys.  The  following  year  he  returned  to  East  .Africa 
to  search  for  the  coal  reported  on  the  Rovunia.  Next 
year  he  was  sent  to  .Africa  on  the  famous  expedition,  the 
storj-  of  which  he  so  brilliantly  told  in  "Through  Masai- 
land."  He  left  Mombasa  in  1882  with  a  powerful 
caravan,  fitted  out  by  the  Geographical  Society,  in  order 
to  determine  whether  there  be  a  practical  route  across  the 
Masai  country  to  the  Nyanza,  to  explore  Mount  Kenya, 
and  to  study  the  meteorology,  ethnology,  and  natural 
historj'  of  the  region  traversed.  .After  great  difficulties 
with  his  men,  he  marched  inland  to  Tavcta,  at  the  foot  of 
Kilima  Njaro.  There  he  joined  a  powerful  caravan  under 
the  famous  slave-trader.  Jumbo  Kinamcta,  and  together 
they  traversed  Masai-land  to  Lake  .Naivasha,  going  first 
along  the  route  of  Last,  and  then  along  that  of  Fischer. 
Thomson  then  turned  to  the  east,  and  was  the  first 
European  to  set  foot  on  the  plateau  of  Laikipia  and  to  see 
Kenya  from  the  west.  But  the  Masai  were  present  in 
force,  and  Thomson  had  either  to  fight  or  retreat.  He 
chose  the  latter  alternative,  and,  contenting  himself  with 
a  dist.ant  view  of  Kenya,  under  cover  of  night  tied  north- 
ward to  Baringo.  He  explored  this  district,  which  he  was 
the  first  European  to  reach,  and  then  went  on  to  the 
Nyanza,  and  back  to  the  coast.  His  next  expedition 
was  up  the  Niger.  His  tact  and  patience  in  dealing  with 
natives,  here  stood  him  in  good  stead,  and  rendered  this 
expedition  his  most  successful,  for  he  returned  with  the 
treaties  which  gained  for  England  practical  supremacy  in 
the  Niger  Basin.  In  18SS,  with  Mr.  Crichton- Browne,  he 
undertook  a  journey  to  south-western  Morocco,  materially 
correcting  some  previous  descriptions  of  the  structure  of 
that  country.  He  took  a  series  of  altitudes,  and  with 
characteristic  acumen  discovered  for  himself  the 
divergences  between  the  results  given  by  aneroids  and 
boiling-point  thermometers  ;  but  it  was  cc)ually  charac- 
teristic that  he  did  not  follow  up  the  subject,  and  con- 
tented himself  with  attributing  it  to  the  imperfection  of 
his  instruments.  In  1891  he  was  sent  by  the  British 
South  .Africa  Company  to  annex  the  metalliferous  region 
of  Katanga.  He  was  greatly  hindered  by  the  Portuguese, 
who  fired  upon  his  flotilla,  and  when  he  reached  the 
frontier  of  Katanga  he  found  that  Captain  .Stairs's  expe- 
dition had  arrived  before  him,  and  secured  the  country  for 
the  Belgians.  Thomson  returned  to  England  with  his 
health  ruined  by  his  six  .African  expeditions.  Kcsidence- 
at  Kimberlcy  saved  him  for  a  while,  but  phthisis  h.nd 
t.aken  too  firm  a  hold  to  be  dislodged,  and  after  a 
lingering  illness  he  passed  away  on  .August  2. 

It  is  too  early  to  attempt  to  estimate  fairly  Thomson's 
work  as  an  explorer  ;  but  no  one  could  follow  in  his  foot- 
steps without  recognising  how  singularly  keen  was  his 
topographic  insight,  how  rapid  his  powers  of  observation, 
and  how  mar\eIlously  true  were  his  instincts.  His 
powers,  in  fact,  amounled  almost  to  genius.  In  his  quick- 
ness of  perception  and  his  literary  skill  he  reminds  us  of 
Burton,  though  without  Burton's  scholarship  and  colossal 
capacity  for  steady  work.  But  Thomson's  brilliant  gifts 
had  their  dangers,  and  it  is  impossible  to  compare  his 
work  with  that  of  some  of  his  contemporaries,  or  even  of 
some  of  his  predecessors,  without  recognising  th.it  he  was 


\ 


W 

I 


September  5,  1895] 


NATURE 


441 


sometimes  as  careless  as  he  was  capable,  and  that  he 
rarely  used  his  great  abilities  to  the  full.  He  belonged  to 
the  school  of  explorers  who  prefer  rapid  traverses  and 
pioneer  work,  to  scientific  investigations  and  detailed 
surveys.  He  reminds  us  by  his  geographical  work  of 
Livingstone,  and  by  his  love  of  sport  of  Sclous,  rather 
than  of  men  like  Fischer,  .Schwcinfurth  and  Junker. 
He  was  fonder  of  the  field  than  of  the  library,  and 
often  did  not,  apparently,  know  which  of  his  results 
were  new,  and  which  were  known  before.  The  thing 
of  which  he  was  proudest  was  that  he  had  ne\er 
taken  the  life  of  a  native,  for  he  had  avoided  hos- 
tilities owing  to  his  tact  and  infinite  patience,  which 
was  especially  creditable  to  a  man  of  such  an  impulsive 
temperament.  His  love  of  peace,  however,  was  not  due  to 
any  fear  of  war,  for  he  was  brave  to  recklessness.  That 
he  felt  warmly,  and  could  speak  impatiently,  was  shown 
by  his  criticisms  upon  the  management  of  the  Emin 
Relief  Expedition.  In  his  most  famous  expedition  it  was 
unfortunate  that  he  followed  such  a  trained  naturalist  and 
learned  ethnographer  as  Fischer,  and  was  himself  followed 
by  such  a  laborious  and  skilled  cartographer  as  von 
Hohnel.  On  the  other  hand,  this  journey  was  the  one 
which  showed  Thomson's  powers  at  their  best  ;  for  he 
then  had  the  fullest  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  tact  as  a 
leader  of  men,  his  dash  and  daring  as  an  explorer,  his 
enthusiasm  as  a  sportsman,  and  the  consummate  skill 
with  which  he  gained  the  affections  of  his  men  and  the 
confidence  of  suspicious  natives.  The  same  qualities 
won  him  respect  at  home.  He  is  described,  by  those  who 
knew  him,  as  singularly  modest  and  unassuming.  His 
frank  sincerity  and  genial  humour  endeared  him  to  a  wide 
circle  of  friends,  who  devotedly  cared  for  him  in  his  long 
illness,  and  now  mourn  his  early  death. 

J.  W.  Gregory. 


WILLIAM  CRAWFORD    WILLIAMSON. 

WHEN  the  author  of  this  article  began  the  work  for 
his  "  Einleitung  in  die  Paheophytologie,"  he  soon 
realised  that  it  was  Cjuite  impossible  to  produce  such  a 
book  without  an  accurate  knowledge  of  Williamson's  col- 
lection of  sections.  He  therefore  wrote  to  Manchester  and 
requested  permission  to  make  use  of  the  collection.  An 
invitation  to  Williamson's  hospitable  house  was  the 
immediate  result.  He  there  spent  eight  delightful  and 
busy  days,  during  which  the  host  was  never  weary  of 
demonstrating  his  specimens  to  his  guest,  who  was 
astonished  at  their  abundance,  or  of  imparting  to  him  the 
fullest  information  from  his  store  of  knowledge.  The 
guest  departed  with  feelings  of  the  warmest  respect  and 
gratitude.  In  the  course  of  the  following  years,  however, 
he  has  often  again  had  the  privilege  of  returning  to 
Manchester  and  London,  and  of  knitting  closer  the  bonds 
of  reverence  and  friendship  witli  liim  who  is  gone.  The 
last  occasion  was  in  the  spring  of  the  current  year,  when 
the  writer  left  with  the  conviction  that  it  had  been  their 
last  meeting.  Williamson's  death  actually  took  place  at 
Claphani  Common,  on  June  23,  when  in  his  seventy-ninth 
year. 

William  Crawford  Williamson  was  born  at  Scarborough, 
on  November  24,  1816.  His  father,  John  Williamson,  a 
gardener  by  profession,  but  by  the  bent  of  his  mind  a 
naturalist,  and  especially  a  geologist,  was  a  zealous 
colleague  of  William  .Smith,  who  was  attached  to  him 
both  by  friendship  and  by  their  common  pursuits,  and 
who  spent  two  whole  years,  1826-182S,  under  his  roof 

Young  Williamson's  father  encouraged  his  scientific 
tastes,  even  from  his  earliest  days  ;  his  observational 
f.iculties  were  strengthened  by  frequent  excursions  ;  the 
association  with  .Smith,  and  with  the  circle  of  acti\e 
geologists  of  that  fruitful  period,  influenced  his  boyhood, 
and  left  behind  an  effect  which  lasted  his  whole  life.      He 

NO.    1349,  VOL.   52] 


has  often  told  the  writer  about  his  geological  and 
botanical  rambles  with  his  father  and  friends  along  the 
beautiful  cliffs  of  the  Scarborough  and  Whitby  coasts. 
He  had  an  extraordmary  love  for  his  more  immediate: 
home,  and  was  proud  to  call  himself  a  Yorkshireman. 

Williamson's  first  publications,  "  On  a  Rare  Species  of 
Mylilus"  and  "  On  the  Distribution  of  Organic  Remains 
in  the  Lias  Series  of  Yorkshire,"  appeared  when  he  was 
only  in  his  eighteenth  year,  .\bout  the  same  time  he 
also  contributed  a  considerable  number  of  drawings  to- 
Lindley  and  Hutton's  "  Fossil  Flora  of  Oreat  Britain,"  a 
work  which  was  completed  in  1837,  when  he  was  twenty- 
one.  In  his  later  years  he  did  not  continue  to  work  much 
at  remains  preserved  as  impressions,  for  his  whole  interest 
had  become  diverted  to  anatomical  studies.  One  or  two 
papers  on  Zaiiiia  nigas  (now  called  Williaiiisonia), 
however,  owe  their  origin  to  the  material  accumulated  in 
those  youthful  days.  The  last  and  most  important  of 
these  papers  appeared  in  1870,  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Linnean  Society,  vol.  xxvi.,  under  the  title  "  Contributions 
towards  the  History  of  Zainia gigas." 

Williamson's  family  was  not  much  blest  with  this 
world's  goods.  He  was  therefore  obliged  to  adopt  some 
practical  calling,  and  naturally  chose  the  medical  pro- 
fession, for  which  he  prepared,  first  at  Manchester,  while 
at  the  same  time  acting  as  Curator  of  the  Natural  History 
Museum  there,  and  subsequently  in  London.  In  1840  he 
became  member  and  licentiate  of  the  Royal  College  of 
Surgeons.  Soon  afterwards  he  settled  in  Manchester  as 
a  medical  man,  and  remained  there  over  fifty  years, 
carrying  on  for  a  long  time  an  extensive  practice.  In 
addition  to  this  the  professorship  of  Geology  and  Natural 
History  at  the  Owens  College  was  conferred  on  him  in 
1 85 1,  an  office  which  he  administered,  in  its  full  extent, 
for  many  years.  In  1872,  however,  he  handed  over  the 
geology  to  Boyd  Uawkins,  and  from  1880  onwards  gave 
up  the  zoology,  and  confined  himself  to  botany.  This  he 
continued  to  teach  down  to  1892,  when  his  decreasing 
bodily  strength  compelled  him  to  retire  altogether.  He 
then  removed  to  London,  in  order  that  with  the  aid  of 
the  greater  facilities  there  offered  he  might  the  better 
advance  the  scientific  work,  which  he  was  still  zealously 
pursuing.  Here,  after  three  more  years,  he  too  soon 
ended  a  life  of  which  one  may  certainly  say,  with  the 
Psalmist,  that  its  strength  was  labour  and  toil. 

For  medical  practice  and  jjrofessorial  duties,  though 
strenuously  and  most  conscientiously  carried  on,  did  not 
satisfy  Williamson's  mighty  power  of  work.  Concurrently 
with  these  occupations,  a  constant  flow  of  scientific  pro- 
duction went  on,  the  many-sidedness  of  which  is  scarcely 
conceivable  to  the  present  generation.  Not  only  did  he 
write  articles  in  medical  journals,  which  lie  beyond  the 
scope  of  the  present  notice,  he  also  continued  to  work 
with  the  greatest  zeal  at  zoology,  botany,  and,  above  all, 
geology  and  paUeontology,  as  is  testified  by  his  numerous 
publications — large  and  small. 

From  his  youth  upwards,  Williamson  had  been  much 
occupied  with  the  investigation  of  fossil  fishes,  and  in  the 
latter  half  of  the  thirties,  and  beginning  of  the  forties,  he 
wrote  various  memoirs  on  this  subject.  His  studies  of 
lower  organisms  gave  rise  to  the  works  on  Canipylo- 
discits,^  on  I'o/fox  GM/a/o/;- and  on  Foraininifcra,  the 
last  and  most  important  of  which,  embracing  the  whole 
of  his  researches  on  the  subject,  was  published  by  the 
Ray  Society  in  1858,  under  the  title  of  "The  British 
Foraminifera."  These  writings  have  received  due 
acknowledgment  in  the  works  of  Carpenter  and  Biitschli. 

In  1833  the  remarkable  work  by  Witham,  of  Larting- 
ton,  appeared,  in  which  the  study  of  the  internal  structure 
of  carboniferous  fossil  plants  was  entered  upon  for  the 
first  time,    vith   the   help   of  the    thin   ground   sections 

1  "  Annals  of  N.it.  Hist."  vol.  i.,  1848. 

-  Memoirs  of  the  Manchester  Lit.  and  Phil.  Soc,  vol  i.\.  iSj.!,  and 
Transactions  of  the  Microscopical  Soc-,  vol.  i.,  1853. 


442 


NATURE 


[Septkmukk  5,  1S95 


invented  by  Nicol.  This  work  laid  the  foundation  of  our 
knowledge  of  the  structure  of  the  Lcpiilodcndra  and 
Stii,marhF,  and  Brongniart  then  applied  the  new  method, 
with  the  most  brilliant  success,  to  the  investij^.ation  of 
Sigillaria.  Williamson  also  soon  attained  brilliant  re- 
sults by  its  aid,  studying  the  shells  of  Foraminifera,  and  j 
the  scales  and  teeth  of  tishes.  Two  papers,  published  in 
the  Philosophical  Transactions  (1849  and  1851),  and  con- 
sidered excellent  by  competent  judges,  were  the  result. 

Naturally,  the  study  of  fossil  plants,  which  had  been 
so  successfully  begun,  was  not  neglected,  whenever  such 
material  could  be  obtained  in  the  proper  state  of  pre- 
servation, which  at  that  time  was  not  easy.  Williamson's 
first  attempt  of  the  kind,  the  precursor  of  the  whole 
pateobotanical  literature  which  he  created,  was  the 
paper  "On  the  Structure  and  .Affinities  of  the  Plants 
hitherto  known  as  Stcrnhergiir^'  in  which  the  Stern- 
hcr-^'ir  were  identified  as  medullary  casts,  which  had 
been  surrounded  by  an  Araucarian  wood.  .\s  already 
mentioned,  however,  the  material  for  an  extended  use  of 
the  method  was  at  that  time  still  wanting.  Then,  just 
at  the  right  moment,  came  the  discovery  of  the  calcareous 
nodules,  enclosing  vegetable  remains,  in  the  Canister 
beds  of  the  coal-fields  of  Lancashire  and  Yorkshire.  The 
investigation  of  the  treasures  thus  revealed  was  first 
taken  in  hand  by  their  discoverer,  Binncy  himself,  and 
subscciuently  by  Carruthers  and  Williamson.  The  latter 
first  bega:n  with  works  on  the  Calamarieic.  three  of  which 
appeared  in  rapid  succession  from  1S69  to  1871.  They 
are  :  "  On  the  structure  of  an  undescribed  type  of  Ca/a- 
modcndron  from  the  upper  coal-measures  of  Lancashire"; 
"On  a  new  form  of  Calamitean  strobilus"  ;  and  "On  the 
organisation  of  an  undescribed  verticillatc  strobilus  from 
the  lower  coal-measures  of  Lancashire." 

As  was  necessarily  the  case,  material  now  began  to 
accumulate  in  Williamson's  hands,  and  he  enjoyed  the 
active  co-operation  of  various  zealous  collectors.  Then, 
in  his  fifty-fifth  year,  he  began  the  great  series  of  memoirs 
which  mark  the  culminating  point  of  his  scientific  activity, 
and  which  will  assure  to  him,  for  all  time,  in  conjunction 
with  Hrongniart,  the  honourable  title  of  a  founder  of 
modern  I'alitobotany. 

In  the  course  of  the  following  twenty  years,  nineteen 
memoirs  of  this  series  appeared  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions,  under  the  general  title  "  On  the  Organisa- 
tion of  the  Fossil  Plants  of  the  Coal-measures."  They 
all  contain  exclusively  his  own  observations,  made  entirely 
on  material  from  the  British  coal-fields.  It  is  a  gigantic 
work,  which  by  itself  alone  would  form  the  abundant 
fruit  of  a  man's  whole  life.  It  was  supplemented,  how- 
ever, by  various  other  contributions  to  the  same  subject, 
published  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  Literary  and  Philo- 
sophical .Society  of  Manchester,  the  Annales  des  Sciences 
miliirelles,  and  the  Annals  of  liotany.  During  the 
same  period,  in  1887,  also  appeared  Williamson's  ex- 
haustive "  Monograph  on  the  .Morphology  and  Histology 
of  Stii^mariit  Jicoides"  which  will  long  form  the  basis  of 
our  knowledge  of  these  fossils. 

The  recognition  by  paleontologists  and  botanists  of 
the  full  importance  of  these  works  of  Williamson's, 
has  been  of  course  a  slow  and  gradual  process.  This 
was  really  due  to  external  circumstances.  In  the  first 
place,  Williamson  found  it  necessary,  as  the  material  in 
his  collection,  and  his  own  experience  increased,  to  return 
rep<Miedly  in  his  later  memoirs  to  plant-remains  which 
had  been  dealt  with  in  the  earlier  parts.  Consequently, 
if  «'•  •••i-  h  to  obtain  an  idea  of  any  group,  it  is  always 
nc  Hidy  several  of  ihesetreatiscs  simultaneously. 

Til  r.  presents  great  clilficulties,  except  to  those 

wh  separate  copies.     For   the    re.ider    stands 

heii  "•  a  pile  of  sixteen  volumes  of  the  Philo- 

sopin    II    I  r.iiisaclions  '. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  another  point  which  must 
be   taken  into  account.     Williamson's  method  of  anato- 


NO.    1349.  VOL.  52] 


mical  description,  clear  as  it  is,  bears  the  stamp  of  tlu- 
scholastic  ideas  of  a  past  time.  For  this  reason  it  is  only 
understood  with  difficulty  by  the  botanists  of  the  present 
day,  and  must  often  first  be  translated  into  the  form  now 
customary.  This  is  laborious,  and  has  stood  greatly  in 
the  way  of  the  rapid  difl'usion  of  his  results. 

Williamson  himself  was  fully  conscious  of  these  draw- 
backs, and  finally,  in  order  to  remedy  them,  he  began  a 
new  series  of  memoirs,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Scott, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  present  a  connected  and 
systematically-ordered  account  of  the  results  obtained, 
clothed  in  the  language  of  modern  anatomy.  The  first 
memoir  of  this  series  appeared  in  1895,  in  the  Philo- 
sophical Transactions,  and  treats  of  the  Calamariea:  and 
Sphenophyllea:.  Two  further  papers  are  already  com- 
pleted, Init  he  was  not  spared  to  see  them  published. 

The  basis  of  all  Williamson's  labours  in  fossil  botar.y 
is,  of  course,  the  collection  of  slides  which  he  left,  con- 
taining some  thousands  of  preparations.  It  is  unique  of 
its  kind  in  the  world,  and  of  the  greatest  importance, 
for  it  contains  the  evidence  for  all  the  innumerable 
special  observations  recorded  in  his  works.  Like  Will- 
denow's  herbarium  or  Lindlcy's  collection  of  orchids,  it 
will  always  remain  an  invaluable  source  of  information, 
to  which  pahuontologists  from  all  sides  must  resort.  lis 
owner  was  aware  of  this,  and  so  also  is  the  autlior  of 
this  notice,  who  may  boast  that  he  knows  the  collection 
as  scarcely  any  one  else  does.  It  was  through  him 
that  Williamson  decided  to  prepare  and  distribute,  in  a 
printed  form,  a  detailed  index,  giving  exact  references 
to  the  individual  preparations,  and  the  places  where  they 
are  cited  in  the  memoirs.  This  was  necessary,  for  the 
multitude  of  preparations  often  made  it  very  laborious, 
even  for  the  owner,  to  look  out  a  particular  section  to 
demonstrate  some  special  fact.  This  work  was  taken  in 
hand  about  1890,  and  has  considerably  increased  the 
usefulness  and  value  of  the  collection  to  posterity.  Three 
instalments,  and  those  the  most  important,  have  already 
appeared  under  the  title,  "  (jcneral  Morphological  and 
Histological  Index  to  the  .-Vuthor's  Collective  Memoirs 
on  the  Fossil  Plants  of  the  Coal-measures."  Only  the 
Cordaite;e,  the  C.ynmospcrmous  seeds,  and  a  number  of 
fossils  of  doubtful  affinity,  are  still  wanting.  We  may, 
no  doubt,  ultimately  look  for  a  synopsis  of  these  from 
the  hand  of  a  friend,  so  as  to  complete  the  entire  work. 

If  we  now  consider  the  contents  of  the  pakeobotanic'al 
literature  created  by  Williamson  during  the  last  twenty- 
five  years  of  his  life,  we  find  that  it  consists,  first  of  all, 
of  the  most  minute  description  and  reconstruction  of  all 
those  types  of  plants  which  took  part  in  the  formation 
of  the  coal-beds  of  Oeat  Britain.  He  abstained  on 
principle  from  concerning  himself  with  non-British 
material.  We  have  acquired  from  him  the  most  exact 
knowledge  of  the  structure  of  the  Calamarie;e,  the  Lepi- 
dodendrca-,  the  Sphenophyllc;e,  the  Ferns,  and  Lygino- 
dcndreu'.  .\s  regards  several  of  these  groups,  it  is  true, 
he  had  before  him  fairly  detailed  investigations  by 
previous  observers,  but  in  other  families,  especially  the 
Calamariea^  and  Lepidodendrea',  he  himself  laid  almost 
the  whole  foundation  of  our  knowledge.  He  showed 
that  both  groups  are,  as  regards  their  fructifications, 
indubitable  .Xrchegoniata-,  but  that  they  possessed,  like 
our  recent  Ciymnosperms,  a  secondary  formation  of  wood 
from  a  cambium  ;  he  taught  us  to  recognise,  in  the 
Stigmariiu,  the  subterranean  organs  of  the  Lepidodendrea; 
and  Sigillaria-  ;  he  reconstructed  in  the  genera  /. I'.C'""- 
dendron  and  Metcrani;iiim,  described  by  him,  a  t\pe  of 
plant  which,  by  its  characters,  occupies  an  intermediate 
position  between  Filicinex-  and  Gymnosperms,  especially 
Cycadfiu.  It  thus  can  find  no  place  in  the  system  of 
recent  plants,  but  represents  a  direct  derivative  of  the 
unknown  ancestral  stock  from  which  the  two  groups  still 
living  have  also  sprung.  In  connection  with  this  type, 
Kenault's  Poroxyle:e  have  since  tmncd   out  to  be  their 


SEPTEMliKK   5,    1895J 


NA  TURE 


443 


later  Permian  relations,  while  the  Protopity;c  of  the  Culm 
are  more  ancient  allies,  with  similar  characteristics.  We 
thus  learn  how  far  back  \vc  must  go,  in  the  scries  of 
geological  formations,  in  order  to  meet  with  the  last 
traces  of  the  connnon  ancestors  of  those  classes  in  the 
vegetable  kingdom  which  are  now  living. 

I}y  his  discovery  of  .\rchegoniatc  plants  with  secondar>' 
growth,  Williamson  however  came  into  collision  with  the 
doctrines  of  .-\dolphe  IJrongniart,  otherwise  so  highly 
re\-erenced  by  him,  who  held  this  character  to  be  an 
absolute  criterion  of  the  Phanerogams,  and  denied  the 
possibility  of  its  occurrence  in  other  classes  of  the 
vegetable  kingdom.  Hence  a  literary  feud  arose  between 
Williamson  and  B.  Renault,  Brongniart's  distinguished 
pupil.  The  latter  endeavoured  to  pro\  e  that  Williamson 
was  in  error  in  the  identification  of  liis  Lepidodcndra,  that 
they  were  really  .Si<^i//a>i(C,  and  together  with  the  latter 
belonged  to  the  Gymnosperms,  while  the  truly  Arche- 
goniatc  Lcpidodcndra  were  destitute  of  any  secondary 
growth.  The  answer  was  not  long  in  coming  ;  proof  was 
heaped  on  proof,  until  ultimately  the  real  state  of  the  case 
was  made  completely  clear.  In  all  essential  points 
victory  was  on  the  side  of  our  author.  Other  subsidiary 
differences  respecting  Stiginaria,  the  Calamariea;,  iSic, 
require  no  more  than  a  mention  here. 

It  was  thus  made  evident  by  Williamson  that  cambial 
growth  in  thickness  is  a  character  which  has  appeared 
repeatedly  in  the  most  various  families  of  the  vegetable 
kingdom,  and  was  by  no  means  acquired  for  the  first  time 
by  the  Phanerogamic  stock.  This  is  a  general  botanical 
result  of  the  greatest  importance  and  the  widest  bearing. 
In  this  conclusion  Paheontology  has,  for  the  first  time, 
spoken  the  decisive  word  in  a  purely  botanical  question. 
The  result  has  proved  well  worth  the  great  trouble  and 
labour  which  had  to  be  gone  through  in  order  to  attain  it. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  a  more  magnificent 
monument  to  Williamson  than  one  which  he  himself  set 
up  at  Manchester,  in  one  of  the  halls  of  the  Owens 
College  Museum. 

In  the  year  1887  there  was  discovered  in  a  quarr)'  near 
Bradford,  a  gigantic  petrified  tree-stump,  which,  when 
carefully  exposed,  was  found  to  run  out  at  the  base  into  a 
widely-spreading  system  of  ramifications  of  a  Stig- 
marian  character.  In  the  quarrv'  this  precious  relic,  like 
many  others  before  it,  would  in  a  very  short  time  have 
fallen  a  victim  to  destruction  by  weather  and  the  hand  of 
man.  Williamson,  however,  acquired  it  by  purchase,  had 
it  carefully  subdivided  into  numerous  pieces,  and  brought 
it  home  safe  and  complete  to  Manchester.  This  was  not 
accomplished  without  the  greatest  personal  exertions 
and  a  considerable  expenditure  of  money  (to  which 
several  friends  contributed),  for  there  were  whole 
waggon-loads  of  material  to  be  removed.  Then  the 
first  thing  which  had  to  be  done  was  to  secure  from 
the  I'uiversity  authorities  the  necessary  space  for  erect- 
ing the  fossil.  This  was  not  an  easy  matter,  and  great 
opposition  had  to  be  overcome,  as  we  can  easily  under- 
stand on  looking  at  the  specimen,  which  measures  over 
29  feet  in  diameter. 

Finally  it  was  fitted  together,  piece  by  piece,  and  fixed 
in  its  natural  position,  resting  on  a  massive  pedestal  of 
brickwork.  I'he  fiery  youthful  zeal  of  a  man  already  over 
■-event)-,  overcame  all  the  diflSculties  that  arose.  People 
were  astonished  at  the  unusual  development  of  energy 
which  this  Stigiiuiria  had  caused,  and  ga\e  it,  in  good- 
hunioined  jest,  the  name  of  '•  Williamson's  Folly.' 
"Williamson's  Folly  "  may  now  be  reckoned  among  the 
eights  of  luigland,  and  Manchester  may  be  proud  of 
possessing  it,  for  it  represents  a  last  gift,  worthy  of  all 
honour,  from  the  deceased,  to  the  place  which  for  so 
many  years  was  his  home  and  the  scene  of  his  activity. 

The  author  of  this  notice,  who  only  knew  Williamson 
during  the  last  years  of  his  life,  must  not  attempt  to 
picture  to  those  who   lived   with   him  his    kindly    and 

NO.    1349,   VOL.   52] 


benevolent  nature,  which  always  retained  the  freshness  of 
youth,  or  his  simple  character.  That  would  be  a  work  of 
supererogation,  for  the  whole  of  scientific  England  knew 
and  respected  him,  and  wherever  he  went  he  was  a  wel- 
come and  honoured  guest.  The  writer  can  only  report, 
in  all  brevity,  on  the  work  of  Williamson's  life,  and  when 
asked  to  undertake  this,  it  was  with  pleasure  that  he  took 
up  his  pen  for  that  purpose.  Solms-Laubach. 


NOTES. 
The  resignation  of  Dr.  Albert  GUnlher,  F.  R.S.,  of  the  post 
of  Keeper  of  Zoology  at  the  Natural  History  Museum,  South 
Kensington,  is  announced.     Dr.  Giinther  has  occupied  for  over 
thirty  years  the  position  he  now  vacates. 

The  "Swiney"  Lecturer  this  year  is  Dr.  J.  G.  Garson,  who 
will  lake  as  the  subject  of  the  twelve  lectures  he  purposes  giving, 
"  The  Geological  History  of  Man."  The  lectures,  admission  to 
which  will  be  free,  are  to  be  delivered  in  the  lecture  theatre  of 
the  .South  Kensington  Museum  on  Mondays,  Wednesdays  and 
F'ridays,  at  five  P.M.,  beginning  on  Friday,  October  4. 

We  have  to  record  the  death  of  two  prominent  members  of 
the  medical  profession  abroad,  viz.  Dr.  Pasquale  Landi,  Professor 
of  Clinical  Surgery  successively  in  the  Universities  of  Siena, 
Bologna,  and  Pisa,  and  Dr.  Texier,  Professor  of  Internal 
Pathology  in  the  Medical  School  of  Algiers. 

Mr.  Charles  Mitchell,  whose  death,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
five,  occurred  on  Avigust  22,  was  a  well-known  engineer  and 
shipbuilder.  He  founded  the  Walker  shipbuilding  yard  on  the 
Tyne.^a  yard  which  under  his  guidance  developed  into  one  of  the 
largest  in  the  country.  In  18S2  it  was  merged  into  the  Elswick 
Company  of  the  present  Lord  Armstrong,  and  up  to  the  time  of 
his  death  Mr.  Mitchell  practically  superintended  the  whole  of 
the  shipbuilding  work  of  the  Company. 

The  Atheiutuni  says  that  during  the  autumn  of  this  year  a 
monument  is  to  be  unveiled  at  Osteel,  in  East  F'riesland,  in 
memory  of  the  discoverers  of  the  sun"s  spots,  David  and  Johann 
Fabricius.  The  site  chosen  is  the  place  in  the  cemetery  where 
the  grave  of  the  elder  F'abricius  was  discovered  about  nine  years 
ago. 

We  are  informed  by  Prof.  John  Milne,  that  communications 
respecting  the  Transaitions  of  the  Seismological  Society,  and 
the  Snismoio^cal  /oiiriial,  may  be  addressed  to  him  at  .Shide  1  lill 
House,  Shide,  Newport,  Isle  of  Wight,  at  which  place  a  small 
station  has  been  established  to  record  earthquakes  having  their 
origin  in  distant  localities,  and  other  unfelt  movements  of  the 
earth's  surface. 

The  annual  general  meeting  of  the  Federated  Institution  of 
.Mining  Engineers  will  beheld  in  North  Staftordshire,  at  Shel- 
ton,  Stoke-upon-Trent,  on  September  iS  and  19,  when  papers 
on  "  The  Depth  to  Productive  Coal-measures  between  the 
Warwickshire  and  Lancashire  Coal-fields,"  "  Gold-mining  in 
Nova  Scotia,"  "The  Use  of  Steel  Girders  in  Mines,'"  "Economic 
Minerals  of  the  Province  of  Ontario,  Canada,"  and  "  The  Bhist- 
ing  I'fiiciency  of  Exi)losives "  are  expected  to  be  read,  and  a. 
discussion  of  various  papers  which  have  already  appeared  in  the 
Traiisadions  of  the  Institution  may  take  place.  A  number  of 
excursions  are  also  arranged. 

The  fifth  quadrennial  meeting  of  the  International  Congress 
of  Otology  will  take  place  at  F'lorence,  under  the  presidency  of 
Dr.  V.  Grazzi,  from  September  23  to  26.  Various  discussions 
will  be  opened  by  Dr.  Barr  of  Glasgow,  Dr.  C.elli  of  Paris, 
Prof.  Gradenigo  of  Turin,  Prof.  .\.  Politzer  of  Vienna,  and  Dr. 
Secchi  of  Bologna  ;  and  there  are  in  the  complete  programme, 


444 


NA  TURE 


[September  5,  1895 


which  has  just  been  issued,  the  titles  of  no  fewer  than  fifty-nine 
original  communications  to  be  brought  before  the  meeting.  It 
is  hoped  that  Britbh  otolc^-  will  be  well  represented,  as  it  is 
intended  to  inWte  the  next  congress  to  meet  in  London,  either 
in  1898  or  1S99.  Full  particulars  as  to  terms  of  membership, 
routes,  hotels,  &c.,  may  be  obtained  from  Dr.  St.  Clair  Thomson, 
28  Queen  .-^nne-street,  \V. 

An  International  Congress  of  Technical,  Commercial,  and 
Industrial  Education  is  being  organised  by  the  Societe  Philo- 
mathique  of  Bordeaux,  and  is  to  be  held  at  Bordeaux  from 
September  i6  to  21.  The  programme  is,  we  understand,  a  full 
one,  and  contains  many  items  of  interest  and  importance. 

AFEATi'RF.of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Yorkshire  Naturalists' 
Union,  which  is  to  take  place  at  \'ork  on  October  30,  will  be  an 
exhibition  of  specimens,  photographs,  v\;c.,  showing  work  done 
during  the  |)ast  year  in  all  departments  of  the  Union.  It  is  re- 
quested that  all  members  who  intend  to  exhibit  will  communi- 
cate direct  with  the  Local  Secretary,  at  the  Museum,  York,  on  or 
before  October  21. 

The  various  medical  schools  will  be  reopened  at  the  begin- 
ning of  October,  and  at  most  of  them  introductor)-  addresses 
will  be  delivered  to  the  students.  On  October  i ,  at  St.  George's 
Hospital,  the  speaker  will  be  Mr.  George  D.  Pollock  ;  at  the 
.Middlesex  Hospital  Dr.  \V.  Julius  Mickle,  and  at  the  West- 
minster Hospital  Dr.  Moncklon  Copeman.  At  the  latter 
institution  Viscount  Peel  will  distribute  the  prizes.  The  intro- 
ductory address  at  University  College  will  be  delivered  by  Prof. 
J.  Rose  Bradford,  and  the  annual  dinner  of  old  and  present 
students  will  take  place  at  the  Hotel  Mctropole  on  October  i, 
under  the  chairmanship  of  Sir  Richard  Quain,  Bart.  .Mr.  A.  P. 
Laurie  will  give  the  address  at  St.  Mary's,  and  the  annual 
dinner  will  be  held  the  same  evening  at  the  Holborn  Restaurant, 
Mr.  Malcolm  Morris  occupying  the  chair.  At  St.  Thomas's 
Hospital  the  prizes  will  be  distributed,  on  October  2,  by  Sir 
Edwin  Arnold,  K.C.I.E.  At  Guy's  there  will  be  no  formal 
introductory  address,  but  on  the  evening  of  October  1  Mr.  J. 
De'.-Vth  will  read  a  paper  at  the  opening  meeting  of  the  Physical 
Society,  on  "  Our  Profession,  our  Patients,  our  Public  and  our 
Press."  The  annual  dinner  will  take  place  in  the  Club  Dining 
Hall,  Dr.  J'ye-Smith  in  the  chair.  .\t  the  Yorkshire  College, 
Ixieds,  Prof.  D.  J.  Leech  will,  on  October  i,  distribute  the 
prizes  and  deliver  an  address.  Prof.  Victor  Horsley  is  an- 
nounced to  speak  at  the  Sheffield  School  of  Medicine,  Mr. 
Jonathan  Hutchinson  at  University  College,  Liveri>ool,  and 
Prof.  F.  H.  Napier  at  St.  Mungo's  College.  At  Mason  College, 

Birmingham,  Prof.   Percy  Frankland   will  deliver  the  address, 
taking  .is  his  subject  "  Pasteur  and  his  Work." 

The  Council  of  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  has  issued 
a  list  of  suggested  subjects  for  |>apers  during  the  session  1895-96, 
for  which  the  undermentioned  prizes  may  be  awarded  :  ( I )  The 
Telford  Fund,  left  "  in  trust,  the  interest  to  l)e  expended  in 
annual  premiums,  under  the  direction  of  the  Council."'  The 
liequcst  (with  accumulations  of  dividends)  produces  a  gross 
.•imunnl  of  /;23S  annually.  (2)  The  Manby  Donation,  of  the 
value  of  about  /lo  a  year,  given  "  to  form  a  fund  for  an  annual 
premium  or  premiums  for  pai>ers  read  at  the  meetings."  (3) 
The  Miller  Fund,  which,  with  accumulations  of  dividends,  realises 
n-:.i!-  ■■  1 40  per  annum.  Out  of  this  the  Council  has  established 
.called  "The  .Miller  Scholarship,"  and  is  prepared 
.;  such,  not  exceeding  /40  in  value,  each  year,  and 
tcnalile  for  three  years.  Competitors  for  this  scholarship  must  be 
under  the  .igc  of  twenty-five  years.  (4)  The  Crampton  Bequest 
of  £.(po,  (he  annual  income  of  which  amounts  now  to  /fl3  14S.1 
is  dcvulc<l  to  the  foundation  of  "  The  Crampton  Prize,"  lor  "  pre- 
sentation to  the  author  of  the  best  paper  on  the  Construction, 

NO.    1349.  VOL.   52] 


Ventilation,  and  Working  of  Tunnels  of  Considerable  Length, 
or  failing  that,  then  of  any  other  subject  that  may  be  selected." 
(5)  The  balance  of  the  Trevilhick  Memorial  Fund  oi£i(Xi  os.  gd., 
the  interest  of  which  is  £z  15s.  a  year.  The  list  of  suggested 
papers,  although  not  exhaustive,  is  far  too  long  for  us  to  print, 
but  may  be  had,  with  further  information,  upon  application  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Institution. 

The  Royal  Academy  of  Medical,  Physical,  and  Natural 
Sciences  of  Ilavannah,  at  a  meeting  held  on  April  28,  decided 
to  ofl'er  amongst  other  prizes,  mostly  for  medical  essays,  one — 
the  Caiiongo  Prize,  value  250  dollars  in  goUl — for  the  best  essay 
on  "  The  Pharmacological  Study  of  the  Fluid  Extracts."  The 
competition,  which  is  open  to  any  person  whether  belonging 
to  the  medical  profession  or  not,  will  be  closed  on  March  19, 
1S96,  by  which  date  all  pajjers  must  be  sent  in,  written  in 
French  or  Spanish,  and  sealed,  with  a  motto  on  the  internal 
envelope,  and  in  another  envelope  bearing  the  same  motto  the 
author's  name  and  address.  The  adjudication  will  take  place  on 
May  19,  1S96,  when  the  prizes  will  be  distributed  to  the  suc- 
cessful competitors.  Further  particidars  may  be  obtained  by 
writing  to  the  Secretary,  Dr.  Vicente  de  la  Guardia,  Havannah. 

Under  the  active  presidency  of  the  Earl  of  Derby,  a  vigorous 
effort  is  being  made  by  the  British  Dairj-  Farmers'  .\ssociation 
to  give  a  helping  hand  to  one  of  the  most  important  branches  of 
agriculture,  dairy  farming,  and  its  allied  industry  of  poultry 
raising.  At  the  twentieth  annual  London  Dair)'  Show,  to  be 
held  at  the  Royal  Agricultural  Hall  in  October  next,  prizes  to 
the  value  of  ;f25l5,  in  addition  to  142  gold,  silver,  and  bronze 
medals,  are  offered  for  competition  in  451  difierent  classes,  in 
many  of  which  a  keen  contest  is  already  assured. 

An   interesting  memoir  has  been  recently  published   liy  Dr. 
Max  Muller,  on  the  ctTect  of  fever  temperature  upon  the  growth 
and  virulence  of  the  typhoid  bacillus.     In  view  of  the  conflicting 
opinions  which  have  from  lime  to  time  prevailed  on  the  manner 
in  which  a  high   temperature  aflects  the  agent  of  infection  in 
cases  of  typhoid  fever,  these  results  are  of  some  consiilerable 
practical  interest.     Thus  in   18S2  we  find  Jorgensen  ventilating 
the  idea  that  the  development  of  the  morbific   material   in  the 
system   in   cases   of  typhoid  fever   might  be  retarded  by  greatly 
reducing  the  temperature  of  the  body,  whilst  other   authorities 
have  as  confidently  staled  that  the  feverish  rise  in  temperature 
was  capable  of  destroying  the  typhoid  organism,  or,  at  any  rate, 
hindering  its  development.     Both  of  these  opinions  are  based  on 
very  slender  experimental  evidence.     Dr.  Max  Muller  has  car- 
ried out  a  series  of  researches  in  which  he  has  carefully  recorded 
the  growth  of  the  typhoid  bacillus  at  various  temperatures,  and 
he  slates  that  when  preserved  at  about  40°  C.  this  microbe  takes 
five  minutes  longer  to  proliferate,  or  produce  a  new  generation, 
than  when  it  is  kept  at  a  temperature  of  from   y]'^  to  38'0°  C. 
respectively  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the  absence  of  all  adverse  circum- 
stances, under  the  most  favourable  conditions,  as  many  as  forty- 
five  generations  of  typhoid  bacilli  may  proceed  in  one  day  from 
a  single  parent  bacillus  at  the  normal  temperature  of  the  body, 
whilst   at   about   40°  C.    thirty-nine   such   generations   may   be 
el.iboraled.      In  considering    these   appalling  figures   it    must, 
however,  be  remembered  that  such  an  uninterrupted  multiplica- 
tion of  the  typhoid   liacillus  does  not  necessarily  take  place  in 
the   human   system  ;  the  conditions  which  surround    it  in   the 
Latter  case  are  of  a  far  more  complicated  and  subtle  character 
than   those    which  obtained   in  Dr.  Miiller's   laboratory  culture- 
lube  !     But  these  results  show  ihal  a  fever  leniperalure  of  about 
40° C.  is  not  able  to  destroy  the  typhoid  bacillus,  or  to  affect  its 
growth  to  any  considerable  extent ;  even  higher  temperatures  of 
4I'S*   to   42'o"'  C.    were   also    incapable   of    annihilating   this 
microbe,  and  typhoid  bacilli  kept  for  sixty-two  days  at  42'o°C. 
showed  subsequently  no  abatement  of  their  vitality.     ./\s  regards 


September  5,  1S95] 


NATURE 


445 


the  effect  of  such  temperatures  on  the  virulence  of  the  typhoid 
bacillus,  0r.  Mtiller  states,  but  only  as  the  result  of  very  limited 
■experiments,  that  he  could  detect  no  difference  in  the  behaviour 
in  this  respect  of  those  kept  at  37°  and  40'  C.  respectively. 

A  MODIFIED  centesimal  system  of  subdividing  time  and 
angular  measures  is  advocated  by  M.  H.  de  Sarranton,  in  the 
Keviie  Siienlifiqiie.  He  proposes  to  retain  the  hour  as  a  funda- 
mental unit  of  lime,  on  account  of  its  universal  acceptance,  its  con- 
venience, and  the  hopelessness  of  the  task  of  altering  it.  But  the 
hour  should  be  divided  into  100  minutes,  and  the  minute  into  100 
seconds.  Thus  each  new  minute  would  be  three-fifths  of  an  old 
minute,  or  thirty-six  seconds,  while  the  new  second  would  be  a 
little  over  a  third  of  the  present  second.  Two  of  the  new  seconds 
would  cover  the  time  cf  a  brisk  step,  like  the  accelerated  pace 
used  in  the  French  army.  The  new  second  is  the  time  taken  by 
one  semi- vibration  of  a  simple  pendulum  1 2  "9  cm.  long.  Time 
could  then  be  consistently  expressed  in  hours  and  decimals. 
Thus  8'334S  h.  might  be  read  8  hours  33  (new)  minutes  48  (new) 
seconds,  and  calculations  involving  time  would  be  much  sim- 
plified. Clock  and  watch  dials  would  be  subdivided  into  hours, 
as  usual,  but  the  smaller  divisions  for  the  minute  and  seconds 
hands  would  be  hundredths  of  the  circle  instead  of  sixtieths, 
and  every  tenth  division  would  have  to  be  slightly  marked. 
For  angular  measurement,  M.  de  Sarranton  proposes  240°, 
subdivided  into  100  minutes  of  100  seconds  each,  so  that  they 
could  be  converted  into  hours  by  shifting  the  decimal  point  one 
place  to  the  left. 

A  FEW  particulars  of  the  new  mouth  of  the  Vistula  are  given 
in  the  Globus.  It  was  made  by  regulating  the  old  branch  going 
into  the  Baltic,  which  was  straightened  and  shortened  from  ten 
miles  to  four  and  a  half,  while  the  channel  was  broadened  by 
shifting  the  dyke  on  the  left  bank  six  miles  to  the  west.  At 
the  same  time,  the  Danzig  branch  was  cut  off  by  a  lock.  This 
useful  piece  of  work  will  not  only  make  the  Vistula  more  acces- 
sible, but  will  prevent  the  disastrous  floods  which  caused  far- 
reaching  destruction  in  winter  and  spring,  near  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  The  work  cost  a  million  pounds,  half  of  which  was 
borne  by  the  districts  concerned,  and  half  by  the  (ierman 
Treasury. 

The  current  number  of  the  British  Medical  founial  has  a 
note  on  the  vision  of  School  Board  children,  based  upon  a  report 
of  Dr.  James  Kerr,  medical  superintendent  of  the  Bradford 
School  Board.  The  tests  employed  were  designed  to  detect 
•every  child  who  had  not  good  distant  vision  with  one  eye  at 
least,  the  list  of  children  thus  obtained  including  those  with 
defect  of  distant  sight  from  all  causes,  remediable  or  otherwise. 
Such  a  list  having  been  made,  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  more 
fully  examine  all  the  children  thus  tabulated,  and  to  classify  and 
deal  with  them  as  might  be  necessary.  In  the  report,  tables 
are  given 'showing  the  number  of  children  examined,  and  the 
percentage  of  defective  eyesight  in  the  different  standards  from 
one  to  seven.  A  perusal  of  Dr.  Kerr's  report  will,  in  the 
opinion  of  our  contemporary,  well  repay  those  who  have  to 
conduct  similar  examinations  of  large  numbers  of  schoolchildren. 

We  have  received  from  the  Deutsche  Seewarte  (Hamburg)  the 
report  of  its  labours  during  the  year  1S94.  The  duties  of  this 
institution  differ  materially  from  those  of  the  German  Meteor- 
ological Institute  (Berlin),  whose  report  we  lately  noticed,  inas- 
much as  the  former  deals  specially  with  weather  prediction  and 
marine  meteorolog)-.  In  both  of  these  branches  great  activity  is 
shown,  and  we  have  frequently  referred  to  the  useful  work 
carried  on.  The  detailed  discussion  of  the  meteorology  of  the 
various  oceans,  for  the  benefit  of  seamen,  the  preparation  of 
synoptic  weather  charts  of  the  North  .\tlantic  Ocean,  for  the 
Jidvancement   of  practical   meteorology,  and  the  publication   of 

NO.    1349,  VOL.  52] 


observations  taken  in  remote  parts  of  the  world,  are  noteworthy 
instances  of  the  industry  of  the  institution.  For  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  information  relating  to  maritime  meteorology,  it  has 
not  only  established  many  agencies  in  German  ports,  but  the 
Consuls  in  several  foreign  ports,  including  English,  also  take  part 
in  enlisting  observers  and  supplying  the  necessary  registers ;  the 
result  being  that  about  450  voluntary  observers  were  co-operating 
at  the  end  of  the  year  in  the  mercantile  marine  alone. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Department  of  Mines  and  .Vgricul- 
ture,  New  South  Wales,  for  the  year  1894,  has  come  to  hand. 
In  it  reference  is  made  to  the  resignation  of  the  position  of 
palteontologist  of  Mr.  Robert  Etheridge,  occasioned  by  his 
accepting  the  curatorship  of  the  Australian  Museum.  Mr. 
Etheridge  will,  however,  we  are  pleased  to  notice,  still  retain 
connection  with  the  department,  having,  the  report  says,  volun- 
teered to  act  as  honorary  consulting  palaiontologist. 

We  have  received  from  the  Keeper  of  the  Manchester  Museum, 
Owens  College,  a  new  handy  guide  to  the  museum,  which  has 
been  compiled  for  the  purpose  of  indicating  cursorily  the  principal 
objects  in  the  building  and  its  general  arrangement,  for  the 
benefit  of  visitors  whose  time  is  limited.  To  those  who  can 
afford  time  to  pay  several  visits,  the  illustrated  guide  is  recom- 
mended as  being  more  complete  and  useful. 

The  new  part  of  the  Asclepiad,  Sir  B.  Ward  Richardson's 
quarterly,  contains  articles  on  "  Cycling  and  Heart  Disease," 
"The  late  prevailing  Epidemic,"  and,  with  portrait,  "John 
Abernethy,  F.  R.  S." 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  two  Macaque  Monkeys  {Macactis  cyno- 
inolgus,  i  9  )  from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  Hugh  H.  CoUis  ;  a 
While-tailed  Sea-Eagle  {Haliislus  alhicilla)  from  Northern 
Russia,  presented  by  Mr.  Robert  Ashton  ;  two  Red-backed 
Shrikes  (Lanius  colliirio),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  C.  Ingram  ; 
a  Natterjack  Toad  (Biifo  calamita)  from  Surrey,  presented  by 
Mr.  Hanley  Flower  ;  a  Melodious  Jay  Thrush   (Leucodioptroii 

canorum),  deposited,   a  Capuchin   (Cebus  ^  6),  a.   Porto 

Rico  Pigeon  ( Columba  corensis) ,  a  Vinaceous  Pigeon  ( Coltimha 
vinacea),  a  Barn  Owl  (Sirix  Jlammea),  seven  Adorned  Cera- 
tophrys  (Ceratophrys  ornata)  from  Brazil,  purchased  ;  a  Great 
Kangaroo  {Macropus  gigantus,  ij ),  a  Rufous  Rat  Kangaroo 
{ffypsiprymniis  rufescens,  <5 ),  a  short-headed  Phalanger 
{Belideiis  breviceps),  bred  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Forms  of  Jihmter's  S.^tei.lites. — A  paper,  by  Mr- 
S.  I.  Bailey,  on  the  forms  of  the  discs  of  Jupiter's  satellites,  i^ 
communicated  by  Prof.  E.  C.  Pickering  to  the  current  Astro- 
physical  foiinial.  .\  number  of  observations  of  the  satellites 
has  been  made  with  the  Ihirlecn-inch  refractor  at  the  Arequipa 
Observatory  ;  and  the  results  were  :  "  Under  the  best  conditions, 
that  is,  with  the  instrument  in  perfect  adjustment  and  good 
seeing,  satellites  II.,  III.  and  IV.  were  always  seen  round. 
Satellite  I.  was  twice  seen  having  an  apparent  elongation  in  the 
same  direction  as  Jupiter.  In  both  cases  the  satellite  was  near 
the  planet.  On  the  second  occasion,  I.,  when  off  the  disc,  but 
near  Jupiter,  appeared  elongated,  but  an  hour  later,  plainly  seen 
on  the  disc  of  Ju(>iter,  it  appeared  jierfectly  round.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  shadows  of  I.  and  HI.  on  other  nights  were 
seen  elongated.  Several  occultations  and  transits  were  observed, 
but  the  limb  of  Jupiter  was  not  seen  when,  to  me,  it  gave  any 
indication  of  transparency.  .  .  .  During  the  hours  given,  we 
failed  to  delect  any  systematic  change  of  form  in  any  of  the 
satellites.  These  observations,  scattered  through  the  cloudy 
season,  may  not  be  the  best  possible,  for  the  same  observers  and 
instrument  in  .Arequipa,  nevertheless  it  does  not  seem  probable 
to  me  that  any  frequent  periodic  recurrence  of  an  ellipticity, 
approximating  in  amount  that  of  Jupiter  itself,  would  have 
escaped  detection." 


446 


NATURE 


[September  5,  1895 


MKRi>  OF  SwiFl^  ^.    ■Mri.— The  following  elements 
cineris  of  Swift's  comet,  the  reap]>earance  of  which  was 

„..i ujt'd  last  week,  have  been  computed    by  Dr.  Bcrberich, 

and  are  published  in  Edinburgh  Circular,  No.  45.  The  ele- 
ments are  deduced  from  the  observations  : — Mount  Hamilton, 
August  21  ;  Nice  (M.  Juvelle),   August  24  ;  Hamburg,    August 

25- 

.\nother  ohser\-ation  of  August  23,  made  by  Mr.  J.  Witt  at 
the  L'rania  Observatory,  Berlin,  is  closely  represented  by  the 
cphemeris.  Dr.  Berberich  thinks  the  comet  w  ill  possibly  belong 
to  the  group  of  periodic  comets  with  short  revolution. 

EUmeuts. 
T  =  1895,  Sept.  3-3630,  M.T.  Berlin. 

»  =  179  37 '941 

il  =  172  59'65J-  Mean  Equinox  iSgs'O. 

»■  =       4  38-55) 
1<^  ,j  =  0-16537. 

Ephemerii  for  Berlin  Midnight. 
I  .<!-.  R..*.  Decl.  log.  A.  log.  r. 


h.  m.  s. 

Sept.  4  . 

.107. 

6  .. 

■14  3- 

8  . 

.  I  7  50 

10  . 

.  1  II  2S  . 

12  . 

•  I  14  57  . 

14  - 

.  I  IS  16  . 

16  . 

.  I  21  25  . 

18  . 

.  I  24  23  . 

20  .. 

.  I  27  II  . 

117 
I-I8 


bright- 
ness. 

+  6  17-3 
6  iS-o  ...  9-7100  ...  0-1656 
6  17-5 

6  15-9  ...  9-7071  ...  0-1664 
6  13-2 

6    9  6  ...  9-7062  ...  0-1679  ..    I'lS 
6     51 

5  59-7   -  9-7073  -  0-1700        1  10 
5  536 
22  ...  J  29  49  ...  +5  469  ...  9-7107  •■•  01727  ...  116 
The  brightness  at  .August  21-5  has  been  taken  as  unity. 

Comets  .\xd  the  Sus-si'OT  Period. — Since  the  discovery 
of  the  [leriodicity  of  the  sun-spots,  investigations  have  shown 
that  many  terrestrial  phenomena  are,  and  others  may  be,  closely 
allied  to  it.  These  are  generally  looked  upon  as  results  due  to 
the  variation  in  the  .sun.  If  it  were  found  that  comets  had 
an  eleven-yearly  jK-riod,  we  should  have  the  question  before  us 
as  to  whether  this  [wriod  be  the  result  of  this  period,  or  whether 
the  (wriod  dcjiended  to  a  certain  extent  on  this  periodical 
cometar)'  influx.  If  the  sun,  as  has  been  supposed,  were  fed,  so 
to  speak,  with  cometary  matter,  then  the  spot  period  would 
naturally  lie  de|x:ndcnt  on  some  external  source  of  supply  such 
as  this.  But  since  the  solar  atmosphere  has  a  circulation  which 
seems  now  to  have  lieen  fairly  shown  to  be  the  cause  of  this 
perio<Iicity,  such  an  outward  supply  of  energy  is  not  thought  now 
to  l)e  of  such  importance  as  would  have  been  the  case  some 
years  ago.  This  <lo<;s  not  take  away  the  interest,  however,  from 
Herr  J.  Unterwcger's  investigation  concerning  the  connection 
of  sjxits  and  apjitarances  of  comets,  but  would  rather  instigate 
it.  The  author  h.a.i,  by  a  strict  examination  of  the  elements  of 
the  larger  perimlical  comets,  obtained  a  function  which  can  be 
repre.sente^l  mathematically  by  a  formula,  and  from  which  an 
eleven-yearly  |ierir«l  since  1740  can  Ik-  recogni.sed.  From  the 
year  1833,  also,  the  maxima  and  minima  points  fall  together,  with- 
out exception,  with  those  of  the  sun-spot  curves.  In  determining 
the  length  of  the  period,  the  amplitude  of  the  jwriod  was  set 
for  each  series  as  a  function  of  the  length  of  the  ]>eriod,  and 
then  each  value  for  the  duration  of  the  perio<l  a.scerlained.  The 
calculation  wa.s  so  arrange<l  that  two  neighl>ouring  values,  which 
made  the  amplitude  a  minimum,  were  als<j  determined.  The 
values  for  the  function  came  out  as  8682,  1 1  '226,  13-365  years, 
those  for  the  scries  showing  the  relative  number  of  .sun-spots 
lieing  8-721,  11-254,  13-424  years. 

To  determine  also  whether  the  points  of  maxima  and  minima 

for  the  function  were  coincident  with  those  for  the  series  showing 

the  -un-'.fHii  numl>crs,  the  curves  drawn  from  the  values  derived 

'       ,  extent  th.-il  a  sccondar)'  maximum  could  be 

1  them  in  .similar  |Hisilions. 

.      h  the  investigator  indicatc*s  as  having  been 

..hown  art  :  -Tin-  identification  of  the  ihirty-five-yearly  sun-sp^il 
|>crl<Kl,  the  fiiri'li'in  giving  larger  values  in  1778,  1S16,  184S 
and  1H82,  and  smaller  minima  in  1764,  1806,  1834  and  1867; 
the  tim<-  brinecn  two  succe-s.sive  maxima  lieing  in  the  mean 
J4" 

I  iwriod    1764-1806,   with  maximum  at   1777-80, 

coil - a    secular   maximum    of  sun-spots   and    a  large 

gteltehemerjlon  which  K-gan  in  1 768  and  ended  about  1785.  The 


NO.    1349.  VOL.  52] 


1806-1834  interval,  with  a  maximum  at  1S16,  corrc>|Kinil>  lo  a 
maximum  of  sun-spot  and  to  an  intense  gklSihcn't-rslors  from 
1S14  to  1824.  The  third  and  fourth  |)eriods  are  also  likewise 
explained. 

Cases  are  also  made  out  for  the  secular  variations  in  the 
climate,  and  a  suggestion  is  thrown  out  that  if  we  may  look  upon 
**  Kometen  als  stark  elektrische  Ma-ssen,"  then  at  the  times  of 
their  maximum  number  and  least  distances  from  the  e.irth,  small 
induced  currents  n>ay  be  set  up,  which  will  lie  recorded  by  the 
magnetic  needle  :  this  latter  question  has  ni->t.  however,  been 
investigatiil. 


THE  SUN'S  PLACE   IN  2\ATURE.^ 
XI. 

The  Cloik  Kate. 

The  proper  regulation  of  this  clock  error  and  consequent 
"  trail  "  of  the  spectrtim  across  the  plate  parallel  to  itself  are 
essential  to  the  .success  of  photographs  taken  liy  the  objective 
prisms.  The  S[>ectrum  of  a  bright  star  must  obviously  be  made 
to  trail  more  quickly  than  that  of  a  fainter  one,  and  a  shorter 
exposure  is  sufficient.  Since  for  the  same  clock  error,  and  in  the 
same  time,  a  star  near  the  pole  will  give  a  shorter  trail  th.in  one 
nearer  the  equator,  <leclination  must  also  be  taken  into  account. 
Keeping  a  constant  clock  error,  equal  widths  of  spectrum  for 
stars  of  difi'erent  declinations  may  l>e  obtained  by  lengthening 
the  time  of  exposure  for  stars  away  from  the  equator,  but  in  that 
case,  the  stars  near  the  pole  would  be  over-exix>sed  in  relation 
to  those  nearer  the  equator. 

The  exixisure  given  to  stars  of  equal  magnitudes  should 
evidently  Ik'  the  same,  no  matter  in  what  part  of  the  sky  they 
may  be  situated,  and  the  clock  error  should,  therefore,  be 
increased  in  proportion  to  the  secant  of  the  angle  of  declination. 

The  light-ratio  of  stars  being  2-512",  where  //  exprc.s,ses  the 
difi'erence  in  magnitude,  the  time  of  exposure  must  vary  in  the 
.same  proportion,  and  the  clock  error  in  inverse  proportion. 
Thus,  where  5  minutes'  exposure  is  sufticieni  for  a  first-magnitude 
star,  31  minutes  is  required  to  obtain  a  fully-exposed  spectrum 
of  a  star  of  the  third  magnitude.  This  law,  however,  only 
applies  to  photographic  magnitudes,  and  must  be  mttdified 
according  to  the  type  of  spectrum  or  the  colour  of  the  star. 

The  red  stars,  being  much  weaker  in  blue  and  violet  rays  than 
the  yellow  or  white  stars,  require  much  longer  exposures  than 
white  stars  of  equal  magnitutle.  To  obtain  a  spectrum  of 
(3  Pegasi  extending  to  the  K  line,  for  example,  at  least  three 
times  the  ex|xisure  required  by  a  white  star  of  similar  magnitude 
nuist  be  given. 

I'or  conveniently  adjusting  the  exposures,  tables  have  been 
constructed  which  show  at  a  glance  the  position  of  the  regulator 
for  a  star  of  given  magnitude  and  declination. 

It  is  obvious  that  with  an  instrument  of  high  dispersion,  the 
number  of  stars  it  is  jiossible  to  photograph  is  very  limited,  as 
the  long  exposures  required  for  the  fainter  stars  are  impractic- 
able, and,  even  if  possible,  the  definition  of  the  lines  svould  be 
destroyeil  by  atmos]iheric  tremors. 

Hence,  it  is  at  present  imly  jKissible  to  photograph  the  spectra 
of  the  faint  stars  on  a  very  sm.all  scale.  With  an  objective  of 
8  inches  aperture  and  44  inches  focal  length,  and  a  prism  of  13' 
refracting  angle.  Prof.  Pickering  has  pholographeil  tlie  spectra  of 
stars  down  to  the  eighth  magnitude.  These  spectra  are  about 
I  centimetre  long,  and  a  millimetre  broad,  and  though  they  do 
not  show  a  very  great  amount  of  detail,  they  are  sutticicnl  to 
reveal  the  type  of  sped  rum. 

With  an  instrument  capable  of  photogra))hing  faint  stars,  a 
large  number  of  spectra  may  be  taken  at  one  exposure  :  but, 
with  the  instruments  of  larger  dispersion,  this  is  not  generally 
the  ca.se,  as  there  are  few  bright  stars  of  nearly  eipial  magnitude 
sufficiently  close  together. 

The  Electrical  Control. 

In  consequence  of  the  great  .accuracy  reipiired  in  ihe  driving 
of  the  telescope  when  long  exposures  are  necessary,  the  10-inch 
e(|uatorial  has  lieen  filleil  with  a  simple  and  inexpensive  form  of 
electrical  control.  This  is  a  modification  of  that  designed  by 
.Mr.  Russell,  of  the  Sydney  Observatory.^     The  exi.sling  driving 

1  Rcviwd  from  «horlh.ind  notes  of  a  course  of  Lectures  to  Working  Men 
at  (he  .Mu^uin  of  Pntclictl  Geology  during  November  .ind  December, 
1694.    (Continued  from  pnge  4^5.) 

^  Monthly  XotUn.  vjI.  M.  (>.  43,  1890.91. 


Ski'TEMBi;r  5.  1895] 


NA  TURE 


44; 


gear  has  been  altered  so  that  the  driving  rod  performs  its  revolu- 
tion in  a  second,  and  the  motion  is  then  communicated  to  the 
driving  screw  through  a  small  worm  wheel.  The  driving  rod 
is  vertical  and  in  two  parts,  the  lower  ])orlion  ending  in  a  faced 
ratchet  wheel,  3  inches  in  diameter,  and  with  200  teeth.  The 
upper  part  of  the  rod  ends  in  an  arm  at  right  angles  to  itself,  and 
this  arm  carries  a  ratchet  of  suitable  shape  held  down  by  an 
adjustable  spring.  An  electro-magnet  connecteil  with  the  con- 
trolling pendulum,  is  arranged  so  as  to  only  permit  the  ratchet  to 
pass  it  once  a  second  (see  Fig.  42).      If  the  clock  be  driving  too 


Pit;.  42.— Electrical  control  for  lo-inch  equatorial. 


quickly,  the  ratcliet  i-;  held  until  tlij  stop  is  raised  by  the 
]iendulum.  When  held  in  this  way  the  ratchet  is  lifted  out  of 
the  teeth,  and  the  driving  clock  itself  is  not  affected. 

In  order  that  this  form  of  control  may  be  effective,  it  is  essen- 
tial that  the  clock  should  be  going  too  quickly,  as  it  is  only 
ca]iablc  of  retarding  the  driving-rod. 

The  contrulling  |)LMKhiluni  is,  of  course,  regulated  to  the  rale 
required  for  the  particular  star  which  is  being  photographed. 

In  Mr.  Russell's  form  of  control  the  two  parts  of  the  driving 
rod  are  connected  by  friction  plates.  It  was  found,  however, 
on  testing  this  arrangement,  that  when  the  upper  porticm  was 
held  by  the  electro-magnet  the  rate  of  the  governors  was  seriously 
retarded  ;  hence  I  introduced  a  ratchet  wheel,  and  its  working 
leaves  nothing  to  be  desired. 

Eiilargei/ients'iof  the  Negatives. 

Many  of  the  negatives  taken  have  been  enlarged  about  nine 
times  on  glass,  and  further  copies  have  been  taken  on  bromide 
paper,  bringing  the  enlargement  up  to  about  twenty-five  times 
the  size  of  the  original. 

Owing  to  various  causes  the  photographic  spectra  obtained  Ijy 
the  metho<l  of  trails  show  irregularities  resembling  the  lines  along 
the  spectrum  observed  when  the  slit  of  a  spectroscope  is  partly 
clogged  with  dust.  It  has  been  noticed  that  the  jjeriod  of  the 
irregularities  is  equal  to  the  time  of  revolution  of  the  main 
driving  screw  of  the  telescope,  and  hence  they  may  be  accounted 
for  by  supposing  the  driving  gear  to  l)e  mechanically  imperfect. 
In  that  case  some  of  the  parallel  lines  which,  liy  their  juxta- 
position form  the  broadened  spectrum,  are  superposed,  while 
others  are  drawn  apart,  thus  giving  rise  to  dark  and  bright  lines 
parallel  to  the  length  of  the  spectrum.  These  lines  are  more 
apparent  in  the  ca.se  of  bright  stars  than  fainter  ones.  If  the 
telescope  were  driven  with  perfect  regularity  and  the  almosphore 
were  quite  steady,  we  should  obtain  a  spectrum  of  uniform  in- 
tensity along  its  width.  This  condition  has  very  nearly  been 
obtained  in  some  cases. 

The  irregularities  above  described  are  eliminated  in  the  en- 
larged  negatives  by  giving  them    a   vcrj-   slight    up-and-down 

NO.   1349,  VOL.  52] 


motion  during  exposure  in  a  direction  parallel  to  the  lines  of 
the  spectrum.  This  was  originally  done  by  hand,  but  a  negative 
holder  has  been  constructed  in  which  the  necessary  motion  is 
given  to  the  negative  by  a  small  driving  clock. 

-V  diagram  of  the  arrangement  is  given  below.  The  only 
drawback  to  this  method  is  that  defects  of  the  film  are  apt  to 
produce,  by  a  succession  of  their  images  on  the  enlarging  plate, 
lines  (generally  very  faint)  which  have  a  semblance  of  the  true 
spectrum  lines. 

To  distinguish  the  real  lines  from  the  artificial  ones,  a  direct 
enlargement  of  the  spectrum  is  made  on  the  same 
plate  alongside  the  other,  the  to-and-fro  motion 
being  disjiensed  with.  By  a  comparison  of  the 
two  enlarged  strips,  one  can  see  at  a  glance 
which  are  the  true  lines  of  the  spectrum,  and 
which  are  those  produced  by  small  irregidarities 
on  the  film.  It  may  be  stated  that  Dr.  Scheiner 
has  also  used  a  somewhat  similar  method  to 
the  one  described,  the  only  difference  being  that 
he  caused  the  plate  on  which  the  enlargement 
was  to  be  taken  to  have  the  oscillating  motion, 
instead  of  the  original  negative.  The  method 
employed  by  me.  though  no  account  of  it  had 
been  published,  had  been  in  use  for  some  time 
before  Dr.  Scheiners  method  was  announced.' 

My  object  was  not  so  much  to  obtain  photo- 
graphs of  the  spectra  of  a  large  number  of  stars, 
as  to  study  in  detail  the  spectra  of  compara- 
tively few  ;  hence  many  of  the  stars  have  been 
photographed  several  times  with  special  exposures 
and  foci  for  different  regions  of  the  spectrum. 

.'\s  in  the  case  of  stellar  spectra  observed  by 
eye,  the  photographic  spectra  vary  very  con- 
siderably in  passing  from  star  to  star. 

In  the  classification  of  stars  adopted  from  a 
consideration  of  the  visual  observations,  only  the 
broader    differences    in    the  spectra   have   been 
taken  into  account.      I'rof.  Pickering,  however, 
has  suggested  a  provisional  classification  in  con- 
nection with  the  Henry  Draper  Memorial  photo- 
graphs of  stellar  spectra,  but  this  chiefly  relates 
to    photographs  taken    with    small    dispersitm. 
Now    that    i^    has    t)ect>me  jiossible    to  obtain  large    dispersion 
photographs   of    the  sjiectra,    much    more    detail   is    revealed, 
and  hence  I  determinetl  to  deal  with  the  ]iresence,  or  absence,  or 
changes  o  f  intensity,  of  individual  lines  to  a  greater  extent  than 
Prof.  Pickering  has  done  in  his  observations  so  far  published. 


I  ■-.  )  ;. — Negative  tiolder  used  ill  cnlarKiiii;" 

In  the  first  instance,  I  arranged  the  various  stars  of  which  the 
spectra  have  been  ])hotographed  in  tables,  without  reference  to 
any  of  the  existing  cla.sssfications,  and  not  taking  into  account 
the  finer  details. 

The  basis  upon  which  this  first  grouping  was  founded  is  the 
extent  of  the  continuous  absorption  at  the  blue  end  of  the 
spectrum.     Such  ^a  distinction  was  not  possible  in  the  case   of 

'   Xatckk   vnl.  xiii.  p.  -01     8qo. 


448 


NA  TURE 


[September  5,  189- 


eye  obseirations.  and  it  is  only  by  photographs  that  a  classifica- 
tion from  this  point  of  new  can  be  made. 

Some  spectra  show  a  remarkable  continuous  absorption  either 
in  the  ultra-\-iolet  or  Wolet,  in  others  this  absorption  extends  to 
about  K,  whilst  in  a  third  class  it  reaches  as  far  as  G. 

These  considerations  gave  four  marked  groups.  Each  of  these 
main  groups  are  next  sub-di\nded  into  sub-groups  by  the  most 
marked  differences  in  the  sjiectral  lines.  1  do  not  projwse  to 
give  the  detailetl  inquiry  in  this  place. 

The  important  fact  which  stood  out  when  the  photc^raphic 
attack  had  got  so  far  was  that,  whether  we  take  the  varying 
thicknesses  of  the  hydrogen  lines  or  of  the  lines  of  other  sub- 
stances as  the  basis  for  the  arrangement  of  the  spectra,  it  was 
not  possible  to  place  all  the  stars  in  one  line  of  temperature, 
but  it  was  necessary  to  arrange  the  stars  in  two  series. 

When  this  sorting  was  completed,  I  was  in  a  position  to  con- 
sider the  various  di\isions  of  the  photographic  sjieclra  thus 
arrived  at,  in  relation  to  the  groups  which  were  previously  sug- 
gested from  a  discussion  of  eye  obserN'ations.  It  is  clear  that  if  I 
got  the  same  results  the  first  conclusions  would  be  strengthened. 

We  have,  therefore,  to  inquire  how  far  this  condition  is  satis- 
fied by  the  mass  of  new  facts  at  our  disposal.  This  involves  the 
consideration  of  some  points  in  connection  with  the  meteoritic 
h)'pothesi5,  and  it  must  sjiecially  Ix;  borne  in  mind  that  the 
fundamental  difference  between  mine  and  other  classifications  is 
that  it  demands  the  existence  of  bodies  of  increasing  as  well  as 
bodies  of  decrea.sing  temperatures. 

Since  in  my  classification  the  connection  between  nebulce  and 
stars  is  insisted  on,  it  was  necessary  to  obtain  a  spectrum  of  one 
of  the  brightest  of  the  neljula;  as  a  term  of  comparison.  The 
nebula  of  Orion  was  selected,  and  a  photograph  taken  with  a 
30-inch  silver  on  glass  reflector  in  February  1890.  This  photo- 
graph contained  54  lines,  which  were  carefully  tabulated  for  the 
purposes  of  the  comparison  to  which  reference  has  been  made. 

Tht  Complex  Origin  of  the  Spectra  of  Nebula. 

On  the  hypothesis,  the  bright  lines  seen  in  the  nebula?  should 
have  three  origins 

(1)  The  lines  of  those  substances  which  occupy  the  greatest 
volume  (or  largest  area  in  a  section)  ;  in  other  words,  the  lines 
of  those  sulKtances  which  are  driven  furthest  out  from  the 
meteorites  and  occupy  the  interspaces,  when  possibly  they  may 
be  rendered  luminous  by  electricity.  Chief  among  these,  from 
laboratory  experiments,  we  should  expect  hydrogen,  and  next, 
from  the  same  experiments,  we  should  expect  gxscous  com- 
[munds  of  carlxjn. 

(2)  We  are  justified  in  a.ssuming  that  the  most  numerous 
collisions  will  be  partial  ones — grazes — sufficient  only  to  pro- 
duce com)>aralively  slight  rises  m  temperature.  The  nebula 
spectrum,  so  far  as  it  is  producc<l  by  this  cause,  will  therefore 
depend  upon  the  phenomena  produced  in  greatest  numlier,  and 
wc  may  hence  ex|)eot  to  find  the  low  temperature  lines  of 
various  metallic  substances. 

(3)  In  addition  to  the  large  numlicr  of  partial  collisions  there 
will  lie  a  relati\'ely  small  number  of  end-on  collisions,  prwlucing 
very  high  tcm|K*ralure,'  and,  so  far  as  this  cause  is  concerned, 
there  will  \k  some  lines  pro<luce<l  which  are  a.ssociatcd  with  very 
high  temperatures. 

Combining  these  conclusions,  in  the  spectra  of  nebula:  we 
should  expect  tf>  find  evidence  of 

Hydrogen  and  compounds  of  carbon. 

Low  temperature  metallic  lines  and  flutings. 

Lines  which  are  only  produced  at  very  high  tem|x:ratures.    . 

The  Passage  to  Bright-liiu  Stars. 

On  the  hy|xiihcsis,  the  lines  seen  in  the  spectra  of  bright-line 
star>shiiul>l.  in  the  main,  resemble  those  which  appear  in  ncbuke. 
They  will  differ,  however,  for  two  reasons  :  — 

(I)  fJwing  t<i  ixirtial  condensation  of  the  swarm  the  hydrogen 
area  will  be  restricted,  and  the  bright  lines  nf  hydrogen  will 
lose  Ihcir  prominence  ;  the  volume  occupied  by  the  carbon  com- 
poimd»  will  !«•  relatively  increased,  and  the  brightness  of  the 
carl-  ill  lie  enhanced. 

U  nt  cif  the  increaiscd  number  of  collisions,  more 

mcloiiit,  ,.  iii  Im;  rendered  incandescent,  and  the  continuous 
.ipcctrum  will  lie  brighter  than  in  nebul.-e. 

'   A'-y.  .Sflt.  Prttc.j  voL  xltii.  p.  150. 

NO.    1349,  VOL.  52] 


Stats  0/  Jiicrcasiiig  Temperature. 

Initially,  each  pair  of  meteorites  in  collision  may  be  regarded 
as  a  condensation. 

Ultimately,  when  all  the  meteorites  are  volatilised,  there  will 
only  be  one  condensation,  in  the  shape  of  a  spherical  mass  of 
vapour.      Between  these  points  there  must  be  other  conditions. 

(Stage  I.)  At  the  stage  of  condensation  immediately  follow- 
ing that  of  the  bright-line  stars,  the  bright  lines  from  the  inter- 
spaces will  be  masked  by  corresponding  dark  ones  produced  by 
the  absorption  of  the  same  vapours  surrounding  the  incandescent 
meteorites.  One  part  of  the  swarm  will  give  bright  lines, 
another  dark  lines  at  the  s;ime  wave-lengths,  and  these  lines  will 
therefore  vanish  from  the  spectrum.  The  interspaces  « ill  be 
restricted  so  that  absorption  phenomena  will  be  in  excess,  and 
the  first  absorption  will  be  that  due  to  low-temperature  vapours, 
that  is,  fluting  absorptions  of  various  metals.  The  radiation 
spectrvim  of  the  interspace  will  now  be  chiefly  that  of  the  com- 
pounds of  carl/on.  Under  these  conditions  we  know  from 
laboratory  experiments '  that  the  amount  of  continuous  absorp- 
tion at  the  blue  end  will  be  at  a  maximum. 

(Stage  2.)  With  further  condensation  the  radiation  spectrun* 
of  the  interspaces  will  gradually  <lisappear,  and  the  fluting  ab- 
sorptions will  be  replaced  by  dark  lines,  for  the  reason  that  the 
incandescent  meteorites  will  be  surrounded  by  vapours  pro- 
duced at  a  higher  temperature,  the  number  of  violent  collisions 
per  unit  time  and  volume  being  now  greatly  increased.  This 
dark  line  spectrum  need  not  necessarily  resemble  that  of  the  Sun. 

(Stage  3.)  The  line  absorption  and  the  continuous  absorption 
at  the  blue  end  of  the  spectrum  will  diminish  as  the  condens,a- 
tions  are  reduced  in  number,  for  the  reason  that  only  those 
vapours  high  up  in  the  atmospheres  surrounding  the  condensa- 
tions will  be  comjietent  to  show  absorption  phenomena,  in 
consequence  of  the  bright  continuous  spectrum  of  the  still  dis- 
turbed lower  levels  of  those  atmospheres. 

.Vmong  the  more  important  lines  which  will  disappear  at  this 
stage  will  be  those  of  iron,  for  the  reason  that  there  will  be 
bright  lines  from  the  interspaces  occupying  the  same  positions 
as  the  tiark  lines  produced  by  the  absorption  of  the  vapour 
surrounding  the  stones. 

The  number  of  violent  collisions  per  unit  time  and  volume 
being  further  increased,  we  should  expect  the  absorption  of  very 
high  temperature  vapours. 

The  Hottest  Stars. 

Ultimately,  then,  we  should  expect  llvit  the  order  of  the 
absorbing  layers  will  follow  the  original  order  of  the  extension 
of  the  vapours  round  the  meteorites  in  the  first  condition  of  the 
swarm,  and  the  lines  seen  bright  in  nebuke,  whatever  their 
origins  may  be,  should  therefore  appear  almost  alone  as  dark 
lines  in  the  hotter  stars,  and  the  hydrogen  especially  should 
have  its  lines  broadened  with  each  increase  of  depth  in  the 
atmosphere.  The  continuous  absorption  at  the  violet  end  ol 
the  spectrum  will  be  at  a  minimum.  If,  when  the  hydrogen 
lines  are  thick  the  swarm  is  not  yel  completely  condensed, 
that  is,  if  there  l>e  nebulous  matter  surrounding  the  central 
mass  of  vapour,  a  fine  bright  line  will  be  seen  down  the  centre  ot 
each  dark  one. 

Stars  of  Decreasing  Temperature. 

When  we  consider  the  cooling  condition,  that  is,  what  hap- 
pens when  the  temiK-ralure  of  the  mass  of  vapour  is  no  longer 
mcreased  by  the  fall  towards  the  centre  of  meteorites  composmg 
the  initial  swarm,  wc  should  exjiect  to  find  the  phenomena 
indicated  belt>w. 

(Stage  I.)  The  hydrogen  lines  will  begin  to  thin  out,  on 
account  of  the  diminishing  depth  of  the  absorbing  atmosphere, 
and  new  lines  will  appear. 

The  new  lines  will  nut  necessarily  be  the  same  as  those 
observed  in  connection  with  the  stars  of  increasing  temper.ature.''' 
In  the  latter  there  will  lie  the  |>erpetual  explosions  of  the 
meteorites  affecting  the  atmosphere,  whereas  in  a  cooling  moss- 
of  va|M)ur  we  have  to  deal  with  the  absorption  nf  the  highest 
layers  nf  vapours.  Those  lines  whirlj  will  first  make  their  ap- 
pearance, however,  will  be  the  longest  low  temperature  lines  ol] 
the  various  chemical  elements. 

t  lyockycrand  Kobcns-Atutcn,  Koy.  Soc.  J*rvc.,  1S75,  p.  344. 
1  A'ty.  Soc.  I'roc.f  vol.  xlv,  p.  3BJ.      .^„ 


September  5,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


449 


(Stage  2.)  The  hydrogen  lines  will  continue  to  thin  out,  and 
when  the  absorption  of  the  hotter  lower  layers  makes  itself  felt 
the  spectra  will  show  the  high  temperature  spectra  of  the  various 
chemical  elements,  showing  many  more  lines.  The  difference 
hetwecn  these  and  the  lines  seen  in  stars  of  increasing  tempera- 
ture should  be  one  due  to  the  different  percentage  composition 
of  the  absorbing  layers,  so  far  as  the  known  lines  are 
concerned. 

With  this  increasing  line  absor])tion  there  will  be  a  recurrence 
'■f  the  continuous  absorption  in  the  ultra-violet. 

(Stage  3.)  With  the  further  thinning  of  the  hydrogen  lines 
and  reduction  of  temperature  of  the  atmosphere,  the  absorption 
lUuings  of  the  compounds  of  carbon  should  come  in. 

So  much,  then,  for  what  we  should  exix:ct,  assuming  the 
liypothesis  to  be  true. 

I  now  proceed  to  show  how  far  these  requirements  are  satisfied 
liy  the  mass  of  new  facts  now  at  our  disposal. 

TiiK  Ai:tuai.  I'liEN'OMEXA  Rf.corded  on  the 
Photographs. 

Nehuhe. 

The  photograjjhs  of  the  spectrum  o(  the  Orion  Nebula  show- 
lines  at  wave-lengths  which  approximate  very  closely  to  the  lines 
I'f  hydrogen,  to  (lutings  which  appear  in  the  spectra  of  coui- 
povmds  of  carbon,  to  a  fluting  of  magnesium  at  5006,  and  to  the 
longest  flame  lines  of  iron,  calcium,  and  magnesium. 

The  chromospheric  line  designated  Dj  has  been  recorded  in 
the  visual  spectrum  of  the  Orion  Nebula  by  Dr.  Copeland,'  and 
the  observation  has  since  been  confirmed  by  Mr.  Taylor. - 

The  line  which  is  always  associated  with  D3  in  the  spectrum 
of  the  chromosphere,  viz.  that  at  A.  4471  (Lorenzoni's  f),  is 
also  shown  in  the  photograph  of  the  spectrum  of  the  Orion 
Nebula. 

The  reiiuirements  of  the  hypothesis  with  regard  to  nebuhi; 
are  therefore  met  in  every  point  so  far  considered  by  the  new 
facts. 

Dividing  up  tlie  lines  into  the  three  groups  of  origins  sug- 
gested, we  have  in  the  case  of  the  Orion  Nebula  : — • 

(<j)  Spectrum  of  large  interspace  (=  that  of  non-condensable 
gases  driven  out  of  the  meteorites)  =  lines  of  hydrogen  ; 
tlutings  of  carbon. 

(b)  Spectrum  of  vapours  produced  by  the  large  number  of 
partial  collisions  =  fluting  of  magnesium  at  A  5006  ;  low  tem- 
perature lines  of  iron,  calcium,  and  magnesium.'' 

(( )  Si)ectrum  of  the  vapours  produced  at  a  very  high  tem- 
perature by  the  relatively  small  number  of  end-on  collisions. 
The  solar  chromosphere  may  be  taken  as  indicating  the  spectrum 
associated  .with  this  very  high  temperature  =  chromospheric 
lines,  D3  -I-  X4471."' 

Bright-I.tne  Stars, 

Prof.  Pickering  has  shown  that  the  Draper  Memorial  Photo- 
graphs (copies  of  which  he  has  very  kindly  forwarded  uk') 
l>rove  that  bright-line  stars  are  intimately  connected  with 
ihe  planetary  nebula;,  the  lines  in  the  spectra  being  almost 
iilentical. 

The  main  point  of  difference  is  that  the  chief  nebular  line  near 
A  5006  is  not  seen  in  the  spectrum  of  bright-line  stars,  and  this 
no  doubt  is  due  to  the  relative  absence  of  feeble  collisions  as 
condensation  goes  on.  The  brightening  of  this  line  in  the  spectra 
uf  Nova  Cygni  and  Nova  .\uriga;,  as  the  stars  faded  away,  is 
sufficient  cvicience  that  it  is  associated  «itb  low  temperature,  and 
lience  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  that  it  is  absent  from  the  spectra 
of  the  bright-line  stars,  which  on  this  hypothesis  are  hotter  than 
ilie  nebuhe,  since  they  are  more  condensed. 

I  have  stated  that  we  should  expect  the  hydrogen  lines  to  be 

^  yfonthty  ^/aliccs,  vol.  xlviii.,  p.  360. 

-  /A/(/.,  vol.  -xlix.  p.  124. 

3  1  have  previously  given  evidence  deduced  from  eye  observ.itions, 
indicating  tlie  presence  of  other  low  temper.-\ture  flutings  of  manganese  and 
magnesium. 

■*  Since  the  lecture-i  were  delivered  (and  in  this  I  summarised  a  paper 
1  had  previously  sent  in  to  the  Royal  Society),  this  part  of  the 
hypothesis  has  been  enormously  strengthened  by  the  discovery  of  a  new 
series  of  g.-LSes  which  the  spectrum  indicates  are  jussociated  with  the  one 
giving  the  line  1)3  which  I  discovered  in  1868  and  named  helium.  These 
new  gases  contain  many  lines  in  addition  to  D3  and  4471,  which  appear  both 
in  the  soL'ir  chromosphere  and  nebula  of  Orion  and  stars  of  increasing  tem- 
perature. 


NO.    1349,   VOL.   52] 


fainter,  and  the  carbon  flutings,  and  the  continuous  spectrum  to 
be  brighter  than  in  nebula;. 

(a)  The  hydrogen  lines  are  decidedly  less  prominent.  Indeed 
they  were  not  recorded  at  all  in  the  eye  observations  of 
7  .\rgus(.\rg.-Oeltz.,  17681),  of  Wolf  and  Rayet's  second  and 
third  stars  in  Cygnus, '  but  they  are  shown  in  Prof.  Pickering's 
photographs. 

(*)  In  my  previous  discussion  of  these  bodies  -  I  showed  that 
there  was  evidence  of  a  very  considerable  amount  of  carbon 
radiation  in  the  visible  region  of  the  spectrum.  Subsequent 
work  and  an  examinition  of  Prof.  Pickering's  photographs  have 
strengthened  this  view. 

(c)  There  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  continuous  spectruin 
being  brighter  in  bright-line  stars  than  in  nebula;. 

Slars  of  Increasing  Temperature. 

(Stage  I.)     We  should  expect  the  spectra  to  show — 

\a)  Absence  of  bright  lines. 

{b)  The  presence  of  dark  metallic  flutings. 

((•)  The  presence  of  bright  carbon  flutings. 

{d)  Continuous  absorption  in  the  violet. 

Many  of  the  stellar  ])hotographs  answer  these  requirements. 

(a)  They  show  no  l>right  lines  under  normal  conditions,  but 
if  the  .stars  are  variable,  the  disturbances  which  bring  about  the 
change  of  lutninosity  at  maximum,  produce  bright  lines  in  the 
spectrum  as  in  the  case  of  the  spectrum  of  Mira  Ceti  photo- 
graphed by  Prof.  I'ickering. 

{b)  Dark  flutings  have  been  photographed  in  several  spectra. 

((■)  The  photographs  appear  to  show  the  actual  pre.sence  of 
carbon  radiation  ;  further  photographs  are  being  obtained  to  carry 
on  the  inquiry.' 

The  stars  of  this  class  which  have  already  been  photographed 
at  Kensington  are  well  advanced  in  condensation,  as  indicated 
by  the  numerous  dark  lines,  and  all  the  flutings,  both  bright  and 
dark,  are  confined  to  the  region  less  refrangible  than  G.  We 
should  therefore  not  expect  to  get  the  more  refrangible  carbon 
flutings.  It  is  among  the  least  condensed  stars  that  we  should 
expect  the  bright  carbon  to  be  more  manifest,  and,  indeed,  in 
the  spectrum  of  Mira  Ceti  photographed  by  Prof.  Pickering, 
there  is  strong  evidence  of  the  presence  of  one  of  the  more 
refrangible  carbon  b.tnds  comtnencing  at  \  4215. 

(rf)  The  photographs  fully  detiionstrate  that  there  is  a  very 
considerable  amount  of  continuous  absorption  in  the  ultra-violet 
or  violet. 

It  must  be  added  that  the  sequence  of  the  spectra  photographed 
resembles  that  deduced  from  eye  observations,  and  the  won- 
derful thing  is  that  the  observations  of  Dunerwill  bear  the  severe 
test  which  has  thus  been  applied  to  them. 

(.Stage  2.)     .-Vt  this  stage  we  should  expect — 

(a)  Diminution  in  the  amount  of  continuous  absorption. 

(/')  Spectrum  consisting  of  dark  metallic  lines,  but  possibly 
differing  from  the  solar  spectrum. 

These  conditions  are  fulfilled  by  the  .stars  of  which  a  T.auri 
and  7  Cygni  may  be  taken  as  types.  The  continuous  absorption 
is  least  in  the  latter.  These  spectra  show  numerous  metallic 
lines,  but  they  do  not  exactly  resemble  the  solar  spectrum. 
The  hydrogen  lines  are  comparatively  thin,  while  other  lines 
have  very  difl'erem  intensities  as  compared  with  lines  in  the  solar 
spectrum. 

In  these  stars  we  have  to  deal  with  the  varying  volatilities  of 
the  meteoretic  constituents  of  tlie  SMarm,  while  in  the  case  of 
stars  which  are  cooling  we  have  to  deal  with  successive  com- 
binations rendered  possible  by  the  fall  of  temperature  in  a 
gaseous  mass.  Hence  diflerences  in  the  spectra  are  to  be 
expected. 

(.Stage  3.)  The  phenomena  which  would  be  expected  on  the 
hypothesis,  at  this  stage,  are  fully  satisfied  by  such  stars  as 
a  Cygni,  J3  Orionis,  f  Orionis,  «  Persei.     In  these  stars  there  is 

I  Roy.  Soc.  Proc.  vol.  xliv.,  pp.  33-43. 

•-'  Ihid. 

3  Subsequent  eye  observations  by  myself  and  Mr.  Fowler  seemed  to  leave 
no  doubt  .IS  to  the  presence  of  these  bright  carbon  (lutings  {Roy.  .Soc.  Proc, 
vol.  .\lvii.  p.  40).  I)r.  Copeland  had  previously  made  important  observatiotfs 
of  '"Nova"  Orionis  with  reference  to  this  point  {Montltly  Sotut's.  vol. 
.\lvi.  p.  it2),  and  he  identified  one  of  the  bright  bands  .is  "  the  gre.it  hydro- 
carbon band  seen  in  the  spectrum  of  every  comet  that  has  been  examined 
under  favourable  circumstances."  Referring  to  his  observations  of  o  Orionis, 
Mr.  Maunder  ("Greenwich  .Spect.  Observations,"  1889,  p.  22)  slate.s  that 
"the  carbon  band  at  5164  w.as  coincident  (within  the  limits  of  observation 
with  this  dispersion)  with  the  bright  space  tow.irds  the  blue  of  Duntir's 
band  7." 


450 


NATURE 


[Septkmblr  5,  1895 


no  continuous  al>s<>rption  in  the  violet  or  ultra-violet,  and  the 
spectrum  is  one  with  simple  line  absorption,  the  iron  lines  quite 
ilisap|iearing  after  such  a  star  as  o  Cygni  is  passed.  The  new 
lines  which  now  make  their  appearance  include  the  chromo- 
spheric  line  at  X  447 1 ,  and  ]xissibly  a  few  others.  Il  is  important 
lo  note  that  the  photographic  region  of  the  spectnmi  of  the 
chromosphere  has  not  yet  lieen  fully  investigated,  and  hence  a 
fair  comparison  with  the  sjwctra  of  these  stars  in  the  region  F 
to  K  is  not  yet  possible.  M.  Deslandres  and  I'rof.  Hale  have 
photographed  the  chroniospheric  spectrum  in  the  region  more 
refrangible  than  li,  but  have  not  as  yet  published  any  account  of 
the  s|)ectrum  in  the  region  now  under  discussion. 

The  HotlesI  Stars. 

The  conditions  required  by  the  hyixjthesis  with  regard  lo  the 
stars  at  this  stage  are  satisfied  by  such  stars  as  f  Cassiopeia*  and 
a  .\ndromed:e. 

In  these  stars  we  have — 

(a)  Broad  lines  of  hydrogen,  and 

(*)  Other  absorption  lines,  chiefly  of  untraced  origins,  agree- 
ing in  position  with  some  of  the  bright  lines  w  hich  ap])ear  in 
nebula.'. 

It  will  be  .seen,  then,  that  these  considerations  of  the  con- 
ditions of  increasing  temperature  demanded  by  the  hypothesis, 
have  enabled  us  lo  determine  that  a  long  series  of  stellar  spectra 
is  in  all  probability  a  series  in  ascending  order  of  temperature. 
All  the  phenomena  we  should  expect,  on  the  hy|K>thesis,  are 
met  with  among  the  photographs. 

We  have  next  to  consider  the  phenomena  connected  w  ith  stars 
of  decreasing  tcmiierature. 

Stars  of  Decnasing  Teniperaltire. 

(Stage  I.)  With  the  failure  of  the  supply  of  meteorites  falling 
into  the  now  va]Kjuiis2d  mass,  cooling  will  rounnence.  and  the 
longest  lines  in  the  spectra  of  the  various  chemical  elements 
should  make  their  ap|>earance.  This  condition  is  met  u  ith  and 
is  well  cvidenceil  by  the  iron  lines  in  the  spectnnn  of  Sirius. 

(Stage  2.)  The  conditions  at  this  stage  of  cooling  are  satisfied 
by  5  Cassiopeia-,  ./3  Cassiopeia,  a  Canis  .Minoris.  In  these 
stars  we  get,  in  addition  to  fairly  broad  lines  of  hydrogen,  nearly 
all  the  lines  which  appear  in  the  solar  spectrum,  and  these,  il  is 
well  known,  agree  in  the  main  with  the  arc  spectra  of  the  various 
chemical  element.s. 

(Stage  3. )  Such  stars  as  Capella  and  Arcturus  represent  the 
conditions  which  are  re<)uired  by  the  hy|>othesls  at  this  stage 
of  ciKjling.  The  metallic  line  absorption  is  again  at  a  maximum, 
antl  w-e  find  the  lines  of  the  various  chemical  elements  simitar 
lo  those  seen  at  St.age  2  of  the  ascending  series,  but  with 
difierent  intensities  and  with  dift'eient  amounts  of  continuous 
absorption  at  the  violet  end  of  the  s|iectrum.  This  difference, 
so  far  as  the  known  lines  arc  concerned,  will  be  due  to  a 
different  percentage  composition  of  the  absorbing  ma.ss  of 
va[M.ur, 

Continii  lion  in  the  violet  recommences  at  this  stage. 

There   i>  eviilence  of  carbon  in  the  solar  spectrum, 

and  in  iIk  .|,.  ...h  of  .Arcturus— the  only  star  which  has  yet 
been  invesligaleil  with  special  reference  to  this  point. 

Hence,  it  seems  proliable  that  "  the  indications  of  carbon 
will  go  on  increasing  in  intensity  slow  ly,  until  a  stage  is  reached, 
when,  owing  lo  the  reduction  of  lem|)erature  of  the  most  effective 
absorbing  layer,  the  chief  absorption  will  be  that  of  carbon." 

Il  is  evident  that  all  such  stars  will  l)e  dim,  and  hence  their 
spectra  have  nol  been  met  with  in  this  preliminary  survey  of  the 
photographic  S|x-clra  of  the  brighter  stars. 

i',ncral  A'esii/ls  of  the  Pismssioii. 

I  [K-  !;■  nir.ii  result  of  the  above  discussion  ihin,  as  far  as 
il  g'lL-s,  IS  .Ts  follows :  —  ,\mong  the  171  stars  alreailyconsiilered 
'.here  are  really  Iwn  series  of  s|)cclra,  one  representing  the 
chaiigi>  accompanying  increase  of  temperalure,  while  the  other 
represents  the  effects  of  decreasing  tem|ieralure.  The  funda- 
■  menial  reijuiremenl  of  the  mcleoritic  hypothesis  is,  therefore, 
fully  {iislified  by  the  discussion  of  the  photographs. 

A  '    point    in  conneclion  with  tlie    twd    series 

of  1    is    that  one  siieclrum,    such   as    that    of 

«-\i  -   ■  'haracleristus   connnon   to  liolh,  and 

wc  might,  ilr  M,;ci    the  two  series  together  by    this 

spcctnim.     Ill  OiMiilil  find,  if  we  commence  with  the 


first  si>ectrum  in  Series  I,  say  thai  of  o  Herculis,  that  the  con 
tinuous  absorption  diminishes  and  that  the  breadth  of  tin 
hydrogen  lines  regularly  increases,  until  such  a  speclmm  as  tli.ii 
of  a.  .\ndromeda'  is  reached.  Then  the  condition  would  In 
reversed,  the  breadth  of  the  hydrogen  lines  diminishing  and  llu 
continuous  absorption  in  the  ultra-\-iolel  increasing  in  exieni 
until  such  a  star  as  .\rclurus  is  reached. 

Il  may  be  stated  finally  that  the  sequence  now  determined 
from  the  photographs  follows  exactly  the  .same  order  as  tlio 
groups  originally  suggested  by  the  h)pothesis,  from  a  discussicMi 
of  the  eye  observations.  That  is,  il  is  nol  necessiiry  to  inter- 
change any  of  the  groups  in  order  to  obtain  agreement  with  ihe 
photographic  results.  J.  Norman  Locicvi;k. 


SCIENCE    IN    THE   MAGAZINES. 

pUOFS.  WEISMANX,  llaeckel,  and  Karl  I'earson  will  pro- 
■*■  bably  have  .something  lo  say  in  reply  to  a  paper  which  Dr.  ,Si. 
Cleorge  Mivart  contributes  lo  the  I'ortnif;htty.  The  paper  dials 
with  what  is  described  as  "  Denominational  Science,"'  in  whiih 
dogma  lakes  the  place  of  facts,  and  persuasions  are  given  out  as 
if  they  were  demonstrated  truths.  Dr.  Weismann  comes  under 
Dr.  St.  (ieorge  Mivarl's  displeasure  in  this  regard  :  and  a  note- 
worthy characteristic  of  his  is  .said  lo  be  "  the  confidence  witlt 
which  he  propounds  hypotheses  which  are  either  inirely  ima- 
ginary, or  are  only  supported  by  an  infinitesimal  basis  of  fact, 
and  the  readiness  with  which  he  comes  forward  with  a  fresh 
gratuitous  hypothesis,  to  replace  others  which  have  been  refuted 
by  newly-discovered  truths."  I'rof.  Haeckel  is  taken  to  task  for 
Ihe  i)pinions  exjiressed  in  his  book  on  "  .Monism,"  lately  tr.ans- 
laled  into  Knglish.  The  bearing  of  Dr.  St.  (Ieorge  Mivart 
towards  the  book  is  indicated  by  the  remark  which  o|iens  ihe 
attack  upon  some  of  the  points  in  it.  We  read  :  "  Il  is  difficult 
to  say  whether  this  small  volume  is  more  remarkable  for  the 
self-conceit  and  em|ily  dogmatism,  or  for  the  ignorance  it 
disjilays — ignorance  concerning  the  most  fundamental  ([ueslions 
of  which  its  treats.'"  To  assess  these  remarks  at  their  propii 
value,  il  is  necessary  to  read  the  article  containing  tlicm,  and 
the  work  lo  which  they  refer.  Prof.  Karl  Tearson  compKus 
the  trio  upon  whose  views  Dr.  .St.  lleorge  Mivart  outpours  llie 
vialsofhis  wralh.  His  "drammar  of  Science,"  and  his  remar!^s. 
in  the  horlnii^htly,  on  Lord  .Salisbury's  Oxford  address,  are  gi\en 
as  evidence  thai  "  we  ha\e  in  England  a  denominational  writer 
only  second  in  self-confident  dogmatism  to  Il.aeckel."  .Ml  the 
members  of  the  trio  are  held  up  as  awful  ex.amples  of  "  an  uncon- 
.scious  slavery  of  the  intellect  to  the  mere  faculty  of  the  iinnginal 
tion,  and  the  consequent  presenlatiim  of  shallow  and  iU0gic.1l 
imaginary  pliantasms  as  deep  and  far-reaching  intellectual 
truths  in  the  form  of  b.aseless  ilogmas  of  denominaliiinal  science." 
Huxley  and  Karl  \"ogl  are  compared  by  I'rof.  llaeckel  in  the 
Forlnii;/i/l}\  the  former  being  given  a  higher  place  than  the 
latter,  l>oth  as  regards  his  philosophical  rca.sonings,  and  because 
he  showed  a  much  deeper  insight  into  the  essence  and  import 
of  scientific  things.  Two  pages  of  the  six,  which  form  I'rof. 
Haeckels  notice,  are  taken  up  with  a  denunciation  of  I'rof. 
\'irchow's  antagonism  to  Darwinism,  and  the  theory  of  descent, 
especially  with  reference  to  the  most  important  deduction  from 
the  theory — the  descent  of  man  from  the  ape.  \'irchow's  dissent 
in  this  matter  is  used  as  one  of  the  slicks  with  which  Mr.  V.  II. 
Hill  belabours  .agno.slicism,  and  Huxley's  .support  of  it,  in  the 
Naliona/,  under  the  title,  "  (laps  in  .Vgnostic  Kvolution." 

Mr.  HerlKTl  .Si>encer  continues  his  analysis  of  "  Professional 
Institutions,"  in  the  Coiileiiiforary,  the  evoluliim  of  the  bio- 
grapher, historian,  and  man  of  letters  being  traced  this  month 
"  The  primitive  orator,  poet,  and  musician,"  says  Mr.  Spencer, 
"  w.as  at  the  same  time  the  primitive  biographer,  historian,  and 
man  of  letters.  The  hero  s  deeds  constituted  the  common 
.subjecl-maller  ;  anil  taking  this  or  thai  form,  Ihe  celebration  ol 
them  l)ecame,  now  ihe  oration,  now  the  song,  now  ihe  recited 
poem,  now  that  personal  history  \\hich  constitutes  a  biograjihy, 
now  that  larger  history  which  a.ssociales  the  doings  of  one  with 
the  doings  of  many,  aiul  now  that  variously-developed 
comment  on  men's  iloings,  and  the  course  of  things  which 
con.stilutc  literature."  Thus  arose  the  rudimenls  of  biography, 
history,  and  literature  ;  and  many  facts  illustrative  of  this  early 
deveU>pmenl  are  ciled.  I'iclion  developed  out  of  biography  and 
j  history,  and  gradually  a  class  of  story-tellers  became  tlifferentiated. 
I  lndee<i,  for  a  time  after  fiction  comes  into  existence,  il  is  .still 
;  classed  and  believed  as  biography.       In  our  own  limes,  we  find 


NO.    1349.  VOL.   52] 


SErTEMBKK   5,    1 895] 


NATURE 


451 


writers  of  history  and  Ijiograjihy  and  literature  dividing  into 
various  classes,  and  finally  there  is  the  tendency  of  men  of 
letters  to  unite  into  corporate  bodies — an  integration  which  has 
only  become  possible  in  recent  years.  In  the  same  magazine, 
under  the  title  "  Heredity  Once  More,"  Dr.  Weismann  replies 
at  length  to  an  article  contributed  by  Mr.  Spencer  to  the  magazine 
last  October. 

Mrs.  Percy  Krankland  writes  popularly  on  "  .Sunshine  and 
1-ife,"  in  I.o>ii;man's  Magazine,  which  also  contains  an  account, 
i>y  Mrs.  A.  Lang,  of  the  Rev.  John  Mulso  and  his  unpublished 
letters  to  Gilbert  White,  of  Selborne,  whose  aller  ego  he  was. 
Miss  A.  Lorrain  Smith  describes  "Ants  as  Mushroom 
I  Growers  "in  an  illustrated  article  in  Good  Words:  her  paper 
deals  with  the  leaf-cutting  and  fungus-growing  ants  of  Nicaragua. 
The  Siinilay  Magazine  has  "a  second  paper  by  "  Eha,"  on 
Indian  jungle  life.  Knoii'ledge  contains  an  account  of  I*rof. 
I'etrie's  conclusions  with  regard  to  a  "Newly-found  Race  in 
Kgypt  "  ;  and  papers  on  "  Wind-Fertilised  Flowers,"  by  the 
Rev.  A.  S.  Wilson;  "Satellite  Evolution,"  by  Miss  A.  M. 
Gierke  ;  "  Photographs  of  Elliptical  and  Spiral  Nebula-  "  (with 
1  plate),  by  Dr.  J.  Roberts  ;  and  "  Blind  Cave-.Animals,"  by 
Mr.  r-t.  Eyflekker.  Chaiiihers's  foiirnal  Cfmtains  short  pojtular 
articles  on  "  Cordite  and  its  Manufacture,"  and  "  The  Prospects 
uf  our  Descendants  in  regard  to  Stature,"  and  a  gossij)  on  the 
( ;reat  Auk. 

We  have  received,  in  addition  to  the  periodicals  named  in  the 
foregoing,  Scribner  s  Magazine,  and  the  Humanitarian. 


ON  THE  ELECTROLYSIS  OF  GASES.' 

T  N   the   experiments  described   in  this  paper  I  have  used  the 
spectroscope  to  detect   the  decomposition   of  gases  by  the 
electric  discharge  and   the  movement  of  the  ions   in   opposite 
directions  along  the  discharge-tube. 

The  method  consists  in  sending  the  electric  discharge  through 
.1  tube  so  arranged  that  the  spectra  close  to  the  positive  and 
negative  electrodes  can  easily  be  compared,  the  presence  or  ab- 
sence of  certain  ions  at  these  electrodes  can  thus  be  ascertained. 
This  method  is  capable  of  much  w  ider  application  than  the  one 
1  previously  used  in  my  experiments  on  the  "  Electrolysis  of 
Steam"  {/'roc.  Koy.  Sot.,  vol.  Hi.  p.  90),  the  use  of  which  is 
attended  with  very  great  difficulty  for  any  substance  other  than 
ileam.  The  earlier  method  has,  however,  the  advantage  of 
lieing  a  quantitative  method — the  present  one  is  only  qualitative. 

In  my  former  experiment  with  steam,  when  I  worked  at 
atmosjiheric  pressure  and  varied  the  length  of  the  spark,  I 
l'>und  that  when  the  spark-length  exceeded  a  certain  length,  d.^, 
ihere  was  an  excess  of  hydrogen  at  the  negative  electrode  and  of 
nxygen  at  the  positive,  equal  in  amount  to  the  quantities  of 
hydrogen  and  oxygen  liberated  from  a  water  voltametei  placed 
in  .series  with  the  steam-tube.  When  the  sparks  were  shorter 
than  a  certain  length,  r/j,  the  hydrogen  appeared  at  \\\c  posilive, 
the  oxygen  at  the  negati-;-  electrode,  but  the  quantity  of  these 
gases  was  again  etjual  to  the  quantities  liberated  in  a  water 
\'>ltameler  placed  in  .series  with  the  .steam-tube. 

When  the  spark-length  was  between  rf,  and  d.^  the  eftects  were 
irregular,  and  there  seemed  to  be  no  connection  between  the 
.unounts  of  gases  liberated  in  the  steam-tubes  and  those  liberated 
in  the  voltameter. 

In  the  following  experiments  in  which  the  sparks  were  of 
I  onslant  length  and  the  pressure  was  altered,  corresponding 
irtects  were  observed.  Within  certain  limits  of  pres.sure  definite 
and  perfectly  regular  evidence  of  the  .separation  of  the  ions  of 
he  gas  sparked  through  was  obtained;  and  the  electrode  at 
n  hich  a  given  ion  appeared  could  be  reversed  by  altering  the 
pressure  ;  there  was,  however,  a  range  of  ])ressures  in  which  the 
>eparation  of  the  ions  was  either  not  well  marked  or  was 
irregular  in  character. 

I  .shall  begin  by  describing  a  very  sinqile  method  of  show^ing 
ilie  separation  of  the  ions  produced  by  the  discharge  of  electricity 
ilirough  a  compound  gas  such  as  hydrochloric  acid  gas,  which  is 
applicable  when  the  discharges  through  the  constituent  gases  of 
ihe  compound  are  o'"  distinct  and  dififerent  colours;  this  is 
eminently  the  case  with  the  hydrochloric  acid  gas,  as  the  dis- 
charge through  hydrogen  in  a  capillary  tube  is  red,  through 
chlorine  green. 

Take  a  capillary  tube  of  very  fine  bore,  the  finer   the  better 

'  Paper  read  at  llic  Royal  Society,  by  J.  J.  Thomson,  M  .\.,  K.R.S., 
'  .ivemlisli  Professor  of  Kxperiiuental  Pli\-sics.  Caniltritlije. 


NO.    1349,   VOL.   52] 


(the  tube  I  used  was  thermometer  tubing  of  the  finest  bore  I 
could  jirocure),  and  insert  platinum  wires  for  electrodes  in  two 
small  bulbs  blown  on  the  ends  of  the  tube  ;  then  fill  the  tube 
with  HCl  gas,  allowing  it  to  run  through  the  lube  for  a  con- 
siderable lime  .so  as  to  get  rid  of  any  extraneous  gas,  and 
exhaust  the  tube  so  that  the  gas  in  it  is  at  a  very  low  pressure. 
Then  when  the  discharge  from  a  large  induction  coil  passes 
through  the  tube,  the  following  phenomena  are  observed.  When 
first  the  discharge  passes  through  the  tube  the  colour  is  uniform 
throughout  and  of  a  greenish-grey  ;  after  the  discharge  has  been 
passing  for  a  little  time  the  end  of  the  tube  next  the  cathode 
gets  distinctly  red,  whilst  that  next  the  anode  gets  green  ;  this 
difference  in  the  colour  at  the  ends  of  the  tube  goes  on  in- 
creasing until  the  tube  presents  a  most  striking  appearance,  the 
part  near  the  cathode  being  bright  red,  while  that  near  the  anode 
is  a  bright  green.  The  difference  in  colour  attains  a  maximum 
value,  and  if  the  discharge  is  allowed  to  run  for  several  hours 
the  contrast  between  the  two  ends  disappears  to  a  very  great 
extent  ;  the  discharge  throughout  the  whole  of  the  tube  being 
pinkish  and  apparently  passing  mainly  through  hydrogen.  This 
is  doubtless  due  to  the  diffusion  through  the  tube  of  the  hydrogen 
which  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the  discharge  had  accumulated 
about  the  cathode  ;  one  advantage  of  using  very  narrow  tubes  is 
that  with  them  this  diffusion  is  slow.  When  the  lube  is  in  this 
condition  the  colour  of  the  discharge  sometimes  changes 
suddenly,  and  for  a  second  or  two  is  green  instead  of  pink, 
showing  that  though  in  the  main  the  discharge  passes  through 
hydrogen,  it  occasionally  leaves  the  hydrogen  and  passes 
through  the  chlorine.  This  transference  of  the  discharge  from 
one  constituent  to  another  of  a  mixture  of  gases  is  not  in- 
frequently observed  when  the  gases  are  mixed  in  certain 
proportions. 

Some  of  these  capillary  tubes  showed  after  the  discharge  had 
been  passing  through  them  for  some  time  a  peculiar  palchy 
appearance,  some  portions  of  the  tube  being  a  much  brighter 
red  than  the  others,  while  other  portions  were  green.  In  .some 
tubes  this  occurred  to  such  an  extent  that  the  discharge  showed 
an  irregularly  striated  appearance.  This  eflcct  is  due,  I  believe, 
to  gases  or  moisture  condensed  on  the  walls  of  the  capillary  tube, 
and  in  some  cases  to  irregularities  in  the  chemical  composition  of 
the  glass.  I  found  that  it  did  not  occur  if  the  tube  before  being 
used  was  heated  for  some  time  along  its  whole  length  to  as  high 
a  temperature  as  it  would  stand  without  collapsing  ;  this  heating 
would  tend  to  cleanse  the  walls  of  the  tube.  That  differences 
in  the  quality  of  the  gas  also  conspire  to  produce  these  patches 
is  shown,  I  think,  by  the  following  phenomenon.  A  capillary- 
tube  of  fine  bove  containing  mercury  vapour  and  a  little  water 
vapour  developed  a  well-marked  red  patch  :  the  tube  was  then 
heated  for  some  inches  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  patch.  In 
general  heating  the  tube  makes  the  discharge  yellow  from  the 
sodium  vajiour  given  oft"  from  the  glass  ;  in  this  case,  however, 
the  whole  of  the  heated  portion,  with  the  exception  of  the  patch, 
turned  yellow  :  the  patch  itself  svithstood  the  heating  and 
continued  to  show  the  bright  colour  characteristic  of  hydrogen. 

Eiedrolytit  Transport  0/ one  Gas  titrough  another. --.\  tulie  of 
the  sha])e  shown  in  Fig.  I  was  made  of  the  finest  bore  ther- 
mometer-tubing ;  the  extremities,  1:  and  n,  of  the  tube  in  which 


:5=S= 


Fic.  I. 

the  electrodes  were  fused  were  bent  down  so  as  to  be  parallel  to 
each  other,  and  so  near  together  that  a  slight  motion  of  the  lube 
suffices  to  bring  either  of  the  extremities  in  front  of  the  slit  of 
the  spectroscojie.  The  tube  was  miiimted  on  a  board  moved  by 
a  lever  ;  by  moving  this  the  observer  at  the  spcctrosco|)e  could 
readily  bring  the  spectrum  of  either  the  positive  or  negative 
electrode  into  the  field  of  view.  A  side  tube,  .x  B,  was  fused  to 
the  middle  of  the  main  tube  and  was  provided  with  two  taps  :  in 
the  space  between  these  tajis  a  small  quantity  of  any  gas  which 
it  was  desired  to  introduce  into  the  main  tube  could  be  im- 
prisoned, and  could,  by  opening  the  tap  A,  be  introduced  into 
the  discharge  tube.  The  experiment  consists  in  filling  the  main 
tube  with  a  gas  at  a  low  pressure,  ubseiving  i)ii-   Nii,-,-rra   a:    t!ie 


45^ 


NA  TURE 


[September  5,  1895 


two  electrodes,  then  introducing  by  the  side  tube  a  very  small 
quantity  of  gas  into  the  main  tube,  and  again  observing  the 
spectra  at  the  two  electrodes. 

A  tul>e  was  filled  with  hydrogen  and  showed  no  trace  of  the 
chlorine  spectra  :  a  ver)-  small  quantity  of  chlorine  was  then 
let  in  through  the  side  tut>e  (in  performing  this  cx[5eriment  it  is 
necessary  to  be  careful  that  only  a  very  small  quantity  of  chlorine 
is  introduced).  After  the  discharge  had  been  running  through 
the  tube  for  a  short  lime,  the  chlorine  specinmi  was  found  to  be 
bright  at  the  positive  electrode,  though  no  trace  of  it  could  be 
detected  at  the  negative.  When  the  discharge  was  kept  on  for 
some  lime,  the  chlorine  siiectrum,  though  still  visible  at  the 
positive  electrode,  got  fainter  ;  it  did  not  appear  at  all  al  the 
negative.  If  a  considerable  quantity  of  chlorine  was  introduced 
through  the  side  tube,  the  chlorine  spectrum  was  visible  at  both 
electrodes,  though  it  was  brighter  at  the  positive  than  at  the 
negative. 

When  the  induction  coil  was  reversed,  so  that  what  was 
before  the  positive  electrode  became  the  negative,  the  first 
effect  observed  was  that  the  chlorine  spectrum  flashed  out  with 
great  brilliancy  at  the  old  positive  electrode,  and  was  much 
brighter  than  at  any  previous  period.  This,  however,  only  lasted 
for  a  second  or  two  ;  the  chlorine  spectrum  rapidly  faded  away 
and  for  a  time  was  not  visible  at  either  electrode.  Soon,  how- 
ever, the  chlorine  spectrum  appeared  at  the  new  positive 
electrode,  having  thus  been  transferred  from  one  end  of  the  lube 
to  the  other. 

On  again  reversing  the  coil  the  same  phenomenon  was 
repeated.  There  is  ap]xirently  no  limit  to  the  number  of 
times  this  effect  may  be  obtained  ;  at  any  rate,  I  have  driven 
the  chlorine  from  one  end  of  a  lube  to  the  other  14  limes  in 
succession  by  reversing  the  coil.  The  chlorine  is  always  driven 
to  the  positive  electrode,  showing  that  the  chlorine  ion  carries  a 
charge  of  negative  electricity.  The  same  effect  was  obtained 
when  a  little  vapour  of  bromine  was  introduced  into  the  tube 
instea<l  of  chlorine.  When,  however,  the  capillar)-  tube  was 
filled  with  chlorine  instead  of  hydrogen,  and  a  little  vapour  of 
bromine  lei  into  the  tube,  the  bromine  went  lo  the  lugath'e 
eU,lroJc  instead  of  to  the  |X)sitive,  as  it  did  when  introduced 
into  the  hydrogen  tube.  These  experiments  suggest  that  the  two 
gases  in  the  tube  combine,  and  thai  the  compound  gas  so  formed 
is  split  up  into  ions  which  travel  along  the  lube  ;  that  bromine 
when  in  combination  with  hydrogen  is  the  negative  ion,  and 
therefore  travels  to  the  positive  electrode  ;  when,  however,  it  is 
in  combination  with  chhjrine  the  bromine  is  the  positive  ion  and 
travels  to  the  negative  electrode. 

.■\nother  experiment  tric<l  was  lo  let  a  little  vapour  of  sodium 
into  the  middle  of  a  capillary  lube  filled  with  air  at  a  low 
pressure.  To  prevent  the  sodium  vapour  condensing  on  the 
walls  of  the  tube,  the  whole  tid)e  was  placed  on  a  sand  bath  and 
the  lem|)eriiture  raisc<l  so  Ijigh  thai  no  conilcnsalion  took  place. 
After  the  ilischarge  had  nm  through  the  tube  for  about  two 
hours  the  sand  was  removed  from  the  tube,  and  the  movement 
of  the  SfMliuin  va|)our  lo  the  mnative  electrode  was  very  apparent 
even  without  using  a  spectroscope,  as  there  was  a  great  |xitch  of 
yellow  light  near  the  negative  electrode  and  none  in  any  other 
|>art  of  the  lulx:. 

.Vnolher  ex|H;rimenl    was  lo  intrtxluce   a  small    (|uanlily  of 

hydrogen  into  a    lulie   filled   with  air  at  a  low  pressure  :    the 

'     '"   _'en  made  its  way  lo  the   rici^ath't  electrode.      This  experi- 

.1  ■.oniewhat  troublesome  one,  as  it   is  exceedingly  difli- 

^;et  these  very  fine  capillary  tubes  sodry  th.-il  the  spectrum 

oi  the  ilischarge  does  not  show  the  hydrogen   lines  even  before 

the  hyilrogcn  is  intrrKluce<l  into  the  middle  of  the  lulic  ;  indeed, 

I  never  succeeded  in  getting   rid  of  the  hydrogen   lines  at  the 

very  lowest  pressures.     By   healing  the  tube  and  allowing  dry 

air  to  niti  through  it  for  a  long  tiniv,  however,  I  got  the  tube  so 

firy  thai  it  tliil  not  shttw  the   hytirogen   lines  al  a  pressure  fjuile 

1,,^..  ,..       h  to  allow  the  discharge  to  pass  freely  through   it. 

lie  was  in  this  state  and   hydrogen  was  let  into  the 

lie   lulic,    the  hydrogen   s|ieclrum  ap|X'ared   al    the 

'  ■.  but  noi  at  the  iKisitive. 

'  of  hydrogen  al  the  negative  electrode  when 

'  ilie  with  other  gases  has  liecn  descril>cd 

I  \\    interesting  |)a|>er   in  the  J'/iilosopliual 

■  '■  200. 

I  ■  riments    suggest,     I    think,    that     ihis 

.  A  and   B,   by  the  discharge  is  due  to 

11   liy  the   discharge  of  a  chemical  com|»und 

H,  in  which   the  A  atoms  have  a  charge  of 


electricity  of  one  sign,  the  B  atoms  a  charge  of  electricity  of  the 
opposite  sign  ;  these  charged  atoms  under  the  influence  of  the 
electromotive  force  in  the  lube  travel  in  opposite  directions, 
Further,  it  follows  from  the  experiment  with  the  bromine  vapour 
in  an  atmosphere  of  chlorine  that  the  sign  of  the  electrical 
charge  on  an  atom  of  the  same  substance  is  not  invariable,  but 
depends  on  the  substance  with  which  this  atom  is  in  combination. 
We  shall  find  numerous  other  instances  of  this  change  in  the 
sign  of  the  charge  on  an  atom  in  experiments  described  in  a  later 
part  of  this  paper. 

Polarisation  of  the  Electrodes. — This  in  the  electrolysis  of 
liquids  is  due  lo  the  accumulation  at  the  electrodes  of  ions  which 
have  ceased  to  act  as  carriers  of  electricity.  We  have,  I  think, 
distinct  evidence  of  a  similar  accumulation  in  the  electrolysis  of 
gases.  Kor,  as  has  been  already  described,  after  the  discharge 
has  been  running  for  some  lime  in  one  direction,  giving  the 
spectrum  of  some  gas  al  one  of  the  terminals,  the  spectrum  of 
the  gas  at  that  terminal  is  momentarily  brightened  to  a  very 
great  extent  by  suddenly  reversing  the  direction  of  the  discharge. 
After  the  current  has  been  flowing  for  some  time  in  one  direction 
through,  say,  CI  in  an  atmosphere  of  H,  the  spectrum  of  the 
chlorine,  though  still  visible  at  the  positive  electrode,  gets  (\iinl, 
the  chlorine  apparently  to  a  great  extent  ceasing  to  carry  the 
discharge  ;  when,  however,  the  current  is  reversed,  the  atoms  of 
chlorine  can  move  freely,  as  they  are  not  obstructed  by  the  elec- 
trode, so  that  immediately  after  the  reversal  of  the  current  there 
is  probably  more  of  the  discharge  carried  by  the  chlorine  than 
at  any  other  time,  and  the  chlorine  spectrum  is  consequently 
brightest. 

Disiharge  through  a  Compound  Gas. — The  separation  of  the 
ions  by  the  discharge  can  be  readily  observed  in  a  tube  of  the 
kind  shown  in  Kig.  2. 

It  diflers  from  an  ordinary  discharge  tube  merely  in  having  a 
flat  metal  plate,  A  is,  fastened  across  the  lube.  When  the  dis- 
charge passes  through  the  lube,  one  side  of  the  plate  .ids  as  a 


NO.   1349,  VOL.  52] 


Fig. 


positive,  the  other  as  a  negative,  electrode.  The  tube  is  mounted 
on  a  stand,  which  the  observer  at  the  spectroscope  can  move  by 
means  of  a  lever  so  as  to  bring  one  side  or  other  of  the 
|)late  opposite  the  slit  of  the  sjiectroscopc  ;  a  very  slight  move- 
ment of  the  lever  is  suflicient  lo  do  this,  so  that  the  spectra 
al  the  two  sides  of  the  plate  can  readily  be  compared.  I  found 
that  the  results  were  more  satisfactory  when  the  current  was 
kept  flowing  through  the  lube  in  one  direction  and  the  tulie 
moved  so  as  to  bring  the  spectra  at  the  two  electrodes  into  the 
field  of  view  than  when  the  tulie  was  keiit  fixed  in  one  position 
and  the  current  reversed.  The  latter  method,  however,  sullices 
to  show  the  separation  of  the  ions  in  many  cases,  and  it  has  the 
advantage  of  not  reipiiring  a  [ilate  across  the  tube  ;  all  that  is 
necessary  is  to  use  for  one  of  the  terminals  a  disc  whose  plane  is 
parallel  to  the  slit  of  the  spectroscope. 

If  the  plate  A  11  is  thin,  it  is  necessary  to  fuse  it  into  the  glass 
tube  all  the  way  round  ;  otherwise,  when  the  pressure  is  low, 
the  discharge,  instead  of  crossing  the  plate,  goes  througli  any 
little  crevices  there  may  \k  between  the  plate  and  tlie  tube. 
The  easiest  way  of  making  the  tube  is  to  use  a  plale  alioul 
0'5  cm.  thick,  cut  from  an  aluminium  cylinder  which  tightly  fits 
the  lube  ;  with  n  plale  of  this  thickness  the  narrow  spaces 
between  the  tube  and  the  plale  are  so  long  that  the  discharge 
goes  through  the  plale  rather  llian  through  tlie  crevices. 

The  lube  was  filled  with  the  gas  to  be  observed  and  the 
spectra  at  the  two  sides  of  the  plale  compared.  These  spectra 
were  in  many  cases  found  to  differ  in  a  very  remarkable  way  ;  it 
was,  however,  cudy  in  exceptional  cases  that  a  line  which  was 
bright  al  one  side  of  the  plale  was  absolutely  invisible  on  the 
other.  The  method  used  was  to  lake  two  sets  of  lines,  say  A 
and  B,  as  close  together  in  the  spectrum  as  possible,  and  com- 
pare the  brightness  of  these  sets  of  lines  on  the  two  sides  of  the 
plate  ;  if  it  was  founil  thai  the  A  lines  were  brighter  on  tlie 
positive  side  of  the  plale  than  on  the  negative,  while  on  the 
other  hand  the  B  lines  were  brighter  on  the  negative  side  of  the 
plate  than  on  the  |>osilivc,  then  it  was  inferred   that  electrolytic 


Septejmber  5,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


453 


separation  had  occurred,  and  that  the  substance  giving  the  A 
lines  was  in  excess  on  the  positive  side  of  the  plate,  that  giving 
the  B  lines  on  the  negative.  It  is  not  safe  to  draw  any  conclu- 
sions from  the  variations  in  intensity  of  one  line  or  one  group  of 
lines  on  the  two  sides  of  the  plate,  as  the  total  quantity  of  light 
coming  from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  cathode  f>ften  differs  con- 
siderably from  that  coming  from  the  anode.  When,  however, 
we  get  an  increase  in  the  brilliancy  of  one  set  of  lines  accoin- 
panied  by  a  diminution  in  the  brightness  of  another  set,  when 
we  move  across  the  plate  we  eliminate  this  source  of  error.  The 
differences  in  the  spectra  at  the  two  sidesof  the  plate  are  most  easily 
observed  at  pressures  where  there  is  not  any  very  great  difference 
between  the  luminosity  of  the  cathode  and  the  anode.  As 
was  mentioned  at  the  beginning  of  the  paper,  there  is  a  range  of 
]>ressure  wiihin  which  the  effects  are  irregular,  and  no  decided 
differences  are  observed  between  the  spectra  at  the  two  sides  of 
the  plate.  It  is  desirable  in  these  experiments  to  keep  the  tube 
on  to  the  pipe  as  long  as  the  experiment  lasts,  for  the  discharge 
always  decomposes  the  compound  gas,  and  unless  the  products 
of  decomposition  are  continually  pumped  off  and  replaced  by 
fresh  supplies  of  the  compound  gas,  the  spectra  of  the  discharge 
keep  changing.  With  organic  compounds  this  is  especially 
necessary,  as  the  character  of  the  spectrum  often  changes  en- 
tirely very  shortly  after  the  commencement  of  the  discharge 
unless  fresh  gas  is  continually  introduced. 

In  (he  following  experiments  the  current  was  produced  by  a 
large  induction  coil  with  a  mercury  slow  break. 

When  the  tube  was  filled  with  hydrochloric  acid  gas  at  a  low 
pressure,  the  sej^aration  of  the  hydrogen  and  chlorine  was  seen 
very  distinctly,  the  hydrogen  line  being  much  brighter  on  the 
side  of  the  plate  which  acted  as  the  cathode  (which  we  shall 
call  the  negative  side  of  the  plate)  than  on  the  positive  side, 
while  the  chlorine,  on  the  other  hand,  w'as  brighter  on  the 
[Kjsitive  than  on  the  negative  side  of  the  plate. 

When  the  tube  was  filled  with  ammonia  gas,  the  hydrogen 
lines  were  bright  on  the  negative  side  of  the  plate,  but  were 
aliseiit  from  the  positive  side,  while  on  the  positive  side  of  the 
plate  there  was  the  positive  pole  sjjectrum  of  nitrogen,  and  on 
the  negative  side  of  the  plate  the  negative  pole  spectrum  of 
nitrogen  and  the  hydrogen  spectrum. 

Sulphur  Moiwdiloridc. — When  the  tube  was  filled  with  the 
vapour  of  this  substance  at  a  low  pressure,  the  chlorine  lines 
were  brighter  on  the  negalive  side  of  the  plate  than  at  the 
positive,  while  the  sulphur  lines  were  brighter  at  the  positive 
side  than  at  the  negative.  Thus  the  chlorine  in  this  substance 
behaves  in  the  opposite  way  to  the  chlorine  in  HCl ;  in  the 
latter  compound  the  chlorine  iron  has  a  charge  of  negative 
electricity,  while  in  the  .sulphur  monochloride  it  has  a  charge  of 
positive  electricity. 

Influence  of  the  Chemical  Constitution  of  a  Compound  on  the 
Sign  of  the  Charge  of  Electricity  on  one  of  its  Constituent 
Atoms. — In  many  organic  compounds  an  atom  ot  the  electro- 
positive element  hydrogen  can  be  replaced  by  an  atom  of  the 
electro-negative  element  chlorine  without  altering  the  type  of 
the  compound.  Thus,  for  example,  we  can  replace  the  four 
hydrogen  atoms  in  CHj  by  chlorine  atoms,  getting  successively 
the  compound  C1I|C1,  CIL.Cl;,  CIICl.,,  and  CCI4.  It  seemed 
iif  interest  to  investigate  what  was  the  sign  of  the  change  of  elec- 
tricity on  the  chlorine  atom  in  these  compounds.  The  point  is 
iif  some  historical  interest,  as  the  po.ssibility  of  substituting  an 
electro-negative  element  in  a  compound  for  an  electro-positive 
one  was  one  of  the  chief  objections  assigned  against  the  electro- 
chemical theory  of  Berzelius. 

When  the  vapour  of  chloroform,  CHCl,,  was  placed  in  the 
tube,  it  was  found  that  both  the  hydrogen  and  the  chlorine  lines 
were  bright  on  the  negative  side  of  ihe  plate,  while  they  were 
absent  from  the  positive  side,  and  that  any  increase  in  the  bright- 
ness of  the  hydrogen  lines  was  accompanied  by  an  increase  in 
the  brightness  of  those  due  to  chlorine.  The  spectrum  on  the 
|iositive  side  of  the  plate  was  that  called  the  carbonic  oxide  spec- 
irum;  when  first  the  discharge  passed  through  the  tube,  the 
spectrum  on  the  positive  side  was  the  so-called  candle  spectrum, 
l)Ut  this  very  rapidly  changed  to  the  carbonic  oxide  spectrum. 
The  ajipearance  of  the  hydrogen  and  chlorine  spectra  at  the 
same  side  of  the  plate  was  also  observed  in  methylene  chloride 
and  in  ethylene  chloride.  Even  when  all  the  hydrogen  in 
CII4  was  replaced  by  chlorine,  as  in  carbon  tetrachloride,  CClj, 
the  chlorine  spectra  still  clung  to  the  negative  side  of  the  plate. 
To  test  the  point  still  further,  I  tried  the  analogous  compound 
silicon  tetrachloride,  inserting  a  small  jar  in  the  circuit  to  brighten 


the  spectrum.  The  chlorine  sped  rum  was  again  brightest  at  the 
negative  side  of  the  plate,  while  the  silicon  spectrum  was 
brightest  at  the  positive.  This  is  a  very  favourable  case  for  the 
ap])lication  of  this  method,  as  there  are  two  silicon  lines  (wave- 
lengths 5058,  5043)  quite  close  to  two  chlorine  ones  (wave- 
lengths 5102,  5078),  so  that  their  relative  brightness  can  easily 
be  compared.  The  experiment  with  the  silicon  tetrachloride 
is  more  conclusive  than  those  with  the  carbon  compounds,  as 
with  the  latter  the  spectrum  on  the  positive  side  of  the  plate  is  a 
band  spectrum,  and  since  the  potential  gradient  when  the  dis- 
charge is  ])assing  is  very  much  steeper  on  the  negative  side  of 
the  plate  than  on  the  ]jositive,  the  effects  observed  might  be  sup- 
posed to  be  due  to  the  circumstances  on  the  negative  side  being 
better  adapted  for  the  production  of  line  spectra  than  those  on 
the  positive.  This  explanation  is  not,  however,  applicable  to  the 
case  of  silicon  tetrachloride,  where  the  spectra  on  both  sides 
of  the  plate  are  line  spectra. 

From  these  experiments  it  would  appear  that  the  chlorine 
atoms  in  the  chlorine  derivatives  of  methane  are  charged  with 
electricity  of  the  same  sign  as  the  hydrogen  atoms  they  displace. 

When  we  can  determine  the  signs  of  the  electrical  charges 
carried  by  the  atoms  in  a  molecule  of  a  compound,  we  can 
ascertain  whether  any  given  chemical  reaction  does  or  does  not 
imply  interchange  between  the  electric  charges  on  the  atoms 
taking  part  in  the  reaction.     Thus  take  the  reaction 

CHj  +  CU  =  CH3CI  +  IICl. 
If  we  represent  the  sign  of  the  charge  of  electricity  carried  by  an 
atom    by  -f  or  -  placed   below    the   symbol    representing   that 
atom,  we  may  write  the  last  reaction  as 

CH4  -I-  ClCl  -  CH3CI  -1-  HCl, 

--I-        +  -       -+  +        +  - 
so  that  this  reaction  could  be  produced  by  a  rearrangement  of 
the  atoms  without  any  alterations  of  their  electrical  charges. 
If,  however,  we  take  the  reaction — 

HH  +  ClCl  =  2HCI, 

+-       +-         +  - 

we  see  that  in  addition  to  a  rearrangement  of  the  atoms  there 
must  in  this  case  be  an  interchange  of  electric  charges  between 
the  atoms  ;  for  before  combination  half  the  hydrogen  atoms  had 
a  negative  charge,  and  half  the  chlorine  atoms  a  positive  one, 
whereas  after  combination  no  hydrogen  atom  has  a  negative 
charge,  and  no  chlorine  atom  a  positive  one.  We  may  thus 
distinguish  between  two  classes  of  chemical  reactions,  (l)  those 
which  do  not  necessarily  require  any  interchange  of  the  elec- 
trical charges  carried  by  the  atom,  and  (2)  those  which  do.  It 
might,  perhaps,  repay  investigation  to  see  whether  the  occurrence 
of  chemical  change  is  affected  by  the  presence  of  a  third  sub- 
stance in  the  same  way  in  these  classes  of  chemical  combination. 
Another  point  to  be  considered  is  the  effect  of  this  difference 
between  the  chemical  actions  on  the  amount  of  heat  developed 
during  chemical  combination.  W"hen  hydrogen  and  chlorine 
combine  the  heat  produced  may  be  regarded  as  the  joint  effect 
of  three  jirocesses  : — 

(1)  The  .splitting  up  of  the  molecules  (H  H)  and  (CI  CI)  into 

+  -  +   - 

the  atoms  H,  II,  CI,  CI. 
-f-    -    -I-     - 

(2)  A  transference  of  electricity  by  which  the  negative  charge 
on  one  atom  of  hydrogen  is  replaced  by  an  eepial  positive  charge, 
while  the  positive  charge  on  an  atom  of  chlorine  is  replaced  by 
an  equal  negative  charge. 

(3)  The  combination  of  the  positively  electrified  hydrogen 
atoms  with  the  negatively  electrified  chlorine  ones  to  form 
hydrochloric  acid. 

In  that  class  of  chemical  action  where  the  atoms  retain  their 
charge  (2)  is  absent,  so  that  if  the  change  in  energy  occurring  in 
the  process  (2)  were  considerable  compared  with  the  changes 
occurring  in  processes  (l)  and  (3),  the  thermal  effects  of  the  two 
types  of  chemical  combination  ought  to  differ  considerably.  If 
the  changes  in  energy  occurring  in  the  process  (2)  had  a  great 
preponderance  over  those  occurring  in  (i)  and  (3),  the  thermal 
effects  produced  by  the  combination  of  two  elements  ought  to 
follow  very  simple  laws.  For  if  2  JIIJ  is  the  excess  of  the 
energy  of  an  atom  of  hydrogen  charged  with  the  negative 
electron  over  the  energ)-  of  the  atom  charged  with  the  positive 
electron,  2  {Ci;  the  excess  of  the  energy  of  an  atom  of  chlorine 
charged  with  the  positive  electron  over  the  energy  of  the  atom 
charged  with  the  negative  electron,  then  if  we  could  neglect  the 
energy  changes  in  (i)  and  (3)  compared  with  those  in  (2),  the 


NO.    1349,  VOL,  52] 


-i-4 


NA  TURE 


[Septkmukr  5,  1895 


mechanical  i;4Ui\.ilcnt  •.•t  the  hc.it  dcvcloiied  when  a  mqlccule 
of  hydrogen  combines  with  one  of  chlorine  to  form  two  mole- 
cules of  hydrochloric  acid  would  be  equal  to  2|li;  +  2|Cl'. 
Thus  we  see  that  if  the  enet^-  changes  in  (2)  preponderated 
largely  over  those  in  (I)  and  (3),  the  heat  produced  when  an 
element  A  combined  with  another  element  B  to  form  the  com- 
pound AB,  could  be  expressed  as  the  sum  of  two  numbers  JA} 
and  jBI,  where  {AI  depends  solely  on  the  element  A,  IBl  solely 
on  the  element  B.  In  some  cases  of  chemical  combination 
between  dilute  solutions  there  seems  evidence  that  the  heat  pro- 
duced can  be  expressed  in  this  way  (see  Lothar  Meyer,  "  The 
Evolution  of  the  Doctrine  of  Affinity,"'  Phil  Mag.,  vol.  .\xiii. 
p.  504),  but  when  we  attempt  to  apply  the  same  law  to  com- 
bination between  gases,  it  seems  utterly  to  break  down ; 
indicating  that  in  such  cases  the  greater  part  of  the  changes  in 
energy  occur  in  the  splitting  up  of  one  set  of  molecules  and 
the  subse<iuent  formation  of  others.  This  view  seems  to  be 
supported  l>y  the  phenomena  attending  the  discharge  of  elec- 
tricity through  rarefied  gases,  for  the  smallest  diti'erence  of 
potential  which  can  send  a  discharge  through  an  electrified  gas 
(which  we  have  reason  to  believe  involves  the  splitting  up  of 
molecules  into  atoms),  is  very  many  times  the  electromotive  force 
required  to  liberate  the  ions  from  an  electrolyte,  though  the 
latter  progress  requires  changes  in  the  electrical  charges  on  the 
ions.  These  reasons  seem  to  indicate  that  we  can  hardly  expect 
to  get  any  clear  indication  of  the  charges  carried  by  the  atoms 
in  gaseous  compounds  from  the  study  of  the  thermal  changes 
which  <x:cur  when  gases  enter  into  chemical  combination. 

Vapours  0/  Organic  Compounds. — These  show  very  interesting 
differences  between  the  spectra  on  the  two  sides  of  the  plate 
when  the  discharge  passes  through  them.  Thus  when  the  dis- 
charge first  passes  through  the  vapour  of  ethyl  alcohol,  C.jlI„(J, 
the  spectrum  on  the  positive  side  of  the  plate  is  the  candle 
spectrum,  that  on  the  negative  side  the  carlxinic  oxide  spectrum. 
For  some  little  time  after  the  discharge  commenced  I  could  not 
detect  any  hydrogen  lines  on  either  side  of  the  plate  ;  after  a 
time,  however,  they  appeared  on  the  negative  side  but  not  on 
the  positive.  If  the  discharge  was  kept  running  for  some  time 
without  letting  a  fresh  supply  of  alcohol  into  the  tube  the 
"  candle  spectrum  "  on  the  positive  side  of  the  plate  was  replaced 
by  the  CO  spectrum,  which  now  occurred  on  both  sides  of  the 
plate  accompanied  on  the  negative  side  by  the  hydrogen 
spectrum.  This  is  the  appearance  presented  by  all  the 
comixjunds  of  carl)on,  oxygen,  and  hydrogen  which  I  examined, 
when  the  spark  had  been  passing  through  them  for  a  considerable 
time,  and  it  is  what  would  <Kcur  if  the  va|Tour  were  dccomiwsed 
by  the  spark  into  carlwnic  acid,  water,  and  hytirogen. 

The  appearance  of  the  candle  spectrum  on  the  positive  side  of 
the  plate  with  the  CO  on  the  negative  was  observed  in  many 
other  cases.  Thus  on  sparking  through  a  tube  filled  with  CO,  I 
could  not  detect  any  difference  l)etween  the  spectra  on  the  two 
sides  of  the  plate,  but  when  a  little  hydrogen  was  let  into  the 
tube  the  "  candle  .spectrum '' apjx'ared  on  the  positive  side  of 
the  plate,  the  carfxmic  oxide  spectrum  on  the  negative.  The 
same  effect  was  observed  in  a  tube  filled  with  cy.inogen  mixed 
with  a  little  hydrogen.  When  the  lube  was  filled  with  the 
vapour  of  methyl  alcohol,  ClIjOII,  the  candle  spectrum  was  on 
the  positive  side  of  the  plate,  the  carlxjnic  oxide  and  hydrogen 
spectra  on  the  negative  ;  with  this  vapour,  unlike  that  of  ethyl 
alcohol,  I  could  not  detect  any  stage  when  the  hydrogen 
spectrum  was  al>sent. 

The  first  explanation  which  occurs  to  one  of  this  phenomenon  is 

that  it  is  owing  to  the  |x>lcntial  gradient  at  the  negative   side  of 

the  plate  iK-ing  slee|)cr  than  that  on  the  positive,  so  that  we 

may  imagine  we  h.ive    a  fierce    spark    on    the    negative    side, 

a  mild  one  on  the  (xjsitixe,  and   that    the    fierce    spark    gives 

th>-  CO  spectrum,  the  mild  one  the  candle  S|x:clrum.     There 

■T,  some  phenomena  which  seem  inconsistent    with 

,ition  :  ill  the  first   place,  if   the  current  is  reversed 

i;  in   one    direction,  traces    of    the    former    spectra 

•  me  time  at  the  sides  of   the  plates,  and,  secondly, 

•tcrence    is    due     to    the    greater    <lecom|Misition    at 

the  ncgaiive  siilc  of  the  plate,  how  is  it  that  in  the  case  of  the 

vnji-tiir  <'f  ethyl  alcohol  the  hydrogen  spectrum   is  not    seen,  at 

icement  of  the  flischarge,  on  the  ne^.itive  side  of  the 

ly  ap|>cars  after  the  di.schirge  has  fiasscd  through  for 

'     '  f   has  priiKably  lieen   set   free  by  the 

r    by  the  *lischarge.      If  the   absence 

:    -  -    ,       .1  the  negative  side  of  the  plate  is  due 

10  the  apark  bcmg  .ho  mtcnsc  that  the  hydro-carbon  which  is 

NO.   1349,  VOL.   52] 


supposed  to  be  the  origin  of  this  spectrum  cannot  exist,  then  we 
ought  to  see  the  spectra  of  the  substances  which  result  from  the 
decomposition  of  the  hydrocarbon,  i.e.  we  ought  to  see  the 
hydrogen  sjjectrum  at  the  negative  electrode.  The  view  which 
seems  most  in  accordance  with  the  results  of  observations  on  the 
discharge  through  these  vapours  is  that  the  "  candle  spectrum" 
is  the  spectrum  of  carbon  when  the  atom  is  charged  with 
negative  electricity,  or  of  some  compound  of  carlx)n  in  which  its 
atom  is  negatively  chained,  while  the  "carbonic  oxide" 
spectrum  is  the  spectrum  of  carlwn  when  the  atom  is  charged 
with  positive  electricity,  or  of  some  compound  in  which  the 
carbon  atom  is  positively  charged. 

Visiliarge  through  an  Eletncntary  Gas. — It  has  long  been 
known  that  when  the  discharge  passes  through  some  elementary 
gases,  the  spectra  at  the  two  electrodes  are  diflerent.  This  was 
first  shown  to  be  the  case  for  nitrogen,  then  Dr.  Schuster  showed 
that  the  same  thing  occurred  with  oxygen,  and  recently  Mr. 
Crfmkes  has  show  n  that  it  is  also  true  in  the  case  of  argon.  I 
have  observed  a  very  striking  change  in  the  relative  brilliancy  of 
the  red  and  green  hydrogen  lines  at  the  two  electrodes.  When 
the  tube  with  the  plate  across  it  was  filled  with  hydrogen  at  a 
low  pressure,  then  on  the  positive  side  of  the  plate  the  red  line 
tends  to  be  brighter  than  the  green,  while  on  the  negative  side 
the  green  line  lends  to  be  brighter  than  the  red  ;  in  some  tubes 
this  was  so  marked  that  on  the  positive  side  of  the  plate  the  red 
line  was  bright,  and  the  green  invisible,  while  on  the  negative 
side  of  the  plate  the  green  line  was  bright,  and  the  red  invisible. 
The  spectroscope  I  was  using  weakened  the  red  rays  much  more 
than  the  green,  so  that  I  cannot  be  sure  that  the  red  rays  were 
really  altogether  obliterated  on  the  negative  side  of  the  plate  ; 
the  above  experiment  is,  however,  sufficient  to  show  that  on  the 
positive  side  of  the  plate  the  red  rays  are  more  easily  excited 
than  the  green,  while  on  the  negative  side  the  green  line  is  more 
easily  excited  than  the  red.  On  the  negative  side  of  the  plate 
we  have  an  excess  of  positively  charged  hydrogen  atoms,  while 
on  the  positive  side  of  the  plate  there  is  an  excess  of  negatively 
charged  hydrogen  atoms,  and  I  am  inclined  to  attribute  the 
difference  in  the  spectra  partly  at  any  rate  to  the  diflerence  in 
properties  between  a  [wsitively  and  a  negatively  chargeil 
hyilrogen  atom.  The  reason  I  do  not  attribute  it  wholly  to  the 
diflerence  in  the  potential  gradient  on  the  two  sides  of  the  plate 
is  that  the  cfTect  is  not  reversed  immediately,  but  only  gradually 
on  reversing  the  coil,  the  former  spectra  clinging  for  some  time 
to  the  sides  of  the  plate. 

Chlorine. — I  have  made  a  great  many  experiments  to  see  if 
there  is  any  difference  between  the  spectra  given  by  chlorine  on 
the  two  sides  of  the  plate,  but  with  negative  results.  Chlorine 
seems  a  gas  in  which  we  might  ex|>ect  to  find  this  effect,  for  as 
Dr.  Schuster,  in  his  Report  on  Spectrum  Analysis,  says,  the 
behaviour  of  its  spectrum  indicates  that  we  have  several  spectra 
superposed.  I  have  not,  however,  been  able  to  affect  a  separation 
of  its  s|>cctra,  the  differences  I  observed  between  the  spectra  on 
the  two  sides  of  the  plate  were  irregular,  and  due,  I  think,  to 
impurities  producing  effects  like  those  observed  when  the  dis- 
charge passes  through  a  compound  gas.  I  lowever,  as  has  been 
mentioned  before,  there  is  even  in  the  case  of  gases  where 
distinct  evidence  of  separation  can  be  obtained,  a  region  of 
pressure  within  which  the  efTects  are  irregular,  and  I  ascribe  my 
failure  to  observe  separation  in  the  case  of  chlorine  to  my  having 
failed  to  get  the  relation  between  the  intensity  of  the  discharge 
and  the  pressure  so  adjusted  .is  to  get  outside  this  irregular 
region.  The  cases,  however,  in  which  distinct  dilTerences 
between  the  spectra  of  a  single  gas  occur  at  the  two  electrodes, 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  spectrum  given  hy'  an  element  is 
influenced  by  the  sign  of  the  electrical  charge  carried  by  its 
atoms. 

I  have  made  some  experiments  to  determine  whether  there 
wa'i  any  separation  produced  in  a  mixture  of  equal  volumes  of 
hydrogen  ami  chlorine  kept  in  the  dark,  when  a  considerable 
dillercnce  of  poleiiiiil  though  not  sufficient  to  produce  discharge 
w.is  maintaineil  between  the  two  electrodes.  The  parts  t)l  the 
tube  adjacent  to  the  two  electrixles  could  be  shut  ofl'  from  each 
other  by  a  tap,  and  thi-  amount  of  chlorine  in  the  two  siiles  was 
determined  by  absorbing  it  by  caustic  [wt^sh.  The  mixture  was 
at  atmospheric  pressure,  and  the  electrodes  were  maintained  at 
a  potential  difference  of  about  1200  volts  by  connecting  them  to 
a  large  battery  of  small  storage  cells.  The  potential  dilference 
between  the  terminals  was  maintained  for  about  sixteen  hours  on 
three  seimrate  occ-Lsions,  but  on  analysing  the  vessels  surrounding 
the  two  electrodes,  the  amount  of  chlorine  in  the  vessel  adjacent 


Septe.m)!i;r  5,  1S95] 


NATURE 


455 


to  the  negative  electrode  did  not  ditiler  from  that  in  the  vessel 
adjacent  to  the  positive  electrode  Ijy  more  than  I  per  cent.,  and 
this  could  he  accounted  for  liy  errors  of  experiments,  as  test 
experiments,  in  which  the  mixture  had  not  been  exposed  to  the 
electric  field,  yave  differences  comparable  with  these.  We  should 
conclude  from  the  preceding  experiments  thai  the  molecules  of  a 
gas  are  not  acted  on  by  any  ap])reciable  transjational  force 
tending  to  move  them  from  one  place  to  another,  when  they  are 
near  to  a  body  charged  with  electricity.  To  test  this  jioint 
further,  two  large  terminals  were  placed  in  bulbs  which  were  con- 
nected by  a  horizontal  capillary  tulje,  in  which  a  drop  of  sulphuric 
acid  was  placed  ;  a  difference  in  the  pressure  of  the  gas  would 
cause  the  sulphuric  acid  to  move,  and  the  arrangement  acts  as  a 
very  delicate  pressure  gauge.  The  bulbs  and  tube  were  filled 
with  chlorine  at  atmospheric  pressure.  The  terminals  were  then 
connected  to  the  electrodes  of  a  battery  giving  a  potential  differ- 
ence of  1200  volts,  but  not  the  slightest  movement  of  the  drop 
of  acid  could  be  detected. 

I  wish  to  acknowledge  the  help  I  have  received  in  making  the 
preceding  experiment  from  my  assistant,  Mr.  E.  Everett. 


UNIVERSITY  AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

In  the  ninth  session  of  Edinburgh  .Summer  Meeting,  which 
was  o]5ened  by  Lord  Reay  on  August  5,  and  has  just  concluded, 
natural  science  was  represented  by  Elisee  Reclus  ("  On  the 
Evolution  of  Cities"),  Dr.  W.  W.  J.  Nicol  ("On  Every-day 
Cheniistr>'"),  .Mr.  J.  C.  Goodchild  ("On  the  Geology  of 
Edinburgh"),  Mr.  A.  J.  Herbertson  ("  On  theC.eographyof  the 
District"),  Dr.  Louis  Irvine  ("On  the  Nervous  System"), 
Mr.  J.  Arthur  Thomson  ("  On  the  Biology  of  the 
Seasons"),  Mr.  R.  Turnbull("On  Applied  Botany")  ;  Prof. 
Lloyd  Morgan  lectured  "  On  F^volution  Ethics,"  Prof.  Haddon 
"  On  the  Savage  Mind,"  and  Prof.  IJeddes  "  On  Life  and 
Thought." 

'Mr.  JosIvI'II  Bissiirr,  who  was  for  two  years  lecturer  at  the 
Agricultural  College,  Aspatria,  has  been  appointed  Agricultural 
Lecturer  to  the  County  of  Ayr. 

Mr.  F.  O.  Jonks  goes  to  the  Huddersfield  Technical  .School 
as  Lecturer  in  Physics,  Applied  Mechanics  and  Steam,  and  Mr. 
J.  Brierley  is  to  fdl  the  post  of  Assistant  .Master  in  Chemistry 
and  Physics  at  the  same  school. 

Till-;  Calendars  for  the  Session  1895-96  of  the  University 
College,  Bristol,  and  the  (ilasgow  and  West  of  .Scotland  Technical 
College  have  just  been  published,  and  may  be  obtained, 
respectively,  of  Arrowsmith,  Bristol,  and  .Vnderson,  Glasgow. 

The  Educadoiui!  Times  understands  that  Mr.  Arthur  Mihnan 
will  retire  early  in  1S96  from  the  Registrarship  of  London 
University,  under  the  Civil  Service  regulation  as  to  age. 


SCIENTIEIC  SERIALS. 

Amaiian  Meteorological  Joitnial,  August. — The  prlnci|>al 
articles  are: — Relation  of  clouds  to  rainfall,  l>y  II.  Helm 
Clayton.  A  special  study  of  cloud-forms  before  and  after 
rain  was  made  at  the  Blue  Hill  Observatory,  and  it  was 
found  that  the  most  frequent  succession  of  clouds  preceding 
rain  was  cirrus,  cirro-stratus,  alto-stratus,  and  nimbus; 
the  first  which  appeared  in  advance  of  the  rain  being  usually 
cirrus.  Rain  was  observed  to  fall  from  four  classes  of  clouds  : 
(l)  a  high  cloud  sheet  (alto-nimbus);  (2)  a  low,  ragged  cloud 
sheet  (nimbus)  ;  (3)  long,  low  rolls  of  cloud,  giving  fight  inter- 
mittent .showers  ;  and  (4)  a  towering  cloud  of  the  cumulus  type 
(cumulo-nimbus).  Following  rain,  the  most  frecpient  clouds 
were  sirato-cumulus,  in  long,  low  rolls,  while  above  there  was 
most  frequently  cirrus  or  cirro-stratus.  The  result  of  the  in- 
vestigation showed  that  cloud-forms  cannot,  in  general,  be  u,sed 
in  predicting  rain  for  more  than  twenty-four  hours  in  advance, 
liut  that,  for  a  few  hours  in  advance,  the  existence  of  certain 
I iouds  frec|uently  furnish  most  trustworthy  indications  of  coming 
rain. — The  meteorograph  for  the  Harvard  Observatory  on  El 
.Misli,  Peru,  by  S.  P.  Fergusson.  It  has  been  found  imixis- 
sible  to  maintain  observers  at  this  elevated  station  (19,300  feet), 
and  during  the  rainy  season,  which  lasts  three  or  four  months, 

NO.    1349,  VOL.    52] 


no  ascent  can  be  made.  A  meteorograjih,  on  the  principle  of 
Richard's  well-known  instruments,  has  been  constructed  at 
the  request  of  Prof.  Pickering,  which  will  work  for  four  months, 
and  will  be  installed  on  the  summit  of  the  mountain  this  summer. 
The  record  drum  revolves  once  during  three  days,  giving  to  thj 
paper  a  speeil  of  three  inches  in  a  day,  and  the  paper  used  for 
the  records  is  rolled  upon  a  removable  reel  under  the  record 
drum.     An  illustration  of  the  apparatus  is  given  in  the  journal. 

Hiilkliiis  de  la  So(ii!lt'  it Anthropologie  de  Paris,  1895,  fas.  '■ 
— Discussion  of  the  Pithccautkropus  erettus  as  the  presumed  pre- 
cursor of  man,  by  L.  .Manouvrier.- — This  paper  contains  a  critical 
examination  of  the  remains  recently  discovered  by  M.  Dubois  in 
Java,  upon  which  an  article  by  Prof.  Cunningham  has  already 
appeared  in  NArtiRli. — The  dolmen  of  Ethiau,  by  M.  Lionel 
Bonnemcre.  After  a  careful  examination  of  the  marks  upon  the 
dolmen,  the  author  has  come  to  the  conclusion  that  they  are 
not  due  to  atmospheric  action  but  to  the  hand  of  man. — Lower 
terrace  of  Villefranche-sur-.Sa6ne,  by  M.  (i.  de  Mortillet.  Many 
worked  flints  have  been  found  associated  with  teeth  of  Elephas 
priiiiigeiiius  and  K/iiiioeeros  tichorhinus.  At  Chelles,  the  molars 
E.  aii/ii/iiiis  are  common  and  characteristic,  and  the  teeth  of 
rhinoceros,  which  arc  very  almndant,  appear  to  belong  to  a  small 
variety  of  A'.  Merkii. — The  engraveil  stones  of  New  Caledonia, 
by  M.  L.  Bonnemcre.  The  author  exhibited,  in  the  name  of 
M.  Glaumont,  collector  at  Coron.  a  most  interesting  series  of 
drawings  made  by  him  representing  certain  remarkable  objects 
from  the  colony.  Many  large  stones  are  covered  with  designs 
that  were  evidently  executed  before  the  European  occupation  of 
the  island. 

L' .inthropologie,  1895,  ^°-  3' — General  considerations  on 
the  Yellow  Races,  by  Dr.  E.  T.  Hamy.  The  opening  lecture 
of  the  course  of  Anthropology  at  the  Museum. — Infantilism, 
feminism,  and  antique  hermaphrodites,  by  Henry  Meige. 
.Several  cases  in  illustration  of  this  paper  have  been  drawn  from 
the  patients  of  Salpetriere. — Studies  in  prehistoric  ethnography, 
by  Ed.  Piette.  Manyarchiisologists  have  imagined  that  between 
the  quaternary  period  and  the  modern  era  there  was  a  long 
interval  of  desolation,  during  which  the  lands  of  Western  Europe 
were  devoid  of  inhabitants,  and  the  record  of  human  life  was 
interrupted.  They  named  it  the  hiatus.  The  author  traces  the 
history  of  the  harpoon  during  this  period,  and  shows  that  no 
such  hiatus  occurred.  —Sculpture  in  Europe  before  the  Greek- 
Roman  Influences,  by  .M.  Salomon  Reinach.  In  this  section 
of  M.  Reinach's  valuable  monograph,  the  subject  of  gesture  is 
treated,  and  numerous  illustrations  of  bronze  figures  are  given  in 
illustration  of  the  authors  argument. 

Bollittiiio  della  Soiietit  Sismologicallaliaiia,  i. ,  1895,  No.  4. — 
Vesuvian  notices  (1894),  by  G.  Mercalli. — On  the  propagation  in 
Italy  of  the  Lubiana  earthquake  of  April  14,  1895,  by  M. 
Baratta.  .\  brief  account,  with  a  map  showing  the  course  of  the 
isoseismal  lines  in  Italy. — Notices  of  Italian  earthquakes  (April 
1895).  -^  valuable  list  of  records,  principally  of  the  earthquake 
which  forms  the  subject  of  the  preceding  paper. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 

Royal  Society,  June  20. — "On  the  Refractive  Index  of 
Water  at  Tem])eratures  between  0°  and  io°."  By  Sir  John 
Conroy,  Bart.,  F.R.S. 

In  1856,  Jamin  {Cotiiplcs  rendus,  vol.  xliii.  p.  1191)  published 
an  account  of  observations  he  made  on  the  refractive  index  of 
water  at  temperatures  between  30°  and  0°.  He  used  an  inter- 
ference method,  and  found  that  as  the  water  cooled  the  index 
increased  ;  similar  results  have  been  obtained  by  other  observers, 
but  although  it  appears  to  be  proved  that  the  refractive  index  of 
water  increases  with  the  decrease  of  temperature  until  the  freez- 
ing point  is  reached,  few  determinations  of  ihe  values  of  refrac- 
tive indices  of  water  near  its  point  of  maximum  density  have 
been  published. 

riie  method  employed  was  the  ordinary  one,  the  determina- 
tion ol  the  angle  of  minimum  deviation  for  a  ray  of  definite  wave- 
length passing  through  a  hollow  glass  prism  containing  water  at 
a  known  temperature. 

Tlie  prism  was  filled  with  distilled  water  which  had  been  rc- 
cmtly  boiled  and  allowed  to  cool  under  reduced  pressure,  and 


456 


NATURE 


[September  5,  1S95 


was  surrounded  by  a  water-jacket,  through  which  a  stream  of 
brine,  cooled  by  a  freezing  mixture,  could  be  jassad. 

The  determinations  were  made  exclusively  with  sodium  light. 

In  the  first  column  of  the  table  the  values  of  the  refractive 
indices,  relative  to  air,  for  each  degree  are  given  to  five  places ; 
in  the  second  the  \-alues  as  found  by  Walter,  and  in  the  third 
and  fourth  those  for  sodium  light,  given  by  Gladstone  and  Dale, 
and  Riihimann. 

Rejrailiv€  Indues  of  Walii. 


t. 

C 

w. 

u 

o-o 

GandD. 

R. 

0 

« •33397 

'•33401 

■•33374 

0 
O-O 

S  '^33375 

I 

'•33397 

'  33400 

4-0 

'•33307 

(  '•333S0 

2 

'•33396 

'•33398 

"•s 

I  "33356 

'■5 

'  ^33375 

3 

'  33394 

'•33396 

90 

'•33342 

40 

■  33372 

4 

'  33392 

'•33393 

— 

— 

50 

'3337' 

S 

I  33389 

'•33390 

— 

— 

,•8 

'•33368 

6 

'•33385 

'•33387 

— 

— 

99 

'  33355 

7 

^lll^^ 

'•33383 

— 

— 

lo-o 

'•33353 

^ 

'•33378 

'•33379 

— 

— 

— 

9 

'•33375 

'  33374 

~ 

" 

— 

The  values  show  that  the  refractive  index  of  water,  as  was 
first  announced  by  Jamin,  increases  continuously  up  to  the  freez- 
ing ixiint,  the  rate  of  increase,  however,  seems  to  change  about 
4°,  the  temperature  of  maximum  density,  as  was  pointed  out  by 
Gladsi.ine  and  Dale,  and  that  no  formula  representing  the  varia- 
tion of  the  refractive  index  of  water  with  the  temperature,  as  a 
function  of  the  density  only,  can  be  a  complete  expression  of  the 
facts  of  the  case. 

Paris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  Augtist  26. — M.  Kizeau  in  the 
chair.— Trutlies  (Ter/.is)  from  Cyprus  (Terfizia  ,/a7vryi), 
Smyrna,  and  La  Calle  {Terfezia  konis),  by  M.  Ad.  Chatin.— 
Obsersations  of  Swift^s  comet  (August  26,  1895),  niade  at  Lyons 
()bser\atory  by  means  of  the  coude  equatorial  (0-32  m. ),  by  M. 
G.  Le  Cadet.  The  remark  is  recorded  that  this  comet  appears 
as  a  very  diffuse  and  feeble  nebulosity  almost  equally  spread  in 
every  direction.  By  oblique  vision  a  nearly  central  feeble  con- 
densation can  bedislinguished.— Observations  of  the  planet  Phao 
(1=2^,  made  at  Marseilles  Obscr\atory  by  means  of  the  0'26  m. 
equatorial,  by  M.  Borrelly.— On  regular  pencils  and  the  Jqtii- 
talirc!  of  the  «lh  order,  by  M.  Paul  Serrct.— Heat  of  solution 
and  of  formation  of  SfKlium  and  ixitassium  cyanurates,  by  AL 
Paul  Lcmoult.  .\  detailed  thermochemical  study.  The  diffi- 
culty of  forming  the  trimetallic  s.ilts  is  emphasised,  and  it  is 
shown  that  the  sodium  and  potassium  series  do  not  differ  essen- 
tially. Water  does  not  appear  to  decompose  these  salts. — On 
apiath'e  fermentation,  and  on  the  influence  ofai-ralion  in  elliptic 
fermentation  at  a  high  temperature,  by  M.M.  M.  Rietsch  and 
M.  Herselin.  Alcohol  formed  from  apicuUc  yeasts  requires 
more  sugar  for  its  pro<luction  than  that  pro<luced  by  the  agency 
of  elliptic  yeasts.  Cooling  the  must  to  just  below  30"  and 
aeratiim  Uith  favour  the  economical  production  of  alcohol. — 
On  aluminium  utensils,  by  M.  Balland.  These  utensils  in 
ordinary  camp  use  stand  wear  fairly  well,  and  arc  not 
much  attacked  by  fotxls  during  the  short  time  they  arc  in  con- 
tact therewith.  "They  should  not  be  soldered  or  brought  into 
contact  with  other  melals.  In  the  process  of  manufacture,  treat- 
ment with  soda  should  be  avoided  ;  the  fine  matt  surface  pro- 
duce<l  is  more  easily  attacked  than  a  [xilished  surf.icc.  —On  the 
role  of  the  liver  in  the  anticoagulant  action  of  |)eptone,  by  MM. 
K.  r,|pv-  andV.  Pachon.  The  results  of  the  authors' exjKTiments 
■  show  that  peptone  does  not  itself  exert  any  anti- 
effect,  but  that  it  stimulates  the  production  by  the 
"  '    '"■"■  ^ing  aniicoagulant   pro|)erties. — 

TTi  M.   Ch.    V.   Zenger.     A  solid 

''""'  „  -    -  I  ,     ■:■'■    f  revolution  is  cut  by  two  planes 

perpendicular  to  the  principal  axis,  and  [lassing  through  the  two 
foci.  Otir  flnl  end  I>cing  placed  as  usual  on  the  Inxly  surface, 
'*"■  '  ^e  other  focus  the  sounds  nf  organ  movc- 

""'■'  '••  intensity,  and  free  from   [xirasiiic  sounds 

fornnriiFi  iii^  iir  .j..iceof  the  ordinar)- instrument.— The  electro- 
dynamic  system  of  the  world,  by  .\I.  Ch.  V 


CiOTTINGEN. 

Royal  Society  of  Sciences. — "Y^ie  Nachrichtciu  l«rt  2  for 
1S9S,  contains  the  following  memoirs  of  scientific  interest : — 

May  25. — O.  Holder  :  On  groups  whose  order  is  free  from 
squares. 

June  15 — A.  Hurwitz  :  A  fundamental  theorem  in  the  arith- 
metical theory-  of  algebraic  magnitudes.  A.  von  Koenen  :  On 
the  selection  of  points  near  Goltingenat  which  differences  in  tlic 
intensity  of  gravity  may  be  ex|iected  in  trial  [XMHlulum  experi- 
ments. W.  Schur  :  On  the  results  of  the  first  pendulum  trilll^. 
W.  Voigt :  In  memoriam  Y.  E.  Neumann. 


I 


NO.    1349,  VOL.   52] 


Zenger. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Books. — Annual  Report  of  the  Department  of  Mines  and  Agriculture, 
?J.S.\V.,  for  the  Year  1S94  (Sydney).— Diseases  of  Personality  :  Prof.  Ribot, 
translated  (Chicago,  Open  Court  Publishing  Company). — Analytical  Kc\  t 
the   Natural  Orders   of   Flowering   Plants  :  F.  Thonner  (Sonncnschein  V 
Studies   in    the    Evolutionary-    Psychology   of    Feeling :    H.    M.    Si.in! 
(Sonnenschein). — Univer-.it>-  College,  Bristol,  Calendar  for  the  Session  i 
iSq6  (Bristol,  Arrowsmith).— Origin  of  Plant  Structures  :  Rev.  G.  Hen-1 
(K.    Paul). — Bourne's    Handy    Assurance    Manual,    1895  :    W.    Schooli,  .. 
(London). 

Pamphlets. — Stcnopaic  or  Pin-hole  Photography  :  F.  W.  Mills  and  A.  C. 
Ponton  (Dawbam). — University  Correspondence  College,  Ix>n.  Inter.  Science 
and  Prel.  Sci.  Guide,  No.  vii.  (Red  Lion  Square). — Ditto  Inter.  Arts  Guide, 
No.  X.  (Red  Lion  Square). 

Serials. — Indian  Museum  Notes,  Vol.  3,  Nos.  4  and  5  (Calcutt.i). — 
Chambers's  Journal,  September  (Ch.-vml>crs). — Contcmpor.iry  Review,  Sept- 
ember (Isbister). — Good  \Vord>,  September  (Isbistcr). — Sunday  Magazine, 
September  (Isb'ster). —  Humanitarian,  September  (Hutchinson). — N.xtional 
Review,  .September  (.Arnold). — Scribner's  M.igx/ine.  September  (I-Ovv>. — 
Fortnightly  Review,  September  (Chapman  and  Hall). — Clinical  Sketches, 
No.  S,  Vol.  2  (Smith,  Elder). — Notes  from  the  Lcydcn  Museum,  July 
(Leydcn,  Brill). — Journal  of  the  Royal  Microscopical  Society,  .Vugusl 
(Williams  and  Norgatc). — A  Monograph  of  the  Land  and  treshwater 
Mollusca;  1.  W.  T.iyIor,  Part  2  (Leeds.  T.iylor).— Bulletin  de  l.-Vca- 
d^mie  Royale  des  .Sciences  de  Belgique,  65*^  .■\nntc,  Xo.  7  (Bruxelles).— 
ZeitNchrift  fur  Physikalische  Chemie,  xvii.  Band,  4  Heft  (Leipzig). — Kala- 
log  der  Bibliothek  der  K.  Lxopol disch -Carol inisc hen  Deutschen  .Vkademie 
der  Xaturforscher,  Sechste  Liefg.  (Halle). — Ditto  Rcpertorium  7u  den  .Acta, 
und  Nova  Acta  der  .Akademie,  Erster  Band  (Halle). — The  .Asclepiad,  No. 
43,  Vol.  xi.  (Longmans). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  Pendulum  and  Geology,  liy  Rev.  O.  Fisher  .  433 
Some  Recent  Books  on  Mycology,  liy  A.  L.  S.  .  435 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Dubois:  "  The  Climates  of  the  Geological  Past,  and 

their  Relation  to  the  Evolution  of  the  Sun  "      ...    436 
Hol/miiller  :  "  Methodisches  Lehrbuchder  Elemcnlar- 

Mathematik." — G 437 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

Ikighis  I. f  August  Meteors.  — Prof.  A.  S.  Herschel, 

F.R.S •.   •   :    •    •  '437 

Do  the  Components  of  Comiiound  Colours  in  Nature 
follow  a  Law  of  Multiple  l'ro|X)rtion  ?— F.  Howard 

Collins 438 

Transformation    of    Moulds     and     Veasts.  —  R.    W. 

Atkinson  ;  The  Writer  of  the  Note 438 

Mr.    .ScLbohm  im   MirldcmlnrlV's   Crcdihilil).— Prof. 

Alfred  Newton.  F.R.S 438 

On  Photographs  of  the  Moon  taken    at    the  Paris 

Observatory 439 

Unscientific  Excavations  in   Egypt 439 

Joseph  Thomson.     Hy  Dr.  J.  W.  Gregory 440 

William   Crawford  Williamson.     Hy  Count  Solms- 

Laubach 44I 

Notes  443 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

The  Forms  of  Jupiter's  Satellites 445 

Ephemeris  of  Swift's  Comet 446 

Ciiniets  and  tlic  Sun-spot  IVriod 44^1 

The   Sun's  Place  in  Nature.     XI.     (Illustrated.)    By 

J.  Norman  Lockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S 44fi'j 

Science  in  the  Magazines 450l 

On    the    Electrolysis    of    Gases.      (Illustrated.)     By 

Prof  J.  J.   Thomson,  F.R.S 451] 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 455,1 

Scientific  Serials 4SS| 

Societies  and  Academies 455f 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 456 


NA  TURE 


457 


A    NEW  STANDARD   DICTIONARY. 

A  Sttinditrd  Dictionary  of  the  English  I.nnguage.  \'oI. 
ii.  Prepared  under  the  supervision  of  Dr.  I.  K.  P'unk, 
Dr.  F.  A.  March,  and  Dr.  D.  S:  Gregory.  (New  York 
and  London  :  Funk  and  Wagnall  Co.,  1895.) 

SINCE  the  appearance  of  the  first  volume  of  this 
work,  noticed  in  N.\TURE,  vol.  I.  p.  146,  we  have 
often  had  occasion  to  refer  to  it,  and  have  formed 
opinions  as  to  its  merits  and  faults.  In  many  respects 
the  dictionary  is  a  very  good  one  within  its  compass, 
though  it  does  not  contain  much  that  is  really  new. 

Before  going  further,  it  may  be  well  to  state  briefly  the 
magnitude  of  the  work,  and  to  give  a  general  idea  of  its 
characteristics.  The  two  volumes  run  into  2338  pages 
and  contain  301,865  vocabulary  terms,  embellished  by 
5000  illustrations.  A  point  upon  which  great  stress  is  put 
is  that  more  than  two  hundred  editors  ana  specialists 
have  assisted  in  the  production  of  the  work,  though  it  is 
not  clear  to  what  extent  this  assistance  was  given.  Their 
services,  with  those  of  the  five  hundred  readers  for 
quotations,  who  are  said  to  have  been  engaged  upon  this 
work,  have  helped  to  bring  the  cost  up  to  one  million 
dollars  !  Considering  how  little  there  is  in  the  dictionary 
that  is  not  in  the  "  Centuiy,"  "International,"  and  other 
American  dictionaries,  one  wonders  where  the  money  has 
gone.  This,  however,  is  by  the  way,  and  we  only  mention 
the  matter  because  the  large  amount  stated  to  have  been 
spent  in  the  production  of  the  dictionary  is  put  forward 
as  a  claim  to  favour. 

A  few  definitions  from  the  work  will  be  the  best  means 
of  indicating  its  merits.  A  whole  column  of  the  dictionary' 
is  taken  up  with  definitions,  and  examples,  of  the  use  of 
the  word  science  and  its  synonyms.  The  first  tuo  of  the 
six  definitions  given  are  as  follows  : — 

Science. — (i)  Knowledge  gained  and  verified  by  exact 
observation  and  correct  thinking,  especially  as  methodic- 
ally formulated  and  arranged  in  a  rational  system  ;  also, 
the  sum  of  universal  knowledge. 

(2)  .Any  department  of  knowledge  in  which  tlie  results 
of  investigation  have  been  worked  out  and  systematised  ; 
an  exact  and  systematic  statement  of  knowledge  con- 
cerning some  subject  or  group  of  subjects  ;  especially,  a 
system  of  ascertained  facts  and  principles  covering  and 
attempting  to  give  adequate  expression  to  a  great  natural 
group  or  division  of  knowledge. 

The  sciences  are  divided  in  the  dictionary  into  (i)  the 
mathematical,  treating  of  quantity;  (2)  the  physical,  treat- 
ing of  matter  and  its  properties  ;  (3)  the  biological,  treat- 
ing of  the  phenomena  of  life ;  (4)  the  anthropological, 
treating  of  man  ;  and  (5)  the  theological,  treating  of  the 
Deity.  All  the  divisions  are  fully  treated  under  their 
respective  heads.  Thus,  under  physical  sciences,  the 
classification  of  them  as  sciences  of  energy  is  given  ;  the 
biological  sciences  are  fully  tabulated  and  their  relation 
to  one  another  shown  with  all  their  sub-divisions,  and 
anthropology  is  made  to  embrace  all  the  sciences  relating 
to  man.  The  departments  of  anthropology  presented  in 
the  dictionary  are  {<>)  Somatology,  {/>)  Ethnology,  {c) 
Archivoloyy.  It  is  worth  while  printing  the  definition 
NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


of  the   third   of    these   for    the  benefit    of   unscientific 
archicologists. 

Archceology. — The  science  of  antiquities ;  in  its  widest 
sense,  the  branch  of  anthropology,  embracing  archaio- 
graphy,  concerned  with  the  systematic  investigation  of 
the  relics  of  man  and  of  his  industries,  and  the  classifi- 
cation and  treatment  of  ancient  remains  and  records  of 
any  or  every  kind,  whether  historic  or  prehistoric,  of 
ancient  places,  customs,  arts,  &c. 

In  popular  signification,  archaeology  refers  mainly  t» 
the  collection  or  investigation  of  the  materials  from  which 
a  knowledge  of  the  particular  country  under  investigation 
may  be  obtained,  which  materials  may  be  divided  into- 
written,  monumental,  and  traditional.  .Scientific  archit- 
ology  is  (l)  general,  including  (a)  the  geology  of  the 
epoch  of  man  and  (b)  the  prehistoric  ages  ;  and  (2)  special, 
including  the  study  of  separate  nations  and  areas. 

These  examples,  w-hich  could  be  multiplied  many  times, 
are  sufficient  to  show  the  generally  trustworthy  character, 
and  the  fulness,  of  the  definitions,  so  far  as  science  is  con- 
cerned. The  work  has  an  attractive  appearance,  anc5 
offers  every  facility  for  consultation,  and  is  altogether  a 
desirable  addition  to  a  library. 

THE   CHEMISTRY  OE  LIGHTING. 
Chemical  Technology,  or  Chemistry  in  its  Applications  to 
Arts  and  Manufactures.     Edited   by   C.    E.    Gro\es, 
F.R.S.,    and    W.    Thorp,    B.Sc.      \'ol.   ii.    Lighting. 
(London  :  J.  &  A.  Churchill,  1895.) 

THE  second  volume  of  this  important  work  pos- 
sesses great  intrinsic  worth.  Section  i.,  dealing 
with  fats  and  oils,  by  W.  Y.  Dent,  contains  much 
information  concisely  and  clearly  expressed.  It  may 
be  noted  that,  in  connection  with  the  determination  of 
specific  gravity,  the  -Sprengel  tube  is  described,  but  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  modification  of  this  apparatus 
having  the  capillary  arms  at  right  angles  and  provided 
with  expansion  bulbs,  although  the  latter  form  would 
always  be  used  where  accuracy  combined  with  ease  of 
manipulation  were  desired.  When  specific  gravities  are 
given  to  four  significant  figures,  correction  to  a  vacuum 
is  necessary,  or  the  fourth  figure  has  no  meaning.  No 
mention  is  made  of  this  in  the  text,  and  the  specific 
gravities  given  are  termed  densities,  a  misuse  of  the 
latter  term  which  occurs  much  too  often. 

The  second  Section,  on  stcarine,  by  J.  Mc.Arthur,  puts 
forth  the  main  processes  for  the  decomposition  of  fats  in 
a  very  explicit  form.  The  writer  wisely  confines  the 
term  "saponification  •'  to  decomposition  by  means  of  a 
base. 

The  account  of  the  candle  manufacture,  by  L.  and  F.  .-\. 
Field,  given  in  Section  iii.,  is  highly  interesting,  and  will 
be  read  with  profit  by  many  who  have  no  connection  with 
such  matters,  as  well  as  by  specialists.  Producers  of  gas 
may  well  believe  that  their  product  will  be  in  increasing 
demand  when  the  candle  industry  flourishes  in  spite  of 
the  introduction  of  later  forms  of  lighting.  Doubtless 
candles  owe  their  present  hold  on  the  public  favour 
largely  to  the  great  improvements  in  quality  effected  by 
recent  advances  in  the  methods  of  manufacture.  How 
great  these  advances  are  may  be  gathered  from  even  a 
rapid  perusal  of  the  pages  before  us. 

The  description,  in  Section  iv.,  of  the  p'etroleunv 
industry,  by   Boverton    Redwood,    is  both   graphic   and 

X 


458 


NA  TURE 


[September  x2,  1895 


•complete.  It  forms  the  best  monograph  on  the  subject 
yet  written.  The  origin  of  petroleum  is  so  treated  as  to 
present  the  various  theories  put  forvvard  to  account  for 
its  occurrence  ;  necessarily,  no  authoritative  decision  can 
be  griven  on  this  ver)-  debatable  question.  Concerning 
the  occurrence  of  sulphur  in  the  petroleums  from  Ohio 
and  Canada,  those  interested  would  do  well  to  supplement 
the  bare  mention  of  the  fact  here  given  by  reference  to 
the  July  number  of  the/owr/W  of  the  Franklin  Institute, 
where  C.  F.  .Maber\-  gives  an  account  in  which  the 
•subject  is  treated  as  its  importance  requires.  Warren  is 
stated  by  Mr.  Redwood  to  have  isolated  hydrocarbons  of 
the  C„H^„  series,  termed  naphthenes  by  Markownikoff. 
Mr.  Maberj-  shows  that  the  Ohio  and  Canadian  petro- 
leums do  not  yield  the  naphthenes  of  Markownikoff  and 
Ogloblin,  but  give  hydrocarbons  of  the  C„H2„-+  ■,  scries  of 
similar  boiling  points.  This  writer  also  proves  con- 
•clusivcly  the  presence  of  benzene,  toluene,  and  xylenes  in 
these  petroleums.  ■ 

The  manufacture  of  shale  oil  gives  yet  another  instance 
of  the  application  of  continuous  processes  ;  the  te.\t  con- 
tains very  lucid  descriptions  of  these,  well  and  sufficiently 
■JUustraied.  Few  of  the  general  public  can  have  any 
adequate  conception  of  the  number  and  variety  of  lamps 
in  existence  for  use  with  oils.  An  exhaustive  account  is 
given  of  these,  and  the  advantages  or  disadvantages 
■characteristic  of  the  mam  types  of  oil-lamps  are  dwelt 
upon  at  sufficient  length  to  enable  an  intelligent  judgment 
to  be  formed  as  to  the  suitability  of  any  particular  lamp 
for  the  work  required  from  it. 

The  .Section  on  safety-lamps,  with  which  this  volume 
concludes,  has  been  contributed  by  D.  A.  Louis,  in  con- 
junction with  Boverton  Redwood.  It  gives  by  no  means 
the  least  interesting  reading.  Although  the  excellent 
account  of  the  lamp-indication  of  fire-damp  is  highly 
technical,  and  calculated  to  be  eminently  useful  to 
specialists,  the  general  reader  will  find  no  difficulty  in 
grasping  the  principles  involved,  and  will  much  appreciate 
the  clearness  with  which  this  important  subject  is  treated. 

It  may  be  hoped  that  the  high  standard  exhibited  in 
this  volume  will  be  maintained  in  volume  iii.,  announced 
as  to  appear  shortly.  The  editors  are  certainly  to  be 
•congratulated  on  the  excellent  production  now  before  us. 

N\".  T. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Science  Readers.      By   X'incent   T.    Murche.      Hook   iv. 

Pp.  216.  fLondon  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 
Thk  conversational  method  of  instruction,  which  used 
to  be  so  general  in  school  books,  is  not  one  that  leads 
to  pleasant  memories.  Mr.  Murch^  has  created  two  boy 
prodigies  in  his  "Science  Readers," and  they  ask  and 
answer  questions  of  a  teacher  whose  laudable  ambition 
is  to  elii.it  and  impart  all  kinds  of  scientific  know- 
ledge upon  every  suitable  or  unsuitable  occasion.  We 
revi-rcn'  e  that  teacher  for  his  patience  and  for  his  ability 
to  find  texts  in  ever>'thing.  The  pity  of  it  is,  that  lessons 
given  m  this  way  on  all  and  sundry  topics  lack  the  quality 
whi'  h  lies  at  the  base  of  all  true  scientific  knowledge, 
viz.  the  orderly  arrangement  of  facts.  \  lesson  on 
solids,  liquids,  and  gases  precedes  one  on  our  br  lies, 
another  on  gravity  precedes  a  lesson  on  vertebrates  and 
invertebrates.  A  lesson  on  the  classification  of  inverte- 
brates is  wedged  between  two  on  hydrostatic  pressure, 

NO.    1350.  VOL.   52] 


and  so  on  throughout  the  book.  Possibly  the  variety  is 
introduced  to  charm  the  youthful  mind,  but  it  is  not  a 
desirable  attribute  of  the  book  ;  for  the  method  must 
result  in  the  acquisition  of  unconnected  information,  and 
such  knowledge  has  little  to  commend  it.  In  the  matter 
of  illustration,  and  simplicity  of  language,  the  book  leaves 
little  to  be  desired. 

A  Giirdoi  of  Pleasure.    By  E.  \*.  B.    Pp.220.    (London: 
Elliot  -Stock,  1895.) 

A  FEW  chapters  fresh  with  the  fragrance  of  common 
countrj-  flowers,  and  breathing  the  life  of  "  lustrous 
woodland."  Here  and  there  the  authoress  lapses  into 
sentiment,  but,  taken  as  a  whole,  her  language  is 
attractive  in  its  simplicity.  The  changes  that  go  on  in 
organic  nature  from  month  to  month  are  drawn  with 
careful  touch,  and  many  students  of  botany  would  derive 
benefit  from  the  contemplation  of  the  sketches. 


On   the   Temperature    Variation    of  the    Thermal 
Conductivity  of  Rocks. 

Naturk  reproduces  the  results  obtained  by  Lord  Ki-lvin, 
P.R.S.,andJ.  R.  Erskinc  Murray,  a  paper  read  at  the  Rnyal 
Society,  May  30,  "  On  the  Tcniperalure  Variation  of  the  Thermal 
Conductivity  of  Rocks."  These  gentlemen  arrived  at  the  following 
rosulls  :  "  (§  '3)^  •  •  •  that  for  slate  with  lines  of  fluor  parallel  to 
cleavage  planes,  the  mean  conductivity  in  the  range  from  123'  C. 
to  202'  C.  is  91  per  cent,  of  the  mean  conduclivily  in  tlie  ran^e 
from  50"  C.  to  123°  C,  and  for  granite  the  mean  (-onilurtivity  in 
the  range  from  145"  C.  to  214"  C.  is  88  percent,  of  the  mean 
conduclivily  in  the  range  from  81"  C.  to  145°  C." 

These  results  are  so  widely  different  from  those  I  obtained 
by  another  method,  and  which  Lord  Kelvin  had  the  kindness  to 
publish  in  Naturk,  March  7,  1S95,  p.  439,  that  I  must  be 
aIlo\vc<l  to  intro<hice  here  a  wor<l  of  objection. 

It  seems  to  me  that  details  of  experimental  dispositions  are 
important  cnou);h.  and  should  be  trustworthy.  It  is  however, 
not  opportune  to  ibscuss  them  minutely  now. 

The  experimenters  lased  their  work  on  the  case  of  Fourier's 


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  refected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  Nature. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications. '\ 

The  "i4026^5'j"  Line  and  Dj. 

Mav  I  call  attention  to  the  f;»ct  that  the  line  at  4026'5,  now 
recognised  as  belonging  to  the  spectrum  of  helium,  and  con- 
spicuous in  the  Orion  stars,  is  also  prominent  in  the  S])ectrum  of 
the  solar  chromosphere.  -Vlthough  not  given  in  the  catalogue 
of  chromosphere  lines  (which  dates  from  1S72),  it  was  observed 
and  published  as  long  ago  as  18S3  (Am.  four.  Sci.  and  Art., 
November  18S3),  in  connection  with  another  line  at  4092,  seen 
at  the  same  time.  Since  then  the  4026  line  has  been  observed 
repeatedly,  and  might  be  given  a  place  in  the  catalogue  with  a 
relative  frequency  of  about  15,  and  a  brightness  of  3  or  4.  Like 
the  other  helium  lines  it  has  no  dark  analogue  in  the  ordinary 
solar  spectrum.  The  4092  line  frills  upon  a  strong  double  line 
shown  uiwii  Rowland's  map,  but  I  am  not  sure  to  which  of  the 
two  comjjonents  it  belongs  ;  it  is  faint,  antl  seldom  seen. 

While  D3  rarely  ajipcars  as  a  dark  line  upon  the  solar  spec- 
trum, yet  in  the  course  of  over  twenty  years  I  am  able  to  count 
up  a  considerable  number  of  instances ;  certainly  not  less  than 
twenty  or  thirty.  The  jihenomenon  occurs  usually  in  the 
penumbral  region  of  an  active  sun-spot,  which  in  its  nucleus 
reverses  the  lines  of  hydrogen,  magnesium,  and  sodium,  and 
sometimes  D3  itself.  By  a  slight  motion  of  the  telescope  as  one 
passes  away  from  the  nucleus,  it  crosses  regions  where  Dj 
appears  as  a  smoky  shade  :  on  i>age  130  of  "  The  Sun  "  I  have 
figured  a  typical  case.  i_ 

I  have  not  yet  been  fortunate  enough  to  .sec  the  duplicity  ol 
D3  myself,  but  Prof.  Reed  has  observetl  it  on  several  occasions. 

Hanover,  N.H.,  .Vugust  26.  C.  A.  VoUNC. 


September  12,  1895] 


NATURE 


459 


I 


"indefinite  wall,"  which  is  characterised  by  the  fact  that 
temperature  differences  in  the  parallel  jManes  are  exactly  pro- 
portional to  the  distances  of  these  planes.  According  to  the 
experiment,  they  get  the  result  that  this  proportionality  does 
not  exist,  and  that  conductihility  varies  much  according  to 
temperature. 

In  my  opinion,  this  absence  of  proportionality  arrived  at, 
proves  rather  that  the  experimental  conditions  were  defective, 
and  are  in  contradiction  with  the  hypothesis  of  the  "  indefinite 
wall "  case. 

I  admit,  in  principle,  the  employed  method,  but  I  think  it 
should  be  modified  until — for  the  same  temperature  of  the  latli, 
the  said  proportionality  should  be  obtained  ;  then,  in  a  new 
exiwriment.  the  temperature  of  the  bath  being  higher,  it  should 
lie  verified  if  the  proportionality  and  the  conductihility  remain, 
or  if  the  last  increases  or  diminishes  with  the  temperature. 

Neuchatel,  August.  Robert  Weber. 


Experimental   Mountain-building. 

Prof.  Johannes  Walther,  of  Jena,  requests  me  to  com- 
municate to  you  the  following  details  regarding  an  interesting 
experiment  which  he  has  recently  devised  for  teaching  purposes  : 
it  is  intended  to  explain  mountain-formation. 

He  compares  the  system  of  folds  on  the  surface  of  our  slowly- 
ageing  earth  to  the  wrinkles  which  form  on  the  skin  of  a  drj-ing 
apple,  and  points  out  that  the  height  of  our  mountain-chains  in 
relation  to  the  mass  of  the  globe  is  precisely  comparable  to  the 
wrinkles  on  the  skin  of  the  apple.  In  order  to  demonstrate  the 
formation  of  these  folds,  he  takes  an  indiarubber  balloon  (a), 
and  attaches  to  it  a  bit  of  glass  tubing  (B).  On  to  this  is 
stretched  a  piece  of  indiarubber  tubing  (c),  which  is  pinched 
close  by  the  stopcock  (i>).  When  the  indiarubber  balloon  is 
blown  out  to  its  full  capacity,  it  is  spread  over  with  a  layer  of 
flour-paste   two   millimetres   thick,    and    is   then     dipped    and 


twirled  round  and  round  in  dry  wheaten  flour  until  a  per- 
fectly smooth  crust,  three  to  four  millimetres  in  thickness,  covers 
the  whole  sphere.  The  balloon  is  then  placed  on  a  tripod,  so 
that  the  indiarubber  tubing  (c)  dips  exactly  into  a  glass  of 
water  standing  below.  Thereupon  the  stopcock  is  turned  open, 
and  the  air  is  allowed  to  escape  in  single  bubbles  :  the  volume 
of  the  ball  is  lessened,  and  lateral  pressure  makes  itself  immedi- 
ately felt  in  the  paste-crust.  Small  folds  gradually  grow  bigger, 
single  fiilds  unite  to  form  systems  of  folds,  flat  areas  of  depres- 
sion sink  deeper  and  deeper,  and  the  neighbouring  folds  twirl 
and  cross  over  the  depression.  The  features  of  the  Cordilleras, 
of  the  Jura,  and  many  other  well-known  tectonic  relations  are 
thus  reproduced  with  striking  accuracy.  Whenever  it  is  desired 
to  repeat  the  experiment,  one  need  simply  blow  the  balloon  out 
again,  smooth  out  the  folded  surface  by  dipping  and  twirling  in 
dry  flour,  and  all  is  ready  for  another  demonstration. 

London,  August  26.  L.  Belinfante. 

Joseph  Thomson. 

In  Mr.  Gregorj-'s  sympathetic  notice  (Nature,  p.  440)  of 
Joseph  Thomson,  he  hardly  docs  justice  to  the  memory  of  the 
deceased  traveller  in  relation  to  the  scientific  results  of  his  ex- 
jieditions  ;  at  least  so  far  as  botany  is  concerned.  During  his 
too  short  career  Thomson  presented  three  considerable  col- 
lections of  dried  plants  to  Kew.     The  first,  which  appears  to 


have  been  made  on  his  own  initiative,  chiefly  between  Lake- 
Nyassa  and  Lake  Tanganyika,  was  secured  for  Kew  in  1880, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  the  late  Colonel  J.  A.  Grant, 
F.R..S.  This  was  not  the  subject  of  a  special  paper:  yet  it 
contained  a  number  of  interesting  novelties,  some  of  which 
have  from  time  to  time  been  published  in  Hooker's  '"  Icones- 
Plantarum ''  and  elsewhere.  Before  going  out  j^ain  Thomson 
carefully  studied  the  means  by  which  his  collecting  opportunities 
might  be  turned  to  the  greatest  advantage,  .\rmed  with  this 
knowledge  he  collected  even  more  successfully  in  the  Kilimanjaro' 
and  other  mountains  of  Eastern  Equatorial  .\frica.  This  second 
collection  reached  Kew  in  September  1884,  and  proved  of  the 
greatest  scientific  importance,  being  the  first  adequate  illustra- 
tion of  the  mountain  flora  of  that  region.  It  contained  scarcely 
150  species  ;  but  the  specimens  were  selected  with  admirable 
judgment,  and  were  sufficient  for  all  jiurposes.  It  was  worked 
out  by  Sir  Joseph  D.  Hooker  and  Prof  D.  Oliver,  and  the  very 
important  results  recorded  in  the  twenty-first  volume  of  the 
fotinial  of  the  Linnean  Society.  This  paper  and  Thomson's 
collection  will  always  rank  among  the  classical  documents  for  the 
study  of  the  phytogeography  of  Central  Africa.  Subsequently 
Mr.  Thomson  sent  to  Kew  the  botanical  fruits  of  his  journey  to 
the  Atlas  Mountains,  and  although  they  contained  very  few 
previously  unknown  plants,  they  were  none  the  less  instructive 
as  a  sample  of  the  flora  of  that  comparatively  little-known  part 
of  the  world.  Had  he  preserved  his  health  Thomson  might 
have  taken  his  place  in  the  first  rank  of  botanical  explorers.  He 
had  ac(|uired  the  rare  gift  of  selection  in  collecting  ;  of  knowing, 
what  to  secure  and  what  to  neglect. 

W.    BOTTING   HeMSLEV. 


Late   Nestlings. 

To-D.\v  I  observed  nests  of  the  house-martin  underneath  the 
eaves  of  the  clock-tower  at  Lamlash  Pier,  on  the  south  and  west 
sides.  The  parents  were  busy  feeding  their  young,  whose  cries  I 
heard.  Surely  this  is  a  late  date  for  a  migratory  bird.  How. 
are  these  nestlings  to  get  across  the  ocean  ?  Jas.  Shaw. 

Barrhead,  September  7. 


THE  INSTITUTE  OF  FRANCE. 

IN  a  few  weeks,  at  the  end  of  October,  the  Institut 
National  de  France  is  to  celebrate  its  first  cen- 
tenary. Some  words  concerning  its  origin  and  organi- 
sation may  be  of  interest  at  the  present  moment. 

The  Institute  is  the  outcome  of  a  previous  scientific 
society,  entirely  due  to  individual  initiative.  During  the 
first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century,  a  few  men,  between, 
whom  love  of  science  was  a  firm  bond,  agreed  to  meet  at 
regular  intervals  at  the  house  of  one  of  their  number,  in- 
formally, in  order  to  exchange  views,  to  keep  each  other 
posted  up  on  their  various  researches,  and  to  make  up  an 
unconventional  assembly  of  congenial  spirits.  It  was 
more  of  a  temporary  or  intermittent  club  than  a  real 
society,  as  we  understand  the  latter  now.  These  men 
were  mostly  mathematicians  and  physicists — for  at  that 
time  natural  science  was  more  in  the  •u'crdcn  than 
in  the  scitt  state — and  Mersenne,  Descartes,  Blaise  Pascal, 
Gassendi,  are  some  of  them.  Their  meetings  soon 
attracted  public  attention,  and  the  great  Colbert,  anxious 
for  the  development  of  the  arts  of  peace  after  the  Pyrenees 
treaty  had  put  an  end  to  the  war,  considered  them  as 
being  of  sufficient  importance  and  utility  to  take  an 
interest  in  them,  and  to  support  the  incipient  society 
officially. 

Colbert  even  made  out  a  full  plan  of  what  was  to  be 
realised  200  years  later  ;  what  he  organised  was  a  body 
of  scientific  men  who  were  to  meet  at  regular  inten-als> 
and  were  divided  into  three  classes — historical  scholars, 
literary  men,  and,  finally,  scientific  men.  The  private 
society  of  mathematicians  and  physicists  grew  into  the 
Academic  des  Sciences,  and  each  of  the  three  academies 
met  separately  in  the  Bibliotheque  du  Roi,  at  Colbert's 
own  residence.  The  king,  as  a  sign  of  his  approval, 
gave  some  money  for  experiments,  and  some  pensions. 


NO.   1350,  VOL.   52] 


460 


NATURE 


[Septembkr  12,  1895 


Among  the  members  (no  one  knows  how  they  were 
iippointed)  were  Huyghens,  Mariotte,  Pecquet,  Picard, 
Robertval.  The  Academy  of  Sciences,  the  Academic 
Fran(;aisc,  and  the  Acadtfrnie  des  Inscriptions  et  Medailles 
thus  lived  in  harmony,  each  having  its  particular  pursuits. 
The  historj"  of  these  academies  would  take  too  much 
space  :  it  is  enough  to  have  shown  how  they  originated. 
They  lived  on  till  the  Revolution,  when  they  were 
organised  on  a  new  basis,  and  the  Institute  came  into 
e.xistence.  The  whole  constitution  of  France  being 
altered,  that  of  the  academies  had  also  to  be  changed. 

The  Institute  was  founded  in  1795.  Article  29S  of  the 
Constitution  du  5  Fnictidor,  an  iii.  (August  22,  1795) 
gave  it  the  mission  of  "  registering  discoveries,  and  per- 
fecting arts  and  sciences,"  while  later  laws  provided  for 
the  details  of  the  scheme,  that  of  the  3  Brumain;  an  iv., 
i.e.  October  25,  1795.  According  to  this  law,  the  Institut 
National — a  new  name  applied  to,  practically,  an  old  thing 
— was  divided  into  three  classes — scientific  (10  sections)  ; 
moral  and  political  (6  sections)  ;  literary-  and  artistic 
(8  sections).  Bonaparte  (3  Plii7'iose,  an  xi.,  January  23, 
1803)  altered  this  plan,  and  added  a  fourth  class,  so  that 
the  Institute  comprised  the  class  of  mathematical  and 
physical  sciences,  with  1 1  sections  ;  that  of  French 
language  and  literature  (no  sections) ;  that  of  ancient 
language  and  literature  (no  sections)  ;  and  that  of  fine 
arts  (5  sections).  In  1816,  upon  the  return  of  monarchy, 
the  general  plan  was  respected,  but  in  1832  a  fifth  class 
was  added  :  that  of  moral  and  political  sciences,  which 
had  disappeared  in  1803.  Those  five  classes  still  exist, 
under  the  names  of  Academic  Fran^aise,  Academic  des 
Sciences,  Academic  des  Beaux-.^rts,  Academic  des 
Sciences  Morales  et  Politiques,  .Academic  des  Inscriptions 
ct  Belles  Lettrcs.  They  still  dwell  in  the  Palais  des 
Quatre  Nations  on  the  Seine,  where  Bonaparte  housed 
them  in  1805. 

At  present,  the  Institute  is  a  society  of  men  of  emin- 
ence, divided  into  five  distinct  sub-societies,  or  academies, 
each  member  being  at  the  same  time,  and  as  a  matter  of 
course,  member  of  this  or  that  particular  academy,  and 
of  the  Institute  as  a  whole.  Each  academy  has  its 
definite  purpose,  and  meets  each  week  on  fixed  and 
different  days  ;  the  Institute,  as  a  whole,  meets  once  a 
year,  in  October. 

As  a  whole,  the  Institute  is  regulated  by  a  committee 
of  delegates,  elected  by,  and  in,  the  five  academics,  while 
each  academy  has  its  own  president  and  secretary. 

Two  points  must  be  noticed  in  reference  to  the 
academies.  The  one  is  that  the  Academic  de  Medicine 
has  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  Institute  ;  it  is  a  separate 
society  (of  medical  men  onlyj  quite  distinct,  without  the 
slightest  relationship  to  any  of  the  above-mentioned 
academies,  or  to  the  Institute.  The  other  is  that  there  is 
no  connection  whatever  between  the  Institute  or  academies 
which  make  up  the  Institute,  and  the  title  of  Officier 
d'Acaddmic.  To  be  Officier  d'Academie  is  to  have  re- 
ceived from  the  Department  of  Public  Instruction  a 
special  decoration  of  the  Palmes  Aeadi'miques)  which  is, 
theoretically  at  least,  more  specially  destined  to  persons 
who  ser\c  the  cause  of  education  and  instruction.  The 
Offiriers  d'Academie  are  thousands  in  number  ;  they 
have  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  .Academies. 

Now,  as  to  the  membership  of  (he  latter. 

New  members  are  always  elected  by  the  members  of 
each  academy.  \  man  ronsiders  himself  as  eligible  for 
such  or  such  academy  ;  all  he  has  to  do,  when  a  vacancy 
occurs  in  the  academy  or  in  the  section  to  which  he 
should  belong,  considering  his  previous  work,  is  to 
declare  himself  a  candidate  by  a  letter  addressed 
to  the  president  of  the  latter,  and  to  prepare  a 
pamphlet  in  which  he  gives  the  list  of  his  scientific  or 
literary  titles,  of  his  works,  of  his  researches  or  dis- 
lovcries.  of  the  functions  he  has  occupied.  .Vr.:  .mil  ihis 

NO.    1350,  VOL.    52] 


pamphlet  he  sends  or  can  10  to  each  of  the  members  of 
the  academy.     It  is  customar\'  for  every  candidate  to  pay 
a  visit  to  each  of  the  latter,  and  then  he  waits  for  the  re- 
sult ;  in  the  meantime  canvassing,  in  order  to  secure  this 
or  that  member's  vote  «hen  things  do  not  seem  to  run 
smoothly.     A  verj-  amusing   book   might  be   written  of 
[  the  anecdotes  which  are  current  upon  the  devices  sug- 
,  gestcd  to  the  candidates  by  what   is  called  the  "  green 
fever,"  la  Jih're  verte,  the  fever  which  takes  hold  of  a  man 
\  anxious  to    wear    the    green-laced    uniform    which    the 
;  members  of  the   Institute  wear  upon   official  occasions. 
But  such  a  book  could  be  published  only  after  the  death 
of  the  author  and  of  those  concerned.     ( icncrally  speak- 
ing, however,  the  Academic   des  Sciences  would    con- 
tribute little  to  the  making  of  this  book.     Each  election 
must   be  approved  by   the  President    of  the    Republic, 
and  is  approved  as  a  matter  of  course.     Each  member 
recei\es  a  small  indemnile  of  £(x)  a  year. 

Each  academy  has  a  limited  number  of  members,  but 
in  most  academies  there  are  different  classes  of  member- 
ship. The  Academic  Fran(;aisc,  for  literary  men,  com- 
prises 40  immortals  all  told,  one  of  whom  is  perpetual 
(life)  secretary'.  It  has  no  associates  nor  corresponding 
members,  and  while  the  members  have  little  or  nothing 
to  do  as  members,  save  the  preparation  of  a  dictionary', 
and  examining  works  which  compete  for  various  prizes,  it  is 
the  custom  for  each  new  member  to  deliver  a  ver\'  elabo- 
rate speech  concerning  his  predecessor,  and  one  of  the 
members  answers  this  discours  de  n'ception  by  a  speech 
concerning  the  works  of  the  new-comer. 

The  Academic  des  Inscriptions  et  Belles  Lettres,  for 
men  who  deal  specially  with  history,  comprises  40 
members  (of  whom  one  is  life-secretary),  10  free  members, 
8  foreign  associates,  30  foreign  and  20  national  corre- 
sponding members.  Among  the  foreign  associates  are 
Prof.  Max  Miiller,  Sir  Hcnr)'  Rawlinson,  W.  Stokes  ; 
among  foreign  corresponding  members,  Mr.  R.  .S.  Poole, 
j  Sir  J.  Evans,  M.  .A.  Neubauer,  .Sir  E.  M.  Thompson. 
The  .Academic  des  Beaux-.-\rts  is  divided  into  five 
sections  (painting,  sculpture,  architecture,  engraving, 
music),  and  comprises  41  members  (one  of  whom  is  life- 
secretary).  There  are  besides  10  free  members,  10  foreign 
associates,  and  50  correspondents.  Among  the  associates 
are  Sir  J.  E.  Millais,  .Sir  F.  Leighton,  Mr.  Alma  Tadema  ; 
among  the  corresponding  members,  Prof  11.  llerkomer, 
.Sir  E.  Murne-Iones,  .Mr.  Watcrhouse,  Mr.  R.  W.  Macbeth. 
The  .Academic  des  .Sciences  Morales  et  Politiques  is 
divided  into  five  sections  (philosophy,  morals,  law,  political 
economy,  history),  and  comprises  40  members  (of  whom 
one  is  life-secretary),  16  free  members,  6  foreign  associates, 
48  corresponding  members.  .Among  the  foreign  associates 
are  Right  Hon.  \V.  E.  ("iladslone  and  Mr.  Henry  Reeve  ; 
Mr.  Robert  Flint,  Right  Hon.  J.  Brycc,  Sir  Frcdk.  Pollock, 
Right  Hon.  (■.  J.  ("lOschen,  Bishop  Stubbs,  and  Mr. 
Lecky  are  corresponding  members. 

Last,  but  by  no  means  least,  comes  the  Academic  des 
Sciences,which  certainly  exerts  the  largest  influence,  and 
is  the  most  highly  considered  in  public  opinion.  Divided 
into  eleven  sections,  it  comprises  68  members  (of  whom 
two  arc  lifc-secrelaries),  10  free  members,  8  foreign  as- 
sociates, 100  corresponding  members.  Lord  Kelvin,  Sir 
Joseph  Lister,  and  Dr.  E.  Frankland  are  among  the  asso- 
ciates. The  British  Correspondants  are  as  follows  : — 
Mathematical  sciences — geometry  :  Prof  J.  J.  Sylvester, 
Rev.  Prof  Salmon  :  astronomy  :  Dr.  J.  R.  Hind,  Mr. 
Norman  Lockyer,  Dr.  W.  Iluggins  ;  geography  and 
navigation  :  .Sir  (ieorge  Henry  Richards  ;  general 
physics  :  .Sir  ('•.  O.  Stokes,  Lord  Rayleigh.  Physical 
sciences — chcmistiy  :  Prof  A.  W.  Williamson,  .Sir  Henry 
Roscoc,  Prof  W.  Ramsay  ;  mineralogy  :  Dr.  J.  Prest- 
wich,  .Sir  A.  Oeikie  ;  botany:  Sir  Joseph  I).  Hooker,  Dr. 
Maxwell  Masters  ;  rural  economy  :  Sir  J.  B.  Lawcs,  Sir 
J.    H.  (iilbert  ;  anatomy  and  zoology:   Sir  W.    Flower; 


September  12,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


461 


medicine  and  surgery  :  Sir  James  Paget.     Prof.  Huxley 
was  a  corresponding  member  also. 

Each  academy  has  more  or  less  money  left  to  it  in 
order  to  distribute  prizes  for  different  subject-matters  ; 
the  .A-cademie  des  .Sciences  and  Acadifmie  Frani;aise  are 
the  richest.  The  Duke  d'Aumale  has  agreed  to  leave 
the  splendid  residence  of  Chantilly,  with  the  books  and 
collections  it  contains,  to  the  Institute,  and  this  handsome 
gift  is  accompanied  by  a  sum  of  money  to  help  to  keep 
the  castle  in  good  order.  It  is  estimated  that,  all  paid, 
the  Institute  will  be  100,000  francs  richer  each  year  for 
this  gift. 

English  corresponding  members  and  associates  will 
have  a  good  opportunity  of  visiting  the  fine  chateau  of 
Chantilly,  for  on  October  26  the  Duke  opens  the  doors 
to  all  members  of  the  Institute,  and  bids  them  welcome. 
The  celebration  of  the  centenary,  to  which  all  members  of 
each  .Academy,  all  corresponding  members  and  associates 
in  e\erj  country  have  laeen,  or  are  being,  invited,  will 
last  four  days.  The  programme  has  been  given  in 
N.'VTURK  (.August  8)  in  full.  The  only  new  feature  I 
can  introduce,  is  the  programme  of  the  afternoon  per- 
formance at  the  Comeilie  Kranqaise,  where  the  best 
actors  of  the  best  theatre  in  France  will  play  Les  Horaces 
(Comeilie),  Les  Femmes  Savantes  (Moliere),  and  recite  a 
piece  of  poetry  by  .Sully-Prudhomme.  The  railway 
fares  will  be  reduced  50  per  cent,  for  all  foreigners 
invited. 

All  may  be  sure  to  receive  a  hearty  welcome.  If  the 
Institut  de  France  does  not  contain  all  our  "best  men  " 
in  the  different  departments  of  knowledge  or  art,  it  con- 
tains only  men  of  recognised  authority.  They  are  men 
whose  aims  are  noble,  and  their  feelings  can  but  be  most 
cordial  towards  those  whose  aims  are  the  same  towards 
their  fellow-workers,  whatever  language  they  speak,  what- 
ever country  they  come  from,  towards  all  whose  work  and 
character  are  high  enough  to  have  secured  for  them  the 
Inghest  recognition  French  science  can  award. 

Henrv  de  V.\rigny. 


THE   IPSU'/CH  MEETING   OF  THE  BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 

C  U.MING  after  the  Oxford  j-car,  the  meeting  at  Ipswich 
is  in  numljers  a  comparatively  small  one  :  but,  from 
a  scientific  point  of  view,  everything  augurs  well.  The 
papers  promise  to  be  of  more  than  usual  interest,  and 
are  so  numerous  that  most  of  the  Sections  will  have  to 
sit  early  and  late  in  order  to  get  through  all  the  work 
before  them. 

We  have  pre\iously  referred  at  some  length  to  the 
work  proposed  for  Sections  A,  B,  C,  D,  G,  and  H. 

Section  D  is  this  year  reserved  entirely  to  zoology  and 
animal  physiology,  under  the  presidency  of  Prof  \V.  X. 
Herdman. 

Prof  .'\.  C.  Haddon  will  read  a  paper  on  the  exploration 
of  the  isles  of  the  Pacific.  Dr.  Bashford  Deane,  of  New 
York,  is  to  read  two  papers — one  on  an  apparatus  for 
catching  oyster  spat,  the  other  on  the  ganoids  of  North 
America.  Prof  .Mcintosh  will  open  a  discussion  on 
British  fisheries.  A  paper  will  be  read  by  the  Rev.  T.  K.  R. 
Stebbing,  on  zoological  nomenclature  and  publication. 
Special  interest  is  likely  to  be  taken  in  a  jjaper  by  the 
President  and  Prof  Poycc  on  the  subject  of  oysters  and 
typhoid,  by  those  who  propose  to  join  in  the  excursion 
to  the  Colne  Oyster  Fisher)-  (Colchester),  which  has  just 
been  added  to  the  programme  for  W'edncsdav.  It  is 
intended  to  make  a  large  use  of  the  lantern  for  illustrating 
papers  in  the  .Section. 

The  provisional  programme  in  Section  E  (Geography) 
makes  it   evident   tliat   the   .Section  is,  as  usual,  to  be  a 

NO.    1350,  VOL.    52] 


popular  one.  After  the  address  of  the  President,  Mr. 
II.  J.  Mackinder,  an  account  will  be  given,  by  Mr.  H.  S. 
Cowper,  of  a  journey  over  Tarhuna  and  Gharian  in 
Tripoli  ;  and  Mr.  J.  Batalka-Reis  will  discuss  how  to 
consider  and  write  the  history  of  the  discovery  of  the 
world.  On  Friday,  the  papers  will  be  given  by  Mr.  C.  E. 
Borchgrevink,  describing  his  voyage  to  the  .Antarctic 
Sea  ;  by  .Mr.  H.  N.  Dickson,  on  oceanographical  research 
in  the  North  Sea  ;  by  Mr.  \V.  B.  Blaikie,  on  the  cosmo- 
sphere  ;  and  bv  Mr.  John  Dodd,  on  Formosa.  On  Mon- 
day, Mr.  E.  G.  Ravenstein  will  present  a  report  on  the 
climate  of  tropical  .Africa  ;  and  there  will  be  papers  by 
Mr.  G.  F.  Scott  Elliot,  on  Ruwenzori  and  East  Africa  ;  by 
Captain  S.  L.  Hinde,  on  the  Congo  State  ;  by  Mr.  J.  T.  P. 
Keatly,  on  the  port  of  the  L'pper  Nile  in  relation  to  the 
highways  of  commerce  ;  and  by  Mr.  J.  L.  Myres,  on  the 
maps  of  Herodotus.  On  Tuesday,  Mr.  Weston  will 
deal  with  the  New  Zealand  Alps,  and  Mr.  J.  L.  Myres 
with  ."Xsia  .Minor,  whilst  Mr.  A.  Trevor  Battye  will  give 
an  account  of  Kolguev. 

In  Section  F  (Economic  Science  and  Statistics),  over 
which  Mr.  L.  L.Price  presides,  bimetallism  appears  early 
on  the  scene,  the  arrangement  being  to  devote  Friday 
morning  to  a  monetary  discussion,  in  which  represen- 
tatives of  the  Bimetallic  League  and  of  the  Gold  Standard 
Defence  Association,  and  others,  are  expected  to  take 
part.  Monday  will  be  given  up  to  a  discussion  on  the 
state  of  agriculture,  on  which  question  Captain  E.  G. 
Pretyman,  M.P.,  will  read  a  paper  from  the  landlord's 
point  of  view,  and  Mr.  Herman  Biddell  one  from  the 
tenant's  point  of  view.  This  discussion  has  unfortunately 
been  fixed  for  the  same  day  as  the  discussion  on  the 
relation  of  chemistry  to  agriculture  in  .Section  B,  but  it 
is  hoped  that  by  an  arrangement  of  the  hours  the  two 
discussions  mav  not  clash.  Other  contributions  in  Section 
F  will  be  by  Mr.  H.  W.  Woltf,  on  land  banks  ;  Mr.  H. 
Moore,  on  co-operation  in  agriculture  ;  Mr.  E.  Cannan, 
on  population  ;  Mr.  H.  Higgs,  on  the  climbing  ratio  ; 
and  Rev.  Frome  Wilkinson,  on  the  State  and  the 
labourer. 

In  Section  H  (.-Anthropology),  in  which  Prof  W.  M. 
Flinders  Petrie  presides,  ethnology  is  to  play  a  prominent 
part.  The  Section  will,  therefore,  feel  all  the  more  the 
absence  of  Mr.  E.  W.  Brabrook,  who  is  unable  to  come  to 
Ipswich  on  account  of  the  very  sad  bereavement  he  has  so 
recently  suftered.  It  has  been  arranged  that  the  Section 
shall  sit  each  morning  till  12.30  or  i.and  then  reassemble 
at  2,  on  each  day  except  Saturday  for  a  lecture 
illustrated  by  the  lantern. 

Botany  is  sitting  for  the  first  time  as  a  distinct  Section 
K),  under  the  presidency  of  Mr.  W.  T.  Thisclton-Dyer. 
.•\mongst  the  papers  will  be  one  on  Sporangia  by  Prof 
F.  O.  Bower.  Dr.  D.  H.  Scott  will  speak  on  fossil 
botany,  with  special  reference  to  the  researches  of  the  late 
Prof  Williamson.  K  paper  on  fossil  botany  will  also  be 
read  by  Prof  Solms-Laubach,  of  Strasbourg.  Prof  E.  C. 
Hansen,  of  Copenhagen,  promises  a  paper  on  the  varia- 
tion of  yeast  cells,  and  ^Ir.  K.  C.  Seward  one  on  the 
Wealden  Flora.  Amongst  other  foreign  botanists  attend- 
ing the  meeting  is  Dr.  T.  M.  Treub,  of  Java.  \  special 
botanical  excursion,  not  figuring  as  one  of  the  regular 
excursions,  is  being  arranged. 

iNAtOl-RAI.    AnilRESS  BY  SiR    DouGLAS    Galton,    K.C.B., 
D.C.L.,  F.R.S.,  President. 

Mv  first  duty  is  to  convey  to  you,  Mr.  Mayor,  and  to  the  in- 
habitants of  Ipswich,  the  thanks  of  the  British  Association  for 
your  hosjiitable  invitation  to  hold  our  sixty-fifth  meeting  in  your 
ancient  town,  and  thus  to  recall  the  agreeable  memories  of  the 
similar  favour  which  your  predecessors  conferred  on  the  Associa- 
tion torty-four  years  ago. 

In  the  next  place  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  say  a  few  words  on  the 
great  loss  which   science  has  recently  sustained — the  death  of 


462 


NA  TURE 


[September  12,  1895 


the  Right  Hon.  Thomas  Henry  Huxley.  It  is  unnecessary  for 
me  to  enlarge,  in  the  presence  of  so  many  to  whom  Ins  i^r- 
sonality  was  known.  ui»n  his  charm  in  social  and  domestic  life  ; 
but  upon  the  debt  which  the  .\ssocialion  owes  to  him  for  the 
assistance  which  he  rendered  in  the  promotion  of  science  I  can- 
not well  be  silent.  Huxley  was  pre-eminently  quahhed  to  assist 
in  sweeping  away  the  obstruction  by  dogmatic  authority,  which 
in  the  early  days  of  the  .\ssociation  fettered  progress  in  certain 
branches  of  science.  For,  whilst  he  was  an  eminent  leader  in 
biological  rei^earch,  hU  intellectual  power  his  onginal  and 
intrepid  mind,  hU  vigorous  and  masculine  English,  made  him  a 
writer  who  explained  the  deepest  subject  with  transparent  clear- 
nSs  An<i  as  a  speaker  his  lucid  and  forcible  style  was  adorned 
with  ample  and  effective  illustration  in  the  lecture-room  :  and 
his  enero-  and  wealth  of  argument  in  a  more  pubhc  arena  argely 
helped  to  win  the  battle  of  evolution,  and  to  secure  for  us  the 
rif hi  to  discuss  questions  of  religion  and  science  without  fear  and 

"'it  mly!Tthink.  interest  you  to  learn  that  Huxley  first  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Tyndall  at  the  meeting  of  the  Association 
held  in  this  town  in  185 1. 

^l^u  forty-six  years'ago  I  first  began  to  attend  the  meetings 
of  the  British  .\ssiia.ion  ;  and  I  was  elected  one  of  your  general 
secretaries  about  twenty-five  years  ago. 

It  is  not  unfitting,  therefore,  that  I  should  recall  to  your 
minds  the  conditions  under  which  science  was  pursued  at  the 
foliation  of  the  Association,  as  well  as  the  ver)-  remarkable 
position  which  the  .\ssociation  has  occupied  in  relation  to  seance 

'"  ^.'weZlhe"  end  of  the  sixteenth  centur)-  and  the  early  part  of 
the  present  century  several  societies  had  been  created  to  develop 
various  branches  of  science.  Some  of  these  societies  were  es- 
tablished in  London,  and  others  in  important  provincial  centres. 
In  l8^l  in  the  absence  of  railways,  communication  between 
different  pkrts  of  the  countr)-  was  slow  and  difficult.  Science  was 
therefore  localised  ;  and  in  addition  to  the  »"""^""=^:"  ^"g'^"'^' 
Scotland,  and  Ireland,  the  towns  of  Birmingham,  Manchester 
Plymouth  and  York  each  maintained  an  important  nucleus  ol 
scientific  research. 


Origin  of  the  British  Association, 

Under  these  social  conditions  the  British  Association  was 
founded  in  September  1831.  ,    ■      .r  „,;„rot„rv 

The  ceneral  idea  of  its  formation  was  denvcd  from  a  migratory 
society  which  had  l>een  previously  formed  in  Germany  ;  but 
whilst\he  German  society  met  for  the  speci..l  "!^<^"=^'<'"  «"  "^^'^^^ 
it  was  summoned,  and  then  dissolved,  the  basis  of  the  British 
Ass'iciation  was  continuity.  

The  objects  of  the  founders  of  the  British  Association  were 
enunciated  in  their  earliest  rules  to  be  :— 

'•  To  give  a  stronger  impulse  and  a  more  systematic  direction 
to  scientific  inquiry  ;  to  promote  the  intercourse  of  those  who 
Slriated  science  in  diffelen.  parts  of  the  British  Empire  with 
Tne  another,  and  with  foreign  philosophers  ;  to  obtain  a  more 
general  attention  to  the  objects  of  science,  and  a  removal  of  any 
disadvantages  .,f  a  public  kind  which  impede  Its  progress 

Thus  the  British  As-sociation  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
l«iscd   its  utility  upon  the  opportunity  11  afforded  for  combina- 

"°Thc  first  meeting  of  the  AssociaUon  was  held  at  York  with  353 

■"TsTn"  evidence  of  the  want  which  the  Association  .supplied, 
i,  may  Ik:  mentioned  that  at  the  second  meeting,  «^''^''  ^^^ 
hel.l  at  Oxford,  the  numl«r  of  meml^rs  was  435-  The  third 
meeting,  at  Cambri.lge,  numbered  over  900  ■"'="'''<-'^- »'"' ^' 
the  meeting  at   Edinburgh  in    1 834  there    were    present    1298 

■"Tt^tt"' third   meeting,   which  was  held  at  Cambridge  in  1833, 
the  Associalinn,  through  the  influence  it  had  already  acquired, 
in.luce<l  the  Government  to  grant  a  sum  of  ;f  500  for  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  astronomical  ol«ervations  of  Ball)-.     An.l  at  the  sine 
meeting  the  (ieneral  0.mmitlee  commenced  to  appropriate  to 
v:ientific  research  the  surplus  from  the  subscriptions  of  its  mem- 
Wr..     The  committees  on  each  branch  of  science  were  .lesire.l 
:.  finite  and  imix.rlant  objects  of  science,  which  the) 
.,sl  fit  to  l)c  a<lvance<l  byan  application  of  the  funils 
V   either  in  comiicnsation  for  labour,  or  in  defraying 
..f  apr«ratus,  or  otherwise,  slating  their  re.isons  for 
,  „.n,  and,  when   they  may  think   pro(Kr_,  designating 

individuals  to  undertake  the  desired  investigations. 

NO,    1350,  VOL.   52] 


The  several  proposals  were  submitted  to  the  Committee  of 
Recommendations,  whose  approval  was  necesMirj-  before  they 
could  be  passed  by  the  General  Committee.  The  regulations 
then  laid  down  still  guide  the  Association  in  the  distribuUon  of 
its  grants.  At  that  eariy  meeting  the  Association  was  enabled 
to  apply  /600  to  these  objects.      ,.,,,,  r  ,,  ^ 

I  have  always  wondered  at  the  foresight  of  the  framers  of  he 
constitution  of  the  British  .Association,  the  most  remarkable 
feature  of  which  is  the  lightness  of  the  tie  which  holds  it 
t<«ether.  It  is  not  bound  by  any  complex  central  orsanisation. 
It  consists  of  a  federation  of  Sections,  whose  youth  and  energy 
are  yearly  renewed  by  a  succession  of  presidents  and  vice- 
presidenis,  whilst  in  each  Section  some  continuity  of  action  is 
secured  by  the  less  movable  secretaries. 

The  governing  body  is  the  General  CommUtee,  the  members 
of  which  are  selected  for  their  scientific  work  ;  but  their  con- 
trolling power  is  tempered  by  the  law  that  all  changes  of  rules, 
or  of  constitution,  should  be  submitted  to,  and  receive  the 
approval  of,  the  Committee  of  Recommendations  This  com- 
mittee may  be  described  as  an  ideal  Second  Chamber.  It 
consists  of  the  most  experienced  members  of  the  Association. 

The  administration  of  the  Association  in  the  interval  between 
annual  meetings  is  carried  on  by  the  Council,  an  executive  lx,dy, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  complete  the  work  of  the  annual  meeting  («) 
by  the  publication  of  its  proceedings;  (h)  by  giving  etlect  to 
resoluticms  passed  by  the  General  Com.nitt«  :  k)  it  alsx> 
appoints  the  Local  Committee  .and  organises  the  personnel  ol 
each  Section  for  the  next  meeting.  . 

I  believe  that  one  of  the  secrets  of  the  long-continued  success- 
and  vitality  of  the  British  Association  lies  in  this  purely  demo- 
cratic constitution,  coml.ine<l  with  the  compulsory  careful 
consideration  which  must  be  given  to  suggested  organic  changes. 
The  Association  is  now  in  the  sixty-hflh  year  of  Us  existence. 
In  its  origin  it  invited  the  philosophical  societies  dispersed 
throughout  Great  Britain  to  unite  in  a  co-operative  tmion 

WiUiin  recent  years  it  has  endeavoured  to  consolidate  that 

""r'the    present    lime   almost   all    important   local    scienUfic 

societies   scattered   throughout    •h<=.  ?^"'?"->-.  ^<""«  ^f-^'V^'i;,  'j^ 

number,  are   in   correspondence  with   the   •■),^^°"*'!,'?"-  J^^', 

delegates  hold  annual  conferences  at  our  meetings.     Ihe  Associ 

S  has  thus  extended  .he  sphere  of  its  -."""  '  "  P  J^-^"  ^l^! 

members  of  the  local  societies  engaged  m  scientific  ^"'^  '" J« 

la.ion  with  each  other,  and  brings  them  into  <:"-«P^'?  ';^".     '' 

members  of  the  Association  and  with  others  engaged  ;»  ''"S  "j ' 

"nvestigations,and  the  ,x.pers  which  the  individual  societies  pub- 

hsh  annually  are  calalogu'ed  in  our  Report.     Thus  '^V  degrees  a 

national  catalogue  will  be  formed  of  the  scientific  work  of  these 

^"ThTAssocialion  has,  moreover,  shown  that  its  scovx;  is  co- 
terminous with  the  British  Empire  by  holding  one  of  Us  annua 
meTlings  at  Montreal,  and  we  are  likely  soon  to  hold  a  meeting 
in  Toronto. 


Condition  of  certain  Sciences  at  the   formation   01 
THE  British  Association. 
The   /Association,    at   its   first   meeting,   began    its  work   by 
initiating  a  series  of  reports  upon  the  then  condition  of   the 

"^rt^^^.  at  some  of  these  reports  will  "o.  onlysliov.  the 
enormous  strides  which  have  been  made  since  I  S3  in  the  in 
vesliL-alion  of  facts  to  elucidate  the  laws  <,f  nature,  but  it  may 
X  da  s"gh  insight  into  ,l,e impediments ollered  to  the  progress 
of  mes  iga  ion  by  the  mental  condition  of  the  coumuinUy. 
w^ich  has  leen  for  so  long  satisfied  to  accept  assumptions 
wit  lut  und  rgoing  the  labour  of  testing  their  truth  by  ascer- 
Uin  1  g  the  real  facts.  This  habit  of  m  nd  may  be  >"">  ra  ed  1  y 
two  instances  selected  from  the  early  reports  made  t.  the 
As-sociation!     The  first  is  afforded  by  the  report  made  m  1832. 

''^■^!;^t':Ii^::;;n™:;iiyofim,,orUnceto^ 
dominant  power  it  sea.     But  in  Eng  and   -^-'l  ,,^f  '.',,"'  ,^ 
hnd    onlv    recently     leen    commenced     at    the     loLkj.iros 
W  ol«"  h.  ^.eerness,   I'ortsmouth,  and   PlyiiK.uth,  on  the  re 
queM  o   the  Royal  Society,  and  no  information  had  «:e,.  collected 

.,on  the  tides  on  the  coasts  of  Scotland  aiul  Ireland. 

'm  Br  is  .wl^iation  may  feel  pri.le  in  the  fact  that  withm 
Ihree  years  of  its  ii,ceplion,\i/,.  hy  .834-  >>  l>a«l  '"J""^"  ''^. 
Co  l«ration  of  l.iverpoi.l  to  establish  two  tide  gauges,  and  the 


September  12,  1895] 


NATURE 


46: 


Government  to  undertake  tidal  observations  at  500  stations  on 
the  coasts  of  Britain. 

Another  cognate  instance  is  exemplified  by  a  paper  read  at  the 
second  meeting,  in  1832,  upon  the  State  of  Naval  Architecture 
in  Great  Britain.  The  author  contrasts  the  extreme  perfection 
of  the  carpentry  of  the  internal  fittings  of  the  vessels  with  the 
remarkable  deficiency  of  mathematical  theory  in  the  adjustment 
of  the  external  form  of  vessels,  and  suggests  the  benefit  of  the 
application  of  refined  analysis  to  the  various  practical  problems 
which  ought  to  interest  shipbuilders — problems  of  capacity,  of 
displacement,  of  stowage,  of  velocity,  of  pitching  and  rolling,  of 
masti.ng,  of  the  effects  of  sails  and  of  the  resistance  of  fluids  ;  and, 
moreover,  suggests  that  large-scale  experiments  should  be  made 
by  (lovernment,  to  afford  the  necessary  data  for  calculation. 

Indeed,  when  we  consider  how  completely  the  whole  habit  of 
mind  of  the  populations  of  the  Western  world  has  been  changed, 
since  the  beginning  of  the  century,  from  willing  acceptance  of 
authority  as  a  rule  of  life  to  a  universal  spirit  of  inquiry  and  ex- 
perimental investigation,  is  it  not  probable  that  this  rapid  change 
has  arisen  from  society  having  been  stirred  to  its  foundations  by 
the  causes  and  consequences  of  the  French  Revolution  ? 

One  of  the  earliest  practical  results  of  this  awakening  in  France 
was  the  conviction  that  the  basis  of  scientific  research  lay  in  the 
accuracy  of  the  standards  by  which  observations  could  be  com- 
pared ;  and  the  following  principles  were  laid  down  as  a  basis 
for  their  measurements  of  length,  weight,  and  capacity:  viz.  (i) 
that  the  unit  of  linear  measure  applied  to  matter  in  its  three 
forms  of  extension,  viz.  length,  breadth,  and  thickness,  should 
be  the  standard  of  measures  of  length,  surface,  and  solidity  ;  (2) 
that  the  cubic  contents  of  the  linear  measure  in  decimetres  of 
pure  water  at  the  temperature  of  its  greatest  density  should 
furnish  at  once  the  standard  weight  and  the  measure  of  capacity.' 
The  metric  system  did  not  come  into  full  operation  in  France  till 
1840  ;  and  it  is  now  adopted  by  all  countries  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  except  Russia. 

The  standards  of  length  which  w ere  accessible  in  Great  Britain 
at  the  formation  of  the  Association  were  the  Parliamentary 
standard  yartl  lodged  in  the  Houses  of  Parliament  (which  was 
destroyed  in  1834  in  the  fire  which  burned  the  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment) ;  the  Royal  Astronomical  Society's  standard ;  and  the 
lO-foot  bar  of  the  Ordnance  Survey. 

The  first  two  were  assumed  to  afl'ord  exact  measurements  at  a 
given  temperature.  The  Ordnance  bar  was  f(jrmed  of  two  bars 
on  the  principle  of  a  compensating  pendulum,  and  afforded 
measurements  independent  of  temperature.  Standard  bars  were 
also  disseminated  throughout  the  country,  n  possession  of  the 
corporations  of  various  towns. 

The  British  Association  early  recognised  the  importance  of 
uniformity  in  the  record  of  scientific  facts,  as  well  as  the  necessity 
for  an  easy  method  of  comparing  standards  and  for  verifj'ing 
<lifrerences  between  instruments  and  apparatus  required  by 
various  observers  pursuing  similar  lines  of  investigation.  \\  its 
meeting  at  Edinburgh  in  1834  it  caused  a  comparison  to  be  made 
between  the  standard  bar  at  ^Vliertleen,  constructed  by  Troughton, 
and  the  standard  of  the  Royal  .\stronomical  Society,  and  re- 
ported that  the  scale  "  was  exceedingly  well  finished;  it  was 
a!>out  Ttirrth  of  an  inch  shorter  than  the  5-feet  of  the  Royal 
Astronomical  Society's  scale,  but  it  was  evident  that  a  great 
number  of  minute,  yet  important,  circumstances  have  hitherto 
been  neglected  in  the  formation  of  such  scales,  without  an 
attention  to  which  they  cannot  be  expected  to  accord  with  that 
degree  of  accuracy  which  the  present  state  of  science  demands." 
Subsequently,  at  the  meeting  at  Newcastle  in  1863,  the  Associa- 
tion appointed  a' committee  to  report  on  the  best  means  of 
providing  for  a  uniformity  of  weights  and  measures  with 
reference  to  the  interests  of  science.  This  committee  recom- 
mended the  metric  decimal  system — a  recommendation  which 
has  been  entlorse<l  by  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  in 
the  last  session  of  last  Parliament. 

British  instrument-makers  had  been  long  conspicuous  for 
accuracy  of  workmanship.  Indeed,  in  the  eighteenth  century 
practical  astronomy  had  been  mainly  in  the  hands  of  British 
observers  ;  for  although  the  mathematicians  of  France  and  other 
countries  on  the  continent  of  Europe  were  occupying  the  fore- 
most place  in  mathematical  investigation,  means  of  astronomical 
observation  had  been  furnished  almost  exclusively  by  English 
artisans. 

t  The  litre  is  the  voUime  of  a  kilogr.amme  of  pure  water  at  it^  maximum 
density,  ami  i*i  slightly  less  than  the  litre  was  intended  to  be,  viz.  one  cubic 
<lecimetre.  The  weight  of  .a  cubic  .decimetre  of  pure  water  is  1*000013 
kilogrammes. 


NO.    1350,  VOL.  52] 


The  sectors,  quadrants,  and  circles  of  Ramsden,  Bird,  and 
Gary  were  inimitable  by  continental  workmen. 

But  the  accuracy  of  the  mathematical-instrument  maker  had 
not  penetrated  into  the  engineer's  workshop.  And  the  foundation 
of  the  British  Association  was  coincident  with  a  rapid  develop- 
ment of  mechanical  appliances. 

At  that  time  a  good  workman  had  done  well  if  the  shaft  he 
was  turning,  or  the  cylinder  he  was  boring,  "  was  right  to  the 
ji^nd  of  an  inch."  This  was,  in  fact,  a  degree  of  accuracy  as  fine 
as  the  eye  could  usually  distinguish. 

Few  mechanics  had  any  distinct  knowledge  of  the  method  to 
be  pursued  for  obtaining  accuracy  ;  nor,  indeed,  had  practical 
men  sufficiently  appreciated  either  the  immense  importance  or 
the  comparative  facility  of  its  acquisition. 

The  accuracy  of  workmanship  essential  to  this  development  of 
mechanical  progress  required  very  precise  measurements  of 
length,  to  which  reference  could  be  easily  made.  No  such 
standards  were  then  available  for  the  workshops.  But  a  little 
before  1830  a  young  workman  named  Joseph  Whitworth  realised 
that  the  basis  of  accuracy  in  machinery  w  as  the  making  of  a  true 
plane.  The  idea  occurred  to  him  that  this  could  only  be  secured 
by  making  three  independent  plane  surfaces  ;  if  each  of  these 
would  lift  the  other,  they  must  be  planes,  and  they  must  be  true. 
The  true  plane  rendered  possible  a  degree  of  accuracy  beyond 
the  wildest  dreams  of  his  contemporaries  in  the  construction  of 
the  lathe  and  the  planing  machine,  which  are  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  all  tools. 

His  next  step  was  to  introduce  an  exact  system  of  measurement, 
generally  applicable  in  the  workshop. 

Whitworth  felt  that  the  eye  was  altogether  inadequate  to  secure 
this,  and  appealed  to  the  sense  of  touch  for  affording  a  means  of 
comparison.  If  two  plugs  be  made  to  fit  into  a  round  hole,  they 
inay  differ  in  size  by  a  quantity  imperceptible  to  the  eye,  or  to 
any  ordinary-  process  of  measurement,  but  in  fitting  them  into 
the  hole  the  difference  between  the  larger  and  the  smaller  is 
felt  immediately  by  the  greater  ease  with  which  the  smaller 
one  fits.  In  this  way  a  child  can  tell  which  is  the  larger  of 
two  cylinders  differing  in  thickness  by  no  more  than  -soVirth  of 
an  inch. 

Standard  gauges,  consisting  of  hollow  cylinders  with  plugs  to 
fit,  but  differing  in  diameter  by  the  yAirth  or  'he  TirJuiith  of  an 
inch,  were  given  to  his  workmen,  with  the  result  that  a  degree 
of  accuracy  inconceivable  to  the  ordinary  mind  became  the  rule 
of  the  shop. 

To  render  the  construction  of  accurate  gauges  possible,  WTiit- 
worth  devised  his  measuring  machine,  in  which  the  movement 
was  eflfected  by  a  screw  ;  by  this  means  the  distance  between 
two  true  planes  might  be  measured  to  the  one-millionth  of  an 
inch. 

These  advances  in  precision  of  measurement  have  enabled  the 
degree  of  accuracy  which  was  formerly  limited  to  the  mathe- 
matical-instrument maker  to  become  the  common  i)roperty  of 
every  machine  shop.  And  not  only  is  the  latest  form  of  steam- 
engine,  in  the  accuracy  of  its  workmanship,  little  behind  the 
chronometer  of  the  early  part  of  the  century,  but  the  accuracy 
in  the  construction  of  experimental  apparatus  which  has  thus 
been  introduced  has  rendered  possible  recent  advances  in  many 
lines  of  research. 

Lord  Kelvin  said,  in  his  Presidential  Address  at  Edinburgh, 
"  Nearly  all  the  grandest  discoveries  of  science  have  been  but 
the  rewards  of  accurate  measurement  .and  patient,  long-continued 
labour  in  the  sifting  of  numerical  results."  The  discovery  of 
argon,  for  which  Lord  Rayleigh  and  Prof.  Ramsay  ha\e  been 
awarded  the  Hodgkin  prize  by  the  Smithsonian  Institution, 
affords  a  pregnant  illustration  of  the  truth  of  this  remark. 
Indeed,  the  provision  of  accurate  standards  not  only  of  length, 
but  of  weight,  cap.acity,  temperature,  force,  .and  energy,  are 
amongst  the  foundations  of  scientific  investigation. 

In  1842,  the  British  .Association  obtained  the  opportunity  oi 
extending  its  usefulness  in  this  direction. 

In  that  year  the  Government  gave  up  the  Royal  Observatory 
at  Kew,  and  offered  it  to  the  Royal  Society,  who  declined  it. 
But  the  British  .Association  accepted  the  charge.  Their  first 
object  was  to  continue  Sabine's  valuable  observations  upon  the 
vibrations  of  a  pendulum  in  various  gases,  and  to  promote  pen- 
dulum observations  in  different  parts  of  the  world.  They  subse- 
(piently  extended  it  into  an  observatory'  for  comparing  and  veri- 
fying the  various  instruments  which  recent  discoveries  in  physical 
science  had  suggested  for  continuous  meteorological  and 'magnetic 
observations,  for  observations  and  experiments  on  atmospheric 
electricity,  and  for  the  study  of  solar  physics. 


464 


NATURE 


[September  12,  1895 


This  new  departure  afforded  a  means  for  ascertaining  the  ad- 
\-antages  and  disadNiintages  of  the  several  varieties  of  scientific 
instruments  ;  as  well  as  for  standardising  and  testing  instruments, 
not  only  for  instrument-makers,  but  especially  for  observers  by 
whom  simultaneous  obserx-ations  were  then  being  carried  on  in 
different  parts  of  the  world  ;  and  also  for  training  observers 
proceeding  abroad  on  scientific  expeditions. 

Its  special  object  was  to  promote  oriirinal  research,  and  ex- 
penditure was  not  to  be  incurred  on  apparatus  merely  intended 
to  exhibit  the  necessary  consequences  of  known  laws. 

The  rapid  strides  in  electrical  science  had  attracted  attention 
to  the  measurement  of  electrical  resistances,  and  in  1859  the 
British  Association  appointed  a  special  committee  to  devise  a 
standard.  The  standard  of  resistance  proposed  by  that  com- 
mittee became  the  generally  accepted  standard,  until  the  re- 
quirements of  that  advancing  science  led  to  the  adoption  of  an 
international  standard. 

In  1S66  the  Meteorological  Department  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  entered  into  close  relations  with  the  Kew  Observatory. 

.•\nd  in  1871  Mr.  Gasslot  transferred  ;^io,ooo  upon  trust  to 
the  Royal  Society  for  the  maintenance  of  the  Kew  Observatory, 
for  the  purpose  of  assisting  in  carrying  on  magnetical,  meteoro- 
logical, and  other  physical  observations.  The  British  Association 
thereupon,  after  having  maintained  this  Observatory  for  nearly 
thirty  years,  at  a  total  expenditure  of  about  ;f  12,000,  handed 
the  Observatory  over  to  the  Royal  Society. 

The  Traiitactiom  of  the  British  .\ssociation  are  a  catalogue  of 
its  efforts  in  every  branch  of  science,  both  to  promote  experi- 
mental research  and  to  facilitate  the  application  of  the  results  to 
the  practical  uses  of  life. 

But  proliably  the  marvellous  development  in  science  which 
has  accom|ianied  the  life-history  of  the  Association  will  be  best 
appreciated  by  a  brief  allusion  to  the  condition  of  some  of  the 
branches  of  science  in  1831  as  compared  wi'.h  their  present 
state. 

r.KOIOCKM     AND   GeOCRAPIIIiAI.  Sclf;NCE. 

Gtology. 

At  the  foundation  i>l  the  Association  geology  was  assuming  a 
prominent  position  in  science.  The  main  features  of  English 
geology  had  been  illustrated  as  far  back  as  1S21,  and,  among 
the  founders  of  the  British  .Vssociation,  Murchison  and  Phillips, 
Buckland,  Sedgwick  and  Conybeare,  Lyell  and  I)e  la  Beche, 
were  occupied  in  investigating  the  data  necessary  for  perfecting 
a  geological  chronology  by  the  detailed  observations  of  the 
various  British  deposits,  anel  by  their  co-relation  with  the  con- 
tinental strata.  They  were  thus  preparing  the  way  for  those 
large  generalisations  which  have  raised  geology  to  the  rank  of 
an  inductive  science. 

In  1831  the  Ordnance  maps  published  for  the  southern  coun- 
ties had  enabled  the  Government  to  recognise  the  importance  of 
a  geological  survey  by  the  appointment  of  Mr.  I)e  la  Beche  to 
affix  geolfjgical  colours  to  the  maps  of  Devonshire  and  portions 
of  Somerset,  Dorset  and  Cornwall  ;  and  in  1835,  Lyell,  Buck- 
land  and  Sedgwick  induced  the  Government  to  establish  the 
Geolfjgical  .Survey  Department,  not  only  for  promoting  geological 
science,  but  on  account  of  its  [iractical  bearing  on  iigriculture, 
mining,  the  making  of  ri^ds,  railways,  and  canals,  and  on  other 
branches  of  national  indu.stry. 

Geography. 

The  Ordnance  Survey  ap|)ears  to  have  had  its  origin  in  a  pro- 
positi of  the  Krench  Government  to  make  a  jointmeasuremcnl 
of  an  arc  of  the  meridian.  This  proposal  (ell  through  at  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolution  ;  but  the  measurement  of  the  base 
for  that  object  was  taken  as  a  foundation  for  a  national  survey. 
In  1831,  however,  the  Ordnance  Survey  had  only  published  the 
I -inch  map  for  the  sfiulhern  portion  of  England,  and  the  great 
Irinngulation  of  the  kingdom  was  still  incomplete. 

In  1834  the  British  Avsocialion  urged  u|)on  the  Government 
Ih  ■    '        '  nl  of  various  branches  of  science  was  greatly 

1'  ii   of  an  accurate  map  of  the  whole  of  the 

1'.:  >ii    '•onsequently,  the  engineer  and  meteoro- 

l<'.  id  the  geologist,  were  each   fettered   m 

111'   I  Mins  by  the  absence  of  those  accurate 

dal.j  wliicli  lion  lie  ready  to  his  hand  for  the  mca.suremcnt  of 
fcngth,  of  surface,  anri  of  altitiifle. 

Vet  the  fir  1  '  f  ihe  British  . Vssociation  was  coincident 
with  a  C'insi'l  pinent  of  geographical  research.     The 

Association  u .;.  , ..t   in  pressing  on   the  Government  the 


NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


scientific  importance  of  sending  the  expedition  of  Ross  to  the 
Antarctic  and  of  Franklin  to  the  .Arctic  regions.  We  may 
trust  that  we  are  approaching  a  solution  of  the  geograpliy  of  tlie 
North  Pole  ;  but  the  Antarctic  regions  still  present  a  field  for  the 
researches  of  the  meteorologist,  the  geologist,  the  biologist, 
and  the  magnetic  observer,  which  the  recent  voyage  of  M. 
Borchgrevink  leads  us  to  hope  may  not  long  remain  unexplored. 

In  the  same  decade  the  question  of  an  alternative  route  ti> 
India  by  means  of  a  communication  between  the  Mediterranean 
and  the  Persian  Gulf  was  also  receiving  attention,  and  in  1835 
the  (iovernnient  employed  Colonel  Chesney  to  make  a  survey  of 
the  Euphrates  valley  in  order  to  ascertain  whether  that  river 
would  enable  a  practicable  route  to  be  formed  from  Iskanderoon, 
or  Tripoli,  opposite  Cyprus,  to  the  Persian  Gulf  His  valuable 
surveys  are  not,  however,  on  a  sufficiently  extensive  scale  to 
enable  an  opinion  to  be  formed  as  to  whether  a  navigable  water- 
way through  Asia  Minor  is  physically  practicable,  or  whether 
the  cost  of  establishing  it  might  not  be  prohibitive. 

The  advances  of  Russia  in  Central  Asia  have  made  il  impera- 
tive to  provide  an  easy,  rapid,  anil  alternative  line  of  communi- 
cation with  our  Eastern  possessions,  so  as  not  to  be  dependent 
upon  the  Sue/.  Canal  in  time  of  war.  If  a  navigation  cannot 
be  est.iblished,  a  railway  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Persian  Gulf  has  been  shown  by  the  recent  investigations  of 
Messrs.  I  lawkshaw  and  1  layter,  following  on  those  of  others,  to 
be  perfectly  practicable  and  easy  of  accomplishment ;  such  an 
undertaking  would  not  only  be  of  strategical  value,  but  it  is 
believed  it  would  be  commercially  remunerative. 

Speke  and  Grant  brought  before  the  .\ssociation,  at  its  meet- 
ing at  Newcastle  in  1863,  their  solution  of  the  mystery  of  the 
Nile  basin,  which  had  puzzled  geographers  from  the  days  of 
Herodotus;  and  the  efforts  of  Livingstone  and  Stanley  and 
others  have  opened  out  to  us  the  interior  of  Africa.  I  cannot 
refrain  here  from  expressing  the  deep  regret  which  geologists  and 
geographers,  and  indeed  all  who  are  inlereste<l  in  the  progress  of 
discovery,  feel  at  the  recent  death  of  Joseph  Thomson.  His 
extensive,  accurate,  and  trustworthy  observations  added  much  to 
our  knowledge  of  .\frica,  and  by  his  premature  death  we  have 
lost  one  of  its  most  competent  explorers. 

CiiEMicAi.,  Astronomical  and  Physical  Science. 
Chemistry. 

The  report  made  to  the  Association  on  the  slate  of  the 
chemicil  sciences  in  1832,  says  that  the  efforts  of  investigators 
were  then  being  directed  to  determining  with  accuracy  the  true 
nature  of  the  substances  which  compose  the  various  products  of 
the  organic  and  inorganic  kingdoms,  and  the  exact  ratios  by 
weight  which  the  different  constituents  of  these  substances  bear 
to  each  other. 

But  since  that  day  the  science  of  chemistry  has  far  extended 
its  boundaries.  The  barrier  has  vanished  which  was  supjMSed  to 
separate  the  products  of  living  organisms  from  the  substances  of 
which  minerals  consist,  or  which  could  1)e  formed  in  the  labora- 
tory. The  number  of  distinct  carbon  comjiounds  obtainable 
from  organisms  has  greatly  increased  ;  but  it  is  small  when  com- 
pared with  the  number  of  such  compounds  wliiih  have  been 
artificially  formed.  The  methods  of  analysis  have  liecn  per- 
fected. The  physical,  and  especially  the  optical,  properties  of 
the  various  forms  of  matter  have  been  closely  studied,  and  many 
fruitful  generalisations  have  been  made.  The  form  in  which 
these  generalis.ations  would  now  be  staled  may  proliably  ch.inge, 
some,  iierhaps,  by  the  overthrow  or  disuse  of  an  ingenious  guess 
at  nature's  workings,  but  more  by  that  change  which  is  the 
ordinary  growth  of  science — namely,  inclusion  in  some  simpler 
and  more  general  view. 

In  lliese  advances  the  chemist  has  called  the  spectroscope  to 
his  aid.  Indeed,  the  existence  of  the  British  .\ssociation  has 
been  practically  coterminous  with  the  comparatively  newly  de- 
veloped science  of  spectrum  analysis,  for  though  Newton,' 
Wollaslon,  I'r.iunhofer,  and  lox  Talliot  had  woikcd  al  the  sub- 
ject long  ago,  il  was  not  till  Kirchhoff  and  liunsen  set  a  seal  on 
Ihe  prior  labours  of  Stokes,  Angstnim,  and  Balfour  Stewart 
that  the  spectra  of  terrestrial  elements  have  been  mapped  out  and 
grouped  ;  that   by  its  help  new  elements  have  been  discovered, 

1  Jo.inncs  Marcu»i  Marci,  of  Kroiil.ind  in  Ilolicmin,  was  Ific  only  prede- 
cessor of  Newton  who  Iiatl  any  Icnowledgc  of  the  formation  of  a  spirctnim  by 
a  prism.  He  not  only  uMscrvcti  tliat  the  coloured  rays  diverged  as  they  left 
tlie  prism,  liut  tfiat  a  coloured  ray  did  not  change  in  colour  after  trans- 
mission liirouKli  a  prism.  His  Itook,  Thaumanttns^  lil'er  tic  arm  (irlcsti 
lietfuc  (nlorvm  nfififtrrtitiiim  ttatura,  Prag.  16^8,  w.Ts,  however,  not  known 
to  Newton,  and  had  no  influence  upon  future  discoveries. 


September  12,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


465 


and  that  tlie  idea  has  been  suggested  that  the  various  orders  of 
spectra  of  the  same  element  are  due  to  the  existence  of  the  ele- 
ment in  different  molecular  forms — allotropic  or  otherwise — at 
different  temperatures. 

But  great  as  have  been  the  advances  of  terrestrial  chemistr)' 
through  its  assistance,  the  most  stupendous  advance  which  we 
owe  to  the  spectroscope  lies  in  the  celestial  direction. 

Astronomy. 

In  the  earlier  part  of  this  century,  whilst  the  sidereal  universe 
was  accessible  to  investigators,  many  problems  outside  the  solar 
system  seemed  to  be  unapproachable. 

At  the  third  meeting  of  the  Association,  at  Cambridge,  in 
1S33,  Dr.  Whewell  said  that  astronomy  is  not  only  the  queen  of 
science,  init  the  only  perfect  science,  which  was  "  in  so  elevated 
a  state  of  flourishing  maturity  that  all  that  remained  was  to  de- 
termine with  the  extreme  of  accuracy  the  consequences  of  its 
rules  by  the  profoundest  combinations  of  mathematics ;  the 
magnitude  of  its  data  by  the  minutest  scrupulousness  of  observa- 
tion." 

But  in  the  previous  year,  viz.  1S32,  .■\iry,  in  his  report  to  the 
Association  on  the  progress  of  ;ustronomy,  had  pointed  out  that 
the  observations  of  the  planet  Uranus  could  not  be  united  in  one 
elliptic  orbit  ;  a  remark  which  turned  the  attention  of  Adams  to 
the  discovery  of  Neptune.  In  his  report  on  the  position  of 
optical  science  in  1832,  Brewster  suggested  that  with  the  assist- 
ance of  .adequate  instruments  "  it  would  be  possible  to  study  the 
action  of  the  elements  of  material  bodies  upon  rays  of  artificial 
light,  and  thereby  to  discover  the  analogies  between  their 
affinities  and  those  which  produce  the  fixed  lines  in  the  spectra 
of  the  stars  ;  and  thus  to  study  the  effects  of  the  combustions 
which  light  up  the  suns  of  other  systems." 

This  idea  has  now  been  realised.  All  the  stars  which  shine 
brightly  enough  to  impress  an  image  of  the  spectrum  upon  a 
photographic  plate  have  been  classified  on  a  chemical  basis. 
The  close  connection  between  stars  and  nebula?  has  lieen  demon- 
strated ;  and  while  on  the  one  hand  the  modern  science  of 
thermodj-namics  has  shown  that  the  hypothesis  of  Kant  and  La- 
place on  stellar  formation  is  no  longer  tenal)le,  inquiry  has  indi- 
cated that  the  true  explanation  of  stellar  evolution  is  to  be  found 
in  the  gradual  condensation  of  meteoritic  particles,  thus  justifying 
the  suggestions  put  forward  long  ago  by  Lord  Kelvin  and  Prof. 
Tait. 

We  now  know  that  the  spectra  of  many  of  the  terrestrial  ele- 
ments in  the  chromosphere  of  the  sun  differ  from  those  familiar 
to  us  in  our  laboratories.  We  begin  to  glean  the  fact  that  the 
chromospheric  spectra  are  similar  to  those  indicated  by  the  ab- 
sorption going  on  in  the  holiest  stars,  and  Lockyer  has  not  hesi- 
tated to  affirm  that  these  facts  would  indicate  that  in  those 
localities  we  ar.;  in  the  presence  of  the  actions  of  temperatures 
.sufficiently  high  to  break  up  our  chemical  elements  into  finer 
forms.  Other  students  of  these  phenomena  may  not  agree  in 
this  view,  and  possibly  the  discrepancies  may  be  due  to  det'ault 
in  our  terrestrial  chemistry.  .Still,  I  would  recall  to  you  that 
Dr.  Carpenter,  in  his  Presidential  .\ddress  at  Brighton  in  1S72, 
almost  censured  the  speculations  of  Frankland  and  Lockyer  in 
1868  for  attributing  a  certain  bright  line  in  the  spectrum  of  solar 
prominences  (which  w.as  not  identifialile  with  that  of  any  known 
terrestrial  source  of  lights  to  a  hypothetical  new  substance  which 
they  proposed  to  call  "  helium,"  because  "it  had  not  received 
that  verification  which,  in  the  case  of  Crookcs'  .search  for 
tliallium,  was  afforded  by  the  actual  discovery  of  the  new 
metal."  Ramsay  has  nov\*  shown  that  this  gas  is  present  in 
<iense  minerals  on  earth  ;  but  we  have  now  also  learned  from 
Lockyer  that  it  ami  other  associated  gases  are  not  only  found 
with  hydrogen  in  the  solar  chromosphere,  but  that  these  gases, 
with  hydrogen,  form  a  large  percentage  of  the  atmospheric  con- 
stituents of  some  of  the  hottest  stars  in  the  heavens. 

The  spectroscope  has  also  made  us  acquainted  with  the 
motions  and  even  the  velocities  of  those  distant  orbs  which  make 
up  the  sidereal  universe.  It  has  enabled  us  to  determine  that 
many  stars,  single  to  the  eye,  are  really  double,  and  many  of  the 
conditions  of  these  strange  systems  have  been  revealed.  The 
rale  at  which  matter  is  moving  in  solar  cyclones  and  winds  is 
now  familiar  lo  us.  And  I  may  also  add  that  quite  recently  this 
wonderful  instrument  has  enabled  Prof  Keeler  lo  verify  Clerk 
MaxwelTs  theory  thai  the  rings  of  Saturn  consist  of  a  marvellous 
ctimjiany  of  separate  moons— as  it  were,  a  cohort  of  courtiers 
revolving  round  iheir  queen — with  velocities  projjortioned  to 
/heir  distances  from  the  planet. 

NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


Physics. 

If  we  turn  to  the  sciences  which  are  included  under  physics, 
the  progress  has  been  equally  marked. 

In  optical  science,  in  1831,  the  theory  of  emi.s.sion  as  con- 
trasted with  the  undulalory  theory  of  light  was  still  under 
discussion. 

Young,  who  was  the  first  to  explain  the  phenomena  due  to  the 
interference  of  the  rays  of  light  as  a  consequence  of  the  theory 
of  waves,  and  Fresnel,  w  ho  showed  the  intensity  of  light  for  any 
relative  position  of  the  interference-waves,  both  had  only 
recently  passed  away. 

The  investigations  into  the  laws  which  regulate  the  conduction 
and  radiation  of  heat,  together  with  the  doctrine  of  latent  and  of 
specific  heal,  and  the  relations  of  vapour  to  air,  had  all  tended  to 
the  conception  of  a  material  heat,  or  caloric,  communicated  by 
an  actual  flow  and  emission. 

It  was  not  till  1S34  that  imjjroved  thermometrical  appliances 
had  enabled  Forbes  and  Melloni  to  establish  the  polarisation  of 
heat,  and  thus  to  lay  the  foundation  of  an  undulalory  theory 
for  heat  similar  to  that  which  was  in  progress  of  acceptation  for 
light. 

Whewell's  report,  in  1832,  on  magnetism  and  electricity  shows 
that  these  branches  of  science  were  looked  upon  as  cognate,  and 
that  the  theory  of  two  opposite  electric  fluids  was  generally 
accepted. 

In  magnetism,  the  investigations  of  Ilansteen,  Gauss,  and 
Weber  in  Europe,  and  the  observations  made  under  the 
Imperial  Academy  of  Russia  over  the  vast  extent  of  that 
Empire,  had  established  the  existence  of  magnetic  poles,  and  had 
shown  that  magnetic  disturbances  were  simultaneous  at  all  the 
stations  of  observation. 

At  their  third  meeting  the  Association  urged  the  Government 
to  establish  magnetic  and  meteorological  observatories  in  Great 
Britain  and  her  colonies  and  dependencies  in  different  parts  of 
the  earth,  furnished  with  proper  instruments,  constructed  on 
uniform  principles,  and  with  provisions  for  continued  observa- 
tions at  tho.se  places. 

In  1839  the  British  Association  had  a  large  share  in  inducing 
the  Government  to  initiate  the  valuable  .series  of  experiments  for 
determining  the  intensity,  the  declination,  the  dip,  and  the 
periodical  variations  of  the  magnetic  needle  which  were  carried 
on  for  several  years,  at  numerous  selected  stations  over  the 
surface  of  the  globe,  under  the  directions  of  Sabine  and  Lefroy. 

In  England  systematic  and  regular  observations  are  still  made 
at  Greenwich,  Kew,  and  Slonyhurst.  For  some  years  past 
similar  observations  Ijy  both  absolute  and  self-recording  instru- 
ments have  also  been  made  at  Falmouth — close  to  the  home  of 
Robert  Were  Fox,  whose  name  is  inseparably  connected  with 
the  early  history  of  terrestrial  magnetism  in  this  country — but 
under  such  great  financial  difficulties  that  the  continuance  of  the 
work  is  seriously  jeopardised.  It  is  lo  be  hoped  that  means 
may  be  forthcoming  to  carry  it  on.  Cornishmen,  indeed,  could 
found  no  more  fitting  memorial  of  their  distinguished  country- 
man, John  Couch  .Adams,  than  by  suitably  endowing  the  mag- 
netic observatory  in  which  he  took  so  lively  an  interest. 

Far  more  extended  oliservation  will  be  needed  before  we  can 
hope  to  have  an  established  theory  as  to  the  magnetism  of  the 
earth.  We  are  without  magnetic  observations  over  a  large  part 
of  the  southern  hemisphere.  And  Prof.  RUcker's  recent  investi- 
gations tell  us  that  the  earth  seems  as  it  were  alive  with  m^- 
netic  forces,  be  they  due  to  electric  currents  or  to  variations  in 
the  slate  of  magnetised  mailer ;  that  the  disturbances  afiect  not 
only  the  diurnal  movement  of  the  magnet,  but  that  even  the 
small  part  of  the  secular  change  which  has  been  observed,  and 
which  has  taken  centuries  to  accomplish,  is  interfered  with  by 
some  slower  agency.  .Vnd,  what  is  more  important,  he  tells  us 
that  none  of  these  observations  stand  as  yet  upon  a  firm  basis, 
because  standard  instruments  have  not  been  in  accord  :  and 
much  labour,  beyond  the  power  of  individual  efibrl,  has  hitherto 
been  required  lo  ascertain  whether  the  relations  between  them 
are  constant  or  variable. 

In  electricity,  in  1 831,  just  at  the  time  when  the  British 
Association  was  founded,  Faraday's  splendid  researches  in 
electricity  and  magnetism  at  the  Royal  Institution  had  begun 
with  his  discovery  of  magneto-electric  induction,  his  investiga- 
tion of  the  laws  of  electrochemical  decomposition,  and  of  the 
mode  of  electrolylical  action. 

But  the  practical  application  of  our  electrical  knowledge  was 
then  limited  to  the  use  of  lightning-conductors  for  buildings  and 
ships.      Indeed,   it  may  be  said   thai  the  applications  of  elec- 


466 


NA  TURE 


[SEPTEMBER   12,    I  89 5 


tricity  to  the  use  of  man  have  grown  up  side  by  side  with  the 
British  Association. 

One  of  the  first  practical  applications  of  Faraday's  discoveries 
was  in  the  deposition  of  metals  and  electro- plating,  which  has 
developed  into  a  large  branch  of  national  industry ;  and  the 
diss<Kialing  effect  of  the  electric  arc,  for  the  reduction  of  ores, 
and  in  other  processes,  is  daily  obtaining  a  wider  extension. 

But  probably  the  application  of  electricity  which  is  tending  to 
produce  the  greatest  change  in  our  mental,  and  even  material 
condition,  is  the  electric  telegraph  and  its  sister,  the  telephone. 
By  their  agency  not  only  do  we  learn,  almost  at  the  time  of  their 
occurrence,  the  events  which  are  happening  in  distant  parts  of 
the  world,  but  they  are  establishing  a  community  of  thought  and 
feeling  between  all  the  nations  of  the  world  which  is  influencing 
their  attitude  towards  each  other,  and,  we  may  hope,  may  tend 
to  weld  them  more  and  more  into  one  family. 

The  electric  telegraph  was  introduced  experimentally  in  Ger- 
many in  1833,  two  years  after  the  formation  of  the  Association. 
It  was  made  a  commercial  success  by  Cooke  and  Wheatstone  in 
England,  whose  first  attempts  at  telegraphy  were  made  on  the 
line  from  Euston  to  Camden  Town  in  1837,  and  on  the  line  from 
Paddington  to  West  Drayton  in  1838. 

The  submarine  telegraph  to  America,  conceived  in  1856, 
became  a  practical  reality  in  1861  through  the  commercial 
energy  of  Cyrus  Field  and  Pender,  aided  by  the  mechanical  skill 
of  Latimer  Clark,  Gooch,  and  others,  and  the  scientific  genius 
of  Lord  Kelvin.  The  knowledge  of  electricity  gained  by  means 
of  its  application  to  the  telegraph  largely  assisted  the  extension 
of  its  utility  in  other  directions. 

The  electric  light  gives,  in  its  incandescent  form,  a  very  perfect 
hygienic  light.  WTiere  rivers  are  at  hand  the  electrical  trans- 
mission of  power  will  drive  railway  trains  and  factories  econom- 
ically, and  might  enable  each  artisan  to  convert  his  room  into  a 
workshop,  and  thus  assist  in  restoring  to  the  labouring  man 
some  of  the  individuality  which  the  factory  has  tended  to 
destroy. 

In  1843  Joule  described  his  experiments  for  determining  the 
mechanical  equivalent  of  heat.  But  it  was  not  until  the  meeting 
at  Oxford,  in  1847,  that  he  fully  developed  the  law  of  the  con- 
ser\-ation  of  energy,  which,  in  conjunction  with  Newton's  law 
of  the  conservation  of  momentum,  and  Dalton's  law  of  the 
conservation  of  chemical  elements,  constitutes  a  complete 
mechanical  foundation  for  physical  science. 

Who,  at  the  foundation  of  the  Association,  would  have 
believed  some  far-seeing  philosopher  if  he  had  foretold  that  the 
spectroscope  would  analyse  the  constituents  of  the  sun  and 
measure  the  motions  of  the  stars  ;  that  we  should  liquefy  air 
and  utilise  temperatures  approaching  to  the  absolute  zero  for 
experimental  research  ;  that,  like  the  magician  in  the  "  .\rabian 
Nights,"  we  should  annihilate  distance  by  means  of  the  electric 
telegraph  and  the  telephone  :  that  we  should  illuminate  our 
largest  buildings  instantaneously,  with  the  clearness  of  day,  by 
means  of  the  electric  current ;  that  by  the  electric  transmission 
of  power  we  shouUl  Ik:  able  to  utilise  the  Falls  of  Niagara  to 
work  factories  at  distant  places  ;  that  we  should  extract  metals 
from  the  crust  of  the  earth  by  the  same  electrical  agency  to 
which,  in  some  cases,  their  <le|>isition  has  l>een  attributed? 

These  discoveries  and  their  applications  have  been  brought  to 
their  present  condition  by  the  researches  of  a  long  line  of  scien- 
tific explorers,  such  as  Dalton,  Joule,  .Maxwell,  Helmholtz,  Ilerz, 
Kelvin,  and  Rayleigh,  aided  by  vast  strides  made  in  mechanical 
skill.  But  what  will  our  successors  lie  discussing  sixty  years 
hence?  How  little  do  we  yet  know  of  the  vibrations  which 
communicate  light  and  heat  !  Far  as  we  have  advanced  in  ihe 
application  of  electricity  to  the  uses  of  life,  we  know  but  little 
even  yet  of  its  real  nature.  We  are  only  on  the  threshold  of 
the  knowledge  of  molecular  action,  or  of  the  constitution  of  the 
all-|)ervading  .-ether.  Newton,  at  the  end  of  the  scvenleenlh 
century,  in  his  preface  to  the  "  Principia,"  says  :  "  1  have 
dc<luced  the  motions  of  the  planets  by  mathematical  reasoning 
from  forces  :  and  I  would  that  we  could  derive  the  f)ther  phenu- 
m'  're   from    mechanical    principles  by  the  same  mode 

rii  l''<jr   many  things   move  me,  sfj  that  I  st)mewhat 

Ml  I  -"'  h  may  dejiend  on  certain  forces  by  which  the 

|..,  .  through  causes  not  yet  known,   are  either 

utf  li  other  according  to  regular  figures,  or  are 

repelled  .iii'l  rcude  from  each  other;  and  these  forces  lx;lng 
unknown,  philosophers  have  hitherto  made  their  attempts  on 
nature  in  vain." 

In   1K4S  l-'araday  remarked:  "Mow  rapidly  the  knowledge 

NO.   1350,  VOL.  52] 


of  molecular  forces  grows  upon  us,  and  how  strikingly  every 
investigation  tends  to  develop  more  and  more  their  importance  I 

"A  few  years  ago  magnetism  was  an  occult  force,  afl'ecting 
only  a  few  bodies ;  now  it  is  found  to  intluence  all  bodies,  and 
to  possess  the  most  intimate  relation  with  electricity,  heat, 
chemical  action,  light,  crystallisation  ;  and  through  it  the  forces 
concerned  in  cohesion.  We  may  feel  encouraged  to  con- 
tinuous labours,  hoping  to  bring  it  into  a  bond  of  union  with 
gravity  itself." 

But  it  is  only  within  the  last  few  years  that  we  have  begim  to 
realise  that  electricity  is  closely  connected  with  the  vibrations 
which  cause  heat  and  light,  and  which  seem  to  pervade  allsjiace 
— vibrations  which  may  be  termed  the  voice  of  the  Creator  call- 
ing to  each  atom  and  to  each  cell  of  protoplasm  to  fall  into  its 
ordained  position,  each,  as  it  were,  a  musical  note  in  the  har- 
monious symphony  which  we  call  the  universe. 

Meteorology. 

At  the  first  meeting,  in  1831,  Prof.  James  D.  Forties  was 
requested  to  draw  up  a  report  on  the  State  of  Meteorological 
Science,  on  the  ground  that  this  science  is  more  in  want  than  any 
other  of  that  systematic  direction  which  it  is  one  great  object  of 
the  Association  to  give. 

Prof.  Forbes  made  his  first  report  in  1832,  and  a  subsequent 
report  in  1840.  The  systematic  records  now  kept  in  various 
parts  of  the  world  of  barometric  pressure,  of  solar  he.tt,  of  the 
temperature  and  iihysical  conditions  of  the  atmosphere  at  various 
altitudes,  of  the  heat  of  the  ground  at  various  depths,  of  the 
rainfall,  of  the  prevalence  of  winds,  and  the  gradual  elucidation 
not  only  of  the  laws  which  regulate  the  movements  of  cyclones 
and  storms,  but  of  the  influences  which  are  exercised  by  the 
sun  and  by  electricity  and  magnetism,  not  only  upon  atmospheric 
conditions,  but  upon  health  and  vitality,  are  gradually  approx- 
imating meteorok>gy  to  llie  position  of  an  exact  science. 

England  took  the  lead  in  rainfall  observations.  Mr.  G.  J. 
Symons  organised  the  British  Rainfall  System  in  1S60  with  178 
observers,  a  system  which  uiuil  1S76  received  the  help  of  the 
British  Association.  Now  Mr.  Symons  himself  conducts  it, 
assisted  by  more  than  3000  observers,  and  these  volunteers  not 
only  make  the  observations,  but  defray  the  expense  of  their 
reduction  and  publication.  In  foreign  countries  this  work  is  done 
by  Government  officers  at  the  public  cost. 

At  the  present  time  a  very  large  numlier  of  rain  gauges  are  in 
daily  use  throughout  the  world.  The  British  Islands  have  more 
than  3CXXJ,  and  India  and  the  United  States  have  nearly  as  many  ; 
France  and  Germany  are  not  fat  behind  ;  Australia  probably  has 
more— indeed,  one  colony  alone,  New  South  Wales,  has  more 
than  I  too. 

The  storm  warnings  now  issued  under  the  excellent  systematic 
organisation  of  the  Meteorological  Cominitlee  may  be  said  to 
have  had  their  origin  in  the  terrible  storm  which  broke  over  the 
Black  Sea  during  the  Crimean  War,  on  November  27,  1855. 
Leverrier  traced  the  progress  of  that  storm,  and  seeing  how  its 
path  could  have  been  reported  in  advance  by  the  electric  tele- 
graph, he  projMsed  to  establish  observing  stations  which  should 
report  to  the  coasts  the  probability  of  the  occurrence  of  a  storm, 
Leverrier  communicated  with  .Viry,  and  the  tloveinment  autho- 
rised .\dmiral  FitzRoy  to  make  tentative  arrangements  in  this 
country.  The  idea  was  also  adopted  on  the  continent,  and  now 
there  are  few  civilised  countries  north  or  south  of  the  e<iuator 
without  a  system  of  storm  warning.' 

BlOLOlilOAI.   St^F.NlF. 

Botany. 

The  earliest  Reports  of  the  Association  which  l>ear  on  the 
biological  sciences  were  those  relating  to  botany. 

In  1831  the  controversy  was  yet  unsettled  between  Ihe 
advant.iges  of  the  Linnean,  or  Artificial  system,  as  contrasted 
with  the  Natural  system  of  cl.tssification.  Histology,  nuirphii- 
logy,  and  physiological  botany,  even  if  born,  were  in  their 
early  infancy. 

Our  rccor<ls  show  that  von  Mohl  noted  cell  division  m  1835, 
the  presence  of  chlf)rophyll  corpu.scles  in  1837  ;  and  he  first 
descripcd  protoplasm  in  1846. 

>Il'h.->«  often  iKcn  sii|)po«:il  ihal  Ix;vcrricr  was  i«lso  the  first  to  issue  .a 
daily  we.nllict  iii.ip.  lull  lli:il  was  nol  itic  ca>e,  for  in  llie  Grc.il  Kxhlbujon  of 
iSsi  the  KIcclric  'i'clci;r.iph  t'omiiany  sold  daily  wcalhcr  nirips,  copies  ol 
which  arc  slill  in  cviMciice.  :ind  the  dal.i  for  them  were,  il  is  believed,  ob- 
laincd  hy  .Mr.  James  (Jl.-iisher,  F.R.S.,  al  ihat  lime  Superinlcndenl  of  the 
^lctcorological  I  IciMrlmcnt  at  Greenwich. 


September  12,  1895] 


NATURE 


46; 


Vast  as  have  been  the  advances  of  physiological  botany  since 
thai  time,  much  of  its  fundamental  principles  remain  to  be 
worked  out,  and  I  trust  that  the  establishment,  for  the  first  time, 
of  a  permanent  Section  for  botany  at  the  present  meeting  will 
lead  the  Association  to  lake  a  more  prominent  part  than  it  has 
hitherto  done  in  the  further  development  of  this  branch  of 
biological  science. 

Animal  Physiology. 

In  1S31  Cuvier,  who  during  the  previous  generation  had,  by 
the  collation  of  facts  followed  by  careful  inductive  reasoning, 
established  the  plan  on  which  each  animal  is  constructed,  was 
approaching  the  termination  of  his  long  and  useful  life.  He 
died  in  1832  ;  but  in  1831  Richard  Owen  was  just  commencing 
his  anatomical  investigations  and  his  brilliant  contributions  to 
paUeontology. 

The  impulse  which  their  labours  gave  to  biological  science 
was  reflected  in  numerous  reports  and  communications,  by 
Owen  and  others,  throughout  the  early  decades  of  the  British 
Association,  until  Darwin  propounded  a  theory  of  evolution 
which  commanded  the  general  assent  of  the  scientific  world. 
For  this  theory  was  not  absolutely  new.  But  just  as  Cuvier  had 
shown  that  each  bone  in  the  fabric  of  an  animal  affords  a  clue 
to  the  shape  and  structure  of  the  animal,  so  Darwin  brought 
harmony  into  scattered  facts,  and  led  us  to  perceive  that  the 
moulding  hand  of  the  Creator  maj'  have  evolved  Xhtt  complicated 
structures  of  the  organic  world  from  one  or  more  primeval  cells. 

Richard  Owen  did  not  accept  Darwin's  theory  of  evolution, 
and  a  large  section  of  the  public  contested  it.  I  well  remember 
the  storm  it  produced — a  storm  of  praise  by  my  geological 
colleagues,  who  accepted  the  result  of  investigated  facts ;  a 
storm  of  indignation  such  as  that  which  would  have  burned 
Galileo  at  the  stake  from  those  «lio  were  not  yet  prepared  to 
question  the  old  authorities  ;  but  they  diminish  daily. 

We  are,  however,  as  yet  only  on  the  threshold  of  the  doctrine 
of  evolution.  Does  not  each  investigation,  even  into  the 
embryonic  stage  of  the  simpler  forms  of  life,  suggest  fresh 
problems  ? 

Anthropology. 

The  impulse  given  by  Darwin  has  been  fruitful  in  leading 
others  to  consider  whether  the  same  principle  of  evolution  may 
not  have  governed  the  moral  as  well  as  the  material  progress 
of  the  human  race.  Mr.  Kidd  tells  us  that  nature  as  inter- 
preted by  the  struggle  for  life  contains  no  sanction  for  the  moral 
progress  of  the  individual,  and  points  out  that  if  each  of  us 
were  allowed  by  the  conditions  of  life  to  follow  his  own 
inclination  the  average  of  each  generation  would  distinctly 
deteriorate  from  that  of  the  preceding  one  ;  but  because  the  law 
of  life  is  ceaseless  and  inevitable  struggle  and  competition, 
ceaseless  and  inevitable  selection  and  rejection,  the  result  is 
necessarily  ceaseless  and  inevitable  progress.  Evolution,  as  Sir 
William  Flower  said,  is  the  message  which  biology  has  sent  to 
help  us  on  with  some  of  the  problems  of  human  life,  and  Francis 
Gallon  urges  that  man,  the  foremost  outcome  of  the  awful 
mystery  of  evolution,  should  realise  that  he  has  the  power  of 
shaping  the  course  of  future  humanity  by  using  his  intelligence 
to  discover  and  expedite  the  changes  which  are  necessary  to 
atlapt  circumstances  to  man,  and  man  to  circumstances. 

In  considering  the  evolution  of  the  human  race,  the  science 
of  preventive  medicine  may  afford  us  some  indication  of  the 
direction  in  which  to  seek  for  social  improvement.  One  of  the 
early  steps  towards  establishing  that  science  upon  a  secure  basis 
was  taken  in  1S35  by  the  British  Association,  who  urged  upon 
the  Government  the  necessity  of  establishing  registers  of 
morlality  showing  the  causes  of  death  "  on  one  uniform  plan  in 
all  parts  of  the  King's  dominions,  as  the  only  means  by  which 
general  laws  touching  the  influence  of  causes  of  disease  and 
death  could  be  satisfactorily  deduced."  The  general  registration 
of  births  and  deaths  was  commenced  in  1838.  But  a  mere 
record  of  death  and  its  proximate  cause  is  insuflicient.  Pre- 
ventive medicine  requires  a  knowledge  of  the  details  of  the 
previous  conditions  of  life  and  of  occupaticm.  Moreover,  death 
IS  not  our  only  or  most  dangerous  enemy,  and  the  main  object 
of  preventive  medicine  is  to  ward  off  disease.  Disease  of  body 
lowers  our  useful  energy.  Disease  of  body  or  of  mind  may 
stamp  its  curse  on  succeeding  generations. 

The  anthropometric  laboratory  afibrds  to  the  student  of 
anthrojxilogy  a  means  of  analysing  the  causes  of  weakness,  not 
only  in  bodily,  but  also  in  mental  life. 

Mental  actions  are  indicated  by  movements  and  their  results. 
Such  signs  are  capable  of  record,  and   modern   physiology  has 

NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


shown  that  bodily  movements  correspond  to  action  in  nerve- 
centres,  as  surely  as  the  motions  of  the  telegraph-indicator 
express  the  movements  of  the  operator's  hands  in  the  distant 
office. 

Thus  there  is  a  relation  between  a  defective  status  in  brain 
power  and  defects  in  the  proportioning  of  the  body.  Defects  in 
physiognomical  details,  too  finely  graded  to  be  measured  with 
instruments,  may  be  appreciated  \\  ith  accuracy  by  the  senses  of 
the  observer ;  and  the  records  show  that  these  defects  are,  in  a 
large  degree,  associated  with  a  brain  status  lower  than  the 
average  in  mental  power. 

A  report  presented  by  one  of  your  committees  gives  the  results 
of  observations  made  on  100,000  school-children  examined  in- 
dividually in  order  to  determine  their  mental  and  physical  con- 
dition for  the  purpose  of  classification.  This  shows  that  about 
16  per  1000  of  the  elementarj'  school  population  appear  to  be  so 
far  defective  in  their  bodily  or  brain  condition  as  to  need  special 
training  to  enable  them  to  undertake  the  duties  of  life,  and  to 
kee]>  them  from  pauperism  or  crime. 

Many  of  our  feeble-minded  children,  and  much  disease  and 
vice,  are  t'ne  outcome  of  inherited  proclivities.  Francis  Galton 
has  shown  us  that  types  of  criminals  which  have  been  bred  true 
to  their  kind  are  one  of  the  saddest  disfigurements  of  modern 
civilisation  ;  and  he  says  that  few  deserve  better  of  their  country 
than  those  who  determine  to  lead  celibate  lives  through  a 
reasonable  conviction  that  their  issue  would  probably  be  less 
fitted  than  the  generality  to  play  their  part  as  citizens. 

These  considerations  point  to  the  importance  of  preventing 
those  suffering  from  transmissible  disease,  or  the  criminal,  or  the 
lunatic,  from  adding  fresh  sufferers  to  the  teeming  misery  in  our 
large  towns.  And  in  any  case,  knowing  as  we  do  the  influence 
of  environment  on  the  development  of  individuals,  they  point  to 
the  necessity  of  removing  those  who  are  born  w  ith  feeble  minds, 
or  under  conditions  of  moral  danger,  from  surrounding 
deteriorating  influences. 

These  are  problems  which  materially  aftect  the  progiess  of  the 
human  race,  and  we  may  feel  sure  that,  as  we  gradually  approach 
their  solution,  we  shall  more  certainly  realise  that  the  theory  of 
evolution,  which  the  genius  of  Darwin  impressed  on  this  centur)-, 
is  but  the  first  step  on  a  biological  ladder  which  may  possibly 
eventually  lead  us  to  understand  how  in  the  drama  of  creation 
man  has  been  evolved  as  the  highest  work  of  the  Creator. 

Bacteriology. 

The  sciences  of  medicine  and  surgery  were  largely  represented 
in  the  earlier  meetings  of  the  Association,  before  the  creation  of 
the  British  Medical  Association  afforded  a  field  for  their  more 
intimate  discussion.  The  close  connection  between  the  different 
branches  of  science  is  causing  a  revival  in  our  proceedings  of 
discussions  on  some  of  the  highest  medical  problems,  especially 
those  relating  to  the  spread  of  infectious  and  epidemic  disease. 

It  is  interesting  to  contrast  the  opinion  prevalent  at  the 
foundation  of  the  Association  with  the  present  position  of  the 
question. 

A  reix)rt  to  the  Association  in  1834,  by  Prof.  Henry,  on 
contagion,  says  : — 

"  The  notion  that  contagious  emanations  are  at  all  connected 
with  the  diffusion  of  animalcuUe  through  the  atmosphere  is  at 
variance  with  all  that  is  known  of  the  diffusion  of  volatile 
contagion." 

Whilst  it  had  long  been  known  that  filthy  conditions  in  air, 
earth  and  water  fostered  fever,  cholera,  and  many  other  forms  of 
disease,  and  that  the  disease  ceased  to  spread  on  the  removal 
of  these  conditions,  yet  the  re;ison  for  their  propagation  or 
diminution  remained  under  a  veil. 

Leeuwenhoek  in  1680  described  the  yeast-cells,  but  Schwann 
in  1837  first  showed  clearly  that  fermentation  was  due  to  the 
activity  of  the  yeast-cells  ;  and,  although  vague  ideas  of  fer- 
mentation had  been  current  during  the  past  century,  he  laid  the 
foundation  of  our  exact  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  action  of 
ferments,  both  organise<l  and  unorganised.  It  was  not  until 
i860,  after  the  prize  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  had  been 
awarded  to  Pasteur  for  his  essay  against  the  theory  of  spon- 
taneous generation,  that  his  investigations  into  the  action  of 
ferments'  enabled  him  to  show  that  the  effects  of  the  yeast-cell 

'In  spc.-»king  of  ferments  one  must  bear  in  mind  that  tlierc  ara  two  classes 
of  ferments;  one.  living  beings,  siicfi  as  yeast — "organised  "  ferments,  as 
tfiey  are  sometimes  called — ifie  otlier  the  products  of  living  beings  themselves, 
such  as  pepsin,  itc. — "unorganised"  ferments.  Pasteur  worked  with  the 
former,  vcrj-  little  with  the  latter 


468 


NA  TURE 


[September  12,  1S95 


are  indissolubly  bound  up  with  the  activities  of  the  cell  as  a 
li\nng  organism,  and  that  certain  diseases,  at  least,  are  due  to 
the  action  of  ferments  in  the  living  being.  In  1S65  he  showed 
that  the  disease  of  silkworms,  which  was  then  undermining  the 
silk  induslr)-  in  France,  could  be  successfully  combated.  His 
further  researches  into  anthrax,  fowl  cholera,  swine  fever,  rabies, 
and  other  diseases,  proved  the  theory  that  those  diseases  are 
connected  in  some  way  with  the  introduction  of  a  microbe  into 
the  body  of  an  animal ;  that  the  vindence  of  the  poison  can  be 
diminished  by  cultivating  the  microbes  in  an  appropriate 
manner ;  and  that  when  the  viiulence  has  lieen  thus  diminished 
their  inoculation  will  afford  a  protection  against  the  disease. 

Meanwhile  it  had  often  been  observed  in  hospital  practice  that 
a  patient  with  a  simple-fractured  limb  was  easily  cured,  whilst  a 
patient  with  a  conijiound  fracture  often  died  from  the  wound. 
Lister  was  thence  led,  in  1865,  to  adopt  his  antiseptic  treatment, 
by  which  the  wound  is  protected  from  hostile  microbes. 

This  investigation,  followed  by  the  discovery  of  the  existence 
of  a  multitude  of  micro-organisms  and  the  recognition  of  some  of 
them — such  as  the  liacillus  of  tubercle  and  the  comma  bacillus 
of  cholera — as  essential  factors  of  disease  ;  and  by  the  elabora- 
tion of  Koch  and  others  of  methods  by  which  the  several 
organisms  might  be  isolated,  cultivated,  and  their  histories 
studied,  have  gradually  built  up  the  science  of  bacteriology. 
Amongst  later  developments  are  the  discovery  of  various  so- 
called  antitoxins,  such  as  those  of  diphtheria  and  tetanus,  and 
the  utilisation  of  these  for  the  cure  of  disease.  Lister's  treat- 
ment formed  a  landmark  in  the  science  of  surgery,  and  enabled 
our  surgeons  to  perform  operations  never  before  dreamed  of; 
whilst  later  discoveries  are  tending  to  place  the  practice  of 
medicine  on  a  firm  scientific  basis.  And  the  science  of  bac- 
teriology is  leading  us  to  recur  to  stringent  rules  for  the 
Isolation  of  infectious  disease,  and  to  the  disinfection  (by  super- 
heated steam)  of  materials  which  have  been  in  contact  with  the 
suffeier. 

These  microbes,  whether  friendly  or  hostile,  are  all  capable  of 
multiplying  at  an  enormous  rate  under  favourable  conditions. 
They  are  found  in  the  air,  in  water,  in  the  soil ;  but,  fortunately, 
the  presence  of  one  species  apjxsirs  to  be  detrimental  to  other 
species,  and  sun.shine,  or  even  light  from  the  sky,  is  prejudicial 
to  most  of  them.  Our  bodies,  when  in  health,  appear  to  be 
fumishe<I  with  special  means  of  resisting  attack,  and,  so  far  as 
regards  their  influence  in  causing  disease,  the  success  of  the 
attack  of  a  iMthrjgenic  organism  upon  an  individual  depends,  as 
a  rule,  in  part  at  least,  upon  the  power  of  resistance  of  the 
individual. 

But  notwithstanding  our  knowledge  of  the  danger  arising 
from  a  state  of  low  health  in  individuals,  and  of  the  universal 
prevalence  of  these  micro-organisms,  how  careless  we  are  in 
guarding  the  health  conditions  of  everyday  life  !  We  have 
ascertained  that  fathogenic  organisms  pervade  the  air.  Why, 
therefore,  do  we  allow  our  meat,  our  fish,  our  vegetables,  our 
easily  contaminated  milk,  to  be  exposed  to  their  inroads,  often 
in  the  foulest  Uxrallties?  We  have  a.scertained  that  they  pervade 
the  water  we  drink,  yet  we  allow  foul  water  from  our  dwellings, 
our  pigsties,  our  farmyards,  to  pass  into  ditches  without  previous 
clarification,  whence  it  flows  into  our  streams  and  |x>llules  our 
rivers.  We  know  the  conditions  of  occupation  which  foster  ill- 
health.  Why,  whilst  we  remove  outside  sources  of  impure  air, 
do  we  [xrrmit  the  occu|iation  of  foul  and  unhealthy  dwellings? 

The  study  of  bacteriology  has  shown  us  that  although  some  of 
these  organisms  may  be  the  accompaniments  of  disease,  yet  we 
owe  it  to  the  operation  of  others  that  the  refuse  caused  by  the 
cessation  of  animal  and  vegetable  life  is  reconverted  into  food 
for  fresh  generations  of  plants  and  animals. 

These  considerations  have  formed  a  point  of  meeting  where 
the  biologist,  the  chemist,  the  physicist,  and  the  statistician 
unite  with  the  sanitary  engineer  in  the  applicition  of  the  science 
uf  preventive  medicine. 

ESCINBEKl.NG. 


Sewage  Purification. 

The  early  re|>'irls  lo  the  Association  show  that  the  laws  of 
hydrostatics,  hydroilvnamics,  and  hydraulics  necessary  to  the 
supply  and   i  '      ■   water  through  jiliK-s  and  conduits  had 

long  liecn  in  .  the  mathematician.     Hut  the  modern 

.unitary  cngiij  in  driven  by  the  needs  of  an  increasing 

popidatlon  to  call  m  the  chemist  and  the  biologist  to  help  him  to 
provide  pure  water  and  pure  air. 

The  purification  ami   the  utilisation  of  sewage  occupied  the 

NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


attention  of  the  British  .\ssociation  as  early  as  1S64,  and  between 
1S69  and  1 8/6  a  committee  of  the  .Association  made  a  series  of 
valuable  reports  on  the  subject.  The  direct  application  of 
sewage  to  land,  though  eflectlve  as  a  means  of  purification, 
ent.ailed  dltTicuUies  in  thickly  settled  districts,  owing  to  the 
extent  of  land  required. 

The  chemical  treatment  of  sewage  produced  an  effluent  harm- 
less only  after  having  been  passed  over  land,  or  if  turned  Into  a 
large  and  rapid  stream,  or  into  a  tidal  estuary  :  and  it  left  behind 
a  large  amount  of  sludge  to  be  dealt  with. 

Hence  It  was  long  contended  that  the  simplest  i^lan  in  favour- 
able localities  was  to  turn  the  sewage  Into  the  sea,  and  that  the 
conse()uent  loss  to  the  hind  of  the  manurlal  value  In  the  sewage 
would  be  recouped  by  the  Increase  in  fish-life. 

It  was  not  till  the  chemist  called  10  his  aid  the  biologist,  and 
came  to  the  help  of  the  engineer,  that  a  scientific  system  of 
sewage  purification  was  evolved. 

Dr.  Frankland  many  years  ago  suggested  the  intermittent 
filtration  of  sewage  ;  and  Mr.  Baldwin  Latham  was  one  of  the 
first  engineers  to  adopt  It.  But  the  valuable  experiments  made 
in  recent  years  by  the  State  Board  of  llealtli  in  Massacliusetts 
have  more  clearly  explained  to  us  how  tiy  this  system  we  may 
utilise  micro-organisms  to  convert  organic  Imiiurity  In  sewage 
into  food  fitted  for  higher  forms  of  life. 

To  effect  this  we  require,  In  the  first  place,  a  filler  about  five 
feet  thick  of  sand  and  gravel,  or,  Indeed,  of  any  material  which 
affords  numerous  surfaces  or  open  pores.  Secondly,  that  after  a 
volume  of  sewage  has  passeil  through  the  filter,  an  Interval  of 
time  be  allowed.  In  which  the  air  necessary  to  support  the  life  of 
the  micro-organisms  Is  enabled  to  enter  the  pores  of  the  filter. 
Thus  this  system  is  dependent  upon  oxygen  and  time.  Under 
such  conditions  the  organisms  necessary  for  purification  are  sure 
to  establish  themselves  In  the  filler  before  it  has  been  long  in  use. 
Temperature  Is  a  secondary  consideration. 

Imperfect  purification  can  invariably  be  traced  either  to  a 
lack  of  oxygen  In  the  pores  of  the  filter,  or  to  the  sewage  passing 
through  so  quickly  that  there  Is  not  sufficient  time  for  the  ncces- 
saiT  processes  to  take  jilace.  .\nd  the  power  of  any  material  to 
purify  either  sewage  or  water  depends  almost  entirely  upon  its 
ability  to  hold  a  sutiicient  proportion  of  either  sewage  or  water  ire 
contact  with  a  proper  amount  of  air. 

Smote  Abatement. 
Whilst  the  sanitary  engineer  has  done  much  lo  improve  the 
surface  conditions  of  our  towns,  to  furnish  clean  water,  and  to- 
remove  our  sewage,  he  has  as  yet  done  little  to  jHirlfy  town  air. 
Fog  is  caused  by  the  floating  particles  of  mailer  In  the  air 
becoming  weighted  with  aqueous  vapour ;  some  particles,  such 
as  salts  of  ammonia  or  chloride  of  sodium,  have  a  greater  affinity 
for  moisture  than  others.  You  will  suffer  from  f.ig  so  long  a.s 
you  keep  refuse  stored  In  your  towns  to  fiirnlsh  ammonia,  or  so 
long  as  you  allow  your  street  surfaces  to  supply  dust,  of  which 
much  consists  of  jiowdered  horse  manure,  or  so  long  as  you  senJ 
the  products  of  combustion  Into  the  atmosphere.  Therefore, 
when  you  have  ailopted  mechanical  traction  l^or  vehicles  In  your 
towns,  you  may  largely  reduce  one  cause  of  fog.  And  if  you 
diminish  your  black  smoke,  you  will  diminish  bl.tck  fogs. 

In  manufactories  you  m.ay  prevent  smoke  either  by  care  in 
firing,  by  using  smokeless  coal,  or  by  washing  the  soot  out  i>l 
the  products  of  consumption  in  its  jrassage  along  the  flue  leading 
to  the  main  chimney-shaft. 

The  black  smoke  from  your  kitchen  may  be  avoided  by  the 
use  of  coke  or  of  gas.  But  so  long  as  we  retain  the  hygienic 
arrangement  of  the  oj^n  fire  in  our  living-rooms  I  despair  of 
finding  a  fireplace,  however  well  constructed,  which  will  not  be 
used  In  such  a  manner  as  to  cause  smoke,  unless,  indeed,  the 
chinmeys  were  reversed  and  the  fumes  drawn  into  siune  central 
shaft,  where  they  might  be  w.ashed  befi>re  being  passed  Into  the 
atmosphere. 

Electricity  as  a  warming  and  cooking  agent  wnulil  be  con- 
venient, cleanly,  and  ecommilcal  when  generated  by  water  jKiwer, 
or  possibly  wind  power,  but  it  is  at  present  loo  dear  when  it  has 
to  l)e  generateil  by  means  of  coal.  I  can  conceive,  however, 
th.at  our  descendants  may  learn  so  lo  utilise  electricity  thai  they 
In  some  future  century  may  be  enabled  by  Its  means  to  avoid 
the  smoke  in  their  towns. 

Mechanical  Engineering. 
In  other  branches  of  civil  and   mech.anical   engineering,  the 
reports  In  1831   and   1832  <m  ihe  .state  of  this  science  show  that 


September  12,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


469 


the  theoretical  and  practical  knowledge  of  the  strength  of  timber 
had  obtained  considerable  development.  But  in  1830,  before 
the  introduction  of  railways,  cast  iron  had  been  sparingly  used 
in  archefl  bridges  for  spans  of  from  160  to  200  feet,  and  wrought 
iron  had  imly  been  aiiplied  to  large-span  irr)n  bridges  on  the 
suspension  i)rinciple,  the  most  notable  instance  of  which  was  the 
Menai  Suspension  Bridge,  by  Telford.  Indeed,  whilst  the 
Strength  of  limber  had  been  patiently  investigated  by  engineers, 
the  best  form  for  the  use  of  iron  girders  and  .struts  was  only 
beginning  to  attract  attention,  and  the  earlier  volumes  of  our 
Transactions  contained  numerous  records  of  the  researches  of 
Eaton  Hodgkinson,  Barlow,  Rennie,  and  others.  It  was  not 
until  tw'cnty  years  later  that  Robert  Stephenson  and  William  Fair- 
bairn  erected  the  tubular  britlge  at  Menai,  followed  by  the  more 
scientific  bridge  erected  by  Brunei  at  Saltash.  These  have  now 
been  entirely  eclipsed  by  the  skill  with  which  the  estuarj*  of  the 
Forth  has  been  bridged  with  a  span  of  1700  feet  by  Sir  John 
Fowler  and  Sir  Benjamin  Baker. 

The  development  of  the  iron  industry  is  due  to  the  association 
of  the  chemist  with  the  engineer.  The  introduction  of  the  hot 
blast  by  Neilson,  in  1829.  in  the  manufacture  of  cast  iron  had 
effected  a  large  saving  of  fuel.  But  the  chemical  conditions 
which  affect  the  strength  and  other  qualities  of  iron,  and  its 
combinations  with  carbon,  silicon,  phosphorus,  and  other  sub- 
stances, had  at  that  time  scarcely  been  investigated. 

In  1856  Bessemer  brought  before  the  British  /issociation  at 
Cheltenham  his  brilliant  discovery  for  making  steel  direct  from 
the  blast  furnace,  by  which  he  dispensed  w'ith  the  laborious  pro- 
cess of  first  removing  the  carbon  from  pig-iron  by  puddling,  and 
then  adding  by  cementation  the  required  jjroportion  of  carbon  to 
make  steel.  This  discovery,  followed  by  .Siemens's  regenerative 
furnace,  by  Whitworlh's  compressed  steel,  and  by  the  use  of 
alloys  and  by  other  improvements  too  numerous  to  mention  here, 
have  revolutionised  the  conditions  under  which  metals  are 
applied  to  engineering  purposes. 

Indeed,  few  questions  are  of  greater  interest,  or  possess  more 
industrial  importance,  than  those  connected  with  metallic  alloys. 
This  is  especially  true  of  those  alloys  which  contain  the  rarer 
metals ;  and  the  extraordinary  effects  of  small  quantities  of 
chromium,  nickel,  tungsten  and  titanium  on  certain  varieties  of 
steel  have  exerted  profound  influence  on  the  manufacture  of 
projectiles  and  on  the  construction  of  our  armoured  ships. 

Of  late  years,  investigations  on  the  properties  and  structure  of 
alloys  have  been  numerous,  and  among  the  more  noteworthy 
researches  may  be  mentioned  those  of  Dcwar  and  Fleming  on 
the  distinctive  behaviour,  as  regards  the  thermo-electric  powers 
and  electrical  resistance,  of  metals  and  alloys  at  the  very  low 
temperatures  which  may  be  obtained  by  the  use  of  liquid  air. 

Prof  Roberts-.Vusten,  on  the  other  hand,  has  carefully  studied 
the  behaviour  of  alloys  at  verj-  high  temperat\ires,  and  by  em- 
ploying his  delicate  pyrometer  has  obtainetl  phtitngraphic 
curves  which  afford  additional  evidence  as  to  the  existence  of 
allotropic  modifications  of  metals,  and  which  have  materially 
strengthened  the  view  that  alloys  are  closely  analogous  to  saline 
solutions.  In  this  connection  it  may  be  stated  that  the  very 
accurate  work  of  Ilcycock  and  Neville  on  the  lowering  of  the 
solidifying  ])oints  of  molten  metals,  which  is  caused  by  the 
presence  of  other  metals,  affords  a  valuable  contribution  to  our 
knowledge. 

Prof.  Roberts- .Austen  has,  moreover,  shown  that  the  effect  of 
any  one  constituent  of  an  alloy  upon  the  properties  of  the 
principal  metal  has  a  direct  relation  to  the  atomic  volumes,  and 
that  it  is  consequently  possible  to  foretell,  in  a  great  measure, 
the  effect  of  any  given  combination. 

A  new  branch  of  investigation,  which  deals  with  the  micro- 
structure  of  metals  and  alloys,  is  rapidly  assuming  much  import- 
ance. It  was  instituted  by.Sorby  in  a  communication  which  he 
made  to  the  British  .Association  in  1S64,  and  its  development  is 
due  to  many  patient  workers,  among  whom  M.  Osmond  occupies 
a  prominent  place. 

.Metallurgical  science  has  brought  aluminium  into  use  by 
cheapening  the  process  of  its  extraction  ;  and  if  by  means  of  the 
wasted  forces  in  our  rivers,  or  possibly  of  the  wind,  the  extraction 
be  still  further  cheapened  by  the  aid  of  electricity,  vve  may  not 
only  utilise  the  metal  or  its  alloys  in  increasing  the  spans  of  our 
bridges,  and  in  affording  strength  and  lightness  in  the  construc- 
tion of  our  ships,  but  we  may  hope  to  obtain  a  material  which 
may  render  practicable  the  dreams  of  Icarus  and  of  Maxim,  and 
for  purposes  of  rapiti  transit  enable  us  to  navigate  the  air. 

Long  before  1S31  the  steam-engine  had  been  largely  used  on 


rivers  and  lakes,  and  for  short  sea  passages,  although  the  first 
Atlantic  steam-service  was  not  established  till  1838. 

As  early  as  1820  the  steam-engine  had  been  applied  by 
Gurney,  Hancock,  and  others  to  road  traction.  The  absuril 
impediments  placed  in  their  way  by  road  trustees,  which,  indeed, 
are  still  enforced,  checked  any  progress.  But  the  question  of 
mechanical  traction  on  ordinary  roads  was  practically  shelved  ir» 
1830,  at  the  time  of  the  formation  of  the  British  .Association, 
when  the  locomotive  engine  was  combined  with  a  tubular  boiler 
and  an  iron  road  on  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester  Railway. 

Great,  however,  as  was  the  advance  made  by  the  locomotive 
engine  of  Robert  .Stephenson,  these  earlier  engines  were  only 
toys  com]3ared  with  the  comjjound  engines  of  to-day  which  are 
used  for  railw.ays,  for  ships,  or  for  the  manufacture  of  electricity. 
Indeed,  it  may  be  .said  that  the  study  of  the  laws  of  heat,  which 
have  led  to  the  introduction  of  variotis  forms  of  motive  power, 
are  gradually  revolutionising  all  our  habits  of  life. 

The  improvements  in  the  production  of  iron,  combined  with 
the  developed  steam-engine,  have  completely  altered  the  con- 
ditions of  our  commercial  intercourse  on  land  ;  whilst  the 
changes  caused  by  the  effects  of  these  improvements  in  ship- 
building, and  on  the  ocean  carr)'ing  trade,  have  been,  if  any- 
thing, .still  more  marked. 

-At  the  foundation  of  the  Association  all  ocean  ships  were  built 
by  hand,  of  wood,  propelled  by  .sails  and  manreuvred  by  manual 
labour  ;  the  material  limited  their  length,  which  did  not  often 
exceed  100  feet,  and  the  number  of  English  ships  of  over  500 
tons  burden  was  comparatively  small. 

In  the  modern  ships  steam  power  takes  the  place  of  manual 
labour.  It  rolls  the  plates  of  which  the  ship  is  constructed, 
bends  them  to  the  required  shape,  cuts,  drills,  and  rivets  thent 
in  their  place.  It  weighs  the  anchor  ;  it  propels  the  ship  in 
spite  of  winds  or  currents ;  it  steers,  ventilates,  and  lights  the 
ship  when  on  the  ocean.  It  takes  the  cargo  on  board  and 
discharges  it  on  arrival. 

The  use  of  iron  favours  the  construction  of  ships  of  a  large 
size,  of  forms  which  afiVird  small  resistance  to  the  water,  and 
with  compartments  which  make  the  shii)s  practically  unsinkable 
in  heavy  seas,  or  by  collision.  Their  size,  the  economy  with 
which  they  are  propelled,  and  the  certainty  of  their  arrival, 
cheapens  the  cost  of  transport. 

The  steam-engine,  by  comi>ressing  air,  gives  us  control  over 
the  temjierature  of  cool  chambers.  In  these  not  only  fresh  meat, 
but  the  delicate  produce  of  the  -Antipodes,  is  brought  across  the 
ocean  to  our  doors  without  deterioration. 

Whilst  railways  have  done  much  to  alter  the  social  conditions 
of  each  individual  nation,  the  application  of  iron  and  steam  tO' 
our  ships  is  revolutionising  the  international  commercial  condi- 
tions of  the  world  ;  and  it  is  gradually  changing  the  course  of 
our  agriculture,  as  well  as  of  our  domestic  life. 

But  great  as  have  been  the  developments  of  science  ii> 
promoting  the  connnerce  of  the  world,  science  is  asserting  its 
supremacy  even  to  a  greater  extent  in  every  department  of  war. 
.And  perhaps  this  ajjplication  of  science  affords  at  a  glance,  better 
than  almost  any  other,  a  convenient  illustration  of  the  assistance 
which  the  chemical,  physical,  and  electrical  sciences  are  affording 
to  the  engineer. 

The  reception  of  warlike  stores  is  not  now  left  to  the  uncertain 
judgment  of  "  practical  men,"  but  is  confided  to  officers  who 
have  received  a  special  training  in  chemical  analysis,  and  in  the 
application  of  physical  and  electrical  science  to  the  tests  by 
which  the  qualities  of  explosives,  of  guns,  and  of  projectiles  cai> 
be  ascertained. 

For  instance,  take  explosives.  Till  quite  recently  black  anil 
brown  powders  alone  were  used,  the  former  as  old  as  civilisation, 
the  latter  but  a  small  modern  imjirovement  adapted  to  the 
increased  size  of  guns.  Bui  now  the  whole  family  of  nitro- 
cxplosives  are  rapidly  superseding  the  old  powder.  These  are 
the  direct  outcome  of  chemical  knowledge  ;  they  are  not  mere 
chance  inventions,  for  every  improvement  is  based  on  chemical 
theories,  and  not  on  random  experiment. 

The  construction  of  guns  is  no  longer  a  haphazard  operation. 
In  spite  of  the  enormous  forces  to  be  controlled  and  the  sudden 
violence  of  their  action,  the  researches  of  the  mathematici.an 
have  enabled  the  just  proportions  to  be  determined  with  accuracy  ; 
the  labours  of  the  physicist  have  revealed  the  internal  con<litions 
of  the  materials  employed,  and  the  best  means  of  their  favourable 
employment.  Take,  for  example,  Longridge's  coiMed-wire 
system,  in  which  each  successive  layer  of  which  the  gun  is 
formed  receives  the  exact  jjroportion  of  tension   which   enables 


NO.    1350.  VOL.   52] 


4;o 


NA  TURE 


[September  12,  1895 


all  the  layers  to  act  in  unison.  The  chemist  has  rendered  it 
clear  thai  even  the  smallest  quantities  of  certain  ingredients  are 
of  supreme  importance  in  aflfecting  the  tenacity  and  trustw  orthi- 
ness  of  the  materials. 

The  treatment  of  steel  to  adapt  it  to  the  \-ast  range  of  duties 
it  has  to  perform  is  thus  the  outcome  of  patient  research.  And 
the  use  of  the  metals — manganese,  chromium,  nickel,  molyb- 
denum— as  alloys  with  iron  hxs  resulted  in  the  production  of 
steels  p<issessing  \-aried  and  extraordinary  properties.  The  steel 
required  to  resist  the  conjugate  stresses  develo|x;d,  lightning 
fashion,  in  a  gun  necessitates  qualities  that  would  not  be  suitable 
in  the  projectile  which  that  gun  hurls  with  a  velocity  of  some 
2500  feet  per  second  against  the  armoured  side  of  a  ship.  The 
armour,  again,  has  to  combine  extreme  superficial  hardness  with 
great  toughness,  and  during  the  last  few  years  these  qualities  are 
sought  to  be  attained  by  the  application  of  the  cementation 
process  for  adding  carbon  to  one  face  of  the  plate,  and  hardening 
that  face  alone  by  rapid  refrigeration. 

The  introduction  of  quick-firing  guns  from  '303  (i.e.  about 
one-third)  of  an  inch  to  6-inch  calibre  has  rendered  necessary  the 
production  of  metal  cartridge-cases  of  complex  forms  drawn 
cold  out  of  solid  blocks  or  plate  of  the  material  ;  this  again  has 
taxed  the  ingenuity  of  the  mechanic  in  the  device  of  machinery, 
and  of  the  metallurgist  producing  a  metal  possessed  of  the 
necessary  ductility  and  toughness.  The  cases  have  to  stand  a 
pressure  at  the  moment  of  firing  of  as  much  as  twenty-five  tons 
lo  the  square  inch— a  pressure  which  exceeds  the  ordinary 
elastic  limits  of  the  steel  of  which  the  gun  itself  is  composed. 

There  is  nothing  more  wonderful  in  practical  mechanics  than 
the  closing  of  the  breech  openings  of  guns,  for  not  only  must 
they  be  gas-tight  at  these  tremendous  pressures,  but  the 
niech.ini>m  must  Ije  such  that  one  man  by  a  single  continuous 
nil jvement  shall  be  able  to  open  or  close  the  breech  of  the  largest 
gun  in  >ome  ten  or  fifteen  seconds. 

The  perfect  knowledge  of  the  recoil  of  guns  has  enabled  the 
ircaction  of  the  discharge  to  be  utilised  in  compressing  air  or 
springs  by  which  guns  can  lie  raised  from  concealed  positions  in 
order  to  deliver  their  fire,  and  then  made  lo  disappear  again  for 
loading  ;  or  the  .same  force  has  been  used  to  run  up  the  guns 
automatically  immediately  after  firing,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Maxim  gun,  10  deliver  in  the  .same  way  a  continuous  stream  of 
t'ullets  at  the  rate  of  ten  in  one  second. 

In  the  manufacture  of  shot  and  shell  cast  iron  has  been  almost 
superseded  by  cast  and  wrought  steel,  though  the  hardened 
r.iUiser  projectiles  still  hold  their  place.  The  forged-steel  pro- 
jectiles are  produced  by  methods  very  similar  to  those  used  in 
the  manufacture  of  metal  cartridge-cases,  though  the  process  is 
carried  on  at  a  red  heat  and  by  machines  much  more  powerful. 

In  every  department  concerned  in  the  production  of  warlike 
stores  electricity  is  playing  a  more  and  more  important  |)art.  It 
has  enabled  the  j)as.sage  of  a  shot  to  be  followed  from  its  seat  in 
the  gun  to  its  destination. 

In  the  gun,  by  means  of  electrical  contacts  arranged  in  the 
bore,  a  lime-airve  of  the  pa,ssage  of  the  shot  can  be  determined. 

From  this  the  mathematician    constructs  the  velocity-curve, 

•,nil   i'r.,11  this,  again,  the  pressures  producing  the  velocity  are 

1(1  used  to  check  the  same  indications  obtained  by 

The  velocity  of  the  shot  after  it  has  left  the  gun 

i^  easily  .Lvrertaineil  by  the  Boulange  apparatus. 

Klectririty  and  photography  have  been  laid  under  contribution 

.;  lecords  of  the  flight  of  projectiles  and  the  eflects  of 

'    the   moment  of   their  occurrence.      Many  of  you 

■  Mr.  \crnon  Boy-s'  marvellous  photographs  showing 

of  the  shot  driving  Ijcfore  it  waves  of  air  in  its 

and    photography   also    record    the    pro|x;rtic5   of 
I'ir  alloys  as  determined  by  curves  of  cooling. 

V. ith   which  electrical  energy  can  be  converted 

'  If.is  l)een   taken   advant.age  of  for  the  firing  of 

•    ''irn   can,  by  the  same  agency,  be  laiil  on 

I  f.inge-finders  placed  at  a  distance  and  in 

|visitions ;    while   the    electric    light    is 

sights  Rt  night,  as  well  as  to  search  out 

■f  the  glow-Ump,  the  brightness  of  the 
that  the  light  is  not  due  tr)  combustion, 

'  r.  '  tl'  •  -  the  CNamination 
:in<l  other  similar 
ine  llu-   lliroLil  nf  a 


1350,  VOL.   52] 


Influence  of  Intercommi-nicvtion   afforded  by  the 
British  Association  on  Science  Progress. 

The  advances  in  engineering  which  have  produced  the  steam- 
engine,  the  railway,  the  telegrajih,  as  well  as  our  engines  of 
war,  may  be  said  to  be  the  result  of  commercial  enterprise 
rendereii  possible  only  by  the  advances  which  have  taken  place 
in  the  several  branches  of  science  since  1831.  Having  regard 
to  the  intimate  relations  which  the  several  sciences  bear  to  each 
other,  it  is  abundantly  clear  that  much  of  this  progress  could  not 
have  taken  place  in  the  past,  nor  could  further  progress  take 
place  in  the  future,  without  intercommunication  between  the 
students  of  different  branches  of  science. 

The  founders  of  llie  British  -Vssociation  based  its  claims  to 
utility  ujxin  the  power  it  afl'orded  for  this  intercommunication. 
Mr.  Vernon  Harcourt  (the  uncle  of  your  present  t">eneral  Secre- 
tar)),  in  the  address  he  delivered  in  iSj2,  said  :  "  How  feeble  is 
m,an  for  any  puriwse  when  he  stands  alone — how  strong  when 
united  with  other  men  ! 

"  It  may  be  true  that  the  greatest  philosophical  works  have 
been  achieved  in  privacy,  but  it  is  no  less  true  that  these  works 
would  never  have  been  acconii)lished  had  the  authors  not  mingled 
with  men  of  corresponding  pursuits,  and  from  the  commerce  of 
ideas  often  gathered  germs  of  apparently  insulated  discoveries, 
and  without  such  material  aid  would  seldom  have  carried  their 
investigations  to  a  valuable  conclusion."' 

I  claim  for  the  British  Association  that  it  has  fulfilled  the 
objects  of  its  founders,  that  it  has  had  a  large  share  in  promoting 
intercommunication  and  combination. 

Our  meetings  have  been  successful  because  they  have  main- 
tained the  true  principles  of  scientific  investigation.  We  have 
been  able  to  secure  the  continued  presence  and  concurrence  of 
the  master-spirits  of  science.  They  have  been  willing  to  sacrifice 
their  leisure,  and  to  promote  the  welfare  of  the  Association, 
because  the  meetings  have  afl'orded  them  the  means  of  advancing 
the  sciences  to  which  they  are  attached. 

The  Association  has,  moreover,  justified  the  views  of  its 
founders  in  promoting  intercourse  between  the  pursuers  of 
science,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  in  a  manner  which  is  afforded 
by  no  other  agency. 

The  weekly  and  sessional  reunions  of  the  Royal  Society,  and 
the  annual  soirees  of  other  .scientific  societies,  promote  this  inter- 
course to  some  extent,  but  the  British  -Association  presents  to 
the  young  student  during  its  week  of  meetings  e.asy  and  con- 
tinuous social  opportunities  for  making  the  acqu.iintance  of 
leaders  in  science,  and  thereby  obtaining  their  directing  influence. 

It  thus  encourages,  in  the  first  place,  op|iortunities  of 
combination,  but,  what  is  equally  important,  it  gives  at  the 
same  time  material  assistance  lo  the  investigators  whom  it  thus 
brings  together. 

The  reports  on  the  state  of  science  al  the  present  time,  as 
they  ajjpear  in  the  last  volume  of  our  Transactions,  occupy  the 
same  im|x>rlanl  position,  as  records  of  science  progress,  as  that 
occupie<l  by  those  re|)orts  in  our  earlier  years.  We  exhibit  no 
symptom  of  decay. 

Science    in    Germany     fostered    hv    thi;    State    and 

Mt'NICII'AI.ITlES. 

Our  neighbours  and  rivals  rely  largely  upon  the  guidance  of 
the  State  for  the  promotion  of  both  science  leaching  and  of 
research.  In  Germany  the  foundations  of  technical  and 
industrial  training  are  laid  in  the  Kealschulcn,  and  suppleinenled 
by  the  Higher  Technical  Schools.  In  Berlin  that  splendid 
institution,  the  Royal  Technical  High  School,  casts  into  the 
shade  the  facilities  for  education  in  the  various  Polytechnics 
which  we  arc  now  establishing  in  London.  Moreover,  it 
assists  the  practical  w<irkinan  by  a  branch  deiiartmeni,  which  is 
available  lo  the  public  for  testing  building  materials,  metals, 
|>aper,  oil,  and  other  matters.  The  standards  of  all  weights 
and  measures  used  in  trade  can  be  purchased  from  or  tested  by 
the  Government  Department  for  Weights  and  Meji.sures. 

For  developing  pure  scientific  research  and  for  promoting  new 
applications  of  science  lo  industrial  purposes  the  t'lerman 
(lovernment,  al  the  instance  of  von  Helmholli,  and  aided 
by  the  munificence  of  Werner  von  Siemens,  created  the 
Physikali-sche  Keichsanslalt  al  Charlotlenburg. 

This  eslablislimenl  consists  of  twn  divisions.  The  first  is 
charged  with  pure  research,  and  is  al  the  present  time  engaged 
in  various  thermal,  optical,  and  electrical  anil  other  physical 
investigations.  The  second  branch  is  employed  in  operations  of 
delicate  standardising  to  assist  the  wants  of  research  students— 


September  12,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


471 


for  instance,  dilatation,  electrical  resistances,  electric  and  other 
forms  of  light,  pressure  gauges,  recording  instruments,  thermo- 
meters, pyrometers,  lenses,  tuning-forks,  glass,  oil-testing 
apparatus,  viscosity  of  glycerine,  cScc. 

Dr.  Kohlrausch  succeeded  Helmholtz  as  president,  and  takes 
charge  of  the  first  division.  Prof.  Hagen,  the  director  under  him, 
has  charge  of  the  second  division.  A  professor  is  in  charge  of  each 
of  the  several  sub-departments.  Under  these  are  various  sub- 
ordinate posts,  held  tiy  younger  men,  selected  for  preWous 
valuable  work,  and  usually  for  a  limited  time. 

The  general  supervision  is  under  a  Council  consisting  of  a 
president,  who  is  a  I'rivy  Councillor,  and  twenty-four  members, 
including  the  president  and  director  of  the  Reichsanstalt  ;  of 
the  other  members,  about  ten  are  professors  or  heads  of  physical 
and  astronomical  observatories  connected  with  the  principal 
universities  in  Germany.  Three  are  selected  from  leading  firms 
in  Germany  representing  mechanical,  optical,  and  electric 
science,  and  the  remainder  are  principal  scientific  officials 
connected  with  the  Departments  of  War  and  Marine,  the  Royal 
Observatory  at  Potsdam,  and  the  Royal  Commission  for 
Weights  and  Measures. 

This  Council  meets  in  the  winter,  for  such  time  as  may  be 
necessary,  for  examining  the  research  work  done  in  the  first 
division  during  the  previous  year,  and  for  laying  down  the 
scheme  for  research  for  the  ensuing  year ;  as  well  as  for 
suggesting  any  requisite  improvements  in  the  second  division. 
As  a  consequence  of  the  position  which  science  occupies  in 
connection  with  the  State  in  continental  countries,  the  services 
of  those  who  have  distinguished  themselves  either  in  the 
advancement  or  in  the  application  of  science  are  recognised  by 
the  award  of  honours  ;  and  thus  the  feeling  for  science  is 
encouraged  throughout  the  nation. 

Assistance  to  Scientific  Research  in  Great  Britain. 

Great  Britain  maintained  for  a  long  time  a  leading  position 
among  the  nations  of  the  world  by  virtue  of  the  excellence  and 
accuracy  of  its  workmanship,  the  result  of  individual  energy  ; 
but  the  progress  of  mechanical  science  has  made  accuracy  of 
workman.ship  the  common  property  of  all  nations  of  the  world. 
Our  records  show  that  hitherto,  in  its  efforts  to  maintain  its 
|x>sition  by  the  application  of  science  and  the  prosecution  of 
research,  England  has  made  marvellous  advances  by  means  of 
voluntary  effort,  illustrated  l)y  the  splendid  munificence  of  such 
men  as  (lassiot,  Josepli  Whitworth,  James  Mason,  and  Ludwig 
Mond  ;  and,  whilst  the  increasing  field  of  scientific  research 
compels  us  occasionally  to  seek  for  Government  assistance,  it 
would  be  unfortunate  if  by  any  change  voluntary  effort  were 
fettered  by  State  control. 

The  following  are  the  principal  voluntary  agencies  which  help 
forward  scientific  research  in  this  country : — The  Donation 
Fund  of  the  Royal  Society,  derived  from  its  surplus  income. 
The  British  Association  has  contributed  £(iO,ooo  to  aid  research 
since  its  formation.  The  Royal  Institution,  founded  in  the  last 
centurj',  by  Count  Rumford,  f<jr  the  promotion  of  research,  has 
assisted  the  investigations  of  Davy,  of  \'oung,  of  Faraday,  of 
Frankland,  of  Tyndall,  of  Dewar,  and  of  Rayleigh.  The 
City  Companies  assist  scientific  research  and  foster  scientific 
education  both  by  direct  contributions  and  through  the  City  and 
Guilds  Institute.  The  Commissioners  of  the  Exhibition  of 
1851  devote  /'6000  annually  to  science  research  scholarships,  to 
enable  students  who  have  ]5assed  through  a  college  curriculum 
and  have  given  evidence  of  cajiacity  for  original  research  to 
continue  the  i)rosecution  of  science,  with  a  view  to  its  advance 
or  to  its  api^lication  to  the  industries  of  the  country.  Several 
scientific  societies,  as,  for  instance,  the  (geographical  Society 
and  the  Mechanical  Engineers,  have  promoted  direct  research, 
each  in  their  own  branch  of  science,  out  of  their  surplus 
income  ;  and  every  scientific  society  largely  assists  research  by 
the  publication,  not  only  of  its  own  proceedings,  but  often  of 
the  work  going  on  abroad  in  the  branch  of  science  which  it 
represents. 

The  growing  abundance  of  matter  year  by  year  increases  the 
burden  thtis  thrown  on  their  finances,  and  the  Treasury  has  re- 
cently granted  to  the  Royal  Society  ^1000  a  year,  to  be  spent  in 
aid  of  the  publication  of  scientific  papers  not  necessarily  limited 
to  those  of  that  Society. 

The  Royal  Society  has  long  felt  the  importance  to  scientific 
research  of  a  catalogue  of  all  papers  and  publications  relating  to 
pure  and  applied  science,  arranged  systematically  both  as  to 
authors'  names  and  as  to  sul)ject  treated,  and  the  Society   has 


NO.    1350,  VOL.  52] 


been  engaged  for  some  time  upon  a  catalogue  of  that  nature.- 
But  the  daily  increasing  magnitude  of  these  publications,  coupled 
with  the  necessity  of  issuing  the  catalogue  with  adequate  prompti- 
tude, and  at  appropriate  intervals,  renders  it  a  task  which  could 
only  be  performed  under  International  co-operation.  The 
oflicers  of  the  Royal  Society  have  therefore  appealed  to  tht 
Government  to  urge  Foreign  Governments  to  send  delegates  to  a 
Conference  to  be  held  next  July  to  discuss  the  desirability  and 
the  scope  of  such  a  catalogue,  and  the  possibility  of  preparing  it. 
The  universities  and  colleges  distributed  over  the  country,  be- 
sides their  function  of  teaching,  are  large  i>romoters  of  research, 
and  their  voluntary  exertions  are  aided  in  some  cases  by  con- 
tributions from  Parliament  in  alleviation  of  their  exi^enses. 

Certain  executive  departments  of  the  Government  carry  on. 
research  for  their  own  purposes,  which  in  that  respect  may  be 
classed  as  voluntary.  The  Admiralty  maintains  the  Greenwich 
Observatory,  the  Hydrographical  Department,  and  various  ex- 
perimental services  ;  and  the  War  Office  maintains  its  numerous 
scientific  departments.  The  Treasury  maintains  a  valuable 
chemical  laboratory  for  Inland  Revenue,  Customs,  and  agri- 
cultural purposes.  The  Science  and  Art  Department  maintains 
the  Royal  College  of  Science,  for  the  education  of  teachers  and 
students  from  elementary  schools.  It  allows  the  scientific 
apparatus  in  the  national  museum  to  be  used  for  research  pur- 
poses by  the  j^rofessors.  The  Solar  Phy.sics  Committee,  which, 
has  carried  on  numerous  researches  in  solar  physics,  was 
appointed  by  and  is  responsible  to  this  Department.  The 
Department  also  administers  the  .Sir  Joseph  Whitworth  engineer- 
ing research  scholarships.  Other  scientific  departments  of  the 
Government  are  aids  to  research,  as,  for  instance,  the  Ordnance 
and  the  Geological  Surveys,  the  Royal  Mint,  the  Natural 
History  Museum,  Kew  Gardens,  and  other  lesser  establishments- 
in  Scotland  and  Ireland  ;  to  which  may  be  added,  to  some  ex- 
tent, the  Standards  Department  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  as  well. 
as  municipal  museums,  which  are  gradually  spreading  over  the 
country. 

For  direct  assistance  to  voluntary  efiort  the  Treasury  con- 
tributes ;f  4000  a  year  to  the  Royal  Society  for  the  promotion  of 
research,  which  is  administered  under  a  board  whose  members 
represent  all  branches  of  science.  The  Treasury,  moreover,, 
contributes  to  marine  biological  observatories,  and  in  recent 
years  has  defrayed  the  cost  of  various  expeditions  for  biological 
and  astronomical  research,  which  in  the  case  of  the  Challenger 
expedition  involved  very  large  sums  of  money. 

In  addition  to  these  direct  aids  to  science,  Parliament,  under 
the  Local  Taxation  Act,  handed  over  to  the  County  Councils  a 
sum,  which  amounted  in  the  year  1893  '°  ^^615,000,  to  be  ex- 
pended on  technical  education.  In  many  country  districts,  so  far  as- 
the  advancement  of  real  scientific  technical  progress  in  the  nation 
is  concerned,  much  of  this  money  has  been  wasted  for  want  of 
knowledge.  And  whilst  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  Government 
or  Parliament  have  been  indifferent  to  the  promotion  of  scientific 
education  and  research,  it  is  a  source  of  regret  that  the  Govern- 
ment did  not  devote  some  small  portion  of  this  magnificent  gift 
to  affording  an  object-lesson  to  County  Councils  in  the  appli- 
cation of  science  to  technical  instruction,  which  would  have 
suggested  the  principles  which  would  most  usefully  guide  them 
in  the  expenditure  of  this  public  money. 

Government  assistance  to  science  has  been  based  mainly 
on  the  principle  of  helping  voluntary  effort.  The  Kew  Observ- 
atory was  initiated  as  a  scientific  ob.servator\'  by  the  British. 
Association.  It  is  now  supported  by  the  Gassiot  Trust  Fund,  and. 
managed  by  the  Kew  Observatory  Committee  of  the  Royal 
Society.  Observations  on  magnetism,  on  meteorology,  and  the 
record  of  sun-spots,  as  well  as  experiments  upon  new  instru- 
ments for  assisting  meteorological,  thermonietrical,  and  photo- 
graphic purposes,  are  being  carried  on  there.  The  Conunittee 
has  also  arranged  for  the  verification  of  scientific  measuring  in- 
struments, the  rating  of  chronometers,  the  testing  of  lenses  and 
of  other  .scientific  apparatus.  This  institution  carries  on  to  a 
limited  extent  some  small  portion  of  the  class  of  work  done  in 
Germany  by  that  magnificent  institutitm,  the  Reichsanstalt  of 
Charlottenburg,  but  its  development  is  fettered  by  want  of  funds. 
British  students  of  science  are  compelled  to  resort  to  Berlin  and 
Paris  when  they  require  to  compare  their  more  delicate  instru- 
ments and  apjjaratus  with  recognisetl  standards.  There  could 
scarcely  be  a  more  advantangeous  addition  to  the  assistance 
which  Government  now  gives  to  science  than  for  it  ti>  allot  a 
substantial  annual  sum  to  the  extension  of  the  Kew  OI>ser\-atory, 
in  order   to  develop  it  on  the  model  of  the  Reichsanstalt.     It 


47 


NA  TURE 


[September  12,  1895 


-might  ad\'anUigeously  retain  its  connection  nith  the  Roj'al 
Society,  under  a  Committee  of  Management  representative  of 
the  N-arious  branches  of  science  concerned,  and  of  all  [xirts  of 
Oreat  Britain. 

Conclusion. 

The  \-arious  agencies  for  scientific  education  have  produced 
numerous  students  admirably  qualified  to  pursue  research  :  and 
at  the  same  time  almost  every  field  of  industr)-  presents  oiwnings 
for  improvement  through  the  development  of  scientific  methods. 
For  instance,  agricultural  0|)erations  alone  offer  openings  for  re- 
search to  the  biologist,  the  chemist,  the  physicist,  the  geologist, 
the  engineer,  which  have  hitherto  been  largely  overlooked.  If 
students  do  not  easily  find  cmplojTiient,  it  is  chiefly  attributable 
to  a  want  of  appreciation  for  science  in  the  nation  at  large. 

This  want  of  appreciation  appears  to  arise  from  the  fact  that 
those  who  nearly  half  a  centur)'  ago  directed  the  movement  of 
national  education  were  trained  in  early  life  in  the  universities, 
in  which  the  value  of  scientific  methods  was  not  at  that  time 
fully  recognised.  Hence  our  elemcntar)',  and  even  our  secondary- 
and  great  public  schools,  neglected  for  a  long  time  to  encourage 
the  spirit  of  investigation  which  develops  originality.  This  defect 
is  diminishing  daily. 

There  is,  however,  a  more  intangible  cause  which  may  have 
had  influence  on  the  want  of  appreciation  of  science  by  the  nation. 
The  Ciovemment,  which  largely  profits  by  science,  aids  it  with 
money,  but  it  has  done  ver)-  little  to  develop  the  national  ap- 
preciation for  science  by  recognising  that  its  leaders  are  worthy 
of  honours  conferred  by  the  State.  Science  is  not  fashionable, 
and  science  students — upon  whose  efforts  our  progress  as  a  nation 
so  largely  depends — have  not  receive<l  the  same  measure  of 
recognition  which  the  State  awards  to  ser\nces  rendered  by  its 
own  officials,  by  politicians,  and  by  the  .\rmy  and  by  the  Na\')', 
whf)se  success  in  future  wars  w  ill  largely  depend  on  the  effective 
applications  of  science. 

The  Reports  of  the  British  .\ssociation  afford  a  complete 
chronicle  of  the  gradual  growth  of  scientific  knowledge  since 
1831.  They  .show  that  the  .\ssociation  has  fulfilled  the  objects 
of  its  founders  in  promoting  and  disseminating  a  knowledge  of 
science  throughout  the  nation. 

The  growing  connection  between  the  sciences  places  our  annual 
meeting  in  the  position  of  an  arena  where  representatives  of  the 
different  sciences  have  the  opportunity  of  criticising  new  dis- 
coveries and  testing  the  value  of  fresh  proposals,  and  the 
Presidential  and  Sectional  Addresses  oj^erate  as  an  annual  stock- 
taking of  progress  in  the  several  branches  of  science  represented 
in  the  Sections.  Every  year  the  field  of  usefulness  of  the 
Association  is  widening.  Kfir,  whether  with  the  geologist  we 
seek  to  write  the  history  of  the  crust  of  the  earth,  or  with  the 
biologist  to  trace  out  the  evolution  of  its  inhabitants,  or  whether 
with  the  astronomer,  the  chemist,  and  the  physicist  we  endeavour 
to  unravel  the  constitution  of  the  sun  and  the  planets  or  the 
genesis  of  the  nebulrc  and  stars  which  make  up  the  universe, 
on  every  side  we  find  ourselves  surrounded  by  mysteries  which 
await  solution.     We  are  only  at  the  beginning  of  work. 

I  have,  therefore,  full  confidence  that  the  future  records  of  the 
British  .Vssfjciation  will  chronicle  a  still  greater  progress  than 
that  already  achieved,  and  that  the  British  nation  will  maintain 
its  leading  position  amongst  the  nations  of  the  world,  if  it  will 
energetically  continue  its  vt.luntary  efforts  to  promote  research, 
supplemented  by  that  additional  help  from  the  Government  which 
ought  never  to  Ik-  withheld  when  a  clear  ca-se  of  .scientific  utility 
has  lieen  established. 


SECTION  A. 

MATHEMATICS    AND    PHYSICS. 

OrEMXG  AnnREss  by  Prof.  W.   M.  Hicks,  M.A.,  D.Sc, 

F.R.S.,  pRESiriENT   OF   THE   SECTION. 

In  making  a  choice  of  .subject  for  my  address  the  difficulty  is 
not  one  of  finding  niatcrt.il  but  of  making  .selection.  The  field 
covered  by  this  .Section  is  a  wide  one.  Investigation  is  active 
in  every  |>art  iif  it,  and  is  Iwing  rewarded  with  a  continuous 
5tream  of  new  discoveries  an<I  with  the  growth  of  that  coordina- 
tion and  corrcl.Tiinn  of  facts  which  is  the  surest  sign  of  real 
advancement  in  sricncc.  The  ultimate  aim  of  pure  science  is  to 
lie  able  lo  explain  the  most  complicated  [(henomena  of  nature  as 
flowinc  by  the  fewest  ]x>ssilile  laws  from  the  simplest  funda- 
mental data.  A  stalemenl  <if  a  law  is  cither  a  confession  of 
ignorance  or  a  mncm'inic  convenience.     It  is  the  hitter,  if  it  is 


NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


deducible  by  logical  reasoning  from  other  laws.  It  is  the  former 
when  it  is  only  discovered  as  a  fact  to  be  a  law.  While,  on  the 
one  hand,  the  end  of  scientific  investigation  is  the  discover)'  of 
laws,  on  the  other,  science  w  ill  have  reached  its  highest  goal 
when  it  shall  have  reduced  ultimate  laws  to  one  or  two,  the 
necessity  of  which  lies  outside  the  sphere  of  our  cognition. 
These  ultimate  laws — in  the  domain  of  physical  science  at  least 
— will  be  the  dynamical  laws  of  the  relations  of  matter  to 
number,  s]i.ace,  and  time.  The  ultimate  data  will  lie  number, 
matter,  si»ce,  and  time  themselves.  When  these  relations  shall 
be  known,  all  physical  phenomena  will  be  a  branch  of  pure 
mathematics.  We  shall  have  done  away  with  the  necessity  of 
the  conception  of  potential  energy,  even  if  it  may  still  be  con- 
venient to  retain  it  ;  and — if  it  should  be  found  that  all  pheno- 
mena are  manifestations  of  motion  of  one  single  continuous 
medium — the  idea  of  force  w  ill  be  banished  also,  and  the  study 
of  dynamics  replaced  by  the  study  of  the  equation  of  continuity. 
Before,  however,  this  can  be  attained,  we  must  have  the 
working  drawings  of  the  details  of  the  mechanism  we  have  to 
tieal  with.  These  details  lie  outside  the  scope  of  our  bodily 
senses  :  we  cannot  see,  or  feel,  or  hear  them,  and  this,  not  be- 
cause they  are  unseeable,  but  because  our  senses  are  too  coarse- 
grained to  transmit  impressions  of  them  to  our  mind.  The  or- 
dinary methods  of  investigation  here  fail  us  ;  we  must  jiroceed 
by  a  special  method,  and  make  a  bridge  of  communication  be- 
tween the  mechanism  and  our  senses  by  means  of  hypotheses. 
By  our  imagination,  exijerience,  intuition  we  form  theories  ;  we 
deduce  the  consequences  of  these  theories  on  phenomena  which 
come  within  the  range  of  our  senses,  and  reject  or  modify  and 
try  again.  It  is  a  slow  and  laborious  process.  The  wreckage  of 
rejected  theories  is  appalling  ;  but  a  knowledge  of  what  .actually 
goes  on  behind  what  we  can  see  or  feel  is  surely  if  slowly  being 
attained.  It  is  the  rejected  theories  which  have  been  the  neces- 
sary steps  towards  formulating  others  nearer  the  truth.  It  would 
be  an  extremely  interesting  study  to  consider  the  history  of  these 
di.scarded  theories  ;  to  show  the  part  they  have  taken  in  the 
evolution  of  truer  conceptions,  and  to  trace  the  persistence  and 
modification  of  typical  ideas  from  one  stratum  of  theories  to  a 
later.  I  propose,  however,  to  ask  your  attention  for  a  short 
time  to  one  of  these  s|3ecial  theories — or  rather  to  two  related 
theories — on  the  constitution  of  matter  .ind  of  the  ether.  They 
are  known  as  the  vortex  atom  theory  of  matter,  and  the  vortex 
s|Kinge  theory  of  the  ether.  The  former  has  been  before  the 
scientific  world  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  since  its  first  sugges- 
tion by  Lord  Kelvin  in  1S67,  the  .second  for  about  half  that  time. 
In  what  1  have  to  say  I  wish  to  take  the  jiosilion  not  of  an  advo- 
c.ite  for  or  against,  but  simply  as  a  prospector  attenqning  to 
estimate  what  return  is  likely  to  be  obtained  by  laying  down 
plant  to  develop  an  unknown  district.  This  is,  in  fact,  the  state 
of  these  two  theories  at  present.  Extremely  little  progress  has 
been  made  in  their  mathematical  development,  and  until  this  h,as 
been  done  more  completely  we  cannot  test  tliem  as  to  their 
powers  of  adequately  explaining  physical  phenomena. 

The  theory  of  (he  rigid  atom  has  been  a  very  fruitful  one, 
e.s])ecially  in  explaining  the  projxTlies  of  matter  in  the  gaseous 
state  ;  but  it  gives  no  explanation  of  the  apparent  forces  which 
hold  atoms  together,  and  in  many  other  rcsjK."Cts  it  requires  sup- 
plementing. The  ela.stic  solid  ether  explamed  much,  but  there 
are  dilhculties  connected  with  it — especially  in  connection  with 
reflection  anil  refraction — which  decide  against  it.  The  mathe- 
matical rotational  ether  of  M.icCull.agh  is  admirably  adapted  to 
meet  these  difficulties,  but  he  could  give  no  physical  conception 
of  its  mechanism.  Maxwell  and  Earaday  proposed  a  special 
ether  for  electrical  and  magnetic  actions.  Maxwell's  identifica- 
tion of  the  latter  with  the  luminiferous  ether,  his  deduction  of  the 
velocity  of  prop.igation  of  light  and  of  indices  of  refraction  in 
terms  of  known  electrical  and  magnetic  constants,  will  fiinn  one 
of  the  landmarks  in  the  hislciry  of  science.  This  ellier  requires 
the  same  mathematical  treatment  as  that  of  MacCullagh.  Lord 
Kelvin's  gyrostalic  mudel  of  an  ether  is  also  of  the  ^lacCulla(Jh 
lyix;.  L.astly,  we  h.avc  Lord  Kelvin's  labile  ether,  which  agam 
avoids  the  objectiims  to  the  el.-ustic  solid  ether.  In  MacL'ullagh's 
type  of  ether  the  energ)'  of  the  medium  when  disturbed  depends 
only  on  the  twists  produced  in  it.  This  ether  has  recently  been 
mathematically  discussed  by  Dr.  Larm<ir,  who  has  shown  that  it 
is  adequate  t<i  explain  all  the  various  |)lienoniena  of  light,  elec- 
tricity, and  magnetism.  To  this  I  hope  111  return  later.  Mean- 
while, it  may  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  vortex  sponge  ether 
belongs  lo  MacCullagh's  type. 

Already  liefore   a  formal   theory  of  a  fluid    ether  had   been 


September  12,  1895] 


NA  rURE 


47, 


attempted.  Lord  Kehin  ("Vortex  Atoins,"  Proc.  Roy.  Soc, 
Edin.,  vi.  94;  Phil.  Ma^.  (4),  34)  had  proposed  his  theory  of 
vortex  atoms.  The  permanence  of  a  vortex  filament  with  its  in- 
finite flexibility,  its  fundamental  simplicity  with  its  potential 
capacity  for  complexity,  struck  the  scientific  imagination  as  the 
thing  which  was  wanted.  Unfortunately  the  mathematical 
difficulties  connected  with  the  discussion  of  these  motions,  espe- 
cially the  reactions  of  one  on  another,  have  retarded  the  full  de- 
velopment of  the  theory.  Two  objections  in  chief  have  been 
raised  against  it,  viz.  the  difficulty  of  accounting  for  the  densities 
of  various  kinds  of  matter,  and  the  fact  that  in  a  vortex  ring  the 
velocity  of  translation  decreases  as  the  energy  increases.  There 
are  two  ways  of  dealing  with  a  difficulty  occurring  in  a  general 
theory — one  is  to  give  up  the  theory,  the  other  is  to  try  and  see 
if  it  can  be  modified  to  get  over  the  difficulty.  Such  difficulties 
are  to  be  welcomed  as  means  of  help  in  arriving  at  greater 
exactness  in  details.  It  is  a  mistake  to  .submit  too  readily  to 
crucial  experiments.  The  very  valid  crucial  objection  of  Stokes 
to  MacCuUagh's  ether  is  a  ca.se  in  point.  It  drew  away  atten- 
tion from  a  theory  which,  in  the  light  of  later  developments, 
gives  great  hope  of  leading  us  to  correct  ideas.  .As  Larnior  has 
pointed  out,  this  objection  vanishes  when  we  have  intrinsic  rota- 
tions in  the  ether  itself.  \  special  danger  to  guard  against  is 
the  importation  into  one  theory  of  ideas  which  have  grown  out 
<if  one  es.sentially  different.  This  remark  has  reference  to  the 
apparent  difficulty  of  decrease  of  velocity  with  increased  energy. 

.Maxwell  was,  I  believe,  the  first  to  point  out  the  difficulty  of 
explaining  the  masses  of  the  elements  on  the  vortex  atom  hypo- 
thesis. To  me  it  has  always  appeared  one  of  the  greatest 
stumbling-blocks  to  the  acceptance  of  the  theory.  We  have 
always  been  accustomed  to  regard  the  ether  as  of  extreme 
tenuity,  as  of  a  density  extremely  though  not  infinitely  .smaller 
than  that  of  gross  matter,  and  we  carry  in  our  minds  that  Lord 
Kelvin  has  given  an  inferior  limit  of  about  lo"''''.  There  are 
two  directions  in  which  to  seek  a  solution.  The  first  is  to  cut 
the  knot  by  supposing  that  the  atoms  gf  gross  matter  are  com- 
posed of  filaments  whose  rotating  cores  are  of  much  greater 
density  than  the  ether  itself.  The  second  is  to  remember  that 
Lord  Kelvin's  number  was  obtained  on  the  supposition  of  elastic 
solid  ether,  and  does  not  necessarily  apply  to  the  vortex  sponge. 
Unfortunately,  however,  for  the  first  explanation,  the  mathe- 
matical discussion '  shows  that  a  ring  cannot  be  stable  unless 
the  density  of  the  fluid  outside  the  core  is  equal  to,  or  greater 
than,  that  inside.  This  instaljility  also  cannot  be  cured  by  sup- 
posing an  additional  circulatir)n  added  outside  the  core.  Unless, 
therefore,  .some  modification  of  the  theory  can  be  made  to  secure 
stability  this  idea  of  dense  fluid  cores  must  be  given  up. 

We  seem,  then,  forced  back  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
density  of  the  ether  must  be  comparable  with  that  of  ordinary 
matter.  The  effective  mass  of  any  atom  is  not  composed  of  that 
of  its  core  alone,  but  also  of  that  portion  of  the  .surrounding 
ether  which  is  carried  along  with  it  as  it  moves  through  the 
medium.  Thus  a  rigid  sphere  moving  in  a  liquid  behaves  as  if 
its  mass  were  increased  by  half  that  of  the  displaced  liquid.  In 
the  ca.se  of  a  vortex  filament  the  ratio  of  efl'ective  to  actual  mass 
may  be  much  larger.  In  this  explanation  the  density  of  the 
matter  composing  an  atom  is  the  same  for  all,  whilst  their  masses 
depend  on  their  volumes  and  configurations  combined.  Now 
the  configuration  alters  with  the  energy,  and  this  would  make 
the  mass  depend  to  some  extent  at  least  on  the  temperature. 
However  repugn.ant  this  m.ay  be  to  current  ideas,  we  are  not 
entitled  to  deny  its  pos.sibility,  although  such  an  effect  must  be 
small  or  it  would  have  been  detected.  Such  a  variation,  if  it 
exists,  is  not  to  be  looked  for  by  means  of  the  ordinary  gravi- 
tation balance,  but  by  the  inertia  or  ballistic  balance.  The  mass 
of  the  core  itself  remains,  of  course,  constant,  but  the  efl^ectivc 
mass — that  which  we  can  measure  by  the  mechanical  efliects 
which  the  moving  vortex  produces — is  a  much  more  complicated 
matter,  and  requires  much  fuller  consideration  than  has  been 
given  to  it. 

The  conditions  of  stability  allow  us  to  assume  vacuous  cores 
or  cores  of  less  density  than  the  rest  of  the  medium.  If  we  do 
this,  then  the  density  of  the  ether  itself  may  be  greater  than  that 
of  gro.ss  matter.  Until,  however,  we  meet  with  phenontena 
whose  explanation  requires  this  assumjition,  it  would  seem  pre- 
ferable to  take  the  density  everywhere  the  same.     In  this  case 

t  .\n   error   in    tlic  expression  on  p.  768  of  "  Researcfies  in  the  Theory  of 
ir"^u^^i       *^^'    ''"'■  ''■'"'•«•?'•  'i'  1885.  vitiates  iheconclu.siontliercdr.iwn. 
J  r  this  I)e  corrected   the  result  mentioned  above   follows 
-'  Treatise  on  Hydrodynamics,"  §  338.  and  Aim-r.  Jour 


See  also  B.-Lsset, 
.1/WM. 


NO.   1350,  VOL.  52] 


the  density  of  the  ether  must  be  rather  less  than  the  apparent 
density  of  the  lightest  of  any  of  the  elements,  taking  the  apparent 
density  to  mean  the  effective  mass  of  a  vortex  atom  per  its 
volume.  This  will  probably  be  commensurable  with  the  density 
of  the  matter  in  its  most  compressed  state,  and  will  lie  between 
•5  and  I — comparable,  that  is  to  say,  with  the  density  of  water. 
Larmor,'  from  a  special  form  of  hypothesis  for  a  magnetic  field 
in  the  rotationally  elastic  ether,  is  led  to  a.ssigna  density  of  the 
same  order  of  magnitude.  If  the  density  be  given  it  is  easy  to 
calculate  the  intrinsic  energy  per  c.c.  in  the  medium.  The 
velocity  of  propagation  of  light  in  a  vortex  sponge  ether,  as 
deduced  by  Lord  Kelvin,^  is  '47  times  the  mean  square  velocity 
of  the  intrinsic  motion  of  the  medium.  This  gives  for  the 
mean  square  velocity  6 '3  x  10'"  cm.  per  second.  If  we  follow 
Lord  Kelvin  and  use  for  comparison  the  energy  of  radiation  per 
c.c.  near  the  sun,  or  say  I '8  erg  per  c.c,  the  resulting  density 
will  be  lo'-'.  The  energ)'  per  c.c.  in  a  magnetic  field  of  15,000 
c.g.s.  units  is  about  i  joule.  If  we  take  this  for  comparison  we 
get  a  density  of  lo"'-".  liut  the  intrinsic  energy  of  the  fluid  must 
be  extremely  great  compared  with  the  energy  it  has  to  transmit. 
If  it  were  a  million  times  greater  the  density  would  still  only 
amount  to  lO'* — comparable  with  the  density  of  the  residual 
gas  in  our  highest  vacua.  To  account  for  the  density  of  gross 
matter  on  the  supposition  that  it  is  built  up  out  of  the  same 
material  as  the  ether  leads  to  a  density  between  -5  and  i.  This 
gives  the  enormous  energy  of  to"  joules  per  c.c.  In  other 
words,  the  energy  contained  in  one  cubic  centimetre  of  the  ether 
is  sufficient  to  raise  a  kilometre  cube  of  lead  i  metre  high 
against  its  weight.  Thus  the  difficulty  in  explaining  the  mass 
of  ordinary  matter  seems  to  reduce  itself  to  a  difficulty  in 
believing  that  the  ether  possesses  such  an  enormous  store  of 
energy.  It  may  be  that  there  are  special  reasons  against  .such  a 
large  density.  Larraor  refers  to  the  large  forcives  which  would 
be  called  into  play  by  hydrodynamical  motions.  Perhaps  an 
answer  to  this  may  be  found  in  the  remark  that  where  all  the 
matter  is  of  the  same  density  the  motions  are  kinematically  de- 
ducible  from  the  configuration  at  the  instant,  and  are  indepen- 
dent of  the  density.  It  is  only  where  other  causes  act,  such. 
f.g.,  as  indirectly  depend  on  the  mean  pressure  of  the  fluid  or 
where  vacuous  spaces  occur,  that  the  actual  value  of  the  density 
may  modify  the  measurable  forcives. 

Ever  since  Prof.  J.  J.  Thomson  proved  that  a  vortex  atom 
theory  of  matter  is  competent  to  serve  as  a  basis  of  a  kinetic 
theory  of  gases,  it  has  been  urged  by  various  persons  as  a  fatal 
objection  that  the  translation  velocity  of  the  atoms  falls  off  as 
the  temperature  rises.  I  must  confess  this  objection  has  never 
appealed  to  me.  Why  should  not  the  velocity  fall  off?  The 
velocity  of  gaseous  molecules  has  never  been  directly  observed, 
nor  has  it  been  experimentally  proved  that  it  increases  with  ri,se 
of  temperature.  We  have  no  right  to  import  ideas  based  on  the 
kinetic  theory  of  hard  discrete  atoms  into  the  totally  distinct 
theory  of  mobile  atoms  in  continuity  with  the  medium  surround- 
ing them.  Doubtless  the  molecules  of  a  gas  effuse  through  a 
small  orifice  more  quickly  as  the  temperature  rises,  but  it  is 
natural  to  suppose  that  a  vortex  ring  would  do  the  same  as  its 
energy  increases.  To  make  the  objection  valid,  it  is  necessary 
to  show  that  a  vortex  ring  passing  through  a  small  tube,  com- 
parable with  its  own  diameter,  would  ]iass  through  more  slowly 
the  greater  its  energy.  It  is  not,  however,  necessarily  the  case 
that  in  every  vortex  aggregate  the  velocity  decreases  as  the 
energy  increases.  The  mathematical  treatment  of  thin  vortex 
filaments  is  com])aratively  easy,  and  little  attention  h.as  been 
paid  to  other  cases.  Let  us  attempt  lo  trace  the  life  history  as 
to  translation  velocity  and  energy  of  a  vortex  ring.  W'e  start 
with  the  energy  large  ;  the  ring  now  has  a  very  large  aperture, 
and  has  a  very  thin  filament.  .\s  the  energy  decreases  the  aper- 
ture becomes  smaller,  the  filament  thicker,  and  the  velocity  of 
translation  greater.  We  can  trace  quantitatively  the  whole  of 
this  jiart  of  its  history  until  the  thickness  of  the  ring  has  in- 
creased to  about  four  times  the  diameter  of  the  aperture,  or 
perhaps  a  little  further.  Then  the  mathematical  treatment  em- 
pl(.)yed  fails  us  or  bec(nnes  very  laborious  to  apply.  Till  eighteen 
months  ago,  this  was  the  only  portion  of  its  history  we  could 
trace.  Then  Prof.  M.  J.  M.  Hill  ("  On  a  Spherical  Vortex," 
Phil.  Trans.,  1894)  published  his  beautiful  discovery  of  the 
existence   of  a  spherical  vortex.     This   consists  of  a  spherical 

1 "  .\  Dynamical  Theory  of  the  Electric  and  Luminifcrous  Medium," 
Phil.  Trans..  1894,  \.  p.  779. 

-  "  On  the  Prop.agation  of  Laminar  Motion  through  a  Turhulently  Moving 
Inviscid  Liquid,'  P/iil.  Mag.^  October  1887. 


474 


NATURE 


[September  12,  1895 


mass  of  fluid  in  vortical  motion  and  moving  bodily  through  the 
surrounding  fluid,  precisely  as  it  it  were  a  rigid  sphere.  This 
enables  us  to  catch  a  momentary  glimpse,  as  it  were,  of  our 
vortex  ring  some  little  time  after  it  has  passed  out  of  our  ken. 
The  aperture  has  gone  on  contracting,  the  ring  thickening,  and 
altering  the  shape  of  its  cross  section  in  a  manner  whose 
exact  details  have  not  yet  been  calculated.  At  last  we  just 
catch  sight  of  it  again  as  the  aperture  closes  up.  We 
find  the  ring  has  changed  into  a  spherical  ball,  with 
still  further  diminished  energ)-  and  increased  velocity.  We 
then  lose  sight  of  it  again,  but  it  now  lengthens  out, 
and  towards  the  end  of  its  course  approximates  to  the  form 
of  a  rod  moN-ing  parallel  to  its  length  through  the  fluid  with 
energy  and  velocity  which  again  can  be  approximately  deter- 
mined. In  this  part  of  its  life  the  velocity  of  translation  decreases 
with  decrease  of  energy.  I  believe  it  will  be  found,  when  the 
iheor)'  is  completely  worked  out,  that  the  spherical  atom  is  the 
stage  where  this  reversal  of  property  takes  place. 

Even  in  the  ring  state,  however,  the  change  of  velocity  with 
energy  is  very  small ;  much  smaller,  I  think,  than  is  generally 
recognLsed.  WTien  the  energy  is  increased  to  twenty  times 
that  of  the  spherical  vortex,  the  velocity  is  only  diminished  to 
two-thirds  its  previous  value.  If  at  ordinary  temperatures,  say 
20°  C,  the  vortex  was  in  the  spherical  shape,  then  at  3000°  C. 
its  velocity  of  translation  would  only  have  been  reduced  to  four- 
fifths  its  value  at  the  lower  temperature,  whilst  the  aperture  of 
the  ring  »  ould  have  a  radius  about  I  4  times  that  of  the  sphere. 
At  2000'  C.  the  velocity  would  not  difter  by  much  more  than 
one-twentieth  from  its  original  value.  In  fact,  near  the  spherical 
state  the  alteration  in  velocity  of  translation  is  very  slow.  It  is 
therefore  possible,  that  if  the  atoms  of  matter  be  vortex 
aggregates,  the  state  in  which  we  can  experimentally  test  our 
theory  is  just  that  in  which  the  mathematical  discussion  fails  us. 
Other  mo<lifications  tend  to  diminish  this  change  of  velocity.  I 
will  refer  here  to  three  only.  The  first  is  that  of  hollow  vortices. 
We  must  not,  however,  jxjstulate  vacuous  atoms  without  any 
rotational  core  at  all  ;  for  in  this  case  we  should  probably  lose 
the  essential  property  of  permanence.  The  question  has  not 
l)cen  fully  investigated,  but  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  by 
diminishing  the  energy  of  a  completely  hollow  vortex  we  can 
cause  it  to  disappear.  We  can  certainly  create  one  in  a  perfect 
fluid.  Secondly,  J.  J.  Thomson  has  shown  that  if  a  molecule 
be  composed  of  linked  filaments,  the  energy  increases  as  the 
components  move  further  a|)art.  In  such  a  case  an  extra  supply 
of  energy  goes  to  exjMnding  the  molecule,  and  less,  if  any,  to 
increasing  the  aperture.  Lastly,  a  modification  of  the  atomic 
motion  to  which  I  shall  refer  later,  and  which  seems  called  for 
to  explain  the  magnetic  rotation  of  the  plane  of  [Kilarisation  of 
light,  will  also  tend  to  lessen  the  change  of  size,  and  therefore 
change  of  velocity  with  change  of  energy,  even  if  it  does  not 
reverse  the  property. 

If  we  pass  on  to  consider  how  a  vortex  atom  theory  lends 
itself  to  the  explanation  of  physical  and  chemical  proiierties  of 
matter  independently  of  what  may  be  called  ether  relations,  we 
find  that  we  owe  almost  all  our  knowledge  on  this  point  to  the 
work  of  I'rof  J.  J.Thomson  ("  A  Treatise  on  the  Motion  of 
Vortex  Rings,''  Macmillan,  1883),  which  obtained  the  .\dams' 
Prize  in  1S82.  This,  however,  is  confined  to  the  treatment  of 
thin  vortex  rings,  still  leaving  a  wide  field  for  fiiture  investiga- 
tions in  connection  with  thick  rings  and  with  vortex  aggregates 
which  produce  no  cyclosis  in  the  surrounding  medium.  His 
wf)rk  is  an  extremely  suggestive  one.  lie  shows  that  such  a 
theory  is  capable  not  only  of  explaining  the  gaseous  lawsof  a 
so-called  jwrfect  gas,  but  possibly  also  the  slight  deviations  there- 
fr'iiii.  <Juite  as  striking  is  his  explanation  of  chemical  com- 
binaiion — an  explanation  which  flows  ijuite  naturally  from  the 
theory.  A  vortex  filament  can  be  linked  on  itself:  two  or  more 
can  tic  linked  together,  like  helices  drawn  on  an  anchor  ring  ; 
■Iv,  several  can  l>c  arranged  together  like  parallel  rings 
■•  Iv  threading  one  another.     In  the  latter  case,  fir  such 

■ 'i   be   permanent,   the  strengths    of   each   ring 

1!  and  further,  not  more  than  six   can  thus  be 

I  r.     The  linked  virtices  will  \k  in  permanent 

combmntion  nn  account  of  their  linkedncss  ;  the  other  arrange- 
ment mny  \<r  p'Tmanent  if  subject  to  no  external  .-ictinns.  If, 
I  dislurl)cd   by  the  presence  of  other  vortices 

I  When  alr>ms  are  thus  combined  to  form  n 

•  iml>er  of  molecules   will  always  be  dis- 

I  will  lie  permanent  when  the  ratio  of 
r  ■    r,      ,  ^'   ^o  the   un]>;nr(<l    (inie   'if  any  atnni  is 

NO.    1350,  VOL.  52] 


large.  Thomson  considers  every  filament  to  be  of  the  same 
strength.  Then  an  atom  consisting  of  two  links  will  behave  like 
a  ring  of  twice  the  strength,  one  of  three  links,  of  three  times 
the  strength,  and  so  on.  On  this  theor)'  chemical  compounds 
are  to  be  regarded  as  systems  of  rings,  not  linked  into  one 
another  but  close  together,  and  all  engaged  in  the  operation  of 
threading  each  other.  The  conditions  for  permanence  xie  :  ( 1 ) 
the  strength  of  each  ring  must  be  the  same,  (2)  the  number 
must  be  less  than  6.  Now  apply  this.  H  and  CI  have  equal 
linkings,  therefore  equal  strength.  Consequently  we  can  have 
molecules  of  MCI.  or  any  combinations  up  to  6  atoms  per 
molecule,  although  the  simpler  one  is  the  most  likely.  O  has 
twice  the  linking,  therefore  the  strength  double.  Hence  one 
of  M  and  one  of  O  cannot  revolve  in  permanent  connection. 
We  require  first  to  arrange  two  of  H  together  to  form  one 
system.  This  system  has  the  same  strength  as  O.  they  can 
therefore  revolve  in  jwrmanent  connection,  and  we  get  the  water 
molecule.  Or  we  may  lake  two  of  the  O  atoms  and  one  of  the 
double  H  molecule,  and  they  can  form  a  triple  system  of  three 
rings  threading  one  another  in  permanent  connection,  and  we 
get  the  molecule  IIoO„.  This  short  example  will  be  sufliciont 
to  indicate  how  the  theory  gives  a  complete  account  of  valency. 

The  energy  of  rings  thus  combined  is  less  than  when  free  ;. 
consequently  they  are  stable,  and  the  act  of  combination  sets 
free  energy.  Further,  Thomson  jioints  out  that  for  two  rings  to 
combine  their  sizes  must  Ix?  about  the  same  when  they  come  into 
proximity  ;  consequently  combination  can  only  occur  between 
two  limits  of  temperature  corresponding  to  the  energies  within 
which  the  radii  of  both  kinds  of  rings  are  near  an  equality. 

We  can  e.tsily  extend  Thomson's  reasoning  to  explain  the 
combination  of  two  elements  by  the  presence  of  a  third  neutral 
substance.  Call  the  two  elements  wliich  are  to  combine  A  and 
B,  and  the  neutral  substance  C.  The  radii  of  A  and  U  are  to 
be  supposed  too  unequal  to  allow  them  to  cume  close  enough 
together  to  combine.  If  now  at  the  given  temperature  the  C 
atom  has  a  radius  intermediate  to  those  of  A  and  B,  it  is  more 
nearly  equal  to  each  than  they  are  to  one  another ;  C  picks  up 
one  of  K.  and  after  a  short  time  drops  it  ;  A  will  leave  C  with 
its  radius  brought  up  (.s.iy)  to  closer  equality  with  it.  The  siime 
thing  hapjiens  with  the  B  atoms,  and  they  leave  C  with  their 
radii  brought  down  to  closer  equality  « ith  it.  The  result  is  that 
.'\  and  B  are  brought  into  closer  equality  with  one  another,  and 
if  this  is  of  sufficient  amount,  they  can  combine  and  do  so,  while 
C  remains  as  before  and  apparently  inert. 

Thomson's  theory  of  chemical  combination  applies  only  to 
thin  rings.  Something  analogous  may  hold  also  for  thick  rings, 
but  it  is  clearly  inapplicable  to  vortex  .aggregates  similar  to  that 
of  Hill's.  We  are  not  confined,  however,  to  this  particular  kind 
of  association  of  vortex  atoms  in  a  molecule.  Kor  instance,  I 
have  recently  found  (not  yet  published)  that  one  of  Hill's  vortices 
can  swallow  up  another  and  retain  it  inside  in  relative  equilibrium. 
The  matter  requires  fuller  discussion,  but  it  seems  to  open  up 
another  mode  of  chemical  combination. 

A  most  important  matter  which  has  not  yet  been  discussed  at 
all  is  the  relation  between  the  mean  energy  of  the  vortex  cores, 
and  the  energy  of  the  medium  itself  when  the  atoms  are  close 
enuugh  to  aflect  each  other's  motions  (as  in  a  gas).  The  fun- 
damental ideas  are  quite  different  from  those  underlying  the  well- 
known  kinetic  theory  of  g.ases  of  har<l  atoms.  Nevertheless, 
many  of  the  results  must  be  very  similar,  based  as  liolh  are  on 
tlynamical  ideas..  Whether  it  will  avoid  certain  dilficidties  of 
the  latter,  especially  those  connected  with  the  ratio  of  the 
specific  heats,  remains  tn  be  seen.  The  first  desideratum  is  the 
determination  of  the  equilibrium  of  energy  between  vortices  and 
medium,  and  before  this  is  done  it  is  useless  to  speculate  further 
in  this  region. 

.\  vortex  atom  theory  of  matter  carries  with  it  the  necessity 
of  a  fluid  ether.  If  such  a  fluid  is  to  transmit  transversal  radia- 
tions, some  kind  of  quasi-elasticily  must  be  |)roduced  in  it.  This 
can  lie  done  by  supposing  it  to  possess  energetic  rotational 
motions  whose  mean  velocity  is  zero,  within  a  volume  whose 
linear  dimension  is  small  compared  with  the  wave-length  of  light, 
but  whose  velocity  of  mean  square  is  consideralile.  That  an 
ether  thus  constituted  is  capable  of  transmitting  transverse  vibra- 
tions I  showed  before  this  Section  at  the  Aberdeen  meeting  of 
the  .Association  ( "  ( )n  the  Constitution  of  the  Luniiniferous  Ether 
on  the  \'ortex  .\tom  Theory,"  liril.  Assoc.  Kf ports,  1S85.  ji.  930), 
by  considering  a  medium  composed  of  closely  |iacUe(l  discrete 
small  vnrtex  rings.  Lord  Kelvin  ("  On  the '\'ortex  Theory  of 
the  Luminileriius  Kther,''  lirit.  Assoc.  A'(/n,rts,  1SS7,  p.  486,  aLsi:» 


September  12,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


475 


Phil.  Mag.,  October  1887,  p.  342)  at  the  Manchester  meeting 
■discussed  the  question  much  more  thoroughly  and  satisfactorily, 
and  deduced  that  the  velocity  a',  propagation  was  V^/i  times 
the  velocity  of  mean  square  of  the  turbulent  motion.  We  can 
make  little  further  progress  until  we  Unow  something  of  the 
arrangement  of  the  small  motions  which  confer  the  quasi- 
rigidity.  This  may  be  completely  irregular  and  unsteady,  or 
arranged  in  some  definite  order  of  steady  motions.  I  am  in- 
clined to  the  view  that  the  latter  is  nearer  the  truth.  In  this 
case  we  should  expect  a  regular  structure  of  small  cells  in  which 
the  motions  arc  all  similar.  By  the  word  cell  I  do  not  mean  a 
small  vessel  bounded  by  walls,  but  a  portion  of  the  fluid  in 
which  the  motion  is  a  complete  system  in  itself.  Such  a  theory 
might  be  called  a  cell  theorj-  of  the  ether.  The  simplest  type, 
perhaps,  is  to  suppose  the  medium  spaced  into  rectangular 
boxes,  in  each  of  which  the  motion  may  be  specified  as  follows  : 
Holding  the  box  with  one  set  of  faces  horizontal  the  fluid  streams 
up  in  the  centre  of  the  box,  then  turns  round,  flows  down  the 
sides  and  up  the  centre  again.  In  fact,  it  behaves  like  a  Hill's 
vortex  squeezed  from  a  spherical  into  a  box  form.  Each  box 
has  thus  rotational  circulation  complete  in  itself.  The  six  ad- 
joining compartments  have  their  motion  the  same  in  kind,  but 
in  the  reverse  direction,  and  so  on.  In  this  way  we  get  con- 
tinuous and  energetic  small  motions  throughout  the  medium, 
and  the  state  is  a  stable  one.  If  there  is  a  shear,  so  that  each 
cell  becomes  slightly  rhomboidal,  the  rotational  motions  inside 
lend  to- prevent  it,  and  thus  propagate  the  disturbance,  but  the 
cells  produce  no  effect  on  the  general  irrotational  motion  of  the 
fluid,  at  least  when  the  irrotational  velocities  are  small  compared 
with  those  of  the  propagation  of  light.  In  this  case  the  rate  at 
which  the  cells  adjust  themselves  to  an  equilibrium  position  is 
far  quicker  than  the  rate  at  which  this  equilibrium  distribution 
«s  disturbed  by  the  gross  motions.  The  linear  dimensions  of  the 
cells  must  be  small  compared  with  the  wave-lengths  of  light. 
They  must  probably  be  small  also  compared  with  the  atoms  of 
gross  matter,  which  are  themselves  small  compared  with  the 
same  standard. 

We  may  regard  each  cell  as  a  djTiamical  system  by  itself,  into 
which  we  pour  or  take  away  energy.  This  added  energy  will 
depend  only  on  the  shape  into  which  the  box  is  deformed.  We 
may  then,  for  our  convenience  in  considering  the  gross  motions 
of  the  medium  as  a  whole,  i.e.  our  secondary  medium,  regard 
these  as  interlocked  .systems,  neglect  the  direct  consideration  of 
Ihc  motions  inside  them,  but  regard  the  energy  which  they 
absorb  as  a  potential  function  for  the  general  motion.  This 
jiotential  function  will  contain  terms  of  two  kinds,  one  involving 
the  shear  of  the  cells,  and  this  shear  will  be  the  santc  as  the 
rotational  deformation  in  the  secondary  medium.  The  second 
will  depend  on  alterations  in  the  ratios  of  the  edges  of  the  cells 
(including  other  changes  of  form  involving  no  rotations).  The 
former  will  give  rise  to  waves  of  transversal  displacements.  The 
second  cannot  be  transmitted  as  waves,  btu  may  i>roduce  local 
cftects.  If  a  continuous  solid  be  placed  in  such  a  medium,  the  cells 
will  rearrange  themselves  so  as  to  keep  the  continuity  of  their 
motions.  The  cells  will  become  distorted  (but  without  resultant 
shear),  and  a  static  stress  will  be  set  up.  We  have  then  to  deal 
with  the  primary  stuff'  itself,  whose  rotation  gives  a  structure 
to  the  ether,  and  the  structural  ether  itself.  The  form-;r 
we  may  call  the  primary  medium.  The  ether  which  can 
transmit  transversal  disturb.ances,  and  which  is  built  up  out  of 
the  first,  we  may  call  the  secondary  medium.  Whether  an  atom 
of  matter  is  to  he  considered  as  a  vortical  mass  of  the  primary 
or  of  the  secondary  medium  is  a  matter  to  be  left  open  in  the 
jjresent  state  of  the  theory. 

At  the  Bath  meeting  of  this  A.ssociation,  I  sketched  out  a 
theory  of  the  electrical  action  of  a  fluid  ether  in  which  electrical 
lines  of  force  were  vortex  filaments  combined  with  an  equivalent 
number  of  hollow  vortices  of  the  same  vortical  strength.  ("  A 
Vortex  Analogue  of  .Static  I'.lectricity,"  Brit.  Assoi.  Kcp.,  1888, 
p.  577.)  An  electric  charge  on  a  body  depended  on  the  number 
of  ends  of  filaments  abutting  on  it,  the  sign  being  determined 
by  the  direction  of  rotation  of  the  filament  looked  at  from  the 
body.  This  theory  gave  a  complete  account  of  electrostatic 
actions,  both  quantitatively  and  qualitatively,  and  a  more  specu- 
lative one  as  to  currents  and  magneti.sm.  I  could  only  succeed 
in  proving  at  that  lime  that  if  the  filaments  were  distributed 
according  to  the  .same  laws  as  electric  lines  of  force,  the  distri- 
bution would  be  one  of  equilibrium.  Larmor  ("A  Dynamical 
Theory  of  the  Electric  and  Luminiferous  Medium,"  Phil.  Trans., 
4894,  p.  748)  has  recently  proved  that  this  is  also  the  necessary 


NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


distribution  for  any  type  of  a  rotationally  elastic  ether,  and  con- 
sequently also  for  this  particular  case.  Currents  along  a  wire 
were  supposed  to  consist  of  the  ends  of  filaments  running  along 
it,  with  disappearance  of  the  hollow  companions,  the  filaments 
producing  at  the  same  time  a  circulation  round  the  wire.  A 
magnetic  field  was  thus  to  be  produced  by  a  flow  of  the  ether, 
but  probably  with  the  necessary  accompaniment  of  rotational 
elements  in  it. 

This  latter,  however,  w;is  clearly  wrong,  because  each  kind  of 
filament  would  produce  a  circulation  in  opposite  directions.  The 
correct  deduction  would  have  been  to  lay  stress  on  the  fact  that 
the  field  is  due  to  the  motion  through  the  stationary  ether  of  the 
vortex  filaments,  the  field  being  perpendicular  to  the  filament 
and  to  its  direction  of  motion.  This  motion  would  doubtless 
produce  stresses  in  the  cell-ether  due  to  deformations  of  the  cells, 
and  be  the  proximate  cause  of  the  mechanical  forces  in  the  field. 
In  any  case,  it  is  not  difficult  to  show  that  a  magnetic  field  can- 
not be  due  to  an  irrotational  flow  of.  the  ether  alone.'  Such 
electrostatic  and  magnetic  fields  produce  states  of  motion  in  the 
medium,  but  no  bodily  flow  in  it  ;  consequently  we  ought  not 
to  expect  an  effect  to  be  produced  on  the  velocity  of  transmis- 
sion of  light  through  it. 

The  fundamental  postulate  underlying  this  explanation  of 
electric  action  is  that  when  two  different  kinds  of  matter  are 
brought  into  contact  a  distribution  of  vortex  filaments  in  the 
neighbourhood  takes  place,  so  that  a  larger  number  stretch  from 
one  to  the  other  than  in  the  opposite  direction — the  distinction 
between  positive  and  negative  ends  being  that  already  indicated. 
To  see  how  such  a  distribution  may  be  caused,  let  us  consider 
each  vortex  atom  to  be  composed  of  a  vortical  mass  of  our 
secondary  medium  or  cell-structure  ether.  The  atom  is  much 
larger  than  a  cell,  and  contains  practically  an  infinite  number  of 
them.  It  is  a  dynamical  system  of  these  cells  with  equilibrium 
of  energy  throughout  its  volume.  The  second  atom  is  a  dy- 
namical system  w  ith  a  different  equilibrium  of  energy.  \\Tiere 
they  come  into  contact  there  will  be  a  certain  surface  rearrange- 
ment, which  w  ill  show  itself  as  a  surface  distribution  of  energy 
in  a  similar  manner  to  that  which  exists  between  a  molar  collec- 
tion of  one  kind  of  molecules  in  contact  w  ith  one  of  another, 
and  which  shows  itself  in  the  phenomenon  which  we  call  surface 
tension.  In  the  present  case  the  effect  may  take  place  at  the 
interface  of  two  atomic  .systems  in  actual  contact,  or  be  a  differ- 
ence effect  between  the  two  interfaces  of  the  ether  and  each 
atom  when  the  latter  are  sufficiently  close.  The  surface  effect 
\\e  are  now-  considering  shows  itself  as  contact  electricity. 

Such  a  distribution  of  small  vortex  filaments,  stretching  from 
one  'atom  to  another,  will  tend  to  hold  them  together.  We 
therefore  get  an  additional  cause  for  aggregation  of  atoms.  This 
does  not  exclude  the  others  already  referred  to.  They  may  all 
act  concurrently,  some  producing  one  effect,  .some  another — one 
combining,  perhaps,  unknown  primitive  atoms  into  elements, 
one  elements  into  chemical  compounds,  and  another  producing 
the  cohesion  t>f  matter  into  masses. 

On  this  theory  the  difference  between  a  conductor  and  a 
dielectric  is  that  in  a  dielectric  the  ends  of  the  filaments  cannot 
pass  from  atom  to  atom,  possibly  because  the  latter  never  come 
into  actual  contact.  In  a  conductor,  however,  we  are  to  suppose 
that  the  atomic  elements  can  do  so.  WTien  a  current  is  flowing, 
a  filament  and  its  equivalent  hollow  stretch  between  two 
neighbouring  atoms,  they  are  pulled  into  contact,  or  their 
motions  bring  them  into  contact,  the  hollow  disappears,  and  the 
rotational  filament  joins  its  two  ends  and  sails  away  as  a  small 
neutral  vortex  ring  into  the  surrounding  medium,  or  returns  to 
its  function  as  an  ether  cell.  The  atoms  being  free  are  now 
pulled  back  to  perform  a  similar  operation  for  other  filaments. 
The  result  is  that  the  atoms  are  set  into  violent  vibrations, 
causing  the  heating  of  the  conductor.  When,  however,  the 
metal  is  at  absolute  zero  of  temperature,  there  is  no  motion,  the 
atoms  are  already  in  contact,  and  there  is  no  resistance,  as  the 
observation  of  Dewar  and  Fleming  tends  to  show.  Further,  as 
the  resistance  depends  on  the  communication  of  motion  from 
molecule  to  molecule,  we  should   expect  the  electrical  conduc- 

l  To  prove  this,  consider  a  straight  conductor  moving  parallel  to  itself 
and  perpendicular  to  a  uniform  magnetic  tield.  There  e.Msrs  a  permanent 
potential  difference  between  its  ends.  I  f,  however,  the  field  consists  of  a  flow 
of  ether,  the  effect  is  the  same  .xs  if  the  conductor  is  at  re-st,  and  the  direc- 
tion of  the  magnetic  tleld  shifted  ihrouyh  an  angle.  But  this  is  the  case  of 
a  conductor  at  rest  in  .1  field,  and  there  is  therefore  no  potential  (iifference 
between  the  ends.  Hence  a  magnetic  field  must  consist  of  some  structure 
across  which  the  conductor  cuts  A  field  m.iy  possibly  demand  a  flow  of 
the  ether,  but,  if  so,  it  must  carry  in  it  some  structure  defiiiitely  oriented 
at  each  point  to  the  direction  of  flow. 


47< 


NATURE 


[September  12,  1895 


tivity  of  a  substance  to  march  with  its  thermal  conductivity. 
Again,  on  this  theor)'  the  resistance  clearly  increases  with 
increase  of  distance  between  atoms — i.e.  with  increase  of 
temperature.  On  the  contrar)',  in  electrolytic  conduction  the 
same  junction  of  filament  ends  is  brought  about,  not  by  oscilla- 
tions of  molecule  to  molecule,  but  by  disruption  of  the  molecule 
and  passiige  of  atom  to  atom  In  this  case  conduction  is  easier  the 
more  easily  a  molecule  is  split  up,  and  thus  resistance  decreases 
with  increase  of  temperature.  To  explain  the  laws  of  electro- 
lysis it  is  only  necessar)-  to  assume  that  the  strengths  of  all 
filaments  are  the  same.  -•V  similar  hypothesis,  as  we  have  seen, 
lies  at  the  basis  of  J.  J.  Thomson's  explanation  of  chemical  com- 
bination, although  it  is  not  necessarily  the  case  that  we  are  dealing 
with  the  same  kind  of  fil.-iments.  It  is  evident  that  the  theor)- 
easily  lends  itself  to  his  views  as  to  the  mechanism  of  the  electric 
discharge  through  gases.  The  modus  operandi  of  the  production 
of  the  mechanical  foreive  on  a  conductor  carrying  a  current  in  a 
magnetic  field  and  of  eleclrodynamic  induction  is  not  clear. 
Prolably  the  full  explanation  is  io  be  found  in  the  stresses  pro- 
duced in  the  ether  owing  to  the  deformation  of  the  cells  by  the 
passage  of  the  filaments  through  them.  The  fluid  moves  accord- 
ing to  the  equation  of  continuity  without  slip,  and  subject  to  the 
surface  conditiiins  at  the  conductors.  This  motion,  however, 
distorts  the  cells,  and  stresses  are  called  into  play.  .-Vny  theory 
which  can  explain  the  mechanical  forcives  and  also  Ohm's  law, 
must,  on  the  principles  of  the  conservation  of  energ)-,  also  explain 
the  induction  of  currents. 

The  magnetic  rotation  of  the  plane  of  polarisation  of    light 
does  not  depend  on  the  structure  of  the  ether,  or  on  the  magnetic 
field  itself,  but   is  a  result  of  the  atomic  configuration  of  the 
matter  in  the  field  modified  by  the  magnetism.      It   is  generally 
recognised  as  caused  by  something  in   the  field   rotating  round 
the  direction  of  the  magnetic  lines  of  force.     Now   the  vortex 
atom,  as  usually  pictured,  is  incapable  of  exhibiting  this  ])roperty. 
It  is,  however,  an   interesting   fact,  and  one   which    I  hope  to 
demonstrate  to  this  Section  during  the   meeting,  that   a   vortex 
ring  can  have  two  simultaneous  and  independent  cyclic  motions 
— one  the  ordinary-  one,  and  another  which  is  capable  of    pro- 
ducing just  the  action  on  light  which  shows  itself  as  a  rotation  of 
the  plane  of  polarisation.     The  motion  is  rather  a  complicated  [ 
one  to  describe  without  a  diagram,  but  an  idea  of  its  nature  may 
be  obtained  by  considering  the  case  of  a  straight  cylindrical 
vortex.     The  ordinary  straight   vortex  consists,   .as  every  one 
knows,  of  a  cylinder  of   fluid  revolving  like  a  solid,  .-ind  sur- 
rounded   by  a   fluid  in  irrotational  motion.      In    the    core   the 
velocity  increases  from  zero  at  the  axis  to  a  maximum  at  its  sur- 
face.    Thence  it  continuously  decreases  in  the  outer  fluid  as  the 
distance    increases.      Ever)'where    the    motion    is   in    a    plane 
perpendicular  to  the  axis.      Let  us  now  consider  a  quite  different 
kind  of  vortical  motion.     Suppose  the  fluid  is  flowing  along  the 
core  like  a  \-i.scous  fluid  through  a  pii>e  ;  the  velocity  is  zero  at  the 
surface  and  a  maximum  at  the  axis.    Everywhere  it  is  par.-illel  to 
the  axis,  the  vortex  lines  are  circles  in  planes  perpendicular  to 
the  axis,  and  concentric  with  it.   Since  the  velocity  at  the  surface 
of  the  core  is  zero,  the  surrounding  fluid   is  also  at   rest.     Now 
superpose  this  motion  on  the  previous  one,  and  it   will  be  found 
to  Ik  steady.      If  a  short  length  of  this  vortex  be  supposed  cut 
off,  bent  into  the  shajM;  of  a  circle  and  the  ends  joined,  we  shall 
have  very  a  rough  idea  of  the  c.mipound  vortex  ring  of  which  I 
speak.    I  say  a  very  rough  idea,  Iiecause  the  actual  state  of  motion 
in  a  ring  vortex  or  a  Hill's  vortex  is  not  quite  so  simple  as  the 
analogy  might  lead  one  to  think. 

Now  a  compound  vortex  atom  of  this  kind  is  just  what  we 
want  to  pr<xluce  rotation  of  the  plane  of  polarisaticm  of  light. 
The  light  pa-ssing  through  such  a  vortex  has  the  direction  of 
%-ibration  twisted  in  the  wave  front.  In  ordinar)-  matter  no  such 
rotation  is  produced,  because  the  various  atoms  are  indifferently 
directed,  and  Ihey  neutralise  each  other's  effects.  Let,  however, 
a  m.agnetic  field  lie  produced,  and  they  will  range  themselves 
.wi  that,  on  the  aver.agc,  the  primary' circulations  through  the 
apertures  will  (loinl  in  the  direction  of  the  fickl.  Consequently 
the  average  ilireclion  rif  the  seconilary  spin  will  \k  in  planes 
|)cr|>inilir  ular  to  this,  anil  will  rotate  the  plane  of  |Milari.«ition  of 
any  lit;tit  whose  wave  front  |)asses  them.  The  rotation  is  pro- 
duced iinly  on  the  light  which  is  transmitted  Ihronsh  the  vortex. 
The  rotation  •.liMTvcil  i>  a  resultant  effect.  In  fact  it  is  clear 
that  in  the  case  of  rL-fr.i<-iiim  the  optical  media  belong  to  the  type 
in  which  every  (Mjrlinn  transmits  the  light,  and  not  to  the  ty|)e  in 

<  '*  Primary  "  reftr*  in  itir  mniion  m  usually  uniier^lood  ;  "  Mrcondar>* "  to 
ihc  aupcTpmcd,  a*  rt[>lainrfl  A\*t\c. 


which  refraction  is  produced  by  opaque  bodies  embedded  in  the 
ether.  The  atoms  are  only  opaque  if  they  contain  vacuous 
cores.  The  question  of  the  grip  of  the  particles  on  the  ether 
does  not  enter,  but  difference  of  quality — showing  itself  ii> 
refraction  and  dispersion — is  due  to  difference  in  average 
rotational  quasi-elasticity  produced  by  the  atomic  circulations, 
and  possibly  absorption  is  due  to  precessional  and  nutational 
motion  set  up  by  the  secondary  spins.  These,  however,  are 
perhaps  rather  vague  speculations. 

Instead  of  attempting  to  invent   ethers,  to  deduce  their  pro- 
perties from  their  specifications,  and   then  seeing  whether  they 
fit  in  with  experience,  we  may  begin  half-way.    We  may  assume 
diflTerent  forms  for  the  function  giving  the  energy  of  the  medium 
when    disturbed,  apply  general  dynamical    methods,   and    dis- 
tinguish   between  those   which  are  capable  of   exi>laining    the 
phenomena    we  are    investigating    and    those    which    are    not. 
Invention  is  then  called  upon  to  devise  a  medium  for  which  the 
desired  energy-function  is  appropriate.     This  was  the  method 
applied  by  MacCull.agh  to  the  luminiferous  ether.      He  obtained! 
an  algebraical  form   of  the  energy   function  which  completely 
satisfied  the  conditions  for  a  luminiferous  ether :  its  essential  pro- 
perty being  that  the  energ)'  depended  only  on  the  rotational  dis- 
placements of  its  small  parts.      He    was  unable,   however,   to 
picture  a  stable  material    medium    which    would    possess   this 
property.     We  recognise  now  that  such  a  medium  is  possible   if 
the  rotational  rigidity  is  produced   by  intrinsic   motions  in  the 
small  jiarts  of  the  medium   of  a  gyrostatic  nature.      In  a  most 
masterly  manner  Lannor("  .\  Dynamical  Theory  of  the  Electric 
and   Luminiferous  Medium, "  /'/(//.    Trans.,  1S94)  has  recently 
investigated    by  general  dynamical  methods  the    possibility  of 
explaining  electric  and  magnetic  phenomena  by   means  of  the 
same   energ)'  function.      Electric   lines  of  force  are  rotational 
filaments  in  the  ether,'  similar  in  fact  to  those  I  suggested  at 
Bath,  while  a  magnetic  field  consists  of  a  flow  of  the  ether. 
The  same  dilViculty  in  accounting  for  electro-dynamic  induction 
arises,  but   the  general   form  of  the  equations  for  the  electro- 
dynamic  and  magnetic   fields  are  the  same  as  those  generally 
received. 

Towards  the  end  of  this  paper  he  is  led  to  jwstulatc  a   theory 
'  of  electrons  whose  convection  through  the  ether  constitutes  an 
electric  current.     Two  rotating  round  each  other  are  supposed  to 
produce  the  same  effect  as  a  vortex  ring.     The  mass  of  ordinary 
I  matter  is  attributed  to  the  electric  inertia  of  these  electrons.   The 
electron  itself  is  a  centre  or  nucleus  of    rotational   strain.      If    I 
express  a  doubt  as  to  the  possibility  of  the  existence  of   these 
nuclei  as  specified,  I  do  so  with  great  diffidence.-'  Whether  they 
I  can  or  cannot  exist,  however,  the  general  results  of  the   investi- 
gation are  not  afiected. 

Since  this  paper  was  published  Larmor  has  read  a  second  one 

'  on  the  same  subject  before  the  Royal  Society,  developing  further 

}  his  theory  of  the   electron.     The    pulilieation  of  this    will  be 

1  awaited   with   interest.      It  is  impossible  in  an  address  such  as 

'  this  to  go  .ffr/(i//«/ into  the  numerous  points  which  he  takes  up- 

and   illuminates,   because  the    malhematical    treatment    of  the 

general  question  docs  not  lend  itself  ea,sily  to  oral  exposition  even 

to  an  audience  composed  of  i')rofessed  mathematicians.     There  is 

no  doubt  but  that  this  paper  has  put  the  theory  of  a  rotationally 

elastic   ether — and    with    it    that   i>f  a   fluid    vortex  ether — on  a 

sounder  b,asis,  and  will  lead  to  its  discussion  and  elucidation   by 

a  wider  circle  of  investigators. 

f)ne  further  cl.ass  of  physical  phenomena  yet  remains,  viz. 
those  of  gravitation.  The  ether  must  be  capable  of  transmitting 
gravitational  forces  as  well  as  electric  and  optical  effects.  Does 
the  rotational  ether  give  any  promise  of  domg  this  ?  No  satis- 
factory explanation  of  gravitation  on  any  theory  has  yet  been 
offered.  Perhaps  the  least  uns.atisfactory  is  that  depending  on 
the  vortex  atom  theory  of  matter  ("  On  the  Problem  of  Two 
PuRiting  Spheres  in  a  Eluid,"  Proc.  Canih.  J'/iii.  S<v.,  iii.  p. 
283),  which  attributes  it  to  pulsations  of  hollow  vortex  atoms. 
Hut  this  necessitates  that  Ihey  .shouUI  all  pulsate  with  the  same 
jx-riod  and  in  the  same  phase.  It  is  very  difficult  to  conceive  how 
this  can  happen,  unless,  as  I^armor  suggests,  all  matter  is  built 

I  Tfic  necewily  tlinl  ifir  fil.imcni'i  shall  be  in  p.liM  doe*  not  seem  to  he 
rccoKniwd.  Thi^  i«,  however,  essential  Moreover,  if  the  complementary 
circulations  of  the  rilamcitis  liclwcen  (say)  a  plate  condenser  be  placed  other- 
where than  in  the  same  rejiion,  the  lilaments  l>elweei)  the  plates  must  rotate 
as  a  whole  ;  that  is,  an  electric  field  would  always  be  combined  with  a 
magnetic  one.  . 

•J  It  would  appear  that  the  same  results  would  flow  il  two  particles 
oppositely  electrilied— 1>.  joined  by  two  complementary  fib-uncnts,  as  already 
described— were  to  rotate  round  each  other. 


NO.   1350,  VOL,   52] 


Septemijer  12,  1895J 


NA  TURE 


477 


up  of  constant  elements  like  his  electrons,  whose  periods  are 
necessarily  all  alike.  It  is  possible  that  the  vortex  cell  theory  of 
the  ether,  of  which  I  have  already  spoken,  may  suffice  to  ex- 
plain ^gravitation  also.  The  cells,  besides  their  rotational 
rigidity,  have,  in  addition,  as  we  saw,  a  peculiar  elasticity  of 
form.  To  get  an  idea  of  how  this  theory  may  account  for 
weight,  let  us  suppose  the  simplest  case  where  all  the  cells  are 
exactly  alike,  and  the  medium  is  in  equilibrium.  Now  suppose 
one  of  the  cells  begins  to  grow.  It  forces  the  medium  away  on 
all  sides  ;  the  cells  will  be  distorted  in  s(.>me  definite  way,  and  a 
strain  set  up.  Further,  this  strain  will  be  transmitted  from  the 
centre,  so  that  the  total  amount  across  any  concentric  sphere  wdl 
be  the  same.  Stresses  will  therefore  be  set  up  in  the  whole 
medium.  If  a  second  cell  begins  to  grow  at  another  jjlace  it 
will  produce  also  a  state  of  strain,  the  total  strain  depending  on 
the  presence  of  both.  The  stresses  called  into  play  in  the  medium 
will  produce  a  stress  between  the  bodies,  but  it  is  questionable 
whether  it  would  be  inversely  as  the  square  of  the  distance. 
Whether  it  would  be  an  attraction  or  repulsion  can  only  be 
determined  by  mathematical  investigation.  The  problem  is 
quite  determinate,  though  probably  a  very  difficult  one,  and 
would  be  of  mathematical  interest  quite  apart  from  its  jjhysical 
importance.  Since  apparently  the  phenomena  of  gravitation 
have  no  direct  interaction  with  those  of  light  and  electricity, 
whilst  the  mind  rejects  the  possibility  of  two  difrei.;nt  media 
occupying  the  same  space,  we  seem  driven  to  look  for  it  in  an 
independent  structure  of  the  same  medium.  .Such  a  structure  is 
already  to  our  hands,  with  its  effects  waiting  to  be  determined. 
It  may  well  be  that  it  may  prove  to  be  the  cause  we  are  seeking. 
The  rapid  survey  I  have  attempted  to  make  is  no  doubt  a 
medley  of  suppositions  and  inferences  combined  with  some  .sound 
deductions.  This  is  the  necessary  consequence  of  a  prospecting 
stirvey  in  a  region  whose  surface  has  been  merely  scratched  by 
])ioneers.  My  object  has  been  to  .show  that  this  theory  of  an 
ether,  based  on  a  |)rimitive  perfect  fluid,  is  one  which  shows  very 
promising  signs  of  being  able  to  explain  the  various  phy.sical 
phenomena  of  tnir  material  universe.  I'robably,  nay  certainly, 
the  explanations  suggested  are  not  all  the  true  ones.  Some  will 
have  to  be  given  up,  others  modified  with  further  knowledge. 
We  cannot  proceed  to  particularise  in  our  secondary  hypotheses 
until  we  know  more  about  the  properties  of  such  media  as  we 
have  been  considering.  Every  special  problem  solved  in  vor'ex 
motion  puts  us  in  a  position  to  form  clearer  ideas  of  what  can  and 
what  cannot  happen.  The  whole  question  of  vortex  aggregates 
and  their  interaction.s  is  practically  untouched,  and  a  rich  field 
is  open  for  mathematical  investigation  in  this  portion  only  of 
the  subject.  In  all  cases,  whether  a  fluid  ether  is  an  acttial  fact 
(jr  not,  the  results  obtained  will  be  of  sjiecial  iiUerest  as  types  of 
fluid  motion.  It  is  at  present  a  .subject  in  which  the  mathe- 
maticians must  lead  the  attack.  I  shall  have  attained  my  object 
in  choosing  this  .subject  for  my  address,  if  by  it  I  can  induce 
some  of  our  younger  mathematicians  to  take  it  up  and  work  out 
its  details. 


SECTION  B. 


CHEMISTRY. 


Openinc.  Address   by   Prok.  Rai'h.vel  Mei.dola,  F.R.S., 
K.I.C.,  For.  Sec.  C.S.,  President  of  the  Section. 

The  State  of  Chemical  Science  in  1851. 

In  order  to  estimate  the  progress  of  chemical  science  since  the 
year  1X5 1,  when  the  Hritish  .\ssociation  last  met  in  this  town,  it 
will  be  of  interest  for  us  to  endeavour  to  place  ourselves  in  the 
position  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  proceedings  of  Section  B 
on  that  occasion.  Perhaps  the  best  way  of  performing  this  retro- 
grade feat  will  be  to  confront  the  fundamental  doctrines  of 
modern  chemistry  with  the  state  of  chemical  theory  at  that 
|)eri<Kl,  because  at  any  point  in  the  history  of  a  .science  the 
theoretical  conceptions  in  vogue  -whether  these  conceptions 
ha\e  survived  to  the  present  time  or  not — may  lie  taken  as  the 
abstract  summation  of  the  facts,  i.e.  of  the  real  and  tangible 
knowledge  existing  at  the  period  chosen  as  the  standard  of 
reference. 

W'ilhout  going  too  far  back  in  lime  I  may  remind  you  that  in 
181 1  the  atomic  theory  of  the  chemists  was  grafted  on  to  the 
kindred  science  of  physics  through  the  enunciation  of  the  law 
a.s.sociate(l  with  the  name  of  .Vvogadro  di  (Juaregna.  The 
rationalising  of  this  law  had  been  accomplished  in  1845,  but  the 


NO.    1350,  VOL.    52] 


kinetic  theory  of  gases,  which  had  been  foreshadowed  by  D. 
Bernoulli  in  1738,  and  in  later  times  by  llerapath.  Joule,  and 
Kronig,  lay  buried  in  the  archives  of  the  Royal  .Society  until 
recently  unearthed  by  Loril  Rayleigh  and  given  to  the  world  in 
1892  under  the  authorship  of  Waterston,  the  legitimate  dis- 
coverer. The  later  develo])ments  of  this  theory  ilid  not  take 
place  till  after  the  last  Ipswich  meeting,  viz.  in  1857-62,  by 
Clau.sius,  and  by  Clerk  Maxwell  in  1860-67.  Thus  the  kinetic 
theory  of  ga.ses  of  the  physicists  had  not  in  1851  .acquired  the  full 
significance  for  chemists  which  it  now  possesses  :  the  hypothesis 
of  .\vogadro  was  available,  analogous  conceptions  hati  lieen 
advanced  by  Davy  in  1812,  and  by  .Vmiicrc  in  1S14;  but  no 
substantial  chemical  reasons  for  its  adoption  were  adduced  until 
the  year  1846,  when  Laurent  published  his  work  on  the  law  of 
even  numbers  of  atoms  and  the  nature  of  the  elements  in  the  free 
state  (Ann.  Chim.  Phys.  [3],  18,  266). 

The  so-called  "  New  Chemi.stry"  with  which  .students  of  the 
present  time  are  familiar  was,  in  fact,  being  evolved  about  the 
periotl  when  the  British  .\ssociation  last  as.sembled  at  Ipswich  ; 
but  it  was  not  till  some  years  later,  and  then  chiefly  through  the 
writings  of  Laurent  and  Gerhardt,  that  the  modern  views  be- 
came accepted.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  in  passing  that  the 
nomenclature  of  organic  compounds  formed  the  subject  of  a 
report  by  Dr.  Daubeny  at  that  meeting  in  which  he  .says  : — *'  It 
has  struck  me  as  a  matter  of  surprise  that  none  of  the  British 
treatises  on  chemistry  with  which  I  am  acquaintei.1  should  con- 
tain any  rules  to  guide  us,  either  in  aftixing  names  \o  substances 
newly  discovered  or  in  divining  the  nature  and  relati<ms  of  bodies 
from  the  appellations  attached  to  them.  Nor  do  I  find  this 
deficiency  supplied  in  a  manner  which  to  me  appears  satisfactory 
when  I  turn  to  the  writings  of  continental  cheinists. "  In  a  sub- 
sequent portion  of  the  report  Dr.  Daubeny  adds  : — "  No  name 
ought,  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  to  exceed  in  length  six  or 
seven  syllables.''  I  am  afraid  the  requirements  of  modern 
organic  chemistry  have  not  enabled  us  to  comply  with  this 
condition. 

Among  other  physical  discoveries  which  have  exerted  an  im- 
portant influence  on  chemical  theory  the  law  of  Dulong  and 
Petit,  indicating  the  relationship  between  specific  heat  and 
atomic  weight,  had  been  announced  in  1819,  had  been  subse- 
quently extended  to  compounds  by  Neuni.ann,  and  still  later  had 
been  jilaced  upon  a  sure  basis  by  the  classical  researches  of  Reg- 
nault  in  1839.  But  here,  again,  it  was  not  till  after  1851  that 
Cannizzaro  ( 1858)  gave  this  law  the  imp(»rtance  which  it  now 
possesses  in  connection  with  the  determination  of  atomic 
weights.  Thermo-chemistry  as  a  distinct  branch  of  our  science 
may  also  be  considered  to  have  arisen  since  1S51,  although  th» 
foundations  were  laid  before  this  period  by  the  work  of  Kavre 
and  .Silbermann,  .Andrews,  (iraham,  and  especially  Hess,  who.se 
inqiortant  generalisation  was  announced  in  1S40.  ami  whose 
claim  to  just  recognition  in  the  history  of  phy.sical  chemistry  has 
been  ably  advocate<l  in  recent  limes  by  Ostwald.  But  the 
elaboration  ofthermo-chemical  facts  and  views  in  the  light  of 
the  dynamical  theory  of  heal  was  first  connuenced  in  1853  by 
Julius  Thomsen,  and  has  since  been  carried  on  concurrently  with 
the  work  of  Berthelot  in  the  same  field  which  the  latter  investi- 
gator entered  in  1865.  Electro-chemistry  in  1851  was  in  an 
equally  rudimentary  condition  Davy  had  jniblishe^l  his  electro- 
chemical theory  in  1807,  and  in  1812  Berzelius  had  put  forward 
those  views  on  electric  aftinity  which  became  the  basis  of  his 
dualistic  system  of  formulation.  In  1S33  Faraday  announced 
his  famous  law  of  electro-chemical  equivalence,  which  gave  a  fatal 
blow  to  the  conceptiim  of  Berzelius,  and  which  later  (1839  40) 
was  made  use  of  by  Daniell  in  order  to  show  the  imienability  of 
the  dualistic  sy.stem.  By  1851  the  views  of  Berzelius  had  been 
abandoned,  and,  so  far  as  chemical  theory  is  concerned,  the 
whole  subject  may  be  considered  to  have  been  in  abeyance  at 
that  lime.  It  is  of  interest  to  note,  however,  that  in  thai  ye<ar 
Williamson  advanced  on  quite  distinct  grounds  his  now  well- 
known  theory  of  atomic  interchange  between  molecules,  which 
theory  in  a  more  extended  form  was  developed  independently 
from  the  physical  side  and  applied  to  electrolytes  by  Clausius  in 
1857.  The  modern  theory  of  electrolysis  associaleil  with  the 
namesof  .\rrhenius,  van't  llofl',  and  Ostwald  is  of  comparatively 
recent  growth.  It  appears  that  Hillorf  in  187S  was  the  first  to 
point  out  the  relationship  between  electrolytic  conductivity  and 
chemical  activity,  this  same  author  as  far  back  as  1856  hrfving 
combated  the  prevailing  view  that  the  electric  current  during 
electrolysis  does  the  work  of  overcoming  the  affinities  of  the  ions. 
.\rrheniHS  formulated  his  theory  of  electrolytic  dis.sociation  in 


47S 


NATURE 


[September  12,  1895 


1SS7,  Planck  having  almost  simultaneously  arrived  at   similar 
\news  on  other  grounds. 

Closely  connected  with  electrolysis  is  the  question  of  the  con- 
stitution of  solutions,  and  here  again  a  convergence  of  work 
from  several  distinct  fields  has  led  to  the  creation  of  a  new 
branch  nf  physical  chemistry  which  may  be  considered  a  modern 
growth.  The  relationship  twtween  the  strength  of  a  solution 
and  its  freezing  point  had  been  discovered  by  Blagden  towards 
the  end  of  the  last  centur)-,  but  in  1851  chemists  had  no  notion 
that  this  observation  would  have  any  influence  on  ihe  future  de- 
velopment of  their  science,  .\nother  decade  elapsed  before  the 
law  was  re<liscovere<l  by  Rudorff(lS6l),  and  ten  years  later  vsas 
further  elaborated  by  de  Coppet.  Raoult  published  his  first  work 
on  the  freezing  point  of  solutions  in  1882,  and  two  years  later  the 
relationship  l>etween  osmotic  pressure  and  the  lowering  of  freez- 
ing point  was  established  by  H.  de  \'ries,  who  first  a|>proached 
the  subject  as  a  physiologist,  through  obser\ations  on  Ihe  cell 
contents  of  living  plants.  .As  the  work  done  in  connection  with 
osmotic  pressure  has  had  such  an  important  influence  on  the 
"dissociation"  theor)' of  solutions,  it  will  be  of  interest  to  note 
that  at  the  last  Ipswich  meeting  Thomas  Clraham  made  a  com- 
munication on  liquid  diffusion,  in  which  he  "  gave  a  view  of 
some  of  the  unpublished  results,  to  ascertain  whether  solutions 
of  saline  bodies  had  a  power  of  diffusion  among  liquids,  espe- 
cially water."  In  1877  Pfefler,  who,  like  de  \'ries,  entered  the 
field  from  the  botanical-physiological  side,  succeeded  in  efl'ecting 
the  measurement  of  osmotic  pressure.  Ten  years  later  van  "t 
Hoff  formulated  the  nnxlern  dissociation  theory  of  solution  by 
apphing  to  dissolved  substances  the  laws  of  Boyle,  Gay-Lussac, 
and  .-Vvi^adro,  the  law  of  osmotic  pressure,  and  Raoult's  law- 
connecting  the  depression  of  freezing  ]X)int  with  molecular 
weight,  thus  laying  the  foundation  of  a  doctrine  which,  whether 
destined  to  survive  in  its  present  form  or  not,  has  certainly 
exerted  a  great  influence  on  contemporary  chemical  thought. 

Consider,  further,  the  state  of  knowledge  in  1851  concerning 
such  leading  principles  as  dissociation  or  thermolysis,  ma.ss 
action,  and  chemical  equilibrium.  Abnormal  vapour  densities 
had  been  observed  by  .\vogadro  in  181 1,  and  by  Ampere  in 
1814.  Grove  had  dissociated  water  vapour  by  heat  in  1847,  but 
the  first  great  advance  was  made  ten  years  later  by  Sainte-Claire 
Dcvillc,  from  whose  work  has  emanated  our  existing  knowledge 
of  this  subject.  I  may  add  that  the  application  of  this  principle 
to  explain  the  cases  of  abnormal  vapour  density  was  made  in  185S 
by  Kopp,  Kekule,  and  Cannizzam  almost  simultaneously ;  but, 
strangely  enough,  this  explanation  was  not  acccjiled  by  Deville 
himself.  The  .subsequent  stages  are  subjects  of  modern  history. 
The  current  views  on  mass  action  were  foreshadowed,  as  is  well 
known,  by  BerthoUet  in  his  "  Statique  Chimique,"  published  in 
1803,  but  no  great  advance  had  been  made  when  ihe  British 
A.ss<iciation  last  met  here.  The  subject  first  began  to  .-issume  a 
quantitative  aspect  through  the  researches  of  Kunscn  and  Debus 
in  1853,  and  was  much  advanced  by  (Iladstone  in  1865  and  by 
Harcourt  and  Esson  a  year  later.  Guldberg  and  VVaage  pub- 
lished their  classical  work  on  this  subject  in  1867. 

E<|ually  striking  will  appear  the  advances  made  since  1851  if 
we  consider  that  the  whole  subject  of  spectrum  analysis,  which 
brings  our  science  into  relationship  with  astronomy,  has  been 
called  inio  exi<>tcncc  since  that  date.  The  celebrated  work  of 
Bunsen  and  Kirchhoff  w.is  not  published  till  1859.  Neither  can 
I  refrain  from  reminding  you  that  the  coal-tar  colour  industry, 
with  which  I  havelwen  to  a  small  extent  connected,  was  started 
into  activity  by  Pcrkin's  discovery  of  mauve  in  1856 ;  the 
reaction  of  this  mduslry  on  the  development  of  organic  chemistry 
n  now  too  well  known  to  re<|uire  further  mention.  In  that 
dire--  ■  ■'  which  brings  chemistry  into  relatiimship  with 
biol  :rcss  has  lieen  sf)  great  that  it  is  not  going  beyond 

the  I  that  anew  science  h.is  Ixjcn  crcateil.      Pasteur 

liegan  his  studies  on  fermentation  in  1857,  and  out  of  that  work 
ha.'s  .Tri--en  the  icienre  of  lacteriology,  with  its  multifarious  and 
nces.  As  this  chapter  of  chemical  history 
'lie  of  Ihe  evening  disc<iurses  at  the  present 
r-  to  dwell  further  upm  il  now.  One 
rhronicle<l  among  the  great  develop- 
I  I  refer  to  the  periiKlic  law  connect- 
1  the  chemical  elements  with  their 
<rtieH.  Allempts  to  establish  numer- 
ical I  ■•  III  iwilaled  groups  of  elements  had 
licci  11  1817,  by  r.Mielin  in  1826,  and  again 
by  1  ior..r'in.  r  m  j  ^jo.  The  triad  system  of  grouping  wa.s 
Airthcr  developed  Ij)-  Dumas  in  1851.     lam  informed  by  Dr. 


farr 

Torn 

mc' 

olh> 

met 

ing 

|ihy 


Gladstone  that  at  the  last  Ipswich  meeting  Dumas"  speculations 
in  this  direction  excited  much  interest.  All  the  later  steps  of 
importance  have,  however,  been  made  since  that  time,  viz.  by 
de  Chancourtois  in  1S62.  the  "  law  of  octaves"  by  Newlands  in 
1864,  the  periodic  law  by  MendeleelT,  and  almost  contempora- 
neously by  Lothar  Meyer  in  1S69. 

I  have  been  tempted  into  giving  this  necessarily  fragmentary 
and  possibly  tedious  historical  sketch  because  it  is  ajiproaching 
half  a  centurj-  since  the  British  Association  visited  this  town, 
and  the  opportunity  seemed  favourable  for  going  through  that 
process  which  in  commercial  affairs  is  called  "  taking  stock." 
The  result  speaks  for  itself.  Our  students  of  the  present  time 
who  are  nourished  intellectually  by  these  doctrines  shotild  be 
made  to  realise  how  rapid  has  been  their  development.  The 
pioneers  of  our  science,  on  whose  shoulders  we  stand — and  many 
of  whom  are  ha])pily  still  among  us — will  derive  satisfaction  from 
the  retrospect,  and  will  admit  that  their  labours  have  borne 
goodly  fruit.  It  is  not,  however,  simply  for  the  purpose  o. 
recording  this  enormous  progress  that  I  have  ventured  to  assume 
the  oflice  of  stock-taker.  The  year  1S51  may  be  regarded  as 
occurring  towards  the  close  of  one  epoch  and  the  dawn  of  a  new 
era  in  chemical  history.  Consider  broadly  the  stale  of  organic 
chemistry  at  that  time.  There  is  no  occasion  for  going  into 
detail,  even  if  time  admitted,  because  our  literature  has  recently 
been  enriched  by  the  concise  and  excellent  historical  works  of 
Schorlentmer  and  of  Ernst  von  Meyer.  It  will  suffice  to  men- 
tion that  the  work  and  writings  of  Liebig,  Berzelius,  Woliler, 
Dumas,  Gay-Lussac,  Bunsen,  and  others  had  given  us  the  lead- 
ing ideas  of  isomerism,  substitution,  comiwund  r.ulicles,  and  types. 
Wurlz  and  I  lofmann  had  just  discovered  the  organic  ammonias  ; 
Williamson  that  .same  year  made  known  his  celebrated  work  on 
the  ethers  ;  and  Gerhardt  discovered  the  acid  anhydrides  a  year 
later.  The  newer  theory  of  type  was  unilergoing  development 
by  Gerhardt  and  his  followers  ;  the  mature  results  were  pub- 
lished in  the  fourth  volume  of  the  "Traite  de  Chimic"  in  1S56. 
In  this  country  the  theory  was  much  advanced  by  the  writings  of 
Odiing  and  Williamson. 

Subsequent  Development  ok  Ciiicmistky  along 
Two  Lines. 
The  new  era  which  was  dawning  upon  us  in  1 85 1  was  that  of 
structural  or  constitutional  chemistry,  based  on  the  doctrine  of 
the  valency  of  the  atoms.  It  is  well  known  that  this  conception 
w.as  broached  by  I'rankland  in  1852,  as  the  result  of  his  investi- 
gations on  the  organo-metallic  compounds.  But  it  was  not  till 
1858  that  Kekule,  who  had  previously  done  much  to  develop 
the  theory  of  types,  and  CouiK-r,  almost  simultaneously,  recog- 
nised the  quadrivalent  character  of  carbon.  To  altempl  to  give 
anything  appro.aching  an  .adequate  notion  of  the  subsequent 
inlluence  of  this  idea  on  the  progress  of  organic  chemistry  would 
be  tantamount  to  reviewing  the  present  condition  of  that  subject. 
I  imagine  that  no  conception  more  prolific  of  results  has  ever 
been  introduced  into  any  ileparlmvnt  of  science.  If  we  glance 
liack  along  the  stream  it  will  be  seen  that  shortly  after  the  last' 
meeting  here  the  course  of  di.scovery  began  to  concentrate  itself 
into  two  channels.  In  one  we  now  find  the  results  of  the  con- 
fluent labours  of  those  who  have  regariled  our  science  from  its 
physical  side.  In  the  other  channel  is  flowing  the  tide  of  dis- 
covery arising  from  the  valency  doctrine  and  its  extension  to  th* 
structure  of  chemical  molecules.  The  two  channels  are  at 
present  fairly  |x>rallel  and  not  far  ajiart ;  an  occasional  explorer 
endeavours  now  and  again  to  make  a  cross-cut  so  as  to  put  the 
streams  into  cimimunication.  The  currents  in  both  are  ruiuiing 
very  rapi<lly,  and  the  wiirker  who  has  embarked  on  one  or  the 
other  finds  himself  hurried  along  at  such  a  p.ice  that  iIrtc  is 
hardly  breathing  time  to  step  ashore  and  see  what  his  neighbour* 
arc  doing.  It  speaks  well  for  the  fertility  of  the  conception  of 
valency  that  the  current  in  this  channel  is  flowing  with  unabated 
vigour,  although  its  catchment  area— to  pursue  the  metaphor — is 
by  no  me.ans  so  extensive  as  that  of  the  neighbouring  stream. 

The  nuxlern  tendency  to  specialisation,  which  is  a  necessity 
arising  from  the  large  number  of  workers  and  the  rapid  multipli- 
cation of  results,  is  apparently  in  the  two  directions  indicated. 
We  have  one  class  of  workers  ilealing  w  ith  the  physics  of  matter 
in  relation  to  general  chemical  properties,  and  another  class  of 
investigators  concerning  themselves  with  the  special  properties  of 
individual  compounds  and  cla-sses  of  compounds  with  atomic 
idiosyncrasies.  The  workers  of  one  class  are  dirierenliating 
while  their  colleagues  are  integrating.  It  would  be  nothing  less 
than  unscientific  to  institute  a  com|xirison  between  the  relative  1 


NO.   1350,  VOL.  52] 


September  12,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


479 


merits  of  the  two  methods;  both  are  necessary  for  the  develop- 
ment of  our  science.  All  methods  of  attacking  the  unknown  are 
equally  welcomed.  In  some  cases  physical  methods  are  avail- 
;ible,  in  other  cases  purely  chemical  methods  have  alone  been 
found  of  use.  There  is  no  antagonism,  liut  co-operation.  If  the 
results  of  the  two  methods  are  sometimes  at  variance  it  is  simply 
liecause  we  have  not  known  how  to  inter])ret  them.  The  physical 
chemist  has  adopted  the  results  of  the  ai^plication  of  chem- 
ical methods  of  determining  "constitution,"  and  is  endeavouring 
10  furnish  us  with  new  weapons  for  attacking  this  same  problem. 
The  chemist  who  is  seeking  to  unravel  the  architecture  of  mole- 
cules is  dependent  at  the  outset  upon  physical  methods  of  deter- 
mining the  relative  weights  of  his  molecules.  The  worker  who 
is  bringing  about  new  atomic  groupings  is  furnishing  material  for 
the  further  development  of  generalisations  from  which  new 
methods  applicable  to  the  problem  of  chemical  structure  may 
again  be  evolved.  The  physical  chemist  sometimes  from  the 
broadness  of  his  view  is  apt  to  overlook  or  to  minimise  the  im- 
portance of  cliemical  individuality.  On  the  other  hand  the 
chemi.st  who  is  studying  the  numberless  potentialities  of  combina- 
tion resident  in  the  atoms,  and  who  has  grasped  to  the  full 
extent  their  marvellous  individualities,  is  equally  liable  to  forget 
that  there  arc  connecting  relationships  as  well  as  specific 
differences  in  the  properties  of  elements  and  compounds.  These 
are  but  the  mental  traits — the  unconscious  bias  engendered  by 
the  necessar}'  specialisation  of  work  to  which  I  have  referred, 
and  which  is  observable  in  every  department  of  scienti.lc  labour. 

The  Present  State  of  Structural  Chemistry. 

The  success  attending  the  application  of  the  doctrine  of  valency 
to  the  compounds  of  carbon  has  helped  its  extension  to  all  com- 
pounds formed  by  other  elements,  and  the  student  of  the  present 
day  is  taught  to  use  structural  formula;  as  the  -\  B  C  of  his 
science.  It  is,  I  think,  generally  recognised  among  chemists 
that  this  doctrine  in  its  present  state  is  empirical,  but  it  does  not 
appear  to  me  that  this  point  is  sufficiently  insisted  upon  in 
chemical  teaching.  I  do  not  mean  to  assert  that  for  the  last 
thirty  years  chemists  have  lieen  pursuing  a  phantom  ;  neither  do 
I  think  that  we  should  be  justified  in  applying  to  this  doctrine 
the  words  applied  to  its  forerunner,  the  "types"  of  Gerhardt, 
i>y  Lothar  Meyer,  who  says  that  these  "have  rendered  great 
service  in  the  development  of  the  science,  but  they  can  only  be 
regarded  as  a  part  of  the  scaffolding  which  was  reinoved  when 
I  he  erection  of  the  system  of  organic  chemistry  had  made  sufii- 
c  ient  progress  to  be  able  to  dispense  with  it  "  {"  Modern  Theories 
"fChcmistr)-,"  p.  194.)  It  appears  to  me,  on  the  contrary,  that 
there  is  a  physical  reality  underlj-ing  the  conception  of  valency, 
if  for  no  other  reason  because  of  the  conformability  of  this 
property  of  the  atoms  to  the  periodic  law.  But  the  doctrine  as  it 
stands  is  empirical  in  so  far  that  it  is  only  representative  and  not 
explanatory.  Krankland  and  Kekule  have  given  us  a  great  truth, 
but  its  \ery  success  is  now  making  it  more  and  more  obvious  that  it 
is  a  truth  which  is  pressing  for  further  development  from  the  phys- 
ical side.  If  weare  asked  why  CO  exists,  and  why  Cll„and  CCU 
ilo  not,  together  with  innumerable  similar  questions  which  the 
inquisitive  mind  will  raise,  vvc  get  no  light  from  this  doctrine.  If 
any  over-.sanguine  disciple  goes  so  far  as  to  assert  that  all  tlie 
possible  compounds  of  the  elements  indicated  by  their  valency 
are  capable  of  existence,  and  will  sooner  or  later  be  prepared, 
he  will,  I  imagine,  find  himself  rapidly  travelling  away  from  the 
1  cgion  of  fact. 

There  is  something  to  be  reckoned  with  besides  valency.  The 
I  'ue  great  desideratum  of  modern  chemistry  is  unquestionably  a 
physical  or  mechanical  interpretation  of  the  combining  capacities 
■  if  the  atimis.  Attempts  at  the  con.struction  of  such  theories 
have  liccn  made,  and  thus  far  only  in  a  tentative  way,  and  the.se 
I  lews  cannot  be  said  to  have  yet  come  within  the  domain  of 
practical  chemical  politics.  I  have  in  mind,  among  other  sug- 
gestions, the  dynamical  theory  of  van  "t  Ilofl' published  in  18S1 
I  "  Ansichten  iiber  die  organischeChemie"),  the  theor)- of  electric 
I  harges  on  the  atoms  broached  by  Johnstone  .Stoney  in  1874, 
and  so  ably  advocated  by  the  late  Prof.  v.  Ilelmholtz  in  his 
laraday  lecture  in  1S81,  and  the  electric  polar  theory  of  \'ictor 
Meyer  and  Riecke,  published  in  iS88  ("  Einige  Bemerkungen 
ubcr  den  Kohlenstoffatom  und  die  Valenz,"  Her.,  21,  pp.  946, 
1620). 

Pending  the  rationalisation  of  the  doctrine  of  valency  its  jiro- 
inulgation  must  continue  in  its  present  form.  Its  services  in  the 
ennstruction  of  rational  formuke,  especially  within  the  limits  of 
isomerism,  have  been  incalcidable.     It  is  the  ladder  by  which 


NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


we  have  climbed  to  the  jiresent  brilliant  achievements  in  chemica 
synthesis,  and  we  are  not  in  a  position  to  perform  the  un- 
gracious task  of  kicking  it  aw.ay.  In  recalling  attention  to  its 
weaknesses  I  am  only  putting  myself  in  the  position  of  th 
physician  who  diagno.ses  his  patient's  case  with  the  ulterior 
object  of  getting  him  strengthened.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
renewed  vitality  has  been  given  to  the  doctrine  by  the  concep- 
tions of  tautomerism  and  desmotropy,  formulated  by  Conrad 
Laar  in  1885,  and  by  Paul  Jacobson  in  1887.  The  importance 
of  these  ideas  is  becoming  more  evident  with  the  advancement 
of  chemical  discovery.  Any  attempt  to  break  down  the  rigidly 
.statical  conception  of  our  structural  formuloe  appears  to  me  to  be 
a  step  in  the  right  direction.  Then,  again,  I  will  remind  you  of 
the  prolific  development  of  the  doctrine  in  the  hands  of  Le  Be 
and  van  't  Hoff  by  the  introduction  of  the  .stereochemical 
hypothesis  in  1874 — unquestionably  the  greatest  advance  in 
structural  chemistry  since  the  recognition  of  the  quadrivalent 
character  of  the  carbon  atom.  If  evidence  be  required  that 
there  is  a  physical  reality  underlying  the  conception  of  valency, 
we  need  only  point  to  the  close  accordance  of  this  notion  of  the 
a.symmetric  carbon  atom  with  the  facts  of  so-called  "  phj'sical 
isomerism  "  and  the  sjilendid  results  that  have  followed  from  its 
introduction  into  our  science,  especially  in  the  field  of  carbo- 
hydrates through  the  investigations  of  Emil  Fischer  and  his 
pupils.  In  other  directions  the  stereochemical  hypothesis  has 
])roved  to  be  a  most  suggestive  guide.  It  was  applied  by  Prof, 
v.  Baeyer  in  1885  (Bcr.,  18,  '2277)  to  explain  the  conditions  of 
stability  or  instability  of  certain  atomic  groupings,  such  as  the 
explosiveness  of  polyacetylene  compounds  and  the  stability  of 
penta-  and  hexa-cyclic  systems.  Again,  in  18S8  this  eminent 
chemist  showed  its  fertility  in  a  series  of  brilliant  researches  upon 
benzene  derivatives  (  Ann.,  \-yi,  158,  and  subsequent  papers). 
Nor  can  I  omit  to  mention  the  great  impetus  given  in  this  field 
by  the  classical  work  of  Wislicenus,  who  in  18S7  applied  the 
hypothesis  to  unsaturated  compounds  and  to  cyclic  systems  with 
remarkable  success  ( "  Ueber  die  raumliche  Anordnung  der  .A.tome 
in  organischen  Moiekulen,"  &c.).  Quite  recently  Victor  Meyer 
and  J.  Sudborough  have  shown  that  the  ability  of  certain  deriva- 
tives of  benzoic  and  naphthoic  acids  to  form  ethers  is  governed 
by  stereochemical  considerations  (Bar.,  27,  510,  1580,  3146,  and 
28,  182,  1254).  But  I  must  avoid  the  temptation  to  enlarge 
uiion  this  theme  because  the  whole  subject  has  been  recently 
brought  together  by  C.  A.  Bischofl"  in  his  "  Handbuch  der 
Stereochemie"  (Frankfurt,  1893-94),  1  work  to  which  all  who 
are  interested  in  the  suliject  will  naturally  turn  for  reference. 

While  the  present  advanced  state  of  structural  chemistry  may 
thus  be  looked  upon  as  the  outcome  of  the  conce])tions  of 
Frankland  and  Kekule,  it  may  be  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  the 
idea  of  structure  is  not  necessarily  hnanA  u])  with  the  hypothesis 
of  valency  in  its  present  form.  In  leed,  some  advance  had  been 
made  in  representing  "constitution,"  especially  by  Kolbe, 
before  the  formal  introduction  of  this  hypothesis.  The  two 
ideas  have  grown  up  together,  but  the  experimental  evidence 
that  in  any  molecule  the  atoms  are  grouped  together  in  a  par- 
ticular way  is  really  independent  of  any  theory  of  valency.  It  is 
only  after  this  evidence  has  been  acquired,  cither  by  analysis  or 
synthesis,  that  we  proceed  to  apply  the  hypothesis  in  building 
up  the  structural  formula.  It  is  of  course  legitimate  to  assume 
the  truth  of  the  hypothesis,  and  to  endeavour  by  its  use  to  con- 
vert an  empirical  into  a  rational  fiirmula ;  but  this  method 
generally  gives  us  a  choice  of  formuKv  from  which  the  true  one 
can  only  be  selected  by  further  experimental  investigation.  Even 
within  the  narrower  limits  of  isomerism  it  is  by  no  means  certain 
that  all  the  modifications  of  a  compound  indicated  by  hyiwthesis 
are  actually  capable  of  existence.  There  is,  for  example, 
evidence  that  some  of  the  "  iX)sition  isonierides"  among  the 
derivatives  of  mono-  and  poly-cyclic  compounds  are  too  unstable  to 
exist  ;  a  fact  which  in  itselt  is  .sufficient  to  indicate  the  necessity 
for  a  revision  and  extension  of  our  notions  of  valency.  Thus,  by 
way  of  illustration,  there  is  nothing  in  the  hypothesis  to  indicate 
why  orthoquinones  of  the  benzene  series  should  not  be  capable  of 
existence  ;  yet  it  is  a  fact  that  in  spite  of  all  eft'orts  such  compounds 
have  never  been  obtained.  The  conditions  essential  for  the 
existence  of  these  compounds  appear  to  be  that  the  hydrogen  of 
the  benzene  ring  should  be  replaced  by  acid  substituents  such  as 
oxygen,  hydroxyl,  chlorine,  or  bromine.  Under  these  circum- 
stances, as  Zincke  has  shown  (Ber.,  20,  1776),  tetrachlor  and 
tetrabrom-orthobenzoquinone  are  stable  compounds.  So  also  the 
interesting  researches  of  Xietzki  have  proved  that  in  such  a  com- 
pound as  rhodizonic  acid  (/bid.,  19,  308,  and   23,  3136)  ortho- 


4  So 


NA  TURE 


[September  12,  1895 


quinone  oxygen  atoms  are  present.  But  there  is  nothing  in  the 
doctrine  of  x'alency  which  leads  lis  to  suspect  that  these  ortho- 
<)uinon('  deri\-atives  can  exist  while  their  parent  compound 
resists  all  attempts  at  is<:>lalion.  I  am  aware  that  it  is  dangerous 
I'l  argue  from  negative  evidence,  and  it  would  be  rash  to  assert 
that  these  orthoquinones  will  never  be  obtaine<l.  But  even  in 
the  present  state  of  knowledge  it  may  be  distinctly  aflirmed  that 
the  melhixls  which  readily  furnish  an  orlhoquinone  of  naphtha- 
lene completely  fail  in  the  case  of  benzene,  and  it  is  just  on  such 
points  as  this  that  the  inadequacy  of  the  hyixithesis  becomes  ap- 
I>arent.  In  other  words,  the  doctrine  fails  in  the  fundamental 
requirement  of  a  scientific  theory  ;  in  its  present  form  il  gives  us 
no  power  of  prevision — it  hints  at  possibilities  of  atomic  group- 
ings, but  it  does  not  tell  us  <}  //v't»r»  which  of  these  groupings  are 
nkcly  to  be  stable  and  which  unstable.  I  am  not  without  hope 
that  the  next  great  advance  in  the  required  direction  may  yet 
come  from  the  stereochemical  extension  of  the  hyiiolhesis, 
although  the  attempts  which  have  hitherto  been  made  to  supply 
ks  deficiencies  cannot  but  be  regarded  as  more  or  less  tentative. 

The  Xf.w  Theory  of  .-VRSTRAcr  Tvi'es. 

I  will  venture,  in  the  next  place,  to  direct  attention  to  a  modern 
development  of  structural  chemistry  which  will  help  to  illustrate 
still  further  some  of  the  points  raised.  Kor  many  years  we  have 
iKjen  in  the  habit  of  abstracting  from  our  structural  formulx  cer- 
tain ideal  complexes  of  atoms  h  hich  we  consider  to  represent  the 
nucleus  or  type  from  which  the  compound  of  known  constitution 
is  derived.  In  other  words,  the  hypothesis  of  valency  which  was 
developed  originally  from  (lerhardt's  types  is  now  leading  us  Ijack 
to  another  theory  of  types  based  upon  a  more  intimate  knowledge 
of  atomic  grouping  within  the  molecule.  In  some  cases  these 
types  have  been  shown  to  be  caj^ble  of  existence  ;  in  others  they 
are  still  ideal.  Used  in  this  way  the  <loclrine  of  valency  is  most 
suggestive,  but  at  the  same  time  its  lack  of  prevision  is  con- 
stantly forcing  itself  upon  the  attention  of  chemical  investigators. 
The  jxirent  com|x>und  has  sometimes  been  known  before  its  de- 
rivatives, .as  in  the  case  of  ammonia,  which  was  known  long 
before  the  organic  amines  and  amides.  In  other  instances  the 
derivatives  were  obtained  before  the  type  was  isolated,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  hydrazines,  which  were  characterised  l>y  Kmil 
Fischer  in  1S75,  and  the  hydrazo-compounds,  which  have  been 
known  since  1863,  while  hydrazine  itself  was  first  obtained  by 
Curlius  in  1S87.  I'henylazimide  was  discovered  by  Gries-s  in 
1S64,  and  many  representatives  of  this  group  have  been  since 
prepared  :  bul  the  jiarenl  compound,  hytlrazoic  aci<l,  was  only 
iMilated  byCurlius  in  1S90.  Derivatives  of  triazole  and  tetrazole 
were  obtained  by  Bladin  in  1885  ;  the  types  were  isolated  by  this 
chemist  and  by  .\iidreocci  in  1892,  I'yrazole  derivatives  were 
pre|>ared  by  Knorr  in  1883  ;  pyrazole  itself  was  not  isolated  till 
1S89,  by  Buchner.  .\lkyl  nilramides  were  discovered  by 
Franchimonl  and  Klobbie  many  years  before  the  typical  com- 
P'lund,  nitramide,  NO._,.N'II^,  which  was  isolated  la.sl  year  by 
Thiele  and  Lachman  {Her.,  27,  1909).  Examples  might  be 
multiplied  tf>  a  formidable  extent,  bul  enough  have  been  given  to 
illustrate  the  principle  of  the  erection  of  types,  which  were  at 
first  imaginary,  but  which  have  since  become  real.  The  utility 
•if  the  hyiMthesis  is  undeniable  in  these  cases,  and  we  are  justi- 
fied in  pushing  il  10  its  extreme  limits.  Hut  no  chemist,  even  if 
endowed  wilh  prophetic  instinct,  could  have  certainly  foretold 
six  years  ago  that  the  type  01  Griess'  "  triazobenzene"  would  be 
capable  of  free  existence,  and  still  less  that  when  obtained  il 
would    prove   to  be   a   strong  acid.     The   fact,   established  by 

Curtius,  that   the   group      yN-funclions    in    chemical    molc- 

riilcs  like  the  atom  of  chlorine  is  certainly  among  the  most 

t;  of  recent  discoveries.     Only  last  year  the  list  of  nitrogen 

iinds   wa.s    enriched    by   the   addition   of    Cf)(Nj)„    the 

■  n  anal'jgue  of  phosgene  (Curlius,  Her.,  37,  2684). 

I       -■-    illuslralions,  drawn  from  the  c<im|>ounds  of  nitrogen, 

'  '   bring  out   the  womlerful  development  which  our 

f  ihe  chemistry  of  this  elemenl  has  undergone  within 

'  "-       I  mighl  Ik-  lempled  here  into  a  iligression  on 

"g  of  ihe  very  striking  fact   thai   an   element 

nvc  in  ihe  free  .slate  should  be  so  remarkably 

'  :■  diiin,  bul  I  must  keep  lo  ihe  main  topic,  a.s  by 

" I    I         '   iiiiixiuntls  il  i«  possible  lo  iiluslrale  slill   further 

^  of  riur  niiKlern  conceplionsof 

iiic    of  ihe  undiscovered  com- 

,     '•  ■■• ......  ;.)  ihe  pr^Kre.ss  of  ideal  abstrac- 


NO.   1350,  VOL,  52] 


tion  of  types.  The  azoxy-compounds  contain  the  complex 
-  N  -  N  -         -  N  =  N  -  UN  -  NH 

Xr-,/       or        ■•  .     The  types  would  be      \r\/ 

^  O  '  ^ 

UN  =  Ml 
or       ••  .     The  first  of  these  formula;  represents  the  un- 

O 
known  dihydro-nitrous  oxide.  The  azo-compounds  are  de- 
rivatives of  the  hypothetical  diimide  UN  :  NH.  An  attempi  to 
prejwre  this  compound  from  azodicarbonic  .icid  (Thiele,  .Aim., 
271,  130)  resulted  in  the  formation  of  hydr.azine.  The  dielhyl- 
derivalive  may  have  been  obtained  by  Harries  (Her.,  27,  2276), 
but  this  is  doubtful.  It  is  at  present  inexplicable  why  compounds 
in  which  the  group  .  X  :  N  •  is  in  combination  with  aromatic 
radicles  should  be  .so  remarkably  stable,  while  the  parent  com- 
pound appears  to  be  incapable  of  existence.  The  addition  of 
two  atoms  of  hydrogen  converts  this  type  .again  into  a  stable 
compound.  There  is  nothing  in  the  structural  formula"  to  indi- 
cate these  facts.  The  aniidines  are  stable  compounds,  and  the 
so-called  "  anhvdro-bases,"  or  imidazoles,  are  remarkably  stable  : 

the  parent  compound  HC/         ,  has  not  been  obtained,  while 
^NH, 
.NH 
its  amido-derivalivc,  H„N.C/^  ,  is  the  well-known  substance 

^NH. 
guanidinc.  The  isodiazo-compounds  recently  discovered  by 
Schraube  and  Schmidt  and  by  Bamberger  [/hid.,  27,  514,  679, 
&c. )  are  possibly  derivatives  of  the  hypothetical  substance 
0:N.NHj,  which  might  be  named  nitros-amidc.  Why  this 
compound  should  not  exist  as  well  as  nitramide  is  another 
question  raised  by  the  princijile  of  abstract  types.  The  carbizines 
were    formerly    regarded    as    derivatives    of     the    compounds 

/NH  /MI 

C0(^  •       andCS^f-        (Fischer,  .^«h.,  212,  326  ;  Freund  and 

^NH  ^NH, 

Goldsmith,  Her.  ,21,  2456).  .Mthough  this  structure  has  now  been 
disproved  the  possible  existence  of  the  types  has  been  suggested. 
Carbizinc  and  thiocarbizinc  differ  from  urea  and  ihiocarljamide 
only  by  two  atoms  of  hydrogen.  Those  tyjies  have  not  been 
isolated  ;  if  they  are  incapable  of  existence  the  current  views  of 
molecular  structure  give  no  suggestion  of  a  rea.sou.  The 
diazoamidcs  are  derivatives  of  the  hyimthetic.al  H.^N.NH.NH, 
or  IIN:N.NH2,  compounds  which  Curtius  speaks  of  as  the 
pro|)ane  and  propylene  of  the  nitrogen  series.  The  latter  com- 
plex was  at  one  time  thought  lo  exist  in  diazohippuramide  (Her., 

24,  3342.  This  has  since  been  shown  lo  be  hippurazide,  i.e.  a  de- 
rivative of  NjH,  Her.,  27,  779),  and  a  bi.acidyl  derivative  of  the 
former  type  has  also  been  oblained  {Ihid.,  3344).  Both  these 
types  await  isolation  if  they  are  capable  of  existence. 
I  may  add  that  several  attempts  to  convert  diazoamidcs 
into  dihydro-derivatives  by  mild  alkaline  reduction  have 
led  me  to  doubt  whether  this  nitrogen  chain  can  exist 
in  combination  with  hydrocarbim  radicles.  The  bisdia- 
zoamides  of  H.  v.  Pechmann  and  Frobenius  (Her..  27,  S()S)  are 
deiivatives  of  the  5-atom  chain  H.^N.NH.Ml.Nll.NI  l.j  or 
IIN  :  N.NII.N  :  NH,  a  type  which  hardly  .seems  likely  to  be  of 
sufiicient  stability  to  exist.  The  telrazones  of  Fmil  Fischer 
have  for  their  type  the  4-aloin  ch.ain  H5N.N:N.Nllj  or 
H.jN.NII.NH.NIlj,  of  which  the  free  existence  is  ecpially 
problematical,  although  a  derivative  containing  the  chain 
-N:N.NIi.NH-  has  been  obtained  by  Curlius  (/hid.,  26, 
1263).     Hydrazoic   acid    may   be   regarded   as   a   derivative  of 

NH 
triimidc,   HN;(    |     ,  but  this  type  appears  to  be  also  incapable 

^NH 
of  isolation  (Curtius,   /ier.,   26,  407).     The  hydrazidines  or  for- 
mazyls  of  I'inner  (/ier.,  17,  182)  and  of  II.  v.  I'echmann  (/hid., 

25,  3175),  have  fur  ihcir  parent  compound  the  hypnlhetical 
substance  HjN.N  :  CH.N  ;  Nl I.  In  188S  I.impiichi  described 
certain  azu-compounds  (ihid.,  21,  3422)  which,  if  possessing 
the  structure  assigned  by  th.at  author,  must  be  regarded  as 
derivatives  of  diamidoletrimide : 

HN-NH  IIjN.N-N 

II  I      II 

HN-NH  H,N.N-N 

Both  these  ly|x:s  arc  at  present  im.iginary  ;  whether  it  ispo.ssible 
for  cyclic  nitrogen  .sysleins  III  exist   we  have  no  means  i>f  know- 
ing—all  that  can  be  saiil  is  that  they  have  never  yet  been  (iblMined.     | 
It  is  pos-sible,  .a.s  I  poinled  out  in  1890  al   the  Leeds  meeting  of 


i 


September  12,  1895] 


NATURE 


481 


the  British  Association,  that  mixed  diazoamides  may  be  deriva- 
tives of  such  a  4-atom  ring. 

Any  chemist  who  has  followed  the  later  developments  of  the 
chemistry  of  nitrogen  could  supply  numerous  other  instances  of 
undiscovered  types.  A  chapter  on  the  unknown  compounds  of 
this  element  would  furnish  quite  an  exciting  addition  to  many 
of  those  books  which  are  turnetl  out  at  the  present  time  in  such 
profusion  to  meet  the  requirements  of  this  or  that  examining 
body.  I  have  selected  my  examples  from  these  compounds 
sim]>ly  because  I  can  claim  some  of  them  as  personal  acquaint- 
ances. It  would  be  easy  to  make  use  of  carbon  compounds  for 
the  same  purpose,  but  it  is  unnecessary  to  multiply  details.  It 
has  frequently  happened  in  the  history  of  science  that  a  well- 
considered  statement  of  the  shortcomings  of  a  theory  has  led  to 
its  much-desired  extension.  This  is  my  hope  in  venturing  to 
point  out  one  of  the  chief  deficiencies  in  the  structural  chemistry 
of  the  present  time.  I  am  afraid  that  I  have  handled  the  case 
badly,  but  I  am  bound  to  confess  that  I  am  influenced  by  the 
same  feelings  as  those  which  prevent  us  from  judging  an  old  and 
well-tried  friend  too  severely. 

The  theory  of  types  to  which  we  have  reverted  as  the  outcome 
of  the  study  of  molecular  structure  is  capable  of  almost  indefinite 
extension  if,  as  there  is  good  reason  for  doing,  we  replace  atoms 
or  groups  by  their  valency  analogues  in  the  way  of  other  atoms 
or  groups  of  atoms.  The  facts  that  in  cyclic  systems  X  can  re- 
place CH  (benzene  antl  pyridine),  that  O,  S,  an'l  Nil  are 
analogues  in  furfurane,  thiophene.  and  pyrrole,  are  among  the 
most  familiar  examples.  The  remarkable  iodo-  and  iodoso- 
com(X)unds  recently  discovered  by  X'ictor  Meyer  and  his  col- 
leagues are  the  first  known  instances  in  which  the  trivalent  atom 
of  iodine  has  been  shown  to  be  the  valency  analogue  of  nitrogen 
in  organic  combination.  Pushing  this  principle  to  the  extreme 
we  get  further  suggestions  for  new  groupings,  but,  as  before,  no 
certainly  of  prevision.  Thus,  if  nitrogen  formed  the  oxide  NoOj 
the  series  might  be  written  : 


N. 


N 


O    O 


N  :0 


O     or 


0 


/ 


N-O 


or  O 


N:  O 


^N-O 


N  :0 

& 
N:0 


&c. 


Of  course  these  formulae  are  more  or  less  conjectural,  being  based 
on  valency  only.  But  since  nitrous  oxide  is  the  analogue  of 
hydrazoic  acid,  they  hint  at  the  possibility  of  such  compoimds  as 

1 1  NY 


\ 


N' 


)NII,  &c.     If  a  student  produced  a  set  of  formuUe 


corresponding  to  the  above,  in  which  Nil  had  been  substituted 
for  f),  and  asked  whether  they  did  not  indicate  the  existence  of 
a  whole  series  of  unknown  hydrogen  compounds  of  nitrogen,  we 
should  probably  tell  him  that  his  notions  of  chemical  structure 
had  run  wild.  At  the  same  time  I  am  bound  to  admit  that  it 
would  be  very  difficull,  if  nw^t  impossible,  to  furnish  him  with 
satisfactory  reasons  for  believing  that  such  groupings  are 
improbable.     Compare  again  the  series  : 

0:C/        '(i)0:C/|       (2)  0:C<  -(3)  0:C<;  (4) 


-/ 


NIU 


^\H 


\nii„  ^nii 


/N  /NO, 

(6)    H.,C<-{7)    IUC<         (8) 
^N  \nO„ 

The  first  is  urea  ;  the  second,  third,  fourth,  fifth  (methylene 
diamine),  and  sixth  are  unknown  ;  the  seventh  is  the  remarkably 
interesting  diazomethane  discovered  last  year  by  II.  v.  Pech- 
mann  {Ber.y  27,  18SS).  The  last  comjiound,  dinitromethanc,  is 
known  in  the  form  of  its  salts,  but  appears  to  be  incapable  of 
existence  in  the  free  state.  There  is  nothing  expressed  or 
implied  in  the  existing  theory  of  chemical  structure  to  explain 
why  dinitromethanc  is  unstable  while  trinilromethanc  is  stable, 
ami  mono-  and  tetranitromethane  so  stable  as  to  admit  of  being 
distilled  without  decomposition.  Chemists  will  form  their  own 
views  as  to  the  possibility  or  impossibility  of  such  a  series  as 
this  being  completed.  Whether  there  would  be  a  concordance 
of  opinion  I  will  not  venture  to  say  ;  but  any  chemist  who  ex- 
pressed either  belief  or  disbelief  with  regard  to  any  special 
member  would,  I  imagine,  have  great  ditiiculty  in  giving  a 
scientific  reason  for  the  faith  which  is  in  him.  At  the  most,  he 
would  have  only  the  very  unsafe  guide  of  analogy  to  fall  back 
upi>n.  Perhaps  by  the  time  the  British  Association  holds  its 
next  meeting  at  Ipswich  it  will  have  become  possible  to  prove 
that  one  particular  configuration  of  certain  atoms  is  passible  and 

NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


another  configuration  impossible.  Then  will  have  been  achieved 
that  great  advance  for  which  we  are  waiting — the  reunion  of  the 
two  streams  into  which  our  science  began  to  diverge  shortly  after 
the  last  Ipswich  meeting. 

The  present  position  of  structural  chemistry  may  be  summed 
up  in  the  statement  that  we  have  gained  an  enormous  insight 
into  the  anatomy  of  molecules,  while  our  knowledge  of  their 
physiology  is  as  yet  in  a  rudimentary  condition.  In  the  course 
of  the  foregoing  remarks  I  have  endeavoured  to  indicate  the 
direction  in  which  our  theoretical  conceptions  are  most  urgently 
pressing  for  extension.  It  is,  perhaps,  as  yet  premature  to  pro- 
noimce  an  opinion  as  to  whether  the  next  development  is  to  be 
looked  for  from  the  stereochemical  side  ;  but  it  is  not  going  too 
far  to  express  once  again  the  hope  that  the  geometrical  repre- 
sentation of  valency  will  give  us  a  deeper  insight  into  the  con- 
ditions which  determine  the  stability  of  atomic  configurations. 
The  speculations  of  \.  v.  Baeyer,  Wislicenus,  \ictor  Meyer, 
Wunderlich,  Bischoff,  and  others  have  certainly  turned  the 
attention  of  chemists  towards  a  quarter  from  which  a  new  light 
may  eventually  dawn. 

The  Progress  of  Syntheticai,  Chemistry. 

If,  in  my  earnest  desire  to  see  the  foundations  of  structural 
chemistr)'  made  more  secure,  I  may  have  unwittingly  given  rise 
to  the  impression  that  I  am  depreciating  its  services  as  a  scientific 
weapon,  let  me  at  once  hasten  to  make  amends  by  directing 
attention  to  the  greatest  of  its  triumphs,  the  synthesis  of  natural 
products,  i.e.  of  compounds  which  are  known  to  be  produced 
by  the  vital  processes  of  animals  and  plants. 

Having  been  unable  to  find  any  recent  list  of  the  natural  com- 
pounds which  have  been  synthesised,  I  have  compiled  a  set  of 
tables  which  will,  I  hope,  see  the  light  at  no  ver>'  distant  period. 
According  to  this  census  we  have  now  realised  about  180  such 
syntheses.  The  products  of  bacteria  have  been  included  in  the 
list  because  these  compounds  are  the  results  of  vital  activity  in 
the  same  sense  that  alcohol  is  a  product  of  the  vital  activity  of 
the  yeast  plant.  On  the  other  hand  the  various  uro-compounds 
resulting  from  the  transformation  in  the  animal  economy  of 
definite  chemical  substances  administered  for  experimental  pur- 
poses have  been  excluded,  because  I  am  confining  my  attention 
to  natural  products.  Of  course  the  importance  of  tracing  the 
action  of  the  living  organism  on  compounds  of  known  constitu- 
tion from  the  physiological  point  of  view  cannot  be  overestimated. 
Such  experiments  will,  without  doubt,  in  time  shed  much  light 
on  the  working  of  the  vital  laboratory. 

The  history  of  chemical  synthesis  has  been  so  thoroughly  dealt 
with  from  time  to  time  that  I  should  not  have  ventured  to 
obtrude  any  further  notice  of  this  subject  ujion  your  patience 
were  it  not  for  a  certain  point  which  appeared  to  me  of  sufficient 
interest  to  merit  reconsideration.  It  is  generally  stated  that  the 
formation  of  urea  from  ammonium  cyanate  by  Wohler  in  1S2S 
was  the  first  synthesis  of  an  organic  compound.  There  can  be 
no  doidjt  that  this  discovery,  which  attracted  much  attention  at 
the  time,  gave  a  serious  blow  to  the  current  conceptions  of 
organic  chemistry,  because  urea  was  so  obviously  a  product  of 
the  living  animal.  It  will  be  found,  however,  that  about  the 
same  time  Henry  Hennell,  of  Apothecaries'  Hall,  had  really 
effected  the  synthesis  of  alcohol— that  is  to  say,  had  synthesised 
this  compoumi  in  the  same  sense  that  Wohler  had  synthesised 
urea.  The  history  is  soon  told.  In  1826  Hennell  (through 
Brande)  communicated  a  paper  to  the  Royal  Society  which 
appears  in  the  Philosophital  Tmnsaitions  for  that  year.'  In 
studying  the  compounds  produced  by  the  action  of  sulphuric  acid 
on  alcohol,  and  known  as  "  oil  of  wine,"'  he  obtained  sulpho- 
vinic  acid,  which  had  long  been  known,  and  gave  fairly  good 
analyses  of  this  acid  and  of  some  of  its  salts,  while  expressing  in 
the  same  paper  very  clear  notions  as  to  its  chemical  nature. 
Having  satisfied  himself  that  sulphovinic  acid  is  a  product  of  the 
action  in  question,  he  then  proceeded  to  examine  some  sulphuric 
acid  which  had  absorbed  eighty  times  its  volume  of  defiant  gas, 
and  which  had  been  placed  at  his  disposal  for  this  purpose  by 
Michael  1-araday.  Krom  this  he  also  isolated  sulphovinic  acid. 
In  another  paper,  communicated  to  the  Royal  Society  in  1828,- 
he  proves  quantitatively  that  when  sulphovinic  acid  is  distilled 
with  sulphtiric  acid  and  water  the  whole  of  the  alcohol  and  sul- 

1  "On  the  Mutual  Action  of  Sulphuric  Acid  and  Alcoliol,  with  Observa- 
tions on  the  Composition  and  Properties  of  the  resulting  compound,"  FhiL 
Trans..  1826,  p   240. 

2  "  On  the  Mutual  .\ction  of  Sulphuric  .\cid  and  Alcohol,  and  on  the 
Nature  of  the  I*roccss  by  which  Ether  is  formed,"  Phil.  Trans.  ^  1828, 
P-  3^5- 


48: 


jVA  TURE 


[September  i  2,  189; 


phuric  acid  which  united  to  form  the  siilphovinic  acid  are  re- 
covered. In  the  same  (xjper  he  shows  that  he  had  verj'  clear 
views  as  to  the  process  of  etherification.  Hennell's  work 
appears  to  have  been  somewhat  dimmed  by  (he  brilliancy  of  his 
contemporaries  who  were  labouring  in  the  same  field  :  but  it  is 
not  tix)  much  to  claim  for  him.  after  the  lapse  of  nearly  seventy 
years,  the  position  of  one  of  the  pioneers  of  chemical  synthesis. 
Of  course  in  his  time  the  synthesis  was  not  complete,  because  he 
did  not  start  from  inonpjnic  materials.  The  olefiant  gas  used  by 
Farailay  had  been  obtaine<l  from  coal-gas  or  oil-gas.  Moreover, 
in  1S26-1S2S  alcohol  was  not  generally  regarded  as  a  product  of 
vital  activity,  and  this  is,  no  doubt,  the  reason  why  the  discovery 
failed  to  produce  the  same  excitement  as  the  formation  of  urea. 
But  the  synthesis  of  alcohol  from  ethylene  had,  nevertheless, 
been  accomplished,  and  this  hydrocarbon  occupied  at  that  time 
precisely  the  same  position  as  ammonium  cyanate.  The  latter 
salt  had  not  then  been  synthesised  from  inorganic  materials,  and 
the  form-iiion  of  urea,  as  Schorlemmer  points  out  ("The  Rise 
and  Development  of  Organic  Chemistry,"  p.  195),  w.^s  also  not 
a  complete  synthesis.  The  reputation  of  Wiihler,  the  illustrious 
friend  and  colleague  of  the  more  illustrious  Liebig,  will  lose  not 
a  fraction  of  its  brilliancy  by  the  raising  of  this  historical  question. 
Science  recognises  no  distinction  of  nationality,  and  the  future 
historian  of  s)-nthetical  chemistry  will  not  begrudge  the  small 
niche  in  the  temple  of  fame  to  which  Hennell  is  entitled. 

Like  many  other  great  discoveries  in  science,  the  artificial  for- 
mation of  natural  products  began,  as  in  the  case  of  alcohol  and 
urea,  with  observations  arising  from  experiments  not  primarily 
directed  to  this  end.  It  was  not  till  the  theory  of  chemical 
structure  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  a  scientific  guide  that  the  more 
complicated  syntheses  were  rendered  possible  by  more  exact 
methods.  We  justly  credit  structural  chemistry  with  these 
triumphant  achievements.  In  arriving  at  such  results  any  defects 
in  the  theory  of  structure  are  put  out  of  consideration  because — 
and  this  point  must  never  be  lost  sight  of — all  doubt  as  to  the 
possibility  of  this  or  that  atomic  grouping  Iwing  stable  is  set 
aside  at  the  outset  by  the  actual  occurrence  of  the  compound  in 
nature.  The  investigator  starts  with  the  best  of  all  assurances. 
From  the  time  of  Wohler  and  Hennell  the  course  of  <liscovery  in 
this  field  has  gone  steadily  on.  The  announcement  of  a  new 
synthesis  h.-is  ceased  to  produce  that  excitement  which  it  did  in 
the  early  days  when  the  so-called  "  organic  "  compounds  were 
regarded  as  products  of  a  special  vital  force.  The  interest  among 
the  uninitiated  now  rises  in  proportion  to  the  technical  value  of 
the  compound.  The  present  list  of  180  odd  synthetical  products 
comprises,  among  the  latest  discoveries,  gentisin,  the  colouring- 
matter  of  the  gentian  root  (Gentiaita  liiica),  which  has  been 
prepared  by  Kostanecki  and  Tambor,  and  caffeine,  synthesised 
by  Emil  Fischer  and  Ltirenz  .\ch,  starting  from  diniethylurea 
and  malonic  acid. 

I  have  allowed  myself  no  lime  for  those  prophetic  flights  of 
the  inuigination  which  writers  on  this  subject  generally  indulge 
in.  When  we  know  more  about  the  structure  of  highly  cimiplex 
molecules,  such  as  starch  and  albumin,  we  shall  |)robal)ly  be  able 
to  synthesise  these  compounds.  It  seems  to  me  more  important 
just  at  present  to  come  to  an  understanding  as  to  whiit  is  meant 
by  an  organic  s)'nthesis.  There  appears  to  \x  an  impression 
among  many  chemists  that  a  synthesis  is  only  effected  when  a 
com|>iund  is  built  up  from  simpler  molecules.  If  the  sin)])ler 
molecules  can  l)C  forme<l  directly  from  their  elements,  then  the 
synthesis  is  considered  to  lie  complete.  Thus  urea  is  a  complete 
synthetical  product,  because  we  can  make  hydrogen  cyanide 
from  its  elements  ;  from  this  we  can  prepare  a  cyanate,  and 
finally  urea.  In  dictionaries  and  text-books  we  find  synthetical 
processes  generally  separatefl  from  mwles  of  formation,  and  the 
latter  in  their  turn  kept  distinct  from  methods  of  preparation. 
The  distinction  t)etween  formation  and  preparation  is  obviously 
a  goo<l  one,  Ijccause  the  latter  has  a  pr.iclical  significance  for  the 
investigator.  But  the  cx[>cricnce  giiined  in  drawing  up  the  tables 
of  synthesised  com|xiun<l5,  to  which  I  have  referred,  has  resulted 
in  the  conclusion  that  the  terms  "synthesis"  and  "mode  of 
formation  "  h.ave  Iwen  either  unnecessarily  confused  or  kept  dis- 
tinct without  sufficient  reason,  and  that  it  is  impossible  now  to 
draw  a  hardan'l-fast  line  between  them.  Some  recent  writers, 
.^uch,  for  example,  as  l)r.  Karl  KIbs,  in  his  .idmirable  work  on 
this  subject  ("  Uic  synthetischen  Darslcllungsmethoden  der 
Kohlcnstoffverbindungen,"  Leipzig,  18S9),  have  expanded  the 
meaning  of  the  word  synthesis  so  as  to  comprise  generally  the 
building  up  of  organic  molecules  by  the  combination  of  carlM»n 
with  carUjn,  without  reference  to  the  circumstance  whether  the 

NO.    1350,  VOL.  52] 


compound  occurs  as  a  natural  product  or  not.  But  although 
this  definition  is  sufficiently  wide  to  cover  the  whole  field  of  the 
production  of  carbon  compounds  from  less  complex  molecules, 
It  is  in  some  respects  too  restricted,  because  it  excludes  such 
well-known  cases  as  the  formation  of  hydrogen  cyaniile  from  its 
elements,  or  of  urea  from  ammonium  cyanate.  I  should  not 
consider  the  discussion  of  a  mere  question  of  terminology  of 
sufficient  importance  to  occupy  the  attention  of  this  Section  were 
it  not  for  a  matter  of  principle,  and  that  a  principle  of  the  very 
greatest  importance,  which  I  believe  to  be  associated  with  a  clear 
conception  of  chemical  synthesis.  The  great  interest  of  all  work 
in  this  field  arises  from  our  being  able,  by  laboratory  processes, 
to  obtain  compounds  which  are  also  manufactured  in  nature '^ 
laboratory — the  living  organism.  It  is  in  (his  direction  that  our 
science  encroaches  upon  biology  through  ])hysiology.  Now,  if  wt- 
confine  the  notion  of  synthesis  to  the  building  up  of  molecules 
from  simpler  molecules  or  from  atoms,  we  exclude  one  of  nature  ^ 
methods  of  producing  many  of  these  very  compounds  which  de- 
claim to  have  synthesised.  There  can  be  no  manner  of  doubt  thu! 
a  large  proportion,  if  not  a  majority,  of  the  natural  products 
which  have  been  prepared  artificially  are  not  synthesised  by  the 
animal  or  plant  in  the  sense  of  building  up  at  all.  They  are 
the  results  of  the  breaking  down — of  the  degradation — of  com- 
plex molecules  into  simjjler  ones.  I  urge,  therefore,  that  if  in 
the  laboratory  we  can  arrive  at  one  of  these  products  by  decom- 
posing a  more  comjilex  molecule  by  means  of  suitable  reagents, 
we  have  a  perfect  right  to  call  this  a  synthesis,  provided  always 
that  the  more  comjilex  molecide,  which  gives  us  our  com]Hmnd, 
can  be  in  its  turn  synthesised,  by  no  matter  how  many  steps, 
from  its  constituent  atoms.  Thus  oxalic  acid  has  been  directly 
synthesised  from  carbon  dioxide  by  Kolbe  ami  Drechsel  by 
passing  this  gas  over  potas,sium  or  sodium  amalgam  healed  to 
360°.  Whether  the  plant  makes  oxalic  acid  directly  out  of 
carbon  dioxide  we  cannot  at  present  state  ;  if  it  does  it  certainly 
does  not  employ  Kolbe  and  Drechsel's  jirocess.  On  the  other 
hand  this  acid  may,  for  all  that  is  known,  exist  in  the  plant  as 
a  product  of  degradation.  Many  more  complex  acids,  such  as 
citric  and  tartaric,  break  down  into  oxalic  acid  when  fuse<l 
with  potash.  Both  citric  and  tartaric  acids  can  now  be  com- 
pletely synthesised  ;  therefore  the  formation  of  oxalic  acid  from 
these  by  potash  fusion  is  a  true  synthesis. 

The  illustration  given  will  make  clear  the  point  which  I  am 
urging.  The  distinction  between  a  synthesis  and  a  m<Kle  of 
formation  vanishes  when  we  can  obtain  a  comimund  by  the 
breaking  down  of  a  more  coniplex  molecule  in  all  those  cases 
where  the  latter  can  be  completely  built  up.  If  we  do  not  ex- 
pand the  meaning  of  synthesis  so  as  to  comprise  such  cases  we 
are  simply  shutting  the  door  in  nature's  face.  It  must  be  liorne 
in  mind  that  the  actual  yield  of  the  compound  furnislied  by  the 
laboratory  process  does  not  come  into  consideration,  because  it 
may  be  generally  asserted  that  in  most  cases  the  artifical  |iro- 
cesses  are  not  the  same  as  those  which  go  on  in  the  animal  or 
plant.  The  information  of  real  value  to  the  physiologist  which 
these  syntheses  give  is  the  suggestion  that  such  or  such  a  com- 
pound may  possibly  result  from  the  degradation  of  lliis  or  that 
antecedent  compound,  and  not  from  a  process  of  buikling  up 
from  simpler  molecules. 

The  Bkarim:  oi'  Chkmicai,  Svmiiksis  on  Vitai. 

ClIKMIStRV. 

With  these  views — the  outcome  of  structural  clieniistiy — 
the  chemist  and  physiologist  may  join  hands  and  nu)ve  fearlessly 
onwards  towards  the  great  n>yslery  of  vital  chemistry.  In  con- 
sidering the  results  of  organic  synthesis  two  <|ueslions  always 
arise  as  it  were  spontaneously  :  I  low  does  nature  produce  these 
complicated  molecules  withtail  the  use  of  strtmg  reagents  and  at 
ordinary  temperatures?  What  bearing  have  our  laboratory 
achievements  on  the  mechanism  of  vitality?  The  light  shed 
upon  these  questions  by  experimental  investigation  has  as  yet 
flickered  only  in  fitful  gleams.  We  are  but  dwellers  in  the  outer 
gates,  wailing  for  the  guide  who  is  to  show  us  the  bearing  of 
modern  research  on  the  great  ]irt)blem  which  confronts  alike  the 
physicist,  the  chemist,  and  the  biologist.  The  chemical  pro- 
cesses that  go  on  in  the  living  organism  are  complex  to  an  extent 
that  is  diflicull  to  realise,  (if  (he  various  compounds  of  animal 
or  vegetable  origin  that  have  been  produced  synthetically  some 
are  of  (he  nature  of  waste  products,  resulting  from  metabolic 
degriid.ition  ;  others  are  the  result  of  zymolytic  action  within  the 
organism  ;  aiul  others,  again,  areseconilary  products  arising  from 
the  action  of  associated  bacteria,  the  relationship  between  the  bac- 


September  12,  1895] 


NATURE 


483 


teria  and  their  host  being  as  yet  imperfectly  understood.  The 
answer  to  the  question  how  nature  i')roduccs  complicated  organic 
molecules  will  be  much  facilitated  when  the  physiologist,  by 
experiment  and  observation,  shall  have  made  possible  a  sound 
classification  of  these  synthetical  products  based  on  their  mode  of 
origination  in  the  organism. 

The  enlargement  of  the  definition  of  organic  synthesis  which  I 
have  advocated  has  been  rendered  necessary  by  the  considera- 
tion of  certain  questions  which  have  arisen  in  connection  with 
the  present  condition  of  chemical  discovery  in  this  field.  What 
evidence  is  there  that  any  one  of  the  i8o  compounds  which  have 
been  prepared  artificially  is  produced  in  the  organism  by  a  direct 
process  of  building  up?  Is  not  the  opposite  view  quite  as  prob- 
able ?  May  they  not,  from  the  simplest  to  the  most  complex,  be 
products  of  the  degradation  of  still  more  complex  molecules  ?  I 
venture  tosuggest — not  with(nit  some  temerity  lest  our  colleagues 
of  Sections  I  and  K  should  treat  me  as  an  intruder — that  this 
view  should  be  given  a  fair  trial.  I  am  aware  that  the  opposite 
view,  especially  as  regards  plant  assimilation,  has  long  been  held, 
and  especially  since  1870,  when  v.  Bacycr  advanced  his  cele- 
brated theory  of  the  formic  aldehyde  origin  of  carbohydrates.  It 
is  but  natural  to  consider  that  the  formation  of  a  complex  mole- 
cule is  the  result  of  a  building-up  process.  It  must  be 
remembered,  however,  that  in  the  living  organism  there  is 
always  present  a  compound  or  mixture,  or  whatever  we  like  to 
call  it,  of  a  highly  complex  proteid  nature,  which,  although  at 
present  indefinite  from  the  purely  chemical  point  of  view,  is  the 
essence  of  the  vitality.  Of  course  I  refer  to  what  biologists  have 
called  proto]>lasni.  Moreover,  it  is  perhaps  neces.sary  to  state 
what  is  really  nothing  more  than  a  truism,  viz.  that  protoplasm 
is  present  in  and  forms  a  part  of  the  organism  from  the  verj' 
beginning  of  its  existence — from  the  germ  to  the  adult,  and  on- 
wards to  the  end  of  life.  Any  special  chemical  properties  per- 
taining to  protoplasm  are  inseparable  from  the  animal  or  plant 
until  that  period  arrives  which  Kekule  has  hinted  at  when  we 
shall  be  able  to  *'  build  up  the  formative  elements  of  living 
organisms  "  in  the  laboratory  (Nature,  vol.  xviii.  p.  212).  But 
here  I  am  afraid  I  am  allowing  the  imagination  to  take  a  flight 
which  I  told  you  a  few  minutes  ago  that  time  would  not  admit  of 
The  view  that  requires  pushing  forward  into  a  more  prominent 
position  than  it  has  hitherto  occupied  is  that  all  the  chemical 
transformations  in  the  organism — at  any  rate  all  the  primary 
changes — are  made  possible  only  by  the  antecedent  combination 
of  the  substances  concerned  with  living  protoplasmic  materials. 
The  carbon  dioxide,  water,  i.\:c. ,  which  the  plant  absorbs  must 
have  formed  a  compound  or  compounds  with  the  protoplasmic 
material  of  the  chloroplasts  before  starch,  or  sugar,  or  cellulose 
can  be  prepared.  There  is,  on  this  view,  no  such  process  as  the 
direct  combination  of  dead  molecules  to  build  up  a  complex  sub- 
stance. Everything  must  pass  through  the  vital  mill.  The 
fl  protoplasmic  molecule  is  vastly  more  ciimpiex  than  any  of  the 
I  compounds  which  we  have  hitherto  succeeded  in  synthesising.  It 
I  might  take  up  and  form  new  and  unstable  compounds  with  car- 
bon dioxide  or  formic  aldehyde,  or  sugar,  or  anything  else,  and 
our  present  methods  of  investigation  would  fail  to  reveal  the 
process.  If  this  previous  combination  and,  so  to  speak,  vitalisa- 
tion  of  dead  matter  actually  occurs,  the  appearance  of  starch  as 
the  first  visible  product  of  assimilation,  as  taught  by  Sachs,  or 
ilie  formation  of  a  12-carbon-atom  sugar  as  the  first  carbo- 
hydrate, as  shown  by  the  recent  researches  of  Horace  Brown  and 
I..  II.  Morris,  is  no  longer  matter  for  wonderment.  The 
rliemical  ecjuations  given  in  physiological  works  are  too  purely 
rlicmical  ;  the  physiologists  have,  I  am  afraid,  credited  the 
I  hemists  with  too  nmch  knowledge — it  would  appear  as  though 
iheir  intimate  familiarity  with  vital  proces.ses  had  led  them  to 
undervalue  the  importance  of  their  prime  agent.  In  giving 
i\pression  to  these  thoughts  I  cannt)t  but  feel  that  I  am  treating 
you  to  the  strange  spectacle  of  a  chemist  plea<ling  from  the 
l^hysiologists  for  a  little  more  vitality  in  the  chemical  functions 
nf  living  organisms.  The  future  development  of  vital  chemistry 
rests,  however,  with  the  chemist  and  physiologists  conjointly  ; 
ihe  isolation,  identification,  and  analysis  of  the  products  of  vital 
Htivity,  which  has  hitherto  been  the  task  of  the  chemist,  is  only 
'  he  preliminary  work  of  physiological  chemistry  leading  up  to 
'  hemical  physiolog)'. 

Protoi'i.as.mic  Theory  ov  \;ital  Synthesis. 

The  supposition  that  chemical  synthesis  in  the  organism  is 
the  result  of  the  combination  of  highly  complex  molecules  with 
simpler  molecules,  and  that  the  unstable  compounds  thus  formed 

NO.   1350,  VOL.   52] 


I 


then  undergo  decomposition  with  the  formation  of  new  products, 
may  be  provisionally  called  the  protoplasmic  theor>'  of  vital 
synthesis.  Erom  this  standpoint  many  of  the  prevailing 
doctrines  will  have  to  be  inverted,  and  the  formation  of  the  more 
complex  molecules  will  be  considered  to  precede  the  synthesis  of 
the  less  complex.  It  may  be  urged  that  this  view  simply  throws 
1>ack  the  process  of  vital  synthesis  one  stage  and  leaves  the 
question  of  the  origin  of  the  most  complex  molecules  still  unex- 
plained. I  grant  this  at  once  ;  but  in  doing  so  I  am  simply 
acknowledging  that  we  have  not  yet  solved  the  enigma  of  life. 
We  are  in  precisely  the  same  position  as  is  the  biologist  with 
respect  to  abiogenesis,  or  the  so-called  "  spontaneous  genera- 
tion." To  avoid  possible  misconception  let  me  here  state  that 
the  protoplasmic  theory  in  no  way  necessitates  the  assumption 
of  a  special  "  \Ttal  force."  All  that  is  claimed  is  a  peculiar,  and 
at  present  to  us  mysterious,  power  of  forming  high-grade  chemical 
combinations  with  appropriate  molecules.  It  is  not  altogether 
absurd  to  suppose  that  this  power  is  a  special  property  of  nitrogen 
in  certain  forms  of  combination.  The  theorj^  is  but  an  extension 
of  the  views  of  Kiihne,  Hoppe-Seyler,  and  others  respecting 
the  mode  of  action  of  enzymes.  Neither  is  the  view  of  the 
degradational  origin  of  synthetical  products  in  any  svay  new.'  I 
merely  have  thought  it  desirable  to  push  it  to  its  extreme  limit 
in  order  that  chemists  may  realise  that  there  is  a  special 
chemistry  of  protoplasmic  action,  while  the  physiologists  may 
exercise  more  caution  in  representing  vital  chemical  transform- 
ations by  equations  which  are  in  many  cases  purely  hypothetical, 
or  based  on  laboratorj-  experiments  which  do  not  run  parallel 
with  the  natural  process.  The  chemical  transformations  which 
go  on  in  the  living  organism  are  thus  referred  back  to  a  pecu- 
liarity of  protoplasmic  matter,  the  explanation  of  which  is 
bound  up  with  the  inner  mechanism  of  the  process  of  assimila- 
tion. If,  as  the  protoplasmic  theorj'  implies,  there  must  be 
combination  of  living  protoplasm  with  appropriate  compounds 
before  synthesis  is  possible,  then  the  problem  resolves  itself  into 
a  determination  of  the  conditions  which  render  such  combination 
possible — i.e.  the  conditions  of  assimilation.  It  may  be  that 
here  also  light  will  come  from  the  stereochemical  hypothesis. 
The  first  step  was  taken  when  Pasteur  found  that  organised  fer- 
ments had  the  power  of  discriminating  between  physical 
isomerides  ;  a  similar  selective  power  has  been  shown  to  reside 
in  enzymes  by  the  researches  of  Emil  Fischer  and  his  coadjutors. 
Fischer  has  (juite  recently  expressed  the  view  that  the  synthesis 
of  sugars  in  the  plant  is  preceded  by  the  formation  of  a  com- 
pound of  carbon  dioxide,  or  of  formic  aldehyde,  with  the  proto- 
plasmic material  of  the  chloroplast,  and  similar  views  have  been 
enunciated  by  Stohmann.  The  question  has  further  been  raised 
by  van  't  Hoff,  as  well  as  by  Fischer,  whether  a  stereochemical 
relationship  between  the  living  and  dead  compounds  entering 
into  combination  is  not  an  absolutely  essential  condition  of  all 
assimilation.  The  settlement  of  this  question  cannot  but  lead  us 
onwards  one  stage  towards  the  solution  of  the  mystery  that 
still  surrounds  the  chemistry  of  the  living  organism. 

Recent  Discoveries  of  Gaseous  Elements. 

The  past  year  has  been  such  an  eventful  one  in  the  way  of 
startling  discoveries  that  I  must  ask  indulgence  for  trespassing  a 
little  further  upon  the  time  of  the  Section.  It  was  only  last 
year  at  the  Oxford  meeting  of  the  British  .Association  that  Lord 
Rayleigh  and  Prof.  Ramsay  announced  the  discovery  of  a  gaseous 
constituent  of  the  atmosphere  which  had  up  to  that  time  escaped 
detection.  The  complete  justification  of  that  announcement  is 
now  before  the  world  in  the  paper  recently  published  in  the 
Philosophical  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society.  The  history 
of  this  brilliant  piece  of  work  is  too  recent  to  require  much  re- 
capitulation. I  need  only  remind  you  how,  as  the  result  of  many 
years'  patient  determinations  of  the  density  of  the  gases  oxygen 
and  nitrogen.  Lord  Rayleigh  established  the  fact  that  atmo- 
spheric nitrogen  was  heavier  than  nitrogen  Irom  chemical  sources, 
and  was  then  led  to  suspect  the  existence  of  a  heavier  gas  in  the 
atmosphere.  He  set  to  work  to  isolate  this  substance,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  so  by  the  method  of  Cavendish.  In  the  mean- 
time Prof.  R.amsay,  quite  independently,  isolated  the  gas  by  re- 
moving the  nitrogen  by  means  of  red-hot  magnesium,  and  the 

J  See,  e.g.^  Vines'  '*  Lectures  on  the  Physiology  of  Plants,"  pp.  145, 
218,  227,  233.  and  234.  Practically  all  the  Rrcat  classes  of  synthetical  pro- 
ducts are  regarded  as  the  results  of  the  destructive  metatralism  of  proloplxsm. 
A  special  plea  for  protoplasmic  action  has  also  been  urged,  from  the  biological 
side,  by  W.  T.  Thiselton-Dyer,  Journ.  Clicm.  Soc,  1893 ;  Trans. '  pp. 
680-681 


4S4 


NATURE 


[September  12,  1S95 


two  investigators  then  combining  their  labours,  followed  up  the 
subject,  and  have  given  us  a  iDemoir  which  will  go  down  to 
I«sterily  among  the  greatest  achievements  of  an  age  renowned 
for  its  scientific  actiWty. 

The  case  in  favour  of  argon  being  an  element  seems  to  be  now 
settled  by  the  discover)'  that  the  molecule  of  the  gas  is  mon- 
atomic,  as  well  as  by  the  distinctness  of  its  electric  spark 
sp--ctrum.  The  suggestion  put  forward  soon  after  the  discovery 
was  announced,  that  the  gas  was  an  oxide  of  nitrogen,  must 
have  been  made  in  complete  ignorance  of  the  methods  by  which 
it  was  prepared.  The  possibility  of  its  being  Nj  has  been  con- 
sidered by  the  discoverers  and  rejected  on  very  good  grounds. 
Moreover,  Peratoner  and  Oddo  have  been  recently  making  some 
experiments  in  the  laborator)'  of  the  University  of  Palermo  with 
the  object  of  examining  the  products  of  the  electrolysis  of 
hydrazoic  acid  and  its  .salts.  They  obtained  only  ordinary 
nitrogen,  not  argon,  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
anhydride  N3.X3  is  incapable  of  existence,  and  that  no  allotropic 
form  of  nitrogen  is  given  off.  It  has  been  urged  that  the 
physical  evidence  in  support  of  the  monatomic  nature  of  the 
argon  molecule,  viz.  the  ratio  of  the  specific  heats,  is  capable  of 
another  interpretation — that  argon  is  in  fact  an  element  of  such 
extraordinar)'  energy  that  its  atoms  cannot  be  separated,  but  are 
b<3und  together  as  a  rigid  system  which  transmits  the  vibrational 
energy  of  a  •^und-wave  as  motion  of  translation  only.  If  this 
b:  the  state  of  aflTairs  we  must  look  to  the  physici.^ts  for  more 
light.  So  far  as  chemistry  is  concerned,  this  conception  intro- 
duces an  entirely  new  set  of  ideas,  and  rai.ses  the  question  of  the 
monatomic  character  of  the  mercury  molecule  which  is  in  the 
same  category  with  respect  to  the  physical  evidence.  It  seems 
unreasonable  to  invoke  a  special  power  of  atomic  linkage  to  ex- 
plain the  monatomic  character  of  argon,  and  to  refuse  such  a 
power  in  the  case  of  other  monatomic  molecules,  like  mercury  or 
cadmium  The  chemical  inertne.ss  of  argon  has  been  referred 
also  to  this  same  power  of  self-combmation  of  its  atoms.  If  this 
explanation  be  adopted  it  carries  with  it  the  admission  that  thosie 
elements  of  which  the  atoms  composing  the  molecule  arc  the 
more  easily  dissociated  should  be  the  more  chemically  active. 
The  reverse  appears  to  be  the  case  if  we  bear  in  mind  X'ictor 
Meyer's  researches  on  the  di.ssociation  of  the  halogens,  which 
prove  that  under  the  influence  of  heat  the  least  active  element, 
iodine,  is  the  most  easily  dissociated.  On  the  whole,  the 
attempts  to  make  out  that  argon  is  polyatomic  by  such  forced 
hypotheses  cannot  at  present  be  considered  to  have  been  suc- 
cessful, and  the  contention  of  the  discoverers  that  its  molecule  is 
monatomic  must  be  accepted  as  established. 

In  .searching  for  a  natural  source  of  combined  argon  Prof 
Ramsay  was  led  to  examine  the  ga.ses  contained  in  certain 
uranium  and  other  minerals,  and  by  steps  which  are  now  well 
known  he  has  been  able  to  isolate  helium,  a  gas  which  was  dis- 
covered by  means  of  the  spectroscope  in  the  solar  chromospliere 
iluring  the  eclipse  of  1868  by  Profs.  Norman  Lockyer  and  E. 
Krankland.  In  his  address  to  the  British  As.sociation  in  1872 
{A'eporls,  1S72,  p.  Ixxiv.)  the  late  Dr.  \V.  B.  Carpenter  said  :  — 

"  But  when  Krankland  and  Lockyer,  seeing  in  the  spectrum 
of  the  yellow  solar  prominences  a  certain  bright  line  not  identi- 
fiable with  that  of  any  known  terrestrial  flame,  attrituile  this  to 
a  hypothetical  new  substance  which  they  propose  to  call  helium, 
it  is  obvious  Ih-it  their  assumption  rests  on  a  far  less  secure 
foundation,  until  it  shall  have  received  that  verification  which, 
in  the  ca.sc  of  Mr  Crofikes'  researches  on  thallium,  was  afforded 
by  the  actual  discover)-  of  the  new  metal,  whose  presence  had 
l>een  indicated  to  him  by  a  line  in  the  spectrum  not  attributable 
to  any  sul>stance  then  known." 

It  must  be  as  gratifying  to  Profs.  Lockyer  and  Krankland  as 
it  is  to  the  chemical  world  at  large  to  know  th.it  helium  may  now 
l>c  removed  from  the  category  of  solar  myths  and  enrolled  among 
the  elements  of  terrestrial  matter.  The  sources,  mode  of  i.sola- 
lion,  and  properties  of  this  gas  have  l>een  descrll>e<l  in  the 
(lapcrs  recently  puVilished  by  Prof.  Ramsay  and  his  colleagues. 
Not  the  least  interesting  fact  is  the  r>ccurrence  of  helium  and 
argon  in  meteoric  iron  from  Virginia,  as  announced  by  I'rof. 
Ramsay  in  July  {Nature,  vol.  lii.  p.  324).  Like  argon, 
helium  is  monatomic  and  chemically  inert  so  far  as  the  present 
evidence  goes.  The  conditions  under  which  this  element 
exists  in  clcvcite,  uraninite,  and  the  other  minerals  have  yet  to 
lie  fictermincd. 

Taking  a  general  survey  of  the  results  thus  far  obtained,  it 
seems  that  two  representatives  of  a  new  group  of  monatomic 
elements  characterised  Ijy  chemical  inertness  have  been  brought 


NO.    1350,  VOL.  52] 


to  light.  Their  inertness  obviously  interposes  great  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  their  further  study  from  the  chemical  side  ;  the 
future  development  of  our  knowledge  of  these  elements  may  be 
looked  for  from  the  physicist  and  spectroscopist.  Prof.  Ramsay 
has  not  yet  succeeded  in  effecting  a  combination  between  argon 
or  helium  and  any  of  the  other  chemical  elements.  M.  Moissan 
finds  that  fluorine  is  without  action  on  argon.  M.  Berthelot 
claims  to  have  brought  about  a  combination  of  argon  with 
carbon  disulphiiie  and  mercury,  and  with  *'  the  elements  of  ben- 
zene, .  .  .  with  the  help  of  mercury,"  under  the  influence  of 
the  silent  electric  discharge.  Some  experiments  which  I  made 
last  spring  with  Mr.  R.  J.  Strutt  with  argon  and  moist  acetylene 
submitted  to  the  electric  discharge,  both  silent  and  disruptive, 
gave  very  little  hope  of  a  combination  Iwtween  argon  and  carbon 
being  possible  by  this  means.  The  coincidence  of  the  helium 
yellow  line  with  the  Dj  line  of  the  solar  chromosphere  has  been 
challenged,  but  the  recent  accurate  measurements  of  the  wave- 
length of  the  chromospheric  line  by  Prof.  (i.  E.  Hale,  and  of 
the  line  of  terrestrial  helium  by  Mr.  Crookes,  leave  no  doubt  as 
to  their  identity.  Both  the  solar  and  terrestrial  lines  have 
now  been  shown  to  be  double.  The  isolation  of  helium  has  not 
only  furnished  another  link  proving  community  of  matter,  and, 
by  inference,  of  origin  between  the  earth  and  sun,  but  an  exten- 
sion of  the  work  by  Prof  Norman  Lockyer,  M.  Deslandres,  and 
Mr.  Crookes,  has  resulted  in  the  most  interesting  discovery  that 
a  large  number  of  the  lines  in  the  chromospheric  spectrum,  as 
well  as  in  certain  stellar  siiectra,  which  had  up  to  the  present 
time  found  no  counterparts  in  the  spectra  of  terrestrial  elements, 
can  now  be  accounted  for  by  the  spectra  of  gases  contained  with 
helium  in  these  rare  minerals.  The  question  now  confronts  us, 
.■\re  these  gases  members  of  the  .same  monatomic  inert  group  as 
argon  and  helium  ?  Whether,  and  by  what  mechanism,  a 
monatomic  gas  can  give  a  complicateti  spectrum  is  a  jihysical 
question  of  supreme  interest  to  chemists,  and  I  ho(W  that  a  dis- 
cussion of  this  subject  with  our  colleagues  of  Section  A  will  be 
held  during  the  present  meeting.  That  mercury  is  capable 
under  different  conditions  of  giving  a  series  of  highly  complex 
spectra  can  be  seen  from  the  memoir  by  J.  M.  Eder  and  K. 
\'alenta,  presented  to  the  Imperial  .'\cademy  of  Sciences  of 
\'ienna  in  July  1894.  With  respect  to  the  position  of  argon  and 
helium  in  the  ]wriodic  system  of  chemical  elements,  it  is,  as 
Prof.  I\ams.ay  points  out,  premature  to  speculate  until  we  are 
quite  sure  that  these  gases  are  homogeneous.  It  is  possible  that 
they  may  be  mixtures  of  monatomic  g-ases,  and  in  fact  the  spec- 
troscope has  already  given  an  indication  that  they  contain  some 
constituent  in  common.  The  question  whether  these  gases  are 
mixtures  or  not  presses  for  an  immediate  answer.  I  will  venture 
to  suggest  that  an  attack  should  be  made  by  the  method  of  dif- 
fusion. If  argon  or  helium  were  allowed  to  ditVuse  fractionally 
through  a  long  porous  plug  into  an  exhausted  vessel  there  might 
be  some  separation  into  gases  of  difl'erent  densities,  and  showing 
modifications  in  their  spectra,  on  the  assumption  that  we  arc 
dealing  with  mixtures  composed  of  molecules  of  different 
weights. 


NOTES. 

The  Times  of  Tuesday  List  contained  a  letter,  signed  by  Profs. 
M.  Koster,  E.  Ray  Lankester,  and  G.  B.  Howes  (lion.  Secre- 
taries to  the  Provisional  Committee),  with  reference  to  the 
General  Committee  now  being  formed  for  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  memorial  of  the  late  Prof  Huxley.  The  letter 
states  that  1 1.  R.I  I.  the  Prince  of  Wales  has  been  pleased  to 
become  the  Honorary  President  of  the  Committee.  No  very 
active  steps  can  be  taken  until  after  the  autumn  recess,  when 
the  General  Committee  will  hold  its  first  meeting,  probably  in 
October.  The  Honorary  Secretaries  will  after  that  rep<irt  the 
progress  that  has  been  made  both  in  this  country  and  abro,id, 
and  a  list  of  the  complete  Committee  and  a  statement  of  the 
subscriptions  received  will  be  published.  Appended  to  the 
letter  is  a  list  of  an  enormous  number  of  names  of  persons  who 
have  already  signified  their  desire  to  serve  on  the  Committee. 

A  MKMORiAi.  tablet  in  lumour  of  Prof.  Helnihollz  has  been 
aflixed  to  the  house,  No.  8  Ila<litzstrassc,  at  Potsdam,  where  he 
was  born,  and   it   is  staled  that  it  is   intended   to  erect   a  joint 


September  12,  1895] 


NATURE 


485 


monument  to  the  memory  of  Werner   Siemens  and   Ilelmholtz 
in  front  of  the  Technische  Hochschule  at  Charlottenburg. 

Prof.  Retsius  and  Dr.  Bergh,  of  Copenhagen,  have  been 
elected  Correspondants  of  the  Paris  Academy. 

The  Berliner  Akademieder  Wissenschaften  has,  weunderstand, 
recently  elected  the  following  gentlemen  as  corresponding  mem- 
bers :--Prof.  W.  V.  (iUmbel  (Miinich),  Prof.  A.  von  Zittell 
(Munich),  Prof.  A.  .Schrauf  (Vienna),  Prof.  A.  Cossa  (Turin), 
Prof.  \.  Agassiz  (Cambridge,  Mass.),  and  Prof.  E.  Mascart 
(Paris). 

The  quinquennial  International  Metric  Congress,  which  is  at 
present  being  held  in  Paris,  under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  Marey, 
was  opened  on  the  4th  inst.  by  M.  Hanotaux,  who  delivered  a 
brief  address.  On  the  6th  inst.  the  second  session  of  the 
Congress  took  place,  and  M.  liirsch,  of  the  Neuchatel  Observa- 
tor)',  was  elected  Secretary.  The  Secretary  presented  the  report 
of  the  Committee  on  the  work  already  done,  and  the  present 
state  of  the  International  Bureau  of  Weights  and  Measures,  and 
a  series  of  metric  standards  which  have  been  under  consideration 
since  the  Congress  of  1889  was  sanctioned. 

The  Swiss  Naturforschende  Gesellschaft  has  been  holding  its 
annual  congress  at  Zermatt.  The  proceedings  began  on  Sep- 
tember 8,  and  concluded  on  the  nth.  September  8  was  devoted 
to  the  meetings  of  committees  ;  the  Sections  met  on  September 
10,  and  on  the  9th  and  nth  inst.  the  general  meetings  took 
place. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Dr.  Sven  Loven,  the  distinguished 
Swedish  naturalist.  He  was  born,  says  the  Times,  at  Stockholm 
in  1809,  and  received  his  education  at  the  University  of  Lund, 
where  he  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy.  After  attend- 
ing lectures  in  Berlin  in  1830-31,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study 
of  the  maritime  fauna  of  the  coasts  of  Scandinavia.  He  also 
«.\p]ored  the  Baltic  and  the  North  Seas,  and  ccmducted  the  first 
scientific  expedilitm  to  Spitzbergen  in  1837.  He  was  the  author 
of  numerous  scientific  memoirs,  all  published  by  the  Royal 
Swedish  Academy  of  Sciences.  Dr.  Loven  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Academy  of  Stockholm  in  1840,  and  Professor 
and  Conservator  of  the  Royal  Museum  of  Natural  History  of 
that  city  in  1841.  He  was  a  member  of  the  academies  of  Berlin 
and  Munich,  a  corresponding  member  of  the  Institute  of  France, 
and  in  1885  was  elected  a  foreign  member  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  London. 

The  death  is  recorded,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one  years,  of  Mr. 
JamesCarter,  of  Cambridge.  Korvery  many  years  Mr.  Carter  prac- 
tised as  a  medical  man,  but  found  time  to  engage  in  the  study  of 
scientific  and  antiquarian  subjects,  and  was  especially  interested 
in  iwheontology.  He  contributed  many  papers  to  the  Geological 
Magazine  and  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Oeological  Society, 
and  served  for  many  years  on  the  Councils  of  the  (Geological 
and  Palxontological  Societies. 

The  Kew  Biillelin  has  heard  with  regret  of  the  death  from 
■dysentery  in  May  last  of  Mr.  V .  H.  Smiles,  who  had  been  attached 
lo  the   Royal   .Survey   Department   of  Siam.      Mr.  Smiles,  who 

ha<l  alrea<lydone  some  good  botanical  work,  returned  to  Siam  in 

December  last  with  the  intention  of  making  further  botanical 
collections,  and  it  was    confidently  anticipated    that  he  would 

have  added  considerably  to  the  knowledge  of  the  rich    flora  of 

Vpper  Siam. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Mr.  R.  H.  Tweddell,  the  well- 
Tcnown  engineer;  of  Mr.  K.  K.  C.  Davis,  president  of  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers ;  and  of  Mr.  H. 
■C.  Hart,  one  of  the  first  class  technical  ofiicers  of  the 
<ngineer-in-chief's  office.  Post  Oftice  Telegraphs. 

NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


The  centenary  of  Jenner's  first  e.xperiments  in  vaccination  is 
to  be  celebrated  next  May  by  the  Russian  National  Health 
Society.  To  commemorate  the  event  the  Society  proposes  (l) 
to  offer  four  prizes  for  the  best  works  upon  vaccination  ;  (2)  to 
collect  and  publish  materials  for  a  history  of  the  practice  of 
vaccination  in  Russia,  and  a  short  history  of  the  same  in  Western 
Europe  ;  (3)  to  publish  a  Russian  translation  of  Jenner's  works, 
accompanied  by  his  biography  and  portrait  ;  (4)  to  organise  an 
exhibition  of  objects  connected  with  vaccination  ;  (5)  to  hold  a 
commemorative  meeting  on  the  day  of  the  centenar)-. 

The  annual  joint  meeting  of  the  Swiss  Geographical  Societie.s 
will  be  held  this  year  at  St.  Gall,  on  September  22  and  23.  At 
this  meeting  a  paper  will  be  read  by  Dr.  Hans  Meyer  on  the 
"  Snow  Mountains  of  Equatorial  Africa." 

An  exhibition  of  agricultural  machinery,  similar  to  that  held 
in  May  of  the  present  year,  is  being  arranged  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  Vienna,  to  take 
place  in  that  city  in  May  1S96.  The  exhibits  will  comprise  not 
only  agricultural  machines  as  generally  understood,  but  appliances 
used  in  all  branches  of  industry  connected  with  agriculture,  such 
as  breweries,  and  distilleries,  and  yeast,  sugar,  vinegar,  and  starch 
factories. 

We  learn  from  the  Nation,  New  York,  that  only  one  MS. 
was  received  in  competition  for  the  prize  of  400  dollars 
given  by  Dr.  Gould's  Astronomical  fourual  "for  the  most 
thorough  discussion  of  the  theory  of  the  rotation  of  the  earth 
with  reference  to  the  recently  discovered  variations  of  latitude." 
The  paper  was  sent  by  and  the  prize  awarded  to  Prof.  Newcomb; 
The  other  prize,  of  200  dollars,  was  given  to  Mr.  Paul  S. 
^'endell,  for  the  best  series  of  determinations  of  maxima  and 
minima  of  variable  stars. 

Science  states  that  the  Berliner  Akadeniie  der  Wissenschaften 
has  recently  put  aside  over  £^\<yy:i  for  the  promotion  of 
scientific  work  and  research.  Of  this  amount  an  appropriation  of 
.^100  has  been  made  to  Prof.  Fuchs,  of  Berlin,  to  be  devoted  to 
the  continuation  of  the  publication  of  Dirichlet's  works  ;  .if  too  to 
Prof.  Weierstrass,  of  Berlin,  for  the  publication  of  his  collected 
w-orks  ;  ^75  to  Prof.  Gerhardt  for  the  publication  of  the  mathe- 
matical correspondence  of  Leilmitz,  and;£^ioo  to  Dr.  Schauinsland 
for  researches  on  the  Fauna  of  the  Pacific  islands. 

The  Giittingen  Gesellschaft  der  Wissenschaften  will,  on 
February  i,  1897,  award  a  prize  of  500  marks  for  an  anatomical 
research  and  description  of  the  cavities  of  the  body  of  the  new- 
born child  and  their  contents  compared  with  those  of  the  adult. 

The  Academy  of  Sciences  of  Cr.acow  proposes,  as  the  subject 
for  the  Copernicus  prizes,  theories  concerning  the  physical  con- 
dition of  the  globe.  Essays  must  be  written  in  the  Polish 
language,  and  reach  the  Academy  before  the  end  of  189S. 

The  Orient  Steam  Navigation  Company,  Limited,  announce 
their  intention  of  sending  one  of  their  steamships  to  Vadso, 
Varanger  Fiord,  l.ajiland,  in  August  next,  to  enable  observations 
to  be  made  of  the  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  on  August  9,  1896.  It 
is  arranged  for  the  vessel  to  leave  London  on  July  21,  to  arrive 
at  Vadso  on  August  3,  and  to  return  from  the  latter  place  on 
the  loth,  reaching  London  on  August  17.  Particulars  as  to 
the  cost,  &c. ,  of  the  trip  may  be  seen  in  our  advertisement 
columns,  or  obtained  from  Messrs.  Anderson,  Anderson,  and 
Co.,  5  Fenchurch  Avenue,  E.C.,  or  16  Cockspur  Street, 
S.W. 

Severe  thunderstorms  again  occurred  in  the  southern  and 
eastern  parts  of  England  early  on  Saturday  morning,  7th  instant, 
accompanied  with  heavy  falls  of  hail  and  rain,  and  causing  con- 
siderable damage.     The  disturbance    was    occasioned    by   the 


4S6 


NA  TURE 


[September  12,  1S95 


development  of  shallow  depressions  over  the  Bay  of  Biscay  and 
the  English  Channel,  and  by  the  intense  heat  over  the  continent, 
the  maximum  shade  temperature  in  some  parts  of  France  being 
considerably  above  90°,  while  in  the  east  of  England  a  tempera- 
ture of  85°  was  recorded.  Rainfall  exceeded  an  inch  in  London 
and  other  places,  and  amounted  to  17S  inches  in  Hampshire. 
During  the  height  of  the  storm  the  lightning  flashes  averaged 
about  twenty-five  to  the  minute. 

The  Shetland  County  Council,  says  the  Glasgmv  Htraid,  hiis 
resolved  to  apply  to  the  Secretar)-  for  Scotland  for  an  order 
under  the  Wild  Birds  Protection  Act  of  1 894,  prohibiting  the 
taking  of  the  eggs  of  certain  wild  birds.  The  schedule  proposed 
includes  such  birds  as  the  white-tailed  or  sea  eagle,  great  skua, 
Richardson's  skua,  .\llan  whimbrel,  ember  goose,  &c.  .-Ml  these 
birds  have  become  extremely  rare,  and  it  is  stated  that  there  has 
been  recently  a  trade  carrj'ing  on  in  their  eggs  for  the  .\merican 
market,  to  the  threatened  extinction  of  the  birds. 

We  are  asked  to  announce  that  with  the  September  number 
the  Ameriiaii  fournal  of  Psychology  will  enter  upon  its  seventh 
volume.  The  preceding  volumes  have  been  edited  by  President 
Ci.  Stanley  Hall  (Clark  University).  For  the  future  the  editorial 
responsibility  of  the  Journal  will  \k  shared  by  President  Hall, 
Prof.  E.  C.  Sanford  (Clark  University),  and  Prof  E.  B.  Titchener 
(Cornell  University).  A  co-operative  Imard  has  been  formed, 
which  includes  the  names  of  Prof.  F.  Angell,  Prof  M.  Beaunis, 
Prof  J.  Delboeuf,  Dr.  .\.  Kirschmann,  Prof.  O.  Kuelpe,  Dr.  A. 
Waller,  F.R.S.,  and  Prof  II.  K.  Wolfe.  The  A«r«<j/ will  l>e 
devoted  exclusively  to  the  interests  of  experimental  jisychology 
(psychophysiology,  psychophysics,  physiological  psychology, 
&c. ).  Each  number  will  contain,  as  heretofore,  original  articles, 
reviews  and  abstracts  of  current  psychological  books  and  mono- 
graphs, and  notes  upon  topics  of  immediate  psychological 
importance.  Contributions  may  be  addressed  to  either  of  the 
three  editors. 

Science  states  that  the  Board  of  Scientific  Diiectors  of  the 
New  York  Botanic  Garden  has  recently  resolved  to  authorise  a 
topographical  survey  of  the  250  acres  of  land  in  Bronx  Park 
which  have  been  set  aside  for  the  uses  of  the  garden.  AH  the 
trees  in  the  park  are  to  be  laljcUcd,  and  new  varieties  of  seeds 
desirable  for  cultivation  are  to  Ije  secured. 

The  Allahabad  Pioneer  Mai/  say%  that  an  experiment  is  now 
in  progress  in  several  of  the  larger  gaols  of  the  Punjab,  which 
may  have  important  results  in  the  future.  It  has  been  one  of 
the  ordinary  precautions  in  lime  of  cholera  epidemics  to  lx)il  the 
drinking  water  supplied  to  the  prisoners.  To  ascertain  whether 
it  might  not  Ijc  advisable  always  to  boil  the  drinking  water,  the 
Lieutcnant-CJovernor  has  ordered  that  a  certain  number  of  the 
prisoners  should  l>e  given  Ixiiled,  and  an  equal  niunber  unboiled, 
water,  the  results  Ixiing  reported  at  the  end  o(  (he  year.  If 
these  are  as  expected,  the  reduction  in  the  fever  death-rate 
should  be  followed  by  a  similar  reduction  in  the  mortality  from 
dysentery  and  diarrhnca. 

We  learn  from  Engineering  that  an  imixirtant  undertaking 
has  been  inaugurated  at  Seattle,  in  the  State  of  Washington, 
U.S.A.  This  city  is  situ.itcd  on  Elliott  Bay,  a  thoroughly  shcl- 
terc<l  harbour,  which  communicates  with  the  Pacific  by  the 
.Straits  of  San  Juan  de  Fuca.  About  two  miles  from  the  coast 
ami  liehind  the  town  is  a  fresh-water  lake  of  considerable  size, 
the  water  level  of  which  is  about  16  feet  almvc  high  water  in  the 
boy.  A  ship  canal  Iwtween  the  lake  and  the  sea  has  long  licen 
»uggc»lcd,  and  the  work  has  at  last  been  ilcfinltely  commenced. 
The  b<jttom  of  the  channel  will  l>c  80  feet,  and  the  greatest 
depth  of  cutting  will  be  308  feet.  Almost  the  whole  of  the  work 
will,  however,  be  carried  out  through  comparatively  high  land, 
the  amount  of  excavation  required  being  estimated  at  36,000,000 
cubic  yard.s.     The  material  i.^  mostly  glacial  <lrift,  and  it  is  jiro- 

NO.    1350,  VOL.  52] 


posed  to  use  hydraulic  nozzles  to  facilitate  the  work  of  excava- 
tion, the  spoil  being  washed  down  by  a  jet  of  water  issuing  at 
high  pressure  from  a  nozzle,  as  in  some  of  the  Californian  gold 
workings.  A  lock  400  feet  long  will  be  constructed  at  the  sea 
entrance  to  the  canal.  The  material  excavated  will  be  used  for 
raising  the  level  of  low-lying  ground  along  the  sea  front  of  the 
city. 

M.  Z.^CHAREWIEZ,  Professor  of  -Xgricultiire  at  Vaucluse,  has 
found  by  experiment  with  different-coloured  glasses  that  fruit  is 
finest  and  earliest  when  grown  under  clear  glass.  Orange  glass 
produces  an  increase  of  vegetation,  but  at  the  cost  of  the  amount 
of  fruit,  of  the  size  and  of  its  forwardness.  Violet  glass  causes 
the  number  of  fruit  to  increase  at  the  expense  of  the  quality. 
Red,  blue,  and  green  glass  are  hurtful  to  all  kinds  of  vegetation. 

The  possibility  of  successfully  boring  for  water  in  extensive 
areas  of  crystalline  rocks  has  been  demonstrated,  we  learn  from 
the  September  number  of  Natural  Science,  at  several  |ilaces 
in  Sweden.  The  experiments  were  suggested  by  certain 
conclusions  of  Nordenskiold,  based  on  the  downward  limit  of 
surface  variations  of  temperature  and  other  physical  con- 
siderations. He  considered  that  vertical  jointing  of  the  rocks 
would  not  extend  below  30  or  40  metics,  and  that  at  that 
depth  extensive  horizontal  fissures  must  be  formed.  This  has 
now  been  found  to  be  the  case,  and  from  these  horizontal  fissures 
abundant  water  of  great  purity  has  been  obtained.  While  these 
results  are  of  practical  importance  (particularly  with  regard 
to  the  water-supply  of  small  rocky  islands),  it  also  opens  up  a 
number  of  interesting  general  questions  as  to  the  flow  anil 
pressure  of  water  in  cr)stalline  rocks. 

In  our  issue  for  August  15,  we  printed  an  abstract  of  a  pajier 
on  "  The  Voyage  of  the  .-/H/an//V  to  Victoria  Land,"  read  by  Mr. 
C.  E.  Borchgrevink  at  the  recent  International  Geographical 
Congress,  and  now  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the 
journal  and  notes  of  the  commander  of  the  whaler  .4nt 
arctic,  in  which  Mr.  Borchgrevink  made  his  somewhat  un- 
propitious  voyage  as  a  sailor  before  the  mast,  which  the 
Secretary  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  of  Australasia 
(Victorian  Branch)  has  been  good  enough  to  send  us.  The 
pamphlet,  which  contains  some  highly  interesting  matter,  is 
accompanied  by  a  lithographed  map,  by  Captain  Leonard 
Kristensen,  of  the  track  taken  by  his  vessel,  and  forms  part  ot 
the  Transactions  of  the  above-named  Society. 

Natural  Science  for  September  contains  extracts  from  ilie 
address  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Canon  A.  M.  Norman, 
F.R.S.,  as  President  of  the  recently  held  Mu.seums  A.ssociation 
at  Newcastle,  and  deals  with  the  jirogress  of  biology  in  that 
northern  town.  .\n  article  on  "  The  Geology  of  Ipswich  and  its 
Neighbourhood, "  by  Mr.  Clement  Reid,  appears  at  an  opportune 
moment,  and  will  doubtless  be  consulted  by  many  geologists 
visiting  the  British  .Vssociation.  Other  contributions  to  the 
number  are  : — "  Some  Recent  Insect  Literature,"  "  The 
Nucleolus,"  "The  Role  of  Sex,"  and  "The  .Mleged  Miocene 
Man  in  Burma."  The  last-named  article  has  reference  to  a  |)aper 
by  Dr.  Noctling,  published  towards  the  close  of  List  year,  "On 
the  Occurrence  of  Chip|x;d  (?)  Flints  in  the  Upper  Miocene  of 
Burma."  The  writer,  Mr.  K.  D.  OMham,  says  in  conclusion, 
"  till  more  complete  evidence  has  been  produced  it  is  im|X)S- 
sible  to  accept  the  existence  of  man  in  either  Miocene  or  I'lioccn; 
times  as  one  of  the  established  facts  of  geology." 

Wk  are  glad  to  note  the  reappearance  of  the  Bolletttno 
Afensnale  of  the  reorganised  Italian  .Meteorological  Society. 
The  bulletin  is  is.sued  in  a  more  convenient,  small  folio  form, 
but  in  other  respects  it  is  similar  to  the  former  publication.  The 
current  nund)cr  contains  two  important  articles  by  Prof  L. 
Di  Marchi,  on  the  causes  of  the  glacial  epoch,  and  the  dynamical 


September  12,  1895] 


NATURE 


48/ 


conditions  of  thunderstorms,  and  an  investigation  of  the  effects 
of  the  earthquake  at  Florence  on  May  i8  last,  by  C.  Bassani. 

An  examination  of  the  gases  liberated  from  certain  of  the 
sulphurous  waters  of  the  Pyrenees  reveals,  in  the  hands  of  M. 
Ch.  Bouchard,  the  interesting  fact  that  the  formerly  assumed 
nitrogen  (from  which  the  Spanish  physicians  have  named  these 
waters  azoades)  consists  in  part  of  free  argon  and  helium.  The 
collected  gas  was  in  each  case,  after  treatment  with  potash  and 
|)hosphoric  anhydride,  introduced  into  a  Plucker  tube  containing 
magnesium  wire.  Under  the  action  of  the  silent  discharge  the 
nitrogen  rapidly  disappeared  by  combination  with  magnesium, 
leaving  a  residue  exhibiting  the  characteristic  rays  of  both  argon 
and  helium  for  the  gas  derived  from  the  waters  of  la  Raillere, 
helium  from  the  springs  of  Bois,  and  helium  together  with  probably 
an  unknown  gas  from  the  waters  of  lowest  temperature  at  Bois. 

The  use  of  magnesium  wire  and  the  silent  discharge 
is  due  to  MM.  L.  Troost  and  L.  Ouvrard,  who  show 
that  the  magnesium  vapour  produced  very  rapidly  combines 
with  nitrogen  under  the  conditions  obtaining  in  the  tubes. 
Further,  the  continued  action  of  a  powerful  silent  discharge,  for 
some  hours  after  the  spectroscopic  evidence  proves  the  absence 
of  nitrogen,  results  in  a  gradual  diminution  in  intensity  of  the 
helium  and  argon  rays.  Finally  a  complete  vacuum  is  pro- 
duced, hence  it  appears  that  magnesium  combines  with  argon 
and  helium  under  these  circumstances.  Platinum  appears  to 
behave  like  magnesium  towards  argon  in  PlUcker  tubes  with  the 
silent  discharge. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Bonnet  Monkey  (Macacus  sinkus,  9  ) 
from  India,  presented  by  Mrs.  Ball  ;  an  Emu  {Dromietis  nova- 
hollandiic)  from  .Vustralia,  presented  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Williams  ; 
a  Raven  (Cori'tis  corax),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  W.  Weeker  ; 
a  Royal  Python  (Python  nginis)  from  Dahomey,  West  Africa, 
presented  by  Mr.  C.  II.  Harley-Moseley  ;  a  Common  Chame- 
leon (Chaiiiecleon  vulgaris)  from  North  Africa,  presented  by  Mr. 

C.  Sampson  ;  a Snake  (Phryiioiiax  eiitropis),  a Snake 

(Phrynonax  fascia/us)  from  Trinidad,  presented  by  Mr.  R.  R. 
Mole ;  a  White-tailed  Sea  Eagle  (Haliiittis  alhieilla)  from 
Scotland,  two  Diamond  Snakes  {Morelia  spilotes)  from 
Australia,  deposited  ;  eight  Amherst  Pheasants  (Thaumaka 
amhersliii:),  six  Ring-necked  Phea.sants  (Phasianns  torqiialus), 
two  Japanese  Pheasants  (Phasianus  versicolor),  a  Temminck's 
Tragopan  (Ceriornis  lemmiiicki),  bred  in  the  Gardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Proper  Motion  of  the  Sun. — In  the  September 
number  of  the  Bidlelin  Astroiiomii/ue  M.  Tisserand  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  a  method  of  determining  the  proper  motion 
of  the  sun  from  stellar  proper  motions.  Denoting  by  in  and  in' 
the  values  of  the  annual  proper  motions  of  the  stars,  f  the  space 
described  by  the  sun  in  one  year,  this  space  being  measured  with 
the  same  unit  as  the  distance  (p)  of  the  sun,  and  .\and  D  the 
Right  .Vscension  and  Declination  of  the  apex  of  the  sun's  way,  the 
formuke  for  reduction  become 

III  cos  S  =  -  cos  Dsin  (o  -  X) 
P 

—!—z.      =  -  -  sin  D  -^  1  cos  D  tan  5  .  cos  (a  -  A). 
cos  &  p  p 

In  the  second  equation  the  second  term  changes  its  sign  with 
tan  8,  p  changes  its  value  from  star  to  star.  Assuming  that  the 
mean  of  the  values  of  this  term  will  be  small  or  zero,  and  that 
2  represents  the  arithmetical  mean,  we  have 

\cos  «/ 

Now,  because  sin  D  is  positive,  the  mean  values  of  the  left- 
hand  side  of  the  equation  ought  to  be  negative.  If  there  were 
no  proper  motion  to  the  sun,  they  should  be  zero. 

I'sing  the  catalogue  of  1054  stellar  proper  motions,  motions 
"f  M.  Stumpe  (//j-/r.  Nac/i.,  Nos.  2999-3000,   year   1890),  only 


"<;> 


those  stars  have  been  employed  the  declinations  of  which  are 
comprised  between  -  30  and  +  30°,  and  the  proper  motions 
less  than  o"'64. 

The  mean  values  for  the  sum  above  were  then  tabulated  for 
every  hour  of  Right  .\scension.  These  were  found  to  be  all 
negative,  as  they  ought  to  be,  and  they  did  not  differ  very 
much  from  one  another.     For  585  stars  the  mean  value  was 

-  o"-i<;i. 

M.  Tisserand  further  investigated  the  values  obtained  from 
another  catalogue  of  2641  stellar  proper  motions,  by  M.  Bossert, 
in  exactly  the  same  way.  Here  the  mean  values  were  still  found 
all  to  be  negative,  and  not  verj'  different  from  one  another. 
From  1537  proper  motions  the  value  obtained  was  -o"'i3l. 

By  taking  only  the  proper  motions  of  stars  comprised  be- 
tween declinations  ±15°,  the  value  obtained  does  not  differ 
materially  from  that  given  above.  In  the  interval  then  of  a  cen- 
tury, for  each  hour  of  right  ascension,  the  declinations  of  all  the 
stars  have  diminished  (in  the  mean)  by  quantities  comprised 
between  10"  and  20" ;  and  he  says,  "  il  nous  semble  que  cela 
donne  une  preuve  materielle  frappante  du  mouvement  du 
Soleil." 

The  Rot.ation  of  Venus. — A  difficult  problem  in  observa- 
tional astronomy  is  the  determination  of  the  period  of  the  rota- 
tion of  Venus.  M.  Schiaparelli,  whose  powers  of  observations 
have  been  often  put  to  the  test,  still  thinks  that  the  planet 
accomplishes  one  rotation  in  the  same  time  that  it  takes  to  travel 
round  the  sun,  or,  in  other  words,  the  same  hemisphere  is  always 
turned  towards  the  sun.  M.  Leo  Brunner,  however,  who  has 
made  during  three  months  a  great  number  of  drawings,  which 
appear  to  corroborate  his  statement,  seems  to  be  of  quite  a  dif- 
ferent opinion,  for  he  says:  "  J'ai  le  plaisir  de  vous  annoncer 
que  je  viens  de  decouvrir  la  vraie  periode  de  rotation  de  Venus, 
qui  ne  differe  que  de  quelques  minutes  de  celle  de  notre  terre. 
Cette  decouverte  est  hors  doute,  car  j'ai  pu  voir  arriver  et  passer 
des  taches  plusieurs  jours  avec  la  plus  grande  distinction.  Nul 
doute  a  cet  egard."  It  must  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  the 
observation  of  \'enus  is  one  attended  by  great  difficulty.  Even 
Brunner's  drawings  and  those  of  Schiaparelli  made  of  the  planet  at 
the  same  time  are  very  different.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt 
that  the  observations  are  all  verging  on  the  limit  of  visibility, 
and  that  the  224  days  or  the  24-hour  period  are  just  as  probable 
as  ever. 


UNIVERSITY  AND   EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

C.VMBRIOGE. — The  following  appointments  have  been  recently 
made  by  the  governing  bodies  of  the  undermentioned  colleges : — ■ 
At  St.  John's,  Mr.  R.JH.  Adie,  a  Lecturer  in  Natural  Science  ;  at 
Magdalene,  Mr.  G.  T.  .Manley,  Lecturer  in  Mathematics  ;  at 
Trinity,  Mr.  G.  T.  Walker,  Lecturer  in  Mathematics,  and 
Messrs.  W.  C.  D.  N\'hetham  and  J.  W.  Capstick,  Lecturers  in 
Natural  Science  ;  at  Emmanuel,  Mr.  A.  Eicholz,  Lecturer  in 
Natural  Science  :  at  Sidney  Sussex,  Mr.  R.  H.  D.  Mayall, 
Lecturer  in  Mathematics  ;  at  Selwyn,  Mr.  L.  A.  Borradaile, 
Lecturer  in  Natural  Science. 


NO.   1350,  VOL.   52] 


According  to  Science,  Prof.  Bonnet,  Professor  of  Anatomy 
in  the  University  of  Giessen,  has  received  a  call  to  Greifswald  ; 
and  Dr.  M.  Miyoshi  has  been  appointed  Professor  of  Botany  in 
the  University  of  Tokyo. 

Mr.  Chas.  Berrv,  horticultural  lecturer  to  the  East  Suffolk 
County  Council  Technical  Instruction  Committee,  h.as  been 
appointed  Instructor  in  Horticulture  l)y  the  Devonshire  County 
Council,  and  will  enter  upon  his  duties  at  the  end  of  September. 

The  prospectus  of  Day  and  Evening  Classes  at  the  Battersea 
Polytechnic  Institute  for  the  session  1895-6,  has  reached  us, 
and  contains  full  information  respecting  the  numerous  classes 
held  at  this  well-appointed  institution.  Several  new  classes  are 
to  he  formed,  and  special  provision  is  made  for  the  needs  of 
students  who  are  desirous  of  entering  for  the  examination  of 
London  University,  from  the  matriculation  to  the  final  B.Sc. 

The  fourth  annual  report  (1894-5)  of  the  Dei^artment  of  .-\gri- 
culture,  Vorkshire  College,  Leeds,  has  been  published,  and  shows 
clearly  that  a  great  deal  of  useful  work  has  been  carried  on 
during  the  past  twelve  months,  and  has,  on  the  whole,  met  witti 
very  satisfactory  success.  With  one  exception  (that  of  the 
classes  for  elementary  teachers)  each  branch  has  exhibited 
much  growth.     The  lectures  given  to  farmers  and  others  were 


4S8 


NA  TURE 


[September  12,  1895 


well  attended,  and  the  work  of  the  lecturers  was  much  assisted 
by  the  travelling  libraries  sent  out  by  the  Victoria  University  in 
connection  with  the  \'arious  courses.  A  new  departure  was 
made  by  the  institution  of  short  lectures  on  poultrj-keeping.  At 
the  close  of  the  session  examinations  were  held,  at  which  iSS 
candidates  from  26  centres  presented  themselves,  and  of  this 
number  145  passed,  58  attaining  distinction.  The  prospectus 
of  the  Courses  in  .-Kgriculture.  .Session  1895-6,  is  now  ready,  and 
may  be  had  on  application  to  the  Registrar. 

The  .Agricultural  Department  of  the  University  College  of 
North  Wales,  Bangor,  has  just  issued  its  prospectus  for  the 
approaching  session,  in  which  all  information  respecting  classes, 
&c. ,  is  given,  .\rrangements  have  been  made  by  which  farms 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  college  may  l>e  made  use  of  by  the 
professors  and  their  students  for  practical  instruction.  The 
prospectus  can  be  obtained  from  the  Secretarj'. 

The  Techniial  World  .says:  "One  of  the  most  interesting 
experiments  undertaken  by  the  Durham  College  of  Science  is 
the  proWsion  of  a  series  of  agricultural  stations,  of  which  there 
are  now  about  sixty  in  Northumberland,  Cumberland,  and 
Durham.  At  these  stations  practical  instruction  is  given  by 
means  of  experiment  and  demonstration  in  the  science  of  agri- 
culture. Manures  are  supplied  to  the  stations  from  the  college, 
where  they  are  analysed  and  blended  as  may  be  required  for  the 
particular  experiment,  and  the  re.sultani  crops  are  afterwards 
tested  under  the  direction  of  the  Professor  of  Agriculture.  These 
experiments  give  valuable  opix)rtimities  to  students  to  observe 
the  varying  results  obtained  under  the  different  conditions  ot 
soil  and  climate  in  the  various  districts  of  the  North,  and  also 
provide  useful  data  for  agriculturists  therein." 

A  NEW  technical  school  was  opened  at  Runcorn  on  .\ugust 
31,  by  Sir  John  T.  Brunner,  M.  V,  The  school  was  erected  at  a 
cost  of  ;f 4200,  and  contains  eleven  class-rooms  and  a  lecture- 
hall. 

In  \iew  of  the  forthcoming  opening  of  the  Medical  Schools, 
the  current  issues  of  our  contemporaries,  the  Lancet  and  British 
J/edical  foiimal,  are  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  ]xnrticulars 
likely  to  be  of  service  to  medical  students.  The  Cliemica!  A'ctcs 
for  September  6  is  likewise  a  "  student's  number,"  and  contains 
much  information  respecting  the  various  schools  of  chemistry. 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Paris. 
Academy  of  Sciences,  September  2. — M.  Fizeau  in  the 
chair. — The  work  of  1895  "'  ^'ont  Blanc  Observatory,  by  M. 
J.  Jansscn.  Determinations  of  the  intensity  of  gravity  have 
been  made  with  very  delicate  instruments  at  Grands-Mulets 
(3050  m.)  and  at  Chamounix  by  M.  Bigourdan.  It  is  hoped  to 
carr)-  out  a  similar  determination  on  the  summit  of  .Mont  Blanc 
next  year.  All  the  parts  of  the  33  cm.  parallactic  lelesco|x' 
have  been  conveyed  to  the  site  at  the  head  of  the  glacier  where 
it  is  to  be  erected. — On  the  presence  of  argon  and  of  helium  in 
certain  mineral  waters,  by  M.  Ch.  Bouchard.  (See  Notes, 
p.  487). — On  the  combination  of  magnesium  with  argon  and 
with  helium,  by  M.\l.  L.  Troost  and  L.  Ouvrard.  (See  Notes, 
p.  487). — On  a  continuous  group  of  transformatiims  with 
twenty-eight  parameters  which  occurs  in  the  theory  of  deforma- 
tion of  surfaces,  by  M.  Paul  Stacckcl. — Researches  on  the 
combinations  of  mercuric  cyanide  with  bromides,  by  M.  Kaoul 
Varel.  Thermochemical  data  are  given  for  a  number  of 
compounds  of  the  general  type  2HgCyj.MBr,.xII,0.  It  is 
shown  that  in  solution  these  substances  yield  but  a  slight 
isopurpuratc  reaction,  an<l  slightly  redden  litmus.  With  heat  the 
effect  IS  increased.  The  substances  imssessa^milar  constitution 
to  the  chlorocyanidcs,  the  cyani>gen  remaining  mostly  in 
combination  with  the  niercur)'.  Rather  a  greater  proportion  of 
the  cyanogen  passes  over  to  the  second  metal  than  in  the  case 
of  the  cnlorocyanidcs.  A  slight  evolution  of  heat  occurs 
in  the  change,  a  result  contrary  to  what  would  be 
cx[x;cicd  from  the  character  of  the  iodo-com|X)unds. — 
On  the  formation  of  hydrogen  .selcnide,  by  M.  II.  I'elalmn. 
'  '        '  '      rbs    hydrogen    sclenirle.       Carrjing    out 

tnation  of  hydrr>gen  scleniile  in  relali(m  to 

■       ,    ■ ^   smallest  excess  of  selenium  in   order  to 

avoid  this  source  of  error,  it  is  found  that  the  formula  of  Cibbs 
and  Duhem, 

/.    _   M 


log 


-f-   N  log  T  +  S, 


NO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


accurately  represents  the  experimental  results  (/,  and  /,  represent 
the  partial  pressures  of  II  and  SeHj,  T  is  the  abs.' temp,  of 
experiment,  log  means  Napierian  log,  M,  N,  and  S  are  con- 
stants).    The  ratio  p  =     ^ "-  —  has  a  maximum    value   at    a 

temperature/  =  ^  -  273.  With  ralues  of  the  constants  cal- 
culated from  the  experimental  results,  /  =  575°,  the  exiwrimental 
maximum  agrees  with  this  result.  The  molecular  heat  of 
formation  calculated  by  Duhem's  formula  with  the  found  values 
for  the  above  constants  is  -  17380  Cal.,  Kabre  found  -  18000 
Cal.  The  diflerence  is  not  great,  and  may  be  readily  accounted 
for  when  it  is  remembered  that  (i)  in  this  formula  hydroger* 
and  hydrogen  selenide  have  been  assumed  to  be  perfect  gases  ;  (2) 
the  formula  has  been  applied  beyond  the  limits  of  temperature 
of  the  experiments  from  which  M  and  N  are  determined. — 
.\ction  of  carbonic  acid,  water,  and  alkalis  on  cyanuric  acid  and 
its  di.ssolved  sodium  and  potassium  salts,  by  M.  Paul  Lemoult. 
.•\  heat  of  neutralisation  |>aper  in  which  the  decomjiosition  of 
cyanuric  acid  slowly  occurring  in  presence  of  bases  is 
shown  to  .agree  with  the  equation  CjNjOjHj  diss. 
+  3H,0  +  .\q  =  3CO2  diss.  +  3NHj  dis,s.  +  200  Cal.— 
The  eclipsoscope,  an  apparatus  for  viewing  the  chromosphere 
and  solar  protuberances,  by  M.  Ch.  V.  Zengcr. — M.  Ch.  V, 
Zenger  sends  another  note  rekitive  to  the  possibility  of  predicting 
great  seismic  and  atmospheric  disturbances  during  the  passage 
of  periodic  swarms  of  shooting-stars  when  great  activity  of  the 
solar  surface  is  observed  at  the  same  time. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLET,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Hooks.— The  Herschels  .-ind  Alodcni  .\stronomy  :  A.  M.  Gierke  (C;iiScll). 
— The  Growtli  of  the  Hr.-Lin  :  Prof.  H.  H.  Don.ildson  (Scott).— Peasant 
Rents  (Economic  Classics):  R.  Jones,  1831  (M.icmillan). — Cubature  des 
Tcrrasses  ct  Mouvcment  des  Terres  :  0.  Darics  (P.iris,  G.'iUlhicr.Villars). — 
Quantitative  Chemical  .Analysis :  Clowes  and  Coleman,  3rd  edition 
(Churchill). — Notes  on  the  Nebular  Theory  in  relation  10  Stellar,  Sol.ar, 
PlancLiry,  Cometary,  .and  Geological  Phenomena :  W.  F.  Stanley  (K, 
Paul).— On  the  Structure  of  Greek  Tribal  Society  :  H.  K.  Sccbohm  (Mac- 
mitlan). — Observations  and  Researches  made  at  the  Hong  Kong  Observa- 
tory in  the  Year  1894  :  Dr.  W.  Dobcrck  (Hong  Kong). 

Pamphlet.— The  Movements  of  the  Kosi  River:  F.  A.  Shillingford 
(Calcutta). 

Skkials. — Science  Progress,  September  (Scientific  Press). — ProceedingSf 
of  the  Physical  Society  of  London,  Scpteud>er  (Taylor  and  Francis).—^ 
Himmcl  und  Krde,  September  (Berlin). — Journal  of  the  .Asiatic  .Society  of 
Bengal,  Vol.  Ixiv.  Part  2,  No.  2  (Calcutta). — Journal  of  the  Franklin  Instp- 
tutc,  September  (Philadelphia). — Memoirs  and  Proceedings  of  the  Man* 
Chester  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  Fourth  Series,  Vol.  9,  Nos.  3,  4, 
(Manchester). — American  Journal  of  Science;  September  (New  Haven). 


CONTENTS.  PACK 

A  New  Standard  Dictionary 457 

The  Chemistry  of  Lighting.      Hy  W.  T 457 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Murche  :   "  Science  Readers  " 45$ 

K.  V.  B.  :  "  .\  (iarden  of  Pleasure  " 458 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

The  ••4020-5"   Line  and  I),.— Prof.  C.  A.  Young  .  458 
On  the  Temperature  Variation  of  tlu-    TlRruial   Con- 
ductivity of  Rocks.— Prof.  Robert  Weber    .    .    .  458 
Experimental   Mountainlniililiiig.      (//'////   Diiiipam.) 

-L.  Belinfante       .  45J 

Jo.seph  Th.)nison.     W.  Bolting  Hemsley,  F.R.S.  .  459 

l-alf  Nestlings. — Jas.  Shaw       459 

The  Institute  of  France.     Hy  Dr.  Henry  de  Varigny  459 

The  Ipswich  Meeting  of  the  British  Association       .  46I 

Iiiaugiir:d  .\<lilriss  hv  Sir  Douglas  Gallon,  K.C.B., 

F.R.S.,  President' 461 

.Section  .\.  —  Mathematics  and  Physics. — Opening  Ad- 
dress l)y  Prof.  W.  M.  Hicks,  F.R.S.,  President 

of  the  Seclitm  ...  47* 

Section  B. — Chemistry. ^Opening  Address  by  Prof. 
Raphael    Meldola,    F.R.S.,     Prcsideiil    of    the 

Section 477 

Notes     484 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

The  Proper  Motion  of  the  Sun 487 

The  Rot:ilioM  of  \enus 487 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 487 

Societies  and  Academies 488 

Books,  Pamphlet,  and  Serials  Received 488 


NA  TURE 


489 


THURSDAY,    SEPTEMBER    19,  1895. 


THE   BRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 

Wf.dxesday. 

THE  British  Association  meeting  at  Ipswich  has  now 
practically  come  to  an  end.  The  stream  of 
strangers  which  set  towards  the  town  a  week  ago  shows 
signs  of  retiring,  and,  in  the  course  of  a  day  or  two,  the 
ancient  and  interesting  county  town  of  Suffolk  will  have 
returned  to  its  normal  condition.  The  meeting  has  been 
,'i  very  pleasant  one  for  all,  and  the  delightful  weather  of 
ihe  past  week  has  naturally  attracted  a  large  attendance 
at  each  of  the  many  enjoyable  excursions  to  places  of 
interest  in  the  surrounding  country.  The  .\ssociation  has 
often  met  in  places  far  richer  in  educational  and  scientific 
institutions  than  Ipswich,  but  it  has  rarely  met  in  a 
centre  within  easy  reach  of  picturesque  scenery  offering 
more  facilities  for  geological  observation,  or  possessing  a 
greater  abundance  of  objects  of  interest  to  students  of 
antiquities.  This,  combined  with  the  fact  that  papers  of 
extreme  value  have  been  communicated  to  each  of  the 
Sections,  will  make  the  meeting  memorable  to  all  who 
have  attended  it.  As  we  shall  follow  our  usual  custom  of 
giving  reports  of  the  work  done  in  the  .Sections,  it  is 
unnecessary  here  to  do  more  than  refer  to  one  or  two  of 
the  papers  and  discussions  which  have  excited  general 
interest. 

The  subject  of  scientific  research  was  brought  up  in 
Section  .A  by  Sir  Douglas  Galton's  description  of  the 
Reichanstalt,  Charlottenburg.  After  giving  a  full  account 
of  the  construction,  endowment,  and  management  of  that 
institution,  which  has  for  its  object  "the  development  of 
pure  scientific  research  and  the  promotion  of  new  applica- 
tions of  science  for  industrial  purposes,"  it  was  pointed 
out  that,  in  this  countr)',  there  is  no  Government  depart- 
ment which  approximates  to  it.  Recognising  our  de- 
ficiency in  this  respect,  the  suggestion  was  made  that  a 
committee  of  inquiry  take  the  matter  up,  with  the  idea  of 
formulating  some  definite  proposal  for  the  establishment 
of  a  central  institution  where  standardising  and  research 
could  be  carried  on  without  interruption.  If  the  ideas 
with  reference  to  such  an  institution  should  take  tangible 
shape,  as  we  sincerely  hope  they  will,  the  Ipswich  meeting 
will  be  remarkable  in  the  annals  of  the  Association  as  one 
from  which  a  new  departure  in  national  enterprise  began. 
The  joint  meeting  of  Sections  A  and  B,  on  Friday,  was 
marked  by  two  important  communications  on  argon  and 
helium.  By  methods  which  command  the  admiration  of 
every  one  who  can  appreciate  scientific  inquiry.  Lord 
Rayleigh  showed  how  he  had  measured  the  refraction  and 
viscosity  of  the  two  new  gases.  The  refractive  index  of 
argon  turns  out  to  be  0-961,  while  that  of  helium  appears 
to  be  as  low  as  o'i46  ;  both  being  compared  with  dry  air. 
With  the  viscosity  of  drjairas  the  standard  of  comparison, 
those  of  argon  and  helium  were  respectively  i'2l  and 
o'96.  Another  interesting  matter  referred  to  by  Lord 
Rayleigh  in  the  course  of  his  communication  was  the 
nature  of  the  gas  from  the  mineral  spring  at  Bath.  Some 
months  ago,  before  the  discovery  of  terrestrial  helium, 
Lord  Rayleigh  and  Prof  Ramsay  examined  samples 
of  that  gas  for  argon,  but  without  finding  the  new 
element.      The   results    were   such,    howe\cr,    that    an 


NO. 


I351,   VOL.   52] 


examination  of  the  gas  for  helium  was  lately  undertaken, 
and  Lord  Rayleigh  was  able  to  say  that  he  had  pro\ed 
spectroscopically  that  helium  really  exists  in  the  Bath 
gas.  The  question  as  to  the  nature  of  helium  itself  was 
elucidated  by  Prof.  Runge  in  his  contribution  to  the  dis- 
cussion of  "  the  evidence  to  be  gathered  as  to  the  simple 
or  compound  character  of  a  gas  from  the  constitution  of 
its  spectrum."  It  may  be  remembered  that  a  short  time 
ago.  Prof.  Runge  contributed  to  these  columns  an  article 
on  the  analysis  of  spectra  by  investigation  of  the  periodic 
distribution  of  wave-lengths.  He  took  the  spectrum  of 
lithium  as  a  typical  e.\ample  of  a  spectrum  which  could 
be  resolved  into  two  spectra,  the  lines  in  each  of  which 
were  connected  by  a  simple  formula.  Taking  his  own 
observations  of  the  spectrum  of  helium,  Prof  Runge 
showed  that  helium  is  not  an  element  but  consists  of  two, 
and  not  more  than  two,  elements.  The  conclusion  is 
arrived  at  because  the  helium  spectrum  can  be  resolved 
into  two  sets  of  lines  each  apparently  distinct  from  the 
other. 

Of  all  the  Sections,  those  of  Geography  and  Anthro- 
pology have  attracted  the  largest  attendance,  owing 
doubtless  to  the  fact  that  the  subjects  dealt  with  could  be 
easily  followed,  and  are  of  general  interest.  But,  besides 
the  more  or  less  popular  papers  of  a  resurrectionary 
character,  a  large  number  of  distinctly  new  subjects  have 
been  brought  up  and  discussed.  The  difficulty  has  been 
to  find  time  for  the  long  lists  published  in  each  da/s 
Journal,  and  this  difficulty  is  increased  by  the  apparent 
inability  of  some  of  the  readers  of  papers  to  express 
their  conclusions  in  concise  language.  On  account  of 
the  lack  of  this  quality,  the  time  for  discussions  has  in 
several  cases  been  very-  limited,  and  thus  the  first  aim  of 
a  meeting  of  scientific  men  has  been  defeated. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  General  Council,  the  question  of 
.Antarctic  exploration  was  brought  forward  by  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  with  a  view  to  co-operation,  and  to 
the  undertaking  being  unanimously  advocated  by  the 
scientific  societies  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  The 
Council  expressed  their  sympathy  with,  and  approval  of, 
the  effort  which  was  being  made  to  organise  an  expedition 
for  the  exploration  of  the  .-Vntarctic  Sea,  but  did  not  con- 
sider that  any  further  action  could  usefully  be  taken  by 
them  at  present. 

As  to  the  official  affairs  of  the  Association,  Prof. 
Schafer  has  been  elected  General  Secretar\'  in  the  place 
of  Sir  Douglas  Galton,  the  present  President.  Sir  W.  H. 
Flower  has  been  elected  to  represent  the  Association  at 
the  International  Congress  of  Zoology  at  Leyden. 

The  retiring  members  of  the  Council  were  Prof  Lan- 
kester.  Prof  Liveing,  Mr.  Preece,  Prof.  Reinold,  and 
Prof  J.  J.  Thomson  ;  and  the  new  members  elected  to 
serve  on  the  Council  were  Prof  \'ernon  Harcourt,  Prof. 
Poulton,  Prof.  \V.  N.  Shaw,  Mr.  Thiselton-Dyer,  and 
Prof  J.  M.  Thomson. 

The  General  Committee  resolved  on  Monday  that  Sir 
Joseph  Lister  be  appointed  President-elect  for  the  meet- 
ing at  Liverpool  next  year.  Prof  Ilcrdman,  Mr.  J.  C. 
Thompson,  and  Mr.  W.  E.  Willink  were  appointed  local 
secretaries  for  that  meeting,  and  .Mr.  R.  Bushell  local 
treasurer.  The  Vice-Presidents-elect  nominated  for  the 
meeting  were  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Liverpool  (1896),  the 
Earl  of  Sefton,  the  Lord- Lieutenant  of  the  County  of 
Lancaster,  the  Earl  of  Derby,  Sir  W.  B.  Forwood,  Sir 
H.  E.  Roscoe,  Mr.  W.  Rathbone,  and  Mr.  W.  Crookes. 
.'\n  invitation  to  hold  the  meeting  in  1897  in  Toronto, 
supported  by  cordial  letters  from  British  Columbia,  from 
the  University  of  Toronto,  and  Colleges  of  Manitoba,  was 
accepted. 

The  following  is  a  synopsis  of  the  grants  of  money 
appropriated  to  scientific  purposes  by  the  General  Com- 
mittee this  morning.  The  names  of  the  members  entitled 
to  call  on  the  General  Treasurer  for  the  respective  grants 
are  prefixed  : — 


490 


NATURE 


[September  19,  1895 


Mafhematies  and  Physics. 

•Prof.  Carey  Foster — Electrical  Standards  (and  un- 
expended balance  in  hand) 

*Mr.  G.  J-  S)'mons — Photographs  of  Meteorolo- 
gical Phenomena... 

*Lord  Rayleigh — Mathematical  Tables  (unexpended 
balance) 

"Mr.  G.  T.  SjTTions — Seisniological  Observations... 
Dr.  E.  Atkin.son — Abstracts  of  Physical  I'.ii>ers  ... 

*Rev.  R.  Harley — Calculation  of  Certain  Integrals 
(renewed)  .  

*Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson — Uniformity  of  Size  of 
Pages  of  Transactions,  A:c.  (renewed) 

*Sir  G.  G.  Stokes— Solar  Radiation 

Chemistry. 
*Sir  H.   E.   Roscoe— Wave-length  Tables  of  the 

Spectra  of  the  Elements  

*Dr.   T.   E.  Thorpe — Action  of  Light  upon  Dyed 

Colours     ... 
*Prof.   J.    E.    Reynolds — Electrolytic  Quantitative 

Analysis  (renewed)        

Prof.     R.     Warrington — The    Carbohydrates    of 

Barley  Straw 
Prof.   R.    >reldola — Report  of  the  Discussion  on 
the  Relation  of  Agriculture  to  Science 

Geology. 

•Prof.  E.  Hull— Erratic  Blocks       

*Prof.  T.  Wiltshire — Palicozoic  Phyllopoda 

*  Mr.  J.  Home — Shell-bearing  Dc|xisits  at  Clava,  iSic. 

*Ut.  R.  H.  Traquair — Eurypterids  of  the  Penlland 

Hills  ...         

*Prof.    T.   G.    Bonney — Investigation    of  a   Coral 

Reef  by  Boring  and  Sounding  (renewed) 
*Prof.  A.  H.  Green — Examination  of  the  Locality 
where  the  Cetiosaurus  in  the  Oxford  Museum 
was  found  (;f20  renewed) 
Sir  John  Evans — Pal.xolithic  Deposits  at  Hoxur... 
Sir  W.  II.  p'lower — Fauna  of  .Singapore  Caves  ... 
T.  F.  Jamieson — Age  and  Relation  of  Rocks  nor 
Moreseat,  Aberdeen 

Zoology. 
*Dr.    P.    L.    Sclater — Table    at     the    Zoological 

Station,  Naples   ... 
*Mr.    G.    C.    Bourne — Table    at    the-  Biological 

Laboratory,  Plymouth  (^5  renewed)   ... 
•Prof.    W.    A.    Herdman — Zoology,    Botany,    and 
Geology  of  the  Iri.sh  Sea  (partly  renewed)     ... 
*Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater — Zool<5gy  of  the  Sandwich  Islands 

Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater— African  I..ake  Fauna 

Prof.  W.  A.  Herdman — Oysters  under  normal  and 

abnormal  enWronment 

Geography. 
•.Mr.  F.   G.    Ravenstein — Climatology  of  Tropical 

.\frica        

Aftihaiiiial  .9i7W/ic. 
*Prof.   A.   B.  W    Kennedy — Calibration  and  com- 
jKiri.sonof  mea.suringin.strumcnts(/^25  renewed) 
Mr.    W.    H.    Preece — Introduction   of  the    B.A. 

Small  Screw  Gauge        

Anthropology', 
•Prof.    E.    B.    Tylor— North-Western    Tribes    of 

Canada  (;^76  151.  renewed) 
•Dr.    U.    Munro — Lake    Village    at    Glastonbury 

'Z^5  renewed) 
•Sir  J.  Evans — Exploration  of  a  Kitchen-midden  at 

Hiistings  (unexix-nded  balance) 
*.Mr.     E.    W.     Brabrook — Ethnographical    Survey 

(/^20  renewed) 
•Sir   DouglxH  Galton— Mental  and  Physical  Con- 
dition of  Children  

Physiology. 
•Prof.  J.  G.   McKendrick — Physiological   Applica- 
tion! of  the  Phonograph  

Corresponding  Soeieties. 
•prof.  R.  Mctdola — For  preparing  Rc|)ort 


•  Reappointed. 

NO.    135  I,  VOL.    52] 


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PRESIDENTS'   ADDRESSES   (continued). 
SECTION    C. 

C.EOIOCV. 

Underground  in  Suffolk  and  its  Borders. 
QpEN'iNG  Address  by  W.  Whitaicer,  B.A.,  F.R.S.,  F.G.S. 

When  the  British  Association  revisits  a  town  it  is  not  unusual 
for  the  Sectional  Presidents  to  refer  to  the  addresses  of  their 
local  predecessors,  and  to  allude  to  the  advance  of  their  science 
since  the  former  meeting.  I  have  at  all  events  tried  to  follow 
this  course,  with  the  sad  result  of  having  to  chronicle  a  falling 
back  rather  than  an  advance  in  our  methods  of  procedure  ;  for 
at  the  meeting  of  1S51  all  the  Sectional  Presidents  had  the 
wisdom  not  to  give  an  address,  and  of  all  the  inventions  of  later 
years  I  look  upon  the  presidential  address  as  i>erliaps  the  w\)rsl. 

Had  I  the  courage  of  my  opinion  I  should  not  now  trouble 
you  ;  but  an  official  life  of  over  thirty-eight  years  has  led  me  to 
do  what  I  am  told  to  do,  and  to  supjiress  my  own  ideas  of  what 
is  right.  -Vfler  all  it  is  the  fault  of  the  Sections  themselves  that 
they  should  suffer  the  evil  of  addresses.  They  could  ilisestablish 
the  institution  without  difficulty. 

On  these  occasions  it  is  not  usual  to  allude  to  the  personal 
losses  our  science  has  hail  in  the  past  year  ;  but  there  are  limes 
when  the  lack  of  a  fiimiliar  presence  can  hardly  be  passed  over, 
and  since  we  last  met  we  have  lost  one  of  our  most  constant 
friends,  who  had  served  us  long  and  well,  and  had  been  our 
Secretary  for  a  far  longer  time  than  any  other  holder  of  that 
office.  When  we  were  at  Oxford  last  siunmer  none  of  us  could 
have  thought  that  it  was  our  last  meeting  with  William  Topley. 

I  do  not  now  mean  to  say  anything  on  the  oriyin  or  on  the  clas- 
sification of  the  various  divisions  of  the  Cr.ig  and  of  the  Drift  that 
occur  so  plentifully  around  us,  and  form  the  staple  interest  of  Ivast 
Anglian  geology.  These  subjects,  which  are  the  more  interest- 
ing from  being  controversial,  I  leave  to  my  liroilicr-hammerers, 
and  without  claiming  the  credit  of  magnanimity  in  so  doing, 
having  said  what  I  had  to  say  on  them  in  sundry  Geological 
Survey  Memoirs.  The  object  of  this  address  is  to  carry  you 
below  the  surface,  and  to  point  out  how  much  our  knowledge  of 
the  geology  of  the  county  in  which  we  meet  has  been  advanced 
by  workers  in  another  field,  by  engineers  and  others  in  their 
search  for  water.  As  far  as  possible  allusion  will  be  made  only 
to  work  in  Sufiblk  ;  but  we  must  occasionally  invade  the  neigh- 
bouring counties. 

This  kind  of  evidence  has  chielly  accumulated  since  the  meet- 
ing of  the  .Association  at  Ipswich,  in  1851;  for  of  the  476  Suffolk 
wells  of  which  an  account,  with  some  geologic  information,  has 
been  published,  only  sixty-eight  were  noticed  before  thai  year, 
all  but  two  of  these  being  in  a  single  paper.  The  notes  on  all 
these  wells  are  now  to  be  found  in  twelve  (icological  Survey 
Memoirs  that  refer  to  the  county.  Number  alone,  however,  is 
not  the  only  point,  and  m,iny  of  the  later  records  are  niarkcil  by 
a  precision  and  a  iletail  rarely  approached  in  lire  older  ones.  It 
should  be  slated  that  in  the  above  and  in  the  following  numbers 
strict  accuracy  is  not  ])rofessed,  nor  is  it  material.  .\  slight  error 
in  the  number  of  the  wells,  one  way  or  the  other,  wmuI<I  make 
practically  no  ilift'erence  to  the  general  conclusions. 

Now  let  us  .see  how  these  records  afl'ect  our  knowledge  of  the 
various  geologic  formations,  beginning  with  the  newest  and 
working  downward. 

The  Drift. 

Under  this  head,  as  a  matter  of  convenience  for  the  present 
purpose,  we  will  include  everything  above  the  Chilkslurd  Clay. 
There  is  no  need  for  refinement  of  classification,  and  the  thin 
beds  th.1t  come  in  between  that  Clay  and  the  Drift  in  some  parts 
do  not  affect  the  evidence  we  have  to  deal  with. 

.•\s  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  only  from  wells  that  we  can  tell  the 
thickness  of  the  Drift  over  most  of  the  great  plateau  that  this 
formation  chiefly  forms  ;  open  sections^through  a  great  thickness 
of  Drift,  to  its  base,  are  rare,  except  on  the  coast. 

There  is  often  some  doubt  in  chissifying  the  beds,  the  ilivision 
between  Drift  and  Cmg  being  sometimes  hard  to  make  in 
sections  of  wells  and  borings ;  but  from  an  examination  of  the 
records  of  these  .Suffolk  sec(i(ms  that  pass  through  any  part  of 
the  Drift  Series  (as  defined  above)  we  find  that  no  less  than  173 
show  a  thickness  <if  50  feet  and  upward,  whilst  of  these  .34  prove 
no  less  than  too  feel  of  Drift,  many  reaching  to  much  more.  Of 
the  two  that  are  said  to  show  a  thickness  of  over  200  feet  .ind 
Ihc  one  other  said  to  be  mrjre  than  300  feet  deep  in  Drift,  we 


September  19,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


491 


can  hardly  feel  certain  ;  but  such  amounts  have  been  recorded 
with  certainty  as  occurring  in  the  neighbouring  county  of  Essex. 
These  great  thicknesses  (chiefly  consisting  of  Boulder  Clay) 
show  the  importance  of  the  Drift,  and  the  impossibility  of  map- 
ping the  formations  beneath  with  any  approach  to  accuracy,  on 
the  supposition  that  the  Drift  is  stripped  off,  as  is  the  case  in  the 
ordinary  geologic  map.  The  records  also  show  the  varying 
thicUness  of  the  Drift,  and  how  difficult  it  often  is  therefore  to 
estimate  the  thickness  at  a  given  sp)ot.  Sometimes  the  sections 
seem  to  point  to  the  existence  of  channels  filled  with  Drift,  such 
as  are  found  also  in  Essex  and  in  Norfolk  :  and  it  may  he  noted 
that  in  the  northern  inland  part  of  the  former  county,  one  of 
these  channels  has  been  traced,  though  of  course  not  continu- 
ously, for  some  eleven  miles  along  the  valley  of  the  Cam,  and 
at  one  place  to  the  depth  of  340  feet  (or  nearly  140  below  sea- 
evel),  the  bottom  of  the  Drift  moreover  not  having  been  reached 
even  then.  A  channel  of  this  sort  seems  to  occur  close  to  us,  in 
the  midst  of  the  town  of  Ipswich,  where,  by  St.  Peter's,  one 
boring  has  pierced  70  feet  of  Drift,  and  another  127,  in  grotmd 
but  little  above  the  sea-level. 

As  the  Drift  sands  and  gravels,  that  in  many  places  occur 
below  the  Boulder  Clay,  often  yield  a  fair  amount  of  water,  the 
proof  of  their  occurrence  and  of  the  thickness  of  the  overlying 
clay  is  of  some  practical  good. 

The  Crag. 

On  this  geologic  division  we  have  a  less  amount  of  informa- 
tion, as  would  be  expected  from  the  fact  that  it  is  not  iiearly  so 
widespread  as  the  Drift,  and  this  information  is  confined  to  the 
Upper,  or  Red,  Crag,  the  Lower,  or  Coralline,  Cr.ag  occurring 
only  over  a  very  small  area,  and  no  evidence  of  its  underground 
extension  being  given  by  wells. 

VNTiat  we  learn  of  the  Red  Crag,  however,  is  of  interest, 
several  wells  having  proved  that  it  is  far  thicker  underground 
than  would  have  been  supposed  from  what  is  seen  where  its  base 
crops  out.  One  characteristic,  indeed,  of  this  sandy  deposit,  in 
the  many  parts  where  it  can  be  seen  from  top  to  bottom,  is  its 
thinness,  as  in  such  places  it  rarely  reaches  a  thickness  of  40 
feet.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  wells  at  Hoxne  seem  to  prove 
more  than  60  feet  of  Crag,  whilst  at  Saxmundham  the  forma- 
tion is  100  feet  thick,  and  at  Leiston  and  Southwold  over  140. 
Further  north,  just  within  the  border  of  Suffolk,  there  is,  at 
Beccles,  a  thickness  of  80  feet  of  sand,  or,  with  the  overlying 
Chillesford  Clay,  a  total  of  95.  Our  underground  information 
has,  then,  trebled  the  known  thickness  of  the  Upper  Crag  of 
Suffolk. 

It  has  also  shown  that  at  some  depth  underground  the  colour- 
name  is  a  misnomer,  the  shelly  sands  being  light-coloured  and 
not  red.  This  is  the  case  too  with  some  other  deposits,  which 
owe  their  reddish-brown  colour  at  the  surface  to  peroxide  of  iron. 
Presumably  the  iron-salt  is  in  a  lower  state  of  oxidation  until  it 
comes  within  reach  of  surface-actions.  This  seems  to  point  to  the 
ri.sk  of  taking  colour  as  the  mark  of  a  geologic  formation. 

Eocene  Tcrtiarics. 

Below  the  Crag  there  is  a  great  gap  in  the  geologic  series, 
and  we  come  to  some  of  the  lower  of  the  Tertiary  formations, 
about  which  little  had  been  published,  as  regards  Suffolk,  before 
the  work  of  the  Ceological  Survey  in  the  county.  It  seems  as 
if  the  special  interest  in  the  more  local  Crag  had  led  observers  to 
neglect  these  beds,  which  had  been  amply  noticed  in  other 
pirts. 

We  have  records  of  more  than  forty  wells  in  Suffolk  that  are 
partly  in  these  deposits,  and  of  these  thirty  six  reach  down  to 
the  Chalk,  twenty  giving  good  sections  from  the  London  Clay  to 
the  Chalk.  The  thickness  of  the  Lower  London  Tertiaries 
(between  those  formations)  thus  proved  varies  from  30  to  794 
feet,  the  higher  figure  being  much  greater  than  anything  shown  at 
the  outcrop.  Tlie  greatest  recorded  thickness  is  at  Leiston, 
where,  miireover,  the  top  26  feet  of  the  79^  may  belong  to  the 
uppermost  and  most  local  of  the  three  divisions  of  the  series, 
the  tJIdhavcn  Beds,  of  very  rare  occurrence  in  the  county.  The 
next  greatest  thickness  is  at  Southwold,  where  the  whole  has 
liten  classed  as  Reading  Beds  (the  persistent  division),  though 
lure  and  elsewhere  it  is  possible  that  the  underlying  Thanet 
I'.cds  are  thinly  represented.  It  is  noteworthy  that  at  both  these 
I'l.ices,  where  the  Lower  London  Tertiaries  are  thick,  they  are 
also  at  a  great  depth,  beginning  at  2524  and  218  feet  respec- 
lively,  which  looks  as  if,  like  the  Cr.ig,  they  thickened  in  their 
uTidergroand  course  away  from  the  outcrop. 

NO.   135  I,  VOL.   52] 


The  important  evidence  given  by  these  wells,  however,  is  not 
as  regards  thickness  ;  it  is  to  show  the  underground  extent  of 
the  older  Tertiary  beds,  beneath  the  great  sheet  of  Crag  and 
Drift  that  prevents  them  from  coming  to  the  surface  north-east- 
ward from  the  neighbourhood  of  Woodbridge.  It  is  clear  that 
over  this  large  tract  we  can  know  nothing  of  the  beds  beneath 
the  Crag  otherwise  than  from  wells  and  borings ;  and,  until 
these  were  made,  our  older  geologic  maps  cut  off  the  older 
Tertiary  beds  far  south  of  the  parts  to  which  we  now  know  that 
they  reach,  though  hidden  from  our  sight.  No  one,  for  instance, 
would  have  imagined  many  years  ago  that  at  Southwold  the 
Chalk  would  not  be  touched  till  a  boring  had  reached  the  depth 
of  323  feet,  or  .some  280  below  sea-level,  nor  that  at  Leiston 
those  figures  would  have  been  about  297  and  240. 

It  is  from  calculations  based  on  the  levels  of  the  junction  of 
the  Chalk  and  the  Tertiary  beds  in  many  wells  that  the  line 
engraved  on  the  Ceological  Survey  map  as  the  probable  boundary 
of  the  latter  beds  under  the  Crag  and  Drift  has  iK-en  drawn. 
From  what  has  gone  before,  however,  as  to  the  great  irregularity 
in  the  thickness  of  the  Drift,  it  is  clear  that  this  line  must  be 
taken  only  as  approximate,  and  open  to  correction  as  further  . 
evidence  is  got ;  albeit  the  junction  of  the  Chalk  and  the  Tertiary 
beds  is  found  to  be  here,  as  elsewhere,  fairly  even,  along  aa 
inclined  plane  that  sinks  towards  the  coast. 

Cretaceous  Beds. 

Though  the  Chalk  is  reached  by  verj'  many  well.:;,  yet  we  get 
less  information  about  it,  by  reason  of  its  great  thickness.  More- 
over, the  great  amount  of  overlying  beds  in  many  cases  is  a  bar 
to  deep  exploration. 

Of  our  Sufiblk  wells  there  are  forty  which  go  through  100  feet 
or  more  of  Chalk.  Of  these  twenty  go  through  200  feet  or  more, 
half  of  these  to  300  or  more,  and  again  half  of  the  ten  to  400  or 
more,  a  very  exact  piece  of  geometric  progression,  or  more 
strictly,  retrogression.  Although  two  wells  pass  through  the 
great  thickness  of  more  than  800  feet  of  Chalk,  yet  neither  of 
them  gives  us  the  full  thickness  of  the  formation  ;  for  the  816 
feet  at  Landguard  Fort  do  not  reach  to  the  base,  whilst  the  S43 
(or  817)  feet  at  Combs,  near  Stowmarket,  do  not  begin  at  the 
top. 

As  in  no  case  yet  recorded  has  the  Chalk  been  pierced  from 
top  to  bottom  in  Suffolk  (a  defect  that  will  be  supplied  during 
this  meeting  by  the  description  of  the  Stutton  boring),  that  is  to 
say,  no  boring  has  gone  from  the  overlying  older  Tertiary  beds 
to  the  underlying  Cault,  we  must  now,  therefore,  cross  the 
border  of  the  county  to  get  full  information  as  to  the  thickness 
of  the  Chalk  ;  and  we  have  not  far  to  go,  for  the  well-known 
Harwich  boring  passes  through  the  whole  of  the  Chalk,  proving 
a  thickness  of  S90  feet.  It  is  almost  certain,  indeed,  that  this 
should  be  given  as  a  few  feet  more,  for  the  22  feet  next  beneath, 
which  have  been  described  as  Gault  mixed  with  Greensand,  is 
l)robably  in  part  the  green  clayey  glauconitic  base  of  the  Chalk 
Marl.  We  may  fairly  add  to  this  number  5  feet  (as  also  in  the 
case  of  the  Combs  boring),  and  may  say  that,  in  round  nundiers, 
the  Chalk  reaches  a  thickness  of  about  900  feet  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  Suffolk.  Toward  the  northern  border  of  the 
county  it  is  probably  more,  as  the  deep  boring  at  Norwich  passes 
through  nearly  1 160  feet  of  Chalk,  and  that  without  beginning 
at  the  t<ip  of  the  formation. 

Of  our  recorded  Suffolk  wells  only  three  reach  the  base  of  the 
Chalk,  at  Mildenhall,  Culford  and  Combs;  consequently  we 
have  little  knowledge  of  the  divisions  of  the  Chalk.  These 
divisions,  indeed,  are  of  comparatively  late  invention,  having 
been  evolved  since  the  publication  of  many  of  the  deep  sections 
that  have  been  referred  to. 

If  the  Upper  Chalk  at  Harwich  goes  as  far  down  as  the  flints, 
then  we  must  allow  it  to  be  690  feet  thick,  leaving  little  more 
than  200  for  the  Middle  and  Lower  Chalk  together.  .Vt  Land- 
guard  Fort,  from  the  same  point  of  view,  th  Upper  Chalk 
would  certainly  be  500  feet  thick,  and  one  cannot  y  how  much 
more. 

At  Combs,  on  the  other  hand,  flints  have  been  recorded  as 
present  only  in  the  top  27  feet  of  the  Chalk  ;  but  whilst  this 
may  have  been  owing  in  part  to  the  boring  having  passed  be- 
tween fairly  scattered  nodules,  and  in  part,  perhaps,  to  insuffi- 
cient care  in  observation,  at  Harwich  it  is  possible  that  some 
flints  may  ha\'e  been  carried  down  in  the  process  of  borinc. 

What  evidence  we  have  tends  to  show,  however,  that  the 
Upper  Chalk  forms  a  good  deal  more  than  half,  and  perhaps 
about  two  thirds,  of  the  formation,  the  Middle  and  Lower  Chalk 


492 


NA  TURE 


[September  19,  1S95 


being  rather  thin.  This  agrees  with  what  is  found  in  other  parts 
where  the  Chalk  is  thick,  extra  thickness  being  chiefly  due  to  the 
highest  division.  The  glauconitic  marly  bed  at  the  lase  seems 
lo  be  well  developed  and  to  be  underlain  by  the  Gault  clay ;  so 
that  we  have  no  good  e\-idence  of  the  occurrence  of  Upper 
dreensand.  This  division  may  be  thinly  represented  at  Milden- 
hall,  but  it  is  diflicult  to  classify  some  of  the  beds  |xissed  through 
in  the  old  boring  there. 

.■\s  far  as  the  Gault  is  concerned,  little,  of  course,  is  known  ; 
but  that  little  points  to  this  formation  being  unusually  thin,  pre- 
sumably only  73  feet  from  top  to  Ixiltom  at  Culford,  and  probably 
not  more  than  lietween  50  and  60  at  and  near  Harwich.  In  the 
north-western  part  of  the  neighbouring  county  of  Norfolk  it  is 
well  known  to  be  still  less,  the  clay  thinning  out  northward 
along  the  outcrop,  until  at  last  there  is  nothing  but  a  few  feet  of 
Red  Chalk  between  the  carstone  of  the  Lower  CIreensand  and 
the  Chalk.  The  Gault  l>eing  of  much  greater  thickness  around 
and  under  other  parts  of  the  London  Basin,  this  thinning  in 
Norfolk  and  Suffolk  is  noteworthy.  The  absence  of  the  more 
inconstant  l'|iper  ("<reensand  is  to  be  expected  in  most  places, 
and  calls  for  no  remark  :  it  may,  however,  be  noted  that  geo- 
Ic^ts  .are  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  these  two  divisions  are 
really  parts  of  one  formation,  and  one  result  of  this  geologic 
wedding  is  for  the  inconstancy  of  one  |)arlner  to  be  greatly  com- 
jiensated  by  the  constancy  of  the  other. 

The  Lou'/r  Gretiisaiid  has  been  found  in  one  deep  boring 
only,  at  Culford,  in  the  western  |)art  of  the  county,  where  it  is 
represented  by  yi\  feet  of  somewhat  exceptional  beds.  This 
.>.light  thickness  prepares  us  for  underground  thinning,  and  in  the 
far  east  of  the  county  the  formation  is  presumably  absent,  there 
being  no  trace  of  it  at  Harwich  or  at  .Stutton. 

With  the  Cretaceous  beds  we  pass  from  the  regular  orderly 
succession  of  geological  formations  ;  indeed,  it  may  be  said  that 
when  we  reach  the  base  of  the  Gault  we  ])ass  out  of  the  region  of 
facts  into  the  realm  of  speculation. 

VVe  have  come,  then,  to  perhaps  the  most  interesting  problem 
in  the  geology  of  the  Eastern  Counties,  to  the  consideration  of 
the  question,  WTiat  rocks  underlie  the  Cretaceous  beds  at  great 
depths  ?  In  dealing  with  this  I  must  ask  your  i>atience  for  fre- 
quent excursions  outside  our  special  district,  and  sometimes 
indeed  far  away  from  it. 

Beyond  the  outcrop  of  the  lower  beds  of  the  Cretaceous  Series 
in  Cambridgeshire  and  Norfolk,  we  find  of  course  a  powerful 
development  of  the  great  Jurassic  Series ;  but  the  only  two 
recorded  deep  borings  in  and  near  Suffolk  that  have  pierced 
through  the  Cretaceous  l<ase,  at  Culford  on  the  north-west  and  at 
Harwich  on  the  south-east,  show  not  a  trace  of  anything  Jurassic  : 
they  pass  suddenly  from  Cretaceous  into  far  older  rf>cks.  And 
here  a  paper  that  is  to  be  brought  before  you  must  be  anticipated, 
to  a  slight  extent,  by  adding  that  the  trial-boring  at  Stutton 
.•■hows  just  the  same  thing,  the  Gault  resting  directly  on  a  much 
older  rock,  which  cannot  l>c  classed  as  of  Secondary  age. 

There  is  no  need  now  to  discuss  the  literature  of  the  old  rocks 
underground  in  south-eastern  England,  that  has  often  been 
done.  We  may  take  the  knowledge  of  what  has  been  shown  by 
the  various  deep  borings  as  common  pro|)erty,  and  may  use  it 
freely,  without  troubling  lo  state  the  source  of  each  piece  of  in- 
formation, and  I  will  not  therefore  burden  this  address  with 
references.  I  had  indeed  thought  of  supplemcnling  a  former 
account  by  noticing  the  later  literature  of  the  subject  ;  but 
decided  lo  spare  you  from  the  infliction,  and  myself  from  the 
trouble  of  inflicting  ;  though  it  may  be  convenient  to  add,  in  the 
form  of  an  Appendix,  a  list  of  the  chief  papers  on  the  .subject  that 
have  lieen  published  since  the  question   was  discus-sed  at  length 

in  I*-*"'    fticial   memoir  on  the  geology  of  Ix>ndon,  and 

lo  omissions  in   that  work.     Nor  do  I  propose  to 

mai  ,      111  criticism  of  |)a|icrs  on  the  subject  that  have 

:ip(ic!irecl  of  late  years  :  this  is  hardly  the  occasion  for  con- 
troversy, which  may  well  \k  put  off  loa  more  convenient  season. 
Some  general  remarks,  however,  I  shall  have  to  make  after  pul- 
ling the  facts  liefore  you. 

There  are  ten  deep  lx>rings  reaching  lo  old  rocks  in  the 
l^^pnilon  Basin,  of  which  accounts  have  been  published.  We 
find  1I1..1  in  r.,ur  of  ili,  sc  (.Mcux's,  Slrealham,  Richmond  and 
I^''  t.ilc  those  rocks  from  ihe  Cretaceous 

tW'l  i^  in  which  these  la.st  rest  direct  on  old 

rock,  IW.irc,  Chu.liuiit,  KentLsh  Town,  Crossness,  Culford,  and 
Harwich).  Slullonofcour.se  makes  a  seventh.  The  Jurassic 
rfjck.»  occur  only  in  Ihe  southern   lK)rings,  cither  in   London  or 

NO.   1 35  I,  VOL.   52] 


still  further  southwanl,  and  in  one  case  only  (Dover)  is  there  any 
considerable  thickness  of  these  :  in  the  other  three  they  are 
from  38.5  lo  87i  feet  thick.  As  far  as  regards  -Suffolk  and  its 
borders  we  may  therefore  disregard  them,  except  in  the  far  west, 
near  their  outcrop,  ami  we  may  pass  on  to  consider  the  older 
rocks  that  have  been  fount!. 

So  far  ihc  occurrence,  next  beneath  the  Cretaceous  or  Jurassic 
beds,  of  Silurian,  Devonian,  and  Carboniferous  rocks  has  been 
proved,  whilst  in  some  cases  we  are  still  doubtful  as  to  the  age 
of  the  old  rocks  found.  In  live  cases  ilistinctive  fossils  have 
been  found  (Ware,  Chcshunt,  Meux's,  Dover,  and  Harwich), 
but  in  live  others  they  have  not  (Kentish  Town.  Crossness, 
Richmond,  Streatham,  and  Culford),  and  it  is  in  the  latter  group 
too  that  the  character  of  the  beds  leaves  their  .age  in  doubt.  So 
far  another  must  be  added  to  these,  as  no  fossil  has  yet  been 
found  in  the  old  rocks  at  Stutton. 

Of  the  above  ten  deep  borings  in  the  London  Basin  (using 
that  term  in  the  widest  sense,  as  including  ihe  Chalk  tract  that 
everj-where  surrounds  the  Tertiary  beds)  we  owe  nine  to  endea- 
vours to  get  water  from  deep-sealed  rocks,  and  in  addition  to 
these  nine  wc  have  several  other  deep  borings,  which  though  not 
carried  through  to  the  base  of  the  .Secondary  rocks,  yet  give  us 
much  information  concerning  those  beds  (at  llolkham,  Norwich, 
Combs,  Winklield,  London,  Loughlon,  Chatham,  and  Dover). 
In  one  case  only,  that  of  Dover,  h.as  the  work  been  done 
for  the  purpose  of  exploration,  but  now,  after  a  few  years' 
interval,  a  second  trial  has  been  made  at  Siulton. 

Now  l)oth  of  these  borings  were  started  for  a  much  more  de- 
finite object  than  merely  to  prove  the  depth  to  older  rocks,  or  the 
thickness  of  Ihe  Cretaceous  and  Jurassic  Series.  There  is  one 
|}articular  division  of  those  older  rocks  that  has  a  distinct  fas- 
cination for  others  than  geologists.  We,  hajipily,  are  content 
to  find  anything  and  to  increase  our  knowledge  in  any  direction, 
but  naturally  those  who  are  not  geologists,  as  well  ;is  many  who 
are,  like  to  find  something  of  immediate  practical  value,  .^s 
already  shown,  we  owe  much  knowledge  of  the  underground 
extension  of  formations  to  explorations  for  water  :  il  has  now 
become  the  turn  of  geologists  to  hel])  those  who  would  like  to 
find  that  nmch  less  general,  though  nearly  as  needful  and  cer- 
tainly more  valuable  thing,  coal. 

The  first  |)lace  lo  suggest  itself  lo  those  geologists  who  had 
worked  at  this  question,  as  a  good  site  for  trial,  was  the  neighliour- 
hood  of  Dover,  and  for  various  gotxl  reasons.  Tile  trial  has 
been  made,  and  successfully,  several  hundred  feel  of  Coal 
Measures  having  been  found,  without  reaching  their  base,  but 
with  several  beds  of  workable  coal. 

Beyond  that  neighbourhood,  however,  geologists  are  not  ia 
such  accord,  and  generally  speaking,  fairly  good  reasons  caD 
be  given  both  for  and  against  the  selection  of  many  tracts 
for  trial,  except  in  and  near  London,  where  no  geologists  would 
recomnienil  il,  from  ihe  evidence  in  *)ur  hands. 

Let  us  then  shortly  review  the  evidence  thai  we  have  on  the 
underground  extension  of  the  older  rocks  in  south-eastern 
England,  with  a  view  of  considering  the  question  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  finding  Coal  Measures  in  any  of  the  folds  into  tthich 
those  rocks  have  probably,  nay  almost  certainly,  been  thrown. 

The  area  within  which  the  borings  that  reach  older  rocks  in 
the  London  Basin  is  enclosed  is  an  irregular  pentagon,  from  near 
Dover,  on  the  south-east,  to  Richmond  on  the  wesl,  llicnce  to 
Ware,  thence  to  Culford  on  Ihe  north,  thence  lo  llarHicli,  .and 
Ihence  southward  to  Dover,  the  greatest  distance  between  any 
borings  being  from  Dover  to  Culfor<l,  ali.nit  eighty-six  miles.  It 
is  therefore  over  a  large  tract,  extending  of  course  beyond  the 
boundaries  sketched  .above,  thai  we  have  good  reason  I o  infer 
that  older  rocks  are  within  reasonable  distance  of  the  surface, 
nowhere  probably  as  much  as  1600  feet,  and  mostly  a  good  deal 
less. 

We  must  now  consi<ler  some  evidence  outside  the  tract  hilherto 
dealt  with.  Southward  of  the  central  and  eastern  parts  of  the 
London  Basin  we  have  eWdence  that  the  Lower  Cretaceous  bed* 
thicken  greatly,  from  what  is  seen  over  their  broad  ouUrop  1)C- 
tween  the  North  and  South  Downs.  We  know  also,  from  the 
Dover  and  Chatham  borings,  that  the  Upper  and  Middle  ij 
Jurassic  beds  come  in  to  ihe  s<iulh-east,  whilst  the  Siili-Wealdcn  11 
Exploration,  near  Batlle,  proves  lliat  those  divisions  Ihirkcn 
greatly  southward,  Ihe  laUer  not  having  been  bottomed  al  Ihe 
depth  of  over  1900  feel,  al  Ihal  Irial-boring. 

VVeslward,  however,  near  Burford  in  Oxfordshire,  and  some 
miles  northward  of  ihe  nearest  pari  of  the  London  Basin,  Car- 
boniferous rocks  have  been   found  at  the  depth  of  aboul  1180 


Septembkr  19,  1895] 


NATURE 


493 


feet,  these  being  separated  from  the  thick  Jurassic  beds  (incUid- 
ing  therein  the  Liassic  and  Rha;tic)  by  perhaps  420  of  Trias. 
They  consist  of  Coal  Measures,  which  were  pierced  to  the  depth 
of  about  230  feet. 

In  and  near  Northampton,  north-eastward  of  the  last  site,  and 
still  further  from  the  northern  edge  of  the  London  Basin,  the 
like  occurs  ;  but  the  beds  found  are  older  than  the  Coal 
Measures,  and  the  Trias  is  thin,  not  reaching  indeed  to  go  feet 
in  thickness,  and  being  absent  in  one  case.  -M  one  place,  too, 
the  Carboniferous  beds  have  been  pierced  through,  with  a  thick- 
ness of  only  222  feet,  when  Old  Red  .Sandstone  was  found,  and 
in  another  place  still  older  rock  seems  to  have  been  foimd  next 
beneath  the  Trias.  The  depth  to  the  rocks  older  than  the  Trias, 
where  they  were  reached,  was  677,  738,  and  790  feet,  or  re- 
spectively 395,  460,  and  316  below  .sealevel.  Some  of  the.se 
figures  must  be  taken  as  somewhat  ajjproxiniate,  though  they 
are  near  enough  to  the  truth  for  practical  purposes. 

A  boring  at  Bletchley,  to  the  south,  reached  granitic  rocks  at 
the  depths  of  378.^  and  401  feet  ;  Init  these  rocks  seem  to  be 
only  boulders  in  a  Jurassic  clay  :  their  occurrence,  however,  is 
suggestive  of  the  presence  of  older  rocks  at  the  surface  no  great 
way  off,  in  Middle  Juras-sic  times. 

>Iuch  further  northwartl,  at  Scarle,  south-west  of  Lincoln, 
the  older  rocks  have  been  reached  at  the  depth  of  about 
1500  feet,  all  but  141  of  which  are  Trias,  and  they  begin  with 
the  Permian  (which  crops  out  some  eighteen  miles  westward), 
the  Carboniferous  occurring  after  another  400  feet,  and  having 
been  pierced  to  130. 

We  have  then  evidence  that  over  a  large  part  of  south-eastern 
England,  reaching  northward  and  westward  of  the  London 
Basin,  though  the  older  rocks  are  hidden  by  a  thick  mantle  of 
Jurassic,  Cretaceous,  and  Tertiary  beds,  )et  they  seem  to  be 
rarely  at  a  depth  that  would  be  called  very  great  by  the  coal- 
miner.  They  are  distinctly  within  workable  depths  wherever 
they  have  been  reached. 

There  is  no  area  of  old  rocks  at  the  surface  in  our  island, 
south  of  the  Forth,  in  which  Coal  Measures  are  not  a  constituent 
formation.  Truly,  further  north,  in  the  great  tract  of  Central 
and  Northern  Scotland  there  arc  no  Carboniferous  rocks ;  but 
we  can  hardly  say  that  none  ever  occurred,  at  all  events  in  the 
more  southern  parts.  We  know,  though,  that  on  the  west  and 
north  Jurassic  and  Triassic  beds  rest  <m  formations  older  than 
the  Carboniferous. 

It  is  not,  however,  to  this  more  northern  and  distant  tract 
that  we  should  look  for  analogy  to  our  underground  jilain  of  old 
rocks  ;  rather  shoidd  we  look  to  more  southern  parts,  to  Wales 
and  to  central  ami  muthern  England,  where  Coal  Measures  are 
of  frequent  occurrence.  On  the  jjrinciple  of  reasoning  from  the 
known  to  the  unknown,  I  cannot  see  why  we  should  expect  any- 
thing but  a  like  occurrence  of  Coal  Measures,  in  detached  basins, 
in  our  vast  underground  tract  of  old  rocks. 

What,  then,  is  the  evident  conclusion  from  what  we  know  and 
from  what  wc  may  reasonably  infer  ?  Surely  that  trials  should 
be  made  to  see  if  such  hidden  coal-basins  can  be  found. 

One  trial  has  been  made,  and  it  has  succeeded  ;  the  Dover 
boring  has  jiroved  the  presence  of  coal  imderground  in  Eastern 
Kent,  along  the  line  between  the  coal-fields  of  .South  Wales  and 
of  Bristol  on  the  west,  and  those  of  Northern  France  and  of 
Belgium  on  the  east. 

The  long  gap  betw'een  the  distant  outcrops  of  the  Coal 
Measures  near  Bristol  and  Calais  lias  been  lessened  \ery  slightly 
by  the  working  of  coal  ui\der  the  Triassic  and  Jurassic  beds  near 
the  former  place,  but  nuich  more  by  our  Itrethren  across  the 
narrow  sea,  the  extent  of  the  Coal  Measures,  beneath  ihe  Juras.sic 
and  Cretaceous  beds,  having  not  only  been  proved  by  the  French 
and  the  Belgians  along  their  borders,  but  the  coal  having  been 
largely  worked.  At  last,  we  too  have  still  further  decreased  the 
','ap,  by  the  Dover  boring,  a  work  that  I  trust  is  to  be  followed 
y  other  work  along  the  same  line. 

But  is  this  the  only  line  along  which  wc  are  to  search  ?  Are 
we  to  conclude  that  the  only  coal-fields  under  our  great  tract  of 
Cretaceous  beds  (where  these  are  either  at  the  surface  or  covered 
l^y  Tertiary  beds)  are  in  Kent,  Surrey,  and  other  counties  to  the 
west?  Have  we  no  coal-fields  but  those  of  Bristol  and  of  South 
Wales?  The  bounds  of  our  midland  and  northern  coal-fields 
have  been  extended  by  exploration  beneath  the  Ne«'  Red  Series  ; 
are  we  to  stop  here  and  to  assume  that  there  can  be  no  further 
underground  extension  of  the  Coal  Measures  south-eastward  .-' 
This  seems  har<lly  a  wise  course,  and  is  certainly  a  very  unenter- 
prising one.     It  seems  to  me  rather  that  the  riglit  thing  to  be 

NO.    I  35  I,  VOL.   52] 


done  is  to  try  to  find  out  the  real  state  ol  things,  by  means  of 
borings. 

There  are,  of  course,  objectors  in  this  as  in  other  matters. 
Some  may  say  that  it  is  silly  to  try  in  Suffolk,  and  that  Esse.\ 
gives  a  better  chance  of  success.  Others,  again,  may  prefer 
Norfolk.  And  yet  others  may  argue  that  there  is  no  chance  of 
finding  Coal  Measures  in  any  of  those  three  counties.  But  I 
must  confess  my  inability  to  understand  this  line  of  reasoning  ; 
the  fact  is  that  the  data  we  have  are  few  and  far  between,  and 
that  we  want  more.  It  is  really  of  little  use  to  bandy  words, 
and  I  do  not  now  mean  to  take  up  the  matter  in  <ietail.  We 
cannot  get  at  the  truth  except  by  actual  work  ;  justification  by 
faith  will  not   hold  in  this  case,  .still  less  justification  by  unfaith. 

Let  us  hark  back  a  little  and  call  to  mind  w  hat  has  happened 
in  the  past.  I  remember  the  time  when  certain  geologists 
disbelieved  in  the  possibility  of  the  occurrence  of  Coal  Measures 
anywhere  in  south-eastern  England,  it  being  argued  that  the 
formation  thinned  out  before  it  could  get  so  far  eastward.  Then 
this  view  was  somewhat  varied,  and  it  was  inferred,  from  certain 
observed  facts,  that  even  if  Coal  Measures  did  reach  under- 
ground into  these  benighted  parts,  they  would  be  without  work- 
able coal,  and  so  practically  useless. 

Now  for  some  years  nothing  occurred  to  upset  the  prophets 
of  evil,  that  is  to  say,  no  fact  came  to  light.  There  were  not 
wanting  inferences  to  the  contrary,  but  it  remained  practically  a 
matter  of  opinion.  One  day,  however,  the  needful  fact  came, 
and  the  first  boring  made  specially  to  test  the  question  (at  Dover) 
disproved  both  the  above  negative  theories  by  finding  Coal 
.Measures  with  workable  coal.  Let  us  hope  that  a  like  result 
may  happen  in  East  Anglia,  and  that  the  pessimists  may  again 
be  in  the  wrong. 

We  should  not,  however,  fall  into  the  opposite  error,  that  of 
optimism.  We  must  not  expect  an  immediate  success  like  that 
at  Dover.  We  are  here  much  further  from  any  known  coal- 
field. Advertisements  of  various  wares  sometimes  tell  us  that 
"  one  trial  will  suffice,"  but  it  is  not  so  in  thisca.se.  We  should 
not  be  content  until  many  borings  have  been  made,  and  we 
should  not  be  despondent  if,  after  sites  have  been  selected  to  the 
best  of  our  judgment,  we  begin  with  a  set  of  borings  that  are 
unsuccessful  in  finding  coal. 

.\l  the  time  of  « riting  I  cannot  .say  that  the  Stutton  boring  is 
a  success  or  a  failure  as  far  as  coal  is  concerned,  but  I  am  quite 
ready  to  accept  the  latter  without  being  discouraged.  Whatever 
it  is  you  ma)'  know  during  our  meeting  ;  it  is  certainly  a  success 
in  the  matter  of  reaching  the  old  rocks  at  a  depth  of  less  than 
1000  feet.  We  should  remember  thai  every  boring  is  almost 
certain  to  give  us  some  knowledge  that  may  help  in  future 
work. 

There  is  a  further  point,  however,  lb  be  taken  into  account. 
A  boring  that  may  at  first  .seem  to  be  a  failure,  from  striking 
beds  older  than  the  Coal  Measures,  may  some  day  turn  out 
otherwise.  The  coal-field  along  the  borders  of  France  and 
Belgium  is  sometimes  aft'ected  by  powerful  and  peculiar  dis- 
turbances, by  faults  of  comparatively  gentle  inclination  (far 
removed  from  the  usual  more  or  less  vertical  displacements) 
which  have  thrown  Coal  Measures  beneath  older  beils  in  large 
tracts.  This  is  no  mere  theor)-,  though  advanced  as  such  at 
first  by  .some  continental  geologists,  who  have  had  the  great 
satisfaction  of  seeing  their  theory  adopted  by  practical  men,  and 
proved  to  be  true,  much  coal  being  w  orked  below  the  older  beds 
that  have  been  pushed  above  the  Coal  Measures  by  the  over- 
thrust  faults. 

Our  trial-work,  of  course,  does  not  yet  lead  us  to  consider 
such  disturbances  as  those  alluded  to.  We  have  at  first  to 
assume  a  normal  succession  of  formations,  and  not  to  carry  on 
exjilorations  in  beds  that  can  be  proved  to  be  older  than  the 
Coal  .Measures  ;  but  the  time  may  come  when  it  will  be  other- 
wise. 

Another  matter  to  which  attention  has  l)een  drawn  by  our 
foreign  friends  is  an  apparent  general  persistence  of  disturbances 
along  certain  lines,  or  in  other  words,  the  recurrence  of  disturb- 
ances in  newer  beds  in  those  parts  where  earlier  movements  had 
aflected  older  beds  ;  so  that,  reasoning  backward,  where  we  see 
marked  signs  of  disturbance  for  long  distances  in  beds  at  or  near 
the  surface,  there  we  may  expect  to  find  pre-existing  disturb- 
ances of  the  older  beds  beneath.  This,  how  ever,  is  a  somewhat 
controversial  question,  and  much  remains  to  be  done  on  it  ;  but 
shoidd  it  be  proved  as  a  general  rule  it  may  have  much  effect  on 
oiu'  underground  coal. 

Finally,  the  question  of  the  possibility  of  finding  and  of  work- 


494 


NATURE  [September  19,  1895 


ing  coal  in  \-drious  parts  of  soulh-eastern  England  is  not  merely 
<if' local  interest  :  it  is  of  national  importance.  The  time  must 
come  when  the  coal-fields  that  we  have  worked  for  years  will  be 
more  or  less  exhausted,  and  we  ought  certainly  to  look  out  ahead 
for  others,  so  as  to  be  ready  for  the  lessening  yield  of  those  that 
have  servetl  us  so  well.  It  is  on  our  coal  that  our  national 
prosperity  largely,  one  may  say  chiefly,  depends,  and,  as  far  as 
we  can  see.  will  depend.  Let  us  not  neglect  any  of  the  bounteous 
gifts  of  nature,  but  let  us  show  rather  that  we  are  ready  to  search 
for  the  treasures  that  may  be  liidden  under  our  feet,  and  the 
finding  of  which  will  result  in  the  continued  welfare  of  our  native 
land. 


ArpESDI.\. — List  of  the  Chief  Papers  on  the  Old  Rocks  Under- 
ground ill  Soiith-Easlern  England  since  1SS9,  tvhen  the 
literalttre  of  the  subject  was  treated  of  in  tie  Memoir  on 
t  t' London,  iS-V. 

Be:  .  M.     Sur  le  Raccordement  des  Bassins  houillers 

du  Nurvl  i!l-  ki  Krance  et  du  Sud  d  IWngleterre.  Annates  des 
Mines  and  Trans.  Fed.  Inst.  Min.  Eiig ,  vol.  v.  (1S93). 

Brady  F.  Dover  Coal  Boring.  Observations  on  the  Correla- 
tion of  the  Franco- Belgian,  Dover  and  Somerset  Coal-fields 
(Svo.  18921  Second  Issue,  with  .Additions,  1S93.  Notice  by  E. 
Lorieu.\  in  Annales  des  Mines,  1892. 

Dawkins.  Prof.  W.  B.  The  Discovery  of  Coal  near  Dover, 
NatI'RE,  vol.  xli.,]^p.  418,419;  Iron  and  Coal  Trades  Gazette  : 
Contemporary  /wT  /<-7<',  vol.  Ivii.  pp.  470-47S.  The  Search  for 
Coal  in  the  South  of  England,  Proc.  Koy.  Inst,  (nine  pages) ; 
Xatire,  vol.  .\lii.  pu.  319-322.  The  Discovery  of  Coal 
Measures  near  Dover,  Trans.  Manchester  Geol.  Soc,  vol.  .\x. 
pp.  502-517  (1890). 

The  Fvriher  Discovery  of  Coal  at  Dover  and  its  Beanng  on 
the  <  ■  .      Trans.  Manchester  Geol.  Soc,  vol.  xxi.  pp. 

456- ; 

On  i.ij  -  ■  !-K.-xstem  Co.il-field  at  Dover,  Trans.  Manchester 
Geol.  So...  vol.  xxii.  pp.  4SS-510  :  The  Probable  Range  of  the 
Coal  Mea-surcs  in  Southern  England,  Trans,  Ted.  Inst.  Min. 
Eng.,  vol  vii.  f thirteen  pages  and  plate)  (1894). 

Ilnrri';  n.   \V.  J.     On  the  Search  for  Coal  in  the  South  East 
■  :  w  ith  Special  Reference  to  the  Probability  of  the 
1  la  Coal-field  beneath  Essex  (twenty-eight  pages  and 

.>v.r.     Birmingham  (1894). 
In  ing,    Rev.    Dr.    \.      The    Question   of    Workable   Cail 
.McLiurcs  beneath    Essex.       Herts  and  Essex    Observer,    July 
14.   1894- 
Martin,  E.   A.     On  the  Underground  Geology  of  London. 
,■    Gossip,   No.    335,   pp.  251-254;  No.    337,  pp.  11-15 
•^o.  1893). 

I'rof.    .\.   W.,  and  Prof.   T.   E.  Thorpe.     Magnetic 

.  British  Isles,  Phil.  Trans.,  vol.  clxxxi.  (see  pp.  2S0, 

:e  14)  (1891) ;    A  [xjpular  account  by  Prof.  Riicker 

iile  Underground  Alountains,  Good  Words,  January* 

:  ^90. 

Toplcy,    W.     Coal  in  Kent.      Trans.  Fed.  Inst.  Min.  Eng., 

vol.  i.  pp.  376-387  (1892). 

VVTiilakcr,  W.  Coal  in  the  South-East  of  England,  Joiirn. 
Soc.  Arts,  vol.  xxxviii.  pp.  543-557  ;  Suggestions  on  Sites  for 
C<5al-scarch  in  the  South-East  of  England,  Geol.  Mag.  dec.  iii. 
vol.  \-ii.  lip.  514-516(1890). 

Wliit.ikcr.  \V. .  .-ind  A    J.  Jukes-Browne.     On  Deep  Borings 
'      '  Wiiikfield,   with  Notes  on   those  at  Ware  .iml 

.  '    /•'iirn.  Geol.  Soc,  vol.  i.  pp.  4S8-514  (1S94). 

Tl'  -Coal  Boring  and  Development  .Syndicate 

...  lis  by  T.  V.  Holmes.  J.  E.  Taylor,  and 

\\.  Will. IK.  r  TinMii  pages,  Svo.  I|)swich),  (1893).  Partly 
reprinleil  in  Essex  Naturalist. 

Omitted  from  Notice  in  1889. 

Drew,  F.  Is  there  Coal  under  London?  Science  for  All, 
V(,l.  V.  pp.  324-328. 

Kirkci.  A.  .Sur  rExtciuion  en  Anglctcrre  du  Bassin  houiller 
I  "  '.;•.•.     Ann.  Soc.  Giol.  Belg.  t.  x.  Bulletin,  \>\).  xcii.- 

I  'n  the  Prolnbility  of  Finding  Coal  in  the  .South- 
Ka-M  pp.  ii.  22  (8vo,  Keigatc),  (1886). 

To|  Ml   the  Correspondence  between  .some  Areas  of 

Apisuci.:  I  j  -■  .ival  and  the  Thickening  of  Subjacent  Beds. 
(,>iiirt.  friirii.  I, col.  Soc  ,  vol.  XXX.  (see  pp.  1 86,  190  195),  (1874). 
.See  alvi  .Mcm'iir  "  The  Geology  of  the  Weald,"  pp.  241,  242, 
pl.vi.  (1875J. 

NO.    I  35  I,  VOL.    52] 


SECTION  D. 

ZOOLOGY. 

Opening  Address  by  Willi.\m  A.  Herdman,  D.Sc,  F.  R.S., 
F.L.S.,  F.R.S  E.,  Professor  of  N.vrfiiAL  History  in 
University  College. 

This  year,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  the  British  Asso- 
ciation, Section  D  meets  without  including  in  the  range  of  its 
subject-matter  the  Science  of  Botany.  Zoology  now  remains  as 
the  sole  occupant  of  Section  D — that  "  Fourth  Committee  of 
Sciences,"  as  it  was  at  first  called,  more  than  sixty  years  ago, 
when  our  subject  was  one  of  that  groui>  of  biological  sciences, 
the  others  being  Botany,  Physiolog)-,  and  .\natomy.  These 
allied  sciences  have  successively  left  us.  Like  a  prolific  mother 
our  Section  has  given  rise  one  after  another  to  the  now  inde- 
|)endent  Sections  of  Anthropology,  Physiology,  and  Botany. 
Our  subject-matter  has  been  greatly  restricted  in  scope,  but  it  is 
still  very  wide — this  year,  when  Section  I,  devoted  to  the  more 
special  physiology  of  the  medical  physiologist,  does  not  meet, 
fK'ihaps  a  little  w  ider  than  it  may  be  in  other  years,  since  we  are 
on  this  occasion  credited  with  the  subject  "  .-Vnimal  Physiology  " 
— surely  always  an  integral  part  of  Zoology  !  It  is  to  be  hoped 
that  this  Secti<m  will  always  retain  that  general  and  comparative 
|)hysiology  which  is  inseparable  from  the  study  of  animal  form 
and  structure.  The  late  Wayntlete  Professor  of  Physiology  at 
Oxford,  in  his  Newcastle  address  to  this  Section,  s.iid  "  that 
every  appreciable  difference  in  structure  corresponds  to  a  ditVer- 
ence  of  function"  (Burdon-Sanderson,  "British  .Association 
Report"  for  lS89),and  his  successor,  the  present  Waynllete  Pro- 
fessor, has  shown  us  "  how  jwinlless  is  structure  apart  from 
function,  and  how  baseless  and  unstable  is  function  apart 
from  structure"  (Gotch,  "Presidential  -Address  to  Liverpool 
Biological  Society,"  vol.  ix.,  1894) — the  "argument  for  the 
simultaneous  examination  of  both  "  in  that  science  of  Zoology 
which  we  profess  is,  to  my  mind,  irresistible. 

We  include  also  in  our  subject-matter,  besides  the  adult  struc- 
ture and  the  embryonic  development  of  animals,  their  distribu- 
tion both  in  space  and  time,  the  history  and  structure  of  extinct 
forms,  spcciography  and  classification,  the  study  of  ihe  haliits 
of  animals  and  .all  that  mass  of  lore  and  philosophy  which 
has  gathered  around  inquiries  into  instinct,  breeding,  and 
heredity.  I  trust  that  the  discussion  of  matters  connected 
with  Evolution  will  always,  to  a  large  extent,  remain  with  this 
Section  D,  which  has  witnessed  in  the  past  the  addresses, 
papers,  discussions,  and  triumphs  of  Darwin,  Huxley,  and 
Wallace. 

When  the  British  Association  last  met  in  Ipswich,  in  1S51, 
Section  D,  under  the  presidency  of  Prof.  Ilenslow,  still  included 
Zoology,  Botany,  and  Physiology,  and  a  glance  tluough  the 
volumes  of  reports  for  that  and  neighbouring  years  recalls  to  us 
that  our  subject  has  undergone  great  and  striking  developments 
in  the  forty-four  years  that  have  claimed.  Zoology  was  still /»/•<■- 
Darwinian  (though  Charles  Darwin  was  then  in  the  thick  of  his 
epoch-making  work — both  what  he  calls  his  "  plain  barn.icle 
work"  and  his  "theoretic  si>ecies  work")  (see  "Life  and 
Letters,"  vol.  i.  p.  380).  Although  the  cell-theory  hail  been 
launched  a  decade  before,  zoologists  were  not  yet  greatly  con- 
cerned with  those  minute  structural  details  which  have  since 
built  up  the  .science  of  Histology.  The  heroes  of  our  science 
were  then  chiefly  those  glorious  field  naturalists,  observers,  and 
systcmatists  who  founded  and  established  on  a  firm  basis  British 
Marine  Zoology.  Edward  Forbes,  Joshua  Alder,  Albanj-  1  Ian- 
cock,  were  then  in  active  work,  lieorge  Johnston  was  at  his 
zoophytes,  Bowerbank  at  sponges.  Busk  at  polyzoa.  I'orlies' 
short  brilliant  career  was  nearly  run.  He  probably  did  mote 
than  any  of  his  contemporaries  to  .advance  marine  zoology.  In 
the  previous  year,  at  the  Edinburgh  meeting  of  the  A.ssociation, 
he  and  his  friend  M.ac.Andrew  had  read  their  classic  re|>urts 
("  British  .Association  Report  "  for  1850,  p.  192 — et  sci/.),  "  On 
the  Investigation  of  British  Marine  Zoology  by  Means  of  the 
Dredge,"  and  "On  .South  ICuropean  Marine  Invertcbrata," 
which  mark  the  high-water  level  reache<l  at  that  dale,  and  lor 
some  time  afterwards,  in  the  exploration  of  our  coasts  and  the 
explanation  of  the  distribution  of  our  marine  animals.  At  the 
Belfa.st  meeting,  which  followed  Ipswich,  Forbes  exhibited  his 
great  map  of  the  distribution  of  marine  lite  in  "  llomoiozoic 
Belts."  In  November  1854  he  was  dead,  six  months  after  his 
appointment  to  the  goal  of  his  ambition,  Ihe  professorship  at 
Edinburgh,  where,  had  he  lived,  there  can  be  no  doubt  he  would, 


September  19,  1895] 


NATURE 


495 


with  his  brilliant  ability  and  unique  personality,  have  founded  a 
great  school  of  Marine  Zoology. 

To  return  to  the  early  fifties,  Huxley — whose  recent  loss  to 
science,  to  philosophy,  to  culture,  we,  in  common  with  the 
civilised  world,  now  deplore — at  that  time  just  returned  from 
the  memorable  voyage  of  the  Kattlesiiakc,  was  opening  out  his 
newly  acquired  treasures  of  comparative  anatomy  witli  papers 
on  Siphonophora  and  on  Sagitta,  and  one  on  the  structure  of 
Ascidians,  in  which  he  urged — fourteen  years  before  Kowalevsky 
established  it  on  embryological  evidence  in  1866 — that  their  re- 
lations were  with  Amphioxus,  as  we  now  believe,  rather  than 
with  the  Polyzoa  or  the  Lamellibranchiata,  as  had  formerly  been 
supposed.  Bates  was  then  on  the  Amazons,  Wallace  was  just 
going  out  to  the  .Malay  Archipelago,  Wyville  Thomson,  Hincks, 
and  Carpenter,  the  successors  of  Forbes,  Johnston,  and  Alder, 
were  beginning  their  life-work.  Abroad  that  great  teacher  and 
investigator,  Johannes  Miiller,  was  training  amongst  his  pupils 
the  most  eminent  zoologists,  anatomists,  and  physiologists  of  the 
succeeding  cjuarter  centur)-.  In  this  country,  as  we  have  seen, 
Huxley  was  just  beginning  to  publish  that  splendid  series  (jf  re- 
searches into  the  structure  of  nearly  all  groups  in  the  animal 
kingdom,  to  which  comparative  anatomy  owes  so  much. 

In  fact,  the  few  years  before  and  after  the  last  Ipswich  meet- 
ing witnessed  the  activity  of  some  of  the  greatest  of  our  British 
zoologists — the  time  was  pregnant  with  work  which  has  .since 
advanced,  and  in  some  respects  revolutionised  our  subject.  It 
was  then  still  usual  for  the  naturalist  to  have  a  competent  know- 
ledge of  the  whole  range  of  the  natural  sciences.  Edward 
Forbes,  for  example,  was  a  botanist  and  a  geologist,  as  well  as  a 
zoologist.  1  le  occupied  the  chair  of  Botany  at  King's  College, 
London,  and  the  presidential  chair  of  the  Geological  Section  of 
the  British  Association  at  Liverpool  in  1S54.  That  excessive 
specialisation,  from  which  most  of  us  suffer  in  the  present  day, 
had  not  yet  arisen  ;  and  in  the  comprehensive,  but  perhaps  not 
very  detailed,  survey  of  his  subject  taken  by  one  of  the  field 
naturalists  of  that  time,  we  find  the  beginnings  of  different  lines 
of  work,  which  have  since  developed  into  some  half-dozen  dis- 
tinct departments  of  zoology,  are  now  often  studied  indepen- 
dently, and  are  in  some  real  danger  of  losing  touch  with  one 
another  (see  diagram). 

EVOLUTION 

^^  


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CCMPAR.AtJAT: 
I 

ANATomy 

\l 

MEDICAL 


The  spendid  anatomical  and  "  morphological  "  researches  of 
Huxley  and  Joliannes  .Muller  have  been  continued  by  the  more 
minute  histological  or  cellular  work   rendered  possible   by   im- 
provements of  the  microtome  and  the  microscope,  until  at   last 
I    in   these  latter   years  we   investigate   not    merely  the   cellular 
■    anatomy  of  the  \iO(\'j,hvA  the  anatomy  of  Ihc  cell —\i  miittiA  we 
I    are  permitted  to  talk  of  "cell"  at  all,  and  are  not  rather  con- 
Mi   strained  to  express  our   results  in  terms  of  "  cytomicrosomes," 
"  somacules,"  or  "  idiosomes,"and  to  regard  our  morphological 
unit,  the  cell,  as  a  symbiotic  community  containing  two  colonies 
of  totally  dissimilar  organisms  (see  Watas6  in   "  Wood's   Holl 
Biological  Lectures,"  1893).     To  such  cytological  investigations 
may   well    be   applied    Lord    Macaulay's   aphorism,   "  .\    point 

NO.    I35I,  VOL.   52] 


which  yesterday  was  invisible  is  its  goal  to-day,  and  will  be  its 

starting-point  to-morrow."   • 

Somewhat  similar  advances  in  methods  have  led  us  from  the 
life-histories  studied  of  old  to  the  new  and  fascinating  science  of 
embryology.  The  elder  Milne-Edwards  and  Van  Benedenknew 
that  in  their  life-histories  Ascidians  produced  tadpole-like  young. 
Kowalevsky  (1S66)  showed  that  in  their  embryonic  stages  these 
Ascidian  tadpoles  have  the  beginnings  of  their  chief  systems  of 
organs  formed  in  essentially  the  .same  manner  and  from  the 
same  embrj'onic  layers  as  in  the  case  of  the  frog's  tadpole 
or  any  other  typical  young  vertebrate  ;  and  now  we  are  not 
content  with  less  than  tracing  what  is  called  the  "cell-lineage" 
of  such  Ascidian  embryos,  so  as  to  show  the  ancestry  and  de- 
scendants, the  traditions,  peculiarities  of,  and  inlluencesat  work 
upon  each  of  the  embryonic  cells — or  areas  of  [jrotoplasm — 
throughout  many  complicated  stages.  And  there  is  now  open- 
ing up  from  this  a  great  new  field  of  experimental  and 
"mechanical'  embryologj-,  in  which  we  seek  the  clue  to  the 
explanation  of  particular  processes  and  changes  by  determining 
under  what  conditions  they  take  place,  and  how  they  are  affected 
by  altered  conditions.  We  are  brought  face  to  face  with  such 
curious  problems  as.  Why  does  a  frog's  egg,  in  the  two-celled 
stage,  of  which  one-half  has  been  destroyed,  develop  into 
half  an  embryo  when  it  is  kept  with  one  (the  black)  surface 
uppermost,  and  into — not  half  an  embryo,  but— a  whole  embryo 
of  half  the  usual  she  if  kept  with  the  other  (the  white)  surface 
upwards.  Apparently,  according  to  the  conditions  of  the  ex- 
periment, we  may  get  half  embryos  or  whole  embryos  of  half 
size  from  one  of  the  first  two  cells  of  the  frog's  egg.' 

One  of  the  most  characteristic  studies  of  the  older  field 
naturalists,  the  observation  of  habits,  has  now  become,  under 
the  influence  of  Darwinism,  the  "  Bionomics'"  of  the  present 
day,  the  study  of  the  relations  between  habit  and  structure  and 
environment — a  most  fascinating  and  promising  field  of  inves- 
tigation, which  may  be  confidently  expected  to  tell  us  much  in 
the  future  in  regard  to  the  competition  between  species,  and  the 
useful  or  indifferent  nature  of  specific  characters. 

Other  distinct  lines  of  zoological  investigation,  upon  which  I 
shall  not  dwell,  are  geographical  distribution  and  paUeontology 
— subjects  in  which  the  zoologist  comes  into  contact  with,  and 
may  be  of  some  service  to  his  fellow-workers  in  geolog>-.  And 
there  still  remains  the  central  avenue  of  the  wide  zoological 
domain — that  of  speciography  and  systematic  zoology — which 
has  been  cultivated  by  the  great  classifiers  and  monographers 
from  Linnaeus  to  H^eckel,  and  has  culminated  in  our  times  in 
the  magnificent  series  of  fifty  quarto  volumes,  setting  forth  the 
scientific  results  of  the  Challenger  Expedition  ;  a  voyage  of 
discovery  comparable  only  in  its  important  and  wide-reaching 
results  with  the  voyages  of  Columbus,  Gama  and  Magellan  at 
the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  now  so  long  since  the 
Challenger  investigations  commencetl  that  few  I  suppose  outside 
the  range  of  professional  zoologists  are  aware  that  although  the 
expedition  took  place  in  1872  to  1S76,  the  work  resulting  there- 
from has  been  going  on  actively  until  now — for  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century  in  all — and  in  a  sense,  and  a  very  real  one,  will 
never  cease,  for  the  Challenger  has  left  an  indelible  mark  upon 
science,  and  will  remain  through  the  ages  exercising  its  powerful, 
guiding  influence,  like  the  work  of  Aristotle,  Newton,  and 
Darwin. 

Most  of  the  authors  of  the  special  memoirs  on  the  sea  and  its 
various  kinds  of  inhabitants,  have  interpreted  in  a  liberal  spirit 
the  instructions  they  received  to  examine  and  describe  the  collec- 
tions entrusted  to  them,  and  have  given  us  very  valuable  sum- 
maries of  the  condition  of  our  knowledge  of  the  animals  in 
question,  while  some  of  the  reports  are  little  less  than  complete 
monographs  of  the  groups.  I  desire  to  ])ay  a  tribute  of  respect 
to  my  former  teacher  and  scientific  chief.  Sir  Wyville  Thomson, 
to  whose  initiative,  along  with  Dr.  W.  B.  Carpenter,  we  owe 
the  first  inception  of  our  now  celebrated  deep-sea  dredging  ex- 
peditions, and  to  whose  scientific  enthusiasm,  combined  with 
administrative  skill,  is  due  in  great  part  the  successful  accom- 
plishment of  the  Lightning,  the  Porcupine,  and  the  Challenger 
Expeditions.  Wyville  Thomson  lived  long  enough  to  super- 
intend the  first  examination  of  the  collections  brought  home, 
their  division  into  groups,  and  the  allotment  of  these  to  special- 
ists for  description.  He  enlisted  the  services  of  his  many  scien- 
tific friends  at  home  and  abroad,  he  arranged  the  general  plan 
of  the  work,  decided  upon  the  librm  of  publication,  and  died  in 

'  See  Morg.in,  ".An.lt.  .Anzeig.,"  iSg^j^x.  Bd.  p.  k-zx.  ;mtl  recent  p.in'TS  bv 
Roux   Hertwig,  Born,  and  O.  Schultze. 


496 


NATURE 


[September  19,  1895 


1SS2,  after  seeing  the  first  ten  or  twelve  zoolc^cal  reports  through 
the  press. 

Within  the  last  few  months  have  been  issued  the  two  con- 
cluding volumes  of  this  noble  series,  dealing  with  a  summary  of 
the  results,  conceived  and  written  in  a  masterly  manner  by  the 
;nt  editor  of  the  re|x>rts,  Dr.  John  Murray.  \n  event  of 
rstrate  importance  in  zoology  as  the  completion  of  this 
^.  ...L  work  ought  not  to  pass  unnoticed  at  this  zoological  gather- 
ing. I  desire  to  express  my  appreciation  and  admiration  of  Dr. 
Murray's  work,  and  I  do  not  doubt  that  the  Section  will  permit 
me  to  convey  to  Dr.  Murray  the  congratulations  of  the  zoologists 
present,  and  their  thanks  for  his  splendid  seruces  to  science. 
Murray,  in  these  "Summary"  volumes,  has  given  definiteness 
of  scojx;  and  purpose,  and  a  tremendous  impulse,  to  that  branch 
of  science — mainly  zoological — which  is  comins;  to  be  called 

Oceanography. 

Oceanography  is  the  meeting  ground  of  most  of  the  sciences. 
It  deals  with  botany  and  zoology, ' '  including  animal  physiology  "  ; 
chemistry,  physics,  mechanics,  meteorology,  and  geolog)- all  con- 
tribute, and  the  subject  is  of  course  intimately  connected  with 
geography,  and  has  an  incalculable  influence  upon  mankind,  his 
distribution,  characteristics,  commerce,  and  economics.  Thus 
oceanography,  one  of  the  latest  developments  of  marine  zoology, 
extends  into  the  domain  of,  and  ought  to  find  a  place  in,  every 
one  of  the  Sections  of  the  British  .\s.sociation. 

.•Uong  with  the  intense  specialisation  of  certain  lines  of  zoo- 
Ifigy  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  centur)-,  it  is  important 
to  -  notice    that    there    are   also    lines    of  investigation    which 
require  an  extended  knowledge  of,  or  at  least  make  use  of  the 
results  obtained  from,  various  distinct  subjects.     One  of  these  is 
oceanography,  another  is  bionomics,  which  I  have  referred  to 
.;1>  ^  c,  a  third  is  the  philosophy  of  zoolog)-,  or  all  those  studies 
liear  uiwn  the  theory  of  evolution,  and  a  fourth  is  the  in- 
itinn  of  practical  fisher)'  ])roblems — which  is  chiefly  an 
■  •f  marine  zoology.     Of  these  four  subjects — which 
\  ic  enough  in  the  detailed  investigation  of  any  (xir- 

li..,...,  ,.,-:.lem,  are  .synthetic  in  drawing  together  and  making 
use  of  the  various  divergent  branches  of  zoology  and  the  neigh- 
liouring  sciences — oceanography,  bionomics,  and  the  fisheries'  in- 
vestigation, are  most  closely  related,  and  I  desire  to  devote  the 
remainder  of  this  address  to  the  consideration  of  some  points  in 
connection  with  their  present  position. 

Dr.  Murray,  in  a  few  only  too  brief  paragraphs  at  the  end  of 
hi-  'ktailcd  summary  of  the  results  of  the  Challenger  Expedition, 
\i'     h  I  have  alluded  lo  above,  stales  some  of  the  views,  highly 
J  j.jstive  and  original,  at  which  he  has  himself  arrived  from  his 
;l-  ex|>erience.     Some  of  his  conclusions  are  very  valuable 
.    i nliutions  to  knowledge,  which  will  no  doubt  be  adopted  by 
ni.irine  zoologists.     Others,  I  venture  to  think,  are  less  sound 
and  well  Tiunded,  and  will  scarcely  stand  the  test  of  time  and 
furlher  experience.     But  f<ir  all  such  statements,  or  even  sug- 
j;c-iiin-,,  we  should  be  thankful.     They  do  much  to  stimulate 
f,  ,•    .r   i.s.arch,  they  serve,  if  they  can  neither  be  refuted  nor 
as  working  hypotheses  ;  and  even  if  they  have  to  lie 
I  dpandoned,  we  should  bear  in  mind  what  Darwin  has 

said  iij>  to  the  diflTcrence  in  their  influence  on  science  between 
erroneous  facts  and  erroneous  theories.  "  False  facts  are  highly 
i   ■  '  I   -s  of  science,  for  they  often  endure  long  ; 

I  orted  by  some  evidence,  do  little  harm, 

I   ,  .......  ..ilutary  pleasure  in  proving  their  falseness  ; 

and  when  this  is  done,  one  path  towards  error  is  closed,  and  the 
road  10  truth  is  often  at  the  same  time  opened  "  (Darwin,  "  The 
Descent  of  Man,"  second  cilit.  1882,  p.  606). 

Wiih  all  respect  for  Murray's  work,  and  fully  conscious'of  my 

lity  in  venturing  to  difl'er  from  one  who  has  had  such 

1  cxi)erience  of  the  sea  ami  its  problems,  I  am  con- 

■ ''v  di.s.agrecmcnt  with  some  of  his  conclusions. 

10  do  .so  by  the  belief  that   Murray  will 
1    .  >t  compliment  which  zoologists  can  pay 

to  luM  work  is  lo  give  it  careful,  detailed  consideration,  and  dis- 
c««»  it  '■riii'-nlly.     lie  will,  I  am  sure,  join  me  in  the  hope  that, 

V '  mine  prove  the  false  ones,  we  maybe  able, 

t  to   close   a    "path    towards    error,"   and 

;  '  •     I  ruth." 

I    which    Murray   lays   considerable 

•11  of  which  he  devotes  a  prominent 

•  Cicncral  Observations  on   the  Distribution  of 

lis,"  is  the  presence   of  what  he  has  called  a 

'   uij'J  IiiiL      .iruund   coasts  at  a  depth  of  about  one  hundred 

NO.  1 35 1,  vol..  52] 


fathoms.  It  is  the  point  "at  which  minute  particles  of  organic 
and  detrital  matters  in  the  form  of  mud  begin  to  settle  on  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean."  He  regards  it  as  the  great  feeding 
ground,  and  a  place  where  the  fauna  is  most  abundant,  and  from 
which  there  have  hived  ofl',  so  to  speak,  the  successive  swarms  or 
migrations  which  have  peopled  other  regions — the  deep  waters, 
the  open  sea,  the  shallow  waters  and  the  estuaries,  fresh  waters, 
and  land.  Murray  thus  gives  lo  his  mud-line  both  a  present  and 
an  historic  importance  which  can  scarcely  be  surpassed  in  the 
economy  of  life  on  this  globe.  I  take  it  that  the  historic  and  the 
present  imi)ortance  stand  or  fall  together — that  the  evidence  as 
to  the  origin  of  faunas  in  the  jiast  is  derived  from  their  distribu- 
tion at  the  present  day,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  Murray's 
opinion  as  to  the  distribution  of  anim.ils  in  regard  to  the  mud- 
line  is  not  entirely  in  accord  with  the  experience  of  specialists, 
and  is  not  based  upon  reliable  statistics.  Murray's  own  state- 
ment is("  C//<j//(-H.fir>- Expedition,  Summary,"  vol.  ii.  p.  1433)  • — 
"A  depth  is  reached  along  the  continental  shores  facing  the 
great  oceans  immediately  below  which  the  conditions  become 
nearly  uniform  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  where  the  fauna 
likewise  presents  a  great  uniformity.  This  depth  is  usually  not 
far  above  nor  far  below  the  loofathom  line,  and  is  marked  out 
by  what  I  have  elsewhere  designated  as  the  Mud-line.  .  .  . 
liere  is  situated  the  great  feeding  ground  in  the  ocean  .  .  ." 
and  he  then  goes  on  (p.  1434)  to  enumerate  the  Crustaceans, 
such  as  species  of  Calaniis,  Eiiclurla,  Pasipluca,  Crangon,  Calo- 
carts,  Panrialiis,  Hippolyte,  many  amphipods,  isopods,  and  im- 
mense numbers  of  schizojxids,  which  swarm,  with  fishes  and 
cephalopods,  immediately  over  this  mud  deposit.  Now  I  venture 
to  think  that  the  experience  of  some  of  those  who  have  studied 
the  marine  zoology  of  our  own  coasts  does  not  bear  out  this 
statement.  In  the  first  place,  our  experience  in  the  Irish  Sea  is 
that  mud  may  be  found  at  almost  any  depth,  but  is  ver)- varied  in 
its  nature  and  in  its  source.  There  may  even  be  mud  laid  dow  n 
between  tide  marks  in  an  estuary  where  a  very  considerable  cur- 
rent runs.  .\  deposit  of  mud  may  be  due  to  the  jiresence  of  an 
eddy  or  a  sheltered  corner  in  which  the  finer  particles  susjiended 
in  the  water  are  able  to  sink,  or  it  may  be  due  to  the  wearing 
away  of  a  limestone  beach,  or  to  quantities  of  alluvium  brought 
down  by  a  stream  from  the  land,  or  lo  the  presence  of  a  sub- 
merged bed  of  boulder  clay,  or  even,  in  some  places,  lo  the 
sewage  and  refuse  from  coast  towns.  Finally,  there  is  the  deep- 
water  mud,  a  very  slifl"  blue-grey  substance  which  sets,  when 
dried,  into  a  firm  clay,  and  this  is,  I  take  it,  the  mud  of  which 
Dr.  .Murray  writes.  But  in  none  of  these  cases,  and  certainly 
not  in  the  last  mentioned,  is  there  in  my  exi)crience  or  in  that  of 
several  other  naturalists  I  have  consulted,  any  rich  fauna  .associ- 
ated wilh  the  mud.  In  fact,  I  would  regard  mud  as  suppiuting 
a  comparatively  poor  fauna  as  compared  with  other  shallow 
water  deposits. 

For  practical  purposes,  round  our  own  British  coasts,  it  is  still 
convenient  to  make  use  of  the  zones  of  depth  marked  out  by 
Forbes.  The  first  of  these  is  the  "  Littoral  zone,"  the  space  lie- 
twcen  tide  marks,  characterised  by  the  abundance  of  sea-weeds, 
belonging  to  the  genera  I.uhina,  Fiiiiis,  Enteroinorpha,  Poly- 
siplionia,  and  others,  and  by  large  numbers  of  individuals  belong- 
ing lo  common  species  of  Palanns,  A/v/iliis,  Litlorina,  Pnipiira, 
and  Patella  amongst  animals.  "The  second  zone  is  the 
"  I.aminarian,''  which  extends  from  low-water  mark  to  a  deplh 
of  a  few  fathimis,  characterised  by  the  .abundant  growth  of  large 
sea-weeds  belonging  to  the  genera  I.aiiiinaria,  Alaria.  aiul 
Ilimanllialia,  and  by  the  presence  of  the  beautiful  red  seaweeds 
(Floride;v).  There  is  abundance  of  vegetable  food,  and  animals 
of  all  groups  swarm  in  this  zone,  the  numbers  both  of  species  and 
of  individuals  being  very  great.  The  genera  HeUion,  'J'rochu$, 
and  Laiuna  arc  characteristic  molluscan  forms  in  our  seas. 
Nest  comes  I'orbes'  "Coralline"  zone,  badly  so  nameil,  ex- 
tending from  ahoul  ten  to  forty  or  fifly  fathoms  or  so.  Mere  we 
arc  beyond  the  range  of  the  ordinary  sea-weeds,  but  the  cal- 
careous, coral-like  Nullipores  are  present  in  places  in  such 
abundance  as  to  make  up  deposits  covering  the  Moor  of  the  .sea 
for  miles.  Ilydroid  zoophytes  and  poly/oa  arc  also  aliundnnt, 
and  it  is  in  this  zone  that  we  find  the  shell-beds  lying  ofl'  our 
coasts,  produced  by  great  accumulations  of  species  of  Pnhn, 
Os/rea,  Peaiiiniiliis,  Piisns,  and  liiiuinnin,  and  forming  rich 
feeding  grounds  for  many  of  our  larger  fishes.  All  groups  of 
marine  animals  are  well  represented  in  this  zone,  and  .Inledon, 
Ophiolhrix,  Opli ioglypha,  Ehalia,  /nadiiis,  and  /iiirymniic.  may 
be  mentioned  as  characteristic  genera.  Lastly,  there  is  what  may 
be  a|)proprialely  called  the  zone  of  deep  mud  (although  Forbes 


September  19,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


497 


ilid  not  call  it  so),  extending  from  some  fifty  fathoms  down  to  (in 
our  seas)  one  hundred  or  so.  The  upper  liuiit  of  this  zone  is 
Murray's  mud-line.  We  come  upon  it  in  the  deep  fjord-like 
sea-lochs  on  the  west  of  Scotland,  and  in  the  Irish  Sea  to  the 
west  of  the  Isle  of  Man. 

Now  of  these  four  zones,  my  experience  is  that  the  last — that 
of  the  deep  mud — has  by  far  the  poorest  fauna  both  in  species 
and  in  individuals.  The  mud  has  a  peculiar  fauna  and  one  of 
great  interest  to  the  zoologist,  but  it  is  not  a  rkk  fauna.  It 
contains  some  rare  and  remarkable  animals  not  found  elsewhere, 
such  as  Calocaris  tiiaiandreic^  Pattthalis  oerstcdi^  l.ipobranckius 
ieffnysi,  Brissopsis  lyrifcra,  Amphiura  chiajii,  Isocardia  (or, 
and  Sagar/ia  herdiiiaiii :  and  a  few  striking  novelties  have  been 
described  from  it  of  late  years,  but  we  have  no  reason  to  believe 
that  the  number  of  these  is  great  compared  with  the  number  of 
animals  obtained  from  shallower  w'aters. 

Dr.  Murray  not  only  insists  upon  the  abundance  of  animals  on 
the  mud,  and  its  importance  as  the  great  feeding  ground  and 
place  of  origin  of  life  in  the  ocean,  but  he  also  (p.  1432)  draws 
conclusions  as  to  the  relative  numbers  of  animals  taken  by  a 
single  haul  of  the  trawl  in  deep  and  shallow  waters  which  can 
scarcely  be  received,  I  think,  by  marine  zoologists  without  a  pro- 
test. His  statement  runs  (p.  1432)  :  "  It  is  interesting  to  com- 
pare single  hauls  maile  in  the  deep  sea  and  in  shallow  water 
with  respect  to  the  numl)er  of  different  species  obtained.  For 
instance,  at  station  146  in  the  Southern  Ocean,  at  a  depth  of 
1375  fathoms  the  200  specimens  captured  belonged  to  59  genera 
and  78  species."  That  was  with  a  lo-foot  trawl  dragged  for  at 
most  two  miles  during  at  most  two  hours.  Murray  then  goes 
on  to  say  :  "  In  depths  less  than  50  fathoms,  on  the  other  hand, 
I  cannot  find  in  all  my  experiments  any  record  of  such  a  variety 
of  organisms  in  any  single  haul  even  when  using  much  larger 
trawls  and  dragging  over  much  greater  distances."  He  quotes 
the  statistics  of  the  Scottish  Fishery  Board's  trawlings  in  the 
North  Sea,  with  a  25-foot  trawl,  to  show  that  the  average  catch 
is  7  "3  species  of  invertebrata  and  8 '3  species  of  fish,  the  greatest 
number  of  both  together  recorded  in  one  haul  being  29  species. 
Murray's  own  trawlings  in  the  West  of  Scotland  gave  a  much 
greater  number  of  species,  sometimes  as  many  as  50,  "still  not 
such  a  great  variety  of  animals  as  was  procured  in  many  instances 
by  the  Challenger's  small  trawl  in  great  depths." 

Now,  in  the  fir.st  place,  it  is  curious  that  Murray's  own  table 
on  p.  1437,  in  which  he  shows  that  the  "  terrigenous"  deposits 
lying  along  the  shore-lines  yield  many  more  animals,  both 
specimens  and  species,  jier  haul,  than  do  the  "  jielagic  "  deposits  ^ 
at  greater  ilepths,  such  as  red  clays  and  globigerina  oozes,  seems 
directly  opposed  to  the  conclusion  <juoted  ai)ove.  In  the  second 
place,  I  am  afraid  that  Dr.  .Murray  has  misunderstood  the 
statistics  of  the  Scottish  Fishery  Board  when  he  quotes  them  as 
showing  that  only  7  "3  or  so  species  of  invertebrates  are  brought 
up,  on  the  average,  in  the  trawl  net.  I  happen  to  know  from 
Mr.  Thomas  Scott,  F.L.S.,  the  naturalist  who  has  compiled 
the  statistics  in  question,  and  also  from  my  own  observations 
when  on  board  the  Garland  on  one  of  her  ordinary  trawling 
expeditions,  that  the  invertelirata  noted  down  on  the  station 
sheet  are  merely  a  few  of  the  more  conspicuous  or  in  other  ways 
noteworthy  animals.  No  attempt  is  made — nor  could  possibly 
be  made  in  the  time — by  the  one  naturalist  who  has  to  attend 
to  tow-nets,  water-bottle,  the  kinds,  condition,  food,  &c.,  ofthe 
fish  caught  ami  other  matters — to  give  anything  like  a  complete 
or  even  approximate  list  of  the  species,  still  less  the  number  of 
individuals,  brought  up  in  the  trawl.  I  submit,  therefore,  that 
it  is  entirely  misleailing  to  compare  those  Scottish  Fishery 
Board  statistics,  which  were  not  meant  for  such  a  purpose,  but 
only  to  give  a  rough  idea  of  the  fauna  associated  with  the  fish 
upon  certain  grountls,  with  the  carefully  elaliorated  results, 
worked  out  at  leisure  by  many  specialists  in  their  laboratories, 
of  a  haul  of  the  C/ial/enger's  trawl.  Of  Dr.  Murray's  own 
iKiwIings  in  the  West  of  Scotland  I  cannot,  of  course,  speak  so 
Ijusitively  ;  but   I  shall  bo  surprised   to  learn  that  the  results  of 

'  One  of  [he  L-.irliest  of  the  Challenger  oceanographic  results,  the  classi- 

itioii  of  the  suhniariiie  tieposils  into  "terrigenous"  and  "pelagic,"  seems 

tilequate  to  represent  fully  the  facts  in  regard  to  sea-hottoms,  so    I   am 

]u>iJosinK  elsewhere  ("Report  of  Irish  Sea  Committee")  the  following  amended 

'  l.i^^itication  :— (i)  Terrigenous  (Murray),  where  the  deposit  is  formed  chiefly 

"t  mineral  panicles  derived  from  the  waste  of  the  land  ;  (2)  Neritic,  where 

'  '   deposit  is  chiefly  of  organic  origin,  and  is  derived   from  the  shells  and 

'  li'T  hard  parts  of  the  animals  and  plants  living  on   the  hottom  ;  (3)  Plank- 

iic  (Murray's  "  pelagic  "),  where  the  greater  part  of  the  deposit  is  formed 

Ml  the  remains  of  free-swinuiiing  animals  and  plants  which  lived  in  the  sea 

over  the  deposit. 


NO.    135  I,  VOL.   52] 


each  haul  were  as  carefully  preserved  and  as  fully  worked  out 
liy  specialists  as  were  the  Challenger  collections. 

Lastly,  on  the  next  Liverpool  Marine  Biology  Com- 
mittee's dredging  expedition  in  the  Irish  Sea  after  the 
appearance  of  Dr.  Murray's  volumes,  I  set  myself  to  determine 
the  species  taken  in  a  haul  of  the  trawl  for  comparison  with  the 
Challenger  numbers.  The  haul  was  taken  on  June  23,  at 
7  miles  west  from  Peel,  on  the  north  bank,  bottom  sand  and 
shells,  depth  21  fathoms,  with  a  trawl  of  only  4-foot  beam,  less 
than  half  the  size  of  the  Challenger  one,  and  it  was  not  down 
for  more  than  twenty  minutes.  I  noted  down  the  species  ob- 
served, and  I  filled  two  bottles  with  undetermined  stuff"  which 
my  a.ssistanl,  Mr.  Andrew  Scott,  and  I  examined  the  following 
day  in  the  laboratory.  Our  list  comes  to  at  least  112  species, 
belonging  to  at  least  103  genera.'  I  counted  120  duplicate 
specimens  which,  added  to  112,  gives  232  individuals,  but  there 
may  well  have  been  100  more.  This  experience,  then,  is  very 
different  from  Murray's,  and  gives  far  larger  numbers  in  every 
respect — sjjecimens,  species,  and  genera — than  even  the  Chal- 
lenger deep-water  haul  quoted.  I  append  my  list  of  species, - 
and  practised  marine  zoologists  will,  I  think,  see  at  a  glance 
that  it  is  nothing  out  of  the  way,  that  it  is  a  fairly  ordinary 
assemblage  of  not  uncommon  animals  such  as  is  frequently  met 
with  when  dredging  in  the  "coralline"  zone.  I  am  sure  that 
I  have  taken  better  netfuls  than  this  both  in  the  Irish  Sea  and 
on  the  West  of  Scotland. 

In  order  to  get  another  case  on  different  ground,  not  of  my 
own  choosing,  on  the  first  occasion  after  the  publication  of  Dr. 
Murray's  volumes,  when  I  was  out  witnessing  the  trawling  ob- 
servations of  the  Lancashire  Sea  Fisheries  steamer  fohn  Fell,  I 
counted,  with  the  help  of  my  assistant,  Mr.  .\ndrew  .Scf>tt,  and 
the  men  on  board,  the  results  of  the  first  haul  of  the  shrimp 
trawl,  It  was  taken  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mersey  estuary,  inside 
the  Liverpool  bar,  on  what  the  naturalist  would  consider  very 
unfavourable  ground,  with  a  bottom  of  muddy  sand,  at  a  depth 
of  6  fathoms.  The  shrimp  trawl  (li-inch  mesh)  was  down  for 
one  hour,  and  it  brought  up  over  seventeen  thousand  specimens, 
referable  to  at  least  39  species,^  belonging  to  34  genera.  These 
numbers  have  been  exceeded  on  many  other  hauls  taken  in  the 
ordinary  course  of  work  by  the  Fisheries  steamer  in  Liverpool 
Bay — for  example,  on  this  occasion  the  fish  numbered  5943,  and 

1  have  records  of  hauls  on  which  the  fish  numbered  over  20,000, 
and  the  total  catch  of  individual  animals  must  have  been  nearly 
50,000.  Can  any  of  Dr.  Murray's  hauls  on  the  deep  mud  beat 
these  figures  ? 

The  conclusion,  then,  at  which  I  arrive  in  regard  to  the  dis- 
tribution of  animals  in  deep  water  and  in  water  shallower  than 
50  fathoms,  from  my  own  experience  and  an  examination  of  the 
Challenger  results,  is  in  some  respects  the  reverse  of  Murray's. 
I  consider  that  there  are  more  species  and  more  individuals  in 
the  shallower  waters,  that  the  deep  mud  as  dredged  has  a  poor 
fauna,  that  the  "  Coralline  "  zone  has  a  much  richer  one,  and 
that  the  "  Laminarian  "  zime,  where  there  is  vegetable  as  well 
as  animal  food,  has  probably  the  richest  of  all. 

In  order  to  come  to  as  correct  a  conclusion  as  possible  on  the 
matter,  I  have  consultetl  several  other  naturalists  in  regard  to 
the  smaller  groups  of  more  or  less  free-swimming  Crustacea, 
such  as  Copepoda  and  Ostracoda,  which  I  thought  miglit  pos- 
sibly be  in  considerable  numbers  over  the  mud.  I  have  asked 
three  well-known  specialists  on  such  Crustaceans — viz..  Prof. 
G.  S.  Brady,  F.R.S.,  Mr.  Thomas  Scott,  F.L.S.,  and  Mr.  I.  C. 
Thompson,  F. L.S. — and  they  all  agree  in  stating  that,  although 
interesting  and  peculiar,  the  Copepoda  and  Ostracoda  from  the 
deep  mud  are  not  abundant  either  in  species  or  in  individuals. 

'  It  is  interesting,  in  connection  with  D.trwin's  opinion  that  .in  animal's 
most  formidable  competitors  in  the  struggle  for  existence  are  those  of  its 
own  kind  or  closely  allied  forms,  to  notice  the  large  proportion  of  gener.1  to 
species  in  such  hauls.  I  have  noticed  this  in  many  lists,  and  it  certainly 
suggests  that  closely  related  forms  are  comparatively  rarely  taken  together. 

2  See  Appendix,  p.  501. 
Mytiliis  cdulis 
Tellina  tenuis 
Mactra  stultomm 
Fltstts  antiquus 
Carcinus  ntiritas 
rortitnns,  sp. 
Kupngurus  hernhardui 
Crangon  z-iilgaris 

'  Sacciilina,  sp. 


3  'iolcft  vulgaris 
Pleuronectes plaiessa  I 
/-*.  limanda  \ 

Cadus  morrhua 
G.  ocgU'pinus 
G.  merlangus 
Clupea  sfralta 
C  hare*. 


nareugus 
Trachinus  vipcra 

Agoitus  cataphraetus    Some  Amphipoda 
Gol'ius  minutus  \  Lougiptdia  coroHata 

Kaia  elavata  Ect:»oso»ta  spiuipcs 

A*,  maculata  Sunaristes  paguri 


Dactyhpus  rostratxts 
Cletodcs  iiinicola 
Caligus,  sp. 
Flustra/oliaeea 
Aphrodite  aculeata 
Pcetiuaria  bclgiea 
Xereis,  sp. 
Astcrias  ntdeus 
Hydractinia  eehinaia 
Sertularia  abietina 
Hydrallmania/uUata 
Aurclia  aurita 
Cyanaa,  sp. 


498 


NA  TURE 


[September  19,  1S95 


III  answer  to  ihe  ijucslion  which  of  the  three  regions  (l)  the 
littoral  /'line,  (2)  from  low  water  to  20  fathoms,  and  (3)  from  20 
fathoms  onwards,  is  richest  in  small  free-swimming,  but  bottom- 
haunting,  Crustacea,  they  all  replieil  the  middle  region  from 
o  to  20  fathoms,  which  is  the  Uiminarian  zone  and  the  upper 
edge  of  the  Coralline.  Trof.  Brady  assures  me  that  nearly  every 
..ther  kind  of  bottom  and  locality  is  lieltcr  than  mud  for  obtain- 
la.  Mr.  T.  Scott  considers  that  Ostracoda  are  most 
shallow  water,  from  5  to  20  fathoms.  Me  tells  me 
,,....  .V-  ,.it  result  of  his  exiierience  in  Loch  Fync,  where  a  great 
|xirt  of  the  loch  is  deep,  the  richest  fauna  is  always  where  banks 
occur,  coming  up  to  about  20  fothoms,  and  having  the  bottom 
formed  of  sand,  gravel  and  shells.  The  fauna  on  and  over  such 
banks,  which  are  in  the  Coralline  zone,  is  much  richer  than  on 
the  deeper  mud  around  them.  On  an  ordinary  shelving  shore  on 
the  west  coast  of  Scotland  Mr.  Scott,  who  has  h.ad  great 
ex])erience  in  collecting,  considers  that  the  richest  fauna  is 
usually  at  about  20  fathoms.  My  own  experience  in  dredging  in 
N  Tway  is  the  same.  In  the  centre  of  the  fjords  in  deep  water 
:.  lie  mud  there  are  rare  forms,  but  ver)'  few  of  them,  while  in 
-l.il'.'.ver  water  at  the  sides,  above  the  mud,  on  gravel,  shells, 
rock,  and  other  bottoms,  there  is  a  very  abundant  fauna. 

Probably  no  group  of  animals  in  the  sea  is  of  so  much  im- 
pcirtance  from  the  point  of  view  of  food  as  the  Copepoda.    They 
fimn  a  great  part  of  the  food  of  whales,  and  of  herrings  and 
many    other    useful   fish,  both    in  the  adult  and  in    the   larval 
state,  as  well  as  of  innumerable  other  animals,  large  and  small. 
Consequently,  I  have  inquired  somewhat  carefully  into  their  dis- 
tribution in   the  sea,  with  the  assistance  of  Prof.    Brady,   Mr. 
.Scott,   and  Mr.   Thompson.     These  experienced  collectors   all 
that  Copepoda  are  most  abundant,  both  as  to  species  and 
iuals,    close    round    the  shore,   amongst  seaweeds,   or  in 
'    "  >'er  in  the   Laminarian   zone  over  a  weedy  bottom. 
I  ire  sometimes  extremely  abundant  on  the  surface  of 

ngst  the  plankton,  or  in  shore  pools  near  high  water, 
wlicrc,  amongst  Enleromorpha,  they  swarm  in  immense  profusion  ; 
b;it.  for  a  gathering  rich  in  individuals,  s|X'cies,  and  genera,  the 
I  '     collector    goes    to     the    shallow    waters    of    the 

1  zone.     In   regard  to  the  remaining,  higher,  groups 

...  1,1.  V  ,„^iacea  my  friend,  Mr.  Alfred  O.  Walker,  tells  me  that 
he  considers  them  most  abundant  at  depths  of  o  to  20  fathoms. 
I  hope  no  one  will  think  that  these  are  detailed  matters 
interesting  only  to  the  collector,  and  having  no  particular  bear- 
ing upon  the  great  jiroblems  of  biology.  The  sea  is  admittedly 
the  .starting-point  of  life  on  this  earth,  and  the  conclusions  we 
come  to  as  to  the  distribution  of  life  in  the  different  zones  must 

form  :  ■  '  ' '' ■  our  views  as  to  the  origin  ol  the  faunas — as  to 

ihe  1  :ie  deep  .sea,  the  shallow  waters,  and  the  land. 

Murr,  _  ,  ,  =  that  life  started  in  Pre-Cambrian  times  on  the 
mud,  and  from  there  spread  upwards  into  shallower,  waters, 
outwards  on  to  the  surface,  and,  a  good  deal  later,  downwards 
to  the  abysses  by  means  of  the  cold  polar  waters.  The  late 
Prof.  Moseley  considered  the  pelagic,  or  surface  life  of  the  ocean 
to  be  the  primitive  life  from  which  all  the  others  have  been 
derivc<l.  Prof.  W.  K.  Brooks  ("  The  Cienus  Salpa,"  1893.  p.  156, 
i;c.)  r..ii>ll.r,  ihit  there  w.-is  a  primitive  pelagic  fauna,  consisting 
of  til  licroscopic  plants  and  animals,  and  "that  pelagic 

lift  »  It  for  a  long  jieriod  during  which  the  bottom  was 

uninhabited." 

I.  on  the  other  hand,  for  the  reasons  given  fully  above,  con- 

■  irian  zone  close  to   low- water  mark  is  at 

life,  that   it   probably  has  been  so  in  the 

ts  t'l  express  a  more  tiefinile  opinion  as  to 

i.in    limes,   life   in  its  simplest  forips  first 

M-.LS^m  why  any  other  zone  should  be  con - 

.;  u  belter  claim  than  what  is  now  the  Laminarian 

n.     It  is  there,  at  present  at  any  rate,  in  the 

•  Laminarian  zone,  at  Ihe  point  of  junction  of 

r.  where  there  is  a  profusion  of  food,  where  the 

;  <luwn  by  streams  or  worn  away  from  Ihe  land 

'  <l,  where  the  animals  are  able  to  receive  the 

■if   light   and  heat,  o.xygen  and  food,  without 

■illy  to  the  air,  ram,  frost,  sun,  and  other 

•    itw  litiornl  zimc,  it  is  there  thai  life — it 

•rowih  most  active,  competition 

Mv,  that  Ihe  surrounding  con- 

.....  ,1   1;...  .    ..,.1     .1...^,....^,..   ii 


"Ulwa'd^  on  the  surlncc.  and  upwards  on  to  the  shore.     Pmally, 
-        ■-,51.  VOL.   52] 


it  is  in  this  Laminarian  zone,  protably,  that  under  Ihe  stress  of 
competition  between  individuals  and  between  allied  species 
evolution  of  new  fornis  by  means  of  natural  selection  has  been 
most  active.  Here,  at  any  rate,  we  find,  along  with  some  of  the 
most  primitive  of  animals,  some  of  thcmo.st  remarkably  modified 
forms,  and  some  of  the  most  curious  cases  of  minute  adaptation 
to  environment.     This  brings  us  to  the  subject  of 

BlOXO.MICS, 
which  deals  with    the  habits  and   variations  of  animals,  their 
modifications,  and  the  relations  of   these  modifications  to  the 
surrounding  conditions  of  existence. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  great  impetus  given  by  Darwin's  1 
work  to  biological  investigation  has  been  chiefly  directed  to  ' 
problems  of  structure  and  development,  and  not  so  much  to 
bionomics  until  lately,  \ariations  amongst  animals  in  a  state  of 
nature  is,  however,  at  last  beginning  to  receive  the  attention  it 
deserves.  Bateson  has  collected  together,  and  cl.-i.ssified  in  a 
most  useful  book  iif  reference,  the  numerous  scattered  observa- 
tions on  variation  made  by  many  investigators,  and  h;is  drawn 
from  some  of  these  cases  a  conclusion  in  regard  to  the  dis- 
continuity of  variation  which  many  field  zoologists  find  it  hard 
to  accept. 

Weldon  and  Karl  Pearson  have  recently  applied  the  metliods 
of  statistics  and  mathematics  to  the  study  of  individual  variation. 
This  method  of  investigation,  in  Prof.  Weldon's  hands,  may  be 
expected  to  yield  results  of  great  interest  in  regard  to  the 
influence  of  variations  in  the  young  animal  upon  the  chance  of 
survival,  and  so  upon  the  adult  characteristics  of  the  species. 
But  while  acknowledging  the  value  of  these  methods,  and 
admiring  the  skill  and  care  with  which  they  have  been  devised 
and  applied,  I  must  emphatically  protest  against  the  idea  which 
has  been  suggested,  that  only  by  such  mathematical  and  statistical 
methods  of  study  can  we  successfully  determine  the  influence  of 
the  environment  on  species,  gauge  the  utility  of  specific 
characters,  and  throw  further  light  upon  the  origin  of  species. 
For  iny  i>art,  I  believe  we  shall  gain  a  truer  insight  into  those 
mysteries  which  still  involve  variations  and  species  by  a  stuily  of 
the  characteristic  features  of  individuals,  varieties,  and  species 
in  a  living  state  in  relation  to  their  environment  and  habits.  The 
mode  of  work  of  the  old  field  naturalists,  supplemented  by  the 
apparatus  and  methods  of  the  modern  laboratory,  is,  I  believe, 
not  only  one  of  the  most  fascinating,  but  also  one  of  the  most 
profitable  fields  of  investigation  for  the  philosophical  zoologist. 
Such  studies  must  be  made  in  that  modern  nutconie  of  the  grow- 
ing needs  of  our  science,  the  Zoological  Station,  where  marine 
animals  can  be  kept  in  captivity  under  natural  conditions,  so 
that  their  habits  may  be  closely  ob.served,  and  where  we  can 
follow  out  the  old  )irecept  —first,  observation  and  reflection  ; 
then  experiment. 

The  biological  stations  of  the  [present  day  represent,  then,  a 
happy  union  of  the  field  work  of  the  older  naturalists  with  the 
laboratory  work  of  the  comparative  anatoniisi,  histologisl,  and 
embryologist.  They  are  the  culmination  of  the  ".\quarium" 
studies  of  Kingslcy  and  Cio-S-se,  and  of  the  feeling  in  both 
scientific  men  and  amateurs,  which  was  cxpres.sed  by  Ileibert 
Spencer  when  he  said  :  "  Whoever  at  tiie  seaside  has  not  had  a 
microscope  and  an  aquarium  has  yet  to  learn  what  the  highest 
pleasures  of  the  seaside  are."  Moreover,  I  feel  that  the 
biological  station  has  come  to  the  rescue,  at  a  critical  moment, 
of  our  lalioratory  worker  who,  without  its  healthy,  refreshing 
influence,  is  often  in  these  latter  days  in  peril  of  losing  his 
intellectual  life  in  the  weary  maze  of  microtome  methods  and 
transcendental  cytology.  Tlie  old  Circek  myth  of  the  Libyan 
giant,  Antxus,  who  wrestled  with  Hercules  and  regained  his 
strength  each  time  he  touched  his  mother  earlh,  is  true  at  least 
of  the  zoologist.  I  am  sure  he  derives  fresh  vigour  from  every 
direct  contact  with  living  nature. 

In  our  tanks  and  artificial  pools  we  can  reproduce  the  Littoral 
and  the  l^iminarian  zones  ;  we  can  see  the  methods  of  feeding 
and  breeding  -the  two  most  ])owerfnl  factors  in  influencing  an 
animal.  We  can  study  mimicry,  and  test  theories  of  protective 
and  warning  colouration. 

The  explanations  given  by  these  theories  of  the  varied  forms 
and  coUiurs  of  animals  were  first  applied  by  such  leaders  in  our 
science  as  Bales,  Wallace,  and  Darwin,  chiefly  to  insects  and 
birds,  but  have  lately  been  extended,  by  the  investigations  of 
(;iard,  (iarstang,  Clubb,  and  others,  to  the  case  of  marine 
animals.  I  may  mention  very  briefly  one  or  two  examples. 
Amongst  the  Nudibranchiate  Mollusca — familiar  animals  around 


September  19,  1895] 


NATURE 


499 


most  parts  of  our  British  coasts — we  meet  with  various  forms 
which  are  edible,  and,  so  far  as  we  know,  unprotected  by  any 
■defensive  or  offensive  apparatus.  Such  forms  are  usually  shaped 
or  coloured  so  as  to  resemble  more  or  less  their  surroundings, 
and  so  become  inconspicuous  in  their  natural  haunts.  Den- 
droiiotiis  aihorescens,  one  of  the  largest  and  most  handsome  of 
our  British  Nudibranchs,  is  such  a  case.  The  large,  branched 
]jrocesses  on  its  back,  and  its  rich  purple-brown  and  yellow 
markings,  tone  in  so  well  with  the  masses  of  brown  and  yellow 
zoophytes  and  purplish-red  seaweeds,  amongst  which  we  usually 
find  Deiidronotus,  that  it  becomes  very  completely  protected 
from  observation  ;  and,  as  I  know  from  my  own  experience,  the 
practised  eye  of  the  naturalist  may  fail  to  detect  it  lying  before 
him  in  the  tangled  forests  of  a  shore-pool. 

Other  Nudibranchs,  however,  belonging  to  the  genus  Eolis 
for  example,  are  coloured  in  such  a  brilliant  and  seemingly  crude 
manner,  that  they  do  not  tone  in  with  any  natural  surroundings, 
and  so  are  always  conspicuous.  They  are  active  in  their  habits, 
and  seem  rather  to  court  observation  than  to  shun  it.  When 
we  remember  that  such  species  of  Eolis  are  protected  by  the 
numerous  stinging  cells  in  the  cnidophorous  sacs  placed  on  the 
tips  of  all  the  dorsal  processes,  and  that  they  do  not  seem  to  be 
eaten  by  other  animals,  we  have  at  once  an  explanation  of 
their  fearless  habits  and  of  their  conspicuous  appearance.  The 
brilliant  colours  are  in  this  case  of  a  warning  nature,  for  the 
purpose  of  rendering  the  animal  provided  with  the  stinging  cells 
noticeable  and  recognisable.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that 
in  a  museum  jar,  or  in  a  laborator)'  dish,  or  as  an  illastralion  in 
a  book  or  on  the  wall,  Deiidrmiotus  is  quite  as  conspicuous  and 
striking  an  animal  as  Eolis.  In  order  to  interpret  correctly  the 
effect  of  their  forms  and  colours,  we  must  see  them  alive  and  at 
home,  and  we  must  experiment  upon  their  edibility  or  otherwise 
in  the  tanks  of  our  biological  stations.^ 

Let  me  give  you  one  more  exam])le  of  a  somewhat  different 
kind.  The  soft,  unprotected  mollusc,  Lamellaria  perspictia^ 
is  not  uncommonly  found  associated  (as  Giird  first  pointed  out) 
with  colonies  of  the  compound  Ascidian  I^ptoclintiin  macitlatiim, 
and  in  these  cases  the  Lamellaria  is  found  to  be  eating  the 
LeptoiltHitm,  and  lies  in  a  slight  cavity  which  it  has  excavated 
in  the  Ascidian  colony,  so  as  to  be  about  flush  with  the  general 
surface.  The  integument  of  the  mollusc  is,  both  in  general  tint 
and  also  in  surface  markings,  very  like  the  Ascidian  colony  with 
ilsscattere<l  ascidiozooids.  This  is  clearly  a  good  case  of  pro- 
tective colouring.  Presumably  the  Lamellaria  escapes  the 
observation  of  its  enemies  through  being  mistaken  for  a  part  of 
the  Leptciliiiuiii  colony  ;  and  the  Leploclinum,  being  crowded 
like  a  sponge  with  minute  sharp-pointed  spicules,  is,  I  suppose, 
avoided  as  inedible  by  carnivorous  animals,  which  might  devour 
such  things  as  the  soft  unprotected  mollu.sc.  But  the  presence 
of  the  spicules  evidently  does  not  protect  the  Leptoclinum  from 
Lamellaria,  so  that  we  have,  if  the  above  interpretation  is 
correct,  the  curious  result  that  the  Lamellaria  profits  by  a  pro- 
tective characteristic  of  the  Zcy>to/jK«/«,  for  which  it  has  itself 
no  respect,  or,  to  put  it  another  way,  the  Leploclinum  is  pro- 
tected against  enemies  to  some  extent  for  the  benefit  of  the 
L.amellaria,  which  preys  upon  its  vitals. 

It  is,  to  my  mind,  no  sufficient  objection  to  theories  of  pro- 
tective and  warning  colouration  that  careful  investigation  may 
from  time  to  time  reveal  cases  where  a  disguise  is  penetrated,  a 
jjrolection  frustrated,  an  offensive  device  supposed  to  confer 
inedibility  ajiparently  ignored.  We  nuist  bear  in  mind  that  the 
enemies,  as  well  as  their  l)rey,  are  exposed  to  comi^etition,  are 
subject  to  natural  selection,  are  undergoing  evolution  ;  that  the 
pursuers  and  the  pursued,  the  eaters  and  the  eaten,  have  been 
evolved  together ;  and  that  it  may  be  of  great  advantage  to  be 
protected  from  some,  even  if  not  from  all  enemies.  Just  as  on 
land,  some  animals  can  browse  upon  thistles  whose  "nemo  me 
impune  lacessit"  spines  are  supposed  lo  confer  immunity  from 
attack,  so  it  is  quite  in  accord  with  our  ide.is  of  evolution  by 
means  of  natural  selection  to  suppose  that  some  marine  animals 
have  evolved  an  indifference  to  the  noxious  sponge  or  to  the 
bristling  Ascidian,  which  are  able,  by  their  defensive  character- 
istics, like  the  thistle,  to  repel  the  majority  of  invaders. 

Although  we  can  keep  and  study  the  Littoral  and  Laminauan 
animals  at  ease  in  our  zoological  stations,  it  may  jierhaps  be 
(|uestioned  how  far  we  can  reproduce  in  our  exjierimental  and 
observational  tanks  the  conditions  of  the  "CoraUine"  and 
(he  "  Deep-mud  "  zones.     One  might  suppose  that  the  pressure 

}  See  my  experiments  on  Fishes  with  Nudibranchs,  in  Trans.  Biol.  Soc, 
C.iverpool,  vol.  iv.  p.  150  ;  and  Nature  for  June  26,  1890. 

NO.   I  35  I,  VOL.  52] 


— which  we  have  no  means  as  yet  for  supplying' — and  which  at 

30  fathoms  amounts  to  nearly  100  lbs.  on  the  square  inch,  and 
at  80  fathoms  to  about  240 lbs.,  or  over  2  cwt.  on  the  square 
inch,  would  be  an  essential  factor  in  the  life  conditions  of  the 
inhabitants  of  such  depths,  ajid  yet  we  have  kept  half  a  dozen 
specimens  of  Caloearis  macandrees,  dredged  from  70  to  80 
fathoms,  alive  at  the  Port  Erin  Biological  Station  for  several 
weeks  ;  we  have  had  both  the  red  and  the  yellow  forms  of 
Sareodiclyon  catenala,  dredged  from  30  to  40  fathoms,  in  a 
healthy  condition  with  the  polypes  freely  expanded  for  an  in- 
definite ])eriod  ;  and  Mr.  Arnold  Watson  has  kept  the  Polj-noid 
worm,  Panthalis  oerstedi,  from  the  deep  mud  at  over  50 fathoms, 
alive,  healthy,  and  building  its  tube  under  observation,  first  for 
a  week  at  the  Port  Erin  Station,  and  then  for  many  months  at 
Sheffield  in  a  comparatively  small  tank  with  no  depth  of  water. 
Consequently  it  seems  clear  that,  with  ordinary  care,  almost  any 
marine  animals  from  such  depths  as  are  found  within  the  British 
area  ir.ay  lie  kept  under  obser%ation  and  submitted  to  experiment 
in  healthy  and  fairly  natural  conditions.  The  Biological  Station, 
with  its  tanks,  is  in  fact  an  arrangement  whereby  we  bring  a 
portion  of  the  sea  with  its  rocks  and  bottom  de|»sits  and  sea- 
weeds, with  its  inhabitants  and  their  associates,  their  food  and 
their  enemies,  and  place  it  for  continuous  study  on  our  laboratory 
table.  It  enabUs  us  to  carr>'  on  the  bionomical  investigations 
to  which  we  look  for  information  as  to  the  methods  and  progress 
of  evolution  ;  in  it  lie  centred  our  hopes  of  a  comparative 
physiology  of  the  invertebrates — a  physiolog)'  not  wholly  medical 
— and  finally  to  the  Biological  Station  we  confidently  look  for 
help  in  connection  with  our  coast  fisheries.  This  brings  me  to 
the  last  subject  which  I  shall  touch  upon,  a  subject  closely  related 
both  to  Oceanography  and  Bionomics,  and  one  which  depends 
much  for  its  future  advance  upon  our  Biological  Stations — that  is 
the  subject  of 

Aquiculture, 

or  industrial  Ichthyology,  the  scientific  treatment  of  fishery  in- 
vestigations, a  subject  to  which  Prof.  M'Intosh  has  first  in  this 
country  directed  the  attention  of  zoologists,  and  in  which  he  has 
been  guiding  us  for  the  last  decade  by  his  admirable  researches. 
What  chemistry  is  to  the  aniline,  the  alkali,  and  some  other 
manufactures,  marine  zoologj-  is  to  our  fishing  industries. 

Although  zoology  has  never  appealed  to  popular  estimation  as 
a  directly  useful  .science  having  industrial  applications  in  the 
same  way  that  Chemistry  and  Physics  have  done,  and  con- 
sequently has  never  had  its  claims  as  a  subject  of  technical 
education  sufficiently  recognised  ;  still,  as  we  in  this  Section  are 
well  asvare,  our  subject  has  many  technical  applications  to  the 
arts  and  industries.  Biological  principles  dominate  medicine 
and  surgery.  Bacteriology,  brewing,  and  many  allied  subjects 
are  based  upon  the  study  of  microscopic  organisms.  Economic 
entomology  is  making  its  value  felt  in  agriculture.  Along  all 
these  and  other  lines  there  is  a  great  future  opening  up  before 
biology,  a  future  of  extended  usefulness,  oi  popular  appreciation, 
and  of  value  to  the  nation — and  not  the  least  important  of  these 
technical  applications  will,  I  am  convinced,  be  that  of  zoolog)' 
to  our  fishing  industries.  When  we  consider  their  enoniious 
annual  value — about  eight  millions  sterling  at  first  hand  to  the 
fisherman,  and  a  great  deal  more  than  that  by  the  time  the  pro- 
ducts reach  the  British  public,  when  we  remember  the  very  large 
proportion  of  our  population  who  make  their  living  directly  or 
indirectly  (as  boatbuilders,  net-makers,  i.\:c. )  from  the  fisheries, 
and  the  still  larger  proportion  who  dejiend  for  an  important 
element  in  their  food  supijly  upon  these  industries  ;  when  we 
think  of  what  we  pay  other  countries — Erance,  Holland,  Norway 
— for  oysters,  mussels,  lobsters,  <S:c.,  which  we  could  rear  in  this 
country  if  our  sea-shores  and  our  sea-bottom  were  properly 
cultivated  ;  and  when  we  remember  that  fisherj-  cultivation  or 
aquiculture  is  applied  zoology,  we  can  readily  realise  the  enor- 
mous value  to  the  nation  which  this  direct  application  of  our 
science  will  one  day  have — perhaps  I  ought  rather  to  say,  we 
can  scarcely  realise  the  extent  to  which  zoology  may  be  made 
the  guiding  science  of  a  great  national  industrj'.  The  flourish- 
ing shellfish  industries  of  France,  the  oyster  culture  at  Arcachon 
and  Marennes,  and  the  mussel  culture  by  bouchots  in  the  Bay 
of  Aiguillon,  show  what  can  be  done  as  the  result  of  encourage- 
ment  and   wise   assistance    from    Government,    with    constant 

t  Following  up  M.  Regnard's  experiments,  some  mechanical  .arrangement 
whereby  w.-Uer  could  t>e  kept  circulating  .ind  aerated  under  pressure  in  closed 
tanks  might  be  deWsed,  and  ought  to  be  tried  at  some  zoological  station.  I 
learn  from  the  Director  at  the  Plymouth  Station  that  some  of  the.  anim.tls 
from  deep  water,  such  as  Polyzoa,  do  not  expand  in  their  tanks. 


Soo 


NATURE 


[September  19,  1895 


industr}'  on  the  part  of  the  people,  directed  by  scientific  know- 
ledge. In  another  direction  the  successful  hatching  of  large 
numbers  (hundreds  of  million)  of  cod  and  plaice  by  Captain 
Danne\Tg  in  Norway,  and  by  the  Scottish  Fisher)-  Board  at 
Dunbar,  o|xrns  up  possibilities  of  immense  practical  value  in 
the  way  of  restocking  our  exhausted  bays  and  fishing  banks — 
depleted  by  the  over-trawling  of  the  last  few  decades. 

The  demand  for  the  produce  of  our  seas  is  very  great,  and 
would  probably  pay  well  for  an  incre;ised  supply.  Our  choicer 
fish  and  shellfish  are  becoming  rarer,  and  the  market  prices  are 
rising.  The  great  majority  of  our  oysters  are  imported  from 
France,  Holland,  and  .America.  Even  in  mussels  we  are  far 
from  being  able  to  meet  the  demand.  In  Scotland  alone  the 
long  line  fishermen  use  nearly  a  hundred  millions  of  mussels 
to  bait  their  hooks  ever)-  time  the  lines  are  set,  and  they  have 
to  import  annually  many  tons  of  these  mussels  at  a  cost  of  from 
£'^  to  ^■3  \os.  a  ton.  .  .   . 

Whether  the  wholesale  intrijduction  of  the  French  method  of 
mussel  culture,  by  means  of  houchots,  on  to  our  shores  would 
be  a  financial  success  is  doubtful.  Material  and  labour  arc 
dearer  here,  and  beds,  scars,  or  scalps  seem,  on  the  whole,  better 
fitted  to  our  local  conditions  ;  but  as  innumerable  young  mussels 
all  round  our  coast  perish  miserably  every  year  for  want  of  suit- 
able objects  to  attach  to,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt  that 
the  judicious  erection  of  simple  st.ikes  or  plain  bouchots  would 
ser\-e  a  useful  purpose,  at  any  rate  in  the  collection  of  seed,  even 
if  the  further  rearing  \k  carried  on  by  means  of  the  bed  system. 

.All  such  aipiicuhural  processes  require,  how-ever,  in  addition  to 
the  scientific  knowledge,  sufficient  capital.  They  cannot  be 
successfully  carried  out  on  a  small  scale.  When  the  zoologist 
has  once  shown  .xs  a  lalxiratory  ex|x;riment.  In  the  zoological 
station,  that  a  |iartlcular  thing  can  Ije  done — that  this  fish  can  be 
hatched  or  that  shellfish  reared  under  certain  conditions  which 
promise  to  be  an  industrial  success,  then  the  matter  should  be 
carried  out  by  the  tiovemmcnt'  or  by  capitalists  on  a  sufficiently 
large  scale  to  remove  the  risk  of  results  being  vitiated  by  leni- 
|K)rar)-  accident  or  Iwal  variation  in  the  conditions.  It  Is  con- 
trar)-,  however,  lo  our  English  traditions  for  Ciovernnicnl  to  help 
in  such  a  matter,  and  If  our  local  .Sea  Fisheries  Committees  have 
not  the  necessary  powers  nor  the  available  funds,  there  remains 
a  splendid  opportunity  for  opulent  landowners  to  erect  sea-fish 
hatcheries  on  the  shores  of  their  estates,  and  for  the  rich 
merchants  of  our  great  cities  to  establish  aquicullure  In  their  neigh- 
Ixjuring  estuaries,  and  by  so  doing.  Instruct  the  fishing  p<ipula- 
tion,  resuscitate  the  declining  industries,  and  cultivate  the  barren 
shores — in  all  reasonable  probability  to  their  ow  n  ultimate  profit. 

In  addition  to  the  farming  of  our  shores  there  is  a  great  deal 
to  be  done  in  promoting  the  fishing  Industries  on  the  inshore  and 
offshore  grounds  along  our  coast,  and  in  connection  with  such 
work  the  first  necessity  Is  a  thorough  scientific  exploration  of 
our  British  seas  by  means  of  a  completely  fitted  dredging  and 
trawling  expedition.  .Such  exploration  can  only  lie  dune  in 
little  bits,  spasmodically,  by  private  enterprise.  From  the  time 
of  Edward  Forljes  il  has  been  the  delight  of  British  marine 
zoologists  to  explore,  by  means  of  dredging  from  yachts  <ir  hired 
vessels  during  their  holidays,  whatever  areas  of  the  neighbouring 
seas  were  o[x;n  to  them.  Some  of  the  greatest  names  In  the 
roll  of  our  ziHilogists,  and  some  of  the  most  cre<litable  wiirk  In 
BritL,h  zoology,  will  .alwiiys  be  associated  with  dredging  expedi- 
tions. Forlies,  Wyville  Thomson,  Carpenter,  Gwyn  Jeffreys, 
M'Intosh,  and  Norman — one  can  scarcely  think  of  them  without 
recalling — 

"  Hurrah  for  the  dredge,  with  it.s  iron  edge, 
And  iu  my^licnl  triangle, 
.\nd  it-,  hided  net,  with  meshes  Mt, 
Odd  fi^hcA  to  entangle  I  "  2 

M  iineer  wurk  In   exploration   has  been  done   in  the 

1  .tnd  other  naturalists,  and  much  Is  now  being  done 

■'"-ally  by  committees  or  a.ssocl.ations — by  the  Dublin  Koyal 
.SrKriety  on  the  West  rif  Irclanil,  by  Ihe  Marine  Biological  .Vssocla- 

li   -      •  '" '     ly  the  Fisher)-  Board  In   Scotland,  and  by  the 

I  l!io|(,gy  Committee  in  the  Irish  .Sea  ;  hut   few 

'        „  ,;ical  committees  have  the  means,  Ihe  opportu- 

nity, the  lime  to  devote — along  with  their  professional  duties — 
to  thni '1'-(ailcd  syMcrnntir  survey  of  our  whole  Brillsh  sea-area 

'i.il  Itoard  or  (iovemment  llepanment  of 
tific  cxperu,  and  that  not  merely  for  the 
r,;uulalion«,  but  Mill  more,  in  order  llml 
'V  Ik;  instituted  .ind  .-i<|uicultural  cx|>eri- 

■  "Ir'-I^Hi^       'I,:'."       Nl- m"ir  ,jf  Edward  Korlics,"  p.  347). 

NO.   1351,  VOL.   52] 


\. 


which  is  really  required.  Those  who  have  not  had  experience  of  it 
can  scarcely  realise  how  much  time,  encrg)-,  and  money  it  requires 
to  keep  up  a  series  of  dredging  expeditions,  how  many  ilelays, 
disappointments,  expensive  accidents  and  real  hardships  there 
are,  and  how-  often  the  naturalist  is  tempted  to  leave  unprofitable 
grountl,  which  ought  to  be  carefully  worked  over,  for  some  more 
favoured  si>ot  where  he  knows  he  can  count  upon  good  spoil. 
.\nd  yet  it  is  very  necessary  that  the  whole  ground — good  or  bad 
though  It  may  be  from  the  zoological  point  of  view- — should  be 
thoroughly  surveyed,  physically  and  biologically,  in  order  that 
we  may  know  the  conditions  of  existence  which  environ  our 
fishes,  on  their  feeding  grounds,  their  spawning  grounds,  their 
"  nurseries,"  or  wherever  they  may  be. 

The  British  I'lovernment  has  done  a  noble  piece  of  work  which 
will  reilound  lo  its  everlasting  credit  in  providing  for,  and  carry- 
ing out,  the  Challenger  exi>e(lltlon.  Now  that  that  great  en- 
terprise is  completed,  and  that  the  whole  scientific  worUI  Is  united 
in  appreciation  of  the  results  obtained,  it  would  be  a  glorious 
consequence,  and  surely  a  ver)'  wise  action  in  the  interests  of  the 
national  fisheries,  for  the  Covernment  to  fit  out  an  expedition, 
in  charge  of  two  or  three  zoologists  and  fisheries  experts,  to 
spenil  a  couple  of  years  In  exploring  more  systematically  than 
has  yet  been  done,  or  can  otherwise  be  ilone,  our  British  coasts 
from  the  Laminarian  zone  down  to  the  deep  nuul.  No  one  could 
be  better  fitted  to  organise  and  direct  such  an  expedition  than 
Dr.  John  Murray. 

Such  a  detailed  survey  of  the  bottom  and  the  surface  waters, 
of  their  conditions  and  their  contents,  at  all  times  of  the  year 
for  a  couple  of  years,  would  give  us  the  kind  of  Information  we 
require  for  the  solution  of  some  of  the  more  difficult  fishery 
problems — such  as  the  extent  and  causes  of  the  wanderings  of 
our  fishes,  which  "  nurseries"  are  supplied  by  particular  spawn- 
ing grounds,  Ihe  reason  of  the  sudden  disappearance  of  a  fish 
such  as  the  haddock  from  a  locality,  and  in  general  the  history 
of  our  food  fishes  throughout  the  year.  It  Is  creditable  to  our 
(jovernment  tti  have  done  the  jiloneer  work  in  exploring  llie 
great  ocean,  but  surely  il  would  be  at  le.asl  equally  creditable  to 
them — and  perhaps  more  directly  and  Immediately  profitable,  if 
they  look  for  son>e  such  return  from  scientific  work — to  explore 
our  own  seas  and  our  own  sea-fisheries. 

There  is  still  another  subject  connected  with  the  fisheries 
which  the  the  biologist  can  do  much  to  elucidate — I  mean  the 
diseases  of  edible  animals  and  the  effect  upon  man  of  the  various 
diseased  conditions.  Il  is  well  known  thai  the  consumjHion  of 
mus.sels  taken  from  stagnant  or  Impure  water  Is  someliuies  fol- 
lowed by  severe  symptoms  of  irritant  poisoning  which  may  result 
in  rapid  death.  This  "  musselling  "  is  due  lo  the  presence  of 
an  organic  alkaloid  or  ptomaine,  in  the  liver  of  Ihe  mollusc, 
formed  doubtless  by  a  micro-organism  in  the  Impure  water.  It 
Is  clearly  of  ihe  greatest  imporlance  lo  determine  accur.alcly 
under  what  conditions  the  mussel  can  become  liifecud  by  the 
micro-organism,  in  what  stage  it  is  Injurious  lo  man,  and 
whether,  as  Is  sup]Hised,  sleeping  in  pure  water  « ilh  or  wllhout 
the  addition  of  carbonate  of  soda  will  render  poisonous  mussels 
fit  for  food. 

During  this  last  year  there  has  been  an  outcry,  almost 
amounting  lo  a  scare,  and  seriously  allecting  the  market,' as  to 
the  supposed  connection  between  oysters  taken  from  con- 
laminaled  water  and  tyjihoid  fever.  This,  like  the  musselling, 
is  clearly  a  case  for  scientific  Investigation,  and,  with  my  col- 
league, Prof.  Boyce,  I  have  commenced  a  series  of  experiments 
and  observations,  |)arlly  at  the  Port  Krin  Biological  Station, 
where  we  have  oysters  laid  down  on  ilifl'erent  ]iarts  of  the  shore 
under  ver)-  different  conilltlims,  as  well  as  in  dishes  and  tanks, 
and  partly  at  I'niversily  College,  Liverpool. 

Our  object  is  lo  determine  the  effect  of  various  conditions  of 
water  and  bottom  upon  the  life  antl  health  of  the  oyster,  the 
effect  of  the  additicm  of  various  impurities  lo  the  water,  the  con- 
ditions under  which  the  oyster  becomes  Infected  with  the  typhoid 
liacilhis,  and  ihe  resulting  effect  ujion  the  oyster,  the  period 
during  which  the  oyster  remains  infectious,  and  l.-vstly,  whether 
any  simple  pr.icllcable  mea.sures  can  be  taken  (I)  to  determine 
whether  an  oyster  Is  Inferted  with  typhoid,  and  (2)  to  reniler  such 
an  oyslcr  innocuous  to  man.  .\s  Prof.  Hoyce  and  I  propose  to  l.iy 
a  i>aper  upon  this  subject  before  the  Section,  I  shall  not  occupy 
further  time  now  by  a  statemcnl  of  our  methods  and  results. 

I  have  proUilily  already  sufficiently  Indicaled  lo  you  ihe 
exicnl  and   lm|)orlance  of  the   applications  of   our  science  to 

I  I  am  told  ih.1t  lictwecn  December  and  March  the  oyster  Irade  decreased 
75  per  cent. 


StPTK.MijKR 


-'way.  >o  bir  in  n,in'cr,  a.  'h'"  as"'" '"  "■"'"'"^•'^>  ''^  °"ght 
oonnccon  with  fisheries  invest  sai'n  ^  u'  ';«P""«ibilities^-n 
the  results  of  his  work.  Private  tnemri  ■  "t  ■  '''^'''^"''-^  "!»" 
;%'"lat.ons,  and  even  imncrhleH",' ,'""''' '"'^■'''=  "P'"ion,  lical 
'"■^  J>-ci.sions.  He  ougit  ^.'ifl'",  ""'  "''''>■  «"  he  affect'ed  by 
"Pon  weighty  .natters.  S  am  conWnce,  h  ?'".  '",  ^°"^'"^ions 
lines  of  research  in   tnociern  zoo"o^       .  "'^  ""  "^<=  ^-^rie'l 

more  interesting  and  intricate  Sh;,se"^f  1™"'^'"-^  P™"^'"^"'^ 
S'-ai'hy,  and  the  fisheries,  and  onhe  n  '"°."">"'«,  oceano- 
connected  with  our  fi-sher  es  are  certainlv  '  f .f  T'  ""=  P"'''^'"^ 
not  the  least  intricate,  and  notThe  '  ''  ^  "  ""•"  '''''^'  interesting, 
"Pon  the  welfare  of , nankind  '  ""Portant  in  their  bearing 


Appe.ndi.x. 
L'^t  of  Species  taken  in  one  haul,  on  June  ■>,    ,Sq-  (  . 
Sfo.NCKs :  ,  "•"  ^^^  ^"^"^  P-  497). 


J^enicra,  sp. 
^'tlichondria,  sp. 
Cliona  cclata 
Siiherilcs  domiiiiaila 
C/!a/iiia  oailata 

COELE.NTERATA  : 
■DiiOryiie  lOiifirla 
Jiakiiitm  lialeciuum 
■Sc-rtii/an'ct  abictina 
Coppinia  an/a 
J^ydra/lmaiiia  faleala 
(-ampanu/aria  vertuillata 
'.afoca  ditiiiosa 
Aiilenmilaria  ramosa 
^i/O'oiiiiim  digitatiim 
I  irgii/aria  mirabilis 
Sanodulym,  cateitala 
Sagariia,  sp. 
Adamsia  palliala 
ECHI.NODERMAT.V  : 
Citciimaria,  sp. 
Thyone  fnstis 
Aslerias  miens 
So/asltr  papposiis 
^tic/iasler  rosetis 
Poiaiiiapulvilltis 
Palmipts  placenta 
Opiiiocoiiia  nigra 
Ophiol/irix  fragi/is 
Amphinra  cinajii 
Ophioglypha  ci/iata 
O.  albida 
Echinus  splucra 
Spatangns  piirpiirens 
£cliino,ardiiim  cordalum 
Di-issopsis  lyrifera 
Eihinocyamiis  piisillus 
Vermes  : 

Nemertes  neesii 
Clueloplcnts,  sp. 
Spiiorbis,  sp. 
Setpiila,  sp. 
Sabella,  sp. 
O-^veniafilifonnis 
Apliiodilc  aculeata 
Polynoc,  sp. 

Ckl'siacea  : 

Scalpcllum  vnlgare 

J^alanus,  sp. 

Cyclopieera  nigripes 
Aconliopltants  elongatits 
Artolrogiis  magniccps 
JJyspotitins  sIriaUis 
Zaiis  goodsiri 
J-aopltonle  titoraciea 
Stenlielia  rejlexa 

^'(lioinolgus  forjicnla 
Anonyx,  sp. 

NO.    135  I,   VOL.    C 


Galatlica  intermedia 
Munida  bamffiea 
Crangon  spinosus 
'1'i!"oi-/iync/,ns  restrains 
Jnaclnis  dorsettensis 
ffyas  eoarctatns 
Xan/iio  tnberailatus 
J  orlnnns  pnsillus 

^npagnrns  bernkardus 

^--  prideauxii 

E.  ciianensis 

E 'try name  aspcra 

Ebalia  Inberosa 
POLYZOA  : 

Pediieiii/ia  cernua 

Tniiiiipora,  sp. 

Crisia  cornula 

Cellepora  pumicosa,  and 
three  or  four  undeter- 
mined species  of  Lepra- 

Elnstra  sectiri/rons 
S<r,,poeellaria  reptans 
^':'l>ilartaJisti,losa 
Moi.i.t'scA  : 

Anomia  epiiippiunc 
Ostrea  ednlis 

Pecten  maximiis 

P.  opcnularis 

P-  liS''inus 

P-  pusio 

Mytilns  modiolus 

N'lcula  nucleus 

Cardium  echinatum 

^'"ocardium  norvegicum 
(-yprtna  islaiidica 
Sokn  pellucidus 
Venus  galliiia 
Lyonsia  nonvgica 

Scrobicularia  prismatica 
Astarte  sulcata 

Modiolaria  marmorata 

^axicava  rugosa 

C/iiton,  sp. 

Dentalium  entale 

Emarginula  fissura 

Velutina  lievigata 

Turritella  terebra 

Natica  alderi 

Fusus  antii/uus 

Aporrhats  pespelicani 

(^^(anius  membranaeeus 
JJoris,  sp. 

Eolis  coronata 

Tritonia  plebeia 
TU.VICATA  : 
Ascidiella  virginea 
Styelopsis  grossularia 
^KO'ra  glutinans 
Jiotryllus,  sn 
P;  sp. 


SECTION   G. 

MKCHAMCAL  SCIENCE 

OfKxtx.  At,,.Ess  -  L^4  V^NcHARcoua.,  M.A., 

T,.c  y^',""''"''""  °'  Engineering  to  Science. 
^..te<ri^l^-;;:„:^A^^ect  ^=jn  i^ugtira,  address,  neces- 
Section,  has  been  rendered  nprnlP?  '"«  "f  Pfesiding  over  this 
of  ..he  numerous  airaddr^rs^s  delke'r^r'''  ''""^  ""  '"^™""' 
eminent  predecessors  in  ths  office   ,n  1    ?     I"  P^^'  ^^^'^  ^y  ■")' 
that   the  branches  of   engrnS  in      h''^' '''" '^''*=""^^'='"<=^ 
fosional  life  has  been  devoed  hi?  '"/^^'.^h  most  of  my  pro- 
-ith    mechanical    science  Is   some  "o,h"  ''''"T'  "^  connection 
former  Presidents  of  Section  (    T       r'"'"-     •^^o-'eover,    whilst 
addresses,  with  the  progress  of   hn^r'  '^^«lf"">'  <l<--alt,  in  their 
•ngin  which  they  haTl  tl  .1,'^'^'''''^''^""'''^'"^ ^"^'"-^^^^ 
course,  inthepre  ent   nstance   wn  t'',T'"^'  '^■"Penence,  luch  a 
'langer  of  merely  repeatiSon?,      ^'1  '^^-P''-''^''   '"^   '°  ">e 
already  recorded  Ttl'ro!^Z'°'Y"u    T'""''"^  "P'"'""'^ 
Engineers,  and  in  other  ..ubt^T'^  ■"'^  Institution  of  Civil 

and  hydraulic  engi,°eerine  t  w''  ^""V'-^ff  ^"^e  to  maritime 
that  the  exce|>tina,  of;a.sion^f  T.'r''"^'^''"PP^"'""'  '°  ""^ 
scientific  persons,  and  of  en^  n^erf  l'^'^"''']'}^  a  gathering  of 
■science  by  attend  nfTh^^^-  "'''°  "^^"fy  their  interest  in 
considerinV'he  Jllu'on  "V'!;'"^^'  .^™"'d  be  best  utilised  b  y 
maritime  a'-nd  hydraulic  ^iteHn'"^'"'"'"?  "'  S'^""="'  -"d 
scence,  and  the  means  bwhifh'V'"'"''^'^  '''^^^ 
science  might  be  best  promote  ^nd'?^'"''  '"  ^g'-^'^cring 
creased.  promoted,  and  its  scope  and  utility  in- 

"tt:;f:[T.i::cU,:gtrra'  <^^fi"-- ^^-vi,  engineering  as 
,  the   use   and   con venilnce^  of    f °"'''-f '  4^[  P°*"  '"  nature^or 
tlcfined  it,  in  1828   as   ".h-^  ■  ""'    Tredgold   also 

'  '"^"^"''^'-cite'f  nl',K^^^  application  of  the  most 
s'derable  degree  reahsed  the  n'  '"P^^  ''^"=^  ^^'-  '"  =»  <:on- 
the  aspect  and  state  of  afi-ats  in  Tr''°i."r^  Bacon  and  changed 
fluence  of  engineering  cou  d  Z  ^'  ^^°''  "'"''^•"  ^^  '^e  in- 
railways  and  lea  ishfps  were  i,  hei^ '1"''^'=^  '"  '^'^'  "^en 
telegraph  and  the  various  mode  n  i-'"'^"''>'  ^"^  ""=  electric 
magnetism  had  not  com"  "to  f  ,^PP""^t"°"'  °^  electricity  and 
^^  the  present   da  ■  Xn  the     '  ',''°"' '^^'^  "'"^"^ '™«  >^  « 

have  attained  such  a  marvdlo,,  7°"',  '"'^^'^hes  of  engineering 
realised,  at  that  earlV  late  t'h  "  tt''  °'''"™' '  Tredgold  also 
must  be  further  directed  so  a  to  .■  '^'T""'  "^  '^e  engineer 
of  nature,  such  as  floods,  stoms  aTd'nn':'^  >"^'  '"J"?°"^  '"-'^■^ 
thus  protect  men  from  harm  .ffj^ti  ""^^">t'-"-y  conditions,  and 
Moreover,  he  foresaw  t  %l  '''  ''[T°'"  '^'"-  "ell-being, 
possessed  by  engineerTn.  and  i"^  capabihfes  of  development 
he  stated  that  '•  the  rea"exu  n       '  ''^P^'^'^'^e  on  science;   for 

be  applied  is  limited  on  /  by  the  pr^'^ess  "}''  '"^'""""^  '"=»' 
and  utility  will  l,e  increased  wiih  P^S"^":"  °^  '^'^'cnce  ;  its  scope 
and  its  resources  wi"h  eve„  invenHnn^'  ''"^r''^-  '"  P^ilo^o,* y, 
art,  since  its  hounds  are  unli  ted  and"  "'"'^r'^^  "'  "chemical 
researches  of  its  profess  s''rf' rfM*"'"''-^°  '""''  '^e  the 
■statements  may  be'^  accmed  .s  /  "  ^""  ^'.g'"hcance  of  these 
claimtohavearighttosav  "'"a  '•''  '"^'"'^"^  might  fairlv 
men  of  science,  and  nol  r'anch  \,f  "^"''"'  ■'"''  ^'^  necessarily 
V  nee."  It  might,  howeve^^  be  sak  7hT"  "  "■"^''^'^  <""■  P'°- 
absorbing  professional  avop'.  on  mV"°  '^"g'neer,  with  his 

even  the^  rudiineu  of  he  inci,«l"  '''?  "^^"'"'^ '°  ^<^q'"^<-- 
their   e^■er-increasing    levdo  m  n  "'"]^^'''  "f  science,  with 

which  the  life-work  of  mt„v'erne-i'  'k"    ''"'^^  "^  ^^'^^    o{ 

of  nature  is  wholly  'lev  S  Ne  '  !f 'i''^^''-^  T"  '^'^  ''"^'^ 
fcence,  such  as  ph  sioloir  •  bioli,  '?''  =*  ^"^"^  '"~-"'<^hes  of 

heyond  the  scope  of  ra"tical™i'n  "■  '"''"V-  ''^'P'^'  '«  ^e 
acquaintance  wilh  sonil  m  e^\n";^rsSVo:  f '  ^'  T'^?'^'' 
engineer,  e\cem   in   r,.rf-,;n  .^V,        '^c  lor  the  needs  of  the 

it  can  readily 'be  b^  the  "ad  S'lfr"'^'''--^;-™^^P''--'"'-'"''^''."^ 
cases.  '   ^    ""^  ''""•^'^  of  a -specmlist  in  complicated 

matrfeSd  Ts':ffhf2si;rr°^  "^^  -^■■"-'  -- 

matics  and  physics,  utxnwhir^ih  ™P""''"='^.  "■''mely,  mathe- 
depends  ;  alidVithZTn^deo  .at^  TnZll  ''"tr""^  '»-"'>• 
son  should  be  able  at  the  present  d-iwo  n,'''''  f  "'""-''  "°  l""''- 
a  civil  engineer.     Other  s^iencTs  of  -  '"■^'"/I'e  profession   of 

an  enhai^ii  ^^^1):%^::^^:::!:^:  Z:!^:^- -^^'^ 


50^ 


NA  TURE 


[September  19,  1895 


Miit/umatics  in  AWatinii  to  Eiigiiueriiig. — The  pre-eminent 
impirtance  of  mathematics  in  relation  to  engineering  may  be 
accepted  as  fully  established  ;  and  a  President  of  the  Institution 
of  CiNTl  Engineers  would  not  now  tell  a  pupil,  at  their  first 
interWew,  that  he  had  done  verj'  well  without  mathematics,  a 
remark  made  to  me  by  a  justly  celebrated  engineer  over  thirty 
years  ago. 

Suri-ej-ing,  which  is  the  handmaid  of  civil  engineering,  depends 
upon  the  principles  of  geometrj-  for  its  accuracy  ;  and  ordinary 
triangulation,  geodesy,  and  the  rapid  method  of  surveying  and 
taking  levels  in  rough  country,  known  as  tacheometry,  are  based 
on  trigonometry  and  aided  by  logarithms.  Tacheometry,  indeed, 
though  carried  out  by  means  of  a  s|>ecially  constructed  theodolite, 
may  \x  regarde<l  as  the  practical  application  of  the  familiar 
problem  in  trigonometry  of  finding  the  height  and  distance  of 
an  inaccessible  tower.  A  proposition  of  Euclid  forms  the  basis 
of  the  simplest  and  speediest  method  of  setting  out  circular  curves 
for  railways  ;  whilst  astronomy  has  been  resorted  to  for  facilitat- 
ing sur\eying  in  une.\plored  regions.  The  laws  of  statics  are 
involved  in  the  design  of  bridges,  especially  those  of  large  span, 
and  also  of  masonry  dams,  roofs,  floors,  columns,  and  other 
stmctures  ;  whilst  torsion,  internal  ballistics,  the  trajectory  of  a 
projectile,  the  forces  of  impact,  and  the  stoppage  of  a  railway 
train  are  dynamical  problems.  Hydrostatics  and  hydrodynamics 
provide  the  foundation  of  hydraulic  engineering  ;  though,  owing 
to  the  complicated  nature  of  the  flow  of  water,  observations  and 
experiments  have  been  necessary  for  obtaining  correct  formula;  of 
discharge.  Geometrical  optics  has  been  employed  for  deter- 
mining the  forms  of  the  lenses  for  giving  a  parallel  direction  to 
the  rays  i>rix:eeding  front  the  lamps  of  a  lighthouse,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  jirinciples  laid  down  by  I'resnel.  The  theory 
of  the  tides,  the  tide  tables  giving  the  predicted  tidal  rise  at  the 
principal  ports,  and  wave  motion — questions  of  considerable 
importance  to  the  harb<™r  engineer — depend  upon  mathematical 
and  astronomical  calculations  ;  whilst  the  stability  and  rolling  of 
ships,  the  lines  for  a  vessel  of  least  resistance  in  pa.ssing  through 
water,  and  the  dimensions  and  form  of  screw-propellers,  to 
obtain  the  greatest  s[x'ed  with  a  given  expenditure  of  power, 
have  lx*en  determine*!  by  mathematical  considerations  aided  by 
experiment.  Electrical  engineering  depends  very  largely  upon 
mathematical  and  physical  problems,  guided  by  the  results  of 
practical  experience;  and  the  possibility  of  the  commercial 
success  of  the  first  .Atlantic  cable,  depending  upon  the  rate  of 
transmission  of  the  signals  and  the  loss  of  electrical  intensity  in 
that  long  journey,  has  been  shown  by  Dr.  John  llopkinson  in 
his  "James  Eorrest  "  lecture,  to  have  been  determined  by  Lord 
Kelvin  by  the  solution  of  a  partial  difierential  equation  (Proceed- 
ings Inst.  C.E.  vol.  cxviii.  p.   339). 

All  liranchcs  of  applied  mathematics  have,  accordingly,  been 
utilised  by  engineers,  or,  as  in  the  case  of  .several  general  prin- 
ciples and  tidal  calculations,  by  mathematicians  to  their  benefit  ; 
hut  graphic  statics  will  proljably  gradually  supersede  analytical 
methods  for  the  calculation  of  stresses,  as  more  rapid  in  opera- 
tion, and  less  subject  to  errors,  which  are  also  more  easily  de- 
lected in  graphic  diagrams.  Pure  mathematics,  in  its  higher 
branches,  appears  to  have  a  less  direct  connection  with  engineer- 
ing :  but  applied  mathematics  is  so  largely  dependent  upon  pure 
mathematics,  that  the  latter,  including  the  calculus  and  difieren- 
tial ef|uations,  cannot  \k  safely  neglected  by  the  engineer,  though 
certain  branches,  as,  for  instance,  probaliililies,  the  theory  of 
numbers,  the  tracing  of  curves,  and  some  of  the  more  abstruse 
portions  of  the  subject,  may  be  dis|x:nsed  with. 

Physits  ill  Kelation  to  Eiigiiueriiig. — Physics  has  been 
placed  after  mathematics,  as  many  physical  problems  are  deter- 
mined by  mathematics ;  but  in  several  respects  physics,  with  its 
very  wide  scope  in  its  relation  to  the  various  pro|ierties  of 
matter,  is  of  c<|ual  importance  to  engineers,  for  there  are  few 
problems  in  engineering  in  which  no  part  is  borne  by  phy.sical 
(-,,.    .,1....,:..,..,^ 

I  .r  avails  himself  of   physics    when    heights   arc 

ni  the  barometer,   or   by  the   temperature  at  which 

water  bolls  :  and  the  spirit-level  is  a  physical  instrument  adapted 
by  ih"  -nrv.-y.ir  f'lr  levelling  across  land.  Evajxiration,  con- 
di  I     ii  are  of  great  nnportance  in  regard  to 

111  ii".;ines;  and   the  ex|Mnsive  force  of  the 

g.i  '     I  ■  \| led,  the  diminution  of  friction,  and  the 

re  le   heat  developed  arc   essential   elements  in    the 

vi  .rViiiL'  '.f  Ileal  engines.     Allow.tnce  for  ex|xinsion 

by  heat  and   '  by  cold  has  to   lie  made  in  all  large 

.itruclures  ;  .n  is  due  to  changes  in  tcni|K-rat»re  have 

NO.  1.35 1,  VOL.  52] 


to  be  taken  into  account.  The  temperature,  also,  which  de- 
creases with  the  elevation  above  the  sea-level,  and  the  distance 
from  the  equator,  limits  the  height  to  which  railways  can  be 
carried  without  danger  of  blocking  by  snow  ;  whilst  the  tem- 
perature, by  increasing  about  1°  Y.  with  every  60  feet  below 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  limits  the  depth  at  which  tunnels  can 
be  driven  under  high  mountain  ranges.  Congelation  of  the 
soil  is  employed,  as  will  be  exi>lained  by  M.  Clobert,  in 
excavations  through  water-bearing  strata. 

Compressed  air  is  used  by  engineers  for  excluding  the  water 
from  subaqueous  foundations,  so  that  excavations  can  be 
made  and  foundations  laid,  at  considerable  depths  below  the 
water-level,  with  the  same  certainty  as  on  dry  land.  The 
compression  of  air,  and  its  subsequent  absorption  of  heal  on  being 
liberated  and  expanding  in  a  chamber,  are  employed  for  re- 
frigerating the  chambers  in  which  meat  and  other  [lerishable 
supplies  are  preserved.  Compressed  air  is  em|>loycd  for  working 
the  boring  machinery  in  driving  long  tunnels  through  rock,  and 
provides,  at  the  same  time,  means  of  ventilation  ;  and  it  also 
serves  to  convey  parcels  along  pneumatic  underground  tubes. 
Moreover,  the  compressed-air  and  vacuum  brakes  are  the  most 
efiicient  systems  of  automatic  and  continuous  brakes,  which  have 
done  .so  much  to  promote  safety  in  railway  travelling,  and  in 
reducing  the  loss  of  time  in  the  pulling  up  of  frequently  stopping 
trains.  The  production  of  a  more  jjcrfect  vacuum  than  can  be 
produced  by  the  ordinary  air-pump,  might  have  been  supposed 
to  be  merely  an  interesting  physical  result  (^/oiiriial  of  the 
Chemical  Society,  June  1864) :  but,  in  fact,  the  preservation  of 
the  heated  filament  of  carbon  in  the  incandescent  electric  light 
has  been  rendered  possible  only  by  the  far  more  perfect  vacuum 
obtained  by  the  Sprengel  vacuum-pump,  by  which  the  air  is 
exhausted  down  to  so  low  a  pressure  as  a  Iw  o-hundred  millionth 
of  an  atmosphere. 

The  illuminating  power  of  different  sources  of  light  is  of  great 
importance  in  determining  the  distance  at  which  the  concentrated 
rays  from  a  lighthouse  can  be  rendered  visible,  as  well  as  in 
relation  to  the  lighting  of  streets  and  houses  ;  ami  the  re- 
frangibility  of  the  rays  emitted,  or  the  nature  of  their  spectrum, 
should  not  be  disregarded,  as  upon  this  deiiends  the  power  of  a 
light  to  penetrate  mist  and  fog,  which  cut  olT  the  rays  at  the 
violet  end  of  the  spectrum,  and  have  comparatively  little  in- 
fluence on  the  least  refrangible  red  rays  {Pi-o,t;ji)igs  Inst. 
C.E.,  vol.  Ivii.  pp.  145-148).  The  eftect  also  of  the  colouring 
of  lights  on  their  visibility  is  of  interest  in  determining  the 
sh.ades  of  colour  to  be  used  for  signals  and  ship-lights,  and  also 
the  relative  power  of  the  lights  reijuired  for  difl'ercnt  colours  to 
secure  equal  illuminating  power.  Distinctions  of  colour  are 
essential  in  these  case-; ;  but  for  distinguishing  lighthouses,  the 
use  of  coloured  glasses  has  been  abandoned,  on  account  of  their 
im]>airing  the  light  emitted  :  and  the  desire<t  indication  has  been 
effected  by  varying  the  number  and  duration  of  the  flashes  and 
eclipses  in  each  lighthouse.  The  detection  of  colour-blindness 
is  of  interest  to  engineers,  as  this  physical  infirmity  incapaci- 
tates men  from  acting  as  engine-drivers,  signalmen,  or  navigat- 
ing seamen.  Fhe  use  of  compressed  oil-gas  enables  buoys  and 
beacons  to  give  a  warning  or  guiding  light  for  about  three 
months  without  requiring  attention  ;  and  the  electric  light  has 
accelerated  the  passage  through  the  .Suez  Canal  from  30.4  hours 
to  20  hours,  and  htis  greatly  increased  the  ca|«cily  of  the  canal 
for  traflic  by  enabling  navigation  to  be  carrie<l  on  at  night.  The 
electric  light  also  affords  an  excellent,  safe,  and  cool  light  in  the 
confined  caliins  on  board  ship,  in  the  headings  of  long  tunnels, 
and  in  the  working-chamlK-rs  filled  with  compressed  air  used  for 
sinking  subaqueous  foundations. 

Acoustics  might  seem  to  have  little  relation  to  engineering  ; 
but  the  soundness  of  the  wheels  of  a  train  are  tested  by  the 
noise  they  give  when  struck  with  a  hammer  ;  warning  notes  are 
emitted  by  railw.ay  and  steamship  whistles,  the  foghorn  on 
board  ship,  and  the  whistling  and  bell-buoys  employed  for 
marking  snoals  or  the  navigable  channel  ;  whilst  the  striking  of 
bells,  the  blast  of  steam  sirens,  and  the  explosion  of  compressed 
gun-cotton  cartridges  and  rockets  indicate  the  position  of  light- 
houses in  foggy  weather.  The  most  powerfiil  sounds  that  can 
be  produced  by  the  help  of  steam  appear  to  have  a  very  limited 
range  as  compared  with  light  ;  for,  under  ordinary  conditions, 
the  most  powerful  siren  cea.ses  to  be  audible  at  a  distance  of  six 
or  seven  miles  ;  whilst  the  transiiiissiim  of  sound  is  very  much 
affectefl  by  the  wind  anil  the  condition  of  the  atmi>sphere.  It 
seems  possible  that  lourl  detonations  at  short  intervals  may  be 
more  re.tdily  hear<l  than  the  continuous  bl.tsl  of  a  steam  Irunipet. 


September  19,  1895] 


NATURE 


50- 


Electrical  engineering  is  very  intimately  connected  with 
physics,  for  it  really  is  the  application  of  electricity  to  industrial 
inirposos.  The  very  close  relation  between  electricity  and 
magnetism,  discovered  liy  (Jersted  in  1820,  an<l  further  estab- 
lished by  the  remarkable  researches  of  Earaday,  has  led  to  the 
present  system  of  generating  electricity  by  the  relative  move- 
ment of  coiled  conductors  and  electro-magnets,  in  dynamo- 
electric  machines  worked  by  a  steam-engine  or  other  motive 
power.  The  electrical  current  thus  generated  can  be  transmitted 
to  a  distance  with  litile  loss  of  energy ;  and  it  can  either  be  use<i 
directly  for  lighting  by  arc  or  incandescent  lamps,  or  be  recon- 
verted into  mechanical  power  by  the  intervention  of  another 
dynamo.  Electricity  is  also  employed  for  the  simultaneous 
firing  of  a  series  of  mines,  at  a  safe  distance  from  the  site  of  the 
explosion. 

The  convertibility  of  heat  and  energy,  indicated  by  Mayer, 
forms  the  basis  of  thermodynamics ;  and  the  mechanical 
equivalent  of  heat,  a  physical  problem  of  the  highest  interest, 
determined  by  Joule  in  1S43,  furnishes  a  measure  of  the  amount 
of  work  that  can  be  possibly  obtained  by  a  given  expenditure  of 
heat  in  heat-engines. 

The  above  summary  indicates  how  the  discoveries  of  physics 
are  ajiplied  to  many  branches  of  engineering  ;  and  a  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  physics,  and  of  the  results  of  physical  researches, 
appears,  therefore,  essential  for  the  successful  prosecution  of 
engineering  works.  The  very  intimate  relation  of  mechanical 
science  to  mathematics  and  physics,  and  the  indebtedness  of 
engineers  to  men  of  science  outside  the  ranks  of  their  own  pro- 
fession, are,  indeed,  evidenced  by  the  roll  of  the  Presidents  of 
.Section  (J,  containing  the  names  of  Dr.  Robinson,  ilr.  Babbage, 
Prof.  Willis,  I'rof.  Walker,  and  Lord  Rosse. 

Chemistry  in  A'l-ialion  to  Engiiieerini^. — f las-making  is  in 
reality  a  chemical  operation  on  a  large  scale,  consisting  in  the 
destructive  distillation  of  coal,  the  purification  and  collection  of 
the  resulting  carburetted  hydrogen,  and  the  separation  and 
utilisation  of  the  residual  products.  Chemistrj',  accordingly, 
holds  a  very  important  place  in  the  requirements  of  the  gas 
engineer. 

The  manufacture  of  iron,  steel,  and  other  metals,  and  the 
formation  of  alloys,  are  essentially  chemical  operations  ;  and  the 
Bessemer  and  Clilchrist  processes,  by  which  steel  is  produced  in 
large  quantities  directly  from  cast  iron,  by  eliminating  a  portion 
of  the  carbon  contained  in  it,  and  also  the  injurious  impurities, 
silicon  and  phosphorus,  in  place  of  the  fonner  costly  and  circuitous 
method  of  removing  the  carbon  from  cast  iron  to  form  wrought 
iron,  and  then  combining  a  smaller  proportion  of  carbon  with 
the  wrought  iron  to  form  steel,  are  based  on  definite  chemical 
changes,  and  necessitated  chemical  knowledge  for  their  develop- 
ment. 

Chemical  analysis  is  needed  for  determining  the  purity  of  a 
supply  of  water,  or  the  nature  and  extent  of  its  contamination  ; 
and  Dr.  Clarke's  process  for  softening  hard  water,  by  the  addi- 
tion of  lime  water,  depends  upon  a  chemical  reaction.  The 
inethods,  also,  of  purifying  water  by  filtration,  shaking  up  with 
scrap  iron,  and  aeration,  are  chemical  operations  on  an  extensive 
scale  ;  and  their  efficiency  has  to  be  ascertained  by  chemical 
tests. 

Cements  and  mortars  depend  for  their  strength  and  tenacity, 
when  mixed  with  water,  uj^on  their  chemical  composition  and 
the  chemical  changes  which  occur.  The  value  of  Portland 
cement  requires  to  be  tested  quite  as  much  by  a  chemical 
analysis  of  its  component  parts  as  by  the  direct  tensile  strength 
of  its  bri(|uetles  ;  for  an  apparently  strong  cement  may  contain 
the  elements  <jf  its  own  disruption,  in  a  moderate  proportion  of 
magnesia  or  in  an  excess  of  lime.  The  chemical  change  which 
has  been  found  to  occur  in  the  Portland  cement  of  very  porous 
concrete  exposed  to  the  percolation  of  sea-water  under  consider- 
able pressure,  by  the  substitution  of  the  magnesia  in  sea-water 
for  the  lime  in  the  cement,  if  proved  to  take  place  even  slowly 
unfler  ordinary  circumstances,  would  render  the  duration  of  the 
numerous  sea  works  constructed  with  Portland  cement  very  pre- 
carious, and  necessitate  the  abandonment  of  this  very  convenient 
material  by  the  maritime  engineer. 

Explosives,  which  have  rendered  such  important  services  to 
engineers  in  the  constrtiction  of  works  through  rock  and  the 
blasting  of  reefs  under  water,  as  well  as  for  purposes  of  attack 
aiirl  defence,  form  an  important  branch  of  chemical  research. 
The  uses  of  gun-cott(m  as  an  explosive  agent,  though  not  for 
guns,  have  been  greatly  extended  by  the  investigations  of  .Sir 
Erederick  .\bel,  and  by  the  discovery  that   it  can  be  detonated. 


when  wet  and  unconfined,  by  fulminate  of  mercury ;  whilst 
smokeless  powder,  a  more  recent  chemical  discover)',  seems 
likely,  by  its  application  to  firearms,  to  produce  important  modi- 
fications in  the  conditions  of  warfare.  The  progress  achieved 
by  chemists  in  other  forms  of  explosives  has  been  marked  by 
their  successive  introduction  for  blasting  in  large  engineering 
works.  Thus  the  removal  of  the  rock  in  driving  the  >[ont 
Cenis  tunnel,  in  1857-71,  was  effected  by  ordinary  blasting 
powder  ;  whilst  the  excavation  of  the  longer  St.  Gothard  tunnel, 
in  1872-82,  was  accomplished  by  the  more  efficient  explosive 
dyn^mxle  (Procetdiiif^s  Inst.  C.E.,\o\.  xcv.  p.  266).  Moreover, 
the  ;  first  great  blast  for  remo\-ing  the  portion  of  Hallett's  Reef 
which  obstructed  the  approach  to  New  York  Harbour,  was 
effected  mainly  by  dynamite,  together  with  vulcan  powder  and 
rendrock,  in  1876  :  whereas  the  far  larger  Flood  Rock,  in  mid- 
channel,  was  shattered  in  1885  by  rackarock,  a  mixture  of  potas- 
sium chlorate  and  nitrobenzol,  and  a  much  cheaper  and  a  more 
efficient  explosive  underwater  than  (dynamite  (Ibid.,  vol.  xcv. 
pp.  267-270).  Rackarock  is  one  of  the  series  of  safety  explosives 
first  investigated  by  Dr.  Sprengel  in  1870,  which,  consisting  of  a 
solid  and  a  liquid,  is  safely  and  easily  mixed  for  use ;  and  these 
materials,' being  harmless  previously  to  their  admixture,  can  be 
stored  in  large  quantities  without  risk  (Journal  of  the  Chemical 
Society,  August  1873).  The  cost  also  of  this  large  blast 
was  greatly  reduced  by  the  .sympathetic  explosion  of  the  bulk  of 
the  cartridges  by  the  detonation  of  a  series  of  primar)'  exploders, 
placed  at  intervals  along  the  galleries  and  fired  simultaneously 
by  electricity  from  the  shore. 

The  utilisation  of  sewage  belongs  to  agricultural  chemistry ; 
and  the  deodorisation  of  sewage,  and  its  conversion  into  a 
commercial  manure,  are  chemical  processes.  The  disposal  of 
sewage  by  irrigation  is  a  branch  of  agriculture  ;  and  the  innocuous 
character  of  the  effluent  fluid,  discharged  into  the  nearest  stream 
or  river,  has  to  be  ascertained  by  chemical  analysis.  Chemists 
have  the  opportunity  of  benefiting  the  community,  and  at  the 
same  time  acquiring  a  fortune,  by  discovering  an  economical  and 
efficient  process  for  converting  sewage  on  a  large  .scale  into  a 
profitable  saleable  manure,  so  that  inland  towns  may  not  have  to 
dispose  of  their  sewage  at  a  loss,  and  that  tow  ns  situated  on 
tidal  estuaries  or  the  .sea-coast  may  no  longer  discharge  their 
sewage  into  the  sea,  but  distribute  it  jjroductively  on  the  land. 

The  purifying  of  the  atmosphere  from  smoke,  rendered  in- 
creasingly expedient  by  the  growth  of  population,  and  the  pre- 
vention of  the  dense  fogs  caused  by  it,  by  some  practical  method 
for  more  thoroughly  consuming  the  solid  particles  of  the  fuel, 
still  await  the  combined  efforts  of  chemists  and  engineers. 

Geology  in  Relation  to  Engineering.  — A  knowledge  of  the 
superficial  strata  of  the  earth  is  important  for  all  underground 
works,  and  essential  for  tlie  success  of  mining  operation.s. 
Geology  is  indispensable  in  directing  the  search  for  coal,  iron 
ore,  and  the  various  metals  ;  and  the  existence  of  faults  or  other 
disturbances  may  greatly  modify  the  conditions.  The  value  of 
geology  to  the  engineer  is  not,  however,  confined  to  the  extrac- 
tion of  minerals,  for  it  extends,  more  or  less,  to  all  works  going 
below  the  surface. 

The  water-supply  of  a  district,  in  the  absence  of  a  suitable 
river  or  stream,  is  dependent  on  the  configuration  and  geology 
of  the  district ;  and  the  spread  of  London  before  the  extension 
of  waterworks,  as  pointed  out  by  Prof.  Prestwich,  had  to  be 
confined  to  the  limits  of  the  gravel  subsoil,  in  which  shallow 
wells  gave  access  to  the  water  arrested  by  the  stratum  of  under- 
lying London  clay.  The  sinking  also  of  deep  wells  for  a  supply 
of  water,  and  the  depth  to  which  they  should  be  carried,  are 
determined  by  the  nature  of  the  formation,  the  ])osition  of  faults, 
and  the  situation  of  the  outcrop  of  the  water-bearing  stratum. 
A  geological  examination,  moreover,  of  a  site  proposed  for  a 
reservoir,  to  be  formed  by  a  reservoir  dam  across  a  valley,  has 
to  be  made  to  ascertain  the  absence  of  fissures  and  the  soundness 
of  the  foundation  for  the  dam. 

In  the  driving  n{  long  tunnels,  the  nature  and  hardness  of  the 
strata  and  their  dip,  the  prospects  of  slips,  and  the  ixissibility  of 
the  influx  of  large  volumes  of  water,  are  geological  con- 
siderations which  affect  the  designs  and  the  estimates  of  cost. 
The  excavations  also  of  large  railway  cuttings  and  ship  canals 
are  considerably  affected,  both  as  regards  their  side  slopes  and 
cost,  by  the  nature  and  condition  of  the  strata  traversed. 

Meteorology  in  Relation  to  Engineering. — The  maximum 
pressure  that  may  be  exerted  by  the  wind  has  to  be  allowed  for 
in  calculating  the  strains  which  roofs,  bridges,  and  other  struc- 
uires  are  liable  to  have  to  bear  in  expo.sed  situations  :  and. con- 


NO.    I  35  I,  VOL.  52] 


504 


NATURE 


[September  19,  1895 


'.inutras  records  of  anemometers  for  long  periods  are  required  for 

rniining  this  pressure.     The  force  of  the  wind  also,  and  the 

•  in.  duration,  and  perio<l  of  occurrence  of  severe  g.iles,  are 

I'.ant  to  the  maritime  engineer  for  estimating  the  etTect  of 

A.ues  in  any  special   locality,  for  determining  the  quarter 

.:  _:..  which  shelter  is  needed,  and  for  ascertaining  the  seasons 

most  suitable  for  the  execution  of  harbour  works,  the  repair  of 

damages,  and  the  carrying  out  of  foundations  of  lighthouses  and 

Iieacons  on  exposed  rixks.    The  harbour  engineer  must,  indeed, 

of  necessity  be  somewhat  of  a  meteorologist,  for  the  changes  in 

the  wind  and  weather,  the  oscillations  of  the  Ktrometer,  and 

the  signs  of  an  ap|)roaching    storm  are  indications  to   him  of 

approaching  danger  to  hus  works,  which  he  has  to  guard  against  ; 

for  the  sea  is  an  insidious  enemy  which  soon  discovers  any  weak 

spot,  and  may  in  a  few  hours  destroy  the  woik  of  months. 

Continuous  records  of  rainfall,  as  collected  regularly  by  Mr. 
Symons  from  numerous  stations  in  the  United  Kingdom,  are 
extremely  valuable  to  engineers  for  calculating  the  probable 
average  yield  of  water  from  a  given  catchment  area,  the  greatest 
and  least  dischai^es  of  a  river  or  stream,  the  size  of  drainage 
channel  nee<led  to  secure  a  low-lying  area  from  floods,  and  the 
amount  of  water  available  for  storage  or  irrigation  in  a  hot,  arid 
district.  The  loss  of  water  by  evajwration  at  difterent  ])eriods 
of  the  year,  and  under  different  conditions  of  soil  and  climate, 
the  effect  of  jiercolation  in  reducing  evaporation,  and  the 
influence  of  forests  and  vegetation  in  increasing  the  available 
rainfall,  while  ei^ualising  the  flow  of  streams,  are  subjects  of 
equal  interest  to  hydraulic  engineers  and  meteorologists. 

Countries  [leriodically  visited  by  hurricanes,  cyclones,  or 
earthquakes,  necessitate  special  precautions,  and  special  designs 
for  structures ;  and  every  additional  information  .as  to  the  force 
and  extent  of  these  visitations  of  nature  is  of  value  in  enabling 
engineers  to  provide  more  effectually  against  their  ravages. 

fifttcjils  tonfcmd hy  Eiii^int'trs  upon  Pure  Scit'ihc. — Engineer- 
ing is  generally  concerned  in  the  application  of  the  researches  of 
science  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  and  not  in  the  extension  of 
the  domain  of  |nire  science,  which  necessitates  greater  concen- 
tration of  attention  and  study  than  the  engineer  in  practice  is 
able  to  devote  to  it.  Engineers,  however,  though  never  able  to 
repay  the  ever-increasing  debt  of  gratitude  which  they  owe  to 
jast  and  ))resent  investigators  of  science,  except  in  rendering 
thc>e  abstract  researches  of  practical  utility,  have,  nevertheless, 
lieen  able  incidentally  to  promote  the  progress  of  science.  Thus 
mechanical  science,  by  the  construction  of  calculating  machines, 
the  planimeter,  integrating  machines,  the  tide-predictor  and 
tidal  harmonic  analyser  of  Lord  Kelvin,  the  self-registering  tide- 
gauge,  and  various  other  instruments,  has  lightened  the  lalx>urs 
•  if  mathematicians  ;  whilst  excavations  for  works,  and  borings 
have  assisted  the  investigations  of  geologists.  The  mechanical 
genius  of  Lord  Kosse  led  mainly  to  the  success  of  the  gigantic 
telescope,  which  has  revealed  so  many  secrets  of  the  heavens  ; 
and  the  rajjidily  of  locomotion,  due  to  the  lalxjurs  of  engineers, 
has  greatly  facilitated  astronomical  ribservations  and  ])hysical 
discoveries,  Ixisides  promoting  the  concourse  of  scientific  men 
and  the  diflusion  of  knowledge.  Electrical  engineering,  more- 
over, is  so  closely  allied  to  electrical  physics  that  the  develo])- 
mcnt  of  the  one  necessarily  promotes  the  progress  of  the  other. 
The  observations  also  conducted  by  hydraulic  and  maritinie 
engineer^  in  the  course  of  their  practice  aid  in  extending  the 
statistics  u|«n  which  the  science  of  meteorology  is  based. 

F.ii.;iiiecring  as  an  ExfvrimcHtat  Science. — Engineering,  so 

'        it  is  iKused  on  mathematics,  is  an   exact  science,  and  the 

due  to  given  loads   on   a   structure   can   be   accurately 

'  :  but  the  strength  of  the  materials  em|)loyed  h.is  to 

•  (I   before  any  structure  can  be  properly  designed. 

.  the  resistance  of  materials  to  tension,  compression, 

.  has  to  l)c  tested,  and  their  limit  of  elasticity  and 

ight  determined.     Thus,  previously  to  the  constnic- 

tiua,  by  Kolicrl  .Stephenson,  of  the  JSrilannia  Tubular  Bridge, 

the   f\m    wriiiighl-iron   girder   bridge   of    large   span    erected, 

:ienlson  various  forms  of  wrrjugiit   iron   were 

It  eminent   mathematician   and    mechanician 

.    :.     ....... -'11,   who  had   previously  indicated  the  projX-'r 

theoretical  form  for  cast-iron  girders,  and  to  whom  the  success 

of  the  fjridge  across  the  Menai  Straits  was  in  great  measure  due 

("The  Britannia  and  Conway  Tubular  Bridges,"  Edwin  Clark, 

vol.  i.  p.  8?>.      lie'iides  the  numerous  tests  always  now  made  of 

n|iloycd    during    the    progress    of    any   large 

railway  bridges  are  also  snbjec(e<l  to  severe 

I>eing  o|(cncd  for  public  traffic,  by  uhich  the 


NO.   I  35  I,  VOL.  52] 


safety  of  the  structures  and  their  rigidity,  as  measured  by  the 
amount  of  deflection,  are  ascertained,  serving  as  a  guide  for 
subsequent   designs. 

Numberless  experiments  have  been  made  on  the  flow  of  water 
in  open  channels,  over  weirs,  through  orifices,  and  along  pipes  ; 
and  the  influences  of  the  nature  of  the  bed,  the  slope,  depth, 
and  size  of  channel,  have  been  investigated  by  various 
hydraulicians.  Mr.  Thomas  Stevenson  measured  the  force  of 
waves  at  some  places  on  the  Scotch  coast  ("The  Design  and 
Construction  of  Harbours,"  Thomas  Stevenson,  3rd  ed.  \i\->. 
52-56) :  I'rof  Osborne  Reynolds  has  examined  the  laws  of 
tidal  flow  in  a  model  of  the  inner  estuary  of  the  Mersey,  and  in 
specially  shaped  experimental  models  ("  British  .Association 
Reports"  for  1S89,  1S90,  and  1891);  and  I  have  found  it 
|X)ssible,  in  small  working  models  of  the  Mersey  and  Seine, 
not  merely  to  re|)roduce  the  configuration  of  the  bed  of  the 
estuary  out  to  sea,  but  also  to  oliserve  the  eflects  of  difterent 
forms  of  training  works  in  modifying  sandy  estuaries.' 
Mr.  William  I'roude,  after  his  retirement  from  active  practice, 
devoted  his  abilities  to  experiments  on  the  motion  and  resistance 
of  ships  in  water,  which  have  proved  of  inestimable  value  to 
the  naval  architect,  and  which  formed  the  subject  of  his 
presidential  address  to  this  Section  in  1875. 

Electrical  engineering  is  specially  adapted  for  experimental 
investigation  ;  and,  in  this  branch,  theory  and  practice  are  so 
closely  allied  that  some  of  the  most  eminent  exi>onents  of  the 
theor)'  of  the  subject,  such  as  Lord  Kelvin  and  Dr.  Ilopkinson, 
have  developed  their  theories  into  practical  results.  In  most 
other  branches,  the  investigator  is  generally  distinct  from  the 
engineer  in  large  practice  ;  but  it  may  be  safely  said  that  an 
able  investigator  and  generaliser  in  engineering  science,  as,  for 
instance,  the  late  Prof.  Rankine,  accomplishes  work  of  more 
value  to  the  profession  at  large  than  the  jiractical  engineer, 
'who,  in  the  world's  estimation,  appears  the  more  successful 
man. 

Every  branch  of  engineering  science  is  more  or  less  cai>able  of 
being  advanced  by  experimental  investigations  ;  and  when  it  is 
borne  in  mind  that  the  force  of  waves,  the  ebb  and  flow  of  tides 
in  rivers,  the  influences  of  training  works  in  estuaries,  and  the 
motion  of  ships  at  sea  have  been  subjected  to  experimental 
research,  it  appears  impossible  to  assign  a  limit  to  the  range 
of  experiments  .as  a  means  of  extending  engineering  knowledge. 
Trobleins  of  considerable  interest,  which  can  only  be  solved  by 
experiments  or  by  contprehensive  generalisations  from  a  lunnber 
of  examples,  must  frequently  present  themselves  to  engineers  in 
the  course  of  their  practice,  as  they  have  to  myself ;  and 
engineers  would  render  a  great  service  to  the  profession  if  they 
would  follow  up  the  lines  of  investigation  thus  suggested  to  them, 
in  the  true  spirit  of  scientific  inquiry. 

r'ailurcs  of  IVi'i  h  due  lo  NcglccI  of  Scicniific  Considerations.  — 
Before  the  amount  and  distribution  of  the  stresses  in  structures 
were  thoroughly  iniderslood,  a  disposition  was  naturally  evinced 
to  err  on  the  side  of  excessive  strength  ;  and  the  materials  in  the 
various  parts  of  the  structure  were  not  suitably  proportioned  to 
the  load  to  1«;  borne,  resulting  in  a  waste  of  materials  and  too 
great  an  expenditure  on  the  works.  Thus  some  of  the  early 
high  m.isonry  reservoir  dams  in  Spain  exhibit  an  excessive  tliick- 
ness  towards  the  top,  imposing  an  unnecessary  load  on  ihe 
foundations  ;  and  in  many  of  the  earlier  iron  girder  bridges 
more  material  \\.as  employed  than  was  required  for  stability,  and 
it  w.as  not  pmiK-rly  distributed.  Boldness  engendered  by 
increased  experience,  and  dictated  by  motives  of  economy,  has 
(ended  to  make  the  engineers  of  the  present  day  pursvie  an 
op|K)site  course  ;  and,  under  these  circumstances,  tlie  correct 
calculation  of  the  strains,  the  exact  strength  of  the  materials, 
and  a  strict  appreciation  of  the  physical  laws  aftecting  the 
designs  become  of  the  utmost  im|M>rtance. 

The  failures  of  many  bridges  may  be  explained  by  errors  in 
design,  defects  in  construction,  or  by  economy  carried  beyond 
Ihe  limits  of  safety  in  inishing  forward  railways  in  undeveloped 
countries  :  but  other  f;iilures  are  attributable  to  a  disregard  or 
underestimation  of  the  influence  of  physical  causes.  Tluis  ihe 
Tay  Bridge  disiister,  in  1.S79,  was  due  to  underestimating  the 
amount  and  effect  of  the  wind-pressure  in  an  exposed  situation, 
where  it  acted  Hith  a  considerable  leverage,  owing  to  the  height 
of  the   bridge,  and  was  inadequately  provided  against  by  the 

1  J'rtKffiiings  of  Ific  Roy.il  Society,  vol.  xlv.  pp.  504-524,  and  pKitc^  i-i  \ 
vol.  xlvii,  p.  14:1  ;  .niid  "  Aln^liorHlioii  dc  la  P.irlic  M.iritiinc  des  Hcuvt^s,  y 
conipri<i  lcuf%  KinlM.tin;luircs,"  I..  I'.  Vcrnoii-H.'ircourt,  l^iiris  Inlund  Naviga- 
lion  Congrcw,,  tSyj,  pp.  37-29,  and  33,  ^y,  and  plalc  3. 


\ 


September  19,  1895] 


NATURE 


D"-'0 


small  transverse  widtli  (if  llie  piers  in  proportion  to  their  height, 
which  were  further  weakened  by  Ijacl  workmanship  in  the 
bracing  of  their  columns.  The  bursting  of  the  Bouzey  masonry 
(lam  in  France  this  year  must  be  attributed  to  an  inadequate 
thickness  at  part  of  the  cross-section,  producing  a  tensional 
strain  on  the  inner  face  with  the  reservoir  full,  aided  by  the 
instability  resulting  from  a  fissured  foundation.  The  overthrow 
of  the  outer  arms  of  the  Madras  breakwaters,  during  a  cyclone 
in  1S81,  may  be  traced  to  an  inadecjuate  estimate  of  the  force  of 
the  waves  in  a  storm,  in  deep  water,  and  with  a  great  fetch 
across  the  Indian  (Jcean,  beating  against  the  portions  of  the 
breakwaters  directly  facing  their  course ;  for  these  outer 
portions,  running  nearly  parallel  to  the  coast-line, 
were  not  made  any  stronger  than  the  inner  portions 
placed  at  right  angles  to  the  shore  and  the  direction  of  the  waves, 
and  situated  for  the  most  ]iart  in  shallower  water.  The  erosion 
of  the  bed  of  the  danges  Canal  on  the  first  admission  of  the 
water,  necessitating  the  erection  of  weirs  at  intervals  to  check  the 
current,  resulted  from  an  error  in  the  calculated  discharge  of  the 
channel  with  the  given  inclination,  and  the  consequent  undue 
velocity  of  the  stream,  producing  scour.  The  failure  of  the  jetty 
works  at  the  outlet  of  the  Rhone  to  efl'ect  any  permanent 
deepening  of  the  channel  over  the  bar,  was  due  to  the  unsuit- 
able direction  given  to  the  outlet  channel  in  view  of  the  physical 
conditions  of  the  site,  and  the  concentration  of  all  the  discharge, 
and  consequently  all  the  alluvium  carried  down,  into  a  single 
mouth,  whereby  the  rate  of  deposit  in  front  of  this  outlet  has 
been  considerably  increased.  The  excessive  cost,  and  conse- 
quent stoppage,  of  the  Panama  Canal  works,  though  due  to  a 
variety  of  causes,  must  be  partly  attributed  to  want  of  due  con- 
sideration of  the  strata  to  be  excavated  ;  for  a  cutting  of  300  feet 
in  depth,  which  may  be  possible  in  rock,  becomes  impracticable 
when  a  considerable  portion  has  to  be  executed  in  very 
treacherous  clay. 

Occasionally  failures  of  works  may  be  attributed  to  excep- 
tional causes  or  peculiarly  unfavourable  conditions  ;  but  in  most 
cases,  as  in  the  instances  given  above,  they  are  the  result  of 
errors  or  deficiencies  in  design,  which  might  have  been  avoided 
by  a  more  correct  appreciation  of  the  physical  conditions 
involved. 

Scientific  Trainini^  of  Engineers. — In  most  professions,  pre- 
liminary training  in  those  branches  of  knowledge  calculated  to 
fit  a  student  for  the  exercise  of  his  profession  is  considered  indis- 
pensably necessary  ;  and  examinations  to  test  the  proficiency  of 
candidates  have  to  be  passed  as  a  necessary  qualification  for 
admission  into  the  .Army,  Isavy,  Church,  Civil  Service,  and  both 
branches  of  the  law.  Special  care  is  taken  in  securing  an 
adequate  preliminary  training  in  the  case  of  persons  to  whom  the 
health  of  individuals  is  to  be  entrusted,  not  merely  by  experience 
in  hospitals,  but  also  by  examinati(ms  in  those  branches  of 
science  and  practice  relating  to  medicine  and  surger)',  before 
the  medical  student  can  become  a  qualified  practitioner.  If 
so  much  caution  is  exercised  in  protecting  individuals  from  being 
attended  by  doctors  possessing  insufficient  knowledge  of  the 
rudiments  of  their  profession,  how  nuich  more  necessary  should 
it  be  to  ensure  that  engineers  are  similarly  qualified,  to  whom 
the  safety  and  well-being  of  the  community,  as  well  as  large 
responsibilities  in  regard  to  expenditure,  are  liable  to  be 
entrusted  !  The  duty  of  the  engineer  is  to  apply  the  resources  of 
nature  and  science  to  the  material  benefit  and  progress  of 
mankind  ;  and  it,  therefore,  seems  irrational  that  no  gtiarantee 
should  be  provided  that  persons,  before  becoming  engineers, 
should  acquire  some  knowledge  of  natural  laws,  and  of  the 
principles  of  those  sciences  which  form  the  basis  of  engineering. 
The  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers  has,  indeed,  of  recent  years 
re<juired  some  evidence  of  young  men  having  received  a  good 
education  before  their  admission  into  the  stutlent  class  ;  but  some 
of  the  examinations  accepted  as  sufficient  for  studentship,  such  as 
a  degree  in  any  British  university,  aftbrd  no  certainty  in  them- 
selves that  the  persons  who  have  piissed  them  possess  any  of  the 
qualifications  requisite  for  an  engineer  :  and  it  is  quite  unnecessary 
to  become  a  student  of  the  Institution  in  order  to  become  an 
engineer.  The  Council  of  the  Institution  has  no  doubt  been 
hitherto  deterred  from  proposing  the  establishment  of  an 
examination  in  mathematics  and  natural  science,  as  a  necessary- 
preliminary  to  becoming  an  engineer,  by  the  remembrance  that 
some  of  the  most  distinguished  engineers  of  early  days  in  this 
1  'luntry  were  self-taught  men  ;  but  since  those  days  engineering 
ind  the  sciences  upon  which  it  is  based  have  made  marvellous 
idvances  ;  and  in  view  of  these  developments,  and  the  excellent 


theoretical  training  given  to  foreign  engineers,  it  is  essential  that 
British  engineers,  if  they  desire  to  retain  their  present  |)osition  in 
the  world,  should  arrange  that  the  recniits  to  their  profession 
may  be  amply  qualified  at  their  entrance  in  theoretical  know- 
ledge, in  order  to  preserve  the  standard  attained,  and  to 
be  in  a  |X)sition  to  achieve  further  ]>rogress.  No  amount 
of  preliminary  training  will,  indeed,  necessarily  secure 
the  success  of  an  engineer,  any  more  than  the  greatest  pro- 
ficiency would  be  certain  to  lead  the  medical  student  to  renown 
as  a  physician  or  sitrgeon  ;  but  other  conditions  being  equal, 
it  will  greatly  promote  his  prospects  of  advancement  in  his 
profession,  and  his  utility  to  his  colleagues  and  the  public. 
The  engineers  of  the  past  achieved  great  results  in  the 
then  early  dawn  of  engineering  knowledge,  by  sound  common 
sense,  a  ready  grasp  of  first  principles  and  of  the  essential  points 
of  a  question,  capacity  for  acquiring  knowledge,  power  of 
managing  men  and  impressing  them  with  confidence,  and 
shrewdness  in  selecting  competent  assistants.  These  same 
qualities  are  still  needed  for  success  in  the  present  day,  coupled 
with  an  ojjportunity  of  exhibiting  them  ;  but  far  more  knowledge 
of  mathematics  and  other  sciences  is  required  now-,  owing  to  the 
enormous  advances  effected,  if  the  progress  of  engineering  science 
is  to  be  maintained.  Even  though  in  some  branches,  engineers 
in  large  practice  may  not  have  the  time,  or  retain  the  requisite 
facility,  for  solving  intricate  mathematical  problems,  they  should 
be  able  readily  to  comprehend  the  full  bearing  of  the  principles 
presented,  and  to  understand  the  nature  of  the  solutions  put  before 
them,  which  nothing  but  the  scientific  faculty  implanted  by  early 
training  in  mathematics  and  physics  can  adequately  secure. 

-A.  qualifying  examination  for  engineers  would  usefully  stop 
persons  at  the  outset  from  entering  the  profession,  who  failed  to 
evince  the  possession  of  the  requisite  preliminary-  knowledge  :  it 
would  indicate,  by  the  subjects  selected,  the  kind  of  training 
best  calculated  to  fit  a  person  to  become  a  useful  engineer  ;  and 
it  would  protect  the  public,  as  far  as  practicable,  from  the  in- 
juries or  waste  of  money  that  might  result  from  the  mistakes  of 
ill-qualified  engineers. 

Sfeciaiisini;  in  Engineering. — Some  branches  of  engineering 
have  for  a  long  time  Ijcen  kept  distinct  from  others,  such  as  the 
construction  of  steam-engines,  locomotives,  and  marine  engines, 
ship-building,  hea\y  ordnance,  hydraulic  machinery-,  and  other 
purely  mechanical  works,  one  or  more  of  which  have  been 
treated  as  specialities  by  certain  firms,  and  also  gas  lighting, 
and,  more  recently,  electric  lighting.  In  the  department,  how- 
ever, of  civil  engineering  in  its  narrower  signification,  as  distin- 
guished from  mechanical  engineering,  engineers  of  former 
times  were  regarded  as  eepially  cpialified  to  undertake  any  of 
the  branches  of  public  wo^ks  ;  and  the  same  engineer  might 
be  entrusted  with  the  execution  of  roads,  railways,  canals,  har- 
bours, docks,  sewerage  works,  and  waterworks  ;  while  even 
steamships  were  not  excluded  from  the  category  in  Brunei's 
practice.  The  engineer  of  to-day,  indeed,  would  be  lacking 
that  important  factor  for  success,  common  sense,  if  he  declined 
to  execute  any  class  of  w  orks  which  he  might  be  asked  to  under- 
take :  and  a  variety  of  works  is  very  useful  to  the  engineer  in 
enlarging  his  views  and  experience,  as  well  as  in  extending  the 
range  of  his  practice.  The  tendency,  however,  now  in 
engineering,  as  in  medicine,  is  for  the  engineer's  practice  to  be 
confined  to  the  special  branch  in  which  he  had  had  most 
experience  ;  a  result  which  cannot  fail  to  be  l>eneficial  to  the 
public,  and  calculated  to  promote  the  progress  of  each  branch. 
The  powers  of  the  human  mind  are  too  limited,  and  life  is  too 
short,  for  engineers  to  be  able  to  acquire,  in  the  present  day, 
equal  proficiency  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  the  several 
branches  of  engineering  science,  with  their  ever-widening  .scojie 
and  development  ;  and,  as  in  the  domain  of  abstract  science, 
general  progress  will  be  best  achieved  in  engineering  science  by 
the  concentration  of  the  energies  of  engineers  in  the  advancement 
of  their  special  line  of  practice. 

J'aine  of  Congresses  on  Special  Branches  of  Engineering. — 
The  scope  of  engineering  science  is  extending  so  fast  that  it  is 
impossible  for  the  Institution  of  Civil  Engineers,  which,  a.s  the 
parent  society,  embraces  every  branch  within  its  range  of 
subjects,  to  give  more  than  a  very  limited  time  for  the  con- 
sideration and  discussion  of  [lapers  relating  to  the  non- 
mechanical  branches  of  the  profession  comprised  in  public 
works.  Mechanical,  electrical,  and  gas  engineers  have  special 
societies  of  their  own  for  advancing  their  knowledge  and 
publishing  their  views  and  experience,  while  sharing  equally 
with  the  other  branches  in  the  benefits  of  the  older  Institution. 


NO.    1351,  VOL.   52] 


^o6 


NA  TURE 


[September  io,  1S95 


Congresses  accordingly  afibrd  a  \-aluable  opportunity  for 
railway,  hydraulic,  and  sanitary  engineers  of  expressing 
their  \-iews,  and  enlarging  their  exjierience  by  consultation 
and  discussii:)n  with  engineers  of  various  countries.  My 
experience  of  the  six  maritime,  inland  navigation,  and  water- 
works international  congresses  I  have  attended  in  England  and 
abroad,  has  convinced  me  of  the  ver)'  great  value  of  such 
meetings  in  collecting  information,  comiaring  views,  and 
obtaining  some  knowledge  of  foreign  works  and  methods  ;  whilst 
the  acquaintances  formed  with  some  of  the  most  celebrated 
foreign  engineers,  afford  opjwrtunities  of  gaining  further  infor- 
mation about  works  abroad,  and  deriving  experience  from  their 
progress  and  results. 

Engineering  Literature. — Lawj-ers  have  been  defined  as  per- 
sons who  do  not  possess  a  knowledge  of  law,  but  who  know 
where  to  find  the  law  which  they  may  require.  It  may  be  hoped 
that  a  similar  definition  is  not  ajiplicable  to  engineers ;  but  with 
the  rapid  increase  of  engineering  Jiterature,  it  is  most  desirable 
that  engineers  should  be  able  readily  to  refer  to  the  information 
on  any  special  subject,  or  descriptions  of  any  executed  works, 
which  may  have  been  published.  Much  valuable  matter,  how- 
ever, is  burie<l  in  the  proceedings  of  engineering  and  scientific 
societies,  and  in  various  publications  ;  and  often  a  considerable 
amount  of  lime  is  expended  in  fruitless  search.  This  great  waste  of 
lime  and  energ)',  and  the  loss  of  available  information  involved, 
led  me  a  few  years  ago  to  suggest  that  a  catalogue  of  engineering 
literature  ought  to  be  made,  arranging  the  lists  of  publications 
relating  to  the  several  branches  under  separate  headings.  There 
is  a  [xissibility  that  this  arduous  and  costly  task  may  Ix-  partially 
accomplished  in  separate  volumes  ;  and,  at  any  rate,  the  first 
step  has  lieen  effected  by  the  publication,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Paris  Inland  Navigation  Congress  of  1892,  of  a  catalogue  of 
the  pulilications  on  inland  navigation.  .\  start  has  also  been 
made  in  France,  Italy,  and  England,  towards  the  pre|5aration  of 
a  similar  catalogue  on  maritime  works,  which  it  may  lie  ho|ied 
means  one  day  will  be  found  to  publish  on  the  meeting  of  some 
future  congress.  Engineers  who  have  searched,  even  in  the 
liest  libraries,  for  the  published  information  on  any  special  sub- 
ject, will  appreciate  what  a  great  boon  an  engineering  subject 

cr"   '  luld    hje   to  the  profession,   and   indirectly  to   the 

1  -f. 

I  vinal  publication  of  comprehensive  books  on  special 

branches  of  engineering,  and  concise  papers  on  special  subjects, 
by  com|)etent  authorities,  are  extremely  valuable  in  advancing 
and  systemalising  engineering  knowledge ;  but  the  time  and 
trouble  involved  in  the  pre|x»ration  of  such  publications  must, 
like  the  organising  of  congresses,  be  regarded  as  a  duty  performed 
in  the  interests  of  the  profession  and  science,  and  not  .as  affording 
a  prospect  of  any  pecuniar)'  benefit. 

Concluding  Remarks. — In  this  address  I  have  endeavoured, 
though  very  im|XTfectly,  to  indicate  how  engineering  consists  in 
the  application  of  natural  laws  and  the  researches  of  science  for 
the  Ijencfit  and  advancement  of  mankind,  and  to  ]X)int  out  that 
increased  knowledge  will  Ik;  constantly  needed  to  keep  trace  with, 
and  to  carry  on,  the  progress  that  h.is  been  m<i(le.     The  great 

a'i'T' - i.i.-.i   i,y  engineering  works  in  facilitating  com- 

li  iirse,  and  consequently  the  diffusion  of 

\  "ig    trade,    in  extending   civilis.ation    to 

t  IS,  in  multiplying  the  comforts  of  life,  and  affording 

c  ibiliiies  of  enjoyment  and  change  of  scene,  may  be 

!■  K   acknowledged  ;    but  the  more  gradual  and 

I'  !;;h  not   less   im|X)rt.int,   benefits   effected    by 

•  are  not  so  fully  realised. 

1   engineering  with   the  other  chief  brapch  of 
:i  medicine,    exhibits     some     similarities    and 

'  in  Iwth  professions,  the  discoveries  of  science  are 

1  '.^-half  of  mankind  ;  but   whilst   physicians  devote 

I  i\    1(1   individuals,  engineers   are  concerned  in 

1  II  lieing  of  the  community  at  large.     Persons 

'  '     •  irs  when  they  are  alt.icked  by  disease,  or 

1  'lent  ;  but   they  e.-igerly  resort  for  enjoy- 

>i  iii>hi|>s,  mountain   tramways,  piers,  great 

whici-,   iiw:  r> ;  and  they  frequently  avail  themselves 

of  the  iiicii  ,,nd  easy  locomotion  to  complete  their 

riMor..  1   :i  lih  l.y  change  of  air  and  climate.     Physicians 

'fy  '"  ■  "  1"  ilf  when  they  arc  ill:  whereas  engineers  en- 
'1'    ■  '   unicrsuii|'  '     "lent  drainiit;e,  to  main- 

ly U  ;  and   in  :,  the  evident  results  fif 

'I  ■  fir  more   u ,  i-.iii,ed   than   the  invisible, 

Ihoug  <prcad,   preventive   benefits  of   engineering 


works.  Statistics  alone  can  reveal  the  silent  operations  of 
sanitary  work  ;  and  probably  no  better  evidence  could  be  given 
of  the  inestimable  value  of  good  water  and  proper  drainage  on 
the  health  of  the  population  of  large  towns,  when  aided  by  the 
progress  of  medical  science,  than  the  case  of  London,  where, 
towards  the  close  of  the  last  cenlurv-,  the  death-rate  exceeded 
the  birth-rate,  and  the  numbers  were  only  kept  up  by  constant 
immigrations  :  whereas  now ,  in  sjiite  of  the  vast  increase  of  the 
population  and  the  progressive  absorption  of  the  adjacent 
countr)-  into  the  ever-widening  circle  of  houses,  the  number  of 
births  exceed  the  deaths  by  nearly  nine  hundred  a  week. 

In  engineering,  ,as  in  pure  science,  it  is  imjiossible  to  stand 
still :  and  engineers  require  to  be  ever  learning,  ever  seeking,  to 
appreciate  more  fully  tlie  laws  of  nature  ami  the  revelations  of 
science,  ever  endeavouring  to  perfect  their  methods  by  the  light 
of  fresh  discoveries,  and  ever  striving  to  make  past  experience 
and  a  wider  knowledge  stepping-stones  to  greater  achievements. 
Engineers  have  a  noble  vocation,  and  should  aim  at  attaining  a 
lofty  ideal ;  and,  in  the  spirit  of  the  celebrated  scientific  dis- 
coverers of  the  past,  such  as  Galileo,  N'ewton,  I„aplace,  Caven- 
dish, Lyell,  and  Faraday,  should  regard  their  profession,  not  so 
much  as  an  opportunity  of  gaining  a  pecuniary  reward,  as  a 
means  of  advancing  knowledge,  health,  and  pros|5erity. 

The  remarkable  iriumjihs  of  engineering  have  been  due  to  the 
liatient  and  long-continued  researches  of  successive  generations 
of  mathematicians,  physicists,  and  other  scientific  investigators  ; 
ard  it  is  by  the  utilisation  of  these  stores  of  knowledge  and 
experience  that  engineers  have  acquired  renown.  A  higher 
tribute  of  gratitude  should  perhaps  be  paid  to  the  noble  band  of 
scientific  investigators  who,  in  pursuit  of  knowledge  for  its  own 
sake,  have  rendered  jiossible  the  achievements  ol  engineering, 
than  to  those  who  ha\e  made  use  of  their  discoveries  for  the 
attainment  of  practical  benefits  ;  but  they  must  both  be  regarded 
as  co-workers  m  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  mankind.  The 
advancement  of  science  develops  the  intellectual  faculties  of 
nations,  and  enlarges  their  range  ;  whilst  the  resulting  progress 
in  engineering  increases  their  nuiterial  comforts  and  prosperity. 
If  men  of  science,  by  closer  intercourse  with  engineers,  could 
realise  more  fully  the  |>ractical  capabilities  of  their  researches, 
and  engineers,  liy  a  more  complete  scientific  training,  could  gain 
a  clearer  insight  into  the  scientific  aspect  of  their  profession, 
both  might  be  able  to  co-operate  more  thoroughly  in  developing 
the  resources  of  nature,  and  in  furthering  the  intellectual  and 
material  progress  of  the  hinnan  race. 


.S-.    io5I.  VOL.  52] 


AMERICA.X     AS.suLlATJO.\     FOR      THE 
AD  VANCE. ME  NT  OF  .SCIENCE. 

•SlCiaNI)   Si'RtNr.KllvI.n    .Ml^ETINO. 

'T'HE  forty-fourth  meeting  of  the  .Vmerican  .Vssocialion  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  was  held  at  Springfield,  Mass., 
.•\ugust  29  to  September  4,  being  the  second  meeting  held  at  that 
city  :  the  first  was  in   1859. 

In  the  early  history  of  the  .Vssocialion  frequent  meetings  were 
held  in  New  ICngland,  but  fifteen  years  have  passed  since  the 
last  preceding  New  l'.nglan<I  meeting,  held  at  Boston.  The 
sfjcial  and  intellectual  life  of  all  New  England  cities  ranks  high, 
and  the  Association  found  a  most  appreciative  and  hospitable 
community. 

.\  copy  of  the  address  of  the  retiring  President,  Dr.  Daniel 
(i.  Hrinton,  on  "  The  Aims  of  .Anthropology,"  has  already  been 
sent  to  NAri'Ki;.  It  was  a  matter  for  regret  that  the  .author 
w,as  unable  to  attend  and  re.ad  it  |K'rsonally. 

The  vice-presidential  addresses  were  not  quite  so  many  .is 
usuiil,  owing  to  the  resignation  of  Profs.  Ilolden  ami  Jordan  as 
presidents  of  the  Sections  of  -Astronomy  ami  Zoology ,  respect- 
ively, because  of  the  change  in  ])lace  of  meeting  from  California, 
where  they  reside,  and  where  it  was  intended  to  meet  if  the 
trans-continental  railroads  had  reduced  fares  sufiiciently.  The 
.addresses  delivered  were  by  \V.  L.  .Stevens,  on  "Recent  Progress 
in  Optics";  William  McMurtrie,  on  "The  Relation  of  the 
Industries  to  the  Advancement  of  Chemical  .Science"  ;  William 
Kent,  on  "The  Relation  of  Engineering  to  Optics";  J. 
Hotchkis.s,  on  "The  Cieological  Survey  of  Virginia,  1835-1841  : 
its  History  and  Influence  in  the  Advancement  of  Ceologlc 
.Science":  I.  C.  Arthur,  on  "The  Development  of  Vegelalile 
Physiology'  ;  V.  II.  Cushing,  on  "  The  .Arrow  "  ;  and  H.  E. 
Fcmow,  on  "The  Providential  Function  of  ( ...v.itinirni  n 
Relation  to  Natural  Resources." 


September  19,  1895] 


NATURE 


507 


One  of  the  first  and  most  important  matters  of  business  pre- 
sented was  in  reference  to  the  proposed  meeting  of  the  British 
Association  in  Toronto  in  1897.  The  writer  offered  a  resolution 
cordially  inviting  the  Association,  in  case  they  decide  to  accept 
the  invitations  already  sent  them  from  Toronto  to  hold  the 
meeting  there,  to  attend  our  meeting  also  as  our  guests,  and  re- 
questing them  to  send  early  notice  of  the  time  of  meeting  to 
the  Permanent  Secretary  of  our  Association,  that  ample  time 
may  be  had  to  make  suitable  arrangements,  and  to  renew  the 
delightful  memories  of  the  Philadelphia  meeting  in  1884.  This 
was  referred  to  the  Permanent  Secretarj'  with  power. 

Should  the  Association  come  to  America  as  proposed,  it 
seems  probable  that  the  long-deferred  San  Krancisco  meeting 
will  then  be  held,  as  it  is  believed  that  many  visitors  will 
desire  to  cross  the  continent  by  the  Canadian  Pacific  Rail- 
road, which  was  incomplete  at  the  time  of  the  Montreal 
meeting  in  1884  ;  but  many  who  attended  that  meeting  went 
as  far  w  est  as  the  road  would  then  take  them.  As  Sir  Wm. 
C.  \'an  Home,  President  of  that  road,  is  a  member  of  the  British 
Association,  and  has  been  a  member  of  ours,  his  influence  is 
relied  on  to  secure  favourable  rates  of  transportation.  Still 
another  factor  is  that  the  Christian  Endeavour  Societies  expect 
to  meet  at  San  Francisco  in  1897,  and  as  they  are  a  mighty 
army — 70,000  attended  the  Boston  meeting  this  summer — the 
railroads  usually  offer  exceptional  rates  to  secure  their  patronage, 
and  the  .Associations  can  share  in  the  benefit  of  the  reduction. 

Of  the  207  ]iapers  read  before  the  several  Sec'ions,  many 
might  be  mentioned.  The  subject  of  colour  and  colour 
standards,  on  which  Mr.  I'illsbury  had  an  article  in  a  recent 
number  of  N'aturk,  was  presented  by  him  and  others,  and  reso- 
lutions were  passed  looking  toward  the  establishment  of  a  colour 
standard.  E.  R.  von  Xardroft'  exhibited  and  described  a  new 
apparatus  for  studying  colour  phenomena.  Colour  photography 
was  discussed  and  photographs  exhibited  by  F.   E.  Ives. 

A  process  for  photographing  the  vocal  cords  in  action  has 
been  discovered  ijy  F.  S.  Mucliey  and  Wm.  Hallock,  and  it  is 
found  that  the  pitch  of  a  note  is  raised  by  rotating  the  arytenoid 
cartilages  without  increasing  the  tension  of  the  cords,  just  as  a 
violinist  makes  high  notes  by  shortening  the  string  with  his 
finger.  \'oice  analysis  also  has  been  studied  by  Messrs.  Hallock 
and  Muckey,  by  an  ingenious  system  of  resonators  for  the  funda- 
mental and  seven  overtones,  covering  three  octaves  from  the 
fundamental  C.  These  resonators  are  so  arranged  that  the 
vibration  of  each  causes  the  flickering  of  a  tiny  gas  jet,  and  by 
obser%ing  these  it  can  be  seen  which  of  the  overtones  are  sound- 
ing, and  by  drawing  straight  or  wavy  lines  to  correspond  with 
each  of  these,  a  picture  of  the  tone  can  be  made.  This  will 
enable  a  singer  to  see  every  tone  in  his  voice,  and  learn  wherein 
he  needs  to  correct  it. 

The  Weather  Bureau  of  the  United  States  supplied  experts  to 
fill  up  an  afternoon  in  a  joint  meeting  of  four  Sections.  Willis  L. 
Moore,  the  new  chief  of  the  bureau,  spoke  of  the  work  in  hand 
and  that  ci>ntemplated.  An  elaborate  scheme  of  observation  of 
upper  strata  of  the  air  by  kites  and  balloons  and  kite-balloons  is 
to  be  carried  out  ;  and  regular  observations  are  to  be  made  of 
"sensible  temperature"  by  the  wet  bulb  thermometer. 

Frank  N.  Bigelow,  in  his  jmper  on  .solar  magnetic  radiation 
and  weather  forecasts,  made  some  very  remarkable  statements. 
The  sun,  he  says,  throws  out  curved  lines  of  magnetic  force. 
These  are  connected  with  sun-spots,  and  with  storms  on  the 
earth.  They  have  been  studied  by  him  so  carefully  that  he  fixes 
the  time  of  the  .sun's  axial  revolution  more  accurately  than  ever 
before  at  26-67928  days,  with  a  probable  error  only  in  the  last 
or  possibly  the  two  last  figures.  A  surprising  inference  from  his 
studies  is  that  the  earth  has  a  crust  800  miles  thick,  and  the  sun 
has  also  a  crust.  Future  investigation  will  supply  data  for  a  long 
forecast  of  seasonal  weather  conditions,  years  ahead.  Cleveland 
Abbe  followed  with  a  paper  on  clouds  and  their  nomenclature, 
and  Alfred  J.  Henry  with  some  very  beautiful  cloud  photographs. 

Electro-metallurgy  has  made  rapid  strides,  and  a  paper  on 
calcium  carbide,  by  P.  de  Chalmot  and  J.  T.  Morehead,gavean 
account  of  the  process  used  at  their  works  in  Spray,  N'.C,  for 
cheap  producti(jn  of  this  compound  by  smelting  together  hme 
and  coke  in  the  electric  furnace.  This  enables  them  to  produce 
acetylene,  the  illuminating  principle  of  gas,  much  cheaper  than 
any  other  process. 

A  paper  on  the  new  process  of  making  white-lead  by  electric 
action  was  read  by  R.  P.  Williams  before  the  .American  Chemical 
Society,  which  met  at  Si)ri[igfield  two  days  earlier  than  the 
Association.   Mr.  Williams  describes  the  process,  which  will  work 


NO.    1351,   VOL.   52] 


a  revolution  in  this  industry.  Instead  of  acetate  of  lead,  as  in 
the  old  process,  sodium  nitrate  is  used  together  with  sodium 
bicarbonate.  A  number  of  cells  are  filled  with  the  solution,  with 
plates  of  lead  at  one  pole  and  of  copper  at  the  other.  The 
current  from  a  dynamo  causes  nitric  acid  to  be  liberated  and  tc 
combine  with  the  lead.  A  number  of  reactions  occur,  with  the 
final  production  of  white-lead  in  a  very  fine  and  uniform  state 
and  of  superior  colouring  quality.  The  chemicals  can  be  re-used 
indefinitely.  As  many  as  500  pounds  have  already  been  made 
at  one  charge. 

The  Economic  Section  has  always  been  one  of  great  popular 
interest.  The  monetary  question,  monometallism  or  bimetallism, 
by  J.  W.  Sylvester  and  Henry  Farquhar ;  taxation  in  the  United 
States,  by  Edward  Atkinson  ;  growth  of  great  cities,  by  E,  L. 
Corthell ;  manual  training  in  horticulture,  by  W.  R.  Lazenby, 
were  among  the  matters  treated  of.  An  effort  was  made  to 
widen  the  scope  of  this  Section  by  a  change  of  name.  Its  name 
— Section  of  Economic  Science  and  Statistics — was  deemed 
peculiarly  undesirable,  and  after  much  discussion  of  the  re- 
spective merits  of  "  sociologj- "  and  ".social  and  economic 
science,''  the  latter  title  was  adopted  as  the  name  of  Section  I. 

Buffalo  was  unanimously  chosen  as  the  next  place  of  meeting, 
following  the  practice  of  the  Association  to  meet  at  that  city 
every  tenth  year,  beginning  with  1866,  when  79  members  there 
reorganised  the  Association  after  six  years  of  suspended  animation, 
during  which  no  meeting  had  been  held. 

The  time  for  meeting  was  much  controverted.  The  Council 
recommended  a  change  to  Monday  as  the  opening  day,  which 
met  decided  opposition,  and  on  an  informal  vote  30  were  op- 
posed to  it  and  only  27  favoured  it  ;  but  opposition  at  length 
gave  way,  and  the  next  meeting  will  begin  on  Monday,  August 
24,  1896,  at  Buffalo. 

Officers  elected  were — President  :  Edward  D.  Cope,  of  Phila- 
delphia. Vice-Presidents :  A,  Mathematics  and  Astronomy, 
William  E.  Story  of  Worcester  ;  B,  Physics,  Carl  Leo  Mees  of 
Terre  Haute,  Ind.  ;  C,  Chemistry,  W.  A.  NoyesofTerre  Haute, 
Ind.  ;  D,  Mechanical  Science  and  Engineering,  Frank  O. 
Marvin  of  Lawrence,  Kan.  ;  E,  Geology  and  Geography,  B. 
K.  Emerson  of  Amherst  ;  F,  Zoolog)-,  Theodore  N.  Gill  of 
Washington  ;  G,  Botany,  N.  L.  Britton  of  New  A'ork  city  ;  H, 
Anthropolog)-,  Alice  C.  Fletcher  of  Washington ;  I,  Social 
Science,  William  R.  Lazenby  of  Columbus,  O.  Permanent 
Secretary  :  V.  W.  Putnam  of  Cambridge.  General  Secretary  : 
Charles  R.  Barnes  of  Madison,  Wis.  Secretary  of  the  Council : 
Asaph  Hall,  Junr.,of  Ann  .\rbor,  Mich.  Secretaries  of  the  Sec- 
tions :  A,  .\Iathematics  and  .\stronomy,  Edwin  B.  Frost  of 
Hanover,  N. II.  ;  B,  Physics,  Frank  P.  Whitman  of  Cleveland, 
O.  ;  C,  Chemistry.  Frank  P.  Venable  of  Chapel  Hill,  N.C.  ; 
D,  Mechanical  Science  and  Engineering,  John  Galbraith  of 
Toronto,  Can.  ;  E,  Geology  and  Geography,  .\.  C.  Gill  of 
Ithaca,  N.  V.  ;  F,  Zoology,  D.  S.  Keliicott  of  Columbus,  O.  ; 
G,  Botany,  George  F.  Atkinson  of  Ithaca,  N.V.  ;  H,  Anthropo- 
'"gy-  John  G.  Bourke,  United  Stales  Army;  I,  Social  Science, 
R.  T.  Colburn  of  Elizabeth,  N'.J.  Treasurer,  R.  S.  Woodward 
of  New  York.  Wm.   H.  H.m.e. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

{^rhe  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 
tnanuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  Nati;re. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.'\ 

August  Meteors. — Red  Spot  on  Jupiter. 

As  supplementary  to  my  paper  on  the  .\ugust  meteors  (Nature, 
No.  1347.  -August  22)  and  to  Prof.  A.  S.  Her.schel's  interesting 
letter  on  the  same  subject  (Xo.  1349,  September  5),  I  may  note 
that  a  further  comparison  of  the  recent  observations  has  revealed 
two  additional  instances  of  doubly  observed  meteors. 

On  -August  II,  loh.  59m.,  Prof.  Herschel  at  Slough  recorded 
a  meteor  equal  in  brightness  to  a  first  magnitude  star  and  moving 
swiftly  along  a  path  of  22.J"  from  264'  +  52°  to  252°  +  31°,  or 
from  the  head  of  Draco  into  Hercules.  The  meteor  left  a  long, 
thin,  white  streak  for  2  sees.,  and  the  duration  of  flight  was 
estinrated  as  I  sec.  Mr.  H.  Corder,  at  Bridgwater,  observed 
the  same  object,  noting  the  time  as  loh.  58m.,  and  the  apparent 
path  as  23°  -f  53i°  to  14°  -I-  50°  between  Cassiopeia  and 
Andromeila. 


SoS 


NA  TURE 


[September  19,  1895 


The  meteor  was  evidently  a  Perseiil,  and  had  a  radiant  at 
36"  +  57".  It  was  first  seen  when  at  a  height  of  95  miles  above 
Oxford,  and  disappeared  when  61  miles  above  Devizes.  Its 
real  length  of  path  was  53  miles,  and  the  earth  point  is  indicated 
in  the  English  Channel  about  10  miles  south  of  Lyme  Ktajis, 
Dorsetshire. 

On  August  :i,  ith.  43ni. ,  Prof.  Herschel  mapped  a  small 
lx)lide,  rivalling  Jupiter  in  brightness,  and  traversing  with 
moderate  speed  a  course  of  15"  from  229°  +  59°  to  225°  +  44°, 
or  from  near  1  Draconis  to  the  head  of  Boiites.  Duration  of 
flight  I  "5  sec.  :  the  nucleus  was  evenly  bright  all  the  way,  and 
it  left  a  streak  for  3  sees.  Mr.  Corder  rcgisleretl  the  same 
meteor,  and  gives  the  time  as  ilh.  42m.,  magnitude  equal  to 
Jupiter,  and  path  as  60°  +  62i°  to  "o"  +  64°  in  Camelopardus. 

This  object  was  also  a  Perseid,  the  radiant  being  at  32  +  52° 
near  the  cluster  at  x  Persci.  The  meteor  at  its  first  appearance 
«-as  75  miles  high  above  a  point  5  miles  N.  of  Stratford-on- 
Avon,  and  at  its  disap|x;arance  52  miles  high  over  a  place  5 
miles  W. X.W.  of  Great  Malvern.  Its  real  length  of  path  was 
34  miles,  and  earth  point  6  miles  S.  E.  of  .\l)erdare. 

Red  Spot  on  Jupiter. — When  twilight  became  too  strong  for 
comet-seeking  on  the  morning  of  August  25  last,  I  turned  my 
10-inch  reflector  on  Jupiter  and  saw  the  red  s|xjt,  indefinitely, 
near  its  central  transit.  The  planet  had  only  just  risen  alxjve 
the  tops  of  some  houses  in  this  locality,  and  the  telescopic  image 
was  by  no  means  goo<l,  but  I  estimated  the  transit  of  the  spot 
occurred  at  4h.  24m.  a.m.  (.\ugust  24,  l6h.  24m.),  or  about 
9"4ni.  after  Mr.  Marth's  zero  meridian.  System  II.,  so  that  the 
longitude  of  the  sjxjt  was  S°"7.  The  shouldering  of  the  great 
south  equatorial  belt,  east  of  the  spot,  was  very  conspicuous,  and 
afTorded  an  excellent  guide  to  the  position  of  the  latter.  A  few 
minutes  after  the  transit  of  the  re<l  spot  I  noticed  a  large  white 
spot  on  the  north  side  of  the  north  equatorial  bell,  passing  the 
central  meridian.  A  |X)«er  of  312  was  used  in  these  obser- 
vations. \V.  I'.  IIknmm;. 

Bristol,  .September  7. 


Curious  Optical   Phenomenon. 

The  fulliiwing  description  of  an  optical  iihenomenon,  and  its 
probable  explanation,  may  be  of  interest.  It  will  be  observed 
that  a  similar  exj>erience  occurring  to  one  not  accustomed  to 
making  optical  experiments  would  very  probatjiy  have  caused 
him  to  believe  that  he  had  seen  a  ghost.  It  is  therefore  of 
importance  psychologically. 

The  facts  observed  were  as  follows: — At  about  I  A.M., 
August  26,  I  went  to  my  tiedroom  ;  to  get  to  it  I  had  to 
(Mss  through  a  small  room  which  I  used  as  a  study.  On 
entering  it,  though  it  w.as  dark,  and  I  had  no  lamp,  the  small 
r(K>m  seemed  brightly  illuminated,  about  as  bright  .as  an  8  c.p. 
lamp  would  make  it,  apparently.  To  one  side  of  a  window  in 
the  room  I  saw  a  man  standing,  whom  I  recognised  to  be  myself. 
The  whole  impression  was  very  vivid  and  clear. 

So  far  nr)thing  was  oliscr\ed  beyond  what  is  described  in  the 
ordinary  ghost  stor)'.  I  was  much  occupied  with  the  considera- 
tion of  a  problem  at  which  I  had  Ix-'en  working,  and  did  not  at 
first  grasp  the  full  signification  of  what  I  saw.  On  turning  my 
head,  the  figure  disappeared,  but  on  looking  towartls  the 
window,  through  which  a  very  faint  line  came,  the  image 
reappeared.  I  then  noticed  that  it  was  apprently  standing  in  a 
position  occupied,  as  I  knew,  by  a  large  table.  On  more  close 
examination,  without,  however,  moxing  from  the  spot  where  I 
was  standing,  I  saw  that  it  had  change<l,  and  that  it  ilid  not 
ap|>ear  lo  have  features ;  then  it  ap|K-ared  to  he  flat  againsf  the 
wall,  anil  f  finally  recognised  it  xs  an  after-image  of  a  shallow. 
(Jn  my  first  seeing  it,  however,  it  did  not  have  this  a|)|H:arance 
lo  me,  and  I  had  evidently  mentally  supplied  the  features  as  one 
often  docs  to  the  face  of  a  friend  who  is  seen  at  a  distance 
which  is  really  loo  great  lo  admit  of  actual  recognition. 

I  then  got  the  impression  of  having  seen  Ihc  shadow  before, 
and  on  considering  the  mailer  a  few  seconds,  rememljcred  that 
it  Wiis  jusi  l>efore  I  had  slarte<l  for  my  riK>m,  I  had  lieen 
working  in  anolher  room,  endeavouring  lo  solve  a  physical 
proMi  TM  r.i  r.iir  r  fi-.r  hours,  and  for  alxjut  half  an  hour,  or 
I'  steadily  looking  al  a  lamp  (a   habit   of 

H'  I   then  got  up,  leaving  the  lamp  lit, 

•1'  O)  my  lied-room  .as  mentioned  atwve, 

'  '  my  shadow  w.xs  thrown  by  the  lamp  on 

llii:  vi.iM  jii^i  I'.  Mn-  rigni  of  the  door.  The  passages  were  entirely 
«Urk,  and  it  was  not  until  I  entered  the  room  used  as  a  study, 

NO.    I  35  I,   VOL.   52] 


that  the  faint  light  coming  through  the  window  and  falling  on 
the  same  spot  of  the  retina  that  was  prenously  iKCupied  by  Ihe 
image  of  the  dark  doorway,  stimulated  the  after-im;ige. 

I  may  s;\ythat  my  health  w.ts  of  the  best,  but  that  I  had  been 
smoking  heavily  for  a  few  days  previously,  and  the  fact  had 
begun  to  force  itself  upon  me. 

I  would  es|5ecially  remark  upon  the  apparent  brightness  of 
the  apparition.  I  had  never  seen  an  after-image  so  bright.  On 
going  back  lo  the  room  where  the  lamp  was,  I  proved  that  the 
appearance  of  the  shadow  thrown  as  I  went  out  of  the  room 
corresiKjnded  with  that  of  the  im.ige  seen,  minus  of  course  the 
features  and  colour,  which  had  l>een  supplied  by  the 
imagination. 

In  speaking  of  optical  phenomena,  I  would  say  that  an  easy 
way  of  showing  that  the  colours  seen  in  Ihe  colour-lo])  are  due 
to  lack  of  accommodation,  is  by  taking  a  piece  of  red  paper 
or  cloth,  and  turning  the  top  till  the  inner  or  outer  line  matches 
it  exactly.  Then,  withoul  moving  or  changing  the  speed  of  the 
top,  place  before  the  eye  a  convex  glass.  The  colour  on  the 
lop  will  disappear,  but  that  of  the  cloth  will  of  course  remain. 
Similar  ex|)eriments  to  those  observed  with  the  top  can  be 
observed  by  drawing  dark  lines  on  a  piece  of  glass,  and  waving 
dark  and  white  ]xiper  behind  them.  K.  A.  F. 


A  Remarkable  Flight  of  Birds. 

The  forms  of  birds  flying  at  a  great  height  and  crossing  the  solar 
disc,  as  described  by  Mr.  Bray  in  your  issue  of  August  29,  have 
been  rather  frequently  seen  here  during  the  spring  and  autumn 
months,  and  the  writer  has  always  attributed  such  flights  lo 
migrating  birds  on  passage.  They  have  usually  been  noticed 
while  observing  the  image  of  the  sun  projected  on  a  card  screen 
from  Ihe  eyepiece  of  a  small  equatorial  telescope  ;  occasionally, 
however,  ihey  have  atlracled  allenlion  at  night  also,  crossing 
the  disc  of  the  moon,  upon  which  iheir  forms  are  very  clearly 
defined,  and  wiih  careful  focussing  (which  is  very  nearly  the 
same  as  for  parallel  rays)  it  has  almost  been  possililc  to  identify 
the  si>ecies  from  the  shape  of  the  wings  and  manner  of  flight  ; 
birds  of  Ihe  swallow  tribe,  in  particular,  have  lieen  clearly  dis- 
tinguished, and  others  resembling  ihe  thrush,  possibly  redwings 
or  fieldferes,  have  been  noticed.  The  direction  of  (light,  accord- 
ing lo  the  writer's  experience,  is  nearly  alw.ays  towards  the 
south  in  .\ugust  and  .September,  and  the  reverse  in  .Vpril. 

On  August  31,  a  continuous  watch  was  kept  i>n  ihe  moon 
from  8.50  to  9.35  r.  M.,  using  a  power  of  So  diameters  on 
a  reflector  of  10  feet  focus.  Only  eight  liirds  were  seen,  how- 
ever, four  of  them  slowly  crossing  from  north  lo  soulh,  the 
other  two  from  west  to  east  (nearly).  They  were  evidently  very 
distant.  Kn  estimate  of  the  change  of  focus  required  for  the 
ap|xirenlly  nearest  bird  gave  "15  inch.  This  would  imply  a  dis- 
tance of  7900  feet  from  the  telescope,  and  the  moons  altitude 
being  about  14'  Ihe  vertical  height  of  this  bird  would  be  7900  X 
.sine  14°  =  1900  feet  (about).  Some  of  the  birds,  judging  from 
iheir  apparent  size,  must  have  been  two  or  three  times  more 
distant,  and  therefore  higher  in  the  same  proportion. 

It  would  l)e  very  interesting  to  obtain  systematic  observations 
of  such  flights  of  birds  from  various  localities  during  the 
migrating  seasons.  Possessors  of  telescopes  would  fiiul  these 
observations  a  good  exercise  in  that  kind  of  patience  or  endurance 
which  is  so  necessary  in  observing,  for  instance,  a  so-called 
meteor  shower  al  its  maximum  ! 

The  writer  would  be  glad  lo  receive  notes  on  the  subject  from 
those  of  your  rcailers  who  may  care  to  watch  for  birds  during 
the  aulunm.  Estimates  of  the  angle  subtended  by  the  spread 
wings  would  perhaps  give  the  most  reliable  means  of  ascertain- 
ing Ihc  height  of  ihe  birds,  and  iheir  direction  of  flight  can 
easily  be  obtained  by  reference  lo  the  diurnal  motion  of  the  sun 
or  moon.  It  is  hoijcd  that  by  collecting  data  of  this  kind  some 
new  facts  may  \k  learned  regarding  the  mysterious  habils  of  our 
bird  visitors.  J.    Evershkd. 

Kcniey,  Surrey. 


THE    WOBl'RN  EXPERIMENTAL  FRUIT 
FARM. 

ON  June  12  last  a  small  party  of  those  interested  in 
agriculture  and  horlitulturc,  including  Mr.  Herbert 
(lardncr,  Sir  John  Thorold,  Prof.  .Armstrong,  Prof. 
Warington,    Dr.    X'oclcker,    -Mr.   Charles   Howard,   .Mr 


September  19,  1895] 


NATURE 


509 


Cariutlieis,  Mr.  George  Murray,  and  others,  visited 
Woburn  to  make  the  first  formal  inspection  of  an  institu- 
tion which,  under  the  above  somewhat  unpretentious  title, 
has  Ijccn  estaliHshcd  by  the  joint  action  of  the  Duke  of 
ISedford  and  Mr.  .Spencer  l^ickering,  F.R.S.,  in  order  to 
supply  what  has  hitherto  been  a  great  national  want. 

The  object  of  this  institution  is  to  provide  an  experi- 
mental station  where  all  matters  connected  with  horti- 
culture, and  especially  with  the  culture  of  hardy  fruits, 
may  be  investigated  both  from  the  scientific  and  practical 
point  of  view. 

The  origin  of  such  an  enterprise  is  always  a  matter  of 
some  interest,  and  it  becomes  all  the  more  so  in  after 
years,  \vhen,  too  often,  the  details  of  its  conception  and 
evolution  are  irretrievably  lost.  In  the  present  instance 
we  may  trace  the  origin  to  an  accident  in  a  chemical 
laboratory.  It  was  owing  to  such  an  accident  some  years 
ago  that  Mr.  Pickering,  whose  work  in  physical  chemistry 
is  well  known,  was  driven  to  seek  health  in  a  partial 
existence  in  the  country.  Not  having  the  means,  how- 
ever, to  procure  this  in  the  orthodox  manner  without 
abandoning  his  scientific  work,  he  resorted  to  the  some- 
what unusual  means  of  getting  air  and  exercise  by 
becoming  an  agricultural  labourer  at  Rothamsted.  From 
an  agricultural  labourer  to  a  small  farmer  and  land- 
owner the  steps  were  not  so  tedious  as  is  generally  the 
case,  and  for  some  few  years  past  Mr.  Pickering  has 
turned  his  attention,  after  the  manner  of  many  landowners, 
to  horticulture  and  practical  fructiculture.  To  any  one  of 
a  scientific  turn  of  mind  the  unsatisfactory  basis  on  which 
the  culture  of  fruit  depends  cannot  fail  to  be  apparent. 
Its  present  condition  is  little  better  than  that  of  horti- 
culture some  fifty  years  ago.  It  rests  mainly  on  the  hard- 
earned  and  often  one-sided  experience  of  practical  men, 
gardeners,  for  the  most  part,  or  nurserymen. 

But  the  pressure  of  business  will  rarely  allow  a  nursery- 
man to  indulge  in  anything  approaching  to  systematic 
research,  and  even  when  he  does  obtain  any  important 
results,  they  are  liable  to  be  looked  on  askance,  as  being 
possibly  tinctured  by  mercenary  considerations.  More- 
over, even  amongst  the  highest  practical  authorities  there 
is  hardly  a  single  point  in  the  cultivation  of  fruit  on  which 
unanimity  of  opinion  prevails  ;  indeed,  on  some  of  even 
the  most  elementary  processes  there  seem  to  be  as  man)- 
opinions  as  there  arc  so-called  authorities. 

The  desirability  of  having  some  station  where  such 
matters  might  be  patiently  investigated,  and  from  which 
results  might  issue  free  from  any  taint  of  commercial  ex- 
pediency, was  e\  ident  to  Mr.  Pickering,  and  not  having 
himself  the  capital  or  land  necessary  for  such  an  under- 
taking, he  applied  for  assistance  to  a  former  college 
friend,  the  Duke  of  Bedford.  The  Dukes  of  Bedford 
have  during  generations  past  identified  themselves  with 
the  progress  of  agriculture  and  horticulture,  the  present 
holder  of  the  title  showing  no  tendency  to  be  eclipsed 
by  his  predecessors  in  these  matters.  .-\s  was  probable, 
such  a  scheme  met  with  the  hearty  approval  of  the  Duke, 
and  the  result  was  the  establishment  of  the  present  insti- 
tution, conducted  jointly  by  himself  and  .Mr.  Pickering. 

The  fruit  farm  is  on  the  Duke's  land  near  Kidgmount 
Station,  and  almost  adjoins  the  land  which  is  given 
up  to  the  use  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  as  an  ex- 
perimental agricultural  station.  .-Vbout  twenty  acres  have 
been  devoted  to  the  purpose,  and  of  this  some  fifteen  have 
already  been  planted. 

Everything  at  present  justifies  the  anticipation  that  this 
station  will  be  conducted  in  the  liberal  and  thorough- 
going manner  which  alone  can  produce  results  capable  of 
commanding  the  confidence  of  horticulturists,  and  the 
cneryy  with  which  the  work  has  been  commenced  indicates 
that  no  time  will  be  lost  in  obtaining  trustworthy  results. 
It  is  but  twelve  months  since  the  field  was  bearing  a  crop 
of  roots  and  weeds  (especially  the  latter;,  yet  in  spite  of  the 
adverse  season,  the  ground  has  been  thoroughly  cleaned, 

NO.    I  35  I,  VOL.  52] 


roads,  hedges,  and  fences  have  been  made,  a  house  built 
on  it,  and  over  500  experimental  plots  have  been  planted  ; 
also  an  extensive  nursery  has  been  planted,  as  well  as 
collections  of  various  ornamental  and  useful  trees  and 
shrubs.  A  fine  crop  of  eighty  different  varieties  of  straw- 
berries has  been  already  gathered.  With  such  work 
accomplished,  it  is  scarcely  necessar)-  to  say  that  an 
able  manager  is  resident  on  the  farm.  The  present 
manager,  Mr.  L.  Castle,  is  a  man  whose  experience  and 
knowledge  will  command  the  confidence  of  practical 
horticulturists. 

It  is  only  possible  here  to  indicate  briefly  the  character 
of  some  of  the  experiments  instituted.  Besides  straw- 
berries— the  investigation  of  which  will  embrace  not  only 
the  respective  merits  of  different  varieties,  but  also  the 
comparative  values  of  the  varieties  at  different  ages,  and 
the  effects  of  certain  manures  on  the  crop — apples  have 
been  selected  for  the  majority  of  the  experiments  already 
begun.  Sixty  different  experiments  are  arranged  to  test 
different  methods  of  planting,  of  root  and  branch  treat- 
ment, and  different  manurial  treatment,  each  experiment 
being  made  on  eighteen  trees,  six  of  each  of  three  varie- 
ties, all  of  the  same  age,  and  all  raised  on  the  same  stock. 
These  trees  are  all  dwarf  trees,  and  certain  of  the  experi- 
ments are  repeated  with  standard  trees  on  the  free- 
growing  stock,  and  also  with  other  dwarf  trees  of  a 
fourth  variety.  Thirty-eight  plots  have  been  devoted  to 
ascertaining  the  influence  of  different  methods  of  train- 
ing on  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  crop,  and  a 
collection  of  about  120  good  varieties  of  apples  has 
been  made,  each  variety  being  grown  on  difterent  stocks, 
and  subjected  in  each  case  to  different  methods  of  treat- 
ment. This  collection  of  apples  is  also  so  arranged  that 
it  may  be  utilised  for  the  investigation  of  insecticides, 
without  destroying  the  value  of  the  results  as  regards  the 
comparison  of  the  different  varieties.  A  smaller  but 
interesting  collection  of  apples  of  Scotch,  Irish,  and 
foreign  origin  has  also  been  made.  The  numerous 
shelter  hedges  which  have  been  planted  are  also  of  con- 
siderable interest,  since,  from  an  economical  point  of 
view,  they  also  are  experimental.  They  are  composed  of 
different  varieties  of  nuts,  plums,  damsons,  crabs,  quince, 
medlars,  and  berberries. 

Other  experiments  of  greater  scientific  interest  than 
the  above  are,  we  understand,  either  in  progress  or  in 
contemplation  ;  amongst  these  may  be  mentioned  the 
influence  of  different  stocks  on  the  scion,  and  the  great 
question  of  the  effects  of  self-  or  cross-fertilisation.  Such 
experiments,  however,  necessitate  the  lapse  of  a  consider- 
able amount  of  time  before  they  can  be  said  even  to  have 
been  started,  if  they  are  to  be  started  on  a  really 
satisfactory  basis. 

Those  who  are  familiar  with  Mr.  Pickering's  chemical 
work  will  not  fear  that  sufficient  attention  to  minute 
details  will  be  absent  from  the  present  undertaking.  As 
instances  of  the  thoroughness  with  which  small  ques- 
tions are  being  examined,  we  may  mention  experiments 
on  the  relative  merits  of  different  arrangements  of  the 
same  number  of  trees  in  a  given  area,  and  of  the  different 
direction  in  which  the  rows  run  as  regards  the  points  of 
the  compass.  Or,  again,  experiments  on  the  influence  of 
the  nature,  position,  and  inclination  of  the  cut  given  in 
pruning  a  branch,  and  also  the  improvements  which  are 
being  devised  in  methods  of  measuring  the  evaporating 
power  of  the  air. 

But  it  is  vei-y  noteworthy  that  the  strictly  practical  and 
economical  aspects  of  horticulture  will  receive  more 
attention  than  is  usually  the  case  at  experimental  stations. 
Six  demonstration  plots  of  a  quarter  of  an  acre  each  have 
been  planted  to  illustrate  how  land  may  be  most  advan- 
tageously cropped  b>'  farmers,  growers,  and  cottagers 
respectively.  The  initial  cost  of  each  of  these  plots  is 
known,  and  an  accurate  account  of  the  incoming  and  out- 
going connected  with  each  will  be  kept.     In  the  nursery, 


;io 


NATURE 


[September  19,  189- 


to  which  allusion  has  already  been  made,  trees  and 
bushes  are  being  raised  for  distribution  amongst  the 
Duke's  tenantr\-.  We  are  pleased,  however,  to  find  that 
these  practical  steps  for  the  promotion  of  fructiculture  do 
not  originate  in  any  extravagant  notions  of  the  all-saving 
powers  of  fruit-growing  to  remedy  the  present  agricultural 
distress.  Much  harm  has  been  done  in  this  country  by 
the  special  pleading  of  those  who  are  faddists  on  the 
subject,  and  who  advocate  their  fad  by  holding  up  to 
\iew  all  the  notable  cases  of  success,  and  all  the  possible 
advantages  to  be  gained,  while  they  keep  in  the  back- 
ground all  the  difficulties  and  dangers,  minimise  the  costs 
of  planting,  and  hide  the  numerous  cases  of  failure.  No 
one  can  question  the  fact  that  fruit-growing  in  England 
is  a  profitable  occupation  when  properly  conducted 
under  favourable  conditions  of  soil,  climate,  and  dis- 
tance from  market  ;  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that 
a  certain  proportion  (perhaps  5  or  10  per  cent.) 
of  those  who  are  now  ordinary  farmers  could  become 
fruit  farmers  with  great  advantage  to  themselves,  and  it 
must  also  be  admitted  that  the  distribution  of  some 
knowledge  of  fruit-growing  over  the  country  generally 
would  render  the  thousands  of  orchards  attached  to 
homesteads  a  source  of  small,  or  often  substantial,  profit 
to  the  holders,  instead  of  being,  as  they  are  at  present,  a 
mere  waste  of  land  and  money  :  but  to  imagine  that 
every  farmer  can  become  a  fruit  grower  is  as  absurd  as 
imagining  that  every  fanner  could  become  a  horse 
breeder.  Even  if  such  a  metamorphosis  were  possible 
it  would  be  suicidal  :  yet  it  should  be  pointed  out  that  the 
fruit  market  in  England  is  an  exceptionally  expansible 
one,  and  that  prices  of  hard  fruits  would  probably  be  but 
little  affected  even  if  the  supply  were  doubled  ;  the 
rapidly  increasing  importation  of  apples,  which  has  now 
reached  5,000,000  bushels  a  year,  has  had  no  effect  what- 
ever on  the  market  price  of  the  fmit.  These  might  have 
been  grown  in  England  just  as  well  as  abroad,  for  with  a 
proper  selection  of  varieties  England  need  never  fear  a 
competition  with  foreign-grown  apples. 

It  is  certainly  a  fallacy  to  suppose  that  it  is  only  in  a 
few  exceptionally  favoured  districts  that  fruit  can  be 
profitably  grown  :  the  appearance  of  the  trees  and  the 
abundant  crop  of  strawberries  at  the  Woburn  Experi- 
mental Fruit  Farm  are  sufficient  to  demonstrate  that  a 
field  of  ordinar)'  arable  land  of  average  fertility,  with 
nothing  to  recommend  it  for  fruit-growing  beyond  having 
a  gentle  slope  to  the  south-west,  and  with  a  reputation 
amongst  farmers  of  being  the  most  unmanageable  in  the 
district,  may  be  rendered  highly  suited  for  the  production 
of  fruit.  To  produce  such  results,  however,  right  methods 
of  procedure  are,  of  course,  essential,  and  nothing  could 
be  more  striking  than  the  difference  between  the  bulk  of 
the  apple-trees  at  the  farm,  and  those  growing  on  two 
plots  where  the  planting  and  subsequent  treatment  were 
such  as  is  usually  adopted  by  farmers  :  the  ground  where 
these  trees  were  had,  mdeed,  been  properly  trenched  and 
cleaned  once,  but  the  trees  had  been  carelessly  planted, 
the  branches  had  not  been  cut  back,  and  the  weeds  hael 
been  subsequently  allowed  to  grow  :  the  result  was. that 
along  the  branches  there  were  only  a  few  halfdead 
lca\  es  (if  not  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  proper  size,  and 
it  ...nil]  liave  required  a  trained  horticulturist  to  have 
f  Ijat  these  trees  were  of  the  same  variety  as 

ti  '  liad  been  properly  tended. 

\  iaiiots  were  also  much  struck  by  the  e\idence  which 
the  results  at  the  farm  afforded  of  the  hardiness  of 
English  fruit  trees.  No  season  could  have  been  more 
trj-ing  for  recently-planted  trees  than  that  just  experi- 
enced. A  very  wet  autumn,  during  which  the  heavy  soil 
of  the  farm  was  unworkable,  was  followed  by  a  winter  of 
almost  unprtcedentrd  severity,  and  this,  in  its  turn,  by  a 
still  more  trying  ptrind  of  drought.  Yet,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  young  slocks  and  a  few  strawberry  plants, 
the  mortality  amongst  the  thousands  of  trees  and  bushes 

NO.    I  35  I,  VOL.  52] 


brought  on  to  the  ground  in  the  autumn,  was  confined  to 
about  six  individuals  and  half  of  these  were  killed 
through  the  improper  method  purposely  adopted  in 
planting  them. 

All  readers  of  N.ATURE  will  wish  success  to  an  enter- 
prise so  well  begun  and  so  liberally  conducted,  which  is 
clearly  destined  to  afford  results  of  high  economic  and 
scientific  value. 


THE     REVISION     OE     THE    "  liRITISH 
PHAR.MACORiEIA." 

'T'HE  last  edition  of  the  "British  Pharmacopoeia''  was 
-*•  issued  in  1S85,  and  though  a  thin  volume  of 
"Additions"  was  publi«iiied  by  the  General  .Medical  Council 
in  iSgo,  the  progress  of  science  and  the  requirements  of 
medical  practice  have  rendered  necessary  a  complete 
revision  of  the  official  handbook.  The  work  has  accord- 
ingly been  entrusted  to  a  Committee  of  the  Council,  con- 
sisting of  Sir  Richard  Quain,  F.R.S,,  Chairman,  the  only 
remaining  member  of  the  Committee  of  18S5  ;  Sir  Dyce 
Duckworth  and  Mr.  Carter,  of  London  :  Dr.  Leech,  of 
-Manchester;  Dr.  Batty  Tuke,  of  Edinburgh  :  Dr.  Donald 
M.ic.'Vlister,  of  Cambridge  ;  Dr.  Mc\'ail,  of  C.lasgow  ; 
and  Dr.  .A.tthill  and  Dr.  tMoore,  of  Dublin.  Dr.  Nestor 
Tirard,  of  King's  College,  London,  has  been  appointed 
secretary  to  the  Committee,  and  Prof  .-\ttfield,  F.R.S.,  of 
the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of  Great  Britain,  general 
editor.  On  questions  of  chemistry.  Dr.  T.  E.  "I'horpe, 
F.R.S.,  Principal  of  the  Government  Laboratory  at 
Somerset  House,  with  Prof  Emerson  Reynolds.  F.R.S. , 
of  Dublin,  and  Prof  Tilden,  F.R.S.,  of  the  Royal  College 
of  Science,  have  been  invited  to  act  as  scientific  referees. 
Mr.  W.  T.  Thiselton-Dyer,  F.R.S.,  Director  of  the  Royal 
Botanic  Gardens,  Kew,  and  Mr.  Holmes,  Curator  of 
the  Pharmaceutical  Society's  Museum,  have  received  a 
similar  invitation  as  regards  botanical  questions.  The 
rapid  growth  of  experimental  pharmacology  has,  more- 
over, rendered  it  desirable  to  enlist  expert  assistance  in 
regard  to  the  physiological  properties  and  actions  of  new 
remedies,  and  accordingly  difficult  questions  of  this  nature 
will  be  referred  to  Dr.  Lauder  Brunton,  of  London,  Prof. 
Eraser,  of  Edinburgh,  and  Prof  \V.  G.  Smith,  of  Dublin. 
Lastly,  on  matters  of  pharmacy,  the  Pharmaceutical 
Society  have  been  asked  to  give  their  valu.ible  aid,  and 
have  promptly  formed  a  strong  committee  of  practical 
experts.  To  this  committee  many  questions  as  to  the 
compounding  and  preparation  of  drugs  will  doubtless  have 
to  be  referred. 

.A  circular  inviting  suggestions  for  the  improvement  of 
the  "  Pharmacoporia  "  has  been  addressed  to  the  several 
universities  and  medical  licensing  corporations  of  the 
United  Kingdom,  and  from  the  m.ajority  of  these  careful 
and  elaborate  replies  have  been  received.  They  contain 
numerous  proposals  for  the  omission  of  doubtful  or  obso- 
lete preparations,  for  the  incorporation  of  new  drugs  that 
have  come  into  practical  use  since  1S85,  and  for  the 
simplification  and  correction  of  the  text  in  general. 

In  response  to  rei|ucsts  transmitted  through  the  Pri\y 
Council  to  the  medical  authorities  of  the  colonies  and 
India,  a  very  large  body  of  materials,  submitted  with  the 
object  of  adapting  the  "  Pharmacopoeia"  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  empire  at  large,  have  reached  the  editing 
committee.  These  open  up  a  multitude  of  somewhat 
diflficult  questions  ;  for  though  the  "  Pharmacopivia"  is 
by  law  recognised  as  the  official  standard  of  reference  at 
home,  it  has  not  the  same  legal  sanction  outside  the 
British  Isles.  While  therefore  it  is  possible  that  something 
may  be  done  as  regards  the  recognition  of  important 
natural  drugs  used  in  Indian  or  colonial  practice,  it  is 
highly  probable  th.it  these  may  have  to  be  relegated  to  a 
special  appendix.  The  desire  to  go  as  far  as  may  legally 
be  practic.ible  in  making  the   "  Pharmacopceia "  an  ini- 


September  19,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


511 


perial  one  is,  however,  highly  laudable,  and  should  be 
encouraged  with  a  view  to  the  unification  of  British 
medical  science.  It  is  further  announced  that  a  lonj^- 
deferred  step  is  about  to  be  taken  by  the  introduction  of 
the  metric  system  into  the  body  of  the  work.  In  the  pre- 
sent edition  the  centimetres  and  grammes  of  science 
appear  modestly  in  the  supplementary  pages  dealing  with 
volumetric  processes,  and  then  only  as  an  alterna- 
tive to  grains  and  "grain-measures."  We  understand 
that  in  the  new  revision  centimetres  and  grammes  will  be 
made  official  in  all  the  monographs  of  the  text,  side  by 
side  with  the  still  legalised  grains  and  ounces,  minims 
and  drachms.  This  change  will  bring  the  British  hand- 
book into  line  with  the  official  dispensatories  of  all  other 
civilised  .States,  and  should  tend  to  hasten  the  time  when 
the  international  system  of  metric  weights  and  measures 
shall  acquire  full  legal  authority  in  this  country. 

It  thus  appears  that  the  Medical  Council's  Committee 
have  undertaken  the  task  of  revision  with  an  adequate 
sense  of  their  responsibility.  They  have  in  the  sugges- 
tions of  the  medical  authorities  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
in  the  useful  digests  of  the  literature  of  pharmacy,  pre- 
l)ared  from  year  to  year  by  their  reporter.  Prof.  Attfield, 
ample  materials  whereon  to  base  their  deliberations.  As 
a  body  of  physicians  representing  the  supreme  council  of 
the  profession,  they  are  eminently  qualified  to  judge  as  to 
the  requirements  of  practical  medicine  and  clinical 
therapeutics.  Where  their  domain  borders  on  that  of  the 
specialist  in  chemistiy,  botany,  pharmacy,  or  physiological 
pharmacology,  they  propose  to  ha\e  recourse  to  the  most 
skilled  representatives  of  these  branches  of  science.  The 
result  of  their  labours,  thus  conceived  and  carried  out,  will 
be  awaited  with  interest,  not  only  by  practitioners  of 
medicine  and  pharmacy,  and  by  manufacturing  chemists, 
but  by  all  who  have  sympathy  with  the  application  of 
science  to  human  needs. 


THE  FIRST  MERIDIAN. 

A  T  the  recent  Geographical  Congress  in  London,  the 
-'^*-  question  of  the  first  meridian  was  discussed  with 
particular  interest. 

It  was  proposed  that  the  first  meridian  should  not 
be  established  officially,  but  should  merely  be  settled 
with  a  view  to  producing  an  international  map  to  the 
scale  of  millionths.  M.  A.  de  Lapparent  has  written 
an  article  in  La  Nature  on  the  subject,  of  which  the 
following  is  an  analysis  ;  it  is  a  noteworthy  occurrence 
that  a  Frenchman  should  have  taken  up  the  subject  with 
such  interest,  for  the  French  has  hitherto  been  the  only 
nation  to  reject  the  (jreenwich  meridian.  In  the  pre- 
liminary discussions  they  have  brought  upon  themselves 
many  reproaches  for  hindering  a  scientific  work  the  use 
of  which  every  one  had  recognised,  while  they  thenisehes 
had  no  principle  to  bring  forward  to  support  their  ob- 
jections. The  matter  has  been  much  discussed  amongst 
them,  and  at  the  Geographical  Society  of  Paris,  by  a 
special  commission,  it  was  decided  that  the  map  should 
be  accepted.  It  was  considered  best  that  France  should 
not  be  the  only  country  to  refuse  the  project  ;  neverthe- 
less, it  was  decided  to  insist  on  the  metric  system  being 
used,  for  here  a  principle  was  involved. 

On  this  subject  M.  de  Lapparent  writes  as  follows  : — 
"Thus,  true  to  its  habit  of  fighting  for  its  views,  France 
has  again  showed  itself  champion  of  the  metric  system, 
oflcring  to  make,  for  the  scientific  and  rational  interest,  a 
sacrifice  of  national  self-love.  It  would  be  impossible  for 
it  to  ca])itulate  on  the  question  of  the  system,  for  here  a 
principle  is  concerned  ;  but  the  choice  of  a  meridian, 
depending  on  no  logical  consideration,  could  be  more 
easily  granted.  Evidently  the  proposed  map,  if  ever 
produced  was  to  be  arranged  so  as  to  be  a  help  to  already 
existing      aps,  the  latter  being  in  great  majority  on  the 

NO.  1 35 1,  VOL.  52J 


meridian  of  Greenwich  ;  by  wishing  to  impose  the  meri- 
dian of  Paris  (which  would  not  have  been  a  success),  it 
would  have  caused  greater  trouble  than  the  contrary  case. 
Henry  I\'.  estimated  that  Paris  was  worth  a  mass  ; 
the  French  delegates,  however,  said  on  their  side  that  the 
concession  of  a  meridian,  for  a  special  and  determined 
«ork,  was  quite  worth  the  agreement  which  was  expected 
to  be  established  in  view  of  the  adoption,  for  the  same 
purpose,  of  the  metric  system." 

Many  of  our  own  countrymen  have  regretted  that  the 
public  spirit  prevented  the  system  being  used  officially  in 
Britain. 

However,  the  acceptance  of  the  Greenwich  meridian 
well  dcser\ed  a  recompense,  and  the  vote  was  unani- 
mously carried  that  the  metric  system  should  be  used  for 
the  map. 

It  is  worth  observing^  that  the  subject  was  discussed 
with  remarkably  few  disagreements,  considering  that  the 
congress  was  international.  This  seems  to  show  that 
the  time  is  fast  approaching  when  national  prejudices  will 
be  done  away  with  if  they  support  illogical  theories  ;  if 
principles  are  involved,  it  is  right  they  should  be  adhered 
to,  but  they  should  not  be  allowed  to  hinder  an  enterprise 
profitable,  perhaps,  to  all  humanity. 


NOTES. 
The  Times  of  yesterday  published  a  telegram,  dated  Sep- 
tember 17,  from  Sandefiord,  Norway,  received  through  Reuters 
Agency,  stating  that  advices  received  at  Sandefiord  from  the 
Danish  trading  station  of  Angmagsalik,  on  the  east  coast  of 
Greenland,  state  that  towards  the  end  of  July  a  three-masted 
ship,  with  a  short  foremast,  was  seen  by  Eskimos  on  two 
occasions  firmly  embedded  in  drift  ice.  On  the  first  occasion 
the  ship  was  observed  off  Sermiligak,  65'  45'  lat.  N.,  •;6''  15' 
long.  W.  ;  and  the  second  time  off  Sermelik.  65°  20'  lat.  N., 
38°  long.  W.  It  is  believed  tha  tlie  vessel  was  Dr.  Nansen's 
From,  and  that  she  was  on  her  return  journey.  In  any  case, 
however,  no  positive  news  of  the  exploring  vessel  is  expected  to 
arrive  until  next  year. 

0.\  Wednesday,  Sept.  II,  a  Reuter  telegram  announced  that 
the  steam  yacht  IVindward,  which  took  out  the  Jackson- Harms- 
worth  Polar  Expedition,  had  arrived  at  Vardii,  and  on  Thursday 
another  telegram,  through  the  same  Company's  agency,  stated 
that  the  expedition,  after  leaving  Archangel,  passed  the  winter  on 
Franz  Joseph  Land,  from  which  place  a  start  was  made  in  the 
middle  of  July.  The  crew  appear  lo  have  suffered  severely 
from  scurvy,  and  all  the  members  of  it  are  more  or  less  weakened 
by  the  malady.  Three  of  the  men  succumbed,  and  two  others 
were  removed  to  the  hospital  at  Vardij. 

The  Sla>idard  states  that  the  excavations  that  are  being 
carried  out  by  the  Greek  Arch;eological  Society  on  the  site  of 
ancient  Eleusis,  a  few  miles  from  Athens,  have  just  yielded  some 
results  of  exceptional  importance.  In  a  very  ancient  and  well- 
preserved  tomb,  there  have  been  found,  in  addition  to  the 
skeleton  of  a  woman,  a  number  of  articles,  including  earrings  of 
fine  gold,  silver,  and  bronze,  several  finger  rings,  sixty-eight 
small  vases  of  various  shapes  in  terra-colta,  two  tripods,  three 
Egyptian  scaraba;i,  and  a  small  statuette  of  the  goddess  Isis 
in  porcelain.  These  discoveries  leave  no  doubt  of  the  fact  that 
the  celebrated  mysteries  of  Eltusis  were  of  Egyptian  origin, 
and  were  borrowed  from  the  religious  rites  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians.  These  important  relics  have  been  deposited  in  the 
National  Museum. 

A  Reuter's  telegram  of  September  11,  from  Berne,  reported 
the  fall  of  a  huge  mass  of  ice  from  the  Altels  Glacier  upon  the 
hamlel  of  Spitalmatte,  in  the  Upper  Gemmi  Pass,  causing  the 
death  of  at  least  ten  persons,  and  the  loss  of,  it  is  estimated, 
two  hundred  head  of  cattle.     A  stretch  of  land  nearly  two  miles 


NA  TURE 


[September  19,  1895 


in  length  has  been  uverwheUned,  and  the  pass  has  been  partially 
blocked. 

The  death  is  recorded  of  Dr.  L.  dalassi,  I'rofessor  of  Medical 
Pathologj-  in  the  University  of  Rome  :  Dr.  l-"riedrich  Miescher, 
sometime  Professor  of  Physiological  Chemistr)-,  and  Dr.  von 
Sury,  Professor  of  Forensic  Medicine  in  the  University  of 
Basel. 

Dr.  Rvffer  is,  we  are  sorr)'  to  learn,  suffering  from  an 
attack  of  diphtheritic  paral)-sis,  and  will  not,  in  consequence,  be 
able  to  deliver  his  intended  course  of  lectures  at  the  British 
Institute  of  Preventive  Medicine,  or,  indeed,  do  any  work  for 
some  time  to  come. 

The  following  lectures  will  be  delivered  at  the  Royal  College 
of  Physicians  during  the  coming  year  : — The  Goulstonian  Course 
by  Dr.  Patrick  Manson  ;  the  Lumleian  Lectures  by  Sir  Dyce 
Duckworth  ;  the  Croonian  Lectures  by  Dr.  tJeorge  Oliver  ;  and 
the  Bradshaw  Lecture  by  Dr.  Bradbur)'.  The  Croonian  lecturer 
for  1S97  is  Dr.  CIreenfield. 

The  Berlin  .Academy  of  Sciences  will  award  the  Steiner 
prizes,  of  the  respective  value  of  40CO  and  2000  marks,  for  papers 
in  continuation  of  J.  Steiner's  work  on  curved  surfaces.  The 
essays  must  lie  submitted  to  the  .\cademy  before  the  end  of 
1899. 

A.MOXG  a  number  of  plumassier's  bird-skins,  said  to  have  been 
brought  from  the  foot  of  the  Charles  I^uis  mountains  in  Xew 
Guinea,  has  been  found  the  skin  of  a  most  remarkable  new  Bird 
of  Paradise  of  the  genus  .Astrapia,  conspicuous  for  its  crimson 
gorget  and  black-and-white  tail.  This  specimen,  which  has 
liccn  secured  for  the  Tring  Museum,  has  just  been  described  by 
Mr.  Waller  Rothschild ^^  Aslraf'ia  splendidissttna. 

A  NEW  part  of  the  quarto  Transadimts  of  ihe  Zoological 
Society,  which  will  be  issued  on  October  I,  will  contain  an  ini- 
ix>rtant  memoir  on  Ihe  Dinornithid.v,  by  Prof.  T.  lefferj-  Parker. 
The  author  enters  al  length  U|X)n  the  osleolog)-,  classification 
and  phylogeny  of  these  extinct  birds,  giving  special  attention  to 
their  cranial  characters.  Prof.  Parker  is  inclined  to  associate  the 
.Moas  with  the  Kiwis  ( .Vplerygidiv),  ralher  than  with  any  other 
existing  family  of  the  class  of  birds. 

With  the  new  numlier  that  has  just  been  issued,  the  publica- 
tion of  that  valuable  American  perio<licaI  Jiiseil  Life  comes  to 
an  end.  The  cessation  takes  place,  we  are  told,  for  administra- 
tive rc-a.sons.  Happily,  the  good  work  which  it  accomplished 
will  l>e  continued  in  two  series  of  bulletins  from  the  Division  of 
Entomology  of  the  U..S.  Department  of  .Agriculture.  A  new 
scries  of  general  bulletins  will  be  begun,  and  will  contain  short 
rcjxjrts  on  special  observations,  and  the  miscellaneous  practical 
and  economic  results  of  the  work  of  the  division,  and  in 
directions  of  general  interest.  This  first  series  will  Ix:  sent  to 
all  the  present  readers  of  Insetl  Life  who  desire  them.  The 
second  scries  of  bulletins,  published  at  rarer  intervals,  will 
publish  the  results  of  the  purely  scientific  work  of  the  memlx'rs 
of  the  office  force,  and  will  consist  largely  of  longer  <jr  shorter 
monographic  papers  on  groups  of  North  .American  insects.  This 
scries  will  be  distributed  only  lo  libraries  and  to  working  ento- 
mologists. The  publication  of  the  divisional  series  of  circulars 
of  information  upon  especially  injurious  insects,  of  fanners' 
bulletins  upon  special  entomological  topics  (princi|>ally  methrxis 
of  treatment),  and  of  occasional  s|x-cial  reixarts  will  be  continued. 

Thb  Thir<l  Report  of  the  Royal  Commission  ap|x>inted  lo 
inquire  what  lighlht)usc5  and  light-vessels  it  is  desirable  to 
connect  with  the  telegraphic  system  of  the  United  Kingdom  by 
electrical  communication,  slated  ihal  Ihe  value  of  ihe  warning 
conveyed  lo  (Kissing  vessels  by  the  display  of  storm  signals,  on  ihe 
occasion  of  ihe  apprimch  of  heas'y  g.ales,  could  scarcely  be  over- 

NO.    1351,  VOL.   52] 


estimated,  and  recommended  thai  the  light-houses  on  the  most 
prominent  points  of  the  coast  of  the  United  Kingdom,  with 
which  electrical  communication  exists,  should  be  made  storm- 
warning  stations.  In  compliance  with  this  recommendation  the 
Meteorological  Council  have  now  m.ide  arrangements  for  the 
supply  of  storm-warning  telegrams  lo  twenty-five  prominent 
headlands  on  the  coast,  for  the  benefit  of  passing  vessels,  in 
addition  to  the  telegrams  at  present  forwarde<l  to  ports  and 
harbours,  which  arc  intended  more  particularly  for  the  use 
of  vessels  leaving  the  places  at  which  the  signals  are  hoisted. 
The  signals  used  are  canvas  cones,  with  point  upwards  or  down- 
wards, to  signify  whether  northerly  or  easterly,  or  southerly  or 
westerly  gales  are  expected,  and  are  practically  the  same  as 
those  originally  adojitcd  in  1S60  by  .Admiral  FilzRoy,  then  chief 
of  the  Meteorological  Dei>arlmenl  of  the  Hoard  <>i  Trade.  The 
lighl-house  authorities  have  re.idily  assisted  in  carrying  out  the 
recommendation  of  the  Royal  Commission,  by  allowing  their 
light-keepers  to  undertake  Ihe  management  of  the  signals. 

We  have  received  a  volume  of  meteorological  observations 
made  at  Rousdon  Observatory  during  the  year  1894,  under  the 
superintendence  of  Mr.  Cuthberl  E.  Peek.  This  observatory  is 
situated  a  short  distance  within  the  eastern  boundary  of  Devon- 
shire, in  close  proximity  lo  the  cliff,  at  an  elevation  of  516  feet 
above  mean  sea-level,  and  forms  an  important  station  of  the 
Royal  Meteorological  Society.  In  addilion  to  very  complete 
meteorological  <ibser\ations,  experiments  of  various  kinds  are 
carried  on,  in  connection  with  evaporation,  agriculture,  i\;c. 
Mr.  Peek  remark?  lhal,  from  an  agricultural  point  of  view,  the 
year  1S94  may  be  briefly  summarised  as  a  year  of  plenly, 
but  wilh  i)rices  too  low  to  pay  for  the  cost  of  production. 
Since  1S83,  a  daily  comparison  of  the  weather  experienced  al  this 
observatory  with  thai  jiredicted  for  the  district  in  the  forecasts 
issued  by  the  Meteorological  Oflice  has  been  made.  The 
published  daily  weather  reports  were  received  the  d.ay  following 
ihe  dale  of  issue,  and  the  forecasts  contained  in  iheni  were 
therefore  not  seen  until  after  the  actual  weather  experienced  had 
been  recorded.  The  results  have  proved  of  much  interest  ;  for 
the  year  1894,  ninety-three  percent  of  the  forecasts  for  wind  and 
for  weather,  separately  com|Tared,  were  found  to  be  trustworthy. 
A  table  of  comparisons  for  Ihe  years  1SS4-94  shows  that  the 
percentage  of  successful  forecasts  has  improved  year  by  year. 

The  preparaliim  of  artificial  human  milk  has  from  lime  to 
time  occupied  the  altenlionof  investigalors,  but  so  far,  according 
to  Dr.  Backhaus,  no  satisfactory  subslilute  has  been  produced  in 
the  place  of  human  milk.  Dr.  Backhaus  has,  however,  quite 
recently  endeavoured  lo  sup])ly  this  deficiency,  and  slimulaleil  by 
Kehrer's  nielhod  he  has  succeeded  in  proilucing  so-called  arti- 
ficial human  milk.  The  milk  is  carefully  collected  wilh  ihe  usual 
hygienic  precautions  of  cleanliness,  s'vic. ,  and  ihen  .submitted  lo 
fermentation  by  means  of  rcnnel,  in  Ihe  course  of  which  a 
relatively  rich  milk  serum  is  procured  containing  albumen  and 
milk  sugar.  This  serum  is  carefully  sterilised,  anil  by  llie 
addition  of  cream  a  material  is  produced  which  closely  resembles 
human  milk,  which  may  be  varieil  in  composition  according  lo 
the  age  or  [wrticular  requirements  of  the  individual.  Since, 
however,  our  knowleilge  of  Ihe  properties  possessed  by  the  natural 
fluids  of  the  bo<ly  has  t>een  recently  extended  in  so  remarkable  a 
manner,  the  .subject  of  artificial  nnlks  has  become  invested  wilh 
new  considerations,  which  a  few  years  ago  were  not  even  sus- 
pected. In  the  course  of  his  paywr  Dr.  Backhaus  points  oul  llial 
the  slerili.s;iiion  of  milk  should,  if  possible,  be  carried  out  on  ihe 
large  scale  in  dairies  before  distribulion,  lhal  in  ihis  way  beller 
apparalus  Iwing  lo  hand,  more  cleanly  besides  more  cffecuial 
residls  will  be  obtained  ihan  when  it  is  left  in  ihe  hands  of 
private  individuals.  As  demonstrating  the  importance  of  freeing 
the  milk  from  impurities  before  use,  Dr.  Backhaus  mentions  that 


I 


September  19,  1895] 


NATURE 


D' j 


the  city  of  Berlin  alone  consumes  daily  with  its  milk  300  cwt.  of 
cow  dung  ! 

Although  the  extension  of  geological  research  into  distant 
parts  of  the  earth  has  shown  that  the  divisions  of  time  originally 
made  in  Europe  are  not  always  applicable  to  other  areas,  yet  it 
is  possible  that  the  greatest  geological  division-lines  that  are 
recognised  may  represent  world-wide  periods  of  rapid  change. 
Such  is  the  view  expressed  by  Prof.  Le  Conte  in  a  paper  on 
"Critical  Periods  in  the  History  of  the  Earth,"  published  by 
the  University  of  California.  He  considers  that  in  the  evolution 
of  the  earth  there  must  have  been  now  and  again,  amid  many 
smaller  local  changes,  readjustments  of  the  crust  affecting  the 
whole  earth,  with  something  approaching  simultaneity.  Such 
universal  changes  must  be  used  to  mark  out  the  primary 
divisions-  of  time  :  they  are  marked  by  widespread  unconfor- 
mities and  the  birth  of  great  mountain-ranges,  and  as  conse- 
quences of  these  changes  in  physical  geology  there  follow 
remingling  of  faunas,  the  extinction  of  many  types,  the  more 
rapid  evolution  of  new  forms,  and  the  origin  of  new  dominant 
classes.  We  thus  have  an  alternation  of  short  "  critical " 
periods  of  extensive  change  and  long  periods  of  gradual  change, 
the  former  marking  the  commencement  of  the  great  time- 
di\-isions  of  che  earth's  history.  Four  such  critical  periods  can, 
in  Prof.  Le  Conte's  opinion,  be  recognised — the  pre-Cambrian, 
the  post-PaljEozoic,  the  post-Cretaceous,  and  the  Glacial.  Com- 
paring these  with  one  another,  he  finds  progressive  change  in 
their  character  ;  each  one  is  shorter  in  duration  than  the  previous 
one,  and  involves  greater  climatic  changes  and  increased  faunal 
effects  from  the  introduction  of  new  dominant  types. 

Dr.  Gerhard  SrHOTT  has  published  some  interesting  maps 
concerning  the  present  conditions  of  sail  navigation,  which  are 
appended  to  his  paper  on  the  subject  appearing  in  the  Zeitschrift 
der  Gesellschaft  fiir  Erdkunde.  They  are  chiefly  compiled  from 
log-books  examined  at  the  Deutsche  Seewarte,  Hamburg.  The 
two  main  lines  of  voyages  for  German  .sailors  are  the  "  saltpetre 
trips  "  to  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  and  the  "  rice  trips "' 
to  India  and  the  Straits  Settlements.  A  map  divided  into  zones 
of  equal  travelling  times  from  the  Lizard  shows  the  remarkable 
fact  that  the  mouth  of  the  Congo  is  one  of  the  most  difficult 
parts  to  reach  in  a  sailing  vessel.  The  Cape  and  Patagonia  can 
be  reached  in  the  same  time.  The  southern  Indian  Ocean 
forms  a  kind  of  racecourse  along  which  the  vessels  speed  to 
Australia  in  the  .same  time  as  it  would  take  to  reach  Zanzibar. 
Adelaide  can  be  reached  in  ninety  days,  and  so  can  Chile.  New 
^'ork,  which  requires  forty  days,  is  in  that  respect  as  distant  as 
Panama,  and  is  one  of  the  most  inaccessible  ports  for  a  sailing 
vessel,  especially  in  the  winter.  The  return  is  easier,  and  can 
be  accomplished  in  twenty-five  days,  whereas  the  return  from 
Panama  takes  sixty.  The  return  from  .Australia  is  equally 
lengthy  round  the  Cape  as  by  Cape  Horn,  and  the  latter  route 
is  now  preferred  owing  to  the  notoriously  dangerous  character  of 
Cape  .\gulhas.  Needless  to  say,  the  Suez  Canal  is  quite  useless 
for  sailing  vessels.  Even  apart  from  the  fact  that  the  Red  Sea 
is  most  difficult  to  navigate,  the  canal  dues  exclude  vessels 
whose  vitality  lies  solely  in  the  cheap  freights  they  can  offer  in 
competition  with  steamers.  With  the  modern  construction  of 
sailing  vessels,  which  are  built  almost  exclusively  of  iron  and 
steel,  the  only  enemies  seriously  feared  are  fogs,  icebergs,  and 
dead  calms,  to  which  we  must  add,  in  the  much-frequented  ocean 
highways  of  the  northern  Atlantic,  the  fast  mail  steamer.  The 
average  skipper  does  not  mind  a  storm,  but  rather  welcomes  it, 
as  it  makes  him  go  all  the  faster. 

The  fouriial  of  t/w  Frank/in  Insliliitc  states  that  the  recent 
trials  of  electric  locomotives  at  Nantasket  Beach,  near  Boston, 
and  at  Baltimore,  have  so  satisfactorily  demonstrated  the 
superiority  of  this  class  of  motor  over  the  steam  locomotive  for 

NO.    1351,  VOL.   52] 


short  hauls,  that  it  is  now  ver)'  generally  admitted  that  the  near 
future  will  witness  a  very  extensive  application  of  the  new  form 
of  motive  power  for  short  branch  lines,  tunnel  haulage,  &c.  At 
the  Nantasket  Beach  trials,  it  is  stated  that  a  speed  exceeding 
sixty  miles  an  hour  was  attained,  and  at  Baltimore  the  test  of 
the  electric  locomotive  designed  to  draw  trains  through  the 
tunnel,  7430  feet  long,  in  that  city,  was  highly  successful.  A 
maximum  speed  of  fifty  miles  an  hour  is  to  be  developed,  and 
it  is  guaranteed  that  the  locomotive  will  pull  1 200  tons  at  a  speed 
of  thirty  miles  an  hour.  The  system  has  been  in  practical  and 
regular  operation  on  the  Nantasket  Beach  Railway  since  the  end 
of  June  last. 

AccORDiNc;  to  the  Engineer,  a  French  physicist,  M.  Denay- 
rouze  claims  to  have  discovered  a  means  of  increasing  the  illum- 
inating power  of  gas  about  fifteen  times.  In  his  lamp  M. 
Denayrouze  employs  a  spherical-shaped  metallic  body,  and  a 
mantle  capable  of  being  raised  to  incandescence.  In  the  body 
of  the  lamp  is  fixed  a  tiny  motor,  which  works  a  ventilator,  and 
which  receives  current  from  a  couple  of  small  accumulators. 
The  electrical  energy  required  is  said  to  be  only  J  volt  and  iV,  of 
an  ampere,  and  to  be  sufficient  to  force  a  current  of  air  through 
the  mantle  and  to  cause  the  gas  to  bum  with  remarkable 
brilliancy.  The  burner  is  said  to  consume  seven  litres  of  gas 
per  carcel,  and  lamps  have  been  made  having  an  illuminating 
jjower  of  8oo-candle  power. 

Speaking  of  some  experiments  in  marching,  which  have 
recently  been  carried  out  at  the  request  of  the  German  War 
Office,  by  some  students  of  medicine  of  the  Friedrich  Wilhelm 
Institute  in  Berlin,  who  for  the  purpose  wore  the  regulation 
uniforms  and  carried  the  full  field  service  equipments,  the  FIritish 
Medkal  loiirnal ?ays: — "The  marches  performed  varied  from 
22  to  33  miles,  and  were  executed  in  all  kinds  of  weather.  The 
weights  or  loads  carried  varied  from  48  to  68  lbs.,  the  full  ser- 
vice equipment  of  the  German  infantr)'  soldier  averaging  70  lbs. 
That  of  our  own  infantry  does  not  usually  exceed  60  lbs.  The 
conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  medical  officers  in  charge  of  the 
experimental  observations  were  practically  as  follows  :  When 
the  load  is  not  excessive  and  does  not  exceed  48  lbs.  a  march  of 
twenty-five  miles  executed  in  cool  weather  (60'  F.)  is  readily 
performed,  and  has  no  deleterious  effects  upon  the  man,  even  if 
continued  for  some  days  consecutively.  With  a  mean  tempera- 
ture of  70°  F.  a  similar  load  carried  the  same  distance  has  a 
considerable  temporary  effect  upon  the  organism,  necessitating  a 
rest  of  at  least  ten  hours  in  the  twenty-four.  A  load  of  68  lbs. 
could  not  be  carried  twenty-five  miles  without  inducing  grave 
physiological  disturbance,  necessitating  a  full  day's  rest  on  the 
following  day.  This  weight  was  not  readily  carried  day  by  day 
without  derangement  of  health  over  greater  distance  than  fifteen 
miles.  A  weight  of  60  lbs.  was  the  maximum  weight  which 
could  be  carried  on  consecutive  days  for  twenty-five  miles  by  a 
man  weighing  1 1  stone  during  ordinary  summer  weather  con- 
sistently with  health.  It  is  not  stated  whether  the  men  by  whom 
these  experiments  were  made  were  picked  individuals,  or  what 
was  their  dietary." 

The  current  number  of  The  Leisure  Hour  contains  an 
interesting  article  by  E.  WTiymper,  on  some  high  mountain 
observatories,  accompanied  by  illustrations  and  short  accounts 
of  the  difficulties  experienced  and  the  results  attained.  The 
observatories  described  are  : — Mount  Washington,  in  New 
Hampshire,  U.S.A.,  6286  feet  high  ;  it  was  established  in  1870, 
but  is  now  closed.  Pike's  Peak,  in  Colorado,  14,134  feet  high, 
wiis  erected  in  1873,  and  closed  in  1888.  This  station  was 
celebrated  for  its  electrical  storms.  The  most  elevated  station  is 
on  the  top  of  the  Misti,  near  .-Vrequipa,  in  Peru.  This  is  19,200 
feet  above  the  sea,  but  notwithstanding  its  great  elevation,  the 
ascent  is  comparatively  easy.     About  twelve  miles  to  the  north 


514 


x.rrrRE 


[SEPTEMBER 


lo,    I  So 


:> 


there  is  a  mountain  callej  Charchani,  about  io.ooo  feet  liii;h  ; 
aa  obsenatorj-  was  established  just  below  the  snow-line,  at  the 
height  of  16,650  feet,  in  the  years  1S92-3,  but  is  now  abandoned. 
The  article  contains  a  graphic  account  of  the  ditticultjps  of 
establishing  two  obser\-atories  on  Mont  Blanc,  one  at  14,320 
feet,  and  the  other  on  the  summit,  at  15,780  feet,  by  M.  Vallot 
and  M.  Janssen,  respectively.  The  meteorograph  for  the 
summit  of  Mont  Blanc  has  been  constructed  by  M.  Richard  at  a 
cost  of  ;£^75o,  and  the  clockwork  is  calculated  to  remain  in  action 
for  eight  months. 

Useful  and  practical  publications  continue  lo  issue  from  the 
various  botanical  experiment  stations  in  the  United  States.  We 
have  on  our  table  the  following  : — From  Kansas  State  .\gri- 
cultural  Collide,  BulUlin  No.  50,  comprising  a  list  of  Kansas 
weeds,  with  descriptions,  and  figures  of  the  seedling  forms  ;  from 
Cornell  University,  an  essay,  by  Mr.  G.  F.  Atkinson,  on 
"  Damping  Off,"  containing  a  description,  with  figures,  of  the 
^■arious  parasitic  fungi  which  accompany  this  phenomenon,  in- 
cluding a  new  species,  i'olttUlla  Uiicolricha  ;  and  "  Studies  in 
Artificial  Cultures  of  Entomogenous  Fungi,"  by  Mr.  R.  II. 
Pettit,  also  illustrated  by  plates. 

The  Report  of  the  Botanical  Exchange  Club  of  the  British 
Isles  for  the  current  year  is  issued,  with  a  list  of  Desiderata. 
The  main  portion  of  the  very  useful  work  <lonc  by  this  Association 
rests  with  two  or  three  individuals.  This  work  would  be  greatly 
promoted  by  the  addition  of  a  few  new  subscribers,  who  should 
address  themselves  to  Mr.  Charles  Bailey,  College  Road,  Whalley 
Range,  Manchester. 

The  following  colonial  botanical  publications  have  reached 
us  : — The  Biilltlin  of  miscellaneous  information  of  the  Royal 
Botanic  Gardens,  Trinidad,  for  July,  containing  a  numt)er  of 
notes  on  native  and  cultivated  plants  in  the  colony,  by  Mr.  J.  II. 
Hart ;  Botany  BulUlin,  No.  10,  of  the  Department  of  .\gri- 
cullure,  Brisbane,  consisting  of  contributions  to  the  Queensland 
flora,  by  Mr.  F.  M.  Bailey;  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society 
of  Queensland,  vol.  xi.  pt.  I,  with  the  annual  address  of  the 
President,  Mr.  R.  L.  lack,  on  "The  Higher  Utilitarianism." 

.Messrs.  G.  Philw  ani>  Son  have  reprinted  for  Ur.  Mill 
the  paper  on  "  The  English  Lakes,"  which,  under  the  title  of 
"On  the  Bathymelrical  Sur>'ey  of  the  English  Lakes,"  the 
author  contributed  to  the  July  and  August  numbers  of  the 
Geographical  Jonrual.  The  book  is  nicely  got  up,  and  is 
illustrated  by  numerous  photographic  views,  maps,  and 
diagranvs. 

A  .N'Ew  edition — the  third — of  Clowes  and  Coleman's 
"  ( luantitalive  Chemical  Analysis "  has  been  sent  to  us  by 
Mc&srs.  J.  and  A.  Churchill.  The  work  has  undergone  certain 
ch.inges  since  the  publication  of  the  second  edition,  the  matter 
having  been  increased,  the  text  revised,  and  some  new  figures 
added. 

The  September  part  oi  Science  Progress  contains  the  fnllowing 
articles  : — "  Progress  in  the  Study  of  the  Ancient  Sediments,"  by 
J.  E.  Marr ;  "On  the  Respiratory  Function  of  Stomata,"  by  F. 
Frf»t  Blackman  ;  "  The  Zoological  Position  of  the  Triloliitcs,"  by 
II.  M.  liemard  ;  "  .Some  Metavjmatic  Changes  in  Limestones," 
by  A.  Ilarkcr  ;  and  "  The  Decomposition  Products  of  Proteids," 
by  Dr.  T.  Gregor  Bro<lie. 

The  .wries  of  small  books,  entitled  "  Encyclo|x'dic  .Scicn- 
lifiquc  dcsAidc  Mcmoire,"  which  is  Iwing  brought  out  conjointly 
l.v  M'v^rs.  <iauthicr-Villars  and  (i.  Massrjn,  of  Paris,  has  had 
.1:1  tin  r  ad'lition  ma<le  to  it  by  the  publication  of  "  Culiature  des 
Tcrraucs  et   Mouvcmcnt  des  Terrcs,"  by  G.  Danes. 

The  paper  "  On  the  Cost  of  Warships,"  which  was  read  by 
Dr.  F.  Elgat  at  ihU  year's  summer  meeting  of  the  Institution 

NO.    1 35  I,  VOL.  53] 


of  Naval  Architects,  has  been  issued  in  pamphlet  form  by  the 
Institution.  The  pamphlet  also  contains  a  report  of  the  dis- 
cussion on  the  paper  which  took  place  at  the  meeting. 

We  have  received  the  Memoirs  and  Proceedings  of  the  Man- 
chester Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  fourth  series,  vol.  ix.. 
No.  3,  4,  and  5,  and  the  Journal  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of 
Bengal,  vol.  Ixiv. ,   part  2,  No.  2. 

Mr.  R.  W.  P.\fl.,  of  Hatton  Garden,  has  sent  to  us  advance 
sheets  of  his  new  catalogue  of  electrical  testing  and  measuring 
instruments.     Many  of  the  instruments  are  figured. 

The  University  Correspondence  College  has  issued  its  Inter- 
mediate .\rts  Guide,  No.  x. ,  with  the  papers  set  at  London 
University,  July  1S95,  and  articles  on  the  special  subjects  for 
1S96,  and  its  London  Inter.  Science  and  Prel.  Sci.  Guide  No. 
vii.,  with  the  jxipers  set  at  London  University,  July  1895. 

The  August  numbers  of  the  Journal  of  the  A'oyal  Micro- 
scopical Society  and  of  Clinical  Sketches  have  reached  us  ;  also  pari 
vi.  of  the  Katalogder  Bihliothck  der  Kaiserlichcn  Lcopoldinisch- 
Carolinischen  Deutschen  Akademie  der  Natnrforschcr,  Halle  ; 
and  Messrs.  Friedlander  and  Sohn,  Berlin,  have  sent  us  Xo.  x.  to 
xiv.  of  Natunt  Novitates. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Rhesus  Monkey  {Macacus  rhesus,  i  ) 
from  India,  presented  by  Miss  E.  S,  Cooper  ;  a  Smith's  Dwarf 
Lemur  (Microcebus  smithi)  from  Madagascar,  presented  by  Miss 
Ruby  Woolcott  ;  a  Yellow-fronted  Amazon  (Chrysolis  ochro- 
cephala)  from  Guiana,  presented  by  Mr.  W.  Page  ;  a  Beautiful 
Grass  Finch  (Paphila  mirahilis,  i  )  from  Australia,  presented  by 
Mr.  Gerard  O'Shea  ;  a  Brazilian  Tortoise  ( Testudo  tahulata)  from 
Brazil,  deposited  ;  three  Boiis  (Boa  constrictor)  from  Brazil, 
purchiised  ;  a  Wapiti  Deer  (Ceifus  canadensis,  i),  two  Tri- 
angular-spotted Pigeons  (Columha  guinea),  a  Spotted  Pigeon 
(ColuMiba  maculosa),  two  Crested  Pigeons  (Ocyphaps  lopholes), 
two  lIalf-collare<l  Doves  (Turlur  semitorijuatus),  twoVinaceous 
Doves  (Tnrtnr  vinaceus),  bred  in  the  Gardens. 

OUR   ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Si'ErTRi'M  OF  MxRS. — In  connection  with  the  recent 
discussion  as  to  the  presence  or  absence  of  the  bands  of  water 
vapour  in  the  spectrum  of  Mars,  Dr.  Janssen  has  published  further 
particulars  of  the  observations  made  by  him  in  1867  (CoW/cr 
rendus,  July  29).  He  points  out  that  even  with  the  quantity  of 
vapour  in  our  own  atmosphere,  the  Iwinds  would  be  all  but 
invisible  to  an  observer  on  Mars  if  the  solar  light  were  reflected 
normally  from  the  earth's  surface,  and  since  the  general 
conditions  of  the  planet  point  to  its  atmosphere  being  less 
im|xirlant  than  our  own,  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  the 
detection  of  the  bands  is  a  very  delicate  observaliim.  To  reduce 
the  al)sorptive  effect  of  the  terrestrial  atmosphere,  observations 
should  be  made  at  a  high  altitude,  and  the  use  of  the  lunar 
sjiectrum  as  a  term  of  com|)arison  is  also  important.  .'\s  lo 
the  apparatus  required.  Dr.  Janssen  does  not  consider  large 
telescopes  indispensable,  as  even  with  them  the  telluric 
bands  can  only  he  observed  in  their  totality.  Previous  to 
observing  the  spectrum  of  .Mars,  Dr.  Janssen  had  been 
engaged  in  an  extensive  study  of  the  spectrum  of  waler 
vaixjur  as  exhibileil  by  a  tube  37  metres  in  length.  The  obser- 
vations of  Mars  were  made  on  May  12-15,  '867,  from  a  station 
on  Mount  Etna  .at  an  altitude  of  nearly  3000  metres  ;  at  meridian 
pa.ssage  the  altitude  of  the  planet  was  72°,  and  at  sunset,  when 
the  observations  were  commenced,  it  was  still  more  than  60' 
al)Ove  the  horizim,  while  the  moon  was  a  little  lower.  The  cold 
wiis  excessive  during  the  nights  of  observation,  and  the  <|uanlity 
of  va|>OHr  contained  in  the  atmosphere  overlying  the  place  of 
observation  would  not  be  alile  lo  give  indications  of  the  telluric 
groups  near  C  and  D,  according  to  the  experiments  with  the  long 
tube.  Under  these  highly  favourable  conditions.  Dr.  Janssen 
found  feeble  but  certain  indications  of  the  groups  at  C  and  I), 
and  he  is  confident  th.at  future  researches  will  justify  the  con- 
clusion at  which  he  arrived. 


September  19,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


515 


Ai'i'ARATUs  TO  Illustrate  Dofpler's  Princu'le. — The 
movement  of  the  lines  in  a  spectrinii  chie  to  the  approach  or 
recession  of  the  source  of  light  is  now  so  thoroughly  well  known, 
and  has  become  of  such  imjrartance  in  astronomical  ques- 
tions, that  a  laboratory  experiment  to  illustrate  this  fact  will  be 
of  interest.  The  itlea,  which  we  owe  to  the  Russian  astronomer, 
A.  Belopolsky,  and  which  was  published  in  the  Menioric  dellii 
Societa  Degli  Speltroscopisli  Ilaliani,  is  as  follows  : — We  know 
that  the  wave  length  of  light  ray  can  be  varied  by  reflecting  the 
light  into  a  movable  reflector,  the  amount  of  variation  depending 
on  the  velocity  of  the  reflector  and  the  angles  of  incidence  and 
reflection.  By  allowing  the  light  to  fall  as  vertical  as  possible 
on  to  (he  reflector,  the  variation  of  the  wave-length  can  be 
magnified  at  will  by  increasing  the  number  of  reflectors.  Now 
the  apparatus  suggested  consists  of  two  cylinders  with  parallel 
axes  capable  of  being  rotated  very  ra])idly  in  opposite  directions. 
On  the  surfaces  of  each  a  large  number  of  reflectors  are  fixed, 
which  are  so  arranged  that  when  a  ray  of  light  from  a  heliostat 
falls  on  the  reflector  of  the  first  cylinder,  then  from  this  on  to  a 
reflector  on  the  second  cylinder,  and  so  on  backwards  and  for- 
wards, and  finally  into  the  slit  of  a  spectroscope. 

By  closing  first  half  the  slit  and  photographing  the  spectrum, 
and  then,  on  the  same  plate,  photographing  again  the  spectrum, 
only  this  time  using  the  other  half  of  the  slit,  the  movement  of 
the  lines  will  thereby  be  doubly  recorded  on  the  plate,  the 
double  displacement  being  due  to  the  two  directions  of  rotation 
of  the  cylinders  during  the  first  and  second  exposure  resj>ectively. 

Whether  this  idea  can  be  carried  out  practically  is  yet  to  be 
seen,  for  there  are  many  difficulties  connected  with  it,  such  as 
the  great  velocities  of  tfie  cylinders,  perfect  rigidity,  &c. ,  which 
will  be  hard  to  overcome. 


THE  PR.ESEPE  CLUSTER}. 
'T'HIS  work  belongs  to  a  class  of  investigations  whose  number 
•*•  has  been  steadily  increasing  in  the  last  few  years.  The 
discussion  of  the  relative  motion  of  stars  in  loosely  aggregated 
groups  is  a  study  that  may  throw  light  on  intricate  questions 
connected  with  the  structure  of  the  cosmos  ;  and  in  this  point  of 
view,  the  Pleiades  group  has  been  discussed  by  several  astro- 
nomers since  Bessel  laid  the  foundation  for  such  inquiries  more 
than  fifty  years  since.  The  cluster  in  Perseus,  the  stars  about 
the  nebula  of  Orion  and  some  other  groups  have  already 
engaged  the  attention  of  astronomers,  but  nothing  more  com- 
plete or  more  interesting  has  appeared  than  the  present  investi- 
gation due  to  Ur.  Schur ;  and  it  will  hold  its  own  till  lapse  of 
time  gives  a  more  trustworthy  hold  upon  the  small  nuituaf  <lis- 
placements  which  successive  investigations  may  reveal,  for 
greater  accuracy  of  measurement  can  scarcely  be  expected. 

The  present  work  divides  itself  naturally  into  three  sections. 
In  the  first  is  given  the  results  of  a  thorough  examination  of  the 
instrument  and  of  the  constants  of  reduction,  together  with  the 
triangulation  of  the  group  undertaken  by  Dr.  Schur.  In  the 
second  part  is  presented  the  measurements  of  position  angle 
and  distance  of  the  stars  by  Dr.  Winnecke,  made  with  the  Bonn 
heliometer  in  1857  and  1858  ;  and  in  the  third,  the  comparison  of 
the  results  of  the  measurements  made  with  the  Bonn  and 
Gottingen  heliometers  respectively. 

The  investigation  of  the  errors  that  accompany  heliometrical 
measurement  and  their  elimination,  however  complete  and 
satisfactory,  will  only  be  of  interest  to  experts  in  the  use  of  this 
delicate  instrument ;  but  as  evidence  of  the  accuracy  finally 
attained,  we  may  quote  the  resulting  values  of  the  scale,  derived 
from  the  measurement  of  the  distances  between  stars  in  different 
parts  of  the  heavens,  whose  places  were  determined  with  great 
accur.acy  for  the  reduction  of  the  heliomeler  observations  made 
in  the  Transit  of  Venus  expedition.  The  places  of  the  "  Victoria  '' 
.stars  have  been  taken  from  Ur.  Gill's  paper  : — 

'Dr.  Schur's  value.  Dr.  .\nibronn's  value. 

.Stars  in  Cygnus    40'oi6oi  40'0I9I5 

,,      Hydra        40'Ol5o6  4001610 

,,  near  Pole      40-OI562  40'0l678 

"  Victoria "  stars 4001750  40'OI7IO 

In  a  measurement  of  approximately  2°,  the  two  observers 
would  assign  values  difterent  by  only  o""22,  a  degree  of  accuracy 
upon  which  they  may  be  congratulated. 

^  "  Astronomisctie  MitlhcUungen  von  der  Koniglichen  Sternwartc  zu 
Or.ttincen."  Die  Oertcr  der  hellercn  Sterne  der  Priesepe,  Von  Dr. 
Wilheim  Schur.     (Gottingen,  1895.) 


NO.    135  I,  VOL.  52] 


Notwithstanding  this  apparent  accuracy,  there  still  remains  an 
unexplained  discrepancy  between  measures  made  with  the 
heliometer  and  the  distances  deduced  from  meridian  observa- 
tions. Dr.  Gill  has  called  attention  to  this  peculiarity,  and  has 
suggested  an  explanation  which  does  not  seem  to  be  satisfactory 
to  Dr.  Schur,  or  to  apply  to  the  Gottingen  instrument,  where  a 
distance  of  about  1000"  appears  to  be  measured  too  small  by 
approximately  a  quarter  of  a  second.  This  difference  disappears 
for  distances  of  about  5000',  and  reappears  with  an  opposite 
sign  for  the  greatest  distances  possible  to  measure  with  the 
Gottingen  heliometer.  Dr.  Schur  employs,  and  justifies  the 
employment  of  an  empirical  correction  of  the  form — 

Correction  =  as  +  ii'  +  (s^ 

where  the  unit  of  s  is  1000  seconds.  On  the  assumption  that 
the  correction  disappears  for  .r  =  5,  and  is  at  a  maximum  for 
s  =  I '3,  he  derives  the  following  values  for  the  coefficients  : — ■ 

Correction  =  o""473  (^  ~  0'50j-  -f  oods'^). 

The  investigation  of  the  corrections  to  the  readings  of  the 
position  circle  is  made  with  quite  as  much  care  as  that  devoted 
to  measures  of  distance,  but  the  probable  error  of  a  distance 
incisure  is  only  half  as  great  as  that  of  a  measure  of  angle.  This 
result,  confirmed  as  it  is  by  similar  discussions  in  the  case  of 
other  heliometers,  induces  Dr.  Schur  to  base  his  triangulation 
of  the  group  on  measures  of  distances,  reserving  the  measures 
of  position  angle  for  the  orientation  of  the  entire  group  after  the 
solution  of  the  triangles.  The  observations  began  in  February 
iSSg,  and  are  continued  till  March  1892,  and  endjrace  forty-five 
stars  of  the  group.  The  combined  measures  give  rise  to  123 
measured  distances,  and  each  of  these  is  comjiared  with  the 
distance  computed  from  Asaph  Hall's  catalogue  of  the  stars  of  the 
Pra;sepe  Group  ("Washington  Observations,"  1S69,  Ap.  iv.), 
giving  rise  to  as  many  equations  of  condition.  These  are  col- 
lected into  an  enormous  normal  equation  of  seventy-four  un- 
knowns. The  solution  of  such  an  equation  is  suflicient  to  make 
the  boldest  arithmetician  waver,  and  seek  some  approximate 
solution,  but  Dr.  Schur  preferred  to  adhere  strictly  to  the 
method  of  elimination  proposed  by  Gauss,  and  after  weeks  of 
labour  brought  his  work  to  a  successful  conclusion.  Such  a 
labour  .so  carried  out  in  the  University  of  Gottingen,  is  a  not 
tmfitting  tribute  to  the  memory  of  the  great  mathematician  whose 
name  is  connected  with  that  particular  form  of  solution.  With 
a  similar  disregard  to  the  quantity  of  labour  involved,  and  with 
all  the  accuracy  attainable,  Dr.  Schur  finally  fixes  the  coordinates 
of  the  forty-five  stars  under  consideration. 

A  melancholy  interest  is  attached  to  the  second  part  of  the 
memoir  in  which  the  results  of  Winnecke's  measures  are  given  to 
the  world.  The  introduction  is  the  work  of  that  distinguished 
astronomer,  and  it  will  be  a  matter  of  sincere  regret  to  all  that 
his  slate  of  health  has  not  permitted  him  to  continue  to  the  end 
an  investigation  of  so  much  value  and  thoroughness.  That  the 
task  of  completion  and  edhing  has  fallen  to  Dr.  Schur  is  fitting 
and  appropriate,  and  must  have  been  to  him  a  labour  of  love. 
The  principal  dift'erence  in  the  methods  of  observation  at  Bonn 
(where  Winnecke's  observations  were  made)  and  Gottingen  con- 
sists in  the  greater  reliance  placed  by  Winnecke  on  the  measures 
of  position  angle,  a  confidence  scarcely  warranted  by  the  prob- 
able error  deduced  from  the  observations,  which  Dr.  Schur  gives 
as  follows  :— 

Probable  error  in  distance  of  2000'       ...  =    ±  o"'2lS 

,,  ,,  in  position  .angle  (in  a  great  circle)  =    ±  o"'379 

The  final  result  is  to  give  a  catalogue  of  the  pl.aces  of  45  stars 
for  the  epoch  185S,  which  are  comparable  with  the  catalogue  of 
Dr.  Schur  for  the  epoch  iS90'54.  The  comparison  ofthe.se 
two  catalogues  and  the  discussion  of  the  proper  motion  foniis 
the  third  section  of  the  work. 

Dr.  Schur  first  examines  the  relative  accuracy  of  the  two  cata- 
logues, and  decides  in  favour  of  the  more  modern,  in  the  propor- 
tion shown  by  the  following  : — 

Gottingen.  Bonn. 

Probable  error  of  distance  (4000")     ±  o"'i93  ■••  ^  o''3S4 
,1  I,  position  angle        ±  o"'359  ...  ±  o"'5o6 

From  considerations  based  on  these  and  similar  facts  drawn 
from  meridian  observations,  Dr.  Schur  concludes  that  a  difference 
of  o"  27  in  the  ]ihcc  .assigned  to  a  star  in  the  two  catalogues  can 
hardly  be  regarded  as  a  proof  of  the  existence  of  proper  motion. 
The  difference  between  the  coordinates  both  in  K..-\.  and  Declin- 
ation, though  larger  than  this  quantity,  is  everywhere  small  and 
negative.     The  proper  motion  of  ten  of  the  stars  has  also  been 


5i6 


A  A  TURE 


[September  19,  1895 


ilcserminetl  by  Or.  Auwers  from  the  meridian  observations  of 
Bradley  and  Slayer,  and  these  show  in  the  mean  a  correction  to 
the  helionietrically  deduced  pro|5er  motions  of  -  o'"oo03  and 
•f  o'''0},<)  in  R.A.  and  Declination,  respectively.  This  discre- 
nancy  is  subsojuently  traced  to  corrections  due  to  the  funda- 
mental catalogues  employetl,  and  the  final  star  places  given  on 
pji.  298-9  pjssess  an  accuracy  that  will  make  them  of  value  for 
many  purposes. 

Finally,  a  comparison  is  instituted  between  the  proper  motion 
of  the  group  as  observed,  and  the  motion  that  might  be  ex- 
pected from  the  progressive  niotii>n  of  the  solar  system.  The 
result  is  not  in  very  satisfactor)'  agreement.  The  ])arallactic 
displacement  of  the  solar  system  is 

Aa  =   -a-oa\b     ...   AS  -o" -020 

Proper  motion,   .\uwers        =   -o*"C»44     .  .  -*-o"oo7 

,,  ,,     other  .sources  =    -o*"004l     ...  -o"'032 

The  question  of  absolute  parallax  enters  here,  and  to  this 
IK.int  Dr.  Schur  promises  to  return,  |x)ssibly  in  connection  with 
phitcn^raphic  researches.  W.  E.  1". 

UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
The  following  appointments  have  recently  been  made  abroad  : 
— Bale,  Dr.  K.  Metzner,  of  Freiburg,  to  the  Chair  of  I'hysiolog)- ; 
Barcelona,  Dr.  Gil  Saltor  Lavali  to  the  Chair  of  Surgical 
I'atholog)' ;  Breslau,  Dr.  Jacobi,  Professor  of  Forensic  Medicine  ; 
Bonn,  Dr.  Finkler,  Ordinar)-  Professor  of  Hygiene  ;  Columbian 
University,  Wisconsin,  Dr.  W.  Kecd  to  the  Chair  of  Bacteriology 
and  Pathologj-,  and  Dr.  M.  T.  Phillips  to  that  of  Hygiene  ; 
(iranada,  Dr  Kafael  Mollci  y  Rodriguez,  of  Havana,  Professor 
•  if  Clinical  Surgery;  Cienoa,  Dr.  Canalis,  Ordinar)'  Professor  of 
Hygiene;  Harvard,  Dr.  H.  C.  Ernst,  Professor  of  Bacleriolog)' ; 
New  York  (Polyclinic)  Dr.  Wilbur  B.  Marple  Professor  of 
Ophthalmoli^',  Dr.  W.  K.  Pryor  Professor  of  Clynrccology, 
and  Dr.  W.  k.  Townscnd,  Professor  of  ()rthopi\;dic  Surgery  ; 
Prague  (Bohemian  I'nivcrsity),  Dr.  J.  V.  Rohon  Extraordinary 
Professor  of  Histology;  Tom.sk,  Dr.  F.  Kriiger  Extraordinary 
pMfes.sor  of  .Medical  Chemistry  ;  Wiirzburg,  Dr.  K.  Rieger 
Ordinary  Professor  of  P.sychiatry  ;  Ziirich,  Dr.  H.  von  Wyss 
ICxtraordinar)'  Professor  of  Forensic  Medicine. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Hvsi.oi'  has  been  ap|)oinled  Professor  of  Logic  and 
Ethics  in  Columbia  College,  New  York.  Dr.  J.  Allen  (lilbert, 
of  Yale,  goes  to  the  University  of  Iowa  as  /Vssistant  Professor 
of  Psycholt^'. 

According  to  Science,  Dr.  Wilhelm  Roux,  of  Innsbruck,  has 
l<een  called  to  the  chair  of  Anatomy  in  the  University  of  Halle  ; 
Dr.  K.  Seul)crt,  of  Tid)ingen.  to  the  chair  of  Chemistry  in  the 
Technical  High  .School,  Hanover,  and  Dr.  Kallius,  of  Gtittingen, 
t(j  the  chair  of  .Anatomy  at  Tiibingen. 

Messrs.  E.  B.  Titchenek  and  J.  E.  Creh;uton  have  been 
made  full  professors  in  the  Sage  School  of  I'hilosophy  in  Cornell 
University. 

pRf)K.  Mark  W.  Harrinoton  has  accepted  the  presidency 
of  the  University  of  Wa-shinglon. 

The  Alwrdeen  To«n  Council  have  agreed  to  give  an  annual 
contribution  of  £2<x>  for  the  establishment  of  a  department  for 
instruction  in  agriculture,  in  connection  with  the  University  of 
.Aberdeen,  provided  that  a  similar  sum  be  given  by  the  County 
Council. 

The  prospeclu.s  of  the  Science,  Art  and  Technical  .Schools, 
Plymouth,  for  the  fourth  session,  1895  96,  has  been  issued. 
<  •.pies  may  lie  had  of  the  .Secrelar)-. 

We  have  received  a  copy  of  the  syllabus  of  lectures  to  be 
'lilivered  in  the  Engineering  De|)arlnient  of  the  City  of  I..ondon 
'■  llige,  M<Kirficlds,  iluring  the  coming  se.s.sion. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

Pari^. 

Academy  of   Sciences,  Suplember   9.  — M.    .Marey  in  the 

chair  — A  memoir  was  prf^ented  by  M.  Wladimir  de  Nicolaicw, 

'^"'''''      "  <  I'      ihc    allenipt     to     show     currents    of     electric 

I    on    the    magnetic    induction   of  iron    in  the 

-Results  of  solar  ol>sorvati(ms,  made  at  the 

Royal    UUxriv.ilory   of  the    Roman    College,    during    the    first 

«|U«rtcr   of    1895,    by    M.    P.    Tacchini.       The    diminution    of 

NO.    I  35  I,  VOL.   52] 


frequency  of  spots  «as  maintained  during  this  <iuarter  with  a 
secondar)-  minimum  in  January.  Protuberances  .showed  the  .same 
minimum  although  the  .season  was  unfavourable  for  their  obser\'a- 
tion. — On  the  forces  developed  by  differences  of  temperature 
between  the  two  main  plates  of  a  beam  with  continuous  trusses, 
by  M.  11.  Deslandres.  From  the  experiments  made,  differences 
of  temperature  between  the  upper  and  lower  plates  of  a  continuous 
girder  cause  supplementary  ftirces  of  comj^ression  and  extension, 
freipiently  reaching  in  the  hot  season  2  kg.  per  millintctre. — 
Observations  on  M.  Deslandres"  note,  by  M.  Sbiurice  Levy.  An 
exact  demonstration  giving  the  means  of  deducing  the  strains  in 
every  case. — On  a  theorem  in  geometry,  by  M.  Mendelcef. — 
On  nitro-substitutions,  by  M.M.  C.  Malignon  and  Deligny.  The 
conclusions  are  given  :  (i)  Isomerides  of  position  have  always 
been  found  to  have  the  same  heats  of  combustii»n  within  tli< 
errors  of  experiment  ;  one  only  need  he  examined  from  .1 
number  of  isomerides.  (2)  The  mean  difference  in  heals  of 
combustion  of  a  compound  and  its  nitro-derivative  is  45  Cal. 
1  Icnce  is  deduced  the  equation 

RCH  +  NO3H  lic|.  =  RCNO..,  +  IL.O  lie).  +  367  Cal. 

that  is,  the  exact  value  found  by  Berlhelot  for  the  fonnation  of 
nitro-hydrocarbons. — On  the  explosion  of  endothermic  ga.ses,  by 
M.  L.  Maquenne.  The  conditions  of  prop,igalion  of  an  explosive 
wave  initiated  by  detonators  are  gi^■en,  and  the  influence  of  this 
explosive  character  on  the  industrial  applications  of  acetylene  is 
pointed  out. — Influence  of  the  winter  1894-95  ""  ^^'^  marine 
fauna,  by  M.  Pierre  Fauvel. — On  a  gigantic  terrestrial  tortoise, 
from  a  specimen  living  in  Egmont  Islands,  by  .M.  Th.  Sauzier. 
Dimensions  are  given  of  a  specimen  of  Tcsludo  Daiidinii,  and 
compared  with  the  dimensions  of  other  known  tortoises  and  the 
fossil  T.  Pcrphitatui. — Results  of  pakvtmtological  excavations 
in  the  Upper  .Miocene  of  the  "  colline  de  Montredon,''  by  M. 
Ch.  Depcrit. — On  a  superior  limit  to  the  mean  area  affected  by 
an  earthquake,  by  M.  F.  de  Montessus  de  Ballore.  From 
Japanese  observations  it  is  deduced  that  this  higher  limit  is  1200 
square  kilometres. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLET,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

li.HiKs.  — Menial  Pliysi.ilogy  ;  Dr.  T.  H.  Hy-lup  (Clu.rchilD.-A  Text- 
Rouk  on  Applied  Mechanics  ;  Prof.  .\,  J;iinicsoii,  \"oI.  r  (tiritTrn). — Justus 
von  I.iebi^  ;  W.  A.  Shensionc  (C.-rssell)- — The  English  I^ikcs  :  Dr.  H.  R. 
Mill  (Phiirp).— Light  :  H.  P.  HiKhron(Rivrngron).— Facts  .ibout  Processes, 
Pigments,  and  Vehicles  :  A.  P  Laurie  (M.-icmillan). — Ostwald's  Kl.issikcr 
der  Kxakten  Wisscnsch.iftcn,  No  63  to  66  (Leipzig,  Engelinann). — Mtiiler. 
i'oirillet's  I.chrbuch  der  Physik  und  Meteorologie,  new  edition,  by  Ors. 
Pfaundlcr  and  Lumnier  (Hraunschweig,  V'iewcg^. — British  Museum  (Natural 
History)  Mineral  Department:  An  IntroducTton  to  the  Study  of  Rocks 
(London). 

I'AMi'HLET.— The  Cost  of  Warships  :  Dr.  F.  Llgtir  (Lrstitutton  of  Naval 
.\rchitccls). 

Skriai-s. — American  Naturalist,  September  (Philadelphia). — Psycho- 
logical Review,  September  (Macmillan).^Slrand  Magazine,  September 
(Newncs). — Picture  Kfagoxine,  September  (Ncwnes). 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

The  British  Associatioti 489 

Sei'tion     C. — Geology — Opening     Address    by     W. 

Whitaker,  F.R.S 490 

Seclion    D.  —  Zoologj'. — Opening    Address   by    Prof. 

William  A.  Herdman,  F.  R.S.     ( IVilh  VMipaiii.)  494 
Seclion    G.  —  .Mech-iiiicil    .Science  —  Opening  Address 

by    L.    F.    Vernon-Harcourt 501 

American     Association     for    the    Advancement    of 

Science.      By  Dr.  Wm.  H.  Hale 506 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

August    Meteors. — Red    Spot    on    Jupiter. — W.    F. 

Denning        .        507 

Curious  I  )plical  Phenomenon. — R.A.  F 508 

A  Kemarkabk-  Flii^ht  of  Birds.— J.  Evershed    ...  508 

The  Woburn  Experimental  Fruit  Farm                   .    .  yi& 

The  Revision  of  the  "  British  Pharmacopoeia"    .    .  510 

The  First  Meridian 511 

Notes      511 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

The  Spcriruni  .if  Mars 514 

,\p|i:>raUis  li.  llliislraU-  I  )np|iler's  Principle 5'5 

The  Pracscpe  Cluster,      liy  W.  E.  P 515 

University  and   Educational  Intelligence 516 

Societies  and  Academies 5'^ 

Books,  Pamphlet,  and  Serials  Received 516 


NA  TURE 


517 


THURSDAY,    SEPTEMBER    26,   1895. 


PERSONALITY. 

The  Diseases  of  Personality.  By  Th.  Ribot.  Authorised 
translation.  Second  revised  edition.  (Chicago  :  The 
Open  Court  Publishing  Company,  1S95.) 

THE  importance  of  a  work  bears  little  relation  to  its 
bulk,  so  no  surprise  need  be  felt  at  a  masterly  and 
very  suggestive  resume  of  recent  inquiries  into  a  question 
of  the  highest  interest  being  compressed  into  this  thin 
volume  of  less  than  160  pages  of  good  readable  type. 
The  work  itself  is  not  new,  though  it  is  so  in  its  present 
translated  form.  It  is  practically  up  to  date,  and  affords 
an  excellent  study  for  those  to  whom  what  Tennyson  calls 
"  the  abysmal  deeps  of  Personality "  are.-,  wholly  mys- 
terious, as  well  as  to  those  others  who  have  sounded 
them  in  part. 

First  as  regards  consciousness:  there  are  two  views, 
the  old  and  the  new.  The  old  view  regards  -t  as  the 
fundamental  property  of  the  soul  or  mind  ;  the  new 
view  regards  it  as  an  event  superadded  to  the  more 
regular  activity  of  the  brain,  depending  on  conditions  as 
yet  unknown,  and  appearing  or  disappearing  according 
to  their  presence  or  absence.  The  old  view  fails  to 
account  for  the  vast  substratum  of  unconscious  mental 
activity  whose  existence  is  now  beyond  dispute,  and  it 
apparently  fails  to  account  for  intermissions  of  con- 
sciousness, whose  e.xistence  can  hardly  be  denied  even 
when  the  fullest  allowance  is  made  for  the  effects  of 
forgetfulncss.  The  new  view  is  simpler  than  the  old  one, 
and  much  more  consistent  with  observed  facts,  especially 
such  as  are  obtained  from  the  study  of  mental  disease, 
which  is  a  subtle  analyser  of  mental  functions.  Many 
persons  are  loth  to  admit  that  the  highest  manifestations 
of  the  human  mind  are  fugitive  phenomena,  subordinate 
to  those  of  a  lower  grade  ;  but  whatever  be  the  origin  of 
consciousness,  its  value  is  none  the  less.  From  the  point 
of  view  of  the  evolutionist,  it  is  not  the  origin  of  a 
faculty  that  is  of  consequence,  but  the  elevation  to  which 
that  faculty  attains.  However  consciousness  may  have 
come  into  existence,  its  first  appearance  on  the  earth 
must  have  been  a  fact  of  the  first  magnitude,  for  it  is  the 
basis  of  the  recollections,  which  capitalise  the  past  of  each 
animal  for  the  profit  of  its  future,  and  give  it  new  chances 
of  survival.  On  the  automaton  view  of  life,  consciousness 
I  hanges  the  animal  from  a  simple  automaton  into  one  of 
.m  incomparably  higher  order.  The  author  quotes  much 
from  "  Les  colonies  animales "  of  Perrier,  to  show  the 
steps  through  which  consciousness  first  became  developed 
in  the  animal  world,  starting  from  associations  of  indi- 
viduals that  arc  almost  independent  of  one  another,  but 
which,  owing  to  their  contiguity  and  mutual  pressure, 
cannot  be  wholly  unaffected  by  their  neighbours.  The 
next  step  is  the  appearance  of  a  colonial  consciousness, 
where  a  colony  is  formed  of  individuals  in  which  some 
division  of  labour  takes  place,  and  the  function  of  loco- 
motion is  centralised.  But  because  a  colony  acquires 
colonial  consciousness,  it  does  not  follow  that  each  of  the 
individuals  that  compose  it  loses  its  particular  conscious- 
ness ;  thus  the  severed  ray  of  a  star-fish  continues  to 
^0.    1  352,  VOL.   17\ 


creep,  to  follow,  or,  it  may  be,  to  deviate  under  conditions 
from  a  given  route,  and  to  quiver  when  excited,  and  thus 
to  betray  a  consciousness  of  its  own  which,  before  it  was 
severed,  was  subordinated  to  the  consciousness  of  the 
whole  star-fish.  By  degrees  this  colonial  consciousness 
confiscates  for  its  benefit  all  the  particular  ones. 

The  author  maintains  that  consciousness  is  not  like  a 
central  point  from  which  alone  feelings  radiate  and  to 
which  they  all  arrive,  but  that  it  is  a  complexus  of 
separate  phenomena,  each  of  a  particular  class,  bound  up 
with  certain  unknown  conditions  of  the  brain,  existing 
only  when  they  exist,  lacking  when  they  disappear. 
Hence  the  sum  of  the  states  of  consciousness  in  man  is  ver)' 
inferior  to  the  sum  of  all  his  nervous  actions.  Conscious 
personality  is  only  an  abstract  of  the  vast  amount  of 
work  that  takes  place  in  the  nervous  centres.  Its  basis 
is  formed  by  the  diffused  bodily  sensations  which,  being 
elementary  causes,  serve  as  a  warp  upon  which  is  woven 
some  gorgeous  pattern  of  tapestry  that  corresponds  to 
the  higher  feelings.  The  general  consciousness  of  the 
organism  serves  as  the  support  of  all  the  rest,  and 
forms,  in  the  author's  opinion,  the  real  basis  of  conscious 
personality. 

Personal  identity  is  an  unsatisfactory  phrase.  A  man 
feels  to  be  the  same  in  his  ego  at  difterent  periods,  be- 
cause the  great  majority  of  his  bodily  feelings  continue 
the  same,  owing  to  his  structural  sameness.  The  so- 
called  identity  is  due  to  the  large  preponderance  of  un- 
changing elements,  which  characterise  a  healthy  state  ; 
but  in  disease  this  habitual  predominance  may  fail  either 
wholly  or  temporarily,  leading  in  the  one  case  to  a  sense 
of  a  complete  change  of  personality,  in  the  other  to  that 
of  multiple  and  alternating  personalities.  A  few  but 
adequate  number  of  specimen  cases  are  given.  A  some- 
what comic  instance  is  that  by  Hack  Tuke,  of  a  patient 
who  had  lost  his  ego  (that  is  the  one  which  was  familiar 
to  him),  and  was  in  the  habit  of  searching  for  himself 
under  his  bed.  {Cf.  the  speech  of  Saturn,  "  Search  Thea, 
search  .  .  ."  in  Keats'  "Hyperion.") 

The  rather  common  cases  in  which  a  man  believes 
himself  to  have  become  changed  into  a  new  person, 
are  considered  by  the  author  to  be  mostly  superficial  ; 
that  is,  to  be  due  to  local  rather  than  to  general  disorder. 
1  myself  witnessed  a  case  which  showed  that  the 
imagined  personality  was  not  well  sustained.  It  was  at 
a  lunatic  asylum,  where  I  went  accompanied  by  a 
photographer  to  take  specimens  for  composite  photo- 
graphy. He  mounted  his  camera  in  a  ward,  and  a  batch 
of  patients  were  brought  up.  One  of  them  was  duly 
placed  in  front  of  the  camera,  the  others  were  led  to  a 
bench  behind  the  operator  to  wait  their  turn.  It  hap- 
pened that  one  of  these  had  the  mania  that  he  was  a  great 
commander,  let  us  say,  Alexander  the  Great,  and  he 
chafed  internally  at  not  having  had  precedence.  When 
my  photographers  head  was  under  the  dark  cloth,  and 
his  body  in  the  attitude  appropriate  to  the  occasion, 
Alexander  the  Great  could  restrain  himself  no  longer,  but 
nipped  the  projecting  rotundity  of  the  poor  man's  hinder 
end  with  his  teeth.  I  abstain  from  dwelling  on  the 
tableau,  or  on  the  care  with  which  the  smarting  photo- 
gra])her,  in  his  further  operations,  squeezed  himself  into  a 
corner  that  guarded  his  rear.  The  point  is  this,  that  a 
man  who  was  thoroughly  pervaded  with  tlie  idea  of  being 


=;iS 


XATL'Rn 


[SErXEMBER  26,    1S95 


a  mighty  conqueror,  would  not  have  made  that  kind  of 
attack. 

Without  attempting  to  condense  further  this  already 
condensed  and  ver\-  readable  little  volume  written  by  a 
distinguished  inquirer,  I  will  conclude  by  saying  that  it 
well  deser\-es  a  place  in  any  general  librar\\ 

Francis  Gai.ton. 


SA  TELLITE  E I VL  LTIOX. 
Satellite  Evolution.  By  James  Xolan.  Pp.  114.  v Mel- 
bourne, &c  :  George  Robertson  and  Co.,  1S95.) 
IX  this  book  Mr.  Nolan  discusses  the  part  played  by 
tidal  friction  in  the  evolution  of  satellites,  .\lthough 
the  subject  is  one  of  much  scientific  interest,  his  work  is 
hardly  likely  to  attract  the  attention  it  deserves,  because 
the  unmathematical  reader  will  find  the  reasoning  hard 
to  follow,  whilst  the  mathematician  will  be  repelled  by 
prolixity,  due  to  the  author's  treatment  of  the  problem  by 
means  of  general  reasoning.'  The  first  fifty  pages  of  the 
book  appear  to  be  virtually  contained  in  the  single  equa- 
tion which  states  the  effect  of  tidal  friction  in  increasing 
the  mean  distance  of  a  satellite.  It  might  perhaps  be  in- 
teresting to  some  to  discuss  the  various  elements  of  the 
problem  in  detail,  but  those  who  are  able  tn  comprehend 
an  analytical  formula  are  not  very  likely  to  have  the 
patience  to  follow  such  a  discussion. 

I  shall  not  accordingly  follow  Mr.  Nolan  in  detail,  but 
will  pass  at  once  to  the  conclusion  to  which  he  tends. 
On  p.  9  he  says  : — 

"Though  Mr.  Dar\vin  made  elaborate  calculations  to 
support  his  theory  respecting  the  part  played  by  tidal 
friction  on  the  evolution  of  the  earth  and  moon,  he  seems 
to  have  dismissed  the  Jovian  and  .Saturnian  systems  with 
the  conclusion  that  their  satellites,  unlike  our  moon,  could 
not  be  traced  much  further  in  than  the  present  distances  of 
their  respective  planets  ;  and  that  as  the  relation  between 
the  mass  of  the  planet  and  satellite,  or  relation  of 
rotational  to  orbital  momentum  is  ver\-  different  in  the 
case  of  the  earth  and  moon  to  that  for  other  planets  and 
satellites,  their  modes  of  evolution  may  have  differed  con- 
siderably. He  seems  to  have  gone  something  further 
into  the  possible  effects  of  solar  tidal  friction  on  the 
planets  revolving  round  the  great  central  body,  or  at 
least  has  come  to  the  correct  conclusion  that  the  eflficiency 
of  such  tides  would  be  too  small  to  effect  any  appreciable 
change  during  the  natural  lifetime  of  a  solar  system. ' 

He  then  proceeds  to  show  that,  if  the  earth  and  Jupiter 
rotate  under  the  influence  of  tides  subject  to  the  same 
frictional  resistance,  the  proportionate  rate  of  increase  of 
the  moon's  mean  distance  is  much  smaller  than  that  of 
all  of  Jupiter's  satellites,  save  one.  In  other  words,  four 
out  of  five  of  Jupiter's  satellites  would  have  their  mean 
distances  increased  by,  say,  one  per  cent,  in  a  much 
shorter  time  than  would  the  moon.  He  then  pursues  the 
same  train  of  reasoning  with  respect  to  Saturn  and 
Mars. 

It  appears  to  me  that  Mr.  Nolan  is  correct  in  these 
conclusions,  and  we  are  thus  led  to  suppose  that  tidal 
friction  may  have  played  a  much  more  important  part  in 

>l  I.1X,  and  il  \\  not  alwny«  city  in  autirc 
'rain  ofruMOninK  ;  but  where  the  conclusion 
-.M>  i»  »o  alio. 


'  The  nl.r 
oneself  <A  \h' 
wcorretl,  the  i 


NO.    1352,  VOL.  52] 


the  evolution  of  satellites  than  I  was  disposed  to  allow 
it.'  He  points  out  (p.  70)  that  the  satellites  of  Jupiter 
are  probably  much  younger  than  the  moon  ;  "  when  the 
moon  was  younger,  her  relative  rate  of  recession  was 
faster,  as  now  is  the  case  for  some  satellites  in  other 
systems."  He  finally  concludes  i^p.  "S)  that  the  majority 
of  satellites  in  each  system  may  be  traced  to  a  positiort 
corresponding  with  that  of  the  rings  of  Saturn. 

But  before  arri\ing  at  this  result,  the  author  has  treated 
another  problem,  in  which,  in  my  opinion,  his  conclusion 
is  incorrect.  On  p.  45,  he  considers  the  effects  of  tidal 
friction  on  such  a  ring  as  that  of  Saturn.     He  says  : — 

Tidal  friction  "could  have  no  effect  if  the  ring  were 
perfectly  even  all  round.  When  compmsed  of  individual 
bodies  it  could  not  be  or  remain  so.  Each  individual 
would  be  unaffected  by  the  tides  of  the  others,  and  would 
recede  at  the  same  rate  as  if  it  were  the  only  body  in  the 
ring.  The  moon  recedes  at  exactly  the  same  rale  as  she 
would  were  there  no  solar  tides  ;  and  if  there  were  a 
second  moon  there  would  be  no  interference  with  the 
recession  of  the  first  .  .  .  Then  if  the  bodies  composing 
the  rings  are  'as  the  sand  on  the  seashore  for  multitude' 
tidal  friction  must  still  effect  the  usual  progressive  change, 
unless  each  individual  body  be  small  enough  to  be  un- 
affected at  the  distance,  whether  composing  a  ring  or  not. 
This  must  have  a  dissolving  effect  on  the  ring,  or  tend  to 
shape  certain  sections  of  it  into  so  many  bodies,  which, 
having  increased  their  mass  at  the  expense  of  the  ring, 
finally  recede  therefrom,  either  to  circle  round  at  a  great 
distance  or  be  precipitated  into  the  planet  increasing  its 
rotation  speed." 

It  would  seem  that  the  process  here  sketched  is  an 
essential  part  of  Mr.  Nolans  theory  of  the  evolution  of 
satellites,  but  I  believe  it  to  be  founded  on  erroneous  pre- 
mises. He  omits  in  fact  to  notice  the  necessary  condi- 
tion for  neglecting  the  effects  of  the  tides  raised  by  one 
satellite  on  the  mean  distance  of  another  ;  this  is,  that  the 
periodic  times  of  the  two  shall  not  be  equal  to  one  another. 
If  the  periodic  times  of  two  satellites  are  unequal,  we 
need  not  invoke  tidal  friction  to  bring  the  two  bodies  near 
:  to  one  another.  On  the  other  hand,  if  four  or  eight  satel- 
lites be  equally  spaced  round  a  planet  and  revolve  with 
the  same  periodic  time,  tidal  friction  would  only  influence 
their  motions  to  a  very  small  extent.  1  am  therefore  un- 
able to  follow  Mr.  Nolan  in  this  part  of  his  work. 

.Several  other  points  in  the  early  history  of  satellites 
are  considered  by  Mr.  Nolan,  but  I  am  unable  to  touch 
on  them  within  the  limits  of  a  review. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  written  by  him 
and  others,  we  are  still  far  from  a  consistent  theory  of 
the  formation  of  a  satellite.  In  my  own  papers  I  have 
ventured  to  throw  out  suggestions  (which  have  but  too 
often  been  quoted  as  positive  theories),  and  it  still  seems 
to  me  at  least,  that  neither  the  present  contribution  of  the 
author  nor  the  theories  of  others  .are  adequate. 

This  work  touches  on  subjects  of  interest,  and  although 
it  seems  o])en  to  much  criticism,  I  for  my  part  welcome 
the  extension  given  by  Mr.  Nolan  to  the  ijart  played  by 
tidal  friction  in  evolutionary  astronomy. 

G.  H.  Darwin. 

1  The  arffumcnts  by  which  I  was  led  to  an  erroneous  conclusion  on  thi» 
point,  will  be  found  in  t'hii.  Tratu.,  part  ii.,  1861,  p.  534. 


Sei'Tk.mijkk  26,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


519 


OCR  HOOK  SHELF. 

Die   Lchre   von   tier  Eh'ktrizitiit   iind  dcrcn  Praktische 

Venucnditng.      By    Th.   Scliwartze.      (Leipzig  :     J.    J. 

Weber,  1895.) 
Thf;  author  in  his  preface  says  that  his  intention  in 
vritiny  this  book  was  to  give  the  bearing  of  the  latest 
scientific  results  in  electricity  on  electro-technology.  He 
goes  on  to  say  that  the  contents  will  probably  appear 
peculiar.  The  first  of  the  above  statements,  taken  in 
conjunction  with  the  title  of  the  book,  will  probably  give 
as  erroneous  an  idea  of  the  contents  as  it  is  possible  to 
obtain.  For  if  there  is  one  thing  the  author  does  not  do, 
it  is  to  give  the  bearing  of  the  few  modern  discoveries, 
or  lines  of  thought,  which  he  mentions  on  the  practical 
applications  of  electricity. 

For  all  intents  and  purposes  the  book  may  be  divided 
into  two  parts.     The  first  of  these  deals  with  the  question 
of    the   fundamental    principles   of    general 
physics  and  with  some  mechanical  problems,  „  , 

such  as  moment  of  inertia,  oscillations  of  a  j 

pendulum,  wave-motion,  &c.  The  second 
part  deals  more  particularly  with  electric  and 
magnetic  phenomena.  4 

Throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  book, 
but  particularly  in  the  first  part,  the  reader 
will  probably  heartily  endorse  the  authors 
view,  that  the  contents  of  the  book  are 
peculiar  ;  for  the  subject  of  dimensions  is 
treated  at  great  length,  so  that,  for  at  any 
rate  the  first  three  hundred  pages,  there  is  /, 

hardly    a    page    without    at    least    one    di-  ^ 

mensional  equation.  The  appearance  of 
some  of  these  dimensional  equations,  how-  ^° 
ever,  are  certainly  peculiar,  for  the  author 
■ittempts  to  introduce  a  set  of  dimensions 
in  terms  of  what  he  calls  "  Linearkraft,'' 
"  Flachcnkraft,"  and  "\'olumenkraft."  These 
tjuantitics  he  indicates  by  the  symbols  L,  L- 
and  L'-,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  in  those 
<limensional  formute,  in  which  length,  mass, 
and  time  are  taken  as  the  fundamental  units, 
the  symbol  L  is  used  for  a  length.  Even 
the  author  himself  seems  to  have  got  muddled 
when  such  equations  as  [M-L-]  =  [ML'-]  arc 
allowed  to  appear,  and  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  student,  whose  command  of  dimen- 
sions is  limited,  after  reading  the  book,  is 
lamentable  to  think  of  In  the  chapter  deal- 
ing with  the  dimensions  of  the  electrical  and 
magnetic  units,  no  mention  is  made  of  the 
effect  of  the  properties  of  the  medium,  and 
although  Riicker's  name  is  mentioned  in  the 
preface  in  connection  with  the  subject  of 
dimensions,  no  mention  is  made  of  his 
proposal  to  consider  the  specific  inductive 
capacity  and  the  permeability  of  the  medium 
as  subsidiary  fundamental  units,  and  to  indi- 
cate their  presence  in  the  dimensional 
formuke.  The  more  purely  electrical  portion 
of  the  book  calls  for  little  remark,  and  contains  a  some- 
what elementary  treatment  of  the  subject  of  electro- 
statics, such  as  the  calculation  of  the  capacity  of  some 
simple  forms  of  condensers,  &c.  There  are  also  chapters 
dealing  with  uni-directed  currents,  thermo-electricity, 
electrolysis,  electro-magnetic  induction,  and  the  dynamo. 
Finally,  about  seventy  pages  are  devoted  to  what  is  called 
"electro-tectiniches,''  in  which  the  commoner  forms  of 
electrical  measuring  instruments  are  shortly  described. 

While  only  a  very  short  account  is  given  of  Hertz's 
work,  contrary  to  what  one  would  e.vpect  in  a  (German 
work,  considerable  space  is  devoted  to  a  description  of 
Klihu  Thomson's  more  showy  experiments  with  rapidly 
alternating  currents. 

NO.    1352,  VOL.  52] 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[  The  Editor  does  not  hold  himself  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  (an  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  communicalions.l 

Rain  in  August. 

.•\rGtJST  being  a  harvest  month,  and  the  holiday  month  /ar 
excellence  in  this  countr)',  its  weather  is  a  matter  of  concern  in 
multitudes.  I  propose  to  show  how  the  rainfall  of  .Vugust  at 
Greenwich  h.is  varied  in  the  last  half-century  (1841-95). 

This  variation  appears  to  me  rather  to  suggest  sun-spot  influ- 
ence ;  but  whatever  may  be  thought  about  this,  it  may  be 
interesting  to  observe  how  far  the  kind  of  corresponcience 
here  pointed  out  is  maintained  in  the  future. 

In  the  accompanying  diagram  we  have  (a)  a  dotted  curve 
showing  the  variatiim  of  .August  rainfall,  and   the   values  have 


40 
60 
Eo 

TOO  . 

cde 
1 20  6*0 


1041 


■g    '62 


71 


■7    'So 


9     92     5 


Rainfall  in  .August,  Greenwich,  a.  The  same,  smoothed  (j-.av.).  b.  Inverted  sun-spot 
curve.  (-,  ti,  €.  Rainfall  in  August  at  Haverfordwest,  Llandudno,  and  Boston 
(smoothed). 


been  smoothed  with  averages  of  5,  yielding  the  continuous 
curve  a' .     Underneath  (1^)  is  an  inverted  sun-spot  cur\-e. 

A  considerable  correspondence  may  here  be  traced,  es- 
pecially in  the  last  three  waves ;  the  crests  or  maxima  of 
ihc  smoothed  rainfall  curve  coming  near  the  sun-spot  minima, 
and  the  hollows  or  minima  of  the  former  near  the  sun-spot 
maxima. 

It  seems  specially  noteworthy  that  in  each  year  following  a 
.sun-spot  maximum  year  we  have  had  a  ver)'  dry  August.  Thus 
(the  August  average  being  2  "38)  we  have  : 


Sun-spot  max,  1S4S 

,,      1S60 

1870 

1883 


R.iinfall  of  .-Vugust  1S49,  0'45  in. 
,,  ,,  1861,  0-57  ., 

l87l,o§6  ,, 
„  „  1SS4,  0-67  ,, 


iVA  TURE 


[September  26,  1S95 


The  data  pre\ious  to  1841  are,  I  suppose,  less  reliable  ;  but  I 
may  add  these  two  cases  of  August  rainfall  under  average  : 


Sun-spot  max.  1S30 
■837 


Rainfall  of  August  1831,  2'I4  in. 
1S3S,  0-93  ,, 


By  way  of  showing  that  in  other  parts  of  the  countr)-  there 
has  been,  in  recent  years  at  least,  a  similar  variation,  I  add  three 
similarly  smoothed  curves  of  .\ugust  rainfall  for  Haverfordwest, 
Llandudno,  and  Boston  (Lincoln)  resjwctively  (1,  r/,  c).  The 
data,  however,  do  not  extend  back  further  than  1 866. 

The  case  of  Greenwich  may  be  presented  as  follows  :  — Take 
each  maximum  sun-sp<'>t  year,  and  a  year  on  either  side,  and 
tabulate  the  .-Vugust  rainfall  in  each  of  these.  Indicate  by 
the  letters  d  (for  dry)  and  ii'  (for  wet)  whether  this  rainfall  has 
been  below  or  above  the  average.     Then  we  have  : — 


Mxximum. 
1S47,   1S4S.   1S49 

1S59.  i860.  1 86 1 
1869,  18-0.  1 87 1 
IS82,  ISS3.  1884 


1-95  4-25  045 

I -13  368  057 

I -21  2'02  0'86 

I '16  071  067 


d  -Ji  d 

d  w  d 

d  d  d 

d  d  d 


Here  we  find  ten  cases  of  a  dr)-  .\ugust  out  of  twelve. 
twelve  \-alucs  give  an  average  of  I  "55  inches. 

Now  do  the  same  with  minimum  sun-spot  years  : — 


Those 


MinimutT 

1842,   1843. 

1844       . 

.     1 78 

3-62 

171     . 

d  w  d 

1855,   1S56, 

1857       . 

.     1-40 

2-42 

2-50    . 

.     d  WW 

1866,   1S67, 

1868       . 

.     242 

264 

2-6i     . 

www 

1877,   187S, 

1879       . 

.     2-90 

S-38 

519    . 

.     www 

1888,   1889, 

1890      . 

•     373 

I  Si 

2-54     • 

w  d  w 

Here  we  find  eleven  cases  of  a  wet  .\ugust  out  of  fifteen. 
Those  fifteen  cases  give  an  average  of  2*84  inches. 

It  would  Ik:  interesting  to  know  to  what  extent  such  relations 
suiisist  elsewhere,  and  perhaps  some  of  your  readers  may  be 
dis|xiscd  to  investig.ate  the  matter.  A.  B.   M. 


Alteration   in   the   Colours   of  Flowers   by  Cyanide 
Fumes. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  yellows  of  some  insects  are  turned 

to  red  liy  the  fumes  from  potassium  cyanide  :  but  I  have   not, 

after  some  inquir)'.  t)een  able  to  obtain  any  literature  describing 

the  effects  of  such  fumes  upon  the   colours   of    flowers.     The 

reactions  I  have  observed  are  very  curious,  and   while   it   seems 

improlxible  that  they  are  hitherto  wholly  unknown,  it   may  not 

lie   amiss   to  direct  attention    to   them.     .\  few  lumps  of   the 

cyanide  are  placed  in  a  corked  tul>e,  covered  with  a  little  cotton, 

and    the    flowers  are   placeil    on    the    cotton.     It    is    prolwbly 

I1L-.  L>.ary  th.1t   the   day  should    be   hot,    or   the   tube    slightly 

1.     The  pink  flowers  of  CUomc  inUf;rifolia  and  Moiiarda 

•  a  turn  to  a  brilliant  green-blue,  and   finally  become  pale 

> .     A  purple-red  I'erliena  becomes  bright  blue,  then  pale 

The    purple   flowers   of    Solauuiii   slnagnifoliiim    go 

'  '        inrl   then  yellow.     The  while   petals  of  Argeiiume 

irn  yellow — the  natural  colour  of ./.  m:xi<ana.    The 

'!!  il.iwcrs  of  Mdituliii  Hilda  turn  a  <leeper  yellow. 

'■IIS  art^cnteiis,  var.,  turn  pale  yellow.     White 

'1'iwcrs  turn  yellow.     The  scarlet   flowers   of 

■  turn  pale   dull   pink,  resembling  some- 

■)f  the  same.     .\ny  of  your  re.idcrs  will 

'  "  '>iii.iin  siiniiar  results  with  the  flowers  growing  in  their 

y.  T.  D.  A.  Ci)i  KKKBl.l.. 

'.-■^  Cnices,  New  Mexico,  ''  ^   N     ^'ptcmber  3. 


THE  CONSTITUENTS   OF   THE    CAS  IN 
CLEVEITE. 

\\ 'F,  have  investit;atcd  the  spectrum  of  the  gas  dis- 
'  '  covered  in  the  mineral  cleveite  by  Ramsay,  and 
have  fountl  it  to  be  most  regular.  It  consists  of  six  series 
oflin-  •'  ■  •  of  the  lines  in  each  series  decreasing 
with    '  '--langths.     .Similar   scries   of   lines 

have  1...  ■.  ., ;  m   many  spectra.     The  first   series 

was  discovered  by  Dr.  Muggins  m  the  ultra-violet  spectra 
of  a  number  of  stars.  It  proved  to  belong  to  hydrogen, 
and  to  be  the  continuation  of  the  four  strong  hydrogen 

NO.    1352,   VOL.   52] 


lines  in  the  visible  part  of  the  spectrum.  Johnstone 
Stoney  had  already  shown  that  three  of  the  wave-lenyths 
of  the  visible  hydrogen  lines  were  most  accurately  pro- 
portional to  the  \alues  95,  43,  98,  when  Balmcr 
discovered  that  these  \alues  were  gi\en  by  the  formula 


for  m  =  3,  4,  6,  and  that  the  other  wave-lengths  of  the 
series  were  proportional  to  the  values  obtained  by  sub- 
stituting^ for  m  the  other  entire  numbers  yre.iter  than 
three.  The  series  has  now  been  followed  from  nt  =  3  to 
III  =  20,  the  lines  growing  weaker  and  weaker  to  the  more 
refrangible  side,  and  approaching  each  other  closer  and 
closer.  The  formula  shows  that  they  approach  a  definite 
limit  for  large  values  of  ///.  This  is  seen  more  clearly 
wOien  we  consider  wave-numbers  instead  of  wave-lengths, 
which  according  to  the  formula  would  be  proportional  to 


Many  series  of  lines  similar  to  the  hydrogen  series 
were  discovered  by  Liveing  and  Dewar.  Tliey  have 
called  them  harmonic  scries,  and  have  compared  them  to 
the  series  of  over-tones  of  a  vibrating  body.  Tliey  have 
been  further  studied  by  Rydberg  and  by  Kayscr  and 
Runge.  We  cannot  here  enter  into  any  detailed  account. 
We  only  want  to  explain  so  much  as  to  make  the  con- 
clusions understood  which  we  have  drawn  from  the 
spectrum  of  the  gas  in  cleveite.  The  wave-lengths  X  of 
the  lines  belonging  to  the  same  series  arc  always  approxi- 
mately connected  by  a  formula  somewhat  similar  to 
Balmer's 

l/K  =  A  -  B/m-  -  C/m*. 

A  determines  the  end  of  the  series  towards  which  the 
lines  approach  for  high  values  of /«,  but  docs  not  influence 
the  difference  of  wave-numbers  of  any  two  lines.  IS  has 
nearly  the  same  value  for  all  the  series  observed,  and  C 
may  be  said  to  determine  the  spread  of  the  series,  cor- 
responding intervals  between  the  wave-numbers  being 
larger  for  larger  \alues  of  C.  .■\s  H  is  approxim;itcIy 
know  n,  two  wave-lengths  of  a  series  suffice  to  determine 
the  constants  .A.  and  C,  and  thus  to  calculate  approxi- 
mately the  wave-lengths  of  the  other  lines.  It  was  by 
this  means  that  we  succeeded  in  disentangling  the 
spectrum  of  the  gas  in  cleveite,  and  showing  its 
regularity. 

In  the  spectrum  of  many  elements  two  series  have  been 
observed  for  which  .A  has  the  same  value,  so  that  they  both 
approach  to  the  same  limit.  In  all  these  cases  the  scries 
for  which  C  has  the  smaller  value,  that  is  to  say  wliicli 
has  the  smaller  spread,  is  the  stronger  of  the  two.  In  the 
spectrum  of  the  gas  in  cleveite  wc  have  two  instances  of 
the  same  occurrence.  One  of  the  two  pairs  of  series,  the 
one  to  which  the  strong  yellow  double  line  belongs, 
consists  throughout  of  double  lines  whose  wave-numbers 
seem  to  have  the  same  difTercncc,  while  the  lines  of  the 
other  pair  of  series  appear  to  be  all  single.  Lithium  is 
an  instance  of  a  pair  of  series  of  single  lines  approaching 
to  the  same  limit.  Hut  there  are  also  many  instances  of 
two  series  of  double  lines  of  ecpial  difference  of  wave- 
numbers  ending  at  the  same  place  as  sodium,  potassium, 
aluminium,  &c.  There  are  .ilso  cases  where  the  members 
of  each  series  consist  of  triplets  of  the  same  difiercnce  of 
wave-numbers  as  in  the  spectrum  of  magnesium,  calcium, 
strontium,  zinc,  cadmium,  mercury.  Hut  there  is  no 
instance  of  an  element  whose  spectrum  contains  two  pairs 
of  series  ending  at  the  same  place.  This  suggested  to  us 
the  idea  that  the  two  pairs  of  series  belonged  to  different 
elements.  One  of  the  two  pairs  being  by  far  the  stronger, 
we  assume  that  the  stronger  one  of  the  two  remaming 
scries  belongs  to  the  same  element  as  the  stronger  pair. 
We  thus  get  two  spectra  consisting  of  three  series  each, 


September  26,  1895] 


NATURE 


521 


two  series  ending  at  the  same  place,  and  the  third  leaping 
over  the  first  two  in  large  bounds  and  ending  in  the  more 
refrangible  part  of  the  spectrum.  This  third  series  wc 
suppose  to  be  analogous  to  the  so-called  principal  series 
in  the  spectra  of  the  alkalis,  which  show  the  same 
features.  It  is  not  impossible,  one  may  even  say  not  un- 
likely, that  there  are  principal  series  in  the  spectra  of  the 
other  elements.  But  so  far  they  have  not  been  shown  to 
exist. 

Each  of  our  two  spectra  now  shows  a  close  analogy  to 
the  spectra  of  the  alkalis. 

We  therefore  believe  the  gas  in  cle\citc  to  consist  of 
two,  and  not  more  than  two,  constituents.  We  propose 
to  call  only  one  of  the  constituents  helium,  the  one  to 
which  the  bright  yellow  double  line  belongs,  whose  spec- 
trum altogether  is  the  stronger  one,  while  the  other 
constituent  ought  to  receive  a  new  name. 

We  have  confirmed  this  rather  hypothetical  conclusion 
by  the  following  experiment.  The  connection  leading 
from  our  supply  of  cleveite  gas  to  the  vacuum  tube  con- 
tained a  side  branch  parting  from  it  and  joining  it  again. 
There  were  stopcocks  on  either  side  of  the  side  branch, 
and  a  third  one  in  the  side  branch.  In  the  main  tube 
between  the  ends  of  the  side  branch  a  plug  of  asbestos 
was  tightly  inserted.  To  prepare  the  vacuum  tube  only 
the  taj)  leading  to  the  supply  was  closed,  the  whjle  space 
up  to  this  tap  being  carefully  evacuated.  Now  the  side 
branch  was  closed,  and  the  tap  leading  to  the  supply  was 
opened.  Then  we  obserxed  that  the  light  of  the  electric 
discharge  in  the  vacuum  tube  was  at  first  greenish,  and 
after  a  while  grew  yellow.  By  cutting  off  the  current  of 
gas  after  a  sufficiently  short  time,  we  succeeded  in  making 
a  vacuum  tube  which  remained  greenish.  On  examining 
it  in  a  small  spectroscope  with  which  we  could  overlook 
the  whole  spectrum,  we  found  that  the  intensities  of  the 
lines  had  changed.  The  yellow  line  was  scarcely  as 
bright  as  the  green  line  5016,  and  the  red  line  7065  had 
apparently  decreased  relatively  to  7282  and  6678,  although 
it  was  still  stronger  than  7282.  The  two  lines  that  had 
decreased  in  intensity  belong  to  the  second  set  of  series, 
while  the  others  are  meinbers  of  the  first  set.  The  other 
visual  lines  of  the  second  set  could  not  very  well  be 
examined  because  they  are  more  in  the  violet  part. 

This  observation  confirms  our  spectroscopic  result. 
The  gas  in  cleveite  may  be  taken  to  be  a  mixture  of  two 
gases  of  different  density,  of  which  the  lighter  one  is  more 
rapidly  transmitted  through  the  plug  of  asbestos.  There 
is,  however,  the  objection  to  be  raised,  that  in  the  green 
tube  the  pressure  is  less,  and  that  the  difference  of  in- 
tensities is  due  to  the  pressure  being  different.  This  must 
be  further  inquired  into. 

We  were  not  satisfied  with  the  visual  observation  of 
the  change  of  intensities  in  our  green  tube,  but  thought 
it  desiraljle  to  test  the  conclusion  by  the  bolometric 
measurement  of  the  two  lines  that  we  have  discovered 
in  the  ultra-red  part  of  the  spectrum.  If  we  were  right, 
the  ultra-red  line  of  smaller  wave-length,  which  belongs 
to  the  second  set  of  series,  ought  to  have  decreased  in 
intensity  relatively  to  the  other  ultra-red  line.  This  we 
found  to  be  so  indeed.  In  the  yellow  tubes  the  intensity 
of  the  smaller  wave-length  was  to  that  of  the  other  on  an 
average  as  3  to  i,  while  in  the  green  tubes  it  was  as  r8 
to  I.  This  confirmation  we  consider  the  more  valuable  as 
it  does  not  de|)end  on  any  estimation  which  may  be  biassed 
by  the  personal  opinion  of  the  observer,  but  is  based  on 
an  objective  numerical  determination. 

Another  confirmation  may  be  gathered  from  the  spec- 
trum of  the  sun's  limb  and  that  of  several  stars.  Let  us 
confine  our  attention  to  the  six  strongest  lines  in  the 
visible  part  of  the  spectrum  : 

7066,  6678,  5S76,  5016,  4922,  4472. 

The  first,  third,  and  sixth  belong  to  the  second  set  of 
series  ;  the  second,  fourth  and  fifth  to  the  first  set.  These 


six  lines  have  all  been  observed  in  the  spectrum  of  the 
sun's  limb,  as  Norman  Lockyer  and  Deslandres  have 
pointed  out.  Now,  according  to  their  appearance  in  the 
spectrum  of  the  sun's  limb,  they  may  be  classed  in 
two  groups,  one  group  being  always  present,  the  other 
group  being  sometimes  present.  C.  \.  Young  long  ago 
called  attention  to  the  difference  in  the  frequency  of 
appearance  of  the  chromospheric  lines.  He  has  given  them 
frequency  numbers,  roughly  estimating  the  percentage  of 
frequency  with  which  the  lines  were  seen  during  the  six 
weeks  of  observation  at  Sherman  in  the  summer  of  1872. 
According  to  Young,  7066,  5876,  4472  have  the  frequency 
number  100,  while  6678,  5016,  4922  have  the  numbers  25, 
30,  30,  showing  that  one  of  the  two  constituents  was 
always  present,  while  the  other  was  only  seen  about  once 
in  every  four  cases. 

The  lines  of  both  constituents  have  been  observed  in 
the  spectra  of  a  considerable  number  of  stars  ^,  S,  e,  f,  7 
Orionis,  a.  Virginis,  /3  Persei,  3  Tauri,  7;  Ursae  majoris, 
/3  Lyra;.  In  the  spectrum  of  /3  Lyne,  thirteen  lines 
have  been  identified  with  certainty.  But  the  most 
interesting  case  in  point  is  the  spectrum  of  Nova  Auriga?, 
that  wonderful  star  whose  sudden  appearance  was 
announced  to  astronomers  in  1892  by  an  anonymous  post- 
card. In  the  spectrum  of  Nova  Aurig;e  the  two  lines 
5016  and  4922  were  veiy  strong,  while  4472  was  weak  and 
5876  has  only  been  seen  by  Dr.  Huggins,  we  believe  only  on 
one  occasion,  and  appears  to  have  been  very  weak.  Now 
5016  and  4922  belong  to  the  lighter  constituent,  and  are 
together  with  6678  the  strongest  lines  in  the  visible  part 
of  the  spectrum  ;  while  5876  and  4472  are  the  strongest 
lines  of  the  other  constituent  in  the  visible  part  of  the 
spectrum.  In  Nova  Auriga;,  therefore,  the  lighter  con- 
stituent gave  a  much  brighter  spectrum  than  helium 
proper.  But  there  may  here  be  raised  an  objection, 
which  indeed  we  do  not  know  liow  to  refute.  Why  has  the 
line  6678  not  been  observed  ?  It  is  a  pity  that  the  red  part 
of  the  spectrum  cannot  be  more  easily  photographed. 
Nova  Auriga;  has  now  become  very  weak,  and  besides 
the  spectrum  is  quite  altered,  so  that  we  shall  never  know 
whether  the  red  line  6678  was  really  absent  or  has  only 
escaped  notice. 

From  the  fact  that  the  second  set  of  series  is  on 
the  whole  situated  more  to  the  refrangible  part  of  the 
spectrum,  one  may,  independently  of  the  diffusion  ex- 
periment, conclude  that  the  element  corresponding  to 
the  second  set  is  the  heavier  of  the  two.  In  the  spectra 
of  chemically  related  elements  like  Li,  Na,  K,  Rb,  Cs, 
or  Mg,  Ca,  Sr',  or  Zn,  Cd,  Hg,  the  series  shift  to  the 
less  refrangible  side  with  increasing  atomic  weight. 
But  it  appears  that  in  the  sjiectra  of  elements  following 
each  other  in  the  order  of  their  atomic  weights  in  a  row 
of  the  periodic  system  like 

Na,  Mg,  Al ; 
K,  Ca  ; 
Cu,  Zn  ; 
Rb,  Sr  ; 
.\g,  C(l,  In  ; 

the  scries  shift  the  opposite  way,  so  that  the  spectrum  of 
the  element  of  greater  atomic  weight  is  as  a  whole 
situated  further  to  the  more  refrangible  side.  Now  in 
our  case  the  density  of  the  gas  has  been  determined  by 
Langlet  (published  by  Cleve)  and  by  Ramsay  to  be  about 
double  the  density  of  hydrogen.  Assuming  the  atomic 
weights  of  the  two  constituents  to  be  between  that  of 
lithium  and  that  of  hydrogen,  they  would  both  belong  to 
the  same  row-  of  the  periodic  system,  and  therefore  the 
more  refrangible  set  of  series  would  correspond  to  the 
greater  atomic  weight. 

For  convenience  of  reference  all  the  observed  lines  are 
given  in  the  following  table,  the  wave-lengths  being 
abridged  to  tenth-metres. 


NO.    1352,  VOL.  52] 


NATURE 


[September  26,  1895 


Lighter  Constituent. 


First 

Second 

Principal  series. 

riubordinate  scries. 

'       subordinate  scries. 

20400 

667S 

-282 

5016 

4922 

5048 

3965 

438S 

4438 

3614 

4144 

4169 

3448 

4009 

4024 

3355 

3927 

3936 

3297 

3S72 

3S7S 

3^58 

3S34 

3S3S 

i^i^ 

3S06 

380S 

':,2^-^ 

3785 

Heavier 

Constitncnt  (Helium  proper). 

I'ouhie  lines. 

Double  linns. 

1 1220 

5876 

7066 

3889 

4472 

4713 

3188 

4026 

4121 

2945 

3S2O 

3868 

2829 

3705 

3733 

2764 

3634 

3652 

2723 

35S7 

3599 

2696 

3555 

3563 

2677 

3531 

3537 

35'3 

35>7 

3499 

3503 

3488 

349" 

3479 

3482 

3472 

3466 

3461 

C.    RUNGE 

.\ND    F.    P.ASCHEN. 

NOTES. 

The  third  International  Congress  of  Zoologists  (an  account 
of  the  proceedings  at  which  will  apjiear  in  a  subsequent  issue  of 
Nature)  has  just  been  held  at  Leyden,  and  ai)]x'ars  to  have 
l>een  a  great  success.  No  fewer  than  twenty  nationalities  were 
represented,  and  the  arrangements  for  the  comfort  of  the 
members  were  all  that  could  he  wished.  It  was  decided  to  hold 
the  next  meeting  (in  1898)  in  England,  and  .Sir  William  II. 
Flower  was  elected  President.  During  the  nieeting  it  was 
announced  that  the  Senate  of  the  University  of  Utrecht  had 
conferred  degrees  uixjn  Sir  William  II.  Flower,  M.  Milne- 
Edwards,  of  Paris,  and  Prof.  Weismann,  of  Freiburg. 

Tei.ei.RAMS  from  St.  John's,  dated  Seplemlwr  22,  announced 
the  return,  in  the  steamer  Kile,  of  the  I'eary  l\xpedition.  The 
result  of  the  ex|>edition  was  a  most  disapiKiinting  one,  as  Lieut. 
Peary  and  his  companions  were  unable  to  extend  their  journeyings 
l>eyond  Inde|)cndence  Bay,  which  point  was  the  furthest  north 
reached  by  Lieut.  Peary  in  his  expedition  of  1892.  The  main 
cause  of  failure  was  the  loss  of  all  the  stores  of  provisions,  save 
one,  which  had  l>een  got  together  and  (lc|K>.site<t  along  the  in- 
tended line  of  march  Ixst  year,  all  having  Iwen  buried  by  perhaps 
the  heaviest  snowfall  known,  which  obliterated  all  traces  of 
ihcm.  The  sufferings  endured  by  the  explorers,  on  the  verge  of 
<<tarva(ion  a.s  they  were  for  the  greater  |xirt  of  the  time,  can 
hardly  lie  estimated,  and  when,  on  July  31,  the  Kile  arrived, 
ihcy  were  utterly  broken  down  and  ill,  but  they  .subsequently 
recovereil  under  careful  treatment.  The  ex|>e<lition,  according 
10  a  later  telegram,  will  not  Ik;  entirely  Irarren  of  .scientific 
re<tiilt.<(,  as  Lieut.  Peary  is  reported  to  have  mapped  Whale 
Sound,  and  completed  his  studies  of  the  Eskimo  llighlanders. 
He  has  alKip  brouglu  lr.ick  another  year's  meteorological  record. 
The  relief  expedition,  too,  is  credited  with  obtaining  the  largest 
collection  of  Arctic  fauna  and  flora  ever  acquired,  anil  Prof. 
Salisbury,  of  Chicigo  University,  did  gfMxl  geological  work. 
NO.    1352,  VOL.   52] 


.•\  CO.MMUNIC.^TION"  was  made  to  the  press  on  Friday  last  by 
Reuter's  Agency  with  reference  to  the  movements  of  the  Jackson- 
Harmsworth  Polar  Expedition.  It  was  admitted  that  the  intelli- 
gence received  had  been  made  in  a  somewhat  meagre  and  dis- 
jointed form  ;  but  from  it  could  be  gleaned  that  on  SejJtember  7 
of  last  year  the  expedition  arrived  safely  on  the  coast  of  Franz 
Josef  Land  and  in  the  locality  of  Cajje  Flora.  On  September  lO' 
the  ice  closed  round  the  ll'iiitiward,  and  she  was  frozen  in  for  the 
winter.  On  February  23  the  sun  returned,  and  on  March  10 
Mr.  Jackson  started  on  his  northern  journey,  with  a  quantity  of 
stores,  and  made  his  first  depot.  Various  journeys  to  and  fro 
with  provisions,  &c.,  were  made,  and  depots  formed,  the  most 
northern  of  which  was  about  100  miles  from  the  camp.  The 
ll'imizcard  has,  it  is  expected,  now  set  sail  for  home,  liearing 
letters  and  journals  of  the  early  part  of  the  exjiedition. 

The  expedition  to  .\laska  of  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  into  the  coal  and  gold 
mines  of  the  territor)-,  has  returned  safely  to  San  Franci.sco  after  a 
successful  and  very  interesting  season,  during  which,  incidentally, 
many  of  the  glaciers  and  volcanos  were  studied.  Messrs.  Becker 
and  Dall  will  return  to  Washington  by  October  I,  to  submit  their 
report  upon  the  mineral  resources  to  the  Director  of  the  Survey, 
which  will  be  printed  as  soon  as  the  necessary  analyses,  &c. ,  car» 
be  made. 

We  have  to  record  the  death,  at  Berlin,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
six,  of  Prof.  Bardeleben,  the  eminent  surgeon  and  author  ol 
"  Lehrbuch  der  Chirurgie  und  Opcrationslehre."' 

The  death  is  announced,  from  Hendigo,  Victoria,  of  Dr.  Paul 
Howard  MacOillivray,  well  known  as  a  meilical  man  and  for 
his  researches  on  Polyioa. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Entomological  .Society  of  London,  lo 
l)e  held  on  Wednesday,  October  2,  the  following  papers  will  be 
read  : — "  Contributions  towards  the  History  of  Maniina,  a  New 
Genus  of  Diptera"  {Psy(hodid<r),  by  Dr.  Fritz  .Miiller  :  "Re- 
marks on  the  Homologies  and  Differences  between  the  First 
Stages  of  Pericoma  and  those  of  Maruina,'  by  Baron  Ostci» 
Sacken. 

TliK  annual  meeting  of  the  Federated  Institution  of  Mining 
Engineers  has  just  taken  place  at  Hanley,  and  pa|jers  were  re.ad  ; 
on  "  The  Use  of  Steel  Girders  in  Mines,"  "  Economic  Minerals 
of  the  Province  of  Ontario,"  and  "  Gold  Mining  in  Nova 
Scotia."  The  Institution  seems  to  \k  in  a  flourishing  condition, 
the  membership  having  risen  from  1 189  in  1889-90,10219981 
the  present  time.  The  prizes  for  papers  on  "  The  Prevention 
of  .\ccidents  in  Mines  "  have  been  awarded  as  follows  :  (l)  Mr. 
.\.  Kirkup  (2)  Mr.  W.  N.  Drew  ;  Messrs.  E.  .\.  Allport  and 
A.  Noble  were  bracketed  for  the  third  place. 

The  Royal  Society  of  New  South  Wales  offers  its  medal  and 
the  sum  of  ^'25  for  the  best  communications  (provideil  such  be 
deemed  of  suOicient  merit)  on  original  research  in  the  following 
.subjects  ; — "  The  Origin  of  Multiple  Hydatids  in  Man  "  ;  "  The 
Occurrence  of  Precious  Stones  in  New  South  Wales,  with  a 
description  of  the  De|Misits  in  which  they  are  found  "  :  "The 
Effect  of  the  Au.stralian  Climate  on  the  Physical  Development  of 
the  AuslralianlM)rn  Population  "  :  "  The  Physiological  Action  of 
the  Poison  of  any  -Australian  .Snake,  Spider,  or  Tick"  ;  "The 
Chemistry  of  the  Australian  Gums  and  Resins  "  ;  "The  Embry- 
ology .ind  Development  of  the  Echidna  or  Platypus";  "The 
Chemical  Com|>f>sition  of  the  Products  from  the  so-called 
Kerosene  Shale  of  New  South  Wales";  "The  MimIc  of  Oc- 
currence, Chemical  Composition  and  Origin  of  Artesian  Water 
in  New  .South  Wales."  The  competition  is  ojien  to  all,  and  is 
not  .subject  to  any  restriction,  save  that  the  ciimmunic-alion  to  l)e 
succe.ssful  must  be  either  wholly  or  in  part  the  result  of  the 
competitor's  own  original   observation  or   raseatch.      Ttie   sue- 


Sei'Thmber  26,  1S95] 


NA rURE 


52; 


•cessful  essays  will  be  published  in  the  Socieiy's  annual  volume, 
and  fifty  copies  of  the  paper  will  be  supplied  tcj  their  writers  free 
•of  charge.  Particulars  as  to  the  latest  dates  for  sending  papers, 
and  all  other  necessary  information,  may  lie  obtained  from  the 
Honorary  Secretaries,  at  the  house  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Xew 
South  Wales,  S,  Klizab;th-street,  Sydney. 

The  Manchester  Trades  Council  has  recently  passed  a 
resolution  strongly  in  favour  of  the  Report  of  the  Select  Com- 
mittee of  the  House  of  Commons  on  Weights  and  Measures,  in 
which  the  Council  expresses  the  hope  that  no  efforts  will  be 
spared  to  make  the  Committee's  recommendations  law.  As  can 
be  readily  understood,  the  New  Decimal  Association  is  much 
■encouraged  by  the  attitude  taken  in  so  important  a  commercial 
centre  as  Manchester,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  at  no  distant 
<late  their  efforts  will  be  crowned  with  success,  and  that  the 
present  cumbrous  system  will  be  for  ever  abandoned. 

The  metric  system  of  weights  and  measures  is  to  be 
obligatory  in  the  United  States  of  Me.xico  from  September  16, 
1S96.  This  system  has  been  in  use  in  the  Government  depart- 
ments of  Mexico  for  some  time  past,  but  a  decree  recently  passed 
makes  it  the  sole  legal  sj'stem  throughout  the  Republic,  and  will 
make  an  end  of  the  various  old  Spanish  measures  hitherto  in 
vogue  in  ordinary  business  transactions. 

Ur.  van  Rijckevorsel  and  Ilerr  van  Bemmelen  are 
engaged  on  a  research  which  has  for  its  object  to  determine  the 
influence  of  elevation  above  sea-level  on  the  magnetic  elements. 
Kor  this  purpose  an  accurate  magnetic  survey  must  be  made  of 
some  moderately  high  mountain,  of  non-magnetic  material  and 
sufficiently  far  removed  from  magnetic  masses.  The  Righi 
seems  to  fulfil  these  conditions  most  satisfactorily  ;  but  in  order 
10  decide  the  matter,  Herrn.  van  Rijckevorsel  and  van  Bemmelen 
selected  thirty  stations,  distributed  on  the  low  ground  round  the 
Righi  in  three  concentric  circles  with  the  mountain  as  centre. 
The  magnetic  elements  have  been  determined  at  these  stations, 
but  the  calculations  are  not  yet  completed.  If  these  indicate  no 
traces  of  disturbance,  due  to  the  Righi  or  its  surroundings,  the 
survey  of  the  mountain  will  be  proceeded  with. 

The  latest  number  of  the  Records  of  the  Ceological  Survey  of 
India  contains  a  translation  of  a  paper  by  Dr.  F.  Kurtz,  on  the 
Lower  (iondwana  beds  of  .Argentina  (from  Revista  del  Miis.  de 
la  Plata).  In  this  is  recorded  an  important  discovery  of  plant- 
remains  in  shales  at  Bajo  de  Velis.  These  fossils  are  well- 
preserved,  and  while  lieing  quite  different  from  the  Argentine 
plant-remains  already  found,  show  a  close  affinity  to  the  plants 
"f  the  K.aharbari  beds  of  the  Lower  Gondwanas  of  India,  as 
well  as  to  those  of  the  Ekka-Kiinberley  beds  of  South  Africa, 
ilie  Newcastle  and  Baccus-Marsh  beds  of  Australia,  and  the 
Mersey  l)eds  of  Tasmania.  The  previously-known  plant-bearing 
beds  of  Argentina  consisted  of  two  series — one  containing  a 
Kha-'tic  flora,  resembling  that  of  the  Stormberg  (Up|jer  Ivaroo) 
I'eds  of  South  .Africa,  the  Hawkesbury  beds  of  -Vustralia,  and 
llie  R.ijmahal  (Upper  Gondwana)  series  of  India  ;  the  other 
containing  a  flora  of  Lower  Carboniferous  character.  The 
newly-discovered  flora  must  be  intermediate  in  age  between  these 
two— that  is  to  say,  it  cannot  be  older  than  Upper  Carboniferous, 
nor  younger  than  Triassic  ;  and  with  it  must  go  the  flora  of  the 
important  coal-bearing  Upper  Gomlwana  beds  of  India.  These 
b.ive  alre.ady  been  assigned  to  the  Upper  Carboniferous  (at  lowest) 
I'y  .Messrs.  .Medlicotl  and  Blanford,  and  the  Indian  Survey, 
and  the  new  discoveries  in  Argentina  give  a  satisfactory  con- 
firmation of  their  views. 

We  note  the  jniblication  of  the  first  Bulletin  des  Observations 
AIMorohgi,/ius,    1894,   by   the   Observator)-  of  St.    Louis,   St. 
Heliers,  Jersey,  containing  monthly  means  from  direct  observa- 
NO.    1352,  VOL.  52] 


tions  and  from  self-recording  instruments.  The  Director  of  this 
new  Observatory  is  the  Rev.  M.  Dechevrens,  who  has  already 
done  good  work  at  Zi-ka-wei,  near  Shanghai,  and  by  the 
investigation  of  the  typhoons  of  the  China  Seas,  in  connection 
with  the  Shanghai  Meteorological  .Society.  The  St.  Louis 
Observatory  is  provided  with  a  tower  about  150  feet  high,  for 
the  special  study  of  vertical  wind  currents  and  atmospheric 
electricity. 

The  Acclimatisation  Society  of  Moscow  must  be  credited 
with  more  than  ordinary  originality  and  ingenuity  in  its  efforts 
to  improve  the  system  of  bee-keeping  in  vogue  among  the 
Russian  peasants.  .Antiquated  and  unremunerative  methods  of 
hive  management  are  still  in  general  use  in  Russia  ;  and,  in  order 
to  diffuse  a  knowledge  of  the  more  rational  methods  of  modern 
a))iarisls,  the  .Society  last  year  organised  a  travelling  bee-keeping 
exhibition  upon  a  novel  and,  as  it  proved,  most  successful  plan. 
A  barge,  70  metres  long  and  8  metres  broad,  was  procured  and 
fitted  up  with  a  museum,  a  garden  with  trees  and  flower-beds, 
hives  of  all  kinds,  old  and  new,  and  a  number  of  hives  with 
living  bees  ;  there  were  also  dwelling-rooms  for  the  travelling 
staff.  The  museum  contained  examples  of  bee-keeping  appli- 
ances and  products,  together  with  a  set  of  preparations  illus- 
trating the  structure  and  life-history  of  bees  and  their  natural 
enemies.  The  staff  in  charge  of  the  exhibition  consisted  of  a 
practical  bee-keeper,  two  entomologists,  and  ten  men-servants 
for  the  vessel.  The  floating  exhibition  was  towed  down  the 
river  out  of  Moscow  by  twenty  horses,  ten  on  each  bank  ;  and 
six  towns  and  about  twenty  villages  were  visited  between  the 
old  capital  and  the  town  Kaluga.  The  travelling  was  done 
during  the  night.  During  the  day,  from  8  a.m.  to  9  p.m.,  a 
halt  was  made  at  some  town  or  village  ;  the  objects  in  the 
museum  were  explained  to  visitors  by  the  staff,  and  the  methods 
of  working  the  model  hives  were  demonstrated  to  the  bee-keep- 
ing country  folk.  The  exhibition  has  worked  with  great  success. 
The  great  expense  which  this  interesting  .-ind  instnictive  exhi- 
bition demanded  was  most  willingly  defrayed  by  llerr  F. 
Motschalkin,  who  is  himself  an  enthusiastic  bee-keeper. 

A  NEW  determination  of  the  lowest  temperature  at  which  a 
hot  body  becomes  visible  is  published  by  Sgr.  P.  I'ettinelli,  in 
the  Niiovo  Cimcnio.  He  heated  a  cast-iron  cylinder  30  cm. 
long  and  14  cm.  broad  in  a  wrought-iron  jacket  over  a  Bunsen 
burner  to  aitemperature  of  460°  C.,  as  indicated  by  an  air  ther- 
mometer, and  then  observed  its  flat  end  in  a  dark  room  from  a 
point  60  cm.  above  it.  When  it  had  cooled  to  about  415°,  the 
red  heat  vanished  and  gave  way  to  an  indefinite  hazy  glow. 
This  glow  completely  disappeared  at  404°,  and  repeated  obser- 
vations gave  an  error  of  only  3°.  Highly  emissive  substances, 
such  as  the  "  mantles  "  made  by  .-Vuer  and  others  for  incan- 
descent gas  lighting,  became  visible  at  the  same  temperature  ;  but 
reflecting  surfaces  had  to  be  heated  20°  higher  before  they 
appeared  to  the  eye,  and  gla.ss  still  more.  These  low  tempera- 
ture rays  were  found  to  traverse  glass  and  water  like  ordinary 
light  rays,  but  they  suffer  a  comparatively  greater  absorption. 
Different  eyes  differ  slightly  in  their  cap,acity  of  seeing  them,  the 
maximum  divergence  being  about  6°.  But  then  the  extent  of 
surface  must  be  the  same.  Sgr.  I'ettinelli  found  that  if  he 
screened  off  all  but  I /40th  of  the  surface,  the  body  had  to  be 
heated  6°  higher  than  before  to  become  visible  ;  if  i/200th,  20° 
higher  ;  and  if  i/8ooth  only  was  exposed  to  view,  the  minimum 
temperature  of  visibility  was  460°.  Hence  he  rightly  concludes 
that  the  contradictory  results  obtained  by  previous  experimenters 
are  due  to  differences  in  the  areas  of  the  hot  bodies  investigated. 

The  Irish  elk  (Megaecros  hibeniiciis)  has  hitherto  had  a  some- 
what isolated  position  as  the  only  species  of  its  genus  known  to 
naturali-sts  up  to  the  present.  A  new  claimant  to  the'  same 
generic  title  has,  however,  been  recently  unearthed  in  Germany, 


524 


NA  TURE 


[September  26,  1895 


and  has  been  described  by  Prof.  N'ehring,  of  Berlin,  under  the 
name  M.  Ruffii.  The  new  species  is  intermediate  in  many 
of  its  characters  between  the  Irish  elk  and  the  fallow  deer 
(Dama  vii/garis).  It  appears  to  have  lived  during  the  first 
interglacial  epoch,  while  the  Irish  elk  flourished  at  a  somewhat 
later  geological  period.  It  may  possibly,  therefore,  be  regarded 
as  the  ancestor  of  the  latter  type.  The  antlers  of  M.  /Cii^i 
have  fewer  "  points  "  or  processes  than  those  of  .1/.  hibernuiis  : 
and,  although  the  skull  of  the  animal  was  as  large  as  or  even 
larger  than  that  of  .1/.  Ai/vritims,  the  antlers  were  markedly 
smaller  and  diverge<l  from  one  another  much  less  widely  than 
in  the  case  of  the  latter  species.  A  restoration  of  the  animal 
accompanies  Prof.  Nchrings  description  in  If'i'/i/  mid  Hiind  for 
July  19,  1895.  From  this  picture  the  differences  between  this 
new  species  and  .1/.  hibcrniius  may  be  at  once  detected. 

So.ME  important  experiments  of  great  practical  interest  have 
just  been  published  by  Dr.  Breslauer  on  the  antiseptic  properties 
possessed  by  disinfectants  mixed  with  different  fats  in  the  shape 
of  ointments.  As  long  as  fourteen  years  ago  Koch  pointed  out 
that  carlKilic  acid  combined  with  olive  oil  or  "  carbolised  oil," 
contrary  to  the  prevailing  impression,  possessed  no  antiseptic 
properties.  Dr.  Breslauer  has  extended  these  experiments  to  an 
exhaustive  examination  of  viirious  disinfectants,  such  as  carbolic 
acid,  corrosive  sublimate,  boric  acid,  nitrate  of  silver,  &c. ,  in 
combination  with  oil,  va.seline,  fat,  lanolin  anhydricum,  lanolin, 
and  unguentum  leniens.  It  was  found  that  the  degree  of  anti- 
septic power  possessed  by  the  disinfectant  depended,  in  a  very 
remarkable  manner,  upon  the  particular  diluent  employed,  and 
that  in  all  cases  the  best  antiseptic  results  were  obtained  with 
disinfectants  in  combination  with  lanolin  or  unguentum  leniens. 
Thus  in  a  series  of  experiments  on  the  antiseptic  effect  produced 
by  adding  five  per  cent,  of  carbolic  acid  to  various  substances,  it 
was  ascertained  that  the  Staphylococcus  fyogenes  aureus  was  still 
living  after  being  immersed  in  carbolised  oil  for  three  days,  in 
carbolised  vaselin  it  survived  one  day,  in  fat  four  hours,  in 
lanolin  anhydricum  two  hours,  in  lanolin  thirty  minutes,  and  in 
unguentum  leniens  twenty  minutes.  Similar  results  were  ob- 
tained not  only  with  other  bacteria,  but  also  with  different  disin- 
fectants. Dr.  Breslauer  has  also  exan>ined  the  bactericidal 
properties  of  other  ointments  in  frequent  use,  such  as  unguentum 
zinci,  unguentum  cinereum  (benzoatum),  and  unguentum  pre- 
cipitatuin  album,  and  whilst  the  two  latter  were  found  to  be 
possessed  of  highly  antiseptic  properiies,  the  former  cxerci.sed  no 
perceptible  effect  whatever.  In  employing  ointments  it  would 
appear,  therefore,  ailvisable  to  use  the  disinfectant  selected  in 
combination  with  lanolin  or  unguentum  leniens  instead  of  sup- 
plying vaseline,  oil,  or  other  fats,  the  addition  of  the  latter,  ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Breslauer,  serving  only  to  reduce  the  antiseptic 
action  of  the  disinfectant.  This  subject  is  curir)usly  one  which 
has  had,  so  far,  hardly  any  attention  bestowed  upon  it,  and  with 
the  exception  of  some  experiments  by  (iottstein,  published  in 
1889,  and,  still  more  recently,  an  inipiiry  by  Ludwig  Bach  into 
the  antiseptic  effect  of  various  eye  ointments.  Dr.  Brcslauer's 
communication  seems  to  be  the  only  one  which  has  appeared. 

We  have  recently  received  two  new    parts  of  the   Indian 

'■'  ■/'!,  from  the  Trustees  of  the  Museum,  being  vol.  iii. 

V      Part  4  is  devoted  to  an  account  of  the  insects  and 

I  att.ick   the  tea-plant  in  India,  and  includes  full  de- 

iid.  in  miTit  ciscs,  good  figures  of  the  principal  insects, 

1  uially  of  their  parasites  also.     The 

re   important   plant-feeding  orders  ; 

''Ul  ■•  lu  us  remarkable  is  the  very  large  numt)cr  of 

/•«'/'•'  ''  ^r'-  injuririm  to  the  tea-plant,  as  compared 

with  oititi    III..  ,,nly  three  Ixetles  arc  mentioned, 

belongini.'  to  tht  /,-,  Clirysomclid,r,  and  Curcu/ionidtc 

NO.    1352,   VOL.    52] 


respectively ;  as  against  nineteen  Lepidoptera  Heterocera  of 
various  families.  The  pamphlet  concludes  with  a  practical 
appendix  on  insecticides.  It  must  not,  however,  be  supposed 
that  a  treatise  of  seventy  p.Tges  can  possibly  exhaust  the  subject 
of  the  enemies  of  any  particular  plant,  especially  when  they  are 
discussed  in  detail.  .\  glance  at  the  most  important  European 
book  on  entmological  botany  (Ivaltenbach's  "  Pflanzenfeinde'") 
is  sufficient  to  show  us  that  many  plants  are  attacked  by 
hundreds  of  different  species  of  inserts  :  and  if  this  is  the  case  in 
Europe,  it  cannot  but  be  true  to  a  still  greater  extent  in  tropical 
countries.  But  foitunately  insects  arc  not  ahv,-iys  uniformly 
abundant.  They  are  aftecled  by  variations  of  the  season  : 
parasites,  and  many  other  influences  which  are  more  or  less 
obvious  to  us  ;  and  it  is  only  occasionally  that  one  or  other  of 
the  numerous  species  which  feed  upon  any  given  plant  becomes 
sufficiently  abundant  to  cause  any  serious  injury  to  it.  The 
other  number  of  the  Indian  Mustum  iVolcs  before  us  (pan  5) 
is  more  varied  in  its  contents.  It  contains  an  account  of  the 
progress  of  entomology  in  the  Indian  Museum,  from  1S84-1S94, 
by  Mr.  E.  C.  Cotes;  some  short  papers  by  different  entomo- 
'ogists  on  Indian  Diplera  and  Rhynchota,  and  a  series  of 
miscellaneous  notes  on  insects  of  all  orders,  by  Mr.  Cotes. 
This  part  is  not  only  illustrated,  like  the  other,  by  numerous 
woodcuts,  but  also  contains  three  well-executed  plain  plates. 

TilREl!  important  papers  by  Prof.  E.  D.  Cope,  and  two  by  Prof. 
W.  B.  Scott,  make  up,  with  seven  plates,  the  part  recently  dis- 
tributed (vol.  ix.  part  4)  of  the  fournal  of  the  Academy  of  Natural 
Sciences  of  Philadelphia.  Prof.  C,>p3  treats  of  new  and  little 
known  P.il.xi/Loic and  .Mesozoic  fishes,  and  describes  Cyphornis  — 
an  extinct  genus  of  birds.  The  genus  is  established  on  a  species  of 
bird  represented  by  the  superior  part  of  a  tarsometatarse, 
obtained  by  Dr.  G.  M.  Dawson  from  a  bed  of  indurated  greenish 
clay  of  unknown  age  from  Vancouver  Island.  The  bird  a|ipears 
to  possess  real  affinities  with  the  Steganopodes,  combined  with 
affinities  to  more  primitive  birds  with  a  simple  hypotarsal 
structure.  "  The  presumed  aftinity  with  the  Steganopodes," 
remarks  Prof.  Cope,  "  indicates  natatory  habits,  and  probable 
capacity  for  flight.  Should  this  power  have  been  developed  in 
Cyphornis  m  ignus,  it  will  have  been  much  the  largest  bird  of 
flight  thus  far  known."  .-Vnother  paper  by  Prof.  Cope  is  on 
extinct  Bovidic,  CanidiC  and  Felidit,  from  the  Pleistocene  of 
Southern  Kansas  and  Western  Central  Oklahoma.  Prof  W. 
B.  .Scott's  memoir  on  the  structure  ami  relationships  of  Ancodus 
supplements  the  extensive  investigations  of  Kowalevsky  and 
Filhol  by  giving  an  account  of  the  American  species  of  that 
genus,  and  by  showing  the  points  of  resemblance  and  differences 
between  the  approximately  conlempuraneous  species  of  Ancodus 
in  America  and  Europe.  Prof.  Scott  concludes  his  v.aluable  paper 
as  follows  : — "  With  the  facts  at  present  known,  all  seem  to 
point  to  the  origin  of  Ancodus  in  the  Old  World  and  its  migra- 
tion to  .\merica,  in  the  interval  between  the  Eocene  and  the 
Oligoccnc  (Uinta  and  White  River),  yet  until  the  .\mericatl 
artiodiictyls  from  the  middle  and  upper  Eocene  arc  far  better 
known  than  at  present,  such  a  conclusion  cannot  be  regarded  as 
final."  The  second  paper  by  Prof.  Scott  deals  with  the  osteology 
of  Hyicnodon — a  genus  described  by  him  in  1S77,  so  far  as  the 
materials  then  available  would  permit.  The  I'rincetowii  ex- 
pedition of  last  year  resulted  in  the  collection  by  Mr.  Hatchet  of 
several  more  or  less  complete  skeletons  representing  a  number 
of  specici.  These  specimens  of  Hyxnodon  enabled  Prof.  Scott 
to  supplement  the  earlier  account  with  the  present  p.»per,  in 
which  is  given  a  restoration  of  the  skeleton  of  the  very  curiou* 
and  remarkable  animal  with  which  it  deals. 

Messrs.  Rowi.ANt)  Ward  and  Co.,  of  Piccadilly,  are  send- 
ing out  invitations  to  naturalists  to  inspect  a  mounted  example  of 
the  White  Rhinoceros  (Rhinoceros  simus)  from  Zululand.     The 


September  26,  1895] 


NATURE 


525 


two  specimens  brought  home  about  two  years  ago  were  from 
Northern  Mashonaland.  Thus  this  animal,  until  lately  sup- 
posed to  be  quite  extinct,  has  now  been  found  in  a  second 
locality.  But  these  are  now  the  only  two  spots  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  where  this  huge  creature,  formerly  abundant  in  the 
Cape  Colony,  still  exists,  in  very  dwindling  numbers,  which 
will,  no  doubt,  be  now  rapidly  diminished. 

A  COMMITTEE  of  six  gentlemen  has  been  appointed  by  the 
Governor-General  of  Goa,  India,  to  carry  on  excavations  in  the 
ancient  city  of  Goa,  in  rearch  of  relics  of  the  traditional  grandeur 
of  the  past,  and  to  take  the  necessary  steps  for  the  preservation 
of  the  monuments  of  Portuguese  rule  in  India  in  the  earlier  time. 

An  electrical  forge,  where  the  whole  of  the  heating  required 
is  done  by  electricity,  is  in  operation  at  Niagara  Falls,  the  power 
being  supplied  by  the  great  cataract.  The  cost  of  making  a 
horse-shoe  at  the  electric  forge  is,  it  is  stated,  much  less  than  at 
an  ordinary  coal  forge.  We  hear,  too,  that  corn  is  being  threshed 
by  electricity,  with  very  satisfactory  results,  at  Mjolby  in 
Sweden. 

We  have  received  from  Mr.  W.  Radclifle,  of  .\ndreas  School, 
Isle  of  Man,  the  inventor  of  the  "  Gonagraph,"'  an  instrument 
for  drawing  perfectly  accurate  equilateral  triangles,  squares,  pen- 
tagons, hexagons,  heptagons  and  octagons,  an  arithmetical 
puzzle.  The  puzzle  consists  of  nineteen  small  cubes,  having  a 
face  on  each  numbered  with  one  of  the  first  nineteen  numbers, 
which  are  to  be  placed  upon  squares,  symmetrically  arranged  on 
a  board,  five  on  the  middle  row,  and  two  rows  of  four  and  three 
squares  to  right  and  left  of  this.  The  numbers  are  to  be  so 
arranged  that  their  sum  along  each  of  twelve  straight  lines  shall 
make  up  thirty-eight.  This  sum  is  also  obtainable  from  other 
symmetrical  arangements.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  puzzle 
is  of  the  nature  of  a  magic  square,  and  is  a  very  ingenious  one. 
The  author  has  favoured  us  with  his  solution,  which  naturally  is 
at  present  kept  back.  He  has  not  furnished  us  with  a  clue  to  his 
arrangement,  and  we  have  in  vain  searched  for  it  ;  nor  dots  he 
say  whether  he  has  attempted  any  extension  of  the  puzzle  to 
thirty-seven  or  a  higher  number  of  cubes.  The  "  thirty-eight  " 
puzzle  can  be  obtained  direct  from  the  inventor  in  a  sniall  box 
for  sixpence. 

A  DESCRII'TION"  has  been  sent  to  us  of  a  new  arc  lamp  for 
projection  purposes,  which  has  been  devised  by  Mr.  Cecil  M. 
Hepworth.  The  instrument  has  three  regulating  discs  or  milled 
heads  of  vulcanite,  which  project  at  the  back,  so  as  to  Ije  under 
the  control  of  the  lanternist.  The  top  and  bottom  discs  are  for 
the  purpose  of  regxilating  the  positions  of  the  carbons,  and  the 
middle  disc  has  three  duties  to  perform,  viz.  to  bring  the  carbons 
slowly  together  as  their  points  waste  in  consumption,  by  a  push 
action  to  cause  the  carbons  instantaneously  to  touch,  and  by  a 
spring  to  as  quickly  separate,  while  by  an  upward  movement 
the  worm-wheel  is  thrown  completely  out  of  gear,  and  the  car- 
bons can  l>e  rapidly  sejjarated  or  brought  together  by  hand,  a 
provision  necessary  for  the  saving  of  time  when  inserting  new 
carbons. 

The  September  part  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Physical  Society 
of  London  has  reached  us,  and  contains,  in  addition  to  the 
usual  valuable  supplement  of  "  Abstracts  of  Physical  Papers 
from  Foreign  .Sources,"  the  following  papers: — "  A  Theory  of 
the  Synchronous  Motor,"  by  W.  G.  Rhodes  (continuation) ;  "  On 
the  Use  of  an  Iodine  X'oltameter  for  the  Measurement  of  Small 
Currents,"  by  Prof.  E.  F.  Ilerroun,  "  On  the  Condensation  and 
the  Critical  Phenomena  of  Mixtures  of  Ethane  and  Nitrous 
Oxide,"  by  Dr.  Kuenen  ;  "  An  Electro-Magnetic  Effect,"  by 
F.  W.  Bowden  ;  and  "The  Electrical  Properties  of  Selenium," 
by  Shelford  Bidwell,  K.R.S. 

NO.    1352,   VOL.    52] 


T  "5  September-October  part  of  the  Physical  Review 
(Macmiilan)  contains  the  following  articles :  "  A  Study  of  the 
Polarisation  of  the  Light  emitted  by  Incandescent  Solid  and 
Liquid  Surfaces,"  by  K.  A.  Millikan,  ".Alternating  Currents 
when  the  Electromotive  Force  is  of  a  Zigzag  Wave  Type,"  by 
E.  C.  Rimmington,  "On  Ternary  Mixtures,"  by  W.  D. 
Bancroft,  part  2  ;  and  minor  contributions. 

Bourne's  Handy  Assurance  Manual  for  1895,  by  William 
Schooling,  has  been  published.  It  contains  in  a  small  com- 
pass a  whole  host  of  information  likely  to  be  of  use  to  those  who 
are  interested  in  insurance  matters,  and  appears  to  have  been 
compiled  with  great  care. 

We  have  received  from  Messrs.  (}.  W.  Wilson  and  Co., 
Limited,  2  St.  Swithin  Street,  Aberdeen,  copies  of  their  cata- 
logues of  lantern  slides.  The  list  of  subjects  illustrated  is  a  very 
full  one,  and  the  catalogues  may  be  had  upon  application. 

On  the  completion  of  the  fiftieth  year  of  its  existence,  the 
editor  of  the  Bolanischc  Zeitung  publishes  a  very  useful  index  of 
the  papers  contained  in  the  first  fifty  volumes. 

The  September  number  of  the  Irish  Naturalist  has  just  ap- 
peared, and  is  entirely  devoted  to  reports  of  the  Galway 
conference  and  excursion  of  the  Irish  Field  Club  Union,  held 
in  July. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Bonnet  Monkey  {Mcucuus  sinicus,  9  ) 
from  India,  presented  by  Miss  Larkin  ;  a  Macaque  Monkey 
{^Matcuus  cyitcmolgus,  i  )  from  India,  presented  by  Mr.  W. 
Aldridge  ;  a  Purple-faced  Monkey  (Semnopilhecus  leucoprymmis) 

from    Ceylon,    presented   by   Mrs.    Grifiith ;    a   Monkey 

{Cercopitltecus,  sp.  inc.)  from  Africa,  presented  by  Miss  Pigott  ; 
two  Vulpine  Phalangers  {Phalangista  vttlpina,  6  9 )  from 
Australia,  presented  by  Mr.  F.  J.  Horniman  ;  a  Magpie  (Pica 
caiidata),  British,  presented  by  Mr.  H.  E.  Blandford  ;  an 
Orange-cheeked  Amazon  (Chrysotis  auliiinnalis)  from  Central 
America,  presented  by  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Loftie  ;  a  Martinique 
(lonornis  iiiartiiiiciis),  captured  off  the  Island  of  .\scension, 
presented  by  Mr.  H.  W.  Power  ;  a  Smooth  Snake  (Coroiulla 
Icsvis),  a  Common  Viper  ( Vipera  berus),  British,  presented  by 
Mr.  G.  J.  S.  Warner;  a  Brown  Capuchin ( Ci-i;/.? /a/Hs/Z/w)  from 
Guiana,  three  Grant's  Francolines  (Francolinus  granti)  from 
East  Africa,  two  Egjplian  Trionyx  ( Trionyx  itiloliciis)  from 
the  Congo,  deposited  ;  a  Two-toed  Sloth  ( Cholopus  didaclyiits^ 
from  Brazil,  a  Vcllow-naped  Amazon  (Chrysotis  auripalhata) 
from  Central  America,  purchased. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

The  Orbit  ok  /t=  Bootis  (2  1938). — Dr.  T.  J.  J.  See  gives 
in  the  Astr.  Nach.,  No.  3309,  Bd.  138,  the  results  of  his  re- 
searches on  this  star.  This  double  was  discovereil  by  Sir  William 
Herschel  in  1781,  and  since  the  time  of  Struvc  it  has  been  very 
abundantly  observed.  In  all  parts  of  the  orbit  the  pair  is 
sufficiently  wide  to  be  seen  with  a  6-inch  telescope.  The 
investigation  gives  the  following  elements  of  )i-  Bootis ;  other 
elements  are  given  for  comparison. 


p 

1 

<j  .5.:., 

■' 

,' 

Au:;,-  aly 

'146-649 

Madler  1S47 

182-6 

66-0 

0-491 

1-I0=i 

1(36-1 

47'5 

23-0 

\\  inagradsky  1672 

3i4'34 

6o'38 

0-5641 

1761 

1632 

41-9 

54-4 

Hind  1872 

200-4 

65-2 

0-51 

— 

172-0 

45-0 

20-1 

Wilson  1872 

; '98-93 

6v=i 

o'4957 

- 

169-0 

46-4 

2,-5 

Klinkerfues 

,290-07 
1280-29 

6VSI 

0-6174 

1-500 

183-0 

44  "4 

«7'7 

Dotjerck  1S75 

60-,. 

o'5974 

■'47 

■73-7 

39'') 

20 'o 

Doberck  iS-S  ■ 

|2««-0 

62-55 

0-5668 

■•057 

166-7 

35-> 

40-9 

Pritchard  1873 

.219-42 

65-30 

0-537 

I-168 

ih3-8 

43'9 

329'75 

Set  1S9S 

526 


NA  TURE 


[StlTKNiniiU   26.    1895 


The  apparent  orbit  b  : 

Major  axis  =  2"  "656 

Minor  axis  =  l""4So 

Angle  of  major  axis  =  173  '5 

„       ,,    periastron  =  lS6'7 

Distance  of  star  from  centre  =  o"'63S 

The  computed  and  observed  places  seem  to  justify  the  new 
tlemenls  given  ab.5vc.  The  jieriod  thus  will  hardly  be  varied 
liyasmuchas  ten  years,  while  the  resulting  altenition  will  be 
small  in  proportion. 


THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 

SECTION   K. 

Botany. 

Opemno  Address  by  W.  T.  Thiselton-Dver,  M..^., 
K.R.S.,  C.M.G.,  CLE.,  Director  of  the  Royal 
Gardens. 

The  establishment  of  anew  Section  of  the  British  .\ssociation, 
•devoted  to  Botany,  cannot  but  be  regarded  by  the  botanists  of 
tbU  country  as  an  event  of  the  greatest  importance.  For  it  is 
jiractically  the  first  time  that  they  have  possessed  an  independent 
organisation  of  their  own.  It  is  true  that  for  some  years  past  we 
have  generally  been  strong  enough  to  form  a  separate  department 
of  the  old  Biological  Section  D,  on  the  platform  of  which  so 
many  of  us  in  the  past  have  acted  in  some  capacity  or  other,  and 
on  which  indeed  many  of  us  may  be  said  to  have  made  our  first 
appearance.  We  shall  not  start  then  on  our  new  career  without 
the  remembrance  of  filial  affection  for  our  parent,  and  the  earnest 
hope  that  our  work  may  be  worthy  of  its  great  traditions. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Section,  or,  as  it  was  then  called, 
Commiitee,  at  Oxford  was  held  in  1832.  And  though  there 
h.-v~  I  ten  from  time  to  time  some  difference  in  the  grouping  of 
the  several  biological  sciences,  the  two  great  branches  of  biolog)- 
have  only  now  for  the  first  lime  formally  severed  the  partner- 
shi'>  into  which  they  entered  on  that  occasion.  That  this 
nee.  if  inevitable  from  force  of  circumstances,  is  in  some 
,  a  matter  of  regret,  I  do  not  deny.  Sjiecialisation  is 
I  •  '    from   scientific  progress ;  but  it  will    defeat  its  own 

1  .^y  if  the  s|>ecialist  does  not  constantly  keep  in  touch 

\  .  fundamental  principles  which  are   common     to  all 

firganic  nature.  We  shall  have  to  take  care  that  we  do  not  drift 
into  a  ix)sition  of  isolation.  .Section  I)  undoubtedly  afforded  a 
convenient  op]X)rtunity  for  discussing  many  questions  on  which 
it  was  of  great  advantage  that  workers  in  the  two  different  fields 
should  compare  their  results  and  views.  But  I  hope  that  by 
means  of  occasional  conferences  we  shall  still,  in  some  measure, 
be  able  10  preserve  thus  advantage. 

Retrospect. 

I  confess  I  found  it  a  great  temptation  to  review,  however 
imjwrfectly,  the  history  and  fortunes  of  our  subject  while  it 
•  •elongcfl  10  Section  1).  But  to  have  done  so  would  have  been 
|.ractically  to  have  written  the  history  of  botany  in  this  country 
since  the  first  third  of  the  century.  S'cl  I  cannot  pass  over  some 
few  striking  events. 

I  think  that  the  earliest  of  these  must  undoubtedly  be  regarded 

a.s  the  most  epoch-m.iking.     I  mean  the  formal  publication  by 

the   LInnean  Society,  in    1833,  of  the  first  description  of  "  the 

nucleus  of  the  cell,"  by  Robert  Brown  ("  Misc.  Bol.  Works," 

i.  512).      It  seems  difficult  10  realise  that  this  may  1«;  within  the 

'  'I   of  some  who  arc   now   living  amongst  us.     It  is, 

f  (K-culiar  interest  to  me  that  the  first  person  who 

'     1  'hjii  all-important  bo<ly,  and  indicated  it  in 

I  I  ll.iuir,  thirty  years  earlier,  in  1802.     This 

.1  ....  \\\.   ,(;  skill  in  applying  the  resources  of  art  to 

ition   of  plant  anatomy  has  never,    I  suppose  been 

was  "resident    draughtsman   for    fifty  years  to  the 

I  lir  Cardcn  at  Kew."     And  it  was  at  Kew,  and  in  a 

ii'l.  I'haiiis  1,'raniii/olius,  no  doubt  grown  there,  thai 

III'   ' 

It  h  no  little  admiralion  that,  on  refreshing 

iiiv  r,  Mri.   to  Rol)crt   Brown's  |>a|>er,  I    read 

i-h    he   gives  in  a    footnote   of  the 
I  iiiliar  to  many  of  us  who  have  been 

li..Klier>,  c.khii/iud  III  ilic  ...taminal  hair  of  Tradrsiaiitia.  .Sir 
Jiftcph  I  looker  ( Proc.  linn.  So<. ,  1 887-88, 65 )  has  well  remarked 

NO.    1352,  VOL.   52] 


that  "  the  supreme  importance  of  this  observation,  .  .  .  Ictding 
to  undreamt-of  conceptions  of  the  fundamental  phenomena  of 
Clonic  life,  is  acknowledged  by  all  investigators."  It  is  singular 
that  so  profound  an  ob.ser\er  as  Robert  Brown  should  have  himself 
mis.sed  the  significance  of  what  he  saw.  The  world  had  to  w  ait 
for  the  discover)-  of  protopl.asm  by  Von  Mohl  till  1S46.  ami  till 
1850  for  its  identification  with  the  sarcode  of  zoologists  by  Cohn, 
who  is  still,  I  am  happy  to  say,  living  and  at  work,  and  to 
whom  last  year  the  Linnean  Society  did  itself  the  honour  of 
presenting  its  medal. 

The  Edinbui^h  meeting  of  the  .Vssociation,  in  1S34.  was  the 
occasion  of  the  announcement  of  another  memorable  discover)- of 
Robert  Brown's.  I  will  content  myselfwith  quoting  Hofmeister's 
("  Higher  Cr)ptogamia,'"  432)  account  of  it.  "  Robert  Brown 
was  the  discoverer  of  the  jHilyembryony  of  the  Coniferie.  In  a 
later  treatise  he  pointed  out  the  origin  of  the  pro-embr)o  in  large 
cells  of  the  endosperm,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  corpscula."' 
The  jH-riod  of  the  forties,  just  half  a  century  ago,  looks  in  the 
retrospect  as  one  of  almost  dazzling  discovery.  To  say  nothing 
of  the  formal  appearance  of  protoplasm  on  the  scene,  the  found- 
ations were  being  laid  in  all  directions  of  our  modern  botanical 
mori)holog)\  \'et  its  contem|ioraries  viewed  it  with  a  very 
philosophical  calm.  Thwaites,  who  regariled  Carpenter  as  his 
master,  described  at  the  Oxford  meeting  in  1S47  the  conjugation 
of  \}ne  Diatomactt ,  and  "distinctly  indicated,"  as  Carpenter 
("Memorial  Sketch,"  140)  says,  "that  conjugation  is  the 
primitive  phase  of  sexual  reproduction.'  Berkeley  informed  me 
that  the  announcement  fell  jierfeclly  llat.  .\  year  or  two  later 
Sumin.'iki  came  li>  London  with  his  splendid  di.scovery  (1S48)  of 
the  archegonia  of  the  fern,  the  aiuheridia  having  been  first  seen 
by  Nageli  in  1844.  Carpenter  (hi.  cil.,  141)  gave  me,  many 
years  after,  a  curiqus  account  of  its  reception.  "  At  the  Council 
of  the  Ray  Society,  at  which,"  he  .said,  "  I  advocated  tlie  re- 
production of  Suminski's  book  on  the  '  Ferns,'  I  was  assured  that 
the  close  resemblance  of  the  anlherozoids  to  spermatozoa  Nva> 
quite  sufficient  \iioo(  that  they  could  have  nothing  to  do  witli 
vegetable  reproduction.  I  do  not  think,"  he  .tdded — and  llu- 
complaint  is  iiathetic — "that  the  men  of  the  inesent  generation, 
who  have  been  brought  up  in  the  light,  quite  apprehend  (in  this 
as  in  other  matters)  the  utter  darkness  in  which  we  were  then 
groping,  or  fully  recognise  the  deserts  of  those  who  hcl|icd  them 
to  what  they  now  enjoy."  This  was  in  1875,  ^^^  ^  supjwse  is 
not  likely  to  be  less  true  now. 

The  Oxford  meeting  in  i860  was  the  scene  of  the  memorable 
debate  on  the  origin  of  species,  at  which  it  is  interesting  to 
remember  that  Ilenslow  presided.  On  that  occa-sion  Section  1) 
re.iched  its  meridian.  The  battle  w.as  Homeric.  However  little 
to  the  ta.ste  of  its  .author,  the  launching  of  his  great  theory  was, 
at  any  rate,  dignified  with  a  not  inconsiderable  explosion.  It 
may  be  that  it  is  not  given  to  the  men  of  our  day  to  rulUe  the 
dull  level  of  iniblic  placidity  with  disturbing  and  far-reaching 
ideas.  But  if  it  were,  I  doubt  whether  we  have,  or  need  now , 
the  fierce  energy  which  inspired  then  either  the  attack  or  the 
defence.  When  we  met  again  in  Oxford  last  year  the  champion 
of  the  old  conflict  stood  in  the  place  of  honour,  acclaimed  of  all 
men,  a  beautiful  and  venerable  figure.  We  did  not  know  then 
that  that  w.as  to  be  his  farewell. 

The  b.attle  was  not  in  vain.  Six  years  afterwards,  at  Notting- 
ham, Sir  Josejih  Hooker  delivered  his  classical  lecture  on  Insular 
Floras.  It  implicitly  accepted  the  new  doctrine,  and  applied  it 
with  admirable  effect  to  a  field  which  had  long  waited  for  an 
illuminating  principle.  The  lecture  itself  has  since  remained 
one  of  the  corner-stones  of  that  rational  theory  of  the  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  plants  which  may,  I  think,  be  claimed 
fairly  as  of  purely  Engli.sh  origin. 

Hensi.ow. 
.\ddressing  you  as  I  do  at  Ipswich,  there  is  one  name  written 
in  the  annals  of  our  old  Section  which  I  cannot  pa.ss  over — that 
of  I  lensloH.  I le  was  the  Secretary  of  the  liinlogical  Section  at 
its  first  meeting  in  1S32,  and  its  rre.sidcnt  at  Bristol  in  r836.  I 
sup|)ose  there  are  few  men  of  this  century  who  have  indirectly 
more  influenced  the  current  of  human  thought.  For  in  ijreal 
measure  I  think  it  will  not  be  contested  that  we  owe  Darwin  to 
him.  -As  Konlane^  has  told  us  ("  Memorial  Notices,"  13)  ;  "  His 
letters  written  to  I'rof.  Ilenslow  during  his  voyage  rouml  the 
world  overflow  with  feelings  of  aflection,  veneration,  andoliliga- 
tion  to  his  accomplished  master  and  dearest  friend— feelings 
which  throughout  his  life  he  retained  with  no  diminished 
intensity.     .\s  he  used    himself  to  say,   before   he  knew    Prof. 


September  26,  1895] 


NATURE 


0'/ 


Henslow  the  only  objects  he  cared  for  were  foxes  and  partridges." 
I  do  not  wish  to  overstate  the  facts.  The  possession  of  "  the 
collector's  instinct,  strong  in  Darwin  from  his  childhood,  as  is 
usually  the  case  in  great  naturalists,"  to  u.se  Huxley's  {Proc. 
R.S.,  xliv.  vi.)  words,  would  have  borne  its  usual  fruit  in  after 
life,  in  some  shape  or  other,  even  if  Darwin  had  not  fallen  into 
Henslow's  hands.  But  then  the  particular  train  of  events 
which  culminated  in  the  great  work  of  his  life  would  never  have 
lieen  started.  It  appeared  to  me,  then,  that  it  would  not  be  an 
altogether  uninteresting  investigation  to  ascertain  something 
about  Henslow  himself.  The  result  has  been  to  provide  me 
with  several  texts,  which  I  think  it  may  be  not  unprofitable  to 
dwell  upon  on  the  present  occasion. 

In  the  first  place,  what  was  the  secret  of  his  influence  over 
Darwin  ?  "  .My  dear  old  master  in  Natural  History"  ("  Life," 
ii.  317)  he  calls  him  ;  and  to  have  stood  in  this  relation  to 
Darwin'  is  no  small  matter,  .-^gain,  he  speaks  of  his  friendship 
with  him  as  "a  circunist.ince  which  influenced  my  whole  career 
more  than  any  other  "  (i.  52).  The  singular  beauty  of  Henslow's 
character,  to  which  Darwin  himself  bore  noble  testimony,  would 
count  for  something,  but  it  would  not  in  itself  be  a  sufiicient 
explanation.  Nor  was  it  that  intellectual  fascination  which 
often  binds  pupils  to  the  masters  feet ;  for,  as  Darwin 
tells  us,  "  I  do  not  suppose  that  any  one  would  say 
that  he  possessed  much  original  genius"  (i.  yi).  The 
real  attraction  seems  to  me  to  be  found  in  Henslow's  pos- 
session, in  an  extraordinary  degree,  of  what  may  be  called  the 
Natural  History  spirit.  This  resolves  itself  into  kten  observa- 
tion and  a  lively  interest  in  the  facts  observed.  "  His  strongest 
la.ste  was  to  draw  conclusions  from  long-continued  minute 
observations"  (i.  52).  The  old  Natural  Histor)'  method,  of 
which  it  seems  to  me  that  Henslow  was  so  striking  an  embodi- 
ment, is  now,  and  I  think  unhappily,  almost  a  thing  of  the  past. 
The  modern  university  student  of  botany  puts  his  elders  to  blush 
by  his  minute  knowledge  of  some  small  point  in  vegetable  histo- 
logy. But  he  can  tell  you  little  of  the  contents  of  a  countrj-  hedge- 
row ;  and  if  you  put  an  unfamiliar  plant  in  his  hands  he  is 
pretty  much  at  a  loss  how  to  set  about  recognising  its  affinities. 
Disdaining  the  field  of  nature  sprea<l  at  his  feet  in  his  own 
country,  he  either  seeks  salvation  in  a  German  laboratory  or 
hurries  off  to  the  Tropics,  convinced  that  he  will  at  once  im-  ^ 
niortalise  himself.  But  ca/ttm  iion  aniiiium  iiitilal :  he  puts 
into  "  pickle  "  the  same  objects  as  his  predece.ssoi^s,  never  to  be 
looked  at  again  ;  or  perhaps  writes  a  paper  on  some  obvious 
phenomena  which  he  could  have  studied  with  less  fatigue  in  the  j 
I'alm  House  at  Kew. 

The  secret  of  the  right   use  of  travel  is  the  jwssession  of  the  | 
Natural  History  instinct,  and  to  those  who  contemplate  it  I  can 
only   recommend    a  careful   study   of    Darwin's    "  Naturalist's 
\oyage."     Nothing  that  came  in  his  way  .seems  to  have  evaded 
him  or  to   have  seemed  too  inconsiderable   for  attention.     No 
doubt  .some  respectable  travellers  have  lost  themselves  in  a  maze  , 
of  observations  that   have  led   to  nothing.     But  the  example  of 
Darwin,  and  I  might  add  of  Wallace,  of  Huxley,  and  of  Moseley,  1 
show  that   that  result  is   the  fault   of  the  man  and   not  of    the  i 
method.     The   right  moment  comes  when    the  fruitful    oppor- 
tunity arrives  to  him  who  can  seize  it.     The   first  strain  of  the 
prelude  with  which  the  "Origin"  commences   are  these  words: 
"  When  on  board  H.M.S.  Beaglea^  naturalist,  I  was  much  struck  | 
with  cert.iin  facts  in  the  distribution  of  the   organic  beings  in- 
habiting South  America."     But  this  sort  of  vein  is  not  struck  at 
hazard  or  by  him  who  has  not  served  a  tolerably  long  apprentice- 
ship to  the  work. 

When  one  reads  and  re-reads  the  "  Voyage,"  it  is  simply 
amazing  to  see  how  much  could  be  achieved  with  a  previous 
training  which  we  now  should  think  ludicrously  inadequate. 
Before  Henslow's  time  the  state  of  the  natural  sciences  at  Cam- 
bridge was  incredible.  In  fact,  Leonard  Jenyns  ("  Memoir,"  175)' 
his  biographer,  speaks  of  the  "  utter  disregarcl  paid  to  Natural 
History  in  the  University  previous  to  his  taking  up  his  residence 
there."  The  I'rofessor  of  Botany  had  delivered  no  lectures  for 
thirty  years,  and  though  Sir  James  Smith,  the  founder  of  the 
Linnean  .Society,  had  offered  his  services,  they  were  declined  on 
the  ground  of  his  being  a  Nimconformist  (t/>ii/.,  37). 

.■\s  to  Henslow's  own  scientific  work,  I  can  but  rely  on  the 
judgment  of  whose  who  could  appreciate  it  in  relation  to  its 
time.  According  to  Berkeley  (ibhl.,  56),  "  he  wxs  certainly  one 
of  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  to  see  that  two  forms  of  fruit 

1  .\s  I  shall  h.ive  fre;]ui;iu  occasion  to  quote  ihe  ' 
insert  the  references  in  the  text. 

NO.    1352,  VOL.    52] 


Life  and  Letters"  I  shall 


might  exist  in  the  same  fungus."  And  this,  as  we  now  know, 
was  a  fundamental  advance  in  this  branch  of  morphologj'. 
Sir  Joseph  Hooker  tells  me  that  his  papers  were  all  distinctly  in 
advance  ofhis  day.  Before  occupying  the  chair  of  botany,  he 
held  for  some  years  that  of  mineralogy.  Probably  he  owed  thi.s 
to  his  paper  on  the  Isle  of  Anglesey,  published  when  he  was 
only  twenty-six.  I  learn  from  the  same  authority,  that  this  to 
some  extent  anticipated,  but  at  any  rate  strongly  influenced, 
Sedgwick's  subsequent  work  in  the  same  region. 

BoiANic.Ai.  Teachini;. 

Henslow's  method  of  teaching  deserves  study.  Darwin  says 
of  his  lectures  "  that  he  liked  them  much  for  their  extreme 
clearness."  •'  But,"  he  adds,  "  I  did  not  study  tiotany  "  (i.  48). 
^'el  we  must  not  take  this  too  seriously.  Darwin  ("  X'oyage," 
421),  when  at  the  Galapagos,  "indiscriminately  collected  every 
thing  in  flower  on  the  different  islands,  and  fcjrtunately  kept  my 
collections  separate."  fortunately  indeed  ;  for  it  was  the  results, 
extraclefl  from  these  collections,  when  worked  up  subsequently 
by  Sir  Joseph  Ilcjoker,  which  determined  the  main  work  of  his 
life.  "  It  was  such  cases  as  that  of  the  Galapagos  -ArchipeKago 
which  chiefly  led  me  to  study  the  origin  of  species  "  (iii.  159)- 

HensIo\v's  actual  method  of  teaching  went  someway  to  amici- 
pate  the  practical  methods  of  which  we  are  all  so  proud.  "  He 
was  the  first  to  introduce  into  the  botanical  examination  for  de- 
grees in  London  the  system  of  practical  examination  "  ( "  Memoir,  ' 
161).  But  there  was  a  direct  simplicity  about  his  class  arrange- 
ments characteristic  of  the  man.  "A  large  number  of  specimen* 
.  .  .  were  placed  in  baskets  on  a  side-table  in  the  lecture-room, 
with  a  mmiber  of  wooden  plates  and  other  requisites  for  dissect- 
ing them  after  a  rough  fashion,  each  student  providing  himself 
with  what  he  wanted  before  taking  his  seat"  (ibid.,  39).  I  do 
not  doubt  that  the  results  were,  in  their  way,  as  efficient  as 
we  obtain  now  in  more  stately  laboratories. 

The  most  interesting  feature  about  his  teaching  was  not,  how- 
ever, its  academic  aspect,  but  the  use  he  made  of  botany  as  a 
general  educational  instrument.  "  He  always  held  that  a  man 
of  «(j  powers  of  observ,ation  was  quite  an  exception  "  (ibid.,  163). 
He  thought  (and  I  think  he  proved)  that  botany  might  be  used 
"  for  strengthening  the  observant  faculties  and  expanding  the 
reasoning  powers  of  children  in  all  classes  of  society " 
(ibid.,  99).  The  difiiculty  with  which  those  who  under- 
take now  to  teach  our  subject  have  to  deal  is  that  most  people 
ask  the  question.  What  is  the  use  of  learning  botany  unless 
one  means  to  be  a  botanist  ?  It  might  indeed  be  replied  that  a* 
the  vast  majority  of  people  never  learn  anything  eft'ectively,  they 
might  as  well  try  botany  :vs  an)'thing  else.  But  Henslow  looked 
only  to  the  mental  discipline  ;  and  it  was  characteristic  of  the 
man  and  of  his  belief  in  his  methods  that  when  he  was  sum- 
moned to  Court  to  lecture  to  the  Royal  family,  his  lectures 
"  were,  in  all  respects,  identical  with  those  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
giving  to  his  little  Hitcham  scholars"  ("  Memoir,"  149) ;  and  it 
must  be  added  that  they  were  not  less  successful. 

This  success  naturally  attracted  attention.  Botanical  teaching 
in  schools  was  taken  up  by  the  Government,  and  continues  to 
receive  support  to  the  present  day.  But  the  primitive  spirit  h;is, 
I  am  afraid,  evaporated.  The  measurement  of  results  by  means 
of  examination  has  been  fatal  to  its  survival.  The  teacher  has 
to  keep  steadily  before  his  eyes  the  necessity  of  earning  his  grant. 
The  educational  problem  retires  into  the  background.  "The 
strengthening  of  the  observant  faculties,"  and  the  rest  of  the 
Henslowian  jirogramme  must  give  way  to  the  imperious  neces- 
sity of  presenting  to  the  examiner  candidates  etjuipped  with  at 
least  the  minimum  of  text-book  fornudas  reproducible  on  |>ai>er. 
I  do  not  speak  in  this  matter  without  painful  experience.  The 
most  a,stute  examiner  is  defeated  by  the  still  more  astute  crammer. 
The  objective  basis  of  the  study  on  which  its  whole  uselulncss  i.s 
built  up  is  promjitly  thrown  aside.  If  you  supply  the  apple 
blossom  for  actual  description,  you  are  as  likely  as  not  to  be 
furnished  with  a  detailed  account  of  a  buttercup.  The  train- 
ing of  observation  has  gone  by  the  board,  and  the  exercise  of 
mere  memory  has  taken  its  place.  But  a  table  of  logarithms  or 
a  Hebrew  grammar  would  serve  this  pur])ose  equally  well.  \'et 
I  do  not  despair  of  Henslow's  work  still  bearing  fruit.  The 
examination  system  will  collapse  from  the  sheer  impossibilitv  of 
carrying  it  on  beyond  a  certain  point.  Freed  from  its  trammels, 
the  teacher  will  have  greater  scope  for  individuality,  and  the 
result  of  his  labours  will  be  rewarded  after  some  intelligent 
system  of  inspecticm.  \n<\  here  I  may  claim  support  from  an 
unexpected  tpiarter.     Mr.  Gladstone  has  recently  wrjtleii  to  a 


52S 


NA  TURE 


[September  26,  1895 


ifk 


ctvrrcspondent : — "  I[|)p>k  thai  the  neglect  of  natural  histor)-i  'n 
all  its  multitude  of  branches,  was  the  grossest  defect  of  our  old 
S)stem  of  training|fotf  the  young  ;  and,  further,  that  little  or 
nothing  has  been  diMJiby  way  of  remedy  for  that  defect  in  the 
attempts  made  to  alter  or  reform  that  system."  I  am  sure 
that  the  importance  and  weight  of  this  testimony,  coming  as  it 
does  from  one  whose  training  and  sym|)athies  have  always  been 
literary,  cannot  be  denied.  That  there  is  already  some  revival 
of  Henslow's  methods,  I  judge  from  the  fact  that  I  have  re- 
ceived applications  from  Board  Sehot)ls,  amounting  to  some 
hundreds,  for  surplus  s|)ecimens  from  the  Kew  Museums.  With- 
out a  special  machinery  for  the  purpose  I  cannot  do  much,  and 
jierhaps  it  is  well.     But  my  staff  have  willingly  done  what  was 

IKissiblc,  and  from  the  letters  I  have  received  I  gather  that  the 
abuur  has  not  been  wholly  niissi>enl. 

MfSEUM  Arrangement. 

This  leails  me  to  the  last  branch  of  Henslow's  scientific  work 
on  which  I  am  able  to  touch,  that  of  the  arrangement  of  museums, 
especially  those  which  being  local  have  little  meaning  unless 
their  purpf>se  is  .strictly  eilucational.  I  think  it  is  now  generally 
admitted  that,  both  in  the  larger  and  narrower  aspects  of  the 
question,  his  idea.s.  which  were  shared  in  some  measure  by 
Edward  Kiirbes,  were  not  merely  far  in  advance  of  his  lime,  but 
were  es.senti;dly  sound.  .\nd  here  I  cannot  help  remarking  that 
the  zoologists  have  perhaps  profited  more  by  his  teaching  than  the 
Ititanisls.  I  <Io  not  know  how  far  Sir  William  Flower  and  Prof. 
Lankester  would  admit  the  influence  of  Henslow's  ideas.  But, 
.so  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  1  am  not  aware  that,  at  any  rate  in 
Eurippe,  there  is  anything  to  be  seen  in  public  museums  com- 
|>aralile  to  the  educational  work  accomplished  by  the  one  at  the 
College  of  Surgeons  and  the  Natural  Histor)-  Museum,  and  by 
the  other  at  Oxford. 

I  have  often  thought  it  singular  that  in  botany  we  have  not 
kept  |Kicc  in  this  matter  with  our  brother  naturalists.  I  do  not 
doubt  that  vegetable  morphology  and  a  vast  number  of  important 
facts  in  evolution,  as  illustrated  from  the  vegetable  kingdom, 
might  be  presented  to  the  eye  in  a  fascinating  way  in  a  carefully 
arranged  museum.  The  most  successful  and,  indeed,  almost  the 
only  attempt  which  has  been  made  in  this  direction  is  that  at 
Cambridge,  which,  1  iK-lieve,  is  due  to  Mr.  Gardiner.  But  our 
technical  methods  for  preserving  specimens  still  leave  much  to 
desire.  Something  more  satisfactory  will,  it  may  be  hoped, 
some  day  be  devised,  and  the  whole  subject  is  one  which  is  well 
worth  the  careful  consideration  of  our  Section.  Henslow  at 
lea.st  cfTcclcd  a  vast  im|)rovenienl  in  the  mode  of  displaying 
iKitanical  objects  ;  and  a  collection  prepared  by  his  o«  n  hands, 
« hich  was  e.thibited  at  one  of  the  Paris  exhibitions,  excited  the 
warm  admiration  of  the  Krench  botanists,  who  always  apjireciate 
the  clear  illu.stration  of  morphological  facts. 

Olii  School  ok  Nati-rai.  History. 

If  the  old  school  of  natural  histor)*  of  which  Henslow  in  his 
day  wa-s  a  living  spirit  is  at  present,  as  seems  to  be  the  case, 
continually  losing  its  hold  upon  us,  this  has  certainly  not  been 
due  to  its  want  of  value  as  an  educational  discipline,  or  to  its 
sterility  in  contributing  new  ideas  to  human  knowledge. 
Darwin's  "Origin  of  .S|>ecies"  may  certainly  be  regarded  as  its 
offspring,  and  of  this  Huxley  (Proc.  A'.S.,  xliv.  xvii.)  says  with 
justice  :  "  It  Lsdoublful  if  any  single  book  except  the  '  Principia,' 
ever  worked  «>  great  and  ra])id  a  revolution  in  .science,  or  made sn 
deep  an  impression  on  the  general  mind."  \ct  Darwin's 
biographer,  in  that  admirable  "  I.ife"  which  ranks  «ith  the  few 
reiilly  great  biographies  in  our  language,  remarks  (i.  155)  :  "  In 
rending  his  liooks  one  is  reminded  of  the  older  naturali.sts  rather 
than  of  the  modem  school  of  writers.  He  w.-is  a  naturalist  in 
the  olil  si'ns<-  of  the  word,  that  is,  a  man  who  works  at  ni.tny 
li       '  ',  not  merely  a  specialist  in  one."     This  is  no 

'  >   not   exactly  hit  off  the  distinction   iKJtwccn 

It      .,  .^hich  has  gone  out  of  fashion  and  that  which 

li;i-  come  in.  The  older  workers  in  biology  were  occupied 
nininly  with  the  external  or,  at  any  rate,  grosser  features  of 
iprganisms  and  their  relation  to  .surrouniling  ronditiims ;  the 
molrrn,  on  Ihn  other  hand,  arc  engaged  on  the  sluily  of  internal 
i'f   '  "ire.      Work   in  the  lalwiralory,  with  its  ncces- 

-  IS  the   place  of  research    in  the   field.     One 

I  .  s;iy  that  Ihcuseof  the  com|v>und  microscope 

>'■  ~is.     .\sa  ( Iray  has  com|>ared  Kol>ert   Brown 

V  "two  British    naturalists  "  who  have  "  more 

tlkxi  aii>  01I1CI1,  impressed  their  influence  upon  S-Mcncc  in  the 

NO.    1352.   VOL.   52] 


nineteenth  century"  (NATfRE,  x.  80).  Now  it  is  noteworthy 
that  Robert  Brown  ilid  all  his  work  with  a  simple  microscope. 
And  Francis  Darwin  writes  of  his  father:  "It  strikes  us 
nowadays  as  extraordinarj-  that  he  should  have  had  no  compound 
microscope  when  he  went  his  Aajf/i'  voy.ige  ;  but  in  this  he  fol- 
lowed the  advice  of  Rolicrt  Brow  n,  who  was  an  authority  on  such 
matters  "(i.  145).  One  often  nieets  with  persons,  and  some- 
times of  no  small  eminence,  who  speak  as  if  there  were  some 
necessary  antagonism  between  the  old  and  the  new  studies. 
Thus  I  have  heard  a  ilistinguished  syslcmalist  describe  the  micro- 
sco|)e  as  a  curse,  and  a  no  less  distinguished  morphologist  speak 
of  a  herbarium  having  its  i>roi>er  place  on  a  bonfire.  To  me  I 
confess  this  anathematisation  of  the  instruments  of  research 
proper  to  any  branch  of  our  subject  is  not  easily  intelligible.  \"et 
in  the  case  of  Darw  in  himself  it  is  certain  that  if  his  earlier  work 
may  be  said  to  rest  solely  on  the  older  methotls,  his  later 
researches  lake  their  place  w  ith  the  w  ork  of  the  new  school.  .Vt 
our  last  meeting  Pfeffer  vindicated  one  of  his  latest  and  most 
im)K)rtant  observations. 

The  case  of  Robert  Brown  is  even  more  striking.  He  is 
equally  great  whether  we  class  him  with  the  older  or  the  modern 
school.  In  fact,  so  far  as  botany  in  this  country  is  concerned, 
he  may  be  regarded  as  the  founder  of  the  latter.  It  is  to  him 
that  we  owe  the  establishment  of  the  structure  of  the  ovule  and 
its  development  into  the  seed.  Even  more  important  were  the 
discoveries  to  which  I  have  already  referred,  which  ultimately 
led  to  the  establishment  of  the  group  of  Gymnosv>erms.  "No 
more  important  discovery,"  says  Sachs  ("  History,"  142), 
"  was  ever  made  in  the  domain  of  comimralive  morjihology  and 
systematic  botany.  The  first  steps  towards  this  result,  which 
was  clearly  brought  out  by  Hofineister  twenty-five  years  later, 
were  secured  by  Robert  Brown's  researches,  and  he  was 
incidentally  led  to  these  researches  bv  some  difficulties  in  the 
constrtiction  of  the  seed  of  an  .\ustralian  genus.''  Vet  it  may 
be  remembered  that  he  began  his  career  as  naturalist  to 
Flinders's  expedition  for  the  exploration  of  -Vustralia.  He 
returned  to  England  with  4000  "  for  the  most  )mrt  new  species 
of  plants.''  And  these  have  formed  the  foundation  of  our 
knowledge  of  the  flora  of  that  c<mlinent.  Brown's  chief  work 
was  done  between  1S20  and  1840,  and,  as  Sachs  {/ot.  cit.,  13Q, 
140)  tells  us,  "was  lietter  appreciated  during  that  time  in 
Germany  than  in  any  other  country." 

.MoiiKRN  School. 

The  real  founder  of  the  modern  teaching  in  this  country  in 
both  branches  of  biolog>'  I  cannot  doubt  was  Carpenter.  The 
first  edition  of  his  admirable  "  Principles  of  Comi>:irative 
Physiology"  was  published  in  1838.  the  last  in  1854.  All  who 
owe,  as  I  do,  a  deep  <lebt  of  gratitude  to  that  book  will  agree 
with  Huxley  ("  Memorial  Sketch,"  67)  in  regarding  it  as  "  by 
far  the  best  general  survey  of  the  whole  field  of  life  and  of  the 
broad  principles  of  biology  which  had  been  produced  up  to  the 
time  of  its  publication.  Indeed,"  he  adds,  "  although  the 
fourth  edition  is  now  in  many  respects  out  of  date.  I  do  not 
know  its  ctpial  for  breadth  of  view,  sobriety  of  speculation,  and 
accuracy  of  detail." 

The  charm  of  a  wide  and  philosoiihic  survey  of  the  difl'erent 
forms  under  which  life  presents  it.self  could  not  but  attract  the 
attention  of  teachers.  Rolleston  elaborated  a  course  of  instruc- 
tion in  zoology  at  Oxford  in  which  the  structures  described  in 
the  lecture-room  were  subsc<|uently  «-orked  out  in  the  laboratory. 
In  1872  Huxley  organised  the  memorable  course  in  elementary 
biology  at  .South  Kensington  which  has  since,  in  its  essential 
features,  been  adopted  throughout  the  country.  In  the  following 
year,  during  Huxley's  absence  abro.id  through  ill-health,  I 
arranged,  at  his  request,  a  course  of  instruction  on  the  same 
lines  for  the  Vegetable  Kingdom. 

That  the  development  of  the  new  leaching  was  inevitable  can 
hardly  be  doubted,  and  I  for  my  part  am  not  disposed  to  regret 
the  share  I  look  in  it.  But  it  was  not  obvious,  and  certainly  it 
was  nr>l  cxjK'Cted,  that  it  would  tt»  so  large  an  extent  cut  the 
ground  from  under  the  feet  of  the  old  Natural  History  studies. 
The  consequences  are  mther  serious,  and  1  lliinl;  it  is  worth 
while  |K)inting  them  out. 

In  a  va.sl  empire  like  our  own  there  is  a  good  deal  of  work  to 
Ik*  done  and  a  good  many  posts  to  be  filled,  for  which  the  old 
Natural  History  traininc  was  not  merely  a  useful  but  even  a 
necessary  preparation.  But  at  the  piesent  lime  the  universilies 
almost  entirely  fail  to  supply  men  suited  to  the  work.  They 
neither  care  to  collect,  nor  have  Ihcy  the  skilled  aptitude  for 


September  26,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


529 


/ 


observation.  Then,  though  this  country  is  possessed  at  home  of 
incomparable  stores  of  accumulated  material,  the  class  of  com- 
petent amateurs  who  were  mostly  trained  at  our  universities,  and 
who  did  such  good  service  in  working  that  material  out,  is  fast 
disappearing.  It  may  not  be  easy  indeed  in  the  future  to  fill 
important  ])osts  even  in  this  country  with  men  possessing  the 
necessary  qualifications.  But  there  was  still  another  source  of 
naturalists,  even  more  useful,  which  has  i)ractically  dried  up.  It 
is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  large  majority  of  men  of  the  last 
generation  who  have  won  distinction  in  this  field  have  begun 
their  career  with  the  study  of  medicine.  That  the  kind  of 
training  that  Natural  History  studies  give  is  of  advantage  to 
students  of  medicine  which,  rightly  regarded,  is  itself  a  Natural 
History  study,  can  hardly  be  clenied.  liul  the  exigencies  of  the 
medical  curriculum  have  crowded  them  out  ;  and  this,  I  am 
afraid,  must  be  accei>ted  as  irremediable.  I  cannot  refr.iin  from 
reading  you,  on  this  point,  an  extract  from  a  letter  which  I  have 
received  from  a  distinguished  official  lately  entrusted  with  an 
important  foreign  mission.  I  should  add  that  he  had  himself 
bpen  trained  in  the  old  way. 

/  "  I  ha\e  had  my  time,  and  must  leave  to  younger  men 
the  delight  of  working  these  interesting  fields.  Such  chances 
never  will  occur  again,  for  roads  arc  now  being  made  and 
ways  cut  in  the  jvmgle  and  forest,  antl  you  have  at  hand  all 
sorts  of  trees  level  on  the  ground  ready  for  study.  These  bring 
down  with  them  orchids,  ferns,  and  climbers  of  many  kinds,  in- 
cluding rattan  palms,  &c.  But,  excellent  as  are  the  officers  who 
devote  their  energy  to  thus  opening  up  this  country,  tiiere  is  not 
one  man  who  knows  a  palm  from  a  dragon-tree,  so  the  chance 
is  lost.  Strange  to  say,  the  medical  men  of  the  Government 
service  know  less  and  care  less  for  Natural  History  than  the 
military  men,  who  at  least  regret  they  have  no  training  or  study 
lo  enable  them  to  take  an  intelligent  interest  in  what  they  see 
around  them.  A  doctor  nowadays  cares  for  no  living  thing 
larger  or  more  complicated  than  a  bacterium  or  a  bacillus." 

But  there  are  other  and  even  more  serious  grounds  why  the 
present  dominance  of  one  aspect  of  our  subject  is  a  matter  for 
regret.  In  the  concluding  chapter  of  the  "Origin,"  Darwin 
wrote  :  "  I  look  with  confidence  to  the  future — to  young  and 
rising  naturalists."  But  I  observe  that  most  of  the  new  writers 
on  the  Darwinian  theory,  and,  oddly  enough,  especially  w"hen 
they  have  been  trained  at  Cambridge,  generally  begin  by  more 
or  less  rejecting  it  as  a  theory  of  the  origin  of  species,  and 
then  proceed  unhesitatingly  to  reconstruct  it.  The  attempt 
rarely  seems  lo  me  successful,  perhaps  because  the  limits  of  the 
laboratory  are  unfavourable  to  the  accumulation  of  the  class  of 
observations  which  are  suitable  for  the  purprjse.  The  laboratory, 
in  fact,  has  not  contributed  much  to  the  Darwinian  theory, 
except  the  "  Law  of  Recapitulation,"  and  that,  I  am  told,  is 
V^oing  out  of  fashion. 

The  Darwinian  theory,  being,  as  I  have  attempted  to  show, 
ihe  outcome  of  the  Natural  History  method,  rested  at  every 
point  i>ri  a  copious  basis  of  fact  and  observation.  This  more 
modern  speculation  lacks.  The  result  is  a  revival  of  tran- 
scendentalism. Of  this  we  have  had  a  copious  crop  in  this 
country,  but  it  is  quite  put  in  the  shade  by  that  with  which  we 
have  been  supplied  from  .\merica.  Perhaps  the  most  remarkable 
feature  is  the  persistent  vitality  of  Lannrckism.  As  Darwin 
remarks  :  "  Lamarck's  one  .suggestion  as  to  the  cau-ie  of  the 
•gradual  modification  of  species — efl'ort  excited  by  change  of 
conditions — -was,  on  the  face  of  it,  inapplicable  to  the  whole 
vegetable  world"  (ii.  189).  And  if  we  fall  back  on 
the  inherited  direct  effect  of  change  of  conditions,  though  Darwin 
admits  that  "  physical  conditions  have  a  more  direct  effect  on 
plants  than  on  animals"  (ii.  319),  I  have  never  been  able  to  con- 
vince nivselflhal  that  etl'ect  isinheritcd.  I  will  give  one  illustration. 
The  difference  in  habit  of  even  the  same  species  of  plant  when 
;.;rown  under  mountain  and  lowland  conditions  is  a  matter  of 
L;eneral  observation.  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  case  of 
"  acquired  characters  "  more  likely  to  be  inherited.  But  this 
does  not  seem  to  be  the  case.  The  recent  careful  research  of 
( laston  Bonnier  only  confirms  the  experience  of  cultivators. 
The  modifications  acquired  by  the  jjlant  when  transported  for  a 
definite  time  from  the  plains  lo  the  .\lps,  or  vice  verstf,  disappear 
ii  tile  end  of  the  same  period  when  the  plant  is  restored  to  its 
original  conditions  (./««.  J.   Sc.  ii:it.,  7=  ser.  xx.  355). 

Darv\in,  in  an  elofpient  passage,  which  is  too  long  for  me  lo 
(|«ote  ("  Origin,"  426),  has  shown  how  enormously  the  interest 
of  Natural  History  is  enhanced  "when  we  regard  every  pro 
duction  of  nature  as  one  which  has   had  a  long  history,"  an  | 

NO.   1352,  VOL.   52] 


"when  we  contemplate  every  complex  structure  ...  as  the 
summing  up  of  many  contrivances."  But  this  can  only  be  done, 
or  at  any  rate  begun,  in  the  field,  and  not  in  the  laboratory. 

A  more  serious  peril  is  the  dying  out  .amongst  us  of  two 
branches  of  botanical  study  in  which  we  have  hitherto  occupied 
a  position  of  no  small  distinction.  Apart  from  the  staffs  of  our 
official  institutions,  there  seems  to  be  no  one  who  either  takes 
any  interest  in,  or  appreciates  in  the  smallest  degree,  the  im- 
portance of  systematic  and  descriptive  botany.  And  geograph- 
ical distribution  is  almost  in  a  worse  plight,  yet  Darwin  calls  it, 
"that  grand  subject,  that  almost  keystone  of  the  laws  of 
creation  "  (i.  356). 

I  am  aware  that  it  is  far  easier  to  point  out  an  evil  than  to 
remedy  it.  The  teaching  of  botany  at  the  present  day  has 
reached  a  ])itch  of  excellence  and  earnestness  which  it  has  never 
reached  before.  That  it  is  somewhat  one-sided  cannot  probably 
be  remedied  without  a  subdivision  of  the  subject  and  an  increase 
in  the  number  of  teachers.  If  it  has  a  positive  fault,  it  is  that  it 
is  sometimes  inclined  to  be  too  dogmatic  and  deductive.  Like 
Darwin,  at  any  rate  in  a  biological  matter,  "I  never  feel  con- 
vinced by  deduction,  even  in  the  case  of  H.  Spencer's  writings" 
(iii.  168).  The  intellectual  indolence  of  the  .student  inclines  him 
only  too  gl.adly  to  explain  phenomena  by  referring  them  to 
"  isms,"  instead  of  making  them  tell  their  own  story. 

Org.\nisation  of  Section. 

I  am  afraid  I  have  detained  you  too  long  over  these  matters, 
on  which  I  must  admit  I  h  ive  spoken  with  soaie  frankness.  But 
I  take  it  thtt  one  of  th;  objects  of  our  Section  is  to  deliver  our 
minds  of  any  perilous  stuff  that  is  fermenting  in  it.  Bat  now, 
having  taken  leave  of  the  past,  let  us  turn  to  the  future. 

We  start  at  least  with  a  clean  slate.  We  cannot  bind  our 
successors,  it  is  true,  at  othir  meetings.  Bit  I  cannot  doubt 
that  it  will  ba  in  our  power  to  mMerially  shapa  our  future, 
notwithstanding.  When  we  were  only  a  department  I  think  we 
all  felt  the  advantage  of  these  annual  meetings,  of  the  profitable 
discussion,  formal  and  informal,  and  of  the  privilege  of  meeting 
so  many  of  our  foreign  brethren  who  hive  so  generously 
supported  us  by  their  presence  and  sympathy. 

I  am  anxious,  then,  to  suggest  that  we  should  conduct  our 
proceedings  on  as  broad  Unas  as  possible.  I  do  not  think  we 
should  be  too  ready  to  encourage  pipers  which  may  well  hi 
communicated  to  societies,  either  local  or  central. 

The  field  is  large  ;  the  labourers  as  they  advance  in  life  can 
hardly  esji-'ct  to  keep  pice  with  all  that  is  going  on  in  it.  We 
must  look  to  individual  members  of  our  number  to  help  us  by 
informing  and  stimulating  addresses  on  subjects  they  have  nude 
peculiarly  their  own,  or  on  important  researches  on  which  they 
have  been  specially  engaged. 

Nomenclature. 

There  is  one  subject  upon  which,  from  my  official  po;ition 
elsewhere,  I  desire  to  take  the  opportunity  of  saying  a  few 
words.  It  is  that  of  Nomenclature.  It  is  not  on  its  technical 
side,  I  am  afraid,  of  sufficient  general  interest  to  justify  my 
devoting  to  it  the  sp,ice  wdiich  its  importance  would  otherwise 
deserve.  But  I  hope  to  be  able  to  enlist  your  support  for  the 
broad  common-sense  principles  on  which  our  practice  should 
rest. 

As  I  suppose,  every  one  knows  we  owe  our  present  method  of 
nomenclature  in  natural  history  to  Linmus.  He  devised  the 
binominal,  or,  as  it  is  often  absurdly  called,  the  binomial 
system.  That  we  must  have  a  technical  system  of  nomenclature 
I  suppo.se  no  one  here  will  dispute.  It  is  not,  however,  always 
admitted  by  popular  writers  who  have  not  appreciated  the 
difiiculty  of  the  matter,  and  who  think  all  nanus  should  be  in 
the  vernacular.  There  is  the  obvious  difficulty  that  the  v.ast 
majority  of  plants  do  not  possess  any  names  at  all,  and  the 
attempts  to  manufacture  them  in  a  popular  shape  have  met  with 
but  little  success.  Then,  from  lack  of  discriminating  power  on 
the  part  of  those  who  use  them,  vernacular  names  are  often 
ambiguous  ;  thus  Bullrush  is  applied  equally  to  Typha  and  to 
Scirpus,  plants  extremidy  different.  Vernacular  names,  again, 
are  only  of  local  utility,  while  the  Linnean  system  is  intelligible 
throughout  the  world. 

.\  technical  name,  then,  for  a  plant  or  animal  is  a  necessity. 
as  without  it  we  cannot  fix  the  object  of  our  investigations  into 
its  affinity,  structure,  or  properties  ("  Linn.  Phil.,"  210). 
"  Nomina  si  nescis  peril  et  cognito  rerum." 

In  order  lo  get  clear  ideas  on   the  nutter  let   us  look  at   the 


NA  TURE 


[Septemisek  26,  1895 


logical  principles  on  which  such  names  are  based.  It  is  fortunate 
for  us  that  these  are  stated  by  Mill,  who,  besides  being  an 
authority  on  logic,  was  also  an  accomplished  botanist.  He 
tells  usC'System  of  Logic,"  i.  132) :  "  A  naturalist,  forpur)x>ses 
connected  with  his  particular  science,  sees  reason  to  distribute 
the  animal  or  vc-getable  creation  into  certain  groups  r.ither  than 
into  any  others,  and  he  ret)uircs  a  name  to  bind,  as  it  were,  each 
of  his  groups  together."  He  further  explains  that  such  names, 
whether  of  species,  genera,  or  orders,  arc  what  logicians  call 
connotative  ;  they  diiiole  the  members  of  each  group,  and  connoH 
the  distinctive  characters  by  which  it  is  defined.  A  sjiecies, 
then,  connotes  the  common  characters  of  the  individuals  belong- 
ing to  it ;  a  genus,  those  of  the  species  ;  an  order,  those  of  the 
genera. 

But  these  are  the  logical  principles,  which  are  applicable  to 
names  generally.  A  name  such  as  Kaiuinculiis  rcpeits  does  not 
diflfer  in  any  jiariicular  from  a  name  such  as  John  Smith,  except 
that  one  denotes  a  species,  the  other  an  individual. 

This  being  the  case,  and  technical  names  lieing  a  necessity,  they 
continually  [xiss  into  general  use  in  connection  with  horticulture, 
cummerce,  medicine,  and  the  arts.  It  seems  obvious  that,  if 
science  is  to  keep  in  touch  with  human  aftairs,  stability  in 
nomenclature  is  a  thing  not  merely  to  aim  at,  but  to  respect. 
Changes  beci>me  neccssar)-,  but  should  never  be  insisted  upon 
without  grave  and  solid  reason.  In  some  cases  they  are  inevitable 
unless  the  taxonomic  side  of  botany  is  to  remain  at  a  standstill. 
From  time  to  time  the  revision  of  a  large  group  h.is  to  be  under- 
taken from  a  uniform  and  comparative  point  of  view.  It  then 
often  occurs  that  new  genera  are  seen  to  have  Ikcu  too  hastily 
founded  on  insufticient  grounds,  and  must  therefore  be  merged 
in  others.  This  may  involve  the  creation  of  a  large  number  of 
new  names,  the  old  ones  becoming  henceforth  a  burden  to 
literature  as  synonym.s.  It  is  usual  in  such  ca.ses  to  retain  the 
specific  |X)rtion  of  the  original  name,  if  |x)ssible.  If  it  is,  how- 
ever, already  preoccupied  in  the  genus  to  which  the  transference 
is  made,  a  new  one  must  Ik;  devised.  Many  modern  system- 
atists  have,  however,  set  up  the  doctrine  that  a  specific  epithet 
once  given  is  indelible,  an<l  whatever  the  taxonomic  wanderings 
of  the  organism  to  which  it  w.as  once  assigned,  it  must  always 
accompany  it.  This,  however,  would  not  have  met  with  much 
sympathy  from  Linna;us,  who  attached  no  importance  to  the 
s|>ecific  epithet  at  all  :  "  Niunen  specificum  sine  generico  est 
ijuasi  pistillum  sine  campana"  ("  I'hil.,"  219).  Linna;us  always 
had  a  solid  reason  for  everything  he  did  or  said,  and  it  is  worth 
while  considering  in  this  case  what  it  was. 

Hefore  his  lime  the  practice  of  as.sociating  plants  in  genera 
had  made  some  progress  in  the  hands  of  Tourneford  and  others, 
but  specific  names  were  still  cumbrous  and  practically  unusable. 
(Icnera  were  often  distinguished  by  a  single  word  ;  and  it  was 
the  great  reform  accomplished  by  Linmeus  to  adopt  the  binominal 
principle  for  species.-  But  there  is  this  difierencc.  Clencric 
names  are  unique,  an<l  must  nf)t  be  applied  10  more  than  one 
ilistinct  group.  Specific  names  might  have  been  consiiiuled  on 
the  same  basis ;  the  s|x.'cific  name  in  that  case  would  then  have 
never  Ijcen  used  to  designate  more  than  one  plant,  and  would 
have  been  sufficient  to  indicate  it.  We  should  have  lost,  it  is 
true,  the  useful  informati<in  which  we  get  from  our  present 
practice  in  learning  the  genus  to  which  the  species  belongs  ;  but 
theiiretically  a  nomenclature  could  have  been  established  on  the 
one-name  principle.  The  thing,  however,  is  impossible  now 
even  if  it  were  desirable.  A  specific  epithet  like  vtilj^aris  may 
Ijelong  to  hundreds  of  different  species  belonging  to  as  many 
different  genera,  and  taken  alone  is  meaningless.  A  I.innenn 
name,  then,  though  it  consists  of  two  parts,  must  be  treated  as 
a  whole.  "  Nomen  omne  plantarum  constabit  nomine  generico 
vt  e^[)ccifico"  ("  I'hil,"  212).  .\  fragment  can  have  no  vitality  of 
•-  own.  Consequently,  if  su|>erseded,  it  may  Ik;  replaced  by 
iri'lher  which  may  lie  ix:rfcctly  independent.' 

It  constantly  hap|>ens  that  the  same  species  is  named  and  de- 
-crilwd  by  more  than  one  writer,  or  different  views  are  taken  of 
■(lerifir  differences  by  various  writers  ;  the  s|K'cics  of  <me  are 
therefore  "lum|>cd"  by  another.  In  .such  cases,  where  there 
of  names,  it  is  customary  to  select  the  earliest 
I  agree,  however,  with  the  late  .Sereno  Watson 
-^  .    '   ■'    -!' I'll  "  there  is  nothing  whatever  of  an  ethical 


>  A>  AInh 


points  om  in  .1  Icucr  ptitili>lic<l  in  the  /.'«//.  ttt 

I    "  itii'  r«-;,I  merit  (jf  Linnlells  ha.-*  Iiccn  10  con». 

iiti  tiic  specific  cuithct."    It  \*  im* 

llic  "  n.imc  "  of  .1  >pccics  cun<«i5(tn, 


malion,  nut  in  the   specific  cpiflicl, 
MliitJ)  to  A  little  fi.t|(ni<iiii  "I  (lie  ■i.iiiic,  iind  menninglcftft  when  taken  by  itnclf. 

NO.   1352,  VOL.  52] 


character  inherent  in  a  name,  through  any  priority  of  publica- 
tion or  ]K>sit  ion,w  hich  should  render  it  morally  obligatory  upon  any 
one  to  accept  one  name  rather  than  another."  And  in  point  of 
fact  Linn;eus  and  the  early  systematists  attached  little  importance 
to  priority.  The  rigid  application  of  the  principle  involves  the 
a.ssuniption  that  all  persons  who  describe  or  attenijit  to  describe  ! 
plants  are  equally  competent  to  the  task.  But  this  is  far  fron» 
being  the  case  that  it  is  sometimes  all  but  impossible  even  to 
guess  what  could  possibly  have  been  meant.' 

In  1872  Sir  Joseph  Hooker  ("  Flora  of  British  India,"  i.  vii.) 
wrote  :  "  The  number  of  species  described  by  authors  who  can- 
not determine  theiraftinilies  increases  annually,  and  I  regard  the 
naturalist  who  puts  a  described  pl.int  into  its  proper  position  in 
regard  to  its  allies  ;is  rendering  a  greater  service  to  science  than 
its  describer  when  he  either  puts  it  into  a  wrong  place  or  throws 
it  into  any  of  those  chaotic  heaps,  miscalled  genera,  with  wiiich 
systematic  works  still  abound."  This  has  always  seemeil  to  me 
not  merely  sound  sense,  but  a  scientific  way  of  treating  the  matter. 
\\'hat  we  want  in  nomenclature  is  the  maximum  amount  of 
stability  and  the  mininnim  amount  of  change  com]«tible  with 
progress  in  perfecting  our  taxonomic  system.  Nomenclature  is  a 
means,  not  an  end.  There  are  perhaps  150,000  species  of 
flowering  plants  in  existence.  What  we  want  to  do  is  ti>  push  on 
the  ta.sk  of  getting  them  n.imed  and  described  in  an  intelligilile 
manner,  and  their  afiinilies  determined  as  correctly  as  possible. 
We  shall  then  have  material  for  dealing  with  the  larger  problems 
which  the  vegetation  of  our  globe  will  present  when  treated  as  a 
whole.  To  me  the  botanists  who  waste  their  time  over  priority 
are  like  boys  who,  when  sent  on  an  errand,  spend  their  tiuK'  in 
playing  liy  the  roadside.  By  sucli  men  even  Linn;eus  is  not  to 
be  allowed  to  decide  his  own  names.  To  one  of  the  most 
splendid  ornaments  of  our  gardens  he  gave  the  name  o{ Magnolia 
graiiiii/lora :  this  is  now  to  be  known  as  Max'iolia  faliJii.  The 
reformer  himself  is  constrained  to  admit,  "  The  change  is  a  most 
unfortunate  one  in  every  way"  ("Garden  and  Forest,"  ii.  615). 
It  is  difficult  to  see  wh.tt  is  gained  by  making  it,  except  to  render 
systematic  botany  ridiculous.  The  genus  Aspidiiiiii,  known  lo 
every  fern  cultivator,  was  founded  by  Swartz.  It  now  contains 
some  400  species,  of  which  the  vast  m.ijority  were,  of  course, 
unknown  to  him  at  the  time  ;  yet  the  names  of  all  these  are  ti> 
be  changed  because  Adamson  founded  a  genus,  Dryopteris^  which 
seems  to  be  the  same  thing  as  Aspidiuiii.  What,  it  may  lie 
askeii,  is  gained  by  the  change?  To  science  it  is  certainly 
nothing.  On  the  other  haiul,  we  lumber  i>ur  books  with  a  uia,ss 
of  synonyms,  and  jier|")lex  every  t)ne  who  takes  an  interest  in  ferns* 
It  appears  that  the  name  of  the  well-known  Australian  genus 
Hanksia  really  belongs  to  Pinifka  :  the  species  are  therefore  to 
be  renamed,  and  Hauksia  is  lo  be  rechristened  SirmmlUia,  after 
Sir  Ferdinand  von  Mueller ;  a  jiroposal  which,  I  need  hardly 
say,  did  not  emanate  from  an  I'nglishman. 

I  will  not  multiply  instances.  But  the  worst  of  it  is  that  those 
who  have  carefully  studied  the  subject  know  that,  from  various 
causes  which  I  cannot  afford  the  time  to  iliscuss,  when  once  it  is 
attempted  to  disturb  accepted  nomenclature  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  reach  finality.  .Many  genera  only  exist  by  virtue  of 
their  re<lefinition  in  modern  times  ;  in  the  form  in  which  they 
were  originally  promulgated  they  have  hardly  any  intelligible 
meaning  at  all. 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  one  cause  of  the  want  of  attentior* 
which  systematic  botany  now  receives  is  the  repulsive  labour  of  the 
bibliographical  worK  with  whicii  it  has  lieen  overlaid.  Wlial  an 
enormous  bulk  nomenclature  has  already  attained  may  bejvulged 
from  the  "  Index  Kewensis,"  which  was  |irepared  at  Kew ,  aiul 
which  we  owe  to  the  munificence  of  Mr.  Oarwin.  In  his  owi» 
studies  he  ctmstantly  came  on  the  track  of  names  which  he  wiu» 
unable  to  run  down  to  their  source.  This  the  "  Index  "  enaliles 
to  be  done.  It  is  based,  in  fad,  on  a  manuscript  index  which 
we  compiled  for  our  own  use  at  Kew.  But  it  is  a  mistake  10 
suppo.se  that  it  is  anything  more  than  the  name  signifies,  or  that 
it  expresses  any  opinion  as  to  the  validity  of  the  names  thcin- 
.selve.s.  That  those  who  use  the  biMik  must  judge  of  for  themselves. 
We  have  indexed  existing  names,  but  we  have  not  added  to  the 
burden  by  making  any  new  ones  for  sjiecies  already  tlescribed. 

What  s)nonyniy  ha-,  now  come  to  may  be  judged  liy  an  ex- 
ample .supplied  me  by  my  friend  .\lr.  C  B.  Clarke.  For  a  single 
species  of  /■iiiilirislylis  he  finds  135  published  names  under  six 

*  Dlirwin,  wtio  always  sccnis  lo  mc,  almost  itislinclivcly,  10  lake  tile  rii;hl 
view  in  mailers  relatint^  10  naltiral  liislory,  is  ("  Life,"  vol.  i.  p.  364)  AkoA 
ngainsl  ihc  new  "  practice  of  nnluralisls  appending  fur  oerpeluily  the  name 
of  tlicyjrj/  dc-scril>cr  to  specie*."  He  is  equally  .it;ainsl  ihc  priority  cra/e  : — 
"  1  cannot  yet  bring  my»cir  10  reject  very  welt-kHinvH  namcn  "  (ibid,^  p.  j69). 


September  26,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


5i' 


jjenera.     If  we  go  on  in  this  way  we  shall  have  to  invent  a  new 
Linn*us,  wipe  out  the  past,  and  begin  all  over  again. 

Although  I  have  brought  the  matter  before  the  Section  it  is 
not  one  in  which  this,  or  indeed  any  collective  assembly  of 
botanists,  can  do  very  much.  While  I  hope  I  shall  carry  your 
assent  with  the  general  principles  I  have  laid  down,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  technical  details  can  only  be  ajjpreciated  by 
experienced  specialists.  All  that  can  be  hoiked  is  a  general 
agreement  amongst  the  staffs  of  the  principal  institutions  in 
different  countries  where  systematic  botany  is  worked  at ;  the 
free-lances  must  be  left  to  do  as  they  liUe. 

PL'BLICATIONS. 

I  have  dwelt  at  such  length  on  certain  aspects  of  my  subject 
that  perhaps,  without  great  injustice,  you  may  retort  on  me  the 
complaint  of  one-sidedness  But  when  I  survey  the  larger  field 
of  botany  in  this  country,  the  prospect  seems  to  me  so  va.st  that 
I  should  tlespair  even  if  I  had  my  whole  address  at  my  disposal 
of  doing  it  justice.  I  think  that  its  extent  is  measured  by  the 
way  in  which  the  publications  belonging  to  our  subject  are  main- 
tained. First  of  all  we  have  access  to  the  Royal  Society,  a 
privilege  of  which  I  hope  we  shall  always  continue  to  take 
advantage  for  communications  which  either  treat  of  fundamental 
subjects,  or  at  least  are  of  general  interest  to  biologists.  Next 
to  this  we  have  our  ancient  Linnean  Society,  with  a  branch  of 
its  publication.s  handsomely  and  efficiently  devoted  to  systematic 
work.  Then  we  have  the  Annals  of  Botauy,  which  has  now,  I 
think,  established  its  position,  and  which  brings  together  the 
chief  morphological  and  physiological  work  accomplished  in  the 
country.  Lastly,  we  have  the  Jotiriial  of  Botany,  a  less 
ambitious  but  useful  periodical,  which  is  mainly  devoted  to  the 
labours  of  English  botanists.  I  remember  there  was  a  time  when 
I  thought  that  this,  at  any  rate,  was  an  exhausted  field.  But  it 
is  not  so  ;  knowledge  in  its  most  limited  aspects  is  inexhaustible 
if  the  labourer  have  the  necessar)'  insight.  The  discoveries  of 
Mr.  Arthur  Bennett  amongst  the  potamogetons  of  the  Eastern 
Counties  is  a  striking  and  brilliant  instance. 

Besides  the  publication  of  the  Annals  we  owe  to  the  Oxford 
Press  a  splendid  series  of  the  best  foreign  text-books  issued  in 
our  own  language.  If  the  thought  has  sometimes  occurred  to 
one's  mind  that  we  were  borrowers  too  freely  from  our  in- 
defatigable neighbours,  I,  at  least,  remember  that  the  late  Prof. 
Eichler  paid  us  the  compliment  of  saying  that  he  i>referred  to 
read  one  of  these  monumental  books  in  the  English  translation 
rather  than  in  the  original.  I  believe  it  is  no  secret  that  botany 
owes  the  aid  that  Oxforil  has  rendered  it  in  these  and  other 
matters  in  great  measure  to  my  old  friend  the  Master  of 
Pembroke  College,  than  whom  I  believe  science  has  no  more 
<levoted  supporter. 

PaI..1!OBOTANV. 
I  have  said  much  of  recent  botany  ;  I  must  not  pass  over  that 
of  past  ages.  Two  notable  workers  in  this  field  have  passed 
away  since  our  last  meeting.  Saporta  was  w  ith  us  at  Manchester, 
and  we  shall  not  readily  f'irget  his  personal  charm.  If  some  of 
his  work  has  about  it  a  too  imaginative  character,  the  patience 
and  entire  sincerity  with  which  he  traced  the  origin  of  the  exist- 
ing forms  of  vegetation  in  Southern  Euro])e  to  their  ancestors  in 
the  not  distant  geological  past  w  ill  always  deserve  attentive  study. 
But  in  the  venerable,  yet  always  useful,  Williamson  we  lose  a 
figure  whose  memory  we  shall  long  preserve.  With  rare  instinct  he 
accumulated  a  wealth  of  material  illustrative  of  the  vegetation  of 
the  Carboniferous  epoch,  which,  I  suppose,  is  unique  in  the 
world.  And  this  was  prepared  for  examination  with  incom]xir- 
able  |>atience  either  by  his  own  hands  or  under  his  own  eyes. 
He  illustrated  it  with  absolute  fidelity.  And  if  he  did  not  in 
describing  it  always  use  language  with  which  we  could  agree, 
nothing  could  ruffle  either  his  imperturbable  good  nature  or  the 
noble  simplicity  of  his  character.  Truth  to  tell,  we  were  often 
in  friendly  warfare  w  ith  him.  But  I  rejoice  to  think  that  before 
his  peaceful  end  came  he  had  patiently  reconsidered  and 
abandoned  all  that  we  regarded  as  his  heresies,  but  which  were, 
in  truth,  only  the  old  manner  of  looking  at  things.  -Vnd  I  think 
that  if  anything  could  have  contributed  to  make  his  departure 
happy,  it  was  the  conviction  that  the  comi)lelion  of  his  work  and 
his  scientific  reputation  would  remain  ]ierfectly  secure  in  the 
hands  •■<"  !>r    '^•■■itt. 

Vegktabi.e   Physiology. 

Turning  again  to  the  present,  the  difficulty  is  to  limit  the 
choice   of  topics   on    which    I    would   willingly  dwell.     In   an 


address  which  I  delivered  at  the  Bath  meeting  in  lS88,  I 
ventured  to  point  out  the  important  part  which  the  action  of 
enzymes  would  be  found  to  play  in  plant  metabolism.  My 
expectations  have  been  more  than  realised  liy  the  admirable 
work  of  Prof,  (ireen  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  Mr.  Horace 
Brown  on  the  other.  The  wildest  imagination  could  not  have 
foreseen  the  developments  which  in  the  hands  of  animal 
physiologists  would  spring  from  the  study  of  the  fermentative 
changes  produced  by  yeast  and  bacteria.  These,  it  seems  to  me, 
bid  fair  to  revolutionise  our  whole  conceptions  of  disease.  The 
reciprocal  action  of  ferments,  developed  in  so  admirable  a 
manner  by  Marshall  Ward  in  the  case  of  the  ginger-ljcer  plant, 
is  destined,  I  am  convinced,  to  an  expansion  scarcely  less 
im|X)rtant. 

But,  ))erhaps,  the  most  noteworthy  feature  in  recent  work  is 
the  disposition  to  reopen  in  every  direction  fundamental 
questions.  And  here,  I  think,  we  may  take  a  useful  lesson  from 
the  practice  of  the  older  Sections,  and  adopt  the  plan  of 
entrusting  the  investigation  of  sjiecial  problems  to  small 
committees,  or  to  indinduals  who  are  willing  to  undertake  the 
labour  of  reporting  upon  special  questions  which  they  have 
made  peculiarly  their  own.  These  reports  would  be  printed  in 
exienso,  and  are  capable  of  rendering  invaluable  ser\ice  by 
making  accessible  acquired  knowledge  which  could  not  be  got  al 
in  any  other  way. 

We  owe  to  Sir.  Blackman  a  masterly  demonstration  of  the 
fact,  long  believed,  but  never,  perhaps,  properly  proved,  that 
the  surface  of  plants  is  ordinarily  impermeable  to  gases.  Mr. 
Dixon  has  brought  forw*ard  some  new  views  about  water-move- 
ment in  plants,  which  I  confess  I  found  less  instructive  than 
many  of  my  brother  botani.sts.  They  are  expressed  in  language 
of  extreme  technicality  ;  but,  as  far  as  I  understand  them,  they 
amount  to  this.  The  water  moving  in  the  plant  is  contained  in 
capillary  channels  ;  as  it  evaporates  at  the  surface  of  the  leaves 
a  tensile  strain  is  set  up,  as  long  as  the  columns  are  not  broken, 
to  restore  the  original  level.  I  can  understand  that  in  this  way 
the  "transpiration  current "  may  be  maintained.  But  what  I 
want  to  know  is  how  this  explains  the  phenomena  in  the  sugar 
maple,  a  single  tree  of  which  will  yield,  I  believe,  20-30  gallons 
of  fluid  before  a  single  leaf  is  expanded. 

We  owe  to  Messrs.  Darwin  and  .\cton  the  supply  of  a 
"  Manual  of  Practical  \egetable  Physiology,"  the  want  of  which 
has  long  been  keenly  felt.  Like  the  father  of  one  of  the 
authors,  "I  love  to  exalt  plants"  ('•  QS).  I  have  long  lieen 
satisfied  that  the  facts  of  vegetable  physiology  are  capable  of 
being  widely  taught,  and  are  not  less  significant  and  infinitely 
more  convenient  than  most  of  those  which  can  be  easily 
demonstrated  on  the  animal  side.  How  little  any  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  subject  has  extended  was  conspicuously 
demonstrated  in  a  recent  discussion  at  the  Royal  Society,  when 
two  of  our  foremost  chemists  roundly  denied  the  existence  of 
a  function  of  respiration  in  plants,  because  it  was  unknown  to 
Liebig  ! 

Assimilation. 

The  greatest  and  most  fundamental  problem  of  all  is  that  of 
assimilation.  The  very  existence  of  life  upon  the  earth 
ultimately  <lepends  upon  it.  The  veil  is  slowly,  but  I  think 
surely,  lx;ing  lifted  from  its  secrets.  We  now  know  that  starch, 
if  its  first  visible  product,  is  not  its  first  result.  We  are  pretty 
well  agreed  that  this  is  what  I  have  called  a  "  proto- 
carbohydrate. "  How  is  the  synthesis  of  this  effected?  Mr. 
Acton,  whose  untimely  end  we  cannot  but  deeply  deplore,  made 
some  remarkable  researches,  which  were  communicated  to  the 
Royal  Society  in  1889,  on  the  extent  to  which  |)lants  could  take 
advantage  of  organic  compounds  made,  so  to  speak,  ready  to 
their  hand.  Loew,  in  a  remarkable  jiaper,  which  will  perhaps 
attract  less  attention  than  it  de.serves  from  being  published  in 
Jaiian  {Bull.  College  of  Agrk.  Imp.  Univ.  Tokio,  vol.  i. ),  has 
from  the  study  of  the  nutriti'  m  of  Ijacteria,  arrived  at  some  general 
conclusions  in  the  same  direction.  Bokorny  appears  recently 
to  have  similarly  experimented  on  alga;.  Neither  writer,  how- 
ever, seems  to  have  been  acquainted  w  ith  Acton's  work.  The 
general  conclusion  which  I  draw  from  Loew  is  to  strengthen  the 
belief  that  form-aldehyde  is  .actually  one  of  the  first  steps  of 
organic  synthesis,  as  long  ago  suggested  by  Adolph  Baeyer. 
Plants,  then,  will  avail  themselves  of  ready-made  organic 
compounds  which  will  yield  them  this  Ixjdy.  That  a  sugar  can 
be  constructed  from  it  has  long  been  known,  and  Bokorny  has 
shown  that  this  can  l>e  utilised  by  plants  in  the  production  of 
starch. 


NU. 


OO- 


WA 


5 --'J 


532 


NA  TURE 


[September  26,  1^95 


The  precise  mode  of  the  formation  of  form-aldehyde  in  the 
process  of  assimilation  is  a  matter  of  dispute.  But  it  is  quite 
clear  that  cither  the  carbon  dioxide  or  the  water,  which  are  the 
materials  from  which  it  is  formed,  must  suffer  dissociation.  And 
this  requires  a  supply  of  enci^y  to  accomplish  it.  Warington 
has  drawn  attention  to  the  striking  fact  that  in  the  case  of  the 
nitrifying  liactcrium,  assimilation  may  go  on  without  the  inter\en- 
tion  of  chlorophyll,  the  energy  l>eing  supplied  by  the  oxidation 
of  ammonia.  This  brings  us  down  lo  the  fact,  which  has  long 
been  suspected,  that  protoplasm  is  at  the  Ixittom  of  the  whole 
business,  and  that  chlorophyll  only  plays  some  subsidiary  and 
indirect  part,  perhaps,  as  Adolph  Baeyer  long  agt)  suggested,  of 
temjiorarily  fixing  carbon  oxide  like  hivmoglobin,  and  so 
facilitating  the  dissociation. 

Chlorophyll  itself  is  still  the  subject  of  the  careful  study  by  Dr. 
Schunck,  originally  commenced  by  him  some  years  ago  at  Kew. 
This  will.  I  hope,  give  us  eventually  an  accurate  insight  into  the 
chtniical  constitution  of  this  important  substance. 

The  steps  in  plant  metabolism  which  follow  the  synthesis  of 
the  proto-carlKihydrate  are  still  obscure.  Brown  and  Morris 
have  arrived  at  the  unexpected  conclusion  that  "  cane-sugar  is 
the  first  sugar  to  Ijc  synthesised  by  the  assimilatory  processes." 
I  made  sonic  remarks  upon  this  at  the  time  (Jciini.  Chem.  Soc, 
1S93,  673),  which  I  may  be  permitted  to  reproduce  here. 

'•  The  point  of  view  arrived  at  by  Ixjtanists  was  briefly  stated 
bj-  Sachs  in  the  case  of  the  sugar-lwet,  starch  in  the  leaf, 
glucose  in  the  petiole,  cane-sugar  in  the  root.  The  facts  in  the 
sugar-cane  seem  to  be  strictly  comparable  {A'av  BulUliii,  1S91, 
35-41).  Cane-sugar  the  botanist  looks  on,  therefore,  as  a 
'  reserve  material.'  We  may  call  '  glucose  '  the  sugar  '  currency ' 
of  the  plant,  cane-sugar  its  '  banking  reserve.' 

"  The  immediate  result  of  the  diaslatic  transfoimation  of 
starch  is  not  glucose,  but  maltose.  But  .Mr.  Horace  Brown  has 
shown  in  his  remarkable  experiments  on  feeding  barley  embryos 
that,  while  they  can  readily  convert  maltose  into  cane-sugar,  they 
altcgelher  fail  to  do  this  with  glucose.  We  may  conclude,  there- 
fore, that  glucose  is,  from  the  point  of  view  of  vegetable  nutrition, 
a  somewhat  inert  lx)dy.  On  the  other  hand,  evidence  is 
apfarcntly  wanting  that  maltose  plays  the  part  in  vegetable 
metabolism  that  might  be  expected  of  it.  Its  conversion  into 
glucose  may  l>e  perhaps  accounted  for  by  the  constant  presence 
m  plant  tissues  of  vegetable  acids.  Bui,  so  far,  the  change 
Would  setm  to  be  positively  disadvanlagecus.  I'erhaps  glucose, 
in  the  botanical  sense,  will  prove  to  have  a  not  very  exact 
chemical  connotation. 

"  That  the  connection  between  cane-sugarand  starch  is  intimate 
is  a  conclusion  to  which  both  the  chemical  and  the  botanical 
evidence  seims  to  point.  And  <  n  botanical  grounds  this  would 
seem  to  be  equally  Hue  of  its  cf  nnecliin  with  cellulose. 

"  II  must  lie  CI  nfesstil  that  the  conclusion  that  'cane-sugar' 
is  the  first  sugar  lo  be  s)  nlhesised  by  the  assimilatory  processes 
seems  hard  to  rtconcilc  with  its  prolable  high  chemical  com- 
plexity, and  with  the  fact  that,  bctanically,  it  seems  to  stand  at 
the  end  and  not  at  the  beginning  of  the  .series  of  metabolic 
change," 

rRoroiTj\sMic  Chemistry. 

The  synthesis  of  proteids  is  the  problem  which  is  second  only 
in  importance  lo  thai  of  caibohjdralcs.  Lctw's  views  of  this 
deserve  allenlive  .siutly.  Asparngin,  as  has  long  been  suspected, 
plays  an  imporlani  [art.  It  has,  he  .'ays,  two  sources  in  the 
plant.  "It  may  either  be  foimid  ilireclly  fr<  m  glucose, 
ammonia  (or  nitrates;  and  sulphates,  or  il  maybe  a  Iransitoiy 
product  I]clwein  protein-dccrmposilion  and  reconstruction  from 
the  dagn-enls"  (/cc.  r;/. ,  64). 

In  the  remarks  I  made  lo  ihc  Chemical   Society  I  ventured  lo 

express  my  ci  nviclii  n   ihal  the  chemical  processes  which  look 

;  '  '    ihe   influercc   of  proloplnsm    were  prolrably   cjf  a 

'1  fri  111  ihi  fe  with   which  ihe  chiniisi   is  ordinarily 

I  '  '      •  '  ■' '     ]iroduces    a    profu>ii  n    of    mbslanres, 

riliiy,  which   Ihc  cbiniist  can  only  build 

w.iy.    As  Victor  Meyer  iP/ianii.  Jotirii., 

I:  "In  order  to isolalean 'irganic  substance 

■  d  lo  ihe  purely  accidental  properties  of 

'ion.'      In  oilier  words,  ihe  chemist 

i(  molecular  slabilily  ;  while  il  can- 

■■'il'laya  pari  in  ihe  processes  of 

lespect.      I  am  convinced  lhal 

I   of  protoplasmic  arliiily  he 

s  present  limilalion.H,  and  be  prei)are(l  lo 

l»e  more  than  one  algebra,  there  may  be 


will  ll.ue  I- 
.idniil  Ihnt 


xo.  1352,  vol 


more  than  one  chemisir)'.  I  am  glad  lo  see  thai  a  somewhai 
similar  idea  has  been  suggested  by  other  fields  of  inquiry.  Prof. 
Meldola  (N.\rt'RE,  xlii.  250)  thinks  lhal  the  mvestigalion 
of  photochemical  processes  "may  lead  to  the  recognition  of  a 
new  order  of  chemical  .attraction,  or  of  the  old  chemical  attrac- 
tion in  a  dilTerenl  degree.'  I  am  delighted  lo  see  lhal  the  ideas 
which  were  floaling,  I  confess,  in  a  very  nebulous  form  in  my 
brain  are  being  clothed  with  greater  precision  by  Loew. 

In  the  paper  which  I  have  alre-tdy  quoted,  he  s-tys  of  proteids 
{Im.  til.,  13)  :  "They  are  e.xieeilingjy  iahi/f  lompoiinds  that  can 
be  easily  converted  into  relatively  stable  ones.  A  great  hibiliiy 
is  the  indispensable  and  necessary  foundation  for  the  production 
of  the  various  actions  of  the  living  protoplasm,  for  ihe  mode  of 
motions  that  move  the  life-machinery.  There  is  a  sounc  oj  motion 
in  the  labile  position  of  atoms  in  molecules,  a  source  thai  has 
hitherto  not  been  taken  into  consideration  either  by  chemists  or 
by  physicists."" 

But  I  nmst  say  no  more.  The  [iroblems  lo  which  I  might 
invite  attention  on  an  occa-sion  like  this  are  endless.  1  have  not 
even  attempted  to  do  justice  lo  the  work  lhal  has  been  accom- 
plished amongst  ourselves,  full  of  interest  and  novelty  as  it  is. 
But  I  will  venture  to  say  this,  lhal  if  capacity  anti  earnestness 
afibrd  an  augury  of  success,  the  prosjiecls  of  the  future  of  out 
Section  possess  every  element  of  promise. 


PHYSICS  AT  THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 

"TrHE  proceedings  of  this  Section  were  commenced  by  the 
■'■  delivery  of  Ihe  presidential  address  by  I'rof  VV.  M.  Hicks. 
In  seconding  the  vote  of  thanks  to  Ihe  I'resident.  I'rof.  Kitz- 
gerald  referred  lo  the  possible  change  of  mass  with  lemiiera- 
lure,  suggested  in  Ihe  address,  and  pointed  out  that  such  a 
phenomenon  would  show  itself  by  a  deviation  of  planetary 
motions  from  strict  conformity  to  Kepler's  laws,  owing  to  their 
oh^nge  of  mass  on  cooling. 

I  Sir  Douglas  t'.alton  exhibited  plans  of  the  German  Keichs- 
anstalt,  and  of  ihe  new  buildings  in  course  of  construction,  anil 
gave  a  more  detailed  account  of  Ihe  man.igenienl  of  this  insliuition 
than  is  contained  in  his  presidential  address  to  the  Association. 
His  object  in  reading  the  paper  was  to  revive  a  movement  set 
on  foot  at  a  previous  meeting  by  I'rof  Oliver  Lodge.  The 
Committee  appointed  at  that  lime  lo  consider  ihe  question  of  a 
National  Physical  Laboratory  for  the  United  Kingdom  m.tde  bul 
little  progress,  possibly  because  they  did  not  prop<isc  to  de\elop 
any  existing  institution.  He  suggested  lhal  Ihe  scope  of  ihe 
Kew  Observatory  should  be  extended  so  as  to  include  research, 
and  that  it  be  made  the  slarling-iioinl  for  the  national 
laboratory. 

A  discussion  followed,  in  which  several  members  took  part. 
Prof  Riicker  lamented  ihe  wanl  of  concenlialion  and  organisa- 
tion in  research  work,  and  thought  a  national  laboralor)'  might 
remedy  this.  He  regretted  that  ihe  day  was  passing  away  when 
a  man  could  undertake  Imlh  leaching  and  research,  because,  in 
his  opinion,  teachers  should  no!  give  up  research.  Prof  Oliver 
Lodge  drew  attention  lo  the  enormous  advanl.agcs  possessed  by 
a  national  inslilulion,  for  carrying  on  researches  extending  over 
a  long  period.  In  a  universily  laboratory  such  research  would 
possibly  be  discontinued  wilh  a  change  of  professor.  The 
universilies  woilld  still  do  pioneer  work,  iliscovering  new  fields 
of  research  and  oblainiiig  i»reliiiiinary  results.  Prof  l-'it/gcrald, 
on  Ihc  other  hand,  did  not  liiink  il  advisable  lo  hand  over  research 
to  a  national  laboralory,  whereas  he  sirongly  ailvocaled  an 
extension  of  ihe  slandardising  w<irk  performed  al  Kew.  He 
believed  lhal  the  highest  kind  of  instruction  was  liaining  in  re- 
.search  work,  and  il  was  the  function  of  the  universilies  lo  give 
this  instruction.  Instead  of  that,  ihe  professors  are  called  upon 
lo  cram  old  knowledge  inio  immature  and  stupid  students.  The 
Section  h.is  appointed  a  Commitlee  lo  reconsider  the  question 
of  a  national  laboratory.  / 

I'rof  llenrici  read  a  paper  on  the  leaching  of  geometrical 
drawing  in  schools,  which  wiis,  he  said,  as  a  rule  very  bad.  lie 
pointed  out  lhal  Euclid's  constructions  are  generally  followed, 
Ihe  use  of  the  sel-s<piare  being  di.scarded  and  only  straight  eilges 
and  compasses  used.  He  urged  the  desirability  of  (liscaoling 
Eucliil  in  ihc  teaching  of  geomelrical  drawing,  advocating  ihe 
U.SC  of  the  set-s(juare  from  the  very  commencemeiil.  Ihe 
examples  oughl  lo  lie  so  arranged  thai  a  sludenl  can  verify  his 
constructions  for  himself;  he  lliercfore  suggested  the  appuinl- 
ineiit  of  a  Committee  lo  report  on  the  whole  question  and  issue 


September  26,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


a  syllabus  of  examples.  This  suggestion  was  adopted  by  the 
Section. 

The  range  of  subjects  included  in  the  work  of  the  Section  was 
perhaps  nowhere  better  exemplified  than  in  the  passage  to  the 
next  paper,  a  report  on  cosmic  dust,  by  Dr.  J.  Murray.  An 
examination  of  the  red  clay  from  the  bottom  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  in  places  looo  miles  from  any  coast,  enables  three  classes 
of  magnetic  particles  to  be  distinguished  ;  these  are — crystalline 
fragments  of  magnetic  or  titanic  iron,  dark  shiny  spherules  con- 
taining metallic  iron,  and  the  browni.sh  spherules  known  as 
chondres.  The  various  layers  of  manganese  nodules  found 
surrounding  nuclei  of  tertiary  teeth  or  bones  contain  these  black 
and  brown  spherules,  and  there  is  every  indication  that  the 
brown  ones  are  of  extra-terrestrial  origin.  In  this  case  they 
ought  to  occur  at  all,  or  at  any  rate  many,  points  on  the  earth's 
surface  ;  Dr.  .Murray  has,  however,  looked  for  them  in  vain  both 
in  the  dust  of  Greenland  glaciers  and  on  the  summit  of  Ben  Nevis. 
He  is  of  opinion  that  the  accumulation  of  meteoric  dust  takes 
place  with  exceeding  slowness,  say  about  20  lbs.  of  dust  per 
square  mile  per  century,  and  that  the  bed  of  the  Pacific  Ocean 
has  not  received  one  foot  of  deposit  since  the  tertiary  period. 
Consequently  any  attempt  to  gather  these  particles  will  probably 
be  fruitless,  unless  continued  over  a  long  period,  lie  wished  (or 
suggestions  as  to  the  best  method  of  procedure  in  the  future.  It 
was  pointed  out  that  a  good  opportunity  for  the  collection  of 
meteorites  will  be  afforded  by  the  meteor  shower  0.'  November 
1899. 

The  Committee  on  underground  temperature  have  been  for- 
tunate this  year  in  obtaining  records  from  a  bore-hole  in  New- 
South  Wales,  the  first  observations  made  in  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere. The  bore-hole  is  situated  near  Port  Jackson,  close  to 
Sy<lney  Harbour  ;  it  is  2929  feet  deep,  and  contains  water.  The 
^;radient  observed  was  a  small  one,  being  a  rise  of  1°  F.  in 
descending  80  feet  vertically.  The  observers  suspected  that  the 
temperature  of  the  rock  was  influenced  by  the  proximity  of  the 
water  in  the  harbour,  but  an  examination  of  the  temperature 
distribution  in  the  harbour  did  not  confirm  this.  Lord  Kelvin 
suggested  the  .Vfrican  mines  as  a  new  field  for  observations. 

Prof.  S.  P.  Thompson  reported  the  recommendations  of  the 
Committee  on  the  size  of  pages  of  scientific  periodicals.  It  is 
considered  advisable  to  retain  quarto  and  octavo  sizes,  and 
certain  limits  for  text  and  margin  are  given  for  each  of  these 
sizes.  There  appeared  to  be  a  strong  feeling  against  any  change 
in  the  sizes  of  the  Royal  Society's  publications.  During  the 
year  the  Committee  will  endeavour  to  induce  other  scientific 
societies  to  adopt  the  standard  sizes  recommended. 

Prof.  Riicker  communicated  the  results  of  a  comparison  of 
magnetic  standard  instruments,  made  by  himself  and  Mr.  W. 
Watson.  In  his  presidential  address  to  the  Section  last  year  he 
showed  that  it  was  useless  to  proceed  further  with  a  magnetic 
.survey  until  a  direct  comparison  of  standards  used  in  the  various 
observatories  had  been  made,  because  it  was  well  known  that 
instruments  diftered  greatly.  During  the  year  he  has  visited 
the  various  magnetic  observatories,  carrying  a  portable  declino- 
meter of  the  Kew  pattern,  and  with  Mr.  Watson's  assistance  has 
directly  compared  the  simultaneous  readings  of  his  declinometer 
and  that  of  the  observatory-.  Errors  are  found  in  the  latter, 
which  are  in  every  case  traceable  to  magnetic  material  in  or  on 
the  wooden  box  containing  the  suspended  magnet.  If  this  box 
be  replaced  by  an  ebonite  one,  the  error  disappears.  It  is,  how- 
ever, easier  to  allow  for  the  error  than  to  get  rid  of  it  ;  its 
amount  is  perfectly  definite. 

On  Friday  the  Section  sat  jointly  with  .Section  B.  Lord 
Rayleigh  read  a  paper  on  the  refractivity  and  viscosity  of 
these  gases.  He  described  how,  by  means  of  an  electric  arc, 
kept  up  for  several  weeks  in  a  mixture  of  oxygen  and  atmo- 
spheric nitrogen,  he  finally  obtained  more  than  a  litre  of  argon 
at  atmospheric  pressure.  This  proved  to  have  the  same  density 
as  the  specimen  obtained  by  the  magnesium  method.  The  re- 
fractive index  was  measured  by  the  interference  method  of 
Fizeau,  the  two  beams  being  separated  by  slits  in  front  of  the 
lens  nearest  the  eyepiece.  The  latter  was  constructed  of  cylin- 
drical lenses.  To  avoid  the  use  of  cross-wires,  the  tubes  con- 
taining the  gases  under  comparison  were  arranged  .so  as  not  to 
occupy  ihe  whole  field  of  view,  some  light  passing  parallel  to, 
and  outside  Ihem  ;  two  sets  of  fringes  were  thus  obtained,  which 
could  be  brought  to  coincidence  by  varying  the  pres.sure  of  either 
gas.  .\djustments  were  made  for  several  pressures,  one  of  the 
tubes  always  containing  air.  The  values  of  the  refractivity  (;i  -  i) 
were,  for  argon  0-961,  and  for  helium  0-146,  that  of  air  being 


taken  as  unity.  The  viscosity  of  each  gas  was  measured  by  its 
rate  of  flow  through  a  capillary  tube,  the  results  being  (air=l) 
argon  I '21,  helium  0-96.  Lord  Rayleigh  mentioned  that  a 
sample  of  nitrogen  collected  from  a  Hath  spring,  where  it  bubbles 
out  along  with  the  water,  give  the  D3  line  of  helium.  Dr. 
Gladstone  showed  that  the  results  of  these  experiments  assign 
to  argon  the  atomic  weight  20,  its  specific  refractive  energy- 
being  intermediate  between  those  of  fluorine  and  sodium,  but 
not  between  those  of  potassium  and  calcium. 

Prof.  Schuster  then  opened  a  discussion  on  the  evidence  to  be 
gathered  as  to  the  simple  or  comjxjund  character  of  a  gas  from 
the  constitution  of  its  spectrum.  Recent  spectroscopic  work  in 
connection  with  argon  and  cleveite  gas  has  directed  attention 
to  the  double  spectra  exhibited  by  these  substances,  and 
conjectures  have  been  made  that  the  two  spectra  indicate  the 
gases  to  be  mixtures.  Prof  Schuster  expressed  strongly  the 
view  that  gases  with  double  spectra  are  not  necessaril)' 
mixtures  or  compounds.  He  quoted  in  support  of  this  the 
cases  of  sodium  and  mercury  vapours,  and  oxygen,  in  all 
of  which  the  absorption  spectrum  differs  from  that  of  the 
luminous  vapour.  The  difticulty  is  not  explained  by  assuming 
dissociation  to  occur,  because  some  substances  have  three  or 
more  spectra.  He  thought  mere  examination  of  spectra  would 
not  suffice  to  determine  whether  an  unknown  substance  is  an 
element,  mixture  of  elements,  or  compound. 

The  despondent  view  of  Prof.  Schuster  was  not  shared  by 
Prof.  I-tunge,  of  Hanover,  who  at  this  point  contributed  an  ac- 
count of  the  researches  of  himself  and  Prof.  Paschen  on  the 
spectrum  of  cleveite  gas,  showing  that  it  is  a  mixture.  (.\n 
account  of  this  work  by  the  authors  themselves  will  be  found  on 
p.  520.) 

Dr.  G.  J.  Stoney  contributed  to  the  discussion  by  a  paper  on 
the  interpretation  of  spectra. 

On  Saturday  the  Section  was  subdivided  into  two  departments, 
mathematics  and  meteorology. 

In  the  department  of  mathematics.  Lord  Kelvin  read  a  paper 
on  the  translalional  and  vibrational  energies  of  vibrators  after 
impacts  on  fixed  walls,  in  which  he  sought  to  find  an  exception 
to  the  Maxwell-Boltzmann  theorem  relating  to  the  average  trans- 
lational  energy  of  the  molecules  of  a  gas.  He  calculated  the 
time-average  of  the  translalional  energy  of  a  free  particle  after 
coming  into  contact  with  a  vibr.ating  particle,  and  found  it 
always  in  excess  of  that  which  would  be  given  by  the  Maxwell- 
Boltzmann  law-,  though  approximating  more  nearly  to  that 
average  when  the  number  of  encounters  was  considerable  ;  and 
that  it  seemed  ultimately  to  give  a  total  average  out  of  accord- 
ance with  the  law.  In  the  di.scussion  which  followed,  Mr.  G.  H. 
Bryan  pointed  out  that  the  Maxwell-Boltzmann  law  referred  to 
the  statistical  average  energy  of  a  great  number  of  particles,  not 
to  the  time-average  energy  of  a  single  particle. 

Prt>f.  Hicks,  in  his  ])aper  on  a  spherical  vortex,  stated  that  he 
had  proved  the  possibility  of  building  up  a  compound  spherical 
vortex  consisting  of  successive  shells  in  which  the  rotation  Ls 
oppositely  directed,  the  vorticity  and  size  of  each  shell  satisfying 
a  definite  relation.  In  a  paper  on  bicyclic  vortex  aggregates,  he 
stated  that  it  was  possible,  with  given  current  and  vortex-sheets, 
to  have  a  steady  j;//rrt/ motion  round  an  axis,  compounded  of 
motion  in  planes  through  the  axis  and  motion  in  circles  round 
the  axis,  the  cyclic  constants  of  the  two  component  motions 
being  independent  of  each  other. 

Mr.  G.  T.  Walker  showed  an  ingenious  top  in  the  shape  of 
a  flattened  ellipsoid  in  which  rotation  could  become  converted 
into  oscillations,  and  vice  versd,  by  means  of  an  adjustable  piece 
which  could  be  arranged  unsynmietrically. 

Dr.  Burton  made  some  suggestions  as  to  matter  and  gravitation 
in  the  cellular  vortex  ether  described  in  Prof.  Hicks"s  presidential 
address. 

Mr.  P.  H.  Cowell  read  an  important  paper  on  recent  develop- 
ments of  the  lunar  theory,  chiefly  by  Dr.  G.  W.  Hill,  extended 
in  the  current  number  of  the  Aiiicricaii  Journal  by  an  admirable 
paper  by  Prof.  E.  W.  Brown.  The  order  of  work  in  attacking 
problems  in  the  lunar  theory-  is  quite  altered  and  much  simplified 
in  the  new  method.  In  a  short  discussi(m  which  followed,  Mr. 
Cowell  stated  that  Prof  Brown  was  engaged  in  bringing  out  a 
treatise  on  the  lunar  theory. 

Prof.  J.  D.  Everett  read  a  paper  on  absolute  and  relative 
motion  ;  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Everett  made  a  communication  on  the 
calculation  of  the  magnetic  field  due  to  a  current  in  a  solenoid. 

In  pure  mathematics,  Major  MacMahon  gave  an  interest- 
ing method  of  graphically  representing  partitions  of  numbers. 


NO.    1352,  VOL.   52] 


534 


NATURE 


[September  26,  1895 


Colonel  Cunningham  read  a  paper  on  Mersenne's  numbers, 
which  are  numbers  of  the  form  2'-  I,  where  </  is  a  prime,  and 
which  were  first  discussed  by  Mersenne  about  the  year  1664. 
Colonel  Cunningham  also  described  a  book  of  tables  which  he 
proposed  to  calculate,  giving  the  s<ilution  of  the  congruence 
2*  =  R  (mod.  p)  for  all  mo<luli  (/)  which  are  primes,  or  powers 
of  primes,  up  to  1000.  There  are  to  be  two  tables  for  each 
modulus,  one  giving  the  values  of  R  for  a  series  of  values  of  x  ; 
and  the  other  giving  the  smallest  values  of  .v  for  a  seiies  of 
values  of  R.  I  le  described  some  of  the  uses  of  such  a  table,  and 
stated  that  the  plan  on  which  it  would  Ik;  drawn  up  would  be 
precisely  like  a  somewhat  similar  table  by  Jacobi,  described  in 
Prof.  Cayley's  re|X)rt  on  mathematical  tables  in  the  British 
Association  Report  of  1876. 

Prof.  Alfred  Lodge  drew  the  attention  of  the  Section  to  a 
multiplication  table  up  to  1000  x  1000,  drawn  up  by  Mr.  M. 
B.  Cotiworth,  of  liiildgate,  York,  which  w.-is  exhibited  ;  it  is 
similar  to  Crelle's  table  of  the  same  e.vtent,  though  in  some 
respects  more  convenient. 

Prof.  M.  J.  M.  Hill  described  two  species  of  tetrahedron,  the 
volume  of  any  member  of  which  can  be  determined  without 
using  the  proposition  that  tetrahedrons  on  ef)ual  bases,  and 
having  etjual  altitudes,  are  equal. 

In  the  department  of  meteorology,  Mr.  Eric  S.  Bruce  put 
forward  a  new  theory  of  lightning  flashes,  based  on  the  prin- 
ciple <if  the  pin-hole  camera.  The  light  from  a  concealed  flash 
might,  he  supposed,  pass  through  a  small  aperture  in  the  con- 
cealing cloud  and  fall  on  another  cloud,  forming  an  inverted 
im.ige  of  the  flash.  If  there  were  several  apertures  we  should 
have  .IS  many  images.  They  would  be  faint,  possibly  too  faint 
to  affect  a  photographic  plate.  Moreover,  if  the  receiving  cloud 
were  of  irregular  shajx',  an  originally  straight  flash  would 
apjjear  distorted  into  a  zig-zag  line  on  the  cloud.  Mr.  Symons 
thought  a  brighter  patch  of  light  ought  to  occur  at  the  angles  of 
the  image  thus  distorted,  and  he  scarcely  thought  the  conditions 
imagined  by  Mr.  Bruce  corresponded  with  those  of  nature. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  earth  tremors  was  presented 
by  -Mr.  Symons,  who,  in  referring  to  the  delicacy  of  the  instru- 
ments used  in  their  observations,  said  that  an  angle  equal  to 
that  .subtended  by  a  chord  I  inch  long  at  the  centre  of  a  circle 
1000  miles  in  radius  could  be  detected.  .Since  last  report  two 
bifilar  pendulums  have  been  purchased,  of  the  kind  described  in 
NatI'RE,  vol.  I.  pp.  246-249  (1894);  each  possesses  its  own 
photographic  recording  apparatus.  One  of  these  has  been 
recently  erected  in  the  cellar  of  Mr.  Davison's  house  in  Birming- 
ham ;  the  other  should  have  been  placed  in  a  house  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  to  the  e.tst,  but  this  was  found  impr.icticable. 
It  will  lie  placed  somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood,  ami  comjiari- 
sons  of  the  records  of  the  instruments  will  be  made  during  the 
year,  after  which  the  second  one  will  be  available  for  another 
•  .•:  n.  .\n  appendix  to  the  report  by  .Mr.  Davison  gives  the 
1;'  1,  ;;raphy  and  classification  of  horizontal  pendulums. 

I'rof.  John  Milne  gave  an  account  of  the  lung  report  of  the 
Committee  on  .seism0logic.1l  phenomena  in  Japan.  This  com- 
mences by  a  reference  to  the  great  loss  caused  by  the  recent  fire 
at  Prof.  Milne's  house  .and  observatory,  after  which  follows  a 
description  of  the  records  of  the  Gray- .Milne  seismograph.  At- 
tached to  the  re|H)rt  is  a  catalogue  of  S331  earthquake  shocks 
recor<led  in  Japan  between  1885  and  1892,  giving  full  particulars 
of  the  centre  and  area  of  disturlnnce.  It  enables  the  approxi- 
mate Tit /^V'/ of  each  to  be  found,  and  permits  the  division  of 
Ja|Kin  into  fifteen  distinct  .seismic  di.stricts.  The  next  section  of 
the  repirt  deals  with  the  rate  of  pro|iagation  of  earthquake  dis- 
turbances from  Ja|>an  to  Europe.  The  small  tremors  which 
occur  in  the  ten  seconds  or  so  before  an  earthquake  shock  are 
transmitted  to  Euro(>e,  but  they  arc  .spread  over  half  an  hour  ;  it 
appears,  therefore,  that  the  preliminary  tremors  either  travel 
more  quickly,  or  reach  Kuro|«:  by  a  .shorter  route  than  the  main 
'  '  '      '   "ir  is  known  to  travel  along  the  surface  at  about 

I    second.       Do   the  tremors    travel   at   8000   to 
I  ,    r  second,  or  do  they   [kiss  through   the  earth, 

not   round  it .'      If  the  latter,   we  may  hope  for  some  further 
kn'iwlfdg'-  '■on'-i-ming  the  interior  of  the  globe.      Prof.  Milne 
■  ndulums  in  nearly  a  score  of  places,  and 
in  their  liehaviour.     They  all  exhibit  a 
■.r.  till,  in  the  .same  direction,  and  similar 
Examined   from   hour   to  hour,  how- 
:.»  the  existence  of  a  diurnal  wave.    After 
!  very  latxirious  search,  graphically  descrilied  lo  Ihe 
■,    Prof.   Milne,  he   succeciled  in  tracing  this  diurnal 

NO.    1352,  VOL.  52] 


effect  to  the  local  removal  of  load  from  the  alluvium  by  greater 
evaporation  from  exposed  areas.  At  night  the  movement  is 
slight,  and  is  probably  accounted  for  by  the  condensation,  at  the 
cold  surface,  of  aqueous  vapour  after  rising  through  the  warm 
earth.  Some  observations  have  been  made  on  the  disturbance 
of  the  pendulums  by  earth  tremors.  Their  cause  has  not  been 
asccitained,  but  they  always  occur  with  greatest  intensity  be- 
tween 5  and  9  a.m.  They  are  most  marked  with  a  steep  liaro- 
meter  gradient  and  consequent  wind,  local  or  distant. 

As  Prof.  Milne  has  now  relurne<l  from  Japan,  and  the  earth- 
quake catalogue  is  completed,  the  Committees  on  earth  tremors 
and  seismological  phenomena  have  united  under  the  latter  name. 
The  new  Committee  is  a  large  one,  and  with  Prof.  Milne  and 
Mr.  Davison  as  joint  secretaries,  it  ought  to  do  good  work. 

A  new  theory  of  thunderstorms  was  advanced  by  Prof.  Michie 
Smith  in  his  paper  on  Indian  thunderstorms.  His  observations, 
made  at  Madnas,  showed  that  sheet-lightnins;  occurs  there  every 
evening  during  several  months  of  the  year,  always  in  the  south- 
west and  near  the  horizon.  Lightning  phenomena  in  the  morn- 
ing occur,  on  the  other  hand,  in  the  north-east.  The  phenomena 
consist  of  actual  discharges  between  two  clouds,  or  two  jiortions 
of  the  same  cloud,  and  are  not  reflections  of  distant  lightning  ; 
they  take  place  in  the  upper  portions  of  low-lying  cunuilus 
clouds.  Prof.  Smith  attributes  them  to  the  clouds  formed  in 
the  regions  of  still  air  at  the  meeting  of  the  land  and  sea 
breezes,  and  has  observe<l  in  these  regions  the  simultaneous 
rise  of  two  close  parallel  clouds  from  the  edge  of  the  cumulus  ; 
such  clouds  are  scarcely  distinguishable  except  with  oblique 
illumination,  and  it  is  within,  or  between,  them  that  the  dis- 
charges occur.  The  lime  of  their  formatiim  depends  on  the 
hour  at  which  the  sea  breeze  .sets  in,  being  roughly  three  hours 
later.  The  land  breeze  l)eing  dry  and  dusty  is  negatively 
charged,  while  the  sea  breeze  is  known  lo  carry  a  strong  positive 
charge ;  equalisation  of  the  electrical  states  of  the  clouds 
formed  out  of  these  will,  therefore,  give  rise  to  lightning.  Prof 
Smith  referred  to  the  iridescence  or  nacreous  appearance  of  the 
edges  of  the  clouds  when  rapidly  sinking,  and  considered  this 
eflect  to  be  due  to  the  dust  lel^t  behind  by  them. 

This  paper  gave  rise  lo  an  interesting  discussion,  chiefly  with 
reference  lo  the  origin  of  dust  in  clouds,  and  the  source  "of  their 
electricity.  .Mr.  John  Aitken  pointed  out  that  thunderstorms 
are  most  probably  the  effect,  not  the  cause,  of  purifying  the  air. 
He  gave  instances  of  thunderstorms  on  several  successive  days, 
all  of  which  left  the  air  dusly  aiul  impure  ;  eventually  the  air 
cleared,  and  no  more  thunder  occurred.  Prof.  .Schuster  alludeil 
to  the  fact  that  twenty-five  theories  of  ihumlorstorms  had  been 
put  forward  in  a  dozen  years,  and  in  a  single  year  five  appeared. 
He  attribuled  Ihe  positive  charge  of  the  sea  breeze  to  the  elec- 
trification of  the  air  l)y  the  spray  from  the  breaking  waves  ; 
Lenard  has  .shown  that  the  spray  of  pure  water  gives  a  negative 
charge  to  the  air,  while  that  of  salt  water  comnumicates  a 
positive  charge.  He  believed  Ihe  dust  of  clouds  to  be  .acquired 
locally,  except  that  at  high  altitudes,  which  we  know  to  lie 
carried  long  distances.  \  proof  of  this  is  lo  be  found  in  tlie 
liimal.ayas  where  certain  valleys  are  dusty  and  others  fairly  free 
from  dust,  although  all  receive  the  wind  from  the  Indian  plains. 
His  observations  of  nacreous  clouds  in  Knglanil  had  led  him  to 
connect  them  rather  with  the  ice  ]iarticles  of  ciirus  clouds  than 
with  dust.  To  this  latter  point  Prof  Michie  Smith  replied  that 
the  nacreous  appearance  fits  the  edge  of  the  cumulus  so  closely 
that  he  believes  the  two  lo  be  C(Uinected. 

The  Committee  on  the  application  of  photography  to 
meteorology  are  proceeding  with  the  photograi)hy  of  clouds  near 
the  sun  by  means  of  two  cameras  at  a  fixed  distance  apart,  and 
exposed  simultaneously  by  an  electrical  arrangement.  In  this 
way  they  hope  lo  obtain  absolute  measurements  of  cloud  alti- 
tudes. Kor  (nnposes  of  measurement  the  .sun's  image  appears  in 
all  Ihe  photographs.  .\  photograph  of  the  rainljow,  liy  Mr. 
.\ndrews  of  Coventry,  is  Ihe  first  of  its  kind  received  by  ihe 
Committee.  It  shows  the  secondary  bow,  and  the  greater 
brightness  of  the  regiim  within  the  bow. 

During  a  recent  visit  to  the  ICngadine,  Prof.  Schuster  has 
made  observations  on  the  atmospheric  electricity  near  the  ground 
at  diflcreni  heights  above  sea-level.  The  readings  were 
taken  with  Lord  Kelvin's  portable  electromeler,  which  worked 
very  .satisfactorily  and  seems  well  adapted  for  such  purposes.  In 
all  cases  positive  charges  were  found,  increasing  with  heiglil  but 
in  an  api>aiently  erratic  fashion.  The  normal  positive  charge  al 
the  foot  of  a  glacier  was  found  to  be  strengthened  by  a  wind 
blowing  down  il,  and   Lenard's  observations  on  the  negative 


September  26,  1895] 


NA 1 URE 


OJJ 


electricity  of  waterfalls  were  all  confirmed.  The  daily  curve 
of  atmospheric  potential  in  the  valley  of  I'ontresina  shows  a 
maximum  at  ii  a.m.,  dipping  a  little  and  rising  again  to  an 
afternoon  maximum  at  5  p.m.,  then  rapidly  descending  a.s  the 
evening  lirceze  .sets  in.  Discussion  on  the  paper  related  chiefly 
to  the  behaviour  and  temperature  errors  of  portable  electro- 
meters, the  latter  being  somewhat  large  and  quite  unexplained. 
Trof  Ayrton  .suggested  a  crucial  experiment  to  determine  whether 
atmospheric  electricity  is  due  to  an  actual  distribution  in  the  air, 
or  to  induction  from  the  earth's  surface. 

The  rejiort  of  the  Hen  Nevis  Observatory  for  1894  was  pre- 
sented. The  mean  hourly  velocity  of  the  wind  at  the  top  of  the 
mountain,  and  the  mean  rainband,  are  included  in  the  report 
for  the  first  time.  Dr.  Buchan  and  .Mr.  Omond  have  made 
progress  in  collating  the  simultaneous  records  made  at  Fort 
William  and  the  summit  ;  the  differences  between  them  are  to 
be  examined  especially  with  respect  to  their  bearing  on  coming 
storms.  Even  at  this  stage  the  results  indicate  that  the  present 
theory  of  cyclones  requires  great  mollification. 

The  first  part  of  Monday's  sitting  was  devoted  to  a  discussion 
on  the  nature  of  combination  tones.  Prof.  Riicker  gave  an  ad- 
mirable account  of  the  history  of  the  subject,  pointing  out  that 
Helmholtz  originated  both  the  theory  that  they  are  objective, 
anil  that  which  supposes  them  subjective.  Me  reviewed  the 
theories  of  Prior  and  others,  according  to  which  summation 
and  difference  tones  are  explained  as  beat  tones  of  various 
kinds  ;  and  he  called  attention  to  Helmholtz's  proof  that  an 
asymmetrical  elastic  body,  such  as  the  disc  of  a  microphone  or 
the  dr\miskin  of  the  ear,  would  resound  to  the  difference  tone 
between  two  notes.  Prof.  S.  P.  Thomp.son  regretted  that  in  his 
historical  survey  Prof.  Riicker  did  not  refer  to  his  own  work. 
He  read  communications  from  K'inig  and  Hermann,  defining 
their  views.  Kiinig  distinguishes  between  beat  tones,  which  can 
be  resonated,  antl  difference  tones,  to  which  the  resonator  does 
not  respond  ;  the  latter  are  subjective.  Hermann  objects  to 
Helmholtz's  theory  that  it  is  inadequate  to  account  for  the  loud- 
ness of  the  cojnbinational  tones.  Prof.  Thompson  mentioned 
exiJcrimenls  to  show  that  difference  tones  may  Ije  obtained  by 
semljng  one  sound  to  each  ear,  and  in  other  cases  where  the 
drumskin  does  not  receive  the  sounds.  He  described  also  the 
effect  of  periodically  intermitting  a  single  tone,  or  of  suddenly 
and  periodically  changing  its  jihase,  in  both  of  which  cases  a 
tone  is  heard  the  jiitch  of  which  is  the  frequency  of  i)hase-change 
or  intermittence. 

Prof.  Everett  sought  for  the  cause  of  combination  tones  in  the 
air  itself,  W'hich  would  be  disturbed  unsymmetrically  by  two 
soimds  of  finite  amplitude.  He  thought,  however,  that  in  the 
combined  effect  of  two  tones,  the  vibration  corresponding  to  the 
fundamental  Fourier  term  conunon  to  each  would  be  louder  than 
the  difference  tone,  a  view  in  which  Lord  Kelvin  concurred. 
Dr.  Burton  pointed  out  that  Prof.  Everett's  explanation  of  com- 
bination tones  would  ai>])ly  also  to  phase  tones  antl  intermittence 
lone.s.  Dr.  (I.  J.  Stoney  thought  resonance  by  the  mouth -cavity 
was  an  important  factor  in  hearing,  and  in  the  selection  of 
separate  sounds  from  among  a  number.  There  was  a  general 
agreement  that  summation  tones  have  never  been  heard,  and 
probably  do  not  exist. 

Mr.  E.  H.  Griffiths  opened  a  discussion  on  the  desirability 
of  a  new  Practical  Heat  Standard.  He  showed  thattheu.se 
of  water  as  the  standard  substance  in  heat  measurements  had 
led  to  great  confusion,  on  account  of  (he  various  a.ssumptions 
as  to  its  variation  of  heat-capacily  witli  temperature.  The 
curves  of  heat-capacity  of  water  and  temperature,  used  by 
different  experimenters,  were  exhibited  ;  according  t<j  which  the 
author's  results  furnished  a  value  about  the  mean  of  tliose  of 
recent  observers.  Mr.  Oriffiths  suggests  as  a  heat  unit,  absolute, 
independent  of  any  one  person's  results,  and  convenient  in 
magnitude,  the  heat  energy  of  42  million  ergs.  To  interpret  it 
as  a  water  standard  he  proposes  to  take  it  as  the  thermal  capacity 
of  a  gramme  of  water  at  10'^  C,  as  measured  l)y  the  hydrogen 
thermometer ;  and  he  gives  a  formula  to  find  the  heat-capacity 
at  other  temperatures  than  10°  C.  Lord  Kelvin  said  that  Prof. 
Rankine  had  |)reviously  suggested  the  dynamical  specific  heat 
of  water  as  a  standard.  Mr.  VV.  N.  Shaw  thought  it  advisable 
to  make  a  distinction  between  the  numbers  for  the  absolute 
thermal  capacity  and  the  specific  heat  of  a  substance.  He 
believed  this  would  be  done  most  simply  by  taking  the  thermal 
unit  as  the  heat  energy  of  a  million  ergs  ;  the  specific  heat  of 
water  at  10'  C.  would  then  be  unity,  and  its  thermal  cajiacily 
42  imits.  The  choice  of  a  thermal  unit  has  been  referred  to  the 
Electrical  Standards  Committee. 

NO.    1352,  VOL.   52] 


Dr.  C.  H.  Lees  gave  an  account  of  the  method  and  results  of 
experiments  on  the  thermal  conductivity  of  mixtures  of  liquids. 
The  method  used  was  that  of  Christiansen,  in  which  the  heat  i.s 
conducted  through  the  liquid  enclosed  between  two  copper  discs, 
and  confined  by  an  elxmite  ring  if  necessary.  The  results  show 
that  the  conductivity  of  mixtures  of  two  liquids  is  less  than  the 
value  calculated  by  the  ordinary  law  of  mixture,  at  any  rate  for 
water,  ethyl  alcohol,  methyl  alcohol  and  glycerine.  Dr.  Lees 
undertook  the  experiments  to  verify  certain  relations  .suggested 
by  Prof.  IL  !•'.  Weber  between  molecular  weight,  density, 
specific  heat  and  thermal  conductivity. 

\  paper  by  Prof.  Ramsay  and  Nliss  Dorothy  Marshall  was 
rea<l  by  the  latter,  the  subject  being  a  method  of  comparing 
heats  of  evaporation  of  liquids  at  their  boiling-points,  -\fter 
remarking  that  the  data  of  heats  of  evaporation  are  very  scanty 
and  discrepant.  Miss  Marshall  described  a  method  by  which 
two  liquids,  kept  at  their  boiling  points  byjacketsof  their  vapour 
surrounding  them,  are  boiled  by  means  of  equal  bare  platinum 
wires  heated  by  an  electric  current.  A  comparison  of  the 
amounts  of  the  liquids  evaporated  in  a  given  time  gives  the  ratio 
of  heats  of  evaporation.  For  absolute  values  a  special  determina- 
tion was  made  on  benzene  by  Mr.  Criffiths  and  -Miss  Marshall. 
Alcohol  was  carefully  compared  with  benzene,  and  all  other 
liquids  were  then  comjjared  with  alcohol.  Water  was  very 
erratic  in  its  behaviour,  probably  because  of  its  greater  electric 
conductivity. 

Mr.  G.  U.  \'ule  exhibited  a  harmonic  analyser. 

At  the  meeting  on  Tuesday,  Lord  Kelvin  described  the  results 
of  experiments  for  the  electrification  and  diselectrification  of  air 
and  other  gases,  made  by  Messrs.  Maclean  and  Gait,  and  him- 
self. In  the  earlier  experiments  the  air  inside  a  metal  can  was 
electrified  by  points,  the  can  being  put  to  earth  :  on  insulating 
the  can  and  blowing  out  the  air,  the  charge  acquired  by  the  can 
was  equal  and  opposite  to  that  of  the  air.  Electrification  of  air 
and  other  gases  in  gas-holders  over  water,  by  points  and  flames, 
was  also  tried,  greater  electric  densities  being  thus  obtained  than 
by  the  previous  method.  The  maximum  efl'ects  were  I'J  x'  10"'' 
electrostatic  units  per  c.c.  for  air,  and  2 '2  x  io"'forCO.^.  The 
gases  were  diselectrified  by  "filtering"  them  through  metal 
tubes  containing  conducting  wire  gauze  and  cotton  wool.  \'ery 
little  electrifying  effect  was  found  when  uncharged  air  p.assed 
through  a  jilatinum  tube  ic»  cm.  long  and  i  mm.  diameter, 
until  the  tube  was  made  red-hot,  in  which  case  the  air  acquired 
a  strong  positive  charge.  Prof.  Oliver  Lodge  suggested  the  jse 
of  a  filter  consisting  of  a  metal  tube,  highly  ]ioIished  inside  and 
illuminated  by  an  electric  beam  shining  into  its  interior.  Lord 
Kelvin  said  that  in  all  Hertz's  or  Elsterand  Geitel's  experiments 
on  diselectrification  by  light,  the  charge  of  the  air  round  the 
illuminated  body  should  be  examined. 

Prof.  Riicker  made  a  communication  on  vertical  (earth-air) 
electric  currents.  At  the  meeting  of  the  .-Vssociation  last  year. 
Dr.  Adolph  Schmidt  accounted  for  a  portion  of  the  earth's 
magnetism  by  assuming  electric  currrents  to  ]>ass  vertically 
between  earth  and  air.  Such  currents  woidd  be  shown  by 
the  non-vanishing  of  the  line-integral  of  magneti*  force  when 
taken  round  a  closed  circuit  on  the  earth's  surface.  The  matter 
was  tested  in  this  way  by  Messrs.  Kay  and  Whalley,  using  four 
independent  circuits,  three  in  Great  Britain  and  one  in  Ireland, 
and  olitaining  the  data  of  magnetic  force  from  the  surveys  of 
1886  and  1891.  The  results  do  not  decide  the  general  question, 
but  they  show  that  in  the  United  Kingdom  the  upward  current 
has  certaijily  not  mcire  than  one-tenth  of  the  value  required  in 
Dr.  Schmidt's  theory.  Lord  Kelvin  calculated  that  the  current 
assumed  by  Dr.  Schmiilt  (01  ampere  per  scpiare  kilometre  of 
surface)  amounts  to  a  removal  of  the  fine-weather  charge  of  the 
air  near  the  earth  36  times  per  second.  Dr.  Rijchevorsel  said  he 
understood  that  magnetic  observations  were  about  to  lie  made  in 
Switzerland,  which" would  furnish  data  for  similar  calculations 
there. 

Mrs.  Ayrton  made  a  communication  on  the  connection 
between  potential  difl'erence,  current  and  length  of  arc,  in  the 
electric  arc.  The  results  of  carefully-performed  experiments, 
verified  also  by  recalculation  from  the  data  of  other  observers, 
show  that  the  foUosving  relations  hold  :— ( I )  For  constant  length 
of  arc  the  power  (number  of  watts  used  in  the  arc)  is  a  linear 
function  of  the  current  ;  (2)  for  constant  currents  the  power  is 
a  linear  function  of  the  length  of  arc  :  {3)  for  constant  length 
of  arc  the  curve  of  potential  difference  and  current  is  a 
rectangular  hyperbola.  .\ll  these  laws  are  included  in  the 
President's  statement  that  the  surface  with  potential  difl'erence, 
current  and  arc  length  as  coordinates,  is  a  hyperbolic  paraboloid. 


NATURE 


[September  26,  1S95 


I'rol.  Aytton  read  a  paper  by  Mr.  Mather  and  himself,  in  which 
an^imenis  were  advanced  against  the  existence  of  a  back  electro- 
1:  '  in  the  electric  arc.  The  authors  describe  a  method 
^  :he  tnie  resistance  of  the  arc,  nameh  the  ratio  of  a 
,M..., ^.^„>e  of  p0tenti.1l  difference  to  the  corresp<inding  in- 
crease in  the  current  :  this,  of  course,  is  a  negative  quantity.  The 
same  authors  descritjetl  a  magnetic  field-tester,  an  apjilication  of 
the  ordinary  exploring  coil  and  ballistic  galvanometer  method, 
with  a  spiral  spring  to  effect  rapid  rotation  of  the  exploring  coil, 
and  a  mo<litied  D'Arsonval  galvanometer  with  shuttle-wound 
coil  capable  of  rotating  through  several  turns  without  losing  the 
propor"'  "'■■•■     f  angular  displacement  and  restoring  force. 

The  light  in  vacuum  tubes  conveying  an  electric  dis- 

charge subject  of  a  ])aper  by  Messrs.  Edser  and  Star- 

ling. \  .icuum  tubes  were  placed  in  the  path  of  the  two  beams 
of  a  Fizeau  interference  apparatus,  and  the  jwsition  of  the  bands 
obser^•ed.  No  appreciable  shift  of  the  bands  was  obtained  either 
by  setting  up  an  induction-coil  discharge,  or  by  the  discharge  of 
tcr  ,:"  ■  \r>  through  the  tul>es  when  placed  in  series  with  a 
I  •   string.     The  dischai^e   in  the  latter  cise  lasted 

<  :.-  : -.  of  a  second,  and  the  authors  show  that  a  dis- 
turbance 01  the  bands  of  so  long  duration  would  have  been 
observed. 

Mr.  K.  fi.  Baily  read  a  pajjer  on  hysteresis  of  iron  in  an 
alternating  magnetic  field,  in  which  he  showed  that  the  hysteresis 
of  iron  increases  with  the  field  up  to  a  maximum  value,  in 
accordance  with  Kwings  theory.  The  experiments  were  made 
by  the  isthmus  method,  using  a  small  laminated  armature  con- 
sisting of  thin  discs  of  charcoal  iron  ;  the  most  intense  magnetic 
field  used  was  22,000  C.O.-S.  units,  and  the  hysteresis  was 
measured  by  the  rise  of  tem|>erature  of  the  armature. 

On  \Vednc«Iay,  Dr.  Gladstone  and  Mr.  W.  Ilibbert  made  a 
I  n   the  change  of  molecular  refraction  in  salts 

in  water.     The  molecular  refraction  of  a  sub- 
.^  ,   when   the   substance  changes  its  state,   and  a 
1  alteration  takes  place  on  diluting  its  .solution  :  the 

.i„  c   obtained    some   evidence   of  a   close  connection 

bciuccn  liicse  changes  and  the  variations  of  electric  conductivity 
of  the  sul<stance  and  its  solutions.  .Such  a  connection  would  have 
an  im|K)riant  bearing  on  the  theory  of  solution. 

The  report  of  the  Electrical  Standards  Committee  was  read. 
The  Committee  hope  during  the  year  to  institute  a  comparison 
Iwtween  ihe  IJritish  and  (German  standards  of  resistance,  and 
have  pr<K:ure<l  coils  for  this  purpose,  which  have  already  been 
tested  at  the  Reichsanstalt.  The  Committee,  recognising  the  j 
need  for  practical  units  of  magnetic  field  and  magnetic  potential, 
recommend  foi  tentative  adoption  (l)  aunit  equal  to  10'  C.Ci.S. 
lines,  to  be  called  a  weber,  (2)  ihe  C.(j.S.  unit  of  magnetic 
IMtential,  to  l>e  called  n  gniiss.  They  also  recommend  that  the 
termination  (imc  be  used  in  describing  the  pro]iertics  of  a  piece 
of  matter,  i.i;.  the  resist<r«i<:  of  a  copper  wire,  and  the  termina- 
tion /;■//)'  or  i/ily  for  the  sjiecific  properties  of  the  material,  e.g. 
the  resist/!'//)' of  Copper  would  mean  the  resistance  of  a  centi- 
metre cul>e  of  it.  I'rof.  Oliver  Lodge  explained,  and  advoc.ited 
the  use  of.  the  projKised  units.  I'rof.  S.  I'.  Thompson,  while 
i.  '     "':'■  Committee  as   to  the  desirability  of  having 

lield  and  magnetic  [vitential,  thought  the  choice 
ulil  lie  left  with   the  pr.iclical  men  who  use 
Lil  the  proposed  wiher  was  too  large,  and  ad- 
r        lion  of  the  C.fi.S.  "  line,"  using  the  kilo-  and 
>  multiples  :  further,   he  did   not  see  any  necessity 
irit;  ihe  am|KTelurn  in  order  to  replace  it    by  the 
'  n  iHiinted  out  a  more  formidable  objection, 

>       man  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  have 
..,.,/•  to  a  different  unit,  and  have  suggested 
i"r  the  gauss.     Several  meniliers  continued  the 
I'rof.    I'erry   expressed    his   opinion    that    the 
■I. lines  ought  to  be  settled  by  a  general  congress. 
~  of  ap|)aratus  for  tracing  the  form  of  the  wave  of 
ilternate  current  circuit  were  exhibited  and  de- 
\  Messrs.  Uarr,  Hurnic  and  Kixigers,  the  other 
'    ^'-    Milhcr. 

•' il  the  appar.itus  designed  for  the 

lo-  ihermometers  at  Kew  Obscrva- 

'     '  '  iidar   and   Griffiths   platinum 

■  ir  |)orcelain  tulie,  and  can  be 

'liL    iliLTiiiometer  to    l)e  calibrated,    in 

I  "t    sulphur  vapour,  accfirding  tf>   the 

■  ■■i' ■.     It^  reH.stancc  i.s  measured  by  a  Wheat- 

,  the  coils  of  which  arc  enclosed   in  a  copper  box, 

NO.    1352,  VOL.   52] 


five  sides  of  which  are  immersed  in  a  water-bath  of  constant 
temperature,  while  the  top  is  surmounted  by  a  case  similar  to  that 
of  a  chemical  balance.  The  coils  of  the  bridge  are  of  platinum- 
silver,  wound  double,  and  are  not  embedded  in  paratlin,  the 
object  being  to  allow  them  to  assume  the  temperature  of  the  box 
and  surrounding  water  as  quickly  as  possible. 

A  vote  of  thanks  to  the  Chairman  and  Secretaries  terminated 
the  proceedings. 


CHEMISTRY  AT    THE    BRITISH 

ASSOCIATIOX. 

\TnTH  the  exception  of  Prof.  Runge's  announcement  of  the 
undoubtedly  comixiund  nature  of  helium,  few  of  the 
communications  laid  before  Section  B  at  Ipswich  are  likely  to 
awaken  great  interest  outside  chemical  circles.  The  discussions, 
however,  which  are  now  a  recognised  feature  of  these  meetings, 
were  especially  successful,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  hope  that 
the  joint  meeting  with  the  newly-formed  Botanical  Section  may 
be  the  means,  if  only  indirectly,  of  bringing  about  results  of 
great  importance  to  the  agricultural  community. 

Following  the  Piesident"s  valuable  address.  Sir  Henry  Roscoe 
and  Dr.  A.  Harden  communicated  to  the  Section  an  interesting 
discovery  in  historical  chemistry.  It  has  been  generally  assumed 
that  Dalton  arrived  at  the  idea  of  atoms  with  definite  weights 
from  a  consideration  of  the  proportions  in  which  certain 
elements  combined.  I'rom  the  examination  of  a  number  of 
manuscript  volumes  of  Dalton's  own  laborator)'  notes,  which 
they  have  recently  discovered  in  the  library  of  the  Manchester 
Literary  and  Philo.sophical  Society,  Sir  Henry  Roscoe  and 
Dr.  Harden  conclude  that  Dalton  worked  out  his  theor)'  solely 
from  physical  considerations  as  to  the  constitution  of  gases. 
His  mind  being  saturated  with  Newton's  ideas  concerning 
atoms,  it  was  from  these  that  his  own  atomic  theory  was 
developed. 

Later  on,  quoting  not  only  his  own  results  but  those  of 
other  chemists,  he  seems  to  have  been  led  to  the  law  of  multiple 
proportions  as  the  only  conceivable  mode  of  combination 
between  atoms.  Extracts  were  given  from  his  notes  showing 
that  certain  numbers,  usually  quoted  as  having  led  him  to  his 
atomic  theory,  e.g.  the  analyses  of  marsh  gas  and  olefiant  gas, 
were  only  inserted  in  his  tables  some  time  after  the  publication 
of  his  ideas. 

I'rof.  .Vrnistrong  said  it  was  satisfactory  to  learn  that  Dalton 
had  really  arrived  at  his  conclusions  from  truly  philosophical 
considerations,  without  reference  to  the  very  crude  numbers, 
usually  quoted  as  sufficient  basis  for  the  laws  that  he  worke<l 
out. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  leaching  of  science  in 
elementary  schools  was  read  by  Dr.  J.  II.  Gladstone.  During 
|>a.st  years  there  has  been  an  increase  in  the  number  of  subjects 
taught,  and  in  the  number  of  pupils  receiving  instruction.  The 
alteration  in  the  system  of  inspection  will  have  an  especially 
useful  effect  in  the  teaching  of  science.  The  question  of  the 
training  of  teachers  is  di.scussed  in  the  report.  A  course  for 
mistresses  on  domestic  science,  tlealing  as  far  as  jiossible  with 
the  nature  of  the  processes  and  materials  employed  in  tlie 
household,  has  been  found  successful.  The  great  obstacles  to 
good  science  teaching  at  the  present  time  in  elementary  schools 
are:  (l)  Large  classes;  (2)  multitude  of  subjects;  (3)  in- 
sufficiency of  the  training  course  for  le.ichers  in  science  subjects  ; 
^4)  effects  of  the  old  science  and  art  system,  which  is  clearly  far 
too  formal,  and  pays  far  too  little  attention  to  ordinary  re<|uirc- 
ments. 

The  courses  on  elementary  physics  and  chemistry,  and  the 
science  of  common  things  are  found  to  be  more  attractive  than 
pure  chemistry. 

( )ther  subjects  dealt  with  in  the  report  are  school  visits  lo 
museums  ;  the  right  method  of  giving  object  less<ms  ;  and  the 
teaching  of  the  metric  system.  Finally  it  is  suggested  .is  a 
question  worth  consideration,  whether  the  recognised  school  age 
should  not  l>e  raised  from  thirteen  to  fourteen. 

In  the  discussion  which  followed  the  rciding  of  the  re|>orl,  the 
relation  of  County  Councils  to  elementary  schools  was  debated, 
and  il  was  contended  that  these  are  helped  indirectly  by  the 
Councils  providing  facilities  for  the  training  of  te.acher.s. 

Mr.  G.  J.  Fowler  read  a  [laper  on  the  action  of  nitric  oxide 
on  certain  salts,  by  H.  A.  Auden  and  G.  J.  Fowler,  in  which 
the  action  of  nitric  oxide  on  different  salts  at  various  tempera- 


September  26,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


OJ/ 


tures  is  described.  Oxy-salts  have  been  chiefly  examined,  the 
most  interesting  results  lieing  ol)taine<l  with  the  chlorates  and 
iodates  of  potassium  and  silver.  Willi  potassium  chlorate  action 
takes  place  at  the  ordinary  temperature,  chlorine  being  evolved, 
but  no  potassium  chlorate  being  forme<l.  With  silver  chlorate, 
chlorine  is  also  evolved,  but  some  chlori<le  is  obtained.  I'otassium 
iodate  yields  iodine  but  no  potassium  iodide  at  a  low  tempera- 
ture, while  silver  iodate  is  completely  converted  into  iodide,  no 
iodine  being  liberated,  or  silver  nitrate  formed.  It  is  suggested 
that  these  results  tend  to  show  a  difference  in  constitution  between 
the  silver  and  potassium  salts. 

Prof.  Clowes  gave  an  account  of  further  experiments  on  the 
I'espirability  of  air,  in  which  a  cantlle  flame  has  Ijurnt  till 
it  is  extinguished.  He  finds  that  an  atmosphere,  which  con- 
tains oxygen  i6"4  per  cent.,  nitrogen  8o'5  per  cent.,  carbon 
dioxide  3'I  per  cent.,  will  extinguish  a  candle  flame,  but  is  .still, 
according  to  the  experiments  of  llaldane,  not  only  respirable, 
but  would  be  breathed  by  a  healthy  person  for  some  time  without 
injury.  An  atmosphere  which  extinguishes  a  coal-gas  flame, 
however,  appears  to  apj^roach  closely  to  the  limits  of  respir- 
ability,  as  far  as  the  proportion  of  oxygen  which  it  contains  is 
concerned.  The  candle  and  lamp  flames  should  be  discarded  as 
tests  of  the  respirability  of  air  in  favour  of  the  coal-gas  flame. 

A  paper  was  re.id  by  Mr.  D.  J.  V.  Berridge,  on  the  action  of 
light  upon  the  soluble  metallic  iodides  in  presence  of  cellulose, 
in  which  it  was  shown  that  the  amount  of  iodine  liberated  from 
]iotassium  iodide  by  the  combined  action  of  ligb",  air  and 
moisture,  is  greatly  increaseil  by  the  presence  of  cellulose,  this 
substance  probably  combining  with  the  potassium  hydrate 
liberated  in  the  reaction.  By  investigating  the  conditions  of 
formation  of  the  chocolate  stain  obtained  when  note-paper  con- 
taining starch,  and  .soaked  in  potassium  iodide  solution,  is  exposed 
to  light,  evidence  is  obtained  of  the  formation  of  a  Iri-ioflide  of 
potassium.  The  iodides  of  sodium,  calcium,  stronliuni,  barium, 
iron,  and  zinc,  all  behave  like  the  potassium  salt ;  cadmium  seems 
ulone  unable  to  form  a  higher  iodide. 

Dr.  C.  K.  Kohn  read  the  second  report  of  the  Committee  on 
'|uantitative  analysis  by  means  of  electrolysis.  The  bibliography 
of  the  subject  has  been  completed.  The  experimental  work 
has  been  carefully  organised,  and  the  results  on  the  determina- 
tion of  bismuth  and  of  tin  are  nearly  complete. 

Sir  II.  E.  Roscoe  presented  the  report  of  the  Committee 
appointed  to  prepare  a  new  series  of  wave-length  tables  of  the 
spectra  of  the  elements. 

Some  interesting  communications  were  made  to  a  joint  sitting 
of  Sections  A  and  B  ;  and  the  account  of  these,  which  we  give 
in  our  report  of  the  work  of»the  former  Section,  is  supplemented 
by  the  following  notes  on  Dr.  Gladstone's  and  Prof.  Schuster's 
communications. 

Dr.  Gladstone's  paper  v/as  on  specific  refraction  and  the 
periodic  law,  with  special  reference  to  argon  and  other 
elements.  In  former  years  he  had  shown  that  the  specific 
refractive  energies  of  the  elements  in  general  were,  to  a  certain 
extent,  a  periodic  function  of  their  atontic  weights.  'iVith 
regard  to  argon,  the  specific  refractive  energy  of  argon  gas  as 
reckoned  by  Lord  Raylcigh's  data  is  OT59.  At  the  suggestion 
■  if  Deelcy,  the  bearing  of  this  result  on  the  atomic  weight  of 
argon  was  considered.  If  the  atomic  weight  be  I9'94,  the 
molecular  refraction  will  be  3'I5.  This  figure  is  almost  identical 
with  that  belonging  to  oxygen  and  nitrogen  gas,  and  differs 
considerably  from  that  of  calcium,  which  has  a  molecular 
refraction  of  lO'O  and  a  .specific  refractive  energy  of  0'248. 
These  facts  tend  to  suggest  an  atomic  weight  of  20  for  argon, 
and  to  place  it  in  the  vicinity  of  the  alkali  metals. 

The  discussion,  which  was  opened  by  Prof.  Schuster,  on  the 
evidence  to  be  gathered  as  to  the  simple  or  compound  nature  of 
a  gas  from  the  constitution  of  its  spectrum,  dealt  with  matters 
of  rather  more  jihysical  than  chemical  bearing.  Of  special 
interest  to  chemists,  however,  was  the  evidence  cited  by  Prof. 
Schuster  for  con.sidering  that  the  variations  noticed  in  the  spectra 
of  sodium,  nitrogen,  and  mercury  under  different  conditions 
were  due  to  difierences  in  atomic  aggregation. 

Monday's  sitting  was  devoted  to  a  discussion,  held  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Section  K  (Botany),  on  the  relation  of  agriculture  to 
science.  It  was  introduced  by  Prof.  R.  Waringlon  in  a  paper 
entitled,  "  How  shall  .agriculture  best  obtain  the  help  of  science  ?  " 
This  was  devoted  to  a  consideratiim  of  the  best  means  for 
diflusing  a  knowledge  of  the  scientific  principles  of  agriculture. 
Certain  things  could  be  usefully  done  by  a  Board  of  Agriculture, 
and   others   by  County  Councils.     The   formation   of  a   really 


NO. 


1352,  VOL.    52] 


complete  agricultural  and  fiorticultural  library,  freely  open  to  the 
public,  and  the  maintenance  of  an  English  agricultural  journal, 
are  matters  which  might  fall  to  the  Board  of  .\griculture.  The 
advantages  to  be  derived  from  a  (iovernment  laboratory 
and  ex])erimental  station  were  dwelt  upon.  Local  stations  and 
secondary  agricultural  schools  shoultl  be  maintained  by  the 
County  Councils,  who  also  should  inspect  the  technical 
instruction  in  their  locality.  The  foundation  of  habits  of 
observation  and  logical  reasoning  must  be  laid  in  the  elementar}' 
school  if  higher  instruction  is  aftersvards  to  be  given.  Higher 
qualifications  should  be  required  for  agricultural  lecturers  than  is 
at  present  the  ca.se. 

Mr.  T.  Hendrick  conlriliuted  a  second  paper.  He  spoke  of 
the  apath)-  and  even  hostility  to  science  shown  by  the  practical 
agriculturist,  and  considered  the  reasons  for  this  attitude. 

In  other  countries  national  systems  of  agricultural  education 
and  research  have  been  founded  by  the  State.  It  is  hopeless  to 
look  to  local  effort  and  sui>port,  because  the  practical  man 
expects  immediate  results,  and  results  out  of  all  proportion  to 
the  time  and  money  expended  in  obtaining  them.  The  time  has 
come  when  the  State  must  take  part  in  the  work  and  devote 
to  it  much  larger  sums  than  at  present. 

Mr.  Thiselton-Dyer  said  that  the  matter  had  been  carefully 
considered  by  the  last  Government.  It  was  difficult,  however, 
to  persuade  the  Treasury  that  agriculture  was  entitled  to  receive 
special  ai<l  of  a  kind  not  given  to  any  of  our  other  great 
industries,  such  as  iron  and  textiles.  Personally  he  looked  to 
individual  efl'orl  and  munificence  to  supply  what  was  needed. 

Prof.  Marshall  Ward  pointed  out  that  it  was  of  extreme  im- 
portance that  the  results  of  any  investigations  should  be  made 
known  at  once  and  accurately  to  the  practical  man,  and 
this  was  work  which  might  very  well  be  undertaken  by  Govern- 
ment, but  he  deprecated  any  direction  or  control  from  a  Govern- 
ment department  in  any  matters  of  original  research. 

Prof.  J.  R.  Green  pointed  out  the  necessity  for  investigations 
on  vegetable  physiology,  as  bearing  on  the  growth  of  crops. 

Sir  Douglas  Galton  agreed  with  Mr.  Dyer  that  agriculturists 
must  look  to  themselves  for  help,  rather  than  to  the  Govern- 
ment. The  obtaining  of  really  good  teachers  was  the  great 
difiiculty. 

Lord  Walsingham  spoke  of  the  difficulty  in  producing  crops 
which  would  realise  a  profit.  Wheat-growing  was  unprofitable 
in  England,  and  his  own  attempts  to  grow  tobacco  were 
frustrated  by  the  heavy  duty. 

Sir  J.  Evans  and  Sir  H.  Roscoe  spoke  of  the  work  of  the 
County  Councils,  and  Prof.  Perceval  gave  an  account  of  the 
courses  at  Wye  College. 

Mr.  T-  I-ong  considered  that  schools  and  colleges  for  boys  and 
youths  and  demonstration  plots  for  adult  farmers  were  the  best 
means  of  bringing  home  the  benefits  arising  from  the  application 
of  science  to  agriculture. 

Mr.  J.  R.  Dunstan,  in  a  paper  on  the  subject  under  discussion, 
contended  that  courses  of  lectures  were  necessary  as  pioneer  work. 
Unless  farmers  have  a  general  knowledge  of  the  principles  of 
science,  they  cannot  really  understand  the  results  of  experi- 
ments. 

Prof.  Liveing  advised  the  co-operation  of  County  Councils  in 
maintaining  a  central  experimental  station.  He  described  the 
system  of  agricultural  teaching  adopted  at  Cambridge. 

Mr.  Avery  gave  some  account  of  the  agricultural  side  attached 
to  the  .\shburton  School  in  Devon,  and  spoke  of  the  difiiculty 
of  obtaining  pupils. 

Mr.  T.  .S.  Dymond  emphasised  the  necessity  of  a  knowledge 
of  scientific  principles,  if  farmers  were  to  projjcrly  understand 
experimental  results. 

Mr.  C.  H.  Bothamley  considered  agricultural  sides  to  secondary 
schools  much  better  than  schools  restricted  to  farmers'  sons.  The 
value  of  demonstration  plots,  as  distinguished  from  exijerimental 
plots,  was  very  great. 

Prof.  Warington,  in  reply,  remarked  that  the  whole  agricultural 
position  was  such  that  if  anything  was  to  be  done,  it  must  be 
done  at  once,  they  could  not  afl'ord  to  wait. 

.Mr.  T.  B.  Wood  gave  an  account  of  work  at  the  experi- 
mental plots  in  Suffolk  and  Norfolk.  The  experiments  in 
Suffolk  are  conducted  at  two  stations  with  soils  typical  of  large 
areas  in  the  neighbourhood,  viz.  at  Higham,  where  the  soil  is 
thin  and  light  with  a  chalk  sul)-soil,  and  at  Lavenham,  where  it 
is  a  much  deeper  loam.  The  experiments  at  both  stations  consi.st 
in  the  growth  of  various  crops  in  rotation  with  various  manures. 
Each  year  a  report  of  these  experiments  is  printed  and  circulated, 


53S 


jVA  TURE 


[September  26,  1895 


and  iluring  the  summer,  lectures  aiui  demonstrations  are  given  on 
the  plots.  In  Norfolk  there  are  no  definite  fixed  stations,  but 
the  use  of  land  has  been  grantc<l  by  fanners  for  ex[)criinenls  on 
the  effect  of  manures  on  crops  grown  in  the  ordinarj-  course  of 
farming.     Feeding  experiments  have  also  been  conducted. 

A  paper  from  Prof.  H.  W.  Vogel  was  read,  in  his  absence,  by 
the  Secretary,  dealing  with  the  historj-  of  the  <levelopment  of 
orthochromatic  photc^raphy.  Photographs  were  show  n  illustrat- 
ing the  advantages  of  the  use  of  eosin-silver  as  a  sensiliser,  the 
plates  being  more  sensitive  to  the  yellow  rays  than  plates  pre- 
pared with  ordinary  eosin. 

Mr.  C.  H.  Bothamley  read  a  paper,  illustrated  by  lantern 
slides  and  specimens,  on  the  sensitising  action  of  dyes  on 
gelatino-bromide  plates.  The  manner  in  which  the  dye  acts 
wus  discussed,  exiierimental  evidence  being  given  against 
Abney's  view  that  an  oxidation  product,  formed  by  the  action  of 
light  on  the  dye,  is  the  active  agent  in  a.ssisting  the  reduction  of 
the  silver  bromide  by  the  developer.  The  probabilities  appear 
more  in  favour  of  Eder's  view  that  the  dye  or  sensitiser  absorbs 
the  energy  of  the  light  waves,  and  pas,ses  that  energy  on  to  the 
silver  bromide  with  which  it  is  associated,  the  silver  bromide 
being  thereby  decomposed,  and  the  so-called  latent  image  being 
formed. 

In  reply  to  questions  by  Lord  liayleigh.  Dr.  Kohn,  and  Dr. 
Harden,  Mr.  Bothamley  said  that,  so  far  as  he  was  aware, 
photo-chemical  action  is  always  preceded  by  the  absorption  of 
light- waves,  and  in  the  case  of  colouiless  substances  it  is  the 
ultra-violet  rays  that  are  absorbed  and  do  the  chemical  work. 
Although  the  quantitative  composition  of  the  latent  image  is  not 
known,  we  have,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  considerable  knowledge 
as  to  its  properties.  There  is  no  difficulty  in  determining  the 
alisiifbing  action  and  the  sensitisiitg  effect  on  two  contiguous 
strips  of  the  same  plate,  and  therefore  under  strictly  comijarablc 
conditions.  No  relation  can  be  traced  between  the  fluorescence 
of  a  dye  and  its  sensitising  action. 

The  report  of  the  Committee  for  investigating  the  action  of 
light  upon  dyed  colours  was  read  by  the  President.  With  some 
few  exceptions,  all  the  available  red,  orange,  and  yellow  colours, 
as  applied  to  wof)l  and  silk,  have  now  been  exposed.  (Tables 
are  appended  giving  the  general  result  of  the  ex|x>sure.)  .\s 
liefore,  it  is  found  that  many  natural  dye-stuffs  are  by  no  means 
so  fast  as  is  generally  supposed,  and  are  exceeded  in  this  respect 
by  artificial  colouring  matters. 

Two  papers  on  organic  chemistry  were  contributed  by  Dr.  J. 
J.  Sudborough.  In  the  first  paper,  the  author  describes  the  pre- 
paration of  a  monochloro-stilbene  from  deoxy-ljcnzoin,  differing 
from  that  described  by  Linin,  as  it  is  a  solid,  crystallising  from 
alcohol  in  large  colourless  plates,  .-^n  oily  compound,  corre- 
sponding to  that  of  Linin,  has  been  prepared,  and  is  Ixiing 
further  investigated.     Other  stilbene  derivatives  are  described. 

In  a  note  on  the  constitution  of  camphoric  acid,  the  author 
draws  attention  to  the  fact  that,  as  regards  its  etherificalion, 
camphoric  acid  shows  a  marked  resemblance  to  some  of  the  poly- 
carlj'»xylic  acids  investigated  by  \'ictor  Meyer  and  Sudborough, 
and  !o  hcmi-mcllitic  acid.  The  formulx  of  Armstrong  and  of 
Bredt  are  regarded  as  Ijest  agreeing  with  the  behaviour  of 
camphoric  acid  in  this  respect, 

^Ir.  H.  J.  II.  I'cnton  gave  an  account  of  the  preparation  and 

priiperties  of  a  new  organic  acid  obtained  by  oxidising  tartaric 

acid  under  certain  conditions  in  presence  of  a  ferrous  salt.      It 

cm  Ije  obtained  by  the  oxidation  of  moist  ferrous  tartrate  in  the 

air,   and  it  is  found   lh.at  this  reiiction  is  much  accelerated  by 

lit;hi.     The  acid  has  l>ecn  isolated,  and  proves  to  be  a   dibasic 

arid  having  ihcforniula  C4II4O,,  -I-  2lIj(J.      It  gives  a  licautiful 

\iolet  colour    with   ferric   salts   in    presence   of    alkali.       The 

constitution  of  the  acid   is  under  investigation.     Heated  with 

wni'T  it   is  resolved  into  carbon  dioxide  and  glycollic  aldehyde, 

ince  |K>lymerising  to  form  a  sweet-tasting  solid 

!  .rmula  Qll|j<  )„. 

i.  I  itc  for  investigating  isomeric 'naphthalene  deriva- 

'  that  the  fourteen  isomeric  tri-chlor  derivatives  have 

r.ed. 

L»r.  M.  Wildermann  read  two  (papers  on  physical  chemistry. 

In   ihc  first.  c\jx;rimental   evidence   was  quoted,  .showing  the 

'   lloff"s  constant,  Dalton's  law,  iVc,  for  very 

In    the   second    |>a|x:r,    on    the   velocity   of 

ii"   I""  ■' ililiriuin  lakes  pl.ice,  an  attempt  was 

made  to  ■  of  erjuilibriimi    from    e\iK*riments 

made  Inr  o-  ,,f  solidification  of  phosphorus  iind 

other  sulisUuico. 


NO. 


1352,    VOL.    52] 


Messrs.  C.  F.  Cross  and  C.  Smith  contributed  a  jwper  on  the 
chemical  history  of  the  Irarley  plant.  The  work  had  been  carried 
out  during  the  two  years  1S94  and  1895  on  the  experimental 
plots  at  \Voburn,  and  the  general  conclusions  diuwn  were  tliat 
the  conditions  of  soil  nutrition  had  very  little  influence  ujion  the 
composition  of  the  plant  ;  that  the  straw  grown  in  wet  seasons 
had  a  high  feeding  value  and  conversely  a  low  paper-making  value; 
and  that  the  compounds  known  as  furfuri>ids  were  continuously 
assimilated  to  permanent  tissue  in  a  normal  season,  but  in  a 
very  dry  seast>n  the  permanent  tissue  is  drawn  upon  by  the 
growing  plant  for  nutrient  material  which  is  ordinarily  drawn 
from  the  cell  contents. 


THE  RETIREMENT  OF  PROFESSORS. 

T^IIE  report  of  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  Tre-isury  to 
consider  the  question  of  the  desirability  of  a  fixed  age  for 
the  compulsory  retirement  of  professors  serving  tmder  the  Crown 
has  been  recently  published  as  a  Parliamentary  paper.  The  Com- 
mittee consisted  of  Lord  Playfair,  Lord  Welby,  anil  Sir  M.  W. 
Ridley,  M.P.  Mr.  C.  L.  Davies  was  secretary.  The  report, 
which  is  addressed  to  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  her  M.ajesty's 
Treasury,  is  in  the  following  terms  : — 

We  have  taken  the  evidence  of  i)residents  and  professors  of 
the  (^)ueen's  Colleges  in  relation  to  their  retirement  upon  super- 
annuation at  fixed  .ages,  as  determined  by  the  Order  in  Council 
of  August  15,  1890.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  Commission  of 
1888,  upon  the  report  of  which,  to  some  extent,  that  Order  in 
Council  w<-is  based,  did  not  intend  that  the  limitations  of  .age 
applied  to  Civil  servants  generally  should  be  deemed  applicable 
to  presidents  and  professors  of  colleges,  who  are  appointed  and 
.serve  under  difterent  conditions  from  those  which  prevail  in  the 
Civil  Service. 

These  presidents  and  ]>rofessors  are  appointed  at  a  malurcr 
age,  and  have,  by  the  nature  of  their  employment  at  seats  of 
learning,  less  tendency  than  Civil  servants  to  become  inefficient  at 
the  age  of  sixty-five.  Indeed,  up  to  that  age  it  is  often  found  that 
their  efficiency  increases,  by  exi)erience  in  teaching,  as  their  age 
progres.ses,  though  undoubtedly  a  time  does  arrive  when  advanc- 
ing age  weakens  the  receptivity  of  the  professor  to  new  dis- 
coveries in  science,  and  diminishes  the  inclination  to  alter  his 
instruction  in  order  to  adapt  it  to  these  changes.  W'hen  this 
occurs  the  students  are  the  sufferers.  In  the  German  Univer- 
sities this  well-known  degeneration  of  intellectual  activity  among 
the  .aged  is  partly  conipenssited  by  the  apjwintment  of  active  young 
"  extraordinar)-  professors,"  who,  though  not  on  the  ordinary 
stafl'of  the  colleges,  .ire  allowed  to  give  competing  lectures  williin 
their  walls.  In  Edinburgh  an  extra-mural  competition  is  encour- 
aged, and  in  each  Scotch  University,  when  prolessors  show 
diminished  efliciency  through  age,  it  is  iheduty  of  the  Univcr-sity 
court  to  superannuate  the  professor  umler  a  pension  scheme, 
which  is  chargeil  upon  a  fixed  Parliamentary  vole  for  all  the 
Scotch  Universities.  The  (,)ueen's  Colleges  in  Ireland  are  in  a 
different  position,  for  they  are  only  to  a  small  extent  dependent 
upon  votes  in  Parliament,  being  mainly  supported  out  of  the 
Consolidated  Fund.  They  are,  in  consequence  of  this  peculiarity, 
in  more  intimate  connection  with  the  executive  Government, 
with  which  the  presidents  are  in  frequent  communication  as  to 
the  working  of  the  college  and  the  efticiency  of  the  professors, 
who  are  appointed  by  the  Crown  and  can  be  dismissed  by  the 
Crown.  The  statutes  which  govern  the  Colleges  also  emanate 
from  the  Crown,  and  are  not,  like  those  of  other  colleges,  the 
product  of  academic  autonomy. 

Under  these  circumstances,  we  are  of  opinion  that  there 
should  be  fixed  rules  as  to  superannuation  of  presidents  jind 
professors,  and  that  they  should  be  made  by  college  statutes  and 
not  by  an  Order  in  Council. 

We  are  of  opinion  that  when  a  profes-sor  reaches  sixty-five 
years  of  age  the  president  of  the  college  should  l)e  bound  to 
re|Kirt  to  the  Gcjvernment  the  condition  and  efliciency  of  the 
teaching.  If  these  are  and  ccjulinue  to  be  satisfactory,  the  pro- 
fessor need  not  be  superannu.ated  till  seventy,  but  at  this  age  his 
retirement  should  be  ab.solute. 

In  regard  to  presidents,  we  are  of  opinion  that  the  age  of 
seventy  should  be  the  |>eriod  of  retirement,  but,  shoulil  the 
visitors  of  the  college  formally  report  that  the  college  would 
suffer  by  the  loss  of  the  experience  which  the  prusidcnl  has 
acquired,  we  think  that  the  Treasury,  and  not  the  Irish  I  )Hici;, 
should  have  |xjwcr  to  continue  hiin  as  president  for  a  certain 


Septemeek  26,  1895J 


NATURE 


539 


numl)er  of  years  not  exceeding  five,  so  that  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
five  the  retirement  of  a  professor  should  be  alisoUite. 

We  are  (jiiite  aware  that  there  are  cases  where  professors  at 
seventy  and  presidents  at  seventy-five  are  fully  competent  to  dis- 
charge thcirduties,  but  the  ailvantagesderived  from  superannuation 
would  be  seriously  diminished  if,  to  meet  these  rare  cases,  there 
were  uncertainty  in  regard  to  the  application  of  a  general  rule. 
We  have  observed  with  regret  thai  the<z/;/w««ofthe  Queen's  Col- 
leges do  not  seek  to  go  back  to  them  as  professors,  and  it  was 
explained  to  us  that  one  reason  for  this  is  that  it  is  useless  for 
thcni  to  prejxire  for  a  professorial  career  in  these  colleges  while 
so  much  uncertainty  prevails  as  to  when  the  chairs  will  become 
vacant. 

We  also  took  the  evidence  of  Profs.  Lockyer  and  Riicker  as 
to  the  conditions  which  prevail  in  the  Government  School  of 
.Science  at  South  Kensington,  and  we  found  that  the  age  of 
seventy  for  ])rofessors  was  considered  a  proper  age  for  retire- 
ment under  ordinary  circumstances. 

In  our  opinion,  as  the  professors  are  not  appointed  till  middle 
life,  the  addition  of  seven  years  to  their  period  of  service  in 
calculating  the  amount  of  their  superannuation  obviously  tends 
to  secure  eminent  specialists  as  candidates  for  office.  The  power 
of  voluntary  retirement  at  the  age  of  sixty  has  also  much  to 
commend  it  in  this  sense. 

We  have  the  honour  to  be 

Your  Lordships'  obedient  servants, 
Pl.AYF.ViR. 

Welkv. 
August  5,  1S95.  M.  \V.   Ridley. 

The  report  is  followed  by  the  minutes  of  evidence  taken  on 
June  17,  18,  and  19,  during  which  nine  witnesses  were  examined. 


UNIVERSITY   AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

We  learn  from  S<ii:ncc,  that  Prof.  .Strahl,  of  Marburg,  has  been 
called  to  the  chair  of  Anatomy  in  the  University  of  (.liessen.  Prof. 
Hans  Lenk,  of  Leipzig,  to  that  of  Cleology  in  the  University  of 
Erlangen,  and  that  Dr.  Haecker,  of  Freiburg  i.B.,  and  Dr.  v. 
Dalla-Torre,  of  the  University  of  Innsbruck,  have  been  made 
assistant  Professors  of  /.oology. 

Prof.  Chai'M.w  having  resigned  the  professorship  of  Geology 
an<i  Mineralogy  in  the  University  of  Toronto,  that  chair  is  now 
vacant. 

AccoRDl.NO  to  Scieiue,  the  conditions  attached  to  the  bequest 
made  by  the  late  Sir  William  .Macleay  to  the  Sydney  University, 
to  found  a  chair  of  Bacteriolog)',  are  such  that  the  University  has 
decided  to  decline  the  bequest.  The  money  will  therefore  revert  to 
the  Linnean  Society  of  New  South  Wales,  to  maintain  a  bacterio- 
logist, who  will  carry  on  bacteriological  investigatiotis  and  also 
take  pu]>ils. 

The  Examinations  for  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society's  Junior 
Scholarships  have  been  fixed  to  take  place  on  November  12  and 
13  next,  at  the  schools  of  candidates  and  at  the  Society's  house, 
13  Hanover  Square.  Ten  scholarships  of  ^20  each  are  thrown 
open  for  competition  by  candidates  between  the  ages  of  fourteen 
and  eighteen,  and  the  subjects  of  e.xamination  comprise:  (l) 
The  Principles  of  Agriculture,  especially  with  reference  to  the 
rotation  of  crops,  the  nutrition  of  plants  and  animals,  and  the 
mechanical  cultivation  of  the  soil ;  (2)  Chemistry  as  applied  to 
j\griculture;  (3)  Elementary  Mechanics  asapplied  to  -Agriculture  ; 
(4)  Land  .Surveying.  The  latest  date  for  receiving  entries  is 
October  15. 

The  following  courses  of  Gresham  Science  lectures  are 
announced  : — "  Physic,"  by  Dr.  Symes  Thompson,  on  October 
8  to  1 1  :  "  .\slronomy, "  by  Rev.  K.  Ledger,  on  October  22  to 
25  ;  **  tieometry,"  by  Mr.  W.  li.  Wagstaff,  on  November  19  to 
22.  The  lectures  will  all  be  delivered  at  six  o'clock  in  the  theatre 
of  Gre.sham  College,  E.C. 

The  London  Society  for  the  Extension  of  University 
Teaching  announces  that,  in  co-operation  with  the  Royal  Geo- 
gra|ihical  Society,  arrangements  have  been  made  for  the  delivery 
at  Gresham  College  of  a  course  of  twenty-five  lectures  by  Mr. 
H.J.  Mackinder,  on  "The  Principles  of  c;eogra]ihy."  The 
course  is  specially  arranged  for  pupil  teachers,  and  the  Sessional 
Certificate,  granted  in  connection  therewith,  will  carry  marks  at 

NO.    1352,  VOL.   52] 


the   Queen's   Scholarship  Examination.      The  lectures  will    be 
given  on  Monday  evenings  at  six  o'clock,  beginning  October  7. 

-\r  the  City  of  Lon<lon  College,  Moorfields,  a  course  of 
twenty-five  lectures  on  "  The  History  of  Chemical  Discovery  " 
will  be  delivered,  under  the  auspices  of  the  London  Society  for 
the  Extension  of  University  Teaching,  by  Prof.  W.  kamsay, 
K. R.S.  Th=  course  will  be  begim  on  Tuesday  evening,  October 
8,  at  eight  o'clock,  and  be  continued  weekly. 

On  Tuesday  evening,  October  i,  Sir  Henry  E.  Roscoe  will 
presitie  at  a  meeting  at  the  Royal  \ictoria  Hall,  Waterloo  Bridge 
Road,  when  the  presentation  of  certificates  to  students  of  the 
Morley  Memorial  College  will  take  place.  The  lecture  arrange- 
ments at  the  Royal  X'ictoria  Hall  for  the  month  of  October  are 
as  follow  : — On  the  Sth,  Mr.  W'.  P.  Bloxam  will  lecture  on 
"  Combu.stion "  ;  on  the  15th,  Dr.  W.  D.  Halliburton  will 
lecture  on  the  "  Human  Brain  "  ;  and  on  the  22nd,  Mr.  P.  J. 
Hartog  will  lecture  on  "  Lavoisier." 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

American  Journal  of  Sa'eiue,  September. — Distribution  and 
secular  variation  of  terrestrial  magnetism,  by  L.  .\.  Bauer. 
Starting  from  the  supposition  that  the  earth  is  magnetised  sym- 
metrically to  its  axis  of  rotation,  the  author  shows  that  the  chief 
cause  of  distortion  of  this  primarj-  field  can  be  represented  as 
due  to  a  secondary  polarisation  approximately  equatorial  in 
direction.  Of  these  two  systems,  the  polar  systems  would  base 
to  l)e  five  or  six  times  stronger  than  the  equatorial.  Since,  in 
going  round  the  earth  along  a  geographical  parallel  of  latitude, 
the  deflections  due  to  the  secondary  sj-stem  almost  balance  each 
other,  the  inference  might  V)e  drawn  that  the  secondary  field  is  in 
some  way  connected  with  the  earth's  rotation. — Relations  of  the 
diurnal  rise  and  fall  of  the  wind  in  the  United  States,  by  Frank 
Waldo.  For  January-  the  rise  of  wind  towards  the  mid-day 
maximum  is  followed  by  a  more  rapid  fall  over  nearly  the  whole 
of  the  United  States.  For  July  the  same  law  holds,  except  in 
the  W'estern  States,  where  the  morning  rise  is  more  rapid.  As  re- 
gards the  time  during  which  the  wind  rises,  this  is  about  seven 
hours  in  the  Mississippi  valley.  On  the  .Atlantic  coast  there  is  a 
decrease  from  ten  hours  in  the  north  to  five  hours  on  the  coast 
of  Florida. — The  rate  of  increase  varies  from  0-410  o'6  miles 
per  hour.  Native  sulphur  in  Michigan,  by  W.  H.  .Sherzer. 
During  the  past  year  interesting  deposits  of  sulphur  have  been 
discovered  in  the  Ujjper  Helderberg  limestone,  of  Monroe 
County,  Michigan.  The  sulphur  bed  lies  from  sixteen  to 
eighteen  feet  below  the  surface  between  a  compact,  dolomitic 
limestone  and  a  calcareous  sand  rock.  The  sulphur  generally 
I  occurs  in  bright  lustrous  masses  towards  the  centre  of  the  cavity, 
I  intermatted  freipiently  with  the  above  minerals.  Fragments  as 
large  as  a  fist  are  readily  removed.  Some  of  the  smaller  cavities 
contain  nothing  but  sul]ihur,  and  one  was  found  filled  with 
selenite  crystals.  About  an  acre  of  this  bed  had  been  removed 
when  the  locality  was  visited,  and  from  this  the  superintendent 
estimated  that  one  hundred  barrels  of  pure  sulphur  had  been 
obtained. 

Wiedemann' s  Anna/en  der  Pltysik  nnd  Chemie,  No.  S. — 
Simple  objective  presentation  of  the  Hertzian  reflection  experi- 
ments, by  Victor  Biernacki.  The  author  places  one  of  Lodge's 
"  coherers  '  in  the  focal  line  of  the  secondary  mirror.  Under 
these  conditions,  mirrors  with  a  length  as  small  as  45  cm.  and 
an  aperture  of  30  cm.,  with  a  focal  length  of  3  cm.,  exhibit  the 
reflection  phenomena  well.  The  coherer  employed  is  a  hori- 
zontal glass  tube  filled  with  copper  filings,  whose  resistance  is 
reduced  as  sotm  as  electric  oscillations  impinge  upon  it.  The 
polarisation  experiment  is  easily  performed  with  a  tiled  wall, 
which  behaves  as  a  transparent  solid  to  the  electric  rays.  A 
striking  experiment  analogous  to  the  introduction  of  a  doubly- 
refracting  crystal  between  two  crossed  nicolls  is  the  introduction 
of  a  thick  slab  of  good  ice  between  the  two  crossed  mirrors,  with 
its  axis  of  45°  to  both  the  focal  lines.  The  galvanometer  con- 
nected with  the  coherer,  which  before  was  motionless,  now  gives 
a  distinct  reflection,  thus  showing  the  doubly-refracting  nature  of 
ice. — A  convenient  method  for  showing  the  electric  refractive 
piwers  of  liquids,  by  P.  Drude.  For  this  purpose,  strong 
oscillations  are  necessary.  These  may  be  produced  by  a  modi- 
ficaticm  of  Blondlot's  arrangement,  using  an  exciter  without  a 
condenser,  whose  total  length  is  slightly  smaller  than  half  the 
wave-length  required.     The  wave-lengths  in  water  and   other 


540 


NA  TURE 


[September  26,  1895 


liquids  are  obtained  by  conducting  the  parallel  wires  through  a 
long  trough  filled  with  the  liquid.  A  bridge  is  put  across  them 
where  they  enter  the  water.  Another  briilge  is  placeil  on  the 
wires  in  air  on  the  other  siile  of  a  Zchnder  tube  connected  with 
a  goKI-leaf  electroscope.  This  is  .shilted  until  the  guld-leaves 
collapse.  The  distance  between  the  two  bridges  is  then.  say. 
36  cm.  The  bridge  on  the  water's  eilge  is  then  graiUuiUy  shifted 
along  the  immersed  wires,  and  the  ixjints  at  which  the  gold- 
leaves  diverge  and  collapse  arc  noted.  The  distance  between 
two  successive  nodes  is  4  cm.,  so  that  the  refractive  index  of 
water  for  electric  waves  is  9,  and  the  specific  inductive  capacity 
81.  Alcohol,  glycerine,  and  other  not  sexy  highly  conducting 
liquids  may  lie  similarly  investigated. — Inconstancy  of  S|>ark 
p<itenlial,  byCi.  Jaumann.  The  author  shows  that  the  jxitential 
which  leads  to  a  spark  di.scharge  de|x-nds  u|xin  several  elements 
Ijesides  the  thickness  and  nature  of  the  dielectric,  the  chief  one 
being  the  pre.sence  of  variations  of  electric  force,  «hich  hasten 
the  discharge  and  lower  the  necessary  difference  of  (xitential. 
When  these  variations  are  avoided,  difierences  of  |x>tential 
amounting  to  .several  times  the  ordinary  ones  may  become 
necessary  for  discharge.  The  spark  gap  is  also  affected  by 
previous  sparks  and  by  a  delay  in  discharging. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

P.^RIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  September  16.— M.  A.  Cornu  in 
the  chair. — \  memoir  by  M.  F.  \'.  Maquaire,  on  protection 
against  naval  collisions,  was  referred  to  a  Committee. — The 
perpetual  Secretary,  in  presenting  vol.  vi.  of  "  Oiuvres  de 
Christiaan  Huygens,"  reminded  the  Academy  of  the  loss  of  M. 
Bierens  de  Hahn.  The  Haarlem  Society  will  continue  the 
publication  of  this  work,  so  ably  edited  by  M.  Hahn. — On  the 
"equilaleres"  included  in  the  equ.alions  O  =  2,™  -  -/,T,"  =  11  , 
O  =  S,»  -  '/,T,"=  H„  +  AH',,  by  M.  Paul  Serret.— Researches 
on  Algerian  phosphates.  The  case  of  a  phosphatic  rock  from 
Bougie,  having  the  composition  of  a  su|)erphosphate,  by  M.M.  II. 
and  A.  Malbot.  The  results  of  a  number  of  analyses  of  rocks 
from  various  sources  are  tabulated.  The  Bougie  rock  is  de- 
scrilwd  in  detail,  .-is  it  presents  several  peculiarities.  With 
regard  to  the  method  of  analysis,  the  conclusions  are  drawn  : 
(I)  The  presence  of  organic  matter  may  produce  a  loss 
when  the  phosphoric  acid  is  estimated  by  direct  precipitation  as 
magnesium  ammonium  phosphate  in  citric  liquor,  and 
this  error  is  not  always  diminished  by  a  preliminary 
evaporation  with  nitric  acid  on  the  sand  bath.  (2)  The 
same  error  does  not  occur  if  the  phosphoric  acid  be  first 
precipitated  as  ammonium  phosphomolybdate.  (3)  The 
agreement  Ijetween  the  two  methods  is  exact  when  the 
organic  matter  is  fir-St  destroyed  by  calcination  at  a  red  heat. —  ■ 
The  neoformation  of  neri'e  cells  in  the  brain  of  the  monkey, 
following  the  complete  ablation  of  the  occipital  lobes,  by  M.  | 
-Mex.  N.  Viizou,  of  Bucharest.  A  detailed  account  is  given  of  : 
the  gradual  recovery  of  the  power  of  perceiving  extern.il  objects 
by  a  monkey  after  complete  ablation  of  the  occipital  1oIk;s.  An 
cxaminaliun  revealed  the  fact  that  the  space  formerly  filled  by 
the  occipital  lol>cs  h.-id  been  filled  up  by  new  tissue  which  was 
found  to  consist  throughout  of  pyramidal  nerve  cells  and  nerve 
tissues,  the  cells  being  less  numerous  than  in  the  ordinar)-  occipital 
lobes  of  the  adult.  The  new  tissue  was  not  due  to  hypertrophy 
of  the  anterior  loljcs.  On  repe-tting  the  ablation  the  monkey 
a;-  •  '  ■  •'  power  of  perceiving  external  objects,  and  is  still 
I"  ilion.  —  M.  Ch.    \.  Zenger   records  in  a   note  the 

'■■  ^      f   atmospheric   disturbances   at    certain    points   in 

Central  Europe  on  September  10  and  11,  as  predicted  by  him. 

New  Sorrii  Wales. 

Linnean  Society,  July  31. — Mr.  Henry  Deane,  President, 
in  the  chair. — Catalogue  of  the  described  Coleopteraof  Au.stralia. 
.Supplement  part  i. — Citiiidelida  and  CarahiJic,  by  tieorgc 
Ma.<ilcrs.  It  is  pro|x>scd  to  give  as  far  as  ixissible  a  complete 
li»t  of  all  the  Australian  Colcoptera  described  since  the  year 
1886.  al.vj  to  fill  in  the  omissions  previous  to  that  dale.  The 
present  part  contains  references  to  429  species,  besides  many 
corrections,  and  additional  localities. — Australian  Terniiliiiic,  j 
jKirt  i.,  by  W.  W.  Kroggatt.  The  author  gives  an  account  of 
ihe  flistribution  of  TeriiiiU!  in  general  and  of  the  damage  done 
liry  Ihcm,  and  poAscs  on  lo  a  consideration  of  the  habits  and 
range  of  Australian  forms,  concluding  with  a  general  account  of 


the  structure  of  the  termitaria  of  both  the  common  mound-build- 
ing species,  and  of  those  of  Etilcrmes  which  form  arboreal  nests 
as  well  as  on  the  ground,  (ci)  Report  on  a  fungus  (Mcliola 
amphitriiha.  Fries.)  on Dyso.xy Ion .  The  fungus  is  found  on  the 
leaves  of  Dysoxyloit  ruftim,  Benth.,  on  the  Richmond  River, 
N'.S.W.,  and  has  not  previously  been  recorded  for  this  colony. 
(/')  Notes  on  L'rotiiyii: aniygdali ^  Cixtke — a  synonym  oi  Fucciiiia 
pniiii,  Pers. — Prune  rust.  This  leaf  rust  is  of  great  economic 
importance,  since  it  attacks  such  \'aluablc  fruit  trees  as  peach 
and  nectarine,  plum  and  apricot,  cherry  and  almond,  causing 
them  prematurely  to  shed  their  leaves,  and  as  a  consequence, 
cither  to  bear  no  fruit,  or  only  small  quantities  of  an  inferior 
kind.  Though  sometimes  called  "  Peach  Yellows,"  it  must  not 
be  confounded  with  the  dreaded  disease,  due  lo  bacteria,  known 
by  that  name  in  the  Inited  States.  Specimens  of  affected  peach 
leaves,  forwarded  by  Mr.  Tryon  from  (Queensland,  yielded  both 
uredospores  and  two-celled  teleulospores.  In  \  ictoria  in  the 
summer  season,  even  as  late  as  July,  only  the  uredos|x>res  are  at 
all  conmion.  (<)  Groundsel  rust,  Piiainin  cnwhtilis,  McAlp., 
with  triniorphic  leleutospores.  The  ;«;idial  stage  is  common  on 
groundsel  :  but  this  is  the  first  record  for  teleutospores  in 
Australia.  The  rust  is  identical  with  that  on  ErcihtiUs,  de- 
scribed last  year.  The  specimens  were  procured  at  liobart, 
Tasmania. — By  I).  Mc.\lpine,  tiovernment  Pathologist,  Mel- 
bourne. (Communicated  by  J.  II.  Maiden).  On  a  new  species 
of  Elitocarpus  from  Northern  New  South  Wales,  by  J.  H. 
Maiden  and  R.  T.  Baker.  A  large  tree  (height  80-100  feet, 
and  a  trunk  diameter  of  2-3  feet  as  seen),  found  on  the  Brunswick 
River.  The  affinities  of  this  species  lie  between  E.  scricopelaliis, 
F.V.M.,  and  E.  riiniiiiattis,  F.v.M.  ;  it  difl'ers  fron>  these  two 
species  in  the  number  of  stamens,  lobed  petals,  bracts,  and 
fruits.  It  is  named  in  honour  of  Mr.  William  Baeuerlen, 
Botanical  Collector  to  the  Technological  .Museum,  Sydney. — 
On  a  new  cone  from  the  Solomon  Islands,  by  John  Brazier, 

Brisb.\ne. 

Royal  Geographical  Society  of  Australasia. — Annual 
meeting,  July  22. — Mr.  J.  P.  Thomson,  President,  in 
the  chair.— The  Secretary,  Mr.  J.  I'enwick,  read  the  yearly 
report  of  the  Council,  which  stated  that  during  the  year  sixteen 
ordinary  members  had  been  added  to  the  roll  of  the  Society. 
The  library  had  received  some  valuable  donations  and  exchanges, 
and  the  finances  of  the  Society  were  in  a  satisfactory  condition. 
The  President  read  an  address  on  the  subject  of  the  physical 
geography  of  Australia,  after  which  the  election  of  olTicers  took 
place. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Personality.     By  Francis  Galton,  F.R.S 517 

Satellite  Evolution.     By  Prof.  G.  H.  Darwin,  F.R.S.  518 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Schwartze :    "  Die    Lehre    von  der    Elektrizitiit    imd 

deren  Praktische  X'erwendung" 519 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

Rain  in  August.     (H'H/i  Diagram.) — A.  B.  M.      .    .  519 
.Mteration    in    the   Colours   of  Flowers    by   Cyanide 

I'liines.      Prof.  T.  D.  A.  Cockerell 520 

On   the  Constituents  of  the   Gas   in   Cleveite.     By 

Profs.  C.  Runge  and  F.  Paschen 520 

Notes 522 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

The  Orl.il  iif^'-  Ii..ntis(2  1938) 525 

The  British  Association  : — 

Section   K.  — Botany — Opening  Address    by    W.    T. 

Thiselton-Dyer,  CM. G.,  F.R.S 526 

Physics  at  the  British  Association 532 

Chemistry  at  the  British  Association 536 

The  Retirement  of  Professors 538 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 539 

Scientific  Serials 539 

Societies  and  Academies 540 


NO.    1352.  VOL.  52] 


M 


NA  TURE 


541 


THURSDAY,    OCTOBER    3,   1895. 


RITTER'S  "AS/A":  RUSSIAN  ADDENDA. 

Eastern  Siberia^  including  Lake  Baikal  and  the  Moun- 
tains on  its  Norlh-Western  Shore.  \'ol.  II.  By  P.  P. 
Semenofif,  I.  D.  Cherskiy,  and  G.  (i.  von  Petz.  Pp.  630. 
(Russian:  St.  Petersburg,  1895.) 

THIS  new  volume,  edited  by  P.  P.  Semenoff,  from  the 
MS.S.  of  I.  D.  Cherskiy,  and  containing  630  pages 
of  text,  in  lieu  of  the  three  paragraphs  of  Hitters  work,  is 
even  more  interesting  than  the  preceding  volume,  which 
was  noticed  in  these  columns  a  short  time  ago  (Naturf., 
vol.  1.  p.  471).  It  covers  Lake  Baikal  and  the  mountains 
along  its  north-western  shore,  and  embodied  explorations 
either  entirely  new  or  quite  unknown  even  in  Russia 
itself  Moreover,  all  that  has  been  said  concerning  the 
preceding  volume,  as  regards  the  masterly  treatment  of 
the  subject  and  a  strict  adherence  to  Hitter's  excellent 
methods — a  combination  of  a  minute  description  of  details 
with  broad  generalisations  drawn  out  of  them — fully 
applies  to  this  new  instalment  of  the  great  work  under- 
taken by  the  Russian  Geographical  .Society.  A  third 
volume,  containing  Transbaikalia  and  the  Gobi,  will  soon 
follow — the  invaluable  collaboration  of  M.  Obrucheff 
having  been  secured  for  this  purpose  by  the  editor. 

When  we  cast  a  glance  upon  a  good  orographical  map  of 
Asia  (<•.,?■.  Petermann's,  in  Sticler's  '"  Hand  Atlas,"  or 
even  in  the  miniature  "Taschen  .\tlas  "  of  the  same  pub- 
lishers), we  see  that  the  two  great  plateaus  of  West  and 
East  Asia  are  fringed  along  their  north-western  borders 
with  a  chain  of  great  lakes  :  the  Caspian  Sea,  Lake 
Balkhash,  Ala-kul  and  Zaisan,  Ulungur,  Baikal,  and 
Oron  ;  while  a  succession  of  large  post-Tertiary  lakes, 
now  desiccated,  which  formerly  filled  the  valleys  of  the 
Tian-shan,  the  .'\ltais,  the  .Sayans,  and  the  Muya  ridges, 
complete  this  chain  of  depressions  along  the  outer  border 
of  the  plateaus.  Lake  Baikal  is  one  of  the  lakes  of  this 
chain — a  small  remainder  only  of  the  great  mass  of  water 
which  formerly  filled  up  the  valley  of  the  Irkut,  and  the 
lower  parts  of  the  eastern  tributaries  of  the  present  lake, 
and  discharged  its  waters,  as  we  now  learn  from  the 
volume  under  review,  through  the  narrow  gorge  pierced 
by  the  Irkut  through  the  Tunka  .'Mps,  by  means  of  which 
it  now  joins  the  Angara  at  Irkutsk.  At  that  time,  i.e. 
during  the  post-Tertiary  period,  its  level  stood,  as  shown 
l)y  the  lake  deposits  and  terraces  explored  by  Cherskiy, 
.It  least  928  feet  above  the  present  level  of  Lake  Baikal, 
which  now  lies  1561  feet  above  the  sea  level.' 

However,  even  in  its  present  limits.  Lake  Baikal 
occupies  the  sixth  place  among  the  largest  lakes  of  the 
globe  (after  Lake  Tanganika),  and  the  first  place  among 
the  .'\lpine  lakes.  Sufficient  to  say  that  it  covers  15,300 
square  miles,  and  that  the  two  extremities  of  the  crescent 
which  it  makes  on  a  map  are  380  miles  distant  from  each 
other.  As  for  its  depth  it  stands  foremost.  Already 
Kononoffs  soundings,  in    1859,  indicated  a  depth  of  5621 

1  There  is  still  a  certain  uncertainty,  perhaps  of  over  too  feet,  concernini; 
the  altitude  of  the  level  of  Lake  Baikal,  .\  levelling  across  Siberia  had  been 
m.ade  a  few  years  .aRO  ;  hut  the  death  of  the  person  who  undertook  the  cal- 
culation of  the  results  brought  about  some  confusion,  and  Russian  geo- 
graphers  suppose  that  some  considerable  error  may  have  crept  in  in  the 
levelling  between  the  Yenisei  and  Irkutsk,  and  consequently  in  the  above 
figure. 


NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


feet,  and  wheri  the  Polish  exiles.  Dr.  Dybowski  and 
Godlewski,  mad?,  in  1867  and  1871-76,  a  series  ofver)- 
accurate  soundings,  they  revealed  the  existence  of  several 
valleys  in  its  bottom,  attaining  depths  of  2197,  4460,  and 
4503  feet,  the  greatest  depths  being  located  in  the 
proximity  of  the  north-western  shore,  so  that  a  depth  of 
1935  feet  (374  feet  below  the  level  of  the  ocean)  was  found 
within  a  thousand  metres  from  the  coast. 

Both  in  its  position  at  the  foot  of,  and  the  manner  it 
penetrates  at  its  southern  extremity  into,  the  plateau. 
Lake  Baikal  oflfers  a  striking  analogy  with  the  Caspian 
Sea.  The  same  analogy  appears  in  its  relations  to  the 
surrounding  mountains.  It  is  divided  about  its  middle 
by  a  submerged  ridge,  which  appears  on  the  surface  in 
the  Olkhon  Island,  and  in  the  promontory  of  Svyatoi 
Nos  ;  and  of  the  two  basins  thus  formed,  and  named 
respectively  the  "  Great  Sea "  and  the  "  Small  Sea,"  the 
southern,  that  is  the  one  which  lies  nearest  to  the  plateau, 
is  the  deepest.  In  older  works,  and  in  some  recent  ones 
as  well.  Lake  Baikal  used  to  be  described  as  a  longi- 
tudinal valley  between  two  parallel  chains  of  mountains  ; 
but  it  is  evident,  from  what  has  just  been  said, 
how  false  this  view  is.  The  next  step  would  be 
to  consider  it  as  originated  from  two  lakes  which 
once  occupied  two  longitudinal  valleys,  and  joined 
together  after  the  dividing  ridge  had  been  partially  de- 
stroyed by  geological  agencies  ;  and  this  hypothesis,  too, 
has  been  advocated.  Things  appear,  however,  to  be 
much  more  complicated  than  that.  When  I  was  work- 
ing out  a  general  scheme  of  the  orography  of  Siberia,  I 
was  compelled  to  recognise  that  even  the  two-valleys- 
hypothesis  could  not  interpret  the  real  features  of  the 
region,  and  although  at  that  time  (1872)  we  knew  next 
to  nothing  about  the  geological  structure  of  the  Baikal 
mountains,  I  was  induced,  by  considerations  about  the 
structure  of  the  plateaus,  their  border-ridges,  and  the 
.'Vlpinc  chains  parallel  to  the  latter,  to  draw-  two  chains 
across  the  northern  part  of  the  lake.  From  the  volume 
under  review,  we  now  learn  the  real  state  of  affairs.  In 
all  his  explorations  in  .Siberia,  Cherskiy  used  to  pay  a 
great  deal  of  attention  to  the  orographical  features  as 
they  now  appear  to  the  explorer,  and  tried  to  discriminate 
in  how  far  they  were  a  result  of  stnictural  features — fold- 
ings of  the  rocks  and  so  on — and  in  how  far  they  were 
derived  from  subsequent  erosion  which  has  been  going 
on  in  these  parts  of  Siberia  since  the  Silurian  and 
Cambrian  periods,  when  the  mountain  ridges  and 
plateaus  received  their  first  shape.  As  regards  the 
Baikal  mountains,  it  now  appears  that  there  is,  on  the 
north-western  shore,  a  real  ridge  running  parallel  to  the 
shore,  and  separated  by  a  valley  from  the  mountains 
lying  further  west  ;  but  that  both  this  ridge  and  the  deep 
hollow  of  the  Baikal  are  due,  not  to  structural,  but  to 
erosion  processes.  The  ridge  consists  of  slates  and 
gneisses  crossing  it  in  a  diagonal  direction,  and  these 
strata  cross  also  the  northern  part  of  the  lake  in  the 
same  direction — the  direction  I  had  indicated  on  the 
orographical  map  on  merely  theoretical  grounds — so  as 
to  reappear  in  the  same  succession  on  the  eastern  shore. 
The  foldings  of  the  Baikal  Mountains  date  from  the 
Silurian,  Cambrian,  or  perhaps  even  the  Laurentian 
period  (Devonian  red  sandstones  lie  undisturbed  at  the 
outer  footings  of  the  Baikal  Mountains),  but  subsequent 

A  A 


54-^ 


NA  TURE 


[October  3,  1895 


erosion  and  denudation  have  modified  the  primar>' 
features  on  a  gigantic  scale  ;  and  a  valley  so  deep  as  the 
northern  part  of  Lake  Baikal  is,  has  been  dug  out  across 
the  former  direction  of  the  chains.  The  lake  is  thus  an 
immense  erosion  valley  which  only  partially  has  been 
deterjnined  by  the  structural  valleys  at  the  foot  of  the 
plateau,  but  has  received  its  final  shape  through  erosion, 
which  made  several  parallel  lakes  coalesce  as  the  moun- 
tains once  separating'  them  were  pierced  through  and 
obliterated. 

This  instance  will  already  give  an  idea  of  the  interest 
which  attaches  to  the  volume  now  published,  and  the 
wealth  of  data  which  will  be  found  in  it.  W'e  sincerely 
desire,  in  the  interests  of  geography,  that  at  least  these 
new  volumes  of  the  scries  should  be  rendered  accessible 
to  West  European  geographers. 

The  described  region  is  verj-  thinly  populated,  and 
contains  but  few  explored  remains  of  the  past.  ."Vs  to  its 
flora,  it  has  been  properly  explored  only  on  the  Olkhon 
Island.  The  little,  however,  which  is  known  in  these  two 
directions  is  well  summed  up,  and  will  give  a  sound  basis 
for  ulterior  exploration.  We  hope  to  find  in  the  forth- 
coming volume  a  summar)-  of  all  that  is  known  about 
the  fauna  of  the  lake.  P.   K. 


APPLICATIONS  OF  BESS  EL  FUNCTIONS. 
A  Treatise  on  Ressel  Functions  and  their  Applications  to 
Physics.    By  Andrew  tira>',  M.A.,  and  G.  B.  Mathews, 
M..\.     (London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 

THIS  book,  like  the  kindred  work  of  Prof.  Byerly  on 
'■  Fourier's  Series  and  Spherical  Harmonics,"  marks 
the  modern  system  of  mathematical  treatment,  and  may 
be  contrasted  with  Dr.  TodhunteHs  "  Functions  of  La- 
place, Lame,  and  Bessel,"  of  twenty  years  ago.  At  that 
time  it  was  considered  desirable  to  develop  the  purely 
mathematical  analysis  quite  apart  from  the  physical 
considerations  to  which  it  owed  its  life  and  interest  ; 
keeping  the  pure  and  the  mixed  mathematics  in  separate 
water-tight  compartments,  so  to  speak,  with  an  im- 
penetrable bulkhead  between. 

But  as  the  Bessel  function,  like  every  other  function, 
first  presented  itself  in  connection  with  physical  in- 
vestigations, the  authors  have  done  well  to  begin,  on 
p.  I,  with  a  brief  account  of  three  independent  problems 
which  lead  to  its  introduction  into  analysis,  before  enter- 
ing upon  the  discussion  of  the  properties  of  the  Bessel 
functions. 

These  three  problems  are  :  the  small  oscillations  of  a 
\ertical  chain,  the  conduction  of  heat  in  a  solid  cylinder, 
and  the  complete  solution  of  Kepler's  problem  by  ex- 
pressing radius  vector,  true  and  excentric  anomaly  in 
terms  of  the  mean  anomaly. 

It  is  very  extraordinar)-  that  Kepler's  problem  should, 
as  a  general  rule,  be  still  left  unfinished  in  the  ordinary 
treatises,  considering  that  the  Bessel  function  is  implicitly 
defined  in  the  equation  ;  but  we  need  go  back  only 
Ittcnty-fivc  years,  and  we  find  Boole's  "  iJiffercntial 
Kqualions  "  ignoring  the  Bessel  Function  and  the  solution 
of  the  general  Kiccation  ecjuation  which  it  provides.  In 
those  days  it  was  ruslomary  to  speak  of  any  solution,  not 
immediately  expressible  by  algebraical  or  trigonometrical 
NO.    1353,  VOL.  52] 


functions,  as  " not  integrable  in  finite  terms"  ;  an  elliptic 
integral  was  skirted  round  with  the  remark  that  it 
was  "  reducible  to  a  matter  of  mere  quadrature,"  and 
even  the  homely  hybcrbolic  functions  were  tabooed. 

Siring  is  the  fa\ourite  material  of  the  mathematician 
for  illustrating  catenary  propLMties  ;  but  it  is  a  relief  to 
find  that  the  authors  ha\e  pro\ided  a  chain  for  the  discus- 
sion of  the  oscillations  when  suspended  in  a  vertical  line. 
The  banal  word  string  turns  up  accidentally  two  or  three 
lines  lower  down  (line  10,  p.  i),  but  if  a  piece  of  string  is 
used  by  the  side  of  a  length  of  fine  chain,  such  as  is  now- 
purchasable,  the  unsuitability  of  the  string,  by  reason  of 
its  lack  of  flexibilty  and  its  kinkiness,  for  the  representation 
of  catenaries  and  their  oscillations,  is  at  once  manifest. 

The  small  plane  oscillations  of  the  chain  about  its 
mean  vertical  position  arc  of  exactly  the  same  character  as 
the  slight  deviations  from  the  straight  line  due  to 
spinning  the  chain  from  its  highest  point  of  suspension; 
and  this  procedure  has  the  advantage  of  showing  a  per- 
manent figure,  similar  to  that  given  for  J„  (  ^.r)  on  p.  295 
of  Lamb's  "  Hydrodynamics"  ;  with  a  little  practice  the 
knack  of  producing  one,  two,  three  or  more  nodes  at  will 
is  easily  attained.  Thus  with  a  piece  of  chain  4  feet 
long,  the  number  of  revolutions  per  second  should  be 
0-54,  1-24,  I '95.  2-65,  &c. 

The  Bessel  function  was  first  introduced  by  the  in- 
ventor for  the  complete  solution  of  Kepler's  problem, 
namely,  to  express  the  variable  quantities  in  undisturbed 
planetary  motion  in  terms  of  the  time  or  mean  anomaly 
ii  =  nt  ■\- (  -  ra. 

The  authors  avoid  the  awkward  integration  by  parts 
emploNcd  by  Todhuntcr  in  determining  the  excentric 
anomaly  <(>  by  means  of  a  dift'creniiation.  Another  pro- 
cedure will  give  air,  where  a  denotes  the  mean  distance 
and  r  the  radius  vector,  more  directly,  from  the  relation 

^  =  ^  +  csin^. 
For  difierentiation  with  respect  to  /u  gives 

d^  _  I  _  I  +  e  cos  6 

dn       I  -  (T  cos  ^  I  - 


=  -  =  I  +  HUr  cos  rfi. 


suppose,  when  expressed  in  a  Fourier  scries,  and  then 

B,.  =  ?  (  '  cos  r/i^^d/i  =  -  I    cos  r(0  -  ^siii  tpycp  =  2T,-f><). 
irj  0  dfi  ir  f  I* 

according  to  Bessel's  definition. 
.\n  integration  now  gives 


and 


sin  0 


ip  =  H  +  2Si^^^  sin  r/i 


=  ^       '^  =  2a  sm  r/jL ;  &c. 


Chapters  ii.-ix.  arc  devoted  to  the  purely  analytical 
development  of  the  Bessel  function,  considered  as  the 
solution  of  a  differential  equation,  as  an  algebraical  or 
trigonometiical  series,  or  as  a  definite  integral  ;  these 
are  the  earlier  chapters  for  which  the  authors  apologise 
in  the  preface  as  appearing  to  contain  a  needless  amount 
of  tedious  analysis.  In  Prof  Byerly's  treatise  the  re- 
quisite analysis  is  introduced  in  small  doses,  and  only  as 
required  ;  but  the  ordinary  mathematician  loves  to  strew 
the  path  at  the  outside  with  difficulties  best  kept  out  of 
sight  ;  thus,  as  Hcaviside  remarks,  the  too  rigorous 
mathematician    tends   to   become   obstructive.     It   is  of 


October  3,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


54: 


•course  reassuring  to  know  that  the  functions  employed 
in  the  physical  applications,  rest  on  a  sound  analytical 
basis,  and  that  the  convergency  of  the  scries  has  been 
carefully  examined.  liut  there  is  no  compulsion  to  follow 
these  demonstrations,  tedious  to  all  but  pure  mathema- 
ticians ;  so  we  can  pass  on  direct  to  Chapter  x.,  where  the 
physical  interest  is  resumed,  under  the  head  of  "  Vibra- 
tions of  Membranes,"  for  instance  the  notes  produced  on 
a  circular  drum-head.  Lord  Kelvin's  oscillations  of  a 
columnar  vortex.  Lord  Rayleigh's  waves  in  a  circular 
tank,  and  Sir  George  .Stokes's  investigation  of  the  drag 
of  the  air  in  pendulum  vibrations,  make  up  an  interest- 
ing Chapter  xi.  on  Hydrodynamics. 

Chapter  xii.  deals  with  the  steady  flow  of  electricity  or 
of  heat,  and  Chapter  xiii.  with  the  fascinating  and  novel 
phenomenon  of  Hertz's  electromagnetic  waves,  when 
propagated  along  wires,  in  which  problem  the  Bessel 
function  assumes  an  essential  importance. 

The  Diffraction  of  Light,  considered  in  Chapter  xiv., 
contains  important  applications  of  the  Bessel  functions  ; 
the  hydrodynamical  analogue  would  be  the  investigation 
of  the  effect  of  a  breakwater  in  smoothing  the  waves 
which  bend  round  behind  into  its  shelter  ;  for  instance, 
the  effect  of  the  tjoodwin  Sands  on  the  safe  anchorage  in 
the  Downs. 

Newton  rejected  the  Undulatory  Theory  of  Light, 
partly  because  he  could  not  understand  the  existence  of 
shadows  on  this  hypothesis,  a  curious  effect  of  Newton's 
early  ideas  as  a  countiy  boy  ;  had  he  been  brought  up 
on  the  sea  coast,  this  apparent  difficulty  could  not  have 
troubled  him. 

It  would  be  a  needless  complication  to  consider  any 
but  straight  waves  in  the  case  of  the  breakwater  ;  and 
similarly  in  the  Diffraction  problem,  the  authors  might 
have  made  a  simplification  by  parallelising  the  incident 
light  by  passing  it  through  a  lens  ;  or  at  least  this  special 
case,  which  is  the  one  of  practical  importance  in  the 
subsequent  discussion  of  the  resolving  power  of  a  tele- 
scope, might  receive  separate  treatment  as  the  analysis 
now  becomes  almost  self-evident.  This  chapter  concludes 
with  a  discussion  of  Fresnel's  integrals,  required  in  the 
diffraction  through  a  narrow  slit  ;  the  integrals  are  ex- 
pressed by  a  series  of  Bessel  Functions  of  fractional 
order,  half  an  odd  integer,  and  are  represented  graphi- 
cally by  Cornu's  spirals. 

The  problem  of  the  stability  of  a  vertical  mast  or  tree, 
considered  under  the  head  of  Miscellaneous  .-Vpplication 
in  the  last  chapter,  may  well  be  amplified  by  examining 
the  effect  of  centrifugal  whirling  on  the  stability,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  chain  on  p.  I  ;  for  the  number  of  revolutions 
required  to  start  instability  is  exactly  equal  to  the  number 
of  vibrations  which  the  mast  or  tree  will  make  when 
swaying  from  side  to  side.  A  differential  equation  of  the 
fourth  order,  with  a  variable  coefficient,  now  makes  its 
appearance,  the  solution  of  which  will  express  the  oscilla- 
tions of  the  Ijullrushes  in  a  stream,  or  the  waving  of  corn- 
stalks in  a  field.  The  curious  appearance  of  permanence 
in  the  waves  on  a  cornfield  gives  an  illustration,  analogous 
to  Prof.  Osborne  Reynolds's  disconnected  pendulum,  of  a 
case  of  zero  group-velocity  ;  and  by  some  intuitive  deduc- 
tions from  the  appearance  of  these  waves  the  farmer  can 
judge  the  time  suitable  for  harvest. 

The  authors  have  been  fortunate  in  securing  an  original 
NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


collection  of  numerical  lablca,  nicludlny  those  of  Dr 
Meissel,  who  did  not  live  quite  long  enough  to  see  his 
valuable  calculations  published  in  this  book. 

A  collection  of  examples  adds  greatly  to  the  interest 
of  the  treatise,  and  will  probably  form  the  nucleus  of  a 
still  larger  list  in  the  future. 

.\ltogetherthe  authors  are  to  be  congratulated  in  bring- 
ing their  task  to  such  a  successful  conclusion;  and  they 
deser\'e  the  gratitude  of  the  mathematical  and  physical 
student  for  their  lucid  and  interesting  mode  of  pre- 
sentment. A.  t:;.  Grkenhii.i,. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Proloplasmc  ct  Noyau.  Par  J.  Perez,  Professeur  a  la 
Faculte  des  Sciences  de  Bordeaux.  Bordeaux  : 
Imprimerie  G.  (jounouilhou,  1894.) 

EXPEKIMEXTAI,  work  in  recent  years  has  repeatedly 
shown  that  in  plants  as  well  as  in  animals  the  physio- 
logical role  of  the  nucleus  in  the  cell  is  one  of  great 
importance.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  non-nucleated 
fragments  of  protoplasm,  whether  of  a  Spirogyra  or  an 
Infusorian,  are  incapable  of  growth  and  reproduction  ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  fragments  containing  a  portion 
of  nuclear  material  are  capable  of  complete  recrescence. 
Impressed  by  these  facts  the  writer  of  the  essay  before 
us  has  been  led  to  doubt  whether  protoplasm  can  be 
properly  regarded  as  the  "  physical  basis  of  life,"  since  it 
cannot  retain  its  life  when  removed  from  the  influence  of 
the  nucleus.  Consistently  with  this  position  the  writer 
throws  doubt  upon  the  existence  of  non-nucleate  organ- 
isms in  geneial.  The  presence  of  nuclei  has  been 
demonstrated  in  many  forms  once  believed  to  be  destitute 
of  them — e.g.  Mushrooms,  marine  Rhizopods,  and  Plas- 
modia. There  remains  only  Haeckel's  group  of  Monera 
in  which  the  presence  of  a  nucleus  may  still  be  disputed. 
M.  Perez  considers  in  turn  each  of  Haeckel's  subdivisions 
of  this  most  artificial  group.  In  the  Lobomonera  {e.g. 
Protama'ba)  he  believes  that  the  nucleus  has  been  oxer- 
looked.  In  the  Rhizomonera  the  nucleus  has  been  observed 
in  various  species  of  Vampyrella ;  and  it  probably  exists 
also  in  Pro/o/iiyxu,  since  this  form  produces  zoospores  ; 
the  zoospores  of  those  Myxomycetes  which  most  resemble 
Protomyxa  have  been  shown  by  Zopf  to  be  nucleated. 
In  the  Tachymonera  (Schizomycetes)  the  greater  part  of 
the  body  seems  to  consist  of  nucleoplasm,  while  the 
zoogloea  may  perhaps  be  compared  with  the  undivided 
protoplasm  of  a  plasmodium. 

M.  Perez  concludes  that  non-nucleated  organisms  or 
cytodes  are  creations  of  the  imagination  ;  that  protoplasm, 
by  which  our  author  means  cytoplasm,  is  not  the  primitive 
living  matter,  but  a  product  of  nucleoplasm  ;  and  that 
nucleoplasm,  and  not  protoplasm,  is  the  most  primitive 
living  substance  known  to  us. 

Analytical  Key  to  the  Natural  Orders  of  Flo^vering 
Plants.  By  Franz  Thonner.  Small  8vo.  pp.  151. 
(London  :  Swan  Sonnenschein  and  Co.,  1895.) 

The  authors  apology  for  his  little  book  is  that  few 
"Exotic  Floras"  contain  artificial  keys  to  the  natural 
orders,  even  such  as  contain  keys  to  the  genera  and 
species.  But  we  imagine  few  persons  would  attempt 
working  with  a  flora,  exotic  or  native,  without  some  pre- 
liminary knowledge  of  botany,  and  especially  of  the 
natural  orders.  Indeed  a  considerable  acquaintance  with 
the  subject  would  be  necessary  to  enable  a  person  to  use 
the  present  key  to  advantage.  For  example,  the  author 
begins  with  "ovules  naked,"  and  "ovules  enclosed  in  an 
ovary,"  &c.  Now,  to  be  able  to  decide  this  point  means 
a  great  deal,  for  a  person  who  could  do  it  would  most 
likely  know  his  gymnosperm  without  looking  at  the  ovule 


?44 


NA  TURE 


[October  3,  1895 


— even  better  without,  perhaps.  The  next  alternative  is 
between  isolated  vascular  bundles,  and  vascular  bundles 
m  a  cjlinder.  connected  with  other  characters,  entailing 
previous  teaching  and  study,  which  should  largely  con- 
sist of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  natural  orders.  Never- 
theless this  book  may  prove  useful,  especially  to  the 
collector  desirous  of  determining  the  natural  orders  of 
his  plants  in  the  field  or  at  home.  So  far  as  we  have 
tested  it,  it  is  carefully  compiled  and  edited,  and  we  can 
conscientiously  recommend  it  to  those  who  know  the 
characters  of  manv  natural  orders  in  advance. 

\V.  B.  H. 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[  The  Editor  does  ttot  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  of  Naturk. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.  ] 

Attempt  to  Liquefy  Helium. 

I  HAVE  received  a  letter  from  Prof.  Olszewski,  of  Krakau,  in 
which  he  informs  me  that  having  exposed  a  sample  of  helium 
which  I  sent  him  to  the  same  treatment  as  was  successful  in 
liquefying  hydrogen — namely,  compressing  with  a  jiressure  of 
140  atmospheres,  cooling  to  the  temperature  of  air  boiling  at 
low  pressure,  and  then  expanding  suddenly — he  has  been  unable 
to  delect  any  sign  of  liquefaction. 

The  density  of  helium  being,  roughly  speaking,  twice  that  of 
hydrogen,  it  is  verj-  striking  that  its  lique^ing  point  should  lie 
below  that  of  hydrogen.  It  may  be  remembered  that  argon, 
which  has  a  higher  density  than  oxygen,  liquefies  at  a  lower 
temperature  than  oxygen  ;  and  it  was  jjointed  out  by  Prof. 
Olszewski  that  this  behaviour  was  not  improbably  connected  with 
its  apparently  simple  molecular  constitution.  The  similar  fact 
now  recorded  for  helium  may  therefore  l>e  regarded  as  evidence 
of  its  simple  molecular  constitution.  I  use  the  word  "  its  "'  in- 
stead of  "  their,"  although  further  research  may  corroborate 
Prof.  Runge's  contention  that  what  is  termed  helium  may  in 
reality  be  a  mixture  of  two,  if  not  more  than  two  elements.  If 
this  contention  is  true,  both,  or  all,  must  have  extraordinarily 
low  boiling-points.  \Vii.i.i.\M  Ramsay. 

September  23. 


Helium  and  the  Spectrum  of  Nova  Aurigae. 

In  the  paper  on  the  constituents  of  the  gas  in  cleveite  that  we 
read  before  the  British  .\.ssociation,  we  said  that  in  the  first 
spectrum  of  Nova  Aurig.u  the  principal  lines  50l6and  4922  of  the 
lighter  constituent  were  far  more  intense  than  those  of  the  other 
constituent.  But  we  were  puzz.led  at  the  line  6678  not  having 
been  observed,  as  it  is  also  a  strong  line  in  the  spectrum  of  the 
lighter  constituent.  On  inquir)-.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hugglns  were 
kind  enough  to  give  us  Iwller  information.    Dr.  Muggins  writes  : 

"  I  think  there  is  no  doubt  that  we  did  see  the  red  line  at 
6678  in  Nova  Aurigw.  We  were  unable  to  measure  in  that  part 
of  the  spectrum,  but  on  three  nights  we  .saw  a  bright  line  a  little 
below  C.  This  w.-is  a  pure  estimation  under  difficult  circum- 
stances. In  the  map  we  put  the  line,  as  a  mere  guess,  at  a  little 
over  t)70O.  On  the  first  night  we  put  the  line  in  a  rough 
diagram,  made  at  the  time,  a  little  nearer  C,  .almost  exactly  at 
6678.  (Jn  a  subsequent  night,  we  made  the  estimation  a  little 
below  6700,  but  the  line  w.as  not  then  s<i  bright."' 

Ixmdun,  Scpleml>cr  27.  C.  Rl'MiK  ANf>  !•".  I'A>rui-.s. 


Latent  Vitality  in  Seeds. 

TliKRF.  Is  no  doubt,  .-is  M.  Casimir  de  Oindolle  has  re- 
cently shown  in  his  paper  on  latent  li  e  in  seeds,  that  all  the 
functions  of  seeds  can  remain  completely  quiescent  for  a  long 
period  ;  probably  in  some  cases  this  pcrifxl  may  be  indefinitely 
]Ong.      In  1878  1  published  a  paper '  on  the  resistance  of  seeds, 

'  mi  semi  all' .-vjonc  prulunK.ita  di  agcnli 

fiimica  italiana,  ix.,  1879,  p.  199;. and 


NO.    1353,  VOL, 


,  y,  p.    199. 


especially  of  Medicago  sativa,  or  lucerne,  to  the  action  of 
gaseous  and  liquid  chemical  reagent.s.  An  abstract  of  my  experi- 
ments was  published  in  N.\Tl'RE,  vol.  xxv.,  1882,  p.  32S. 

Recently  I  have  examined  portions  of  the  seeds  used  in  tlie 
experiments  of  1877  and  1S78,  to  see  if  after  the  lapse  of  so 
many  years,  during  which  the  seeds  have  rem.iined  constantly 
surrounded  by  special  gases,  or  immersed  in  difterent  solutions, 
they  had  retained  their  vitality.  The  results  have  been  remark- 
able, for  in  some  cases  a  large  proportion  of  the  seeds  have 
maintained  their  vitality  after  a  lapse  of  15,  t6,  and  nearly  17 
years  of  special  external  chemical  conditions.  1  summarise 
the  results  of  some  of  my  experiments. 

(a)  Experiments  in  Gases. 

In  all  these  experiments  the  gases  were  aVj',  for  in  these  con- 
ditions moisture  is  rapidly  f;\tal  to  the  seeds.  The  seeds  were 
introduced  into  small  bulbed  tubes,  into  which  the  dr)-  gas  w.as 
made  to  p.-iss  for  some  time,  after  whicn  the  tubes  were  rapidly 
sealed  at  a  spirit-lamp  flame.  The  tubes  were  then  kept  in  the 
dark. 

In  the  following  summary  I  give  the  dates  of  the  sealing  and 
opening  of  the  tubes : — 

Hydrogen. — Lucerne  seeds,  from  September  IJ,  1S77,  to 
August  5,  1894,  a  period  of  16  years,  10  months,  and  20  days. 
Out  of  51  seeds  sown,  none  germinated.  Seeds  of  wheat,  vetch, 
Cynara  cardunculus  and  coriander,  kept  in  hydrogen,  gave  the 
same  negative  results.  There  is  some  suspicion  that  the  hydrogen 
had  not  been  originally  well  dried. 

Oxygen. — Lucerne,  from  May  19,  1878,  to  .August  4,  1S94, 
16  years,  2  months,  and  15  days.  Out  of  293  .seeds  sown,  2 
germinated,  or  068  per  cent.  The  seeds  were  not  thoroughly 
dr)'. 

Nttrogcn.^lMC&rae,  from  April  12,  1878,  to  August  21, 
1894,  16  years,  3  months,  and  22  days.  Out  of  320  seeds,  l8i 
germinated,  or  56-56  per  cent. 

Chlorine  and  Hydrochloric  Acid  Gas. — Lucerne,  from  .\pril 
28,  187S,  to  August  3,  1894,  16  years,  3  months,  and  5  days. 
Out  of  342  seeds,  23  germinated,  or  6-72  per  cent.  Originally 
these  seeds  had  been  put  into  pure  chlorine  ;  but  the  gas  had 
acted  on  the  seeds,  carbonising  a  portion  of  them,  so  that  at 
the  end  of  the  experiment  the  seeds  were  in  an  atmosphere 
composed  chiefly  of  hydrochloric  acid  gas,  mixed  with  carbon 
dioxide. 

In  a  second  experiment  with  lucerne  seed,  kept  in  chlorine, 
and  then  hyilrochloric  acid,  during  the  same  jieriod,  out  of  167 
sown,  10  germinated,  or  5  98  per  cent.  In  this  experiment  the 
tube  was  carefully  opened  in  •■acuo,  to  protect  the  seeds  from 
the  moisture  condensed  by  the  hydrochloric  acid  gas  at  the 
moment  when  it  is  brought  into  contact  with  common  air. 

Sulphuretted  Hydrogen. — From  October  14,  1877,  to  August 
5,  1894,  16  years,  9  months,  .and  22  days.  After  the  opening 
of  the  tube,  filled  with  the  strongly  .smelling  gas,  the  seeds  were 
left  in  contact  with  the  air  for  24  hours,  before  sowing  them  in 
the  moist  .sand  of  the  germinator.  Out  of  loi  lucerne  seeds,  one 
germinated,  or  099  per  cent.  Out  of  50  seeds  of  wheat,  none 
germinated. 

Arseniurclted  Hydrogen. — From   April  4,  1878,  to  August  4,     > 
1894,  1 6  years  .and  4  months.     On  opening  the  tube  the  garlic     * 
smell  of  AsII.,  w.os  .strongly  evident.     Out  of  255  lucerne  seeds 
sown,  i8l  germinated,  or  70*98  per  cent.      In  a  second  experi- 
ment with  seeds   kept   in  arsenmrctted  hydrogen,   out   of  247 
lucerne  seeds  170  germinated,  or  68-82  per  cent. 

Carhon  Monoxide.  —  From  April  3,  1878,  to  August  4,  1S94, 
or    16  years  and  4   months.     Out  of  266  lucerne  seeds,   224    ' 
germinated,  or  84-2  per  cent. 

Carbon  Dioxide. — From  September  8,  1877,  to  August  5, 
1894,  or  16  years,  11  months,  and  27  days.  The  same  tube 
contained  seeds  of  lucerne,  wheat,  vetch,  6j'/;iia-<i,  and  coriander. 
None  germinated.  Perhaps  the  large  number  of  seeds  ci>nlained 
in  a  rel.atively  .sm.ali  tube  rendered  the  carbon  dioxide  damp,  and 
therefore  noxious. 

Nitric  Oxide. — From  May  2,  1878,  to  August  4,  1894,  or 
16  years,  3  months,  and  2  days.  On  opening  the  tube,  abun- 
dant red  fumes  were  produced  by  contact  with  air.  Before  sow- 
ing, the  scc<ls  were  left  dry  for  24  hours.  Some  of  the  seeds  were 
brownish,  the  rest  retained  their  natural  colour.  Out  of  309 
lucerne  seeds,  3  germinated,  or  0-97  per  cent.  In  a  second 
ex|x.-rimenl,  the  tube  containing  the  lucerne  seeds  was  opened 
///  ''ai  110 :  out  of  320  seeds,  2  gerniin:ilud,  or  0*62  per  cent. 


October  3,  1895] 


NATURE 


545 


(b)  Experiments  with  Liquids  and  Solutions. 

I  jjive  only  the  results  obtaincil  with  alcohol  and  alcoholic 
solutions.  In  other  liquids,  such  as  ether  and  amyl  alcohol,  the 
liquids  had  gradually  evaporated,  so  that  the  exact  period  of  their 
action  could  not  be  ascertained,  and  the  seeds,  covered  with  a 
moist  oily  varnish,  had  lost  all  vitality.  Lucerne  seeds  kept  in 
chloroform  for  i6  years  and  4  months,  were  completely  lifeless. 
In  all  the  recorded  experiments  the  seeds  were  completely  im- 
mersed in  a  relatively  large  volume  of  liquid. 

Strong  Alcohol. — From  March  26,  1878,  to  August  6,  1894, 
or  16  years,  4  months,  and  13  days.  The  alcohol  was  originally 
absolute,  but  in  contact  with  the  seeds,  and  during  so  many 
years  must  have  absorbed  a  small  proportion  of  water.  Before 
being  sown,  the  lucerne  seeds  were  carefully  air-dried  on  a 
filter  for  12  hours.  Out  of  60  seeds  sown,  40  germinated,  or 
66  6  per  cent. 

Concentrated  Alcoholic  Solution  of  Corrosive  Sublimate.  — The 
alcoholic  solution  was  originally  prepared  with  alcohol  nearly 
absolute,  and  saturated  with  mercuric  chloride.  From  May  23, 
1878,  to  August  17,  1S94,  or  16  years,  2  months,  and  25  days. 
On  taking  the  seed  from  the  mercuric  solution,  they  w-ere  very 
carefully  washed  w  ith  alcohol  at  97  per  cent,  until  every  trace  of 
the  mercuric  compound  was  washed  away.  The  seeds  were 
dried  at  the  ordinary  temperature,  and  then  sown.  Out  of  79 
lucerne  seeds,  16  germinated,  or  20"2  per  cent. 

Alcoholic  Solution  of  Sulphur  Dio.xide. — From  Xovember  10, 
1878,  to  August  24,  1894,  or  15  years,  9  months,  >ind  14  days. 
Originally  the  alcohol  was  of  93  per  cent,  strength  ;  the  solution 
preserved  a  suffocating  odour  of  sulphurous  acid.  The  lucerne 
seeds  were  mixed  with  minute  sulphur  crj-stals  ;  the  seeds  were 
well  washed  with  strong  alcohol,  rlried  and  sown.  Out  of  645 
lucerne  seeds,  one  alone  germinated,  or  015  per  cent. 

Alcoholic  Solution  of  Sulphuretted  Hydrogen. — From  Novem- 
ber 10,  1878,  to  September  4,  1894,  or  15  years,  9  months,  and 
15  days.  The  alcohol,  originally  93  per  cent,  strength,  had 
been  repeatedly  saturated  with  sulphuretted  hydrogen  gas.  The 
liquid  emitted  a  marked  mercaptanic  smell.  Sulphur  crystals 
were  formed,  and  sedimented  with  the  lucerne  seeds.  The 
latter  were  washed  with  97  per  cent,  alcohol,  and  then  air- 
dried.     Out  of  583  seeds,  41  germinated,  or  7^03  per  cent. 

Alcoholic  Solution  of  Nitric  O.ride. — From  November  10, 
1878,  to  September  4,  1894,  a  period  equal  to  that  of  the  last 
described  experiment.  The  alcohol,  93  per  cent,  strength,  had 
been  repeatedly  saturated  with  NO.  Before  sowing,  the  seeds 
were  washed  with  alcohol  and  dried.  Out  of  288  seeds,  12 
germinated,  or  4'l6  per  cent. 

Alcoholic  Solution  of  Phenol. — The  lucerne  seeds  preser\'ed  in 
the  solution  for  over  15  years,  showed  no  .signs  of  vitality.  In 
washing  the  seeds,  ]>revious  to  sowing,  with  alcohol,  they  could 
not  be  completely  purified  from  the  phenol. 

Many  of  the  germinating  lucerne  plants  developed  from  the 
seeds  used  m  these  experiments,  were  transplanted  from  the 
germinator  into  flower-pots.  The  plants  grew  well,  and 
have  flowered  and  seeded  normally. 

At  the  beginning  of  these  experiments,  in  1877  and  1878,  I 
was  not  aware  of  the  noxious  action  of  even  small  proportions 
of  moisture.  It  is  probable  that  if  in  all  these  experiments 
special  care  had  been  taken  at  the  beginning  to  exclude  as  much 
as  possible  moisture,  both  from  the  seeds  and  from  the  gases  or 
liquids,  a  much  larger  proportion  of  seeds  would  have  retained 
their  vitality.  The  ditiiculty  of  preserving  the  vitality  of  large 
seeds  must  be  chiefly  caused,  in  all  probability,  by  the  difficulty 
of  thoroughly  drying  them. 

These  experiments  are  of  interest  in  showing  that  seeds  may 
retain  their  vitality  in  conditions  when  all  respiratory  exchange 
is  completely  prevented  for  a  long  series  of  years.  They  fully 
confirm  the  results  of  the  late  d.  J.  Romanes,  who  proved  that 
seeds  may  preserve  their  vitality  for  1 5  months  when  kept  jh 
vacuo,  or  when  transferred  from  the  vacuum  tubes  to  other  tubes, 
charged  with  sundry  gases  or  vapours.' 

My  experiments  encourage,  moreover,  the  suspicion  that 
latent  vitality  may  last  indefinitely  when  sufficient  care  is  taken 
to  prevent  all  exchange  with  the  surrounding  medium.  There 
is  no  reason  for  denying  the  possibility  of  the  retention  of 
vitality  in  seeds  preserved  during  many  centuries,  such  a-s  the 
mummy-wheat,  and  seeds  front  I'ompei  and  Herculaneum,  i>ro- 
yided  that  these  seeds  have  been  preserved  from  the  beginning 
in  conditions  unfavourable  to  chemical  change.     The  original 

*  Nature,  December  7,  1893,  p.  140. 
NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


dryness  of  the  seeds,  and  their  preservation  from  soil  moisture  or 
moist  air,  must  be  the  very  first  conditions  for  a  latent  secular 
vitality. 

In  experimenting  with  seeds  from  I'ompei  and  Herculaneum, 
I  have  not  as  yet  been  able  to  find  among  them  any  living  grain. 
The  greater  part  of  these  seeds  are  too  much  carbonised  and 
changed  to  permit  the  entertaining  of  much  hope  as  to  their 
possible  vitality.  Especially  among  the  seeds  of  Pompei,  the 
carbonisation  must  have  been  caused  by  the  slow  action  of 
moisture,  which  would  speedily  destroy  all  life  in  the  seeds. 
.•\mong  the  Pompeian  wheat  the  destruction  of  organic  matter 
has  been  so  great  as  to  leave  in  the  seed,  in  its  present  con- 
dition, a  proportion  of  ash  as  high,  in  some  cases,  as  4'2  per 
cent.,  and  even  8-4  per  cent. 

On  the  other  hand,  some  of  these  seeds,  as  those  found  in  the 
granaries  of  the  Casa  delV  Argo,s.\.  Herculaneum,  in  1828,  .seem 
to  have  been  in  conditions  favourable  to  a  prolonged  preservation 
of  latent  vitality ;  the  millet  seeds,  especially,  were  found  un- 
change<l  in  outer  aspect.  Unfortunately,  no  test  was  made  at 
the  time  of  their  discover)',  and  since  then  the  action  of  moist 
air,  and  exposure  to  changes  of  temperature  and  to  light,  must 
have  impaired  fatally  any  remnant  of  \-itality  still  lurking 
amongst  the  seeds. 

All  researches  on  latent  life  are  of  great  interest  in  ascertaining 
the  nature  of  living  matter.  The  present  researches  have  estab- 
lished that,  for  some  seeds  at  least,  respiration,  or  exchange  with 
the  surrounding  medium,  is  not  necessary  for  the  preservation  of 
germ-life.  It  is  a  common  notion  that  life,  or  capacity  for  life, 
is  always  connected  with  continuous  chemical  and  physical 
change.  The  very  existence  of  li\-ing  matter  is  supposed  to  imply 
change.  There  is  now  reason  for  believing  that  living  matter 
may  exist,  in  a  completely  passive  state,  without  any  chemical 
change  whatever,  and  may  therefore  maintain  its  special  pro- 
perties for  an  indefinite  time,  as  is  the  case  with  mineral  and  all 
lifeless  matter.  Chemical  change  in  living  matter  means  active 
life,  the  wear  and  tear  of  which  necessarily  leads  to  death. 
Latent  life,  when  completely  passive,  in  a  chemical  sense,  ought 
to  be  life  without  death. 

It  may  be  finally  remarked  that  the  proof  of  the  resistance  of 
seeds  to  vacuum,  of  the  non-necessity  of  a  respiratory  exchange 
with  outer  air,  together  with  the  proof  of  the  resistance  in  some 
seeds  to  very  low  temperatures,  are  facts  encouraging  the  belief 
that  the  origin  of  life  on  our  globe  may  be  due  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  germs  that  have  travelled,  embedded  in  aerolites,  from 
other  planets  where  life  is  older  than  upon  the  earth. 

Italo  Cill-.I.IOl.I. 

Kegia  Scuola  Superiore  d'Agricoltura, 
Portici,  near  Naples. 

To  Friends  and    Fellow  Workers  in   Quaternions. 

Since  the  publication  of  Hamilton's  "  Elements  of 
Quaternions,"  in  which  the  great  mathematician  developed 
his  new  calculus  with  admirable  skill  and  clearness,  more  than 
thirty  years  have  pa.ssed  away,  without  it  finding  the  adequate 
recognition  which  it  so  highly  deserves.  The  circumstance  is 
still  the  more  deplorable  as  the  calculus  has  since  been  fiirther 
developed  by  Prof.  Tait  and  others. 

There  is,  in  truth,  no  question  as  to  the  importance  of  the  use  ot 
vectorial  quantities  in  physics,  but  on  account  of  their  apparently 
preponderating  im[)ortance,  various  physicists  have  been  led  to 
invent  new  forms  of  vector-theory  excluding  the  idea  of 
quaternions.  But,  as  far  as  we  see,  they  are  founded  on  defini- 
tions which  are  established  by  quaternions,  and  are  systems  of 
notation  rather  than  logical  developments  of  a  mathematical  idea. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  who  are  prejudiced  against  the 
calculus  of  quaternions  maintain  the  opinion  that  it  is  hard  to 
understand,  and  that  it  contains  a  great  deal  which  is 
useless  in  addition  to  things  immediately  applicable.  To  the 
latter  charge  there  need  lie  no  answer,  since  all  forms  of 
mathematics  are  exactly  alike  in  this  respect,  and  since  in  the 
very  combination  of  the  pure  and  the  applied  lies  the  potentiality 
of  further  development.  In  regard  lu  the  former  objection, 
quaternionists  need  only  say  that  if  the  objectors  approach  the 
calculus  of  quaternions  with  proper  care  and  meekness,  they 
will  ere  long  .assuredly  rejoice  in  having  at  their  disirosal  an 
instrument  of  research  mightier  far  than  they  had  the  slightest 
notion  of  so  long  as  they  were  in  the  domain  of  cartesian 
coordinates.  Certainly  it  would  be  a  blessing  to  science  if  they 
could  accept  these  assertions,  and  their  endeavours  would  find  a 


546 


NAT  CRE 


[0(T(^r.KU  3,  1S95 


sure  reward  in  its  advancement  wherever  this  method  might  be 
applied.     So  much  for  these  objections. 

New  notations  in  the  calculus  of  quaternions  must  needs  be 
invented  from  time  to  time.  But  since  they  arc  becoming  com- 
plex (though  far  simpler  than  in  cartesian  coordinates)  as  the 
problems  are  getting  more  complicated,  it  is  highly  desirable 
already  at  this  stage  of  development,  to  exchange  opinions  on 
the  selection  or  a<Ioplion  of  new  symbols. 

By  these  and  other  considerations  we  have  been  led  to  believe 
that  the  lime  has  come  for  those  who  are  interested  in  vector 
analysis  to  come  to  the  fore  and  join  hands.  In  order  to 
further  this  pur|xisc,  we  venture  to  suggest  the  establishing  of 
something  like  an  '"  International  .\ssociation  for  Promoting  the 
Calculus  of  tjuaternions."  The  following  would  be  amongst  its 
principal  objects : — 

( 1 1  That  the  members  should  be  informed  of  the  publications 
f'f    "  nt  papers  and  works  re.specting  either  the  theory  of 

q  r  its  applications:  and   if  [Mssiblc  to  have  these 

n  -le  to  them. 

!ie    memljers   should    be    afforded   the    means    of 
f  ^      [inions  on  the  introduction  and  adoption  of  new 

nutations. 

In  these  few  lines  we  have  tried  to  point  out  the  im)x>rtant 
task  of  the  As-sociation,  but  shall  be  obliged  for  any  suggestion 
or  improvement.  All  we  desire  is  to  assure  to  the  calculus  the 
pLice  it  deserves,  and  consecpiently  to  see  it  fully  developed  in 
its  various  aspects  by  the  combined  efforts  of  able  mathematicians 
and  physicists.  It  is  alnuist  needless  to  say  that  we  are  only 
preparing  the  way  :  and  once  the  Association  has  been  started, 
we  shall  \yc  ready  to  place  it  in  the  hands  of  |>ersons  much  more 
comixrlent  than  ourselves  to  further  its  best  interests. 

We  earnestly  ho|H:  that  all  friends  will  appreciate  our 
eri  '  -      r,il  show  us  at  once  some  token  of  approval.     We 

w  ■  -e  « ho  are  in  Kurii|ie  to  comnnmicate  with  the  first 

"!  'clow,  and  those  in  .\merica  with  the  second. 

I'.  Moi.ENBROEK,  The  Hague,  Holland. 
-SllfSKlcHl  KiMfRA,  Vale  University,  U.S.A. 

August  7. 

P.S.  —It  has  been  suggested  by  friends  interested  in  this 
matter  to  enlarge  the  scoix:  of  the  proposed  Association  so  as  to 
include  all  systems  allied  to  quaternions  and  to  Grassmann's 
"  .Aus<lchnungslehre."  This  suggestion  we  are  in  full  sympathy 
with.  The  name  of  the  A-ssociatiun  might  then  be  "  The  Inter- 
n.itional  .\ssociation  for  Promoting  the  Study  of  (^Hi.ilernions  and 
.Allied  Systems  of  Mathematics."  p.  M. 

.SeptemlHrr  17.  S.  K. 


Artificial  Human  Milk. 

It  is  stated  in  Natire  of  September  19,  that  "so  far, 
according  to  Dr.  Uackhaus,  no  satisfactory  substitute  has  lieen 
pro<liiced  in  the  jilace  of  human  milk  "  ;  and  a  methojl  is  then 
described  by  which  he  has  "  <|uite  recently"  succeeded  in 
supplying  the  deficiency.  It  appears  to  differ  little  from  the 
process  first  employed  and  made  known  by  me  in  1854,  and 
afterwards  published  in  my  '•  Kxpcrimental  Researches"  in 
1877  ;  except  that,  in  omitting  to  add  the  necessary  amount  of 
milk-sugar  to  make  up  for  the  deficiency  in  the  cow's  milk.  Dr. 
liackhaus  fails  to  obtain  an  artificial  milk  closely  resembling  the 
human  in  chemical  composition. 

-My  recipe  has,  since  its  first  publication,  liccn  advantageously 
used  in  private  and  hospital  practice  by  the  late  Prof.  W.  C. 
Williamv.n,  by  Dr.  W.  Playfair,  and  others,  but  it  has  probably 
not  loniu  under  the  notice  of  Dr.  Uackhaus. 

.My  |irocess  is  Ijased  on  the  fact  that  by  the  removal  of  one- 
third  of  the  casein  from  co»"s  milk,  and  the  addition  of  one- 
third  more  milk  sugar,  a  liquid  is  obtained  which  closely 
approaches  human  milk  in  com|K)silion.  The  following  is  the 
nnHle  of  preparing  the  milk,  and  it  is  so  simple  that  any 
•'■'   "  'her  or  nurse  can  easily  carry  it  out. 

third  of  a  pint  of  new    milk   to  stand   for  .iboul 

'*'  »e  the  cream,  and  add  it  to  two-thirds  of  a 

P"  fresh  from  the  ifiw  as  |)ossilile.      Inlt)  the 

'"  '  "f  blue  milk  left  after  the  abstr.iclion  of  the 

cream,  put  a  piece  of  rennet  alxiul  one  inch  s(juare.  .Set  the 
veucl  in  warm  water  until  the  milk  is  fully  curdled,  an  opera- 
'"'      '  "   five  to   fifteen   minutes,  according  to  the 

»'  '  '.  which  .•-hoiild  lie  removed  as  .so<m  as  the 

•^"i K    ^...^■.   anil     put    into  an   egg-cup    for    use    on 

Mifwojuent  occasion.*,  as  it  may  !«  employed  daily  for  a  week  or 

^•■O-    1353.  VOL.   52] 


two.  Break  up  the  curd  repeatedly  and  carefully  separate  the 
whole  of  the  whey,  which  should  then  be  lapidly  heated  to 
boiling  in  a  small  tin  pan  placed  over  a  spirit-  or  gas-lamp. 
During  the  heating,  a  further  quantity  of  casein  .separates,  and 
must  be  removed  by  straining  through  muslin.  Now  dissolve 
no  grains  of  powdered  milk-suj^ar  in  the  hot  whey,  and  mix  it 
with  two-thirds  of  a  pint  of  new  milk  to  which  the  cream  from 
the  other  third  of  a  pint  was  added,  as  already  described.  The 
artificial  milk  should  be  used  within  twelve  hours  of  its  preixara- 
tion  :  and  it  is  almost  needless  to  add,  that  all  the  vessels 
employed  in  its  manufacture  and  administration  should  be  kept 
scrupulously  clean.  ' 

In  this  process  only  one-third  of  the  milk  was  sterilised  ;  but, 
in  the  light  of  modern  bacteriologj'.  it  is  desirable  to  sterilise 
the  whole  by  finally  heating  it  to  boiling. 

The  Vews,  Reigate.  September  29.  H.  Kkanki.ami. 


The  Elements  of  Architecture. 

Havi.nc,  been  for  some  weeks  out  of  the  way  of  seeing  [mpers, 
I  have  only  just  seen  the  review  of  "  .Architecture  for  Cieneral 
Readers"  in  N.\Tl"RE  of  .\ugust  15.  I  ought  to  thank  you  for 
devoting  so  much  space  to  a  book  which  deals  rather  with  art 
than  "nature,"  and  there  are  one  or  two  criticisms  on  special 
|K>ints  which  I  think  are  just,  and  which  will  have  attention  in 
the  second  edition  nf  the  book.  But  there  are  three  remarks  of 
the  reviewer's  on  which  I  should  like  to  have  a  word. 

(1)  He  refers  the  reader  to  Perrot  and  Chipiez"  work  on  "  The 
.-Vrts  of  Primitive  Greece  "  for  proof  of  the  derivation  of  the 
Greek  entablature  from  a  wooden  origin.  In  my  opinion, 
Messrs.  I'errot  andChipie/.  prove  nothing  whatever  but  their  own 
ingenuity.  They  argue  in  a  circle.  .Assuming  the  probability  of 
a  wooden  origin  for  the  Greek  entablature,  they  proceed  to  con- 
struct out  of  their  own  inner  CL>nsciousness  a  series  iif  wcioden 
structures,  quite  possible  but  entirely  imaginary,  in  which 
the  origin  of  all  the  features  of  the  stone  entablature  is  carefully 
provided  for,  and  then  produce  an  engraving  of  the  stone  (or, 
rather,  marble)  entablature  to  show  triumjihantly  the  result 
which  they  have  been  consciously  leading  up  to  all  the  way. 
Vou  may  prove  anythint;  on  that  kind  of  jiiinciple.  I  ilo  not 
deny  that  the  Greek  entablature  appears  to  be  of  timber  origin. 
I  only  say  it  has  not  been  proved  to  be  so,  and  I  am  sure 
Messrs.  Perrot  and  Chipiez  have  not  proved  it. 

(2)  The  reviewer  thinks  I  am  captious  in  objecting  to  Wren's 
double  cu|X)la  at  St.  Paid's  as  a  sham,  and  that  I  might  as  well 
object  to  the  vault  which  hides  the  interior  of  the  tower  over  the 
crossing  in  a  niediaval  cathedral.  But  he  misses  the  main  point 
of  my  objection,  which  is  that  the  exterior  liml>er  dome  of  St. 
Paul's  is  m.ide  to  appear,  to  the  eye,  to  carry  a  ponderous  stone 
lantern  which  would,  in  fact,  crush  it  at  once,  and  which  is 
really  the  termination  of  a  concealed  masonic  construction 
thrusting  itself  through  the  timber  dome.  At  l''lorence  and  St. 
Peter's  the  stone  lantern  is  really  carried  by  the  visible  dome 
which  appears  to  carry  it  ;  at  St.  I'aul's  it  is  not,  and  could  not 
be.  I  consider  St.  Paul's  by  f.ir  the  more  beautiful  design  of 
the  three,  but  it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  is  a  consiruclional 
falsehood  in  that  itspect.  (See  the  block  section  of  it  given  on 
p.  99  of  the  book. ) 

(3)  The  reviewer  objects  that  I  have  denied  to  Italy  any 
S|x.-cimen  of  true  Gothic,  and  yet  that  Milan  is  one  of  the  most 
impressive  Gothic  interiors  in  existence.  This  maybe  true  as  to 
general  effect  ;  but  the  detail  of  Milan  is  wretched  :  and  it  is  by 
detail  that  purity  of  architectural  style  is  chiefly  to  be  judged. 

II.  Ukauicoii-;  Staiiiam. 


(1)  Mk.  SlATllAM  objects  to  Perrot  and  Cliipiez"  work,  cm 
primitive  Greece  being  cited  for  proof  of  the  derivaticm  of  the 
Greek  entablature  from  a  wooden  origin. 

It  seems  to  me  that  in  this  matter  possibly  the  main  difference 
between  .Mr.  .Statham  and  the  reviewer  lies  in  the  meaning  to 
be  attached  to  the  \sv\A  proof,  .\bsolule  mathematical  proof  is 
seldom  to  be  looked  for  in  archix-ological  or  historical  descrip- 
tions, and  we  must  be  often  conlented  with  a  sufliciently  hiph 
prolmbility.  Taking  the  word  in  that  sense,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  circle  in  which  Perrot  and  Chipie/.  are  said  to  argue,  cannot 
Iw  made  to  re-enter  into  itself 

Mr.  .Sialham  allows  that  the  tireek  entablature  "a|ipears  10 
Ik:  of  timber  origin."     V'itruvius  (iv.  cap.  2)  says  distinctly  that  it 


s 


October  3,  1895] 


NATURE 


547 


was  so.  The  remains  of  primitive  architecture  in  Greece — 
particularly  at  Tirj'us — show  that  wood  must  have  entered 
largely  into  architectural  constructions  ;  amongst  other  evidences, 
the  traces  oi  wooden  door-cases  cannot  be  explained  away. 
Perrot  and  Chipicz,  with  whatever  amount  of  fancifulness  there 
may  be  (and  there  is  no  doubt  much  which  is  altogether  hypo- 
thetical) in  their  restorations,  do  come  legitimately  to  an  ex- 
planation of  the  Doric  gutta;  both  under  the  triglyphs  and 
beneath  the  niutules,  as  typical  of  the  ends  of  wooden  pegs  or 
trenails  in  timber  construction,  which  is  sufficient  for  the  argu- 
ment in  the  review,  in  which  there  was  no  intention  to  approve 
Perrot  and  Chipiez'  restorations  and  deductions  any  further  than 
that. 

(2)  As  to  the  second  objection  taken  to  the  review — the  re- 
mark respecting  the  cupola  of  St.  Paul's.  The  remark  in  the 
review  had  reference  to  the  objection  that  the  external  outline 
of  the  dome  was  distinct  from  the  internal,  and  not  to  the 
question  of  support  of  the  lantern  ;  but  with  reference  to  the 
latter  point,  when  the  lantern  of  St.  Peter's  is  quoted  as  sup- 
ported by  a  more  legitimate  construction  than  that  of  St.  Paul's, 
it  may  be  asked  :  Why  the  construction  of  St.  Peter's  dome, 
which  is  absolutely  dependent  for  its  safety  on  the  iron  chains 
by  which  it  is  hooped  together,  is  preferable  to  that  of  St.  Paul's, 
where  the  lantern  has  a  much  securer,  and  therefore  not  less 
legitimate,  support  in  Sir  Christopher  Wren's  cone  ? 

(3)  One  remark  only  on  the  objection  raised  to  the  style  of 
Milan  Cathedral.  The  detail  is  said  to  be  wretched.  That  it 
does  not  conform  to  the  canon  of  Northern  Gothic  can  be 
readily  conceded,  but  that  the  shafts  of  the  magnificent  forest  of 
pillars  which  support  the  interior  are  wretchedly  designed,  and 
unsuitable  to  the  intended  effect,  is  not  so  easy  to  admit. 

The  Reviewer. 


Do  the    Components  of  Compound  Colours   in   Nature 
follow  a  Law  of  Multiple  Proportions  ? 

This  question,  put  by  Mr.  W  Howard  Collins  .in  Xati^re 
(p.  438),  may  be  answered  in  the  negative. 

In  practical  work  there  is  no  indication  of  such  a  law.  It  is 
found  that  the  two  rays,  which  together  produce  a  compound 
natural  colour,  may  be  in  any  [iroportions ;  when  there  is  a  mul- 
tiple proixjrtion,  and  in  some  cases  there  must  be,  it  is  only  as 
forming  part  of  a  series  of  variations,  such  as  are  frequently  found 
within  the  limits  of  a  single  popular  colour  term.  How  wide 
these  proportions  may  be,  can  be  illustrated  by  comparing  them 
to  the  varying  proportions  of  two  irregular  curves  towards  each 
other. 

The  examples  of  foliage  quoted  can  only  be  taken  as  repre- 
senting individual  instances.  Variations  of  climate,  age.  cultiva- 
tion, and  aspect  alter  the  colour  proportions  of  a  given  variety 
of  leaf ;  indeed,  such  variations  are  sometimes  found  in  the  same 
leaf.  JosEi'ii  W.  LoviBOND. 

Salisbury,  September  23. 


In  view  of  the  letters,  recently  printed  in  Nature,  by  Mr. 
H.  H.  Pillsbury  and  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer,  it  may  be  well  to 
state  that  Chevreul  published  an  "  Expose  dun  moyen  de  definir 
et  de  nommer  les  couleur  d'apres  une  methode  precise  et 
experimentale  "  (Paris,  1861,  also  Mem.  dc  T Acad,  xxxiii.),  in 
which  elaborate  charts  are  given  showing  the  colours  defined  by 
a  decimal  system  and  in  ten  degrees  of  saturation. 

Recently  Prof  W.  llallock,  of  this  College,  has  painted  discs 
with  standard  colours,  and  detennined  their  wave-lengths  with 
the  spectroscope.  These  discs  were  then  used  to  study  6000 
samples  of  coloured  objects,  and  formuke  were  determined  for 
some  500  named  colours.  These  formula;  have  been  used  for 
defining  the  names  of  colours  in  the  new  "  Standard  Dictionary  " 
(l'"unk  and  Wagnall's,  New  York). 

J.  McKeen  Cattei.i.. 

Columbia  College,  New  ^'ork,  September  20. 


A  Problem  in  Thermodynamics. 

It  may  interest  some  of  your  readers  to  know  that  the 
problem  in  thermodynamics,  propounded  by  Mr.  Blass  in  your 
number  of  .\ugust  29,  has  actually  been  put  to  the  test.  I 
pointed  out  Mr.  Blass's  letter  to  my  brother,  who  is  a  freezing 
engineer,  and  he  showed  me  a  co])y  of  the  Zcitschrift  fiir  die 
Cesamiiielte  Kdlte-Iiidiislric  (Nfunich)  for  August,  in  which  an 

NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


account  is  given  of  a  machine  on  exactly  the  principle  )lr, 
Blass  suggests,  by  which  llerr  Linde  has  succeeded  in  liquefy- 
ing air.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  the  "theoretical 
minimum  of  temperature  produced  at  c  "  would  be  determined 
by  the  point  of  liquefaction  of  the  gas  employed  ;  with  a  perfect 
unliquefiable  gas  it  would,  I  suppose,  theoretically,  be  absolute 
zero.  Edward  T.  Di.'cox. 

Cambridge,  September  22. 


THE  NEW  MINERAL   GASES. 

OUR  knowledge  of  the  spectra  and  other  conditionings 
of  the  new  mineral  gases  has  received  an  im- 
portant addition  in  the  communication  from  Drs.  Runge 
and  Paschen  which  appeared  in  last  week's  N.\TURE.  The 
employment  of  exposures  extending  over  seven  hours 
has  given  a  considerable  extension  in  the  number  of 
lines,  and  the  bolometer  has  been  called  in  to  investigate 
lines  in  the  infra-red  ;  better  still,  they  have  employed 
well-practised  hands  in  searching  for  series  of  lines. 
Operating,  by  chemical  means,  upon  a  crjstal  of  cl^veite 
free  from  any  other  mineral,  they  have  obtained  a  pro- 
duct so  pure  that  from  these  series  there  are  no  out- 
standing lines.  \'ery  great  weight,  therefore,  must  be 
attached  to  their  conclusions,  and  there  are  several 
points  of  contact  with  the  work  upon  which  I  ha\e  been 
engaged  from  a  slightly  different  stand-point  since  last 
.\pril,  when  Prof.  Ramsay  inade  his  fortunate  discovery 
of  a  terrestrial  source  of  helium. 

I  will  touch  upon  some  of  these  points  seriativi. 

In  the  first  place,  there  has  never  been  the  slightest 
doubt  in  my  mind  that  it  was  a  question  of  gases  and  not 
of  a  gas.  The  spectroscopic  evidence  in  the  laboratory 
alone  was  complete,  and  the  case  was  greatly  strengthened 
when  the  behaviour  of  the  various  lines  in  the  sun  and 
stars  was  also  brought  into  evidence.  Drs.  Runge  and 
Paschen  also  declare  that  the  gas  given  off  even  by 
a  pure  ciystal  of  cl&veite  is  not  simple,  but  consists  of 
two  constituents.  To  the  one  containing  the  line  D3, 
which  I  discovered  in  1868,  the  name  helium  remains  ; 
the  other  for  the  present,  we  may  call  "gas  X."  The 
chief  lines  of  these  two  constituents  are  as  follows,  accord- 
ing to  Runge  and  Paschen  : 


Helium. 
5S76 
4713 
4472 
4026 
3889 


Gas  X. 
667S 
5048 
5016 
4922 


Last  May  1  wrote  as  follows'  : — 

"The  preliminary  reconnaissance  suggests  that  the  gas 
obtained  from  broggerite,  by  my  method,  is  one  of  com- 
plex origin. 

"  I  now  proceed  to  show  that  the  same  conclusion  holds 
good  for  the  gases  obtained  by  Profs.  Ramsay  and  Cl^ve 
from  cleveite. 

"  For  this  purpose,  as  the  final  measures  of  the  lines  of 
the  gas  as  obtained  from  cleveite  by  Profs.  Ramsay  and 
Clfeve  have  not  yet  been  published,  1  take  those  given  by 
Crookes,  and  Clt;ve,  as  observed  by  Thalen. 

"  The  most  definite  and  striking  result  so  far  obtained  is 
that  in  the  spectra  of  the  minerals  giving  the  yellow  line 
I  have  so  far  examined,  I  have  never  once  seen  the  lines 
recorded  by  Crookes  and  Thalen  in  the  blue.  This 
demonstrates  that  the  gas  obtained  from  certain  speci- 
mens of  cldveite  by  chemical  methods  is  vastly  different 
from  that  obtained  by  my  method  from  certain  specimens 
of  broggerite,  and  since  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
bltic  lines,  the  spectrum  of  the  gas  obtained  from  cliveite 
is  more  complex  than  that  of  broggerite,  the  gas  itself 
cannot  be  more  simple. 

"  Even  the  blue  lines  themselves,  instead  of  appearing 

1  Froc.   Roy.  Soc.,  vol.  Iviii.  p.  114. 


548 


NATURE 


[October  3,  1895 


en  bloc,  \ar>"  enormously   in   the   sun.  the   appearances 
being — 

4922  (4921-3)  =  30  times. 

4713(4712-5)  =  twice. 

"  These  are  not  the  only  facts  which  can  be  adduced  to 
sujigest  that  the  gasfrom  cl&veite  is  as  complex  as  that  from 
broggeritc,  but  while,  on  the  one  hand,  the  simple  nature 
of  the  gases  obtained  by  Profs.  Ramsay  and  Cl^ve,  and 
by  myself,  must  be  given  up,  reasoning  on  spectroscopic 
lines,  the  observations  I  have  already  made  on  several 
minerals  indicate  that  the  gases  composing  the  mixtures 
are  by  no  means  the  only  ones  we  may  hope  to  obtain." 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  laboratory  separation  of  D3 
from  the  lines  504S,  5016,  and  4922  was  complete,  and 
we  now  know  that  they  belong  to  different  series. 


These  lines  have  now  been  differentiated  by  Runge  and 

Paschen  by  a  different  but  equally  satisfactory  method. 
Nor  is  this  all.     The  difference  between   the  results 

obtained  by  Thalen  and  myself  seemed  susceptible  of 
i  explanation  by  admitting  a  fractional  distillation,  accord- 
I  ing  to  which   D3  and  447  came  oft"  first,  and  4922,  5016, 
t  and  667  later  on  (Fig.  2). 
j       Here  also   1  got  the  same  result  as  in  the  diffusion 

experiment   referred   to   by    Drs.    Runge   and    Paschen. 

They  found  similarly — 

Less  bright.  More  bright. 

D3  5016 

6678 

.\11  these  various  lines  of  evidence  tend  therefore  to 
complexity,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  from  the  con- 
vertrcnce  of  all  these  lines  of  work,  the  results  of  which 


4471 

D5 

5875. 

c 

656J.667 

1. 

M 

FtG.  I. — Diagram  showing  changes  in  intensities  of  lines  brought  about  by  var>-ing  the  tension  of  the  spark, 
(i)  Without  air-break.  (2)  Witn  air-bre.ik. 


Later  on,  in  the  same  month,  I  returned  to  this  subject, 
and  showed  that  the  lines  at  D3  and  447  behaved  in  one 
way,  and  that  at  6f)7  behaved  in  another. 

I  wrote  as  follows  '  :  — 

■•  I J  In  a  simple  gas  like  hydrogen,  when  the  tension  of 
the  electric  current  given  by  an  induction  coil  is  increased, 
by  inserting  first  a  jar,  and  then  an  air-break  into  the 
circuit,  the  effect  is  to  increase  the  brilliancy  and  the 
breadth  of  all  the  lines,  the  brilliancy  and  breadth  being 
greatest  when  the  longest  air-break  is  used. 

"  12)  Contrariwise,  when  we  are  dealing  w  ith  a  known 
compound  gas  ;  at  the  lowest  tension  we  may  get  the 
complete  spectrum  of  the  compound  without  any  trace 
of  its  constituents,  and  we  may  then,  by  increasing  the 
tension,  gradually  bring  in  the  lines  of  the  constituents, 
until,  when  complete  dissociation  is  finally  reached,  the 
spectrum  of  the  compound  itself  disappears. 


agree  among  themselves,  that  we  are  in  presence  of  at 
least  two  distinct  gases,  the  complete  spectra  of  which  are 
those  given  by  Drs.  Runge  and  Paschen. 

The  second  point  is  that  there  is  no  connection  what- 
ever between  either  of  these  gases  and  argon.  Argon  is 
of  the  earth,  earthy,  but  helium  and  gas  .\  are  distinctly 
celestial,  even  more  celestial  than  1  thought  when  1 
claimed  for  them  last  May'  the  dignity  of  "a  new  order 
of  gases  of  the  highest  importance  to  celestial  chem- 
istry'." It  was  supposed  at  first  that  the  spectra  con- 
tained any  number  of  common  lines,  next  that  there  were 
two  coincidences  in  the  red  between  the  new  gases  and 
argon  ;  one  I  found  broke  down  with  moderate  dispersion, 
the  other  has  yielded  to  the  still  greater  dispersion 
employed  by  Drs.  Runge  and  Paschen  ;  and,  more  than 
this,  1  have  not  found  a  single  coincidence  between  argon 
and  any  line  in  the  spectrum  of  any  celestial  body  what- 


♦9fJ0l 


D, 


3S76. 


667. 


Fit;,  a. — Diagram  showing  the  order  in  which  the  h'nc^  .nppcar  in  spectrum  when  hrAggcrite  is  heated. 


"  Working  on  these  lines,  the  spectrum  of  the  spark  at 
atmospheric  pressure,  passing  through  the  gas,  or  gases, 
distilled  from  broggerite,  has  been  studied  with  reference 
to  the  special  lines  C  (hydrogen),  1)3,  667,  and  447. 

"  The  first  result  is  that  all  the  lines  do  not  vary  equally, 
as  they  should  do  if  we  were  dealing  with  a  simple  gas. 

"The  second  result  is  that  at  the  lowest  tension  667  is 
relatively  more  brilliant  than  the  other  lines  ;  on  mcrcas- 
in^;  the  tension,  C  and  D,  considerably  increase  their 
brilliancy,  667  relatively  and  absolutely  becoming  more 
feeble,  while  447,  seen  easily  as  a  narrow  line  at  low 
tension,  is  almost  broadened  out  into  invisibility  as  the 
tension  is  increased  in  some  of  the  lubes,  or  is  greatly 
brightened  as  well  as  broadened  in  others  (F"ig.  i). 

'  /"rr-r.  kny.  Soc.,  vol.  Kiii.  p.  193. 

NO.    1353,  VOL.  52] 


ever.      This  happens,   as  c\erybody  knows,   also   in  the 
case  of  oxygen,  nitrogen,  chlorine,  and  the  like.    - 

The  third  point  is  as  follows.  -So  far  1  have  worked 
upon  some  eighty  minerals,  and  1  have  found  the 
yellow  line  in  sixteen  ;  among  the  lines  which  1  have 
already  reported  10  the  Royal  .Society  are  included  all 
the  stronger  ones  in  the  various  series  determined  by  the 
(ierinan  physicists,  but  I  can  now  add  that  in  the  region 
over  which  my  work  has  extended,  there  is  scarcely  a 
single  line  in  their  series  which  I  have  not  cither  seen  or 
photographed  in  the  spectrum  of  some  celestial  l)ody  or 
another.  The  following  tables  will  show  the  results  I 
have  already  obtained  with  all  the  six  series  of  lines 
indicated  by  Drs.  Runge  and  Paschen. 

*  I*ivc.  Roy.  Soc.,  vol.  Iviii.  p.  117. 


October  3,  1895] 


NATURE 


549 


Helium. 

11220 

Sun. 

Star  or  Nebula. 

1 

3889 

C           E 

N.  III.  7 

3188 , 

2945 1 

2829 ' 

2764  . 

2723 1 

2696 

2677' 

5876 

C  100     E 

4472 

C  100     E 

4026 

C    25     E 

3820 

E 

a  Cygni 

3705  ^ 

3634 

3587 

3555 

35'3 

3499  ;* 

3488 

3479 

3472 

3466 

3461^ 

7066 

C   ICXD 

47"3 

C      2     E 

4121 

E 

N.  a  Cygni 

3S6S 

-> 

3777 

E 

Bellatrix 

3652 

3599 

3567  1 

3537    . 

3517  ' 

3503  1 

349"  1 

3482  / 

Gas  X. 

Sun. 

Slar  or  Nebula. 

5016 

C30     E 

3965 

? 

in.  7 

36141 

E 

3448 

3355    . 

3297  ,  * 

3258 

3231  \ 

3213' 

6678 

C25 

4922 

C  30     E 

438S 

E 

\.  HI.  7 

4144 

E 

III.  7 

4009 

III.  7 

3927 

Bellatrix 

3872 

Bellatrix 

3833 

E 

Hid  by  H  line 

3806 

Bellatrix 

3785'' 

J                7282 

5048 

C2 

4438 

Bellatri) 

4169 

Bellatrix 

4024 

-i 

N.  HI.  7 

3936 

Hid  in  Iv'. 

387S 

C          E 

a  Cygni 

383S 

C          E 

0  Cygni 

3803" 

*  Means  that  these  lines  are  out  of  the  range  of  my  observations. 


NO.   1353,  VOL.   52] 


In  the  tables,  under  "  .Sun,"  C,  followed  by  a  number, 
indicates  the  frequency  as  given  by  Young  ;  E  indicates 
the  lines  photographed  during  the  eclipse  of  1893.  Under 
"star  or  nebula  "  the  references  are  to  the  tables  given 
in  my  memoir  on  the  nebula  of  Orion  {Phil.  Trans,  vol. 
clxxxvi.  (1895),  p.  86  t/  seq.     N  =  Nebula  of  Orion). 

Hydrogen,  helium,  and  gas  X  are  thus  proved  to  be 
those  elements  Avhich  are,  v\e  may  say,  completely  repre- 
sented in  the  hottest  stars  and  in  the  hottest  part  of  the 
sun  that  we  can  get  at.  Here  then,  in  1895,  we  have 
abundant  confirmation  of  the  views  1  put  forward  in  1868 
as  to  the  close  connection  between  helium  and  hydrogen. 

J.    NOR.M.\N    LOCKVER. 


RESEARCH  IN  ZOOLOGY  AT  OXFORD} 

"T^HE  second  volume  of  the  Linacre  Reports,  which  has 
•*■  lately  been  printed,  shows  that  the  zoological 
laboratory  at  Oxford  continues  to  be  a  source  of  pro- 
duction of  many  interesting  and  valuable  contributions 
to  knowledge. 

In  the  course  of  a  little  more  than  one  year  the 
colleagues  and  pupils  of  Prof  Lankester  have  published 
a  number  of  memoirs  and  essays,  which,  when  collected 
together,  form  a  bulky  octavo  volume,  illustrated  by 
numerous  lithographs  and  woodcuts. 

There  is,  as  might  be  expected,  considerable  range  in  the 
interest  and  importance  of  the  several  items  composing 
the  \  olume,  but  not  one  of  them  could  have  been  omitted 
without  lessening  its  value  to  the  zoologist.  At  least  four 
of  the  memoirs  are  of  such  importance  that  they  may  be 
considered  to  be  standard  works  to  which  reference  must 
be  frequently  made  in  future  by  naturalists  of  all  nation- 
alities. Of  these,  perhaps,  the  most  important  is  I'rof 
Poulton's  memoir  on  the  structure  of  the  hair  and  bill  of 
the  duck-billed  Platypus,  which  contains  not  only  an 
excellent  account  of  certain  histological  features  of  this 
rare  animal,  but  some  extremely  suggestive  remarks, 
derived  from  this  research,  on  the  relations  of  hairs  and 
scales. 

Dr.  Benham's  beautifully  illustrated  essay  on  the  brain 
of  the  interesting  Chimpanzee  "  Sally,"  which  recently 
lived  and  died  in  the  Zoological  (hardens  in  London, 
forms  an  important  chapter  in  "  Man's  place  in  Nature." 
The  careful  comparison  which  Dr.  lienham  gives  of  the 
large  and  valuable  scries  of  anthropoid  and  human  brains 
which  he  has  examined,  makes  this  memoir  one  of  special 
interest  and  importance. 

Mr.  Bourne's  monograph  on  the  post-embryonic 
development  of  Eungia  gives  us,  at  last,  detailed  informa- 
tion and  good  illustrations  of  a  subject  which  has  long 
interested  zoologists. 

The  description  of  Prof  Lankester's  collection  of  the 
species  of  .Amphioxus  and  the  genera  allied  to  it,  which 
has  been  carefully  and  ably  written  by  Miss  Kirkaldy, 
forms  a  memoir  which  will  be  welcomed  heartily  by 
zoologists  in  all  civilised  countries. 

The  other  contributions  to  this  volume  are  of  less 
importance,  perhaps,  than  those  referred  to  above,  but 
they  are  all  useful  additions  to  our  knowledge  of  many 
widely  separated  branches  of  zoology,  and  being  carefully 
written,  and  the  result  of  work  done  under  excellent 
advice  and  guidance,  cannot  be  neglected  by  those  who 
arc  specially  interested  in  the  branches  of  zoology  of 
which  they  treat. 

With  such  a  volume  of  good  useful  work  tefore  us,  it 
is  truly  lamentable  to  read  in  Prof  Lankester's  editorial 
preface  of  the  general  indifterence  prevailing  m  the 
governing  bodies  of  the  Oxford  colleges  towards  the 
progress  of  natural  knov.ledge.  The  L'niversity  of  Oxford 
and  the  colleges  together  are  the  possessors  of  very  large 
endowments  for  the  cultivation  of  learning  in  all  its 
branches.     No  university  in  the  empire  is  so  fortunately 

1  *'  The  Linacre  Reports."    Vol.  ti. 


55° 


NA  TURE 


[October  3,  1895 


situated,  as  regards  funds,  as  Oxford  is  at  the  present  day, 
and  yet  the  just  claims  of  the  most  progressive  sciences 
upon  her  vast  resources  are  persistently  neglected,  and 
she  remains  in  the  position  of  a  follower  rather  than  a 
leader  in  most  of  the  scientific  movements  of  the  day. 

The  efforts  that  Prof.  Lankester  has  so  successfully 
made  to  stimulate  his  pupils  to  investigate  natural  things, 
have  been  made  in  spite  of,  and  not  as  (hey  should  have 
been  with  the  wann  support  and  sympathy  of  the  collegiate 
systems  that  prevail  in  Oxford. 

During  the  past  ten  years  only  four  fellowships  have 
been  awarded  to  young  zoologists  of  promise  by  the 
Oxford  colleges.  The  recipients  of  this  support  have 
each  produced  \aluable  work,  which  has  reflected  great 
credit  upon  themselves  and  the  enlightened  action  of  the 
colleges  to  which  they  belong.  Not  one  of  them  has 
joined  the  ranks  of  the  idle  fellows  which  abound  in  the 
old  universities  of  this  country-.  The  experiment  cannot, 
therefore,  be  said  to  be  a  failure.  It  is  as  a  fact  the  most 
conspicuous  success  of  any  of  the  college  enterprises  of 
the  present  day.  Why  then,  it  may  be  asked,  have  not 
other  colleges  followed  the  example  that  has  been  set  ? 
The  answer  to  this  question  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact 
that,  in  consequence  of  the  unfortunate  competition  that 
exists  between  colleges  to  swell  the  ranks  of  their 
undergraduates,  the  income  of  the  endowments  is  frittered 
away  in  the  salaries  of  the  heads,  the  stewards,  the 
bursars,  and  the  tutors  of  the  pass-men.  Whether  the 
time  will  soon  come  when  a  radical  alteration  will  be 
made  in  the  administration  of  the  college  endowments 
it  is  difficult  to  say,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  present  state  of  affairs  as  regards  the  support  of 
natural  science  in  Oxford  is  little  short  of  scandalous, 
and  should  call  for  the  serious  attention  of  men  of 
influence  who  have  her  interests  at  heart. 

Prof  Lankester  is  to  be  congratulated  on  the  efforts  he 
has  personally  made,  as  shown  by  the  two  volumes  of 
"The  Linacre  Reports,"  to  stimulate  research  in  his  own 
branch  of  science  at  Oxford;  and  it  is  to  be  niost  sincerely 
hoped  that,  in  a  little  while,  his  enterprise  will  meet  with 
the  recognition  from  the  colleges  that  it  deserves. 

S\|i\l\    I.    HlCKSOX. 


DEEP  SOUNDING  IN  lliH  I'ACll-lC. 
A  DEEPER  spot  in  the  ocean  than  any  yet  known  has 
■**■  been  recently  found  by  H.M.  surveying  ship 
Pengtiin.  Unfortunately  the  observation  w-as  not  com- 
plete, as  a  fault  in  the  w  ire  caused  it  to  break  when  4900 
fathoms  had  run  out  without  bottom  having  been 
reached. 

Commander  Balfour  reports  that  this  occurred  in  lat. 
23' 40'  S.,  long.  175'  10'  W.,  about  60  miles  north  of  a 
sounding  of  4428  fathoms  obtained  by  Captain  .\ldrich 
in  1888.  .A.  previous  attempt  to  reach  bottom  had  been 
foiled  by  a  similar  accident  to  the  wire  w  hen  4300  fathoms 
had  passed  out,  .ind  the  rising  wind  and  sea  prevented 
any  further  attempt  at  the  time.  .As  the  deepest  cast 
hitherto  obtained  is  one  of  4655  fathoms  near  Japan,  it 
is  at  any  rate  certain  that  the  depth  at  the  position  named 
is  at  least  245  fathoms  greater. 

It  is  hoped  that  before  long  a  more  successful  attempt 
to  find  the  actual  depth  will  be  made. 

September  28.  W.  J.  L.  WHARTON. 

LOUIS  PASTEUR. 
/^.\  .Saturday  afternoon,  M.  Pasteur  died  at  (Marches, 
^^  near  St.  Cloud,  where  he  had  gone  for  the  summer 
in  order  to  be  near  I'aris,  and  at  the  same  time  to  be 
near  the  large  establishment  for  the  preparation  of 
antitoxic  scrum. 

In  1868,  Pasteur  suffered  from  an  attack  of  paralysis, 
the  result  apparently  of  a  cerebral  h;einorrli,igc  ;  but 
although  traces  of  this  paralysis  remained,  he  enjoyed 

NO.    1353,  VOL.  52] 


fairly  good  health  until  1SS7,  when  he  developed  symp 
toms  of  heart   and   kidney   disease,    probably  a  recru- 
descence  of    the    diseases    associated    with    his   earliei 
paralysis.     Four  years  ago  he  suffered   from   influenza,] 
which  appears  to  ha\e  left  further  weakness  of  the  heart, 
Last  winter  he  was  unable  to  do  an\-  work,  and  in  fad 
was    confined    to    bed   for  several   months  ;   but   whenl" 
summer  came,  he  was  able  to  go  to  his  country  house  atj- 
V'illeneuve  I'Etang,  near  St.  Cloud,  where  he  remained, 
in   comparatively  good    health,  though   easily  fatigued,- 
until  about  three  weeks  ago,  when  he  seems  to  have  felt); 
that  the  end  was  approaching.     It  is  stated  that  "about  : 
three  weeks  ago  he  kissed  his  grandchildren  fondly,  and 
pressed  each  for  some  time  to  his  breast,  sobbing  as  he 
did  so.     On  being  asked  what  was  the  matter,  he  <.ii<l 
' The  matter  is  that  I  must  so  soon  leave  them.'"     !  U- 
appeared  to  be  no  worse  at  this  time,  but  about  a  ui  1  k 
later  symptoms  of  urxmia  began  to  develop,  he  becan  .■ 
comatose,  and  on  Wednesday  last  the  urxmic  poison; r, 
became  more  marked,  and  by  Friday  it  was  evident  th  u 
there  could  be  only  one  termination  to  the  illness. 

In  1891  (Naturk,  March  26)  we  gave  a  sketch  ol  Ins 
life  from  the  pen  of  Sir  James  Paget,  some  feature^  of 
which  may  now  be  repeated.  "  Louis  Pasteur  was  Ihmii 
on  December  27,  1822,  at  Dole,  in  the  Jura,  where  Ims 
father,  an  old  soldier  who  had  been  decorated  on  ihe 
field  of  battle,  worked  hard  as  a  tanner."  Father  and 
mother  alike  seem  to  have  been  earnest,  thought tul 
people,  whose  one  ambition  seems  to  have  been  to  "  make 
a  man ''  of  their  son. 

"In  1825  they  removed  to  .\rbois,  and  as  soon  as  lie 
was  old  enough  to  be  admitted  as  a  day  boy,  Pasnur 
began  his  studies  in  the  Communal  College,  and  tlicro, 
after  the  first  year  or  two,  he  worked  hard  and  gaiiud 
distinction."  He  then,  in  turn,  studied,  for  a  year  at 
the  college  of  Bcsan(;on  and  at  the  Ecole  Noriii.ile. 
He  was  only  fourteen  when  he  first  a])plied  for  .idmission, 
but  it  was  not  until  he  had  studied  for  a  year  that  hfti 
went  in  for  the  examination  ;  and  in  1843  it  is  recorded^ 
that  he  was  fourth  on  the  list  of  successful  compciitorsii 
.At  a  very  early  period  he  devoted  special  attention  tqi 
chemistry  under  Darlay  at  Besan<;on,  and  tlicn  under 
Dumas  at  the  .Sorbonnc,  and  Balard  at  the  Ecolc 
Normale.  Here,  too,  in  the  Ecole  Normale,  he  com- 
menced that  study  of  molecular  physics,  espe<  i ally 
in  relation  to  the  formation  of  crystals,  which  led  iiuj 
to  his  now  classical  investigation  on  the  isomerul 
crystals  of  the  tartrates  and  paiatartratcs  of  so(fl 
and  ammonia.  In  1847  he  took  his  degree  of  DoctorJ 
of  Science,  after  which  he  was  appointed  Assistant  and' 
then  Professor  of  Chemical  Physics  in  the  I'nivcrsity 
of  Strassburg.  In  1854  he  was  appointed  Dean  of  tlic 
Faculty  of  -Sciences  at  Lille,  where  he  spent  three  > cars' 
in  organising  the  new  school,  antl  commenced  tliosc 
experiments  on  fermentation  which  seemed  to  follow 
naturally  on  his  researches  on  the  tartaric  acids.  Hc| 
found  that  certain  processes  of  fermentation  were  set  uj 
by  distinct  micro-organisms,  under  the  action  of  whir 
organic  salts  and  even  inorganic  substances  were  broki 
down,  and  others  were  formed  in  their  jjlace.  Three 
years  later  he  was  appointed  Director  of  .Studies  in  tht 
ll^cole  Normale  in  Paris,  which  office  he  retained  until 
1867.  During  this  same  period  he  was  Professor,  first _rt 
Geology,  then  of  Physics,  and  latterly  of  Chemistry  in  l" 
6colc  des  Beaux  .Arts.  He  also  held  the  position 
Professor  of  Chemistry  at  the  Sorbonne. 

As  early  as    1856,  before  his  recall  to  Paris,  the  Ri 
Society  of  London  awarded  to  him  the  Rumfoid  Mei 
for    his   researches  on   the    polarisation    of    light.      It 
1869    he   was    made   a  foreign    member   of    the    Kortij'"i> 
.Society,  and  in  1874  the  Copley  Medal  was  gi\cn  to  liffli| ''^ 
It    is    interesting  to  note  in  connection  with  his   rcceill'     " 
action    as    regards    the    <  )rder    offered    to   him    by  tht 
Emperor  William,  that,  during  the  bitterness  cau-(<l  H) 


■ 


October  3,  1895] 


NATURE 


551 


the  war,  M.  I'astcur  sent  back  the  Diploma  of  Doctor 
^'iven  to  him  by  the  University  of  Bonn  in  1868,  and 
subsequently  received  a  message  from  the  students  call-  '■ 
in^f  him  an  impostor  and  a  cjuack.  In  1 881  Pasteur 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  French  Academy,  suc- 
ceeding to  the  scat  of  M.  Littre.  About  the  same  time 
he  was  made  an  honorarj-  Doctor  of  Science  of  the 
University  of  Oxford.  In  1887  he  was  appointed  per- 
petual secretary-  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  but  in 
1889,  owing  to  the  failure  of  his  health,  he  was  compelled 
to  hand  over  the  duties  of  this  position  to  M.  Rertholet. 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  researches  on  crystals  and 
"  ine  fennentation,  Pasteur  commenced  an  inquiry  into 
the  diseases  of  the  silkworm,  and  in  no  investigation 
that  he  undertook  were  his  method  and  thoroughness 
more  fully  exemplified  than  in  this.  When  he  com-  , 
menccd  his  inquiiy  he  had  never  even  seen  a 
silkworm,  but  for  four  years  he  spent  several  months 
of  each  year  in  tracing  the  genns  of  the  "  pebrinc  "  disease  '' 
through  the  \arious  stages  of  dc\elopment  of  the  worm, 
egg,  larva,  chrysalis,  and  moth.  He  found  what  he  1 
described  as  "  corpuscles,"  which  he  indicated  were 
the  contagious  elements  of  the  disease.  These  were 
taken  up  from  the  mulberr\-leaves  on  which  they 
had  been  previously  deposited  by  diseased  moths  ; 
some  of  the  worms  died,  but  others  went  on  to  the 
chrysalis  and  even  to  the  moth  stage,  still  affected  by 
these  "  corpuscles,"  and  the  eggs  laid  by  these  moths 
were  also  found  to  contain  them.  He  was  convinced  that 
the  only  way  was  to  breed  from  moths  not  affected  by 
the  disease,  and  "  to  this  end  he  invented  the  plan  which 
has  been  universally  adopted,  and  has  restored  a  source 
of  V.  ealth  to  the  silk  districts :  each  female  moth,  when 
ready  to  lay  eggs,  is  placed  on  a  separate  piece  of  linen, 
on  which  it  may  lay  them  all  ;  after  it  has  laid  them  and 
has  died,  it  is  dried,  and  then  pounded  in  water,  and,  the 
water  is  then  examined  microscopically.  If  "  corpuscles" 
are  foimd  in  it,  the  whole  of  the  eggs  of  this  moth,  and  the 
Imen  on  which  they  are  laid,  are  burnt  ;  if  no  cor- 
puscles are  found,  the  eggs  are  kept,  to  be,  in  due  time, 
hatched,  and  yield  healthy  silkworms." 

Pasteur's  experiments  on  fermentation  began  to  have  a 
1  more  direct  bearing  on  disease  when  Sir  Joseph  Lister, 
I  ap])lying  the  principles  to  the  changes  that  occur  in 
1  wounds,  was  able  by  his  antiseptic  practice  to  exclude 
[putrefactive  and  septic  germs  from  wounds,  and  so  to 
lpre\ent  those  terrible  sequchc  which  were  the  terror  of 
Isurgeons  of  the  past  generation. 

Then  came   Pasteur's  great  work  in  bacteriology,  his 
lattenuation  of  the  anthrax  bacillus  and  of  other  pathogenic 
lorganisms  by  which  he  procured  a  vaccinating  virus,  cap- 
lable  of  producing  a  mild  form  of  the  disease  :  as  a  result  of  I 
^his  attack  vaccinated  animals  were  protected  against  the 
attacks  of  the  non-attenuated  organism.     This  was   first 
proved  in  connection  with  fowl-cholera,  then  in  connection  [ 
livith  swine  erysipelas  ;  but  the  most  important  application  | 
lit  that  time  was  in  connection  with  anthrax.   His  work  on 
aydrophobia  is   still  fresh  in  the  minds  of  all.     Pasteur's 
Ivork  does  not  end  with  his  death.  He  had  collected  in  the 
Institut  Pasteur,  which  was   raised  as  a  memorial  to  his 
life's  work,  a  band  of  able  and  well-trained  in\e5tigators, 
Ivho  are  imbued  with   the  spirit  that  animated   his   mind  | 
|nd  soul     men  who,  under  his  advice  and  encouragement. 
Ire  working  out  the  details  of  the  great  works  that  he 
nitiated,  who  are  endowed  with  some  of  his  great  mental 
Ikower,  and  who  have  been  fully  trained  under  his  eye  in  the 
ncthods  of  direct  experiment  and  accurate  observation, 
Kien   who  have  been  taught  by  him  "  n'avancez   rien  qui 
le  puisse  ctre  prouve  d'une  fa(;on  simple  et  decisive," 
rule  always  practised  by  himself 

France  may  well  offer  a  public  funeral.     Louis  Pasteur 
as  one  of  her  noblest   sons — an  honoured  one  during 
Ilis  life,  and  deeply  lamented  now  that  he  is  dead. 
In  Pasteur  not  only  has  France  lost  the  greatest  French- 

NO.     1353.    VOL.    52] 


man,  but  the  world  has  lost  one  of  its  greatest  benefactors, 
not  only  of  this  age  but  of  all  time.  Letters  and  tele- 
grams of  condolence  have  been  sent  by  men  of  light  and 
leading  in  many  nations,  and  they  indicate  the  sorrow  felt 
unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.  No  greater  testimony  than 
this  could  be  given  of  the  esteem  in  which  the  memor)-  of 
the  great  investigator  is  held.  The  blessings  which  the 
human  race  owes  to  Pasteur  ha\e  been  recognised  for 
some  time,  and  now  that  the  mind  which  gave  them 
birth  is  at  rest,  one  great  outburst  of  grief  arises.  The 
expression  of  sorrow  in  F" ranee  is  full  and  sincere.  At  the 
funeral,  which  is  arranged  to  take  place  next  Saturday,  the 
President  of  the  Republic  will  be  present,  and  other 
representatives  of  the  French  Government,  together 
with  a  multitude  of  fellow -workers  and  friends  who  revere 
Pasteur's  memory.  The  funeral  procession  will  first  pro- 
ceed to  Notre  Dame,  where  a  solemn  requiem  will  be 
chanted  in  presence  of  the  .Archbishop  of  Paris.  The 
body  will  afterwards  be  placed  in  one  of  the  vaults  of  the 
cathedral  until  the  celebration  of  the  Centenary-  of  the 
Institute  of  France,  in  three  weeks'  time,  when  it  will  be 
removed  to  its  final  resting-place.  It  has  been  arranged 
that  the  body  of  the  great  investigator  shall  be  finally 
interred  at  the  Institute  which  bears  his  name,  and  which 
will  form  a  fitting  monument  to  him.  The  representa- 
tives of  science  who  will  be  assembled  in  Paris  for  the 
Centenary  will  accompany  the  transfer  of  the  mortal 
remains  of  their  foremost  fellow  -worker  ;  so  that  while 
they  unite  to  celebrate  the  foundation  of  the  Institute  of 
France,  they  will  join  together  in  sorrow  for  the  deep 
loss  which  science  has  sustained. 

NO  TES. 

The  eleventh  International  Geodetic  Conference  was  opened 
at  Berlin  on  Tuesday.  Representatives  were  present  from 
Austria,  Belgium,  France,  Italy,  Japan,  Norway,  Servia,  Spain, 
Sweden,  Switzerland,  and  the  United  States.  The  proceed- 
ings were  opened  by  Dr.  Bosse,  the  Prussian  Minister  of  Public 
Education. 

A  N  EW  meteorological  observatory  is  reported  to  have  been 
opened  on  the  Brocken,  in  the  Harz  Mountains,  on  Tuesday. 
The  observations  obtained  there  will  be  useful  for  discussion  in 
connection  with  those  made  at  the  observatory  on  Ben  Nevis. 

Sir  David  Salomons  has  arranged  for  an  exhibition  of 
horseless  carriages  on  Tuesday,  October  15,  at  the  Tunbridge 
Wells  Agricultural  Show  Ground,  which  has  been  lent  to  him 
for  the  occasion.  The  carriages  will  enter  the  ring  at  three 
o'clock  p.m.  The  entrance  money  received  will  be  used  for 
prizes  to  be  awarded  at  the  show  of  the  Tunbridge  Wells  and 
South  Eastern  Counties  Agricultural  Society  next  year,  for  the 
best  horseless  carriages  intended  to  be  used  for  agricultural, 
trade,  and  private  purposes.  Invitation  tickets  for  the  exhibi- 
tion may  be  secured  in  order  of  application  by  Fellows  and 
Members  of  the  following  Institutions  sending  an  addressed 
envelope  to  one  of  the  Secretaries— the  Institution  of  Civil 
Engineers,  the  Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers,  the  Institute  of 
Mechanical  Engineers,  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  and  the 
Royal  College  of  Surgeons. 

The  Medical  Schools  attached  to  London  and  provincial 
hospitals  commenced  a  new  session  on  Tuesday  with  the 
customary  introductory  addresses.  Prof.  J.  K.  Bradford,  at 
University  College,  discussed  the  [wsitions  occupied  by  biolog)-, 
anatomy,  and  physiolog)'  in  the  medical  curriculum.  Dr.  A.  P. 
Laurie  addressed  the  students  at  St.  Mar)-"s  Hospital  on  the 
jnedical  profession  and  unhealthy  trades.  At  the  London  Hos- 
pital, Dr.  J.  Hughlings-Jack-son  was  presented  with  his  portrait 
and  a  piece  of  plate,  in  recognition  of  his  great  services  to  the 
London  Hospital  and  Medical  College,  of  his  distinguished 
ixjsition  in  the  profession,  and  of  the  advance  he  has  e6fected  in 
medical  science  by  his  laborious  investigations  and   profound 


55^ 


NATURE 


[October  3,  1895 


insight  iinto  the  diseases  of  the  nervous  sj'stem.  The  presenta- 
tion was  made  by  Sir  James  Paget,  who  also  presented  the 
prizes  to  the  students.  Mr.  G.  D.  Tollock  advised  the  students 
at  St.  George's  Hospital  as  to  their  methods  and  aims  of  work. 
A  valuable  address  on  the  more  important  developments  of 
modem  medicine,  especially  in  the  department  of  bacteriology, 
was  given  at  Westminster  Hospital  by  Dr.  S.  M.  Copeman. 
l>r.  W.  J.  Mickle  discourseil  on  psychological  medicine  at 
Middlesex  Hospital,  and  Dr.  ti.  D".\th  read  a  paper  at  Guy's 
llospital  on  "Our  Profession,  our  Patients,  our  Public,  and  our 
Press."  The  introductor>'  address  to  the  students  of  the  London 
School  of  Medicine  for  Women  was  given  by  Miss  Ellaby. 

The  annu.1l  exhibition  of  natural  scientific  specimens  of  the 
South  London  Natural  History  Society  will  be  held  at  the  St. 
Martin's  Town  Hall,  Charing  Cross,  on  the  evening  of 
October  17. 

A  PORTRAIT  bust  in  bronze  of  the  late  Dr.  Robert  Brown, 
the  botanist,  has  been  presented  to  the  Montrose  Town  Council 
by  Miss  Paton,  a  kinswoman  of  the  botanist ;  it  has  been  placed 
in  a  niche  in  the  house  where  Dr.  Brown  was  born  in  1773- 

The  Lancet  announces  that  a  subscription  has  been  opened  in 
Bristol  to  proride  for  the  purchase  and  retention  in  that  city  of 
the  celebrated  collection  of  relics  l)elonging  to  Jenner  in  con- 
nection with  his  introduction  of  vaccination.  The  collection  is 
at  present  the  property  of  Mr.  Frederick  Nockler,  of  Wotton- 
under-Edge,  and  was  exhibited  by  him  at  the  Bristol  Exhibition 
in  1S93,  and  since  then  in  London,  at  each  of  which  places  it 
attracted  a  considerable  amount  of  attention. 

Was  any  record  obtained  of  an  earthquake  in  England  on 
September  13  ?  A  correspondent  informs  us  that  at  12.25  *••"• 
on  that  day,  four  slight  but  very  distinct  shocks  were  felt  two 
miles  north-west  of  Southampton.  The  shocks  caused  the 
room  to  shake,  and  a  deep  grinding  noise  was  heard  ;  they 
occurred  a  few  seconds  after  each  other,  but  the  interval  between 
the  third  and  fourth  was  a  little  longer  than  that  between  the 
previous  tremors.  The  last  shock  appears  to  have  been  the 
most  intense. 

On  Saturday,  September  14,  the  ceremony  of  breaking 
the  soil  preparatory  to  the  erection  of  the  new  building 
of  the  BrookljTi  Institute,  was  performed  in  that  city.  The 
estimated  cost  of  the  new  building  is  several  millions  of 
dollars,  as  its  projectors  intend  it  to  be  one  of  the  finest  and 
most  complete  of  its  kind  erected.  The  Institute,  which 
has  a  membership  approaching  4000,  has  never  yet  had  a 
suitable  home,  and  it  is  confidently  anticipated  that  rapid  strides 
in  membership  and  usefulness  will  be  made  when  the  present 
scheme  has  been  carried  to  a  conclusion. 

We  much  regret  to  have  to  record  the  death,  from  injuries 
received  whilst  riding  his  bicycle,  of  Prof.  C.  V.  Riley,  of 
Washington.  Prof.  Riley,  who  was  fifty-two  years  old  and  a 
native  of  England,  died  on  September  14.  He  w.as  for  many 
years  Sl.ate  entomologist  of  Missouri,  and  from  1 878  till  1S94W.1S 
(lovcmmcnt  entomologist  of  the  United  .States,  .ind  .-is  such  did 
very  much  in  devising  and  applying  means  to  destroy  noxious 
insects.  His  successful  cx|X'riment  in  checking  the  ravages  of 
Ihc  white  scale  in  California,  a  few  years  ago,  by  introducing  the 
(larasitic  lady  bug,  Vedalia  iardinalii^  w.is  among  the  most 
brilliant  triumphs  of  economic  entomology.  Prof.  Riley  has 
written  and  published  much.  He  w.-is  one  of  the  original  Fellows 
fA  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science, 
and  President  of  the  Zoological  Section  in  1888,  when  he 
ilelivcrcd  an  address  on  the  causes  of  variation  in  organic  forms. 

AUTHORITIES  have  differed  much  as  to  the  character  of 
crystallised  bromine.  Gmclin-Kraut's  Hand-lmok  descriljcs  the 
vilid  5ul»lancc  as  stcclgrey  and  similar  to  io<linc,  whereas 
Schutzcnitergcr  says  "  solid  bromine  Is  a  crystalline,  brown-red 

NO.   1353,  VOL.   52] 


mass,  and  not  grey-blue,  as  it  is  often  described."  The  Z(it-  \ 
schrift  fur  Anorgaitisclu'  Chemie  (x.  I  and  2)  gives  a  short  ac- 
count of  its  preparation  by  Henryk  .\rctowski  by  a  new  method. 
A  very  concentrated  solution  of  bromine  in  carbon  bisulphide, 
when  cooled  to  -  90°,  deposits  the  halogen  in  the  crystalline  form 
and  free  from  the  solvent.  When  thus  obtained,  bromine  forms 
a  mass  of  fine  needles  of  some  millimetres  length,  which  have  ;v 
fine  dark  carmine-red  colour  like  that  of  chromium  trioxide. 
Solid  bromine,  obtained  in  mass,  has  a  crystalline  fracture,  and 
has  no  well-defined  metallic  lustre  like  iodine  ;  at  the  best,  it  has 
a  dull  black  metallic  apfiearance. 

The  boiling  point  and  the  critical  temperature  of  hydrogen, 
concerning  which  Prof.  K.  Olszewski  made  a  preliminary  state- 
ment in  Na  ri"RE  some  little  time  ago,  have  since  been  dctermincil 
by  him  with  every  precaution  .-igainst  error,  with  the  result  thai 
his  first  estimate  is  proved  to  have  been  very  near  the  truth.  In 
the  current  number  of  Wkdonaitn  s  Aiinalcn  the  process  is 
described  in  det.<iil.  The  "expansion  method,"  which  had 
already  been  successfully  employed  to  determine  the  critical 
pressure,  was  again  utilised,  the  critical  temperature  being  the 
temperature  at  which  liquid  hydrogen,  when  slowly  released  from 
pressure,  first  boils  up,  and  the  boiling  point  being  the  tempera- 
ture attained  when  the  pressure  is  reduced  to  that  of  one  atmo- 
sphere. The  chief  difficulty  was,  as  usual,  that  of  determining 
the  temperature  accurately.  Prof.  Olszewski  succeeded  here  by 
using  a  coil  of  thin  platinum  wire  immersed  in  the  hydrogen, 
whose  varying  resistance  indicated  the  amount  by  which  it  was 
cooled.  This  coil  w,as  placed  in  a  cast-iron  cylinder  into 
which  hydrogen  was  conducted  from  a  reservoir  under  iSo 
atmospheres  pressure.  The  cast-iron  cylinder  could  be  brought 
down  to  a  temperature  of  -  210°  C,  not  far  from  the  absolute 
zero,  by  means  of  liquid  oxygen.  But  the  critical  temperature 
of  hydrogen  was  found  to  be  still  lower,  viz.  -  234*5''  C,  and  had 
to  be  found  by  exlrapol.-ition.  The  boiling  point  was  -  243 '5°  C, 
or  -406  "3°  F. 

In  a  reiMrt  on   the  Coosa  coal-field,  published  by  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  of  .\labama,  Mr.  \.  M.   Gibson   describes  some 
rcnmrkable  effects  of  the  great  "  cloud-bursts"  which  devasl.ited 
that  region  in  1S72,  and  are   still   conspicuous  after  a  lapse  of  ^ 
over  twenty   years.     Clean-cut  channels,   in  one  case  sixty  feet 
wide  and  three  or   four  feel   deep,  are   described  as  extending 
down  the   mountain   sides.     They  were   formed  by  the   direct  j 
force  of  the  downpour  of  water,  and   along  them   were  carried! 
great   m.isses   of  rock — one    weighing   a   hundre<l    tons — earth,a 
trees,  &c.,   which  formed  moraine-like  masses  at  the  base,  or  J 
were  scattered  far  over  the  lower  ground.  f 

Vol..  \-\.  of  the  new  series  of  Reports  of  the  Geological  Survey 
of  Canada  h-is  recently  been  published,  and  contains  the  annual 
reports  for  the  years   1892  and   1893,   two  s)>ecial  preliminary 
rejwrls   on   particular  districts   (namely,   parts  of  Ontario  and  ) 
Nova   Scotia),  and  chemical  and   mining  re|>orls  illustrated  bjfj 
numerous  statistical  diagrams.     Among   the  matters  of  generMjll 
interest,   we  may  note  the  results  of  Mr.  Low's  exploration  flif 
I-ibrador.       He  finds  that  the   interior   of  l^brador   is   well*|l 
wooded,    instead  of    being   a  treeless  wilderness  as   generallyM 
supposed,  and   finds  evidence  that  the  continental  ice-cap  took  J 
its  rise  in  the  interior  of  that  country.     In   the  chemical  rejiorti,  | 
Mr.  G.  C.   Hoffmann  records  a   remarkable   mineralogical  difc  j 
covery.       In  the  kaolinizcd  perlhite  fnmi  a  pegmatite  vein  anl'| 
found   spherules   of  metallic  iron,  mostly  minute   but  at  tiniM  ' 
mca-suring  as   much  as  a  millimetre  in  diameter,  and  having  a 
siliceous  nucleus.     Mr.    Hoflfmann    refers   to    similar  sphcrulM 
described  by  him  some   years  ago  ( Trans.  Roy.  Soc.   Cn/iadi,  ■ 
vol.  viii.  sec.  iii.  p.  39),  on  the  joint-surfaces  of  a  quart/itc,  and 
considers  that  the  explanation  suggested  in  that  case  applies  hcJt 
.again— that  the  iron  has  been  reduced  from  limonite  by  the  ad 
of  organic  matter. 


October  3,  1895] 


NATURE 


000 


The  Canadian  Geological  Survey  has  published  the  second 
part  of  vol.  iii.  of  its  monographs  on  "  Palaeozoic  Fossils," 
in  which  Mr.  Whiteaves  describes  and  figures  fossils — ^chiefly 
Gastropods  and  Brachiopods — from  the  Guelph  and  Hudson 
River  formations. 

VVk  have  received  from  Mr.  J.  II.  Knowles,  of  Lavender 
Hill,  .S.W.,  a  catalogue  of  various  books  of  science  which  he 
has  for  .sale.  .Many  interesting  and  valuable  works  on  Ornith- 
ology, Botany,  Astronomy,  and  other  sciences  are  included. 

Mks.srs.  Jarroi.d  and  Sons  have  just  published  an  abridged 
edition  of  "  The  Official  Guide  to  the  Norwich  Castle  Museum," 
at  the  small  price  of  si.\pence.  The  chief  author  of  the  book  is 
Mr.  T.  Southwell,  who  has  produced  a  work  that  should  be  in 
the  hands  of  all  visitors  to  the  museum,  which  it  so  well  describes. 
The  little  work  is  admirably  compiled,  and  is  illustrated  by 
numerous  figures  in  the  text. 

The  valuable  series  of  reprints  now  being  published  by  Mr. 
Engelmann,  of  Leipsig,  under  the  title  of  Ostwald's  "  Klassiker 
der  Exakten  VVissenschaften  "  has  recently  had  four  more  volumes 
added  to  it.  These,  numbered  63  to  66,  contain  respectively  the 
following  papers  : — "  Zur  Entdeckung  des  Elektromagnetismus," 
by  H.  C.  Oersted  and  •  T.  J.  Seebcck  ;  "  Ober  die  Vierfach 
Periodischen  Functionen  Zweier  V'ariabeln,"  by  C.  G.  J. 
lacobi ;  "  Abhanillung  ueber  die  Functionen  Zweier  Variabler 
mit  vier  Perioden,"  by  G.  Rosenhain  ;  and  "  Die  Anfange  des 
Nattirlichen  Systemes  der  Chemischen  Elemente,"  by  J.  W. 
Doebereiner  and  .Max  Pettenkofer. 

We  have  received  part  i.  vol.  vi.  of  the  Transaclions  cA  the 
Norfolk  and  Norwich  Naturalists'  Society,  by  which  it  appears 
that  the  Society  has  just  completed  its  twenty-sixth  year,  and  to  ' 
be  financially  in  a  prosperous  condition  ;  now  numbering  275 
members,  amongst  whom  we  recognise  many  well-known  names. 
The  presidential  address,  by  Dr.  Plowright,  was  mainly  devoted 
to  the  consideration  of  some  obscure  points  in  the  life-history  and 
development  of  the  various  forms  of  Piucinia,  which  he  showed 
bad  l>y  no  means  been  worked  out,  and  indicated  the  diiecticn 
in  which  further  investigations  should  be  jiursued.  Amongst 
the  papers  read  before  the  Society,  and  published  in  their  Trans- 
actions, is  a  very  interesting  one  on  "  Neolithic  Man  in  Thetford 
District,"  with  illustrations  of  the  various  types  of  flint  imple- 
ments found  in  the  river-gravels  of  that  neighbourhood.  The 
usual  "Report  on  the  Herring  Fishery  of  Yarmouth  and 
Lowestoft "  is  also  published,  which  having  been  continued 
for  fourteen  consecutive  years,  in  the  absence  of  trustworthy 
statistics  on  the  subject  elsewhere,  should  be  possessed  of  value  ; 
and  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  very  full  meteorological  notes 
by  Mr.  A.  \V'.  Preston.  A  chatty  paper  on  "Old-time  ^'annouth 
Naturalists,"  by  Mr.  F.  Danby- Palmer,  should  also  be  men- 
tioned as  giving  some  particulars  of  the  more  noticeable  of  the 
old-time  naturalists,  for  which  that  ornithologically  rich  section 
of  the  east  coast  has  always  been  remarkable.  There  are  fifteen 
published  papers  in  all,  each  of  which  speaks  well  for  the 
vitality  and  usefulness  of  the  Society. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  two  Bonnet  Monkeys  {Afacacus 
siniciis,  9  9 )  from  India,  presented  respectively  by  Mr. 
Thomas  Mackenzie  and  Messrs.  Davies  and  Sons ;  a  Chim- 
panzee (Anthropopitheciis  troglodytes,  i )  from  West  Africa, 
presented  by  Captain  G.  C.  Denton ;  a  Piping  Guan  {Pipile 
itimanensis)  from  Uruguay,  presented  by  Mr.  P.  du  Pre  Gren- 
fell ;  four  Green  Lizards  (Lacerta  viridis),  three  Wall  Lizards 
(Lacerta  muralis),  European,  presented  by  Mr.  C.  W. 
Tytheridge ;  two  Laughing  Kingfishers  (Dacclo  gigantca)  from 
-Vustralia,  deposited  ;  a  Connnon  Seal  (Phoia  viliilina)  from 
Scotland,  purchased. 

NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Return  of  Faye's  Co.met. — A  telegram  from  Kiel,  received 
on  September  28,  announces  that  Faye's  comet  was  oljserved  by 
Javelle  at  Nice  on  the  26th.  .\t  izh.  34 -Sm.,  Nice  time,  it  was 
in  R.A.  2lh.  8m.  iis.,  and  Decl.  1°  54'  S.  It  is  accordingly 
well  situated  in  the  north-western  part  of  the  constellation 
Aquarius,  crossing  the  meridian  a  little  before  9  p.m.  .\t  the 
time  of  observation  it  was  noted  as  "  feeble." 

Elements  and  Ephemkris  ok  Comet  a,  1895  (Swift). — 
Dr.  Berberich  has  computed  the  following  new  elements  of 
Swift's  comet,  from  observations  made  at  .Mount  Hamilton, 
.August  21  ;  Nice,  August  31  ;  and  .Strassburg,  September  16. 

These  elements  represent  the  comet's  orbit  with  a  greater 
degree  of  accuracy  than  those  previously  deduced,  and  the 
ephemeris  determined  from  them  closely  represents  observations 
made  at  Paris.  In  continuation  of  the  ephemeris  given  in 
Nature  of  September  5,  we  print  the  following,  from  Edinburgh 
Circular  No.  46  : — 

T  =  1895,  Aug.  20,  88480  M.  T.  Berlin 


a  =  167  47     7-8 

a  =  170  16  i7-3>  18950 

i  =       2  59  24  ■9/ 

<p  =   40  22  17-6 


M  =  502" -654 
log  a  —  o'565825 
log  1/  =  O' II 2686 
Period  =  7 '059  years. 


Epheiiuris  for  Berlin  Midnight. 
1895.  aapp.  5  app.  Bright- 

h.    m.    s.  o       /  ness. 

Oct.    2     ...     I   24     7     ...      -F4  329 

4      ...       I    24  41       ...  4   23-9      ...      0-62 

6  ...  I  25     9  ...  4  15-3 

8  ...  I  25  31  ...  -^4    71    ...    0-56 

:o  ...  I  25  50  ...  -i-3  595 

12  ...  I  26    6  ...  3  525     ...     o'5o 

14  I  26  19  ...  3  462 

16  ...  I  26  31  ...  3  40-6     ...     0-44 

18  ...  I  26  42  ...  3  35-8 

20  ...  I  26  53  ...  3  31-9     ...    038 

22  ...  1  27    5  ...  3  29-0 

24  ...  I  27  19  ...  3  270    ...    033 

26  ...  I  27  35  ...  3  25-9 

28  ...  I  27  53  ...  -f3  257     ...    029 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  comet  is  diminishing  in  brightness, 
and  on  October  12  will  only  be  half  the  brightness  at  the  time  of 
discovery,  .August  20. 

7V1RC.INI.S. — Of  the  many  double-star  orbits  which  have 
recently  been  computed  by  Dr.  See,  of  Chicago,  none  presents 
more  features  of  interest  than  that  of  7  Virginis.  This  famous 
double  star  has  been  very  persistently  observed  since  its  dis- 
covery in  1718,  but  none  of  the  orbits  previously  determined  are 
consistent  with  the  most  recent  observations.  Including  some 
of  his  own  measures.  Dr.  See  finds  the  following  elements 
{Astronomical  /ournal.  No.  352): — 

P  =     I94'0      years  ...  SI  =     50^4 

T=  1836-53       „  ...  i   =     31-0 

c   =         0-8974  .)  ■••  A  =  270-0 

a  =       3"-989  ...  «  =       1-8557 

.Apparent  orbit : 

Length  of  major  axis  =  6" -824 

,,      ,,    minor  axis  =  3"-530 

Angle  of  major  axis  =  1 40° -4 

,,      ,,    periastron  =  140^-4 

Distance  of  star  from  centre  =  3" -062 

A  comparison  of  computed  and  ob.serve<l  places  shows, 
according  to  Dr.  See,  that  these  elements  are  probably  the  most 
exact  yet  found  for  any  binary  star.  It  will  l>e  seen  from  the 
figures  given  that  the  line  of  nodes  coincides  w  ith  the  minor 
axis  of  the  real  ellipse,  which  is  also  the  minor  axis  of  its  projec- 
tion ;  and,  owing  to  the  small  inclination,  the  apparent  ellipse 
is  only  slightly  less  eccentric  than  the  real  ellipse,  so  that  the 
foci  of  the  two  ellipses  nearly  coincide.  Dr.  See  points  out  that 
one  of  the  consequences  of  this  disposition  of  the  orbit  is  to 
make  the  movement  of  the  radius  vector  in  the  apparent  orbit 
very  little  different  from  that  in  the  real  orbit,  so  that  y  \'irginis 
furnishes  the  best  lest  we  have  for  the  exactness  of  the  law  of 
gravitation  in  stellar  systems.  "  If  there  is  any  deviation  from 
the  Keplerian  law  of  areas,  it  must  be  extremely  slight.    There- 


554 


NA  TURE 


[October  3,  189  = 


fore  the  force  is  certainly  central,  and  if  it  differs  at  all  from  the 
law  of  Newton,  the  deviation  must  be  relatively  unimportant.'" 

The  orbit  is  also  remarkable  for  its  great  eccentricity,  which 
surpasses  that  of  any  known  stellar  orbit. 

For  many  years  to  come  the  angular  motion  will  Iw  very  slow, 
and  Dr.  See  draws  attention  to  the  fact  that  observations  of 
distance  will  be  more  valuable  than  angular  measures  in  effecting 
a  further  improvement  in  the  elements. 


THE  THIRD  IXTERXATIOXAL  ZOOLOGICAL 
COXGRESS  AT  LEYDEX. 

"PKOM  first  to  last  this  Congress,  the  Session  of  which 
lasted  from  September  15  to  21,  was  favoured  by  ex- 
ccpliotially  fine  autumn  weather,  and  the  quaint  old  town  of 
Leyden,  where  the  meeting  was  held,  as  well  as  the  island 
of  Marken.  the  Zoological  Park  at  Graveland  (where  apterj-x 
thrives  and  gnus  are  kept  in  free  pastures),  the  Zoological  Station 
at  Helder,  the  sea-lieach  of  Katwijk  and  Scheveningen.  and 
the  port  of  Rotterdam,  to  all  of  which  pl.iccs  excursions  were 
organisctl,  were  under  these  circumstances  seen  at  their  very 
best. 

The  character  of  the  meeting  was  eminently  international. 
The  daily  bulletin,  although  edite<l  in  French,  contained  an- 
nouncements of  lectures  to  l>e  held  and  of  papers  to  be  read  in 
Knglish  and  in  German,  and  in  the  Sections  these  three  diflerent 
tongues  often  succeeded  one  another  rapidly  and  fraternally. 

On  the  Sunday  evening  preceding  the  ofiicial  o]>ening  there 
had  lieen  an  informal  mustering  of  the  forces  then  already 
assembled,  and  I'rof.  Hubrecht,  of  Utrecht,  who,  as  President 
of  the  Netherlands  Zoological  Society,  gave  a  hearty  welcome  to 
those  present,  hinted  at  the  inadvisabilily  of  allowing  the  use  of 
more  than  these  three  languages. 

Still,  Ijcsiiles  forty-two  representatives  from  (ireat  Britain  and 
the  L'niled  Slates,  sixly-three  from  France  and  Belgium,  and 
twenty  from  Germany  and  Austria,  there  were  no  less  than  eleven 
Russians,  eight  Scandinavians,  and  sixty-four  Dutchmen  in- 
scrilied  as  mcml>ers,  who  had  to  restrict  the  use  of  their  native 
language  to  conversation  among  themselves. 

The  total  number  of  memlx'rs  inscril>ed  was  232,  .ind  not  only 
the  number  but  also  the  quality  of  the  zoologists  assembled  was 
such  as  to  make  this  international  gathering  really  a  ver)' 
representative  one,  which  served  to  bring  together  some  of  the 
veterans  of  the  old  guard,  and  a  great  number  of  the  younger 
generation  of  zoologists. 

A  glance  along  the  list  of  those  that  were  present  will  show 
this  at  once.  There  we  find  Jul.  Vict.  Carus.  Th.  Eimer,  V. 
Hensen,  A.  Metzger,  F.  K.  Schulze,  K.  Semon,  J.  \V.  Siicngel, 
R.  Virchow,  Aug.  Weismann,  K.  ( iroblien,  Ch.  Julin,  F.  dc 
Selys  LonRcham|>s,  C  Ltitkcn,  II.  Field,  f).  C.  Marsh,  \V.  B. 
Scott,  C.  W.  Stiles.  R.  Bianchartl.  E.  Bouvier.  .\.  Certes,  A. 
Milne-Edwards,  E.  Perrier,  L.  VaillanI,  J.  .Anderson,  Sir  \V.  H. 
Flower,  S.  J.  Hick.son,  John  Murray,  .\dam  Sedgwick,  K.  B. 
.Sharpe,  R.  Trimen,  d'Arcy  'rhf)mpson,  S.  Apathy.  S.  Hrusina, 
C.  Kmcr)',  R.  Collctt,  A.  Kowalevsky,  W.  Schimkentch, 
VV.  Salensky,  VV.  Blasius,  X.  Zograff.  \\.  Uche.  I-'.  i\.  Smitt, 
Th.  Studer,  v.in  Wyhe,  Max  \Vel>er,  V<isniaer,  .Shiiter,  van 
Rees,  Lidth  de  Jeude,  Kcrlieri  Jcntink,  llulirecht,  Hoffmann, 
Hoek,  Horst,  Evcrts,Biittikofcr,  .M.  C.  Dekhuy/cn,  E.  Rosenberg, 
and  van  Bemmelen.  \'er)"  many  of  these  read  ]ia|5ers  in  the 
Sections,  three  of  them  (John  Murray,  A,  Milne- Edwards  and 
Weismann)  addressed  general  meetings ;  whereas  on  the 
Tuevlay  evening  a  lecture  on  the  curiosities  of  bird  life, 
ilUistraled  by  coloured  lanlern-slides,  was  given  by  Dr.  Bowdler 
Shari>e,  nf  the  British  Museum,  and  was  attended  by  the  young 
t^een  and  the  l,)ueen- Regent. 

The  Committee  of  Organisation,  lo  whose  excellent  arrange- 
ments much  of  the  success  of  the  meeting  was  due,  were  Prof. 
Ilubrechi  of  Utrecht,  Dr.  Jcniink,  Director  of  the  Natural 
Hi-'  "         III,    l^yrlen    (President    of   the    Congress),    Dr. 

Ill"  ).  and  Dr.  Ilorsi  (Treasurer). 

I  i ix    different    Sections,  a  new  feature  of   which 

wo*  the  inclusion  of  p:d.eontol(,gj'  with  recent  zooiogj'.     There 
Vfxs  no  sc[>nrntr  I'nl  i  '.nt'. logical  Section. 

In  the  I  r.il  zcKilogy,  geographical  dislriliution, 
with  Ihc  I  ;  hiunas  and  evolulion  theory),  Mr.  A. 
.Sedgwick.  *'i  '  .iij  exjxisilifm  of  his  views  con- 

cerning direct  '  in  ihe  living  organi.sm.      In  a 

later  meeting  ■■:  ;i..n,  Prof.   Aisilhy,  of  Klausen- 


NO.   1353,  VOL.  53] 


burg  (Hungarj'),  demonstrated  a  series  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
delicate  microscopical  preparations,  which,  already  at  an  earlier 
date,  have  led  him  to  conclusions  very  similar  to  those  of 
Sedgwick  just  referred  to. 

Prof.  Hensen,  of  Kiel,  gave  an  interesting  account  of  the 
Plankton  expedition,  its  aims  and  its  results. 

Prof.  Eimer,  of  Tubingen,  spoke  in  this  Section  on  the 
subject  of  orthogenesis,  and  on  the  impotence  of  natural  selection 
for  the  production  of  new  species. 

In  the  second  and  third  Sections,  devoted  to  living  and  extinct 
vertebrates,  their  anatomy  and  embrj'olog)-,  papers  were  read  by- 
Profs.  Zograff  of  Moscow,  Vaillant,  U.  C.  Marsh,  Biitlikofer,. 
Liitken,  Leche,  Semon,  Hubrecht,  and  van  Bemniclen. 

The  fourth,  fifth  and  sixth  Sections  embraced  the  invertebrates, 
one  of  them  being  specially  devoted  to  entomolog)-.  Messrs. 
Warden  Stiles  (from  the  United  States),  Hickson,  Blanchard, 
Goto  (from  Tokyo),  Perrier,  Kowalevsky,  Schimkevitch,  (Jilson, 
Salensky,  and  Julin  were  among  the  princijial  s|X'akers  in  these 
Sections. 

The  sectional  meeting  which  proved  to  be  Ihe  most  attractive 
w.as  the  one  that  was  held  on  the  last  day  of  the  meeting,  when 
in  the  second  Section,  temporarily  presided  over  by  Rudolf 
Virchow,  Dr.  E.  Dubois,  the  indefatigable  naturalist,  who  has 
devoted  the  last  six  years  lo  the  collection  of  pahvontological 
specimens  in  Sumatra  and  Java,  gave  a  full  account  of  the  find- 
ing of  Ihe  remnants  of  his  Pilluiaiithrofiis  ercdtts. 

The  four  fragmenls  (a  femur,  the  upper  jiart  of  a  skull,  and 
two  teeth)  upon  which  this  new  sjjecies,  looked  upon  by  ils 
author  as  an  intermediate  stage  between  the  anthropoids  and 
man,  was  founded,  were  laid  before  Ihe  Section,  together  with  a 
good  many  pieces  intended  for  comparison.  A  most  inleresliiig 
discussion  followed,  in  which  \irchow,  O.  C.  Marsh,  tmii 
Rosenberg,  Sir  William  Flower  and  Prof.  Martin  U>ok  a 
prominent  part.  \'irchow's  contention  was  that  the  four 
fragments  did  not  belong  lo  the  same  anim.al.  He  attempted  lo 
derive  arguments  from  ixathological  anatomy,  which  woukl  show 
that  the  osteophytic  outgrowths  of  the  femur  described  by 
i)ul)ois  were  indications  lending  rather  towards  the  human  than 
towards  the  simian  origin  of  the  femur.  Nevertheless,  he  spoke 
in  a  very  appreciative  lone,  telling  the  Section  that  he  had  only 
wished  to  put  in  a  point  of  interrogation  where  Dubois'  affirma- 
tions did  not  appear  lo  him  lo  be  as  yet  fully  justified. 

Prof.  Marsh  was  inclined,  on  grounds  derived  from  his  v.ist 
experience  in  palivonlological  excavations,  to  su]>port  many  of 
Dubois'  conclusions.  He  had  noticed  exostoses  of  a  similar 
nature  as  those  of  Pithecanthropus  in  fossil  animals  of  (|uile 
different  orders.  He  ]Hiinted  out  the  necessity  of  carefully 
comparing  these  remains  with  those  from  the  SIvalik  Hills. 

Prof.  Rosenberg,  considering  move  especially  the  femur  and 
the  cranium  from  the  point  of  view  of  Ihe  analcunlsl,  tried  lo 
show  that  ihe  four  characlerislics,  by  which  Dubois  sc|>arates 
the  femur  of  Pithecanthropus  from  that  of  man,  are  found  also 
in  human  femora,  in  .some  few  cases  even  all  of  them  cond)incil. 
The  skull,  on  the  contrary,  is  more  that  of  a  jirimate  ;  but  he 
did  not  agree  with  Dubois'  argument  that  certain  jieculiari- 
lles  of  its  />/<?;;«/«  iiiic/ialc  tended  lo  show  thai  ihe  animal  had 
assumed  a  more  erect  gait.  \'ery  similar  jHculiarilies  arc 
found  in  Ihe  New-World  Cebus,  which  moves  on  all  fours. 
Rosenberg  acknowledge<l,  however,  that  the  high  Intrinsic  value 
of  Ihe  fragmenls  was  in  no  way  diminished  by  the  doubts  ex- 
pressed by  him,  because  the  femur,  even  if  human,  would  prove 
Tertiary  man  lo  have  existed  in  Java,  the  origin  of  man  being 
thus  pushed  further  back  towards  the  earlier  'lerliary  period. 

The  results  of  this  discussion,  thimgh  not  a  decisive  triuinphi 
for  Pithecanthropus  as  a  valid  species,  was  a  unanimous 
recognition  of  the  great  Impnrtance  of  Dr.  I  Hibois'  researches. 

.\nolher  inlerestingafleriioon  lecture,  which  attracted  numerous 
members  of  different  Sections,  w.as  given  by  I'mf.  W.  B.  .Scott, 
of  Princeton,  and  was  illustraled  by  lanlern-slides.  The  won- 
derful conlinuily  of  the  American  tertiary  formations,  the  vast 
geographical  scale  on  which  Ihey  are  developed,  and  the  excel- 
lent .slate  of  preservallcm  nf  their  fossils,  was  specially  insisted 
u|K>n.  Skeletons  of  man)'  members  of  the  beautifully  contlnvious 
piiyliigenetic  series  were  projected  on  the  screen. 

Of  the  lectures  held  at  Ihe  general  meetings,  those  of  Dr. 
John  Murray  and  Prof.  Milne-Edw.ards  were  most  interesting 
lo  the  audiences  ihey  adilressed.  Prof.  Milne-Edwards  spoke 
cm  Ihe  extinct  avifauna  of  the  Mascarene  Islands  m  ils  relation 
to  thai  of  certain  islands  in  the  I'aeific  Ocean,  and  Dr.  Murray 
gave  an  admlralile  survey  of  deep-.sea   rsplorntir.n   In  general. 


October  3,  1895] 


X.-l  TURE 


DOD 


and  of  its  principal  results.  In  seconding  a  vote  of  thanks  to 
Dr.  Murray,  Prof.  Milne-Edwards  availed  himself  of  the  oppor- 
tunity of  complimenting  him,  in  terms  of  the  highest  eulogy,  on 
the  completion  of  the  Challenger  Reports,  the  cost  of  which  has 
been  so  liberally  met  by  the  British  (government,  and  the  editor- 
ship of  which  has  been  in  the  hands  of  Dr.  Murray  since  the 
death  of  the  late  Sir  W)Tille  Thomson. 

Prof.  VVeismann's  lecture  to  the  general  meeting  treated  of  a 
much  more  abstruse  and  complicated  subject,  viz.  Germinal 
Selection.  Under  this  name  he  introduced  what  he  holds  to  be 
a  supplementary  hypothesis  to  that  of  Natural  Selection,  and  by 
which  he  explains  the  fact  that  useful  variations  appear  to  be 
protected  from  their  very  first  appearance,  so  that,  when  natural 
selection  would  require  them,  they  are  indeed  always  there. 
The  simultaneous  devehjpment  of  harmonious  variations  of 
ilifl'erent  parts  of  the  same  organism  was  at  the  same  time 
elucidated  on  similar  principles. 

It  may  be  noticed  in  passing,  that  these  theoretical  views  of 
Weismann's  approach  very  closely  to  views  expressed  as  the 
result  of  quite  different  series  of  palasontological  observations 
by  W.  B.  Scott  and  others.  It  is  clear  that  an  explanation  of 
certain  groups  of  facts  is  yet  wanted.  Weismann  will  have  to 
show  that  his  speculations  do  indeed  bridge  this  gap. 

In  the  three  general  meetings  other  questions  of  international 
significance  were  settled.  In  the  first  one,  presided  over  by  the 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  Mr.  van  Houten,  the  prize  to  which 
the  name  of  the  present  t^mperor  of  Russia  is  attached  was 
awarded  to  Dr.  R.  T.  Scharff,  of  Dublin.  In  the  second  one, 
of  Wednesday,  September  19,  the  conclusions  of  a  report  of  .M. 
Bouvier,  on  the  question  of  bibliographical  reform,  were  unani- 
mously carried,  and  seven  members  of  the  Controlling  Commis- 
sion nominated,  viz.  Messrs.  Spengel,  Sidney  Hickson,  W.  B. 
Scott,  Blanchard,  Iloek,  Schimkevitch,  and  Lang. 

Another  commission  for  the  definite  codification  of  the  rules 
of  zoological  nomenclature  was  appointed,  and  consists  of 
Messrs.  Blanchard,  Victor  Cams,  Jentink,  Sclater,  and  Wardell 
Stiles. 

In  the  final  meeting,  Sir  William  Flower  was  nbminated  to  the 
presidency  of  the  next  Zoological  Congress,  in  i8g8.  Upon  the 
proposition  of  the  President  of  the  Congress,  in  the  name  of  the 
Committee  of  Organisation,  it  was  decided  to  meet  in  England, 
the  exact  place  of  meeting  Iwing  left  to  the  consideration  of  the 
Ijermanent  Bureau. 

During  the  Congress,  as  has  already  been  announced  in 
Xai  t'RK,  three  of  its  most  eminent  members — Messrs.  Weis- 
mann, Milne-Edwards,  and  Sir  Wm.  Elower — received  the 
honorar)'  degree  of  Doctor  in  Science  (Section  of  Zoology  and 
Botany)  from  the  Senate  of  the  Utrecht  University,  upon  the 
jiroposal  of  the  Faculty  of  Natural  Philosophy. 

On  .Saturday  the  meeting  closed,  and  the  memliers  united 
in  a  farewell  banquet  in  the  concert  hall,  where  the  Minister  of 
the  Interior  was  again  present. 

On  Sunday,  the  22nd,  the  -Amsterdam  Zoological  Society 
Natura  Artis  Magislra  invited  the  members  to  a  luncheon  party, 
and  to  a  visit  to  its  well  known  gardens  and  aquarium. 

After  this  the  members  of  the  Congress  tiefinitely  separated. 
There  is  not  one  of  them  who  has  not  extended  the  circle  of  his 
personal  acquaintance  amongst  his  fellow-workers  in  the  field  of 
zoology.  And  this  extension  of  the  feelings  of  international 
scientific  fraternity  is  one  of  the  great  advantages  of  these  cosmo- 
politan gatherings. 


THE    INTERNATIONAL    CONGRESS 
PHYSIOLOGISTS  AT  BERN. 

I. 


OF 


VTONDAV,  September  9.— Presidents,  Profs.  Chauveau  and 
Bowditch.  Dr.  Boruttau  (Gottingen)  demonstrated  on 
a  platinum  wire  contained  in  a  glass  tube  filled  with  6  per  cent, 
salt  solution,  electrical  changes  (negative  variation),  analogous  to 
those  occurring  upon  stimulation  of  a  nerve  tnmk.  The 
negative  variation  occurred  not  only  upon  electrical,  but  also 
xipon  chemical  and  mechanical  stimulation  of  the  wire.  The 
apparatus  used  for  the  purpose  were  a  Hermann's  repeating 
rheotome  and  a  Thomson's  galvanometer. 

Profs.  i:wald  and  (ioltz  (Strassburg)  showed  a  dog  from 
which  they  had  removed,  at  three  successive  stages,  large 
jjortions  of  the  spinal  cord.  In  all  15S  mm.  had  been  removed  ; 
ihis  involved  all  the  spinal  cord  below  the  middle  dorsal  region, 

NO.    1353,   VOL.   52] 


inclusive  of  the  cauda  equina.  The  dog  had  already  survived 
the  last  operation  two  years.  The  condition  was  as  follows  : — 
(I)  Entire  muscular  degeneration  of  hind  limbs,  and  back 
muscles  below  mid-dorsal  region  ;  (2)  evacuation  of  fa;ces, 
and  sphincter  ani  ext.,  normal  ;  (3)  large  quantities  of  urine 
collected  in  bladder,  but  were  eventually  evacuated ;  (4) 
vascular  tone  normal.  Animal  gave  birth  to  young  ones  since 
last  operation,  and  suckled  them  nonnally. 

Prof.  Fano  (Florence)  showed  a  special  apparatus  by  which 
he  could  measure  exactly  motor  reaction  time.  He  worked  on 
the  dog,  and  found  that  it  was  32 '6  sec.  for  anterior  paw,  27 '32  for 
posterior.  After  removal  of  parts  of  cortical  layer  of  frontal  and 
occipital  lobes  this  reaction  time  was  diminished  ;  upon  stimula- 
tion of  same  regions  it  was  increased.  From  this  the  author 
concluded  that  the  cortical  cells,  especially  of  the  frontal  region, 
exert  a  constant  inhibitory  action  on  the  spinal  cord. 

Prof.  Langley  (Cambridge)  gave  a  demonstration  on  (i)  the 
general  anatomical  relations  of  the  sympathetic  system  ;  (2) 
connection  of  ner%'e  cells  and  nerve  fibres;  (3)  reflexes  from 
the  sympathetic  system. 

Dr.  ^Iann  (Edinburgh)  read  a  paper,  accompanied  by  lantern- 
slides,  and  gave  a  demonstration  on  the  position  of  the  psycho- 
motor areas  in  the  rabbit,  hedgehog,  dog,  and  cat.  The  result 
of  the  author's  researches  was  to  show  that  (i)  the  same  general 
scheme  of  arrangement  of  the  psycho-motor  areas  holds  good 
throughout  the  animal  kingdom,  and  (2)  that  there  exist  in  the 
above  animals  centres  of  varying  psycho-motor  value  (higher 
and  lower  centres  in  the  physiological  sense). 

Prof.  Gaule  (Zurich)  discussed  the  growth  of  muscle,  and 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  periodic,  and  that  there  exist 
in  muscular  fibres  changes  corresponding  to  these  periods.  He 
further  discussed  and  showed  the  efi'ect  of  excision  of  the 
inferior  cervical  ganglion  upon  the  biceps  and  psoas  of  the  same 
side.  Within  twenty-four  hours  of  this  excision  the.se  muscles 
increase  in  weight,  and  have  their  resistance  to  mechanical 
strain  greatly  diminished  (rupture  easily). 

Prof.  Vitzou  (Bucharest)  produced  blindness  in  a  monkey  by 
removal  of  the  occipital  region  of  the  brain  ;  two  years  after  the 
operation  the  animal  recovered,  to  a  slight  extent,  its  sight.  Up^ in 
examining  tlie  brain  at  the  seat  of  the  lesion,  he  found  a  tissue 
of  new  formation  ;  this  tissue  was  very  vascular,  and  its  extirpa- 
tion reproduced  the  blindness.  Histological  examination  of  this 
tissue  showed  the  presence  of  nervous  elements,  which  the  author 
regarded  as  of  true  new  formation. 

Dr.  Demoor  (Brussels)  stained  the  brains  of  animals  to  which 
he  had  given  a  strong  dose  of  morphine  or  chloral  hydrate  by 
Golgi's  method.  Demoor  found  that  the  plotoplasm  of  the  cell 
processes  in  these  animals  presented  a  characteristic  mannilliform 
aspect,  which  was  not  to  be  observed  in  normal  animals.  The 
author  showed  his  preparations 

Monday  Afternoon. — Presidents,  Prof.  Ilensenand  Mosso. — 
Prof.  Herzen(  Lausanne)  described  the  characters  of  a  gastric  juice 
obtained  by  the  author  and  Dr.  Fremont  (Vichy)  from  the  isolated 
stomach  of  a  dog.  The  o-sophagus  was  sutured  to  the  duodenum, 
and  a  fistula  was  made,  from  which  the  gastric  juice  was 
collected.  The  juice  was  without  smell  or  colour,  was  highly 
acid,  and  could  digest  its  own  weight  of  coagulated  albumin. 
The  author  further  gave  the  result  of  his  researches  on  the 
influence  of  the  spleen  on  pancreatic  digestion.  He  found  a 
given  quantity  of  blood  from  the  splenic  vein,  added  to  a 
pancreatic  infusion,  greatly  increased  its  digestive  power,  whereas 
the  same  quantity  of  ordinary  arterial  blood  did  not. 

Prof.  Schiff  ((icneva)  discussed  the  eftects  of  an  isolated  lesion 
of  one  pyramid,  and  showed  that  it  produced  degeneration  in 
the  pyramid  only,  and  not  in  the  pyramidal  tract. 

Dr.  (Jiirber  (Wurzburg)  descrilied  the  results  of  his  researches 
on  the  crystallisation  of  serum  albumin.  I  le  treated  horse  serum 
after  Hofmeister's  meth<Kl  (ammonium  sulphate),  and  obtained 
four  kinds  of  cryst-ils.  The  author  showed  diagrams  of  these, 
and  gave  the  results  of  their  analy.sis. 

Prof.  Tigerstedt  (Stockholm)  described  a  new  apparatus,  on  the 
principle  of  Pettenkofei  and  \"oit,  for  respiration  experiments  on 
man.  The  author's  apparatus  is  of  such  volume  as  to  be  able  to 
contain  several  men  at  the  same  time. 

Tuesday  Mornini;. — Presidents,  Prof.  Rutherford  and  Hegir. 
— Dr.  His,  junr.  (Leipsig)  supported  Engelmann's  view  that  the 
propagation  of  the  rhytlimic  cardiac  wave  takes  place  from  fibre 
to  fibre.  He  could  not  confirm  Kent's  results.  He  found  in 
mammals,  including  man,  a  single  muscular  bundle  which 
showed  cross  striation,  going  from  the  inter-auricular  down  into 


556 


NATURE 


[October  3,  1895 


the  inter- venlricular  septum,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  a  cusp  of 
the  mitral  \'alve.  The  author  diWdeil  this  bundle  by  a  transverse 
incision  of  2  mm.,  and  found  that  after  this  the  auricle  and 
ventricle  beat  each  with  its  own  rhythm.  This  bundle  contain«l 
no  nervous  elements. 

Dr.  Kaiser  ( Hcidelbei^)  showed  that  upon  pinching  oft"  thelower 
two-thirds  of  the  partially  emptied  frog's  ventricle,  this  portion 
remained  motionless  ;  but  on  subsequently  clamping  the  bulbus 
arteriosus,  tension  being  produced  in  the  ventricle,  it  recom- 
menced to  beat.  Dr.  Kaiser  explains  this  result  by  supposing 
the  existence  in  the  frog's  heart  of  a  series  of  neurons  which 
are  discharged  by  an  impulse  which  starts  in  the  sinus,  so  that 
the  mechanism  is  that  of  a  reflex  action  ;  he  l)elieves  the 
pinching  destroyctl  the  continuity  of  the  nervous  apparatus, 
while  it  left  the  muscle  intact. 

Prof  Kronccker  (Bern)  demonstrated  in  a  most  striking 
manner  the  effect  of  a  sudden  arrest  of  the  coronary  circulation, 
by  injecting  paraftin  melting  at  39°  C.  into  the  descending 
coronary  arter)'.  The  heart  at  once  stops  and  enters  into 
marked  fibrillar  contraction,  from  which,  except  occasion.ally  in 
young  animals,  it  never  recovers.  This  effect  is  not  produced  by 
ligature  of  the  same  artery  :  this,  in  I'rof  Kronecker's  opinion,  is 
due  to  collateral  circulation  being  at  once  established.  From 
this  experiment  Kronecker  infers  that  the  cardiac  rhythm  is  due 
to  the  activity  of  some  structures  which  are  exceedingly  sensitive 
to  sudden  ccs-sation  of  their  blood  supply ;  this  is  not  true  of 
muscles  or  nerve  trunks,  but  is  of  a  nerve  plexus  or  a  ganglion 
cell. 

Dr.  Magnus  (Heidelburg)  showed  a  sphygmograph  for  use  on 
a  dissected  out  artery. 

Prof.  Hurthle  (Breslau)  showed  a  new  method  of  registering 
the  arterial  bloo<l -pressure  in  man.  The  arm  is  made  bloodless 
by  means  of  an  Esmark's  bandage,  and  introduced  into  a 
phlethysmograph  connected  with  a  tambour.  Hurthle  also 
showed  a  method  for  simultaneously  recording  the  heart  move- 
ments and  rendering  audible  the  heart  sounds.  The  latter  was 
effected  by  a  resonaling-lmx  placed  against  the  chest-wall  ;  to  the 
l)ox  a  wooden  tuning-foik  was  attached  ;  the  limbs  of  this  vibrated 
in  imison  with  the  heart  .sounds,  and  varied  the  intensity  of  a 
current  led  through  the  primary  coil  of  an  induction  apparatus, 
and  through  a  microphone  placed  between  the  limbs  of  the  fork  ; 
a  telephone  was  connected  with  the  secondary  coil. 

Dr.  White  (London)  made  cx|)erimenls  to  show  that  perfect 
cardiac  perfusion  w-ts  not  obtained  with  a  Kronecker's  canula  as 
modified  by  Williams,  the  actual  i>erfusion  in  a  Williams'  only 
extending  to  the  top  of  the  end-piece. 

Dr.  /untz  (Berlin)  described  a  new  method  for  determining 
the  velocity  of  the  blood  :  it  consisted  in  injecting  into  the 
carotid  artery,  during  arrest  of  the  heart  produced  by  stimula- 
tion of  the  vagus,  .sufficient  bloo<l  to  bring  the  blood  pressure 
liack  to  the  normal.  Knowing  the  anmunt  of  blood  which  has 
to  be  injected,  and  the  time  this  takes,  the  velocity  ol  the  blood, 
as  well  as  the  amount  propelled  by  the  heart,  can  be  dedured. 

Tiifsday  Afternoon. — Presidents,  Profs.  Wedensky  and  Tiger- 
.stedl. — Dr.  A.  Da,stre  ( Paris)  showed  that  if  fresh  fibrin  is  placed  in 
strong  neutral  .saline  solutions,  one  finds  after  a  certain  time  two 
globulins  in  the  .sfilution.  (1)  GloVjulin  coagulating  at  54°; 
(2)  (ilobulin  having  the  properties  of  serum  globulin  ;  and 
further,  that  proteose  and  true  |M;ptone  are  also  present.  This 
action  of  saline  solutions  on  fresh  fibrin  can  be  divided  into 
different  stages.  If  fresh  fibrin  be  submitted  in  the  same 
manner  to  the  action  of  the  digestive  juices,  the  same  results  are 
prfKiuced  ;  it  is  then  <juite  justifiable  to  speak  of  a  "  saline 
digestion  "  of  fibrin.  Fibrin  submitted  to  the  action  of  oxygen- 
ated water,  and  to  that  of  micro-organisms,  gave  the  same 
result'^.  When  gelatin  is  similarly  treated,  gelatoses  are  pro- 
duced, and  the  gelatin  loses  its  |Hiwcr  of  coagulation. 

Dr.  A.  Beck  (I^'ml)crg)  discussed  the  velocity  of  blood  in  the 
portal  vein.  The  author  found  that  the  normal  velrsity  was  from 
2000  to  2800  cms.  |>cr  second,  and  that  0'62-079  grni.  of  blootl 
flowcfl  ihronch  I  grm.  of  liver  tissue  in  twenty-four  hours.  The 
auit'  I lulsky's  method. 

I  I  l^ycraft  (Cardiff)  read   a  paper  on  the  change  of 

sha  Ti  during  contraction.  The  author  found  it  difficult 

10  '  Mill  thi-  heart   in  systole  ;    this  he  finally  did  by 

'nj'  I;;*-!,.      Killing  animals  with  the  heart  in  diiuslolc 

presented  ii'.  difficulty.  The  animals  were  frozen  immediately 
after  death,_ and  sections  of  their  hearts  cut  at  different  levels. 
The  aulhor'.s  results  confirmed  those  of  Ludwig  and  i  lesser. 


Prof.  F.  Gotch  (Oxford).  The  ilischarge  of  Malaftfriiriis 
eUctrictis.  The  electrical  discharge  of  the  organ  evoked  in  the 
living  fish  by  mechanical  and  electrical  stimulation  was  investi- 
gated by  the  capillary  electrometer,  the  frog  nerve  muscle 
galvanoscope,  and  the  galvanometer.  Each  apparently  single 
shock  of  the  organ  was  found  to  be  multiple  in  character, 
showing  an  initial  primary,  followed  by  several  secondary  elec- 
trical outbursts.  The  primary  outburst  had  a  latency  of  4/1000" 
and  a  duration  of  2/1000".  The  F..M.F,  =  120  to  200  volts. 
The  secondary  effects  which  follow  the  primary  are  plainly 
perceptible  in  the  isolated  organ  after  killing  the  fish  ;  hence 
the  multiple  character  of  the  single  .<c\-oiissc  is  due  to  the  oi^an 
itself.  Each  of  the  secondary  effects  occurs  at  an  interval  of 
from  4/ 1 000"- 6/ r 000"  after  its  predecessor.  The  primary  as 
well  as  the  secondary  effects  are  monophasic  in  character  :  hence 
a  ver)'  profound  physiological  effect  is  produced. 

1'.  W.  Tu.NNICLIFFE. 


NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


FORTHCOMING   BOOKS    OF  SCIENCF. 

jV/TESSRS.  C.  GRIFFIN  &  CO.,  Ltd.,  will  .shortly  issue  :— 
.\n  exhaustive  treatise  on  "  Petroleum  :  the  (leographieal 
Distribution,  Geological  Occurrence,  Chemistry,  Refining,  and 
Testing,  iS:c.,''  by  Boverton  Redwood  and  Geo.  T.  Hollow.ay, 
in  two  volumes:  "The  Chemistry  of  Gas  Manufacture:  a 
Handbook  on  the  Production,  Purification,  and  Testing 
of  Illuminating  Gas,  and  the  Assay  of  the  Bye-Products  of  Gas 
Manufacture,"  by  W.  J,  .\tkinson  Butterfield  ;  '•  Chemistry  for 
Engineers  and  .Manufacturers,''  by  Bloxam  Blount  and  A.  G. 
Bloxam,  in  two  volumes  :  vol.  i.  "  The  Chemistry  of  Engineer- 
ing, Building,  and  Metallurgy  "  ;  vol.  ii.  "The  Chemistry  of 
Manufacturing  Processes'';  "Electrical  Measurements  and 
Instrtiments  :  a  Practical  Handbook  of  Testing  for  the  Electrical 
Engineer,"  by  Charles  H.  Veaman  ;  "Textile  Printing:  a 
Practical  Manual  of  the  Processes  used  in  the  Printing  of  Cotton, 
Woollen,  and  Silk  Fabrics,'  by  C.  S.  Seymour  Kothwell,  with 
illustrative  specimens  (companion  volume  to  the  "  .Manual  of 
Dyeing,'  by  Messrs.  Knecht  and  Kawson) ;  "Bleaching  and 
Calico-Printing :  a  Short  .Manual  for  Practical  Men,"  by  Geo. 
Duerr,  with  specimens  ilesigned  specially  to  show  \arious  stages 
of  the  processes  descril)ed  ;  a  third  edition,  revised  and  enlarged, 
of  the  "Outlines  of  Practical  Physiology,"  by  Dr.  William 
.Stirling;  a  fourth  edition  of  "Foods:  their  Composition  ant". 
-Analy.sis, "  and  a  third  edition  of  "Poisons:  their  Effects  and 
Detection,"  both  enlarged  and  revise<l,  by  .\.  Wynter  Blyth  ;  an 
eleventh  edition,  revised,  of  Miinro  and  |amieson"s  "  Electrical 
Pocket-book  "  ;  a  third  edition,  also  revised,  of  .Seaton  and 
Kownthwaite's  "Marine  Engineering  Pocket-book";  a  new 
issue,  revi,seil,  of  "Griffin's  Electrical  Engineer's  Price-book,"' 
brought  up  to  date  and  edited  liy  II.  |.  Dowsing;  a  second 
edition,  revised,  of  "  The  Design  <>f  .Siriictures,"  by  S.  .^nglin  ; 
and  the  thirteenth  annual  is.sue  of  "The  Near-book  of  Scientific 
and  learned  .Societiesof  (ireat  Britain  and  Irekand,"  comprising 
Lists  of  the  Papers  read  before  Societies  engaged  in  I'ourteen 
Dejxirlments  of  Reseairh  during  1S95. 

In  the  Camliridge  I'niversily  Press's  announcements  we 
notice  a  series  of  v.ilumes  dealing  with  geographical  and 
cognate  subjects,  which  will  be  under  the  general  editor- 
ship of  Dr.  F.  11.  H.  Guillemard.  The  first  volume  will  be  by 
Prof.  A.  II.  Keane,  and  will  treat  of  i;thnology.  This  will  be 
followed  by  "The  Geographical  Distribution  of  .Mammals,"'  by 
R.  Lydekker.  Mr.  II.  F.  Tozer  is  to  write  on  the  "  I  listory  of 
.\ncienl  Geography";  and  other  volumes  will  deal  with  the 
"  Renais.sanee  Period  of  Geographical  Discovery,"  liy  C.  E. 
Ravenstein,  and  "Oceanography.  '  by  J.  \'.  Buchanan.  ;  "The 
.Scientific  Papers  of  John  Couch  .\dains,"  vol.  i.,  edited  by 
Prof  William  Grylls  .Adams,  with  a  memoir  by  Dr.  J.  W.  I,. 
Glai.sher ;  "The  Collected  Mathematical  Papers  of  the  late 
Arthur  C.iyley,"  vol.  ix.  ;  "  .\  Treatise  on  Spherical  .\slronoiny," 
by  Sir  Robert  S.  Ball  :  "  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Papers  compiled 
by  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  "  1874- iSSj,  vol.  xi.  ;  a  .second 
edition  of  Heath's  "Treatise  on  (ieometrical  Optics;  "A 
Treatise  on  .Vliel's  Theorem,"  by  II.  F.  Baker ;  "  A  Treatise  on 
the  Lunar  Theory,"  by  E.  W.  Brown;  "  .\n  lllementary 
Treali.sc  on  Electricity  and  Magnetism,"  by  Prof  J.  J.  Thomson  : 
"  A  Treatise  on  Geometrical  Optics,"  by  K.  A.  Herman.  In  the 
Pill    Press    Malheiiialicil    Series:    "Euclid,"    books    xi.     and 


October  3,  1895] 


NATURE 


557 


xii.,  by  II.  M.  Taylor;  and  in  the  "Cambridge  Natural  Science 
Manuals  :  "  Mechanics  and  Hydrostatics  :  Part  iii.  Hydro- 
statics,"  by  R.  T.  Gla/.ebrook  ;  "  Electricity  and  Magnetism," 
liy  the  same;  "Solution  and  Electrolysis,"  by  \V.  C.  D. 
Whelham  ;  "Sound,"  by  J.  \V.  Capstick  ;  "Fossil  Hants:  a 
Manual  for  Students  of  Botany  and  (leology,"  by  A.  C. 
Seward;  "The  \'etebrate  Skeleton,"  by  S.  H.  Reynolds; 
"Text- Book  of  Physical  Anthropology,"  by  Prof.  Macalister  : 
.ind  a  second  edition  of  "  Practical  Physiology  of  Plants,"  by 
!■'.  Darwin  and  E.  H.  Acton. 

Messrs.  Swan  Sonnenschein  and  Co.'s  list  includes  : — "  Te.\t- 
Book  of  Embr)-ology  :  Invertebrates,"  by  Drs.  Korschelt  and 
Heider,  part  i.,  translated  and  edited  by  Dr.  E.  L.  .Mark  and 
Dr.  VV.  .M.  Woodworth,  with  additions  by  author  and  trans- 
lators :  parts  ii.  and  iii.  translated  and  edited  by  H.  T. 
Campbell  ;  "  Text-book  of  Palncontology  for  Zoological 
.Students,"  by  Theodore  T.  Groom,  illustrated;  "The  Indian 
Calendar,"  containing  complete  tables  for  the  verification  of 
Hindu  and  Muhammedan  dates  for  a  period  of  1600  years  (a.d. 
300  to  igoo)  for  the  whole  of  India,  by  Robert  Sewell,  of  the 
.Madras  Civil  Service,  \\\  collaboration  with  Sankara  Balkrishna 
Dikshit,  with  a  table  of  eclipses  by  Dr.  Schram  ;  "  Practical 
Plant  Physiology,"  by  Prof.  Wilhelm  Detmer,  translated  by 
S.  .-V.Moor;  "  Introductory  Science  Text-books  " — "Zoology," 
by  B.  Lindsay,  with  illustrations  and  diagrams  ;  "  P^lementary 
Biology,"  by  Dr.  H.  J.  Campbell,  second  edition,  with  appendix  ; 
"  Organic  Chemistry,"  by  J-  Wade ;  Voung  Collector  Series  : 
"  Fishes,"  by  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Macpherson  ;  "  Mammalia," 
by  the  Rev.  H.  \.  .Macpherson;  "Birds'  Eggs  and  Xests," 
by  W.  C.  J.  Ruskin  Butterfield. 

Messrs.  Longmans  and  Co.'s  forthcoming  books  include  : — 
"The  Romance  of  the  Woods:  reprinted  .•Articles  and 
.Sketches,"  by  Fred.  J.  Whishavv ;  "The  Life  of  Joseph 
Wolf,  Artist  and  Naturalist,"  by  .\.  H.  Palmer  ;  "  The 
Life  of  Sir  Henry  Halford,  Bart.,  F.R.S.,  President  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  Physician  to  George  HI., 
Cieorge  IV.,  William  I\'.,  and  to  Her  Majesty  (^ueen  Vic- 
toria,"' by  Dr.  William  Munk  ;  "  Darwin,  and  After  Darwin  : 
an  Exposition  of  the  Darwinian  Theory,  and  a  Discussion  on 
Post-Darwinian  Questions,"  by  the  late  Dr.  George  John 
Romanes,  F.R.S.  Part  ii.  Post-Darwinian  Questions  :  Heredity 
;ind  Utility  ;  "  The  Life  and  Letters  of  George  John  Ronianes, 
F.R.S.,"  written  and  edited  by  his  Wife;  "Studies  of 
Childhood,"  by  Prof.  James  Sully  ;  and  in  a  new  series  of 
"  Physical  and  Electrical  Engineering  Laboratory  Manuals," 
"  Elementary  Physics,"  by  John  Henderson;  "The  Magnetic 
Circuit  in  Theory  and  Practice,"  by  Dr.  H.  du  Bois,  translated 
from  the  (ierman  by  Dr.  Y..  .\tkinson. 

Mesiirs.  George  Philip  and  .Son's  announcements  include  : — ■ 
J/a/j- -Topographical  Map  of  the  .'\rgentine  Republic,  in  10 
sheets,  scale  I  :  2,000,000,  by  H.  D.  lloskold.  Geological 
Map  of  the  British  Isles,  forming  part  of  the  International  (leo- 
logical  Map  of  Europe,  scale  I  :  1,500,000.  Philip's  Topo- 
graphical Nlap  of  England  and  Wales,  in  40  sheets,  scale 
I  :  200,000.  Philip's  Library  Map  of  India,  scale  i  :  5,000,000. 
Philip's  Large  Map  of  Western  .Australia,  scale  I  :  1,500,000. 
Philip's  New  Map  of  Liverpool,  scale  6  inches  to  i  mile. 
Books — "  Telescopic  Astronomy,"  by  .V.  l'"o\vIer  ;  '  'The  .-Vnatomy 
of  the  Human  He.ad  and  Neck,"  illustrated  by  means  of 
movable  coloured  plates,  with  description,  by  William  .S. 
Furneaux  ;  "The  Ox,''  its  external  and  internal  organisation, 
illustrated  by  nteans  of  movable  coloured  plates,  with  descrip- 
tion, by  Prof.  G.  T.  Brown;  "The  Oar.sman's  Guide  to  the 
Navigable  Rivers  and  Canals  of  the  British  Isles,"  by  Members 
of  the  Cruising  Club. 

Messrs.  Crosby  I^ockwood  ai.d  .Son  hope  to  issue  : — "  Rural 
W.ater  Supply  :  a  Practical  Hand-book  on  the  Supply  of  Water 
and  Construction  of  Water  Works  for  Small  Country  Districts," 
by  Allan  (ireenwell  and  W.  T.  Curry:  "Dangerous  Goods: 
their  .Sources  and  Properties,  and  Modes  of  Storage  and  Trans- 
port," by  H.  Joshua  Phillips  ;  "  Practical  Masonry  :  a  Treatise 
on  the  Art  of  .Stone-cutting,"  comprising  the  construction,  set- 
ting out,  and  working  of  stairs,  arches,  niches,  domes,  iVc. ,  with 
fifty  lithographic  plates,  by  Wni.  R.  Purchase  ;  "  Refrigerating 
and  Ice- Making  .Machinery,''  by  .\.  J.  Wallis-Tayler ;  and  new- 
editions  of  " 'I'he  .Metallurgy  of  Gold,''  by  M.  Eis,sler,  with 
twenty-five  additional  plates  and  working  drawings,  and  chapters 
on  recent  milling  operations  in  the  Transvaal,  and  the  future  out- 
look in  the  South  African  Gold-fields  ;  and  "  Practical  Tunneli- 


NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


ing,"  by  F.  Simms,  with  large  additions  on  recent  tunnelling 
practice  by  D.  K.  Clark. 

We  find  in  the  list  of  the  S.P.C.K.  :— "The  Romance  of 
.Science '"  Series,  "  The  Splash  of  a  Drop,"  by  Prof.  Worthington, 
with  numerous  diagrams  ;  "The  Work  of  the  Spectroscope,"  by 
Dr.  Huggins  ;  ""Time,"  by  Prof.  Boys.  .Manuals  of  Science — 
"  Physiology,"  by  Prof.  Macalister  ;  "  .\ncient  History  from  the 
Monuments  :  Babylonia,"  by  Prof.  Sayce,  a  new  edition,  edited 
and  brought  up  to  date  ;  "  Simjjie  .Methods  for  Detecting  Food 
Adidteration,"  by  J.  \.  Bower,  with  di;igrams  ;  "  (Josse's  Even- 
ings at  the  Microscope,"  a  new  edition,  revised  by  Prof.  F. 
Jeffrey  Bell  ;  "  Iceberg,  Prairie  and  Peak  :  some  Gleanings 
from  an  Emigrant  Chaplains  Log,"  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  A. 
Boddy ;  "The  Zoo.'  vol.  iv.,  by  the  Rev.  T.  Wood,  with 
coloured  illustrations. 

Among  Messrs.  A.  and  C.  Black's  new  books  will  be  : — The 
last  part  of  Prof.  Newton's  "  Dictionary  of  Birds"  ;  "Artistic 
and  Scientific  Taxidermy  and  Modelling,"'  by  Montagu  Browne  ; 
Vol.  i.  of  "Zoology,"  by  Prof.  Ray  Lankester  ;  "Text-book 
of  General  Pathology  and  Pathological  .-Vnatomy,"  by  Prof.  R. 
Thonia,  translated  by  Dr.  -\lexander  Bruce,  tw-o  volumes,  illus- 
trated ;  "  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  Fungi,''  by  Dr.  M.  C. 
Cooke,  illustrated  ;  "  Dynamics,"  by  Prof.  P.  G.  Tait ;  "  Milk  : 
its  Nature  and  Composition,"  by  Dr.  C.  M.  .-Vikman,  illustrated  ; 
and  a  new  edition  of  "  Black's  General  Atlas  of  the  World," 
with  twenty-six  additional  maps  of  the  North  .-Vmerican  States. 

Messrs.  Cassell  and  Co.,  Limited,  promise  : — The  Century 
.Science  .Series,  edited  by  Sir  Henr)-  Roscoe,  F.R.S.  ;  "Charles 
Lyell :  bis  Life  and  Work,''  by  Prof  T.  G.  Bonney,  F.R.S.  ; 
"British  Birds'  Nests:  How,  Where, and  When  to  Find  and 
Identify  them,"  by  R.  Kearton,  with  illustrations  of  nests,  eggs, 
young,  cVc. ,  in  their  riatural  situations  and  surroundings; 
"  Popular  History  of  Animals  for  Voung  People,"  by  Henrj' 
.Scherren,  with  thirteen  coloured  plates  and  numerous  illustra- 
tions in  the  text;  "The  Vear-book  of  Treatment  for  1896," 
twelfth   year  of  publication,  illustrated. 

The  Religious  Tract  Society  promises  : — "  Rambles  in  Japan  : 
the  Land  of  the  Rising  .Sun,"  by  Canon  Tristram,  with  forty- 
five  illustrations  :  "  .-V  Visit  to  Bashan  and  .\rgob,"'  by  Major 
Algernon  Heber-Percy,  illustrated;  "  Plants  of  the  Bible,"  by 
Rev.  tieorge  Henslow,  illustrated  ;  "  .V  Primer  of  Hebrew 
-Vntiquities, "  by  Rev.  ().  C.  Whitehouse,  illustrated:  "Hidden 
Beauties  of  Nature,''  by  Richard  Kerr,  illustrated  ;  "Consider 
the  Heavens  :  a  Popular  Introduction  to  .-Vstronomy,"  by  Mrs. 
William  Steadman  -\ldis,  illustrated  :  "  .-V  Popular  Handbook  to 
the  Microscope,"  by  Lewis  Wright,  illustrated,  "  Lighthouses  : 
their  History  and  Romance,"  by  W.  J.  Hardy,  illustrated. 

Messrs.  Sampson  Low  and  Co.  will  publish  by  subscription 
"Twentieth  Century  Practice  :  an  International  Encyclopaedia 
of  Modern  Medical  .Science,"  by  leading  authorities  of  Europe 
and  .-Vmerica,  edited  by  Dr.  Thomas  L.  Stedman,  in  twenty 
volumes.  Their  other  scientific  publications  include  the  second 
edition  of  "  A  History  of  Scandinavian  Fishes ""  ;  "  .\  Manual  of 
Obstetric  Nutsing,"  by  Marian  Humfrey,  vol.  ii. ,  and  new 
editions  of  Hofmann's  "Treatise  on  Paper-Making,"  and 
Davis's  "  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Manufacture  of  Brick,  Tiles, 
and  Terra-Cotta.""  both  fully  illustrated. 

Messrs.  Whittaker  and  Co.  armounce  the  following  works: — 
"  Transformers  for  Single  and  Polyphase  .Alternating  Currents," 
by  Gisbert  Kapp,  translated  from  the  German  :  "The  Ins])ec- 
tion  of  Railway  Material,"  by  G.  R.  Bodmer :  "  The  Chemist's 
Compendium,  a  Pocket-book  for  Pharmacists  and  Students," 
by  C.  J.  S.  Thompson  ;  "  Modern  Printing,  a  complete  hand- 
book of  printing,"  by  J.  Southward  ;  a  new  and  enlarged 
edition  of  "  Coal-pits  and  Pitmen,'"  by  R.  Nelson  Boyd  ;  "A 
Practical  Trigonometry  for  the  use  of  Engineers,  Architects,  and 
Surveyors,''  by  Henry  .-Xdams. 

Messrs.  Rivington,  Percival,  and  Co.  will  issue  : — "  Clinical 
Illustrations  of  the  Diseases  of  the  Fallopian  Tubes  and  of  Tubal 
Gestation,"  by  Dr.  C.  J.  Cullingworth  ;  "Mensuration,"  by 
Rev.  \.  D.  Clarke :  "  Beginner's  Text-Books  of  Science " 
.Series,  "Chemistry,"  by  G.  Stallard  ;  "  Gcolog)',"  by  C.  L. 
Barnes:  "Electricity  and  Magnetism,"  by  L.  Cumming ; 
"Ileal,"  by  G.  Stallard:  "  Slechanics'  (treated  experi- 
mentally), by  L.  Cumming  ;  "  Physical  Geography,  "  by  C.  L. 
Barnes. 

In  Messrs.  Putman's  Son's  list  we  find: — "Wild  Flowers  of 
the  North- Eastern  States,"  drawn  and  carefully  described  from 
life,    by    Margaret   C.    Whiting   and    Ellen     >Iiller,    with    30S 


558 


NATURE 


[O 


CTOBER  3,   1895 


illustrations ;  "  A  Natural  Method  of  Physical  Training,"  by 
Edwin  Checkley,  illustrated  from  photc^raphs,  new  edition  ; 
"The  Law  of  Psychic  Phenomena,"  a  workinij  hypothesis  for 
the  study  of  hypnotism,  spiritism,  mental  therapeutics,  &c.,  by 
T.  J.  Hudson. 

The  Clarendon  Press  has  in  active  preparation  : — "  A  New 
English  Dictionary,"  portions  of  D,  edited  by  Dr.  J-  A.  H. 
Murray,  and  of  E,  edited  by  H.  Bradley  ;  "  British  Moralists  of 
the  Eighteenth  Century,"  edited  by  L.  .-V.  Selby-Bigge,  two  vols.  ; 
"  Index  Kewensis,"  compiled  at  the  e.\]>ense  of  the  late  C.  R. 
Darwin,  under  ihe  direction  of  Sir  Joseph  D.  Hooker,  by  B. 
Daydon  Jackson,  two  vols. ;  and  "An  Introduction  to  the  Algebra 
of  <,)uantics,"  by  E.  B.  Elliott. 

.Messrs.  G.  Bell  and  Sons  have  in  the  press : — "  The 
Mechanism  of  Men-of-War,"  by  Eleet-Engineer  R.  C. 
<1Idknow,  R.N.  :  "Torpedoes,  Torpedo  Boats,  and  Torpedo 
Warfare,"  by  Lieut.  J.  -Vrnistrong,  R.N.  ;  "Naval  Ciunnery," 
by  Capt.  II.  tj.  Cia'rlwlt,  R.N.  ;  "Naval  -Vrchitecture,  the 
Designing  and  Construction  of  a  Warship,"  by  J.  J.  Welch; 
"  L(^c  :  a  Handbook  for  the  Use  of  Students,"  by  I'.  Ryland  ; 
"  Gas  Manufacture,"  by  J.  Hornby. 

Messrs.  James  MacLehose  and  Sons,  Glasgow,  have  in  pre- 
paration a  volume  on  "  Deaf-mutism,  including  Chapters  on  the 
Education  of  Deaf  Mutes,"  by  Dr.  J.  K.  Love  and  W.  II. 
Addison;  a  new  edition  of  a  "Treatise  on  Diseases  of  the 
ICar,"  by  Dr.  Thos.  Barr  ;  "  An  .-Vccount  of  the  Institution  and 
Progress  of  the  Eacultyof  Physicians  and  Surgeons  of  Gla^ow," 
by  .-Uexander  Duncan. 

.Messrs.  W.  Blackwood  and  Sons'  announcements  include  : — 
"  Introductory  Text-Books  of  Meteorology,"  by  Dr.  A.  Buchan, 
new  edition,  with  coloured  charts  and  engravings ;  Page's 
"  .\dvanccd  Text-BiX)k  of  Geology,"  new  edition,  revised  and 
enlarged  by  Prof.  I^ipworth  :  Dr.  Mackays  "Elements  of 
Physiography,"  rewritten  and  enlarged,  "  Elementary  Algebr.a," 
"  .Menial  .\rithmelic." 

The  following  additions  will  be  made  to  Messrs.  George  Newnes' 
"  Library  of  Useful  Stories"  : — "The  Story  of  the  Earth  in 
Past  Ages,"  by  Prof.  II.  G.  .Seeley,  with  original  illustrations 
from  the  author's  collection ;  and  "  The  .Story  of  the  Solar 
System,"  by  George  F.  Chambers. 

.Mr.  Edward  Arnold  will  issue: — "The  Exploration  of  the 
Caucasus,"  by  D.  W.  Ereshfield,  in  two  volumes,  illustrated  ; 
"Cycling  for  Health  and  Plea.surc,"  by  L.  II.  Porter,  revised  ; 
and  "  Strength  ;  or,  the  Development  and  Use  of  Muscle,"  by 
C.  -A  Sampson. 

Messrs.  W.  and  K.  Chambers's  list  contains : — Eminent 
Engineers:  "Lives  of  Watt,  .Stephenson,  Telford,  and 
Brindley  "  ;  "  Thomas  .\lva  Edison  :  the  Story  of  his  Life  and 
Invention-;"  ;  a  re-issue  of  Chambers's  Encylopx-dia,  in  ten 
monthly  volume.s. 

Mr.  Eisher  Unwin  gives  notice  of: — "The  Evergreen:  a 
Northern  Seasonal,"  [art  ii.  ;  "  Electricity  for  Everylx)dy," 
illustrated.  The  Criminology  Series. — (2)  "Criminal  .Sociology," 
by  Prof  E.  Eciri  ;  (3)  "Our  Juvenile  Offeiulers,"  by  W. 
Douglas  Morrison. 

Messrs.  A.  D.  Innes  and  Co.  will  publish: — "A  Naturalist 
in  Mid-.\frica,"  by  t;.  E.  .Scott  IClliol,  with  numerous 
illustrations. 

To  .Mr.  Walter  .Scott's  "Contemporary  Science  Series"  will 
l)c  added  "  Evolution  in  .'\rt,  as  illustrated  by  the  Life-Histories 
of  Designs,"  by  Prof  ,\.  C.  Haddon. 

Messrs.  W.  H.  .Mien  and  Co.  have  in  preparation  : — "  Ferns, 
British  ami  Foreign,  "  by  John  Smith,  and  a  new  edition  of 
Ilerschel's  "  Popular  Lectures  on  .Scientific  Subjects." 

In  .Messrs.  .Slacmillan  and  Co.'s  announcements  we  find 
the  following  : — "  .Sir  Joseph  Banks's  Journal,"  selections  edited 
by  Sir  Joseph  Hooker,  K.CS.I.,  F.R.S.  ;  "  Sk-lches  in  Sport 
and  Natural  History,"  by  the  late  Dr.  (ieorge  Kingsley,  with 
memoir  by  his  son  Charles  Kingsley  ;  "  ,\  History  of  Mankind," 
by  Prof  Friedrich  Kat/el,  translated  from  the  second  ( ierman 
edition  by  A.  I.  Buller,  with  preface  by  Dr.  E.  B.  Tylor,  with 
:hirty  colourecl  plate--,  maps,  and  numerous  illustraticms  in  the 
text,  in  thirty  monthly  parts,  and  in  three  vols.  ;  "  Studies 
in  the  Art  Anatomy  of  Animals,"  by  Ernest  E.  Thompson, 
illu.<l rated  ;  "The  Cambridge  Natural  History,"  edited  by 
.S.  F.  Harmer  and  A.  E.  Shipley,  vol.  v.,  Perijutus,  by 
A.  .Sedgwick,  F. K.S.,  Centi|icdes,  &c.,  by  F.  (!.  Sinclair, 
laiccLi,  liy  D.  Sharp,  F.R.S.  ;  "The  Structure  and  De- 
velopment   of   the    Mosses    and    Ferns    (Archcgonialiv),"    by 

NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


Dr.  Douglas  Houghton  Campbell ;  "  The  Scenery  of  Switzer- 
land," by  Sir  John  Lubbock  ;  "  .\  Handbook  of  British 
Lepidoptera,"  by  Edward  Meyrick  ;  "  The  Structure  of  Man," 
by  Prof  Wiedersheini,  translated  by  IL  M.  Bernard,  andeililed 
by  Prof,  G,  B.  Howes,  illustrated  ;  "  A  Text-book  of  Com- 
parative Anatomy,"  by  Dr.  Arnold  Lang,  translated  into 
English  by  Hcnrj'  M.  Bernard  and  Matilda  Bernard,  vol.  ii.  ; 
"  Dictionar)'  of  Chemicil  Sohiliilities,"  by  Dr.  Comey  ;  "  A 
System  of  Medicine,"  edited  by  Dr.  T.  ClilVord  .\llbutt,  F.R.S., 
five  vols;  "  A  System  of  Gynajcolosjy,'  edited  by  Dr.  Willi;im 
Plaji'air  and  Dr.  T.  Cliftord  yVllbutl,  F.RS.  ;  "  Ekmems  of 
Pakvontology,"  by  Prof.  Karl  A.  von  Ziltel,  translated  and 
edited  by  Dr.  Charles  R.  Eastman  ;  "  Principles  of  Mechanics," 
by  the  late  Prof.  11.  Hertz,  translated  by  D.  E.  Jones ; 
"Evolution  and  Man's  Place  in  Nature,'' by  Rev.  Dr.  Henry 
Caldcrwood,  second  edition,  in  great  part  rewritten  ;  "  Mis- 
cellaneous Palmers,"  by  the  late  Prof.  II.  Hertz,  translated 
by  D.  E.  Jones  ;  "  Electro- I'hysiolog)',"  by  Prof.  W.  Biedermann, 
translated  by  Miss  F.  A.  Wells;  "The  Scientific  Basis  of 
Analytical  Chemistry,"  by  Prof  Wilhelm  Oslwald,  translated 
by  Dr.  George  .MacGowan  ;  "  Text-book  of  Botany,"  by  Prof, 
Strasburger  and  others,  translated  by  Dr.  II.  C.  Porter  ;  "The 
Lifeof  .\gassiz,"  by  Jules  Marcou,  two  vols. ;  "Columbia College, 
Contributions  to  Philosophy,  Psycholog)',  and  Education  '  ; 
Columbia  University  Biological  Series:  "Fishes,  Living  and 
Fo,ssil,"  by  Dr.  Bashford  Dean  ;  Columbia  University  Press  1 
Publications:  "Statistics  and  Sociology,"  by  Prof  Richmond 
Mayo-Smith;  "An  .-\tlas  of  Fertiliz.ition,"  by  Prof  Edmund 
B.  Wilson  ;  "  Elements  of  Geometry,'  by  George  C.  Edwards  ; 
"  The  Theory  of  Sociology,"  by  V.  II.  tiiddings  ;  "  -•Mternating 
Currents,"  by  D.  C.  Jackson ;  "  .\  Laboratory  Course  in 
Experimental  Physics,"  by  W.  J.  Loudon  and  J.  C.  McLennan  ; 
"An  Exercise  Book  of  Elementary  Practical  Physics,"  by  R.  .-V. 
Gregory;  "Elementary  Textbook  of  Phvsical  Geography  for 
High  Schools,"  by  R.  S.  Tarr. 


Total 


240 


Sp€iics  of  Eiiropfan  AM/iisia  occnrring  abtindaiilly  in  Ihe 
Coralline  Crag. 

Southern  and  not  British  (28  per  cent.)       ...       42 
British  (rare)  and  Southern 9 


(35  per  cent.) 

British  (characteristic)  and  Southern 
,,        and  not  Southern 

Total         

Total  number  of  species        


5' 
91 


'4j 
436 


GEOLOGY  AT    THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION,    j 

A  FTER  the  presidential  address,  which  was  of  great  local  J 
"^  interest,  and  listened  to  with  much  attention  by  a  large 
audience,  .Mr.  Marnier  read  two  papers  bearing  on  the  Coralline 
and  Red  Craes.  This  veteran  geologist,  who,  with  the  late 
Mr.  Scarles  Wood,  juii.,  did  so  much  to  unravel  the  age  of  the 
various  Tertiary  deposits  in  East  Anglia,  rendered  much  service 
to  the  Section,  not  only  by  the  contribution  of  papers  and  in  the 
discussions,  but  by  attending  the  numerous  excursions,  and 
placing  his  knowledge  and  experience  at  the  service  of  those  less 
acquainted  with  Pliocene  and  Pleistocene  rocks. 

"Taking  the  240  more  abundant  niolluscan  sijecies  found  in  the 
Coralline  Crag  apart  from  those  which  are  represented  by  rare 
or  even  unicjue  species,  he  finds  that  their  a.sseinblagc  points, 
more  distinctly  than  the  mere  aggregate  of  fossils,  to  tlie  Sotithern 
char.acter  of  the  fauna  ;  57  per  rent,  being  extinct,  only  one 
species  is  not  found  south  of  Britain,  .-ind  not  less  th,an  36  per 
cent,  are  characteristically  Southern.  The  fiillowing  summary 
gives  the  principal  ficts  on  which  this  conclusion  is  based. 

Summary  of  the  abundant  and  characteristic  Species  of  Mollusca 

occurring  in  the  Coralline  Crag. 

Not  known  as  living  (37  per  cent.)  ...         ...  So 

Living  in  di.stant  .seas  ..          ...          ...          ...  S 

,,      ,,     the  Mediterranean             133 

,,      ,,    the  West  European  area 0 

,,     not  south  of  Britain      1 


OfTdBER  3,    1895J 


NA  TURE 


559 


In  his  secoiul  paper,  Mr.  Harmer  acknowledged  that  the  Eocene 
shells,  and  probably  some  others  found  in  the  nodule  bed  at 
Waldringfield,  were  undoubtedly  derivative  ;  but  he  contended 
that  it  was  possible  that  others  belonged  to  the  period  which 
elapsed  between  the  deposition  of  the  Red  Crag  at  Walton  and 
that  at  Butley.  This  conclusion  was  mainly  based  on  the  fact 
that  many  of  them  are  found  in  situ  in  the  Belgian  Crags  of  this 
age. 

Mr.  Burrows  followed  with  a  paper  on  the  distribution  of 
P'oraminifera  in  the  Crags.  In  the  Upper  Crag,  or  Newer 
riiocene,  there  are  29  species  of  common  Xorth  .Atlantic 
Foraminifera  ;  in  the  Red  Crag  20  species  ;  and  in  the  St.  Krth 
beds  163,  of  which  66  occur  also  in  the  Coralline  Crag.  Some 
of  the  Coralline  Crag  Foraminifera  appear  to  have  been  derived 
from  older  deposits.  Notes  were  given  on  the  age  of  the  different 
portions  of  the  Coralline  Crag  now  or  formerly  exposed  at  several 
im|>ortant  localities. 

Next  came  two  papers  on  Southwold  ;  the  first  by  .Mr.  11.  B. 
Woodward,  on  a  section  recently  exposed  by  denudation  at  the 
North  Cliff,  and  a  second  on  recent  coast  erosion  there,  by  Mr. 
.Spiller.  The  Norwich  Crag  is  succeeded  by  chalky  boulder  clay, 
and  thai  by  a  fresh-water  loam,  peaty  earth,  and  a  recent  beach 
deposit,  in  which  a  human  skeleton  w.as  found  this  year.  Mr. 
Spiller's  paper  gave  an  account  of  the  erosion  of  the  North  Cliff 
during  a  storm  in  .May  last,  and  by  measurements  taken  since, 
and  comparison  with  a  map  previously  made  by  Mr.  Whitaker, 
he  concluded  that  different  points  on  the  coast  had  been  eroded 
at  the  following  rate  : — 

Feet. 
Ea.ston  Bavents     ..          ...     Loss  in  6  years        ...     20 
Easton  High  Cliff             ...          .,      13     ,,  ...     22 

Covehithe  Cliff      ...         6     ,,  ...     84 

In   two  short  papers  which  followed,  the  Rev.  E.  Hill  attri- 
buted the  formation  of  some  boulder  clays  to   rapi<l  deposit   by 
the  agency  of  water  under  the  influence  of  floating   ice   and  ice- 
rafls,  a  conclusion  strongly  controverted  l)y  several  advocates  of 
the  land-ice  theory  who  were  present.     A  third  paper,  by  the 
same  author,  described  traces  of  an  ancient  watercourse  seven 
miles  long  in  Suffolk. 

A  paper,  by  Messrs.  Reid  and  Ridley,  described  their  recent 
researches  by  Ijoring,  and  an  examination  of  the  deposits  above 
the  water-level,  at    lloxne.     The  following  is  the  section  dis- 
closed, revealing  the  apparent  existence  of  a  temperate  flora  l)e- 
twecn  the  morainic  deposits  and  the  Arctic  plant  bed.     A  grant 
was  made  by  the  Association  to  enable   Mr.  Reid  to  continue 
this  work,   with  a  view   of  determining    the    rel.ation  of   the 
PaLvolithic  remains  to  the  Glacial  epoch. 

Feel, 
(iravelly  surface  soil         ...  ...  ...        about       2 

Hrick-earth  ;    towards   the     base    Valvata   pisfinaliSy 
cyprids,    bones   of   ox,    horse,   elephant   (?),  and 
PaUeolithic  implements  ...  ...        about     12 

.Sandy    gravel,    sometimes    carbonaceous,    with    flint 

flakes  ...  ...  ...  ...        .ibout       i 

Peaty  clay,  with  leaves  of  Arctic  plants  (?)  ...        about       4 
Lignite,  with  wood  of  yew,  oak  (?),  white  birch,  and 

seeds  of  cornel,  &c.  ...  ..  ...        about       i 

(jreen  calcareous  clay,   with  fish,    Valvata  pisciiialis, 
Bylhinia  teiitaculata,  cyprids,  Raimnciilus  repens, 
Carcx         ...  ...  ...  ...        about       4 

Boulder  clay. 

The  day's  work  was  closed  by  a  paper  from  the  President,  on 
some  Suffolk  wells,  six  of  which  penetrate  some  distance  into 
the  chalk. 

Tuesday  was  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  papers  on  glacial 
subjects,  opening  with  an  interesting  communication  by  Prof 
Sollas  on  artificial  gl.aciers,  or  "  poissiers,"  made  of  pitch.  This 
paper  was  illustrated  by  pitch  models  split  longitudinally,  lan- 
tern photograplis,  and  models  in  Canada  balsam,  images  of 
which  could  be  thrown  on  the  screen.  The  main  point  to  which 
attention  was  directed  was  the  power  of  the  viscous  substance  to 
carry  grains  of  rice,  sand,  or  pigment  uphill  when  confronted  by 
a  barrier,  or  when  driven  into  a  narrow  gorge.  The  conclusion 
drawn  was  that  ice  and  ]iitch  conformed  to  the  laws  of  fluid 
motion,  and  this  was  fiirther  illustrated  by  the  flow  of  water 
over  a  raised  model  of  Ireland,  when  the  currents  conformed  to 
the  directions  of  former  ice  movement.  The  pitch  .sometimes 
travelled  over  heaps  of  loose  material  without  disturbing  them. 


NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


-Mr.  Clement  Reid  followed  with  some  illustrations  of  the 
glacial  sections  at  Cromer,  showing  the  great  chalk  boulders, 
the  contortion  of  the  chalk,  and  the  contortion,  crushing, 
brecciation,  and  shearing  of  the  boulder  clay  at  that  locality. 
Prof.  W.  B.  Scott  gave  an  illustrated  description  of  the  "  Bad 
Lands,"  and  showed  that  this  area  was  in  Tertiary  times  the 
site  of  a  succession  of  great  lakes  whose  history  extended  from 
the  beginning  of  ihe  Eocene  period  up  to  Pleistocene  times. 
Evidence  of  change  in  climate  is  given  by  the  gradual  disappear- 
ance of  palms,  and  the  diminution  in  numbers  and  variety  of  the 
reptiles.  A  paper  by  .Mr.  R.  B.  White  described  various  deposits 
in  Colombia  (New  Granada)  to  which  he  attributed  a  glacial 
origin ;  he  recognises  moraines,  erratic  blocks,  breccias  and 
conglomerates,  in  places  mostly  made  up  of  volcanic  materials, 
but  elsewhere  made  of  the  debris  of  sedimentary  rocks.  The 
paper  concluded  with  some  novel  speculations  as  to  the  cause  of 
the  Ice  Age. 

Mr.  B.  Thompson  de.scribed  a  number  of  pre-glacial  valleys 
Northamptonshire,  belonging  to  the  following  chief  types. 
New  valleys  without  drift  and  having  old  filled-up  valleys  near 
at  hand  ;  (2)  valleys  with  rock  on  one  side  and  drift  on  the 
other ;  (3)  streams  re-excavating  old,  drift-filled,  valleys  :  (4) 
re-e.xcavated  valleys  with  the  drift  only  left  in  the  form  of  river- 
gravel  derived  from  it.  In  his  account  of  some  Snowdonian 
tarns,  Mr.  W.  W.  Walts  concluded  that  one  of  the  shallow 
lakes  in  Cwm  Glas  was  in  a  very  shallow  rock- basin,  and  the 
other  dammed  by  scree-  and  stream-detritus.  Glaslyn  and  Ll)'n 
Llydaw,  though  finding  exit  over  moraine,  had  rock-barriers  at 
dejiths  of  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet  below  the  lake  surface,  so  that 
they  are  either  confined  in  true  rock-basins,  or  else  are  very 
much  shallower  than  is  generally  supposed. 

The  Committee  for  exploring  the  supposed  glacial  shell-bed  at 
Clava,  hoped  to  bring  important  results  out  within  the  year,  and 
that  engaged  in  exploring  the  Calf  Hole  cave  also  hoped  to 
finish  its  lists  of  fossils  in  the  same  period.  In  reporting  on  the 
high-level  flint  drift  near  Ightham,  Mr.  Harri.son  described 
excavations  made  into  a  gravel  658  feet  above  the  sea  on  the 
face  of  the  chalk  escarpment ;  worked  flints,  chiefly  scrapers  and 
flakes,  were  found  in  great  quantity.  In  the  discussion  Sir  John 
Evans  expressed  scepticism  as  to  the  human  origin  of  the 
supposed  worked  flints. 

The  Committee  on  Coast  Erosion  published  a  final  report 
which  contains  an  abstract  of  previous  reports,  and  a  considerable 
amount  of  new  information  from  Kent,  Sufiblk,  Sussex,  Hamp- 
shire, Norfolk,  Yorkshire,  the  Northern  counties,  Lancashire, 
and  North  Wales.  The  Committee  concludes  that  the  work  of 
devastation  is  much  aided  by  the  abstraction  of  shingle  and 
sand,  and  also  by  the  erection  of  un.satisfactory  sea-walls  and 
groynes.  They  further  recommend  that  the  subject  should 
become  the  work  of  a  departmental  Committee  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  The  twenty-first  and  final  report  of  another  long- 
standmg  Committee  gives  a  useful  summary  of  principles  guiding 
underground  water  supply,  and  then  resigns  its  task  to  the 
local  scientific  societies,  which  are  urged  to  communicate  all 
information  received  to  the  Geological  Survey  Oftice  at  Jermyn- 
street,  where  careful  records  are  now  kept.  Such  a  course 
naturally  will  give  increased  value  to  the  information  daily 
supplied  to  inquirers  from  that  office.  In  the  last  paper  Mr. 
Holmes  gave  lurther  information  on  an  ancient  silted-up  stream 
course  which  flowed  between  the  high  ground  of  Warley, 
Billericay,  and  Maldon  on  the  one  hand,  and  that  of  Laindon, 
Rayleigh,  and  .Vlthorne  on  the  other,  into  the  Blackwater.  The 
deposits  of  this  river  were  covered  by  the  highest  (oldest)  gravel 
terrace  of  the  Thames  system.  A  paper  by  Messrs.  Lomas 
and  Kendall  dealt  with  the  stria;  produced  by  modern  glaciers. 
The  first  paper  on  Saturday  was  that  of  Prof.  Marsh  on  some 
European  Dinosaurs.  He  exhibited  a  diagram  placing  American 
and  European  forms  side  by  side,  and  showing  that  the  European 
types  filled  up  gaps  in  the  American  series.  In  many  of  his 
restorations  he  differed  decidedly  from  those  which  have  been  pre- 
viously published,  some  of  which  he  characterised  as  being  like 
nothing  "  in  heaven  above,  or  in  the  earth  beneath,  or  in  the 
waters  under  the  earth."  The  Connecticut  Trias.sic  footprints  he 
attributed  to  Dinosaurs  and  not  birds.  The  Committee  appointed 
to  endeavour  to  recover  the  missing  portions  of  the  Cetiosaurus 
skeleton  in  the  Oxforil  Museum  had  been  unable  to  carry  out 
their  work  within  the  year,  but  they  had  now  determined  on  their 
course  of  action,  and  obtained  the  requisite  permission,  so  that 
they  hoped  to  complete  the  work  before  the  Liverpool  meeting. 
Mr.  Montagu  Browne  communicated  a  description  of  a  section 


s6o 


NATURE 


[October  3,  1S95 


on  the  new  Manchester,  Sheffield,  and  Lincolnshire  Railway, 
exposing  Rh.vtic  rocks  in  Nottinghamshire,  and  gave  a  list  of 
fossils  derived  from  these  beds. 

The  first  part  of  Monday's  sitting  was  devoted  to  jiapers  by 
authors  from  France  and  Belgium.  M.  G.  F.  DoUfus  con- 
sidered that  in  l.'pi)er  Tertiar)-  times  there  were  two  great  seas 
in  Western  Europe  ;  one  was  to  the  east,  not  very  far  from 
Eastern  England,  in  Miocene  times,  and  extended  over  the 
Netherlands  and  North  Germany  ;  the  other,  or  old  Atlantic, 
was  to  the  west  of  England,  and  extended  in  gtilfs  into  F'rance 
and  Portugal,  prolably  communicating  with  the  Mediterranean 
Sea  along  the  Guadalquiver  Valley.  In  I'liocene  limes  the  seas 
iiccupied  similar  positions,  but  the  land  was  rather  higher,  and 
a  gulf  on  the  .Vtlantic  side  ajipears  to  have  reached  Cornwiill. 
The  English  Chaimel  w.as  closed,  and  the  Eastern  Sea  appears  to 
have  been  open  only  towards  the  north.  M.  \an  den  Broeck's 
pajier  descrilx.'d  the  pre.scnt  state  of  knowledge  of  the  Upper  Ter- 
tiary strata  of  Belgium.  He  had  determined  that  the  Upper  Oligo- 
cene  strata  did  not  exist  in  Belgium,  but  that  the  Upper  Pliocene 
was  probably  present  there.  He  concluded  that  the  line  of 
march  of  the  Miocene  fauna  was  from  east  to  west,  for  Miocene 
forms  present  in  Belgium  were  absent  from  England.  That  the 
Miocene  formation  had  l)ecn  once  present  in  England  he  inferred 
from  the  fact  that  half  the  Belgian  Miocene  fauna  was  to  be 
found  in  the  Coralline  Crag.  A  communication  from  M.  M. 
Boule  described  the  finding  of  remains  of  Elephas  iiu-ridioiialis 
and  E.  aniii/iiiis  in  association  with  worked  flints,  some  of  them 
of  elaborate  workmanship,  but  others  of  St.  ,\cheul  ty|)e,  and 
mammoth  tusks,  one  of  which  was  Z'Sj  metres  in  length  ;  one 
flint  was  fuund  under  a  tusk  of  E.  iiicridioiialis. 

Prof.  John  Milne's  re|x)rt  on  Jajxinese  earthquakes  was  given 
in  full  to  Section  A,  but  a  short  account  of  his  work  was  com- 
municated to  Section  C.  The  author  h.is  prepared  a  catalogue 
of  S331  shocks  recorded  in  Japan  between  1SS5  .and  1892.  The 
instruments  used  have  recor<led  earthquakes  which  must  have 
travelled  right  through  the  earth  with  a  velocity  greater  than 
if  its  interior  were  com|x>sed  of  glass  or  steel.  They  also  indicate 
movements  corresp<jnding  with  variations  in  barometric  pressure 
and  strong  winds,  and  even  a  diurnal  variation  ]x)ssibly  due  to 
the  evaporation  of  moisture  and  the  condensation  of  dew. 

Dr.  H.  J.  Johnston-I^avis  reported  on  the  .activity  of  Vesuvius 
during  1895.  (The  substance  of  his  report  has  already  appeared 
in  Natirk  for  August  8).  The  Committee  on  coral  reef  explor- 
ation presented  an  interim  report  on  the  negotiations  between 
the  Royal  Society  and  the  Admiralty  as  to  beginning  the  work 
of  sounding  and  Iwring.  .Mr.  Osmund  Jefl's  reported  that  a 
number  of  the  geological  photographs  collected  by  his  Committee 
had  found  a  home  at  the  Museum  of  Practical  Geology  in 
Jermyn-street,  and  that  the  rest  would  shortly  be  deposited 
there.  I'rints  to  the  number  of  1200  had  been  received  and 
catalogued,  but  numerous  localities,  and  particularly  the  Eastern 
Counties,  were  as  yet  (xjorly  represented.  The  report  contained 
some  valuable  recommendations  for  the  apparatus  suitable  for 
continuing  the  work,  and  the  Committee  proposed  lo  carr)'  on 
its  collection,  and  to  make  special  eflbrts  to  induce  local  societies 
and  individuals  to  fill  up  the  blanks  in  the  collection,  and  to  make 
it  a  thorough  photographic  survey  of  geological  phenomena 
throughout  the  United  Kingdom.  A  valuable  appendix  lo  the 
report  contained  a  list  of  such  of  the  photographs  as  had  been 
employed  in  illustrating  geological  works.  I)r.  I  latch's  paper 
on  the  auriferous  conglomerates  of  the  Wilwatersrand  showed  that 
gold  <jccurred  only  in  ihe  matrix  of  these  r<xks,  and  nol  in  the 
|)ebblcs  ;  it  had  pmbably  been  introduced  by  subsefjuent  infil- 
tration. Mr.  E.  A.  Walford,  in  a  repirt  and  paper,  described 
the  succession  of  limestones,  clays,  and  sandstones  which  have 
Ijtcn  revealed  by  sinking  between  the  Stoncsfield  slate  and  the 
Inferior  Oolite  in  Oxfordshire,  and  tr.tced  these  divisiims  north- 
west and  southeast,  correlating  the  up|)er  calcareous  division 
with  the  Fullonian,  and  the  middle  sandy  division  with  Ihe 
Norlhamptrmshire  I'.sluarine  scries. 

The  c-arly  |)arl  of  Tues<lay  was  devoted  lo  pajwrs  on  deep 
borings,  and  the  later  part  to  work  chiefly  on  invertebrate  pake- 
onloU;gy.  The  President  descrilicd  the  .succession  of  rocks 
rcvcalcn  by  the  experimental  boring  at  Stullon.  The  section 
which  hearls  the  lop  of  the  next  column  gives  that  succession. 
The  lowest  rocks  are  likely  to  be  of  Carlmniferous  or  .Silurian 
age,  but  III'  .1.,.!..,  ,,f  fossiU  renders  it  iin)H)ssible  lo  Ije  sure 
which  of  •  IPS  they  really  belong  to.     The  Ixiring  has 

now  Ixicii  ■  All  to  a  depth  of   1356  feel,  mostly  in  highly 

inclined  and  even  vertical  strata  of  the  same  doubtful  character. 

NO.    1353.  VOL.   52] 


Feet. 

Drift  (river  gravel) 16 

London  cl.iy  and  Reading  beds      ...         ...         ...  54 

Upper  and  middle  chalk      ...         ...         ...         ...  720 

Lower  chalk,   with   very  glauconitic  marl  at  the 

Ijase  (almost  a  green  sandstone)         154J 

Gaull 49i 

Pahvozoic  rock,  with  a  high  dip. 

Mr.  J.  F'rancis  gave  the  methods  and  results,  hitherto  unpub- 
lished or  incorrectly  stated,  of  the  attempt  to  determine  the  dip 
of  .strata  met  with  in  deep  wells  at  Ware  and  Turnford.  After 
rejecting  various  magnetic  and  mecli.inical  appliances,  the 
following  device  was  hit  upon.  The  boring  tools  were  lowered 
with  extreme  precautions  to  prevent  any  torsion  during  the 
lowering,  and  by  means  of  steel  |ioints  connected  with  them  the 
direction  of  a  known  diameter  was  marked  by  vertical  cliases  on 
the  circumference  of  the  core  while  still  in  situ  :  during  the 
raising  of  the  tool  no  twisting  occurred  ;  a  wax  mould  of  the 
top  of  the  core  in  sitii  was  then  taken,  and  again  the  lowering  and 
raising  were  done  without  twisting.  The  core  was  then  broken 
and  lifted,  and  by  means  of  the  diameter  marked  on  il  in  sttii^ 
confirmed  by  a  known  line  on  the  wax  mould,  the  direction  and 
amount  of  dip  was  ascertained.  To  test  the  method  ihe  boring 
was  continued,  and  after  the  top  of  the  core  had  been  ground  to 
a  flat  surface,  steel-punch  marks  along  a  known  diameter,  main- 
tained by  careful  lowering  and  raising  with  the  same  precautions, 
were  impressed  on  the  surface,  and  again  the  core  was  broken 
and  lifted.  This  observation  w.as  witliin  a  degree  of  the  previous 
one;  so  that  there  is  |)robably  only  a  negligible  error,  or  none, 
in  the  observations.  The  dip  of  the  Silurian  rock  at  Ware  at 
828  feet  below  the  surface  was  1°  west  of  south,  at  an  angle  of 
41°.  Similar  experiments  at  Turnford,  carried  out  with  rather 
less  success,  gave  the  dip  of  the  Devonian  rocks  at  994  feet  as 
17°  west  of  south  at  25  from  the  hori/on.  The.se  dips  corre- 
s]x)nd  with  those  of  the  Secondary  rocks  ofi"  the  Wealden  axis. 
The  south-easterly  dip  which  has  been  published  for  one  of 
these  instances  is  incorrect.  Mr.  Harmer,  in  a  paper  which  fol- 
lowed, advocated  that  the  survey  of  deep  scateil  rocks  by  borings 
should  be  systematically  carried  out  liy  the  Geological  Survey, 
the  expense  being  provided  for  indirectly  by  the  appreciation  of 
real  property,  and  directly  by  royalty,  wherever  success  attended 
the  operations. 

Prof.  Clay))ole  described  some  whole  specimens  of  Cladodonls 
from  the  Devonian  rocks  of  Ohio,  which  showed  that  many 
species  hitherto  defined  from  single  and  isolated  teeth  can  no 
longer  be  maintained.  The  Upper  Devonian  shales  of  the  same 
region  have  yieldeil  many  genera  of  large  PlaciKlcrms  ;  the  head 
ol  Diniihthys  measured  from  2  to  3  feet  in  length  ;  Titaniihthys 
was  still  longer :  and  the  jaws  of  Goigoni<htliys  alone  measured 
24  inches  in  length,  ending  in  teeth  or  points  from  6  lo  9  inches 
in  length.     -Ml  these  genera  are  closely  allied  to  Coccoslfiis. 

One  of  the  most  im]iurtant  papers  of  the  meeting  was  that  by 
Prof.  Nicholson  and  Mr.  Marr  on  the  I'hylogeny  of  the  Graplo- 
liles.  They  are  led  to  believe  Ih.at  a  character  of  essential  im- 
portance in  <lealing  with  the  classification  of  iheGraptoliles,  and 
one  which,  in  all  i)robability,  indicates  the  true  line  of  descent) 
is  founil  in  the  sha|>e  and  structure  of  the  hydrothece,  the  |X)int 
of  next  importance  as  indicating  genetic  relationship  being  the 
"  angle  of  divergence  "  !  These  views  are  illustrated  by  reference 
to  forms  belonging  to  the  "genera"  Ihyografitxs,  Difilograptiis, 
'J'ctragraplin,  and  Diiiymograptiis,  which  appear  in  turn  in  this 
sequence.  <Jut  of  nine  Te/yagrap/i  (unA  the  authors  know  of 
no  other  forms  referred  to  this  genus  which  are  represented  by 
well-preserved  examples),  eighl  are  closely  represented  by  forms 
of  Didymograpltis,  which  are  closely  comparable  with  them  as 
regards  characters  of  hyilrothecic  and  amount  of  "angle  of 
divergence,"  whilst  the  ninth  is  coni|)arable  with  a  Didymo- 
graptm:  .as  regards  "angle  of  divergence"  only.  Moreover, 
four  of  the  /'ilra/papli  are  comparable  as  regards  the  two 
above-named  important  characters  with  forms  of  Diclioj^aptiis 
and  Jiryoj^af'lus  with  eight  or  more  branches,  an<l  the 
authors  confidently  predict  the  discovery  of  forms  belonging 
to  these  or  closely  allied  many-branched  "genera,"  .agree- 
ing wilh  the  remaining  'J'clriigropli  in  what  Ihey  regard 
as  essential  characters.  They  give  details  .showing  points 
of  agreement  of  each  groiqi  of  the  various  series,  includ- 
ing a  two-branched,  a  fiiurbranched,  and  a  many-branched 
form,  anil  point  out  how  iliflicult  it  is  to  understand  how  the 
extraordinary  resemblances  between  the  various  species  of 
Tetragrapliis  and   Didymograpliis  (to  take  one  example)  have 


October  3,  1895] 


NA  7  LIRE 


561 


arisen,  if,  as  usually  supposed,  all  the  species  of  a  "  genus "'  have 
descended  from  a  common  ancestral  for  each  genus,  in  the  one 
case  four-branched,  and  in  the  other  case  two-branched.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  explain  the  more  or 
less  simultaneous  existence  of  forms  possessing  the  same  number 
of  stipes,  Ijut  otherwise  only  distantly  related,  if  they  are 
diflferent  ancestral  types.  Phenomena  somewhat  analogous  have 
been  detected  amongst  the  species  of  Ammonites  and  Brachio- 
pods.  I'ollowing  these  inferences  to  their  legitimate  conclusion, 
the  authors  point  out  how  "genera,''  like  Diplograpttis  and 
Monograptus,  may  contain  representatives  of  more  than  one 
"family"  of  graptolites  according  to  the  classification  now  in 
vogue,  which  would  account  for  the  great  diversity  in  the 
characters  in  the  monograptid  hydrotheca;. 

Messrs.  Garwood  and  ^iuir  followed  with  a  paper  on  the  zonal 
divisions  of  the  Carboniferous  system.  The  following  zones  are 
recognised  by  them  : — 

Zone  of  Prodtictiis  c.  f.  edelhtirgcnsis. 

, ,  , ,         latissimiis. 

,,  ,,         giganteiis. 

,,      Choneles  papilionacea. 

,,  Spirifera  octop/uala. 
Mr.  Garwood  has  traced  the  zone  of  P.  latissimiis  occupying  the 
same  position  relative  to  that  of  P.  giganteus  from  Settle,  in 
Yorkshire,  to  the  Northumbrian  coast,  near  Howick  Burn.  In 
conclusion,  the  authors  hope  that  their  work  may  be  continued 
by  a  Committee,  and  one  was  appointed  by  the  Section  and 
confirmed  by  the  General  Committee  of  the  Associat-on. 

Prof.  T.  Rupert  Jones,  in  the  twelfth  report  on  Palaeozoic 
Phyllopoda,  gave  a  rhuiiii  of  these  organisms  referred  to  in 
previous  reports,  and  appended  some  valuable  notes  and  two 
tables  by  Prof.  Lapworth,  of  which  the  first  gives  a  general 
correlation  table  of  the  Lower  Pal.-eozoic  rocks  ;  the  second,  the 
horizons  of  the  chief  species  of  Phyllopods.  A  third  table  gives 
a  list  of  the  geological  order  of  species.  After  hearing  interim 
reports  from  the  Committees  on  Eurypterids,  and  on  type 
specimens,  the  Section  listened  to  a  paper  by  Dr.  Woodward 
on  Decapod  Crustaceans  from  the  Cretaceous  rocks  of  Vancouver, 
in  which  the  following  new  species  were  described.  Callianassa 
Whiteavcsii,  Palicocorystes  Harveyi,  Plagiophthalmus(? )  vaii- 
coiiverensis,  and  Homolopsis  Kichardsoni.  Many  of  these  forms 
approach  contem|x)raneous  European  types.  The  closing  report 
was  that  on  erratic  blocks.  The  Yorkshire  Boulder  Committee 
and  that  of  the  Hull  Geological  Society  are  promoting  a 
systematic  survey  of  the  ground.  New  work  has  also  been  done 
in  Lincolnshire,  Shropshire,  Cheshire,  South  Wales,  and  Ireland. 
A  very  plea.sant  feature  of  this  year's  meeting  has  been  a 
series  of  afternoon  w  alks  or  drives,  carefully  planned  by  the  Local 
Secretary,  Mr.  Ridley  ;  in  many  of  these  the  President  took  the 
leadership,  and  several  members  of  the  Section  attended.  The 
list  of  these  included  Bramford,  .Sproughton,  Orford.  Sudbourne, 
Butley  and  Chillesford,  Woodbridge  and  Sutton,  Tattingstone, 
Bawdsey,  Foxhall,  and  Cromer.  At  several  of  these  localities 
the  sections  had  been  freshly  scarped  or  reopened  by  the  Local 
Committee  and  by  the  landowners.  It  is  much  to  be  hoped  that 
in  future  similar  opportunities  may  be  afforded  of  acquiring  as  ftiU 
a  knowledge  of  the  geology  of  the  neighbourhood  in  which  the 
meeting  is  held. 

ZOOLOGY  AT  THE  BRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 

A  S  this  Section  was  occupied  with  dredging  excursions  on  the 
■"•  Saturday  and  Wednesday,  only  four  days  were  available 
for  sectional  meetings,  and  as  the  number  of  papers  and  rejwrts 
to  be  discussed  was  large  (nearly  fifty),  the  sittings  were  con- 
tinued late  into  the  afternoon.  The  majority  of  the  papers 
dealt  with  marine  zoological  subjects,  and  fishery  questions 
received  special  attention. 

After  the  President's  address  on  Thursday,  the  following 
reports  of  Committees  were  taken  : — 

On  the  marine  zoologj',  botany,  and  geology  of  the  Irish  Sea. 
The  report  deals  with  nine  dredging  expeditions  held  during  the 
past  year,  and  discusses  the  additions  made  to  the  known  fauna. 
Statistics  of  the  dredging  results  are  given  to  show  (i)  the 
relative  richness,  per  haul,  of  the  shallower  over  the  deeper 
waters,  and  (2)  the  relatively  large  number  of  genera  repre- 
sented by  the  species  in  one  haul ;  pointing  to  the  conclusion 
that,  as  a  rule,  allied  species  are  not  found  together.  The  sub- 
marine deposits  rouml  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  the  currents  of  the 
Irish  Sea  are  also  discussed. 

NO.   1353,  VOL.   52] 


On  the  migration  of  birds.  The  nine  years'  observations  are 
now  being  tabulated  for  presentation  at  next  meeting. 

Investigation  of  the  zoology  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Valuable 
collections  are  being  made  and  brought  home,  and  unless  these 
are  mad;  now  they  can  never  be  done,  as  the  extinction  of  much 
of  the  present  fauna  is  not  only  inevitable,  but  will  be  immediate. 

Research  at  the  Zoological  Station  at  Naples.  The  Briti.sh 
Association  table  has  been  occupied  by  Mr.  .M.  D.  Hill,  who 
has  been  investigating  the  maturation  and  fecundation  of  the  ova 
of  Echinodermata  and  Tunicata. 

Research  at  the  Marine  Biological  Laboratory  at  Plymouth. 
This  Committee  have  enabled  Miss  Florence  Buchanan  to  work 
out  the  blood-forming  organ  in  the  larva  of  Magelona  ;  Mr.  E.  J. 
Allen  to  work  on  the  nervous  system  of  the  embryonic  lobster  ; 
and  Mr.  Sumner  to  work  at  the  Echinoderm  fauna  of  Plymouth. 

Investigation  of  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the  West  Indian 
Islands.  The  Committee  reported  upon  the  prepress  made  in 
working  up  the  collections. 

On  an  Index  Generum  et  Specierum  Animalium.  In  Mr. 
Sherborn's  hands  the  Index  is  making  satisfactory  progress. 

On  the  physiological  applications  of  the  phonograph.  The 
Committee  are  studying  the  marks  on  the  cylinder  of  the  phono- 
graph by  microphotographs  and  by  recording  curves,  and  they 
propose  to  make  these  available  for  philological  purposes  in  the 
study  of  dialects. 

The  following  papers  were  then  taken  : — ■ 

On  the  Stereornithes,  by  C.  W.  Andrews.  They  are  a  hetero- 
geneous group  of  extinct  birds,  found  in  Patagonia,  whose  chief 
points  of  resemblance  lie  in  their  large  size  and  reduced  power 
of  flight.  Some  of  them,  at  least,  have  no  special  aflinities  with 
the  living  Ratit.-e.  They  are  not  represented  in  European 
museums. 

Facts  and  reflections  on  budding  in  compound  Ascidians,  by 
Prof.  W.  E.  Ritter  (California).  The  author  argues  for  the 
polyphyletic  origin  of  the  compound  Ascidians  ;  he  considers 
that  there  is  no  homologue  of  the  "  epicardium  "  of  Claveliiia 
in  either  Goodsiria  or  Botrylliis  ;  he  suggests  that  budding  has 
arisen  in  small  Ascidians  as  a  compensation  for  diminished  power 
of  sexual  reproduction  ;  he  believes  that  physiological  necessities 
have  modified  the  course  of  development  by  budding,  so  that 
the  endoderm  now  produces  some  organs  originally  formed  from 
ectoderm. 

A  new  classification  of  the  Tunicata,  by  W.  Garstang.  The 
author  gave  his  reasons  for  proposing  to  modify  the  classifica- 
tions given  by  Herdman  and  by  Lahille,  by  adopting  some  of 
the  features  of  each  scheme.  In  the  main  he  proposes  to  follow 
Ilerdman  in  the  primary  divisions,  and  Lahille  in  the  sub- 
divisions. He  considers  Pyrosoma  to  be  related  to  the  pelagic 
forms,  such  as  Salpa,  and  not  to  the  fixed  .'\scidians.  He  makes 
use  of  the  branchial  sac  largely  in  classification.  This  paper 
gave  rise  to  an  interesting  discussion. 

On  the  presence  of  skeletal  elements  between  the  mandibular 
and  hyoid  arches  of  ffexaiichus  and  Lcemargus  ;  and  on  the  pre- 
sence of  a  sternum  in  Hexanchus  grisciis,  by  Dr.  P.  White. 

On  the  Creodonta,  by  Prof.  W.  B.  Scott.  This  and  some  of 
the  other  papers  gave  rise  to  considerable  discussion,  and  the 
Section  did  not  adjourn  till  about  five  o'clock. 

In  the  course  of  the  day's  proceedings  it  was  moved  by  Prof. 
W.  A.  Herdman  ( President  of  the  Section),  seconded  by  Dr. 
P.  L.  Sclater  (past-President),  and  carried  unanimously,  that  the 
zoologists  of  this  Section  desire  to  present  to  Dr.  John  Murray 
their  congratulations  on  the  completion  of  the  Challenger 
publicatioiis,  and  their  best  thanks  for  his  splendid  services  to 
science.  This  resolution  was  duly  conveyed  to  Dr.  Murray,  and 
a  letter  of  thanks  from  him  was  received  by  the  Section  later 
in  the  meeting. 

Friday  was  devoted  to  papers  and  discussions  on  the  marine 
fisheries.  Prof.  Mcintosh  led  off  with  a  paper  on  some  of  the 
results  of  scientific  investigations  as  applied  to  the  fisheries.  He 
gave  a  useful  summary  of  what  had  been  effected  by  the  Scottish 
Fisher)^  Board  ;  he  showed  that  the  three-mile  limit  was  in- 
sufficient to  protect  the  spawning  fishes,  and  in  conclusion  urged 
that  scientific  investigations  on  the  fisheries  should  be  carried 
out  by  Government  and  not  be  left  to  Universities. 

Prof.  Haddon  followed  with  a  report  on  the  Royal  Dublin 
Society's  Fishery  Survey,  and  also  gave  an  account  of  the 
Fishery  School  at  Ringsend,  near  Dublin.  He  pointed  out  the 
special  conditions  of  the  Irish  fishery  grounds,  the  lack  of  access 
to  markets  and  of  fish-curing  stations  on  the  west. 

Dr.  Bashford  Dean  (U.S.  Fish  Commission)  gave  an  account 


^62 


X,-J  rURE 


[October  3,  189; 


of  oyster-cultural  methods,  experiments,  and  new  proposals. 
He  pointed  out  the  difficulties  in  "  spat "'  collecting,  and  showed 
that  if  these  could  be  overcome  the  problem  of  raising  o)-sters 
successfully  would  be  solveil.  He  dwelt  on  the  efl'ects  of  bad 
aeration,  and  of  changes  of  temperature,  and  on  the  difficulty  in 
retaining  the  embr)os  in  closed  areas,  such  as  the  marc  piicolo 
at  Taranto  and  the  Brencj^y  lake  in  France.  Finally  he  dis- 
cussed the  cultural  methods  recently  patented  in  the  United 
States. 

Prof.  W.  .\.  Ilerdman  and  Prof.  R.  Boyce  gave  a  paper  on 
oysters  and  typhoid,  in  which  they  explained  the  investigations 
they  had  made  on  the  normal  and  abnormal  life-conditions  of 
the  oyster,  including  the  effect  of  pathogenic  organisms.  The 
oysters  were  laid  di»wn  in  various  kinds  of  water,  and  {<iA  on  a 
variety  of  substances,  both  in  the  laboratories  at  Liverpool  and 
also  at  the  Port  Erin  Biological  Station.  Some  of  the  results 
obtained  are  :  the  beneficial  effiKrts  of  aeration,  the  superiority 
of  natural  food  (protophyta,  &c.)  over  artifici.al  (oatmeal,  &c. ), 
the  deleterious  effects  of  stagnation,  great  toleration  of  sewage, 
inimical  effect  of  typhoid  feecal  matter,  the  idenlificalion  of 
Bacillus  lyphoms  in  oysters  fourteen  days  after  infection.  The 
obsersations  are  still  in  prepress,  and  a  Committee  of  the  British 
.■Association  has  been  formed  for  the  purpose  of  carrjHng  on  the 
investigation. 

Dr.  H.  C.  Sorby  read  a  paper  on  the  oyster  culture  in  the 
Colne  district,  which  was  to  be  \-isited  by  a  jiarty  of  zoologists 
from  the  Section  the  Wednesday  following.  He  described 
the  grounds  where  spat  was  obtained,  and  the  celebrated 
P)-eflcet  creek  where  the  "natives"  are  fattened  for  the  market. 

Mr.  J.  T.  Cunningham  gave  the  last  of  the  fishery  pajiers,  on 
fish  and  fishing  grounds  in  the  North  Sea.  This  author  dis- 
puted the  idea  that  the  great  quantities  of  young  plaice  in  the 
eastern  parts  of  the  North  Sea  are  derived  from  the  spawn  and 
cmbiyos  carried  across  by  currents,  and  that  these  plaice  when 
they  grow  large  supply  those  parts  of  the  North  Sea  that  lie 
further  west.  He  suggests  that  the  plaice  on  the  tiennan  side 
are  a  smaller  race,  and  that  they  corresimnd  in  distribution  to  a 
tract  of  warmer  .Atlantic  water.  He  urged  the  necessity  for  a 
scientific  investigation  of  the  North  Sea  fisheries,  and  for 
experiments  in  rearing  young  food  fish  in  artificial  ponds.  A 
discussion  followed,  in  which  the  authors  of  the  papers,  the 
President,  Mr.  -Mward,  Mr.  A.  O.  Walker,  and  others  took 
part. 

In  the  afternoon  a  discussion  took  place  on  zoological  biblio- 
graphy, opened  by  Dr.  Manland  Field  with  an  account  of  his 
.scheme  for  the  establishment  of  an  international  bibliographical 
bureau,  to  be  located  at  Ziirich.  The  organisation  is  now  nearly 
completed,  and  the  bureau  is  expected  to  start  work  in  January 
1896.  Dr.  Field  asks  England  to  form  a  National  Committee, 
to  organise  a  service  of  correspondents,  and  to  give  a  grant 
towards  the  Bureau.  \  Committee  of  the  British  .Association 
has  been  appointed  to  consider  the  matter  and  report. 

Dr.  Fieia  also  read  a  (jailer  on  the  date  of  publication  of 
zoological  papers,  in  which  he  urged  that  the  date  oi  distribution 
l(e  adopted  as  "  publication." 

Rev.  T.  R.  R.  .Stebbing  gave  a  pajier  on  economy  of  labour 
in  zoology,  proposing  that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  gather 
into  a  succinct  form  all  the  most  indis|x:nsable  knowledge  in 
each  branch  of  zixilogy. 

Prof.  G.  Gilson  (Louvain)  described  the  septal  organs  of 
Oweuia  fusiformis  ;  Prof  F.  Y.  Edgeworth  read  a  paper  on  the 
statistics  of  was(>s  ;  and  Mr.  W.  Garslang  exhibited  a  simjile 
and  efficient  collecting  reservoir  for  the  surface  tow-net.  This 
liiw-net  W.1S  experimented  with  on  Saturday's  dredging  cx- 
jiedilion.  and  was  found  to  work  very  satisfactorily. 

On   Monday  forenoon.  Prof    L.    C.    Miall  gave  an  account 

(illustrated    by    the    lantern)  of  our  present  knowledge  of  the 

causes  and  conditions  of  insect  transformation.      He  pointed  out 

the  fundamental   distinction     l>elween    the    metamorphoses    of 

in«/vt5   and   those   of    other  .animals.     The    metamorphoses  of 

inals  were  larval,  those  of  insects  .-idult  metamorphoses 

.I'lry  st.-igc  l>eing    late    in    the    life.      In    insects  the 

■  '     ■   '     1    by   the  .adult,    the  feeding   by  the 

i'-rable  difference  between  these  two 

■ining  more  ami   more  highly  organ- 

i-vai  and  ,nd   the   larva  more  and  more  ilegenerate. 

Thw  mark'  l.rought  alxiut  the  necessity  for  a  quiescent 

inipa    sLagc    L.mn;:).     This  paper  led    to  some  discussion  on 

melami>rphosis. 

Dr.  H.  C.  Sorby  exhibited  a  scries  of  marine  animals  caught 

NO.    1353,  VOL.  52] 


in   the  Suffolk  estuaries,  and  mounted  as  lantern-slides  after 
various  methods  of  preparation. 

Dr.  Sorby  gave  an  account  of  his  apparatus  for  catching  minute 
marine  animals,  and  for  estimating  the  number  of  oi^anisms  in 
given  quantities  of  sea  water. 

Dr.  E.  Frankland  read  a  paper  on  conditions  affecting 
Ixicterial  life  in  river  water,  in  which  he  showed  that  in  a  series 
of  monthly  obser\ations  on  the  water  of  the  Thames  bacteria 
were  more  numerous  in  winter  than  in  summer.  There  were 
three  conditions  which  might  affect  the  Kacteria,  and  which  he 
had  disentangle<l,  viz.  temperature,  sunshine,  and  the  volume  of 
water.  .Sunshine  was  a  powerful  germicide,  but  its  effect  ceasts 
at  a  small  depth  in  muddy  water.  The  amount  of  microbes 
was  found  to  vary  with  the  amount  of  flood  water.  Storage  has 
a  ver)-  beneficial  eftect  in  purifying  river  water  from  bacteria. 

Prof.  A.  C.  Haddon  made  an  apjwal  to  zoologists  to  urge  up  >n 
Government  and  scientific  .societies  the  necessity  for  an  imme- 
diate exploration  of  oceanic  islands  of  the  Pacific.  He  (winlcd 
out  that  the  great  depths  of  the  sea  would  remain  for  long 
unaltered,  that  the  .\ntarctic  was  probably  not  undergoing  any 
rapid  change,  but  that  the  fauna  and  flora  of  the  islands,  and 
the  customs  of  their  inhabitants,  were  all  undergoing  change 
from  year  to  year,  and  therefore  ought  to  receive  our  first 
attention. 

A  paper  on  the  Coccida;  of  Ceylon,  by  Mr.  E.  E.  Green, 
illustrated  by  beautiful  plates,  was  read  by  Prof.  Howes. 

Dr.  H.  O.  Forbes  g.ave  a  paper,  "  Criticisms  on  some  points  in 
the  summar)'  of  the  results  of  the  Challenger  Expedition,"  in 
which  he  dealt  with  the  supposed  greater  size  of  the  sun  in 
Carboniferous  times,  and  also  with  the  views  of  Dr.  .Murray  in 
reference  to  the  occurrence  of  similar  forms  in  .\rctic  and 
.Antarctic  regions.  Finally  he  pointed  out  that  the  evidence  for 
an  .Antarctic  continent  in  Tertiary  times  is  really  sujiported  by 
the  Challenger  collections,  rather  than  the  reverse,  .as  held  by 
Dr.  Murray. 

-A  paper  on  the  marine  fauna  of  I  loutman's  Abrolhos  Islands, 
West  -Australia,  by  W.  Saville-Kent,  showed  that  the  anomalous 
character  of  the  fauna  of  .Abrolhos  can  only  be  accounted  for  by 
the  .assumption  that  an  ocean  current  setting  in  from  the 
equatorial  Indian  Ocean  penetrates  as  far  south  .as  this  island 
group. 

Dr.  Gregg  Wilson  read  a  ))aper  on  hereditary  polydaclylism, 
and  also  one  on  the  reproduc  ion  of  the  common  crab.  Dr. 
Wilson  was  of  opinion  that  an  increased  size  limit  would  be  a 
very  distinct  protection  to  the  crab.  -A  close  time  at  the  end 
of  the  year  would  protect  the  female  at  a  time  when  there  is 
most  destruction. 

On  Tuesday,  Prof.  Lloyd  Morgan  gave  an  account  of  his 
experiments  on  inslincti  n  young  birds.  He  reared  young  moor- 
hens, chicks,  &c. ,  for  the  purpose  of  determining  how  far  the 
activities  of  locomotion  (swimming,  diving,  running,  flying), 
feeding,  bathing,  &c. ,  are  instinctive  or  congenital,  and  how  far 
their  definiteness  is  a  m.atler  of  individual  .acquisition.  It  was 
found  that  timidity  had  a  congenital  basis,  but  was  perfected  by 
individual  acquisition.  There  was  no  instinctive  avoidance  of 
insects  with  warning  colours,  but  such  avoidance  was  rapidly 
acquired  by  the  individual.  There  appears  to  be  little  support 
for  the  view  that  what  is  individually  acquired  is  then  passed  on 
by  heredity. 

Dr.  Bashford  Dean  gave  an  exhibition  of  ova  and  larv.e  of 
Ainia,  Lepidostcus  and  Acipcnscr,  with  some  notes  on  the  early 
development  of  the  Ganoids,  in  which  he  brought  out  that 
Embryology  supports  the  \icws  derived  from  Pahvonlology. 
Dr.  Dean  considers  that  /A-pidoslcus  is  the  oldest  or  most 
primitive,  and  .tinia  the  form  which  comes  nearest  to  the 
Teleosts. 

Dr.  Otto  Maas  (Munich)  discussed  some  questions  relating  to 
the  morphology  and  distribution  of  Medus,\;.  He  exhibited 
some  plates  of  supposed  deep-sea  Medus;v  from  the  Albalrost 
expedition  showing  the  prevalence  of  a  purplish  tint,  which  he 
supposed  to  be  the  complementary  lint  to  the  green  phosphor- 
escent light  given  out  by  many  deep-sea  animals. 

Mr.  J.  E.  Moore's  paper  on  spermatogenesis  in  birds, 
.showed  that  the  spermatic  elements  of  pigeons  have  a  marked 
tendency  to  form  multinucleate  masses.  The  whole  course 
seems  to  correspond  more  closely  with  clasmobranchs  than  with 
mammals. 

Prof.  G.  B.  Howes  read  a  paper  on  the  mammalian  hy>iid. 
He  showed  that  there  were  two  types:  (i)  Proterostylic,  found 
only  in    man  and  marmosets,  ami  (2)  Opisthoslylic,  known  only 


0( TOBER  3,    1895] 


NA  TURE 


O^j 


in  rabbits  and  some  other  rodents.  The  following  papers  : 
On  the  development  of  the  teeth  in  certain  Insectivora,  by  M. 
I'.  Woodward  ;  on  the  poison  apparatus  of  certain  snakes,  by 
C;.  S.  West ;  on  the  vahie  of  myology  in  the  classification  of 
animals,  by  V.  G.  Parsons ;  and  on  ultimate  vital  units,  by 
Miss  Nina  Layard,  concluded  the  ordinary  sittings  of  the 
Section. 

A  notable  feature  of  the  meeting  was  the  very  successful 
dredging  expeditions  organised  for  the  Zoological  Section  by  the 
Local  Committee,  with  the  help  of  the  President  of  the  Section 
and  Dr.  II.  C.  .Sorliy.  On  Saturday  a  large  steamer  was 
chartere<l  from  the  Railway  Company  for  dredging  outside 
Harwich.  Many  hauls  of  the  dredge,  and  of  various  forms  of 
tow-net,  both  surface  and  bottom,  were  made  off  the  Naze  and  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Gunfleet  bank.  Large  quantities  of 
material  were  obtained,  including  representatives  of  most  groups 
of  the  Invertebrala.  The  specimens  picked  out  were  arranged 
in  a  number  of  large  glass  jars,  and  on  the  return  journey 
Prof.  Ilerdman  gave  a  demonstration  on  the  most  interesting 
forms  obtained.  On  Wednesday,  the  iSth,  the  second  zoological 
excursion  took  place,  to  Wyvenhoe  to  inspect  the  Colne  Oyster 
Fishery,  by  invitation  of  the  Mayor  and  Corporation  of 
Colchester.  The  party  were  taken  on  board  the  new  steam 
oyster  dredger  of  the  I'ishery  Board,  and  hauls  of  the  dredges 
were  obtained  at  various  points  in  the  estuary  of  the  Colne  in  order 
to  show  the  condition  of  the  oyster  ground.  Large  quantities 
of  the  Polyzoon  Akyonidium  gelaiiitositiii  and  of  common 
Ascidians,  especially  Ascidiella  virgiiiea,  were  found  associated 
with  the  oysters.  The  steamer  then  proceeded  to  tne  Pyefleet 
creek,  where  three  millions  of  the  famous  Colchester  "  natives" 
are  now  fattening  ;  here  the  party  landed  and  inspected  the 
packing  sheds,  where  they  were  entertained  to  an  oyster 
luncheon.  On  returning  to  the  steamer,  dredging  was  again 
carried  on  further  down  the  estuar)",  so  as  to  see  as  much  as 
possible  of  the  ground,  and  the  difierent  ages  and  conditions  of 
the  oyster.  Every  facility  was  given  to  the  party  for  examining 
this  important  fishery,  and  a  most  favourable  impression  was 
received  of  the  healthiness  of  the  ground,  the  purity  of  the 
water,  and  the  excellent  condition  of  the  stock. 


GEOGRAPHY  AT  THE  BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 

""PllE  brilliant  International  Geographical  Congress,  #ecent ly 
held  in  London,  seems  to  have  afforded  sufficient  intellectual 
dissipation  for  most  British  geographers  this  year,  and  many 
familiar  faces  were  absent  from  Section  E.  Comparatively  few 
jjapcrs  were  presented  for  reading,  and  several  of  these  were 
read  by  the  .Secretaries,  as  the  authors  could  not  attend.  It  is 
dr)ubtllil  whether  papers  presented  in  this  way  should  be  brought 
before  the  Association,  for  fair  discussion  is  impossible  unless 
the  author  is  present  to  support  his  arguments  and  answer 
questions. 

If  Section  E  retained  its  usual  popularity  this  year — and  the 
large  lecture  hall  was  occasionally  crowded — it  was  not  because 
of  the  sensational  character  of  the  communications  made  ;  there 
was  not  even  a  lady-traveller  to  read  a  paper.  A  characteristic 
of  the  meeting  was  the  exceptional  scientific  value  of  the  papers, 
which  dealt  less  with  exploration  than  with  research. 

During  recent  years  the  President  of  Section  E  has  almost 
always  been  a  practical  geographer  with  a  commanding  know- 
ledge of  one  branch  of  his  subject,  and  this  year  the  succession 
was  worthily  upheld  by  Mr.  H.  J.  Mackinder,  the  Reader  in 
(Jeography  at  CJxford,  whose  experience  of  higher  education  in 
geography  enabled  him  to  formulate  a  scheme  for  restoring  that 
.science  to  its  proper  place  in  a  rational  university  system.  The 
older  universities  have  not  responded  as  was  expected  to  the 
proposals  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  as  to  the  institution 
of  Chairs  of  Geography,  and  the  time  seems  to  have  come  for 
the  .Society  to  take  a  fresh  departure,  either  independently  or  in 
conjunction  with  a  new  university  not  blind  to  the  value  of  the 
ex]ieriment  which  has  been  tried  and  found  satisfactorj-  in 
Germany.  A  Conmiittee  of  the  British  Association  has  been 
appointed,  without  a  grant,  to  investigate  the  teaching  of 
geography  in  this  country,  Mr.  Mackinder  being  chairman  and 
Mr.  Ilerbertson  secretary. 

The  President's  contention  that  geogra]ihy  is  not  "  the  science 
of  all  things,"  but  a  correlating  study  dealing  with  the   results  of 


NO.    1353,  VOL.   52] 


all  sciences  relating  to  the  earth  from  a  special  standpoint,  was 
driven  home  by  many  of  the  papers  presented  to  the  meeting. 

Mr.  \V.  B.  Blaikic  demonstrated  by  his  greatly-improved 
cosmosphere  the  astronomical  relations  of  geography,  the  com- 
bination of  a  terrestrial  globe  with  a  transparent  celestial  globe 
on  which  the  constellations  are  printed,  forming  a  great  advance 
on  the  old  armillary  sphere  ;  while  the  ingenious  device  of  re- 
moving a  celestial  and  terrestrial  hemisphere  allowed  of  the 
working  of  plane  problems  on  the  section  as  readily  as  of 
spherical  problems  on  the  surface  of  the  outer  sphere. 

Climatolog)-  was  discussed  in  the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
the  climate  of  tropical  Africa,  which  was  presented  by  Mr. 
Ravenstein,  the  chairman.  It  show  s  the  results  already  obtained 
from  the  six  stations  in  tropical  Africa  equipped  by  the  Associa- 
tion. The  Committee  was  reappointed  with  a  small  grant  and 
w  ith  a  change  of  secretary,  Mr.  1 1.  X.  Dickson  taking  the  place 
of  Dr.  H.  R.  Mill. 

Dr.  John  .Murray  gave  a  sketch  of  the  central  problem  of 
oceanography — the  circulation  of  the  oceans  ;  and  the  Section 
instructed  the  President  to  write  a  letter  to  Dr.  Murray,  con- 
gratulating him  on  the  completion  of  the  Chalkiiger  Reports,  the 
most  nnportant  contribution  to  physical  geography  of  recent 
years. 

Mr.  H.  N.  Dickson  summarised  the  result  of  the  recent  inter- 
national observations  on  the  North  Atlantic,  in  which  he  took 
part,  and  by  the  aid  of  lantern  diagrams  showed  that  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  temperature  of  the  surface-water  was  intimately 
associated  with  the  distribution  of  mean  atmospheric  pressure 
over  the  ocean,  and  that  consequently  the  temperature  of  the 
.\tlantic  water  was  an  important  factor  in  determining  the 
w  eather  as  well  as  the  climate  of  Western  Europe. 

Mr.  A.  Trevor  Battye  read  an  interesting  paper  on  the 
struggle  for  existence  in  Arctic  regions,  dealing  with  bio- 
geographical  problems,  but  unfortunately  there  was  no  time  to 
discuss  it.  A  biological  discussion  which  greatly  pleased  the 
audience,  but  was  perhaps  somewhat  inappropriate  to  the 
Section,  arose  on  Mr.  Borchgrevink's  paper  describing  his 
recent  experiences  in  the  far  South,  and  a  proposed  plan  for  a 
private  Antarctic  expedition.  Sir  Joseph  Hooker,  the  veteran  of 
Ross's  Antarctic  voyages,  who  was  received  with  great  enthusiasm, 
referred  to  his  adventures  in  the  Antarctic  seas,  and  while  con- 
gratulating Mr.  Borchgrevink  on  his  work  in  the  Norwegian 
whaling  trip,  expressed  little  hojie  of  great  results  following  a 
private  expedition.  Sir  William  Flower  had  the  meeting  with 
him  in  declaring  that  no  more  attempts  should  be  made  to  send 
out  ships  on  the  pretext  of  looking  for  whales  or  seals,  but  with 
the  hojie  of  gaining  scientific  imormation. 

The  return  to  Vardo  of  the  IViiidward,  after  landing  Mr. 
Jackson  in  Franz-Josef  Land,  occurred  during  the  meeting,  and 
Mr.  Montefiore,  Secretary  of  the  Jackson-Harmsworth  expedi- 
tion, gave  a  brief  account  of  the  start  of  the  land  party. 

In  the  historical  aspect  of  geography,  Mr.  J.  L.  Myres  con- 
tributed a  discussion  of  the  maps  of  Herodotus,  which  enabled 
an  interesting  contrast  to  be  drawn  between  the d//'Jff«  methods 
of  the  ancient  world  and  the  scientific  inductions  of  to-day. 

The  papers  descriptive  of  exploration  dealt  with  Africa  and 
.\sia.  Captain  Hinde's  experiences  in  the  Congo  State,  and  Mr. 
G.  F.  Scott-Elliot's  admirable  expedition  for  the  scientific  study 
of  the  Ruwenzori  region,  have  already  been  before  the  public  in 
other  forms.  Mr.  H.  S.  Cowper's  journey  through  Tarhuna 
and  Gharian  in  Tripoli  was  new,  and  the  arch3K)logical  features 
which  he  observed  seem  to  be  deserving  of  further  study. 

The  Rev.  W.  Weston  gave  one  of  the  most  vahiable  travel- 
papers — an  account  of  his  explorations  in  the  Japanese  Alps. 
This  range  occupies  the  centre  of  the  largest  island,  with  summits 
rising  to  elevations  of  over  10,000  feet.  The  snowfall  on  the 
western  side  is  enormous  on  account  of  the  moisture  in  the 
prevailing  wind,  while  the  eastern  side  of  the  range  remains 
comparatively  free  of  snow.  Although  the  snow-line  in  summer 
is  as  low  as  7000  feet  in  places,  there  are  no  signs  of  glacial 
action.  The  volcanic  mountains  abound  in  hot  mineral  springs 
of  high  repute  as  baths,  and  ores  of  copper  and  silver  are  mined 
in  several  places.  The  flora  and  fauna  are  both  rich,  and  the 
people  retain  their  ancient  politeness  and  hospitality,  while  many 
curious  customs  and  beliefs  survive  amongst  them. 

Mr.  John  Dodd,   who  was  not  able  to  be  present,   sent  an 

exhaustive  memoir  on  Formosa,  where  he  had  resided  from  1864 

to  1890.     As  a  trader  he  had  been  much  in  contact  with   the 

aboriginal  tribes  of  the  interior,  and  he  gave  a  graphic  account  of 

I 


564 


NATURE 


[October  3,  1895 


their  mode  of  life  and  their  relations  with  the  Chinese  colonists. 
The  resources  of  the  island  were  described,  and  the  prospects  of 
foreign  trade  discussed.  Probably  no  Euro|iean  is  sn  well  able 
.•\s  Mr.  Dodci  to  speak  from  experience  o(  the  latest  accession  to 
the  empire  of  Japan. 

Dr.  A.  Markoff  drew  attention  to  the  geography  of  Russian 
Asia,  especially  with  reference  to  the  Siberian  railway. 

Major  Darwin  gave  an  epitome  of  the  work  of  the  sixth 
International  Geographical  Congress. 

Mr.  Miller  Christy  directed  the  attention  of  geographers  to 
ihe  remote  islet  of  Kockall,  off  the  west  coast  of  Scotland,  which 
has  never  been  properly  studied,  and  he  suggested  that  it  would 
be  a  good  field  of  research  for  a  hardy  yachtsman.  This  paper 
provoked  a  lively  discussion,  in  which  the  value  of  Kockall  as  a 
weather-forecasting  station  was  referre<l  lo,  and  the  practical 
difficulties  in  the  way  of  utilising  it  considered. 

The  Section  authorised  the  President  to  w  rite  a  letter  of  con- 
dolence to  the  parents  of  the  late  Mr.  Joseph  Thomson,  express- 
ing the  high  opinion  universally  held  as  lo  the  value  of  the  work 
he  did  in  Africa,  and  the  warm  affection  with  which  his  genial 
personality  was  regarded  by  every  geographer. 


UNIVERSITY  AND   EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

The  Report  just  issued  by  the  Somerset  County  Kducation 
Committee  shows  that  the  work  of  technical  education  is  being 
developed,  and  mostly  in  the  right  <lireclion.  Much  of  the 
instruction  given  was  of  a  very  elementary  character,  but  this  is 
just  what  is  needed  by  the  type  of  student  for  whom  it  is  in- 
tended. It  is  satisfactory  to  note  that  a  course  of  experimental 
science  was  followed  by  a  number  of  teachers.  The  instruction 
was  confined  almost  entirely  to  experiments  suitable  for  class 
demonstration,  and,  where  [xjssiblc,  for  repetition  by  evening 
school  pupils.  The  words  of  Mr.  C.  II.  Bothamley,  the  Direc- 
tor of  Technical  Instrucliun  in  .Somerset,  as  to  the  use  of  such 
practical  work,  are  worth  repealing  here.  "Since  the  chief 
object  of  .science  teaching  in  evening  schools  is  not  so  much  to 
imparl  a  knowledge  of  useful  facts  (though  that  is  im|xirtanl), 
as  to  train  pupils  to  use  their  eyes  in  their  daily  occujiations,  to 
observe  accurately,  and  to  reason  correctly  from  what  ihey  have 
observed,  it  is  clear  that,  if  this  end  is  to  be  attained,  the  pupils 
must  see  things  for  themselves,  and  not  simply  be  told  things, 
and  the  experimental  proofs  must  be  complete,  and  the  reason- 
ing based  on  (hem  must  be  sound."  We  will  go  further  and 
say  that  the  only  real  scientific  knowledge  is  obtained  not  from 
seeing  experiments  performed,  but  by  doing  iheni.  Clear  and 
accurate  class  demonstrations  are  undoubtedly  good,  but  prac- 
tical work  carried  out  by  the  pupils  themselves  is  far  better, 
and  the  more  facilities  that  are  given  for  such  work,  the  firmer 
will  be  Ihe  foundation  upon  which  a  .superstructure  of  technical 
education  can  be  built. 

AmoN(;  Ihe  recent  ap|)oinlmcnts  we  notice  the  following  : — 
Dr.  A.  IleydwcMler,  I'rival-docent  in  Physics  and  Physical 
Chemistry  at  .Sirassburg,  to  \k  Extraordinary  Profes.sor  at 
Bre.slau  ;  Dr.  Leo  Gruenhut  lo  .succeed  Ihe  late  Prof.  Borg- 
mann  at  the  KreHcnius  Chemical  Lalxjralory,  Wiesljaden  ;  Dr. 
K.  W.  V.  Dalla-Torre,  Privat-docent  in  Zoolog)-  at  Innsbruck, 
to  lie  Extraordinary  Professor.  Dr.  K.  Zickler  lo  the  full  Pro- 
fis'i.rship  of  Kleclrolechnolngy'at  the  Brllnn  Technical  High 
School,  and  Dr.  Dzieslewski  to  a  similar  |x>sl  in  the  Technische 
li<K:hschulc  at  Ix:ml)erg ;  Dr.  E.  Vung  lo  succeed  the  laic 
("atl  Vogt  as  Professor  of  Comparative  .\natomy  and  Zoology  at 
tlcncva;  Dr.  B.  Weinslein  to  i)c  Extraordinary  Professor  of 
Physics  in  Berlin  University;  Dr.  Max  \'erworn  lo  be  Exlra- 
•  irdinary  Professor  in  Physiology  at  Jena  ;  Dr.  Herbert  Hursl  lo 
\k  Demonstrator  in  Zoology,  and  Mr.  Vaughan  Jennings  to  be 
Demonstrator  in  Geology,  at  the  Royal  College  of  Science, 
Dublin;  Dr.  J.  P.  Kuenen  to  the  new  Harris  Chair  of  Physics 
in  llnivorsily  College,  Dundee  ;  Dr.  Rawson  to  be  Ileadmaslcr 
of  Huddcrsficld  Technical  School. 

At  Ihc  recent  Matriculation  Examination  of  the  Cily  and 
Guilds  Central  Technical  College,  seventy-six  candidales  prc- 
vmlcd  Ihemsclvcs,  and  sixly-lwo  have  Iwen  admitted  to  the 
College.  The  highest  place  was  taken  l>y  M.  Solomon,  to 
whom  the  Clolhworkcrs'  Scholarship  of  /6o  a  year  and  free 
olucalion  has  l)cen  awarded. 


NO.    1353.  VOL.   52] 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

P.\RIS. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  September  23.- — M.  Kizeau  in  ihe 
chair. — On  a  specimen  of  bl.tck  diamond  from  Brazil,  by  M. 
Henri  Moissan.  The  specimen  is  from  Bahia  Province,  and  weighs 
630  grams  (about  3073  carats).  Its  surface  is  in  jxirt  rough, 
appearing  when  slightly  magnified  as  if  gas  had  escaped  there- 
from while  in  a  pasty  condition.  It  resembles  the  microscopic 
grains  of  crystallised  carl>t")n  jiroiluced  in  the  interior  of  suddenly 
cooled  silver  and  iron  masses.  This  specimen  is  porous,  and  has 
lost  weight  since  removal  from  the  soil  to  the  extent  of  sixteen 
grams. — On  the  existence  of  phlorizic  glycosuria  in  dogs  after 
section  of  the  spinal  cord,  by  M.  R.  Lepine.  On  the  adminis- 
tration of  phlorizine,  glycosuria  follows  almost  as  in  the  case  of 
healthy  dogs,  and  diflers  from  the  latter  case  merely  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  less  total  quantity  of  glucose. — .\  brochure  entitled 
"The  actual  limits  of  our  science  ;  a  presidential  address  to  the 
British  .Association  at  Oxford,  delivered  .\ugusl  8,  1894,  by  the 
Marquis  of  Salisbury '"  (translated  by  M.  \V.  de  Fonviellc),  h.^s 
been  printed  in  the  Correspondence  of  the  Academy. — On  the 
composition  of  pelagcine,  by  MM.  .\.  B.  CJriffiths  and  C. 
Piatt.  The  violet  pigment  of  the  Medusa  (Pelagia)  has  the 
composition  C.j„H,-NO;,  and  is  termed  by  the  authors  pelagcine. 
It  is  soluble  in  alcohol,  ether,  and  acetic  acid,  very  soluble  in 
carbon  disulphide,  and  insoluble  in  water.  It  gives  no  character- 
istic absorption  bands. 

CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Ritter's  "Asia";  Russian  Addenda.     By  P.  K.    .    .     541 

Applications  of  Bessel  Functions.      Hv  Prof.  A.  G. 
Greenhill,  F.R.S '. 542 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Perez:   "  Protoplasme  el  Noyau" 543 

Thunner  :   " -Vnalylical  Key  to   the  Natural  Orders  of 
Flowering  I'lanls. '— W.B.  H 543 

Letters  to  the  Editor: — 

.\llcin|il      lo      Liquefy      Helium. — Prof.     William 

Ramsay,   F.R.S 544 

llL'liumaiid   tile  .Spectrum   of  Nova  Auriga?.  —  Profs. 

C.  Runge  and  F.  Paschen    .  544 

Latent  \'ilalily  in  Seeds --Prof.  Italo  Giglioli .    .    .    544 
To.  I'Vientls   and    l'"ellow   W'orker.s    in    '^Hiiilernions. — 

Dr.  P.  Molenbroek  and  Shunkichi  Kimura  545 

.'\rlificial  Human  Milk.— Dr.  E.  Frankland,  F.R.S.  546 
The     Elemenls     of     .\rcliilecuire,  — H.     Heathcote 

Statham  ;  The  Reviewer 546 

Do  the  Componenis  i.f  C'mipound  Colours  in  Nature 

follow   a   Law    of   .Mulliple   Prn|uirtions? — Joseph 

W.  Lovibond;   Prof.  J.   McKeen  Cattell  .    .    .     547 
.\  ProlilLin  in  Thciiiiodynamics.  —  Edward  T.  Dixon     547 

The    New   Mineral   Gases.      {ll'i//i    Diai^ams.)     By 
J.  Norman  Lockyer,  C.B.,  F.R.S.    . 547 

Research  in  Zoology  at  Oxford.    By  Prof.  Sydney  J. 
Hickson,  F.R.S.     .' 549 

Deep  Sounding  in  the  Pacific.    By  Admiral  W.J.  L. 
Wharton,  R.N.,  C.B.,  F.R.S. 550 

Louis  Pasteur 550 

Notes      551 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Return  of  I'aye's  Comet 553 

Elemenls  and  Ephemeris  of  Comet  a,  1895  (Swifl)      .  553 

7  Virginis 553 

The    Third   International  Zoological   Congress   at 
Lcydcn 554 

The    International    Congress    of    Physiologists    at 
Bern.  I.      liy  F.  W.  Tunnicliffe •     .    .     555 

Forthcoming  Books  of  Science 556 

Geology  at  the  British  Association 55S 

Zoology  at  the  British  Association 561 

Geography  at  the   British  Association 563       I, 

University  and   Educational  Intelligence 564 

Societies  and  Academies 564 


NA  TURE 


565 


THURSDAY,    OCTOBER    10,  1895. 

UEBIG. 

Justus  I'on  Liebig :  his  Life  and  Work  (1809-73).  By 
W.  A.  Shenstone,  F.  I.C.  (London  :  Cassell  and  Co., 
Limited,  1895.) 

TO  those  who  hstened — it  is  now  twenty  years  ago — 
to  the  Faraday  Lecture  given  by  the  late  Prof. 
Hofmann  within  the  walls  of  the  Royal  Institution  to 
the  Fellows  of  the  Cheinical  Society  of  London,  or  to 
those  who  have  since  read  the  report  of  this  eloquent 
and  enthusiastic  discourse  in  the  Transactions  of  the 
Chemical  Society,  the  task  of  preparing  a  new  account 
of  the  life  and  labours  of  Liebig  would  appear  to  be  a 
veiy  difficult  one. 

But  to  say  merely  that  Mr.  Shenstone  has  succeeded 
in  this  difficult  task,  would  be  scarcely  to  do  justice  to 
his  admirable  little  volume,  which  has  evidently  been 
very  carefully  compiled,  and  which,  while  it  possesses 
literary  charm  of  its  own,  gives  a  clear  and,  a^  the  same 
time,  critical  summary  of  the  work  and  writings  of  the 
great  chemist,  which  makes  it,  for  popular  reading  at 
all  events, preferable  to  Hofmann's  brilliant  lecture.  Mr. 
Shenstone  is  evidently  a  master  of  exposition,  and  if  in 
reading  through  the  pages  of  his  book  the  scientific  man 
encounters  one  or  two  statements  or  e.xpressions  of  opinion 
with  which  he  cannot  agree,  he  will  be  ready  to  condone 
these  delinquencies  in  view  of  the  generally  excellent 
style  of  the  whole.  And  notwithstanding  the  remark  in 
the  preface,  that  the  object  has  been  "not  so  much  to 
dwell  upon  Liebig's  private  life  as  to  tell  what  he  was, 
what  he  did,  and  why  all  chemists  and  all  those  who 
are  versed  in  the  history  of  science  admire  and  esteem 
him  so  greatly,"  the  book,  as  a  biographical  sketch,  is 
superior  to  the  lecture.  .As  pointed  out  by  the  author, 
it  is  quite  true,  and  as  remarkable  as  it  is  true,  that  few 
people  nowadays,  even  among  students  of  chemistr)', 
know  much  about  Liebig's  scientific  work  and  his  services 
to  the  great  departments  of  applied  chemistr)'  in  physi- 
ology, medicine,  and  agriculture.  Liebig's  extract  of 
meat,  Liebig's  potash  bulbs,  and  Liebig's  condenser  are 
the  only  things  which  a  present-day  student  can  usually 
recall  if  asked  to  give  an  account  of  Liebig's  work,  and 
these  he  seems  generally  to  regard  as  trivial  inventions 
deserving  of  little  remark.  Liebig's  life,  cut  short,  as 
one  would  say  in  these  days  of  general  longevity,  at  the 
early  age  of  threescore  years  and  ten,  was  full  of  activity. 
The  Royal  Society  Catalogue  of  Scientific  Papers  gives  a 
list  of  upwards  of  three  hundred  papers  published  by  him, 
of  which  some  five-and-twenty  were  issued  under  joint 
authorship  with  Wohler,  his  life-long  friend  and  associate. 
And  the  Annalen,  which  to  this  day  are  familiarly  re- 
ferred to  as  "  Liebig's,"  contain  in  the  first  165  volumes 
issued  during  his  lifetime  all  the  long  array  of  memoirs 
which  embody  the  results  of  the  researches  of  the  master 
and  his  pupils. 

Up  to  the  age  of  sixteen,  little  promise  of  future 
greatness  was  given  by  the  restless  boy,  at  once  "  the 
plague  of  his  teachers  and  the  sorrow  of  his  parents," 
as  he  was  told  by  the  Rector  of  the  Gymnasium.  This 
period  of  his  life,  marked  chiefly  by  conflict  with  his 
schoolmasters,  reminds  one  of  Darwin's  early  days  at 
NO.    1354,  VOL.  52] 


Shrewsbury.  And  examples  of  this  kind,  of  which  many 
are  now  well  known,  fill  one  with  wonder  that  the  school- 
master docs  not  yet  recognise  the  need  for  greater  elasticity 
in  the  prevalent  system  of  education. 

The  ideal  schoolboy  is  an  orderly  machine,  always 
obedient,  receptive,  submissive,  ready  in  the  cricket-field, 
and  with  real  or  simulated  enthusiasm  for  football,  de- 
spising all  other  games,  and  conservative  to  the  backbone. 
He  is  the  darling  of  the  master,  who  sends  him  home 
with  glowing  reports  and  arms-full  of  prize-books.  It 
seems  never  to  occur  to  any  one  that  there  may  be 
natures  to  which  the  classical  languages  and  history 
make  no  appeal,  who  have  not  the  gift  of  the  mathe- 
matician, and  who  do  not  even  care  to  play  at  cricket  or 
football.  If  such  appear  in  a  public  school  they  have  a 
bad  time  of  it,  dragging  out  their  miserable  days  at  the 
bottom  of  the  form,  regarded  as  fools  by  the  masters, 
and  as  mufl!s  by  the  boys.  -And  yet  among  these  school 
failures  there  may  be  Liebigs  or  Darwins,  or  at  any  rate 
there  may  be,  and  commonly  there  is,  the  material  out 
of  which  good  and  useful  citizens  are  made,  if  only  they 
had  a  chance  to  show  what  they  can  do. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  Germany  should  cherish  the 
memor>-  of  Liebig,  for  to  his  example  and  influence  she 
undoubtedly  owes  the  development  and  activity  of  her 
chemical  schools  ;  and  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  relative 
progress  made  by  the  chief  European  nations  in  this 
direction.  In  Liebig's  youth  the  supremacy  of  the 
English  and  French  chemists  was  unquestioned,  Berzelius 
alone  representing  the  science  in  Sweden.  It  was,  as 
Liebig  himself  says,  "a  wretched  time  for  chemistr)'  in 
Germany." 

Since  that  day'  things  have  greatly  changed,  the 
German  laboratories  have  outnumbered  those  of  England 
and  France  together,  and  their  output  of  scientific  results 
has  so  greatly  exceeded  the  achievements  of  all  other 
European  countries  as  to  have  formed  a  subject  of  not 
undeserved  reproach  to  the  rest  of  them. 

.-\t  the  present  time,  however,  things  are  not  so  bad, 
and  there  is  great  hope,  from  the  renewed  activity  of  the 
universities  and  technical  schools  in  France  and  in 
England,  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  Europe  and  in 
America  during  the  last  few  years,  that  these  other 
countries  will  in  future  contribute  their  full  share  to  the 
work  of  experimental  investigation  and  the  encourage- 
ment of  scientific  education  and  thought. 

It  would  be  scarcely  fair  to  the  author  of  this  "  Life  "  to 
make  any  attempt  to  epitomise  it,  short  and  compact  as 
it  is.  Those  who  are  interested  must  read  the  book,  and 
those  who  read  it  will  certainly  be  interested.  But  the 
estimate  formed  by  the  author  of  the  relative  value  and 
importance  of  the  several  kinds  of  service  rendered  by 
Liebig  to  the  world,  seems  to  be  scarcely  in  agreement  with 
that  which  is  more  generally  current  among  chemists 
and  physiologists.  First  in  importance  we  should  place 
Liebig's  work  in  the  domain  of  organic  chemistry. 
Having  shown  how  to  analyse  carbon  compounds,  he  led 
the  way  in  their  investigation,  and  by  the  introduction  of 
the  theory  of  compound  radicles  laid  the  whole  foundation 
of  modern  organic  chemistr)'.  Scarcely  second  in  im- 
portance was  the  establishment  of  the  system  of  practical 
teaching  in  the  laboratory  at  Giessen,  which  certainly  set 
an  example  soon  followed  by  all  the  universities  on  the 

B  B 


;66 


NA  TURE 


[October  io,  1895 


continent,  and  led  to  the  erection  of  laboratories  in  Eng- 
land, not  in  the  great  universities,  to  their  shame  be  it 
said,  but  at  such  places  as  University  College,  London, 
and  the  College  of  Chemistr>\ 

Liebig's  researches  in  connection  with  physiology  and 
agriculture  were  of  the  utmost  importance  in  their  day, 
but  chiefly  by  reason  of  the  stimulus  afforded  to 
inquir>' ;  for  while  the  whole,  or  nearly  the  whole,  of  his 
chemical  work  remains  as  firmly  established  as  ever,  the 
greater  part  of  his  physiological  theories  in  relation  to 
plant  nutrition,  to  fermentation,  and  to  animal  physiology, 
have  been  either  superseded  altogether,  or  so  modified  as 
to  be  no  longer  recognisable. 

The  author  will  probably  see  fit,  on  further  reflection, 
to  alter  some  of  the  views  expressed  in  his  own  remarks  ; 
but  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  Mr.  Shenstone 
has  made  a  contribution  to  the  "  Centur)'  Series  '"  which 
will,  we  venture  to  think,  be  by  no  means  the  least 
attractive  and  interesting  of  these  useful  little  volumes. 

W.  A.  T. 

THE   SELECTION   OF  HEALTH   RESORTS. 
Climates  and  Ballts  of  Great  Rritiiin.     \'ol.  i.     (London: 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.)  \ 

THIS  work  is  the  outcome  of  the  report  of  a  committee  i 
appointed  by  the    Royal    Medical  and  Chirurgical  | 
Society   of    London    for    the    purpose   of    investigating  | 
questions  of  importance  with  reference  to  the  climatology 
and  balneology  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

The  information  contained  in  the  volume- — which  deals 
with  the  climate  of  the  south  of  England  and  with  the 
chief  medicinal  springs  of  (".real  Hritain — may  be  sum- 
marised as  follows  : — 

(1)  Information  received  from  medical  practitioners  in 
the  districts  dealt  with. 

(2)  The  results  of  personal  investigations  by  members 
of  the  committee. 

(3)  The  analysis  of  published  vital  statistics  of  the 
localities  in  question. 

That  the  treatment  of  the  climatology  of  very  small 
areas  of  these  islands  is  a  difficult  and  comple.x  matter, 
is  a  fact  patent  to  every  one  ;  it  is  every  one's  experience, 
for  instance,  that  one  side  of  a  bay  or  headland,  owing 
to  its  exposure,  may  be  tonic  and  bracing,  whereas  the 
other  side,  owing  to  a  different  aspect,  or  to  protection 
by  high  cliffs  and  woodland,  may  be  warm  and  relaxing. 
But  since  meteorological  data  are  of  undouljtcd  value  in 
determining  the  suitability  of  an  area  for  the  residence 
of  those  suffering  from  various  diseases,  it  is  certain  that 
some  measure  of  the  utility  of  the  present  work  should  be 
gauged  from  the  detail  and  precision  of  these  data  ;  and 
the  book  will  be  found  lacking  in  this  respect.  Little 
blame  is  attachable,  however,  to  the  ccmlributors,  who 
have  in  the  majority  of  cases  made  the  most  of  their 
available  information  ;  the  fact  is,  we  have  not  yet  at 
hand  sufficient  data  to  enable  a  scientific  work  upon  the 
climatic  conditions  of  all  the  many  small  areas  here 
dealt  with  to  be  penned  ;  the  records  are  so  few,  that 
it  is  very  frequently  found  necessary  to  supplement  in- 
strumental observations  by  personal  impressions.  Thus 
wc  are  constantly  told  that  one  place  is  prolialily  colder 
than  another,  that  it  is  thought  to  have  more  mist  and 
moisture    in    the  atmosphere,  and   so  on  ;    and   one   so 

NO.    1351,    VOL.    52 


frequently  encounters  such  remarks  as  "  there  are  no 
climatic  records,  but  the  impression  is,"  &c.,  that  the 
conviction  is  more  and  more  borne  home  that  it  would 
have  been  well  if  the  committee  had  tirst  taken  some 
steps,  through  medical  men  and  others,  to  secure  more 
scientific  data  before  publishing  the  present  volume. 
With  rare  exceptions,  precise  meteorological  data  are 
confined  to  towns  and  their  immediate  neighbourhood  ; 
and  to  show  the  difficulty  with  which  the  committee  had 
to  contend  in  the  case  of  one  important  county  {i.e. 
Somerset),  it  is  sufficient  to  state  that  this  county  pos- 
sesses at  the  present  lime  only  one  station  of  the  Royal 
Meteorological  Society. 

Then,  again,  atmospheric  conditions  and  health  arc  so 
largely  the  outcome  of  geological  factors,  that  in  a  few 
instances  it  is  matter  for  regret  that  this  subject  is  not 
treated  with  a  little  more  fulness  :  and  in  such  a  work 
one  would  expect  to  find  some  observations  upon  the 
mean  height,  and  the  extent  of  variation  from  the  mean, 
in  the  ground-water  level,  knowing  as  we  do  the  im- 
portant bearing  whicli  this  has  upon  health  and  disease. 

So  far  as  the  information  relates  to  the  healthiness  of 
the  various  areas  treated  of,  and  their  suitability  for 
residence  by  patients  suflTering  from  various  diseases, 
much  will  be  found  of  real  value  ;  but  here  again  the 
contributors  have  had  to  face  great  difficulties— difficulties 
which  in  many  respects  are  practically  insurmountable  ; 
and  here  again  the  work  presents  some  shortcomings. 
In  making  deductions  from  vit.il  statistics,  it  would  have 
been  better  and  safer  to  have  done  so  from  as  many 
returns  as  possible,  and  not  to  have  rested  satisfied,  as 
in  so  many  instances,  with  the  actual  records  of  just  one 
brief  year ;  and  it  would,  moreover,  have  been  more 
serviceable  to  those  who  would  like  to  make  their  own 
deductions  as  to  the  relative  advantages  of  dilTeront 
areas,  if  instead  of  the  actual  number  of  deaths  being 
given,  the  rates  of  the  more  important  diseases  liad  been 
worked  out  for  each  locality.  .As  it  is,  it  would  be  a 
matter  of  no  small  labour  to  decide  which  of  the  many 
areas  dealt  with  stands  best  with  regard  to  relative 
immunity  from  any  particular  disease. 

In  the  reports  of  local  practitioners  there  is  occasion- 
ally some  evidence  of  the  touch  of  a  loving  hand,  the 
attractions  and  healthiness  of  the  part  being  enthusi- 
astically attested  to  ;  and  for  this  reason,  .tgain,  it  will  be 
no  easy  matter  to  conclude,  from  a  perusal  of  the  work, 
as  to  which  is  the  most  desirable  spot  to  select  ;  but  at 
least  one  is  not  likely  to  fix  upon  Dartmoor,  which  an 
informant  asserts  has  on  an  average  319  wet  days  in  the 
year.  Most  of  this  local  information,  however,  is  very 
fair  and  impartial,  and  the  conscientious  and  judicial 
manner  in  which  conclusions  are  drawn  by  the  different 
authors  from  the  information  at  their  hands  is  a  striking 
feature  of  the  work. 

The  committee  points  out  that  in  a  work  comprising 
information  of  many  sorts  and  from  many  sources,  it  is 
inevitable  that  a  certain  amount  of  error  must  have  crept 
in  ;  but  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  reader  will  discover 
scarcely  any  error  of  commission  ;  what  blemishes  the 
work  possesses  are  undoubtedly  on  the  score  of  omission. 
There  is  one  glaring  instance  of  contradiction  which  we 
have  noticed,  and  which  will  serve  to  present  a  good 
example,  to  the  lay  mind,  of  how  doctors  disagree.     On 


October  lo,  1895] 


NATURE 


567 


p.  38  uc  read,  "  The  influence  of  sea  air  in  causing 
ana'mia  is  apparent  on  many  parts  of  the  coast,"  and  on 
p.  47,  "  It  may  be  stated  that  the  infrequency  of  anxmia 
in  the  local  inhabitants  is  no  doubt  due  to  their  proximity 
to  the  Atlantic." 

To  instance  the  difficulty,  which  frequently  presents 
itself,  of  arriving  at  just  conclusions  from  the  statistical 
information  acquired  by  the  committee,  let  us  ask  our- 
selves what  inference  may  justly  be  drawn  when  the 
phthisis  rate  is  high  in  certain  health  resorts.  It  is  very 
properly  pointed  out  that  much  of  this  excess  is  doubtless 
due  to  phthisical  immigrants  to  a  spot  which  is  known 
to  be  congenial  to  phthisical  patients.  Quite  true  I  But 
if  we  cannot  ascertain  to  7vhal extent  \\\<i  rate  is  influenced 
by  phthisical  immigration,  how  is  one  to  know  whether 
the  local  conditions,  per  se,  are  favourable  or  not  to  the 
disease  in  question  ?  It  is  conceivable,  in  this  relation, 
that  certain  limited  areas  of  England  with  comparatively 
mild  and  equitable  cliniatcs  have  now  a  native  population 
strongly  predisposed  to  phthisis,  from  the  fact  that  their 
ancestors  were  originally  phthisical  immigrants  attracted 
to  the  spot  ;  so  that  even  if  it  were  practicable  that  the 
vital  statistics  of  visitors  could  be  separately  compiled, 
the  local  and  climatic  advantages  or  disadvantages  of 
the  area  in  respect  of  this  disease  could  never  be  put 
upon  a  scientific  basis  from  vital  returns  alone.  It  is 
well  known,  moreover,  that  deductions  drawn  from 
meteorological  data  on  the  score  of  the  suitability  of 
the  various  areas  for  the  residence  6f  those  suffering 
from  different  diseases,  must  be  made  with  many  reserva- 
tions, that  the  subject  does  not  admit  of  generalisations  ; 
for,  !/!ter  iilia,  the  suitability  of  the  climates  of  certain 
health  resorts  for  different  patients  is  governed  to  such 
an  extent  b\-  that  wonderful  personal  factor  that  makes 
the  same  spot  bracing  to  one  and  relaxing  to  another, 
benevolent  to  a  certain  disease  in  one  and  malignant  to 
that  disease  in  another,  that  frequently  the  individual 
can  only  arrive  at  the  conclusion  as  to  which  area  suits 
him  best  by  an  actual  personal  experiment.  And  thus 
it  comes  about  that  perhaps,  after  all,  the  surest  lines 
upon  which  a  physician  can  act,  are  in  the  main  em- 
pirical as  to  his  patient.  We  have  lived  long  enough 
in  these  islands  to  know  by  experience  which  are  the 
•warmest,  driest,  and  most  sheltered  spots,  which  are  the 
■dampest,  and  which  aie  the  most  bracing  and  relaxing, 
and  it  is  quite  a  question  whether  meteorological  data 
Avill  help  the  physician  much  farther.  He  will  generally 
select  for  his  patient  what  has  been  proved  by  the  ex- 
perience of  many  generations  to  be  a  congenial  site,  and 
nothing  short  of  a  cautious  experiment  with  the  patient 
himself  will  suffice  to  tell  him  which  of  several  alternative 
sites  suits  his  patient  best  ;  but  to  this  end  the  experiences 
and  views  of  other  practicising  physicians  would  be  of 
immense  value,  and  one  is  templed  to  ask  whether  a 
work  embodying  and  summarising  as  many  as  possible 
of  these  experiences  would  not  serve  e\  en  a  more  useful 
purpose  than  the  first  500  pages  of  this  book. 

The  chapters  dealing  with  the  medicinal  waters  of  (/reat 
Britain  are  well  written,  useful,  concise  and  impartial. 

The  committee  hopes  to  deal  in  a  further  report  with 
the  climatology  of  the  remaining  districts,  and  with  those 
mineral  springs  which  are  not  included  in  the  present 
'lolume. 

NO.    T354.  VOL     52] 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 


Par 


Abrci^i'  tie  la   Theorie  lies  Fonctions  Elliptiques. 
Charles  Henry.     124  pp.     (Paris  :  Nony,  1895.) 

An  introductory  course  of  elliptic  functions,  intended  for 
those  who  have  a  fair  acquaintance  with  integral  calculus, 
should  consist  of  three  stages.  In  the  first  stage  the 
subject  would  be  approached  as  a  development  of  integral 
calculus,  the  addition  theorem  and  periodicity  obtained, 
and  a  large  number  of  applications  made  to  problems 
whose  solutions  can  be  expressed  in  the  notation  of 
elliptic  functions.  Difficulties  of  the  multiple  interpreta- 
tion of  the  square  roots  of  variable  functions  would  be 
pointed  out,  and  left.  In  the  second  stage  an  elementary 
introduction  to  the  modern  descriptive  theory  of  functions 
of  a  complex  variable  would  be  furnished,  containing  a 
fairly  full  account  of  the  theory  of  doubly  periodic 
functions,  illustrated  at  every  stage  by  examples  from  the 
functions  whose  existence  has  been  foreshadowed  in  the 
first  stage.  The  third  stage  would  be  a  systematic  de- 
velopment of  the  elliptic  functions,  with  the  help  of  the 
elementary  theory  of  functions,  finishing,  not  beginning, 
with  the  differential  etiuation  and  the  applications  to  in- 
tegral calculus.  Such  a  course  would  require  at  least 
twenty-fi\e  hour-lectures,  and  the  unfamiliar  character  of 
the  second  and  third  stages  would  make  a  careful  revision 
necessary. 

The  present  little  volume  is  concerned  with  the  third 
stage  ;  on  the  whole,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  is  the 
most  suitable  handbook  which  has  yet  appeared  for  the 
use  of  teachers  engaged  in  such  a  course  as  sketched 
above.  The  eUiptic  functions  are  obtained  by  the  infinite 
double  series  iox  p{it)  ;  and  certainly  the  idea  is  the  right 
one,  though  it  is  easier  to  begin  with  the  series  for /'(//). 
The  differential  equation  is  hence  obtained,  and  the 
foUowing  chapter  attempts  to  establish  the  functions 
on  that  basis.  It  seems  preferable  that  this  should  be 
postponed,  and  treated  only  by  Riemann's  methods. 
Chapters  iii.  and  iv.  introduce  the  functions  f  k  and  <ru, 
as  is  quite  proper  ;  but  it  would  seem  much  better  that 
the  addition  equation,  obtained  in  chapter  v.,  should  be 
obtained  independently  of  the  o-  functions,  and  by  Abel's 
method,  with  the  help  of  a  plane  cubic  curve.  The 
functions  c7-,(//),  <tJii),  (rA"),  are  then  obtained,  and  hence 
it  is  proved  that  the  functions  s!pu-ey,  .  .  .  arc  single- 
valued  functions  of  //.  It  is  a  distinct  step  in  the  right 
direction  to  make  the  statement  that  these  functions 
■Jpii-ei,.  .  .  are  single-valued;  but  the  fact  ought  to 
be  obtained  before,  and  independently  of,  the  investi- 
gation of  their  actual  values.  The  same  remark  holds  in 
regard  to  the  functions  en  k,  dn  u  ;  if  x—sn  u,  it  ought 
to  be  shown  that  J  i  —x-  is  single-valued  before  its 
actual  value  is  obtained,  and  the  remark  emphasised  by 
proving  that  such  a  function  as  ^/(i  —sni/)(i  -i-sni/)  is 
equally  a  sing^le-\alued  function  of  //.  The  fact,  which 
is  obtained,  that  all  doubly  periodic  functions  are 
rationally  expressible  by  /  u  and  /' ;/,  ought  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  fact  that  all  doubly  periodic  functions  are 
rationallv  expressible  by  s/i  it  and  en  it  tin  11 ;  and  it  ought 
to  be  clearly  seen  that  when  we  are  dealing  with  Jacobi's 
functions,  en  u  is  no  more  a  function  of  the  same  kind  as 
sn  u  than  is  .Jpu  -  c,  of  the  same  kind  as  /  it  when  we 
are  dealing  with  Weicrstrass's  functions.  In  these  two 
cases  respectively,  (v; // and  -Jpu-e^  arc  factoriiii  {\mc- 
tions,  which  ought  to  be  carefully  distinguished  from 
the  two  fundamental  functions  whereby  the  algebraical 
irrationality  under  consideration  is  resolved. 

With  these  criticisms,  and  the  remark  that  the  accounts 
of  the  transformation  and  of  Jacobi's  6  functions  are  not 
so  full  as  one  desires,  we  may  conclude,  strongly  recom- 
mending all  who  desire  a  useful  class  book,  to  which, 
however,  many  explanations  and  illustrative  examples 
must  be  supplied,  to  adopt  the  book.  H.  F.  B.\Ki:R. 


568 


NA  TURE 


[October  io,  1895 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

[  The  Editor  dots  not  hold  hinndf  responsible  for  opinions  ex- 
pressed by  his  correspondents.  Neither  can  he  undertaie 
to  return,  or  to  corresportd  with  the  writers  of,  rejected 
manuscripts  intended  for  this  or  any  other  part  of  NATURE. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.'^ 

Clausius'  Virial  Theorem. 

The  question  raised  by  Colonel  Base\-i,  in  Nature  for  August 
J9,  illustrates  the  importance  of  keeping  in  riew  a  clear  state- 
ment of  what  a  general  theorem  such  as  that  of  Clausius  with 
lres])ect  to  the  viria!  asserts,  and  the  essential  relativity  of  the 
forces  which  are  regarded  as  acting  on  the  particles,  and  of  the 
kinetic  energy  of  the  system.  The  theorem  asserts,  I  think, 
that  if  the  motion  of  the  system  of  jiarticles  be  continued  over 
any  inter\al  of  time,  /,,  the  excess  of  the  mean  value  of  the 
kinetic  energy  of  the  s)-stem  for  that  interval  of  time  over  the 
virial  for  the  same  interval  is  equal  to  the  excess  of  the  value  of 

_L5/«^[£li  at  the  end  of  the  interval  over  its  value  at  the  be- 
4/,         di 

ginning,  p  being  the  distance  of  a  specimen  panicle  from  the 
origin  and  m  its  mass,  and  the  summation  being  extended  over 
all  the  particles  of  the  system. 

It  may  be  noticed  here  that  the  mean  value  of  the  kinetic 
energy  of  a  system  for  an  interval  of  time  /,  is  equal  to  the 
action  of  the  system  for  that  interval  taken  per  unit  of  the  time 
in  the  interval. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  theorem  is  true,  and  will  be 
verified  by  any  lest  case  to  which  it  can  \x  applied.  The  i)roof 
given  by  Clausius  himself  is  perhaps  the  simplest,  but  the  follow- 
ing mode  of  arriving  at  the  theorem  is  instructive  in  some  ways. 
Refer  the  jjarticles  to  a  system  of  rectangular  axes  in  the  ordinary 
way,  and  adopt  the  fluxional  notation  for  velocities  and  accelera- 
tions. Thus  taking  a  specimen  [article,  which  is  at  the  point 
X,  Y,  :,  at  time  /,  regarding,  as  we  arc  at  liberty  to  do,  the 
velocities  x,  y,  I,  as  functions  of  the  position  of  the  particle  in 
the  motion,  we  have 

V  dx      -"dy        dzj 

and  two  other  equations  for  V,  Z,  which  can  be  written  down 
from  this  by  symmetry.  Multiplying  these  equations  by  x,  y,  z 
respectively,  adding,  and  rearranging,  we  easily  find 

'"(r-  +  r"  +  i-yt  =  -  i(xx  +  \y  +  zAdt 

+  ^d(xS+yy  +  =:y 

Integrated  from  /  =  o  to  t  =  1^,  and  extended  to  all  the 
particles,  this  gives 

i5/H  r'(.*5  +f  +  -'')<''  =  -  i^('\'^-f  +  Vj'  +  Z:)dt 

+  ir2;«(j:i:  +  yy  +  ;J)"|''. 

The  expression  on  the  left  [which  may  be  written 

T.m{[idx  +ydy  +  irfs)] 

is  nowhere  asserted,  so  far  as  I  know,  to  be  kinetic  energy,  but 
is  the  lime-integral  of  the  kinetic  energy  (that  is  the  action  of  the 
system)  for  the  time-interval  /,.  Dividing  both  sides  by  /,  we 
get  the  theorem  as  stated  above,  namely 

where  T  denotes  the  kinetic  energy  of  the  system  at  the  in- 
Mant  /. 

It  is  clear  that  if  /,  Ix-  taken  very  great,  and  the  velocity  and 
the  cli.itancc  of  each   particle   from   the   origin  be  always  finite, 

ihi   ' •  'he  left  is  neither  Infinite  nor  M;ro,  while  the  last  term 

oti  comes    v;inishin(;ly  small.     Tnis  Is  Clausius'  case 

lit  TV  motion,"  in  which  it  Is  justifiable  to  write 

NO.   1354.  VOL.   52] 


The  expression  on  the  right  is  the  viria/,  and  is  in  the  circum- 
stances stated  undoubtedly  equal  to  the  time  average  or  mean 
value  of  the  kinetic  energy,  as  the  equation  asserts. 

If  R  l)e  the  force  acting  on  a  |\arlicle  In  the  direction  tiKvards 
the  origin  along  the  line  joining  the  origin  w  ith  the  particle,  and 
p  the  distance  of  the  larticlc  from  the  origin,  we  have 

Xj  +  Yy  +'/.:■=  -  Rp, 

and  the  theorem  for  stationary  motion  may  be  stated  thus. 

Mean  value  of  T  =  mean  value  of  ^SRp, 

where  the  summation  takes  in  each  particle  once,  and onuvonry; 

Let  us  apply  this  to  the  case  taken  by  Lord  Kayleigh,  and 
alleged  by  Colonel  Basevi  to  contradict  the  theory,  of  !«■> 
particles  each  of  mass  m,  at  a  distance  ajMrt  r(  =  2p),  revolving 
round  their  common  centre  of  gravity.  Here,  taking  the  origin 
at  the  common  centre  of  gravity,  we  have  constant  values  of  the 
virial  and  of  T,  namely  i2Rp  =  Rp  and  T  =  ;«\ -.  Thus, 
«;V-/p  =  R.  which,  as  Lord  Rayleigh  remarks,  agrees  with  the 
law  of  centrifugal  force. 

If  we  lake  the  motion  relatively  to  one  of  the  two  i5articles 
regarded  as  at  rest,  we  ijel  the  same  result.  The  relative  velo- 
city of  the  other  jmrticle  becomes  2\',  and  the  corresponding 
kinetic  energy  2m\'-,  the  distance  of  the  origin  from  the  other 
particle  2p,  and  from  itself  zero.  Since  the  acceleration  of  the 
moving  |>arllcle  relatively  to  the  i>artlcle  now  supposed  reduced 
It)  rest,  Is  double  Its  acceleration  relatively  to  the  common  centre 
of  gravity,  the  force  now^  considered  as  acting  on  the  moving 
particle  must  be  taken  as  2R.  Thus  we  have2///V-  =  A2R  x  2p, 
or  as  before,  m\"'lp  =  R. 

If  we  do  not  suppose  the  origin  10  coincide  with  one  of  the 
|Xirliclcs  reduced  to  rest  In  this  manner,  but  to  coincide  for  the 
moment  with  ihe  position  of  one  of  the  particles,  the  velocity  of 
each  parllcle  is  V,  the  force  towards  the  origin  on  that  distant 
from  it  r  is  R,  and  we  have  T  =  ///\'-,  i5Rp  =  fiKr,  since  now 
p  -  r.     Hence  once  more  m\'-/p  =  R. 

Similarly,  any  other  origin  and  axes  of  reference  would  give 
the  same  result.  Colonel  Bascvl  has.  It  seems  to  me,  overlooked 
the  fact  that  In  the  theorem  it  Is  the  forces  acting  on  e.ach 
l)article  relatively  to  the  assumed  axes,  and  the  corresponding 
motions  that  must  be  taken  into  account,  and  that  In  the  case  of 
a  system  of  ijarticlcs  between  which  exist  forces  of  mutual 
attraction,  the  stress  between  a  given  pair  can  only  enter  once 
into  the  value  of  i2Rr.  -V.    CiKAV. 

Bangor,  September  i. 

I  THINK  the  fort  will  not  surrender  at  Colonel  Basevl's 
summons.     We  have 


df  dx\  d'x^     ./'«'■'■  V. 

"'dt[-'-dt)  =  "''dt^'-"\dt)    ' 

and  if  we  put  .v  =  u  and  -^  =  v,  this  may  be  written 

d,      .  dv    ,         du 

"'rf/""'  = '""7/  +  ""',// 
and 

if   you  please  so    to  write    it.      This   corresponds    to    Colonel  1 
Bascvi's  equation,  except  that  I  have  written  v  for  his  .v. 

But  now  m  frdu,  or  m  jv  "dl,  docs  represent  kinetic  energy.. 

And   -  ///  /  'udv  or  -  /«  /   a      V/    Is    the    virial.     The  equation 

J  »  J  i>   dt- 

shows  that  if  for  a  certain  lime  /,  the  right-hand  member, 
vanishes,  then  on  the  average  of  that  lime  /,  the  two  terms  on 
Ihe  righ'.  are  eijual  and  opposite. 

The  form  2K/-  Is  a  rather  slippery  one.  If  In  the  example 
which  Cohmel  Basevi  cpiotes  from  Lord  Rayleigh,  you  put 
X.V  +  \y  for  R;-,  it  comes  out  easily,  l-or  we  may  take  for 
origin  the  centre  of  the  circle  of  radius  p.     Then 

X  =  •-/  V  =-1' /•■""'  ^'^  +  ^>=/P- 
P  P 

And  therefore 

2jwz"  =  ii»ifp, 
or 


f- 


S.   11.   BURUUKV. 


October  io,  1895J 


NA  TURE 


569 


Colonel  Basevi's  criticisms  of  Clausius'  virial  theorem  are 
not  justifiable. 

In  the  first  place,  the  left-hand  side  of  his  equation  at  the  foot 
of  p.  413  should  be  ux  -  [h-i](  ,  o.  since  the  latter  term  is  not 
necessarily  zero  even  for  periodic  motion  ;  e.g.  it  equals  I  if 
v  =  exp.  (sin  t). 

In  the  next  place,  though  this  difference'  obviously  vanishes 
for  periodic  motion  when  the  "suitable  value  given  to  t"  is  a 
multiple  of  the   period,  yet  for  this  same  value  of  /  the  areas 

/  uci.x  and    /  .xdu  will  not  vanish  ;  indeed  for  no  value  of  /  can 

the  former  vanish,  as  it  represents  /  (dxjdtfdl,  which  is  the  sum 
of  essentially  positive  quantities.  Hence  we  can  have  but 
/  tui.x  =  -    I  xdu  when  xit  =  [xit].  =  q. 

Thirdly,  though  in  the  case  of  stationary  motion  the  areas  /  tidx 

and   —  /  xdu  may  not  be  exactly  equal  for  any  value  of  /,  yet 

4heir  difl'erence  can  only  fluctuate  within  certain  narrow  limits, 
so  that  when  multiplied  by  111I21  it  becomes  vanishingly  small  if 
•/  is  large  enough,  which  is  all  that  Clausius  asserts. 

Fourthly,  Clausius  does  not  take  m  j  udx  to  rep  esent  kinetic 

■energ}',  but  this  expression  divided  by  2/. 

Fifthly,  the  fact  is  overlooked  that  R  refers,  not  to  single 
particles,  but  to  fiai'rs  of  particles  ;  so  that  in  Lord  Rayleigh's 
case,  JSRr  =  AR/",  and  not  Kr,  as  asserted,  there  being  only 
one  pair  of  particles  in  question,  and  the  virial  equation  does 
therefore  give  R  =  wz'-/p,  the  ordinary  law  of  force  for  uniform 
circular  motion. 

Lastly,  there  is  no  ground  whatever  for  taking  3\>  and  42Rr 
as  equal  terms,  there  being  absolutely  no  connection  between 
them  except  that  both  represent  energy  ;  indeed,  by  this  assump- 
tion Colonel  Basevi  obtains  a  formula  w  hich  gives  for  the  pressure 
in  an  ideal  gas  only  half  its  proper  value. 

Christ  Church,  Oxford.  Robert  E.  Bavnes. 


Mutton's  "Theory  of  the   Earth." 

It  is  to  be  doubted  whether  any  work,  with  the  exception  of 
LyelTs  "  Trinciples,"  has  had  a  more  important  influence  on  the 
science  of  geology  than  Hutton's  "Theory  of  the  Earth,"  in 
which  for  the  first  time  the  true  mode  of  studying  the  science 
was  set  forth  and  its  fundamental  facts  outlined. 

The  theory  w-as  first  iiropounded  in  a  paper  of  some  ninety- 
five  pages,  written  in  1705,  which  appeared  in  1788  in  the  first 
vohmie  of  the  Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh, 
and  was  at  once  attacked  by  a  number  of  hostile  critics. 

Ten  years  later,  in  1795,  it  was  republished  in  Edinburgh, 
greatly  extended,  and  including  the  results  of  much  additional 
work,  in  two  good-sized  octavo  volumes.  These  included  the 
substance  of  a  number  of  papers  published  by  Hutton  after  the 
appearance  of  the  first  outline,  ;is  well  as  answers  to  his  various 
critics,  and  is  the  work  \Vhich  has  become  a  classic  in  the  science. 

The  work,  however,  in  its  published  form  is  evidently  incom- 
plete, for  on  the  title-page  it  is  stated  to  consist  of  four  parts, 
and,  in  the  table  of  contents,  volume  i.  is  called  part  i.  and 
volume  ii.  part  ii.  Volume  ii.,  furthermore,  concludes  abruptly 
vith  the  following  words  :  "  Therefore  in  pursuing  this  object, 
I  am  next  to  examine  facts,  with  regard  to  the  mineral  part  of  the 
theory.  .  .  and  endeavour  to  answer  objections  or  solve  difticulties 
which  may  naturally  occur  from  the  consideration  of  particular 
appearances.'' 

Parts  iii.  and  iv.,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  if  written,  were 
never  published.  In  the  library  of  the  (Jeological  Society  of 
London,  however,  there  is  a  manuscript  of  Hutton's  which  is 
apparently  a  portion  of  one  or  other  of  these  parts.  It  is  bound 
in  book  form,  and  was  presented  to  the  library  by  Leonhard 
Horner,  Esq.,  and  in  a  note  by  that  gentleman,  presenting  it  to 
the  Society,  it  is  stated  to  be  one  of  a  series,  and  to  have  been 
given  by  Dr.  Playfair,  the  populariser  of  Hutton's  work,  to 
Lord  Webb  Seymour,  and  on  the  death  of  this  nobleman  to 
have  passed  to  the  Duke  of  .Somerset,  who  gave  it  to  Mr. 
Horner.  It  bears  no  title,  and  consists  of  six  chapters 
•lumbered    from   iv.    to   ix. ,   and    was   evidently  continued    in 

NO.    1354,  VOL.   52] 


another  manuscript,  as  the  last  page,  forming  the  conclusion  of 
chapter  ix.,  bears  the  words  "  chapter  x."  at  (he  lower  comer. 

The  manuscript  treats  chiefly  of  a  subject  the  investigation  of 
which  has  been  so  prolific  of  results  in  recent  years,  namely 
granite  contacts,  and  especially  the  contact  of  granite  masses 
with  "schistus."  He  shows  that  the  granite  was  not  a 
"  primitive  "  rock  on  which  the  schist  was  deposited,  but  that  it 
was  intruded  through  the  latter  in  a  molten  condition,  and  holds 
that  it  was  the  agent  by  which  mountain-chains  were  upheaved, 
sup|mrting  his  pro|X)sition  by  a  description  of  the  relations  of 
these  rocks  in  various  |)arts  of  .Scotland  and  elsewhere,  among 
them  the  Island  of  Arran.  To  the  description  of  this  last- 
mentioned  locality  a  whole  chapter  is  devoted,  in  which  the  true 
nature  of  the  pitch-stones  is  also  set  forth,  and  the  derivation  of 
the  felsites  from  them  by  a  process  of  dentrification  is  recognised. 

It  is  merely  desired  in  the  present  letter  to  draw  attention  to 
the  fact  that  at  least  some  other  volumes  of  this  manuscript  are 
extant,  and  to  urge  upon  those  who  may  know  where  they 
might  be  sought,  or  who  may  by  chance  come  ujwn  them,  the 
importance  of  preserving  them,  and  of  placing  them,  if  not  in 
the  Ceological  Society's  library  with  the  fragment  above  referred 
to,  at  least  in  some  library  where  they  may  be  at  once  secure  and 
available  for  use. 

The  book  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  which  has  appeared 
in  the  history  of  geological  science,  and  all  who  are  interested  in 
the  science  must  desire  to  see  it  secured  and  preserved  in  its 
completed  form.  Fr.\.nk  U.  Ad.\ms. 

McGill  University,  Montreal. 


Abnormal  Atlantic  Waves. 

It  happens  that  I  have  only  quite  lately  seen  a  letter  on  this 
subject  in  Natire  of  March  7,  from  Mr.  E.  C.  Stromeyer  of 
Glasgow.  It  may  perhaps  be  of  interest  to  some  of  your 
readers  to  learn  that  on  January  6,  1891,  and  about  4  p.m., 
the  people  of  F'unchal,  the  chief  town  of  Madeira,  and  situate 
on  the  south  coast  (lat.  32°  37'  45"  N.,  long.  16°  55' 20"  W.) 
were  astonished  by  the  arrival  of  a  great  wave  which  burst  with 
\tolence  on  the  shore,  coming  seemingly  from  the  S.  E.  or 
E.S.  F;.  The  sea  had  been  calm  previously,  and  the  wind  was 
light.  At  Machico,  a  village  some  fifteen  miles  to  the  east  of 
Funchal,  a  similar  phenomenon  took  place  contemporaneously, 
and  also  al  Camara  de  Lobos,  a  village  about  six  miles  to  the 
west.  At  the  latter  place,  where  there  is  a  small  Uiy  amongst 
the  rocks,  there  were  three  risings  of  the  sea,  one  much  higher 
than  the  others.  The  bottom  of  the  bay  was  laid  bare,  and 
fishes  were  seen  struggling  in  the  mud.  The  boats  lying  on  the 
beach  were  more  or  less  damaged,  but  I  did  not  hear  that  other 
property  was  injured. 

Two  electric  cables  belonging  to  the  Brazilian  Submarine 
Telegraph  Company  connect  Funchal  with  Lisbon.  Now,  it  is 
worth  noting  that  early  on  the  morning  .after  the  iKcurrence  of 
the  great  wave,  when  the  Company's  oflicials  stationed  at 
Funchal  went  as  usual  to  test  the  cables,  one  of  Ihem  was  found 
to  be  broken  in  deep  water  at  a  distance  of  seventeen  or 
eighteen  miles  to  the  .south  of  Madeira,  whilst  the  other  cable 
w.as  in  good  working  order.  It  is  an  unsolved  tjuestion  whether 
the  same  cause  that  produced  the  great  wave  had  also  broken 
the  cable,  or  whether  the  two  events  were  simply  coincident  but 
due  to  independent  causes. 

Slight  shocks  of  earthquake  are  felt  at  distant  intervals  at 
Madeira,  but  no  seismic  disturbance  was  noticed  near  the  date 
of  the  great  wave. 

-As  the  wave  came  from  the  southwards,  I  asked  a  friend  to 
make  inquiry  at  Tenerife  whether  anything  of  the  sort  had  been 
experienced  there.  The  reply  was  that  nothing  extraordinary 
had  occurred  on  January  6  at  Santa  Cruz  on  the  south  coast  of 
that  island.  At  Puerto  Orotava,  on  the  north  coa.st,  there  was 
bright  weather  at  the  time,  with  light  winds,  and  no  wave  had 
occurred,  nor  had  any  earthquake  been  felt. 

James  Vate  Johnson. 

F'unchal,  Madeira,  September  17. 


Leaf-absorption. 

A  i-EW  weeks  ago  I  threw  some  cuttings  of  the  common 
Privet  (Ligiistnim  vulgare)  on  the  borders  in  the  garden.  Of 
these  cuttings  some  perished,  while  the  remainder  were  drawn 
into  the  soil  by  the  worms,  some  with  the  cut  end  downwards, 
some  only  by  a  single  leaf,  leaving  all  the  rest  of  the  cutting  en 


3/' 


XATL'RE 


[OtTOISEK    lO.    iJS95 


pUiit  air.  These  latter  are,  at  the  end  of  this  time,  all  as  fresh 
and  healthily  green  as  they  were  at  the  moment  of  cutting  ofl" 
the  parent  plant,  notwithstiinding  the  ver)-  hot  weather  we  have 
recently  experienced.  It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  a  clear  proof 
that  the  riVc  of  leaves  is  to  aisorb  as  well  as  evaporate,  a  point 
on  which  much  doubt  has  often  been  expressed.  G.  Pal'i.. 
Harrogate,  September  29. 

It  has  been  proved  over  and  over  again,  and  it  is  easy  to 
prove,  that  the  leaves  of  some  plants,  though  probably  not  of 
all,  are  capable,  under  certain  conditions — usually  abnormal 
conditions — of  absorbing  aqueous  vapour  or  fluid  water  :  but 
this  action  can  hardly  be  regarded  as  a  function,  though  I  am 
not  prepared  to  say  that  absorption  of  moisture  by  leaves  is  in 
no  case  a  part  of  the  every-day  life  of  a  plant.  The  return  to 
tuigidity  of  the  leaves  of  a  plant  during  the  night  is.  however, 
in  a  general  way,  due,  doubt'.ess,  to  reduced  transpiration, 
rather  than  absorption  from  the  atmosphere.  Yet  in  the 
absence  of  a  counteracting  current  of  water  from  the  roots,  the 
leaves  of  some  plants,  especially  of  those  inhabiting  almost 
rainless  regions,  but  where  the  air  sometimes  re;iches  almost 
complete  saturation,  absorb  moisture.  .\t  least,  so  it  is  asserted. 
With  regard  to  absorption  by  detached  leaves,  or  by  leaves  of 
detached  branches,  the  development  of  the  action  depends,  apart 
from  other  circumstances,  on  the  amount  of  vital  energy  left  ; 
and  this  is  determined,  to  a  great  extent,  by  age.  The  common 
Privet  is  a  shrub  of  extraordinary  vitality,  rare  in  our  native 
vegetation.  I  hardly  need  add  that  proof  of  leaves  being  able 
to  absorb  water  may  be  had  by  inserting  withered  leaves  in 
water  by  their  upper  halves,  leaving  the  stalk  out.  If  not  loo 
old,  or  too  much  dried,  the  whole  leaves  will  r^ain  tui^dily, 
though  the  process  may  be  a  slow  one. 

\V.  BoTTiNr,  Memsi.ev. 

Tertiary  Fossil  Ants  in  the  Isle  of  ^Vight. 

In  a  paper  published  in  Xaiike  for  .\ugust  22,  p.  399,  by 
Prof.  C.  Emery,  on  ' '  The  Origin  of  lCuro|wan  and  North 
.Vmerican  Ants,''  the  author  states  that  "  the  Sicilian  amber  of 
Miocene  age  contains  genera  which  belong  to  the  actual  Indian 
and  .Australian  fauna,  while  the  Baltic  amber  contains  the 
genera  Kormica,  Lxsius,  and  Myrmica."  In  the  Bembridge 
limestone  in  the  Isle  of  Wight,  of  Kocene  .tge,  the  same  as  the 
Baltic  amber,  the  following  genera  occur  :  Formica,  Myrmica, 
and  Camponotus,  and  some  others  not  yet  described.  In  my 
collection  there  are  a  large  number  of  these  Mymenoptera, 
generally  well  preserved,  and  seem  to  he  more  numerous  than 
any  of  the  other  insects  from  the  same  beds.  It  is  only  of  late 
years  thai  any  number  of  insects  have  l>een  met  with  in  the 
British  tertiaric-s,  and  it  is  well  to  record  the  two  genera  referred 
10  Formica  and  Myrmica,  being  found  both  in  the  Baltic  amber 
and  Bembridge  limestone.  ,\mong  the  numerous  fossil  insects 
in  my  possession  from  the  Lias,  no  trace  of  any  ants  has  been 
observed,  and  it  seems  that  they  did  not  come  into  existence 
until  the  later  Tertiary  epoch.  P.  B.  Broiiie. 


THE  NORMAL  SCHOOL  A  T  I'AKL^. 

T  N  connection  with  the  celebrations  of  the  centenary  of 
■*•  the  foundation  of  the  Ecole  Normale  in  I'aris,  referred 
to  at  the  time  in  these  columns  (vol.  11.  p.  613),  a  pon- 
derous tome  has  bctn  published  '  containing  the  com- 
plete history  of  the  school,  and  details  concerning;  the 
most  renowned  of  its  alumni.  Opportunity  is  thus 
afforded  of  giving  a  sketch  of  the  development  of  a 
s'  '  ■  '  Ii  has  played  an  important  part  in  the  history 
"I  for  nearly  a  century,  and  which  has  been  the 

ti  "f  many  of  the  most  distinguished  Pro- 

■  .1.. orate  article  in  the  volume  is  a  detailed 
•'  I.  I'.iul  iJupuy,  on  "  L'Kcolc  Normale  dc  I'an 

' '  ■    article   has   furnished  the  particulars  with 

f  the  early  history  of  trie  school  given  in  this 

■n  the  Con\intion  of  the  9th  Itruniairc,  .An.   III. 
"  r  30,  1794  . :  I     r.l  (he  decree  to  which  the  N'urm.i] 

'  •■  l,r  Onlcniuf  male."    (Parii :  Hocbeli 

NO.    I35.I,    ^..i,.    52] 


School  owes  its  foundation,  it  realised  an  idea  which  had 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  University  and  Parliament 
for  many  years.  So  far  back  as  1645  the  University  of 
Paris  considered  a  proposal  by  the  rector,  Dumonstier,  to 
provide  the  means  for  the  education  of  teachers  and 
principals.  After  the  expulsion  of  the  Jesuits  in  1761,  the 
Parliament  of  Paris  began  to  carry  out  the  idea  by  insti- 
tuting fellowships  and  uniting  at  I.ouis-le-Grand  the 
scholars  of  the  small  colleges  of  the  University.  .\t  the 
time  when  Parliament  was  taking  these  steps,  Barletli  de 
Saint-Paul  was  forming  a  training  school  for  teachers,  in 
which  his  principles  of  personal  pedagogy  were  taught  ; 
and  Bernardin  de  -Saint-Pierre  pleaded  for  a  college  of 
instruction.  "J'admire  avec  etonnenient,"  he  wrote  in 
17S9,  "que  tous  les  arts  ont  parmi  nous  leurapprentissage, 
e.xcepte  le  plus  difficile  de  tous,  celui  de  former  les 
hommes."  To  the  influence  which  these  educational  ic- 
fomiers  had  in  bringing  the  matter  before  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  Revolution  must  be  added  the  impulse 
derived  from  ("icrinany,  through  .Msace.  .\lsace  was 
then  the  only  province  of  France  able  tofuniish  ideas  and 
models  for  popular  instruction.  It  had  been  touched  by 
the  great  pedagogic  movement  in  Germany,  and  its  great 
influence  upon  the  three  Revolutionary  .Assemblies  makes 
it  prominent  in  the  historv-  of  the  Normal  School. 

Practically  every  part  of  the  educational  system  of 
France  owes  its  development  to  the  Republic.  The 
Committee  of  Public  Welfare  early  concerned  itself 
with  the  question  of  national  education,  and  Com- 
missions were  appointed  to  report  upon  the  best 
means  for  developing  an  educational  system.  In 
1793  a  plan  was  put  forward  to  establish  normal 
schools  for  the  training  of  teachers.  .Nothing  definite 
was  formulated,  however,  with  reference  to  the  Normal 
School  until  September  1794,  when  the  Committee  of 
Public  Instruction  adopted  a  scries  of  articles,  the  first  of 
which  was  to  the  effect  that  "  there  should  be  established, 
at  Paris,  a  Normal  .School,  where  instruction  in  the  art  of 
teaching  science  should  be  given  to  persons  already 
possessing  scientific  knowledge."  .At  the  end  of  the  fol- 
lowing month,  the  National  Convention,  after  a  discussion 
of  the  scheme  and  the  subjects  to  be  taught,  passed  a  law 
for  the  establishment  of  Ecoles  normales.  The  idea  was  to 
establish  these  schools  in  various  parts  of  France,  but  it 
was  not  then  realised,  and  the  Normal  School  at  Paris  is 
the  only  one  that  owes  its  existence  directly  to  the  law  of  the 
Convention.  Referring  to  the  designation  of  the  schools, 
an  official  note  reads  :  "  The  word  normal,  which  has 
been  applied  to  the  schools  newly  decreed,  is  taken  from 
geometry.  It  expresses  really  the  perpendicular  or  level. 
In  the  sense  employed  in  this  case  it  announces  that  all 
knowledge  belonging  to  science,  to  the  arts,  to  belles- 
lettres,  &c.,  will  there  be  taught,  and  taught  to  all  equally." 
Science  was  thus  placed  upon  the  same  footing  as  the 
humanities.  The  methods  and  results  of  investigation 
were  not  to  be  know  n  to  a  few,  but  were  to  be  taught  by 
the  most  eminent  nun  it  was  possible  to  obtain.  The 
first  programme  of  the  courses  and  professors  shows  the 
scope  of  the  instruction  given. 

Subjects. 
Mathematics 
Physics 

Descriptive  Geometry 
Natural  History    ... 

Chemistry 

Agriculture 
Geography 
History 
Morals 

Grammar 

Analysis  of  the  Understanding 
Literature 


Professors. 
Uagrangeand  Laplace. 
1  latiy. 
Monge. 
DaulK'nton. 
Ilerlhollet. 
Thouin. 

liiiache  and  MenlelU'. 
\'()lney. 

Bernardin  de  St,  Piciie. 
.Sicard. 
Garat. 
La  Mar|x-. 

A  glance  at   this  list    will    show   that    the   professors 
were  selected  on  account  of  their  eminence  in  different 


October  to,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


57i 


branches  of  knowledge  rather  than  for  purely  pedagogic 
ability,  though  the  object  for  which  the  school  was 
founded  was  to  instruct  teachers  in  the  principles  of  their 
profession.  Berthollet  was  the  only  one  of  the  professors 
of  science  who  paid  any  serious  attention  to  that  subject 
in  the  official  programme  issued  to  the  students  ;  his  col- 
leagues confined  themselves  to  purely  scientific  matters. 
Methods  of  research  appear  to  have  formed  the  subjects 
of  the  lectures  rather  than  methods  of  e.xposition  and 
education  ;  Lagrange  and  Laplace  made  this  plain  in  the 
following  announcement  of  their  courses;  "To  present 
tlic  most  important  discoveries  that  have  been  made  in 
the  domain  of  science,  to  develop  the  principles  under- 
lying them  ;  to  notice  the  acute  and  valuable  ideas  which 
gave  birth  to  them  ;  to  indicate  the  most  direct  road  to 
discovery,  and  the  best  sources  where  details  can  be 
obtained  ;  to  show  what  is  still  to  be  done,  and  the  steps 
it  is  necessary  to  take  ;  these  are  the  objects  of  the 
Normal  School,  and  it  is  from  this  point  of  view  that 
mathematics  will  be  taught." 

On  January  21,  1795,  the  lectures  commenced  at  the 
Museum  d'histoirc  naturelle,  the  amphitheatre  of  which 
had  just  been  completed,  and  which  was  given  up  pro- 
visionally to  the  Normal  .School.  In  the  presence  of  a 
large  assembly,  Lakanal  read  the  decree  establishing  the 
school,  and  was  followed  by  Laplace,  Haiiy,  and  Monge, 
e.ich  of  whom  read  their  programmes,  and  indicated  the 
lines  they  intended  to  follow.  But  the  excited  state  of 
France  during  this  period  was  such  that  the  students 
coukl  not  be  properly  disciplined.  Political  petitions  and 
manifestos  frequently  emanated  from  the  school,  and 
there  appears  to  have  been  an  almost  entire  want  of 
organisation.  The  excessive  petulance  of  the  students 
showed  itself  during  the  lectures,  and  especially  in  de- 
bates after  the  lectures,  the  subjects  of  which  were  freely 
discussed  and  criticised,  to  the  frequent  embarrassment  of 
the  professors.  Eventually  the  debates  were  suppressed 
in  the  case  of  the  science  lectures.  Haiiy  substituted  the 
debates  by  laboratory  work,  and  the  professors  of  mathe- 
matics instituted  debating  societies  to  be  managed 
entirely  by  the  students,  who  were  to  mutually  assist  one 
another.  These  conferences  were  only  organised  for 
mathematics,  and  they  appear  to  have  been  installed  at 
the  College  de  France,  where  they  were  held  every  day. 
'l"hc  "conference"  system  of  education  is  a  legacy  from 
the  Normal  School  of  the  year  III.  of  the  National  Con- 
vention ;  to  that  school  is  also  largely  due  the  jjlace  which 
science  now  occupies  in  the  French  system  of  education  ; 
letters  and  science  were  taught  by  men  of  equal  high  rank 
and  authority,  and  the  stuclents  selected  either  branch  of 
knowledge,  according  to  their  inclinations  and  natural 
gifts.  The  students  at  the  school  were  drawn  from  all 
parts  of  France,  and  maintained  by  the  Republic,  liut 
the  national  exchequer  at  the  time  could  not  stand  any 
extra  drain  upon  its  impoverished  resources.  It  is,  there- 
fore, no  matter  of  surprise  that  when  the  courses  ended 
in   May  1795,  tl'*^  school  was  closed. 

In  spite  of  its  imperfections,  the  School  of  the  Conven- 
tion exerted  great  and  beneficial  influence  upon  the 
French  nation.  Biot,  in  his  history  of  science  during 
the  French  Revolution,  compares  the  school  to  a  "vast 
luminous  column  which  rose  so  high  from  the  middle  of  a 
desolate  land  that  its  great  brilliancy  covered  France  and 
enlightened  the  future."  And,  speaking  at  the  Paris 
Academy  of  Sciences  in  1833,  Arago  said,  with  reference 
to  the  school,  "  It  was  always  necessary  to  go  back  to  the 
F'.cole  normale  to  find  the  first  ])ublic  instruction  in  descrip- 
tive geometry,  l-'rom  that  school  the  instruction  passed,  : 
almost  without  modilications,  to  the  licole  polytechniquc. 
From  till!  Kcolc  normale  also  dates  a  veritable  rexolution 
in  the  study  of  pme  mathematics.  The  demonstrations,  i 
methods,  and  important  theories  hidden  in  academic  col-  I 
lections,  were  for  the  first  time  presented  to  students,  and 
encouraged  them   to   rebuild,   on  new   bases,  the    works 

NO.    1354,   VOL.  52] 


intended  for  education."  Arago  thus  showed  that, 
through  the  Normal  School,  science  gained  the  right  of  an 
important  place  in  public  education.  He  insisted  upon 
another  point  none  the  less  important,  viz.  that  at  the 
Normal  School,  for  the  first  time,  at  least  officially,  public 
education  was  given  by  the  first  men  of  intellect  in  the 
country.  "  With  some  rare  e.xceptions,  scientific  investi- 
gators atone  time  formed  in  France  a  class  totally  distinct 
from  that  of  the  professors.  By  bringing  the  first  g^eometers, 
the  first  physicists,  the  first  naturalists  into  the  profes- 
soriate, the  Con\  ention  endowed  the  educational  functions 
with  unusual  advantages,  the  fortunate  results  of  which 
are  still  felt.  In  the  eyes  of  the  public,  the  school  that 
bore  the  names  of  Lagrange,  Laplace,  Monge,  and 
Berthollet  could  claim  equality  with  the  highest  places  of 
instruction."  The  first  Normal  School,  in  fact,  in  spite  of 
its  brief  existence,  founded  a  tradition  which  was  preserved 
during  the  Restoration,  and  under  the  second  Empire, 
and  which  has  had  a  decisive  influence  upon  the  history 
of  education  in  France.  For  this  reason,  M  Dupuy  is 
justified  in  concluding  his  detailed  history  of  the  School 
of  the  Convention  with  the  words  :  "The  centenary  that 
the  Ecole  normale  has  celebrated  this  year  is  therefore 
more  than  the  centenary  of  its  name  ;  it  is  that  of  the 
institution  itself  under  its  first  form." 

The  second  stage  in  the  history  of  the  Normal  School 
began  in  1808  (that  is,  four  years  after  Napoleon  had 
changed  France  into  an  Empire),  with  an  Imperial 
decree  establishing  "  un  pcnsionnat  normal,  destind 
a  recevoir  jusqu'a  trois  cents  jeunes  gens  qui  y 
seront  formes  a  Tan  d'enseigner  les  letlres  et 
las  sciences."  This  decree  extending  the  organisa- 
tion of  the  French  University,  created  two  years 
before,  founded  definitely  the  present  school.  Before 
students  were  permitted  to  enter  the  school,  they  had  to 
agree  to  remain  in  the  teaching  profession  at  least  ten 
years.  They  attended  classes  at  the  Colltjge  de  F" ranee, 
the  Ecole  polytechnique,  and  the  Museum  d'histoire 
naturelle,  according  to  whether  they  intended  to  instruct 
in  letters,  or  in  different  branches  of  science.  An  annual 
grant  of  three  hundred  thousand  francs  (^12,000)  was 
voted  for  the  expenses  of  the  school.  The  regula- 
tions were  based  upon  those  of  the  colleges  of  the 
old  university,  so  the  students  were  prevented  from 
taking  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  political  world.  This 
organisation,  however,  did  not  last  long  ;  for  in  1S14 
there  came  the  entrance  of  France  by  the  Allies,  the 
abdication  of  Najioleon,  and  the  tragic  hundred  days,  all 
of  which,  with  later  events,  had  their  eflects  upon  the 
school.  Louis  WIIL  proposed  to  change  the  organi- 
sations of  the  school  and  university,  and  a  decree  with 
this  end  in  view  was  jiassed  in  P'cbruary  1815.  But 
when  N,apoleon  returned  from  Elbe,  a  few  days  later,  he 
entirely  suppressed  the  new  regulations,  and  re-established 
the  Imperial  University  in  accordance  with  the  decree  of 
1808.  And  when  the  Em])ire  finally  fell,  the  ministers  of 
Louis  Will,  abandoned  the  idea  of  changing  the 
organisation,  and  themselves  supported  the  Imperial 
system.  The  school  existed  up  to  1822  under  these 
rules,  when  it  was  decided  that  its  place  should  be  taken 
by  Ecoles  normales  particlles.  Four  years  later  the  school 
was  re-established,  but  in  order  not  to  e.xcite  memories  of 
the  Revolution  and  the  Empire,  it  was  named  the  "Ecole 
preparatoirc."  Only  in  the  name  did  this  school  differ  from 
the  old  Normal  School,  and  even  that  was  restored  by 
Louis  Phillippe,  Duke  of  Orleans,  who,  in  .Vugust  1830, 
shortly  after  he  became  King  of  the  French,  issued  an  order 
that  "the  school  devoted  to  the  education  of  professors, 
and  for  some  years  carried  on  under  the  name  of  Ecole 
preparaloire,  is  to  reassume  the  title  of  Ecole  normale." 
A  little  later,  the  school  was  organised  on  the  lines  upon 
which  the  studies  are  carried  there  to-d;iy.  The.duration 
of  the  course  of  study,  which  in  the  Ecole  preparatoirc 
had  been  two  years,  was  definitely  fixed  at  three  years, 


5/2 


NATURE 


[October  io,  1S95 


and  the  sections  of  science  and  letters  were  more  clearly 
separated  than  they  had  e\er  been  before.  After  study- 
ing together  during  the  first  year,  the  science  students, 
during  the  second  and  the  third  years,  were  arranged 
into  two  divisions,  one  of  the  physical  and  mathematical 
sciences,  the  other  of  natural  sciences,  the  chemists  being 
classified  with  the  natunilists.  In  the  second  year  the 
mathematicians  and  physicists  had  a  few  courses  in 
common  with  the  chemists  and  naturalists,  but  during 
the  third  year  were  kept  altogether  distinct. 

The  Go\ernment  of  Louis  Philippe,  which,  in  a  way, 
established  the  fundamental  system  of  primary  instruc- 
tion in  France,  gave  the  Normal  -School  a  firm  standing 
by  instituting  competition  and  new  classes  ;  it  also  took 
steps  to  provide  proper  accommodation  for  the  students. 
The  buildings  of  the  I'lessis,  where  the  studies  were  con- 
ducted, were  falling  to  pieces,  and  it  was  recognised  that 
new  ones  would  have  to  be  provided.  In  1838  the  site 
in  the  rue  d'Ulm,  now  occupied  by  the  school,  was 
chosen  :  the  plans  were  prepared,  and  money  required  to 
execute  them  was  voted  in  the  spring  of  1841. 

But  six  years  passed  before  the  work  was  done,  and  it 
was  not  until  1S47  that  the  school  was  transferred  to  its 
new  domicile,  and  the  title  of  "  Ecole  normal  superieure" 
was  inscribed  over  the  door.  M.  de  Salvandy  presided 
over  the  opening  ceremony,  and  the  director  of  studies, 
Dubois,  who  succeeded  Cousin  in  1840,  read  a  summary 
of  the  history  of  the  school.  From  that  time  until  1848, 
when  Louis  Napoleon  became  President  of  the  French 
Republic,  no  change  of  importance  occurred.  The 
first  event  which,  of  the  whole  of  the  religious  re- 
actions favoured  by  the  future  Emperor  of  the  French, 
foreshadowed  rigorous  changes  in  the  school's  regula- 
tions, was  the  substitution  of  M.  Dubois  by  M. 
Michelle,  rector  of  the  Besanqon  Academy,  in  July 
1850.  The  new  director  took  the  rank  of  inspector- 
general,  and  the  school  ceased  to  be  represented  upon  the 
Council  of  the  University.  A  year  later,  M.  \'achcrot, 
the  director  of  studies,  followed  Dubois,  and  then  M. 
Jules  Simon,  whose  lectures  were  suspended  at  the  end 
of  1851,  resigned  his  connection  with  the  school.  The 
idea  of  suppressing  the  school  altogether  was  afterwards 
seriously  considered,  but  fortunately  it  was  not  carried 
into  execution.  Attempts  were  made  to  limit  the 
freedom  with  which  subjects  were  dealt,  and,  for  a 
time,  Protestants  and  Jews  were  refused  admission.  .\ 
Ijctter  period  commenced  in  1857,  when  Nisard  succeeded 
Michelle  as  the  director  of  the  school,  and  Pasteur  became 
the  director  of  scientific  studies.  Five  science  F"ellow- 
ships  were  created  in  the  following  year,  and  the  holders 
of  them  carried  on  researches  under  Henri  Saint-Clair 
Deville  and  Pasteur,  whose  investigations  increased  the 
school's  reputation. 

.\ftcr  the  affairs  of  1870,  which  deposed  Louis 
\a|M)leon  and  established  the  third  Republic,  Bersot  was 
nominated  director  of  the  school  by  Jules  .Simon,  and 
occupied  that  position  until  1880.  Under  him,  the  con- 
stitution of  the  school  was  sustained,  and  brought  back 
to  what  it  was  under  the  direction  of  Cousin  and  of 
Dubois.  Bersot  died  in  1880,  and  the  fifteen  years 
that  have  elapsed  since  his  death  form  the  last  period 
in  the  eventful  history  of  the  Normal  .School.  M.  Fustel 
de  Coulanges  was  the  director  from  1880  to  1883,  and 
since  then  the  present  director,  M.  (ieorges  Perrot,  has 
occupied  that  position.  In  1880  a  section  of  natural 
sciences  was  re-established,  and  this,  with  other  improve- 
ments in  the  internal  organisation,  has  assisted  the  school 
to  the  high  place  it  now  occupies. 

The  second  pan  of  the  volume,  from  which  m.-iny  of 
the  foregoing  details  were  obtained,  is  taken  up  with 
biographies  of  the  directors  (each  accompanied  by  a  fine 
photogravure  of  the  subject)  and  of  papers  referring  to  the 
men  who  have  helped  to  develop  the  different  departments 
of  the  school.  Passing  over  the  former  section,  we  arrive 

NO.    1354,  VOL.   52] 


at  an  account  of  the  mathematical  w  ork  at  the  school,  by 
M.  Jules  Tanner)-.  The  high  standing  of  this  department 
may  be  judged  by  the  fact  that,  of  the  six  members  of  the 
Section  of  Geometry  of  the  Paris  .Academy  of  Sciences, 
three  belong  to  the  Normal  School.  The  Section  of 
.\stronomy  contains  two  old  students — one  the  present 
Director  of  the  Paris  Observatory.  The  school  has  con- 
tributed to  this  .Academy  the  names  of  Pouillct,  Dela- 
fosse,  Pasteur,  Jamin,  \".  Puiseux,  P.  Desains,  Bouquet, 
\'an  Tieghem,  Debray,  Hebert,  Tisscrand,  Fouque, 
Wolf,  Darboux,  Troost,  Mascart,  l.ippmann,  Duclaux, 
Picard.  .\ppcl,  and  Perrier.  M.  Bcrtrand,  the  eminent 
Perpetual  Secretary  of  the  .Academy,  was  one  of 
the  first  among  the  illustrious  men  who  have  made 
the  school  what  it  is,  and  encouraged  its  students 
to  scientific  investigation.  .After  him,  Cauchy  dominated 
mathematical  education  at  the  school.  Hermite, 
Puiseux,  Briot,  and  Bouquet  were  the  close  friends 
and  disciples  of  this  profound  geometrician,  who,  during 
the  early  part  of  this  century,  gave  mathematical  science 
so  great  an  impetus.  Of  these,  only  Hermite  survives, 
and  he  celebrated  his  jubilee  a  few  months  ago.  .Among 
those  who  benefited  by  Hermite's  instruction  and  counsel 
stand  out  the  names  of  Baillaud,  Charve,  Floquet,  and 
Pellet.  .Appel,  Picard,  and  C.oursat  are  among  other 
stiulents  who  ha\e  brought  credit  to  their  alma  iiiatcr. 

\"erdet,  whose  electrical  and  optical  researches  are 
known  to  every  physicist,  became  maitre  de  conferences,, 
that  is,  professor,  of  physics  in  1848,  and  held  that  position 
until  1866.  Mascart  succeeded  him  for  a  few  months,, 
and  was  followed  by  Bertin-Mourot,  who  remained  at  the 
head  of  the  physical  department  until  18S4,  since  which 
year  M.M.  \'iolie,  Bouty,  and  Brillonin  have  filled  the  post. 

Of  all  the  teachers  that  the  school  has  had,  none 
have  exercised  greater  influence  upon  it  than  Saint - 
Claire  Deville.  For  thirty  years  he  devoted  his  activities 
to  the  advancement  of  science  at  the  school  and  to  the 
welfare  of  his  students.  He  succeeded  Balard  in  1851 
as  maitre  de  confijrences  in  the  section  of  chemistry,  and 
at  once  commenced  to  reorganise  the  work  and  develop 
research.  His  advice  to  students  who  looked  to  books 
to  supply  them  w  ith  subjects  of  investigation,  was  : 
"  Fermez  bien  vitc  tons  Ics  livercs,  vencz  au  laboratoiie, 
passcz-y  toute  la  journt^e,  failes-y  n'importe  ijuoi,  rcprcnez 
par  exem))le  minutiluscmcnt  un  travail  classique  ;  vous 
ctes  intelligent,  \ous  nc  tarderez  pas  ;"l  trouvez  c|uelquc 
rc^sultat  interressant."  His  numerous  pupils  profiled  by 
his  invitation  to  work  whenever  possible  in  tlie  laljoratory, 
and  many  of  them  became  his  collaborators.  .Among 
these  occur  the  names  of  Debray,  Troost,  Fouque, 
Fernet,  Lamy,  Lechartier,  Mascart,  Isamberl,  Ditte,  Joly, 
Andre,  .Ango't,  Dufet,  Margottet,  Chappuis,  Parmentier, 
all  of  whom  have  advanced  scientific  instruction  and  re- 
search in  France.  Henri  Deville  never  refused  an  in- 
vestigator access  to  his  laboratory,  no  matter  what  line 
of  work  was  taken  up,  antl  the  result  was  that  not  only 
chemists,  but  students  of  natural  history,  astronomy,  and 
even  an  alcheniisl,  availed  themselves  of  the  ojjportunity. 
.After  devoting  the  acti\ities  of  a  lifetime  to  science, 
Henri  Deville  died  in  July  1881,  and  by  his  death  France 
lost  one  of  its  brightest  lights. 

Debray  held  a  Fellowship  at  the  Normal  School 
when  Henri  Deville  became  the  maitre  de  conferences, 
and  the  two  great  investigators  worked  side  by  side  for 
thirty  years.  He  entered  the  school  in  1847,  and  suc- 
ceeded his  master  as  professor  at  the  Sorbonne  and  as 
maitre  de  confc^rences  at  the  school  in  1875.  He  died 
in  June  1888.  Chemistry  is  at  present  under  the  charge 
of  MM.  ( iernez  and  Joly. 

The  depailment  of  natural  science  in  the  school  was 
established  in  1880.  The  school  had  not  existed  until 
then,  however,  without  paying  any  .ittenlion  to  the 
study  of  that  division  of  scientific  knowledge.  M.  Dela- 
fosse  was  maitre  de  conf(5rences  of  zoology,  botany,  geo- 


October  lo,  1895 J 


NATURE 


573 


logy,  and  mineralogy  so  far  back  as  1827,  and  among  the 
naturalists  who  taught  one  or  other  of  the  subjects  before 
the  new  section  was  created  were  Hubert,  Lor\-,  Fouqu(5, 
\'an  Tieghdm,  Dastre,  Perridr,  Cornu,  {}iard,  Lc  Mon- 
nier,  and  Bonnier.  The  feature  of  the  instniction  now- 
given  is  the  large  at  tcntion  paid  to  field  work.  Fre- 
quent geological,  botanical  and  zoological  excursions  are 
made  under  the  charge  of  the  professors,  both  during 
the  school  year  and  the  holidays,  kx  the  marine  biological 
stations,  holiday  courses  are  always  offered.  Owing  to 
the  labours  of  Prof  de  Lacaze-Duthiers,  biological  labora- 
tories have  been  established  at  various  points  on  the  French 
coast.  .Since  1881,  many  students  of  the  Normal  .School 
have  worked  at  the  stations  at  Roscoff,  Banyuls,  Concar- 
neau,  Wimereux,  and  .Saint-Waast,  and  the  knowledge 
they  have  thus  gained  from  nature  herself  is  far  in  ad- 
vance of  that  received  throug^h  lectures  or  from  books. 

Pasteur's  connection  with  the  school  has  a  melancholy 
interest  at  the  present  time.  Before  he  left  the  Faculty  of 
.Sciences  at  Lille,  to  become  administrator  and  director 
of  studies,  he  had  made  his  important  researches 
on  the  tartrates  of  soda  and  ammonia,  and  had  com- 
menced the  study  of  fermentation.  He  therefore  wanted 
a  laboratory  in  which  to  continue  his  researches,  but  the 
school  could  not  at  the  time  offer  him  ')ne.  After 
a  little  difficulty,  one  small  room,  about  ten  feet  square, 
was  obtained,  and  in  that  restricted  space  he  made  some 
of  his  most  valuable  discoveries.  This  accommodation 
however,  was  gradually  increased.  In  1862  a  large  room 
was  expressly  constructed  for  Pasteur's  work,  and  was 
added  to  from  time  to  time  as  the  value  of  the  researches 
carried  on  came  to  be  recognised.  Finally,  it  was  im- 
possible for  him  to  carry  on  his  extensive  researches 
under  the  hospitable  roof  in  the  rue  d'Ulm,  and  he  had 
to  remove  to  a  larger  building.  .-X  few  years  later  his 
work  for  science  and  humanity  was  recognised  by  the 
construction,  at  a  cost  of  more  than  ^100,000,  raised  by 
international  subscription,  of  the  Pasteur  Institute  in 
Paris,  where  the  results  of  his  researches  are  daily 
applied,  and  where  the  remains  of  the  great  investigator 
will  finally  rest. 

The  \aluable  Annales  d Ecolc  Norinale  owe  their 
commencement  to  M.  Pasteur.  The  journal  was  first 
issued  in  1864,  and  many  impoitant  memoirs  by  members 
of  the  teaching  staff,  and  by  students,  have  appeared  in 
it.  Pasteur  was  editor  from  1864  to  1870,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Henri  Deville,  who  held  the  position  until 
1881,  though  the  publication  must  have  entailed  pecuniar)' 
loss.  Finally,  the  An)i(t/es\\cre  placed  upon  a  firm  foot- 
ing by  M.  Zevort,  director  of  .Secondary  Education,  who 
twelve  years  ago  increased  the  subscription  list  by  pro- 
viding for  the  introduction  of  the  journal  into  a  number 
o{  lyccrs,  and  since  then  the  assistance  thus  rendered  has 
been  continued  by  succeeding  Directors  of  Higher  and 
Secondary' Education.  -M.  Debray  held  the  editorship  of 
the  Annnles  from  18S2  to  1888,  and  M.  Hermite  now 
edits  it,  with  an  editorial  committee  comprising  many 
of  the  most  eminent  men  of  science  in  France. 

Many  other  names,  in  addition  to  those  already 
mentioned,  have  contributed  to  the  glor\'  of  the  school. 
The  work  of  (ialois,  for  instance,  whose  short  life 
ended  in  1832,  while  still  a  student  at  the  school, 
has  had  great  influence  upon  the  development  of  mathe- 
matics. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  centuiy,  little  attention  was 
paid  to  astronomy  at  the  Normal  School.  The  inathe- 
maticians  there  produced  a  number  of  important  memoirs 
on  celestial  mechanics,  and  inade  astronomical  tables, 
but  practical  astronomy  was  entirely  neglected.  When 
Le  \'crrier  became  director  of  the  Paris  Observator)-,  he 
obtained  permission  for  a  limited  number  of  students  to 
work  at  the  Observatory  while  still  retaining  their  position 
in  the  school.  \'ictor  Puiseux  and  Paul  Desains  were 
the  two  first  students  selected,  and  they  were  succeeded 

NO.    1354,  VOL.   52] 


by  Paul  Serret  and  Marie-Davy.  Le  V'errier  thus  opened 
a  new  career  for  students  at  the  school,  and  the  way  they 
availed  themselves  of  it  is  shown  by  the  fact,  that,  in  1866, 
there  were  as  many  as  fifteen  of  them  upon  the  Obser- 
vatory staff.  .Among  the  names  of  astronomers  who 
were  students  at  the  school,  are  MM.  Tisserand,  Rayet, 
Andrd,  Angot,  Stephan,  Simon,  and  Voigt  ;  and  at  one 
time  or  another  the  school  has  provided  directors  for 
all  the  State  observatories  in  France. 

What  more  need  be  said  ?  The  names  and  works  of 
the  school's  alumni  are  known  and  honoured  throughout 
the  scientific  world,  and  that  is  sufficient  testimony 
to  the  character  of  the  instruction.  The  French 
Government  is  generous  in  its  treatment  of  the 
school,  but  the  expenditure  is  returned  increased 
a  hundredfold  through  the  works  of  the  students.  And 
not  only  do  these  works  benefit  the  Republic  ;  they 
have  an  international  value.  Therefore  the  centenary 
which  the  school  celebrated  this  year,  interests  all  who 
are  concerned  with  the  advancement  of  natural  know- 
ledge. R.  A.  Grki-.orv. 


THE  "GEMMI'   DISASTER. 

A  MONTH  ago,  the  Swiss  newspapers  were  full  of 
■'*-  various  accounts  of  a  destructive  avalanche  which 
took  place  at  the  Gemmi  on  September  11,  at  4  a.m. 
The  first  report  read  as  follows  ;  "  .\  large  part  of  the 
Altels  glacier  got  loose  and  slipped  down,  covering  three 
kilometres  of  ground  on  the  Spital  Alp,  two  hours'  walk 
above  Kandersteg.  Men  (6)  and  cattle  (300)  have  been 
killed  by  the  slipped  mass.  The  break  across  the  glacier 
may  be  seen  from  the  valley  with  the  naked  eye.  Help- 
has  been  sent  up  from  the  villages  of  Leuk,  Kandersteg, 
and  Frutigen."  {AUg.  Sc/i7>.'.  Ztg.,  September  12.)  More 
correct  details  afterwards  decreased  the  loss  of  cattle  by 
about  one  half,  and  the  whole  damage  is  estimated  at 
from  60,000  to  80,000  francs. 

The  part  concerned  will  be  perfectly  familiar  to  many 
English  travellers.  Few  foot-tourists  in  Switzerland  miss 
the  Pass  of  the  Gemmi,  which  bridges  the  beautiful  lime- 
stone mountains  between  Canton  Bern  and  Canton 
Wallis  at  their  western  end.  The  tourist  coming  from 
the  North  leaves  the  broad  .Aare  \'alley  of  Canton  Bern 
and  its  lakes  at  Thun,  and  ascends  gradually  through 
the  lateral  Kander  X'alley  towards  the  glaciated  chain  of 
the  Diablerets,  Oldenhorn,  Wildstriibel  and  .Altels  on  the 
southern  horizon.  The  characteristic  group  of  snowy 
summits  known  as  the  Bliimlis  Alp  closes  in  the  south- 
eastern. The  valley  itself  is  bestrewn  with  gigantic 
remnants  of  old  mountain-slips,  now  clad  with  fir-tree 
and  a  rich  flora.  -At  Kandersteg  it  narrows,  long  moraines 
fringe  the  mountains,  and  the  driving-road  is  left  for  a 
a  steep  winding  footpath  which  climbs  the  mountain-sides 
beneath  the  shade  of  densely-grown  larch  and  fir.  The 
main  stream  hurls  over  rocky  escarp  and  raves  in  deep 
ravine.  A  sudden  opening  in  the  wood  discloses  the 
tributary  stream  of  the  Gastem,  its  grey  cliffs,  and 
tumbling  waterfalls  ;  surely  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
glens  in  the  .Alps  ! 

Immediately  beyond  this  point  of  view,  the  path 
descends  slightly  for  a  short  distance  and  bends  round 
the  base  of  a  wooded  hill,  known  as  the  Stiercnhergli, 
before  it  once  more  rises  to  the  mountain  pasturage  and 
chalets  of  the  Spital.  Here,  the  sound  of  cow-bells  rings 
over  a  grassy  river-fiat,  hemmed  in  east  and  west  by 
mountain  ridges,  northward  by  a  thick  tongue  of  moraine. 
Only  one  steep,  narrow  passage  defiles  the  northern 
rocks  and  marks  the  contact  of  the  Altels  range  with  the 
moraine  tongue.  A  dammed-up  lake  basin,  often  dry  in 
summer,  lies  on  the  other  side  of  the  moraine  where  the 
road  leads  to  the  cosily-sheltered  Schwarenbach  Inn. 
Three-quarters  of  an  hour's  farther  walk  on  rocky  shelving 


574 


NA  JURE 


[October  io,  1895 


yround    takes   the   tourist   past   the    Daubensee   to  the 
height  of  the  Gemmi  Pass  and  the  Hotel. 

Such  was  the  walk  to  the  ricmnii  before  the  avalanche 
occurred.  Now  the  broad  pasturage  fiat,  the  narrow  defile 
above  it  to  the  Schwarcnbach  Inn.  as  well  as  several  pas- 
sages of  the  road  below,  especially  the  "  Stierenbergli,"  lie 
beneath  masses  of  ruin  and  disorder.  Fir-slopes  have 
been  felled  at  one  blow.  Dismembered  parts  of  cattle 
have  been  floated  hither,  thither,  in  the  ice-stream.  What 
makes  it  the   sadder  is  that  all  had  been   in  readiness 


Icc-break  on  Altcla  Mountain. — Dead  cow  ojid  fragmcnis  of  chiilct  in  the  foreground 


on  the  Spilal  Alp  for  the  departure  of  the  herd-boys  and 

<  iril,  .,T,  iiir>  following  day  to  their  villages  in  Wallis. 

the  cause  of  the  disaster  was  the  fall  of  the 

iip;^i     not    be    forgotten    that    the    actual 

■  :  wind-pressure  ("  Windschlag  ")  in 

,  mass.     Living  things  and  timber 

round,   or    borne    to    considerable 

-  of  ice  then  buries  all  beneath  tons 

ml  ii.in.-.))ort3  still  farther,  tearing  and  breaking 

%  carries. 


N(J.    1354.  VOL.   52] 


The  enormous  rush  of  wind,  together  with  the  terrifying 
sounds  of  the  avalanche,  gave  the  people  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood a  rough  awakening  from  their  night's  rest. 
They  thought  an  earthquake  was  convulsing  thcni. 
Only  one  witnessed  the  coming  of  the  avalanche,  that 
was  the  waitress  at  the  Schwarcnbach  Inn,  who  had  just 
risen  to  prepare  an  early  cup  of  coffee  for  some  of  the 
guests.  She  rushed  out,  in  time  to  see  the  ice  skimming 
the  road's  corner  on  its  way  to  destroy  the  Spital  .-Xlp. 
Had  the  fall  taken  place  half  a  day  sooner  or  later, 
tourists  must  inevitably  have 
suftercd  on  the  niuch-frequcntcd 
path. 

Dr.  Albert  Heim,  Professor  of 
deology  at  Zurich,  was  at  once 
telegraphed  for  to  make  a  thorough 
investigation  of  the  disaster.  The 
result  of  his  examination  will  not 
be  fully  published  until  the  end  of 
the  year.  Meantime  some  of  the 
more  exact  details  may  be  slated 
here.  The  accompanying  photo- 
graphs are  a  few  of  those  taken  at 
Prof.  Heim's  wish  immediately 
after  the  disaster. 

The  first  shows  the  break  in 
the  ice  on  the  Altels  Mountain. 
It  occurred  near  the  foot  of  the 
neve  or  "Kirn-snow''  region  of 
the  .-Mtels  glacier,  at  a  height  of 
3300  metres  (11,000  feet).  The 
mass  of  ice  which  broke  away 
measured  about  300  metres  in 
length,  200  metres  in  l)reath,  and 
30  metres  in  thickness.  It  streamed 
down  the  steep-dipping,  smooth 
slabs  of  limestone  rock  on  Altels, 
and  spread  itself  out  fan-like  on  the 
Spital  Alp,  1900  metres  high  (6270 
feet).  The  vertical  height  of  the 
fall  was  therefore  some  4700  feet. 
The  immense  impetus  thus  gamed 
caused  the  ice  to  pursue  its  course 
up  the  steep  incline  of  the 
"  Oeschinen  Cirat."  The  main 
part  in  the  centre  of  the  ava- 
lanche "fan"  dashed  itself  with 
its  spray  of  ice-dust  and  debris 
against  the  ridge,  surmounted  it 
in  parts  as  high  as  2360  metres, 
over  7700  feet,  and  pitched  many 
fragments  upon  difi'erent  levels  on 
the  other,  or  Oeschinen  \'alley, 
side  of  the  ridge.  The  outer  wings 
of  the  fan,  on  tlie  other  hand, 
cur\ed  backwards  :  that  on  the 
north  side  can  be  traced  as  a  re- 
turn stream  from  Winteregg  to  the 
Stierenbergli  corner  of  the  (iemmi 
ro.id  referred  to  above  (Kig.  2). 

This  return  stream  did  especial 
damage  to  the  trees  ;  and  nothing 
can  be  more  striking  than  the  sight 
of  the  long  larch  and  fir  trunks 
felled  in  one  and  the  same  iliiection,  and  clean-cut  along 
a  definite  line.  One  hillock  has  been  stripped  of  its 
timber  on  one  side,  while  no  harm  has  been  done  on 
the  other.  The  course  of  the  avalanche  has  left  its  trail 
of  stems  :  up-torn  roots,  ravaged  chalet,  dead  cattle,  even 
cheeses  may  be  distinguished  januned  in  the  general 
heaps  of  ruin. 

The  result  on  the  ice  of  its  own  motion  and  pressure 
during  its  fall  deserves  attention  (I'  >g-  3)-    '""-■  photograp 
shows  the  typical  form  which  the  ice  takes,  viz.  that  of  har 


October  io,  1895] 


NATURE 


575 


rounded  pieces  of  ice  of  all  sizes  mixed  in  loose  ice  powder. 
Friction  produces  various  markings  on  the  rolled  ice. 

There  is  altogether  a  remarkably  small  proportion 
of  carried  rock-dii\>x\%  mixed  with  the  ice.  The  whole 
field  of  ice  on  the  Spital  Alp  simply  portrays  a  "  Staub 
Lawine,''  or  dust  avalanche  on  a  large  scale.  In  the 
course  of  a  few  years  nature  itself  will  have  removed  the 
last  signs  of  a  wreckage  which  at  present  hundreds  of 
willing  hands  are  doing  their  best 
to  clear  away  in  part  from  road 
and  Alp. 

Maria  M.  Or.ii.vn,. 


•■h 


and  tooth,  as  well  as  chemical  analyses  of  certain  so-called 
transudations  ;  to  the  latter,  studies  of  which  the  object 
was  to  discover  the  physical  principles  which  underlie 
many  of  the  phenomena  revealed  by  the  percussion  and 
auscultation  of  the  chest  in  disease.  In  1856,  Hoppe  was 
appointed  Prosector  in  the  University  of  Greisswald, 
where  he  qualified  as  Privat-docent  ;  here,  however,  he 
only  remained  until 


THE  LATE  PROFESSOR 
HOPPE-SE  YLER} 

gRNEST  FELIX  IMMANUEL 
HOPPE-  was  born  in  Frei- 
burg on  the  Umstnit  (Sa.xony)  on 
December  26,  1825.  At  the  age 
of  nine  he  lost  his  mother,  and  ai 
eleven,  being  left  an  orphan  by  the 
death  of  his  father,  he  was  taken 
charge  of  and  educated  by  the 
governing  body  of  an  endowed  in- 
stitution in  Halle.  After  the  com- 
pletion of  his  school  course  he 
commenced  in  1846  the  study  of 
the  natural  sciences  as  a  student 
of  the  University  of  Halle.  Mi- 
grating early  in  his  student's  career 
to  Leipzig,  he  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  lay  the  foundations  of  his 
knowledge  of  anatomy  and  phy- 
siology under  the  three  distin- 
guished brothers  Weber  (Ernst 
Heinrich,  Wilhelm  and  Eduard), 
to  study  chcniistiy  under  Erd- 
inann,  and  under  the  eminent 
physiological  chemist  Karl  Gott- 
hold  Lehinann,  medicine  under 
•  )ppolzer,  surgery  under  (nintlicr, 
•md  pathological  anatomy  under 
Hock.  Hoppc  spent  the  last  two 
semesters  of  his  student's  course 
in  Berlin,  following  the  courses  of 
Romberg,  Langenbeckand  Casper. 
He  took  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Medicine  in  1850,  presenting  a  dis- 
sertation "  Dc  cartilaginum  struc- 
tura  et  chondrino  nonnulla,"  which 
he  dedicated  to  his  former  master 
E.  H.  Weber,  and  which  indicated 
the  impulse  he  had  received 
towards  anatomical  as  well  as 
(  hemical  investigation,  on  the  one 
hand  through  the  influence  of  the 
Wcbers,  on  the  other  through  tliat 
i>f  K.  ("..  Lchmann. 

Having  settled  in  inedical  prac- 
tice in  Berlin,  Hoppe  was  ap- 
pointed medical  officer  to  the 
workhouse,  and  whilst  occupying 
this  post,  devoted  himself  to  re- 
searches, partly  chemico-physiological  and  partly  clinical. 
I  o  the  former  class  belong  investigations  on  cartilage  bone 

'  Though  some  weeks  have  elapsed  since  the  death  of  th[s  eminent  man  of 
science,  a  brief  account  of  his  hfe  and  an  attempt  to  convey  some  idea  of 
Ihe  part  which  he  pl.ayed  m  the  advancement  of  physiological  chemi.:tr\- 
may  not  prove  uninteresting  to  the  readers  of  Nature.  In  the  prepar.i- 
lion  of  this  paper  I  have  been  greatly  assisted  by  the  information  con- 
,'^™';  'o  ■''"   ^""      "  appeared   m   the  Vossiche  Zcilnn^  of  August 

-  The  subject  of  this  notice  changed  his  name  from  Hoppe  to  Hopbe-Seyler 
somewhere  about  the  year  1862. 


Fig.  2. — Return  stream  covering  the  Gemmi  road  at  the  Stierenbergli  corner. 


^F^i,'.     ''    '^^^^l^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^l 

£^ ' 

K*  ^*'       ^^^^^^^^HHHR 

|l«J2^  '     '' ''^''  ^-^'^             '^'i^SI^^^^^^^^^^H 

^P^iftii£<^ .. . .  -^^^1^9 

NO.    1354,  VOL.   52] 


Fig.  3. — Ice  structure  in  the  avalanche. 

by  \'irchow,  in  order  to  act  as  his  assistant.  Virchow 
had  just  been  appointed  the  first  ordinary  professor  oc 
pathological  anatomy  in  the  University,  and  Hoppe,  as 
his  only  assistant,  was  at  first  called  upon  to  take  a  part 
in  all  the  work  of  the  Pathological  Institute,  whether 
anatomical  or  chemical.  \'ery  soon,  however,  he 
was  enabled  to  confine  his  attention  to  researches  in 
physiological  and  pathological  chemistry,  and  to  the 
superintendence  of  the  chemical  laboratory  of  the  Insti- 


576 


NATURE 


[October  io,  1895 


tute.  In  i860,  Hoppe  was  appointed  an  extraordinary 
professor  in  the  philosophical  faculty  of  the  University 
•of  Berlin.  In  1861  (he  had  now  assumed  the  name 
of  Hoppe-Seyler)  he  was  appointed  to  the  chair  of 
A[)plied  Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Tubinj^en,  where 
he  had  as  colleagues  the  botanist  von  Mohl,  tlie  physio- 
logist \'ierordt,  the  anatomist  Leydig,  the  chemist 
Strecker,  and  the  yreat  physician  Niemeyer. 

It  was  whilst  in  Tiibingen  that  Hoppe-Seyler  published 
(1866-1870),  under  the  title  of  "  Medicinisch-Chemische 
Unlersuchungen,"  a  series  of  valuable  papers  by  his 
pupils  and  himself,  some  of  which  will  be  always  referred 
to  by  thorough  students  of  physiological  chemistry  ;  such 
are  the  researches  of  Diakonow  on  lecithin,  of  Miescher 
•on  nuclein,  and  Hoppe-Seylers  own  papers  on  h;tmo- 
globin,  its  compounds  and  certain  of  its  derivatives. 

When,  in  1872,  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Franco- 
derman  war,  the  German  Government  gave  to  Strasburg 
the  new  and  splendidly-endowed  Kaiser  W'ilhclm's 
Universitiit,  Hoppe-Seyler  was  one  of  the  distinguished 
men  chosen  to  fill  its  chairs,  being  appointed  to  the  only 
ordinar)'  professorship  of  Physiological  Chemistry  in  the 
German  empire.  .Vmong  those  who  were  called  with 
him,  and  who  were  destined  to  shed  a  brilliant  lustre  on 
the  new  academy,  which  had  arisen  Phceni.v-like  out  of 
the  ashes  of  the  old  Strasburg,  were  such  men  as  Wal- 
deyer,  Recklinghausen,  Leyden,  Gusserow,  .Schmiedeberg 
and  Fliickiger.  No  wonder  that  .Strasburg  has  already 
become  one  of  the  chief  centres  of  research  in  Kurope  1 

.\mongst  the  laboratories— the  so-called  institutes — 
which  are  clustered  around  the  Hospital  of  Strasburg, 
is  the  so-called  Physiologisch-Chemische  Institut,  in 
which  since  his  appointment  Hoppe-Seyler  has  continued 
the  work  which  he  had  begun  in  I5erlin  and  in  Tubingen, 
surrounded  by  pupils,  many  of  whom — 1  shall  merely 
name  Baumann,  Brieger,  Kosscl,  and  Thierfelder  — have 
■won  for  themselves  honourable  positions  in  contemporary 
science,  and  for  their  master  the  reputation  of  a  great 
teacher,  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term.  Here  Hoppe- 
Seyler  worked  until  the  very  eve  of  his  death.  Leaving 
Strasburg  apparently  in  the  fulness  of  health  and  vigour 
to  enjoy  a  few  weeks  of  rest  on  his  property  by  the  shores 
of  the  Lake  of  Constance.  Hoppe-Seyler  was  to  be  spared 
the  misery  of  prolonged  illness.  Some  sudden  and  un- 
suspected cardiac  mischief  brought  to  a  standstill  the 
life  of  a  man  of  singularly  great  activity,  intellectual  as 
veil  as  physical.     He  died  on  the  forenoon  of  .-Vugust  10, 

1895. 

Akthir  G.-\m(;ek. 


THE  FUNERAL   OF  PASTEUR. 

AMID  signs  of  national  sorrow,  the  funeral  of  Pasteur 
took  place  on  Saturday  last.  France,  more  than 
•any  other  nation,  knows  how  to  do  honour  to  the  memory 
of  those  who  have  contributed  to  her  grcatntss,  and  by 
giving  a  national  funeral,  as  well  as  takmg  the  cost  of  it 
upon  herself,  she  has  once  more  shown  the  esteem  in 
■which  she  holds  those  who  have  devoted  their  lives  to  the 
increase  of  the  world's  knowledge  and  happiness.  How 
\i-r\  full  was  this  expression  may  be  gathered  from  the 
II  |»,it  of  the  Times  correspondent  at  Paris.  We  read  : 
■■  (,iuite  a  small  army  of  infantry,  marines,  cavalry,  artil- 
lery, and  municipal  guards,  mounted  and  on  foot  ;  depu- 
tations from  all  the  schools  and  learned  societies  ;  most 
of  those  who  speak  and  of  those  who  govern  and 
command  in  the  name  of  France,  came  to  render  homage 
to  the  stainless  glory  of  this  Frenchman,  whose  genius 
devoted  its  efforts  to  the  whole  of  mankind,  and  who 
deserves  the  gratitude  of  the  world,  not  merely  for  the 
labours  which  he  accomplished  but  for  the  new  paths 
which  he  o|)encd  to  science  by  the  fresh  discoveries  which 
he  made  for  the  Ijencfit  of  mankind."     Shortly  after  ten 

NO.    1354.  VOL.   52] 


o'clock  on  Saturday  morning,  the  troops  and  innumerable 
deputations,  which  had  assembled  in  and  near  the  Pasteur 
Institute,  marched  past  before  the  coffin  containing  the 
body  of  the  illustrious  investigator.  The  funeral  pro- 
cession was  then  organised,  tieneral  .Saussier,  surrounded 
by  his  staff,  and  followed  by  the  first  division  of  infantry, 
preceded  the  hearse,  and  behind  him  came  a  long  line  of 
deputations,  many  of  which  had  wreaths  in  their  centre. 
.A.  number  of  wreaths  were  borne  on  litters,  and  others 
were  carried  on  six  cars,  each  drawn  by  a  pair  of  horses. 

".Along  the  route  from  the  Rue  Uutot  to  Notre  Dame," 
says  the  Times  correspondent,  "  the  compact  and  silent 
crowd  respectfully  uncovered  their  heads  as  the  hearse 
passed,  and  the  two  thousand  soldiers  and  policemen, 
drawn  up  in  line  to  keep  the  way  clear,  had  absolutely 
nothing  to  do.  The  pall-bearers  were  M.  Poincard,  M. 
Joseph  Bcrtrand,  M.  Georges  Perrot,  Dr.  Brouardel,  M. 
Gaston  Boissier,  and  M".  Bergeron,  .\fter  marching  for 
an  hour  and  a  half  along  the  left  bank  of  the  .Seine,  the 
procession  reached  the  square  of  Notre  Dame.  The  aspect 
of  the  Cathedral  was  most  impressive.  The  presence  of 
President  Faure,  the  tirand  Duke  Constantine,  Prince 
Nicholas  of  (Ireece.  Cardinal  Richard,  the  whole  of  the 
Diplomatic  Corps,  the  Ministers,  the  Institute  of  France, 
the  office-bearers  of  the  .Senate  and  the  Chamber  of 
Deputies,  the  red-robed  Judges,  the  members  of  the 
University  faculties,  in  orange,  red,  and  crimson  robes, 
and  the  other  distinguished  persons  invited — all  this  dis- 
play of  official  mourning  was  coupled  with  and  yet  eclipsed 
by  the  profound  silence,  the  manifest  grief  The  immense 
crowd  was  a  rare  and  impressive,  if  not  a  unique  spec- 
tacle." 

The  Royal  Society  was  represented  by  Mr.  W.  T. 
Thiselton-Dyer,  C.M.G.,  Director  of  the  Royal  f.ardens, 
Kew.  .\t  the  final  funeral,  which  will  be  held  in  con- 
nection with  the  Centenary  of  the  Institute,  on  the  25th 
inst.,  several  of  the  Officers  and  Fellows  of  the  Society 
will  be  present,  together  with  many  delegates  from  other 
of  our  leanied  societies. 

.After  the  service  in  Notre  Darne,  the  coffin  containing 
Pasteur's  remains  was  removed  to  a  catafalque  outside 
the  Cathedral,  and  M.  Poincarc  delivered  an  oration 
before  it,  on  behalf  of  the  Government. 

Thus  does  France  venerate  the  memory  of  her  noblest 
son.  But  France  is  not  alone  in  her  grief  The  human 
race  joins  with  her  in  mourning  the  loss  of  one  who  has 
done  so  much  for  humanity  and  science.  The  name  of 
him  to  whom  the  world  owes  so  much  good  is  imperish- 
able. 


NOTES. 

In  July  of  this  year,  a  special  Parliamentary  Committee,  of 
which  Mr.  Rhodes,  the  Premier,  was  a  member,  sat  in  Cape 
Town  to  consider  the  .advis-ibilily  of  beginning  a  systematic 
geological  survey  of  the  Colony.  The  Committee,  after  hearing 
evidence,  rccommemlcil  the  House  of  .-Vssembly  to  ajjpoint  a 
standing  Commission  which  shouki  take  charge  of  the  work, 
and  hecoine  in  the  first  instance  res|K)nsible  for  its  being 
efficiently  carried  out.  I'arliameiU  having  accepted  this  re- 
comnicnilalion,  the  warrant  appointing  the  Connnission  has 
been  duly  drawn  up  and  signeil  by  the  tlovcrnor  of  the  Colony. 
The  following  gentlemen  com|Kise  the  Commission  :  the  1  Ion.  I. 
X.  Merriman,  .M.L.A.;  Dr.  Gill,  Astronomer  Royal  ;  Dr.  Muir, 
Supcrinlendcnt  General  of  Kducalion  ;  Mr.  Charles  Currey, 
UmlerSccrclary  for  Agriculture  ;  and  Mr.  Thom.is  Stewart. 
The  three  first-mentioned  arc  Trustees  of  the  South  -African 
Museum,  Cape  Town,  and  it  is  intended  that  the  geological 
staff  sh.-ill  have  it.s  headquarters  in  the  new  museum  building, 
which  is  just  approaching  completion.      In  past  years  a  great 


October  io,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


577 


amount  of  detached  work,  chiefly  of  the  nature  of  prospecting 
and  reporting  upon  mineral  occurrences,  has  been  done  in  Cape 
Colony,  while  many  European  geologists  have  written  papers 
<lealing  with  the  rocks,  fossils,  and  in  some  cases  the  structural 
characters  of  different  portions  of  the  Colony  which  at  various 
times  they  happened  to  have  visited.  The  Commission  intends, 
as  one  of  its  first  duties,  to  have  a  bibliography  of  all  such 
papers  and  reports  published,  but  will  at  the  same  time  have 
an  organised  systematic  scheme  of  field  work  entered  upon.  A 
topographical  map  on  a  scale  of  two  miles  to  an  inch  has  already 
been  published  for  about  one-twelfth  of  the  entire  area  of  the 
Colony,  and  it  is  intended  to  utilise  this  for  the  geological 
<letails. 

Dr.  W.  S.  Church  will  deliver  the  Harveian  oration  before 
the  Royal  College  of  Physicians,  on  Friday,  October  i8. 

Prof.  Raoult,  of  Grenoble  Universit)',  has  been  awarded  the 
prize  of  twenty  thousand  francs  given  biennially  by  one  of  the 
bodies  constituting  the  Institute  of  France,  and  awarded  this  year 
liy  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 

We  regret  to  notice  the  death  of  Prof.  .\.  von  Bardeleben, 
the  eminent  surgeon,  and  for  many'years  one  of  the  Presidents  of 
the  Berlin  Medical  Society.  The  death  is  also  announced  of 
Baron  Felix  Larrey,  member  of  the  Paris  Academy  of  Medicine, 
and  author  of  a  number  of  works  on  military  surgery. 

The  Bulletin  of  the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew ,  announces  that  Sir 
Joseph  Hooker  has  presented  the  Gardens  with  a  replica  of  a 
portrait  of  the  lale  Dr.  T.  Thomson,  F.R.S.  Dr.  Thomson 
was  the  first  botanist  to  enter  the  Karakoram  mountains,  and  was 
for  some  time  Director  of  the  Calcutta  Botanic  Gardens. 

DuRl.NG  the  Leyden  Zoology  Congress  a  small  volume, 
entitled  "Guide  Zoologique  de  la  HoUande,"  was  presented  to 
the  members.  This  little  book,  containing  a  number  of  photo- 
graphs, was  compiled  by  the  General  Secretary  to  the  Congress, 
Dr.  Hoek,  and  is  full  of  information  on  the  zoological  labora- 
tories, the  museums,  the  zoological  station  and  the  zoological 
gardens,  as  well  as  concerning  the  study  and  the  teaching  of 
zoology  in  Holland.  Several  chapters  are,  moreover,  devoted 
to  the  fauna  of  the  country. 

At  last  week's  meeting  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society  of 
Great  Britain,  the  Hanbury  Medal  was  presented  to  Dr.  .A.  I",. 
Vogl,  Professor  of  Phannacology-  in  the  University  of  A'ienna, 
through  Count  Clary,  Prof.  \'ogl  being  unable  to  attend  in 
jierson.  The  medal  is  awarded  biennially  in  accordance  with 
the  condition  of  the  Hanburj-  Memorial  P'und,  and  the  award 
rests  with  the  Presidents  of  the  Pharmaceutical  Society,  Linnean 
Society,  Chemical  Society,  and  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Con- 
ference. The  first  presentation  was  made  in  iSSi,  the  recipient 
being  Prof.  FUickiger. 

At  the  Royal  Microscopical  Society,  on  Wednesday,  October 
16,  the  following  papers  will  be  read  : — "  On  the  Division  of 
the  Chromosomes  in  the  Pollen  Mother-Cell  of  I.ilium,"  by 
Prof.  J.  B.  Farmer  ;  "  New  and  Critical  Fungi,"  by  G.  Massee  ; 
"  A  p'Uiorescent  Bacillus,"  by  F.  J.  Rcid. 

The  inaugural  lecture  of  the  newly-instituted  "  Course  of 
Scientific  Instruction  in  Hygiene  and  Public  Health  "  at  Bedford 
College  for  Women,  was  delivered  by  Dr.  Louis  Parkeson  Saturday 
afternoon,  October  5.  The  course  aims  at  promoting  systematic 
instruction  in  hygiene  and  all  those  allied  branches  of  science 
necessary  to  a  thorough  knowledge  of  sanitation  and  laws  of 
health,  and  so  qualifying  women  to  become  teachers  and 
NO.    1354,  VOL.  52] 


lecturers,  and  inspectors  of  workshops  and  factories  where  female 
labour  is  employed. 

A  MEETixo  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers  will  be 
held  on  Wednesday,  October  23,  and  Thursday,  October  24,  a 
the  Royal  United  Ser\'ice  Institution,  Whitehall.  The  chair 
will  be  taken  by  the  President,  Prof.  Alexander  B.  W.  Kennedy, 
F.R.S.,  and  the  following  papers  will  be  read  and  discussed,  as 
far  as  time  permits  : — "  The  Electric  Lighting  of  Edinburgh,"  by 
Mr.  Henry  R.  J.  Burstall ;  "  Report  on  the  Lille  Experimenu 
upon  the  Efliciency  of  Ropes  and  Belts  for  the  Transmission  of 
Power,"  translated  by  Prof.  David  S.  Capper;  "  Observations  on 
the  Lille  Experiments  upon  the  Efficiency  of  Ropes  and  Belts  for 
the  Transmission  of  Power,"  also  by  Prof.  Capper. 

The  death  of  Moritz  Wilkomm,  the  eminent  botanist  and 
geographical  explorer,  is  announced  in  the  Geographual Journal. 
Of  his  life  we  read  : — "Born  in  1821,  at  Herwigsdorf,  in  the 
kingdom  of  Saxony,  after  1841  he  studied  medicine  and  natural 
science  at  Leipzig.  In  1844  he  for  the  first  time  \-isited  the 
Pyrenean  peninsula,  which  he  subsequently  traversed  so  often, 
sometimes  by  the  year  together,  making  thorough  investigations 
into  the  botanical,  geognostical,  and  geographical  relations  of 
the  country.  After  having,  in  1852,  gained  some  experience  as 
teacher  of  botany  at  Leipzig,  and  having  been  called  thence  first 
to  Tharandt,  and  afterwards,  in  1868,  to  Dorpat,  he  occupied 
the  chair  of  Botany  at  the  German  University  at  Prague  from 
1873  until  the  receipt  of  his  pension  in  1892,  being  at  the  same 
time  Director  of  the  Botanical  Garden  in  that  city.  He  did 
much  good  work  by  his  rich  botanical  collections,  principally 
from  Spain  and  the  Balearic  Isles,  as  well  as  by  his  special 
botanical  works  dealing  especially  with  the  descriptive  side  of  the 
science  ;  whilst  as  a  geographer  he  did  lasting  service,  not  only 
in  connection  with  the  geography  of  plants — in  particular  in 
South-West  and  Central  Europe — but  also  by  his  comprehensive 
geographical  description  of  Spain  and  Portugal ;  and,  above  all, 
he  threw  light  on  the  geography  of  Austria  by  his  excellent  work 
on  the  Bohmerwald  (1878),  which  region  he  was  the  first  to 
throw  open  to  science  in  its  most  inaccessible  parts,  still  at  the 
time  clothed  with  primeval  forest." 

With  reference  to  the  letter  by  Mr.  Pillsbury  on  "  Colour 
Standards"  (Nature,  August  22,  p.  390),  Mr.  J.  W.  Lovibond 
writes  from  Salisbury  : — "  In  justice  to  myself,  may  I  be  allowed 
to  point  out  that  the  difficulties  named  no  longer  exist,  since  it 
remains  as  an  experimental  fact  that  the  solution  of  every  position 
which  Mr.  Pillsbury  describes  as  desirable  and  lacking  is  now  a 
matter  of  ever)'day  routine  in  many  laboratories  and  manu- 
factories. .  .  .  Every  sensation,  whether  of  light  or  colour, 
which  can  be  differentiated  by  the  vision  can  be  matched  by 
means  of  the  Tintometer  Standard  Glasses,  and  defined  by  means 
of  a  system  of  colour  terms  ;  the  colour  sensation  itself  can  be 
re])roduccd  at  any  future  time  by  simply  using  the  matching 
glasses.  The  operation  of  matching  a  colour  is  so  easy  that  in 
those  factories  where  frequent  changes  of  colour  require  noting, 
or  where  it  is  neces.sar)'  to  work  up  to  a  given  colour,  an 
intelligent  workman  is  found  competent  to  effect  them." 

Tn¥.  cwxieni  rwxmher  ol  Hiiiiiiicl  und  Erdi  contains  the  con- 
cluding part  of  two  interesting  articles  on  scientific  balloon 
ascents,  by  Dr.  R.  Siiring,  of  Potsdam.  The  author  briefly 
reviews  all  ascents  since  that  by  Jeffries  and  Blanchard  on 
November  30,  1784,  and  shows  that  relatively  little  use  has  been 
made  of  the  observations,  probably  because  they  have  not  always 
been  free  from  objection,  or  from  the  flict  that  most  ascents  have 
been  of  an  isolated  character.  The  principal  exceptions,  among 
the  older  .ascents,  are  the  celebrated  voyages  of  Welsh  a 
Glaisher,  and  more  recently  those  made  by  the   Bavarians  and 


J78 


NA 1  URE 


[October  lo,  1895 


Russians  ;  the  latter  dealing  more  especially  with  wind  conciilions 
in  high  and  low  barometric  pressures.  The  German  Society 
for  the  promotion  of  scientific  balloon  ascents,  under  the 
patronage  of  the  Emperor,  will  probably  obtain  important 
results,  and  solve  several  open  questions  relating  to  cloud 
formation,  and  atmospheric  electricity  vmder  various  hygr^mietric 
conditions  of  the  atmosphere. 

A  SUSPENSION  for  physical  instnimcms  ircc  irom  the  viliraiions 
of  the  laboratory  would  be  an  inestimable  boon  to  physicists, 
especially  in  crowded  cities.  At  Leyden  University,  Prof. 
Einthoven  mounted  his  delicate  capillary  electrometer  on  an 
iron  plate  floating  on  mercury.  This  deWce  was  exceedingly 
successful,  although  somewhat  cumbersome  and  bulky,  and  he 
was  thus  enabled  to  take  a  photographic  record  of  the  instrument 
magnified  800  times.  Sir  d.  B.  Airy  was  in  the  habit  of  placing 
his  artificial  horizon  upon  a  table  suspended  by  caoutchouc  bands 
attached  to  another  table  similarly  suspended,  the  arrangement 
being  repeated  three  times.  This,  however,  was  even  more 
cumbersome.  Now  Herr  W.  H.  Julius,  in  Wiedemann's 
Annalen,  describes  a  contrivance  which  is  both  simple  and 
effective.  It  consists  of  a  small  circular  table  suspended  by  three 
vertical  wires  about  6  or  8  feet  long,  the  ends  of  which  form 
the  points  of  an  equilateral  triangle.  A  movable  weight  is 
attached  to  a  rod  projecting  downwards  from  the  centre  of  the 
table.  It  can  be  clamped  in  any  position,  so  as  to  bring  the 
centre  of  gra%ity  of  the  table  and  the  instrument  into  the  plane 
of  the  table  itself.  .\ny  lateral  displacement  of  the  upper  ends 
of  the  wire  will  start  waves  down  the  wires,  which  will  arrive  at  the 
table  simultaneously,  but  will  only  affect  it  perceptibly  when  the 
period  of  the  disturbance  coincides  with  the  period  of  oscillation 
of  the  table  about  the  point  of  suspension.  Even  then  the  axis 
of  the  table  is  always  strictly  vertical.  To  clamp  the  oscillations 
peculiar  to  the  suspension  the  author  attached  little  vanes,  dipping 
into  oil  or  water,  to  the  table.  With  a  rough  preliminary 
apparatus  constructed  in  this  manner,  the  author  succeeded  in 
reducing  the  \-ibrations  to  one-tenth  of  their  original  amplitude. 

That  sedimentation  plays  an  important  part  in  the  purifica- 
tion of  water,  was  shown  as  long  ago  as  the  year  1886  by  Dr. 
Percy  Frankland  in  the  case  of  his  Ialx)ratory  experiments  on  the 
removal  of  micro-organisms  from  water.  That  it  is  a  factor  of 
great  importance  in  the  storage  of  water  in  reservoirs,  was  also 
shown  l)y  him  in  his  investigations  at  the  London  water-works  ; 
but  quite  recently  Dr.  H.  J.  van  't  Hofi'  has  indicated  how  this 
now  recognised  process  nf  sedimentation  may  be  taken  advantage 
of  in  the  abstraction  of  tidal  water  for  purposes  of  water-supply. 
It  appears  that  the  city  of  Rotterdam  derives  its  water-supply 
from  the  river  Maas,  and  that  the  Company's  intake  is  situated 
within  the  tidal  area  of  the  river  ;  the  water  is,  however,  only 
abstracted  at  particular  times,  i.e.  two  hours  after  high-water 
has  been  reached.  During  this  period  the  river  is  at  rest,  and 
sedimentation  can  proceed  unhindered,  and  Dr.  van 't  Iloff' 
estimates  that  at  Ica.st  50  per  cent,  of  the  bacteria  present  are 
eliminated  during  this  time  of  comparative  stagnation.  Uhlike 
the  city  of  Hamburg,  which  before  and  during  the  great  cholera 
epidemic  abstracted  tidal  water  from  the  river  Eltie,  and  distri- 
buted it  in  it.s  raw  condition  in  Rotterdam,  the  Maas  water  is 
submitted  to  filtration  l)efore  delivery.  In  consc<juence,  how- 
ever, of  a  very  large  demand  on  the  rcs<iurces  of  the  water- 
wnrV;,,  'V,.  r:i!c  '.f  fdtration  is  considerably  higher  than  it  should 
b'  iiliincd  with  the  unpleasant  circumstance  that 

111'  .!-    refuse  by  conilucting  it   into  the   river, 

would   natur.  in  anticipate  a  Iwid  l)acleri.-il   filtrate. 

Dr.   van  'l   II    '  1,  unfortunately,  cite  any  figures  for  the 

filtrate,  but  ktates  that  "  the  very  satisfactory  bacteriological 
resuitt  which  obtain  at  the  Rotterdam  water-works  "  arc  doubtless 
in  great  part  a  consequence  of  the  improvement  which  takes 

NO.   1354.  VOL.  52] 


place  in  this  tidal  water  through  sedimentation,  rendering  the 
raw  water  comparatively  easy  lo  deal  with,  whilst  its  microbial 
contents  after  the  stagnation  period  average  only  from  4,000  to 
10,000  per  cubic  centimetre,  a  remarkalily  small  number  for  a 
polluted  water. 

Messrs.  Olithant,  Anderson,  anh  Ikkkier  are  about  lo 
issue  a  new  popular  science  series  for  children,  under  the  title  of 
"  Science  Talks  to  Young  Thinkers."  The  first  volume  is 
"  Nature's  Story-,"  by  Mr.  H.  Karquhar. 

The  last  part  of  "The  Natural  History  of  Plants,"  by 
Kerner  and  Oliver,  which  Messrs.  Blackie  have  for  some  months 
been  issuing,  has  just  appeared,  and  the  whole  of  that  excellent 
work  can  therefore  now  be  obtained  in  volumes. 

Messrs.  Cassei.l  and  Co.  have  issued  the  first  pari  of  a 
"new  and  revised  edition"  of  Sir  Robert  Ball's  "Story  of  the 
Heavens."  We  hope  that  succeeding  parts  have  been  brought 
up  to  the  present  state  of  knowledge,  so  that  the  edition  will 
really  be  a  revised  one. 

Several  years  ago  it  was  intimated  by  a  circular  that  Dr. 
Buchanan  White  was  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  a  Flora  of 
Perthshire,  which  he  hoped  to  issue  after  a  brief  period  of  time. 
Dr.  White's  death,  last  December,  prevented  its  issue  by  himself, 
but  he  left  it  in  a  state  that  permits  of  its  immediate  publication  ; 
and  we  are  glad  to  notice  the  announcement  that  the  book  is  to 
be  issued  on  behalf  of  the  Perthshire  Society  of  Natural  Science. 
Prof.  Trail,  F.R.S.,  has  undertaken  to  edit  it,  and  to  preface  it 
with  a  sketch  of  the  author's  life  and  scientific  work. 

A  series  of  five  simply-worded  books  on  wild  flowers,  by 
Dr.  XL  C.  Cooke,  has  been  published  by  Messrs.  T.  Nelson 
and  Sons.  The  volumes  are  entitled  "  Down  the  Lane  and 
Back,"  "  Through  the  Copse,"  "  A  Stroll  in  a  Marsh," 
"  .\round  a  Cornfield,"  and  "  Across  a  Common."  Written  in 
an  attractive  conversational  style,  and  with  scanty  use  of  the 
"  hard  words"  which  children,  and  even  those  of  older  growth, 
always  associate  with  the  study  of  nature,  the  Ixjoks  are  well 
suited  to  the  juvenile  public  for  whom  they  are  intended. 

We  are  glad  to  note  that  the  Harveian  oration  delivered  by 
Dr.  Lauder  Brunton  before  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians 
last  October,  and  jirinted  in  full  in  these  columns  at  the  time, 
has  been  published  in  the  form  of  a  hamly  volume  by  Messrs. 
Macmillan  and  Co.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  subject  of 
the  oration  was  "  Modern  Developments  of  Harvey's  Work  "  ; 
and  those  who  know  how  well  and  fully  Dr.  Brunton  treated 
his  subject,  will  be  gratified  at  the  publication  of  the  oration  in 
a  convenient  form.  The  volume  is  dedicated  to  Sir  J.  Russell 
Reynolds,  the  President  of  the  Royal  College  of  Physicians. 

We  have  received  the  second  part  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Taylor's 
"  Monograph  of  the  Land  and  Kreshwalcr  Mollusca  of  the 
British  Isles,"  from  Messrs.  Taylor  Brothers,  Leeds,  and  are 
pleased  to  see  that  the  high  standard  of  excellence  to  which  we 
called  attention  in  our  notice  of  the  first  part  is  well  sus- 
tained. The  descriptive  text  is  clear,  and  generally  accurate, 
while  the  pa|)er,  print,  and  illustrations  (coloured  and  other- 
wise) are  all  praiseworthy.  The  present  part  pr.ictically  com- 
pletes the  consideration  of  the  shell,  and  the  next  issue  will  be 
devoted  to  the  animal  and  its  orgiinis-ttion. 

The  "  Zoologisches  Adressbuch,"  which  R.  Kriedliinder  and 
Sohn,  Berlin,  have  edited  and  published  in  connection  wilh  the 
Deutsche  Zoologische  <  •escUschaft,  will  prove  of  very  great 
assistance  to  workers  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  voliuiie 
contains  the  names  and  address  of  zoologists,  anatomists, 
physiologists,  and  zoo-palrcontologists  of  all  countries.  The 
classification  is  according  to  countries,  the  towns  of  which  are 


M 


October  io,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


579 


arranged  (with  a  few  exceptions)  in  alphabetical  order,  while  the 
names  follow  the  same  order.     Each  name  is  followed  by  a  full 
address,  and  by  an  indication  of  the  special  branch  or  branches 
of  study  in  which   the  person  it  designates  is  interested.     To 
give  an  example  of  the  scope  of  the  contents,  it  may  be  said  that 
under  London  we  find  the  names  of  the  professors  and  assistants 
in  the  zoological  and  kindred  departments  in  the  various  colleges 
and   medical  schools  ;    the  staffs  of  the  departments  of  zoolog)- 
and  geology  in  the  Natural  History  Museum  ;  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Geological  Survey  of  England  and  Wales ;  a  list  of 
the  members  of  the  Zoological  Society  ;  the  names  and  places  of 
meeting  of  a  number  of  London  and  suburban  scientific  societies 
interested  more  or  less  in  zoology';    and  lists  of  draughtsmen, 
opticians,   publishers,  and  of  taxidermists  and  dealers  in  ani- 
mals.    In  some  cases  the  lists  are  much  fuller  than  in  others, 
owing  proba^jly  to  the  fact  that  some  colleges  and  institutions 
furnished   the   publishers  with  more  detailed  lists  than  others. 
But  though  a  few  names  are  omitted  from  the  places  where  one 
first  looks  for  them,  they  can   in  most  cases  be  found  somewhere 
in  the  volume.     Very  valuable  is  an  index  of  the  names  arranged 
in  groups  according   to  the  subjects  especially  studied,  and  a 
geographical  index.     And,  finally,  the  personal  index  at  the  end 
of  the  volume  renders  it  possible  to  find  the  name,  address,  and 
S|iecial  work   of  any  zoologist  entered  in  the   work  in  a  few 
moments.     It  is  well  known  that  the  Germans  excel  in  pro- 
ducing directories  of  the  kind  before  us,  and,  so  far  as  we  can 
make  out,  the  present  work  will  sustain  their  reputation.     Being 
international,   the  directory  will  help  to  bring  together  observers 
accumulated  in  widely  separated  regions  of  our  globe,  and  so  will 
lead  to  a  better  knowledge  of  the  world's  fauna.     We  congratu- 
late Messrs.  Friedlander  upon  the  enterprise  they  have  shown  in 
]>reparing  and  producing  such  a  useful  work  ;  and  we  hope  the 
time  is   not  far  distant  when  the  designations  of  students  and 
investigators  in  the  domain  of  physical  science  will  be   brought 
together  in  a  similar  directory. 

The   additions  to  the   Zoological   Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Black   Ape  ( Cynopithecics  nigir)  from 
Celebes,    presented   by    Mr.    Frank    Greswolde   Williams;    a 
Rhesus   Monkey   {Macacus  rhesus,  <J )    from    India,    presented 
by  Mr.  IL  Small;  a  Bonnet  Monkey  {A/araiiis  siniciis,^),  a 
Macaque  yionVny  {Macruiis  cyiiomolgiis,  9  )  from  India,  presented 
by  Mrs.   Lionel    Smith  ;  a   White-tailed  Ichneumon  (Herpesles 
albuatida),  two  Blotched  Genets  (Geiielta  tigriiia)  from  Natal, 
presented    by   Mr.    \V.    Champion  ;    a    Cape    Hyrax    (Hyrax 
fapensis),    two    Suricates    {Siiricata   telradaclyla)    from   South 
Africa,   presented    by   Mr.   J.    E.    Matcham ;    two   Norwegian 
Lemmings  (Myodes  lemritus)  from   Norway,  presented   by  Mrs. 
1  laig  Thomas  ;  a  Passerine  Parrakeet  ( Psittamla  passerina)  from 
Brazil,  a  Silky  Cow-Bird  (Molothriis  bonarieiisis),  a  Red-crested 
Cardinal  (Paroaria  aiaillata)  from  South   America,  presented 
by  Mr.    R.  Norton  ;  two  Common  Kingfishers  (Alcedo  ispida), 
British,   presented  by  Mr.  J.   A.  Clark  ;  a  Passerine   Parrakeet 
(Piillaiulapasariita)  from  Brazil,  a  Tuberculatcd  Iguana  (Igttana 
tiihniilala)  from   the  West    Indies,    two    Common  Teguexins 
( Tiipinambis  tegtiexin)  from  South  America,  deposited. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 
Measurement  ok  Planetary  Diameters.— In  a  paper 
givmg  particulars  of  measurements  of  the  polar  diameter  of 
Mars  (Astronomical  Journal,  No.  354),  Prof  Campljell  gives 
an  mterestmg  summary  of  the  conditions  of  planetary  measures 
in  general.  He  points  out  that  measurements  of  diameter  are 
affected  by  a  variety  of  errors,  among  them  being  spherical  and 
chromatic  aberration,  imperfect  atmospheric  condition.s,  irradia- 
tion, diffraction,  and  imperfect  focus,  all  of  which  tend  to 
increase  the  apparent  diameter  of  the  object;  while,  in  addition, 
NO.    1354,   VOL.    52] 


personal  equation  and  accidental  errors  may  also  affect  the 
results.  The  effects  of  spherical  and  chromatic  aberration,  a.s 
well  as  of  diffraction,  may  be  regarded  as  constant  throughout 
a  series  of  measures  of  any  given  object.  Differential  refraction 
can  be  satisfactorily  corrected  for,  but  the  irregular  refraction 
caused  by  the  unsteadiness  of  the  atmosphere,  and  resulting  in 
"poor  seeing,"  may  produce  very  large  errors  indeed.  The  ap- 
parent increase  of  diameter  due  to  irradiation  may  be  regarded 
as  sensibly  constant  with  any  given  telescope,  eyepiece,  planet, 
and  background.  Imperfect  focus  may  produce  considerable  and 
variable  errors  ;  in  the  36-inch  Lick  telescope,  an  error  of  a 
thousandth  of  an  inch  in  focussing  increases  the  diameter  of  a 
planet  by  o"-02.  Experiments  as  to  the  best  method  of  pro- 
cedure were  made  by  Prof.  Campbell  in  June  and  July,  1894, 
with  the  result  that  the  f(jllowing  programme  was  adopted  in  the 
case  of  Mars  :  (a)  All  the  observations  were  made  with  the  sun 
above  the  horizon,  and  the  advantages  of  a  bright  sky  background 
were  very  marked  ;  it  was  believed  to  reduce  all  the  errors, 
except  possibly  that  of  personal  equation.  (*)  Obser%ations  were 
only  made  in  a  tranquil  atmosphere,  (c)  The  same  eyepiece  was 
used  throughout.  (d)  An  eyepiece  cap  with  a  very  small 
aperture  was  employed.  («■)  The  observers  eyes  were  always 
similarly  situated  with  respect  to  the  threads  of  the  micrometer. 
(/)  The  micrometer  threads  were  always  placed  parallel  to  the 
great  circle  passing  through  .Mars  and  the  sun.  [g)  The  micro- 
meter threads  were  placed  directly  upon  the  opposite  limbs  of  the 
planet. 

Following  this  programme,  and  adopting  \'oung's  value  of 
1/2 19  for  the  polar  compression,  the  most  prolrable  polar 
diameter  of  Mars,  at  distance  unity,  was  found  to  be  9" -25-1- 
o"oi2,  while  the  equatorial  diameter  resulting  from  the  measures 
was  9"  30. 

The  Craters  on  the  Moon.— Much  has  been  learnt  about 
the  configurations  of  the  lunar  surface  since  the  idea  of  examin- 
ing very  greatly  enlarged  photographs  came  into  practice.  It 
was  only  natural,  however,  that  many  interested  in  the  subject 
should  have  looked  upon  the  interesting  results  of  Dr.  Weinek 
with  scepticism,  for  it  was  hard  to  believe  that  such  detail  structure 
could  be  so  perfectly  secured  on  the  photographic  plates.  Such 
doubts  as  to  their  existence  were  somewhat  increased  by  the  fact 
that  many  details  were  invisible  to  eye  observations,  or  at  any 
rate  were  thought  to  be,  but  the  fact  was  not  sufficiently  grasped 
that  the  photographic  plates  showed  only  the  detail  as  it  appeared 
at  the  moment  of  the  exposure,  which  might  have  differed  con- 
siderably from  that  which  preceded  it  or,  followed  it  by  a  few- 
seconds. 

Every  confidence  is  now  placed  in  the  photographic  records, 
and  under  suitable  and  similar  observing  conditions  the  eye 
should  be  ably  to  verify  them  directly.  M.  C.  .M.  Gaudiben,  in 
Atr.  Nach.  No.  3310,  tells  us  of  his  discovery,  with  an  instru- 
ment of  260  m.m.  aperture,  by  eye  observations  alone,  of  a  small 
crater  only  Soo  metres  in  diameter.  It  lies  on  the  top  of  the 
central  mountain  of  Albategnius.  This  crater  has  been  subse- 
quently found  by  Dr.  Weinek  on  a  negative  taken  by  MM. 
Loewy  and  Puiseux  1894,  February  13,  4h.  6m.  Mean  Time 
Paris. 

A  diligent  search  by  M.  Gaudibert  has  also  enabled  him  to 
secure  the  necessary  observational  conditions  to  see  the  two 
small  craters  discovered  by  Weinek  near  the  crater  and  to  the 
east  of  the  Rephees  mountains. 


Suggestion  i-or  Astronomicai.  Research. —Dr.  Isaac 
Roberts  draws  attention  to  a  piece  of  useful  astronomical  work 
which  may  be  performed  by  those  who  take  a  practical  interest 
in  the  subject,  namely,  to  determine  what  changes,  if  any,  have 
taken  place  among  the  stars  in  the  regions  photographed  by  him 
at  intervals  during  the  past  eight  years.  In  the  first  instance  it 
will  only  be  necessary  to  compare  the  earlier  photographs  pub- 
lished in  his  well-known  "  Photographs  of  Stars,  Star  Clusters, 
and  Nobuke  "  with  the  new  series  now  appearing  in  Knauiled-re  ; 
but  arrangements  are  being  made  which  will  enable  investigators 
to  refer  to  glass  positives,  or  the  negatives  themselves,  to  settle 
any  doubtful  points.  The  photographs  being  enlarged  to  the 
same  scale,  comparative  measurements  may  readily  be  made  by 
means  of  a  n'seaii  ruled  on  glass,  and  a  transparent  protractor 
will  enable  position  angles  to  be  determined.  The  scale  of  the 
l>h(jtographs  is  such  thai  any  change  of  position  exceeding  three 
seconds  of  arc  may  be  detected  by  careful  measurements. 
"Thus,  a  system  of  astronomical  research  would  be  inaugurated, 
that  must  eventually  add  largely  to  existing  knowledge." 


s8o 


NA  TURE 


[October  io,  1895 


ANTHROPOLOGY  AT  THE  BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 

C\^  Thursilay.  September  I2.  the  President's  address  was  de- 
^^  livered.  The  address  was  fallowed  by  craniological  papers. 
Sir  \V.  H.  Klower  exhiliited  four  skulls  of  the  alniriginal  in- 
habitants of  Jamaica,  who  had  disappeared  before  the  Knglish 
occupation  in  the  seventeenth  centurj-.  They  resemble  the 
Carib  type,  and  have  lieen  more  or  less  markedly  deformed 
during  life. 

The  President,  in  the  absence  of  Dr.  J.  G.  Garson,  gave  an 
account  of  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  "  New  Race  "  lately 
discovereil  in  Kg>pi.  Some  200  skulls  were  secured,  and  parts 
of  400-500  skeletons.  The  average  index  of  length  lies  between 
73  and  75  :  the  alveolar  index  shows  three  predominant  types, 
alwut  94,  96,  and  99"5,  which  are  confimied  by  the  male  and 
female  indices  taken  separately,  and  indicate  a  mixture  of  races. 
The  nasal  index  is  54  :  wider  than  the  European  (47),  and 
Egyptian  and  Guanche  types  (49),  which  are  thus  excluded. 
The  great  excess,  especially  from  one  of  the  sites  explored,  of 
female  skulls  of  very  small  cap.icity  is  explained  by  supposing  a 
segregation  of  a  ]xirt  of  the  race,  and  subsequent  marriage  of  the 
smaller-headed  women  into  the  normal  branch.  The  well-known 
decrease  of  cranial  caixacity  in  tropical,  as  compared  with  arctic 
and  temperate  races,  suggests  that  the  new  race  originated  in 
tropical  Africa.  But  the  type  of  skull  ajiix'ars  to  be  distinct  from 
that  of  the  negro  :  and  the  hair  which  has  l)een  found  is  either 
straight  or  wavy. 

Each  afternoon  of  the  meeting  was  devoted  to  a  lantern 
lecture  of  a  somewhat  more  popular  kind  than  the  morning's 
work.  On  Thurs<lay  the  President  ilescrilied  the  remains  and 
civilisation  of  the  "\ew  Race"  in  Egypt,  whose  physical  features 
had  lieen  already  examined. 

Several  rites  were  discovered  this  winter  between  Balla.s  and 
Nagada,  near  Thelies,  of  an  entirely  un-Egyptian  character.  All 
the  [Xittery  was  hand-ma<le, though  the  jjotter's  wheel  h.ad  long  been 
known  in  Egypt  ;  and  though  metal  was  not  entirely  unknown, 
the  great  majority  of  the  implements  were  of  very  delicately 
Aorkcd  flint.  The  long  knife-blades,  and  the  forked  s|x:ar-heads 
with  |)eculiar  hafting,  for  bringing  down  running  deer,  are 
(articularly  notable.  \cry  beautifully  formed  jars  of  hard 
.stone,  with  jx-rforated  ears  for  .suspension,  are  also  a  character- 
istic manufacture,  an<l  are  imitated  in  clay  with  jKiinled 
marbling,  and  also  later  by  the  native  Egyptians.  Extensive 
cemeteries  have  Ixen  explored,  and  the  manner  of  interment 
h.is  been  determineil  :  the  bodies  were  buried  on  one  side  in  a 
contracti;d  |>osturc,  with  many  vessels  and  other  funer.il  furniture, 
and  with  "  a  great  burning  '  as  |xirt  of  the  ceremony.  This, 
and  the  jK-cidiar  |ihysical  type  of  the  jwople  seem  to  connect 
them  with  the  ancient  .\moritcs  of  Southern  Palestine  ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  they  seem  to  have  invaded  Egypt  from  the 
Libyan  Desert,  and  to  lielong  clo.sely  to  the  early  inhabitants  of 
the  north  coast  of  .\frica.  The  date  of  their  occupation  of 
Egypt  is  fixed  by  the  inter|«>sition  of  their  tombs  between  those 
of  sixth  and  twelfth  dyna,sty  Egyptians  ;  so  that  their  presence 
explains  the  fall  ipf  the  Pyramid-Building  dynasty,  and  the  gap 
which  h-as  licen  observed  at  this  point  in  the  sequence  of 
Egyptian   history. 

(Jn  Eriday,  .Mr.  II.  \V.  Selon-Karr  exhibited  a  large  scries  of 
flint  implements  from  Somali-land,  and  of  illustrative  photo- 
graphs. The  flint  is  f>f  local  origin,  and  a  number  of  factories 
has  liccn  identified. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Knowles  .sent  a  ".striated  Him  implement"  from 
ihc  North  of  Ireland,  which  gave  rise  to  some  discussion  as  to 
its  origin. 

.Mr.  B.  Harrison  contributed  a  report  on  the  plateau  flints 
of  North  Kent. 

Mr.  II.  Slopes  exhibited  graving  tools  from  the  terrace- 
gravels  of  Ihe  Thames  \'alley  and  Palx-olithic  projectiles.  In 
discussion,  however,  the  human  W(irkman.ship  of  some  of  Ihc 
.specimens  was  railed  in  question. 

The  I'resifleni  gave  a  rlemonslration,  with  numerous  illustra- 
tion-., ■  '  ''■• I  melal  wnrking  in  ancient  Egypt.     The  earliest 

inipl  1  LjypI  arc  of  I'aheolithic  lypes,  found  undisturbed 

and  nil   by  cx|>osure,  on   the  surface  of  the  descrl, 

800-1200  feel  iilK)ve  the  Nile  X'alley.  More  .advanced  work- 
manship, with  long  ixirallcl  flaking,  ap|x:ars  in  the  gravels  of  the 
Nile,  30  feel  alK)velhe  river.  N<i  intermediate  sl.ages  are  known 
lictwcen  thcw  and  Ihe  rectangular-faced  flakes  of  the  fourth 
ilynasly.      Tlie   "  New    Race  "    which  overthrew    the  Pyramid- 


NO.  t354,  VOL.  52] 


builders  surpassed  all  known  flint- workers  in  the  length,  flat- 
ness, and  regxilarity  of  their  knives,  javelin-heads,  and  sickle- 
flints.  Bangles  and  other  ornaments  of  great  delicacy  were  made 
of  the  same  flint.  L'nder  the  XII.  dynasty  straight-backed 
and  curved  knives,  adzes,  axes  with  lugs,  scrapers  and  sickles  k^{ 
native  workmanship- occur :  but  under  the  XVIII.  dyna.sty, 
after  another  perioil  of  eclipse,  bronze  is  found  to  have  super- 
seded flint,  i-linl  implements,  however,  of  a  coarser  kind,  con- 
tinued to  be  used  as  late  as  the  fourth  century  a.d. 

Metal -working  is  first  found  under  the  III.  dynasty,  and 
copper  tools  are  habitually  used  under  the  W .  for  mason's  work  ; 
copper  needles  were  also  in  use.  Only  one  sample  of  bronze  is 
known  of  this  age  ;  the  rest  are  of  pure  copper.  The  "  New- 
Race,"  though  devoted  to  stonework,  produced  occasional  fine 
copper  implements:  one  notable  dagger  is  of  an  ".Egean" 
type.  Under  XII.  dynasty,  copper  is  still  predominant,  and 
much  commoner :  tempered  with  copper  oxide  and  with  arsenic. 
Bronze  begins  with  X\III.  dynasty.  .Silver  and  gold  are  well 
worked  from  an  early  period  ;  almost  absent  from  "  New  Race"' 
graves,  which,  however,  seem  to  have  been  rifled.  Iron  has 
not  been  found  earlier  than  foreign,  mostly  Greek  de|iosits  of 
XX\T.  dynasty  (650-550  B.C.).  Earlier  supposed  allusions  to 
"  iron"  in  inscriptions  really  refer  to  "  bronze." 

Mr.  H.  Swainson  Cowper  gave  a  lantern  lecture  on  ihe 
Senams,  or  megalilhic  monuments  of  Tripoli,  of  which  he 
has  visited  nearly  sixty.  Reclangtdar  enclosures  of  good  masonry 
are  associated  with  trilithons  like  those  of  Stonehenge,  but  with 
very  narrow  apertures  between  the  jambs  :  the  height  varies 
from  6  to  1 5  feet.  They  are  erected  on  footing  stones,  and 
are  apparently  designed  to  hold  additional  superstructures  of 
wood.  The  forms  of  the  stones  themselves  also  sometimes  recall 
carpentry  types,  which  in  so  treeless  a  country  are  remarkable. 
A  massive  stone  altar,  often  grooved,  and  level  with  the  ground, 
sometimes  stands  in  front  of  a  Irililhon.  The  few  sculptures 
associated  with  the  .Senams  are  of  R.mian  style,  with  Phallic 
subjects  ;  but  are  not  necessarily  conleuqiorary  with  the  monu- 
ments them.selves.  The  Senams  appear  to  have  been  objects  of 
worship,  and  usually  stand  upon  hill-tops.  Mr.  Swainson 
Cowper  suggests  that  they  are  analogous  to  the  "  Asherah  "  of 
the  Old  Testament,  and  to  similar  structures  represented  on 
Babylonian  cylinders. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Lewis  .\bbott  sent  a  report  on  the  Hastings  kitchen 
midden,  'rhe  fissures  in  the  sandstone  cliffs  at  Hastings  have 
been  used  as  dwellings  in  Neolithic  times,  and  Ihe  refuse,  con- 
taining numerous  flakes,  implements,  and  fr.agments  of  pottery, 
has  accumulated  in  fnmt  of  their  openings. 

Saturday. — Ethnology. — The  tenth  re]X)rl  of  the  Committee 
on  the  North-Western  Tribes  of  Canada  was  presented.  This 
Committee  was  appointed  at  ihe  Montreal  Meeting  1SS4,  and 
has  jHiblished,  hitherto,  the  following  im]>ortant  memoirs  in  its 
reports  to  the  British  Association  :  — 

Introduction  (Report  VII.).   .Sir  Daniel  Wilson. 
Circular  of  Inquiry  (III.). 

North  .Vmerican  Ethnology  (V.).    Mr.  Horatio  Hale. 
Linguistic  Ethnology  (VIII.).   Mr.  Horatio  Hale. 
Physical  Characteristics  (\'I1.).    Dr.  I'ranz  Boa.s. 
The  Blackfool  Indians  (I.).    Mr.  Ib.ratio  Hale. 
The  Blackfool  Indians  (IL).    Rev.  i:.  V .  Wilson. 
The  Sarcee    Indians  (IW).    Rev.  E.  V .  Wilson. 
The  Kootenay  In<iians  (\'III.).    Dr.  .\.  E.  Chamberlain. 
Ethnology  of  British  Columbia  (\'.).   .Mr.  Horatio  Hale. 
Notes  on  Indians  of  British  Columljia  (I\'.).   Dr.  Kranz  Boas. 
Reports  on   Indians  of  British  Columbia  (V.-X.).   Dr.  I'ranz 
Boas. 

The  reiMrt  now  presented  contains  a  further  account  of  the 
phy.sical  characi eristics  of  Ihe  tribes  of  the  North  P.icific  Co.ast ; 
notes  on  the  Tinneh  Tribe  of  Nicola  \alley,  by  Mr.  James 
Teit  ;  on  the  Tinneh  Tribe  of  Portland  Canal,  and  on  the  N.ass 
River  Inilians,  by  Dr.  Boas  ;  an<l  the  grammar  and  vocabulary 
of  the  Nlsk".i  ami  Tselsa'iit  languages. 

Much,  however,  remains  to  be  done  in  order  to  give  a  satis- 
factory reviewof  the  anthropology,  even  of  British  Columbia: 
in  particular,  the  influence  of  the  tribes  of  Millbank  Sound  on 
their  neighbours  ;  the  highly  developed  art  of  the  Haida,  and 
the  complicated  .syndiolic  and  conventional  ornaments  ;  and  the 
peculiar  distribution  of  physical  lypes  need  further  elucidalion. 

The  Committee  has  accordingly  been  reappointed  wilh  a  grant 
of  C\oOy  in  order  to  enable  Dr.  Boas  to  continue  his  imi)orlanl 
investigalions. 

Captain  .S.  L.  llindere.ada  |)aper  on  the  cannibal  Iribes  o. 


October  io,  1895] 


NATURE 


58r 


ihe  Congo.  Cannibalism  is  in  his  experience  in  this  region 
almost  universal,  on  the  increase,  and  peculiarly  inveterate.  An 
extensive  traffic  in  human  flesh  prevails,  and  slaves  as  well  as 
])risoners  are  kept  and  sold  for  food.  lOvon  corpses  are  disin- 
terred in  spite  of  charms  on  the  graves  :  the  flesh  is  always  cooked 
or  smoked,  but  is  not  here  eaten  from  any  religious  or  super- 
stitious motive.  The  practice  of  filing  the  front  teeth  is  not 
found  to  he  coextensive  with  that  of  cannibalism. 

Mr.  Darnell  Davis  derived  the  name  "cannibal"  from  the 
("ariljs  of  the  West  Intlies,  w'ho,  however,  are  not  man-eaters  : 
Mr.  Klvvorthy  discussed  the  thcor)'  of  cannibalism  as  a  means  to 
acquire  the  properties  of  the  thing  eaten  ;  and  Mr.  Hartland  the 
survivals,  in  Europe,  of  ceremonial  and  sepulchral  cannibalism. 

Captain  Hinde  also  described  the  pigmies  of  Central  Africa, 
nomadic  hunters,  of  less  than  four  feet  stature. 

.Mr.  .\.  Montefiore  gave  an  account  of  the  .Samoyads  of  the 
.■\rctic  Tundras. 

Reports  were  presented  by  the  Committees  on  physical  devia- 
tions of  children  from  the  normal,  and  on  anthropometric 
measurements  in  schools. 

The  antlirojiometric  laboratory,  which  is  usually  organised 
during  meetings  of  the  .Assticiation,  was  not  this  year  available. 

On  -Monday,  Mr.  Khvorthy  read  a  paper  on  horns  of  honour, 
dishonour,  and  safely.  The  head  is  the  object  of  honour,  and 
is  adorned  with  .symbolic  attributes.  Horns  are  symbolic  of  the 
crescent-goddess  ;  so  of  divine  power,  protection  and  favour  in 
general.  Conversely,  to  "scorn"  (trench  t'coriier)  is  to  de- 
prive of  such  horns  and  prestige.  The  paper  gave  rise  to  some 
comment.  Not  all  horns  are  cre.scent-.symbols ;  most  were 
originally  worn  attached  to  skins :  ornaments  are  decorative 
first,  symbolic  afterwards. 

Mrs.  Grove  discussed  the  religious  origin  of  dances,  as  forms 
<if  magic  or  worship.  Weapon-dances  arise  from  worship  of 
weapons,  or  of  an  armed  deity  ;  ritual  dances  from  the  love  of 
dancing  attributed  to  the  deity,  and  as  the  expression  of  e.xalted 
enthusia.sm  ;  funeral  dances  propitiate  either  death,  or  the  de- 
parted soul.  .\s  civilisation  advances,  the  expressions  of  emotion 
are  restraine<l,  and  dances  lose  their  meaning  and  popularitj'. 

The  report  of  the  I'Uhnographic  Survey  of  the  United  King- 
dom was  read  by  Mr.  Hartland,  who  was  followed  by  Mr.  J. 
dray  with  (observations  specially  relating  to  East  .Aberdeen- 
shire, and  by  Dr.  (larson  with  similar  results  from  Suft'olk. 
Work  has  also  been  begun  in  llertft)rdshire  and  East  .\nglia  (by 
the  Cambridge  Sub-Committee),  and  is  projected  in  Calloway, 
and  in  Caithness,  Elgin,  and  Nairn,  by  Dr.  Walter  (iregor. 

.Mr.  C.  C.  de  Hetham  read  a  fully  illustrated  paper  on  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Suffolk  dialect,  which  retains  an  unusual 
number  of  Anglo-Saxon  idioms  ;  and  on  the  proverbs,  traditions, 
and  folk-medicine  of  the  district.  .Mr.  I.ingwood  exhibited  two 
young  ash-trees  from  Needham  .Market,  which  had  been  split  in 
order  to  pass  .sick  children  through  the  stem. 

Mr.  Clodd  read  a  paper  on  the  objects  and  method  of  the 
study  of  folk-lore,  which  was  followed  by  a  lantern  lecture  by 
I'rof.  A.  C.  Haddon,  on  the  same  subject,  exhibiting  a  series  of 
persons,  trees,  wells,  and  other  natural  objects  and  prehistoric 
monuments  to  which  traditions  are  attached,  and  illustrating  a 
nundjer  of  games  and  ceremonies,  in  which  ]")rimitive  beliefs  and 
practices  are  perpetuated. 

On  Tuesday  a  formal  discussion  took  place  an  the  results  of 
interference  with  the  civilisation  of  native  races.  The  .subject 
was  briefly  introduced  !>)■  the  I'resitlent,  and  ]ia]>ers  were  con- 
tributed by  Lord  Stanmore.  I'rof.  .\.  C.  Haddon  (New  Cuinea),  j 
Dr.  Cust  (India),  Dr.  H.  ().  Eorbes  (Dutch  East  Indies), 
Messrs.  E.  ImThurniand  Darnell  Davis  (British  (luiana).  Ling 
Koth  (Tasmania  and  ,\ustralia),  and  Raynbird  (Central  India). 
The  course  of  the  debate  was  summed  uj)  by  the  President  as 
follows.  The  ]>rinciple  of  government  should  be  to  protect  the 
natives  M»ainst  their  own  weakness,  the  evil  influences  of  debt, 
and  the  loss  of  their  land.  Rigorous  impartiality  may  be  tlic 
greatest  injustice  to  the  natives,  and  it  is  only  by  dealing  with 
them  from  their  <own  sense  of  justice  that  inflttence  can  be 
obtained.  Native  customs  should  not  be  unnece.s.sarily  interfered 
with,  and  then  only  with  carefvd  attention  to  the  native  point  of 
view.  Laws  of  morality  difi'er  in  various  countries,  and  what  is 
"right"  here  is  "  wrong"  there.  Changes  of  detail  should  be 
left  to  the  change  of  native  opiniim,  rather  than  be  enforced  by 
law.  It  is,  lor  instance,  as  cruel  and  disastrous  to  dress  a  native 
of  a  jungle  in  our  light,  ill-ventilated  clothes,  ;is  to  expose  an 
European  naked  in  a  tropical  climate.  With  regard  to  educa- 
tion, opinions  seem  to  (lifter  ;  the   completely  savage  brain  can- 


NO.    1354,  VOL.   52] 


not  acquire  our  ways  of  thought  suddenly  without  excessive 
strain  and  enfeeblement  ;  but  native  races  differ  very  widely  in 
receptivity  and  imilativeness.  What  is  aijove  all  things  necessary 
is  that  sympathy  of  fellow-feeling  which  at  imce  places  one  man 
on  an  easy  and  equal  footing  with  another,  and  which  .savage 
races  are  very  quick  to  perceive  and  reciprocate. 

Rev.  Ilartwell  Jones  followed  with  a  phihjlogical  contribu- 
tion to  the  history  of  primitive  warfare  in  Creece  and  Italy. 

Dr.  (lar.son  described  a  skull  found  in  Thames  Valley  gravel, 
which  contains  pakvolithic  implements,  and  claimed  it  as 
palivolithic  on  morphological  grounds ;  supported  by  Mr. 
Stopes.  Sir  John  Evans,  Prof.  Boyd  Dawkins,  and  .Mr.  Myres 
disputed  the  attribution. 

.\  large  collection  was  exhibited  of  phot(5graphs  illustrative  of 
the  .Andamanese  and  their  civilisation,  sent  by  Mr.  Maurice 
I'ortman. 

On  Wednesday,  Dr.  Munro  gave  a  fully  illustrated 
lantern  lecture  on  the  newly  discovered  Neolithic  settlement  at 
Butmir  in  Bosnia.  Flint  and  jasper  weapons  were  manufactured 
in  great  variety  on  the  spot,  while  polished  hammers  and  axes 
were  brought  from  a  distance  ;  and  black  pottery,  with  elaborate 
incised  angular  ornaments,  was  extensively  made.  A  principal 
feature  in  the  site  is  the  occurrence  of  irregular  depressions  in 
the  basal  clay  below  the  debris.  Continental  observers  con- 
sidered these  to  be  the  floors  of  huts  ;  but  Signor  I'igorini  and 
Dr.  Munro  found  traces  of  piles,  and  argued  that  the  houses 
were  pile-dwellings,  and  that  the  hollows  were  made  to  obtain 
clay  for  wattle-work  and  pottery.  .Sir  John  I-'vans  svqjported  the 
pile-dwelling  theory,  and  suggested  that  dredging  might  explain 
the  irregularity  of  the  hollows. 

Mr.  A.  J.  Evans  described  a  series  of  primitive  European 
idols,  with  diagrams  and  exhibits.  Beginning  with  the  marble 
images  of  the  Creek  archipelago,  he  sketched  the  area  over 
which  kindred  figures  occur,  in  Italy,  Sicily,  .Spain,  Liguria  : 
and  thence  into  Central  Europe  and  the  shores  of  the  Baltic,  and 
even  as  far  as  Orkney.  The  Oriental  origin  of  these  figures, 
formerly  maintained,  is  now  strongly  contested  ;  they  probably 
testify  to  an  indigenous  practice  of  burying  at  first  actual,  and 
subsequently  substituted  attendants  with  deceased  persons.  Prof. 
I'etrie  compared  the  Maltese  seated  figures  with  those  of  the 
"New  Race"  in  Egypt. 

Dr.  Munro  presented  a  further  report  on  the  Lake  \'illage  of 
Glastonbury.  .Amongst  the  relics  found  were  examples  of 
pottery  which  were,  undoubtedly,  highly  ornamented  specimens 
of  late  Celtic  art.  Other  articles  unearthed  must  have  been 
imjiorted  two  or  three  centuries  l)efore  the  Roman  occupation. 
Prof.  IJoyd  Dawkins  regarfled  the  evidence  as  conclusive  that  the 
Lake  X'illage  of  Glastonbury  might  be  dated  from  200  H.c.  to  the 
time  (">f  the  Roman  occupation. 

Mr.  Theodore  Bent  contributed  a  jjaper  on  the  natives  ot 
Southern  .\rabia. 

The  Section  was  closed  w  ith  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to  the 
President. 


MECHANICS  AT   THE  BRITISH 
ASSOCIATION. 

CECTU^N  G,  which  is  devoted  to  mechanical  science,  had  an 
*^  unusually  heavy  programme  at  the  late  Ipswich  meeting  ; 
indeed  it  was  rather  too  heavy  for  the  majority  of  members,  for 
often  the  proceedings  were  carried  on  before  a  very  scanty 
audience.  It  is  a  question  whether,  in  this  Section  at  any  rate, 
a  good  (leal  of  judicious  w-eeding  could  not  l>e  done.  Of  course 
it  is  understood  that  "  mechanical  science  "  shall  be  translated 
as  engineering  in  general — and  that  is  a  very  good  thing,  as 
otherw  ise  many  good  papers  on  what  is  generally  known  as  "civil 
engineering  "  would  be  shut  out  from  the  Association  altogether — ■ 
but  with  a  most  benevolent  desire  to  give  all  branches  of  a]>plie(l 
science  a  hearing,  one  cannot  helji  thinking  it  would  be  an 
advantage  to  every  one  cimcerned — especially  the  .authors — if 
some  proffered  contributions  were  returned  with  thanks.  The 
fact  is,  an  exercise  of  the  selective  faculty,  and  perhaps  a  little 
more  callousness  to  the  demands  made  l)y  the  sensitiveness  of 
authors,  would  do  much  towards  rendering  the  jiroceedings  in 
Section  G  more  bearable  than  they  have  been  for  some  time 
past . 

There  was,  however,  a  good  deal  that  was  interesting  -and 
distinctly  valuable  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Section  at  this  year's 
meeting.     The  pity  w:is  that  it  should  have  been  often  wasted 


582 


NA  TURE 


[October  io,  1895 


on  ail  all  but  empty  room.  Another  cause  of  complaint  on  the 
|iart  of  members  of  this  Section  was  that  the  second  Wednesday 
was  a  dits  non.  Doubtless  verj-  few  object  to  a  w  hole  holiday  at 
these  meetings,  but  what  people  do  find  fault  with  is  that  they 
should  be  kept  hard  at  work  on  Saturday,  »  hen  there  are  pleasant 
excursions,  to  be  turned  adrift  on  Wednesday.  Of  course  one 
can  go  home  and  cut  the  business  short,  and  that  is  what  many 
do,  and  the  Thursilay's  excursions  thus  suffer.  Indeed  a  con- 
scientious member,  determined  to  do  his  Section  ll  thoroughly, 
was  unable  to  go  to  any  of  Saturday's  excursions,  and  would 
have  to  spend  an  idle  day  waiting  for  the  Thursday's  excursions. 
The  excursions  are  the  great  feature  of  the  .•\ssix:iation  meetings, 
as  they  bring  meml>ers  together  and  make  them  known  to  each 
other  in  a  way  that  no  other  institution  or  si>ciety  does. 
Possibly  more  has  been  done  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  by 
such  means  than  by  the  meetings  of  Sections,  for  there  are  other 
associations  which  afford  op|x)rtunities  for  the  reading  and  dis- 
cussion of  i>a|)ers,  but  none  which  offer  the  same  social  facilities 
as  the  British  Association.  When  it  is  remembered  that  only 
two  Sections  met  on  the  second  Wednesday,  it  is  a  question 
whether  it  would  not  be  of  advantage  to  make  it  a  rule  to 
fix  the  whole  day  excursions  for  Wednesday  instead  of  Thurs- 
day. We  are  aware  that  this  would  create  difficulties  in  regarti 
to  meetings  of  general  committees,  but  surely  these  could  be 
overcome. 

The  I'resident  of  Section  G  this  year  was  I'rof.  L.  K.Vernon- 
Harcourt,  who  opened  the  j)roceedings  of  the  Section  by  reading 
his  presidential  address. 

The  first  paper  taken  was  a  contribution  by  Major-Gcneral 
Webber,  on  light  railways  as  an  a.ssislance  to  agriculture. 
It  ciintained  the  main  elements  of  a  scheme  which  the  author 
had  thought  out  for  introducing  a  system  of  light  railways  in 
Suffolk.  A  good  deal  of  attention  was  given  to  the  subject  of 
gauge,  which  the  author  considered  should  be  narrower  than  the 
standard  gauge  of  the  country,  viz.  4  ft.  S.J  in.  There  is  much  to 
be  said  in  favour  of  a  narrow  gauge  for  auxiliary  railways,  but 
alsf)  much  to  \k  saiil  against  it.  No  doubt  a  narrow  gauge  is 
chea|)er  than  a  wider  one,  but  i)erhaps  not  so  much  cheaper 
as  m.iny  [lersons  imagine.  Sharper  curves  can  also  be  taken 
with  a  narrow  gauge,  and  it  can  be  laid  in  position  where 
often  the  brtiader  gauge  would  necessitate  the  widening  of  the 
road.  On  the  other  hand,  the  standard  gauge  enables  the  waggons 
and  trucks  of  the  trunk  lines  to  l>e  run  nn  the  auxiliary  railways. 
It  may  be  said  that  a  light  railway  demands — on  the  score  of 
cheapness — that  the  road  bed  shall  l>e  of  a  less  substantial 
character  than  that  of  the  trunk  lines  ;  but  here  it  is  essential  to 
bear  one  fact  in  mind.  The  massi\e  permanent  way  of  our  trunk 
lines  is  required  for  the  heavy  locomotives  running  at  high  speed. 
With  small  engines  and  com|)aratively  slow  speed  very  light  per- 
manent way  will  carry  the  ordinary  railway  go<Kls  stock  with 
safety.  The  first  thing,  however,  which  has  to  be  done  in  order 
to  facilitate  the  introduction  of  auxiliary  railways  in  this  couniry, 
is  to  give  power  to  the  Board  of  Trade  Io  relax  its  own  regula- 
tions. 

A  |Kipcr  by  M.  A.  Oobert,  of  Brussels,  on  a  freezing  process 
for  shaft  sinking,  was  next  read.  In  general  principle  the 
suggestion  is  not  new.  In  cases  where  water-bearing  strata  is 
encountered  in  shaft-sinking,  a  freezing  medium  is  caused  to 
circulate  in  pi|>cs.  The  vehicle  used  is  ammonia,  which, 
ev.Tjwirating  in  the  pipes,  produces  the  freezing  effect. 

"I'he  next  [a|»er  read  was  of  considerable  interest  ;  it  was  a 
memoir  by  .Mr.  W.  II.  Wheeler,  of  Boston,  on  the  effect  of 
wiiiil  .ind  almr»pheric  pressure  on  the  tides.  I'or  many  years  )>ast 
the  author  h.as  lieen  making  observati<ins  on  this  subject.  Krom 
an  analysis  of  twn  years'  tides  at  the  I'ort  of  Boston,  (excluding 
iH-rasions  when  the  element  of  wind  would  affect  the  c.i.se),  he 
found  that  out  of  152  oljservalions,  Ol  gave  results  oppisile 
to  that  which  would  have  been  ex|)e<ted   by  the  readings  of  the 

' '■  r     alone  ;     for    a     high     barometer      was     frequently 

•d    by    a    high    tide,    and    a    low     larometer     by 

On    the    other    hand    it    w.is    found,    with    few 

.   that    when  the    wind    blows  with    any  force  along 

■I    Ihi-    same    direction    as    the    main     sirean)    of    the 

'\\   the    ports    along  the  iiiasi    will  be 

'    height  given  in  the  tide-laltles  ;  and 

...-.   .* ,.,.irii.l  the  flood  tide,  high. water  will   \k 

caUulalcd.  According  to  figiiies  quoted  in  the 
effect  of  wind  is  such  as  to  affect  the  tide  as 
to  6    feel,  and    a     rliffercnce    of  as    much    as    8 


I'lwer  than 
|>.i|H'r,  the 
niuili  as  5 
fc^ 


has      l)cen      oliscrved      lielween    two    succeeding    tides. 
NO.    1354,  VOL.  52] 


An  analysis  of  the  register  of  tides  at  Boston  Dock  for 
two  years  showed  that  24  |ier  cent,  of  the  whole  tides  recorded 
were  sufficiently  affected  by  the  wind  to  vary  6  inches  from  the 
calculated  height.  Thirty  varied  by  2  feet,  seven  by  3  feet,  six 
by  3i  feet,  three  by  4  feet,  two  by  4^  feet,  one  by  over  5  feet, 
and  one  by  6  feet  3  inches.  From  the  observations  he  has  made, 
Mr.  Wheeler  has  deduced  the  approximate  rule  that  with  a  given 
force  of  wind  of  3  on  the  Beaufort  scale  a  tide  will  be  raised  or 
depressed  by  half  an  inch  for  every  foot  of  range.  With  a  force 
of  from  4  to  6,  the  variation  may  Iw  expected  to  be  i  inch  for 
every  foot,  with  a  gale  from  7  to  S  it  will  l>e  \\  inches,  and  if 
the  gale  increases  to  10  it  will  Im;  2  inches.  It  will  lie  seen  that 
the  subject  is  one  which  iwssesses  not  only  scientific  interest,  but 
considerable  practical  importance  to  n^ariners  ;  anil  so  far  as  we 
are  aware.  Mr.  Wheelei  is  the  first  who  has  ol)taineil  quantitative 
results  of  this  nature.  In  the  discussion  which  followed,  it  was 
jxiinted  out  that  the  time  element  would  have  to  be  given  its 
due  value. 

At  the  second  sitting  of  the  Section,  on  l-'riday,  the  13th  ult., 
Mr  G.  J.  Symons  gave  what  was  really  a  lecture  on  the  autumn 
floods  of  1894.  This  contribution  was  discussed  together  with 
a  jxaper  by  Sle.ssrs.  Kapier  and  Stoney,  on  weiis  in  rivers. 
Any  contribution  by  Mr  Symons  is  sure  to  meet  with  a  good 
reception  at  a  meeting  of  the  Association,  and  Mr.  Stoncy's 
work  in  connection  with  river  engineering  is  also  so  well  kn*)wn, 
that  it  was  not  surprising  that  the  attendance  in  the  Section  should 
be  a  full  one  when  the  sitting  openeil.  The  floods  of  November 
of  last  year,  it  will  be  remembered,  were  of  an  unusually  severe 
character,  a  gieat  jxart  of  the  low-lying  lands  of  the  Thames 
Valley  Iwing  submerged.  The  meteorological  conditions  which 
led  to  these  floods  were  traced  by  -Mr.  Symons,  and  the  eflects 
stated.  With  regarti  to  the  latter,  it  would  be  but  to  repeat  a 
long  histor)'  of  floodeil  homes,  spoiled  furniture,  and  general 
damage  to  property.  The  extent  of  course  will  never  be  known, 
but  it  was  sufficient  to  be  accounted  a  calamity  of  considerable 
magnitude.  There  were  two  periods  of  heavy  rainfall  quickly 
succeeding  each  other,  but  it  was  the  secontl  which  was  the 
immediate  cause  of  damage  ;  the  first,  if  it  had  stood  alone,  would 
have  been  comjwratively  inm'icuous.  The  first  period  occurred  at 
the  end  of  OctolK'r,  ami  nearly  all  the  additional  land  water  caused 
by  it  had  pa.ssed  over  I'edilington  Weir  before  the  second  period 
arrived.  The  November  rains,  however,  found  the  earth  well 
saturated,  and  the  water  that  fell  ran  therefore  almost  wholly 
into  the  river  l)ed,  with  the  unfortunate  results  before  referred 
to.  The  moral  Mr.  Symons  chiefly  strove  to  impress  was  the 
necessity  of  automatic  records  and  communication  between 
difl'ereni  divisions  of  a  water-.shed,  so  that  prompt  warning  might 
be  given  of  a  probable  flooti.  Such  precauti^ins  are  taken  by 
c(mtinental  nations,  but  in  linglaiui  they  are  sadly  neglected. 
The  necessity  for  obtaining  accurate  data,  and  treating  it  in  a 
systematic  and  scientific  manner  by  tiained  observers,  was  well 
illustrated  by  instances  given  ;  for  example,  the  river  Mole  was 
at  its  highest  four  days  before  the  Thames,  and  if  the  warning 
thus  given  by  nature  had  been  heeded,  much  of  the  damage 
which  followed  might  have  been  prevented. 

The  seciind  paper  gave  a  goml  description  of  the  movable 
weirs  which  have  become  identified  with  Mr.  Sloney's  name, 
and  which  were  so  prominently  brought  before  public  notice  in 
coimection  with  the  .Manchester  Ship  Canal.  A  more  recent 
example,  and  one  which  is  better  knowit  to  Londoners,  is  that  at 
Kic'hmond,  where  there  is  a  half-tide  lock  and  a  series  of  lifting 
weirs.  It  has  been  claimed  that  if  many  of  the  fixed  weirs  in 
the  Thames  were  removed,  and  these  lifting  weirs  substituted  for 
them,  that  there  wouhl  be  less  danger  from  flooding  of  the  river. 
How  far  Messrs.  Kapier  and  .Stimey  go  in  this  direction  we  did 
not  gather  from  the  paper,  but  such  we  took  to  be  the  general 
drift  of  their  argument.  The  position  was  disputeil  during 
the  discussion  which  fnllowed,  it  being  ntaiiilaiiiecl  by  some 
speakers  that  even  if  the  flow  of  water  were  absolutely  unim- 
peded as  far  .as  Tc<l<lington  Weir,  the  tidal  portion  of  the  river- 
channel  is  not  of  sufficient  section  to  carry  ofl'  all  water  th.il 
comes  down  in  time  of  heaviest  rainfall.  The  question  is  com- 
plicated by  the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide,  but  it  ought  not  to  be 
nnpossible  to  arrive  at  a  fairly  definite  conclusion.  The  matter 
is  one  which  wants  investigation  by  a  competent  authority,  for 
wcdid  not  notice  that  any  more  than  general  statements  were  made 
in  support  of  the  alleged  insufliciency  of  the  tidal  ch.innel  :  an<l  the 
sl.atements,  therefore,  did  not  appear  to  rest  on  a  substantial  b:isis 
of  fact.  The  problem  of  the  utilisation  of  the  heail  ol  water 
at  the  weirs  in  the  Thames  w.as  also  brought  forward.     W  itboul 


October  io,  1895J 


NATURE 


583 


L,.Miif;  into  <lclails,  ii  jci.iy  !«.  s.iul  ihat  the  discussion  tended  to 
show  that  there  is  little  probability  of  any  useful  work  being 
done  in  this  direction  unless  some  entirely  new  departure  in  the 
construction  of  turbines  be  discovered,  Mr.  Stoney,  however, 
in  his  reply  to  the  discussion,  gave  a  sketch  of  a  very  ingenious 
device  liy  which  he  proposed  to  increase  the  available  head  in 
ihe  case  of  its  diminution  by  the  rise  of  water  in  a  river.  We 
think,  however,  that  something  more  than  this  will  be  needed 
before  the  Thames  weirs  become  commercially  successful  as  a 
source  of  power. 

Dr.  Anderson  described  a  rotating  fan  he  had  devised,  to  be 
used  in  place  of  bellows  for  organ-blowing.  The  application 
was  successful,  as  might  be  supposed  in  the  case  where  a  volume 
of  air,  large  in  comparison  with  its  velocity,  was  retjuired  to  be  set 
in  motion.  A  paper  liy  Mr.  Birt,  on  the  growth  of  the  port  of 
Harwich,  was  interesting  from  .1  commercial  and  economic 
point  of  view,  ami  may  be  taken  in  conjunction  with  a  note  by 
the  President,  on  the  Hook  of  Holland  route. 

.\  description  of  a  railway  uji  .'^nowdon,  which  is  in  course  of 
construction,  brought  the  proceedings  of  the  day  to  a  close. 

On  Saturday  the  proceedings  connnenced  with  the  presentation 
of  two  reports  by  Conmiittees  of  the  Section  ;  the  first  on 
standardising,  and  the  second  on  coast  erosion.  The 
standardising  report  was  of  an  interim  character,  and  does  not 
require  extended  notice,  in  prospect  of  being  brought  forward 
again.  The  c<)ast  erosion  report  was  also  presented  in  another 
Section.  Mr.  -V.  (I.  Lyster  gave  a  long  description  of  the 
ilredging  o])erations  now  going  on  at  the  mouth  of  tne  Mersey 
10  reduce  the  bar  which  has  too  long  been  allowed  to  impede 
the  navigation  of  our  great  .\tlantic  port. 

.\  paper  by  Mr.  K.  Hesketh,  describing  a  process  of  refrigerat- 
ing by  carbonic  anhydride,  was  next  taken.  This  was  a  very 
interesting  contribution,  and  afforded  a  good  example  of  the  type 
ijf  paper  that  should  be  presented  to  the  Section.  It  does  not, 
however,  lend  itself  very  easily  to  our  present  purpose,  as  it 
consisted  mainly  of  details  of  construction  of  the  machinery, 
which,  though  highly  interesting,  it  would  be  impossible  for  us 
to  make  clear  without  the  many  illustrations  Ijy  which  the 
author  explained  his  meaning,  .\nother  good  and  characteristic 
paper  was  contributed  by  Mr.  \.  Napier,  who  described  an 
installation  that  has  been  carried  out  at  Ipswich  of  the  Hermite 
process  of  purifying  sewage.  Briefly  stated,  the  process 
consists  of  passing  an  electric  current  through  sea-water.  A 
jmrt  of  the  chlorides  is  converted  into  hypochlorite,  and  a 
deodorising  agent  is  thus  obtained.  The  electrolysed  water  is 
passed  into  the  drains  or  sewers.  The  system,  if  worked  to  the 
lull  extent,  as  proposed  by  the  inventor,  would  consist  of  having 
a  separate  service  of  the  electrolysed  water  laid  on  for  use  in 
c-lo.sets,  house  drains,  &c.  The  system  has  been  in  use  but  a 
short  time  in  Ipswich,  and  is  said  to  promise  very  favourably  by 
those  who  have  been  connected  with  its  working. 

The  Monday  of  the  meeting  is  always  devoted  by  Section  (i 
to  electrical  engineering,  and  at  the  recent  meeting  the  proceed- 
ings on  that  day,  the  1 6th  ult.,  were  opened  by  a  long  paper  from 
the  pen  of  Mr.  I'hilip  Daw.son,  on  the  modern  application  of 
electricity  to  traction  ])urposes.  -Mr.  Daw'son  has  evidently 
travelled  much  in  the  United  States,  and  has  there  collected  a 
vast  amount  of  data  bearing  on  the  subject  of  his  paper.  To 
attempt  to  follow  him  into  the  details  he  gave  in  his  paper 
would  be  hopeless  in  this  report.  He  is  a  strong  advocate  of 
the  trolley  system  of  tiansmission,  holding  that  it  will  supersede 
ill  others  ;  and  indeed  experience  in  .\merica  goes  far  to  bear  him 
"Ut  in  this.  It  is  needless  here  to  point  out  how  great  has  been 
the  progress  made  in  the  United  States  in  tramway  propulsion 
by  electricity  ;  but  one  fact  stated  at  the  meeting  may  be  repeated, 
as  it  puts  the  whole  matter  very  forcibly.  It  was  said  that  it  is 
becoming  a  great  prolilem  what  is  to  be  done  with  the  horses 
that  are  being  pushed  out  of  the  field  by  electricity.  In  some 
places  they  are  being  killed  for  the  sake  of  their  hides  and 
tallow  ;  whilst  in  other  districts  go()d  horses  were  to  be  bought 
at  two  dollars  each.  The  latter  figure  we  think  may  be  open 
to  question,  for  surely  a  dead  horse  is  worth  more  than 
two  dollars.  However,  there  is  no  doubt  that  electric  traction 
has  made  immense  strides  in  America,  and  has  in  great 
cities  practically  supplanted  not  only  the  horse  and  mule,  but 
is  fast  edging  out  its  mechanical  rivals  the  cable  and  steam 
engine. 

The  next  item  on  the  agenda  was  a  paper  by  Messrs.  Preece 
and  Trotter,  on  an  improved  portable  photometer.  This  paper 
was  listened  to  with  great  interest  ;   Mr.  Trotter  illustrating  his 


NO.    1354,  VOL.   52I 


remarks  1.)  examples  of  the  difTerent  forms  and  apijaratus  he  had 
devised  for  street  work.  The  paper  began  by  a  definition  of 
what  is  meant  by  illumination.  When  light  falls  upon  a  surface, 
that  surface  is  said  to  be  illuminated.  The  illumination  depends 
simply  upon  the  light  falling  on  the  surface,  and  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  reflecting  power  of  the  surface,  just  as  rainfall  is 
independent  of  the  nature  of  the  soil.  It  depends  also  on  the 
cosine  of  the  angle  of  incidence.  The  lighting  of  streets  and 
of  buildings  may  be  specified  by  the  maximum  and  minimum 
illumination.  The  primary  purpose  of  an  illumination  photo- 
meter is  to  measure  the  resulting  illumination  produced  by  any 
arrangements  of  lamps  irrespective  of  their  number,  their  height, 
or  their  candle-power.  The  instrument  under  notice  consisted 
of  a  box,  on  the  upper  surface  of  which  is  a  diaphragm  of  white 
cartl  jiainted  with  a  whitewash  of  magncsi.a  ancl  isinglass.  It  has 
one  or  more  star-shaped  ]x;rforations.  Immediately  below  it, 
within  the  box,  is  a  white  screen  capable  of  adjustmeYit  at 
different  angles  and  two  small  electric  lamps  of  diflferent  candle- 
power,  either  or  both  of  which  can  be  used.  A  portable 
seccmdary  battery  is  used  to  supply  them  with  current.  The 
illumination  of  the  hinged  screen  inside  the  box  varies 
approximately  as  the  cosine  of  the  angle  of  incidence  of  the 
light  from  the  electric  lamps  upon  it.  A  handle  with  a  pointer 
moving  over  a  graduated  scale  is  connected  to  the  screen  with  a 
system  of  levers,  and  the  inclination  is  so  adjusted  that  the 
illumination  of  the  screen  is  equal  to  that  of  the  perforated 
diaphragm,  the  perfi)rations  seeming  to  disappear  when  this 
b.alance  is  affected.  The  illumination  can  then  be  re.-id  off  on 
the  scale  in  units  of  the  illumination  due  to  one  standard  candle 
at  one  foot  distance.  The  object  of  the  levers  is  to  give  an  open 
and  convenient  scale.  The  scale  is  graduated  by  experiment, 
and  does  not  depend  upon  the  the  cosine  law.  The  colour 
difficulty,  where  arc  light  or  daylight  is  to  be  measured,  is 
reduced  by  the  use  of  a  yellow-tinted  diaphragm  and  a  blue- 
tinted  screen,  the  tints  being  selected  .so  that  the  readings  arc  the 
same  as  the  mean  of  a  large  number  of  measurements  made  with 
white  screens.  By  means  of  a  graduated  quadrant  and  a 
gnomon  the  angle  and  the  cosine  of  the  angle  of  incidence  of  the 
light  from  a  lam])  may  be  measured.  Rides  are  given  for 
deducing  the  height  of  the  lamp  and  the  slant  height,  and  hence 
the  candle-power  of  the  lamp. 

The  discussion  on  this  paper  was  of  a  very  brief  nature,  and 
elicited  no  new  facts  of  importance. 

Mr.  H.  A.  Earle  read  a  jjaper  on  storage  batteries,  dealing 
chiefly  with  the  chloride  b.attery  which  has  lately  been  intro- 
duced, and  which,  it  is  claimed,  possesses  the  advantages  of 
other  and  earlier  types  without  many  of  the  attendant  dis- 
advantages, chiefly  from  the  fact  that  an  oxide  i)aste  is  not  used. 
.•\  mixture  of  chloride  of  lead  and  chloride  of  zinc  is  cast  into 
small  tablets,  which  have  cast  round  them  at  high  [pressure  a 
frame  of  anlimonious  lead.  The  subsequent  elimination  of  the 
chloride  and  zinc  leaves  a  porous  structure  of  pure  lead  of  a 
crystalline  nature,  good  conductivity,  and  with  a  large  surface 
exix)sed  to  the  electrolyte.  The  result  is  a  large  capacity  for  a 
given  weight  and  space  occuijieil. 

At  the  last  sitting  of  the  Section,  held  on  Tuesday,  the  17th 
ult. ,  nine  papers  were  read  and  discussed.  We  must  deal  with 
these  very  briefly.  The  first  was  by  Mr.  P.  V.  Luke,  and  was 
entitled  "the  field  telegraph  in  the  Chitral  campaign.'  It 
w.as  of  a  poinilar  nature,  and  was  illustrated  by  magic  lantern. 
Mr.  (I.  Johnstone  Stoney  explained,  by  the  aid  of  the  ap]Mratus 
itself,  a  movement  designeil  to  attain  astronomical  accuracy  in  the 
motion  of  siderost.ats.  Without  the  aid  of  diagrams  it  w.mld 
not  be  possible  to  explain  the  mechanism,  and  we  will  leave  it 
therefore  for  the  jirescnt.  A  paper  by  Mr.  K.  W.  Turner 
explained  the  modern  process  of  preparing  flour  from  the  wheat 
berry  by  means  of  metal  rollers  in  place  of  the  old  millstones. 
The  paper  was  very  interesting  and  treated  the  whole  subject 
throughout,  illustrationsof  the  various  machines  used  being  hung 
on  the  walls.  Mr.  J.  Sovithward  gave  an  interesting  description 
of  the  Linotype  process  of  printing,  describing  in  detail  and  by 
the  aid  of  illustrations  the  really  wondeiful  machine  which  h;is 
been  devised  for  the  purpose.  Mr.  R.  E.  Crompton,  in  a 
memorandum  on  the  B.  .\.  screw  gauge  for  small  screws,  pointed 
out  the  advantage  that  would  follow  if  complete  uniformity  were 
observed  among  manufacturers  in  this  matter,  and  <hvelt  on  the 
desirability  of  a  staiulard  jilate  being  provided  fijr  the  purpose 
by  the  Board  of  Traile.  .Mr.  John  Key  contributed  a  paper 
describing  the  differences  in  the  practice  of  English  .ind  foreign 
Government    departments   aiul    registration    societies   in    their 


5^4 


NATURE 


[October  io,  1S95 


requirements  for  the  i>ro\nsion  for  safety  in  marine  l)oiIers  and 
enginees.     The  want  of  uniformity  here  again  is  undoubte<l. 

Lieut.  B.  Baden-Powell  described  a  means  he  suggested 
for  navigating  the  air  by  means  of  kites.  He  pointed  out  that 
as  greater  height  above  the  surface  of  the  earth  is  reached,  the 
wind  nearly  always  increases  in  force.  .\\  looo  yards  it  often 
blows  at  three  times  the  velocity  that  it  does  near  the  surface. 
He  proposes  to  take  adx-antage  of  this  difference  by  sending  one 
kite  to  the  upper  atmosphere,  and  keeping  another  nearer  the 
ground.  The  two  kites  would  \k  connectetl  by  a  long  line,  and 
the  weight  to  \k  carried  would  be  attached  to  the  line  at  a  jwint 
nearer  to  the  lower  kite  than  to  the  higher.  The  lower  kite 
would  thus  supply  a  retarding  medium  to  the  upper,  so  that  the 
effect  would  be  the  same  in  principle,  though  not  in  degree,  as  if 
the  upper  kite  were  held  to  the  earth  by  a  string,  and  the  lower 
kite  were  towed  through  the  air  by  a  boy  running  with  the 
siring  in  his  hand.  By  the  forces  thus  brought  to  bear  both 
kites  would  be  kept  flying  although  not  held  to  the  earth  by  a 
string  in  the  usual  way,  and  it  is  thought  that  )x)ssibly  they 
might  be  navigated  in  directions  other  than  that  in  which  the 
wind  might  be  blowing.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  author 
depends  on  the  difference  in  velocity  of  currents  of  air  at  two 
heights  ;  and  were  this  difference  to  fail,  or  to  become  insuffi- 
cient, the  experimenter  would  come  to  the  ground.  This  might 
prove  awkward  unless  a  clear  field  were  provided  for  the  descent. 
The  suggestion  however  is  ingenious,  and  no  doubt  many  persons 
interested  in  the  problem  of  aerial  navigation  wiiuld  be  pleased 
to  see  the  author  put  his  theories  to  the  test  of  practice. 

The  last  paper  presented  at  the  meeting  was  a  contribution  by 
Prof.  A.  E.  Elliott,  of  Cardiff,  on  receiver  and  condenser  drop. 
It  is  a  subject  that  deser\es  far  more  consideration  and  discussion 
by  members  of  the  Section  than  they  were  able  to  give  on  hear- 
ing it  read  rapidly  at  the  end  of  the  meeting.  Papers  of  this 
nature  should  be  read  at  one  meeting,  and  tlie  discussions 
adjourned  until  another ;  or  i)erhaps  it  would  be  better  to 
distribute  them  two  or  three  months  before  the  meeting,  and 
dispense  with  reading  altogether.  A  joint  meeting  of  Sections 
A  and  <  1  would  afford  the  appropriate  audience  for  considering 
the  subject  of  Prof  Elliott's  memoir. 


BOTANY  AT  THE  RRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 

'T'HE  President  (.Mr.  Thisclton-Dycr)  exhibited  photographs 
and  specimens  of  a  large  cedar  ( Ctv/rz/y  Dt-odara^  Loud.) 
from  Kew,  which  had  been  struck  and  completely  shattered  by 
lightning  on  August  lo.  It  wa.s  pointed  out  that  the  main  stem 
had  l)ecn  in  [lart  blown  into  matchwood  by  the  violence  of  the 
shiKk,  and  branches  were  lorn  o.T  with  large  portions  of  the 
trunk  .adhering  to  their  base.  Prof.  Oliver  Lodge  took  part  in 
the  discussion  as  to  the  probable  explanation  of  the  unusual 
nature  of  the  explosion,  which  seemed  lo  have  been  centrifugal, 
the  stem  having  Iwen  disrupted  from  the  centre,  and  not  merely 
stripped  superficially. 

Prof.  Bretland  I'armer  described  a  set  of  wax  models  illustrat- 
ing the  typical  forms  pas.sed  through,  and  the  chief  variations 
exhibile«l,  by  the  chromostmies  during  the  division  of  the  nucleus 
in  the  spore-molhcr  cells  of  plants.  The  wax  employed  is 
made  of  a  mixlure  of  one  |)art  of  white  wax,  with  fi\e  parts  of 
|)arattin,  the  melting  i>oint  of  which  is  aUiut  50°  C. 

TllAI.I.OI'UVTA. 

Ex)>crimcnlal  studies  in  the  variation  of  yeast  cellsj  by  Dr. 
Emil  Chr.  Hansen  (Copenhagen).  The  author  gave  an  account 
of  his  earlier  and  more  recent  investigations.  Among  the 
latter  he  especially  dwelt  on  those  in  which,  by  one  treat- 
ment, varieties  were  pr<«luced  that  gave  more,  and  by  another 
trealmcnt  less,  alcohol  than  their  |)arent  cells.  He  |)ointed  out 
that  the  observed  variations  could  lie  grouped  under  certain 
rules.  From  his  researches  on  the  agencies  and  causes  to  which 
variation  is  due,  he  found  that  temperature  was  the  most 
influential  external  factor.' 

A  false  liaclrriiiiii,  by  Prof.  Marshall  Ward,  F.K.S. 

f>n  the  formation  of  bacterial  colonies,  by  Prof.  Marshall 
Ward,  l-.K.S. 

(Jn  the  stniclurc  of  lactcrial  cells,  by  Harold  Wacer.  In  this 
inpcr  an  account  was  given  of  the  present  state  of  our  know- 

'  A  ruller  accotinl  of  Ur.  Hanscna  work  will  lie  publiihcd.in  the  Aimith 
of  flfitamy. 


NO.    1354,  VOL.   52] 


ledge  of  the  cells  of  Kicteria.  Reference  was  made  to  the 
ob.servations  of  Schottelius,  Migula,  De  Bary,  Biitschli,  and 
others.  The  author  showed  that  it  is  possible  to  demonstrate  in 
the  majority  of  b;ictcrial  cells  the  presence  of  two  sulislances, 
one  of  which  may  be  regarded  as  protoplasmic  in  nature,  and  a 
second,  which  stains  deeply  when  acted  upon  by  fuchsin  and 
kindred  staining  substances,  and  which  may  be  regarded  as 
nuclear.  It  was  pointed  out  that  this  nuclear  substance  doev 
not  possess  the  structure  of  nuclei  in  the  cells  of  higher  plants. 

Note  on  the  occurrence  in  New  Zealand  of  two  forms  i>l 
Peltoid  Tniitepo/ilioific.  and  their  relation  to  the  lichen 
Strigiila,  by  .\.  \'aughan  Jennings.  The  TiriiUpo/iliaif,,- 
which  form  epiphyllous  cell-plates  are  at  jiresent  known 
only  from  the  tropics.  They  have  been  recorded  from  .South 
.-\nierica,  India,  Ceylon,  and  the  East  Indies,  but  not  up 
to  the  present  time  from  New  Zealand.  The  author 
gave  a  summary  of  previous  literature,  and  descrilied  two  forms 
found  by  himself  in  New  Zealand.  ( I )  Phyiofcltis  ixpaiisa,  sp. 
nov.  This  species  forms  wide-spreading  yellow  cell-plates  on 
the  leaves  of  Nesodaphtw  :  it  bears  two  kinds  of  sporangia,  and 
is  often  associated  with  brown  fungus  hyph.x  growing  between 
the  cell  rows,  but  not  affecting  the  growth  of  the  alga.  On  the 
other  hand,  when  attacked  by  different  hyph;v.  the  result  is  the 
formation  of  the  lichen  Strigula,  which  in  Ceylon  was  shown  by 
Ward  to  have  for  its  algal  element  Myioidea  parasitiia^  Cunn. 
(2)  Phycopcllis  nigra,  sp.  nov.  On  leaves  of  Ncsodaphnc  axA 
fronds  of  Asptciiiuni  faUatiim.  Two  distinct  varieties  of  this 
species  were  described.  The  plant  is  never  attacked  by  fungus 
hyphiv,  and  never  takes  any  jjart  in  lichen  formation,  even  when 
on  the  same  leaf  with  Phycopcltis  cxpansa  and  the  associated 
Slrigula. 

BrVOI'HVTA   and    PlERlllOl'llVl  a. 

On  a  supposed  case  of  symbiosis  in  Tetraplodoii ,  by  Prof 
F.  E.  Weiss.  The  author  exhibited  specimens  of  Tetraplodoii 
from  the  Cuchullin  Hills  in  Skye,  where  it  was  found  i>lentifully 
on  animal  excreta.  In  Scpleinber  he  found  many  of  the  patches 
mixed  with  an  orange-coloured  l\-iza,  which  did  not  appear  lo 
have  in  any  way  injured  the  moss  plants.  The  rhizoids  of  the 
moss,  however,  contained  in  many  cases  fungal  hyphiv  closely 
resembling  those  of  the  I'cziza,  and  though  present  in  the  cells 
of  the  moss,  these  latler  did  not  seem  to  be  injured  by  them.  He 
suggested  that  this  mighl  be  an  instance  of  symbiosis  ;  the  moss, 
as  in  the  case  of  other  green  jilants,  making  use  of  the  fungal 
hyph^e  to  obtain  its  nutriment  from  the  organic  material.  The 
ultimate  protif  of  such  a  case  of  symbiosis  would,  ln>\vever, 
necessarily  dopenil  u|K)n  culture  experiments,  which  he  uiuler- 
stood  were  now  being  made  by  another  observer. 

Remarks  on  the  .\rchesporium,  by  Prof.  V.  O.  Bower,  F. R.S. 
Prof,  Bower  pointed  tint  that  the  recognition  of  the  archesixirium 
as  consistently  of  hypoderm.il  origin  cannot  be  upheld,  and 
(jiioted  as  exceptions  A(////Vf7/////,  IsoitcSy  Opfti\\i^hssiini,  and 
especially  the  lepti>spoiangiale  ferns.  He  laid  down  the 
general  principle  that  the  sporangia,  as  regards  iheir  develop- 
ment, should  be  studied  in  the  light  of  a  knowledge  of  the 
a]>ical  meristems  of  the  pkants  in  question.  Where  ihe  apical 
meristems  are  stratified,  the  archesporium  is  hypodermal  in  the 
usual  sense  ;  where  initial  cells  occur,  the  archesporium  is 
derived  by  periclinal  divisions  of  superficial  cells.  Iniermediatc 
types  of  meristein  shr)w  an  inlerniediale  type  of  origin  of  the 
archesporium.  lie  cited  as  an  illustrative  case  that  of  Op/iio- 
glossiiiii,  admitting  that  the  hypodermal  band  of  potential 
archesporium,  which  he  had  previously  described,  does  not  occur 
alw.iys  or  in  .ill  species.  But  so  far  from  thus  giving  up  the  case 
for  a  comparison!  with  I.ytopodium,  he  hoMs  tliatas  Ophioglossum 
h.as  a  single  initial  cell  in  stem  and  root,  it  would  be  contrary  to 
exiierience  to  exjiect  or  demand  a  hypodermal  arcliesjioriuni. 
(The  details  will  shortly  be  published  elsewhere,  with  illustrations.) 

On  the  prothalUis  and  embryo  of  Daiiica,  by  G.  Brebner. 
.Mr.  Brebner  gave  an  account  of  the  jirolhallus  and  sexual  1 
organs  of  Daiuta  siiiiplidfolia,  Kudge,  a,s  the  result  of  investi- 
gations mailc  on  some  material  from  the  Botanic  (hardens 
in  British  (iuiana.  He  pointed  out  that  there  is  a  close 
similarily  belween  the  Paiina  anil  the  other  twn  genera  cif  (he 
Maratliai(,r,  .liigiopliris  and  A/aratlia,  of  which  llie  prothallus 
has  Iwen  previously  described.  .Vn  interesting  fact  was  noted 
as  regards  the  prothallus  rhizoids,  which  possess  a  distinctly 
.septate  structure,  and  so  far  resemble  a  moss  proloneina. 
Possibly  similar  septate  rhizoids  may  be  found  in  the  oiher 
maralli.iceons  genera.  The  development  of  the  antheridia  of 
Daiiica  agrees  in  the  main  with  that  in  Afaraltia  AniX  Angiopleris : 


October  io,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


585 


the  material  did  not  allow  of  any  developmental  study  of  the 
archegonia.  The  concentric  biindle  of  the  primary  embryonic 
stem  shows  an  endodermal  layer.  On  the  whole  the  author 
found  in  Datuca  a  complete  agreement,  in  all  essential  features, 
with  Aiii^ioplcrh  and  Marntlia,  as  regards  prolhallus,  repro- 
ductive organs,  and  embryo  development. 

Physioi.oc.v,  iS:c. 

The  localisation,  the  transport  and  role  of  hydroycanic  acid  in 
Pavgimii  fdiilc,  Reinw. ,  by  Dr.  M.  Trcub  (Huitenzorg,  Java). — 
Five  years  ago  Dr.  Greshoff  made  the  remarkable  discovery  that 
the  poisonous  sub.stance  contained  in  great  quantities  in  all  the 
jjarts  of  Pallidum  ediilc,  was  nothing  else  than  hydrocyanic  acid. 
This  interesting  chemical  discovery  was  the  starting-point  of  Dr. 
Treub's  physiological  investigations.  In  microchemical  re- 
searches hydrocyanic  acid  presents  a  considerable  advantage  as 
compared  with  the  great  majority  of  substances  to  be  detected  in 
lis.sues  by  reagents  ;  namely,  that  the  I'russian  blue  reaction, 
easily  applicable  in  inicr(jchemical  research,  gives  comjiletely 
iriistworlhy  results.  The  appearance  of  Prussian  blue  in  a  cell 
may  be  accepted  as  certain  proof  of  the  previous  occurrence  in  the 
cell  of  hydrocyanic  acid,  no  other  substance  producing  the  same 
reaction.  The  leaves  prove  to  be  the  chief  factories  of  hydro- 
cyanic acid  in  Paiigiiiiii,  though  there  are  other  much  smaller 
local  factories  of  this  substance  in  the  tissues  of  other  organs. 
The  hydrocyanic  acid  formed  in  the  leaves  is  conducted  through 
the  leaf-stalks  to  the  stem,  and  distributed  to  the  spots  where 
|ilastic  material  is  wanted.  The  acid  travels  in  the  phloem  of 
ihe  fibro-vascular  bundles.  Dr.  Treub  regards  the  hydro- 
cyanic acid  in  Pangiinn  cdule.  as  one  of  the  first  plastic 
materials  for  building  up  proteids  ;  he  thinks  it  is,  in  this  plant, 
the  first  detectalile,  and  perhaps  the  first  formed  product  of 
the  assimilation  of  inorganic  nitrogen.  In  accordance  with  this 
hypothesis,  the  formation  of  hydrocyanic  acid  in  Paitgitiin 
depends,  on  the  one  hand,  on  the  presence  of  carbo-hydrates 
or  analogous  products  of  the  carbon-assimilation,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  on  the  presence  of  nitrates.  These  two  points 
were  proved,  or  at  least  rendered  acceptable,  by  a  great  number 
of  experiments  made  by  Dr.  Treub  in  the  Buitenzorg  Garden.s. 
('Ihe  details  of  this  investigation  will  be  found  ina  paper  appear- 
ing in  the  forthcoming  number  of  the  Annates  de  iardiu 
i'l'taiiiijite  de  Htiiteuzorg.) 

On  the  diurnal  variation  in  the  amount  of  diastase  in  foliage 
leaves,  by  I'rof.  Re\nolds  Cireen,  F.R.S.  The  diastase  which 
is  present  in  foliage  leaves  varies  in  amount  during  the  day, 
l)eing  greatest  in  the  early  morning,  and  lea.st  after  sunset.  The 
cause  of  the  variation  has  been  ascertained  to  be  chiefly,  if  not 
entirely,  due  to  the  action  of  the  sunlight.  The  author  showed 
last  year,  at  the  Oxford  meeting,  that  diastatic  extracts  exposed 
to  .sunlight  or  electric  light,  without  the  interposition  of  any 
form  of  screen,  have  Iheir  activity  largely  impaired,  the  damage 
amounting  sometimes  to  70  per  cent.  Kxperiments  made  upon 
the  living  leaf  of  the  scarlet-runner  showed  a  similar  destruc- 
tive action  of  the  hght,  the  amount  of  destruction  only 
amounting,  however,  to  about  10  to  20  per  cent.  The  author 
attributes  this  difference  to  the  screening  action  of  the  proteids 
in  the  cells  of  the  leaf 

(-)n  cross  and  self  fertilisation,  with  special  reference  to  pollen 
pre])otency,  by  J.  C.  Willis.  The  time  has  passed  for  regarding 
sell-fertilisation  as  being  always  necessarily  harmful  in  itself,  and 
it  is  now  recognised  as  a  regular  feature  in  the  life-history  of 
many  plant.s.  There  are  many  species  of  plants  in  which  both 
self  and  cross  pollination  occur  nearly,  or  quite,  simultaneously, 
Mnd  it  is  very  desirable  to  know  what  hap])ens  in  these  cases. 
Darwin's  experiments  render  it  probable  that  prepotency  of 
foreign  pollen  is  usual.  The  author's  experiments  have  Ijeen 
devoted  to  a  .study  of  the  relative  chemical  attraction  of  "  own  " 
and  "  foreign"  pollen  by  the  same  stigma  (chiefly  in  gelatine  and 
.igar  cultures),  and  have  given  negative  results.  It  seems 
probable,  putting  together  all  the  various  known  facts,  that  jwe- 
potency,  where  it  occurs,  is  due  to  actions  set  up  after  the  pollen 
tubes  have  entered  the  stigma,  these  actions  tending  to  favour 
the  growth  of  the  "  foreign  "  pollen-tubes,  and  to  check  that  of 
the  "own"  pollen. 

Pai..v;ohotany. 

The  chief  results  of  Williamson's  work  on  the  Carboniferous 
I'lanls,  by  Dr.  D.  II.  Scott,  K.R.S.  The  origin  and  history  of 
the  late  I'rof.  Williamson's  lesearches  on  the  Carboniferous  flora 
were  btietly  traced.     His  great  work,  chiefly,  though  not  entirely, 

NO.    1354,  VOL.   52] 


contained  in  his  long  series  of  memoirs  in  the  Philosophical 
Transactions  of  the  Royal  Society,  consisted  in  thoroughly 
elucidating  the  structure  of  British  fos.sil  plants  of  the  Coal 
period,  and  thus  determining,  on  a  sound  basis,  the  main  lines 

of  their  aflinitics. 

four  of  the  principal  types  investigated  by  Williamson  were 
selected  for  illustration — the  Calamarieic,\\ieSphenophyllea,  the 
Lyginodendreie ,  and  the  /.ycopodiaceic. 

(1)  The  Calamarieie. — Williamson's  great  aim,  which  he 
kept  in  view  all  through,  was  to  demonstrate  the  essential  unity 
of  type  of  the  British  Calamites,  i.e.  that  they  are  all  Crypto- 
gams, of  equisetaceous  affinities  (though  sometimes  hetero- 
sporous),  but  possessing  precisely  the  same  mode  of  growth  in 
thickness  by  means  of  a  cambium,  which  is  now  characteristic 
of  Dicotyledons  and  (jynmosperms.  His  researches  have  given 
us  a  fairly  complete  knowledge  of  the  organisation  of  these 
arborescent  Horse-tails. 

(2)  The  Sphenophylleie,  a  remarkable  group  of  vascular 
Cryptogams,  unrepresented  among  living  plants,  but  having 
certain  characters  in  common  both  with  Lycopodiaccic  and 
Et^itiseiaceic,  are  now  very  thoroughly  known,  owing,  in  a  great 
degree,  to  Williamson's  investigations.  The  discovery  of  the 
structure  of  the  fructification,  absolutely  unique  among  Crypto- 
gams, was  in  the  first  instance  entirely  his  own. 

(3)  The  Lyginodendreie. — The  existence  of  this  family,  which 
consists  of  plants  with  the  foliage  of  ferns,  but  with  stems 
and  roots  which  recall  those  of  Cycads,  was  revealed  by 
Williamson.  This  appears  to  be  the  most  striking  case  of  an 
intermediate  group  yet  found  among  fo.ssil  plants. 

(4)  The  Lycopodiaceie. — Williamson  added  enormously  to  our 
knowledge  of  this  great  family,  and  proved  conclusively  that 
Sigillaria  and  Lepidodendron  are  essentialy  similar  in  structure, 
both  genera,  as  well  as  their  allies,  being  true  Lycopodiaceous- 
Cryptogams.  but  with  secondary  growth  in  almost  all  cases.  He 
demonstrated  the  relation  between  the  vegetative  organs  and  the 
fructification  in  many  of  these  plants,  and  by  his  researches  on 
Stigiiiarici,m?Li\\i  known  the  structure  of  their  subterranean  parts. 
The  different  types  of  Lepidodendron,  of  which  he  investigated 
the  structure,  were  so  numerous,  as  to  place  our  knowledge  of 
these  plants  on  a  broad  and  secure  foundation.  (The  paper  was 
illustrated  by  lantern-slides,  partly  from  Williamson's  figures, 
and  partly  original.) 

On  a  new  form  of  fructification  in  Sphenophylliim,  by  (}ra 
Solms-Laubach  (Strassburg).  ("Jraf  Solms  gave  a  brief  .sketch 
of  the  history  of  our  knowledge  tif  the  fructification  of  the 
Carboniferous  genus  Sphcncphyllum.  He  described  the  type  of 
.St robilus  originally  named  by 'VVilliamson  Voliinannia  Dawsoni, 
and  subseipiently  placed  by  Weiss  in  the  genus  Jiowmanites  ; 
this  fructification  has  recently  been  shown  by  Williamson  and 
Zeil'er  to_ belong  to  Sphenopliyllum.  The  author  proceeded  to  give 
an  account  of  a  new  form  of  strobilus  recently  obtained  from  rocks 
of  Culm  age  in  .Sile.sia  ;  this  shows  certain  important  deviations 
from  the  fructifications  previously  examined.  In  the  Spheno- 
piiytliim  slrobili  from  the  Coal- Measures  the  axis  bears  successive 
verticils  of  coherent  bracts,  the  sporangia  are  borne  singly  at  the 
end  of  long  pedicels  twice  as  numerous  as  the  bracts,  and  arising 
from  the  ujiper  surface  of  the  coherent  disc  near  the  axil.  In  the 
Culm  species,  Splienopliyliiim  A'cmeri.  sp.  nov. ,  the  bracts  of 
successive  whorls  are  superposed  and  not  alternate,  as  described 
by  other  writers,  in  the  Coal-Measure  species  ;  a  more 
important  feature  of  the  new  form  is  the  occurrence  of  two 
sporangia  instead  of  one  on  each  sporangiophore  or  pedicel. 

In  the  cour.se  of  his  remarks,  Graf  Solms  referred  to  the 
unique  collection  of  microscopic  preparations  of  fossil  plants 
left  by  Prof.  Williamson  :  he  emphasised  in  the  strongest 
terms  the  immense  importance  of  the  collection,  and  pointed  out 
how  every  worker  in  the  field  of  Paleozoic  botany  must  con- 
stantly consult  the  invaluable  type  specimens  in  the  William.son 
cabinets. 

On  English  amber,  by  Dr.  Conwentz  (Danzig).  The  author  of 
this  paper  gave  an  account  of  the  Baltic  and  English  andier,  and 
its  vegetable  contents.  .After  describing  the  dift'erent  forms  of 
Tertiary  amber,  he  referred  to  the  occurrence  of  .succinite  on 
the  coasts  of  Es.sex,  Sufi'olk,  and  Norfolk  ;  the  specimens  being 
usually  found  with  seaweed,  thrown  up  by  the  tide.s.  Occa- 
sionally pieces  have  been  met  with  weighing  over  two  pounds. 
Dr.  Conwentz  described  the  method  of  examining  the  plant 
fragments  enclosed  in  amber,  and  compared  the  manner  of  )>re- 
servation  with  that  of  recent  plant  sections  mounted  in  Canada 
balsam.     The  amber  was  originally  pouted  out  from  the  roots, 


5S6 


NA  TURE 


[October  io,  1895 


stems,  and  branches  of  injured  or  broken  trees,  in  the  form  of 
resin,  which  on  evaporation  became  thickened,  and  finally 
assumeil  the  form  of  succinite  or  some  similar  substance.  For 
the  most  [xart  the  fossil  resin  has  iK-en  derived  from  the  stems  and 
roots  of  coniferous  trees  of  the  genus  Piniis.  In  addition  to  the 
exceptionally  \vell-preser\ed  tissues  of  coniferous  trees,  the 
Baltic  amlvtr  has  yielded  remarkable  siwcimens  of  monocotyle- 
donous  and  dicotyledonous  flowers.  Some  of  the  most  striking 
examples  were  illustrated  by  means  of  the  excellent  coloured 
plates  from  Dr.  Conwent?'  nu)noyraphs  on  the  lialtic  amber. 

The  Wealden  flora  of  England,  by  A.  C.  Seward.  Mr. 
A.  C.  Seward,  after  referring  to  the  various  species  described  by 
Mantell,  Carruthers,  Starkie  Gardner,  and  others,  from  the 
Wcalden  strata  of  England,  liricfly  described  a  large  number  of 
plants  from  the  British  Museum  collection.  During  the  last  few- 
years  Mr.  RufTord,  of  Hastings,  has  obtained  an  extremely 
valuable  and  rich  collection  of  plants  from  Ecclesbournc,  Fair- 
light,  and  other  localities  ;  and  tlicse  have  now  become  the  pro- 
perty of  the  nation.  The  follow  ings|iecies  are  at  jiresent  known 
from  the  Wealden  of  Englan<l  ;  some  of  these  have  already  been 
figured  in  the  first  volume  of  the  catalog\ie  of  the  Wealden  flora, 
and  the  remainder  are  dealt  with  in  the  forthcoming  second 
volume  : — Al^ites  vahUiisis,  sp.  nov. ,  A.  <atcnclloidcs,  sp.  nov. , 
Chara  Knowltoni,  sp.  nov.,  Manhantilcs  ZcilUri,  sp.  nov., 
EijuisctiUs  Lyclli,  jlant. ,  E.  Biirchardti,  Dunk.,  E.  Yoke- 
yam<e,  sp.  nov.,  Onychiofsis  Mantclli  (Brong.),  0.  ehngala 
(Cleyl. ),  Airoslichopteris  Kiiffordi,  sp.  nov.,  Matoniditim  Gof- 
pfrli  (Ett.),  Prolopti-ris  U'itteaiia,  Schenk.,  Ruffordia  Goppcrii 
(Dunk.),  Cladophkhis lon.pptnnis,s\>.  nov. ,C  ^/fe/'/^/V(Dunk.), 
C.  Brmviiiana  (Dunk.).  C.  Diiiikcri  (Schimp.),  Sphenopleris 
Eonlaiiiei,  sp.  nov.,  S.  Filtoiii,  sp.  nov.,  VVeichselia  ManUlli 
(Brong.),  Taniopteris  Bcyrichii  (Schenk.),  T.  Dawsoiii,  sp. 
nov.,  Sagenopteris  MaiiUUi  (Dunk.),  S.  aiutifolia,  sp.  nov., 
Muroditlyoii  Diintin',Sc\ienV.. , Dii lyitp/iyl/iiiii  jRomeri,  Schenk, 
Ix(tenhya  valdciisis,  gen.  ct  sp.  nov.,  Tciiipskya  Schinipcri, 
CoiA.,  Cycadites  Kimcri,  Schenk.,  C.  Saporlw,  sp.  nov.,  /)/- 
ooiiiles  Dunkcrianiis  (Gopp. ),  D.  Brongniarti  ( Mant. ),  Nilssonia 
Sihaumbiirgdnsis  (Dunk.),  Oloznmilts  Klipslcinii,  (Dunk.),  ('. 
Gopptrlianiis  (Dunk.),  Zamitcs  Bmlnanus {^\\..\,  Zamilcs  Car- 
riithcrsi,  sp.  nov.,  Aiiomozamitcs  I.yellianus  (Dunk.),  Cycado- 
Itpis,  Carpolilhes,  Aiidrostrobtis  Nathorsli,  sp.  nov.,  Coitilcs 
elegans  {Can.),  C.  aniiatiis,  sp.  nov.,  Biicklandia  aiiomala 
(Stokes  and  Webb),  Fillonia  Kuj^ordi,  sp.  nov.,  Bciindtites 
Snx/ytiniis,  Brown,  B.  Gihsoiiiaiiiis,  Carr.,  B.  {It'i/liamsonia) 
Carriitlursi,  sp.  nov.,  Yalesia  Mairisii,  Carr.,  Withatiiia 
Siiporlir,  gen.  et  sp.  nov.,  Bccklesia  anomala,  gen.  ct  sp.  nov., 
Duhopidis,  sp.,  Sphoiolepidiiim  Kiirriaiiiim  (Schenk.),  S. 
Sleriihtrgianiim  (UunV.),  Pagt'op/iylliim  eraisifoliiiin  (Schenk.), 
Brcuhyphyllutn  ohcsiim,\\e<LX,  B.  spinosiim,  sp.  nov.,  Piniles 
Solmsi,  sp.  nov.,  P.  Dmikeri,  Carr,  P.  Mantelli,  Carr,  P. 
patens,  Carr.,  P.  Camillursi,  Card.,  &c. 


SC/E.\Lh  J.\    llJE  MAGAZINES. 

'T'HE  jwrsonal  reminiscences  of  Huxley,  contributed  by  Mr. 
George  W.   Smalley  to  the  current  number  of  Scribuer, 
will  bring  up  pleasant  memories  to  those  who  were  honoured  by 
the  friendship  of  the  departed  naturalist,  and  Ihey  form  an  affec- 
tionate tribute  "  to.  the  menioryof  one  of  the  truest  men  whoever 
lived,  one  of  the  manliest,  and  in  all  points  the  noblest."  There 
is  in  the  article  so  much   real  testimony  to  Huxley's  greatness, 
that  every  student  of  science  will  appreciate  it.     "  The  emanci- 
jKilion  of  thought,"  truly  says  Mr.  Smalley,  "thai  is  Huxley's 
let;acy  to  his  century — that   was  his  continual   lesson  of  intel- 
Against  those  who  criticised  Huxley's  philo- 
;  we  (|Uole  these  wurds  :  "  In  truth  he  wasa  very 

,    '  ■".  with  an  extraordinary  knowledge  of  the 

literature  ics  and  philosophy.  .   .   .    Huxley  was  a 

sludcn",  ;  ii  a  student,  of  Descartes.      Hehaswrilten 

■he  I  ik  III  cxi.stcncc  cm   Hume.      He  was  a  pupil  of 

Ari^  ii'refore  not  a  Plalonist.     Hobl)es  taught  him 

much  ;  I.  to  him  a  great  thinker ;  I>ocke,  Butler,  and 

Ihc  short  1  great  names  in   English  philosophy  were 

all  hi-  !■  ;.-  .iinong  Ihe  great  Germans  there  was,   I 

•hill!  lid  not  know  well— KanI,  Hegel,  Eichte, 

and  ■•  line,  not  excepting  .Scho|M;nhauer."      But 

Huxle)!  claim  lu  lerognilion  as  one  of  Ihc  world's  foremost 
thinker*,  nt)»  unhappily  lost  to  us,  need  not  be  enlarged  upon 
here.      "He  will  lie   rememljcrcd  as  the  great  physiologist,  the 

NO.   1354,  VOL.  52] 


great  student,  the  great  controversialist,  the  great  thinker  and 
writer.  That  he  will  be  remembered  need  not  be  doubted. 
The  world,  it  may  still  be  said,  does  not  willingly  let  die  the 
memory  of  those  who  have  made  it  a  better  world  to  live  in. 
whose  lives  as  well  as  whose  teachings  have  been  lessons  of 
devotion,  of  high  aims,  of  wide  accomplishments,  of  honour- 
able pur|K>se  :  whose  achievements  are  w  rillen  imperishably  in 
the  annals  of  their  own  time.  Huxley  was  one  of  these, 
and  his  monument  in  his  life's  endeavour.  There  will  be  no 
need  to  inscribe  Right  Honourable  ui>on  his  tomb.  The  name 
he  bore  through  life  will  serve  both  for  epitaph  and  eulogy.  " 

There  are  other  articles  in  Scribner  which  will  interest  the 
readers  of  Natirk.  One  of  these  is  a  fully  illustrated  descri]<- 
tion  of  the  new  Chicago  University,  by  Mr.  Merrick.  Mag- 
nificent buildings  have  been  erected,  and  an  endowment  of  over 
.^1.200,000  has  been  bestowed  in  the  short  period  ^tf  four  years, 
as  w  ell  as  a  generous  annual  budget  for  current  expenses.  This 
phenomenal  generosity,  together  with  the  fact  that  there  w  ill  be 
no  question  of  adequate  support  as  fresh  opportunities  lor 
development  occur,  point  to  the  University  of  Chicago  as  a  great 
.and  growing  centre  of  intellectual  activity.  In  some  respects 
the  system  of  the  University  resembles  that  of  our  older  Univer- 
sities, but  others — such  as  the  emphasis  placed  upon  the  doctor's 
degree,  investigation,  research,  iSrc. ,  and  the  activity  of  the 
grailuate  schools — point  to  the  Cierman  University  as  the  pre- 
vailing influence.  It  will  astonish  many  of  our  schoolmen  to 
know  that  "  the  graduates  in  residence  this  year — in  all  over 
three  hundred — form  more  than  one-third  of  the  entire  body  of 
students,  a  larger  number  than  at  any  other  American  University. 
This  preponderance  of  graduate  students  has  been  brought  about 
by  several  reasons  :  the  emphasis  placeil  upon  the  advanced 
courses  under  the  leadership  of  such  heads  of  departments  as 
Profs.  Dewey,  Hale,  von  Hoist,  Laughlin.  Michelson  and  Nef. 
not  to  mention  others  ;  the  special  jirivileges  and  distinctions 
granted  to  graduates  (for  example,  in  many  departments  only 
graduate  students  .are  allowed  in  the  special  departmental  labo- 
ratories, the  /6000  annually  oflered  in  fellowships  and  scholar- 
ships ;  and  tlie  equal  privileges  accorded  to  women.  It  is  a 
truism  that  the  most  distinctive  mo\e  in  .\merican  college  life  of 
the  last  decade  has  been  in  the  sudden  interest  in  post-graduate 
study.  But  hitherto  in  Western  institutions,  whether  college  or 
so-called  university,  has  had  the  means  to  provide  liberally  for 
advanced  studies."  It  will  be  clear  from  this  quotation,  and  more 
clear  from  a  perus.al  of  the  article,  that  the  I'niversity  of  Chicago  is 
developing  in  the  right  directions  towards  scholarship  and  new 
knowledge.  Chicag*.>  jieojile  seem  to  have  the  cause  of  higher 
education  at  heart,  and  they  are  devoting  their  best  energies,  as 
well  as  generous  financial  support,  to  the  magnificent  institution 
which  has  so  quickly  sprung  into  existence,  anil  which  has  such 
a  great  future  before  it. 

The  third  article  of  .scientific  interest  in  Scribntr  is  on 
"  Domesticated  Birds,"  by  Prof.  >.'.  S.  Shaler,  and  is  beauti- 
fully illustrated. 

The  sixth  of  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer's  papers  on  profession.!! 
institutions,  contributed  to  the  Conliiiipoiiiry,  deals  with  the 
evolution  of  men  of  science  and  philoso|)hers,  and  w  ill,  therefore, 
be  of  exceptional  interest  to  our  readers.  So  far  as  the  series 
h.as  .as  yet  gone,  it  has  lieen  shown  that  the  institutions  dealt 
with  were  probably  derived  from  the  priesthood.  Whatever 
may  be  the  opinion  with  regard  to  the  connection  between  the 
medical  profession  and  priestcraft,  it  will  be  generally  conceiled 
that  .astronomy  received  its  first  impulse  from  the  exigencies  of 
religious  worship.  Extracts  given  by  Mr.  Spencer  from 
Rawlinson,  Layard,  and  Maury  show  clearly  how  closely 
religion  and  science  (especially  astronomical  science)  were 
mingled  by  the  Babylonians.  With  Ihe  Egyptians,  too,  there  is 
abundant  evidence  to  prove  an  intiiiiale  coiiiuclion  between 
their  science  .and  their  religion  ;  and  Ihe  connection  is  eslablishe<l 
by  the  fact  that  "  in  every  temple  there  was  ...  an  astro- 
nomer who  h.id  to  observe  the  heavens."  Astronomy  was 
thus  an  outgrowth  of  religion,  and  the  natural  knowledge 
accumulated  by  the  priests  formed  the  beginnings  of  sciences  in 
Egypt,  Assyria, and  India.  TheGreeksimporleiithisknowledge; 
in  other  words,  they  olilained  their  early  science  in  a  sliglitly 
devclo|x-d  stale.  ( M  ihe  indebtedness  of  the  ( Ireek  philosophers 
to  Ihe  Egyptian  priests  there  is  no  doubt  whatever,  and  .Mr. 
Spencer  clearly  makes  out  that  obligation.  The  developiiieni  of 
Greek  science,  however,  is  only  in  a  small  measure  ascribeil  to 
the  priesthiHxl,  the  advances  being  more  of  secular  than  nf  ' 
.sacred    origin.       "During    those    centuries  of  darkness    which 


October  io,  1895] 


NATURE 


587 


followed  the  fall  of  the  Koman  F^nipire,"  says  Mr.  Spencer, 
"  nothing  to  be  called  science  existed.  But  when,  along  with 
gradual  reorganisation,  the  re-genesis  of  science  began,  it  began 
as  in  earlier  instances  among  the  cultured  men — the  priesthood. '" 
The  man  of  science  anol  the  philosopher  have  gradually  ditfer- 
entialed  from  the  clerical  class,  one  to  deal  with  the  concreteand 
the  other  to  be  concerned  with  abstract  matters,  and  now  the 
■distinction  between  the  two  is  tolerably  definite.  .Simul- 
taneously a  subdivision  of  the  body  of  scientific  men  has  .gone 
on,  until  we  reach  these  days  of  minute  specialisation.  And 
finally,  we  have  the  combination  of  the  units  in  such  institutions 
as  the  Royal  .Society  and  British  -Association,  and  in  the  serial 
scientific  publications  which  are  general  in  their  scope.  In 
arldition  to  the  admirable  article  summarised  in  the  foregoing, 
Mr.  .Spencer  contributes  to  the  Contemporary  a  brief  note  in 
reply  to  Prof.  Weismann. 

A  suggestive  paper,  by  Dr.  \.  R.  Wallace,  on  "  The  Expres- 
siveness of  Speech,''  appears  in  the  Fortnightly.  The  paper 
contains  a  number  of  interesting  facts  which  point  to  mouth- 
gesture  as  a  factor  in  the  origin  of  language.  Here  is  Dr. 
Wallace's  idea  :  "  In  our  own  language,  and  probably  in  all  others, 
a  considerable  number  of  the  most  familarjwords  are  so  constructed 
as  to  proclaim  their  meaning  more  or  less  distinctly,  sometimes 
by  means  of  imitative  sounds,  but  also,  in  a  large  number  of 
cases,  by  the  .shape  or  the  movements  of  the  various  parts  of  the 
mouth  used  in  pronoimcing  them,  and  by  peculiarities  in  breath- 
ing or  in  vocalisation,  which  may  express  a  mea-^ing  quite 
independent  of  mere  sound-imitation."  Anthropologists  and 
philologists  should  be  interested  in  the  many  facts  which  Dr. 
Wallace  has  brought  together  in  support  of  his  view. 

Limits  of  space  prevent  us  from  giving  more  than  brief 
descriptions  of  the  remaining  articles  of  scientific  interest  in  the 
magazines  received.  In  Sciouc  Progress,  Mr.  F.  H.  Neville 
traces  recent  progress  in  the  study  of  alloys  ;  galvanotropism 
in  tadpoles  is  described  by  Dr.  .K.  Waller,  I".  R.S.  ;  the  chro- 
matophores  of  animals,  by  Mr.  W.  llarstang;  the  space  relation 
of  animals,  by  Dr.  A.  Eiloart  ;  and  the  synthesis  of  proteids,  by 
Prof.  W.  I).  Halliburton,  F.R..S.  Ckamhers's  Joiirna/haa  shon 
popular  papers  on  "Horseless  Carriages,"  "New  Methods  of  Illu- 
mination," and  "  Cotton-Seed  Oil."  In  GoodWords  we  notice  an 
article  on  "  Falconry,"  by  Mr.  R.  B.  Lodge,  illustrated  by  two 
photographs  from  life — one  showing  a  peregrine  and  partridge, 
and  the  other  a  go.shawk  and  rabbit.  The  two  plates  are  finely 
engraved,  but  we  think  their  value  would  have  been  greater  had 
they  been  phrdographic  reproductions  from  the  original  nega- 
tives. The  Humanitarian  is  distinguished  by  a  p.sychical  article 
entitled  "  Dynamic  Thought,"  by  Prof.  W.  F.  Barrett  ;  and  the 
National  Keinew  has  a  paper  in  which  Selbornians  will  find 
pleasure,  by  the  Hon.  Mrs.  R.  Boyle.  In  addition  to  the  maga- 
zines named  in  the  foregoing,  we  have  received  the  Sunday 
Magazine  and  Longman's. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

C.A.MBRIDGE. — Five  candidates,  namely,  R.  A.  Berry,  G. 
Joyce,  H.  C.  Sheringhani,  W.  M.  Tod,  and  B.  N.  Wale,  have 
l)een  successful  in  the  recent  examination  in  the  science  and  art 
of  agriculture,  and  have  received  the  l.'niversity  diploma. 

Mr.  Charles  Smith,  Master  of  .Sidney  Sussex  College,  and 
author  of  several  much-used  mathematical  text-books,  was  on 
(Jctober  I  admitted  to  the  office  of  Vice-Chancellor  for  the 
current  academical  year.  The  outgoing  Vice-t"hancelIor,  Mr. 
A.  Austen  Leigh,  in  his  parting  address  to  the  Senate,  referred 
in  sympathetic  terms  to  the  loss  sustained  by  the  University  in 
the  death  of  Prof.  Cayley  and  of  Prof  Babington.  He  announced 
that  the  latter  had  bequeathed  to  the  University  his  large  and 
valuable  collection  of  plants.  A  part  of  the  address  was  devoted 
to  a  description  of  the  diOiculties,  chiefly  financial,  which  have 
attended  the  ince]ition  of  the  Sedgwick  Memorial  Museum  of 
Geology.  The  satisfactory  progress  made  with  the  extension  of 
the  Cavendish  Laboratory,  now  approaching  completion,  was 
made  .a  matter  of  congratulation. 

Two  scholarships  in  Natural  Science,  one  of  ^^70  and  one  of 
^40  a  year,  will  be  competed  for  at  Sidney  Sussex  College  on 
December  12  to  14.  Candidates  are  to  make  preliminary  ap- 
plication to  the  tutor,  Mr.  G.  M.  Edwards. 


NO.    1354,  VOL.   52] 


The  late  Prof.  Babington  has  left  to  the  University  his 
botanical  library  as  well  as  his  valuable  collection  of  plants. 

Mr.  H.  F.  Baker,  of  St.  John's,  and  Mr.  J.  E.  Edwards,  of 
Sydney,  have  t)een  appointed  the  Moderators,  and  Mr.  R.  A. 
Ilcrman,  of  Trinity,  and  Mr.  11.  W.  Richmond,  of  King's,  the 
Examiners  for  the   Mathematical  Tripos  of  1896. 

Dr.  Glaisher  has  been  appointed  an  Elector  to  the  Isaac 
Newton  Student.ship  in  Astronomy. 

A  complete  series  of  lectures  for  agricultural  students,  under 
the  Cambridge  and  Counties  Agricultural  Education  Scheme,  has 
been  arranged  for  three  terms  of  the  academical  year.  The 
syllabus  is  published  in  the  University  Reporter  of  October  8. 

The  first  Entrance  Scholarship  in  Natural  .Science,  of  the  value 
of  ^^150,  into  .St.  Thom.as's  Hospital  Medical  School  has  been 
awarded  to  .Mr.  Frank  B.  Skerretl  ;  the  second,  of  the  value  of 
£(iO,  being  divided  between  Messrs.  Walter  B.  Fry,  George  W. 
Hare,  and  Alfred  B.  Lindsey,  bracketed  equal.  "The  Entrance 
.Scholarship,  value  ^50,  for  students  from  the  Universities,  has 
been  awarded  to  Mr.  Percy  W.  (j.  Sargent,  St.  John's  College, 
Cambridge. 

At  Guy's  Hospital,  the  Entrance  Scholarship  in  Science,  of 
the  value  of  ^^150,  has  been  awarded  to  Mr.  P.  W.  L.  Camps, 
and  the  Second  Entrance  Scholarship  in  Science,  of  the  value  of 
^60,  has  been  awarded  to  Mr.  .S.  Hoilgson. 

The  Treasury  has  decided  that  the  annual  grant  of  which 
King's  College,  London,  was  deprived  under  the  late  Govern- 
ment may  be  restored  to  the  college  next  year  without  any 
stipulation  as  regards  tests. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

Ameriian  Meteorologiial  /ournal.  September. — Synchronf)US 
or  simultaneous  geographical  distribution  of  hourly  wind  velo- 
cities in  the  United  States,  by  Dr.  F.  Waldo.  This  article  is 
part  of  a  memoir  prepared  for  the  U.S.  Weather  Bureau, 
and  is  supplementary  to  one  which  appeared  in  the  lournal 
for  July  (N.XTl'RF.,  p.  335).  Charts  are  drawn  for  midnight 
and  noon,  for  the  extreme  months  of  January  and  July,  for  about 
the  centre  of  the  United  States,  and  afford  a  comprehensive  view 
of  the  synchronous  wind  conditions  and  relations  as  regards  the 
average  velocities.  This  method  of  representation  obviates  the 
necessity  of  a  lengthy  text.  -The  origin  and  work  of  marine 
meteorology,  by  Lieut.  W.  H.  Beehler,  U.S.N.  The  author 
deals  more  particularly  with  the  history  and  development  of  this 
service  in  the  United  .States,  from  the  ap]xiinlment  of  Lieut. 
Maury  as  .Superintemlent  of  the  U.S.  Naval  Ob.servalory,  in 
1844,  which  led  to  the  Maritime  Conference  held  at  Brussels  in 
1853.  The  numerous  charts  i)ui)lishcd  by  the  American  Office 
formed  the  basis  of  the  useful  wind  charts  subsequently  issued 
by  the  Meteorological  Department  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  during 
Admiral  Fit/Roy's  lifetime,  and  which  were  widely  distributed 
among  seamen.  The  U.S.  I  lydiogr.qihic  <3tfice  was  establisheil 
in  1866,  and  in  1893  tl'cre  were  nearly  3000  observers  co-operat- 
ing with  it.  The  outcome  (tf  this  was  (he  publication  of  the 
Pilot  Chart  of  the  North  Atlantic  (Jcean,  to  which  we  have  often 
had  occasion  to  refer.  About  4000  copies  of  this  chart  are  dis- 
tributed monthly,  and  among  other  things  they  have  done  much 
towards  bringing  about  the  general  recognition  of  the  value  of 
the  use  of  oil  to  .still  the  waves,  by  which  numbers  of  vessels 
have  been  saved  from  total  loss. 

Bulletin  of  the  Ameriian  Mathematical  Society  (vol.  i.  No. 
10,  July  1S95).  —  This  closing  number  of  vol.  i.  contains,  in 
addition  to  the  usual  list  of  new  publicatiims  and  the  index,  a 
li,st  of  the  jniblished  papers  read  before  the  Society  during  the 
year,  together  with  the  places  of  their  publication. — .Mr.  J.  W. 
Brooks  gives  a  clear  account  of  Lie's  work  <m  continuous  groups 
ii  propos  of  Schetfers'  edition  of  the  Vorlesungen  liber  Conlinuir- 
liche  Gruppeii  mil  geometrischen  und  anderen  Anwendungen. 
"  The  import.ance  of  the  group  idea  itself  has  long  been  recog- 
nised in  its  application  to  the  theory  of  substitutions,  and  some 
continuous  transformations,  such  as  the  pedal  transformation, 
were  in  use  before  Lie's  work,  b\it  were  useil  without  their  con- 
nection with  the  group  idea  being  iliscovered,  and  the  di.scovery 
and  the  presentation  of  the  results  of  it  in  a  systematic  form  are 
due  to  Prof.  Lie."  Dr.  Schefters  has  aimed  at  giving  in  outline 
the  general  theory,  and  he  indicates  some  lines  in  which  if  may 
be  applied. —  Prof  J.  llarkness,  ina  review  of  the  second  volumo 


588 


A' A  TURE 


[October  io,  1895 


(second  ediuon)  of  lordans  "  Cours  d  Analyse  de  K-colc  1  o  y- 
technique,"  which  "is  devoted  to  the  integral  calculus,  tu  y 
analyses  its  contents,  and  pronounces  it  to  be  "a  sul>stantially 
new  contribution  to  mathematical  literature."  '•  Irom  begmning 
to  end  the  reader  feels  that  he  is  being  guided  by  a  master-hand. 
—Prof.  E.  Hastings  Moore  writes  on  a  theorem  concernmg 
/(-rowed  characteristics  with  denominator  2  (of  Prym's  "  L  nter- 
suchuncen  uber  die  Kiemann'schc  Thetaformel  und  die 
Kiemann-sche  Chaiakteristikentheorie,"  lS82).-A  note  on  the 
Transitive  Substitution  Groups  of  degree  I2,  by  Ur.  t.-.  A. 
Miller,  mentions  that  Cimille  Tordan  in  the  CompUs  rmdiis 
(vol  Iwv.  p.  1757^  states  that  there  are  /Ar<v pnmitive  groups  ot 
degree  12,  e.vcluding  the  groups  which  contam  the  alternating 
group.  Dr.  Miller  has  found  four  multiply  transitive  primitive 
groups  of  this  degree,  excluding  the  two  groups  containing  the 
alternating  group.     The  proof  is  given  in  the  present  note. 


a  double  night  ascension  (balloon)  made  on  September  4,  by  MM. 
G  Mermiti  and  Be-sanc,on.  Two  balloons  made  voyages  from 
Paris  in  opposite  directions,  starting  at  the  same  time.  The 
currents  observed  and  used  are  de.scribed,  together  with  details 
of  the  voyages. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Bo«ws.-.\  Hand-book  10  the  liirds  of  Great  Britain  :  I>r.  R.  B-  ^lY>n>^ 
vol.  2  (.Mien). -Climbing  in  the  British  Isles:  W.  P.  H.  htnith  and  H.  C. 
Hart  n.  Wales  .and  Ireland  (l.onKn>an.).-Pracllc-il  Proofs  of  Chemical 
l.aws:  V.  Cornish  (Longmans). -.\n  Introduction  to  the  Study  ol  Sea- 
weeds:  G.  Murray  lM.icmill.w). -Catalogue  of  the  Library  of  the  Ro>-al 
cSgraphical  Sociity  :  Dr.  H.  R.  Mill  {Murr.ay).-pyn.im.cs  :  Prof.  P.  G 
tS  (Black).-Farm  Foods,  or  the  Rational  Feednig  of  K;trm  .\mn  als  . 
P?of  E.  V.  Wolff,  translated  by  H.  H.  Cousins (Gurney  -The  Gold  Mines 
of°heR.->nd:  F.H.   H.atch  .■>„d  J.  ■'V- Chalmers  {Macm.llan).-The   Fau.  a 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

I'.\RIs. 

Academy  of  Sciences.  September  30.— M.  -■X..  Cornu  in  the 
chair— The  Perpetual  Secretar)' read  a  letter  from   M.   J.   B. 
Pasteur,  announcing  the  death  of  his  father,  Louis  l'.isteur,  who 
died  at  Villeneuve-rttang  (Garches),   on  .September  28,    1895. 
M     A    Cornu  then  expressed   the  deep    feeling  of  loss  in  the 
\(^demy,  and  recalled  the  greatness  of  the  work  accomplished 
i,y  P,-isteur.     As  a  mark  of  respect  and  sorrow  the  Academy 
adjourned   after   receiving   the   correspondence.— Remarks    on 
the  subject  of  Lord  Salisbur>'"s  discourse  "on  the  real  limits  ot 
Mur  science,"  by  M.  Emile  Blanch.ird.     The  author  recalls  his 
work   in  contradiction  to  the  theory  of  the  origin   of  species 
atlvanccd  by  Darwin,  and  maintains  that  no  single  instance  ha.s 
ever  Ix-cn  brought  forward  in  answer  to  his  challenge  which  can 
lie  held  to  verily  the  assumption   that  one  species  may  be  iiro- 
duccd  from  another  by  any  form  of  selection.— On  glycosuria 
following  ablation   of    the  p.ancreas,  by   M.   R.    Lepine,      1  he 
sugar  contents  of  the  urine  have  l>een  determined,  and  glycosuria 
traced  during  the  first   thirty  hours,  operating  on  dogs  without 
the     use     of    an;esthetics    or     morphine.— A    study     of     the 
mechanical  theory  of  heat,  by  M.  Ch.  Brun,  has  been  printed 
in   the  correspondence.— The  evaporation    of    liquids  and  the 
great  capillary  theories,  by  NE  G.  \an  der  Mensbnigghe.   Most 
liquids  evaporate  siwntaneously  in  the  air.     The  consequences 
follow:   (I)  The  liquid  layer  whence  particles  are  continually 
Ixring  detached  to  form  va|»ur  cannot  have  the  same  density  as  the 
lifiuid  in  the  interior  of  the  mass,  otherwise  there  would  be  an 
abrupt  passage  from  the  liquid  state  to  vapour  ;  it  must,  therefore, 
be  admitted  that  the  density  of  the  sujwrficial   layer  decrea.scs 
towards  the  exterior.     All  capillary  theories,  supposing  luiuids 
incompressible  (Laplace),  or  of  the   same  density   throughout 
(Gauss),  are   therefore  inadequate.     (2)  When   the   mass  con- 
sidered is  very  small  (bubbles,  liquid  films),  evaporation   causes 
loss  of  a  perceptible  fraction  of  the  total  weight.      Hence  capil- 
lary theories  regarding  a  liquid   mass  as  having  an  invariable 
volume    (Poisson)    must    be    condemned.      (3)   The    constant 
renewal  of  the  free  surface  of  the  superficial  layer  proves,  with- 
out pos.sible  doubt,  that  this  layer  is  not  in  equilibrium.     What 
confidence  can  then  he  placed  in  the  theories  of  Laplace,  Gauss, 
and  Poisson,  and  the  works  of  contemporary  analysts  (N<;umann, 
Malhieu,  Van  der  VVaals,   Resal,  and   Poincare),  who  formally 
suppose  a  liquid  mass  in  equilibrium  ?     After  calling  attention 
t<.  the  defects  of  former  theories,  the  author  quotes  his  own 
theory,   derived    from  a  consideration  of  molecular  Rirccs,  as 
giving  a  sufficient  explanation  of  these  consequences. --On  a  new 
nilrogcnou'i  manure,  calcium  cyanate,  by  ^E  Caniillc  raiire.     It 
is   asserted    that    calcium    cyanate   can    lie   produced   in    large 
quantity  in  the  electric  furnace  by  healing  lime  and  chartroal 
intensely  in  -'■  .■...-.■here  of  nitrogen,  and  oxidising  the  product 
|,y  air     T  ontains  a  greater  proportion  of  assimilable 

nitrogen  1 ;  .  and  can  be  used  as  a  manure.— Syntheses 

Jnr  means  of  cyanacetic  esters,  by  NE  T.  Klobb  -Constitution 
of  acids  pr.Kluccd  in  the  oxidation  of  inactive  campholenic  acid.s, 
by  M.  A.  Behal.  The  .irid  C„n„,04  is  dis.symmctric  (hmclhy - 
.succinic  acid;    the  .nri.l  C.ll|,*>i  's  one  of  the  two  (hnielhyl- 

..1 ....I    i.,vingthc  two  methyls  attached  to  the  same  cartxm 

C(),IEC(CII,)^CII,.CIIrCO,H.      The  author 

i.)r  his  work  against   that  of  Tiemann.— On  the 

effect*  of  llic  »yno<lic  and  anomalistic  revolutions  of  ihc  moon  on 

the  distribution  nf  prcMurcs  in  spring,  by  M.  A.  Poincart.— On 

NO.    1354,  VOL.   52] 


of  British  India,  including  Ceylon  and  Burma  ;  Birds,  Vol.  3  .  W.  T.  Blan 
ford  (Taylor  and  Francis).-Popular  History  of  .\nimals  for  \  oung  P^P''  • 
u    t\K„„„  (r.,....llV- Moral  Pathology  :  Dr.  .4.  E.  Giles  (Sonnenschein). 

hington  (S.P.C.K.).-Simpl 
J.    .\.    Bower  (S.P.C.K.).- 


H    Schc'rren  (C;issell).— Moral  Pathology  :  Dr.  .-i.  E.  C.iles  (So: 

-The  Splash  of  a   Drop:  Prof.  .\.   M.  \Vorthington_(S.P.C.K._).-Sm,ple 

Methods   for   detecting    Food   .\dulter.nion  : 


Scientific  Foundations  01   .-xnui)  ii,....   ^..^.....-..  j  .  -  ■- -  ■         „ 

Wted  by  Dr.   G.    M'Gowan  (Maciuill.in).-The  t'"""'"-"-- .»f  ^'^"  :..''';'*• 
Wieder^heim,  transU-ued  by  H.  :ind   M.    B^nard  (M.acmillan).--\Veather 
i   and    Dise-ase:    A.   B.     .MacDowall    (Graphotone    Comp.any).-01d     F.arm 
Fairies :  H.  C.  McCook  (Hodder  and  Stoughton). 

PAM|.HLETS.-Les  Eimites  .\ctuelles  de  Notre  Science :  M.irqi..s  de 
S.aliCburl'NranslatedbyW.  de  Fonvielle  (Par  s,  (3authier-V  ilLars) -Rcac- 
Tio  !  :  R  Pearson  (Reeves).-Guide  to  the  Collections  of  Rocks  and  K>ssds 
elonging  to  the  Geological  Survey  of  Ireland:  A.  McHcnry  and  W.  W. 
Wats  (Dublin  Thorn)  -A  Supplement  to  a  Revised  Account  of  ■!  e.Ex- 
pe;?menu  made  with  the  Bashfor.h  Chronograph.:  F.Ba-shforth  (Cambridge 
L^^^ivetSity  Press).-Lin  Brauner  Tschimpanse  im  Dresdner  Zoologischen 
"arten:  A.  B.  Meyer  (Berlin,  Friedlander).  ,„      ,     j,ri      • 

SER"A.i.-Journal  of  the  Roy.al  Agricultural  Society  of  tng  and,  Vol  vi. 

or-Mrt"      J  u-,. .  „f  pi^ntc  ■  W.>rn>>r  niirt  Oliver.  Part  »o 


K-StS'of-;;;:;  H^;,;^7sir  l^:'?.  Ba;i,  par.  ■.  (C-sellV  . 
cTscl.es  Notizblatt  ,  Heft  =(Berlin,  Haack).-Bulletin  de  1  .\c.adimie  Royale 
de^  Scienc^  de  Belgi.,ue,  65=  Annie,  No.  8  (Br..xelles).-American 
Naturalist  October  (Philadelphia). -Annals  of  Scottish  Natural  History, 
October  (Edinburgh,  DouRlas).-Memo.rs  .and  Proceedings  of  the  Man- 
d^ester  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  Vo  .  9,  No.  6  M,anchesler).- 
Science  Progress,  October  (Scientific  Press).-lllustrated  Archaeologist  and 
RdiquarV.  5clolUr(Bemrose).-Tr.avaux  de  la  Soc,«t6  des  Nalural.stes  de 
St.  Pitetsbourg,  Vol.  xxiii.  (St.  P^tersbourg). 


567 


Maria  M. 


CONTENTS.  PAGE 

Liebig.     By  W.  A.  T S^S 

The  Selection  of  Health  Resorts 500 

Our  Book  Shelf:—  ,. 

Iknry:   '•  Abr.;gt.' de  la  Theorie  des  I'onctions  Ellip- 

tiques."— H.  F.  Baker 

Letters  to  the  Editor:—         „     ,    .     _  o    „ 

Clausius'  \irial  Theorem.— Prof.  A.  Gray  ,    S.   H. 
Burbury,  F.R.S.  ;  Robert  E.  Baynes    .        .    . 
llultons  "Theory  of  the  Earth."     Frank  D.  Adams 
Abnormal  Atlantic  Waves. -James  Yate  Johnson  . 
Leaf-absorption. -G.  Paul;  W.  Botting  Hcmslcy, 

p  j^  g^  ...         

Tertiary  Eossil   Aiits  in  the  Isle  of  Wight. -P.    B. 

Brotiie         i,  "  «'    ^ 

The  Normal  School  at  Paris.     By  R.  A.  Gregory 
The   '■  Gemini  "    Disaster.      (llliislralfd.)     By 

Oeilvie,  D.Sc ,     ■ 

The  Late  Professor  Hoppe-Seyler.     By  Dr.  Arthur 

Gamgcc,  F.R.S 

The  Funeral  of  Pasteur 

Notes      

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Measurement  of  Planetary  Diameters 

The  Craters  on  the  Moon 

Suggestion  for  .\sironomical  Research 

Anthropology  at  the  British  Association 

Mechanics  at  the  British  Association 

Botany  at  the   British  Association 

Science  in  the  Magazines       •    ■        -. 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 

Scientific  Serials 

Societies  and  Academics .....■• 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received    .... 


568 
569 
569 

569 

570 
570 

573 

575 
576 
579 

579 
579 
579 
580 
581 
584 
586 
587 
587 
588 
588 


NA  JURE 


589 


THURSUAV,    OCTOBER    17,   1S95. 


RECENT  ORNITHOLOGY. 

The  Laud  Birds  in  and  around  S/.-Andreii-'s.   By  George 

Bruce.     (Dundee  :  John  Leng,  1895.) 
T/ic-  Migration   of  Brilisii  Birds,  including  t/teir  Post- 
Giacial  Emigration,  as  Traced  by  the  Application  of  a 
Nc'<i.' Laic  of  Dispersal.    By  Charles  Uixon.    (London: 
Chapman  and  Hall,  1895.) 
Heligoland  as  an    Ornithological  Observatory,  the  Re- 
sult of  Fifty    Years'  E.xpcriencc.     By  Heinrich  Gatke. 
Translated  by  Rudolph  Rosenstock,  M.A.  Oxon.  (Edin- 
burgh :   Uavid  Douglas,  1895.) 
A   Hand-book  to  the  Game  Birds.     By  W.    R    Ogihie- 
Grant.      \'ol.   i.    Sand-grouse,    Partridges,    Pheasants. 
(London  :  Allen  and  Co.,  1895.) 
The  Land-birds  and  Game-birds  of  Netc  England,  'lUith 
Descriptions  of  the  Birds,  their  Nests  and  Eggs,  their 
Habits   and  N^otes.      By    H.    D.    Minot.     With    illus- 
trations.   Second  edition.    Edited  by  William  Brewster. 
(New  N'ork  :   Houghton  and  Co.,  1895. j 
Wild  England  of  To-day,  and  the  Wild  Life  in  it.     By 

C.  J.  Cornish.  'London  :  Seeley  and  Co.,  1895.) 
The  Pheasant :  Natural  History.  B\-  the  Re\-.  H.  A. 
Macpherson.  Shooting.  By  .A.  J.  Stuart-Wortley. 
Cooking.  By  Alexander  Innes  Shand.  ( The  Fur  and 
Feather  Series.)  (London  :  Longmans,  Green,  and  Co., 
1895.) 
"\J  O  section  of  vertebrate  zoology  has  in  this  country 
-^  '  attracted  more  amateur  disciples  than  ornithology; 
and  the  literature  of  perhaps  no  other  group  has  been 
burdened  by  so  many  useless  contributions  by  writers  who, 
possessing  not  only  little  literary  ciualification  for  the  task, 
Ijul  a  veiy  superficial  knowledge  of  the  subject,  rush  into 
print,  assuming  that,  because  they  are  able  to  see,  they  are 
capable  of  observing,  which  are  two  very^  difilerent  things. 
.\mong  the  number  of  such  contributions  must  be  included 
A  volume  of  563  closely-printed  octavo  pages  on  "The 
Land  Birds  about  St.  .Andrews,"  by  Mr.  (ieorge  Bruce. 
On  the  book  opening  of  its  own  accord  at  p.  44,  the 
licading  of  "  The  Griffon  \'ulture  "  caught  the  eye  and 
surprised  us  not  a  little  ;  for  the  addition  of  this  majestic 
bird  to  the  a\  ifauna  of  Fifeshire  was  quite  new  to  us.  On 
consulting  the  title-page,  however,  we  discovered  that  the 
work  was  of  wider  scope  than  indicated  on  the  cover, 
and  included  "  a  condensed  history  of  the  British  land 
Ijirds,  with  extracts  from  the  poets  and  observations  and 
mecdotes  on  natural  history.'  "  The  single  occurrence  of 
.1  solitary  specimen''  in  Ireland,  recorded  Ijy  Varrcll,  is 
apparently  sufficient  ex':use  for  this  page  of  padding.  A 
■  arefull) -written  account  of  the  birds  of  Fifeshire  would 
have  been  welcomed  to  our  lists  of  local  faunas;  but  with 
so  many  excellent  histories  of  British  birds  in  existence 
such  as  that  by  Mr.  Howard  Saunders,  to  mention  only 
one),  there  was  hardly  a  call,  one  would  have  thought,  for 
uiolher,  except  it  were  commended  by  some  special 
feature  or  no\el  method  of  treatment.  The  special  features 
of  this  book  appear  to  consist  in  the  superabundant  ex- 
tracts from  the  poets — more  or  less,  generally  \^a,dpropos 
— cuttings  from  the  local  newspapers,  and  quotations  from 
NO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


many  other  sources  equally  authoritative.  Although  the- 
"  history,"  such  as  it  is,  is  very  condensed,  and  not  always 
to  be  taken  on  trust,  and  the  anecdotes  poor  and  point- 
less, there  are,  ne\ertheless,  in  the  book  not  a  few 
observations  which  we  are  confident  will  pro\e  new  to 
most  ornithologists.  Of  these  we  cull  a  few,  and  refer  our 
readers,  who  desire  to  dig  deeper,  to  the  book  itself 
for  others. 

"  The  Isle  of  Man  has  proved  one  of  the  best  stations 
in  Scotland  for  migration  observations." 

"  The  species  means  every  individual  bird  in  creation  : 
for  instance,  a  lark  is  one  species.  .  .  .  .\  genus  is  a  group 
of  these  birds  so  closely  resembling  each  other  as  hardly 
to  be  mistaken,  as  the  raven,  the  carrion  crow.  .  .  .  These 
combined  form  the  genus  called  Cori'us,  which  means  in. 
British  [t/V]  crow.  The  plural  of  Cor^'us  is  Cori'ince,  as 
genera  is  the  plural  of  genus." 

". Among  those  naturalists  who  have  recently  [!]  done- 
so  much  for  the  advancement  of  this  branch  of  science 
Temnick  [1]  and  Montague  [!]  deserve  to  be  ranked. 
amongst  the  first." 

Mr.  Bruce  records  the  occurrence  of  the  nightingale  as 
far  north  in  Scotland  as  Paisley  and  Uddingston,  upon  the 
unquestioned  authority  of  one  James  .-Xndcrson  in  a 
letter  to  a  local  newspaper,  apparenth-.  The  Slruthionidic,. 
we  find  here,  are  represented  in  the  British  Isles  by  the 
genus  Otis,  and  that  the  author  of  the  species  i'lut'' 
stridula,  Stdic/tria  arundinacea,  a.nd  .^'. phragmites  is  .Mr. 
George  Bruce,  of  St.  Andrews  1  According  to  the  title- 
page  he  is  also  the  author  of  "  Destiny  and  other  Poems, ' 
of  which  we  must  confess  our  ignorance.  W't  trust, 
however,  that  the  doom  of  "  The  Land  Birds  of  St. 
Andrews"  may  have  no  prejudicial  effect  on  his  earlier 
volume. 

"The  Migration  of  British  Birds"  is  the  new  work  by  Mr. 
Charles  Di.xon,  which  was  heralded  a  short  time  ago  by  an 
article  in  the  Fortnightly  Re^'ieiij  from  his  ow  n  pen.  This 
author's  previous  volume  on  a  similar  subject  was  ex- 
haustively discussed  in  N.\ture  for  December  1892.  On 
that  occasion  the  deliberate  conclusion  was  expressed 
"  that  Mr.  Dixon,  author  of  so  many  works  as  he  may  be, 
is  no  authority  on  the  subject  of  migration,  which  he  has 
left  exactly  as  he  found  it."  The  same  verdict  must  be 
passed  on  the  present  volume,  and  we  might  have  dis- 
missed it  without  further  discussion  but  for  two  reasons. 
The  first  is  the  fact  that  in  one  or  two  important  daily 
journals,  whose  scientific  reviews  in  general  command 
our  entire  respect,  Mr.  Di.xon  has  been  rather  pre- 
maturely ele\ated  to  the  rank  of  a  Moses  in  omitholog)-, 
and  the  other  is  that  he  declares  that  his  present  \-iews 
are  now  opposed  to  those  he  has  expressed  in  previous 
works.  Whether  the  abandonment  by  Mr.  Dixon  of  his 
former  views  is  due  to  the  criticism  to  which  they  were 
subjected  in  N.xtl'RE,  we  have  not  the  satisfaction  of 
being  informed. 

This  "  new  Law "  here  promulgated  to  the  « orld- 
not  yet  accepted  by  it — is  the  "  undiscovered  principle  " 
which  is  to  solve  all  the  difficulties  of  geographical  dis- 
tribution, and  the  dispersal  of  life,  and  clear  up  "  the 
greatest  mystery  which  the  whole  animal  kingdom  pre- 
sents," to  quote  the  words  of  one  of  our  foremost  ornitho- 
logists— "a  mystery  which  attracted  the  earliest  writers, 
and  can  in  its  chief  point  be  no  niore  explained  by  the 


590 


XATURE 


[October  17,  1895 


modem    man    of    science   than    by   the   simple-minded 
savage   or    the   poet    or   prophet   of  aniii|uity."     When 
writing  these  pregnant  words  it  was  not  gi\en  to  this 
erudite  biologist  to  foresee  the  revelation  of  "  this  Our 
new  law"  of  dispersal  to  Charles  Dixon,   of  which  the 
volume  under  notice  is  the  first  proclamation.    This  great 
new  "law  forbids  retreat."     To  Mr.  Dixon  it  has  been 
revealed    that   the   effect    of   the    slow   oncoming   of  a 
glacial   epoch    in   either  hemisphere  was    not    to   cause 
bird-life   to  retreat   in  front  of  the  increasing  cold,  but 
really  to  exterminate  all  those  birds  having  a  range  of 
distribution  entirely  within   the   refrigerated  areas,  and 
to  contract  the  range  of  such  as  were  migratoiy.     Those 
birds  alone  survived,  therefore,  whose  former  range  ex- 
tended beyond  the  glaciated  areas  (the  unglaciated  por- 
tions of   their   range  the  author  calls  "  refuge  areas ")  : 
while  all    those  birds    which    had   no    refuge   area  were 
totally  exterminated,  and  have  since  been  lost  to  science. 
The  "  law,"  moreover,  forbids    species   in    the  northern 
hemisphere  ever  to  increase  their  range  in  a  southerly 
direction,  and  species  in   the  southern  hemisphere  ever 
to  increase  theirs  in  a  northerly  direction  ;  and  only  those 
northern  birds  or  those  southern  birds  whose  refuge  areas 
extended  on    both   sides  of   the  equator  arc    permitted 
by  the  "  law  "  to  extend  their  breeding  range  to  regions 
towards    the    opposite   pole,  which    presented  the  most 
favourable  conditions  for  reproduction.     Now  "this  Our 
law,"  we  arc  told,  applies  not  only  to  birds,  but  to  all  life, 
and  is  a  universal   explanation   never  thought  of  by  any 
other  "biologist  of  note,"  of  the    migration    and    geo- 
graphical distribution  of  species.     To  show  that  this  is 
so,    Mr.    Dixon   applies   his   law   to   the  distribution   of 
"arctic"  types  in   the  flora  of  the  southern  hemisphere. 
.Sir  Joseph  Hooker  long  ago  explained  the  presence  of 
the  "  Scandinavian  "  element  in  that  flora,  by  indicating 
its  migration  routes  along   the  meridional  highlands  of 
the  great  continental  land  masses.      Hooker,  Huxley  and 
Wallace,  and  doubtless  all  those  other  ornithologists  and 
geologists — among  whom  are  .Sharpe  and  Cieikie — who 
have,  according  to  Mr.  Dixon,  gone  "beyond  their  last,'' 
have  been  quite  misguided   by  reason  of  their  ignorance 
of  this  law.     Our  latest  authority,  however,  declares  with 
all  the  emphasis  of  certainty  that  "  there  can  have  been 
no  emigration  of  plants  from  north  to   south  "  ;  "it  could 
never  have  taken   place "  ;    Our  "  law   forbids  it."     The 
true    solution  of  the    question    by    Mr.   Di.xon    is,  that 
all  the  "arctic"    plants   in   the   southern    as  well  as  in 
the   northern   hemisphere,    spread    from    an    equatorial 
centre.     Let  us  take,  for  example,  an   "arctic"  species 
common,  say,   to  high   northern  latitudes,   and  to  New- 
Zealand,   and    the    Southern    .-\ndes    or   South   .Africa. 
This  species   must,   in    the    first  instance,    have   arisen 
in  some  part  of  the  equatorial  regions  from    a  tropical 
form,  by  ascending   to  the  cool  arctic  /ones  of  one  of 
the   mountains— suppose    in    South  America.      It    must 
then    have   followed    one    of   two    routes   of    dispersal. 
After  multiplying  it  must  either  have  spread  right  round 
the   equator — the   absence  of  continuous   land   notwith- 
standing  -crossing  again  and  again  the  torrid  interspaces 
separating  it  from  other  e(|uatorial  altitudes,  which  served 
it    as   stepping-stones,  till    it  attained    those    longitudes 
whence  it  could  extend  its  range,  as  best  it  might,  to  its 
prccnt    northern  and    southern    habitats— a    migr.ition- 
NO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


route  too  remarkable  to  be  easily  credited.     The  alter- 
nati\e  route,  so  far  as  regards  the  southern  hemisphere,  at 
all  events,  would  be  for  the  species  to  spread  southwards 
on  one  of  the  continents  (say  South  America),  till  reach- 
ing a  then-existing  Antarctic   land,   over  which  it  must 
have  gradually  dispersed,  and   in  order  to  reach  Smith 
Africa  or  New  Zealand,   it  would  have  to  travel  north- 
wards in   the  very  face   of  Mr.    Dixon's    inexorable  law, 
which  it  would  thus  entirely  upset,   and  with  it  all  the 
conclusions   in    the   present   treatise.      How  would    Mr. 
Dixon    explain,  for  instance,  the  distribution  of  /'ctnca 
arhorca   in    South    .\nicrica,    in   West    Java,   and    East 
Timor  ?     .Another  method  of  dispersal  may  perhaps  be 
predicated  as  possible  by  some,  namely,  the  independent 
origin  from  equatorial  ancestors  of  identical  arctic  species 
in  high  northern  and   southern  latitudes  :   but  any  such 
occurrence  is  too  improbable   to  be  seriously  entertained. 
This  law.  which  seems  to  us  to  fail  most   lamentably  to 
explain  the  (lispcrs;il  of  plants,  fails  not  less  in  regard  to 
the   migration  of  birds.     It  surely  requires  no  pointing 
out  that  during  e\ery  winter  we  have  numberless  boreal 
species — birds,    whales,    seals — visiting    our    shores    in 
retreat  south  into  more  genial  climes  ;  the  sheep  feeding 
on  any  high  hill,  and  overtaken  at  the  beginning  of  winter 
by  storms,  hasten  for   food  and  shelter  to  lower  levels, 
where  they  would  continue  to  remain  if  there  came  no 
moderation  in    the   weather  of    the  uplands  ;    and    our 
resident  redbreasts  for  the  same  reason  retreat  from  the 
woods  before  the  first  snow  s  to  the  neighbourhood  of  our 
homes,  and  if  the  winter  be  specially  severe  they  retreat 
still  further  in  search  of  more  genial  conditions— they  do 
not  dare  the  storm  .md  liie  on   the  snow.     What  takes 
place  in   miniature  during  the  winter   would   simply  be 
enacted,  there  is  little  doubt,  on  an  extensive  scale  during 
a   glacial  epoch.      The  migration,  to   be  seen  to-day  in 
Western    Kuiopc,    we  arc  told  by    Mr.    Dixon,  was  un- 
doubtedly initiated   with   the  passing  away   of  the  third 
glacial   period,  is  undertaken   expressly  for   purposes  of 
reproduction,  and  is  "the  constant  endeavour  of  what  we 
must  now  regard  as  but  the  relics  of  such  exiled  life  to 
regain  and  repeople  the  area  that  it  once  occupied  during 
pre-glacial    lime."      Had   the   migration    of  pre-glacial 
times  a  difliercnt  cause  or  motive  than  that  of  to-day  ? 
Why  is  migration  necessary  for  the  purpose-:  of  breeding  .•" 
Is  there  not   space   enough,   food  enough,  antl   a  better 
climate  in  the  regions  where  the  migrants  winter,  ami  to 
which  the  parents,  indeed,  return  reinforced  1iy  their  yming, 
to  be  dependent  on  the  supplies  of  that  area  :     How,  we 
may  also  ask,  can  the  birds  which  occupied  the  southern 
and  non-glaciated  portion  of  their  range  be  inspired  by 
"a  constant  endcaxour  to  regain"  an  area  their  parents 
had  never  occupied,  and  had  never e\ en  known  :  for  those 
of  their  species    which    had    occupied    and    known    the 
northern   part  of  the  range,  we  are  assured  rather  than 
retreat  a  step,  chose  to  die  under  Dixon's  "  law.  '       1  lie 
new  Commandment     which    forbids  a    southern   cxun- 
sion   of   breeding   area,    "renders,"    according    to    Mr. 
Dixon,  "a  flight  south   in  spring  impossible"  :  and  ".ill 
species  do  not    breed   [more  grammatically,  no  species 
breeds]  anywhere  smith  of  their  [its]  point  of  enliance." 
Yet    the    penguins    defy   this  law,   and  though    southern 
hemisphere  birds,  they  migrate  equator-wards  to  lirccd. 
In  the  spring  of  this  year  the  present  writer  witnessed,  in 


0<  TOBER   17,    1895] 


NA  TURE 


591 


the  middle  of  the  Irish  Sea,  a  flock  of  migratory  birds 
crossing  (the  weather  having  been  specially  fine  for  some 
time)  to  England,  from  Ireland  apparently,  on  a  south- 
east course.  Before  crediting  this  lob-sided  partially- 
radiating  dispersal,  we  must  have  more  convincing  proofs 
that  birds  and  plants  arc  so  peculiarly  constituted  that 
an  invisible  parallel  of  latitude  athwart  a  congenial 
region,  is,  in  a  particular  compass  bearing,  as  impass- 
able to  them  as  an  ocean  or  a  Sahara.  \\"e  cannot 
affect  to  believe  that  Mr.  Dixon's  is  a  more  satis- 
factorv  explanation  of  the  mysterious  season-flight  of 
birds,  than  the  cause — among  others — long  ago  as- 
signed, that  the  migrant  species  come  north  in  spring  to 
breed,  impelled  by  a  hereditary  impulse  at  that  season 
(and  prol)ably  guided  by  a  direction-sense  with  which  they 
are  specially  endowed),  to  return  to  their  old  nurseries  from 
the  regions  whence  their  ancestors  were  compelled  by 
geologic  and  climatic  causes  to  retreat,  and  in  which  they 
were  so  long  acclimatised  as  to  be  now  unable  to  with- 
stand the  cold  winter,  with  its  meagre  fare,  of  their 
ancestral  putn'ti,  which  consequently  they  forsake  again 
in  the  autumn. 

We  cannot  afford  space  to  touch  on  many  other  points 
in  Mr.  Dixon's  book  in  which  we  believe  he  has  gone 
astray.  We  feel  no  nearer  a  solution  of  the  mysterj-  of 
migration  than  before  its  publication.  Writers  on  this 
subject  "should  thoroughly  understand  not  only  the 
rudiments  of  the  higher  philosophy  [whatever  that  may 
mean]  of  the  geographical  distribution  of  life  before 
they  attempt  to  theorise  upon  it,  or  endeavour  to  demon- 
strate it."  We  offer  Mr.  Dixon  his  own  advice,  which  we 
have  copied  from  a  paragraph  in  which  a  charge  of  ultra 
crcpidiiiii  is  ill-naturedly  levelled  at  some  of  the  foremost 
workers  in  the  science  with  which  he  is  dealing,  and  to 
which  their  lifetime  has  been  unremittingly  devoted — a 
charge  which  surely  comes  ill  from  one  who  is  purely  an 
amateur,  and  a  young  man  compared  with  the  veterans 
at  whom  he  sneers. 

Mr.  Dixon's  style  is  cumbrous  and  not  always  easy  to 
comprehend,  while  his  English  is  often  very  ungram- 
niatical.  It  is  only  justice  to  admit  that  the  book,  with 
the  theories  of  which  we  so  entirely  disagree,  contains 
much  interesting  infomiation  collated  and  condensed  from 
many  sources. 

It  is  refreshing  to  turn  from  these  airy  speculations  to 
the  stable  ground  of  pure  and  unadulterated  fact  with 
which  the  pages  of  "  Heligoland  as  an  Ornithological 
I  )bservator>'"  are  so  lavishly  filled.  This  is  the  English 
translation  by  Mr.  Rosenstock  of  Herr  (".iitke's  celebrated 
\oIume  puljlished  in  (ierman  in  1S90.  Ornithological 
students  in  England  owe  their  heartiest  thanks  to  the 
translator,  as  well  as  to  Mr.  Harvie  Brown,  to  the  pub- 
lishers, and  to  all  who  have  given  a  forwarding  hand  to  the 
task  of  presenting  them  with  this  great  and  important  work 
in  their  own  language.  The  labours  of  its  venerable  and 
distinguished  author  are  too  well  known  in  this  country 
to  require  us  to  do  more  than  recommend  his  book — 
corrected  by  the  author  down  to  May  last — in  its  new 
garb.  Binding,  printing;,  paper,  and  illustrations  are  all 
that  can  be  desired.  In  turning  over  its  pages  we  recognise 
anew  the  tiustworthy  observer,  and  are  reminded  of  the 
story  told  of  an  old  woman  in  a  northern  county 
NO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


of  Scotland,  who,  on  being  taken  to  task  by  her  minister 
for  invariably  paying  the  closest  attention  to  any  stranger 
who  occupied  the  pulpit,  and  of  as  persistently  sleeping 
in  unbroken  repose  throughout  his  own  sermons,  replied, 
"  Hoot  minister  I  wha's  to  ken  fat  kin'  o'  doctrine  they 
youngsters  may  be  gi'in' ;  we  a'  ken  fine  that  we  can 
lippen  to  yoursel'."  Herr  Gatke's  book  can  be  perfectly 
"  lippen  "-ed  to.  It  is  divided  into  three  parts,  the  first  of 
which — on  the  migration  of  birds — is  perhaps  the  most 
important  and  interesting.  This  subject  is  discussed  in 
nine  chapters,  dealing  with  the  course  of  migration  in 
Heligoland  ;  the  direction,  altitude  and  velocity  of  the 
migration  flight  ;  the  meteorological  conditions  influ^ 
encing  it  ;  the  order  of  migration  ;  exceptional  pheno- 
mena ;  what  guides  the  birds,  and  the  cause  of  the 
movement.  In  regard  to  the  last,  we  quote  the  convic- 
tion of  this  patient  observer  and  recorder  after  fifty  years' 
experience,  "  that  what  at  present  has  been  ascertained  in 
reference  to  the  migration  of  birds  furnishes  us  with  no 
clue,  by  the  aid  of  which  we  are  enabled  to  penetrate  the 
depths  of  this  wondrous  myster>'."  The  second  part  deals 
with  changes  which  he  has  observed  to  occur  in  the  colour 
of  the  plumage  of  birds  without  moulting.  This  subject 
has  also  been  studied  by  Mr.  Ogilvie-CIrant,  of  the 
British  Museum,  who  has  not  only  corroborated  the 
truth  of  Herr  tiiitke's  obser\ations,  but  thrown  much 
new  light  on  the  subject.  The  final  section  of  the  book 
gives  an  account  of  the  birds  observed  in  Heligoland, 
which  numljer  39S.  The  volume  is  illustrated  by  a 
number  of  charming  vignettes,  an  d  by  two  excellent 
portraits  of  Herr  (liitke. 

The  latest  addition  to  the  naturalist's  library,  edited  by 
Dr.  K.  B.  Sharpe,  and  published  by  Messrs.  .Allen  and 
Co.,  of  Waterloo  Place,  is  a  "  Hand-book  to  the  Game- 
birds,"  by  Mr.  W.  K.  Ogilvie-Grant,  who  is  well  known  to 
be  an  authority  on  this  group.  This  is  the  first  of 
two  \olumes,  and  contains  an  account  of  the  sand- 
grouse,  partridges  and  pheasants.  The  second  volume 
(which  will  be  issued  shortly;  will  deal  with  the 
American  partridges,  the  megapodes,  curassows  and 
hemipodes.  The  hand-book  is  founded  on  the 
author's  British  Museum  catalogue  of  the  group  (vol. 
xxii.i,  and  is  one  of  the  best  yet  issued  of  the  valuable 
series  to  which  it  belongs.  So  far  as  published,  the 
volunies  of  Allen's  Naturalist's  Librar>-  are  each  of 
them  concise  monographs  of  the  groups  they  relate 
to,  well  illustrated  and  published  at  a  ver\-  low  price. 
The  aim  of  the  author  has  been  to  treat  the  sub- 
ject in  such  a  way  that  it  may  not  only  be  useful  as  a 
scientific  work  of  reference,  but  also  as  a  handy  book  for 
sportsmen  and  field  naturalists.  With  its  aid  they  should 
be  able  not  only  to  identify  the  birds  they  shoot  with  as 
little  trouble  as  possible,  but  also  to  find  out  what  is 
known  concerning  the  life-history  of  each  species  The 
work  will  be  specially  \aluable  to  the  museum  curatoi  ; 
indeed,  it  is  the  only  handy  and  up-to-date  monograph  of 
the  families  it  describes.  This  volume  contains  twenty- 
one  full-page  coloured  illustrations,  some  of  which  are 
republished  from  Jardine's  Naturalist's  Library  ;  the 
majority,  however,  have  been  specially  drawn  for  it  by 
Mr.  Keulemans.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Messrs.  Allen 
do  not  see  it  to  their  advantage  to  dispense  with  the 


^q2 


A'A  TURE 


[October  i  ; 


'S95 


untiijuaicci  rigurcs  01  tiiL-  loniiLT  tciiiHiii,  1im  \»  111:11  they 
are  placed  beside  Mr.  Keulemans'  beautiful  plates,  the 
contrast  is  too  striking  not  to  call  forth  unfavourable 
remark.  The  birds  from  the  hand  of  that  artist  seem 
transported  fresh  from  the  heaths  and  the  hills  ;  the  others 
look  like  worn  museum  specimens.  A  special  feature  in  Mr. 
Ogilvie-G rant's  hand-book,  is  the  full  account  given  of  the 
various  phases  of  the  moult  in  the  grouse,  partridge  and 
blackcock,  and  of  the  curious  change  of  plumage  that  takes 
place  in  these  birds  without  moulting.  We  are  indeed  in- 
debted, as  observed  above,  to  him  more,  we  believe,  than 
to  any  other,  for  the  elucidation  of  these  interesting,  and  to 
a  great  extent  inexplicable,  variations.  The  account  he 
gives  of  the  plumage-changes  in  the  blackcock  i Lynirus 
Ulrix)  have  ne\er  till  now  been  so  fully  described.  We 
understand  that  the  description  of  both  male  and  female 
•of  ever>-  species  has  been  carefully  made  from  the  actual 
skins,  and  checked  with  the  specimens,  in  proof.  This  is 
sufficient  to  establish  the  accuracy  and  value  of  Mr. 
Ogilvie-Cirant's  work.  The  only  doubtful  statement  we 
have  detected  is  on  p.  189,  where  the  author  has  stated, 
following  the  authority  of  Sir  Walter  Huller,  that  the  X.ew 
Zealand  quail,  now  extinct  in  that  colony,  still  exists  on 
the  Kennadec  Islands.  We  are  inclined  to  believe  that 
its  discover)'  on  the  latter  island  was  a  mistake,  and  that 
this  interesting  bird  is  -now  absolutely  exterminated. 

"The  Land-birds  and  Game-birds  of  New  England" 
is  a  new  edition  of  tTiis  local  fauna  published  some  nine- 
teen years  ago.  Its  autTior  is  the  late  Mr.  Henry  D. 
.\Iinot,  who.  as  we  learn  from  a  biographical  notice  which 
prefaces  the  book,  had  from  early  childhood  showed  a 
great  fondness  for  nature,  and  who,  devoting  himself  to 
the  study  of  birds,  had  completed  the  manuscript  of  this 
volume  of  over  400  closely-printed  pages  in  his  seven- 
teenth year.  This  new  edition  issues  from  the  press 
tmder  the  care  of  the  distinguished  ornithologist,  Mr.  W. 
Brewster,  who  says  that  the  book  was  well  received  on 
its  appearance,  sold  rapidly,  and  soon  became  out  of 
print.  Mr.  Minot  adopted  the  profession  of  a  railroad 
engineer,  and  for  fifteen  years  lived  in  the  hope  of  add- 
ing to,  and  correcting  his  published  observations.  His 
■duties,  however,  prevented  him  from  accomplishing  this 
task,  and  his  career  terminated  in  i8go  by  his  being 
killed  in  a  railway  coflision.  Written  by  a  youth  of 
seventeen,  as  the  editor  observes,  "  with,  as  I  am  assured, 
almost  no  outside  help  of  either  a  literary  or  scientific 
kind,  it  is  a  remarkable  and  interesting  book,  for  most  of 
the  [bird]  biographies  relate  to  his  own  experiences  or 
impressions."'  The  book  is  certainly  worth  republishing. 
Till-  original  text  has  been  left  almost  untouched,  and  a 
few  notes  found  in  Mr.  .Minot's  annotated  copy  are  in- 
serted at  the  foot  of  the  pages.  .As  could  not  but  happen 
in  one  so  young,  there  are  not  a  few  errors,  both  of  fact 
and  deduction;  but  the  "editorial  touches"  of  Mr. 
Urcwstcr  have  safeguarded  the  reader  against  being 
misled,  and  given  to  the  book  much  of  the  value  it  now 
possesses.  .Mr.  Minot  was  a  keen  observer,  and  the 
worth  of  his  work,  apart  from  what  it  possesses  as  a  local 
f.Tinn.  and  from  Mr.  Urcwster's  annotations,  lies  in  his 
ibils  of  ihc  New  England  birds, 
will  lind  in  it  much  accurate  and 
material,   recorded   in  a  pleasant  and  easy 

;>"•  1355.  VOL.  52] 


style.  In  speaking  of  the  k\\.\a\\  ti/.//;/.>  :  ni^uuaiuis  . 
he  racily  describes  the  unsuccessful  pursuit  of  a  covey  by 
a  young  "gunner," and  concludes  :  "  Now  the  lad  returns 
home,  and  explains  his  ill-luck  by  an  extraordinary  theory, 
read  of  in  books,  and  verified  by  his  own  experience, 
that  our  Quail  have  a  wonderful  power  of  retaining  their 
scent.  The  only  sound  argument  to  prove  this  statenieni 
is  that  our  game-birds,  when  \  ery  young,  by  a  thoughtful 
provision  of  nature,  emit  little  or  no  scent."  In  later 
years  the  author  added  this  note.  "...  When  game- 
birds  drop  suddenly  to  the  ground  and  remain  motionless, 
the  dog  does  not  perceive  them.  Quail  most  frequently 
alight  in  this  way,  but  as  soon  as  they  begin  to  move,  the 
effluvium  escapes  and  is  disseminated."  Mr.  Brewster 
adds  his  "  editorial  touch  "  to  the  following  eftcct  :  "  The 
question  cannot  be  settled  in  this  sunmiary  manner,  for 
the  writer  overlooks  the  important  fact  that  the  habit  of 
retaining  scent  is  not  common  to  all  the  quail  of  any  one 
locality  or  region.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  peculiar  to 
i  certain  individual  or  bevies  who  invariably  practise  it 
when  pursued  by  sportsmen,  ^'et  these  individuals  do 
not  drop  more  suddenly,  nor  remain  more  motionless, 
than  the  less  fortunate  birds  which  the  dogs  easily  find 
and  point."     Thus  author  and  editor. 

The  illustr.ttions  consist  of  woodcuts  in  outline,  but 
though  "drawn  from  nature,"  are  of  no  practical  use, 
and  might  have  been  omitted  with  advant.age.  The  book 
is  well  printed,  and  has,  as  frontispiece,  a  portrait  "  pre- 
pared and  engraved  by  Mr.  .A.  K.  jaccaci  as  a  personal 
tribute"  to  the  talented  but  unfortunate  author. 

In  "Wild  England  of  To-Day,"  by  Mr.  Cornish,  we 
have  a  collection  of  essays  repulilishcd  from  different 
journals,  but  chiefly  from  the  Spt\/tt/o>;  describing  the  life 
in  various  "wild,"  secluded  or  thinly  populated  districts 
of  the  country  "  ranging  from  the  southern  cliffs  to  the 
Yorkshire  fen."  .Although  we  find  such  subjects  dis- 
cussed as  "salmon-netting  at  Christchurch,"  "trout- 
breeding,"  and  "the  deer  in  Richmond  Park,"  the 
majority  of  the  papers  are  devoted  to  bird-subjects,  and 
thus  come  lawfully  within  the  scope  of  this  article.  The 
whole  of  tlie  sketches,  while  quite  popularly  written,  arc 
scientifically  accurate,  without  being  or  pretending  to  be 
permanent  contributions  to  science.  Charmingly  indited, 
they  remind  one  of  the  style  and  flavour  of  the  late 
Richard  Jefteries'  psalms  in  praise  of  nature.  The  book 
is  adorned  by  a  number  of  full-page  illustrations  of  ex- 
ceptional excellence,  from  photographs  and  from  drawings 
speci.tlly  made  for  il,  of  which  the  "  I'ecwii's  Nest,"  by 
J.  W.  (lakes,  .\.R..-\.,  deserves  special  mention  as  an 
exquisite  little  picture. 

The  latest  .-iddition  to  tlie  attractively  Ijnund  "  I'ur 
and  Feather  "  scries,  whose  volumes  form  such  pleasant 
journeying  companions,  is  "The  Pheasant."  The  Rev. 
H.  .A.  .Macpherson  treats,  as  he  does  in  several  of  its  prede- 
cessors, of  the  natural  history  of  the  bird.  He  discusses 
concisely  its  acclimatisation  from  the  earliest  times,  its  1 
geographical  distribution  and  its  nesting  habits,  while 
under  the  heading  of  "  Krcaks  and  Oddities  '  he  describes 
its  plumage-changes  and  its  cross-breeding.  His  section 
concludes  with  two  chatty  chapters  on  "  Old  World 
Fowling"  and  "  I'oaching  in  the  Nineteenth  Century. 


OCTOHER    17.    1895] 


NA  TURE 


593 


Ml'.  Stuait-W  onle\-  discourses  with  aulliority  on  liou  to 
shoot  slaii^'hter  ?— this  tame  "  Byrd  of  singular  beauty," 
when  driven  in  bevies  slowly  and  with  not  a  little  per- 
suasion just  sufficiently  far  away  to  "  home,"  on  being 
flushed,  at  a  proper  altitude  over  the  guns,  which  are 
thicklv  stationed  in  hiding  to  rain  a  murderous  hail  on 
them.  The  shooting  of  the  wild-lDred  bird  is,  however, 
nobler  sport.  "  Xothing  strikes  one  more  in  Norfolk,"  says 
Mr.  Stuart-Wortley,  "  especially  in  the  heath  district,  than 
the  prevalence  of  pheasants  everywhere  .  .  .  and  it  adds 
greatly  to  the  charm  of  a  partridge  drive  when  it  is  varied 
by  a  few  rocketing  pheasants  out  of  the  belt  jou  are 
standing  by,  or  when  they  rise  high  off  the  heath  and 
come  over  w  ith  the  partridges,  and  quite  as  fast.  .  .  .  The 
late  October  days  in  Norfolk  and  .Suffolk,  especially 
where  there  is  heath,  are  among  the  most  fascinating  to 
be  got  in  England." 

Mr.  Innes-.Shand  plays  on  our  salivary  glands  by  e.\- 
tolling  the  excellence  of  the  bird  "  when  she  is  in  the 
dish,"  roast  and  with  bread-sauce,  and  in  many  a  fas- 
cinating style  besides  that  "sublimest  form  of  art  .  .  .  the 
faisiui  a  lit  Stiinfi'-Alliancc."  .-Mtogether  "'  The  Pheasant '" 
is,  as  remarked  abo\e,  a  delightful  compagiion  dc  7'oyage, 
and  will  1)e  found  in  many  a  portmanteau  in  the  late 
October  days.  The  ten  well-produced  full-page  plates 
add  much  to  the  attractiveness  of  the  volume. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

The  Elements  of  Botany.  By  Francis  Uarwin,  M.A.,' 
M.B.,  K.R.S.,  Fellow  of  Christ's  College,  Cambridge, 
and  Reader  of  Botany  in  the  University.  (Cambridge  : 
University  Press,  1895.} 
l.N  this  little  book  the  elements  of  botany  are  presented 
in  a  more  refreshing  form  than  is  too  often  the  case. 
The  author  has  chosen  to  emphasise  certain  principles 
and  phenomena  of  morphological  or  of  physiological 
importance,  rather  than  to  crowd  his  pages  with  vast 
numbers  of  facts.  \'arious  plants  arc  requisitioned  to 
sene  as  illustrations  of  the  different  subjects  under 
treatment  ;  and  thus  the  student  will  certainly  acquire 
a  clearer  and  more  general  conception  of  what,  for  in- 
stance, a  flowering  plant  is,  and  how  it  lives,  than  would 
have  been  possible  had  only  one  example  been  selected 
as  a  type,  even  though  this  had  been  far  more  exhaustively 
dealt  with. 

There  are  some  matters,  howc\er,  in  which  it  may  be 
doubted  whether  the  method  of  treatment  adopted  will 
commend  itself  equally  to  most  botanists.  Thus,  although 
Mr.  Darwin  says  that  he  advisedly  puts  the  doctrine  of 
alternation  of  generations  into  the  background,  many 
will  doubtless  regret  his  decision.  It  is  true  that  with- 
out the  introduction  of  a  few  more  intermediate  types, 
the  question  would  possess,  as  the  author  says,  but  little 
mterest  for  the  elementary  student.  But  in  view  of  the 
great  importance,  both  of  the  facts  and  of  the  compari- 
sons based  upon  them,  one  cannot  help  wishing  that  the 
general  bearings  of  the  question  could  lia\  e  Ijeen  indicated 
somewhat  more  fully. 

.A  second  matter  is  the  employment  of  the  term  hark 
in  the  popular,  as  opposed  to  its  more  technical,  sense. 
l5otanists  have  come  to  attach  a  special  and  restricted 
meaning  to  the  term  ;  and  though  it  is  no  doubt  highly 
improper  to  pirate  English  words,  still  this  is  done  in 
every  technical  department,  and  thus,  in  spite  of  its 
admitted  inconvenience  to  the  beginner,  we  think  the 
balance  of  advantage  is  in  favour  of  the  retention  of  the 
appropriated  word  in  its  restricted  significance. 

iiut  these  are  cases  in  which  there  is  room  for  difference 


I  of  opinion  :  there  «iU  lie  nunc  .it  all   on  the  question  as- 
to  the  merits  of   Mr.    Darwin's   book    considered   as    a 
;  whole.     It  is  an  admirable  work  which  both  teacher  and 
I  student  will  cordially  and  deservedly  welcome. 

The    Book    of   British    Hau'k-Moths,   a    Popular    and 

Practical  Handbook  for    Lepidoptcrists.     By   W.     J. 

Lucas.      With  illustrations  from  Nature  by  the  Author.- 

(London  :  L.  Upcott  Gill,  1895.) 
Thf.rk  is  a  great  flood  of  books  on  the  larger  and  more 
showy  British  Lepidoptcra  issuing  from  the  press  at  the 
present  time  ;  but  so  long  as  the  information  which  they 
contain  is  fairly  accurate,  and  they  place  on  record  a 
portion  of  the  floating  information  derived  from  periodicals 
or  personal  observation,  we  do  not  see  that  the  fact  is  to 
be  regretted.  At  least  it  is  a  sign  that  an  intelligent 
interest  in  entomology  is  now  taken  by  a  large  number  of 
persons  who  are  not  entomologists  or  collectors  them- 
selves :  for  we  do  not  believe  that  there  is  a  sufficiently 
large  number  of  entomologists  to  buy  up  the  large 
editions  of  popular  books  which  are  now  offered  to  them  ■ 
iJiey  must  appeal  to  a  considerable  number  of  outsiders 
as  well. 

The  book  before  us  is  restricted  to  a  very  small 
group  of  British  moths,  the  Sphingidce  proper, 
numbering  only  seventeen  species,  several  of  which 
are  possibly  only  casual  visitors  rather  than  permanent 
residents.  Consequently,  the  author  has  been  able  to 
treat  of  the  subject  in  considerable  detail,  though  a  good 
deal  of  the  introductory  part  of  the  book  deals  with 
the  collecting  and  preserving  of  I.cpidoptcra,  rather 
from  a  general  point  of  view,  than  as  specially  ap- 
plicable to  SphingidcT.  The  illustrations  consist  of 
folding  plain  plates,  representing  the  larva,  pupa,^ 
and  imago  of  each  species,  the  earlier  stages,  when 
not  observed  by  the  author  hmiself,  being  usually 
copied  from  Buckler's  work  on  larva?.  There  are 
also  occasional  woodcuts  in  the  text.  The  letterpress  is 
pleasantly,  though  sometimes  hastily,  written,  and  is 
fairly  complete  and  up  to  date  :  and  most  of  the  illustra- 
tions are  good.  On  the  last  plate,  the  names  of  the  two 
bee  hawk-molhs  appear  to  have  been  reversed,  probably 
by  a  printers  error.  The  information  given  is,  we  believe, 
accurate  ;  but  every  entomologist  will  be  able  to  suppie- 
ment  it  according  to  his  own  experience.  Thus,  it  might 
have  been  stated  that  Sinerintltus  tilicr  (the  lime  hawk- 
moth)  is  one  of  the  commonest  of  the  Sphingidce  in  the 
suburbs  of  London.  Sphin.x  pina.^tri  1  the  pine  hawk- 
mothi  is  mentioned  as  sometimes  found  at  rest  on  the 
trunks  of  pine  trees.  So  it  is  :  but  it  will  also  rest  on 
other  trees,  and  on  the  continent  it  is  often  found 
resting  on  the  trunks  of  the  poplars  which  often  fringe 
the  roads  in  the  neighbourhood  of  pine  forests. 

W.  F.  K. 

Biology  Notes.    \'ol.  i.     Edited  by  David  Houston,  F.L.S. 

Pp.  290.  (Chelmsford  ;  Technical  Laboratories,  1895.) 
This  volume  is  a  collection  of  bulletins  published 
monthly  by  the  Technical  Instruction  Committee  of 
the  Essex  County  Council,  as  an  aid  to  the  teaching 
of  biology.  It  contains  information  bearing  upon  the 
applications  of  biology  to  the  industrial  pursuits  of  the 
county,  and  notes  of  interest  to  biological  students. 
Among  the  subjects  of  short  articles  are  ergot  and  its 
physiological  effects,  bracken  poisoning  of  cattle,, 
biological  aspects  of  dairying,  injurious  insects,  diseases 
of  cultivated  plants,  zoology  on  the  Essex  coast,  and 
spraving  experiments  ;  and  there  are  also  included  in  the 
volume  several  detailed  syllabuses  of  courses  of 
practical  instruction  in  vegetable  and  animal  biology. 
The  "  Notes  "  are  well  illustrated,  and  must  be  of  great 
assistance  to  the  students  in  the  classes  controlled  by  the 
Essex  County  Council.  Other  County  Councils  would  do- 
well  to  issue  monthly  bulletins  of  the  kind  coUefted  in 
this  volume. 


NO.    1355,  VOL.  52] 


594 


N.-l  TURE 


[OcTOBKR    17,   1895 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 
[  Tkt  Editor  dots  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  or  Nature. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.  ] 

The  University  of  London. 

I  HAVE  lx;en  away  from  home,  ami  have  only  now  seen  Mr. 
Thiselton-Dycr's  letter  of  August  23. 

My  previous  letters  were,  I  thought,  quite  clear  :  but  as  he 
asks  me  to  do  so,  I  write  to  explain  that  my  two  statements 
which  he  quotes,  viz.  :  (I)  "  I  am  not  asking  that  any  privilege 
which  they  do  not  at  present  possess  should  be  conferred  upon 
my  constituents,  but  only  supporting  what  is  now  their  legal 
right.  .  .  .  This  right  I  know  they  highly  value"  :  and  (2)  "  It 
is  the  law  at  present,"  had  reference  to  the  present  right  of  veto 
possessed  by  Convocation. 

As  regards  the  vote  being  taken  as  at  a  senatorial  election,  so 
-far  from  stating  that  this  was  at  present  the  law,  the  very  terms 
«)f  my  letter  implie<l  that  it  was  a  change. 

Whether  it  would  be  "radical"  or  "revolutionary"  is,  of 
■course,  a  matter  of  opinion,  but  I  certainly  did  not  make  the 
suggestion  with  the  object  attributed  to  me  ;  nor  do  I  share  my 
/fiend's  opinion  that  the  graduates  would  take  a  course  which, 
to  quote  his  words,  "  would  destroy  the  prospects  of  .\cademic 
stufly  in  I-ondon."  John  Libbock. 

High  Elms,  October  8. 

Sir  Robert  Ball,  and  "The  Cause  of  an  Ice  Age." 

Mr.  Tames  Geikik  has  recently  brought  out  another  edition 
of  his  "  Ice  Age,"  a  well-known  ami  influential  work.  In  this 
book  he  quotes  freely  from  Sir  Robert  BalTs  "  The  Cause  of  an 
Ice  .\ge,  which  a]>|X?ared  in  1891,  and  which  w.is  remarkable 
as  the  first  work  written  by  a  professed  astronomer  in  which  an 
astronomical  cxplanatiun  of  an  Ice  age  was  put  forward  and 
defended.  .\s  the  influence  of  these  l»oks  ujwn  popular 
opinion,  and  even  ))erhaps  ui»n  some  scientific  men,  may  prove 
very  misleading  and  mischievous,  |ierhaps  you  will  allow  me  a 
little  space  in  which  to  discuss  Sir  Robert  IJall's  work. 

The  txjok  was  preceded  by  much  advertisement,  in  which  we 
were  told  not  only  that  it  contained  an  entirely  new  view  of  the 
■.ubject,  but  that  an  astronomical  basis  of  the  Ice  theory  was  at 
last  securely  established. 

When  the  book  itself  was  published,  it  appeared  also  that  the  new 
matter  in  it  consisted  of  "a  law,  hithcrtounsvispected,  regidating 
ihe  distribution  of  heat  between  summer  and  winter  in  either  hemi- 
sphere.' Thus  on  page  113  the  author  says  :  "  I  disccnvrcd  \\\ii 
law  of  distribution  of  sun  heat  on  a  hemisphere  1>ulween  the  two 
seasons  into  which  the  year  is  divided  by  the  e<iuinoxes."  Again 
he  says  :  "/  enumerated  and  proved  \\\a\.  law  of  the  distribution 
■of  sun  heat  Ixtween  the  two  sea.sons,  w  hich  I  have  already  referred 
10  as  the  carilinal  fe.itures  of  this  little  Imok  "  (op.  cit.  113.) 
.\gain,  in  the  appendix  he  says  :  ' '  The  following  is  the  c.tlculalion 
often  referred  to  in  this  IxKik,  and  in  which  /<!/•///<■  //«/  time, 
-SO  far  as  I  know,  the  astronomical  facts  relating  to  Ice  ages  have 
Ijcen  correctly  given."  IjLstly.  he  Siiys:  "  If  ii  should  prove 
that  Ihe  facts  which  these  numbers  imply  have  not  Iwen  given  by 
any  jirevioiis  writer,  then  their  announcement  is  the  novelty  in 
this  book,  the  oiu  central  feature  by  which  it  is  to  be  judged.^''  Sir 
koliert  Ball  afterwards  s|>caks  slightingly  of  Herschel  and  Croll 
for  having  ignored  this  law. 

It  wxs  very  soon  pointed  out  in  a  review  of  his  book  that  this 
mrticular  law  which  Sir  K.  Ball  claimed  to  have  discovered  had 
lieen  alrca'ly  enunciated  and  published  by  Wiener. 

This  fact  might  easily  have  cscapeil  any  one  else  but  a  writer 
who  wa-s  himself  a  mathematician  writing  expressly  on  this  very 
(mini,  which  was  the  justification  of  his  liook.  Let  that  pass, 
however. 

It  sccm»  to  some  of  us  that  when  the  Astronomer  Royal  for 

''•'■■■'    '  ■■'    '■■■'  this    pointed  out  to  him,    he  oupht  at    once 

'lir  scienlific   papers  correcting  his  mistake, 

'  ihc  real  discoverer  of  the  law,  and  that  the 

not    have   Iwen    issued   .igain    without    this 

.'  in   it,  for  the  publication  of  the  supposed 

fftrf  of  the  Ixjok. 

Iiav   hap|x:ncd,  however,  and   the  only 

>".t     1    V*  of  the  mistake  liy  its  author  is  in  an 

MiitroHomical  hooV  |niblishcd  in  1893,  entitled  "The  Story  of  the 


J^'o-  '355.  VOL.  52] 


Sun,"  in  which  no  reference  whatever  is  made  to  the  claims  set 
up  in  1S91,  but  the  law  in  question  is  simply  referred  to  as 
"  Wiener's  law,"  as  if  everybody  in  the  world  must  know  that 
Wiener  and  not  B.tJ1  had  discovered  it.  Meanwhile,  "  The 
Cause  of  an  Ice  Age  "  is  not  cancelleil  or  w  ithdraw  n  or  corrected, 
but  is  being  continually  issued  with  all  its  exploded  claims. 

What  I  have  just  written  refers  merely  to  a  claim  to  have 
discovered  a  law  which  was  discovered  liy  some  one  else, 
and  to  the  amenities  which  generally  regtdate  our  conduct  when 
we  are  shown  in  such  a  case  to  have  done  another  man  an  in- 
justice. But  this  is  a  very  small  matter.  A  much  more  im- 
portant matter  remains. 

The  law  which  Sir  R.  Ball  claimed  to  have  discoveretl  is  an 
indisputable  one.  No  one  doubts  it,  or  could  doubt  it.  What 
most  people  who  have  examined  the  problem  say,  however,  is 
not  that  the  law  is  not  a  perfectly  good  one,  but  that  it  has 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  question  of  an  Ice.ige.  The  law 
in  question  is  briefly,  that  the  quantity  of  heat  received  by  either 
hemisphere  of  the  earth  in  summer  is  to  that  it  receives  in  winter 
in  the  ratio  of  63  to  37.  This  is  an  invari.ible  ratio,  true  at  all 
times,  and  true  under  all  conditions  of  eccentricity  of  the  orbit. 
It  never  varies.  It  was  the  same  millions  of  years  ago,  so  far  as 
we  know,  as  it  is  now,  and  so  it  will  remain.  It  is  therefore  a 
constant  factor  in  the  problem,  and  being  a  constant  factor  it 
cannot  be  the  cause  of  variability  of  climate.  If,  as  we  are  told 
in  the  book  over  and  over  :igain,  tliis  partiodar  proportion  is 
the  cause  of  an  Ice  age,  we  must  be  living  in  an  Ice  age  now,  and 
we  must  always  have  been  in  an  Ice  age.  Therefore  the  law  in 
question  was  not  only  not  new,  but  it  is  .an  absolutely  irrelevant 
law  so  far  as  the  problem  at  issue  is  concerned.  Whether  the  \xi\- 
ticular  numerical  ratio  was  present  to  the  minds  of  I  lerschel  and  of 
Croll  when  they  wrote  on  the  problem,  is  quite  immaterial  ;  and 
being  so.  the  whole  raison  tfi'trc  of  Sir  R.  Ball's  bovik  is  gone,  and 
so  far  as  we  know  there  is  not  a  single  material  factor  of  the  prob- 
lem discussed  by  Sir  Robert  Ball  which  was  not  present  to  Croll 
when  he  wrote  "  Climate  and  Time  "  and  his  other  works. 

I^astly.  Sir  Robert  Ball,  following  in  the  wake  of  Croll, 
has  subjectetl  the  various  facts  and  conditions,  both  .astronomical 
and  meteorological,  which  in  his  view  induced  an  Ice  age  to 
analysis,  and  has  reached  certain  conclusions  which  he  has 
emphasised  in  his  later  work,  "  The  Story  of  the  .Sun."  This 
analysis  has  been  criticised  and  examined  by  more  than  one 
person,  but  with  especial  closeness  of  reasoning  ami  conclusive- 
ness by  one  of  Sir  R.  Ball's  own  pupils,  a  distinguished  Kellow 
of  Trinity  College,  Dublin,  Mr.  Culverwell.  His  criticisms  have 
appeared  in  Nai  I'RE  ami  in  the  Geological  .Magazine. 

In  the  view  of  those  who  have  read  these  criticisms,  they  are 
simply  crushing.  No  more  complete  and  acute  ilisseclion  and 
destruction  of  a  scienlific  argument  has  appeared  for  many 
years. 

This  criticism  was  originally  read  at  the  British  .\ssociation,  in 
the  presence  of  Sir  R.  Ball  himself,  who  made  no  attempt  what- 
ever to  answer  it,  but  (mistaking  his  audience)  merely  gave  vent 
to  some  joctdar  remarks.  The  Low  ndean  I'rolessor  at  Cambridge 
cannot  turn  the  flank  of  serious  criticism  by  ill-timed  jokes. 
Since  then  he  has  not.  so  far  as  I  know,  answered  his  critits  in 
any  w.ay,  or  tried  to  justify  his  riddled  arguments,  and  the  books 
in  which  they  are  contained  are  being  sold,  and  their  conclusions 
are  being  qur)te(l  as  if  they  were  sound  instead  of  being  absolutely 
untenable. 

If  Sir  R.  Ball  were  an  ordinary  ))cr-on,  a  free  lance  in 
literature  and  science,  he  might  s.iy  anything  and  jiublish  anything 
with  impunity,  and  might  refuse  to  answer  criticism  Irom  any 
quarter;  but  he  was  once  -Vstronomer  Royal  for  Ireland.  He 
now  fills  the  chair  at  Cambridge  once  occupied  liy  .\dams.  He 
cannot  write  without  in  some  way  committing  that  chair  and 
that  University  by  his  opinions:  and  his  principal  critic  is  not  .an 
obscure  scribbler,  but  a  mathematician  as  acconi|ilishcd  as  him- 
self. Is  it  right  or  ilecent  that,  under  these  circumstances,  he 
should  continue  10  publish,  with  his  name  on  the  title-pages, 
works  such  .as  those  I  have  desciibcd  ?  Ought  he  not  either  to 
at  once  confess  his  mistakes,  to  answer  his  critics;  or  if  he 
cannot  do  ihis,  to  wilhilraw  books  which  have  done  some  harm 
to  thoughtless  jieople,  which  have  brought  no  cre<lil  to  the  chair 
he  fdls,  nor  to  the  I'niversity  of  which  he  is  a  I'rofessor ;  and 
which  have  given  rise  to  a  goo<l  deal  of  angry  ci>nimenl  among 
those  who  do  not  understand  a  man  of  science,  of  real 
distinction,  remaining,  for  a  day  limger  ihan  he  can  help,  the 
foster-father  of  what  has  lx:en  shown  to  be  wrong  either  in  fact 
or  in  argument  ? 


October  17,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


595 


I  do  not  think  Sir  John  Lubbock  can  know  the  facts  of  the 
case,  or  he  woukl  not  permit  bis  name  to  appear  as  the  god- 
parent of  a  liook  thus  flyblown  :  nor  should  its  publishers  con- 
tinue to  issue  it,  and  this  not  because  the  book  contains  mistakes 
—  all  books  do  that — but  because  its  mistakes  have  been  ]X)inted 
out,  and  because  its  author  is  a  great  deal  more  than  Sir  Robert 
Ball,  and  cannot  therefore  escape  the  penalty  of  such  a  position. 

The  Athen.eum  Club,  IIknkv   II.   HoudKin. 

October  4. 


MacCuUagh's   Theory   of  Double    Refraction. 

.\n  attempt  has  recently  been  made  l>y  Mr.  Larnior  to  re- 
suscitate MacCuUagh's  dynamical  theory  of  double  refraction 
(Kril.  Assoc.  Rep.,  1893  :  Phil.  Trans.,  1894,  .\,  part  ii.),  but 
on  examination  this  theory  appears  to  me  to  infringe  one  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  dynamics,  viz.  the  principle  of  angular 
momentum. 

Whatever  the  constitution  of  the  medium  may  be,  the  forces 
which  act  upon  any  element  consist  of  two  distinct  classes  :  (l) 
forces  due  to  the  action  of  contiguous  parts  of  the  medium  ;  (2) 
forces  arising  from  causes  external  ttt  the  element.  The  forces 
comi)rised  in  ibe  first  class  are  usually  termed  stresses  ;  they  act 
U]>on  the  surface  of  the  element,  and  are  ctimpletely  specified  by 
the  nine  quantities  X,,  .\>,  &c.  The  forces  comprised  in  the 
second'  class  act  upon  each  element  of  mass,  and  arise  from 
attraction  or  repulsion  due  to  external  causes  or  to  the  action  of 
the  medium  upon  itself.  These  forces,  from  whatever  cause 
they  may  arise,  are  capable  of  being  compounded  into  a  single 
force  along  a  line  through  the  centre  of  inertia  of  the  element, 
and  a  couple  altout  some  axis  through  this  point.  In  t)rdinary 
gravitating  matter  the  couple  vanishes. 

The  equations  of  motion  of  the  element  in  terms  of  the  stresses 
and  the  force  iOiistitiieiit  of  external  action  are  the  analytical 
ex|>ressions  for  the  principle  of  linear  momentum  :  but  this 
principle  is  not  sufficient  to  determine  the  motion  of  the  medium 
— it  is  furthei  necessary  to  satisfy  the  principle  of  angular 
m<mienlum,  and  any  theory  which  violates  the  latter  principle 
is  dynamically  luisound.  Now  the  principle  of  angular  mo- 
mentum requires  that  three  relations  of  the  form  \,v  =  Vi  should 
exist  between  the  six  shearing  stresses,  thereby  reducing  their 
number  from  six  to  three,  except  in  the  following  two  special 
cases.  The  first  case  occurs  when  the  medium,  previously  to 
being  disturbed  by  the  pa.ssage  of  a  wave  of  light,  is  not  at  rest, 
but  ])ossesses  an  independent  angular  momentum  :  that  is  to  say, 
the  medium  is  what  has  been  termed  a  gyrostatic  one.  The 
second  case  occurs  when  the  resultant  of  the  external  forces 
which  act  upon  the  element  consists  of  a  (oiipU  as  well  as  a 
force.  In  the  first  case  the  kinetic  energy  of  the  disturbed 
motion  of  an  element  will  not  be  proportional  to  the  square  of 
its  velocity  of  translation,  but  will  contain  a  term  depending  on 
the  gyrostatic  momentum  :  whilst  in  the  second  case  the  poten- 
tial energy  must  necessarily  contain  a  term  due  to  external 
action. 

Mr.  I.armor  assumes  that  the  kinetic;  energy  of  an  element  is 
proportional  to  the  .square  of  its  velocity  of  translation,  so  that 
the  medium  he  considers  is  not  a  gyrostatic  one ;  whilst  the 
potential  energy  is  supposed  to  be  a  quadratic  function  of  the 
rotations,  and  he  obtains  his  equations  of  motion  by  means  of 
the  principle  of  least  action.  Now,  as  we  have  pointed  out,  the 
potential  energy  of  an  element  may  consist  of  two  distinct  parts, 
viz.  one  due  to  deformation,  and  the  other  due  to  the  action  of 
external  causes  :  anil  it  is  (juite  legitimate  to  assume  l>y  way  of 
trial  that  the  former  part  contains  rotational  terms.  But  it  is 
well  know  11  that  a  (piadratic  expression  which  contains  rotational 
terms  will  not  .satisfy  the  conjugate  relation  between  the  .six 
shearing  stresses,  and  consequently  the  principle  of  angular 
moinenlum  will  be  violated,  unless  e\ery  element  of  the  medium 
is  under  the  influence  of  .some  system  of  forces,  of  the  kind 
belonging  to  the  .second  class,  the  couple  con.siituent  of  whose 
resultant  does  not  vanisli.  The  potential  energy  ought  therefore 
to  be  of  the  form  W  +  \ ,  where  W  is  the  portion  due  to  deforma- 
tion, whilst  \'  is  the  portion  due  to  external  causes  which 
supplies  the  couple  which  is  necessary  in  ortler  to  prevent  the 
principle  of  angular  momentum  being  violated  ;  and  unless 
Mr.  l.aimor  is  able  to  sui mount  this  difficulty,  I  am  at  a  loss  to 
unilerstand  how  his  paper  is  an  improvement  upon  theories 
which  are  at  any  rate  dynaiitually  sound,  whatever  other  imper- 
fections they  may  possess.  The  question  is  one  which  cannot 
be  disposed  of  by  pages  of  vague  and  obscuie  generalities,  but 


requires  a  detailed  and  carefiil  mathematical  investigation  for  its- 
elucidation.  A.  B.  Basset. 
Ilolyport,  Berks,  October  3. 


The  Southern  Carboniferous  Flora. 

So  far  as  I  am  aware,  Ur.  Kurtz's  paper  on  the  newly  dis- 
covered Carboniferous  Flora  in  Argentina  had  not  been  noticed 
in  print  in  this  country  until  the  appearance  of  the  number  ot 
N.^TiRi-;  for  September  26,  which  contained  a  note  (p.  523) 
giving  a  brief  abstract  from  the  translation  published  in  the 
Records  of  the  Cieological  Survey'  of  India.  "The  circumstance 
that  the  original  paper,  which  appeared  nearly  a  year  ago,  was 
in  Spanish,  may  have  caused  its  being  f)verlooked. 

The  subject  of  the  ancient  Southern  floras  is  naturally  un- 
familiar to  most  Kuropean  geologists,  and  I  hojie  I  may  be 
allowed  to  point  out  why  the  present  discovery  is  important. 
It  completes  a  mass  of  evidence  gradually  accumulated.  It 
is,  of  course,  well  know  n  that  several  successive  floras  of  Upper 
Palaeozoic  and  Lower  and  Middle  Mesozoic  .Vge  have  been  found 
a.ssociated  with  beds  mainly  of  freshwater  origin,  some  of  which 
combine  valuable  coal  seams,  in  India,  .\ustralia,  and  South 
.\frica.  The  most  ancient  of  these  beds  in  .Australia  and  South 
Africa  contain  certain  plants,  amongst  them  a  Lepidodendron , 
allied  to  the  ordinary  Carboniferous  flora  of  Europe  and  North 
-\nierica.  f^rom  the  upper  beds  in  all  the  three  regions  named, 
Ferns,  Cycads,  and  a  few  other  plants  have  been  obtained  that 
are  related  to  the  Rhatic  and  Jurassic  types  found  in  European 
rocks.  Between  the  upper  and  lower  plant-bearing  strata  \\\ 
South  .Vfrica  and  .\ustralia,  and  beneath  the  upper  .series  in 
India,  are  found  beds,  with  coal  seams  in  places,  containing  by 
far  the  most  remarkable  flora  of  the  whole,  the  Glossopteris- 
flora,  as  it  has  been  called.  The  particular  interest  attaching  to 
this  flora  is  mainly  due  to  two  circumstances.  (I)  It  is  clearly 
Upper  Takvozoic,  for  in  .Australia  the  coal  measures  con- 
taining it  are  interstratified  with  marine  beds  abounding  in 
carboniferous  fossils,  and  yet  it  differs  radically  from  any  known 
European  or  North  .American  flora  of  that  age.  (2|  The  basal 
betls,  in  India,  .Australia,  and  South  -Africa,  are  boulder  beds,  re- 
sembling the  Pleistocene  glacial  l)oulder  clay  more  than  they  do 
any  other  formation. 

Now  in  -Argentina  the  occurrence  of  the  Southern  Jurassic  or 
Rha'tic  flora  has  been  known  for  some  years,  and  Prof.  Derby 
has  called  attention  to  the  presence  in  Southern  Brazil  of  a  great 
boulder  bed,  that  very  probably  corresponds  in  character  and 
geological  position  to  the  Talchir  beds  of  India  and  the  Dwyka 
beds  of  South  Africa.  More  recently  traces  of  the  ancient 
Lejiidodentlron  flora  have  been  discovered  in  .Argentina,  anil 
some  additions  to  that  flora  are  described  in  Dr.  Kurtz's  paper. 
But  the  important  announcement  in  this  paper  is  the  discovery 
in  .Argentina  of  thr^e  Indian  lower  Ciondwana  plants,  Xenrop- 
tcridiiim  '.•alidtait,  Gangamopleris  cyilopteroides,  and  Naggera- 
tliiopsis  liislofi,  all  three  as.sociated  in  India  w  ith  the  Karharb.iri 
coal-seams  near  the  base  of  the  lA)wer  Ciondwana.  Two  of  the 
species  are  also  found  or  represented  by  closely  allied  forms  in 
.\ustralia  and  South  .Africa.  In  .Argentina,  as  in  India, 
.Australia,  and  South  .\frica,  there  is  a  remarkable  absence  in 
this  particular  flora  of  forms  characteristic  of  the  I'pper  Pakvozoic 
of  Europe,  no  representati\'e  (>f  Lepidodendron  tir  Sigillaria 
occurs,  and  the  Kerns,  ("ycads,  and  Equisetacea'  that  constitute 
the  flora  are  related  to  European  Mesozoic  types. 

It  is  flifiicult  to  understand  how  two  floras  diflering  from  each 
other  far  more  widely  than  do  any  two  continental  floras  living 
on  the  earth's  surface  at  the  present  day,  can  have  coexisteil 
unless  there  was,  for  a  long  iieriod  of  geological  time,  a  great 
.southern  continent — the  tlondw.ina-land  of  Sucss — isolated  by  a 
wide  sea,  probably  an  ocean,  from  the  land  that  occupied  in 
Carboniferous  and  Permian  days  so  wide  an  area  in  the  northern 
hemisphere.  The  importance  of  the  new  discovery  is  the 
immense  extension  that  it  gives  to  Ciondw.ina-land,  and  the 
proof  it  affords  that  the  region  with  its  flora  extended  to  the 
western  hemisphere,  and  included  a  part,  at  all  events,  of  South 
.Vmerica.  This  appears  to  indicate  that  a  ct)nsiderable  area  now 
occupied  by  ocean  in  the  southern  hemisphere  was  land  in  the 
Carboniferous  period.  Further  research  is  needed  to  show 
whether  the  various  tracts  of  Gondwana-land  were  connected  by 
a  South  Polar  land  area.  W.  T.   Bi-AMOKU. 

October  4. 


NO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


j96 


iV.-i  TURE 


[October  17,  1895 


About  a  certain  Class  of  Curved  Lines  in  Space  of 
»  Manifoldness. 

The  cla5>  of  curves  to  be  considereJ  is  defined  by  ihe  follow- 

:  A  curve  of  that  class  situated  in  plane  space  of  ii 

-  is  cut  by  a    S„  ,  in  //    (different   or   coinciding) 

in   the  plane  it  is  therefore  a  conic,  and  in  space  a 

■     i  cubic. 

li  liirough  ;;  -  I  of  its  points  a  jiencil  of  S,,.;  is  drawn,  then 
each  element  of  that  pencil  cuts  out  of  the  curve  iwt  additional 
point,  and  has  with  a  straight  line  one  (xjint  in  common.  The 
coordinates  of  the  cun'e  must  therefore  be  expressiMe  as 
rational  functions  of  one  parameter.  If  any  fixed  pyramid  A^, 
Aj,  .  .  .  A,  VI  is  accepted  as  pyramid  of  reference,  theii -any 
point  P  of  the  curve  :  i""  •    • 

•    (2x.)  .  P  =  XiA,  +    .    .    .    +X..+.A,,.,,,     ■;■     .,' 

where  the  xi  are  the   homo;;eneoH3  coordinates  of  P  ;  and  it 
follows 

Xi  =  Ri  (A.  m)   .    •    .  X.  =  R.  {K  /«), 
where  the  Ii;  are  homogeneous  and   integer  functions   of  the 
A,  )i~     To  ensure  that  a  S,,.,    has  ii  points  exactly  with  the 
cur\'e  in  common,  necessitates  that  the  degree  of  the  R,  is  =  ;;. 

It  follows  from  the  (lefinition  that  no  Si  can  have  more  than 
/•  -i-  I  points  in  common  with  the  curve  (unless  the  curve  is 
wholly  contained  in  the  Si),  as  otherwise  through  this  St  and 
II  -  k  additional  puints  belonging  to  the  curve  a  S,,.,  might  be 
constructed,  having  more  than  n  points  in  common  with  the 
cur%e. 

The  curve  is  uniquely  determined  by  any  ;/  +  3  of  its  points  ; 
and  between  any  "  +  4  of  its  points  a  certain  condition  is  (ul- 
tilled  (from  which  for  «  =  2  the  well-known  Chasles  and 
Pascal  theorems  for  cunlcs  are  easily  deducible).  To  construct 
this  condition  and  verify  this  proposition,  let  us  return  to  the 
article  entitled  "'  Metrical  Relations,"  A:c.,  of  NATfRE,  August 
8.  There  it  was  pointed  out  that  a  point  and  a  S«_,  may  have 
;i  peculiar  situation  in  regard  to  a  pyramid  of  n  manifoldness,  by 
virtue  of  which  to  each  point  of  the  S„  corres|>onds  one  S,,.,, 
and  liiei'ersii.  It  is  not  ditiicult  to  verify  that  when  the  co- 
ortlinates  of  the  point  in  regard  to  the  pyramid  are 

<lj     .     .     .     <7„+j, 

then  the  coordinates  xi  of  the  points  of  the  S,,.,   satisfy  the 
condition 


■L  +  - 


+  ■■""'  =  o. 


If  pjint  and  S„_i  hive  that  relation  to  a  pyramid,  then  they 
may  be  called  |iole  and  ix)lar  to  it.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
;he  construction  of  pole  to  |»lar,  and  vice  versiu\%  a  purely 
jirojective  one,  by  means  of  cuts  of  plane  spaces,  iVc.  The 
iclation  of  //  +  4  points  of  the  curve  to  each  other  is  now, 
'hat  Ihe  polars  of  any  three  with  regard  to  the  pyramid  of  the 
iiher  //  -  I  have  a  S,,....  in  common. 

Indeed,  let  A,  .  .  .  A„+i  be  «  +  I  points  of  the  curve,  and 
I'  any  of  its  other  points,  also 

(2x4  •  '^  =  X|A,  -(•  .    .    .  +X"-nA,,+i  and  xi  -   K;  (A,  /«)• 
Then,  .\,  l)cing  a  p<:)int  of  the  curve,  R.^  .    .    .  K„+i  must  have  a 
.Mirnon  zero  point ;  and  the  same  is  true  for  R,  K,  .    .    .  R„+i ; 
'    .  K4  .       .  Kn.fl,  ^:c.     It  is  therefore  easily  seen  that  the 
.  mates  of  P  may  be  put  into  the  form 

X'  =  ,    .  where  Oi  and  k,  are  constants. 

a,\  +  bill 

The  pv)lars  to  P  form,  therefore,  a  pencil ;  that  is,  they  h,ave  a 
■■ ,      in  common. 

!•     he  points  of  the  curve  are  projected  from  any  one  of  its 

into  a  .S,, .  1,  thfv  fiirm  a  curve  of  the  class  considered  in 

:''■'    I  from  Ihe  representation  of  the  co- 

I'Vjr    //  =  1    ihe   curve    becomes  a 

rm  a  homographic  range  with  that 

It',  are  the    represcnialivcs   of  the 

•  vvs,   iherefore  :  four    paints  of   the 

L;fmi|)   of  //  -  I  .curve-points  4S„-i   of 

I  "  •  .    ,  into  straight 

'—  almost   iiii- 

■' irll 

PMC,  that  Im   with   It  a  p  imt   m    common    (hut    is 
..J.    1355,  VOL.  52] 


not  situated  in  the  same  plane),  or  into  three  straight  lines,  of 
which  one  has  one  point  in  common  will)  each  of  the  other  two. 

In  each  point  of  the  curve  there  is  one  straight  line,  that  has 
two  coinciding  points  in  conuuon  with  the  curve,  and  one  plane, 
that  has  three  |x>ints  of  intersection  which  all  coincide,  ^:c. 
They  may  be  called  tangent  lines,  planes,  Cv:c.,  of  the  curve. 
Cut  the  curve  byaS„.i.  If  the  ;/  points  of  intersection  are 
distinct,  draw  the  11  tangent  S„_i  througli  them  :  and  if  only 
11-2  are  distinct,  and  2  coincide,  draw  the  11-2  tangent  S„-i. 
and  the  one  tangent  S„ .  -j ;  and  so  on. 

The  point  of  intersection  of  these  piano  sp.ices  may  be  called 
\\\e  pole  of  the  original  S„_i  to  the  curvi;  :  and  this  one,  the 
polar  of  that  point.  The  |)olar  of  any  point  of  tlie  ^wlar  passes 
the  pole.  Let  the  pyramid  of  reference  be  chosen  so  that  the 
equation  of  the  ciirve  is 

Xi=A-"     Xo=  A';-V.    ■    •       \■■^^  =  "  ■ 
The  S„-i  may  satisfy  the  equation 

AXi  +  .  .  .  +  /,-fix«-i-i  =  '3- 
The  n  points  of  intersection  arc  then  given  by 
pi\"-¥  .    .    .  -l-A.+iM''  -o- 
Their  roots  may  be 

A/)u  =  ttj,    a^  .    .    .      a„. 
Through  xi  —  a"  Xj  =»"' '    •    ■    •   the  tangent  S,,.,  (whose  co- 
ordinates may  be  |,)fli{i  +    .   .    .    +  <r,n-i{„_,  =  o  will  be  such 
that 

(I,  =  I     ,i_,  =  II  .  p    a,  =  («)jfl-   .    .    .   rt„-n  =  B", 

where  /8  is  a  parameter,  whose  value  is  found  =  -  a.  The  point 
of  intersection  of  the  «  S„ .  „  whose  equations  are 

ii  -  It  .  ai     J..  +  (//)a  .  or     {j  -   .  ±ai"|„+,  =  O 

is'  obviously 


{..- 


(") 


Oiic. 


(on  account  of  the  equation  satisfied  by  the  a). 

If  {i  is  any  point,  and  Xi  any  point  on  its  imlar,  the  equation 
exists 

{»  +  iXi  -  "f-Va  H-(")2l"    1X3  -   .    -    .    =  O, 

which  is  symmetrical,  and  therefore  proves  the  proposition. 

The  polar  to  a  line  joining  two  points  is  the  cut  of  their 
polars  ;  and  so  generally.  It  is  therefore  jiossible  in  speak  ot  the- 
l)olar,  or  pole,  of  any  plane  space,  in  regard  to  the  curve.  The 
two  are  uniteil  only  when  the  two  sets  of  coordinates  are  equal, 
that  is,  when  tlioy  satisfy  a  condition  of  the  second  degree. 
Pole  and  polar  cut  a  straight  line  in  involution,  as  immediately 
follows  from  the  .symmetry  o^  the  equation  connecting  tlieni. 
The  double  jjoinls  of  the  involution  are  the  points  in  which  the 
straight  line  cuts  that  surface  of  the  second  nrder. 

Much  more  could  be  siiid  concerning  this  class  of  curves, 
the  properties  of  which  are  so  much  like  those  of  the  conies  ; 
but  I  hojie  that  wh^l  has  already  been  nientioned  will  be  found 
sullicient  to  interest  mathematicians  in  their  existence. 

London,  September  6.  IvMANt  Kt.  Lasker. 

The  Freezing  Point  of  Silver. 

The  subject  of  high  temperature  thermometry  has  recently 
attracted  considerable  attention,  and  on  account  of  the  ease  with 
which  silver  can  be  obtained  in  a  pure  slate,  coupled  with  its 
grc.tt  thermal  conductivity,  the  freezing  pnint  ■)f  this  metal  ha> 
l)een  suggested  as  a  slandaril  temperature.  We  therefore  wish 
to  call  attention  to  an  error  into  which  we  believe  M.  le 
Chatelier  has  fallen  with  regard  to  this  cmstant.  In  the 
Ziiliclirifl  fur  I'hysikcitiuhf  Cliciiii,,  Band  viii.  p.  186,  he  says 
that  the  nieltinL'  point  of  silver  can  be  lowered  by  as  much  as  jO 
through  Ihe  absorption  of  hydrogen  ;  again,  in  the  Coniplis 
reiidiis  for  .\ugusl  12,  1895,  he  stales  that  Ihe  melting  point  of 
this  metal  is  I  iwered  by  a  reilucing  atmosphere.  Me  therefore 
recommends  that  when  Ihe  melting  point  of  silver  is  useil  as  a 
fixed  point  in  calibrating  pyroinelers,  the  experiment  should  be 
performed  in  an  o.xiiltsiiij,'  atiniisphere.  This  icmclusion  is 
contradicted  liy  I'rof.  Callendar's  experiments  ami  l>y  our  own, 
fur  in  the  /'lii'l.  J/n.v'.,  vol.  xxxiii.  p.  220,  Callemlar  sliows  that 
the  freezing  point  of  silver  is  lowered  and  tendered  irregular  by 
an    oxidi.sing   atmosphere;   and    our   own    results    confirm   this 


October  17,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


597 


t.  ,.iiilii>iiHi.  liai  -.ciiijua  doubt  having  been  raised  on  this  poim 
by  so  higli  an  authority  as  M.  le  Chatelier,  we  have  thought  it 
right  to  make  further  experiments. 

These  experiments  convince  us  that  the  freezing  point  of 
molten  silver  is  lowered  and  rendered  variable  when  the  surface 
is  exposed  to  the  air.  We  also  find  that  by  blowing  oxygen 
through  the  molten  metal,  the  absorption  of  this  gas  is  sufficiently 
great  to  lower  the  freezing  point  20°.  Moreover,  when  the 
oxygen  is  removed  by  the  action  of  either  carbon,  coal  gas,  or 
hydrogen,  a  constant  maximum  freezing  point  is  reached. 
Further,  if  the  atmosphere  of  hydrogen,  or  coal  gas,  be  replaced 
by  carbon  dioxide,  there  is  no  change  in  the  freezing  point, 
whilst  if  nitrogen  be  used  to  sweep  out  the  hydrogen,  there  is  a 
slight  fall.  In  neither  case  does  the  removal  of  the  hydrogen 
bring  about  a  rise,  as  should  be  the  case  on  M.  le  Chateliers 
hypothesis. 

Another  strong  reason  for  believing  that  the  true  freezing  point 
of  silver  can  only  he  obtained  in  a  reducing  atmosphere,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  remarkable  constancy  with  which  a  considerable 
mass  of  pure  silver  maintains  its  temperature  from  the  moment 
that  freez'ng  commences  until  the  whole  is  solid,  provided  it  has 
not  l)een  exposed  to  the  action  of  free  oxygen.  It  is  also  note- 
worthy that  in  a  reducing  atmosphere  the  melting  and  freezing 
points  arc  identical. 

In)pure  substances  do  not  as  a  rule  behave  in  this  way, 
and  hence  it  is  improbable  that  the  silver  can  contain  dissolved 
hydrogen.  In  an  oxidising  atmosphere  the  freezing  point  is 
less  sharply  marked,  and  the  silver  behaves  as  if  it  were  impure. 

These  are  our  leasons  for  venturing  to  differ  from  M.  le 
Chatelier,  and  we  hope  that  he  will  further  examine  the  question. 

Cambridge,  October  12.  C.  T.  Hevcock. 

F.  H.  Nevm.i.e. 


The  Genus  "  Testacella.' 


Plant-Animal   Symbiosis. 

In  your  issue  of  August  22,  1895,  ^'f'  Schwarz  describes  his 
finding  in  South  Africa  some  ants  inhabiting  the  thorns  of  a 
mimosa  tree,  by  which  he  evidently  means  a  species  o{  .Uacia. 
This  symbiosis  is  well  known  out  here,  and  probably  also  in 
Furope,  as  will  be  seen  by  a  reference  to  Schimper's  "  Wechsel- 
bezichungen  zwischen  Pflanzen  iind  .Xmeisen  im  tro]iischen 
Amerika,"  p.  48.  I  first  observed  ants  inhabiting  the  thorns  of 
Acacia  horrida  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Grahamstown  about  six 
years  ago.  I  also  found  them  near  I'ort  Alfred.  As  far  as  my 
repeated  observations  go,  the  partnership  between  the  ants  and 
the  trees  is  a  very  one-sided  one. 

The  former  receive  shelter  and  food  from  the  trees,  whereas  I 
have  failed  to  find  that  the  latter  derive  any  advantage  from  it. 
This  last  conclusion  is  not  surprising,  as,  firstly,  amongst  the 
"  mimosa  "-scrub  near  Grahamstown,  one  only  finds  here  and 
there  a  tree  the  thorns  of  which  are  inhabited  by  ants,  and  as, 
secondly,  in  some  years  all  individuals  of  Acacia  honida  are 
completely  denuded  of  their  foliage  over  wide  areas  by  cater- 
pillars, ^loreover  the  ants  (of  which  I  found  two  different 
kinds)  are,  as  Mr.  Schwarz  rightly  o'.)serves,  not  at  all  aggres.sive, 
whereas  Belt  showed  that  the  little  ants  living  in  the  hollow 
thorns  of  Acacia  spJucrocephala  in  Central  .\merica  are  very 
pugnacious,  and  protect  the  plant  against  browsing  mammalia 
and  insect  enemies. 

The  two  ca.se3  are,  therefore,  very  different  from  one  another. 

S.  ScHoxi.AXn. 

.\lbany  Museum,  Grahamstown,  South  .\frica, 
September  16. 


The  Recent  Dry  Weather. 

Willi  reference  to  the  recent  remarkable  weather,  both  at  the 
commencement  of  the  year  and  during  Sejitember,  it  is  worth 
while  calling  attention  to  the  climatological  period  of  about 
thirty-five  years,  which  I'rof.  Briickner,  of  Berne,  pointed  out 
as  existing  relatively  to  (he  years  or  groups  of  years  characterised 
by  marked  cold  or  heat,  as  mentioned  in  vol.  xliii.  p.  i6j  of 
N.ATfRK.  He  therein  indicated  the  years  1700,  1740,  17S0, 
1815,  1S50,  and  1880  as  centres  of  cold  periods,  while  the  years 
1720,  1760,  1795,  iSjo,  i860  (and  now  1895)  appear  ^s  centres 
of  warm,  dry  periods.  The  coincidence  for  the  present  year  is 
certainly  remarkable,  and  merits  attention  as  to  the  causes  which 
underlie  these  periodic  fluctuations  of  weather. 

Dublin,  October  11.  J.  P.  O'Rlcii.l.v. 

N-0.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


In  Nature  for  last  year  the  writer  gave  a  list  of  the  localities 
for  Testcuella  sciilii/iiiii  which  had  come  under  his  notice.  With 
a  view  to  making  this  list  more  complete,  and  to  obtaining  a 
more  definite  idea  of  the  distribution  of  the  various  species  of 
the  genus  in  the  British  Isles,  the  writer  would  be  greatly  in- 
debted to  any  reader  of  X.vtlre  who  could  forward  to  him. 
localised  specimens  of  Testacella,  alive,  or  preserved  in  alcohol, 
the  present  month  being  a  likely  one  for  the  coming  above 
ground  of  these  slugs,  which  should  now  be  found  under  logs 
and  stones  in  the  neighbourhood  of  rich  garden  soil. 

WiiKKK:>  Mark  Wki:k. 

"  Holmesdale,"  Brentwood,  Essex. 

The  B.A.  Committee  on  Coast  Erosion. 
I N  the  reference,  in  your  number  of  (Jet.  3,  to  '  •  ( Icolog)-  at  the 
British  Association,"  the  statement  as  t.o  the  Coast  Erosion 
Committee,  in  their  final  report,  recomiHending  a  "  De|>art- 
mental  Committee  of  the  House  of  Commons,"  ro  inquire  into 
the  subject,  is  taken  from  the  "  first  proof"  of  the  report,  which 
was  drafted  by  myself  as  surviving  Secretary.  The  suggestion  has 
not  been  adopted  by  the  majority  of  the  Committee,  who  con- 
sidered their  duty  did  not  extend  to  drawing  up  and  formulating 
recommendations.  This  termination  I  regret,  as  when  the 
^Vssociation  adopted  my  suggestion  in  1881,  to  appoint  this 
Committee,  I  hoped  it  would  have  had  a  practical  outcome, 
leading  to  the  conservation  of  our  coasts. 

Chari-Es  E.  De  R..VXCE. 


A  Substitute  for  Sulphuretted  Hydrogen. 
In  your  Notes  of  February  14  last,  you  state  that  ammonium 
thio-acetate  has  been  found  to  be  a  satisfactory  substitute  for 
sidphuretted  hydrogen  in  chemical  analysis.  Can  any  of  your 
readers  tell  me  where  I  can  obtain  it  ?  I  cannot  find  it  in 
catalogues  of  chemical  manufacturers.  RusTiciJS; 


THE  GRAPHICS  OF  PIANO  TOUCH. 
TX/I  UGH  trouble  has  been  taken  in  order  to  construct 
■'•*■*■  an  apparatus  that  will  leprodtice  graphically  the 
effects  of  touch  in  keyed  musical  instruments.  The 
experiments  are  most  easily  made  with  the  piano,  and 
have  therefore  been  tried  on  that  instrument. 

Recently  a  most  interesting  article  appeared  in 
the  Revue  Scie/ilijique,  written  by  M.M.  liinet  and 
Courtier,  who  ha\  e  studied  this  subject  closely,  and  have 
made  many  experiments  with  their  apparatus.  They  have 
treated  the  matter  very  fully  in  their  article,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  resume' : — 

When  a  certain  point  of  perfection  has  been  attained 
in  piano  playing,  it  becomes  \ery  hard  to  distinguish 
inequality  of  touch  :  yet,  owing  to  the  \arying  strength 
of  the  fingers,  it  is  only  with  much  practice  that  perfect 
equality  is  possible.  .As  will  be  seen  further  on,  involun- 
tary mo\cinents  and  irregularities,  scarcely  ]jerceptible  to 
the  ear,  are  shown  b\-  the  graphical  method. 

The  apparatus  { Fig.  1)  is  quite  simple  in  construction, 
and  consists  chiefly  of  an  india-rubber  tube,  placed  under 
the  key-board,  united  at  its  two  extremities  by  a  register- 
ing drum,  also  of  india-rubber.  When  the  notes  of  the 
piano  are  played,  the  pressure  on  the  tube  causes  a  wave 
of  air  to  be  sent  through  it  into  the  drum,  upon  which  is 
attached  a  pen  that  in  the  ordinary  way  is  made  to 
record  its  movement  on  a  moving  roll  of  paper.  The 
wa\c  makes  the  drum  vibrate,  which  in  its  turn  jerks 
the  pen,  thus  causing  irregular  marks  to  be  left  on  the 
paper.  The  board  on  which  the  tube  rests  is  regulated 
b\-  means  of  «  edges  adjusted  by  a  screw,  the  board  being 
either  lowered  or  raised.  When  raised  it  almost  reaches 
the  notes  of  the  piano,  and  in  this  case  the  registering 
action  takes  place  :  but  if  it  is  lowered,  the  whole  appar- 
atus is  disconnected  from  the  key-board. 

When  no  notes  are  being  played,  and  the  registering 
drum  is  connected,  i.e.  the  board  is  raised,  merely  a 
straight  line  is  drawn.  In  Fig.  2,  first  a  is  struck,  then 
two  notes  with  b,  then  three  notes  with  c,  and  so  on.     It 


59S 


KA  TURE 


[October  17.  189; 


is  diflficult  u'  i"  ii  ulicther  the  mark  made  for  each 
additional  note  is  the  same  Icnyth,  for  when  three  notes 
are  struck  they  may  not  each  be  struck  witli  the  same 
force.  In  the  second  case  (Fig.  2  one  note  is  struck, 
held  down  and  another  struck,  and  so  on,  the  previous 
notes  always  being  kept  down.     The  effect  ])roduced  is 


achieved.     When  \ery  quick  passages  are  being  played, 
the  strong  wave  of  air  shakes  the  drum  so  forciblv,  that 


M 


-^Sr-$r 


"n.jj  ILf 


I       c         i      <.       f 


L^Js^M "  " 


Fig.  2. — EflTecls  produced  la,  in  striking  one  note,  and 
/•,  f,  (/,  r,  A  in  striking  chords  of  two  up  to  si-v 
notes  :  in  the  second  case,  a',  fi',  c',  if,  e',  in  play- 
ing five  successive  notes,  and  keeping  them  down. 


Fi<;.  I.  —Illustration  of  the  apparatus. 

curiously  like  a  flight  of  stairs,  but  the  height  of  each 
stair  is  not  absolutely  equal.  This  proves  that  the  ap- 
paratus is  sufficiently  sensitive  to  show,  b\'  the  height  of 
the  lines,  the  intensity  with  which  a  note  is  struck. 

With  regard  to  ///«<•,  it  is  reproduced  with  the  utmost 
precision,  and  it  i-  in  order  to  guarantee  accuracy  that 


Fk;.  ■?.— a   represents  effect  without  the  insertion 
the  diaphr.iKin.  li  the  effect  with  tlie  diaphr.igni. 

the  pen  ceases  to  act  properly.     Much  trouble  has  been 
taken  to  devise  ri  u.iv  of  lessening  the  force  of  the  wa\e  : 


■M.■^f^^/JA•M^M^MMr^fJM^.  A\^A^^^/U^M^A^/\«A«^f/u^A^AA^AA^AAA»^AA«AMA 


Fti;.  4.— Shake  executed  with  ltr,l  and  second  finger. 


the  luljc  i.-.  connected  tn  the  drum  at  both  ends, otherwise 
the  notes  situated  near  the  end  which  was  not  connected, 
would  be  further  removed  from  the  drum  than  the  others, 
and  this  would  cause  a  delay  in  their  being  registered. 

The  graphical  form  ought  theoretically  to  be  an  imita- 
tion of  the  movement  played,  but  this  result  is  not  often 

KO.    1355,  VOL.  52] 


amongst  other  materials,  cotton  has  been  inserted  inln 
the  tube,  but  these  experimenls  were  not  eiuircly  suc- 
cessful. It  has  been  foun<l  that<pl.icing  a  diaphragm  with 
a  small  hole  in  tlie  tube,  lessens  the  force  of  the  wave  of 
air  very  considerably,  and  to  a  certain  extent  prevents 
the  drum  Mbrating  too  strongly. 


October  17,  1895] 


N^  TURE 


599 


The  effect  proclucccl  withoiu  and  witli  tlio  (liai)hra>4m 
will  be  seen  in  Fig.  3. 

Figs.  4  and  5  illustrate  shakes,  and  show  clearly  the 
importance  of  equality  of  touch  :  they  show,  too,  how 
precisely  the  apparatus  reproduces  any  irregularity. 

Many  i[uestions  have  to  be  considered  with  regard  to 
(|uick  playing,  but  one  of  the  most  striking  features  is 
that  the  more  quickly  the  notes  are  played,  the  more  the 
force  of  the  movement  diminishes,  until'  finally  a  certain 
stage  is  reached,  when  the  amplitude  ceases  to  vary. 

Let  us  now  consider  the  ad\antages  of  the  instrument  ; 
ihey  are  threefold. 

11)  Dealing  with  its  advantage  from  the  psychological 
point  of  \iew,  it  is  found  that  the  voluntary  movements  of 
the  pianist  can  be  observed  « ithout  putting  him  to  any 
restraint  or  embarrassment,  for  the  small  tube  does  not 
aficct  the  resistance  of  the  notes,  nor  is  the  exterior  of 
the  piano  altered. 

(2)  For  teaching  purposes  the  device  has  been  of  great 
use.  The  record  on  the  roll  of  paper  shows  the  faults  so 
precisely,  that  although  they  are  scarcely  perceptible  to 
the  car,  there  is  no  denying  their  existence. 

13;  We  are  well  aware  that  written  music  cannot 
show  every  slight  change  in  the  time  the  composer 
might  desire.  By  applying  the  graphical  method,  this 
<lifficulty  is  eliminated,  and  the  time  will  be  reproduced 
with  the  smallest  details. 


THE  XFAV  MF.rEOROLOGICAL   STATION  ON 
MOUNT  WELLINGTON. 

A  \'IE\V  of  the  new  meteorological  observatory  on 
i  V.  .Mount  Wellington,  Tasmania,  is  shown  in  the 
.iccompanying  illustration.  .\s  we  announced  in  a 
|)revious   issue  'July  25),  the  observatory  was  begun  in 


Weather  I?ureau,  Brisbane,  has  organised  the  stations. 
\'ery  valuable  results,  bearing  upon  the  distribution  of  pres- 
sure, temperature  and  humidity  attaching  to  anticyclonic 
and  cyclonic  systems  through  vertical  sections  of  the- 
atmosphere  in  the  northern  and  southern  hemispheres 
respectively,  will  probably  be  forthcoming  when  the 
Mount  Wellington  and  Hobart  results  appear  and  are 
discussed  side  by  side  with  those  obtained  at  Ben  Nevis 
and  Fort  William.  Except  for  a  few  degrees  of  latitude, 
Mount  Wellington  and  Hobart  are  geographically  and 
physiogra])hically  almost  the  \ery  counterparts  in  the 
southern  hemisplicre  of  Ben  Xevis  and  Fort  William  in 
the  northern.  Mr.  Wragge  has  entirely  reorganised  the 
Tasmanian  (lovernment  Meteorological  Service  on  federal 
principles  in  direct  connection  with  the  Queensland 
Weather  .Senice,  and  he  was  enabled  to  perform  this 
work  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Queensland  (Jovern- 
nient,  who  allowed  him  as  their  officer  to  render  federal 
aid  in  the  cause  of  science  to  the  sister  colony.  Mr.  H. 
C.  Kingsmill  has  cliarge  of  the  Tasmanian  section. 


DR.    E.    VON  REBEUR-PASCHWITZ. 

"P  \ON  REBEUR-PASCHWITZ  was  born  in  1861, 
-'-^'  and  died,  after  an  illness  of  ten  years,  on  the  first 
of  the  present  month.  In  many  ways  he  always  seemed 
to  me  to  resemble  our  incarnation  of  the  ideal  man  of 
science.  He  had  Darwin's  lovable  nature,  as  well  as  his 
modesty  and  utter  carelessness  of  his  own  fame.  But  the 
likeness  was  closest  in  the  unceasing  energy  with  which 
he  laboured,  in  spite  of  the  constant  suflTering  that  would 
have  made  many  stronger  men  feel  their  life's  work 
was  done. 

Forsometimcvon  Rebeur-Baschwitiwasa  I'rivat-docent 
in  .-\stronomy  at  the  University  of  Halle.     His  first  notable 


The  b.^rometc^  c.iirn.  now  a  larder,  and  baromete 
transferred  tu  house  (4166  feet). 

t 


lii-j    (  )hs<r\;aMiy.    Motlllt    \VeUinctnlW4if^r>  feet  aho\e  sea-le\eO. 


level  of  the  sea. 
mountain  barometer 


May  last,  and  it  will  be  to  the  southern  hemisphere  what 
the  Ben  Xevis  and  other  high-level  observatories  are  to 
the  northern.  Mount  Wellington  is  about  four  miles 
ilistant  from  Hobart,  and  rises  almost  directly  from  the 
The  station  is  supplied  with  a  "  Kortin  " 
,  "Richard"  barograpli  and  thermo- 
graph, dry-wet,  and  maximum  and  minimum,  thermo- 
meters, as  well  as  a  "  3-inch  '  gauge  with  extra  deep  rim 
tor  retaining  snow.  .Similar  nistruments  are  in  use  at  the 
Springs  (2495  ft.)  and  at  Hobart,  160  feet  above  sea-level. 
Mr.  Clement    1..    Wragge,  Superintendent   of  the  Chief 

NO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


achievenu-ni  was,  1  belie\e,  ilie  modification  of  ZoUners 
horizontal  pendulum,  the  two  springs  by  which  it  was 
supported  being  replaced  by  agate  cups  resting  on 
fine  steel  points.  The  earlier  investigations  with  this  in- 
strument were  intended  to  be  of  an  astronomical 
character,  but  its  wonderful  sensitiveness  to  the  pulsations 
of  distant  earthquakes  soon  became  apparent,  and  he  was 
gradually  led  to  give  more  time  to  their  study,  until  he 
became  the  chief  authority  on  this  fascinating  branch  of 
seismology.  On  two  occasions  he  contributed  articles  to 
Natukk  on  this  subject  (vol.  xl.  pp.  294-295  ;  vol.  li.  pp 


6oo 


NA  TURE 


[OCTOEER   i;,   1S95 


20S-211),  and,  .It  the  request  of  the  Earth  Tremors  Com- 
mittee of  the  British  Association,  he  wrote  an  adinirable 
summai^- of  his  results  up  to  the  middle  of  1893.  As 
this  is  readily  accessible,  it  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge 
upon  his  achievements  here.  I  will  merely  add  that 
since  that  date  he  has  written  several  papers  on 
earthquake-pulsations  in  Petennann's  Mil/Zicilii/igc/i  and 
tlie  Astrfliiomisclic  Xac/iriclitcn.  His  last  memoir,  and 
one  of  the  most  valuable,  has  just  been  published  in 
( ierland's  Rcitnii^c  :ur  GiOphysik. 

For  several  months  before  his  death,  von  Kebeur- 
I'aschwitz  was  occupied  with  a  scheme  for  the  organ- 
ised study  of  earthqu.ike-pulsations  all  over  the 
globe.  The  suitability  of  his  horizontal  pendulum  for 
this  purpose  had  received  ample  proof,  and  nothing  but 
the  want  of  health  seemed  likely  to  prevent  the  fulfil- 
ment of  his  plans.  These,  no  doubt,  will  be  carried  out 
by  other,  if  less  skilful,  hands  ;  but  to  him  will  belong  a 
great  part  of  the  credit  for  any  results  that  may  be 
attained.  Dying  at  thirty-four,  he  had  done  work  which 
most  men  of  twice  the  age  might  regard  with  satisfaction 
as  the  frtiits  of  a  well-spent  life.       Ch.vrles  D.wison. 


CHARLES   V.  RILEY. 

CHARLES  \'.  RILEY,  >LA.,  I'h.U.,  whose  death  on 
the  14th  ult.,  in  consequence  of  injuries  received 
in  a  fall  from  a  bicycle  in  the  streets  of  Washington, 
w;is  announced  in  these  columns  on  October  3,  was  an 
Englishman,  born  at  Walton-on-Thames  in  1843.  He 
emigrated  to  the  I'nited  Stales  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  and 
settled,  as  we  learn  from  the  Ganicii  and  Forest,  on  a  farm 
in  Illinois.  Like  so  many  other  .-Xmericans,  who  have 
since  made  a  reputation  in  science,  he  served  as  a  soldier 
in  the  civil  war.  Subsequently,  after  some  experience  as 
a  journalist,  he  was  appointed  .State  Entomologist  of 
Missouri,  a  position  he  occu])ied  nearly  ten  years. 
During  this  period  he  did  excellent  work  in  the  investi- 
gation of  the  lifc-liistories  of  insects  injurious  to  plants, 
anfl  experiments  to  discover  the  most  effectual  means  of 
destroying  them.  But  one  of  his  earliest  papers  was  on 
a  new  genus  1  Proitiil>i<\)  of  the  Tincidiu,  and  the  part  it 
plays  in  the  fertilisation  of  Vinca}  This  was  an  im- 
portant and  interesting  contribution  to  biological  science. 
In  1S78  he  accepted  the  post  of  Entomologist  to  the 
I'nited  States  Department  of  .Agriculture  at  Washington, 
where,  in  the  words  of  the  authority  cited  abo\e,  he 
practically  supervised  all  the  entomological  work  of  the 
("■overnment  until  his  resignation  last  year.  The  valuable 
results  of  the  investigations  and  experiments  conducted 
by  him  and  his  staff,  were  in  part  published  in  occasional 
bulletins,  of  which  thirty-two  appeared  between  1883  and 
1894,  and  partly  in  the  now  familiar  periodical  entitled 
///(■(*(■/ /./'A,  which  was  established  in  1888.  Six  volumes 
Hupcared  under  his  editorship.  Dr.  Riley  was  an  in- 
^able  worker,  and  his  organising  and  .idminislrative 
i-s  were  well  exemplified  in  the  department  which 
li'   -n  successfully  developed.  W.  B.  H. 

NOTES. 
\\    \  ;   in   urdcr  to  enable  the  Hcrlin   .Xcademy  of 

.Scicm  cviriipletc  edition  of  Kant's  work.s,  the  (iovcrn- 

nunl  111  Ku-.>i.i  has  consented  to  place  at  its  disposal  for  a 
linii;  tlic  philosopher's  nianiiscripls  belonging  to  the  University 
of  I)or|iat. 

A' 'OKiilsr.  to  the  Brilisli  Mfiiinl  Jotirml,  the  New  York 

I  .      ur  Institute  has  jnirchasi-d  thirty-five  acres  of  land   near 

1        I     (•..!     ..„  which  an  experiment  station  is  to  be  cstab- 

lon  will  be  stocked  with  cows,  horses,  sheep, 

u^,  >\nii.ii  will  \k  used  for  the  production  of  diphtheria 

i/fjAf//>n/ uf  the  Airadcmy  of  Science  of  St.  Iahuk  Hi.  (1673)  p.  55. 

NO.   1355,  YOL.   52] 


and  cancer  anlitoxins.  The  situation  is  healthy,  and  in  tlie 
grounds  there  will  lie  a  house  in  which  some  of  the  patients  of 
the  Institute  w  ill  be  treated.  .\  new  station,  to  he  known  as  the 
Pasteur  Station,  will  be  established  on  ihe  Erie  Railroad,  close  at 
hand. 

Wk  regret  to  notice  the  following  announcement  in  Siicmc  : — 
"  Prof.  Ernst  Ritter,  whose  appointment  -is  .issistant  professor  of 
mathematics  in  Cornell  L'niversity  was  recently  announced,  died 
on  September  23,  of  typhoid  fever,  on  his  arrival  in  .-\merica  from 
Germany.  Ernst  Ritter  was  born  at  Waltcrshausen,  Germany,  on 
January  9,  1867.  He  spent  twelve  years  at  the  Gymnasium  at 
Gotha,  and  afterwards  studied  mathematics  and  natural  science 
under  Thomas,  at  Jena,  and  under  Klein  and  Schwartz,  at 
Gottingen.  In  1S90  he  passed  the  Government  teacher's 
examination  with  the  highest  distinction,  after  two  years  of 
pedagogical  work  at  Cassel,  and  at  the  Wohlcrschule  in  Erank- 
furt.  He  took  the  degree  of  Ph.D.,  sum  ma  iiiin  /aiiift'.  at 
Gottingen  in  1892.  In  1893  he  was  ap|ioinled  assistant  to  Prof. 
Klein,  and  began  to  devote  his  entire  lime  to  mathematics,  con-, 
Iributing  regularly  to  mathematical  periodicals.  Last  year  he 
lectured  on  geometry  and  the  theory  of  automorphic  functions, 
in  which  he  was  an  authority.  He  was  appointed  to  his  Cornell 
professorship  last  June."' 

We  learn  from  theyoHz-Hn/of  the  I'ranklin  Institute  that  the 
German  Hygienic  .\ssociation  offers  a  prize  of  1200  dols.  for  a 
research  e.ssay  on  the  efficiency  of  electric  heaters.  The  jiro- 
gramme  is  as  follows  :  "  The  heat  given  out  in  healing  instal- 
lations by  heaters  in  their  various  forms  and  modes  of  use  is 
to  l)e  ascertained.  The  investigations  are  to  be  described  in 
detail  in  respect  to  the  arrangement  of  the  heaters,  the  nature 
of  the  heating  agents,  and  the  observations  made  :  and  thej- 
are  to  be  illustrated  by  drawings.  The  heating  values  obtained 
are  to  be  stated  in  units  of  heat  given  off  per  hour  per  unit  of 
surface.  In  the  cise  of  heat  given  out  to  air,  Ihe  investigations 
must  be  conducted  with  currents  of  air  at  speeds  .is  different  a-i 
possible.  The  heaters  are  to  be  described  in  detail  as  regards 
form  and  measurement,  and  the  relation  of  their  liealing  effi- 
ciency to  their  weight  is  also  to  be  ascertained."  Essays  are  to 
be  written  in  German,  and  sent,  with  a  motto  and  sealed  enve- 
lope, to  Prol.  Konrad  Ilarlmann,  Charlottenliurg,  Easannslrasse 
18,  before.July  I,  1896.  The  e^say  will  remain  the  property  of 
the  successful  competitor,  but  he  is  r,;quircd  to  publish  il  within 
six  months,  and  to  give  the  prize  offerers  gratuitously  300  copies. 
The  offerers  reserve  the  right  to  divide  or  withhold  the  prize. 

Til K  display  of  hor.seless  carriages,  held  at  Tunbridge  Wells 
on  Tuesday,  under  the  superintendence  of  .Sit  David  .Salomons, 
will  do  something  towards  the  introduction  of  self-propelling 
light  vehicles  in  England.  Two  carriages,  filled  with  Daimler 
motors,  were  shown  in  operation.  One  of  these,  that  belonging 
to  Sir  David  Salomons,  weighs  13  cwt.,  and  s\ill  run  nearly 
two  hundred  miles  « ithout  recharging.  The  motor  has  a  horse- 
power of  3J,  and  a  .speed  of  fifteen  miles  an  hour  can  be  allained 
on  a  level  road,  while  on  a  gradient  of  one  in  ten  a  speed  of 
four  miles  an  hour  is  reached.  .\  mechanical  tricycle,  worked 
by  a  petroleum  motor  with  electric  spark  ignition,  was  shown 
by  MM.  de  Dion  and  Houtoii,  of  Paris.  The  tricycle  can  run 
at  a  rate  of  fourteen  miles  an  hour,  and  only  needs  a  fresh  supply 
of  benzine  after  about  six  hours'  work.  1'he  exhibition  proved 
the  capabilities  of  auK.-mohile  carriages  to  a  large  number  of 
spectators,  and  it  will  probably  do  something  to  bring  about  a 
change  in  ihc  present  vexatious  Highways  and  Locomotives  ' 
Act,  which  at  present  limits  the  rate  of  speed  cf  self-propelled 
carriages  to  two  miles  an  hour,  and  makes  it  necessary  for  a 
man  carrying  a  red  flag  to  precede  the  carriage  as  a  warning  of 
appro.-iching  danger  1 


October  17,  1895] 


NATUR/i 


601 


The  first  series  of  lectures  given  in  connection  with  the  Sunday 
Lecture  Society  begins  on  Sunday  afternoon,  October  20,  in  St. 
George's  Hall,  Langham  Place,  at  4  p.m.,  when  Prof.  Sir 
Frederick  Pollock,  Bart.,  will  lecture  on  "Tyndall  as  Worker 
and  Teacher."  Lectures  will  be  subsequently  given  by  Dr. 
C.  \V.  Kinnnins,  Kev.  Stewart  He.idlani,  Prince  Kropotkin, 
Mr.  Grah.im  Wallas,  .Mr.  Wyke  Bayliss,  and  Dr.  U.  D.  Roberts. 

Facts  are  always  worth  recording,  and  we  publish  the  fol- 
lowing note  because  it  contains  an  interesting  fact,  which  is, 
moreover,  in  accordance  with  other  observations.  The  note 
came  to  us  from  Mr.  Mata  Prasad,  Benares:  "It  was  quite 
accidentally  obser\ed,  by  a  stammering  friend  of  mine,  during 
the  months  of  May  and  June  last,  that  on  moonlight  nights  he  i 
stammered  more  than  on  dark  nights,  and  when  he  slept  exposed  I 
to  the  rays  of  the  moon  during  the  month  of  June,  he  found  that 
he  stammered  the  most  on  days  succeeding  full  moons,  while 
a  day  just  after  the  new  moon,  and  a  day  before,  he  had  not  a 
single  attack  of  the  fit." 

THii  organisms  responsible  for  the  production  of  the  Japanese 
beverage  sake  are  still  the  subject  of  comment  and  investigation. 
Only  a  few  weeks  ago  we  received  a  communication  from  Dr. 
Jorgensen,  in  which  he  claimed  to  have  discovered  that  the  mould 
known  as  AsiJergillus  oryz;e,  employed  in  the  preparation  of  sake, 
was  capable  of  producing  the  yeast  cells  invariably  present, 
and  that,  therefore,  only  one  organism  was  responsible  for  the 
elaboration  of  this  well-known  beverage.  Mr.  Atkinson,  who 
investigated  this  subject  some  years  ago  in  Japan,  could  find  no 
evidence  of  the  transformation  of  the  mould  into  yeast  cells,  and 
maintained  that  the  mycelium  and  the  ferment  were  entirely 
distinct.  This  view  has  been  quite  recently  upheld  by  some 
experiments  published  by  Messrs.  Ivosai  and  Vabe,  of  Tokio. 
They  have  found  that  in  the  prcp.iralion  of  sake  two  distinct 
organisms  are  required,  the  well-known  .Aspergillus  and  a  species 
of  yeast.  These  have  been  carefully  isolated  and  their  growth 
watched  in  various  solutions,  with  the  result  that  the 
mould  only  gave  rise  to  typical  mycelium  growths,  whilst  the 
yeast  elaborated  only  yeast  cells,  without  exhibiting  a  trace  of 
mould.  The  authors  are  now  engaged  upon  carefully  identifying 
this  sake-yeast,  and  state  that,  as  far  as  their  investigations  at 
l>resent  go,  it  resembles  the  Saccharotnyccs  lercvisiir,  with  which 
they  are  carrying  out  numerous  comparative  experiments. 

Om.v  those  who  have  much  to  do  with  scientific  literature 
know  how  important,  and  yet  how  much  neglected,  is  the  art  of 
making  references.  No  apology  is  needed,  therefore,  for  re- 
printing in  full  the  following  rules  abstracted  from  a  paper  that 
appeared  in  the  Brilisli  Medical  Journal,  1S95,  ^o'-  '•  P-  ^75,  by 
.Mr.  J.  B.  Bade)-,  Librarian  of  the  Royal  College  of  Surgeons  of 
I'.ngland.  The  rules  can  be  obtained  printed  on  a  card,  so  thst 
an  abstractor  can  always  have  them  before  him.  (l)  The  titles 
of  all  books  and  periodical  publications  should  be  given  in  the 
language  in  which  they  are  written.  (2)  References  .should  be 
taken  from  the  title-pages,  and  not  from  the  lettering  on  the  backs 
of  books.  (5)  Where  two,  or  more,  vols,  are  bound  together, 
care  should  be  taken  that  the  reference  is  made  from  the  right 
title-page.  (4)  Where  a  journal  is  in  more  than  one  series,  the 
[lumber  of  the  series  as  well  as  the  vol.  and  date  should  be  given. 
(5)  When  an  abstract  only  of  a  paper  is  referred  to,  this  fact 
should  be  stated,  and  reference  to  the  original  paper  given  if 
possible.  (6)  Journals  and  Transactions  should  not  be  quoted  by 
ihe  date  of  issue,  but  by  vol.,  date  and  page.  (7)  In  books 
which  have  two  sets  of  paging,  care  should  be  taken  to  specify 
exactly  the  pagination  to  which  reference  is  made.  (S)  The 
name  of  the  editor  of  a  journal  should  not  be  used  as  part  of  a 
title  unless  it  be  necessary  to  distinguish  between  two  journals 
with   similar    titles.      (9)    References    to    |iapers    read    before 

NO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


Societies  w  hich  do  not  publish  any  separate  reports  of  their  meet- 
ings should  quote  the  journal  where  the  paper  in  question  can  be 
found.  (10)  In  abbreviating  titles  care  should  be  taken  that  the 
abbreviation  shows  exactly  what  journal  is  refcrre<l  to,  e.g.,  /ill. 
Anal.  Physiol,  does  not  make  it  clear  whether  an  English, 
French  or  German  book  is  quoted. 

The  Smithsonian  Institution  has  recently  published  a  series  of 
directions  for  collectors,  as  separate  portions  of  Bulletin  No.  3 
of  the  U.S.  National  Museum.  The  directions  for  collecting 
minerals,  rocks,  and  fossils  (parts  H,  I,  and  K)are  written  by 
the  curators  of  the  respective  departments,  and  include  advice 
not  only  on  actual  collecting,  but  on  preparing,  labelling,  making 
sections,  &c.  .Many  of  the  recommendations  are  novel,  and  all 
cannot  fail  to  be  helpful  to  amateur  collectors. 

The  Hullelin  of  Miscellaneous  Tnformalion  of  the  Rnyal 
Gardens,  ICew,  for  September,  continues  \he  Diagnoses  Africanie , 
in  which,  in  addition  to  a  large  number  of  new  species,  two  new 
genera  are  described  :  Cycloc/ieilon,  Oliv.,  belonging  to  the 
Scrophulariacea;,  and  Phillipsia,  Rolfe,  belonging  to  the 
Acantliace;v.  An  interesting  account  is  given  of  the  history  ot 
the  rock-garden,  based  on  a  list  of  herbaceous  plants  cultivated  in 
the  Royal  Gardens,  Kew,  issued  by  the  Department. 

Under  the  modest  title  of  "  Guide  to  the  Collections  ol 
Rocks  and  Fossils,"  the  (Geological  Survey  of  Ireland  has  pub- 
lished what  is  really  an  excellent  guide  to  the  geology  of  Ireland. 
The  authors  are  Messrs.  W.  W.  Watts  and  A.  McHenry,  and 
the  price  of  the  book  is  ninepence.  It  opens  with  a  short 
introduction,  explaining  the  principles  on  which  is  based  the 
classification  adopted  in  the  Science  and  Art  Museum,  Dublin. 
Two-thirds  of  the  book  are  taken  up  with  an  account  of  the 
rocks  of  Ireland,  each  of  the  four  provinces  being  taken  in  turn. 
Part  iii.  begins  with  a  popular  account  of  general  PaUeontology, 
which  is  followed  by  a  description  of  the  fossils  exhibited,  and 
this  by  a  catalogue  of  figured  and  type  specimens  in  the  museum. 
Finally  we  have  an  index  of  localities  for  the  rocks  described, 
that  should  be  most  useful  to  amateur  geologists. 

The  Observatory  of  Manila  has  published  an  extensive  dis- 
cussion of  the  typhoons  of  the  year  1S94,  prepared  by  the  Rev. 
J.  .'\lguc,  S.J.  The  work  occupies  176  small  folio  pages,  and  is 
accompanied  by  a  large  number  of  plates  showing  the  tracks  of 
the  different  storms  and  concomitant  data,  and  also  contains 
some  general  considerations  respecting  the  character  of  these 
disturbances  in  the  extreme  Fast.  \  section  is  devoted  to  the 
distribution  of  the  various  meteorological  elements  around  the 
centres  of  areas  of  low  barometic  pressures  at  Manila  during  the 
years  1879-94.  The  result  of  this  discussion  shows  that  the 
distance  of  the  cyclonic  centre  cannot  be  determined  from  the 
reading  of  the  barometer  alone ;  but  the  author  describes  an 
apparatus,  which  he  calls  a  "  cyclonoscope,"  whereby  an  aproxi- 
mate  idea  of  the  distance  of  the  vortex  may  be  determined. 

W.  Eni;el.\iax.\,  Leipzig,  will  shortly  publish  the  collected 
papers  of  Prof.  W.  Roux  upon  the  "  Entwickelungsmechanik 
der  Organismen."  The  work  will  consist  of  two  volumes,  illus- 
trated with  lithographic  plates,  and  numerous  illustrations  in  the 
text. 

The  sixth  part  of  Hullelin  No.  9  of  the  Minnesota  Botanical 
Studies  (.August  1S95),  's  entirely  occupied  by  a  very  useful 
"  Contribution  to  the  Bibliography  of  American  .-Mga-,"  by  Miss 
Josephine  E.  Tilden.  No  less  than  1 544  separate  w  orks  or 
papers  are  enumerated. 

The  discourse  entitled  "The  Splash  of  a  Drop,"  delivered 
by  Prof.  A.  M.  Worthington,  F.  R.S. ,  at  the  Royal  Institution 
in  May  1894.  I^^s  been  publishetl  in  book  form  by  the  Society 
for    Promoting   Christian    Knowledge,  with  illustrations  of  the 


6o2 


NATURE 


[October  17,  1895 


l>eautiful  phenomena  describeti.  The  arrangemenl  eniploye<l  to 
obtain  photographs  of  drop-splashes,  and  some  of  the  resuhs, 
were  shown  in  Nature  of  July  5,  1894. 

Dr.  E.  Ri'DOLPH,  who  has  given  much  attention  to  sub- 
marine earthquakes  and  eruptions,  has  recently  contributed  a 
second  valuable  memoir  on  "Seebeben"  to  the  AV/Vr.j^c  zttr 
Geophysik.  It  contains  accounts  of  more  than  two  hundred 
additional  shocks,  and  also  a  small  map  of  the  seismic  zone  of 
the  Equatorial  Atlantic.  The  memoir  concludes  with  a  useful 
list  of  questions  for  the  observation  of  submarine  earthquakes. 

M.  DK  FoNVlELl.E  has  translated  into  French  Lord  Salisbury's 
Oxford  .\ddress  to  the  British  .Association,  and  M.M.  Gauthier- 
\'illars  et  Fils  have  just  published  the  translation  in  their  .series 
of  Actualitcs  Scientifiques,  under  the  title  "  Les  Limites 
Actuelles  de  notre  Science."  The  address  is  prefaced  by  a  long 
introduction,  in  which  the  translator  describes  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  was  given  ;  and  throughout  the  pages  there  are 
numerous  notes  explanatory  of  points,  the  importance  of  which 
might  be  overlooked  by  French  readers. 

.\  NEW  volume  in  the  .\ide  nicmoire  Series,  published  jointly 
by  (lauthier-Villars  and  Masson,  is  "Polarisation  et  Sacchari- 
metrie,"  by  D.  .Sidersky.  The  volume  is  a  handy  aid  to  the 
study  of  )K>larisation  and  its  numerous  applications  in  analytical 
chemistry.  The  first  part  contains  a  description  of  the  pro- 
;>erties  of  polarised  light,  a  table  of  the  specific  rotatory  jwwers  of 
various  optically  active  substances,  and  explanations  of  polarising 
apparatus.  The  second  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  the  ap- 
plications of  the  constant  of  rotation  to  the  (juantitative  analysis 
of  sugars,  alkaloids,  &c.,  together  with  a  number  of  tables 
which  will  facilitate  the  practical  a)>plication  of  the  pnwc.sses 
described. 

Bv  the  recent  publication  of  two  nuutbers  of  the  Eiux 
.Vatiiralist,  the  Essex  Field  Club  has  brought  their  journal  up 
to  date.  The  first  number  (November- December  1894)  includes 
|)apers  on  "  Izaak  Walton's  Association  with  the  Lea,"  by 
J.  E.  Marling,  the  "Geolc^'  of  the  Lea  \alley,"  by  T.  V'. 
Holmes,  and  on  "  Navestock  in  Olden  D.ays,"  by  Rev.  .S. 
Coode  Horc.  The  second  number  (January-June  1895 1, 
contains  a  paper,  by  Prof.  .Meldola,  on  the  "  Eastern  Boundary 
Stones  of  Waltham  Forest,''  the  Presidential  address  (in  which 
the  jMrt  played  by  the  Club  in  the  development  of  technical 
education  in  the  county  is  explained),  and  a  series  of  three 
papers,  by  .Messrs.  T.  V.  Holmes,  E.  T.  Newton,  and  W.  .\I. 
Webb,  on  the  section  in  brick-earth  at  Chelmsford  in  which 
mammoth  remains  were  recently  found. 

Several  interesting  papers  are  contained  in  the  part  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  just  publishetl 
(vol.  XX.  pp.  385-480).  In  ".\  Sketch  of  I jikc- Dwelling  Re- 
search," Dr.  Roljcrt  Munro  shows  that  over  a  wide  geographical 
area,  extending  from  Ireland  to  liosnia,  and  from  North 
Germany  to  Italy,  the  habit  of  constructing  lake-  and  marsh- 
■Iwellings  was  prevalent  in  former  limes.  Prof.  .Sir  William 
Turner,  F.R.S.,  has  a  |>aiK-r  "On  M.  Dulmis' description  of 
remains  found  in  Java,  named  by  him  PilAciaiil/irofiis  (rectus  ; 
with  remarks  on  so-callcil  transitional  forms  Iwtween  .Ajxis  and 
Man."  A  imper  on  drops,  by  Mr.  J.  B.  llannay,  summarises 
the  work  of  various  oljservers  on  the  formation  of  drops,  and  the 
variation  with  density  and  chemical  composition  of  the  liqui<l 
forming  them,  and  gives  the  author's  own  investigations  u|X)n 
the  subject.  There  are  also  in  the  Proceedings  Prof.  T.  R. 
Eraser's  two  |a|)ers  on  "  -Antivcnine,"  and  a  pa|)erby  Prof.  J.  C. 
I'.wart  "On  the  Dorsal  Branches  of  the  Cranial  and  Spinal 
Nerve*  of  Elasmobranchs," 

TiiR  fourth  edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  of  Dr.  Carl 
<  lunthcr's  "  Bakleriologie  "  has  Ijcen  published  by  ( leorg  Thicme, 

NO-    1355.  VOL.   52] 


Leipzig.  We  noticed  the  third  edition  in  March  of  last  year 
(vol.  xlix.  p.  455),  and  the  present  issue  sustains  the  commenda- 
tion then  given,  viz.  that  "  the  volume  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the 
best  introductions  to  the  study  of  Iractcriolog)'  which  has  yet 
been  produced."  Another  new  edition  which  we  welcome  is  the 
"  Cours  Elementaire  de  Manipulations  de  Physique,"'  by  Prof.  .A. 
Witz,  published  by  i;.iuthier-\'illars.  The  book  contains  a 
descriptive  course  of  work  covering  the  fundamental  principles 
and  laws  of  physical  science.  Each  experiment  is  divided  up 
into  four  sections,  as  follows  :  first,  the  theory  of  the  exiwriment 
is  stated  ;  then  the  apparatus  is  described  ;  the  experimental 
operations  form  the  subject  of  another  section,  and  the  results  of 
observations  are  given  in  the  fourth.  Though  the  book  is  here 
and  there  deficient  in  the  details  required  liy  students  of  practical 
physics,  it  is  altogether  a  useful  companion  to  the  physical 
laboratory. 

The  Catalogue  of  the  Libraryof  the  Royal  Geographical  Society, 
comijiled  by  Dr.  H.  R.  Mill,  and  lately  published,  is  a  very  full 
and  valuable  index  to  the  literature  of  geography.  The  Catalogue 
contains  the  titles  of  all  works  in  the  possession  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  published  up  to  the  close  of  1S93.  The 
entries  (amounting  to  as  many  as  iS,CKX))  are  arranged  in  four 
divisions.  The  first  division,  which  runs  into  521  of  the  833 
Images,  is  a  general  alphabetical  authors  catalogue  ;  the  second 
comprises  collections  of  voyages  and  travels,  arranged  in  alpha- 
betical order  under  authors'  names,  and  containing  a  brief 
analysis  of  the  contents  of  each  volume  :  in  the  third  division, 
Government,  anonymous,  and  other  miscellaneous  publications 
are  arranged  geograjihically  ;  while  the  fourth  consists  of  a  list 
of  transactions  and  periodical  publications,  arranged  in  a  similar 
manner  according  to  the  place  of  publication.  With  such  a 
comjirehensive  classification,  it  is  easy  to  find  the  works  of  each 
author,  and  to  refer  to  the  literature  concerning  different 
divisions  of  the  earth.  A  valuable  supplement  to  the  Catalogue 
will  be  the  subject  index  now  being  pre|)arc<l,  and  in  which  the 
principal  contents  of  all  the  geograpliical  books  and  periodicals 
belonging  to  the  Society  will  be  cl.issified. 

The  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Macaque  Monkey  {Maciiciis  cyiio- 
iiio/giis,  9  )  from  India,  presented  by  the  Rev.  Sidney  \'atcher  ;  a 
Crested  Porcupine  (Hyslrix  crislala)  from  East  .Xfrica,  presented 
by  Captain  B.  L.  .Sclater ;  three  Common  Rheas  (A'/iea 
ainericana)  from  South  America,  presented  by  Mr.  Robert 
CJiinther ;  four  Rhomb-marked  Snakes  (Psaiiimofhylax  ilnmi- 
heatus),  three  Crossed  Snakes  (Psaminofhis  cnici/er).  two 
Rough-keeled  Snakes  {Dasypellis  scahrci),  a  Smooth-bellied 
Snake  {Hoiiialosoina /nlri.\),  sv  Robben  Island  Snake  {Civw«t//.7 
J>liocariiiii)  from  .South  .Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  J.  E.  .Matcham  ; 
a  Bt)nnet  Monkey  (Maaiciis  siinciis)  from  India,  a  ^'ellow 
Baboon  (Cynoccplialns  hahoiiin)  from  West  .\frlca,  a  Rose 
Mill  I'arrakeet,  (P/a/yccrciis iximius)ixom  .Australia,  deposited; 
three  Prevost's  Squirrels  (Sciiiriis  prcvosli)  from  Malacca, 
purchased. 

OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 
The  Oiiservatorv  on  Mont  Bi.ASr. — Two  causes  com- 
bined 10  induce  Dr.  Janssen  to  undertake  his  recent  ascent  of 
.Mont  Blanc.  First,  he  was  anxious  to  be  convinced  of  the 
perfect  sifely  of  the  new  telescope  which  has  lieen  conveyed  to 
the  observatory  :  and  secon<l,  the  meteorograjih  had  ceased  to 
perform  its  various  im|x)rlant  duties  (Co/////<j>(7;fl'«.(,  October  7). 
It  is  intended  to  mount  the  telescope,  which  has  an  aperture  of 
thirteen  inches,  with  its  axis  parallel  lo  thai  o(  the  earth,  and  a 
minor  nearly  t«enlyfour  inches  in  diameter  will  be  employed 
lo  reflect  the  light  of  the  heavenly  bodies  into  the  telescope  ;  the 
mirror  and  telescope  «ill  have  a  common  movement,  so  that  the 
relative  positi<ins  of  the  stars  will  not  change  on  account  of  the 
diurnal    motion.      The  meteorograph    was   foimd    to  be  some- 


OCTOHER    i;,    1S95] 


NA  rURE 


60^ 


\\\\.K\  unstaljlc,  liut  anuiiyemeiils  have  been  made  by  which  it  is 
hopecl  that  the-  reconls  may  be  continued.  A  sUyht  movement 
of  the  observatory  towards  Chamounix  was  iioteel,  but  it  is  ex- 
pected that  future  displacements  will  be  insignificant  ;  and,  in 
any  case,  the  means  are  at  hand  to  restore  it  t<j  its  orii;inal 
position.  The  practicability  of  the  establishment  of  oliservatories 
on  snow-clad  mountains  is  therefore  no  longer  to  be  questioned, 
and  the  multiplication  of  such  institutions  as  that  on  Mont  Blanc 
will  no  doubt  contribute  largely  lc>  our  knowledge  both  in 
meteorology  an<l  astronomy. 

It  is  characteristic  of  Dr.  Janssen  that  he  should  taUe  a<l- 
vanlage  of  the  opportunity  of  observing  the  aqueous  bands  in 
the  solar  spectrum.  The  air  above  him  being  very  rare  and  also  ex- 
tremely dry,  he  found  that  when  oliserving  sunlight  in  its  totality 
the  bands  at  C"  and  I)  were  absolutely  invisible,  while  the  group 
at  a  was  so  pale  that  its  presence  could  scarcely  be  determined. 
Dr.  janssen  already  regards  it  as  certain  th.at  there  is  neither 
osygen  nor  a((ueous  va])our  in  the  solar  envelopes,  but  the 
question  is  so  important  that  too  many  observations  cannot  be 
made.  To  carry  the  observations  a  ste|i  further,  it  will  be 
necessary,  under  analogous  atmospheric  conditions,  to  compare 
very  carefully  the  centre  of  the  sun's  disc  w  ith  the  edge,  to  see  if 
there  is  any  augmentation  of  the  o  group  as  the  limb  is  ap- 
proached, this  group  being  especially  sensitive  to  variations  in 
the  amount  of  absorbing  vapour. 

Ki'HEMERis  KOR  Fave's  Co.met. — The  following  ephemeris, 
for  Berlin   midnight,  is  given  by  V.   Engstrcim  in  Astr.  Nach. 

R.   A.  Decl. 

h.    m.     s.  0      - 

Oct.  17         ...        21   II     9  ...         -4  20'6 

19         ...  12  10  ...  317 

21  ...  13    18  ...  421 

23  ...  14  32  ...  51-9 

25  ...  15  54  ...             5     l-o 

27  ...  17  23  ...  9-5 

29  ...  18  59  ...  17-3 

31  ...  20  42  ...  24-5 

Nov.  2  .  22  32  ...  31-0 

4  .  .  24  28  ...  367 

0  ...  26  30  ...  4f6 

8  ...  28  38  ...  458 

10  .  .  30  52  ...  49-3 

12  ...  33  13  •  52'2 


14 


21  35  39 


•5  54-4 


The  calculateil  brightness  is  practically  constant  throughout 
the  above  [leriod.  Perihelion  passage  will  not  occur  until 
March   19,    1896. 

Visibility  ok  the  D.ark  Side  ok  N'e.nus. — \arious  theories 
ha\  e  been  advanced  at  different  times  to  account  for  the  \  isibility 
of  the  hemisphere  of  Venus  which  is  not  illuminated  bj  the  sun, 
bvil  there  is  no  general  agreement  as  to  which  is  the  most  pr.ibahle. 
Still  another  explanation  is  offered  by  M.  Camille  I'lammarion, 
and  it  has  the  merit  of  being  based  on  careful  observations 
made  at  Juvisy  during  August  and  September  of  the  present 
year  {Hull.  Soc.  Ast.  de  France,  October).  The  (ilanet  was 
frequently  observed  in  full  sunshine  by  M.  Klammarion  and  his 
assistants,  and  the  observations  appear  to  put  the  matter  in  quite 
a  new  light.  To  these  observers  it  has  several  times  seemed 
that  the  interior  of  the  crescent  of  \'enus  was  darker  than  the 
sky,  even  on  the  day  of  inferior  conjunction.  That  tliis  appear- 
ance was  not  simply  an  effect  of  contrast  produced  by  the 
luminous  crescent  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  no  such  darkening 
was  apparent  at  the  exterior  edge  of  the  crescent,  and  again  by 
the  visibility  of  the  obscure  hemisphere  when  the  luminous  part 
was  artificially  eclipsed.  The  colour  of  the  unilluminated  area 
was  slightly  \iolet  in  all  the  varied  conditions  of  observation. 
M.  I'lammarion  considers  that  the  oKservations  can  be  best 
accounted  for  by  suppo.sing  that  \'enus  is  |)rojected  on  a  some- 
what lighter  background,  such  as  might  be  furni.shed  by  the 
zodiacal  light,  or  an  extended  .solar  atmosphere.  The  violet  tint 
which  was  noted  may  have  been  due  to  the  considerable  refrac- 
tion of  the  sun's  rays  by  the  atmosphere  of  the  planet,  the 
reddish  tinge  thus  produced  on  the  planet  appearing  purple 
when  seen  through  our  own  blue  sky. 

In  the  .same  article,  M.  I'lammarion  gives  some  interesting 
facts  relating  to  the  history  of  the  phenomenon,  and  some  cal- 
culations which  indicate  that  "earth-shine''  is  insufficient  to 
account    for    it.      L'nder    the    most    favom'able    condilioiis.    the 


NO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


terrestrial  light  received  by  Venus  is  12,000  times  feebler  than 
that  received  by  the  moon,  and  822  times  less  intense  than  the 
light  we  receive  from  the  full  moon. 

The  Melbourne  Observaiorv. — The  twenty-ninth  report 
of  the  Government  Astronomer,  Mr.  R.  L.  J.  Ellery,  on  the 
work  of  the  Melbourne  Observatory  during  the  year  ending  at 
the  beginning  of  last  June,  has  just  come  to  hand.  .Meridian 
observations,  the  daily  photography  of  the  sun,  magnetic  and 
meteorological  observations,  ha\  e  been  carried  on  as  heretofore. 
The  number  of  plates  .secured,  in  connection  with  the  photo- 
graphic chart  and  catalogue,  up  to  June  i,  was  1080.  Pre- 
liminary measures  have  been  made  of  238  plates  to  obtain  the 
positions  where  possible,  of  five  stars  on  each  plate,  to  be  used 
for  the  determination  of  the  constants  of  the  plates.  Mr.  Kllery 
refers  to  the  important  change  in  time-reckoning  made  in 
P'ebruary  la.st  by  the  introduction  of  zone  or  standard  time 
in  all  the  .Australian  colonies.  By  the  zone  system,  Kastern 
Au.stralian  time,  which  covers  l^)ueensland,  New  South  Wales, 
\'ictoria,  and  Tasmania,  conforms  to  that  of  the  150th  meridian  : 
and  this  makes  Melbourne  exactly  ten  hours  in  advance  of 
Greenwich  time,  instead  of  9h.  30m.  54s.,  which  is  the  true 
difference  of  longitude.  The  retirement  of  Mr.  Ellery  from  his 
post  as  Government  Astronomer  has  already  been  noted  in 
these  columns.  Mr.  Ellery  has  built  up  the  Melbourne  Obser- 
vatory from  its  very  small  lieginning  in  1853  to  its  present 
recognised  position  among  the  national  observatories  of  the 
world  ;  and  we  are  glad  to  see  that  the  Government  has 
ap]iointed  him  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Visitors,  so  that  he 
has  not  entirely  severed  his  connection  with  the  observatory. 
He  has  been  succeeded  in  the  directorship  by  the  chief  assistant, 
Mr.  P.  Baracchi,  whose  pendulum  observations  are  well  known 
to  students  of  terrestrial  physics. 

A  New  Obskk\'.\'iorv. — The  New  \'ork  A'a/ioii  notes  a  new 
departure  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  by  the  addition  of 
an  astronomical  observatory.  The  observatory  has  already  been 
commenced,  and,  when  completed,  it  is  designed  to  furnLsh 
better  facilities,  not  only  for  instruction,  but  for  original  research 
as  well.  The  new  edifice  is  two  miles  from  the  limits  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  about  five  miles  from  the  university  l;>uildings.  The 
instruments  are  an  eighteen-inch  equatorial,  with  spectroscope 
attachment,  by  Brashear,  and  a  meridian  circle  and  zenith  tele-  • 
scope,  each  of  four  inches  aperture,  also  by  Brashear.  The 
mountings  are  by  Warner  and  Swasey.  This  institution  will  be 
known  as  the  Flower  Observatory,  and  its  director  is  Prof.  C.  L. 
Doolittle,  formerly  of  the  Lehigh  University. 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  CONGRESS 
PHVSIOLOGfSTS  AT  BERN} 
II. 
T^MURSD.VV  morning,  September  12. — Presidents:  Profs. 
•*•  Dastre  and  Wedensky.  Prof  Arloing  (Lyons)  gave  the 
result  of  his  researches  on  the  persistence  of  electric  irritability 
in  the  peripheral  ends  of  divided  nerves.  The  author  found  that 
the  length  of  time  for  which  electric  irritability  was  retained 
varied  with  the  species  of  animal,  and  also  with  the  individual, 
and  further  ihat  it  was  difl'erenl  both  for  difterent  nerves  and  for 
the  different  kinds  of  fibres  in  compound  nerves,  such  as  the 
vagus.  For  spinal  nerves  the  irritability  lasted  from  four  to  five 
days  in  dogs,  an<l  from  eight  to  ten  days  in  horses.  In  one  ass 
the  author  obtained  cardiac  hihiliition  with  a  rise  of  blood  pres- 
sure, upon  .stimulating  the  peripher.al  end  of  the  v.agus  fifty-seven 
days  after  section  :  this  result  he  attributed  to  a  tetanus  of  the 
myocardium. 

Dr.  Arthus  (Paris)  defended  tile  view  that  the  salts  of  calcium 
are  necessary  to  the  coagulation  of  the  blood,  against  that  of 
.Vlex.  Schmidt,  who  does  not  believe  their  role  to  be  an  essential 
one.  He  further  discussed  the  action  of  neutral  solutions  of  the 
oxalates,  fluorides,  &c.,  in  rendering  the  blood  inco.agulable. 
lie  disagreed  with  Schmidt,  who  holds  that  they  act  specifically, 
and  maintained  that  their  effect  is  due  solely  to  the  fact  that  they 
precipitate  the  calcium  salts.  .Arthus  repeated  Schmidt's  experi- 
ments, and  w,as  unable  to  confirm  his  results. 

Prof.  V.  Kries  (Freiburg)  discus.sed  the  phenomena  of  colour 
vision  in  eyes  adapted  for  darkness. 

Prof  Gamgee  (Lausanne)  gave  the  result  of  his  researches  on 
the  violet  and  ultra-violet  spectrum  of  ha;moglobin  and  its 
derivatives.      He    exhibited    photographs    which    showed    the 

t  Continued  from  p.  556. 


6o4 


A^A  TURE 


[October  17,  1895 


.11  ^.  and  II  presented  by  h.vmoglobin. 
ed  li.tuioglobin,  of  CO  and  X( )  h.vmo- 

•   shown   to  be  displaced   towards  the  less 

end  of    the  spectrum.     This  ven-  remarkable   and 

i  he  showed  to  be  due  to  the  h.vmalin  moiety  of  the 

molecule,  and  to  be  independent  of  the  Ke       I'rof. 

■  ribed  and  shuwed  photographs  of  the  spectrum  of 

1  from  the  feathers  of  certain  birds. 

■)  per  cent,  of  copper,  gives  a  spec- 

^.,..^ 1     h;emoglobin.     .V    demonstr.ation 

followed  at  which  the  spectra  were  shown. 

I'rof.     Burdon    Sanderson    (Oxford)   gave    a    demonstration, 
illustrated  by  slides,  of  electrometric  photographic  curves,  and 
mninrained  the  following  propositions. 

n  .\. — There   are  two  kinds  of  electrical  response 

kung)  to  excitation  of  a  muscle  by  its  nerve.     I. 

. ..  ...M. :,,;,.. f  the  K.M.K.  of  the  previously  existing  nnisde  current. 

II.  The  excitation  wave.  The  first  (I.)  is  evoked  (ri)  when  the  nerve 
is  stimulated  by  equal  alternating  currents  of  great  frequency,  (h) 
by  the  constant  current,  (1)  by  salt  crystals,  iVc.  The  second  (II.) 
is  evoked  in  uninjured  muscle  (a)  by  single  electrical  and 
mechanical  momentary  excitations,  (/5)  by  rhythmically  repeated 
miimentary  excitations  (true  tetanus).  I.  and  II.  exist  t^igether 
in  rhythntical  excitation  of  injured  muscle. 

I'rop<^sitinn  B. — In  the  reflex  spa.-m  of  strychnine  each  phase  of 
excitation  resembles  I.  The  strychnine  SjMsm  is  not  tnie  tetanus. 
Dr.  Waller  (London),  gave  the  results  of  his  researches  on 
the  influence  of  chemical  reagents  on  the  electrical  excitability 
of  isolated  nerve.  Excised  fri^s"  nerves  were  rhythmically 
excited  once  a  minute  during  one-eighth  of  a  minute.  The 
current  of  action  was  recorded  by  a  galvanopraph.  The  nerve 
was  enclosed  in  a  g.-is  chamber  to  study  the  eftects  of  gases,  and 
dipped  for  one  minute  in  decimolecular  solutions  for  salts,  and 
I  jier  cent,  solutions  for  alkaloids.  By  means  of  this  method 
Dr.  Waller  was  enabled  to  study  the  action  of  a  large  numljer  of 
!>'  ulies,  the  results  of  w  hich  he  gave :  his  researches  also  extended 
i<>  '.lie  study  of  physiological  antagonism. 

Dr.  Ejisiein  (Bern)  showed  that  the  increase  in  the  acuteness 
of  vision,  which  occurs  under  the  influence  of  auditoiy  impres- 
,;..„.   .-,.,  i.(?  experimentally  demonstrated.  The  author  described 
^.      He  further  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  centre 
I  ess  lay  no!  in  the  cortex,  but  in  the  sujjerior  corpora 

<|uadrigeiniiia.  lie  regarded  it  as  essentially  dependent  upon 
a  reflex  .sensibility  of  the  retina,  the  optic  nerve  containing  the 
eflTerent  fibres  ;  in  favour  of  this  view,  he  quoted  an  exix'rimcnt 
in  which  by  faradic  excitation  of  the  nerve  from  the  cochlea  he 
obtained  eye  movements,  and  increa.se<l  conjunctival  reflex. 

Thursday  Afuriuvn.  —  Presidents,  Profs.  X'ilzou  and  Kred- 
ericque.  ProN  Rutherford  (Edinburgh)  gave  an  account  of  his  re- 
searches on  the  structure  and  contraction  of  striped  muscular  fibre. 
Mis  observations  were  mostly  made  upon  crabs"  muscles  fixed  in 
a  4  per  cent,  solution  of  formaldehyde,  and  then  stained  with 
eosin   or    hcliocine.     He    regards   the    fibrils   .is   the    essential 

I ' -'      •■  ■'         r i  suhslance.  each    fibril  has  in   its  whole 

i  He  regards  the   fibril   as  composed  of 

,  -     (I)   Bowman's  element,    (2)  the  inter- 

ne segment  placed  midway  between  successive  Bowman's 
Ills,  and  (3)  the  clear  segment  pl.iced  between  (I)  aiul  (2). 

I  •■  I fi  ■'   segment  is  lri|>artile,  ami  consists  of  Dobie's 

1  li      .;  a  node   in   its  equator,  and  Klogel's,  element 

n  each  side    of   il.       During   cnntraclion,   the 

Is  ill  the  shortening  of  the  interval   between 

>  of  Bowman's  elements.     This  stage  of  the 

ilily  results  from    the   absorption    of   fluid    by 

■  Ills.      In    the    next    sL-igc    Bowman's  elements 

ii>4  lo  a  real  contraction  of  their  lis-sue,  their  chro- 

ng  to  their  cnils,  which  become  swollen. 

"     t  gave  the  results  of  their  researches 

rirtr  roots  »if  the  spinal  nerves  from 

1.    .second    dorsal,     {/uy.   Soi.  Proi., 

I'.irrh  (Leeds),  read  a  |>a|)cr  on  the  equipment 

ry.      The  author  has  surreeiled  in 

ii'lcnl    ex.iclitude   for    physiological 

(His  mechanician  i>  .\bm. 

-I. 

I   an   apjiaraitis   for    the 

r.     The  apparatus  was 
hygiene, 
et  ( liailc/  gave  the  results  of  his  rescju 


1.355.  VOL.  52I 


blood  in  fever.  In  fever  the  101  nionu-cells  arc  oiminisrKa  : 
tepid  baths  but  not  antipyretics  bring  the  nundx'r  again  to  the 
normal.  In  artificial  fever  (rabbits  raised  to  a  temperature  of 
50°  C.)  the  re<l  blood-cells  are  also  greatly  diminished  in  the 
systemic  veins,  but  are  increased,  in  the  liver. 

Dr.  Cdey  (Paris)  discussed  the  action  of  the  intra-vascular 
injection  of  solutions  of  peptones  in  rendering  the  blood  in- 
coagulable. He  showed  that  these  bodies  did  not  possess  this 
action  after  the  ligature  of  the  lymphatics  coming  from  the  liver. 
From  this  experiment  the  author  inferred  that  the  substance 
which  renders  the  blood  incoagulable,  and  is  produced  in  the 
organism  under  the  influence  of  the  peptones,  is  secreted  by  the 
hepatic  cells. 

Dr.  I.  V.  Uxhiill  (Heidelberg)  showed  an  apparatus  for  the 
rapid  mechanical  stimulation  of  the  nerve  of  a  muscle-nerve 
pre|xiration. 

Dr.  .Schcnk  (Wurzburg)  read  a  pa|)er  on  the  innervation  of 
the  iris.  The  author's  communication  chiefly  concerned  the 
observation  of  Dogel,  that  upon  stimulation  of  the  cervical 
sym|>athetic  in  cats,  dogs  and  rabbits,  in  addition  to  the  dilata- 
tion of  the  pupil  on  the  same  side,  a  contraction  of  the  pupil  on 
the  other  side  occurred.  Schenk  regarded  this  phenomenon  ,as 
a  consensual  pupil  reflex  (consensuelle  I'upilla- Keflex).  In 
Dogel's  experiments  the  eye  on  the  s;ime  side  as  ihe  stimulated 
symixithetic  was  exposed  to  the  light  :  hence  I'.uring  stimulation 
more  light  entered  the  pupil,  and  this  caused  contraction  of  the 
pupil  of  the  opposite  side.  When  the  eye  on  the  stimulated 
side  was  shaded  from  the  light,  Ihe  contraction  of  the  other 
pupil  did  not  take  place.  This  explanation  would  not  hold  for 
rabbits,  as  in  them  the  consensual  pupil  reflex  is  absent  ;  the 
author  was,  however,  in  the  case  of  rabbits,  unable  to  repeat 
Dogel's  results. 

Dr.  Leathes  (London)  read  a  jxiper  on  the  osmotic  changes 
between  the  blood  and  the  tissues.  The  author  gave  the  result 
of  his  experiments  on  the  influence  of  strong  solutions  of  cane- 
sugar  and  dextrose,  and  of  iso-,  hypo-,  and  hyper-tonic  solutions 
of  XaCI  in  ciusing  the  passage  of  fluid  from  the  blood  into  the 
tissues,  or  vuc  iriMi.  The  author  further  discussed  Ihe  osmotic 
pressure  of  the  lymph  in  ihe  thoracic  duct,  which  he  found  ,J,t 
to  jiji  higher  than  that  of  ihe  blood. 

/•Wrt'iy  .l/i»>v/i'/;^.  September  13.  —  Presidents,  Profs.  Rosenthal 
and  I-ingley.  Prof.  Wedensky  (St.  Petersburg)  read  a  [xiper  on 
the  exciting  and  inhibitory  action  of  electric  telanisation  on  ihc 
nerve-muscle  apparatus.  The  author  .showed  thai,  if  induced 
currents  of  gre.it  frequency  and  intensity  be  applied  10  the 
sciatic  nerve,  the  gastrocnemius  contracts  strongly  but  soon 
relaxes  ;  if  at  this  time  the  intensity  of  the  exciting  currents  be 
iliminished  until  they  become  moderate,  a  very  strong  (opiimum) 
contriiclion  of  the  muscle  lakes  place.  I'urther,  if  when  the 
muscle  is  in  a  condition  of  relaxation  produceil  by  Ihe  applica- 
tion of  strong  and  frequent  induced  currents  10  the  nerve,  one 
diminishes  the  frequency,  a  strong  tetanic  contraction  can  lie 
reprtxluced,  which  at  once  disappears  uiion  again  increasing  the 
frequency.  There  is  for  each  stage  of  lelanisalion  an  opliimim 
of  frequency.  The  relaxation  of  a  muscle,  under  ihe  apjiiica- 
tion  of  strong  and  frequent  induced  currents  to  its  nerve,  is 
caused  by  the  nerve-endings  entering  into  a  condition  of 
inhibition.  This  can  be  demonslraled  by  applying  to  the 
muscle  moderately  strong  induced  currents  ;  noeflecl  is  produced 
until  the  strong  and  frequent  telanisation  of  the  nerve  is 
discontinued. 

Dr.  LUscher  (Bern)  read  a  jnpcr  on  the  ncr\'ous  mechanism 
of  swallowing.  The  author's  experiments  were  made  upin 
rabbits.  He  showed  thai  the  three  branches  of  the  recurrent 
lar)'ngcal  overlapped  in  their  distribution  to  the  resophagus, 
/.•'.  each  branch  supplied  some  of  the  region  supplied  by  the 
other,  .\ftcr  division  of  the  recurrent  laryngeal  slinuilalion  of 
the  central  end  of  ihe  superior  laryngeal  di<l  not  produce 
swallowing.  l|vin  slimulation  of  the  cenlral  end  of  the  divided 
recurrent  laryngeal  (the  nerve  of  the  other  side  beini;  iniaci)  a 
faint  act  of  swallowing  was  produced.  SliniuliilKui  of  ihe 
central  end  of  the  v.agus  only  gave  rise  to  swallowing  when  ihc 
recurrent  laryngeal  was  intact. 

Prof.  Bow'ditch  (Boston)  showed  an  apparatus  to  ilcmonsirate 
Ihe  mechanism  of  the  ankle-joinl.  By  the  inlroduciion  of  a 
spring  balance  into  ihe  cord  representing  the  gaslrocneuiius 
muscle,  nnd  the  applicalion  of  a  weight,  he  could  delermine  the 
relation  between  power  and  weight  for  the  action  of  ihis  nniscle. 

Dr.  Waller  (Lonilon)  rend  a  |>;iper  on  the  phol.i-elcclric 
currents  of  the  retinji. 


OCTOHEK    17,    1895] 


NA  TURE 


60= 


i'rol,     Hcnsuil    (Kiel)    i;;t\e     a    ilcllmri>ll;ttl'Jii    im    an     ai:uustic 

apparatus,  ihu  result  of  which  was  to  show  that  the  view  of 
Helniholtz,  llial  the  vowels  owe  their  special  quality  to  over- 
tones produced  in  the  mouth  and  adjoining  cavities,  requires 
modification  ;  this,  in  the  author's  opinion,  is  impossible. 

Friday  Afternoon. — Presidents,  I'rofs.  Richet  and  Cybulsky. 
Dr.  Sherrington  (London)  gave  a  demonstration  on  eye 
movements. 

Dr.  Lanz  (Hern)  read  a  paper  on  the  effect  of  removal  of 
the  thyroid,  and  of  thyroid-feeding  in  normal  animals,  .^mong 
many  interesting  results,  the  author  found  that  thyroidectomised 
hens  either  lost  their  power  of  laying  eggs,  or  laid  very  small 
and  ill-formed  ones.  On  the  other  hand,  hens  fed  with  thyroids 
(30  grnis.  per  diem)  had  their  egg-laying  power  greatly  in- 
creased. In  some  animals  the  author  found  that  the  adminis- 
tration of  large  quantities  of  thyroid  gland  caused  an  arrest  of 
growth. 

Dr.  I'hisalix  (Paris)  showed  that  the  blood  of  the  salamander 
rendered  animals  immune  to  curare.  This  immunity  in  the  case 
•of  the  frog  and  pigeon  lasts  several  days. 

Prof  Mosso  (Turin)  read  a  paper  on  the  effect  of  rarefied  air 
upon  man  and  a[)es.  The  author's  researches  on  man  were  made 
on  .Mount  Rosa,  at  a  height  of  5600  metres.  The  author  showed 
Ihat  at  this  altitude  the  respiratory  exchange  is  diminished  ;  his 
observations  were  made  under  conditions  of  absolute  rest,  mostly 
tluring  sleep.  In  the  explanation  of  these  phenomena  the  author 
thinks  more  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  diminution  of  CO^. 
He  describes  them  under  the  name  (jf  Akaj^nia  [Kairvos  —  smoke). 
Mosso  further  described  an  experiment  which  he  made  upon  a 
3iionkey.  lie  subjected  this  animal  to  an  atmosphere  of  pure  () 
at  a  low  pressure ;  he  observed  under  these  conditions  the 
phenomena  of  mountain-sickness  (/>'tv'^/v'^///*//t7V)  even  when  the 
pressure  of  the  t)  exceeded  the  partial  pressure  of  this  gas  in 
the  atmosphere  under  ordinary  circumstances.  The  author  con- 
cluded that  the  two  main  factors  which  come  into  play  at  high 
altitudes  are  (i)  the  diminution  of  CO,  in  arterial  blood;  (2) 
the  physical  effect  of  low  pressure  on  the  nervous  system. 

1".    \V.     rr.\.\ICl.IKKE. 


CORKESl'ONUING  SOCIETIES   OF 
BRITISH  ASSOCIATION. 


THE 


1' 


"I IK  first  meeting  of  the  Conference  took  place  on  Thursday, 
September  12,  tlie  second  on  Tuesday,  September  17,  at 
the  Co-operative  Hall,  at  3.30  p.m. 

.\t  the  first  meeting,  the  Corresp(jntling  .Societies  Committee 
was  represented  by  .Mr.  (',.  J.  Symons  (Chairman),  Prof.  R. 
Melilola,  Mr.  J.  lIopkin.son  and  Mr.  T.  V.  Holmes  (Secretary). 
The  Chairman  opened  the  proceedings  with  an  address. 

I  )n  the  conclusion  of  the  address,  Mr.  T.  \'.  Holmes  made  a 
few  remarks  with  regard  to  the  list  of  papers  read  before  the 
various  Corres])onding  Societies,  and  appended  to  the  Report  of 
the  Corresponding  .Societies  Committee.  He  hoped  that  the 
Secretaries  of  the  Corresponding  Societies,  in  preparing  their 
lists,  would  be  careful  to  group  papers,  which  from  their  titles 
might  belimg  lo  either  of  two  Sections,  with  that  to  which  they 
had  most  affinity.  It  was  also  most  desirable  that  the  names  of 
papers  sent  in  should  not  turn  out  to  be  inere  ])optdar  lectures, 
but  should  contain  something  original.  It  had  s<  .netimes 
hajipened  that  im  wishing  lo  refer  to  some  paper  on  the  li.st  sent 
in  liy  some  Society,  in  order  to  ascertain  its  true  character,  it 
could  not  be  found  on  their  shelves  at  Burlington  llou.se.  In 
fiiture  no  paper  could  be  placed  on  the  list  published  by  the 
British  .Association  unless  it  w.as  on  their  book-shelves. 

Captain  Klwes  (Dorset)  laid  upon  the  table  a  paper  on  the 
rainfall  in  the  county  of  Dorset,  which  had  been  compiled  by  a 
member  of  the  Dorset  Natural  History  and  .\ntiquarian  Field 
Club,  Mr.  Katon.  It  w-as  a  most  careful  piece  of  work, 
and   was  illustrated  l>y  maps  and  diagrams. 

Mr.  Hoi)kinson  .said  that  about  twenty  years  ago  he  began  to 
note  the  rainfall  of  Hertfordshire  with  about  twenty  observers. 
Last  year  the  record  he  published  contained  the  monthly  returns 
Irom  forty  observers.  He  trusted  that  delegates  would  preserve 
.my  early  meteorological  records  they  might  find. 

Mr.  De  Ranee  remarked  that  the  increasing  usefulness  of 
local  societies  was  shown  by  the  fad  that  two  British  .Associa- 
tion Committees  had  ceased  to  exist,  that  on  coast  erosion,  and 
that  on  the  circulation  of  undergroimd  waters,  on  account  of  the 


NO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


admirable  \v.i)  m  wunn  uiuu  woik    ii;tii    ucen   taken   up  ijy  the 
local  societies. 

His  Honour  Deemster  Cill  said  that  the  subject  of  coast 
erosion  had  been  taken  up  by  a  Committee  of  the  Legislature 
of  the  Isle  of  Man,  but  their  investigations  were  not  yet 
complete.  They  had  foimd  that  for  some  twenty  miles  on  the 
west,  the  north-west  and  the  north,  there  had  been  a  destruction 
of  land  of  about  twenty  acres  to  the  mile  within  the  last  fifty  or 
sixty  years.  The  meteorology  of  the  Isle  of  Man  was  also 
being  well  looked  after. 

Mr.  Sowerbutts  asked  whether  it  was  desirable  that  the 
Manchester  Geographical  Society  should  collect  the  results  of 
observations  at  their  local  observatories,  and  forward  them  to  the 
-Meteorological  Society  ;  and  the  Chairman  replied  in  the 
afiirmative. 

Capt.  Llwes  hoped  that  local  societies  might  be  induced  to 
co-operate  for  the  discovery  of  flint  implements,  and  the 
formulation  of  the  results  attained. 

Mr.  Osmund  W.  Jeffs,  Secretary  to  the  British  Association 
Committee  for  the  collection  and  Preservation  of  geolc^ical 
Photographs,  said  that  the  photographs  collected  would  be 
placed  in  the  Museum  of  Practical  Geology,  Jermyn  .Street, 
London.  The  first  part  of  the  collection,  800  photographs,  had 
already  been  placed  there.  It  was  proposed  to  go  on  collecting, 
as  many  parts  of  the  British  Isles  were  (juite  unrepresented. 

-Mr.  De  Ranee  thought  that  it  would  be  a  good  thing  if  each 
society  would  issue  a  circular  and  send  it  to  other  local  societies, 
so  that  it  might  be  known  what  photographs  had  been  taken  in 
each  locality. 

Mr.  I.  B.  Murdoch  (Glasgow)  thought  that  in  too  many  of 
their  investigations  Scotland  was  excluded.  He  mentionetl,  as 
an  instance,  the  British  .Association  Committee  for  recording  the 
position,  i\:c.,  of  erratic  blocks  of  England,  Wales  and  Ireland. 

Some  discussion  arose '6n  this  point,  in  which  Mr.  De  Ranee, 
Mr.  Sowerbutts  and  Mr.  G.  P.  Hughes  took  part.  Then  the 
Chairman  said  that  he  believed  Scotland  had  been  omitted  in 
that  instance  because  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh  had  been 
working  at  the  .subject  before  the  formation  of  the  British 
Association  Committee. 

Mr.  Murdoch  replied  that  it  was  true  that  a  Boulder  Committee 
had  existed  in  Scotland,  but  its  director,  Mr.  Milne  Holme,  was 
dead,  and  had  been  unable  to  get  about  the  country  for  some 
time  before  his  death.  The  eight  yearly  reports  issued  by  his 
("ommittee  were  very  valuable,  but  for  some  time  the  work  had 
been  practically  at  a  standstill. 

The  Chairman  remarked  that  in  that  case  it  was  most  desirable 
that  Scotland  should  be  included  by  the  Erratic  Blocks 
Committee. 

Deemster  (jill  said  that  the  boulders  of  the  Isle  of  Man  were 
being  noted  by  the  Isle  of  Man  Natural  History  and  Antiquarian 
Society. 

Prof.  Meldola  moved,  and  Mr.  Hopkinson  seconded,  a  motion 
in  favour  of  an  application  to  the  General  Committee  for  a 
grant  of  ^30  to  enable  the  Corresponding  Societies  Committee 
to  carry  on  its  work.    This  was  carried,  and  the  meeting  ended. 

At  thesecond  meeting,  on  Tuesday,  September  17,  the  Corre- 
sponding Societies  Committee  was  represented  by  Dr.  Carson 
(in  the  chair).  Mr.  Hopkins.jn,  Mr.  Symons,  and  Mr.  T.  \'. 
Holmes  (Secretary). 

The  Chairman  said  that  it  wa.s  usual  at  their  second  meeting 
to  consiiler  the  recommendations  froin  the  various  Sections 
respecting  work  in  which  it  was  thought  the  Corresponding 
Societies  might  usefidly  co-operate. 

Section  A. 

Mr.  White  W'allis,  representing  .Section  .-\,  said  that  the  Com- 
mittees for  investigating  earth  tremors  and  seismojogical 
phenomena  in  Jaj>an  had  been  merged  into  one,  with  the  title  of 
"  Committee  for  Seismological  Observations."  The  Committee 
for  the  application  of  photography  to  meteorology  had  been 
reappointed,  and  so  had  the  I'nderground  Temperature  Com- 
mittee. The  .Meteorological  Photographs  Committee  was  simply 
desirous  to  obtain  photographs  of  lightning,  rainbows,  halos,  v\:c. 

The  Rev.  J.  O.  Bevan  inquired  whether  the  meteorological 
work  fornterly  carried  on  at  Stonyhurst  by  Father  Perry  was 
still  going  on.  Mr.  Sowerbutts  answered  that  it  was,  and  Mr. 
White  Wallis  said  that  he  would  note  the  suggestion  that  they 
should  communicate  with  Stonyhurst.  He  added,  in  answer  lo 
questions,  that  instruments  for  noting  earth  tremors  wejre  un- 
affected by  vibrations  from  passing  waimons,  trains,  &c. 


6o6 


NA  TURE 


[October  17,  1895 


Mr.  A.  S.  Keid,  represenling  Section  C,  stated  that  Mr. 
Osmund  leflTs  had  consented  to  retain  the  |iost  of  secretan-  to  the 
(ioolc^cal  Photographs  Committee  for  another  year,  as  Sir.  \V. 
W .  Watts  had  agreed  to  act  as  co-secretary  during  that  time, 
and  afterwards  to  become  sole  secretary.  The  Krratic  Blocks 
Conimitlee  had  altered  its  title  .*;o  as  to  include  Scotland. 

Mr.  Murdoch  hoped  that  the  Karlh  Tremors  Committee  might 
include  Scotland  in  its  sphere  of  action.  It  was  then  a  purely 
Knglish  Committee. 

Mr.  .M.  B.  Slater  thought  that  an  exchange  of  local  geological 
photographs  among  the  various  Corre<p<indi  ng  .Societies  would 
bt  a  good  thing.  Some  discussion  then  took  place  on  the 
practical  difficulties  likely  to  arise  from  an  interchange,  such 
as  the  burden  likely  to  be  laid  upon  the  shoulders  of  the 
amateur  photographer.  \c.  Mr.  I  lopkinson  thought  that  copies 
should  l>c  obtainable  at  the  Jermyn-slreet  Museum  at  a  small 
fixed  charge,  and  Mr.  Keitl  utentioneii  a  plan  suggested  b\' 
Mr.  C'iray  of  Belfast.  .\l  that  town  a  photographer  had  been 
apixiinted  who  received  the  negatives  taken  by  various  members 
of  the  local  societies,  and  furnished  as  many  copies  as  were 
required  at  a  small  fixed  charge. 

Sc't/itm  E. 
Mr.  .Sowerbutts  saiil  that  the  Committee  of  Section  K  ha<l 
asked  the  Council  of  the  British  .Association  to  (lermil  them  to 
have  a  Committee  for  the  purjiose  of  making  an  inquiry  into  the 
condition  of  the  leaching  of  geography  in  (Ireal  Britain  in  all 
schools,  es|)ecially  secondary  schools,  ami  to  rejKirt  next  year. 
It  wasprolable  that  the  CorresixHuling  Societies  might  l>e  asked 
to  furnish  certain  information,  and  he  lioiied  their  secretaries 
would  reply  as  promptly  as  (Mssible. 

The  Rev.  (.  O.  Bevan  thought  thai  the  statements  ma<le  in 
the  rejwrt  of  the  Conference  of  Delegates  at  Xollingham,  that  in 
some  county,  unnamcil,  "children  attending  schools  were  not 
taught  geography  in  any  way,"  and  that  geography  was  absolutely 
ignored  in  .secondary  schoi>ls,  were  decidedly  erroneous,  though 
in  .some  primary  schools  it  was  not  taught  except  in  connection 
with  reading.  The  Royal  ( icographical  Society  had  instituted 
examinations  in  geography  in  secondary  schot>ls,  and  gave  gold 
medals  and  other  prizes. 

Section  H. 
Mr.  Hartland  .said  that  he  w.is  there  owing  to  the  very  sad 
liercavement  su.stained  recently  by  Mr.  Brabrook,  the  Chairman 
of  the  Ethnographical  Survey  Committee,  who  was  consequently 
unable  to  attend.  The  I'.lhnographical  Survey  was  a  matter  in 
which  the  CorresiKtnding  Societies  were  especially  ca|xible  of 
rendering  valuable  assistance.  They  had  hitherto,  however,  met 
with  but  little  res|x>nse  from  the  local  societies.  The  work  h.id 
so  many  branches  that  .some  of  them  could  scarcely  fail  to 
interest  their  more  active  members.  If  the  Committee  obtained 
the  grant  for  which  they  asked,  they  projxxsed  to  begin  work  in 
( ialuay,  and  he  ho|X!d  to  report  jirogress  at  the  next  meeting, 
lie  woidd  lie  glad  if  meanwhile  the  Corresixmding  Societies 
would  circulate  their  schedules,  and  bring  the  .Survey  under  the 
notice  of  their  meml)ers. 

Mr.  M.  B.  Slater  mentioneil  the  work  done  in  the  neighbour- 
hiKxl  of  Malt'in  by  a  subcommittee,  of  which  Dr.  Colby  was 
chairman:  and  S\x.  Hartland  remarked  that  the  Malton 
Naturalists'  Srciely  was  one  of  those  which  had  res|«jn<lcd  to 
their  circular. 

The  Chairman  noted  the  great  variety  of  the  work  of  the 
I- thn'pgraphical  Survey,  which  included  questions  of  physical 
rh;iracteristics,  f<ilk-lore,  linguistic  difl'erences,  ijlace-names, 
itadiiions,  »\:c.  .Satisfactory  work  had  ix-en  (lone  around 
I|>swich. 

Mr.  Hartland  wished  also  to  mention  the  preservation  of 
>r,ri.-ni  monuments.  He  had  just  received  a  letter  from  the 
>  f  i.iiy  of  a  local  committee  in  Pembrokeshire,  mentioning  the 
!■  ■  I.I  iliscoveiy  there  of  some  ancient  stones  and  some  pit 
''\\<-lltngs. 

Mr.  I  lopkinson  thought  that  the  measurements  asked  for  were 
very  elalx>rale,  ami  the  <|uestions  were  considered  in(|uisitorial. 
He  wa.«  sure  that  a  simpler  system  would  lie  found  to  answer 
lietier  in  practice,  as  ihcn  more  societies  or  jxirsons  would  l)c 
f'Hinrl  willmg  to  imderlake  the  work. 

^''      I' ■■'I '    1    .  .  ,|    ||,[,i   incmliers   who   objected    to    Ihc 

would  lake  up  the  subjects  of  dialect, 

'      monument'.     Though  they  hoiwd  to  lie 

alile  to  obtain  the  clalximle  measurements  in  M>mc  cases,  they 

NO.    1355,  VOL.  52] 


were    glad    to   get    such    measurement  as  cuuM   l>e    procured. 
They  did  not  consider  their  standard  .as  of  universal  obligation. 

The  Chairman  wished  to  say  a  few  words  about  another 
Committee,  that  concerned  with  the  measurement  of  school 
children.  Many  schools  had  been  iloing  good  work  in  this  way, 
but  unfortimately  there  had  been  no  uniform  system,  so  that  itie 
results  obtained  at  one  school  could  not  be  comjiared  w  ilh  those 
at  another.  The  Committee  had  drawn  ui>  a  system  which  he 
ho|)eil  would  prove  acceptable  lo  tlie  various  schools. 

I)r.  Brett  (Hertfordshire)  said  that  since  the  Vork  meeting  of 
the  British  .Vssociation,  fifteen  years  ago.  it  had  been  his  cuslon> 
as  a  medical  man  to  record  the  height,  weight,  colour  of  hair  and 
eyes,  iV;c..  of  children.  He  had  up  to  that  time  made  alwut 
three  thous;>nd  observations,  but  had  not  yet  been  able  to  put 
his  records  into  shape. 

The  Rev.  J.  ().  Bevan  spoke  of  the  desirability  of  expediting 
the  archxological  survey  of  the  kingdom,  which  had  been  begiui 
a  few  years  ago.  He  was  then  at  work  at  the  map  of  Hereford 
shire,  which  was  nearly  re.idy  for  publication.  He  was  surprised 
that  the  work  had  not  been  taken  up  more  enei^etically  b\ 
properly  qualified  persons  in  the  diflerent  districts. 


THE    AFI-'II.IATED    SOCIETIES    OF    17/ E 
A  ME  RICA  .V  A  SSOCIA  TIOX. 

A  I'K.VTCRK  of  the  meetings  of  the  .\mejican  . Vssociation 
■^  for  the  .\'lvancenient  of  Science  is  the  numlier  of  affiliated 
sixrieties  which  meet  at  nearly  the  same  time  and  ])lace,  though 
having  no  organic  connection  with  it.  One  disadvanliige  of 
this  is  that  the  Sections  of  the  .Association  do  not  get  many  of 
the  important  papers  read  before  the  atVdialed  societies  :  in  fact. 
these  societies  seem  almost  to  take  the  place  of  the  Sections,  and 
they  certainly  ten<l  to  put  the  .Vssociation  in  a  secondary  [xisi- 
tion.  .\s  a  targe  number  of  the  jxipers  w  ere  more  of  local  than  of 
general  interest,  we  confine  ourselves  to  a  brief  statement  of  the 
societies  which  met  at  .Springfield  iluring  the  recent  meeting  ol 
the  -American  .Association,  and  of  a  few  of  the  subjects  con- 
sidered. 

The  Society  for  the  Promotion  of  .Agricultural  Science  dis- 
cussed several  papers  on  spraying  as  a  prevention  of  the 
attacks  of  various  insect  pests  and  fimgi,  and  also  on  cereal 
culture  in  the  United  Stales.  .At  the  enti  of  the  proceedings, 
.Mr.  R.  I.azenby  was  elected  President  of  the  Society. 

The  attention  of  the  .\ssociation  of  l\c<inomic  KnloniologisK 
was  largely  directed  to  the  results  of  experimenting  with  in- 
secticides, and  the  methods  of  placing  the  knowledge  Ixffore  all 
agriculturists.  .A  resolution  was  passed  asking  the  Mas.sa- 
chusetts  authorities  to  support  the  work  of  ihe  (iipsy  Moth  Com- 
mission. Another  resolution  was  adopted  asking  that  the  pub- 
lication of  "  Insect  Life"  by  Ihe  Department  of  .Agriculture  be 
resumed.  The  officers  for  the  ensuing  year  are :  President, 
Prof.  C.  H.  Fernald  :  first  vice-president.  Prof.  K.  M.  Webster; 
second.  Prof.  Herbert  O.  .Ames;  .secretary.  C.  L.  Marian. 

The  session  of  the  .American  Koreslry  .\ssocialion  was  a  very 
succe.s.sful  <me.  In  the  course  of  a  short  comnumication.  Baron 
Herman  pointed  out  that  Ciermany  has  comparatively  Ihe 
most  forests  in  well-regulated  administration  of  all  Ihe  countries 
of  ihe  world  ;  that  is,  one-fourth  of  its  Whole  area  is  covered 
with  ihem  (all  under  long  and  careful  management).  There  is 
scarcely  one  tree  in  the  whole  of  the  fatherland  which  is  nol 
known  |x'rsonally  lo  a  forest  officer,  and  which  has  not  Ix'eu 
sown  or  planted  with  more  or  less  great  care  and  labour.  The 
whole  area  of  wooded  land  is  almo.st  equally  divided  between 
State,  coinmunily,  and  |>rivate  per.sous.  .\nd  it  is  thought  thai 
this  is  a  very  good  state  of  affairs,  the  commonweallh  being  in 
that  way  well  inleresled  in  its  parts  as  well  as  in  the  whole,  in 
the  affairs  connected  with  the  forest  growth.  This  of  course 
influences  legiskilion,  and  although  laws  concerning  the  foresN 
are  not  passed  in  the  Reichst.ig,  but  in  the  Parliaments  of 
the  individual  Stales,  there  is  scarcely  a  part  of  (lermany 
where  one  is  allowe<l  to  cut  down  a  forest,  and  nol  ])lant  it 
again,  without  the  permission  of  the  Department  of  Koreslry. 
The  forests  are  managed  by  hundreds  of  forest  oflicers,  and 
these  are  educated  al  special  colleges  for  forestry,  there  being 
no  less  than  eleven  in  (iermany.  The  theoretical  study  at  these 
colleges  lasts  generally  four  years,  not  counting  the  lime  a  young 
man  has  to  spend  in  learning  practical  work  in  llie  wtxuls.  Thi'- 
comparatively  long  time  a  man  wants,  for  his  training  show^ 
how  very  nuich  the  science  of  forestry  has  Ix'eo  developed  iu 


October  17,  1895J 


NATURE 


607 


ils  (lifferem  branches  in  (lerniany.  After  a  man  has  passed  his 
eNaminations  he  may  often  have  to  wail  for  years  and  years 
liefore  he  Rets  an  appointment ;  but  the  love  of  the  woods,  the 
poetry  which  time  has  woven  around  the  sohlary  forslliaiis 
amidst  the  trees  and  animals  of  the  woods  is  so  great  they  do 
not  mind  waitinj;  a  long  time.  In  conclusion,  Haron  Herman 
>ai(l  he  was  in  America  to  see  what  trees  coidd  be  transplanted 
with  success  to  ( Germany. 

.Vftcr  a  paper  on  the  present  condition  of  the  forests  of 
America,  the  following  resolutions  were  adopted,  among 
others  :  — 

"  That  the  American  I'orestry  Association  join  with  the 
New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade 
in  hearty  advocacy  of  the  establishment  of  a  forestry  com- 
inissiott  of  three  members  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  of 
the  public  forest  lands,  and  to  make  recommendations  concern- 
ing iheir  disposition  and  treatment,  and  the  executive  committee 
is  hereby  directed  to  represent  the  Association  in  support  of  such 
legislation." 

"  That  the  American  Forestry  Association  recognising  that  a 
practical  advance  in  ratiimal  forestry  methods  requires  the  ser- 
^■ices  of  men  trained  in  forestry  practice,  endorse  the  legislation 
jiroposeil  in  the  last  cimgress,  and  expresses  the  hope  that  the 
same  will  i)e  enacted  during  the-c<jming  congress." 

"  That  the  knowledge  and  extent  and  conditions  of  our  forest 
resources  is  a  necessary  basis  for  intelligent  forest  legislation,  and 
that  therefore  the  American  Forestry  -Association  reconimends  the 
co.ojieration  of  \ariuus  gt)verimient  dejiartuients  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable ill  ascertaining  their  areas  and  conditions,  and  especially 
recommends  that  both  a  topographical  and  forcstal  survey  of  the 
national  forest  reservations  be  instituted." 

.Sixteen  jiapers  were  read  before  the  American  Mathematical 
Society,  and  two  tojiics  were  discussed,  viz.  (i)  a  general  sub- 
ject catahjgue  or  index  of  mathematical  literature,  and  (2)  the 
mathematical  curricula  of  colleges  and  science  schools.  With 
reference  to  the  former  subject,  it  was  resolved  that  the  Council 
of  the  .Society  consider  the  desirability  of  offering  their  co- 
operation to  the  Mathematical  Society  of  France  in  the  work  of 
•cla.ssifying  and  indexing  mathematical  literature. 

The  American  Chemical  Society  was  presided  over  by  Prof. 
K.  F.  Smith  :  and  among  the  subjects  of  papers  read  before  it 
were  :  an  electrical  process  for  the  i)roduction  of  white  lead  ;  the 
heating  effects  of  coal  ;  speed  of  oxidation  of  chloric  acid  ;  re- 
actit)n  between  copper  and  concentrated  sulphuric  acid  ;  use  of 
aluminium  for  condensers  in  the  distillation  of  alcohol,  ether, 
chloroform,  benzine  and  similar  litjuids.  Prof.  Norton,  who 
read  the  last-named  paper,  stated  that  the  erjuipmenl  of  the 
■chemical  laboratory  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati  includes 
aluminium  supports,  rings,  clamps,  burners,  water-baths,  air- 
baths,  hot  water  funnels,  iVc,  in  all  of  which  connections  the 
lightness,  conductivity,  and  freedom  from  rust  render  the  metal 
superior  to  iron  or  bronze. 

The  Botanical  .Society  of  America,  which  was  organised  in 
Brooklyn  last  year,  held  its  first  annual  meeting  on  .\ngust  27 
and  28.  .Mr.  William  Trelease  presided.  The  officers  elected  for 
the  ensuing  year  are  :  President,  C.  E.  Bessey  ;  vice-president, 
W.  P.  Wilson  ;  secretary,  Charles  R.  Bainer ;  treasurer,  Arthur 
llollick. 

Prof.  Cr.  F.  Swain  opened  the  proceedings  of  the  Society 
for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education  with  an  address 
■on  the  relation  between  mental  training  and  practical  work 
in  engineering  education  The  papers  read  liefore  the  .Society, 
iind  the  discussions  to  which  they  gave  rise,  will  do  much  to  in- 
dicate what  should  be  the  scope  of  engineering  and  technical 
schools,  and  the  places  of  different  subjects  in  an  engineering 
education.  The  units  of  force  best  adapted  for  use  in  the  teach- 
ing of  mathematics  formed  the  -subject  of  a  discus.sion  between  j 
the  physicists  and  engineers.  .\t  the  end  of  the  meeting,  Mr.  ■ 
Mansfield  Merriman  was  elected  President. 


ON  RECENTLY  DISCOVERED   REMAINS   OF 

THE  ABORIGINAL  INHABITANTS   OF 

JAMAICA} 

"yilE   circumstances  under   which    the   human   remains  now 
exhibited  to  the  meeting  were  discovered,  are  narrated  in  a 

communication   by   Mr.    F.  Cundall,  .Secretary   to  the  Jamaica 

Institute,    pulilished   in    the  yiwrHd/  of  the  Institute  for  .April 

^  Rc.id  before  Section  H  of  the  Hritish  .-Vs^cciation  at  Ipswich,  September 
J2,  by  Sir  William  H.  Flower,  K.C.B.,  F..R.S. 

JAO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


'  1895,  and  also  in  a  letter  by  Mr  J.  E.  Duerden,  Curator  of  the 
Museum,  in  N.M  t'RE  of  June  20.  From  the  former  I  extract  the 
following  description  of  the  discovery  : — "  On  the  loih  April, 
a  labourer,  whilst  cutting  stakes  on  the  Halljerstadt  Estate  (a 
wild,  rocky  part  of  the  Port  Royal  Mountains,  about  20CO  feet 
above  the  sea-level,  and  two  miles  from  the  shore)  on  the  estate 
of  Mr.  B.  S.  (io.s.sett,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  east  of  the  Kalorama 
Mission  Station,  discovered  on  the  hillside  a  human  bone.  This 
led  the  Kev.  W.  W.  Rumsey  to  make  a  search  on  the  following 
day,  when  he  discovered  a  small  aperture  25  inches  wide,  and 
less  than  2  feet  high,  in  the  face  of  the  limestone  rock,  and 
blocked  l)y  boulders  ;  on  removing  these,  and  passing  through 
which,  he  discovered  a  cavern  with  water-worn  sides,  partially 
covered  with  stalactite  deposits,  penetrating  into  the  rock  for  a 
distance  of  about  20  feet,  al)out  5  feel  across  at  its  widest  part, 
and  not  more  than  2  or  3  feet  high.  The  floor  was  covered  with 
a  deposit  about  12  inches  thick,  of  a  fine  light  yellowish  dust, 
but  the  remains  were  superficial." 

In  addition  to  the  human  bones,  to  be  presently  described, 
were  found  a  considerable  portion  of  a  cedar- wood  canoe,  about 
7  feet  long,  fragments  of  potter)',  including  t«o,  nearly  perfect, 
earthenware  vessels  similar  to  those  known  to  have  been  made 
by  the  .\rawak  Indians,  an  outer  portion  of  the  tnink  of  an 
aybor-vili,\  probably  serving  at  one  time  as  a  "  mortar,"  scarcely 
showing  any  sign  of  decay  ;  the  perfect  skulls  and  other  parts  of 
the  skeleton  of  a  rodent  (the  so-called  Jamaica  coney,  Caproiiiys 
hra(hytiyiis)  :  two  large  marine  shells  (Fiisiis  and  Murex),  the 
.soft  parts  of  which  are  still  eaten  by  the  natives,  numerous  land 
shells  {Hi:lix,  iVc).  A  flint  implement  is  also  mentioned  in  Mr. 
Duerden's  account. 

The  only  portion  of  the  contents  of  the  cavern  submitted  to 
me  for  examination  consist  of  the  human  bones,  and  as  they  only 
arrived  in  London  a  few  days  before  I  was  leaving  town,  at 
l^resent  I  have  only  been  able  to  make  a  general  examination  of 
them,  without  any  detailed  measurements. 

Their  principal  interest  consists  in  the  circumstance,  proved 
both  by  the  conditions  under  which  they  were  found,  and  by  their 
.iwn  characteristics,  that  they  are  the  remains  of  the  race  which 
inhabited  the  island  previous  to  its  discovery  by  the  Sjjaniards, 
by  whom  they  were  in  so  short  a  time  barbarously  and  utterly 
exterminated. 

Whatever  condition  the  bones  were  found  in  .as  they  lay  in  the 
cave,  they  are  now  completely  mixed  up,  and  it  is  impossible  to 
put  together  anything  like  complete  .skeletons,  or  even,  except 
in  very  few  cases,  to  associate  the  bones  of  individuals  ;  and  the 
number  of  odd  bones  and  fragments  show  that  large  portions  of 
the  individuals  who  were  buried  or  died  in  the  cave  are  now 
missing.  Their  general  condition  of  preservation,  colour,  i\:c., 
is  nearly  the  same  in  all,  so  there  is  no  reason  to  suppo.se  that 
they  were  not  contemporaneous.  None  of  the  bones  show  any 
wounds  or  marks  of  violence,  but  all  appear  to  be  those  of  persons 
who  have  tiled  a  natural  or  slow  death.  Both  sexes  and  almost 
all  ages  are  represented,  from  children  of  four  or  five  years  to  very 
old  ])er.sons,  the  proportion  of  the  latter,  as  will  be  seen,  Ijeing 
remarkable. 

( )f  the  crania,  there  are  six  complete,  all  those  of  fully  adult 
or  aged  jiersons,  and  two  calvariit  (without  the  facial  portion), 
both  of  children.  There  are  also  fragments  of  six  others,  giving 
evidence  of  fourteen  individuals. 

( )f  the  adult  skulls  three  appear  to  be  masculine  and  three 
feminine  in  type. 

I'ive  of  these  sh(5w  evidence  of  artificial  depression  of  the 
fr(jntal  region  in  various  degrees.  In  two  it  is  very  marked  :  in 
the  others  less  so.  In  the  sixth,  though  the  frontal  region  is  low, 
no  effects  of  artificial  deformation  are  evident.  Both  the 
children's  skulls  are  very  bro.ad  and  flat,  but  whether  naturally 
so,  or  whether  this  character  has  been  exaggerated  artificially 
it  is  difficult  to  say.  The  mode  of  depression,  when  it  occurs, 
is  similar  in  all,  evidently  ]iroduced  by  the  flat  board  upon  the 
forehead — the  commonest  custom  throughout  so  large  a  portion 
of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  .American  continent. 

Although  there  is  a  considerable  general  resemblance  between 
the.se  skulls,  they  present  strong  individual  characters  ;  but  their 
whole  aspect,  taken  together,  is  characteristic  of  the  .\merican 
tyi>e.  The  retreating  forehead,  well  marked  supr.aciliary  ridges, 
round  broad  arch  of  the  palate,  round  high  orbits,  narrow  nas;il 
ajierture,  and  especially  the  narrow  prominent  nasal  bones,  causing 
a  high  bridge  to  the  nose  during  life,  are  very  characteristic.  There 
are,  however,  two  rather  remarkable  exceptions  to  this  form  of 
nose,   in  which  the  breadth  of  the  aperture  and  flatness  of  the 


6o8 


NA  TURE 


[October  17,  1S95 


nasal  iKines  almost  recall  those  of  the  negro  ;  the  nasal  index 
being  as  high,  respectively,  as  542  and  563.  These  are  both 
feminine-looking  heads,  and  one  of  them  is  the  most  and  the 
other  the  least  deformeil  of  the  set.  Whether  this  form  of  nose 
is  met  with  in  any  other  undoubtedly  al  original  American 
crania,  is  subject  for  investigation,  .\part  from  these,  the  skulls 
are  remarkably  like  the  majority  of  those  which  I  have  seen 
of  I'cruvians,  Mexicans,  and  the  ancient  moimd-builders  of  the 
I'nited  States 

Of  lower  jaw s  there  are  in  all  twenty-two,  a  number  which 
indicates  that  many  of  the  crania  must  now  be  missing  from  the 
collection.  They  are  interesting  as  showing  age,  and  pecu- 
liarities of  dentition  ;  nineteen  are  adults,  and  three  young. 
The  youngest  has  the  milk  teeth  only — the  first  permanent  molar, 
and  first  incisors  being  just  alxnit  to  appear  (about  six  years  old). 
One  is  a  little  older,  the  first  molar  being  fully  in  place  with 
the  two  milk  molars.  Another  has  all  the  permanent  teeth  in 
place,  except  the  last  molars  (wisdom  teeth),  which  are  still  in 
their  alvetili. 

In  all  the  others  the  permanent  teeth  ap|>ear  to  have  been 
fully  in  place,  but  the  number  of  hisses  sustained  during  life  is 
remarkable.  -\s  so  many  of  the  teeth  have  dropped  out  since 
death,  it  is  mainly  by  the  condition  of  the  alveoli  tliat  their  pre- 
sence or  absence  during  life  can  1k>  judged  of,  for  in  only  two  or 
three  do  all  appear  to  have  Injen  retained.  Two  are  absolutely 
edentulous.  In  eight,  not  one  of  the  true  molars  remain,  the 
whole  available  dentition  being  represented  by  the  incisors,  and 
in  a  few  cases  by  an  Isolated  c.inineor  premolar.  Seven  had  lost 
one  or  more  of  the  true  molars.  .Ml  the  teeth,  except  those  of 
the  ver)'  young  individuals,  arc  much  worn,  but  scarcely  any 
show  signs  of  disease  or  decay,  there  lieing  only  three  small 
carious  cavities  among  them  all.  Vet  the  milk  molars  in  both 
the  child's  jaws,  which  were  soon  to  be  shed,  have  their  crowns 
deeply  excavated. 

The  only  dental  anomaly  is  that  in  one  of  the  skulls  the  right 
up|XT  wistlnm  tooth  is  placed  horizontally,  its  crown  projecting 
outwards  through  the  surface  of  the  maxillary  bone,  its  lower 
edge  two  millimetres  alxjve  the  alveolar  border. 

The  limb  bones  indicate  an  average  height  rather  below  the 
middle  size,  but,  as  just  stated,  I  have  not  yet  had  time  to  make 
accurate  measurements  and  calculations. 

ClaTielts,  7  right,  10  left,  all  .tdult.  Stafiii/n-,  all  more  or  less 
broken;  fr.agmenis  of  15  right  and  II  left  adult,  and  1  young. 
Humeri,  right,  5  adult  and  2  young;  left,  10  adult,  i  young 
(not  corres|yjnrling  with  either  of  those  of  the  opposite  side). 
A'aJii,  right,  14  adult,  3  young  ;  left,  17  adult,  I  young.  U/mc, 
right,  14  adult,  2  young  ;  left,  10  adult,  i  young.  Pelvii  bones, 
mostly  very  fragmenlar)',  but  showing  evidence  of  at  le.ast  9 
adult  males,  5  adult  fem.ilcs,  and  several  children.  Femora, 
as  with  the  other  long  lK)nes,  there  are  very  few  i^airs,  thus 
showing  that  there  were  more  individuals  ihan  the  .actual 
number  of  bones  wouM  indicate:  right,  II  adult  and  2  young,  I 
nearly  full  grown,  but  without  epiphyses,  i  younger  ;  left,  17  adult 
and  6  young  of  various  ages,  from  f|uile  small  chililrcn  upwards. 
None  of  these  six  have  corresponding  l>ones  of  theopjxisite  side, 
so  there  is  evidence  from  the  femora  of  at  least  23  individuals. 
Tihi.t,  18  right  and  19  left,  all  adult.  Fibul<r,  12  right  and  II 
left  arhdt,  and  3  yoimg. 

One  of  the  largest  f>f  the  femora  has  the  head  greatly  enlarged 
and  deformed  by  chronic  rheumatic  arthritis.  The  lower 
articular  surface  was  mostly  broken  away,  but  the  (mrlion  that 
remained  appeared  healthy. 

One  of  the  left  tibi;e  shows  throughout  the  shaft  marked 
e\idcncc  of  chronic  periostitis,  the  surface  being  Ihicketied  .ind 
v,iscular.  .\  Ixine  of  the  opposite  side,  which  might  have  been 
of  the  same  individual,  shows  the  same  condition  in  a  less 
marked  degree. 

These  arc  the  only  pathological  conditions  obsen-ed  in  any  ■■! 
the  I...1H-. 

I  hat   naturally  occurs  after  the  examination  of 

.   Ilowdid   Ihcy  gel  into  the  cave?     The  con- 

DCS,  and  of  the  objects  which  were  found  with 

i  their  l>clonging  to  the  native  Indian  inhabitants, 

1  ,1  .   r — .  „|,|(-h  have  licen  inlroduceil  into  the 

iindred  years.      Ara\eofsuch  small 

■  ouM  not  standuprighl, could  scarcely 

lion  of  such  a  large  number  of  per.sons. 

"f  sepulture,  l<ut  from  its  inBcce.s.sible 

re   likely  lo  have  lieen  a  refuge  to  which 

ind  the  aged  of  n  tribe  had  (led  forsiifcty, 


lb 


I<  n 


and  in  a  vain  endeavour  10  escape  the  horrible  massacres  by 
which  we  know  the  great  bulk  of  the  native  population  perished, 
had  met  a  scarcely  less  miserable  fate.  ( Uher  similar  discoveries, 
which  will  doubtless  lie  made  in  the  future,  may  throw  light 
upon  this  question,  and  it  is  satisfactory  lo  know  that  the  autho- 
rities of  the  Jamaica  Instittue  are  now  alive  to  the  importance 
of  carefully  examining  and  preserving  all  such  evidence  as  may 
still  remain  of  the  ancient  history  of  the  island  and  its  inhabi- 
tants. The  communication  was  illustrated  by  sketches  of  the 
cave,  made  by  Mrs.  Frank  Cundall. 


ELECTRIFICATION  AND    DIS ELECTRIFICA- 
TION OF  AIR  AND  OTHER  GASES.' 

%  I.  TITXrERIMKNTS  were  made  for  the  purpose  of  finding 
an  approximation  ■  to  the  amount  of  electrification 
communicated  to  air  by  one  or  more  electrified  needle  points. 
The  apparatus  consisted  of  a  metallic  can  48  cms.  high  and 
21  cms.  in  diameter,  supported  by  i>araflin  blocks,  and  connected 
to  one  pair  of  quadrants  of  a  quadrant  electrometer.  It  had  a 
hole  at  the  toji  to  admit  the  electrifying  wire,  which  was  5'3I 
metres  long,  hanging  vertically  within  a  metallic  guard  tube. 
This  guard  lube  was  always  mejallically  connected  to  the  other 
pair  of  quadrants  of  the  electrometer  and  to  its  case,  and  to  a 
metallic  screen  surrounding  il.  This  prevented  any  external 
influences  from  sensibly  aflecting  the  electrometer,  such  as  the 
working  of  the  electric  machine  which  stood  on  a  shelf  5  metres 
above  it. 

§  2.  The  experiment  is  conducted  as  follows  : — One  terminal 
of  an  electric  machine  is  connected  with  the  guard  tube,  and  the 


PARAFF(I>£ 


HO.  1355,  vol..  52] 


RARAFFINE 
h'u..  I,— CuiincclcU  with  Kuard  Hcrccn  (not  shown  in  (liagrani). 

other  with  the  electrifying  wire,  which   is  let  down   so  that 
needle  is  in  ihe  lentre  of  the  can.      The   can    is    lempoiarily 
connected    lo    the     i'a.se   of    the    electromcler.      The    electric 
machine  is  then  worked  for  some  minutes,  so  as  to  electrify  the 
air  in  the  can.      As  .soon  as  the  machine  is  stoppcil  the  electrifyf 

I  Alnlracl  of  a  piiper,  by  I,ord  Kelvin,  M.iKnii<<^  Maclean,  and  Alexander  1 
(iail,  read  l>cfDre  .Section  A  of  ihc  Hriti.Hh  Association.  ] 


October  17,  1S95] 


NA  TURE 


609 


ing  Mire  is  lifted  clear  out  of  the  can.  The  can  and  the 
<)uadrants  in  metallic  connection  with  it  are  disconnected  from 
the  case  of  the  electrometer,  and  the  electrified  air  is  very 
rapidly  drawn  away  from  the  can  by  a  blowpipe  bellows 
arranged  to  suck.  This  releases  the  opposite  kind  of  electricity 
from  the  inside  of  the  can,  and  allows  it  to  place  itself  in 
equilibrivuii  on  the  outside  of  the  can  and  on  the  insulated 
<]iiadrants  of  the  electrometer  in  mclallic  connection  with  it. 

S  3.  We  tried  clilTerent  lengths  of  time  of  electrification  and 
different  numbers  of  needles  and  tinsel,  but  we  found  that  one 
needle  and  four  minutes  of  electrification  gave  nearly  maxinuim 
effect.  The  greatest  deflection  observed  was  936  scale  divisions. 
To  find,  from  this  reading,  the  electric  density  of  the  air  in  the 
can,  we  took  a  metallic  disc,  of  2  cms.  radius,  attached  to  a 
long  varnished  glass  rod,  and  placed  it  at  a  distance  of  i  '45  cm. 
from  another  and  larger  metallic  disc.  This  small  air  condenser 
was  charged  from  the  electric  light  conductors  in  the  laborator)- 
til  a  dift'erence  of  potential  amounting  to  too  volts.  The 
insulated  disc  thus  charged  was  removed  and  laid  upon  the  roof 
of  the  large  insulated  can.  This  addition  to  the  metal  in 
connection  with  it  does  not  sensibly  influence  its  electrostatic 
capacity.    The  deflection  observed  was  122  scale  divisions.    The 

T  X  2-  I 

cap.tcity  of  the  condenser  is  approximately    .    xi-a'   ~T-   c' 

The   quantity  of    electricity    with    which    it    was   charged    was 

I  100  I  .        .        ,,  , 

i-j-   ^    "^00  ~     -ic    "^''^'•'"■os'^'"^  """•     Hence  the  quantity  to 


give  936  scale  divisions  was 


4-35 


122 


17637- 


vigorously   for    two    and  a   half 


The    bellows    was    worked 
minutes,  and  in  that  time  all  the  electrified  air  would  be  ex- 
hausted.    The  capacity  of  the  can  was  16,632  cubic  centimetres, 
which  gives,  for  the  quantity  of  electricity  per  cubic  centimetre, 

'    ii  —  I -06  X  10—*.      The   electrification   of    the  air  in  this 
16,632 

case  was  positive  ;  it  was  about  as  great  as  the  greatest  we  got, 
whether  positive  or  negative,  in  common  air 
w  hen  we  electrified  it  by  discharge  from  needle 
points.  This  is  about  four  times  the  electric 
density  which  we  roughly  estimated  as  about 
the  greatest  given  to  the  air  in  the  in.side  of  a 
large  metal  vat,  electrified  by  a  needle  point 
and  then  left  to  itself,  and  tested  by  the  poten- 
tial of  a  water-dropper  with  its  nozzle  in  the 
centre  of  the  vat,  in  experiments  made  two 
years  ago  and  described  in  a  communication 
io  the  Royal  Society  in  May,  1894.' 

§  4.    In  subsequent  experiments,  electrifying 
comnion  air  in  a  large  gas-holder  over  water 


receiver  ot  known  elliciency  and  of  known  ca))acity  in  connection 
with  the  electrometer.  We  have  not  yet  mea-sured  how  much 
electricity  was  lost  in  the  pass;ige  through  the  india-rubber  tube. 
It  was  not  probably  nothing  ;  and  the  electric  density  of  the  gas 
before  leaving  the  gas-holder  was  no  doubt  greater,  though 
perhaps  not  much  greater,  than  w  hat  it  had  when  it  reached  the 
electric  receiver. 

I  §  7.  The  efficiency  of  the  electric  receivers  used  was  approxi- 
j  mately  determined  by  putting  two  of  them  in  series,  with  a 
paraffin  tunnel  between  them,  and  measuring  by  means  of  two 
quadrant  electrometers  the  quantity  of  electricity  which  each  took 
from  a  measured  quantity  of  air  drawn  through  them.  By  per- 
forming this  experiment  several  times,  with  the  order  of  the  two 
receivers  alternately  reversed,  we  had  data  for  calculating  the 
proportion  of  the  electricity  taken  by  each  receiver  from  the  air 
entering  it,  on  the  assumption  that  the  proportion  taken  by  each 
receiver  was  the  same  in  each  case.  This  assumption  was 
approximately  justified  by  the  results. 

§  8.  Thus  we  found  for  the  efficiencies  of  two  different 
receivers  respectively  077  and  0-31  with  air  electrified  positively 
or  negatively  by  needle  points  ;  and  0-82  and  0-42  with  carbonic 
acid  gas  electrified  negatively  by  being  drawn  from  an  iron 
cylinder  placed  on  its  side.  Each  of  these  receivers  consisted  of 
block  tin  pipe,  4  cms.  long  and  i  cm.  diameter,  with  five  plugs 
of  cotton  wool  kept  in  position  by  six  discs  of  fine  wire  gauze. 
The  great  dift'erence  in  their  efficiency  was  no  doubt  due  to  the 
quantities  of  cotton  wool  being  different,  or  differently  compressed 
in  the  two. 

§  9.  We  have  commenced,  and  we  hope  to  continue,  an  in- 
vestigation of  the  efticiency  of  electric  receivers  of  various  kinds, 
such  as  block  tin,  brass,  and  platinum  tuljes  from  2  to  4  cms. 
long,  and  from  i  mm.  to  i  cm.  internal  diameter,  all  of  smooth 
bore  and  without  any  cotton  wool  or  wire  gauze  filters  in  them  ; 
also  a  polished  metal  solid,  insulated  within  a  paraffin  tunnel. 
This  investigation,  made  with  various  quantities  of  air  drawn 
through   per  second,  has  already  given  us  some  interesting  and 


y  an   insulated   gas  flame    burning  within   it 


I  ^ 

with  a  wire  in  the  interior  of  the  flame  kept 

electrified    by    an    electric    machine    to    about 

Oooo  volts,    whether  positively  or  negatively, 

we  found  as  much  as  i'5  x  io~^  for  the  electric 

density  of  the  air.      Electrifying  carbonic  acid 

in   the   same   gas-holder,  '•uhe/her  positively  or  negatively,  by 

needle  points,  we  obtained  an  electric  density  of  2"2x  io~*. 

S  5.  We  found  about  the  same  electric  density  (2'2  x  10—')  of 
vegalii'c  electricity  in  carbonic  aci<l  gas  drawn  from  an  iron 
*:ylinder  lying  horizontally,  and  allowed  to  pass  by  a  U-tube 
into  the  gas-holder  without  Inibbling  through  the  water.  This 
electrification  was  due  probably  not  to  carbonic  acid  gas  rushing 
through  the  stopcock  of  the  cylinder,  but  to  bubbling  from  the 
liquid  carbonic  acid  in  its  interior,  or  to  the  formation  of  carbonic 
acid  snow  in  the  j.iassages  and  its  subsequent  evaporation. 
When  carbonic  acid  gas  was  drawn  slowly  from  the  liquid  car- 
lionic  acid  in  the  iron  cylinder  placed  upright,  and  allowed  to 
pass,  without  Inibbling,  through  the  U-tube  into  the  gas-holder 
■over  water,  no  electrification  was  found  in  the  gas  unless 
■electricity  was  communicated  to  it  from  needle  points. 

§  6.  The  electrifications  of  air  and  carbonic  acid  described 
ill  §§  4  and  5  were  tested,  and  their  electric  densities  mea- 
■sured  by  drawing  by  an  air  pump  a  measured  quantity  of  the 
gas'-'  from  tlie  gas-holder   through   an   india-rubber  tube  to  a 

1  "  On  llie  Klcctritic.ilion  of.'Xir,'   by  Lord  Kelvin  .ind  Magnus  Maclc-in. 

-  The  gas-hoider  was  38  cms.  high  and  81  cms.  in  circumference'  Ten 
strokes  of  tlie  pump  raised  the  water  inside  to  .1  height  of  8"i  cms.,  so  that 
the  volume  of  .lir  drawn  through  the  receivers  in  the  experiments  wa.s  428 
.•cubic  centimetres  per  stroke  of  the  pump.  This  aijrees  «'iih  ilii^  measured 
«ITectivc  volume  of  the  Iwo  cylinders  of  the  pump. 


NO.    1355,  VOL.   52] 


surprising  results,  which    we   hope   to  describe  after  we  have 
learned  more  by  farther  experimenting. 

§  10.  In  addition  to  our  experiments  on  electric  filters  we 
have  made  many  other  experiments  to  find  other  means  for  the 
diselectrification  of  air.  It  might  be  supposed  that  drawing  air 
in  bubbles  through  water  should  be  very  effective  for  this  "pur- 
pose, but  we  find  that  this  is  far  from  being  the  case.  We  had 
previously  found  that  non-electrified  air  dr.awn  in  bubbles  through 
pure  water  becomes  negatively  electrified,  and  through  salt  water 
positively.  We  now  find  that  positively  electrified  air  drawn 
through  pure  water,  and  negatively  electrified  air  through  salt 
water,  has  its  electrification  diminished  but  not  annulled,  if  the 
IJrimitive  electrification  is  sufficiently  strong.  Negatively 
eleetrified  air  drawn  in  bubbles  through  pure  water,  and 
positively  electrified  air  drawn  thniugh  salt  water,  has  its 
electrification  augmented. 

§  u.  To  test  the  eflects  of  heat  we  drew  .air  through  com- 
bustion tubes  of  German  glass  about  iSocms.  long, ami  i\  or  \k 
cms.  bore,  the  heat  being  applied  externally  to  about  120  cms.  of 
the  length.  We  found  that,  when  the  temperature  was  raised  to 
nearly  a  dull  re<l  he.at,  air.  whether  positively  or  negativclv 
electrified,  lost  little  or  nothing  of  its  electrification  by  being 
drawn  through  the  tube.  When  the  temperature  was  raised  to  a 
dull  red  heat,  and  to  a  bright  red,  high  enough  to  soften  the 


6io 


KA  rURE 


[October  17,  1S9: 


gla^s.  losses  up  to  as  much  as  four-iiHu~  m;  ur-  uhole  electrifica- 
tion were  sometimes  oliserveil,  hut  never  complete  iliselectrifica- 
tion.  The  results,  however,  were  ver)- irregular.  Xon-electrifieti 
air  never  became  sensibly  electrifietl  by  lieing  drawn  through  the 
hot  glass  tubes  in  our  experiments,  but  it  gained  strong  positive 
electrification  when  pieces  of  copjwr  foil,  and  negative  electrifi- 
cation when  pieces  of  carlxjn,  were  placeil  in  the  tube,  and  when 
the  teni]x;rature  was  sufticient  to  jiowerfiilly  oxidise  the  copjier 
or  to  burn  away  the  charcoal. 

§  12.  Through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  E.  Matthey.  we  have  been 
able  to  experiment  with  a  platinum  tube  i  metre  long  and  I 
milimetre  bore.  It  was  heated  either  by  a  gas  flame  or  an 
electric  current.  When  the  tube  was  cold,  and  non-electrified 
air  drawn  through  it,  we  found  no  signs  of  electrification  by  our 
receiver  and  electrometer.  But  when  the  tube  was  made  rett  or 
white  hot,  either  by  gas  burners  applied  externally  or  by  an  elec- 
tric current  through  the  metal  of  the  tulje,  the  previously  non- 
electrified  air  drawn  through  it  was  found  to  be  electrified 
strongly  jxjsitive.  To  get  complete  command  of  the  temperature 
we  passed  a  mea.sured  electric  current  through  20  centimetres  of 
the  platinum  tube.  On  increasing  the  current  till  the  tube  Iwgan 
to  be  at  a  scarcely  visible  dull  red  heat,  we  found  but  little  elec- 
trification of  the  air.  When  the  tube  was  a  little  warmer,  so  as 
to  be  quite  visibly  red  hot,  large  electrification  became  manifest. 
Thus  60  strokes  of  the  air-pump  gave  45  scale  divisions  on  the 
electrometer  when  the  tube  was  dull  red,  and  395  scale  divisions 
(7  volts)  when  it  was  a  bright  red  (produced  by  a  current  of  36 
amperes).  With  stronger  currents,  raising  the  tube  to  white-hot 
temperature,  the  electrification  seemed  to  be  considerably  less. 


UNIVERSITY  AND    EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

Oxford. — There  are  few  changes  of  imixjrtance  in  the  lists 
of  lectures  issued  by  the  Board  of  Faculty  of  Natural  Science 
fca  Academical  year. 

I'rof.  Cntch  h.ts  come  into  permanent  residence,  and  has 
ap|V)intcd  Dr.  (iustav  Mann,  of  Edinburgh  University,  to  be 
Demonstrator  in  I'hysiologj-,  in  place  of  Dr.  I'embrey,  who  has 
been  appointed  Lecturer  in  I'hysiole^'  at  the  Charing  Cross 
Hospital. 

The  new  mthological  lalxjratory  in  the  De|»rtment  of  Regius 
I'rofess<jr  of  Medicine  is  appnaching  completion,  and  Dr.  J. 
Ritchie  will  give  a  course  of  practical  Tathologicil  Bacteriology 
for  the  Regius  Professor.  The  present  pathological  laboratory 
is  on  a  mo<lest  scale,  and  it  is  hoped  that  before  long  the  Uni- 
versity will  Iw  in  a  position  to  afford  a  building  and  equipment 
more  worthy  of  the  growing  needs  of  the  medical  school  at 
Oxford. 

The  examination  for  the  Burdelt-Coutts"  Scholarship  is  to 
liegin  on  October  21.  There  are  this  year  two  scholarshi|)S  to  be 
awarded,  as  none  «as  awar<le<l  last  year. 

Mr.  Frederic  I.ucien  (iolla,  of  Tonbridge  School,  has  lieen 
elected  to  a  Demyship  in  Natural  Science  at   Magdalen  College. 

Four  scholarships  are  announced  for  election  at  Wa<lham 
College  on  December  I,  1895,  and  in  addition  the  Warden  and 
I'ellows  have  power  to  give  exhibitions  of  Cyi  to  £,a,o  a  year. 
No  papers  in  Natural  Science  will  lie  set,  but  in  the  case  of  one 
of  the  exhibitions  preference  will  \k  given  to  any  candidate  who 
shall  undertake  to  read  for  honours  in  Natural  Science,  and  to 
proceed  to  a  degree  in  Medicine  in  the  University  of  Oxford. 

Cambri|)i;e.— The  election  to  the  vacant  professorship  of 
Uitany  will  take  place  on  .Saturday,  Novcmlier  2,  at  2.30  p.m. 
Candidates  are  to  send  their  names  and  testimonials  to  the  \icc- 
Chanccllor,  Sidney  Sussex  Ixidge,  by  Oclolicr  26.  The  electors 
arc  Dr.  Vines,  Mr.  Sedgwick,  Dr.  Allbult,  Dr.  D.  Oliver,  Dr. 
I'heat,  Mr.  F.  Darnin,  Sir  J.  D.  Hooker,  and  I'rof.  Foster. 

The  election  of  a  head  of  a  college  to  be  an  elector  to  the 
"^  "  -  I'rofessrirship  of  I'ure  Mathematics  will  take  place  on 
'  >clolK.'r  22,  at  I  p.m.  The  vacancy  is  causcci  by  the 
:>  of  Dr.  I'hear,  late  M.aster  of  Kmmanucl.  The 
electors  are  those  persons  whose  names  are  on  the  electoral  roll 
of  thf  University.  Dr.  Ferrers,  of  Caius,  and  Dr.  Taylor,  of 
St.   I  'he  present  "  heads''  on  the  Iniard  of  electors  to 

the  .. 

.Mr.  •  .  i  .  K.  Wilson,  of  Sidney  Sussex  College,  has  licen 
appointed  avsitianl-rlenionstrator  of  experimental  physics  in  the 
pl.icc  of  .Mr.  Cajistick,  resigned. 

The  Clerk-Maxwell  Scholarship  in   I'hysics  is  vacant  by  the 

^■'^-  '355.  Vol.  52] 


resignation  of  Mr.  Whetham.  Candidates  are  to  apply  to  Prof. 
Thompsc»n,  at  the  Cavendish  Laboratorj',  by  Xovembor  I.  The 
scholarship  is  worth  about  .{.iSo  a  year,  and  is  tenable  for  three 
years.  Candidates  must  be  memliers  of  the  University  who 
have  worked  for  a  term  or  more  at  the  Cavendish  Lalmratory. 

Among  the  Fellows  of  Trinity  College  electe<l  on  October  10, 
are  Mr.  C.  P.  Sanger,  bracketed  second  wrangler  1S93  ;  the 
Hon.  W.  Russell,  bracketed  eighth  wrangler  1S93  ;  ^^'^  ^'f- 
I.  L.  Tuckett,  first  class  Parts  I.  and  II.  Natural  Sciences 
Tri|x)s,  and  Coutts  Trotter  student  in  physics  and  physiology. 
Mr.  Sanger  and  Mr.  Russell  were  also  placed  in  the  first  class 
of  Part  II.  of  the  Moral  Sciences  Tripos  1S94. 


The  London  University  Guide  for  the  year  1895-96  has  just 
been  published  by  the  I'niversity  Correspondence  College  Press. 

Dk.  DiNN,  head  master  of  the  Plymouth  Technical  Schools, 
has  been  appointed  principal  of  the  Northern  Polytechnic 
Institute,  Ilolloway  Road. 

Mr.  Hknrv  Loiis  has  been  elected  Professor  of  Mining  at 
the  Durham  College  of  Science,  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  by  a 
Joint  Committee  nominated  by  the  College  and  the  Coal  Trades 
.Vssociations  of  Durham  and  Northumberland. 

Til R  October  Rt-iord  of  Technical  and  Secondary  Education 
contains  an  illustrated  article  on  the  Yorkshire  College,  Leeds  ; 
and  also  a  comparative  summary  of  recent  progress  in  technical 
education  in  various  counties.  This  latter  article  continues  anil 
conchules  a  review  of  the  work  done  by  the  Technical  Education 
Conmiittees  of  the  English  counties,  commenced  in  the  .\pril 
number  of  the  Kecord. 

The  entrance  scholarships  at  the  London  Hospital  Medical 
School  have  been  awarded  as  ff>llows  : — Price  .scholarship  in 
science,  ;£^I20.  Mr.  H.  Balean  :  Science  .scholarshi|»,  £60  and 
;f35,  Mr.  O.  Eichholz  and  Mr.  .\.  B.  Soltau  :  Price  .scholarship 
in  anatomy  and  physiology,  for  university  students,  £bo,  M  r. 
R.  C.  Wall  and  Mr.  J.  H.    Evans. 

The  following  awards  have  been  made  at  .St.  Bartholomew's 
Hospital  : — Scholarship  of  £li,  in  biolog)  and  physiology,  to  '  Ij 
Mr.  C.  .S.  Myers:  scholarship  of /'75  in  chemistry  and  physics,  to  II 
Mr.  I.  .S.Williamson  :  scholarship  of /'150  in  biology,  chemi.stry, 
and  physics,  to  Messrs.  R.  C.  Bowden  and  R.  11,  Paramore  : 
preliminary  scientific  exhibition  of/^5oin  biology,  chemistry, 
and  physics,  to  Mr.  J.  C.  M.  Bailey. 

.Vl  St.  Mary's  Hospital  Medical  School  the  two  university 
.scholarships,  of  the  value  1  pf  £^2  loj.  each,  have  been  awarded  to 
Mr.  R.  Wade  and  Mr.  Ci.  S.  Keeling  :  the  first  natural  science 
scholarship,  value  jt  105,  has  been  awarded  to  Mr.  W.  11.  Will- 
cox,  and  the  three  v.alue  £^2  los.  each  to  Mr.  11.  l.ovell-Keavs, 
Mr.  E.  W.  Holyoak,  and  Mr.  A.  1'.  Hayden. 

.At  St.  Cleorge's  Hospital  Medical  School,  science  entrance 
scholarshi|)S  of  ^85  have  been  awarded  to  Mr.  Herbert  String- 
fellow  Pendleburj-,  to  Mr.  Henry  (loodridge  Deller.  and  lo  Mr. 
John  Howell  Evans. 

The  following  recent  appointments  are  announced  ;  —  Prof. 
W.  A.  Setchell  to  the  chair  of  botany  in  the  University  t>f  Cali- 
fornia ;  Prof.  H.  Talbot  to  be  associate  professt^r  of  chemistry  '\n 
the  Massachusetts  In.stitute  of  Technology  ;  Dr.  O.  Jaekel, 
Privat-di>cent  in  geology  in  Berlin  University,  to  be  Extraor- 
dinary' Professor :  Dr.  I'.  Lenard  to  the  chair  of  physics  in  the 
Tcchnische  Hochschule  at  Aacheen. 


SCIENTIFIC  SERIALS. 

Aiiieritaii  Journal  of  AfatluiiialiiS,  vol.  xvii.  No.  4  (Baltimore, 
October). — On  the  deformation  of  thin  ela.stic  wires,  by  \.  B. 
Basset.  In  the  author's  previous  iK»|X'r  (vol.  xvi. )  im  the 
deformatiiui  of  thin  elastic  plates  and  shells,  whilst  commending 
the  novelty,  power  and  elegance  of  the  :;(omclriial  investigations 
employed  in  Mr.  I.ove's  treatise  on  elasticity,  he  impugned  the 
treatment  of  the //yti'o// portion  of  the  subject.  It  is  on  the 
same  ground  of  defective  treatment  that  Mr.  Ha,sset  considers 
that  a  further  expiisition  on  the  theory  of  wires  is  needed,  and 
this  is  what  is  furnished  In  the  present  paper.  A  useful  table  of 
contents  precedes  the  text. — Investigations  in  the  lunar  theory, 
by  Prof.  E.  W.  Brown,  is  a  memoir  to  which  reference  lia-s 
already  been  m.iile  in  oiu'  colunms  (No.  1352,  p.  533).  The 
closing  |ia|>er  is  by  Otto  Staude,  "  Uelwr  den  Sinn  der  Windung 
in  den  ninguliircn   Puncteii  ciner  Raumcurve," 


October  17,  1895J 


NATURE 


611 


HiiUetiii  dd  t  Academic  Koyale  dc  Relgigiie,  No.  6. — The  con- 
(lilions  under  which  hydrogen  peroxide  is  decomposed,  by  W. 
Spring.  The  cataly.sis  of  hydrogen  peroxide  takes  place  without 
chemical  action  by  contact  with  various  substances  when  the 
formation  of  water  is  favoured.  Any  substance  which  is  more 
easily  impregnated  with  water  than  with  HjO.j  l)rings  about  the 
decomposition  of  the  latter.  K  solution  of  Jl.jO^  containing 
salts  is  the  seat  of  a  decomposition  whose  activity  increases  with 
the  temperature. — Chemical  study  of  eight  earths  of  the  Lower 
Congo,  by  E.  Stuyvaert.  The  analysis  of  earths  from  Boma, 
Zenze,  Banza-Kasi,  Mayombe,  and  \ungu-Mumba  proves  that 
the  soils  of  the  Lower  Congo,  sandy  as  well  as  calcareous,  are 
provided  with  reserves  of  phosphoric  acid  and  potash  which 
insure  a  high  fertility.  It  is  certain  that  in  the  territories  where 
the  disappearance  of  forests  has  not  modified  the  rainfall,  as  in 
Mayombe,  the  cultivation  of  coffee,  cocoa,  anfl  other  economic 
])lants  can  be  carried  on  for  a  long  time  without  the  use  of 
manure. — On  the  critical  temperatures  of  solution  and  their 
application  to  general  analysis,  by  L.  Crismer.  The  critical 
temperatures  of  solution  may  be  used  for  the  identification  of 
chemical  bodies  without  the  necessity  of  weighing  them,  and 
they  firm  a  valuable  additional  criterion  for  the  purpose  of 
<_jualitative  analysis.  The  critical  temjierature  of  solution  is 
intlepeiident  of  the  amount  of  either  body  present.  It  varies 
very  much  fr<jm  one  substance  to  another,  liut  is  constant  for  the 
same  substance.  I'or  a  mixture  of  two  bodies,  it  is  sensibly 
equal  to  the  arithmetical  mean  of  those  of  the  constituents 
liken  singly.  Just  as  the  surface  tension  of  a  liquid  is  reduced 
to  zero  at  the  critical  temperature  of  vaporisation,  so  the  surface 
tension  of  the  lower  liquid  tends  towards  zero  at  the  critical 
temperature  of  solution,  and  the  meniscus  separating  them 
becomes  a  plane.  .\n  optical  method  of  determining  these 
critical  temperatures  may  be  based  upon  this  fact. 

Wicdentaiiii  i:  Annalen  dcr  fhy.iik  tiiid  Chcmii.\  Xo.  9. — 
Double  refraction  of  electromagnetic  rays,  by  Peter  Lebedew. 
The  author  succeeded,  by  a  modification  of  Hertz's  apparatus,  in 
dealing  with  waves  not  ntore  than  0'6  cm.  long,  and  in  demon- 
strating the  phenomena  of  polarisation,  reflection,  and  refraction 
with  apparatus  of  the  size  ordinarily  used  in  optics.  The 
resonator  used  was  a  small  ihermo  couple  of  iron  and  "  constan* 
tane.''  An  ebonite  prism  i 'S  cm.  long  showed  refraction  to 
within  3°  of  arc.  Rhombic  sulphur  showed  measurable  double 
refraction,  and  a  "  N'icoll  prism"  was  successfully  constructed 
<jf  two  sidphur  prisms  w ith  a  plate  of  ebonite  in  place  ot  the 
Canada  balsam. — Luminescence  of  organic  substances  in  the 
three  states,  by  K.  Wiedemann  and  (i.  C.  Schmidt.  Many 
<irganic  vapours  show  true  fluorescence,  and  some,  like  naphtha- 
lene, give  composition  spectra  under  the  electric  discharge,  with- 
out being  dissociated.  Kathode  luminescence  is  shown  by  many 
organic  liquids,  and  the  colour  correspontls  to  that  of  the  vapour. 
But  the  luminescence  of  the  solid  bodies  often  differs  from  that 
in  the  li(|uid  state.  Solid  anthracene  shows  green,  gaseous 
anthracene  blue  luminescence.  —  A  vibration  galvanometer,  by 
II.  Rubens.  This  instrument  somewhat  resembles  Wien's optical 
telephone,  and  is  used  for  measuring  the  intensity  of  alternating 
I'urrents.  It  consists  of  a  soft  iron  armature  attached  to  a 
stretched  wire.  This  executes  torsional  vibrations  w  hich  are  timeil 
to  the  period  of  the  alternating  current.  The  latter  traverses 
four  electromagnets  ranged  round  the  armature,  and  when  the 
jieriods  are  identical  the  armature  executes  strong  torsional 
vibrations  whose  amplitude  is  measured  by  the  width  of  a  slit  as 
seen  reflected  in  a  mirror  attached  to  the  wire.  This  arrange- 
ment is  much  more  sensitive  than  the  electrodynamometer.  -  - 
Theory  of  the  broadening  of  spectrum  lines,  by  B.  llalitzin. 
The  nu)lecular  theory  is  superior  to  those  based  upon  l)op]>ler*s 
|)rinciple,  upon  Kirchhoff's  law,  or  upon  dam]>ing.  It  admits 
"jf  a  development  based  upon  the  electromagnetic  theory,  that  of 
molecular  resonators.  The  broadening  is  a  consetjuence  of  the 
forced  vibrations  produced  by  the  collision  of  molecules.  The 
want  of  synnnelry  of  the  broadening,  and  tlie  influence  of 
temperature  and  pressure  are  immediate  consequences  of  the 
jnolecular  theory  as  developed  by  the  author. 

TllK  numbers  of  the  Awr/zd/ ty' /)V>/(i/y/ for  August-October 
contain  several  articles  of  interest  to  descriptive  botanists. 
Mr.  K.  G.  Baker  concludes  his  revision  of  the  African  species 
J  if  Eriosema,  and  Mr.  A.  li.  Rendle  his  description  of  Mr. 
-Scott  Elliot's  tropical  .Xfrican  orchids,  including  a  large 
number  of  new  species;  Mr.  D.  Train  continues  his  account  of 
the  genus  Argtiiwiir :  Mr.  E.  .-\.  L.  Bailers  contributes  a 
list  of  .Marine  .\lg.e  new  to  Hritain  ;  and  Mr.  Arthur   Bennett 

NO.    1355.  VOL.    52] 


.some  notes  on  British  Characcv. — There  are  biographical 
notices  of  the  late  I'rofs.  W.  C.  Williamson  and  C.  C. 
Babington,  with  a  portrait  of   the  latter. 

AW/.  diUa  Soc.  Sisiiiol.  //a!.,  vol.  i.,  1S95,  No.  5. — .Some  ob- 
servations made  on  Vesuvius  on  June  21,  1895,  by  M.  Baratta. 
— \'esuvian  notes  (January-June  1895),  by  (j.  Mercalli. — Hydro- 
thermal  observations  at  Eiumecaldo  from  January  io  .\pril  1895, 
by  C.  Ciuzzanti. — Notices  of  Italian  earthquakes,  .\pril  1895. 
.\  valuable  record  of  the  observations  of  the  first  after-shocks  of 
the  Laibach  earthquake  of  .\pril  14  from  a  large  number  of 
Italian  stations. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 

London. 

Entomological  Society,  October  2. — Trof.  Raphael  .Mel- 
dola,  !•'.  R.S.,  President,  in  the  chair. — Mr.  .McLachlan 
exhibited,  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Bradley,  of  Birmingham,  the 
specimens  of  Uiptera  attacked  by  a  fungus  of  the  genus 
Jiiiipusa,  of  which  an  account  had  recently  appeared  in  the 
Eiifoniologist' s  Monthly  Magnzim-. — Mr.  H.  Tunalcy  exhibited 
;  specimens  of  Lohopliora  virclala  from  the  neighbourhood  of 
j  Birmingham.  .Specimens  of  the  green  dark  form  were  shown 
in  their  natural  positions  on  the  bark,  and  specimens  of  the 
yellow  form  were  shown  on  leaves  on  which  they  rested. — Mr. 
J.  W.  Tutt  exhibited  cases  formed  by  a  lepidopterous  insect  re- 
ceive<l  from  the  .\rgentine  Republic,  which  he  said  he  recognised 
as  being  either  identical  with,  or  closely  allied  to,  ThyridoptiTyx 
cp/ii-iiit:r(,-fonins,  which  ilid  great  damage  to  many  orchard  and 
I  forest  trees  in  North  -America.  Mr.  Tutt  also  exhibited  a  series 
ai  LyCiTiia  ctgoii  captured  by  Mr.  Massey,  of  IJidsbury,  on  the 
mosses  in  Westmoreland.  The  males  were  remarkable  in  bear- 
ing two  very  distinct  shades  of  colour.  The  females  also  differed 
considerably  from  the  form  occurring  in  the  South  of  England. 
He  also  exhibited  a  long  series  of  .^'(//vA/a /«iVH^,  captured  in 
the  mosses  near  Warrington,  and  for  comi>arison  a  series  of 
Hydnccia  paliidis,  and  he  read  notes  on  the  various  specimens 
exhibited.  —  Dr.  Eritz- Midler  connnunicated  a  paper  entitled 
"  Contributions  towards  the  history  of  a  new  form  of  larva;  of 
I'sychodid.v  (Dipteral,  from  Brazil." — Baron  Osten-.Sacken  com- 
municated a  paper,  supplemental  to  the  preceding  one,  entitled 
"  Remarks  on  the  homologies  and  differences  between  the  first 
stages  of  I'ericoma  and  those  of  the  new  Brazilian  sjiecies."* — 
The  Kev.  .\.  E.  Eaton  also  contributed  some  sujiplementary 
notes  to  Dr.  Fritz-Miiller's  paper. — Lord  Walsingham,  E.  R.S., 
read  a  paper  entitled  •'  New  Species  of  North  .\merican  Tortri- 
cida;.  "  In  this  paper  twenty-nine  species  were  dealt  with,  of 
which  twenty-.six  were  described  as  new,  from  I'lorida,  Cali- 
fornia, N.  Carolina,  -\rizona,  and  Colorado.  The  paper  also 
included  certain  corrections  made  by  the  author  in  the  nomen- 
clature of  genera. 

I'AKIS. 

Academy  of    Sciences.  October    7. — M.  Jan>sen    in    the 

chair. — On  an  ascension  to  ihe  summit    of  .Mont  Blanc,  and  on 

the  work  carried  out  during  the  suunner  of  l895on  the  **  massif* 

of  this  mountain,  by  M.  J.  Janssen.      The  ascent  is  described, 

together   with   an   account    of   the  cloud    phenomena  observe<l 

j  during  a  day  in  the  higher  regions.      Passing  on  to  describe  the 

'  033  m.  telescope  about  to  be  erected  at  the  observatory,  it  is  re- 

'  markeil  that  the  parts,  now  all  assembled  at  the  summit,  will  be 

mounted  as  a  polar  siderostat.    .\  O'Om.  mirror  is  to  be  mounted 

with   the  telescope.     The  observer  will  control  all  movements 

from   a   chamber    of    observation,    which     will   Ix;    heated   as 

may   Ix;   required.       .\s   the    instrument   could    not'   Ix:    taken 

down  anil  remounted,  it  was   bodily  moved  on  to  a  new  lase 

1  formed  of  strong  plates  frozen  on  to  the  ice,  and  its  pendulum 

then  beat  as  regidarlyas  at  Paris.      Observations  with  a  Duboscq 

two-prism    spectroscope  in  this  very  dry  atmosphere   failed  Io 

j  show  any  rays  of  aqueous  origin  in   the  solar  light.     The  obser- 

I  vatory  has  suffered  a  slight    downwar<l    settling  towards  Cha- 

i  mounix  ;    this   took  place   in    1893   and    1894,  and  the  ntove- 

ment  is  nosv  insignificant.      (See  Our  .\stronomical  Column. ) 

— Study  of  some  meteorites,  by  M.  Henri  Moissan.      Iron  from 

I  Kendal  county  in  Tex.as  contained  amorphous  carbon, but  neither 

graphite  nor  diamond.      Iron   from   Newstead  (Roxburghshire) 

yielded   aniorphous   carbon   and   graphite,    but    not    diamond. 

I  Deesite,  found  in  1866  in  the  Sierra  Dees,a  in  Chili,  contained  a 

form  of  graphite  only.     Caillite,  iron   from   Toluca-Xiquipils.), 


6l2 


N.4  TURE 


[OCTOUER  17,   1895 


1)    M.  K 
equation 


Mexict'  (fall  of  1784).  containe<l  no  \-ariely  of  carbon.      Iron 

1,        \    vi.lr.l.  Krasnoslobodsk,  Pen/a,  Russia  (fall  of  August 

1  black  diamond   only.     .\  further  sample  of 

'.1  Canon  Diablo  gave  transparent  diamond.     All 

c^  uf  carbon  have  l>ccn  found  in  this  meteorite. — On 

Ilia  and  glycosuria  follow  ing  ablation  of  the  jiancreas, 

l.cpine. — On  the  integration  of  Hamilton's  differential 

by  M.  I'aul  Slaeckel.     Concerning  the  results  shown 

■  r.  the  author  remarks  :  "  There  is  the  true  general- 

i.iouville's  theorem,  which  allows  the   utilisation  of 

--  in  the  integration  of  Hamilton's  equations  to  find 

new  iyi>es  of  integrable  equations,  that  is,  to  form  new  linear 

elements  of  which  the  geodesic  lines  can  be  determined." — On 

parasitic  electrodes,  by  -M.  Ci.    Delvale/. — On   the  mechanical 

properties  of  alloys  of  copper  and  zinc,  by  M.  lleorges  Charpy. 

The  tensile   strength    increases   with    the    percentage   of  zinc, 

attains  a  maximum  at  43  per  cent.,  and  then  decre.ises  rapidly  ; 

the     elongation     before     rupture     al.so     increases     with      the 

zinc,   passes  through  a  maximum  at    30   per  cent.,  and    then 

rapidly     diminishes. — On     a     carbide    of    glucinum,    by    M. 

P.     Lcbeau.      Pure    crjslallised     glucinum    carbide    has    been 

prepared    at   the    high    temperature   of  the    electric     furnace. 

The    properties  of  this  carbide,  more    (Mrticularly  its  reaction 

with  water  resulting  in  its  decomposition  in  the  cold  with  the 

prtKluclion   of  methane,  resemble  those   of  aluminium  carbide 

Cj.Mj,  hence  support  isgiven  to  the  formula  C:,Be4.     The  atomic 

weight    of  glucinum    must    be   near    14,    and  glucina    becomes 

BcjOj.  —  Researches  on    the  combinations   of  inercur)-  cyanide 

with  io<lides,  by  .\l.  Raoul  \aret.     .\  ihermochemical  paper  deal- 

■       '  lides.    lodocyanides  in  solution  yield  the  isopur- 

.  addition  of  |M>tassium  picrate  at  30"  C.  and  turn 

1.  ,  I  •!  ■■  -'lue.   These  salts  must  then  be  of  the  type  MgCy..,. 

MCy,;  Hgl...  and  not  like  the  chlorocyanidcs  .MCl.j.zligCy...  The 
transformation  of  the  .system  2HgCyj  +  Ml,  into  llgCyj  + 
MCy,  +  Hglj  absorbs  on  the  average  -  9'3  Cal.  in  solution,  a 
quantity  suqxi.ssed  by  the  heat  of  formation  of  llgCvn. MCy;,  + 
1 2 '4  Cal.,  with  that  of  its  union  with  yellow  Hgr.gixing  +  2'3  Cal. 
— On  the  double  decompositions  of  mercury  cyanide  and  salts  of 
alkaline  and  alkaline  earthy  metals,  by  M.  Raoul  \aret. — .\ction 
of  air  on  grape  must  and  on  wine,  by  M.  A".  Marlinand. — Deep 
dreilgings  made  on  the  Caudan  coast  in  the  liulf  of  Oascony 
during  August  1895,  by  M.  V..  Ka'hier.  Much  material,  which 
has  not  yet  tieen  thoroughly  examined,  was  obtained  from  (n) 
depths  of  300  to  600  metres,  illuslratinc  the  change  from  littoral 
!•  I  profound  faunas  ;  (^)  coralligenous  depths  on  the  abrupt  clifl" 
running  parallel  to  the  French  coast  :  (<)  the  Ixittom  of  the 
dee|x-r  jiarl  of  the  Bay  of  Bismy.— On  the  effects  of  the  winter 
of  1S94  5  on  the  fauna  of  the  coast,  by  .\I.  Jourdain. — M.  Kcsel 
communicated  an  extract  from  a  memoir  to  the  Minister  of  War 
on  the  storm  at  Be.sani,on  on  July  I. 

XkW   SofTH   WALIv**. 

Linnean  Society,  .Xugust   28.— Mr.  Cecil  \V.  Darley  in  the 

.-h.Tir.      '  )n  th.- homology  of  the  palatine  process  of  the  mam- 

'v    R.    Broom.  — Botanical  notes  from  the 

.  Sydney.      No  iv  ,  by  I.  II.  Maiden  and 

...  ..  i.,^,.      ;,,.   -iuirian  Trilobitesof  New  South  \V.ales,  with 

reference  to  those  of  other  (xirls  of  Australia.      I'art  iii.  Plm,,>- 

fill,,-,  by    R.    Ktheridge   ami  John    Mitchell.     This  imixutant 

family  is  represented   in   the  Sflurian   rocks  of  Australia  by  five 

s[)ecicsof /'A(7ii»/i,  and  one  of  Hiiiisiiiaiini,i :  of  these  four  arc 

riescrilicti  as  new.     The  Tasmanian  forms  are  at  present  un 

docrilicd. 


DIARY  OF  SOCIETIES. 


I.. 


BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

B.. 


SA  TVK 
(HiKli  IV.. 


A.  1;.  Rcndl' 


rui.;;'!^    Mcctiiijj,  .^nt! 


,L.  W  >>rl.cr  .'irul    I  c 

"f  M    33. 

Meeting),  ai  S.- 


frof. 


The  An  of 


y,. 


NO.    1355,  VOL.  52] 


t'Kr-. — Guide  Zoologuiuc  (Helder,  1  >e  1;o<.t.  jun.).-  Rur.iM\  aur  Sup 
A.  Greenwcll  :\nd  \V.  T.  Curry  ( Lock wckhI).— Dog  Stories  :  edited  by 
St.  l-oc  Strachej-  (I'nwin).— Mesuro  Electriques :  Prof.  E,  Gerard 
(Paris.  Gauthier-Vdlars).— Inde.v  Kcwcnsis.  Part  4  (Oxford,  Clarendon 
Press).— MetaIIurg>-.  an  Elementary  Text-Book  :  E.  L.  Rhead(  Longmans). 
— Die  Mcchanivchc  Beden;unc;  der  Schienbeinform  :  Dr.  H.  H.  Hirsch 
(Berlin,  Springer).— Polarisa  ion  ct  S.-iccharime'trie  :  D.  Sidersly  (Paris. 
Gauihicr-Viilars).— Tlie  Keginnings  of  Writing  :  Dr.  W.  J.  Hoffman  (M.-ic- 
millan).— Ixindon  University  Guide  and  L'^niversity  Correspondence  College 
Calendar.  i8Q5-<)6(Clive).— Cours  EUmentatrc  dc  Manipulations  dc  Phy- 
sique :  A.  \Vitz,  dnux  edition  (Paris,  (.iauihier-ViUars). 

Pami-hi-KTS.- The  Case  .igainst  Butchers  Meat:  C.  W.  Fonv.-xrd  (In- 
surance Publication  Dcpi't).  — Xeuere  Korschungen  iiber  d.as  Gehiss  der 
Sanger:  Ltr.  R.  Dcvvoleisky  (Czernowliz).— The  Elephants:  Prof.  R.  J. 
Anderson  (Belfast,  Mayne).  — Die  Obcrflachen-odcr  Schiller-F.irben  :  Dr.  B. 
Walter  (Braunschweig.  Vteweg). 

SiCKiALS.— Journal  of  the  Chemical  Society,  October  (("•urncy). — Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Physical  Society,  October  (Taylor). — Record  of  Technical 
.and  Secondary  Education,  October  (Macmillan). — Journal  of  the  Franklin 
Institute.  October  (Philadelphi.a). — American  Journal  of  Science.  October 
(New  HavenV- Journal  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  September  (Stan- 
ford).—Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society  of  Edinburgh,  Vol-  xx.  pp.  385-480 
(Edinburgh).— Engineering  M.ngazine.  C>ctober(Ncw  York).— Zeitschrift  fur 
Physikalische  Chemie,  xviii.  Bd.  i  Hefi  (I^ipzig,  Engclmann).— Himmcl 
und  Erde,  October(Berlin.  Paetel). —Strand  M.-\ganne,  October  (Newnes). 
—Strand  Musical  Magazine,  October  (Newnes). 


CONTENTS.  KAGE 

Recent  Ornithology 589 

Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Darwin:  "  The  Elements  of  Botany '" 59i 

Lucas:     "The    Book    of    British     Hawk-Moths,    a 
Popular     and    Practical     Handbook    for    Lepidop- 

terists.'— W.  F.  K 59J 

"  Biology  Notes  "■      595 

Letters  to'the  Editor:  — 

The  Iniversitv  of  London.— Right  Hon.  Sir  John 

Lubbock,  Bart.,  F.R.S 594 

Sir     Robert     Ball,     and     ''The    Cause    of    an     Ice 
Age."— Sir    Henry     H.     Howorth,    K.C.I.E., 

F.R.S 594 

M.-icCullagh's  Theory  of  Double   Refraction.— A.  B. 

Basset,   F.R.S 595 

Tlif    Southern   Carboniferous    Flora.— Dr.    W.    T. 

Blanford,  F.R.S 595 

.\lioul  rt  oert.iin  Class  of  Curved  Lines  in  Sp.\ce  of  « 

.\l.inifoldness.— Emanuel  Lasker 596 

The    1-reezing    Point    of   Silver.      C.    T.    Heycock, 

F.R.S.,  .tnd  F.H.Neville 59<> 

Plant-.Vnimal  Symbiosis.      S.  Sch<inland        ....     597 
The  Recent  Dry  Weather. -Prof.  J.  P.  O'Reilly  597 

The  Genus  ••  Test.tcella."— Wilfred   Mark  Webb       507 
The  B..\.  Committee  on  Coast  Krosion.- Charles  E. 

De  Ranee         597 

.\  S\ll.^liune  for  Sulphuretted  Hydrogen.  — Ruslicus     597 
The  Graphics  of  Piano  Touch,     (///iislra/iti.)  .    .    .    .     597 
Thr  New  Meteorological    Station    on   Mount  Wel- 
lington,     i/.'.'m/ni/,:/.) 59') 

Dr.  E.  von  Rebeur-Paschwitz.    By  Charles  Davison    509 

Charles  V.  Riley.      By  W.  B.  H boo 

Notes ("oo 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

The  Observatory  on  Mont  Blanc b02 

iMihemeris  for  I'aye's  Comet 6-3 

Visibililv  of  ihe  Dark  Side  of  Venus       603 

The  Me'lhourne  Observatory 603 

.\  New  Oliscrvalorv "^3 

The    International    Congress    of    Physiologists    at 

Bern.      II.     Hv  Dr.  F.  W.  Tunnicliffe <)03 

Corresponding  Societies  of  the  British  Association    (105 
The  Affiliated    Societies  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion       *'°<* 

On  Recently  discovered  Remains  of  the  Aboriginal 
Inhabitants    of    Jamaica.      By    Sir    William     H. 

Flower,  K.C.B.,  F.R.S 607 

Electrification     and    Diselectrification   of    Air    and 
other  Gases.    {///„s/raUi/.)  Hy  Lord  Kelvin,  P.R.S., 

Magnus  Maclean,  and  Alexander  Gait OoN 

University  and   Educational  intelligence 610 

Scientific  Serials '^'° 

Societies  and  Academies ''" 

Diary  of  Societies ''■^ 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 611 


NA  TURE 


613 


THURSDAY,    OCTOBER    24,   1895. 


THE  METALLURGY  OF  IRON. 
The  Metallurgy  of  Iron  and  Steel.     By  Thomas  Turner, 
Associate  of  the  Royal  School  of  Mines,     Vol.  i.  "The 
Metallurgy   of  Iron."      (London  :  Charles   Griffin  and 
Co.,  Limited,  1895.) 

THIS  is  the  third  volume  of  a  valuable  series  of 
treatises  on  metallurgy,  written  by  Associates  of  the 
Royal  School  of  Mines,  under  the  able  editorship  of 
Prof.  Roberts-Austen.  It  occupies  an  intermediate  position 
between  a  text-book  and  an  e.\haustive  treatise,  and  is 
intended  not  only  for  the  use  of  the  student,  but  also  of 
persons  who  are  connected  with  the  manufacture  of  iron 
and  steel,  and  who,  therefore,  may  be  assumed  to  have 
already  some  knowledge  of  the  subjects  discussed. 

The  attempt  made  by  the  author  to  compress  within 
the  space  of  367  pages  a  useful  account  of  this  vast 
subject — the  metallurgy  of  iron—  has  been  satisfactorily 
accomplished  ;  and  although  in  some  of  the  chapters  the 
condensation  is  perhaps  unduly  great,  yet  this  fault  is 
minimised  by  the  numerous  references,  which  abound  in 
the  te.xt,  to  original  papers  where  full  details  may  be  found. 
In  preparing  these  references,  the  author  appears  to  have 
made  a  painstaking  research  into  the  literature  of  the 
entire  subject,  and  this,  together  with  his  practical 
knowledge  of  its  chief  branches,  has  resulted  in  the  pro- 
duction of  a  valuable  treatise,  which  covers  the  whole  field 
of  the  metallurgy  of  iron  more  completely  than  any  other 
Ijook  in  our  language.  .As  a  standard  of  reference  for 
<lctailed  information,  the  Journal  of  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Institute  has  been  wisely  chosen,  as  in  it  all  advances  in 
the  metallurgy  of  the  metal  are  recorded,  and  the  more 
important  are  dealt  with  by  specialists  of  note  ;  it  is, 
Ijesides,  easily  accessible. 

The  volume  begins  with  a  patiently  compiled  summary 
>if  the  history  of  iron,  in  which  the  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  the  metallurgical  processes  for  the  production 
.ind  purification  of  the  metal,  and  of  the  furnaces  and 
appliances  used,  are  clearly  traced  from  the  earliest  times 
up  to  the  present  day. 

.\  condensed  resunu'  of  the  nature,  composition  and 
characteristics  of  the  chief  iron  ores,  and  of  the  modes 
of  preparing  them  for  smelting,  follows  in  chapters  iv. 
and  V.  In  a  future  edition  the  latter  chapter  might  be 
extended  with  advantage,  for,  although  no  important 
methods  are  omitted,  the  descriptions  of  some  are  very 
Ijrief 

The  next  five  chapters  (vi.,  vii.,  viii.,  i.\.  and  x.)  deal 
respectively  with  the  blast  furnace,  the  blast,  the  re- 
actions which  occur  in  smelting,  the  fuels  used,  and 
slags  and  fluxes.  The  general  arrangement  of  a  blast 
furnace  plant  is  illustrated  by  sketch  plans  of  a  modern 
Cleveland  and  American  (Edgar  Thomson)  works,  and 
under  "  Construction  of  the  Blast  Furnace "  a  typical 
furnace  of  each  of  these  works  is  selected  for  detailed 
description.  The  marked  diflferences  which  are  found  in 
the  internal  lines  and  dimensions  of  the  furnaces  of  the 
two  countries,  and  in  their  practical  working,  are  com- 
pared, and  the  reasons  which  have  been  advanced  in 
favour  of  each  are  clearly  stated  and  discussed  ;  all  of 
NO.    1356,  VOL.   52] 


which  tend  to  demonstrate  that  there  can  be  no  universal 
standard  form,  size,  or  method  of  working  for  a  blast 
furnace.  There  are,  howe\er,  undoubtedly  some  points 
in  American  practice  which  might  be  adopted  with 
advantage  in  this  countr)'. 

The  diagram  given  on  p.  127,  illustrating  the  applica- 
tion of  the  recording  pyrometer,  as  devised  by  Prof. 
Roberts-Austen,  for  the  measurement  of  the  temperature 
of  the  hot  blast,  is  instructive,  and  shows  conclusively 
the  value  of  this  instrument  to  the  blast  furnace  manager. 

The  reactions  which  take  place  in  the  blast  furnace, 
and  the  conditions  which  regulate  the  consumption  of 
fuel,  are  very  fully  considered.  Here  the  editor  has 
allowed  the  author  to  state  his  own  view  of  the  theory 
of  reduction,  probably  because  it  is  evidently  a  "  theory." 
It  differs  from  that  which  Prof.  Roberts-.A.usten  is  known 
to  teach  in  his  lectures  at  the  Royal  School  of  Mines. 
In  chapters  .\i.  and  xii.  the  "Properties  of  Cast  Iron' 
and  "  Foundry  Practice  "  are  discussed  with  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  subjects,  both  chapters  being  full  of 
important  matter.  The  effects  of  the  presence  of  other 
elements,  especially  of  silicon,  on  the  physical  characters 
of  cast  iron,  are  ably  and  comprehensively  set  forth,  and 
experimental  data  of  much  value  to  the  practical  founder 
are  given  in  demonstration  of  the  relations  which  exist 
between  the  chemical  composition  of  the  metal  and  its 
fitness  for  special  purposes.  The  necessity  for  a  know- 
ledge also  of  the  relations  between  its  hardness  and 
strength  is  wisely  insisted  on,  as,  when  these  are  fully 
grasped,  the  iron-founder  requires  only  the  information 
how  to  harden  or  soften  his  metal  at  will  by  the  use  of 
silicon  or  other  agents,  to  produce  castings  in  which 
the  crushing,  transverse  and  tensile  strength,  or  othe 
characters,  shall  predominate  as  desired.  These  chapters 
deserve  the  careful  study  not  only  of  the  student,  but 
also  of  the  practical  man,  if  he  wishes  to  work  intelli- 
gently, and  so  avoid  the  uncertain  results  which  follow 
the  "  rule-of-thumb "  methods  still  too  often  practised 
in  our  foundries.  In  no  other  text-book  are  the  subjects 
of  these  chapters  so  lucidly  and  completely  treated. 

A  description  of  the  methods  for  the  "  Direct  Produc- 
tion "  of  wrought  iron — the  subject  of  numerous  modern 
patents,  and  of  probabh'  more  failures — follows  ;  and  the 
three  next  chapters  (xiv.,  xv.  and  xvi.)  deal  with  the 
"  Indirect  Production "  of  the  metal.  Of  these,  the 
chapter  devoted  to  "  Puddling "  is  one  of  the  best  in 
the  book.  The  account  of  the  process  and  its  various 
modifications  it  contains  is  worthy  of  high  commenda- 
tion. The  concise  descriptions  and  explanations  which 
are  given,  many  of  which  are  based  on  the  author's 
personal  experience  and  investigations,  and  the  useful 
practical  suggestions  which  abound  regarding  the  rela- 
tive economy  and  extent  of  purification  resulting  from 
modifications  in  the  method  of  conducting  the  process, 
cannot  fail  to  be  of  great  value  to  all  iron-workers. 

The  corrosion  of  iron,  a  subject  of  not  a  little  im- 
portance when  we  consider  the  disastrous  results  which 
may  arise  from  the  oxidation  of  a  boiler-plate,  a  girder, 
a  rivet,  or  a  wire  rope,  is  reserved  for  the  last  chapter 
of  the  book.  The  conditions  under  which  this  change 
occurs,  the  methods  which  are  adopted  for  preventing 
or  retarding  it,  and  the  experimental  data  on  which  these 
are  founded,  are  carefully  summarised  here. 

D  D 


6i4 


NATURE 


[Oi  TOUliR  24,    1895 


The  book,  however,  is  too  good  to  be  dismissed  with 
commendation  alone,  and  it  would  be  unfair  to  its  author 
and  readers  if  we  omitted  to  indicate  one  or  two  points  in 
which  its  value  may  be  increased  in  a  future  edition, 
which  will  doubtless  be  soon  required.  The  illustrations 
are  a  weak  feature  of  the  book  ;  several  are  unsatis- 
factory, being  either  rough  in  execution,  wanting  in  detail, 
or  too  small  in  size,  and  a  few  can  serve  no  useful  pur- 
pose. We  are  sure  the  student  would  be  grateful  for  the 
improvement  of  some,  the  omission  of  others,  and  the 
substitution  for  them  of  working  drawings,  not  diagrams. 
We  trust  the  author  will  bear  this  in  mind  in  the  prepara- 
tion of  his  companion  volume  on  steel. 

The  other  faults  are  few  and  -of  a  minor  character. 
They  are  chiefly  those  of  excessive  condensation  in  the 
sections  dealing  with  the  blast  furnace.  These  sections 
might  be  usefully  expanded  by  the  insertion  of  additional 
details  respecting  the  actual  erection  of  a  furnace  ;  also 
of  an  example  of  actual  working  similar  to  the  excellent 
n'suiiu'  given  of  the  process  of  puddling. 

The  book,  however,  is  an  excellent  one,  thoroughly  up 
to  date,  and  a  welcome  addition  to  modern  metallurgical 
literature.  We  can  confidently  recommend  it  to  metal- 
lurgical students  and  all  concerned  with  the  manufacture 
and  use  of  iron.  W.  C.OWl  Axn. 


THE  LIFE  OF  RENNELL. 
Major  James  Rennell  and  the  Rise  of  Modern  English 

Geography.     By    Clements   R.  Markham,  C.H.,  F.R.S. 

(The  Centur>-  Science  Series.)     (London  :  Casscll  and 

Co.,  1895.) 
"  TAMES  RENNELLwas  the  greatest  geographer  that 
J  Great  Britain  has  yet  produced."  This,  the  first 
sentence  of  the  preface,  is  the  text  of  the  biography. 
The  authority  of  the  President  of  the  Royal  Geographi- 
cal .Society,  himself  the  leading  geographer  of  the  day  in 
this  country,  may  be  accepted  as  sufficient  evidence  of 
Renncll's  pre-eminence.  The  name*  would  perhaps  not 
suggest  itself  to  one  who  had  a  less  thorough  know- 
ledge of  the  rise  of  modern  English  geography  ;  for  until 
the  publication  of  this  little  volume,  Rennell  was  with- 
out any  more  pretentious  memorial  than  an  obituar>' 
notice  or  a  paragraph  in  a  biographical  dictionary.  Mr. 
Markham  writes  with  an  enthusiastic  singleness  of  aim  ; 
intent  on  illustrating  his  theme,  he  has  perhaps  on  one  or 
two  occasions  failed  to  criticise  his  own  conclusions  very 
severely  before  accepting  them.  Possibly  he  may 
unconsciously  have  applied  the  method  post  hoc  ergo 
propter  hoc  in  connecting  all  British  progress  in  geography 
during  the  last  fifty  years  with  a  name  which  cannot  be 
said  to  be  familiar  even  amongst  professed  geographers. 
Indeed  we  believe  that  this  happily-timed  biography  will 
make  Kcnnell's  example  more  fruitful  in  results  in  the  next 
few  years  than  it  has  been  during  the  sixty-five  which 
hiive  elapsed  since  the  death  ol  the  great  geographer. 

The  lime  is  appropriate,  for  the  recent  meeting  of  the 
international  Geographical  Congress  in  London  has 
brought  into  public  notice  the  superiority  of  other  nations 
in  the  organised  study  of  geography  as  a  branch  of 
science  definite  and  distinct  from  others,  capable  of 
being  cultivated  by  research  and  of  being  applied  to 
numberless  practical  purposes 
NO.   1356,   VOL.  52] 


Mr.  Markham  repudiates  the  suggestion  that  Major 
Rennell  was  an  "arm-chair  geographer"  :  but  we  arc  not 
sure  that  this  somewhat  hackneyed  term  is  necessarily 
one  of  reproach.  Rennell  was  greatest  as  a  student  and 
a  critic,  and  by  the  practical  experience  of  his  earlier  life 
he  fitted  himself  to  speak  ex  cxthedni  on  questions,  where 
insight  and  judgment  were  required  to  interpret,  even  to 
the  travellers  themselves,  the  full  meaning  and  importance 
of  their  journeys.  .A  professor's  chair  would  have  been 
his  true  place. 

The  greatness  of  Major  Rennell  may  best  be  under- 
stood by  a  glance  at  the  milcposts  of  his  life.  He  was 
bom  in  1742,  at  Chudleigh,  in  Devon,  and  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  he  joined  the  Navy,  where  he  saw  some  service 
and  learned  to  survey.  In  1760  he  went  out  to  India  as  a 
midshipman  :  but  after  three  years' hard  work,  largely  oc- 
cupied in  surveying  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  he  left  the  Navy, 
joined  the  East  India  Company's  service,  and  received 
the  command  of  a  ship.  As  if  by  a  stroke  of  magic  he 
was  nominated  Surveyor-General  of  Bengal  and  gazetted 
an  ensign  in  the  Bengal  Engineers  in  1764,  when  only 
twenty-one  years  of  age.  In  this  new  and  congenial 
sphere  he  worked  devotedly  for  thirteen  years,  personally 
surveying  the  most  unhealthy  part  of  India  with  such 
success  that  in  1779  he  published  the '"  Bengal  .^tl;^s  " 
containing  the  first  authentic  maps  of  the  province.  He 
left  India  in  1777,  and,  settling  in  London,  devoted 
himself  to  critical  geographical  studies.  His  firs;  purely 
geographical  work  was  a  "Memoir  to  the  Map  of  Hin- 
dostan,"  and  the  map  itself.  In  17S1  he  became  a  Fellow 
of  the  Royal  Society,  and  subsequently  he  communicated 
two  papers  to  the  Philosophical  Transactions.  .Vlthough 
ignorant  of  the  classical  languages,  he  studied  the  works 
of  the  Greek  geographers  in  translations,  and  so  produced 
his  famous  "tocography  of  Herodotus"  and  "Com- 
parative Cieography  of  Western  Asia."  Then  turning  to 
the  burning  question  of  his  time  in  geography,  the 
penetration  of  Africa,  he  pieced  together  the  information 
brought  home  by  Ledyard,  Hornemann,  Mungo  Park, 
and  other  explorers  sent  out  by  the  African  Association. 
Here  the  results  of  subsequent  discovery  did  not  always 
confirm  the  provisional  conclusions  he  arrived  at  from  a 
critical  study  of  the  data  at  his  disposal,  but  his  con- 
troversies as  to  the  course  of  the  Niger  interest  the 
world  no  more. 

Mr.  Markham  considers  that  Rennell  was  "  the  founder 
of  another  branch  of  the  science  of  geograi)hy,  which 
has  since  been  called  oceanography  "  ;  yet  we  fintl  in  Dr. 
Murray's  compendious  histor)'  of  oceanography  in  the 
summary  of  the  scientific  results  of  the  Challenger 
Expedition,  a  much  more  ancient  lineage  for  that  br.inch 
of  science,  and  in  the  record  of  its  development  Kcnnell's 
name  is  not  even  mentioned.  He  certainly  succeeded  in 
calling  attention  to  the  importance  of  ocean  currents,  and 
made  many  shrewd  observations  as  to  their  origin,  pre- 
paring the  way  for  the  wider  generalisations  of  Maury. 
He  strongly  held  the  theorj'  that  ocean  currents  are 
primarily  due  to  the  prevailing  winds  ;  and  it  is  interest- 
ing to  notice  that  the  particular  current  issuing  from  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  to  which  his  own  name  is  attached,  should 
only  last  year  have  been  shown  by  Hautreux  to  have  no 
permanent  pla( c,  but  to  vary  in  force  and  direction  "ith 
the  changes  of  the  wind. 


October  24,  1895] 


NATURE 


615 


It  would  be  impossible  to  notice  the  numerous  memoirs 
liy  which  Major  Rennell  impressed  the  learned  world  of 
his  time.  With  Sir  Joseph  Banks  and  other  friends,  he 
formed  a  sort  of  social  circle  for  travellers  and  scientific 
men,  which  led  to  the  formation  of  the  Raleigh  Club  in 
1 827,  and  may  be  said  to  have  formed  the  nucleus  of 
the  Royal  ( Icographical  Society  established  three  years 
later. 

RenncH's  training  was  purely  a  practical  one  in  the 
hard  work  which  gave  him  a  mastery  of  the  techni- 
calities of  surveying  and  map-oonstruction.  Knowing 
the  actual  forms  of  sea  and  land  at  first  hand,  able  him- 
self to  delineate  them  with  exceptional  skill,  he  could 
not  make  the  mistakes  which  beset  the  merely  theoretical 
student.  This  is  still  the  one  way  to  become  a  practical 
geographer,  only  in  the  present  day  a  w-orking  knowledge 
of  geologj'  must  be  added  to  proficiency  in  the  arts  of 
observation  and  measurement.  On  such  a  foundation,  so 
gained,  theoretical  instruction  may  profitably  be  super- 
imposed. Mere  lectures  on  theoretical  geography,  iso- 
lated lessons  in  the  use  of  instruments,  do  not  suflice  to 
make  a  man  a  geographer,  any  more  than  lectures  on 
theoretical  chemistry  and  a  few  repetitions  of  the  routine 
of  simple  analysis  will  make  a  man  a  chemist.  If  British 
geographers  are  to  catch  up  and  keep  pace  with  those  of 
the  continent,  they  must  receive  systematic  training  in 
their  student  days,  and  take  up  geography  as  a  serious 
study,  as  one  takes  up  any  other  science.  For,  alas,  the 
good  old  days  are  gone,  and  there  is  no  Warren  Hastings 
on  the  threshold  of  the  twentieth  centuiy  to  confer 
pensions  of  ^600  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  on  the  would 
be  Rennells  of  to-day  !  As  geological  students  have 
to  follow  other  methods  than  those  of  Murchison,  so 
present-day  geographers  cannot  take  RenncU  too  literally 
as  their  model  ;  and  Mr.  Markham  plainly  states  that  he 
looks  to  the  labours  of  the  University  lecturers  in  geo- 
graphy to  maintain  the  succession  of  British  geographers. 
If  this  is  to  take  place,  there  must  be  fresh  organisation 
and  encouragement  of  pure  geographical  research  on  the 
part  of  the  Universities.  Much  progress  is  improbable 
as  long  as  the  antithesis  between  "  geography "  and 
"  science  "  is  a  possible  figure  of  speech.  It  is  not  so  in 
Germany.  Hugh  Robert  Mill. 


D' 


COUNTER-IRRITA  TION. 
The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Counter-Irritatioti.     By  H. 

Cameron   Gillies,    M.D.      (London  :     Macmillan   and 

Co.,  1895.) 

R.  GILLIES  has  selected  a  subject  rich  in  literature 
but  poor  in  experiment,  and  has  treated  it  entirely 
from  the  literary  as  opposed  to  the  experimental  side. 
The  first  part  of  the  book  is  devoted  to  a  rt'suind  of  the 
literature  of  counter-irritation,  and  inflammation,  which 
Dr.  Gillies  rightly  considers  he  must  not  only  quote,  but 
criticise.  Some  of  his  criticisms  we  do  not  understand, 
some  arc  entirely  superfluous,  Dr.  Gillies  taking  up  much 
space  in  demolishing  theories  which  in  the  present  day 
nobody  could  possibly  believe  in,  some — and  two  of 
these  we  shall  consider — show  a  want  of  scientific  under- 
standing. 

On  page  73,  our  attention  is  drawn  to  a  paper  by  Dr. 
Mollis,    published   in    the    St.    Bartholomew's    Hospital 

NO.    1356,  VOL.   52] 


Reports  for  1S74.  Dr.  Hollis  showed  that  vesication  could 
be  produced  in  the  Actini;e  by  the  local  application  of 
liquor  ammonia:.  The  importance  of  these  researches 
consisted  in  the  fact  that  they  demonstrated  that  the 
living  cell  itself,  using  this  term  in  its  general  sense,  was 
capable  of  reacting  to  an  irritant.  It  is  to  work  done 
exactly  on  these  lines  by  Metschnikoff '  that  we  owe  the 
modern  theory  of  Phagocytosis.  The  physiology,  the 
pharmacology,  and  the  chemistry  of  the  cell  are  presum- 
ably to  Dr.  Gillies,  as  "provoking"  as  he  admits  Dr.  Holhs' 
monograph  to  be.  The  second  class  of  experiments  per- 
formed by  Dr  Hollis  demonstrated  that  local  reaction  to 
irritants  took  place  in  the  excised  tail  of  a  newt,  thus 
showing  that  this  local  reaction  was  independent  of  the 
general  circulation.  Dr.  Gillies  objects  to  "all  such  ex- 
periments, not  only  upon  moral  and  humane  grounds,  but 
on  the  ground  also  that  we  have  not  been  able  to  make 
sure  that  any  good  has  come  by  them."  "  The  tail  is 
either  dead  or  living,  if  living  the  result  only  shows  that  it 
is  a  living  result ;  if  dead  we  arc  not  as  physicians  con- 
cerned with  the  chemistry  of  the  action." 

On  page  78,  our  author  considers  an  article  by  Dti 
Lauder  Brunton  in  the  St.  Bartholomew's  (not  the  St. 
George's)  Hospital  Reports  for  1875.  I^""-  Gilhes  differs 
from  the  author  upon  two  points.  First,  he  (Dr.  Gillies) 
denies  that  inflammation  can  occur  independently  of 
congestion.  One  would  have  thought  that  this  had  been 
settled  by  Hollis.  The  discrepancy  is  explained  when 
one  finds,  after  a  page's  reading,  what  Dr.  Chillies  means 
by  congestion — "  an  acceleration  of  the  processes  of 
nutrition."  When  arguing  with  a  physiologist  it  is  as 
well  to  adopt  the  usual  physiological  terminology.  The 
second  point  of  difference  is  Brunton's  dictum  that 
"  pain  in  an  inflamed  part  is  probably  due  to  distension 
of  the  vessels  and  pressure  on  the  nerves."  '  The  cha- 
racteristic pains  of  neuralgia  so  called,"  says  Dr.  Gillies 
"  are  not  easily  if  at  all  referable  to  the  pressure  froni 
active  congestion."  Is  a  nerve  which  is  the  seat  of 
neuralgia  an  inflamed  part  ? 

Dr.  Gillies  evidently  believes  thai  "he  alone  destroys 
who  rebuilds,"  so  we  are  not  left  merely  amongst  the 
ruins  of  other  theories,  but  are  provided  with  a  "  new  " 
one.  "  Whatever  good  comes  by  the  use  of  counter- 
irritants  is  because,  by  their  irritant  effects,  they  stimu- 
late the  activity  of  the  tissues  of  the  part  to  which  they 
are  applied  and  accelerate  the  blood  supply  thereto,  so 
increasing  nutrition  or  repair,  as  the  need  may  be." 
This  is  the  only  new  theory  which  we  have  been  able 
to  extract  from  chapter  vii.  What  about  the  remote 
effects  of  counter-irritants?  If  Dr.  Gillies  is  convinced 
that  whether  directly  or  remotely  counter-irritants  act 
beneficially  only  when  they  directly,  or  reflexly,  increase 
the  blood  supply,  that  is  at  least  a  coherent  theory  ; 
we  think  it  quite  probable  that  irritation  of  a  given  skin 
area  by  a  blister  or  otherwise  can  give  rise  to  I'eflex  dila- 
tation of  the  corresponding  vascular  area.  Bradford  - 
actually  observed  dilatation  of  the  vessels  of  the  kidney 
upon  stimulating  the  central  ends  of  the  posterior  roots 
of  the  so-called  renal  area,  whereas  stimulation  of  the 
central  end  of  an  intercostal  nerve  always  caused  con- 
traction.    Dilatation  of    the    vessels  of  the    splanchnic 

1  *'  Lemons  sur  Ic  Pathologic  compor^t:  dc  rinfl.immation." 
-  Journal  of  Phyiiology^  vol.  x.  404. 


6i6 


NATURE 


[October  24,  1895 


area  has  been  observed  upon  stimulation  of  the  central 
end  of  the  sciatic  ner\-e  during  chloral '  and  pyridin  - 
poisoning,  showing  the  influence  exerted  by  the  condition 
of  the  centre  at  the  time  of  peripheral  stimulation. 

Of  the  second,  the  so-called  "  practical "  part  of  the 
book,  we  have  little  to  say.  From  what  wc  ha\  e  read, 
we  regard  Dr.  Gillies'  practice  as  no  sounder  than  his 
theories.  The  reprint  with  which  he  provides  us  of 
Dr.  Davies'  original  communication  on  blistering  in  acute 
rheumatism,  and  the  controversy  thereon,  is  the  most 
interesting  part  of  the  book.  We  should  like  to  know 
who  it  is  who  believes  that  the  "  scrum"  is  '■'■  ahundunily 
charged  with  lactic  acid "  in  acute  rheumatism  ;  and, 
supposing  it  was,  how  much  one  is  likely  to  get  from 
the  serum,  say,  of  half  a  dozen  blisters  ?  (p.  88.)  To 
sum  up  our  remarks,  we  do  not  consider  the  book  of 
value  either  to  physicians  or  physiologists.  The  facts 
it  contains  are  not  new,  and  the  theories  do  not  justify 
their  existence,  since  they  fail  to  fulfil  the  conditions 
which  should  be  demanded  of  all  hypotheses,  viz.  to 
indicate  lines  of  research  which  shall  offer  a  reasonable 
hope  of  increasing  our  knowledge.  One  merit  which  it 
possesses,  is  that  it  may  draw  attention  to  some  valuable 
pieces  of  work  which  might  perhaps  otherwise  have  been 
disregarded.  F-  W.  T. 


A  NEW  DEPARTURE  IN  GEOMETRY. 
Die    Gruniigt-bilde    der  ebencn   Geometric.     By    Dr.  V. 
Ebcrhard,  Professor  at  the  University  of  Kiinigsbergi.P. 
Bd.   I.     8vo.  xIviii.  +  302  pp.     Five   plates.     (Leipzig: 
Teubner,  1895.) 

THE  hislor)'  of  Analytical  Geomctr\'  affords  a  curious 
subject  of  study  to  the  thoughtful  mathematician. 
It  would  seem  that  equations  between  coordinates  were 
first  used  to  express  spatial  relations  discovered  by 
intuitional  processes,  and  the  equations  were  combined 
algebraically  to  discover  other  implied  spatial  relations. 
For  this  purpose  it  was  necessary  to  interpret  in 
geometrical  terms  equations  arrived  at  by  algebraic 
processes  from  geometrical  data,  and  the  facility  thus 
acquired  led  men  to  seek  for  similar  interpretations  of 
equations  set  down  without  reference  to  geometrical 
conditions.  Hence  it  happens  that  modern  developments 
of  Analytical  Geometry  appear  rather  to  present 
algebraic  facts  in  geometrical  language  than  to  deduce 
results  that  can  be  apprehended  by  intuition  from  data 
of  intuition.  Such  a  notion  as  that  of  a  cubic  surface, 
for  instance,  would  seem  to  be  essentially  analytical,  and 
although  it  has  been  proved  possible  to  arrange  a 
geometrical  construction  for  an  algebraic  curve  whose 
equation  is  given,  yet  the  construction  arrived  at  is  so 
artificial  that  intuition  fails  to  grasp  by  its  aid  the 
necessary  form  of  the  curve.  Looking  at  the  subject  in 
this  way,  it  seems  hardly  too  much  to  say  that  the  algebra 
which  was  designed  to  be  the  ser\ant  of  the  geometer 
has  become  his  master. 

.Some  such  reflections  as  these  form  the  starting-point 
of  Dr.  Eberhard's  work.  The  volume  under  notice  is  to 
be  the  first  of  a  series,  and  in  his  long  preface '  he  sets 


If 
»  I 

tract,  ■*•  ■()>  w^f 


'togy,  xvii.  p.  37a. 
•  arc  Rcparnlcly  ptib1i«hcd  iw 
ri  umt  Zicic  dcT  Kaumlclirc" 


forth  his  aim  and  method.  Here,  after  tracing  the  origin 
in  experience  of  simple  geometrical  notions  such  as  those 
of  the  straight  line  and  the  plane,  he  divides  cur\-es  and 
surfaces  into  two  classes,  the  regular  (gesetzmassig)  and 
the  fortuitous  (zufallig),  and  proceeds  to  inquire  after 
intuitional  criteria  available  for  distinguishing  between 
them.  He  defines  a  regular  locus  as  one  in  which  a 
relation  that  can  be  apprehended  by  intuition  connects 
a  variable  point  of  the  locus  with  a  finite  number  of 
points  fixed  in  it.  The  kind  of  relation  which  he  admits 
as  capable  of  being  apprehended  by  intuition  is 
essentially  topographical.  This  will  be  elucidated  by 
considering  the  example  he  gives.  Let  a  system  of 
points  be  taken,  and  let  planes  be  drawn  through  them 
three  by  three.  These  planes  will  in  general  intersect  in 
other  points  besides  those  of  the  original  system.  Let 
planes  be  now  drawn  through  the  points  of  the  extended 
system  three  by  three.  These  planes  will  again  intersect  in 
some  new  points,  and  the  process  can  be  continued.  Let 
the  process  be  arrested  at  any  stage,  and  suppose  a  set 
of  four  points  of  the  extended  system  lie  in  one  plane.  If 
one  of  the  points  of  the  original  system  were  slightly  dis- 
placed these  four  points  would  generally  cease  to  lie 
in  one  plane,  but  if  the  particular  point  of  the  original 
system  were  displaced  on  a  certain  surface,  the  four  points 
would  remain  in  a  plane.  This  property  constitutes  a 
definition  of  the  surface  available  for  intuitional  geometry. 
It  will  be  seen  from  the  example  that  the  method  rests 
upon  the  topographical  relations  of  systems  of  points. 

The  description  of  these  relations  for  a  given  system 
can  be  carried  out  systematically,  and  the  process  con» 
sists  in  the  use  of  two  related  notions.  The  first  is  the 
notion  of  "  characteristics,"  and  the  second  is  the  notion 
of  the  "index  "  of  a  point  in  a  plane  system.  If  three 
points  out  of  four  are  taken  in  a  definite  order,  the  triangle 
formed  by  them  is  described  in  the  positive  or  negative 
sense  by  an  observer  on  the  same  side  of  their  plane  as 
the  fourth  point.  The  sense  of  description  of  the  triangle 
formed  by  three  points  in  a  definite  order  for  an  obser\  cr 
on  a  definite  side  of  their  plane  is  the  cliaracteristic  of 
the  three.  The  index  of  a  point  in  a  plane  system  is  the 
order  in  which  a  line  turning  about  that  point  meets  the 
other  points  of  the  system.  A  statement  of  the  indices 
simplifies  the  problem  of  stating  the  characteristics. 

The  bulk  of  the  present  volume  is  taken  up  with 
theorems  concerning  the  characteristics  and  index- 
systems  of  groups  of  points  in  a  plane,  and  they  arc  fully 
exemplified  in  the  cases  of  groups  of  four,  five,  and  six 
points.  In  an  investigation  of  so  novel  a  character  we 
find,  as  we  might  expect,  original  methods  of  working 
and  difficult  arguments.  The  w.int  of  figures  in  illustra- 
tion of  the  earlier  chapters,  and  some  of  the  notations 
employed,  combine  with  the  nature  of  the  subject  to- 
render  the  hook  difficult  to  read. 

The  endeavour  to  make  the  geometry  of  curves  and 
surfaces  of  high  degrees  more  intuitive  is  laudable,  a  new 
classification  of  loci  founded  on  geometric  rather  than 
algebraic  principles  is  also  ;i  worthy  object  of  research, 
and  the  idea  of  grounding  such  a  classification  in  topo- 
graphical circumstances  is  ingenious  ;  but  a  final  judgment 
as  to  Dr.  Eberhard's  success  in  these  directions  can  only 
be  pronounced  after  his  complete  work  has  been  given  to  | 
the  worid.  A.  E.  H.  L. 


NO.   1356,  VOL.  52] 


October  24,  1895J 


NATURE 


61; 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Ilaiidliook  of  Grasses;  treating  of  their  Structure, 
Classification,  Geograpliical  Distri/>i/ti.»i,  and  Uses, 
ir/so  descritnng  the  British  Species  and  their  Habitats. 
By  William  Hutchinson.  Svo.  Pp.  92,  40  woodcuts. 
(London:  .Swan  Sonnenschein  and  Co.  New  York: 
Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 

This  is  a  cheap  popular  work,  adapted  for  the  use  of 
elementary  students.  There  is  nothing,'  that  covers  the 
same  field  in  existence  already,  and  it  fulfils  its  purpose 
excellently  well.  It  would  have  been  better  to  have 
called  it  ".-^n  Introduction  to  the  -Study  of  the  British 
Grasses,"  as  it  only  deals  in  detail  with  the  British  species, 
which  are  not  more  than  one-thirtieth  of  the  total  number 
of  grasses  that   are   known    in   the   whole  world.     The 

J  short  introduction  explains  how  easily  a  collection  of 
dried  grasses  can  be  made.  The  first  chapter,  called 
"  Structure,"  gives  all  the  different  organs  in  detail, 
showing  what  is  the  general  plan  on  which  grasses  are 
organised,  and  explaining  the  general  and  special  terms 
which  are  used  in  describing  the  genera  and  species.  In 
the  second  chapter,  which  is  the  longest  in  the  book, 
the  hundred  and  odd  British  species  are  classified 
according  to  their  localities,  and  described  in  detail,  most 
of  the  common  kinds  being  illustrated  by  small  woodcuts, 
with  dissections.  The  third  chapter  is  devoted  to 
classification,  in  which  Bentham  and  Hookers  "Genera 
Plantarum "  is  followed.  The  British  genera  are 
described  in  detail,  and  the  characters  of  the  thirteen 
tribes  there  adopted,  several  of  which  are  not  represented 
in  Britain,  are  given.  The  rest  of  the  book  is  occupied 
by  a  readable  account  of  the  geographical  distribution  of 
the  grasses,  especially  of  the  cereals,  and  an  account  of 
their  various  uses  for  food,  and  in  other  ways.  GraiiUnece 
is  one  of  the  most  universally  distributed  of  all  the 
natural  orders  of  plants,  and,  in  point  of  the  number  of 
species,  is  only  exceeded  by  five  other  natural  orders  : 
Conipositcc,  Leguniinosce,  Orchidea;  Melasloiiiacece,  and 
Rubiacece.  Between  three  and  four  thousand  species  of 
grasses  are  known,  and  they  are  classified  under  three 
hundred  genera.  The  little  book  is  well  written  and 
trustworthy,  and  no  doubt  will  secure  a  good  circulation. 

Rural  Water  .Supply.  By  Allan  Greenwell,  .^..-VLLCE., 
and  VV.  T.  Curry,  .•V.M.I.C.E.  Pp.  210.  (London  : 
Crosby  Lockwood  and  Son,  1895.) 

In  this  \'olume  we  have  an  eleinentary  work  on  water 
engineering,  containing  a  sufficient  account  of  the 
principles  and  construction  of  waterworks  to  be  of  real 
use  to  engineers,  and  forming  at  the  same  time  a  good 
introduction  to  more  elaborate  treatises.  The  volume  is 
based  upon  a  series  of  articles  which  appeared  in  the 
Builder  last  )ear,  and  it  contains  valuable  information 
upon  all  matters  connected  with  water  supply.  It  is, 
indeed,  what  its  secondaiT  title  represents  it  to  be, 
namely,  "a  practical  handbook  on  the  supply  of  water 
and  construction  of  waterworks  for  small  country 
districts."  The  book  is  full  of  details  on  points  which 
are  continually  before  waterworks  engineers  ;  and  though 
these  details  are  mostly  rules  and  formuhe  which  have  to 
be  accepted  without  being  understood,  they  will  be  of 
great  assistance  in  planning  schemes  of  water  supply 
and  in  carrying  out  the  works. 

■Climbing^  in  the  British  Isles.  II.  Wales  and  Ireland. 
Wales.  By  \V.  P.  Haskctt  Smith.  Ireland.  By 
H.  C.  Hart.  Pp.  197.  (London:  Longmans,  Green, 
and  Co.,  1895.) 

Cl.lMliERS  will  find  this  little  pocket-book  an  in\alualjle 
guide  to  instructive  scrambles  in  \\'ales  and  Ireland  ; 
but  the  large  number  of  fatal  accidents  recorded  in  its 
pages  is  hardly  calculated  to  give  other  readers  the 
mountaineering  fever.     On   the   first    two  pages   of  the 

NO.    1356,  VOL.   52] 


I  book,  three  fatal  falls  and  one  severe  accident  are  noted, 
and  the  tale  of  deaths  is  sustained  throughout  the  book. 
To  those  who  arc  filled  with  the  desire  to  climb,  this 
spice  of  danger  only  gives   zest   to  the  recreation  ;  and 

I  the  fact  that  several  lives  have  been  lost  in  attempts  to 
scale  a  certain  rock,  is  a  sufficient  reason  for  many 
Englishmen  to  tackle  that  rock  and  endeavour  to  scale 
it.  In  the  book  under  notice,  all  the  essential  informa- 
tion about  climbs  in  Wales  and  Ireland  is  given,  with 
thirty-one  illustrations  (by  Mr.  Ellis  Carr)  and  nine  plans. 
By  means  of  it,  the  would-be  climber  will  be  able  to 
select  his  hills  and  peaks  without  difficulty,  and  with  its 
assistance  he  may  do  in  these  islands  hill-climbing  which 
will  form  no  mean  uart  of  a  real  mountaineering  educa- 
tion. The  book  is  primarily  intended  for  those  who 
climb  for  climbings  sake,  hence  little  attention  is  paid 
to  the  geological  interest  of  the  rocks  and  hills  described. 


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  Natitre. 
No  notice  is  taken  of  anonymous  communications.  ] 

The  Feeding-Ground  of  the   Herring. 

In  his  presidential  address  to  .Section  D  of  the  British  Associ- 
ation at  Ipswich,  Prof.  Herdman  says  : — 

"  Probably  no  group  of  animals  in  the  sea  is  of  so  much  im- 
portance from  the  jioint  of  view  of  food  as  the  Copepoda.  They 
form  a  great  part  of  the  food  of  whales,  and  of  herrings  and  many 
other  useful  fish,  both  in  the  adult  and  in  the  larval  state,  as 
well  as  of  innumerable  c/ther  animals,  large  and  small.  Con- 
sequently, I  have  inquired  somewhat  carefully  into  their  dis- 
tribution in  the  sea,  with  the  assistance  of  Prof.  Brady,  Mr. 
Scott,  and  Mr.  Thompson.  These  experienced  collectors  all 
agree  that  Copepoda  are  most  abundant,  both  as  to  species  and 
individuals,  close  round  the  shore,  amongst  seaweeds,  or  in 
shallow  water  in  the  Laminarian  zone  over  a  weedy  bottom. 
Individuals  are  sometimes  extremely  abundant  on  the  surface 
of  the  sea  amongst  the  plankton,  or  in  shore  pools  near  high 
water,  where,  amongst  Enteromorpha,  the  Harpacticida;  swarm 
in  immense  profusion  ;  but,  for  a  gathering  rich  in  individuals, 
species,  and  genera,  the  experienced  collector  goes  to  the  shallow 
waters  of  the  Laminarian  zone.  ...  In  order  to  come  to  as 
correct  a  conclusion  as  possible  on  the  matter,  I  have  consulted 
several  other  naturalists  in  regard  to  the  smaller  groups  of 
more  or  less  free-swimming  Crustacea,  such  a*  Copepoda  and 
Ostracoda,  which  I  thought  might  [Xjssibly  be  in  considerable 
numbers  over  the  mud.  I  have  asked  three  well-known 
.specialists on  such  Crustaceans — viz.,  Prof.  G.  S.  Brady,  F.K.S., 
Mr.  Thomas  Scott,  K.L.S.,  and  Mr.  I.  C.  Thompson,  F.L.S. 
— and  they  all  agree  in  .stating  that,  although  interesting  and 
peculiar,  the  Copepoda  and  Ostracoda  from  the  deep  mud  are 
not  abundant  either  in  species  or  in  individuals.  In  answer  to 
the  questior  which  of  the  three  regions,  (i)  the  littoral  zone, 
(2)  from  low  water  to  20  fathoms,  and  (3)  from  20  fathoms 
onwards,  is  richest  in  small  free-swimming,  but  bottom-haunt- 
ing, Crustacea,  they  all  replied  the  middle  region  from  o  to  20 
fathoms,  which  is  the  Laminarian  zone  and  the  upper  edge  of 
the  Coralline.  .  .  .  [.Mr.  T.  Scolt]  tells  mc  that  .is  the  result  of 
his  experience  in  Loch  Fyne,  where  a  great  part  of  the  loch  is 
deep,  the  richest  fauna  is  always  where  banks  occur,  coming  up 
to  about  20  fathoms,  and  having  the  bottom  formed  of  sand, 
gravel,  and  shells.  The  fauna  on  and  over  such  banks,  which 
are  in  the  Coralline  zone,  is  much  richer  than  on  the  deeper  mud 
around  them.  On  an  ordinary  shelving  shore  on  the  west  coast 
of  Scotland,  Mr.  Scott,  who  has  had  great  experience  in  collect- 
ing, considers  that  the  richest  fauna  is  usually  at  about  20 
fathoms." 

It  .seems  to  me  that  these  three  specialists,  or  experienced 
collectors,  have  not  given  Prof.  Herdman  any  information  as  to 
whether  free-swimming  Crustacea,  such  as  Copepoda,  arc  found 
in  considerable  nundicrs  over  the  mud  or  not,  as  maintained  by 
Ur.  Murray  in  his  concluding  remarks  in  the  Summary  vt)lumes 
of    the    Challenger   Report,    and     I    propose    to   answer    the 


6i8 


NA  TURE 


[October  24,  1895 


ijuestion  here.  For  ten  years  I  have  been  engiiged  in 
(Iredging  and  trawling  about  the  coasts  of  Scotland,  chiefly 
as  captain  of  Dr.  Murray's  )-acht  Medusa,  and  my  ex])erience 
does  not  coincide  with  that  of  Messrs.  Brady,  Scott,  Thompson, 
and  Herdman.  Kor  instance,  in  Loch  Kyne  I  have  always  been 
able  at  any  time  of  the  year  to  collect  in  half  an  hour  enormous 
numbers  of  Eiitluita,  Calainn.  and  Xyctiphaius  over  the  mud 
in  depths  of  about  70  fathf»ms  or  i;realer.  Any  person  can  see 
at  the  Millport  Biological  .Station  large  bottles  filled  with  these 
Crustaceans  taken  in  a  single  haul.  The  stomachs  of  the  herrings 
are  frequently  crammed  with  these  Crustaceans,  and  the  herrings 
certainly  never  got  this  foml  about  the  Laminarian  zone,  as 
suggested  in  Prof.  Herdman's  address. 

Dr.  David  Rot)ertson,  who  is  one  of  the  best-known  collectors 
in  the  country,  jwinted  out  years  ago  that  the  Loch  Kyne 
herrings  got  their  food  in  the  deep  water,  and  attributed  their 
fine  quality  to  this  fact.  Dr.  Robertson  authorises  me  to  say 
that,  though  there  may  be  more  species  of  Copepods  in  the 
Laminarian  zone  than  in  the  deep  water,  still  the  number  of 
individuals  is  very  nmch  greater  in  the  deep  water  over  the  mud, 
.as  is  conclusively  proved  by  the  Mtdiisa's  work. 

Pro|jer  methods  must,  of  course,  be  used,  for  I  know  of  at 
least  one  instance  in  «hich  a  gentleman  of  considerable 
scientific  repute  was  prepared  to  say  that  tlie  free-swimming 
Crustaceans  over  the  mud  had  completely  left  Loch  Kyne  ;  he 
communicated  his  opinion  to  Dr.  Murray,  with  the  result  that 
the  Midina  was  ordered  to  Loch  Fyne  to  investigate  the  matter. 
-\s  was  expected,  the  result  was  that  these  Crustaceans  were 
found  in  as  great  proftision  as  on  any  previous  occasion. 

The  result  of  my  experience  in  Loch  I'yne  is  that  the  nearer 
the  nets  are  dragged  to  the  mud  in  the  deep  water  tlie  greater 
will  be  the  number  of  Eiiilutta,  Cahinis,  and  Nyiliphaius 
captured.  I  have  taken,  hundreds  of  times,  in  70  fathoms,  in  a 
single  haul  lasting  from  twenty  minutes  to  half  an  hour,  more 
Copepods  than  can  be  collected  in  the  Laminarian  zone  in  eight 
or  ten  days.  I  have  also  captured  herrings  by  means  of  drift 
nets  sunk  to  the  Wittom,  in  depths  of  70  and  80  fathoms,  and 
their  stomachs  were  filled  with  Crustaceans  of  the  same  species 
as  we  captured  by  the  nets  just  over  the  mud  at  these  depths. 

hs,  to  the  deep  mud  in  Loch  Fyne  not  producing  a  rich  fauna, 
I  may  state  that  in  the  dee|x:st  water  the  trawl  could  not  lie  kept 
down  for  a  longer  time  than  alxiut  half  an  hour  ;  otherwise  the 
deck  engine  and  all  other  appliances  on  board  would  have  failed 
to  bring  the  net  to  the  surface  through  sheer  weight,  chiefly  of 
organisms.  There  was  generally  a  certain  i>erccntage  of  nuid 
present,  but  the  lag  of  the  net  was  generally  crammed  with 
thousands  of  Artini,, ,  which  live  there,  along  with  Pictcii 
sfptemradiattis,  Hippolytt ,  PandaliiF,  Cratigon,  .-tsfidiairf,  and 
many  other  invertebrates  and  fishes. 

I  have  dredged  Loch  Fyne  systematically  for  months,  and 
examined  its  fauna  from  the  littoral  zone  to  the  greatest  depth  : 
the  specimens  collected  are  now  licside  me,  and  all  the  journals 
with  the  notes  are  in  Dr.  Murray's  |iossession.  But  I  think 
enough  has  I)een  said  to  show  thai  the  greatest  abundance  of 
Copcp<xJs  is  not  to  lie  found  in  the  Laminarian  or  other  .shallow 
zones,  but  in  the  deep  water  over  the  mud  ;  also  that  the  deep 
mud  doas  |kis.sc.ss  a  very  rich  fauna.  I  sjwak  only  of  the 
abundance  of  the  aliove-menlioned  organisms,  with  which  I  am 
well  acquainted.  I  am  not  a  s|)ecialisl  nor  a  scientific  man.  but 
I  have  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  jiraclical  |>art  of  the 
investigations  which  have  assisted  Dr.  Murray  in  drawing  his 
conclusions.  Ai.i:\AMir.R  Tiriivni-,. 

.Millport,  Cumbrae,  N.H. ,  October  5. 


The  Toronto  Meeting  of   the  British    Association. 

An  effort  will  lie  made  to  have  the  meeting  of  the  .American 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  held  at  San  Fran- 
cisco in  1897,  so  that  the  memliers  of  the  British  .'\s.sf>ciation  may 
rross  the  continent,  and  join  us  there,  either  iK'fore  or  after  their 
own  meeting  at  Toronto,  which  many  of  us  ho|)e  to  attenil. 

A  suggestion  of  great  importance,  and  deserving  immediate 
consideration,  seems  to  me  that  the  Australasian  As.sociation 
should  try  to  arrange  a  meeting  for  the  .siime  year  on  (he  Pacific 
roast  of  America,  vi  thai  we  may  all  join  in  the  meeting  of  the 

^ • ^        iilion  at  .San  Francisco.      This  will  1m;  the  first 

"f  lliese  Associations  on   that  cojusi,  and  hence  a 
i^ion. 
know   how  to  reach  the  officers   of  the  Australasian 
:  but  think  that  an  insertion  of  this  letter  in  Naiurk 


NO.    1356,  VOL.   52] 


will  find  them.  I  have  already  sent  a  letter  at  a  venture  to  the 
President  by  his  official  title,  as  I  do  not  know  his  name,  in  care 
of  the  Post-master  of  Melbourne,  to  be  forwarded  ;  but  perhaps 
the  Post-master  may  not  know  where  to  send  it. 

I  have  also  written  to  Mayor  .Sutro  of  San  Fr,ancisco,  calling 
his  attention  to  it.  Wm.  H.  Halic 

Brooklyn,  October  9. 

The  Theory  of  Magnetic  Action  upon  Light. 

I.N  the  British  Association  Reports  for  iSg,.  Mr.  Lirmor  has 
attempted  to  show  that  a  satisfactory  theory  of  magnetic  action 
upon  light  can  be  constructed  by  means  of  a  modification  of 
MaxwcUs  theory  which  was  proposed  by  Prof.  I'it/4;erald  in 
1879  :  and  he  alleges,  with  special  emphasis  (see  \i.  349),  thai 
his  theory  furnishes  "a  consistent  scheme  of  equations  of  reflec- 
tion and  refraction,  without  the  necessity  of  comloning  any 
dynamical  ditViculties  in  the  process."'  And  on  p.  359,  after 
raising  objections  against  a  theory  originally  suggested  by  Prof. 
Rowland,  and  afterwards  fully  developed  by  myself,  he  says  : — 
"  But  against  this  procedure,''  that  is  my  own.  "  there  stands 
the  |>ure  assumption  as  regards  discontinuity  of  electric  force  at 
an  interface.  ' 

To  fully  discuss  the  defects  of  Larmor's  resuscitation  of  Fitz- 
gerald's theory  would  occupy  too  much  space,  and  would 
necessitate  the  introduction  of  a  considerable  amount  of  mathe- 
matical analysis.  I  shall,  therefore,  confine  myself  to  pointing 
out  that  his  theor)'  is  open  to  exactly  the  same  objections  as 
my  own,  viz.  discoiitiiiiiily  of  the  taiii;iiitial  component  of  elcctro- 
iiiolive  foree  at  an  interfaee. 

One  of  Larmor's  boundary  conditions  (see  p.  349)  is  equivalent 
to  the  condition  that  the  expression 

should  be  continuous.  Now  4ir^/K  =  Q,  where  Q  is  one  ol 
the  tangential  components  of  the  K.M.F.  at  an  interface  ;  also 
in  immagnetised  media  C  =  o.  Conscciuenlly,  if  accenteil 
letters    refer    to    the    latter   medium,    the   condition    becomes 

I,)  +  4nCd0/de  -   i6ir°Cy^//dl  =  Q' ; 

in  other  words,  tic  tangential  eomponeni  of  t/u  E.M.F.  is 
discontinuous.  \.  B.  Bassist. 

Molyport,  Berks,  October  9. 


The  Society  of  Chemical  Industry  and  Abstracts. 

.\i  the  recent  annual  meeting  of  the  .Society  of  Chemical 
Industry,  the  retiring  President  and  the  new  President  each  made 
some  remarks  concerning  the  cost  of  the  journal  of  the  Society, 
and  the  necessity  of  curtailing  expenses  by  dealing  more  strictly 
with  the  abstracts.  I  suppose  hanlly  any  two  of  us  would  (piite 
agree  as  to  what  is  the  rubbish,  Teutonic  or  otherwise,  which 
ought  to  be  left  out,  and  what  is  good  matter,  which  ought  to  be 
abslmcled  at  greater  or  less  length.  No  matter  who  is  editor, 
all  of  us  would  abide  as  firmly  as  ever  in  the  belief  that  we  could 
have  made  a  better  selection  of  articles  for  abstr.iclion.  Before, 
however,  we  set  about  any  further  movement  in  the  direction  of 
culling  down  ab.str.acts  to  a  mere  useless  list  of  titles,  I  would 
like  to  point  out  one  direction  in  which  expense  might  .safely  be 
curtailed  without  fear  of  objection  from  any  quarter.  All  will 
agree,  I  am  sure,  that  it  is  a  w.a.ste  of  money  to  abstract  the 
same  article  twice.  I  am  sure  other  memliers  besides  myself 
nmst  have  noticed  that  this  blemish  is  not  entirely  absent  from 
the  Society's  journal.  It  shoidd  be  known  to  every  chemical 
babe  and  suckling,  that  even  very  tmimporlant  jjapers  arc  some- 
times published  more  than  once.  Vet  this  seems  to  have 
escaped  the  notice  of  whoever  is  responsible  for  the  editing 
of  the  abstracts.  Witness  the  following  front  this  year's 
journal: — P.  389,  "Sulphides  of  Colialt  and  Nickel,  .\. 
Villiers  (Hull.  Soc.  Chini.,  1895,  '3  UD-  •""'  "  Qualilatij'f 
SeiKiration  of  Nickel  from  Cobalt,  A.  \illiers,  /iull.  ,Soc. 
Cliim.,  1895,  13  (4I."  Now  let  us  turn  to  p.  524,  where  we 
find,  "Sulphides  of  Nickel  and  Cobalt,  A.  X'illiers,  Comptes  rend., 
1894,  119.  and  on  p.  509,  "  (,)ualilative  Separation  of  Nickel 
and  Cobalt,  .\.  Villiers,  Comptes  rend.,  1895,  120."  We 
have  cobalt  and  nickel  in  one  case,  and  nickel  and  cobalt 
in  the  other ;  but  the  articles  from  the  Jiutl.  Sot.  C/iini. 
are  the  same  as  those  from  the  Comptes  rend.,  and  by  the 
same    author.     A    still    more    incomprehensible    example    will 


OCTOMKR   24,    1895] 


NA  TURE 


619 


be  found  on  comparing  pp.  191  and  313.  On  p.  191  we 
have  a  short  abstract  of  an  article  on  petroleum,  by  A.  Riche 
and  O.  Ilalphen.  On  p.  313  we  have  a  long  abstract  of  the 
same  article.  In  one  case  it  is  given  under  i/iialitalive  organic 
chemistry,  in  the  other  under  ijuaiilila/ivc  organic  chemistry. 
Net  the  reference  in  each  case  is  the  same — "y.  I'liarm.  Chim., 
1894,  30,  289."  In  this  case,  therefore,  the  abstracts  are  not 
even  prepared  from  dift'erent  journals. 

I  would  suggest,  then,  that  the  first  reform  which  the  Editing 
Committee  might  institute  in  carrying  out  their  scheme  of  re- 
trenchment, should  be  one  placing  a  limit  on  the  number  of 
abstractors  who  are  to  deal  with  one  and  the  same  article,  even 
when  it  occurs  in  different  publications.      Jamks  Henurick. 

<ilasgow,  ( )ctol>er  2. 

Note  on  the  Dendrocolaptine   Species,    '  Dendrexe- 
tastes   capitoides"  of  Eyton. 

It  recently  became  necessary  for  me  co  examine  some  of  the 
Dendrocolaptine  birds  in  this  museum,  and  among  them  the 
species  nametl  above.  Our  specimen,  the  type  of  the  genus 
nendrexetastcs  iaanAcC^  by  Eyton  in  185 1,  in  Jardine's  "Con- 
tributions to  Ornithology,"  on  a  skin  from  an  unknown 
locality,  formerly  in  Lord  Derby's  museum,  has  evidently  been 
examined  by  Dr.  Sclater,  for  its  label  bears,  in  the  well-known 
calligraphics  of  that  distinguished  authority  on  this  group,  the 
name  Deitdrtwetaslcs  Ifiitniiiicki.  The  difficulty  I  have  in 
ascribing  our  sjiecimen  to  thai  species  is  the  cause  of  this  note. 
.\ccording  to  the  fifteenth  volume  of  the  "  British  Museum 
Catalogue  of  Birds,"  by  Dr.  I'.  L.  Sclater,  the  genus  con- 
tains but  two  species.  D.  temmiiicti  and  D.  dcvillii,  which,  by 
his  key  on  p.  140,  are  distinguished  from  each  other,  the  former 
by  having  *' blackish  cross-bands"  on  the  belly,  and  the  latter 
having  that  region  "  uniform  brown."  On  consulting  Eyton's 
original  tiescription  in  the  "  Contributions  to  Ornithology,"  I 
can  find  no  mention  of  any  cross-bands  on  the  belly  ;  for  there 
are  none  on  the  skin,  which  is  apparently  that  of  a  mature 
bird.  In  looking  up  next  the  description  by  Lafres- 
naye,  in  the  "  Revue  de  Zoologie  "  for  1851.  of  his  D.  tern- 
iiiinckii,  to  which  Dr.  Sclater  has  relegated  as  a  synonym 
Eyton's  D.  capitoides,  I  read  : — "  ....  pectoris  vent  risque 
plumis  totis  umbrinis,  in  medio  macula  triangulari-elongata 
nivea  nigro  marginata  notatis  :  ventris  niaculis  strictis ;  fere 
linearibus ;  subcaudalibus  pallide  rufescentihus,  albo  late, 
fuscoque  angusle  vittatis.  .  .  ."  These  words,  as  I  interpret 
them,  make  no  mention  of  the  presence  of  cross-bands  on  the 
belly  of /A  taiimincki,  while  the  latter  half  of  the  quotation,  in 
regard  to  the  under-tail-coverts  being  pale  rufous,  with  broad 
white  and  narrow  fuscous  spots,  does  not  apjily  to  D.  capitoides, 
for  the  type-skin  before  me  presents  no  such  characters.  The 
])late  illustrating  Lafresnaye's  description  of  the  first-mentioned 
bird  (loc.  sup.  cit.)  shows  its  breasl-spots  to  be  much  narrower, 
though  not  linear,  and  shorter  than  those  in  D.  capitoides,  while 
the  spots  on  the  feathers  on  the  upper  part  of  the  belly  can 
hardly  be  termed  "  ferelinearibus,"  which  they  are,  however,  in 
D.  capitoides.  The  lower  belly  in  the  plate,  "  plumis  totis 
lunbrinis,"  shows,  just  as  in  the  last-mentioned  species,  not  a 
single  cross-band.  It  would  appear  to  me,  therefore,  that  D. 
tapitoides,  Eyton,  can  scarcely  be  =  D.  ttiiiiiiincki,  Lafr. ,  while 
the  latter  differs  from  D.  devillii  (of  which  I  regret  our  museun. 
does  not  possess  a  specimen),  and,  I  take  it,  from  D.  capitoides, 
by  its  smaller  and  narrower  throat-spots.  The  subcaudal 
characters  separate  D.  capitoides  from  D.  teinmincki,  and 
apparently  the  typical  D.  de-oillii  is  separated  from  it  also  by 
the  "striisstrictissimis"  of  the  breast,  and  the  very  linear  shaft- 
stripes  of  the  uj^per  neck  feathers.  Is  D.  capitoides  —  D. 
devillii?  Or  are  there  three  species?  I  incline  to  the 
"pinion  that  (here  are.  IIf.nrv  O.  Forbes. 

The  Museums,  Liverpool,  October  8. 


The  Pressure  of  a  Saturated  Vapour  as  an   Explicit 
Function  of  the  Temperature. 

Ir  may  be  i^f  some  interest  to  mite  that  Cailletet  and  Mathias' 
"Law  of  Diameters,"  in  combination  with  any  equation  of  state, 
such  as  Van  der  Waals',  which  applies  to  the  region  of  coexist- 
ence of  liquid  and  vapour,  supplies  an  (empirical)  expression  for 
the  maximun)  pressure  of  a  vapour  at  any  tenqx-rature  T  in  the 
form  of  an  explicit  function  of  this  tem])erature  and  known 
constants. 


NO.    1356,   VOL.    52] 


Let  p,  V  and  T  denote  the  pressure  volume  and  absolute 
temperature  of  unit  mass  of  the  substance.  According  to  \an 
der  Waals'  original  equation  of  state,  we  have  then  : — 

(/  +  $)  (-"  -  *)  =  RT. 

If  Z'j,  <•»,  z'j  denote  the  roots  of  this  cubic  in  v,  we  ha\  e  : — 

RT 

z'l  -(-  I.J  -f  r,  =  *  -i-  !ii. (i.) 

^'I's  +  ^s^'s  +  r'3''i  = -- (ii.) 

/ 

ab  ....  , 

7.-1^,2/3  =  (in.) 

P 
Now,  for  any  definite  value  of  T  less  than  the  critical  tempera- 
ture, these  equations  give,  when  we  put  /  equal  to  the  maximum 
vapour-pressure  corresponding  to  this  temperature,  three  values, 
f'l,  J'o,  7'3,  two  of  which  (say  -i\  and  <'._,)  denote  the  volumes  of 
unit  mass  of  the  substance  in  the  states  of  saturated  vapour  and 

"saturated"   liquid   at  this  temiwrature.    Accordingly,    -    and 

~  denote  the  densities  of  the  substance  in  these  states,  and  the 

law  of  Cailletet  and  Mathias,  above  referred  to,  enunciates  that 
the  arithmetic  mean  of  these  densities  can  be  very  fairly  repre- 
sented as  a  linear  function  of  the  temperature.  Therefore  we 
can  write  : — 

'"—^  =  ^X (iv.) 

where  if>  denotes  a  .linear  function,  whose  two  constants  arc 
know-n. 

Eliminating  r',,  ->.,,  and  v.^  from  the  four  equations  (i.),  (ii), 
(iii.)and  (iv. ),  we  readily  obtain  : — 

p  =  RT(i   -  ^0T)  -  «»T(i  -ipT)-^  _  ^^.^ 

This  result  simply  amounts  to  the  following  : — 

If  we  fix  the  temperature  T  of  a  vapour,  then  the  maximum 

vapour-pressure  at   this  temperature  is  completely  determined, 

i.e. 

P  =  l'(T). 

Similarly  the  sum  of  the  densities  of  saturated  vapour  and 
liquid  in  contact  with  it  is  determinate  if  T  is  fixed,  and  thus 

-L  H-  i_=  ^(T). 

Equation  (v.)  shows  that  the  former  function  is  known  if  the 
latter  be  known,  and  as  Cailletet  and  Mathias  have  shown  that 
the  latter  is  very  approximately  linear,  we  can  give  the  form  of 
F(T). 

This  result,  however,  is  not  of  any  practical  use  unless  the 
equation  of  state  does  really  apply  with  good  approximation  to 
the  region  of  liquid  and  vapour.  I'".  G.  Donnan. 

Ilolyw'ood,  Co.  Down. 

Colours    of   Mother-of-Pearl. 

In  numerous  text-books  the  colours  of  mother-of-pearl  are 
included  amongst  phenomena  of  colour  produced  by  striated 
surfaces,  and  though  it  is  conceded  that  only  a  part  of  the  colour 
is  due  to  this  cause,  that  part  is  generally  assumed  to  lje,  at  any 
rale,  an  appreciable  quantity.  Experiment  will  show,  however, 
that  such  is  not  the  case.  When  the  colour  produced  by  the 
striations  is  viewed  in  an  impression  "->f  the  jx'arl  on  sealing-wax 
or  gelatine  it  is  visible,  though  it  is  totally  <lifferenl  in  ch.aracter 
from  the  iridescence  of  the  pearl  itself,  in  which  the  liny  con- 
tribution of  colour  from  the  striations  is  completely  overpowered 
by  that  due  to  another  cause.  In  white  mother-of-pearl  the 
striations  are  often  its  close  together  as  in  coloureil  varieties,  and 
at  certain  angles,  when  viewed  by  light  from  a  definad  source, 
there  is  a  little  colour  visible  in  the  white  siwcimens  ;  jnst  somuch, 
and  no  more,  is  contributed  by  the  striations  of  the  coloured 
specimens,  as  may  be  shown  by  viewing  a  piece  under  the 
surface  of  water,  when  the  effect  of  the  striations  is  necessarily 
abolished,  though  the  iridescence  is  not  at  all  appreciably 
diminished.  The  whiteness  of  some  varieties  must  be  attributed 
to  a  different  thickness  or  greater  opacity  of  the  lamina;.     It  is 


620 


NA  TURE 


[October  24,  1895 


these  laminae  which,  acting  as  "  films,"  give  rise  to  all  the  colour 
of  nacre,  practically  :  and  the  phenomenon  should  be  included 
amongst  those  of  colours  from  "  films,"  and  not  from  "  striated 
surfaces,"  the  latter  being  merely  incidental,  and  for  all  practical 
purposes  contributing  nothing   to  the  efiect. 

C.  E.  Ben  HAM. 


A   RATIONAL   v  l  a/-.    /  c/V  SNAKE-BITE. 

AA'HEN   it  was  established  beyond  dispute   or   cavil 
'  '       that  the  serum  obtained  from  animals,  immunised 
against  bacterial  infections  and  mtoxications,  possesses  \ 
in   a  marked  degree  antitoxic  powers — as  distinguished 
from  antibiotic  powers — and  that  such  serum  when  mixed 
in  a  test-tube  with  the  bacterial  poison  in  question  will, 
so  to  speak,  neutralise  the  toxic  efTects  of  such   poison, 
however   deadly,    it    was    merely    a    question    of    time, 
opportunity,  and  patience  that  attempts  would  be  made 
to  extend  the  principle  of  scrum-immunisation  to  other, 
i.e.  non-bacterial,  poisons.    Ehrlich  was  the  first  to  show 
us  the  way.     He  gradually  accustoined  animals  to  with- 
stand comparatively  large  doses  of  abrine,  ricine,  and 
robine,    three    vegetable    toxines,   all   belonging   to    the 
group  of  proteines,  reacting  as  albumoses  or  globulincs. 
In  that  manner  he  produced  in  the  animals  a  relative 
immunity,  or  perhaps,  more  correctly,  a  tolerance.     He 
found   that   though   subcutaneous   inoculations    lead    to 
better  results,  that  this  immunity  can  be  brought  about 
also  by  feeding.     In  whatever  way  the  animal  is  prepared, 
its  serum  eventually  acquires  specific  antitoxic,  immunis- 
ing, and  curative  properties.     It  was  thus  demonstrated 
that  the  wonderful  discovery  of  Hehring  and  Kitasato — for 
which  Bchring,  however,  claims   the  sole  credit — has  a 
scope  much  wider  than  at  first  was  dreamt  of.      Behring 
himself,  to  begin  with,  explained  the  action  of  the  serum 
as  antibiotic  or  germicidal  :  but  it  soon  became  evident 
that,  though  when  injected  into  the  animal  body  it  causes 
the   destruction   and  death  of  the  infective  pathogenic 
organisms,  nevertheless  its  chief  action  is  "vitally"  anti- 
toxic.  For  working  with  the  tetanus  toxine  alone,  separated 
from  the  bacilli  which  produced  it,  its  deadly  effects  can 
be   readily  neutralised  by  a  few  cubic  centimetres  of  a 
powerful  serum.     And  if  we  remember  that  "23  milligram 
of  tetano-toxine  would  represent  the  fatal  dose  for  a  human 
being  weighing  70  kilogrammes,    then   we   can  get   an 
idea  as  to  what  extraordinary  changes  must  have  been 
produced  in  the  serum,  or  rather  in  the  blood  and  tissues, 
of  the  immunised  animal,  to   enable  its   serum    instan- 
taneously to  remove  the  lethal  effect  of  the  toxine.     The 
only  poison  comparable  to  tetano-toxine  in  virulence  and 
rapidity  of  action  is  cobra  poison,  and  it  also  resembles 
chemically  the  bacterial  toxmes,  reacting  as  an  albumose, 
though  for  the  sake  of  accuracy  it   must  be   mentioned, 
that   the  poison  of  tetanus  has  been  clearly  shown   by 
Briegcr,  Cohn,  and  Sidney  Martin  not  to  be  an  album- 
inous   body,   and    that    possibly   most   of  the   bacterial 
toxines  may  turn  out   not  to  be  albuminous  substances. 
Still,  so   far  as   our   present   knowledge  reaches,  cobra 
poison  and  other  snake  venoms  are  chemically  closely 
allied  and  analogous  to  the  "  toxalbumins  "  of  bacteria. 
It  had  also  been  demonstrated  by  several  observers,' 
that   by  means  of  oft-repeated   injections  of  small   sub- 
lethal doses  of  snake  poison  (rattlesnake,  cobra,  or  viper 
venom;  the  resistance  of  an  animal  against  the  poison 
may   gradually   be    increased     considerably,    it    may   be 
rendered  "giftfest,"  to  borrow  a  (ierman  exprcssiim.     In 
fact,   all   the    methods    used    for    inducing    a    tolerance 
against  tetanus  poison  can  be  shown  to  work   in  the  case 
of  cobra  poison  (this  is  the  poison   generally  employed). 
Thii,  r.ilimitc   ului'.r-  work   in  this  line  follows  directly 

'-'O  .'  K.-inlhack.  ibitl..  189a,  vol.  xvi.  No». 

'  .'"///.  unJ.  ,/.  T  1,.iJ.  d.  tc  cxviii.  1894, 

1 1  :  Cortt^t.  rtnti. 

■\,   it'll/.,  p.    113. 

.  .  ^,  p.  j8i. 

NO.    1356,  VOL.   52J 


that  of  Sewall's  and  of  the  writer  of  this  article,  has  shown 
that   a    so-called    immunity   can   also   be   produced    by' 
gradually  increasing  injections  of  poison  attenuated   by 
heat,  iodine,  trichloride  of  iodine,  hypochloride  of  calcium, 
&c. ;  in  fact,  the  analogy  is   complete.     From  this  stage, 
at  which  others  had  already  arrived,  Calmette  went  ahead 
with  Phisalix  and  Bertrand.     Having  previously  attempted 
both  to  prevent  and  to  cure  the  effects  of  inoculation  with 
cobra  poison  by  means  of  chloride  of  gold—  wherein,  how- 
ever, as  shown  by  the  writer,'  he  faifed — he  directed  his 
attention  at  once  to  the  serum  of  immunised  animals,  and  in 
February  1894  he  showed,  before  the  Societe  dc  Biologie, 
that  on  mixing  cobra  or  viper  venom  with  small  quantities 
of  scrum  obtained  from   an  immunised  rabbit  the  deadly 
effect  of  the  venom  disappears,  a  fact  at  once  confirmed 
by  independent   observations  of  Phisalix   and   Bertrand. 
In  May  1894  and  in  .\pril   1S95,  Calmette  published   two 
concise  papers  in  Pasteur's  Aitnahs,  containing   a   full 
account  of  his  results.     These,  briefly  summarised,  are  as 
follows  :  ( I )  The  serum  of  an  animal  immunised  against 
snake  poison  (he  used  poisons  of  the  following  snakes  : 
Nitja  tripuiiians  and  liajc,   Crotahis  tiurissus,  liothrops 
laineola/its,    Ci-ntsh-s,   P-ii-i/iitxhis   porphyriacus.,    Hoplo- 
ccphaliis  Curtis  and  van'ega/us,   Acanlhopis  a/itantica, 
Trinurcsiiriis   ''iridis)    possesses    properties    similar   to- 
those   which    the   serum  of  animals  immunised  .against 
tetanus  and  diphtheria  possesses.     (2)  The  serum  of  a 
rabbit   immunised   against   cobra   or   viper   venom  .acts 
equally  well  against  any  of  the  other  poisons,  /.(■.  there  is 
no  specificity  of  action,  as  judged  by  the  species  of  sn.ake. 
(3)  The  serum  possesses  not  only  neutralising  properties 
when  mixed  with  the  venom  in  a  test-tube,  but  possesses 
also   marked    immunising    and    curatixc    properties,   /.(■. 
poison  injected  after  pre\  ious  serum  administration  be- 
comes   powerless,   and    serum    injected    after    previous 
poison  administration  neutralises  the  effects  of  the  poison 
in  the  animal  body,  even  after  the  symptoms  of  intoxica- 
tion have  already  set  in.     Naturally  the  effect   depends 
on  the  degree  of  immunity  of  the  serum   giver  and  on 
the  proportionate  amount  of  serum  used.     (4)  The  im- 
munising effect   produced  by  serum  injections  is  not  so 
lasting   as   that   produced    by   direct    injections   of   the 
poison,  i.e.  serum   injections  are  incapable  of  rendering 
animals  "  giftfest."     Calmette  alludes  to  other  ni.itters,  but 
since  these  are  of  secondary  importance  and  still  debatable, 
and  not  directly  related  to  the  subject  of  this  article,  we 
must  pass  them  over.     There  is,  however,  one  point  which 
must   be  mentioned,  since  it  is  one  afl'ecting  the  whole 
principle  of  serum  immunisation.     He  states  that  he  has 
succeeded   in   producing  a   "  (iiftfcstigkcit  "  by  means  of 
repeated  intravenous  injections  of  hypochloride  of  calcium, 
and   that  the  serum  of  such  "  chlorinated  "  animals  will 
neutralise,  in   the  test-tube  at  least,  the  effects  of  cobra 
poison.     Roux  elsewhere  mentions  -  that  the  serum   of 
animals  immunised  .tgainst  tetanus  or  rabies  is  capable 
of   neutralising    snake   \enom    and    of  protecting   other 
animalsagainst  subsequent  intoxication  with  cobra  jwison, 
and  that  r.ibbits  vaccinated  against  rabies  can  withstand 
four  to  five   times  the  lethal  close  of  cobra   venom  ;  and 
also  that  abrine  serum  will  counteract  the  effects  of  cobra 
poison,  .and  cobra  serum  those  of  abrine.     Calmette  goes 
so  far  as  to  say  that  an  animal  vaccinated  against  aljrine 
may   acquire   a    relative    immunity   against    dipluheria, 
ricine,   and    anthrax.     If  this   be    so,  we    sh.ill    have   to 
modify  our   \  icws   as   to  the  specific   action   of  antitoxic 
serum,  /'.(•.  the  first  prim  iple  of  serum  therapeutics.     We 
require  a  number  of  control  observations  before  we  can 
accept  these  remarkable  statements  ;  partial  contradiction 
they  have  already  received  from    (icrmany, '  and    the 

>  l.itHctl.  (line   II,  i8t)j.     The  iisclcssiicsf.  of  »lr>'cliniiic  vim  previounl)^ 
dcmon^lr.ilcd  Ity  the  writer  iti  tiiv  paper  ii»  \\k  Journal  0/ Physiol0gy< 

2  .-inHaUi  tic  t tnst.  Past.  1894,  No.  10,  p.  722. 

^  Khrlich  emphatically  denies  any  *iich  vicarious  counteraction  with  rcgi 
to  abrine  and  ricine  (cf.   Drnlsche  Med.   Wmliriiicliii/I,  \o\.  xvii.   N" 
p.  1118). 


'»1« 

4 


October  24,  1895] 


NATURE 


621 


writer's  own  experiments,  so  far  at  least,  do  not  lend 
much  support  to  them.  So  long,  however,  as  the  whole 
question  of  this  new  treatment,  striking  though  it  is  in 
its  results,  is  still  a  mystery  to  us,  we  cannot  afford  to  \ 
push  aside  observations  because  they  seem  improbable, 
or  because  they  are  contradictory. 

Calmette  asserts  also  that  the  fresh  serum  of  Naja 
triptidians  (a  species  of  cobra)  possesses  to  some  degree 
at  least  immunising  properties,  and,  as  we  shall  see, 
Fraser '  bears  him  out  in  this,  by  stating  that  fresh 
serum  of  poisonous  snakes  possesses  strong  antitoxic 
and  protective  properties,  not  only  against  their  own 
venom,  but  also  against  that  of  other  species.  D.  D. 
Cunningham  -  and  the  writer,-'  however,  in  India,  in- 
variably failed  to  obtain  antitoxic  or  immunising  effects 
with  cobra  blood  or  serum,  although  the  writer  succeeded 
in  keeping  the  effects  of  cobra  poison  in  abeyance  by 
means  of  the  blood  (or  serum)  of  the  Vuntnus  Benga- 
Icnsis,  a  large  lizard  which  is  naturally  strongly  resistant 
against  cobra  poison. 

These  are  the  chief  results  obtained  by  Calmette,  and 
knowing  the  difficulties  of  working  with  such  deadly 
poison  as  cobra  poison  venom  is,  and  the  innumerable 
failures  which  accompany  it,  the  writer  is  able  ;o  appre- 
ciate the  success  of  the  French  author,  all  the  more  since 
he  himself  failed  while  working  on  the  same  lines  where 
to  succeed  seemed  simply  a  matter  of  course.  Recently 
these  French  observations  have  received  entire  confirma- 
tion in  their  leading  points  by  Prof  Fraser  of  Edinburgh, 
and  the  writer  may  be  forgiven  for  stating  here  that 
though  he  took  up  the  control  of  Calmette's  work  with 
strong  bias  against  the  latter,  he  felt  himself  forced, 
already  before  Fraser's  communications  appeared,  to 
acknowledge  the  correctness  of  the  work  done  at 
Pasteur's  Institute,  so  far  as  the  antitoxic  and  immunising 
properties  against  cobra  poison  of  serum  obtained  from 
animals  treated  with  that  poison  are  concerned.  He  has 
not,  however,  convinced  himself  that  hypochloride  of 
calcium  can  immunise  animals,  or  lead  to  the  formation 
of  an  antitoxic  serum.  Frasers  contributions,  though 
merely  confirmatory,  are  of  great  importance,  since  they 
contain  unquestionable  proof  of  the  truth  of  what  must 
have  appeared  to  all,  except  a  few  shrieking  "zoophilists,'' 
to  be  striking  and  surprising  re\elations.  The  credit, 
however,  of  the  discovery  of  a  cure  for  snake-bite— in  the 
laboratory  at  least  belongs  solely  to  France.  Having 
discussed  Calmette's  work  more  fully,  we  can  speak  of 
Frasers  experiments  in  a  few  words  ;  but  thereby  we  do 
not  wish  to  detract  in  any  way  from  the  merit  which 
characterises  his  researches. 

Fraser-*  worked  with  venom  obtained  from  the  Indian 
cobra,  three  species  of  rattlesnakes  {Crotalus  horridus,  C. 
adaiiiantcus^  and  C.  durissus),  the  copper-head  {Trigflito- 
cephalus  co/i/or/iix),  the  .Australian  black  and  brown 
snakes,  and  an  unidentified  Diciiuitia  (Pscudccliis porphy- 
riacus  and  Diciiniiin  si/pera'/iosa),  the  African  puff-adder, 
night  adder,  yellow  cobra,  and  "  rinkas  "  ( Vipcra  arictans, 
Aspidiliips  lu/>ri(iix,  Nnjn  /lajc,  Sepcdon  hcriiKichatcs). 
He  immunised  his  animals  by  the  usual  method  of 
minimal  subcutaneous  inoculations,  or  by  feeding,  against 
the  venoms  of  some  of  the  snakes  mentioned,  and  then 
established  Ux)  the  strong  specific  antidotal  properties  of 
the  scrum  of  these  vaccinated  animals  against  the  poison 
with  which  they  had  been  vaccinated,  and  (/')  the  vicarious 
antidotal  properties  against  the  other  poisons.  This 
serum  he  obtained  in  a  dry,  pulvcrisable  condition  with- 
out any  appreciable  loss  of  antidotal  power  ;  but  we  can 
hardly  forgive  him  the  hybrid  and  barbaric  name  "  anti- 
venene"  which  he  applies  to  it.  He  confirms  Calmette's 
results  in  almost  every  point,  so  that  there  is  no  longer 

^  Lancet,  .\ugust  lo,  1895,  p.  376,  and  Brit.  Med,  Journal,  Aug.  17,  1895. 

'•^  Private  communication. 

^  Journal  of  Physiology,  1892,  vol.  xiii.  Nos.  3  and  4,  p.  288. 

^  British  .\[etlical Journal,  1895,  June  15,  p.  1309-1312. 

NO.    1356,  VOL.   52] 


any  doubt  left  as  to  possibility  of  a  successful  cure  against 
snakebite,  especially  as,  by  both  observers,  the  curative 
injection  was  shown  to  be  efficacious  when  the  symptoms 
of  intoxication  had  already  set  in,  and  as  the  experi- 
mental animals  used  were  highly  susceptible  to  the 
poisonous  action  of  serpents' venoms,  while  man  is  weight 
for  weight  much  less  sensitive  than  a  guinea-pig  or  a 
rabbit.  True,  F"raser  has  generally  worked  with  com- 
paratively small  lethal  doses  ;  this  possible  objection  is, 
however,  met  by  Calmette's  results,  which  were  obtained 
with  much  larger  doses,  and  which  therefore  allow  us  to 
judge  favourably  of  the  practical  application  of  the  serum 
treatment.  The  final  verdict  must,  of  course,  depend  on 
the  success  or  failure  following  the  use  of  the  serum  in 
cases  of  snake-bite,  and  it  must  be  remembered  that, 
striking  though  our  laboratory'  results  are  with  tetanus 
antitoxine,  so  far  the  success  obtained  with  acute  cases 
of  tetanus  in  man  is  disappointingly  small,  as  the 
writer  has  shown  elsewhere.'  ^'et  here  we  have  a 
rational  method  of  treatment,  and  the  promise  of  almost 
certain  success  ;  we  must  now  look  for  facilities  and 
opportunities  of  tr)-ing  the  cure.  In  France  they  have 
already  begun  to  manufacture  this  antitoxic  serum  in 
larger  quantity,  and  Calmette  writes  that  he  has  im- 
munised a  horse,  and  is  ready  to  supply  the  remedy  : 
and  Fraser  also  has  larger  animals  under  treatment. 
No  doubt  India  will  not  delay  in  carrying  out  the 
necessary  arrangements  for  procuring  what,  after  all,  will 
be  an  imperial  benefit. 

The  vicarious  action  of  the  immunising  venom-serum  is- 
surprising,  and  may  find  an  explanation  in  the  similarity 
of  the  physiological  action  of  the  various  poisons  used. 
They  are  all  poisons  which  cause  death  by  acting  on  the 
central  nervous  system,  especially  the  medulla,  the  animal 
dying  from  respiratory  failure  with  salivation,  retching, 
i&c.  Audit  is  quite  possible  that  chemically  siinilar  poisons 
which,  according  to  their  action  on  the  animal  body,  be- 
long to  one  physiological  group,  have  the  same  antidote. 
It  would  therefore  be  interesting  to  test  the  antitoxic  cobra- 
serum  on  the  poison  of  the  Daboia,  which,  according 
to  Wall,  Cunningham,  and  others,  differs  essentially  in 
its  physiological  action  ;  for  whereas  cobra,  crotalus,  and 
viper  venoms  are  paralysing,  medullary  poisons,  the 
poison  of  Russell's  viper  produces  very  varying  symptoms, 
in  some  cases  convulsions,  in  others  paralysis  and 
asphyxia,  in  yet  others  violent  convulsions  followed  by 
paralysis.  Daboia  venom  undoubtedly  contains  a  sub- 
stance capable  of  producing  the  most  violent  convulsions, 
especially  in  birds,  their  occurrence  depending  on  the 
size  of  the  animal  and  on  the  amount  of  poison  injected. 
It  would  indeed  be  more  than  a  surprising  revelation,  if  a 
serum  which  is  capable  of  acting  as  an  antidote  to  a 
paralysing  toxine  were  also  capable  of  neutralising  the 
effects  of  a  toxine  of  opposite  physiological  action. 

The  vicarious  antidotal  action  of  venom-serum  must 
appear  all  the  stranger  and  more  contradictory  if  we  re- 
member that  not  all  poisonous  snakes  are  "giftfest'against 
the  poisons  of  other  different  species.  Waddell  -  has 
shown  that  the  venom  is  neither  a  poison  to  the  snake  itself 
nor  to  members  of  its  own  species,  but  that  cobra  poison 
is  fatal  to  some,  if  not  perhaps  to  all,  poisonous  snakes. 
It  will  certainly  kill  the  Trimcresurus  crythrurus,  and  in 
the  writer's  experience  also  the  crotalus,  while  according 
to  Fayrer  the  Biiiigants  readily  falls  a  victim  to  the 
bite  of  a  cobra.  This  being  so,  why  should  the  antitoxic 
serum  of  an  animal  immunised  against  cobra-poison 
be  active  against  rattlesnake  venom,  when  in  an  experi- 
ment recently  performed  by  the  writer,  a  strong  and 
healthy  crotalus  succumbed  to  five  milligrammes  of  cobra 
venom  ?  Lastly  some  writers,  Fraser  included,  assume 
that  the  immunity  of  poisonous  snakes  against  their  own 

1  Xf<//<r<i/CAw«/V&,  May  1895. 

2  "  Scientific  Memoirs  by  Medical  Officers  of  the  .\rmy  of  India,"  1889,. 
iv.  p.  59. 


622 


NA  TURE 


[October  24,  1895 


poison  depends  on  self-immunisation,  called  forth  by  swal-  ■ 
lowing  their  own  venom,  or  by  repeatedly  inoculating  them- 
selves. This  is  highly  improbable,  if  we  remember  that 
some  of  the  innocent  snakes  are  very  resistant  against 
cobra  poison,  as,  e.g.,  the  PtY<is  miicosiis  and  the  Tropi-  \ 
lionoliis  natrix,  and  also  that,  as  the  writer  has  shown, 
the  Vnnutus  licngahnsis  is  possessed  of  a  marked 
tolerance,  and  that,  according  to  Fayrer,  other  species  of 
X'aranus  sur\ive  the  bite  of  a  cobra  24  to  48  hours. 
Jourdain  further  gives  a  list  of  four  innocent  snakes 
which  are  immune  against  viper  venom.  In  what  manner 
are  we  to  account  for  this  immunity  ?  Interesting  obser- 
xations  on  the  poisonous  nature  of  serum  of  innocent  and 
poisonous  snakes  are  also  found  in  Calmettes  paper  of 
April  1895,  which,  while  rendering  Frascr's  theory  still 
more  improbable,  do  not  assist  us  in  clearing  up  the 
mystery.  The  explanation  must  be  left  to  future  re- 
searches :  for  the  present  wc  must  be  thankful  for  the 
promise  which  the  researches  of  Calmette  and  Fraser 
have  given  us,  of  allaying  an  almost  national  calamity. 

.\.  .\.  K. 


SCIENTH'IC    KNOWLEDGE    OF 
ANCIENT  CHINESE. 


THE 


■npHE  question  of  China  has  been  so  much  to  the 
-•■  front  lately,  that  an  article  which  appeared  in  one 
of  the  .August  numbers  of  the  Rc'iic  Sa\>i/ijii/tii\  on  the 
knowledge  of  science  possessed  by  the  Chinese,  seems  ver)' 
a propos.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  Chinese  of  the 
present  da\-  have  \ery  elementar\-  ideas  on  any  branch 
of  science.     This  howe\  er,  was  not  so  formerly. 

In  early  times,  as  far  back  even  as  2000  B.C.,  we  find 
that  science  in  China  had  reached  a  fairly  advanced 
stage.  The  Chinese  possessed  undoubtedly  a  great 
knowledge  of  astronomy  ;  inscriptions  have  been  found 
which  prove  this.  In  the  "  Chou-King,"  a  book  of  records, 
we  read  that  Emperor  Yao,  who  reigned  2357  H.c,  did 
much  to  advance  the  study  of  this  science.  He  ordered 
his  astronomers  to  observe  the  movements  of  the  sun, 
moon  and  stars,  and  showed  them  how  to  find  out  the 
commencement  of  the  four  seasons  by  means  of  certain 
stars.  We  read  also  that  he  told  them  that  a  year 
consisted  of  a  little  less  than  y>6  days,  and  as  he  divided 
the  year  into  lunar  )n()nlhs,  he  taught  them  the  years  in 
which  the  additional  lunar  month  ought  to  be  included. 
It  is  also  known  that  ihc  Chinese  h.id  the  annual  calendar, 
that  they  obscr\cd  the  planets  Mercury,  \'enus.  Mars, 
Jupiter,  .Saturn,  and  were  able  to  calculate  eclipses,  and 
knew  the  difference  between  the  equator  and  the  ecliptic. 
It  is  quite  probable  that  the  ecliptic  was  not  known  of 
l)cfore  the  Mussulmans  occupied  the  Mathematical 
Tribunal,  which  they  held  for  three  centuries. 

Wc  sec,  therefore,  that  the  knowledge  of  astronomy  was 
very  e.vtensive.  With  regard  to  the  meridian,  it  was 
apparently  unknown  to  them.  M.  Chavannes,  who  is  at 
present  Professor  of  Chinese  .it  the  College  of  p'rance, 
says  thai  it  is  not  mentioned  in  any  astronomical  book. 
As  substitute  a  certain  star  was  observed  at  the  same 
hour,  according  to  the  times  of  the  year,  note  being  taken 
of  its  ()Ositions  with  regard  to  the  horizon. 

Astronomy  has  always  been    closely  connected    with 

.-.r..i.,,,,        |(y    nicans    of    astronomy    the    time     was 

I     for     the     numerous      public     ceremonies 

lithe  Imperial  calendar:  it  likewise  regulated 

the  aftairs  of  the  Government.  lUit  the  calendar  has 
long  since  ceasetl  to  be  used  for  this  latter  purpose,  and 
the  majority  of  the  Chinese  popiil.ition  merely  look  upon 
it  as  a  mct'ins  of  continuing  the  mysterious  ceremonies 
.ind  oracles  connected  with  the  ditTcrcnt  positions  of  the 
planets.  It  is  ordered  in  the  "  ('ollcction  of  the  Laws," 
that  at  each  eclipse,  ceremonies  should  be  jjone  through 
to  deliver  the  eclipsed  sun  or  moon.     .Xt  this  time  there-  I 

NO.    1356,  VOL.   52] 


fore,  an  alarm  is  sounded  on  the  drums,  the  mandarins 
arrive  armed,  utter  man\'  objurgations,  and  thus  deliver 
the  endangered  bodies. 

In  the  seventeenth  century,  certain  Jesuit  missionaries 
arrived  in  China.  On  seeing  the  low  state  into  which  the 
Mathematical  Tribunal  had  fallen,  they  oflfered  to  help  it. 
They  found  an  observatory  containing  many  instruments, 
which  shows  plainly  that  this  branch  of  science  had  at 
one  time  reached  an  ad\anced  stage.  This  deca\-  of 
science  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  when  we  remember 
that  twent\-two  dynasties  were  brought  on  the  throne 
by  actual  revolutions.  Nor  is  this  decay  confined  to 
astronomy.  According  to  the  ancient  books  and 
traditions,  we  find  that  various  branches  of  science  had 
reached  a  high  degree  of  culture. 

The  Emperor  Kang-hi,  who  reigned  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  had  a  great  love  of  study  himself,  and 
endeavoured  to  advance  the  general  education  in  China. 
The  Jesuit  missionaries  instructed  him  in  geometry  and 
physics.     He  translated  some  text-books  into  Chinese. 

The  Chinese  have  generally  been  credited  with  the 
invention  of  gunpowder.  .\  certain  document  has  been 
found,  however,  by  .Archimandrite  I'alladius,  a  Russian 
sinologue,  stating  that  in  the  ninth  century  a  Persian 
regiment,  under  the  Chinese  sovereign,  made  known  a 
material  similar  to  wild  fire,  which  was  afterwards  used 
for  fireworks. 

Apparently,  chemistry  has  never  been  studied,  unless 
by  a  certain  sect,  the  Tao-tsc,  who  spent  all  their  time 
endeavouring  to  discover  the  philosopher's  stone  and  the 
elixir  of  life. 

The  Chinese  have  not  a  great  knowledge  of  geology. 
The  mines  have  been  worked  without  any  m.achincry, 
and  are  not  very  deep,  therefore  fire-damp  has  rarely 
been  the  cause  of  destruction.  Coal  was  extracted  at 
as  early  time  as  200  li.c.  in  the  dynasty  of  Han. 
Although  the  mode  of  extraction  was  very  primitive, 
enough  was  obtained  to  satisfy  all  wants. 

.■\bout  1861  the  (jovcrnnient  handed  the  exploration  of 
the  mines  overto.Xmerican  prospectors.  The  work,  last- 
ing from  1 862-64,  \\as  directed  by  Prof.  Pumpelli,  who  at  its 
termination  sent  the  Emperor  a  report  and  a  map  of  the 
coal-fields.  The  Smithsonian  Institute  of  Washington 
have  had  these  documents  published  :  they  have  also 
appeared  in  the  diplomatic  coirespondence  of  the 
United  .States  (1864).  Later  on,  Haron  de  Richtofen  did 
similar  work,  and  found  that  the  coal-fields  in  China 
are  even  more  extensive  than  those  in  .\orlh  .America. 

Research  work  has  not  been  carried  far  in  natural 
science.  In  zoology  their  classifications  are  quite  wrong. 
The  drawings  in  zoological  and  botanical  books  can  often 
scarcely  be  recognised.  Their  most  ancient  work  on 
botany  dates  from  2700  n.f.,  and  is  a  treatise  written  by  the 
Emperor  Shen-nung  :  it  is  merely  enumerative.  Another 
work,  the  "  Rh-ya,"  dates  from  1200  n.c,  and  shows 
signs  of  progress.  The  "  Pen-tsao,"  an  cncyclopedi.i,  is, 
according  to  M.  Hretschneider,  of  little  value. 

This  Russian  investigator  speaks  of  the  Chinese  as  fol- 
lows :  "  It  is  an  undeniable  fact  that  the  Chinese  do  not 
know  how  to  observe,  and  liav  e  no  regard  for  truth  ;  their 
style  is  negligent,  full  of  ambiguities  and  contradictions 
teeming  with  marvellous  and  chiklish  digressions." 

However,  in  a  more  recent  communication,  M.  Hret- 
schneider retracts  his  words,  and  says  that  it  is  more 
that  the  Chinese  will  not  observe,  than  that  they  can- 
not, for  Lichi-Tchen,  author  of  several  interesting 
pamphlets,  brings  forward  many  facts  concerning 
cultivated  plants. 

With  regard  to  medical  science,  it  is  very  elementary. 
Occasionally  here  and  there  a  successful  doctor  is  to  be 
found.  This  laik  of  knowledge  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
for  Buddhism  forbids  dissection  of  bodies.  In  the  temple 
of  Confucius  a  bronze  figure  is  to  be  found,  on  which  all 
the  difl'eren*    oarts  are  marked  where  the  surgical  needle 


October  24,  1895J 


NATURE 


62: 


may  be  applied.      This   needle  is    practically    the   only 
instniment  used  in  the  profession. 

The  height  of  civilisation  in  China  was  reached  at  the 
end  of  the  reign  of  Kang-hi.  The  gradual  decline  is 
supposed  to  have  commenced  with  the  Tartar  domination. 


THE  FLORA  OF  THE  GALAPAGOS  ISLANDS. 
T^R.  (;.  B.A.l'R'S  theory  of  the  origin  of  the  Galapagos 
^^  Islands  is  too  well  known  to  need  explanation  here: 
yet  it  may  be  briefly  designated  the  theory  of  subsidence. 
He  argues  that  the  islands  were  formerly  connected  with 
each  other,  and  at  an  earlier  period  with  the  American 
continent.  It  is  also  almost  needless  to  say  that  this  theory 
has  met  with  an  exceedingly  hostile  reception  ;  few  in- 
deed accepting  it,  even  as  restricted  to  a  former  union  of 
the  islands  themselves.  The  publication  of  an  account 
of  the  botanical  collections '  affords  an  opportunity 
of  examining  this  theory  from  a  botanical  stand- 
point. For  the  purposes  of  the  "  Botany "  of  the 
Cliallcngc)'  Expedition,  and  c\  er  since  the  publica- 
tion of  that  work,  I  hax  e  collected  all  the  data  coming 
under  my  notice  bearing  on  the  dispersal  of  plants  to  con- 
siderable distances  by  wind,  water,  birds  or  other  creatures 
excepting  human.  The  evidence  thus  collected  sufficiently 
accounts  for  the  vegetation  of  low  coral  islands,  and  the 
littoral  vegetation  of  widely  separated  countries  :  but  it  in 
no  way  helps  to  explain  the  vegetation  of  the  enormously 
distant  islands  of  the  Antarctic  seas,  for  example,  or  that 
of  the  islands  of  the  Galapagos  group,  to  give  another 
instance. 

But  these  arc  not  parallel  cases  ;  they  are  the  two 
extremes  in  the  amount  of  differentiation  in  connection 
with  isolation. 

The  biological  phenomena  of  the  Galapagos  Islands 
left  a  deeper  impression,  probably,  on  the  mind  of 
Darwin  than  those  of  any  other  part  of  the  world  he 
visited,  and  doubtless  had  much  to  do  with  his  later  con- 
ception of  the  origin  of  species.  The  fact  on  which  he 
laid  special  stress  was  that  the  genera,  to  a  very  great 
extent,  were  the  same  in  all  the  islands,  and  the  species 
different  in  each  island.  Dr.  Baur's  much  more  exten- 
sive zoological  and  botanical  collections  and  observations 
confirm  and  emphasise  the  correctness  of  the  view  of  his 
illustrious  predecessor  of  fifty  years  ago.  Darwin 
specially  refers  to  the  existence  of  different  species  or 
races  of  tortoises  and  mocking-thrushes  in  many  of  the 
islands  ;  and  Baurs  examination  of  the  lizards  of  the 
genus  Tro/iidun/s,  from  twelve  of  the  islands,  rexeals 
the  same  condition  of  things.  The  botanists  bring  for- 
ward F.uphorbia  ~,'iiiii)U'a  in  illustration  of  this  pheno- 
menon. This  species  was  described  by  .Sir  Joseph 
Hooker  from  a  single  specimen  collected  by  Macrae  in 
.\lbemarle  Island,  and  the  author  remarks  that  he 
"  knew  of  no  species  with  which  to  compare  this  highly 
curious  one.'"  Dr.  Baur  collected  it  extensively  in  eight 
of  the  islands,  and  the  specimens  from  almost  every 
one  of  them  exhibit  distinct  racial  characteristics.  Aca- 
/Yp/i(t,  a  genus  of  the  same  n.atural  order,  presents 
somewhat  more  pronounced  variation  in  the  different 
islands,  which  some  botanists  regard  as  of  specific  value  ; 
other  botanists  as  of  varietal  value  only.  Whatever  status 
we  give  these  forms,  the  flora  as  a  whole  is  a  most  in- 
structive and  conx  incing  illustration  of  evolution. 

A  remarkable  peculiarity  of  the  (Galapagos  flora,  as  an 
insular  flora,  is  the  almost  total  absence  of  endemic 
genera,  for  the  two  or  three  genera  of  the  Composita: 
restricted  to  the  islands  are  so  closely  allied  to  .American 
genera  as  hardly  to  count  as  distinct.     Indeed  the  whole 

^  B.  I-.  Robinson  and  J.  .\I.  lireetiman,  in  Atturican  Journal  of  Science, 
vol.  1.  pp.  135-149. 

X.B. — Dr.  G.  Baur  wxs  attached  to  the  United  .States  Fish  Commisyiion 
steamer  Albatross,  and  spent  nearly  three  months  in  the  islands,  from  June 
10  to  .September  6,  1891. 


NO.    1356,   VOL.   52] 


flora  is  so  thoroughly  American  that,  apart  from  geolo- 
gical difficulties,  it  might  be  regarded  as  a  differentiated 
remnant  thereof,  rather  than  derived  therefrom,  after  the 
supposed  elevation  of  the  islands.  Analogous  conditions 
and  phenomena  are  repeated  in  the  deep  valleys  of  the 
great  mountain  chains  of  northern  India  and  western 
China,  where,  in  neighbouring  valleys,  the  genera  are  to 
a  great  extent  the  same  and  the  species  different. 

Returning  to  Dr.  Baur's  extensive  botanical  collections 
from  the  Galapagos,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  they 
yielded  about  a  dozen  new  species  belonging  to  the  pre- 
dominating genera. 

Looking  at  the  composition  of  the  Galapagos  flora, 
especially  with  an  eye  to  the  probabilities  of  the  transport 
of  the  seeds  of  its  constituents,  combined  with  present 
conditions.  Dr.  Baur's  theor>'  seems  deserving  of  more 
serious  consideration  than  it  has  hitherto  received.  My 
verj-  slender  knowledge  of  geology  alone  prevents  me  from 
taking  up  a  more  decided  position. 

W.   BOTTING   HeMSLEY. 


THE  LATE  PROFESSOR  HOPPE-SEYLER} 

\\. 
Hoppc-Seylcrs  Work  in  Pcrlin,  1850  54  and  1856-61. 

IT  has  already  been  stated  that  Hoppe  selected  as  the 
subject  of  his  inaugural  dissertation  some  observa- 
tions on  the  structure  of  cartilage  and  on  chondrin.'- 
Chondrin  had  been  first  separated  and  examined  by 
Johannes  .M  tiller,  •'and  afterwards  by  Mulder  and  Donders. 
Pursuing'  his  study  of  the  chemical  reactions  of  the  so- 
called  chondrin,  Hoppe  in  1852^  described  its  lasvo- 
rotatory  propetty,  and  showed  that  when  decomposed 
by  long  boiling  with  dilute  mineral  acids  it  yields  leucine, 
but  neither  glycocine  nor  tyrosine.  Still  directing  his 
attention  to  the  connective  tissues,  Hoppe  in  the  follow- 
ing year  published  a  valuable  and  interesting  paper-'  on 
the  structural  elements  of  cartilage,  bone,  and  tooth. 
\'irchow  had  shown ''  the  possibility  of  isolating  the  so- 
called  bone  corpuscles.  Hoppe  now  alleged  facts  which 
seemed  to  prove  that  the  lacuna;  and  canaliculi  of  bone 
are  lined  by  a  tissue  resembling  elastic  tissue,  and  are 
left  surrounding  the  bone  cells  when  decalcified  bone  is 
boiled  in  a  Papin's  digester.  Extending  his  investigation 
to  tooth,  Hoppe  studied  the  chemistry'  of  the  organic 
basis  of  dentine,  and  isolated  the  "dentinal  sheaths," 
which  he  showed  to  correspond  structurally  and  chemic- 
ally to  the  more  internal  portion  of  the  ground  substance 
of  bone,  which  may  be  separated  as  a  distinct  investment 
bordering  the  lacuna;,  canaliculi,  and  Ha\  ersian  canals. 
There  can  be  no  question  of  the  important  bearing  which 
these  early  histologic-chemical  researches  had  upon  the 
development  of  our  knowledge  of  the  relations  and 
affinities  of  the  connective  tissues :  attention  has  been 
drawn  to  them  for  this  reason,  as  well  as  because  they 
differed  somewhat  in  their  scope  and  method  from  the 
work  with  which  Hoppe  afterwards  mainly  busied 
himself 

Passing  over  three  interesting  papers  on  auscultation  • 
and  communications  of  minor  importance  on  chemical 

1  In  the  fragmentarj-  notes  which  follow,  I  do  not  pretend  to  give  a  com- 
plete or  entirely  consecutive  account  of  Hoppe-Seylcr's  labours  ;  my  object 
IS  to  draw  attention  to  some  of  the  principal  results  of  hisjife-work,  and  to 
indicate  in  this  way  his  position  among  those  who,  during  the  last  half- 
century,  have  contributed  to  the  advancement  of  biological  science.— A.  G. 

-  F.  Hoppe,  "  De  Cirtilaginum  Slructura el  Chondrino  nonnulla,"  Diss.. 
Inaiig.  Berol.  1850. 

5  Job.  Mailer,  Poggendorff' s  Aimalcn,  vol.  vvxviii.  (1836)  pp.  395-356. 

■*  Hoppe  '*  Ueber  d.is  Chondrin  und  einige  seiner  Zersit/ungsproducte," 
Joum.f.  Prakt.  Chemic,  vol.  Ivi.  (iS5r)p.  129. 

5  Hoppe,  "  Ueber  die  Gewcbseiemenle  der  Knorpel  Knoclien  iiml  Zahne,' 
Virchow's  Archhi,  vol.  v.  (1853)  p.  170. 

6  Virchow,  "  Verhandl.  d.  Phys.  Med.  Gcsellschaft  zu  Wurzburg,'  vol.  it. 
p.  152. 

"  Virchow's  Archiv,  vol.  vi.  (1854)  pp.  I43-I73.  vol.  vi.  (1854)  pp.  331-349, 
vol.  viii.  (1855)  pp.  250-259. 


624 


NA  TURE 


[October  24,  1S95 


questions  relating  to  physiology'  and  pathologj-,  xve  come 
to  the  first  in  the  long  series  of  valuable  contributions 
which  Hoppe  made  to  the  physiological  chemistrj-  of  the 
blood.  This  short  paper  of  only  two  pages  was  pubhshed 
in  1857,  after  his  return  to  Berlin,  and  consisted  of  a  pre- 
liminary communication  on  the  action  of  carbonic  oxide 
on  the  blood.'  In  this  paper  he  announced  that  carbonic 
oxide  so  affects  the  colounng-matter  (at  that  time  desig- 
nated Hamatoglobulin  by  Hoppe)  as  to  render  it  incapable 
of  fulfilling  the  function,  so  important  for  the  blood  as 
well  as  for  the  whole  organism,  of  acting  as  the  carrier 
of  o.xygen.  Simultaneously  and  independently,  Claude 
Bernard  =  had  observed  the  same  facts  as  Hoppe,  and 
had  shown,  in  addition,  that  when  carbonic  oxide  acts  upon 
blood  it  is  absorbed  and  displaces  oxygen.  .-Xlthough 
his  analytical  data  did  not  bear  out  the  assertion,  Claude 
Bernard  stated  that  for  each  volume  of  oxygen  displaced 
one  volume  of  carbonic  o.xide  is  absorbed,  a  relation 
which  was  afterwards  shown  to  be  actually  correct  by  the 
fine  investigation  of  Lothar  Meyer.^  As  will  be  after- 
wards stated,  it  was,  however,  Hoppe-Seyler  who,  in 
1S65,  after  Stokes'  beautiful  researches  on  the  reduction 
of  oxy-ha.moglobin,  furnished  the  complete  explanation 
of  the  way  in  which  carbonic  oxide  exerts  its  action  on 
the  blood  and  its  colouring-matter,  and  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  medical  jurist  a  method  of  distinguishing 
between  blood  which  has  been  rendered  florid  by  carbonic 
oxide  and  blood  which  owes  its  red  arterial  colour  to 
o.xygen. 

The  year  1857  witnessed  also  the  publication  of  the 
first  ■*  of  a  series  of  researches  on  the  property  which 
many  of  the  proximate  principles  of  the  body  possess  of 
rotating  the  plane  of  polarisation.  Biot  had  discovered 
that  albumin  rotates  the  plane  of  polarisation  to  the  left, 
and  Bouchardal  and  .\.  Becquercl  had  endeavoured,  but 
without  success,  to  base  upon  this  discovery  a  method  for 
the  quantitative  estimation  of  albumin.  In  his  first  paper 
Hoppe  showed  (i)  that,  as  was  to  be  predicted,  the 
rotation  produced  by  a  solution  of  albumin  was  strictly 
proportional  to  the  amount  of  albumin  in  solution,  and  to 
the  thickness  of  the  stratum  traversed  by  the  light  ;  (2) 
that  albumin  existing  in  a  state  of  solution  in  a  liquid 
rotates  the  plane  of  polarisation  of  light  almost  exactly  as 
much  to  the  left  as  an  equal  percentage  of  grape  sugar 
rotates  it  to  the  right.  In  the  same  year  (1857)  and  the 
year  following,  Hoppe  published  other  papers  on  the 
rotator)'  properties  of  other  organic  proximate  principles 
of  the  animal  body.* 

With  his  hands  full  of  original  work,  with  the  chemical 
laboratory  of  the  Pathological  Institute  to  direct,  busily 
helping  the  students  who  were  attracted  to  work  under  a 
teacher  full  of  enthusiasm  and  ability,  Hoppe  yet  found 
time  to  publish,  in  1858,  the  first  edition  of  his  "  Hand- 
book of  Physiologico-Chemical  and  I'athologico- 
Chemical  .Analysis." "  The  only  work  at  that  time  in 
existence  which  fulfilled  the  same  object  was  the  very 
useful  work  of  Oorup-Iiesanez,  of  which  the  first  edition 
appeared  in  1850,  the  second  in  1854,"  and  the  third  and 
last  in  1871.    Hoppe-Seyler's  book  was  written  on  lines 


1  H 
glol 
I  c 


■•' ■  -'■■■   K  •htenoxydg.i^cs  auf  dai^  H.^mato* 

.  Irclih;  vol.  xi.  (1857)  P  ^88. 
- .  des   Nubittancc!*   toxiquett  cl 

ine    oxydo  carU'nijt  inrecto,"  Di$]u:rt.    In- 
.8s8. 

■    '       V  ■"        ■j'-hallM  im  Urin,   Blut- 
hen     PolarUation»-Ap* 

'  I  •   \  -■■:■    nid  G.->ncn 
I         luinungdvs 
PoIaris.-i. 
,  .    y ;■'  '  "  I      Ucljcr  die 
'  II  uiid  ihrc  /crwtzung-,* 
141. 
Ill  >it.  M'hiirh  [  lonK  treasured 
,  the  title  of  the  rint  edition 
.  Analyse." 
\rH'  iniiiK'  'III   'ju.-ilitaiiven  und  quanlitativcn 
(NOrnb«rK,  VcrlAfE  v.  U  SchrA);,  1854.) 


,y-,    vol..     52] 


essentially  the  same,  but  was  distinguished  by  containing 
many  new  methods,  the  results  of  the  original  researches 
of  its  author  :  as,  for  example,  on  the  rotatory  properties 
of  various  origanic  bodies,  on  the  polarimctric  estimation 
of  albumin  and  milk-sugar,  on  the  colorimetric  estim- 
ation of  the  blood-colouring  matter,  on  new  methods  of 
blood  analysis,  iS:c.  Personally,  the  writer  is  greatly 
indebted  to  the  first  and  the  subsequent  editions  of 
Hoppe-Seyler's  work,  and  in  saying  that  it  has  e.xerted  a 
powerful  and  useful  influence  in  difl'using  a  knowledge  of 
the  best  methods  of  pr.ictical  work  throughout  the 
laboratories  where  researches  in  physiological  chemistry 
are  pursued,  he  is  only  expressing  an  opinion  which 
he  believes  to  be  shared  by  all  who  arc  best 
qualified  to  judge.  In  spite  of  a  decided  narrowness, 
amounting  at  times  to  unfairness,  which  asserts  itself  in 
nearly  all  Hoppe-Seyler's  writings,  and  which  caused  him 
to  attach  undue  importance  to  his  own  work  and  that  of 
his  own  pupils,  and  which  explains  some  unfortunate 
omissions  and  deficiencies,  the  "  Handbook  "  remains  the 
recognised  practical  work  consulted  by  the  student  of 
physiological  chemistry.  The  sixth,  and  last,  edition  of 
the  book,' edited  jointly  by  Hoppe-Seyler  and  his  pupil 
Ur.  Thierfelder,  appeared  early  in  1893. 

Hoppe-Seyler's  Work-in   Tiibingen^  1861-72. 

With  his  appointment  as  ordinary  Professor  of  .\pplied 
Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Tiibingen  conimenced 
the  most  prolific  period  of  Hoppe-.Seyler's  scientific  life, 
during  which  he  contributed  to  science  his  researches 
on  hivmoglobin  and  its  derivatives — researches  which, 
with  the  work  of  .Stokes,  Claude  Bernard,  Pfliiger, 
Ludwig  and  his  school,  have  furnished  us  with  the 
greater  part  of  the  knowledge  which  we  at  present 
possess  concerning  the  chemistry  of  the  blood-colouring 
matter  and  the  part  which  it  plays  in  res])iration.  .\t 
Tubingen,  Hoppe,  then  in  the  very  prime  of  life,  sur- 
rounded by  pupils,  amongst  whom  were  Diakonow, 
Uybkowsky,  Sliescher,  Parke,  and  .Salkowski,  showed 
much  more  clearly  than  was  possible  in  the  position 
which  he  occupied  in  Berlin,  his  capacity  to  be  the  head 
of  a  school — that  is,  his  power  of  inducing  men  to  work 
out  his  own  ideas,  and  of  animating  them  with  the  desire 
to  advance  science  by  their  own  researches. 

It  was  in  1862  that  appeared  Hoppe's  short  but  epoch- 
marking  ])apcr  "  On  the  behaviour  of  the  blood-colouring 
matter  in  the  spectrum  of  sunlight.'-  Thmugh  the  re- 
searches of  Brewster  and  Herschel,  the  fad  that  absorp- 
tion bands  occurred  in  the  spectrum  of  light  which  had 
been  passed  through  certain  coloured  gases,  vapours,  and 
diluted  coloured  solutions  had  become  known,  and  the 
absorption  spectra  of  indigo  and  chlorophyll  had  been 
described.  The  discovery  of  (he  wonderfully  character- 
istic absorption  spectrum  of  blood  at  once  enabled  Hoppe 
to  assert  that  ha-matin,  which  had  up  to  that  time  been 
by  many  considered  the  true  blood-colouring  matter,  did 
not  exist  preformed  in  the  blood  corpuscles,  but  that  it 
is  a  product  of  decomposition  of  the  true  blood-colouring 
matter  which  is  the  c.iuse  of  the  absorption  bands  which 
he  had  discovered,  and  which,  under  the  influence  of  heal, 
acids,  &c.,  splits  up  into  haniatin  and  an  albuminous  sub- 
stance. Without  doubt,  added  Hoppe,  the  true  blood- 
colouring  matter  is  the  body  which  forms  the  blood 
crystals  of  Funcke,  and  these  crystals  are  not,  as  Lehm.inn 
had  erroneously  supposed,  composed  of  a  colourless  albu- 
minous /iiciiiiitotrvslitlliiir  stained  with  hainatin. 

There  can  be  no  i|ucstion  that  Hoppe  at  once  ap- 
preciated  the    inmicnse   value  of  the  information  which 

'  "  Handliiirli  tier  l*Ity>iol(»t;iscli-  und  FntlioIogisch-ChcniiMihcn  Ana1y!>0 
nir  Aer/lc  und   Sludircndc,"    von    Felix    Hopi»e-.Seyler.     Scch>tc  Auflnge 


id    H. 
irschwald, 


neu  be.irbcitcl  von  !■".  Hoppc.Scylcr,  Professor  in  Slrassliure, 
Thierfelder,  I'rivatdocenl  in  Uerlin.  (Herlin,  Vcrl,iK  von  Aug.  H 
■893-) 

-  Prof.  Felix  Hoppe  in  TObingen,  "  Uelicr  d.-i5  Vcrhallen  des  HlutOirb- 
stofrc^im  Spectrum  dcs  .Sonncnlichtes,"  \'irchow*s  Aixhiv,  vol.  xxiii.  (i893)i 
pp.  446-440. 


OCTOUER  24,    1695J 


NA  TURE 


625 


lie  had  acquired  by  his  study  of  the  spectrum  of  blood, 
thougli  the  full  lij^ht  which  it  was  destined  to  throw- 
on  the  function  of  the  blood-colouring  matter  was  only 
recognised  when  Stokes  publislied  his  paper  "  On  the 
Reduction  and  Oxidation  of  the  Colouring-matter  of  the 
IJlood."  Having  described  the  beautiful  experiments  which 
he  had  performed  after  becoming  acquainted  with  Hoppe's 
paper  on  the  blood  spectrum,  Stokes  stated  the  con- 
clusions, which  might  legitimately  be  drawn  from  them 
in  the  following  words  :  "We  may  infer  from  the  facts 
above  mentioned  that  the  colouring-matter  of  blood, 
like  indigo,  is  capable  of  existing  in  two  states  of  oxi- 
dation, distinguishable  by  a  difference  of  colour  and  a 
fundamental  difference  in  the  action  of  the  spectrum. 
It  may  be  made  to  pass  from  the  more  to  the  less  oxi- 
dised state  by  the  action  of  suitable  reducing  agtnts,  and 
recovers  its  oxygen  by  absorption  from  the  air."  ■ 

The  new  facts  acquired  by  the  combined  use  of 
chemical  and  optical  methods  at  once  explained  a  large 
number  of  facts.  Hoppe-Seyler  showed  that  carbonic 
oxide  blood  was  distinguished  from  normal  blood  in  being 
unacted  upon  by  reducing  agents,  and  thus  placed  a 
valuable  test  in  the  hands  of  the  medical  jurist  called 
upon  to  investigate  cases  of  death  by  charcoal  fumes.- 
The  explanation  of  the  facts  discovered  by  Claude 
Bernard  and  by  Lothar  .Meyer  was  obvious — to  wit,  that 
carbonic  oxide  forms  a  compound  with  the  blood-colour- 
ing matter,  more  stable  than  the  oxygen  compound,  and 
in  which  apparently  one  molecule  of  CO  has  replaced  O.,. 

With  the  resources  of  spectrum  analysis  to  aid  him, 
Hoppe  now  devoted  himself  with  energy  to  the  inves- 
tigation of  the  blood-colouring  matter  (which  he  named 
Haemoglobin  '),  showing  how  to  separate  and  purify  it 
by  repeated  crystallisation,  determining  its  composition, 
studying  personally,  and,  with  the  aid  of  his  pupil 
Dybkowsky,  its  combinations  with  oxygen  and  with  car- 
bonic oxide,  examining  its  products  of  decomposition,  and 
showing  its  probable  connections  with  certain  other 
animal  colouring  matters.^ 

It  would  be  impossible  in  this  place  to  comment  in 
detail  on  all  Hoppe-.Seyler's  contributions  to  the  chemistry 
of  the  blood-colouring  matter  ;  these  constitute  his 
highest  claim  to  distinction,  and  will  ever  cause  him  to 
be  remembered  as  having  contributed  most  largely  to 
our  knowledge  of  the  manner  in  which  the  respiratory 
exchanges  of  animals  are  effected. 

Until  he  removed  from  Berlin  to  Tiiliingen,  and  for 
some  time  after,  Hoppe-.Seyler  published  his  researches 
for  the  most  part  in  Virchow's  ^n/m',  some  of  his  papers 
appearing,  however,  in  Fresenius'  Zei/si/ir/ft,  in  the 
Aiina/c/t  d.  ChcDiic  und  Pliarinacic,  and  in  the  Bericlitc  of 
the  Chemical  .Society  of  Berlin.  In  1866,  however,  he 
commenced  the  pul)lication  of  the  collected  papers  issuing 
from  his  laboratory,  under  the  title  of  "  Med.-Chemische 
Untersuchungcn.''''  Four  parts  of  this  publication 
appeared,  the  last  in  1 87 1. 

Hoppc-Scy/ct's  IVork  in  Strailmrg,  1S72-1895. 

A  proper  estimate  of  Hoppe-Seyler's  work  would 
necessitate  a  careful  review  of  the  fine  researches  pub- 
lished by  his  pupils,  for  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  his 

1  Prof.  Stokes,  F.R.S.,  "  On  the  Reduction  .md  Oxidation  of  the  Colour- 
ing-matter of  the  Blood."  Proceedings  of  the  Royal  Society,  vol.  xiii. 
(1864)  p.  357,  paragraph  8. 

-  Hoppe-Seyler,  "  Erkennung  der  Vergiftung  mit  Kohlenoxyd."  Fre- 
senius'  Zeitsckrtft,  vol.  iii.  (1864)  p.  439.  Phitoso/fhical Magazine,  vol.  .\.\.v. 
{1B65)  p.  456. 

■*  "  Um  Vcrvvechsclungen  zu  vermeiden  nenne  ich  den  BUitfabstoff 
Hiimatoglobulin  odcr  Hiimoglobin,"  Virchow's  Archiv,  vol.  xxix.  (1864)  p. 

SIS- 

•*  Hoppe-Seylcr's  "  lieitr.ige  zur  Kenntuiss  des  Blutes  des  Menschen  und 
der  Wirhclthiere"  ;  "  Med-Cheni.  Untersuchungcn,"'  pp.  160-214,  366.385, 
523-550;  *'Zur  Chemie  des  Blutes  und  seiner  Bestandthede,"  ititi.,  pp. 
39-300 ;  Dybkowsky,  "  Kinigc  Bcstiinmungen  iiber  die  Quantit.-it  des 
init  dem  Hiimoglobinlose  gebundcnen  Sauersloffs,"  ibiii.,  p.  1 17-132. 

t»  "  Medicinisch-Chcmische  Untersuchungen  aus  dem  Laboratorium  ftir 
-angewandlc  Chemie  zu  Tubingen  herausgcgeben,  von  Dr.  Felix  Hoppe- 
Seyler."     Berlin,  1866. 

NO.    1356,  VOL.   52] 


case,  as  in  that  of  many  of  the  most  distinguished  scien- 
tific men  of  Oermany,  the  work  of  the  master  has  often 
been  credited  to  the  pupil  under  whose  name  it  has 
appeared.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  it  would  be 
impossible,  within  the  limits  of  such  an  article  as  the 
present  one,  to  give  an  account,  however  brief,  of  the 
succession  of  valuable  papers  which  issued  from  the 
new  Physiologico-Chemical  Institute  of  Strasburg.  Two 
events  in  Hoppe-Seyler's  scientific  life  in  Strasburg  can- 
not, however,  be  passed  over,  viz.  the  publication  of  his 
"  Text-Book  of  Physiological  Chemistry,"  and  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Zcitschrifl  fiir  Physiologische  Chemie.  The 
firstpartof  the  "Text-Book  of  Physiological  Chemistr)'" 
appeared  in  1877,  the  second  in  1878,  the  third  in  1879, 
and  the  fourth  in  1881.  This  work  is  of  interest  as  giving 
Hoppe-Seyler's  views  of  the  chemical  processes  of  the 
body  ;  yet  it  neither  achieved  nor  merited  great  success. 
Devoted  though  he  was  to  work  by  which  he  unquestion- 
ably did  much  to  advance  both  physiology  and  pathology, 
Hoppe-Seyler  was  essentially  a  chemist  rather  than  a 
biologist  ;  and  when,  as  in  his  systematic  treatise,  he  left 
chemical,  to  speculate  on  biological,  questions,  his  weak 
points  became  verj-  obvious. 

This  account  of  Hoppe-Seyler's  work  must  close  with  a 
reference  to  the  great  service  which  he  rendered  to  our 
branch  of  science  by  founding;  in  1877-78,  the  Zcituhrift 
fiir  Physiologische  Chemie.  From  the  first  number  to  the 
last  this  periodical  has  maintained  a  high  standard,  and, 
besides  containing  the  results  of  all  the  work  done  in  the 
Strasburg  Laborator)',  it  has  received  contributions  from 
nearly  all  the  prominent  workers  in  physiological 
chemistry.  In  succession  to  Hoppe-.Seyler,  Professors 
Baumann  and  Kossel  are,  it  is  understood,  to  be  the 
future  editors  of  this  journal.  .ARTHUR  GamgeeJ 


NOTES. 

Wf.  are  informed  that  a  biography  of  Prof.  Huxley  is  being 
prepared  by  his  son,  Mr.  Leonard  Huxley,  who  will  be  greatly 
obliged  if  those  who  possess  letters  or  other  documents  of  interest 
will  forward  thein  to  him  at  Charterhouse,  Godalming.  They 
will  be  carefully  returned  after  being  copied. 

Thf.  Committee  of  the  Pasteur  Institute  have  appointed  Dr. 
Duclaux,  formerly  sub-director,  to  succeed  AL  Pasteur  as 
director,  and  Dr.  Roux  to  be  sub-director  of  the  Institute. 

We  understand  that  the  final  interment  of  M.  Pasteur  in  the 
J'asteur  Institute  will  not  take  place  on  Friday,  as  had  been 
intended,  because  the  vault  and  part  of  the  sculpture  cannot  be 
ready  in  time. 

The  centenar}'  celebrations  of  the  Institute  of  France  com- 
menced as  we  went  to  press  yesterday,  and  will  terminate  on 
Saturday  by  a  visit  to  the  fine  chateau  of  Chantilly,  where  the 
associates  and  members  will  be  received  by  the  Due  d'.-Kumale. 
An  account  of  the  foundation  and  membership  of  the  Institute 
appeared  in  these  columns  a  few  weeks  ago,  and  we  hope  to  give 
in  our  next  issue  a  full  description  of  the  ceremonies  now  taking 
place. 

A  BRONZE  portrait  bust  of  Dr.  Robeil  Brown  was  unveiled  on 
Friday  in  his  native  town,  Montrose,  Forfarshire  at  a  reception 
held  by  the  Provost,  magistrates,  and  town  council  of  Montrose. 
Beneath  the  bust  is  a  tablet,  with  the  following  inscription  : — 
"Robert  Brown,  D.C.L.  O.xon.,  LL.D.  Edinburgh,  F.R.S. 
London,  President  of  the  Linnean  Society,  Member  of  the  In- 
stitute of  France.  Born  in  this  house  21st  December,  1773; 
died  in  London  loth  June,  1858.  '  Bolanicorum  facile  princeps,' 
Alex.  \on  Humboldt.'"  .-\  large  number  of  distinguished 
botanists  from  all  parts  of  the  kingdom  were  present. 


626 


NATURE 


[October  24,  1895 


Mr.  p.  \\.  Lawrence,  whu^c-  kmwk  will  be  remembered  by 
some  students  of  mineralogj-,  but  more  widely  in  legal  circles, 
died  a  few  days  agn.  We  have  also  to  record  the  death  of 
Prof.  E.  \V.  Blake,  until  lately  professor  of  physics  in  Brown 
University :  of  Dr.  E.  F.  Rogers,  instructor  in  chemistry  at 
Har\-ard  University ;  of  Prof.  V.  Rydbei^,  the  Swedish 
archxologist  :  of  Mr.  H.  \V.  \".  Stuart,  who  devoted  much 
attention  lo  the  study  of  Egypt  and  its  monuments  ;  of  Father 
Hirst,  the  author  tif  numerous  contriliulions  to  arch.vology  ;  and 
of  Dr.  F.  M.  Slapff.  the  geologist,  while  prosi^ecting  for  gold  in 
Ea  t  .-Kfrica. 

The  sixth  Congress  of  Medicine  was  opened  at  Rome  on 
Tuesday  by  Dr.  liaccelii.  Minister  of  Public  Instruction. 

In  addition   to  the  jiapers,  already  notified  in  the  usual  way, 
to  be  read  at  the  ne.\t  meeting  of  the  London  Physical  Society 
to-morrow,  there  will   l)e  read,   if  lime  permits,  a  paper  "  On  . 
the  Magnetic  Field  of  any  Cylindrical  Coil. or  Plane  Circuit,'" 
by  Mr.  W.  H.  Eveictt. 

The  steamship  U'indwani,  which  conveyed  the  meml>ers  of 
the  Jaclcson-Harmsworth  Polar  expedition  to  Franz  Josef  I^nd, 
arrived  at  (Jravesend  on  Tuesday  It  will  be  remembered  that 
the  IViiidward  left  the  Thames  in  July  1S94  ;  she  has  brought 
lack  the  records  of  the  expedition  from  that  dale  up  lo  the 
beginning  of  July  of  this  year.  Mr.  Jackson  and  his  parly 
remain  in  Franz  Josef  Lind,  anil  the  vessel  will  return  there, 
with  stores,  next  June. 

A  Fine  Art,  I.NHf.sTRiAi.  a.m>  Maritime  E.miihition  will 
will  be  held  in  Cardiff  in  the  spring  and  summer  of  1896,  under 
the  (Mtronage  of  Iler  Majesty  the  (Jiieen.  The  general  object 
of  the  exhibition  is  to  illustrate  the  most  recent  progress  in  the 
sciences,  arts,  and  manufactures,  and  not  merely  to  be  a  ix)pular 
show.  The  following  is  a  list  of  the  chief  sections,  and  the 
number  of  square  feet  allotted  lo  each  : — Mining  and  mining 
r.ppliances,  13,280  :  machinery,  electricity,  and  local  and  general 
industries,  20,480 ;  maritime,  S400 :  agriculture  and  horti- 
culture, 7280  :  health,  5400  ;  fine  arts,  9600. 

TlIK  annual  exhibition  of  the  South  London  Entomological 
and  Natural  Hi.slory  Society  was  held  on  Thursday  last,  and 
was  much  appreciated  by  the  company  who  wenl  lo  see  the 
numerous  interesting  specimens  arranged  by  the  Committee. 
The  Society  has  for  its  object  the  popularising  of  the  study  of 
natural  history,  and  to  promote  this  it  holds  bi-monthly  meet- 
ings, at  which  i)a|)crs  are  read,  discussions  take  j)lace,  observa- 
tions arc  communicated,  and  specimens  shown  and  commented 
on.  In  the  .summertime  field  meetings  are  held  for  Ihc  pur|5i)sc 
of  collecting  and  observing,  and  |)eriodical  exhibitions  are  pro- 
moted. The  Society's  rooms  are  at  Hibernia  Chamliers,  London 
Bridge,  where  a  large  library  and  typical  collections  arc  kepi  for 
memlicrs'  reference,  as  well  as  a  lantern  for  demonstration  pur- 
(xwes.  At  present  the  numljcr  of  memlicrs  is  al>out  two  hundred. 
The  Secretary  is  Mr.  .Stanley  I\d«ards,  Kidbrooke  I^lge, 
Blackheath,  S.E. 

.Mr.  I>.  Pii>i;eon.  I^-therhcad,  sends  us  an  account  of  acurious 
etTecl  ap|>arcntly  produced  by  lightning  in  the  early  morning  of 
Septcmtx;r  7.  In  a  collage  on  Cherklcy  Courl  estate,  three  or 
four  tumblers  were  left  standing  overnight,  moulh  upright,  on  a 
«hi-lf  affixc'l  lo  the  wall  of  a  small  |>anlr)',  and  about  twelve 
from  Ihc  window,  which  was  o|>cn.  In  the  mnrning  one 
e  tumblers  was  found  lo  have  a  crack  completely  round 
It,  M>  that  a  ring  of  glass,  having  an  uniform  width  of  half  an 
inch,  could  Iw  cleanly  and  easily  detached.  This  hoop  of  glass 
li  Lt  Ixen  preserved  (o  Ik  a  witness  to  Ihe  vagaries  of  electrical 
illvhargc.  There  .seems  little  doulit  that  electricity  had  to  do 
with  the  formation  of  the  crack,  for  large  shrubs,  just   oul.si<le 

NO.    1356.  VOL.  52] 


the  open  window  near  which  the  gla->e>  stood,  were  imnul  Uf 
have  been  damaged  by  the  lightning.  It  would  be  interesting 
to  know  whether  the  glass  was  eminy  01  not,  or  whether  it  was 
wet  up  lo  the  level  of  the  crack. 

The  Harveian  Oralion  was  delivered  on  Friday  last,  at  the- 
Royal  College  of  Physicians,  by  Dr.  \V.  S.  Church,  who  took  for 
his  subject  "  Harvey  and  the  Rise  of  Physiology  in  England." 
For  239  years,  w  iih  but  few  intermissions,  the  College  has  met 
in  obedience  to  Harvey's  direction  to  commemorate  its  bene- 
factors, .^fler  referring  to  the  long  list  of  these.  Dr.  Church 
remarked  that  during  the  present  year  the  College  had  receive<t 
the  magnitlcent  endowment  of  £yooo  to  establish  a  triennial 
prize  for  the  furtherance  of  original  research  on  the  prevention 
and  cure  of  tuberculosis,  the  donor  being  Dr.  Hermann  \Vel>er. 
who,  in  instituting  the  prize,  joined  the  n.^me  of  the  lale  Dr.  E. 
A.  Parkes  with  his  own.  After  the  delivery  of  the  oration,  the 
Baly  medal  was  presented  by  the  President,  Sir  Russell 
Reynolds,  to  Dr.  W.  H.  Ca-skell,  F.R.S.,  of  Cambridge.  Tlie 
medal  is  awarded  biennially  lo  some  person  who  has  distin- 
guished himself  in  the  science  of  physiology  :  it  was  founded  in. 
1866  by  Dr.  F.  D.  Dyster,  "  In  .Memoriam  Culielmi  Baly, 
M.D. ,"  and  amongst  the  names  of  those  who  have  since 
received  it  are  those  of  Claude  Bernard,  Carl  Ludwig,  Darwin. 
Owen,  Kitchen -Parker,  and  Brown-Sequard. 

In  connection  with  ihe  propositi  lo  change  the  name  of  the 
Boulevard  de  \augirard  to  Boulevard  Pasteur,  the  Paris  corre- 
spondent of  the  Chemist  and  Druggist  points  out  that  a  Rue 
Pasteur  already  exists,  while  twenty-one  other  streets  of  Paris- 
have  been  named  after  chemists.  Of  these  fourteen  were  ol 
French  nationality,  and  include  Chevreul,  Gay-Lussac,  Lavoisiciv 
Raspail,  &c.  Davy  figures  as  the  sole  English  chemist,  and  ihe 
only  other  foreigner  is  the  Swede  Berzelius,  The  names  of  seveiv 
lK)lanisls  appear  on  street  corners,  amongst  which  are  Dupetit, 
Thouars,  Jussieu  and  Linne.  Nicholas  Flamel.  writer  anil 
alchemist,  who  flourished  in  the  second  half  of  the  fourteentli 
century,  has  the  distinction  of  being  the  most  remote  name  con- 
nected with  sciences  after  which  the  Parisians  have  called  .i 
street.  Thirty-nine  thoroughfares  lake  their  names  from  doctors 
and  surgeons ;  amongst  these  figure  Jcnner  and  Vesale,  the 
Belgian  anatomist,  the  only  two  foreign  names.  We  commend 
the  French  custom  to  English  and  munici|)al  authorities  at  a  loss- 
for  suitable  street  names.  It  may  be  thought  a  doubtful  honour 
to  have  one's  name  handed  down  to  posterity  in  this  manner, 
but  the  custom  serves  to  show  that  men  of  science  are  remembereil 
in  I-'rance  in  little  as  well  a.s  in  great  things. 

The  following  statistics,  from  the  /.oologist,  with  reference  to 
the  progeny  of  a  female  Manx  Cat  an<l  an  ordinary  Tom  Cat,  are 
interesting.  The  successive  litters  consisted  of  three  on  each, 
occasion,  and  the  distribution  of  tails  is  shown  in  the  table  :  — 


The  gr.idu.ll  elimin.-ilion  of  the  tailless  condition  characteristic 
of  Manx  cats  is  singular,  and  well  worth  pulling  on  reconl. 

Very  little  detailed  information  exists  .ts  to  the  effecl  of  wiiul 
and  atmospheric  pressure  on  the  tiiles  around  the  British  Isles, 
but  it  is  to  be  hopeil  that  the  Committee  appointed  at  the  recent 
meeting  of  the  British  ,\ssociation  will  succeed  in  eliciling 
suflicient  trustworthy  data  lo  enable  some  general  law  to  be 
deduced  for  the  guidance  of  navigators.  The  Conimillee  ccm- 
sisls    of    Prof,    \ernon    llarcourl,     I'lof.    I'nwin,    Mr.     ('■.     1'. 


No 

tails. 

Hairi.nMs. 

Full  l.iiU. 

1st  litter 

... 

3 

0 

0 

2nd 

2 

1 

0 

3r<1 

I 

2 

0 

4th 

0 

1 

1 

5th 

0 

1 

2 

6th 

0 

0 

3 

October  24,  1895] 


NATURE 


627 


Deacon,  and  Mr.  W.  H.  Wheeler  (Secretar)')  ;  and  as  it  is 
desirous  of  obtaining  information  from  as  many  ports  as  possible, 
«e  are  asked  to  make  its  esistence  known.  A  printed  form, 
showing  the  manner  in  which  it  is  proposed  to  collect  the  tidal 
statistics,  will  be  sent  to  any  one  who  will  render  assistance  to 
tliL-  Committee,  by  Mr.  W.  II.  Wheeler,  Boston,  Lincolnshire, 
who  will  also  be  glad  to  receive  records  of  tides  aft'ected  by 
gales. 

In  connection  with  the  growth  oi  orchids,  writes  Mr.  J.  H. 
Hart,  in  the  October  liiiHetiii  of  the  Royal  Botanic  (iardens, 
Trinidad,  it  has  been  noticed  that  the  presence  of  ants  is 
apparently  necessary  to  their  maintaining  a  healthy  condition  ; 
but  whether  this  is  in  reality  due  to  some  action  of  the  ant  itself, 
or  to  some  indirect  cause,  has  not  yet  been  proved,  and  investi- 
gations are  needed  to  show  what  is  the  real  influence  the  ant  has 
upon  the  health  of  the  plant.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the 
presence  of  stinging  ants  acts  as  a  protection  to  the  plants  ;  but 
Mr.  Hart  is  inclined  to  think,  from  recent  investigations,  that  the 
benefit  the  ants  confer  on  the  plant  are  those  of  providing  it  with 
the  mycelium  of  a  fungus  to  cover  its  roots,  which  organism 
enables  it  to  take  up  food  which  would  be  otherwise  unattain- 
able. It  may  be  shown  that  the  ants  act  as  protectors  to  the 
plants,  as  well  as  providing  them  with  a  means  of  obtaining 
nutriment ;  but  Mr.  Hart  believes  it  to  be  almost  certain 
that  the  fungus  which  grows  in  the  material  they  accumulate 
around  the  root  plays  a  much  more  important  part,  by  providing 
the  plant  with  food  material. 

The  first  number  of  what  promises  to  be  a  useful  serial  publi- 
cation has  just  reached  us  from  the  U.S.  Weather  Bureau.  The 
periodical  has  for  its  name  Climate  and  Health :  it  is  edited, 
under  the  direction  of  Prof.  W.  L.  Moore,  the  new  chief  of  the 
Weather  Bureau,  by  Dr.  W.  F.  R.  Phillips,  and  it  is  devoted  to 
climatology  in  relation  to  health  and  disease.  Tables  are  given 
showing,  for  one  hundred  selected  stations,  statistical  informa- 
tion relative  to  atmospheric  pressure,  temperature,  humidity,  pre- 
4:ipitation,  wind,  and  sunshine :  the  relative  [prevalence  of 
certain  diseases  ;  and  the  mortality  from  different  causes,  in  each 
State.  In  addition  to  these  statistics,  all  of  which  refer  to  the 
conditions  during  July  of  this  year,  the  new  publication  contains 
charts  showing  the  average  pressure  departures  from  the  normal, 
ranges  of  pressure,  prevailing  winds,  and  normal  wind  directions 
for  each  week  in  the  month,  and  similar  charts  to  exhibit 
graphically  the  absolute  and  relative  data  referring  to  temperature, 
humidity,  and  precipitation.  There  is  also  a  chart  for  each  week 
showing  the  total  mortality  by  States,  and  representing  di.agram- 
matically  the  average  climatological  conditions  so  far  as 
tletermined  by  the  mean  temiierature  and  humidities  antl  the 
.total  amount  of  precipitation.  The  general  aim  of  the  Weather 
Bureau  in  this  new  field  of  work  is  to  collect  the  meteorological 
and  hygienic  statistics  considered  by  medical  climatologists  of  the 
greatest  correlative  importance,  and  to  publish  them  in  a  useful 
and  instructive  form.  By  showing  the  statistics  of  mortality  and 
morbidity  side  by  side  with  those  of  climate,  new  information 
as  to  connections  between  sickness  and  weather  changes  will 
probably  be  discovered. 

The  Psychologiral  Review  for  last  month  contains  an  in- 
teresting paper  by  Mr.  K.  .Meade  Bache,  on  "  Reaction  Time 
according  to  Race."  He  suggests  that  the  higher  intellectuality 
of  civilised  white  races  may  have  been  gained  at  the  sacrifice  of 
■quickness  of  response  to  sensory  stimuli,  and  states  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  familiar  observation  that  Negro  children  are  quicker  in 
their  movements  than  the  children  of  white  folk.  At  his  request 
Prof.  Lightner  Witmer  made  careful  and  exact  observations  on 
persons  of  the  Caucasian,  American  Indian,  and  African  (Negro) 
faces.  These  are  given  in  three  tables.  Taking  resjxinse  to 
NO.    1356,  VOL.  52] 


auditory  stimuli,  for  example,  the  order  of  quickness  is  (i) 
Indian,  (2)  .■\frican,  (3)  Caucasian,  in  the  relation  of 
Il6'27  :  130  :  I46°92 ;  these  being  the  reaction  times  in 
thousandths  of  a  second.  .Although  the  numbers  of  individuals 
dealt  with  (not  more  than  a  dozen  in  each  case)  are  small,  the 
results  are  suggestive,  and  will  no  doubt  lead  to  further 
investigation. 

The  attention  of  those  who  are  interested  in  the  question  of 
the  inheritance  of  acquired  characters  may  be  drawn  to  a  paper 
which  Prof.  Mark  Baldwin  contributed  to  Science  (.\ugust  23, 
1895),  under  the  title  "  Consciousness  and  Evolution."  Prof. 
Baldwin  fails  to  see  any  great  amount  of  truth  in  the  claims 
of  Mr.  Spencer  that  intellectual  progress  in  the  race  requires  the 
hereditary  transmission  of  accjuired  increments  in  mental  faculty, 
and  adopts  the  view  advanced  by  Weismann  in  1889,  ami  taken 
up  more  or  less  independently  by  Mr.  Ritchie  and  Mr.  Kidd, 
that  social  advance  is  rather  by  tradition  than  by  hereditary  trans- 
mission. "  Man,'  said  Prof.  Weismann,  "availing  himself  of 
tradition,  is  able,  in  every  part  of  the  intellectual  domain,  to 
seize  upon  the  acquirements  of  his  ancestors  at  the  point  where 
they  left  them,  and  to  pursue  them  further,  finally  himself 
leaving  the  results  of  his  own  experience  and  the  knowledge 
acquired  during  his  lifetime  to  his  descendants,  that  they  may 
carry  on  the  same  process.  '  Prof.  Baldwin  seems  to  have 
reached  this  view  independently,  and  his  paper  is  well  worth 
reading. 

Under  the  extraordinary  heading  of  '•  The  Chemical  Theory 
of  Freedom  of  Will,"  Dr.  W.  Ostwald  makes,  in  the  Leipziger 
Berichte,  some  suggestive'  speculations  upon  the  mechanical 
theory  of  the  universe.  That  all  the  phenomena  of  nature, 
organic  as  well  as  inorganic,  should  be  ultimately  of  a  purely 
mechanical  character,  is  contradicted  by  the  science  of  energy. 
The  theorems  of  energetics  give  the  conditions  under  which  any 
event  takes  place  ;  they  indicate  which  out  of  all  the  possible 
courses  it  will  follow,  and  to  what  state  of  equilibrium  it  tends. 
.Ml  this  does  not  involve  the  element  of  time,  except  in  the  case 
of  kinetic  energy.  In  the  equations  representing  mechanical 
processes,  time  may  t)e  put  as  positive  or  negative  without 
rendering  them  invalid.  In  other  words,  all  purely  mechanical 
processes  are  reversible,  while  natural  jirocesses  are  not.  They 
have  a  forward  and  a  backward  aspect.  Now  there  are  pro- 
cesses in  nature  in  which  an  agent  influences  the  time  during 
which  a  certain  event  takes  place,  without  being  itself  affected 
in  any  way.  This  happens  in  all  cases  of  catalysis,  and  the 
laws  of  catalytic  action  are  as  yet  only  very  imperfectly 
understood.  It  is  known,  however,  that  the  acceleration  of  the 
process  is  proportioned  to  the  concentration  of  the  catalyser. 
May  not  the  human  mind,  the  author  argues,  act  upon  matter 
.somewhat  in  the  manner  of  a  catalyser,  accelerating  the 
chemical  and  mechanical  proce.sses  associated  with  psychical 
activity  without  any  expenditure  of  energy  ?  This  may  be 
worth  considering.  But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  course 
of  natural  phen(jmena  can  be  influenced  in  many  ways  without 
the  expenditure  of  energy.  \n  elastic  missile  rebounding  from 
a  rigid  plane  is  a  case  in  point,  or  a  river  flowing  between 
its  banks. 

The  production  of  antiseptics  appears  to  be  more  and  more 
engaging  the  attention  of  the  great  German  colour  manufac- 
turers, and  yet  another  compound,  rejoicing  in  the  name  of 
potassiumorthodinitrocresolate,  has  been  introduced,  which 
promises  to  prove  of  considerable  service  both  to  the  brewer 
and  to  the  horticulturist.  Messrs.  C.  O.  Harz  and  W.  von 
Miller  have  published  an  account  of  their  investigations  with 
this  substance — or  aniinonnin,  as  it  is  more  generally  called — 
in  the   Mueiichen    Allgemeine   Zeituiig,  and   it  appears  that  a 


628 


NATURE 


[October  24,  1895 


solution  containing  but  one  part  in  1500  to  2000  parts  of  soap- 
water  proves  destructive  to  all  common  injurious  parasites  with- 
out any  deleterious  action  on  the  plants.  Prof.  Aubry,  the 
well-known  director  of  the  experimental  brewing  station  in 
Munich,  has  e.xamined  its  disinfectant  action  on  yeast,  and  finds 
that  the  latter,  when  treated  with  antinonnin,  remained  for  a 
long  time  in  a  fresh  condition  in  the  heated  workrooms,  whilst 
untreated  yeast  rapidly  underwent  decomposition.  A  closer 
examination  showed  that  all  the  sjiecimens  exhibited  destruction 
of  bacteria,  while  the  yeast  itself  proved  resistant  to  even 
stronger  solutions,  up  to  5  per  cent.  Numerous  other  experi- 
ments have  been  made  with  this  substance,  and  so  far  it  promises 
well,  being  also  odourless  and  ver)'  inexpensive.  Whether  this 
new  antiseptic  will  succeed  in  carrjing  out  all  that  is  hoi>ed  of 
it,  remains  to  be  (seen ;  meanwhile  it  may  be  regarded  as  an 
interesting,  and  possibly  important,  contribution  to  our  list  of 
disinfectants. 

Messrs.  Mac.mii.lan  and  Co.  will  issue  in  the  course  of 
November  a  further  instalment  of  their  "  Cambridge  Natural 
History."  The  volume  is  mainly  devoted  to  insects,  Iwing  the 
first  part  of  a  complete  treatise  on  the  subject  by  Mr.  David 
.Sharp,  F.R.S.  Introductor)'  sections  on  Peripatus  and  on 
Myriapods  are  contributed  respectively  by  Mr.  .\dani  Sedgwick, 
F.R.S.,  and  by  Mr.  F.  tJ.  Sinclair.  The  volume  is  the  fifth  in 
the  series,  and  will  be  followed  at  no  long  interval  by  the  second 
volume,  in  which  various  contributors  deal  with  worms  and 
Polyzoa.  The  ninth  volume,  in  which  Mr.  .V  H.  Kvans  treats 
of  birds,  may  l)e  expected  before  the  end  of  next  year. 
Among  .Messrs.  .Macmillan's  announcements  for  next  week,  one 
of  the  most  important  is  that  of  an  exhaustive  work  on  "  The 
Structure  and  Development  of  the  Mosses  and  Ferns  "  (Arche- 
goniata;),  by  Dr.  D.   II.  Campbell. 

Within  the  past  few  days,  a  bulky  bundle  of  new  publications 
of  the  U.S.  Geological  Survey  has  been  added  to  the  many 
reports  and  memoirs  of  the  Survey  already  lying  on  our  table. 
The  amount  of  work  represented  by  these  volumes  is  so  exceed- 
ingly great,  that  limits  of  space  prevent  us  from  attempting  to  de- 
scribe and  discuss  the  ground  covered  in  them.  We  propose, 
however,  to  give  in  an  early  issue  a  general  account  of  the  recent 
publications  of  the  Survey,  and  content  ourselves  at  present  with 
the  bare  statement  of  the  volumes  received  during  this  month. 
First  of  all,  we  have  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  the  fourteeenth 
annual  Report  of  the  Surrey,  in  two  parts.  Part  I  contains  the 
report  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Powell,  the  Director,  on  the  operations  of 
Ihe  Survey  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1893,  and  part  2  (a 
volume  of  six  hundred  pages)  contains  |ia|x:rs  on  geological  sub- 
jects, among  which  wc  notice — the  potable  waters  of  Eastern 
United  States ;  the  natural  mineral  waters  of  the  United 
.Stales ;  measurements  of  river  discharges ;  Ihe  laccolilic 
mountain  groups  of  Colorado,  Utah,  and  Arizona  ;  the  gold- 
silver  veins  of  Ophir,  California  ;  geology  of  the  Caloctin  Hell ; 
tertiary  revolution  in  the  topography  of  ihe  Pacific  Coast ;  the 
rocks  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  ;  prc-Cambrian  igneous  rocks  of  the 
Unkar  Terrane,  Grand  Cailon  of  the  Colomdo.  Two  mono- 
graphs of  the  U.S.  Geological  .Survey  have  Iwen  received,  viz. 
vols,  xxiii.  and  xxiv.  The  former  deals  with  the  "  Geology  of 
the  Green  Mountains  in  Massachusetts,"  by  .Messrs.  K.  Pum|)elly, 
J.  K.  Wolff,  and  T.  Nelson  Dale  ;  and  the  latter  contains  Prof.  R. 
P.  Whitfield's  text  and  drawings  of  ihc  Mollusca  and  Crustacea 
of  Ihc  .Mirxiene  formations  of  New  Jersey.  Holh  these  valuable 
mr.nograph.H  arc  profusely  illustrated.  Finally,  liullelins  Nos. 
11^-122  of  Ihe  Survey  have  come  to  hand.  No.  ll8isageo- 
'^'  ionar)'  of  New  Jersey.     The  next  liiilUtiii  contains 

'  geological  reconnais.<>ancc  in  North-west  Wyoming, 
r<fercncc  to  economic  resources  ;  No.  120  is  on  the 
,   icm  of  ICasicm  Pennsylvania  and  New  York.     No. 
NO.    1356,  VOL.  52] 


121  is  a  bibliography  of  North  American  palseontolog)'  for  the 
years  iSSS-92,  inclusive  ;  and  No.  122  contains  the  results  of  the 
primary  iriangulation  executed  by  the  -Survey  during  the  past 
twelve  years — that  is,  since  the  commencement  of  work  ujwn  the 
topographic  atl;\s  of  the  United  States.  In  conclusion,  we  wish 
only  to  remark  that  the  gratitude  of  geologists  i.s  due  to  the 
United  Slates  Government  for  providing  ihe  funds  to  publish  so 
many  works,  not  only  of  national  'but  also  of  international  im- 
portance. 

The  current  number  of  the  lournal  de  PAysiifiie  contains  a 
paper  by  M.\I.  Abraham  and  Lemoine  on  the  measurement  of 
very  high  potentials  by  means  of  a  modified  attracted  disc 
electrometer.  Two  forms  of  instrument  are  descrilied,  the  one 
for  standard  measurements,  and  the  other,  which  is  of  simple 
design,  intended  for  measuring  potentials  up  to  100,000  volts 
to  within  about  one  per  cent.  In  the  standard  instrument, 
which  resembles  a  modified  Kelvin  electrometer  as  designed  by 
M.  Bailie,  the  movable  disc  is  suspended  from  the  beam  of  a 
short-beam  balance,  the  extent  of  the  movement  being  limited 
by  stops.  In  order,  when  desired,  to  make  the  movement  of  the 
balance  beam  stable,  an  auxiliary  knife-edge  is  placed  below  the 
chief  knife-edge  of  the  beam,  and  weights  are  placed  in  a  pan 
susiiended  from  this  auxiliary  knife-edge.  The  attracted  disc  is 
maintained  cenlr.iUy  within  the  guard-ring  by  means  of  three 
fine  fibres.  The  simplified  form  of  electrometer  is,  however, 
the  one  which  exhibits  most  novelty.  In  this  instrument  the 
attracted  disc  is  carried  by  a  rod  altaclied  lo  one  arm  of  a 
Roberval's  balance.  The  movements  of  the  balance,  which  is 
limited  by  stops,  is  noted  by  means  of  a  long  jiointer  attached 
to  one  of  the  horizontal  Ijars  of  the  moving  parts.  Finally, 
the  adjustments  of  the  guard-ring  and  attracted  disc  are  not 
made  by  means  of  a  complicated  system  of  adjusting  screws, 
but  by  the  simple  bending  of  their  supports.  These  supjwrts 
are  made  of  soft  copper  wire,  and,  in  Ihe  case  of  the  guard-ring, 
have  an  S  shape.  This  manner  of  allowing  for  the  adjustment  of 
the  parts  of  a  piece  of  apparatus  is  one  which  will  very  often 
be  found  of  use,  and  we  may  mention  that  lead  wire  is  \i&x- 
licularly  well  suited  for  the  purpose.  The  .authors  have  made 
a  series  of  experiments  to  lest  what  is  tlie  maximum  dislance 
between  the  attracled  and  attracting  discs  it  is  allowable  to  use, 
and  find  that  the  greatest  distance  to  be  equal  to  half  Ihe  width 
of  the  guard-ring.  In  making  their  measurements,  the  authors 
have  used  a  novel  method  of  obtaining  a  high  potential  which 
should  remain  steady  for  some  minules.  Their  arrangenienl 
consists  of  an  electrostatic  electric  machine  driven  at  a  imilorn) 
speed  by  a  small  motor.  The  jwles  of  the  machine  are  joineil 
to  two  points,  between  which  a  conlinuous  stream  of  sparks 
passes.  One  of  these  points  is  connected  to  earth,  and  the  other 
by  means  of  a  poor  conductor,  such  as  cotton  soaked  in 
|)araffin  oil,  to  the  inner  coaling  of  a  Lcydcn  jar.  Under  these 
circumstances  it  is  found  that  ihe  potential  of  Ihe  interior  coal- 
ing of  ihc  jar  is  very  constant.  Thus  in  a  series  of  measure- 
ments recorded  by  the  authors,  the  maximum  change  in  six 
minules  amounled  lo  only  I  [xirl  in  1000,  the  [lolenlial  being 
alraut  20,000  volts. 

Thb  additions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
Ihe  past  week  include  a  Mozambique  Monkey  (Cc/ro/*///;r(//r 
fygtryt/iriis,'))  from  F.asl  .\frica,  a  Smith's  Dwarf  Lemur 
{Microtehin  smil/ii)  from  Madag.ascar,  presented  by  Mr.  E. 
Dyer  ;  a  Rhesus  Mf)nkcy  {Afacticiis  rliesiis,  9  )  from  India, 
presented  by  Mrs.  Vernon  Biden ;  a  Polar  Bear  {C/rsiis 
maritimiis,  S)  from  .Spilzbergcn,  presented  by  Mr.  Arnold 
Pike  ;  two  .Masked  Parrakcets  (Pyrrhiilopsis personala)  from  Ihc 
Fiji  Islands,  a  Blue  and  N'ellow  Macaw  (Ara  araraiina)  from 
South  America,  a  Peregrine  Falcon  {Falco  pcrcgrinin,  var. 
.■Iiialiim)   from    North    .\merica,  a    Night    Heron    (Aydhorax 


October  24,  1895] 


NATURE 


629 


grisens),  European,  an  Antarctic  Skua  [Stercorarius  anlarcticus) 
from  the  Antarctic  Seas,  presented  by  the  Hon.  Walter 
Rothschild  ;  two  Senegal  Touracous  (Corythaix  persa)  from 
West  Africa,  presented  by  Mr.  I.  J.  Roberts  ;  three  Blackcaps 
{Sylvia  atrica/filla),  a.  W\g\A\T\ga.\e{Dauli(ts  luscinia),  British, 
presented  by  Mr.  Poynter  ;  a  Wall  Lizard  {Laccria  miiralis) 
from  Sicily,  presented  by  Mr.  A.  M.  Amster ;  a  Dwarf 
Chameleon  (Chamtckon  pumiltis)  from  South  Africa,  presented 
by  Mrs.  S.  Jackson;  two  Squirrel  Monkeys  \Chrysothrix 
uiurca)  from  Guiana,  a  Sjwtted  Eagle  (Aqtiila  mrvia)  from 
India,  three  Weka  Rails  [Ocydronius  aiislralis),  four  Tuatera 
Lizards  (Spheiiodon  punclatus)  from  New  Zealand,  deposited  ; 
two  CJrisons  {Galiitis  vettatd),  a  Coypu  (Myopolainus  coyptis) 
from  South  America,  two  Western  Boas  (Boa  occidentalis)  from 
I'araguay,  purchased. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

Si;.N-spoT  OnsKRVATiONS  IN  1894, — In  3.  Separalabdnick  aiis 
der  Vicrleljahrschrift  dcr  Naturforsckcjidcn  Gesellschaft  in 
Ziiriili,  Jahrgang  4,  1895,  ^''-  -'^-  Wolfer  brings  together  some 
results  relating  to  the  sun-spot  statistics  made  in  Zurich  and  else- 
where f<jr  the  year  1S94.  The  pamphlet  opens  with  a  deter- 
mination of  the  constants  for  reducing  the  observations  of  each 
observer  to  one  scale. 

The  mean  observed  relative  number  of  spots  for  1894  came 
out  as  78*0  as  against  84^9  in  1893,  showing  a  distinct 
decrease.  The  secondary  variations  were  also  very  prominent 
during  this  year :  further,  between  two  very  low  minima 
there  occurred  a  j>rominent  maximum  lasting  from  May  to  July. 
Nevertheless  there  was  on  the  w  hole  a  general  decrease,  making 
it  possible  to  dcteruiine  the  ejioch  of  the  last  important  maximum. 
Having  plotted  the  relative  number  of  observed  sun-spots  for  the 
three  years  1892-94,  and  connected  them  together,  the  smoothed 
curve  indicated  a  maximum  at  l894'0.  The  length  of  the 
elapsed  period,  that  is,  from  maximum  to  maximum,  became 

18940—  i883'9  =  100, 

and  the  interval  between  the  last  minimum  and  the  present 
maximum 

1894  o  —  1889  6  =  4'4. 

Dr.  Wolfer  makes  a  comparison  of  the  sun-spot  numbers  with 
the  variations  of  the  magnetic  declination.  Here  there  seems  to 
be  a  very  good  agreement,  and  the  curves  for  both  are  very 
similar.  The  epoch  of  the  maximum  magnetic  variation,  inde- 
pendently determined,  occurs  in  August  1893  or  18936,  which 
coincides  ex.ictly  with  the  secondary  rise  of  the  curve  of  relative 
sp<it  numbers.  This  secondary  rise  in  the  curve  occurs  just 
before  the  time  of  maximum  deduced  from  the  smoothed  curve, 
and  suggests  rather  that  the  former  dale  should  represent  the 
chief  sun-spot  maximum.  Dr.  Wolfer,  however,  is  not  of  this 
opinion,  and  prefers  to  hold  to  the  date  gathered  from  the  mean 
curve.  The  pamphlet  concludes  with  a  tabular  statement  of 
each  of  the  observers'  individual  observations  for  the  year  1894, 
together  with  reference  to  the  literature. 

Planetary  rERTURB.vriON.s. — In  No.  3312  of  the  Aslro- 
noinische  Nachridilcii,  Prof.  A.  Weiler  gives  another  paper  on 
the  subject  of  long-period  and  secular  perturbations.  The 
particular  case  considered  is  that  of  the  disturbance  of  a 
planet,  having  a  me.in  motion  approximately  twice  that  of  the 
disturbing  planet,  and  is  really  a  special  case  of  the  more  general 
problem  of  [ierlurbations  already  treated  in  earlier  numbers  of  the 
same  journal.  We  cannot  indicate  here  the  mathematical 
formuke  which  are  given,  and  much  of  which  would  be  un- 
intelligible without  the  earlier  papers,  but  attention  may  be 
called  lo  one  of  his  results. 

When  tlie  commensurabilily  in  the  periods  of  the  disturbed 
and  disturbing  planets  becomes  very  close,  that  is  if  5  =  i  -  2;ii  be 
very  small,  where  ^  is  the  ratio  of  the  two  mean  motions,  the 
series  by  which  the  perturbations  are  expressed  is  notjconvergent, 
and  the  prolilem  is  apparently  insoluble.  Such  a  result  is 
inconsistent  with  the  regularly  observed  motions  of  the  planets, 
and  therefore  points  to  some  error  in  the  assumptions  on  which 
the  solution  of  the  problem  is  founded.  This  error  Prof 
Weiler  traces  to  the  treatment  as  constant  of  the  semi-axis 
major  of  the  dislurljed  planet's  orbit.      The  justice  of  this  remark 

NO.    1356,  VOL.   52] 


is  illustrated  by  a  reference  to  the  arrangement  of  (he  asteroids 
in  space,  whose  distribution  offers  peculiarities  explicable  on  the 
hypothesis  that  the  mean  daily  motion  is  variable  if  the 
approximation  to  commensurability  oversteps  a  definite  limit. 
Taking  a  list  of  twenty-five  asteroids,  wherein  the  value  of 
5=1  -2^  is  less  than  one-fifteenth,  he  shows  that  none  have  a 
period  giving  a  mean  daily  motion  very^  approximately  twice  that 
of  Jupiter  (598"-3).  The  mean  daily  motion  of  these  twenty- 
five  lies  between  562"'2  and  640"'2,  but  none  come  be- 
tween 572" '6  and  6l4"'4 ;  that  is,  the  mean  motions 
separate  on  both  sides  of  twice  that  of  Jupiter.  The  force  of 
this  illustration  is  somewhat  im|)aired  if  the  list  be  made  lo 
comprise  those  more  recently  discovered.  The  asteroids  Nos. 
332  and  381  have  mean  motions  of  6o5"'5  and  6i3"'5,  respec- 
tively, and  it  should  further  be  remembered  that  in  the  whole 
list  of  asteroids,  there  are  only  five  whose  means  approach  the 
lower  limit  of  562".  This  remark  simply  refers  to  the  value  of 
the  illustration,  not  to  the  accuracy  of  the  fact  it  is  called  in  to 
support. 

The  Syste.m  of  o  Centairi. — The  meridian  measures  of 
the  positions  of  a,  and  Oj  Centauri,  made  at  the  Cape  in 
1879-1881  have  l)een  utilised  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Roberts  for  a 
determination  of  the  relative  masses  of  the  two  stars,  and  other 
data  connected  with  the  system  (Ast.  A'aih.  No.  3313).  The 
place  of  the  centre  of  gravity  for  1880  is  given  as  R.A. 
14I1.  31m.  27'537s..  declination  -  60'  20'  20  '63  +  o""l3  ; 
proper  motion  in  declination  (1880)  =  +  o"750  +  o"'005  ; 
proper  motion  in  \<..\.  (1880)  =  -  7"-29i  +  o'o32.  For  the 
relative  ma.sses  of  the  two  stars,  the  values  derived  are  51  to 
49  ±  1/50  of  the  amount. 

According  to  the  results  obtained  by  Mr.  Roberts,  Oj 
Centauri  is  very  slightly  heavier  than  the  sun,  while  a,  is 
about  two-hundredths  lighter.  Since  Oj  is  now  between 
five  and  six  times  brighter  than  o,,  it  must  have  by  far 
the  brighter  surface.  Taking  a  mean  of  the  different  values 
which  have  been  obtained  for  the  sun's  brightness  in  relation 
to  the  stars,  "  it  would  appear  that  o,  Centauri  is  as  bright  as 
our  sun,  while  a,  is  about  five  limes  fainter.'  o,  Centauri  is 
accordingly  some  distance  on  the  downward  track  from  the 
dignity  of  a  sun  to  that  of  an  ordinary  planet  :  while  a„  Centauri 
is,  as  regards  light,  size,  and  mass,  a  twin-brother  of  our 
sun."  .Spectro.scopic  observations  «ill  furnish  another  method 
for  determining  the  relative  masses,  but,  in  order  to  improve  on 
our  present  knowledge,  the  observations  of  velocities  must  be 
accurate  lo  within  one  or  two  tenths  of  a  mile  per  second. 

Holmes'  Comet. — This  comet,  which  has  presented  such 
peculiarities  both  in  its  physical  structure  and  the  form  of  its 
orbit  as  to  make  it  one  of  the  most  remarkable  comets  of  short 
period,  has  been  made  the  subject  of  an  elalxirate  investigation 
i)y  Dr.  II.  I.  Zwiers.  Taking  into  account  the  .action  of  Jupiter 
and  Saturn,  but  neglecting  that  of  the  Earth,  to  which,  owing  to 
the  great  perihelion  distance  of  the  cornel,  it  cannot  make  any 
close  approach.  Dr.  Zwiers  is  led  lo  fix  the  date  of  the  next 
perihelion  p<assage  on  .\pril  27,  1S99,  and  gives  an  ephemeris 
commencing  on  February  16,  1898,  ihe  earliest  date  at  which  a 
search  is  likely  to  be  successful.  The  theoretical  brilliancy  is 
then  o'oo63,  and  when  last  seen  in  1893,  the  brilliancy  was  ex- 
jiressed  by  ooiiS.  In  .-Vpril  and  May,  when  the  comet  will  be 
well  situated  for  observation  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  this 
latter  quantity  will  be  exceeded,  and  will  approach  that,  that  the 
comet  possessed  in  January  1893,  when  it  underwent  such  a 
remarkable  change  in  its  appearance.  If  the  comet  retains  its 
stellar-like  character,  the  difficulty  in  detection  will  no  doubt  be 
increased,  but  an  early  discovery  is  eminently  desirable. 


ON  THE  HABITS  OF  THE  h'EA,  THE  SHEEP- 
EATING  PARROT  OF  NEIV  ZEALAND. 
"T^HE  kea,  the  mountain  parrot  of  New  Zealand  (Ntslor  iiota- 
■'■  bilis),  h.is  earned  considerable  notoriety  from  its  remarkable 
habit  of  attacking  living  sheep.  It  is  commonly  slated  that  the 
natural  food  of  this  bird  consists  of  insects,  fruit,  and  berries  ; 
and  that  it  has  developed  a  taste  for  a  carnivorous  diet  only 
during  the  last  thirty  years.  Mr.  Taylor  White,  however,  has 
recently  pointed  out  (Zoologist,  .-Vugust  1S95)  that  the  \-arious 
statements  on  the  habits  of  this  biril  have  all  been  derived  frora 
secondhand  information  ;  and,  as  the  habitat  of  the  parrot  is  on 
the  tops  of  .Mpine  ranges,  owners  of  sheep  and  shepherds  who 


6?o 


NA  TURE 


[OcTor.iiK  24,  1895 


in  winter  .iiui  siMiiiiiLr  .-carch  the  mountain  tops  for  their  slock, 
are  the  men  liest  fitted  to  tell  us  about  the  habits  of  the  bird. 
On  obsen'ations  made  during  such  experiences  Mr.  White  Uises 
his  own  account.  In  the  district  with  which  this  writer  was 
acquainte<l.  the  kea  always  live^  high  up  on  the  mountains, 
among  rocks  and  boulders,  a  long  distance  above  the  forest-line  ; 
in  such  a  situation,  of  course,  berries  and  fruits  were  out  of  the 
question,  and  the  bird  apjHsired  to  live  on  lichen  and  any  insects 
it  could  find.  Even  when  the  ground  w.-is  covered  with  several 
feet  of  snow,  and  when  roots  and  other  food  were  out  vi  reach, 
lichen  growing  on  sleep  rocks  would  still  be  obtainable  liy  the 
bird.  The  view  that  the  diet  of  the  kea  generally  consists  of 
fruit  and  lierries  would  thus  appear  to  be  erroneous. 

It  will  be  reniemlieretl  that  Wallace  and  others  state  that  the 
kea  regards  the  kidneys  of  sheep  as  a  "  special  delicacy,"  and 
that  it  attempts  lo  birrow  mto  its  victim  in  such  a  way  as  to 
reach  this  |iarl.  Mr.  White,  however,  op|X)ses  this  jirevalent 
view,  and  regards  it  as  proKible  that  the  bird  desires  to  obtain 
the  blooil  of  the  sheep  rather  than  the  kidneys  ;  and  in  support 
of  this  view  states  that  he  has  never  seen  a  dead  sheep  attacked 
by  keas.  The  fact  that  the  kea  so  frequently  pierces  the  body 
of  a  sheep  in  the  region  of  the  kidneys  is  due  to  the  position  it 
takes  on  the  back  of  its  victim  to  maintain  a  firm  hold — a  |x)sition 
from  which  it  cannot  be  easily  dislodged,  as  it  could  fri>ni  the 
head  or  rump  of  the  sheep.  In  corroboration  of  this  Mr.  White 
mentions  that  sheep  with  long  wool  are  more  frequently  attacked 
than  animals  w ith  .short  wool  ;  as  apiKirently  the  long  wool  gives 
the  bird  letter  facilities  for  holding  on  with  his  feet  when 
drilling  a  hole  into  the  Ijack  of  the  .sheep.  It  is  not  very  easy  to 
conjecture  how  this  habit  of  attacking  sheep  was  first  acquired 
by  the  kea.  In  winter  time  the  sheep  are  covered  with  snow, 
and  often  have  icicles  hanging  to  their  wool ;  and  it  is  suggested 
by  Mr.  White  that  keas  may  have  mistaken  sheep  so  tlisguised 
for  snow  -covered  |xitches  of  rock.  It  may  further  have  hai)i>ened 
that  when  .searching  the  supposed  rocks  for  insects  the  birds  in 
some  cases  would  laslc  the  blood  of  the  sheep.  "  When  some 
of  the  birds  had  once  found  out  that  the  blood  of  the  sheep  was 
good  for  foofl,  others  were  .soon  initiated  into  the  performance.' 
It"  is  po.ssible  that  in  some  such  manner  the  kea  may  have 
gradually  acquired  this  curious  and  unattractive  habit  which 
renders  the  bird  such  a  |icsl  to  the  New  Zealand  farmer. 

W.  CiAKsi  am;. 


THE  PENETRATION   OF  ROOTS    INTO 
LIVING    TISSUES. 

'T'lIK   ca|)acity  ix>.s.scsscd  by  the   roots  of    certain    ixirasiles, 
^      such  as  Ciisriila,  lo  ]x;netralc  into  (he  tissues  of  their  host, 
is  apparently  an  unique,  not  to  say  a  remarkable  phenomemm.    A 
little  reflection,  however,  upon  the  powers  of  roots  In  general, 
leads  us  to  doubt   whether  this  properly  is  really  as  restricted 
as  the   first  glance  would   lead   us  to  imagine  :  and   when   we 
|>crusc  Prof    Tfeffcr's  work  u|X)n  Ihe   pressure  of  the   root,  and 
finrl    that,   for  instance,    the   root  of  the   common  bean  exerts 
fluring  it-s  growth  a  pre.ssure  of  .some  400  gms. ,  we  realise  that 
this  mechanical  action  alone  might  suflicc  to  drive  the  growing 
root  of  most   plants  into  living  ti.s.sue,   if  circumstances  neces- 
sitated   such    an    ex|K:(liency.      This  is  evidently  an  im|)orlanl 
joint,  and   touches  u|Km  Ihe  evolution  of  the  higher  parasites: 
It   is  only  remarkable   ihat  it  has  .so  long  remained  luilouched. 
We  must  now  thank  (leorge   I'eircc  for  taking  up  this  neglected 
,,il,i,  ri.  ,Tnd  placing  it  U|ion  a  sure  basis  (see /Vu/.  Ziir.  .September 
The  question  first  to  be  decided  was  whether  the.pres- 
■  hich    I'fefTer   had   found  in  the  growing  roots  was  in  itself 
ht    lo   force    Ihe    rorjts    ihrrmgh    living  tissue.      I'or  the 
iiination   of  this,  iron    mo<lels   of   roots   weighted    up   to 
in.s.    were  employed.      The   apices  of    these    were  pl.iced 
■  cul>e  cut  from  a  |>otatf),  and  the  whole  surrounded  with 
"lust    lo  keep    Ihe    living  substance    fresh,      .\fter  an 
venly-lhrec  hours,  il  w.is  found  that  the  iron  point 
r  .led  ij  m.ni.  into  the  potato.    .Again, a  similar  model 
"'  i.'iiUil  lo  320  gms.  was  driven  in  twenty-four  hours  through 
iK.     ..rk  layr  and  2  in.m.  of  |>arenchyma  of  an  uncut   jxitato. 
I  placed  on  the  stem  of  Impatiem  sii/laiii,  one 
letrcK  Ihick,  pierced  this   in   less  than   twenty 
ins.  weight  were  employed. 
ir  inferior  lo  that  found  by  rfeflfer  in  the  root 
I-  »uf)icienl    lo  drive  an  ir<m  miKlel  an  appre- 
cuiblc  dulancc  through  ihe  living  li&sucs  of  the  potato. 


It  was  far  trom  certain,  howexer.  wiielher  a  jiressure  whicli 
was  ample  to  imi>el  a  rigid  iron  rodlet  against  a  considerable 
resistance  would  have  equal  efiiciency  in  the  case  of  a  root,  the 
pressure  in  which  arose  from  so  uncertain  and  inextricable  a 
source  as  its  life. 

There  were  many  facts  both  fro  and  ninlra. 

The  acid  substance  or  substances,  which  it  would  seem  that 
most  roots  excrete  during  their  growth,  might  possibly  facilitate 
the  root's  power  of  penetration.  Just  as  niany  fungi  eat  thcii 
way,  as  it  were,  into  the  solid  wood  of  their  host  by  means  of 
ferment-like  substances  which  they  secrete  and  |X)ur  out  upon 
their  substratum,  so  might  the  roots  perhaps  be  expected  to 
soften  and  prejiare  their  way  by  means  of  their  acid  excretions. 
.\gainst  the  supiwsiiion  could  be  raised  the  fact,  already  broached, 
that  the  forces.  imiK'lling  the  root-apex  forwaril,  are  derived 
from  the  vital  .ictivities  of  that  structure,  and  than  lhe.se  nothing 
can  be  more  .sensible  to  change  of  surroundings,  or  less  to  l)e 
reckoned  upon  by  us,  whose  conceptions  of  anything  dealing 
with  life  are  yet  shrouded  over  with  the  darkest  obscurity. 

But  to  jxiss  from  speculation  to  facts,  we  find  that  Peirce 
tested  this  ]K)int  by  experiments  on  the  seedlings  of  Brassica 
iiapui  ami  Siiia/iis  alha.  He  look  a  i^otato,  and  s]ilit  it  in  half: 
on  one  of  the  halves  he  cut  a  number  of  small  slits,  into  each  of 
which  he  inserled  a  seed  of  the  plant  under  observation.  He 
then  placed  the  potato-h.ilves  together,  binding  them 
tightly  with  .string.  The  whole  contrivance  w;is  jilaced  in  a 
vessel  containing  damp  sawdust,  care  Iwing  taken  that  the  cut 
surfaces  of  the  tuber  lay  horizontally.  After  an  interval  of 
twelve  days  the  specimens  were  examined,  and  although  some 
were  found  to  have  grown  lietween  the  cut  surfaces  (for  nearly 
all  had  germinated),  yet  others  had  pushed  their  roollels  verti- 
cally downwards  so  as  lo  penetrate  the  substance  of  the  potato. 
In  some  instances  so  vigorous  had  been  the  growth  that  the 
rootlet  had  traversed  the  whole  thickness  of  iwrenchyma. 
pierced  the  har<l  corky  layer  of  the  surface,  and  then  reached 
the  sawdust  without. 

Anatomical  examination  of  the  root  anil  surrounding  polalo 
tissue  showed  several  peculiarities.  In  the  first  place,  the  young 
root  w.as  almost  devoid  of  the  customary  clothing  of  h.iirs  : 
secondly,  the  cells  of  the  potato  had  undergone  alteration,  inas- 
much .as  those  which  were  in  immediate  contact  with  the 
advancing  root  were  much  contorted  and  torn,  whilst  two  or 
three  layers  neighbouring  on  the  injured  elements  h.ad  undergone 
division  by  walls  parallel  to  the  long  axis  of  the  root,  and  had 
subsequently  become  corky  in  nature.  By  this  means  the 
intrusive  rootlet  was  enclosed  within  a  corky  cylimler  or  sheath, 
cutting  it  off  more  or  less  iK'rfectly  from  Ihe  living,  unharmed 
tissue  of  the  tuber.  The  starch  grains  were  in  every  case 
unaltered,  but  Primet,  ni  his  research  on  Cyiiodoii,  and  Peirce, 
in  his  examination  of  one  of  his  specimens  of  Pisiiiii,  noticed 
certain  grains  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  root  apex  which  were 
partially  disintegrated.  This,  however,  is  not  a  neces.sary  con- 
seciuence  of  ferment  action  ;  indeed,  a  check  experiment  of 
I'eirce's  leaves  little  doubt  thai  the  disintegration  results  in  these 
cases  from  the  activities  of  bacteria  w  liicli  had  gained  an  entrance 
with  the  root.  (  dass  tubes  dosed  and  pointed  at  one  end  were 
sunk,  like  the  iron  models  already  mentioned,  into  pot.alo  tissue. 
In  one  instance  the  apes  of  the  glass  was  surrounded  by 
"corroded"  .starch-grains.  Here  there  could  be  no  question 
of  ferment  formation,  and  evidently  l>.acteria  were  adherent  lo 
ihe  a))ex. 

"So  far  the  experiments  had  proved  lhat  the  thin,  delicate, 
.inil  pointed  roots  of  raiw  and  while  mustard  are  able  to 
penetrate  living  tissues.  Peirce  carried  the  matter  further  by 
testing  the  powers  <ti  the  blunt  roollels  of  /V.tHwand  X'icin  faha 
to  do  likewise.  The  roollels  of  germinal ing  .seeds  of  ihese  were 
placed  in  gla.ss  lulies  into  which  they  accurately  fitted,  and 
their  apices  pj.aced  in  contact  with  the  surface  of  a  cube  of 
potato.  The  seed  and  gjass  tube  were  rigiilly  held  by  layers 
of  gypsum,  in  which  a  gap  was  left  for  the  exlensi()n  of  the 
plumule.  The  whok- was  kept  ni'iist  by  damp  sawdusl.  After 
three  days  the  pkiIs  were  found  to  have  pierced  Ihe  living  tissue 
lo  the  extent  of  75  111.  m. 

')ther  cxix;rimenis  were  made  im  the  Siime  plants  in  which 
other  tissues,  such  as  slem  of  liiipatiriis  siillaiii,  leaves  of 
Kchevaria  ami  .Aloe,  petioles  of  Kheum,  \c.,  were  .substiUiled 
for  Ihe  |)olato.      These  also  were  penetrale<l  by  the  rootlets. 

In  w>me  inslances,  however,  such  as  leaves  of  Aloe  and 
|>elioles  of  R/iciiri  off'uiiialc,  the  pabulum  was  evidently  un- 
siiited  to  the  healthy  existence  of  the  root,   for  :ifter  a  short 


NO.    1356,  VOL.  52] 


October  24,  1895] 


NATURE 


631 


period  of  growth  the  apex  of  this]  organ  became  more  or  less 
spherical,  and  finally  withered  away. 

Similar  results  had  been  obtained  with  the  haustoria  (modi- 
fied roots)  of  Cuscuta,  in  a  former  research  of  George  Peirce's. 

Another  interesting  achievement  of  the  .*;ame  worker  was  to 
grow  specimens  of  Pisum  as  parasites  uix>n  other  plants,  from 
the  seedling  stage  until  flowering.  The  host  which  gave  the 
most  favourable  results  appears  to  have  been  Inipatiens  sullani. 

The  young  Pisum  grown  under  these  unwonted  conditions 
produced  an  almost  normal  root  .system,  with  numerous  side 
branches ;  but  the  stem  was  stunted  in  its  growth,  although  it  Ijore 
leaves  and  a  few  flowers.  The  roots,  it  may  be  mentioned,  were 
here  also  devoid  of  hairs.  This  experiment  is  extremely  interest- 
ing in  a  great  man)'  ways.  It  shows,  in  the  first  place,  how  fine 
is  the  line  of  demarcation  between  an  ordinar)'  earth-grown 
])lant,  such  as  Pisum,  and  a  phanerogamous  parasite,  especially  a 
partial  parasite  like  mistletoe. 

Again,  it  has  a  physiological  interest  :  it  is  suggestive  of  a  new 
path  of  research.  -V  strict  and  careful  comparison  of  the  details 
of  outwar<l  form  and  internal  anatomy  in  a  normally  grown 
Pisum,  or  other  plant,  with  those  found  in  one  which  is,  so  to 
speak,  an  inducetl  jiarasite,  must,  Ixiyond  all  doubt,  shed  much 
light  upon  the  relationship  between  the  shape  and  structure  of 
an  organism  and  its  surroundings. 

We  know  but  too  little  of  this  branch  of  biology  at  pre.sent. 

Why  an  organ  should  be  shaped  this  way  in  o'le  individual 
and  that  way  in  another,  may  indeed  be  jxirtially  answered  in 
some  cases  ;  but  these  instances  are  few,  and  the  answers  are  in- 
complete, to  say  the  least  nf  them.  Ri'doi.f  Hi;i;r. 


DR.  A.   SCHMIDTS    THEORY  OF  EARTH- 
(-J    QUAKE-MOTIOA. 

[NoTK. — The  following  pages  contain  a  summary  of  an  in- 
teresting but  little  known  jKiper  by  Dr.  August  Schmidt,  of  Stutt- 
gart. .An  English  translation  was  prepared  by  the  late  Dr.  E.  von 
Rebeur-Paschwit/  for  the  Seisiiwlogical  Journal  of  /apan,  but 
arrived  too  late  for  publication  in  the  concluding  volume  of  the 
series.  The  original  being  too  long  for  insertion  in  N'.vruKE,  I 
have  condensed  it  at  the  translator's  rec|uest,  at  the  same  time 
adhering  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  author's  words.  The  title 
of  the  paper  is  "  Wellenbewegung  und  Erdbeben  ein  Beitrag 
zur  D\Tiamik  der  Erdbeben  "  (/a/irishe/tc  ila  Vcrcius  fiirvatiii. 
Natiirkintdi  in  Wiirttcmhirg,  iSSS,  pp.  24S-270).  In  a  later 
[japer  (same  journal,  1S90,  pp.  200-232),  Dr.  Schmidt  applies 
his  Iheor)'  to  the  Swiss  earthquake  of  January  7,  1889,  and  the 
Charleston  earthquake  of  August  31,  1SS6. — C.    Daviso.s.] 

CEISMOLOGISTS  assume  the  proiagalion  of  earthquake- 
"-^  waves  to  take  place  uniformly  in  all  directions  ;  they  regard 
the  coseismal  or  wave-surfaces  as  concentric  spheres,  the  rays  as 
straight  lines  normal  to  the  spheres.  This,  however,  is  an 
entirely  unjustified  assun^ption,  which  certainly  facilitates  the 
calculations,  but  leads  to  verj'  doubtful  results  in  determinations 
of  the  velocity  of  propagation  and  of  the  depth  of  the  earthquake- 
centre.  It  is  impo.ssible  that  seismic  rays  should  be  straight 
lines,  because  the  conditions  on  which  the  velocity  dejwnds 
undergo  change  with  increasing  depth  below  the  surface. 
Though  experimental  determinations  of  the  velocity  do  not  agree 
with  the  theoretical  \alue  iji:ld,  yet  it  is  clear  that  the  velocity 
must  depend  on  the  density  and  cl.asticity  of  the  rocks  through 
which  the  wave  is  proijagated.  Now,  the  modulus  of  elasticity, 
owing  to  increased  pressure,  must  increase  w  ith  the  depth  Ijelow 
the  surface  ;  and  therefore  the  velocity  of  the  earthquake-wave 
mu.st  also  increase  with  the  depth. 

As  the  velocity  of  proi)agation  increases,  the  energy  of  a 
vibrating  particle  diminishes  :  and  thus,  as  is  well  known  to  be 
the  case,  earthquakes  should  be  less  noticeable  in  mines  than  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth. 

Amt>idiii<:»t  of  Hopkhii  Law.  —  Let  us  imagine  a  wave  em- 
anating from  a  deep  centre  and  propagated  in  all  directions. 
A  vertical  plane  through  the  centre  cuts  all  the  successive 
coseismal  surfaces,  as  well  as  the  earth's  surface.  Let  us  suppose 
the  section  of  the  latter  to  be  a  horizontal  straight  line.  The 
lower  ))arts  of  Figs,  i  and  2  show  the  successive  positions  of  the 
coseismal  surfaces  from  minute  to  minute.  Fig.  I,  with  its  equi- 
distant concentric  coseismals  and  its  straight  rays,  corresponds 
to  the  ordinarj'  earthquake  theory.  Kig.  2,  with  its  excenlric 
coseismals  approaching  each  other  4is  they  rise  and  with  its  curved 


NO.    1356,  VOL.  52] 


rays  convex  downwards,  represents  our  new  theory.  The 
horizontal  straight  line,  dividing  the  upper  part  of  the  figures 
from  the  lower,  represents  the  surface  of  the  earth.  In  both 
figures,  the  rays  at  first  apjjear  equally  distributed  in  all  directions 
from  the  centre ;  in  Eig.  i  they  remain  so,  but  in  Fig.  2,  in 
order  to  continue  :iormal  to  the  wave-surfaces,  they  must  diverge 
at  a  much  more  rapid  rate  below  than  above,  thus  becoming 
convex  downwards.  Of  course.  Fig.  2  only  repre.sents  a  special 
law  of  increase  of  velocity  with  the  depth — the  velocity  is  sup- 
])osed  to  var)'  as  the  depth — but  the  general  character  of  the 
figure  with  its  rays  convex  below  remains  the  same  if  the  law 
is  a  different  one. 

-K  comparison  of  the  figures  shows  that  in  Fig.  2  there  is  a 
greater  condensation  of  the  seismic  rays,  and  therefore  a  greater 
intensity  of  the  shock,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  epicentre, 
and  this  corres|X)nds  better  with  the  effects  observed  within  the 
area  of  greatest  disturbance. 

But  more  important  for  our  purpose  are  the  sections  of  the 
earth's  surface  contained  between  two  successive  coseismals. 
Each  of  these  sections  is  a  measure  of  the  distance  through  which 
the  wave  appears  to  progress  firom  minute  to  minute  at  the  sur- 
face. In  reality  it  progre.s.ses  obliquely  from  below  in  the 
direction  of  the  rays,  and  the  real  distance  through  which  it 
moves  is  smaller  than  the  apparent  one.  We  can  only  observe 
the  apparent  velocity  at  the  surface.  If  we  have  at  our  disposal 
a  sufficient  number  of  good  time-observations,  we  can  draw  the 
horizontal  coseismal  lines  on  a  map  and  determine  the  apparent 
velocity  from  their  relative  distances.  In  both  figures,  the 
apparent  velocity  has  its  greatest  value  at  the  epicentre  and 
decreases  outwards.  In  Fig.  i,  it  gradually  approaches  asympto- 
tically the  true  value  in  the  direction  of  the  rays.  This  is  the 
law  which  Hopkins  propounded  in  1S47.  In  Fig.  2,  the  ap- 
[Kireni  velocity  at  first  diminishes  rather  ra|)idly,  until  it 
reaches  the  value  of  the  true  velocity  at  the  depth  of  the  centre, 
but  afterwards  it  again  increases  gradually  with  the  distance. 
We  thus  arrive  at  the  following  amendment  of  Hopkins'  law, 
which  will  be  expanded  afterwards  :  the  apparent  velocity  at  the 
surface  is  never  less  than  the  true  velocity  at  the  centre,  and 
varies  with  it. 

Differences  in  Eartluitiake  Velocilies. — According  to  the  old 
iheorj',  ever)'  substance  ought  to  possess  its  own  velocity,  de- 
pendent on  its  internal  structure.  The  limit,  which  is  defined 
by  Hopkins'  law  as  the  lowest  po.ssible  value  of  the  apparent 
velocity,  ought  always  to  be  the  same  in  any  given  region.  Ex- 
periments Ijy  Pfaff,  Mallet,  and  .Vbbot  lead  to  different  values 
for  different  substances,  as  was  to  be  expected.  But  they  also 
show-  considerable  variations  in  the  .same  material,  the  velocity 
increasing  w  ith  the  strength  of  the  initial  impulse.  Real  earth- 
qua'Kes  show  even  larger  differences  in  velocity  than  artificial 
ones,  and  often  earthquakes  of  less  intensity  are  iiro|iagated  with 
a  greater  velocity  in  the  same  region  than  very  strong  ones. 

■These  diflerences  are  inconsistent  with  Hopkins' law.  To  be 
explained  by  the  old  theory,  they  require  for  the  centres  of 
earthquakes  with  great  velocities  an  enormous  depth  below  the 
surface,  a  near  approach  to  the  centre  of  the  earth,  for  an  earth- 
quake emanating  from  the  centre  itself  would  arrive  simul- 
taneously at  all  points  of  the  surface.  With  our  new  hypothesis, 
such  differences  are  necessary,  and  even  with  the  largest 
velocities  the  earthquake-centre  may  be  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  the  centre  of  the  earth. 

Proof  of  the  Law. — The  law  that  the  velocity  at  the  surface  is 
never  less  than  that  at  the  earthquake-centre  includes  Hopkins' 
law.  This  indicates  th&t  the  law  is  a  general  one.  Its  mathe- 
matical demonstration  is  contained  in  the  law  of  retraction.  We 
may  distinguish  the  following  three  velocities:  (I)  the  velocity 
at  the  centre,  //,  :  (2)  the  tnie  velocity  at  the  surface,  i.e.  that 
part  of  an  earthquake-ray  through  which  the  wave  progresses  in 
one  minute,  «  ;  (3)  the  apparent  velixrity  at  the  surface,  i.e.  the 
horizontal  distance  between  two  successive  co.scismals  corre- 
sponding to  an  interval  of  one  minute,  z\  -Vs  an  example,  let  us 
lake  in  Fig.  2  the  horizontal  distance  between  the  fourth  and 
fifth  coseismals  from  the  epicentre  .as  a  representative  of  v,  and 
let  the  section  of  the  ray  between  the  .same  coseismals  near  the 
surface  represent  11,  and  the  di'^tance  between  the  centre  and  the 
first  coseismal  «,.  Then,  if  a  be  the  .angle  between  the  ray  and 
the  vertical  at  the  point  where  it  meets  the  surface,  we  have 
!•  =  «/sin  a  ;  and,  if  a,  be  the  angle  which  the  same  ray  makes 
with  the  vertical  through  the  earthi|uake-centre,  we  have  by  the 
law  of  refraction  v  =  «/sin  a  =  «,/sin  o,. 

Now,  let  us  consider  the  different   rays  emanating  from  the 


632 


NATURE 


[October  24,  1895 


canhquakc-centre.  When  o,  is  equal  to  zero,  v  is  infinitely 
great.  As  a,  increases,  f  decreases,  until  a,  =  90'.  This 
corresponds  to  the  ray  which  starts  horizontally  from  the 
centre,  and  at  the  point  where  this  ray  reaches  the  surface  we 
have  V  =  «!.  \\'hen  a,  becomes  obtuse,  the  value  of  sin  a,  de- 
creases again,  and  v  increases,  though  more  slowly  because  the 
rays  diverge  more  and  more  ;  but  at  an  infinite  distance  v  would 
again  be  infinitely  great. 

The  only  condition  by  which  our  law  is  bound  is  that  the  true 
velocity  of  the  wave  is  always  the  same  at  the  same  depth  ;  but 
the  variation  of  velocity  may  follow  any  law.  The  law  would 
even  remain  true  if  the  velocity  were  to  decrease  with  the  depth  : 
but  in  this  case  the  rays  would  be  concave  downwards,  and  only 
a  few  would  reach  the  surface.  But,  as  we  have  every  reason  to 
believe  that  :•  increases  with  the  depth,  it  follows  that  the  rays 
must  be  convex  downwards  :  and  not  only  the  ray  which  is  hori- 
zontal at  first  bends  upwards,  but  all  rays  do  so  in  time.  The 
whole  disturbed  area  of  an  earthquake  is  thus  divided  into  two 
zones  :  an  inner  circle  in  which  the  apjxirent  velocity  ;■  decreases 
as  the  distance  from  the  epicentre  increases,  and  an  outer  ling  in 
which  ;•  increases  with  the  distance  up  to  infinity.  The  inner 
circle  is  the  region  of  the  direct  rays,  the  outer  ring  that  of  the 
earthquake  energ)'  which  by  refraction  is  brought  up  from  below. 
The  smallest  value  of  v,  corresjwnding  to  the  boundary  between 
the  two  zones,  measures  the  velocity  of  projxigation  at  the  ilejith 
oi^he  centre. 

Fiil 


l>ecomes  concave  downwards,  and  gradually  becomes  horizontal 
again  at  infinity.  If,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  figure,  we  follow 
the  ray  which  leaves  the  centre  horizontally  until  it  reaches  the 
surface,  a  normal  erected  at  this  point  passes  through  the 
point  of  inflexion. 

It  is  important  to  study  the  changes  in  the  form  of  the  hodo- 
graph  as  the  depth  of  the  centre  gradually  diminishes.  The  result 
is  that  the  two  points  of  inflexion  move  towards  the  epicentre,  the 
convex  portion  becomes  smaller,  and  so  also  does  the  "inner 
zone"  of  the  disturbed  area.  When  the  centre  and  epicentre 
coincide,  the  convex  portion  of  the  curve  and  the  inner  zone  of 
the  disturbed  area  disappear  entirely  :  the  hodograph  consists 
uf  two  symmetrical  concave  branches  which  meet  at  an  angle  at 
the  centre.  This  suggests  to  us  how  we  should  explain  the 
results  of  measurements  of  velocities  in  artificial  earthquakes. 
In  a  shock  produced  at  the  surface  of  the  earth,  the  velocity 
must  increase  from  the  centre  outwards.  The  stronger  the 
charges  of  gunpowder  are,  the  longer  are  the  distances  that  can 
be  employed  in  the  experiments,  and  the  greater  the  mean  values 
of  the  velocity  obtained. 


'*  The  efl'ecl  of  cur\ature  of  the  earth's  surface,  which  we  have 
so  far^ncglecied,  will    omsist   m  u  dimniution  of  the    rate   at 
which  the  velocity  increases  in  the  outer  zone. 

Tlu    Earlki/iiaic    Hodograph.^ — The    law     connecting     the 
variations    in    the   apparent  velocity  at  the  surface  is  lM;.st  ex- 
plained by  the  upper  [larts  of  I'igs.  i  and  2.   .-^t  the  points  where 
tt,.    .,,rf ,.  .■  line  is  cut  by  the  coseismals,  normals  are  erected  to 
I  '.f  I,  2,  3,  &c. ,  units  in   length,    representing  the 

in  lime  from  that  at  the  epicentre.     A  curve  passing 
I  ilie  ends  of  these  normals  represents  what  wc  call  the 
i  ■ph.     The  grc-ater  the   inclination  of   the  curve   to  the 
.  the  less  is  the  apparent   velocity,  f,  at  the  corre- 
iit  of  the  curve.      Where  the  curve  is  horizontal  the 
.......    I-  ■nfinitely  great,   where  it  is  convex  downwards  the 

velocity  decrease-,  outwards,   where   it  is  concave    the    velocity 

\\v  r.  .I-'  s.     The  htKlograph   in   I'ig.  i    is  the  hy(>crlx)la  of  von 

'  Minnigcrode.    If  we  use  the  same  scale  for  the  units 

I   v<'|fK-iiy,   the    hy|HTl>ola    is   rectangular   and    the 

■  I  I         ■  u  i-  ihe  centre.      In   I'ig.   2,  the 

I  lif  ;    at    the    epicentre    it    is 

M    .lii'i    >' N    M'>>\ii»,iid.<>,    gradually   approaching    a 

im    inclination   at  a  point   of    inflexion,  after  which   it 

■  \  H.-Amillon  to  a  ciirvc  which  re. 
.  nf  a  tnovinu  ixiiril.  W'c  <lo  not 
\\\\\  nuinc  fur  uur  purnov:. 


SO.    1350,  VOL.   52] 


Thus,  the  form  of  the  hodograph  will  xary  much  with  the 
depth  of  the  centre,  and  it  must  also  vary  with  the  law  which 
expresses  the  change  of  velocity  with  the  dei)lh.  But,  wliatever 
be  Ihe  unknown  law ,  the  hodograph  must  alwajs  be  convex  at 
the  epicentre,  and,  passing  ihrough  a  iwint  o(  inflexion,  after- 
wards become  slightly  concave.  This  follows  simply  from  Ihe 
law  of  refraction  without  any  regard  to  the  rate  at  whicli  llio 
velocity  increa.ses  with  Ihe  depth. 

.\s  long  as  we  do  not  possess  a  sufliciently  large  numlur  of 
time-ob.scrvations  for  at  le.ist  one  earthquake,  it  will  be 
impossible  lo  draw  any  ciinclusion  concerning  Ihe  law  of  velocity 
from  the  form  of  Ihe  hodograph.  i'.ven  with  the  best  observa- 
tions, we  can  never,  in  drawing  the  hodograph,  expect  that  all 
points  will  fall  on  a  regular  and  continuous  curve.  Hut  what  we 
may  ex|)cct  is  thai,  with  a  suflicienlly  large  number  of  observa- 
tions, the  points  will  be  distributed  equally  on  both  sides  of  such 
a  curve.     The  ho<lograph  contains  the  observations  from  places 


October  24,  1895] 


NATURE 


63: 


in  all  possible  directions  from  the  epicentre  combined  in  a  single 
plane.  If  the  velocity  is  different  in  different  directions,  in  the 
general  figure  these  differences  will  be  eliminated  when  the 
number  of  observations  is  large  enough,  and  the  result  will  be  a 
curve  free  from  local  disturbances. 

Although  the  time  has  not  yet  come  for  us  to  determine  the 
definite  form  of  an  carthquake-hodograph,  yet  we  know  enough 
from  the  best  examined  earthquakes  to  decide  whether  the 
hodograph  is  an  hyperbola  or  a  curve  with  points  of  inflexion, 
whether  Hopkins"  law  is  confirmed  by  the  observations,  or 
an  increase  of  velocity  is  noticeable  in  the  outer  zone  of  the 
disturbed  area. 

The  best  example  for  such  an  investigation  is  contained  in 
von  Seebach  and  Minnigerode's  discussion  of  the  earthquake  of 
March  6,  1872,  in  Central  Germany.  An  inspection  of  the 
map  of  coseismals  published  by  them  is  sufficient  to  show  that 
the  horizontal  coseismals  are  crowded  together  in  a  striking 
manner  near  Giittingen  and  Leipzig,  at  a  distance  of  sixteen 
(German)  miles  from  the  epicentre.  Accordingly,  in  drawing  the 
hodograph  we  see  how  badly  the  hyperbola  suits  the  observa- 
tions. Several  points  which  are  most  valuable  for  the 
determination  of  the  epicentre,  because  they  are  nearest  to  it, 
and  which  agree  most  perfectly  with  one  another,  must  be 
rejected  in  constructing  the  hyperbolic  hodograph,  in  order  that 
the  earthquake  may  not  begin  at  the  surface  of  the  earth  until 
I J  minutes  after  it  was  actually  observed  at  five  different  places 
at  five  to  six  miles  distance  from  the  epicentre.  For  sixteen  miles 
the  hyperbola  leaves  all  the  best  observations  below  it,  after 
which  nearly  all  points  remain  above  it  until  it  ends  at  Breslau, 
at  a  distance  of  fifty-seven  miles  from  the  epicentre.  At  this 
place  a  magnetic  needle  was  found  swinging  by  Prof.  Cialle  at 
4h.  5m.  25s.,  Berlin  time,  but  the  shock  itself  may  have  occurred 
several  minutes  earlier.  The  hyperbola  is  made  to  pass  exactly 
through  the  point  corresponding  to  this  time,  for  otherwise  its 
vertex  would  have  to  be  placed  still  higher  than  it  is  now,  and 
this  would  increa.se  the  already  existing  disagreement  between 
the  calculated  time  of  the  beginning  of  the  earthquake  and  the 
actual  observations. 

How  well,  on  the  contrary,  are  the  observations  represented  by 
a  curve  the  vertex  of  which  is  a  little  below  3h.  55m.,  and,  being 
convex  downwards,  passes  at  a  distance  of  seven  to  eight  miles 
between  Jh.  55m.  and  3h.  56m.,  reaches  its  points  of  inflexion 
at  about  eleven  miles  distance  with  a  slope  corresponding  to 
2  "5  miles  per  minute,  and  then  leaving  some  points  on  one  side 
and  some  on  the  other,  passes  through  Tubingen  (367  miles), 
the  last  trustworthy  point,  until  it  reaches  Breslau  one  minute 
before  the  observed  time,  with  a  velocity  of  at  least  fifteen  miles 
a  minute. 

The  Herzogcnrath  earthquake  of  October  22,  1873,  leads  to 
somewhat  similar  results.  In  drawing  the  hyperbolic  hodograph, 
some  of  the  best  obser\'ations,  those  used  for  determining  the 
position  of  the  epicentre,  have  to  be  rejected  altogether,  while 
others  must  be  supposed  to  err  by  as  much  as  two  or  three 
minutes.  But  a  curved  line,  passing  through  the  mean  positions 
of  the  points,  is  concave  throughout  on  its  lower  side,  with  a 
large  curvature  at  the  epicentre.  The  figure  certainly  differs 
little  from  the  form  of  the  hodograph  corresponding  to  a  centre 
at  the  surface,  and  the  inner  zone  is  a  circle  of  not  more  than 
four  kilometres  radius. 

Thus  the  best  investigated  earthquakes  at  our  disposal  show 
that  the  observations  agree  much  less  closely  with  the  older 
theory  of  concentric  earthquake-waves,  straight  rays  and 
hyperbolic  hodograph,  than  they  do  with  the  new  theory  of  a 
velocity  of  propagation  increasing  with  the  depth,  rays  convex 
downwards,  and  a  hodograph  with  points  of  inflexion. 

The  Determination  of  the  Depth  of  the  Centre. — If  the  law 
connecting  the  velocity  with  the  de])th  were  known,  we  should 
be  able  to  calculate  the  forms  of  the  corresponding  rays  and 
hodograph,  and  to  find  a  relation  between  the  depth  of  the 
centre  and  the  form  of  the  hodograph.  In  Fig.  2  we  have 
started  with  the  simplest  assumption,  and  supposed  the  velocity 
to  vary  as  the  depth.  As  this  law  is  an  entirely  arbitrarj' one,  the 
figure  can  only  give  a  nearer  approach  to  the  truth  than  the 
theory  represented  in  Fig.  I.  If,  for  instance,  the  modulus 
of  elasticity  were  to  varj'  as  the  depth,  the  velocity  would  change 
much  more  rapidly  near  the  earth's  surface  than  far  below  it ; 
and  the  fact  that  the  perceptibility  of  earthquakes  decrea.ses  so 
rapidly  as  the  dejilh  increa.ses,  certainly  indicates  that  a  rapid 
change  in  the  velocity  takes  place  immediately  below  the  surface. 
Consequently,  in  calculating  the  depth  of  the  centre  correspond- 


ing to  our  law,  we  should  find  too  large  a  value.  Other 
difficulties  in  determining  the  depth  of  the  centre  are  our 
ignorance  of  the  true  superficial  velocity,  and  the  uncertainty  as 
to  the  form  of  the  hodograph,  especially  the  doubtful  positicm  of 
its  points  of  inflexion.  But,  in  spite  of  all  these  difficulties,  we 
may  consider  it  as  a  rule  that  the  depth  will  increase  with  the 
radius  of  the  inner  zone  of  the  disturbed  area,  and  that  it  will 
certainly  always  be  smaller  than  this  radius. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  minimum  value  of  the  depth  may  be 
found  by  means  of  the  tangent  at  the  point  of  inflexion.  This 
tangent  in  F"ig.  2,  like  the  asymptote  in  Fig.  i,  makes  an  angle 
of  45'  with  the  horizon,  because  in  both  figures  the  central 
velocity  («,)  was  taken  as  the  time  scale.  While  in  Fig.  i  the 
asymptote  passes  through  the  centre,  in  Fig.  2  the  tangent  at 
the  point  of  inflexion  passes  above  it.  Now,  let  us  imagine  the 
depth  of  the  centre  in  Fig.  2  to  remain  the  same,  as  well  as  the 
velocities  h,  at  the  centre,  and  u  at  the  surface  ;  but  let  the  in- 
crease of  velocity  be  no  longer  uniform  as  before,  but  be 
principally  restricted  to  the  neighbourhood  of  the  surface.  The 
consequence  will  be  that  the  rays  will  differ  little  from  straight 
lines  at  first  when  they  leave  the  centre,  and  that  the  principal 
increase  of  curvature  will  be  near  the  sTirface.  The  point  of 
emergence  of  that  ray  which  leaves  the  centre  horizontally,  will 
move  to  a  greater  and  greater  distance,  and,  as  the  same  is  the 
case  with  the  point  of  inflexion  of  the  hodograph,  its  tangent  at 
that  point  will  be  displaced  parallel  to  itself  downwards ;  and 
when  the  whole  change  is  imagined  to  take  place  in  the  surface 
itself,  the  hodograph  will  coincide  with  Seebach's  hyperbola,  and 
the  tangent  at  the  point  of  inflexion  becomes  an  asymptote  and 
passes  through  the  centre. 

Thus,  with  a  hodograph  adapted  as  well  as  possible  to  the 
existing  observations,  we  find  a  depth  of  more  than  five,  and  less 
than  ten,  geographical  miles  for  the  earthquake  in  Central 
Germany,  and  a  depth  of  less  than  three  kilometres  for  the 
earthquake  of  Herzogenralh.  Each  of  these  earthquakes 
represents  a  special  type.  Type  I.,  with  a  very  small  depth  of 
centre  and  an  approximate  disappearance  of  the  inner  zone,  is 
represented  by  the  earthquake  of  Hcrzogenrath  ;  Type  II.,  in 
which  both  zones  are  pretty  equally  distinct,  and  the  depth  is 
rather  considerable,  by  the  earthquake  of  Central  (jemiany. 
There-  may  exist  a  Type  III.  with  a  very  deej)  centre,  or  with 
small  intensity  and  moderate  depth,  for  which  the  point  of 
inflexion  of  the  hodograph  falls  outside  the  region  when  the 
earthquake  is  perceptible,  and  where,  consequently,  the  hodo- 
graph is  convex  throughout.  .Amongst  the  earthquakes  so  far 
studied,  for  which  the  mean  velocity  has  been  calculated,  those 
with  small  velocities,  which  generally  have  a  merely  local 
character,  may  safely  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  first  t)'pe. 


THE   TOTAL  SOLAR  ECLIPSE  OF  AUGUST  8, 
1896.' 

T  T  having  come  to  my  know  ledge  that  some  doubts  had 
arisen  as  to  the  suitability  of  Norway  as  a  post  of  observation 
for  the  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  in  1S96,  and  having  had  both 
experience  in  total  eclipse  expeditions  and  of  travelling  in 
Norway,  I  determined  to  make  a  special  tour  of  observation 
both  to  the  west  coast,  and  also  to  Finmarken,  Lapland,  and 
the  Russian  frontier  on  the  east  coast. 

In  selecting  stations  in  such  an  exceptional  country  as  Nonvay, 
many  points  must  be  considered  that  do  not  apply  to  most 
places  ;  thus  it  is  not  enough  to  know  that  A  is  twenty  miles 
from  B  without  also  knowing  how  many  fjords  lie  between,  how 
many  peaks  three  or  four  thousand  feet  in  height,  how  many 
glaciers,  and  how  far  they  are  crevassed,  if  the  mountains  are 
passable,  and  if  so  w  hat  weight  besides  himself  a  man  can  carry 
up.  Those  people  who  have  visited  Norway,  and  the  more  so 
those  who  have  travelled  in  the  interior  and  north  of  the 
country,  are  surprised  at  the  almost  impossibility  of  moving  at  all 
except  by  the  fjords  and  certain  made  roads.  These  generally 
may  be  said  to  extend  as  far  north  as  Trondhjem,  latitude 
63°  26' ;  longitude  10°  30'  about.  After  that,  on  the  north  and 
north-east  coast  and  Russian  frontier,  roads  are  the  feeblest 
tracks  generally,  and  the  fjord  communication  only  of  a  sjjecial 
character  ;  the  population,  except  at  such  places  as  Tromso, 
Hammerfest,  Vardo,  and  \'adso,  is  very  scanty,  and  chiefly  con- 
fined to  the  sea  coast,  and  in  the  latter  case  subject  to  consider- 

1  Abridged  from  a  paper  read  before  ihe  koyal  .Astronomical  Society*,  by 
Col.  A.  Burton-Brown  (Montltly  Notices,  R.A.S.,  vol.  Iv.  No.  3). 


NO.    1356,  VOL.  52] 


634 


NATURE 


[October  24,  1S95 


a  .  ICC.  luiug  I.   iiR-  >c,i>uii  oi  the  year  and  the  nature 

1.!  Mow  far  these  |x>ints  would  affect  an  astronomical 

;I1  be  seen  later  on. 
Irondhjem  we  take  a  north-north-east  course,  passing 
en.  an  island  of  about  Soo  feel  in  height,  and  shortly 
.littt  pass  the  island  of  Donmcso,  at  the  bottom  of  the  map  on 
ihe  west  side,  which  will  be  on  the  border  of  the  shadow  during 
totality  ;  steaming  north  to  Tommen  Oe,  which  will  have  about 
tine  minute  totality,  a  careful  search  for  stations  is  kept.  Liiroe 
is  loo  low,  0.\tindcn  promontory  loo  much  inland.  Hest- 
mandoe,  well  within  the  S5"  line,  and  the  island  of  Triinen,  near 
the  I2lh  parallel,  are  too  far  west,  though  the  central  line  passes 
close  by;  but  having  a  longitude  of  only  12°  5',  the  sun  is 
rather  low.  The  height  of  ground  is  3710  feel.  Rod  Loven 
also,  somewhat  further  eastward,  and  Bolgen,  a  peaked  island, 
close  to  the  central  line,  are  rather  too  far  westward  ;  passing 
Omnscs    Oe    and    Meloe,  crossing    the   central    line,  wc    next 


miles  direct  north  of  the  central  line,  where  there  is  a  hill  to  the 
north-east  of  the  town.  Excellent  accommodation  can  be  had 
there,  and  a  telegraph  station  exists.  Vurther  north  is  the  island 
of  Lande  (jode,  within  the  85"  limit.  The  islands  of  Lundo 
and  Engelo  are  on  the  northerly  limit  of  the  shadow  of  totality, 
and  therefore  useless.  If  Bodo  were  occupied  as  headquarters, 
with  a  steam  launch  at  the  disjxisal  of  the  party,  and  Sandhornel, 
Arnoe,  Fleina,  Kunnen,  or  the  lighthouse  rock  of  Slot,  Bolgen, 
Rod  Loven,  or  Ilestniando  as  detached  stations,  a  valuable  area 
would  be  covered,  although  these  positions  have  the  astronomical 
disadvantage  of  the  sun's  altitude  being  as  low  as  (>%"  to  73°, 
and  the  duration  of  totality  but  little  over  l-J  to  l^  minutes. 
Yet,  owing  to  the  stillness  of  the  atmosphere  on  the  west  coast  of 
Norway  at  that  time,  and  the  general  freedom  from  clouds  on  the 
horizon,  some  good  results  should  be  obtained.  The  further  fad 
of  the  cort^na  lacing  seen  through  a  considerable  thickness  of 
I   watery  vapour  would  I'lv,    Iw.ih  aspcctroscop'''  >ii.l  ;ihoiographic 


rnund  llic  promontory  of  Kunnen,  two    or    three  miles  above 

'hf  rrnlral  line,  a    rather    inacce.ssiblc    position  of  some  2000 

h.       The    lighthouse    island    of    Slot    is,    however,  in 

els  a  desirable  position,  and   Kunnen  has  a  telegraph 

.iii'.ti  -a      valuable      ndjuncl.         Proceeding      eiisl-norlh-cast 

Ihe     Inland    of     Kugloe    is     passed,     2300     feet     high,     steep 

■i"'l     '" '•     "'I      li     miles    further    norlh,     Fleiiia,    about 

■r  good  posii inn.     On  ihe  right  is  the  island  of 

■■^  .S.indhornet   Mountain  of  3300  feet — a  rare 

IMoiiioi,  j.ii  iiiouiiiaincers,  only  alxmt  five  or  six  miles  above  the 
rcniral  line,  with  a  minuir  and  a  half  tolalily,  and  the  sun  an 
.illiluilc  of  7}  ■   six  or  seven  minutes 

■'Veri4'.     II  iiipted  view  all   round. 

'  '■'  '■'■"''"■■  Ml  ,ii».-  west,  where  there  are 

Host    ef|uilly  good   posilion. 

ion  with  Hollo,  Ihe  lalilude 

I"  07    17,  iiiid  i'lnguiiile  14' 24' al>oul,and  which  islcn 

NO.'  135'''    vol 


S2] 


interest  in  com]xirison  with  similar  observations  taken  at  about 
double  Ihe  altitude  on  the  east  coasl.  Although  several  island 
could  be  useil  as  sites  for  station>,  experience  has  .shown  some  to 
be  better  adapted  for  many  rea.sons  than  others.  Thus  Kuglbe 
is  sleep  and  rugged,  and  has  no  advantages  over  li'leina  except 
height;  also  Omnas  Oe  is  a  troublesome  place;  Kuniun  is  an 
almost  inaccessible  promontory  of  chert  and  granite  rocks;  Ihe 
island  of  .Sliit  has  a  good  anchor.age  for  boats,  and  llie  sun  would 
not  be  masked  by  Kunnen  during  totality.  Here  also  is  a 
telegraph  slaiirm. 

Leaving  the  wcst-coa.st  positions,  we  reach  Tromso,  and  steam- 
ing up  to  llanimerlesi,  signs  of  civilisation  die  fiHully  aw.ay. 
After  rounding  the  Norlli  Cape,  71°  lo'  40"  N.,  and  about  26° 
K.  and  steering  east,  the  Nordkin  is  passed,  and  from  tl'.ere  in  a 
south-east  direction  we  travel  along  a  bleak,  inliospilable  shore 
of  c)uarl):ile  rocks  lo  Vardo,  on  an  islanil;  this  is  about  the  north- 
east corner  of  Norway,  a  good-sized  whaling  station,  and  a  fort, 


October  24,  1895] 


A^^l  TURE 


63: 


with  some  second-class  hotel  accommodation.  This  place  was 
used  as  an  ohsening  station  in  1769  by  the  Austrian  Hell  for  the 
transit  of  Venus;  and,  being  less  than  twelve  miles  directly 
north  of  the  central  line  of  shadow,  might  he  advantageously 
occupied.  It  forms  the  most  easterly  station  ;  being  in  longitude 
31°  8',  and  latitude  about  70'  22',  it  would  have  a  duration  of 
totality  of  over  im.  31s.,  and  the  sun's  altitude  will  be  about  14^°. 
It  is  easily  accessible,  no  high  ground  obstructs  the  view,  and 
|)rovisions  and  lalwur  are  to  be  had.  Passing  south  down  a 
<lroary  coast  of  quartzite  rocks  and  Silurian  slates,  we  come  to 
Kilberg,  about  ten  miles  south,  and  two  miles  inland.  There  is 
a  hill  about  500  feet  high,  but  although  this  would  be  only  five 
or  six  miles  north  of  the  central  line,  it  is  not  in  other  respects 
a  desirable  station.  Steaming  south-south-west  we  |)ass 
Store  Ekkero,  a  promontory  some  twenty-five  or  thirty  miles 
west  of  Vadso,  which  appears  to  have  all  the  attributes  ol  a  good 
station,  provided  accommodation  can  be  arranged  ff)r  :  the 
central  line  of  totality  passes  over  the  southern  point,  and  there 
is  a  free  view  to  the  south-south-east  and  east-north-east,  the 
sun's  azimuth  at  the  local  time  of  l8h.  being  97°  south  towards 
east,  and  the  duration  of  totality  a  maximum — viz.  over  im.  41s., 
the  sun's  altitude  about  14!°.  Passing  on  to  Vadso,  the  town  of  the 
Kinmarken  district,  there  are  .several  hills,  two  or  three  hundred 
feet,  easily  accessible,  and  in  all  respects  suitable  for  observing 
stations  within  three  or  four  miles  ;  indeed,  Vadsii  should  be 
looked  upon  as  the  headquarters  of  an  East  Norway  expedition. 
The  local  time  of  totality  here  would  be  I7h.  57ni.  46s. ,  and 
duration  about  Im.  35s.  .\11  the  aforementioned  places  are  in 
telegraphic  comnumication  with  most  parts  of  Norway  darmg  the 
fishing  season,  and  no  doubt  arrangements  could  be  made  for 
keeping  the  offices  open  as  late  as  .\ugust  8.  The  temperature 
at  Vadso  is  remarkably  high,  probably  between  50°  and  60' 
K.  in  August,  and  there  is  every  chance  of  fine  weather  at  that 
time. 

Crossing  the  Varanger  Fjord  we  come  to  Bugo,  a  Lapp  fish- 
ing station,  and  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  the  central  line  ;  the 
longitude  is  about  29°  50',  and  latitude  69°  58'.  There  the  dura- 
tion would  be  about  im.  40s.,  with  nothing  to  obstruct  the 
view  ;  frequent  communication  could  be  had  with  \'adso  at 
certain  limes  of  the  day  ;  heliograph  signals  might  be  trans- 
mitted :  there  are  several  sites  hereabouts,  but  one  in  particular 
desirable.  The  Bugbnxsfjeld  I  will  leave  to  iho.se  who  like  to 
he  in  the  clouds  I  So  little  is  known  of  it  thai  every  map  shows 
il  in  a  dilTercnt  position  ;  but  if  intrepid  mountaineers  are  fond 
of  carrying  half-hundred-weights  up  mountains,  there  is  no 
reason  why  they  .should  not  have  the  satisfacliim  they  desire,  but 
Ihey  will  find  no  one  to  do  it  for  them. 

In  order  to  distribute  the  parties  and  multiply  the  chances  of 
success,  one  party  might  proceed  from  V'adso  to  Seida,  on  the 
Tana  River.  This  station  is  a  good  one  for  all  points  except  the 
length  t)f  totality,  which  is  only  about  Im.  12s.,  and  has  the  sun 
at  an  altitude  of  about  I3i°.  Polmak,  some  twelve  miles  due 
siiuth  (reached  by  poling  up  the  river),  is  not  .so  easily  got  at, 
but  a.slronomically  better  situated,  and  south-east  of  it,  about 
five  miles,  is  a  mountain  over  1000  feet  high.  .-Mjout  forty  or 
fifty  miles  further  up  this  river,  in  a  south-west  direction,  is 
Utsjoki,  a  place  also  that  might  be  advantageously  occupied  in 
the  Russian  Lapland.  The  duration  of  totality  there  would  be 
about  ini.  26s.,  and  the  sun's  altitude  about  13^  ;  both  al* 
Polmak  and  Utsjoki  camp  etpiipage  would  have  to  be  taken. 
Poth  are  in  telegraphic  comnumication  with  \'adso  and  \*agge, 
the  latter  place  being  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tana  Fjord.  lsara.sjok 
is  astrontjmically  a  gootl  place,  within  four  miles  of  central  line, 
the  sun's  altitude  being  about  12^°  and  duration  of  totality  over 
lAm.  Much,  of  course,  will  ilepend  on  the  number  of  observers 
il  is  proposed  to  send  out,  their  powers  of  endurance,  and  know- 
ledge of  Lappish,  Russian,  and  Norwegian  for  the  east  coast 
expeditions  (except  at  \'ardo). 

To  the  information  which  Colonel  Burton-Brown  has  brought 
together,  «e  may  a<ld  that  the  Orient  Steam  Navigation  Coni- 
]iany  propose  to  send  one  of  their  large  steamships  to  Vadso,  for 
the  purpose  of  enabling  observations  to  be  made  of  the  eclipse. 
The  steamer  will  leave  London  on  July  21,  and,  after  calling  at 
fJdde,  Hergen,  Naes,  Molde,  Trondhjem,  Ilammerfe.st,  and 
North  Cape,  will  arrive  at  Vadso  on  August  3.  It  will  leave  a 
week  later,  ami  will  arrive  in  London  on  .-Vugust  17.  U'ull  par- 
ticidats  of  this  journey  will  be  found  in  our  ailvertisement 
columns.) 

We  are  informed  by  Messrs.  Cook  and  Son  that  the  Bergenske 


NO.    1356,  VOL.    52] 


Steamship  Company  have  consented,  subject  to  certain  con- 
ditions, to  send  one  of  their  best  steamers  from  Bergen  and 
Trondhjem  to  Vardo  an<l  back,  for  the  purpo.se  of  enabling 
persons  interested  in  astr<jnomy  to  view  the  eclipse.  Ii  is  pro- 
posed that  the  steamer  shall  leave  Bergen  on  July  31,  calling  at 
Trondhjem  two  days  later,  reaching  Vardo  on  August  8,  and 
remaining  until  4  p.m.  on  August  9,  returning  to  Trondhjem 
August  13.  and  Bergen  August  15.  The  steamer  will  call  at  all 
the  usual  places  visited  by  the  tourist  steamers  between  Bergen 
and  the  North  Cape. 


UNIVERSITY  AND  EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 

C.\mbkiI)(;e. — Mr.  Herman,  of  Trinity  College,  is  apptinted 
Chairman  of  the  Examiners  for  the  Mathematical  Tripos. 

The  University  Lecturer  in  Geography  (Mr.  H.  Vule  Old- 
ham) announces  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  Elements  of  Physical 
Geography  during  the  present  term.  The  Royal  Geographical 
Society's  Studentship  of  ;^loo  will  be  awarded  at  Easter. 
Candidates  must  be  members  of  the  University  who  have 
attended  the  courses  of  the  University  Lectures. 

The  Council  of  the  Senate  recommend  that  the  University  of 
.\llahabad  be  adopted  as  an  affiliated  University  on  terms  corre- 
sponding to  those  in  force  for  the  University  of  Calcutta. 

The  report  of  the  Syndicate  on  the  Higher  Local  Examina- 
tions shows  that  good  results  have  been  attained  in  the  scientific 
subjects.  The  new  laboratory  examination  appears  to  work 
well,  and  has  had  a  wholesome  effect  on  the  candidates' 
training. 

Mr.  W.  C.  D.  Whetham  and  Mr.  J.  \V.  Capstick  have  been 
recognised  as  Teachers  of  Physics,  and  Mr.  R.  H.  .\die  as  a 
Teacher  of  Chemistry,  for  medical  degrees. 

Among  the  freshmen  who  have  matrictdated  this  term,  there 
are  over  150  students  of  medicine. 


Slowly,  but  surely,  the  system  of -paying  teachers  of  ele- 
mentar)'  science  according  to  the  examinational  successes  earned 
by  their  students — in  other  words,  according  t<i  their  ability'  to 
cram  young  students  with  a  large  assortment  of  scientific  facts, 
dogmatically  staled  and  imperfectly  understood — is  giving  way 
to  one  more  calculated  to  create  and  foster  a  desire  for  natural 
knowledge.  Within  the  past  few  days  a  Minute  has  been  issued 
to  schools  under  the  Department  of  Science  and  Art,  stating 
that  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Council  on  Education  have 
decided  to  try  the  experiment  of  making  grants  for  instruction 
in  science  and  art  depend  partly  upon  the  attendance  of  the 
student  and  partly  on  ])ayments  on  results  as  tested  by  examina- 
tion. The  Committees  of  Science  and  .Art  Schools  and  Classes 
which  have  been  in  the  receipt  of  grants  from  the  Department 
for  two  consecutive  years,  or  which  are  conducted  by  a  local 
authority  under  the  Technical  Instructicm  .Act  1889,  or  the 
Technical  Schools  (Scotland)  Act  1887,  will  be  allowed  to  elect 
to  receive  their  grants  on  the  scheme  under  which  the  payments 
on  results  will  be  one-half  those  on  the  present  scale,  while 
attendance  grants  will  take  the  place  of  the  other  half,  provided 
that  the  Inspector  of  the  Department  reports  that  the  teaching  and 
equipment  of  the  school  are  thoroughly  satisfactory,  and  that  the 
class  or  classes  are  not  too  large  for  instruction  by  the  staflof 
teachers.  The  attendance  grant  will  be  \J.  for  each  attendance  of 
at  least  an  hour's  duration  in  a  day  science  class,  and  2d.  in  a  night 
science  class,  and  of  31/.  for  each  attendance  of  one  and  a  half 
hours'  duration  given  to  practical  work  in  chemistry,  physics, 
metallurgy,  or  biology,  in  a  properly  equipped  laboratory. 
.Applications  to  receive  grants  under  the  new  .Minute  must  be 
received  before  December  I,  1896,  and  in  subsequent  years 
before  November  I.  But  the  sanction  to  be  so  treated  may  be 
wiihdrawn  at  any  lime  should  it  appear  from  the  results  of  the 
examination  in  May,  or  from  the  reports  of  the  Inspectt>rs,  that 
the  instruction  is  not  efficient  ;  and  no  school  can  receive  grants 
partly  under  the  new  Minute  and  partly  under  the  ordinary  scale 
of  payments  on  results.  Organised  science  schools  are  exempted 
from  these  attendance  grants  ;  nor  can  the  grants  be  claimed  on 
behalf  of  students  who  are  on  the  register  of  an  elementary  school. 
The  principle  of  recognising  attendance  at  cla.sses  as  one  of 
the  tests  of  the  efficiency  of  a  school  has  common  sense  at  the 
back  of  it,  and  it  should  do  something  to  reduce  the  baneful 
influence  of  the  examination  fiend  upon  elementary  scientific 
education. 


636 


NA  TURE 


[October  24,  1895 


Dr.  a.  Rothtletz  has  been  appointed  Extraordinary  Pro- 
fessor of  Geolog)'  and  Pal.vontoUig)  in  the  I'niversity  of  Munich  ; 
Dr.  Ernst  Lecher,  Professor  of  Physics  in  Innsbruck  L'niversily, 
has  been  nominated  to  succeed  Prof.  Machs  at  Prague  :  Dr.  F. 
Mares  has  been  made  Ordinary-  Professor  of  Physiolog)'  in  the 
Bohemian  University  at  Prague  ;  and  Dr.  J.  E.  Humphrey  has 
been  appointed  Lecturer  in  Botany  at  the  Johns  Hopkins 
University,  Baltimore. 

The  Calendar  of  the  University  College,  North  Wales,  for 
the  year  1805-96,  has  been  received.  The  physical,  chemical, 
and  biological  labfiratories  (plans  of  which  are  given  in  the 
Calendar)  now  cover  an  extensive  area.  Under  Prof  .'Andrew 
(-'■ray,  the  physical  department  has  greatly  developed  ;  and  the 
appliances  and  electrical  installation  with  which  it  is  equipped 
enable  the  College  to  offer  a  complete  course  of  instruction  in 
all  branches  of  electro-technical  education. 

SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
Pakis. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  October  14. — M.  Janssen  in  the 
chair. — The  decease  of  Baron  Larrey,  free  member,  wa.s  an- 
nounced from  the  chair.  He  died  on  Octoljer  S.  M.  Emile 
Blanchard  pointed  out  the  great  influence  of  the  deceased  in 
modem  surgery.  — The  Prince  of  .Monaco  has  sent  to  the  .Vcademy 
No.  L\.  of  his  publications  concerning  the  scientific  work 
done  on  his  yacht :  a  contribution  to  the  study  of  the  Cephalo- 
pods  of  the  North  Atlantic,  by  M.  Louis  Joubin. — On  a 
mechanical  amplification  of  the  horizontal  component  of  the 
earth's  rotation,  by  M.  Jules  Andrade. — On  a  hydraulic 
apparatus  to  show  the  movement  of  rotation  of  the  earth,  by 
M.  Aug.  Coret. — -M.  Aug.  Fabre,  in  a  memoir  on  "  Integration 
of  the  equation   to  the  derived   partials  of  the  first  order,  of  a 

function  x  with  «  independent  variables  .v,,  .V;,  .r,, >„  " 

gives  a  quick  new  method  of  arriving  at  the  general  integral  of 
an  equation  fi  {x,  jr,,  j-.,  .  .  ,  x„,  p,,  p,,  .  .  p„)  =  o. 
— M.  J.  Janssen,  in  the  name  of  the  Bureau  des  Longitudes, 
presented  the  1898  volume  of  "  Connaissance  des  Temps." 
There  has  been  added  to  the  tables  concerning  the  satellites  of 
planets,  a  table  giving  the  elements  for  the  calculation  of  the 
position  of  Mar.s'  satellites  at  any  given  moment.  In  the 
ephemerides  of  the  fundamental  stars,  the  brightness  of  those 
above  the  first  magnitude  h.as  l>een  given,  taking  Aldebaran  as 
unit. — The  Perpetual  Secretar)'  announced  to  be  printed  in  the 
Correspondence,  "  Theorie  dcr  endlichen  Gruppen  von 
cindcutigen  Transformationen  in  der  Ebene,"  by  .M.  S.  Ivantor. 
— On  a  class  of  linear  equations  to  the  derived  partials,  by  .M. 
II.  von  Koch. — On  the  surfaces  of  which  the  lines  of  curvature 
form  a  network  with  equal  t.ingential  invariants,  by  M.  \. 
II  .laut. — On  the  double  elliptic  refraction  and  the  tetra- 
n  ;tingence  of  quartz  near  its  axis,  by  M.  (i.  (,)uesneville. — On 
the  estimation  of  argon,  by  M.  Th.  Schlicsing.  .\n  appar.itus 
with  circulating  mercury  pump  is  described,  which  allows  of  the 

'      r|ition  of  nitrogen  and  measurement  of  the  residual  argon. 
I       nhole  arrangement  is  a  modified  form  of  Ramsay's  apparatus 

I  r  Isolating  argon  — On  the  action  of  hydrochloric  acid  on 
■  "\'\«:x.  by  .M.  K.  Engcl.     Copper  decomposes  a  salur.-ited  solu- 

II  .11  iif  hydrogen  chloride  at  15'C.,  with  lilieration  of  hydrogen. 
This  interaction  does  not  occur  if  the  concentration  be  less  than 
th:it    vhnwn    by   the    formula    IICl.  I0ll,0.      The    presence    of 

'  'ride  retards  the  reaction  greatly. — Action  of  potash 

■  m  elhoxide  on  fK;nzo<)uinone,  by  M.  Ch.  Astrc. — 

lions  of  aniipyrine  with  the  diphenols,  influence  of  the 

.siiions  of  the  hydroxyl  groups,  by  MM.  CI.  Patein 

lU.      Pyrocatcchol,   resorcinol,    and    quinol    (hydro- 

!i:ive  differently  with  regard  to  aniipyrine  ;  the  orlho- 

1 1 ihenols combine  with  two  molecular  proportions,  the 

iiieu- with  one.     The  combination  occurs  through  one  of  the 

nitrof^cn    atoms   and    the    phenolic  hydroxyl,  which  loses  this 

lien  its  hydrogen  is  repliicecl  by  a  metal  or  radical. — 

s  on   the  reducing  power  of  pure  yeasts,  means  of 

.,  .:.  by  M.  NaslukofT. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

I  .-1.1  M»«- 

iitcntAry 

■  rice.  An 

I  Kiuctlom  :   K. 

^y  :  T>r.  r..  N. 

^y  K.  Priichard 

(Mtir,cm,Kiri>.      hrail  Cl.iIUrtn  U  l lit  An  ;  -S.  H,  .Si.udJtr  (Hmlon,  Hough* 

l^n).— Darwin  and  afitr  Darwin  :  Or.  G.  J.  Romanes,  ii.  (l-ongmanuX— 


AmonR  Rhode  Island  Wild  Flowers  :  Prof.  \V.  W.  Bailey  (Providence, 
R.I.,  Preston). — Pagan  Ireland  ;  W.  Ci.  Wood-Martin  (Longmans). — First 
Steps  in  Egj-ptian:  Dr.  E.  A.  W.  Hudge  (K  Paul).— Birxlcrafi  :  M.  O. 
Wnght  (Macmillan)  — Fishes,  Living  and  Fossil :  Dr.  B.  I>ean  (Mac- 
millan). — Science  and  Art  Drawing  :  J.  H.  Spanion  (Macmillan). — Ureal 
Astronomers  :  Sir  R.  S.  Ball  (Isbisier). —  Elcktrophysiologie  :  Prof.  W. 
Bicdermann.  Zwcitc  Abthg.  (Jena,  Fi«:hcr). —  Protol>asidiomycctcn  :  A. 
Moller  (Jena,  Fischer).— The  Tallcrman-Shetlield  Patent  Localised  Hot-Air 
Bath  (Baillierc). — University  College  of  North  Wales.  Bangor,  Calendar  for 
the  Year  1895-6  (Manchester,  Cornish). — Atla>  d'Ositologie :  Prof.  C. 
Dcbierre  (Paris,  Alcan). — Evolution  and  Effort  :  E.  Kelly  (^iacmilIan). — A 
Handl>ook  uf  British  lx:pidoptera  :  E.  Mej-rick  (Macmillan). — Surface  Cur- 
rents of  the  Great  Lakes  :  M.  W.  Harrington,  revised  edition  (Washington). 
— Annuario  p.p.  Observatorio  do  Rio  de  Janeiro,  1895  (Rio  dc  Janeiro). — 
U.S.  Geological  Survey  Report,  1892-93,  2  parts  (Washington). 

Pami'HLETS  — Neue  Versuche  zum  Saison-Dimorphisnius  der  Schmetter- 
lingc  ;  Dr.  A.  Wcisniann  (Jena.  Fischer). — Ncue  Gedanken  /ur  Vererhungs- 
frage  :  Dr.  .-X.  Weismann  (Jena.  Fischer). — Cavendish  l^'Cture  on  Dreamy 
Mental  States:  Sir  J.  Crichton-Brownc  (Baillicre). — The  People's  Stone- 
henge  :  J.  J  Cole  (Sutton). — Iron  and  Steel  Institute  :  Presidential  Address  : 
Sir  D.  Dale  ;  Metal  Mixers  :  A.  Cooper  ;  The  Effect  of  Arsenic  on  Steel : 
J.  E.  Stead  ;  The  Mines  of  Elba  :  H.  Scott  ;  On  the  Manufacture  of  Steel 
Projectiles  in  Russia  :  S.  Kern  ;  Ternary  Alloys  of  Iron  with  Chromium. 
Molybdenum,  and  Tungsten  :  J.  S.  de  Bcnnevillc  (A'icioria  Street). ^Thc 
Siouan  Tribes  of  the  East  :  J.  Mooney  (Washington). — .\rchjeologic  In- 
vestigations in  James  and  Potomac  V'allej-s :  G.  Fowke  (Washington). — 
Chinook  Texts  :  F.  Boas  (Washington). 

Seriai_s. — Proceedings  and  Transactions  of  the  Queensland  Branch  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society  of  Australasia,  Vol.  .\.  (Brisbane).— Quarterly 
Review,  October  (Murray). — Journal  of  Anatomy  and  Physiology",  October 
(Griffin). — Contributions  from  the  U.S.  National  Herbarium.  Vol.  3,  No.  3 
(Washington). — Jahrbuch  der  kk,  Geologischen  Rcichsanstalt,  xlv.  Band. 
I  Heft  (Wicn).— Societa  Rcale  di  Napwii,  atii  dclla  Reale  .Accademia  delk- 
Scienze  Fisiche  e  Matematiche,  serie  second.  Vol.  vii.  Napoli). — American 
Journal  of  Psychology.  Vol.  vii.  No.  i  (Worcester,  Mass.)~Ethnoiogische- 
N'otizhlait,  Heft  i  (Williams  and  Norgate). — English  Illustrated  Magazine. 
November  (198  Strand). — Transactions  of  the  Acidemy  of  Science  of  St. 
I>}uis,  Vol.  vl.  No.  18,  Vol.  vii.  Nos.  1,  2,  3  (St.  Ix>uis,  Mo.). — Transac- 
tions of  the  Wagner  Free  Institute  of  Science  of  Philadelphia.  Vol.  3.  Pan 
1,  (I'hiladelphia). — Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society, 
_'|anu.iry,  1895  (PhlKidelphia).— Proceedings  of  the  ,\cadcmy  of  Naiur-il 
Sciences  of  Philadelphia,  iSq^,  Part  i  (Phil.^delphia). 


NO.    1,356,  VOL.   52] 


CONTENTS.  PACK 

The   Metallurgy  of  Iron,     liv  W.  Gowland     ....  61 ; 

The   Life  of  Rennell.     By  Dr.  Hugh   Robert  Mill     .  614 

Counter-Irritation.      By  F.  W.  T 615 

A  New  Departure  in  Geometry.     Hy  A.  E.  H.  L.  .    .  610 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Hutchinson:  "  1  landbook  of  Grasses  " 617 

Cireenwull  :   "  Rural  Water  Supply  " 61; 

Smith  and  ILiri  :   "  Climbing  in  the  British  Isles"     .  617 
Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Tlie    Feed ing-t; round    of  the    Herring. — Alexander 

Turbyne" 617 

The  Toronto   Meeting  of  the  British   Associ.alion. — 

Dr.  Wm.  H.Hale 61S 

The  Theory  of  M.-ignetic  Action  upon  Light. — A.  B. 

Basset,  F.R.S 61S 

The  Society  of  fhemical   Industry  and  Abstracts. — 

Prof.  James  Hendrick          61S 

Note  o]>  the  L)endrt)Colapline  Species,  DeiidrexelasUs 

iapitoiiics  of  Lylon.— Dr.  Henry  O.  Forbes  .    .    .  619 
The  Pressure  of  a  Saturated   \'apour  as  an   Kxplicit 

I'unction  of  the  Temper.iture.  —  F.  G.  Donnan  .    .  619 

Colours  of  MolheroflVarl.—C.  E.  Benham      .     .    .  Oiq 

A  Rational  Cure  for  Snake-bite.      By  A.  A.  K.  .    .    .  O20 

Scientific  Knowledge  of  the  Ancient  Chinese     .    .    .  622 

The  Flora  of  the  Galapagos  Islands.   By  W.  Botting 

Hemsley,  F.R.S 62,; 

The    Late    Professor    Hoppe-Seyler.      II.     By    Dr. 

Arthur  Gamgce,  F.R.S "...  623 

Notes      625 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

.Sunsp<il  Ob.servalions  in  1894 629 

Planetary  1'erlurb.itions 629 

The  System  of  a  Ccntauri 629 

Holmes' Comet 629 

On  the  Habits  of  the  Kea,  the  Sheep-eating  Parrot 

of  New  Zealand.      Ily  W.  Garstang            629 

The  Penetration  of  Roots  into  Living  Tissues.     Hy 

Rudolf  Beer 630 

Dr.    A.  Schmidt's   Theory   of   Earthquake-Motion. 

(///»</;. !/<•</.>.     Hy  C.  Davison 63I 

The    Total    Solar    Eclipse    of  August   8,    1896.      By 

Colonel  Burton-Brown.     (Willi  Map.) 633 

University  and  Educational  Intelligence 635 

Societies  and  Academies 63'' 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 6V' 


NA  TURE 


'0/ 


THURSDAY,    OCTOBER    31,   1895. 


THE  CENTENARY  OF  THE  INSTITUTE  OF 
FRANCE. 

FROM  the  brief  telegraphic  reports  pubhshed  in  some 
of  the  Enghsh  newspapers,  readers  in  this  countr>' 
may  have  observed  that  the  hundredth  anniversary  of 
the  foundation  of  the  Institut  de  France  was  celebrated 
last  week  in  Paris.  These  reports,  however,  convey  but 
a  feeble  impression  of  the  real  character  of  the  celebra- 
tion. The  Institute  is  an  establishment  of  which  French- 
men of  all  classes  and  of  every  shade  of  political  opinion 
are  justly  proud.  They  look  on  it  as  a  living  embodi- 
ment of  the  culture  and  intellectual  power  of  France.  It 
stands  above  and  beyond  politics.  Forms  of  Govern- 
ment may  come  and  go  ;  kings,  emperors,  and  republics 
may  arise,  flourish,  and  disappear.  But  the  Institute 
remains  unshaken,  quietly  pursuing  its  career,  and  sus- 
taining with  marvellous  success  the  intellectual  glory  of 
the  nation.  No  wonder,  then,  that  amid  the  turmoil  of 
parties,  the  strifes  of  Parliament,  and  the  endless  changes 
of  .Ministries,  many  men  turn  to  the  Institute  as  the  only 
stable  institution,  which  royalists,  repubhcans,  socialists, 
and  anarchists  seem  to  be  alike  agreed  in  respecting. 

That  Republicans  especially  should  show  an  interest 
in  this  institution  was  natural.  It  was  founded  a  hundred 
years  ago  during  the  first  Republic.  The  idea  of  restor- 
ing the  old  Academies  and  combining  them  into  one 
central  institution  was  carried  out  by  the  Republican 
Convention,  with  the  openly  professed  intention  of 
promoting  the  literary,  artistic  and  scientific  labours 
which  should  best  contribute  to  the  general  benefit  and 
glory  of  the  Republic.  After  all  the  transformations  of 
the  last  hundred  years,  a  Republican  form  of  govern- 
ment is  once  more  in  power.  It  was  only  fitting,  there- 
fore, that  the  State,  by  its  highest  officials,  should  mani- 
fest its  interest  in  this,  the  oldest  and  most  illustrious 
child  of  the  Revolution,  by  taking  an  active  and  prominent 
|)art  in  the  Centenar)'  of  its  existence. 

Xn  Englishman  privileged  to  be  present  at  the  cele- 
liration  could  not  fail  to  be  struck  by  various  features  in 
it  that  stood  out  in  marked  contrast  to  anything  that 
would  have  been  possible  in  his  own  country.  In  the 
lirst  place,  of  course,  the  Institute  itself  is  unique,  in  the 
wide  range  of  subjects  with  which  it  is  concerned.  We 
have  many  admirable  learned  societies  at  home,  from  the 
Royal  Society  downwards,  and  so  far  as  scientific  pro- 
gress is  concerned,  they  are  possibly  of  at  least  as 
great  service  as  any  Academy  of  Sciences  in  the  world. 
We  have  likewise  our  Royal  Academy  of  the  fine 
arts,  which  may,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  hold  its  own  against  any 
foreign  competitor.  We  have,  however,  nothing  that 
corresponds  to  the  French  Institute,  and  the  question 
has  often  been  discussed  whether  the  creation  of  such  an 
Institute  amongst  us  would  be  possible  or  desirable. 
But  what  especially  strikes  a  stranger  at  such  a  gathering 
as  that  of  last  week  in  Paris,  is  the  catholicity  of  view 
which  led  to  the  union  under  one  organisation  of  so 
vast  a  range  of  human  culture  and  faculty.  Prose- 
writers,  poets,  dramatists,  antiquaries,  mathcmati- 
•cians,  physicists,  astronomers,  geographers,  engineers, 
NO.    1357,  VOL.   5?] 


chemists,  mineralogists,  geologists,  botanists,  ana- 
tomists, zoologists,  physicians,  surgeons,  painters, 
sculptors,  architects,  engravers,  musicians,  writers  on 
philosophy,  morals,  law,  political  economy,  and  his- 
tory— all  meet  as  in  a  common  home  under  the  dome 
of  the  Institute  on  the  banks  of  the  Seine.  Each  of  the 
five  Academies  has  its  own  sphere  of  activity  and  its 
own  independent  organisation.  But  they  confer  mutual 
strength  and  dignity  on  each  other  by  the  common  tie 
that  binds  them  together  as  the  Institute  of  France.  And 
one  cannot  help  feeling  that  in  a  country  liable  to  such 
political  vicissitudes  as  France  has  gone  through  during 
the  last  hundred  years,  it  has  been  of  unspeakably  great 
advantage  to  the  stability  and  progress  of  all  the  arts  and 
sciences  which  elevate  a  people,  that  this  solidarity  of 
intellectual  effort  should  have  been  established  at  the 
beginning  of  the  long  succession  of  political  troubles. 

Another  feature  which  impressed  a  native  of  this 
country  was  the  direct,  hearty  and  effective  part  which 
the  highest  functionaries  in  the  State  played  in  the  chief 
events  of  the  celebration.  The  President  of  the  Re- 
]  public  himself  received  the  foreign  members  and  cor- 
respondants  one  morning  at  the  Elysee,  shaking  hands 
with  each,  and  stopping  every  now  and  then  to  say  some 
few  appropriate  words  to  one  whose  name  or  whose 
work  was  known  to  him.  The  whole  ceremony  was  as 
simple  and  natural  as  it  was  pleasant.  M.  Faure  like- 
wise presided  at  the  opening  meeting  at  the  Sorbonne  ; 
•ind  on  Friday  evening  he  held  a  brilliant  reception,  to 
which  all  the  members  and  correspondents  of  the  Insti- 
tute were  invited,  with  their  wives,  together  with  a  large 
assemblage  of  other  guests,  including  the  Ministry-,  the 
Diplomatic  Corps,  and  representatives  of  the  chief  de- 
partments and  institutions.  In  short,  everything  which 
the  head  of  the  State  could  do  to  testify  officially  the 
pride  and  interest  of  France  in  her  Institute  was  done 
simply  and  heartily.  One  felt  that  the  President,  kindly 
and  gracious  as  he  was  personally,  represented  a  national 
feeling  which  would  have  demanded  expression  no  matter 
what  form  of  Government  had  been  in  existence,  or  what 
political  party  had  been  in  power. 

Nor  was  the  action  of  the  President  the  only  manifesta- 
tion of  official  interest  in  the  celebration.  The  Prime 
Minister,  the  Ministers  for  Foreign  Aifairs,  War,  Marine, 
Public  Instruction,  and  others  found  time  to  spend  an 
hour  or  two  at  one  or  other  of  the  gatherings.  The 
Minister  for  Public  Instruction,  M.  Poincar^,  indeed, 
multiplied  himself  in  the  most  astonishing  way.  Having 
the  official  control  of  the  department  under  which  such 
organisations  as  the  Institute  are  placed,  he  evidently 
considered  it  to  be  his  duty,  as  it  seemed  certainly  to  be  a 
pleasure  to  him,  to  attend  every  gathering  where  his 
presence  could  testify  the  sympathy  of  the  Government 
with  the  Institute  and  its  objects.  At  one  time  he  was  to 
be  seen  at  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  holding  a 
reception  of  all  the  academicians  and  correspondants, 
with  their  wives,  and  a  large  company  of  representative 
men  from  outside.  At  another  time  he  was  on  the  plat- 
form beside  the  President,  making  a  vigorous  speech,  and 
conveying  to  the  Institute  the  appreciation  which  he  and 
his  colleagues  had  of  the  work  which  the  various 
.\cademieshad  accomplished.  .•Xgain  he  was  in  his  place 
presiding  at  the  banquet  given  to  the  Institute,  ready  once 

E  E 


638 


NA  TURE 


[October  31,  1S95 


more  with  eloquent  words  to  wish  prosperity  to  literature, 
art,  and  science.  And  as  if  all  this  were  not  enough  in 
the  midst  of  his  other  busy  official  engagements,  we  found 
him  just  after  breakfast  at  the  unveiling  of  the  Meissonier 
statue  in  the  Louvre  (hardens,  where  he  made  an  admirable 
speech,  summing  up  the  characters  of  Meissonier's  work. 

An  Englishman  might  be  forgiven  if  he  ventured  to  ex- 
press openly  his  opinion  that  such  things  as  these  could 
not,  or  at  least  would  not,  be  done  in  his  own  countr)'. 
We  suppose  our  A'ice-President  of  the  Council  is  the 
Minister  who  most  nearly  corresponds  here  to  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction  in  France.  But  when  had 
we  ever  a  \'ice- President  who  thought  it  worth  his  while 
to  show,  outside  of  his  otTicial  duties,  so  much  active 
interest  in  the  cause  of  science,  art,  and  literature  ? 

While  this  recognition  from  the  State  and  its  func- 
tionaries was  extended  to  the  Institute,  the  latter  showed 
in  several  ways  how  well  it  realised  its  representative 
character  as  the  outward  sjTnbol  of  the  higher  intellectual 
progress  of  France.  One  was  especially  impressed  by 
the  way  this  feeling  was  exhibited  at  the  opening  gather- 
ing in  the  great  hall  of  the  new  Sorbonne.  Behind  the 
academicians  and  correspondants,  the  best  seats  in  the 
building  were  allocated  to  representatives  of  education, 
law,  justice,  &c.  The  chief  schools  and  colleges  had 
places  allotted  to  them,  legibly  marked  out  by  large 
labels  affixed  to  them.  Lawyers,  judges,  and  professors 
rame  in  their  robes  to  take  part  in  the  proceedings. 
Every  section  of  the  programme  appeared  to  have  been 
most  carefully  thought  out.  There  was  a  well-trained 
orchestra,  which  began  by  playing  a  composition  of  the 
first  composer  who  became  a  member  of  the  Institute  of 
France,  and  afterwards  gave  a  fragment  of  Mors  et  Vita, 
by  Gounod — the  last  composer  who  had  passed  away 
from  the  Academy  of  the  Beaux-Arts.  Good  care,  indeed, 
was  taken  in  the  celebrations  to  show  that  music  and  the 
drama  were  included  within  the  range  of  the  Institute's 
activities.  An  afternoon  "gala"  performance  at  the 
Thditre  Fran^ais  included  parts  of  Corneille's  Ciii  and 
Moli^re's  ^coledes  Femmcs  and  Fcmmes  Savanlcs,  wherein 
the  chief  members  of  this  incomparable  company  showed 
once  more  what  perfect  acting  should  be. 

I-astly,  a  stranger  could  not  but  be  pleased  with  the 
numerous  facilities  offered  to  him  to  meet  his  old  friends, 
and  to  make  new  ones.  At  the  evening  receptions  and 
dinners,  at  the  daylight  gatherings  in  the  Institute  build- 
ings, and  in  the  foyer  of  the  Thditre  Fran^ais,  but  most 
of  all  in  the  excursion  to  Chanlilly,  and  the  rambles 
through  the  rooms  and  grounds  of  that  princely  chateau, 
he  had  opportunities  of  seeing  everybody  that  he  wished 
to  converse  with.  No  one  who  went  to  Chantilly  will  be 
likely  to  forget  the  success  of  that  concluding  day  of  the 
proceedings — the  autumnal  woods  with  their  long  vistas, 
the  magnificent  castle,  the  endless  treasures  of  art  and 
literature  within  the  rooms,  bul  above  all,  and  as  the  centre 
and  soul  of  thc"  whole  scene,  the  figure  of  the  Duke 
d'Aumalc,  who  has  gifted  all  that  estate  to  the  Institute. 
Sitting  in  his  bath-chair  wrapped  up  in  black  velvet, 
hardly  recovered  from  his  last  attack  of  gout,  he  showed 
himself  the  most  vivacious  talker  in  the  company,  shaking 
hand^  with  his  guests,  discoursing  to  them  of  pictures, 
travel,  and  incidents  of  his  life  with  the  urbanity  and 
dignity  of  the  old  f;ranii  seigneur. 
so,    11557,  VOL.   52I 


There  was  one  special  source  of  gratification  to  English 
visitors  in  the  remarkable  band  of  men  who  went  to 
represent  Great  Britain  at  the  Centenary.  The  French 
members  of  the  Institute  seemed  to  feel  the  compliment 
paid  to  them  by  the  attendance  of  so  many  illustrious 
men  of  science,  literature  and  art.  .And  the  strength  of  the 
English  contingent  drew  forth  the  admiration  of  visitors 
from  other  countries.  It  was  pleasant,  in  these  days  of 
political  rivalr)-,  to  see  human  culture  linking  men  in  a 
brotherhood  which  stands  above  nationality  and  politics, 
and  more  especially  to  note  that  nearly  thc  whole  of  the 
Englishmen  who  have  been  so  generously  recognised 
by  the  Institute  of  France  should  have  attended  its 
Centenary. 

THE   GOLD  MINES   OF   THE  RAJVD. 
The  Gold  Mines  of  ilie  Rand ;  being  a  Description  of  tlte 
Mining  Industry  of    Witiuatcrsrand,  Soutli  Africiin 
Republic.      By   F.    H.    Hatch   and    J.    .\.    Chalmers. 
(London  :  Macmillan  and  Co.,  1895.) 

AFRICA  is  proverbially  a  land  of  surprises.  It  is  not 
likely,  however,  that  more  startling  surprises  can 
be  in  store  than  those  witnessed  by  the  present  genera- 
tion. We  have  seen  a  great  city  spring  up,  in  what,  before 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  thc  Witwatcrsrand,  was  a  desert, 
a  city  with  over  eighty  mines,  the  workings  of  which 
extend  east  and  west  from  Johannesburg  for  45'S  miles. 
The  mines  have  been  worked  with  regularity,  and  thc 
augmentation  of  dividends  has  attracted  the  attention  of 
capitalists  in  all  parts  of  the  globe,  resulting  in  the 
Russian  Government  commissioning  Mr.  Kitaeffto  report 
on  the  gold-field,  and  in  the  Prussian  Government  de- 
spatching Mr.  Schmeisser  for  the  same  purpose.  The 
output  of  gold  from  the  Witwatcrsrand  has  risen  from 
23,000  ozs.  in  1887  to  2,023,198  ozs.,  valued  at  nearly 
^7,000,000,  in  1894,  whilst  the  return  for  the  first  nine 
months  of  the  current  year  was  1,711,337  ozs.  The 
Transvaal  now  produces  one-fifth  of  the  world's  sup- 
ply. It  is  calculated  that  at  thc  present  rate  of 
progress  the  output  of  the  Witwatcrsrand  mines  will 
have  reached  by  thc  end  of  the  century  a  value  of 
^20,000,000. 

To  the  already  ample  literature  relating  to  the 
Transvaal  gold  mines,  this  handsome  and  profusely 
illustrated  volume  of  three  hundred  large  octavo  pages  is 
the  most  valuable  contribution  that  has  yet  appeared.  The 
authors  possess  special  iiualilications  for  the  important 
task  they  have  undertaken.  Mr.  J.  .A.  Chalmers  is  an 
.Associate  of  the  Royal  School  of  Mines,  and  his  brilliant 
career  as  a  student  has  been  followed  by  many  years 
successful  practice  as  a  mining  engineer  in  South  .Africa  : 
whilst  Dr.  F.  H.  Hatch's  scientific  attainments  and 
literary  skill  are  well  known  from  his  im|)ortant  pclro- 
graphical  researches  carried  out  previously  to  his  retire- 
ment in  1892  from  the  (leological  Sur\ey  of  England  and 
Wales,  and  from  his  useful  manuals  on  mineralogy  and 
petrology. 

The   authors   divide  their  subject-matter    into  lwcl\e 
chapters.     The  first  deals  with  the  history  of  the  gold 
discoveries    and    of    the    development    of    thc   mining 
industry,  whilst  the  subsetiuent  chapters  deal  respectively     \ 
with    the    geology,   the    auriferous    conglonuratcs,   the    || 


^k 


October  31, 


1895] 


NA  TURE 


639 


Witwatersrand  deposits,  the  development  and  prospects 
•of  deep-levels,  mining  practice,  surface  equipments  of  the 
mines,  the  metallurgical  treatment  of  the  ore,  economics, 
mining  law  and  statistics. 

Unfortunately  for  students  of  South  African  geology, 
much  confusion  results  from  the  fact  that  beds  of  an 
identical  character  often  receive  different  names  in 
different  localities.  The  inconvenience  of  this  want  of 
uniformity  in  the  classification  of  the  rock  systems  will 
now,  it  is  hoped,  be  obviated,  as  the  authors'  clear 
exposition  of  South  African  stratigraphy  cannot  fail  to  be 
;<enerall\  accepted.  The  geology  of  South  Africa  is,  it 
may  be  noted,  comparatively  simple.  The  main  sub- 
divisions are  ( l )  recent  deposits  ;  (2)  the  Karroo  formation  ; 
(3)  the  Cape  formation,  and  (5)  the  South  African 
primaiy  formation.  The  sedimentarj'  deposits  are  under- 
lain by  granites,  gneisses,  and  crystalline  schists,  which 
constitute  the  greater  portion  of  the  formation  of  north- 
west central  .'Vfrica.  This  primary  formation  occurs 
largely  in  Mashonaland,  Matabeleland,  and  the  Mozam- 
bique, and  predominates  in  the  northern  and  eastern 
parts  of  the  Transvaal.  Lying  unconformably  on  these 
beds  are  the  shales,  sandstones,  conglomerates  and 
limestones  of  the  Cape  formation,  which  extend  over  the 
southern,  western,  and  middle  parts  of  the  Transvaal. 
They  appear  to  be  of  an  age  corresponding  with  the 
Devonian  and  Lower  Carboniferous  periods  of  European 
classification.  The  Karroo  formation,  which  may  possibly 
be  correlated  with  European  Lower  Mesozoic  formations, 
has  a  widespread  occurrence  in  Cape  Colony,  Natal,  the 
southern  Transvaal  and  the  Orange  Free  State.  It 
derives  its  importance  for  the  Transvaal  from  the  fact 
that  it  carries  the  coal-seams  that  have  rendered  such 
valuable  aid  to  the  development  of  the  auriferous  deposits. 
Lastly,  the  recent  deposits  comprise  those  of  alluvial 
and  ;eolian  origin,  together  with  the  curious  surface 
material  to  which  thcj  authors  apply  the  somewhat  mis- 
leading name  of  " lateritc.'  This  material  is  widely 
distributed  throughout  the  Transvaal.  The  gold  of  the 
Witwatersrand  is  obtained  entirely  from  beds  of  con- 
glomerate, known  as  "banket,"  carried  by  the  Cape 
formation.  These  are  composed  mainly  of  pebbles  of 
white  or  grey  quartz  embedded  in  a  matri.x  consisting 
originally  of  sand,  but  now  completely  cemented  to  an 
almost  homogeneous  material  by  a  later  deposition  of 
c|uartz.  The  pebbles  as  a  rule  do  not  carrj'  any  gold,  the 
mineralisation  being  confined  to  the  matrix.  The  average 
total  yieUl  of  the  conglomerate  stamped  last  year  was 
I3'i6  dwts.  of  fine  gold  per  ton.  With  regard  to  the 
origin  of  the  ore-bodies,  the  authors  enumerate  the 
various  hypotheses  without  giving  their  support  to  any 
one  of  them.  They  have,  however,  been  unable  to  find 
any  evidence  in  favour  of  the  idea  locally  prevalent  that 
the  dykes  met  with,  have  acted  bencfically  on  the  banket 
in  their  immediate  neighbourhood  in  regard  to  gold 
contents.  Tetrologically  the  dykes  belong  to  the  group 
of  dark-coloured  greenstones,  among  which  the  authors 
have  recognised  the  following  types  :  diabase,  olivine- 
diabase,  bronzite-diabase,  epidiorite,  gabbro  and  olivine- 
norite. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  the  book  is 
that  on  the  development  and  prospects  of  deep-levels. 
As  the  bedded  character  of  the  banket  deposits  became 
NO.    1357,  VOL.   52] 


known,  and  as  the  persistency  in  depth  and  the  uniformity 
in  the  gold-contents  became  established  by  deep  bore- 
holes, companies  were  organised  to  work  the  deep-seated 
portions  of  the  beds.  In  discussing  the  depth  at  which 
the  main  bed  will  be  found,  the  authors  bring  forward 
evidence  to  show  that  a  ver)'  important  flattening  of  the 
bed  takes  place.  They  therefore  take  a  more  optimistic 
view  of  the  future  of  the  gold-mining  industry  than  that 
taken  by  other  writers.  The  most  important  problem 
that  presents  itself  is  to  ascertain  the  limit  in  depth  to 
which  mining  may  profitably  be  carried.  The  limiting 
factors  are  increased  temperature,  excessive  initial 
expenditure,  and  increase  of  working  costs.  The  rise  in 
temperature  with  increasing  depth  must,  the  authors 
think,  be  ascribed  almost  entirely  to  secular  causes. 
Unfortunately  very  few  experiments  have  been  made  to 
gauge  the  rate  of  increase.  Mr.  Hamilton  Smith  in  1894 
made  some  determinations  of  the  water  in  the  Rand 
Victoria  borehole  at  a  depth  ot  2500  feet,  the  results 
indicating  an  increase  of  i' K.  for  every  82  feet.  Some 
rough  determinations,  too,  have  been  made  by  Mr.  A.  Y. 
Crosse  at  the  Ferreira  and  Crown  Deep  shafts.  In  view 
of  the  scientific  interest  and  commercial  importance  of 
the  matter,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  an  accurate  determina- 
tion of  the  temperature  will  be  made  at  the  bottom  of 
the  borehole  which  is  now  being  put  down  to  intersect 
the  main  bed  at  a  depth  of  3500  feet.  At  present,  ex- 
perience in  other  countries  is  the  only  available  guide, 
and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  such  results  collated  by  the 
authors  are  very  incomplete.  A  table  of  temperatures  in 
some  deep  European  and  American  mines  is  given 
(p.  104),  but  this,  being  disfigured  by  gaps  and  misprints, 
such  as  St.  Andre  for  St.  Andreasberg,  Prizebram  for 
Przibram,  Sanson  for  Samson,  Lambert  for  Charlcroi, 
does  not  carry  much  weight.  Nor  are  the  shafts  of 
the  Michigan  copper  mines  fair  illustrations  to  select, 
inasmuch  as  the  coolness  of  the  rock  is  undoubtedly  due 
to  the  proximity  of  the  cold  waters  of  Lake  Superior. 
The  authors'  statement  that  at  the  Calumet  and  Hecla 
shaft,  Michigan,  there  is  a  rise  of  only  4^  F.  in  a  depth  of 
4400  feet,  is  certainly  inaccurate.  The  temperature 
determination  must  have  been  influenced  by  the  fact  that 
compressed-air  rock-drills  are  m  use  at  that  mine.  The 
ice-cold  exhaust  would  lead  to  erroneous  results.  The 
usual  geothermic  gradient  is  50  to  55  feet  for  an  increase  of 
temperature  of  1°  F.,  and  the  lowest  recorded  is  that  of  100 
feet  to  r  F.,  at  the  Lake  Superior  copper  mines.  It  would 
appear,  therefore,  that  in  assuming  it  to  be  somewhat  less 
t  han  this  in  the  Rand,  the  authors  are  taking  too  optimistic 
a  view,  more  especially  as  Mr.  Crosse's  determination 
(p.  103)  of  bb-f  F.  at  825  feet,  and  707°  F-  at  1030  feet, 
indicate  the  normal  gradient  of  50  feet  to  1°  F.  In  the 
discussion  of  this  important  subject,  the  authors  might 
have  referred  with  advantage  to  Kocbrich's  3S7  deter- 
minations of  temperature  in  the  Schladebach  borehole. 
These  arc  of  special  importance,  as  they  were  taken  at 
fifty-eight  points  at  equal  distances  of  30  metres  down  to 
the  greatest  depth  yet  attained  of  1716  metres.  The 
result  of  this  investigation  was  that  the  gradient  was 
found  to  be  4609  metres  for  1° R. 

The  chapters  describing  mining  practice,  surface  equip- 
ment, and  the  metallurgical  treatment  of  the  ore,  occupy 
more  than  a  third  of  the  volume.   Admirably  illustrated  by 


640 


NA  TURE 


[October  31,  189; 


excellent  drawings  and  photographs,  they  give  a  clear  idea 
of  the  vigorous  manner  in  which  the  work  is  carried  on. 
Additional  authority  is  given  to  them   by  the  fact  that 
they  contain  contributions  by  Mr.  L.  1.  Seymour,  Mr.  C. 
Butters,  and  other  leading  engineering   experts.      The 
volume   concludes  with  valuable  information  regarding 
material    and    supplies,    labour,    working    costs,    mine 
accounts,  mining  laws  and  regulations,  production  and 
dividends.     A  good  index,  eighty  illustrations,  fourteen 
photographic  plates,  and  seven  folding  maps  and  plans, 
complete  a  volume  of  which  the  authors  may  justly  be 
proud.     With  the  exception  of  a  geological   map,  which 
would  have   been   a  useful  addition,  the  only  omission 
appears  to  be  a  bibliography  of  the  ex-isting  literature 
relating   to    the    subject.     The   authors    appear    to    be 
unacquainted   with   the   geological   work    of  Mr.   C.  J. 
Alford  (London,     1891),  and  with    the  engineering  de- 
scriptions of  Mr.  T.  Reunert  (London,  1893).    Indeed  they 
regard  the  published  information  relating  to  the  nature 
of  the  ore  deposits  and  to  the  extraction  of  the  gold  as 
meagre  and  inadequate.     Yet  Mr.  W.  Gibson  in   1892 
published  a  list  of  sixty-seven  works  on  South  .African 
geology,  sixteen  of  which  bear  directly  upon  the  geolog)' 
of   the  Transvaal.      Mr.    Schmcisser   in    1894  gave  the 
titles  of  fifty   such  works,  and   Dr.    K.  Futterer  in  1895 
gave    156  titles.      With  the  rapid   development   of   the 
mining  industr)',  literary  productions  become  antiquated 
with    remarkable   rapidity.       When  the  writer  of    this 
review  visited  the  Witwatersrand  in  1892,  there  were  1907 
stamps  running.     Now,  according  to  Dr.  Hatch  and  Mr. 
Chalmers,  there  are  2642  (June  1895).      Since  1892  work 
has  been  pushed  on  more   vigorously  than  ever   before, 
and  from  the  sixty  mines  near  the  outcrop  of  the  main 
bed    5,ooo,cx)o    tons   of   ore    have    been    extracted   in 
1893  and  1894.     Numerous  deep   boreholes  have  been 
put  down  to  the  dip  of  the    bed,  and  several  shafts  have 
been  sunk,  encountering  the  auriferous  conglomerates  at 
depths  of  600  to  1000  feet.     Five  years  hence  there  will  be 
8000   stamps  running.      The  present  average   stamping 
capacity  is  over  four  tons  per  stamp  per  day,  and  it  is 
probable   that,  owing   to   technical    improvements,    the 
average  will  be  five  tons.      With  a  total  extraction  of 
10  dwts.  of  gold  per  ton,  the  output  should  be  6,500,000 
ounces.      The  ore  reserves  are  estimated  at   170,000,000 
tons,  equal   at  45s.   per  ton  to  ;^38 2,000,000.       It  seems 
unlikely  that  the  average  cost  of  mining  and  treating  this 
ore  will  exceed  the  present  cost  of  30s.  per  ton.     The 
authors  think,  therefore,  that  they  may  safely  forecast  a 
production  from  the  Witwatersrand  within  the  next  half- 
century  of  ^£700,000,000,  of  which  /200,ooo,ooo  will  be 
'"•r.r.i  BKNNi/rr  H.  Bkoki-.h. 


STARCH. 
Vntcrsuchun^cn    iiber  die    Stdrkekorncr.        I{y    Dr.    .A. 
Meyer.     (Jena  :   Fischer,  1895.) 

THOSE  who  are  best  acquainted  with  the  laboured 
details  of  Nacgeli's  classical  investigations  into 
the  nature  and  growth  of  starch-grains,  and  the  contro- 
versy which  followed  regarding  his  astounding  hypothesis, 
which  so  long  dominated  certain  of  our  tcxt-lxjoks  under 
the  name  of  the  "  intussusception  theory,"  will  best  be 
prepared  for  another  huge  workof  inquiry  into  the  physical 
NO.    1357,  VOL.    52] 


and  chemical  nature,  growth  and  solution, and  significance 
to  the  plant  generally  of  those  curious  structures.  The 
full  appreciation  of  the  magnitude  and  value  of  Meyer's 
task  will  depend  on  the  readers  acquaintance  with  the 
bearing  of  numerous  discoveries  which  have  been  made 
since  Naegeli's  day,  and  turned  to  criticism  and  the  linal 
overthrow  of  his  hypothesis  ;  and  among  these  stand 
prominently,  on  the  biological  side,  Schimper's  demon- 
stration of  the  significance  of  the  various  plastids  to  the 
stratification  of  the  starch-grain,  Sachs'  brilliant  work  on 
the  roh  of  the  starch-grain  in  assimilation,  and  Strass- 
burgers  severe  criticisms  in  his  researches  on  the  structure 
and  growth  of  the  cell-wall  ;  and,  on  the  physical  and 
chemical  side,  Emil  Fischer's  work  on  the  synthesis  of 
carbohydrates,  and  the  splendid  work  of  our  own  countr)-- 
man  Horace  Brown — the  latter,  indeed,  as  much  physio- 
logical as  chemical  in  its  methods  and  results. 

Meyer's  book,  which  contains  over  300  large  pages  of 
closely-printed  German  in  the  dryest  of  styles,  which 
would  be  hard  to  forgi\e  if  the  matter  were  not  so  good 
and  the  spirit  so  enthusiastic,  covers  the  whole  range  of 
the  enormous  domain  now  centred  around  this  formerly  so 
insignificant  a  stmcture,  the  starch-grain  ;  and  it  is  embel- 
lished with  nine  tables  and  ninety-nine  illustrations,  good, 
bad,  and  indifferent,  for  the  quality  of  the  figures  varies 
much,  suggesting  periods  of  different  powers  or  methods 
of  delineation  during  the  fifteen  years  or  so  the  author 
has  been  occujiicd  with  this  monumental  monograph. 

For  it  is  monumental,  in  the  sense  that  it  has  evidently 
been  gradually  built  up  as  a  big  structure,  bit  by  bit, 
with  morsels  of  hard  evidence  dug  with  great  labour 
from  the  difficult  quarry  of  facts,  only  to  lie  worked  with 
the  best  powers  of  the  microscope,  and  the  best  methods 
which  modern  technique  puts  at  the  disposal  of  the 
investigator. 

The  work  may  be  regarded  as  divided  into  five  parts. 
The  chemistry,  physics,  and  biological  properties  of  the 
starch-grain  as  an  object  of  research,  form  the  subject- 
matter  of  three  of  these  parts  ;  the  fourth  is  occupied  with 
some  extremely  ingenious  and  careful  comparative  studies 
of  the  changes  undergone  by  the  grain  in  the  different 
organs  of  various  selected  plants,  at  stated  seasons,  and 
under  experimentally  varied  conditions  ;  while  the  fifth 
part  may  be  taken  as  the  critical  survey  of  the  investiga- 
tions and  views  of  others  scattered  through  the  body  of 
the  work,  and  the  copious  literature  collected  at  the  end. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  traverse  a  work  like  this 
in  a  review,  and  the  following  short  summary  must 
suffice  for  a  glimpse  at  Meyer's  views  and  results,  some 
of  which  he  has  already  published  in  short  papers  from 
time  to  time. 

He  regards  the  typical  starch-grain  as  consisting  of  two 
substances,  one  of  which,  a-Amylosi\  can  be  obtained 
separately  in  the  crystalline  form,  whereas  the  other — 
^■Ainylosc~c:mx\a\.  be  isolated  in  crystals.  Tlie  re- 
lations of  these  two  constituents  to  each  other,  and  to 
other  carbohydr.ites  found  in  modified  starch-grains,  are 
considered  in  detail  ;  they  occur  in  the  grain  itself  as 
acicular  crystals  {trichitcs)  arranged  more  or  less  radially, 
and  the  starch-grain  is  in  effect  nothing  but  a  complex, 
mixed  sphere-crystal  composed  of  radiating  branch- 
systems  of  these  trichitcs,  in  different  proportions,  and 
more  crowded  in  the  denser  layers  than  in  the  softer  ones. 


October  31, 


1895] 


NA  TURE 


641 


The  cases  where  amylo-dextrine  occurs,  and  the 
relations  of  all  these  substances  to  other  carbohydrates, 
their  behaviour  in  water  of  various  temperatures,  the 
action  of  diastase,  and  so  forth,  are  discussed  at  great 
length,  and  we  are  glad  to  see  that  the  author  has  paid 
attention  to,  and,  it  may  be  added,  been  considerably 
influenced  by,  the  valuable  work  of  Brown,  Heron,  Morris 
and  Salomon,  and  there  are  points  of  discussion  of 
interest  to  all  these  workers. 

Of  course  a  view  like  Meyer's  must  depend  for  its  validity 
essentially  on  what  experimental  results  can  be  got  in 
the  way  of  obtaining  sphere-cr)'stals  of  carbohydrates 
like  amylose  under  known  conditions  ;  if  the  author's 
statements  regarding  the  crystallisation  into  spherites  of 
inulin  and  amylodextrin  and  other  bodies  in  a  \iscous 
matrix  can  be  extended  to  the  case  in  point — where  the 
protoplasm  of  the  amyloplast  acts  as  the  viscous  matrix — 
he  has  certainly  made  out  a  strong  case,  for  all  the 
ordinarj'  physical  properties  of  porosity,  behaviour  to 
polarised  light,  swelling,  and  the  stratification,  striation, 
and  other  structural  peculiarities  of  the  starch-grain  are 
as  easily  explained  if  the  unit  of  structure  is  a  trichite 
as  where  it  is  assumed  to  be  a  micella. 

Since  it  is  as  yet  impossible  to  artificially  crystallise 
the  amylose  composing  the  chief  part  of  a  normal  grain, 
into  the  spherical  shape,  however,  the  war  of  discussion 
will  no  doubt  rage  around  this  point  ;  in  the  meantime, 
Meyer  has  unquestionably  marshalled  his  facts  in  hea\'>' 
order  and  made  out  an  ingenious  case,  the  full  signifi- 
cance of  which  can  only  be  grasped  by  ploughing  one's 
way  through  his  heavy,  but,  in  the  main,  logical  German. 

The  phenomenon  of  swelling  has  always  been  a  crux 
in  hypotheses  regarding  the  structure  of  organised  bodies. 
Meyer  explains  it  as  due  to  the  trichites  o{  ^-Amylose — 
the  principal  constituent  of  the  normal  starch-grain — 
absorbing  water,  and  themselves  swelling.  In  other 
words,  the  water  dissolves  in  the  crystals. 

It  should  be  noted,  however,  that  Meyer  distinguishes 
sharply  and  emphatically  between  Porcnqicelliing,  where 
water  is  merely  imbibed  between  the  crystals,  and /.^.f//«_^j-- 
gitc/lung,  where  the  water  is  taken  up  by  the  crystals  ; 
and  he  here  emphasises  what  may  be  a  useful  distinction 
in  questions  of  imbibition.  It  is,  of  course,  Losiings- 
gitc/liing  which  initiates  the  disorganisation  of  the  grain. 

In  the  discussion  of  the  question  as  to  the  growth  of 
the  starch-grain,  the  author  points  out  that  the  latter  may 
grow  in  chromoplasts,  as  well  as  chloro-  and  leuco- 
plasts,  and  that  the  grain  never  impinges  on  the  cyto- 
plasm— it  is  always  completely  surrounded  by  a  layer, 
however  thin,  of  its  plastid  so  long  as  the  cell  lives  ;  he 
makes  this  seem  probable,  but  it  is  impossible  to  prove 
it  in  some  instances.  In  any  case,  the  reader  will  find 
some  pretty  staining  methods  brought  to  bear  on  the 
point. 

Of  course  the  grain  grows  by  apposition,  and  the 
thickness  of  the  layer  deposited  depends  on  that  of  the 
protoplasm  in  contact  at  the  place.  On  the  whole, 
indeed,  the  laws  of  growth  and  stratification  are  those 
laid  down  by  .Schimper  and  .Strassburger,  though  Meyer 
adds  a  good  many  facts  as  to  the  initiation  and  growth 
of  both  simple  and  compound  grains,  and  has  devised  a 
new  nomenclature  and  classification  of  the  various  kinds 
of  starch-grains  which,  complete  and  exhausti\e  though 
NO.    1357,  VOL.  52] 


it  appears,  we  confess  does  not  seem  to  meet  the  require- 
ments of  clearness  and  simplicity  so  fully  as  could  be 
desired. 

One  of  the  most  ingenious  chapters  in  the  book  is 
that  on  the  solution  of  the  grains  in  the  cell,  and  the 
significance  of  fissures  and  pores  for  the  attack  of  the 
diastatic  or  other  solvent. 

Space  is  not  available  for  detailed  remarks  on  the 
authors  methods  of  examining  the  changes  which  the 
starch-grains  undergo  in  the  various  organs  of  Aitoxa, 
Hordeum,  Dieffenbachia,  Pellionta,  Hyacinlhus,  Oxalis, 
&c.,  at  different  times  of  the  year  and  under  different 
conditions  ;  nor  to  give  his  views  on  the  constitution  of 
protoplasm — which  we  \enture  to  think  too  much  of  the 
nature  of  a  hastily-written  note,  moreover  not  necessarj' 
to  the  subject,  and  far  from  convincing  in  the  six  pages 
(with  critical  sentences  on  everybody  from  \aegeli  and 
Wiesner  to  Biitschli  interspersed)  devoted  to  it.  Put 
briefly,  Meyer  regards  protoplasm  as  a  peculiar  emulsion, 
and  therein  agrees  essentially  with  Berthold  ;  whereas 
the  elements  of  cell-w-alls  and  starch-grains  are  as  truly 
crystallised  out  as  is  calcium  oxalate. 

The  experiments  showing  that  the  position  of  the 
layers  of  the  starch-grains  can  be  altered  by  changing 
the  position  of  the  organ  in  which  they  are  growing,  and 
that  the  alternation  of  day  and  night  is  e.xpressed  in  the 
thickness  and  density  of  the  layers — that  the  layers  are 
"  diurnal  layers  " — in  effect  (pp.  268-271)  are  well  worth 
attention,  however,  as  indeed  are  very  many  others  of 
the  difficult  experimental  points  brought  out  towards  the 
end  of  the  book. 

That  the  questions  centering  around  the  starch-grain 
have  not  reached  finality,  is  obvious,  but  that  Meyer  has 
contributed  a  valuable  attempt  to  set  some  of  them  at 
rest,  must  be  admitted  by  all  who  read  his  monograph. 
It  bristles  with  debatable  points,  and  there  are  some 
annoying  faults — e.g.  the  frequent  references  to  figures 
and  titles  in  the  text  without  sufficient  clues,  and  to 
chapters  ahead  of  the  reader  ;  but  that  does  not  weaken 
the  fact  that  his  results  stimulate  the  reader  to  some 
close  thinking,  and  his  critical  compilation  of  the  historj' 
and  literature  of  the  subject  alone  makes  the  book 
necessary  to  all  working  botanists. 

H.  M.\KSH.\LI,  W.\RD. 

APPLIED  METEOROLOGY. 
Weather  and  Disease.     A   Cui~'e  History  of  their  Varia- 
tions in  Recent   Years.     By  .A.lex.  B.  MacDowall,  M..A., 
F.R.Met.S.     (London:  The  Graphotone  Co.,  1895.) 

THE  systematic  study  of  climatic  conditions  in 
connection  with  the  fluctuation  in  the  public  health, 
is  one  which  has  only  recently  been  undertaken,  but 
which  already  promises  results  of  a  most  interesting  and 
important  character.  .Apart  from  the  inherent  interest 
of  the  subject,  which  must  indeed  be  apparent  ;  the  study 
offers,  like  observations  in  phenology,  the  prospect  of 
great  practical  value.  The  work  of  weather  forecasting 
is  at  present  so  wanting  in  accuracy,  and  there  is  so 
little  promise  of  progress  in  this  direction,  that  practical 
meteorologists  might  be  tempted  to  despair,  and  the 
general  public  be  led  to  imagine  that  the  vast  stores  of 
records  which  ha\e  been  accumulated  were  destined  to 


64: 


NA  TURE 


[October  31,  189- 


remain  fruitless  for  an  indefinite  time.  The  application 
of  meteorology-  to  related  subjects  in  general,  and  to 
hygiene  in  particular,  may  thus  be  considered  doubly 
welcome. 

Mr.  MacDowall's  primary  object,  in  the  publication 
before  us,  is  to  represent  the  variations  which  certain 
elements  of  the  weather,  and  the  mortality  from  certain 
common  diseases  have  undergone  during  recent  years, 
and  it  may  be  to  find  a  connection  between  the  two. 
The  mode  of  representation  which  the  autlior  has 
adopted  is  the  one  now  commonly  in  use  of  plotting 
cur\'es  on  ruled  paper,  by  adjoining  points,  the  ordinates 
of  which  are  determined  by  the  two  quantities  to  be 
related,  one  of  which  generally  refers  to  date.  These 
curves  have  as  a  rule  been  subjected  to  a  process  of 
smoothing,  which,  by  recording  the  average  of  e\ery  five 
or  ten  (as  the  case  may  be)  consecutive  values,  eliminates 
the  fluctuations  of  short  duration,  while  preserving  the 
more  gradual  and  lasting  variations.  The  great  advantage 
which  this  method  possesses  is,  it  is  hoped,  to  enable 
the  eye  at  once  to  detect  the  more  salient  features  of  a 
general  tendency,  without  the  mind  being  distracted  by  a 
mass  of  details  which  may  be,  for  the  purpose  in 
view,  absolutely  useless.  In  this  way,  within  the  compass 
of  some  twenty  curves,  the  author  exhibits  the  general 
tendencies  which  have  controlled  the  principal  and  most 
interesting  features  of  the  weather  :  while  a  further  sixteen 
cur\es  show  the  fluctuations  which  have  taken  place  in 
the  most  important  zymotic  diseases. 

If  we  have  any  fault  to  find  with  a  \try  excellent 
purpose,  on  the  whole  admirably  carried  out,  it  would 
be  to  remark  that  the  cur\'es  would  be  better  if  drawn 
on  a  larger  scale.  This  would  have  increased  the  expenses 
of  production,  but  the  result  would  be  clearer.  It  would 
have  been  of  advantage,  too,  if  the  numerical  details,  from 
which  the  cur\es  have  been  drawn,  had  been  given  ;  then 
any  one  interested  in  a  particular  inquiry  could  have  easily 
constructed  the  cur\  e  to  any  desirable  scale.  This  point  is 
of  particular  importance  if  the  reader  wishes  to  know 
what  is  the  "probable  error"  of  any  point  on  the  smoothed 
cur\-e,  or,  in  other  words,  what  is  the  degree  of  reliance 
to  be  placed  upon  the  process  of  smoothing.  For  instance, 
a  comparison  is  instituted,  or  at  least  suggested  (p.  63) 
between  the  curves  representing  the  mortality  from 
(liarrhrca  and  dysentery,  and  that  showing  the  mean 
temperature  for  July  at  (ireenwich.  There  is  apparently 
some  resemblance  between  the  two,  but  the  probable 
error  of  either  curve  may  be  greater  than  this  apparent 
agreement.  If  the  solution  of  a  system  of  equations  of 
condition,  to  which  these  curves  may  be  compared, 
yield  the  quantity  sought,  accompanied  by  a  probable 
error  as  large  as  the  unknown  itself,  great  hesitancy  is 
experienced  in  accepting  the  result  as  a  satisfactory 
solution. 

Mr.  MacDowall's  aim  is  apparently  a  modest  one  : 
for  the  most  part  he  is  content  to  leave  his  graphic  repre- 
sentations of  both  kinds  of  records  to  speak  for  them- 
selves, and  invites  the  reader  to  study  them  independently, 
and  to  follow  up  any  point  which  they  may  suggest.  The 
author's  own  notes  arc  not  copious,  but  they  arc  clear, 
interesting,  and  concise.  .Some  of  the  curves,  too,  are 
very  instructive.  The  opponents  to  compulsory  vacci- 
nation will  not  find  much  to  support  their  views  in  the 
NO.    1357,  VOL.   52] 


curve  tracing  the  mortality  from  small-pox  through  the 
last  two  centuries.  The  steady  and  consistent  improve 
ment  in  the  twenty  years  following  the  introduction  of 
vaccination,  in  1798,  pleads  eloquently  in  favour  of  the 
process.  The  great  decrease  shown  in  the  number  of 
deaths  from  scarlet  fever  may  be  misleading,  if  it  be  not 
compared  with  the  sad  and  alarming  increase  in  the 
mortality  from  diphtheria.  Previous  to  1S59.  these  two 
diseases  were  not  separately  registered  in  the  Registrar 
General's  Reports  ;  but  if  the  two  curves  be  combined, 
the  mortality  from  neither  has  conspicuously  varied. 

The  book,  small  as  it  is,  appears  to  have  been  care- 
fully compiled,  and  must  have  involved  a  considerable 
amount  of  labour  in  its  production.  It  should  certainly 
be  consulted  by  those  who  are  interested  in  the  relations 
between  meteorology  and  hygiene.  W.  E.  P. 


OUR  BOOK  SHELF. 

Popular  History  of  Aiiiinals  for  Voung  People.  Hy 
Henry  Scherren,  F.Z.S.  Pp.376.  (London  :  Cassell  and 
Co.,  Limited,  1895.) 

Wh.\t  would  have  been  said  a  few  years  ago  of  a  popular 
history  of  animals  of  which  the  opening  chapters  were 
devoted  to  man  and  his  resemblance  to  other  members 
of  the  Order  Primates.'  In  the  days  when  it  was  the 
fashion  to  place  man  in  a  separate  order  of  Bimana, 
while  the  man-like  apes  were  called  Quadrumana,  the 
mere  idea  of  including  the  human  race  in  the  aninml 
kingdom  would  have  raised  a  storm  of  indignation. 
Yet  here  we  have  a  book,  intended  for  a  popular  public, 
in  which  the  principle  of  relationship  is  fully  recognised, 
and  man  is  assigned  his  proper  place  in  nature.  Thus 
do  the  scientific  ideas  which  are  anathema  of  one  genera- 
tion become  the  accepted  truths  of  the  next. 

One  of  the  features  which  distinguish  this  book  from 
most  of  the  legion  of  popular  works  on  natural  history 
published  in  recent  years,  is  that  common  names  of 
animals  are  used  throughout,  and  no  attempt  is  made 
to  familiarise  the  reader  with  the  nomenclature  of  scientific 
zoology.  This  fad  will  endear  the  book  to  all  who  like 
to  learn  a  little  about  the  habits  of  animals,  but  have 
no  desire  to  know  any  details.  For  such  readers  the 
present  volume  is  admirably  suited  ;  it  is  full  of  read- 
able anecdotes  about  animals,  and  is  illustrated  with 
thirteen  coloured  plates,  as  well  as  numerous  figures  in 
the  text.  Most  of  the  illustrations,  both  coloured  and 
plain,  are  old  friends,  but  a  few  have  been  reproduced 
from  photographs.  We  think  the  volume  will  be  suc- 
cessful as  a  pri/e-book  and  as  a  book  for  general 
readers. 

Simple  Methods  for  Deteeting  Food  Adiilteralioii.  Hy 
J.  .A.  Bower.  Pp.  118.  (London:  Society  for  Pro- 
moling  Christian  Knowledge,  1895.) 

The  author  describes  a  number  of  simple  tests  for  de- 
tecting common  adulterations  in  articles  of  food.  In  the 
main,  the  tests  described  ran  only  be  carried  out  by 
means  of  a  fairly  good  microscope,  so  they  are  quite 
beyond  the  ordinary  householder  initil  he  provides  him- 
self with  such  an  instrument,  and  educ.ites  himself  in 
the  use  of  it.  Of  the  thirty-six  illustrations  in  the  book, 
twenty-eight  represent  microscopic  views  of  various  sub- 
stances, .and  it  will  l)c  of  little  use  for  any  one  to  set 
.about  detecting  fraud  until  he  is  perfectly  familiar  with 
the  varying  appearances  exhibited  not  only  in  the  illus- 
trations, but  by  actual  specimens  mounted  on  slides. 
Possibly  the  book  will  induce  young  people  to  determine 
specific  gravities,  ,-ind  make  other  simple  observations  ; 
and  if  it  does  that,  it  will  justify  its  existence. 


October  31,  1895J 


NA  TURE 


64^ 


LETTERS  TO  THE  EDITOR. 

f  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.'\ 

Introduction   of   a   West   Indian   Frog    into    the    Royal 
Gardens,  Kew. 

A  SHOB  r  lime  ago  Mr.  VV.  Watson,  the  Assistant-Curator  of 
Kew  Ciardens,  informed  me  that  he  had  noticed  for  several  years, 
in  some  of  the  hot-houses,  specimens  of  a  small  frog,  which, 
hiding  away  during  the  day  among  the  pots  and  orchid-baskets, 
enlivened  the  quiet  evenings  with  their  shrill,  whistling  notes. 
Suspecting  that  this  frog  must  be  a  foreign  importation,  I  asked 
the  Director  to  allow  some  of  the  specimens  to  be  caught,  and 
some  days  ago  I  had  the  pleasure  of  receiving  three  specimens 
in  excellent  condition. 

The  frog  is  Hylodcs  martinicensis,  a  small  arboreal  species, 
distributed  over,  and  common  in,  many  West  Indian  Islands 
(Martinique,  Porto  Rico,  St.  Vincent,  Dominica,  Barbadoes,  &c., 
and  possibly  in  Trinitlad).  Mr.  Watson  recollects  that  he 
observed  it  first  some  ten  years  ago,  that  he  lost  sight  of  it  for 
some  time,  but  that  it  reappeared  about  four  or  five  years  ago. 
Taking  into  consideration  the  few  facts  with  which  we  are 
acquainted  as  to  the  reproduction  of  this  frog,  it  "eems  most 
probable  that  several  specimens  of  both  sexes  were,  on  more 
than  one  occasion,  accidentally  introduced  in  Wardean  cases. 

However  that  may  be,  it  is  evident  that  the  frogs  ha\'e  freely 
propagated  since  their  introduction.  .\t  present  they  are  most 
numerous  in  the  propagating  houses,  in  which  the  temperature 
ranges  between  80°  and  100°,  sinking  in  winter  at  times  to  nearly 
60^.  Accompanying  Mr.  \Vatson  one  evening,  I  heard  from 
several  points  the  call  of  the  frogs,  which  somewhat  resembled 
the  jiiping  of  a  nestling  bird  :  and  guided  by  the  sound,  I  had 
soon  the  pleasure  of  seeing  one  of  them  clinging  to  the  side  of  a 
glass-case. 

There  is  nothing  extraordinary  in  the  accidental  importation 
of  individuals  of  a  tropical  species  of  frog  into  Europe  ;  but  it 
is  an  interesting  experience,  that  the  species  should  have 
(Permanently  established  itself.  This  is  owing,  in  the  first  place, 
to  the  favourable  conditions  under  which  it  found  itself  placed, 
and,  secondly,  to  the  peculiar  mode  of  its  propagation. 

hylodcs  martinicensis,  and  probably  the  majority  of  its 
congeners,  does  not  spawn  in  water,  but  deposits  from  fifteen 
to  thirty  ova  on  leaves  in  damp  places.  After  a  fortnight  the 
young  frogs  are  hatched  in  a  perfect  form,  having  passed  through 
the  metamorphosis  within  the  egg,  thus  escaping  the  vicissitudes 
and  dangers  to  which  they  would  have  been  exposed  during  the 
progress  of  the  usual  Batrachian  metamorphosis. 

This  instance  of  the  accliiDatisation  in  Kew  Gardens  of 
the  "  Coqui "'  (as  the  frog  is  called  in  Porto  Rico)  is  unique 
in  Batrachian  life  at  present.  I  trust  that  the  little  guest  may 
long  flourish  where  it  has  found  such  a  congenial  home,  and 
where  it  usefully  aids  in  the  destruction  of  plant-eating  insects 
and  wood-lice,  of  which  I  found  great  numl)ers  in  the  stomach 
of  a  specimen.  If  at  a  later  period  a  nest  with  ova  were 
discovered,  Mr.  Dyer  wnuld  delight  the  heart  of  embrj'ologists, 
to  whom  the  opportimily  of  examining  fresh  ova  of  this  frog 
would  be  most  welcome.  .Vlbert  Gi  nther. 

Kew,  October  20. 


The  Cause  of  an   Ice  Age. 

1 1  appears  to  me  that  the  jjosition  taken  up  by  Sir  Robert 
Ball  in  his  book,  "  The  Cause  of  an  Ice  Age,"  is  seriously  mis- 
represented by  Sir  II.  Itoworth  in  one  paragraph  of  the  criticism 
wbichappearsin  Natiri-;  of  CJctober  17.  .Sirll.  Howorth  .s.ays, 
that  the  fact  of  the  invariability  of  the  ratio  of  the  heal  received 
by  our  hemisphere  in  simimer  to  that  received  in  winter  cannot 
be  the  cause  of  variability  in  climate  ;  "if,  .as  we  are  told  in  the 
book  over  and  over  again,  this  particular  proportion  (63  :  37)  is 
the  cause  of  the  Ice  age,  we  must  be  living  in  an  Ice  age  now, 
and  we  must  always  have  been  living  in  an  Ice  age."  Now  it 
is  nowhere  asserted  by  .Sir  Robert  Ball  that  the  invariability  or 
the  magnitude  of  this  ratio  is  the  cause  of  an  Ice  age,  but  it  is 
very  clearly  explained  that  he  assumes  the  cause  of  an  Ice  age 
to  be  a.  particular  range  of  positions  of  the  line  of  equinoxes  com- 
bined with  a  high  value  of  the  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit, 

NO.   135;,  VOL.  52] 


and  that  the  fact  that  the  above  ratio  is  63  :  37,  and  not  unity,  as 
appears  to  have  been  supposed  to  Ije  the  case,  is  relevant  only 
so  far  as  it  inclines  us  to  regard  the  changes  of  climate  due  to 
the  causes  just  mentioned  as  much  greater  than  we  might  other- 
wise have  regarded  them. 

It  seems  obvious  that  a  large  value  of  the  eccentricity  con- 
temporaneous with  a  favourable  position  of  the  line  of  equinoxes 
will  correspond  to  some  change  in  climate.  Whether  this  cause 
is  a  dominant  one,  or  even  an  important  one,  in  its  effect  on 
climate,  is  of  course  an  open  question,  and  one  upon  which  I 
express  no  opinion.  Sir  H.  Moworth  thinks  that  Sir  Robert 
Ball  has  inadequately  recognised  the  fact  that  the  ratio  of  heat 
received  in  summer  to  that  received  in  winter  by  one  hemisphere 
has  been  calculated  by  Wiener.  I  find,  however,  on  page  90 
(second  edition),  the  following  reference  to  Wieners  work. 
"  They  depend  on  the  mathematical  calculation  given  for  the 
first  time,  I  believe,  by  Wiener  in  his  work,  "  Zcitschrift  der 
Oe-sterreichischen  (Jesellschaft  fiir  Meteorologie,''  vol.  xiv., 
1879,  p.  129.  .  .  .  .My  chief  object  is  to  emphasise  the  relation 
of  these  calculations  made  l)y  Wiener  to  the  astronomical 
theory."     Wiener's  work  is  also  ntentioned  in  the  preface. 

On  the  general  question  as  to  the  adequacy  of  Croll's  theory, 
with  or  without  the  fact  which  Sir  Robert  Ball  adduces  solely 
with  a  view  of  strengthening  that  theory,  I  express  no  opinion  ; 
it  seemed  to  me,  however,  that  in  fairness,  .some  of  the  remarks 
made  by  Sir  II.  Iloworth  required  refutation. 

Christ's  College,  Cambridge.  i;.   W.   HoBSON. 


Green  Oysters. 

Only  today  I  was  able  to  read  Prof.  Lankester's  letter 
(Nature,  May  9,  1895),  and  wish  to  reply  briefly.  My  note  in 
Monitorc  Zoologico  was  simply  a  preliminary  communication  ;  the 
proofs  of  my  asserti^)ns  will  be  given  /';/  extenso  in  a  pa]>er  which 
will  soon  he  published.  My  conclusions  in  that  part  which  may 
interest  the  previous  labours  of  Prof.  Lankesler  may  be  briefly 
expressed  as  follows  : — 

(i)  My  observations  have  always  been  made  on  true  huitres 
de  Marennes. 

(2)  I  believe  that  Prof.  Lankester  must  have  overlooked  the 
recent  works  on  the  histology  of  Molluscs  by  Janssen,  Rawitz 
and  others,  or  he  would  have  seen  that  his  "gland  cells"  are 
the  becherzellcn,  cellules  caliciformes  of  the  authors  quoted  ; 
which  are  inside  the  branchial  ejiithelium,  and  not  on  its  surface, 
and  never  can  be  considered  wandering,  nor  can  they  have 
amoeboid  movements.  It  would  be  strange,  therefore,  to  con- 
sider such  "  gland  cells  "  .as  similar  to  the  amcebocytes  of  the 
blood  ! 

(3)  Prof.  Lankester  says  that  the  "gland  cells  "  contain  green 
granules  in  the  Marennes  oysters,  but  this  is  entirely  due  to  an 
opt'cal  illusion  ;  if  one  examines  a  fresh  piece  of  branchial 
lamella  of  tlie  gr^en  huitre  de  Marennes,  the  "gland  cells  " 
appear  green,  but  if  these  cells  be  separated  from  the  epithelium, 
one  finds  that  they  are  always  colourless,  and  that  they  appeared 
green  because  they  are  surrounded  with  green  matter.  Making 
careful  sections  of  the  brancliial  lamella;  or  the  labial  |xilps,  one 
finds  clearly  :  {a)  that  the  gland  cells  are  never  green  ;  (b)  that 
the  superficial  epithelimn  is  green  :  (c)  that  some  amcebocytes 
and  large  masses  included  in  the  epithelium  are  also  green.  I 
am  ready  to  furnish  Prof.  I.;inkester  with  microscopical  pre- 
parations showing  what  I  assert. 

(4)  The  green  of  the  Marennes  oysters  is  not  a  hurtful  sub- 
stance which  must  be  got  rid  of,  and  it  is  incorrect  to  imagine 
a  defensive  phagocytosis  performed  by  amiebocytes.  To  me  it 
is  quite  obvious  that  the  green  colouration  is  merely  due  to  a 
true  assimilation  of  nutritive  substance  which  takes  place  through 
the  agency  of  the  epithelium  in  some  jwrtions  of  the  intestine 
and  in  the  branchial  lamella;-.  .\nd  no  doubt  it  is  the  amrebocytes 
who  carry  the  green  substance,  assimilated  from  the  epithelium, 
to  the  liver.  I  am  quite  aware  that  these  results  of  my  researches 
are  new,  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  in  communicating  them  to 
the  Monitorc  Zoologico  I  noted  that  they  are  of  some  importance 
to  our  further  knowledge  of  the  iihysiology  of  mollusca. 

(5)  It  is  a  mistake  to  believe  that  the  oysters  .are  green  because 
they  feed  on  Navicula  ostrearia  :  the  truth  is  that  the  alga  is 
green  for  the  same  rea-son  that  the  Marennes  oysters  are  so, 
which  is  from  the  nature  of  the  pares  and  claires  bottom.  It  is 
therefore  the  ,s.ame  substance,  viz.  the  blue  pigment  "  Marcnnin," 
which  is  found  in  both. 

(6)  The  chemical  |>art  of  my  work  is  not  concluded,  and   I 


644 


NA  TURE 


[OcTOi!KU  31.    1S95 


fear  that  I  shall  not  be  u...^  .  -  ,,aish  that  most  difficult  task. 
But  I  may  note  that  my  assertion  that  "  Marennin "  contains 
principally  iron,  is  base<l  on  the  recent  researches  of  Munlz  and 
Chatin.  D.  Carazzi. 

Spezia,  Italy,  October  12. 


Oxford  Endowments. 

I  A.M  surprised  that  my  friend  Dr.  Hickson,  whose  past  re- 
sidence among  us  lends  authority  to  his  words,  should  so 
greatly  misrepresent  facts  as  to  say,  in  Nature  of  October  3, 
that  "  the  income  of  the  [college]  endowments  is  frittered 
away  in  the  salaries  of  the  heads,  the  stewards,  the  bur- 
sars, and  the  tutors  of  the  pass-men,"  the  fact  being  that 
these  endowments  do  not  provide  the  salaries  of  cither 
the  stewards  or  the  tutors.  It  is  fiirther  difficult  to  see  how- 
estates  can  be  managed  without  bursars,  and  how  bursars  can 
exist  without  salaries  ;  how  complex  institutions  can  work  with- 
out heads,  and  how  heads  can  live  on  nothing  ;  and  how  the 
payments  to  bursars  and  heads — the  latter  at  least  with  stipends 
fixed  by  statute — is  in  any  way  connected  with  "the  [alleged] 
unfortunate  competition  that  exists  between  colleges." 

Christ  Church,  Oxford.  R.  E.  Baynes. 

I  AM  sorry^  that  my  friend  Mr.  Baynes  should  think  that  I 
have  "misrepresented  facts"  in  my  article  on  the  "  Linacre 
Reports."  I  did  not  state,  nor  did  I  intend  to  imply,  that  the 
whole  of  the  salaries  of  the  tutors  and  stewards  is  derived  from 
college  endowments  ;  but  surely  it  is  true  that  in  the  majority  of 
cases  these  officers  are  fellows  of  their  colleges,  and  as  such 
receive  a  substantial  sum  of  money  annually  from  the  college 
endowments. 

I  am  quite  com|M;tent  to  understand  that  college  estates 
cannot  be  managed  without  bursars,  and  that  bursars  cannot  live 
without  salaries  ;  but  the  estates  of  the  Oxford  colleges  could 
I*  managed  by  less  than  half  the  number  of  bursars  that  now 
exist  in  Oxford — provided  thai  they  were  chosen  carefully  from 
among  those  who  have  had  some  training  or  experience  in  their 
profession — and  a  large  annual  income  would  be  saved  from  the 
endowments. 

As  to  the  heads.  Speaking  with  every  respect  for  these 
august  persons,  I  still  feel  that  with  judicious  amalgamation 
three  or  |x)ssibly  four  heads  would  be  sufficient  to  carry  on  the 
official  work,  they  now  perform,  with  efficiency  and  dignity. 

I  should  exceedingly  regret  if  any  remarks  of  mine  should 
give  offence  to  my  friends  in  Oxford  ;  but  I  never  hesitated  to 
express  my  opinion  there  or  in  Cambridge,  that  the  independence 
of  the  colleges  means  a  fearful  waste  of  their  endowments  ;  and 
until,  by  .Vet  of  Parliament,  a  suitable  amalgamation  of  these 
institutions  is  brought  about,  there  will  be  little  margin  left  for 
the  endowment  of  research  and  the  payment  of  those  engaged  in 
pure  scholarship.  Syd.np.%"J.   Hickson. 


Late  Leaves  and  Fruit. 

IIf.rf.,  many  of  the  roadside  lindens  have  cast  iheir  summer 
foliage,  and  put  forth  a  garniture  of  new  leaves  ;  these  are  fully 
grown,  and  bear  the  vivid  tint  of  .spring.  In  this  city,  on  the 
I  lib  inst.,  well-grown  open-air  strawberries  were  on  sale  in  the 
fruiterers'  shops.  The  quantity  altogether  amounted  to  several 
bushels.  J.  Li.ovD  BozwARi). 

Worcester,  Octoljcr  19. 


/•//£■  CENTENARY  F^TES  AT  PARIS. 
'X'HE  latter  part  of  last  week  has  witnessed  the  cele- 
^  bration  of  the  first  centennial  anniversary  of  the 
foundation  of  ili<;  Institut  de  Krancc.  J'aris  was  certainly 
not  at  its  best,  as  far  as  meteorological  features  were  con- 
cerned ;  the  weather  offered  nothing  "  Queenly  "  or  "  Pre- 
sidential "  in  its  demeanour,  and  upon  the  whole  was 
what  it  generally  Is  at  this  time  of  the  year— unpleasant, 
wet.  .mil  I  old.  Hut  it  hardly  interfered  with  the  proceed- 
1  'tivitics,  and  we  trust  none  of  the  generally 

■'.        .        I-.  of  the   Institute  will   be  any  the  worse  in 
health  for  their  rapid  visit  to  I'aris. 

.•\  large  number  of  foreign  associates  and  corresponding 
members  had  promised  to  come  ;   and  the  occasion  was 

NO.    T  357,  VOL.   52] 


such  a  remarkable  one,  that  we  print  in  full  the  list  of 
acceptations.  Of  the.\caddmiedes  Inscriptions  et  Belles- 
Lettrcs,  the  .A.ssocies  ctrangers  present  were  MM.  .-Xscoli, 
Helbig,  Max  Midler,  Whitley  Stokes  ;  while  the  Cone- 
spondants  present  were  MM.  Bailly,de  Beaurcpaire,  Blade, 
Blancard,  Champoireau,  Chevalier,  Comparetti,  Uel.ittrc 
(le  P6re),  De  Smedt,  Sir  John  Evans,  (^.oeje,  Gomperz, 
de  Grandmaison,  loret,  Kern,  Mcrlct,  Millardct,  Naville, 
Radloff,  Saige,  Sauvaire,  Windisch.  In  the  .\cad<$mie 
des  Sciences,  the  Associes  dtrangers  who  attended  were 
Lord  Kelvin  and  Dr.  Frankland  :  and  the  Correspondants 
were  MM.  .Amagat,  .Arloing,  Biicklund,  de  Baeyer,  Bayct, 
Bergh,  Bichat,  Blondlot,  Brioschi,  Cannizaro,  Considere, 
Crova,  Engelmann,  Sir  .Archibald  Geikie,  Gosselet, 
Grand  Euiy,  Haller,  Herrgott,  Ilouzeau,  Kovalewski, 
Laveran,  Lepine,  Lie  (.Sophus),  Lockyer,  Maic-s,  Marion, 
Masters,  Mathcron,  Oilier,  Pagnoul,  Ramsay,  Raoult, 
Rayet,  Relzius,  Sir  Henry  Roscoe,  Sabaticr,  Sire,  Sirodot. 
Stephan,  Sir  G.  Stokes,  Sucss,  .Sylvester,  General 
Tillo,  Treub,  \'allier.  In  the  .-Vcademie  des  Beaux-.-\rts 
there  were  the  -Associes  ctrangcrs,  MM.  .\lnia  Tadcma. 
Da  Silva,  Gevacrt,  Pradilla  ;  and  Correspondants,  MM 
Bertrand,  Biot,  Civiletti,  Cui,  Cuypers,  Dauban,  Deffifs, 
De  Geymiiller,  Gouvy,  Guffens,  Israelis,  Lanciani,  Le 
Breton,  Locnhoff,  Marionneau,  Martenot,  Penin,  Ronot, 
Salinas,  Salmson,  Sgambati,  de  X'riendt,  Waterhouse, 
Wauters.  In  the  .Academic  des  Sciences  Morales  et 
Politiqucs,  the  Associtfs  ctrangers  present  were  MM. 
Carlos  Cah  o  and  Castclar  ;  and  the  Correspondants  were 
MM.  .Aubcitin.  Babeau,  Barkaiisen,  Bodio,  Caillemer, 
Ducrocq,  Du  Puynode,  Kerrand.  Lallcniand,  Lecky, 
Legrand,  le  Conite  de  Lucay,  Molinari,  .Moynier,  Sir  F. 
Pollock,  Polotsofl",  Raffalovich,  Stubbs,  \'illey  Des- 
niescrets,  Vi'orms. 

.At  one  time,  it  had  been  decided  to  choose  the  epoch 
of  the  centennial  anniversary  for  the  transfer  of  Pasteur's 
mortal  remains  from  the  vaults  of  Notre  Dame  to  their 
final  resting-place  at  the  Pasteur  Institute.  The  plan 
was  not  carried  out,  and  it  was  better  so.  The  frame  of 
mind  which  is  suitable  for  festivities  is  not  so  for  a 
funeral,  and  it  would  not  have  been  in  good  taste  to 
mingle  the  one  with  the  other.  The  plan  was  dismissed 
after  short,  but  wise,  reflection.  The  festivities  were 
carried  out  in  strict  accordance  with  the  announcements 
made,  and  published  in  N.\Tl'KK. 

On  the  first  day,  the  23rd,  a  religious  service  was 
celebrated  in  Saint  (iermain  des  Prirs,  in  memory  of  all 
members  of  the  Institute  deceased  since  its  foundation,  by 
Monseigneur  Perraud,  Bishop  of  .Autun,  a  inember  of  the 
Acadi!mie  Kranqaise,  and  a  very  distinguished  writer  and 
philosopher.  It  must  not  be  thought  that,  even  in  the 
land  of  X'oltaire,  all  men  of  science  consider  atheism  as 
"the  "  proper  form  of  philosophy.  The  Institute  is  very 
conservative,  and  whatever  oi)inions  most  members 
may  hold  concerning  religion  and  dogmas,  every  man 
has  his  own  conception  of  the  universe,  more  or  less, 
and  entertains  "  son  petit  religion  Ji  part  soi,"  as  a  witty 
(ierman  princess  put  it,  in  her  own  barbarian  French. 
This  first  ceremony  was  largely  attended,  although  more 
national  than  international  in  character.  The  re.il  general 
opening  of  the  celebration  look  place  the  same  day  at 
2  p.m.,  when  the  foreign  associates  and  correspondants  were 
received  and  entertained  in  the  salon  of  the  Institute  by 
I  the  members  of  the  latter.  Each  ///:v/t'  was  announced 
I  by  the  /iiiixsii-rs,  and  after  having  been  introduced  to  the 
masters  of  the  house,  joined  his  own  personal  friends  and 
acquaintances  in  pleasant  conversation  and  numerous 
introductions  to  fellow-workers  of  every  land.  The 
masters  of  the  house  were  M.  .Ambroise  Thomas  1  the 
author  of  Mii^non)^  member  of  the  ,A(  .idemie  des  Beaux- 
Arts,  and  for  this  year  President  of  the  Institute,  assisted 
by  MM.  Maspcro,  Marey,  Lc'on  .Say,  Count  Dclaborde. 
delegates  of  the  four  other  .Academies.  The  last  function 
of   the  day  was   a   general    reception  of    all    members. 


October  31,  1895] 


NATURE 


64= 


associates,  and  correspondants  by  the  Minister  of  Public 
Instruction.  The  reception-rooms  of  the  Ministry  had 
been  very  elegantly  adorned  for  the  purpose.  A  whole 
series  of  tapestries — from  the  celebrated  Gobelins  manu- 
factory— illustrating  Don  Quichotte's  life,  after  the  pic- 
tures by  Coypel,  decorated  the  walls  of  a  large  hall 
which  had  been  built  for  the  purpose,  at  the  end  of 
which  a  stage  had  been  erected.  M.  Poincare,  the 
Minister,  received  most  cordially  his  guests,  who  com- 
prised, besides  the  members  of  the  Institute,  a 
large  admixture  of  very  different  elements,  among 
which  political  men  were  predominant.  \  very 
pleasant  evening  was  provided  by  the  singers  and 
actors,  among  which  were  the  best  of  the  Opera  and  of 
the  Theatre  Frangais,  and  by  the  excellent  orchestra  of 
the  Opera. 

On  the  next  day  (Thursday,  24th)  a  general  meeting 
was  held  in  the  large  hemicycle  of  the  new  Sor- 
bonne,  so  splendidly  decorated  by  the  paintings  of 
Puvis  de  Chavannes.  The  President  of  the  French 
Republic  was  present  with  such  Ministers  as  were  not 
professionally  detained  at  the  Chambre  des  Deputes,  and 
after  the  overture  of  Vi.&\vXi  Joseph — Mdhul  was  the  first 
composer  who  belonged  to  the  Institute — three  speeches 
were  delivered.  M.  Ambroise  Thomas  bega.i,  and  was 
short.  M.  Jules  Simon  came  next,  but,  as  his  voice  is 
weak,  he  could  not  possibly  make  himself  heard  in  more 
than  a  small  fraction  of  the  hemicycle.  M.  Poincare,  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  spoke  last,  and  very 
appropriately.  This  long  ceremony  ended  with  a  frag- 
ment of  Ators  ct  Vita,  of  Gounod,  played  by  the 
orchestra  of  the  Opera. 

In  the  morning  a  short  reception  took  place  at  the 
Elysee,  where-  the  President  of  the  Republic  received 
the  foreign  members  of  the  Institute.  The  foreign  asso- 
ciates and  correspondants,  to  the  number  of  fifty-five, 
were  presented  to  President  Faure  by  the  office-bearers 
of  their  respective  .Vcademies.  The  President  wel- 
comed them,  and  held  a  short  conversation  with  each, 
and  M.  Gaston-Boissier  presented  him  with  three 
volumes  containing  the  minutes  of  the  Institute  since  its 
foundation. 

In  the  evening  a  banquet  took  place  at  the  Hotel  Conti- 
nental ;  two  hundred  and  fifty  members  were  present. 
After  two  short  "after-dinner  "  speeches  by  .M.  .Ambroise 
Thomas  and  M.  Poincare,  M.  .Max  Miiller,  acting asspokes- 
man  for  all  the  foreign  members  and  associates,  proposed 
the  health  of  the  Institute,  "which,  alone,  remains  unaltered 
and  immovable  in  its  renown  and  glory,  while  so  many 
things  have  changed  during  this  century,"  in  very  excel- 
lent terms.  Most  happily  inspired  was  Lord  Kelvin  in 
his  address.  The  very  cordial  and  sympathetic  expression 
which  the  Royal  Society  gave  to  its  feelings  in 
its  address  to  the  Institute,  was  received  with  much 
satisfaction,  and  the  icw  words  which  closed  the 
orators  speech  went  to  the  heart  of  all  Frenchmen  : 
"  Personally,  I  cannot  express  how  much  I  appreciate 
the  great  honour  you  have  done  me  in  electing  me  among 
the  associates  of  the  Institute.  But  I  owe  to  France  an 
even  greater  debt.  .She  has  been,  truly,  the  ahna  tnatcr 
of  my  scientific  youth,  and  has  inspired  my  admiration 
for  the  beauty  of  science,  which  during  my  whole  life  has 
kept  me  chained  in  her  service.  It  was  Laplace  who 
initiated  nic  into  celestial  mechanics,  and  a  few  years  later 
the  venerable  Biot  led  me  by  the  hand  and  introduced  me 
to  Regnault's  laboratory.  To  Regnault  and  Liouville  I  shall 
eternally  be  grateful  for  their  kindness  towards  me,  and 
for  the  solid  leaching  they  gave  me,  in  1849,  on  experi- 
mental physics  and  mathematics.  M.  President  of  the 
Institute,  gentlemen,  I  thank  you  with  all  my  heart. 
From  what  I  have  said,  you  will  understand  wh)'  I  con- 
sider with  perfect  gratefulness  France  as  the  alnui  mater 
of  my  scientific  life."  Lord  Kelvin  spoke  with  his  heart 
as  well  as  with  his  reason,  and  the  great  applause  which 

NO.    1357,  VOL.   52] 


followed  his  speech  must  have  told  him  that  he  had  made 
no  mistake  in  doing  so. 

The  25th  was  devoted  to  an  afternoon  in  the  Theatre 
Fran^ais  ;  the  programme,  to  be  sure,  was  of  somewhat  an 
austere  character.  The  C/V/,  the  Ecole  des  Femmes, 
and  the  Femmcs  Savantes  were  exceedingly  classical 
and  sedate.  .  .  .  though,  what  might  have  been  put  in 
their  place  we  could  hardly  decide,  and  classics  were 
probably  more  suitable  for  an  audience  comprising  a  large 
number  of  foreigners  than  some  modern  play,  where 
the  finesses  might  have  been  a  little  too  subtle  and 
delicate.  .-^  very  nobly-felt  and  worded  poem  by  Sully 
Prudhomme — the  most  philosophical  of  French  poets  of 
the  period — was  read  by  Mounet-SuUy,  the  doyen,  the 
veteran  of  the  French  theatre.  In  the  evening  a  recep- 
tion was  held  at  the  Elys&  by  the  President,  who  most 
graciously  shook  hands  with  the  foreign  members  who 
had  already  been  at  the  Elysee  in  the  morning.  The 
members  of  the  Institute  were  all  but  lost  in  a  crowd 
of  political  men,  senators,  deputies,  officers,  and 
functionaries  who  had  been  invited  to  meet  them. 

The  last  act  was  a  visit  to  the  magnificent  residence 
of  Chantilly,  to  the  Due  d'.Aumale.  .A.  special  train 
left  the  Noithem  Railway  Station  at  1 1.15  a.m.,  carrying 
239  members,  and  at  Chantilly  eleven  large  vehicles  trans- 
ported the  whole  assembly  .to  the  chateau,  through  part 
of  the  woods,  the  race-course,  and  the  stables.  The 
Duke,  who  had  hardly  recovered  from  an  attack  of  gout, 
had  to  receive  his  guests  silting  in  a  rolling-chair,  and 
received  them  most  cordially.  Lord  Kelvin  and  other 
members  of  the  British  contingent  had  some  con- 
versation with  the  Duke  in  English,  and  the  afternoon 
was  devoted  to  inspection  of  the  residence  itself,  which 
has  been  splendidly  enlarged  and  embellished  by  the 
present  proprietor,  and  to  the  surrounding  grounds.  The 
whole  of  Chantilly  and  of  its  contents,  as  we  have  already 
said,  has  been  bequeathed  by  the  Duke  to  the  Institute. 
This  represents  nearly  ^2,000,000,  exactly  43,000,000 
francs.  .As  the  Institute  owns  already  some  25,000,000 
francs  (;{J 1, 000,000),  at  the  death  of  the  Duke  the  whole 
amount  will  be  of  some  70,000,000  francs  (under 
_^3,ooo,ooo).  The  whole  Institute  distributes  over 
725,000  francs  in  prizes  each  year. 

And  now  the  festivities  are  over,  and  most  of  the 
Institute's  guests  have  gone  back  to  their  home  or 
country' — may  their  remembrances  be  pleasant.  They 
ha'.e  met  some  of  their  fellow-workers,  and  new  friend- 
shijjs  have  been  formed.  -Such  meetings  are  profitable. 
While  ill-feeling  between  nations  are  being  daily  sug- 
gested and  excited  by  the  incautious  and  ill-advised 
prose  of  a  number  of  irresponsible  men,  it  is  well 
that  occasionally  the  heads  and  lights  of  different 
countries  should  meet  and  mingle  together.  Knowing 
each  other  better,  appreciating  each  other,  united  by  a 
same  bond  to  a  same  faith,  they  may,  by  their  influence, 
help  to  further  the  advent  of  the  reign  of  reason  and 
goodwill.  .A  great  number  of  men,  like  Moses,  have 
already  expired  in  view  of  the  Promised  Land  ;  and 
doubtless  many  more  will  do  the  same.  The  Promised 
Land  seems  \cxy  remote,  and  hardly  "  promised."  But 
this  is  no  reason  for  not  doing  what  should  be  done,  and 
international  assemblies  of  the  "best  of  the  land"  cannot 
fail  to  exert  a  useful  influence. 

Hl-.NRV    DK    \'.\R1GNY. 


This  account  of  the  fetes  would  be  incomplete  if  we 
did  not  give  M.  Jules  Simon's  discourse  on  the  Institute, 
the  delivery  of  which  formed  the  central  feature  at  the 
meeting  in  the  Sorbonne.  As  M.  Jules  Simon  is  the 
foremost  French  orator,  and  his  style  is  remarkable  not 
only  for  its  brilliancy  but  for  its  terseness,  we  give  the 
whole  oration  as  it  was  delivered. 


646 


NA  rURE 


fOcTOHEK    ^1, 


i«95 


MK->ir.i.  K>, — 'jiuiim  ic  _i;cncral  BuiKiparlc  prii  ic  cv'in- 
niandement  de  rarmee  d'Eg)pte,  il  signa  aussitot  de  la 
facon  suivante  ses  proclamations  ct  ses  ordres :  "  Bonaparte, 
general  en  chef,  niembre  de  I'lnstitut,"  "  bien  sur,  dbait-il, 
d'etre  compris  du  dernier  tambour." 

L"Instilut  n'a^'ait  pas  trois  ans.  II  a  fait  depuis  ce  temps-la 
quclque  bniit  dans  le  monde.  Je  ne  puis  done  me  flatter 
dapprendre  a  personne  sa  courte  et  glorieuse  histoirc.  Je  la 
resumerai  en  quelques  mots  pour  nous  rcjouir  en  commun  de 
ses  grandeurs  et  non  |x>ur  nous  en  instruire. 

Les  grandes  assemblces  qui  prirent  en  mains  le  sort  de  la 
France  a  la  fin  du  Will'  siccle  eurent  dcs  leur  premier  jour 
rinstinct  revolutionnaire.  EUes  ne  se  proposerent  i>as  ix>ur 
but  de  conserver  les  institutions  existantes  en  les  ameliorant  et 
en  les  pui^eant  de  leurs  abus ;  elles  firent  fiartout  table  rase,  el 
<)uand  elles  eurent  tout  renverse,  elles  s'occuperent,  en  liberie, 
de  tout  rcconstruire. 

Les  academies  a\-aienl  largement  contribue  a  Tavenement  de 
la  Revolution.  A  peine  eut-on  pass<!  de  la  ihcorie  a  Taction 
qu'elles  Irouverent  qu'on  allait  trop  loin.  Elles  avaienl  vorlu 
reformer  :  on  ne  songeait  plus  autour  d'elles  qu'.i  delruire.  La 
Revolution,  de  son  cote,  fit  comme  loutes  les  revolutions  :  elle 
oublia  ce  qu'on  lui  avail  donne  et  s'irrita  de  ce  qu'on  lui 
refusait. 

Elle  se  boma  d'abord  a  des  mesures  malveillantes. 

L".\ssemblee  conslituante  vota  avec  hesitation  et  provisoire- 
ment  pour  une  annce,  en  accom|)agnant  son  vote  d'aigres 
reproches,  les  subventions  que  le  Comitc  des  Finances  demandail 
pour  les  corps  litleraires.'  La  Convention  frappa  les  grands 
coups.  Elle  defendit  d'abord  de  (xjurvoir  aux  sieges  vacants, 
<:t  enfin,  en  aoi'il  1793,  elle  supprima  "loutes  les  academies  et 
socictes  liiteraircs  |iatentees  par  la  Xalion." 

Un  a  souvent  rcmarquc  que  cette  menie  revolution  qui  avail 
supprime  toutes  les  academies  crca  I'lnstitut,  qui  est  une 
academic.  Ce  n'est  pas  versatilite  dans  les  assemblees.  La 
pensee  de  creer  de  toutes  pieces  une  academie  nouvelle  ctail 
conlemiKiraine  de  la  resolution  prise  d'en  finir  avec  les  academies 
anciennes. 

L'Assemblce  conslituante  avail  charge  Mirabeau  de  lui  sou- 
mettrc  le  plan  d'une  academie  nationale.  Miraljeau  appela 
Chamforl  qui  elait  en  querelle  avec  r.\cademie  fran(;aise. 
Chamfort  ecrivit  une  violenle  diatribe  et  prepara  un  projet  que 
Mirabeau  n'eul  pa.s  le  temps  de  lire  a  la  tribune. 

Les  projets  se  multiplicrenl  sous  la  Convention.  Condorcel, 
<l\-\lembert,  Daunou,  Talleyrand,  tous  ecus  qui  avaienl  le  souci 
des  grandes  choses,  ap|x>rlerent  leur  contribution.  On  dil  que 
Talleyrand  accepta  la  iwlernite  dun  jirojel  enticremenl  redige 
par  I'abtjc  Uesrenaudes,  (ju'il  avail  eu  |X)ur  vicaire  general  a 
Autun  et  que  noiLs  avons  connu  mcmbre  du  Conseil  de  I'lnstnic- 
tion  publique.  Talleyrand  ctail  de  ceux  qui  peuvenl  se  jrasser 
d'un  secretaire  ;  mais  la  tradition  est  ancienne  et  persislanle. 

Tous  les  auteurs  de  projels  ont  reclame  a  I'envi  le  litre  glorieux 
de  fondateurs  de  I'lnstitut.  La  verite  hisloriquc  cxigc  que  Ton 
ecrive  nn  autre  nom  en  lete  de  cclle  lisle  d'honneur,  et  ce  nom 
est  Cflui  de  Richelieu,  fondaleur  de  IWcademie  frant^aisc. 

Nous  sommes  plus  justes  aujourd'hui  ijue  ne  I'ont  ete  nos 
peres.  Notre  admiralion  pour  les  grandes  ceuvres  de  la  Revolu- 
tion nc  nous  cache  jxis  les  gloircs  de  la  monarchic,  qui  .sont  les 
gloircs  de  la  France.  Nous  felons  le  cenlenaire  de  I'lnstitut  de 
France,  mais  il  nc  nous  en  coiite  pas  d'associer  i  I'honneur  de 
ceite  jinimee  Ic  fondaleur  ou  les  fondateurs  des  academies  donl 
rinstitul  a  re<;u  I'heritage,  Louis  XIII  et  Louis  -XIV,  Richelieu, 
S.'.'i  .  .  <  ■llierl.  L'Institut  cxiste  depuis  le  25  oclobre  1795; 
11  lilies  qui  le  com|xi.senl  remontent  .i  1635.     Assurc- 

>!'  i  ii  de  France,  depuis  sa  fondation,  compte  dans  ses 

rangs  un  nombre  considerable  d'hommes  illuslrcs.  J'cn  veux 
citcr  qnclques-uns,  avec  le  regret  de  ne  pas  les  ciler  tous : 
C*  "ill,    I.amarline.    Victor    Hugo,    .\lfred   de   Mus.set, 

A  riy,  r,ui?ol,  Cousin,  Thiers  |iour  I'Acadeniie  fran- 

C.I,  ;    hue     lierlhollct,      Liigrange,      I„iplace,     I„Tvoisier, 

Fresnel,  Ampire,  Arago,  Cuvier,  (leuffroy  Saint-llilaire, 
Cauchy,  Cha.slcs,  Claude  Bernard  |K)ur  I'Acadcmic  des  .Sciences  ; 
Daunou,  Victor  I-e  Clerc,  Lillre,  Boissonade,  Hasc,  Naudel, 
Bumouf  (Xjur  1' Academic  des  Inscriptions  ;  Ixjuis  David,  Ingres, 
DcLicroix,  .Mcissonier,  David  (d' Angers)  pour  I'Academic  des 
BcauiArts. 


t  prix  de  I300  livre*. 


.  35.217  tivrcs,  pUi.\  1,200  livrcs  pour  un  prix  a 
llcll».l>ct(rc<.  4.1,^08  li\Ti»;  pour  rAcail^mic 
<.C5  dcuK  Acadimic^  devaient  au<,<.i  diccrncr 


NO.   1357,  VOL.  52] 


Javai^  arreie  la  ceilc  lisle  de  nos  gloircs  conlcmiwraincs  pour 
obeir  a  la  loi  qui  m'est  imixisee  de  ne  prononcer  le  nom  d'auciin 
vivant  ;  faut-il  que  je  doive  aujourd'hui  ajouter  le  nom  dun 
homme  que  j'ai  connu  il  y  a  plus  de  cinquante  ans,  a  I'Ecolc 
normale  oil  il  etait  cleve,  oil  j'etais  professeur,  qui  etait  noire  ami 
a  tous,  car  on  nc  pouvait  le  connaitre  s;\ns  Taimer,  et  qui  elait 
avant  tout  Tami  et  le  bienfaiteur  de  riuinianile  :  le  nom  immortel 
de  Louis  Pasteur  ?  Les  voiUes  de  cette  salle  gardent  I'echo  des 
acclamations  qui  raccueillirent  quand  il  vim,  a  cette  place  meme, 
recevoir  les  homm.Tgcs  du  monde  savant.  L'humanite,  ce  jour 
la,  ful  reconnaissitnte  et  juste. 

Ainsi  I'lnstitut  de  France  a  eu,  des  son  premier  siecle,  une 
magnifique  floraison  de  grands  homines.  Nous  sommes  fiers  de 
nos  gloires  nouvelles  ;  mais  nous  gardons  [xiur  nos  gloires 
seculaircs  un  culte  reconnaissant  et  filial.  Nous  ne  renoni;ons  iii 
a  Corneille  et  Racine,  ni  a  Boileau,  ni  a  La  Fontaine,  ni  a 
Bossuet,  ni  a  Voltaire,  ni  .i  Montesquieu,  ni  3.  Buft'on,  ni  .i 
Clairaut,  ni  a  d'.\lemliert,  ni  a  Huyghens,  ni  a  Mariotte,  ni  a 
Mabillon,  ni  a  RoUin,  ni  a  Turgot,  ni  a.  Lebrun,  ni  a  Mignard, 
ni  a  Lesueur,  ni  a  Philip|)e  de  Champagne,  ni  i  Mansart,  ni  a 
Soufflol. 

Messieurs,  le  drapeau  aux  trois  couleurs  est  toujours  pour  nous 
"  le  drapeau  cheri  ;  c'est  I'astre  de  la  liberie  el  de  la  civilis:i- 
lion  :  mais  nous  suivons  avec  amour  et  orgueil  le  drapeau  blanc 
fleurdelise  remontant  les  ages  jusqu'au  siecle  qui  fut  le  grand 
siecle  et  qui  reste  par  excellence  le  siecle  fran9ais. 

C'est  le  29  Janvier  1635  que  r.\cadcmie  franyaise  reijut  sa  con- 
secration otficielle.  L' Academic  des  Beaux-Arts  eut  le  meme 
honncur  en  164S,  r.-\cadcmie  des  Inscriptions  en  1663  et 
r Academie  des  Sciences  en  1 666. 

II  ne  suflit  pas  d'a\i)ir  reslitue  la  creation  des  academies  .i 
Louis  XIII  et  a  Richelieu,  il  Aiul  remonter  jusqu'a  Conrarl.  La 
premitre  en  date,  rAc.idemie  francaise,  est,  comme  lieaucoup  de 
grandes  choses,  due  i  I'iniiiative  privee.  Conrarl  n'elait  rien. 
II  n'est  rien  devenu.  II  n'esl  celebre  que  par  son  silence  :  un 
genre  de  celcbrite  crce  tout  cxpres  pour  lui  ]jar  Boileau.  C'est 
lui  qui  eut  I'idee  de  donner  un  reglemenl  3.  unecompagniequi  se 
reunissait  tour  a  lour  chez  chacun  de  ses  membres  ]iour  parler  de 
litterature.  lis  etaient  neuf  en  le  complanl.  De  pelils  hommes, 
dil  N'oltaire,  d'un  ton  dcdaigneux.  Des  hommes  obscurs,  dil-il 
ensuite  en  (xirlant  des  premiers  academiciens  au  nombre  de 
vingt-huil  qui  recurent  ce  litre  aprcs  les  leltres  royales  de  1635. 
Sans  doute  on  n'eul  pas  sur-le-champ  un  Corneille  ou  un  Racine 
a  introduire  dans  l".\cademie.  II  fallul  altcndre  douze  ans  pour 
Corneille,  trenle-six  ans  pour  Bossuet,  Irenle-sept  ans  ]>our 
Racine,  quarante-neuf  ans  pour  La  Fontaine  et  Boileau. 
L'assemblee  se  garnissait  de  grands  hommes  peu  a  peu.  Elle  ne 
devait  jamais  avoir  (|uaranle  grands  liommcs.  Aucune  assem- 
blee  en  aucun  temiis  et  chez  aucun  ]x.niple  ne  pourra  en  avoir  a 
la  fois  qu'un  nombre  ires  limite.  Ceux  que  \'oltaire  ap|iclle  de 
pelils  hommes  ne  sonl  peul-etre  pas  aussi  pelils  qu'il  le  croil. 
lis  semblent  pelils  a  la  |>oslerite  ;  ils  elaient  grands  jMur  leurs 
contemporains.  Apprenons,  ne  fiit-ce  que  par  prudence,  a  re- 
specter les  hommes  d'elite  qui  ne  sonl  ni  lies  Voltaire  ni  des 
Moliere.  On  ne  peul  pas,  el  on  ne  doit  pas  se  Iromper  sur  les 
hommes  de  genie  ;  on  peul  hesiler  sur  le  choix  enlre  les  honimes 
vraimenl  superieurs  sans  clre  grands,  ceux  <iue  j'appellcrai  les 
hommes  dislingues  dans  le  genre  mediocre. 

C'est  un  honncur  ix)ur  la  socicle  eclairt-e  du  XVII  siecle 
d'avoir  sur-le-champ  attache  de  rimporl.ance  A  celle  reunion  de 
quelques  hommes  de  gout,  cjui  ne  s'occupaient  enlre  eux  ni  de 
religion  ni  de  politique,  el  parlaienl  unii|ueimnl  des  leltres  et 
des  ouvrages  de  I'espril.  l.'amour  iles  letlres  est  resle  un  iles 
caracl<;res  de  notre  genie  national.  Dis  <|ue  le  iiublic  ful  admis 
aux  receptions  de  I'.Academie  frani,-aise,  il  y  courut.  Quand  elle 
ouvril  en  1702  ses  porles  aux  femnies  pour  ces  jours-l.i,  les 
femmes  alllucrent.  L'.\c.ideiiiie  n'a  eu  garde  de  renoncer  a  cet 
usage  qui  a  pris  avec  le  temps  plus  de  solennite.  Une  reception 
a  I  Academic  est,  par  excellence,  un  eveneiiient  i»risien.  II 
faut  y  avoir  assiste  ;  il  faul  avoir  son  avis  sur  les  deux  discours. 
On  attache  niiiins  d'imiiorlance.iux  seances  les  plus  pas.sionnantes 
de  la  Chambre.  La  fameuse  cou|>ole  est  un  instrument  de 
torture  ;  on  y  etouffe,  nn  y  perd  connaissancc.  Ces  femmes 
evanouics  sont  un  accroisscmenl  de  succes  pour  les  deux 
orateurs.  I'.lles  foni  penser  aux  corridas  esixignoles,  ipii  ne 
.sont  admirables,  au  dire  de  leurs  ennemis,  que  tpiand  un 
toreador  a  etc  lue. 

t>n  parla  de  la  sociele  de  Conrarl  au  cardinal  de  Richelieu. 
II  avail  I'inslinct  du  grand  et  du  stable.  II  jugea  que  celle 
compagnic  pouvait  dcvenir  une  institution.     II  onrit  aux  amis 


October  3 1 , 


1895] 


NA  TV  RE 


647 


de  Conrart  <Ie  reconnattre  officiellement  I'existence  de  leur 
association.  Ce  fut  a  peu  pres  tout  ce  qu'il  oftirit ;  "  des 
privileges  honorables,  dit  Voltaire,  aucvin  d'utile,  son  fondateur 
ne  lui  ayant  meme  pas  jirocurc  une  salle  d'assetnblee." 

En  realite,  il  ne  rendait  a  rAcademie  d'autre  service  que  de  ne 
pas  I'ignorer,  niais  il  pensa,  et  tout  le  nionde  pensa  avec  lui,  que 
jntisqu'll  ne  I'ignorail  pas,  il  la  gouvernait  Plusieurs  des  amis 
de  Conrart  hesiterenl.  Ce  qu'ils  avaient  cherche,  c'etait  la 
liberte,  on  leur  offrait  rassujettissemenl.  Cette  resistance  ne 
pouvait  durer ;  on  ne  resistait  pas  au  roi,  ni  au  cardinal,  qui 
ctait  le  roi.  Kefuser  une  grace  qu'ils  offraient,  c'ctait  plus  que 
resister,  c'etait  dcsobcir.  On  cetla,  on  reniercia.  On  e.xalta  le 
roi  et  le  grand  niinistre  Richelieu  ([ui  promeilait  de  proteger. 

II  y  eut  une  autre  difticulte  a  la  creation  officielle  de 
r.\ca(Iemie.  Le  Parlenient  aussi  eut  la  velleite  de  resister.  On 
sait  que  I'enregistrenient  etait  alors  necessaire  pour  donner 
efficacite  aux  decisions  royales.  Le  Parleinent  pouvait  retarder, 
il  pouvait  faire  des  observations  et  meme  des  remontranccs.  A 
la  fin,  dans  les  grandes  occasions,  on  avait  raison  de  lui  par  un 
lit  de  justice.  On  n'alla  pas  jusqu'a  ces  extremites  pour  la 
transformation  des  reunions  de  Conrart  en  Academic  royale  ; 
mais  le  I'arlement  manifesta  sa  mauvaise  hunieur  par  un  retard 
d'un  an.  Le  cardinal  fut  oblige  de  faire  entendre  qu'il  voulait 
elre  obei. 

On  a  cherche  la  cause  de  cette  niauvai.se  volontedu  Parlement. 
II  ne  s'agissait  pas  de  la  creation  d'une  cour  scuveraine,  mais 
*'  de  simples  peseurs  de  syllabes  et  de  jures  fabricateurs  de 
mots,"  comnic  disaient  les  mauvais  plaisants  de  re;ioque. 

Le  Parlement,  suivant  \'oltaire,  craignit  que  i'.'Vcademie  ne 
s'attribual  quelque  juridiction  sur  la  librairie,  et  ajouta  cette 
clause  aux  lettres  patenles  du  roi  :  '*  L' Academic  ne  connaitra 
que  de  la  langue  francaise  et  des  livres  qu'elle  aura  faits  ou 
qu'on  exposera  a  son  jugement.'' 

Je  crois  plutot  que  le  Parlement  craignait  pour  I'autorite  qu'il 
s'attribuait  en  maticrc  religieuse  et  philosophique.  La  question 
des  academies  touchait  a  la  question  des  ecoles.  La  theologie 
etait  tout  pres  ;  plus  I'autorite  du  Parlement  etait  contestee  en 
matiere  religieuse,  plus  il  .s'en  montrait  jaloux.  II  obeis.sait  dans 
loute  cette  affaire  .au  meme  esprit  qui  inspira  plus  tard  la  reforme 
de  rUniversite  par  le  president  Holland. 

Le  roi,  et  je  parle  ici  de  Louis  X\'  autant  que  de  Louis  XIY 
et  de  Louis  XIII,  fut  constamment  pour  les  academies  un  bon 
maitre,  mais  un   maitre.     Les  elections  durent  etre  .soumises  a  \ 
son  ajiprobation  :  c'est  im  droit  qui  a  toujours  ete  conserve  au 
pouvoir    public  ;    il     existe    encore    aujourd'hui.        Louis    XIV 
l'exer9a  une  fois  dans  ime  occasion   tres  eclatante.     II  voulait  \ 
I'eleclion  de   Uoileau  ;  I'Academie  elut    La   Fontaine.      Le  roi 
refusa  son  approbation.     L' Academic  s'empressa  d'elire  Boileau  [ 
a  la   premiere  vacance.      "  A  present,  dit  le  roi,  vous  pouvez 
proceder  a  la  reception  de  La  Fontaine." 

Le  roi  inlervint  aussi,  mais  t)ien  rarement,  dans  les  travaux 
de  TAcademie.  C'est  lui,  ou  jilulot  c'est  Richelieu,  auteur  de 
la  tragedie  de  Rliranie,  qui  prescrivit  cet  examen  du  Cid 
invente  pour  exalter  la  gloire  du  cardinal  et  dont  le  resnltat  fut 
de  montrer  dans  tout  .son  eclat  la  gloire  de  Corneille.  Vol- 
taire, au  siecle  suivant,  sous  pretexte  d'impartialite  et  en  melant 
I'apothco.se  a  la  critique,  essaya  la  meme  entreprise  et  aboutit 
au  meme  resultat. 

Les  academiciens,  un  moment  detournes  de  leurs  travaux  plus 
paisibles,  revinrent  au  Dictionnaire.  On  ne  manqua  pas  sous  la 
Revolution  de  leur  reprocher  de  n'avoir  fait  ni  la  (Iramm.aire,  ni 
la  Poeti(iue  que  le  roi  attendait  d'eux  et  d'avoir  mene  trop 
lentement  le  travail  du  Dictionnaire. 

L'Academie  n'etait  ))as  si  coupable  qu'on  le  croyait.  Des 
irois  objets  confies  a  ses  soins,  elle  avait  choisi  le  Dictionnaire, 
()ui  rendait  a  la  langue  le  double  service  d'en  fixer  les  termes  et 
den  expliquer  les  regies  par  des  exemples  empruntes  aux 
nieilleurs  ecriv.ains. 

Le  Dictionnaire  avan9ait  lentement.  Cette  lenteur  fait  sa 
force.  Les  variantes  (ju'il  enregistre  ont  toutcs  ete  jugees  et 
consacrees  par  le  temps,  avant  de  recevoir  cette  confirmation 
orticiellc. 

Le  Dictionnaire  est  \  lui  seul  toute  I'Academie  francaise.  A 
notre  langue  essentiellement  souple  et  vi%ante,  c|ui  exprime  avec 
facilite  les  passions  et  les  idees  a  mesure  (ju'elles  se  renouvellent 
et  qui  suffit,  sans  neologismes,  a  I'exposition  et  .a  la  demonstra- 
tion des  decouvertes  scientifiques,  il  donne  la  solidite  et  la 
majeste  des  deux  langues  qui  ont  successivement  incarne  la 
Grece  et  Rome. 

Louis  XIV   voulait  qu'il    y  eiit  une   langue   de  Louis  XIV 


NO.   1357,  VOL.  52] 


comma  il  y  avait  une  langue  de  Pericles  et  une  langue  d'Augtiste, 
et  il  revendiquait  pour  lui-meme  I'honncur  de  cette  pensee 
lorsqu'il  disait  :  "  Le  soin  des  Lettres  et  des  Beaux-Arts  ayant 
toujours  contril)ue  a  la  splendeur  des  ttats,  le  feu  roi,  notre 
tres  honorc  seigneur  et  pere,  ordonna  en  1635  I'etablissement  de 
I'Academie  francaise  pour  porter  la  langue,  I'eloquence  et  la 
poesie  au  point  de  perfection  ou  elles  sont  enfin  parvenues  sous 
notre  regne." 

Je  n'ai  garde  d'insister  ;  je  dis  la  pensee  de  Louis  XIV  et  de 
ceux  qu'on  appelait  des  lors  les  Quarantc. 

Notre  admiration  pour  nos  chefs-d'oeuvre  et  notre  langue  ne 
nous  empeche  pas  d'admirer  la  gloire  des  autres  nations.  Nous 
nous  sommes  assocics  au  centenarie  de  Shakespeare ;  Goethe, 
Schiller,  Cervantes  sont  populaires  dans  nos  ecoles.  Nul 
n'entrera  jamais  sans  une  respectueuse  et  solennelle  emotion 
dans  cette  eglise  de  Santa-Croce  a  Florence  ou  sont  reunis, 
autour  du  cenotaphe  du  Dante,  les  tombeaux  de  Galil<;e,  de 
.Michel-.Vnge,  de  Klachiavel,  d'.Mfieri,  de  Cherubini. 

I^  .Will  siecle  reprochait  toujours  aux  academies  et  surtout 
a  r.Academie  francaise,  qui  porlait  le  poids  des  qucrelles  parce 
tju'elle  avait  porle  celui  de  la  gloire  et  parce  que  le  public 
pouvait  plus  facilement  suivre  ses  travaux,  d'avoir  elu  des 
hommes  m^diocres  et  d'avoir  laiss^  en  dehors  d'elle  des  hommes 
de  genie. 

Je  connais  deux  hommes  de  genie  qui  n'ont  pas  ete  de 
I'.Academie  franyaise,  Descartes  et  Moliere.  Rousseau,  dont 
on  prononce  quelquefois  le  nom  a  propos  des  omissions  de 
r.-\cadcmie,  etait  citoyen  de  Geneve. 

Deux  erreurs  en  un  sitcle  et  demi  !  Les  hommes  se  trompenl 
ordinairement  jilus  que  cela.  La  j^Iupart  des  ouvrages  de  Des- 
cartes sont  ecrits  en  latin.  Le  Discoitrs  de  la  Mclkode,  qui 
est  un  des  grands  monuments  de  la  langue  fran9aise,  n'etait 
connu  que  d'un  petit  nombrc  de  savants  et  de  philosophes.  Le 
grand  eclat  de  la  renommee  de  Descartes  n'a  commence  qu'apres 
sa  mort,  (piand  on  a  enfin  compris  <ju"il  avait  emancipe  la  raison 
humaine.  Moliere  avait  contre  lui  .sa  profession  ;  on  se  rirait 
aujourd'hui,  avec  raison,  dun  tel  obstacle.  C  etait  quelque 
chose  sous  Louis  XIV.  Messieurs  les  tapissiers  valets  de  chambre 
du  roi  n'auraient  ]ilus  voulu  etre  de  I'Academie.  Je  ne  sais  pas 
ce  que  Moliere  luimemc  aurait  pensc  de  son  election.  On  etait 
alors  conservateurs  du  rang  comme  on  Test  aujourd'hui  de  la 
propri^te.  II  fallut  contraindre  Catinat  a  se  laisser  faire  marechal 
de  France. 

Quant  aux  autres  grands  hommes  dont  la  Convention  re- 
grettait  si  amerement  I'absence,  ils  apartenaient  a  la  categoric  de 
ceux  que  nous  appelions  tout  a  I'heure  des  hommes  distingues 
dans  le  genre  mediocre.  lis  etaient  admires,  a  juste  litre,  par 
leurs  contemporains  ;  la  postcrite  a  le  droit  de  choisir  entre  eux. 
Dufresny,  Raynal,  Helvetius  sont  des  grands  hommes  dont  on 
bhimait  en  1793  TomLssion,  et  dont  on  blamerait  aujourd'hui 
I'election  si  I'.^cademie  les  avait  elus. 

De  tous  les  griefs  diriges  contre  I'Academie,  le  plus  frequem- 
ment  invoque  etait  sa  courti-sanerie  envers  le  roi.  C'etait  une 
compagnie  de  courtisans  qui  pouvait,  en  ce  genre,  donner  des 
le9ons  a  tous  les  Dangeau.  N'est-ce  pas  elle  qui  avait  mis  au 
concours  cette  question  :  "  Quelle  est  celle  des  vertus  du  roi 
qui  merite  le  plus  d'etre  louee  ?" 

On  etait  bien  loin  de  ce  style  et  de  ces  sentiments  lorsque 
Grcgoire,  reprochant  au  "bon  Fenelon"  d'avoir  fait  un  traite 
sur  la  direction  de  la  conscience  d'un  roi,  ajoutait :  "Comme  st 
les  rois  avaient  de  la  conscience  !  Autant  eut  valu  disserter  sur 
la  douceur  des  betes  fauves." 

Le  tort  des  hommes  aveugles  par  la  passion  est  de  vouloir 
toujours  juger  .sans  tenir  compte  des  temps  et  des  milieux.  N'en 
deplaise  aux  niveleurs  de  1793,  I'espril  liberal  qui  s'elait 
manifeste  dans  le  sein  de  I'Academie  au  moment  de  .sa  creation 
officielle  subsista  pendant  toute  sa  duree.  II  s'associait  chez  elle 
i  une  admiration  pour  le  roi  dont  nous  ne  comprenons  plus  la 
nature.  L'Academie  voyait  la  France  dans  le  roi.  A  cette 
cpoque  de  I'histoire,  on  n'etait  puissant  qu'a  condition  d'etre 
dependant.  Ce  qui  est  indiscutable,  c'est  tjue  les  academies 
entourees  d'honneurs  par  la  monarchic  itaient  deveiuies  peu  a 
peu  de  veritables  arislocraties.  Elles  avaient  aux  yeux  des 
republicains  le  double  defaut  d'etre  des  cor|x>ralions,  et  des 
corporations  privileges,  tres  entichees  de  leurs  privileges.  Un 
usage  introduit  par  Colbert,  ou  ])lutot  par  I'abbe  Bignon,  son 
neveu  et  son  representant  dans  le  gouvernement  des  soci^tes 
savantes,  divisait  les  Academies  des  Inscriptions,  des  Sciences 
et  des  Lettres  en  trois  classes  d'acadcmiciens  :  les  honoraiies, 
les  pensionnaires  et  les  (Aleves  ;  ce  qui  constituait  un  privilege 


648 


NATURE 


[October  31,  1S95 


dans  le  privilege.  Seule  TAcademie  francaise  a\-ait  enei^ique- 
mcnt  refuse  de  subir  raffront  de  ce  reglement. 

L' Academic  fran\-aise  avail  toujours  eu  dans  son  sein,  depuis 
sa  creation,  des  dues,  des  marechaux,  deseveques,  des  magistrals 
de  cours  souveraines.  Ces  grands  seigneurs  apprcnaient  a 
trailer  les  gens  de  Icttres  comme  des  egaux  ;  mais,  en  meme 
temps,  les  gens  de  lettres  apprenaient  a  se  croire  grands 
seigneurs.  Us  se  donnaient  des  coinpliinents  les  uns  auk  autres, 
pour  s'exercer  a  Icur  fonction  principale  qui  etait  d'enccrtser  le 
roi  el  le  ministre.  Les  compliments  sont  devenus  nos  discours 
de  reception  ;  \ollaire  n'elait  pas  tendre  pour  eux  :  "  Ce  que 
j'entrcvois  dans  ces  beaux  discours,  dit-il,  c'est  que  le 
recipiendaire  ayant  assure  que  son  predecesseur  elait  un  Ires  grand 
Jiomnie,  que  le  cardinal  de  Richelieu  etait  un  tres  grand  homme, 
ie  chancelier  Scgiiier  un  asscz  grand  homme,  le  directeur  lui 
rcpond  la  meme  chose,  et  ajoute  que  le  recipiendaire  pourrait 
bien  aussi  etre  une  espice  de  grand  homme,  el  que  pour  lui, 
directeur,  il  n'en  quitte  pas  -sa  [lart "  ;  et  plus  loin:  "La 
nccessite  de  parler,  1  embarras  de  n'avoir  rien  a  dire  et  I'envie 
d'avoir  de  I'espril  sont  trois  choses  capables  de  rendre  ridicule 
meme  le  plus  grand  homme." 

I^  Convention  pouvait-elle  souffrir  I'existence  d'un  corps  qui 
passait  son  temps  a  celcbrer  les  vertus  des  rois,  qui  etait  lui- 
meme  un  corps  priviltgie,  et  qui  comptail  dans  son  sein  des 
membres  investis  dun  double  privilege?  C  etait  I'aristocratie 
de  I'esprit,  mais  c'etait  une  aristocralie.  La  Montagne  et  la 
Plaine  elaient  d'accord  (lour  la  renverser. 

II  s'itait  i»«rtanl  |iassc  vers  le  milieu  du  XVIII"  siecle  un 
fail  considerable  qui  aurait  pu  modifier  les  jugements  des 
revolutionnaires.  Voltaire  etait  enlre  a  PAcademie.  Les 
academiciens  s'etaient  vaillamment  defendus.  Voltaire  fut 
refuse  deux  fois.  Enfin,  il  cntra  ;  et  des  ce  jour  I'Academie  lui 
apparlint.  II  avail  dcja  son  journal  qui  etait  X Eiuyclopi'die. 
\J Emyclop^die  entra  avec  lui  a  TAcademie,  qui  fut  ainsi  trans- 
formee  par  anticipation  en  veritable  Academic  des  Sciences 
morales  et  [wlitiques.  II  y  fit  nommer  successivement  Duclos, 
d'.Membert,  Marmontel,  Condillac,  MorcUel.  II  echoua  pour 
Diderot.  II  s'cn  plaint  vivement,  et  avec  raison  du  reste,  car  si 
Diderot  n'est  [las  precisement  un  genie  academique,  c'est  sans 
conleste  un  homme  superieur.  Voltaire  ecrit  a  I'abbc  d'Olivel  : 
"T.ichez,  mon  cher  mailre,  de  nous  donner  un  veritable  acade- 
micicn  a  la  place  de  labbe  de  Sainl-Cyr  ci  un  savant  a  la  place 
•de  I'abbe  Salier.  I'ourquoi  n"aurions-nous  pas  cette  fois-ci  M. 
Diderot  ?  Vous  savez  qu'il  ne  faut  pas  que  TAcadimie  soil  un 
scminaire  el  qu'ellc  ne  doit  pas  etre  la  Cour  des  pairs.  <  juelques 
omemenls  d'or  a  noire  lyre  sont  convenables  ;  mail  il  faul  que 
les  cordes  soienl  a  boyau  el  qu'elles  .soienl  sonores." 

Voltaire  n'elait  pas  accoutume  aux  echecs  el  avail  pris 
sa  revanche.  II  avail  le  grns  de  son  armec  a  I'Academie 
fran9ai.se,  il  avail  a  I'Academie  des  Sciences  Condorcet, 
d'.Membert,  Fonlenelle.  L'.-\cademie  des  Inscriptions  etait 
plus  resistante,  mais  il  avail  penetre  partoul.  II  etait 
l'rir.acle  des  cercles  de  precieu.scs  donl  I'influence  avail 
rcni|il.^ce  I'influence  decrois.sinle de  la  cour.  Mme.  de  Lambert, 
.Mine,  de  Tencin,  .Mme.  Du  Defland,  Mile,  de  Lespinasse,  -Mme. 
Oeotfrin,  Mme.  Du  Chalelet  reccvaienl  ses  inspirations.  II 
flail  I'ami  (intermittent)  ilu  roi  de  Prusse,  le  corrcspundanl  (el 
le  flaneur)  de  la  grande  Catherine.  II  avail  Iraile  Corneille  de 
haul :  il  sc  croyait  plus  ]>athelique  que  Racine,  lin  philosophic 
il  tenail  tele  au  clcrge.  lout  en  faisant  ses  piques  a  Femey  et  en 
<leiliant  au  pape  sa  Iragedie  de  Mahomet.  (,)uand  on  le  juge  .i 
present,  on  ne  [K'ut  s'emjK'cher  de  voir  en  lui  un  precurseur  de 
la  kevolutlon.  Voll.iirc  et  toule  I'armee  qu'il  commandail 
araient,  en  cfiel,  semi-  les  idees  revolutionnaires,  mais  ils  avaient 
cru  evoc|uer  un  genie  ;  ct  quand  ils  furent  en  face  de  lui  (je  pnrle 
des  lieutenants  de  Voltaire,  car  il  itail  mort  en  1778),  il  leur 
sembia  qu'ils  avaient  evoque  le  diable. 

lis  s'arrcterect  en  chcmin,  el  cicvinrcnt,  par  cela  memo,  les 

[I ':  cnncmis  de  leiirs   ancicns  amis.     On   pourrait   ici 

I  •  grande  parole  :   "  II  y  a  plus  de  joie  dans  le  ciel 

,      lieur  qui   se  repent.  .   .   ."  et  dire:  "  II  y  a  plus  de 

lan.s  I'armee  revolutionnaire  pour  un  ami  qui  s'arrcte  en 


parlcii 


donl  nn  oublla  les  services,  eurent  le  sort  des 

i:lcrg<:.     Gregoire.  dans  un   rapi)ort  ridicule- 

'        ;     r      in  des  academies,  tout  en 

I'lires,   le  sancluaire  des 

,  ■'.     1    !       rli,  presentat  la  reunion 

•ints  et  dc  lous  les  moyens  de  .science." 

il,  la  Kepublii|uc  francaise  fera son  entree 


dans  I'univers.  En  ce  jour  ot'i  le  soleil  n'eclairera  qu'un  peuple 
de  freres,  les  regards  ne  doivenl  plus  rencontrer  sur  le  sol 
francais  irinstitutions  qui  dcrogent  aux  principes  elernels  que 
nous  avons  consacres,  el  cependunl  quelques-unes,  qui  portent 
encore  Tempreinte  du  despolisme  ou  donl  I'organisation  heurlc 
I'egalitc,  avaient  ichappc  a  la  regie  generale :  ce  sont  les 
academies. " 

Deux  ans  apres  avoir  congedie  les  academies  avec  cette 
polilesse,  la  Convention  faisail  une  grande,  une  Ires  grande 
chose.  Kile  les  relablissait,  et  en  les  retablissant,  elle  leur 
faisail  subir  une  modification  jirofonde.  Le  reve  d'une  as- 
semblee  unique  des  savants  el  des  artistes,  des  poetes  el  des 
philosophes,  dcja  con9U  (xir  la  Consliluante,  devenail  une  realite. 
Jamais  la  fraternile  des  lettres,  des  sciences  et  des  arts  n'avail 
etc  aftirme  avec  eel  eclat.  La  nouvelle  institution  reunis.sait  en 
un  faisceau  toules  les  forces  de  la  pxssion  el  de  la  pensee.  Kile 
creail  au-dessus  de  la  societe  vulgaire,  occupee  des  soins  de  la 
vie,  une  sorte  de  monde  a  part  d'oii  sorliraienl  sans  cesse  pour 
cclairer  rhumanilc,  pour  la  fortifier  et  la  charmer,  des  verites  el 
des  chefs-d'teuvre.  L'Institut  ne  participerail  pas  au  gouverne- 
menl,  il  ne  serail  pas  charge  de  I'enseignemenl.  Son  action 
serait  d'une  nature  plus  haute  :  elle  s'exercerait  par  Pexemple. 
De  meme  que  le  Dieu  d'.Vristote  meul  sans  etre  mii  et  peul 
ignorer  le  monde  auijuel  il  donne  la  vie,  il  sufiit  aux  savants  el 
aux  poetes  d'etre,  et  d'etre  connus.  Leurs  o;uvres  produisent 
le  mouvement,  et  en  meme  temps  elles  le  reglenl  par  I'admira- 
lion  qu'elles  inspirenl. 

Daunou  parlant  au  nom  de  la  Convention  di.sait :  "  Nous 
avons  emprunle  de  Talleyrand  et  de  Condorcet  le  plan  d'un 
Inslilut  national,  idee  grande  et  majeslueuse  dont  I'execution 
doil  eflacer  en  splendeur  toules  les  academies  des  rois.  .  .  .  Ce 
sera  en  quelque  sorte  I'abrege  du  mon  de  savant,  le  corps  repre- 
sentalif  de  la  republique  des  lellres,  un  temple  national  donl  les 
portes  t(.)UJoHrs  fermees  a  linlrigue  ne  s'ouvrironl  qu'au  bruit 
dun  ju.ste  renommee." 

Cette  union  majeslueuse  el  feconde  de  tout  ce  qu'il  y  a 
d'elernel  dans  le  sentiment  el  la  pensee  n'est  pas  la  seide 
grandeur  de  rinslitution  nouvelle.  Les  academies  jusque-li 
avaient  cte  purement  locales.  Elles  se  recrutaicnt  dans  une 
seule  viUe  et  reprcsentaienl  le  mouvement  scientihquc  ou  line- 
rairc  de  la  ville  oil  elles  etaient  nees.  Mais  llnslitul  cree  en 
'795  poi'f  rem])lacer  les  academies  n'est  pas  un  institut  parisien, 
c'est  un  institut  national,  c'est  I'Institut  de  France.  La  consti- 
tution de  Tan  III,  dont  la  formule  est  fidclemenl  reproduile  par 
la  constitution  de  Ian  VllI,  le  declare  en  ces  termes  solennels  : 
"  II  y  a  pour  toule  la  Kepublique  un  Institut  national  charge 
de  recueillir  les  dccouverles,  de  perfcclionner  les  arts  el  les 
sciences." 

Pourrais-je  oublier,  en  presence  de  celle  assemblee,  que  la 
Convention  nalionale  ouvrit  les  portes  de  .son  Institut  non 
seulement  a  lous  les  Fran9ais,  mais  i  lous  les  grands  homines 
quelle  que  flit  leur  origine  ?  De  meme  que  Louis  XIV  rccom- 
jiensait  le  genie  a  iiuelque  nation  qu'il  apparlint,  la  Convention 
crea  dans  le  sein  de  I'Institut  I'ordre  des  associes  elrangers,  qui 
nous  permet  d'inscrire  sur  nos  listes  d'honneur  liuyghens, 
Newton,  Leibniz,  el  plus  pies  de  nous  Rossini  el  Meyerbeer. 

L'teuvre  de  la  Convention  n'est  done  pas  la  reproduction  des 
anciennes  academies  deguisees  sous  des  noms  nouveaux  et 
modificcsdans  les  details  secondaires  de  leur  organisation.  C'est 
bien  une  reuvre  nouvelle.  C'est  une  creation,  une  puissanle 
creation.  C'est  I'Academie  de  France,  representanl  a  la  fois  les 
lellres,  les  sciences  el  les  arts.  Elle  contienl  les  anciennes 
ac.-idemies,  mais  en  les  enfermaiil  dans  une  synthise  nouvelle  el 
forte.  C'est  noire  droit  et  noire  devoir,  en  ce  jour  de  fete, 
d'adresser  egalemenl  nos  hommages  aux  anciennes  academies 
qui  ont  prepare  I'Institut  el  i  I'lnslilul  qui  contienl  el  complete 
les  anciennes  academies. 

L'reuvre  de  la  Ciinvcnlion  est  assez  belle  pour  que  nous 
puissions  avoucr  mainlcnant  (|ue  rA.sscmblee  avail  etc  moins 
iuureusc  dans  les  details  d'execution  <iue  dans  la  concejition 
premiere.  Elle  avail  lout  ex.agere  :  .sa  proprc  autorile  sur 
rin.stitul  el  I'autorite  de  I'Institut  sur  les  membres  <|ui  le  com- 
posaicnl.  Elle  ne  connaissail  pas  la  liberie.  Kile  disait  c<mime 
Louis  .XIV:  "  L'Etal,  c'est  nioi,"  et  quand  elle  avail  usurpe 
tous  les  pouvoirs,  elle  disait  :  "  Nous  voilii  libres.'' 

I-a  premiere  faute  de  la  Convention,  en  ceci  comme  en  bien 
d'autres  choses,  ful  son  amour  imniodcre  de  la  table  rase.  I'.lle 
avail  supprime  les  academics  iiu'ellc  pouvait  modifier  en  les  con 
servant.  Elle  supprima  ju.squ  .^  leurs  noms  dans  la  reorganisa- 
tion i|u'elle  fit  ensuite.     On  a  dil  d'elle  avec  verite  qu'elle  .avail 


NO.    1357,   VOL.   52] 


October  31,  1895] 


NATURE 


64Q 


pcur  das  mots.  Elle  rempla^a  ces  noms  illustres  par  les  appel- 
lations vulgaires  de  premiere,  seconde,  troisitme  classe,  et  ne 
rcussit  par  ces  changements  qu'a  voiler  les  traditions  htBtoriqucs. 
Elle  cffa9a  un  autre  nom  qui  aurait  dCi  lui  Ctre  particJlierement 
sacrc.  Ayant  a  placer  la  philosophic  dans  la  classe  des  sciences 
morales  ct  politiques  qu'elle  organisait  pour  la  premiere  fois, 
elle  renipla^a  ce  nom,  qui  pouvait  rappeler  les  croyances 
spiritualistes,  par  celui  d'Analyse  des  sensations  e(  des  idees, 
qui  ne  rappelait  que  Condillac.  Chaptal,  qui  dcji  en  iSoi  re- 
prochait  a  Torganisation  de  I'lnstitul  "  de  s'etrc  beaucoup  trop 
ecartee  de  ce  que  I'experience  avait  niontre  de  perfection  dans 
la  composition  de  nos  anciennes  academies,"  fit  en  1803  un 
nouveau  projet  oil  il  se  montra  plus  equitable  et  plus  habile  que 
la  Convention.  II  proposait  meme  de  retablir  !e  nom  des 
anciennes  academies,  donl  la  France  s'honorait  depuis  plus  d'un 
siecle,  et  qui  etaient  devenues  le  modele  des  institutions  savantes 
et  litleraires  forniees  successivenienl  dans  tous  les  Etats  de 
I'Europe.  Le  Conseil  d'Etat  ne  voulut  pas  y  consentir.  II 
approuva  le  fond  de  la  proposition,  mais  il  ne  rendit  pas  leurs 
noms  aux  anciennes  compagnies. 

L' Academic  des  Sciences  morales  et  politiques,  fondee  pour  la 
premiere  fois  en  1795.  et  qui  formait  la  seconde  de  I'lnstitut, 
eut  une  courte  existence.  Le  Premier  Consul  avait  dit  un  jour 
a  M  de  Segur  :  "  V'ous  prcsidez  la  seconde  classe  de  I'lnstitut  ; 
je  vous  ordonne  de  lui  dire  que  je  ne  veux  pas  qu'on  parle  de 
politique  dans  les  seances.  Si  la  classe  desobeit,  je  la  casserai 
comme  un  mauvais  club."'  Fidele  jusqu'au  bout  a  son  aversion 
pour  ceux  qui'il  appelait  les  ideologues,  quand  il  proceda  a  la 
reorganisation  de  I'lnstitut  en  1803,  il  supprima  la  deuxieme 
classe  par  preteriliun,  en  suppriniant  son  nom  et  en  repartissant 
ses  membres  dans  les  autres  classes. 

La  premiere  faute  de  la  Convention  fuldonc  de  renoncer  a  des 
noms  venerables  et  a  un  passe  illustre  ;  elle  fit  une  seconde  faut 
dans  le  mode  d'election  cju'elle  adopta.  Les  candidals  furent 
presentes  par  la  classe  dans  laquelle  s'ouvrait  une  vacance,  et 
i'lnstitut  en  corps  fut  charge  de  choisir  entre  les  candidats  ainsi 
presentes.  Jamais  la  competence  ne  fut  traitee  avec  un  pareil 
mepris.  Un  comedien  dccidait  de  I'election  d'un  mathematicien. 
Un  peintre  jugeait  un  philosophe.  On  reconnait  bien  la  une 
assemblee  qui  admettait  les  juifs  au  nombre  des  votants  pour 
I'election  des  eveques  catholiques.  L'cleclion  par  classe  ou 
academic  ne  fut  etablie  qu'en  I'an  XI,  sur  le  rapport  de 
Chaptal. 

I^  Convention  commit  une  troisieme  faute.  Les  deux  pre- 
mieres avaient  |X)ur  effet  d'exagerer  I'unite  ;  celle-ci  exagerait 
et  faussait  le  caractere  national  de  I'lnstitut.  C'etait  I'lnstitut 
de  France  ;  on  voulut  qu'a  ce  titre  il  fi'it  compose  par  moitie  de 
Parisiens  et  de  provinciaux.  II  aurait  sufti  de  dire  que  les 
choix  ]x)uvaient  se  porter  egalement  sur  les  hommes  du  premier 
merite,  qu'ils  eussent  leur  residence  a  Paris  ou  ailleurs.  Non. 
II  senibia  plus  radical  de  partager  par  moitie.  Cela  cessait 
meme  d'etre  juste,  car  Paris  ne  comptait  que  500,000  habitants 
ct  la  province  en  avait  25  millions.  Et  cela  n'elait  pas  raison- 
nalile  ;  car  un  homme  d'elite  peut  desirer  le  sojour  de  Paris  a 
cause  des  bihiiothcques,  des  musces,  des  am])hitheatres  et  de 
tous  les  autres  moyens  d'etude.  On  avait  admis  ime  section  de 
I'art  dramatique  :  trois  comediens  parisiens,  trois  comediens  de 
province.  Tout  le  monde  sait  que  les  grands  comediens  peu- 
vent  se  former  en  province,  mais  qu'ils  ne  peuvent  y  rester. 
lis  n'y  trouvent  ni  les  traditions,  ni  les  ecoles,  ni  les  auxiliaires, 
ni  le  public  dont  ils  ont  besoin,  ni  les  ressources  materielles. 
On  en  peut  dire  autant  des  erudits,  des  artistes.  La  regie  de 
residence  etait  severe  alors  ;  plus  severe  qu'elle  ne  I'a  ete  depuis. 
Un  membre  nonime  pour  representer  Paris  et  qui  s'etablissait 
definitivement  en  province  etait  oblige  de  donner  sa  demission. 
Destutt  de  Tracy,  qui  habitait  Auteuil,  fut  nomme  membre  non 
resident. 

La  plus  grande  erreur  commise  est  peut-etre  le  reglement 
interieur  des  travaux  impose  par  decret  organitpie. 

Le  gouvernement  s'attribuait  dans  ce  reglement  le  droit  de 
rcquerii'  I'avis  des  classes  de  I'lnstitut.  C'est  surtout  a  I'.Acade- 
mie  des  .Sciences  qu'il  adressa  ses  requisitions.  II  la  consulta 
sur  les  voitures  couvertes  deslinces  au  transport  des  malades,  sur 
le  perfectionnement  a  apporter  au  regime  des  hopitaux,  sur  le 
systeine  monetaire,  sur  la  maniere  d'accorder  I'ere  de  la  Re- 
publique  avec  I'ere  vulgaire,  sur  un  nouveau  boulet,  sur  un 
tafletas  huile  propre  a  faire  des  nianteaux  pour  les  troupes,  sur 
I'idee  de  fair  etablir  plusieuis  rangees  de  canons  sur  un  seul  affut, 
sur  la  conservation  des  eaux  potables  a  bord  des  navires,  sur  la 
nservation  des  biscuits  et  des  legumes  en  mer.    II  )■  avait  aussi 

NO.    1357,  VOL.   52] 


des  questions  pour  les  autres  classes,  meme  des  .questions  philo- 
sophiques,  ce  qui  tendait  a  faire  une  doctrine  d'Etat.  Rienn'est 
plus  contraire  a  la  philosophic  et  a  la  vraie  politique,  et  rien  ne 
peuc  nuire  davantage  aux  progres  de  la  science  et  a  I'eclat  des 
academies.  Dans  un  corps  litteraire  bien  organise,  I'autorite  de 
chac|ue  membre  s'accroit  de  celle  de  la  compagnie,  mais  a  condi- 
dition  qu'il  n'en  resulte  aucune  ingerence  de  I'acadcmie  ni  des 
gouvernements  sur  le  travail  individuel.  Quand  le  general 
Cavaignac,  pour  refuter  les  socialistes  de  1S48,  demanda  a 
I'Academie  des  Sciences  morales  et  politiques  des  petits  livres 
populaires,  I'Academie  echoua,  il  faut  le  dire  resolument,  quoi- 
qu'elle  se  fut  adressee  aux  i)lus  grands  noms  de  la  science.  Un 
grand  esprit  ne  se  retrouve  pas  dans  un  travail  fait  sur  com- 
mande  :  il  faut  au  genie  I'air  de  la  liberty. 

Ce  droit  de  requisition  n'etait  pas  seulement  attribue  au 
gouvernement,  il  appartenait  aussi  au  public.  Tout  auteur 
pouvait  exiger  une  analyse  de  son  livre,  tout  inventeur  un 
examen  de  sa  decouverte.  .\insi  les  academiciens  n'^taient  plus 
maitres  de  leur  temps.  Je  ne  m'etonne  plus  qu'on  leur  eiit 
attribue  deux  costumes :  un  costume  de  ceremonie  et  un  cos- 
tume de  travail.  On  ne  voyait  pas  qu'assujettis  au  service  de 
tout  le  monde,  il  ne  leur  restait  plus  de  temps  pour  le  ser\-ice  de 
la  science. 

Je  ne  veux  pas  tout  enumerer.  Je  citerai  pourtant  la  sup- 
pression des  secretaires  perpetuels,  rcmplaces  par  deux  secre- 
taires semestriels  :  c'etait  oter  aux  academies  leur  unite,  leur 
vie.  Chaptal,  en  1801,  parlant  des  anciennes  academies,  disait : 
"  Le  meme  homme  suivait  tous  les  details  de  I'Academie,  en 
devenait  I'historien,  et  attachait  d'une  maniere  toute  particuliere 
la  gloire  de  son  nom  a  celle  du  corps  dont  il  etait  I'organe  ;  il  y 
avait  plus  de  suite  dans  I'administration,  plus  de  celerite  dans 
I'execution,  plus  d'ordre  dans  la  marche,  et  on  ne  peut  pas  nier 
que  le  retablissement  d'un  secretaire  perpetuel  pour  chaque 
classe  de  I'lnstitut,  en  rouvrant  une  carriere  qui  presente  tant  de 
grands  hommes  pour  modeles,  ne  contribuat  a  la  gloire  de  ce 
corps  et  aux  progres  des  sciences."  Et  plus  tard,  en  1803,  il 
revenait  a  la  charge  -  "  Le  retablissement  de  ces  places,  disait-il 
en  parlant  des  secretaires  perpetuels,  fera  renaitre  une  branche 
d'eloquence  tres  negligee  depuis  dix  ans  et  donnera  aux  travaux 
academiques  cet  esprit  de  suite,  cet  enchainement  de  faits  et  de 
pensees  qui,  seuls,  peuvent  fixer  I'epoque  des  decouvertes  et 
tracer  avec  exactitude  I'histoire  des  connaissanceshumaines." 

Tout  en  declarant  qu'elle  renon9ait  au  passe  acadcmique,  la 
Convention,  par  la  force  meme  des  choses,  avait  conserve  a  son 
Institut  tous  les  avantages  dont  avaient  joui  les  anciennes 
academies.  Elle  maintenait,  la  reconnaissance  de  I'lnstitut  par 
I'Etat  et  I'intervention  de  I'Etat  dans  les  reglements  interieurs 
de  I'lnstitut.  Elle  laissait  a  I'lnstitut  le  local  des  academies,  la 
bibliotheque,  la  participation  a  la  nomination  des  professeurs 
dans  les  grands  etablissements  litteraires  et  scientifiques. 
L'Institut  a  conserve  cette  prerogative  et  presente  encore 
aujourd'hui  des  candidats  pour  le  College  de  France,  le 
Museum,  I'Academie,  de  Rome,  .  les  Ecoles  de  Rome  et 
d'.Vthenes,  I'EcoIe  des  Chartes,  I'Ecole  des  Langues  orientates 
vivantes,  le  Conservatoire  des  Arts  et  Metiers,  I'Observatoire, 
I'fecole  Polytechnique.  II  a  conserve  les  impressions  gratuites 
et  les  prix  connus  sous  le  nom  de  prix  du  budget,  auxquels 
s'ajoutent  a  present  des  prix  fondes  par  I'initiative  privee,  dont 
le  chiffre  annuel  n'est  pas  inferieur  a  524,500  francs.  Le  29 
messidor  an  IV  la  Convention  donnait  aux  membres  de 
I'lnstitut  une  indemnite  annuelle  de  750  myriagrammes  de 
froment,  et  le  19  thermidor  suivant,  elle  decidaitque  "  sur  cette 
indemnite,  il  serait  distrait  a  I'egard  de  chacun  des  membres  une 
somme  cgale  a  la  valeur  de  150  myriagrammes  de  froment,  pour 
etre  repartie  jMr  forme  de  droit  de  presence  entre  les  assistants 
aux  seances,  tant  generales  que  particulieres,  de  chaque  classe." 
En  1803,  sur  le  rapport  de  Chaptal,  on  permit  aux  membres 
de  I'lnstitut  d'etre  de  plusieurs  academies  a  la  fois,  et  par 
consequent  de  rcunir  plusieurs  indemnites.  "C'est,  dit  Chaptal, 
le  moyen  d'ouvrir  aux  hommes  distinguis  plusieurs  routes  a 
la  gloire  et  a  I'aisance,  et  par  consequent  le  moyen  de  multiplier 
et  d'agrandir  les  talents." 

Le  droit  de  cumuler  les  academies  subsiste,  mais  on  a  enleve 
celui  de  cumuler  les  indemnites.  Nous  en  somnies  rest&  aux 
750  myriagrammes.  Ceux  d'entre  nous  qui  font  partie  de 
plusieurs  academies  ne  touchent  I'indemnite  qu'une  seule  fois. 
Nous  nous  vantons  de  n'etre  pas  riches. 

Les  membres  tie  I'lnstitut,  quand  on  fixait  a  750  myria- 
grammes de  Iroment,  c'est-ii-dire,  (wur  jiarler  en  langage 
intelligible,  i  1500  francs,  rindcmnile  qui  devait  les  delivrer  de 


6^o 


NATURE 


[October  31,  1895 


tous  les  soucis  de  la  vie,  n'imaginaient  pas  dans  leurs  reves  les 
;i1u>  ambitieux  qirils  auraicnt  un  jour  a  eiix  Tun  des  plus  l)eaux 
i.ilais  du  monde,  avec  une  galetie  de  tableaux,  une  hibliothcque 
crcee  d'une  seule  venue  par  un  grand  ccrivain  double  d"un  crudil 
consomme,  des  bois,  des  eaux,  et  tout  un  monde  de  beaux 
souvenirs. 

Peut-etre  est-il  bon  de  rappeler  ici,  ix>ur  expliquer  a  la  fois 
notre  richesse  et  notre  pauvrete,  que  tous  les  dons  fails  a 
rinstitut  sont  fails  a  la  science  ou  aux  pauvres.  Les  membres 
de  rinstitut  nen  profitent  jamais.  Cne  nouvelle  donation 
n'esl  pour  eux  qu'un  siircroit  de  travail.  L'em|'»ereiir  Napoleon  III 
voulut  un  jour  elever  a  5ckx>  francs  Tindemnile  annuelle  de 
1500  francs,  ce  qui  faisait  une  quantitc  fronieiu  fort  respectable. 
L'Inslitut,  consultt.  exprima  sa  reconnaissance,  et  refusa. 

On  a  dit  quelqucfois  que  tous  les  efforts  de  la  Revolution 
jxiur  transformer  les  academies navaient  etequune  illusion.  Le 
8  aovit  1793,  on  les  supprime  :  le  25  octobre  1795,  on  les  rem- 
place  (Mr  I'lnstitut.  (Jn  .sai^ercoit  sur-le-champ  que  eel  Institut, 
a  force  d'etre  nouveau,  nest  pas  viable.  Des  1S03  on  commence 
a  le  reformer :  les  reformes  se  multiplienl  dannee  en  annee,  et 
a  quoi  aboutissenl-elles  ?  a  supprimer  la  plupart  des  innovations 
a  refaire  les  anciennes  academies  et  meme,  en  1S16,  a  leur 
rendre  leur  nom. 

Ceux  qui  parlent  ainsi  ne  voient  pasqu'il  reste  a  la  Revolution 
la  gloire  d'avoir  elabli  un  lien  elroit  entre  les  academies,  d'avoir 
conipris  la  solidarile  des  lettres,  des  sciences  et  des  arts,  davoir 
mis  les  academies  en  communication  plus  inlimc  avec  le  public 
et  de  leur  avoir  donne  de  nouveaux  et  serieux  moyens  d'in- 
fluence. 

Des  anciennes  compagnies,  des  remaniemenls  opcrcs  sur  les 
nouvellesesl  resulle  I'lnstilul  actuel,  oil  la  protection  de  I'ttat 
n'exclut  j)as  la  liberie  des  membres,  oil  chacun  repond  seul  de  sa 
iloctrinc,  ou  la  solidarile  dhonneur  qui  unit  tous  les  membres 
rend  im|X)ssibles  les  cxcentricites,  oil  tous  les  travaux  lendenl  a 
la  manifestation  de  la  verile  et  aux  triomphes  de  Tart,  oil  tous 
les  membres  rassembles  sans  ctre  confondus  se  pretent  une 
muluelle  assistance  sans  jamais  tomber  dans  la  confusion  ;  un 
cor|»  enfin  qui  reunit  dans  une  juste  projxirtion  laulorile  et  la 
liberie,  el  qui  merite  d'etre  projxise  comme  modele  a  loutes  les 
nalioas  civillsees. 

J'osc  ajouter,. Messieurs,  que  voire  presence  ici,  celle  du  chef 
rcspecte  de  I'Elal,  et  I'eclat  qui  en  i'csulle  vonl  donner  a 
I'lnstilul  national  de  France  une  con.secration  nouvelle. 

Le  monde  assiste  depuis  vingt-cinq  ans  a  un  singulier 
spectacle.  Dune  ])art  les  gouvernemenls  multiplienl  avec  une 
s<jrte  de  rage  les  prcparalifs  de  guerre.  lis  conslruisent  des 
forteresses,  ils  coulenl  des  canons,  ils  emplissent  les  arsenaux  de 
projectiles  ;  ils  imixjsenl  le  service  mililaire  dans  larmec  active 
a  tous  les  jeunes  gens  sans  exception,  au  |>oinl  de  vider  les  ecoles, 
de  ilesorganiscr  les  services  publics  el  [xirliculiers,  d'oler  a 
I'agricullure  el  a  I'lndiLstrie  les  bras  dont  ellcs  onl  besoin.  lis 
reliennent  les  ciloyens  dans  les  liens  du  service  militairc  jusqu'a 
quarantc-cinq  ans.  II  sembic  que  la  balaille  doive  se  livrer 
licmain. 

En  meme  Icmps  tous  les  philosophes,  tous  les  publicisles,  les 
hommes  d'Klal,  les  stniverains  eux-mcmes  proleslent  .i  grands 
cris  de  leur  horrcur  |xiur  la  guerre  Ils  vculent  la  paix,  11  la 
leur  faut  pour  rendre  au  travail  la  securite,  a  rintclligencc  ses 
droits  el  a  I'annee  son  printemps.  On  fonde  de  toules  parts  des 
ligues  pour  la  paix,  on  assemble  des  congres  |)our  protester 
conlre  la  paix  armec,  plus  ruincuse  el  plus  meurtriere  que  la 
guerre. 

1  lelas  !  ces  congres  n'apportent  <|ue  des  vceux.  C'cst  beau- 
coup  et  cc  n'esl  ricn.  Ils  apportent  des  vteux,  jc  n'ose  (las  dire 
qu'ils  apportent  des  espcranccs. 

Ce  qu  11  faut  .i  I'humanile,  ce  nc  sonl  pas  des  paroles,  cc  nc 
sonl  |)as  des  soupirs,  cc  sonl  des  aclcs.  Cc  qui  fcra  renaltre  la 
fratcrnitc  cnlre  les  hommcs,  ce  .sonl  grands  Iravaux  fails  en 
commun,  de  grand  services  rcndus  a  I'humanite. 

Xa:  voil.i   rlevanl   vos  yeux,  le  congres  de  la  paix  1     Voila  le 

'■'""■ !■  >.,;,.   ,.si  ainuc  |>our  ellc-incme,  quel  que  soil  le 

,  oil   la    potsie   est  adoree  dans  toules  les 

■   r       les  decouvcrtcs  excilenl   le  meme  enthou- 

:>iA.iiiie,  quelle  que  .>oit  leur  originc,  el  oil  Ton  ne  connait  d'aulre 

emulation   que   rollp   de   bien    faire.     La   patrie   de  relernellc 

vcrilc  ct  de  IVi'        "    '     ne  est  aussi  la  jTatrle  de  la  |jaix. 

A.v>ocies   ct  mis   dc    I'lnslilut   de    France,    vous 

........ -.fi..-..r    ■ ill  d'ici  le  souvenir  des  clialciircuscs 

iMl  .iccucillis.     Nous  cinporlerons  tous,  de 
'    ■  lie,  un  redoublemcnl  d'amour  |>our  la  paix, 

NO-    1357.  VOL.  52] 


pour  les  sciences  qui  la  fecondent  et  pour  les  arts  qui  I'embellis- 
sent ;  et  nous  travaillerons,  chacun  dans  notre  coin  prefere  de 
I'alelier  universel,  a  la  prosperile  de  la  maison,  c'est-a-dire  au 
bonheur  de  I'humaniu-. 


''BARISAL   GUNS"  AND   "  MIST  POUFFERSf 

T  \  the  delta  of  the  Ganges,  dull  sounds,  more  or  less 
^  resembling  distant  artillery,  arc  often  heard.  These 
are  called  "  HarisM  guns "  ;  but  I  do  not  know  the 
meaning  of  the  term.'  The  object  of  this  note  is  to 
draw  the  attention  of  the  readers  of  N.\TURE  to  this 
mysterious  phenomenon,  and  to  the  similar  "  mist 
pouffers  "  of  the  Belgian  coast. 

My  attention  was  for  the  first  time  drawn  to  the  subject 
some  days  ago  by  a  letter  from  iSI.  van  der  Broeck, 
Conservator  of  the  Museum  of  Natural  History  of  Bel- 
gium. He  writes-  of  certain  "  curious  aerial  or  subter- 
ranean detonations,  which  arc  pretty  commonly  heard, 
at  least,  in  Belgium  and  in  the  north  of  France,  and 
which  are  doubtless  a  general  phenomenon,  although 
little  known,  because  most  people  wrongly  imagine  it  to 
be  the  sound  of  distant  artillery. 

"  I  have  constantly  noticed  these  sounds  in  the  plain 
of  Limburg  since  18S0,  and  my  colleague  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey,  M.  Rutot,  has  lieard  them  verj'  frequently 
along  the  Belgian  coast,  where  our  sailors  call  them 
'  mist  pouffers '  or  fog  dissipators. 

"  The  keeper  of  the  lighthouse  at  Ostend  has  heard 
these  noises  for  several  years  past  :  they  are  known  near 
Boulogne,  and  the  late  M.  Houzeau  spoke  of  them  to  my 
friend  M.  Lancaster.  More  than  ten  of  my  personal 
acquaintances  have  observed  the  fact. 

"The detonations  are  dull  and  distant, and  are  repeated 
a  dozen  times  or  more  at  irregular  intervals.  They  are 
usually  heard  in  the  day-time  when  the  sky  is  clear,  and 
especially  towards  evening  after  a  very  hot  day.  The 
noise  does  not  at  all  resemble  artillerj',  blasting  in  mines, 
or  the  growling  of  distant  thunder." 

M.  van  der  Broeck,  after  referring  to  the  "  BarisM 
guns,"  says  that  he  was  disposed  to  regard  the  noises  as 
due  to  some  peculiar  kind  of  discharge  of  atmospheric 
electricity.  "  But  my  colleague  M.  Rutot  believes  the 
origin  to  be  internal  to  the  earth.  He  compares  the  noise 
to  the  shock  which  the  internal  fluid  mass  might  give  to 
the  earth's  crust." 

.Mr.  Clement  Reed  has  informed  M.  van  der  Broeck 
that  he  believes  similar  noises  arc  heard  on  Dartmoor, 
and  in  some  parts  of  .Scotland.  I  was  not  previously 
aware  of  anything  of  the  kind  in  these  islands.    ' 

Before  any  systematic  observations  are  undertaken,  it 
will  be  useful  to  form  some  general  idea  of  the  frequency 
of  these  sounds  and  of  their  geographical  distribution. 

Will  any  of  the  numerous  readers  of  N.mure  in 
various  parts  of  the  world  give  us  an  account  of  their 
experiences  in  this  matter?  t>.  H.  1).\k\vin. 


NOTES. 

TllK  Municipal  Council  of  Paris  have  decided  to  erect  a  slaUie 
to  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  We  cannot  imagine  the  London  County 
Council  laying  a  similar  graceful  tribute  to  the  greatness  of 
one  of  France's  renowned  investigators,  .say  Laplace  or 
Ijivoisier,  but  wc  dare  to  suggest  thai  the  action  of  the  Paris 
Munici|)alily  ought  to  l)c  reciprocated. 

Ml'Nll-UKNT  gifts  to  science  and  education  conliiiuc   lobe 

reported  from  America.     Science  stales  that  the  Spring  Garden 

Institute  of  Philadelphia  has  received  /20,ooo  from  the  heirs  of 

Samuel  Jeanes,  who  supported  the  Institute  with  great  generosity 

during  his  lifetime;  Karlham  College  at   Richmond,  U.S.,  has 

'  T.  1).  I-.-1  Toiichc,  Hril.  Assoi:.  Rep.  1890,  p.  800. 

•  \  Kivc  a  Tree  Iranslntion  and  abridgement  of  the  letter. 


October  3  i,  1S95J 


NATURE 


651 


received  ^5000  from  Mr.  M.  H.  White  and  Mr.  F.  T.  White, 
in  memory  of  their  father  ;  a  new  laboratory,  built  at  a  cost  of 
;^8ooo,  is  almost  coniiileted  for  the  departments  of  bacteriolojiy, 
histolofjy,  and  pharmacy  in  the  Medical  College  of  the 
University  of  Minnesota ;  and  by  the  will  of  Colonel  W.  L. 
Chase,  ^1000  is  bequeathed  to  Harvard  College  to  establish  a 
scholarship  in  the  medical  school. 

DlRlNC  the  recent  Zoological  Congress,  at  one  of  the  meet- 
ings of  the  Section  of  Comparative  Anatomy  and  Embryology, 
I'rof  A.  Kovalewsky  bore  testimony  to  the  greatness  of  Huxley 
in  words  of  which  the  following  is  a  translation  : — "  In  the  list 
of  men  of  science  who  expressed  their  intention  to  take  part  in 
our  Congress  will  be  found  the  name  of  Thomas  Huxley  ;  but 
<leath  has  prevented  him  from  being  among  us.  In  the  person 
of  Huxley,  science  has  sustained  a  great  loss.  We  do  not  know 
any  other  investigators  of  our  century  who  had  the  talent  of  fore- 
sight to  such  an  extent  as  Huxley.  It  «as  he  who,  properly 
speaking,  founded  modern  embryology  by  demonstrating  the 
homology  of  the  germinal  layers  of  X'ertebrales  with  the  ectoderm 
and  endoderm  of  Ccelenterales.  It  was  he  who  supported 
Darwin  in  the  publication  of  the  fundamental  work  on  the  origin 
of  species,  and  it  was  he  who  was  the  fervent  propagator  of  the 
views  therein  contained.  The  two  names  of  Darwin  and  Huxley 
have  built  up  the  story  of  the  scientific  world." 

The  following  gentlemen  have  been  recommended  for  election 
as  the  Coimcil  and  otificers  of  the  London  Mathematical  Society 
at  the  annual  meeting  to  be  held  on  Noveniber  14  : — President, 
Major  I'.  .\.  Macmahon,  F.R.S.;  Vice-Presidents,  Prof.  M.  J.  M. 
Hill,  K. R.S.,  M.  Jenkins,  A.   13.   Kempe,  F.R.S.  ;  Treasurer, 
Dr.  J.  Larmor,  F.R.S.  ;  Secretaries,  R.  Tucker  and  A.  F-.   H. 
Love,  F.R.S.     Other  members — II.    F.   Baker,   G.   H.  Bryan, 
F.R.S.,  Lieut. -Colonel  A.  J.  Cunningham,  Prof.  Elliott,  F.R.S., 
Dr.   Glaisher,    F.R.S.,    Prof    Greenhill,   F.R.S.,   Dr.  Hobson, 
F.R.S.,  Prof.  W.  H.  H.  Hudson,  and  F.  S.  Macaulay.      It  will 
lie  seen  that  Mr.  Jenkins,  after  thirty  years'  service,  has  retired  j 
from  the  office  of  Secretary,  on  the  score  of  his  delicate  state  of  1 
health.     The  Society  held  its  first  meeting  on  January  16,  1865,   ] 
and  on  the  retirement  of  Mr.    H.    M.   Bonipas  (November  20,   ' 
1865),  Mr.   Jenkins  was  requested  to  act  as  Secretary  until  the 
annual  general  meeting  (January  15,  1866),   when  he   and   the 
late  G.  C.  de  Morgan  were  elected  joint  Secretaries. 

Nex  r  Sunday  will  be  Museum  Sunday — the  fourth  arranged 
by  the  Sunday  Society.  On  that  day  special  sermons  or  dis- 
courses will  be  given  by  many  leading  men  in  London  and  the 
provinces,  in  support  of  the  Society's  object,  viz.  the  opening  of 
museums,  art  galleries,  libraries,  and  gardens  on  Sundays.  The 
cause  is  a  righteous  one,  and  deserves  every  support.  A  number 
'f  special  exhibitions  will  be  held  in  the  afternoon  of  Sunday, 
and  these,  together  with  the  museums  and  other  places  of 
interest  which  will  be  open,  make  a  fairly  extensive  list  of 
institutions  opened  in  the  manner  advocated  by  the  Society.  The 
list  clearly  indicates  that  the  public  opinion  of  the  country  is 
really  on  the  side  of  a  rational  observance  of  the  weekly  day 
I  A  rest. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Prof.  II.  Hellriegel,  in  his  sixty- 
fipurth  year.  His  investigations  in  the  domain  of  agricultural 
-cience  produced  man)'  valuable  results,  and  it  was  his  researches 
I  hat  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  fixation  of  free  nitrogen  by 
leguminous  plants,  through  the  medium  of  micro-organisms  in 
I  he  root  nodules. 

The  death  of  Dr.  Robert  Brown  deprives  science  of  one  of 
her  most  popular  exponents.  Dr.  Brown  was  born  at  Campster, 
Caithness,  in  1842.  He  studied  in  the  University  of  F.dinlmrgh, 
and  afterwards  in  the  Universities  of  Leyden,  Copenhagen,  and 
Rostock,  receiving  from  the  latter  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philo- 

NO.    1357.   VOL.   52] 


sophy.  In  1861  he  visited  Spitzbergen,  Greenland,  and  the 
western  shores  of  Baffin's  Bay,  and  made  a  number  of  valuable 
observations.  Between  1863-66  he  travelled  for  scientific  pur- 
poses in  many  of  the  least-known  parts  of  America,  and  some  of 
the  Pacific  Islands,  from  the  West  Indies  and  Venezuela  to 
Alaska  and  Behring  Sea  Coast,  .as  botanist  of  the  British 
Columbia  Expediticm  and  commander  of  the  Vancouver  Island 
Exploring  Expedition,  during  which  he  introduced  various  new 
plants  into  Europe,  and  charted  all  the  interior  of  Vancouver, 
then  unknown.  In  1867  he  visited  Greenland,  making,  with 
Mr.  E.  Whymper,  the  first  attempt  by  Errglishmen  to  penetrate 
the  inland  ice,  and  formed  those  theoretical  conclusions  regard- 
ing its  nature,  afterwards  confirmed  by  Nansen  and  Peary.  Dr. 
Brown  afterwards  travelled  extensively  in  the  Barbary  States  of 
North  Africa.  Settling  down  in  Scotland  he  was  successively 
lecturer  on  geology,  botany,  and  zoology  in  the  Royal  High 
School,  Edinburgh,  and  Heriot  Watt  College,  Edinburgh,  the 
Mechanics'  Institution,  Gla^ow,  and  elsewhere.  He  was  an 
honorary  or  ordinary  member  of  many  learned  societies  in  this 
country,  in  America,  and  on  the  continent.  In  1876  he  re- 
moved to  London,  in  order  to  devote  himself  entirely  to  literary 
work,  and  for  the  greater  part  of  the  period,  from  that  time  to 
his  death,  was  on  the  editorial  stall"  of  the  Standard.  He  was 
the  author,  or  part  author,  of  about  thirty  volumes,  and  of  a 
large  number  of  scientific  memoirs,  articles,  and  reviews. 

The  thirty-fourth  annual  meetingof  the  Yorkshire  Naturalists 
Union  was  held  yesterday  at  Vork  Museum,  and  the  presidential 
address  was  delivered  by  Dr.  R.  Braithwaitc,  on  "  The  Study  of 

Mosses." 

.Mr.  Akchibai  •.)  Den.nv,  of  Dumbarton,  has  accepted  the 
presidency  of  the  Institution  of  Junior  Engineers,  in  succession 
to  Mr.  Alexander  Siemens,  and  will  deliver  his  presidential 
address  on  I'riday  evening,  November  I,  at  the  Westminster 
Palace  Hotel ;  I'rof.  A.  B.  W.  Kennedy,  Past-President,  in  the 
chair. 

The  Epping  Forest  Free  Local  Museum,  established  by  the 
Essex  Field  Club  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  Lodge,  Chingford,  will 
be  declared  open  next  Saturday  afternoon,  by  Mr.  R.  C.  Halse, 
Chairman  of  the  Epping  Forest  Committee  of  the  Corporation 
of  London.  Short  addresses  on  the  subject  of  local  museums 
will  be  given  by  Mr.  -A.  Smith  Woodward,  and  others. 

The  Session  1S95-  96  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  for 
the  evening  meetings,  will  commence  on  November  11,  when  an 
account  of  theprogressof  the  Jackson-IIannsworth .\rctic  Expedi- 
tion will  be  given  by  Mr.  h.  Montefiore.  On  November  25,  a 
paper  on  the  Fitroe  Islands  will  be  read  by  Dr.  Karl  Grossmann  ; 
exploration  in  the  Central  .\lps  of  Japan  will  be  described  by 
the  Rev.  Walter  Weston  on  December  9 ;  and  movements  of 
the  earth's  crust,  by  Prof.  John  Milne,  F.R.S.,  on  January  6. 
Other  papers  which  may  be  expected  after  Christinas  are 
the  following  :  Journey  across  Tibet,  by  St.  George  R.  Little- 
dale  ;  exploration  in  the  Alps  of  New  Zealand,  by  E.  .\. 
Fitzgerald  ;  our  knowledge  of  the  oceans,  by  Dr.  John  Murray  ; 
the  geography  of  the  English  lake  district,  by  J.  E.  Marr, 
1'. R..S.  ;  the  canons  of  Southern  Italy,  by  R.  S.  Giinther ; 
British  Central  .\frica,  its  geography  and  resources,  by  Alfred 
Sharpe.  The  following  subjects,  among  others,  will  be  submitted 
for  consideration  and  discussion  at  the  special  afternoon  meet- 
ings : — The  construction  and  uses  of  globes,  by  J.  V.  Buchanan, 
F.R.S.  ;  the  struggle  for  life  in  the  North  Polar  region,  by 
A.  Trevor-Battye  ;  an  attempt  to  reconstruct  the  maps  of 
Herodotus,  by  J.  L.  Myres.  Under  the  joint  auspices  of  the 
Society  and  the  London  University  Extension,.  Mr.  II.  J. 
M.ickinder  is  giving  a  course  of  twenty  lectures  on  the  principles 
of  geography,  at  Grcsham  College. 


652 


NATURE 


[October  31.  1895 


The  Weekly  I'i't.i.iu,  j\<j\ii  ui  I  he  26th  inst.  shows  that  the 
lemperature  over  the  British  Islands  during  the  week  was  | 
abnormally  low  for  the  time  of  year,  the  deficit  ranging  from  4° 
in  the  Channel  Islands,  and  6°  in  the  east  of  England  and  north 
of  Ireland,  to  S°  in  the  north-west  of  England  and  the  south  of 
Ireland.  The  lowest  shade  readings  were  recorded  towards  the 
end  of  the  week,  and  ranged  from  18°  in  the  south-west  of 
England  to  21°  in  the  south  of  England  and  22°  in  the  Midland  j 
counties.  The  continuous  occurrence  of  frost  for  several  nights 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  London  during  the  current  month  of 
October  has  exceeded  any  prCNnous  record  in  that  month  at 
Greenwich  during  the  last  fifty  years. 

A  DESCRimON  of  a  luminous  cloud,  observed  at  Mojanga, 
Madagascar,  on  September  27,  by  Mr.  Stratton  C.  Knott, 
II. M.  Vice-Consul,  has  been  forwarded  to  us  by  Mr.  R.  H. 
Scott,  F.R.S.  The  phenomenon  was  seen  at  8.20  p.m.  as  a 
narrow  streak  of  what  appeared  more  like  mist  than  cloud.  It 
came  out  of  a  cumulus  cloud  in  the  south,  a  few  degrees  above 
the  horizon,  and  extended  through  the  tail  of  Scorpio  across  two- 
thirds  of  the  sky,  which  was  quite  clear  excepting  some  cumulus 
on  the  southern  and  eastern  horizon.  The  streak  travelled  at 
a  rapid  rate  eastwards,  but  its  base  seemed  to  be  stationary ;  .is 
it  crossed  the  moon,  it  caused  a  sort  of  double  corona.  As  the 
cloud  got  lower  on  the  eastern  horizon,  although  always 
maintaining  the  same  length,  some  cumulus  passed  under  it, 
partly  obscuring  it,  and  a  few  minutes  later  the  streak  was 
lost  altogether  in  the  cumulus  on  the  eastern  horizon.  At  the 
lime  of  the  obserxalions  the  weather  was  |)erfectly  calm,  but  soon 
after  this  streak  had  passed,  cumulus  commenced  to  ascend  from 
the  eastward,  and  the  sky  soon  became  nearly  overcast. 

The  polarisation  of  the  light  emitted  by  incandescent  bodies 
h.is  not  yet  Ijeen  fully  investigated.  Arago,  indeed,  made  some 
experiments  on  incandescent  iron,  platinum,  and  glass,  but 
these  were  only  qualitative,  and  did  not  extend  to  liquids.  Mr. 
R.  A.  Millikan  publishes,  in  the  Physical  Review,  an  account  of 
some  careful  tests  of  light  emitted  by  glowing  solids  and  liquids 
with  a  view  to  discover  the  laws  of  its]  polarisation.  This 
phenomenon  is  exhibited  strongly  by  incandescent  platinum, 
silver,  and  gold,  and  by  molten  iron  and  bronze.  A  somewhat 
feebler  polarisation  is  shown  by  copper,  brass,  lead,  zinc,  and 
solid  iron.  The  most  significant  result  is  that  (xilarisation  is 
minimum  with  rays  emitted  normally  to  the  surface,  and 
maximum  at  a  grazing  emission.  This  indicates  that  the 
vibrations  take  place  in  a  plane  at  right  angles  to  the  emitting 
surface.  To  show  the  phenomenon  at  its  best,  a  smooth  surface 
is  essential.  Glass  and  porcelain  also  emit  polarised  light,  but 
to  a  lesser  amount.  Fluorescent  t)odies  do  -the  .same,  so  that 
evidently  a  high  tem|)erature  is  not  necessary.  In  the  case  of 
uranium  glass  it  is  the  green  reflected  light  which  is  polarised, 
and  not  the  blue  incident  light  difru.scd  from  the  surface. 

The  main  facts  of  Lieut.  Pear)''s  work  in  North  Greenland 
are  descrilxrd  by  I'rof.  R.  D.  .Salisbury  in  Science  of  October  II. 
Prof.  Salisbury  was  one  of  the  party  which  relieved  Lieut.  Peary, 
the  other  members  Ijcing  Mr.  £mil  Diebilsch,  Dr.  J.  E.  Walsh, 
Mr.  T.  Boutillier,  and  I'rof.  L.  L.  Dyche.  During  his  Arctic 
residence,  Lieut.  I'eary  mapped  a  considerable  stretch  of  the 
coast  f>f  West  Greenland — from  Cape  Alexander  on  the  north  to 
Cape  Vork  on  the  south — and  his  results  show  a  numlx'r  of 
remarkable  differences  with  earlier  charts  of  the  same  region. 
His  map  locates  the  positions  of  nearly  one  hundred  glaciers, 
where  but  ten  were  represented  on  the  published  chart.  In 
addition  to  the  map,  .Mr.  Peary  kept  a  series  of  meteoro- 
logical rccord.i,  and  made  oliscrvalions  of  the  behaviour  of 
winds  about  the  ice  sheet,  and  in  this  w>y  has  come  into 
po^«cvMon  of  facts  which  are  not  without  significance  in  connec- 

NO.   1357,  VOL.   52] 


tion  with  the  problems  of  glaciology.  He  made  careful 
measurements  of  the  rate  of  motion  of  one  of  the  most  active 
glaciers  of  the  legion,  and  carried  them  through  a  sufiiciently 
long  period  of  time  to  give  them  especial  value.  He  took  back 
to  the  United  States  two  large  and  choice  meteorites  from  the 
coast  east  of  Cape  Vork,  and  these  will  undoubtedly  prove  of 
interest.  His  studies  of  the  Eskimos  of  North  Greenland  will, 
when  published,  form  an  important  contribution  to  ethnologj'. 

So  far  as  concerns  the  results  accomplished  by  the  members  of 
the  Pear)'  relief  party  of  this  year.  Prof.  Dyche  was  successful  in 
getting  large  numbers  of  birds  and  m.ammals  at  various  points 
along  the  coast.  He  also  secured  an  abundant  supply  of 
walruses,  reindeer  and  seals,  and  a  smaller  number  of 
narwhals,  and  saw  much  of  the  west  coast  of  (jreenland 
between  latitude  64°  and  78°  45',  at  close  enough  range  to  study 
its  geographic  features  to  advantage.  Stops  were  made  near 
the  parallels  of  67°,  69°,  70°,  and  at  many  points  between  75°  45' 
and  77°  45'.  At  all  these  points  geographical  and  geological 
studies  were  carried  on.  The  eastern  coast  of  America  was  also 
seen  for  a  considerable  distance,  esi>ecially  from  Ellesmere  I^nd 
south  to  71°  30',  and  most  of  the  coast  of  the  island  of  Disco. 
Prof.  Salisbury,  who  accompanied  the  [Mrly  in  order  to  study 
glacial  geology,  observed  in  detail  many  glaciers  between  75°  45' 
and  77°  45'  on  the  Greenland  coast,  and  made  some  determina- 
tions of  significance  concerning  glacier  motion.  A  considerable 
body  of  evidence  was  gathered  touching  the  former  extension  of 
the  ice  cap  of  Greenland.  Determinations  were  also  made  at 
several  points  concerning  recent  changes  of  level  of  the  laml. 

A  RECENT  number  of  the  Pioneer  Mail,  published  in  Alla- 
habad, contains  an  interesting  article  on  immunity  from  scorpion 
and  snake  venom.  Much  attention  has  been  directed  in  India 
to  the  experiments,  which  have  lately  been  so  successfully  carried 
out,  on  immunity  to  snake-bites  artificially  induced  by  the  intro- 
duction of  graduall)'  increasing  doses  of  the  venom  into  the 
system.  The  writer  of  the  article  in  question  does  not  regard 
this  achievement  as  any  really  new  discovery,  being  convinced 
that  the  traditional  inmiunity  claimed  to  be  ix)ssessed  by  the 
Indian  snake-charmers  is  simply  due  to  the  fact  that  they  have 
frequently  been  accidentally  bitten  by  cobras  and  karils,  and 
having  survived  the  first  attack  experienced  no  evil  effects  from 
the  subsequent  bites.  This  he  states  as  the  result  of  his  personal 
acquaintance  with  many  Madari  Jogis  and  Fakirs,  some  of  whom 
he  knew  had  been  bitten  .is  many  as  five  limes.  It  appears,, 
however,  that  cases  of  reputed  immunity  to  scorpion  stings  are 
also  well  known,  and  one  of  these  he  had  the  opportunity  of 
himself 'carefully  testing.  Hearing  of  a  Mahomed.m  Fakir  who 
had  established  a  reputation  for  himself  in  this  respect,  he  ileter- 
mincd  to  investigate  the  case,  and  banish,  if  possible,  all  chance 
of  trickery  and  deception  being  practised,  lie  therefore  dug  up 
the  scorpions  himself,  and  these  formidable  creatures  he  describes 
as  l)cing  from  5  to  7  inches  long,  with  claws  on  them  like 
lobsters.  These  .scorpions  the  Fakir  was  told  to  irritate  (not  by 
pinching  the  end  of  the  tail,  which  is  a  well-known  way  of  pre- 
venting ihem  slinging  I),  but  by  lunching  them  on  the  part  of 
the  body  indicated  :  the  result  was  that  each  one  of  them  stung 
him  strongly  enough  to  draw  blood,  but  the  man  was  ap|)arently 
none  the  worse.  "There  could  be  no  doubt,"  he  writes,  "as 
to  the  perfect  genuineness  of  the  exhibition."  This  incident 
should  encourage  M.  Calmelle  to  continue  his  experiments  on 
artificially  inducing  immunity  to  the  sling  of  .scorpions  by  means 
of  gr.idual  tloses  of  the  scorpion  venom.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  .succcssfiil  investigations  which  have  so  far  been  made  on 
artificially  procuring  immunity  to  snakebites,  may  obtain  the 
official  recognition  which  ihey  deserve,  and  lh.1l  such  immunity 
may  not  in  the  future  be  confined  lo  the  selected  feu  or  so-called 
charmed  individuals. 


I 


m 


October  31,  1895] 


NA  TURE 


65: 


« 


In  a  lecture  recently  delivered  by  Dr.  W.  J.  van  Bebber,  at 
Lubeck,  and  printed  in  the  Atinalen  der  Hydrographie  iiitd 
Maritimcn  Meteorologit:  for  September,  he  discusses  the  possible 
means  of  improving  storm-warning  signals.  As  Dr.  v.  Bebber 
has  charge  of  the  weather  service  at  the  Deutsche  Seewarte,  his 
news  on  the  subject  carry  considerable  weight.  He  points  out 
that  notwithstanding  constant  exertions  to  place  weather  pre- 
diction on  a  sound  and  trustworthy  basis,  the  solution  of  the 
question  remains  in  a  somewhat  unsatisfactory  condition.  He 
makes  the  following  suggestions  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
object  in  view,  most,  if  not  all,  of  which  have  already  been 
discussed  at  various  mereorological  conferences,  and  have  fallen 
through  on  the  score  of  expense  or  other  hitherto  insuperable 
diftlculty  : — (i)  Extension  of  telegraphic  communication  west- 
ward (Faroe,  South  CIreenland,  iSrc. ).  This  proposal  was 
advocated  by  the  late  Captain  Hoffmeyer.  (2)  Acceleration  of 
exchange  of  telegrams,  by  the  introduction  of  the  "circuit- 
system."  By  this  means  the  telegrams  in  America  are  received, 
and  warning  messages  despatched  within  two  hours  of  the  time 
of  taking  observations.  (3)  More  frequent  information,  by 
means  of  telemeteorography,  or  the  connection  of  self-recording 
instruments  with  central  offices.  The  practicability  of  this 
method  has  been  put  to  test  in  the  Netherlands,  and  the  subject 
was  recently  discussed  by  the  International  Meteorological 
Committee  at  Upsala.  (4)  Exchange  of  telegrams  between 
neighbouring  signal  stations  ;  this  plan  has  been  found  to  work 
successfully  in  Germany  and  America,  and  by  its  means  more 
recent  information  is  obtained  by  the  seafaring  community 
as  to  the  sudden  approach  of  stormy  weather.  (5)  The 
popularisation  of  weather  knowledge  among  the  public  by 
means  of  weather  charts,  and  (6)  the  preparation  of 
an  atlas  of  types  of  weather.  The  number  of  charts 
required  would  be  at  least  500  or  600.  This  suliject  lias  been 
suggested  by  Mr.  .\bercromby  antl  others. 

■  A  NEW  method  of  measuring  the  resistance  of  an  air-gap 
during  the  passage  of  a  spark  has  been  devised  by  M.  Victor 
Biernacki,  and  is  described  in  the  current  number  oi  \.\\e  Joiinii!/ 
clc  Physique.  In  the  case  of  a  Hertzian  resonator  in  unison 
with  an  exciter,  the  forced  vibrations  and  the  natural  vibrations 
of  the  resonator  (the  presence  of  which,  according  to  Poincarc 
and  Bjerkncss,  explain  multiple  resonance)  have  the  same 
periodic  time,  and  according  to  Bjerkness's  theory  these  two 
vibrations  are  in  oppose  phase.  In  order  that  these  two  vibra- 
tions may  entirely  destroy  each  other,  it  is  necessary  that  they 
l)e  equally  damped — that  is  to  say,  that  the  resistance  of  the 
exciter  and  resonator  should  be  equal.  The  author  has  verified 
this  consequence  of  the  real  presence  of  these  two  sets  of  vibra- 
tions in  the  resonator,  by  steadily  increasing  the  resistance  of  the 
resonator,  starting  with  a  resistance  less  than  that  of  the  exciter. 
In  this  way  he  has  succeeded  in  entirely  destroying  the  vibra- 
tions in  the  resonator,  and  according  to  theory  at  this 
moment  the  resistances  of  the  exciter  and  resonator  must  be 
I  qual.  Since  these  had  the  same  dimensions,  and  were  made 
"f  the  same  material,  but  the  spark-gap  in  the  exciter  was  re- 
placed by  a  litjuid  resistance  R,  it  follows  that  the  value  of  R, 
which  corresponds  to  the  completed  extinction  of  all  vibrations 
iu  the  resonator,  is  equal  to  the  resistance  of  the  spark-gap  in 
the  exciter.  The  resistance  R  consists  of  a  glass  tube  filled 
with  a  solution  of  copper  sulphate  of  various  strengths.  .V 
Geissler  tube  or  a  bolometer  is  employed  to  indicate  the  pre- 
sence of  the  viljrations  in  the  resonator.  As  the  dilution  of  the 
sulphate  of  copper  solution  is  increased,  the  vibrations  in  the 
resonator  decrease  in  intensity.  These  die  out,  and  on  further 
dilution  reappear.  For  a  spark-gap  of  I  cm.  the  resistance  R 
v.iricd  between  300  and  800  C.G.S.  units.  With  a  spark-gap 
0'4  m.m.  long,  however,  the  resistance  is  found  to  be  between 
1200  and  1500  C.G.S.  units.     This  increase  of  the  resistance  as 

NO.    1357,  VOL     52] 


the  spark  diminishes  is  very  curious ;  but  it  is  important  to  notice 
that  the  decrease  in  the  length  of  the  spark  is  accompanied  by 
a  change  in  other  properties  of  the  spark.  When  the  terminals 
of  the  spark-gap  are  near  together  it  is  very  difficult  to  obtain  a 
straight  and  while  spark,  the  spark  generally  being  slightly 
violet  in  colour  and  ramified  in  appearance.  With  a  longer 
spark-gap,  however,  it  is  much  easier  to  obtain  a  spark  which 
is  white  in  colour  and  nonraniifie<l,  and  which  passes  with  a 
sharp  noise.  It  is  a  spark  of  this  latter  character  which  HerU 
found  to  be  best  suited  to  his  classical  experiments,  and  the  fact 
established  by  the  author  that  such  a  spark  really  offers  less 
resistance  than  a  short  violet  spark,  affords  an  explanation  of 
Hertz's  observation. 

With  the  title  "  The  People's  Stonehenge,"  a  slim  little 
pamphlet,  by  Mr.  J.J.Cole,  has  been  published  by  Mr.  J.Doney. 
Sutton,  Surrey.  The  [jamphlct  contains  ten  repro<luctions  from 
photographs  of  the  objects  at  Stonehenge ;  and  these,  with  the 
short  descriptive  text  which  accompanies  them,  brings  out  the 
points  of  interest  in  the  most  wonderful  of  our  archaeological 
remains. 

AsTRO.NOMERS  should  be  grateful  to  Messrs.  W.  Wesley  and 
Son  for  the  excellent  catalogue  of  works  on  astronomy  just 
published  as  No.  124  of  the  Natural  History  and  Scientific 
Book  Circular.  The  classification  is  very  elaborate,  the  books 
being  arranged  under  no  less  than  twenty-four  headings.  In 
each  section  the  books  follow  the  alphabetical  order  of  authors' 
names.  Both  the  arrangement  of  the  sections  and  the  divisions 
adopted  are  admirable,  and  reflect  great  credit  upon  the 
compilers.  Bibliophiles  well  know  that  a  bookseller's  catalogue 
is  a  mine  of  information,  and  they  will  be  joined  by  astronomers 
in  appreciation  of  the  efforts  of  Messrs.  Wesley  and  Son  to 
produce  a  full  and  accurate  list  of  works  on  celestial  science. 

The  Proceedings  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society  for 
January,  1895,  reached  us  at  the  beginning  of  this  week.  Among 
other  papers  contained  in  it  we  notice  a  description  (with  four 
plates)  of  an  old  "  Horologium  Achaz,"  or  Dial  of  Achaz,  by 
Mr.  J.  F.  Sachse  ;  a  pajier  on  "  The  Significance  of  the  Jugal 
Arch,"  by  Mr.  D.  D.  Slade  ;  a  note  proving  that  thin  leaves  of 
gold,  similar  to  those  exhibited  by  Mr.  J.  W.  Swan  at  the  Royal 
Society  in  June  1894,  were  produced  by  Mr.  A.  E.  Outerbridge 
seventeen  years  ago  (on  this  matter,  see  Mr.  Outerbridge's 
claim  for  priority  in  Nature,  vol.  li.  p.  608,  1895)  ;  a  paper  by 
Dr.  D.  G.  Brinton  on  the  "  Protohistoric  Ethnography  of 
Western  Asia,"  and  the  "  Fourth  Contribution  to  the  Marine 
Fauna  of  the  Miocene  Period  of  the  United  States,'  by  Prof. 
E.  D.  Cope. 

Messrs.  M.vcmillan  have  just  issued  the  first  part  of  the 
"  History  of  Mankind,"  by  F.  Rat/.el,  in  which  the  learned 
author  states  what  the  task  of  ethnography  is,  and  describes  the 
situation,  aspect,  and  numbers  of  the  human  race,  together  with 
a  series  of  preliminary  observations  on  the  rise  and  spread  of 
civilisation,  religion,  language,  &e.  Where  possible  he  illustrates 
his  remarks  by  pictures  of  genuine  "savage"  remains,  and  hi* 
theories  have  usually  a  good  substratum  of  fact.  It  is,  of 
course,  too  early  to  pass  a  final  opinion  on  the  work  ;  but  we 
believe  that  it  supplies  a  want  among  the  increasing  number  of 
people  who  need  a  popular  history  of  the  beginnings  of  the 
human  race,  and  an  intelligible  account  of  the  conditions  under 
which  our  primitive  ancestors  lived.  The  part  before  us  is 
printed  in  good  type  on  excellent  paper,  and  contains  a  coloured 
plate  of  a  Bosjesman  family,  and  a  map  of  North  and  South 
America,  besides  several  illustrations  scattered  throughout  the 
text. 

Dr.  a.  B.  Meyer  has  sent  us  a  memoir  (Abh.  11.  tier,  des  K. 
Zoolog.  II.  .Anlhropol.  Etiiii.  Museums  zu  Dresden  1894-95)  on  a 


654 


NA  TURE 


[October  31.  1S95 


Brown  Chimpanzee.  The  Chimpanzee  described  and  fig\ired  in 
it  is  a  young  female  living  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  al  Dresden, 
remarkable  for  its  reildish  brown  hair,  projecting  eyes,  anil  very 
bright-coloured  skin.  Dr.  Meyer  discusses  at  some  length  the 
numerous  species,  sub-siiccies,  and  varieties  of  the  Chimpanzee 
that  have  been  proposed  by  various  authors,  and  decides  that 
his  "  Brown  Chim|ianzee  "  can  be  referred  to  none  of  them. 
It  may  be  quite  true  that  no  one  has  previously  described  such 
a  brown  form  of  the  Chimpanzeee,  but  nearly  all  mammals, 
especially  the  Quadrumana,  .ire  subject  to  lighter  variations  in 
colour,  and  we  see  no  reason  why  this  should  not  be  the  case 
with  the  Chimpanzee,  It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  Dr.  Meyer 
has  done  well  in  not  giving  his  Brown  Chimp.-inzee  a  new 
scientific  name.  It  appears  that  nothing  is  known  of  the  history 
of  the  specimen,  nor  of  its  exact  locality. 

The  third  and  concluding  portion  of  Kubary's  monograph  of 
the  ethnography  of  the  Caroline  Archipelago  is  now  published 
under  the  editorship  of  Herr  J.   D.  E.  Schmeltz,  who  has,  as 
usual,  spared  no  pains  to  bring  out  the  memoir  in  a  way  which 
its  value  demands.     The  complete  work  consists  of  306  pages 
and  fifty-tive  plates  ;  many  of  the  latter  are  coloured.     They 
are  executed  by  Trap,  which  is  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  their 
excellence.     It  is  to  the  famous  but  ill-fated  Museum  Clodeffroy 
that  we  owe  the  inception  of  this  investigation.     -Vt  a  later  dale 
Kubary  was  connected  with  the  Kgl.  Museum  fiir  \  olkerkunde 
in  Berlin.     The  present  section,  which  deals  with   house-  and 
canoe-construction  in  the  I'elan  Islands,  maintains  the  level  of 
conscientious  care  and  minute  detail  which  characterised  the  two 
former    parts.      The    structure   of    the   houses  and   canoes   is 
illustrated  to  scale  by  drawings  in  plan,  elevation,  and  section  ; 
and  details  of  fastenings  and  joinery  are  given  on  a  larger  scale. 
We    have    thus   all    the    information    necessary   to    understand 
structural  details,  which  latter  are  too  often  lacking  in  the  de- 
.scriptions  and  illustrations  of  travellers.     Some  houses  are  richly 
decorated   with  carved  and  painted  ornamentation  ;  but  unfor 
lunatcly  Kubary  was  not  impressed  with  the  importance  of  this 
branch  of  ethnography,  and  so  we  are  left  in  ignorance  as  to  the 
significance  of  the  figures  and  patterns.      What  a   pity  it  is  that 
the  ethnography  of  our  Possessions  and  Protectorates  in  various 
parts  of  the  world  is  not  investigatid  mid  published  in  smh  a 
manner  as  this  ! 

We  have  received  from  Mr.  J.  Eliot,  F.R.S.,  Meteorological 

Reporter  to  the  Government  of  India,  parts  viii.  and  ix.  of  vol.  v. 

of"  Indian  Meteorological  Memoirs,"  containing  Ihediscussion  of 

hourly  observations  made  (l)  at  Deesa,  a  military  station  in  the 

Palanpur  State  on  the  Hanas  River  ;  and  (2)  at  Kurrachee,  the 

Port  of  Sind.     The  latter  station  is  about  three  miles  from  the 

sea,  and  has  a  most  complete  ex|x)sure.     The  period  embraced 

is  1875-93,  and  forms  part  of  the  proposed    discussion  of  the 

observations  recorded  at   twenty-five  observ.ilories.     For  each 

station  the  mean  observed  hourly  values  of  the  various  elements, 

and    the    iliffcrcnces    from    the    mean    of  the   day,    have    been 

cilrulaled,  and   from  these  the   diurnal    variations   have    been 

ri-ilved  into  four  component  harmonic  oscillations  by  the  ap- 

;  1      ■  Pin  of  Bcssel's  formula,  while  the  epochs  and  values  of  the 

r      1  maxima  and  minima  have  been  computed  by  the  method 

'  If.   Jtlinek,   to  the  sec<md   approximation.     The  in- 

\  of  the  materials  at  each  station  is  of  itself  a  most 

almnou.t  and   thorough   piece  of  work,  and  the  complete  dis- 

cu.viion  will  lie  proliably  unequalled  in  magnitude.     The  imjHirt- 

ancc  of  the  whole  investigation  can  scarcely  be  over-estimated, 

and  when  the  results  are  collated  they  cannot  fail  to  throw  much 

light  U(Kin  the  causes  which  underlie  the  periodic  variations  over 

thi*  vast  area,  and  ilwir  'I'l'cndence  on  various  phy.sical  and  local 

conditions. 

NO.    1357.   vul,.   52I 


Xvi.osE,  like  arabinose,  gives  two  optically  active  stereo- 
isomeric  acids  on  treatment  with  hydrocyanic  acid  and  subse- 
quent hydrolysis.  Of  these,  gulonic  acid  has  long  been 
recognised  ;  the  second,  idonic  acid,  has  recently  been  isolated, 
and  its  derivatives  prepared  by  Eniil  Fischer  and  Irving 
Wetherbee  Fay  (Bcrichle,  1895,  No.  14,  p.  1975).  The  series 
is  remarkable  as  containing  the  last  missing  members  of  the 
mannitol  group  of  acids,  sugars,  and  alcohols.  The  names — 
idonic  acid,  idose,  iditol,  and  idosaccharic  acid — assigned  to 
these  substances  have  been  derived  from  "  idem,"  and  given  on 
account  of  the  symmetrical  geometrical  formula;  expressing  their 
constitution.     From  the  formula  of  1-idose, 

II    on    II  1)11 


CI  1,011 .  c .  c .  c.  c .  coil 
OH  11  on  n, 

it  is  evident  that  hydroxyl  and  hydrogen  are  similarly  related  to 
each  of  the  asymmetrical  carbon  atoms,  and  that  only  the  same 
product,  racemic  acid,  and  no  inactive  tartaric  acid  can  be  pro- 
duced by  oxidation  wherever  the  molecular    chain  is  broken ; 
in  this  respect    a    remarkable    contrast  to    the    other    hexo.ses 
being   shown.      l-"rom    the    product    of     the    action    of  hydro- 
cyanic    acid     on     xylose,     gidonic     acid     was     separated    by 
repeated     crystallisation    of    the     lactones :    the    syrupy    dark 
liquid  resulting  on  evaporation  of  the  mother  liquor  was  diluted 
and  treated  with  brucine.     The   product  on    evaporation    and 
addition  of  a  large  quantity  of  alcohol  gave  a  crystalline   mass 
of  brucine  idonate.     When    purified    and    recrystallised    from 
methyl  alcohol  it  formed  colourless  prisms,  or  long  rectangular 
plates,  which  melted  with  decomposition  between  1S5'  and  190" 
(corr. ).  The  acid  was  prepared  from  the  brucine  salt  by  addition 
of  barium  hydrate  and  subsequent  decomposition  of  the  bariun> 
salt  with  sulphuric  acid.     Ultimately  a  relatively  good  yield  ot 
idonic    .acid    and     its     lactone     was     obtained    as    a   colour- 
less     syrup,     which    dissolved    easily     in    water,    and     with 
difficulty    in  alcohol,  and  was   insoluble  in   ether.      0*5   gram 
dissolved  in  3*5  grams  of  water  gave  a  rotation  of   -  5  ■2°  in  a 
decimeter-tube.     The  normal  i<lonates  of  calcium,  barium,  cad- 
mium, and  lead  are  amorphous  and  very  easily  soluble  in  water. 
.\  characteristic  cadmium  double  sail,  (C«Hu<^r)2Cd.CdBr3. 1  l.j( ), 
crystallises  in   fine,   colouriess    needles.      The    correspimding 
sugar,  1-idose,  was  prepared  from   the  syrupy  mixture  of  idonic 
acid  and  its  lactone   by   reduction  with  24  i«;r  cent,  amalgam 
after  <lilution  with  ten  times  its  volume  of  ice-cold  water.     The 
sugar  was  isolated  in  the  usual  way  as  a  syrup,  which  couUl  not 
be  completely  purified  ihnuigh  lack  of  material.     A  10  percent, 
sterilised  solution  did  not    ferment   with  yeast.     The  osazone, 
prepared  as  usual,  could   not   be  distinguished  from  gulosa/one. 
The  alcohol  of  this  series,  1-iditol,  was  obtained  by  the  further 
re<luclion  of  idonic  .aciil  by  sodium  amalgam,  first  in  acid,  and 
finally  in  alkaline  solution.      It  was  purified  by  formation  of  the 
benzaldehyde  compound,  recrystallised  from  acetone  in  colour- 
less needles  of  the  composition  C„II,0„(Cll.Can3)3.     The  puri- 
fied  compound,  on   treatment   with  sulphuric  .icid  and  alcohol, 
gave  the   alcohol  as  a  colourless  syrup  very  easily  sohdile  in 
water.     The  idosaccharic  acid   was  formed  from  idonic  acid  by 
treatment  with  nitric  .acid,  and  yielded   crystalline  calciuni  and 
copper  sails. 

The  .tdditions  to  the  Zoological  Society's  Gardens  during 
the  past  week  include  a  Brown  Capuchin  {Cchin  faluellus) 
from  Guiana,  presented  by  Sir  Egbert  Seliright,  Bart.  ;  a  King 
Parrakeet  {.Aprosmktiis  smpiilaliis)  from  Australia,  presented 
by  Mr.  CJeorge  Cawson  ;  two  While  Storks  (Citonia  alha), 
European,  presented  by  Sir  Charles  Payne,  Bart.  ;  an  Orlalan 
V<\\n\mf,(Emlierha  /lorlii/aiia),  European,  iiresenled  liy  Mr.  II. 


October  31,  1895] 


AM  TURE 


65; 


C.  Martin  ;  two  Hybrid  Widgeons  [hcWSKiiM  Mama l>£iulofe^\\A 
Anas  boschas),  bred  in  England,  presented  by  Mr.  VVellesley 
Taylor;  a  Cape  Viper  (Cansiis  rhomliealns),  two  Kufescent 
Snakes  (Leptodira  rii/esieits)  from  South  Africa,  presented  by 
Mr.  y.  E.  Matcham  ;  a  Great  Kangaroo  (Macropiis  giganleus) 
from  Australia,  deposited  ;  two  Hunter's  S])iny  Mice  (Acomys 
htinieri),  born  in  the  Ciardens. 


OUR  ASTRONOMICAL  COLUMN. 

RuTHERKURiVs  Stki.i..\r  Photograi'HS.  —  The  pioneer 
work  of  the  late  Dr.  Rutherfurd  in  photographic  star  charting 
i.s  gradually  assuming  a  form  which  gives  the  results  a  high 
scientific  value.  In  1890,  Dr.  Kulherfurd  presented  his  original 
negatives,  many  of  them  taken  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  ti^ 
the  Columbia  College  ()b.servatory.  New-  \'ork,  together  with 
some  thirty  volumes  of  measures  of  certain  star  photographs, 
and  Prof.  J.  R.  Rees  was  authorised  to  arrange  for  the  discussion 
of  the  photographs.  After  Dr.  Rutherfurd's  death  in  1S92,  his 
son,  Rutherfurd  Stuyvesant,  generously  provided  funds  for  con- 
tinuing the  rechiction  and  publication  of  the  measures.  The 
results  obtained  for  the  stars  of  the  Pleiades  group,  and  for  the 
stars  about  J3  C)gni  have  already  been  published,  as  well  as  an 
investigation  of  the  parallaxes  of  p.  and  9  Cassiopei;v.  To  these 
are  now  added  two  papers  giving  full  details  of  an  .'avestigation 
of  the  parallax  of  tj  CassiopciLV,  and  of  the  reduction  of  positions 
of  sixt)-two  stars  in  the  neighbourhood  (Ann.  AV«'  Yorl;  Acad. 
Sri.,  vol.  viii.  301,  381).  Using  three  pairs  of  comparison  stars, 
the  i^arallax  deduced  for  tj  Cassioi>ei.v-  is  o"'443  i  o  '043 »  Ofi 
taking  six  pairs,  o""465  ±  o"'044  (see  Nati're,  vol.  Hi. 
p.  61).  In  view  of  the  difficulty  of  getting  comparison  stars 
.suitably  situated  either  with  respect  to  position  angle,  or 
distance,  it  was  considered  desirable  to  take  a  larger  number 
than  usual,  and  hence  six  pairs  were  reduced,  being  all  that  were 
sufficiently  impressed  on  the  plates  in  both  seasons  of  the  year. 
Only  the  three  jiairs  wliich  lead  to  the  first-named  value, 
however,  are  so  situated  with  reference  to  the  parallactic  ellipse 
as  to  give  good  coefficients  for  the  parallax. 

Radiai,  Vei.ocitif.s  or  Satikn. — The  recent  spectroscopic 
investigations  of  the  velocities  in  the  Saturnian  system  furnish  an 
admirable  illustration  of  the  accuracy  at  present  attainable  in 
this  department  of  astronomical  research.  Prof.  Keeler,  M. 
Deslandres,  Prof.  Campbell,  and  Dr.  Belopolsky  ha\e  each  in 
turn  directed  their  attention  to  the  planet,  and  the  following 
table  brings  together  the  ditVerent  results  obtained,  and  compares 
them  with  the  computed  velocities  : — ■ 


Equatorial 

E.x-cess  of  velocity 

velocity     of 

for  inner  edge 

planet. 

of  ring. 

Keeler 

...   10-3  km. 

per  sec. 

...     3 '6  km.  per  sec 

Deslandres 

...     9-4 

,, 

•  •     47 

Campbell 

-     977 

)> 

■■•         j'j                    M 

Belopolsky 

...     94 

,, 

-     55 

Computed 

...   IO-3 

,, 

-     3'9 

It  thus  appears  that  in  the  hands  of  competent  observers,  the 
jihotographic  methods  now  emplojed  for  the  determination  of 
velocities  along  the  line  of  sight  may  Ix;  relied  upon  to  give 
values  which  are  correct  to  within  one  kilometre  per  second  : 
while  for  results  depending  upon  the  measurement  of  more  than 
one  velocit)',  a  little  greater  latitude  must  be  allowed. 

In  reply  to  the  objection  of  M.  Deslandres  and  Prof.  .Seeliger, 
that  the  spectroscopic  results  do  not  strictly  ptove  the  mcteoritic 
constitution  of  the  ring,  I'rof.  Keeler  has  pointed  out  that  any 
other  explanatifin  which  is  consistent  with  them  can  onl)'  be  re- 
garded as  artificial,  or  inherently  improbable  (.-/r/.  Nacli.  3313). 
If  the  ring  were  composed  of  concentric  solid  rings,  a  line  in 
the  spectrum  would  be  made  up  of  short  straight  lines,  like  an  end 
view  of  a  Hight  of  stairs.  I'rof  Keeler  does  not  consider  his  own 
photographs  capable  of  showing  more  than  ten  such  subdivi- 
sions, for  if  the  number  were  greater  than  this,  the  step-like 
structure  of  the  lines  would  be  destroyed  by  unavoidable  errors 
in  guiding  :  but  up  to  a  certain  point  the  effect  would  still  be 
apparent  in  the  w  idening  of  the  lines.  He  finds,  however,  that 
the  definition  of  the  lines  in  the  spectrum  of  the  ring  is  less 
affected  by  guiding  errors  than  that  of  the  lines  of  the  planet,  as 
might  be  expected  if  the  lines  w  ere  smooth  curves  such  as  would 
be  produced  in  the  case  of  a  ineteoritic  ring. 

NO.    1357,  VOL.  52] 


The  Cape  OiiSERVAiORV.— Dr.  Gill's  rc-jxirt  of  the  work 
done  at  the  Cape  Obser\'atory  during  1894  has  Ijeen  distributed. 
It  opens  by  pointing  out  that  the  chief  desideratum  in  a.stronomy 
during  the  past  decade  has  been  an  adequate  provision  for  the 
study  of  astrophysics  in  the  southern  hemisphere.  As  the 
readers  of  Nature  are  aware,  Mr.  Prank  McClean,  F.R.S., 
has  given  to  the  Cape  Observatory  a  splendid  equipment  for 
such  work,  so  the  need  has  been  met,  and  a  harvest  of  results 
may  be  looked  for  as  soon  as  the  instrument  is  erected.  With 
reference  to  this  generous  gift,  the  report  says  that  the  telescope 
will  have  a  photographic  object-glass  of  24  inches  aperture  and 
22A  feet  focal  length,  and  be  provided  with  an  objective 
prism  of  the  same  aperture  having  a  refracting  angle  of  7^°. 
Mounted  parallel  to  this  there  will  be  a  visual  telescope  of  18 
inches  aperture  and  of  the  same  focal  length  as  the  photographic 
telescope.  The  equatorial  mounting  will  have  complete  circum- 
polar  motion  for  within  30'  of  the  zenith  ;  and  w  ill  be  sufficiently 
elevated  to  allow  of  a  slit  spectroscope  suitable  for  determining 
motion  in  the  line  of  sight.  Such  a  sijectroscope  will  also  be 
provided  by  .Mr.  McClean,  together  with  an  observatory  of  light 
construction.  The  instrument  has  been  for  some  time  under 
construction  by  Sir  Howard  Grubb,  and  will  probably  be  com- 
pleted before  the  end  of  1896. 

Among  the  work  done  with  the  astro-photographic  telescope, 
wc  notice  that,  after  rejecting  all  plates  of  insufficient  exposure, 
or  which  are  otherwise  faulty,  only  70  of  the  plates  for  the 
Catalogue,  out  of  1632  areas  assigned  to  the  Cape,  remain  to  be 
done.  Of  the  chart  plates,  263  have  been  passed  as  satisfactory. 
Measures  of  the  diameters  of  the  photographic  discs  of  a 
variable  star  in  Vela,  together  with  those  of  nine  comparison 
stars,  prove  the  former  to  be  a  variable  of  the  Algol  type,  its 
period  being  about  5d.  22h.  24m.  4s.  A  complete  discussion  of 
the  light  curve  and  period  will  shortly  be  undertaken. 

The  researches  on  the  solar  parallax  have  been  carried 
forward,  three  sections  of  the  work,  on  the  observations  of  the 
minor  planets  X'ictoria  and  Sappho,  having  been  pa,ssed  through 
the  press.  The  manuscript  of  the  definitive  discussion  of  the 
observations  of  \  ictoria  has  l^een  sent  to  the  printers  ;  while  the 
computatiims  of  the  solar  [xirallax  from  the  observations  of 
.Sappho  and  Dr.  Elkins  reductions  of  the  observations  of  Iris 
are  completed. 


THE 


LXSTITUTION  OF    MECHANICAL 
ENGINEERS. 


A' 


N  ordinary  general  meeting  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical 
Engineers  was  held  on  the  evenings  of  Wednesday  and 
Thursday,  October  23  and  24,  at  the  Royal  United  Service 
Institution,  Whitehall,  the  Council  having  lent  their  new 
theatre  for  the  purpose.  The  building  of  the  Institution  of 
Civil  Engineers,  where  the  Mechanical  Engineers  have  held 
their  London  meetings  for  years,  is  now  in  process  of  re- 
building. It  is  to  be  hoped,  however,  that  the  Institution  of 
Mechanical  I'^ngineers  will,  before  long,  have  their  own 
premises. 

There  were  three  papers  down  for  reading  on  the  first  day  of 
the  meeting  : — 

"  The  Electric  Lighting  of  Edinbui^h,"  by  Henr\  |. 
Burstall. 

"  Reijort  on  the  Lille  Experiments  uiwn  the  Efficiency  of 
Ropes  and  Belts  for  the  Transmission  of  Power,"  translated 
by  Prof.  David  S.  Cap|K»r. 

"  Observations  on  the  Lille  Experiments  up<m  the  Efficiency 
of  Ropes  and  Belts  for  the  Transmission  of  Power,"  by  I'rof. 
Da\nd  S.  Capper. 

The  chair  was  taken  on  each  evening  at  7.30,  by  Prof. 
Alexander  B.  W.  Kennedy,  F. R.S.  On  the  first  evening 
Mr.  Burstall's  pai>er  was  read  and  discussed. 

The  electric  lighting  of  lulinburgh  is  in  the  hands  of  the 
Corporation.  It  was  decided  u])on  in  1893,  when  the  work  of 
designing  and  superintending  the  scheme  was  entrusted  to  Prof. 
Kennedy,  the  President  of  the  Institution.  From  an  electrical 
point  of  view  the  city  consists  of  two  districts.  In  one  the 
houses  are  close  together,  and  the  demand  for  light  may  be  ex- 
pected to  be  fairly  concentrated  ;  in  the  other  it  will  lie  more 
scattered.  Having  regard  to  the  different  districts  to  be  served, 
and  taking  into  account  all  the  local  circumstances,  it  was  deciiled, 
after  comparison  of  the  various  systems  of  supply  and  distribu- 
tion which  could  be  used,  to  adopt  a  low  tension  three-wire  system 


6.s6 


NATURE 


[October  31, 


1895 


for  the  central  and  northern  district,  and  an  alternating-current 

high  tension  S)-stem  for  the  southern  and  eastern  district,  both 
sj-stenis  being  workeii  from  one  central  station,  and  under  the 
same  control  and  management.  A  good  site  was  found  for  the 
central  station  between  the  Caledonian  Railway  and  Dcwar  Place. 
The  lioiler-house  is  designed  to  contain  seventeen  iKiilers,  of 
which  at  present  only  six  are  in  place.  They  are  of  the  dry- 
liacked  marine  type,  each  lol  feet  mean  diameter  and  12  feet 
long,  with  two  I'urves  flues  3I  feet  inside  diameter,  and  166 
tubes  of  3  inches  internal  diameter.  The  boilers  are  of  steel 
with  H  rought-iron  tubes.  On  the  top  of  the  boilers  are  fitted 
super-heaters,  each  having  two  nests  of  lubes  enclosed  between 
the  top  of  the  boiler  shell  and  a  fire-brick  casing  above.  Each 
consists  of  thirty-two  vertical  flat  coils  of  wrought-iron  tube  I A 
inches  diameter.  Sinclair's  mechanical  stokers  are  fitted  to  each 
Uiller,  and  are  driven  by  an  electric  motor.  The  main  steam 
pipe  forms  a  complete  ring  round  the  present  boilers.  This  ring 
joins  the  engine-room  main  at  two  points,  and  is  provided  with 
valves,  so  that  the  failure  of  any  one  pipe  will  put  only  the  cor- 
responding Ixjiler  out  of  use.  The  pump-room  contains  at  pre- 
sent one  duplex  steam  pump  and  two  three-throw  pumps  driven 
electrically,  each  pump  specially  designed  to  run  with  a  large 
range  of  Sjieed,  and  for  this  purpose  can  be  connected  with  either 
the  230- volt  or  the  115-volt  mains.  A  Kennedy  water  meter  is 
connected  w  ith  one  range  of  feed  pipes,  so  that  the  whole  of  the 
water  going  to  the  boilers  can  be  measured.  In  the  pump-room 
is  placed  the  electric  motor  for  driving  the  mechanical  stokers 
with  its  counter  shaft.  The  coal  brought  in  the  railway  trucks 
is  at  present  stored  in  the  exst  end  of  the  l)oiler-house  ;  on  the 
.station  t)cing  extended,  the  coal  will  l)e  stored  over  the  boiler- 
house,  and  let  down  through  shoots  to  the  mechanical  stokers. 
In  designing  the  plant  at  present  in  the  boiler-house,  proWsion 
for  extensions  has  been  kejit  in  mind,  and  the  arrangements  are 
such  that  new  plant  can  be  added  at  any  time. 

The  engine-rooms  are  side  by  side,  forming  really  one  room 
divided  by  a  line  of  columns  which  carry  the  roofs  and  the  beams 
for   the  travelling  cranes.     The  engine-room   next   the    boiler- 

1-   '    -  -^"rved  for  the  low-tension  plant,  the  other  contains  the 

plant.     A  platform,  raisetl  4  feet  above  the  engine- 

I  ;vel,  nms  the  whole  way  across  the  west  end  of  both 

engine-rooms ;   and  on   this  are  placed    the   switchboards  and 

regulating  gear  for  both  the  low-  and  high-tension  .systems.     The 

machinery  at  present  in  the  low-tension  engine-room  consists  of 

eight  engines,  four  of  100  I.H.P.,  two  of  250  I. II. P.,  and  two 

of  360  I.H.I'.,  with  their  dynamos;  and  pronsion  is  made  for 

eight    more   engines   of  360    I. II. I'.,    in    the    future.     All    are 

Willans  central-valve  engines  driving  their  dynamos  direct.     All 

the   dynamos   arc  two-pole  shunt-wound  machines  with  drum 

armatures,  all  wound   to  give   270  volt.s,  except  two  which  are 

driven  by  two  lOO  I.H.P.  engines  ;  these  two  are  wound  to  give 

135  volts,  Ireing  used  as  balancing  machines  on  the  three-wire 

.system.     The  steam-piping  forms,  with  part  of  the  boiler-house 

ring,  a  complete  ring  round  the  low-tension  engine-room,  and  is 

connecte<l  with  the  boiler-house  ring  at  two  points.     The  main 

ring    is   8    inches  internal  diameter  throughout.     The   straight 

lengths  are  of  .steel,  with  thick  flanges  .screwed  and  br.azed  on  ; 

the  tee  pieces  and  valve  lx)xes  are  of  cast-iron  ;  and  the  bends  of 

copper  with  steel  flanges.     All  I>ends  are  of  large  radius,  and  no 

-ion  joints  are  used  or  retjuired.     The  engines  are  elected 

■  -,  and  are  connected  with  the  main  ring  by  two  long  copper 

The  pi()es  are  slung  l)ylong  rods  from  brackets  fixed  on 

ills  or  columns,  so  as  to  allow  free  movemeiil.     The  main 

■t  pi|)cs  are  of  cast-iron,  and  arc  led  throvigh  a  Uerryman 

•  alcr,  in   the  Iwiler-housc  to  the  chimney.     Provision  is 

I' If  three  more  heaters  when  reijuircd.     The  whole  of  the 

'    on  a  concrete  fiundalion  block   7i  feet  thick, 

troni  the  foimdations  of  the  walls. 

from  the  dynamos  are  drawn  through  curved 

^  let  into  the  concrete,  into  chases  in  the  centre 

ndation  block,  along  which  they  are  carried  to 

I   under  the  .switchlioard  platform.     The  leads  from 

•lin-;  off  (he  machines  arc  also  carried  in  the  same 

l.iiing  resistances  ;  the  switches  for  these 

■  .n  the  handrail  on  the  platform  in  front 

leads  from  the  resistances  being  brought 

■'f  the   handrail.      The  swilchlHiard,  and 

f.itus  for  regidaling   the  dynamos  and  the 

id  for  the  distribution  of  the  current,  are  placed  on 

ii,  and  are  ilireclly  under  the  eye  of  the  engineer  in 

ch.'.r,^-.      1  he  switchlxiard  consi.sis  of  seven  slnlc  panels,  c-ach 

NO.   1357,  VOL.  52] 


about  7  feet  high,  and  stands  4  feet  from  the  west  wall  of 
the  engine-room.  The  arrangement  of  the  switchboard  and 
conductors  was  next  described. 

The  battery-room  has  a  fire-proof  floor  covered  with  acid 
resisting  asphalt.  The  batter)-  consists  of  132  cells  of  the  new 
Crompton-Howell  31-plate  type.  It  is  divided  u|)  into  two 
half-batteries,  ixjsitive  and  negative,  and  is  arrangeil  in  two 
tiers  on  four  rows  of  stands,  which  .are  of  cast-iron,  with  wooden 
longitudinal  l>earers  carrjing  the  cells  :  the  eight  hospital  cells 
are  arranged  on  separate  stands.  All  the  cells  are  similar,  and 
have  each  a  nominal  capacity  of  1000  ampere  hours,  the  normal 
rate  of  discharge  being  200  amperes.  The  Ixattery  has  ample 
capacity  to  meet  the  whole  of  the  load  of  the  station  from  day- 
light till  the  evening  ;  thus  during  the  .summer  lime  it  can  do  the 
lighting  during  more  than  half  the  twenty-four  hours.  The 
high-tension  portion  of  the  station  consists  at  present  of  only 
two  engines  anil  alternators  with  iheir  switchlxjard,  and  the 
rectifiers  for  arc-lighting  with  their  regulating  arrangements  and 
switchboard  :  but  in  the  immediate  future,  this  plant  will  be 
considerably  extended.  Each  of  the  alternators  is  driven  direct 
by  a  Willan's  three-crank  engine  of  150  I.H  P.,  on  the  same 
bed-plate.  The  alternators  arc  of  the  "Portsmouth"  type, 
with  some  modifications  necessary  owing  to  their  increased 
speed  of  450  revolutions  per  minute.  Their  armatures  are 
stationary,  and  are  of  great  strength  ;  the  core,  consisting  of 
sheet-iron  .segments,  is  solidly  bolted  into  the  framing  of  the 
machine,  with  the  coils  threaded  through  holes  in  the  sheet-iron, 
well  insulated,  and  completely  enclosed  in  brass  boxes.  The 
field  magnets  revolve,  an<l  consist  of  two  heavy  cast-steel  discs, 
having  on  their  circumference  claws  projecting  sideways  altern- 
ately over  the  field  winding,  which  is  between  the  discs,  and  is 
well  protected  from  injury.  The  exciting  current  is  taken  from 
the  low-tension  switchboard  at  230  volts,  and  is  only  a  few 
amperes.  The  alternali>rs  work  at  an  electromotive  force  of 
between  2000  and  2200  volts  with  a  fre<)uency  of  52.J  figures 
complete  alternations  per  second.  Opposite  to  the  alternators, 
and  standing  on  the  same  foundation  block,  are  placed  the 
Eerranti  rectifiers  for  the  series  arc-lighting.  These  are  three  in 
number,  one  for  each  of  the  Iwo  circuits,  and  one  to  spare. 

In  the  three-wire  system  of  distribution  lor  the  northern  and 
central  districts,  the  electromotive  force  between  the  two  outer 
conductors,  positive  and  negative,  is  230  volts,  while  that  between 
the  middle  wire  and  the  positive  or  negative  is  115  volts.  The 
latter  is  the  electromotive  force  of  the  lamps  on  the  consumers" 
premises,  no  trouble  being  now  experienced  in  obtaining  glow- 
lamps  to  work  at  this  electromotive  force,  or  even  higher.  The 
feeders  from  the  station  are  connecleil  to  the  distributing  mains 
at  sixteen  points  They  consist  of  two  conductors  only,  the 
positive  and  negative ;  the  middle  wire  is  interconnected 
throughout  as  much  as  possible,  and  is  brought  back  from  three 
districts  on  the  system.  The  cables  are  put  in  parallel  at  the 
station,  and  .one  connection  only  is  made  to  the  switchboard. 
The  positive  and  negative  sides  respectively  of  all  the  feeders 
are  put  in  parallel  at  the  switchboard  :  but  any  feeder  or  feeders 
can  be  put  on  a  separate  machine  if  rcipiired.  As  far  as  po.ssible, 
consumers  in  each  street  and  district  are  balanced  .against  one 
another  by  connecting  them  alternately  between  positive  and 
middle  wires,  and  between  negative  and  middle  wires;  large 
consumers  have  all  three  wires  taken  into  their  premises,  ami 
their  lights  balanced  against  one  another  in  a  similar  manner. 
But  however  carefully  this  balancing  is  done,  it  is  impossible  li' 
gel  a  really  accurate  balance  ;  the  "  out  of  balance  "  curreni 
varies  from  hour  to  hour,  and  even  from  minute  to  minute,  and 
is  diflerenl  on  diflerent  days  of  the  week.  The  amount  out  of 
balance  is  compen.sated  for  at  the  station  by  means  of  the 
balancing  machines,  ime  of  which  can  be  put  on  either  side  of 
the  sy.stem  ;  the  Italancing  during  the  light  load  is  done  fnun  the 
battery  alone.  Eight  wires,  forming  potential  le.ads  or  pilot 
wires,  are  brought  Iwck  from  all  three  conductors  at  each  feeding 
point,  and  are  conneclcd  to  the  feeder  volt  meters  on  the  switch- 
board ;  .so  that  the  pressure  at  the  feetling  points  at  any  part  of 
the  system  is  directly  known  at  the  sUlion,  and  the  necessary 
regulation  made  for  keeping  the  electromotive  force  constant. 
The  distributing  mains  are  brought  back  lo  the  station,  but  ate 
used  only  for  the  su]iply  of  light  and  power  ihere  ;  no  regulation 
is  done  on  the  mains  anywhere,  except  lo  the  feeding  [MjinlS. 
No  high-tension  feeders  or  distributing  mains  have  yet  been  laid, 
but  will  be  added  later. 

In  regard  lo  road-work,  practically  the  whole  of  the  dis- 
tributing   mains  are  laid  as  cable  insulated  with  in<liarubbcrj 


di: 


October  31,  1895J 


NATURE 


heavily  bra.cled  drawn  into  Doulton  stoneware  casing  under  the 
foo  ways,  and  ,nlo  either  Cromp.on-Uavis  casMron  ca  in^  nr 
cast-iron  p.pes  under  the  roadways.  At  all  crosros  ,^§  \ 
h"nt"""wr  '^'''"^«"  ""^  '''^-^'^  briclT'  u^cttn'h^xef  are 

where  the.  has  not  heen  X^ l^  .<;^ cX^" ti;? t .^ 

vplts  at  full  load  Potential  lea<k  bv  whi,  h  ,  J  r'''  "'^  •'** 
i.s.connectc<l  back  to  the  Iti'n 'consL    eaclfof   ^  '"^  P"'"^ 

out    discussing   general    principles   or   the    advan  a^es   ov 
advantages  of  any  individual  system  adNantagcs   o.    dis- 

an  economy  inflate  ial  in  the  feXs      I    1      "'"' ''°"""''' 

as    Edinburgh    w^f     onceS,   no  ies!"th  n  sW 'si""' '" '^^ 

question  of  silJe^h'^Xg  s^ea  n     ."reffidencT  Tt''r"  "^"^ 
and  various  other  engineering   details    wh^h^h  •P""'P^' 

necessao-here  to  consider  in'conn'e"  i^nt  h  ;nrcIrTcarp:,"er 

s:SiCrF;i~'--"^^-:;t^-^^^ 

.Vfonn     ion\r  this'^bl-cr'^Tc:"'  ^'^^^ '^  'f'-"   -- 

^S^e^s  ^^-^"^^^  Hng™e~;in:u!S°;o':^- r:! 

concerned      AnVffnw  .  J^  "'''"*'    P°"'"  fansmitted  was 

panative  a;  betcen    '  rera^^^l:/,:  T^V    """  ^^f"^'^^^  — 
conditions  in    both  cases  cons.     '    ^Iii''''"'^'''''."P?T"'"' 

the  experiment^-  „,ay  n;,'  be  of  ^g^  'I'e  ,ot  tur'^'d'  '"""-■'°"^ 
machmer),    the  thanks  „f  Kn„liJi;  '^'-   ^^csigners  of 

due  to  th^Societ^  Ldus  elk  fo^theiJ^'"'"?  ^"'-  ""'"'  "^^  '"^'^ 
Institution  of  Alechani  Engilee  s  "  send  f '  '"  mviting  the 
watch    the    proceedings        Thl    i     .  '^  representative  to 

Sra.ulaled  ill  be-i  ,g  :fbie  tl  send"  o  '"""  "  "''"'  '"  ^'  '°"- 
ITof.  Capper  as  the^  "c-pres^nutive       '""P'"^"' '"'  °'""^-"  "^ 


657 


Along  discussion  followed   the  readinir  r,f  ,\.^  i-  , 

occupie<l  the  rest  of  the  evening      Perhins^.h  ''^P^'''  "'^"'' 

part  of  it  were  the  remarks  of  ^Nfr  r  P,  ^^  '"?^'  "iteresting 
the  question  of  transm'i" t  by  opef  and'tu;  dM  n't'^'  "'*' 
any  longer  the  importance  it  once  did   as  wi  hi„      f  '""'If' 

on,  be^nd  exhibited  ^=-  ::r:nXi:af  ^!S!;[ 


NO.   1357,  VOL.   52] 


RECENT  FISHERY  LITERATURE 

becomint?  overrrnwvl..^]       tu^  ,  '*irger    ports   are 

slight  increase  in  the  reu   n    of  ft-,,  fi  L       ^'''''.'fy'"?  to  notice  a 
of   persons  engaged    in    Srotrh    fi^i;    ■      ^ ""^  """''"^f 

S:rbr£'!r,bir:r'-^^^^^^^^^^ 

has    been    a    diminution    of    the    fish     su   nk    ,!     ■  ^"^ 

North  Sea  plaice  are  not  mature  until  they  attain  a  length  of  .7 


658 


NATURE 


[October  31,  189  = 


inches.  Fish  x.m  m  -i/c  iuhki  uln'erent  conditions  and  in 
iliftercnt  areas,  and  on  the  south-west  coast  the  limit  of  size  for 
maturity  in  plaice  is  13  inches  according  to  Mr.  Cunningham. 
An  immense  number  of  the  small  plaice  brought  to  market  are 
caught  on  the  eastern  grounds  ;  and  this  area  fonns  also  a 
nursery-  and  spawning  haven  for  turbot,  brill  and  soles.  The 
number  of  plaice  above  10  inches  on  these  groumls  is  inconsider- 
able :  and  if  a  size  limit  of  13  inches  for  plaice  brought  to  market 
were  enforced,  even  during  the  spring  and  summer  only,  such  a 
limit  would  sutlicc  to  keep  trawlers  off  these  grounds,  which 
would  thus  be  left  unmolested.  In  conclusion,  .Mr.  Holt  con- 
siders various  remedial  measures  for  checking  the  depletion  of 
the  North  Sea  grounds,  and  of  enabling  the  fish  supply  to 
recover  :  but  the  only  practicable  method  of  attaining  this  end 
at  present  is  by  legislation  based  on  the  principle  of  the  size 
limit. 


THE    FORMATION    OF   BACTERIAL 
COLONIES} 

'rilE  author  h-as  examined  the  details  of  development  of  the 
colony  from  a  single  s|K>re,  in  numerous  species,  by 
employing  microscopic  plate-cultures,  which  can  be  kept  under 
observation  under  a  one-twelfth  and  even  a  one-twentieth  oil 
inmiersion,  or  by  making  pure  Klatschpriiparatc  of  the  growing 
ci  ilony  on  cover-slips  covered  with  a  thin  fdm  of  gelatine. 

He  finds  many  factors  of  importance  in  afl'ecting  the  form, 
extent,  rapidity  of  growth,  and  other  characters  of  colonies.  The 
elasticity  of  the  gelatine,  the  presence  of  moist  films  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  gelatine,  the  rate  of  (slight)  liquefaction,  &c.,  all 
lieing  of  importance,  in  explaining  the  shapes,  &c. ,  of  submerged 
colonies — "  whetstone  shaped,"  moruloid,  spherical,  or  lobed 
colonies — the  mode  of  emergence  and  spreading  over  the  surface 
•  '    '''••■   ■•■• latine,  the    formation  of  radiating  fringes,  iridescent 

re  to  light  during  the  development  of  liquefying 
colonies  may  profoundly  affect  their  shape  and  other  properties, 
a  phenomenon  closely  connected  with  the  retardation  of 
liquefaction  and  growth.  Pigment  bacteria  may  give  rise  to 
|>crfc*ctly  colourless  races  when  cultiv.atcd  under  certain  con- 
ditions, and  the  colour  restored  by  .again  changing  the  conditions, 
a  fact  which  the  author  has  not  only  confirmed  with  red  forms, 
but  which  he  shows  to  be  true  of  a  violet  b.icillus.  Species 
commonly  described  as  non-motile  show  active  movements 
under  certain  conditions,  and  the  sizes  of  bacteria  are  not  con- 
stant in  different  regions  of  one  and  the  same  colony.  Details 
have  been  worked  out  for  series  of  types,  the  extremes  of  which 
'■  -lurably  in  liquefying  power,  and  essential  difference 

irance  of  a  colony   may  depend   on   the  amount  of 
I    ,       .     „  jjower  evinced. 

.■>ome  curious  cases  of  travelling  films,  the  lobes  and  contorted 
tresses  of  which  move  like  amtclxc  over  the  surface  of  the 
gelatine,  were  also  examined. 

The  facts  point  to  (i)   differences   in   colonies   even  of  one 

11  much  more  subtle  differences  in  cultures 

lised  ;  (2)  varietal  differences  may  occur 

..    .:  :...    ..line  species  (isolated  from  the  river),  ilue  to 

t  vicissitudes  the  two  individuals  have  been  subjected 

•iL-ir  sojourn  in  the  water ;    (3',  the  difficulties  met  with 

III  ■li.igiiur.ing  "s|K;cie5"  of  Iracteria   with   the  aid  of  works  of 

known  authority,  arc  jartly  due  to  varieties  of  the  same  species  [ 

l»ing  recorded  by  different  observers  under  different  names,  and 

I  he-  author  thinks    some    more   consistent   pre-arranged  plan  of 

working  out  the  characters  of  .such  forms  should  U-  developed  by 

Inctcriologists  than  at  present  exists. 

A  FaI.se  BACTKRIt'M. 

The  author  has  isolated  from  the  Thames  a  form  which  gives 
.ill  the  ordinary  reactions. of  a  liactcrium  in  plate-cultures  and 
iiit«..ru|iun-«  in  (;i''Tinc,  agar,  polalo,  broth,  milk,  &c. 

I  /<  thick,  and  up  to  2  or  4  ;i  long,  stains 
not  \k  distinguished  from  a  true  Schizo- 
■■-■■    ■'.>  in  common  use. 

"n  cull  I  ricr  high  [Kiwers — one-twelfth  and  one- 

twcnlicth   '  I'.ns — from    the  single   cell,  however,  it  is 

(ound  10  form  small,  .shortly-branched  mycclia,  the  growth  and 

'  AtMlr.icu  nf  two  pattern,  rca»l  t)cfi.ro  Section  K  of  the  Itrilish  Association 
I  Ipiwkh  liy  Prof  H.  Marsliiill  Waril,  K.R.S. 


NO.    1357,  VOL.   52J 


segmentation  of  which  are  acropetal.     This  turns  out   to  be  a 
minute  oidial  form  of  a  true  fungus. 

Its  true  nature  can  only  be  .ascertained  by  the  isolation  and 
culture  through  all  stages  from  the  single  cell,  according  to  the 
original  methods  of  gelatine  cultures  ofKlebs,  BrefeKl,  and  De 
Bar)-,  which  preceded  and  suggested  the  methods  employed  by 
bacteriologists  ;  and  the  facts  discovered  raise  interesting  ques- 
tions as  to  the  character  of  alleged  "  branching  "  bacteria  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  multiple  derivation  of  the  heterogeneous 
group  of  micro-organisms,  termed  bacteria  in  general,  on  the 
other. 


UNIVERSITY  AND   EDUCATIONAL 

INTELLIGENCE. 

Camhridi.i:. — The  following  have  l)een  appointed  Examiners 
in  Natural  Science  for  the  current  acailemical  year : — Physics : 
Dr.  O.J.  Lo<lge,  F.R.S..  and  .Mr.  L.  R.  Wilberforce.  Elemen- 
tary Physics  :  Mr.  II.  I-'.  New-all  and  Mr.  S.  Skinner.  Chemistry : 
R.  .Meldola,  F.R.S.,  and  Mr.  W.  J.  Sell.  Elementary 
Chemistry- :  Mr.  F.  H.  Neville  and  Dr.  S.  Ruhcmann. 
Mincr.ilo5j)- :  Prof.  N.  Stoiy-Maskelyne,  F.R.S.,  and  .Mr.  H.  A. 
Miers.  Geology  :  Prof.  G.  A.  J.  Cole  and  Mr.  II.  Woods. 
Botany:  Dr.  H.  M.  Ward,  F.R.S.,  and  Mr.  H.  Wager. 
Zoolog)' :  Prof.  S,  J.  Hickson,  F.R.S.,  and  Mr.  S.  F.  Harmer. 
Elementar)'  Biology  :  Mr.  A.  C.  Seward  arid  Mr.  I.  J.  Lister. 
.\natomy :  Prof.  A.  Macalister,  F.R..S.,  and  Prof.  A.  M. 
Paterson.  Physiology :  .Mr.  W.  B.  Hardy  and  Prof.  W.  D. 
Halliburton,  F. R.S.  Pharmaceutical  Chemistry:  Mr.  A.  Ivall 
and  Mr.  R.  H.  Adie. 

Dr.  Glaisher,  F.R.S.,  and  Mr.  R.  T.  Glazebrook,  F.R.S.,  of 
Trinity  College,  and  Prof.  G.  B.  Mathews  and  Mr.  A.  E.  II. 
Love,  P. R.S.,  of  St.  John's  College,  have  been  appointed 
Examiners  for  Part  II.  of  the  Mathematical  Tripos;  and  Prof. 
Ewing,  F.R.S.,  Prof.  Reynolds,  F. R.S. ,  and  Mr.  J.  B.  Peace, 
of  Emmanuel  College,  have  been  appointed  Examiners  for  the 
Mechanical  Sciences  Tripos. 

The  twenty-second  annual  report  on  the  local  lectures 
has  just  been  issued.  It  touches  ujion  a  number  of  inter- 
esting questions.  Of  the  work  temporarily  undertaken  fin- 
County  Councils  three  years  ago,  the  only  portion  that  remains 
vigorous  is  that  carried  on  in  connection  with  the  Norfolk  County 
Council  in  the  preparation  of  teachers  in  elementary  schools  to 
teach  science  subjects  in  evening  classes.  These  courses,  given 
in  the  county  of  Norfolk,  have  been  supplemented  by  practical 
laboratory  work  in  Cambridge  during  the  Long  Vacation,  which 
has  been  attended  by  teachers  holding  scholarships  from  the 
Norfolk  Council.  The  Syndicate  state  in  the  report  that  they 
are  persuaded  that  this  is  a  work  of  great  value,  and  that  they 
believe  that  it  is  in  this  direction,  rather  than  by  the  provision  of 
ordinary  technical  courses  for  rural  audiences,  that  they  can  now 
best  aid  the  technical  education  work  of  County  Council.s. 
During  the  |xist  session  the  scheme  of  certificates  has  been 
remodelled  so  as  to  encourage  more  continuous  and  systematic 
work,  and  has  already  begun  to  show  good  results.  The  most 
important  part  of  the  report  is  that  in  which  the  Syndicate 
announce  their  intention  to  appeal  for  funds  to  enable  the 
University  to  develop  and  extend  the  work  in  a  more  systematic 
way  by  placing  particular  districts  in  charge  of  superintendent 
lecturers,  who  will  form  a  direct  link  between  the  district  and 
the  University.  Appended  to  the  report  is  a  speci;d  report  by 
Or  R.  1).  Roberts,  the  .secretary  for  lectures,  in  which  a  large 
scheme  for  the  fiiture  develo|)inent  of  the  work  is  sketched  and 
practical  proposals  suggested. 

.\  Directory  of  Science,  Art,  and  Technical  Colleges, 
Schools,  and  Teachers  in  the  United  Kingdom,  by  Mrs.  R.  ,S. 
Lineham,  has  been  published  by  Messrs  Chapman  and  I  lall. 
The  directory  will  undoubtedly  prove  of  great  value  In  all  who 
are  concerned  with  scientific  and  technical  eilucalion.  It  con- 
tains a  list  of  schools  arranged  alphabetically  .according  to  towns, 
with  the  names  of  secretaries,  principals,  and  teachers,  and  the 
number  of  students  taught  in  e.ach  .subject.  There  is  also  an 
alphabetical  list  of  names  and  addresses  of  teachers  of  .science, 
art,  and  technology,  arranged  under  the  headings  of  .subjects 
taught.  Other  information  of  particular  use  to  teachers 
under  the  Science  and  Art  Depitrlment,  and  needed  now 
and  then  by  all  promoters  of  elementary  scientific  educa- 
tion, will  be  found  in  the  volume,     Complcle  the  directory  is 


i 


October  31, 


•^95j 


NATURE 


659 


not,  nor  is  it  infallible  ;  but  it  is  a  praiseworthy  attempt  to 
organise  into  one  jjuiUi  the  teachers  of  a  growing  and  most 
important  section  of  educational  work.  The  labour  involved  in 
getting  together  the  facts  which  make  up  the  contents  must 
have  been  immense,  and  it  is  to  i)e  hoped  that,  now  the  work 
has  been  done,  the  support  ret|uired  to  ensure  the  annual 
publication  of  the  directory  will  not  be  lacking.  If  the  book 
only  makes  teachers  in  technical  .schools  and  institutes  realise 
that  they  are  part  of  one  organic  whole,  having  for  its  object 
Ihe  extension  of  .scientific  knowledge,  it  will  accomplish  a  much- 
desired  end. 

The  Report  of  the  Technical  Educational  Committee  of  the 
Berks  County  Council  is  optimistic,  but  it  is  not  distinguished 
by  descriptions  of  any  very  noteworthy  developments.  Berk- 
shire is  an  agricultural  county,  and  that  is  tantamount  to  saying 
that  little  encouragement  is  given  to  .scientific  education.  Such 
counties  are  not  willing  to  be  taught  much  about  principles  ; 
what  they  will  tolerate,  arc  subjects  like  practical  butter-making, 
l.uindry-work,  poultry-keeping,  hedging,  and  hor.se-shoeing  ;  but 
to  attempt  to  teach  agriculturists  anything  much  beyond 
manual  dexterity,  is  to  court  opposition.  However,  the 
Technical  Education  Committees  are  doing  something  to 
educate  the  agricultural  mind  to  a  better  appreciation  of  the 
benefits  to  be  derived  from  science,  though  it  must  be  confessed 
ihat  the  rate  of  progress  is  extremely  slow.  Berkshire,  along 
with  Oxfordshire  and  Hampshire,  contribute  towards  the  main- 
tenance of  the  Unis'ersity  Extension  College  at  Ref  cling,  and, 
in  recognition  of  the  .satisfactorj'  development  of  the  agricultural 
ilepartment  of  the  college,  the  Board  of  Agriculture  recently 
granted  a  sum  of  £yxi,  and  the  money  could  not  have  been 
better  bestowed.  The  various  courses  of  study  at  the  college 
are  well  arranged,  and  valuable  field  experiments  are  carried  on. 
Hy  paying  over  the  sum  of  /'400  to  the  college,  the  Berkshire 
Committee  ensures  efficient  instruction  for  the  students  under 
tlieir  care,  and  that  is  a  very  important  consideration,  for  the 
supply  of  good  teachers,  competent  to  teach  science  as  it  should 
be  taught,  is  comparatively  .small,  to  .say  nothing  of  the  labor- 
atory accommodation  essential  for  truly  scientific  instruction. 
In  spite  of  the  facilities  thus  ofiered,  the  lectures  in  elementary 
science  arranged  for  teachers  were  not  successful.  It  would  be 
a  great  pity  if  the  Committee  had  to  discontinue  this  part  of  their 
work  on  account  of  the  want  of  su]>port  by  the  teacher  for 
whom  the  lectures  are  intended.  The  other  ways  in  which  the 
Committee  disposes  of  the  funds  allocated  to  technical  education 
are  evening  continuation  classes,  scholarships,  dairying,  farriery, 
and  bee-keeping.  Aid  is  also  given  to  classes  in  the  principles 
of  agriculture,  mensuration,  botany,  drawing,  horticulture, 
chemistry,  mechanics  as  applied  to  agriculture,  and  to  manual 
instruction  in  woodwork  and  metalwork. 

The  Brussels  correspondent  of  the  7Y/««j  reports  that  the  elec- 
trical and  anatomical  institutes  founded  by  M.  Ernest  Solvay,  and 
)>resented  ityhim  and  other  donors  to  the  University  i)f  Brussels, 
were  officially  inaugurated  on  Monday,  under  the  presidency  of 
the  Burgomaster,  a.ssisted  by  M.  Graux,  the  Chancellor,  and  the 
entire  body  of  professors.  Delegations  from  the  English  and 
("ontinental  Universities  have  responded  to  the  invitation  of  the 
Hrussels  University  to  take  part  in  the  series  ol  fetes  organised 
in  celebration  of  the  event. 

It  was  announced  a  few  weeks  ago  that  the  Treasury  has 
thoughts  of  reinstating  King's  College,  London,  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  its  share  of  Ihe  grants  made  to  University  Colleges.  In 
consequence  of  this  decision,  the  Council  of  ifie  College  have 
adopted  a  conscience  clause  as  a  standing  regulation. 


SOCIETIES  AND  ACADEMIES. 
London. 
Physical  Society,  October  25. — Mr.  Walter  Baily,  Vice- 
President,  in  the  chair. — Prof.  J.  Perry  read  a  paper,  by  himself 
and  Mr.  II.  E.  Hunt,  on  the  development  of  arbitrary  function.s. 
During  the  discus.sion  on  Prof.  Ilenrici's  paper  (.-Xpril  13, 
1894),  one  of  the  authors  described  a  graphical  method  of 
developing  any  arbitrary  function  in  a  series  of  other  normal 
forms  than  sines  and  cosines,  such  as  Bessel's  or  zonal  spherical 
harmonics.  The  method  consisted  in  wrapping  the  curve  which 
represents  the  function  round  a  specially  shaped  cylinder,  not 
circular,  and  projecting  this  curve  on  to  a  certain  plane.  Many 
months  were  wasted  in  finding  with  great  exactness  a  suflicient 
number  of  coordinates  of  the  trace  of  the  cylinder  suitable  for  a 


^O.    1357,  VOL.   52] 


Zeroth  Bessel  development.  The  lalwur,  however,  was  un- 
necessary, since  the  coordinate  most  troublesome  to  calculate  i.s 
not  really  needed,  the  projection  only  taking  place  in  one  direc- 
tion. To  develop  any  arbitrary  function  of  .r  (say  y)  in  normal 
forms,  the  real  difficulty  consists  in  finding  the  value  of  an  in- 
tegral such  as  [" y.  Q(a).  dx  where  Q(jr)  is  some  tabulatc-d 
function.  If  now  z  is  another  tabulated  function  which  is  the 
integral  of  Q  (jr),  the   required  integral   is    [yds.     If  the  values 

for  y  for  25  equidistant  values  of  x  are  known,  from  .r  =  o  to 
X  =  a.  Let  the  corresponding  values  of  c  be  tabulated,  and  let 
a  curve  be  drawn  with  the  values  of  j  as  ordinales  and  the 
values  of;  as  abscissa'  ;  Ihe  area  between  the  axis  of  :  and  this 
curve  gives  the  value  of  the  integral  required.  The  authors  give 
four  tables  ctmtaining  the  abscissa-  for  the  four  first  terms  in  the 
development  in  Zeroth  Bessels.  They  have  tested  the  method 
by  applying  it  to  the  calculation  of  a  known  function  in  terms  of 
zonal  spherical  harmonics,  and  Ihe  agreement  l)ctween  the 
true  value  of  the  coefficients  and  those  found  is  very  satisfactory. 
Prof.  Henrici  said  the  method  was  a  new  departure,  since  in  the 
place  of  an  instrument  of  complicated  design  the  authors  only 
used  a  planimeter  and  pencil  and  paper,  and  obtained  the  .same 
degree  of  accuracy.  The  fact  that  the  series  employed  to  test 
the  method  consisted  of  a  finite  number  of  terms  seemed  to  him 
an  objection.  Prof  Karl  Pearson  had  in  a  recent  conversation 
informed  him  of  a  method  for  the  development  of  functions  which 
he  (Prof  Pearson)  had  recently  discovered.  This  method  was 
not,  however,  so  simple — at  least  in  most  cases — as  that  of  Ihe 
authors.  Prof  Minchin  thought  it  would  add  to  the  intelli- 
gibility of  the  paper  if  it  were  stated  that  the  method  was  similar 
to  that  employed  when  expanding  in  terms  of  a  Fourier  series 
or  in  spherical  harmonics.  In  these  cases  you  have  a  function 
which,  when  multiplied  by  other  functions  of  different  orders, 
kills  all  the  terms  except  one.  draphic  methods  ought,  in  his 
opinion,  to  be  very  much  oftener  employed,  and  he  con- 
sidered that  there  was  no  problem  in  physical  mathematics 
of  which  the  solution  could  not  be  obtained  by  graphic 
methods.  He  would  also  like  to  know  if  Prof.  Perry 
had  obtained  a  graphic  method  of  calculating  Bessels.  Mr. 
Trotter  agreed  with  Prof  .Minchin  as  to  the  neglect  of  graphic 
methods.  He  regretted  that  Prof.  Perry  did  not  continue  to 
consider  the  method  as  the  projection  from  a  Cylinder,  as  he  had 
found  the  method  of  wrapping  curves  round  a  cylinder  most  use- 
ful. Prof  Perry  in  his  reply  said  he  had  adopted  the  expansion 
they  had  employed,  under  the  imjiression  that  the  test  was  a 
particularly  severe  one.  He  had  not  discovered  a  graphic 
method  of  calculating  Bessels.  The  reason  they  gave  up  the 
cylinder  was  the  immense  labour  involved  in  calculating  the  ^ 
coordinates  of  the  trace,  which  would  afterwards  be  of  no  use 
in  the  development  of  the  function. — Mr.  F.  W.  I^nchester  read 
a  paper  on  the  radial  cursor,  a  new  addition  to  the  slide-rule. 
The  ordinary  form  of  slide-rule  enables  calculations  to  be  made 
which  involve  mulliplication  and  division,  also  involution  and 
evolution  where  Ihe  indices  are  integers.  The  radial  cursor  allows 
of  the  solution  of  problems  in  which  fractional  indices  occur  ; 
for  example,  in  questions  involving  the  adiabatic  exfansion  of  a 
gas,  where  an  expression  of  the  form /!<,  =  const,  has  to  be 
dealt  with,  and  where  7  is  not  an  integer,  nor  is  it  constant 
for  all  gases.  In  this  case  it  is  necessary  to  provide  some  ready 
means  of  dividing  the  scales  on  the  rule  and  slider  proportionally 
to  the  value  of  7,  which  corresponds  to  the  division  and  multi- 
plication of  the  respective  logarithms  of  the  quantities  dealt 
with  in  the  proportion  of  the  indices  of  p  and  v,  i.e.  I  and  7. 
This  proportionate  division  of  the  scales  is  effected  in  the  new 
cur.sor  by  a  radial  index-arm  which  is  arranged  to  swing  about  a 
slud  fixed  to  a  sliding-bar  running  in  guides  at  right  angles  to  the 
rule.  All  readings  are  taken  at  the  [Joints  of  intersection  of  a 
line  on  the  radius  arm  and  the  edges  of  the  slide.  The  distance 
of  the  pivot,  on  which  the  radius  arm  turns,  from  the  scale,  and 
therefore  the  value  of  the  index  employed,  is  re.id  off  on  a  scale 
fixed  to  the  transverse  bar.  Mr.  C.  V.  Boys  said  thai  owing  to 
the  kindness  of  the  author  he  had  been  able  to  try  the  cursor, 
and  had  found  it  of  great  service  in  dealing  with  questions  of 
adiabatic  expansion.  The  new  addition  to  the  slide-rule  sufters 
under  the  same  disadvantage  as  the  rule  itself,  namely  that  a 
verbal  or  written  description  seems  so  very  njuch  more  complex 
than  is  the  actual  operation  when  using  the  rule.  The  author's 
device  might  be  described  as  an  india-rubber  slide-rule,  for  it 
performed  the  function  of  a  slide-rule  in  which  Ihe  graduations 


66o 


NA  TURE 


[October  31,  1S95 


of  the  slide  were  made  on  india-rubber  so  that  the  ratio  of  the 
length  of  the  scale  on  the  rule  to  the  length  of  the  scale  on  the 
slifie  Tn't;!it  he  a!tere<l  at  will,  and  thus  involution  anil  evolution 

-  performed.     Mr.   Blakesley  ;isked   how 
were  dealt  with.     Prof.  S.  1'.  Thompson 

u  I   r\|>re*ise<l    their  admiration  for    the  author's 
"  stretching"  the  scale.     Mr.  Burstall  said  he   had 

■  )  apply  a  similar  methcKl  to  the  Fuller  rule,  but  did 
i,  since  in  this  scale  there  was  only  one  scale.  He 
lulhor's  method  could  lie  applied  in  a  form  such  that 

a  t;rcaltf  accuracy  than   one  in  300  could  be   obtained.     Mr. 

Bourne  thought  the  fact  that  the  point  of  intersection  of  two  lines 

'    •  .in  acute  angle  had  to  be  read  was  likely  to  limit  the 

The  author    haring  replied,  the  Society  adjourned 

....     !>er  S. 

r.\Ris. 

Academy  of  Sciences,  October  21. — M.  Marey  in  the 
chair. — The  decease  of  M.  Hellrit^el  (CorresiKindenl  of  the 
Rural  Economy  Section),  at  Bernburg,  .\nhalt,  on  September 
24,  was  announced  to  the  .Academy. — .-V  study  of  graphite  ex- 
tracted from  a  pegmatite,  by  M.  Henri  Moissan.  The  .luihor 
'  '  ■  1  the  impressions  of  m.irkings  on  the  graphite 
:-d  to  surrounding  quart/  and  fe!s|iar,  that  the 

5,-    . .rfiire  the  iwgmatite  was  formed.  Thisgraphile 

much  rest  ite  formed  in  the  electric  furnace  in   fused 

metals,  aij  lieen  formed  under  somewhat  similar  con- 

ditions.— .\  .-.luily  of  some  varieties  of  graphite,  by  M.   Henri 
Moisan.     Graphites  found  in  nature  may  be  divided,  as  recom- 
■  V   .M.    I,u/7i,  into  inlumescent  and    nonintumescenl 
The  former  ap)iear  to  have  been  produced  in  fused 
.     ....1-s.ses,  the  latter  by  the  action  of  a  raised  teraix-rature 
on  any  variety  of  amorphous  carlion. — On  the   Mounier  Obser- 
%-alory,  by  M.   I'erroiin.      Details  are   given    concerning  ob.ser- 
%-ations  on  the  surface  of  \'enus.     The  lack  of  alteration  in  the 
characieristirs  nf  the  part  of  the  surface  xneived  during  a  con- 
sider    ■  ,•  ■  Ill's  contention  that  the  pkinet 
can  -■;.  —  M.  Mascarl   presented  an 

*'  ^  ...'-     .-... i<^    ...i.i   secular  variations  of  terrestrial 

.'  by  M.  \\.  rie  Tillo.     The  general  conclusions  able 

n  from  a  study  of  the  lines  of  secular  variation  are  : 

(1)  the  changes  of  the  elements  so  occur  that  in  one  hemisphere 

they  are  positive,  and  in  the  other  negative;  (2)  there  is  a  great 

simil  n  the  imce  of  the  i.sanomals  and  that  of  the  lines 

of  I  I    variation. — I'rof.  Norman  Lockyer   pre.sented 

"  1     .   ,    .     ..,;,  laij^-n  with  an  objective  and 

ry.     The  lines  in  the  spectrum 

,  I  helium.     The  absorption  due 

res  of  stars  showing  few  lines  is  due  mostly  to 

liitm. — The  following  articles,  by  M.  Cruls,  are 

■"►ndence:  (1)  Posicocs  gcographicas.   The 

-  determined  arc  those  of  Rodeio,  Entre- 
'  '  '1'  irbacena  along  the  Central 

piques  de  Rio.     (iiven  by 

,.  .     .     iJ       (3)   feclipses  de   .Soleil 

ct  occuilalions. — tjn  a  long  period  inequality  in  the  longitude  of 

^Tnr^.  by  M.  (.i.  I..eveau.     An  empirical  correction  proi«»sed  by 

'o  the  \a:  Verrier  tables  of  geocentric  longitude,  and 

V  he  due  to  a  want  of  sullicicnl  precision  in  the  deler- 

'  I  ical  value  of  a  coefficient,  is  shown  by  the 

Ijy   an    independent    method    not    to    be 

ui  the  tables,  .is  his  results  agree  exactly 

res. — On   the  deformation  of  surfaces,  by 

\   correction  to  Iw  applied    to    readings    of 

meters,   by   M.   Schcurer-Keslner.      The  cor- 

I  is  to  lie  applied  to  the  Walferdin  or  Heckmann 

'    for  the  mercury  in  the  up|x.'r  reservoir, 

i'cing  inactive  as  regards  expansion  shown 

"  ''!••  latent  heats  of  vaporisation  of  fatty 

rie.and  of  diethyl  and  dimelhyl  car- 

inc.    With  regard  to  Trouton's formula 

^  =  a  con-stant  (where  M   is  the  molecular   weight  of  the 

S  is  its  Intent  heal  of  vaporisation,  and  T  its  absolute 
int),  the  results  no  far  obtained  warrant  the  general 

■  :  (I)  For  each  of  the  groups  that  have  been  studied 

nearly  con.ttanl.      (2)  It  varies  notably  for  different 

K">>ips  of  sulntances.  Ijitcnl  heaH  may  be  calculated  by  the 
genrral  mean  value  ^iven  to  the  con.slant  within  15  percent., 
and  \rf  the  value  obtained  from  a  determination   by  means  of  a 

^"    '.357.  VOL.  52] 


to  t 
hvr! 


wit  I 
M. 


M.S 


substance  of  the  same  type  within  i  "5  per  cent. — Peroxidised 
potaiisium  derivatives  of  benzoquinone,  by  M.  Ch.  Aslre.  Kenzo- 
quinone  contains  only  two  atoms  of  hydrogen  in  its  molecule 
replacable  by  a  metal.  The  dikelonic  nature  of  Iwnzoquinone 
is  supported  by  the  author's  rcsult.s. — On  the  composition  of  rice 
imporieil  into  France,  by  M.  Balland — On  the  toxicity  of 
acetylene,  by  M.  X.  Grehant.  .-Kcetylenc  is  poisonous  when  it 
occurs  in  air  to  the  extent  of  40  to  79  per  cent.,  but  is  not  nearly 
so  injurious  .as  ordinarj-  lighting  gas.  M.  H.  Moissan  added 
that  pure  liquefied  acetylene  jxjssesses  an  agreeable  ethereal 
odour,  and  causes  no  inconvenience  when  breathed  in  small 
quantity. — Serotherapy  in  the  treatment  of  cancer,  by  MM.  1. 
He-ricourt  and  Ch.  Richet. — On  a  new  Lamellibranch  (S.iolvnlhi 
iiiislralis)  commensal  with  an  Echinoderni.  by  M.  Felix  Bernard. 
— On  the  age  of  the  lignite  formation  of  Southern  Chili,  the 
Auracaria  group,  the  Chilian  equivalent  of  the  Laramie  and 
Chico-Tejon  group  of  North  .Vmerica,  by  M.  A.  F.  Nogues.- 
On  the  daily  variations  of  relative  humidity,  by  .M.  D.  Eginitis. 
— On  new  observations  in  the  Padiriac  chasm  (Lot),  by  M.  E.  .\. 
Marlel. 

BOOKS,  PAMPHLETS,  and  SERIALS  RECEIVED. 

Hooks. — Elementary  Physics  ;  J.  Henderson  (Longmans). — The  PcopK- 
of  ihe  Moon  :  T.  Carter  (KUctrician  Comp.iny). — An  Account  of  P.-iimyra 
.-inil  Zcnobi.-i :  Dr.  W.  Wright  (Nelson).  — Rambles  in  Japan:  Dr.  H.  H. 
Trislram  (R.T.S  ).— Technic.1l  Kdiicator.  \ols.  v.  and  vi.  (C.-is.sell).— liird- 
uf  lieruickshire  :  G.  Muirhead.  Vol.  2  (Kdinhurgh,  OougLis), — Practic.il 
Trigonomelr>- :  H.  .-Vdams  (Whitlakcr). — The  Valley  of  Kashmir:  W.  R, 
Lawrence  (Fronde). — Atlas  of  ihc  Kertilization  and  Karj-okcnesis  of  the 
Ovum  :  Drs.  Wilson  and  Lc.iming  (Macmillan). 

P.\MrHLETS. — .-Vnleilung  zur  Alolckiil.argcwichlsbcstimmung ;  Dr.  O, 
Fiichs  (Leipzig,  Engelinann). — Ucber  den  Zusammenh.ing  Zwischen  der 
Krdnragnetischen  Horizonl.-ilinlensitat  und  der  Inclination  :  Dr.  H.  Krilsche 
(St.  Petersburg). — Complc  Rendu  des  Travaux  dc  la  Soci6t6  Helvclique  dc^ 
Sciences  Xalurelles  r^unie  a  Schadhousc,  1894  (Gcnfeve). — Congrfes  de  la 
Science  de  r.\tmosphire,   .Anvcrs,    16.18  Aoul   1894,   Communications:  .\. 

I    '  ■  \"vers). 

I  ufis  College  Studies    No.  4  (Tufts  College.  Mas.s.).— Zeil- 
-cnscbaftliche  Zoologie,  Ix.  ltd.  1  Heft  ( (.eipzig,  Engclmann). 
-     ...    ,.-.,.  liiology  from  t>"   '!■-■'■  ■'-''   '>■•■■■''■■'■'■' -^f  the  Owens  Colleiie, 
Vol.  3  t.\!anchcster.  Corni^'  '  r  (Isbister). — Snmlay 

Maci/ine.    November  (Isl  :ie.  NovemlxT  (Lorv.;. 

"■        ■       1    —   '     ■  ■!'•    !•■  ...  Ociolwr  (William-). 

•It    m  Pern,     Nr.    i;;^-i;;. 
I  :  \    turforschcnden  l_lesilK.  h.i'i, 

I,   , ,-  ,t ,.. - i.softhe  Royal  Dublin  S.i.  i..i\ . 

\'oI.  V.  .series  2  :  The  Papillary  kidges  on  the  Hands  and  Feet  of  Monkc\  -  .iiui 
Men:  I>.  Hepburn  (Williams). — Hum.anitarian,  Novcmlicr  (Hutchiiw.Mi). 
.'\stropliysical   Journal,    October    (Wesley). — Natural   Science,    NoNcinln-r 
(R.-iii). 

CONTENTS.  PACK 

The  Centenary  of  the  Institute  of  France 037 

The    Gold   Mines    of    the    Rand.      By    Bennett   H. 

Brough 6;.'s 

Starch.     By  Prof.  H.  Marshall  Ward,  F.R.S.     .    .    .  640 

Applied  Meteorology.     By  W.  E.  P.  .    .  (>.ii 
Our  Book  Shelf:— 

Scherren  :  "  Popular   History  of  Animals  lor  \  ouiig 

People  " 64J 

Bower :  "  Simple  Methods  for   Detecting  Food  Adul- 
teration"                64J 

Letters  to  the  Editor:— 

Introduction  of  a  West   Indian    l'*rog  into  the   Royal 

(iardcns,  Kew.— Dr.  Albert  Gurither,  F.R.S. .    .  643 

TheCauseofan  Ice.Vge.      Dr.E.W.Hobson,  F.R.S.  643 

(Jrcen  Oysters. — Dr.  D.  Carazzi               .        .  643 
Oxford  Endowmcnis.    -R.  E.  Baynes:  Prof.  Sydney 

J.  Hickson,  F.R.S 644 

Uile  Leaves  and  Fruit.— J.  Lloyd  Bozward      .    .    .  644 
The   Centenary  Fetes  at   Paris.     By   Dr.   Henri  de 

Varigny 044 

History  of  the  Institute  of  France.    Hy  M.  Jules  Siinon  (145 
■■  Barisil  Guns"    and  "Mist    Poulfers."       By    Prof 

G.  H.  Darwin,  F.R.S 650 

Notes      650 

Our  Astronomical  Column:  — 

Kiilherford's  Stellar  l'hntogra|ihs 655 

KailinI  Velocities  of  .SaUirn 655 

The  Capo  Observilory 655 

The  Institution  of  Mechanical  Engineers 655 

Recent  Fishery  Literature 657 

The    Formation    of    Bacterial    Colonies.      By   Prof 

H.  Marshall  Ward,  F.R.S 65S 

University  and   Educational  Intelligence 65X 

Societies  and  Academies 659 

Books,  Pamphlets,  and  Serials  Received 660 


M.   i 


ii«L^ii)^\a  oc:o  I 


iviAK  ^0  Wife 


Q 

1 

N2 

V.52 

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